NEWS
The Battalion I 2.18.15
2
NEXT
WEEK
will be your
last chance to
have your free
PORTRAIT made
forTexas A&M's
2015 Aggie/and
yearbook.
Final round will be
Feb. 23-March 13.
ALL CLASSES: Just
walk in to have
your portrait taken
Monday-Thursday
in MSC Suite L400.
It's your
yearbook.
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rjl I TEXAS A&M
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copies $1.
Program takes writing from page to stage
New initiative aims to assist
writing and performance skills
By Lindsey Gawlik
N. A new program within the Univer-
sity Writing Center aims to further
the arts at Texas A&M and create a fast-
paced environment for writers to better
learn their craft.
This year, the Writing Center will
hold its first “Black Box Residency Pro
gram,” an initiative to teach selected
participants how to create and perform
original work.
The residency — applications for
which will be due Friday — will last
five weeks, focusing first on writing im
provement skills and then on performing
in front of a public audience.
Florence Davies, facilitator behind the
residency and administrator at the Uni
versity Writing Center, said the idea for
the program came from two former stu
dents who worked in the center.
“This is the first year that we decided
to go ahead and try it out,” Davies said.
“It was actually a project idea brought
to us, an idea of combining a workshop
that focuses not only on the creative ma
terial but also the performance of that
material.”
Since this is a pilot event, Davies said
this year the planning was focused more
on creating a small fast-paced residency
program that would allow students to
decide between writing fiction or po
etry.
“We are trying to figure out exacdy
what that public performance is going to
look like,” Davies said. “One of the ideas
we had is to kind of, as the writers are
reading their work and reading it to the
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
The University Writing Center's program will culminate in a performance
at the black box theatre in Hullabaloo Hall.
public, we were thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it
be great to have that immediate feedback
from the audience and maybe getting the
audience to write comment cards or give
the writers some feedback on the read
ing itself?’”
Davies said doctoral students will
teach the writing workshops and Can
dace Schaefer, associate director in the
University Writing Center, will teach
the performance workshops.
Schaefer said she hopes to help the
residency participants — with different
styles and varying levels of experience
— become comfortable presenting their
work to the public.
Schaefer said she’s always been inter
ested in supporting the writing life and
creative spirit at Texas A&M.
“Fm hoping that the resident partici
pants get a venue for their work, which
I think is lacking in this community and
I also hope they get a terrific audience
for their work because the more enthu
siastic the audiences become the bigger
the enthusiasm grows for a program like
this,” Schaefer said.
One of the students behind the origi
nal idea for the program, Madison Park
er, Class of 2014 and president of Mic
Check Poetry, said her original hope for
the program was to grow the creative
atmosphere at A&M.
“We thought that it would be a really
cool outlet for combining both of these
to kind of give other A&M students the
opportunity to engage in this and really
enhance their craft as a whole,” Parker
said.
The final performance will be given at
7 p.m. April 11 in the black box theatre
in Plullabaloo Hall.
Judge’s stay of Obama immigration order
a ‘shame for Texas,’ advocate says
By Jennifer Reiley
President Barack Obama’s execu-
tive orders on immigration came
to a halt with a federal judge ruling late
Monday afternoon.
Andrew Hanen, a U.S. district judge
in Texas, blocked action on the execu
tive orders, giving 26 states, including
Texas, more time to build a lawsuit
against the order. The states will claim
the order to be unconstitutional.
“It represents a massive change in im
migration practice and will have a signif
icant effect on, not only illegally present
immigrants, but also the nation’s entire
immigration scheme and the states who
must bear the lion’s share of its conse
quences,” Hanen wrote in the official
ruling.
The executive orders, announced by
Obama in November, aim to shield from
deportation four million immigrants,
namely parents and families of children
who are now citizens or permanent
residents. Each person applying for the
three-year deportation relief is required
to have been in the U.S. for more than
five years, undergo a criminal back
ground check, register and pay taxes.
Felipe Hinojosa, assistant professor
of history, works with undocumented
students at Texas A&M. He said he dis
agrees with the judge’s ruling, which
doesn’t address certain points about
undocumented persons in the United
States.
“The judge’s ruling states that the
executive order would essentially force
states to invest in things like law enforce
ment, education and healthcare,” Hino
josa said. “And first of all I’d ask, What’s
wrong with that?’ I think we need to do
more of that as a state. But more impor
tantly, what’s missing in that equation is
the fact that undocumented immigrants
do pay into the system.”
Hinojosa said the mling feels tnore
political than substance-based. Nery
Guerrero, president of the Council for
Minority Student Affairs, agreed, and
said the mling came two days before
applications for work permit renewals
reopened.
“It was meant to halt the renewals,”
Guerrero said. “This is very sad because
the politicians are continuing to play
this game that’s not only affecting votes
or parties — they’re affecting people,
they’re affecting families. They’re using
this as a strategy on their campaign but
they’re playing with real people, real im
migrants, and there are a lot of undocu
mented Aggies whose hopes are being
brought down, and this is a shame on
Texas.”
For now, CMSA is working with
other organizations like United We
Dream to reassure students who are wor
ried about the judge’s decision.
“We’re sending national information
and national awareness to everyone,' and
what we’re basically telling everyone
who might be scared about this is that
this decision is not permanent,” Guerre
ro said. “While it’s delaying the process,
this lawsuit is not permanent and we’re
confident the higher courts will reject
this lawsuit since it has no legal merit.”
Rep. Bill Flores released a statement
Tuesday congratulating Hanen on his
mling.
‘The rule of law has prevailed over
President Obama’s unconstitutional ex
ecutive overreach,” Flores said in the
statement. “The president’s unlawful
amnesty plan has been stopped. Our
Constitution has been preserved and the
president has been put on notice that
his unilateral actions will not go unchal
lenged.”
Guerrero said the idea of an amnesty
plan is a misconception.
“There’s no amnesty plan,” Guerrero
said. “Obama relief is relief for parents of
DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals] children — something that has
been voted in before. It’s not an amnesty
plan, there’s no granting of citizenship. It
provides relief for the children, many of
them students.”
As of Tuesday, Flinojosa said the U.S.
Justice Department will appeal the ml
ing and the Homeland Security secretary
has released a statement against Hanen’s
decision.
' _
WALK CONTINUED
Brown, an international studies and
applied mathematics junior, and will
meet at 3 p.m. at Jason’s Deli. They
invite students and other community
members to join them in their walk
through B-CS.
Brown, who has Ewing’s sarcoma,
said she was told about the Cobb fam
ily’s walk by her roommate, who sup
ported the family’s walk in Huntsville,
Texas last week.
“She was with the Cobb family
when they were walking,” Brown
said. “She turned around and talked
to them and told them about my sto
ry. We are really excited to be able to
meet them Wednesday.”
Jennifer Cobb said one of the main
goals of the walk is to promote aware
ness of the gravity of pediatric cancer.
The family started a foundation to
continue their goal, called “JuCan,”
remembering their daughter Julia’s
nickname, Ju, and the inspiring mes
sage she sought to give to all.
“Unfortunately, pediatric cancer
research is terribly underfunded,” Jen
nifer Cobb said. “It is the number one
cause of death by disease for children. ”
Jennifer Cobb said the family want
ed to use their faith and their love for
Julia to continue to spread awareness
to help other children and other fami-
lies throughout the nation.
“It’s just something that no parent
ever wants to go through,” Jennifer
Cobb said. “But we want to give our
love and support to help everyone else
that we possibly can. ”
Jennifer Cobb said the family walks
each day for a different person who
is battling cancer to honor them and
their fight.
“We pretty much walk around 25
miles a day, and each day we walk for
one specific person,” Jennifer Cobb
said. “We’ve gotten so many different
requests and people asked us, ‘Could
you walk for my niece or my neph
ew?’ And we always do.”
Brown said it is a privilege to be
honored in the walk.
“I can personally speak to how
underfunded childhood cancer is,”
Brown said. “I think it would be
amazing to bring more awareness to
college students.”
Brown said bringing awareness to
college-aged students can help with
finding a solution sooner rather than
later.
“I believe we’re in a position to
make change,” Brown said. “We’re
all getting degrees that will shape our
lives and then to go out into the real
world to hopefully make a difference. ”
Logan Lester, a university studies
junior, is a friend of the Cobb fam
ily and helped to organize the College
Station walk. Lester said the event is
important to her because of Julia
Cobb’s influence on her life.
“She left a powerful legacy, I can’t
even begin to put what she means to
me into words,” Lester said.
The walk through Aggieland will
begin at Jason’s Deli in the parking
lot and will last approximately three
hours. The route follows Texas to
University, along University to Wel-
born and from Welborn to George
Bush.
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