ORANGE Issue V

M AGA Z

IN

E

A note from the editors.

When people ask me what ORANGE Magazine is all about, I have a standard elevator pitch. “We’re a lifestyle magazine,” I say. “We cover the things that make Austin a hub of creativity: music, fashion, food, culture. We’re totally student-run.”

What I don’t usually say is that I’ve thought about ORANGE every day for the past three years of my life. That as a staff writer, then a section editor, then managing editor, then co-editor-in-chief, I’ve spent more time writing and editing stories (among many other tasks) for ORANGE than I’ve spent in a college classroom. That I do these things because I love this magazine for its innovation and its independent attitude.

I don’t usually say that our dedicated (and surprisingly attractive) team of writers, photographers, designers, social media managers and editors impress me every day. That the stories on our website or in our digital issues often bring me to tears or to laughter, and they often teach me something new about life in this city.

I think when you look inside our fifth issue, you will come to understand what ORANGE is really about.

We revisit a past tragedy in the context of new campus carry laws in the “50 Years Later” feature. We explore the diversity of the local modeling industry in “Modeling in the Margins,” and we hang out with local student bands in “ORANGE Asks.” We learn the importance of equal opportunity from the deaf employees of a cafe in “Holy Crepe,” and we tour an otherworldly bookmobile in “5D Books.” In these stories and the many in between, we offer a voice to people we feel are unheard, and we try to bring clarity to issues that we as students find important. Or we goof around a bit because laughing is important to us, too.

As I reach the end of my editorship, I can’t help but think of my incredible support system. I am so grateful to Sarah for always having a plan and a louder speaking voice than me. I can’t imagine running this publication without her by my side. I’m grateful to my high school journalism teacher Monique Sandoval for fostering my love of storytelling, and to my parents for their unwavering encouragement. I’m grateful to Jane Claire Hervey and Becca Chavoya for creating a vision for this magazine and following it through.

Most of all, I’m grateful to the past, present and future staffs of ORANGE for making this publication such a special reflection of student life in Austin. Thank you for your willingness to share your talents and tell meaningful human stories. Thank you for making room for yourselves and this publication to grow.

Always, Kris Seavers

The first time I ever heard of ORANGE Magazine was the second day of my freshman year. I walked out of my calculus class, tears coming out my eyes, swearing up and down I was no longer going to be a plant biology major. Right outside the math building I was stopped by ORANGE founder and OG editor-in-chief Jane Claire Hervey. She wanted to take a photo of my outfit. “What for?” I asked. You guessed it — ORANGE Magazine.

That next spring I changed my major officially to journalism and applied to the style staff under OG style editor Helen Fernandez. I was already working at The Daily Texan, but growing up I always dreamed of working for a magazine. At the end of the semester, I remember sitting in the computer labs of the CMA for what seemed like forever with the other OG editor-in-chief, Becca Chavoya, putting together what would be the first ever ORANGE Magazine digital issue.

Flash forward four digital issues and two years later and I am amazed at our staff, our work and my editors who consist of some of my closest friends. I remember sitting down with Kris in a coffee shop at the beginning of our first semester as EICs with a sketchbook full of ideas and absolutely no idea how we were going to take this infant student publication and make it something that would live on beyond us. We made schedules and handbooks. Designed a new website. Tried and failed at app development. Threw several concerts. Our staff doubled. Our readerships grew ten fold. We won awards.

I owe these accomplishments to everyone on our staff. In just a few years this publication turned into a reputable, well-known entity in the city of Austin. I have no doubt that in a few more years ORANGE will be even better. I am not worried like I once was about the longevity of this publication. Our staffers, photographers, editors, designers have made ORANGE a beautiful testament to the power of students who work together and are committed to learning their craft. We were not always perfect, but we were always learning. For many years to come, I know that ORANGE will be a home and learning platform for all UT students.

ORANGE is not really a place I can leave, but after two years looking over this magazine, I am excited to see where this next chapter in my life takes me. Thank you to everyone who has written a single word, taken a single photo, gone to any meeting for ORANGE. Thank you Jane and Becca for giving us this publication. Thank you to those who have advised us throughout the years. Thank you to my closest friends who have made this place so special for me. Thank you Kris for being the best co I could have ever asked for. I am so excited to see where our lovely new EICs, Emily Nash and Mia Uhunmwuangho, take ORANGE. Please enjoy this beautiful publication we have put together. This is our fifth and, in my opinion, our best issue yet. I hope you think so too. It makes me proud to look over these pages. Kris and I are definitely going out with a bang.

Love, Sarah Jasmine Montgomery

Table of Contents ATX A Room of Her Own: Aralyn Hughes

50 Years Later: When The Past Meets The Present

More Than A Movement: Street Art

14

23

27

MUSIC Through The Lens: Spring ‘16 Shows

Shut Down The Sound: West Campus Music

Queen of Her Co-Op: Zia Garza

41

50

60

BUZZ Bilingual and Beyond

Skrrrt! - Parking Crisis at UT

Latinitas: Teaching Girls Empowerment

62

68

70

FOOD + DRINK Ultimate Vegan Guide

Holy Crepe

Favorite Frozen Treats

83

90

92

STYLE Curly Hair, Don’t Care

Once Bitten Lookbook

Closet Confessional: Dania Abdi

100

112

120

How One Artist Grew from Art From the Streets

Story by Kassidy Curry

Photos by Cori Baker

the early fall of 2014, David Schumaker was walking through downtown past St. David’s Episcopal church when he was stopped by Elizabeth Romanella. She was sitting on the steps outside of the Trinity Center and saw that Schumaker looked troubled. “I just started telling her about the grief I was going through with my parents passing,” Schumaker says. “I sat out there on the steps and told her my story, told her about my hurt and anger.” After talking, she invited him to come inside and paint with the program she was volunteering for, Art From the Streets.

Art From the Streets, or AFTS, is a nonprofit organization that gives homeless artists a place to work and a way to sell their art.

AFTS was founded in 1991 by Heloise Gold and Beverly Bajema.

The two were working to connect with the homeless community by passing out food, but then they decided to bring people some pen and pencils. After learning that many within this community were artists, they decided to create a space where homeless people could pursue their art.

Since then, AFTS has grown significantly. Four years ago, it became an official non-profit organization. The program originally held classes at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, but eight years ago it moved to the Trinity Center at St. David’s.

Currently it operates by hosting classes three times a week. During class, artists come into the studio and work freely while volunteers facilitate.

Their work is sold throughout the year both online and at small shows, but the event that garners the most attention is the annual show hosted at the end of each year. The artists receive 95% of the proceeds from sales. “It’s a stepping stone,” executive director Kelley Worden says. “They’re not making a living, but it can be part of the process.”

Romanella has been volunteering for AFTS for over 10 years.

She has a masters degree in art administration and has worked in various positions in the arts, her last job being in the architecture department at the University of Pennsylvania. She heard about AFTS from a local PBS program and thought that, given her background in art, it would be a good fit. “One of the joys for me is to see someone come in with no experience, and yet they are willing to try,” Romanella says. “They hang in there and find something that satisfies them, whether it’s making the art, being a part of the community or both, and they stick with it.”

Schumaker came into the program without any previous experience. Since he joined the program, he’s been a part of two annual shows. He says his work is about doing “a little bit of everything.” Since he became involved with the program, he’s started to see his life change for the better. “I was watching the people there and I saw them grow, and I realized I wanted that too,” Schumaker says.

Schumaker was born in Austin into a family of six children and grew up in the then-rural Cedar Park area. After high school, he served in the Navy. When he came home, he rekindled a romance with his old high school sweetheart, who was at that point divorced with two kids. They went on to have a child together, but

Schumaker never looked at the kids from her previous marriage as step-children and says that he considers them his own kids.

Even though he and his wife are now split up, he still sees it that way.

Schumaker’s parents died in 2013. He spent the last five years before their passing taking care of them in their own home. “We made them promises a long time ago that they would never go to a nursing home,” Schumaker says.

After losing his parents, Schumaker says he became lost. He found himself going to a dark place and returning to old habits of addiction. He had no place to stay and was living out of his car.

After about a year, things started to look up for Schumaker.

Around the same time he joined AFTS, he got a job in food prep at Cypress Bend Cafe at UT. At this time, he also began the process of finding a place to live.

To find housing, Schumaker worked with different social workers through the Veteran’s Administration. After staying for three months in a transitional house called Safe Haven, he found permanent housing in a one-bedroom apartment. “It’s a single person apartment, but I prefer to call it a cubicle,” Schumaker says, joking. “But it has everything a person would need.”

As things started to get better for Schumaker, he decided he no longer needed to ask for money.

He used to hold his sign on a corner in North Austin with a piece of cardboard that read “25 cents God Bless.” Initially, Schumaker was hesitant about asking for money, but once he got out there, he says he met a lot of generous people and even some people who came by on a regular basis to help him out. One man who worked at a nearby AutoZone once gave him his own pair of shoes after seeing him stand on the corner in worn out shoes held together by duct tape.

After deciding he didn’t need to ask for money anymore, Schumaker went back one last time to his corner in North Austin just to give thanks. “They started to hand me money, but I told them that ‘I just came to tell y’all thanks for the times that you helped me,’” Schumaker says.

Schumaker recently left his job at Cypress Bend Cafe after working there for over a year. He decided that he was ready to take time off and have what he calls “me time.” He currently volunteers his Friday mornings at the Trinity Center by helping prepare breakfast for the Austin homeless community. He says that giving back to his own community and helping people he knows has filled a void.

Schumaker continues to work with AFTS. The program is nothing if not a strong community. Though it revolves around the artists and their work, the most valuable aspect is the kinship and support that the program provides to all who are involved. “It’s like they’re family,” Schumaker says.

Through the help of this community over the past few years, Schumaker has seen his life change for the better, like he had seen in other people in the community before him. “My biggest takeaway is knowing that I’m on a journey, and it doesn’t have to be a negative journey,” Schumaker says.

C R I T I C I S M V S . B I G O T RY :

The State of Islamophobia at UT STORY BY JENAN TAHA

PHOTOS BY TESS CAGLE

A

small group gathered in the West Mall of the

anywhere. “I think it’s important for us to realize

University of Texas at Austin late February to

that Islamophobia is widespread, and it can happen

show their solidarity with Muslims and refugees and

in a liberal city like Austin,” Abdennabi said.

to protest against the recent spike of Islamophobic sentiment in the U.S.

Abdennabi

believes

hateful

attitudes

toward

Muslims are promoted by the actions of the U.S. in Public expressions of Islamophobia have been on

Middle Eastern countries, as well as the prejudice

the rise for the past several years, and UT Austin

of political leaders in the media. “We shouldn’t

students have begun to take notice. This increase

be surprised that when we kill Muslims in other

in anti-Muslim prejudice may be attributed to the

countries, it’s going to carry on into this country,

influx of stories in the media concerning ISIS, various

and it’s going to take the form of hatred against

terrorist attacks and the Syrian refugee crisis. Many

Muslim or Muslim-looking people,” Abdennabi said.

of these stories illustrate Muslims as people to be feared and driven away. It is tricky to pinpoint the

Abdennabi has an idea of how to end the spread of

exact definition and source of Islamophobia, but

Islamophobia. “We can combat it by opposing this

some people at the protest had an idea of what may

hateful rhetoric against Muslims,” Abdennabi says.

be causing the hatred.

“We shouldn’t give platforms for hate speech.”

Numerous speakers at the protest, which several

Thousands of students have shown their support

campus organizations planned in response to

for victims of Islamophobia in various ways, from

recent Islamophobic incidents involving students

sharing their stories on Facebook to educating

near campus, blamed U.S. politicians and actions in

others about the issue. “I think Islamophobia is

the Middle East for the rise of Islamophobia. “It’s

counterproductive,” first-year electrical engineering

not enough for us to think about Islamophobia

freshman Jordan Newman says. “The blame for

as discrete incidents of violence that happened

violence is not to be placed on any one group.”

in the United States against Muslims,” English associate professor Snehal Shingavi said. “It comes

In

and is heightened by American foreign policy and

Guadalupe Street and wearing a Muslim Students

American military interventions.”

Association shirt was physically harassed and

November,

a

UT

freshman

walking

on

spit on by a stranger. Students began to realize Students were in disbelief last December when

that Islamophobia was infiltrating parts of their

a Muslim student, Sirat Al-Nahi, was insulted by

community and even affecting people they know.

a patron at Kerbey Lane because of her religion

“It’s ridiculous that something like that could

and left the restaurant after management told

happen at UT,” radio-television-film sophomore

her nothing could be done. After Al-Nahi shared

Teva White says. “Campus is meant to be a safe and

her experience on Facebook, many students were

accepting place.”

outraged that this incident happened so close to campus. “I think it’s atrocious and absolutely

One particular image that many students on social

unacceptable, and no human being should be

media considered as an alarming indication of on-

treated like that,” protester Daria Deptula said.

campus Islamophobia was a flyer for a Secular Student Alliance meeting. The flyer announced an

Leilah Abdennabi, a friend of Al-Nahi who was with

upcoming presentation titled, “Islam: the Sequel to

her during the Kerbey Lane incident, attended the

Christianity That Nobody Wanted.” Many believed

protest and said that Islamaphobia can happen

the flyer was insensitive, especially in light of other

11

recent instances of Islamophobia.

people misunderstand the religion just because they don’t know much about it.”

The speaker who gave the presentation, a student

The causes of Islamophobia seem to range widely

named Taha who did not want to reveal his last name,

with each new incident, but they do have something

explained that his speech was meant to be critical

in common. Nellie Jaafar, a member of Arab Students

toward the principles of the religion itself, rather than

Association and Muslim Students Association, offered

Islamophobic. “It’s a religion that, by my standards,

some insight on the situation. “I think ignorance and

has yet to be reformed,” Taha says. “[Islam] has

a lack of awareness and understanding helps cause

managed to partly destroy society in a major part of

Islamophobia,” Jaafar says. “I don't think you can

the world.”

completely eliminate it, but I think organizations that have peaceful discussions about these topics help

Taha’s presentation included several reasons why he

spread positivity and awareness. These groups serve

decided to stop practicing Islam, which he described

as a voice for so many people, and speaking about

as “cultish” and “violent.” However, when it comes to

these issues can be very influential and powerful.”

Islamophobia, Taha believes criticizing Islam is not the issue, but intolerant actions toward adherents of the religion are problematic. “A lot of people today refer to any criticism of Islam as a religion as Islamophobic, and I don’t think that’s what it should be,” Taha said.

“The problem is anti-Muslim bigotry and mistreating them as people, [and] anything that tries to paint all Muslims by the same stroke.”

Mehar, who does not want to share her last name, is a junior exchange student from Pakistan who attended the presentation and shared her experiences with Islam. “I have only hatred towards that religion,” Mehar says. “I’ve grown up in a Muslim country and was really religious, but then I realized what a bigoted classist religion it was. It was so detrimental to everything I ever believed in.”

Mehar, who is a closeted atheist, claims she feels threatened by Islam. “It is bad for women, bad for the cause of feminism…bad for everyone really,” Mehar says. Though, to Mehar, those traits of Islam do not qualify Islamophobia. “You can’t be intolerant,” Mehar says. “I think that we should be more accepting of everyone, especially people who are just trying to follow their religion.”

Mehar says she has encountered Islamophobia by a student before and corrected the student’s prejudiced remarks toward Muslims. “He was illinformed about the religion,” Mehar says. “A lot of

13

a room of her own A U S T I N ’ S

O W N

Story by Lauren L’Amie and Dahlia Dandashi Photos by Dahlia Dandashi

Her ass

enters the room before the

in that institution. There was all this jealousy and fear and

rest of her. She wears a bleach

possession and loss, and it didn’t work for me.”

blonde wig and a tight-fitting corset, gabbing at 100 miles per minute with every friend and stranger alike at the big

Hughes’ most recent book, “Kid Me Not,” is an anthology

premiere. At 70 years old, Aralyn Hughes is still the center

of essays by “child-free women of the 60s now in their

of attention, and she’s proud of it.

60s,” chronicling their experiences with motherhood, womanhood and the decision not to have children. “There

As Austin’s own “Queen of Weird,” Hughes’ latest

are now a lot of women who don’t want to get married,

endeavor is as the subject of a new documentary, “Love in

don’t want to have children,” Hughes says. “We were the

the Sixties,” which chronicles her journey from housewife

forerunners of that; we were the ones who went against

to dominatrix to performer and everything in between.

the grain. We were the ones who got all the, ‘You’re gonna be sorry,’ ‘Don’t you want to leave a legacy?’ or ‘You’re just

If longtime Austinites cannot recall Hughes, they certainly

being selfish.’”

know where she used to live — she and her beloved pet pig occupied the iconic “Keep Austin Weird” house off

In February, Hughes’s long time confidante and close

MoPac for 27 years.

friend,

Amparo

Garcia-Crow,

released

a

behind-

the-scenes feature biography to celebrate Hughes’s Today, Hughes’s bright Riverside apartment serves as

illustrious life journeys. “Love in the Sixties” captures

a personal gallery. She is a self-employed curator of

the past, present and future of Hughes through personal

all things eclectic. The shelves in her living room are

anecdotes,

lined with lace doilies, displaying small quirky figurines

provoking reflections.

memorable

experiences

and

thought-

alongside feather boas and handcuffs. A small statue of a clown she calls Bozo stands upright in a corner. Paintings

The film is composed entirely of supplemental footage

cover the walls, ceilings and

Garcia-

Crowe

collected

of

Hughes

doors — some her own, some

throughout

painted by friends or past

The story contextualizes her in

lovers. “Oh, that one

a process of self-actualization,

is from my Cuban

while

their

confronting

friendship.

issues

like

boyfriend,” she says,

societal expectations, aging in a

gesturing

toward

technology-advancing world and,

a

green-

most prominently, her concept of

surreal

ish painting above a

feminism.

doorframe. “Everyone always points out the ones I didn’t do.”

“I think

that people make a conscious

choice of whether to change and go forward or to put on For Hughes, every object has a story.

the brakes and stop right there,” Hughes says. “They don’t change their hairdo, they don’t change their style of dress,

An old photograph of Hughes sits like a shrine in her

they don’t wanna learn anything new. They don’t really

office space. It is of a younger Hughes, hair coiffed in

want to move forward too much. I just saw, if I don’t keep

a typical ‘50s style, a pair of cat-eye glasses resting on

up with technology, I’m just going to be out.”

her nose. She looks, by all outdated beauty standards, normal. Hughes grew up in rural Oklahoma, studied

Hughes has always been a progressive figure, serving as

home economics in college and became a Navy wife by

director of Texas’s first abortion clinic and subsequently

her late 20s. The woman displayed in the old photograph,

lobbying for the Roe v. Wade ruling in the ‘70s. A steadfast

Hughes says, is an important part of her story. “I didn’t

luminary for women’s rights, she believes the “open”

know any other options other than to be a wife, mother,

culture she helped shape in the ‘60s is slowly reversing

homemaker,” Hughes says. “I was all set to do the whole

and coming to a halt. “We [women] still have so many

thing. I got married and divorced at 30, and I said I’d

difficulties in relationships, related to sexuality and love

never get married again because I just didn’t want to be

and intimacy,” Hughes says. “I also think many of the

15

people that are holding us back and that are fighting for women’s choice in reproductive rights are going to be dead and gone in the next 20 years, and it’ll be interesting to see what is going to happen.”

Many see the documentary as Hughes placing monumental bookends on her life, but Hughes explains that she is ever-evolving, with the film simply representing the latest milestone rather than a finite goodbye. “Even since that film was completed, I have gone in different directions in terms of my beliefs, in terms of getting over shame about things, fear about things,” Hughes says. “I just keep moving forward, and I can see it by watching that film.”

Hughes says that she cannot foresee who she will wake up as tomorrow, but she knows her focus is on becoming a crone — or in her words, “a wise woman of the tribe.” Fear of death is off the table, and instead, dying is seen as just another chapter in the Queen’s indelible life story.

“I might be doing something really interesting when I die, we’ll see.

It’s probably going to be my final performance art piece.”

STORY BY SYDNI FOWLER

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SONIA MARGOLIN

How Green is Austin?

Known for its plethora of bikes, trees and reusable water bottles, it’s not shocking that the city of Austin has made extensive plans to become a net-zero community by 2050 or sooner. To do this, Austin has run, a grassroots campaign that challenges the everyday Austinite to do their part. The city is working with businesses and individuals to promote energy consciousness practices.

To be a net-zero city, Austin would have to produce the same amount of energy (you can see the exact data at www.austinenergy. com) that it uses on a day-to-day basis. This goal can be reached by doing things as grand as installing solar panels and wind turbines, or as simple as walking to work. However, it’s unclear if Austin will be able to accomplish its goal by 2050. Austinites are split. Some believe the city is well on its way to reaching this goal, while others think it will take a lot more work than what is currently being put forth.

It seems that the city of Austin has started stepping up to the task. Most of the city’s municipal buildings use solar panels as energy sources, and city employees working toward this goal believe that a lot can happen in 35 years.

Zach Baumer, Climate Program Manager at the Austin Office of Sustainability, is optimistic about the future. “If we’re looking from 2015 to 2050, we can’t even imagine the kind of technology that’s gonna change, and the things that we don’t even know about that are gonna happen,” Baumer says. “So I think it is entirely possible, and I think it’s likely, that we will get to net-zero emissions by then, and hopefully before then.”

Using the Green Business Leaders Program, Austin has reached out to local businesses that use green energy and other climateconscious operating methods to achieve the title of “Green Business.” By filling out a scorecard to rate their eco-friendliness, Austin businesses, big and small, can become certified Green Business Leaders in their community. It’s a significant role to hold, because these green businesses help their employees and customers think green too. “Every single office building that does more right things to reduce their impact on the environment, is just one more person and one more clump of the city pushing the right way,” Baumer says.

A well-known green business in Austin is Compost Pedallers,

18

founded in 2012 by Dustin Fedako and Eric Goff in 2012. The mission of this company is simple: to bring the Austin community together through reducing waste. They do this by picking up compostable materials from Austin homes and businesses and transporting them to local gardens and farms. At these farms, the compostable materials are allowed to cook into compost and then used to grow food that can be sold, eaten and then composted again.

In the four years that the Pedallers have operated, they have diverted over 410,000 pounds of organic material from the landfill, cutting methane emissions, which are 22 times more potent than those of carbon dioxide, by over 60 tons. “The compost that’s created as a product of our business actually sequesters carbon, so it pulls carbon out of the atmosphere,” Fedako says.

Regardless of these numbers, Fedako isn’t as confident about reaching the 2050 goal as others. He refers to Austin’s status of being coined a “green city” as a double-edged sword. “I have realized more and more in working in the green space in Austin that people have a perception of Austin being greener and performing higher on green evaluations than reality,” Fedako says. “So I think we still have a long way to go and to just kind of pat ourselves on the back and give ourselves a gold star because we are a green city is doing us a disservice.”

In the city’s 2015 municipal report card regarding the goals set in the Community Climate Plan, Austin did not meet its energyusage or zero-waste goals in 2015. However, this may be a good thing, according to Baumer. “If we’re meeting all the targets, people would get lazy,” Baumer says. “People would sort of stop trying.

So it’s almost better that we set strong targets and then push our departments to meet them.”

The goals set forth by the 2015 Community Climate Plan have been referred to as some of the most rigorous in the country, and leaders in this campaign continue to put a huge emphasis on community. The City of Austin, Green Business Leaders and everyday Austinites understand that it takes a group of like-minded people to pull off what needs to be done.

Jeff Wilson, known more widely as Professor Dumpster, because he lived in a 33-square-foot dumpster for a year, believes that innovation from startups is the key to tackling this problem. “We’re gonna have to turn up on innovation to turn down our impact on the planet,” Wilson says.

Wilson created a program called The Dumpster Project, which inspired him to create his own startup company called Kasita. Kasita has created breakthrough energy-efficient homes right in the heart of Austin.

These tiny homes allow people to live on less, a growing trend that Wilson believes can be extended into the carbon footprint realm.

“To continue doing things the way we’ve been doing things won’t be good enough, but by looking into places of new innovation, it’s possible,” Wilson says.

As a college student, it may be hard to live in an energy conscious manner, but there are ways to contribute to creating a green community. There are the obvious recommendations, like walking, biking, turning off the lights and taking shorter showers.

Yet students can dig deeper by avoiding traffic or unnecessary acceleration while driving, and installing fluorescent or LED light bulbs. Cutting down on beef and dairy consumption can also lead to a more sustainable environment.

Although people may disagree on the rate at which progress is being made, there is unanimous agreement on one thing: this progress is necessary, and everyone needs to take part. Luckily the Austin community is more ready than ever.

Which

Q U IZ

BY EMMA WHALEN

KANYE KANYE KANYE KANYE KANYE

Tweet Are You?

Taurus

based on your zodiac sign

Cancer

KANYE WEST @kanyewest

KANYE WEST @kanyewest

Leo

I speak truth to power!

KANYE WEST @kanyewest

No one ever really knows what a Taurus is up to, but it’s probably best to stay on their good side. They seem nice enough, but you can never be too sure of their intentions. Tauruses were probably voted “most likely to start a cult,” in their high school yearbook.

Aries KANYE WEST @kanyewest I’M SO HYPE RIGHT NOW EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED …

HAVE YA’LL EVER SEEN TRON? THE END OF THE TRON WHERE EVERYTHING LIGHT UP!!!!

# # #hashtag all the positive vibes

Leos are people pleasers. In fact, they’re almost competitively nice. If you compliment a Leo, they will reply with an even nicer compliment. If you tell them their hair looks nice, they’ll tell you your hair looks nice every single day. If you tweet, “#positive vibes,” they’ll post “# # #hashtag all the positive vibes.”

Gemini KANYE WEST @kanyewest

What is this? What is Cancer doing?

Cancer is that person that is kind of a shit show but somehow always gets it together last minute and can get away with anything.

They’re just scraping by, figuring it out along the way.

Aquarius KANYE WEST @kanyewest

I hope you have a nice weekend.

As a fire sign, Aries are all about energy and hype. If you think you don’t need a hypeman, it’s because you’ve never asked an Aries to be one for you. Aries are so hype they recognize that the best part of the movie, TRON, was its bright lights. Who needs an intriguing plot or character development? Not Aries! Aries will hype anything up, especially if it’s shiny.

Cryptic, as usual. Does Gemini actually hope you have a nice weekend? Is this their signature sarcasm or are they being fake? Are they actually being nice? Is this a subtweet about someone that Gemini hopes doesn’t have a good weekend? We’ll never know.

Capricorn

Pisces

KANYE WEST @kanyewest I promise I’m going to make the world dope…all I do is make dope shit #facts

You know what? I actually believe that.

Capricorns are the ones you want to hate for being so awesome, but just can’t. They’re cool, creative and sometimes moody, but they’re doing dope shit and you can’t fault them for that.

KANYE WEST @kanyewest

KANYE WEST @kanyewest I’m not even gon lie to you. I love me so much right now.

Virgos are the most productive people you know. When you were reading that listicle about the best celebrity cat sweater sightings of 2015, they were doing laundry, cooking dinner and calculating differential equations for an elective math class. They might be irritatingly efficient and put together, but you can always rely on them to get a project done.

Okay we GET IT, Aquarius. Aquarius wants to be different and no one is as cool, original, genuine, unique and hip as them.

Blah blah blah, I could go on, but let’s not give Aquarius that satisfaction.

Scorpio

I represent the dreamers

Pisces have a lot of emotions. In fact, they have more emotions than they know what to do with. A Pisces is the type of person to corner you at a party and share their life story with you even if you just met them 5 minutes ago. In other words, they’re actually more of a Drake than a Kanye.

Sagittarius

Virgo

Fake Fake Fake fake fake fake fake fake fake fake fake … just my analysis

KANYE WEST @kanyewest Everyone has made mistakes. I just make them in public.

Sagittariuses are the most fun. If you’re considering doing something risky and think, “would a Sagittarius do this?” and the answer is yes, don’t do it. As ridiculous as Sagitariuses are, you will never get away with half as much as they do, so don’t even try. Just sit back and enjoy the show.

KANYE WEST @kanyewest I used an exclamation just to be an asshole and also to make a point!

LOL

Scorpios know when they’re being mean and they’re not going to hide it. At least they have a sense of humor about it. They’re that person you’re scared of, but you also want to be friends with. Plus you know they’ll always have the best gossip.

Libra KANYE WEST @kanyewest Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars in Kanye West Ideas

Libras are bold. Libras are brave. Libras are the type of person to ask Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion and genuinely think it might work. The most “Kanye” of all the signs, Libras love Libras like Kanye loves Kanye.

AT X S T A F F S H A R E S S O M E O F T H E I R F AV O R I T E S P O T S A R O U N D T O W N When life feels hard or unfair, we all need a place to run to. In Austin, we are blessed with a myriad of options of spaces that feel inviting and safe. For so many of us, the mere fact that we are living in Austin is a happy thought — so enjoying the city and its green landscapes is enough to remind us of why we’re here. Whether it’s strolling down Congress Avenue and taking in the city skyline or wandering through one of Austin’s many bike trails, we all have a spot that we go to feel safe when life is tough.

Here are some of the ORANGE ATX staff’s safe spaces in Austin.

C O N G R E S S AV E N U E

BY ZOYA ZIA When stress and uncertainty stare down at me with little remorse, I take walks.

My favorite place is Congress Avenue, specifically by the State Capitol. Inspired by the sweet stench of political discourse, I people-watch. Some have picnics on the grassy lawn in front of the Capitol, while others take their dogs on adventures.

Cafes, restaurants and museums line the streets. As people go to and fro, I spend a few moments breathing in fresh air. Inspired by Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle from “Parks and Recreation,” I take an oath to treat myself. Sometimes I nap, other times I splurge on overpriced drinks and all-you-can-eat pasta. If I can, I stick around until the evening. Skyscrapers are the perfect backdrop to a Texas sunset, demonstrating that even in a hectic lifestyle, there is always time to marvel at nature. Although I don’t always want to be around people, I am surprisingly at ease among the hustle and bustle on Congress Avenue. Nature and city collide, and the opportunities to treat myself are endless.

SHOAL CREEK

BY KASSIDY CURRY Whenever I have a lot on my mind, I like to walk from my place in West Campus to Shoal Creek on Lamar Boulevard. Depending on my mood, I’ll make a Spotify playlist, catch up on one of my favorite podcasts or unplug and listen to the world around me. Shoal Creek has become one of my favorite places because despite being so close to campus and downtown, it feels far away. Plus, I have a variety of places to walk to and things to see. I can either walk alongside the busyness of Lamar Boulevard or on the quiet of the trail. I also have the option to go towards Pease Park and downtown or up further into some of the quieter neighborhoods.

There are plenty of scenic areas to stop and sit on the trail as well. My favorite spot is near 34th Street, where there is a calm, open area with stone benches surrounding a big oak tree. A bonus is that Shoal Creek also seems to be a favorite spot for dog-walkers, and seeing all of the happy dogs running around gives me an instant mood boost. Shoal

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Creek is an easy place for me to get away and enjoy some nature.

BARTON SPRINGS ROAD TO THE COLORADO RIVER

BY JACQUELINE RAMOS As an Austinite, I love spending time outdoors and in the sun on any day of the week. This is especially true when I’m feeling overwhelmed with life. To forget about my deadlines for a couple of hours, I first go down to Barton Springs Road with my friends. On Barton Springs, you can find Sandy’s Hamburgers where they serve the best frozen custard in town.

Their traditional vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavors give me the tasty distraction I need. After our indulgence, we walk across the street to Butler Park where you can find Doug Sahm Hill. Doug Sahm Hill is my favorite part of Austin because it has the best view of the city skyline. It doesn’t matter that I have sat on that hill hundreds of times over the last 12 years, I still fall in love with the view it gives me of my hometown. I am filled with nostalgia and memories from elementary school trips to awkward high school dates and the time my friends and I sat upon the hill at 2 a.m. during our orientation at The University of Texas at Austin. To end our day, we like to canoe down Lady Bird Lake. Something about being rocked from side to side while dipping my fingers in the water calms me down and helps me recharge for what I have ahead. The area is such a familiar place to me that it will always make me feel at ease.

LAKE HILLS PARK

BY CIERRA SMITH One of the most beautiful and relaxing places in Austin for me is a little neighborhood park called Lake Hills. Though it’s a bit of a drive from the UT campus, it makes up for it in gorgeous views of the lake from its boat dock, a basketball court and a sand volleyball pit. There are always people of all ages enjoying the view, and dogs can be seen running around or jumping into the water. On a nice day, a jump into the

lake feels fantastic, while other times my friends and I have gone there to play late-night basketball games. Just getting near the water and laying on the court while looking up at the stars is incredibly refreshing, and I can forget about due dates and demands for a little while. It’ll always be one of my favorite spots.

ROBERTS PIANO LOUNGE

BY JENAN TAHA Though I am new to Austin and haven’t quite found my relaxation oasis, I have discovered a secluded spot on campus that allows me to be alone and forget about my woes. Whenever I feel frazzled and want to run away from my responsibilities, I like to stop by the Roberts piano lounge, located deep in the basement of Roberts Hall on UT’s campus.

Playing musical instruments, especially piano, has always helped me cope with schoolwork stress, so having a piano all to myself is pretty convenient. The lounge is far removed from the rest of the dorm, allowing me to cathartically smash down on those piano keys as loud as I want without annoying residents. At a university with tens of thousands of other students, it is comforting to have a space where I can be completely alone.

T H E R I V E R O F F P L E A S A N T VA L L E Y R O A D

BY TESS CAGLE My favorite motto for myself whenever I am in a terrible mood is “when in a funk, go for a walk.” I came across the riverfront off Pleasant Valley Road and Riverside as I was driving a new route to school one day. It’s the kind of place that makes you do a double take (which is kind of dangerous when driving) because it comes out of nowhere and is absolutely breathtaking. The riverfront has a great walking trail and a gorgeous view of downtown. It has all the great qualities that popular parks in Austin, like Zilker, but without the crowds.

The river has grown to be my happy place — some of my most inspirational moments in college have happened there. I’m partially convinced that place is magical, and I hope anyone who ventures to that spot on the East side feels the same. I mean, how can you possibly go wrong with a place that has the word “pleasant” in its name, anyway?

“You couldn’t process this. It was not possible to process it. It was so... strange. Nothing like that had happened, certainly not in Austin, or anywhere, at that point in time.”

On Aug. 1, 1966, University of Texas at Austin law professor Stanley Johanson had been teaching at UT for almost three years. He was teaching a summer school course, thanking God there was air conditioning on the sweltering 98-degree Monday. But suddenly, a little after noon, his lecture was interrupted. “Perhaps 10 minutes before the class was over, someone burst into the room,” Johanson says. “My first reaction was, ‘What the heck are you doing interfering with my course?’

That’s when he said, ‘There’s someone in the tower shooting. No one leave the building.’”

The shooter was ex-Marine Charles Whitman, who over the next hour and a half, would go on to shoot 46 people, fatally wounding 14. The incident marked the first mass school shooting in the U.S. and left the UT community and nation in a state of shock. “It was stunning,” Johanson says. “Many of us were impacted from a distance, but thank God not actually.”

Fifty years later, the UT campus has found itself at the center of a heated debate over gun laws. It started with Senate Bill 11, also known as the campus carry law, which was passed last year on June 1. The bill will be enacted on August 1 of this year, coincidentally sharing a date with the 50th anniversary of the UT tower shooting.

However, Johanson notes that both long before and after the massacre, gun control was insignificant. “We had no debate as to guns and gun control at that time, because it wasn’t an issue,” Johanson says. “Because Mr. Whitman was so well-prepared to commit mayhem, any rule that said you can’t carry guns on campus would have had zero impact on him, because he was deranged.

He was on a suicide mission. He knew he would not come out [alive]. So in that sense, it had zero relevance to today’s concern about guns on campus or anywhere.”

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UT law professor Stanley Johanson stands in his office on campus.

Johanson was teaching a class on campus the day of the tower shooting in 1966.

Photo by Natalie Campbell

Concealed carry has been legal on public college campuses in Texas since 1995. However, the new campus carry law will additionally allow handguns inside many campus buildings, including classrooms and certain parts of residence halls.

Jacob Williamson, a computer science and electrical engineering senior and Students for Concealed Carry member, has expressed concern about connecting the new bill with school violence. “A lot of people like to make the campus carry issue about school shootings,” Williamson says. “Which in my opinion is very problematic, [on both sides]. Because the ‘for’ side says if I’m in a room and a guy comes in with a shotgun, then I’d rather have my [concealed carry weapon] than a textbook to defend myself. Then the ‘anti’ side says that people are going to shoot up the school because they have a concealed handgun license, but if it’s premeditated and if you’re going to kill a bunch of people, I don’t know if you having a license would make a difference.”

The implementation of House Bill 910 on Jan. 1 allowed licensed open carry of handguns in Texas everywhere except college campuses and private property marked with special signs. Williamson says one reason campus carry fears are unfounded is because many people are

not scared of guns in other common areas they are allowed.

currently in the process of formulating and filing a lawsuit.

“You’re not afraid on the Drag,” Williamson says. “You’re not

“The president could have recommended that there not

afraid in H-E-B. You’re not afraid because they don’t cause

be guns in classrooms,” Snodderly says. “He didn’t. We

problems. From a facts standpoint, at other universities and

were disappointed. He could’ve recommended anything he

campuses that have allowed campus carry, no one’s gotten

wanted, and then let them try to pull it back, but he wasn’t

hurt.”

willing to take the political risk. [The law is] not a rational thing. It’s doing great harm to the university. We have

Gun Free UT legal committee chair and neuroscience

people resigning, deciding not to come here. It’s setting up a

professor Max Snodderly refutes Williamson’s argument

negative atmosphere. Why do we have to put up with this?”

of comparative perceived safety. “That’s like saying a university is not a special place,” Snodderly says. “There are

With the law at the center of the argument, law enforcement

situations in a university that don’t happen other places.

is what attempts to mediate the two sides. Today, UT has its

You know where the biggest risks are with firearms? It’s

own police department to help deal with these situations,

when people get into arguments. People get into lots of

but it wasn’t founded until 1968, two years after the shooting.

heated discussions at a university where they have very

UTPD Crime Prevention Unit officer William Pieper believes

big differences in opinion. You want a gun in that kind of

that if the department had already been established, it

situation? [The university] has a sacred duty to protect free

could have helped the situation. “One of the detractions to

speech in the most intimate and controversial ways.”

an effective response by the Austin Police Department was a lack of familiarity with the campus,” Pieper says. “When

Snodderly and Gun Free UT are pushing for evaluation of

you work out here, you get to know the campus very well.”

alternatives to guns as a way to ensure safety. Among the possibilities is the implementation of a UT safety app and

Pieper says there are other standard resources that would

the establishment of a research center.

have helped half a century ago. “The two most significant changes [in the U.S.] since the Whitman incident was the

In response to the current implementation guidelines set

development of law enforcement on college campuses and

by UT President Gregory Fenves from the suggestion of

the development of active shooter training for line officers,”

the Campus Carry Policy Working Group, Gun Free UT is

Pieper says. According to Pieper, active shooter training for UT Police officers and many others started in the late ‘90s. Education and resources have developed, and officers are now equipped with diverse firearms as well as active shooter vests and helmets.

Many civilians brought their own firearms to the scene of the tower shooting to try and aid law enforcement who did not have long guns at the time. While this fact is used as a supporting argument for pro-gun groups, it can be seen both positively and negatively. “[Citizens using guns] added to some confusion and chaos, particularly when the event was over,” Pieper says. “When the officers that took Whitman out finished that siege, there were still a lot of people around shooting up at the tower, and there was really no way to communicate with them. That made it

The memorial at the turtle pond in West Mall that honors those who died in the tower shooting.

Photo by Tess Cagle

dangerous for the officers and civilian that were up there.”

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Come August, concealed carry holders who use their

fears through training processes and public education.”

weapons as a form of self-defense will pose a challenge

Additionally, through Pieper’s experience with the

to police officers responding to the scene. “When we

current concealed carry law, he has seen that most

go to an active shooter situation, anyone that has a gun

licensed holders are knowledgeable and tend to obey

out is a suspect,” Pieper says. “We’re going to have to

the law. “They’re not going to risk losing their license,”

take swift action, and yet we still don’t want to shoot an

Pieper says.

innocent person, so we’re going to have to fetter that out.

It’s my hope in an active shooter situation, that whoever

The 50th anniversary of the tower shooting also prompted

does have a concealed carry license and is armed, that

new efforts to establish a memorial. Currently, there is a

they do the same things we ask everyone else to do in an

small plaque by the UT Turtle Pond that dedicates the

active shooter situation, which are the five outs.” The five

space as the Tower Garden as a memorial to all victims.

outs instruct anyone involved to get out, call out, hide

The Texas Tower Memorial Committee is planning a

out, keep out and take out. “If you’re a concealed carry

larger monument that will list the names of those killed,

holder, and you feel you need to draw your gun and fire,

and though nothing is finalized, there is hope to unveil it

then do that, but make sure your gun is holstered when

on August 1.

we come in,” Pieper says.

People touring the tower will hear nothing about the Since the campus carry law has been passed, UTPD has

tragedy mentioned as a part of the history. However,

had an influx of requests for safety presentations and

Johanson says that it is notorious enough not to be

training. Pieper often addresses the fear of classroom

forgotten. “You can’t avoid it,” Johanson says. “The

debates mixing with concealed carry holders. “Have

tower’s there, and you’ve heard. This [does not] fade from

you had heated debates that broke out into fights, or

memory. It’s such a stark symbol of the skyline, so I think

stabbings?” Pieper asks. “No? Why not? Well, because

that’s a memory jogger.” Johanson is in support of the

we brought it down when it got too heated. That’s what

new memorial, although he feels that a large one already

you’re going to do now — everything you’ve been doing in

exists. “In a sense we do have a memorial,” Johanson

the past. We’ve hopefully been mitigating some of those

says. “The Texas tower is there.”

More Than

A

Movement

Street Art in Austin

by Kristin Evans

E

ven though there are various laws prohibiting it, street art and graffiti appear in practically every city in America and around the world. Some artists use it as a means of adding beauty to urban landscapes, while others use it simply to put their art in public spaces.

“To me, street art is kind of like a dialogue with the other people who walk the same places you do,” a local street artist known as Salamander says.

Against the law, street art is all around us, especially in Austin. “Street art isn't an art movement, it’s just something that happened,” another local artist known as Bort says.

Four local artists (whose real names are kept private in order to maintain the anonymity of their work) gave ORANGE insight into this often-ignored art form: Kaps, an artist who crosses the line between what’s considered street art and traditional graffiti tagging; Salamander, a sticker artist who specializes in happy amphibians; Bort, whose work covers almost every medium of street art; and RabbitSnake, a photographer who also creates sculptural pieces and who just released a book on amazon titled RabbitSnake.

Kaps says that Austin has one of the most vibrant street art scenes in North America. “I’d say Austin, Portland and Seattle are the three spots and those are the most cliché cities, but those are the places where the scene’s cultivating itself,” Kaps says.

RabbitSnake says that street art is art that you physically put on the street. You choose your canvas, you put your art up and you let the street judge it. “Street art is coming from a space of no longer wanting to submit my work,” RabbitSnake says.

Community and collaboration are important aspects of the street art scene. “It’s weird to say that there would be internal rules, because it’s something that’s inherently illegal and something that’s inherently like, ‘There’s no rules!’ But there are,” Kaps says.

Every artist spoke about the importance of respect and how it is important to them, whether it be not going over other artists’ work or avoiding putting pieces up on small businesses.

Salamander says Austinites are fairly receptive to street artists and the work that they do. Many of the artists have amassed a large social media following as more people begin to recognize their work. “There’s like a really cute fan base,” Bort says, “everyone’s been really nice.”

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“The character is meant to be something that’s adaptive,” Bort says. “Since it’s relatively dynamic, it becomes its own thing that can take on the personality that the person attributes, and that’s why phrases will be relatively vague, because the personality you attribute to the phrases can match that.” Most of Bort’s work includes short phrases such as “believe yourself” or “it sucks.”

Bort screen prints some of her character shirts. Bort says that the anonymity of street art allows viewers to create an idealized image. “You’re not attributing a personality,” Bort says. “Until you meet them, they’re like superheroes in the night and then you meet them and you’re like, ‘oh you work at a coffee shop,’ so you’re able to get a cult-like following if they don’t know you.”

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Bort’s latest work is her mock-presidential campaign “Vote Bort” series. “The whole thing’s just going to be me saying all the shitty things Austin does,” Bort says. “Streets are the most uncensored place to do anything, They’re all not eloquent phrasing, they’re just me bluntly presenting something.”

“Wheat pastes are cool,” Bort says. “You can put up a large scale piece that’s relatively detailed pretty quickly.” Wheat pasting is a method of glueing up posters, and experienced artists like Bort can get up large pieces in just a few minutes.

Bort chooses bold placements, like the back of a traffic billboard, but she considers her safety and surroundings before anything.

“I’m still really anxious all the time,” Bort says. ”Now it’s like positive anxiety where it kind of keeps me safe to an extent. I’m comfortable doing this. Like in any form of art you develop your own way of doing things.”

The first 3D work that RabbitSnake put up. “There’s this one pole that’s my energy central pole that I go and often when I work this hood, I’ll stop by it and touch it up,” RabbitSnake says. “I kept putting a picture up there, and people kept taking down the picture. Out of frustration, I brought one of my bunny butts, and I stapled the bunny as though the bunny is diving into the pole. Low and behold that bunny butt stayed.”

RabbitSnake says that most stuffed animals purchased at Sea World, like orcas, end up in a thrift store. He repurposes them to comment against Sea World, as pictured here.“Hopefully people see that I’m against slavery, whether it be a phone pole or a cetacean,” RabbitSnake says.

RabbitSnake photographs a “Vote Donald Trump” toilet seat he’d just placed outside of Jovita’s, a restaurant that was shut down following a drug raid.

The “missing” sign on this poll was added to RabbitSnake’s sculpture by an unknown artist. “[Art] is a collaborative thing, which I encourage,” RabbitSnake says. “Ultimately I’d like to see more people decorate the poles of their neighborhoods.”

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“I think street art carries more of a message, but graffiti can do the exact same thing, and that’s where I kind of fall in this weird gray area between the two”

It’s important to Kaps that he stays anonymous.

“I can have something hanging in a frame and it’s not gonna be seen by half the people that are gonna see something on a daily basis just walking by it,” Kaps says. “If I can catch like a certain rhythm and have my name be known, I just hope my face doesn’t catch up with it.”

Kaps always carries some kind of paint or stickers with him, and here he tags his signature with a squeeze bottle of paint. “When I moved to Austin, this atmosphere cultivates street art a lot better than either of the other places I lived,” Kaps says.

“It propels me to do more.”

Salamander often puts her work up during the day but still considers the importance of staying anonymous. “It’s extended some of my views of morality versus the law,” Salamander says. “I think a little bit of rule breaking here and there can be good for someone, especially if they grew up really straight laced like I did.”

“I stopped using washable marker for everything pretty fast, about the same time I realized glue also wasn’t working. I started using double stick tape and sharpies mostly,” Salamander says. “The double stick tape worked pretty well for a long time.” Her newest salamanders are made on sticker paper with prismacolors.

Salamander says, “I like to do things close to the ground, because they’re little crawly creatures, and I can actually reach the ground. You won’t see much of my stuff on signs because I’m so short. I like putting things at the bottom of poles so it’s poking up and saying ‘Hi!’”

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Unpaid Internships Are They Fair to College Students?

STORY BY HANNAH MCMORRIS

PHOTOS BY CORI BAKER

ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN HICKS

A

student groggily rolls out of bed to get ready for a full day ahead. Walking to her car, she drives 15 minutes away from campus to start her 8 a.m. day at an unpaid internship. However, by 11:30, she has to move on. Praying she’s not late to her next job, she hurries to wait tables during the lunch rush. She changes into her uniform in the car and clocks in another five hours to gain any little bit of income she can. By 5 p.m., she hops into her car to catch two evening classes, and treks back to her apartment for dinner — starting on her homework for the next day. This student is hypothetical, but her schedule is possible for any busy college student.

There is a general consensus that having an internship while in college is essential. Most colleges within the University of Texas at Austin require undergraduate students to complete at least one internship to graduate.

The stereotype of being a “broke college student” rings true for many who on top of attending classes, also take on the responsibility of paying bills, working at a job and gaining professional experience through an internship.

Zach Lozano

Senior, Journalism & International Relations

“An unpaid internship isn’t something that I have the luxury of doing,” journalism junior Alex Samuels says. “My parents are really big on me contributing to my school, whether it’s in the form of rent or paying for groceries or any other necessities that I need, so therefore I need money.” Radio-television-film senior Hannah Laamoumi says “‘unpaid internship’ sounds like an oxymoron to me, because you’re putting so much out for these companies sometimes.” In many part-time positions, students often put in hours of labor in exchange for no financial compensation.

Nonetheless, no one doubts the importance of an internship. Journalism and international relations senior Lozano says that while it is great to do well in school and gain academic training, having an internship “puts you in a real-world environment where you’re using those skills and applying them to situations that help you in the real world.”

Laamoumi echoes this sentiment by telling of a friend who secured an internship in Houston. “I know someone who took on an awesome internship with a huge accounting firm and he hated it,” Laamoumi says. “It’s a good thing for students to take on [internships] in their undergraduate careers, so they can go ahead and say, ‘Not for me. I should do something else.’ It’s experience, but even more so, just figuring out what you want to do.”

The importance of internships has steadily been on the rise. The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that 63 percent of undergraduates from the class of 2015 participated in an internship, which is the highest reported percentage for any university class since the NACE’s first Student Survey in 2007. Edmund Gordon, department chair of the African & African Diaspora Studies (AADS) department and associate professor of AADS and Anthropology, attributes the increased importance of internships to a competitive job market.

“Professional positions in this society are more and more difficult to get. As the competition rises, particularly for what might be considered the high demand professions, the qualifications people have get higher and higher,” Gordon says. “Therefore, there is more demand to show that you are both interested and qualified to get a job, or to occupy a position professionally through internships.”

Often, these high-demand professions have the most desirable internship experiences. Competitive internships are often the ones that do not offer any sort of pay. Samuels says the three major news stations in Austin – KXAN, KVUE and FOX 7 – do not offer paid internships.

“If you’re a broadcast major, you either have to take this unpaid internship, or you can’t intern at a broadcast station,” Samuels says. “So what do you do? Do you just get the experience at school, which is kind of what a lot of students do. Or do you take the internship and not get paid? It’s the lesser of two evils, I guess.”

Additionally, it is hard to find full-time internships that pay. In the summer, when most students have the time to work 35 to 40 hours a week, many have to settle for paid part-time opportunities.“I’m going to make $100 a week but that’s not enough to sustain living in Austin, so during the summer, I’m taking on three part-time internships to make a full-time job,” Samuels says.

"You're actually paying the university for those hours, so if anything, they're cancelling each other" – Hannah Laamoumi However, not all students have the time to take on such a large workload. Others may be attending summer courses, or at the very least, trying to take a break from a hectic school-year. The abundant options for unpaid internships but scarce opportunities for paid positions takes a toll on students, often forcing them to make a choice between future benefits or their basic needs of the present. “I think that every student should be given the chance to have an internship and also get paid while doing it, so they’re not compromising some other crucial function of their lives in order to get that experience,” Lozano says.

Students from low-income backgrounds often do not have the time or money to take on an unpaid internship, no matter how prestigious the company is. A lack of representation of poorer or minority students often results in an absence of class and racial diversity in the workplace. “I would imagine that the same people who are unfairly treated in society are also more unfairly treated by internships than others,” Gordon says. “So women, I would imagine, probably are more unfairly treated. I would also imagine people of color, but I don’t have the data to say whether that’s the case or not.” If such students are not able to take on an internship, Gordon says they will not have the same qualifications as their more wealthy peers once they graduate. “I think they’re disadvantaged in that sense,” he says.

Many organizations that are well funded still choose not to pay their interns. Taking a second to sit in the mind of company leaders, Gordon says “the rationale for not paying students is that they would want to do this work anyway because they need it to be able to gain the experience and also to be able to demonstrate to future potential employers that they had that experience, knowledge and willingness to work.” Though Gordon says that he understands the logic for choosing not to pay interns, “I don’t think that really makes it fair. I think people should be paid for the work that they do.”

Laamoumi, who currently interns at a small company that produces short films and videos, is paid on a perproject basis. Though she says she doesn’t want to make a blanket statement that all companies can afford to pay

their interns, she says, “I work for a very small company, and they don’t even pay themselves very well, and I get paid, and they usually take on about three interns… I think [other companies] could also make more of an effort to.”

The majority of upperclassmen take on an internship to fulfill a graduation requirement. Yet course credit is not enough compensation for everyone. “You’re actually paying the university for those hours, so if anything, they’re cancelling each other out.”

Alex Samuels

Junior, Journalism

Alex stands outside of the UT Energy Institute, where she is currently an intern.

For students who are beginning their internship search, finding paid opportunities takes time but is definitely not impossible. “If a student is really, really wanting or needing a paid internship, don’t give up,” Samuels says.

“There are plenty out there. If you actually do what I did and just kind of take a job that pays you a good amount, but it’s not exactly what you want to do, it’s not the end of the world.”

In the highly competitive job market that college graduates have no choice but to immerse themselves into, having an internship or two listed on one’s resumé can be a deciding factor in landing a future job. Though it is harder for some students to take advantage of the internship arena, it is more than plausible to conquer with extra effort and commitment. When the reality of the situation is that students cannot boycott internships, Gordon says, “if you can’t beat them, you join them.”

37

If Longhorns Controlled the White House

BU ZZ

No blue or red here, only burnt orange. This party runs on the five core values of the University of Texas at Austin. Integrity, honesty, trust, fairness and respect are the pillars that this party vows to uphold. Say goodbye to “E pluribus unum” and say hello to the new national motto, “Just keep livin’.” No more stuffy, black-tie state dinners, this party exclusively hosts heads of foreign nations while tubing down the Potomac River, a breakfast taco in each hand.

STORY BY NATALIE HEINEMAN ILLUSTRATIONS BY SONIA MARGOLIN

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Secretary of Education Tyson is quite possibly the funniest man in astrophysics. He is able to brilliantly take a complicated scientific theory and explain it in a way that the average person can understandit so that the common man understands (or at least laugh ats). America’s education system needs work. Young people today must be instilled with a love of learning and Tyson is the best man for that job.

Matthew McConaughey President of the United States McConaughey has everything the leader of the free world needs: intelligence, charm and determination. His campaign slogan takes “alright, alright, alright” up a notch and says he can make America even “better, better, better.”

Owen Wilson Secretary of Defense We can already just want to hear Wilson’s raspy voice call out, “launch the missiles.” Just like how he crashed weddings receptions in that the movie “Wedding Crashers,” Wilson can crash the computers of terrorist cells. This time, And he can do it without Vince Vaughn by his side.

Wes Anderson Secretary of Interior As a film director, Wes Anderson is no stranger to the outdoors. His indie films often feature flat space, symmetric camera movement and a selected color palette that he uses thato showcases beautiful outdoor nature scenes. Anderson would transform our National Parks into aesthetic masterpieces.

Betty Nguyen Secretary of State Nguyen is no stranger to travel, a quality required of a Secretary of State. As a broadcast journalist, she has interviewed people all over the world, from Myanmar to Zimbabwe.

Nguyen knows how to treat people of all different cultures with respect, and as a journalist, she is already trained on being fair and objective.

Michael Dell Secretary of Health and Human Services Before designing upgrade kits for personal computers, Dell began his undergraduate career on thea premed track. The Dell Medical School, home to UT’s brand new medical education, was partially funded by Dell. This CEO cares deeply about health care, particularly the wellbeing of children.

Jeb Bush Secretary of Veterans Affairs The main role of this job is to ensure veterans have access to quality health care. When Bush ran for President, he said, “As president, reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs will be a top priority.” Just give the poor guy something to do.

Marcia Gay Harden Vice President From playing an emotionallyhardened ER doctor on “Code Black,” to Viola Davis’s suspicious sister-in-law on “How to Get Away with Murder,” Harden proves she could honor uphold the serious prestige of this office. While McConaughey is on the White House lawn tossing a football, Harden would be inside making sure they remember to sign an important international agreement.

Travis Scott Secretary of the Treasury Scott spelled his name “Travi$ Scott” in his early career and we hope he will would continue to use that spelling that during his tenure as Treasury Secretary. Scott will have the lyrics, “I just want dinero” printed on all money to stimulate America’s financial system and encourage a robust consumer economy.

QUIZ

Diana Natalicio In 1988, Natalicio became the first female president of University of Texas at El Paso.

Natalicio took office with the mission to increase UTEP’s Hispanic enrollment and she has done so by a stunning 16 percent.

Robert Cade Robert Cade, a medical professor, was approached by the Florida Gators football coach to create a cure for extreme dehydration.

He invented the sports drink Gatorade.

Jennifer Walden In 2014, Jennifer Walden was named as one of Harper’s Bazaar’s 24 Best Beauty Surgeons.

Walden is one of the few women on the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Board of Directors.

Alan Bean Astronaut Alan Bean guided the second American lunar module, Apollo 12, to land on the moon only four months after Apollo 11. He is the fourth man to walk on the moon.

Angus G. Wynne Wynne, a wealthy real estate investor, developed the theme park Six Flags Over Texas in 1961. This park, constructed in Arlington, It was the first Six Flags theme park ever opened. Wynne would oversee the development and acquisition of new theme parks until his death in 1979.

Elizabeth H. West In 1918, Elizabeth H. West was appointed State Librarian for the state of Texas. West became the first woman ever to head a department of the Texas state government.

How Well Do You Know Austin?

ANSWERS ON BACK

Matthew McConaughey was arrested in Austin while playing bongo drums and dancing naked.

A. Hook ‘em!

B. False, bae wouldn’t do that.

How many bats inhabit Austin during spring and summer?

A. 10,000 B. 500

C. 500,000 D. 750,000

Which star owns a home in Austin?

A. Sandra Bullock B. Elijah Wood C. Robert Plant (from Led Zeppelin) D. All of the above

Austin is wildly known for its A. Outdoor oases B. Live music venues

C. Vegan food options D. Dog parks

What was the city of Austin’s original name?

A. Driskill B. Bevo

C. Waterloo D. Tillotson

Which of these Austin city laws are still active?

A. One cannot carry wire cutters in their pocket B. Women are legally allowed to be topless C. Smelling glue or paint is a legal offense D. All of the above

Moulay Abdallah ben Ali Alaoui Moulay Abdallah ben Ali Alaoui is a prince in the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling family of Morocco. He is CEO of the Mediholding, an energy company with ventures in Texas.

A homeless cross dresser has run for city mayor three times.

María de Lourdes Dieck-Assad Dieck-Assad is a Mexican economist and former ambassador for Mexico to the European Union from 2004-2007. For her excellent service to the E.U., Belgium awarded her the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown.

Where is the highest point in Austin?

Nikki Stringfield Stringfield, known by her stage name “Mega Murray,” is a guitarist for the world’s only allfemale Iron Maiden tribute band, Iron Maidens.

Cowboy Troy Born Troy Lee Coleman III, Cowboy Troy combines two genres of music to call himself a “country rapper.” He has charted Billboard twice and even wrote a song in 2006 commemorating his alma mater’s football national championship.

A. Keep Austin Weird, amirite?

B. False, we’re not that weird.

A. The Austonian B. Mount Bonnell

C. The UT Tower D. 360 Bridge Overlook

Which of these companies started in Austin?

A. CLIF Bar B. Lululemon

C. Schlotzsky’s D. Gibson Guitars

Which of these events takes place in Austin?

A. Annual Pun-Off World Championships B. Imitation Nutella Taste Test C. Beta Fish Exchange D. Naked Run for the Cure

STORY BY JULIE GOMEZ ILLUSTRATIONS BY RYAN HICKS

ustin’s oldest craft brewery, Live Oak Brewing, opened its doors in 1997, but it wasn’t until the last decade that the city’s craft brewery scene exploded. Almost a dozen breweries have opened in Austin in the last 10 years. As smaller breweries expand they add on tap rooms, usually attached to the warehouse where the companies brew their beers, to allow customers to taste the freshest brews available. The breweries also give patrons the chance to try new recipes before they ship the beer to stores and restaurants. Best of all, because there are no shipment or resale costs, it’s the cheapest way for a broke 21-year-old to enjoy good beer. Here are a few of the best tap rooms in Austin.

Independence Brewing

ATX

$10 for a souvenir glass 3 pours on the first Sat of each month.

Open Thurs/Fri 4-10 Sat 1-10 Sun 2-8 South Austin

Independence Brewing is one of Austin’s oldest craft beer companies, and it’s only been around since 2004.

The brewery offers tours at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. There is not a big announcement when the tour begins or obvious signage, so we recommend waiting in front of the entrance to the brewery 10 minutes before each tour to be sure you don’t miss it.

Independence Brewing is constantly trying new recipes that are only made available to visitors in its tap room. The brewery will create a new beer recipe and try it out on the tap room patrons. If there is enough demand, the brewery will consider bottling it and shipping it out. Right now, for example, the tap room serves a $10 pint of Bourbon Barrel Stout, which is aged in Jack Daniels bourbon barrels. The sweet whiskey cuts the stout like butter. Since the Bourbon Barrel stout takes so long to brew, Independence Brewery will not be shipping it, so the only way to sip this sweet, buttery beer is at the tap room.

Black Star Co-op calls itself the world’s first co-operatively owned brewery. This Prices Vary means that the employOpen Mon 4-11 Tues-Thurs 11-11 ees and patrons who buy a Fri/Sat 11-midnight, Sun 11 -11 membership are part ownNorth-Central Austin ers of the company. Member-owners are given shares of the Black Star Co-op and have voting power on business decisions.

Austin Beerworks is located in the warehouse district north of 183 on $10 for 3 pints Lamar Boulevard. Like Open Thurs 5-9 Fri 5-11 Sat/Sun 1-7 most warehouses disNorth Austin tricts, it’s a bit hard to differentiate Austin Beerworks from the other 20 warehouses around. There’s not a lot of signage, so look for the Coca-Cola warehouse, then follow all the cars and noise to the beer.

Unfortunately, Black Star Co-op doesn’t offer tours of their brewery. It’s much more of a sit-down establishment than the warehouse feel of other traditional breweries. The upside is that their hours are much more accommodating. Black Star Co-Op is open every day. The brewery also has a full kitchen with all the quintessential pub food, from burgers to fried pickles. Meal prices average about $12.

For $10, you can get a souvenir glass and three chips to exchange for refills. If you think three pints is a little bit too much for day drinking, Austin Beerworks is the best brewery for your buck. The chips can be redeemed all at once, or you can come back another day.

Black Star Co-Op

Right now, the brewery has six original brews on tap. Vulcan IPA is a blend of citrusy hops and Rye that tastes crisp and light, and made the top four in the Austin’s Favorite IPA contest. Black Star Co-op also has an award-winning porter, the Recalcitrant Dockhand, which won in the Robust Porter category at The Great American Beer Festival in Denver last year.

Correct Answers: 1. A, 2. D, 3. D, 4. B, 5. C, 6. D, 7. A, 8. B, 9. C, 10. A

AUSTIN BEERWORKS

Visitors are greeted with a giant wall of beers, large silver wheat silos and a spacious opening leading to the bar. The seating, mostly picnic benches, is limited. Early 2000s Britney Spears and NSYNC blasting over the speakers makes the whole experience feel like a nostalgic party.

One of Austin Beerworks signature brews, the Pearl Snap, is a German-style Pilsner with 5.7 percent ABV. It’s tart, like a Jolly Rancher or unsweetened Kool-Aid, but refreshing. If you don’t love sour beers, try the Sputnik, a Russian Imperial Coffee Oatmeal Stout with 8 percent ABV. The oatmeal in the stout reduces the acidity that’s pretty common in stouts, and the addition of coffee to the oatmeal makes it a perfect day-drinking beer.

Through the Lens:

Spring ‘16 Shows

SUMMER SALT PHOTO BY KRISTIN EVANS

41

KENDRICK LAMAR PHOTOS BY ALEJANDRA MARTINEZ

ROBERT SCHWARTZMAN OF ROONEY COLIN JENKINS OF HIKES PHOTOS BY TESS CAGLE

TIGERTOWN & ALL DOGS PHOTOS BY CORI BAKER & TESS CAGLE

MOTHER SIP & SHAPRECE PHOTOS BY TESS CAGLE

Ruby and the Reckless perform at West Campus Block Party inside the 21st Street Co-op.

five one tunes

ruby and the reckless. by tess cagle

It’s 10 p.m. at the West Campus Block Party, and the crowd at the 21st Street Co-op is looking a little sparse as the final band of the evening, Ruby and the Reckless, finishes up their soundcheck. Frontwoman Ruby Jane Smith states her requests confidently during the soundcheck — this clearly isn’t her first rodeo, and she knows what she wants.

Once they wrap up their sound check and dive into their set, the room instantly rumbles with loud, funky rock music. Smith pulls out the driving force to their sound — her fiddle — and begins to shred. It only takes about one full song before the co-op is brimming with watchers.

Some are staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the technical virtuosity happening onstage, while others dance and sway along to the beat.

Ruby and the Reckless are a psychedelic indie rock band with a jazzfunk overtone, driven by Smith’s trademark fiddle. The members are all veterans of the Austin music scene, which is impressive considering none of them are over the age of 30. In fact, Smith is only 21 years old, yet she’s been pursuing her dream for 14 years, while bassist Austin Simmons has been pursuing his for 13. Each member of the band boasts a long list of prior projects and experiences, but collectively agrees that this particular project is the one they plan to follow through with all the way.

The band can at least partially attribute their skill to the fact that they’ve been doing this since they were babies. Smith picked up her first violin when she was 2 years old. “It’s something I’ve done since a very early age,” she says. “I was homeschooled and never went to a regular school.

It was always about music for me.”

Smith started with the classics, but at 8 years old she began entering fiddle contests around her Mississippi hometown. She’s studied under the best — most notably, Mark O’Connor, an American fiddler who’s won two Grammys and was named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association six years in row. At 9 years old, Smith became the youngest fiddler to play at the Grand Ole Opry, the legendary Tennessee stage, and earned the title “fiddle prodigy.” Smith thinks it’s a generous term and is hesitant to adopt it for herself. “I’m just passionate about music,” she says.

Still, the proof is in the sound, and it’s hard to call Smith anything but a prodigy after hearing her shred wah-drenched solos faster than most guitarists could ever dream. When Smith moved to Austin at age 13, she was quickly scouted by several Texas country icons, including Asleep at the Wheel and Willie Nelson. Nelson ended up bringing Smith on the road as his tour opener. Since then, Smith has toured with ZZ Top,

47

Sheryl Crow, Drake Bell, Local Natives and more, as well as

that led him to the realization that music is his chosen

playing at Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Music Festival

path. He grew up within walking distance from Nelson’s

with the Reckless.

road manager’s music venue in Spicewood, and worked as a stagehand at Wille World. “You have all these old Western

Until recently, the band performed simply as “Ruby Jane,”

heroes who all played out there — all of Willie’s crew played

reflecting Smith’s previous solo endeavors. They cycled

out there — and there was this dude named B.B. Morse who

through several members before finally curating the perfect

played with Willie and was one of those old bass players. He

lineup.

That’s not an exaggeration. Smith and Simmons

would always let me get up onstage and teach me how to

scouted each member until they had fleshed out the band

play old country hits,” Simmons reminisces.”It was moments

to their liking, at which point they decided it was time for a

like that, these moments that build up over time, and you

name change. “When the five of us got together, it became

find that that’s where the happiness is.”

more of a unit,” Smith says. “Everybody had different input with the arrangements, so it basically became more to the

Ruby and the Reckless has a packed calendar through the

point where it wasn’t just about me anymore. It was about

end of the year. They plan to release several singles and

everybody and the band working together. So that’s when

music videos throughout July and August, leading up to the

we decided to change over to Ruby and the Reckless, which

release of their debut album, tentatively scheduled for Sept.

is what we’re morphing into now.”

23. Smith and Simmons, the band’s two key songwriters, say they’re taking their time with the album. “We were going

It should go without saying that anybody fit to support

to do it this summer, but as Ruby and I have continually

Smith better have an impressive resume. Drummer Chris

written for this project, it’s continually morphed and grown,”

Copeland previously played with award-winning band the

Simmons says. “We’ve been finding the right songs, finding

Blues Mafia, which featured other talented Austinites like

the right vibe for who we are as a band. We feel that a lot

Max Frost. Guitarist and backup vocalist Miggy Milla joined

of bands in the city rush to get work out — they just want to

the band upon completing his degree in vocal performance

record, record, record and put something out to get famous.

at the Berkeley School of Music in Boston. Simmons has the

We’ve all put out our fair share of albums from multiple

deepest Austin roots. He grew up hanging out at Willie World

bands, so we’re all taking the approach to pick the perfect

and the original Backyard, Nelson’s venue. Keyboardist Sam

songs to get that perfect sound.”

Powell is veteran of the Austin music scene as well. As the oldest member of the group, he’ll also soon be the first to

After the album release, the band plans to hit the road for

leave, and the band is on the hunt for a replacement.

two months. It’s a rigorous schedule, and not everybody is cut out for this lifestyle, but Ruby and the Reckless believe

As the band grows more comfortable with its new identity,

they have the experience and frame of mind to go the

Smith and Simmons have no doubt that this is the right

distance with this project. “It seems like we’re young, but

path for them. They’ve both had defining moments that

this is something we’ve been pursuing for a long time,” Smith

solidified their passion for music. For Smith, it was her first

says.

live performance at age 7, when bluegrass artist Rhonda Vincent passed through Mississippi and invited her onstage

Simmons agrees, and adds that he can’t imagine a future for

to play to a sold-out crowd. Smith remembers the moment

himself without music in it. “Playing music was somewhere

vividly. “I looked up from playing for the first time, and right

where everything in the world was okay. And it still is,” he

at that moment, the spotlight came down and hit me and

says. “Onstage, when you’re in the middle of a great song

the audience started clapping and going crazy. That’s when I

and the crowd’s feeling it — oh, it’s heaven. It’s the best

knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life,” Smith says.

feeling. All the endorphins are hitting you. That is the reason — it’s the endorphins, the emotion, that pure, raw feeling.”

Simmons, on the other hand, has had a series of moments

Ruby Jane Smith, fiddlest and lead vocalist.

Austin Simmons plays bass guitar.

Sam Powell plays keyboard.

SHUT DOWN THE SOUND West Campus music ordinance proves combative for Story BY Kaitlin Reid and Amy Fennie live music events.

Photos by Tess Cagle For students at the University of Texas at Austin, West Campus is more than a place to rent an apartment: it’s a way of life. For years, fraternities and sororities have welcomed A-list rappers and up-and-coming bands to West Campus as part of their Round Up festivities, while co-ops have packed their own humble rooms with the city’s hottest local acts. But for the past two years, residents have struggled to deal with the West Campus Music Ordinance, which threatens the future of live music in one part of the “Live Music Capital of the World.”

West Campus residents have grown increasingly frustrated with the strict enforcement of the ordinance since its implementation in the fall of 2016. The ordinance prohibits outdoor music within 100 feet of residential areas, limits volume to 75 decibels and forbids any sort of amplified music after 10 p.m. As a result, the West Campus music scene has struggled to accommodate these regulations while still trying to preserve Austin’s cherished live music identity.

50

Many students, such as Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity president J.D. Swancoat, think these restrictions are inappropriate for West Campus, considering the area is home to predominantly college students. “I think 75 decibels is probably a little bit low, especially for a college area, and the ‘10:30 p.m.’ thing is a little early,” he says. “But at the end of the day, the police and fire department are just doing their jobs. I think the ball is in the court of the city and the city council, and not the police and the fire department.”

Jake Hiebert, co-founder of West Campus Block Party and drummer in local band TOMA, takes a harder stance on the issue, suggesting noncollegiate West Campus residents move elsewhere if they have a problem with the noise. “I think it is a little ridiculous for people to think that parties around a giant school like UT are going to stop, or get stopped,” he says. “I understand that people living in the West Campus area want some peace and quiet—so move to Bastrop.”

At French House Co-op, a crowd forms around a main stage where local band, Red One Blue Two, is performing.

Planning a live music event in West Campus requires a lot more than booking bands and buying some red Solo cups. In addition to the ordinance, event organizers have to grapple with capacity restrictions, underage drinking and other general security concerns. As a result, these events become logistical nightmares, with many concerts being shut down before a performer even steps onstage.

Every year Round Up, a longstanding UT tradition where Greek organizations host events with live music, goes through these processes and setbacks.

Previous Round Up events have featured prominent artists such as Migos, Cherub and Travis Porter. But the West Campus ordinances jeopardize the future of such events.

ORANGE’s anonymous survey of 172 UT students across 50 organizations reflected dissatisfaction with this year’s Round Up experience. Many respondents blamed the Austin Fire Department and the Austin Police Department for “having no chill” and for prematurely shutting down events.

During Round Up, many fraternities hire security to enforce capacity standards and underage drinking restrictions. They also obtain the necessary permits to host the events and invest more than $20,000 in production and performers. So, unsurprisingly, many students find it irritating that one small misstep can shut down an entire event—often before the artist performs.

“When I was a freshman four years ago, [Round Up] was about walking around and seeing artists at different places and meeting new people,” reflected one anonymous survey respondent. “Now it's just a fight to get into one place with the hope that maybe it won't get shut down.”

Although many think of Round Up as a giant, drunken frat party, some students attend solely for the live music experience and not the party atmosphere. “There are still students like myself who are genuinely excited for the unique opportunity to see huge acts for free,” one UT

sorority member said. “For me, Round Up isn’t about partying. It’s about getting the chance to see great live music in my own backyard. Like, where else does that happen?”

This ordinance affects more than just the Greek community. Zia Garcia, social coordinator for the Pearl Street Co-op, also expresses frustration surrounding the ordinance and explains how it affects the vibrant co-op music scene in West Campus. “I understand why it is in effect, but it does hinder some of the events we have,” she says.

“Pearl used to have way more outdoor shows, and then we just had to move them all inside.”

Cody Crites, director of the Pearl Street Co-op, also points out that the city makes a lot of money off these regulations. “These live music events are a big part of the culture of West Campus, and of Austin,” he says. “It's basically turned legitimate events into illegal activity that the city can fine these establishments for.”

UT Student Government president Kevin Helgren suggests a conversation needs to happen between UT students, West Campus residents and Austin City Council in order to reach a solution that pleases all parties. He wants the UT student body to recognize him as their voice, which is especially important during a reelection year for City Council representatives. “Just so the student body is aware, Binna and I are in their corner,” he says. “If we get the sense that the overwhelming majority of the student body says, ‘Hey, this noise ordinance is problematic and we want people to advocate for us,’ then we will be those people to advocate for them.”

Without an advocate, West Campus residents will continue to struggle to partake in Austin’s live music culture while also satisfying the ordinance.

It certainly won’t be the end of West Campus, and it probably won’t be the end of parties or other events there. Still, many students agree that some neighborhoods just aren’t the same when they’re quiet.

51

K E E P

B Y

AU ST I N

A M A N D A

G E N R E S

P I N N E Y

Music genres allow bands to establish an identity. It’s

lot of time while he's playing the drums. He's magic, like

one of the simplest ways to place themselves in a uni-

a spider.” Between the three of them, this “magic spider”

versal category that tells the world what to expect from

band makes a substantial sound, and they’ll celebrate the

their sound. But as artists constantly strive to distinguish

release of their new EP, “Primordia Soup,” at Cheer Up

themselves from their peers, they blur the lines between

Charlies on May 13.

genres to the point that labels such as pop, rock, hip-hop, electronic and R&B all but lose their meaning. Now, bands have much more to work with when it comes to establish-

SIP SIP

ing an identity, and they can still use a genre to “brand”

G E N R E : E L E C T R O - G R O OV E / N E O - S O U L / D A N C E /

themselves. While some bands string a bunch of pointless

SYNTH POP/HIP-HOP/POST-DISCO

adjectives together in a desperate attempt to boost their

A night with SIP SIP is a night spent dancing — and a night

hip factor, others actually break new ground and create

spent marveling at how many people are making music

something refreshing and unique. These are just a few of

onstage at once. The 17-member supergroup boasts a

the Austin bands who make their weird genres work for

broad array of sounds all happening at once, from brass

them.

to synthesizers. “The genre may not stay consistent from song to song, but our sound is usually defined by near

INT E R R O BANG B R A S S

constant drums, funk bass, jazz horns, pop and hip-hop

GENRE: NEO-BRASS/BRASSIFIED POP

vocals, spacey synths with retro elements, rock guitar and

This eclectic eight-piece band puts a new spin on tradi-

a lot of crowd participation,” says Jack Anderson, one of

tional jazz by incorporating elements of hip-hop, funk and

multiple trumpeteers. As if the band’s all-encompassing

soul into their sound, with arrangements and composi-

sound weren’t enough, at least half of the members pro-

tions that feature progressive chord changes and heavy

duce solo music. “Aside from the addition of one person,

syncopation. Sousaphone player Mason Hankamer says a

SIP SIP could fill out a whole night's bill with minimal

progressive genre like neo-brass seemed the most fitting

breakdown between sets,” Anderson says. Unlikely though

for the band. “We've been calling ourselves ‘neo-brass’

it may seem, SIP SIP successfully blends all of these

because brass band music is usually very rooted in the

genres, combining the traditional and the modern in an

New Orleans tradition, and we're doing our best to venture

explosion of sound that can only be described as a party

outside of that,” he says. “Our style is heavily influenced

onstage. SIP SIP performs at various Austin venues.

by neo-soul and modal jazz.” Despite the technical demands of these genres, Interrobang Brass can still pull off

SU MME R SA LT

a Beyonce or Outkast cover, and they know how to keep

GENRE: CORAL REEF ROCK/TROPICAL OLDIES/SURF

a crowd dancing. The band performs regularly at venues

POP/CHLORINE ROCK/DOO-WOP

in downtown Austin, with usual spots including Swan Dive

It would normally be difficult to describe “coral reef and

and Banger’s Sausage House and Beer Garden.

chlorine rock,” but Summer Salt effectively harnesses its sound to create a soothing beach bum/poolside vibe. The

M I G R ANT KI DS

band describes it as an “oldies, bossa nova sound that

GENRE: PSYCH JUNGLE ROCK

feels like a relaxing day at the beach, pool or river,” with

Normally, using the word “jungle” to describe a sound

soft vocals and airy guitar melodies evoking the sounds of

would be a stretch, but there’s something careless and pri-

the shoreline. The trio has been playing together for years

mal about Migrant Kids’ synth-driven melodies. The vocals

and grown comfortable enough to “feel the vibe” of one

are breezy but spirited, and when combined with the spac-

another. The band named its 2015 EP “Driving to Hawaii,”

ey jungle sound, the songs take on an erratic, psychedelic

which should eliminate any lingering confusion among

quality. The three-piece band describes its newest sound

curious listeners about its sound. Summer Salt plays

as a mix of Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson,

plenty of house shows, events and parties in Austin, and

falling somewhere between psych-pop and soft rock. “Our

they’re currently on tour, taking their chill sounds to the

drummer is super heavy into beats that make you move,

East Coast.

and he tends to go wild at shows,” singer/guitarist Miguel Ojeda says of Bryan O’Flynn. “He plays synths and bass a

53

Local Student Bands Dryspell

The University of Texas at Austin: where the person sitting next to you in astronomy by day can be found performing onstage at Cheer Up Charlies by night. In celebration of these collegiate musicians, ORANGE talked to some of our favorite local student bands to see how they manage working in both spheres. From playing weekly shows to recording their own albums, these Longhorns are finding ways to express themselves musically as they trek toward graduation.

The boys of dryspell try to keep the classic rock ‘n’ roll sound alive in Austin. The group is made up of UT accounting junior Hunter Thompson on guitar and vocals, UT Plan II senior Sam Jacobson on bass, Texas State student Chad Doriocourt on guitar and UT graduate Hugh Vu on drums. dryspell is currently recording their first fulllength album, which they’ll release by the end of the summer through Merdurhaus Records. You can listen to their tape from a recent winter tour on Bandcamp.

R.C. CAT Short for “remote control cat,” this dance-pop group started as a collaboration between UT Plan II junior Connor McCampbell and computer science junior Julio Correa. Last year, radio-televisionfilm sophomore Aaron Chavez and music technology junior Mitch Webb joined the cat-centric project, leading to the release of their self-titled debut album. Their funky tunes are clearly accompanied by eccentric personalities.

TOMA Local indie rockers TØMA formed in 2014. The four-piece has since been serving up its signature mix of soul and psychedelic rock to local crowds at events like the West Campus Block Party. The band includes bassist UT Plan II senior Neil Byers, bassist; UT Plan II senior Jake Hiebert on drums; UT graduate Waldo Wittenmeyer on piano and vocals; and Austin Community College student Willy Jay on guitar and vocals. You can find their their self-titled EP online.

Answers by Hiebert.

SMILE BUNCH Self-described party punk band the Smile Bunch, made up of four current UT students, have been playing together for a little under a year. Guitarist and vocalist Logan Burroughs studies music business, guitarist and vocalist Kyle Anderson studies finance, bassist Axel Alarcon studies radio-television-film and drummer Matt McDermott studies mechanical engineering. The group recently released their debut EP “The Politics of Lowered Expectations.”

RISKY MOTION Dynamic duo Risky Motion met while living at Pearl Street Co-op.

UT international relations junior Hasanthi Seth plays drums and UT graduate David Roseboom provides vocals, bass, guitar and synth.

The group cites diverse influences for their upbeat tracks, including metal, blues and electronic music. You can listen to their most recent song, “My Foaming Mouth,” on Soundcloud.

What is your most memorable tour experience?

Hunter: My friend BJ ate a dollar bill, and it got lodged in his colon. We had to take him to the hospital in some small town in Kentucky. It was a very painful experience for him, but still memorable.

What album can you not stop listening to right now?

Thompson: “Thirds” by James Gang. My favorite track is “Midnight Man.” Doriocourt: “But Seriously, Folks...” by Joe Walsh. We really like Joe Walsh.

What’s your favorite city?

Thompson: New Orleans is probably the most fun city to hang in. Lots of beautiful buildings and houses to walk around and see. Food’s kinda expensive there, which is a bummer. Like $9 for a po’ boy. You gotta be kiddin’ me!

What food best describes your band?

Thompson: Some Italian, Latin, Asian and vegetable fusion dish. That hits all the different palates in of our band. Can you guess who’s who?

What’s the most memorable thing to ever happen on tour?

McCampbell: One time we toured through Houston and stopped at the Museum of Fine Arts while we were there. Julio put a museum sticker on guitar so he didn’t look like the Philistine he really is.

Chavez: One of the most memorable shows for me was the show we played with the Mardy Bums at Spiderhouse. During the first song I jumped off stage to dance with the cutest girl I could find. I remember thinking, “Hey, well this is nice.” Then I jumped back on stage afterward and avoided eye contact.

When and where was your first kiss?

McCampbell: My first kiss was on a pier in Corpus Christi. I caught a big fish, and my grandfather made me kiss it. I was 5.

Chavez: In a little movie theater while the animated feature film “Monsters vs. Aliens” played on the big screen.

What was your favorite song in middle school?

McCampbell: In middle school I loved to listen to “The Chicken Dance.” I would dance and dance, hoping to one day turn into a chicken myself. Time went on, and I never did turn into a chicken. Last year, I finally let that dream die and started to take R.C. CAT more seriously.

Chavez: My favorite song in middle school was definitely the song that played when the ice cream man would drive by my neighborhood. Hearing that song meant I was about to eat some ice cream yummies. On several occasions, I chased the ice cream truck several blocks to order myself a sweet summer snack from a stranger’s yard.

What’s your most treasured article of clothing?

My most treasured article of clothing is no doubt my No Doubt shirt. Gwen 2016. Waldo (keyboard player) loves floral patterns.

He has a continuous bulk order of floral curtains from China that he hems into shirts before every show.

What plant is your band most similar to?

I’d say we’re like a venus fly trap. Seemingly harmless at first, so you are lured into a false sense of security. “Oh, these TØMA guys seem alright. I guess I’ll go see them play.” Then, all of a sudden, we’re eating you.

What album can you not stop listening to right now?

“Astro Lounge” by Smash Mouth. We have a new album coming out, and I am proud to say it is heavily influenced by this piece of work.

What series/book have your read/seen multiple times?

Well, Harry Potter, duh. I’m pretty sure Waldo reads a lot of Dr. Seuss. I’m not 100 percent sure that Neil can read. Willy enjoys encyclopedia entries. As a band, we’re pretty deep in the “Lord of the Rings” game. We warm up with the LOTR theme song most practices and shows. We’re actually going to start incorporating that into our set, right before we eat you.

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SMILE BUNCH What album can you not stop listening to right now?

Burroughs: “Blistered” by Woozy. I saw them at the Merdurhaus Records show at Pearl Street Co-op during SXSW, and they blew me away. They ended up being one of my favorite performances of the whole week.

Alarcon: “Little Neon Limelight” by Houndmouth.

Anderson: Chon’s “Grow.” I have always been a fan of really awesome instrumental music, but this album has really changed the way that I think about instrumentation and what it means to be an incredible musician.

McDermott: “Wasting Light” by Foo Fighters.

What’s your most treasured article of clothing?

Burroughs: My all-black classic Vans. They're all I've worn for several years now, but I have to get new ones every six months or so.

Anderson: I think my Bernie Sanders hoodie is pretty dope. Feel the Bern!

McDermott: It would definitely be the Muse shirt I got while they were on tour for “The Resistance.” That was the first time I went to see a band that I like without my parents.

What was your favorite toy when you were little?

Burroughs: Buzz Lightyear action figure, for sure.

Alarcon: It’s funny that Logan says his favorite is a Buzz action figure, because my favorite is definitely my old Woody. I wrote my name on the bottom of his boot and everything. I stopped playing with it after overusing the string on his back, making the voice box get slow, deep and just creepy.

McDermott: When I was very little I had a toy cassette player that came with a microphone for recording your own tapes. I used to listen to music on there and record over other tapes.

RISKY MOTION What was your favorite toy when you were little?

Seth: Do you remember those Hit Clips? I used to wear it around all the time feeling super freakin’ cool, listening to 30-second clips of Shaggy over and over again.

Roseboom: Definitely Legos. I built mostly spaceships with big lasers on them. My mom thought they were super cool. I trust her judgment.

What was your worst vacation?

Seth: My worst vacation was the road trip I took with my grandparents. We drove through the Dakotas all the way from Colorado with the same ABBA CD playing on repeat and an awful smell in the car because rodents had gotten under the hood and decided to die there. Logistically it was the worst vacation, but I’m glad I got to experience something hilarious and special like that with my grandfather before he passed.

Roseboom: That time I drank ayahuasca.

What food best describes your band?

Seth: Habanero peppers, because we spice up the sweet stuff and bring a different flavor. That reminds me of the time David ate a whole one right before our photoshoot so he could make himself cry and look more intense for the pictures.

orange music roundup

Most of the world readily acknowledges Austin as a cultural hotbed and epicenter for live music — but it wasn’t always that way. Forty years ago, the Texas capital was a humble town trying to establish its own identity and sense of purpose. As the city swelled in population and reputation and more musicians became aware of its potential, the number of landmark musical moments increased. In 1991, city leaders deemed Austin the “Live Music Capital of the World,” and it’s a title that residents hold dear. Plenty of moments in the city’s history led to that designation, and plenty of moments have helped maintain it since then. It wasn’t just a nickname given — it was a nickname earned.

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Rachel Rascoe The Dixie Chicks at the Frank Erwin, May 21, 2003 I don’t consider myself a country fan, but I absolutely love the Dixie Chicks. One of my first CDs was their “Top of the World Tour: Live” album, and one of the tour dates was at the Frank Erwin Center. At the time, the band was under fire for singer Natalie Maines’ criticism of George Bush’s plans for the war in Iraq at an earlier London show. Maines said she was “ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” Fans burned the group’s CDs and essentially banished them from the realm of mainstream country music. Fellow country singer Toby Keith screened a photoshopped image of Maines and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein embracing at his live shows. Predictably, Maines didn’t take that silently. During one of the band’s songs from the Erwin Center gig that was broadcast live on the Academy of Country Music Awards, she wore a homemade bedazzled shirt reading “F.U.T.K.,” eliminating any mystery about her feelings toward Keith.

ignacio martinez The Huns at Rauls, September 19, 1978 In some twisted way, Sept. 19, 1978 signified the true beginning of the Austin punk scene. Hoping to appeal to the niche audience of punk fans who attended the University of Texas, the Huns scheduled a show at Raul’s, a Tejano dive bar located on 26th and Guadalupe. During their set, beat cop Steve Bridgewater walked into the venue and was immediately accosted by Huns frontman Phil Tolstead as he shouted at the officer, “Eat death, scum!” When Bridgewater took to the stage to arrest Tolstead for obscenity, Tolstead managed to land a kiss directly on the officer’s lips. What followed could only be described as absolute pandemonium, as the audience was overcome with frenzy and immortalized the Raul’s Riot of Sept. 19, 1978. Only six attendees of the show were arrested, but the publicity Raul’s received from that night allowed it to thrive as a hub for the budding Austin punk scene.

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02

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kristin evans The Survival of Jeremiah the Innocent It’s hard to picture Austin without the “Hi, How Are You” mural that sits at Guadalupe and 21st, but it turns out many people don’t know the origins of this masterpiece. In 1983, Austin musician Daniel Johnston released the album “Hi, How Are You,” with the now-iconic frog art. In 1993, the Sound Exchange record store commissioned Johnston to paint a mural. However, in 2004, when Baja Fresh moved into the space, they prepared to tear the wall down to replace it with windows. The community of Austin rallied to save the mural from being torn down, and it has endured as an emblem of the “Keep Austin Weird” mentality. The mural has been tagged on on a few occasions, but it’s always restored to its former glory.

tess cagle Gloriathon at Liberty Lunch, 1999

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In 1999, Austin saw yet another “end of an era” when the iconic music venue Liberty Lunch closed its doors.

Every scene and generation has felt the blow of a beloved venue closing — from Vulcan Gas Company in 1970 to Holy Mountain last year — but Liberty Lunch’s final hours will go down as one of the best send-offs in history.

Texas Monthly writer Michael Hall gathered his band, the Brooders, and countless other local musicians to play Van Morrison’s garage rock anthem “Gloria” for 24 hours straight inside the venue on its final day. The story goes that Hall kicked off the night at 9 p.m., and musicians from every corner of the city showed up to keep the music going until 9 p.m. the following evening. Morrison himself even phoned in to play along at one point.

You’d be hard-pressed to find another moment in Austin music history that symbolizes this city’s rich scene and close-knit community as well as the Gloriathon on the last night of Liberty Lunch.

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jennifer vannoy The Rolling Stones at Zilker Park, Oct. 22, 2006 Austin finally got its satisfaction in 2006 when the Rolling Stones played at Zilker Park to more than just the 42,000 fans who paid to see them. Hundreds of people lined the sides of Barton Springs Road to catch a glimpse or even a stray note of the band’s set, and fans could hear them playing all the way to Ben White Boulevard and Loop 360. This was the Stones’ first visit to the “Live Music Capital of the World,” and as a salute to the city, they played Waylon Jennings’ “Bob Wills Is Still the King.” The concert raked in $4 million in ticket sales, setting a record for the highest-grossing single-day musical event in Austin. Sometimes, you can get what you want.

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QUEEN OF HER CO-OP Q&A

WITH

ZIA GARZA

BY RACHEL RASCOE

Zia Garza, the woman behind every SXSW show, massive dance party and local showcase at Pearl Street Co-op. As the social coordinator for Pearl Street, the large West Campus cooperative house known for its patio, pool and parties, Garza spoon-feeds good music to the UT student crowd by bringing it to their own backyard. Garza, a sociology junior at UT, coordinates about four parties a month, some of which are closed to Pearl residents only and others reaching up to 400 attendees. She also helps plan the co-op-hosted West Campus Block Party, now in its second year. Her Pearl Street SXSW shows have included California label Burger Records and performances by the likes of Hinds, the Parrots and Methyl Ethel.

MEET

What are the necessary ingredients to a successful co-op party?

Cool decorations, minimal fights or breakage and a good lineup. I like spending a lot of time researching bands and making sure I like them and that they’d do well here. A bunch of bands will contact me with ideas for a show that I just know won’t work out. So the shows that I do throw, I usually have a good feeling about them.

How do your events reflect your personality?

I'm interested in pursuing a career in the music industry, so I'm more interested in throwing shows than EDM dance parties — but I do try to have a good balance of everything for Pearl residents. Booking shows here can be a tricky thing because there’s a lot of people that I have to please.

Do you have any memorable experiences with bigger bands staying at Pearl?

One of the girls from Hinds used my shower and I took shots with them. Another time, after the Merdurhaus Records show last year, the party was way over and I went downstairs to get water and Pierce and Joe (from Walter TV) were playing the piano and singing in the TV room. Alex G stayed here for the whole week of SXSW last year. They would go play shows and come back to play pool.

Who are some of your favorite local bands you’ve had at Pearl?

Summer Salt, CAPYAC, Rotten Mangos, Total Unicorn

How do you think the co-ops influence the UT party scene?

Co-ops give the scene balance from the fratty, sorority parties that are less fun. I think [coop parties] are important to a lot of people who like partying in big spaces, but only have their little apartments.

What do you wish people knew before coming to a co-op party?

We allow a bunch of strangers to come party at our house, and then we clean up after them. People actually live at these co-ops, so don't be the asshole that makes us hate having open parties.

What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened at one of your parties?

In the public bathroom, there used to be a wall up to the ceiling. During one show, someone just knocked it all down and all these cinderblocks were on the floor. Stuff like that, and tagging and getting into fights.

What do you hope for people to get out of parties at Pearl Street?

The people who live here get to experience this really great place all the time and do whatever we want all the time, but not everyone gets that college experience. Throwing parties and allowing random people to come gives them that little taste of Pearl. Pearl has had this huge affect on me as a person. I guess I want everyone to feel that.

Bilingual and Beyond Translating Culture into Knowledge

STORY BY ZOYA ZIA ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN HICKS

From Turkey, With Love Laura Nagy, Linguistics and Radio-Television-FIlm Freshman Nagy had an early start at becoming bilingual. She took eight years of French from middle school to high school and considers herself fairly proficient. “By the end of my senior year, I felt very comfortable speaking, reading and writing,” Nagy says. “It was a good learning process.”

After visiting Turkey over summer, she was intrigued by the country and decided to learn Turkish. “The first day was terrifying because the way my professor teaches is by speaking primarily in Turkish,” Nagy says. “It was kind of overwhelming for the first month or so without vocabulary, but it forced me to get going and study.”

Nagy says this semester is easier than last semester. “We’re supposed to be considered proficient by the university after this second semester, so it’s crazy fast,” Nagy says. “Last semester was jam-packed, full of grammar.

We learned most of our tenses and can read fairly well.”

Nagy says the group is close-knit, with only 13 people in her class. “Every Monday, there is a Turkish tea hour where we drink tea and speak Turkish,” Nagy says. “Our class has freshman and people getting doctorates.

It’s a diverse and different crowd and now we all know each other very well.”

In the future, Nagy is not sure if she will have time to continue learning Turkish. Still, she says she knows she wants to continue studying other languages, especially French. Nagy says she taught herself Italian through Duolingo, a free website and app with user-made content. “I’d like to learn Spanish because it’s very prevalent here,” Nagy says.

As a linguistics major, Nagy is interested in the study of patterns and changes over time in languages. She took a linguistics class last semester and started looking into the ways languages can be analyzed. “I think there are areas I am more interested in, like child language acquisition and language disorders,” she says. “I feel like I could actually help people.”

To supplement the knowledge she is gaining from her classes, Nagy says she plans on studying abroad in both Turkey and France. “Being able to speak to people in their native tongue helps you understand them a lot better,” Nagy says.“Traveling to experience the country, the culture, the traditions, the music and the food is fascinating. You lose some of it if you can’t speak the language.”

D

uring a historic visit to Cuba in March, President Barack Obama made a quick confession — his Spanish is weak. His daughter, Malia, helped translate for him during the visit.

In an interview, President Obama said that one of his biggest regrets was not learning Spanish while in school.

Languages are an important asset in a globalizing world, but bilingualism can be a controversial topic. In the United States, some politicians and their constituents are opposed to the use of foreign languages. Those who speak another language in public can be discriminated against. On April 6, a college student from the University of California at Berkeley was removed from a flight when a fellow passenger heard him speaking Arabic. This is just one example of a growing intolerance.

Incidents of xenophobia don’t stop a global demand for bilingualism. According to the Department of Labor, translators and interpreters are among the 15 fastest growing occupations in the country. The private and public sectors value college graduates with fluency in another language. Bilingual job applicants have a competitive edge and tend to earn salary bonuses. Bilingualism opens doors for employment while closing doors to ignorance.

Future Prospects in Japan Sarah Ferring, Linguistics and East Asian Studies Freshman Ferring was first exposed to Japanese culture as a middle school student who enjoyed anime. “I grew out of that, but I still knew about Japanese pop culture, which is very important since anime and manga are famous and good things to know about,” Ferring says.

Japanese is Ferring’s third language after French and English. Though she took French throughout high school, she says she doesn’t think she learned a lot because the class moved slowly. As a sophomore, Ferring became interested in linguistics. “Literally nothing else interested me,” Ferring says. “I was always nervous I’d get to college and wouldn’t like it as much as I thought I would. But once I got here, my interest was reaffirmed.”

Ferring says she knew she wanted to learn either Arabic or an East Asian language so that she could do an area study along with it. “I chose Japanese mostly because there are so many opportunities for job positions in Japan,” Ferring says. “That might be a lazy way to choose, but there are lots of organizations where you can teach English in Japan after undergrad.”

Ferring describes Japanese as a structured language with interesting phonetics. “I thought afterwards, I could also learn Korean since both languages come from high-industry countries in East Asia,” she adds.

As a linguistics major, Ferring notices similarities and differences between languages. “You can see how words got to be the way that they are,” Ferring says. “You can make it as liberal or as scientific as you want, and I like the freedom that exists there.”

Although linguistics focuses on languages, Ferring says “the least favorite question of a linguistics major” is how many languages they can speak.

“We’re not here to learn 10 billion languages, but we’re here to learn about those languages,” Ferring says.

Ferring plans on studying abroad her junior year, ideally at a rural university in Japan so that she can teach folklore classes. “I’d like to look into the Shinto religion and ancient literature,” Ferring says. “I like studying East Asian religion, which is hilarious because I’m not really a religious person, but that makes it all the more interesting to me.”

Whether she studies religion, folklore or goes back to anime, Ferring says she understands the significance of culture in language acquisition. “If you want to become accepted as a language speaker, you have to know about the country, the history, the people,” Ferring says. “You have to know everything to be an active speaking member.”

After two semesters of Japanese, Ferring plans on continuing with the language and culture so she can enter the Japanese job market with fluency. “I want to take Japanese every single semester and maybe even in graduate school,” Ferring says. “I catch myself thinking things in Japanese a lot. Our professor tries really hard to get us to do that, and it’s paying off.”

The U.S. Department of Education recently emphasized the importance of bilingualism, calling it a “strength and an asset.” The University of Texas at Austin recognizes the promising future of language acquisition and offers over 30 languages. Students must fulfill a language requirement to graduate. “The requirement is essential because even if you only take a year, you get to know another culture at least a little bit,” teaching assistant Katherine Whiting says.

The required amount of courses a student must take depends on their major. Regardless of requirements, some students choose to commit themselves to becoming fluent in another tongue. Linguistics and radio-television-film freshman Laura Nagy is learning Turkish. “The experience has sparked my love for language acquisition and interest in different cultures,” Nagy says. “Choose something you love and you’ll get something worthwhile out of it.”

Linguistics and East Asian studies freshman Sarah Ferring is pursuing Japanese and hopes to eventually work in Japan. “There’s a lot of scientifically researched reasons to take a language, like increased brain function and improved problem solving, but if you find something you want to learn, it’s much more than that,” Ferring says.

Though Spanish is among the most widelyspoken languages in the world, others languages are increasingly important. The Department of State funds the Critical Language Scholarship Program, which allows students studying particular disciplines to go abroad and immerse themselves in different cultures. “They offer funding for critical languages including Arabic and Chinese. There are many options,” Whiting says.

In the long-term, language classes are more than steps towards a degree. They offer a valuable skill-set and provide new career opportunities. At the same time, they can fight intolerance and bring communities together.

Whiting cites Nelson Mandela, who once said the following: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

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The Last Laugh:

BY SAMANTHA GRASSO

Five Ways Xavier and Rohit were the most influential UT Austin executive alliance of the new millennium When Xavier Rotnofsky and Rohit Mandalapu were voted into office as Student Government president and vice president at the University of Texas at Austin, students weren’t sure what to make of the new executive alliance: did we just inherit a pair of anti-establishment voices for the people, or screw ourselves over for the next year with a joke gone too far?

Despite the initial trepidation, Rotnofsky and Mandalapu pulled through, accomplishing 22 significant tasks over the last two semesters. ORANGE flies through five of our favorites, from guns on campus to bringing that Chili’s — sort of.

Countering campus carry

Not even a week in office and the executive alliance was all over Texas HB 937, a piece of legislation that allows handguns to be carried on college campuses. And hell yeah, they really tried — they rallied students together, met with campus officials and testified at the capitol.

In the end, the bill was passed, but even then, the pair joined the campus carry working group to propose a set of guidelines for gun-related procedures. Rotnofsky and Mandalapu never gave up on the safety of students.

Goodbye, Jefferson Davis

One of the pair’s most notorious campaign points — removing the Jefferson Davis statue from the main mall — came to fruition toward the end of the summer of 2015. As the president of the Confederate states during the Civil War, Davis was seen as a symbol of oppression on campus by many students, Rotnofsky and Mandalapu included.

Gone but not forgotten, the Davis status has been moved to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

Neighborly notes

While the executive orders of past SG alliances have often been criticized for only addressing exclusive segments of the undergrad population, Rotnofsky and Mandalapu have helped change that tune. With increasing inclusivity in mind, the alliance started a volunteer notetaking program for students with disabilities.

No, they’re not “pandering” to liberal students, but are instead representing the diverse student population of UT.

High on life

Before April, the medical amnesty policy — which allowed students experiencing alcohol poisoning to get help without facing charges from the university — only applied to alcohol. Now, students experiencing a drug overdose are also protected by the policy.

While that doesn’t give students a free pass to toke up in residence halls, they can at least call 9-1-1 in the event of a drug-related emergency.

Mobile meals

Many times executive alliances running for Student Government say they’ll bring food trucks on campus, but rarely does the elected pair deliver. With Rotnofsky and Mandalapu, students can look forward to seeing food trucks on campus next February. It may not be a Chili’s, but if settling for mobile food options is the worst of our experiences with Rotnofsky and Mandalapu, we’ll take it.

A Teacher and A Learner Katherine Whiting, Teaching Assistant Whiting has come a long way in her language journey. Like President Obama, she didn’t commit herself to learning Spanish in high school. She started learning Arabic as an undergraduate sophomore.

“My grandfather was born and raised in Palestine and grew up speaking English and Arabic,” Whiting says. “I was always interested in the language but my dad could really only order a Pepsi and say thank you. My cousin and I decided once we went to college, we’d learn Arabic.”

Whiting faced issues with how Arabic was taught — she only knew a handful of verbs since the class focused on nouns, but she stayed in the program. “I saw a lot of people who were much more natural learners than I am stop learning the language because they didn’t care about it,” Whiting says. “Because I care deeply about the region, I had more perseverance.”

Whiting has been speaking Arabic for more than seven years now, but she is still learning. “There are always ways in which you can improve. Learning a language is a lifetime thing,” Whiting says. “ I’m constantly learning new things, especially in Arabic since there are so many dialects.”

Currently, Whiting is earning her master’s degree in teaching Arabic as a foreign language and says she likes to focus on curriculum design. She also works with the Khallina, an independent, online Arabic-learning resources available to learners and teachers around the world. Khallina has modules on cuisine, calligraphy, and other elements of culture.

Whiting says culture should be included in any language curriculum.

“When you learn linguistic structures, you also need to learn how to culturally incorporate them in your speech,” Whiting says. “You need need to think not just about how you translate from one language to another but also from one culture to another.”

In the future, Whiting says she hopes to expand her language journey.

She advises current and future students to “try and use your language communicatively.” Rather than being primarily concerned with tests, she says to “take opportunities to communicate, read and speak in different dialects.”

internet: little did you know? | story by rochelle friedewald

illustrations by jesus acosta

internet: In a generation where the entire Internet is at our fingertips, it’s hard to imagine life without a constant stream of emailing, tweeting, Facebook stalking and Netflix. Some of the most popular websites and Internet favorites today were once just ideas. Here are some interesting facts you probably didn’t know about the world wide web before it became the crazy meme-filled Internet we know and love today.

Netflix http://netflix.com Our generation couldn’t “Netflix and Chill” if Scott Hasting hadn’t acquired an embarrassing late fee on his Blockbuster rental. In the early 2000s, the Netflix creator rented Apollo 13, forgot to return the DVD and was hit with a $40 late fee from his local Blockbuster. He knew there had to be a better way to rent movies, and thought a service with no late fees and a flat rate subscription for unlimited rentals could be done entirely through the mail. To test this idea, Hastings started mailing himself CDs, saw that the disks arrived damage-free, and within the following year, he created Netflix. The movies-through-mail rental service soon crushed Blockbuster, and later evolved into the giant digital streaming company we all use binge watch TV shows on.

Google Images http://images.google.com While the basic Google search has been around since the ‘90s, Google Images didn’t arrive until 2000. When Jennifer Lopez showed up to the Grammy’s in a head-turning green gown, the search engine got so many queries of “Jennifer Lopez green dress,” that the site’s creators thought they should make an easier way for users to access images. That’s right. Google Images was created so we could all see Jenny from the Block’s amazing cleavage.

Gmail http://gmail.com Before Gmail existed, gmail.com had a slightly different look. At the time, Garfield.com owned the site and provided afree email service with the furry feline as its main theme. Google had to purchase the rights to the site in 2004 to set up what is now known as gmail.com. However, avid Garfield fans can still access the cartoon email service today under the domain garfield.gmail.com.

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Skype/Facetime http://skype.com Nowadays, we can simply tap an icon on our smartphones and have a face-to-face conversation with anyone we know. However, the webcam was not originally created for chatting over the Internet, but rather, for a pot of coffee. In the early ‘90s, Cambridge professors only had one coffee machine in their workplace, and grew tired to making useless trips down the hall to a sometimes empty coffee pot. To solve this dilemma, they pointed a camera at the pot and posted the feed onto the Internet, which grabbed images of the pot about three times a minute. Word quickly got around about this revolutionary live feed, and by 1998 over 2 million had tuned in worldwide to take a look at the Trojan room coffee pot. When the webcam was eventually discontinued in 2001, the infamous pot was auctioned off on Ebay for a whopping $3,836.

The World’s First Meme http://theworldsfirstmeme.com Surprisingly, the first documented meme became a viral sensation before the days of the Internet. Chiff Roth, an audio engineering teacher in New York City, used his video editing skills to create “The Reagan’s Speak Out,” a video made from a series of clips of the infamous “Say No To Drugs” campaign in 1986. Instead of having President Ronald Reagan and former first lady Nancy Reagan speaking out on the harmful effects of drugs, Roth made a video with the opposite message in which the couple encouraged drug use. The video experienced one of the first cases of media virality, as the hilarious audio and video was passed around via VHS tapes.

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Skrrrt!

Examining the Parking Situation at UT

Story by Natalie Heineman

Illustration by Ryan Hicks

B

iology sophomore Shazma Khan forgot to buy a parking pass this semester. Parking passes sell out quickly, sometimes in only a few days. When Khan went online to purchase a pass, all the good garages were full.

For students who do bring their cars to campus, Stone suggests investing in a carpool permit. “You get discounted permit rates, free days of parking in UT garages, and preferred parking locations before 10 a.m.,” Stone says.

“I usually park on the street, using the pay-to-parks, but sometimes when I’m running late I do park where I’m not supposed to,” Khan says.

Each day, she commutes 30 minutes, depending on Austin’s notorious traffic, from her home in Round Rock.

When Khan arrives on campus, she is forced to find alternative places to store her car.

Faculty and staff receive priority when it comes time to distribute permits. Parking availability affects student schedules on a daily basis.

Civil engineering freshman Jenny Liu says she frequently can’t find parking. “I park in front of the stadium anytime besides Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.,” Liu says. “I have to get up at six in the morning to move my car to Lot 70. Lot 70 doesn’t allow parking from

All 70,000 faculty, staff and students on campus compete for 14,000 parking spots. Students need to find alternatives, but parking lots and garages fill up before sunrise leaving many students without options. In 2013, UT Parking & Transportation Services issued 37,923 citations to unauthorized parked cars.

Bobby Stone, University Parking & Transportation director, says students should utilize public transportation, so they don’t have to take their own cars to campus. “Whenever possible consider utilizing the UT Shuttle or Cap Metro mainline to come to campus,” Stone says. “Both services combined cover most of the areas where students live and they are both available to students at no cost to board. Leave fighting Austin traffic to someone else.”

Some students choose to park in businesses or parks near campus and then ride the UT shuttle. This process takes up space in private lots and risks the student's vehicle being towed or fined. But this is nothing compared to the fine a student receives if they park in a campus lot without a permit.

Generally, citations of over $100 are issued, and if a student collects more than four citations, their car can be booted.

“It is dangerous for students to have to walk so far from their parking spot to their destination, especially alone.”

4 p.m. to 6 a.m., which I found out the hard way by paying a $35 ticket. For a while, I had to move my car twice a day.”

Even when students find parking, they face challenges. Parking on campus is expensive because of the prime location. For a C or C+ permit, which grants the holder the right to park in surface lots in the eastern area of campus, the costs start at $127 and do not guarantee a space.

In 2014, UT Parking & Transportation Services sold 6,652 permits for 554 surface spaces. The department’s logic is that not every student will be on campus at the same time. The way classes are structured, students come and go on an hourly or even daily basis. “People shouldn’t have to go through extra hassle to get where they need to be,” neuroscience freshman Lauren Schneider says.

The cost is even more to park in a garage. Prices for an R or S permit range from $628 to $765 for a one-year pass to a parking garage.

Students enter a lottery to obtain these passes, which are in high demand. Winners of the lottery receive a permit, while losers are left with nothing. Even faculty and staff must pay between $155 and $533 for a space in a garage. “Parking is way too expensive,” says Sarah Remelius, journalism and youth and community studies freshman. “I think I paid $700 for my permit, which is crazy.”

The only way to resolve this crisis is to increase the amount of parking spaces available. A new garage accompanying the Dell Medical School is being built in the south section of campus. This garage will feature at least 100 spaces and will be open to all students.

However, one garage is not enough to accommodate students with vehicles — unless the university converts some of the flat surface C parking lots into more garages. The benefits far outweigh the costs. “[UT Parking] needs to take more people off the waitlist for Brazos Garage,” Remelius says. “There's always a lot of extra parking in there, yet they say it's full and make students park further away. I have to park at Manor Garage behind the stadium which is about a 15-minute walk, and I don't feel safe walking there, especially at night.”

Ultimately, students unable or unwilling to pay for a campus parking permit must decide between public transportation, illegally parking or skipping class. “This is a safety issue,” says Hadley Holland, human development and family sciences freshman. “It is dangerous for students to have to walk so far from their parking spot to their destination, especially alone. The inconvenience may discourage students from coming to class and events if they can’t find a reasonable place to park their car.”

69

s a it in t a L Teaching girls empowerment Story by Angela Bonilla Photos by London Gibson

A

group of young girls type away on a

media and technology.”

computer after school on a sunny

Latinitas serves young Latinas from kindergarten to

afternoon at a local school. These girls

12th grade throughout Texas. The organization uses

express their voices as part of a program that allows

technology to help young Latinas become successful

them to write content and contribute to an online

in the future. Latinitas is headquartered in Austin

magazine for issues that matter to them and their

and El Paso. “It was started as a service learning

peers such as beauty and college. Co-CEOs and

project to help the Latino community in media and

University of Texas at Austin alumnae Laura Donnelly

communications,” Rascon says.

and Alicia Rascon started Latinitas as a class project in 2002. Over time, it grew to become a non-profit

Donnelly and Rascon were first introduced to one

that continues to help young Latinas. According

another in a Latino media studies class through

to their mission statement, the purpose of the

their professor. “I wanted to create a magazine that

organization is to “empower Latina youth by using

addresses the lack of representation of Latinos in

71

images and the newsroom,” Donnelly says. Rascon grew

and exposing them to different technologies such as

up loving teen magazines but also noticed there wasn’t

coding. “In Austin, there is an increase of technology

enough diversity in those publications. “I thought it

and we want the girls to be able to not only do media

was important to give young Latinas a voice,” Rascon

but also know how to code and do robotics,” Donnelly

says.

says. “The girls do art projects, photography, ideas, graphic design, and they learn about app design and

As journalism graduate and undergraduate students

web design as well as coding,” Rascon adds.

respectively, Donnelly and Rascon began their class service project geared toward the Latino community,

Conferences are held on weekends and give young

particularly young Latinas. “We did focus groups and

girls the opportunity to hear from guest speakers on

we surveyed,” Rascon says. “We definitely got a lot of

topics like health, business and higher-level education.

feedback from Latina teens that felt that mainstream

“We work with different universities to get our

media was not reflecting the Latino community.”

programs out there and expose the girls to different college campuses,” Rascon says. This year, the Austin

In 2003, the first issue of Latinitas offered content for

conference will teach the girls to code their own app.

young Latinas and was written by college students.

Since the second issue, the writers for the magazine

Donnelly says she has seen girls get a self-esteem boost

have been the girls who come through the program.

when they build a website. Girls that come through

“We have published our magazine online twice a

the program feel like they have a place to express

month so we continue to publish the magazine for

themselves and build their confidence in learning new

girls to have an outlet to express themselves,” Rascon

things. Many of the girls are inspired to go to college

says. She adds that the magazine gives hundreds of

and better their future. Donnelly recalls the story of

girls a chance to have their voice heard and express

one former Latinita who ran away from home because

themselves.

her family tried to stop her from attending college by throwing away her college acceptance letters. She now

Donnelly and Rascon decided to take it a step further

attends Texas State University.

and start a non-profit in 2006 by creating an outreach program to the community. Since then, the program

Girls in the program also benefit from being around

has grown regionally. Rascon is now the head in their

other girls like themselves. “Girls come in the program

El Paso headquarters and Donnelly leads the Austin

and think it’s cool since they have not been around

headquarters. Some 20,000 young girls have come

girls a lot,” Donnelly says. Past participants have

through the program. “In Austin, we work with 12

returned to Latinitas as mentors. “They have said that

schools with 200 girls in the program,” Donnelly says.

we are part of the motivation that encouraged them

“We currently work with 4,000 girls a year throughout

to go to college and start thinking about their future,

Texas.”

which is very exciting for us,” Rascon says.

Latinitas offers programs that promote advancements

Past writers of the magazine are now working as

in technology and media. These include after school

writers for national media as well as local media.

programs, a weekend workshop in public housing,

“That’s really exciting for us to see them spreading

summer camps and the Chica Conference. Through

their wings, growing, and being a strong voice for our

the different programs, the non-profit goes to different

entire community,” Rascon says.

schools four times a week, mentoring young girls

72

Hannah Pirie listens to instructions on how to make a podcast.

(left to right) Tallulah Wilson, Maia Rodriguez, Sophia Karamer and Marcie Hernandez.

(left to right) Lilliana Rodriguez, Esme Moreno-Bernacki, Hannah Pirie and Tallulah Williams pick sound effects for a podcast.

73

The Clapback.

Did someone say something you don’t agree with? Clapback.

Insult you or a friend? Clapback.

Took something too far?

CLAPBACK. Clapbacks happen daily, but celebrity clapbacks provide a unique glimpse into the climate of pop culture.

Sometimes celebrities go on the offensive and start a Twitter fight. Other times, they respond to criticism from an irrelevant hater. The BUZZ staff compiled their favorite celebrity clapbacks of 2016.

Meanwhile, Clinton amusingly reacted to the GOP debates.

Clinton even uses gifs of Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon’s impersonations of her to respond.

Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton .@realDonaldTrump: condoning violence against protesters and press at your rallies is the real disgrace. #GOPdebate

Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton

Watch it Bern, Over a HIll

by Zoya Zia

Debate one of these guys? Bring it on. #GOPdebate

As a mere spectator to riveting celebrity clashes, I spend my time sipping tea and living vicariously through others.

In my humble, politically-passionate opinion, the best celebrity clapbacks of 2016 came from Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders carefully constructed his clapbacks.

Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders We will continue to bring people together. We will not allow the Donald Trumps of the world to divide us up. #VoteTogether

Occasionally, he would subtly reference his opponents without directly mentioning them. On his bravest days, he dared to “@” Clinton and show off some receipts.

Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders 43,000 Michiganders lost their jobs due to NAFTA. I opposed that bad deal, @HillaryClinton did not.

he has called women derogatory things including “slobs,” and “disgusting animals.” Once, he said that Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” after she confronted him on his language.

With the world watching, singer and actress Cher decided to do the world a service and clapback. Cher mocked Donald Trump for his childish behavior and called him a “prima donna.” Cher started off a year of clapbacks with a bang as she put Donald Trump in his place by calling out his behavior.

Kim Kardashian-West

by Angela Bonilla Kim Kardashian-West is not one to shy from posting risque photos on Instagram, so it wasn’t a surprise when she posted a nude photo on Twitter. This caused a social media uproar. Many people used twitter to respond to the photo, including actress Chloe Moretz, who said Kim should become a better role model for young girls.

K It’s interesting to see how the political arena has changed thanks to social media and the instant clapback.

Cher Shares An Opinion

by Jacqueline Martinez Cher @cher Trump NOT Doing FOX Debate Cause Of MEGAN KELLY! Some1 Get Him TOE SHOES,fkng PRIMA DONNA. HOW CAN HE FACE ISIS, HE CANT FACE A CHICK ON TV.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has no filter. In multiple instances, he has wholeheartedly expressed his misogynistic views. Just scrolling through his tweets, one can find examples where

Kim Kardashian West @KimKardashian

let’s all welcome @ChloeGMoretz to twitter, since no one knows who she is. your nylon cover is cute boo

Singer Bette Midler also tweeted about Kardashian, referencing how we all have seen her nude figure. Kim responded with a clapback we didn’t see coming.

K

Kim Kardashian West @KimKardashian

hey @BetteMidler I really didn’t wanna bring up how you sent me a gift awhile back trying to be a fake friend then come at me #dejavu

She called both ladies out and addressed the issue of slut-shaming. After years in the spotlight, Kim has learned to be swift when responding to haters.

HTTP:// A COLLABORATIVE STORY BY ZOYA ZIA / JACQUELINE MARTINEZ / ANGELA BONILLA / XYCLALI NUÑEZ / ROCHELLE FRIEDEWALD / NATALIE HEINEMAN

Wild, Wild West

by Xyclali Nuñez

K

KANYE WEST @kanyewest

#Waves the album formerly known as Swish...

Kanye’s clapback was a win/lose situation. Artists might be afraid to come at Kanye, but they’s probably even more afraid to come at Amber Rose after she clapped back at Kanye’s clapback, calling him a... well, just look at the tweet yourself.

A Something always goes down when Kanye West enters the Twitter ring.

Kanye rants on Twitter about anything and everything, but especially in defense of his title as one of the greatest hip-hop artists living or dead. One of Kanye’s most memorable clapbacks happened when Wiz Khalifa tweeted his negative opinion about Kanye’s album name.

W

KOE @wizkhalifa

Please don’t take the wave.

In an elaborate clapback, Kanye listed 17 reasons why Wiz should not have called him out.

K

KANYE WEST @kanyewest

7th I am your OG and I will be respected as such

Kanye took it one step further and began listing reasons why Wiz shouldn’t comment on his music in general. He didn’t forget to mention Wiz Khalifa’s physical appearance, his relationship with Amber Rose and their son.

K

KANYE WEST @kanyewest

maybe I couldn’t be skinny and tall but I’ll settle for being the greatest artist of all time as a consolation

Amber Rose @DaRealAmberRose

Awww @kanyewest are u mad I’m not around to play in ur asshole anymore? #FingersInTheBootyAssBitch

J.K. Rowling

by Rochelle Friedewald Our favorite childhood author is the reigning Twitter queen of clapback. Most recently, Rowling took on Katrina Pierson, a controversial spokesperson for Donald Trump, with an effortless and hilarious Harry Potter reference.

J

J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling

Death Eaters walk among us.

During the 2012 presidential election race, Pierson raised irrelevant questions about the nationality of both Romney and Obama’s parents, hoping to spark xenophobic backlash and a call for “more American” candidates. Her ignorant tweet from 2012 resurfaced during this election cycle due to her affiliation with Trump, and was met with criticism. Pierson used the phrase “pure breeds,” similar to Rowling’s fictional term “pure bloods,” which describes Harry Potter characters who thought their magical talents were greater than those who didn’t come from an entirely wizarding family. Rowling decided to clapback to the xenophobia with this witty Harry Potter comparison.

J

J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling

How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad.

This isn’t the first time the renowned author has employed a Harry Potter reference to show her distaste for Trump and his entire presidential campaign.

When BBC Newsbeat compared the businessman to the most evil wizard in the magical world, Rowling chimed in, saying that Trump’s intolerance is much worse than the antics of the Dark Lord.

Ariana Grande

by Natalie Heineman Ariana Grande’s response to Justin Bieber is the perfect response to unwanted attention. In January, the pop star tweeted, “not today Satan,” with six exclamation points.

A

Ariana Grande @ArianaGrande

not today satan !!!!!! gtg finish this music & live my cute, drama free life !!

Rumors swirled that Ariana had indirectly replied to a comment that fellow musician Justin Bieber left on an Instagram video Ariana had posted that same day. Bieber commented, “damn Ariana u look so good,” which prompted the “Focus” singer to send out an empowering tweet. Ariana is working towards a drama-free life, one clapback at a time.

Still Standing Examining Racist Symbols at the University of Texas at Austin Story by Zoya Zia

Photos by London Gibson

housands of people flock to the Frank Erwin Center

Confederacy. “It’s kind of surreal and illogical as to why

throughout the year, attending concerts and basketball

there are still these symbols of racism and white supremacy

games. While the center is one of the most popular

on campus,” Okafor says. “These people with buildings and

entertainment venues in Austin, people may not notice the

statues wouldn’t accept my presence at UT as a black woman.

controversial symbol that adorns its exterior. The Confederate

They would not even look at me as a human being.”

T

Flag flies in the center’s courtyard as part of the Six Flags of Texas.

Parallel to the United State’s history, UT’s past is riddled with discriminatory practices. Though other universities grapple

Symbols that reflect a history of racism and oppression are not

with a similar past, UT’s overall progress is notably slow. In 1956,

uncommon at the University of Texas at Austin. The Robert Lee

the first class of black undergraduate students was admitted to

Moore building is named after a mathematician who refused

the university. The Precursors are a group of African American

to teach black students. The San Jacinto dormitory refers to

alumni who were among the first African Americans at UT. The

the Battle of San Jacinto, during which pro-slavery Texans

football stadium’s namesake, Darrell K. Royal, was one of the

defeated the Mexican army. George Littlefield, an infamous

last major football coaches to recruit black athletes. In 1970,

Confederate Army officer, has a fountain, cafe and dormitory

Julius Whittier became the first African American to play on

named after him, and his former home resides on the campus.

the varsity team. This was seven years after the university’s

Ironically, Littlefield House is located across from the Gordon-

athletic program opened to black students.

White Building, which houses Black Studies and Latino Studies.

Dr. Edmund T. Gordon, associate professor and chair of the In a 2002 feature article on UT’s website, Littlefield was

department of African and African Diaspora Studies, has been

described as a “strong and outspoken Southern gentleman,”

at UT for over 25 years and notes an increase in the number

but another side of his history troubles some students.

of students of color on campus. Still, black students make up

Anthropology

about

just 4 percent of the student body. “I think that overall, UT

Littlefield’s history from her older sister. “When I looked him

is a difficult fit for students of color, particularly for black

up, there was even a Wikipedia page about him,” Okafor says.

students,” Gordon says. “There are statues and names of

“He was for slavery, part of the Confederacy, and yet there is

people on buildings who were racist, but I think people aren’t

so much remembering him on campus.”

necessarily conscious of those things on a daily basis. It helps

freshman

Odera

Okafor

learned

to build an atmosphere of alienation in general for students Statues around the Six Pack and West Mall celebrate

of color.”

other controversial historical figures. Robert E. Lee led the Confederate army, John H. Reagan served in the Confederate

White students make up 45 percent of the student body,

cabinet, and James Hogg had a family history in the

the largest ethnicity group on campus. “I think the lack of

The statue of Barbara Jordan, lawyer, politician and leader in the Civil RIghts Movement, stands prominently.

representation really affects a person’s self-esteem or self-confidence,” psychology junior Jessica Chavarria

Still, only three statues of people are color are visible

says.

across campus. Including Barbara Jordan, there are also status of Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez.

Gordon notes that every four or five years, someone

“They represent what I hope is the university’s current

decides that having a certain statue may be problematic.

ethos of diversity and inclusion and the serving of Texas

“There’s a move to do something about it and usually the

communities that previously were excluded from the

university does it,” Gordon says. With last year’s removal

university,” Gordon says.

of the Jefferson Davis statue, Okafor wonders whether more can be done to change how UT presents itself.

Okafor suggests changing the names of buildings and

“People like Littlefield are a part of history, and let’s not

landmarks associated with the Confederacy. However,

forget history,” Okafor says. “But there’s a place for that,

her focus is on creating dialogue. “The main thing should

maybe in a museum.”

be educating people about the real history of Texas and UT,” Okafor says. “Confronting that history is important.”

Chavarria says she understands when people call for removing racist symbols. “These subtle symbols are what

Gordon also mentions the importance of bringing

we don’t always pay attention to, but they hurt people

awareness to racist symbols. “Having them remain on

constantly,” Chavarria says. “We should ask if these symbols are an actual representation of our school. If I saw the Confederate flag, I would really question it. It doesn’t represent who we are or who we want to be.”

campus as a reminder of where

“there are so many opportunities to learn, sit down, and talk about these things.”

the university was and who the originators of the university were is really important,” Gordon says.

“They have to be interpreted and can’t be left to sit there. My preference would be that there are alternative interpretations

Gordon says he is not in favor of taking the statues down,

of them that better represent the university’s current

but wants to see the university come to terms with the

values.”

statues and why they were put there in the first place.

“The university should make it clear to students that

Chavarria remembers the controversy that surrounded

those are not the values we have anymore,” Gordon says.

the removal of the Davis statue, but agrees that having

“UT should make an apology to black students for having

meaningful discussion is key. “I think people were divided

these things up there.”

and just didn’t get it,” Chavarria says. “Nobody wanted to believe the statue related back to race because that is an

Others propose seeing symbols replaced by worthy

uncomfortable topic that nobody wants to talk about.”

former Longhorns or public figures. “It makes me feel good to see the Barbara Jordan statue,” Chavarria says. “I

Although the issues are complex, Chavarria says it’s

wouldn’t mind seeing statues of others who stood up for

important for the student body to resist ignorance.

people in a correct way.”

“Even if it is just asking a question, there are so many

The statue of Martin Luther King Jr. is a symbol in the East Mall.

opportunities to learn, sit down, and talk about these

and if you get attention, it’s definitely a good thing,”

things,” Chavarria says. “Something simple like that can

Chavarria says. “If you call for something that is right

change perspectives and let people know how others

and brings equality, then why not protest?”

are feeling.”

Gordon

suggests

talking

to

student

government

Students can discuss the discrimination that took place

representatives and members of the administration.

at and around UT. By doing so, they can collaborate to

“Student government is always very powerful,” Gordon

make the changes they want to see on campus — similar

says. “Students can also talk to the president and the

to how students brought down the Davis statue. “I don’t

provost and do what’s necessary for them to know that

think these topics are really approached because they

students of color don’t feel comfortable with these kind

make UT vulnerable,” Chavarria says. “But I think we

of images on campus, as they are currently represented

need to address it because we can see how far we’ve

and something needs to be done.”

come and how far we still have to go. What starts here changes the world, but we need to bring new perspectives

The Confederate flag flying over the Erwin Center may

to mind to actually change the world.”

be overshadowed by the other flags surrounding it.

Namesakes may seem like minor things. Still, Chavarria

Students from different organizations on campus

says students gain a sense of agency from creating social

continue to engage in protests for racial equality on

change that they can physically see on campus. “I think

campus. After the racially-motivated violence against

we should continue to take action because it’s good to

senior Cody Young occurred in West Campus, students

admit our problems and face the issues,” Chavarria says.

criticized the university’s slow and ambiguous response.

“UT can model the way for other institutions if it begins

Some marched on campus with signs that said things

to focus on becoming inclusive. Even if we don’t make

like “we are the 4 percent.” In this way, protests provide

the largest changes ever, just one change can affect a

a platform for students to bring attention to issues. “I

person and a population.”

think protests are effective because Austin is the capital,

79

Buzz

Fifth Dimension Books: Book Bus Takes Sci-Fi Collection to Another Dimension

Story by Nancy Huang Photos by Kristin Evans

I

t’s the end of a busy day. Sukyi McMahon and

catalogued items, was a lifelong process to collect,

her husband Patrick McMahon sweep the floor,

archive and datamine. The collection includes a 1963

shelve the books, lock the doors. Then they get

pre-censored copy of “Fahrenheit 451,” signed books

in the driver’s seat to start the ignition.

from Nebula and Hugo-award winning authors, and a rare hardcover Star Wars novel that preceded the

This is how vintage bookmobile Fifth Dimension Books

first movie. “My dad started collecting in 1952,” Sam

operates. Co-owners and spouses Sukyi and Patrick

Marx says. “He just constantly collected. He kept the

McMahon had the idea for the bookmobile in 2012.

dust jackets of all his favorite books. He just really,

Their dream became a reality two years later. “Patrick

really loved science fiction, he loved the stories, the

and I have always wanted to own a bookstore together,”

characters. And more than that he loved sharing that

Sukyi McMahon says. “We’re often told that we’re very

with people, connecting with people over that.”

bold and adventurous.”

The white-with-red-lettering bookmobile parks on 25th and Guadalupe streets on Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The McMahons say they have been assembling their inventory for the past three years. “We happened upon Dr. [John] Marx’s collection, which was largely many more books than we needed, but in the same sci-fi area that we wanted to sell in, and so everything just kind of fell into place,” Patrick McMahon says.

John Marx, Ph.D, was a chemistry professor at Texas Tech University for 37 years, where he was known for his book collecting. “He had amassed a collection of sci-fi, fantasy and other types of fringe books for his lifetime,” Sukyi McMahon says. “When he passed away in 2012, it just kind of happened that we asked his son what was happening with his estate. It was at that point that we started talking seriously to his family about purchasing the 100,000 plus books that Dr. Marx had

Now the collection rotates on Fifth Dimension’s shelves

been assembling his whole life.”

every month and is made up of a diverse array of reading material. “The bulk of it science fiction and

Sam Marx, son of the late John Marx and Patrick

fantasy, but there was some mystery tossed in there,

McMahon’s high school classmate, says that he couldn’t

some westerns,” Sam Marx says. “[Dad] got as many first

be happier that the collection went to the McMahons.

editions as he could get, the best quality he could get.”

“They’re really good friends of mine,” Sam Marx says. “[It’s incredible] how much [Patrick] and Sukyi love

Stepping into Fifth Dimension Books is a surreal

books, and how much Sukyi loves stories, how much

experience. Once inside, it’s hard to tell you’re in a

they love the entire thing. Pat and I have been talking

vehicle. Books line every inch of the wall, just like any

science fiction books since high school. He used to

other bookstore. There are reading benches placed in

come over to my house and just wander around the

front of the shelves, and plenty of natural light comes in

basement in awe of the books.”

from the windows. “The bookmobile has a long history as well, it was in the library system for 25 years before

The collection itself, comprised of over 103,000 total

we got it,” Sukyi McMahon says. “We really kind of do

81

honor that history as well. We think it’s important because

The couple doesn’t hire any employees, but they do get

not only are people nostalgic about books, they’re

help from Kitty McMahon, Patrick’s mother. “Behind

nostalgic about the way that we get them out there.”

the scenes she is the unsung hero of [Fifth Dimension] Books,” Sukyi McMahon says. “She spends almost every

The McMahons have spent the last three years bringing

day sorting books and getting them ready because

each of John Marx’s books down from Lubbock to Austin.

we switch out our stock once a month, so she is busy

“We have been systematically bringing down all these

preparing every round of books every month. She’s not

tens of thousands of books all the way from Lubbock to

even paid, she’s just an amazing volunteer.”

Austin over the past three years,” Patrick McMahon says.

“It’s an amazing collection, and when people come into

Patrick McMahon says his favorite part of working at

the bookstore and ask, ‘Where did you get these books?’

Fifth Dimension is talking to people about books. “There’s

we always answer, ‘Well, you’re looking at a very tiny,

a wide variety of people who read books, and because

select part of a huge, vast collection.’”

we were in such close proximity to the customers, conversation is rather inevitable most of the time,” Patrick

Patrick McMahon says that the customers are

McMahon says. “We’re literally ten feet from you, at all

appreciative of the bookmobile’s history. “I think they

times.”

can really respect that they’re taking something that was someone’s treasure,” he says. “I think they kind of feel

Sukyi McMahon says Fifth Dimension Books, like John

that love of books as well.”

Marx’s collection, has been a lifelong ambition. “We’ve been learning a lot, these past few years. Not just selling,

The vast collection not only offers readers plenty

but just about books in general, but the quality of books,

of variety, but also limited-edition merchandise. “A

and just so much about it,” Sukyi McMahon says. “We’re

good portion of the books that we sell are not in print

a family-owned local business and it’s not just something

anymore,” Patrick McMahon says. “They can’t find these

that we decided to do one day, it’s been our shared,

books on an e-reader.”

lifelong dream.”

Fifth Dimension Books parks at Guadalupe and 25th streets from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Hyde Park from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

The Ultimate

Guide

If you thought finding vegan food in this Tex-Mex and BBQ-obsessed city would be a challenge, you couldn’t be farther from the truth. Austin offers a vast selection of delicious, filling plant-based foods at both exclusively vegan and veggie spots and meat heavy places, and it’s more than salads and grains. It’s cheezy bac’n burgers, doughnuts, pizza, fluffy pancakes, po’boys and more.

WORDS BY RAVEN CORTRIGHT AND MEGAN PRENDERGAST

PHOTOS BY DAHLIA DANDASIHI

East Side King When East Side King’s location on the Drag behind Hole in the Wall closed down, some students feared they might have lost their convenient Asianfusion spot for good. But with the arrival of East Side King’s food truck inside Space 24 Twenty, hope was restored. The endless veggie, vegan and glutenfree options at East Side King satisfy picky eaters and folks with dietary restrictions alike. A crowd favorite is the veggie meshi — a flavorful bed of slightly sticky Jasmine rice, mixed with mint, ginger, garlic oil, basil and cilantro, topped with the restaurant’s famous brussels sprouts salad, a hearty portion of fried sprouts, basil, mint and cilantro. If you love heat, drizzle the salad with some Sriracha.

Bouldin Creek Cafe Located at the corner of W Mary Street and S First Street sits one of the best-known vegan destinations in Austin, Bouldin Creek Cafe. The cafe serves reasonably priced, wholesome vegetarian food with plenty of vegan options. The food is made from scratch using locally-grown produce whenever possible, and breakfast is served all day. The breakfast tamale comes with two cage free eggs, that can be substituted for Bouldin’s signature tofu scramble, two sweet potato and pecan tamales, warm tortillas and freshly made salsa. Stuff your tortillas with a huge scoop of the sweet potato and pecan mixture, the “cheesy” tofu scramble and top it off with a hearty scoop of salsa. Wash your vegan meal with the Beyoncé, a pint glass filled to the brim with champagne, hibiscus iced tea, lime syrup and ice.

Cool Beans Down East Cesar Chavez Street sits Cool Beans, a Tex-Mex inspired food truck located behind the boutique Friends and Neighbors. Their vegan Q-rizo taco makes the little truck a must-stop for any vegan taco enthusiast. The truck offers only vegan options, so don’t stress about navigating through the menu. Enjoy its flavorful housemade quinoa Q-rizo chorizo on The Warrior taco, served with onions, salsa verde and cilantro. The Native taco, a taco filled with garbanzo tempeh marinated in Al Pastor spices and served with pineapple, cilantro and onion, is perfect for when you crave traditional Mexican flavors. Last but not least, the Outkast taco is full of flavorful mushroom fajitas. The amazing taco fillings are all served inside housemade corn or spelt flour tortillas.

Kerbey Lane Cafe Kerbey Lane Cafe is a 24-hour diner near the University of Texas at Austin that has students buzzing over steaming plates of coffee and breakfast foods at any time of the day or night. But this is more than just a spot for a hangover brunch or post party munchies. Kerbey offers a solid selection of vegan choices. Including a hearty supply of vegan pancakes, complete with vegan butter, or vegan vanilla pancakes on some days. The pancakes have a fluffy texture and hint of sweetness that make them just as good, if not better, than the classic pancakes but without any animal products. As an Austin staple, it only makes sense that the popular diner caters to the diverse and often food-conscious Austinites. If you’re not a fan of flapjacks, choose from other vegan options, including vegan queso and the vegan breakfast platter, or substitute any of the omelets with tofu scramble. This is the place to go for a breakfast that is equally filling for your conscience and your stomach.

Sweet Ritual Sweet Ritual serves 16 delicious flavors of dairy-free ice cream, a variety of sundaes, homemade toppings and sauces, gluten free waffle cones and creamy shakes. The delicious vegan ice cream is made fresh daily in small batches. Of the 16 flavors served daily, 12 of them are available yearround, and four of them are rotated. In order to create this variety, Sweet Ritual uses either a cashew, almond, coconut or peanut base, to replace dairy milk and cream. We recommend a classic scoop of vanilla ice cream in a homemade, gluten-free waffle cone and covered in salted caramel.

Via313 Vegan pizza seems impossible. How can a traditionally cheesy, meaty food be veganized? Easy, top it with dairy-free cheese and load it with veggies. You may be skeptical like we were, wondering if dairy-free cheese could really imitate the flavor and texture of dairy cheese.

Skeptical until we decided to try dairy-free cheese the best way possible: on top of a loaded veggie pizza at Via 313. The restaurant can veganize any of its pizzas by adding Follow Your Heart vegan cheese to the recipe. Via 313 serves two different styles of pizza: a bar style and Detroit style. The bar style pizza has a traditional crispy crust. The rectangular, Detroit-style pizza has a thick crust and is layered backwards, with toppings first, then cheese and finally sauce on top. The herbivore Detroit-style pizza sans mushrooms, comes with onions, green peppers and black olives. Add marinated artichokes for a little Mediterranean flavor. The slightly crispy texture of the thick crust with the upside down layers and the dairy-free cheese will satisfy any vegan pizza lover.

Wheatsville Co-op There are few places in Austin that offer an expansive and delicious vegan selection comparable to Wheatsville Co-Op. The co-op’s countless vegan options can be found at the deli counter, in the dessert cupboard and throughout the store. It can be challenging to find a decent, filling vegan sandwich, but Wheatsville has done it — not only once, but six times.

The popcorn tofu po’boy is a favorite here. Loaded inside a Bakehouse French roll sits the grocery’s signature popcorn tofu and a solid portion of veggies drizzled with housemade cashew tamari dressing. Enjoy the po’boy on the covered patio, and if you still have room for dessert, try any of their vegan pastries. We recommend the chocolate-iced doughnut with sprinkles.

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Arlo’s This food truck is a vegan dream come true. Offering up plantbased comfort foods like the BBQ burger, french fries, and “chicken” sandwiches, Arlo’s is an important point on any vegan’s map. One of the most popular items on their menu is the Bac’n Cheeze Burger, which is made with a gluten-free soy patty, seitan bacon, dairy-free cheese and other fixings like vegan mayo, lettuce and tomatoes. Try anything else on their menu and throw in a side of sweet potato fries because this truck is 100% vegan.

Elizabeth Street Cafe Elizabeth Street Cafe is more than its cute, blue and pink exterior. This South Congress joint offers a fusion of Vietnamese cuisine and French-style bakery. At first glance, the menu, clustered with noodles, bánh-mí, seafood dishes, pork, chicken and even octopus, may seem void of vegan options. But Elizabeth Street Cafe offers several delicious including the vegan nuoc cham with grilled mushrooms and tofu.

Full of Vietnamese and French flavors that are infused in all of their dishes, this animal-free meal is filling with a satisfying texture from the tofu and mushrooms. They also offer other vegetable-based alternatives for pho with vegetable broth as a base. Enjoy your meal with a delicious cup of Stumptown coffee or a unique alcoholic beverage from their extensive drink menu.

Voodoo Doughnut Since its much anticipated opening on Sixth Street this past fall, the 24hour doughnut shop is a popular stop for doughnuts of all shapes and sizes. But perhaps less well-known are the several mouthwatering vegan options. The chocolate cake doughnut and chocolate frosting are vegan, which is good news for chocolate lovers. Several specialty doughnuts are also vegan, including the Diablos Rex, which is a chocolate cake doughnut topped with chocolate frosting, red sprinkles, chocolate chips and topped with a vanilla pentagram. The Old Dirty Bastard is a delicious combination of chocolate frosting, peanut butter and oreos, and the Triple Chocolate Penetration, is a chocolate doughnut topped with chocolate frosting and Cocoa Puffs. Not a chocolate fan? The fruit cake doughnuts, including banana or pumpkin, are also vegan. Here, vegans can have their oddly decorated cake doughnut and eat it too.

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FOOD TRUCK FEATURE:

THAI KUN

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The brightly graffitied Thai-Kun trailer stands out among the picnic tables in the courtyard of Whistler’s, a quaint bar located on East Sixth Street. Even on a lazy Sunday evening, every table is filled with people sipping cocktails and eating heaping amounts of Thai food out of paper containers.

For a food trailer, Thai-Kun has far from humble beginnings. The year it opened, Thai-Kun snagged the number eight spot in Bon Appétit Magazine’s top restaurants of 2014 list, becoming the only food trailer that year to be featured. Created as a spin-off from the popular East Side King food trucks, Thai-Kun is co-owned by Thai Changthong, Moto Utsunomyia and Paul Qui, the latter of whom is a James Beard Award winner and winner of Top Chef: Texas.

Thai-Kun began as a trailer after co-owner and head chef Thai Changthong missed traditional Thai staples such as khao man gai, chicken and rice served with a spicy chili garlic sauce. He wanted more options than burgers or fast food at after the dinner rush, and he found himself missing Thailand at 1 a.m. “So when I had a chance to do a spin off food truck from East Side King, I didn't have to think very far for the menu. I just did my favorite late night foods,” Changthong says.

One of chef Changthong’s personal culinary influences for the Thai-Kun trailer is his father. Growing up in Thailand, Changthong spent his days experimenting in the kitchen. “At the time I don’t think I'd call it cooking, it was more like playing around,” Changthong says. “I didn’t know if what I was making was right or wrong, I just knew when I liked it. I enjoyed cooking so I kept doing it.”

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Changthong’s Thai influence is evident in his menu for Thai-Kun. The Cabbage Two Ways, one of the truck’s standout dishes, is packed with a delicious helping of raw and fried pickled cabbage mixed with holy basil, cilantro, ginger, red onion, peanuts and Thai-Kun’s signature boom sauce, a blend of chilies that add a bit of tang, spice, and sweetness to several dishes on the menu. The dish takes an often overlooked vegetable and turns it into a delightful salad that is tangy, crispy and refreshing. “The food was reminiscent of cuisine I enjoyed during the five years that I spent growing up in Thailand,” Shivani Pandya, a first time diner at Thai-Kun, said.

Another dish is the Thai Fried Chicken with chicken fat rice. Juicy small pieces of fried chicken sit next to a mound of chicken fat rice with pickled cucumbers and spicy boom sauce. “While chicken fat rice sounds unappetizing at first, once you take the first bite you will not want to eat rice any other way,” says Isabella Hsaio, a longtime fan of East Side King.

The chicken fat makes the rice flavorful and sticky, a complement to the crispy chicken and chilled pickled cucumbers.

Each Thai-Kun menu item is also listed with a drink pairing from Whistler’s, encouraging customers to grab a drink while they grub.

Looking toward the future, Changthong has big plans for the food trailer. “I hope to get more and more guests comfortable with the flavors and the spices and continue to introduce more authentic dishes,” he says.

WORDS AND PICTURES BY LONDON GIBSON

Holy Crepe Deaf-Owned Cafe Breaks

found one aspect of America particularly surprising.

“There were deaf business owners,” Inna Giterman says.

“The chances of that happening in Russia is slim to none, at best.” The family migrated to Austin in 1996 where they waited for their big opportunity in business.

While they searched, they spent their time making crepes. They received so much praise from their friends for their crepes that they realized a restaurant just might be their future. “Thus, the birth of Crepe Crazy,” says Inna Giterman.

“I would come here just for the cause, but the food is a bonus.”

The start was slow. The couple introduced the name Crepe Crazy to the world in 2007 with a small cart in Downtown Austin. As they gained success, they participated in festivals, eventually opening a brick-and-mortar location in Dripping Springs and then in Austin in December 2015.

The atmosphere at Crepe Crazy fits right in with Austin. Funky orange wallpaper and quaint decor wash the restaurant in warm golden and bronze hues. Clean brown and white tables, adorned with succulents, line the perimeter. Sitting up against the window, Angela Gallegos, geography senior at the University of Texas at Austin, tastes the chicken basil pesto crepe on her first visit to the restaurant. Like many great comfort foods, it’s full of cheese, chicken and crammed with gluten.

ACCORD I NG TO T H E M E AD OWS C ENT ER’ S 20 1 1 E M PLOY EM EN T B R IEF

On South Lamar Boulevard sits Crepe Crazy, a quaint cafe serving authentic Russian crepes. Like any other cafe the chairs scrape, the oven sizzles, and the customers chatter politely, but there’s an unusual silence here, a silence that you notice immediately after walking through the door. A sign emblazoned with “Point and ye shall receive” hangs above the counter.

Following instructions, you point toward the menu at the crepe you want to order. The employee behind the counter nods his head, draws up your order and heads to the back to work on your crepe. You still sense the silence, but now you understand. The chairs scrape, the oven sizzles, and the customers chatter politely, but the workers don’t hear a sound.

The deaf-owned cafe exclusively hires deaf and hard-of-hearing workers. Founders Inna and Vladimir Giterman, husband and wife, opened the Austin branch of Crepe Crazy in December 2015. The business, however, has been years in the making. “Crepe Crazy began with my husband Vladimir’s insatiable appetite for his late mother’s crepes,” Inna Giterman says.

Although crepes were always a part of the Giterman family’s life, they did not think to start a crepe restaurant until many years after Inna and Vladimir met. When they moved to New York City from Rostov-on-don, Russia and Kiev, Ukraine in 1990 in pursuit of a better life, they

STATISTICS ON ABLEISM IN EMPLOYEMENT

Barriers in Austin’s Food Industry

Gallegos discovered Crepe Crazy on Yelp. “I was looking for something different,” Gallegos says. After seeing — and tasting — what Crepe Crazy has to offer, Gallegos decides, “I love it.” For Gallegos, the history and message of Crepe Crazy is just as important as their food. “I would come here just for the cause, but the food is a bonus,” she says, laughing.

Even though the staff at Crepe Crazy consists entirely of deaf and hard-of-hearing workers, it functions much like every other cafe does, with a few exceptions. A large menu on the counter table to point at and a LED writing board allows customers to deal their orders and ask questions. The employees at Crepe Crazy come from all over the world, some following the Gitermans all the way from Europe. “If I could, I would pay my employees six figures each,” says Sergei Giterman, the Inna and Vladimir’s son. “They have stuck with us from the very beginning.”

One of the main reasons that Crepe Crazy hires only deaf workers is to provide work for a demographic that has trouble finding positions. “We always feel fortunate to be in this position, making quality food with exceptional service while creating jobs for those that don’t get the same opportunity,” Sergei Giterman says.

The job market becomes increasingly competitive every year, and deaf employees find it especially difficult to land full-time work. Stephanie Cawthon, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at UT, studies accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students. Cawthon devotes her time to trying to understand what separates DHH students in schools and in the job market. “There’s a lot of resistance to hiring a deaf person,” Cawthon sys. “A lot of employers say, ‘Well, that’s going to be expensive.’”

A report by the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk states “negative attitudes toward individuals with disabilities have existed throughout IN 2011 history, and still exist today.” The same report attributes “limited occupational ONLY opportunities” to negative preconceptions towards deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.

In Cawthon’s opinion, attitude is “the of D E A F least recognized” obstacle facing DHH ADULTS workers. Because Cawthon is hard-ofwere hearing herself, she is familiar with the EMPLOYED issues facing these workers applying for a the job. For her, it’s a matter of intimidation: AV E R AG E many in the deaf labor force are dissuaded S A L A RY by the prejudices in the job market. was At Crepe Crazy, prejudice toward the deaf seems non-existent. Employees shuffle in the kitchen while customers LESS file in, point to their orders and then fill than the the tables edging the walls. Servers swish N AT I O N A L about, carrying trays topped with steaming AV E R AG E crepes and delivering orders.

Like the beat of a silent drum, the rhythm of the cafe is consistent and seamless.

Some customers use sign language to talk to each other. A woman leans back

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laughing, bathed in the midday sunlight. The harsh lines that so often separate the deaf from the hearing seem to dissolve at Crepe Crazy, washed away upon entering the room.

The tasty menu at Crepe Crazy only adds fuel to the frenzy of attention it has received. “If it was just a deaf-owned business and the food was terrible, we’re not going to feel the same way,” says Cawthon. “It’s the quality and the pride of it being deaf-owned.”

Workers Maksim Kleimenov, Sean Sutor and Larendran Hubbard pose during their shifts for the camera.

And the crepes at Crepe Crazy are delicious. An employee carries out the brown sugar and cinnamon crepe, doused in warm butter, drizzled with caramel sauce and bordering on dreamlike. Like a warm apple pie sans the apples, this crepe’s smell alone makes mouths water.

Similarly, the s’mores crepe wafts sweet smells from its plate, so thick and stuffed with chocolate and marshmallows it’s difficult to pick up. Melted chocolate — so hot that it’s downright messy — leaks out of the sides with every bite, thickened by marshmallows but still barely contained by the thin papery crepe casing. “A good meal really can set the mood for the day,” Sergei Giterman says.

While Crepe Crazy has acquired regular customers like every other cafe, people come to the cafe for the first time every day. “You [can] tell that the first comers are full of questions,” Sergei Giterman says. “But after eating through their meal, they settle on one thing: the food is amazing.”

Sergei Giterman believes that the impact Crepe Crazy has had on the community will incite change. “While our impact cannot be quantified, its profound,” he says.

He is fond of idea that Crepe Crazy will cause people to ask questions and pay more attention to the deaf community and its capabilities. “That opens up a world of possibilities,” he says.

“I always think about all the people that crossed our path, those with no knowledge to little understanding of the whole deaf idea,” he adds. “I am willing to bet they walk away astonished, their minds reeling.”

As you leave Crepe Crazy, the employee behind the counter smiles, raises his fingers to his chin and gestures them out toward you: the sign for thank you.

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FOOD & DRINK

The spring and summer seasons in Texas are sweltering, but don’t sweat it. ORANGE’s Food staff put together a list of their favorite stops in Austin to grab a frozen treat. From frozen bananas and snow cones, this list will help you satisfy your sweet tooth and keep you cool all summer long.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JESUS ACOSTA Photos by Kristin Evans, Alejandra Martinez and Malayna Ellis

Sweet Ritual - Nancy Huang Start a new routine by going to Sweet Ritual for vegan and gluten-free ice cream. Be adventurous and try the Cinnamonkey Elephantastic--peanut butter, cinnamon, and two candied bananas placed on top. There are 16 flavors that change every day, including vanilla, salted caramel, coffee, and toasted coconut. All are made fresh daily from coconut and cashew milk, pure cane sugar, agave-sweetener, and organic, non-GMO flavorings. Sweet Ritual also offers sundaes, shakes, and ice-cream cookie sandwiches

sno-beach - alyssa arnold Sno-Beach started way back in 1993 as one of the original food trucks in Austin serving snow cones out of a simple trailer. The finely shaved ice and syrups derived from pure sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup make it a delicious treat for a hot summer day. Although there are over 60 flavors to choose from, my absolute favorite combination is coconut with cream on top. The coconut is refreshing, while the cream makes the ice sweet and really feel like a treat.

There are few things I enjoy more than grabbing a Sno-Beach snow cone on my way to hang out at Zilker Park.

LICK ICE CREAM - malayna ellis Lick Ice Cream has a delicious selection of freshly churned ice cream made from farm-to-table products. They carry a variety of flavors that appear daily, like their horchata, their hill country honey & vanilla bean and their caramel salt lick flavors. They also feature an array of seasonal flavors, such as the cilantro lime, the lady bird lavender crisp and the toffee dunked donut. My favorite seasonal flavor here is the sweet cream and strawberry ice cream.

Packed with freshly picked strawberries from Markley Family Farms in New Braunfels, Texas that are churned into a sweet sauce and mixed with smooth sweet cream, this flavor is a refreshing alternative to your average store bought strawberry ice cream. Though I chose not to have a cone or toppings, Lick has a great variety of toppings to choose from and cones to add some crunch to your dessert.

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BANANARCHY - SARA DONOVAN One of my favorite places to grab a sweet treat is Bananarchy, a frozen banana stand. With a wide variety of dippings and toppings, it seems like the options to customize your perfect banana are endless. I always get my banana dipped in chocolate and topped with nuts and toffee. The sweet frozen banana, smooth chocolate and salty sweetness from the toppings make for a perfect combination. If you want something other than popsicles and ice cream this summer, Bananarchy is a great place to beat the Austin heat.

HOLLAMODE - RAVEN CORTRIGHT Beside Chuy’s on Barton Springs Road sits this seemingly modest food truck. For vegans and non-vegans alike, Hollamode offers a unique spin on ice cream with a choice of local dairy or coconut milk. Made to order on a frozen metal slab, the milk and ingredients solidify, are rolled up and ready to eat in minutes. They use fresh ingredients while abstaining from artificial colors, flavors and binders. At the owner’s recommendation, I ordered the Thai coffee without condensed milk, and it became my favorite treat. The coconut milk mixed with tangy cardamom and coffee grounds makes this house special a refreshing dessert. Usually busy on a warm spring night, be sure to get in line well before closing time. If you happen to be the lucky last person of the night, the owner will usually ask you to keep others from joining the line in exchange for a sweet reward.

HAY ELOTES - ALEJANDRA MARTINEZ Located on East 7th Street, Hay Elotes is known for their refreshing and delicious Mangonadas. A Magonada is a Mexican frozed dessert chopped up with two core ingredients: mangos and chamoy. It’s the right combination of sweet, spicy, sour and everything you could ever want in life. Hay Elotes prepares theirs Magonados by shaving ice and mixing it with blended mango chunks. On the top of their creation they add the chamoy sauce, nicely cut strawberries and Airheads Xtremes. Put trying this tasty frozen treat on your summer bucket list.

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Ockhee Bego describes her designs as “nice, clean and simple lifestyle-wear for a busy woman,” but her clothing line, “Ock Hee” encompasses much more than that.

The majority of her creations are professional wear or couture-like suits and gowns that strike a balance between simplicity and bold, intricate patterns.

Like her designs, Ockhee’s life is a balancing act. Aside from creating design lines and managing business consulting, Ockhee, now in her mid-50s, has been teaching senior design students at the University of Texas at Austin in the Textiles and Apparel department since 2004.

Even as an experienced designer of 35 years, Ockhee does not try to influence her students with her own ideas. “As a designer you have to be very open-minded in order to respect and understand everyone’s ideas,” she says.

Her goal is to assist in the development of her students’ ideas and to guide their talents. Ockhee believes that anyone has the potential to become a fashion designer if they apply themselves. “I want my students’ work to reflect who they are, not who I teach them to be,” she says. “It is important to have encouragement.”

She’s hesitant to name drop her mentor, a colleague of the late Alexander McQueen. Instead, Ockhee focuses on the present and future. She describes each relationship she develops as one of great value. “No matter how famous they are, I do not usually mention influential figures from my past because I am my own person,” Ockhee says. “After all, naming names is silly.”

Ockhee aims to make her brand as personal as possible and makes sure that every label carries her name, an idea she adopted from Coco Chanel. She also says she works to form a relationship with her clients, so they know their garment was made specifically for them.

In 2013, Ockhee created a line of Asian-inspired apparel after being approached by Mary Ann Rankin, the previous dean of the College of Natural Sciences at UT. Rankin was looking for a collection of outfits to wear while speaking at several conferences in Washington, D.C. “I like to think my garments are classy and made with the quality that allows them to last many years,” Ockhee says.

On top of designing and teaching, Ockhee is currently creating a book about pattern collections that feature her own art and the process of Ockhee grew up and studied designing patterns. The idea design in Seoul, South Korea.

Professor Ockhee Bego, designer and After she viewed a travelling fashion lecturer in UT’s Department Of Textiles came from her students, who sugAnd Apparel. gested Ockhee put together a book show in South Korea in her late teens, after they praised her easy-to-understand teaching Ockhee became interested in fashion and decided to style. “The patterns I have experimented with so far switch her major from business to fashion design. Her have been well-received,” she says. “I intend to continue parents were unhappy with her decision and vowed to developing them and sharing my methodology.” stop paying her tuition. This was only a minor roadblock for Ockhee. She quickly found work designing for an Her plan is for the book to be exclusive to UT students, outsourced division of Liz Claiborne, now known as but accessible to other institutions that donate to UT’s Kate Spade New York. design program. Ockhee also hopes to start a non-profit organization that educates underprivileged men and Shortly after, in her mid-20s, Ockhee decided to leave women how to sew and design to improve their lives. her home for the United States. She briefly studied at She would like to either travel across the country and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and reach out to different communities or open her own edthen finished her studies at the Academy of Art Uniucational studio in Austin where anyone is welcome to versity in San Francisco. While in school, she met her take lessons. “If you can make a garment, you can make husband and got married. They moved around Europe and Asia before settling down in Austin. a living,” Okhee says.

Although Ockhee went on to travel the world and study under many notable people, she is not one to brag.

Gomez wears black and gold silk brocade Ock Hee two-piece ensemble.

Marina Habashi, left, and Jasmine Barnes, right, share a laugh.

Curly Hair, Don’t Care.

UT Women Wear Hair Naturally Despite Social Pressures

Story By Itohan Osagie Photos By Beverly Perez

Julia’s Hair Tip Araujo says she co-washes her hair, meaning she often uses conditioner instead of shampoo to wash her hair.

She also says she uses very little product after washing.

“It made my hair much healthier,” Araujo says. “My curls look a lot better when I do nothing to my hair.”

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idden between the Texas Union and the Flawn Academic Center is a courtyard where each day hundreds of students pass through for lunch, coffee or to catch up with friends. As the quad fills with its midday rush, international relations sophomore Julia Araujo walks underneath the trees with the wind blowing through her curly hair.

For people like Araujo, hair acts as a distinguishable feature that makes them instantly recognizable, though in many cases having curly hair holds a negative connotation. “Okay, one thing I hate about curly hair is that whenever these stupid things fall they get stuck in your curls,” Araujo says with a laugh, as she removes fallen leaves from her hair.

Although Araujo now jokes about the downside of having curly hair, she says growing up she “really hated it.” She says growing up she thought it was harder to manage and “nobody else had curly hair.”

This sentiment is shared by many other girls and women in the curly-haired community, such as journalism sophomore Brianna Stone and sociology sophomore Jasmine Barnes. Both women used relaxers to chemically straighten their curls.

Stone, who grew up in a biracial family in a Dallas suburb, says she attended a predominantly white high school. Similarly, Barnes says she was the only black girl in her Houston private school’s graduating class.

The influence of an “all-white environment” made it seem as though curly hair was a rarity and discouraged her from wearing her hair with its natural texture.

In 2012, women on YouTube ignited “the big chop” movement, cutting the part of their hair that is permed or relaxed. This prompted other women to discard their chemically damaged hair. Eventually Stone and Barnes determined they too would start fresh and bear their natural texture.

Stone says she wanted her hair to return to its natural, curly texture, but the relaxers had damaged it to an irreparable state. In order to regain her curls, she says there was no other option but to cut it all off and start over. “I felt like it was the only way,” she says. “It was just random because I had slowly been trimming it, but one day I would see a straight piece and then cut it.

And then before I knew it I had cut it all off.”

Barnes says her transition to natural hair started a few months before the night of her junior prom, which was when she finally decided to get rid of her relaxed hair completely. “I was at home and I was just like, ‘Let’s just cut it off. Let’s just do it today,’” Barnes says.

Moving forward with the decision to wear hair with its natural texture reveals the westernized preference of having straight hair through the fear of scrutiny by those who challenge it. Not only does Barnes say she endured “one of the scariest days of my life” when she braved school the Monday morning after her big chop, but she believes there is so much identity attached to hair, whether we want to admit it or not.

Coming from an Egyptian background where straight hair is the preferred hair texture, sociology freshman Marina Habashi says her mother blatantly disapproved of her wanting to wear her hair natural after she decided to stop straightening her curly hair.

After spending a year revitalizing the damage to her hair, Habashi says she restored her “perfect curls,” and eventually her mom became more accepting of her

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Marina’s Hair Tip Habashi says she relies on “lots and lots of leave-in conditioner.” “If I don’t do anything to it, it’s really bad, really frizzy,” Habashi says. She also incorporates oils, such as argan and coconut oil, into her hair routine.

Barnes admits that so far the discussion has not been “necessarily inclusive of all the different narratives of natural hair,” but notes that certain types of curly hair are glorified more than others.

As more countries adopt western culture, they perceive straight hair as the pinnacle of beauty and want to emulate that standard. In her Egyptian church, Habashi says while curly hair is a normality among the people, many women do not wear their natural hair.

“Almost all Egyptians have curly hair,” Habashi says.

“It’s just not seen as pretty, which I think is a problem.”

Likewise, Araujo, who was born in Brazil, says that though many Brazilians do not have the resources to alter their hair texture, they distinguish “this vision of American people as having straight hair.”

natural hair. “During the time of recovery my mom hated my hair, she would always criticize me for it,” she says. “My hair went back to normal and that’s when she started loving it again.”

Habashi’s experience with curly hair highlights a common misconception of natural hair in the United States. Stone says for many, the perception is that, “Whenever people hear the term natural, the first thing they think is black girls.” But being natural isn’t just exclusive to those of African descent.

While many women choose to straighten or change the texture of their hair for a variety of reasons, Barnes says the emphasis of the movement on black hair is tied to both the stark difference in appearance and the political implication associated with natural black hair.

“I feel like the conversation about natural hair has been focused largely on African American and black women, because it’s so drastically different from the way most black women wore their hair,” she says.

“The natural hair conversation, in the United States specifically, there’s a lot of race involved in it. The afro is associated with the 1960s politics, and the Black Panthers.”

In comparison, Araujo says UT’s population, which is 45 percent white, does not portray a population that is as diverse as living in an actual city. However, after coming from a predominantly white private school, Barnes says she felt more affirmed when she stepped onto the UT campus and saw other people who shared and embraced her natural hair texture. “Since I’ve been here I feel like I have more friends who are natural, and that’s nice because you have people to complain with and talk about techniques with and see yourself in,” she says.

Having a community of other girls with natural hair is an encouragement for Stone, who says even the smallest interaction with another curly-haired girl on campus is a source of inspiration for her. “If you meet someone, it’s a conversation starter, something that you can relate to,” she says. “It just makes me happy seeing other girls that go through the same hair struggles I do, even though we have all different textures of hair.”

While advancing in her curly hair journey, Barnes says getting accustomed to her hair texture was a challenge after going through the social aspect of wearing her curly hair out. “It’s been the most rewarding thing, but the hardest thing too, because I didn’t know what I was doing,” she says. “The first year especially it was really difficult because I didn’t know what my hair was like.”

Every person’s curly hair reflects their individuality with a unique texture or curl and it needs certain care that is primarily achieved through trial and error.

For Barnes and many other women, a large part of the learning process required them to grow in the familiarity of their hair texture as they figured out what works and what doesn’t.

Brianna’s Hair Tip “The main thing is learning patience because having curly hair takes work,” Stone says. For maintaining her natural hair she opts for products that are sulfate and paraben free, instead of “the cheapest box of whatever.” Stone says she uses almost everything in Shea Moisture’s coconut and hibiscus line.

Jasmine’s Hair Tip “Coconut oil is life,” Barnes says. “I feel like no matter your hair texture you should use coconut oil.” When looking for a product that makes detangling curly hair easier, she says the Aussie Moist deep conditioner is really cheap and works very well.

After almost three years of wearing her natural curls, Barnes says she hopes she can be a positive impact to other girls with natural hair, but that her decision to go natural was a decision she made for herself. “At the end of the day, for me at least, when I cut my hair off it was for me,” she says. “It was a thing I did just for me. I did that so that I could remove myself from that negative mindset that I needed to have a certain type of hair to be beautiful or powerful.”

Breaking away from the standard of beauty that praises straight hair poses inevitable difficulties — social, emotional and physical — but as Stone completes her first year of wearing curly hair, she says she realized it will grow back and it’s not something to obsess over.

“It’s definitely made me more secure about myself and given me more confidence because regardless of whether my hair is straight, curly, short or long, I feel comfortable in my own skin,” she says.

Ultimately, there comes a point when natural-hair

wearers find a greater appreciation of the natural texture, despite the length, curl or coarseness.

Araujo and Habashi say they love their curly hair because it makes them more distinguishable and more memorable. “I like it even better because I feel like people notice you more and they remember you because you look different,” Araujo says.

“I think my hair has become part of my mark,” Habashi says. “My hair is my crown. I love it, and y’all can’t change anything about that.”

STYLE SPOTTER Shelley Neuman Photographs the Trends on Austin Streets

Story by Jasmine Valencia Photos by Sarah Jasmine Montgomery

lively blend of cultures and style grabbed a University of Texas at Austin graduate’s curiosity and inspired her to share it with the world. Shelley Neuman decided to combine her background in photojournalism and her love of style to start a photographybased Austin street style blog, ATX Street Style.

With a camera in hand, she searches for the most individual people and styles in the city’s eclectic streets.

Neuman had just graduated from UT with a degree in photojournalism in 2009 when she realized she didn’t have a plan. “My professors used to tell me newspapers are dying, journalism is dying and that was not comforting since we just spent the last couple of years getting a degree in that,” Neuman says.

She began photographing her friends as a hobby, but after looking through Tumblr and other fashion blogs like The Sartorialist, Tokyo Fashion and Tommy Town, she was inspired to turn her hobby into something bigger. Neuman began to carve a path toward becoming a professional photographer by starting her blog. Her work on ATX Street Style led to opportunities with local and national publications, including CultureMap Austin, Cosmopolitan, Refinery 29 and Teen Vogue. “Documenting style was so fun and then it turned into what I’m doing all the time,” she says.

The success of her blog, including thousands of visitors each month, being recognized as a “Blogger to Follow” and winning “Reader’s Choice” for the first CultureMap Stylemaker of the Year award, helped Neuman establish a notable online presence. Neuman started working with social media and marketing with Being Apparel, an ethical fashion brand that creates upscale athleisure wear for the empowered woman.

In Neuman’s opinion, people are in their element when they are in crowded or public areas, like the streets of Austin. She says a person’s outfit choice in public reflects the personality they want to express. “I’m constantly studying people’s style, so I tend to see the same things over again,” she says. She immediately gravitates toward outfits that stand out for her blog and for her own wardrobe inspiration. “I get the most inspiration from the people I photograph which is why I like to interview them about their style and what they are wearing, and mimic it if I want to,” Neuman says.

Growing up in the small town of LaGrange, Texas, Neuman never felt stylish. When she worked for The Daily Texan in her college days, she stuck to a uniform of tank tops and jeans.

“Being more put together is something you learn after college,” Neuman says. Once she graduated, she discovered the prominence of fashion and street style through fashion blogs, and she realized fashion and beauty were just other forms she could utilize to express herself.

She began experimenting with incorporating wacky prints from vintage shops and thrift stores into her wardrobe. Neuman says she can spend hours searching for new wardrobe pieces in local shops like Charm School Vintage, Prototype and Feathers.

Recently, after reading about conscious style and fast fashion, Neuman has tried minimizing the amount of clothes in her closet. She says there are trends from Fashion Week that move quickly from the runway, to chain stores, to obscurity.

“I’m trying to invest in pieces that will last longer and [are] easily mixed and matched,” she says.

Neuman describes her personal style as everchanging, but at the moment, she is transitioning toward a minimalistic look. Lately she has been drawn to monochromatic and all-in-one pieces for their effortless appeal. “Easy and comfortable dresses and rompers are my favorites, especially as the weather gets warmer,” she says.

Accessories are a style staple for the fashion photographer, and Neuman is currently obsessed with dainty rings and necklaces. The most recent addition to her jewelry collection includes a starembellished ring from a boutique called Yes on Sunset Boulevard in California.

If she had to choose her favorite piece of clothing from her closet, Neuman says it would have to be her black sequin blazer. Fully aware that the eye-catching material is usually reserved for New Year’s Eve, she says she dares to find new ways to work the blazer into multiple outfits throughout the year. “I’m very attracted to sequins, and I love wearing them to fashion events,” she says. As a self-made fashion photographer with a significant online following, her favorite day-to-day pieces are simple, utilitarian dresses with pockets. “I like being able to just carry my camera around my neck, my phone in one pocket, and my business cards in the other,” she says.

Follow Shelley Neuman’s blog at atxstreetstyle.com

modesty and fashion the art of self-expression in the islamic world

Kamara places her necklace, with individual dangling pieces, beneath her collar and above her shirt.

BY E T H A N E L K I N S A N D RAC H A N A JA DA L A

P H OTO S BY M I RA N DA C H I EC H I

When biochemistry junior Dania Hussein gets

expressed through fashion is a choice encouraged

ready for a game of basketball, she grabs her Nike

by the Quran, but there is a heavy stigma associated

shoes, running shorts, Nike undershirt, T-shirt

with the practice of conservative dressing.

and lastly, she assembles her hijab. Wearing a hijab while being active is often an extra obstacle

Dressing modestly and wearing the hijab are

Muslim women face due to the extra amount of

personal decisions. “I wear [the hijab] because I

covering required, but this does not stop Hussein.

am Muslim. Culture did tie in. I am Middle Eastern

She disregards the idea that her hijab limits her

and Syrian, and it is specifically encouraged in my

from playing basketball with her friends. “I’ll wear a

family,” biomedical engineering freshman Aya Akid

long sleeve tight shirt under a jersey and tuck in my

says. “I feel more comfortable wearing it, and it

scarf. Most of my friends and I will wear shorts with

makes me proud.” The way she chooses to dress

tights,” she says.

has cultural and personal benefits, especially when viewed through the perspective of women.

Companies like Nike have come out with dry-fit scarves that are worn by many Muslim women

Covering can also contest the hypersexualization

on warm days and during exercise. These brands

and objectification of which women are often

are expanding their markets while continuing to

subjected. “It is meant to preserve a woman’s beauty

acknowledge the prominent global population of

for her significant other. It isn’t oppressive; rather,

Islamic women.

it's liberating,” health and society junior Fatimah Kamara says. “You have this cover that you wear so

With its growing conglomeration of wealth in the

people get to know you for who you are instead of

Middle East, the global fashion industry has taken

what you look like.”

an interest in targeting the vast population of Muslim women. The Population Reference Bureau

Kamara also addresses several common

estimates there are 800 million practicing Muslim

misconceptions about dressing modestly and the

women in total, which is a considerable market

hijab. The idea that women are forced to wear a

compared to the amount of representation given to

hijab and that it somehow restricts their rights is a

the community in notable ad campaigns. Modesty

Western and ethnocentric idea, she says. Since the

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average standard of modesty in Western culture is

Kamara’s culture also ties into the way she dresses

different from that of Muslim women, people often

and accessorizes. Her father was born in the West

assume that Kamara must be forced to dress this

African country of Sierra Leone, and she still has a

way. “I want people to know that it is not a symbol of

large amount of family residing there. Kamara likes

oppression,” she says. “It is up to the woman if she

to wear clothing that expresses her heritage, and

wants to cover. The Quran doesn’t force anyone to do

often incorporates jewelry that “has an African vibe.”

anything. Wearing the hijab does not mean women

She describes her style as “a mix between classy and

can’t be functional, rather the opposite.”

chic.”

The generalized term “hijab” does not refer to

Stores like H&M are beginning to notice their large

one type of clothing Muslim women can use to

quantity of Muslim customers like Kamara. In

traditionally cover. The actual word for the headscarf

October 2015, the second largest retailer in the world

covering is “abaya,” but it is usually just referred to

released an advertisement that featured Mariah

as hijab. There are other articles of clothing worn by

Idrissi, a hijab-wearing model. Her appearance

Muslim women in various communities. One example

spurred a debate regarding Muslim women in

is the niqab, which covers the entire body except for

fashion. “Anything that’s not stated as forbidden is

leaving the eyes exposed. The burka covers the entire

permissible,” Idrissi said in an interview with CNN.

body and includes a mesh screen that covers the

Other European companies have followed H&M’s

eyes, and the jilbab is a traditional garment that has a

lead. Dolce & Gabbana released an entire collection

hooded top that acts as the hijab.

specifically targeted toward Muslim women, now available online and in Dubai, the Middle East’s

Hussein says the Quran uses the word hijab, but it

fashion hub.

does not specify what type of covering should be used. “Some cultures push other types of covering,”

The way that Western clothing companies are

she explains. “Most people accept the idea of the

accounting for modest women provides evidence

headscarf as the main type of hijab.” Culture and

that fashion is becoming more accommodating

heritage play an important role in what type of

and reactive to the population. Different cultural

covering a Muslim woman can choose. Having

interpretations means there is room to explore and

Palestinian parents and family in Jordan, Hussein was

engage fashion in a meaningful way. Akid, Kamara

influenced by her family to wear her hijab the way

and Hussein all come from different backgrounds,

she does, as the headscarf.

and their own personal style reflects their personality and identity.

Incorporating modesty into a Muslim woman’s style goes far beyond the hijab. There tends to be

Having more options to choose from means having

a misconception that all Muslim women have to

an easier time finding clothes that are both modest

wear Muslim-specific clothing, like burkas, niqabs

and stylish to them. The occasional dirty looks

and jilbabs, but the majority of the population

and harsh stares they receive at their hijab are not

wear the same clothing marketed toward Western

because of their personal choice to dress modestly,

countries. Akid, Kamara and Hussein all look to

but rather a response to their Muslim identity. “Islam

stores like Forever 21 and H&M for clothes that fit

is a religion of peace and acceptance,” Kamara says.

their styles. “I look for modest pieces that cover my

“I encourage anyone curious or confused about my

parts sufficiently and don’t accentuate anything

faith to come up and ask me about it. At the end of

specifically,” Kamara says. “Having the oversized look

the day, we are all human.”

is in now anyways.”

Athletic companies have now come out with dry-fit scarves for sports-oriented Muslim women like Hussein.

Kamara says wearing a hijab allows people to get to know who you truly are without appearance having as large of a role.

Modeling in the Margins

Local Models Speak on Lack of Diversity in Industry STORY BY RACHANA JADALA

PHOTOS BY AUDREY MARLETT

M

odels of all races, including Naomi Campbell and Iman, have attempted to bring attention to racism in the modeling industry. Earlier this year, Sudanese-Australian model Ajak Deng quit her career because of the racist treatment she received in the industry. She announced her decision on Instagram, bringing awareness to issues of representation, beauty and diversity in the modeling industry.

Models of color tend be to be typecasted in shoots that focus on diversity or showcase designers hailing from similar backgrounds. “I'm not saying it's right, but advertising becomes simpler when you can put people in boxes,” says Ash Kim, a recent University of Texas graduate and model. “The truth is, as a model, it did bother me to be singled out by my race, whether to my advantage or not.”

In an industry that values aesthetics, looks can be emphasized in ways that are not always positive.

Even though the product is fashion, models and their appearances are marketed as well. Local model

Chenae Summers says that this motivates her career.

“I want to be the example,” she says. “You don't have to have that hair and look like that or be mixed to be considered beautiful.”

Neha Sukumar, a theatre and dance sophomore, says there is a heavy correlation between skin tone and beauty for South Asian designers. “The fairer you are, the prettier you are,” Sukumar says. “You can see in some of my recent photos that my skin looks five shades lighter than it really is.” According to Sukumar, designers edit her photos so that her features appear fairer. “I think that’s an overall mentality in the South Asian community.”

These types of preferences are regional and generally fit the mainstream definition of beauty rather than breaking the mold. As a model who worked in the United States and South Korea, Kim’s experiences highlight how seemingly varied yet narrow these preferences are. Kim explains that her race was an asset in the United States, especially in Texas where

“I'm pretty optimistic that we are slowly improving.”

there was a demand for diverse models, but few models who fit their desired age, height and body proportions.

“I actually had to work harder on erasing my Korean identity and becoming more ‘ambiguous,’ or preferably American,” Kim says.

Although all of the models interviewed say they enjoy working in the modeling industry, they have had some negative experiences, especially with makeup. “I always have to do my own base [foundation] because usually the makeup artist will only have white shades or they will make me look lighter than I am,” Sukumar says.

This is an issue with the way makeup artists are trained, as well as an issue with the makeup market itself. “I don't think it's really their fault, but more the lack of diverse skin tones available in makeup products on the market,” Kim says.

The situation is changing, albeit slowly. Modeling is a representation of what a society considers beautiful.

Like most facets of popular culture, the fashion industry can reflect a society’s values. “Looking at the prominence of a diverse range of models today, from Liu Wen to Joan Smalls, I'm pretty optimistic that we are slowly improving,” Kim says.

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(From L to R)

Models Ebanie Griffith, Melina Perez, Saumya Gupta pose outside Once Bitten.

Photos by Alejandra Martinez

Ebanie Griffith, Melina Perez, Saumya Gupta stand on the Moody College sky bridge overlooking Dean Keaton Street.

Model Melina Perez, 19, wears a jumpsuit by Mary Meyer. Shoes pictured are model’s own.

Model Ebanie Griffith, 20, wears a bodycon dress by BLQ, a button-up shirt by Storm & Marie and shoes by Intentionally.

OB

I

try to pull pieces for the kind of girl I want to shop at my store,” says Once Bitten store owner Joanna Wilkinson. Wilkinson opened her first brick and mortar shop on East Fifth Street in 2015 in hopes of “elevating” each woman’s everyday style. We partnered up with the newly opened boutique to create fun minimalistic looks for summer.

Perez wears an olive green slip dress by The Fifth Label. Shoes pictured are model’s own.

Griffith rocks a pair of denim overalls by Loup and a navy blue T-shirt by The Fifth Label. Shoes are model’s own.

T

he lack of representation of Muslim women in fashion ad campaigns has propelled bloggers to become the leading source of advertising for many brands that cater to Muslim women. Abdi looks up to bloggers like Leena Asad (@withloveleena), who has a following of nearly 300,000 on Instagram. “My blog showcases modest styles I enjoy wearing on a daily basis,” Abdi says. While well-known bloggers like Asad are often given clothing from designers to showcase, Abdi uses her own clothing.

on creating a schedule to help her stay on track over the summer. “I want to branch out more and maybe do collages on the latest trends and show up-to-date things on the runway,” Abdi says. She wants to incorporate multimedia by filming lookbook videos to showcase her summer style. In addition to the lookbooks, Abdi is also considering filming tutorials. “I get asked a lot about how I wrap my hijabi,” Abdi says. Abdi usually does the traditional pinned wrap-around scarf, but sometimes she will wear turbans for a more formal look.

Abdi describes her style as a “trendy twist on classic looks.” As fan of online shopping, she frequents websites like NastyGal, boohoo and ASOS. She also regularly shops at H&M, Zara and Nordstrom. Occasionally she takes inspiration from the past and will check out vintage shops or steal pieces from her parents.

Abdi’s wardrobe is also influenced by her religion. She looks for modest clothing, like shirts with long sleeves or loose-fitting pants.

“Sometimes I find tighter or more revealing things to work around,” Abdi says. “You have to be creative with outfits, so having a constriction helps me be more creative.”

For the spring and summer, Abdi plans to showcase casual, street-style and formal looks.

For a casual look, Abdi sports a black ensemble with a camo jacket and tan combat boots. As an accessorizing aficionado, Abdi completes her edgy casual look with black Christian Dior sunglasses and turns an ordinary bandana into an ascot. Abdi’s street style mixes businesscasual pieces like a button-up shirt and an overcoat with jeans and heels. A faux fur ball hangs from her silver Zara backpack, which matches her over-the-shirt necklace and statement sunglasses she found at Buffalo Exchange. For her formal looks, she takes a dual-chromatic approach. Seen in an all white wide-legged pantsuit, Abdi appears eventready with her nude-colored turban, bag and Valentino heels.

Abdi’s blog features photos and descriptions of her outfits as well as links to different places for her readers to shop to recreate her looks.

Originally, Abdi planned on posting twice a week, but she admits she has neglected her goal.

She has big plans for her website and is working

“I want to inspire people to find different ways to style their outfits modestly,” Abdi says.

121

“I want to inspire people to find different ways to style their outfits modestly.�

“I want to branch out more and maybe do collages on the latest trends and show up-to-date.” things on the runway,”

Editors-In-Chief Editors-In-Chief

Creative CreativeDirectors Directors

Sarah SarahJasmine JasmineMontgomery Montgomery Kris KrisSeavers Seavers

Jesus JesusAcosta Acosta Ryan RyanHicks Hicks

Managing ManagingEditors Editors Samantha SamanthaGrasso Grasso Lauren LaurenL’Amie L’Amie Emily EmilyNash Nash Mia MiaUhunmwuangho Uhunmwuangho Selah SelahMaya MayaZighelboim Zighelboim

Section SectionEditors Editors Lauren LaurenBeccue, Beccue,Olivia OliviaBenton, Benton,Tess TessCagle, Cagle,Miranda MirandaChiechi, Chiechi,Raven Raven Cortright, Cortright,Dahlia DahliaDandashi, Dandashi,Estephanie EstephanieGomez, Gomez,Hannah HannahMcMorris, McMorris, Jenna JennaMeltzer, Meltzer,Megan MeganPrendergast, Prendergast,Karla KarlaPulido, Pulido,Rachel RachelRascoe, Rascoe, Bryan BryanRolli, Rolli,Emma EmmaWhalen, Whalen,Zoya ZoyaZia Zia

Writers Writers Alyssa AlyssaArnold, Arnold,Angela AngelaBonilla, Bonilla,Tess TessCagle, Cagle,Rachel RachelCooper, Cooper,Raven Raven Cortright, Cortright,Kassidy KassidyCurry, Curry,Dahlia DahliaDandashi, Dandashi,Sarah Sara Donovan, Ethan EthanElkins, Elkins,Malayna MalaynaEllis, Ellis,Kristin KristinEvans, Evans,Amy AmyFennie, Fennie,Helen HelenFernandez, Fernandez, Sydni SydniFowler, Fowler,Rochelle RochelleFriedewald, Friedewald,London LondonGibson, Gibson,Estephanie EstephanieGomez, Gomez, Julie JulieGomez, Gomez,Samantha SamanthaGrasso, Grasso,Natalie NatalieHeineman, Heineman,Maddy MaddyHill, Hill, Nancy NancyHuang, Huang,Kristen KristenHubby, Hubby,Rachana RachanaJadala, Jadala,Lauren LaurenL’Amie, L’Amie, Nikki NikkiLaSalla, LaSalla,Sydney SydneyMahl, Mahl,Ignacio IgnacioMartinez, Martinez,Jacqueline JacquelineMartinez, Martinez, Hannah HannahMcMorris, McMorris,Jenna JennaMeltzer, Meltzer,Xyclali XyclaliNuñez, Nuñez,Itohan ItohanOsagie, Osagie, Amanda AmandaPinney, Pinney,Jacqueline JacquelineRamos, Ramos,Rachel RachelRascoe, Rascoe,Kaitlin KaitlinReid, Reid, Cierra CierraSmith, Smith,Jenan JenanTaha, Taha,Jasmine JasmineValencia, Valencia,Jennifer JenniferVannoy, Vannoy, Emma EmmaWhalen, Whalen,Zoya ZoyaZia Zia

Illustrators Illustrators Jesus JesusAcosta, Acosta,Ryan RyanHicks, Hicks,Sonia SoniaMargolin, Margolin,Dani DaniMuñoz Muñoz

Photographers Photographers Cori CoriBaker, Baker,Tess TessCagle, Cagle,Natalie NatalieCampbell, Campbell,Miranda MirandaChiechi, Chiechi,Dahlia Dahlia Dandashi, Dandashi,Malayna MalaynaEllis, Ellis,Kristin KristinEvans, Evans,Amy AmyFennie, Fennie,London LondonGibson, Gibson, Kristen KristenHubby, Hubby,Audrey AudreyMarlett, Marlett,Alejandra AlejandraMartinez, Martinez,Sarah SarahJasmine Jasmine Montgomery, Montgomery,Beverly BeverlyPerez, Perez,Thea TheaRobinson, Robinson,Rachel RachelRascoe, Rascoe,Bryan BryanRolli Rolli