paisano volume 48 issue 4
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Paisano Volume 48 Issue 4TRANSCRIPT
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio
Volume 48 Issue 4February 5, 2013 {WWW.PAISANO-ONLINE.COM}{SINCE 1981}
Former contestant from ‘The Voice’ performs at UTSApg 6
UTSA’s Joanna Lambert has been named a fel-
low of the AAAS for her work with primaes
pg 5
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{San Antonio}San Antonio Mayor
Julian Castro an-nounced Saturday,
Feb. 2, that he would seek a third term in
City Hall.
{Texas}State District Judge
John Deitz ruled that the state’s school finance system is unconstitutional, ending months of
litigation.
{Sports}The Baltimore Ra-
vens defeated the San Francisco 49ers to win
Super Bowl XLVII.
{UT System}The UT Board of
Regents will review its policy on inappro-
priate relationships between students
and employees. This comes in the wake of reports that UT As-sistant Coach Major
Applewhite had a relationship with a
student in 2009.
{History}Lars Faaborg-An-derson, the Dutch ambassador to the
United Nations, paid a visit to UTSA 5
years ago this week.
{World}Multiple sources re-ported an Israeli air strike inside Syria, the most recent de-velopment in a con-flict that has lasted nearly two years.
{Basketball}UTSA’s teams will
take on UT-Arling-ton Saturday, Feb. 9. The women face
the Mavericks on the road and tip off at 7 p.m., while the men play in the Convoca-tion Center at 6 p.m.
Amanda [email protected]
Last month, a grassroots or-ganization called “Battleground Texas” was formed in order to shift the political momentum of the state toward a Democratic vote, just months after Barack Obama lost to Mitt Romney by 16 points in the Lone Star State.
Battleground Texas is in the beginning stages of the push attempting to turn Texas into a
swing state. Although Texas has not elected a Democrat to state-wide office since 1994, Battle-ground Texas has recognized the state’s shifting demograph-ics—a shift that suggests a more liberal electorate than in recent years.
Jeremy Bird, former nation-al field director for President Obama’s reelection campaign, is spearheading the organization. In a statement to Politico, Bird referred to Battleground Texas
Janae [email protected]
Defense Secretary Leon Pa-netta stated on Wednesday, Jan. 23 that the Pentagon is remov-ing its ban on women in combat.
Some positions will now be open, according to defense of-ficials, but not all. Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey will “initiate a process whereby the services will develop plans to implement this decision,” a senior defense official said.
“The special operations com-mand will continue to access, develop and validate gender neutral standards so that we can start assigning personnel to previously closed occupations,” Dempsey said at the announce-ment Jan. 24. Service leaders will have a trial period between now and a goal of January 2016 in which they can suggest “ex-ceptions” or areas that should remain male-only according to a memo jointly released by Dempsey and Panetta.
Former Air Force Reserve Staff Sergeant and UTSA senior Michelle Palmer agreed with Pa-netta’s decision. “I know many female troops that have already served overseas and in combat,” Palmer said. “If a female soldier is able to hold her own in train-ing and meet all the same re-quirements as the male troops, I don’t see any reason why the female soldier should be denied the same opportunities.”
Panetta opened his announce-ment on Jan. 24 by saying, “One of my priorities as Secretary of
Defense has been to remove as many barriers as possible for talented and qualified people to be able to serve this country in uniform.”
According to Panetta, for over a year, he, Dempsey and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been exploring the possible expan-sion of women’s crucial role in the armed services, on and off the battle field. Panetta went on to say that women make up 15 percent of the armed services, yet many positions prohibit women to serve.
These changes will impact the Army and Marine Corps the most. Both branches are to examine physical standards and gender-neutral arrangements within combat units and report their progress every 90 days ac-cording to CNN.
In a prepared statement, President Obama shared his support saying, “Earlier today, I called Secretary of Defense Panetta to express my strong support for this decision, which will strengthen our military, en-hance our readiness and be an-other step toward fulfilling our nation’s founding ideals of fair-ness and equality.”
Panetta made the announce-ment following his plans for resignation from the Pentagon. Former Neb. Senator Chuck Hagel has been nominated to replace Panetta and is currently going through the nomination process according to Politico.com
On Jan. 24, Panetta said, “There are no guarantees of suc-cess. Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier, but everyone is entitled to a chance.”
Erin [email protected]
In America, one in 88 chil-dren is diagnosed with autism—a neuro-behavioral disorder with an unknown genetic cause. Most children are diagnosed around the age of three, when autistic characteristics first be-come noticeable.
“That’s when we really start to notice kids are falling behind,” said Lee Mason, assistant pro-fessor of special education and a Board Certified Behavioral Ana-lyst (BCBA).
To meet the needs of the growing autistic population, the Behavior Analysis Certification (BAC) Board partners with over 170 universities with approved course sequences to prepare fu-ture BCBA therapists. Recently, UTSA joined the list, in large part because of Mason, also a BCBA therapist.
After Mason graduated with his master’s from Stephen F. Austin University, he accepted a job teaching special educa-tion students in the area. His students ranged from age six to 21 and needed individualized instruction.
Looking back on his under-graduate and graduate special education studies, Mason no-ticed one common thread—the excessive and ineffective use of impractical, theory-based les-sons.
“It was a broad range of expe-rience for me all at once. I think that got me thinking about how to better educate teachers that are going into the field,” Mason said.
Shortly after accepting his po-sition at UTSA, Mason began to design a five-course program
that would allow UTSA gradu-ate students hands-on experi-ence with autistic children.
To finalize the program, Ma-son teamed up with UTSA As-sociate Professor Maria Kaylor, a specialist in the early education of special education teachers.
In fall of 2011, the BAC Board approved the five-course program sequence for UTSA. Graduate students in the pro-gram will learn applied behavior analysis principles and tech-niques in order to be prepared for the BCBA exam.
Students seeking certifica-tion in behavior analysis with the BAC Board must also com-plete 1,500 hours of supervised field experience. To aid students, Mason and his team established an on-campus autism center, the Teaching Education Autism Model (TEAM).
“We wanted to standardize things and make it a little bit bet-ter,” said Mason. “We thought that if we could somehow pro-vide a controlled experience for students to begin accruing those hours, then we can make sure when we talk about something in class, they can come down here in the clinic and have the opportunity to practice some of those techniques.”
The TEAM Center will be available to students enrolled in a five-course program who are seeking to earn the field hours required for BCBA certification. The five-course program, which is separate from the TEAM Center, can be embedded into either the educational psychol-ogy degree or in the Interdisci-plinary Learning and Teaching (ILT), special education concen-tration. It is also available as a certification program for those students who have completed
their graduate coursework.“It’s great to have a hands-on
opportunity to learn, and I think students get a lot more out of it when they have applied experi-ence behind it, not just the text-book readings,” stated Mason.
A full year of planning and physical renovation was a ne-cessity for Mason and his team in order to create the program and the TEAM Center. Grant funding from Impact San An-tonio aided to remodel the au-tism room at UTSA’s downtown campus.
Opened to the public on Jan. 28, 2013, the TEAM Center fa-cilitates Applied Behavior Anal-ysis (ABA) therapy for families in need. Children can receive care for a nominal fee of $50 per semester for up to seven and a half hours per week, versus the private rate of about $50 per hour.
ABA therapy at the TEAM Center is specialized to each student’s needs.
“We look at the problem be-haviors the individual is dis-playing, whether that be tan-trum-ing, aggression, property destruction, self-injury, whatev-er else—what does it do for that individual, what function does it serve?” said Mason. “And based on our analysis, we come up with an individualized plan to develop more socially appropri-ate replacement behaviors.”
Because the center is operated by volunteers, child enrollment will change on a per-semester basis. Two UTSA graduate stu-dents currently support the cen-ter, allowing a four-child capac-ity; however, the TEAM room has the capacity for up to 10 children.
The center is currently focus-
Autism treatment center opens at UTSA
Pentagon to a l low women in combat ro les fo r f i r s t t ime
See AUTISM, Page 2
Washington group investing millions to turn Texas blue
File
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Women enrolled in UTSA’s ROTC program will now be able to apply for combat positions
Lee Mason developed a curriculum that enables students to earn credit while helping children with autism
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See BATTLEGROUND, Page 2
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as “a[n] organization that will make Texas a battleground state by treating it like one.”
Texas has 38 electoral votes (the second largest number next to California’s 55 electoral votes) in upcoming presidential elec-tions, making it a sizeable prize for anyone seeking the presi-dency.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the Hispanic popula-tion in Texas is the second larg-est in the nation, while the Af-rican-American population has maintained its proportion with the overall growth of Texas.
Additionally, the Texas State Data Center projects that by 2020, Hispanics will make up the majority of Texas’ popula-tion, while Caucasians will fall to the second-most-populous ethnicity.
According to a Gallup poll released before the election, non-whites preferred Obama to Romney by a more than 4-1 margin, making the demo-graphic shift in Texas a beacon of hope for Democrats seeking statewide office.
“Republicans need to solve this issue, politically, if they wish to win national elections, and they know it,” said Matt Mack-owiak, a Texas-based political consultant for the Republican party, according to the Wash-ington Post.
“With its diversity and size, Texas should always be a battle-ground state where local elec-tions are vigorously contested, and anyone who wants to be our Commander-in-Chief has to
compete and show they reflect Texas values. Yet, for far too long, the state’s political leaders, both in Austin and in Washing-ton, D.C., have failed to stand for Texans,” said Bird, according to Politico.
“Over the next several years, Battleground Texas will focus on expanding the electorate by registering more voters—and as importantly, by mobilizing Texans who are already regis-tered voters but who have not been engaged in the democratic process,” Bird told Politco. “Can-didates who represent Texans should have to fight hard for the honor—and Battleground Texas will help make sure they do.”
Battleground Texas notwith-standing, there are many other organizations whose main goal is to raise the voices of Demo-cratic voters across the state. Senator Wendy Davis (D-Ft. Worth) and San Antonio May-or Julian Castro, who gave the keynote ad-dress at the Democrat-ic National Convention in September, went to Washington D.C. last month to raise funds for the Lone Star Proj-ect, a group which is “designed to help in-dividuals, organiza-tions and the press see beyond the rhetoric and misinformation typically provided by the current Republi-can State Leadership in Texas and Texas Re-publicans in Washing-ton,” according to its
website. “Do I think we’re going to turn
Texas in two years? Probably not,” Annise Parker, Houston’s mayor and a registered Demo-crat, said to Politico. “Do I think we can turn Texas in four years? Absolutely, because I think the Republican Party in Texas is go-ing to drive itself off a cliff.”
Dave Carney, a Republican who served as a top political strategist for Rick Perry’s presi-dential run, told the Texas Tri-bune that “the more money they spend on [Battleground Texas] the better, because it will basi-cally lead to continued conser-vative dominance of the state.” Carney added, “It’s their mes-sage that hurts [Democrats]. It’s their inability to articulate a message that the vast majority of Texas voters agree with.”
BATTLEGROUND: Democrats seek to make Texas competitive within two election cyclesFrom Page 1
AUTISM: Center offers course credit while helping San Antonio youth
ing on children under five years old; however, long-term expan-sion goals may change that fo-cus.
“We know there is a lot of need, and we plan to address some of those other stages of life through the program as we con-tinue to expand,” said Mason.
In addition to providing care to local children and offering the experience for graduate stu-dents, the TEAM Center will also facilitate autism research at UTSA.
“If we have research coming up and we need to bring in a class of middle-school students that we can focus on something
like social skills, we have the ability to do that,” Mason said.
“Hispanics are currently the fastest-growing population to be diagnosed with autism spec-trum disorders,” stated Christi Fish, UTSA associate director of Media Relations.
“It compounds the need for services here in San Antonio,” Mason stated. “San Antonio is a phenomenal place to be work-ing in this particular field, since it’s such an underserved com-munity.”
While San Antonio consists of a majority Hispanic popula-tion, parents seeking to enroll their children in the program at TEAM do not have to worry about the language barrier—
something Mason called a “lux-ury.”
“The great thing about that is that our graduate student popu-lation does bring such a diverse and localized set of skills,” Ma-son said. “For instance, many of our students are first-language Spanish speakers, so we can provide therapy in Spanish, if needed.”
In the midst of its first se-mester, Mason said, “We’re just excited to be here to provide services to the community and provide experience for the stu-dents and promote research to the field of special education and applied behavioral analysis.”
For more information, visit www.utsa.edu/autism.
From Page 1
The TEAM Center has the capacity to treat up to ten children with autism each semester
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NEWSFebruary 5, 2013
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{The Paisano}Editor-in-Chief: Katy SchmaderManaging Editor:Stephen WhitakerNews Editor:Matthew DuartePaseo Editor:Sarah GibbensArts Editor: Jennifer AlejosSports Editor: Sheldon BakerPhoto Editor: Will TallentWeb Editor:Natalie FrelsBusiness Manager: Jenelle DuffSenior Copy Editor:Alyssa Torres
{Staff Writers}Daniel Crotty, David Glickman, Corey Franco, Valeria Rodriguez, Mag-alieh Acosta, Amanda Dansby, Valeria Perez, Bridget Gaskill, Christina Coyne, Randy Lopez, Lic-tor Prianti, Alex Camacho, Shelby Hodges, Delaney Marlowe
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{Contributing Writers}Julian Montez, Ethel As-berry, Leann Acuna, John Poplawski, Council Royal, Eliana Briceno, Marialuisa Bianchi, Ross Hutchin-son, Erin Boren, Rachel Corbelli, Philip Taele, Eric Mondragon, Jasmine Ro-driguez, Wilfredo Flores, Mario Nava
{Contributing Photographers}Scott Cochran, Katherine Kish
{Interns}Amanda Dansby, Janae Rice, Erin Boren, Sheldon Baker, Marcia Perales
{Ads Manager} Kevyn Kirven
{Advisor} Diane Abdo
{Advisory Board}Steven Kellman, Mansour El Kikhia, Jack Himelblau, Sandy Norman
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4 OPINION
The rise of microbreweries in San AntonioEditorial
A chaotic week in the Middle EastIn the
U n i t e d S t a t e s , we are in the mid-dle of a h e a t e d d e b a t e over gun c o n -
trol. It seems there isn’t a week that goes by without a nation-ally publicized shooting. Mean-while, in the rest of the world (namely the Middle East), there is violence that makes our shootings seem tame in com-parison.
In the past week alone, in the region of the world known as the fertile-crescent, there has been a suicide bombing at
the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. Israel launched an air attack on a military convoy in Syria that was purportedly tak-ing advanced anti-aircraft guns to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Syrian government didn’t have a military response against Is-rael, as it has been embroiled in a civil war for two years with rebel forces trying to overthrow President Bashar al Assad.
While all of that was going on the Islamic Republic of Iran un-veiled their version of a stealth bomber called the Qaher, or “Dominant” 313. The unveiling of their stealth bomber came during a 10-day celebration of 34 years since the Islamic Rev-olution in Iran overthrew the Shah in 1979.
Iran has also shown no signs of slowing down the develop-ment of its nuclear weapons’ program. The Iranian govern-ment has recently began sup-porting the nuclear program of North Korea in what could be the first step toward an alliance of two authoritarian nations diametrically opposed not only to the United States but also to the entire Western world.
A stealth bomber and a nuclear warhead program in Iran are the biggest dangers our country has faced in a gen-eration. It means that, if left to their own devices, Iran will be able to do to American cities what the Soviets never chose to do: launch a nuclear attack.
That threat is small right now,
but there is the danger of the threat becoming reality at some point.
The United States has of-fered to talk with Iran about the nation’s nuclear program. Germany has offered to medi-ate the bilateral talks. Though the past negotiations between the two have not gone well, these conversations might be the most critical. These talks may determine whether there is a war between Iran and the Western world.
Even as we, in this coun-try, continue to debate over our freedom to bear arms, we should continue to be thankful that we live in a country where the laws are not rooted in au-thoritarian ideals.
It may be a stretch, but there is the possibility every day that a war will break out in the Mid-dle East, and if or when that happens, it will undoubtedly draw the United States into a war with consequences we can-not fathom.
It is important that we, as a nation, remain aware of what is going on in the world around us because, as with the case of the Middle East, notably Iran, it has the potential to affect us within our borders.
Maybe peaceful negotiations will succeed and a few regional disagreements won’t evolve into a large-scale war.
Stephen WhitakerManaging Editor
Commentary
Branchline Brewing Compa-ny is the newest microbrewery to open in San Antonio, Texas and while some are excited about the new change, others are left with a bitter taste.
Branchline, formerly known as Old Boxcar Brewing Com-pany, joins Ranger Creek Brew-ing & Distilling as the second microbrewery in San Anto-nio. Microbreweries, which are small scale breweries, are sprouting up in areas all around the country. Another notable brewery in San Antonio is Free-tails Brewing Company, located a few minutes from UTSA.
Craft beer is not disappearing any time soon. Experts project
that the craft beer industry is roughly 1 percent of the cur-rent market in Texas and will rise in the years to come. Along with Branchline Brewing Com-pany, two new breweries are ex-pected to open in 2013: Busted Sandal Brewing Company and Alamo Beer Company.
Last year, Fredericksburg, Texas opened the doors of Pedernales Brewing Company, a brewery that takes pride in its German traditions. It only makes sense that San Antonio should cash in on the craze.
The brewery is located in downtown San Antonio, an area marked off by the Alamo-dome and San Antonio’s east-
side. Some may contend that the
brewery will revitalize an area with low property value and high crime while others argue that the business will disrupt the balance in an already fragile area of town.
Those opposed to the brew-ery argue that the business will lead to more DUI’s in San An-tonio along with an increase in underage drinking. However, the two ideas are not necessar-ily connected to one another.
Underage drinking has al-ways been a problem but it is the responsibility of the adult to make cautious decisions on their behalf. The brewery
should be applauded for giv-ing the San Antonio public more options for beer, as we’re constantly bombarded with Anheuser-Busch propaganda around the city.
It is important to look at all of the factors in this decision. The construction will bring a new round of businesses and retail stores into the area. Therefore those who reside in this dis-trict will most likely be forced out of their homes by the rising cost of rent along the potential gentrification of the area. Many fear that those who live in the area will be forced to move to a poorer side of town.This is not the first time such
an event has happened in San Antonio. In the mid-’80s, Blue Star Contemporary Arts Com-plex was once located in a ne-glected part of town. Now, the area “Southtown” serves as a mecca for arts and culture in San Antonio. Branchline will not only bring
new jobs to Texas, but it may also improve the crime rate and promote tourism. This change should be welcomed with open arms instead of being given the cold shoulder.
Yes, people may have to relo-cate and some will be outraged with this decision, but the over-all results will improve the city.
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PASEO 5
Sarah GibbensPaseo [email protected]
For many years, primates have mystified and intrigued us with their similarities to hu-mans. Movies such as “Planet of the Apes” sensationalize the idea of primates evolving with human-like intelligence.
While these primates may not work side-by-side with people, the way in which they interact with their environment can give us valuable insight into anatomy, biology and ecology.
At UTSA, research done inside the classroom and out in the field helps give a better understanding of our primate cousins. Dr. Joanna Lambert, a professor of anthropology, has made significant contributions to understanding how the biol-ogy of primate feeding affects evolution and ecology.
Recently honered as a fel-low of the American Associa-tion for the Advancement of Science, Lambert has devoted more than two decades of her life to research. Work done in the field of primate feeding bi-ology has also been useful in their applications towards hu-man anatomy and ecology.
Lambert’s research focuses on how the feeding habits of different primates influence the forest and plant species they’re consuming.
Studying the intimate rela-tionship between primates and the plants they consume can offer understanding, not only of primates, but of the delicate rainforest they live in.
“What we’re realizing now is that, because we’re losing pri-mates from hunting, the forest isn’t regenerating.” Lambert explains that, from a conserva-tion standpoint, understanding seed dispersal is vital to com-prehending the implications that primates have on their sur-roundings.
Lambert also studies aspects of primates relating to the evo-lution of their feeding habits. Events such as major climate shifts can have profound effects on animal and human eating habits.
“Looking at what happens in drought years, for example, what primates are doing dif-ferently and what food they fall back on has been useful for evaluating and answering ques-tions about our own species,” she says
Working in the fields of Uganda has given Lambert a first-hand understanding of how primates go about getting the food they need. “We all take it for granted that we can get the calories and nutrients we need in five minutes,” explains Lambert. “That’s extraordi-narily different from any other animal on the planet.
“Predators and competition
from other animals can impact how p r i m a t e s move in the forest and how they in-teract with other species.”
Being on site and liv-ing in the same habitat as these pri-mates pro-vides up-close opportunities for research that could not have been ex-perienced in simply a class-room setting.
For 23 years, Lam-bert has been working at the Kibale Na-tional Park, a high altitude rainforest in Uganda that borders the Congo Basin.
“When I first started going there, there wasn’t any sort of infrastructure and it didn’t have national park status; I basically stayed in a tent,” she says
“It’s amaz-ing to do what I do but also not glamor-ous,” explains Lambert re-garding her work in the r a i n f o r e s t . This sort of research in-volves braving
the elements and facing potentially danger-ous situations.
Studying primates means “getting up really early in the morning when it’s pitch black and often pouring down rain, filling up a backpack with food and water and snakebite pack, getting raingear and heading off into the forest where my study subjects will most likely be,” she says.
“I go through swamps, run from elephants, nearly step on snakes. Last year, the rainy sea-son never stopped and leeches would come into my research house. For many years, there was no electricity and water, and I slept on a little cot with a mosquito net because there’s a lot of malaria in the area.”
These research expeditions into Africa can be done indi-vidually or with a team. Lam-bert serves as the principle in-vestigator and has, on occasion, gone with graduate and PhD students to study primates.
When Lambert is not avail-able to work at the field site, Ugandan field assistants, usu-ally natives from surrounding villages, stay with the animals to maintain their willingness to let people follow them.
Lambert describes her re-search methods and the field-work involved in studying pri-mates. The Ugandan rainforest is utilized because of the spe-cies richness it provides and be-cause it is home to abundance
and variety of primates. “Because I’ve been work-
ing there for so long, there are groups of primates that are ha-bituated to the presence of hu-mans,” explains Lambert. “This means we can get really good viewing conditions that allow us to see what exactly these primates are putting in their mouths.”
While the primates living in the park have become accus-tomed to the presence of hu-mans, they are extremely vul-nerable to viruses humans may carry such as the common cold. Researchers maintain their dis-tance and never physically in-teract with their subjects.
One of the most interesting discoveries that can be made from studying a primate’s eat-ing habits involves gaining a better understanding of human dietary habits. Debate has aris-en on what is the most benefi-cial to the human body. These arguments center on whether a meat or plant based diet is the biologically sound way to fuel the body.
For primates, a vast major-ity of their calories comes from plants; however, chimps occa-sionally hunt, even eating other primates.
Lambert explains, “Even in those populations, it never makes up more than five to 12 percent of their total an-nual diet. If you look at our gut and our teeth, we have evolved to consume plants; but, hav-ing said that, at some point in recent evolutionary history, hunting and consuming meat became important to humans.”
Lambert elaborates by ex-plaining that consuming cooked meat allowed early hu-mans access to energy that they might not have had otherwise. This access was important to fuelling the human brain, which is energetically expensive.
“ W e have the ad-aptations of a plant eater,” says Lambert, “but things shifted about a million years ago when eating cooked meat became impor-tant in our evolutionary his-tory, which fueled the evolution of our brain.”
The debate over whether humans should eat meat has many sides and cannot be easily settled. “I can say that our gut is the gut of a vegetarian, but at the same time, we have an extraordinar y amount of flex-ibility.”
Lambert ex-plains that while primate digestive systems are not di-rectly comparable to humans, understanding what they eat can give us a comparative un-derstanding.
“We know that eating a mostly plant-based diet makes sense,” Lambert says of human eating habits. However con-suming enough protein, what-ever the source, is also essential.
More important than elimi-nating meat from one’s diet is understanding the detrimental effects that preservatives and synthesized fats have on the hu-man body.
“There’s a disjuncture be-tween what we’re eating and what we were evolved to eat,” explains Lambert. Modern eat-ing habits have led to the epi-demic of diabetes and obesity that many Americans face to-day.
“Primates that consume this sort of diet are very ill.”
Currently, work is being done with primates in captivity that analyzes the effects this diet has on their health. The South Tex-as Primate Research Center has found that primates sub-jected to these conditions become very unhealthy, gain wait easily and show signs of adverse health effects as indicated by the blood.
Primates and their eating hab-its can offer a clear reflection on our own eating habits; how-ever, feeding habits can also be studied for the effects they have on the environment.
Lambert explains that regions where these primates and other animals have been over-hunted have seen significant structural shifts. Primates help maintain a nat-ural balance to their environ-ment and are essential to seed dispersal.
“ I t ’s increasingly
common to go into a forest but
with no ani-mals in it,” says Lam-bert.
“It’s like an empty c h u r c h . The struc-ture of t h e s e plants are there, but the ani-mals are gone.” Loss of
primates has cascading effects. These regions have plants that are adapted to having the pulp of their fruit eaten by primates and rely on primates to disperse their seeds. Without primates, the forests cannot regenerate; the extent of their loss is still not entirely known.
“People that study primates spend a lot of time thinking about these issues and com-ing up with solutions,” explains Lambert.
With upwards of two thirds of all primates labeled as en-dangered, it is imperative that national parks be created and loss of habitat limited.
With the insight that pri-mates allow into some-thing as intimate as the human body or as widespread as the world’s ecosystems, it is
e a s y to see why
many conservation-ists are concerned.
Currently, Lam-bert is writing a book that synthesizes more than 20 years of data she has collected in the field. She plans to continue her research at the Kibale National Park studying primates and their feeding hab-its.
A planet of the apes: what primates tell us about our bodies and our environment
Chimps (shown above) often spend their day looking for food. Their diet consists mostly of fruit.
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Lambert (middle) has spent 23 years researching at the Kibale National Park in Uganda.
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Jasmine RodriguezContributing [email protected]
On Saturday, Jan. 26, as part of the CAB and UCPC collabo-ration ‘Beat Out the Semester,’ UTSA was graced with the mu-sical presence of Nelly’s Echo.
Founder, Nelson Emokpae was born in Nigeria but has lived in Baltimore, Md. for over 16 years. Originally a full-time physical therapist, Emokpae invested in following a path he had always known was meant for him.
“I realized I wanted to be a professional musician three years ago, but I’ve always had the passion for music,” Emok-pae said. “It was definitely a challenge and a step of faith, but no risk, no reward.”
Nelly’s Echo consists of Emokpae and his percussion-ist Mog. However, as their blog states, Nelly’s Echo is neither a band nor a solo project but rather an experience.
“It’s based off the premise that music is a two-way street; it’s give and take,” Emokpae said. “Nelly refers to the mu-sicians—whoever may be on stage—and Echo refers to the audience’s appreciation of the musician.”
If the name sounds familiar, it may be because Emokpae, under the Nelly’s Echo name, was a competitor on the third season of NBC’s reality talent
show “The Voice.” Emokpae grabbed the attention of both Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine with his performance of Bill Withers’ ‘Ain’t No Sun-shine.” Thus, Emokpae caught the country’s attention in an audition that seemed to be set up by fate.
“A friend of mine who used to book shows for me in Bal-timore called me up and said ‘Hey they’re having auditions for ‘The Voice’,” Emokpae said, “I was actually on tour then, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m busy right now on tour, and I cannot go, but it so happened that the two days I was off from my tour were the two days they were holding auditions in New York, so, I auditioned and the rest is history.”
Based on the decision that he would choose whoever turned his or her chair first, Emokpae joined Aguilera’s team with the belief the artist’s vocal prow-ess would take him to “the next level.”
Emokpae went on to “The Battles,” where he faced off with fellow contestant and team member De’Borah Gar-ner in their cover of “Message in a Bottle” by “The Police.” The performance was Emokpae’s last on the show due to Agu-ilera’s decision to move Garner on to the next round.
“It wasn’t the outcome I wanted, but it was a learning experience for me as a musi-cian, as a singer, as a profes-
sional to be gra-cious in defeat because I’ve had a lot of victo-ries in my life,” Emokpae said. “It was definitely character-build-ing.”
Despite the undesirable out-come, Emokpae worked with some of the big-gest names in the industry, an opportunity not many receive and one he has not taken for granted.
“They were all very respect-ful, helpful and gave construc-tive feedback,” Emokpae said. “It was an amazing experience to get validation and feedback from my idols and peers.”
With a humble heart and the benefits of TV exposure, Emok-pae continued doing what he does best—playing shows and producing music—until the launch of his “I Love You” tour in January and is only a contin-uation of the coffeehouse-style career path Emokpae want a path where the connection to his music, his fans and his faith are most important. The Nelly’s Echo tour has expanded to performances for students across hundreds of universities including UTSA.
“I had seen him when he came to campus like a year or two ago, and he was really good then. I bought his CD and ev-erything,” UTSA student and fan Joshual Robinson said. “I really enjoyed him because he encourages them [audience] to talk to him and that’s why ev-erybody enjoys themselves so much, because he gets them involved in it. He’s really cool.”
While gaining the instant feedback and gratification of connecting with the audience (which is Emokpae’s favorite part of performing) he also offers advice to aspiring musi-cians.
“If you’re starting off as a musician, I would say develop
a passion for what you do be-cause in this business, some days you’ll feel like it and some days you won’t, and the only thing that will keep you going is that passion for what you do,” Emokpae said.
“Once you’ve gotten past that and you want to become a pro-fessional musician, there’s two things I would suggest in devel-oping your character: persis-tence and discipline.”
With the passion and dedi-cation the musicians of Nelly’s Echo hold, the name can be expected to inspire musicians and connect with listeners ev-erywhere.
Wilfredo FloresContributing [email protected]
David Bowie:David Bowie fans have some-
thing to look forward to in March: the release of a full-length album.
Titled “The Next Day,” the al-bum was announced on Bowie’s birthday, Jan. 8, as a gift to his many fans and is set to release on March 13.
A preorder and the first sin-gle, “Where Are We Now.” is avaialble on iTunes.
The album will have 14 new, original tracks, along with three additional songs on the deluxe edition. While Bowie wrote about 29 songs for the album, only 14 will appear on “The
Next Day.”
Depeche Mode: “Delta Machine” set to release
March 25 will be the band’s 13th studio album.
The band appears in every list describing the “Top 100 Elec-tronic Artists,” and they have the sales and songs to prove it - over 100 million records, along with hits like “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy the Silence.”
Dave Gahan, lead singer of
Depeche Mode, said that, while the writing for the new album was difficult, fans should ex-pect “Delta Machine” to be very modern. “I want people to feel good about listening to this re-cord, to get some kind of peace. It’s just got something magi-cal about it,” said Gahan on the band’s website.
The Flaming Lips:The Flaming Lips have been
the odd guys in rock since 1983, and their new album, “The Ter-ror,” is turning out to be anything but conventional. The Flaming Lips have had the mainstream prestige of being Grammy-win-ners and have toured with the likes of Modest Mouse, Cake and The Black Keys.
“The Terror” is set to release worldwide, April 1 and April 2 in the U.S.
Janelle Monae:While Janelle Monae has
been busy preforming at Coach-ella, touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and supporting Obama’s re-election, she’s man-aged to record two new songs - “Electric Lady” and “Dorothy Dandridge Eyes.”
She’s given the internet some-thing to buzz about, as her last album, “The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III),” left us all wanting more of Cindi May-weather and Anthony Green-down. The album doesn’t have a
set release date yet and is known as “The Electric Lady.” But since she’s been playing the two new songs in live sets, it’s only a mat-ter of time. Keep a look out, electric sheep.
Justin Timberlake: Get ready for some R&B
crooning because J.T. is back with another album. It’s been six years since the platinum-selling “FutureSex/LoveSounds” was released, during which Justin Timberlake has pursued other endeavors including SNL com-edy skits and drama films. He recently announced the album in an open letter to fans, and the release date, March 19, was cryptically released at the end of the music video for the lead single, “Suit and Tie.”
The Knife: Grammy-winners, The Knife,
will be releasing a new album on April 9, according to Pitchfork. The Swedish duo has already released a 10-minute video for the first single, “Full of Fire,” and the teaser has fans anticipating yet another otherworldly al-bum. Although the previews for all of the songs on iTunes have been removed, critics are saying “Shaking the Habitual” is sure to be another award-winning al-bum - a shame, since the band is notorious for refusing to accept any awards.
My Bloody Valentine:Never before has there been
a bigger tease than My Bloody Valentine. After receiving criti-cal praise for their first album, “Loveless,” in 1991, the band took a long hiatus of two de-cades while rumors of a new album have been circulating. Front-man Kevin Shields re-cently got the band back to-gether and now fans can expect a new album soon. My Bloody Valentine is often credited with the creation of modern-day Shoegazing.
Vampire Weekend:The indie-rock group Vam-
pire Weekend is back with their album, “Modern Vampires of the City.” Its U.S. release date is slated for May 6. Fans every-where can expect to start hum-ming and singing the undoubt-edly catchy new songs.
The band is set to headline in 2013’s Coachella Music Festival along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs:The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have
been busy since the release of their first album, “Fever to Tell,” back in 2003 and now, they’re set to release their fourth stu-dio-album, “Mosquito,” on April 16. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are also headliners for 2013’s Coachella Music Festival, alongside Mod-est Mouse and Blur.
Photos courtesy of David Bowie, Depeche Mode, The Flaming Lips, The Knife, My Bloody Valentine and Vam-pire Weekend.
E v e r y t h i n g Y o u W a n t T o H e a r
Tuesday, Feb. 510 a.m. Exhibit: “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love”The San Antonio Museum of Art (200 W. Jones St.) presents “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love,” an exhibit featuring 125 statues, vases, jewelry and other valuables organized by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Admission is $3-$8.
Wednesday, Feb. 6 9 a.m. Exhibit: “Texas Contempo-rary Artist Series: Luisa Wheeler”The Institute of Texan Cultures (801 E. Caesar Chavez) presents work from artist Luisa Wheeler as part of its Texas Contemporary Artist Series. Wheeler, an Eagle Pass native, explores the bold and the beautiful in her work of photo-graphs and sculptures. Admission is $6-$8.
Thursday, Feb. 710 a.m. Exhibit: “Tal Palo Tal Astilla Artists”UTSA Art Gallery (Main Campus) presents “Tal Palo Tal Astilla,” an exhibit that chronicles the work of artists working within and outside the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Admission is free.
Noon Exhibit: “Transitios”Artpace (445 N. Main Ave.) presents “Transitios,” a group show that highlights the themes of culture, economy and miscommu-nication. Artists showcased in the exhibit include Ricardo Cuevas, Miguel Monroy, Jose Antoni, Vega Macotela and Maximo Gonzalez. Admission is free.
Friday, Feb. 89 p.m. UCinema Night: The Man with the Iron FistsRussell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Jamie Chung, RZA and Rick Yune star in the action flick about a village blacksmith and his companions who are fighting to save their home village. The feature will be shown in the Retama Auditorium (UC 2.02.02). Admission is free for all UTSA students.
Saturday, Feb. 109 a.m. Exhibit: “Art in the Garden”The San Antonio Botanical Garden (555 Funston) presents “Art in the Garden,” an outdoor installation that features work from members of the Texas Sculpture Group. Admis-sion is $5-$8.
8 p.m. Theatre: “Red”The San Pedro Playhouse (800 W. Ashby) presents “Red,” a drama that follows painter Mark Rothko, a New York City artist. Admission is $10-$25.
Sunday, Feb. 1110 a.m. Exhibit: “Fiesta, Fete, Festival”The historical roots of “Fiesta” are celebrated throughout this exclusive exhibit that commemorates the origin of the cultural phenomenon. The McNay Art Museum (6000 N. New Braunfels Ave.) presents “Fiesta, Fete, Festival,” as part of its Tobin Collection. Admission is $5-$10.
{Local Events}
For the week’s full calendar, visit:
paisano-online.com
‘The Voice’ contestant shares his experience on the hit-TV show and gives advice for apsiring artists.
N e l l y ’s E c h oFebruary 5, 2013
6 ARTS&LIFE
David Bowie, Justin Timberlake and Vampire Weekend are back in 2013. Here’s a preview of the artists to look for in the new year.
Nelson Emokpae of Nelly’s Echo performs for UTSA students at the “Beat Out the Semester” event.
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Sports7February 5, 2013
Mario NavaContributing [email protected]
The city of San Antonio is a fi-nalist to host the USA Olympic Swim Team trials, which would select the 2016 USA team who competing in the Rio de Janairo Summer Olympic Games.
The official bid has been submitted and the evaluation process is underway, which includes a site visit to San An-tonio and the Alamodome by USA Swimming.
The Alamodome will build an Olympic style swimming pool where the San Antonio Spurs and NCAA basketball courts were located.
San Antonio Sports, a non-profit organization who led the charge to bring in a variety of important sporting and cul-tural events to the city, has a bid posted on their website with a greeting for USA Swimming by San Antonio Mayor Julian Cas-tro.
George Block, a former USA swimming coach and current Chairman of the Board for San Antonio Sports, emphasized the impact and significance of hosting this event.
“This is as big as the Final Four except the Final Four is two days and this is eight days of prime time television,” Block said.
Block has been an advocate for bringing attention to youth drowning in San Antonio, es-pecially in the Hispanic com-munity.
San Antonio is a major mar-ket for sporting events, and the ability to bring in a diverse
audience with a large Hispanic population is important for the sport of swimming.
“San Antonio is your gateway to the Hispanic market,” Block said. “Were interested in last-ing community benefit not just get an event in get an event out how did the tax receipts go.”
What’s valued to many with this opportunity is the lifesaving effect the event might bring to a younger generation of swim-mers in Texas.
“The big events are like dogs on the dog sled, they are what pull the sled and what’s on the sled is youth,” Block said.
“The first lessons a child should have should be swim-ming lessons,” Block said. “In Texas, with our coastline and rivers and lakes and pools, you need to be a strong swimmer. USA Swimming’s tagline is sav-ing lives and building champi-ons… first is saving lives.”
As a finalist this year, swim-ming is already becoming a buzz word at UTSA.
“Anytime the city has a ma-jor event like an Olympic trials, that always elevates all of the sports in San Antonio to a new level of visibility, so that’s always helpful to have those events in town,” said UTSA Athletic Di-rector Lynn Hicky
San Antonio could ben-efit immensely from hosting in 2016 on various levels.
“What sporting events do is they let you see the opportuni-ties for everything else be it the arts, or music, or business, or education, sports ends of sort of being the tip of the spear,” Block said.
Lyndi Thorman: a master on and off the court
Shelby HodgesStaff [email protected]
Being a student athlete means early morning practices, late night homework, night games with class the next day and lots of traveling. So how does Lyndi Thorman, UTSA women’s basketball senior forward, balance her commit-ment to the game and graduate level course work – hard work on the court and dedication in the classroom.
Thorman, who previously played a year and a half at Western Illinois University in her home state, graduated with a degree in criminal justice
from UTSA and is now a grad-uate student at UTSA’s College of Public Policy all while she plays her final season.
“I’ve been playing since about fourth grade, I started in the little YMCA league back home,” said Thorman. Her dad is the one who pushed her into all sports, and basketball just happened to stick. “My favorite part about it is probably just the competitiveness. Once you get to this level, it is [not just] about being a team, but really just the whole atmosphere of the game,” she said.In Illinois, Thorman attended Macomb High School where she played basketball as well as volleyball; she holds the school’s all-time
record for points and blocked shots. After graduating high school, Thorman signed a let-ter of intent to play for West-ern Illinois University. During her first season at Western, she made the starting lineup four times and was presented with the team’s Block Party Award for defense.
However, because of per-sonal circumstances, midway through her sophomore sea-son, Thorman stopped playing basketball for the Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks.
“You know, it was a tough time for me. A lot was going on, and I just needed to get away. Luckily, KC ( UTSA assitant basketball coach) was already
at UTSA, and she recruited me to play there. It’s worked out great,” said Thorman.“I feel like I know her pretty well, and we talk quite a bit. I know where she’s from; I know her family, and it kind of gives me a differ-ent glimpse into her life,” UTSA women’s assistant basketball coach KC Cowgill said. Both Cowgill and Thorman were originally at Western Illinois University together, Thorman a player and Cowgill an assistant coach.
Since her arrival in 2010, Thorman has played in 74 games and has averaged 4.2 points in 14 minutes of play.
“I think she accepts her role, whether it be as a starter, she has started for us, or when she comes off the bench,” said UTSA women’s basketball Head Coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair. “You like a player that accepts her role, somebody who does what-ever it takes to help the team,” Blair continued.
“She shoots the 3 really well, and she has had some pretty good games for us this year, she is very steady and very consis-tent,” added Cowgill.
Thorman, whose parents visit on a regular basis to attend her games, was described as being family oriented and as a very caring person. Cowgill also added that she “is very motherly in a way, and she cooks for the team.”
So, with all this success on and off the court, how is her performance in the classroom? Coach Blair said that “she’s a very smart girl, but she’s always a little bit pessimistic; she al-ways says she’s going to fail and then she makes an A.”
Thorman is currently pursu-ing a master’s degree in justice policy. “At times it’s been re-ally hard; I don’t have classes much…but the content, the coursework, and the amount of papers I have to write can get pretty difficult.”
You can catch Thorman on the court on Feb. 7, when the Roadrunners play against Loui-siana Tech at the Convocation Center. The game tip offs at 7 p.m.
Olympic swimming trials coming to SA?
The UTSA women’s basketball team has won five out of eight games. The ‘Runners are currently ranked fifth in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). UTSA’s next home game will be Feb. 7 against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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Globetrotters: still bringing joy and amazement to families after 87 yearsMario NavaContributing [email protected]
The world famous Harlem Globetrotters brought their style of basketball to the AT&T Center Thursday Jan. 31, de-feating the Global Select team, 110-107, extending their long streak of family fun and enter-tainment.
“As far as preparation, we can’t really prepare like we
would like to and it makes it more interesting for us. We have to depend more on our skills and it’s really fun because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Globetrotter Jet Williams.
The Globetrotters 2013 “You Write The Rules Tour,” present-ed a new element in San Anto-nio where fans vote for different in-game basketball additions. Voting happens via Twitter for the first, second, and third quarters and the final quarter is
decided by the live crowd. During the first quarter, fans
voted to add a 4-point shot set 35-feet from the basket. The entire quarter both teams shot from the mark, leaving fans gasping every time the ball left a player’s hands and erupt-ing every time a player scored. Global Select, the funny evo-lution of the old Washington Generals team, took advantage of the rule by out shooting the Globetrotters, 7-2.
Fans from Twitter and the
San Antonio crowd chose to have double basketballs, both pink, in support of breast can-cer awareness, added in the third and fourth quarters that resulted in the worlds’ first ever double jump ball.
The second quarter was a scoring frenzy as every basket was counted double for each team, leaving the gentleman at the scorer’s table a little flus-tered, but all in good fun.
“That’s one thing that the Harlem Globetrotters have al-
ways been about is creativity and innovation and we have a blast doing it,” Williams said.
There was plenty of Globe-trotter humor throughout in-cluding possibly the funniest free throw ever attempted.
During the second quarter, Kevin “Special K” Daley, Globe-trotter player and on court MC, substituted the game ball for a beach ball balloon, resulting in the most literal example of an “air ball.”
Williams believes the fan
votes will create more interest in the already popular game and is a big fan of one particular rule. “I honestly like the double the points because I want to make it to 200.”
In their 87 years of existence the Harlem Globetrotters con-tinue to mesmerize children and adults with their artistry of the basics of basketball.
The Harlem Globetrotters hold the longest winning streak in sports history with 8,829 consectuive victories.
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San Antonio lost a bid to host the swimming trials in 2005.
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Sports 8February 5, 2013