NEWS
The Battalion I 4.13.15
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Guest speaker Arthur B. Cohn talks about the "Spitfire," a ship that sunk in Lake Champlain, Vermont
during the American Revolution.
Talks shed light on nautical archeology
Speaker discusses sunken ship
during American Revolution
By Bethany Irvine
Texas A&M anthropology de
partment hosted its 16th annual
“Shipwreck Weekend” this weekend
to promote new developments within
the field of nautical archeology.
The event included guest speakers
Wendy Van Duivenvoorde and Ar
thur B. Cohn. In addition, Shipwreck
Weekend also granted public access
to laboratories and information about
current research within the Texas
A&M anthropology department.
Guests were provided opportuni
ties to explore the anthropology build
ing and gain an inside look into a field
that often goes unrecognized.
The keynote speaker, Arthur B.
Cohn, has worked in the field for over
35 years on the preservation of nauti
cal archaeological sites. Cohn’s discus
sion focused on the management of
shipwrecks, specifically Benedict Ar
nold’s gunboat “Spitfir,e,„” which sunk
in Lake Champlain, Vemiont, during
the American Revolution.
“Here’s a boat that is literally frozen
in the early morning hours of Octo
ber 12, 1776,” Cohn said., “The guys
abandoned the boats, sank it perfectly
on its bottom, to the point where, on
the inside where the battle stations are,
there is a wooden box with all the am
munition that hasn’t shifted at all, so
it’s a quite extraordinary architectural
find.”
Cohn said an issue, however, is that
while the boat remains in good condi
tion, the infiltration of mussels in the
lakes surrounding the archeological
site poses a threat to its preservation.
“This boat will not last where it
is,” Cohn said. “It is under an environ
mental sentence that will ultimately
turn into a pile of loose planks at the
bottom.”
Although there is not a system in
place to. prevent the mussels from
causing damage, Cohn believes it is the
responsibility of the next generation of
archaeologists to preserve these pieces
of history.
“We have an obligation to make
the case that there intrinsic values here.
V
"We have an obligation
to make the case that
there intrinsic values
here. We need this
stuff," Cohn said. "It's
not just that we, as a
society, should value
our past and cultural
connections. I'm saying
that we need these
sacred places that
remind us of basic
things, and this boat is
one of them."
Arthur B. Cohn,
nautical archaeologist
We need this stuff,” Cohn said. “It’s
not just that we, as a society, should
value our past and cultural connec
tions. I’m saying that we need these
sacred places that remind us of basic
things, and this boat is one of them.”
George Bass, professor emeritus and
founder of the Institute of Nautical
Archeology, attended the event and
said Shipwreck Weekend has contin
ued to gain public attention through
the years.
“I’ve been retired for 15 years but
they’ve been going on for a while,”
Bass said. “The whole idea was to
bring in people, townspeople espe
cially, and make them aware of what
we are doing. Just sorta of get the word
out and tell them what it’s all about,
and it always seems to draw and fair
amount of people.”
Karl Krusell, nautical archeology
graduate student, said the event was a
good way to shed light on the distin
guished nautical archeology program
at the university.
“What was cool was that we were
able to advocate the management of
shipwrecks to the public audience,”
Krussel said. “In the world of nautical
archeology, we all know these things
and find them important, but a lot of
times the public doesn’t. Texas A&M
and is one of the only places in the
world where you can study nautical
archeology. I would argue it’s the best
place in the world.”
Filipe Castro, associate professor in
nautical archeology, said much of the
general public is unaware of the ad
vances made within the field.
“Archeologists publish only about
25 percent what they dig, so arche
ologist still do not publish enough,
and the cost of this is that the general
public still has no idea what we do,”
Castro said.
Castro said the anthropology de
partment is working with the College
of Architecture and the Department
of Visualization to digitally reconstract
archeological sites.
“Once we make this beautiful mesh
of points, then the sky’s the limit,”
Castro said. “In the viz lab, we are
experimenting with computer graph
ics to reconstruct the sites and show
people very clearly that a archeological
site is not just a jumble of rotten tim
ber, but we can. really make it speak,
and bring us back to that time.”
CULTURE
Hour-long slam
concludes SCOLA
conference
200 delegates gathered
to discuss individuality
By Keeley Wirries
Elizabeth Acevedo closed
the 27th annual SCOLA
conference with an hour-long
slam poetry performance ded
icated to “Unmasking Your
Identity.”
The conference hosted over
200 delegates from A&M and
other Texas colleges, as well
as multiple speakers, includ
ing Christine Stanley, and Joe
Feagin. The conference fo
cused on expressing individu
ality of the Latino community
through writing and art.
“It really surprised me how
well taken care of I was, I mean
I’m completely spoiled and
ruined for any other school,”
Acevedo said. “People were
just so nice and responsive —
it was great.”
Selena Mares, entertain
ment coordinator for SCO
LA, said attendees took away
a better understanding of what
it means to be a Latino and to
be a part of the world com
munity.
“SCOLA’s dual-faceted
mission is to provide a forum
for students to discuss sig
nificant issues that impact the
growing Latino population in
our nation, and to foster ex
emplary leadership develop
ment among its members,”
Mares said.
At the conference, dele
gates were able to take poetry
workshops, explore campus,
listen to speakers, engage in
networking opportunities and
go to scheduled entertainment
events, as well as spend one-
on-one time with Acevedo.
“We all got to have dinner
together so we got to sit down
and talk about our families and
talk about our upbringings
and so I think it was a really
personal and intimate way to
get to know the people who
put on the conference,” Ace
vedo said. “It was more than
I thought it would be. They
were all super respectful and
they really just have a great
working relationship and part
nership and it showed that
they have been working on
this conference since Septem
ber, and that they put a lot of
thought into it.”
Although some of Acev
edo’s poetry could be con
sidered controversial, she still
brought a new and fresh per
spective to A&M, said Gonza-
lo Rodriguez, political science
senior and SCOLA conference
director.
“Just like with any other
form of entertainment, her
poetry is award winning be
cause it makes you feel un
comfortable,” Rodriguez said.
“It challenges you to question
conventional thoughts and
conventional conceptions. It
makes us analyze situations.”
Mirroring Acevedo’s chal
lenging societal norms, some
of the delegates took their
workshops as a time to express
themselves through poetry.
“I was incredibly impressed
with the workshops,” Acev-
"There was a guy
who even wrote
about his love
handles. I mean,
we have these
conceptions of
men talking about
their bodies and
everything was
just so vulnerable.
I think that's
what I found
remarkable about
all of the writing
— it was really
vulnerable and
thoughtful."
Elizabeth Acevedo,
poet
’ • IOl1193 i.' j
edo said. “I mean, the poems
that people wrote in just 30 to
40 minutes were remarkable.
This one girl wrote a poem
about sheep, and so often we
think of sheep as being follow
ers and she completely flipped
the metaphor on its head and
that was wonderful.”
Acevedo said the work
shops allowed students to talk
about aspects of their life not
commonly talked about.
“There was a guy who even
wrote about his love handles,”
Acevedo said. “I mean, we
have these conceptions of
men talking about their bod
ies and everything was just so
vulnerable. I think that’s what
I found remarkable about all
of the writing — it was really
vulnerable and thoughtful.”
CHILIFEST
CONTINUED
Luxion said.
Luxion said the final
count for tickets and sales
will be confirmed within
the next two weeks.
Zach Houchins, junior
supply chain management
major and vice president
of volunteer relations for
Chilifest, said all proceeds
from the event are donat
ed to specific nonprofits in
the community based on
the charities volunteers
at Chilifest are associated
with.
“Everything we do
goes back to the com
munity at the end of the
year,” Houchins said.
“Nobody benefits in it in
any way except for our
charities. Every dollar you
spend out here and before
with your ticket goes to a
good cause.”
Some of the nonprof
its Chilifest serves include
the Boys and Girls Club,
Big Brothers and Big Sis
ters, Down Syndrome
Association of Brazos Val
ley, Children’s Museum,
Coach Blair Charities,
Go Texan and St. Joseph
EMS, Luxion said.
Luxion said the Chil
ifest officers calculate how
much is donated to each
charity based on the total
hours worked at Chilifest
by volunteers from each
organization.
“We reward volunteers
for coming out here and
helping out by donat
ing back to their causes,”
Luxion said.
This year, Houchins
said over 800 volunteered
at Chilifest, both for set up
and for the actual event.
“We have volunteers
who have been com
ing out here for 24 years
and they’re the backbone
of our organization,”
Houchins said. “The vol
unteers are the only thing
that keep the event run
ning at the end of the day.
We have a lot of people
from Burleson County,
Snook, Brazos County
and all over Texas with
Go Texan area organiza
tions.”
While Chilifest is a
huge country music fes
tival for the Aggie com
munity, it means so much
more for the beneficiaries
of the donations, Luxion
said. He said the purchase
of each ticket eventually
ends up improving the
lives of people in the com
munity because of how
the money is donated.
“A lot of people see it
as a lawless, fenced-in oa
sis in Snook for a weekend
where people just come
out here and drink —
granted they have a good
time, but the focus really
is where the money goes,”
Luxion said.
B ATT ASKS
# -
"Chilifest provides an opportunity to meet a
diverse multitude of people within the A&M
student community."
"Building a Chilifest build with my fraternity brothers
.YG-.T;
and seeing it all come together.”
Corey Pursell. wildlife and fisheries senior
TIPA CONTINUED
and what our weaknesses are
— and build on that.”
Mark Dore, editor-in-chief
for The Battalion and English
senior, won four page de
sign awards and an honorable
mention in the sports column
category. The Battalion s com
bined points across all catego
The Battalion this year.
“I think winning these
awards serves as an affirma
tion of how many stories are
in science and technology at
A&M,” Rangel said. “A&M
has such huge engineering
and science colleges so there’s
plenty of stories out there that
relate directly to it and now
we have more capability of
ries earned it the sweepstakes
award.
“There are some categories
that we don’t do as much of,
but it shows the strength of
our publication that we had
several good, strong contend
ers for many different catego
ries,” Dore said.
John Rangel, science and
technology editor for The Bat
talion and aerospace engineer
ing junior, won first place in
the headline category and third
place in news feature category.
Rangel said he was pleased to
see science and technology
content place in three catego
ries, as the section is new to
doing more in-depth report
ing of them and the students
involved in them.”
Breaux said a first place
award in overall excellence is
testament to the work the en
tire staff puts into The Battalion
on a daily basis.
“There are lots of catego
ries that individuals win, but
overall excellence reflects not
just on editors, not just on a
single writer, but on every
one’s ability to design pages,
edit them, put in legwork, in
terview people and think criti
cally about the content we’re
producing,” Breaux said.
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