NEWS
The Battalion I 4.6.15
4
CULTURE
Art league provides display space
for aspiring student artists
Brazos Valley Art League spring
show on exhibit until June 1
By Olivia Knight
^ The art community in Brazos Val-
^ ley is carving out a space for stu
dents in the local art scene.
The Brazos Valley Art League
opened its spring show on March 24,
with pieces featuring all manners of
styles and subjects.
Molly Wallace, program director
for the Arts Council of the Brazos
Valley, said participating in the Art
League is a great resource for college
students, especially those who want to
go into the arts.
“It’s really awesome to have local
artists and see what they’re all doing,”
Wallace said, “This is sort of an op
portunity to have them do whatever
they want.”
For college students who wish to
join the Art League, Marti Dunn, so
cial chair of the Art League, said mem
bership is $40. Members can attend
meetings on the first Monday of every
month at noon.
“One of our shows is open to col
lege and youth through high school,”
Dunn said, “And we’ve had some col
lege students come out.”
Sherry Killingsworth, the president
of the Art League, said if college stu
dents want to enter a piece in a juried
show, they can enter in a variety of
divisions such as student, adult student
and non-professional. In addition,
Killingsworth said the league hosts
member shows in the spring and the
fall, along with themed shows.
“We will have a themed show in
the fall and the theme is ‘Up close and
personal,’” Killingsworth said. “So it
could be a self-portrait, which is kind
of what we were going for. Our last
themed show was ‘The blues’ and it
could be music blues, or the color blue
or anything that has to do with blue.”
The Spring Show is featured in the
Arts Center on Dartmouth Street un
til June 1. Admission is free and the
center is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on
Sundays.
The Brazos
Valley Art
League
Spring
Show is
featured
in the Arts
Center on
Dartmouth
Street.
Jena Floyd:—THE BATTALION
MARIJUANA CONTINUED
on your criminal record.”
Fazio said while Texas still criminal
izes recreational possession, the penalties
should be reasonable.
“I think if there’s going to be rea
sonable regulation, most Texans would
agree [marijuana] should be regulated
similarly to alcohol — for responsible
adults to enjoy and to not drive under,”
Fazio said.
The legality of cannabis now remains
entirely under state jurisdiction. Snyder
said federal government is entirely re
jecting interference.
“Federal law focuses on big name
drug circles while states deal chiefly
with possession,” Snyder said. “Since
national government does not want to
spend time going after possession, they
won’t interfere.” •
Snyder said legalization has given rise
to a new and active market.
“For example, Colorado has a robust
industry because there are no limitations
on people who can grow [marijuana]
and resell it,” Snyder said.
Marijuana legalization has provided
an economic boost in a number of sec
tors, Fazio said, including tourism.
“We see the whole state economy
affected — those who sell the lights
in grow-houses are suddenly spiking
in business, marketers, lawyers helping
with trademarks, hotels and tourism
have all seen growth,” Fazio said.
Snyder said there has been substan
tial movement within the
state for industrial hemp,
the part of the marijuana
plant without THC. Sny
der said he believes a mar
ket for hemp would reap
economic benefits for
Texas.
“Texas is quite a fer
tile ground for hemp and
hemp contains no mind-
altering drug,” Snyder
said. “Currently, hemp
is illegal under federal
law because they figured
it would just be easier to
ban the whole plant rather
than worry whether it
contains THC or not.”
Gina Warren, an associ
ate professor at the Texas
A&M School of Law who
researches energy use in
the marijuana cultivation
industry, said the industry
is still very new and policy
makers are just now beginning to regu
late it, although it will significantly im
pact the future of the industry.
Although any significant movement
for complete legalization seems further
in the future, Fazio remains optimistic.
“In Texas we want to get it right,”
Fazio said. “It’s a slow process because
there is a lot of cognitive
dissonance in Texas be
tween drugs and conser
vatism. Generally speak
ing, people are ready for
decriminalization. ”
Students differ on the
matter. Ryan Holleman,
construction science ju
nior, said legalization for
recreational uses can only
help the economy.
“I honestly don’t see
what’s wrong with mari
juana ... You can’t die
from it, you can’t OD
from it,” Holleman said.
“Alcohol is way worse.
Cigarettes are way worse.
And they’re legal. I don’t
know what the big deal
is.”
Other students, like
civil engineering fresh
man Faith Tolson, argue
it should remain criminal
ized in all forms. Finance senior Yaru
Li, however, said regulated medicinal
use could be beneficial as new business
could be drawn to Texas.
"[The bills]
range from
allowing
just one
medicinal
component
of marijuana
to legalizing
the drug
in its
entirety."
Frank Snyder,
A&M law professor
MEMORY CONTINUED
better. He finds a lot of stu
dents waste their focus and
energy studying in long
bursts, only to become dis
tracted and immediately
forget what they have just
learned.
“The biggest problem stu
dents have is distraction,” Kl-
emm said. “When you have a
learning experience, whether
you remember it or not, is a
function of what happened
immediately before, during
and immediately after the
experience.”
According to a pamphlet
that Klemm said he often
hands out to students and ed
ucators, the best way to study
is in short bursts, followed by
applying what you have just
learned and then finally by
doing some menial task to let
your brain rest.
“This process of convert
ing temporary memories to
long-term memories is cru
cial because if you have to
relearn, then your learning is
not efficient,” Klemm said.
“The object should be to
learn it in one try.”
Klemm said these meth
ods would not only improve
a student’s ability to memo
rize information, but can also
preserve their mental health
as they age.
“There is experimental
evidence that this protects
your brain as you get older,”
Klemm said. “They have
done postmortem studies
and they have found people
who should of have had Al
zheimer’s disease but didn’t
have Alzheimer’s symptoms.
Invariably, these were people
who had been very mentally
active all of their life.”
Going forward, the active
80-year-old said he is writing
a book for teachers on how
to teach better learning — a
point that he wishes more in
stitutions would address.
“My focus is tiying to
change how educators do
things,” Klemm said. “We’re
neglecting the most impor
tant thing of all, which is to
teach students learning skills.
We are so busy teaching to
the test that we don’t teach
them how to learn.”
Education reform is on the
docket in both the United
States and Texas legislatures,
both of which are look
ing to reform the Bush-era
No Child Left Behind poli
cies. Klemm said he believes
smarter approaches to mem
ory should be considered by
policy makers.
“Memorization is a dirty
word in most circles,” he
said. “Not enough thought
is given to the fact that to do
the good things you’ve got to
have the foundation.”
HAGEMAN CONTINUED
I've heard of so many girls that start these competitions
and they develop eating disorders or starve. It's a huge
oxymoron, because we are supposed to be representing
health and fitness and I've seen the complete opposite.
I started exploring different dieting methods and ulti
mately went with flexible dieting, a nonrestrictive meal
plan. I don't work out more than two hours at a stretch,
whereas some girls are known to be at the gym for six
hours straight. By eating healthy and training efficiently,
I wanted to prove there's a way to get fit without going
to extremes, without developing an eating disorder, and
more importantly, without losing yourself and closing
off everyone in your life to diet so hard, for really only a
minute or two on stage.
THE BATTALION: What was the actual competition
like?
HAGEMAN: It was a smaller, newer show and or
ganized for natural athletes. We had to go through
pre-judging and were broken up into divisions. I partici
pated in the bikini division, which focused on poise and
presentation. You're trying to showcase you and your
hard work. Stage time involved various poses and as
sessment of your training and body fat content. More
so, it focused on body tone and composition. After
judging, they have finals, which is basically an award
ceremony.
MORE AT TX.AG/BATT28
Human
resource
development
senior Cory
Hageman
won second
place in a
statewide
body building
competition.
Nikita Redkat —THE BATTALION
The Future of Higher Education:
People, Practices, Tools
■
Lecture by
Anya Kamenetz
Lead Education Writer for NPR
Open to the public!
Sponsored by the
CIRTL Network
Monday, April 13, 2015
7:30pm in Rudder Theater
Book signing with author to follow
Rec Sports is
NOW HIRING
■. JS^ m
OS’
w&****m
Applications are available online at recsports.tainy.edy
Applications will be accepted in Rec Center room 202
throughout Spring and Summer 2015.
Applicants must participate in a skills screening
on one of the following dates:
April 21st at 7pm or April 29th at 7pm
(Additional skills screening dates will be added as needed)
Applicants must Pa currently certified in Lifeguard Training, CPR/AEO for the Professional,
and First Aid from the American Red Gross or equivalent organization to he considered
for employment.
For more details, contact:
mdantism@rec.tamu.edu, choney@rec.tamu.edu or eshannon@rec.tamu.edu
cirtl.tamu.edu