1934 – 2009
t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t n e w s pa pe r o f t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f h o u s to n s i n c e 1 9 3 4
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Issue 117, Volume 75
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Documentary shines light on HIV/AIDS By Joachim Clarke The Daily Cougar This week, the subject of HIV comes into focus at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Last summer, instead of taking time off from school to relax, UH junior Erica Fletcher spent one month researching and filming her documentary Marianismo. “(The documentary) is about the cultural factors that affect the disproportionate spread of HIV among Latina women living in Houston,” Fletcher said. Fletcher, 19, is an anthropology and psychology major. She said that her inspiration to create the documentary came from the work that she has done thus far in her college career. “I got the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship with the Office of Undergraduate Research at UH, and they gave me money to do a research project on anything I wanted,” she said. “At the time, I was working with Dr. Janis
Hutchinson, who was studying HIV among black populations, and so I thought it would be interesting to do a project on Latina women to expand the research.” Like most research projects, this took many hours of study, interviews and networking in order to come up with the final product. “I did a lot of reading about HIV in general, and then I started to study the cultural implications and the stigma attached to it,” Fletcher said. “I then looked at which populations are affected the most and went from there.” Fletcher contacted AIDS Foundation Houston, which helped her find subjects for her study. AFH is a non-profit organization that lends a hand to those who have the disease and are in need of help. “I had worked before with Timeka Walker who is a social worker at AFH, and she got me in contact with different people in Houston that would have been see DOCUMENTARY, page 3
Gregory Bohuslav The Daily Cougar
Anthropology and psychology junior Erica Fletcher said her documentary’s inspiration came from working with a UH professor who was studying HIV/AIDS in black populations.
CRIME LOG The following is a partial report of campus crime between March 15 and Wednesday. All information is selected from the files of the UH police department. The information in italics indicates when the event was reported to UHPD and the event’s location. Information or questions regarding the cases below should be directed to UHPD at (713) 743-0600.
Travis Hensley The Daily Cougar
Time to Fiesta
T
he parking lot of Robertson Stadium was unrecognizable Thursday, as Frontier Fiesta kicked off festivities with free entertainment for students, faculty and staff. Visitors were invited to throw pies at UH rugby players, and the Student Program Board hosted a Battle of the Bands.
Criminal mischief: A student reported that someone sprayed paint on her vehicle and damaged two of her tires. There are no suspects or video surveillance of the incident. The incident occurred between March 3 at 8 p.m. and March 6 at 6:50 a.m. Assault, domestic violence: A verbal argument was reported at Calhoun Lofts, and a female was observed with injuries to her face and body. After further investigation, it could not be determined if the injuries were caused by the other party involved in the argument. The incident occurred between 2:20 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. March 13. Credit or debit card abuse: A visitor unlawfully obtained and
used a UH student’s Chase Bank credit card. The visitor was then located and confessed to making unauthorized transactions. The visitor was arrested and transported to the Harris County Jail, where he was booked and released to the jail staff. The incident occurred between 4 p.m. March 12 and 4 p.m. March 16.
Possession of marijuana: A residential adviser notified UH DPS of the smell of marijuana coming from a dorm room in Moody Towers. During the investigation, UH Department of Public Safety retrieved drug paraphernalia from the residence. The three students present were issued UH Student Life Referrals; the resident received a Residential Life Referral and a Harris County citation for the paraphernalia. The incident occurred at 9:45 p.m. Saturday. Burglary : An ARAMARK employee reported that two concession stands were burglarized at Robertson Stadium, and numerous cases of beer were stolen. UH DPS Criminal Investigation Division processed the crime scene. Attempts to obtain latent prints yielded negative results. There are no suspects. The incident occurred between 10 a.m. on March 16 and 10 a.m. Tuesday.