Trinitonian SERVING TRINITY UNIVERSITY SINCE 1902 s WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
VOLUME 109, ISSUE 22 s March 2, 2012
Audience stands as Klosterman delivers
What’s Inside
n Best-selling author entertains with humorous stories as he asks audience to push boundaries in pursuit of dreams by Kellie Benn News Editor
Bro Code Cracked
Men talk masculinity at second annual Men’s Conference on Feb. 25. Page 11
When Memes Attack Students’ grades may see drop as Trinimemes take over campus. Page 16
Best-selling author Chuck Klosterman had the audience on their feet during his lecture, “Life through the Prism of Pop Culture,” on Feb. 27 in Ruth Taylor Recital Hall. After expressing satisfaction at the fact that people actually showed up and regaling the audience with some humorous stories about his background and experiences, Klosterman said he wanted to try an experiment which he had never attempted before during a lecture. “People email me or talk to
n Organization dedicated to providing clean energy jobs chooses university as base of operations
Reporter
Men Advance Basketball team defeats Centre College to clinch SCAC championship. Page 19
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me – young people – and they’ll be like, ‘Should I follow my dreams?’ They’ll tell me what they want to do with their life, and then they’ll want me to advise them on whether or not they should follow my dreams,” Klosterman said. “And that’s a weird position to be in because part of me is like, ‘Sure, go for it,’ but then I think about it a little bit and it’s like, ‘Well, am I overlooking my responsibility here?’ Does the fact that this has happened to me mean that I should take this more seriously? So I start thinking about at what point should I stop telling people to follow their dreams. So I’ve devised a test.” Klosterman’s test, which was originally devised for the website Grantland.com, who rejected it because it was “too weird,” involves 30 dreams that people might have, each progressively weirder than the last. He had all members of the audience stand up as he read the dreams aloud.
photo by Moira Allen
n See KLOSTERMAN Page 5
Author Chuck Klosterman engages the audience during his lecture, “Life Through the Prism of Pop Culture,” on Feb. 27.
Fair Share Alliance comes to Trinity by Rachel Puckett
High
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
In January of this year, the national clean energy advocacy group Fair Share Alliance opened 12 Texas branches, one of them, located in the heart of San Antonio, pulls the bulk of their support from students at Trinity University. According to Charlotte Bartter, lead campaign director for Texas Fair Share, Trinity was selected as a base for the San Antonio branch due to its exceptional students. “Our national leadership decided that Texas need a Fair Share and that Trinity would be a really great place to get our roots. It’s such a smart school. It’s got really great students,” Bartter said. Fair Share’s purpose is to ensure that all Americans have access to jobs in addition to furthering the country’s clean energy initiatives. “Our mission is pretty much to work to make sure that every American has a fair shot at a good job, a secure future and a strong voice in our democracy,”
Bartter said. “We focus on pressing local and national leaders to stand up for every day citizens and put our interests ahead of those of corporations and Wall Street.” Bartter said that one of the simplest ways to create jobs involves investing in clean energy like wind energy. The Fair Share team at
Trinity includes about 25 members who meet weekly to discuss current events within the organization and the clean energy community. Currently, the team is working to raise awareness about a production tax credit for wind energy that is set to expire at the end of 2012. Should the credit expire, nearly 54,000
photo by Kendra Moloney
jobs will be lost in the wind energy field. In addition to job loss, the development of wind energy will drop between 73 and 93 percent in the following year. The Trinity team is rallying students and community members to reach out to Francisco Canseco, representative of the 23rd congressional district of Texas, in an effort to persuade him to extend the tax credit. Students and additional volunteers at the other 12 Texas branches are working to contact their representatives as well. “Participation can vary, and it depends a lot on what people are interested in,” Bartter said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of different things, but the three main things, or realms, I guess, are grass roots pressure — that’s actually going out into the community and actually talking to citizens, we’re going to be building a coalition and then we’re also going to be working in media.” Senior environmental studies major Anna Katz heard about Texas Fair Share at the beginning of the spring semester when Bartter presented in one of her classes. Since then, she has been working with the organization to raise awareness around Trinity’s campus and San Antonio.
Students listen attentively during a Fair Share Alliance event on Friday, Feb. 22, as part of an intitiative to create jobs in the clean energy industry.
n See FAIR SHARE Page 4