THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
N E W S PA P E R
O F
T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Issue 33, Volume 79
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HISPANIC STUDIES
Professor awarded for recovered literature Timothy Payne Contributing writer
Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Studies Nicolas Kanellos received high honors from Mayor Annise Parker for his work to make American Latinos’ literature available to the world. Kanellos is the director of Arte Publico Press, the largest nonprofit
Latino publication in the United States, and “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage,” a research program for which h e re c e i v e d one of the five Mayor’s Hispanic HerKanellos itage Month
Awards. Kanellos said he didn’t do it alone. “The work that we are doing is teamwork. It’s a whole bunch of people that I work with,” he said. “We are trying to recover all literature by Latinos in America, preserve information and make (it) accessible to students all around. We add more text every day. (It’s a) very important research tool.”
So far, Kanellos and his team have recovered more than 500,000 written works of Latinos in America and made them available digitally through Internet research databases. U.S. Hispanic literature doctoral candidate Mercedes Fernandez worked with Kanellos on the recovery project and was enrolled in one of his classes.
“When Dr. Kanellos teaches his class on Hispanic literature, he often brings his guitar to class and sings ‘corridos.’ Students are often delighted and they cannot believe (it). He’s able to give a serious lecture on literature and then sing popular music or even bring tamales to class,” Fernandez AWARD continues on page 3
RESEARCH
EVENT
Study finds access limits smoking
Mentors talk tricks for success
Zachary Burton Staff writer
Laura Gillespie
In a unique take on research, College of Education associate professor of health Lorraine Reitzel has taken to using smartphones and GPS to see how having tobacco outlets nearby affects smokers. “We previously published a study in 2011 in the American Journal of Public Health on the effects of tobacco outlet density and proximity on smoking cessation. In that study, we looked at where people lived and whether the density of outlets around them and their residential proximity to the closest outlet was related to their ability to quit smoking,” Reitzel said. “We found that smokers who lived closer to a tobacco retail outlet were less likely to successfully quit smoking than were those who lived farther from an outlet.” Reitzel decided to use GPS to go beyond the residential
Assistant news editor
With new smoking restrictions enforced on campus this past June and with no way to buy cigarettes on campus, student smokers may find that the only way they can get their fix is through local gas stations and convenience stores. This may make students smoke less or quit altogether. | Aisha Bouderdaben/The Daily Cougar
SMOKING continues on page 3
HEALTH
October is the think pink month Nora Olabi Senior staff writer
With October nearing its end, Halloween, midterms and flu season seem to be staple topics of conversation, but one topic that might be missing: cancer. This month is painted in bright pink to remember the fight against breast cancer, a fight that one in eight women will go through, according to the National Cancer Institute. The effects can be devastating to those who have been diagnosed with the disease, but just underneath the story of a survivor rests the bedrock that carried them
through the darkest hours. It’s the slice of constancy in a dynamic and complex world of physicians, hospitals, operating tables and the excruciating pain of chemotherapy and radiation. For many people, it’s family. Cancer can take a physical, mental and emotional toll on family members. Many members of the UH community have been affected by the disease in some way.
For public relations senior Samuel Colin, the day his CANCER continues on page 7
Sisters of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority “Think Pink” through fundraisers and civic to benefit their philanthropy Breast Cancer Education Awareness. | Courtesy of ZTA
The Mentorship Series, hosted by the Urban Experience Program and Institutional Access, invites prominent local and national figures to speak and aid business-minded students and showcase what it means to be successful. The latest talk, held last Friday at the Cullen Oaks Community Center, featured Deborah Duncan, the host of Great Day Houston, and Jaja Ball, co-founder of Cobert/Ball Tax Service, as they spoke on their personal histories and what got them into their respective fields. “Deborah Duncan is a figure, she’s a celebrity and she’s also on our scholarship committee,” Urban Experience director Robbie Evans said. “(The events showcased) what she has to say, how she became who she is today, all the bumps in the road that she had to navigate.” “So this is the kind of thing that students ought to hear about — that you don’t give up when there’s one road block in your way; you just keep pushing ahead.” The series has hosted several talks this semester. Past talks have featured prominent figures such as President and CEO of Reliant Energy Jason Few, Mayor Annise Parker and Benjamin Banneker Institute of Math and Science founder Peggy Seats. The Urban Experience Program exists for first-generation college students and Pell Grant SUCCESS continues on page 3