The Daily Texan 2014-01-31

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SPORTS PAGE 5

COMICS PAGE 6

NEWS PAGE 3

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Friday, January 31, 2014

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CAMPUS

GSA addresses low student wages

By Nicole Cobler @nicolecobler

The Graduate Student Assembly is drafting a bill of rights requiring a baseline minimum stipend to help graduate students cope with the cost of living.

Currently, there is no baseline stipend set, but graduate

students — who are employees of the University — are generally entitled to a tuition-reduction benefit. This benefit pays for part or all of the student’s tuition, according to John Dalton, assistant dean of graduate studies.

Graduate student teaching assistants, assistant instructors and some graduate

research assistants qualify for the tuition-reduction benefits, as well as stipends.

Dalton said there is no standard amount employees can be paid because it varies between schools, departments and faculty members.

GSA President Columbia Mishra said in many cases the monthly stipends are

below the poverty line for Travis County. According to a 2013 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty threshold for a single person under the age of 65 is an annual salary of $12,119.

“A baseline minimum stipend can help the students cope with the cost of living and help reduce the financial

stress associated with graduate school,” Mishra said.

Mishra said the first draft of the GSA bill of rights has about three dozen policy changes.

Jaime Puente, GSA student affairs director and an author of the bill of rights,

GSA page 2

FASHION

Alumnae bring global fashion to Austin

By Danielle Lopez @ldlopz

UT alumnae Courtney and Brooke Calhoun never expected fashion to bring them back to Austin, but their recent success has them making plans to set up shop downtown permanently.

The Calhoun sisters, who are Austin natives, run Tribe For the Masses, a pop-up shop located on Congress Avenue that showcases a collection of assorted high fashion items cultivated from designers all over, including some of Austin’s local talents.

Originally, the plan was to move the shop to different places around different cities for short periods of time.

“I am less enamored with that idea as time passes just because it has been such a good thing to be in Austin,” Courtney Calhoun said.

Thanks to the store’s success at its current location,

TRIBE page 8

Shelby Tauber / Daily Texan Staff

Former UT students and sisters Courtney and Brooke Calhoun continue their second year owning Tribe For the Masses, a pop-up shop located in downtown. The temporary shop showcases a collection of assorted and high-fashion items.

CAMPUS

bit.ly/dtvid

CAMPUS

Committee proposes out-of-state tuition hike

By Nicole Cobler @nicolecobler

An ad hoc committee of student leaders, working to replace UT’s Tuition Policy Advisory Committee, proposed to increase tuition for out-of-state undergraduates by 3.6 percent after a process involving almost no student input.

Andrew Clark, Senate of College Councils president, said the Tuition Policy Advisory Committee did not have a full semester to plan its proposal because the UT System did not send instructions until mid-semester.

Since 2003, a committee, made up of University officials and student leaders, are tasked with recommending the rate of tuition for undergraduate and graduate students required to fund the academic budget on a biennial basis. The committee’s recommendation must be approved by the University president and the UT System Board of Regents to take effect.

This year, a working group of three students was set up in place of the committee. The group is made up of Clark, Student Government president Horacio Villarreal and Michelle Moon, a finance, business honors and government senior.

“TPAC has always been a holistic process with a lot of data collection, information gathering and open forums to voice their opinions on tuition,” Clark said. “Given that we were

TUITION page 2

CAMPUS

History podcast tops iTunes charts

By Alex Wilts @thedailytexan

Betsy Joles / Daily Texan Staff

Elizabeth Pena and Lisa Bedore, communication sciences and disorders professors, developed the Bilingual EnglishSpanish Assessment project that helps speech pathologists working with bilingual students.

Professors’ publication to aid bilingual students

By Emma Acosta @thedailytexan

Two UT professors saw 15 years of research pay off when their bilingual speech pathology test was published in December.

Along with researchers from universities across the country, communication

sciences and disorders professors Elizabeth Pena and Lisa Bedore began research for the Bilingual EnglishSpanish Assessment project in 1998. According to Pena, the idea came from various National Institutes of Health focus group meetings.

BILINGUAL page 2

“15 Minute History” began as a project to provide history content to high school teachers and evolved into the top podcast collection on iTunes U with close to 200,000 subscribers, according to UT faculty.

Christopher Rose, podcast creator and outreach director for the Center of Middle Eastern Studies, said the success of “15 Minute History” even gained the attention of Apple.

“Apple initially asked if they could use the podcast in their presentations to iTunes U clients,” Rose said.

“They’ve also decided to promote the podcast to consumers within the iTunes U store with a banner advertisement.

I’m hoping it’s because we’ve been at the top of the charts several times now.”

History professor Joan Neuberger, who co-hosts the podcast, said she and Rose started the project in 2012 to enhance Texas high school

Texan First Pitch

Andrea Kurth / Daily Texan Staff

Originally created for Texas educators, “15 Minute History” podcast grew to be an internet sensation.

education.

“We wanted to provide teachers with the most upto-date information on world and U.S. history,” Neuberger said.

While the podcast is targeted toward preparing high

Get the scoop on this years baseball and softball teams in a special edition to the Daily Texan.

school students for Texas standardized tests, Neuberger said the scope of the audience might go beyond educators and students.

“The podcasts have proven to be very popular with our first target audience

— teachers and students — but we have drawn in people of all ages and professions and stages in life,” Neuberger said.

Neuberger said the podcast

HISTORY page 2

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Friday, January 31, 2014

HISTORY

FRAMES featured photo

continues from page 1

Volume 114, Issue 91

CONTACT US Main Telephone (512) 471-4591 Editor Laura Wright (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com Managing Editor Shabab Siddiqui (512) 232-2217 managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com Retail Advertising (512) 471-1865 joanw@mail.utexas.edu Classified Advertising (512) 471-5244 classifieds@ dailytexanonline.com

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If we have made an error, let us know about it. Call (512) 232-2217 or e-mail managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com.

Fabian Fernandez / Daily Texan Staff

Students roast marshmallows to make s’mores at the University Co-op’s Welcome Back Winter Bash on Thursday evening.

GSA

continues from page 1

CORRECTION Because of an editing error, a caption on a story about the Texas Memorial Museum in the Jan. 30 issue of The Daily Texan misstated the amount of the budget cut.

The cut was $600,000.

Because of a reporting error, a story about Spring festivals in Austin in the Jan. 13 issue of The Daily Texan misstated the dates of West By West Campus. WXWC takes place from Feb. 21-22.

TUITION

continues from page 1

COPYRIGHT Copyright 2013 Texas Student Media. All articles, photographs and graphics, both in the print and online editions, are the property of Texas Student Media and may not be reproduced or republished in part or in whole without written permission.

TOMORROW’S WEATHER Low High

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Not tonight.

said the amount of tuitionreduction benefits has gone down in recent years. Puente said in his four years at the University he has had to pay about $400 every year.

The document also addresses graduate students working much more than the original limit of 20 hours.

under time constraints, we did not feel like we had the ability to do a full-scale TPAC like we did in years past.”

In the proposal, the group recommended that there be no change in tuition for graduate students and resident undergraduates, but requested that non-resident undergraduate students receive a 3.6-percent tuition adjustment.

According to UT spokesman Gary Susswein, President William Powers, Jr. has already endorsed the student recommendation and sent it to the UT System.

Laura Grisham, an undeclared freshman and out-ofstate student from Missouri, said the decision to raise non-

The University’s conditions for student employment states no on-campus position, academic or non-academic, can exceed 20 hours per week during the first two long semesters and 30 hours during subsequent semesters.

According to Puente, these work hours are not consistently regulated.

“We’re getting paid this much for 20 hours a week

when we actually have to work 30-40 hours a week on top of maintaining our status as graduate students,” Puente said.

Mishra said she hopes to sit down with university officials to review the draft in the near future.

Pathik Joshi, urban design graduate student and architecture teaching assistant, said he was surprised by the

stipend he received compared to other graduate students. He said receives approximately $700 a month after taxes. According to Puente, graduate student employees in the architecture school are among the lowest paid teaching assistants at the University.

“There should be a baseline,” Joshi said. “$700 a month is not enough to pay the rent and live comfortably.”

resident tuition was alarming.

“It would make sense if they had more open meetings,” Grisham said. “At least those out-of-state students would understand why the proposal was made to raise out-of-state tuition.”

The only opportunity for student involvement came when the tuition reports were presented at the Student Government and Senate of College Councils meetings during the last week of class-

es in December.

“We didn’t feel like there was enough time to really seek the campus’ opinion on tuition, and we didn’t feel it would be right to potentially raise people’s tuition without a chance to give them an opportunity to voice their opinions,” Clark said.

The working group’s decision to request a change in out-of-state tuition was determined by the request made by the Tuition Policy Advisory Committee in 2011.

“The reason we went with that number was because the 2011 TPAC process was the last time that the campus had a real opportunity to voice its opinions and engage in tuition,” Clark said.

He said the working group also made sure the University would comply with House Bill 29 — passed in the 83rd Texas Legislature — which requires all institutions to offer a fouryear fixed-rate tuition plan for entering students.

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is a success because it gives people access to topics they often do not get the opportunity to learn about.

“For financial or other reasons, people often feel they have to study something outside the humanities or work in a field unrelated to the humanities,” Neuberger said.

“Because they are interested in the history of the U.S. and the world, they seek out good, reliable, accessible history.”

Charley Binkow, history honors sophomore and the intern assistant for the podcast, said the setup of “15 Minutes of History” might also contribute to its large audience.

“The fact that it’s conducted in an interview style gives it a personal flair,” Binkow said.

Binkow, who became involved in the project during the fall 2013 semester, said his role includes editing as well as writing blog posts and transcripts for the website.

“It’s sort of like my labor of love,” Binkow said. “Whenever I work, I am able to learn and study history, which is my favorite thing.”

BILINGUAL

continues from page 1 “[At the time] there were very few [assessments] for bilingual kids in the U.S. and very few [assessments] that were appropriate for AfricanAmerican kids,” Pena said.

The BESA helps speech pathologists work with bilingual children by measuring language development to differentiate limited English exposure from underlying language impairments.

“I think it should help speech language pathologists who are working in schools who work with preschool and young school-age kids,” Pena said. “I think it will eventually help the kids, too.”

According to Casey Taliancich, a communication sciences and disorders graduate student who worked with Pena and Bedore on the test, pathologists who have been able to use the assessment obtain a deeper understanding of the children’s linguistic abilities.

“I feel like we get a more comprehensive picture of what the children can do in both languages.” said Taliancich, who also works as a bilingual speech language pathologist in Dallas.

Pena said she believes many bilingual children are being misdiagnosed with learning disabilities.

“Younger kids tend to be underidentified as having language impairments,” Pena said. “That delays services when they might really need them. Older kids sometimes get overidentified for language impairment when, really, they’re still in the process of learning English.”

According to Nancy Martin, owner of AR-Clinical Publications, the company that published the BESA, misdiagnoses affect the children’s education. “[Children] don’t get the right diagnosis and are tracked into different educational routes,” Martin said.

More research over bilingual language acquisition needs to be done, Bedore said.

“A lot of what we know in the U.S. — actually worldwide — about language acquisition is based on English, and English isn’t representative of the whole range of variation in languages,” Bedore said. “Studying other languages is important in terms of understanding the whole range or challenges.”

Although the assessment is intended only for bilingual children who speak English and Spanish, Pena said the test could be developed for other languages through further research.

“We study SpanishEnglish bilinguals because I think [they’re] popular languages [in] Texas, but we have somebody in our faculty who is interested in Mandarin-English, and we’ve extended a lot of our work to other language pairs too,” Pena said.

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Friday, January 31, 2014

CAMPUS

Artists paint perspectives of American West

By Zachary Keener

A tour guide at the Blanton Museum of Art presents “The Changing American Landscape” to a group of elementary students Thursday afternoon. The exhibit features a series of landscape art pieces ranging from 17th century to modern day.

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The natural landscapes of the American West captivated artists from around the world at the beginning of the 20th century — and today, the Blanton Museum of Art staff hopes the paintings those artists produced are equally ready to captivate visitors.

Docent Marion Werner led a tour Thursday of the Blanton’s C.R. Smith Collection of western art, titled “The Changing American Landscape.”

“In the late 1800s and early 1900s, [painting the American West] is what the artists were doing in the United States,” Werner said.

Werner said William Robinson’s “Leigh The Roping,” a 1914 painting featuring a cowboy riding a horse, focuses on the wildness of the West.

“What is it that you see when you look at [the painting]?” Werner said. “Can you see the sand coming all up? You can feel the dust, the wind. There is almost a

You can feel the dust, the wind. There is almost a sound when you look at it.

—Marion Werner, Blanton Docent

sound when you look at it.”

The tour also looked at paintings depicting Native Americans during the era of westward American expansion. Werner said Albert Bierstadt, who painted “Sioux Village near Fort Laramie” in 1859, admired the strong connection between Native Americans and their environment.

“He had this idea that the [Native] Americans had this natural world,” Werner said. “It is a pastoral [painting] — look at the way the Indians live.”

English junior Jonas Kleinkert, an exchange student from Germany, said he has had a fascination with the American West since he was a child.

David Lopez Daily Texan Staff

“I always wanted to be a cowboy when I was a kid,” Kleinkert said.

Mimi Deaton, a volunteer at the Blanton, said she found “Leigh The Roping” especially compelling.

“In general, I like it because

it’s lively — movement, horses stampeding — lively,” Deaton said. “It evokes West Texas. I actually grew up in North and East Texas, which [has] tiny trees, but that stuff — the colors and the landscape — that’s West Texas.”

Deaton also said few of the artists painting the American West were originally from the area.

“A lot of them were not from the out-West area,” Deaton said. “They were from Europe or the East Coast, and they

went out and painted the West.”

Werner said the painters featured in the Smith Collection were seeking to portray an American identity.

“How do you express the land of the free?” Werner said.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

UT to update analytics system

By Leila Ruiz @thedailytexan

The University’s Texas Advanced Computing Center will release a new, high performance visualization and data analytics system, known as Maverick, in February.

Originally slated for deployment in January, Maverick is the result of the center’s partnership with technology companies Hewlett-Packard and NVIDIA. Maverick will serve as the replacement to Longhorn, the collection of software visualization systems currently operating at the center.

According to Kelly Gaither, principal investigator of the Maverick project and the center’s director of visualization, Maverick will be used for scientific research and was designed as an interactive, remote visualization and analytics tool. The system will assist in analyzing mass amounts of scientific data alongside the University‘s supercomputer Stampede, launched to provide an interactive environment for researchers last March.

The research and information collected and analyzed with Maverick will be publicly acces-

LM Otero / Associated Press

In this Jan. 15 photo, math teacher Tracy Popescu, right, helps high school junior Carter Buono, 17, with a problem in an algebra II class at Flower Mound High School in Flower Mound, Texas.

State creates two new classes as algebra II replacement courses new graduation standards, which are set to take effect next fall. But that should be largely ceremonial since the major sticking points over dialing-back the algebra II mandate have now been resolved.

Creating the new courses was necessary because, in November, the board complied with the legislature and voted to drop the algebra II graduation requirement for most students. Only those pursuing honors diplomas or focusing on coursework in math and science will still have to pass the course.

But, in many school districts, especially smaller ones, students would have ended up taking algebra II anyway because they are still required to take math as part of their normal coursework and there aren’t many alternative classes offered. Now, they will have more options.

“I think we’ve reached a compromise that everyone can be comfortable with,” said Sue Melton-Malone, RWaco.

Algebra II has been a hot-button issue for months — especially since Texas was the first state to require the course for most students in 2006. Since then, 16 other states and the District of Columbia have imposed similar algebra II mandates.

Board of Education member Lawrence Allen, D-Fresno, estimated that 60 or 70 percent of Texas students would still take algebra II under the new curriculum. He said students who don’t take the class will now have a chance to master many of the same mathematical and problem-solving

Algebra II’s becoming the whipping boy.

I walk out there in the community and I don’t see any kids walking around brain dead and maimed and mangled because they had to take algebra II.

said Maverick’s ability to collect and analyze large amounts of data is useful during scientific investigations. “[Maverick] utilizes a lot of graphics processing units to accelerate the visualization of large amounts of data,” Teng said. “A lot of scientific problems have to do with the movement of particles or something that has millions of parts. The best way to demonstrate what happens in the simulation is to play a video of what happens using the system.”

Maverick contains 132 NVIDIA Telsa K40 graphics processing units, or GPUs, according to Scott Misage, high performance computing engineering director for Hewlett-Packard. Computer sciences senior Craig Yeh said the large amount of GPUs aids in the speed of data analysis. “[GPUs] are mostly used for problems that are easily parallelized, allowing for faster calculations,” Yeh said. “Additionally, you can use the GPUs to render the data into videos or stream live visualizations to the researchers and allow for interactivity.”

—David Bradley, Texas School Board of Education

concepts, though.

But fellow Democrat Ruben Cortez of Brownsville described the algebraic reasoning course as “watereddown algebra II.” Martha Dominguez, D-El Paso, said that, without proper guidance, many students, particularly minorities, may not challenge themselves and therefore wouldn’t be properly prepared for college or life beyond it whereas they would have otherwise succeeded.

“We’re not doing what’s in the best interest of our students,” Dominguez said.

Bradley, the Republican board member from Beaumont, emphasized that the board’s hands were tied because the curriculum shake up was now state law. But he said opponents were focusing too much on the course.

“Algebra II’s becoming the whipping boy,” Bradley said. “I walk out there in the community, and I don’t see any kids walking around brain dead and maimed and mangled because they had to take algebra II.” —Associated Press

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AUSTIN — The Texas Board of Education adopted two new math courses Thursday that are designed to cover much of the same material offered in algebra II, which will no longer be required for high school students under the legislature’s academic curriculum overhaul.

The move came despite many of the board’s 15 members bristling at having to scrap the state’s algebra II mandate, which was a hotly debated part of a sweeping education law overwhelmingly approved by lawmakers in May. The overhaul was designed to give schools and students more flexibility to focus on vocational training for high-paying jobs that don’t necessarily require a college degree.

“We’ve got a piece of legislation that we’ve got to put some lipstick on,” Republican board member David Bradley said.

The changes — poised to transform classrooms for the state’s more than 5 million public school students — still allow school districts to require algebra II; it’s just no longer a state mandate. The law also cut the number of standardized tests in high schools from 15 to five.

The board voted 13-2 Thursday to create two high-level math courses that could be alternatives: statistics and algebraic reasoning. Both will be developed by local schools under the guidance of the Texas Education Agency and are designed to cover many of the same concepts covered in algebra II. Board members must cast a final vote Friday to formally implement the

sible by the scientific and engineering community.

Though initially designed for researchers, Maverick will be available to students through their advisers, according to astrophysics professor Karl Gebhardt.

Gebhardt said the purpose of systems such as Maverick is the ability for users to obtain huge amounts of data, access it quickly and efficiently manipulate that data with software tools.

Maverick will be an improvement upon Longhorn in all of these facets.

“I have been using [the center’s] resources to study black holes, including the largest black holes in the universe, and dark matter around galaxies,” Gebhardt said. “Maverick will be essential for our future work with HETDEX, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment.

We will generate many petabytes of data, with the goal of understanding how the universe expands over time. These results will allow us to understand the formation, evolution and long-term fate of the universe.”

Michael Teng, a computer science graduate student,

4A OPINION

LAURA WRIGHT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / @TexanEditorial Friday, January 31, 2014

4

EDITORIAL

High time for Texas to decriminalize marijuana Gov. Rick Perry — a staunch conservative — recently told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he supports the decriminalization of marijuana. Perry explained, “as the governor of the second-largest state in the country, what I can do is start us on policies that can start us on the road towards decriminalization.”

According to USA Today, Perry’s “road towards decriminalization” is focused on “drug courts” that offer an alternative to the regular criminal justice system, as well as softer penalties for some minor drug offenses. Although Perry defended his stance by stressing the importance of Texas’ 10th Amendment right to make its own decisions about marijuana legalization — appealing to the typical Republican rhetoric about states’ rights — his support for decriminalization comes as quite a surprise, considering both his conservative background and Texas’ harsh penalties for drug-related offenses.

But, while Perry’s comments may initially strike some as misguided or “soft on crime,” they should come as a welcome surprise to all Texans. Marijuana arrests drain money out of our criminal justice system, exhaust prison resources and force police to focus on nonviolent, minor crimes — often at the expense of more serious ones.

In Texas, the possession, sale, transportation and cultivation of marijuana is illegal. Possession of less than two ounces is a Class B misdemeanor that carries up to a $2000 fine with the possibility of 180 days of jail time, and possession of between two and four ounces is a Class A misdemeanor, which means up to $4000 fine with the possibility of a year of jail time. Possession of quantities greater than four ounces is a felony, carrying the possibility of even more time behind bars in a state prison.

Nationwide, marijuana arrests are strikingly high: FBI data shows police made one marijuana arrest every 42 seconds in 2012, and one every 48 seconds in 2011.

But these arrests aren’t cheap. According

As the governor of the secondlargest state in the country, what I can do is start us on policies that can start us on the road towards decriminalization.

—Gov. Rick Perry

to the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, it costs taxpayers $120 to arrest and book one person in an urban Texas county, and then another $62.97 for each day that the individual is detained. In 2011, Texas jails housed an average of 60,000 inmates a day: That’s $3,788,200 per day spent on incarceration.

In 2010, 10 percent of total arrests in Texas for any crime were for simple drug possession — and that figure has been increasing.

In other words, taxpayers spend $378,820 every day on those arrested and incarcerated for drug possession, and that number will only increase if current trends continue.

And saving the taxpayer money isn’t the only benefit of decriminalization. Drug possession arrests can take a toll on our society in other ways, and crime data on the national level make this all too obvious.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, more people were arrested in the United States in 2012 for drug abuse-related offenses than for any other crime: 1,552,432 people. In fact, law enforcement agencies made only 521,196 arrests for the entire violent crime category, meaning that there were nearly three times as many arrests for drug offenses as there were for murder, rape or aggravated assault combined. And, of those arrested for drug offenses, only 17.8 percent faced charges related to the manufacture or sale of any controlled substance. A staggering 82.2 percent of people arrested for any drug-related crime were arrested for simple possession. But here’s where it gets interesting: An impressive 51.6 percent of those arrests were for marijuana possession.

Since the United States incarcerates its population at a higher rate than any other country in the world, and since Texas alone has the fourth-highest incarceration rate, we need to question our draconian marijuana policies. Is it right that the most common arrest in the country is for the just possession of marijuana? With every arrest, we are involving another person in an arguably broken criminal justice system, and branding that person with a criminal record that will potentially make renting an apartment or getting a job nearly impossible for the rest of his or her life. In fact, Time magazine has reported that nearly a quarter of all convicts end up homeless after their release from prison, and over half are unemployed. That’s no way to rehabilitate prisoners for their eventual return to society.

Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Perry’s office, recently explained to the Texan that “the governor is against legalizing marijuana, but he believes each state ought to be able

to make that decision.” She went on to clarify that drug courts are “a successful alternative to the traditional criminal justice system for nonviolent, first time offenders” and that they have “successfully reduced recidivism in the state.” These drug courts, however, already exist and their function seems to be limited. In Travis County, for example, defendants are only eligible if they have been charged with a felony. In other words, most simple marijuana possession cases — which carry misdemeanor charges — are still handled by the traditional criminal justice system.

But Perry’s comments highlight a broader political issue: How will the Republican Party respond to the growing pro-marijuana reform consensus? The UT College Republicans declined to comment on the issue, citing a lack of an official stance and party consensus on the topic. As marijuana decriminalization moves into the mainstream of American politics, the GOP will need to figure out where it stands.

According to a 2013 poll by Public Policy Polling, 61 percent of Texans say they would like to remove criminal penalties for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, making it a civil rather than criminal offense — punishable by a fine of up to $100 with no jail time. And 41 percent of poll respondents said they strongly support changing the law in Texas to regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol. So why hasn’t the drug been decriminalized? In Texas, voters cannot place an issue on the ballot through referendum.

Perry’s comments highlight a broader political issue: How will the Republican Party respond to the growing pro-marijuana reform consensus?

Rather, they must wait for the legislature to propose laws and amendments, which can slow down the process since the legislature often acts more conservatively.

So, although we may not agree with much of what his administration does, this editorial board is happy to see Perry offer his support — albeit limited and tepid support — for marijuana decriminalization. Because the question of whether or not to decriminalize the drug is one about economics — about what we as a state want to spend our money on — and not one about crime or safety. The cost of incarcerating those arrested for simple possession of the drug is simply too high to continue such a harsh policy. According to a recent Gallup poll, for the first time in history a majority of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana for recreational use — in other words, it’s obvious that times are changing. And, while it’s not realistic to think that the drug will be legalized in Texas anytime soon, Perry’s comments are certainly a step in the right direction.

Illustration by John Massingill/ Daily Texan Staff

TAKE YOUR SHOT

COLUMN

Firing lines: Sherlock spoilers, pension plans, and budget cuts

Not everyone is meant to lead

Every Friday, the Daily Texan editorial board will publish a selection of tweets and online comments culled from the Daily Texan website and the various Daily Texan Twitter accounts, along with direct submissions from readers.

Our intention is to continue the tradition of the Firing Line, a column first started in the Texan in 1909, in which readers share their opinions “concerning any matter of general interest they choose.” Just like in 1909, the Texan “will never express its approval or disapproval of opinions given under the [Firing Line] header.” In other words, take your shot.

Submissions can be sent to editor@dailytexanonline.com.

“Thanks for the spoilers. You should have held this until the episode aired.”

— Online commenter PalRogue, in response to the Life and Arts article “Sherlock Holmes’ ultimate enemy returns” “Whose idea was it to put the headline “Sherlock Holmes’ Ultimate Enemy Returns” in your newspaper??? That’s a huge spoiler for the season finale, which doesn’t air in the U.S. until next Sunday. Yes, I know you didn’t put Moriarty’s name in the headline, but everyone will know who you mean. Very thoughtless!!”

— Wendy Shannon, submitted via e-mail in response to the Life and Arts article “Sherlock Holmes’ ultimate enemy returns” “The writer of the article in the arts and life section who wrote about the Season 3 closer of Sherlock may want to check his/her dates on the episode 3 premiere. Episode 3 is not supposed to premiere until this Sunday in the United States. The writer gave away a serious spoiler for that episode.”

— Katherine Teasdale, Chemistry Senior, submitted via e-mail in response to the Life and Arts article “Sherlock Holmes’ ultimate enemy returns” “Unfunded pensions at any percentage should be illegal and pension funds should also not be allowed to be raided by any part of government. There also needs to be the ability for adjustments when the market hits records low for an extended period of time. I wish someone would guarantee 8% to me on my 401K or back my returns with tax increases. If greedy union intervention could be eliminated most pension funds would be stable.”

— Online commenter Mike, in response to the opinion piece “What Texans can learn from Detroit bankruptcy” “The budget cuts couldn’t have anything to do with the grand exhibit about Evolution, could it?”

— Online commenter joefalco, in a response to the news article “Petitioners protest proposed budget cuts to the Texas Memorial Museum”

LEGALESE | Opinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the article. They are not necessarily those of the UT administration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.

By Amanda Almeda Daily Texan Columnist @Amanda_Almeda

The college admissions process often causes high school students to think of leadership positions as currency. This mind-set, when it persists at the University level, devalues a rich learning opportunity and contributes to the false impression that leadership in student organizations is a necessary check mark to secure employment or a slot in graduate school. Furthermore, as mentioned in a recent article in The Atlantic by Tara Isabella Burton, American colleges place an overemphasis on leadership, and there are other valuable interpersonal qualities we should regard with similar esteem.

Ultimately, student leadership is a lot less important in the hiring process than it is for applying to college. A 2008 collegegrad.com survey of 500 entry-level employers listed factors employers consider most important when hiring new graduates. It revealed that employers barely take into account student leadership, which was not even directly included in the list. It fits best under the category of “other miscellaneous qualifications,” which ranked at 5 percent in importance, preceded by major (44 percent), interviewing skills (18 percent), internship/ experience (17 percent) and college the student graduated from (10 percent). By a slight margin, it ranks higher than GPA (4 percent), personal appearance (1 percent) and computer skills (1 percent).

For graduate school, where GPA is a much more significant factor, it is important to know one’s ideal balance between leadership and academics. In a study on the relationship between undergraduate student activity and academic performance, researchers at Purdue University found

SUBMIT A FIRING LINE | E-mail your Firing Lines to editor@dailytexanonline.com. Letters must be more than 100 and fewer than 300 words. The Texan reserves the right to edit all submissions for brevity, clarity and liability.

that, although, on average, student leaders above the 3.0 level tended to have higher GPAs than organization members and non-participating students, involvement in more than five organizations caused average GPAs to decline.

True, organizational involvement can help reveal a bit of one’s personality on a resume. But there is much more to leadership than the impression it leaves on employers, so we should stop allowing ourselves to define it so narrowly.

The value of leadership lies in how it can help in one’s personal development. This view, of leadership as a learning opportunity, is what we should emphasize instead—especially as an institute of education. Through leadership positions, students can learn and practice things that aren’t necessarily taught in the classroom. Among other things, it can foster initiative, responsibility, adaptability and interpersonal skills. These are the traits that we should be developing as college students and, simply put, as people.

In redefining leadership, we shouldn’t allow the term to lose its meaning because we prescribe it as valuable in all contexts.

As mentioned earlier, The Atlantic’s Burton makes a case for other valuable interpersonal qualities, such as teamwork, which are often overshadowed with the American obsession with leadership. She also warns against the reduction of leadership to a requirement. Leadership redefined should forge new pathways, and should be one among many interpersonal styles that is lauded by the University.

Our concern with leadership should not be about a means to an end, a rat race or as the power-hungry ascent up a beaten path.

Leadership is a process. It is an opportunity to grow and a chance to pave new roads — and it is okay if it is not for everyone.

Almeda is a marketing senior from Seattle.

RECYCLE | Please recycle this copy of The Daily Texan.

Place the paper in one of the recycling bins on campus or back in the burnt-orange newsstand where you found it.

EDITORIAL TWITTER | Follow The Daily Texan Editorial Board on Twitter (@TexanEditorial) and receive updates on our latest editorials and columns.

SPTS 5

5

STEFAN SCRAFIELD, SPORTS EDITOR / @texansports Friday, January 31, 2014

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Stopping Wiggins key for UT

SIDELINE NBA SUNS

By Stefan Scrafield @stefanscrafield

Not a single player on this season’s Longhorn roster knows what it feels like to play a game as a ranked team.

The last time Texas was ranked was March 14, 2011.

Junior forward Jonathan Holmes was preparing to graduate from high school, sophomores Cameron Ridley and Javan Felix were in the 11th grade and breakout freshman Isaiah Taylor was still learning to drive.

That will change when the No. 25 Longhorns play host to No. 6 Kansas (16-4, 7-0 Big 12), this Saturday. After spending nearly three years outside of the rankings, Texas finally cracked the AP Top 25 this week after knocking off three top-25 teams, in three consecutive games, for the first time in school history.

“It’s a pretty big accomplishment,” Holmes said.

“But our mind-set all year has been to not be content with how we are doing. We are trying to get better each day in practice. We really haven’t done anything yet.”

And what a stage for such a game. The contest will be televised nationally on ESPN and will mark the first top-25 matchup at the Frank Erwin Center since the Longhorns, who were ranked No. 7 at the time, toppled No. 11 Missouri on Jan. 29, 2011.

The Jayhawks, a perennial national championship contender, are as hot as any

PACERS

CAVALIERS

KNICKS

CLIPPERS

WARRIORS

NCAAB CINCINATTI

LOUISVILLE Shelby Tauber / Daily Texan Staff

Sophomore Demarcus Holland will likely draw the biggest test of any player when Texas hosts Kansas and he is matched up against Kansas freshman sensation Andrew Wiggins. Holland has emerged as a shutdown defender for the Longhorns this season.

team in the country as they roll in to Austin. Led by freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, both of whom are expected to be top three selections in this year’s NBA draft, Kansas has won seven straight to open up conference play.

Wiggins struggled to live up to the hype early on in his freshman campaign but has been very dominant lately. The lanky, 6-foot-8-

WEEKEND PREVIEWS

forward Perry Ellis, who also stands at 6 feet 8 inches and certainly can’t be defended by a guard.

Regardless of whom Barnes decides is best equipped to shut Wiggins down, they likely won’t be left alone. A combination of zones and double-teams have worked best against Wiggins this year, and there’s no reason to believe the Texas coaching staff won’t try the same thing.

Longhorns must erase errors against conference foe Baylor

By Jori Epstein @JoriEpstein

Lloyd Glasspool Junior

for its free service.

The team will hand out free pizza to the first 75 fans.

These are just a couple of reasons to come early and watch a top-ranked team in action.

Play between the Longhorns and Crimson Tide will begin at noon Saturday.

TRACK AND FIELD / GRANT GORDON The Texas track and field program will split up this week, with the distance and field event groups heading to Arkansas for the Razorback Team Invitational while the sprinters and quarter-milers dash to Iowa State for the Bill Bergan Invitational.

The Longhorns will certainly have their hands full at the small-but-loaded meet in Fayetteville, Ark. The 19thranked men will be facing off against five top-10 teams, including the top two teams in the country in Arkansas and Florida, while the second-ranked women also compete against five teams in the women’s top 10, including third-ranked archrival Texas A&M. The sprinters should have

quickly developed a reputation as one of the top defenders in the Big 12, would likely be Rick Barnes’ first choice to guard the Kansas superstar.

But, at 6 feet 2 inches, Holland gives up 6 inches to Wiggins, which will make it very difficult for the Longhorn guard to handle Wiggins inside. Another option would be to match Holmes against Wiggins, but that would mean finding someone else to guard Kansas

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S TENNIS / CHRIS CARAVEO After a thrilling win last Sunday in Nashville, Tenn., the Longhorns return home to face No. 32 Alabama.

Texas (5-0) will play at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center for the first time this season. Its first two home matches were played at the indoor Edgar O. and Melanie A. Weller Tennis Center.

The Longhorns moved up six spots to No. 14 in the ITA Rankings after tallying two wins against top-20 opponents Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.

As an incentive for coming to the match, Bevo’s Baseline Brigade — the official fan club of Texas tennis — will give out free T-shirts to the first 150 people who sign up

inch guard, whom many have compared to former Longhorn Kevin Durant, has posted career-highs with 27 and 29 points in each of his last two games.

Guarding Wiggins may be Texas’ biggest challenge come Saturday. Wiggins’ size and speed, combined with his ability to score from anywhere, make him very difficult to match up against. Sophomore Demarcus Holland, who has

Ryan Crouser Junior

less trouble at the event in Ames, Iowa, although the men will be weary of fourthranked Wisconsin and No. 15 Minnesota.

Although neither team is likely to place well in its respective meet because of the event split, the weekend will be a chance to showcase individual talent.

Entering the round-robin series against Baylor last year, head coach Karen Aston knew hopes were lost.

At 9-12, 2-8 Big 12, Aston’s squad held no chance against then-No. 1 Baylor (21-1, 11-0 Big 12) and Aston knew Baylor was “dominating on the defensive end.” The Bears soon swept Texas 75-48 and 67-47.

But Aston and Texas left their growing pains in the 2012-2013 season, entering this year with a plan to “own it,” play with heart and pursue their biggest conference threat: No. 9 Baylor.

“Nobody has beaten Baylor yet, so I think we’re still chasing them until someone beats them,” Aston said in an Oct. 16 season preview. “The league went through some hard times last year, and, obviously, Baylor was head and shoulders above everyone.”

Much has changed since last season: Brittney Griner graduated, the Bears remember what a loss feels like, and Texas has remembered in recent games what it takes to

win. The No. 7 Bears (13-3, 7-1 Big 12) still top the conference, but Texas no longer cushions the bottom.

Here are three keys for Texas to pull off an upset against Baylor: 1) Pass to Chassidy Fussell and Brady Sanders behind the arc.

Against Kansas on Tuesday night, the duo combined for seven 3-pointers on 80 and 75 percent shooting from behind the arc, respectively. Maximizing this hot streak with Nneka Enemkpali’s penetration will make the Longhorns much more difficult to defend.

2) Send Nneka Enemkpali to crash the boards.

Enemkpali, a junior forward, is averaging 13.1 points and 9.2 rebounds. The Kansas game brought her sixth double-double of the season, and last week’s 15 points and 21 rebounds against No. 18 West Virginia earned her Big 12 Player of the Week this week.

3) Control senior guard Odyssey Sims.

Without Griner, Sims

controls the Bears’ offense.

Sims is averaging 29.5 points and 4.6 rebounds through Big 12 play this season. When Sims is on, she pulls off overtime miracles such as the three-point play in the last four seconds of overtime against No. 8 Oklahoma State. But when she’s off — like she was in the 76-60 loss to Kansas — Baylor struggles as a whole.

Restricting Sims to four of 19 in the second half after allowing her 20 points before halftime, Kansas pulled away. Coming off their first conference road game in the very gym that dealt the Bears their first conference loss should motivate the Longhorns. “[Sims] is the best point guard in the country,” Aston said after last year’s game. “It’s her ability to take over on both ends — she dominates on the defensive end.”

Texas has shown it’s capable of contending with conference foes and ranked opponents, such as Baylor. Now is the Longhorns’ chance to prove they’ve eliminated senseless errors and overcome their road struggles.

WOMEN’S TENNIS / CHRIS CARAVEO The Longhorns face their greatest challenge of the dual-match season Friday when they host defending national champion Stanford.

No. 17 Texas will go up against a highly ranked Cardinal team, including No. 6 Kristie Ahn and two top-16 doubles tandems.

The Cardinal beat the Longhorns 7-0 in their game

last year in Palo Alto, Calif.

Weather problems have been an obstacle for the team.

“Fortunately, we have our [back-up] indoor facility so we’ve been able to make good use of that,” head coach Patty FendickMcCain said.

The forecast predicts a sunny and mild setting for the 2:30 p.m. start.

Shweta Gulati / Daily Texan Staff

Junior forward Nneka Enemkpali has been the Longhorns’ go-to player this season, averaging a team-high 13.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

TOP TWEET John Harris @JohnHarris00

“Somewhere between I want it and I got it ...”

SPORTS BRIEFLY Longtime Ranger Michael Young retires

After 14 long years infielder Michael Young has decided to hang up his cleats, a source confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

Young spent the 2013 season splitting time between the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers, hitting .249 in the process. But Young’s legacy will be defined by his time in Texas.

The third baseman from Covina, Calif., spent 13 seasons with the Rangers, winning a batting title in 2005 and a Gold Glove in 2008. He played 1,837 games in a Ranger uniform and competed in two World Series as a member of the team.

For his career, Young finishes with a .300 batting average and six seasons with 200 or more hits. Young was never put on the disabled list in his career, adding durability to his consistency at the plate for a stellar professional resume.

—Matt Warden

Zimbabwe sends first athlete to Sochi games

Zimbabwe has seen a sprinkling of snow only once, and it wasn’t even in Luke Steyn’s lifetime.

Doesn’t matter one bit.

The 20-year-old Steyn will still be the southern African country’s first Winter Olympics athlete when he races in the slalom and giant slalom at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia — the final stage of a journey from his sweltering, snowless country of birth to the University of Colorado and beyond.

“He might not get a gold, but there’s plenty of time,” Kevin Atkinson, the head of the Zimbabwe Snow Sports Association, told The Associated Press.

“It’s great experience and a fantastic achievement to represent our country at the Winter Games.”

Alongside Steyn’s personal story, it’s also remarkable that Zimbabwe has a snow sports organization. Snow has fallen in the country once, records indicate, over 50 years ago when a light dusting settled in a central region in 1960.

—Associated Press

6 COMICS 6

Friday, January 31, 2014

COMICS

The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Friday, January 31, 2014

Edited by Will Shortz

Crossword ACROSS 1 Compliment after a dive 10 Word with cellar or door 15 2012 billiondollar Facebook acquisition 16 Dermatologist’s case 17 Things employed to show the passage of time à la “Citizen Kane” 18 Some saucers 19 Mixed ___ 20 ’50s-’60s sitcom nickname 21 Cant 22 Identifies 24 Small jerk 26 Accord 27 Brown refreshers 30 Caustic soda, chemically 32 ___ kwon do 33 Gridiron datum: Abbr.

ANSWER I D A H A R R A N U C L G O O S D R J I K E S P O T E A R I F B A R A E C A R G E N E E M I R M E S S

34 So-called “potted physician”

58 Leader of Uganda’s independence movement 36 Oscar60 Subject of a nominated film landmark 2012 featuring a Supreme Court dentist-turneddecision bounty hunter 62 Dice 40 Home of Sky Tower, the tallest 63 Final say free-standing 64 Apply structure in 65 Like Albert the Southern Einstein, Hemisphere ethnically 41 “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” girl DOWN 42 Morse bit 1 Add zip to 2 “Hold on …”

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LIFE&ARTS

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Friday, January 31, 2014

MOVIE REVIEW | ‘LABOR DAY’

Reitman’s newest film proves too melodramatic to redeem

By Lee Henry @leehenry220

In a career filled with a brilliant mix of sarcastic humor and genuine emotion, director Jason Reitman has finally directed his first wholly dramatic project.

“Labor Day” is a learning film, a drama made on training wheels from the director of poignant but hilarious works, such as “Juno” and “Up in the Air.” For Reitman, it seems that straying this far out of his comfort zone has resulted in a wellshot, weepy and often winceinducing melodrama.

“Labor Day” follows agoraphobic homemaker Adele (Kate Winslet) and her 13-year-old son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) on a particularly lonely iteration of the titular weekend. Adele is divorced. Her ex-husband and Henry’s father (an underused Clark Gregg) has a new wife and family. Their life is simple, quiet and slightly creepy. Henry fills the role of husband in every way he can and verbally acknowledges the areas he can’t.

The origins of Adele’s agoraphobia are unknown, but it’s severe enough that store clerks and bank tellers are used to seeing Henry run errands unaccompanied. Adele’s small degree of control over her life is shattered when an escaped convict (Josh Brolin) holds her and Henry hostage with the intent of leaving on the next train. But the trains aren’t running on Labor Day, so Frank, the convict in

question, is stuck.

Frank ends up being charming and kind, possessing near-mystical levels of domesticity. He does things like cook chili, fix the car and clean the gutters, ‘LABOR DAY’ and, in one of the weirdest scenes of movie foreplay, he teaches Adele and Henry to Director: Jason Reitman bake a pie. “Labor Day” pro- Genre: Drama/Romance ceeds in predictable fash- Runtime: 111 minutes ion. Convict Frank fills the role of father and husband so well it’s like a dream, even Eric Steelberg and producas flashbacks slowly tease tion designer Steve Saklad out the details surrounding are doing. Saklad’s design his crime. He and Adele fall creates a haunting vision of in love as Henry discovers a loneliness and claustrophobia in the house where most new father figure.

Brolin and Winslet are of the scenes take place.

The quick editing Reitman well cast and handle their parts admirably. Brolin’s is known for is back, albeit in early scenes are especially a much more somber, lowstrong. His role as Frank is key form, and many scenes mercurial and impossible are punctuated by narration to read, smoothly slipping from Tobey Maguire, who from genial and helpful to plays an older, omniscient feral without ever seeming version of Henry. Maguire cartoonish. Winslet sells her is given line after cumbercharacter’s fear and fragility some line explaining how his with a body-encompassing younger self is feeling, rather performance and an eye- than trusting Griffith to do brow arch that would make so with his expressive but Lena Headey jealous. What quiet performance.

“Labor Day” is a comholds these actors back is a surprisingly clunky screen- pletely new direction for play adapted by Reitman Reitman, and it’s not the from Joyce Maynard’s novel best fit. The movie feels like the kind of ’50s meloof the same name.

Reitman has called this drama that Todd Haynes a movie without cynicism, purposely emulates in the which puts it in opposition brilliant “Far from Heavto his past works, but the en.” But where that film efearnestness of “Labor Day” fectively channels the style is better described as chees- into homage, “Labor Day” iness. The script is packed functions as a series of with lines so sappy even musical swells, rough lines Meryl Streep couldn’t sell and soapy plot twists that them, and they undermine ultimately let down its talthe good work that Wins- ented cast and its normally let, Brolin, cinematographer proficient director.

Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin act in a scene from “Labor Day.”

ON THE WEB | MULTIMEDIA

Check out our video online at dailytexanonline.com

Telescope viewings offer students a view of the universe Students and space enthusiasts gather on the roof of Robert Lee Moore Hall every Wednesday night to peer through the 16inch telescope there, and catch a glimpse of the cosmos. On a clear night, anyone can

BRAZIL

LEE

continues from page 8 here. Parts of Love’s Crushing Diamond were recorded at OHM Recording Facility, a studio in East Austin run

by Chico Jones. Lee worked as an intern there during his time in Austin, and he became close friends with Jones.

“He actually is more family

Dale Robinette Associated Press

UNS AD IRNE FOR ONL

E! E R F d wor

ad s

only

In Rio, they say the rich become poor, and the poor become rich. Everyone kind of meets in this middle ground under the mask.

continues from page 8 features costumes and dancers, it is really focused on the idea of music. In Brazil, there are standard Carnaval songs people know by heart.

“There are more Carnaval songs in Brazil that have been written for or about Carnaval than Christmas carols in the U.S.,” Quinn said. “Thousands of Carnaval songs exist because every year there are 50 or 60 new songs written, and this has been going on since the early 20th century, so think about the numbers.”

These songs are composed mainly in the style of Samba, which combines traditional Brazilian and African music.

“It’s a pulsating, swung rhythm which can be slow and sensuous or fiery and sizzling,” said Robert Pat-

come and see for themselves everything from Jupiter and its moons to a supernova. We interviewed Lara Eakins who oversees the telescope and hosts the weekly star parties.

—Dan Resler

—Mike Quinn Producer

terson, founder and director of the Academicos da Opera. “In any of its various manifestations, it’s basically irresistible.”

Patterson formed the Academicos da Opera after visiting Rio and seeing the widespread popularity of samba schools in Brazil.

Samba schools are not actual schools, but rather they are communities where people go to play music together.

“I liked that idea of having a sort of tribe to which people could belong, centered around something positive like playing music and dancing,” Patterson said. “So I set about

figuring out how to do it, how to put it together.”

Carnaval Brasileiro has a new theme for each year’s party. This year’s theme is based on the movie “Black Orpheus.” The Austin Samba School will infuse the film’s themes and plot into their performance.

“It’s a wonderful celebration that brings in energy and great music and dance and costume and fantasy,” Wheat said. “It really has struck a responsive chord in a city like Austin. We celebrate our weirdness here and this is something that brings it out.”

to me than anything because he lived with me for a while,” Jones said.

Lee recorded much of Love’s Crushing Diamond with cheap equipment and was frustrated with the quality, so he brought it to Jones and asked for his advice.

Jones offered to help Lee by rerecording the vocals and other parts of the album. Ac-

cording to Jones, what Lee needed was a friend to be honest with him.

“The conversation we had was whether it’s more important to be prolific or to make something that can stand the test of time,” Jones said. “Obviously, the answer is that both are important, and I think [Lee’s] done that.”

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HANNAH SMOTHERS, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR / @DailyTexanArts Friday, January 31, 2014

8

TRIBE

continues from page 1 the sisters are looking to set up in Austin for good.

Both Calhoun sisters pursued work in fashion, exploring different jobs and style cultures from all over. After years of moving around, the Calhouns were ready for something new.

In 2012, the sisters were set up above Royal Blue Groceries on Congress Avenue from November through December. Once the lease was up, Courtney Calhoun returned to New York until she decided it was time she come back and focus all of her energy on Tribe.

“We started because we wanted to do a creative project together and on our own terms,” Courtney Calhoun said. “I needed a change of pace, I missed my sister and, you know, it’s Austin.”

Part of the sisters’ main goal with this endeavor is to help emerging Austin designers get their names heard.

“There are so many creative people in this city, and it can be quite overwhelming to get your product out there, and so we want to champion the underdog,” Courtney Calhoun said.

Through family, friends, old co-workers and websites such as Etsy, the sisters scoped out Austin vendors to supply their shop. Myra Naylor, UT alumna and owner of a small clothing business named Dakota’s Vintage in Austin, is in her second year of business with Tribe.

“It’s good for us and it’s good for them,” Naylor said. “They’ve got a good eye for what people are looking for.”

Shelby Tauber / Daily Texan Staff

Counrtney and Brooke Calhoun, Austin natives and sisters, came together to form the pop-up shop Tribe For the Masses. The sisters are working on plans to set up shop permanently in the city and hope to keep their current location on Congress.

While the majority of their products come directly from Austin designers, the Calhouns also work to bring in pieces from their favorite places as well, such as New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans.

“The whole idea is that when you come to our store, you’re seeing things that you can’t find anywhere else,” Courtney Calhoun said. “Especially in this sort of assortment.”

Encouraged by the success that the pop-up had this December, the

Calhouns were able to keep it running through January and will possibly remain open in their current location through February, depending on what the business permits.

“What makes it so amazing, coming from New York, is this feels like a shop you can find in SoHo, Chinatown or the Lower East Side,” said Jamie Morales, visual creative for James Perce and old friend of the Calhouns.

The Calhouns agree that running the shop has proven

to be rewarding.

“The relationships that have developed with the artists and watching them come into their own and seeing first-hand how skilled they are is inspiring,” Brooke Calhoun said.

Their e-commerce website is set to launch this February. Vendors’ spring collections will be made available to order on the website at that time. The website is an asset to the large international crowd that comes through their shop, creating a widespread following for

MUSIC

the store.

“Since we do have limited-edition runs with artists, that’s the good thing too,” Brooke Calhoun said. “You’ll always find new, fresh inventory on the website and in the pop up.”

Integrating the experiences they have had, the interesting people they have met and the sisters’ individualities is what the Calhouns believe sets them apart from many of the other boutiques around Austin.

“It has this magic synergy,” Courtney Calhoun said. “We’ve curated the stuff we really love and find the best products from the best emerging designers from our favorite places.”

The sisters believe their decision to name the business Tribe For the Masses has been serendipitous.

“We really have built a tribe of people that we really believe in, who have helped us and we’ve helped them,” Courtney Calhoun said.

CITY

Carnaval Brasileiro offers cultural blend

By Elly Dearman @EllyDearman

Photo courtesy of the Windish Agency

Mutual Benefit’s first album Love’s Crushing Diamond was originally intended to be a limited-run, cassette only release, but became a full release after receiving early critical acclaim from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone.

Local artist returns to Austin on tour

By David Sackllah @dsackllah

Love’s Crushing Diamond — Jordan Lee’s breakthrough album under the name Mutual Benefit — was only supposed to be a limited-run, physical release of 250 copies.

But plans changed after the record was named Best New Album by Pitchfork and received attention from Rolling Stone.

Because of the sudden high demand, Lee signed to Brooklyn-based Other Music Recording Co., and the record got a traditional wide release.

“I didn’t have a lot of ambition to be on a bigger label or anything,” Lee said.

“This one got a little more attention and we had it be a bigger release. I don’t know.

It’s kind of all the same.”

The 25-year-old musician started Mutual Benefit when he was living in

Austin after graduating from high school in Ohio.

After moving around to Boston, St. Louis and his current home in Brooklyn, Lee is returning to Austin.

He is currently touring to promote the new record, and his concert Friday night at Mohawk will be the first time Mutual Benefit has ever played in the city where Lee’s music began.

“I saw so many bands at Mohawk, and it’ll be fun to actually be in a band that’s playing there,” Lee said.

Lee started Mutual Benefit as a recording project in 2009 when he was living on East Second Street.

Back then, he used a field recorder to make experimental pop for cassette releases. After releasing a handful of EPs, he started booking live shows in 2011, recruiting friends to play with him for every performance.

The conversation we had was whether it’s more important to be prolific or to make something that can stand the test of time. Obviously, the answer is that both are important, and I think (Lee’s) done that.

—Chico Jones OHM Recording Studios

Mutual Benefit is playing small venues on this tour and has been selling out shows in many cities, such as Toronto. Lee, who is used to being the opening band when touring, appreciates getting to play last.

“Normally, I get the feeling that people are like, ‘I can’t wait for this band to finish so I can see the band I came to see,’ but I don’t feel that this time,” Lee said.

Love’s Crushing Diamond is an intensely

personal record with songs about death and loss.

Lee said that the songs were difficult to play live at first, but that playing them over and over again has desensitized him to the content.

“I’ve just learned how to look like I’m pretend-sad on stage,” Lee said. “I’m just a big fake.”

Mutual Benefit’s connection to Austin is greater than just being influenced by Lee’s time

LEE page 7

In 1975, a group of homesick Brazilian exchange students at UT started one of the biggest indoor Carnaval celebrations outside of Brazil.

The students missed Brazil’s pre-Lent tradition of Carnaval, so they decided to throw their own at a local Unitarian church. The event grew from there into the huge celebration it is today: Carnaval Brasileiro.

Traditionally, Carnaval is a day set aside by the Catholic Church for people to have fun and celebrate before fasting for Lent — the six-week period leading up to Easter. In this time, practicing Catholics were supposed to forego certain luxuries. “[Carnaval] is a ritual for the countries where people really pay attention to the Catholic calendar,” said John Wheat, archives translator at UT’s Briscoe Center for American History and member of the Austin Samba School. “It exists here, too. People observe Ash Wednesday and Lent, but the celebration — pre-Lent Carnaval — didn’t really take root

in this country so much, except in places like Mardi Gras in New Orleans and some other southern cities where that culture took home.”

Current producer Mike Quinn took over Carnaval Brasileiro in 1978. He was attracted to Carnaval because of the positive messages the celebration carries and wanted to expand the event to as many people as possible. The event now features two bands: Beleza Brasil and the Academicos da Opera, or the Austin Samba School. Quinn is expecting more than 6,000 people to attend this year’s Carnaval.

“I think we need more excuses to really let go and really let inhibitions down and have a great time,” Quinn said. “That’s one of the ideas about Carnaval everywhere, is that whole idea of putting on a mask. It allows people to become classless and anonymous. In Rio, they say the rich become poor, and the poor become rich.

Everyone kind of meets in this middle ground under the mask.”

Although Carnaval

BRAZIL page 7

Mike McGraw/ Daily Texan Staff

In preparation for Carnaval, samba dancers of all ages practice their moves at the recreation center in the Texas State hospital on Wednesday evening.