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thedailycougar.com @thedailycougar facebook.com/thedailycougar Sign up for daily e-mail alerts Read. Recycle. Repeat daily. MON 78/61 HIHI 8811 LO 68 84/68/ the official student newspaper of the university of houston since 1934theofficialstudentnewspaperoftheuniversityofhoustonsince1934 the stage at UH’s Lynn Eusan park on Tuesday and per- formed songs in English and Arabic as a part of International Israeli Apartheid Week. Read the full story on page 3. | Brianna SUN TUE SAT MOMON 83////662TRANSCRIPT
THE DAILY COUGARTHE DAILY COUGAR®®
t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r o f t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f h o u s t o n s i n c e 1 9 3 4t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r o f t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f h o u s t o n s i n c e 1 9 3 4Issue 117, Volume 76
FridayMarch 25, 2011
newslineStudents invited to traveling fi lmmaking seminar today
New York Film Academy Road Show, fresh from South by
Southwest, is making a stop at UH beginning at 6 p.m. today in
the University Center’s Mediterranean Room.
The fi lm industry’s top teaching professionals and the latest
digital equipment will be featured as part of the show.
Using the latest technology and equipment, the NYFA Road
team conducts free workshops in which elements of fi lmmaking,
including special eff ects, storytelling and editing, are taught to
participants.
Visit www.nyfa.edu/roadshow/ for more information.
Barbecue plate sale to benefi t local children and community
The UH Hispanic Business Student Association is selling
barbecue plates on Saturday to raise money to remodel a local
tutoring center.
A percentage of the food sales at the barbecue will go
towards repairs for the Barrio Student Tutoring Center, as well as
to the children who receive tutoring.
For four days a week, HBSA members travel to the center to
tutor children for free.
“HBSA has been tutoring at the Barrio Center for 15 years,”
said Berenice Velaquez, vice president of HBSA.
Plates at the barbecue will cost $7 and will contain brisket,
sausage, beans, rice and bread.
The Barrio Center is located on 5115 Harrisburg Blvd.
For more information, contact Louis Vogtman at fundraising@
hbsa-bauer.com.
— Darlene Campos/The Daily Cougar
CORRECTIONSReport errors to [email protected]. Corrections will
appear in this space as needed.
thedailycougar.com @thedailycougar facebook.com/thedailycougar Sign up for daily e-mail alerts Read. Recycle. Repeat daily.
Baseball coach faces former team
life+arts sports
Got news? E-mail [email protected] or call 713-743-5314
Technology has enslaved us all
EVENTSA.I. Lack Series The Moores School of Music is presenting
an organ class instructed by Dr. Pamela Decker from the
University of Arizona. The free event will be from 5 to 7 p.m.
in the Fine Arts Building Organ Recital Hall.
Frontier Fiesta Today marks the second day of the three-
day cook off at the Robertson Stadium Parking Lot. Entry is
free. Fiesta City opens at 5 p.m. and closes at midnight.
HIHI 8811LO 68today
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84/68/
SUN
83/67
SUSUNN
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83/62
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Beautiful day for Frontier Fiesta!
FOR MORE EVENTS, CHECK OUTthedailycougar.com/calendar
Students box up support
Gilbert RequenaTHE DAILY COUGAR
Student-veterans at UH received a host of information, ranging from ways to start a small business to the various options avail-able when buying land or a home at an event on Tuesday.
The “Entrepreneurship, Education and the 21st Century Veteran” seminar was organized by technology senior Stephen Cremona, a vet-eran and a work-study counselor with UH’s Veterans Service Offi ce.
“We have presenters come out, and they
can actually give you the current facts as opposed to going to a website,” Cremona said. “They give you good advice. They give you knowledge.”
Neil Polansky, from the City of Houston One Stop Business Center, discussed entre-preneurship and what it takes to open a small business.
He said that some people do not realize the effort and knowledge needed to open a business, such as permits, rules and regula-tions and the evaluation of the marketplace and competition.
“There’s no excuse for people going into
a business without being educated,” Polan-sky said. “We’re here to provide information to help you make an informed decision for yourself.”
Dan Monson, a mortgage banker with Sente Mortgage, spoke about eligibility requirements and ways to save money when purchasing a house with the VA home loan. He also discussed what to look for when picking an area to buy a home, such as area schools, home values and neighbors.
Mike McReaken of the Texas Veterans Land
VETERANS continues on page 3
Taking it to the streets for Libyan peopleEdgar VelizTHE DAILY COUGAR
The turmoil and ongoing battle for control over Libya hit home for a group of UH stu-dents, and it has driven them to take action.
Yasmeen Esaklul, a junior double majoring in communication sciences and disorders and liberal studies, has taken action into her own
hands by organizing protests every Sunday at the intersection of Westheimer and Post Oak in support of liberating Libya from Muammar Gaddafi .
“We saw what was happening in Libya and we really wanted to protest. We were waiting on someone in the community to put it together — there is a very large Libyan community here,” Esaklul said. “We thought that the men would put something together
but they didn’t, so the three of us decided that we would.”
Esaklul, along with UH student Hadeel Bunkheila and Nadeen Mustafa, a Univer-sity of St. Thomas student, set up Libyans for Liberty, a Facebook group which serves as the source for all the latest news and updates on events and protests.
Jasmine UmenyiTHE DAILY COUGAR
Volunteers made care packages and wrote letters to US troops who are currently overseas during an event on Tues-day hosted by UH’s Metroplitan Volunteer Program.
“This is the first time the event has been held, but I would like to do it at least once a semester,” said Jeremy Rollings, biology senior and event coordinator.
There were countless food items and toiletries donated by students at UH, and much more donated by MVP itself.
“Half of the care packages are going to a unit out in Alaska and the other half is going overseas,” Rollings said. “All the letters written will be going to the unit in Alaska as well. My brother is stationed there.”
Rollings knows fi rst hand how tough it can be for families to send things, especially overseas.
“I wanted to give back, especially to those troops that really don’t have family,” Rollings said.
“It’s not about whether they can afford the stuff on their own because they probably could, it’s about giving back and showing we care and appreciate the work that they do.”
Overall, the outcome of volunteers and packaging was a great success, with 26 boxes and 112 letters collected and packaged, according to MVP.
“It’s important to show our appreciation, to show how grateful we are,” said Angelica Waller, communications junior.
MVP will give students another opportunity to help pack care packages and write letters for troops on March 31.
For more information, visit www.uh.edu/mvp/mvp.
Rappin’ about restrictions
Dallas rappers Krucial and Mohammed Al-Farrah took the stage at UH’s Lynn Eusan park on Tuesday and per-
formed songs in English and Arabic as a part of International Israeli Apartheid Week. Read the full story on page 3. | Brianna
Leigh Morrison/The Daily Cougar
Veterans receive assistance, info
LIBYA continues on page 3
Buy your UH yearbook and you’ll be entered to win a FREE 16gb
Apple iPad — surely the year’s hottest tech toy. More importantly,
you’ll be investing in a keepsake you’ll cherish for a lifetime: your
college memories encapsulated in the Houstonian Yearbook.
Learn more about the yearbook and our iPad giveaway @
You heard right.
2 ■ Friday, March 25, 2011 ONLINE The Daily Cougar
ISSUE STAFF
ABOUT THE COUGAR The Daily Cougar is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters,
and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer, at the University of Houston Printing Plant and online at http://www.
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online The best stuff from our website, comments and blogs. See what you’re missing: thedailycougar.com
TOP READSPokémon games back in black and 1. whiteCandidates skate by court2. Republicans look to arm students3. Guns on-campus don’t make any 4. senseUPDATED: Candidate’s iPhone used 5. as polling location
FEATURED COMMENTSRe: After controversy, Harding wins runoff
“No surprise there. This is
the 2nd time in 3 years that
a Presidential candidate got
away with/won by Cheating.
3 years ago..the Listserve
incident....I think its pretty
clear how idiotic our entire
student government is. We
haven’t had a normal SGA as
a whole since 2008. God help
us.”
— user “Fed Up”
Re: Republicans look to arm students
“I don’t have any issue with
regulation, as long as it is
sensible and the minimum
required to ensure public
safety. Banning guns on
college campuses does nothing
to prevent criminals from
carrying guns onto campuses,
but it does restrict those who
would like to follow the law
from carrying on campus.”
— user “Mike Wazowski”
Re: Republicans look weak in 2012 elections
“Obama is the LEAST
respectible and the MOST
UNpresidiential person to be
in the oval offi ce in history. His
lack of realworld experience
has been greatly manifested
in his many, many misteps.
He is a complete joke, and is
only concerned with the guy
he see’s in the mirror each
morning.”
— user “NoMoDumbCongressmen”
Re: Republicans look weak in 2012 elections
“Stop blaming Obama, and
open your eyes up to the fact
that he’s human, which means
he makes mistakes and is
trying to do the best for this
country. Learn to give someone
credit. He’s for the minority, for
the students, for trying to fi nd
an exit out of this FAT hole that
Bush put us in.”
— user “Igotchu”
Re: Illinois abolishes capital punishment
“Indeed. In some cases the
punishment of life in prison
simply would not make up
for the crime committed that
earned them that sentence.
It may be cheaper but its a
mockery of justice.””
— user “Zed”
The Daily Cougar NEWS Friday, March 25, 2011 ■ 3
In addition to posting on the group page, Esaklul reaches out to the local media before every protest. She said that she wants to expand the cover-age of the events both abroad and domestically.
“Every time we have a protest, we send out another email to the media with more information about why we’re protesting and what our goal is by protesting,” Esaklul said. “This past Sunday, we had every single local tele-vision station come out and cover us, which was really amazing.”
Bunkheila, a freshman double majoring in finance and econom-ics, received upsetting phone calls from relatives living in Libya and had enough. She decided to give her com-munity a voice; she wanted to give her community hope.
“The fi rst few days of the revolu-tion, (Libyans) were in the dark, cut
off from the Internet and telephone,” Bunkheila said. “Not only were they fi ghting with what they could fi nd on the ground, like stones and sticks, but they were forced to broadcast their own revolution.”
Bunkheila was saddened by the lack of attention given to the revolution in its fi rst few days, but is also happy that Libyans fi nally stood up against Gaddafi ’s “tyrannical regime.”
The experience has empowered her, and she has developed a new out-look on her ability to create change.
Bunkheila is grateful for social net-working and the underground network that provides her family and friends with a limited peace of mind.
This underground network comes at a cost, however, and Bunkheila cites the death of Mohammed Nabbous, an amateur journalist who was shot by a sniper due to his role in recording and uploading videos showcasing the revolution.
Esaklul is currently working with Islamic Relief, an organization that
organizes developmental projects and emergency relief projects, to host a future fundraising dinner.
Esaklul is happy with the progress made and attributes it to the support she and her supporters have received. US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has sent staff members to support at the pro-test, and Texas Sen. Rodney Ellis has also expressed his support.
“Just looking at the local reaction we can see the difference,” Esaklul said. “We’re making an impact.”
The group’s next protest is sched-uled from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Westheimer and Post Oak. The protests are scheduled to continue every Sunday until Gaddafi is removed from power.
“It is up to us,” Bunkheila said. “Those who have been blessed with the freedom to speak up, to voice their concerns and shed light on the conditions in Libya — both past and present.”
LIBYAcontinued from page 1
Board talked about the various ways that the board can help when search-ing for the American dream of owning a home. He discussed how their pro-gram differs from the VA and how their programs can be used in conjunction with other agency’s programs.
Rodney Johnson and Everett Curl from the Boys and Girls Clubs also presented at the seminar.
Johnson talked to the veterans about the opportunities there are in mentoring. He said that Houston youth need mentors to help guide
them to success.Johnson’s colleague Curl cited a
53 percent drop-out rate in Houston when he encouraged student-veterans to become mentors.
“Studies have found that the kids can graduate, but they need mentors,” Curl said. “They need positive people in their lives.”
VSO Program Director Allen Grundy said the seminar was the fi rst of what the VSO plans on making a regular occurrence. The department plans on bringing guests to talk to veterans about the many resources available to them on a monthly basis.
“In 2010, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the
unemployment rate for veterans was 8.7 percent,” Grundy said. “You don’t want to sit around and become a sta-tistic. That’s why we have this program; to give you some ideas about what kind of things are out there.”
Grundy and Cremona said that veterans getting out of the military sometimes become lost in translation. They want to put on programs such as this to help inform veterans on things they think they may know about, but in actuality might not.
Students can visit the VSO at the University Center in Room 268 or call (832) 842-5490 for more information.
VETERANScontinued from page 1
Concert wraps up ‘Apartheid Week’
Louis CasianoTHE DAILY COUGAR
Hip-hop and political conscious-ness came together Tuesday night for an outdoor concert featuring Palestinian hip-hop artists.
The Viva Palestine Outdoor Con-cert was held in Lynn Eusan Park, and was the winding down of Israeli Apartheid Week, an international event.
This is the sixth year of the event, which is held in various cit-ies throughout the world and aims to educate people about apartheid in Israel aimed at Palestinians.
The concert was hosted by the Students For A Democratic Society and co-sponsored by the Student Feminist Organization.
Marketing junior and aspiring artist Kamil Khan started the show with a five-minute poem called “The United States of hypocrisy,” that tackled racism, capitalism, xenophobia and US foreign policy.
“You can still make music and revolutionize it, but the problem with mainstream (music) is the message gets lost,” Khan said.
Palestinian artist Sabreena Da
Witch sang songs from her new album, “A Woman Under The Influence.”
The crowd stood up and clapped along while she sang “Where No One Is” before breaking out in an acapella version of “Beautiful.”
Her music focused on the strug-gles Palestinians go through in the day-to-day life in Gaza.
“I try to use my music to educate people about what’s really going on in Israel and to give people the whole story,” Sabreena Da Witch said.
Dallas rappers Krucial and Mohammed Al-Farrah took the stage last, and performed songs in English and Arabic.
The crowd quickly got on its feet and gathered around the stage to hear the duo perform “When you see me,” a song about peoples’ per-ceptions of Muslims.
They spoke about how Palestin-ians face discrimination and perse-cution from the Israeli government and military.
Krucial, who was born in Dallas but lived in Jordan for five years, said he faced discrimination travel-ing to Palestine all the time.
“They stop you, search you, do whatever they want,” Krucial said. “If you’re a non-Jew, you’re a target.”
CAMPUS
International series of events looks to shed light on Israeli policies
4 ■ Friday, March 25, 2011 The Daily Cougar
STAFF EDITORIAL
Bullies never really grow out of it, and pageant offi cials in San Antonio are living proof of that.
This was apparent on Thursday in the reaction from offi cials when a judge ruled against them and reinstated Domonique Ramirez as Miss San Antonio.
“It’s a sad day for us. We think the judge and jury made a huge mistake,” Linda Woods, the director of the pageant, is quoted saying in an Associated Press article. “It’s an injustice for the city of San Antonio, it allows young kids to breach contracts and violate authority without any consequences ... It sends the wrong message.”
Yeah, some might say that this is just a pageant and not really that big of a deal, but to Ramirez it is, as it is to many girls who have to deal with body issues and what other girls — and apparently grown women — think of them.
According to Ramirez, Woods and pageant offi cials were never really interested in breached con-tracts or violated authority — it was about her weight. She alleges that offi cials told her weeks before they stripped her of her crown to “get off the tacos.”
According to the article, pageant offi cials stated in court that she “showed up to a bikini photo shoot overweight and made pictures ‘unusable.’”
Whether she was eating tacos or not is not the point, she was not obese. Ramirez is 17-years old and a size 2.
And now, rather than back down and apologize for the wrong and distasteful manner in which they handled the situation, offi cials are now threatening to not represent Ramirez in her bids for Miss Texas and Miss America.
They are, in essence, continuing to breach the contract they signed with Ramirez, something the jury already found them guilty of.
“I’m sorry, there’s no way I would represent her as talent. She’s trouble,” Woods is quoted.
This was a complicated case, and no offi cial word was given as far as the “tacos” statement was concerned, but for Woods and pageant offi cials to continue to insist that a size 2 teenager is “unusable” and “trouble” shows their bullying mentality.
This victory is one that should be celebrated by all girls who aren’t a size 0 — which is the majority.
Pageant administration ludicrous in demands
STAFF EDITORIAL The Staff Editorial refl ects the opinions of The Daily Cougar Editorial Board (the members of which are listed above the editorial). All other opinions, commentaries and cartoons refl ect only the opinion of the author. Opinions expressed in The Daily Cougar do not necessarily refl ect those of the University of Houston or the students as a whole.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Daily Cougar welcomes letters to the editor from any member of the UH community. Letters should be no more than 250 words and signed, including the author’s full name, phone number or e-mail address and affi liation with the University, including classifi cation and major. Anonymous letters will not be published. Deliver letters to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to [email protected]; send them via campus mail to STP 4015; or fax them to (713) 743-5384. Letters are subject to editing.
ADVERTISEMENTS Advertisements published in The Daily Cougar do not necessarily refl ect the views and opinions of the University or the students as a whole.
GUEST COMMENTARY Submissions are accepted from any member of the UH community and must be signed with the author’s name, phone number or e-mail address and affi liation with the University, including classifi cation and major. Commentary should be kept to less than 500 words. Guest commentaries should not be written as replies to material already printed in the Cougar, but rather should present independent points of view. Rebuttals should be sent as letters. Deliver submissions to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to [email protected]; or fax them to (713) 743-5384. All submissions are subject to editing.
THE DAILY COUGARE D I T O R I A L B O A R D
EDITOR IN CHIEF Jack WehmanMANAGING EDITORS Newton Liu, Christopher LoseeNEWS EDITORS Jose Aguilar, Cristi GuerraSPORTS EDITORS John Brannen, Joshua SiegelLIFE & ARTS EDITOR Mary BaakOPINION EDITOR Andrew Taylor
E D I TO R I A L P O L I C I E S
opinion EDITOR Andrew TaylorE-MAIL [email protected] www.thedailycougar.com/opinion
R ecently, in Bronx County, N.Y., a man named David Williams was beating the 19-year-old mother of his
child. According to the report published by The
NY Daily News, Williams was in the middle of pummeling the girl when a stranger walked in on the situation.
The man reportedly asked him what Williams was hitting her for, and why he didn’t stop. Wil-liams got into the man’s
face, after which he was shot above the left eye by the intervening vigilante.
The stranger then fl ed the scene. Wil-liams, who had been arrested 10 times over domestic violence charges involving his girlfriend and child, was rushed to the hospital where he died. The police have been searching for the shooter.
The general response from authorities has been that this was just another shooting crime and that the vigilante must now be
brought to justice.This is unfair; the vigilante stepped in
to stop a beating from taking place, and responded at fi rst by trying to rationalize with Williams. But after analyzing quickly that Williams would not respond rationally, and was beginning to act as if he would hurt and possibly kill the girl and himself, the vigilante reacted defensively.
The vigilante not only saved the girl’s life, but possibly his own and the man’s daugh-ter. And now that vigilante is being hunted for a crime of self defense and defense of another (whereas in different areas of the country, he’d be regarded as a hero.)
Notably absent from the site of a woman being beaten were the police themselves, or anyone else stepping in to stop the beating. No one thought to call any sort of authority, or no one cared enough to stop.
Is this a regular occurrence where Williams lived? If so, this is shameful that the police are now hunting down a man to do their job — preventing violence on the streets.
If they had spent more time hunting down men who beat women rather than men who stop other men from beating women, maybe there wouldn’t have to be a civilian stepping in, and perhaps Williams wouldn’t have lost his life.
And yes, technically he broke the law. But sometimes the law restricts justice. The law is in place to prevent the very thing the shooter stepped in to stop. Obviously, repeated arrests haven’t stopped Williams from beating his girlfriend ten times.
It might be that the police, while offi -cially searching for the shooter, aren’t trying that hard to fi nd him, and may even be quietly cheering for the vigilante who saved a girl’s life when the law could not.
It might be that they have recognized the fact that a man stepped in and ended a problematic situation, and that sometimes, even if it is against the law, swift justice can be the best solution.
Ian Everett is a literature freshman and may be reached at [email protected].
Z oe Wales’ March 21 op-ed (“Guns on-campus don’t make any sense”) demonstrates a lack of knowledge of
Texas law.Wales suggests, “Who’s to say that
student A would or would not pull out their [sic] gun as a joke and accidentally fi re it off and hit someone across the yard.”
This completely ignores the fact that a license holder who even tells another per-son that he or she is carrying a concealed handgun can be sentenced to one year in jail for failure to conceal.
Wales continues, “Who’s to say student B receives a failing grade and pulls their [sic] gun on to their teacher to change their grade.”
What good is a passing grade if you’re spending 20 years in prison for aggravated assault?
Finally, Wales asks, “Who’s to say that student A and B leave The Den and get into a brawl and pulls [sic] their guns out, shoot-ing each other.”
But under the revised law, carrying a fi rearm in The Den would be no more legal than it is now. It would still be a third-degree felony punishable by up to ten years in jail.
Wales concludes, “All of these scenarios could in fact happen.” What he fails to real-ize is that all of these scenarios could just as easily happen now. Brandishing a fi rearm, threatening a professor and carrying a gun in a bar would all be just as illegal under the revised law as they are under the current law. If someone is likely to commit one of these serious crimes, that person is just as likely to carry a gun illegally.
The scenarios posed by Zoe Wales are all hypothetical. The 71 college campuses
outside of Texas that currently allow concealed carry have yet to see a single resulting incident of gun violence (including threats and suicides), a single resulting gun accident, or a single resulting gun theft. In Texas, a person is 20 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be murdered or negligently killed by a concealed handgun license holder.
Laws should be based on facts, not make-believe. Why should license holders be allowed the means to protect themselves at a movie theater on Saturday and at a church on Sunday but not in a college classroom on Monday?
Sincerely,W. Scott LewisTexas Legislative Director, Students for
Concealed Carry on CampusEditor, CampusCarry.com
Vigilantes deserve credit for service
Campus carry rights protect students
IanEverett
GIVING UP ON GAS PRICES Courtesy of USBICEF
LETTER TO THE EDITOR send yours to [email protected]
The Daily Cougar SPORTS Friday, March 25, 2011 ■ 5
BASEBALL
UH bound for Fort Worth to face Whitting’s former squad Gilbert RequenaTHE DAILY COUGAR
Eight months ago, head coach Todd Whitting left TCU to take over the reigns of the UH baseball program. Now he returns to Fort Worth to take on the Horned Frogs for the first time since his departure.
The Cougars (11-11) will play TCU (13-7) in a three-game series this weekend at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth. The games start at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Same mistakes come back to haunt UH
The trip does not come at a great time for Whitting and the Cougars, as the team is not play-ing the brand of baseball it takes to win.
“I don’t think we’ve played well the last two games,” Whitting said.
“We’re going to have to play better than we have. My expectation level of (the team) is very high. I know what they are capable of.”
Timely hitting is an area of concern for Whitting, noting that
the team is not getting opportune hits, and that they had gone through a similar funk a few weeks ago.
He said that he thought the Cougars had put those issues behind them, but they have resurfaced.
“When we were rolling there last week we had a ton of two-out RBIs,” Whitting said. “We’ve got to get back into that mindset and at least have great at bats.
“I’m a little concerned going into this weekend because we’re playing a very good team. If we don’t show up ready to play, it won’t be a successful weekend for us at all.”
Homecoming of sortsAlthough Whitting is worried
with the team’s play recently, he said is eager to face his former team.
“I’m excited to go back,” Whit-ting said. “I’ve been waiting for this week since I got the job in July. I’m extremely excited about going back up there. I hope the kids are too.
“We’re going up there with nothing to lose. It’s not a confer-ence game. Nobody expects us to
do well up there, so we’ll just go up there and see what happens.”
UH will have a tough task against TCU. The Horned Frogs are ranked No.14 by Baseball America and are winners of three straight games.
Adding to the difficulty, the Cougars are a meager 2-7 when playing away from Cougar Field.
Mo Wiley (1-1), Jordan Lewis (2-0) and Codey Morehouse (2-2) will pitch for the Cougars Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively.
UH leads the all-time series 51-43 against TCU, but were swept in last season’s three games against the Horned Frogs.
The series will be the final non-conference series for the Cougars, as they open up confer-ence play next week.
Today’s game will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Williams-Reilly Field in Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth.
Saturday’s contest is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, and the finale Sunday is slated to begin at 1 p.m.
All three games of the series will be televised on Comcast Sports Southwest (Ch. 129).
Traveling has not been kind to the Cougars this season, who have won just two of nine games played away from Cougar Field. The three-game set with TCU will mark the last non-conference series of the season. | Newton Liu/The Daily Cougar
SOFTBALL
Cougars looking to bounce back against Golden EaglesLance JaramilloTHE DAILY COUGAR
With the bulk of the remaining schedule being conference games, UH (18-12, 2-4 in Conference USA) looks to claw its way to the top against Southern Miss (10-17, 0-3) with the first two of a three-game series being a double-header that starts at 1 p.m. Saturday in Hattiesburg, Miss., at the USM Softball Complex.
The Cougars were originally
supposed to play a double-header against Texas State on Wednesday but it was rescheduled to April 22 at the Bobcats’ request, leaving UH with six days between games.
That bodes well for the Cou-gars, as they will send Amanda Crabtree (11-6) to the mound fresh off of her electric perfor-mance that broke a school record with her 17 strikeouts against Memphis.
Head coach Kyla Holas will send a Cougar offense looking to light up The Golden Eagles’
pitchers, who are lead by Beth Dietrich (5-8).
“They’re very clear on how important conference is,” Holas said.
“Every series we’re ready to go and excited to get on the field.
The Golden Eagles have won only one of their last five games, but Holas’ team isn’t looking past them, and will not be discounting their recent performances.
“Southern Miss is one of those really scrappy teams,” he said.
“They try to bring a lot of
offense, so we’re going to have to have a good performance on the mound and we’re going to have to play some good defense behind it and stay focused at the plate and put a lot of balls in play.”
After winning the series against Memphis but losing the third game in a pitchers’ duel 2-0, Holas is confident the bats will come alive as long as the Cougars stick to the basics.
“Right now we’re working on putting the ball in play and limit-ing our strikeouts so that teams
have to field 21 outs.”The road-weary Cougars will
finish a month of March that saw them play only three of 17 sched-uled games at Cougar Softball Stadium.
After their second-best start in program history (15-6), they’ve won five of their last 14 games.
After the series with Southern Miss, UH will come back to Hous-ton for some home cooking and a series against Marshall.
FOOTBALL
Two players receivepreseasonhonors
Cougar Sports Services
Based on their performances in 2010, wide receiver Patrick Edwards and offensive lineman Chris Thomp-son were named to the GoDaddy.com 2011 Preseason All-America Team.
Thompson was named to the second team, and Edward was named to the third team as a receiver and as a special teams player.
Edwards was named as the team’s most valuable offensive player with 71 receptions, 1,103 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The Cougars will have their fi rst scrimmage of the spring season at 11 a.m. Saturday at Robertson Stadium.
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Daniel RenfrowTHE DAILY COUGAR
My cellphone is deceased. I dropped it in my bathroom sink after a night of heavy drinking and a failed attempt at drunk-texting. It hovered between life and death for several weeks before fi nally tiring of the monotony of continually dying and then coming back to life again. It passed away while I was asleep Wednesday night, thus robbing me of my alarm and causing me to miss my Thursday morning class. I also never got a chance to say goodbye — perhaps my professor will understand.
After arriving on campus Thurs-day afternoon, I decided to head over to Starbucks in an attempt to caffeinate away my sorrow, which had increased exponentially during the 45 minutes it took me to fi nd a parking spot. I ordered my drink, and then — out of habit — I reached for my cellphone. I tend to kill time while standing in line by sending phantom text messages (I know I am not the only person who does this.) You can only imagine my horror when I found my pocket empty, so I pretended to be extremely interested in the message on the back of a box of Tazo Tea for the rest of my wait.
So, what shall I do with my life post-cellphone? Should I drop every-thing and rush to the nearest AT&T store to buy a new one, or should I instead spend a couple of weeks tether-free?
I use the word tether because that is truly what cellphones are. Cell phones, iPods, iPads and laptops are
all tethers. Believe it or not, there was once a
time when people were not tethered to technological devices. They could get from point A to point B without using GPS (yes, they actually used paper maps — how hipster of them.) They read books on the bus instead of checking Facebook on their iPhones, and they had actual conver-sations with people as they stood in line waiting for their lattes.
We live in a world of technol-ogy addicts. If you don’t believe me, take a few moments to look around you. You don’t have to be obvious about this — maybe you can just peak over your paper a little or pretend to spot a friend across the room. Notice how many people are talking on their cellphones, sending text mes-sages, listening to music on their iPods or struggling to type on their iPads.
My guess is that there are several people around you doing those things. Now, take a few moments to reflect on your own addiction to technology.
After you are finished reflect-ing, look around you again. Imagine that all satellite com-munication has stopped due to a highly improbable disaster (I won’t bog you down with the details). And, because of some weird sort of technological soli-darity, every battery has died as well. My guess is that you would see a couple of minutes of dumb disbelief followed by utter chaos; people crying, frantic searches for friends and loved ones, hugs
— lots of hugging — the death of modern civilization would ensue.
The point is, we are all hope-lessly addicted to technological devices. It is eating away at our free time, our independence, our relationships and our souls.
Here is my proposition: Try to cut back on the amount of time you spend on your phone, iPod, iPad or laptop next week. I’m not saying you should quit using them completely — that could be the death of a student — just cut back a little. See how you feel after a week. My guess is that you will feel more connected to those around you once you un-tether yourself.
6 ■ Friday, March 25, 2011 LIFE&ARTS The Daily Cougar
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Browse recent publications in our virtual newsstand.
The use of technology in everyday life has changed the dynamic of social settings. Many of us rely on multiple technological devices to stay connected to others. | Photos.com
DANIEL’S DISH
Technology has taken over the world
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march madness IT’S HERE! YOU SHOULD BE TOO. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Sprint on into Ruby Tequila’s for our annual March Madness! With delicious Mex-Tex food and drink specials happening every day in March, you’ll want to spend the entire month in Ruby’s kitchen.
To enjoy a slam dunk of Mex-Tex savings, there’s only one place to go. Enjoy our fresh, never-frozen, made-from-scratch combinations:
Try something new. Ruby Tequila’s — Mex it up!
2616 Louisiana | Houston, Texas 77006
rubytequilas.com | 713.522.RUBY
. Happy Hour All Day, Every day!
$2 draft beer
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The Daily Cougar COMICS & MORE Friday, March 25, 2011 ■ 7
crosswordcomics
sudokuHow to play Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9; and each set of 3-by-3 boxes must also contain the numbers 1 to 9.
Pepe by Felipe Campos
The Fishbowl by Thomas Hernan
ACROSS 1 Amoebas have
one 5 Movie pig 9 Fishing gear 13 Slugger Moises
14 Quiet times 15 Among 16 Var. topics 17 Pilot the shuttle 18 Its HQ is Houston 19 Copper “rust” 21 Sault — Marie 22 Tot of whiskey 23 Out in — fi eld 25 None 27 Rode at top
speed 31 Musical rattle 35 — fi xe 36 Familiar auth. 38 Type of blockade 39 Free of 40 Twig junctures 42 Novelist Levin 43 Copier setting 46 Travel far and
wide 47 Close violently 48 Napped leathers 50 Rapid-fi re 52 Brood 54 Porpoise relative 55 Rock’s Bon 58 Oil-drilling
platform 60 Like a knight 64 Confi rm 65 Slack-jawed 67 Fictional
plantation 68 Dwindle 69 Defi ant reply 70 Worse than bad 71 Lost traction 72 Gumbel or
LeMond 73 Rev the engine
DOWN 1 Pitch a tent 2 Name in essays 3 Going around
in circles 4 Kenny Rogers
tune 5 Prickly husk
6 Linen vestments
7 Gridiron charge 8 High regard 9 Curious maiden 10 Bradley or Sharif 11 Actress Bonet 12 Imported cheese 14 Baker’s item
(2 wds.) 20 “Recent” prefi x 24 Male vocalist 26 Tried for offi ce 27 Bikini sporters 28 Leave-taking 29 Mantel 30 Extinct birds 32 Town near
Madrid 33 Gem weight 34 Texas tourist site 37 Groovy 41 Brighter 44 Complimented 45 Count Tolstoy
47 Disperse 49 Pounced 51 201, to Claudius 53 Alpine peak 55 Shark fl ick 56 Stadium shape 57 —, vidi, vici 59 Collapsed 61 Fluid rock 62 Guitarist
Clapton 63 Cartoon
chipmunk 66 Hat-room
fi xture
© 2010 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE INC.
Previous puzzle solved
Previous puzzle solved
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15
16 17 18
19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
35 36 37 38
39 40 41 42
43 44 45 46 47
48 49 50 51
52 53 54
55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63
64 65 66 67
68 69 70
71 72 73
P A E A N A L T O D E B TA M A Z E R E A L R E E LP E R T H G A U L E L E CA S N E R O P T I M I S T
C U E L E EK I S S X R A Y S P A S ME L K O P E N C H A C H AP O I N T O F N O R E T U R NI N L E T S A B E D T E ES A L V E I S I S S E W S
R A M T E AP O S S I B L E V I S T A
M A T T D I O R A L L O WA R I A E B O N D E A R EV E S T D E K E E D G E D
8 ■ Friday, March 25, 2011 LIFE&ARTS The Daily Cougar
playlistplaylist » » Songs about technology
I t’s no secret that we’ve come to depend largely on technol-ogy to get us through our daily lives. From the alarm you set
on your cell phone to wake you up in the morning, to remind-ing yourself of important events with the calendar function or even checking your email while you’re on the go and sending text messages to keep in touch with the people you love — cell phones keep us in the loop from day to day. Here are ten songs celebrating our pocketsized necessities. — Mary Baak
TechnologicDaft Punk
Video PhoneBeyoncé
Get Off the InternetLe Tigre
Internet Con-nectionM.I.A.
Kiss Me Through the PhoneSoulja Boy
I Love Technology (Always and Forever)Kip Dynamite
Ayo Technol-ogy50 Cent
Video Killed the Radio StarBuggles
LOL :-)Trey Songz
Birdgirl on a Cell PhoneThe Eels
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Cuban café brings Havana to HoustonJorge PorrasTHE DAILY COUGAR
Established in the early ’90s, Café Piquet has moved from a corner store front of a shopping strip to its own stand-alone building on Bis-sonnet, and is therefore the king of Cuban cuisine in Houston.
For some reason, in Houston, Mexican taquerias are a dime a dozen and yet Cuban restaurants are few and far between — it’s almost as if people are afraid to try a cuisine comprised of serious servings of slow roasted pork, sweet and savory fried plantains, spiced ground beef and braised shredded skirt steak.
For starters, my natural instinct is to go for the fried plantain chips, also known as mariquiatas.
They are thin strips of the green plantain that come out looking like fl owing ribbons, and are topped with a mixture of garlic and olive oil known as mojo de ajo.
When ever I go to Piquet I need to go with my all-time favorite breaded steak. The breading actually adheres to the steak — holding in the mois-ture, but still managing to stay light and fl aky.
The dish is served with a side of fried sweet plantains bursting with fl avor and the consistency of a fi rm banana custard, accompanied by a Cuban rice dish called con grie rice, which is colored black from the soak-ing water of black beans.
For the serious pork lover, look no further than the masitas fritas, or fried pork chunks; not since the phrase bacon-wrapped (insert name of meat) has there been such a beau-tiful arrangement of words.
The masitas have a crispy exterior while the meat inside simply falls apart with fl avor and juices. Normally I wouldn’t dare mess with perfection, but squeezing a wedge of lime over the top helps bring out that savory pork fl avor.
Assuming that you haven’t gone into a food coma, and that there is enough room for a dessert and coffee, Piquet’s rice pudding will put most other challengers to shame; the pudding is served ice cold and instantly dominates the pallet with its rich creamy texture and cinna-mon. The Cuban coffee is so strong they should carding diners — this is a perfect Cuban ending to a great Cuban meal.
A comment I must make con-cerns the prices that are set a little high, leading me to not choose this place on my everyday eating list. But it’s a great place for a fi rst date.
That being said, the price issue is defi nitely compensated by the portions.
Seeing as Havana is more than 1,000 miles away, thankfully you don’t have to make the trip to get a taste of Cuban heritage; instead, you can just stop by Café Piquet.
Join the
crowd.
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