University Press, Oct. 10, 2019

UNIVERSITY PRESS

The Newspaper of Lamar University Vol. 96, No. 3 October 10, 2019

Social mobility in education Lamar hosts Texas Tribune discussion on higher ed Olivia Malick UP editor Lamar University hosted “A Conversation on Higher Education & Social Mobility,” presented by the Texas Tribune, Monday, in the Gray Library.

The discussion was moderated by Tribune editor Ayan Mittra. Panelists included LU President Kenneth Evans; Ginger Gossman, senior director for innovation and policy development for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Millicent Valek, president of Brazosport College; and Ashley Williams, economic opportunity policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

The panel focused on how Texas colleges and universities serve their lower-income populations in order for them to suc-

ceed in their personal and professional lives.

In 2015, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board implemented the 60x30 Plan, which states that by 2030, at least 60 percent of Texans ages 25-34 will have a certificate or degree.

“We are very close to our first benchmark year in 2020 — we have four student-centered goals and we are making progress toward the right direction in all of the goals,” Gossman said. “We are moving up.

But we are not moving fast enough to meet our first benchmark in 2020, so we still definitely have some work ahead of us.

“There is only one place where we are not moving up, and that is the high school to higher education direct enrollment.”

Evans said that strong relationships between universities and the institutions they recruit most from encourage higher matriculation rates.

“We have to make sure we are identifying core areas of competencies and skill levels that are necessary to be suc-

UP photo by Olivia Malick

Texas Tribune editor Ayan Mittra, left, moderated a panel discussion on social mobility in higher education featuring Ashley Williams, Millicent Valek, Kenneth Evans and Ginger Gossman, Monday, in Gray Library. cessful in the workplace,” he said. “We also need to make sure that the handoff between community colleges are as seamless as possible.”

While the plan is a start to improve the rates of people earning degrees, there are additional measures that can be

taken to help students succeed, Valek said.

“I hope the legislature does hold a session on higher education,” she said. “The legislature did a phenomenal job of working with public education this time, and that was long overdue.

“In that remedy, they put in some requirements for the handoff between high school and higher ed in the college and career readiness component.

So, from my perspective, that just makes a natural point See PANEL page 3

Mittra discusses state of modern journalism Olivia Malick UP editor

UP staff photo

Texas Tribune editor Ayan Mittra, left, speaks with students about the changing media landscape, Monday, in the LUTV studio.

Ayan Mittra, Texas Tribune editor and Beaumont native, said the media landscape has changed a lot since he began his career as a journalism student at the University of Texas.

“Now, everything is constant,” the 1993 West Brook High School graduate, said.

“You have to have a breaking news team that’s just focused on monitoring social media, or just press releases, or just news, to make sure that we’re

getting it up before anyone else. In addition, you also have to balance that with enterprise work, where you’re actually talking through the work with the reporters to make sure you’re doing work that gives context and importance and value to people, beyond just the immediacy of breaking news.”

Mittra, who was on campus, Monday, to moderate a Texas Tribune panel discussion, said that even story sources have changed.

“We have people that are just basically monitoring Twit-

ter or moderating a Facebook group,” he said. “All of these things kind of work together, and all these great ideas come out of those different platforms, and so they kind of fuel our reporting as well.

“There’s not just traditional sources that you get — we get sources from our audience in ways that we never could get it before. Before, the main interaction was just getting letters to the editor or phone calls.

Now, you’re getting tweets, See MITTRA page 3

LUCE founders, PIA honored at banquet Tracy Ramirez UP contributor

La Union Cultural Estudiantil’s founders and the president of Phi Iota Alfa fraternity were recognized for academics and leadership at the Lamar University Annual Excellence Banquet, Oct. 4.

LUCE is a new organization that helped organize LU’s first Latinx Heritage month.

They will host “Let’s Tacobout It,” an event featuring traditional Mexican food, 6-8 p.m., today, at Tacos La Bamba, 2005 Calder Ave. in Beaumont, as part of Latinx Heritage Month.

“The purpose of LUCE is to create a community where the Hispanic and Latino people feel represented,”

Jennifer Caltzontzin, LUCE president, said.

LUCE hosts meetings the first and third Thursdays of the month at 3 p.m. in 250 Setzer Student Center.

“I would like to encourage all Hispanic students to become involved on campus, and help create an atmosphere where Hispanic and Latinx students are represented in all aspects including academics and culture,” Caltzontzin said.

Phi Iota Alfa is the only Latino fraternity at Lamar University.

“From the beginning of our establishment here at Lamar, our purpose has been to promote the Latinity at Lamar University,” Julio DelSee LUCE page 2

To read this story in Spanish, visit www.lamaruniversitypress.com

UP photo by Olivia Malick

Daniel Walker and his guide dog Pebble, right, tour a Brighton & Hove bus which is necessary for his independence.

Road to accessibility Brighton buses cater to visually impaired

Center hosts digital archive opportunity Elliot DePappe UP contributor Community members donated artifacts, objects, documents and images tied to the history of Lamar University to Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum, Oct. 5. The heirlooms were collected by the Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the

Upper Gulf Coast to be documented and shared at the university’s centennial celebration in 2023.

“In many ways, the history of LU is the history of our region,” Brendan Gillis, assistant professor of history, said. “The university counts nearly 90,000 people among its alumni. For See DIGITAL page 2

www.facebook.com/UPLamar

Claire Robertson UP managing editor Editor’s note: This is the third in an ongoing series on public transportation and accessibility in Brighton, England. These reports were compiled by Lamar University study abroad students.

Daniel Walker was born blind. This doesn’t change what he can do, just how he does it.

Walker has lived independently in his hometown of Brighton, England for eight years, including using public transportation.

“I’ve been using buses my

whole life, pretty much,” Walker said. “The ease of access is the biggest thing, and the bus drivers being made aware of what people need and to ask what they need — not just assume.”

Buses have become more accessible in Brighton over Walker’s lifetime. The buses have been redesigned for easier accessibility, outfitted with technology to announce each stop, and the bus drivers receive accessibility training to assist people born with disabilities, like Walker, as well as people in wheelchairs, parents with strollers, the elderly, and other accessibility issues that could

www.lamar.edu/university-press

present themselves.

Walker has a condition called Leber Congenital Amaurosis.

“It causes the retina to basically deform,” he said. “Think about a broken mirror, all the light refracts off in different angles, and that’s essentially what is wrong with my retina — it’s not taking the right information straight from the optic nerve into my brain.”

Both of his eyes are affected the same and have been static his whole life.

“I’ve got about 10, 15 percent See BUSES page 4

www.twitter.com/UPLamar

INSIDE

Thursday, October 10, 2019 University Press

LUCE

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life — it goes on.”

—Robert Frost Page 2

from page 1

CALENDAR

Cesar Delgado, junior, left, Jennifer Caltzontzi, senior, Melissa Torres, senior, and Julio Delgado, senior, were honored for their contributions to the Lamar Latinx Courtesy photo community at the Annual Excellence Banquet, Oct. 4

DIGITAL

gado, PIA president and a founder of LUCE, said.

The fraternity focuses on collaborating with other organizations, Delgado said.

“The meetings we hold help us to prepare for the implementation of the programs directed for the academic wellness of the Latino community,” he said.

Phi Iota Alpha, established Dec. 26, 1931, is the oldest Latino fraternity in the United States, and works to motivate young men, develop leaders, and create innovative ways to unite the Latino community, according their website.

“The purpose of the Fraternity Phi Iota Alpha is to provide opportunities to Latino men to exercise positions of leadership in the university, in Southeast Texas, and in the Latino community,” Delgado said.

LUCE believes it is important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Lamar University, Delgado said.

“By celebrating, we remember what the past generations have done, and that motivates us to continue fighting for the representation of all Latinos,” he said. “Not only to reserve a foundation, but to construct and be better in the future.”

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many Southeast Texans, it has created opportunities that would not be available to them anywhere else. And each one of these stories matters. Understanding Lamar’s history will help us better understand ourselves, our community, our culture and our economy.”

Gillis said that about 30-40 people attended the event and a approximately 4050 historical items were documented.

“People brought all sorts of different memorabilia, everything from a 1930s Lamar College football uniform to a scrapbook of college memories,” he said. “Every object, photograph and document helps us begin to piece together a better understanding of each era in Lamar’s history, so it may take a while for us to fully grasp what we can learn from them.”

Gillis said the most interesting items collected were two copies of an unofficial Lamar student magazine from the late 1930s, called “Hawk-Eye.” “None of the historians or archivists on hand had ever heard of this particular publication before, let alone seen a copy,” he said. “This likely has something to do with a disclaimer included on the first page, “‘Although published by students of Lamar College, this magazine is absolutely independent of the College.’” To me, at least,

NOTICE The University Press can be read online at www.lamar.edu/university-press Advertising rates can be found on the site, along with practically all information that a person might be looking for.

this seems to hint at an interesting story, and I can’t wait to learn more.”

Gillis said the CHCSTUGC is planning to repeat the event in the hopes that they will collect more artifacts.

“In the meantime, we’d love to hear directly from anyone out there with a Lamar story they’d like to share,” he said.

For more information, contact bgillis@ lamar.edu.

Oct. 10 FAFSA Application Assistance 124 Setzer Student Center 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Oct. 10 Fall Career Expo Ballroom, Setzer Student Center 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Oct. 10 Student Lecture — “Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge of the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500-1850” 101 Landes Auditorium 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Oct. 10 Disability Resource Center 5 on 5 Campus Wheelchair Basketball Sheila Umphrey Rec Sports Center 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Oct. 10 Latinx “Let’s Taco-bout It! — Tacos and Culture Empowerment” Tacos la Bamba 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Oct. 12 LU Football vs.

Sam Houston State Provost Umphrey Stadium 6 p.m.

Oct. 15 Flu Shot Clinic Dining Hall Lawn 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

UP photo by Noah Dawlearn

Steven Lewis, Lamar University alumnus, scans an old football program inside of Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum, Saturday.

UNIVERSITY PRESS • Thursday, October 10, 2019

PANEL

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from page 1

where we ought to focus and work.”

Valek said the area that 60x30 is farthest behind on is the matriculation rate between high school and into higher ed.

“We have a whole untapped market there of folks who are going nowhere and some of them may be going into the workforce or they may not have a plan at all, but I think a lot of work on that nexus is very important,” she said.

Williams said that Texas colleges and universities cannot achieve the goal of the 60x30 Plan unless more funding is handed down by the legislature.

“There has to be more of a prioritization from the Texas legislature of higher education,” she said. “And by prioritization,

MITTRA

I mean money. For decades really, but especially beginning in 2000, the Texas legislature started investing less and less in higher education. In 2003, the legislature voted to deregulate tuition, meaning that Texas public colleges and universities could charge unlimited tuition to students and families.

“So, the burden of paying for higher education in Texas has significantly shifted to the backs of students and families. Without state investment and prioritization of higher education, I think it would be very difficult to achieve that goal.”

Another issue facing students, especially lower-income students, is how they will pay for their education.

“We are able to help students

through private funding — we have secured a considerable amount of gifts that make it possible for scholarships to be directed towards students,” Evans said. “We help them through our financial aid space and navigate in that rather complicated environment.”

Evans said that Lamar offers help to students whose families may not be able to navigate the education payment system, but that because graduation rates of those groups is six-plus years, funding is not always available for them.

“In the context of a student who is working full or parttime, often a first-generation student frequently coming from a family that doesn’t have the socioeconomic wherewithal to

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Facebook messages, etc.”

In the era of “fake news,” it can be difficult to navigate a career in journalism, Mittra said.

“It’s a challenge, and it’s a challenge on all levels,” he said. “The work is so important. With all the fake news stuff, there are still people who need the information that we provide to guide them in their daily lives.

“Regardless of what the climate is in terms of calling people fake news, those things don’t change. So you have to make sure that you’re providing information that no one else is providing, and you have to show people why it’s important that they need this information, and you have to show why it’s accurate. The people who are calling out fake news are going to call that out — there’s always been some level, whether it’s yellow journalism or fake news, in terms of trying to discredit the media.”

Mittra said that transparency is the most important thing a news organization can do in order to protect its credibility. “(The Tribune is) a nonprofit — we are not publicly owned or publicly traded,” he said. “We get our money and support in various different ways — through donors, through corporate sponsorships, through foundation support. If any supporter who has given us $1,000 or more is mentioned in our story, we disclose it to make it very clear that we know these people have

help underwrite them, a graduation rate of six, seven or even eight years is a tremendous accomplishment, when you consider the amount of time that they’re working,” he said.

Williams said it is important that whatever plans are put in place to address student debt be mindful and adaptive to minority students.

“Not everyone experiences debt the same way,” she said.

“An average is just that — an average. It can obscure what’s beneath that number. For example, black and brown students are especially impacted by student debt. A recent SMU report showed that for the average black student, in order to get a four-year degree, everything else being equal, they

have to borrow about $7,000 more than their white counterparts.

“There’s a lot there. There’s historical and racial wealth gaps and additional challenges that these students face, so solutions that are considerate and equitable in their approach would be one important focus.”

Valek said that Brazosport College has tested a few programs that might improve student success and increase student support.

“When students achieve even a little bit of success, they are more encouraged to continue and earn their degree,” she said.

To watch the entire panel discussion, visit texastribune.org.

ANOTHER VIEW given us money. They have nothing to do with the reporting we do.

“If we write a story about the University of Texas, and we don’t disclose that University of Texas has been an in-kind sponsor because we’ve used their event space for events, then people are going to raise that, and we have to make it very clear that there is no conflict. We do that with disclosures — we know that they’ve been a sponsor of events or something like that, but that doesn’t have anything to do with journalism that we do. There are things like that that we have to do.”

Mittra said that the Tribune will sometimes post transcripts of interviews when lawmakers accuse them of misquoting or taking quotes out of context.

“We should be held accountable,” he said. “But we can’t always be on the defense. We have to make sure that we’re reporting stories that matter to people and that we can be trusted.”

Mittra said that the future of journalism will be innovative and more geared towards public service.

“A big part of the future of journalism is showcasing the work and not necessarily as a corporate entity, but an entity of public service that people can get behind because people need to know what’s happening in their communities,” he said. “I think we’re seeing the beginning of that at the local, state and national levels.”

To learn more about the Texas Tribune, visit texastribune.org.

Editorial cartoon contributed by LU graphic arts major Patricia Correa

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Thursday, October 10, 2019 • UNIVERSITY PRESS

Page 4

BUSES from page 1 of normal vison,” Walker said.

“And the reason I say that, is because I can see light and dark and colors and shadows, but a reduced magnification and clarity more than anything else.”

Walker also had a kidney transplant at age 18, and recently discovered he has Senior Loken Syndrome, a one in five million genetic condition, that causes blindness from birth and kidney failure in early to late teens.

Walker talked as he sat at a picnic table outside of a restaurant at Devil’s Dyke, a 100-meterdeep valley and tourist attraction in Sussex. His guide dog, Pebble, sat attentively at his side.

“I see my ‘impression’ of what you see,” he said. “I can see how the land is spread out, and if you walked down that way,” Walker motioned across the road and down a walking path, “You’d look down onto a village.

“I can’t make out that it’s a village, but from knowing what it is and where it is, I know that it is a village, if that makes sense. My interpretation could be completely different, but it clicks in

my brain at the same point.”

Walker had traveled to Devil’s Dyke by bus and said the geography of the bus layout, with disability accessible seats near the entrance, makes his travel easier.

“I can sit there with my guide dog, or I can find it without my dog if I’m traveling with just my white cane,” he said. “It’s as easy to use the buses with or without the dog.”

“Talking buses,” referring to audio technology, make Walker’s bus rides more like a sighted person’s.

“It means you don’t have to think when you’re on the buses,” he said. “You just wait for your stop and get off. Whereas before, I would have to mentally travel the route.

“It wasn’t exhausting, just boring, because you have to think about where you are to make an educated guess about where you’re going to get off. That’s really all it can be.”

Walker said he started to notice changes in the bus service about five years ago, after Victoria Garcia started in the new posi-

tion of accessibility and communities manager. Walker gave feedback on how he thought the buses could be improved. As a result, Garcia brought the Guide Dogs Association in to train the drivers how to guide blind people.

“It gave them a general basic understanding of disability,” Walker said.

That’s not to say the bus system is perfect. Walker said he has been waiting at stops when a bus has driven right past him. The buses are supposed to stop at every stop for customers like Walker, who cannot see the bus approaching to hail it.

Walker said his experiences overall on the Brighton and Hove buses is much better than when he’s traveled to America, because of the training drivers receive.

“I would say the most important thing is the interaction with the driver, which is what I found quite difficult in America,” he said. “Getting on the buses in New York, I’d say hello to the driver, and no one talks to you.

“It’s those small social skills they’ve given the (Brighton) driv-

UP photos by Claire Robertson

Daniel Walker walks his guide dog, Pebble, above, across Devil’s Dyke on the outskirts of Brighton, England. Walker joined members of Lamar University’s study abroad program, right, to discuss accessibility programs on the town’s buses.

ers that has made life so much easier for so many people.”

Walker said it’s the little things that make a difference.

“I’ve never needed serious help from a bus driver, but the nicest thing I’ve had is where they’ve not pulled away from the stop until I’ve sat down,” he said, “Some drivers they say, ‘Where do you need to get off, do you want me to tell you?’ Even though I say, ‘No it’s fine, thank you very much,’ it’s nice to have that interaction, to be honest. Makes me feel better, anyway.”

Walker said his ease of access with his guide dog and the drivers’ training is amazing.

“She’s welcome on the buses and other passengers don’t distract her,” Walker said. “She’s a naughty dog, but she’s a brilliant guide dog.”

Guide Dogs for the Blind recommends not petting a guide dog while it’s working, but Pebble makes exceptions for children, Walker said.

“She loves kids, so I always stop and let kids stroke her,” Walker said.

Walker said he visits an elementary school where his mother works to raise awareness of disabilities and always takes Pebble with him. He said it is important to teach children early. He’s received questions from children ranging from, “How does your dog cross the road?” to “How does your dog make you toast in the morning?”

“You wouldn’t make me food — you’d eat it, wouldn’t you?”

Walker said to Pebble.

“I think my experience on the bus is more of a life lesson, essentially,” Walker said. “Just treat people with respect and everyone will be fine. I say that’s the most important thing.

“People have labeled me by my disability, but I don’t let it happen. Am I Blind Daniel, or am I Daniel, who is blind?

“Essentially, I’m neither — I’m just Daniel.”

UNIVERSITY PRESS • Thursday, October 10, 2019

Page 5

I’ll Give it an escargot Texan tries French delicacy first time COMMENTARY Jhocelyn Alvarado UP contributor Most people may have a bucket list of things they want to do before they die. I have a bucket list solely dedicated to foods I want to try.

On the top of that list was escargot. Slimy little land creatures that bubble up and die if ever met with salt. They are the epitome of French cuisine, a small cooked snail that is usually served as an appetizer and is considered a delicacy among the French, as well as in many other European countries.

Le Politique, located on 110 San Antonio St. in Austin, serves Burgundy escargot as an appetizer in their three-course meal with the entrée being Parisian

gnocchi followed by the dessert chévre blancmange, for a total of $35. If one is to purchase escargot separately, for $10 one can get six deshelled snails cooked in garlic butter with a sliced baguette. They are served in a special plate that has six individual divots, one for each snail. A special fork is provided that is only about four inches long with three prongs and is curved to help scoop up the snail.

People have been eating snails for thousands of years.

Our earliest record comes from the Romans by way of the oldest surviving cookbook, “Apicius,” who had a recipe for land snails.

The French are the largest consumers, reaching more than 40,000 metric tons a year. Traditionally, in French cuisine, the snails are purged to remove undesirable contents, removed from their shells to be cooked, then placed back into the shell where they are served with butter sauce. The proper way to eat escargot is to hold the shell with a napkin or grip them with snail tongs and use the snail fork to extract the meat, then dip the meat in butter, place on a slice of

Sacre bleu!

Where are you going?

I have escar-gone to Texas!

UP graphic by Olivia Malick

bread and enjoy.

After watching multiple YouTube videos in preparation on how to eat these snails, I was eager to practice my skills. Once I had placed my snail on the slice of bread, I was met by a juicy, buttery, chewy, and extremely hot nugget of meat.

Fair warning, please wait until it has cooled a bit, the roof of my mouth is still recovering from that mistake. The meat was cooked in garlic butter, which when paired with the bread, became more about the texture of the snail rather than the flavor — because all I really tasted was

garlic butter.

If you’ve ever tried any type of mollusk, like mussels — or if you have been to the U.K., cockles — it has a similar texture. After the initial taste of the butter sauce goes away, one is left with a bit of a gritty aftertaste that reminded me of oysters. However, it was not unpleasant, and after the first chew it got softer and I could appreciate how savory it was.

Like so many other delicacies in the U.S., immigrants brought this treat to our country.

Around the 1850s, escargot first arrived to California and

were sold in markets. An important fact is that not all snails are edible. The only species that can be eaten are the Roman snail, the European snail and the garden snail, which are the same ones that can be found in your backyard.

People believe that some of the snails escaped and quickly invaded the area. This led to people trying to grow them on their own to sell for the growing demand. However, snails can be carriers of deadly diseases if raised in poor environments or cooked improperly. Over time, regulations were put in place to avoid improper handling.

Today the U.S. only has one USDA-certified snail farm located in New York— Peconic Escargot.

Was it intimidating to eat something that I know produces slime, requires a high level of skill to cook properly and looks like something I might find in my own garden? Yes, yes it was.

But my sense of adventure was stronger and, luckily for me, my stomach and I are always ready to try and learn about a new culture through their food.

Review: ‘Wrinkles’ leaves much to be desired Olivia Malick UP editor Warning: spoilers ahead.

Scary clowns are an easy market for a late-year blockbuster.

Look at “IT Chapter Two” and “Joker” — both made tens of millions of dollars on their opening nights.

However, both of those movies have something that “Wrinkles” doesn’t — a scary clown character.

To be fair, “Wrinkles” is an indie-documentary film that never could’ve pulled in the audiences that “IT” and “Joker” did due to a smaller budget, limited theater showings and little clout.

And that’s the problem — no one cares about Wrinkles the Clown.

Wrinkles started as a minor social media sensation in 2015, when security camera-style

Wrinkles the Clown

Courtesy of Magnet Releasing

footage of a little girl sleeping and a clown appearing from the drawer under her bed was uploaded on the internet. In the video, Wrinkles takes a toy and places it next to the girl. Then, he turns toward the camera and it abruptly shuts off, leaving viewers to ponder about the fate of the little girl.

After the video went viral, people in Naples, Florida (where Wrinkles originates) started making fliers and stickers featuring Wrinkles’ phone number, 407- 734-0254. It works, by the way, which parents could call to scare their children.

Much of the documentary’s run-time is spent on parents threatening to call Wrinkles while their children scream and cry in the background. A psychologist then tells viewers about how threatening to call an evil clown on children is psychological abuse.

Along with a folklorist, the psychologist makes Wrinkles seem more important than he actually is.

Wrinkles is unique in that he is not a movie or TV character — he can be seen in the real world, and has been.

His fame coincided with the

infamous clown sightings of 2016 and that’s pretty much his whole story.

The documentary, directed by Michael Beach Nichols, follows the “real” Wrinkles, an old man who lives in his van and eats microwaveable dinners every night.

His face isn’t shown (at first, anyway), and he seems to be using a fake voice. He’s not happy about his newfound fame, and his whole method of getting into character seems detached and we never really know why he’s doing this.

Then the surprise comes — the old man that we believed was Wrinkles isn’t Wrinkles at all. It’s less of a surprise and more of an annoyance. We meet the “real” Wrinkles, who, again, doesn’t show his face and has a distorted voice. We find that the original Wrinkles video, and many that followed it, were faked to create

more hype, undoing the development of most of the film thus far.

The documentary feels as though it was greenlit before a story was produced. There just isn’t enough about Wrinkles the Clown to create a feature-length film. And that’s OK. Wrinkles would’ve been better as an uncovered modern tale — the mystery works in his favor.

Children are a big part of Wrinkles’ story. The ones who are scared of him and the ones who admire him build Wrinkles into more of a community mascot than neighborhood ghoul.

Wrinkles is still around and anyone can call the number.

Whether or not he answers depends on the time of day — either way, one is greeted with a voicemail message by him.

Call and decide for yourself if he’s actually scary, or just another clown fad.

Thursday, October 10, 2019 • UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Thomas’ exhibit examines ego in social media Eleanor Skelton UP contributor In a time when human activity is increasingly digitized, people do not often step back and think about the impact of internet on thought and perceptions.

The Art Museum of Southeast Texas’ current exhibit, Prince Varughese Thomas’ “The Legacy of Narcissus,” greets visitors with a neon sign that says, “Social media is the opiate of the masses.”

At a reception, Oct. 4, Thomas, a professor in Lamar University’s art department, said his work asks questions about social media, egotism and politics that do not have immediate answers. The answers, he said, are up to the viewer.

Thomas’ collection has many conflicting themes. “Feminism in the Age of Selfies” is a portrait of two women with fists raised, composed of a collage of nudes, subverting the powerful image by use of objectified imagery.

“Legacy” also features “word art,” that looks like it belongs in popular adult coloring books, but instead of inspirational quotes, they have phrases such as “Nasty Woman,” “Grab Them by the Pussy,” “Alternative Facts” and “Fake News.”

A series of trophies painted in flat black feature captions such as, “Best Inappropriate Selfie” and “Best Food Post.” These trophies comment on how social media seems to want people to look for likes and oversharing.

The timing of the exhibition is important, AMSET curator Mariah Rockefeller said, and “Narcissus” has something to say about our collective culture, awareness and consciousness.

“This exhibition comes at a time when public reception is crucial to the successes and/or failures of those in positions of power,” she said.

During his gallery talk, Thomas said he was struck by something Maya Angelou said in an interview years ago, that at

Lamar University art department professor, Prince Varughese Thomas, conducts a gallery talk during a reception for his exhibition, “The Legacy of Narcissus,” at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Oct. 4.

UP photo

by Lakota Jaton

one point, government officials, the media and ordinary citizens referred to themselves as “the American voter” or “the American citizen.” But at some point, this changed.

“Somewhere in time, a transition happened, where our leaders, our media, stopped referencing us as American citizens or American voters, and we became American consumers,” he said. “If you pay attention, all of a sudden you start hearing, ‘Wow! They reference us as the American consumer.’”

Thomas said he uses culture as his source for artistic production.

“For myself, the now is my still life,” he said. “The subject of whatever is happening in culture at any given moment is what I draw from, that’s my motivation — that’s the source that I use for my art.”

Thomas said his work is influenced by a combination of social media, art and politics, and how that creates what people observe as extensions of narcissism within ourselves and our culture.

“Some of you might even re-

member MySpace, one of the very first forms of social media,” he said. “The promise of social media was that it was going to be this incredible space where we have friends, where we can connect to one another in very immediate and direct ways, where we can engage with people we haven’t seen.

“What we could not predict was how social media could be supplanted — where disinformation could be given freely, where it could be weaponized, where we could use it as shameless self-promotion vehicles.

We’ve all experienced all these little things in one form or another.”

Thomas said he does not want people to think he wants to bash social media as a form of communication — he just wants people to question how social media is used within our culture, both positively and negatively.

“There are some wonderful things related to social media that have changed the way we think, communicate and consider each other,” he said. “What does our online engagement say about ourselves as a society?

How do we engage with each other as citizens?

“The question is, did social media create this thing that we are living in right now, or was it always there and social media just became the amplifications for it?”

Thomas said he has no answers for the questions his work raises.

His work points a lens at the problem of narcissism, he said.

From the language that leaders use that gets played out in social media to the public’s need for celebrity.

“And I implicate myself in all this, too,” he said. “I am just as guilty as anyone who we could point a finger at. I, too, engage in social media. I am not trying to say, ‘Oh, all of you are here and I am this wonderful person that stands alone in judgement of all of you.’”

Thomas said he wants people to examine the different types of content individuals put out into the world as representations of themselves because it is interesting. Older generations would have been shocked and said, “Have you no shame,” about

words or photographs published or posted online.

“We’re living in interesting times, where those types of modes of thinking have changed quite a bit, right or wrong, positive or negative — I don’t know, they simply have changed,” he said.

Thomas referenced Angelou’s quote again.

“There are certain expectations that we have for a citizen that we don’t for a consumer,” he said.

Thomas said he enjoys pushing the conventions of tradition and what one think art should be.

“For us in the arts, we are used to exploring and experiencing different types of media, but for a non-art audience, you might question that,” he said.

“That’s up to you to decide and that’s the beauty of the viewer.

You have all the power in this to take away whatever you will.”

“Legacy of Narcissus” is on display through Dec. 1. AMSET is located at 500 Main in downtown Beaumont.

For more information, visit www.amset.org.

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SPORTS

7 UNIVERSITY PRESS Thursday, October 10, 2019

Lady Cards rout Bearkats, 5-0 Okoronkwo scores 11th of season against SHSU Cade Smith UP sports editor The Lady Cardinals soccer team defeated Southland Conference opponent Sam Houston State, 5-0, Sunday, at the LU Soccer Complex. With the win, the Cards have won three straight and are now 7-6 (4-1 SLC). LU swept the weekend games, having beaten Stephen F. Austin 4-1, Friday.

“We played a really good game Friday night and we challenged our players,” head coach Steve Holeman said. “We told ourselves that Sam Houston is coming in, and they got some momentum and were undefeated in conference. “(SHSU) didn’t play on Friday and we had some really good momentum — we challenged our players. Can we be better today? Can we start off strong?

The team definitely came through.”

It didn’t take long for the Lady Cards to strike. In the first minute, forward Madison Ledet passed to forward Lucy Ashworth in front of the goal, and Ashworth found midfielder Ana Loftus who squeezed the ball past Lady Bearkats goalkeeper Abbie DeLozier, to put the Cards up 1-0.

Four minutes later, Ashworth fired a pass to forward Esther Okoronkwo who found the back

UP photo by Cade Smith

LU’s Esther Okoronkwo crosses the ball during Saturday’s 5-0 win over Sam Houston State at the LU Soccer Complex. Okoronkwo scored twice, giving her 11 on the season. of the net for the second goal of the game.

In the 32nd minute, Okoronkwo connected with midfielder Juana Plata whose cross was headed into the net by Ledet, for her second and LU’s third goal before halftime.

“We knew we didn’t want to take our foot off of the gas at halftime,” Holeman said. “We continued to play and press them, and we got comfortable for the rest of the game.”

The Lady Cardinals contin-

ued their dominance in the second half. In the 62nd minute, Ashworth found Okoronkwo, who sprung the offside trap and scored her 11th goal of the season.

“It feels amazing,” Okoronkwo said. “I wasn’t even thinking about it, I just shot it — I didn’t think it would go in.”

Four minutes later, Loftus found Ashworth on the right wing. Her cross that sailed over everyone and into the net for her 10th goal of the season, round-

ing out the 5-0 scoreline.

“I didn’t expect the ball to go in,” Ashworth said. “(Okoronkwo) and I work well together, and I think that is why we are doing well this season.

We are playing off of each other well.”

Goalkeepers Sandra Nygard and Erin Branch worked together on the shutout. Nygard recorded three saves and Branch had two. The duo faced 19 shots by the Lady Bearkats.

The Cards return to action

Friday, when they travel to Hammond, La., to take on Southeastern Louisiana at 6 p.m. at Strawberry Stadium. The Lady Lions are 2-9-1, 1-4 SLC. “As a coaching staff, we haven’t looked at them yet,” Holeman said. “They are a lot better than their record indicates. At their place, it is a tough place to play. It is on turf on a football field and it changes the game entirely. Our team is very good on grass, so playing on the turf will be a challenge for us.”

Victory in Defeat COMMENTARY Scott Sayre UP contributor

UP photo by Isabel Martinez

LU’s Tamauge Sloan is tackled during Saturday’s 27-24 win over Abilene Christian University in Provost Umphrey Stadium.

LU football heads to SHSU in SLC action Cade Smith UP sports editor The Lamar Cardinals football team will look to continue momentum this Saturday, after defeating the Abilene Christian Wildcats, 27-24, this weekend at Provost Umphrey Stadium.

This was the Cards first Southland Conference win on the season and now hold a regular season record of 3-3 (12 SLC).

“It was a tough game coached by two well-coached football teams,” head coach Mike Schultz said in a press conference. “Abilene Christian did a great job. We made some great plays like we needed to. I’ve said it all this season that the secret to winning this year in this conference is that you have to have a great plan, you have to play hard, well and smart.”

For most of the game it looked like the Cardinals were repeating mistakes that caused them to lose to Stephen F. Austin at Homecoming. However, the crucial moment in the game came in the last ten minutes of the fourth quarter.

“It went down to ACU and we had the surprise kangaroo kick,” Schultz said. “Bailey Giffen again came through for us and has become a valuable asset for us. Michael Lawson

made a great play on the ball, the rest happened as you saw it.”

After the victory against ACU, Schultz announced that running back A.J. Walker has taken a leave of absence from the team.

“We went into that game with close to 17 people out,” he said. “We talked pre-game about having to step-up and having our freshmen step up. Kyron (Norwood) who had been a safety all year got moved to play corner for us.

Aside from the loss of Walker, the Cardinals are now razor focused on No. 24 FCS ranked Sam Houston State Bearkats (4-2, 3-0 SLC), Saturday.

“Sam Houston is extremely explosive on offense,” Schultz said. “They have two good quarterbacks in (Erin Schmid and Ty Brock), a great receiver in (Nathan Stewart), and they have good running backs as well.

“The biggest thing that we are seeing is that they kind of overhaul their defense a little. They are moving it in the fronts running some zone and man coverage, but they are mixing things up. It’s hard to tell when they transition from man to zone sometimes.”

The Cards will be traveling to Huntsville to take on the Bearkats and will kick off at 2 p.m. inside Bowers Stadium. The game can be heard live on Newstalk 560 KLVI.

There are many reasons to join a club sports team. I joined Lamar’s club volleyball team because my friends were on the team. I wanted to hang out with them, and it seemed like the best way to do that was on the court. I was also looking for a way to be active, and club sports offered that.

The Lamar Club volleyball team played its firstever tournament as a club team, Sept. 28, and it was definitely an experience.

We got absolutely destroyed, but it did not kill us.

We knew going into the Micheael Purgason Memorial Classic in Austin that it was going to be tough. There were teams at the tournament that have played together for years, while we just started to play last spring. Some of us have never played volleyball competitively, but that wasn’t going to stop us from trying. We spent the past few weeks working tirelessly to prepare for the tournament, but it wasn’t enough.

Somehow, a team that had never played together before got matched up with the No.1 team in the state, Texas A&M. They

placed 18th at the 2019 national tournament. One of the best teams in the nation was on one side of the net and a team that was playing its first tournament together was on the other side. We figured that we were going to lose the match — and we did. We got absolutely demolished 21-3 and 21-5, but we knew that we still had three more games.

We did not let our heads drop. Our second matchup was with Texas Tech. Through the first set, we felt pretty good. We lost, but we were starting to get the hang of what it was like to play competitively. The second set started, and we actually took the lead. We were up 11-10. Then Texas Tech went on a run. We lost the second set 21-16. We were ecstatic. We had just scored 16 points in a set.

This was an incredible improvement.

Going into our third game, we were happy. We had been beaten twice, but that didn’t matter. We faced off against Airborne, which seemed to be made up of a bunch of volleyball coaches and former college players. They were big, tall, strong and really good at volleyball. I am 6-feet 4inches and I felt small.

They mopped the floor with us, but they were our

favorite team to lose to.

They were joking around and having fun. It seemed like they were at the tournament just to play volleyball, and not to take the games way too seriously.

One person on their team even gave us a few tips in the middle of the game.

They were so nice, and we loved having the opportunity to play them.

By our last game we were all exhausted. We called this team “The Dads.” Most of them were probably in their late twenties and early thirties, so we thought we might have a chance. We were wrong.

Their experience shined in the game as they killed any bit of hope we had.

We obviously did not make the finals, but we had fun. That is what playing club sports is all about, playing games you love with friends. It didn’t matter to us that we lost every match. What mattered is that we were able to travel to a legit tournament as a team and play. It was such a good experience for us both individually and as a team.

While we got defeated on the court, the weekend was a victory. Everyone should look into joining a club team. It is a great way to meet new people, get exercise, and have a good time.

Lamar Club Volleyball played their first tournament, Sept. 28, in Austin. Scott Sayre (back center) said the camaraderie and the value of teamwork by playing club sports.

Courtesy photo

Thursday, October 10, 2019 • UNIVERSITY PRESS

Page 8

Dear Beaumont Communityy,, Our thoughts and prayers are with our Beaumont neighbors in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Imelda.

At this time, ExxonMobil has contributed $200,000 to the United Way of Beaumont and North Jefferson County in support of relief and recovery efforts throughout Southeast Texas.

We appreciate the commitment of all of the first responders in the City of Beaumont and Jefferson Countyy,, and we recognize their braveryy,, skill and dedication in protecting the community’s safety. Thank you for assisting those in their time of need.

We’re also grateful for the dedication of our employees. About 2,400 of our employees live and work in and around Beaumont. And while many of them were personally affected by Imelda, they still have volunteered their time and talents to aid colleagues and neighbors.

Our colleagues and families have lived and worked in Southeast T Te exas for more than 110 years, and we look forward to many more years to come.

We stand together with the City of Beaumont, Jefferson County and our community partners across Southeast Te Texas as we work through recovery efforts.

Togetherr,, we are Southeast T Te exas Strong!

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