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THE DAILY TEXAN Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
LIBYAN TURMOIL
HEALTH CARE Debate continues over Obama’s health care plan
Libyan rebels seize opportunity created by coalition air strikes
WORLD&NATION PAGE 3
>> Breaking news, blogs and more: dailytexanonline.com
LET’S PLAY TWO
Texas faces Texas A&M Corpus Christi in a doubleheader after returning from a four-game road trip
after its passage one year ago today
SPORTS PAGE 6
NEWS PAGE 5 @thedailytexan
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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82ND LEGISLATURE
Alum recalls ’66 shooting, urges against guns in school
TODAY Calendar Texas Softball
Longhorns play Texas A&M Corpus Christi at McCombs Field at 5 p.m. Tickets range from $3-$9.
By Melissa Ayala Daily Texan Staff
cuts to the Liberal Arts ethnic studies centers — said it was impressive that students, regardless of affiliation, came together to contribute to the campaign. “Student Government is supposed to be our official voice on campus, so if they’re going to go out there to on our behalf, then I’m going to join because we have the common goal of fighting the budget cuts,” Villasenor said. SG executive director Jimmy Talarico said UT is a lucrative investment for Texas, bringing in millions of dollars in federal research grants, yet
Jim Bryce held back tears as he recounted memories of 45 years ago, when he was supposed to meet a friend for lunch at the Texas Union, but saw a shooter inside the UT Tower on the news. Bryce and classmate Sandra Wilson were students at UT in 1966, when Charles Whitman, a student and former Marine, opened fire atop the Tower, killing 14 people and wounding 31. Both testified before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee about the concealed carry on campus bill Tuesday along with current students, including members of student lobbying group Invest in Texas. The bill would allow concealed handgun licensees to carry handguns on college campuses. Concealed carry is allowed most places in Texas, but college campuses, churches, bars and post offices are some gun-free zones. Bryce told committee members to vote against the bill, continuing his harrowing account of the shooting, which claimed the life of one of his friends. “Sandra was shot in front of what is now the Co-op,” Bryce said. “We’re afraid that allowing others to conceal on campus would create a [confusing] situation where the police could not adequately protect everyone.” Wilson said she was lucky to recover, but that she could not
INVEST continues on PAGE 2
GUNS continues on PAGE 2
Texas Baseball
Texas Longhorns play Houston Baptist at UFCU Disch-Falk Field at 6 p.m. Tickets range from $5$12.
‘Zombieland’
The End of the World Film Series presents “Zombieland” in Burdine Hall 436 A at 5:30 p.m.
‘Noi the Albino’
The European Film Series presents this free film about a gifted 17-year-old boy from Northern Iceland flees his home. The film will be shown in MEZ BO.3-6 at 6:30 p.m.
‘The Songwriters Songwriter’ Danny Schmidt featuring Carrie Elkin will be playing at the Cactus Cafe at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.
Romeo & Juliet
The Long Center for the Performing Arts will be showing the film at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $10 for students.
Today in history In 1956 Pakistan became the first Islamic republic in the world.
Campus watch TRANS STAMP
Gregory Gym, 2101 Speedway A UT student obtained a hand stamp so he could enter the gym without swiping his UT ID. The student left after receiving the stamp. A second subject then entered the gym with a faded stamp on his . During the investigation the officers learned the student had pressed his hand to transfer the ink stamp to the non-UT subject’s hand. The non-UT subject was issued a Criminal Trespass Warning and the student was referred to the Dean of Students’ Office.
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Quote to note “[The opposition] is a completely partisan, corporatebased attack. They want to give our health care back to the insurance companies.”
Fanny Trang | Daily Texan Staff
Petroleum engineering freshman Alberto Tardio marches against budget cuts with his peers at the Capitol on Tuesday.
INVESTEDinTEXAS
By Ahsika Sanders Daily Texan Staff
“It’s 12:36, and UT is still underfunded,” more than 200 students shouted as they marched to the steps of the Capitol on Tuesday to protest the proposed higher education budget cuts. The Invest in Texas campaign organizes students to lobby the Texas Legislature to adequately fund UT, protect financial aid programs and keep the University academically competitive. Student Government, Senate of College Councils and Graduate Student Assembly started the program this semester, and it is open to partici-
Nation’s law schools see overall decrease in student applicants By Shamoyita DasGupta Daily Texan Staff
The number of students applying to law schools around the nation has decreased significantly since last year, according to data from the Law School Admissions Council. Since last year, the number of applicants has dipped 11.5 percent, although the figure may change since only about 90 percent of total anticipated applicants have already applied. For the fall 2010 semester, 87,500 students applied to attend law school, according to the Law School Admissions Council website. Although the number of UT Sports management senior and Japanese native Itsuki Shibakiri is helping raise money for the American Red Cross to aide the victims of the tsunami that hit Japan on March 11.
— Ethan Rome Executive director, Health Care for America NOW! NEWS PAGE 5
pation from all students. More than 160 fourth grade Baranoff Elementary students in front of Bob Bullock Museum on a Texas history field trip joined the marchers’ “Texas fight” chants. Liberal arts representative John Lawler shouted over the crowd, encouraging the fourth graders and teachers to join in the protest. “Help us shout,” Lawler said. “We are marching and fighting for your future — this is for you.” Bernardino Villasenor — a member of Students Speak, an activist group formed last semester in response to the proposed budget
Ryan Smith Daily Texan Staff
Navy official sheds light on spending By Mary Ellen Knewtson Daily Texan Staff
Applicants to UT School of Law The numbers for Fall 2011 will be finalized in September, and the school expects a decrease. Fall 2010 - 5,815 Fall 2009 - 5,275 Fall 2008 - 4,850 Source: UT School of Law
School of Law applicants remains uncertain until the fall, there are significantly fewer applicants so far than the 5,815
LAW continues on PAGE 2
Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff
Juan M. Garcia, III, assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy, spoke at the Texas Union about the relevance of the branch today.
Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy Juan Garcia said the Navy’s large presence in Japan for relief, the American and European attacks on Libya and the continued burden of the Iraq War are proof of the branch’s continued relevance and necessity. About 100 people at the Texas Union came to hear Garcia speak as part of Navy Week when, in cities nationwide, members of the Navy work to show taxpayers the return on their investment, he said. The sailors will build homes for Habitat for Humanity, work in soup kitchens and visit hospitals and schools. “It couldn’t be a more timely week to come and tell the Navy story,” he said. “As we sit in this room on this beautiful campus, there are 22 Navy ships and a nuclear aircraft carrier off the coast of Japan doing disaster relief.” At the same time, he said, five Navy ships and two nuclear submarines are off the coast of Libya leading the international coalition to prevent the slaughter of civilians. The Navy also conducts research on global warming in the Arctic Ocean and provides medical care in poor countries. They send doctors to offer medical care, such as cleft surgeries and eyeglasses. He said this is in the interest of national security as well as humanitarian efforts
NAVY continues on PAGE 2
Japanese students from UT reflect on disaster, aftermath By Allistair Pinsof Daily Texan Staff
After the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, sports management senior and Japanese native Itsuki Shibakiri wondered what would become of his home. Over the past two weeks, he has only seen and heard the situation unfold through Japanese news publications and phone calls to his parents in Chiba, Japan. What he’s heard differs from Western news coverage, he said. Shibakiri used to surf on the beaches of Chiba, located 24 miles
east of Tokyo, where his parents still reside. He said the beaches are now barely recognizable after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake caused trembles within the city and the tsunami, as tall as a four-story building in some places, that hit the Pacific coast. The damage in Chiba pales in comparison to that in Northern regions that were hit the hardest. Nevertheless, electricity blackouts, food shortages and questions about radiation have created an uneasy
JAPAN continues on PAGE 2
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Daily Texan Volume 111, Number 168
CONTACT US Main Telephone: (512) 471-4591 Editor: Lauren Winchester (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com Retail Advertising: (512) 471-1865 joanw@mail.utexas.edu Classified Advertising: (512) 471-5244 classifieds@dailytexanonline.com The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely. I f we have made an error, let us know about it. Call (512) 232-2217 or e-mail managingeditor@dailytexanonline.com.
COPYRIGHT Copyright 2011 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.
JAPAN continues from PAGE 1 atmosphere in Shibakiri’s hometown of about 950,000 people. “The areas that are supposed to have their electricity cut still have electricity, and the ones that are supposed to have electricity, don’t,” Shibakiri said. “It makes people confused. My mom said, ‘I don’t know how to prepare for this.’” After three days of phone calls that wouldn’t get through, Shibakiri got in touch with his mother who confirmed his family and friends are safe. “My dad got really frustrated because when he got back from work [in Tokyo] he had to pass 10 trains to walk back to our home,” Shibakiri said, adding it took his dad 12 hours to walk to his house in Chiba. Tatsuya Imai, communications international graduate student, was initially introduced to recent events through a vague email from his father in Tokyo, which read: “Everything is fine.” “I was like, ‘Everyone is fine? Of course, everyone should be fine.’ I didn’t get it,” Imai said. Since the quake, both students have been relying on Japanese news sites for their information. Shibakiri said he also reads English news
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R E C YC L E
CORRECTION Because of a reporting error, Monday’s page 1 news story about the Japan tsunami should have said John Traphagan spent four years in Japan conducting ethnographic research.
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Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lauren Winchester Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claire Cardona Associate Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bobby Cervantes Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viviana Aldous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doug Luippold, Dave Player News Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lena Price Associate News Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Will Alsdorf, Aziza Musa, Audrey White Senior Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Melissa Ayala, Allie Kolechta, Marty McAndrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matt Stottlemyre, Ahsika Sanders Copy Desk Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sydney Fitzgerald Associate Copy Desk Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ashley Morgan, Austin Myers, Reese Rackets Design Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Veronica Rosalez Senior Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jake Rector, Martina Geronimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Daniel Nuncio, Simonetta Nieto Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff Heimsath Associate Photo Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lauren Gerson, Danielle Villasana Senior Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Torrey, Tamir Kalifa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shannon Kintner, Erika Rich Life&Arts Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Amber Genuske Associate Life&Arts Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Priscilla Totiyapungprasert, Gerald Rich Senior Life&Arts Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katherine Anne Stroh, Francisco Marin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Allistair Pinsof, Julie Rene Tran Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will Anderson Associate Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Hurwitz Senior Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Hummer, Trey Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jon Parrett, Austin Laymance Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carolynn Calabrese Associate Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Victoria Elliott Multimedia Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joshua Barajas Associate Multimedia Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rafael Borges Senior Video Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patrick Zimmerman Senior Videographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Janese Quitugua Editorial Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Doug Warren
Issue Staff Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shamoyita Dasgupta, Trey Gerlich, Mary Ellen Knewtson Copy Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thu Pham, Kaine Korzekwa, Danielle Wallace Page Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kaitlyn Telge Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephanie Yarbrough, Nick Cremona, Wes Maulsby Life&Arts Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Danielle Wallace Comics Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gabe Alvarez, Riki Tsuji, Aron Fernandez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claudine Lucena, Rory Harman, Laura Davila . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lin Zagorski, Andrew Craft
Advertising
Director of Advertising & Creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jalah Goette Assistant to Advertising Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CJ Salgado Local Sales Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brad Corbett Broadcast Manager/Local Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carter Goss Campus/National Sales Consultant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Bowerman Student Advertising Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathryn Abbas Student Advertising Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maryanne Lee Student Acct. Execs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cameron McClure, Samantha Chavez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selen Flores, Patti Zhang, Sarah Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Veronica Serrato, Ian Payne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Feigel, Rachel Huey Student Office Assistant/Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rene Gonzalez Senior Graphic Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Felimon Hernandez Junior Designers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bianca Krause, Alyssa Peters Special Editions Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elena Watts Student Special Editions Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sheri Alzeerah Special Projects Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adrienne Lee
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sources, but primarily reads MSN Japan, Yahoo! Japan and watches NHK-news. He said in contrast to Western coverage, Japanese journalists focus their efforts on keeping citizens calm. Many Western news outlets have sensationalized recent events, painting a picture that Shibakiri and Imai said is different from stories they heard from family and Japanese news. “Japan nuke disaster, Panic!” screamed the front cover of Wednesday’s NY Daily News. The large font, all-caps headline was complimented by a picture of a man wearing a gas mask, with no explanation. The publication wasn’t alone in making such bold claims. Fox News mistakenly placed a Shibuya, Tokyo, night club on its map of Japan’s nuclear power plants that made it appear as if one existed in the capital city. Other news outlets, such as CNN, have drawn comparisons to the bombing of Hiroshima: a nuclear attack that resulted in a death toll 16 times the tsunami’s current count of about 9,000 deaths. Imai said Western coverage implies the entire island is in danger.
INVEST continues from PAGE 1 the current budget proposals disenfranchise students. “We are in danger now of being the first generation that doesn’t have room to expand its economy,” he said. “We don’t have room to start a family in this state as long as it’s no longer investing in UTAustin and higher education institutions across Texas.” State Rep. Joaquin Castro, DSan Antonio, vice chair of the House Higher Education Committee, urged students to tell lawmakers they have a choice when it comes to taking funding from higher education. “Let them know that they are making the decision to sacrifice your future when there are other means of finding funding,“ Castro said. He said the Legislature should look into raising cigarette, alcohol and gaming taxes. The state has proposed up to $100 million from state and federal funding to UT, which could potentially lead to tuition hikes. State Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, who has three children at UT, said one way to ease the burden is lower textbook costs and continue working to increase transparency at the University Co-op. Branch has already taken initiatives to find ways to increase textbook affordability such as online copies and rental services. Under the current Senate budget proposal, higher education stands to lose $381 million in federal financial aid and the state’s largest financial aid program, TEXAS Grant, may have to reduce the number of recipients by half. Social work representative Berenice Medellin said she marched in representation of the many students in her school that will suffer at the loss of federal grants. “Its important to have our voices heard and show them that they aren’t just cutting numbers. Their actions are affecting real people,” she said.
He added that Westerners concerned about a specific region of Japan “don’t have as much information on how safe or dangerous the place is.” Shibakiri said Japanese news coverage has its own problems of not being as hard on the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the private nuclear plant that was damaged, leading to radioactive leaks. The company has been reluctant to share information on the plants and scheduled blackouts, implemented in order to allow regions an equal amount of time with electricity and running trains, despite limited power resources. As an officer of the Japanese Association and a member for three years, Shibakiri will be a part of their efforts around campus, spending the upcoming weeks raising money for the American Red Cross. The organization has raised $2,327 since Monday; their goal is $5,000. Imai, on the other hand, is traveling back home to Tokyo the first week of April for his sister’s wedding. He said he doesn’t feel there is anything to fear in returning to Tokyo, where the effects of radiation are minimal.
I-Hwa Cheng | Daily Texan Staf
UT interim head librarian David Block asks about the situation in Japan while Japanese Association holds a fundraising event to support Red Cross.
Raising Red Cross relief for Japan Members of the student cultural group Japanese Association are hoping to raise $5,000 to support tsunami and earthquake relief in the island nation. The group is tabling for donations at Jester Center, the West Mall, Gregory Plaza and Robert Lee Moore Hall. Group president Nick Prum said the group raised more than $900 in the first two days. All the money raised will go to the Red Cross’ relief effort. Prum said the association is also working with other universities including Stanford and Baylor on a project to produce 1 million paper cranes in support
LAW continues from PAGE 1 students who applied for fall 2010, said assistant dean Monica Ingram. The law school cannot release the number of applicants so far, she said. Typically, the numbers of applicants rises and falls over several years, but this year the number is the lowest it has been in a decade, said Wendy Margolis, a spokeswoman for the Law School Admissions Council. Following the recession that officially began in December 2007, the number of applicants increased significantly. The poor job market at the time probably helped to contribute to the cycle that job markets generally experience called the Cobweb Cycle, said economics professor Daniel Hamermesh.
“They boom and bust, so [the decrease] isn’t surprising,” he said. Law schools tend to flood the job market when it does well, causing a decrease in wages. As a result, fewer students apply and become somewhat of a scarcity when they graduate, causing wages to rise. This cycle continues every few years, Hamermesh said. The status of the job market tends to create different factors for students who may be considering law school or other graduate schools. In many cases, students choose to attend law school if they do not feel ready to enter the workforce. For these students, particularly when the economy improves again, they are more likely to consider other options, Ingram said.
GUNS continues from PAGE 1 believe state lawmakers were even considering the bill after what happened years ago. “We do not need every person carrying their gun trying to protect themselves,” Wilson said. “We have the police and security people — that’s fine.” Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said the bill was nearly identical to the one he filed last Legislative session in 2009, which the Senate never voted on. He said the youngest concealed handgun license holders, ages 2125, make up only 7 percent of licensed holders — or 7,399 out of 102,133. “This bill is a matter of personal protection,” he said. “The idea that it will result in any increase in violence is unfounded. Some of the same misguided predictions were used by opponents of the original concealed handgun legislation in 1995. Licensees have proven consistently they are law abiding and responsible.” A bill amendment added be-
fore the hearing would allow private campuses to opt out and allow students and staff a referendum on the issue. Wentworth said a similar amendment was only added to appease opposition last session. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo also weighed in on the issue saying that university campuses are not the best environments to have armed individuals. “One of the concerns we have in law enforcement is that if we have a concentration of armed folks that are not like police who are readily identifiable, is distinguishing the friendly armed persons from unfriendly armed persons,” he said. Acevedo said he has heard supporters say the bill would allow carriers to protect themselves in the event of a campus shooting, but those chances are minimal. “I’m not sure what we are trying to fix in terms of safety on campus,” he said. “I think we’re maybe creating a fix for something that is not a problem.”
of Japan. Asian studies lecturer Junko Hatanaka, who is the group’s advisor, said she is inspired by the UT community’s the support for her native country. She said while Japan needs international support, the local help from the UT and Austin communities can also be efficient. “There are tons of refugees, and they have no electricity and a shortage of food, water and blankets,” Hatanaka said. “I’m so proud of being Japanese.” — I-Hwa Cheng
Now that students have more job options to consider, fewer are applying to law school, she said. “I think students who were not as serious about law but who were looking at it as a safe haven for three years are now looking at other options,” Ingram said. “Individuals who are not as committed to the profession are taking a second look, and I think that’s important.” The decreasing percentage of law school applicants may actually help those who plan to attend law school next year, said advertising senior Brian Archabal, who plans to attend law school. “Because less people have applied this year, schools will dip into their waitlists deeper than they have in the past,” he said. “It definitely gave me some hope.”
NAVY continues from PAGE 1 because those shown the sympathy of the nation are more easily convinced that we are there to help. The International Speakers Association, who center around bringing people of international significance to UT to help students connect with the world, sponsored the event, said coordinator Sorit Ganguly. Ganguly said a large portion of the turnout were junior and senior members of the ROTC. Plan II senior Dane Miller said he attended in light of recent events in Libya that involve the Navy. “I view the navy as an important engine for economic growth,” he said. “I don’t think we should be making cuts.” French senior Peter Antosh said he was interested to see exactly what the Navy was doing. “I always want to see what America is up to,” he said. “I want to see how my future earnings will be spent.”
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US, European air operations continue in Libya By Hadeel Al-Shalchi The Associated Press
TRIPOLI, Libya — Heavy antiaircraft fire is lighting up the skies over Tripoli and the sound of loud explosions is echoing through the Libyan capital after nightfall. The source of the explosions was not immediately clear, but the gunfire appeared to signal a fourth night of U.S. and European air operations over Libya on Tuesday to enforce a no-fly zone. In the previous night’s operations, the coalition air campaign suffered its first loss with the crash of an American fighter jet in the rebel-
NEWS BRIEFLY Rescued American journalists recount kidnapping in Libya NEW YORK — Libyan soldiers physically abused a team of New York Times journalists and threatened to kill them during the six days they were held in captivity, the newspaper said Tuesday. The journalists said they were captured when their driver mistakenly drove into a checkpoint manned by Libyan forces in eastern Libya on March 15. Their driver is still missing. “I heard in Arabic, ‘Shoot them,” the newspaper quoted reporter Anthony Shadid as saying. “And we all thought it was over.” Soldiers tied up the journalists with wire, an electrical cord, a scarf and shoelaces, and hit them repeatedly with fists and rifle butts. Photographer Lynsey Addario says she was punched in the face and groped. One soldier stroked her head and told her she was going to die. “He was caressing my head in this sick way, this tender way, saying: ‘You’re going to die tonight. You’re going to die tonight,” the newspaper quoted Addario as saying. The Times said soldiers threatened to decapitate photographer Tyler Hicks. Hicks said they temporarily put handcuffs on Shadid so tightly that he lost feeling in his hands. The Libyan forces flew Addario, Shadid, Hicks and videographer Stephen Farrell to Tripoli on Thursday. The Libyan government initially demanded that a U.S. diplomat come to Tripoli to retrieve them, but the U.S. government refused because it had already closed its embassy. The Libyans allowed the Turkish Embassy to act as an intermediary, the newspaper said. They were released on Monday and driven to Tunisia.
Military investigates uniforms worn by illegal immigrants SAN DIEGO — Border Patrol agents in San Diego say they have caught 13 illegal immigrants wearing U.S. Marine uniforms. Agenc y sp okesman Michael Jimenez says Tuesday that agents found the group after approaching a suspicious parked van with altered U.S. license plates on March 14. He says it’s not known where the group obtained the American military uniforms. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is handling the investigation. Navy investigators referred calls to Washington, D.C., and no one could be reached for comment late Tuesday. Jimenez says two U.S. citizens who were with the immigrants were arrested on suspicion of alien smuggling. He says three of the illegal immigrants are being held in federal custody as witnesses and the others have been returned to Mexico, their country of origin.
New Orleans protection project aims to prevent future flooding BELLE CHASSE, La. — The Army Corps of Engineers says it will meet its deadline after Hurricane Katrina to greatly improve the New Orleans area’s hurricane-protection system by the start of the 2011 storm season. Corps officials said Tuesday the agency was on track to meet the June 1 deadline to have New Orleans ready for a major hurricane — or what’s known as a 100-year storm. Officials said reaching the milestone will help New Orleans meet minimum standards for flood insurance coverage. The Corps continues work on bigger and more complex pieces, such as three large floodgates. Once the Corps completes the $14 billion in work Congress authorized after Katrina, the system will be handed over to state and local agencies, which still will need money for routine upgrades. Compiled from Associated Press reports
held east. Both crew ejected safely as the aircraft spun from the sky. The no-fly zone is intended to protect civilians from attack by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in their battles with rebel fighters. The uprising against Gadhafi’s four-decade rule began Feb. 15. An American fighter jet crashed in Libya’s rebel-held east, both crew ejecting safely as the aircraft spun from the sky during the third night of the U.S. and European air campaign. Gadhafi’s forces shelled rebels regrouping in the dunes outside a key eastern city on Tuesday, and his snipers and tanks roamed the last major opposition-held city
in the west. The crash was the first major loss for the U.S. and European military air campaign, which over three nights appears to have hobbled Gadhafi’s air defenses and artillery and rescued the rebels from impending defeat. But the opposition force, with more enthusiasm than discipline, has struggled to exploit the gains. The international alliance, too, has shown fractures as officials struggle to articulate an endgame. China and Russia called for a cease-fire Tuesday, after a night when international strikes hit Tripoli, destroying a military seaport in the capital.
3 A Libyan supporter of Moammar Gadhafi salutes on Tuesday amid the wreckage of what was described as a maintenance warehouse hit by two missiles Monday evening on a Naval base in Tripoli, Libya.
Jerome Delay Associated Press
OpiniOn
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | The Daily Texan | Lauren Winchester, Editor-in-Chief | (512) 232-2212 | editor@dailytexanonline.com
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Overview
UT in the cross-hairs They’re trying to kill UT. Or at least, they’re trying to slowly bleed it dry beneath our eyes. In 2008, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a local conservative think tank, released a list of seven proposed reforms — sorry — “breakthrough solutions” to Texas higher education. In reality, these proposals would radically transform higher education in Texas so as to make state funding entirely reliant on newly fabricated metrics. Perry, the foundation and their cohorts are exploiting an economic crisis to fast-track a partisan agenda without the appropriate scrutiny. For example, one proposed reform would have the state create “student-directed” scholarships that would give every Texas student a scholarship (which would be neither need nor merit-based) to attend any Texas college or university, be it public or private. Presumably, the proposal was dubbed a “student-directed scholarship” because such nomenclature sounds better than what they really are: higher education vouchers. Higher education vouchers are a radical idea that would have disastrous and far-reaching consequences. Unlike public secondary education, admittance to colleges and universities is determined by merit, not residence. College vouchers as proposed by the foundation would take state funding out of top-tier institutions such as UT and Texas A&M and send that money to lower-achieving schools, be they community colleges or private institutions of low esteem. It’s seeking the lowest common denominator for statewide higher education. Several of the proposals center on “bonuses” that would be paid to professors based primarily on the number of students instructed and on student satisfaction surveys. Essentially, a professor teaching a 250seat introductory class would be greatly advantaged over one teaching a high-level 15-person seminar. This system would compel teachers to teach larger, lecturebased classes at the expense of small discussion-oriented seminars, even while the University has spent years trying to lower class sizes across campus. Another proposed reform would force institutions to create “results-based contracts” with students. Essentially, these “contracts” would require universities to enumerate — in addition to the already-required syllabus and reading list — class sizes, starting salaries and graduation rates. These requirements alone would be incredibly burdensome, but the foundation also suggests that they should include the “educational value added,” an input as vague as it is unquantifiable. The particular language reflects a larger trend amidst all seven proposals. Most of the proposed reforms center on language promising to measure “quality” or “effectiveness.” However, in this usage, teaching “efficiency” does not mean a better-run university so much as it means a university that is more reflective of the values of the foundation and Gov. Perry. Establishing these custom-crafted metrics would do little besides facilitate an academic witch hunt so that policies’ decisions could be justified with manipulated or manufactured data. Last month, the UT System Board of Regents hired Rick O’Donnell, former director of Colorado’s higher education department who also served as a research fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. While at the foundation, O’Donnell published a paper claiming that higher education research in Texas “has few tangible benefits.” An investigative piece by the Texas Tribune published last week raises additional concerns by highlighting the links between O’Donnell, the foundation and the Board’s newest regent, Alex Cranberg, also from Colorado. Cranberg, a major political donor in his former state, supported O’Donnell during a failed Congressional run in 2006. While we do not yet know enough about Mr. Cranberg’s positions on education to fully know his intentions, we hope that Perry’s newest regent has not been imported to serve as a point-man for the foundation’s ill-conceived proposals. Perhaps the most troubling proposal, and that which makes Mr. O’Donnell’s appointment so worrisome, is one which seeks to separate research and teaching budgets so as “to encourage excellence in both.” Splitting budgets for these two areas fails to recognize the overlap that research has on the instruction side of education. It assumes that any research cannot be instructional, nor can any education-centered work provide research opportunities. Many undergraduates, and certainly most graduate students, came to UT expressly because the University has a reputation as a premier research institution. Similar reforms have already begun to be implemented at Texas A&M, with poor results. The Association of American Universities, the organization of elite national research universities that designates “Tier 1” status, has expressed concerns with the foundation’s proposals after they were enacted at A&M, calling them “ill-conceived calls for ‘reform’” and show “little to no understanding of the nature of graduate education.” By embarking on the same path, UT could jeopardize its status as a Tier 1 institution. The current budget cuts have already had a measurably negative impact which long-term consequences on the University’s reputation will not be known for several years. If the University were to lose its Tier 1 status the public fallout would be both immeasurable and near irreversible. As stewards of this University, our Regents need to look toward maintaining the elite status of our school in the face of reduced funding, not promoting partisan “reforms” that would further degrade that dwindling prestige. — Dave Player for the editorial board.
The college student’s case for health care reform By Hilda Solis Daily Texan Guest Columnist
A year ago this week, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. The law enacts significant health insurance reforms that will take effect over the next several years. But one very important piece of that law is already in place. And it may directly benefit you. The Affordable Care Act ensures that college students and young adults can stay on their parents’ employer-provided health care plans until age 26. Before, many health plans and issuers dropped young adults from their parents’ policies because of their age. That left countless college students, recent college graduates and other young people with little recourse, and worse: no health insurance. Historically, some 30 percent of young adults have been uninsured, a rate far higher than that of any other age group. But young people don’t need health insurance, right? The statistics say otherwise: one-in-six young adults today is faced with a chronic illness such as cancer, diabetes or asthma. And nearly half of uninsured young adults report problems paying medical bills. The new law ensures you have an option when it comes to your health care. This is important as you continue through school and as you transition into the job market, since you
may find that health care coverage is not immediately available through your employer. Or you may work part time. You may choose to continue your education and go to graduate school, or take time off to travel and pursue volunteer opportunities. It allows you to remain on your parents’ plan or rejoin it until age 26, even if you no longer live with your parents, are not a dependent on their tax return or are no longer a student. The new flexibility even applies if you are married. You are guaranteed the same benefits and at the same price that is available to other dependents. More health care improvements are on the way — and many may also directly benefit you. Already, coverage cannot be denied for those under age 19 because of a pre-existing condition. By 2014, denying coverage to anyone based on a preexisting condition will be banned. Annual dollar caps on care, which are already limited, will be prohibited, and state-based health insurance exchanges will create a new marketplace, giving more employers and millions of Americans the ability to purchase affordable coverage. The Affordable Care Act is based on the simple belief that every American — and that includes college students — deserves access to high-quality, affordable health care. One year after it has become law, that belief is becoming reality. Solis is the United States Secretary of Labor.
Sharing on a broad scale By Jessi Devenyns Daily Texan Columnist
When thinking about the South By Southwest festival, most usually envision mobs, music wafting from all directions and long lines of people waiting for movies and concerts. However, there is another important category in this annual festival: the Interactive competition. The Interactive competition is a contest that analyzes innovative ideas and upstart tech companies then awards the best for their ingenuity and ability to contribute to their community. One of the five finalists in the community section was Acts of Sharing. This upstart company was the brainchild of a graduate student here at the University of Texas. The website combines Facebook and Amazon interfaces to make it easy to lend and borrow items rather than buying them. When a person signs up with Acts of Sharing, they can create and maintain a list of people whom they allow to view items they’re are willing to lend out. The photos of items that participants are will-
ing to share come off of a picture database just like Amazon, making it effortless to post objects and thereby alleviating the hassle of taking a photo, uploading it and posting it onto the site. The ease of this system allows it to be a viable alternative to similar sites that sell products, such as eBay and Amazon. Acts of Sharing has a leg up on the competition because it allows participants to obtain a product for free rather than paying a price plus shipping and handling. Acts of Sharing’s innovative idea plays perfectly into a college student’s lifestyle. Everyone knows the stereotype of a poor college kid. However, sometimes we do need a little help affording our textbooks, or we need to pinch our pennies and not buy the DVD that we really want. Acts of Sharing works to our advantage. If a friend posts his $150 calculus book and lends it to you, think of what you could do with the extra cash. Plus, that book gets a little extra use before your friend sells it back to the Co-op for a measly dividend. Sharing on a broad scale not only benefits individuals, but it makes the user feel
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.
like a good person and a part of something bigger. Sharing is also eco-friendly and sustainable because it reduces the need to manufacture new products, leaving us with a healthier environment. If that isn’t enough to persuade you of the benefits of lending, think about how much more room you’ll have around if people are borrowing items that you’ve only used once or twice. All of these reasons to temporarily give your possessions to a friend are important, but as college students our focus is often on how to save the most money. By borrowing, we can scrounge up extra cash that we can use to buy an ACL pass or fill up our gas tank. When we better the community and try to stretch the potential of our belongings, we end up benefitting ourselves in the end. If Acts of Sharing was notable enough to be recognized in a nationally renowned festival, then we can bet that it has potential to create something great and benefit us in a way that is immediately evident and tangible. Devenyns is an English junior.
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 news stand where you found it.
AGE 1
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Obama team unveils ALONG THIS LONELY ROAD program to increase graduation numbers
UT graduate student Joshua Rhodes walks along Dean Keeton Street after missing his bus Tuesday afternoon.
By William James Daily Texan Staff
Graduation Rates University of Texas: 78 percent State of Texas: 45.8 percent Lowest: Arkansas 28 percent Highest: Washington D.C. 65 percent
The Obama administration rolled out an new program Tuesday that it hopes will help the United States boast the best college graduation rate in the world by 2020. During a summit in Washington, D.C., Vice President Joe Biden introduced a “College Completion Tool Kit,” a program that will offer governors ideas on how to enhance college graduation rates through strategies that are “low-cost” or “no-cost” to the state. “Right now, we’ve got an education system that works like a funnel when we need it to work like a pipeline,” Biden said in a press release. “We have to make the same commitment to getting folks across the graduation stage that we did to getting them into the registrar’s office. The dreams and skills of our college graduates will pave the way to a bright economic future for our nation.” The plan has seven key strategies including aligning high school standards with college entrance and placement standards, making it easier for students to transfer and targeting adults with some college completion but no degree. In order for the U.S. to increase the number of college graduates by the goal of 50 percent, the Department of Education claims each state will need to have a 60 percent completion rate by 2020. Currently, about 42 percent of U.S. citizens ages 25-34 have college degrees, according to information at the summit. The state of Texas falls below this target percentage, with an approximately 45.8-percent completion rate. The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research also released a study which ranked UT’s 78 percent as the 11th-highest among U.S. state universities. Ranked first
was the University of Virginia at 93 percent, and second was University of California, Los Angeles at 90 percent. Thomas Palaima, a classics professor, said the problem with the country’s graduation rate is the structure of higher education itself, and that unless the core structure is fixed, the Obama and Biden remedies will not ultimately fix this problem. “It’s a good goal to have the highest graduation rate in the world, but unless you address the underlying structural problems, this is not going to improve life very much for the people who are going to be literally tricked by this system,” Palaima said. America once led the world in the number of college graduates it produces, but the country has fallen to ninth, said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who delivered opening remarks at the Summit on Monday evening. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Korea currently holds the No. 1 college graduation rate, with 58 percent of its population finishing college. “While our educational advancement stalled, other countries have passed us by. We need to educate our way to a better economy, and governors must help lead the way,” Duncan said. To meet the 2020 goal of regaining the No. 1 spot, the U.S. will have to turn out at least 8 million additional graduates by the end of the decade.
Thomas Allison Daily Texan Staff
Health care reform debate rages on By Mary Ellen Knewtson Daily Texan Staff
One year ago today, President Barack Obama signed a landmark federal healthcare reform law, which has already provided Americans with affordable health care coverage they could not get before the bill. Republic opponents of the law continue to say the it infringes on states’ rights. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law on March 23, 2010, allows children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until they are 26, guarantees coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and saves senior citizens money on their prescription drugs. All of the reforms will be implemented by 2014, according to the law. Brian Blase, health care analyst for the conservative Heritage Founda-
tion, said the law is too far-reaching and expensive. “All of the benefits carry a cost,” Blase said. “Whenever you try to regulate human behavior, there are unintended consequences.” Blase said the public popularity of the law today is lower than when it was first introduced, while the Obama administration expected it to gain popularity, he said. House Republicans’ efforts to repeal the bill are unlikely to gain traction, with Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House. But GOP lawmakers continue their plans to defund the law before it fully goes into effect. Blase said the resistance is working because Florida courts already determined the law unconstitutional. Blase expects the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the constitutionality
of the law sometime next year. Until then, he worries about the amount of power unelected officials in the bureaucracy have over the enforcement of the law. Ethan Rome, executive director of the grassroots organization Health Care for America NOW!, said the law represents the end of insurance company abuses. “[The opposition] is a completely partisan, corporate-based attack,” Rome said. “Republicans are corporate backers. They want to give our health care back to the insurance companies.” Rome said Republicans have spent a lot of money on advertising that lead people to believe negative propaganda about the law. He expects the law to gain popularity as it reaches more people. Rome said any opposition will be unsuc-
cessful because voters will not tolerate a rolling back of the new health care protections. For students, the most prominent change may be the policy that allows children to stay on their parent’s insurance plan until age 26, he said. “It gives you health security while you’re looking for a job,” Rome said. UT professor of public affairs David Warner said while partisans are not completely satisfied with the law, the policy is successful in ensuring that illness will not devastate a family. “There is a concern that people with higher incomes will see their taxes go up,” he said. Warner said repealing is a bit of a fantasy because the opponents do not really have a proposal. “The bill is not going to be repealed as long as Obama is president,” he said.
SXSW crowd increase raises safety concerns By Marty McAndrews Daily Texan Staff
South By Southwest witnessed a handful of small disasters that shook the machinery of the festival, which draws thousands of visitors to Austin every March. Problems at this year’s SXSW included concert-goers tearing down fences at both Auditorium Shores after the Strokes concert on Friday and at Beauty Bar during the reunion of Canadian band Death From Above 1979 on Saturday. “On the way out of Auditorium Shores, we tore down a fence trying to get out the same way we came in,” said advertising junior Tripp Jakovich. “When we arrived, they were letting people in and security was not crazy, but when we left it was as if there was a fence there that wasn’t there before. We took it down so everyone could be free.” When Death From Above 1979 reunited to play their first show in five years, the Beauty Bar’s backyard space reached capacity more than two hours before the band hit the stage. The concert, open only to SXSW badge-holders, drew a line that stretched down the alley, where an additional crowd of about 100 onlookers without badges gathered. When the band began playing, the number of onlookers increased. The SXSW organizers and venue staff attempted to handle the situation with the assistance of only one police officer, but when the crowd began tearing down the fence, the lone police officer threatened the crowd with her taser and SXSW
The
Lauren Gerson | Daily Texan Staff
Fans who gathered at Beauty Bar on Sunday to see Death From Above 1979 flooded the venue and tore down a fence before the police could call for reinforcements.
staff used pepper spray on the masses. The Austin Police Department called in eight mounted police to repeatedly charge down the alley and clear a path. “SXSW is too big for its britches,” said freelance journalist Chris Weingarten, who has been visiting Austin for the festival for three years. “Even medium-level shows are packed, the restaurants are impossible, and Sixth Street is a mess. It’s just unfun.” Weingarten, who has written for Spin Magazine, said he will not be coming back next year because of the crowds and intensity of the festival. “People have been complaining that SXSW has gotten too big since 1991,” said SXSW Managing Director Roland Swenson. Swenson said he resents the festival’s name being dragged through
Dr. Lars Bildsten Public Talk
24 March, 2011 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm RLM 4.102 Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics and Department of Physics University of California, Santa Barbara (Beatrice M. Tinsley Centennial Visiting Professor in Astronomy)
Title: Abstract:
the mud. Problems from fringe events put on by corporate brands reflect poorly on the festival although they are not officially sanctioned, he said. “SXSW badge-holders and wristband-wearers are generally well-behaved,” Swenson said. “The problems were caused by a small group of troublemakers.” APD Cpl. Anthony Hipolito said despite these incidents, the event was a success from a police perspective. “Planning for SXSW had been going on for a long while, and it paid off,” Hipolito said. “There were only 47 arrests Thursday through Saturday of SXSW, and the arrest rates for each day were less than those during Mardi Gras weekend.” The Department arrested 52 people during Mardi Gras weekend.
EXPLODING STARS! Stars explode once every second in the Universe, often becoming brighter than their home galaxies. Though most remain undiscovered by astronomers, recently enhanced capabilities to scan the skies now detect over 10 per day. This has revealed new modes of explosions, some much brighter than we expect, and some much fainter. After describing the common outcomes, I will focus on the exciting new discoveries and their novel theoretical interpretations.
Congratulates the following winners of the 2011
Outstanding Student Awards: Shelby Carvalho Ramu Kharel Steve Lu Jae Seo Pi Jimmy Talarico
Cactus Goodfellow Awards: Bernadette De La Cruz Drew Ingram Shitij “Shantu” Jain Brennan Lawler Catalina Popescu
SPTS P6
6
SPORTS
MAY BREAK
G TRIP COSTA RICA SURFIN EXPLORING
STARTS HERE
www.utrecsports.org
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | THE DAILY TEXAN | Will Anderson, Sports Editor | (512) 232-2210 | sports@dailytexanonline.com
TENNIS
International tennis tourney comes to Austin By Will Anderson Daily Texan Staff
The United States Tennis Association is expected to announce that Austin has been selected to host a second-round Davis Cup match in a press conference scheduled for today in the Frank Erwin Center.
The Davis Cup, an international team tennis tournament, is a single-knockout competition that boasts some of the world’s best male players. The United States plays Spain on June 8-10. The other finalists to host the event were San Antonio and Albany, N.Y. U.S. player Andy Roddick lives in
Austin and has said in the past he’d like the city to host a Davis Cup tie, as the contests are known. Roddick sealed the Americans’ first-round victory with a singles win over Chile’s Paul Capdeville earlier this month and will headline the team’s lineup in the second round. He will face some stiff competi-
SIDELINE NCAA BASKETBALL
tion — Rafael Nadal, the world’s No. 1 player, has committed to play for Spain in the second round. There hasn’t been a Davis Cup tie in the U.S. in more than two-and-ahalf years. The Erwin Center would also host
RUTGERS
TEXAS A&M
CUP continues on PAGE 7
BASEBALL
WEST VIRGINIA
HOUSTON BAPTIST at No. 5 TEXAS
Longhorns not looking past lowly Huskies
BAYLOR
By Trey Scott Daily Texan Staff
The Longhorns have a 15-5 record and boast a No. 5 national ranking, good enough to make them the highest-ranked Big 12 team. They’ve won 10 of their last 12, are coming off a conference-opening sweep of Kansas State and leave tomorrow for a weekend series in Stillwater, Okla., against conference foe Oklahoma State. Texas has already put an impressive collection of skins on the wall, with wins over No. 12 Stanford, Texas State and Hawaii. On the other hand, tonight’s opponent, Houston Baptist, is 1-16. The Huskies didn’t win their first game until March 12, after starting the season on a 14-game losing streak. The Huskies have a collective 6.80 era and hit .217 as a team, and have lost to the likes of Prairie View A&M, Bryant and McNeese State. It looks, sounds and smells like a trap game. Houston Baptist has a barren win column, don’t expect Texas to take it easy tonight. “We don’t focus on the record at all,” said senior Paul Montalbano. “You could look at them and say ‘Oh, they’re 1-16,’ but they could always come out here and play the best game of their lives and beat us.” Montalbano has seen it happen more than once this year. In February, Texas A&M Corpus Christi stormed into Austin and beat the Longhorns 8-7. A few weeks later, they needed extra innings to top UTSA. Texas also lost to Brown by
WHAT TO WATCH Spurs @ Nuggets
Date: Tonight Time: 9:30 p.m. On air: ESPN
Warriors @ Rockets
Date: Tonight Time: 7:30 p.m. On air: FS Houston
Peart Lawrence | Daily Texan Staff
Junior pitcher Sam Stafford faces Stanford in a recent game for the Longhorns. Stafford takes the mound today against Houston Baptist.
four runs. The fact that the Longhorns can lose to teams that, on paper, they should crush has nothing to do with talent but everything to do with mindset. Junior shortstop Brandon Loy said as much after the loss to
Texas A&M Corpus Christi. “It’s not that we overlooked them, it’s just not a big game and that killed us,” he said. “Everybody tries to tell us it’s not a big game, but we can’t look at it like that. These teams come here to beat us.”
Houston Baptist has proven itself capable of beating good teams, but it’s happened just once. In fact, the Huskies’ lone win this year came against No. 14 TCU and its
TRAP continues on PAGE 7
Andrew Edmonson | Daily Texan Staff
Sophomore pitcher Blaire Luna winds up during a recent game for Texas. The Longhorns’ ace pitched a perfect game last week against the Washington Huskies in California. It was Luna’s first perfect game.
Horns return after West Coast swing While most Texas students were enjoying their spring break, the Longhorns were hard at work winning another tournament title in California last week. Texas went 4-0, including a 12-0 drubbing of a previously undefeated Washington squad as the Longhorns won by virtue of the mercy rule. “The Washington game was really fun, we thought we had a great chance of winning the game, but we came out and run ruled them and it was awesome,” said sophomore Torie Schmidt.
As impressive a win as it was for the Longhorns, an individual performance in that game managed to steal the show. Sophomore All-American Blaire Luna pitched the first perfect game of her career, shutting down a Washington team that entered the game hitting .406, and stamping her name into to the Texas record books. “It was awesome, especially being my first one and to do it against such a great team, it was so cool to see how excited everyone was for me,” Luna said. “I think it’s awesome that I got it, but the majority of [the credit] goes to my offense, defense and
Date: Tonight Time: 6 p.m. Place: UFCU DIsch-Falk Field (Austin, Texas)
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[catcher] Amy [Hooks]. Just being on the same page with her really helps.” Coming into the tournament, Luna was by no means struggling with a record of 10-2, but was working through quite a few
LUNA continues on PAGE 7
The Battle at Rancho Bernardo was the toughest challenge yet for Texas and could well be the toughest tournament the Longhorns will compete in this season. The Battle at Rancho Bernardo has been rated the fourth-toughest event in the nation during the spring season, according to Ryan Herrington of golfdigest.com. The No. 25 Longhorns finished tied for eighth overall with a score of 50 over.
They finished the third and final round at 17 over par. Texas managed only three birdies, compared to round one where the Longhorns made 10 birdies. Texas junior Nicole Vandermade finished the best out of all Texas golfers on the final day of The Battle at Rancho Bernardo. She tied in 13th place after all three days of play. Tuesday was the best performance of the tournament for her. She
BATTLE continues on PAGE 7
MEN’S GOLF
Texas rolls over Baylor in final round of event By Nick Cremona Daily Texan Staff
The Longhorns were able to salvage at least one match victory Tuesday, after defeating Baylor 4-1 in the final round of the Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship. After a tough first two days, Texas registered a decisive win over the Bears to finish in 15th place. This is the lowest the Longhorns have finished in a
22 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist
Maurice Evans 6 points, 3 rebounds
Vandermade’s play lone bright spot, ends match strong By Stephanie Yarbrough Daily Texan Staff
By Chris Hummer Daily Texan Staff
LaMarcus Aldridge
VS.
WOMEN’S GOLF
SOFTBALL
TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHRISTI at No. 8 TEXAS
LONGHORNS IN THE NBA
tournament since spring competition began. S e n i or B o b by Hu d s on and sophomore Johnathan Schnitzer both lead their individual matchups from the start, and were able to get the Longhorns rolling in the right direction. Hudson put away Baylor’s Jerry Ruiz with three holes to go after taking a four-hole lead. Schnitzer also led early and
BEARS continues on PAGE 7
SPORTS BRIEFLY Coaches name Nash recipient for broadcasting scholarship Texas senior guard Kathleen Nash will be the recipient of the Robin Roberts/WBCA Broadcasting Scholarship Award, the organization announced Tuesday. The $4,500 scholarship is awarded annually to a female collegiate basketball player planning to pursue graduate work and a career in sports journalism or communications. Nash, a three-time Academic AllBig 12 First Team selection, will graduate in May with a degree in finance and a minor in accounting. Nash will be formally recognized during the WBCA Awards Show at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Indianapolis on April 4. — Austin Laymance
Sophomore linebacker suffers fractured foot during practice Texas sophomore linebacker Jordan Hicks fractured his right foot during practice Tuesday and will be sidelined for the remainder of the spring season, head athletic trainer Kenny Boyd said. Boyd expects Hicks to make a full recovery before the Longhorns open preseason camp in August. Hicks appeared in all 12 games for Texas last season, including eight games at linebacker and 12 on special teams. He was named honorable mention Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year by the conference’s coaches. He was expected to compete for a starting spot on defense this spring under new coordinator Manny Diaz. — Austin Laymance
SPTS/CLASS P7
sPORTs 7
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
TRAP continues from PAGE 6 premier pitcher Matt Purke in Fort Worth — the first loss of Purke’s collegiate career. Sam Stafford (2-0, 2.01 era) will start on the mound tonight for Texas, very much aware of the fate Purke met against the Huskies. “I remember seeing that TCU lost to Houston Baptist,” the junior left-hander said. “That just goes to show you that on any given day, any team can be on top of their game. You can’t take anybody lightly.” In three of the Longhorns’ five losses, they have allowed the other team to score runs first. The fact that their game against Houston Baptist is sandwiched between a great series win and a plane flight to another state tomorrow means that they’ll have to fend off a few distractions. “On weekday games like this that come after a big series and before another one, we have to make sure we’re focused,” Stafford said. “They want to beat us. We have to come out and play our game and put some runs on the board early.” Stafford, who is pitching against Houston Baptist’s Dalton Schafer (0-5, 5.97 era), knows a quick start out of the gate rests with him. “I just need to execute my pitches, get ahead of the batters, throw strikes and let the defense work behind me. That’s my gameplan,” he said. “I’m not going to look at them any differently than I would another team. I’m focused on the things I can control.”
Ryan edwards | Daily Texan staff
Senior outfielder Paul Montalbano stares down a pitch for Texas in a recent game. Montalbano and the Longhorns face Houston Baptist today in what could be a trap game for fifthranked Texas. The senior was benched during the Longhorns’ series against Kansas State last weekend after he failed to execute a bunt opportunity.
CUP continues from PAGE 6 the event this summer in a series of five matches — four singles, one doubles — during the three-day period. The host nation gets to decide what surface the tie will be played on. Roddick and most of the Americans prefer hard courts, although Nadal has found success on almost every major tennis surface. The American is second all-time on his country’s list of Davis Cup appearances at 44. Overall, the U.S. is the winningest side in Davis Cup history with 32 titles. Spain, currently ranked as the world’s best team, has four titles. Jeff Ryan, the association’s senior director of professional operations, will be on hand to make the announcement along with Gov. Rick Perry.
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BATTLE continues from PAGE 6
LUNA continues from PAGE 6
finished even-par, birdying on the 12th hole and bogeying on the 16th hole. She ended the tournament 7 over. Freshman Rebecca Lee-Bentham scored five over for round three, tying her for 25th place. She had two of the Longhorn’s three birdies on the fifth and 12th holes. Sophomores Madison Pressel and Haley Stephens both ended the day six over, and sophomore Katelyn Sepmoree finished 10 over. Stephens ended the tournament tied for 38th place with 14 over, and Pressel ended tied for 55th place with 18 over. Junior Megan Rosenfeld finished tied for 38th place with 14 over. She ended Tuesday with eight over after starting evenpar after round one. She competed in this tournament as an individual. Of the teams participating, eight teams ranked in the top 25 and four teams received votes to be in the top 25, based on the National Golf Coaches Association. Defending National Champion Purdue, the No. 6 team in the country, competed along other top ranked teams including No. 3 USC and No. 4 UCLA. The Longhorns’ next tournament is the PING ASU Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., with play beginning on April 1.
aspects of her game on the mound. Luna employed a new pitch that she developed during the summer and focused on sharpening the mental aspects of her game to become a better all-around pitcher. “I know that we had some athletes working through things — specifically Blaire,” said head coach Connie Clark. “I know that’s the main thing that we talked about when we were done; that you have to keep putting in the work and stay consistent. She’s done that over the last few weeks, but still hasn’t had backto-back outing where she was feeling great.” Out in California, Luna definitely seemed ready, going 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Those three games included 19 innings of work, 30 strikeouts and mostly empty base paths as she only al-
2. UsC +22 3. UCLA +23 4. Georgia +39 5. Auburn +41 6. UC Davis +45 7. Arizona +48 T8. Texas +50
lowed nine runners to reach base in those three outings. Luna’s dominating performance earned her national player of the week awards from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and USA Softball. “Being named national player of the week is a great honor and I am very proud to earn this award for the Texas softball program,” Luna said. “It would not be possible to win an award like this without our great offense, fantastic defense and the excellent pitch-calling and support of my catcher Amy Hooks. With such a great group of players around me it makes it easy to excel in the circle.” These weren’t the only two accolades that Luna received in the past week. She was one of 12 athletes that were invited to com-
BEARS continues from PAGE 6
10. UNLV +51 11. Arizona state +53 12. Denver +59 13. California +60 14. Oregon +70
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often, winning by six holes over the Bears’ Matthew Seligmann. Texas junior Dylan Frittelli and sophomore Cody Gribble also got the better of their Baylor counterparts, although Gribble had to come back from an early deficit. Sophomore Julio Vegas trailed much of his matchup with Baylor se-
nior Cody Paladino, and was not able to defeat his elder opponent. It was another difficult outing for the Longhorns, who won only 11 out of their 25 individual matchups. Texas’ first-round opponent, Duke, proved to be much better than the 10-seed they received in the tournament. The
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Blue Devils finished off Illinois in the final round to claim first place. Other notable finishes were Texas Tech at fourth, Texas A&M at sixth and UCLA at seventh. The Longhorns will host the Morris Williams Intercollegiate tournament on April 5-6 at The University of Texas Golf Club.
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pete for a spot on the U.S. national team this summer, giving her the opportunity to represent her country on the international stage against the best competition in the world. Despite how important all the awards are to Luna and her personal resume, Luna and her teammates will take away something much more important than trophies from the week — confidence. “I think it will help us more than anything confidence-wise,” the pitcher said. Luna and the Longhorns will look to continue to roll forward brimming with newly found confidence today. The eighth-ranked Longhorns face Texas A&M Corpus Christi in a double header, with the first game starting at 5 p.m.
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Life&Arts
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | The Daily Texan | Amber Genuske, Life&Arts Editor | (512) 232-2209 | dailytexan@gmail.com
viDEo GAME REviEW
‘Dragon Age’ sequel tells immersive tale By Danielle Wallace Daily Texan Staff
“Dragon Age II” broke from the pack in early March to stand, flaws aside, as a solid and rewarding venture into the fantasy role-playing game genre. Gameplay, design and character depth have all gotten notable upgrades in the most recent expansion of BioWare’s “Dragon Age” series. Players re-enter the war-ravaged world of Ferelden, in the midst of the story line of “Dragon Age: Origins,” as Hawke, a rogue adventurer, fleeing with his family from his hometown of Lothering to build a new life. The game takes a closer look at the sprawling mythology of the world to follow the hero’s catapult to prominence. What “Dragon Age II” loses in scope from its predecessor, it gains in depth. However, the three-year jumps between each of the game’s three acts create a disjointed continuity. The hardest hit are the optional romances, although they have been expanded to cater to a broader range of sexual preferences for whichever gender the player chooses for their avatar. In some cases, a single flirtatious line of dialogue can leap forward to passionate declarations without the development present in “Origins.”
Dragon Age 2 BioWare
Genre: Fantasy Platform: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 For those who like: “Dragon Age: Origins,” “Mass Effect” series
Grade: A Updated character design and well-written personalities have given more flair to the faces of Ferelden, from a beardless, city-dwelling dwarf to a sassy, seductive female pirate that can be chosen to follow Hawke through his or her adventures. Even minor details, such as the appearances of Hawke’s family based on the facial features selected for the protagonist during character creation, add a soul to the game. Small environmental details help set it apart from others in the genre, such as importing outcomes from the first “Dragon Age.” A disappointing recycling of level design, however, makes every cave and enemy hideout practically indistinguishable and extremely predictable as the game goes on. Gameplay is smooth, cinematic and has been noted in critiques of gameplay on other platforms for
keeping that quality across all three gaming platforms. For the most part, glitches are far between and seemingly fixable through patches. Combat has been simplified into a system with more stunning visuals but less impressive capacities for onfield strategy. Abilities and greater development of each playable class — rogue, mage or warrior — make play interesting and unique for each character, but the careful planning involved in a pause-and-play system is hardly necessary. The game makes for an engrossing and satisfying RPG with complex, involved story lines, memorable characters and decision-making scenarios that force players to make judgment calls that question the unfaltering morality of the archetypal hero and make for a worthy sequel to the celebrated “Dragon Age” series.
Student’s screenplay gains recognition By Priscilla Totiyapungprasert Daily Texan Staff
Andrew Lanham hopes to catch a glimpse of the famous Marfa lights on his first trip to the West Texas city this weekend, although they won’t be the main reason for his trip. A second-year graduate student in the radio-television-film program, Lanham will be there to see his awardwinning screenplay “The Jumper of Maine” performed as a stage adaptation at Crowley Theater. “The Jumper of Maine” was one of five screenplays chosen from about 6,300 submissions for the 2010 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After reading the third draft of his script last semester, radio-televisionfilm lecturers Alex Smith and Beau Thorne suggested he submit his work to the Nicholl Fellowships. In late October, while he was at his apartment about to leave for a Sufjan Stevens concert, Lanham received the phone call. The Academy chose him as one of five winners, and he won $30,000. “I don’t get to use the money until after I graduate,” Lanham said. “I’m going to use it to survive for a year while I’m writing screenplays.” Lanham’s winning screenplay tells the love story of a paramedic with Tourette’s syndrome whose symptoms vanish whenever he’s on the job. Lanham’s writing is partially based on his own experience with Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by motor or vocal tics. Lanham wants to dispel the common association of Tourette’s syndrome with cursing and vulgar outbursts. Only a small percentage of people with the syn-
drome have the compulsion to say obscenities, he explained. While growing up in the small town of Bangor, Maine, as the middle child of three, Lanham first showed indications of the syndrome when he was in fifth grade. “I chewed a hole in my tongue,” he said, commenting on one of his indications, then sticking his tongue out and pointing to the discolored indention. After he was diagnosed, doctors prescribed him Haldol, an antipsychotic medication he began taking three times daily in the seventh grade. The medication caused him to become sluggish, sleep more than normal and gain weight. Unable to function in an academic setting, Lanham was pulled from school and spent eighth and ninth grade at home watching movies. “I was 240 pounds before I hit puberty,” he said. “I was such a mess. Then I refused to take the medication.” After getting off medication, Lanham returned to school and began attending a private Christian high school. He got involved in theater and acted in his first play, “Fiddler on the Roof.” It was during this period that Lanham realized his tics vanished whenever he was acting. “I saw a surgeon on ‘20/20’ with Tourette’s whose symptoms disappeared when he was in surgery,” Lanham said. “It was like that for me when I discovered acting in high school. It’s about finding that release.” He studied film theory at Richmond, the American International University in London, and then spent two years traveling to countries including Mexico and Thailand with Up with People, a performing arts and education nonprofit. After
WHAT: Ballroom Marfa Presents: The Reading A Staged Adaptation of “The Jumper of Maine” WHERE: Crowley Theater - Marfa WHEN: Saturday, March 26 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. WEB: ballroommarfa.org
his time abroad, Lanham developed an interest in screenwriting and came to UT for graduate school. Although he admitted to not being a fan of his first screenplay, his next screenplay, “The Jumper of Maine,” earned him some recognition. Along with the Nicholl Fellowships award, the screenplay also won both the Drama Screenplay competition and Latitude Productions Screenplay Award at the 2010 Austin Film Festival in the fall. Producer Donald De Line of De Line Pictures is attached to the script, which is currently circulating among potential directors. Although Lanham wrote his script with a film in mind, he expressed curiosity and anticipation in how it would translate on stage. Unlike a traditional reading where actors all sit on stage and read from a script, parts of “The Jumper of Maine” will be performed, similar to a play. “There aren’t that many really great movies about people with Tourette’s Syndrome,” Lanham said. “And most of the time, the media focuses on the obscenities. In [the screenplay], there’s also a character with Alzheimer’s and a character with diabetes. The main thing is that everyone struggles, but it’s not the only thing that defines them.”
Courtesy of Ballroom Marfa
Ballroom Marfa will present a stage adaptation of “The Jumper of Maine,” written by radio-television-film graduate student Andrew Lanham.
Courtesy of Associated Press
Legendary blues pianist and Austinite Joseph William “Pinetop” Perkins died Monday at the age of 97.
oBiTuARy
Legendary blues musician dies By Amber Genuske Daily Texan Staff
Blues legend Joseph William Perkins, better known as Pinetop Perkins, died from cardiac arrest at the age of 97 in his Austin home on Monday. Born in Belzoni, Miss., Perkins picked up piano at an early age. Throughout his career, he performed with acts such as Muddy Waters and The Legendary Blues Band, although he didn’t record his own album until 1988 with After Hours. In the 1950s, he toured with
Chicago blues artist Earl Hooker, where he gained the nickname, “Pinetop,” after recording Pinetop Smith’s “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie.” Perkins was known for his raspy voice that held true grit next to his soulful and rolling piano skills. Renowned Memphis producer Sam Phillips even attributed Perkins to the birth of rock ’n’ roll since he taught piano protege Ike Turner his percussive style. In 2008, and at last month’s Grammy award show, Perkins won for Best Traditional Blues Album for Last of
the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas and Joined at the Hip, respectively. In 2005, he won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2003 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. After moving to Austin in 2003, Perkins became a staple in the local blues scene, performing at venues around town such as Antone’s. “I thank the Lord for me being here all the time,” Perkins said in a 2009 interview with the Associated Press. “I play any piano with a good tune.”
CoMiC Book REviEW
Cartoonist communicates romance, eroticism By Ao Meng Daily Texan Staff
Flemish cartoonist Brecht Evens’ “Night Animals” is wordless, its illustrations operating with a nearallegorical nature. The comic is split between two stories meant to be consumed as a whole — both about sexuality and the subsequent adventures in the pursuit and discovery thereof. The first one, “Blind Date,” is a humorous odyssey that follows a nervous middle-aged man in a rabbit costume as he trails magical arrows of light, pointing toward what he hopes to be a tremendous romantic encounter. The cryptic directions lead him through deserted parks, biker bars and then straight out of civilization into the antagonistic wilds. As the unnamed protagonist descends into much more than he bargained for, the colors alternate between cool and warm, demonstrating Evens’ immense skill as a watercolor painter. “Bad Friends,” the other story in what Evens calls a “diptych,” is much darker in the tone and telling. The fleshy landscape is a possible nod toward fellow Low Countries artist Hieronymus Bosch’s 13th century triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Limiting himself to one color in this piece, that is somehow more fantastic than “Blind Date,” Evens
Night Animals Brecht Evens Genre: Erotic Psychedelia Pages: 48 color For those who like: Maurice Sendak, Josh Agle, Hieronymus Bosch
Grade: B depicts the physical development of a girl who magically undergoes puberty, starting her period and maturing into a woman, all at once in the middle of gymnastics practice. Devastatingly embarrassed, the girl has a strange dream that evening of a Pan-like creature in skyscraper-high heels and fishnet stockings. It beckons her into an erotic version of a wild rumpus in the woods from “Where the Wild Things Are” accompanied by surrealistic creatures that brilliantly exhibit Evens’ strong sense of imagery. Watercolor artist Frank Santoro interviewed Evens for Comics Comics magazine about his much longer English language debut comic, “The Wrong Place” (Drawn and Quarterly, 2010), discussing his compositional strength with watercolors. The cartoonist blocks out the geometry of the color before he fills in the details. In that
sense, he doesn’t color in as much as sculpt out his drawings. The two stories, on some level, are metaphorical instead of solely sexual humorous observations — journeys through the interior landscapes of the main characters. There’s something distinctly honest about his gender roles as portrayed in “Night Animals:” a feeling of being lost in the world that we create and the wilder life on the other side, in the night time, when the sun goes down. The structures of the two stories mirror the respective gender’s sexual journey. The conclusion of “Bad Friends” is rather cryptic and mysterious, depicting an event following rules of the primal side of life. But turn back to “Blind Date” and ponder the origin of the mysterious arrows that guide the protagonist along his increasingly perilous route. First, you have to be lost before you can guide yourself back home.