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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2015)
NEWS The Battalion I 4.10.15 Brazfl^JNatn^MF^ods “4 War Id of Meal dry Products for Your Family!” We carry Makeup and Nail Polish MINERAL FUSION minerals on a mission* [>3 beauty Mk. ^1 without cruelty ^ Larenim MINERAL and more! 4303 S. TEXAS AT ROSEMARY BRYAN • 979-846-4459 MON-FRI 9 TO 6 ♦ SAT 9 TO 4 Celebrating 26 i'ea/s of Serving the Brazo< Vaffeyf the battalion Classified Advertising • Easy • Affordable • Effective For information, call 845-0569 USB Mark Dore, Editor in Chief THE BATTALION is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http:// www.thebatt.com. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 979-845- 2687. For classified advertising, call 979- 845-0569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, through Friday. Email: battads® thebatt.com. AIUSWE to todays pua F •a 1 IS :les fis c * mBd E 1 1 O T J J K AT R a»e R 3 D: E A C > L R A if T a; C | 33|-I F L E R S ■ P r Be 1 s MC E S | J E ' E, H Y im P|?E f K f F R " R D N D tJ 5 OS IBs r t e E N 1 mj. il > L 3 S P 3 )££, W: 1 A C 1 O u T [F R 1 FI II yJB DIO tm 1 S fij p Y \ R E IP ivflf 1 T N THEiL L E iMx O Y >■ 7 5 9 1 4 6 3 2 1 8 1 3 4 9 8 2 7 5 6 6 8 2 1 5 7 9 4 3 5 6 3 7 2 8 4 9 1 9 2 8 3 1 4 6 7 5 4 1 7 6 9 5 3 8 2 8 4 5 2 3 9 1 6 7 3 7 6 8 4 1 5 2 9 2 9 1 | 5 7 6 8 3 4 NEW DONORS EARN IN Y0UR F,RST 2 donations i aa| TWO LOCATIONS TO DONATE AT! . 1979)315-4101 I |979) 314-3672 4223 Wellborn Rd 700 University Dr E.. Ste 111 Bryan, TX 77801 | College Station, TX 77840 PROVIDED Elizabeth Acevedo will be at Texas A&M for the SCOLA conference. Q&A: SCOLA hosts award-winning poet The Battalion Life & Arts reporter Keely Witries sat down with Eliza beth Acevedo, winner of the 2014 Beltway Grand Slam Champion, the nation’s largest slam poetry contest, who is one o f only three women in the country to have won the contest. Acev edo is in town for the SCOLA confer ence over the weekend .This year the conference is focused on individuality, which is Acevedo’s specialty iti poetry. THE BATTALION: What does it mean for you to get to travel the country influencing young people with your poetry? ACEVEDO: You know, it's a dream come true. I've been performing since I was 14 years old and always was kind of looking for performers who were of the same background, and women I could look for as an example, and there were very few. So for me it is really important to get out and engage with college students and high school students and as many young folk as possible to be the example I always wanted to see. THE BATTALION: What about your poetry is so influential? ACEVEDO: I speak a lot about identity and about the ways in which I am still figuring out the person and woman I want to be, and I think particularly with the age range of 18 to 22 that are in college, • a lot of that is the goal. There is the classroom experience but then there is establishing ideals and the ways in which you are going to walk to the world and I think a lot of people are going to relate to the fact that my poetry is about passion and about being who you want to be and focusing yourself on that journey. THE BATTALION: How does your diverse background influence your poetry? ACEVEDO: There is a way in which you grow up in a very diverse atmosphere, and I went to school with people who spoke all different kinds of languages and from all different islands and from all countries, I think that lets you have the perspective of thinking globally, which was very big for me and is still big for me in order to be looking towards the world to understand where I'm at. And definitely being Dominican, which there is a huge population in New York city, is big because I'm an American and very much a New Yorker but that's all influenced by my parents' background and my immigrant story, so there is a way in which I navigate being an American when its being influenced by growing up in a very global world and with a global view on what it means to be an American that affects my writing. THE BATTALION: Some of your writing has been labeled controversial, what adversities have you faced because of that? ACEVEDO: I talk a lot about race and I talk a lot about being a woman. I don't shy away from any of those topics. I think that especially creative writers should always write what they are most afraid to say because it's probably what isn't being said by anyone. I don't really concern myself with if my topics are controversial, I know they might be depending on who is listening, but I think that is part of what I want to bring to the discussion is that it's okay to talk about things and work through things as a community, luckily the stage and interacting with the audience allows that. THE BATTALION: Why did you start performing? ACEVEDO: I started performing because I had a high school teacher who kind of forced me. I wanted to be a rapper, honestly, I wanted to do hip-hop. I thought it was really cool and I just I love music — so I've always had a little bit of a performer in me. But I started doing poetry and putting myself out there because I had a lot of influential people in my life who encouraged me to share that work and exchange with people and to listen to poetry and to believe that what I had to say was important. MORE AT TX.AG/BATT33 §ffl ■ Hp aji Asi9n on campus g!| Thursday shows KraSHHI fraternity letters on tombstones. SIGNS CONTINUED The actions of a few don’t always reflect the attitudes and impressions of the overall student population, Trigg said. “It’s very important in this day and age to understand that social media allows everything to get blown out of proportion and for people to see it as a majority of opinions when in real ity it could just be a small group of individuals reflect that opinion,” Trigg said. Lanz said when he saw the signs from photos his friends sent him, he did not overly concern himself. “I did not put much thought into the signs until I learned more about what was going on,” Lanz said. “However it was evident to me from the start that the Corps of Cadets was not be hind it.” Whether or not the signs are of a satirical nature, no good comes from them, Lanz said. “I do not believe any good comes from the content of these signs,” Lanz. “Whether the agenda was humor, or to poke fun at the Corps of Cadets or Greek Life, the signs just created unnecessary drama and were disrespectful. That STAND IN CONTINUED students walk by, the focus is drawn to singing and praying. From 2-7 a.m. the participants did exactly that. Liz Harris, events coordinator and inter national studies senior, said a new prayer sub ject was introduced every hour, “to slightly meditate on but just be really praying over and keeping mindful.” The push for prayer plays a key role in the IJM by allowing the organization members and their audience to have a positive outlook on the fight against human trafficking. “This is such a dark subject and this is such a difficult thing to talk about that we don’t want people walking away feeling discouraged and hopeless,” said Hannah Seela, community outreach officer and psychology sophomore. “One of the main aspects is finding hope in is not what Texas A&M is about.” Lanz said the sign depicting the Yell Leaders is far from the truth. “Zach, Ben, Chris and Will have done an outstanding job of accepting me as one of them,” Lanz said. “I have truly enjoyed get ting to know them better this past month and I genuinely could not have asked for a better group of guys to serve alongside in the upcom ing year.” Zach Lawrence, appointed 2015-2016 Head Yell Leader, said Lanz is a great Aggie with tre mendous faith. Lawrence said Lanz has shown an overwhelming enthusiasm and desire to serve A&M since the beginning of the elec tion season. Connor Roberts, president of BYX and mechanical engineering junior, said he was disappointed when he saw the signs, especially because Lanz did not run for Yell Leader on the pretense of dividing the student body. “Steven truly has the most genuine heart of anybody I’ve met,” Roberts said. “He wants to serve the university and unite the student body. He ran on the vision that he could unite the student body, representing non-regs and Corps members alike.” God and Jesus to free people.” Displayed examples of stories and statistics brought to light the reality of modern day hu man trafficking. Along with the stories and facts presented, painted handprints marked each of the five letters of the display that spelled out “STAND.” Allison Booth, IJM member and history and sociology junior, said awareness surround ing the current state of human trafficking in the world is on the rise, which was reflected through the “STAND” display. “We just wanted a visual representation of the growth of this movement as more people become aware,” Booth said. Through all the activities, members re mained mindful of their main cause, Seela said. “Our primary objective is just to raise awareness and our campus’ collective con sciousness,” Seela said.