The Mercury 01/25/16

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January 25, 2016

THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

Alum goes missing

Police looking for any info on ’15 graduate last seen Jan. 18 in Dallas

CLIMBING TO THE TOP

INSIDE THE WORLD OF GAMING

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HOUSES OF THE HOLY: JUDAISM Jewish student finds peace, community in local synagogue

DALLAS POLICE | COURTESY

Michael Tseggay disappeared after leaving his apartment around 6 p.m. on Jan. 18. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology in May. CARA SANTUCCI News Editor

Family and friends are searching for a UTD alumnus who went missing earlier this month. According to a report released by Dallas police, Michael Tseggay, BS ’15, was last seen leaving his apartment on Pear Ridge Drive on Jan. 18 around 6 p.m.

His sister, Lisa Tseggay, said he had nothing on him when he left his apartment — his wallet, keys and phone were all left behind. His wife Caroline was

→ SEE TSEGGAY, PAGE 12

Res Hall South floods First floor evacuated after steam pipe bursts, pours water into dorms

MIA HERNANDEZ | COURTESY

Residents of Res Hall South had to be evacuated after a steam pipe burst on Jan. 20.

BHARGAV ARIMILLI Mercury Staff

Editor’s note: This story orginally ran on The Mercury’s website. It has been updated since its original publication.

Students living in Residence Hall South were given an unwelcome surprise on Jan. 20 when a ceiling steam pipe burst, flooding the first floor and temporarily closing the building.

The flooding, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m.,

→ SEE FLOOD, PAGE 12

SAHER AQEEL | MERCURY STAFF

Finance and accounting sophomore Alana Stovall attends the Congregation Tiferet Israel in Dallas. The main sanctuary, with the eternal flame, the ark that houses 11 Torahs and the six candles overlooking the bima — or podium — holds particular meaning for Stovall, who converted to Judaism when she turned 18.

NIDHI GOTGI

Managing Editor

Editor’s note:This is the first part of a five-part se- think), ‘Wow, I’m so thankful for what they did ries on places of worship that members of the UTD for me,’” she said. community attend.

However, Stovall’s connection with Judaism extends past her family’s influence. The synagogue played a huge role in strengthening her lana Stovall remembers feeling nervous as she made her way to the tie to the religion.

“I fell in love with this shul pretty fast,” she Congregration Tiferet Israel, a synasaid. gogue — or shul — in Dallas, on Dec. 22.

The shul is 126 years old and Alana’s mother As she stepped into the chapel inside the synagogue and made her way to a small chamber at and uncle attended Hebrew school there. Their the head of the room called the ark, the finance bar and bat mitzvahs were held there as well.

Although she does pray at home sometimes, and accounting sophomore came closer to combeing in the shul puts Stovall at ease and brings pleting her conversion to Judaism.

“It was as if there was a spirit in the air of her closer to God. “The only symbol of (my home) being a peace and tranquility,” Stovall said. “It was like time could’ve stopped and stood still and that Jewish home is the fact that we have a mezuzah would’ve been OK. I was surprised I didn’t cry.” on our doorposts,” she said. “When you go to The rabbi parted the doors of the ark, drew shul, even if it’s just for lessons with rabbi, there’s the curtains and revealed the three Torahs, or a spirit in the air of a holy place. It’s quiet and Jewish holy books, housed inside. Stovall’s fam- it’s not a place where you have to think all the ily and friends watched as she recited her com- time.”

On the day she went to consult her rabbi mitment to God. “It was a very surreal experience,” she said. about starting her conversion process, the sight “It was one of the most rewarding and fulfilling of five stained glass murals in the entrance of a hallway struck her. These murals pictured the (experiences) I’ve ever had in my life.” five books of Moses, the chief prophet of the religion. *** “It was particularly special,” Stovall recalled.

Stovall is of Chinese descent, but was adopted “It shows you in a really compact version what by her mother Libbi Stovall when she was 3 it’s about. I’m a visual learner, so it shows (the) years old and came to the United States in 2000. not always beautiful, but meaningful, stories Although Libbi was born Jewish, she doesn’t that the Jewish people live by.”

Further into the shul, the main sanctuary also observe the faith strictly, so she didn’t convert resonated with Stovall because of all the symbols Stovall to Judaism when she was young.

Stovall chose to take that step when she it houses of God’s existence. The large ark, the turned 18. She said her grandparents were the sight of the six candles and the eternal flame’s enduring light reaffirmed her faith in God. reason for her attachment to the faith. “(The main sanctuary) really struck a chord “My grandparents had the biggest impact on my Jewish life. When I’m sitting at shul, (I with me, because even when we’re not there for

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→ SEE JUDAISM, PAGE 11

When you are in the synagogue with all these other people who volunteer their time to be there, it’s nice.

It’s a community into which you can bond with other people of the same faith, even if they don’t observe to the same level. It’s a time to reflect and reassess your goals.

— Alana Stovall, finance and accounting sophomore

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NEWS

THE MERCURY | JAN. 25, 2016

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JUST THE FACTS

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OPINION New health guidelines misleading 3

JAN. 25, 2016 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

Lack of restrictions on red meat in new dietary suggestions made by federal authorities shows lack of ethics, influence of lobbyists CARA SANTUCCI COMMENTARY

The most recent edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans omitted a crucial detail: the recommendation to cut back on red meat intake in light of numerous scientific studies showing a correlation between early mortality rates and the consumption of red meat.

Every five years, the United States government releases new dietary guidelines for the general public.

They exist as the government’s official recommendations for eating habits. The 2015-2020 guidelines were finalized and became available online early in 2016.

We’ve known for some time that an overconsumption of sugar is detrimental to one’s health.

This year, the guidelines call for a reduction of sugar consumption to less than 10 percent of calories per day. For Americans who, on average, consume up to 20 teaspoons of sugar per day according to a report from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, this means cutting sugar intake by half.

The recommendations are compiled from a report made by the members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The group reads up on the scientific and medical evidence in nutrition and

prepares a list of suggestions. The government then decides which of the recommendations to include in the guidelines. Occasionally, something important gets left out of the mix.

The dietary guidelines do not include anything about a reduction in the consumption of red meat, in spite of the committee advising Americans to cut back.

Adult males in particular struggle with not staying within the recommended intake amount of meat.

“If the guidelines stated that red meat consumption needs to be reduced, this would not be true for the general population,” said Sara Asberry, the registered dietician at the Student Wellness Center. “This would only potentially be true for adult males.”

However, the bleak results of a 2012 study done by the Harvard School of Public Health found every daily additional serving of processed red meat was

linked to a 20 percent increase in the risk of dying prematurely, whereas an additional daily serving of unprocessed red meat was linked to a 13 percent increase. When presented with this study, among others, it is clear why the advisory committee urged the government to include an explicit warning about the consumption of red meat.

The guidelines do include a recommendation to eat more seafood — a healthier protein option correlated to a 7 percent decrease in mortality risk according to the same HSPH study — but says nothing about red meat.

So the suggestion to cut back on red meat makes an appearance, but it isn’t all that clear.

Additionally, according to a report released

by NPR, the committee’s TIM SHIRLEY | MERCURY STAFF recommendation to limit red meat intake prompted protest from the meat industry. After going back and forth during the public comment period, the government chose not to

include anything about red meat intake in the final revision of the guidelines.

According to the report, half of all adults in the United States have one or more preventable “chronic, diet-related diseases.” It’s clear that nutrition — especially proper nutrition — is important The government faced a serious ethical dilemma when choosing whether or not to include a suggestion about red meat consumption. It is important to give citizens the best recommendations possible with the current scientific evidence available.

However, the government also has a duty to keep its economy afloat, part of which includes maintaining thriving industries.

Most of the information Americans get about what to eat comes directly from food companies who have a financial stake in selling us their product. It’s extremely important to have a reliable, neutral source of nutrition advice.

The government made a mistake when they yielded to outcries from the meat industry and did not make a recommendation about red meat intake. In doing so, it failed the American public.

Perhaps more importantly, it failed children. The Dietary Guidelines are the source of the menu for the School Lunch Program, as well as other programs involved in distributing meals.

In omitting evidence linking red meat consumption to mortality, the government prioritized industry over the health of its citizens — the very definition of an ethical faux pas.

Sander’s imperfect, most viable candidate Mainstream media focuses on positives of Vermont senator, fails to mention democratic socialist’s history of imperialist foreign policy WILLIAM VILOUDAKI COMMENTARY

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign has received much political coverage in recent weeks after a strong showing at the Democratic Debate on Jan. 19, the release of a single-payer universal health care program and surges in the Iowa and New Hampshire polls. As a 74-year-old democratic socialist who rarely bothers to comb his hair, the political establishment long dismissed him as a radical pariah, posing no threat to the next Clinton coronation.

Now that he stands within striking distance of a win in Iowa and New Hampshire, the establishment regularly attacks Sanders. Few of these criticisms hold water when one considers the alternatives — warmongers, demagogues and neoliberals to the bone.

Yet by throwing our weight behind Sanders, many ignore the nuance — and often hypocrisy — of his ethos and candidacy, which includes war mongering.

Most of the recent media focus is on Sanders’ health care plan. Under his single-payer system, everyone would be eligible for free health care, at the cost of $1.38 trillion a year. His plan has come under fire as unrealistic and expensive. Although the cost is fairly daunting, nonfederal spending over the next 10 years will amount to nearly twice that at $28 trillion, according to projections in “Health Affairs.” A

single-payer healthcare system would replace private insurance and be funded by a tax on the middle class and an even higher tax on the wealthy elite, which ends up saving families money.

Additionally, Sanders is often touted as a champion of the poor. He supports a $15 minimum wage, the decriminalization of marijuana, the dismantling of Citizens United — which allows for SuperPACs — and free public education — all policies that benefit the lower class and consonant with his support of social democratic welfare states.

He has consistently worked for middle class families, voted for affordable housing, women’s rights and progressive taxation policies. Sanders’ popularity is founded on his fight against classism, unlike Hillary Clinton, who fought for “welfare reform” as First Lady, stripping away essential welfare assistance for poor families. These policies spiked extreme poverty in families with children by 150 percent, subjecting the lower class to even greater hardship.

All of his policies, however implausible some may seem to the centrist establishment, are more in line with the moderate social democrats of Europe and progressive left than any form of socialism. His “radical” ideas of reforming Wall Street, getting big money out of politics and health care for all are rather populist in nature — are supported by the majority of Americans. In an age when 62 people own half of the world’s wealth, according to a new report from Oxfam International, a fight against the Clinton-cleaving upper class is not only popular — it is necessary.

Most recent attacks on Sanders are silent on wealth inequality and instead direct focus towards the ‘implausibility’ of single-payer health care. These attacks, however, rely on a reader’s sympathy toward the wealthy elite. Sanders’ most odious policies, specifically his foreigh policy in, are shared by the establishment, any criticism of which would require a caliber of selfawareness unattainable by the mainstream media.

U.S. foreign policy has undeniably torn apart the Middle East, destabilized dozens of countries and ravaged Central America. And when one closely inspects Sanders’ foreign policy, his cognitive dissonance becomes clear. A true reformer would condemn government-endorsed terrorist attacks, such as NATO’s missile strikes on Radio Television Serbia, which killed 16 innocent people. Yet Sanders enthusiastically supported this NATO aggression on the former Yugoslavia, which rained bombs on factories and homes, tore apart infrastructure and murdered thousands of innocent civilians over 78 days.

Showing no remorse afterwards, and still lauding the bombing of Yugoslavia to this day, Sanders is demonstrably an imperialist. Yet this form of murder is normalized in a neoconservative state that refuses to acknowledge any foreign policy missteps. Why are these narratives, in opposition to an abject foreign policy, still so invisible? Where is the candidate who shows equal compassion abroad as he does at home?

In a society stripped of “experience,” our news is absorbed through mainstream media. Theodor

Adorno, a philosopher, saw the “culture industry” as constituting a principal source of domination within complex, capitalist societies. Society shifts the individual from producer to consumer, so one cannot achieve one’s own critical consciousness. This is an administered policing of consciousness, inescapable in the mainstream media. And one which, bankrolled by faux-left billionaires like Rupert Murdoch, offers no unilateral alternatives to foreign aggression.

Sanders is, thus, a bowdlerized form of nominal opposition, a product of an imperialist system of domination. Yet if we reject Sanders as a viable, compassionate candidate, the only candidate truly working to aid the poor and disenfranchised, then our only alternative is despair. His warmongering pales in comparison to that of Clinton or the GOP, and thus demands a compromise from the engaged citizen.

Ernst Bloch once said every criticism of imperfection implies possible perfection, or a hope thereof. By paving the way for a social democratic renaissance in America through health care, a living wage and so on, Sanders will do more civic good than any other potential candidate.

Although his foreign policy is imperialist, his domestic policy still favors the many over the few, and remains our best option. We may celebrate the ‘radical’ Sanders, yet we must not let his brand of compassion be painted as virtuous and absolute. Rather, it is necessary to embrace him as our most ethical option, acknowledge his imperfections, and keep pushing for a better and more compassionate future.

RESULTS FROM LAST COMET COMMENTS “Which presidential candidate do you support the most?”

72% Bernie Sanders 13 votes

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11% Ted Cruz 2 votes

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11% Hillary Clinton 2 votes

6%

Candidates that failed to receive votes: Jeb Bush, Martin O’Malley,Rand Paul and Donald Trump

Marco Rubio 1 votes

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NEWS

THE MERCURY | JAN. 25, 2016

Conservative group kick starts on campus

Organization looks to interact with other groups during election year

COLLEGE REPUBLICANS | COURTESY

The College Republicans, which will be one of the few conservative groups on campus, will officially start operations later this year.

BHARGAV ARIMILLI Mercury Staff

A new organization called College Republicans, \is making a place for conservative students on campus.

Christian Sweeney, a political science major and a founder of the group, said he wanted the club to be a focal point of conservative thought on campus.

“I hope it serves as a hub for conservatives to talk, hang out with each other and share ideas,” he said.

Erick Bruno, a former Marine Corps recruiter and the current head of public relations for the club, said he was compelled to help start College Republicans to leave a legacy.

“There hasn’t been an active Republican group in a long time and I wanted to leave a mark behind,” he said. “I’m a political science major and a political junkie, so I figured, ‘Hey, why not do something I’m passionate about?’”

Sweeney said another reason for creating the club was to challenge the notion of UTD as a predominantly liberal campus among Texas universities.

“The real reason I started this club is because I know many Republican or conservative friends who just don’t feel like talking in class because they feel like they’re going to get laughed at or ignored,” he said.

Bruno, who was also involved with organizing the Campus Carry town hall meetings, shared similar sentiments.

“I think most of the professors here try to be nonpartisan. I think younger students here tend to identify with Democrats or liberal ideology,” he said. “It’s important for me to challenge (that) and talk about it so that they’re not always in lockstep.”

The club is still in the recruitment phase but will have completed all prerequisites for becoming an official UTD organization by the end of the month. Bru-

no said he plans to host recruiting events on campus and utilize Facebook and Twitter to increase the club’s visibility and boost recruitment.

Even though the club has not yet commenced full operations, other organizations have already reached out to College Republicans. Student Government has discussed the possibility of hosting a debate between College Republicans and College Democrats. In addition, the two organizations will co-host a voter drive before and after the debate to register more voters for the upcoming election.

The 2016 election is a significant event for College Republicans, Bruno said, and the club plans to host debate-watching parties leading up to the Republican primary.

“It’s a very interesting election cycle because there’s a lot of pushback against establishment — anyone who’s a Washington insider,” Bruno said.

“That’s why I think people are looking more towards non-traditional politicians such as Trump, Sanders and Cruz.”

Sweeney said College Republicans aims to make itself a resource for GOP supporters in the Dallas area and has already been successful in this endeavor.

“The Marco Rubio campaign asked us if we could volunteer at a rally in Dallas,” he said. “These (are) the opportunities that members could expect to get information about in order to participate in Republican Party politics.”

Looking beyond the election, the group said it wants to introduce its members to opportunities at the local and national levels as well.

“I hope College Republicans (becomes) a resource for information about local opportunities like volunteering or internships, connecting them to local politics,” said Sweeney. “That’s where you start — you start local.”

UTDMERCURY.COM

What to do in case of disaster UTD’s Director of Emergency Management on strom preparedness During the recent tornadoes that struck North Texas, the Environmental Safety and Health department was busy monitoring the situation and coordinating safety efforts. The Mercury spoke to Mariah Armitage, the Director of Emergency Management, on what that night was like and what to do in case of a similar emergency on campus.

pus and we’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had some minor flooding here and there, but nothing that’s caused major, significant damage.

Q: What was UTD’s response when those storms happened the day after Christmas and tornadoes were spread throughout parts of Dallas county?

A: So we have plans to address exactly that and we would carry them out and they’re similar to the process I just described. What would happen is we would do some more coordianation with the city directly, as well as with UT System, as well as with the State of Texas Department of Emergency Management and FEMA to do damage assessments, to look at the damage costs to the university and see if we meet any thresholds for assistance from other entities. Otherwise, the university would make those repairs as needed.

A: Believe it or not, our response to things like that happen way before they even happen. We plan, we train, we exercise and we develop relationships with key stakeholders within the university and external to the university. So basically, when we know severe weather could be impacting our area, we work closely with the national weather service and we communicate directly with them and talk to them about what they think may happen, what the forecast could be and my staff begins monitoring that closely with the National Weather Service. So that could be several days out. Sometimes we have no notice events and it could be happening within minutes and we immediately start that communication with the National Weather Service. Simultaneously, we communicate with the city of Richardson and our internal key stakeholders as well ... We began monitoring the weather conditions a couple of days prior to the event. The day of the event, we had staff members watching the weather closely ... As we saw the storms spinning up, we sent out communications to our internal key stakeholders, letting them know that the storms were moving into the area and then we watched as the situation unfolded ... As the event unfolds throughout the night, we’re making sure that we’re communicating any type of threat to the campus ... We continue that process until the threat has passed.

Q: During your time at UTD, has the university ever gone through a situation where severe weather has directly affected the campus and these procedures have had to be carried out?

A: Multiple times. Nothing that has caused severe, overwhelming damage to the campus community, but we have monitored severe weather events numerous times .... Recently, I believe in October, we had a lightning strike (on) one of our mastpoles in one of the parking lots and I think that’s pretty much the most damage that I’ve seen here on cam-

Q: If something like a tornado were to ever hit campus, would anything change or would the plans put in place be carried out?

Q: What would you tell students who are in an emergency situation?

ARMITAGE

A: That’s a very good question. One is that they need to be prepared ahead of time. They need to have a plan, they need to make an emergency kit and they need to know what types of actions they need to take and specific hazards. They should understand what hazards can happen here on campus or where they live. We have a public education campaign called “Comet Ready” where we promote different actions people can take and we have that information on our website. “Ready.gov” has that as well and also “knowwhattodo.com.” That’s a specific regional campaign developed by local emergency managers that details specific hazards that happen in our area ... We also have emergency response procedures that we tell people specific actions they should take in a situation here on campus. We can have a variety of hazards or incidents on campus. We want people to evacuate, shelter in place or lockdown. We go to different functions on campus and give lots of presentations and talk to students, faculty and staff and educate them on exactly what they should do.

LIFE&ARTS Club fights cancer with sweet beverages

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JAN. 25, 2016 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

BRAVE NEW WORLD Gamers on campus find community, deeper meaning in realm of videogames

Members with, without history of disease show compassion

ANDREW GALLEGOS | PHOTO EDITOR

Student Government Vice President and ATEC sophomore Grant Branam (left) helps ATEC junior Zach Royal create his own character in “World of Warcraft.” Royal’s character of choice was a male Troll named “Hillary Clint the Pilgrim.”

SAHER AQEEL | MERRCURY STAFF

The Lemon Club donates its profts to pediatric cancer, which receives less funding than other cancers.

MIRIAM PERCIVAL Mercury Staff

A group of students is using an out-of-thebox method to help the fight against cancer — lemonade.

Usman Hyder, molecular biology sophomore, became interested in taking part in that fight last year.

“I wanted to be an oncologist, so that’s where my interest came from,” Hyder said. “I was interested in cancer in the first place, so this was a good way to get to know more and support the field I wanted to join.”

Since its creation, the Lemon Club has raised over $1,200 dollars through fundraising alone. The club holds monthly lemonade stands on campus to raise money for the cause. During the colder

→ SEE LEMON, PAGE 6

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS Editor-in-Chief

Amorine — or Amo for short — is a Destruction Warlock in “World of Warcraft,” the popular massively multiplayer online roleplaying game by Blizzard. Amo can summon demons, cast fire and perform a slew of other nefarious deeds.

To the people on the outside of the gaming community, it can be difficult to see how anyone could take this creature seriously. To Student Government Vice President and ATEC sophomore Grant Branam, however, Amo, his character in the game, is more than just an avatar.

To Branam and other gamers like him at UTD, these characters are extensions of themselves. *** Ever since UTD founded ATEC, the first program of its kind in the state, in 2004, the university has become a hub for students and gamers looking to take steps to improve and build on their passions. That’s why Monica Evans, the head of the

game studies program, came to work at UTD. “I actually made the choice when I finished my Ph.D. to stay here at UTD … essentially to build the gaming program I wish I had gone through, for lack of a better way to put it, particularly at the undergraduate level,” she said.

Now the school is known for that program and the gaming subculture it has helped spread across the whole university. From the multimillion-dollar Edith O’Donnell ATEC building to the computer labs filled hourly with “League of Legends” players, the university has become a haven for people who find safety in the gaming community.

That’s something that took Branam and Zach Royal, an ATEC junior, by surprise when they first stepped foot on campus.

Royal, who grew up with the “Metroid” series, first came to UTD wanting to study biology. When he first enrolled, he didn’t even know ATEC was a major offered. One day, however, he read a blog post

by Felicia Day lamenting “Gamergate,” a controversy last year where a number of people in the gaming community had begun harassing her and other female gamers.

PINPOSSIBLE

“Towards the end of the blog post, she said something like, ‘I don’t want people to shy away from games because games are art. That’s what they are.

They are art and they’re beautiful and they’re worth fighting for and they’re inspiring,’” he said. “I agreed with everything she was saying and it really got to me and I was like, ‘I want to be a part of that. I want to make games bigger.’”

Royal then decided to switch his major to ATEC where he was able to further focus on that passion.

Branam — who originally switched between engineering, math and business before choosing ATEC — had a similar reaction when he arrived at UTD. “I had no idea there was a gaming community here. I only knew that I loved games and whenever new games would come out, I would freak out.

And whenever I found people here that shared that feeling, I was sold,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is incredible.’”

For Branam, the game that matters the most to him is “World of Warcraft.” Players, who often refer to the game as “WoW,” put hours into the fantasy

→ SEE GAMING, PAGE 6

Difficulty

Burlap Garland

Cost Durability

LINDA NGUYEN | MERCURY STAFF

T

here’s an ongoing joke with my friends that my apartment looks like it could’ve come right out of a Pinterest board. I have self-painted canvas art and a variety of other decorative odds and ends sitting in my apartment — some haven’t even been hung up yet. However, since I moved in at the beginning of this year, I’ve had a random empty space on one of my walls above my canvases. So after almost a year of having a random empty space, I decided to take some of the burlap I accumulated from post-Christmas sales and add something decorative.

WHAT YOU NEED - Burlap - Stencils - Paint and a sponge paint brush - Twine or jute - Scissors - Hot glue gun - Piece of white paper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the burlap into triangles — one for each letter of the word you want to write 2. Use the stencil to paint the letters onto the burlap

3. String the completed burlap triangles onto the twine or jute 4. Secure the triangles in place with a drop of hot glue Garlands have always been so pretty to me, so I was excited to finally get to tackle one for my apartment. I decided to paint the word “create” because I want my apartment to be a place of creativity both artistically and intellectually. I chose to make a burlap garland because, after seeing several DIY’s for different types of garlands, I liked the rustic feel of using burlap.

It’s kind of a difficult fabric to work with, however, because burlap has a lot of holes in it. I ended up making sure I had a sheet of paper below the burlap as I was painting. Another issue I ran into was that once you cut the burlap, the possibility of it unfraying is really high. Some tutorials I’ve seen suggest purchasing a defrayer to ensure that your garland lasts longer than just a few months. I don’t know if I’ll do that for my project, but it’s a possibility if you want something more permanent on your wall. This is also why I suggest securing the twine to the burlap with a dab of hot glue. That way, the burlap pieces stay in place as well.

Next time, I think I’d try to get stencils with prettier writing.

It ended up being a pretty quick project, but ensure the paint drys before moving it around and adjusting it on the garland so the paint doesn’t get everywhere. Also, looking towards Valentine’s Day, it could be a good decoration with some red paint.

Every issue, The Mercury’s craft connoisseur will scour Pinterest and craft blogs in search of the best and worst DIY projects. Show us your results on social media using #pinpossible and @utdmercury.

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LIFE&ARTS

UTDMERCURY.COM

→ LEMON

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

months, they serve hot chocolate.

“We’re selling hot chocolate for $1 and hopefully it will warm up the students and also raise awareness about this organization,” said Sharon Chang, a neuroscience sophomore and the secretary of the Lemon Club. “Students will have the opportunity to donate and help out with the cause.”

The club chose Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to be its focus because of the story behind it. Alex was a young girl from Connecticut diagnosed with neuroblastoma when she was 1 year old.

In 2000, Alex turned four and opened her first lemonade stand to help raise money for other children like her. Within four years, she raised over $1 million through donations.

She passed away when she was 8 years old, but her parents carried on her legacy by creating the foundation in 2005 to continue to help other children affected by cancer.

Although Hyder is no longer planning to become an oncologist, he is still passionate about finding a cure for cancer. His club donates all of their earnings to ALSF, an organization that provides grants for pediatric cancer research.

“I chose this organization in particular (because) pediatric research isn’t nearly as funded as the prevalence of it in society,” he said. “It doesn’t have nearly the amount of funding as adult cancer like breast cancer and pancreatic cancer.”

According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, pediatric cancer research doesn’t receive as much funding as other types of cancer research, despite being the primary cause of death in children under the age of 15.

Pediatric cancer research receives $180 million from the ACCO annually, while other projects — such as breast cancer research — receive over $500 million.

In an attempt to reconcile this difference, organizations like ALSF provide grants to researchers who focus on pediatric cancer. Since 2005, ALSF has raised over $120 million and sponsored 550 research projects to find new treatments and remedies for pediatric cancer.

Biochemistry sophomore Thomas Howlett, a member of the Lemon Club, learned about ALSF through his own experience with pediatric cancer five years ago. He was diagnosed with acute

→ GAMING

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 CHAD AUSTIN | MERCURY STAFF

world of Azeroth where the game takes place, creating their own characters that each have unique abilities and traits.

Branam started playing “WoW” after watching his brother play it when he was 8 years old. He was fascinated by the immersive world and the characters his sibling had total control over. He said he’s been hooked ever since The SG vice president isn’t the only one who enjoys Blizzard’s epic fantasy world. Evans actually uses the game in one of her classes to help teach.

“The class picked it,” she said. “They had a choice between that, “Guild Wars” and “Final Fantasy XIV” and we went with “WoW” because it’s still, design-wise, dominant in the field.”

Evans has played the game since it first came out and she quickly became enthralled. She prefers to use characters from the Horde — who are typically “evil” — while her husband prefers to use characters from the Alliance — who are typically “good.” She said it’s like having a Republican and a Democrat in the same house.

In class she uses a Blood Elf Paladin, which can take major damage for the group, heal others and kill monsters — the three major roles in a group setting in “WoW.” This allows her to step in and help if the students need assistance.

For the gamers of UTD, games can offer community, comfort, entertainment and a myriad of other benefits. On a deeper level, however, games have the ability to make a life changing, even lifesaving impact on the gamers themselves. *** When Branam was younger, he found himself slipping away from the people around him. He wouldn’t show any emotion and would spend hours in his room alone. The only interactions he had with his parents would be at dinner and answering simple “yes” and “no” questions. He rarely even made eye contact with his family members.

Although he didn’t know it at the time, Branam was in the midst of a battle with depression.

“It wasn’t that I was sad. It wasn’t that I was frustrated. I didn’t feel anything. I was just there,” he said. “I was to the point where I just accepted that I felt like I didn’t belong. I just accepted that.”

Branam didn’t have anyone to connect to and became suicidal. He said his parents would yell and curse as him for constantly playing his games and being so distant.

Luckily, he had one outlet he could turn to — the people in the games.

“A really awesome component of games that I think a lot of people miss out on is that you meet someone and you don’t know what they look like, you don’t know who they are, you just see this group of pixels and these really flashy colors. But that can be anyone,” he said.

Raised in a very religious household, Branam met someone in the game who was an atheist. He met people who shared different worldviews than him and who valued him for who he was, even though they had never met him in person. He said those differences that others displayed made him confident in who he was as a person.

myeloid leukemia, a rare blood cancer that affects bone marrow.

Although his treatment only lasted five months, his immune system weakened due to the bone marrow transplant. Howlett had to be isolated for over a year.

“Since it’s a brand new immune system, you can’t go out into public so they slowly reintroduce you back,” he said. “At the very beginning, friends and family can’t see you and pretty much the only place I could go is to the hospital.”

Since his remission, Howlett has had a different perspective on and appreciation for life. He said wants to give back to pediatric cancer research in any way he can.

“I know that I want to give back to cancer in general, but specifically pediatric because it is under represented. Even the research is lacking,” he said.

Howlett helps with bone marrow donation organizations and fundraising for pediatric cancer research as often as he can. He admires the members of the Lemon Club because of their devotion — even though most members haven’t personally experienced pediatric cancer.

“I think it’s really cool to get behind the cause without even having a connection to it,” he said.

The Lemon Club will run its next hot chocolate stand on Feb. 10 and will sell Valentine’s Day grams.

It’s also planning a talent show on Feb. 26 from 7 to 9 p.m.

“I think it is a really cool event for people who might be interested in the club or want to demonstrate their talent,” Chang said. “It’s a really cool way for people to come together to learn about the club.”

Their annual Lemon Mile Run is on March 31.

Participants run a mile around campus to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer.

Chang said that the run last year was successful and she hopes this year’s will be even better.

“Our club made t-shirts, so seeing the people in those t-shirts and seeing (that) we’re all involved in the same cause felt really good,” she said.

This semester, the Lemon Club hopes to raise the largest amount of money since their creation. It aims to collect over $1,500 through the lemonade stands, the talent show and the Lemon Mile Run. Hyder anticipates that working with these organizations will help them raise more money for pediatric cancer research.

“We’re working on coordinating with a few other organizations to make more events,” Hyder said. “So we do have a lot going on this semester and we do hope to raise a lot of money.”

More importantly, those strangers-turnedfriends may have helped save Branam.

“Without the people that I met on videogames and without the videogames themselves, I very well could have just ended my life,” he said.

Evans has seen games help people in a similar vein.

She said she has heard of and seen countless individuals who have found solace in games, but the scientific data on how exactly they help doesn’t exist yet.

“Those are some of the things that the faculty and students are interested in doing here is saying, ‘Look, this is exactly how games can help these sorts of people,” she said.

She said one of the factors that make games a good form of therapy is the ability for gamers to step, at least momentarily, into other people’s shoes.

“With the MMO’s, the massively multiplayer games, anytime that you have sort of a multiplayer community, now you have people interacting with each other through the lens of the digital and that’s a different sort of helping space … The sort of communities I’ve seen form in games and the sort of things people have told me online … I don’t think they would ever tell me in person,” she said.

“Conversations I’ve had with people halfway around the world who were going through something and needed to talk to anybody at all … There’s something about sending it into the void.” *** As games continue to develop and progress, students like Branam and Royal are looking to use the medium to pay it forward and help other people through the power of virtual worlds.

Royal is interested in researching how games can be used for purposes other than just entertainment.

“I think there is so much more that games can offer other than what people are seeing,” he said.

“Like with ‘World of Warcraft,’ it’s not just this fantasy world where you can be an Orc. These younger kids, these 13, 14-year-olds that are playing it, they’re learning how to delegate responsibility and how to lead a group of people to a common goal. Games teach us skills and things that we would normally have a harder time learning out in the real world.”

He wants to study how skills learned in the gaming world, like problem solving, can be transferred to real world applications. He’s also interested in the power of educational games and how they can be used to teach subjects like math, science and history.

Branam said he wants to work for Blizzard and develop games like “WoW.” Part of the reason is because he loves the game itself, but also because he wants to be a part of what helped him get through his own struggles.

“The reality is, I think, there’s not going to be a government program, there’s not going to be a magical solution that one person thinks of and says, ‘Oh, I’m going to cure everyone’s depression,’” he said. “But, most people that I’ve met and a lot of people I’ve met that played ‘WoW,’ it’s done that for them. It’s provided them an outlet — it’s given them therapy, without even trying … I really want to be a part of that thought process that’s really profound. I just want to be involved in that somehow … Just be a part of the team that makes these types of things happen, that brings these types of people together and that creates this interaction and this epic experience for these people.”

SPORTS

JAN. 25, 2016 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

7

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM Climbing team finds solace in overcoming fear, challenges of rock climbing

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Software engineering graduate student Grant Freeman attempts to complete a route on the rock climbing wall in the Auxiliary Gym on Jan. 19. Freeman, who has been climbing for a year and a half, enjoys the challenges that climbing brings him.

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS Editor-in-Chief

A faint cloud of white chalk filled the air and ropes descended from the top of the color-patched rock wall in the Auxiliary Gym as the climbing team gathered for its first competition of the semester on Jan. 19.

Although there was a mix of climbers with varying skills, they were all there for one reason — to get to the top.

Rock climbing is unlike other sports in that there are no referees, no stadiums or arenas where spectators can watch and rarely any attention given to professional climbers. Other sports also don’t have people hanging 50 feet in the air as they try their best to not think about falling.

Oddly enough, that fear of plummeting towards the bottom is what drives a number of climbers to take up the sport in the first place. Carlos Avendaño, the climbing team’s president, said he is afraid of heights.

Getting over that apprehension is part of the reason he enjoys climbing.

“I never really feel 100 percent comfortable on the wall,” he said.

“Every time I’m able to successfully complete a climb, or even when I

fall, I still feel better about myself because I put myself out there and tried to reach the limits.”

For others, climbing is a way to do something out of the box. Grant Freeman, a software engineering graduate student who helps lead outdoor climbing trips, picked up the sport after doing everything from mountain biking to snowboarding to get his adrenaline fix.

Once Freeman, who started climbing about a year and a half ago, heard about UTD’s rock wall from a friend, he became hooked. However, he soon learned rock climbing is less about adrenaline and more about focus.

“Once you get on the wall, you can’t think about anything else except for the fact that you’re ascending the wall,” he said. “All you want to do is progress as hard as you can, climb harder routes and go to bigger places.”

Like Avendaño, Freeman started climbing with a fear of heights. That all changed when he climbed a 50-story wall outdoors with a friend. Now he sets up routes for other members of the team whenever they go on trips.

For Freeman, the journey from a beginner to an experienced climber helped to make him more involved with the team. More than that, however, he found a community that embraced and pushed him.

“If someone’s getting stuck and someone who’s more advanced knows how to do that move, they’ll try to teach them,” he said. “It’s all about pushing people to the next level. (It’s) a huge drive for a lot of us.”

While Avendaño uses climbing to overcome his fears and Freeman uses it to try something different, others find that climbing helps to supplement the other sports they play. Kennedi Rose, a global business junior, climbs and is also a member of the tennis team.

Rose joined UTD’s climbing team last semester after taking a year and a half off from the sport. She said the activity helped her to improve in other athletic endeavors, which include basketball, mountaineering and backpacking.

“All the climbing strength and conditioning that you have to do actually helps me out a lot in other sports,” she said.

Although Rose is taking this semester off from tennis, she said whenever she is doing both she struggles to balance both sports. Often, she’ll wear herself out just to keep up.

→ SEE CLIMBING, PAGE 8

All-Star game turning into popularity contest

Ability of fans to have direct impact on voting for game skews results, leads to teams unreflective of actual NBA talent PABLO JUAREZ COMMENTARY

Georgian center Zaza Pachulia was 14,227 votes from being named a starter in this season’s NBA All-Star game in Toronto on Feb. 14.

For most of his career, Pachulia has been considered a back-up center, starting in only 359 games in 857 NBA appearances. This season, Pachulia has taken a drink from the fountain of youth while playing for the Dallas Mavericks, posting 10.4 points and 10.7 assists per game — his first time averaging a double-double.

However, those particular statistics are not All-Star starting material.

The fact that he was so close to being voted in is not a knock against Pachulia, but rather against the voting system itself and why putting all the power in the hands of the public doesn’t yield merit-based results.

NBA fans across the globe cast their votes every season to determine the All-Star starters for each respective conference. The coaches are then given full discretion in choosing the reserves for each team, none of which can be players on their own team.

Prior to 2013, fans could vote by position. Now, they can vote in only two categories — backcourt and frontcourt. The top two backcourt and top three frontcourt vote-getters from each conference are selected as starters.

The problem with this voting change is that there is a possibility that three small forwards end up rounding out the starting backcourt, as evidenced by this year’s voting results.

→ SEE ALL-STAR, PAGE 8

CHAD AUSTIN | MERCURY STAFF

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THE MERCURY | JAN. 25, 2016

SPORTS

UTDMERCURY.COM

→ CLIMBING

down and had no place to go.

Stuck 250 feet in the air, the pair had to sleep outside on a ledge that only stuck out about 2 feet Although Rose is taking this semester off from ten- from the wall of the mountain. As the temperature nis, she said whenever she is doing both she struggles dropped and moisture started to collect, the pair to balance each sport together. She’ll often wear struggled to get any sleep.

Eventually, Alpine Rescue came up the backside herself out just to keep up.

Still, she said the feeling she gets from climbing of the mountain, repelled down and took the duo to safety at 5 a.m. after waiting to the top of a mountain is what nearly 10 hours. pushes her to continue moonlightInstead of deciding to take ing as a climber.

Getting up a break when they got back “Getting up there, and then you down, Freeman had other plans just accomplished all that — like it there, and then in mind. was awful and it hurt so bad, but you just accom“I slept for three hours and I once you get to the top and you plished all that climbed the next day,” he said. just feel it, you’re just like, ‘Oh, “Nothing was going to stop me. crap. That felt so good,’” she said.

— like it was Nothing bad happened, so at the While climbing can be relegated awful and it hurt end of it all everything was OK to indoor gyms filled with rainbow and it was fine … If you take the colored rocks, a number of climbso bad, but once precautions, scary things ers decide to take it to the next you get to the top right can happen, but you won’t get level and climb large mountains. and you just feel hurt. And that’s what makes you Although climbing as a whole is relatively safe, going outdoors is it, you’re just like, come back.”

Even though climbers have often much more dangerous than ‘Oh, crap. That plenty of stories like this one, the indoor climbing because there sport demands they do one thing are no pre-arranged ropes to keep felt so good.’

— get back up and keep reaching climbers safe and the terrain can be for the top. sometimes unpredictable.

— Kennedi Rose, “It ends up being just more of For Freeman, it turned out to be an adventurous sport,” Freeman life threatening. climbing team member said. “It’s just trying to do the The grad student and a friend next great thing or put your were attempting to climb a mountain together when one of the ropes they were using name on something big. That’s what makes it to secure their way got stuck. They were coming really fun.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

→ ALL-STAR

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Though modern basketball has increasingly moved toward playing small ball, basketball purists say rosters like those are not representative of a true starting line-up. Reverting back to the old voting system would ameliorate this problem.

Year in and year out we see players who are currently injured or have recently returned from an injury near the top of the voting leaderboard. The writers at “SB Nation” proposed a mandatory minimum of games played for eligibility. They also said in order to be eligible to be voted in, a player must appear in at least 60 percent of their team’s games.

Raising that threshold to 80 percent seems more suitable. Players at the All-Star level are expected to contribute to their team every night. Durability is a quality that separates star players from first ballot hall of famers. Just take a look at Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki.

The idea of the NBA All-Star game has deteriorated in the mind of the public who now consider it a glorified pick-up game, while the voting is considered a popularity contest.

High profile celebrities, fans, vine stars and even players themselves campaign for All-Star votes, often skewing the end results. The flaw in the voting system is having too much power in the hands of many.

Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant is posting an all time low field goal percentage, yet he led this year’s race with 1,891,614 votes — nearly 300,000 more than this season’s frontrunner for the MVP award.

That should not happen.

At the end of the day, fans are what make the game of basketball meaningful. They want to see their favorite players at the All-Star game.

The dilemma is in the impact All-Star appearances can have on a player’s contract. The “Derrick Rose Rule,” as it is called, is a provision in the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement that is a prime example of this.

The rule allows players still on their rookie contract to earn 30 percent of a team’s salary cap on their next contract — as opposed to 25 percent — if they have been voted twice as an All-Star starter, selected twice to an All-NBA team or have won an MVP award.

All-Star starting selections not only affect a player’s salary, but are also taken into consideration when nominating retired athletes for the hall of fame.

If a starting bid in an All-Star game has these kinds of ramifications, the voting should not be relegated to a mere popularity contest.

A possible solution is to allow fans to vote for each position. Then, coaches take the top three vote-getters from each position and select the starters from that applicant pool to fulfill the five man starting line-up. Each playoff team deserves at least one All-Star. After taking that into account, coaches choose the reserves to round out the 12-man line-up.

The voting needs to be fixed to serve as a reward system based on merit. There should be a balance of power between fans and those directly involved with the NBA — such as coaches, executives and general managers.

DO YOU LIKE TALKING ABOUT SPORTS? DO YOU LIKE MONEY?

SPORTS QUICK HITS BASEBALL TEAM TABBED THIRD IN ASC After finishing as a conference runner-up last season, the baseball team has been picked to finish third in the ASC preseason poll. The team finished with a 29-17 overall record and entered the ASC tournament as the third-seed. It made the conference’s title game for just the fifth time in team history. Two players, senior third baseman Brandon George and senior pitcher Aaron Bach, were listed as players to watch in the conference.

SOFTBALL TEAM FINISHES SEVENTH IN PRESEASON POLL After missing out on the last spot in the ASC tournament last year, the softball team has been picked to finish in seventh place this season. Last year, the team finished with a 16-19 record. This year will be the first year the Comets will be under head coach Rich Wieligman. Three players, senior outfielder Taylor Ervin, junior pitcher Lauren McLeod and freshman shortstop Ravin Wilson, were were tabbed as Players to Watch.

MEN’S BASKETBALL STEADY IN THIRD PLACE The men’s basketball team is currently sitting in third-place in the ASC with a little under nine games left in the regular season. The team has gone toe-to-toe with conference heavyweights like Louisiana College and ETBU, but lost its last two games to both schools, who currently sit at the top of the East division. The Comets next game will be against ASC newcomer Belhaven on Jan. 28 at Belhaven’s campus.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FIGHTING TO STAY ABOVE WATER With the end of the season in sight, the women’s basketball team is fighting to finish with a decent spot in the conference tournament. The team is currently fifth-place in the ASC East with a 10-7 record — well behind undefeated division front-runner and rival UT Tyler.

SCORING UPDATES MEN’S BASKETBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

JAN. 14 VS. TEXAS-TYLER

W 88-52

JAN. 14 VS. TEXAS-TYLER

L 55-92

JAN. 16 VS. LeTOURNEAU

W 82-79

JAN. 16 VS. LeTOURNEAU

L 56-66

JAN. 18 @ CONCORDIA

W 91-76

JAN. 18 @ CONCORDIA

W 75-65

JAN. 21 @ ETBU

L 57-61

JAN. 21 @ ETBU

L 56-59

JAN. 23 @ LOUISIANA COLLEGE L 56-69

APPLY TO BE A SPORTS WRITER FOR THE MERCURY. WE CAN HELP WITH BOTH.

EMAIL Pablo Juarez at SPORTS@UTDMERCURY.com or ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS at EDITor@utdmercury.com for more information

JAN. 23 @ LOUISIANA COLLEGE W 62-61

COMICS&GAMES

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JAN. 25, 2016 | THE MERCURY

LIFE OF TEMOC

ALVIN NGUYENLY | MERCURY STAFF

BRYAR BENNETT | MERCURY STAFF

COMET SCRAMBLE

FANIMALS

LEE PRICE | STAFF

THAT FIRST WEEK

ANTHONY INGA | MERCURY STAFF

KEVIN VANHORN | MERCURY STAFF

RESOLUTIONS

KYLE KRUSEKOPF | MERCURY STAFF

EMILIO CHAVEZ | MERCURY STAFF

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THE MERCURY | JAN. 25, 2016

NEWS

UTDMERCURY.COM

Sophomore first Film highlights from UTD to get lack of oversight spot in conference Only 55 out of 450 applicants accepted to Havard program

in Big Pharma

Movie debates ethics of companies that mark up prices of medicine

TIM SHIRLEY | MERCURY STAFF

“Fire in the Blood” explores how pharmaceutical companies have taken a hold over the distribution of medicine to people who need it and the culture of presciription drugs that has spread across the country.

SURAIYA RAHMETULLA Mercury Staff

CHRIS LIN | MERCURY STAFF

Brooke Lopez is the first student from UTD to make it into Harvard’s Public Policy and Leadership Conference. She said she hopes attending the conference will help to boost UTD’s standing among academic institutions.

MIRIAM PERCIVAL Mercury Staff

Next month, UTD will have its first-ever attendee at Harvard’s Public Policy and Leadership Conference.

On Feb. 18, Brooke Lopez, a public affairs sophomore, will attend the conference at Harvard’s campus just outside of Boston.

Out of the 450 applicants, Harvard selected 55 to attend this year’s conference. The five-day event will feature various speakers and seminars.

Students who attend are granted automatic admission into Harvard’s Kennedy School graduate program.

Although Lopez isn’t sure what to expect from the conference, she is excited to develop new perspectives on public policy issues.

“I am going to be able to gain a refined look into public policy I might not have had before as a student advocate,” she said. “I might be able to look at it more as a career, not as a side job I take on next to college.”

Motivated by a friend’s murder in high school, Lopez started working when she was a teenager with Jodie Laubenberg, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, to pass a bill that would keep a person charged as a minor from expunging felonies from their records.

“It was a lot harder when I was in high school because nobody took me seriously,” she said. “So it’s been a lot easier when I’ve been in college and I’ve been pursuing a degree in public affairs. They take to

it a lot nicer.”

Lopez hopes to introduce the bill into the next Texas House of Representatives session in 2017.

While Lopez was attending Wylie East High School, she became close with her teacher Vito Peri who she often talked with about her accomplishments, going to college and her dream of being in politics. Peri also helped her create her nonprofit, Students of Change, which focused on social assistance and health care in the community.

“This is a huge honor and I’m very proud of her, but I can’t say that I’m very surprised,” he said. “She is one of the most dedicated students that I had.”

Lopez is currently on the executive board of the UTD chapter of Delta Zeta. Her chapter director Angel Hunt said the sorority is excited Lopez is going to Harvard next month.

“We’re so proud to have Brooke, and the fact that she is so compelled to be in public service — it is a sweet spot for me personally,” Hunt said. “I love to see people getting involved and driven to make a change in our world. Getting involved politically is something that a lot of people shy away from, and the fact that she has no fear and is ready to take on the world is awesome.”

Lopez said she hopes that attending the conference will help advance UTD’s academic standing with Ivy League universities.

“It’ll be an amazing opportunity to not only put me on the map as a public policy advocate, but to put UTD on the map as a very serious, academically advanced university,” she said.

As the lights dimmed in the Jonsson Performance Hall on Jan. 20, the audience of students and faculty members focused its attention on the visuals taking over the blank screen. Within the first few minutes of the documentary preview of “Fire in the Blood,” the message of the film was portrayed through a cartoon sketch.

The sketch depicted the Statue of Liberty, her face scrunched up in a scowl, as she held a bag labeled “Drugs” and looked down on the vast crowd of outstretched hands reaching for the bag.

“The question that I think the film poses (is) ‘Do pharmaceutical companies have a moral obligation to save lives?’” said Assistant Professor of Film and Aesthetic Studies Shilyh Warren. “This film documents essentially the pharmaceutical companies’ patent control over antiretroviral drugs and the way that lives are essentially expendable in the rest of the world.”

The film, which was presented by the Center for Values in Medicine and Science and Technology as part of the Viruses, Vectors and Values Lecture series, depicted the daunting realities of HIV and the millions of deaths faced by citizens of developing countries resulting from the disease. According to the documentary, blocked access due to sanctions and patents on ARV drugs enacted by pharmaceutical companies is to blame.

The film delivered insight not only from visionaries at the forefront of aiding developing countries, but also from those fighting the battle of HIV epidemics. Experts varying from economist and Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz to former president Bill Clinton were featured in the film.

Seema Yasmin, a public health doctor, UTD faculty member and journalist, has had extensive experience researching HIV and AIDS. In 2010, she went to Botswana for a year as a Clinical Research Fellow.

“I remember some of the conversations really well,” she said. “For example, a man came in who had HIV and who had a (Cytomegalovirus) infection in his eye because of the HIV. The clinic that I worked in would try and pay for people’s medication and also give them money to buy food and stuff. The discussion that he was having was, ‘Do I use this money to buy food and medication, or do I use this money to pay for the funeral of a relative who just died of HIV?’ … If you’re having to decide that, it’s great to giving people medication, but they haven’t got food to eat, then what’s the point?”

Mark Tschaepe, an assistant professor at Prairie

View A&M University who also serves on the Board of Directors for AIDS Foundation Houston, facilitated the discussion panel. Some topics centered on the stigma surrounding HIV, the varying perspectives of those featured in the film, why Big Pharma is considered the adversary and the philosophy behind the views of the community about HIV. “Usually when we are talking about illness, we are talking about people who are impoverished (or) who are suffering the most and this isn’t simply with regard to unavailability of medication. This is also with regard to susceptibility of the disease,” he said.

“I think there really needs to be an increased level of education not simply on what medications are good (and) what medications are effective, but also how do we address poverty in addressing disease.”

The panel also discussed the statistics that the documentary stated. According to the film, which was made in 2012, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies made more than the profits of the top 493 companies on the Fortune 500 list combined.

In addition to the profound amount of revenue generated by Big Pharma, the cost of making one pill for HIV — also called an antiretroviral cocktail — is roughly 5 cents. The annual cost of a patient receiving HIV medication amounts to approximately $15,000 annually. For a person with HIV who lives in South Africa and earns an average weekly wage of $68, the cost for ARV drugs is astronomical.

“Companies do that to capture what economists call normal profits,” said Abigail Durden, an economics junior, during the discussion session. “It would make a lot of sense to just say, ‘Why don’t we just charge 10 cents a pill, and, with the millions of people that are HIV positive, why don’t we cater to all of them, boost up our volume and make a ton of money?’”

Opinions on the flaws of the documentary, from the cinematography to the content, were shared during the discussion.

“What I didn’t like in the film was the implicit (and) explicit critique of the patent system as the cause of the problem,” said Fred Grinnell, a professor at UT Southwestern. “New drugs are very expensive to bring to market and often cost more than $1 billion. (Research and development) leading to new drugs frequently is carried out by universities with federal funding or by small companies, but the very high costs of human clinical studies required to demonstrate efficacy and to gain FDA approval of new drugs typically are paid for by Pharm. Without patent protection and the potential to profit when new drugs succeed, Pharm would not be in the drug development business and we would have no new drugs.”

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EVENTS CALENDAR

THE MERCURY | JAN. 25 2016

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UPCOMING EVENTS

→ JUDAISM

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

God, He’s there for us,” she said. “Even when we’re not deserving of His love and of His forgiveness, He finds a way to forgive us, and that’s something that we, as humans, really struggle with.”

Stovall’s conversion took an entire year. She was tasked with rigorous coursework and attending Shabbat services every Saturday. She made promises to give up shellfish and pork and to marry and raise her children Jewish.

However, the most difficult part for Stovall was overcoming the fact that not everyone was accepting of the conversion. “(Some people) really shut me down,” Stovall said. “(They said), ‘We won’t observe that conversion. You’re not going to be Jewish in our eyes.’

Like any other human being, I want to be accepted. I want to know that just because I come from a different place, that it’s not going to change how people look at me.”

Her appearance — being Chinese and 5 feet tall — set her apart from the crowd, but she had to look past that and believe that she was, in fact, Jewish.

“I had to get over being paranoid of other people’s judgments,” Stovall said.

Her rabbi was her greatest supporter through the conversion process, she said.

“He said to me, ‘Why does it matter? You know you’re Jewish in your heart and soul and that’s what matters,’” Stovall said. “That was the day I learned to accept myself. That was the hardest thing about Judaism.”

Since overcoming the obstacles to conversion, Stovall has found a

home in her shul.

“When you are in the synagogue with all these other people who volunteer their time to be there, it’s nice,” she said. “It’s a community into which you can bond with other people of the same faith, even if they don’t observe to the same level. It’s a time to reflect and to reassess your goals.”

To finalize her conversion, Stovall had to complete the ritual of mikvah, which she described as a “Jewish baptism.” The mikvah room holds particular significance for Stovall because of the promises she made to the rabbis that attended her mikvah ceremony.

“They said, ‘Alana are you ready?’ and I said, ‘Yes, I am ready,’” Stovall said. “They said, ‘Do you promise that after going mikvah that you will practice and abide by all the laws of Judaism that are given to women’ and I said, ‘Yes, I will.’”

After making the promises to the rabbis, who then stepped outside, she approached the steps that led down to the mikvah pool completely unclothed. It had fresh running spring water that created white noise.

She stood with her legs apart and tilted her body forward until she was submerged completely.

From that point forward, she was officially Jewish.

As a student, her fast-paced schedule keeps Stovall busy all week, but on Shabbats, when she attends shul, she’s able to put everything else on hold and concentrate on being close to God. “It’s the atmosphere of Shabbat,” she said. “It’s a time to be at peace. Especially for me as a college student, I get really caught up in life. It’s stressful. I’ve got assignments due, I’ve got so-and-so nagging me — I don’t have time. I’ve really given a lot of thought to what makes Shabbats so nice for me and it’s just you sit there and you breathe.”

CATHERINE NANAGAS | MERCURY STAFF

Judaism has several important symbols related to the religion, including the Ark, the Mezuzah, the Bima and the Shofar.

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THE MERCURY | JAN. 25, 2016

NEWS

with all the relevant information. The post has been shared 1,500 times, Lisa said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Lisa has had to process this from Houston, several hours away from where Michael and her parents live. at work when he disappeared. “(I’ve) been keeping really busy, which I think Tseggay’s mom, Lemlem Giorgis, said Caroline came home to find only a note where her husband has been good for (me),” Lisa said. “After that first day he left, I just kind of stayed home and should have been.

“She goes to the bedroom and she finds a piece of dealt with it, but then I would go to work … paper,” Giorgis said. “That piece of paper says, ‘I love Then in the evenings, on Facebook, (I would) you, we’re having a good time. My parents love you see what I can do, share different posts and I’d just like their daughter, keep in touch with them. I keep up with my family and my sister-in-law to see how everyone’s doing.” left the key to the house.’”

Lisa said Tseggay has a reputation for relentless That’s when Caroline called the police. Lisa said the whole experience has been difficult on the family. kindness and extreme intelligence.

“He’s probably the nicest guy anyone could “It’s been scary,” she said. “My mom, my dad and my sister-in-law, every day they’ve been searching ever meet,” she said. “Everyone liked him because for him, posting flyers everywhere. They’ve enlisted he’s nice, but everyone was so impressed with him because he’s so smart and they just felt like he friends and family to help out as well.”

Giorgis, her husband and Caroline went look- would do amazing things with his life.”

She said in his free time, ing for Tseggay that night he likes to watch movies, in the dog park and wooded As a mother, I still read comics, spend time area behind his apartment with his dog and play basketcomplex. Although neither want to search. Even ball at the recreation center. they nor the police found today, we had about He currently works both anything that night, the famas a medical assistant for ily continues to search for twenty, maybe thirty an orthopedic surgeon and any sign of Tseggay. people. Everybody with a food delivery service.

“As a mother, I still want to was going through the Lisa expressed that things search,” Giorgis said. “Even seemed to be going well for today, we had like about entire forest as far as Tseggay, even though she twenty, maybe thirty people. you can go ... and we felt he was still trying to Everybody was going through figure out what he wants to the entire forest as far as you couldn't find anydo as a career. can go … and we couldn’t thing.

Lisa said she remembered find anything.” him talking fondly about his Divers even came up from Houston to scan the Lemlem Giorgis, time at UTD. pond behind Tseggay’s resiMichael Tseggay’s mother “He liked his classes and he liked his teachers and he dence for any clues. They had some friends through found nothing. his classes,” she said. “He In addition, Giorgis and her husband have been searching the city looking any- seemed to really like it there.”

Anyone who wants to help out with the search where they think Tseggay could be.

“We are calling every hospital every single day — can join the Facebook group, called “FIND he’s not there. We tried to reach homeless shelters MICHAEL TSEGGAY,” and share the flyer posted — some of them are not being cooperative. And with all the pertinent information.

“I think just going on Facebook, trying to spread we’re going to psychiatric hospitals,” she said. “It’s a the word — I think that would be the most imporbig challenge.”

The family contacted Fox News, but encountered tant thing,” Lisa said. “The more people see this, difficulty when trying to get the authorities to release then the more people are going to have their eyes their report to the public. Giorgis said the police did out looking.”

Giorgis expressed how Tseggay had such a posinot see it as a life-threatening incident due to the tive impact on the people around him. She rememnote Tseggay left.

“If someone leaves you a note (and) he didn’t bered a parent-teacher conference back when he take no wallet, no money … took nothing, just was still at Plano Senior High School and the the clothes on his body and left his key for his wife compliment his teacher paid Giorgis’ son.

“There’s no one who doesn’t love Michael … with the note … something is going on in his brain or something,” his mother said. “If this is not life- His teacher told me, ‘You know what? I just had a son,’” Giorgis said. “And he told me, ‘I wish my son threatening, what is?”

Tseggay’s wife Caroline made a post on Facebook would grow up to be like Michael.’”

→ TSEGGAY

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→ FLOOD

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

also led to a building-wide water outage. Though the residence hall lobby was the most affected by the flood, some student rooms incurred damage as well.

Shortly after the event, residents were evacuated and UTD police blocked off the building.

Andrew Swanson, a first floor resident of South and a freshman majoring in finance, was among those evacuated.

“I was in my room when I heard the alarm go off,” he said. “When I got to the lobby, the entire floor around the info desk was visibly wet and there was a torrent of water falling from the ceiling near the mailboxes. In all honesty, I think campus officials handled the situation pretty well.”

Students who were returning to the residence hall from classes or other activities were not allowed to enter. Joanna Haug, a freshman majoring in psy-

chology, joined those waiting outside.

“I was coming back from working out and all I wanted to do was shower and get some work done, so I was really frustrated that I couldn’t even get in the dorm,” she said. “I think better and more continuous upkeep is probably the solution.”

The building reopened at approximately 3 p.m. At that time, the front lobby was still closed for repairs, forcing residents to access their rooms from the backdoors. Running water was restored to the residence hall shortly after 8:30 p.m.

Ryan White, the assistant vice president for Residential Life, said several students had to relocate to different rooms within the res hall and they will move back to their original rooms after the repairs are finished. He said the ruptured steam pipe has been fixed and the affected areas were slated to be dried by Jan. 24.

White said further repairs will start this week. There is not yet an estimate on the cost of the damage.