The June 28, 2017 issue of The Egalitarian

WeDnesDay, June 28, 2017 • VOL. 44, nO. 10 • WWW.HCCeGaLitarian.COm • @HCC_eGaLitarian

tHe OFFiCiaL stuDent neWspaper OF tHe HOustOn COmmunity COLLeGe system

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In Today’s Issue

The Egalitarian www.HCCEgalitarian.com

The Egalitarian

Over 20 acts performed at HCC’s Heinen Theater during the annual SpringBoard Houston Music Festival.

see Community, Page 4

‘A Revision of Forward’ Professor provides insight regarding “A Revision of Forward” exhibit at HCC-Central and PrintHouston2017.

see Commentary, Page 11

What’s on the cover?

Central Dance Ensemble dancers perform during the CDE’s seventh annual concert at Heinen Theatre in April. The dancers included Brianna Payne (front); Leah Estick (second row, left); Patricia Zavala (second row, right); Crissy Jones (third row, right) and Sam Soto (third row, left).

The Central Dance Ensemble is by audition only in the fall and spring semesters. For more information, contact Artistic Director Maggie Lasher at Meghan.Lasher@hccs.edu.

—Image Courtesy of Sigi Cabello/HCC COE for Visual & Performing Arts

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Student artist inspires with ‘Elevate’ Alyssa Foley

Acts perform at SpringBoard

On Campus

“You can’t sing.”

It was a typical day before a music appreciation class at Houston Community College, when a fellow student accused Ayo Shofoluwe of not being able to sing.

Ayo responded by singing John Legend’s “Save Room” and their professor walked into the room as the class was applauding his singing voice.

“Music has always been a part of my life, I like to say I came out singing,” says Ayo. “If I want to say something—for someone to truly understand me—I need to sing about it.”

Chutiya “Mew” Methees-upapak was one of the students applauding. After class, she told Ayo she liked his voice and immediately starting giving him suggestions to improve.

They went into a piano practice room, and Mew performed “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys.

“She blew me away,” recalls Ayo. “I could actually sing before I could speak,” says Mew. Her aunt told her that as a 1-year-old, she could hum melodies accurately before she could pronounce words.

Although she also plays the piano, growing up in Bangkok, Mew was known as the girl who plays guitar. She recalls always being in a band. She learned to play guitar instead of her first-choice instrument, drums, because her mother said, “You can’t take the drum with you when you go outside, but the guitar you can take with you wherever you want to be.”

“Music is one thing that I’m sure that I did well in my life,” says Mew. In 2013, Mew and Ayo were working on a different song together, and getting nowhere. Ayo went to eat while Mew kept producing beats.

“Listen to this,” said Mew when Ayo returned.

“I heard the beat,” says Ayo, “and then I just started to recite the lyrics that had been

in my head since I woke up but I couldn’t articulate it. When I heard that beat, I knew how to articulate it.”

The song “Elevate” was born.

“I just wanted to create a song that would inspire people to look at life from a different perspective. No matter where life takes you, you can always elevate,” says Ayo, “Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and shut out all the noise and walk by faith.”

Ayo Shofoluwe On July 4, Ayo is releasing “Elevate” on YouTube and HulkShare under his band name “PeacexPiece”. Watch out for the song dropping on Instagram and Facebook @ PeacexPieceOfficial.

Ayo wrote the lyrics and raps on “Elevate” while Mew did the background singing and production.

“I hope that people would listen to the message and understand that their life has meaning and that there’s a purpose for every single individual here on earth, in all things, everything is going to work out,” says Ayo. Ayo is encouraging people to share their personal stories of how they conquered tough situations in their lives on social media by using the hashtag #WeElevate.

The song has been a long time coming.

It was back in fall 2012 that Mew and Ayo met in Professor Andrea Jaber’s music

appreciation class at HCC’s Stafford campus.

They are both active, busy students and didn’t have much spare time to produce and edit the single. Ayo became a Student Government Association officer at HCC, and Mew became a staff writer at The HCC Egalitarian.

There were other roadblocks to recording the song, they had to acquire expensive production equipment and there was a learning curve on how to use it.

Ayo performed ‘Elevate’ live for the first time at high school graduation party in 2014 where the graduates were, “excited but anxious about the next step.”

He wanted the party to hear the song’s elevating message. Afterward, everyone wanted a copy of the song, but Ayo only had the performance track recorded on a CD. “It was so clear that the message had got through to everyone,” says Ayo, and he realized “this is what I’m here to do.” To inspire people through music.

“My life and the things that I go through I can use them as stepping stones to inspire other people. Not just to inspire them, but to inspire them to aspire.”

In 2015, Mew and Ayo enrolled at the University of Houston’s main campus together. Ayo performed both “Elevate” and “A Beautiful Thing” at the 2016 International Arts and Music Festival at UH. Ayo and Mew performed the song at churches, and people kept asking them where they could get the song. That’s when they decided to record it.

After “Elevate” is released next week, Ayo hopes to perform at more local events and release more singles. He has more songs in the works.

Mew graduated UH in May, and is back home in Thailand. Even though she is working full-time, she plans to continue creating music and recently purchased a new electric guitar and media controller.

“I’m going to keep music in my life always,” says Mew.

Honor society elects new officers Alyssa Foley

The Egalitarian Seven Houston Community College students are taking the reins of Omega Sigma, HCC’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society for two-year college students and HCC’s chapter ranked in the top 100 this past academic year.

The honor society boasts $90 million in scholarships for its members. Students with at least a 3.5 GPA and 12 or more hours of college-level credit are invited to join every spring and fall.

Phi Theta Kappa is a co-ed honor society, but this year the student officer team elected in May is made up entirely of women. It has been over three years since a women has been at the helm of Omega Sigma.

Image courtesy of Omega Sigma/Zohair Mirza The 2017-2018 Phi Theta Kappa – Omega Sigma officers. From left to right is Sarah Stockman, Glory Tomi John, Jennifer Soto, Elisa Cardenas, Emona Hyensi, Hasfa Arshada, Adela Zyda, and Advisor Dr. Gisela Ables.

This summer the officers are going through training and are conducting project planning for the school year.

Cardenas and the other officers are planning more member events, scholarship resources, leadership workshops and other opportunities for members.

“We are looking to establish a network of students and connect

them to service opportunities ranging from hospitals to senior housing—depending on your aspired profession,” says Hafsa Arshad, the chapter’s Vice President of Community Service.

Connect with the group at: Facebook.com/OmegaSigma ——— Elisa Cardenas is the 2017-

2018 President of HCC’s Omega Sigma chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. Cardenas attends the Spring Branch and Alief-Hayes campuses and is majoring in in biochemistry with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals.

She is a part-time work-study see

Honor Society, Page 4

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Acts show their stuff at Springboard Music Festival Skarleth Velasquez & Jimmieka Mills The Egalitarian

The SpringBoard Houston Music Festival held its sixth annual concert Saturday June 24 and Sunday June 25 at The Heinen Theater at HCC Central Campus. The event featured more than 20 artists from around the world to come showcase their talent and music.

The music festival gives artist the opportunity to perform and also show themselves to professionals, people involved in launching and guiding superstars like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Guns N Roses.

The first night of performances featured local acts such as RHU a graduate of HSPA, DeCory winner of the 2016-17 I AM Spring Branch Independent School District award and duo BLAZE X BLACK, winners of the 2016 Houston Press Reader’s Choice “Band of the Year.”

Sunday, the performances started off with 13-year-old singer-songwriter Ava Bryant from Spring. She has written and performed over 30 songs around the Houston area, and definitely showed off her talent that night. Following right after was SAMI, a country music

singer-song writer who is also a Houston native, Steff Neff, and Christen Lien, a classical fusion artist who set the mood with her musical storytelling and introduced a few songs from her new album ‘Elpis’.

“She was my favorite,” said HCC student Alondra Barahona.

“Her music didn’t only relax me but also made me feel what she wanted us to feel, like her song ‘Unconditional Love’. Which was about how not everyone has unconditional love but everyone deserves to have it. Her performance was beautiful.”

The festivals focus did not end on the local level. Band Trubdr. Adam Road who have been mentored by Giorgio Gomelsky known for his work with The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds, travelled from Tel Aviv Israel to make the festival. Alemay Fernandez, who took the crowd away with her powerhouse Jazz vocals making them demand more of her music, travelled from Singapore to attend the event.

The hip-hop duo Hoax and Haze, who lit the crowd up by performing their new single “Hit the Mayweather”, which is not just a song but also a dance that they created here in Houston.

The SpringBoard Houston Music Festival brought wide array of performers to Houston Community College’s Heinen Theater. More than 20 acts from around the world participated.

Above, the band Blaze X Black perform during the festival.

At right, 13-year-old Ava Bryant sings and plays guitar during the festival.

Images courtesy of Houston Media Exposure

Creator of the festival Barry Coffing has been running the festival under a non-profit called Sustainable Artists says, “Our goal is to teach artists how to make a living.”

The festival which not only provides a platform for artists but also provides an artist bootcamp leading up to the event allows performers to gain guidance

from industry professionals who volunteer their expertise to help mentor participants through the entire process from rehearsal to the main stage.

“All of the panelist who have done a great job of sharing their knowledge during the day with these people (performers) and then coming up and watch the talent perform at night all

these guys took time out of their schedule to give back to this community because if we don’t help the arts we certainly aren’t going to have the kind of arts that we deserve.”

For more information on the SpringBoard Houston Music Festival visit the website www.springboardhouston. com.

chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.

Arshad attends the HCC Central Honors College, she is majoring in Biomedical Engineering and is Vice President of the Science Club. She plans on attending medical school.

“I joined Phi Theta Kappa because I was looking to grow more as an individual, away from school as well—something that would not only be fun and keep me engaged, but also make me stand out as an individual.”

“Members need to get involved,” says Arshad, This is an amazing opportunity to not only stand out to other colleges and jobs that you apply to, but also to grow as an individual.”

Reach Hafsa Arshad for Community Service Inquiries at: hafsaarshad.vp.service@gmail.com ——— Glory Tomi John is the 2017-2018 Vice President of Scholarship of HCC’s Omega Sigma chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.

Tomi John is a biology and premed major at the Honors College

at HCC’s Spring Branch campus.

She is an active member of the Northwest Student Government Association.

While Tomi John originally joined Phi Theta Kappa in the hopes of winning scholarships, she now says that “There are so many benefits, not only scholarships but the leadership experience and opportunities for personal and professional growth where one’s achievements are recognized.”

Reach Glory Tomi John for Scholarship Inquiries at: tomijohn.vp.scholarship@gmail. com ——— Sarah Stockman is the 2017-2018 Vice President of Leadership of HCC’s Omega Sigma chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.

Stockman is a sophomore biology major at the HCC Honors College at Central.

She joined Phi Theta Kappa and became an officer because, “I want to challenge myself and Phi Theta Kappa offers opportunities

of growth in research, writing, teamwork, and leadership.”

When asked what student have to gain from joining the honor society, Stockman replied, “Learning! Research, events, organization, soft skills, leadership—members have opportunities to get involved and learn these new skills.”

Reach Sarah Stockman for Leadership Inquiries at: sarahstockman.vp.leadership@ gmail.com ——— Emona Hyseni, Vice President of Administrative Services. For any financial inquires, Contact: emonahyseni. vp.adm.services@gmail.com ——— Adela Zyla, Vice President of Public Relations. For any Press/ Media related inquires, Contact: adelazyla. vp.publicrelations@gmail.com ——— Jennifer Soto, Vice President of Membership. For any Membership inquires, Contact: ptkomegasigma@gmail.com.

Honor Society, From Page 2 Financial Aid Assistant at the Alief-Hayes campus.

Cardenas was a recipient of the 2016-2017 Coca-Cola Leadership Scholarship, which she received through the honor society. “Phi Theta Kappa, first and foremost, can be a support system for those students in need,” says Cardenas.

After graduation, Cardenas plans on earning a Master’s Degree in biochemistry and opening up a pharmaceuticals laboratory in the Middle East to help create alternative medications and vaccines for better health and diseases prevention and supply them to poverty stricken, wartorn countries lacking proper healthcare.

Cardenas is a United Nations Volunteer Member, an IslamicHands Relief Scholarship volunteer, a volunteer Refugee Mentor for YMCA International Services, and volunteers to prepare and distribute meals to the homeless at her local Mosque in partnership with Food Not Bombs Organization. In addition, Cardenas is a political activist for

CAIR, the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations.

Cardenas joined Phi Theta Kappa because, “I wanted to be among members that shared the same values and importance of what it meant to have knowledge.” However, “once you accept membership, you become a part of a family and society that will help you grow and learn...

You will be given the tools to succeed in whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.”

Besides Omega Sigma, Cardenas is a member of the National Scholars of Collegiate Scholars, a member of HCC’s STEM Club, a member of the TriBeta National Biological Honor Society. In September, she plans to run for a senator position in the United Student Council.

Reach Elisa Cardenas for PTK partnership inquiries at: elisacardenas.ptk.president@ gmail.com ——— Hafsa Arshad is the 2017-2018 Vice President of Community Service of HCC’s Omega Sigma

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Art students practice their shading and highlighting skills while drawing the human skeleton in Serge Kovalchuk’s foundation drawing class at Central.

Art students at Stafford develop skills on the potter’s wheel in Jason Kishell’s ceramics class.

Drawing images Kovalchuk/COE for Perfoming Arts Ceramics images Houston/COE for Performing Arts

by Serge Visual &

by Sergio Visual &

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Above, the Central Dance Ensemble performs “I’m Better Every Day” during the ensemble’s seventh annual concert at Heinen Theatre in April.

At right, CDE dancers Patricia Zavala (left), Patricia Clifford (center front), Hannah Dunning (right) and LaDondrea Harrison (rear) perform “Seat of Unrest” during the CDE’s seventh-annual concert. This piece was selected for the gala concert at the 2017 South Central Region American College Dance Conference in March.

Images by Sigi Cabello/COE for Visual & Perfoming Arts

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Above left and above right, Mauricio Campos with the Brazilian Arts Foundation of Houston conducts a Capoeira workshop for HCC students during the 10th annual Akwaaba Dance and Drum Festival at Spring Branch.

At left and bottom right, former Houston Ballet principal dancer Lauren Anderson conducts a master class for HCC students in Studio Q at Central.

At bottom left, Barakissa Coulibaly conducts an Ivory Coast African Dance workshop for HCC students during the 10th annual Akwaaba Dance and Drum Festival at Spring Branch.

Images by Sigi Cabello/COE for Visual & Perfoming Arts

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At top left, Central and Stafford choirs combine for concert during Music Honors Recital at Central.

At top right, Andrew Briggs directs the choir during a flash recital at Central as Wendy Adler plays piano.

At middle left, Erin Naylor performs during the Guitar Ensemble Recital at Central’s Mers Stage.

At middle, Ericka Castillo performs during the Guitar Ensemble Recital at Central’s Mers Stage.

At bottom, Central and Stafford choirs combine for recital at Stafford. Professors Andrew Briggs and Pierre-Alain Chevalier and Patrick Parker, piano.

Images by Sigi Cabello/COE for Visual & Perfoming Arts except for top right (Donna Pinnick/COE for Visual & Performing Arts) and bottom (Sergio Huston/COE for Visual & Performing Arts)

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At top left, Basic Theatre Practice class students D’Andre Glover, Oscar Lazo and Jennifer Dyess work together at Stafford to help build the set for “Trifles.”

(Anthony Reilly) At top right, Xavier Laines and Sebastian Echavarria in “Reasons to Be Pretty” at Spring Branch. (Sigi Cabello/COE for Visual & Perfoming Arts) At right, Derrick Zamora, Leah Hurbrough, Antonio DeLuna, Isaac Cordova and Jennifer Dyess perform in “Trifles” at Stafford. (Sergio Huston/COE for Visual & Performing Arts) At bottom right, Oscar Lazo and Amy Michelle Pope work on the “Trifles” set during Basic Theatre Practice class at Stafford. (Anthony Reilly) At bottom left, Leah Hurbrough and Jennifer Dyess in “Trifles.” (Sergio Huston/COE for Visual & Performing Arts)

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Clockwise from top left: Hoa Chung takes first place for “A Minor Piece” in the 2017 Spring Student Juried Exhibition at Central; Briana Bermundez receives an Honorable Mention for “Concrete Spine” in the 2017 Spring Student Juried Exhibition at Eastside; Gabriel “Aroh” Arzate takes Best of Show Level 1 for “Daydream” in the 2017 Spring Student Juried Exhibition at Spring Branch; Cecelia Maldonado takes Best of Show for “Incertidumbre” in the 2017 Spring Student Juried Exhibition at Eastside; An T Duong takes Best of Show Level 1 for “Metal Beauty” in the 2017 Spring Student Juried Exhibition at Spring Branch; Seth Michael Moody takes first place in the Level 2 Student Exhibition for “Shark: in the 2017 Spring Student Juried Exhibition at Stafford; Barbara Moreno receives an Honorable Mention for “Negative Space” in the 2017 Spring Student Juried Exhibition at Eastside.

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COMMENTARY

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Guest commentary: Reflecting on A ‘ Revision of Forward’ Egal•i•tar•i•an (adjective) aiming for equal wealth, status, etc., for all people 3517 Austin; 303 Fine Arts Center; Houston TX 77004 Phone: 713.718.6016; Fax: 713.718.6601 Adviser: Fredrick Batiste

SPRING 2017 EGALITARIAN STAFF Editor-in-Chief ...........................................Jimmieka Mills News Editor .................................................. Alyssa Foley Sports Editor .............................................John Cañamar Culture Editor ............................................. Erik Calderon Photo Editor .............................................................. TBA Social Media Mgr. ..................................................... TBA Staff Writer ......................................... Skarleth Velasquez Staff Writer .................................................. Fabian Brims Staff Writer ................................................... Ana Ramirez Staff Writer ................................................................ TBA Staff Writer ................................................................ TBA Staff Photographer .................................................... TBA ——— The Egalitarian has been the official student newspaper of the Houston Community College System since September 1974.

The Egalitarian is published bi-monthly, every other Wednesday except during holiday breaks.

Print circulation is 8,000 copies per issue and distributed to selected HCC campuses in the Houston, Spring Branch, Alief, Katy, North Forest and Fort Bend areas. Comments and contributions are always welcome.

Deadlines for contributions and advertisements are one week before the issue print date.

The Egalitarian is written and edited by students of Houston Community College. This publication does not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, interests, attitudes and tastes of the Board of Trustees, HCC administration, faculty, staff or students.

Opinions and editorial content of The Egalitarian that are unsigned do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Egalitarian staff or adviser. The Egalitarian reserves the right to edit any submitted material for grammatical errors, offensive language, libelous materials and space constraints. It may also refuse any advertising that does not adhere to the HCC mission.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The Egalitarian staff consists of HCC students who must complete all tasks required to produce the newspaper, which serves all campuses of the HCC System. We want all students from all majors to contribute. However, we must follow our submissions policy in order to operate under our limitations of time, energy and staff.

All staff and contributing writers must be currently enrolled students at Houston Community College. The Egalitarian interacts with contributing writers via e-mail and telephone.

Visiting The Egalitarian will not help contributors get published, only quality work will.

Publication priority is given to staff members and assigned articles, and verbal commitments for assignments will not be accepted or recognized.

Press releases, story ideas, news tips and suggestions are always welcomed.

Any student interested in joining The Egalitarian staff may request more detailed information regarding story length, topics, style, etc., by e-mailing The Egalitarian Faculty Adviser Fredrick Batiste at adviser@hccegalitarian.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The author of this guest commentary, Katherine Rhodes Fields, is a fine arts professor in the Center of Excellence for Visual and Performing Arts. She is also president of PrintMatters, a Houston-based nonprofit arts organization that promotes traditional and nontraditional printmaking, encourages print collecting and furthering the professional growth of members through citywide outreach, public arts functions and annual member exhibitions.

C

ollaboration, by its very nature, plays a crucial role in developing creative solutions and ideological improvements that impact our daily lives.

Advances within the scope of the arts, business, healthcare, education and technology depend on collaborative efforts.

NASA, with its involvement in the ISS (International Space Station), relies on purposeful relationships to advance and activate creative strategies utilizing the introspection and communication gained through positive collaborations.

This concept and application of a synchronous collaborative effort, which is the practice of collaborative interaction in real-time, has influenced the work flow of print shops throughout the world and has done so for centuries. In fact, the spread of literacy depended upon synchronous collaboration of forward thinkers (artists) in a printmaking studio. The ingenious process of moveable and printed type relied upon a cooperative system concurrently producing images and books for the masses.

As early as the 15th Century, German relief-based print shops employed a system of divided labors where artists operated in active partnerships to produce prints (a work of art produced in multiple impressions). There were the Reissers, draftsmen who formed the designs, the shop artisans transferring the designs to the blocks, the Formschneiders who carved the design into and out of the wooden blocks, and then the Aufdruckers who made the impressions by placing ink on the block and would pull ink from the surface of the incised or carved blocks leaving an impression on the papers with pressure from a press.

Asynchronous collaboration, working together within differing time frames, as an act of creation, pushes beyond the confines of synchronous collaboration, and allows for the autonomous players to slow down, reflect more upon ideas and perhaps strategically share practices within seemingly disparate artistic processes of cooperating parties.

Courtesy of HCC COE for Visual & Performing Arts Poet and author Wendy McGrath, standing at left, and University of Alberta professor Walter June, standing at right, discuss their collaboration at HCC’s Central Campus. McGrath and June’s exhibit, “A Revision of Forward,” is on exhibit at Central until July 3.

This type of collaborating, is in itself, a true art form, where the process creates unexpected outcomes while producing synergistic results. An example of how asynchronous collaboration can create a truly inspiring aesthetic moment for a viewer can be experienced in the exhibition, “A Revision of Forward,” on display at the Center of Excellence for the Visual and Performing Arts Central Visual Arts Gallery in the FAC Building until July 3, 2017.

This show is the manifestation of a fifteen-year asynchronous collaboration between two Canadian artists — the award-winning poet and author Wendy McGrath and Walter June, an internationallyacclaimed printmaker and professor emeritus from the University of Alberta.

This exhibition is a part of PrintHouston 2017, a city-wide and summer long celebration of printmaking, organized and promoted by PrintMatters, a Houston based 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization whose mission is to promote traditional and non-traditional printmaking, encourage print collecting, and promote the professional growth of its members and print artists through city-wide outreach, public art functions and exhibitions.

Upon first glance, the viewer is immediately brought into the world of this longterm conversation based on recollection of time and personal memory between the artist who re-creates experiences with words and the artist who responds and adds to these lines of poetry with a refreshed view of simple objects.

The text from McGrath’s book of poetry titled “A Revision of Forward” are incorporated into the hand-pulled prints, not as an illustration, but rather as an additional layer to the cause of Jule’s artistic process that comes from the conceptual premise of Monoha, the use of simple objects in a work of art in a reduced or reinterpreted form.

The prints integrate Jule’s

analog film photographs of these objects, paper, glass, balloons and plastic sheeting as layers of photomechanical etchings and lithographs (traditional handpulled printing techniques) that extend as memories of Jules’ actions in his studio and life as well as build upon the essence of McGrath’s at times visceral and at other points nostalgic in verse.

Scale and the incorporation of sculptural elements build a new dimension to the experience for the viewer marking the presentation of each work as an entirely new engagement of its being. Without knowing the origin of the objects presented, beyond the actual readable text, there is still a sense of familiarity that draws you into the work.

It is as if, one can see anew within the juxtaposition of lines of verse layered with marks and forms of familiar objects, not truly known, engaging new perceptions and forming visual relationships that present as significant experiences that command our full attention.

As one walks through the gallery, taking in each work, the craftsmanship and execution of the printing processes are breathtaking. The quality of the print work is outstanding and its presence brings viewers to pause in its wonder.

At its core, the collaborative efforts of Jule and McGrath relate directly to how two seemingly different artistic processes, such as writing and fine art printmaking, can join forces to help viewers see the world differently. As the collaborative efforts of artists carving and printing blocks of wood brought the Western world to enlightenment through literacy, the effects of collaboration seem endless.

Perhaps experiencing this body of work may inspire the viewer to seek out opportunities of collaboration and in turn, create valuable connections to other people or nations, building upon reflections and memory laying groundwork for future inspirations that could positively impact our world today.

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