NEWS
The Battalion I 3.11.15
6
Mary Reyes — THE BATTALION
ArtFest, hosted by the Visual Arts Committee, showcases student artistic accomplishments.
ArtFest exposes Aggies
to student creativity
By Sydney Shuetze
The winners of the Visual Arts
Committee’s 2015 ArtFest Com
petition are on display in the MSC
Reynolds Gallery.
The contest, which is part of the
larger Artetock program put on by
the MSC, was open to all students of
Texas A&M and includes a variety of
mediums, including charcoal, mixed
medium and sculpture. More than 45
pieces were submitted from 28 differ
ent artists.
Mary Compton, MSC Program
Coordinator and advisor to the Visual
Arts Committee, said the MSC has put
on the event for years to recognize cre
ativity at Texas A&M.
“They had ArtFest when I was a
student, and that was 10 years ago,”
Compton said. “You could say it’s tra
dition.”
The contest does not provide a par
ticular theme or topic for the students
to follow when submitting their art
piece to the ArtFest display.
“We have a lot of range as far as
what people can submit, so there are
some really nice examples,” Compton
said. “It’s really just to give the students
a chance to express themselves and cre
ate some artwork and include it in the
gallery. It’s pretty special for us to get
students to participate.”
Kate Lindeman, a general studies
freshman, was named the first place
winner of the art contest for her entry
“Boats.”
The piece, which was created with
acrylic paint, took three months to
complete.
“So my art teacher loved to bring
me things to paint,” Lindeman said. “I
did this my senior year of high school.
I spent so much time on it. Every free
minute of every day, I was working
on it.”
Lindeman said the contest exposed
her to the creativity of the student
body.
“I hadn’t really heard about the art
at A&M,” Lindeman said. “I think the
students are really talented.”
Raya Castaneda, a university stud
ies senior who tied for second with her
oil self-portrait, “Breaking Free,” ex
plained that the work was one of her
most personal.
“I’ve noticed A&M is not as well
known for its art,” Castaneda said.
“Seeing all this art around sort of gives
me hope for this kind of thing.”
Castaneda said contests like this al
low her to pursue her dreams, even at
a school not know for its art program.
“I came here for veterinary medi
cine, but I realized I loved art more
and I wanted to pursue that more, that
even though there isn’t an art school
here I could still find classes and I could
still find people who loved art as much
as I do,” Castaneda said.
Castaneda said she was pushed by
her teacher to try a self portrait instead
of what she had originally planned.
“I was in the Corps at the time so I
had my hair in a tight bun,” Castaneda
said. “So we were taking pictures for
reference and somebody said, ‘Hey,
why don’t you take your hair down
and see if we can mess with it?’ So I
did. It was kind of liberating. I just
started swinging it around and got sev
eral good pictures of that. So I took it,
added Photoshop to it and some crazy
colors inspired by some pieces I saw
on Pinterest, and I found this. I said,
‘This looks hard, but I’ll challenge my
self to do it,’ and in two weeks, I got
this done.”
The ArtFest display will be in the
Reynolds Gallery through April 12.
Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson visits Wednesday
to share thoughts on WWII and U.S. national identity.
Journalist to talk
societal impact of
WWII on the US
By Spencer Davis
U ndersta ndi ng natio nal
history has a connec
tion to understanding na
tional identity —- a point
the Glasscock Center for
Humanities Research of
Texas A&M hopes to instill
in students through a guest
lecture Wednesday by Pulit
zer Prize-winning historian
Rick Atkinson.
Atkinson is a journalist
and historian whose study of
military history has been cel
ebrated by numerous nation
al awards, including three
Pulitzer Prizes. He will pres
ent his lecture “10 Things
Every American Should
Know About WWII” to an
alyze the political and social
lessons of the war.
In his lecture, Atkinson
will use historical anecdotes
to draw larger conclusions
about national identity, said
Donna Malak, communica
tions specialist for the Glass
cock Center.
“In his presentation, he’ll
share some stories and les
sons about WWII while dis
cussing its seminal moments
and how the war shaped
our modern world, created
an American heritage, and
led to great social change,”
Malak said.
Joseph Dawson, professor
in the Department of Histo
ry, said Atkinson is especially
adept to wade through the
controversies that surround
the history of the world’s
bloodiest war.
“He is a thorough re
searcher and he has an ex
cellent analytical ability,”
Dawson said. “His talks have
been both informative and
also extremely thoughtful in
order to prompt listeners to
continue to look at the kinds
of controversies about the
war that he analyzes.”
The lecture is part of the
Glasscock Center’s WWII
Global Legacies initiative,
which is a platform for guest
speakers to discuss the long-
lasting impact of the war.
Richard Golsan, director of
the Glasscock Center, said
Atkinson is a qualified speak
er for the program.
“I think that Atkinson is
uniquely placed because he’s
a great historian of the Euro
pean theatre to really provide
some clarity and context to
make people understand bet
ter what happened during
the war and what its impor
tance is now,” Golsan said.
There will be a morn
ing coffee hour at 9 a.m.
Wednesday where students
can have an informal dis
cussion with Atkinson. The
lecture itself will be held in
the Annenberg Presiden
tial Conference Center at
the Bush School at 6 p.m.
Wednesday. It will be pre
ceded by a reception at 5:15
p.m., and will be followed
by a book signing. Tickets
are free and available to the
public.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
A Judicial Court ruling
Tuesday lifted student body
president candidate Isaiah Tsau's
disqualification from the SBP race.
Tsau, who only garnered the third
largest number of votes in the Spring
2015 election, was disqualified by the
Election Commission for exceeding
his campaign limit by $111. Election
Commissioner Emma Douglas fined
Tsau over $200 after a campaign
slogan written on the chalkboard in
REVEILLE CONTINUED
Reber said when the search for a
new mascot began, the committee put
in charge of the search didn’t have to
look very far to find an example of the
qualities they desired.
“As a committee, we met together
to see what characteristics we wanted
Rev to have to be a successful mas
cot,” Reber said. “We really looked
for what they looked for in Rev VIII,
because we all beheved that she was
a wonderful mascot, and that a dog
similar to Rev VIII would serve the
university’s needs.”
Twix comes to A&M from her
previous owners Mike and Marcy
Fine, of Overland Collies in Chagrin
Falls, Ohio. The Fines have built a
strong reputation in the collie breed
ing world, earning the Collie Club of
America’s Breeder of the Year award
nine times since 2000.
Mike Fine said his wife thought
Trix would be perfect for the job and
sent in a video of her when she heard
about the search in late 2013.
“They found the video interesting
and emailed her back saying they’d
like another video of her,” Mike Fine
said. “We took Trix to Chagrin Falls,
and she wanted to play with all the
kids. I took a video of her that day
the Evans Library Annex surfaced on
social media.
The summary claims that the
election commissioner falsely
assumed the campaign slogan was
written by a supporter of Tsau and
that the slogan was written in a
classroom, an area designated as off
limits for campaigning by the election
regulations.
Both parties agreed that the fine
was a miscommunication.
The ruling does not affect the final
outcome of the Spring 2015 student
body president election.
and sent it down to [A&M]”
Early on in the process, many stu
dents and former students alike hoped
the new mascot would come from a
shelter, or even return to being a mutt
like the very first Reveille. Reber said
several shelter dogs were considered,
but returning to a mutt was never in
the plans.
“Of the four finalists, two of them
were shelter collies from Houston, so
it was a serious consideration from the
committee,” Reber said. “We said
from the very beginning we said that
we were going to get the absolute
best dog for our new mascot. If that
would’ve happened to be a shelter dog,
then that would have been fantastic,
but it turned out to be from a breeder. ”
Mike Fine said it is an honor that
a university to which he and his wife
have no ties considers one of their dogs
worthy of such a great honor.
“I have to tell you, it’s pretty excit
ing,” Mike Fine said. “It’s something
that we’ll be able to brag about for
years, right up there with our cham
pionship dogs.”
Reveille IX will be formally intro
duced at the Corps of Cadets Final
Review on May 9. There will also be
a campus-wide event honoring the
new First Lady, with details still to be
announced.
Cody Franklin — THE BATTALION
Junior outfielder Cali Lanphear steps up to the plate against the Kentucky Wildcats during a
home game on March 7.
A&M softball carries Kentucky series
momentum into date with SHSU
By Milkyas Gashaw
The No. 20 Texas A&M soft-
ball team looks to get back to
its winning ways with a midweek
visit from Sam Houston State on
Wednesday at the Aggie Softball
Complex.
The Aggies (19-5, 2-1 SEC)
took an 11-game winning streak
into their SEC home opener
against Kentucky this weekend
and pushed it to 13 with wins on
Friday and Saturday before falling
on Sunday to the Wildcats.
The Bearkats from the South
land Conference (7-14) got off
to a rocky start this season, losing
their first six games. They turned
it around by reeling off four
straight victories before a loss
against No. 2 Oregon, who also
beat the Aggies 5-1 on Feb. 18.
The Aggies are projected to
send senior Rachel Fox to the
circle on Wednesday. Fox has
been pitching lights out this sea
son with a 12-3 record and a
team-high 11 complete games.
Junior Katie Marks has been a
complement to Fox, posting
a 6-1 record of her own and a
team-leading 1.38 ERA. Head
coach Jo Evans said she was es
pecially pleased with Marks’ last
outing, albeit in a losing effort.
“The great thing with Katie
was that all of their runs were solo
home runs,” Evans said. “Tip
your hat to Kentucky who was
ready to swing the bat. Our team
got down two runs and could
have given up but Katie Marks
put them back in the game. Ka
tie had a really good and solid
pitching performance today. I
feel very encouraged by her per
formance, she showed such great
fight, especially with those two
huge strikeouts to end the sixth
inning.”
The Bearkats are led on of
fense by senior Sarah Allison and
junior Peyton Webb. Allison
leads the club with six bombs
and 20 RBI’s on the season while
Webb is second on the team with
16 RBI.
A breakout performer for
the Aggies to watch is fresh
man center fielder Erica Russell,
who took over for junior Alex
Masek on Sunday and did not
disappoint, reaching base on all
three appearances with an RBI
walk and a double to left-center
against the Wildcats.
First pitch is at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday.