Longhorns continue marching to Elite Eight
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copyright dell medical school, and reproduced with permission Austin philanthropist John Paul DeJoria, left, assistant professor Tim Mercer and Dean Clay Johnston of Dell Medical School celebrate a $2 million donation.
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State leaders and UT students denounced UT’s decision to keep “The Eyes of Texas” as the Alma Mater.
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The Texas women’s basketball team is in the Elite Eight after an impressive tournament run.
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In this week’s forum, a UT student details his experience recieving the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Contents:
Austin philanthropists John Paul and Eloise DeJoria donated $2 million to Dell Medical School this month to help people experiencing homelessness receive better health care. The donation, which came from the DeJorias’ JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness
Foundation, will be used to create an endowment to fund the expansion of Dell’s street medicine programs, research and training for future doctors working with people experiencing homelessness, according to a press release. “This allows us to maybe take a step back and breathe and strategize,” said Tim Mercer, director of Dell’s Global Health program. “But … now we’ve really got to get going and work even harder to build programs and bridges and to achieve our mission, which is ultimately to improve the health of vulnerable populations.” Mercer leads Dell’s work to provide health care to people who are unhoused in Austin through partnerships with organizations like CommUnityCare Health Centers, a network of primary care clinics, and Integral Care, Travis County’s mental health authority. Mercer said these partnerships help provide holistic medical care by bringing providers together to serve the community and remove barriers to access care. “Sometimes that includes getting out of our clinics and going see someone at their campsite or under the bridge or meeting them in a park,” Mercer said. Mercer said his team is highly involved in providing the city’s COVID-19 response to D O N AT E
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NEWS
LAUREN GIRGIS
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News Editor | @THEDAILYTEXAN TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Graduation conflicts with Shabbat
Student Government is urging UT to make graduation more inclusive for Jewish students. By Sheryl Lawrence @sheryl_adelle
Trigger Warning: This article contains discussion of anti-Semitism and violence. he UT Student Government assembly passed legislation Tuesday urging administration to change the day of the week for graduation ceremonies. The Jewish Sabbath, Shabbat, begins at sundown Friday nights and ends at sundown Saturday night. This year, religiously observant Jewish students will currently have to compromise their beliefs to attend the Universitywide commencement, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 22 at 8 p.m. The spring 2019 Universitywide commencement ceremony was held Saturday, May 26 at 6 p.m., and the spring 2018
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Austin’s homeless population. The team partnered with Austin Public Health and the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition to provide testing, vaccinations and protective
ceremony was held Saturday, May 19 at 8 p.m. Those who observe Shabbat are forbidden from doing many activities, including writing, driving or riding in vehicles, using electricity and carrying certain objects outside during this time, according to Chabad.org. Law school representative Jordan Cope, who is Jewish, said he does not plan to attend graduation due to the conflict with the Shabbat. Law student Cope said he wrote the legislation because of the increased amount of incidents relating to anti-Semitism on campus. “Whatever the reality is, you have to recognize that and either seek to change it or move on and celebrate in another way,” Cope said. “I will feel somewhat disappointed that I won’t be able to be with all my other fellow peers on the exact day of graduation.” Lorren Cantu, a representative for the College of Natural Sciences, said she and fellow representatives felt it would be difficult to change the day because Muslims observe Friday and Christians observe Sunday as holy days. Chemistry sophomore Cantu asked during the general assembly meeting if Cope could amend the legislation to include a recommendation for a certain day. Cope said he did not recommend a certain day
because he wanted the administration to consider how events like graduation impose on different religious communities. During the assembly meeting, Cope made a floor amendment to include specific times graduation should not occur if the administration wants to be inclusive of religiously observant Jewish students. For the class of 2021’s graduation, this time period is estimated to begin Friday, May 21 around 8:04 p.m. and end Saturday, May 22 at 9:03 p.m., according to the legislation. Joey Williams, director of communications for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, said UT is unable to reschedule graduation ceremonies due to the number of stakeholders involved. “Historically, the University has held commencement Saturday night to provide the access to the highest number of students and their families,” Williams said. “Saturday also accommodates travel over the weekend for those who are unable to do so during (the) work week.” In January, the UT Police Department sent out an incident notification about anti-Semitic graffiti on a wall at Sigma Alpha Mu’s fraternity house, which is being investigated as a hate
housing to vulnerable people in the community for the duration of the pandemic, according to a press release. John Paul DeJoria, also a co-founder of hair care company John Paul Mitchell Systems, said he once experienced being homeless himself, and it feels wonderful to be in
the position to help people. The DeJorias’ foundation has always focused on housing accessibility, but the pandemic made the health care needs of Austin’s homeless population more apparent, said Constance Dykhuizen, the foundation’s executive director. The foundation previously gave $350,000
daulton venglar
/ the daily texan file
Students gathered at the spring 2015 commencement at The University of Texas.
crime. Sigma Alpha Mu was founded as a Jewish fraternity, according to their website. Management junior Adina Traub said pieces of legislation like this one would force UT to take action regarding anti-Semitism on campus, given that the University did not do much about recent hate crimes. “(Students) didn’t get a text until a week later about (the hate crime against Sigma Alpha Mu),” Traub said. “It felt like they didn’t react in time.”
to Dell to help stop COVID-19 from spreading among Austin’s homeless community. John Paul said the decision to donate was a no brainer. He said the endowment will ensure that people continue to pay attention to the homeless population in Austin even when the pandemic ends.
E M I LY C A L D W E L L
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Editor-In-Chief | @TEXANOPINION TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
FORUM
FORUM
Getting the COVID-19 vaccine
In this week’s forum, we discuss receiving the vaccine and beginning to plan for a hopeful future. By Daisy Kielty & Maria Sailale Forum Editors
ne year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. On March 23, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that all adults would be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 29. This comes three months after the FDA provided emergency approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It’s the beginning of the end of arguably the worst year our generation has faced. The United States has now reached over half a million deaths
caused by COVID-19. With Texas representing about an eleventh of that number, it is an incalculable amount of grief. More Americans dead from COVID-19 than American soldiers killed in both World Wars and the Vietnam War combined. More than 180 times the number of deaths on Sept. 11, 2001. It’s like the Titanic sinking every day for a year. For an entire year, all we have known is grief. We have stayed inside, worn masks, sanitized our hands and hoped that we would get out of all of this eventually. It has been an entire year of online schooling, Speedway being empty and plans being put on hold. But things are changing. The news that all UT students are now eligible for the vaccine
has unleashed more hope and excitement than we’ve seen since this all started. We can now, cautiously, plan for the future. We can get excited for in-person classes, game days and everything in between. Our college experience has a chance of returning to “normal” in the new school year, and we hope everyone will actively play a part in making that happen by getting the vaccine. In this forum, nursing sophomore Huy Le takes us through his experience getting the vaccine and tells us everything he learned in the process. As always, if you have any thoughts on this topic or any other, please feel free to reach out to us at thedailytexanforum@gmail.com.
FORUM
‘Let’s all protect ourselves and each other’ By Huy Le Contributor
I was nervous on the day. I have been learning about COVID-19 and the virus since day one when the news broke the headlines. Just before the pandemic, I attended a lecture given by Moderna researchers here at UT about the new mRNA technology. I was wonderstruck by it, and I couldn’t believe how much science has advanced in the past decade. It seems like the vaccines were developed
way too quickly. However, when I took a step back and examined the evidence behind vigorous clinical trials and how mRNA vaccines work, I began to understand that science has evolved a lot in the past decade, thanks to the work of modeling spike proteins and understanding mechanisms of viruses done by associate professor Jason McLellan’s lab here on our own campus. I witnessed others getting the vaccines with happiness beaming on their faces. I decided to volunteer at the
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.
clinic and help out with the vaccination efforts, as I believe that through vaccines, we can get out of this pandemic and prevent further mortality among members of our community. I took a deep breath. I entered through a brightly lit hallway and was greeted with such a warm welcome by other volunteers. I sat down at a station where caring nurses and students explained the procedures and possible common side effects to me: sore arm, fatigue, chills, fever,
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etc. They can sound scary, and you may ask yourself, “That sounds like symptoms of being sick, and isn’t a vaccine supposed to prevent you from getting sick?” However, I learned that those are just normal responses from your immune system hard at work, and they will protect you from COVID-19 in the future. I received a jab in the arm, and the procedure was done before I knew it. I sat in the observation room for 15 minutes in case of a reaction and to provide
emily maccormack
updates to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about how I felt after receiving the vaccine. I got some sore arms for both doses and chills and muscle aches after the second dose. However, I only experienced them for a day, and then I was back to normal. We are living through history. Many members of our community have suffered from COVID-19, and getting vaccinated is another step in addition to mask wearing, social distancing and washing hands that we can engage in to prevent
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/ the daily texan staff
infection. Getting vaccinated will allow all of us to be back together in the same space again and hug each other (if both of y’all are comfortable, of course). I miss the stampede at football games, the dine-in experiences, watching movies in the theater, traveling and visiting family. Let’s all protect ourselves and each other by getting vaccinated. I cannot wait for the day that we can be back and meet each other again. Huy Le is a nursing sophomore from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Houston, Texas.
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SPORTS
C A R T E R YAT E S
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Sports Editor | @TEXANSPORTS TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
highest seed standing
No. 6 seed Texas looks to continue string of upsets against No. 1 seed South Carolina. By Taylor Hawthorne @taylorhawth
efore the 2021 NCAA Tournament, rampant inconsistency and inexperience hindered head coach Vic Schaefer’s ability to establish his culture at Texas during a COVID-affected year. The Longhorns entered the tournament tabbed as a No. 6 seed with little hope of making a deep run after having lost three of their last five games. Nonetheless, this ragtag Texas team of just five returning players, three transfers and a whole bunch of freshmen finds itself moving on to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2016. For all the disadvantages the Longhorns have with experience, they make up for with guts and effort, Schaefer said. “For these kids, they’re in. They’re all in,” Schaefer said after beating No. 2 seed Maryland on March 28. “They’re a bull locked in a china cabinet, and they’re coming out fighting.” Schaefer’s reputation for leading his teams to deep runs in March is well known after he took his former squad, Mississippi State, to three consecutive Final Four appearances and two Championship games. The magic hasn’t worn off in his transition to Texas. Just a month ago, the Longhorns were stumbling to a fifth-place finish in the Big 12 standings after being picked second in the preseason poll. In the last week, however, Tex-
jenny devico/ the daily texan staff
as has defeated two AP Top 10 teams with a tremendous display of newfound confidence and resilience. Now heading into the Elite Eight against No. 1 seed South Carolina, the team is peaking at the right time, sophomore guard Celeste Taylor said. “When we’re focused and stay together, we know we can get through anything,” Taylor said after the win against No. 3 seed UCLA on March 24. “Just coming out here and showing we had this resiliency in us all
along, I think that people are starting to (notice) us and see who we are as a team.” Texas has morphed into a more complete team during the tournament, as they no longer live and die based on the performance of junior center Charli Collier. Nowhere was this more evident than the team’s round of 32 win against UCLA when Collier was limited to five points and five rebounds due to foul trouble. With the other four players on the court coming into their
own and Collier bouncing back with 16 points and 11 rebounds against Maryland, the Longhorns are a dangerous team. “We can play with anybody, we can play in any situation as long as we are together and execute our game plan,” graduate transfer guard Kyra Lambert said before the tournament in a March 12 teleconference. “That’s the key.” Despite knocking out some of the best teams in the country, Texas will still be the underdog in its upcoming match-
up against No. 1 seed South Carolina on Tuesday. The Longhorns are familiar with their underdog status, and they have begun to embrace it, Schaefer said. “It’s a mindset. It’s an approach,” Schaefer said after the win against Maryland. “I told them, ‘When you engage the mechanism, you get rid of the noise. It’s just you and your team, you and the game.’ We are focused on us. No one thinks we can do it, that’s fine. It’s not uncharted water.”
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SPORTS
SWIMMING
joshua guerra
/ the daily texan file
Eddie Reese, Texas men’s swimming and diving head coach, walks the pool deck June 21, 2016. The legendary coach announced his retirement Monday, just two days after winning his 15th national title.
Reese’s legacy goes beyond team accolades By Brittany Archer @brittanyarcher_
Eddie Reese is the only men’s swimming and diving coach to win an NCAA team title in five separate decades, but after 43 seasons at Texas, Reese said winning wasn’t his driving motivation. “The thing I got most out of coaching swimming has nothing to do with winning or trophies,” Reese said. “It all has to do with our personal relationships. … Coaches are in a great position that I love because I’m a firm believer that if the purpose of our life is to help, it puts us in a position to do just that.” Reese announced his retirement Monday afternoon, fresh off winning his 15th national
championship. In two days’ time, Reese went from jumping fully clothed into the pool after the Longhorns clinched the National Title to disclosing his long-speculated plan to step away from his role as head coach at Texas. Reese will now serve as coach emeritus following the Olympic Trials in June. The 79-year-old can change his occupation, but he can’t change the impact he’s had on hundreds of Texas athletes during his time at UT. Former swimmer Michael Klueh committed to the Longhorns in 2005. After taking a recruiting trip to Austin, Klueh knew Texas was the spot for him. “At the time, some of the other places I was looking at were having a little bit more
success, and it’s hard to believe that someone else was having more success than Eddie (Reese),” Klueh said “Texas was kind of the whole package, and that always started and ended with Eddie.” While each swimmer’s accomplishments in the pool were important to Reese, the growth they displayed in their character outside the pool was equally as vital to the Texas program. “He kind of realized how small (the) sport was in the big scheme of things, and I probably feel like that’s the most important part,” former swimmer Ricky Berens said. “If you were struggling in school, he made sure swimming was in the backseat: ‘Don’t come to practice for a week until you
get this together.’” Berens committed to Texas in 2007, and after one year under Reese, he qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games. “I was highly recruited in high school, but no one expected me to make an Olympic team,” Berens said. “But sitting down with Eddie, there’s no doubt in his mind that I was making an Olympic team. I was a good swimmer out of high school and I think he made me a great swimmer.” Even after all these years, Reese still keeps up with his old swimmers. “We don’t talk as much as I would like to, but (when we do), we just fall right back into it like we’ve never missed a step,” Klueh said. “He has taken generation upon
generation of boys that showed up and (taught) us how to kind of handle ourselves. Not just in the pool, but in the classroom, getting good grades and (in) life.” While his legacy as one of the greatest to walk the pool deck is undeniable, Reese’s lessons on personal development have lasted longer with his swimmers than any practical coaching. “I think about him daily. You think about the conversations you have with him. (About) how to be a father, how to be a husband, how you go about your daily life, in your job,” Berens said. “Every hour of the day you think about a lesson or something that happened that makes you just a better person.”
NEWS
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TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
CAMPUS
UT’s Asian American community processes recent Atlanta attacks and rise in anti-Asian discrimination By Kaushiki Roy @Kaushikiroy3
Trigger Warning: Anti-Asian hate crimes Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150% in 2020 and on March 16, a shooting in Atlanta killed eight people, six of whom were identified as Asian women. At least four of those killed were of Korean descent. With the recent Atlanta attacks fueled by anti-Asian bias, Wenhong Chen, an associate professor at UT, said she feels the pain in her community acutely. “I think for many people, this is the first time they realize the long history of Asian American racism in this country,” said Chen, an associate professor of media studies and sociology. “Asian Americans have been in this very precarious position since early on, since the very beginning, … and I sincerely hope this very sad moment can actually … lead to a national movement about Asian American history (and) Asian American future.” Chen said as a first-generation Chinese immigrant, she relates to the six women who were murdered in Atlanta. She said anti-Asian hate crimes have been fueled by rhetoric such as calling COVID-19 “the China virus,” which former President Donald
Trump said on multiple occasions. “I feel that it’s so visceral because I can say that we are on this difficult immigration journey,” Chen said. “They sacrificed so much for their family and this is what they got at the end?” In response to the increase in anti-Asian discrimination, the UT Wellness Network’s BeVocal initiative and the Center for Asian American Studies held a workshop Monday on using bystander intervention to confront anti-Asian bias. The workshop discussed the history of Asian stereotyping and exclusion, Asian experiences in
today’s world, the spectrum of harm related to the model minority myth and the proper way to respond as a bystander in times of trouble, said Tony Vo, assistant director at the Center for Asian American Studies. BeVocal and the center will host a second workshop Tuesday. “The first step is to learn about Asian American history, which is a history of exclusion and erasure,” Vo said. “The anti-Asian bias harbored today is rooted in centuries-old sentiments. If we’re to unpack the racism toward Asians, we need to start there.” Marketing junior Junfeng Sun said that as
someone grieving following the attacks, he was not sure if a large workshop would help his community mourn. “I’m glad UT is taking the initiative with the workshop, but I don’t know how much they would honestly help,” Sun said. “Because in times like this, it’s more intimate personal communities that really need time to grieve first and … understand and to talk.” Sun, who is Chinese American, said his reaction to what happened in Atlanta was one of surprise and later fear. “When (I saw) the pictures of the people who were murdered, … you can’t help but think that
like, ‘Wow, that looks like my mom, my grandparents, people within my family,’” Sun said. “That’s a very scary thought.” Computer science sophomore Kevin Chen said Asian Americans are often viewed as part of a monolithic culture, and that anti-Asian hate crimes do not get exposure. “We are all taught the same thing: that when you come to America you keep your head down to do the work,” Kevin said. “Now, when your culture really gets publicized in the news, you’re kind of like, ‘Wow, my people are being noticed for the first time.’”
megan fletcher
/ the daily texan staff
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TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
NEWS
UNIVERSITY
State leaders join UT students to denounce continued use of ‘The Eyes of Texas’ By Skye Seipp @seippetc
Members of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the Texas chapter of the NAACP gathered at the Texas State Capitol to oppose the University’s continued use of alma mater “The Eyes of Texas” at a press conference Monday. The conference featured multiple students, Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-27), Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas State NAACP Conference, UT history professor Alberto Martínez and others. “We oppose the decision by the President of The University of Texas to keep the ‘The Eyes of Texas’ as its official song, despite the song’s racist origins and history — and its humiliating impact on African Americans,” Bledsoe said. UT President Jay Hartzell has said since July the song will remain after students and athletes called for the alma mater to be dropped. Hartzell created a committee of 25 people to research the song, and the group released a report March 9 that said the song debuted at a minstrel show but was not “overtly racist.” Martínez released his own report on Wednesday with evidence of the song’s racist origins, including that the song’s title and phrase were inspired by Confederate general Robert E. Lee, which “The Eyes of Texas” History
Committee disputed. Reynolds, vice chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, said the caucus has been in conversation with Hartzell about their stance against the song’s continued use. Reynolds said the caucus made a “firm commitment” against the use of the song, and he hopes Hartzell will reconsider keeping it since Martínez’s report has published. “I hope that The University of Texas will want to be on the right side of history, will want to continue to work with the students, continue to work with the Texas State NAACP, continue to work with the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, so we can make sure that we create a great environment that is welcoming for all students, particularly those that have historically been left out — African American students,” Reynolds said. Reynolds said he spoke with Hartzell since Martínez released his report, but Hartzell told him he University was still “vetting” Martínez’s report. He said Hartzell was “patient” with him and seemed “concerned” after the report published last week. The caucus will meet again with Hartzell on Monday night, Reynolds said. “We hope they’ll reconsider and continue to incorporate the demands the students have made,” Reynolds said. “The
skye seipp / the daily texan staff Members of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the Texas chapter of the NAACP meet at the Texas State Capitol to oppose the University’s use of “The Eyes of Texas” on March 29.
demands are reasonable. They’re not optimistic.” UT spokesperson J.B. Bird said the University’s “previous comments on the status of the song stand,” when asked if Hartzell was reconsidering replacing the song. Bird said the University is looking forward to working with state representatives, students and other stakeholders to “continue to improve our campus.” “The university is committed to seeing through the initiatives started last summer and
to looking for more ways to support our students,” Bird said in an email. Zion James, an African and African Diaspora Studies and sociology sophomore and parliamentarian for the Black Student Alliance, said he denounces the use of the song. Though he does not hold a position on UT’s Black President’s Leadership Council, James called for UT to implement the council’s demands, which include more scholarships for Black students, increased recruitment of
Black students and changing the names of all UT buildings named after people with a racist past, such as T.S. Painter Hall and the Belo Center for New Media. “I’m glad to have contributed in clarifying why this song is so offensive,” Martínez said. “Now, I’m not clarifying for African Americans or people of color, they already know. … I’m clarifying for the white people who insist on being comfortably, blissfully (ignorant) to this.” He said the University “does not have a democracy”
and that there was no poll of faculty, athletes, students or band members on whether the song should stay, despite both legislative student bodies and hundreds of student organizations protesting the song last summer. “We talk about change, ‘What starts here changes the world,’” Martínez said. “How about we change at UT? Why is UT so slow to change? … To UT-Austin, this is not going to get any prettier, this is not going to get any more comfortable, and we’re not going away.”
LIFE&ARTS
A I S L I N G AY E R S
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Life&Arts Editor | @TEXANARTS TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
STUDENT LIFE
Startup makes way in tech world UT students break into food industry with innovative, new app called FrenchFry. By Morgan-Taylor Thomas @mtthomas_
f they weren’t eating at Chickf i l - A , Zaheer Pirani and his three roommates inevitably started their daily quarrel about where to eat. Tired of arguing with his friends, Pirani chose to solve the problem. meredith bowden / the daily texan staff
Everything you do on your phone is centered around apps. IPhones make it so easy to use and put out apps.” ANDY ANZALDUA
nutrition sophomore “At that moment in my life, I was looking for something new to take on,” management junior Pirani said. “I was single and actually had Bumble and Tinder on my phone,
so I was swiping through one day and thought, ‘They have a swipe method to decide yes or no (if) you like a person, why don’t they have that for food?’” For the past year, Pirani, 12 UT students and students from other colleges have been working on a food service app called FrenchFry. The app, which officially launched March 6 and is just shy of 25,000 downloads, has given them not only a resume boost but also an innovative, tight-knit community that allows for creative brainstorming. Amaan Dosani,
FrenchFry’s head of marketing, said it’s important to him that the student ambassadors, also known as FrenchFryers, feel like they have a voice in the project. Without them, he knows FrenchFry would not be able to reach the maximum number of people. “Rather than setting a lot of expectations, I have given them (places to be) creative because to me, there’s no limit on creativity,” management junior Dosani said. “They don’t live in a box, (and) I don’t live in a box.” With a love for apps beginning with his first
iPad in 2011, Andy Anzaldua, a UT FrenchFryer, said he was enthusiastic about joining his first startup. “Everything you do on your phone is centered around apps,” nutrition sophomore Anzaldua said. “IPhones make it so easy to use and put out apps, so I’m always using them. That’s when I started recognizing the good and bad qualities of an app.” Dosani said he has also been able to achieve personal relationships with all of his FrenchFryers, no matter where they’re located in the state.
“They’re having this
comfortable open space
to give us what are good things or bad things (about the app),” Dosani said. Through his technical research, Anzaldua said he has even helped make some serious changes for user efficiency, such as the swiping range. “When a user holds their phone, the bottom third of the phone is actually where their reach is,” Anzaldua said. “So I was conveying to (the team) that the swipe range was a little too high and if we moved it down, it would allow the user to not only
use it with one hand but also be able to swipe up, left and right from just that range.” As for Pirani, he said he hopes to see FrenchFry become a household name and even begin partnering with sponsors. He said FrenchFry has been his saving grace during the pandemic. “All the knowledge I accumulated from doing this project is so valuable to me,” Pirani said. “(As far as) mental health, (FrenchFry) has done me very good because I can set goals, and it’s nice to reach them on a consistent basis.”
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LIFE&ARTS
FEATURE
‘Solidarity instead of charity’: UT student raises $800 for mutual aid group By Dex Parra @dexparra
Trekking through over six inches of snow, Parisa Mahmud used her newest camera lens to capture a rare Texas sight — iconic Austin landmarks blanketed in a seemingly blissful layer of white. In reality, the weeklong crisis in mid-February caused power outages and boil water advisories for millions of Texans, and the death of 111 people according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. “A lot of people kind of just underestimated how much collective trauma there really was and they didn’t really take seriously the effects that the snowstorm had on their bodies and their minds,” government senior Mahmud said. One week after the pipes in her home froze and drinkable water became a scarcity, Mahmud raised $800 for ATX Mental Health Fund by selling photos she captured of Austin blanketed in the snow caused by Winter Storm Uri. “I’m very aware of how inaccessible mental health care can be and how expensive it can get,” Mahmud said. “I know specifically for students, too, cost is usually the one prohibiting factor.” ATX Mental Health Fund, created in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is a mutual aid group that provides direct cash assistance for people who can’t afford counseling and medication, or whose insurance is insufficient. “The difference between mutual aid and other forms of charity or philanthropy is this idea of solidarity instead of charity,” organization founder Samantha Meyer said. “We are really interest-
julius shieh
/ the daily texan staff
Government Senior Parisa Mahmud poses with her camera on campus Monday. Parisa sold prints of photos she took during February’s snowstorm, raising hundreds of dollars in donations for ATX Mental Health Fund.
ed in small dollar donations from community members rather than relying on big corporations.” Meyer said Mahmud’s donation of $800 was one of the largest lump sums ever given to the mutual aid group. Mahmud said the majority of donations she received came from people buying only one or two photos for $10 or $15 each. Mahmud donated to ATX Mental Health Fund because of her own mental health diagnoses and subsequent trauma therapy,
she said. Although she remains on her parents’ insurance plan, Mahmud said she struggled to pay for counseling in college. “I had tried for so many semesters, over and over again, to find a therapist that works with my insurance, and then I had to figure out how to pay for medication,” Mahmud said. “I shouldn’t have to be worrying about (that). All of those things should be free.” Mahmud said she supports a legislative bill that would
nationalize mental health care and make it available to everyone. Some of her customers, such as Kassandra Aleman, also believe in this initiative. “I bought the prints (from Mahmud) because they were to benefit mental health services, and I’m a big proponent that mental health services should be free,” said Aleman, who found Mahmud’s work through Twitter. “I know that they can be very expensive even with insurance, so I knew that they
were going toward a good cause.” For Mahmud, photography was always just a hobby. It wasn’t until a moment of statewide emergency that her photographs turned into a fundraising tool to help the people around her. “Sometimes the government doesn’t come through and doesn’t give us the support that we deserve,” Mahmud said. “Sometimes we as a community have to help each other, and we have to rally support for this community.”
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LIFE&ARTS
FILM
Four UT women making their mark on the film industry Noël Wells
By Thomas Casler @thethomascasler
Wells’ career in comedy didn’t stop when she performed in the Austin comedy show “Esther’s Follies.” Graduating from the Plan II and radio-television-film program at UT in 2010, Wells later joined as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Following her stint in the 2013-2014 season of SNL, Wells was cast in other various comedy shows such as Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None.” She also wrote and directed her own independent feature film “Mr. Roosevelt” in 2017 that Variety called a SXSW standout.
From the steps of the UT tower to Hollywood film studios, the UT radio-television-program boasts an impressive roster of alumni that have gone on to excel in the film industry. With Women’s History Month coming to a close, The Daily Texan has highlighted four of these notable women filmmakers who are leaving their mark on Hollywood.
Maisie Crow
Graduating from the Moody College of Communication in 2004, Maisie Crow has never been one to shy away from complex topics in her documentaries. Her first feature, “Jackson,” covered women’s reproductive rights in the state of Mississippi. “Jackson” was lauded by critics, with The Huffington Post saying the film was “a grim warning of what restrictive abortion legislation across the U.S. actually looks like.”
Chelsea Hernandez
Hernandez has worked in the entertainment industry since she was
Ivete Lucas
only nine-yearsold, in which she hosted and co-produced an educational program for children with her mother. Earning her ten thousand hours at an early age, Hernandez later graduated from UT’s radio-television-film program in 2010. Hernandez’s work as a director,
producer and editor has won her eight Emmys for the PBS documentary “Arts in Context.” Following her Emmy wins, she charged forward with her 2019 film “Building the American Dream,” which details the exploitation of Latinx workers by the Texas construction industry.
In partnership with her husband Patrick Bresnan, Lucas’ focus as a filmmaker is always about the people of her story. In a quote from Texas Monthly, Lucas said, “When (my husband and I) work with a community and make films, it’s always more about the relationships than the film itself.” Lucas and her husband were recognized by The Austin Chronicle as the “Best Local Creative Couple With a Discerning Eye.” In 2019, Indiewire called Lucas’ “Pahokee,” a documentary about a low-income inland community in Florida, sensitive and insightful.
sylvia asuncion-crabb
/ the daily texan staff