Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 | Volume 211 | Number 67 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Carlos Quesadillas Immigrant builds quesadilla business from ground up By Rakiah.Bonjour @iowastatedaily.com
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food truck pulled into the lot between Kildee and Lagomarcino halls, joining the Carlos Quesadillas truck, which was already there. The competitor waved to Carlos Cortez, owner of Carlos Quesadillas, and yelled, “Hey, Carlos.” “Hey, man. How are you?” Cortez smiled and waved back to his competition. Rain poured and pooled into small puddles as Cortez put up a tent to shield his customers, all while never losing his smile. The rain wasn’t going to stop his business, of course, so he had to be prepared. At this point, Cortez was prepared for anything. Cortez moved to the United States from Mexico 13 years ago in search of better opportunities. “I was making $5, $6 a day working 12 hours a day, six days a week,” Cortez said. “You cannot live with that money, you know?” He landed in Iowa because he already had family in the state. “I like it here now. It’s quiet,” he said. “There’s not a lot of crime. You come from another country, you see a lot of crime, you see a lot of stuff. Here, it’s like seriously nothing. It’s so calm. “One time in Mexico, someone put a gun to my head to steal $20. You don’t see that much here. It’s not like Mexico’s crime. You cannot go anywhere [in Mexico] and wear like rings, a watch or earrings or anything like that because you have to watch yourself all the time.” To make ends meet in a new country, Cortez took up a job in a restaurant without knowing the language. “I filled out this application, I went to the restaurant, and it was funny because everything they asked me I just said, ‘Yes, yes.’ I had no idea what I was saying, so I got hired,” Cortez said. “I learned quick [sic] I think … I honestly don’t remember my first year or six months waiting tables. I’m sure it was awful but I learned, you know, and it makes me proud.” He started doing to-go orders and answering the phones then moved to serving customers as a waiter. Cortez said learning the language was one of the hardest things about moving to a new country. After learning the language well enough to communicate easily and working for 10 years in the restaurant industry, Cortez decided he was ready for a change, which is what led him to the food truck he now owns. Cortez said he was tired of being an employee and wanted to be his own boss with his own business. “The food truck business is growing in the last five years,” he said. “… I thought it was going to be easier at Courtesy of Emily Blobaum first, you know. I’ll get a food truck, but I didn’t have a food truck when I Carlos Quesadillas can be found Monday through Friday near Kildee Hall. started. I started with a push cart. At first, I thought it was going to be easy, ‘Oh this’ll be easy money,’ but I realized right away it wasn’t that way.” Cortez started with a food cart and selling near the bars on Welch Avenue. He sold only five
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Winter festivities kick off at Iowa State Annual WinterFest celebrates end of semester, holidays By Anthony.Weiland @iowastatedaily.com For more than two decades, ISU students and the Ames community have been able to participate in WinterFest, a pre-Dead Week celebration of the upcoming holiday season. On Friday, starting at 10 a.m. in the Memorial Union, attendees will be able to partake in the ISU tradition once again. “[WinterFest] is an annual tradition that both the Ames community and the university look forward to,” said Bridgett Konradi, senior in event management and WinterFest president. “With a lot of activities to spread holiday cheer to get people ready for the holidays.” WinterFest offers activities throughout the day Friday at different and overlapping times to ensure there is a time everyone can participate. This year’s WinterFest activities are varied. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. will be an Art Mart in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union. Here students can purchase pottery, jewelry, prints and more. There will also be an open house at the Knoll, the president’s house, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Members of the community can tour President Steven Leath’s residence and are welcome to enjoy the “famous Knoll hot chocolate.” The Andy Albright Jingle Jog will begin at 5:30 p.m. with registration starting at the Multicultural
Iowa State Daily
Former ISU student Mason Frank crosses the finish line at the 2013 Jingle Jog.
Courtesy of Brianna Levandowski
Students gather at the president’s house, known as the Knoll, for hot chocolate with President Steven Leath and First Lady Janet Leath during WinterFest on Dec. 5. 2014. This year’s WinterFest festivities will kick off at 10 a.m. Friday.
Center of the Memorial Union at 4 p.m. The registration fee is $20 and all proceeds go to the Andy Albright memorial scholarship. WinterFest will also play host to Campanille tours, photos with the Snow Princess and Ice Queen and eats and treats in the Memorial Union commons from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There will also be aqua massage beds in the Pine Room of the Memorial Union between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. The beds are aimed to help students cool off and unwind before they face finals week. At 10:30 p.m. in the food court of the Memorial Union latenight pancakes will be served. The pancakes will be free for all, and will follow an act by comedian Demitri Martin, which begins at 9 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Tickets to Martin’s performance are $12 for all Iowa State students and $20 for members of the general public.
“There’s an activity for everybody, whether it’s somebody going for late night pancakes, going ice skating or families coming to take pictures with the princess, there’s a wide variety of activities for everybody,” Konradi said. WinterFest draws a crowd of more than 500 patrons, with the Ames community making up a large part of that number. “A lot of people from the community come too, which is really fun to see,” said Leah Blankespoor, sophomore in event management and co-event manager for WinterFest. That relationship with member of the Ames community is part of what Konradi feels is integral to how well the university and the citizens of Ames mesh together. “WinterFest at [Iowa State] is important because it builds the relationship between the community and the university,” Konradi said.
Jingle Jog prepares to light up campus with festive run By Anthony.Weiland @iowastatedaily.com With the holiday season in full swing, the jingle jog fun run is ready to kick off Iowa State’s annual Winterfest on Friday. At a total of 327 registered runners the Jingle Jog is bigger than ever and aims to provide students with a festive way to exercise and socialize. “It kicks off Winterfest and starts with the lighting of the tree, then Student Government President Dan Breitbarth gives a speech at the steps of Beardshear Hall,” said President of Freshman Council and sophomore in agriculture and public relations, Kristen Lowe. “Then they do a fun run two miles around campus, ending by the Campanile where you can go inside and enjoy the Winterfest activities.” After attendance dipped in recent years due to the race be-
ing remodeled from a 5K to just two miles because of ice dangers, numbers are back up as new additions are brought to the fun run. “We’ve added some foam LED light baton sticks this year, so everyone will get one of those as well as a glow in the dark T-shirt, and bells to put on their feet,” Lowe said. The event was created over nine years ago by the Freshman Council to commemorate the loss of ISU student Andy Albright, who was killed in a car crash returning to campus from DMACC. Albright was a member of Freshman Council and has since received a scholarship named in his honor worth $1000. “It’s a scholarship that we just got endowed last year so we are raising more money to add to it this year,” Lowe said.” Any freshman can apply and the advisers of Freshman Council will choose the recipient.” Along with the fun run is an optional costume contest with the winner being awarded a prize, all of which can still be signed up for by Friday at 3 p.m. with T-shirts being available to order upon registration.