December 1, 2014 facebook.com/theutdmercury | @utdmercury

THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

THINK LIKE USMercury sta!ers pick the mostmemorable moments of 2014 PG 4>

STILL DREAMINGVeteran's wall visit campus

A half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. was on dis-play from Nov. 19-22 in front of the McDermott Library.

The 250-foot exhibit, called The Wall That Heals, includes both the wall inscribed with more than 58,000 names and a mobile education center.

An official opening ceremo-ny for the wall took place on Nov. 21. The event had stand-ing room only as veterans, their family members, supporters and students listened to Viet-nam veterans describe their experiences in the conflict and the difficulties of transitioning back into civilian life.

U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, the honorary guest of the event, began by reminding guests of the reality of the wall and the men and women whose mem-ory the wall bears.

“Events and memorials like this are important,” Johnson said. “They remind us of one very important fact: Freedom is not free. There is a cost. The cost is first paid by veterans and their families.”

Accounts of the Vietnam War followed Johnson’s ad-dress. Veterans spoke of their comrades in battle and friends who were lost in combat.

George Fair, dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and a Vietnam veteran, spoke of the lasting memories of his fellow soldiers.

“I will never forget the men who served with me, whose names are on the wall,” he said.

These moments of com-memoration and reflection are the reasons given by the Viet-nam Veterans Memorial Fund in its mission statement for building the original memo-rial. The replica, in particular, serves this purpose.

“I think it’s a good com-memoration of it,” Fair said. “A lot of people have worked hard to try to commemorate the situation that took place in Vietnam.”

The people who labored to honor those who fought in Vietnam also desired the com-mencement of conversations about the war. Through such conversations, people are able to make a distinction between the war and the men and wom-en who fought in the war.

“The fact of the war has come out and it was not a hugely popular war, so it’s nev-er going to be a hugely popular war,” Fair said. “Our country decided it had a priority, so the people who fought the war were just following orders and following the priorities that our country set for them.”

Angus McColl, vice presi-dent of Corporate Relations and organizer of the event, dis-pelled the idea that those who fought were primarily drafted and unhappy with the prospect of service.

“There are about 3 million

CHRIS LIN | CONTRIBUTOR

Observers stood in still silence as the honor guard from a local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter performed the gun salute. YANG XI | CONTRIBUTOR

UTD alumna and employee Abigail Cortes (le!) and her brother Elio Zapote (right) went from undocumented immigrants to DREAM-ers, leaving many worries behind as they continue forging their paths in the country they've lived in for nearly two decades.

UTD siblings reflect on living as undocumented immigrants in United States

ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE

Web Editor

Public pays tribute to Vietnam vets attraveling memorial replica, mobile center

REBECCA TULLContributor

! SEE WALL, PAGE 12

! SEE DREAMERS, PAGE 12

Response to immigrant reform tepidANWESHA

BHATTACHARJEEEWeb Editor

! SEE REFORM, PAGE 12

Immigrant rights groups believe President's executive order weak, might not last

INSIDE

British singer FKA twigs stops by Dallas for a spectacular performance

Men's and women's assistant basketballcoaches journey from playing to coaching

LIFE&ARTS

SPORTS

6

10

I'm not extremely happy with it ... I think the President played it very safe politically, but that's exactly what it is — politics.

— Cristina Garcia, Texas LULAC

It was Election Day in 2008 and Abigail Cortes and her mom were watching the election results. Both were upset that Cortes’ brother, Elio Zapote, had wanted to visit a friend at UTD that night instead of watching the results with them.

Sometime that Tuesday eve-ning the phone rang, and Cortes picked up. Zapote’s friend was frantic on the other end.

“They’ve got him. They’ve got him,” the friend yelled.

All of a sudden, their lives came to a standstill.

UTD Police had stopped Zapote because a light on his license plate was out.

When he couldn’t show a driver’s license, the officers arrested and detained him in the Richardson jail. Two days later, he was being fingerprinted at an Immigration and Customs

Enforcement detention center. Sitting in the ICE detention

center, as officials fingerprinted him and asked him how and when he had crossed over the border, all Zapote could think of was how he didn’t want to be torn away from his family. He thought about what he would do if he found himself in Mexico without any idea of what to do there.

“That’s when they said I was going to get deported,” Zapote said.

He said that experience was perhaps the most traumatic expe-rience in his life.

“For something as stupid as a light, my freedom was taken away literally,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything about it, and it’s frus-trating that so many people have to go through this.”

***Zapote, now an accounting

senior at UTD, and Cortes, pro-gram coordinator in the Office of Diversity, illegally crossed over the Mexico border in 1997 with

their mother. Zapote, who was 11 years old

at the time, remembers when his mother decided to move.

Their father had a family of his own, and there was nothing left for his mother and them in their little town. It was better for all of them to move north where there were more opportunities.

“My mom didn’t know what she was getting into,” Cortes said.

Cortes doesn’t remember much, except that they’d had to stay in Mexico City with an aunt for three days. Six-year-old Cortes had wondered if north meant Mexico City.

On the third night, they trav-eled to the border. Cortes was upset that she had to chop off her long hair that ran down to her waist, because she was to pass off as a boy, she said.

They were crossing over as a family, but the two children crossed over before their mother, Zapote said.

They lost touch with their

mother for a whole day at the border before they finally found her and traveled to San Antonio and then to Dallas.

The first six months were really hard on the family, Zapote said, and he had resented the move back then.

Their mother was working two jobs, they didn’t know anybody and he had to care for his sister. They would go to school and struggle because there were only two other Hispanic children.

“The whole language barrier was a major factor in us trying to make a living,” Zapote said. “Little by little we learned the lan-guage, and we pulled through.”

Now, he can’t imagine being deported to Mexico, a country he hasn’t been back to in 18 years.

When Zapote got arrested, Cortes and her mother realized just how powerless they were against the law. At the time, Cortes was interning for an

President Obama’s executive action on immigration reform announced on Nov. 20 has received mixed reactions from members of the Hispanic com-munity.

His reforms are not histor-ic or very different from what many presidents of either party have passed before him, said Cristina Garcia, deputy state director for young adults for Texas’ League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC.

“I’m not extremely happy with it,” she said. “I think the President played it very safe politically, but that’s exactly what it is — politics.”

The reforms, once imple-mented, are expected to affect close to five million undocu-mented immigrants nationwide.

Close to 120,000 undocu-mented immigrants in the North Texas area alone are expected to reap the benefits, said Edward Sanchez, president of the North Texas Dream Team, an organiza-tion that helps undocumented

immigrants process applications for legalization.

Once the reforms are put in place, undocumented workers will be able to enter the work force legally, have social secu-rity numbers and contribute positively to their economy with

their purchasing power in the real estate, retail and auto industries, he said.

Jobs that this group occupies would remain unoccupied other-wise, said Vice President of UTD LULAC Danielle Edmonds.

The order expands the pool of those children who will ben-efit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, to anyone who entered the country before Jan. 1, 2010, which pro-vides a safeguard against deporta-tion to more people.

Still, many questions remain unanswered, particularly until the order becomes a law and is set in stone, Edmonds said.

“Several families I know are not getting their hopes up too much,” she said.

The reform does not impact parents of DREAMers.

DREAMers, or undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as chil-dren and received deferred action, made up the majority of activists that pushed for some kind of safeguard against deportation for their parents, Garcia said.

However, the announced order did not provide any such guaran-tee, allowing for deferred action against deportation only for par-ents of citizens.

Eligibility, even for parents of citizens, depends on several other

2 THE MERCURY | DEC. 1, 2014 NEWS UTDMERCURY.COM

UTDPDBlotter

Nov. 20

Nov. 21

Nov. 22

Nov. 23

Nov. 24

Nov. 25

LEGEND

VEHICULAR INCIDENT

THEFT

DRUGS & ALCOHOL

OTHERMAP: UTD COMMUNICATIONS | COURTESY

JUST THE FACTS

THE MERCURYUTDMERCURY.COM

Volume XXXIVNo. 19

Contributors

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FIRST COPY FREE

The Mercury

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Sources: United States Census Bureau, National Retail Foundation and IBIS World

-Samya Isa and Faraha Hasan

— In brief —

Auxiliary Services holds bike sale

Created in 1983, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, or DART, is Dallas’ main public trans-portation system. According to the DART webpage, it is estimated that close to 30 million residents have used both the DART rail and bus sys-tem. Having always been fasci-nated with public transportation, I ventured out on a week-long jour-ney using the DART system. With UTD offering every student on campus a free yearly transit pass, I had nothing to lose.

TIME MANAGEMENT

As a commuter student, it usu-ally takes me 10-15 minutes to get to campus. That commute quickly doubled when taking the DART. After taking the rail to Bush Turnpike, I wheeled my way over to the 883 UTD Shuttle. The shuttle always left right on schedule, so no problems there.

ACCESSIBILITY

Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, all DART buses and rail stations are fully accessible. All DART buses are equipped with

wheelchair lifts or pullout ramps, while every rail station offers elevators.

Currently the DART rail is 65 miles long with a total of 85 stations. If you’re into sub-ways, Cityplace/Uptown Station is probably the closest you’ll get to a subway in Dallas, as the station is located underground. Unfortunately, the two elevators located in the station to get above ground were out of order. There was no memo noting when the elevators would be up and running. In order to avoid this hassle, I’ll take a car if I go to the Uptown area.

Overall, riding the DART is quite the adven-ture. The big question I had is if DART is safe. Like all public transportation systems through-out the United States, time of day is key.

After catching one of the last rails at 1 a.m. from the city, it’s safe to say the passengers are not business professionals heading home from work. While on the rail, a girl who looked to

be in her 20s started singing Drake’s “Party on a Tuesday” to what I can only assume was her significant other. Two other men joined soon after. After one of them invited me to join in, I started to sing the chorus along with everyone else. Besides a couple of displeasing looks, no one stopped the sing-along until the girl who started it got off at her stop.

Using common sense is the best way to ensure safety. Will the DART take you from point A to point B? Yes, in due time. The rail is the most efficient and convenient part of the DART

system, and expanding the rail will greatly improve public transportation in North Texas.

While waiting for the rail, I briefly chatted with a girl who was studying fash-ion at The Art Institute of Dallas; we had quite a lot of similar interests. The next day, on my way home from a night class, an elderly man on the rail tried to get my attention. He asked me why I had blue hair, and I told him I wasn’t sure. He called it unpleasant.

You really never know the type of conversations

or people you will come across taking the DART. Unless you’re out late, I found that the bus or rail can be quite peaceful and a great place for students to get assigned readings done before class. From late-night sing-alongs to memorable conversations with strangers, the DART experience is one I plan on taking full advantage of from now on.

Alfredo GutierrezMechanical engineering

senior

“Do you think unauthorized immigrants seeking higher education should be granted temporary legal residency? Why or why not?”

Do you think Internet service providers should be able to sell faster service to those who can a!ord it?

They are doing it

anyway with bundled

speed plans.

I don’t know enough to comment.

No, the Internet

should be neutral.

“If they’re looking for higher education, de!nitely. Students that are here, they may or may not

come here on their own willl.”

Tim Abu HanifElectrical engineering

junior

“I’m not informed enough to give a clear

answer.”

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Students interested in writing opinions for The Mercury can email the editor-in-chief at editor@utdmercury.com.

Letters must be 250 words or less. Students should include their full name, major and year. Faculty, sta! and administrators should include their full name and title.

Email letters to editor@utdmercury.com. Although electronic copies are preferred, a hard copy can be dropped o! at the recep-tion desk of the Student Media suite (SU 1.601). Please include a headshot.

Authors may only have one letter printed per edition of The Mercury.

Apart from your name and photo, personal info will not be published.

We reserve the right to reject submissions, and we cannot be responsible for their return. We reserve the right to edit for clarity, brevity, good taste, accuracy and to prevent libel.

The next issue of The Mercury will be pub-lished on Dec. 1. Contact us by Nov. 5, and submit your opinion by Nov. 8.

Tell us what you think about the immigration debate and answer our poll at www. utdmercury.com.

RESULTS FROM LAST ISSUE

“I think this policy is not that fair for the

illegal immigrant ... I don’t think the policy

is that fair. I’m not that supportive of this

policy.”Yueheng Yan

Marketing graduatestudent

COMET

COMMENTS

The online poll was open from Nov. 17 - 30 and had 19 participants.

DEC. 1, 2014 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COMOPINION 3

Changes needed in video game industryTEJ GIDVANICOMMENTARY

TAYLOR HEAGLERCOMMENTARY

A WEEK ON DARTMercury sta!er uses solely public transportation for a week, finds pleasant experiences

The video game industry is losing consumer con-fidence, and some changes need to be made in order for video games to continue to grow as an entertain-ment medium.

Not all gaming companies are performing poorly, but in recent years, there have been numerous mis-haps as well as adoption of some practices that harm the industry. A loss in consumer confidence, which is the trust the consumers have that the games they are buying are worth their price, can be tied back to key reasons, including bad implementations of micro-transaction models, exploitation of downloadable content, or DLC, release of incomplete or broken games and the release of bad games.

The fact that gaming companies are losing con-sumer confidence is a bad thing because without it people feel less comfortable going out and dropping a chunk of money on a game they’re not sure they will be happy with. This happened before in the ’80s when the video game market became bloated with consoles and games that people did not want to spend their money on because they didn’t want to feel like they were wasting money.

One of the main culprits of this problem is the exploitative monetization of video games. Ten years ago a person could go to the store, buy a game for $50 and experience the game in its entirety. Nowadays, this is no longer the case due to the introduction of microtransactions, DLC and online passes. There is a negative stigma that these mechanisms have only been put in place because big companies have become greedier and want to suck every cent out of the consumer, but there is some justifiable cause for needing more revenue streams than an initial $60 for the game purchase.

With games such as “Destiny” and “Grand Theft Auto 5,” taking massive budgets in the hundreds of millions to produce, those games need to sell a lot of copies in order to make a profit. Gamers need companies to profit so they will continue to produce games that buyers can enjoy. Even though these alternative revenue streams are not necessarily bad, they are being used more and more to exploit the consumer.

Microtransactions have been implemented by some games so that they are required to enjoy and experience the game rather than being a supplement to the gaming experience. The worst offenders are “Angry Birds Go” and “Candy Crush” that push the user to buy items such as lives and energy in order for the user to be able to continue playing.

DLC and online passes have been used as revenue

stream mechanisms longer than experience-depen-dent microtransactions.

DLC can be a supplement to the game; “Borderlands” and “Skyrim” have done this well by having their DLC add whole sections onto the game that add to the experience. However, in “Destiny” it is evident that the DLC was originally part of the game and was later cut out. This is bad because it makes the consumer feel scammed paying extra for a part of the game that was originally intended to be there.

What’s worse than companies that try to get more money out of consumers once they have bought the game is when companies sell games that have not been completed or are broken. These past couple of years have been particularly bad. “Grand Theft Auto 5” was released September 2013. The game is excellent when it comes to the single play, but the online play has an economy-breaking bug that created an unbalanced mul-tiplayer. There also was a big promise made by Rockstar, the game’s developer, that the online multiplayer would contain a heists feature. This feature was highly anticipated by the game’s fans, but more than a year later, heists are just now get-ting a solid release confirmation.

These kinds of shenanigans anger and disap-point gamers and take away their faith in the companies that make the games they love. The worst offender of 2014, when it comes to broken

games, is the “Halo Master Chief Collection.” This game was supposed to be a console seller by bringing the core Halo games to the Xbox One to give gamers the ability to play four amazing Halo multiplayer experiences in the new console generation.

The game had a lot of bugs that would cause it to crash. The campaign modes were beautiful, but problems occurred with saves and achievements that disappointed gamers. The biggest failure of all was the inability for the multiplayer matchmaking sys-tem to work properly. Multiplayer is the core of the Halo experience for most people, and it is the feature that buyers had been looking forward to. To this day, multiplayer matchmaking is still not working perfectly. These incomplete and broken game situa-tions could have been avoided by doing more testing and pushing back release dates. Gamers would rather have a higher quality game than get the game sooner but incomplete. Games should not be built from the beginning with the intent to lean on game update mechanisms as a day-one crutch.

Video games have taken a huge foothold in society and are here to stay. Even with this being the case, the interactive entertainment industry needs to fix these problems so people can buy games with the confidence that they will not be disappointed. Faith needs to be restored into this industry so that this amazing medium of art and entertainment can con-tinue to thrive.

Yes, if customers are willing to pay

more.

Yes, but the service should

be reliable.I don’t care.

53% 32% 11% 5% 0% 0%

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS | COURTESY

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4 THE MERCURY | DEC. 1, 2014 OPINION UTDMERCURY.COM

Like the gentle shudders, pulsations and clacks that run through her debut album, FKA twigs seemed to creep into critics’ ears and hearts this year. Her album’s highest feat is its ability to possess such a blend of sounds without sacri-! cing a sense of cohesion. With trace elements of trip hop, alternative R&B and U.K. grime, “LP1” is truly genre-less. It hits hard beat-wise with twigs’ vocals adding a softness and sensu-ality to make songs feel drunken and ethereal.

“Pendulum” and “Video Girl” are among personal album highlights. Both songs are ad-ept at showcasing the album’s inventive, dark and gentle soundscapes.

" e album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize for best British album of the year, and twigs is currently supporting the album on tour through March 2015. - Miguel Perez

Album of the YearLP1 by FKA TWIGS

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THE MERCURY PICKS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF 2014

Film of the YearINTERSTELLAR

Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” has every-thing audiences have come to expect from the director. Beautiful cinematography, an intrigu-ing plot and unexpected twists help make this ! lm a great experience.

As of late, science ! ction has mostly become one-dimensional, but “Interstellar” takes the opposite approach asking viewers to question their place in the universe and what is human-ity’s true potential.

Filmed with an outstanding cast that in-cludes Matthew McConaughey, Anne Ha-thaway and Jessica Chastain, the ! lm explores what would happen if humanity, facing a starv-ing planet, had to travel through a black hole in order to ! nd a new, habitable world. " e movie takes a twist that will shake the viewer’s entire perception of the ! lm when McConaughey’s character travels back through the hole and en-counters a realm where time is not everything it seems. “Interstellar” will stand out not only as the best ! lm of 2014, but also as one of the best ! lms in the last decade.- Esteban Bustillos

" e second season of Net# ix’s original series, “Orange is the New Black,” was arguably better than the ! rst season. Based on Piper Kerman’s mem-oir “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison,” the series has been lauded by viewers and critics alike for its carefully thought-out character backstories and diverse, predominantly female cast. Created by Jenji Kohan (“Weeds”), the series follows Piper Chapman, a yuppie busi-ness owner living in comfy Manhattan, as she enters a minimum-security federal women’s prison.

What’s great about the series is that Chapman acts more like a vessel with which the other characters’ stories are explored. Net# ix renewed the series for a third season, which premieres next summer. - Miguel Perez

Game of the YearSUNSET OVERDRIVE tv series of the Year

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Person of the YearMALALA YOUSAFZAI

Malala Yousafzai had irrevocable dreams. She envisioned a better world, one where education would prevail and jus-tice and women’s equality would overwhelm the political system, but to dream it alone wasn’t enough for her.

She took it a step further and fearlessly allowed her voice and cause to be heard by those who feared the change she’s been championing. Two years ago, the Taliban reacted to her dreams by shooting the 15-year-old girl in the head. " at, however, did not change her path but only strengthened her campaign on the importance and right for education.

In 2013, on her 16th birthday, Yousafzai delivered a speech at the United Nations. In October, at 17, Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her “struggles against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education,” according to nobelprize.org. She is the second Pakistani and the youngest person to ever win a Nobel Peace Prize. She is a girl who bloomed in adversity. Because of her, we are able to dream irrevocable dreams. - Priyanka Hardikar

Controversy of the YearNO BILL FOR MIKE BROWN

MO’NE DAVISSports Moment of the Year

With all that was wrong in sports in 2014, Mo’ne Davis stood out as a shining example of what competition is really all about. At just 13 years old, Davis became the ! rst girl to win a game as a pitcher in the Little League World Series. Davis, who wields a 70 mph fastball, became an instant celebrity, appearing on the cover of ******Sports Illustrated*******, a ! rst for any Little Leaguer, as well as garnering the support of other stars such as Kevin Durant, Mike Trout and Michelle Obama.

Davis made it evident that it really doesn’t matter who is playing, as long as they can play. With all the talk of sports being an often-sexist institution, it was refreshing and empowering to see somebody so young destroy barriers while doing what she loves. Mo’ne Davis threw like a girl this summer, and the competition just couldn’t keep up. - Esteban Bustillos

Sunset Overdrive is one of the amazing new games of 2014. " is new game franchise from Microsoft Game Studios packs quite a punch with its punk rock sound and carefree style. In this game, Overdrive creatures, or OD, are mutated zombies that spawned when humans drank a new energy drink called OverCharge Delirium XT and have overtaken Sunset City. " e game captures the player’s attention with gameplay that encourages parkour-style actions and constant movement, while also having to keep away from the creatures that are trying to tear the player apart.

" e game stays fresh and intriguing by in-cluding pop culture references to things such as reddit and “Breaking Bad.” " e game also includes a fun multiplayer option that puts players on teams to ! ght o$ the OD and ex-ecute a variety of objectives. " is game does an amazing job of delivering a great experience in gameplay, as well as creating a world that a$ ords the player a level of comfort and familiarity that is not seen in many modern games.- Tej Gidvani

On Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo., Michael Brown was fatally shot by Darren Wilson. " e death of Brown, an 18-year-old black man, sparked pro-tests and discourse on racial pro! ling, police’s use of force and the tense relationship between local law enforcement and Ferguson’s black community.

National attention returned as further unrest occurred within Ferguson, St. Louis and na-tionally after a county grand jury decided not to indict Wilson for the shooting on Nov. 24.

Human rights nongovernmental organiza-tion Amnesty International even sent a team of human rights researchers to Ferguson, a ! rst for the United States.

- Miguel Perez

Design by Miguel Perez

Photos courtesy of: 1) XL Recordings 2) Paramount Pictures 3) Lionsgate Television 4) Insomniac Games 5) Southbank Centre 6) Wikimedia Commons 7) Getty Images

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5THE MERCURY | DEC. 1, 2014 ADVERTISEMENTUTDMERCURY.COM

DEC. 1, 2014 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM6 LIFE&ARTS

(Top right) Le Tang, humanities doctoral student, engages students at karaoke event while playing guitar. Chi-nese Culture Week showcased music, calligraphy and Chinese cultural practices in public spaces across UTD.

MIGUEL PEREZ | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

FKA Twigs delighted fans during her Dallas show at Trees on Nov. 28. She played fan favorites, including “Pendulum” and “Two Weeks” among a smoky, sultry backdrop.

Chinese Culture Week showcased Chinese calligraphy, karaoke, lec-tures and Chinese films from Nov. 17-21.

“The (Confucius Institute) holds the Chinese Culture Week every year, sometimes focused on a specific theme, sometimes diversified. We expect around 40 students to attend each of these events, the more, the better,” said Assistant Director of the Confucius Institute Sharon Yang.

The week started with a callig-raphy exhibition led by Qianyuan Zhang, associate director at the in-stitute and a Chinese painter and calligrapher. Students participated in the event under Zhang’s guidance.

“The Chinese Culture Week is conducted to promote some basic el-ements of Chinese culture, especially for the Chinese language learners among the American students,” said

Le Tang, a teaching assistant for Asian Culture with the School of Arts and Humanities. “The objective of the Chinese Culture Week is to highlight the traditional part of the Chinese culture.”

Director of the Confucius Insti-tute Ming Dong Gu lectured on Zen enlightenment.

“I believe that Zen enlightenment can be understood in logical terms unlike the other scholars like Carl Jung and Suzuki who believe it can-not be penetrated by intellect,” Gu said. “This is because, in history, if someone achieves enlightenment, he has to be certified by his Master, who would cross examine him if he really did achieve enlightenment.”

The concept of wisdom is impor-tant in understanding the nature of enlightenment, Gu said.

Humans have an unconscious de-sire to return to their prenatal men-tal state, and the mind is like a blank sheet of paper, he said.

“All the things, good or bad, ex-perienced after birth are inscribed on the mind. Zen enlightenment is a special mental state in which a hu-man mind, for a moment, forgets all that he has experienced,” Gu said. “You sit there and just forget about everything — not just the outside world, politics, life, family members, but also your own self. Your mind is totally blank.”

The Confucius Institute not only teaches Chinese language, but it also helps disseminate Chinese culture, Gus said.

Its presence on campus provides access to useful information on Chi-nese culture.

“Originally, I was in awe of learn-ing languages and also wanted to learn something that would be use-ful,” said political science senior Thomas La Piana, who is working on a minor in East Asian Studies. “I was

London-based singer-songwrit-er, producer and dancer FKA twigs stopped by Trees in Deep Ellum on Nov. 28 to deliver a spellbind-ing, smoky and sultry performance that transformed the venue into the church of twigs by night’s end.

If two words had to be used to de-scribe her debut album “LP1,” which comprised a majority of the set list, they’d be fantasy and restraint. Twigs played well with these ideas by spend-ing the night practicing the art of withholding.

First, the 7 p.m. show didn’t kick off until 9:30 p.m. when opener BOOTS walked onstage with his band. BOOTS is noteworthy for the substantial contributions he made to Beyoncé’s latest album and “Run the Jewels 2.”

Although his 2014 mixtape, “Win-terSpringSummerFall,” is more con-gruent with twigs’ mellow R&B vibes, his set came off much more dissonant, applying a lot of heavy rock elements. Still, new songs, including “I Run

Roulette” and “Mercy” reveal some of the brilliance BOOTS used in the production of Beyoncé’s album.

His set felt abrupt, and after only three or four songs, BOOTS dropped his guitar and slithered off stage with-out a word.

Then, the crowd waited an hour more.

A bright, brilliant blue flooded the stage and an ascending droning beat filled the venue. What seemed like hours passed before three musicians manning drum kits came out with the night’s star.

Much of the show felt like a dream. Twigs is a visual artist, in the sense

that her fiery music videos, her style and her movements are a big part of what is garnering her attention, but her performance, somehow, found synchronicity between those striking visuals and her delicate-sounding vo-cals.

Usually, musicians are bound by a couple of unspoken contracts between entertainer and audience: You usually address the audience by the second or third song, and there must be an en-core. Twigs broke both, again toying with the idea of restraint.

By the sheer loudness of chants and cheers, it was obvious the crowd

fka twigstakes

Dallas

MIGUEL PEREZCOMMENTARY

Chinese films, calligraphy showcased in culture week

UTD family shares son’s battle with cancer

PRIYANKA KANANIContributor

! SEE CHINA, PAGE 8

PRIYANKA KANANI | CONTRIBUTOR

CONNIE CHENG | PHOTO EDITOR

! SEE TWIGS, PAGE 8

Confucius Center leads in promoting Chinese cultural awareness on campus

Visual artist twigs’ energy takes Dallas by storm at show in Deep Ellum; calls Dallas favorite tour stop

PRAYERS FOR RICHIE | COURTESY

Richie (center) and his friends at Dancin’ 4 a Cause on Nov. 14. For the past two years, the Recreational Center has partnered up and donated money raised through Dance 4 a Cause toward Richie’s treatment. Richie was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2012.

In November 2012, Rick Smith received shattering news that no parent wants to hear. His son, Richie, had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Smith, a UTD alumnus with a master’s degree in computer science, said he had noticed a change in his son’s tumor, which had been benign based on the symptoms present.

“I actually, when I first heard that it was (malignant), kind of knew it before they said it,” Smith said.

However, despite any prior suspicions, Smith said the defining moment in which the diagnosis was confirmed was a shot to the belly. It knocked the wind out of him, he said.

This year, the UTD community has been helping Richie’s cause. Each year, UTD hosts Dance 4 A Cause, and the proceeds go to different charities.

Since last year, a portion of the money raised in the annual event has gone toward the Smith family to help pay for Richie’s medical expenses.

Coordinator of Fitness for Recreational Sports Holly Worrell was instrumental

to having Richie’s cause supported by UTD’s Dance 4 A Cause, Smith said.

“This year and last year she wanted to do something for Richie, so she did what-ever she had to do at UTD to make that happen,” he said.

This year’s show, which took place on Nov. 15, featured many campus dance groups and performers, including Richie’s sister, Alexis, a dancer and neuroscience graduate student.

Richie also had his own music perfor-mance during intermission, featuring him singing with a friend who assisted him on the guitar.

For Richie, the entire journey began four years ago at age 16 when a test he took at an eye clinic suggested that some-thing might be wrong.

“I went to get an eye prescription for some glasses … and they found that the whole left peripheral vision was gone,” Richie said. “So, we got it checked out, and they found that the reason I don’t have left peripheral vision is because a tumor cuts out my peripheral vision.”

Upon further inspection, the Smiths

! SEE CANCER, PAGE 8

SAARA RAJAContributor

7THE MERCURY | DEC. 1, 2014BREWING SEASONUTDMERCURY.COM

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8 THE MERCURY | DEC. 1, 2014 LIFE&ARTS UTDMERCURY.COM

UPCOMING EVENTS

NEED A STUDY BREAK?

Dec. 9, 12 PM - 2 PM, Galerstein Women’s Center

Study break in the Galerstein Women’s Center for complimentary

coffee, hot chocolate and desserts while supplies last.

HILLEL - HANUKKAH CELEBRATION

Dec. 8, 6 PM - 8PM, Libra Room

Hanukkah celebration with food, games and music.

RICHARDSON ANIMAL CENTER

Dec.6, 9 AM - 12 PM, Visitor’s Center Atrium

Animal Shelter with cleaning bowls, crates and pet toys.

WORLD AIDS DAY

Dec. 1, 11 AM - 2 PM Upper Level of Student Union

The Black Student Alliance will partner up with the Student Wellness

Center in AIDS education and distributing contraceptives.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE DECORATING

Dec. 16, 4 - 5:30 PM, SSB 3.107A

House decorating.

FALL STUDENT ART FESTIVAL

Dec. 2 - 6, Differing Venues

The Student Art Festivals showcases the works of more than 600 students

featuring art exhibits, theater, dance and musical performances.

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SUPPORT FOR MEXICO’S VANISHED STUDENTS

wanted to interact with her as much as possible, but most of the show felt like an art recital with twigs visibly focusing on her voice and her move-ments.

The stage was backlit, and for the majority of the act, she was content with providing the crowd with simple silhouettes of her figure.

It wasn’t until halfway through the show when twigs stopped to tell the packed house that Dallas was official-ly her favorite tour stop.

Much like her album, “Pendulum” and “Two Weeks” served as the night’s centerpieces with the show’s energy reaching its climax. It felt like an ex-ercise in listening and waiting.

It’s the same kind of slow, steady re-straint her music offers, and it must be difficult to translate those kinds of ideas onto a live setting.

All in all, FKA twigs is an artist whose only choice is to go up. Her aesthetic is unique, if not hard to cap-ture live, but there are sparks of bril-liance that make watching and listen-ing to her an exciting experience. It wasn’t perfect, but it was damn near close.

! TWIGSCONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

taking Chinese classes because it was useful, but eventually I grew to like language, the culture and everything that comes with it. I have participated

in various events organized by (the Confucius In-stitute) since a while now as it is an extra way to learn and practice Chinese.”

La Piana said he enjoys the language exchange that occurs between local students and interna-tional students from China.

“Most of the people attending the events are Americans, and some of the students are also na-tive Chinese,” he said. “The latter have mostly Chi-nese friends as it is difficult for them to integrate with American friends, and these events are a really good way to make a diverse group of friends.”

! CHINACONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

PHOTOS BY YANG XI | CONTRIBUTOR

found that Richie had two tumors. One of the tumors was in the middle of his brain, so surgeons could not remove it without causing damage. The other mass was also not easily accessible, so the sug-gested brain surgery for Richie was postponed by two years.

“They just said to wait on it because that one they said not to worry about — they said to keep watch on it,” Richie said. “I ended up having surgery two years ago, that was when symptoms started happen-ing. My mom was the one who made me go to the hospital to get me checked out. She was smart; she caught it.”

Richie’s mom, Veronica, works at UTD as a yoga instructor. Richie’s brain surgery took place on her birthday two years ago. The symptoms that she detected in Richie were severely debilitating to the point where he could not go to school anymore.

“(I had) numbness in my left side. It was harder to walk. I was having double vision, a lot of nausea, a lot of migraines, a lot of sleeping; there’s a whole bunch,”

he said. Two years after the surgery, during which only one

of the tumors was removed, Richie’s doctors delivered the news that the tumor in the center of the brain had become malignant. He was with his mother at the time. A deeply religious individual, Richie used his belief in God to comfort himself and his mother.

“I was with my mom that day and that moment, too, when they were there to tell us if it was malignant or benign. And I told my mom it was fine, there’s nothing to worry about and it’s going to be okay,” Richie said. “Actually, I’m Christian as per my religion, and I think God at that moment I knew it was going to be okay. It was great.”

There have been many lifestyle adjustments for the Smiths. The family doesn’t often leave Richie alone because of his condition, Smith said, even though he could probably stay on his own. Richie is not able to do many of the activities he wants to, he said.

Despite these struggles, Richie has a positive outlook on the changes he has had to make. He describes his diet as the most significant factor, saying that he is now eating healthier foods. Because the brain tumor was removed, Richie is now also having decreased move-

ments on his left side. “I used to do taekwondo, but I had to stop doing that

for a while,” he said.Throughout it all, Richie has managed to continue

pursuing his passions. He is a music lover and a former violin player. Richie had to stop playing instruments because of his decreased mobility, but he still partici-pates in music by deejaying.

“I have to do it with one hand,” Richie said. “I actu-ally deejayed a UTD pool party for the freshmen.”

In support of his struggle, Richie’s friends cre-ated a Facebook page for him, titled “Prayers for Richie.” The page so far has 2,145 likes and docu-ments his journey battling brain cancer with photos and events.

Richie’s outgoing personality and positive demeanor have gained him many well-wishers and supporters.

“(Richie) is very likeable; he’s like a magnet,” Smith said. “People want to be around him and like to be around him, and it’s fun to be around him.”

Ever since the initial diagnosis, Richie has been going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He is currently in a stable period, which his family hopes will continue.

! CANCERCONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Students at the Natural Science and Research Lab made signs in solidarity with the Mexican students who disappeared in late September. A score of students wanted to show support for the families of those who have disappeared. On Nov. 20, these students wore black and demanded a response from the Mexican government regarding the fate of the missing students.

Forty-three students of the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College, intending to hold an education protest in their hometown, went missing in Guerrero, Mexico. On Nov. 7, Mexican Attorney General Jesus Karam announced the discovery of plastic bags containing the remains of what is suspected to be the missing students. Investigations are still underway to identify the remains.

9THE MERCURY | DEC. 1, 2014NEWSUTDMERCURY.COM

Research by Dalia FaheidDesign by Esteban Bustillos

DEC. 1, 2014 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM10 SPORTS

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOSManaging Editor

SIDELINE STORIES

Former UMHB point guard foregoes career in physical therapy, takes job on sidelines to prepare next generation of players

It was the start of the 2007 basketball season, and the men’s basketball team had traveled to Buffalo, N.Y., to play in a tournament. Assistant coach Travis Carruthers, on the sidelines for the first time, didn’t have any dress shoes.

With no other choice, Carruthers opted to wear a pair of khakis, a sports coat and crocodile-print cow-boys boots as the outfit for his professional debut.

As he walked out onto the court during pregame warm ups, head coach Terry Butterfield got a chance to react to his assistant’s wardrobe for the first time.

“I remember walking on the court and (Butterfield) stops on the way to the bench while our team is about to warm up and he goes, ‘Did you really wear cowboy boots?’” Carruthers said. “And I kind of chuckled and was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he goes, ‘Don’t do it again.’”

Carruthers, now in his eighth year of coaching for the Comets, has come a long way since the early days of his career. Before his days as a coach, he spent his time resetting the record books for the Comets.

Before graduating, Carruthers left with the pro-gram’s high marks for assists (411), assists per game (4.3) and free throw percentage (.878). Although he eventually found success with the team, Carruthers’ career didn’t initially go as planned.

“His strength was an issue, initially,” Butterfield said. “He basically sat the entire first year on the bench and really didn’t get much of an opportunity at all, maybe some mop up minutes here and there.”

Butterfield said he initially thought that Carruthers wouldn’t be very impactful for the team.

During his first year, Butterfield told Carruthers that he had to be more physical because he wasn’t quick or fast enough, Carruthers said. After that first season, he spent his entire summer in the weight room and in the gym working on getting bigger, he said.

“My buddies were out going to the lake and doing fun things, and they would call me and I would say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to work out after work,’” he said. “I would work all day, and I would go and spend time in the gym and spend time in the weight room,

because I had a passion for it. I had a passion, and I had a goal in mind that I wanted to play and I wanted to be a difference maker.”

Coming back for his second season, he still wasn’t getting a lot of playing time. That all changed after Butterfield had become frustrated with the play of his point guards. He decided to start Carruthers out of desperation, Butterfield said.

That decision proved to have a tremendous payoff for the Comets, as Carruthers helped the team earn its first ever ASC championship and a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Carruthers’ role on the floor was more of a floor general, dishing the ball to his teammates to score, which helped him lead the team in assists that year. He said he always had an eye for passing the ball.

“Me — as a person and as a player — I think they mimic each other,” Carruthers said. “I really enjoy the success of others if I have a hand in it.”

As his career progressed, he would continue to help his team reach that success. In his last year, the team once again made history by being the only Division III team to defeat a Division I opponent when it took down UT Arlington.

As his playing days came to a close, Carruthers already knew he wanted to be a coach, something he said he decided when he was a freshman in high school. He went to school with the intention of get-ting a teaching certificate and coaching at the high school level.

That all changed the summer after his last sea-son. While he was working at the Activity Center

and helping with basketball camps, Butterfield approached Carruthers with the proposition of being his assistant.

“That was the first moment that I had ever even thought of being a college coach,” Carruthers said. “It had never even entered my mind.”

Carruthers had to learn several important details of the job at the collegiate level on the run, he said.

Mainly, he had to learn the importance of the distance a coach has to have with a player.

“The first thing that (Butterfield) told me was ‘If you’re going to do this, you were teammates with these guys, you were social with these guys … you’ve got to be able to separate that now,’” he said. “‘You cannot be social with them. You can be friends with them, but it’s to an extent.’”

Carruthers said this was the biggest thing Butterfield pushed. Along with that, he also had to learn the ins and outs of recruiting on the fly. It was the one thing he had no idea how to do, Carruthers said, but it has now become the one aspect of the job that he cherishes more than anything.

“I really love recruiting because I really know what (Butterfield) wants from a player,” he said. “And I’ve got to go and find those qualities in a player and in a person and see if UT Dallas is a valid option and go about getting them here.”

As head of recruiting, Carruthers has been able to find players such as Kyle Schleigh, who went on to leave as the program’s all-time leader in scoring.

More importantly for Butterfield, Carruthers hasn’t simply bowed down and agreed with the head coach on every decision.

“He’s a great sounding board,” Butterfield said. “If I say ‘I think it’s this way.’ If he doesn’t believe it, then he’s going to tell me ‘I don’t agree with you.’ … The primary goal of the assistant coach is to assist the head coach, and he does that beautifully.”

Carruthers said he one day aspires to be a head coach, something Butterfield thinks will happen.

“I know that once he gets a chance to take hold of a program, everybody better watch out,” Butterfield said. “I tell him all the time ‘We’ve got to get you out of here, for your own personal, professional develop-ment. But, I’m going to be crying the whole way.”

Mallory McAdams didn’t think she was going to be a basketball coach.

After her playing days at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor were over, McAdams spent several years trying to get a job as a physical therapist. Even though she worked at a physical therapy clinic, her goal was to work with patients who had just come out of surgery.

“I applied to literally every single hospital in Dallas and didn’t get a call back,” she said.

It was during this time she realized she wanted to get back into the game. She reached out to head coach Polly Thomason to let her know she was avail-able to work in a coaching capacity.

Three years later, McAdams is still in the game as Thomason’s assistant.

Her road to the coaching position started when she picked up basketball as a child in Robinson, a small suburb of Waco. She played many sports as a child, but she enjoyed basketball the most.

“I just had a particular passion for it,” she said. “I loved the way the game was exciting. I felt natural in the game … I just loved basketball because it was intense competition from tip to buzzer.”

Basketball brought out her competitive side more than anything else, she said. McAdams especially loved the aggression and hyperactivity of the game.

Despite her love for these aspects of the game, she went into college playing an entirely different sport. She originally went to McClennan Community College to play golf on a scholarship.

“I clicked with (golf ) as well,” McAdams said. “It came naturally to me. It was different because it taught me a lot about myself on learning on how to control my emotions and stuff like that. Mainly, my dad got me into it, and everybody was like, ‘Dang, you’re pretty good; you might want to keep doing this.’”

She stayed on the green during her first year at McClennan, but she said the game started to burn her out. Adding to this was McAdams’ desire to return to basketball. She said she knew in her gut that if she was putting in a substantial amount of

time and effort for a game, she wanted it to be on the hardwood.

Unfortunately, McAdams had spent an entire year away from the game, making it much more dif-ficult for her to be recognized by collegiate coaches. Luckily, Kim Kirkpatrick, a coach from a rival high school who had seen McAdams play in her prep days had recently gotten a job at the collegiate level.

McAdams contacted her high school coach to let him know she needed help getting back in the game, and he contacted Kirkpatrick, who extended an invitation for McAdams to play under her at UMHB.

Taking a year off didn’t help McAdams make a smooth transition to college basketball. She was used to playing every minute of every game that she played in, but she hardly got a minute of playing time in her rookie season, McAdams said.

“I barely saw the floor, and when I did it was not good,” she said. “I was just kind of scatter brained. I was trying to figure it all out, and I was angry because I was not doing good. I wasn’t doing what I thought I could do.”

McAdams contemplated quitting, but she said she pushed herself through because this was something she knew she had to do. The challenges put a chip on her shoulder to push herself to be better, she said.

The summer after her first year at UMHB she worked to improve her game. With the starting guard from her freshman year graduating, there was an obvi-ous opportunity to take her spot, McAdams said. Her confidence level was much higher, something that helped her earn the starting point guard spot.

During her time as a starter at UMHB, McAdams helped the Crusaders to several monumental victo-ries, including the school’s first ever ASC Western

division championship. Along with that, the team was able to break Howard Payne’s home court win-ning streak, which had stood over a season.

After her playing days were over and she had earned her master’s degree in education, the oppor-tunity for McAdams to coach popped up when the assistant coach’s spot opened at UTD. Head coach Polly Thomason, who coached against McAdams while she was at UMHB, said seeing her play encour-aged her to bring her on.

“She was a great leader for her team,” Thomason said. “Inspirational, motivational, always played hard. Tough nose. Just one of those kids you wished you could have coached because she worked her tail off every game, every possession.”

Thomason said she was wanted to find someone who could match her work ethic and had a desire to help build the program, something she saw in McAdams.

As a member of Thomason’s coaching staff, McAdams is in charge of strength and conditioning for the team. She said her background in physical therapy helps with this aspect of the job. McAdams’ personality is another trait that’s assisted her at being productive on the job.

“(The players) will come to 6 a.m. practice and Christmas music is blaring, and that’s when it’s not Christmas time,” she said. “I’m very energetic; I try to be positive. I try to get them going whenever it’s not easy to get them going.”

Another aspect of the job that McAdams said she has realized is crucial is the personal support she offers the players. She described the role akin to being like a mom with coaches constantly checking up on players just to see if they’re doing OK or to see if there is anything they need.

McAdams said she still feels like she has a lot to learn about the profession and that she doesn’t feel comfortable entertaining thoughts of being a head coach just yet. Still, she feels like she is in a good position, especially because her goals and the goals of the program match up.

“My biggest goal is I want our girls to leave here and be like, ‘That was awesome!’ I want them to have a good experience,” she said. “I want them to leave here and cherish everything about the experience they had because that’s what it’s all about … That’s the number one part of our philosophy … and that’s what I try to do.”

ANDREW GALLEGOS | CONTRIBUTOR

McAdams (left) with head coach Polly Thomason (right). McAdams, now in her third year as Thoma-son’s assistant, played four years at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor before coming to UTD.

ARUN PRASATH | CONTRIBUTOR

Carruthers is now in his eighth year as an assistant coach for UTD. Prior to that, he played his collegiate career as a Comet, leaving his mark as the program’s all-time leader in assists.

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOSManaging Editor

CAREER STATS FOR TRAVIS CARRUTHERS AND MALLORY McADAMS

POINTS

REBOUNDS

ASSISTS

Carruthers: UTD point guard 2003-2007

411

190

692McAdams: UMHB point guard 2006-2010

414

248

204

UTD all-time leader in assists takes role as second-in-command a!er solid career, aims to be a head coach one day

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people who served in Vietnam,” McColl said. “The vast majority did serve honorably, and the majority was actually volunteers. There were draftees as well, and even of the ones drafted, a huge number say they are proud they served. It’s around 91-92 percent.”

The Wall That Heals is especially important to UTD because the university educates, em-ploys and aids many veterans.

“We are a veteran-friendly campus,” McColl said. “We have over 600 student veterans, in-cluding one that is a Vietnam War veteran, and we have 150 of our faculty and staff who are documented veterans.”

UTD’s Center for Brain Health works with veterans to help recover and improve brain per-formance and overcome Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and traumatic injuries.

!e Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund seeks to ed-ucate all generations about the impact of the Vietnam War, and the fund employs a mobile education center that holds displays of pictures of some of the soldiers

whose names are on the wall, as well as memorabilia. “Part of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund

website talks about that it’s not just there for that generation. It is for the current generation of students and other young people who were born after the war and would have no knowl-edge of it,” McColl said. “It’s there as a marker for other generations to learn from.”

immigration lawyer. She tried reaching out to her for help, but the lawyer was traveling and couldn’t be reached.

Several other lawyers refused to take the case, Cortes said.

“Nobody could do anything except wait it out,” Zapote said.

Three days later, the immigration lawyer Cortes interned for got back to them. She said she could get Zapote out if Cortes could pay $5,000 in bail. Thankfully, their mother had managed to save up that much, and Zapote was finally out of jail on bail.

“It was really scary,” Zapote said. “I didn’t want to go out after that. I just wanted to stay at home.”

After this incident, Cortes and her mother real-ized with the help of the lawyer that they qualified for permanent residency. Their mother had married in 2001 when they had filed papers, and after she divorced in 2003, the family had let the matter of

residency slide. When Zapote got out of jail, the lawyer found

their paperwork from 2001, and in 2011 Cortes and her mother became residents of the United States. Zapote qualified as a beneficiary under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and could finally obtain a social security number and a driver’s license.

For a long time, Zapote was unable to get a college degree because he didn’t qualify for financial aid if he didn’t have documents. He had to take one course at a time at Richland College for his associate’s degree in teaching because he couldn’t afford to be enrolled full time, he said. After 2009, when he qualified for DACA, he was able to continue his education and receive financial aid.

“You could finally go to school without being scared of what’s going to happen to you and if you’re going to get arrested or not,” Zapote said. “The fear of being deported and (having to) go back to Mexico — I don’t think I was going to be able to start over again.”

Cortes was able to pay in-state tuition at UTD

due to the Texas Nordic Act in 2001 that allowed undocumented children who had lived in Texas for five years to qualify for in-state tuition.

However, the life of undocumented immigrants is far from easy, she said.

Venturing outside their apartment was never risk-free, Cortes said, and when her brother started driv-ing at age 16, she would get into the truck and be on the look out for cops.

“When you see a cop your heart sinks in your stomach,” she said.

When he was 14 years old, Zapote started working at a pizza shop. With her mother working two jobs, Cortes would stay alone at home after school until 5 a.m. in the morning. There were times when they would see their mother only once a week.

“It was hard not knowing if she was going to come home at five in the morning or if he was going to come back … if they’re five minutes late you worry,” Cortes said.

The immigration reforms announced on Nov. 20 were a step in the right direction, but by no means sufficient, Cortes said. The community had been

expecting more from the President, and after years of lobbying for rights for parents of DREAMers, it was disappointing to not have them included, she said.

While immigration reforms are one way to look at the problem, the other is to understand why immi-grants choose to make this move at all, Cortes said.

“At its core, all the violence and corruption in Mexico is one of the reasons why. It’s cultural as well,” she said.

The cost of legal immigration is higher than most Mexicans can afford and poverty is high in the coun-try, so most families think they have a better shot if they cross the border, make some money and send it back home.

If there was any way workers from Mexico could be provided seasonal visas or Mexico could be deemed a dangerous state thus granting asylum to refugees from there, then the number of undocu-mented immigrants would likely decrease, she said.

“We’re not trying to harm anybody; we’re not try-ing to take other people’s jobs,” Zapote said. “We’re just trying to have a better life.”

factors, including not having a criminal record, pro-viding proof of residency in the country for at least five years and proof that they were in the United States on Nov. 20.

The amount of back taxes to be paid has not been made clear, and no stipulations or paths have been determined to grant these new applicants citizenship or permanent residency.

The application process is very complicated, and even those who qualify might not have the money to pay all the back taxes required to register.

There is also a fear in the community that filing for documentation will help the Department of Homeland Security flag them.

With a new president in office in 2016, there appears to be a high likelihood the order might be repealed, leaving millions of undocumented immi-grants who have identified themselves in danger of deportation, Garcia said.

“There should be a fear,” she said. “Until Congress passes a bill allowing for what he’s saying in the

executive order, I would not go anywhere near it. People are saying, ‘My parents get to come out of the shadows,’ — well, just for two years.”

With a Republican-controlled Congress, the possibil-ity of such a law anytime soon seems bleak, Garcia said.

If the action is repealed, then all these undoc-umented immigrants who have informed their employers and have been marked as undocumented by the DHS are left with two options: to go back into the shadows or get deported, she said.

“The only way the Democrats are going to get any kind of compromise from the Republican Party is if they secure the borders,” Garcia said.

Another argument that most opponents of immi-gration reform forget is that providing resident status to undocumented immigrants makes it harder for people to hide, said Daniel Guest, UTD LULAC’s ESL co-chair.

It is important for opponents to understand that not knowing anything about millions of undocu-mented immigrants in the nation makes it easier for those with criminal intent to hide and take advantage of the flawed legal system, he said.

It allows such criminals to enjoy benefits from a

network of resources, including businesses that cre-ate fake passports and social security cards that were originally created for undocumented immigrants.

Guest said it was equally important to understand that sometimes the law itself is not the priority and the people involved are more important, particularly for Texas where a large number of the residents are Hispanic immigrants.

Deportation is hardly a solution, Garcia said, whose father has worked with border security for years.

“You deport them, they’ll come back,” she said.The opposition from Congress and the GOP was

entirely political, Sanchez said, and both want to champion the cause without letting the other take credit for it.

What the order did was open the door for Congress to take the lead and enact a law after several rejections, he said.

Meanwhile, Texas is already looking to introduce a bill that will repeal in-state tuition for undocu-mented immigrant children and Gov. Greg Abbott made it no secret during his campaign that he would support such a bill, Garcia said.

“It concerns me,” she said. “I’m scared for the

future that we have a governor who does not have concern for his constituents.”

Close to 50,000 Hispanic high school children become eligible to vote each year, said Program Coordinator in the Office of Diversity Abigail Cortes.

The challenge is to channel this young demo-graphic into voting for those who will fight for them, said Cortes, a LULAC activist and DREAMer.

In the recent elections, 56 percent of Hispanic male voters and 46 percent of Hispanic women vot-ers in Texas voted for Abbott because Democratic candidate Wendy Davis was seen to be pro-abortion rights, and Hispanics are predominantly Catholic, Garcia said.

It is educating such people about candidates and about voting for priority causes that will ultimately benefit them, she said. That is the next crucial step in making sure leaders in favor of sustainable immigra-tion reform are elected.

In the end, public opinion, from both immigrants and nonimmigrants, and a consensus between differ-ent immigrant groups is what will benefit the cause, Cortes said.