The Daily Texan 2017-09-05

Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

@thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com

CAMPUS

FOOTBALL | MARYLAND 51 - 41 TEXAS

Reality check.

Harvey affects over one-third of students

Longhorns fall flat in season opener against Maryland after months of preseason hype

By Hannah Daniel News Desk Editor

Gabriel Lopez | Daily Texan Staff

Junior wide receiver Jerrod Heard hauls in a reception against Maryland on Saturday afternoon. The Longhorns struggled on offense throughout the day, failing to score an offensive touchdown until midway through the third quarter.

By Trenton Daeschner Associate Sports Editor

It was a start the Longhorns could only have dreamed about — a pick-six on the opening series for the Texas defense.

A tipped pass fell right into the hands of junior cornerback Holton Hill, who ran it back to the house to put the Longhorns up early. What could possibly go wrong from there?

But everything that could go wrong seemingly did go wrong after the

Longhorns took a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter. The head-scratching mistakes that doomed the Longhorns under former head coach Charlie Strong reared their head once again at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday as Texas fell to Maryland, 51-41.

“We’re our own worst enemy right now,” head coach Tom Herman said. “So I told our guys to never get used to this feeling, but that if we all thought that we were going to come in here and in nine months, sprinkle some

Volume 118, Issue 15

fairy dust on this team and think that we’ve arrived, then we’re wrong.”

There were miscues abound on defense, including four touchdowns allowed of more than 20 yards. And there were agonizing special teams errors, too. The Longhorns had a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown and also fumbled a kickoff.

Multiple Texas players said post-game that the feelings of last season never crept back into their minds, but regardless, the team’s errors crippled their chances of beating

the Terrapins.

“It doesn’t feel like last year,” junior linebacker Malik Jefferson said. “I think it’s a lot of self-inflicted wounds. You can’t point any fingers because it was all over the field.”

Maryland didn’t flinch after Hill’s opening interception.

The Terrapins unleashed 27 unanswered points to grab complete control of the game.

At one point, the Longhorns attempted a 44-yard field goal before a dose of deja vu hit like a bad headache. The

FOOTBALL page 3

For thousands of UT students, the devastation of Hurricane Harvey hits close to home.

Advertising junior Hana Mostajeran was forced to leave her home when Houston began emptying reservoirs to prevent dams from breaking, causing severe flooding. Mostajeran said she and her family packed whatever belongings they could carry and waded through deep floodwaters until they found a ride to a nearby hotel.

Mostajeran said her family returned to their home on a boat this weekend to survey the damage and found it still about five feet underwater.

“The inside of the house is done,” Mostajeran said.

“I basically grew up there.

There are a lot of memories, and the house has a lot of sentimental value, but we can get past it. Everyone made it out safely, so at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”

More than 17,000 UT students, including more than one-third of UT undergraduate students, are from hurricane-affected counties, according to data provided by J.B. Bird, UT director of media relations.

Mostajeran said she

missed class last week to be with her family but has now returned to campus.

She said it is hard to return to her normal routine while her family is struggling back home.

“Half of my mind is there with them,” Mostajeran said. “Even though I’m trying to get back on the school grind, I’m constantly worried about them.”

Biology junior Laura Michie was already on campus when her hometown of Kingwood, Texas, flooded, resulting in damage to houses and the closure of her high school.

Michie said the disaster has brought her community together, with people helping each other with things such as food, laundry and home repairs.

“My whole community has been devastated,” Michie said. “I feel powerless being stuck here while my family is ripping up people’s floors and knocking sheetrock out of their houses.”

Biochemistry junior Leo Angulo said his house in Katy, Texas, did not sustain major damage, but that the effects on his hometown are devastating nonetheless. “(Seeing) places I’ve grown up with for 15 years … all go away in

HARVEY page 2

CAMPUS

SB 4 protest ends with one in hospital, one in jail

By London Gibson Senior Reporter

University of Texas Police arrested a protester on charges of assault and bodily injury at 11:45 a.m. Friday after a Daily Texan reporter was hit, drawing blood and requiring stitches for the injury.

The protester was Latin American studies graduate student Eric Nava-Perez, who joined fellow students Friday morning to protest anti-sanctuary city legislation and support immigrant rights. Journalism sophomore Chase Karacostas was covering the protest when he was struck at around 11:30 a.m., just as the protesters began marching to the Texas Capitol.

Police arrested Nava-Perez on Speedway in front of the Blanton Museum. University

spokeswoman Cindy Posey said Nava-Perez was booked into the Travis County Jail shortly after.

Roughly 25 protesters gathered that morning in opposition of Senate Bill 4, a piece of Texas legislation requiring cities to comply with federal immigration authorities and authorizing local law enforcement to question a person’s immigration status during routine stops. A federal judge temporarily blocked the legislation last week.

Many of the protesters were not immediately aware any violence had taken place. After Nava-Perez was escorted from the scene, they chanted, “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”

“I feel really upset about

Eric’s arrest,” said Ashley Theissen, events organizer for the College of Natural Sciences.

“We were not being disruptive at all, it seemed wrong.”

Later in the day, a crowd of about 22 assembled around the Travis County Jail to call for Nava-Perez’s release. Most said they could not recall Nava-Perez assaulting anyone and that he was being detained unfairly.

Nava-Perez is a member of the student group Sanctuary UT and played a role in organizing the protest that day.

Though the protest was led by students, non-students such as Theissen participated as well.

She said she took a day off of work to join the students on their march to the Capitol.

“I just felt like it’s not safe for

PROTEST page 2

Brooke Crim | Daily Texan Staff

Latin American studies graduate student Eric Nava-Peres was arrested on charges of assault and bodily injury during a Senate Bill 4 protest on Friday Morning.

CAMPUS

UT students come together to help Harvey relief efforts

By Lisa Nhan

News Desk Editor

UT students and alumni are joining the effort to address Hurricane Harvey’s widespread damage to southeast Texas.

Student groups across campus are organizing

fundraisers for disaster relief in the areas affected by last month’s storm.

Humanity First, a relief organization, is planning multiple events this semester to help Harvey victims.

By posting Snapchat stories and sending direct messages asking friends to Venmo

donations, Humanity First raised over $1,500 to buy hygiene kits, according to Rishi Gonuguntla, digital marketing coordinator for Humanity First.

Until Sept. 18, Humanity First will be hosting Headshots for Harvey with 40 Acres Photography, where

students pay for professional portraits, pictures and headshots. All proceeds from the event will be going to Humanity First USA Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

Gonuguntla, a biology sophomore, said while small donations may seem

ineffective, they can have a large impact.

“With disaster relief, it’s important to note that the work of an average person is critical,” Gonuguntla said. “The effort of an individual can go a long way.

It shows that not only are you helping to relieve the

disaster, you’re providing a human connection. You’re showing them that they aren’t alone in this disaster.”

This past weekend, UT service group Texas Blazers volunteered with some of their alumni who coordinated relief programs in

RELIEF page 3

NEWS

OPINION

LIFE&ARTS

SPORTS

SCI&TECH

SG hosts first celebration for first-generation college students. PAGE 2

Columnists discuss the responses to Hurricane Harvey. PAGE 4

Director of China Policy Center reflects on time abroad. PAGE 8

Holton Hill shines in Texas’ loss to Maryland.

PAGE 6

UT supercomputer runs solar eclipse simulation. PAGE 5

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Tuesday, September 5, 2017

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

SG celebrates first-generation students

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ISSUE STAFF Reporters Allyson Waller Sports Writers Keshav Prathivadi Comics Artists Laura Moyer Opinion Audrey Larcher, Yulissa Chavez

Some of the University’s first-generation college students attended the first ever celebration in their honor Sunday night.

Student Government and the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement organized the First Generation Kickoff and brought together 55 students to learn about campus opportunities and to be introduced to community members who may be able to help them in their time at UT. “It is to empower those students who are first-generation college students,” student body president Alejandrina Guzman said. “I don’t want students to feel that they’re alone, that they don’t have resources on campus.”

Political communications freshman Kaylee Caffey said the kickoff night led her to information that will help her start off her time at UT. “I kind of went into this blind because I was never able to ask my parents about their experiences because they never went to college,” Caffey said.

“I think that it’s really important that they’re getting the information out there to people that don’t really have it.”

UT President Gregory Fenves joined in on the festivities and invited the students

PROTEST

CONTACT US

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students out on campus if we don’t show that that kind of law isn’t welcome,” Theissen said.

“As a staff member I feel like it’s my responsibility.”

Students from a variety of social justice campus

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Laura Hallas (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com

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Student body vice president Alejandrina Guzman with students at the first annual First Generation Kickoff, an event aimed at helping first generation college students adapt to campus.

Senior Reporter

Courtesy of Megan McCrary

to his office and adjoining balcony.

Guzman, a Mexican-American studies and government senior, said the idea for holding the event came from a previous mentor and friend who promoted it as part of his platform in the 2016 SG elections.

Although her friend wasn’t elected, Guzman said the concept stuck with her.

“I’m a first-generation college student myself, and just the fact that they had it on their platform point meant the world to me,” Guzman said. “I really wanted to see that happen.”

Although geography sophomore Carlos Chavez began his college journey a year ago, he still learned from the event, which was open to all UT students regardless of year. He said that during his time at UT, he has experienced difficulties associated with being a first-generation student.

“I felt like at some points you can maybe feel like you’re going 1,000 miles per hour, and maybe when you reach a point when you might feel disappointed or feel like a failure … maybe your parents might not understand that,” Chavez said.

Chavez said the event was a good way to meet others experiencing similar anxieties about the upcoming year.

At the event, students attended various lectures and sessions directed at helping students become aware of the opportunities available to them on campus.

Theatre and dance freshman Meagan McCrary said she never considered studying abroad to be an option for her until learning about it Sunday night.

“I didn’t think that I could afford it, but they talked about

study abroad and how you can get scholarships,” McCrary said. “I’m really excited I can do that.”

Guzman said seeing the night come together was remarkable. She said she hopes the students who attended feel empowered by meeting fellow students and mentors who have experienced similar paths.

“I hope they see that they are the embodiment of excellence, no matter where they come from or what it took to get to campus,” Guzman said.

“UT is extremely honored to have them.”

organizations participated in the event. But business freshman Liliana Palacios said she marched for personal reasons.

“Since I am a first-generation Mexican-American, this is something that is very close to me,” Palacios said. “I think that it’s right for us to unify and fight for our rights.”

Electrical engineering sophomore Stuart Lyons stopped by the protest on West Mall Friday morning and said he had difficulty communicating with the demonstrators. He said he disagreed with a lot of what they were chanting.

“I have asked three different people now what their views

are, and three of them have left me because they don’t have time,” Lyons said. “They say they’re open-minded, they say they want to learn … and that (proves) that they’re not.”

Kris Donaldson, a community and regional planning graduate student, marched with the protesters and said

even though the bill was postponed, it is still important to speak out.

“A lot of the jurisdiction going on in Texas and the country is thinly veiled — it’s supposed to keep the people with power having power,” Donaldson said. “Equality is scary to the status quo.”

HARVEY

important that people really understand that this is not just something that you see on TV — this is very real,” Angulo said. “A lot of people are going to be affected by this long-term, more than you’d think. A big part of the UT population is from that southeast Texas area. It’s more than likely that you know someone who has been affected by this storm,

whether they lost their house or not.”

The University is accommodating students’ needs by having professors excuse emergency-related absences, providing counseling through the Counseling and Mental Health Center and raising funds to provide affected students with additional financial aid.

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the span of a couple days is really traumatizing,” Angulo said.

Angulo said even if people aren’t able to assist directly, just being aware and understanding the hurricane’s impact would help those who are affected.

“I think it’s

The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely. If we have made an error, let us know about it. Call (512) 232-2217 or e-mail managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com.

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Masters student Kris Donaldson signs up for a student org at the kickoff of UT’s Queer&Trans Student Alliance’s Pride Week.

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UT clubs kick off annual pride week

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By Allyson Waller News Issue Staffer

Monday marked the kickoff of UT’s Queer & Trans Student Alliance’s Pride Week.

QTSA began the week with an event that consisted of various organizations coming together to inform the UT community about different social spaces available on campus. The theme of the week, “Pride Resistance,” is the result of QTSA’s desire to showcase ways people can become socially active in advocating for queer and trans rights, whether through protesting or less vocal forms of activism, said QTSA co-director Josh Rudd.

“We wanted to bring the roots back to was sort of this activism and social advocacy core that is in the center of queer and trans rights movements,” Rudd said.

Various events are planned for Pride Week focusing on promoting advocacy, creating a sustainable dialogue concerning the need for LGBTQ equality and informing the public about different ways to get involved in promoting social justice.

“What we’re really trying to do is have this community-building aspect and really focus on the fact that we can’t do this alone, and that we have to work with other communities that are mar-

ginalized and oppressed, and we have to have an intersectional framework in which we can enact our liberation for all people,” Rudd said.

The need for intersectional discussions to thrive is not lost on QTSA, said Rudd.

Organizations representing minority communities, such as Queer & Asian and FLORES, as well as organizations not directly associated with the LGBTQ community, such as UT Voices Against Violence, were present at the kickoff.

“We know that queerness is not the only identity that someone is walking into the room (with),” said Bex Ortin, a Voices Against Violence student coordinator. “They’re walking into a room with a racial identity, with their ability status, with their immigration status.”

Monday’s event provided a chance not only for returning students to take part in Pride Week, but to also target new students who are looking for spaces that give them the opportunity to be themselves.

“I believe that UT has a lot of different LGBT (clubs and events),” said Orlando Beckum, a psychology freshman who identifies as being part of the LGBTQ community. “They all help to build the community and protect those that are in the community, and I think that’s a really good thing.”

Infographic by Aaliyah Jenkins | Daily Texan Staff

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Tuesday, September 5, 2017 Carlos Garcia | Daily Texan Staff

Gabriel Lopez | Daily Texan Staff

Gabriel Lopez | Daily Texan Staff

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Gabriel Lopez | Daily Texan Staff

The UT Longhorns lost their season opener to the Maryland Terrapins, 51-41. This was Tom Herman’s first game as UT’s head coach.

FOOTBALL

continues from page 1 Terrapins got a hand on junior Joshua Rowland’s kick, and Maryland’s Antoine Brooks returned it 71 yards to the end zone.

Minutes later, Maryland’s quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome found wide receiver Taivon Jacobs for a 46-yard

o

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ycentral Houston. Working din the neighborhood of one -of the Blazers alumni, the ncurrent members assisted ehomeowners whose houses had been flooded.

Biology junior Prem Patel said the Blazers assisted in removing damaged items, such as furniture or carpets, resulting in “piles and piles of discarded belongings.”

Carlos Garcia | Daily Texan Staff

touchdown pass to put Maryland up 27-7 midway through the second quarter.

Texas would steal back some of the momentum a couple minutes later, thanks to none other than Hill. Texas blocked Maryland’s own 31yard field goal attempt, and Hill raced toward the house with the ball, cutting the

deficit to 27-14.

For a while, Hill was the only spark the Longhorns could muster. Texas sputtered on offense for most of the day, failing to finish off drives for points. The Longhorns were 0-4 on fourth down. Costly penalties and sacks took life out of the Texas offense throughout the day.

“We got down there to the

30 to 35-yard line and would have a holding or a pass interference call,” sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele said. “That’s just what hurt our drives. We were moving the ball well. That shouldn’t be taken away from our offense.”

In the second half, Texas got within three points after redshirt freshman wide receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps got

loose for a 91-yard punt return for a touchdown. With 5:20 left in the third quarter, the Longhorns trailed only 30-27.

However, similar to last season, Texas couldn’t get over the hump.

The hype attached to this team since Herman arrived in Austin was nowhere to be found after Saturday. It was the same song, just a

“We could have volunteered at a food bank or gathered supplies, but the best part of this experience this weekend was being on the ground floor helping people, right then and there,” Patel said. “To see the relief on their faces firsthand was unlike any other service we’ve done.”

Patel said working alongside alumni was inspirational, because it reminded him that service is something students can carry with them outside of

college.

“They’re not even in this organization anymore,” Patel said. “Seeing them go out there, spending their weekend even though they have work and a family, it was important to see that they are still prioritizing service.”

Other UT alumni have been joining in on the Harvey relief efforts, such as Sandra Zhi, who is collecting donations for Houston on behalf of her company, Abilitee Adaptive Wear.

Zhi said her volunteering experiences in college showed her how service can help give her life more purpose.

“UT is really unique in the sense that there are so many different ways to volunteer,” Zhi said. “Making volunteering a part of my college career was really easy … I think anyone on campus can find a way to care about service because there are just so many causes represented on campus.”

Texas Blazers help a former Blazer’s family clean after flooding in their Central Houston home.

different verse.

“It just turns my stomach,” Jefferson said. “It’s that same feeling every time you lose. You just hate it because you know you work so hard through offseason, through camp, through everything. And to come out there short is very frustrating, especially when you know you’re killing yourself and you don’t know how to fix it.”

Courtesy of Prem Patel

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Tuesday, September 5, 2017

COLUMN

Guadalupe Street closures erase Austin history

By Audrey Larcher Columnist

Walking down the Drag to their first day of classes, students will pass a number of abandoned storefronts. Big Bite and Mellow Mushroom are already fading from memory, but McDonald’s, Taco Cabana and Symon’s Burger Joint only joined the list of fallen restaurants this summer. Many Longhorns already grieved on social media, mourning the convenient and delicious pleasures now absent from West Campus.

For others, these eateries’ relatively short lives resurface memories of a long gone Guadalupe — populated by Quack’s, Tower Records and multiple local bookstores — of the last decade.

The sudden loss of so many seemingly popular restaurants is the new normal in a rapidly developing Austin. Since the 1990s

tech and population boom, real estate markets seem to only welcome businesses that demonstrate consistent ability to meet soaring rent payments. The fact that one of Austin’s most characteristic streets cannot house anything more than the tumultuous come-and-go of chain restaurants indicates that our city’s characteristic culture is losing the fight against profiteering, and is in desperate need of defense.

The businesses students frequent should represent the Austin culture that our university contributes to so much, not just the push and pull between real estate giants and the vendors that lease from them.

For most of the city, ‘Keep Austin Weird’ rolls off the tongue for Austinites the same way that ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’ does for Texans everywhere. The slogan’s popularity was cemented when adopted by The Independent Business Alliance in efforts to promote the eccentric small businesses

COLUMN

that define our city. These original messages of supporting local mom and pop shops were quickly drowned out by big businesses, souvenir shop t-shirts and random beer koozies that valued easy money over unique Austin artistry.

On the Drag, tourists can walk into Tyler’s and purchase a tee with the city’s supposed rallying call, but stepping back onto the sidewalk they will find that there is little left of this ‘weird’ city. Now the idea of ‘keeping it weird’ is mostly used in money-making design, and brandished by West Campus real estate monopolies that are quick to deny leases. The local institutions that made Austin weird in the first place, that existed to build and serve our community, no longer stand because their main goals did not align with the main goal of developers: profit.

We no longer have the option to simply support these businesses with our

patronage. Students loved Big Bite, but the money we spent on sandwiches and shakes did not stop American Campus from refusing to renew a lease. Since West Campus is dominated by an aggressive real estate market, we need local government to step in with rent control. Real estate has been given free reign to run amok over the past decade, and rent controls are the only realistic solution to curbing developer greed.

Forces at play in Guadalupe Street’s evolution may be the result of decades-long development, but students are still ultimately the primary inhabitants of this area. We have both the right and the power to determine what trends our neighborhood reflects. Until then, we should enjoy and support the remaining beloved eateries left. They are monuments to an Austin of students’ choosing.

Larcher is a Plan II and Rhetoric and Writing major from Austin.

COLUMN

Hurricane leaves Houston Local media offers clearest voices amid Harvey chaos battered but not broken

By Noah Horwitz Senior Columnist

Last Saturday night, the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And through the gap in the firmament came a mighty deluge.

First the street flooded, as it always does.

Then it went onto the sidewalk. An errant car, driven by inebriates, attempted unsuccessfully to traverse the flooded roadway. As a lastditch effort, it drove up on the front lawn. Its occupants abandoned the vehicle and then continued on foot.

In a matter of hours, the previous records of rainfall for Houston were shattered. At my parents’ home in Meyerland, atop a hill, the previous waterline high had been in Tropical Storm Allison, when the waters rose up to a magnolia tree approximately 15 feet from the front porch. That line was surpassed in the wee hours of Sunday morning. By the time we woke up, water was within spitting distance of the porch, knocking against sandbags that we had assembled.

There is only so much one can do to stave off floodwaters in a one-story house filled with antiques, for it is impossible to relocate an armoire into the attic. Still, we did what we could. The rugs were rolled up. The dining room chairs were placed atop the table. And anything with legs, be it couches or tables, saw them placed inside Red Solo cups.

The block has two drains, and one of them is at the base of our driveway. It has a grate that is often obstructed by debris in such high-water events. Knowing we needed a miracle to stay dry, I walked into the water, well past my shoulders. Armed with a rake and a shovel, I hoisted up the grate and dragged it to higher ground. As you may recall from your elementary science classes, things are significantly lighter underwater, making it possible to remove the 200-pound piece of metal.

And then, almost miraculously, the rain stopped. It stopped long enough for the water to recede before the rain started anew and the water rose again. And so it went for the next few days.

Somehow, my family did not take water.

We could not say that of our neighbors to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west. I do not know why we were spared, other than dumb luck. The arbitrariness of it all

engenders some survivor’s guilt.

The morals of the flood are nearly cliche; they’re things we all knew antediluvian, but were reminded so clearly of in recent days.

There’s the value of life, especially in comparison to things that can be replaced. There is the kindness of our neighbors. But perhaps greatest from my point of view has been the exceptionalism of Houston.

The current editor of the Texan and her four most recent predecessors can all attest that a recurring point of contention for my time at this newspaper has been my unfettered desire to pen columns of little note to those other than Houstonians. Rational or not, I have a pathological obsession and love of the city in which I was raised.

Harvey has dissipated. Early next year, meteorologists will retire his name, preventing it from being reused. It will fade from memory.

But what will not ever fade is the strength of Houston in the face of this adversity.

Photo by Juan Figuroa | Daily Texan Staff

By Emily Vernon

(Harvey) will fade from memory. But what will not ever fade is the strength of Houston in the face of this adversity.”

—Noah Horwitz, Senior Columnist

I will eventually forget about the car driving up on my lawn. I’ll forget about swimming in the street. I won’t forget the outpouring of support from friends and family. I won’t forget the way the neighbors on the block came together like never before. I won’t forget the avalanche of volunteers and donations.

Houston’s resilience has been noted of late around the world, as it will continue to be in the coming months. We will rebuild. We will move forward and forge an even greater city.

Rising water can sweep away cars, but not our resolve. The floods can destroy homes, but they cannot destroy who we are.

Horwitz is a second-year law student from Houston. He is a senior columnist.

GALLERY

Illustration by Yulissa Chavez Daily Texan Staff

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.

Senior Columnist

While Hurricane Harvey bombarded the Houston area, I sat on my couch in Austin and consumed every bit of media coverage on the storm I could find. At first, I wasn’t particularly worried about Harvey when my parents called on Thursday; it was just another hurricane. Every picture that popped up in my Twitter feed made my stomach sink a bit lower, but I was afraid of missing out on any new development, good or bad.

While scouring the internet, I found coverage of the storm to be a testament to a maxim we stress here at the Texan: Consume local media.

In the face of devastation, I wanted to know everything that was going on — at every moment. Houston media proved an invaluable asset in the midst of Harvey’s onslaught, reporting relentlessly while keeping Houston’s culture in mind. But while the national media provided extensive coverage of the storm, many of the stories were out of touch. Two different NPR podcasts I listened to toyed with the idea of refusing federal aid to Houston and the Gulf cities because they’re prone to flooding, and discussion about Harvey spurring climate change action failed to recognize Houston’s progressive tendencies. I couldn’t finish listening to either.

Dominating the conversation, however, was the question, “would you have evacuated if you lived in Houston?” This focus ignored the time, resources and economic means necessary to move 6.7 million people out of the metroplex. They ignored the chaotic mess of Hurricane Rita back in 2005, as well as the resulting deaths. They ignored the question of where you’re going to put millions of people who have left their homes. The questions on everybody’s minds were being asked, but the wording many newscasters and podcasters were using was accusatory and degrading and failed to delve deeper into the logistics that would have been obvious to any Houstonian. Such failures stem from an unawareness of Houston’s culture.

Hurricanes are ingrained in Coastal Texans’ reality. Because they are so routine, Houstonians tend to adopt a mentality of staying home, hunkering down and preparing as best as they can. These storms are maddeningly unpredictable, and it’s not feasible to up and leave at the slightest threat — again, Hurricane Rita tells us why.

But local media outlets understood this, and they relentlessly reported with this and other nuances of Houston’s culture in mind.

The KHOU 11 studio flooded, but the sta-

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.

tion’s journalists continued reporting; many Houston Chronicle journalists walked to the office in the midst of the storm; ABC13 reporters braved the weather and broadcasted from outside. It was Houston in its worst form, but it brought out the best.

Lindsay Ellis, education reporter for the Houston Chronicle since 2016 who extensively covered the storm, understood the paper’s role to keep Houstonians safe — a goal no different from their day-to-day operations.

“You keep an eye on the big picture and tell individual stories. You check your facts countless times and treat your sources with respect. And you show up ready to work and to help your coworkers do their jobs,” Ellis said in an email.

Houston media proved an invaluable asset in the midst of Harvey’s onslaught, reporting relentlessly while keeping Houston’s culture in mind.”

—Emily Vernon, Senior Columnist

Hurricane Harvey was a historical moment in which we needed to hear local voices. We needed to hear the stories of Houstonians. We needed to humanize the city. We didn’t need to keep our distance; we needed to know what could be done to help.

To do that, we need close proximity. Just as you’d likely turn to a national paper with immediate access to Washington for comprehensive coverage of the White House, it’s important to check in with local media in the face of regional peril. The recent chronicling of Hurricane Harvey was yet another testament to just that.

It’s important to hear individualized stories and understand how turmoil affects the area it makes its home. It’s the only way to truly understand an issue and a great way to learn how others react to different obstacles. Many thanks to the journalists who put themselves in danger to ensure the city understood the issue facing us; coverage was, and continues to be, exceptional. If you want to understand how Harvey is truly affecting the Houston area, pay special attention to the city’s media.

Vernon is an anthropology and rhetoric and writing junior from The Woodlands. She is a senior columnist.

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5

JULIANNE HODGES SCIENCE&TECH EDITOR

@thedailytexan

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

ENGINEERING

UT supercomputer aids prediction of solar eclipse

By Julianne Hodges S&T Editor

While the rest of the country prepared to view a total solar eclipse with their own eyes in August, researchers at Predictive Science Inc. got a sneak peek of the phenomenon with the help of one of UT’s supercomputers.

Scientists at Predictive Science, a research company from San Diego that studies solar physics, ran simulations of the solar eclipse using three supercomputers. One of those computers included the newly improved Stampede2 supercomputer at UT’s Texas Advanced Computing Center, TACC. The simulation was intended to study the sun’s atmosphere, called the corona, according to Predictive Science research scientist Cooper Downs.

“When you ask a regular person what the sun looks like, they’re going to draw you a big, orange ball,” Downs said. “It turns out, that’s the tip of the

iceberg for the rest of the sun’s atmosphere, which extends and reaches out to Earth.”

Niall Gaffney, TACC director for data-intensive computing, said that a solar eclipse is the only time when the entire corona is visible to telescopes and satellites.

Downs said Predictive Science wants to learn more about the complex structure of the corona because the influence of the sun’s magnetic field on the corona is responsible for solar wind, high-energy particles ejected from the sun.

UT astronomy assistant professor Stella Offner said when the corona becomes very active, solar wind gets strong, and the particles can damage satellites and electronics on Earth.

“If you can predict (solar wind), just like we can predict the weather on the Earth to some extent, then you can take steps to shield the electronics from damages from the high-energy particles,”

Illustration by Lexi Acevedo | Daily Texan Staff

Offner said.

Stampede2 was one of three supercomputers used, along with Comet at the San Diego Supercomputer Center and NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer. Predictive Science ran different simulations on different computers in order to get their simulations done

faster, Downs said.

Supercomputers, such as Stampede2, contain thousands of small computers, similar to personal computers, that work together on one problem at the same time, Gaffney said.

“It gives you the ability to model very complex systems, whether it’s the atmospheres

of stars or the atmosphere of Earth, with what we’re modeling in Houston for the hurricane,” Gaffney said. “What these systems let us do is tackle largescale, complex problems where a pen and paper or a laptop just won’t do it.”

Stampede2, which went online in August, is an upgraded version of the Stampede supercomputer. The previous system was composed of 6,800 individual computers with 16 processors each, resulting in a total performance of 2.2 petaflops, or 2.2 million billion operations involving numbers with decimal points completed per second, Gaffney said.

However, the new Stampede2 supercomputer runs at about 9.8 petaflops and will be upgraded again to between 15 and 18 petaflops within the next couple of months.

“It’s faster and it has more memory, so it can do things at a much higher resolution than it could before,” Gaffney said.

Offner, whose research

includes computer simulations of star formation, said simulations such as this can take millions of CPU hours, or the sum of hours used by the computer’s central processing units.

“What we do instead is parallel simulations, so we divide up the calculation among hundreds or thousands of processors,” Offner said. “That reduces the calculation that takes millions of CPU hours into taking only maybe a year or a month of … actual waiting time. That’s much more manageable in terms of the researcher’s lifetime.”

Offner said she liked the visualizations of the data that the simulations produced.

“There’s just so much data that comes out of the simulation, so one of the best ways to really understand the data and communicate it is to make visualizations,” Offner said.

“You can just look at it and get a sense for what the calculation is actually doing and what it is actually discovering.”

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6

MICHAEL SHAPIRO SPORTS EDITOR

@texansports

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

FOOTBALL

COLLEGE FOOTBALL TENN

MLB VS. ARI

By Alex Briseno

Senior Sports Reporter

VS. GTECH

Hill’s comeback lost in opening-day loss

LAD

1986 Former quarterback Colt McCoy is born in Hobbs, New Mexico.

Sun named Big 12 Freshman of the Week The Big 12 Conference announced freshman Lexi Sun earned Big 12 Freshman of the Week following a dominant performance at the University of San Diego tournament over the weekend.

Sun led the Longhorns with 31 kills and added 19 digs, eight blocks, four assists and two service aces which also earned her Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Sun’s stand-out performance comes in Texas’ three-game sweep at the University of San Diego, where the Longhorns beat out Villanova, Georgia Tech and then-No. 17 San Diego.

Texas’ three-win weekend also comes one week after the then-No. 1 Longhorns’ season-opening loss to No. 12 Florida, where Sun also led the team with 13 points following her 11 kill, two block performance.

Sun, who is just a freshman, has led the team in blocks in four of her first five games on the 40 Acres.

The Longhorns, who were the preseason No. 1, currently sit at No. 5 as they prepare for the American Campus Classic, including a top-five showdown with No. 1 Minnesota on Friday, Sept. 8.

Jerritt Elliott and the Longhorns are preparing for their first home games of the season. The Longhorns traveled to both the East and West coasts for the past two weekends. Now, Lexi Sun and the Longhorns will get to play in front of their own crowd as they try to take down the No. 1 team in the nation.

—Alex Briseno

The Longhorn faithful flung cardboard fans onto the field at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday as the fourth quarter dwindled down and took away any hope of a Texas win.

The frustration was palpable.

Four hours after the opening kickoff, Terrapin fans chanted “overrated” following their sixth touchdown of the game. The Longhorn fans fled the stadium early, while others watched on in disbelief of the 51-41 final score.

And the players didn’t seem to believe the result either.

“I really don’t know what to say about the result right now,” senior linebacker Naashon Hughes said. “We’ll probably watch film a thousand times just to see what we could have done, what I could have done, what anybody could have done to stop it from happening.”

Texas looked overmatched in all three facets on Saturday. The Longhorns failed to sustain drives for points on one side of the ball while the defense failed to contain the run on the other. Texas also fumbled a kickoff and had a field goal attempt blocked and taken back for a touchdown.

But despite the struggles, one player’s performance did stand out: cornerback Holton Hill.

The junior registered Texas’ first two touchdowns of the season against Maryland, returning an interception 31 yards for a touchdown in the first series of the game, and

Gabriel Lopez | Daily Texan Staff Junior cornerback Holton Hill returns an interception 31 yards for a touchdown on the first drive of the game. Hill, who was benched last season, had a two-touchdown effort in a strong comeback performance in Texas’ 51-41 loss to Maryland on Saturday.

one quarter later, returning a blocked field goal 65 yards for a touchdown.

“I just saw green ahead of me and I just went,” Hill said.

“Luckily Poona (Ford) got the block and it was right in front of me to take it right to the house.”

Hill’s 31-yard interception return for a touchdown is Texas’ first since 2015 when Hill returned another interception against Oklahoma State during his freshman year. Expectations for Hill were high following his freshman campaign where he played in all 12 games, and even started the last eight.

Following his stellar freshman campaign, Hill’s sophomore season was a let down. He saw the field in just five games — only starting in three before getting benched.

“It was hard for me not playing as much as I wanted to,” Hill said. “But I just put it in God’s hands, and I’m back out there now.”

But it now appears Hill is back, and perhaps for good following Saturday’s performance.

And for the Houston-native, his strong effort came at the most opportune time.

Hill, who spent the week preparing for Maryland and

going to school, was unable to be with his family back in Houston this week as his family dealt with the wreckage induced by Hurricane Harvey.

“Most of y’all may know I’m from Houston,” Hill said.

“And looking at the tragedy these past few weeks, I wasn’t able to be there for my family … so I just had a chip on my shoulder from that.”

Hill said he feels blessed that his family is safe and was even able to make it to the game.

However, he didn’t spend too much time acknowledging his performance.

“It’s never a good day when you lose,” Hill said. “We just

got to go back to the drawing board and take it one practice at a time, and hopefully we’ll go undefeated for the rest of the season.”

Texas must return to the drawing board, and fast. The burnt-orange faithful arrived at DKR in hopes of seeing a different team, but the mental mistakes and special teams blunders of the past three seasons still remained.

Hill’s performance was a positive note on Saturday. But as the thrown fans and empty seats at the final buzzer indicated, what ultimately mattered was the Longhorns’ record: 0–1.

VOLLEYBALL

Longhorns sweep USD tournament in fashion

By Keshav Prathivadi Senior Sports Reporter

Senior outside hitter Chiaka Ogbogu rose above the net and recorded her tenth kill of the game on Saturday night, putting an exclamation point on the Longhorns’ victory and West coast road trip.

Starting the season is always challenging, (and) we’ve really (tried) to put them in difficult situations, and that first weekend really put us in a position to respond.”

—Jerritt Elliott, Head volleyball coach

The Longhorns bid California farewell after claiming a three-game sweep at the USD tournament, defeating Villanova, Georgia Tech and then-No. 17 San Diego in the process.

“We’ve been tested three times already,” head coach

Texas

THON

invites you to fall kick off! september 14th from 6PM to 8PM @Gregory plaza

Jerritt Elliott said. “Starting the season is always challenging, (and) we’ve really (tried) to put them in difficult situations, and that first weekend really put us in a position to respond.”

Texas started off the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Villanova, a match in which freshman Ashley Shook led the team with 22 assists and junior Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani bounced back with .600 hitting percentage on a teamhigh seven kills.

With her continued success this weekend, Shook proved that she won’t have a steep learning curve as the season progresses. Elliott said he feels that the sky’s the limit for Shook.

“I think Ashley is starting to get really comfortable in the system,” Elliott said. “She’s not a true freshman in terms of the dialogue that we can have from player to coach.”

Saturday featured a doubleheader for Texas, as it got its second sweep of the tournament against Georgia Tech and earned a 3-1 victory to upend then-No. 17 San Diego.

In Saturday’s bouts, Texas sported its depth with

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Senior Chiaka Ogbogu hits the ball as the Longhorns take on TCU at Gregory Gym on Oct. 19, 2016.

No. 5 Texas (4–1) is coming off a three-game sweep at the USD tournament.

Joshua Guerra Daily Texan Staff

contributions coming from all players.

Senior libero Cat McCoy continued to lead the team in digs, posting 11 in the match against Georgia Tech and 13 against the Toreros. Ogbogu added 10 kills in the final game, including the clincher in the final set.

“The rest of the team is starting to figure out their roles and how we can utilize them,” Elliott said. “The numbers just continue to grow both on the offensive side and defensive side.”

Although this was a

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business trip for the Longhorns, the California slate was also a homecoming for some, including freshman Lexi Sun. The Golden State native earned Most Valuable Player honors at the tournament, leading the Longhorns in kills.

“Going back to California is always nice,” Elliott said.

“It allowed our players to have some time with their families, and we got to have a nice dinner at the Sun’s house and spend some quality time with them.”

With this quick three-game

sprint under its belt, Texas (41) has plenty of momentum ahead of the first home games of the season.

“To come home is going to be really nice for our players,” Elliott said. “I think this team deserves this, and it’ll certainly be a lot of fun.”

The Longhorns’ next set of matches will be in the American Campus Classic, where they will face off against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Denver and No. 1 Minnesota. The tournament will be played at Gregory Gymnasium starting on Sept. 7.

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8

MORGAN O’HANLON LIFE&ARTS EDITOR

@thedailytexan

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

ALUMNI

Alumnus reflects on time as cultural intermediary

By Albert Zhao

Senior L&A Reporter

China generally stifles foreign views in the press, but to his surprise, David Firestein, lead of the new UT China Policy Center, became the country’s first foreign citizen to write a column in a staterun newspaper — in large part due to his fluent Mandarin and friendships in the media.

Born and raised in Austin, Firestein began learning Chinese as an undergraduate in Georgetown University.

His grasp of the language and culture accelerated when he spent a semester at Peking University in Beijing, where he was surrounded by a community of Chinese students and friends.

“It was helpful to me in a lot of different ways, from a language standpoint and obviously from the standpoint of just getting a much deeper understanding of China,” Firestein said.

Years later, as a U.S. diplomat submitting weekly columns to the Beijing Youth Daily, Firestein would in return offer

a deeper understanding of the U.S. to a Chinese audience.

After Texas legalized concealed carry in 1995, Firestein explained in his Chinese column the extensive debate about it. In a country where its police rarely pack heat and its citizens are generally prohibited from owning firearms, Firestein said Chinese citizens were particularly intrigued by this issue.

“The whole gun debate in the United States was not accessible to the Chinese public,” Firestein said. “It just was hard for people to understand this concept that people could not only own guns but walk around carrying them in a concealed way that was lawful.”

Firestein would also explain gay marriage and other topics in his columns but avoided sharing his personal views.

Firestein said he wanted to outline both sides of the issue and more importantly, highlight how free expression was in America.

“The undergirding messaging was really about how important informed and confident discourse is to a nation’s development,” Firestein said.

“What I was trying to do was to highlight the vigor and vitality of debate in America.”

Firestein did test the editorial waters once when he criticized the use of bribes in Chinese media. Expecting wrath from the government, Firestein was surprised to receive an award instead for the column — something that remains a mystery to him to this day.

“It was one of the more surreal and bizarre experiences I’ve ever had,” Firestein said.

“A sitting U.S. diplomat (won) a journalistic award from a communist-controlled Chinese media entity for blasting corrupt practices within the Chinese media.”

Despite this episode, Firestein’s career is primarily illustrated as an interpreter between two cultures.

Working nearly two decades as a U.S. foreign services officer and eight years with the EastWest Institute, a foreign policy think tank, Firestein will lead UT’s brand new China Policy Center this fall, a research hub for China-related policy.

“No one is better suited

Illustration by Rachel Tyler | Daily Texan Staff

to lead this center than David Firestein,” said Angela Evans, dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, in an email statement that listed Firestein’s experience.

Paul D. Miller, associate director of the Clements Center for National Security, said the new center will attract more speakers about China

to campus.

“Students will benefit from the new center because of the research it will promote, the speakers it will bring to campus, and the events it will sponsor,” Miller said.

After years abroad and away from UT — where Firestein went for graduate school and briefly taught — he is excited to

return to UT to teach students about China.

“It’s just an absolute pleasure to return to campus,” Firestein said. “To be teaching and helping students enhance their understanding of China and also develop skills and knowledge that will serve them well in their careers — all of this is enormously gratifying to me.”

By Justin Jones Assoc. L&A Editor

Editor’s note: Tat-Tuesday is a weekly series that features students around campus and their tattoos. Check out more pictures and stories online.

The meaning of the beautiful tattoo that adorns the upper arm of UT alumnus Ben Hsi is missed by most Americans. The design is a stylized poem that’s been in his family for generations.

“It’s been around for, I don’t know, a hundred years,” Hsi said. “The meaning is essentially ‘Have good values, pass them on, and your family will be blessed.’ Each character represents what generation you are within the Hsi family.”

Hsi’s immediate family first moved to America in 1979, two years before his birth. Though the distance prevents Hsi from keeping a close relationship with his distant family, he said the tattoo serves as a connection to them.

“It reminds me of what my grandparents went through,” Hsi said. “Our family may be in different places, but they crossed different cultures and places across the world just to give us a better life.”

Carlos Garcia | Daily Texan Staff

Ben Hsi’s poem tattoo represents a map that connects his family across the world.

ALBUM REVIEW | ‘AMERICAN DREAM’

LCD Soundsystem returns to music with signature dance-punk vibes

By Chris Duncan Senior L&A Reporter

Mid-2000s indie music was a genre caught up in its own obsessive clout, and at the center of the storm was LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy. After fighting against pretension in music for most of its early career with tracks such as “Losing my Edge,” LCD Soundsystem quickly evolved into an indie symbol, which is exactly what it feared. Now, with the group’s return after its short hiatus, the artificiality lingers, but the tunes are still there.

Creating some of the seminal albums of his time, James Murphy is an artist’s artist in the strongest way possible. His music is

complex, weaving and telling stories with repetitive and hypnotic electronic beats. Basically, anyone who isn’t obsessed with music would be immediately put off by his records’ initial lack of payoff. Returning from their surprisingly short six-year hiatus, LCD Soundsystem’s newest album american dream gives off similar vibes with its art and basic title, but lying underneath is some of the most passionate tunes Murphy has penned since the mid-2000s.

Kicking off with a surprisingly downtempo opener, “oh baby,” LCD Soundsystem announces its return with little gusto.

With lyrics such as “Oh sugar / You came to me / Could all be a bad thing / Doing

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harm,” the track reads as if an 8-year-old tried to pen a deep poem for their long-lost lover. In retrospect, “oh baby” feels like Murphy’s strange attempt to put a wall up around his work, wanting it to only be accessed by the most dedicated of listeners.

Fortunately, the album doesn’t continue its slow streak, picking up in speed with “other voices,” a song that sounds like Murphy’s best David Byrne/ Talking Heads impression. Still, american dream doesn’t get truly interesting until it hits “how do you sleep?,” a nine-minute epic that builds into a moving conclusion.

From this fifth track until the end, american dream puts out one moving song

after another, making the listener regret giving the first four songs of this LP a chance. Tracks such as “tonite” and “call the police” are obvious standouts, with the former standing as a throwback to the angular beats and drums of early LCD Soundsystem and the latter bringing a fresh indie rock sound to the band’s repertoire. When the LP slows down again with “american dream,” Murphy makes it worthwhile, singing some of his best lyrics of the album with a romantic plea for the innocence of a time when he truly believed in the American dream.

Concluding with “black screen,” a slow-burning song of loss, Murphy eulogizes David Bowie, bringing

a Brian Eno feeling to the track and wrapping everything up nicely. After a few listens to american dream, it is obvious that LCD Soundsystem hasn’t shed the stuck-up attitude that plagues it as a group, no matter how often James Murphy might say he wishes for that element of his music to disappear. Yet, built into many songs is the passion and drive the indie scene has lacked since James Murphy took a brief leave of absence.

Longtime fans of the band will find themselves at home with this LP, ready to sit down with a cocktail and get lost in its telling tales of loss and letting go.

Everyone else will take one listen to the album’s opening track and remember

6202/Capital Metro; Process color

Courtesy of DFA Records

exactly why they disliked LCD Soundsystem in the first place. A decade later, nothing has changed about LCD Soundsystem, and it’s doubtful that anything ever will.