So, I'm back again, as the semester's starting.
I apologize to the three readers out there for my extended leave of absence, but I had to take on a series of other responsibilities.
I'm back now, with more responsibilities, but with the hopes of updating this more frequently.
So, what happened in the summer?
Adela Garza and Rene Torres won places as the new trustees, Obama got the democratic nod and selected Joe Biden as his running mate, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart were dazzling in their roles in "The Dark Knight", and Dolly wreaked havoc in Cameron County.
That's as short as it gets, but let's get right down to business.
Summer (or like many fellow Scorpions call it, "Summer") has ended and now we're back in full swing for the semester.
Except those Scorpions that got suspended.
Oh well.
SAP is SAP, people. It's a 2.0 GPA and 70% course completion every semester.
It. Is. Not. Hard. To. Meet. SAP.
Just try a little bit.
Some of you will find it much easier than high school.
Others will not.
Either way, you've got an infinity of resources available for you. Just reach out and grab them.
Teachers openly invite students to visit them in their office if they have any doubts, and I've never, in two years and 93 credits, come across a teacher who made himself or herself unavailable.
Just ASK.
And if you stumble, well, you pick yourself back up again.
Failing is acceptable. Giving up is unforgiveable.
Moving on...
Scorpion Athletics (which will now take up a small $4ish per credit hour fee from your statement) has started out its seasons, so, as usual, come out and support your Scorpions. The baseball team made a surprising comeback this past season despite its abysmal performance at the beginning of the season. They ended up in a conference tournament for the third time in thirty years. Pretty sweet. And now, we've got ourselves an almost brand new volleyball team (only five return), women's soccer team (4 returners), so the games have been pretty exciting.
Admission is free with a student ID, so, come out to Morningside and support the soccer teams, or to the Manuel B. Garza Gym for the volleyball team.
The next "home" game in the Scorpion Nation will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, at Morningside Park, and it's the women's soccer team hosting their season opener against the Texas A&M International Dustdevils, who smashed the men's team 3-0 this past Monday.
Possible highlights: Forwards Julia Dell'Aquila and Linette Cuviliier, both newcomers (from Canada and Brownsville respectively) make mincemeat out of the opponents' net like they did against the Harlingen Celtics Soccer Club.
That's it for this update, and I'll see you next week.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Brownsville City Limits
Here's another suggestion, keeping in tune with my previous idea of having a revamped "6th street in Brownsville".
A music festival.
There's already one at the island, but that's not what we're aiming for. We're aiming for people to come to Brownsville, and as such, we need live music.
Right now, the only bands available, at least most of them, are your characteristic "OH MY GOD BLARRRGHHHH DEATH DEATH MAYHEM PAAAAIN" garage bands. Cool it, guys. Society ain't so bad. Plus, Chapa's Bar-The Pit is a bit off the beaten path for a lot of people. I would say a different venue might be nice, maybe in the area before the bowling alley.
Now, I have my differences with people who transfer back to UT-B from other universities and scoff at everything they see here, and see the entire university as beneath them, talking about how "[insert university here] was so much better because it had [arbitrary thing] and we didn't."
I don't fancy this kind of talk, but at the same time, we can learn from it. We have a great university in our backyards, and we still haven't found a way of curbing the exodus of students. I think that my pipedreams are a good way to at least curtail the BISD/BANSA Diaspora of brainpower.
Not because leaving is such a bad thing, but rather because graduating from here will definitely inspire people to come back once they've achieved higher goals elsewhere, and use their talents in order for our city to grow.
A music festival.
There's already one at the island, but that's not what we're aiming for. We're aiming for people to come to Brownsville, and as such, we need live music.
Right now, the only bands available, at least most of them, are your characteristic "OH MY GOD BLARRRGHHHH DEATH DEATH MAYHEM PAAAAIN" garage bands. Cool it, guys. Society ain't so bad. Plus, Chapa's Bar-The Pit is a bit off the beaten path for a lot of people. I would say a different venue might be nice, maybe in the area before the bowling alley.
Now, I have my differences with people who transfer back to UT-B from other universities and scoff at everything they see here, and see the entire university as beneath them, talking about how "[insert university here] was so much better because it had [arbitrary thing] and we didn't."
I don't fancy this kind of talk, but at the same time, we can learn from it. We have a great university in our backyards, and we still haven't found a way of curbing the exodus of students. I think that my pipedreams are a good way to at least curtail the BISD/BANSA Diaspora of brainpower.
Not because leaving is such a bad thing, but rather because graduating from here will definitely inspire people to come back once they've achieved higher goals elsewhere, and use their talents in order for our city to grow.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
In Defense of the University
It's quite common to bash Juliet V. Garcia here in the Valleyblogosphere.
And I'm sure a lot of bloggers may have genuine grievances against the prez and the universities.
I'm proud to say I'm not one of those.
And it's not just hechandole madres to President Garcia, but to the university itself. And that's where I take issue with the criticism. It's personal.
See, without UTB/TSC...we'd just be Pan Am, Jr. But hell, given the defeatist attitude of half the valley, it's what people want, isn't it? Something easy. A rubber-stamp university. Something that's jussssst enough to get a simple job.
But it can't be like that.
Why should things be that simple? Why should we just up and settle for the easiest thing? We have to erase this mindset if we want the valley to grow.
Then comes the issue about tuition, and the rising costs of fees that was approved by the TSC Board and Dr. Garcia herself.
"Oh, noes! We're going to have to pay more!"
Gas prices are up. Groceries are up. EVERYTHING is up. Why should tuition be any different? College IS STILL AFFORDABLE.
About 2,000 dollars per 15 credit hours. It's no chump change, but answer this--can you really put a price tag for your education?
The answer is no.
UTB/TSC is a great university now, in our very own backyard, no longer the Pan Am Jr. it was 15 years ago. People, capitalize on it! Brownsville needs us.
Now, if tuition and fees are that big of a problem for you, you're more than welcome to show up at the tuition and fee hearings they have every two years.
The voice of the community was largely absent in the hearings last fall. Few, if any, students showed up. And from the community, the only one who showed up was a very angry man who had a number of good points but did not make a good case for himself presenting them.
We need Scorpions, and we need members of the community there.
On to other criticisms. People have strongly criticized the university's expansion.
Again, what's wrong with trying to become a better university?
A new library. A new classroom building. A new theatre. An almost-complete recreation center.
Do people not want to progress?
Yeah. These things will cost money. But so what? Can't we just put the selfishness aside and invest in the future of not ourselves, but our families?
I'll give you an example. The UTB/TSC Athletic fee almost 2 years ago. A lot of people were against it, but I wasn't. Why? For the future.
Without the likes of Dr. Garcia, Mary Rose Cardenas, and the like, we'd be in the same place we were, 30 years ago.
Forget the past and progress!
And I'm sure a lot of bloggers may have genuine grievances against the prez and the universities.
I'm proud to say I'm not one of those.
And it's not just hechandole madres to President Garcia, but to the university itself. And that's where I take issue with the criticism. It's personal.
See, without UTB/TSC...we'd just be Pan Am, Jr. But hell, given the defeatist attitude of half the valley, it's what people want, isn't it? Something easy. A rubber-stamp university. Something that's jussssst enough to get a simple job.
But it can't be like that.
Why should things be that simple? Why should we just up and settle for the easiest thing? We have to erase this mindset if we want the valley to grow.
Then comes the issue about tuition, and the rising costs of fees that was approved by the TSC Board and Dr. Garcia herself.
"Oh, noes! We're going to have to pay more!"
Gas prices are up. Groceries are up. EVERYTHING is up. Why should tuition be any different? College IS STILL AFFORDABLE.
About 2,000 dollars per 15 credit hours. It's no chump change, but answer this--can you really put a price tag for your education?
The answer is no.
UTB/TSC is a great university now, in our very own backyard, no longer the Pan Am Jr. it was 15 years ago. People, capitalize on it! Brownsville needs us.
Now, if tuition and fees are that big of a problem for you, you're more than welcome to show up at the tuition and fee hearings they have every two years.
The voice of the community was largely absent in the hearings last fall. Few, if any, students showed up. And from the community, the only one who showed up was a very angry man who had a number of good points but did not make a good case for himself presenting them.
We need Scorpions, and we need members of the community there.
On to other criticisms. People have strongly criticized the university's expansion.
Again, what's wrong with trying to become a better university?
A new library. A new classroom building. A new theatre. An almost-complete recreation center.
Do people not want to progress?
Yeah. These things will cost money. But so what? Can't we just put the selfishness aside and invest in the future of not ourselves, but our families?
I'll give you an example. The UTB/TSC Athletic fee almost 2 years ago. A lot of people were against it, but I wasn't. Why? For the future.
Without the likes of Dr. Garcia, Mary Rose Cardenas, and the like, we'd be in the same place we were, 30 years ago.
Forget the past and progress!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Brownsvilletown Races
Sadly enough, the races that are most going to affect the students at the university are going to be largely ignored by the main student populace, as most of us will be too distraught by finals to give a damn about the TSC Trustee election.
Luckily, there's plenty of enough time to get educated. And I'm sure my fellow Valley bloggers have already talked about the election. I'll just give you a quick glance about who's vying for what:
For Place 1:
Adela Garza
Jose Angel Herrera
Dr. Jaime Silva
For Place 2:
Rene Torres
Petrita Esparza-Tamez
There's only one person running there with experience teaching college-age students. See if you can guess who it is :D
Luckily, there's plenty of enough time to get educated. And I'm sure my fellow Valley bloggers have already talked about the election. I'll just give you a quick glance about who's vying for what:
For Place 1:
Adela Garza
Jose Angel Herrera
Dr. Jaime Silva
For Place 2:
Rene Torres
Petrita Esparza-Tamez
There's only one person running there with experience teaching college-age students. See if you can guess who it is :D
Saturday, April 12, 2008
To Whom it May Concern
Brownsville is a thirty minute (or less) from South Padre Island.
In 2000 we had a population of 139,722.
Brownsville is also the biggest city in the Rio Grande Valley, and has some of the best nightclubs there, too.
So what's the problem?
The problem is, we need a North Gate. We need a 6th Street.
"B-b-b-but those are College Towns! BLA BLA!"
I don't care, and neither should you.
We seem to have an inferiority complex when we talk about other universities. We really need to stop that, because, hey, it kills our morale because we feel we "need" these fancy things.
Truth is, the absence of these fancy things should not be a reason to be depressed ... or careless, rather, they should make us want to exceed more in our lives, and then come back to Brownsville and get all these things that will make our campus grow exponentially.
As for the nightlife, the problem is that the bars and nightclubs are so far apart from each other that it doesn't afford us the opportunity to have a say...6th Street or Northgate. The college has 3 main streets where an ideal "6th street" would be. And I don't mean the actual 6th street we have right now:
International Boulevard: You could ideally turn most of the businesses that have spots on the streets close by campus that empty out on International (Tyler, Van Buren, Harrison, Jackson) into nightclubs/bars. High traffic + college age people = fun. Though people might take an issue that the Brownsville Police Department, the State District Court, AND the Federal Courthouse are within walking distance.
Elizabeth Street: Is this street historical? Yes. Has it outlived its usefulness as 'el centro' ? Probably. And it probably won't ever change, owing to the high amounts of traffic flowing in from Matamoros during holiday season that benefits the local economy. That boost is also rumored to benefit Seoul, S.K., but that's another story.
University Boulevard: I know that whenever visitors are brought in to campus, they are taken down university boulevard and into the entrance at EDBC. Wouldn't it be cool if during one of those trips, the guide could point out, "oh, and to your left, you'll see Lincoln Park, formerly a quiet area that no one visited, and now the center of nightlife for campus". Downside to this, of course, is the nightlife would have the river to their backs. Heh. Heh.
So that leaves two streets:
F.M 802 and Central Boulevard.
Both have nightclubs and decent restaurants. Now if only we could do more to make those streets a little more bohemian. That's it. Little by little. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.
So all of you business majors in EDBC, join forces with the local real estate people and add a couple of visionaries to your crew and I bet you that we will make the Jewel of South Texas shine even brighter.
In 2000 we had a population of 139,722.
Brownsville is also the biggest city in the Rio Grande Valley, and has some of the best nightclubs there, too.
So what's the problem?
The problem is, we need a North Gate. We need a 6th Street.
"B-b-b-but those are College Towns! BLA BLA!"
I don't care, and neither should you.
We seem to have an inferiority complex when we talk about other universities. We really need to stop that, because, hey, it kills our morale because we feel we "need" these fancy things.
Truth is, the absence of these fancy things should not be a reason to be depressed ... or careless, rather, they should make us want to exceed more in our lives, and then come back to Brownsville and get all these things that will make our campus grow exponentially.
As for the nightlife, the problem is that the bars and nightclubs are so far apart from each other that it doesn't afford us the opportunity to have a say...6th Street or Northgate. The college has 3 main streets where an ideal "6th street" would be. And I don't mean the actual 6th street we have right now:
International Boulevard: You could ideally turn most of the businesses that have spots on the streets close by campus that empty out on International (Tyler, Van Buren, Harrison, Jackson) into nightclubs/bars. High traffic + college age people = fun. Though people might take an issue that the Brownsville Police Department, the State District Court, AND the Federal Courthouse are within walking distance.
Elizabeth Street: Is this street historical? Yes. Has it outlived its usefulness as 'el centro' ? Probably. And it probably won't ever change, owing to the high amounts of traffic flowing in from Matamoros during holiday season that benefits the local economy. That boost is also rumored to benefit Seoul, S.K., but that's another story.
University Boulevard: I know that whenever visitors are brought in to campus, they are taken down university boulevard and into the entrance at EDBC. Wouldn't it be cool if during one of those trips, the guide could point out, "oh, and to your left, you'll see Lincoln Park, formerly a quiet area that no one visited, and now the center of nightlife for campus". Downside to this, of course, is the nightlife would have the river to their backs. Heh. Heh.
So that leaves two streets:
F.M 802 and Central Boulevard.
Both have nightclubs and decent restaurants. Now if only we could do more to make those streets a little more bohemian. That's it. Little by little. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.
So all of you business majors in EDBC, join forces with the local real estate people and add a couple of visionaries to your crew and I bet you that we will make the Jewel of South Texas shine even brighter.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The Nontraditional Student
When I first set foot into the University, I felt odd and out of place. During my first classes in Summer I 2006 (History 1 and Comp 1), despite being one of the oldest in the class of 2006, I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, in both classes.
Surely this must be a fluke, I thought to myself.
But as I entered the fall semester, I realized that this wasn't a fluke. And despite taking only basics, I was always one of the youngest in the class, by a year or several year's difference. When I spoke with my friends, who had gone on to The University of Texas and Texas A&M, to name some, I discovered that they were about the same age as hundreds of their classmates, and that non-traditional students were students above "college age", who had families, who had full time jobs.
It was then that I realized that the non-traditional student at UTB/TSC was not someone like that. In fact, the non-traditional student at UTB/TSC seems to be someone like my friends -- entering college fresh out of high school, no dependents, and maybe only a part-time job to bring in extra cash. Not that it's a bad thing, of course. I think education is a great thing, and it doesn't matter how old you are or how busy you are, you can always find time to educate yourself.
But my point is, due to the immense responsibilities that some of these nontraditional traditional students have, keep them from becoming fully engrossed in the college experience.
What do I mean by fully engrossed?
I mean the whole shebang. Membership in any campus club, regular attendance at student organization-sponsored events, a contribution to campus life. Attendance at these events is usually limited to 100, 150 students. And most of these are the "nontraditional" students that have to double up their efforts to make it seem that an event was worth the hour spent away from [insert duty here].
This is why I want to exhort all of you nontraditional freshmen that will be coming into this institution this fall or returning for it. STAY ACTIVE!
The other day I visited a friend of mine at the University of Texas-Pan American, our former "owner". Walking through campus, I saw a tide of green from the students. I want that same goal to be met in Brownsville one of these days.
Some might argue that we're a commuter school, and I'll argue that that doesn't matter at all. The University of Houston is a commuter school, too, but they show school spirit.
And to you, student with a family and other responsibilities that has to make ends meet,
I salute your diligence. Now I have to ask you to make a very small sacrifice and contribute an hour of your time for any random campus activity.
It'll be worth it.
I promise.
Surely this must be a fluke, I thought to myself.
But as I entered the fall semester, I realized that this wasn't a fluke. And despite taking only basics, I was always one of the youngest in the class, by a year or several year's difference. When I spoke with my friends, who had gone on to The University of Texas and Texas A&M, to name some, I discovered that they were about the same age as hundreds of their classmates, and that non-traditional students were students above "college age", who had families, who had full time jobs.
It was then that I realized that the non-traditional student at UTB/TSC was not someone like that. In fact, the non-traditional student at UTB/TSC seems to be someone like my friends -- entering college fresh out of high school, no dependents, and maybe only a part-time job to bring in extra cash. Not that it's a bad thing, of course. I think education is a great thing, and it doesn't matter how old you are or how busy you are, you can always find time to educate yourself.
But my point is, due to the immense responsibilities that some of these nontraditional traditional students have, keep them from becoming fully engrossed in the college experience.
What do I mean by fully engrossed?
I mean the whole shebang. Membership in any campus club, regular attendance at student organization-sponsored events, a contribution to campus life. Attendance at these events is usually limited to 100, 150 students. And most of these are the "nontraditional" students that have to double up their efforts to make it seem that an event was worth the hour spent away from [insert duty here].
This is why I want to exhort all of you nontraditional freshmen that will be coming into this institution this fall or returning for it. STAY ACTIVE!
The other day I visited a friend of mine at the University of Texas-Pan American, our former "owner". Walking through campus, I saw a tide of green from the students. I want that same goal to be met in Brownsville one of these days.
Some might argue that we're a commuter school, and I'll argue that that doesn't matter at all. The University of Houston is a commuter school, too, but they show school spirit.
And to you, student with a family and other responsibilities that has to make ends meet,
I salute your diligence. Now I have to ask you to make a very small sacrifice and contribute an hour of your time for any random campus activity.
It'll be worth it.
I promise.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The Politics of Choice
I might as well get this out of the way early on, because it is something that I feel is important to the community.
Everyone's heard about the old adage that goes, "Don't discuss politics or religion at dinner."
Well, we discussed politics, now we're going to discuss religion.
But not really religion per se, we're going to talk about a facet of religion that provides such an interesting...and often violent, battleground.
I'm talking about pro-choice versus pro-life now.
Now there's two sides that are clearly visible in this battleturf:
Pro-life and pro-choice.
Truth be told, both sides aren't mutually exclusive from each other. It is possible to be pro-choice and pro-life.
The problem is, people don't want to accept that. They want to believe that "choice" is slang for "death" and "babykilling", and nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the most ardent pro-choicers I've met are mothers.
And yet, some of these same people (keyword there: some.) who call themselves pro-life are all gung-ho pro-death penalty, pro-war people.
That is the inherent hypocrisy of the "pro-life" movement.
But I'm not going to offer talking points on what side is better. I'll just leave it at this: If you think pro-choice means "baby killing", there's a reason you're not meeting SAP.
Choice is important to us students because we have a lot of candidates out there pushin' some mean pieces of legislation concerning abortion. Our very own Solomon Ortiz is one of the most pro-lifeyest candidates (and guess what other house committee he's in? the house armed services committee. Heh, heh, Mr. Ortiz).
I don't have anything against Mr. Ortiz, but believe me, there's a lot of candidates out there, like him, who seem to think abortion is a big issue in elections.
Got a secret for you.
It's not.
Roe v. Wade is set. Any politician who wants to overturn it is in need for serious help.
Why? The same kind of people that want to overturn Roe V. Wade are the same kind of people that believe in abstinence-only education, and the same kind of people that want to add an entire chapter on God in the constitution.
Don't get me wrong, I love God.
But I also love the separation of Church and State. It keeps us from becoming Iran or Saudi Arabia. That's what we students need to understand.
But going back to choice:
Choice is not "murder".
Choice is not "murdering babies"
Choice is "I'm pregnant, and I have the CHOICE of aborting the fetus, or carrying it to full term.)
That's choice.
We'll discuss the facets of pro-choice versus pro-life in a later installment.
For now,
I'll leave you with a cryptic riddle/paradox that I've picked up:
"Pro-Choice is Pro-Life":
Everyone's heard about the old adage that goes, "Don't discuss politics or religion at dinner."
Well, we discussed politics, now we're going to discuss religion.
But not really religion per se, we're going to talk about a facet of religion that provides such an interesting...and often violent, battleground.
I'm talking about pro-choice versus pro-life now.
Now there's two sides that are clearly visible in this battleturf:
Pro-life and pro-choice.
Truth be told, both sides aren't mutually exclusive from each other. It is possible to be pro-choice and pro-life.
The problem is, people don't want to accept that. They want to believe that "choice" is slang for "death" and "babykilling", and nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the most ardent pro-choicers I've met are mothers.
And yet, some of these same people (keyword there: some.) who call themselves pro-life are all gung-ho pro-death penalty, pro-war people.
That is the inherent hypocrisy of the "pro-life" movement.
But I'm not going to offer talking points on what side is better. I'll just leave it at this: If you think pro-choice means "baby killing", there's a reason you're not meeting SAP.
Choice is important to us students because we have a lot of candidates out there pushin' some mean pieces of legislation concerning abortion. Our very own Solomon Ortiz is one of the most pro-lifeyest candidates (and guess what other house committee he's in? the house armed services committee. Heh, heh, Mr. Ortiz).
I don't have anything against Mr. Ortiz, but believe me, there's a lot of candidates out there, like him, who seem to think abortion is a big issue in elections.
Got a secret for you.
It's not.
Roe v. Wade is set. Any politician who wants to overturn it is in need for serious help.
Why? The same kind of people that want to overturn Roe V. Wade are the same kind of people that believe in abstinence-only education, and the same kind of people that want to add an entire chapter on God in the constitution.
Don't get me wrong, I love God.
But I also love the separation of Church and State. It keeps us from becoming Iran or Saudi Arabia. That's what we students need to understand.
But going back to choice:
Choice is not "murder".
Choice is not "murdering babies"
Choice is "I'm pregnant, and I have the CHOICE of aborting the fetus, or carrying it to full term.)
That's choice.
We'll discuss the facets of pro-choice versus pro-life in a later installment.
For now,
I'll leave you with a cryptic riddle/paradox that I've picked up:
"Pro-Choice is Pro-Life":
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