November 17, 2008 www.theAccent.org Volume 1, Issue 5

Sarah NeveCampus Editor

Promises of hope and change called to Americans, and on Election Day Nov. 4 America elected its 44th presi-dent, the first black man to hold the office, Barack Obama.

Obama’s victory was met with crowds of supporters in Grant Park chanting his campaign slogan, “Yes we

can.” While here in Austin supporters packed the Driskill Hotel, chanting instead, “Yes we did” as the huge projec-tion screen switched between images of national and foreign celebration, and an image of Barack Obama with the words “President of the United States” written next to it. One group of supporters carried a huge replica of the infamous Mission Accomplished sign

through the crowd. After the win, Austin sup-

porters started pouring out of the hotel and the surrounding bars and nightclubs chanting, crying, hugging, and dancing, while cars drove by honking in support.

“He (McCain) was a sacri-ficial lamb,” registered repub-lican and Ron Paul supporter Sheli Harris said. Harris voted republican in 2000, but voted

for Obama this time around. “McCain said he wanted to keep the war going for 100 years. It’s scary,” she said, also citing Palin’s nomination as a “slap in the face to women.”

At the end of the night, Obama had 338 electoral votes, McCain 155. Obama won by a landslide in the electoral college, but the popular vote was a narrow margin. Obama won by only a few points. He

still had a higher popular vote than any democrat in the last 32 years.

The celebration of Obama’s victory crossed national lines. The entire world watched as America elected Obama, a black, Junior Senator from Illinois that promised to change America and end the war.

Televisions showed

Texas moves toward true two party system

Photo courtesy of Cecily Johnson

Barack Obama campaigns at Houston’s Toyota Center on Febuary 19, 2008 as part of his Stand For Change tour. While McCain won the majority vote in Texas, Obama won the major metropolitan areas and many counties in South Texas. Obama is the 44th president and the first African American to be elected President of the United States.

Alonzo Campos helps clear plants for a trail volunteers laid down on November 8 at Krieg Field as part of their annual Build a Park clean-up.

Kathy James is the advising supervisor at Rio Grande for foster youth entering college. Advisors help with course selections guidance.

Hanlly Sam • Staff Photographer

Teodora Erbes • Staff Photographer

Jenessa Hernandez Trevor W. GoodchildStaff Writers

The Foster Care Alumni Program of America (FCAA) was created by the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), Lifeworks, and Austin Community College in the fall of 2006. It stemmed from House Bill 2292 and focuses on providing financial assistance to those that were in foster care and now seek to attend ACC.

FCAA attempts to mini-mize any disadvantages foster children may have had and unite them with a real chance at academic success.

The dual nature of their mission is represented in their tagline; “connecting today, transforming tomorrow,” according to their website.

The coordinator, Loretta Edelen, is a trustee of Austin Independent School District, and also is the Austin Community Outreach Director. Austin Community Outreach takes on strategic efforts to make sure that students are assisted with any needs.

“Foster students have troubles with housing, trans-portation, and employment so we try to help so that they can keep up with their studies,”

Edelen said.Currently FCAA has 116

students enrolled in their pro-gram and attending ACC this semester.

“There is a Jump Start Orientation for incoming students to give a preview on what to expect when coming to college,” Edelen said.

Kathleen Christensen, who is the Vice President of Student Support and Success Systems decided in the meeting of Fall 2006 that the Foster Care Alumni Program was some-thing ACC needed.

“Dr. Kinslow and Dr. Lynn Beaman brought issues to our

attention and they supported the program. That is why Dr. Beaman has been a part of it ever since. I brought people together and Lorretta is the Coordinator of the program,” Christensen said.

David Taylor is a com-mittee member of FCAA, Youth Worker Representative with Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS), and Lifeworks.

“I am very impressed that they are taking the needs of the students seriously. More always can be done and they are looking for more that can be done,” Taylor said.

FCAA committed to making higher education accessible Jonathan Sack

Staff WriterOver 400 students

converged at Country Club Creek Trail, located at Krieg Field, 515 S. Pleasant Valley Rd. on Nov. 8 to participate in the Student Life event Project: Build a Park. The annual event is a partnership between Student Life and the Austin Parks Foundation.

Volunteers gathered in front of Krieg Field #4, a baseball field. There was a morning shift from 8 a.m.-12 p.m., and an afternoon shift from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Volunteers were placed into three groups, one for trail building, one for trash collection, and one for inva-sive plant removal.

“I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for my daughter to do some service learning in the park,” said social work student Tonja West from Northridge Campus. “I’m not required to be here, I heard about it in my government class,” West said.

Students were also given the opportunity to be team leaders in charge of guiding volunteers, and coordinat-ing the efforts of the various work teams.

The volunteers removed trash from the creek bed, pulling used tires, shopping carts, mattresses, and other

debris from the park. Other teams removed non-native plants, including bamboo and vines. The trail building team spread gravel over 1.5 miles of the trail.

Austin Parks Foundation is in charge of the trail

construction, and provided hundreds of hand tools including shovels, rakes, and wheelbarrows.

“We want to keep this park in a natural state,” said Austin Parks Foundation Executive

democrats ȩ continued on page 3

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Students spend Saturday at Build a Park

Barack Obama wins election with promise of change

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Bus drivers union member David Bown on strike Nov 7, 2008

Fun Fun Fun Fest highlights

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?Questions about ACC recycling program answered

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all rights reserved. all content is the property of accent and may not be reproduced, published or retransmitted in any form without written permission from the Office of Student Life. Accent is the student newspaper of austin community college and is printed by the texas student publications. accent is published biweekly. acc students may submit articles for publication in accent to rGc’s Office of Student Life Room 101.1; e-mail articles to accent@austincc.edu or fax submissions to 223-3086. acc does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation or disability. Accent offers ACC’s faculty, staff, students and surrounding community a complete source of information about student life. accent welcomes your input, as well as information about errors. If you notice any information that warrants a correction please e-mail accent@austincc.edu. Individual views, columns, letters to the editor and other opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Accent.

Our ViewStaff Editorial

Elizabeth Carson Editor-in-Chief • David Rodriguez Assistant Editor Sarah Neve Campus Editor • Alma Hernandez Photo/Web Editor • Jana Lelek Layout Editor

L e t t e r s t o t H e e d I t o r

student OpinionPrematurity Awareness

c o r r e c t I o N sOur View{Nov. 3}

Dear Editor,Your assertion that requir-

ing legitimate identification to vote “will make minorities, and the elderly feel discrimi-nated against” is erroneous. It is not necessary to drive in order to obtain an official ID. They are available to drivers and non drivers alike at the Department of Public Safety.

Also, minorities excel in every area of American life and are as capable as any other citizen of obtaining an ID card. The extraordinary number of voters fraudulently registered by “ACORN” should by itself be enough to ring alarm bells for anyone truly interested in fair and honest election results.

With millions of illegal aliens residing within our bor-ders an honest law abiding citi-zen could only applaud efforts by our legislature to ensure legitimate elections. You also

Texas drivers are now required to be more “responsible.” Sept. 1, 2003 Texans became subject to the Driver Responsibility Law (HB 3588), which established “a system which assigns points to moving violations classified as Class C misdemeanors and applies sur-charges to offenders, based upon the type of offense and the time period in which the citation was received,” according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

The key word within this law is surcharge, which is a synonym for an excess or burdensome charge or tax. The surcharge exercises an absolute lack of protection, justice, and discernment into the state’s driving citizens’ overall well-being.

Due to legislation passed prior to 2003, Texas made it legal for its govern-ment institutions to outsource any col-lections of dollars owed to be gathered by a third party (private corporation).

Enter Gila Corp., the professional col-lections agency that manages and collects these surcharges with the muscle of the DPS looming as the front to enforce Gila Corp.’s bureaucratic mazes. Allowing companies such as Gila Corp. to inflate

state budgets is a blatant violation of Texas’ citizens’ trust and liberties, but it’s legal?

Ninety-nine percent of the surcharge money allegedly goes to future Texas trauma care centers, the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF), and the Texas Mobility Fund (TMF), amongst other funds, to allow an enhancement of emer-gency room services, recruit innovative scientists to better Texas’ surgical capa-bilities, and fund road projects, including toll roads.

The remaining one percent goes to the DPS for allowing this aggrandized pilfering to take place. The shifting around of this appropriated money by Gov. Perry and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst is underhanded and opaque to say the least.

For DPS to allow blood-sucking cor-pocrats such as Gila Corp. and its busi-ness units (Municipal Services Bureau) to piggyback behind a facade of justice and responsibility is completely unacceptable.

The distribution of the surcharges so far will not enhance jobs for the majority of Texas’ citizens by pouring a significant percentage of them into boosting highly specialized fields. Why are Texans being overcharged to give bonds to toll road

companies to charge citizens for the rest of their lives for a piece of infrastructure that will continue to pay for itself?

The only responsibility Texas and its leaders and legislators has taken with this law is the responsibility to line the pock-ets of specialists of very specific fields and offer up billions in future revenue to out of state agencies to build more roads so Texans may be subject to surcharges.

Why not throw some of the surcharge money at the already existing, but anti-quated, rail system that could efficiently connect rural and urban areas, allowing Texas citizens to move around in greater numbers with minimum fossil fuel use?

Possibly DPS needs to reevaluate its driver license tests and requirements, plus raise the bar for the luxury of legally operating a personal vehicle.

If this wholesale embezzlement must take place, why not place the funds into boosting public transportation systems in Texas’ heavily populated municipal districts to keep people from driving so often? If the urban citizens of Texas had better public transportation systems, then that might reduce the number of severe traumas due to personal vehicular use.

Jamie CarpenterColumnist

Ahh, the holidays are just around the corner. And no, I’m not talking about Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. I am, of course, referring to days like International Aura Awareness Day and National Name Your PC Day.

According to Chase’s Calendar of Events (which many consider to be the utmost authority on holidays, celebrations, and anniversa-ries), these are holidays that many actually celebrate and look forward to. Because, God forbid, I am not aware of my Aura.

At what point in society did we decide to make a whole day dedicated to the use of no good reason? I understand that these particular types of holidays are made to reflect the interests of people and society, and can sometimes be fun (National Play-doh Day? I’m sure mothers love that one) but really, making a holiday for the occasion might be overkill.

It isn’t as if we don’t have enough legitimate holidays already. Every day could be cause for celebration, anguish, uproar, or excitement if we wanted it to. If the point of a holiday is to raise awareness of a particular problem, like World Orphans Day on Nov. 10, 2008, is caring for that one day really going to help?

The people who make these holidays have to realize that there is a very slim chance people will actually 1) know

their holiday exists, or 2) care enough.

The only reason holi-days generally are success-ful is because they manage to feed the economy (eg, Mother’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving) or because they run themselves ragged tagging a certain color (the color pink comes to mind) in support of a problem.

People should not have the mentality that the worldwide epidemic of orphans is only worth a day. It is a problem that exists everyday. They should not need to associate problems with colors in order to reinforce how important something is. What is this, kindergarten? Red is for heart awareness, pink is for breast cancer, blue is ovarian cancer. No, red is red, pink is pink, blue is blue. Things are what they are.

Raising awareness is important. Having a name for your computer just for the hell of it is kind of funny. But we as Americans have a problem with overkill and excess on the wrong things.

How about we not think of cute, funny holidays and just have fun? How about we spear-head legitimate discussions and educate people so that they realize that things like women’s history is important everyday and not just in the month of March.

Days and months and colors accomplish nothing. That’s why I am declaring National Stop the Holiday Overkill today, Nov. 17.

Hopefully, it’s a big hit.

Karissa RodriguezColumnist

I went into early labor on the first Saturday of December, 2006.

I was seven months preg-nant and panicking that my second child would be born early.

To stop my labor, I was given an IV of magnesium that left me extremely uncomfort-able and hot.

I was also given two pain-ful steroid shots to increase the development of my baby’s lungs which are one of the last vital organs to develop.

After over two weeks of bed rest, while at midnight Christmas Mass, I went into labor again.

At the hospital, my obste-trician decided that it was best just to let the labor progress. I was terrified that my baby’s lungs were not developed enough.

Eight and a half hours after labor began, Lily Isabella was born on Christmas morn-ing, weighing four pounds, six ounces, and seemed like a healthy newborn.

However, I immediately noticed that she was breathing strangely while I held her for the first time.

Lily’s lungs were underde-veloped, but the steroid shots I had received earlier that month made her transition to the real world much easier than if she had not received them.

It was heartbreaking to see my daughter in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with a CPAP tube in her nose, and I couldn’t even hold her again for four days.

But Lily was a fighter and came home two weeks later.

Today, Lily is a very active and healthy toddler who will

be turning two years old this Christmas.

I am very thankful for the research and developments in modern medicine that have increased the chances for my daughter to be born healthy. However, I will always wonder what I did wrong.

Was it my fault that my baby was born prematurely? The non-profit organization March of Dimes is working to find an answer to this ques-tion that I’m sure other women share.

March of Dimes has declared the month of Nov. as National Prematurity Awareness Month in an effort to urge the federal govern-ment to increase support for prematurity-related research and data collection, among other efforts.

Nationwide, more than 1,400 babies will be born prematurely every day and it is the number one reason for infant deaths, according to the March of Dimes website.

They also say that in nearly 40 percent of premature births the cause is unknown.

In Texas alone, 28 percent of pregnant women under 29 years old have delivered pre-mature babies in 2005, accord-ing to Peristats, a perinatal statistics website.

As not only a mother to a prematurely-born child, but also as a student of a col-lege with a large population of women in this age group, I have felt that prematurity awareness is an important cause and signed an online petition on the March of Dimes website to show my support.

I urge students to sign the petition as well.

By signing it, you would be increasing the likelihood for not only your fellow class-mates, but women around the country to deliver healthy, full-term babies.

ISSUE 1, “The Accent Guide - Riverside student friendly dining,” Pho Tai is Pho Oanh #3 and their address is 21221 E. Oltorf St. #12B. Java Noodles’ phone number is 512-443-5282.

ISSUE 2, “...The Dirty Sound” piece, their lineup is as follows: Andy Anderson plays bass, Michael Anthony Gibson plays lead guitar and Mike Harmeier is the correct spelling of the lap steel guitarist’s name.

ISSUE 3, “Mike and the Moonpies...” piece, Steve Malone does not appear on “Catalina”; Burton Lee plays pedal steel not steel guitar and Mike Harmeier is the correct spelling of the name of lead vocalist and lap steel guitarist; “Repo!...” piece, Paul Sorvino does not appear in the Sopranos.

DPS insists on ridiculously unfair surcharges; allocation of funds misused, Gila profits

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make the vague and mislead-ing assertion that “almost no cases of voter fraud in Texas, or Indiana for that matter, could have been prevented by voters showing an ID.” The truth is you have no way to support that statement because you have no way of knowing how much fraud has actually been committed.

Your position supposes that the minor inconvenience of obtaining an ID should be regarded as more important than the corruption of one of our most sacred rights. I suspect that the reasons for your position are more about a partisan political bias (which by the way has become comi-cally predictable on this paper) than about a true concern for legitimate elections.

We should all be grateful that the Supreme Court has ruled to seek to protect this sacred institution.- Richard Kirk

Holiday Overkill

Redress of Grievances

t h e a c c e n t . o r g

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To Be Brief

Austin Community College’s Student Government Association partnered with the Mac Users Club to educate stu-dents about the election on Nov. 4.

Rio Grande Campus Senator Bri Minnis approached Kevin Haley, president of the Mac Users Club and Apple Campus Representative for the Austin area, with the idea of using Mac computers to offer information to student voters. Haley then approached his boss about the possibility of Apple Computers loaning some laptops to ACC for the day.

Two Mac laptops were set up in the RGC student lounge with the Travis County website and election information displayed on them, and one other laptop displayed the website VoteSmart.org with information on the candidates’ stance on the issues.

Through the Travis County website, and also the Williamson County website, students could type in their name, click on their address, and find the closest voting station in their area.

About 75 people used the computers, although most had already voted early. Many people did not know they needed to vote in a certain precinct, said Haley. “[Loaning the computers] seemed like more of a community outreach.”

Spring 2009 registration began Nov. 10 for current or former Austin Community College students and begins Nov. 17 for all ACC students, nearly a full month earlier than fall 2008 registration.

Fall registration was five and a half weeks before the first day of classes while the new spring registration is more than nine weeks before classes begin.

Registration for 16-week spring courses ends Jan. 14. Spring course schedules are now available online, and in printed form on all ACC campuses.

Students may register for classes online at www.austincc.edu, by phone at (512) 454-3774, or in person on any campus. The reg-istration system will be open from 9 a.m. Sat. until 5 p.m. Friday. The system will be closed at 5 p.m. Jan. 14 and 22, Feb. 11 and 18, and Mar. 11 and 25.

Payment deadlines are published in the course schedule online and in printed forms. Students may sign up for the tuition installment plan at a cashier’s office before their payment deadline.

Austin Community College students in the Video Games Development programs have been attending monthly semi-nars to learn new skills not covered in their curriculum. Bob McGoldrick, Coordinator for Technical Certificate Programs has been hosting these seminars for the past four years. The seminars are free, and open to all students.

McGoldrick founded a group on Meetup.com called the ACC Video Game Program Meetup Group “to help promote the semi-nars” in April this year.

“Meetup.com is a nice place for like-minded individuals to schedule events,” said McGoldrick. “We generally have 30 to 40 students at the events.”

The seminars provide students an “opportunity to learn from video game professionals, and include students, parents, and pro-fessionals,” said McGoldrick. The Video Game Program Meetup group currently has over 50 members.

Students of the DEVR and Human Development Classes and the 50 Plus Club of Austin are hosting the Incredible Women Presentation at Eastview Campus on Nov. 19 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those attending are encouraged to bring a food dish to the potluck.

For more information on this event and to RSVP, contact Vonnye Rice-Gardner at 223-5114 or vgardner@austincc.edu.

incumbents stand strong Travis County and Texans go with what they know

Democrats win US House, Texas gets close to samecontinued from page 1 Ȩ

SGA partners with Mac Users Club for voter education

Registration starts early

ACC gamers meet up online

Clubs honor incredible women

Park & Ride underused Pinnacle Campus has expanded the “Park & Ride” shuttle

service to Pinnacle Campus. Due to City of Austin code enforce-ment, the former unpaved dirt parking lots at Pinnacle were closed on Sept. 26, removing approximately 400 parking spaces on that campus.

The “Park & Ride” system is serviced by two charter busses, and is free to ACC students.

There are three stops on the route: Pinnacle Campus, the Oak Hill Shopping Center at Highway 290 at Highway 71, and the Tony Burger Activity Center at 3200 Jones Rd. The busses stop every 30 minutes at each stop from 7 a.m.- 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

The service has been operating since Sept. 25, at the expense of the college. “It seems pretty ridiculous because nobody’s going to use it,” said Pinnacle student Vijay Isham.

Pinnacle transfer student Megan Zimmerman said, “It’s too far away to park and ride,” adding that the service is “not time efficient if I have to wait half an hour before going to work.”

reactions from all over the world, including Obama’s father’s native Kenya, where crowds erupted in applause as he was declared the winner.

International opinion of America has declined as a result of the war in the Middle East and opinion of our cur-rent president.

“I hate republicans,” Michel Turk, a 34 year-old that moved to America in 1996 from Jerusalem, Israel said. “They bled the economy, they made the world hate us. I visit friends in the Middle East and Europe and tell them I live in Texas; I have to explain that we aren’t all like him [Pres. Bush].”

Election night was good to the democrats, not only in the presidential election, but in the congressional elections as well. They didn’t win the veto proof 60 percent majority, but they got close. They gained six

U.S. Jr. Senate- John Cornyn Republican Currently serving his third term

seats in the Senate and 21 in the House.

Texas went expectedly republican, but it was closer that it has been in the past: 55 percent to 44 percent in the presidential election.

Obama picked up several counties that Kerry couldn’t hold in 2004, including ones in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and, coincidently, Maverick County.

In local elections, the GOP retained a slim majority in the house, 76-74. That could still be upset by a recount, turning Irving for the democrats.

Bob Romano, a democrat, is only 20 votes behind repub-lican Linda Harper-Brown.

Now, the big question for Texas is whether or not the republican majority is strong enough to keep Speaker of the House Tom Craddick around for another session.

Not only in Texas but

nationally, democrats are pull-ing forward, now controlling Congress, and the Oval Office, as well as several states that they once hadn’t, including 2000’s controversial Florida and Indiana, which hasn’t been democratic since LBJ.

Both parties would concede that the Obama vic-tory is a defining moment in American history and a rede-fining moment in American politics.

U.S. rep. DiSt.10- Michael T. McCaul RepublicanCurrently serving his second term

U.S. rep. DiSt.21- Lamar smith RepublicanCurrently serving his sixth term

U.S. rep. DiSt.25- Lloyd Doggett DemocratCurrently serving his fifth term

r.r. CommiSSioner- Michael L. Williams Republican Currently serving his third term

English as a Second Language (ESL) and GED students had the opportunity to find out more about college life during the second annual College for a Day event Fri., Nov. 14 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Eastview Campus.

Presented by ACC’s Adult Education Division, College for a Day introduces GED and ESL students to the college environ-ment, as well as to the tools necessary to succeed in the transition into college.

Seventeen of the college’s departments offered hands on classes for the participants, the chance to meet faculty, students, and staff, and information about financial aid, the admissions process, and degree choices.

The crowd reacts to Obama’s win. Turn Texas Blue held their Election night victory party at the Driskill Hotel, November 4.

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GED,ESL students experience “College for a Day”

Anny Ibarra • Staff Artist

November Winners

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Last week’s transit strike ended when Union workers and Capital Metro reached tentative agreements on a new contract. Union members have been without a con-tract for over a year.

The problem union members have with the contracts that Capital Metro has pro-posed is that it would increase the deduct-ible on their health car plans. Also, instead of a permanent raise, Capital Metro wants to give the drivers a one time $1000 bonus.

At ACC, students felt the effect of the strike. The limited service routes only offered a few options, and stopped after 7:30 p.m..

“…Students in the tutoring lab couldn’t get home, and had to either walk home or walk to a UT shuttle bus stop, and it is kind of dangerous for the young women who had to walk alone at night,” Fin Gunter, a second year math student, said.

The end of the strike is good news for students. ACC is already known for ongo-ing parking and transportation issues. Another strike could impede students get-ting to school altogether.

The newest contract would give drivers a permanent raise, and raises the deduct-ibles in the health care plan by significantly less. It will likely be approved.

Capital Metro strike comes to an end gotAn issue? AccentAnsw ers

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Austin Community College is no exception to the environmental movement. ACC has strengthened their existing recycling program due to the concerns and encouragement of several students. The following is a list of common questions and simple answers to help students make the recycling program at ACC a true success.

?

The Accent wants to help students debunk the mysteries about the foods and activities that commonly come up in college life. If there is an issue you would like the Accent to look into, email us, and we’ll help make sense of it.

This Issue: Recycling on campusChristina ChapmanStaff Writer

What can I recycle?

Bins that have circular openings take beverage containers such as aluminum, tin or steel cans and plastic such as milk jugs, water and juice bottles. Bins with diagonal openings take paper products such as newspapers, computer paper, fliers/brochures, white/light envelopes, magazines, catalogs and corrugated cardboard.

? How do I recycle?

When recycling paper products, all materials must be clean and dry. Plastics and cans must be emptied prior to placing them in the recycling bin.

? Why should I recycle?

As founder of and current Administration Liaison for Students for Environmental Outreach, Elysia Morrison knows exactly why you should recycle. “We all know that waste manage-ment is one of the many environmental issues of today. With all the disheartening and complex environmental problems, why wouldn’t you do something as simple as recycling to help the earth? It’s easy, impactful and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. Recycling is something environmentally friendly you can do every day.”

? Where can I take my recycling?

ACC has made it simple to locate recycling bins on all cam-puses by using a uniform look for the recycling bins. All recycling bins on campus are blue and fashion the recycling symbol. The majority of the recycling bins are 50 gallon con-tainers with lids that have either circular or diagonal openings, though some bins are smaller and don’t have lids.

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CAmpus NewsNovember 17, 2008 • Accent page 5

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CO2 inventory involves students in researchAdam OliphantStaff Writer

Students are becoming increasingly concerned about global warming’s impact on the earth’s future climate. The first step to improve the situ-ation is to quantify humans’ impact by conducting a CO2 inventory. Some Austin Community College students are doing just that, starting at the South Austin Campus, to see how much carbon ACC campuses produce.

ACC is one of the few institutions in Texas that is conducting a CO2 inventory along with the University of Texas at Austin. However, unlike UT, ACC’s inventory is being compiled and led by its students.

The Recycling and Sustainability committee is supporting this effort by creating a subcommittee headed by students with the support of the ACC Facilities Department and Bonnie Blam, a consultant from Zephyr Environmental Corp.

The subcommittee will col-lect trash, sewage, chemical, electricical, paper, water, and natural gas usages at the South Austin Campus, since it was constructed in 2006. They will also calculate the energy used by ACC’s vehicle fleet and campus police cars.

An ACC Transportation Survey, which is on the ACC homepage under “News and Announcements” will be used

to estimate student’s and staff’s energy usages commuting to and from campuses.

After the data is collected, the subcommittee will then present its findings, along with an action plan to lower ACC’s carbon footprint, in a presentation and report at an ACC Board of Trustees meet-ing at the end of the spring semester, according to Justin Gadd, the chair of the CO2 subcommittee.

Christine Chapman, Riverside Campus vice presi-dent of the ACC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa said, “As a child, my family was not concerned with their impact on the environment. When I was a teenager, I loaded up our flat-bed truck full of paper I was going to recycle. My mother

ordered me to throw the paper in the trash, not to recycle it. Ever since then, I have tried to live sustainably whenever possible.”

As a whole, the CO2 inventory subcommittee is a research group that will make recommendations on how ACC can reduce its carbon output. Recommendations may include changing soaps and cleaners, to ways that trash and electrical usages could be reduced. However, the individual members have more ambitious goals.

“This is a great opportunity for students to learn how to make and present a carbon inventory. [ACC’s students] are fortunate that ACC’s adminis-tration is interested in creating a carbon inventory. This gives

Modernized Greek tragedy comes to ACCJenessa HernandezStaff Writer

“Bacchae,” a play based on Greek mythology, is directed by Arthur Adair and put on by Austin Community College’s Drama Department at the Mainstage Theater on the second floor of the Rio Grande Campus.

The play runs Nov. 14-16 and Nov. 21-23 at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays.

“Bacchae” is a play based on the mythological story of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave who were both punished by the god Dionysus (who is Pentheus’ cousin) for refusing to worship him.

“The play is about not fighting against the inevitable. It’s about people who have trouble with change. It is a contemporary tilt, take it as you will. It is about the nature of true wisdom,” said Ryan Manning, creative writer of Carnival Ah!.

The main character, Agave, is played by Ashley Monical, the administrative assistant for Carnival Ah!

Adam Oliphant * Staff PhotographerClockwise from left: Danillo Castillo, Duane Membhard, Justin Gadd, and Bonnie Blam discuss task assignments at the CO2 inventory sub-committee meeting at the South Austin Campus on October 31.

students the ability to learn a marketable skill that will be very important in the future,” said Justin Gadd.

Gadd hopes that the “CO2 inventory persuades ACC’s President Dr. Kinslow to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.” The ACUPCC sets a plan for higher educa-tion institutions to reduce carbon emissions. Signing institutions include Huston-Tillotson University and Alamo Community Colleges System, as well as 512 colleges and universities nationwide.

Dr. Kinslow, ACC’s president stated in a meeting that “several ACC students approached me last year to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. I told them to come back with some more information and data. I’m very interested to see the results of the CO2 carbon inventory.”

There are still openings for interested students to participate in the subcom-mittee. Meetings will be held in the multipurpose room at South Austin Campus on Fridays until the end of the fall semester.

“ACC’s administration is giving students lots of support to promote recycling and sus-tainability on ACC campuses,” said Christine Chapman. “Everyone I talked to is excited about the project It’s progress-ing full-steam ahead.”

Elizabeth CarsonEditor-in-ChiefCollege students across the nation are encouraged to throw away their ciga-rettes and quit smoking for a day, possibly more, on the Great American Smokeout day, Thurs., Nov. 20. This marks the 32nd annual event put on by the American

Cancer Society (ACS). One in four adults and

one in five teenagers in the U.S. are currently smokers, according to a press release from the ACS. In the U.S., tobacco is responsible for nearly one in five deaths.

According to the press release, “smoking accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths and 87 percent of lung

cancer deaths.” This year, approximately 13,840 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in Texas residents and unfortunately an estimated 9,890 will die from the disease.

Despite overall smoking rates declining in the past 30 years, there is still cause for concern, especially among young adults.

“Nationwide, approximately 30 percent of college students have smoked in the past month. According to CDC research, 32 percent of young smokers will die prematurely of a smok-ing-related illness, or roughly 1.53 million current students,” reported a press release from the non-profit BACCHUS Network.

“Quitting smoking is not easy,” stated BACCHUS. “Those going through the quit process are more likely to succeed if they receive assistance from a counselor or cessation specialist and utilize nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), such as the patch or gum.”

The Great American Smokeout was initiated by Lynn R. Smith, editor of the “Monticello Times” in Minnesota, in 1974. Smith originally titled it D-Day, or Don’t Smoke Day. In Nov. 1976, the California Division of ACS took on Smith’s idea and engaged nearly one million smokers to quit for the day. The event went nationwide in 1977.

All photos by Teodora Erbes • Staff PhotographerThe ACC drama department brings to life Euripides’ Greek tragedy, “Bacchae.” Above: In the foreground the Dioneces played by John-Ryan Montoya, JR Zambrano and Patrick Byers (from left to right). In the background from left to right, Dani Miller, Ashley Monical and Roberto Riggio.Right: Patrick Byers during an emotional scene. Below: Left to right, Dani Miller, JR Zambrano and Thomas Moore.Below far left: Ashley Monical plays Agave.

The cast consists of 15 stu-dents. There are two choruses called Bacchae and Dioneces. They help tell the story while creating emotion throughout the audience.

The conventions of tra-ditional Greek plays include masks, a chorus, and a few main characters who speak aloud by themselves.

The choruses helped tell the story so that the audience could follow the important points.

Along with these conven-tions, Adair utilizes a mini-malist’s perspective to create a more modern, but still classi-cal, performance.

“I still kept the structure and conventions of the Greek tragedy while kind of tweak-ing them to modern day,” said Adair.

Adair came to Austin from New York City in 2007 working with an off-broadway theatre called LaMaMa. He is now the Project Manager for Carnival Ah! at ACC.

“I want to introduce the students to classical theater with also the idea of ritualistic and stylized staging. Also, to work with classical language.”

students but t-out

Anny Ibarra • Staff Artist

page 6 Accent • November 17, 2008

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Fun Fun Fun Fest brings out city’s bestShawn HinojosaStaff Writer

Music flooded the heart of downtown Austin on Nov. 8-9 as nearly 100 of the world’s premiere independent rock, punk, hip hop, DJ, and comic acts performed in the third annual Fun Fun Fun Fest at Waterloo Park.

The Northeast was well represented as Brooklyn’s The National and Connecticut’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah headlined the main stage, while Philadelphia’s satirical punk band Dead Milkmen reunited to play their first show in four years. West-coast flavor was the soundtrack to some of the dance parties as California’s DJ Z-Trip, Frankie Chan, and Hawnay Troof electrified the north end of Waterloo Park.

But what local promoter Transmission Entertainment set out to accomplish was to bring some of the best music, food, and businesses out of Austin to the festival.

Octopus Project performed a boldly experimental set with a number of different instru-ments including synthesizers and a theremin, cutting tracks off of their entire catalogue including their most recent LP, “Hello, Avalanche.”

Garage-soul band Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears played a blistering midday set on the main stage without being negatively affected in any way by the unrelenting sun. Austin’s Ume, Till We’re

Blue Or Destroy, Born to Lose, Brownout!, the Ugly Beats, and Grupo Fantasma also played throughout the day.

Fun Fun Fun Fest differs from other festivals in many ways. Coined the “anti-fes-tival” because of its intimate stages, cool weather, smaller crowds, and emphasis on inde-pendent talent, the festival also hosted some of the best local businesses including Spider House and Rudy’s BBQ, and fans were able to get haircuts from Bird’s Barbershop.

Sumo-wrestling and a skate ramp provided other

forms of entertainment, and local art and clothing bou-tiques in addition to inexpen-sive band merchandise filled the center of the park.

Two tiers of ticket prices targeted students, as attendees with a valid student ID paid $9 less than the regular ticket price.

The extra money was advantageous as drinks, food, water, and snowies became essential in the daytime heat, but as the sun set at around 6 p.m., the close proximity to downtown parking was even more beneficial. Wristbands guaranteed in-and-out access, and festival-goers could walk to their cars to retrieve sweat-ers as the weather cooled down.

Left: Scott Hutchinson mellows out the main stage with the soft indie rock of Glasgow’s Frightened Rabbit.

Below: PLUG’s 2008 Female Artist of the Year Annie Clark, singer of St. Vincent, serenades the crowd with songs off of their debut, “Marry Me.”

Above: More showman than substance, Oakland’s Hawnay Troof incorporates the entire stage to get the crowd dancing.

Below: Yvonne Lambert, Octopus Project’s quirky multi-instrumentalist with trademark hair, giggles while she plays a theramin.

Headliner, The National, led by singer Matt Berninger, close out the brisk night with the songs from their f 2007 release, “Boxer.”

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November 17, 2008 • Accent page 7

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Life&ArtsvIDEO gAm EMusiC

Tovah OlmoStaff Writer

The new Moses and the Burning Bush (MATBB) E.P. titled Moses 111, recorded at Cargel Studios in South Austin will be available early in 2009.

The album has been a work in progress for a surprising four and a half years.

The Austin-based trio consists of drum-mer Wes Cargel, lead singer/guitarist Paul Van Zeppelin, and bassist Andy Anderson.

The band formed originally in 2007 with just Cargel and Van Zeppelin. Anderson joined before their most recent record.

Moses 111 is modern, lo-fi

Sarah M. Vasquez Staff Writer

San Francisco-based Low Red Land who have described themselves as “rock/indie/hyphy,” are currently on an American tour behind their new album “Dog’s Hymns,” which was put out by Thinker Thought Records on Sept. 23.

When first listening to Low Red Land’s debut self-released album “Weight of Nations,” they definitely stood out as a rock band. But what type of rock band?

Low Red Land has some folksy characteristics, but with more intensity. They also

Shane YountStaff Writer

Early in 2009, Sega plans to expand the Play Station Portable’s slim pickings of role playing games by releasing Phantasy Star Portable.

This game will allow gamers to go on vast adven-tures with local friends via the Ad Hoc Mode of the PSP, which enables players to con-nect to another PSP without having to set up a wireless access point. Players simply insert the disc, select the Network Mode, and then join others who are within range.

Phantasy Star Portable takes place in the same game galaxy as the previous series installment, Phantasy Star Universe.

The game largely focuses on some interstellar chaos that must be stopped.

The plot is barely there, but the Story Mode is merely one aspect of the game. Where Phantasy Star Portable stands out is within the Network Mode.

Players can create their own characters; race, gender, proportion, clothing, and vari-ous facial features are all fair game to be tweaked accord-ingly. Gamers are also encour-aged to experiment with the wide variety of different jobs available within the game.

A player can be a Fortefighter that specializes in inflicting heavy damage with close combat weaponry such as laser swords.

A Guntecher is another job option, whose skills include expertise with magic spells as

garage rock with well thought-out lyrics. Their music has a hard to achieve catchiness, but with great depth.

When asked what makes MATBB a unique band in Austin, their reply was, “well, we’re the only band in Austin handsome across the board.”

The three have a sense of humor and a wide range of

influences including, “Pavement, Marcel Duchamp, Neutral Milk Hotel, Ennio Morricone, The Clash, and Fedrico Fellini,” according to MATBB.

In the song “Your Empire” you can actu-

ally hear a Fellini dream influ-ence, but overall their sound has an organic garage-like feel intensified by Zeppelin’s

UPCOMiNG ShOwS:

Beauty BarDec. 20Mohawk:Jan. 10

mATBB’s lo-fi garage rock echoes Fellini with haunting vocals

Courtesy of moses and the Burning Bush

have some hard in-your-face moments in the songs, but not enough to be considered hard-core.

Americana undertones are also present in the songs, but with more force.

The question posed, “What genre do you all place your-selves in?” educed some moans while chatting with them at their Nov. 5 show at Trophy’s.

“I think that we’re a rock band,” said Mark DeVito, drummer. “After we play a lot, people say ‘Hey, that rocked.’”

“For as much as any one word could work, it doesn’t work,” said Ben Thorne, bassist and vocalist.

A band doesn’t need to be

placed in one specific genre. A band can just simply rock.

“Yeah, I think the two most consistent things that I hear...people say that we rock, which is great and, ‘That was really intense’,” said Neil Thompson, guitarist and vocalist.

rock/indie/hyphy Low red Land’s tour lands them at Trophys

well as ranged weapons like dual handguns.

Hardcore fans of the Phantasy Star series may think that Phantasy Star Portable is merely a rehash of Phantasy Star Universe due to the same graphics and interface, but that is not the case.

Phantasy Star Portable is filled to the brim with new features, particularly the Milestone Achievements, which are granted to gamers

upon meeting certain requests.In the end, Phantasy Star

Portable is a deceptively addic-tive RPG that allows gamers to travel with their friends across an exciting futuristic galaxy.

It may not go boldly where no other game has gone before, but it is still a must-have for PSP users looking for some-thing worth playing.

Phantasy Star Portable expands PSP’s repertoire

graphic courtesy of Sega Corporation

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haunting voice. MATBB plans to go on

tour after the new record is pressed.

Tovah OlmoStaff Writer

Singer/Songwriter Cory Branan just moved to Austin after completing his two month tour, hitting the southern, mid-west, and east coast states playing songs from his two previously celebrated albums, “The Hell You Say” and “12 Songs.”

Both of his previous albums were recorded in Memphis, and he plans to record his third, “Midtown,” in Feb. in Memphis as well.

It would be easy to criticize someone who Rolling Stone magazine has compared to Ryan Adams, and Bright Eyes, but Cory Branan has carved his own niche and attracted a loyal following.

There is definitely a Buddy Holly influence present in the songs “I Met a Girl Named GO” and “She’s My Rock’ n’ Roll”, but mostly the songs on both albums are modern,

Songwriter makes Austin his home, Cory Branan wants to get a feel for the citys “anything goes” music scene

southern anthems birthed from mid-life angst.

Branan is notorious for his songwriting, and his lyrics are smart. His writing is sincere and straight to the point, with a dark sense of humor.

“Need her like a crack-baby/ I can see her in the dark/ Came together so hard we broke each other’s hearts,” these are lyrics from “Love Song #8” off his album “The

Hell You Say.” Branan was born in

Southaven, Mississippi, but is well-traveled and he is anxious to get a feel for, in his words, the “anything goes” Austin music scene.

He cited Tom Waits and Robert Blye as writing influ-ences but said, “really my influences change daily.”

The singer/songwriter is charming, talkative, and carries his stage confidence with him, but he is still quite modest.

“Playing alone is easier to pay the bills. It’s a weird time for music, everyone’s touring and it’s really competitive, but I love to play with other musicians. I get carried away,” according to Branan when we spoke at Bouldin Creek coffee-shop.

See COry’S TOUriNG SCheDUle AND MOre:

www.lastchancediner.comwww.myspace.com/corybranan

Courtesy of Hideous Kinky Photography

Accent • November 17, 2008 page 8

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Park becomes clean, landscaped with help of hundreds of volunteerscontinued from page 1 Ȩ

All photos by Hanlly Sam * Staff Photographer

Clockwise from top left :Saturday November 8, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. students gathered trash and other debris at Krieg Fields in Southeast Austin. Above: Clockwise from left, Students Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Gonza-lez, Elysia Morrison, and Richard Floresca were just a few of almost 300 students who volun-teered for project Build a Park.Left: Grocery carts were found in the park among other trash.Far Left: Jennifer Akanoh and Alie Koromi clear non native plants for Build a Park.

Director Charlie McCabe. “Right now there is about one and a half miles of trail. When it’s finished it will be about two and a half miles,” McCabe concluded.

The South East Austin Trails and Greenway Alliance, or SEATAG Alliance, also volunteered under the Austin Parks Foundation to help trail construction.

“We have been work-ing for about four years on neighborhood planning. We are working on getting additional easements through private property to extend the trail to about five miles,” said Jim Temple of SEATAG Alliance.

“The trails have really opened up the park to the public and the police,” according to Malcolm Yeatts of SEATAG Alliance.

Many student clubs and organizations participated in the event.

“This turned out to be pretty fun,” said business student Hunter Sahs from Riverside Campus. “The Leadership Program can help me in the future and as a student with projects like this.” Sahs was representing the Leadership Development Program.

“I came here to work,” said Roman Burstall, presi-dent of the Cypress Creek Campus Gamers Club. “I broke my wrist two weeks ago, but I still wanted to be here.”

Burstall continued, “There’s not enough time to complete all the work. If I’m still at ACC next year, I’ll be back.”

“There are two elements to this event, the opportunity for leaders to step up and take the lead, and helping out the community which should

be everybody’s top priority,” said Dot Dearinger, Student Life assistant and coordina-tor for Project: Build a Park.

“It turned out really well. Students are really involved,” Dearinger continued. “If we don’t clean it, who will?”

Student Life provided breakfast tacos, pizza, juice, snacks, and water for all vol-unteers. There was also music from DJ Lil Ron, United States Army Recruiters, and a contest for the most unique piece of trash found.

All photos by Hanlly Sam • Staff Photographer