Texas A&M International Univer-sity is now offering a Master of Arts in Communication degree and stu-

dents are eligible to enroll as early as Spring 2015. The new program was recently passed by The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and comes from the approval of the Texas A&M University System.

The good news is that undergrad-

uate students will have the to oppor-tunity to enroll in graduate courses for dual-credit. Students can choose courses that will give them an op-portunity to further advance their education careers. It is advised that students speak with their respective

advisors to find out which courses will be offered for the Spring 2015 semester.

The graduate program will focus on two areas of concentration which in-clude, Border and Latin American Me-dia Studies and Organizational Com-

munication in Transnational Settings. Both programs offered at TAMIU are unique in the sense that most graduate programs do not offer a concentration in these topics. A press release stated

On November 6, 2014, Webb County voters cast their

votes in the general elections for 2014. Included on the ballot were some local offic-es, including several Laredo Council seats, City Mayor,

and County Judge. The number of candidates

for City Mayor was large, with seven vying for the position. The candidates included a

couple of city councilmem-bers, several community pro-fessionals, and a couple of

The Blue Texas that the Democratic Party claimed was possible in the 2014 midterm elections failed to ma-terialize at the polling booth in this year’s races as Republicans once again swept Tex-as’ 15 statewide races. The night saw big wins from Republicans John

Cornyn (US Senator) , Greg Abbott (Gov-ernor) and Dan Pat-rick (Lt. Governor) in their respective races and proved that a shift to blue or even purple Texas is a lot farther off than Democrats would hope for.

The trend shouldn’t be a shock to most Tex-ans as a Democratic candidate has not won a statewide race in the

In a surprise turn of events, the Republicans took control of the Senate

and retained their hold on the House from the Democratic Party. There were many close races in

@TAMIUBridge facebook.com/TheBridgeTAMIU thebridgenewspaper.com November 2014

ELECTION DAY RESULTSPAGE 4

HALLOWEEN FEST AT TAMIUPAGE 5

THE BAZAARPAGE 8

GOP sweeps TX midterms

By Louis San Miguel@louis_sm

sTATE page 2

Senate and Congress

shift to GOP majority

Courtesy PhotoThe Capitol building in Washington is undergo-ing rennovations for the incoming lawmakers.

NATIONAL page 2

Voters support sports complex

MASTERS page 2

By Judith Mae Aguilar@TheBridgeTAMIU

By Leo Hernandez@TheBridgeTAMIU

ELECTION DAY 2014

NEW MAYOR IN TOWN

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge StaffMayor Pete Saenz speaks to TAMIU students at the mayoral debate hosted by the Student Government Association

Courtesy Photo

The State of Texas welcomed Greg Abbott as the new governor of the state.

Saenz becomes Mayor with majority

Master of Arts in Communication program setGraduate Studies

By Tina Gomez@TheBridgeTAMIU

The citizens of Laredo re-sponded with a resounding “Yes!” to proposition one in the midterm election of 2014. The proposition au-thorizes the city of Laredo to construct a $25 mil-lion sports complex on the TAMIU campus.

13,467 votes were cast in agreement with the propo-sition, with only 8,090 votes tallied against. The vote showed that 62.47 percent of Laredoans were in support of the new complex, which once completed is said to bring various sporting events to the city.

The sports complex will consist of 16 baseball fields in total. Eight will be full-sized baseball fields, while four will be designed for softball games. The last four will be smaller and reserved for the youth of Laredo.

PROP ONE page 3

By Louis San Miguel@louis_sm

Courtesy PhotoThis preliminary drawing shows the area that would host the new TAMIU sports complex approved by voters in the 2014 midterm elections.

LOCAL page 2

that among the many advantag-es is that, “TAMIU’s strategic location along the U.S-Mexico border provides an exception-al laboratory for exploring the importance of journalism, as well as mass, political and or-ganizational communication in a region where two nations meet and where economic symmetries and major cultural differences affect and transform human interaction”.

Both programs will require that graduate students com-plete 30hrs of studies and will offer a thesis and non-the-sis option. It is encouraged that students who opt out of the thesis option com-plete additional credit hours from the courses offered. Required courses for both plans include, Communica-tion Theories, Quantitative Methods in Communication, and Qualitative Methods in Communication.

Border and Latin Ameri-can Media studies prepares students to pursue careers in national or internation-al organizational leadership, journalism, or research in the field of communication. Stu-dents are asked to choose 3

of the following courses for their MA: Media, culture, and identity in the US-Mex-ico border, Border Journalism, Mexican and Latino Cinema, Ethnographic and Docu-mentary Prod in the Border Region, Media flows and audiences in the Americas, Political Communication in Comparative Perspective.

Organization Communi-cation in Transnational Set-tings studies offers students, according to the press release, “practical training in orga-nizational communication useful to work in the public or private sector planning, administering and evaluating communication practices and strategies. Among the courses offered students will choose 3 of the following:Organization

Communication, Intercultur-al Training in Organizations, Managing Organizational Conflict, Organizational Cul-ture, Climate and Communi-cation, Advertising, Group/Team Dynamics, Ethical Issues in Organizations, and Leadership Communication.

Graduate students will need to complete two 5000 level elective courses to complete their core plan.

In order to apply to the graduate program, students must first apply online at Apply Texas. It must be not-ed that GRE examination is not required for this MA program. Students will also be required to submit two letters of recommendation and official college or univer-sity transcripts. Along with

these requirements, it is also asked that writing samples either professional or schol-arly work, be submitted at the time of the application. And as required by most graduate programs, graduates are re-quested to submit a personal statement (about 500 words) that clarifies the students intentions for joining the program along with a stu-dent profile. All submissions should be mailed to:

Department of Psychology and Communication

Texas A&M International University

Canseco Hall 301-A5201 University Blvd.Laredo, Texas 78041-1900,

USAInformation on how to ap-

ply, or information regarding financial assistance, can be directed at Dr. Jose Carlos Lozano, Professor of Com-munication Chair. Dr. Loza-no can be reached in his office at Canceso Hall 301-A or by calling (956) 326-2465.

For questions, comments, or concerns about this article, readers can reach out to Tina Gomez at cristinagomez@dusty.tamiu.edu

“

November 20142

STAFF LISTEditor-in-chief............................Louis San MiguelAssoc. editor-in-chief...............Judith Mae AguilarAsst. editor-in-chief.......................Leo HernandezOnline Editor.....................................Louie CanelaSocial Media Editor...........................Louie CanelaHead Copy Editor..............................Anna EstevesCopy Editors...............................George Gonzalez

Khloe TorresSpanish Editor....................................Karen AlanisDesign Editor.............................Louis San MiguelReporters.............................................Tina Gomez

Contact InfoThe Bridge staff can be reached through a multiple number of avenues. As jour-nalists we always strive to be factual and unbaised. You can contact us with any comments or concerns through the following locations:

Additionally, reporters can be reached at their individual emails and Twitter pages which are detailed in the bylines of the various stories contained within our pages.

Twitter:twitter.com/TheBridgeTAMIU

Facebook:facebook.com/TheBridgeTAMIU

Website:thebridgenewspaper.com

Masters continues from page one

state continues from page one

local continues from page one

Students interested in writing, editing, photographing or designing with The Bridge are welcome to contact editor in

chief Louis San Miguel at louis.sm@gmail.com.The Bridge will also accept submissions of potential stories, photos, poems, cartoons, and other pieces of

literature at the same email address

Laredo citizens looking for change. After the polls closed in the early

evening, the counting began and the long awaited results began to pour in. When most precincts had tallied the votes, Pete Saenz, an attorney previ-ously elected to Laredo Community College Board for 12 years, was show-ing a large amount of support. By the end of the night, the votes showed a commanding lead which eventually was confirmed as being 12,831 — or 53.33 percent — Laredo voters. The nearest candidates were Jerry Garza with 20.46 percent and Cindy Lien-do with 19.06 percent. Since, he gar-nered over 50% of the vote, he was the confirmed winner and was officially announced as the mayor elect before being officially sworn into the office on Wednesday, November 12th.

Last year, during the local and highly publicized primary election, Tano Ti-jerina ran for Webb County Judge as the Democratic candidate for the office. With an 87.49% of the votes, Tano Ti-jerina completed his win and is now the

Webb County Judge-elect and will take office fully this coming January.

Other city positions up for vote were several seats on the city council. In two districts, 2 and 6, the candidates running unopposed and were re-elected to their positions. Esteban Rangel of District 2 and Charlie San Miguel of District 6 will retain their seats until 2018. How-ever, the other councilman seats are cur-rently in run-offs as a 50 percent vote minimum was not met by a candidate. Rudy Gonzalez, Jr. and Roger Bena-vides are still contenders for District 1, Alejandro “Alex” Perez, Jr. and Abraham Lugo are still competing for District 3, and for District 8, the run-off will be be-tween Roberto Balli and Rachel Ibarra. Voting for the runoff will occur on De-cember 20, 2014.

Other Laredo and Webb local offices are also now filled. For Laredo Municipal Judge, Rosie Cuellar ran unopposed. For County Commissioner Precinct 1, Frank Sciafaffa won the position with 57.21 percent. This seat was left vacant with the arrest of Mike Montemayor on Fed-

eral charges. For County Commissioner Precinct 4, Jaime Canales was re-elected with 84.5 percent of votes.

Also on the ballet were three propo-sitions. The first was for a proposal for the building of a sports complex at Tex-as A&M International University. The proposition was passed with 62.47 per-cent of voters choosing for the complex which will be built jointly by TAMIU and the City of Laredo. The second prop-osition, which called for construction of a natatorium jointly by United Inde-pendent School District and the City of Laredo, also passed with 63.28 percent of the voters for the proposition. The third proposition was for recalling City Councilman of District 7, Jorge A. Vela. The measure was passed overwhelmingly with 82.2 percent voting for the removal of Councilman Vera.

For those persons who have won their respective campaigns, congratulations is extended out. For those still pending the run-off elections, luck is offered. Either which is thought of, charges are expected in the coming year and perhaps further.

several states that had pre-viously been under Demo-cratic rule for a long time. Republicans gained seats that had been occupied by Democrats in the Senate in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota and West Vir-ginia. The wins gave them a majority in the Senate for the first time since 2006. Mitch McConnell, Senator of Kentucky, became Senate majority leader.

Many of us were surprised to see the results as they came in Tuesday night as the Republicans swiped most

state elections, even in states where Democrats were ex-pected to win in a large number of polls.

North Carolina was the big-gest shocker for the Demo-crats. Senator Kay Hagan had a big lead early on, but Thom Tillis came on as a dark horse in the race and achieve victory in a finish-line victory.

In contrast to the big Re-publican victory, Democrats only had small victories to celebrate. Two States changed from Republican to Democrat, Florida’s Steve Southerland (R), first elect-ed in 2010, lost to Gwen

Graham (D) and Nebraska’s Lee Terry (R), first elected in 1998, lost to Brad Ash-ford (D). California’s Garry Miller, a former Republican, also retired and his seat was won by Pete Aguilar, a for-mer Democrat.

The comments from gloat-ing Republicans did not hold back any punches.

“Barack Obama has our country in a ditch, and many of his lieutenants running for the senate were right there with him” commented Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, “The punish-

ment is going to be broad, and it’s going to be pretty serious.”

What can we expect with a majority of Republicans in the House and in the Sen-ate? The typical “No”? Will they change their image so this wave will not back fire like it did when President Clinton held office?

Either way, the American people hope that the deci-sions that are made in ben-efit for the American public and not for personal agen-das. This win could be a dou-ble-edged sword for the next presidential election.

National continues from page one

past 16 years. With the margin of victory shown in a majority of races, a Re-publican Texas is here to stay for a while longer.

With Rick Perry stepping down as Governor, possi-bly in search of a run for the presidency, Democrats sensed there was an open-ing in the race for Texas Governor. Complicating matters, though, was the waning popularity of Pres-ident Barack Obama.

Greg Abbott managed to gain 59.3 percent of the vote against Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for Texas Governor who galvanized young voters with her filibuster against tighter abortion restric-tions in the Texas Capi-tol. Davis only tallied 38.9 percent of votes. The 20 percent margin of victory was higher than the mar-gin in the 2010 elections and was sure to be a splash of cold water on the faces of Democrats.

Adding insult to injury is the loss of Davis’ old seat in the Texas Senate to Republican Konni Burton. The seat was vacated due to Davis’ run for Governor.

Davis’ loss, however, was not the biggest margin of victory of the night. That

honor goes to US Senator John Cornyn, who tallied 61.6 percent of the vote against Democrat Da-vid Alameel, who ended up with 34.4 percent of the vote.

In the race for Lt. Gov-ernor, Democratic con-tender Leticia Van de Putte gained 38.7 percent of the vote, losing out to Dan Patrick’s 58.1 percent. Like Davis, Van de Putte also came into the national spotlight with the filibus-ter on the Texas Senate floor, but failed to gain the backing that the Demo-cratic Party was searching for in Texas.

With her loss, rumors have been flying around Van de Putte, claiming she’s eyeing becoming the mayor of her hometown — San Antonio.

Other victors in the mid-term elections included Ken Paxton, who will take over as Attorney General once Greg Abbott is sworn in as the new Governor, Glenn Hegar as State Comptroller, and George P. Bush, son of potential presidential candidate Jeb Bush, as Texas Land Com-missioner. Finally, the title of Agriculture Commis-sioner went to Sid Miller.

Last year, The Bridge re-ported on the changes that occurred with the student tu-ition and fees that went into effect for the academic year that began this Fall Semes-ter. What was included were some fee increases, combining of other certain fees, and an elimination of one fee.

Recently, during a Tuition and Fees hearing held on November 4th, it was learned that again there was a proposal to increase to the amount paid by students attending Texas A&M Inter-national University. The good news, however, is for those un-dergraduate students that began

their higher academic learning this Fall or have been enrolled in the higher academic institu-tion for less than 12 consecutive semesters, as they are already on the fixed rate.

The increase in fees will be af-fecting any newly enrolled fresh-man in the coming 2015-16 Ac-ademic Year, Graduate Students, and those students that have not completed their degrees in 12 consecutive semesters. The fees being affected are the Freshman Orientation, Heath, Athletics, and University fees. The Fresh-man Orientation fee has the highest increase, being almost 67% higher than the previous fee; the one-time fee will go from $75 to $125. The Health fee, which is increasing by almost 10%, will increase $3.80 from $38.10 per

semester to $41.90.Another fee increasing by al-

most 10% is the Athletics fee. Last year, 5% of the student pop-ulation voted on the proposed increase, which passed, and it was increased from $17 to $21. In the coming academic year, the pro-posed increase will be by $2.05 from $21 to $23.05. In the hear-ing, it was not mentioned if this fee will be left to the student body to vote on in the Spring semester.

The last fee increase, due to in-flation, is the University Service fee — which consolidated In-ternational Education, Endowed Scholarship, Technology Access, Library Access, ID Card, Advis-ing Services, University Assess-ment, Energy, Traffic Safety & Infrastructure and Instructional Enhancement fees — will in-

crease by 1.93% and varies de-pending on the amount of credits that a student is enrolled for.

What this translates to for the students paying for education is that, if the student is taking 15 semester credit hours (SCH), they will see an increase in cost to attend TAMIU by $109.53. If a student is taking 12 SCH, a more common occurrence, they will see an increase by $90.68.

Speculatively, this may have positive or negative effect on the student body including getting students complete their educa-tion within 12 consecutive se-mesters or causing students not to complete their degrees and dropping out of higher educa-tion altogether. This is definitely something that The Bridge will continue to watch for.

Tuition and fees continue to riseStudent fees

By Judith Mae Aguilar

Courtesy PhotoWendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for Governor failed in her bid to beat out Greg Abbott

TAMIU’s strategic location along the U.S-Mexico border provides an exceptional laboratory for exploring the

importance of journalism, as well as mass, political and organizational communication in a region where two

nations meet and where economic symmetries and major cultural differences affect and transform human interaction”

TAMIU Master of Arts in Communication Press Release

We all know what’s coming up ahead. With last minute projects and assignments during this sea-son, everyone is running around trying to get their work done. But the most important of all are Fi-nals! We all dread for them to come and we also dread the preparation for them. Here are a couple of tips to stay calm during finals week.

First, make a schedule and stick with it, there is no point in making

one if you’re not going to follow it. Examine all that you have to finish before your exams. Create a study schedule that gives you the perfect amount of time to spend on studying for each exam. Cre-ating outlines are also a big help. When it ’s time for you to study a certain exam, study just for that one exam - stay away from distrac-tions and focus! Try not to study too hard before the night of your exam. Give your brain a chance to soak in all the information you’ve been studying.

Second, working out is the best way to relieve stress and blow off

steam. You can visit the Texas A&M International University Recreational center for fun classes and activities. Third, eat clean. Eating healthy is always better on your body, and it also helps your brain function. Going for a jog, riding a bike, even hitting up the gym is an awesome way to release all that stress that is built up dur-ing finals week. In addition to clearing your head and allowing you to focus, studies show that exercise can also stimulate brain activity – allowing you to perform better during test time.

Fourth, SLEEP. You may think

that pulling all nighters benefits you, but it doesn’t. Sleep helps you stay focused and be a better you when it comes to being productive. Accord-ing to Dr. Philip Alapat “Memory recall and ability to maintain con-centration are much improved when an individual is rested.” The more rest you obtain during finals week the more focused you will be during the exam.

Last but not least try making a couple of visits to your college relaxation center. It is located in the TAMIU success center. If you are currently enrolled in TAMIU, you have access to free counseling.

Walk-ins are welcome. A coun-selor can typically see you within a week or so. Oftentimes they can see you the day of.

Counselors can assist you with:•Emotional, personal, educa-tional concerns•Depression•Anxiety•Adjusting to College Life•Healthy interpersonal rela-tionships

Don’t let the stress of finals keep you from doing your best. Good luck on your studying!

Khloe Torres can be contacted at khloetorres@dusty.tamiu.edu

November 2014

3

LOCAL CALENDAR

Nov 26-29Thanksgiving break

Dec 7 Pet Fest

@ Civic Center

Dec 6 Northside Market

dec 1 FINAL CLASS DAY

dec 1 Tree Lighting Ceremony

@ TAMIU

dec 3-9FINAL EXAMS

Laredo Farmer’s Market at jarvis PLaza

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge StaffDelicatesse, one of the many vendors present at the Laredo Farmer’s Market prepares crepes for the hungry public. The market is held monthly, every third Saturday at Jarvis Plaza. A variety of vendors offer services and sell items ranging from vegtables, plants, baked goods.

Tips on how to cope with final examsFINALS WEEK

Editor’s Note: The article below ran on the Bridge’s website before the mayoral election of 2014. Though the election is now complete , we present it again to the students of TAMIU so they can better un-derstand the viewpoints of our next May-or and his opponents.

Thanks to Texas A&M Interna-tional’s Student Government Asso-ciation (SGA), students on campus were able to sit in on a speciazl May-oral debate held on October 23rd in the Student Center Ballroom that evening at 8 p,m. Mayoral candidates participating in the debate included Guadalupe Botello, Roland S Her-rera, Jose Durantes Jr, Pete Saenz, James Joel Newland, Cindy Liendo and Jerry Garza.

A total of eight questions were sub-mitted by TAMIU’s SGA and the Lar-edo National Rotary Club. Out of the eight questions prepared, four were cho-sen at random to be answered by the se-lected candidates. Each contender was then given the opportunity to answer why they were running for mayor and why it would be an honor to serve their constituents. The debate went quickly underway as the panel gave their brief introductions.

The first question that kicked off the debate was, “If you believe that a thriving university is important to our civic development, how might the city council support activities ...at TAMIU.” Liendo, having been picked at random,

expressed her enthusiasm regarding the proposed TAMIU sports complex that is on the ballot this year. She believes that “proposition 1” will be beneficial to the community and ensures that as mayor she will be, “making sure that as a community we come together to make the best decisions”.

Propostion 1 as outlined on the TAMIU website (http://www.tamiu.edu/newsinfo/sportscomplex.shtml) would authorize the use of accumlat-ed taxes from the community to build upon land on school grounds. If passed, facilities would include, eight baseball fields, four softball fields, four youth fields, twenty-one tennis courts, and other amenities.

Among the various other topics up for debate, candidates weighed in on some of the more pressing issues on voters minds such as Laredo’s econ-omy. “When comparing the city of McAllen’s published budget to Lare-do, one [can] see that in Laredo there is no money allocated to economic development while McAllen allo-

cates 5% of its budget to economic development...Is this something we can change?” Botello was given the chance to retort by assuring residents, that he understands why McAllen has a higher economic development. He believes that the majority of res-idents from Mexico’s “frontera” prefer to shop in the valley because of its di-verse shopping choices. He also reit-erated that he is in full support of Lar-edo’s advances for the new shopping outlets in the downtown area that will not only cater to shoppers but will enable local job growth. Botello said, “I [feel] really-really strong about The Portal. The Portal is going to bring a number of jobs and it is going to im-prove the ability for some people to have jobs that are sustainable. I believe in those 13,000 jobs -- and some of these students will fill those jobs”.

The Portal, formally known to many Laredoan’s as River Drive Mall, will be at the epicenter of Laredo’s high traffic downtown area. The indoor shopping outlets have been all buzz since its in-

ception in 2005. However, according to the site’s Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Drive_Mall), delays in the project were said to be in part of bad publicity due to the violence on our cities border. The proj-ect will near its completion later in 2015 and will include retailers such as Adidas, Bose, and Coach to name a few.

One other hot topic --not so long forgotten was brought up regarding the comments made by Texas’ attorney general, Greg Abbott, in which he tack-les on the waves of corruption by local city official in South Texas. In a video recorded speech taken from February earlier this year Abbott said, “The creep-ing corruption resembles third-world country practices that erode the social fabric of our communities and destroy Texan’s trust in government.” The con-tenders were asked to weigh in on the comments made by the GOP governor hopeful and this is what Saenz had to say in response,

“It seems like every week there is a scandal in Laredo and I think that

statement is very accurate as it pertains to [us]... The people of Laredo deserve better, --honor and dignity from their public officials. I’m very much in favor of background checks. I am the only [candidate] that is advocating for them to expand the auditors position in the city of Laredo... This ends now.”

Currently, there have been several city councilmen that are fighting cor-ruption charges here in Laredo. Most recently, Webb County commissioner Mike Montemayor was arrested for bribery charges. Montemayor faces two counts of bribery by a federal court for promising to use his position in office to make deals with “friends”. Corruption has been a problem in Laredo for many years a legacy that dates back former mayor J.C Martin who is synonymous with the term, “The Patron System”. For a more comprehensive timeline on city corruption for 2014 alone, read-ers can visit local political blog here. (http://mensonotmensa.blogspot.com/2014/10/80-days-before-year-closes-out.html)

As the evening wrapped up, each contender was given 90 seconds to give their closing statements. Each runner thanked the community for coming out to the debate and each for the commu-nities’ vote in hopes to be the next May-or of Laredo. The Bridge would like to thank voters for their efforts in making an informed decision in this year’s may-oral election.

For questions, comments, or more information about this article Tina Go-mez can be reached at cristina.gomez@dusty.tamiu.edu.

Mayoral candidates debate issues on campusTAMIU SPEAKER SERIES

By Tina Gomez@TheBridgeTAMIU

By Khloe Torreskhloetorres@

dusty.tamiu.edu

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge StaffTAMIU’s SGA pose for a photo with the candidates vying for the role of mayor of Laredo.

prop one continues from page one

In addition to the baseball fa-cilities, the complex will also include an additional Tennis facility, a parking lot and vari-ous other amenities. The tennis facility will hold a total of 21 full-size tennis courts.

Of the $25 million going to-ward the project, $10 million comes from the property that the complex will be built on, the other $15 million will be financed from the pre-existing tax approved by voters in the elections of 2000 and 2008. The complex will have no effect to student tuition or fees.

The land situated for the com-plex is located to the west of existing campus boundaries. The land will also envelop the already existing soccer and base-ball fields that the Dustdevils already call home.

TAMIU officials are optimis-tic about the complex, claiming the complex could host a variety

of tournaments that would bring out-of-town athletes to Laredo and hopefully lead to them en-rolling in the University in the future. The complex would most certainly raise the profile of the athletics department.

Though approved, the complex is currently in the preliminary stages of planning. Once legal issues are ironed out, officials ex-pect construction to take only a year or two.

The TAMIU complex, how-ever, is not the only sports building popping up in the Laredo’s near future. Laredoans also approved the construction of a natatorium to be locat-ed near the site of the UISD Sports Activity Complex with 60 percent of Laredoans voting for the second proposition. The natatorium will included a full-size, olympic swimming pool and host swimming competi-tions once completed.

November 2014

4

ELECTION DAY 2014

Pete Saenz: 12,831 votes (53.34 percent)Jerry Garza: 4,924 votes (20.47 percent)

Cindy Liendo: 4,586 votes (19.06 percent)Guadalupe Botello: 1,003 votes (4.17 percent)Rolando S. Herrera: 252 votes (1.05 percent)

James Joel Newland: 258 votes (1.07 percent)Jose S. Dorantes Jr.: 112 votes (0.47 percent)

Mayor of the City of Laredo

Proposition One:TAMIU SPORTS COMPLEX

City of laredo CouncilmanDistrict one

For: 13,467 votes (62.47 percent)

Against: 8,090 votes(37.53 percent)

FOR

City of laredo CouncilmanDistrict three

City of laredo CouncilmanDistrict eight

Alejandro “Alex” Perez Jr. 1,161 votes, 49.89%

Abey Lugo: 945 votes, 40.61%Ulises Salinas: 221 votes, 9.50%

Roberto Balli: 987 votes, 41.19%Rachel Ibarra: 629 votes, 26.25%

Virginia “Viky” Garcia: 478 votes, 19.95%Jose Luis Maldonado: 302 votes, 12.60%

R - Greg Abbott: 2,790,227, 59.3%D - Wendy Davis: 1,832,254, 38.9%

Texas Governor

R - John Cornyn: 2,855,068 votes, 61.6%D -David Alameel: 1.594.252, 34.4%

U.s. senator

Rudy Gonzalez Jr.: 622 votes, 29.27 percentRoger Benavides: 432 votes, 20.33 percent

Christy Jimenez Lara: 412 votes, 19.39 percentJose U. Conde Jr.: 361 votes, 16.99 percentLuis A. Cisneros: 145 votes, 6.82 percent

Webb Co. judge

Tano Tijerina: 22,410 votes (87.50 percent)Frank Cortez: 3,202

votes (12.50 percent)

Webb Co. treasurer

Delia Perales: 21,688 votes (85.31 percent)Jesus Quiroz: 3,736

votes (14.69 percent)

PCt. 1 commissioner

Frank Sciaraffa: 3,024 votes (57.22 percent)Erika Martinez: 2,261, votes (42.78 percent)

PCt. 4 commissioner

Jaime Canales: 4,326 votes (84.51 percent)

Luis F. Decker 793 votes (15.49 percent)

pct. 4 justice

Jose “Pepe” Salinas: 7,342 votes (75.52 percent)

Lakshmana “Vish” Viswanath : 2,510 votes (25.48 percent)

lt. governor US rep. dist. 28

Dan Patrick: 2,718,406, 59.3%Leticia Van de Putte: 1,810,720, 38.7%

Henry Cuellar: 62,471, 82.1%Will Aikens: 10,146, 13.3%Michael Cary: 3,474, 4.6%

Webb county voting in state races

runoff

runoff

gov LT. Gov

USSen

W. Davis: 17,962 , 68% | Van de Putte: 18,819, 72.55% | Alameel: 15,221, 59.13%

runoff

Designed By Louis San Miguel

November 2014

5

HALLOWEEN FESTHalloween occurred on Friday

this year but Texas A&M In-ternational University began

the treating early. On Thursday, October 30th, TAMIU held its an-nual Halloween Fest on the Fine and Performance Arts green as the final activity of its Wicked Well-ness Week.The festival began at 5:00 p.m.

and continued until 10:00pm. TAMIU clubs including The Ar-tisans, The Dance Club, The Student Nurses Association, and Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society club, to name a few, were on hand to provide fun games and treats.The feast was open to the public

and they were invited to bring their children for some fun including a costume contest. There was also a separate costume contest for

TAMIU students along with some other fun activities like a “Find the Worms” contest where contestants needed to find gummy worms from a bowl of chocolate pudding and a Monster Dance Off. The Dance Club members also performed a dance to Michael Jackson’s Thrill-er, a Halloween staple song, and TAMIU Campus Activities Board, who collaborated with TAMIU Division of Student Success for the other activities held during the week, were the emcees of the event. They were even able to get the crowd to dance “The Wobble” towards the end of the night.All in all, the fest was a great way

to celebrate Halloween and end its Wicked Wellness Week. As this is an annual event and you missed this year’s event, don’t worry be-cause there is still next year.

Photos and story by Judith Mae Aguilar

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge Staff Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge Staff

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge Staff

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge Staff Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge Staff

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge Staff Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge Staff

El pasado jueves, 6 de noviembre se llevó a cabo el recital de poesía y música que anualmente ofrece el Club de Español de Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). Dicho evento tuvo lugar en el Stu-dent Center o centro estudiantil 236 dando inicio a las 7:30 para terminar

a las 8:30 p.m. al cual asistieron es-tudiantes y personal del TAMIU. Estudiantes de dicho club recitaron poemas de poetas del mundo his-pánicoa. Hipólito Salazar y Jorge Charur brindaron su talento a través de la guitarra, y Tico Solchaga de-leitó a la audiencia con el teclado.

El Dr. José Cardona-López, patro-cinador del Club de Español inicio agradeciendo a los presentes su asis-tencia a dicho evento y siguiendo con

presentación de sus alumnos.Los participantes engalanaron con

un elegante vestuario, de negro y fuc-sia. La primera poesía de la noche fue “La poesía” de Pablo Neruda a la cual el estudiante Jaime Cano le dio vida.Después, los estudiantes fueron reci-tando los poemas uno tras otro. La estudiante Judith Moreno se destacó al recitar “Historia de mi muerte” de Leopoldo Lugones. Moreno, acom-pañada del señor Solchaga en el te-

clado, motivó el aplauso de los asis-tentes con su energía y entrega.

El evento concluyó con más músi-ca, los estudiantes Omar Ramirez e Ignacio Berumen cantaron “Tres regalos” de Güicho Cisneros con Hipólito Salazar en la guitarra. La gente presente sonrió y escuchó esta última canción con alegría en sus ojos. Al terminar este evento, la fa-milia de los participantes los vio.

El evento cumplió con las expec-

tativas deseadas ya que al terminar pudimos apreciar la alegría y entu-siasmo tanto en los presentes como en los participantes. Concluyendo así una gran noche.

Para más información sobre el club de español el Dr. cardona-López puede ser contactado por correo: car-dona@tamiu.edu

Karen Alanis puede ser contactada por correo: karenalanis@dusty.ta-miu.edut

Maleficent was not the only cold being at the outdoor screening held at Texas A&M International University on the Friday night of November 14th. With temper-atures in the low 40s, the small crowd that came out to the Fine and Performing Arts Green made certain to bring blankets to bundle up with.

Last year, in conjunction with the City of Laredo’s Park and Leisure department, Texas A&M Interna-tional University’s Office of In-formation and Technology (OIT) and Campus Activities Board (CAB), successfully screened Disney’s Frozen to a large crowd. Hundreds of Laredoans came to TAMIU with their families and watched the movie on a large out-door screen.

This year, it was “frozen” again but due to low temperatures that Laredo is not usually used to see-ing at this time of year. Due to an Omega block—so named because the jet stream forms what looks

like the Greek letter—caused a cold front to hit Laredo late Tues-day on November 11th. Since the screening had been on the calen-dar for some time, it was not pru-dent to reschedule.

The crowd that did show up, did so with blankets and coats so that they could attempt to keep warm while watching Disney’s Malefi-cent. Also in low attendance were TAMIU clubs. The previous year, they provided many treats for the crowd but this year, the 2-3 clubs that did come ended packing up their left over commodities or selling for half-price when the movie ended.

With the success of Frozen last year, it might have been TA-MIU’s and the City of Laredo’s intention of also having another successful screening, but with the low temperatures this was hard to accomplish with this year’s screen-ing. Perhaps, with better planning — if it is decided to do this next year — it may be best to consider having it earlier in the semester or other contingency if the weather is inclement.

Midterms have ap-proached us and finals are only a couple of weeks away. Dustdevils are all around campus occupying the li-brary study rooms or Sky-lab getting ready for their exams. During these crucial times we must remember that we should take time for ourselves and not drive ourselves to the brink of exhaustion. Take a week-

end off and dedicated to yourself. Plan a weekend to pamper yourself or better yet go on a getaway! There are many cities that have a lot to offer that are close to Laredo.

One city that stood out that is often overseen is Fort Worth, Texas. When one thinks of the DFW area, Dallas automati-cally comes to mind. However, Fort Worth is a city of its own that has much to offer to Tex-ans. Take a getaway from your studies and clear your mind in

the City of Cowboys and Cul-ture. While on your trip consider visiting the following which are full of art, shopping, family rich activities, live music and dancing,

and best of all Texas History.

· Kimbell Art Museum· Bass Performance Hall· Fort Worth Stock

Show and Rodeo· West Magnolia Av-

enue· Fort Worth Zoo· Fort Worth Shopping

District· Billy Bob’s Texas (The

Largest Country Bar in the Nation)

· The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame

· Log Cabin Village· National Cowgirl Mu-

seum and Hall of Fame· Fort Worth Botanical

Gardens

· Trinity River

The City of Fort Worth is the fifth largest city in Texas. The fun, friendly, and welcom-ing city will have you wanting to come back and visit! The amount that there is to do in the city cannot be done in one trip. Finals don’t have to be overwhelming and stress-ful. Weather its Fort Worth or another city around Texas or the nation, take some time for yourself Dustdevil! You deserve it!

Kimbell Art MuseumBass Performance Hall

Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo

West Magnolia AvenueFort Worth Zoo

Fort Worth Shopping District

Billy Bob’s Texas (The Largest Country Bar in the Nation)

The Texas Cowboy Hall of FameLog Cabin Village

National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

November 20146

By Karen Alanis@TheBridgeTAMIU

Recital de Poesía y Música en TAMIUEn Espanol

By Louie Canela@TheBridgeTAMIU

Getaway from Finals stress by travelingFinals Week Tips

Chilly reception at Maleficent screeningon campus

By Judith Mae Aguilar@TheBridgeTAMIU

game characters, cartoon characters, Disney characters, and we also have all kinds of pop culture, comic book char-acters. We have all different kinds of things.”

Speaking of why Pixel Bit Beads continue to bring out their products to the Bazaar, Joe says, “we come every month because we love the atmosphere. It’s a really relaxed atmosphere, it’s just really cool. We get to meet so many new people and getting people to know our product, and getting to know their product as well.”

Gaining a loyal following in the Laredo art scene, Haydee Baccera has been a long time performer at the Bazaar as well as Cafe Dolce. “It ’s the community, the musi-cians, and the artists. There is so much to like from them and that is why I keep going. I love it.” As a big supporter of the local art scene, Baccera invites the public to come out to the monthly event. “People should come out to get the com-munity even bigger and also to see the art. There are a lot of artists that not a lot of people hear or see about. This is one of the greatest opportunities that we have,” says the singer.

For those interested in knowing more about Haydee and her music, the sing-er-songwriter says, “I have a Facebook page. It’s my personal one but I am going to make a musical one soon. But you can find me with my name Haydee

Baccera. That’s where you can all reach me and hear my music.”

Santos Polendo of SiK One ARTwork & Promotions has been organizing the Bazaar since the the TAMIU student organization

Enactus give the art society full sponsorship. Polendo states, “we’ve been running for a little over a year and a half and it has become pretty successful.”

By having artists run the fami-

ly-friendly festival, Polendo says it ’s what brought fans to come to their event every month saying that, “the musicians that come; bring their friends, their families, and things like that. I think that is what makes it really success-ful. It ’s for the artists and it ’s run by artists.”

“I think that is what makes this a very successful event,” says Polendo.

For the December Bazaar, coordi-nator Santos Polendo informs Lare-doans that he is, “going to be dress-ing up as Santa Claus. So we will be having a chance for the kids to take photos with Santa Claus and have a couple of games here and there. Things like that. Then after that we will back in January and each month we will be having a different theme, so each month we will be having something new.”

With a monthly theme, Polendo hopes to keep things fresh and have people coming back every month.

The next two Bazaars are scheduled for December 13th and January 10th at the French Quarter on 1605 E Del Mar Boulevard.

(George Gonzalez can be reached jorge.gonzalez@dusty.tamiu.edu)

bazaar continues from page eight

George Gonzalez | The Bridge StaffJoe and Julie of Pixel Bit Beads sell small decorations based on characters and items from retro games

PLACES TO VISIT TO GET AWAY FROM FINALS STRESS

George Gonzalez | The Bridge Staff George Gonzalez | The Bridge Staff George Gonzalez | The Bridge Staff

Courtesy PhotoAngelina Jolie stars as Maleficent in the reimagining of the iconic villian in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.

Cold Brew rock bar. Crudeza guitarist James Reed com-ments, “We like performing there, it’s always a lot of fun. It’s always a good time. Even though we just play covers, people really seem to love that.”

The young hard rock group has won plenty of fans over in their short career, including rock vocalist Claudia E. Wolfe of the Jolly Ranchers and SweeTooth, two other prom-inent Laredo band. Wolfe has been temporarily fronting the group until they are able to find permanent lead singer.

Nevertheless, the Bridge caught up with Crudeza members Hernandez, Moon, and Reed on their musical upbringing, influences, and what they have planned for the future.

In discussing how the young teenagers first got into hard rock, rhythm guitarist James Reed credited his older broth-er for getting him into the world of rock n’ roll. “I saw him play the guitar and that always got me interested. I had actu-ally wanted to play the drums, but my dad declared it “too loud” so he said, “I’ll get you a guitar.” So he did. Since then (five years later,) I’m still still

here and playing the guitar,” says Reed.

Percussionist Rene Hernandez cited his parents and older sister for influencing him to listen to classic metal and rock. He states, “my dad would always play Metallica and all the old school stuff.” Funny enough, Hernan-dez recalls when he first wanted a guitar his parents denied him the instrument proclaiming that, “it was too expensive.” Years later however, the Crudeza drummer ended up getting a drum set that he jokingly admits being far more expensive than the guitar he originally wanted. “I started playing loud at first, but then I started playing better, so I start-ed playing nice-fills and beats. I started liking it and six years later I’m here,” says Hernandez.

Lead guitarist George Moon, on the other hand, ad-mits to being a fan of rap and hip hop before discovering rock music. It was the video game franchise Guitar Hero that first introduced him to rock music and a need to play the guitar.

Moon says, “I started on Guitar Hero. But before that, my mom and dad would al-ways be playing classic rock. So I knew a lot of that, but I was mostly into hip hop and

rap. But Guitar Hero changed that. My mom bought me my first guitar which was a classi-cal black one. I started lessons and six years later I am still playing.”

As far as their musician and band influences go, Moon says he has gone through several stages of talented guitarist in-fluences. “When I started, my first influence was Tom Mo-rello of Rage Against The Ma-chine. I just thought of all the noises he would do and I just thought it was really amazing. Then I heard Eddie Van Halen and I really wanted to shred like him. Then it went from Jimi Hendrix, which was an amaz-ing songwriter, then it went on to Slash [of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver,]” says the lead guitarist.

Reed claims his biggest and main influence is James Het-field of Metallica, proclaim-ing, “I gotta represent Me-tallica!” However, aside from the Metallica frontman, Reed goes on to list Slayer and “Zakk Wylde and a lot of lead and rhythm guitar players” of the thrash metal genre as hav-ing a profound impact on his guitar playing.

Like Reed, Hernandez also lists a Metallica member as his

influence. He says, “I would have to say Lars Ulich because I listened to a lot of Metallica as a kid and then I started to switched over to Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan from Avenged Sevenfold, Mark Portnoy of Dream Theater, and then John Bonham of Led Zeppelin.”

When on the topic of releas-ing their own original music, Moon states, “When it comes to originals, it’s basically in our own time and when we get together we share those ideas, like, ‘Oh, here is some-thing I made’ and “here is something I made.”

At the moment, the band doesn’t want to push and force themselves to release new mu-sic for the sake of releasing new music. However, the lead guitarist does assure fans that, “originals are coming.”

Reed also elaborates stating, “we don’t really have a specific time to release our stuff, but we are really trying to work on it, and as soon as possi-ble.” Crudeza drummer, Rene Hernandez also concedes that it is their perfectionist approach toward their music that refrains the group from releasing new material. “We are always picking on our mu-sic. Every time we have a gig,

we will practice everyday for two weeks before till we get the song perfect. We are really stubborn,” says the talented percussionist.

As far as their future and where they would like to take the band, James Reed goes on to say, “I guess what we’d like to say is that we are setting our goals really high. We all have this dream that we wanna reach the top, we want to get to the top, and then just take it from there. Where it takes us, we just want to keep getting bigger and just keep going.”

Moon specifies, “ever since I started playing guitar, I knew that I wanted to do that.” In seeing videos of his favorite musicians performing and reading and watching their interviews, the guitarist states, “I knew thats what I wanted to do.”

Hernandez further elabo-rates on their planned goals of popularity and longevity say-ing, “not a lot of people listen to rock, but they know several different bands because they are well known and because they have been around a long time.”

Currently, Crudeza have been actively looking for a lead vocalist to join their

band. Ideally, the group is seeking for an energetic vo-calist that could fit in with their style and are able to hit a higher range of notes. Moon highlights Phil Anselmo from Pantera as an example of what they are looking for, saying, “he’s a real good vocalist and in the early years he knew how to sing so high and he could also do that ‘metal’ growl. We want raw, punchy energy, and very energetic.”

Hernandez agrees, saying “yeah, that they can also put on a show as well. It doesn’t really matter if they can’t though, but as long as he or she can sing, I don’t really mind.”

In the end, for those want-ing to see know more infor-mation about the band, sched-uled performances, videos, Reed advises to look for them on social media websites, “we are on Facebook, Instagram, and we just started a Twitter account. Those are the three main webpages that you can find us and contact us.”

Lastly, if one is interested in joining the band as the lead vocalist, Crudeza suggest sending a message through Facebook and they would get back to you.

Representing the Laredo Roller Derby League, the Belles of Chaos hosted a fund-raiser on October 16th at the Cold Brew rock bar consisting of a fun-filled night of karaoke and specialty drinks. Almost a dozen of the teams’ members were on hand at the rock bar for the event. Special $1 “pink” shots were cre-ated and sold to patrons with the profits made going toward the roller derby team.

Griselda Soto, president of the Belles of Chaos set up the fundraising event in hopes to raise enough money to provide better equip-ment and accessories for the team. Soto says, “everybody buys their own gear,” elaborating that, “this is a very demanding sport and our wheels don’t last, so we have to constantly be switching them out.”

Depending on the kind of floor the girls skate on, Soto explains that, “we need to switch the wheels in thickness and softness,” so each member, “has to have two or three pairs of wheels.”

Needless to say, the gear ends up becoming very expensive. “Every set ranges from $50 to $100 for eight wheels, so we need a little bit of help with that,” says the derby president.

Aside from upgrading the groups gear, the Laredo derby team is looking to invest in a warehouse to host their practices, “We need help renting a warehouse because of the weather,” highlighting that, “Laredo has some

extreme weather and it changes and varies from one day to the next, so we are looking for an indoor space,” explains Soto.

The team currently holds practices in the Lafayette hockey rink in Laredo, but also pratice in space near Martin High School. The space, though, is lacking.

“It doesn’t have any lighting,” Soto said. “We girls want to have more control over our prac-tices, and the length of our practices, because we really need to be at a certain level in order to compete.”

The team is actively seeking funds to rent a warehouse.

When asked about how she first entered the world of all-female roller derby, Soto stated, “last year at around November, I had joined a previous roller derby team in Laredo. Unfor-

tunately, that team dissolved.” Nevertheless, with passion and heart for

the sport, the hard-working derby leader was determined to come up with a new team, em-phasising that, “we got together and made it possible. We started this team on June 20th.” With the new league created, Soto hopes to form several squads within the Belles of Cha-os in order to build a stronger team and can participate in in-house bouts.

“Our goal is to have bouts with other roller derby teams closer to us, such as the San An-tonio or Corpus Christi team. We are looking forward to having our first bouts in Summer 2015,” says the Belles leader.

For those interested in joining the all-fe-male derby team, Ms. Soto assures that the team is looking for new girls to join them. “We are always recruiting,” explaining that, “the turnout is high because of the de-mands of this sport and because we also have to take into consideration life issues.” When they first started, the Belles had eight girls but, “now we have twenty two, so we are very happy about that but we still need more. We are shooting for sixty to ful-fill other teams.”

Laredoans looking for more information on the all-girl derby teamare instructed to like their Facebook under “Belles of Chaos”. Those who are seriously interested in join-ing their team can contact Griselda Soto by phone at (956)326-8720 or Mel Esquivel at (956)508-1287.

November 2014

7

SPORTS

extreme SPorts

Female roller derby team raises fundsBy George Gonzalez

jorge.gonzalez@dusty.tamiu.edu

SPORTS BRIEFLY

TAMIU Athletes head to Div 2 Cross

Country Championship

Rebekah Hernandez and Natalie Chavez, two run-ners on TAMIU’s cross country team will be traveling to Denver to compete in the South Central Regional Cross Country Championship for Division II universi-ties on Dec 6. Hernandez has started her TAMIU run-ning career on fire, being awarded the Heartland Con-ference’s Most Valuable Player, Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year after winning the Heartland Conference women’s individual title for cross country in a meet that took place on Nov. 8.

Men’s Soccer Recap

After starting the season off with the program’s highest ranking in the Division II conference at No.6 , the men’s soccer team ended their season with a loss to league leaders St. Edward’s in the Heatland Conference tour-nament. They missed out the Heartland Conference Championship they hoped to at least get a share of at the start of the season. Captain Jovany Macias and Eduardo Gonzalez earned first-team honors in the All-Heartland Conference team. Sepcial congratulations also go out to Macias and fiance, Alexandria Meza. Macias proposed on the field during halftime of the Oct 23 game.

Women’s Soccer Recap

The Dustdevil women’s soccer team ended their sea-son with a loss to Dallas Baptitst in the opening stages of the Heartland Conference Tournament. They record-ed a final record of 7-7-1. Karina Garcia and Laura Twinem were named to the second-team All-Heartland Conference Team. Sol Medina and Kim Garcia also earned third-team honors.

Courtesy Photo

BBQ continues from page eight lbv continues from page eight

Kiara Riojas | TAMIU Sports Information

band continues from page eight

beef. Another Korean comfort food, kimchi jjigae is also available and is a stew made with the common Korean side dish, kim-chi, and diced tofu and pork. Yet another Korean comfort dish is toppoki, a fish cake soup that has pieces of rice cake dumplings that are chewy and tender, with a sweet and sour and spicy flavor that is reminiscent of a spicy tomato soup. They also have an all-you-can eat Korean barbeque that is pur-chased depending on the persons eating and the array of meats that can be chosen.

The pricing of the food depends on the time of day, lunch or dinner. However, the portions of food you are served are very reasonable for the price you end up paying. As an added bonus to the meal, they even provide pickled, cold side dishes that you eat along with your meal. The different sides can easily change bites that are taken of your main dish.

The restaurant’s owners, a husband and wife transplanted from Korea by way of California, also love to converse with their guests and provide history of the

dishes and the benefits of the vegetables in the dishes eaten.

All in all, BBQ Park provides a won-derful eating experience that is not at all the norm for Laredo eateries. If you are willing to be adventurous and want to try new cuisine, other than Mexican, that is authentic to the country it comes from, BBQ Park is one of the best restaurants that you can go to in Laredo.

The restaurant can be found on Face-book under “BBQ Park Laredo”.

admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. TAMIU alumni only pay $3. You can purchase tickets at the ticket booth located inside the La-mar Bruni Vergara building.

Do not miss out on the wonderful shows the plan-etarium has to offer and take advantage of the im-pressive system that has just been debuted! If you

wish to make reservations in advance, you can contact (956) 326-2463. If you have any questions about the planetarium you can also email them at planetari-um@tamiu.edu. And don’t forget to visit their web-page at http://www.tamiu.edu/planetarium/ to check all the showtimes and new realeases for this semester!

George Gonzalez | The Bridge Staff George Gonzalez | The Bridge Staff George Gonzalez | The Bridge Staff

Jorge MoonJames Reed Rene Hernandez

Consisting of lead gui-tarist, George Moon (real name Jorge Luna), rhythm guitarist James Reed, drummer Rene Hernan-dez, and bassist Sergio Loera, Crudeza have been gaining a lot of notoriety in the Laredo music scene for their spot-on classic rock cover songs. Especially in a city where cover bands such as The Shakedown, have traded their classic rock

songs for more modern and contemporary covers of pop and hip hop artists, one thing is for certain with Crudeza, the heart and soul of classic hard rock is alive and well.

Despite only having been together for around seven months, Crudeza have re-cently had several gigs at Charlie’s Coronas, Chano’s Patio, and the Relay for Life event held on Texas A&M International Uni-versity grounds.

Lately, the band has had a few successful gigs at the

Emerging artists shine at monthly fest

It was a nice and sunny afternoon as the Tex-as A&M International University art socizety,

The Artisans co-hosted their monthly Bazaar Art Move-ment and Festival on Novem-ber 11th. Taking place every second Saturday of the month, the Bazaar is a free, family-ori-ented festival where local artists and vendors from all over Lar-edo come to sell and promote their hand-crafted artwork, jewelry, and novelties.

Since the Summer of 2013, the Artisans have been co-host-ing the Bazaar with SiK One Promotions and this month introduced the public to an even wider variety of artists and performers. Vendors and artists such as Half Dead Oak Jewelry, Shelle Laurent, the Ghost (of the Dead Brothers art group,)

and over a dozen other craft-ers were in attendance at the monthly meeting.

The November festival also brought a talented roster of musicians and poets such as

Ms. Bee of the Laredo Bor-der Slam, Empty Orchestra, Los Papis, Josh Blade, Haydee Bacerra and Joe & Julie of Pixel Bit Beads.

Joe describes his art as, “little

plastic decorations for necklac-es, earrings, and home decor. But it’s all based around pix-elated artwork, mostly of video

If you are stressing over midterms and homework, if you are looking for a dis-traction after long days of work, or if you’re simply in the mood to try something new, then head over to the Texas A&M Internation-al University Planetarium. After some spectacular modifications, the Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium had its grand re-opening last month and is excited to show all of its new movies.

The planetarium hosts weekly shows open for stu-dents and the public. It is also available for birthday parties and school field trips. But if you wish to escape for a little while, then visit the planetarium as they premiere all new movies this semester. The planetarium not only shows educational and scientific movies, but it also hosts live shows of the solar system and presents band concerts. It even shows regular mov-ies from the comfort of the dome’s seats.

Planetarium director, Peter Davis, is excited to present all new movies and shows this semester. He en-courages everyone to check out their website for all the upcoming events. With over 35 years of experience working in the field of planetarium media, Davis is proud of TAMIU’s dome. “This planetarium, we have

a 40 foot dome, and it ’s un-der that glass pyramid, so it has this iconic-like image, which is good because peo-ple can find it attractive,” Davis explains about the planetariums appearance,

“We have a very sophisti-cated digital system.”

Upcoming events for this month include the popular movies; the Lamps of At-lantis and The Zula Patrol: Down to Earth. The shows

usually run Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and have start times ranging from 6-8 p.m. on weekdays and 2-5 p.m. on weekends. The general cost of

Tucked away in a Shi-loh Drive shopping center is BBQ Park, a recently opened restaurant that serves authentic Korean cuisine. Located at 416 Shiloh Drive, the restau-rant is not easy to get to by bus (as you have to take the El Metro 16 bus downtown, then board the El Metro 12B to Shiloh Drive). However, if you have a car, it is a simple drive to Bob Bullock North from University Blvd, a left at the intersection of Shi-loh Drive until you reach secuded shopping center.

Either way, I would con-sider it a worthy trip.

When you enter the restaurant, you are immedi-ately and congeniality met by the wait staff. Although, it has a warehouse esthet-ic that implies otherwise

when you first step in, the restaurant’s seating is spa-cious and amble.

BBQ Park even has a small bar where you can choose to sit should you like a drink accompanied by game on TV. But, this restaurant is not a sports bar — there is no loud mu-sic playing, even though there is some Korean mu-sic (K-Pop — but not Psy’s Gangnam Style, thankful-ly) in the air that adds to the ambiance, letting you know that you are not in your traditional Laredo eatery. It is a family run or-ganization that provides an authentic array of Korean dishes and a warm, homely atmosphere.

You can find several Kore-an dishes on the menu. One dish is dolsot bibimbap — which literally means “mixed rice” — and is a short grain rice dish that has mixed vegetables and diced grilled

LIFE & ARTS8 November 2014The bridge

Event Review

George Gonzalez | The Bridge StaffThe Bazaar, hosted by TAMIU’s The Aristans and SiK One Promotions, hosts a variety of artists who not only sell their wares, but also provide entertainment. The fest gives new artists a venue to showcase themselves.

By George Gonzalezjorge.gonzalez@dusty.tamiu.edu

Restaurant Review

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge StaffDolsot Bibimbap, one of the many exotic entrees served at BBQ Park, is a wonderful rice dish topped with a fried egg. The dish should be thor-oughly mixed before fully enjoyed.

Asian BBQ restaurant expands

city’s taste

ON CAMPUS

LBV Planetarium offers distraction from homework

Artist Profile

Local band brings fresh

take onclassic rock

Bazaar page 6bbq page 7

band page 7

Judith Mae Aguilar | The Bridge StaffThe Planetarium stands just outside the Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center. It holds a variety of shows during the night that usually run on Tues, Fri and Sat.

LBV page 7

By Judith Mae Aguilar

@TheBridgeTAMIU

By George Gonzalez

jorge.gonzalez@dusty.tamiu.edu

By Anna Esteves@TheBridgeTAMIU

BIZZARE BAZAAR

George Gonzalez | The Bridge Staff

George Gonzalez | The Bridge StaffCrudeza, a band consisting of guitarists Jeorge Moon, James Reed, drummer Rene Hernandez and bassist Sergio Loera (not pictured) practice in anticipation of local gigs in Laredo.

George Gonzalez | The Bridge StaffThe Bazaar booths, often have a variety of works of art that come in various sizes available for purchase.