Cooglife Welcome to Houston 2018 by The Cougar

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

10-11540 Coog Life August_ad_print.pdf

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COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

8/1/18

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9/16 The Score 9/19 DREAMERS 9/21 Meg Myers 10/2 In Real Life

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All dates, acts and ticket prices subject to change without notice. A service charge is added to each ticket.

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

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If you’re new here, this is Cooglife, UH’s student-run lifestyle publication. If this isn’t your first time picking this magazine up, or even just passing it by on your way to class, you will quickly notice how many changes we have made. Glossy pages, twice the page count and a magazine with page dimensions that actually fits snuggly in your backpack (no more folding it in half) — these are all changes that I am personally thrilled with. But the biggest change that I’ll be personally striving for with the magazine this year is to be more authentic. This is my second year as editor of Cooglife, and during my first year, so many of you personally reached out to tell me how much you looked forward to these letters each issue. So many of you related to what I wrote, and when I thought about what direction I wanted to take our content in this year, I knew I wanted to focus on how to make our content more authentic to my vision for this magazine and more immersive for you guys. Of course, there are still some areas of the magazine where my control is limited, but I will be doing everything in my power to make sure that what I can control is something I am 100 percent satisfied with. This is our Welcome to Houston issue, an issue that is somewhat of a Cooglife tradition at this point. Every year, this is our first issue, no matter what type of rebranding or leadership changes we go through — and for good reason too! This is your city,

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

and through this issue we want to show you the beauty behind what it has to offer. Don’t just make Houston the place that you live, make it your damn oyster. Whether you’re new to this city, you’ve been living here for years or this is your first time seeing a different side of it since you’re now navigating it with the new sense of freedom that comes with being a college student — I want you guys to genuinely take something away from this issue. Whether it helps you make your weekend plans this month or even inspires you to become more involved in helping your community thrive. I’m not going to lie, deciding to come back as editor of this magazine was something I struggled with. There were many times last year where I felt disillusioned with my role, and the magazine didn’t really feel like something I could be proud of. But I want to be honest with you guys, and create an open dialogue with you so that you can tell me what you want to see more of. Please feel free to always shoot me an email at cooglife@thedailycougar.com. I truly look forward to this next year of Cooglife, and I hope that you guys do too! If you decide you want to write for us, feel free to sign up through Get Involved through The Cougar’s staff application. ☺☺

EDITORIAL Julie Araica, Executive Editor cooglife@thedailycougar.com Diamond Braxton, Assistant Editor cooglifeassist@thedailycougar.com

COVER Fiona Legesse, Creative Director ame@thedailycougar.com

WRITING Laraib Hashmi

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COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

August 2018

8 Houston Events Calendar 10-14 Montrose 16-20 Project Row Houses 22-23 Houston Suburb Guide 24-25

Houston Museum District Guide

26-27 Underrated Houston Cafes 28-30 Houston Street Art 31 Houston Bucket List

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COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

S E C I V R E S T N E D U T S R E T U M COM We recognize that commuter students may face unique and different challenges than those students who live on campus. Not only do you deal with the daily commute, often you need to balance home, social, and academic responsibilities. Commuter Student Services’ mission is to provide support services and effective communication to help facilitate commuter students’ success and connection to the UH community. Our primary purpose is to ensure that your needs, as commuter students, are acknowledged and addressed by our campus community.

Commuter Student Kick-Off August 29, 2018 11 AM – 2 PM Butler Plaza

Watch Party

September 15, 2018 2:30 PM - 5 PM Buffalo Wild Wings 11803 Westheimer Rd

Commuter Student Workshop September 18, 2018 2PM – 4PM SCN Impact Room

Chick-fil-A Meet Up October 6, 2018 11AM – 2PM Locations TBD

Commuter Student Workshop November 1, 2018 2PM – 4PM Senate Chambers

Fall 2018 Events This event gives all commuter students a change to celebrate being a commuter as well as allow them to find out about departments and organizations on campus!

Come out and watch the UH vs. Texas Tech football game with the fellow commuters in your area!

Commuter Assistant Program Are you interested in learning about the nine dimensions of wellness? Or maybe what your faculty members expect from you? If so, this workshop is for you! We look forward to seeing you soon.

How can you resist free Chick-fil-A? You can’t! So come and hang out with us at one of the provided locations and get a free Chick-fil-A item of your choice. Follow us on social media for the exact locations!

Are you interested in an internship for summer 2019, or maybe even a job? Check out the Career services presentation on resumes and best practices during interviews.

@UHCommuterServ

The Commuter Assistant program is a mentoring program where we show incoming commuters what it means to be a cougar! We hand select Commuter Assistants (CAs) who are upperclassmen to serve as role models for incoming students. All CA’s are currently commuters themselves so they understand the unique challenges and opportunities involved with commuting to campus.

Are you interested in the commuter assistant program? Join NOW through August 29th for the fall 2018 semester! http://www.uh.edu/dos/commuter/ca/

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@UHcommuter

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

WHY COMMUTE WHEN ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ALL RIGHT HERE?

When you live on campus, you will spend less time in traffic and more time experiencing the University of Houston. You can share a suite with neighbors from around the world, connect with live-in faculty and professional staff, and develop relationships that will last a lifetime without ever leaving campus. If you want to learn more, visit us online at uh.edu/housing

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COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

— A brief history of Houston’s very own “gayborhood,” and how its reputation as one could be at

Writing/Photos by Dana C. Jones | Layout by Julie Araica

The heart of the city of Houston — the 610 loop — and the greater Houston area has several neighborhoods that have helped carve culture, create identity and sustain history. One of the neighborhoods that single-handedly put Houston on the map as a focal point of the LGBTQ community is Montrose. In 1911, Montrose was a farmland owned by Houston developer J.W. Link.

“Gayborhood” is a term that fuses the words gay and neighborhood together to identify an area with a prodomintely LGBTQ populace. This type of terminology is similar to calling mostly hispanic communities “barrios.”

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demonstrating town.” To the surprise of Hill and the other organizers, 1,200 people showed up. “Anita Bryant did for Houston what Stonewall did for New York,” Hill said. Although that large of a turnout was unexpected, a lot organizing still had to take place for even the 500 people that were expected to come. But with the limited resources that most marginalized minorities deal with, Houston’s gay liberation the LGBTQ community had to find a June of 1977 was a pivotal time for the different way to galvanize and meet. Montrose community when prominent “The African-American community LGBTQ advocate Ray Hill organized had the churches to help them orgaa protest against singer, former Miss nize their Civil Rights Movement, and Oklahoma and anti-gay activist Anita the gay community had the bars,” said Bryant. University of Houston associate ProfesBefore the protest, Hill spoke to sor of English Maria Gonzalez. “Well, a police officer named Patrick Bond everybody has their form of religion.” about what was going to happen during The year directly after, at an infaBryant’s visit to the city. mous town meeting, hundreds from “I understand that you’re going to the gay community expressed views do a whole demonstration against that about their livelihoods and how they nice Christian lady that’s coming to were being treated. This started many Houston,” Bond said (to Hill). gay centric coalitions, most notably Bond asked how many protestors the Montrose Center, which was then Hill was expecting and he said 500. called the Montrose Counseling Center. Bond laughed. The Montrose Center — partially “I ain’t never seen a demonstrafounded by Hill and still around today tion with 500 people in Houston Tex— was not just an advocacy center. as,” Bond said (to Hill). “Civil rights, anti-war, nothing. We are just not a continued on page 12

Link envisioned Montrose becoming a residential area, an idea that sprouted when he had a mansion built on what is now a part of the University of St. Thomas. In the late ‘70s Montrose became the face of not only gay culture, but gay liberation in the Houston area, ultimately becoming the gayborhood it is recognized as today.

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Francis Bueno is a criminal justice liaison for the Montrose Center. She started at the center 22 years ago as a case manager serving incarcerated people, starting primarily with the LGBTQ community and then branching out as the center grew. Most of Bueno’s clients are transgender. “[There are] two issues at hand; sex trade work for survival and unwanted issues which ranged from substance abuse to shoplifting to the gamut of everything,” Bueno said. This “gamut” that she speaks of is both the range of criminal acts but also the intricacies of why — specifically transgender people — commit these crimes. As Montrose grew and continues to grow, the attraction of the location invites a phenomenon that affects ethnic and minority neighborhoods around the country. Like San Francisco and New York, Houston had their own defining moment in the context of gay liberation. “Before June 1977, the words ‘gay community’ meant the part of town where the bars are. The next morning the words meant a relatively large group of people with similar goals and aspirations,” Hill said. “We became a group of people standing back-to-back against our opressor.

Gentrification alters neighborhood

The crossroads of Montrose Blvd. and Westheimer Rd. are the main identifier of where the neighborhood is, north of I-59 and south of I-10. Montrose is less than five miles away from downtown, and just like the Third Ward neighborhood in Houston, Crown Heights in Brooklyn and Lake View in Chicago, is being gentrified. Montrose may still have carry their banner and be considered a gayborhood, but the things that made it gay are disappearing. “A lot of the bars that were here when I first started here and restaurants are no longer here,” said Beuno. The gay bars, which were the meeting places for much of the LGBTQ community, are now gone, causing the community to have to find other places to meet in large groups. Many have found that safe space at the Montrose Center, which allows community groups to rent spaces for their meetings. But not only are historic establishments leaving, new ones that don’t reflect the community that founded the neighborhood are coming in. Gonzalez said that she knew it was over when the straight sex store Adam & Eve opened on Westheimer. “A straight people’s porn shop? There goes the neighborhood,” Gonzalez said. When identified neighborhoods change, sustaining their titles go into question. For Montrose, it’s whether or not it keeps its status of a gayborhood. That status is threatened when not only continued on page 14

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

SHASTA’S FIRST YEAR CHECKLIST From the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Services

FIRST FEW WEEKS... Participate in Weeks of Welcome.

Download the Guide - College Simplified App.

Visit the Student Center and explore all the involvement opportunities on campus.

Check out the resources available for commuters through the Dean of Students Office.

FIRST MONTH... Create a profile on Cougar Pathway and explore on and off-campus jobs.

Take a tour of the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

Update your calendar with academic due dates and deadlines.

Plan your academic goals for the semester.

Show off your Cougar Spirit at tailgate during a home football game

Join a student organization or look into opportunities with the Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life.

FIRST SEMESTER... Connect with your college through activities and student groups.

Explore the student success programs and events offered through the Urban Experience Program.

Participate in the spirit-filled events throughout Homecoming Week.

Make an appointment with your academic advisor to plan next semester’s classes.

Attend a workshop or training with the Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

SECOND SEMESTER... De-stress with a workshop or “Let’s Talk” consultations with Counseling and Psychological Services.

Stay on top of upcoming academic and financial deadlines.

Discuss summer/fall registration with your academic advisor.

Fill your prescription or get a free screening at the Health Center.

Give back during civic engagement activities with the Center for Student Involvement.

Enjoy a variety show and stay for the concert during Frontier Fiesta.

Review classroom accommodation options with the Center For Students with DisABILITIES.

Visit the A.D. Bruce Religion Center when you’re looking for a space to reflect.

Visit the LGBTQ Resource Center and Women and Gender Resource Center for a group discussion or training. Check out the resources available for student veterans through Veteran Services.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS: • Check your inbox for Coognews every Monday for campus new and events • Grab a printed issue of The Cougar every Wednesday • Wear Red on Fridays!

GET INVOLVED . STAY HEALTHY . GET SUPPORT . LIVE ON CAMPUS . TAKE CHARGE uh.edu/dsaes

UH Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Services

UH_DSAES COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

culture hubs like the bars are gone, but the people go too. “Our community can no longer live here because the prices are outrageous now so people are moving out to the suburbs which makes it difficult for our community,” Bueno said. If you go to Montrose now, you will see lines of bars, tattoo parlors, neon lights and several quirky shops. You may not see what it once was as the safe space for the LGBTQ community. But since Montrose earned its reputation as a gayborhood during summer of 1977, the world has become a little more safe and tolerant, and the LGBTQ community now has the opportunity to express themselves outwardly everywhere. And at the end of the day — no matter how many iterations it goes through — Montrose will still be Montrose.

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

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Behind the art of Project Row Houses — Telling the stories of the artists who are uplifting the people within the Third Ward community

Photo by Julie Araica

Writing/Layout by Julie Araica

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In a line of white houses down Holman St, you will find Project Row Houses, a place that is enriching the lives of the Third Ward community through art. But in an area under such a high risk of gentrification, PRH can’t just be like other art installations, and for the artists who have and are inhabiting this space, it’s definitely not. “Often times, art galleries and stuff like that are a part of gentrification,” said Colby Deal, a UH alumnus who did an installation last August. “But Project Row Houses uses its resources, power and the platform its created to give back to this community.” Deal said that working with PRH is an experience unlike any other, that it aligns with the things he values the most — home and family — and creates a sense of that for its artists and visitors alike. For many, this place actually is their home. The main row of PRH is comprised of shotgun style homes that were restored in the late ‘90s, and are now used as art studios for the artists selected to work on them during a six-week timeframe. In the row behind these art studios, there are a few houses that are occupied by low-income single mothers. They live at the site of PRH, while simultaneously working, going to school and trying to raise their families. In addition to what they do on the site of their development, PRH serves as somewhat of an advocate for the Third Ward

community. When the controversial $38 million renovation was done to Emancipation Park, PRH got together with local businesses, organizations and residents to create the Emancipation Economic Development Council, which focuses on revitalizing the economy of the Third Ward without erasing its identity, instead focusing on preserving its history and culture.

Empowering the community

This is something that all of the artists who come to work at PRH are also passionate about, actively trying to make art that not only aligns with them, but also aligns with the community around them, whether this is a space they are familiar with or not. For UHD student Charli Sol, who is currently working on their art installation, this meant going to local businesses, community centers, parks, coffee shops and churches to respectively engage in a conversation with the members of this community. “I’ve challenged myself to be very open and vulnerable and honest, and I’ve noticed that when I exude that honesty, people are receptive, and people are given permission to be honest back,” Sol said. Sol considers themselves a healer, and being a healer manifested itself when they were coming up with their proposal. Sol invites the people that they speak with to come into their

Photo courtesy of Colby Deal

Photo by Julie Araica

studio where they paint portraits of the members of the community, including lush and vibrant plant life in the paintings, and decorating the space itself with different dying, decaying plants, which Sol says are no less beautiful. A metaphor that strongly resonates with the community members they choose to portray in their paintings. “My intention for this work was to offer members of the Third Ward community, members with bodies similar to mine or different, members who are marginalized, members who aren’t valued by the society we find ourselves struggling in for different reasons at different times, I want all of these people to have a moment where I recognize that things are wrong and things are stressful and things are decaying but we can still find beauty in them,” Sol said. “We need to have hope and to stick together, and remember that our community is what’s going to help us through these issues.” There exists a huge opportunity gap in the Third Ward community, an issue that Sol says PRH and other organizations work hard to fight against. But because of this opportunity gap, Sol said that a lot of members of this community begin to internally devalue themselves. Uplifting was such an important thing to Sol, that is translated into everything from the sourcing of the plants they used to the very material of the artwork itself.

“Oil is a champion of the art world, and people put a lot of weight into it,” Sol said. “And in portraying these people on oil through this technique that I use with the flourishing plants I hope to help them feel valued and help others recognize the value in these people.” Like Sol, Deal also focused his installation, which he named “Beautiful, Still” on uplifting the people of the Third Ward and helping them see the beau-

— Charli Sol ty in themselves and the community around them. “The basis of the project started with the social construct of how people of color are viewed in these urban, low-income areas. The media perpetuates such negative imagery, my project was based on combating that and showing the beautiful side of these people that you never get to see,” Deal said. “Majority of the people aren’t happy with themselves continued on page 18

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

as people of color, and in these communities we’re not appreciated or we feel lower than the average person. I wanted to make these people feel good about themselves as they already are.” Deal has personal ties to the Third Ward, his father having grown up there, going to Yates High School and then Texas Southern University. His father served as a huge inspiration to him both for his installation, but also as an artist. His father was a photographer when he was younger, capturing the Third Ward that he grew up in at the time. Deal, whose installation was completely based around photography, said that seeing these photos made him see the beauty that is and always has been within the community. That the Third Ward is beautiful, still.

Community changes

Photo courtesy of Colby Deal

But seeing the Third Ward captured in photos through these two different perspectives and timelines has made Deal hyper-aware of many of the issues it faces. “It’s really being infiltrated and become a product of erasure,” Deal said.

HOUSTON

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Art senior Alexis Pye, who is also working on her art installation, may not have grown up in the Third Ward, but the issue of gentrification is something she knows all too well, having grown up in Detroit, and seen her city morph into something else entirely over the years. “Every time I go home to Detroit, even though I love the coffee shops and I love the record stores, it’s like ‘oh there’s another high-rise and then there’s this company that’s been there for years and now it’s gone because they had to leave after the taxes became too high for them to stay,’” Pye said. Pye said that through gentrification, her own city makes her feel like a foreigner at times, even though she grew up over there. “This guy at the record store asked where I was from and I was like ‘dang I’ve been in the city since I was a little kid I know the people that you bought this place from,’” Pye said. “I mean, I’m happy that people have this pride in Detroit, but the thing is that these people from The Burbs are coming in and they’re like this is our land and that’s continued on page 18

WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT... Races Ethnicities Religions Abilities/Disabilities Beliefs/Values Languages Sexual Orientations Body Types Genders Nationalities Socioeconomic Status

Visit the Center for Diversity and Inclusion

YOU BELONG. Student Center South Suite B12 | uh.edu/cdi

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

cool and all, just respect the culture that has been here.” PRH is giving the people of the Third Ward a platform to speak on, and Pye believes that this is extremely important in combating the gentrification taking place, and to fix some of the crime and poverty issues going on, art isn’t going to fix the situation, but it will make people aware of it.

Changing lives

Although simply making others aware of what’s going on may not seem like a lot, for many simply listening to what members of the community are going through can make a world of difference. Pye’s installation focuses on art and music within the Houston and Third Ward community, creating art out of old records, and highlighting places like El Dorado Ballroom and historically significant things in Houston music, like Peacock Records. She speaks with community members, playing their interviews on loop and uses her unique house with multiple rooms to create an audio effect of listening to a conversation from another room.

Individual career counseling appointments

Speaking to some of the community members about music and just their community in general has profoundly impacted its people. “I almost got into tears because this one guy got into tears from talking to me and I was like ‘it’s fine I really wanted to talk to you,’ but he was just like, people don’t really ask about this stuff, people really want to talk about other things, not the things that come out of the Third Ward.” For Deal, his photographs have also been able to touch different people. A woman he photographed for his exhibition named Shirley cried in joy after seeing the photo he took of her on display at the installation. Deal also recalled an encounter he had with a boy named Christian, who was out riding his bike while Deal was taking photographs. He stopped Deal, wanting to get a closer look at his camera. He let Deal photograph him, and Deal let him take a few pictures himself. “I don’t think he had ever held a camera like that before. But after he was able to press down on that button, I think it opened up this whole new

world for him. He realized that this art was accessible to him too. I gave him the opportunity to realize something like that, and he told me that he wanted to be a photographer too when he grew up,” Deal said. “Moments like that remind me of what I’m here for. I want to show these people, these kids, that a life exists beyond what they know, and that art is for people like us too.”

Cougar Pathway is our online database where students and alumni subscribers can schedule appointments, review event information, RSVP for events and apply to on-campus, part-time or full-time jobs. Log into AccessUH and click the icon:

Group career workshops and programming weeks

Campus wide special events and career fairs

20 COOGLIFE

// AUGUST 2018

phone: 713-743-5100 website: www.uh.edu/ucs email: ucs@uh.edu location: Student Service Center 1, Room 106

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your guide to the houston suburbs Writing/Layout by Julie Araica As a commuter school in a city with a sprawl as expansive as Houston’s, a large number of students that go to UH commute in from some Houston suburb, but don’t let the ‘burbs get you down, here are a few fun things to do in each of the city’s closest neighboring communities.

pearland katy

eat: King’s Biergarten & Restaurant | 1329 E Broadway St shop: Pearland Town Center | 11200 Broad-

way St

eat: The Cellar Door | 829 S Mason Rd

shop: Katy Mills Mall | 5000 Katy Mills Cir

do: LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch | 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd

do: Pearwood Skate Center | 1230 Broadway St

cypress eat: Hawi Hawaiian BBQ Express | 12254 Farm to Market 1960 Rd W shop: Katy Mills Mall | 5000 Katy Mills Cir

do: The Boardwalk at Towne Lake | 9945 Barker Cypress Rd

14 .

sugar land eat: Jupiter Pizza & Waffles Co. | 16135 City Walk shop: First Colony Mall | 16535 Southwest Fwy do: Sugar Land Town Square | 15958 City Walk

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

humble eat: Chez Nous | 217 S Avenue G

shop: Deerbrook Mall | 20131 US-59

do: Mercer Botanic Gardens | 22306 Aldine Westfield Rd

pasadena eat: The Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Key Mexican Food | 5010 Spencer

Hwy

shop: Fairway Plaza | 5838 Fairmont Pkwy

spring

do: Armand Bayou Nature Center | 8500 Bay Area Blvd= eat: CorkScrew BBQ | 26608 Keith St shop: Old Town Spring | 403 Main St

do: TGR Exotics Wildlife Park | 22115 Sherrod Ln

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Five Underrated Writing/Layout by Julie Araica As a self-proclaimed foodie, I have a special place in my heart for Houston. I know that no matter what I’m craving, this city will have something that can satiate me. The newest of these cravings being a good cup of joe. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to get wean off my Starbucks Frappucino training wheels, but I can now say that I have come to truly appreciate coffee and all of the flavor nuances that come with it — I even drink it black from time to time. With this newfound addiction, I’ve found myself spending more and more time in different cafes. So, I figured I would share some of my favorite places with you! For this list, I really wanted to focus on coffee shops that I simply don’t think are talked about enough, so here are five underrated Houston cafes that you should check out.

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M O R N I N G S TA R OK, so I love coffee. But as any self-respecting human being does, I also love donuts. This place serves both, so I consider it somewhat of a bougie Dunkin’ Donuts. These donuts are made from scratch guys. My go-to order is an espresso served with a fritter “debris,” which always perfectly complements the flavor profile of the drink to the point where it feels like some sort of egg roll you’d get on the side when you order Chinese takeout. | 4721 N Main St.

SOUTHSIDE ESPRESSO I love this place for their lattes, which are just strong enough to perfectly hit the right spot, and are always topped off with the most interesting latte art. They also have a wide variety of flavors, some of them are a little bit odd (I’m looking at you sweet potato latte). As far as ambiance is concerned, this place is tucked away and a little inconspicous, nothing too fancy. They

also have an outdoor seating area that they share with Uchi next door, overall its a cute little gem in my eyes. | 904 Westheimer Rd Suite C

AHH, COFFEE! This cafe is decked out with a lot of cool art, and there’s a ton of seating. It’s not really a place I like to study, but the coffee is great and I always stop by if I’m in the area. I love coming here for a nice cold brew after spending the day at Discovery Green, their cold brews are bitter and strong, and not watered down like so many others are. They also have good breakfast burritos, which pairs nicely with my coffee if I’m in the mood for a more hearty and savory cafe experience. | 2018 Rusk St A.

I N V E RS I O N C O F F E E & A RT This is my favorite place to get work done. I love studying here because

the ambiance is so warm and inviting. It also has a special place in my heart for being one of the first places I went to when I was getting into coffee. Their menu is beginner friendly if you’re someone who doesnt drink coffee very often but wants to get into it, and their staff is super nice/helpful if you have any questions. | 1953 Montrose Blvd A

DOSHI HOUSE If you’re a UH student and you love coffee, this place is a no-brainer. A literal five minute drive from campus will get you a nice and cozy cafe with a ton of delicious coffee, tea, and smoothie options to sip on while you study. Plus, they have an all vegetarian menu of delicious sandwiches for you to pick from, and evening dishes that are rotated throughout the week. This is not only one of my favorite places to get coffee, but also to chow down on a delicious and healthy meal. | 3419 Emancipation Ave

Informational Meeting

Service Night

Wednesday, Sept. 5

SC North Synergy Room

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Wednesday, Sept. 12

6–7pm UHMVP

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COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

The rise of Houston as a street art city Writing by Diamond Braxton | Layout by Julie Araica

“Be Someone” sign with sayings like “Be Mattress Mac” and “Be One.” In regards to his art being tagged over, Doe believes it is a way for other artists to prevent him from succeeding. The artist was caught once by law enforcement trying to revert the sign to its original saying after it was vandalized with “Be Mattress Mac” and he was faced with a $4000 case. With graffiti becoming more prevalent and important to Houstonians, the continuous obstruction of “Be Someone” has started to upset locals that want The Man Behind Be Someone to make “Be Someone” an official art For legal reasons, the man behind “Be piece of Houston. Someone” chose to withhold his name, “I could care less about it being so within this article he will be referred an art piece; I just want it to be there to as “George Doe”. forever,” he said. “When they drive by Doe was born in California and that sign it might just make them feel a moved to Houston when he was going little bit better.” into the eighth grade. There, he took With the increase of street artists an art class in Houston and started being paid to do huge murals all over producing his first graffiti work. He Houston, the artist said he believes tagged the name “BLOB” everywhere that he played a role in influencing the he went. Until he realized the word had increase of street art. no meaning to him and he wanted to create something more unique. The Growing Job Market For “So, I started writing ‘Be Someone’. Street Artists I want to be someone, everyone wants Gonzo247, the man behind the infato be someone,” Doe said. mous “Houston Is Inspired” mural in Over the years, “Be Someone” downtown Houston, has been doing has been vandalized by other graffiti street art in Houston for decades. When artists tagging their names over the he was 12 years old, Gonzo was introIn a city where there’s graffiti on every passing train, overpass and abandoned building, the “Be Someone” sign over I-45 is what really catapulted the Houston street art scene. Now, as Houston gets younger, more vibrant and diverse, it is almost as if we are moving toward becoming a street art city. In 2011, ‘Be Someone’ appeared in Houston and it began to change the public’s view on street art as more artists began to paint murals all over the city.

COOGLIFE // AUGUST 2018

duced to rap music while his aunts were listening to disco and his uncles were getting into what we now refer to as classic rock. This was when he first discovered graffitti, which he believes to be the visual language of hip-hop. Back in the early ‘80s, graffiti was mostly about artists tagging their names everywhere they went as a way to be seen. “When you’re younger you feel as though you don’t have a voice and people won’t pay attention to you,” Gonzo said. “Especially when you live in the ghetto.” Gonzo believed graffiti was an art form that was created by kids for kids. He said that kids would tag their names with markers and then it evolved into using the spray paint can. Back in the ‘80s, most artists didn’t believe they would actually become self-sufficient in street art, but now it’s becoming more and more realistic to be paid as a street artist in Houston. “I think now is the best time to be a creative in the city,” Gonzo said. In 2012, Scott Tarbox, a Houston street artist known for his eye-popping animalistic murals, said that he found street art to be an outlet to keep him sane after recovering from substance abuse. As a self-taught artist, he had no

idea that he would be able to fully cover his financial costs through street art and other art forms. “It [was] either you made it or you didn’t, but now there’s a lot of middle ground,” Tarbox said. He said that in the early 2000s there were a lot of locals who didn’t understand what street art was and most people found it to just be criminal activity. But now more and more people are becoming used to street art. Even businesses are becoming open-minded to street art since Tarbox was hired on to paint murals for three of Houston’s rock climbing gyms. “What’s really helped is that Houston has been getting younger,” said Gonzo. “With plenty of decision makers and gatekeepers retiring, there’s a lot of new blood and fresher people coming in to fill those positions. These new paint “mini murals” all over the city people have more of an open mind and where artists were able to brighten they’re used to seeing street art.” neighborhoods with their own designs by painting over utility boxes. Now drivBringing Color To The City ing through Houston, artwork can be Last year in 2017, the City of Houston seen everywhere from the huge murals commissioned about thirty artists to created by street artists like Tarbox and

Photo courtesy of George Doe

Gonzo to the mini murals that catch Houston drivers’ eyes at every stoplight. Gonzo prides himself in using bright colors in his Houston-dedicated murals. His color choices are inspired by Mexcontinued on page 30

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Photo courtesy of Scott Tarbox

ico in regards to his bright yellows and oranges but the colors also show that we can all really come together, he said. Gonzo said that Houston truly came together when everyone from all different cultures and backgrounds helped each other during the Harvey flooding in late 2017.

“Together we all make Houston what it is,” said Gonzo. Tarbox also uses a lot of bright colors in his pieces with little pops of gray or brown. In a recent collaboration with restaurant joint Stack Burger, Tarbox was able to paint all four walls of the building, making his murals a vibrant

addition to downtown Houston. “The idea in the ‘90s was ‘I have to leave Houston to blow up.’ But, my thought was why go to another city that’s already saturated and has a lot of competition? Why not work twice as hard in Houston and make the city what you want it to be,” said Gonzo.

This article was written as part of a multimedia collaboration with Coog TV, to watch their video, check out their YouTube channel CoogTV or visit their Facebook page, which is also at CoogTV.

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// AUGUST 2018

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