April 11, 2013

Volume 69, No. 24 April 11, 2013

Online Cover band to perform Beatles tribute

‘Come Together’

panamericanonline.com

Catch up with baseball, golf, tennis and track

and field scores

Weekly Updates

ONLINE CONTENT

Video Coverage of march

Eduardo Guerra doesn’t feel safe in Reynosa, Mexico, anymore.

Mexico’s drug war has turned the 17-year-old high school student’s home into a car-tel battleground.

And most recently, during Spring Break, there was a large shootout in Reynosa which re-portedly killed three civilians, though bystanders claimed they saw trucks full of dead bodies leaving the scene, according to The Monitor.

Different sources reporting different data have been a regu-

lar occurrence during the conflict since it became a topic of con-cern in 2006. In the beginning of 2012, the Mexican attorney general’s office reported a death count of 48,000 since December 2006 and a total of 35,000 in 2010. The numbers haven’t been updated since, but critics argue (specifically, the Milenio, a daily newspaper based in Monterrey) the count is about 60,000 since 2006, not including the missing, or “desaparecidos.”

The government never in-volved itself directly with the

drug cartels until 2006 when Mexican President Felipe Calde-rón sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of Michoacán to stop the violence, an event known as Operation Michoacán. The op-eration is considered the starting point of the war between the gov-ernment and drug cartels.

Gary Mounce, a University political science professor who has researched Mexican politics and written about various Mexican-related topics for the online news-paper The Rio Grande Guardian, said he believes much of the infor-

mation reported on the Mexican drug war is “chisme,” or gossip. As a result, no source has authentic numbers, except maybe the cartel members themselves, he said.

“We depend a lot on broad statistics and no one quite trusts the Mexican statistics,” Mounce said. “They seem to obviously want to tone down the numbers of murders...It’s all guesswork and it’s all chisme and...you can’t go down there and do research safely.”

Mounce refers to the fact that journalists are reportedly being murdered, and disappear com-pletely, in Mexico. Last year, the Mexican government placed the journalist death count at 67, not including 14 who disappeared since the start of Calderón’s presi-dency in 2006. As a result, most Mexican journalists no longer pursue in-depth research to report factual Mexican drug war informa-tion, in order to prevent threats

Honoring Chavez

Annual march for immigration reform

Norman Mailer

Class on Pulitzer Prize-winning author

Butterfly migration hits lowest level in 20 years

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Lower Numbers

April 11, 20132 editorial

The Pan American is the official student newspaper of The Univer-sity of Texas-Pan American. Views presented are those of the writ-ers and do not necessarily reflect those of the paper or university.

1201 West University, ARHU 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539Phone: (956) 665-2541

Fax: (956) 316-7122

Editors-in-ChiEf: Karen AntonacciDaniella Diaz nEws Editor: Charles Vale sports Editor: Norma GonzalezArts & LifE Editor: Lea Victoria JuarezphotogrAphy Editor: Adrian Castillo dEsign Editor: Karen Villarreal MuLtiMEdiA Editor: Elizabeth Espinosa

soCiAL MEdiA Editor: Ismael Melendez AdvisEr:Dr. Greg SelberAdMinistrAtivE AssoCiAtE: Anita Reyes AdvErtising MAnAgEr: Elva Ramirez wEbMAstEr: Jose Villarreal

thE pAn AMEriCAn

Vol. 69, No. 24

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The debate on ethnic studies has reached our doorsteps with a bill by Re-publican Texas Senator Dan Patrick of Houston.

Patrick’s proposed Sen-ate Bill 1128 seeks to pro-hibit special topics courses like Mexican-American or African-American History from counting towards core curriculum requirements in Texas institutions of higher education. UTPA students may not understand the severity of this issue consid-ering our university already prohibits this option (Que gacho, no?); however, it is common practice in many institutions, including the University of Texas at Aus-tin and South Texas Col-lege, to allow students to take courses like the ones described above to satisfy core requirements. The Dan Patricks of the world, however, argue courses like these give too much em-phasis to topics that don’t matter, like race and gen-der. Patrick arrived at this conclusion with the aid of a report by conservative think-tank the National As-sociation of Scholars, which is committed to opposing “liberal bias” and “trends” like multiculturalism and diversity in education. The NAS report claims “all too often courses give strong emphasis to race, class, and gender,” and not enough focus “in subjects of Ameri-can history such as military, diplomatic, religious, and intellectual history.”

When confronted by African-American and La-tino groups who fear this policy is another attempt to standardize Anglo-centric perspectives in classrooms, Patrick responded with, “I wish these groups would support my bill for more choice.”

Perhaps I’m confused, but how does limiting the courses students may choose give us more choice? Does Patrick believe he must micromanage our courses because we are incapable of deciding what best fits our academic interests? What about intellectual freedom?

Patrick claims the his-torical contributions of all ethnic groups will be included in what he calls “broad and comprehensive” American history courses, but I find it difficult to trust Mr. Patrick.

Rubén Garza

Dear Pan American,

It is business and a reality. Stiletto’s Cabaret is an adult entertainment establishment that has survived through the recession and actually been operating since 2000, a decade and counting of success in their business specialty. I , as a female Alumni, do not stress any concern in the “proactive advertising “ done in March.

The Pan American repre-sents, The University of Texas Pan American greatly in the community and it’s contribu-tors have won several digital design awards.

People may want to see things differently and more liberal. THINK.

How do they know it wasn’t an honor to have been the chosen models?

Furthermore, I would emphasize that people have a choices in life, in this case one can look at or put the Pan American back down.

This is life.

Sincerely,Cristina ReynaThe University of Texas Pan AmericanElectrical Engineering & Mathematics

The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from stu-dents, staff and faculty regarding recent news-paper content, campus concerns or current events. We cannot pub-lish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratu-itous personal attacks. Please send all letters to:

thepanamerican @gmail.com

Francisco Rodriguez / The Pan American

Letters to the editorDear Pan American,

I am very disappointed with the add on the back page of the Pan-American advertis-ing a strip club. I understand that your intentions were to gain profit from this and that you might say you "operate independently of the UTPA brand," but you have to un-derstand that the name of your newspaper is very similar to that of our university and you have a logo of a bronc on the front page of it. Whatever is advertised on the Pan American will reflect on the school. You have just prostituted the name and prestige of our university for $3,250 dollars. Was it really worth it? The last place I would think someone would advertise sex and alcohol to me would be my university. I hope you know of the strong alcohol addiction that we have in our community and that many psychologists include sex as a potential ad-diction. Thank you for collabo-rating in the deterioration of our community,

Alan PadillaOfficer of two UTPA Organizations

news from neeboBookstore signs

contract with new owner

Dear UTPA,It has come to my attention

that The Pan American has come under scrutiny over a series of ads placed on the back page of last week’s edition.

The ads which promote an adult novelty shop, a bar and a strip club have made some at my alma mater question whether or not the student paper should be funded at all by the University.

As a former employee of the paper I have to say that whoever decided it was a good idea to start a petition to defund The Pan American – although they are within their rights to do so – has no idea how important that insti-tution is for students who work there every day.

Many graduate from UTPA with a communications degree, however, few go on to actually work in a field that is gradually shrinking across the country. The only reason I have a career in journalism now is because of the hard lessons learned in the news-room at The Pan American.

To suggest a cut in funding to the student paper would not only take away the free voice of the student body, but it would also dash the career aspirations of many.

I learned to make hard deci-sions on production night thanks in great part to people like Dr. Greg Selber and my Co-Editor-in-Chief Nadia Tamez-Robledo, but I never had to make the deci-sion of placing an ad for a strip club on our pages. That being said, if I was in the same situa-tion of a down-sized paper with less funding from the University I would have gladly made the same choice the current Editors-in-Chief did.

Remember, the paper is a free service offered to students with money earned from selling ad space. If you don’t want to be offended by particular ads then buy an ad your self, or ask UTPA to increase funding so your paper stays “pure.”

Sincerely,Reynaldo LealPhotojournalist at the Standard-ExaminerUTPA class of 2012

P.S.- Grow up.

news

Continued on Page 3

Students can expect not only a new bookstore location, but a new owner as well.

To ensure students receive the best value, the University issued a new bid March 1 to bookstore operator Neebo Complete College Outfitter, said Leticia Benavides, director of auxiliary services at UTPA.

After an eight-year con-tract with Follett Higher Education Group, Benavides said the timing to re-bid the bookstore contract was right, due to the contract’s expira-tion March 31, in tandem with the relocation of the bookstore to the Library.

“The bookstore industry has changed significantly since we first started the contract in 2005 that the financial con-siderations offered to the Uni-versity had been renegotiated,” Benavides explained.

Prior to the contract with Follett, the book store self-operated the bookstore. Al-though Follett was part of the re-bidding process it failed to win a second contract.

“We respect the campuses’ decision and have done our best to ensure a smooth tran-

sition for the entire campus community,” said Bill Boney, regional manager for Follett at UTPA. “As with any great part-nership, we hoped our relation-ship would continue.”

Boney said the bookstore industry has seen a steady and disturbing decline in sell-through, which he defines as the amount of materials sold as a percentage of total enroll-ment within a class department or school. He said the biggest factor is the growing collec-tion of online sources that offer textbook materials.

“Students are savvy shop-pers and the increase of larger online competitors has given them the opportunity to really explore what’s out there and at what price,” Boney explained.

THE MOVE ON CAMPUSNeebo began its transition

to Library Room 101 April 10. The bookstore is expected

to open its doors to the UTPA community April 19, when the staff will test its operations. The official opening will take place April 22 with a grand opening to be announced at a later date.

The Writing Center, previ-ously located in Library Room 101, was temporarily moved to the Academic Services Build-ing. The current bookstore building, located on the east side of the campus on the cor-ner of 1201 West University Drive and N. Fourth Ave., is expected to receive renovations in preparation for housing a program from the College of Health and Science. The Phy-sician’s Assistant program was originally considered but the final plan remains uncertain, according to Benavides.

“We hope that the central-ized location in the Library will allow for the campus commu-nity to visit the bookstore more often instead of cyclically,” she said. “It also allows for the book-store to become more integrated with campus life and events.”

As announced in an email sent to students, faculty and staff March 27, Neebo is ex-pected to provide a variety of affordable course material op-tions which include the follow-

ing: matched prices on text-books with other local stores or online websites, all textbooks available for rent, a large selec-tion of digital textbooks and the online buyback program which will allow students to know how much their book is worth in advance.

“Neebo understands that different students have differ-ent needs-and the more op-tions there are for course ma-terials, the better,” said Amy Turnip, South Texas regional manager for Neebo. “Through our used textbooks, Rent Every Textbook program, and our Best Price Promise, students will have an immediate way to save money.”

The new bookstore op-erator will also be expanding other merchandise areas such as electronics, office supplies, and

By Karen PerezThe Pan American

As with any great partnership, we hoped

our relationship would continue.

- Bill BoneyRegional Manager, Follett Got two free shirts in one

day :D #utpa

- @saraaiii

January 31, 2013April 11, 2013 3

s

Victoria Flores/The Pan American

drug war continued from 1

and/or reprisals from cartels. However, Angel Saavedra Cis-

neros, a political science professor who was born and raised in Mexi-co, said the data from the Mexican government is more credible than people want to believe, only be-cause many people have lost confi-dence in the government.

“This is one of the problems with Mexico; people don’t trust the government...Yes, the num-bers might be wrong, but I don’t think it’s deliberate,” he said. “I think it mostly has to do with the difficulty with coming up with accurate numbers from ho-micides that are directly related to the drug violence. The issue is, who do we trust?”

THE WAR

The Mexican drug war is the name given to the series of armed conflicts occurring in the coun-try between separate drug cartels fighting for regional power, and against the Mexican government. Mexican drug cartels have been around for decades, but have be-come more powerful since the end

of Colombia’s Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s.

Some say the Mexican drug war is partly an effect of the Unit-ed States’ War on Drugs, an ini-tiative coined by President Rich-ard Nixon in 1971. The War on Drugs aimed to reduce illegal drug consumption in the United States through educational programs in schools and increased jail time for dealers and users.

The Mexican drug war, how-ever, is it’s own series of conflicts occurring within the country.

The direct cause of the Mexi-can drug war is a power struggle between cartel groups, specifically the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel,

which used to be a united force but separated in 2007 after Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guil-len was arrested.

As a result, the Zetas, previ-ously a bodyguard group of the Gulf Cartel, seized the chance to become their own organization and since then have been at war with their former partner.

There is also the Tijuana car-tel, Beltran Leyva cartel, Sinaloa cartel, Juarez cartel and La Familia Michoacana, according to a report by Congressional Research Service; however, the Rio Grande Valley is most affected by the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas because their territo-ries are just across the border.

“The violence has increased in the last six or seven years as the cartels split and the people got greedy,” Mounce said. “It’s a turf fight.”

According to an article by globalpost.com, Mexican drug trafficking totals to revenue of $6 billion a year. The United States has the largest market for cocaine, heroin and marijuana, which makes the country the main mar-

ket for the Mexican drug cartels, according to information collected by Visual Economics.

Also, in June 2008, U.S. Con-gress passed legislation that provid-ed Mexico and Central American countries $1.6 billion as part of the Merida Initiative, a three-year as-sistance plan that provided law en-forcement training, equipment and technical advances to strengthen Mexico’s justice systems.

Still, Mounce does not believe the United States is doing enough on their part to stop the Mexican drug war and its violence.

“You would have to say that there’s corruption on this (U.S.) side too,” Mounce

added. “How do the drugs get through.... Somebody has to be on the (the other side).”

SOLUTION

Mounce said he believes the fix is to legalize drugs in the United States.

“Until we legalize marijuana and cocaine, tax it and control it, have methadone treatment centers and have more education, then this whole question of violence won’t stop,” Mounce added.

However, legalizing anything other than marijuana does not seem likely to happen anytime soon. As of now, 18 states permit the medicinal use of marijuana, and as of last year, two states per-mit recreational use of the drug - Colorado and Washington. As for cocaine, heroin, crystal meth-amphetamine and other drugs that are sold illegally in the United States, the political discussion has yet to have open up to using them medicinally or recreationally.

Saavedra Cisneros said he believes that the United States couldn’t legalize drugs even if poli-

ticians wanted to because it is too difficult to regulate drugs.

“Who’s going to be in charge of regulating the quality of the product, because we know that co-caine isn’t always pure,” he asked. “In fact, it’s always cut and you don’t know what they’re cutting it with. So is the government going to set the purity of cocaine? I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

He also said he believes that if the cartels lose the drug market, they’ll find other ways to make money, for example, by kidnap-ping wealthy people and through extortion.

“If you take away the market, they have to resort to funding their

operations somehow...they might go more into kidnappings and ex-tortion because that’s how they get money,” Saavedra Cisneros said. “It’s a weird balance and we don’t really know whether there’s a way to solve it.”

LIFE IN MEXICO Guerra said he’s grown ac-

customed to living within drug violence.

“Normally, I just put on my earphones, sit on the bus and dedi-cate myself to my own things, even though no one really knows when anything is going to happen,” he said in Spanish. “I just like to pre-tend nothing is happening.”

According to the death count provided by the Mexican Attor-ney General’s Office, most of the drug war killings have taken place in eight of Mexico’s 31 states, four of which share a border with the United States: Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila and Chihuahua.

On the home front, UTPA has 930 international students, and a percentage of them travel across the border from Mexico to attend classes several times during the week.

“In Reynosa, I would be very cautious. Keep your eyes and ears peeled because you could unex-pectedly be caught in crossfire. Students from there come every day, and professionals do too,” Mounce said. “The main problem in Mexico is on the border, from Reynosa to up the (Texas) border. (The violence) on the Mexican side, not the U.S. side.”

As for the rate of death among Mexican journalists, it doesn’t ap-pear to be decreasing, according to data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The skewed data will most likely not improve until something changes within the country, Mounce said.

Mounce and Saavedra Cis-neros agree that they don’t see the problems stopping until the United States and Mexico take a more proactive approach to stop-ping the violence.

“It’s all about money and it’s all about making more money. And it won’t stop,” Mounce predicted.

bookstore continued from Page 2will be placed throughout campus for students’ conve-nience. Benavides mentioned the possibility of scholarship opportunities through Neebo and the University’s Schol-arship Office. Criteria for scholarships will be released in the future.

Turnip also said Neebo is in the process of interviewing existing bookstore employees and at the moment is unsure whether there will be more or less employees than before.

According to Alex Valdez, UTPA procurement manage-ment director, the University sent out a competitive pro-posal last November through a Request For Proposal pro-cess that provides for the li-cense of space for operating the bookstore.

Interested vendors that re-plied to the RFP along with Neebo were Barnes and Noble College, Texas Bookstore Col-lege and Follett Higher Educa-tion Group, all of whom had until Dec. 7, 2012 to submit a response to UTPA.

The evaluation commit-tee, which consisted of groups such as the Student Govern-ment Association, Athletics, Center for Online Learning Teaching and Technology, Staff Senate, Faculty Senate, Business Affairs and Academic Affairs, focused on criteria be-fore making a decision. The committee looked at the ven-dor’s prior experience with other university bookstores and its financial capacity to license, install, stock and op-erate the bookstore on main campus.

“It was a lengthy process but we wanted to make sure the students were taken care of,” Valdez said of the evalu-ation process. “It was decided that Neebo best met the re-quirements.”

Turnip said she is looking forward to partnering with UTPA and the opportunity to

integrate into the campus and serve its students.

“UTPA’s modern focus on global education indicates that it puts its students first and continually evolves to meet the changing needs of real-world preparation,” Turnip said. ”That’s the kind of school we want to work with, and we are excited to get started.”

STUDENTS RESPOND

According to Boney, UTPA students saved approxi-mately $2.2 million through Follett’s rental, used, buyback and digital programs in the past three years. He said he believes Follett was successful in meeting its central goal of maximizing student access to affordable textbook options.

However, not all UTPA students were satisfied with the textbook policies at the Follett-owned bookstore.

Freshman Mario Castillo said he only bought one text-book, at the beginning of his first semester at UTPA, some-thing the computer science major quickly regretted.

“(Textbooks) are way too overpriced. I just don’t buy them at the bookstore,” the Mission native said. “I pre-fer buying my textbooks on Amazon or getting them used through a friend.”

According to CollegeData, an online college advisor, the average cost for books and supplies for the 2012-2013 school year was $1,200 at public colleges.

Although biology major Robert Martinez rarely gets his textbooks at the bookstore, opting for “cheaper” ones on-line, he said he plans on stop-ping by the new bookstore.

“A new bookstore won’t affect me but I’ll still check it out just because it’s new,” he said.

Construction workers continue renovations to the new Book-store location in the Library. The new location is scheduled to open April 19 to the UTPA community and will officially open April 22.

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Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila and Chihuahua are the only Mexican states that border Texas, and are four out of eight states where most of the drug war killings have taken place, according to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office.

By Eduardo Gamez/The Pan American

CHIHUAHUA

COAHUILA

TAMAULIPAS

NUEVOLEON

Monterrey

San FernandoMatamoro

ReynosaMcAllen

Brownsville

Chihuahua

Saltillo

CiudadVictoria

Ciudad JuarezEl Paso

Page 5THE PAN AMERICAN April 11, 2013Page 4 April 11, 2013 ADVERTISEMENT

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‘The Perfect Opportunity at the right time’

Meet your BRONC coaches

The UTPA athletic coaching staff is a vital part of each Bronc team. Athletes would not be able to per-form their best without them. Here’s a look into what they think of the Valley, the University and more.

FROM NEWESTTO OLDEST

While Head Men’s Golf Coach Josh Fos-dick wraps up his first season at UTPA, Women’s Coach Ofelia Lopez is the longest-lasting head coach at the Uni-versity - completing her seventh season.

Any time you’re new to a team and come in right before school begins, there’s a learning curve that has to happen rather quickly. Fortunately

for me, the guys on the team have been wonderful and I’ve enjoyed getting to know each of them as the year has pro-gressed. Overall it has been a very good year. I’m excited about the direction of the athletic department and the new univer-sity that will be unveiled next year. It should be a fun couple of years watching all that develop.

- Fosdick

The day that I’m not enjoying what I’m doing, or enjoying being here in Edinburg or Pan Am, I’ll leave... but right now I’m still enjoying

what I do. Why am I the longest-lasting head coach? I don’t know. I’m just thankful for it.

- Lopez

Fidel Castro announced April 20, 1980 that Cubans would be allowed to leave the country by boats from Mariel, Cuba. So, 125,000 refugees fled to the United States, and Bronc baseball assistant coach Nor-berto Lopez was one of them.

As they made their trip through the Gulf of Mexico, the boat carrying the 3-year-old Lopez’s sprung a leak and started going under. Occupants jumped out and started swim-ming, trying to stay afloat.

“What I remember is being on top of my dad’s shoulders throwing up because I was seasick and my dad holding me up above water,” Lopez recalled. “Then we got on a raft to finally get out and then the coast guard saved us.”

The family decided to come over to the United States to get Norberto Lopez Sr. out of jail.

Castro also allowed prisoners to leave during the Mariel Boatlift.

“It kind of broke our family apart because my sisters were communists and they didn’t want to leave because they were communists,” Lopez said. “But my mom wanted us all to go because she wanted her husband out of jail.”

Lopez’s father was a Coca-Cola salesman and, because of his job, would receive extra sodas. At the time, Cuban citizens were on rations; they would only be allowed a certain amount of chicken, rice, etc.

The elder Lopez would some-times trade extra Cokes to pro-vide more food for his family. However, each neighborhood had an informant that would report back to the government.

“Somebody reported my dad for bargaining out of his trade, so he got thrown in jail for

that,” Lopez said.Lopez is in his fifth year at

UTPA, after he graduated from Nova Southeastern University in 2009 and was drafted by the Anaheim Angels the same year.

Lopez returned to Nova Southeastern to pursue his mas-ter’s, which he received in 2006.

According to Lopez, his fa-ther always stressed how impor-tant it was to get an education and not take for granted the opportunities he’s presented.

“I’d probably definitely be working at the (family) farm,” Lopez said of where he would be had they not come to the United States. “I don’t know if baseball would have been a possibility or if I would have had the chance to play. They (Cuban government) only provide certain opportunities to certain people.”

SINKING SHIPBaseball assistant coach’s shaky beginnings

transitioning from player to coach

Volleyball Assistant Coach Margot Frederick knew her boss on the court before she even made her way to UTPA. Before Brian Yale came to the Broncs, he was the head coach for Genoa High School in Ohio and Frederick’s coach in the early 2000s.

Just the other day at practice, I had to jump in and set the scout team. So I started warming up my hands and he came over to set with me. He set a ball a few steps away and I bump-set it, to

which he commented with a laugh, ‘That was like two steps away. Get your hands on that.’ It was an exchange that made me smile because it was something that would have happened exactly the same 10 years ago.

- Frederick

Introducing the new basketball coachesMen’s basketballDan Hipsher

- Last coached at University of Alabama- Coached 35 seasons total -15 seasons as a collegiate head coach- Collegiate record: 238-182 (.567) - Five conference championships - Two conference tournament championships - Three NCAA Tournament appearances - Five Coach of the Year awards

Women’s basketballLarry Tidwell

- Last coached at Lamar University- Coached 32 seasons total - 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach- Collegiate record: 385-236 (.620) - One conference championship - Four conference tournament championships - 10 postseason appearances

Youngest coachBeing a head coach at 28 has its challenges, but it was my goal to have my own team by this time, so

I’m thankful for the opportunity I’ve been given. Now my focus is to work harder and getting our wom-en’s team stronger each year. - Stephanie Vallejos Head women’s tennis coach

Valley bornTo be a Valley native and have the opportunity to work at UTPA is a great feeling.

- Jiovanna Martinez Assistant track & field coach, Pharr

Page by Norma Gonzalez

Page 5THE PAN AMERICAN April 11, 2013Page 4 April 11, 2013 ADVERTISEMENT

In addition to meeting the donation criteria, you must provide a valid photo I.D., proof of your current address and your Social Security or immigration card to donate. Must be 18 years of age or older to donate.

To help pay for books and tuition.

My one reason?

You only need one reason to donate plasma.

Donate your plasma at Talecris Plasma Resources to help save the lives of patients worldwide andearn up to $105 as a new donor.________________________________________________________________________________You must be aged between 18-65 and weigh at least 110 pounds. You must also have a valid photoidentification (drivers license, military ID, or state ID), proof of current address postmarked within thelast 30 days, and a social security or immigration card.

Talecris Plasma Resources Monday-Wednesday-Friday 8am to 4pm500 S. Bicentennial Boulevard Tuesday-Thursday 9am to 5pmMcAllen, Texas 78501 Saturday 8am to 3pm956 683-1656 Free WI-FI Available

Tired of looking for a job or looking to make some extra money?

Tired of living from paycheck to paycheck?

Work from home and with a flexible schedule

I have the solution for you, I can help you turn your money fast and effectively and best of all you be your own boss!

Contact me RSVP Diana Leal (956) 776-4577 (Limited sitting)

‘The Perfect Opportunity at the right time’

Meet your BRONC coaches

The UTPA athletic coaching staff is a vital part of each Bronc team. Athletes would not be able to per-form their best without them. Here’s a look into what they think of the Valley, the University and more.

FROM NEWESTTO OLDEST

While Head Men’s Golf Coach Josh Fos-dick wraps up his first season at UTPA, Women’s Coach Ofelia Lopez is the longest-lasting head coach at the Uni-versity - completing her seventh season.

Any time you’re new to a team and come in right before school begins, there’s a learning curve that has to happen rather quickly. Fortunately

for me, the guys on the team have been wonderful and I’ve enjoyed getting to know each of them as the year has pro-gressed. Overall it has been a very good year. I’m excited about the direction of the athletic department and the new univer-sity that will be unveiled next year. It should be a fun couple of years watching all that develop.

- Fosdick

The day that I’m not enjoying what I’m doing, or enjoying being here in Edinburg or Pan Am, I’ll leave... but right now I’m still enjoying

what I do. Why am I the longest-lasting head coach? I don’t know. I’m just thankful for it.

- Lopez

Fidel Castro announced April 20, 1980 that Cubans would be allowed to leave the country by boats from Mariel, Cuba. So, 125,000 refugees fled to the United States, and Bronc baseball assistant coach Nor-berto Lopez was one of them.

As they made their trip through the Gulf of Mexico, the boat carrying the 3-year-old Lopez’s sprung a leak and started going under. Occupants jumped out and started swim-ming, trying to stay afloat.

“What I remember is being on top of my dad’s shoulders throwing up because I was seasick and my dad holding me up above water,” Lopez recalled. “Then we got on a raft to finally get out and then the coast guard saved us.”

The family decided to come over to the United States to get Norberto Lopez Sr. out of jail.

Castro also allowed prisoners to leave during the Mariel Boatlift.

“It kind of broke our family apart because my sisters were communists and they didn’t want to leave because they were communists,” Lopez said. “But my mom wanted us all to go because she wanted her husband out of jail.”

Lopez’s father was a Coca-Cola salesman and, because of his job, would receive extra sodas. At the time, Cuban citizens were on rations; they would only be allowed a certain amount of chicken, rice, etc.

The elder Lopez would some-times trade extra Cokes to pro-vide more food for his family. However, each neighborhood had an informant that would report back to the government.

“Somebody reported my dad for bargaining out of his trade, so he got thrown in jail for

that,” Lopez said.Lopez is in his fifth year at

UTPA, after he graduated from Nova Southeastern University in 2009 and was drafted by the Anaheim Angels the same year.

Lopez returned to Nova Southeastern to pursue his mas-ter’s, which he received in 2006.

According to Lopez, his fa-ther always stressed how impor-tant it was to get an education and not take for granted the opportunities he’s presented.

“I’d probably definitely be working at the (family) farm,” Lopez said of where he would be had they not come to the United States. “I don’t know if baseball would have been a possibility or if I would have had the chance to play. They (Cuban government) only provide certain opportunities to certain people.”

SINKING SHIPBaseball assistant coach’s shaky beginnings

transitioning from player to coach

Volleyball Assistant Coach Margot Frederick knew her boss on the court before she even made her way to UTPA. Before Brian Yale came to the Broncs, he was the head coach for Genoa High School in Ohio and Frederick’s coach in the early 2000s.

Just the other day at practice, I had to jump in and set the scout team. So I started warming up my hands and he came over to set with me. He set a ball a few steps away and I bump-set it, to

which he commented with a laugh, ‘That was like two steps away. Get your hands on that.’ It was an exchange that made me smile because it was something that would have happened exactly the same 10 years ago.

- Frederick

Introducing the new basketball coachesMen’s basketballDan Hipsher

- Last coached at University of Alabama- Coached 35 seasons total -15 seasons as a collegiate head coach- Collegiate record: 238-182 (.567) - Five conference championships - Two conference tournament championships - Three NCAA Tournament appearances - Five Coach of the Year awards

Women’s basketballLarry Tidwell

- Last coached at Lamar University- Coached 32 seasons total - 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach- Collegiate record: 385-236 (.620) - One conference championship - Four conference tournament championships - 10 postseason appearances

Youngest coachBeing a head coach at 28 has its challenges, but it was my goal to have my own team by this time, so

I’m thankful for the opportunity I’ve been given. Now my focus is to work harder and getting our wom-en’s team stronger each year. - Stephanie Vallejos Head women’s tennis coach

Valley bornTo be a Valley native and have the opportunity to work at UTPA is a great feeling.

- Jiovanna Martinez Assistant track & field coach, Pharr

Page by Norma Gonzalez

April 18, 20136 arts & life

‘The Valley’s

By Lea Victoria JuarezThe Pan American

Each weekend, artists across the Valley plug in their amps, set up their mics and prepare to perform for anyone who will listen. But while they’re play-ing their tunes in the limelight, empty seats in the venue don’t go unnoticed.

A headcount of about 50 people attended the RGV Local Musicians Showcase April 13 at Barlow’s Rock Venue in Pharr. Ac-cording to event promoter Way-lon Magallan, that’s a large num-ber when it comes to Valley shows.

RGV Showcase is meant to ex-pose local artists on the rise and get them known in the Valley community, Magallan said. A total of eight acts performed, ranging from rap and metal to acoustic.

“I’m from San Antonio. They have a very good music scene there. When I came here, I was expecting it to be the same,” the 21-year-old said. “Over there you have a show and you’re like, ‘Man, only 200 people showed up.’ Over here you’re like, ‘Oh I had a good show, 40 people showed up.’ It’s just really different.”

Magallan moved to the Valley in May 2012 and eventually be-gan organizing live music shows with promoting company Ace’s High Productions. According to Magallan, he noticed a struggle in the local music scene, moti-vating him to get involved. As a musician himself, he said he wanted to do his part.

“We wanted to do a show for artists who are barely starting - some people’s first shows - just to help them out and get some exposure,” Magallan said of RGV Showcase. “Before I moved down here, everyone would say that McAllen had a very good scene and the local music had support. But when I moved down here, everyone said the

scene was dying. I just wanted to help it out.”

According to Magallan, art-ists in the Valley don’t promote themselves well, resulting in a less-than-packed house, discour-aging the artists. Lack of self-promotion is one of the factors in the “struggling” scene, according to the promoter.

Barlow’s owner Dante Becerra can attest to this theory.

“As a venue owner, I feel bad for bands if they don’t have people. At the same time it’s the band’s responsibility to promote their show,” said Becerra, the singer of local band 22 to None. “A lot of bands, when they get booked, they assume that the

promoter is going to promote for them, but the bands have to bring in their own people.”

Tucked away in a plaza, next to Taqueria Jalisco, lies Barlow’s Rock Venue, which opened in January. Becerra explained that he opened the venue because bands didn’t have many locations to play.

“Too many local venues closed down, and since I’m in a band, it was hard to find places that let you play if you don’t bring in 50 to 100 people,” 34-year-old Becerra said. “I wanted a venue for the locals. The ones who don’t get to play anywhere.”

While Magallan said he be-lieves support is lacking from

fans and artists, Becerra thinks it’s because there aren’t enough venues to play.

BARS VS. VENUESAccording to Becerra, bars

such as McAllen’s Simon Sez and Cypress Lounge are popular with bands, but many are ages 21 and up, leaving out the younger demo-graphic. Barlow’s, however, doesn’t sell alcohol or allow smoking indoors, leaving that particular crowd to potentially seek other locations.

Along with the venue, bar bat-tle, Becerra explained that audi-ences get discouraged when they have to pay to see local bands perform and will complain about

a cover fee. The RGV Musicians Showcase charged an entrance fee of $4 with 10 percent of the cut for Ace’s High. There are rea-sons for this. As opposed to bars that use drink funds to pay bills, places like Barlow’s, which don’t sell alcoholic refreshments, rely solely on the cover charge to stay in business.

“You’re not paying for a local band. You’re paying for the place to stay open so you can watch local bands,” Becerra explained. “We don’t sell anything, maybe water for a dollar. Cover pays the lights, the AC. It pays for the venue to stay open and a lot of people don’t like that.”

FOR THE MUSICRegardless of the attendance,

for some artists, the show will go on - a mentality that Secrets Told In Silence guitarist Melissa “Bones” Martinez follows.

“As a person who has seen it all and has been struggling for years, it doesn’t matter to me,” the 30-year-old Weslaco native said. “I can be playing in front of like three people and I would still have brought the whole getup. It’s fun to me. This is what I do and I’m not going to half-ass it.”

Martinez, whose band played at the RGV Showcase, explained that she’s been in-volved in the music since she was 12 years old, performing with bands and as a solo act. Although she said she will play music regardless of crowd size, she understands the impor-tance of audience involvement.

“If you have support and they show interest in you, it kinda adds motivation for the band to get out there and practice as much as they’re supposed to,” she noted. “If they see that peo-ple are starting to show interest in them then it kind of builds them up.”

For shows such as RGV Musi-cians Showcase, Becerra and Ma-gallan explained that it’s all done for the locals, and it’s something that they will continue to do while they can.

“This is all we have. We don’t live in a big market city where there’s stuff to do all the time,” Becerra said. “It’s like, every movie has a soundtrack, this is our soundtrack. We need the support. I mean, we’ll play with or without it. Even if it’s playing in a garage for two people, we’re still going to play. This is the Val-ley’s soundtrack.”

I can be playing in front of like three people and

I would still have brought the whole getup. It’s fun to me.

- Melissa “Bones” Martinez Local musician

MAS continued from page 1

Local music scene strives to survive

soundtrack’ diplomatic, religious, intellec-tual history),” Fonte wrote in the report.

The bill comes on the heels of the Arizona effort to dis-continue the teaching of eth-nic studies in public schools. SB 1070, passed April 2010, stated that residents must carry proof of their citizenship upon suspicion. HB 2281, passed 2011, declared public school students be taught to value each other as individuals and not teach resentment and hate towards other races or classes of people.

Sen. Patrick clarified in his Facebook post that he isn’t trying to rid universi-ties of African-American and Mexican-American courses altogether, but trying to make sure students know all of America’s narrative as op-posed to just a portion.

“Both cultures have played a major part in our history and who we are today,” he said in the post. “Not understanding the great melting pot of race and culture that is a part of the fabric of America’s past would be to miss a major part of our history. That needs to be taught and falls into what I call a broad and comprehensive history of our nation.”

Garza disagrees.“We look at the bill and

what it’s going to do and we see that it’s limiting the courses we take,” the 24-year-old political science major said. “We feel like he’s trying to micromanage our courses and what we’re al-lowed to take. It comes down to academic integrity and in-tellectual freedom.”

With the idea of intellectual freedom, MASC has already taken a step forward on the UTPA campus.

RESOLUTIONMASC drafted a resolution

asking the University to con-sider an inclusion requirement course, allowing diversity ini-tiatives at UTPA.

“It’s just the institution making a conscious choice to promote diversity or inclu-siveness within their campus,” Garza said. “So we felt that our University, being a His-panic-serving institution with over 90 percent Hispanic pop-ulation, that we should have something similar to that.”

According to the UTPA Factbook, 89.2 percent of His-panics made up the University population as of fall 2012.

MASC is asking the Uni-versity to adopt a course in the core curriculum or as subject within the core that examines the historical contributions of various groups, from areas

such as gender, ethnic, reli-gious or LGBT community studies.

“In a history course, you don’t necessarily study things about Mexican-Americans or about African-Americans,” Garza said. “So we’re really looking to change that and give students an opportunity to explore topics and issues that maybe they haven’t been introduced to, and maybe they might be interested in.”

As of now, it’s still un-resolved as to whether this would fit within the core cur-riculum without adding more hours or removing a core re-quirement such as, philosophy, literature and science.

Faculty Senate member Lewis Weger sees two options: integrate an unspecified inclu-sion subject within the core or get rid of UNIV 1301 and put an inclusion course in its place. The only issue he sees with the latter is that a specific inclusion course would take its place. That single course would have to include stud-ies from all types of minority groups, a highly difficult task, according to Weger.

If they integrate an inclu-sion subject within the core requirements, students would have more options and majors with 120 hours can use the course to satisfy an advanced course need.

“Why not have a variety of courses that are designated as meeting the inclusion require-ment?” the associate professor said. “Have students free to pick whatever course it is they want to take, as long as there’s the understanding...that stu-dents must pick one course.”

Several of the courses UTPA already offers would be able to count as an inclusion require-ment such as Mexican-Amer-ican politics, border studies, gender and politics and race immigration and studies.

Although, Garza admitted the resolution process has been difficult and MASC doesn’t understand Sen. Patrick’s rea-soning behind SB 1128, their main goal is to encourage discussion between the two groups and gain an under-standing of each other.

“Our goal is to not com-pletely change people’s opinion but at least to begin a discourse with this,” Garza said. “We want to welcome conversation so people can understand where we’re coming from and equally, we want to see their side of the story as well.”

Arturo Villalobos/The Pan American

Melissa “Bones” Martinez

January 31, 2013April 11, 2013 7

It seems when the Broncs team wants to win, they play their go-to pitcher. Australian native Sam Street is almost a guaranteed win when placed on the mound.

Of the 14 pitchers on the roster, Street has clocked in the most time. His record currently stands at 6-1, after eight starts and 61.2 innings, almost twice as many as the second most-played pitcher, Dylan Badura, who has 37.1 innings in seven starts.

“We have four pitchers that pitch for us on weekends and Sam is one of the four,” said Coach Manny Mantra-na about the Bronc pitching rotation, who are 12-15 overall heading into the series against Chicago State Uni-versity April 12-14. “He just has more innings because he has been more effi-cient with his pitches. The other three weekend pitchers for us have been Dylan Badura, Dusten Knight and Matt Daniels.”

According to Mantrana, Street has been pitching well this season and, be-cause of it, has earned the role of Friday night (No. 1) pitcher. However, Man-trana is also aware that, when it comes to championship games, it takes the whole staff to get the wins.

Street also understands that the credit for a win belongs to the whole team, and not a lone player, but is grateful for the opportunities coach Mantrana has presented him.

“Luckily I’ve been able to throw well so it’s been able to help me get deep in the games,” the right-handed pitcher said. “When he has trusted me in situ-ations before, when it came down to a crunch, I got the job done - got a hold of the situation as best I could. So he’s rewarded me and keeps trusting me, which I like.”

The junior pitcher was named the Madness Great West Conference Player of the Week Tuesday for his recent ef-forts on the diamond. Street led the Broncs to a 5-0 win in the conference opener against New York Institute of Technology April 6.

It was Street’s fourth complete game, second shutout and the third time he pitched a complete game without an earned run. The New Mexico Junior College transfer also won GWC Pitcher of the Week March 1 and April 3.

“It’s always good. Any time you do that, it’s good,” Street said of pitching a shutout game against NYIT. “Plus it was the start of conference, so you really want to try and set the tone.”

The 21 year old is among the NCAA leaders in six categories. He ranks second in complete games (four), 13th in wins (six), 17th in games started (eight), 70th in strikeouts (49), 150th in WHIP (1.07) and 201st in ERA (2.48).

“I wouldn’t say it puts us on the map under one guy’s effort,” Street said. “Everyone works hard and obvi-

ously it’s been good throwing to Chris (Torres) and Huck (Jacob Huckabay), who have helped a lot as well - a lot of trust back there.”

Although baseball is known as America’s pastime, the 21-year-old Aus-sie pitcher has been playing on the dia-mond most of his life.

His father used to play Australian-rules football, but had to quit after a knee injury. The older Street then turned to playing baseball and from there, the younger Street found his love of the game.

“So he played with my uncle and they stuck me in the outfield one day and just picked it up from there and started playing,” said Street, who re-members watching his dad play when he was really young. “Obviously the ste-reotypical playing catch in the backyard and stuff, just grew from there.”

The Melbourne native first moved from his home country to New Mex-ico, where he played baseball for two years. Fall 2012, the 6-foot-3 hurler was on the Bronc coaches’ radar.

“They came to me before the early starting period, when no one else had really given me much of a look because I don’t throw a 90-plus mile-an-hour arm,” Street explained. “I dealt with Coach (Norberto) Lopez throughout that process. He saw what other people didn’t see. That’s what got me here.”

The junior doesn’t believe there was much change in moving to the Valley from New Mexico. He already knew what to expect in terms of playing base-ball, getting to know new teammates and living away from home.

However, the culture in Texas has proven to be quite different than what he’s used to. Coming from a city on the Southeastern Australian Bay, Street is used to hanging out on the beach with friends during his off time.

“All the guys here, on their weekend off, they like to go hunting, fishing, all that sort of stuff or drive the big trucks,” he said. “I think everyone would look at me funny if I drove something like that back home.”

He has also noticed a big difference between the way baseball is treated in his home country and in the United States.

“The biggest difference is you play baseball every day,” Street said. “Back home, baseball you play once a week, train twice a week, and it’s almost more of a social thing. I mean, you play hard when you’re on the field, but once you’re off the field it’s all about having fun with your friends. Out here you live, breathe, sleep baseball.”

Street is unsure of his future in the sport. Although he would like to play for as long as possible, the business major can always fall back on his education.

“I’m sure I’ll probably move back home or play baseball as long as I can play baseball,” he said. “Hopefully I don’t have to go out too soon. That’s some-thing I don’t look forward to but I’m sure the day’s not too far away. I’m studying business management right now, where that’ll lead me, I’m not sure.”

By Norma GonzalezThe Pan American

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Adrian Castillo/The Pan American

ADVERTISEMENTApril 11, 2013 Page 8