THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF UTD — WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM NOVEMBER 4, 2013

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VOLUME XXXIII NO. 17

3HUIRUPHU�WUDLQV�QH[W�JHQHUDWLRQ�LQ�FLUFXV�DUWVLife & Arts | PAGE 7

Collection features gritty stories from student and profsIt’s less than a month shy of 50 years since

the JFK assassination. ! e grass is wet, the moon peeps through a jumble of confused clouds — black and white. ! e editor at the newspaper o" ce stares at the copy; it’s all been the same for 50 years.

A big bird — maybe the La Lechuza — spreads its wings and # ies over a Walgreens, a 7-11, an uptown club, the dried Trinity river,

marking its prey, unknown to the sleeping city living its mundane existence. As the $ rst rays of the sun hit the wet earth tomorrow, the mysteries, the dead, the intrigue of the night will give way to the normal buzz — Dallas will resume its life once again.

Unsettling as it is, that is the feeling one is left with after reading each story in “Dallas Noir,” an anthology of short stories, the latest in the noir series by Akashic Books.

Centered on the DFW metroplex, each story in the book is set on a Dallas street, maybe where the author lives, maybe where

legend lives. ! e works of arts

and humanities profes-sor Clay Reynolds and assistant professor Matt Bondurant, as well as a story from Lauren Da-vis, a graduate student in history, are featured in the anthology.

While some stories have strong noir ele-ments in them — an anti-hero, a tragic end — others render the reader bereft, emotions

in odd harmony with the protagonist’s fate, leaving them with the pain of a lost loved one, the haze of the West Nile virus pesti-cide or the hurt of one-sided love.

Yet, Dallas’ almost-# eeting presence, the glaring contrasts of the stinking rich and the hapless poor, its buxom women and its Texan masculinity teamed with Hispanic folklore, all $ nd their way into

each of these 16 short stories. ! e pieces have a timeless quality to them,

as if the stories could have happened 50 years ago or today; as if Dallas, despite all the leaps in business and technology, still has an angry score to settle, perhaps with fate.

! e stories bring out Dallas’ stubborn na-ture, people who take every challenge in their stride, a city that refuses to give up despite hard-ships and continues to reshape its constantly changing skyline as it grows, slow and steady.

! e two lamps stood craning their necks out, angled to shed light on a laptop and randomly organized stacks of paper on the big wooden desk; the potent silence interrupted only by the mechanical ping of the $ fth # oor elevator.

Creative writing professor Matt Bondurant didn’t seem to mind the occasional intrusion of the real world as he punched away on his keyboard with brusque e" ciency.

Bondurant, whose book “! e Wettest County in the World” was made into a motion picture in 2012, is a couple hundred pages into his fourth novel. He is scripting a TV show for HBO-Cinemax as well as adapting a graphic novel into a $ lm and is one of the Dallas authors featured in “Dallas Noir.”

He looks like a man unaccustomed to inactivity, and Anders, the protagonist of his noir $ ction embodies that restlessness, that desire to socialize, even in a quiet suburb where people enter and exit out of back alleys, hardly ever meeting their neighbors.

Bondurant’s “Hole-Man” is an open-ended story set in East Dal-las, where Bondurant himself lives, that juxtaposes the humdrum of the ordinary suburban life and the tug of war within the author between his cynicism toward mankind and his faith in humanity that lives on, forever hopeful.

Set in the backdrop of the deadly West Nile virus that held Dal-

CHRISTOPHER WANG/PHOTO EDITOR

Professor Clay Reynolds is pictured above at Tavern on Main Street in old Richardson, a favorite haunt of the arts and humanities students and faculty for more than two decades. Reynolds said the atmosphere reminds him of a classic 20th century bar.

CONNIE CHENG/STAFF

Assistant Professor Matt Bondurant’s short ! ction, “Hole-Man” is based on real-life events that occured to him last summer on his relatively quiet suburban Dallas street, pictured above. An idyllic setting belies something more sinister in his story.

CHRISTOPHER WANG/PHOTO EDITOR

Tejeev Patel, graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, expounds on the te-chical aspects of the various iterations of Robokind’s di" erent models. The ! rm’s o# ce on the seventh $ oor of a downtown Dallas skyscraper is littered with ex-perimental models like the ones seen above, in various stages of development.

Dallas NoirAkashic Books

David Hale Smith,

Editor

$12.76 (Amazon)

Available Nov. 5

Mercury Special Report by ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEEWeb Editor

Dallas is a city whose face alters with each darker shade of the twilight. Samuel Grand Avenue is menacing at 6:30 p.m. and Har-ry Hines is scary at midnight.

Every vignette in arts and humanities professor Clay Reynolds’ “Night Work” could be about the dank Walgreens or the dilapi-dated convenience store around the dark-lit bend of a street in old Dallas.

Reynolds’ piece in “Dallas Noir” is di% erent from all other stories in the anthology. Devoid of a continuous plot or a cen-tral protagonist, the sketches manage to weave a tale of intrigue around unrelated characters that are as yet unaware of the danger that awaits them.

Set in old East Dallas, the six vignettes portray a strange aloof-ness stereotypical of the average working neighborhood — misery, poverty, sex and death are all quasi-normal — no one has the lei-sure to dwell on morality when it comes at the expense of daily survival.

Each of the vignettes is a narration through the eyes of a pro-tagonist, someone working in the service industry worried about keeping a job yet scared for his life, not trusting the cops yet uneasy of not reporting a crime.

Perhaps Reynolds, a man who comes across as rigidly upright

Lauren Davis is a $ ghter. She’s one of those that bravely faces down any challenges fate shoves her way — the only way she can see herself going is up.

A New Orleans native, Davis found herself displaced to Dallas after Hurricane Katrina. Away from her roots, her whole life as she knew it was spinning out of control. After laboriously building her name as a hairdresser for 25 years, without a job or a clientele in a new city, Davis was at a crossroads.

She could either spiral into the abyss of despair like the quintes-sential noir antihero, or she could start from scratch. Davis chose the latter. She enrolled at UTD as a history major with a minor in creative writing.

“I decided it was time to reinvent myself, so I decided to go to school,” Davis, now a graduate student in history, said.

In fall 2012, Davis was in Matt Bondurant’s creative writing class and David Hale Smith spoke to the class about publishing.

As a parting note, Smith invited all students to submit a noir $ c-tion for an anthology. Davis grabbed the opportunity and submit-ted her piece. Early in 2013, her story was accepted for publication in “Dallas Noir.”

Although raised by her father and stepmother in Louisiana, Da-vis has been a visitor to Dallas since the 1970s when her mother

Bondurant: Suburbia hides indiscretions

Alumni build therapeutic bots for autistic children

Reynolds: Danger lurks in the darkness Davis: Legends and folklore loom large

Graduates use Kickstarter to fund innovative human, robot interaction project

Robokind aims to change the way humans interact with robots with its latest model, the ZENO R25. ! e ro-bot sports a variety of social features and is able to carry out a conversation with the user.

Robokind stemmed from Hanson Robotics, founded by David Hanson, who received his Ph.D. in 2007 from UTD. He is well-known for his work on life-like robotics, including a 2009 TED talk where he presented a robotic Albert Einstein that responded to his emotions. ! e company employs many UTD graduates and has been develop-ing similar robots for years.

“We wanted to build (Hanson Ro-botics) into a larger company that could start mass producing robots and

get them out into people’s homes,” said Matthew Stevenson, Robokind’s director of software engineering and a computer science alumnus. “We are just about ready to launch our next line of robots, and we are trying to make that launch through Kickstarter. It’s a good way to make some of the $ rst sales while bringing in money for fu-ture development.”

While the R25 robots utilize open source software and can be programmed for a wide range of uses, some of the in-tended purposes for the robot include use as a teaching tool and for autism therapy. A touch screen on the R25’s chest can be used to display questions and accept multiple choice answers. Internal components of the robot can stream video to nearby tablet comput-ers and conduct lessons or quizzes.

Arts & Technology alumnus Justin Holder said while the robot’s life-like features and expressions help to make it easy to relate with, the technology be-hind the R25 allows it to easily main-tain dialog with autistic children.

“We had one of the old R50 robots in a group with one of the children who hadn’t been talking to anyone at the fa-cility in months,” Holder said. “After about 10 to 15 minutes with the robot, the child was talking to the robot and having conversations. ! e robots don’t have any sort of patience issue; they don’t get tired of what you’re saying.”

Holder uses his ATEC training to serve as the middleman for the pro-grammers in charge of the robot’s be-havior and the modelers who manage

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News WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM THE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 20132UTD Police blotter

!e Student Government ad hoc constitutional committee instated at the Oct. 15 SG meeting has been at work brainstorming and planning proposals for a restructuring and amending of the senate constitution to address issues concerning student representation in elections and other procedural inconsistencies in SG policy.

!e committee, chaired by public a"airs graduate student Adam Ma, was enacted to address speci#c is-sues in the current constitution and receive approval from the senate on formal amendments. Currently, the senate constitution dictates that for every 500 students in each classi#ca-tion there should be one seat in the senate. !is includes graduate stu-dents, who constitute the largest pro-portion of students on campus and therefore have the most representa-tion in the senate at 14 seats. !e committee’s concern is that there has not been enough interest from grad-uate students, the majority of whom have jobs and families which occupy most of their time.

“We are lucky if we get #ve grad students in the senate,” SG President Liza Liberman said. “Although the current breakdown is representative of current class sizes, we feel it is not the best representation in terms of current student interest and partici-pation in student government and those who have the availability and interest to be more involved on cam-pus.”

!e committee will be working toward drafting an amendment to address this issue, as well as others concerning the roles of committees in senate proceedings, the summer session being counted as a separate semester, the creation of a position to oversee the senate constitution in the future, as well as other #ne-tunings of policy and protocol.

Liberman and SG Vice President Charlie Hannigan will be meet-ing with the University of Texas System Student Advisory Council from Nov. 8-9 in Austin to address student concerns system-wide. !e council meets three times a year and consists of two members from each UT institution who sit on commit-tees in direct communication with the UT Board of Regents, who can bring issues to the legislature. Issues currently being debated in UTSSAC are establishing a minimum campus sustainability e"ort, entailing the en-actment of recycling and renewable energy policies that every institution would abide by, as well as the instal-lation of a welcoming program for incoming international students sys-tem-wide, which will be based on the UTD International Student Services o$ces if the current proposal goes through.

In addition to being a direct com-munication link for SG with UT sys-tem legislation, the council provides perspective on issues a"ecting non-undergraduate UT students. Spe-ci#cally, the representatives from UT healthcare institutions, which are es-sentially graduate schools, are giving SG insight on ways to be more pro-active with graduate student support and advising, Liberman said.

Liberman and Hannigan also met with UTD President David Daniel on Oct. 25 to relay concerns about parking, dining and recycling and trash bin issues on campus. !e of-#cers requested that additional trash bins be added to accommodate the over%owing bins on campus. Daniel was very receptive to the concerns brought to his attention and ex-pressed his excitement in working with students to address the issues at hand, Liberman said.

the Oct. 29 SG meeting of a walk-through of the campus concerning proposed locations for the addition of new digital screens that would

replace the need for paper %yers and contribute to the overall goal of in-tegrating more technological innova-tion into the campus infrastructure. !e project began two years ago un-der former SG Vice President Cody Wilming, whose goal was the im-plementation of digital signs across campus that could relay news, video and PowerPoint presentations from all student organizations. Funding for the project was allocated from the SG budget by the Student Fee committee last year, with con#rmed initial locations in the Comet Café and the Student Media hallway. !e screens, ranging from 42-55 inches each, are to be added as soon as pos-sible, and there are plans to eventu-ally include screens in the Activity Center, a residence hall and SSB ex-pansion, Liberman said.

Comet Discount Program o"ered to students as well as faculty and sta", which has up until now been facilitated by Human Resources. !e program has contracted roughly 500 local businesses who o"er a variety of discounts to students if they show their Comet Card. A project is un-derway to move updated student dis-count information from HR to the SG website where it will be orches-trated by the senate. Senate members will contact all current businesses who are involved over the next sev-eral months to con#rm their location and continued participation so that a more updated and user-friendly dis-count list can be provided to students on the SG website.

voiced new information on the SG homecoming tailgate taking place from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 in Lot K for the men and women’s basketball games. Anyone wanting to join will need to sign up on Orgsync in advance to reserve space on the parking lot. Participants are encouraged to bring their own grills, couches, lawn-chairs, Greek

organization signs or anything to enhance the tailgate experience. !e event is a drop-o" tailgate only, so parking for the event will be outside of Lot K and anything brought along will need to be dropped o" before-hand. Planned events include the live band Tenacity, a beer tent, a best-burger cook-o", spirit giveaway and a best tailgate spirit set-up award.

-jani con#rmed a “Co"ee with a Sen-ator” event taking place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 19 at the Plinth. Students are invited to come out and meet the members of SG, share a free snack and voice any concerns, ques-tions or ideas they may have. Co"ee from Dunkin Donuts will be pro-vided as well as brownies.

-lett noti#ed SG of a meeting that took place between her committee and the University Bookstore. !e committee expressed concerns about a growing dissatisfaction among the student body with the clothing designs and prices being o"ered. Bookstore management informed the committee that steps have been taken to pursue a diversi#cation of the brands being o"ered for students seeking cheaper and more aestheti-cally appealing designs, with a pos-sible UTD fashion show for newer bookstore apparel during homecom-ing week.

-pointment of Aishwarya Ravindran, Molly Vaughan, Alex Zahabizadeh, Marcos Pelaez, Bailee Conrad, Hee-na Sopori, Sarah Sietmann, Nicole Watson and Ramu Velu.

for food and refreshments for Meet -

cakes for the November Sound-O",

the Co"ee with a Senator event, as

5:15 p.m. on Nov. 13 in one of the Galaxy Rooms.

TAYLOR TISDALEMercury Sta!

Oct. 16-

ken window.Oct. 17

DWI.

an attempted theft of artwork at Residence Hall West.

-nor auto pedestrian collision on campus.

-layed theft.

Oct. 18

accident occurred between a UTD vehicle and another ve-hicle.

Class C misdemeanor citation for minor in possession of al-cohol.

-ment from another UTD stu-dent.

Oct. 19

arrested for DWI.

were cited during a tra$c stop. !ree of the persons were cited for consumption of alcohol by a minor and one was cited for possession of drug parapherna-lia.

Oct. 20

public intoxication. -

ing a Zip Car struck a student’s vehicle and failed to perform duty upon striking the unat-tended vehicle.

exterior door of Jonsson Build-ing.

Oct. 21-

ployee reported an unknown person burglarized a mainte-nance tool shed near the Callier Center in Dallas.

Oct. 22

arrested for DWLI and six out-standing tra$c warrants.

cited for soliciting without a permit.

two outstanding tra$c war-rants and driving while his li-cense was invalid.

reported damage to the brick stairway leading to the main south side entrance of the ECS Building.

Oct. 23

unidenti#ed person had made threats against another student and the university.

Oct. 24

receiving harassing phone calls at the Callier Center in Dallas.

-tion to a student for minor in possession of alcohol.

a car and bicycle accident on Lookout Drive.

of a bicycle.

iPhone and some money were stolen from his backpack.

Oct. 25-

ism done to his car in the park-ing lot of Phase VIII.

Oct. 26

arrested for DWI.

arrested for possession of mari-juana, drug paraphernalia and other agency warrants.

Oct. 27

public intoxication and con-sumption of alcohol by a mi-nor.

Oct. 29

four outstanding misdemeanor warrants.

-viduals were trespassed from campus.

-cycle was stolen.

Opinion 3

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Life & Arts EditorSarah Larson

Stark. Oppressive. Totalitarian. ! ese are words that the critics of brutalism would use to describe the oldest buildings on campus.

Green Hall. Jonsson Center. McDermott Library. All concrete and glass, built like for-tresses: huge, hulking masses looming over the fragile human form: We are brittle bone and squishy " esh; they are cold cement and bronzed glass. We will crumble into dust one day, but these bru-tal blocks will endure, resisting the eroding sands of time. ! ese edi# ces are our legacy. We ought celebrate them.

Critics would call our build-ings ugly. ! ey would go for the easy target, the unfashionable architecture and the out-of-date style. ! ey would ignore the context, divorce our build-ings from their times, cast them in the most unfavorable light, and mock them undeservedly. ! e critics aim their slings and arrows at our walls, ranking, ordering and declaring in their supercilious tone the objective ugliness of our school. And yet, the very aspects they decry are the selfsame virtues we ought to extol.

! e founder of the Bauhaus school, Wal-ter Gropius once said, “Architecture begins where engineering ends.” Everything outside the functional, structural, critical parts of a building is art, ornamentation. And the form of brutalism is artistic. If art is supposed to be a pure expression of the times, a reaction to the cultural and political context, then there is no better form than brutalism. Its existence and continued endurance is a testament to the cultural and historical context in which it be-longs.

When UTD was founded in 1969, brutal-ism was at its height. ! e Cold War was at its height. ! e belief at the time was that bombs and missiles could fall from the sky at any time and obliterate the landscape. Full-scale nuclear war was treated as a serious and grave possi-bility. ! e destruction of the WWII was still fresh in the memory. ! ere were signs for fall-out shelters. ! ere were Civil Defense sirens. Schoolchildren were instructed to duck and cover. And we built bunkers out of concrete to live, work and learn in.

Indeed, this economical style proved popu-lar from England to ! e Philippines, from Boston City Hall to the Geisel Library in San Diego. ! e relatively low cost of concrete con-struction with little adornment proved perfect for government and civic structures. In fact, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is entirely cast in brutalism and is one of the purer examples of the form. ! at campus is a balance between poured concrete and green space, something our campus aspires to.

Even as we build new buildings, archi-tects pay homage to our brutal heritage. ! e monolithic walls seen at both ends of the mall, at the south with the tra$ c circle and at the north with the digital clocks, clearly reference our founders’ buildings. Examine those walls

closely and see the wood-like texture in the concrete. ! is is an old technique, allowing the concrete to dry while still in the wooden caissons that once held the walls in place. When the wooden boards are removed, the texture remains. ! is embellishment is one that arose from economic concern more than artistic concern, granted, but it is one of the few frilly features of brutalism.

Perhaps the true triumph of the style is its longevity. Sure, it may inspire plenty of aes-thetic debate and may reveal divisions in taste,

yet the brutal blocks endure. In fact, across the world, buildings of the style are gaining historic and protected status, particu-larly in Great Britain, another locale where brutalism was a popular choice for college cam-puses. ! e best test of a building is a simple, utilitarian one: Does it stand up to the test of time? ! ick walls keep the concrete boxes cool in the summer and warm in the winter. ! e choice of building material reduces the risk of catastrophic # re. In tor-nado alley, a building made of poured stone is quite safe. Form

follows function, and a civic structure is supposed to endure, underlining the longevity and power of the state.

Architecture is meant to inspire, even if it does inspire fear and loathing. In the end, we extend character to buildings. As Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.” ! ose who shaped our buildings sought to build a fortress for the mind, a safe place to study, to grow and to " ourish in the arts and sciences, no matter what happened in the outside world, and at an economical cost to boot. Even now, these founding buildings--Green, Jonsson, and Mc-Dermott--shape our campus environment, from the mall’s walls to the blockier parts of the new ATEC building. Try to remove them from this place. By design, you cannot.

UTD’s character in “ugliest” buildings on campusCHRISTOPHER WANGCOMMENTARY

ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE/WEB EDITOR

Staff PhotographersConnie ChengParth Parikh

A lone gunman besieged Los An-geles International Airport on Nov. 1, opened fire on a TSA officer and killed him. In addition to casualties, the terminal was shut down and flights were delayed, people were emotionally traumatized and need-less to say there was a significant loss of revenue for all parties concerned with the exception of the shooter.

One only needs to remember oth-er mass shootings, specifically the Aurora shooting, to understand the need for a better algorithm-based surveillance. How else does a lone person sitting in a one-bedroom student apartment order more than 60,000 rounds of ammunition over a short time span and not raise any eyebrows?

Surveillance is getting a lot of neg-ativity in the press. The European Union has unanimously condemned U.S. intelligence agencies for spy-ing on them. Google, Facebook and Twitter are all angry at the National Security Agency’s capability of hack-ing into their servers. According to The New York Times, these com-panies are now taking extra precau-tions to protect their networks and the privacy of their users. Snowden’s revelations talk about alleged pro-grams such as ‘Prism’ and ‘Blarney’ that collected metadata for mining information. Companies routinely cooperated with the Department of Justice as they are supposed to le-gally, but are weary of their custom-ers finding out. They are immune to civil lawsuits concerning wire tapping, a privilege given to these companies from the office of the U.S. Attorney to negate the liability of being sued by their own custom-ers, but this is not information that is widely publicized.

Revealing top-secret information has become the media mainstay with WikiLeaks, Manning and more recently the Snowden revelations. Snowden has publicly appealed for clemency while he hides out in Rus-sia, unable to leave to a non-extradi-tion country like Peru. The world, especially Europe was up in arms and almost every American ambas-sador in major European countries was called in to explain the actions of our government to the foreign governments.

With this amount of surveillance and intelligence capabilities, when do we say enough is enough?

The answer in my opinion is nev-er.

If I lost a family member due to a shooter going on a killing rampage and knew later on that it could have been prevented if there was some specific sort of intelligence gather-ing that could protect privacy but be able to pick out patterns that lead to such behavior, I would be com-pletely fine with that.

If there are surveillance programs used by local, state and national law enforcement agencies that are able to catch child predators and those adults who engage in child traffick-ing and pornography, I am com-pletely okay with the government tracking some of the internet traffic.

Is your life less important than your sense of online propriety?

One can argue that right to priva-cy is paramount but do you honestly

think billion dollar computer servers are interested in mining information about which illegal site you are visit-ing under an alias? Unless, you are using a false alias to buy illegal dan-gerous chemicals from a number of different websites that could be used to make a bomb, they do not care.

Am I saying that some intelligence officials were not caught red handed in spying on their ex wives, lovers or husbands according to CNN? No. Every system will have people who will abuse their privileges but that does not mean that the whole sys-tem of intelligence gathering should be brought down. An honest con-versation will likely help the public regain their confidence and trust in the knowledge that snooping on personal habits and conversations, unless posed as a national threat, is simply not in the mandate of the NSA, CIA, Homeland Security or the FBI.

The world we live in today is different and our enemies are not clear-cut nor do they share black and white ideologies as in the past. Our intelligence agencies are under attack and will fall quickly behind in its ability to protect our nation from foreign threats and attacks if they are not able to have the advantage in gathering information from elec-tronic and digital resources. Using technology like the Predator Drone program as was done on Nov. 1 to hit eight suspected Taliban officials in Pakistan and kill them is not a macabre use of military might but a sure shot way of taking out enemies without risking American lives and ensuring some level of protection against the loss of future lives.

One must never forget that mili-tary industrial complex that plays a significant role in America’s GDP is also under attack from foreign com-panies blatantly stealing resources that American companies have to spend millions of dollars research-ing. Loss of information equals loss of superiority in bringing products to the market first. This means that your job that you depend on stands a chance of being cut if your com-pany is not able to get to the market first.

Companies do not have the juris-dictional means to go after foreign hackers but the intelligence agencies do, and this is why the gathering of information plays an important eco-nomic role in maintaining a healthy sense of competition.

If nothing else, is anyone going to argue against the lone woman in the CIA who spent a decade hunting down Osama Bin Laden?

Before you might want to an-swer that, remember a part of this nation’s very birth and existence as the United States of America came greatly due to the fact that then-gen-eral George Washington was excel-lent in recruiting spies and sending them across into British held ter-ritory. Let the words, “The British are coming. The British are com-ing” not just be another folk story but serve as a gentle reminder that despite definitive flaws, ostracizing the intelligence agencies is not the way to go. Using intelligence gath-ering to further American economic interests and influence international policy decisions is important and necessary. This is not a liberal versus conservative diatribe, but an issue of survival for America in an era where acquisition of information deter-mines a nation’s outcome.

Surveillance helps keep country, individuals safe

JOHN THOTTUNGALCOMMENTARY

CATHRYN

PLOEH

N/STA

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CONNIE CHENG/STAFF

A panel of six community leaders took questions from the audience and those submitted in a Twitter feed. The group also shared their thoughts on Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.”

ARGHYA CHATTERJEE/STAFF

JSOM professor Michele Lockhart was the guest speaker for WOVI JSOM’s chap-ter meeting. She spoke about her new book regarding language and leadership.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LINA MOON/GRAPHICS EDITOR

Founder’s Fountain, which has been out of order for years, will undergo major renovations as part of a multi-million dol-lar project to rennovate the north end of the campus mall. The project also includes adding green space and more trees.

Complex Magazine ranked UTD number 27 in “!e 50 Ugliest College Campuses” this past September. Kath-ryn Henderson, the creator of the list, describes the older concrete buildings as resembling parking garages and the newer buildings as “more "tting for a beach resort in Hawaii,” especially the Natural Science and Engineering Re-search Laboratory.

Some members of the UTD faculty do not agree with the list and question the list’s credibility. Richard Bretell, the Margaret McDermott Distinguished Chair of Art and Aesthetics, pointed out that most of the schools listed are made up of more modern buildings and designs after World War II, mak-ing the list seem biased against newer campuses.

“It’s an aesthetic judgment that I don’t accept,” Bretell said, “because I think many campuses designed after the war are really beautiful, and they’re beautiful in a way that is di#erent from traditional Ivy League campuses.”

Rick Dempsey, associate vice presi-dent of administration at Facilities Management, said the vast majority of those who posted comments on the list thought it was ridiculous. In regard to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Laboratory, Dempsey said the building was speci"cally chosen to stand out to re$ect the high-end re-search conducted in the laboratory and

to make the building iconic through the building’s aquatically-colored tiles.

Biochemistry freshman Danny Tre-vino said that he likes the modern look of the campus, especially the lighted

DNA strands of the Science Learning Center and the "sh scales of the Natu-ral Sciences and Engineering Research Laboratory. In regards to the older buildings on campus, he said it looks

like a state penitentiary.UTD has changed drastically since

its early days in the 1960s and 70s. !omas Lund, senior project manager of the O%ce of Facilities Planning and

Construction at UTD, said the Brutal-ist architecture, characterized by mas-sive concrete buildings and pavement, was considered to be the popular style at the time. !e campus now boasts modern buildings and green landscapes made by world-renowned architects, more trees and greenery in addition to the traditional buildings.

!e transformations of the school could be seen as re$ecting the school’s focus on its students. Dempsey said that the west and south sides of campus incorporate shading elements to shield students from more direct sunlight and the harsh Texas heat. !e future resi-dence hall will include dining facilities and will be designed to be more con-ducive to student interaction. Lund said his o%ce considers a building’s or landscape’s potential for inviting stu-dent interaction in order to re$ect and encourage interaction-style learning.

“We try to come up with ways that provide opportunities for students to interact and get with each other,” Dempsey said.

Bretell said the school’s transforma-tions had to accommodate the change in student demographic from exclu-sively graduates to commuters to on-campus undergraduates. !e newer spaces invite students to stay and hang out rather than simply walking by, con-sequently fostering a stronger sense of

UTD ranked among nation’s ugliest campusesComplex Magazine features UTD on list despite millions spent on renovations; some students, faculty disagree with publicationJAMES LOPEZMercury Sta!

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Sharing stories of “Leaning In”

Galerstein Women’s Center hosts discussion about women and the workplace

The Galerstein Women’s Center hosted a leadership and career forum, “Lean In and Lead: Developing Your Voice,” that included networking, a keynote presentation and a panel of community leaders on Oct. 30.

The event was presented along with Fraternity and Sorority Life, Student Leadership Programs and the Office of Development and Alumni Rela-tions.

“Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead” is a 2013 book written by Sheryl Sandberg. Sandberg was the chief operating officer of Facebook at the time of her book’s publication. Over the summer, a faculty book club read and discussed “Lean In.” Faculty and staff members attending the event on Wednesday revealed the impact “Lean In” had on them.

UTD Human Resources Records Technician Roberta Rocheleau is not yet finished with the book but so far has had a positive experience reading it.

“I wish I had this back when I was starting out my career.” Rocheleau said during the dinner dialogue facili-tated by Ana Rodriguez, Special As-sistant to the President for External Affairs and assistant VP for University Advancement at UNT Dallas.

During the dinner dialogue, Rodri-guez shared her opinion of “Lean In” through the perspective of being the youngest member of a UNT Presi-dent’s cabinet. Rodriguez emphasized the importance of mentors and net-working. As a member of the Mayor’s Star Council, Rodriguez is part of a leader-driven organization designed to engage and embrace the current Dallas community.

Rodriguez shared one of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawling’s sayings:

“If you can’t make it in Dallas, you can’t make it anywhere.”

Rawling’s quote is about the im-portance of networking in this city; building connections is a great part of building one’s career.

A keynote presentation by Mary Fernandez, CEO of MentorNet, an organization dedicated to cultivating a persisting mentoring culture within STEM fields followed the dinner dia-logue.

Fernandez described MentorNet as an “E-Harmony for geeks.” She discussed the need to achieve gender parity in STEM fields and disagreed with Sandberg’s advice in “Lean In” that one must first succeed to attract a mentor.

In “Lean In”, Sandberg advocates “sitting at the table,” for women in the workplace to leave the sidelines, be assertive and join the conversation.

Fernandez said she found Sand-berg’s advice to be applicable only if one knows where the room is and that the door to the room is unlocked.

“Mentors are the guides to help you find the room.” Fernandez said.

Fernandez knows that mentors are not a one-time solution and that mentors and mentees must keep ac-tively engaging with each other over the course of their relationship.

“Mentoring is not an inoculation,” Fernandez said. “It is a vitamin.”

A panel made up of six communi-ty leaders and moderated by Nadine Connell, assistant professor of crimi-nology at UTD, followed the keynote. Connell led the panel by asking ques-tions of her own, taking questions from the audience and relaying ques-tions from Twitter users who posted in the #UTDLeanIn tag.

Connell began the discussion by asking the panelists what the best ca-reer advice they had ever received was.

Cindy Quintanilla, a forensic and dispute service line associate at Big Four audit firm Deloitte, shared a twist on a common saying.

“Fake it til you make it, til you be-come it,” Quintanilla said.

The panelists then discussed how women in the workplace stood up for their work and took credit.

Women’s organization W\[Z�VU�ÄYZ[�TLL[PUNWomen of Visionary Influence open first student chapter in the Jindal School of Management

Impassioned and misty-eyed, founder of Women of Visionary In$uence Pau-line Shelley stood in front of a small group on Oct. 22 and kicked o# an eve-ning of support and empowerment.

!e JSOM chapter of Women of Vi-sionary In$uence, or WOVI, is the "rst student chapter of the nationwide non-pro"t organization, which has chapters in New York, Austin and Phoenix.

WOVI JSOM brings together stu-dents, alumni and faculty members to partake in two hours of intimate discus-sion and a group activity.

Shelley, who is also chairman of WOVI, opened the "rst meeting with a few words on the organization’s mentor-ing program for women.

“I believe that every woman can bene-"t from having a mentor as well as being a mentor,” Shelley said. “When you’re a mentor you learn a lot about yourself. It has a positive impact, makes you more con"dent and makes you feel empow-ered.”

Marketing and MBA graduate stu-dent and WOVI JSOM president Chan-tal Sethi said the group exists to help women thrive and be successful.

“We really want powerful women that are going to be able to contribute to the group,” Sethi said. “One of the main aspects of WOVI is mentoring. Pauline calls it the ‘heartbeat’ of WOVI.”

WOVI’s monthly meetings also focus on leadership training and feature an ed-ucational or motivational guest speaker.

After a majority of WOVI members graduated this summer, the organization brie$y lost its student status and is look-ing to revitalize itself with undergradu-ates from all schools.

Marketing and MBA graduate stu-dent and WOVI JSOM vice president Misty Morris said the organization is a great way for students to connect and re-ceive personal and professional feedback.

“One thing we’re trying to impress upon people is that when you’re done with school, you’re going to want to net-work,” Morris said. “I think this helps you identify your skill set before you’re out there trying to push it on employ-ers.”

Business Administration and Com-munications lecturer Michele Lockhart was the evening’s guest speaker and gave the group insight into her new book, “Political Women: Language and Lead-ership.”

Lockhart managed to keep the energy going with an interesting look at women in politics and the rhetoric they use, fo-cusing on vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Geraldine Ferraro.

Sethi rounded out the meeting by presenting the group with the ‘dream bowl,’ an exercise where members shared a dream or praised on a fellow member.

Morris said WOVI JSOM has several leadership opportunities available and all majors are welcome to apply.

!e group’s next meeting will be held Nov. 13 at 5 p.m. Location is TBA, but interested students can check WOVI JSOM’s Facebook page for updates.

MIGUEL PEREZMercury Sta!

VIVIANA CRUZMercury Sta!

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NewsTHE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 2013 WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM 5

Students of various backgrounds gather to enjoy food, learn more about fellow attendees’ experiences and viewpoints

CONNIE CHENG/STAFF

The diversity dialogues event on Oct. 30 featured an activity in which students picked a random card from the table and answered the question on it. Each attendee got a chance to speak about their back-ground and culture and how it shaped their lives. Everything from superheroes to family was discussed.

The Multicultural Center hosted the diversity dialogues program, a night of food and conversation that was aimed to bring together a dynamically diverse crowd to learn about each other.

The event, which occurred on the evening of Oct. 30 at the McDermott Library suite, was primarily for students; howev-er, a limited number of faculty, staff and community guests also attended.

Daniel Cordova, the assistant director of the Multicultural Center, coordinated the event.

“The event is hosted every semester to help participants learn and share diverse perspec-tives of cultural topics,” he said.

The program was hosted over dinner, where every participant was assigned to a table. At the table they were joined by a facil-itator who coordinated differ-ent activities that were designed to enhance positive commu-nication and develop positive relationships with other culture

groups. Every table had mem-bers from different countries of the world, belonging to differ-ent religions and ethnicities.

Computer science senior Ed Bradburn, who was the facilita-tor at one of the tables, started the session with a brief intro-ductory round where every at-tendee introduced themselves and the culture they came from. Following this there was an ice-breaker round that required ev-ery person at the table to pick up a random card from the set and answer the question on it.

The questions on the cards prompted every attendee to talk about the culture they came from and how it has shaped their life.

Electrical engineering gradu-ate student Ruoqun Xu talked about the neighborhoods of China where she grew up and how her father had been a con-stant motivation in her life.

There were also alternate funny questions that asked at-tendees what superhero they would be if they had the choice.

“I would want to be Spider-Woman so that I can fly over all

the traffic,” Xu said.The secondary discussion

round had more intense ques-tions about where the attendees had seen discrimination in their lives.

While participants could opt not to answer a particular ques-tion and pick a new question, several of them decided to re-spond to the tough ones.

Bradburn was one student who had an interesting and funny tale about when he first experienced cultural diversity.

“I had a Muslim friend I grew up with who had asked me if I went to pray at the Mosque, and I thought he meant Mass,” he said. “While trying to un-derstand the question, I realized the cultural diversity around me.”

The program helped par-ticipants learn about differ-ent setbacks and acceptances in different cultures across the world. Bradburn explained about the prevalent concept of white privilege that still exists in America. White privilege is a colloquial term used to indicate preferential treatment received

by people having fairer skin.Each person took away some-

thing different from the event. Business administration se-

nior Chidi Echebiri said, “As

you talk to different people from different parts of the world, you realize how we are alike yet so different in many ways.”

As a continuation to the event, there will be a second dialogue on Nov. 11 that will be a less-structured, open dis-cussion.

SRAYAN GUHATHAKURTAMercury Sta!

Jennifer Fox, Director of Research Operations at Bay-lor Research Institute offered a solution from a managerial perspective.

“I made a point during our meetings for everyone to talk about what they accomplished that week, that month,” Fox said.

Colleen Dutton, vice-pres-ident of Human Resources at UTD, agreed with Fox’s tactic.

“Sometimes it takes some-one else to show your superior your accomplishments,” Dut-ton said.

Online traffic through the Twitter tag was substantial. One user asked for advice for a woman with no career role models.

Tessa Hoskin, Senior Man-ager at Raytheon drew from

her experience as the only fe-male engineer in her family to answer the question.

“Mentors are great, but if you are passionate, go for it,” Hoskin said. “If you don’t have the role model you want, go become the role model you want.”

The panelists were then asked to define “having it all” and if doing so was possible.

“You can have it all but you can’t do it all,” Hoskin said.

“There’s always a trade-off.”Quintanilla described the

ways she manages to squeeze the most out of a busy sched-ule.

“You get creative. I wake up at 5:30 in the morning to be able to spend time with friends and family because that’s im-portant to me,” Quintanilla said.

Another Twitter question posed the problem of whether to accept a job offer if one

knew that it was due to token-ism.

“At my first job, during my first week a gentleman came up to me and said the only reason I was there was because I was an African-American female,” Hoskin said. “I said ‘Okay’ and he said ‘You’re okay with that?’ I replied ‘The only reason you’re here is because your dad works for the company.’ Don’t let it get to you, use it as an op-portunity to be a leader. Right

the wrong.”At the conclusion of the

panel, students and faculty exchanged business cards pro-vided by the event organizers. Several sat back down and continued or started conver-sations. Galerstein Women’s Center director, Lauren De-Cillis’s opening words of the night, “let’s change the conver-sation from what we can’t do to what can do,” seemed to have been accomplished.

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Dialogue event prompts cultural discussion

News WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM THE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 20136

community and ultimately af-fecting the way people think, Bretell said.

“!e big di"erence between the ATEC building, the newest building on campus, and the earlier buildings is that it has a much higher ratio of public space in it,” Bretell said. “It’s not just corridors in the rest of the building.”

!e transformations on campus have other positive ef-fects on the students, faculty and sta". According to a Land-scape Architecture Foundation article about UTD’s landscape enhancements over the past few years, the renovations im-proved the perceptions of the campus of 87 percent of 334 UTD students, faculty and sta" surveyed. !e renovations have also in#uenced the deci-sion for 44 percent of surveyed applicants to apply and enroll at UTD, and 70 percent of the campus users surveyed experi-enced stress reduction and an overall increase quality of life.

Dempsey also said they also consider how the building complements the rest of the campus and the building’s sur-

roundings. Functionality, how-ever, remains the main focus.

Literary studies junior Nina Hernandez recognized how the newer buildings are shown more publicly than others such as Johnson and connects that publicity to how the school re-sponds to the growing demand for a STEM education.

“It correlates with not only the school’s focus but just the focus on the twenty-$rst cen-tury,” said Hernandez. “We’re looking towards technology; we’re going with the advance-ments of the time.”

Some buildings stand out to some people in personal ways. Bretell said he particularly liked the McDermott Library at its inception because of the penetration of natural light throughout the whole build-ing. But as the collection of books and number of students grew, the library’s creation of stories blocked o" that natural light.

Bretell said that if he were to change one thing, it’s to hire more architects of greater prestige for new buildings. He said that there is a di"erence in quality of a building designed by a world-renowned architect as opposed to a regionally-renowned one. In respect to

architect prestige, the ATEC building is the most “ambi-tious” architectural choice the school has made.

“(!e ATEC building) is one of the times in which the build-ing is as good as the landscape, rather than the landscape being the place that makes the build-ing,” says Dr. Bretell.

Hernandez also pointed out the lack of study space in the Johnson building.

“Aesthetics almost don’t matter to me because there’s more (than that),” Hernandez said. “I would, however, like a nice place to study.”

According to the online campus News Center, the school plans to renovate the space between the McDermott Library and the Administra-tion building with approxi-mately $15 million in 2014. The future transformation will include reducing the amount of pavement and setting up more trees and grass in order to create a “more park-like en-vironment.”

Henderson ended her com-mentary on UTD’s campus by admitting that UTD has its award-winning Visitor Cen-ter and University Bookstore, which hopefully point to an upward trend.

PARTH PARIKH/STAFF

UTD President David Daniel views the latest addition to the Edith O’Donnell Arts & Technology Building on Oct. 19. The scuplture, entitled “X,” was created by Liz Larner, a Los Angeles-based artist.

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!e Mercury came back with $ve awards from the Na-tional College Media Conven-tion, including a Best of Show award for the Oct. 7 issue of the paper featuring UTD alumnus Ross Ulbricht.

Emerging media and com-munications senior and for-mer graphics editor Cathryn Ploehn won 5th place for an editorial cartoon on the Lack-land hearings earlier this year and an honorable mention for page design.

Former Mercury sta"er Mat-thew Adamez won 3rd place in the comic panel category and 5th place for his comic house ad.

Hosted by the Associated Collegiate Press and the Col-lege Media Association, the convention was held from Oct. 23-27 in New Orleans with representatives from UTD TV, A Modest Proposal and !e Mercury.

Sheila Dang, economics se-nior and managing editor for

!e Mercury, said this is the paper’s $rst Best of Show win in the four-year non-weekly broadsheet category.

“We’ve won $rst place, so there’s really no going up. It’s just continuing what we have now,” Dang said. “We’ve got that milestone and now we can just keep bettering ourselves in terms of our content, our read-ership and writing about things our students care about.”

-Miguel Perez

In BriefThe Mercury wins award for Ulbricht coverage at Nat’l College Media

Convention, along with four additional recognitions

When Akashic Books approached Dallas-based literary agent David Hale Smith to edit the anthology, he was left to deal with the daunting task of de$ning why Dallas is a noir town, Smith said.

“!at’s what I wrote in my intro-duction — I think it’s got that mix of glitter and glam and big money and rapid land development,” he said. “But it’s also got a dark history, it’s got the JFK tragedy, and then it has an underbelly, of course, like every other major metropolis and a kind of

collision of cultures here, so I think it makes a very good noir town.”

!e book is slated for its national release on Nov. 5, and to promote the event, numerous authors includ-ing Bondurant and Davis attended a book signing on Oct. 30 at Half Price Books on Northwest Highway.

!e authors will have another event on Nov. 5 at the Barnes and Noble in Lincoln Park followed by one on Nov. 15 at the Barnes and Noble on 15th Street.

!e book is priced at $12.76 both online and in stores, while Amazon priced the Kindle edition at $9.99.

!e anthology breaks the myth

that Dallas is a city for older people; it challenges those who believe Dal-las isn’t as “happening” as some of the more glamorous cities like Austin or New Orleans. “Dallas Noir” pro-vides its own #avor of the darker side of human life that carries on right in the heart of the city, unnoticed and transient.

!e stark contrasts between the old and the new are perhaps depicted best by the cover of the book — an iPhone photo Smith took of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, a massive Italian modern architecture on a dried-up river in an old cowboy, cotton-ex-change city.

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NOV. 4, 2013 � THE MERCURY � WWW.UTDMERCURY.COMLife&Arts 7Student shares circus skills with childrenSARAH LARSONLife & Arts Editor

With a strong performance back-ground, Joshua Lengfelder didn’t have to run very far to join the circus to teach children basic trapeze skills.

A Dallas native, the emerging media and communication sophomore teaches the art of trapeze to kids in Lone Star Circus School in Addison.

Created by eighth-generation, French circus performer Fanny Kerwich, Lone Star Circus is a nonpro!t organization designed to teach a variety of circus techniques such as aerial silks, tum-bling, acrobatics and contortion.

Lengfelder grew up around Kerwich and her circus performances because his father was a friend of Kerwich’s. He credits his father, who teaches theatre at Southern Methodist University, for showing him the ropes of circus per-

forming.“I remember dreaming of a backyard

full of ropes and silks and trapezes, but I didn’t want to run away to the circus; I wanted to join Lone Star,” he said.

It was one evening a year ago when Lengfelder was trying out the trapeze for fun that Kerwich recruited him to teach at Lone Star.

“I really want to stress the importance of family within this kind of thing be-cause that’s really the way art in these kinds of circles gets passed down,” he said.

His mother is an opera singer and his father is theatrically trained, so Leng-felder grew up in a very art-oriented family. While he was interested in most-ly music growing up, physical move-ment is very important to him now.

“It wasn’t until about !ve years ago when I became very physically orient-ed,” Lengfelder said. “I feel like we’re

losing our physical sense mechanism.”He notes that with every new trapeze

class each year, more children are enter-ing having done less physical activity.

Besides being concerned with the changing level of activity children are getting, Lengfelder noted the di"er-ences between European and American circuses.

“Clowns are the heart and soul of the circus, but in American circuses we’re chasing them around with spray bottles and pies,” he said. “European circuses are more artistic and comprehensive.”

Lone Star Circus puts on a yearly circus performance in the Dallas Chil-dren’s #eater in downtown Dallas. #is year the performance, Charivari, will run for two weeks at the end of the year, instead of the one week it has tradition-ally run.

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)PVNYHWOPJHS�ÅPJR�worthy of award

Matthew McConaughey gives his best performance to date in an amazing true story about the relatively unknown AIDS crisis during the 1980s.

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee (“#e Young Victoria”), “Dallas Buyers Club” is the true story of Ron Woodroof. Played by Matthew McConaughey (“#e Lincoln Lawyer,” “Magic Mike”), Woodroof is a poor electrician in rural Texas during the 1980s. He seems to be a typical man of his time living a day-to-day lifestyle of beer, women, the ro-deo and drug use. However, when his health starts deteriorating rapidly, he gets blindsided with a shocking revela-tion — he has full-blown AIDS. He’s

told he has around 30 days to live. However, Woodroof is the type of

person who doesn’t accept such a plain declaration of defeat from a physician or test numbers. He starts doing his own research into AIDS and its pos-sible treatments. His research reveals that there is a shocking dearth of proper AIDS medications in the U.S., so he crosses the border into Mexico where he learns about alternative treatments that are not approved by the FDA. In order to pro!t on this discrepancy, he starts a “Buyers Club” as a way to sidestep fed-eral law and sell medications to people who are in need of an alternative to AZT, the predominant drug for AIDS treatment at the time.

For those who are unaware of the AIDS epidemic that crossed America during the 1980s, last year’s award-winning documentary “How to Survive

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Bhutanese refugee seeks student accessibilityVIVIANA CRUZMercury Sta!

In the 1990s, Bhutan, a small, land-locked country in South Asia, underwent an ethnic con$ict that resulted in the expulsion of nearly a !fth of its population in an e"ort to preserve its Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist identity.

#e Bhutanese government claimed that those expelled were illegal residents.

#e Bhutanese refugees $ed to Nepal. One of them was accounting junior Som Bhandari, who arrived at a refugee camp in eastern Nepal at the age of six.

“We left everything behind: our belong-ings, our house, our land, our livestock,” he said. “We came to Nepal empty-handed.”

Although Bhandari’s ancestors immigrated to Bhutan from Nepal in 1624 and Bhandari considers Bhutan his homeland, the Bhuta-nese government does not recognize Bhuta-nese of Nepali origin to have immigrated until

the 19th century. Bhandari and his family eventually settled in

the Sanischare refugee camp. #ey lived there from 1992 until 2008, he said. #e camp was a congested environment. Many people died from fever and cholera. #ere was no electric-ity; kerosene was used for lighting and cooking purposes. However, a budget reduction for the camp forced its residents to buy coal instead of the expensive kerosene. #is caused a smog problem.

Although the conditions were unfavorable, there were very few options. Refugees could not assimilate into Nepalese society due to civil war and Bhutan’s political climate was still un-friendly to those of Nepali origin.

Bhandari had su"ered from hearing loss since birth, but !rst noticed it soon after a school was established in Sanischare. In fourth grade, Bhandari became conscious of the hear-ing loss. By high school, it was his sole focus,

and he was uncertain about his future.“I was starting to get frustrated and disap-

pointed,” Bhandari said.He was able to complete high school with

the help of a grant from the relief organization Caritas Nepal. After high school, Bhandari en-rolled in a bachelor’s program with the support of his family. In order to reduce costs, he stud-ied at home and took tests at the university.

When an o"er for resettlement in the Unit-ed States came, Bhandari accepted.

“I wanted to be back home, but I am not allowed to go back,” Bhandari said. “Resettle-ment is better than Nepal.”

Bhandari and his family settled in Dallas and began building a life. At the suggestion of his doctors, Bhandari underwent a cochlear implant and began using hearing aids. Bhan-

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An exhibition of victoryJOHN THOTTUNGALMercury Sta!

A life sized nude female mannequin sits on a pedestal in the center of the P^2=V/C art exhibition at the Plano Arts Association in downtown Plano.

Rich oil and acrylic paintings and poetry fashioned the walls at the well-lit quiet gal-lery, whose serene atmosphere is secluded from the daily $ow of the DART trains whizzing right outside. #e exhibition is being held to commemorate cancer and autoimmune disease survivors’ struggle and victory.

#e catchy title of the exhibition and its premise is the brainchild of Talley Williams, the director of the Plano Arts Association.

“Purple and Pink or P^2 is equal to vic-tory over cancer,” Williams said of the latest exhibition.

#e PAA’s exhibition aims to resonate with the pain and hope that the journey of cancer and autoimmune disease involves. #e exhibition, which opened with an eve-ning reception on Oct. 26, showcases local artists’ works depicting their interpretation of the diseases and the e"ects on the person.

#e mannequin catches everyone’s eye as they walk in. #e color scheme is split evenly in the middle of the body, with the right side showing a bluish-gray hue and the left a vibrant greenish-yellow one. Intricate $oral patterns in black adorn the left side, while the $oral patterns are woven in with splotches of blue meshed with gray high-lights on the right side.

#e skull is colorless and features an or-ganic chemistry formula of a chemotherapy agent with spiders crawling away from it highlighting the far-reaching consequences of the disease. #e double-colored and dec-orated mannequin is designed to highlight the separate emotional and physical battle patients go through.

“By nature, I am an artist and by profes-sion, I am an scientist,” said Jayashree Bihari, a recent public policy doctoral alumnus.

She writes, paints and has now forayed

into !berglass sculpture works as shown with her work “#e Mannequin,” the central piece of the exhibition. Selling for $4,000 dollars, Bihari wants to donate some of the proceeds back to the gallery as she is fully committed to William’s dream of an art gallery where the community is vibrantly represented. Another work at the exhibition, an acrylic painting called “#e Ballerinas” also by Bihari, is inspired by her own expe-rience as a classically trained dancer in the Kathak style of Indian dance.

“#is exhibition is not just about the physiological disease that is cancer but also of the cancers that attack our society,” Wil-

liams said. She described racism, sexism and preju-

dicial attitudes as cancerous cells that at-tack each individual in a society and starts a chain reaction that perpetuates the negative and harmful biases. Williams felt inspired to design this exhibition and get local artists together as she has gone through the pain of many close family members su"ering from Lupus, an autoimmune disease, and breast cancer.

#e PAA started in 1967 during the wake

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SHYAM VEDANTAMCOMMENTARY

From clowning to trapeze, Lengfelder stresses movement, character in art

Star-studded ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ powerful, emotional

ANNE MARIE FOX/FOCUS FEATURES

Rob Woodroof, played by Matthew McConaughey (right), searches for an alterna-tive treatment of AIDS across the border in the “Dallas Buyers Club” biopic drama.

ARGHYA CHATTERJEE/STAFF

Joshua Lengfelder grew up around performance arts and the circus. He now teaches children trapeze skills at Lone Star Circus School in Addison.

CONNIE CHENG/STAFF

Som Bhandari, accounting junior, immigrated to the U.S. after civil unrest in Bhutan. He wants to help other students with disabilities find employment.

PARTH PARIKH/STAFF

Jayashree Bihari stands next to her centerpiece in the P^2=V/C gallery at the Plano Arts Association in recognition of the hope cancer patients experience.

Alumna joins gallery showcasing challenges, strengths of cancer patients

Hearing-impaired student wants to start employment initiative for others like him

Life&Arts WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM THE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 20138

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Student shows-o! band’s new grungy albumPABLO ARAUZMercury Sta!

!e Perjury is a local rock ’n’ roll trio with a sound rooted in early 1990s alternative indie and grunge.

!e band consists of drummer and mechan-ical engineering freshman Gabe Jordan, bass-ist Spencer Carroll and guitarist Lucas Bartke, who both attend other schools.

!eir debut full-length album titled “Friendship” was released in May and contains 13 tracks that resonate in the style of grunge-era rock ’n’ roll.

“If you’ve ever listened to ‘In Utero’ by Nir-vana, we kind of went for sort of that sound,” said Jordan, who treats the band almost as a full time job.

Along with rehearsals and performances, he promotes the band’s shows and also creates art-work for the band, which goes along with the group’s sound.

“!e music is grungy, and garage-rocky, and it’s stripped down,” Jordan said. “I went for a sort of minimalism.”

!e band started in February 2012 when the three left the pop rock group Stage 36 to pursue a project with a more abrasive sound.

Bartke said that it all started after a practice with Stage 36 when the three learned they had the same lust for the grunge style of rock ’n’ roll.

Currently the band is promoting “Friend-ship” and writing new material.

“We’re always jamming as a band and mak-ing new compositions as a band and by our-selves, so there’s always something there that we can feed o" of,” Bartke said.

Carroll said that Jordan and Bartke primar-ily write the songs while he comes up with steady bass lines for each ri". He said he’s also a sort of mediator for the band when the other two members disagree.

“Luke and Gabe will always be arguing about something, and I’ll be the one to com-promise,” he said.

And while it gets a little hot in the rehearsal room, the band has managed to build a local following with their hard work and good tunes.

“Sometimes it’s tense but it really is one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on,” Carroll said, “We’ve been friends since the start.”

!e Perjury is playing Nov 15. at the Liquid Lounge in Deep Ellum. Find them on Face-book at Facebook.com/theperjury.

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YUBIN WANG/STAFF

The Japanese Student Association hosted its Halloween-themed Maid and Butler Cafe of the Dead on Nov. 1 in the Galaxy Rooms. Servers dressed as maids and butlers to provide co!ee and other treats to guests.

!ough the energetic Leng-felder is currently teaching, he was a birthday party clown a few years ago. He tied balloon animals and did magic tricks for children.

“It’s not a hard job, because you can be a complete hack and entertain kids, but ev-erything went to my agent,” Lengfelder said. “And there was no character to being that

clown — I was just told to make more balloon animals.”

!ere are three parts to be-ing a clown: a zany side, a char-acter side and a philosophical side. Without all three parts, there’s no quality to it, he said.

“Fundamentally, making balloon animals is a cop out,” he said.

While Lengfelder has proven he wants to be able to perform many di"erent skills in the cir-cus such as stilts, unicycle, jug-gling and trapeze, he is truly a teacher at heart.

“If I’m learning a trick, I’m not just learning it to show people; I’m learning the steps to teach someone else,” he said.

Lengfelder attended Texas State and Southern Method-ist University in the past and hopes to ful#ll his parents’ de-sire of completing school be-fore moving on into the world of the circus.

“I’d love to have a profes-sional troupe within Lone Star touring, if not around the U.S., then Texas,” Lengfelder said.

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PABLO ARAUZ/STAFF

From left to right, The Perjury includes Spencer Carroll, Gabe Jordan and Lucas Bartke. Jordan, a mechanical engineering freshman, plays drums for the band and is currently promoting their new album “Friendship.”

Drummer promotes, creates artwork for The Perjury

Life&ArtsTHE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 2013 WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM 9

a Plague,” directed and written by David France, is a facinat-ing watch. “Dallas Buyers Club” tells a similar story, centering on a main character instead of the grass roots movement portrayed in the documentary. In fact, “Dallas Buyers Club” is carried by the strong performances of its small cast.

McConaughey especially gives a dazzling performance. He lost 36 pounds for the role, and his presence on the screen is shock-

ing at !rst. But to limit his praise to just his dedication to the physicality of the role would be an injustice. McConaughey plays the bigoted homophobe and rac-ist with an un"inching truth and balances his character’s equal parts of charisma, hatred and de-sire to live. His ultimate transfor-mation feels completely earned and deserved — his character doesn’t completely change, but becomes enlightened about the world that surrounds him.

Equal praise should be show-ered on Jared Leto (“Requiem for a Dream”) for playing a transgen-

der man named Rayon. While the world has come a long way from simply praising any actor for playing a transgender role, Leto is breathtaking and unrec-ognizable in the movie. While McConaughey is the star of “Dal-las Buyers Club,” Leto is the one who yields tear-jerking moments from the audience. Rayon’s com-passion, addiction and hurt are beautifully portrayed. Both Leto and McConaughey deserve Acad-emy recognition for these roles.

#e issues tackled by screen-writers Melisa Wallack (“Mirror Mirror”) and Craig Borton are

not clear cut, but addressed head on. It’s also very balanced; both sides of the AIDS medication de-bate can be understood. Medical companies need to learn about the e$ectiveness of a new drug, but doctors have to balance this with a human desire to !ght for the lives of the patients in front of them. #ere’s a lot of legal in-formation dispersed throughout the movie, but the narrative never loses focus and it is all enthrall-ing.

#ere are some problems by director Vallee, but these all re-ally amount to nitpicks. #e use

of the ringing sound to represent a subjective thunderclap head-ache is done a couple more times than was necessary. Title cards indicating the date also chop up the !lm. #e !lm feels like its about 15 minutes too long, but truth be told, there isn’t a scene that deserves to be cut out of the !lm. #is is due to the fact that the subject matter is so heavy and when the situation feels hopeless as McConaughey tries to !ght against the oppressive govern-ment, it really weighs on the au-dience.

Simply put, the story of Ron

Woodru$ is compelling. “Dallas Buyers Club” explores the malice-!lled society in which Woodru$ had gladly taken part of before his disease and the failure of the government to help its citizens from a fascinating perspective. It’s informative but emotional. It would have been nice for the !lm to recognize the other grassroots events happening at the time as explored in “How to Survive a Plague,” but strictly as a biopic, it’s great. “Dallas Buyers Club” is a good story that is propelled into one of the year’s best by its leads.

8.5/10

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of the national civil rights move-ment. As its !rst African American director, Williams makes it a point to design exhibitions that represent all of the demographics found in Plano.

Williams, a deeply spiritual wom-an and Bihari, an artist who believes in the transformational power of art, share a common vision to use art to a$ect change at the deepest level in the local community. #e gallery re-ceives a grant from the City of Plano

in addition to private sponsors.“More and more local businesses

in the community are now donating to the gallery and helping it, because they realize the value it brings to Pla-no,” Williams said.

Bihari, who has a Ph.D. in sociol-ogy in India, worked for years with women who su$ered from domes-tic abuse and marital violence. She talked about under-representation of female artists from the Indian subcontinent at previous art com-petitions. Her work as a sociologist deeply in"uenced her work as an art-

ist, especially her work with women who were su$ering in silence.

“Art has the power to change so-ciety,” Bihari said when she spoke of her decision to become a full-time artist after quitting her job.

#e free exhibition runs every day except Mondays through Nov. 9, and more information about the gallery can be found at www.planoartas-sociation.com. Students can utilize their DART pass and get o$ at the downtown Plano station that is just a few stops north of the George Bush Turnpike to reach the gallery.

dari enrolled in Richland Com-munity College to continue his higher education. His life began to normalize, he said.

Then, in February 2012, Bhandari was in a serious car accident. He stopped his stud-ies at Richland and spent sev-eral months recovering.

“I feel like I’ve only just started to fully recover,” Bhan-dari said. “It’s been a gradual process. Each semester it gets a bit better.”

Bhandari enrolled at UTD for the summer and became part of the Jindal School of

Management. Upon arriving, Bhandari was eager to check out what kind of resources and services were available for indi-viduals with hearing loss. The accident also left Bhandari with difficulty concentrating and he hoped to obtain support for that as well. However, Bhandari found the university lacking in support programs.

“I was wandering aimlessly,” he said. “I am still looking for someone to guide me onto the right track.”

Bhandari said he would like to start an employment initia-tive to help students of varied ability find jobs on campus or internships through the univer-

sity. Bhandari has been commu-nicating with Dean of Students Gene Fitch expressing his con-cerns and ideas.

“We cannot compete in the same way as others; can (the university) help lift us up?” Bhandari said.

Bhandari recognizes the good things about UTD as well. He appreciates his academic advi-sor and his professors, but he would still like to see more.

“I have been to school in Bhutan, in Nepal and here in America,” he said. “This is thought to be the best country and if Nepal and Bhutan can be very good then America can be better.”

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Chetan Vahanesa, electrical engineering graduate stu-

dent, was caught reading The Mercury.

He will win a $20 gift card to Palio’s Pizza, a local pizza, pasta and salad restaurant.

You can contact Palio’s at 972-234-4002.

Thank you Palio’s Pizza!

Caught ReadingThe Mercury

!e team that won the women bas-ketball program’s "rst ASC champion-ship last year return to court on Nov. 16 to try and continue their journey from where they left o# — winning championships.

!eir journey to the trophy was nothing short of a rollercoaster ride.

!e "rst three months of the season had a $ying start with the team win-ning 13 out of 15 games with convic-tion and complete dominance.

!ey won their "rst three games in spite of a rather somber a#air against Jarvis Christian in the second game. A close loss in the fourth game to Austin College was just a minor bump in the road.

!e Comets struck back viciously with an eight-match winning streak, shattering teams in their wake. !ey won the "rst game of regular season against Hardin-Simmons 79-66 and

shooting 0.547 percent in "eld goals. Defending conference champion Con-cordia-Texas was vanquished in a very competitive match and a small margin of six points.

Sul Ross State was the worst o# as UTD won the game 102-59 — the pinnacle of the season at that point. All 14 players on the roster were intro-duced in the game and each scored at least two points.

!e Comets then played "ve consec-utive away games, something they had never faced before.

Cold spells in the second half of the games against LeTourneau and East Texas Baptist saw their opponents overturn UTD’s lead and run away with the game. Silly mistakes in han-dling the ball, rebounding terribly on defense and poor execution on o#ense cost the Comets the win.

!e slump in form was quite disas-trous and could not have come at a worse time, so close to the end of the season.

!e women had to weave their way to the American Southwest Conference by winning all remaining games. !is meant beating then leaders Louisiana College, who were unbeaten in the conference.

!e team, back on their home turf for the "nal stretch, side-stepped Mis-sissippi College and went on to face the biggest hurdle to competing in the post-season conference — Louisiana College.

!e team showed true character in the face of adversity. With six seconds on the clock in the second half, Loui-siana College took a two-point lead, and with that the Comets’ hopes of playing in the conference. But a foul by Louisiana with one second on the clock gave UTD hope. Senior Katie Korioth stepped up to the foul line and sank both free throws to take the game to over-time.

UTD played the game to the wire in over-time, tying the game with 17 seconds on the clock and taking a two

point lead with two seconds on the clock.

!ere were no more bumps as the win over Louisiana revitalized the Comets’ performance and they quickly dispatched their opponents in the next

two games to book their place in the conference.

!ey swept Hardin-Simmons aside in the "rst round of the conference and

WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM ��THE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 201310 Sports

Natural defender enjoys physicality of position, hopes to go semi-pro

With mud scu#s on his practice shirt and a blonde curl in his hair, UTD men’s soccer goalkeeper was made for the game.

A Houston native, mechanical engi-neering senior Stephen Nicknish grew up playing sports like baseball and soccer as a child. He credits his sports-loving father for introducing him to baseball since he was a pitcher in college.

However, it was soccer that stole Nicknish’s heart.

“(From baseball) I kind of broadened my outreach,” he said. “I joined my friend’s team when we were 7 years old and I just got hooked on it.”

Although baseball was fun, save for batting, soccer was just the sport he was looking for with the constant activity

and motion involved, Nicknish said.While he used to play defense when

he was younger, being UTD’s soccer goalie is what Nicknish is really passion-ate about. !ere is a lot of technique that goes into being a goalie and there is a di#erent side of conditioning to it than other positions, he said.

“My dad always told me that I had to do whatever it took to get that ball — bite, teeth, claw, whatever it took. If the ball hits o# your face, you made the save,” Nicknish said.

Although his father pushed him to be the best soccer player, Nicknish said he was lucky to have supportive parents.

“I love my dad,” he said. “He and my mom have supported me throughout my entire soccer career. !ey’ve always en-couraged me. !ey’ve never been nega-tive.”

Admittedly getting scored on is one of

his least favorite things, Nicknish said, but his dad was always there to brush o# failure and encourage better play.

Although America’s traditional pas-times include football and basketball, Nicknish sees soccer’s popularity rising with the creation of Major League Soc-cer in 1993 and the increase of viewer-ship during World Cup soccer.

Nicknish’s favorite soccer teams in-clude Manchester United and Arsenal. More than just following their scores, their style of play and their passion is what he really follows, Nicknish said.

“I’ll watch and see how their profes-sional goalkeepers react to certain situ-ations to help me in my play,” he said.

Truly dedicated to his art, Nicknish’s favorite goalkeeper is now retired goalie

SARAH LARSONLife & Arts Editor

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MERCURY FILE PHOTO

The Comets began the !rst three months of last season dominating their opponents to win 13 out of 15 games. They eventually defeated Louisiana College to take the title.

Can our volleyball team win the ASC?Commentator finds many reasons to be optimistic

Marci Sanders’ volleyball squad might be picking up a few pointers from the women’s basketball team — they’ve found a way to rebound.

After a blistering start to the season marked with three consecutive losses — their worst start since 2005 — the Comets have righted the ship. When the seeding for the ASC post-season conference was re-leased on Oct. 27, no one was surprised to see the Comets as the No. 1 seeded team.

!e initial losses could be written o# as the loss of the team’s two highest scoring players, Dana Hilzendager and Halea Wil-liams, who graduated last year. !e rela-tively young team quite evidently failed to meet up to the expectations that were set by last year’s record-winning team.

!e Comets went into regular season with a record of 3-5. Sanders’ decision to expose the young team to such a demand-ing pre-season paid o# wildly as the Com-ets won eight consecutive games before their "rst and only loss of the regular sea-son to Mary-Hardin Baylor.

!is team recorded the program’s 200th win with the "rst win of the season, which was also Sanders’ 200th win.

!e team has put behind the loss of their two highest scoring players as Taylour Toso set an all-time season kills record, surpassing Hilzendager’s record of 390 in a single season.

!ey did it as a team. !ere was no one player lifting the rest of the team on her

shoulders. It was a completely united e#ort as each player rose to the occasion, again and again. With Toso, Meredith Crawford and Abbie Barth attaining 300-plus kills each, the Comets have been an o#ensive powerhouse. !e team has one of the con-ference’s best setters in Kayla Jordan with 1,121 assists and 9.58 assist/set, second only to UT-Tyler’s Rebecca Floyd.

!e Comets recorded a 16-game win-ning streak after the loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor to match last year’s record of 27 wins in a season. After these magni"cent streaks, the Comets are the regular season title win and will host the post-season con-ference from Nov. 7-9.

Six teams, including UTD, will play in the American Southwest Conference at UTD’s home court. !e Comets have played very competitive games against the "ve teams this season.

!e team has recorded a double sweep against everyone, except No. 2 seed Mary Hardin-Baylor, which is the only team that holds the bragging rights for trouncing UTD in the conference.

Among the "ve contenders, the Comets have routed Hardin-Simmons’ in straight sets on both occasions and UT Tyler and Concordia-Texas once. !e team has played tough sets against the others, man-aging to win some sets by a di#erence of just two points and eliciting the thought that these sets could have gone either way if not for the team’s grit, consistency and focus on the court.

It may be too early to predict anything about winning, as post-season conferenc-es brings out the best in every team, but UTD stands a good chance to hoist the ASC trophy.

PARTH SAMPATCOMMENTARY

Women’s b-ball look to defend !rst-ever titleComets hit the court Nov. 16 in pursuit of back-to-back conference championshipsPARTH SAMPATMercury Sta!

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Keeping it down toEarth

Men’s basketball aim for elusive ringFour years of disappointment could end this season

!e championship ring: the accolade every athlete lives for, the ring that has eluded the men’s basketball team for four years — falling short in the semi-"nals thrice and losing the title game once.

!e men’s basketball program has been the most decorated sports program at UTD. It can almost be said that it’s the crown jewel of sports at UTD, along with volleyball. !e basketball team has been crowned ASC champions twice, ASC East champions six times and are the only team at UTD to reach the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament.

!e Comets under head coach Terry

Butter"eld have gained tremendous consistency over the past couple of years, winning the ASC East Champi-onship for "ve consecutive years. !e team has posted 20-win seasons for the last "ve years.

Butter"eld’s philosophy of concen-trating on defense and rebound has been at the heart of the team’s success. !e team has the best defense in the conference, topping the conference by conceding an average of 60.7 points per game last season, 6.8 points a game less than Mary Hardin-Baylor at No. 2 and 7.7 points per game less than Texas-Lu-theran at No. 3.

PARTH SAMPATMercury Sta!

VHH�0�%$6.(7%$//�SDJH���CHRISTOPHER WANG/PHOTO EDITOR

SportsTHE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 2013 WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM 11

LINA MOON/GRAPHICS EDITOR

Butterfield has driven home the fact that free throws can win or lose a game, and the Comets have made sure that they never lag behind in that area. Ironically, they lacked their usual standard from the foul line in the semi-finals of the American Southwest Con-ference last season, which cost them the game against Con-cordia-Texas and a spot in the finals. They shot a piddling 59.4 percent from the foul line, exceedingly below their season average of 74 percent.

Despite their brilliant de-fense, the team was unable to handle the full-press play of Concordia-Texas in the semi-finals, who pushed and pressed the Comets to the point of smothering them and forcing the team to turnover

the ball an appalling 23 times.UTD’s offense is not to be

trifled with either. They were the second best in the confer-ence last season with an aver-age of 70.6 points per game and a scoring margin of 9.9. The Comets have none other than Kyle Schleigh to thank for their brilliant offense.

Schleigh had a dazzling sea-son last year, breaking several program records in just his junior year. Schleigh averaged an outstanding 21.4 points per game. He also broke the program records for most re-bounds in a single season, most rebounds in a single game and most points in a single season last year.

With four players in their senior year, everyone’s eyes will be on the juniors to see whom the baton will be passed on to next year.

Junior forward Chris

McOmber had an impressive season as he shot 52.3 per-cent from the field goal line, 47 percent three-pointers and scoring an average of 8.6 points a game. Junior guard Nolan Harvey played his part to near-perfection with 97 as-sists in 27 games and 70 turn-overs.

With the squad relatively experienced this year and hav-ing faced two tough losses in the semi-finals in two consec-utive years, there is hope that they will break through the semi-final barrier this year.

The Comets were picked to finish second in the new for-mat of the ASC by the league office on Oct. 22. Schleigh was also named the ASC’s Preseason Player of the Year. With such a backing from the league, this team definitely has what it takes to win the conference.

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Oliver Kahn, who played for Germany’s national team in Bayern Munich.

“! e biggest things in soccer is having that funda-mental foundation, and Oliver Kahn had that,” he said. “He was good, but more than that, he would make spectacular saves while keeping fundamentals solid.”

Nicknish said his team’s dynamic is all about work-ing together to get the win.

“We goof around some, but when it comes game time, we’re serious,” he said. “! ere’s a lot of positive reinforcement as we’ve matured into understanding constructive criticism and what we each need to work on.”

Nicknish said he’s pretty hard on himself and has to work on not letting it a" ect his play. Soccer is all about keeping focused, relaxed and calm, he said.

“But I love this team and the coaches,” he said. “All these guys are like my second family.”

When not playing soccer, Nicknish participates in Cross# t workouts and enjoys being outside # shing, hunting and being with his dogs. He looks to # nd a job to stay in Dallas after graduation and is hoping to join a local semi-professional soccer team.

1,&.1,6+FRQWLQXHG�IURP�SDJH���

took down perennial power-house and former champion Howard Payne in the semi-fi-nals, to face Louisiana College for the second time in three weeks.

The Comets prevailed yet again, and they won it fashion-ably late once again. Trailing by 13 points at the end of first half, the team slowly chipped away at the lead until they took the lead at 61-60 for the first time in the second half with 2:18 on

the clock. Louisiana tied the game at 63-63 with 41 seconds on the clock, but the momen-tum was with UTD, and they quickly capitalized with a field goal with 23 seconds left and two baskets from the foul line with five seconds left.

Louisiana College players could not understand what hit them — UTD hit them. And with that, the team won the program’s first conference title.

The party was meant to con-tinue to the NCAA DIII con-ference, but it was cut short by a tragic first-round loss to

Washington St. Louis. The Comets led the Bears 40-39 with 6:40 on the clock. But their failure to score after that created an excellent opportu-nity for the Bears to snatch the win with a five point lead.

With most of the team in-tact, this championship win-ning team will be put to the test by the best in the con-ference who will be vying to snatch the trophy away from UTD. It’s probably too early to talk about a repeat perfor-mance, but this team is quite capable of doing so.

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CHRISTOPRHER WANG/PHOTO EDITOR

Stephen Nicknish, men’s soccer goalkeeper and a mechanical engineering senior, grew up around sports with an encouraging fam-ily and hopes to join a local semi-profes-sional soccer team after graduation.

Sports writers and photographers are invited to join our award-winning staff.

No experience necessary, but hustle is always a plus.

sports@utdmercury.com

LINA MOON/GRAPHICS EDITOR

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by Chelsea Wolfe

News WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM THE MERCURY � NOV. 4, 201314

las in its deadly grip in fall 2012, Anders portrays the frustration Bondurant himself felt when he fell a victim to the virus and had to stay in hospital for a few days, he said.

!e monotonous buzz of the mosquitoes, the smell of DEET, the average middle-class family, the non-descript street, the roof-ing crew’s single-pitched ham-mering — all cast an imagery of normalcy, de"ed only by a silent question — who lives in the houses and what do they do?

!e haze from the planes spraying pesticides provides the perfect analogy for an unkempt and seemingly harmless subur-ban house where something’s not right.

“Suburban neighborhoods are

interesting,” Bondurant said. “A lot of suburban people, not just in Dallas but in other cities too, lead very quiet, unknown existences, especially when you have these back alleys and driveways and you never see anybody — there are people down the street that I’ve never seen — who knows what’s going on inside their house?”

Reading through the story, there is that sense that one is a mute spectator, distant yet part of Anders’ life, as if one could reach out and stall the imminent threat, almost like reading through Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” Yet, unlike Bradbury’s novel, where one knows Claire is dead but the end predicts a fresh beginning, “Hole-Man,” in its "nal para-graph, poses the question “Will it be di#erent this time?”

!e story came together after Bondurant met the editor, Da-

vid Hale Smith, through mutual friends at D Magazine and in-vited him to speak to his creative writing class about publishing.

At the time, Smith had just been asked to edit the anthology and was in the process of curating stories for the book and he asked Bondurant to contribute.

Although most of Bondurant’s works are about cities he has lived in before, this is the only story he has written about a city he is cur-rently living in. Bondurant’s story could "t into any suburbia, there is nothing speci"c to Dallas’ cul-ture in the story, he said.

Yet, as the story wraps up, the reader is left with vivid images of a calm before the storm, a stubborn refusal to give up and a $ash of hope for something better — im-ages that have kept Dallas a$oat since even before Lee Harvey Os-wald "red his notorious shots.

moved to Dallas. Working in the city in the 1980s, old mythologies and Hispanic folklore caught her attention and fascinated Davis.

“Full Moon” is a culmination of these mythical in$uences in a starkly changing Dallas set in the backdrop of the uptown nouveau riche. Danny, the protagonist, is symbolic of the new generation of Hispanic Americans working hard to climb up the social ladder, edu-cated and derisive of the old leg-ends and folklore, yet con$icted by their inability to overcome the trappings of childhood supersti-tions and beliefs.

“Dallas can in many ways seem super"cial, and I wanted to instill some sort of quality of mysticism or myth in what’s behind those mirrored glasses and steel struc-tures,” Davis said. “It doesn’t have to be a sterile environment, it can be as alive as any other environ-ment.”

!e story is a portrayal of the greed, emotional void and a gen-eral sense of worthlessness that accompanies the cycle of making more money to climb up the end-less social ladder.

!e curse of the witch-bird or the La Lechuza is nothing more than a guilty conscience that gnaws away at Danny, a man who remains the rebellious 12 year old in his heart, prohibited from drinking or drugs, brought up in strong religious trappings.

A meth-induced haze, an acci-dent that turns into a murder and

the almost-dried-up Trinity River set the scene for a perfect noir piece.

!e new, trendy uptown dwell-ers revel in their newfound wealth, almost mocking the older, poor Oak Cli# locale across the river with its botánicas and the death-like appearance.

Yet, the values of the living, the stronger ties of family, love and

humanity still survive on the other side of the river, where the grass is not green, in the slow pace of Oak Cli#, despite the misery of poverty and age.

Reunited with his past, his ide-als and his earthly self once more, Danny "nally "nds his solace in the ancient cemetery of nearby Pleasant Grove where his mother lies buried.

and principled, conveys some of his own dilemma through the sketches — the constant duel between doing what’s right and doing what’s best for one’s self.

Back in the mid-nineties, Reynolds and his son were re-turning from a late-evening club baseball game at Mesquite, and urgently needing a restroom fa-cility, stopped at the "rst conve-nience store they saw after miles of driving without seeing one.

!e store on Samuel Grand Avenue, the group of men in a nearby pickup truck and the eerie sense of foreboding stuck with Reynolds.

When David Hale Smith, edi-tor of “Dallas Noir,” invited him

to write for the anthology, that is the noir moment he chose to start with.

All the separate scenes in the story are connected through a si-lent, lurking fearfulness, setting the stage for a tragic end or the awareness that something bad is about to happen, Reynolds said.

!e poignant use of the word “maybe” in the rapid millisec-ond-assessments that the charac-ters make of the imminent threat or the perceived victim draw out the reactions of a human mind used to dealing with death and fear on a daily basis.

In the heart of the city, in Deep Ellum, on Pearl Street, by the historic district, there is the sense that one needs to watch out for danger — the contrast-ing desperation and obscene

wealth — elements that Reyn-olds paints vividly in his little night sketches.

Reynolds’ Dallas is Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s song, “Dallas from a DC-9,” a city of big oil and cotton money and private clubs, a city that seems always to be in transition.

“Dallas tears down old build-ings almost before they become old,” Reynolds said. “It makes you sad in a way.”

Yet, in his own way, he "ts right in with the mood of the city. With his 20th book and 10th novel, “Vox Populi” out on stands, Reynolds isn’t thinking of what’s next. He is thinking, instead, of ways to make his next work special, beyond the reaches of mediocrity, to keep his work new, just like the city of Dallas. havior and the modelers who man-

age the robot’s movements. His knowledge of both worlds allows him to see where in the pipeline a problem is and to help "x it. He said that while most of the people working at Robokind have degrees in computer science or engineer-ing, many other "elds of study are

also present in the company, in-cluding a geology graduate.

!e ZENO R25 is an advanced robot that contains sensors that al-low it to respond to touch on its body, detect where speech is com-ing from and perceive emotions. However, one of the key di#er-ences that make it stand out from its competitors is the price.

“Most of these robots go for $20,000 plus,” said Tejeev Patel,

another UTD alumnus working with Robokind. “!e old R50’s we were able to bring down to around $16,000, and now we’re able to bring it around $5,000.”

Currently, the R25 preorder is available through Kickstarter for less than $3,000. Robokind hopes to raise $50,000 through the crowdfunding website and had four R25s preordered at the time this article was written.

MARCELO YATES/STAFF

Lauren Davis listens on a panel consisting of the authors as well as the editor of “Dallas Noir.” The book launch and signing brought a full crowd to Half Price Books on Northwest Highway on Oct. 30.

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