upbeat spring 2015

A University Press magazine April 2015

See page 14.

Inside:• Mothers• Muslims• Midgetsand more.

MudbugMadness

UPbeatA University Press

MagazineApril 2015

EDITOR

Lauren Van Gerven

STAFF

Kristen Stuck

Grant Crawford

Elizabeth Grimm

Desmond Pickens

Caitlin Duerler

Coty Davis

Aarynn Davis

Kyle Swearingen

Brooke Stinebrickner

Okolo Ifeanyichukwu

Olamide K Oladunni

ADVERTISING

Melissa Conley

Cover photo byGrant Crawford

This issue of UPbeat is a production of the

University Press staff.

UNIVERSITYPRESS

A THIRTEEN-TIME ASSOCIATED PRESS MANAGING EDITORS AWARD WINNER

©University Press 2015

SMALL— page 18

CRAWFISH— page 14

BIRTH— page 10

PEACE— page 8

STUDY— page 4

www.lamaruniversitypress.com

A p r i l 2 0 1 54UPbeat PEOPLE

Text and photo

by Brooke Stinebrickner

Cleanlinessof thought

‘How Do You Study?’

Studying takes time, but Brooke Tait hasfound a unique way to maximize her time

— doubling up those precious momentsin the shower. “I have three kids,” the

Fannet junior says, “I have a 13-year-old,a 10-year-old and a seven-year-old. If I’m

at home, it’s constantly, ‘Mommy,Mommy, Mommy.’ In the shower, they

pretty much leave me alone.” Brooke saysshe uses the time to go over what she

learned in class. “If I am having to give aspeech, the shower is where I usually

practice — the showerhead is my audi-ence,” Brooke says. “I just go over stuff, I

think about what I have to say, what Iwould say. When I’m told essay questions,

I think about writing it and I say it outloud — people write it down to get what

they want to say out, I just say it.” Thereis some material Brooke cannot studyunder the falling water. “For the most

part, if it is something I don’t know about,then I will have to sit down and read the

book,” she says, but textbooks do notrespond well to a good soaking. For

Brooke Tait, a good shower cleans notonly the body, but refreshes the mind.

BROOK TAIT

A p r i l 2 0 1 5 5 UPbeatPEOPLE

JENN HOLT

Signs in the Window

Text and photo by Aarynn Davis

Swayed by Nature JOSH CARROLL

Tingling skin and sweat tracing down the body. Exam time isnerve wracking for all of us. But for Josh Carroll, the tinglingof the humidity and the sweat of spring heat, mixed with thesmell of freshly-cut grass, means it’s time to study. While stu-dents flock to the library to plunge themselves into countlesshours of memorizing equations or terminologies, the Hardinjunior takes his books and embraces the fresh air. “I’ve alwaysfound outside, under a clear sky, refreshing and it helps clearthe mind,” he says. “The best place to study varies — as longas it’s quiet. Rainy weather is distracting but calming, andsunny weather is nice and better to study in.” Josh’s preferredlocation is the gazebo by the Maes Building, where shade isoffered from the sun. At times, being outside can be too noisy.“If I can’t find a better place, then I go inside.” Studying alfresco was recommended by a friend, Josh says, and “it helpskeep me focused if I am studying with someone else.” TheComputer Information Systems major may spend most of histime indoors, but he needs to unplug and enjoy a fresh breezeof air to let the information really sink in.

Text and photo by Elizabeth Grimm

If you happen to be playing sand volleyball outside of MorrisHall on a sunny afternoon and you glimpse a young womanmaking intricate hand signals in the window, it’s probably

just Jenn Holt practicing sign language. “Studying during theday is what helps me focus,” the Missouri City freshman

says. “It helps when it’s a beautiful day, because when I needto take a break, I can just look out of my window.” The

American Sign Language major, who hopes to become aninterpreter when she graduates, says she likes to sit by a win-dow with music playing. “But not too loud,” she says, “I like

to have background noise so it doesn’t get too quiet. The goodthing about having my window open is getting the fresh

breeze that comes in. It’s like new ideas blowing my way.”Growing up, Jenn played softball, but a shoulder injury

ended thoughts of a collegiate career. “I do miss playing a lot,but honestly, I love signing and that’s what I have a passionfor,” she says. Until the day that she walks across the stageto get her degree, Jenn will continue to sit near the window

and practice signing until she feels her signs are fluentenough to take on the world of interpreting and teaching.


Text and photo by Coty Davis

Over the high-pitched sound of rubber wheels, with theworld speeding by, Macy Riggs listens to the cadence of afamiliar voice — her own. The Beaumont senior listens toher class notes while she rollerblades. “I like to work outand I needed to study, and I got tired of reading for hours

and hours in my room, so I decided to put the twotogether and study while I work out,” Macy says. Whenshe first started college, the management information

systems major says she was overwhelmed with theamount of lecture material. “I tried to think of a way tostudy while I do something else, because it was notes

after notes after notes of stuff I was trying to learn,” shesays. “I got an iPod touch and used the voice memo app.

I would make voice memos of me reading through myclass notes each day.” Then it was just a question of find-ing the time to listen to the notes. “I like to rollerblade at

the hike and bike trail in Beaumont, (so) that was mymode of study — I would rollerblade miles and miles

while I listen to my notes.” It’s a system that works andMacy is rolling toward graduation in May.

Wheelin’ inthe grades

MACY RIGGS

JOHNATHON DILBERRY

Text and photo by Kyle Swearingen

Many “Call of Duty” fanatics around campus play the game for fun.However, for Johnathon Bilberry, it is more than just a video game. Itis his key to good grades. “I used to hate studying for a test or any-thing because it was so boring,” the junior business major says.“Every time I went to the library or just sat in my room reviewing mynotes, I would always end up falling asleep, or get distracted by some-thing else.” So, Johnathon decided to play while he crammed. “Playing‘Call of Duty’ keeps me active and engaged in what I am studying —my grades have improved a lot since.” The Houston native says hestarted studying and playing the game one night before his accountingmid-term his sophomore year. He was caught up in multiplayer sur-vival matches, and did not want to stop. Johnathon pulled out hisnotes and started studying in between matches. He made a 90 on thetest. “From that moment two years ago, I realized I had accumulatedthe best study method for myself,” he says. “It’s a unique way of mak-ing good grades.” His GPA has risen, and with “Call of Duty: AdvanceWarfare” just released, Johnathon has his sights set on more A’s.

‘Call’ of Study

A p r i l 2 0 1 5 7 UPbeatPEOPLE

KETURA MCCLINTON

SABO OGBEIDE

Lying in bed relaxing with jasmine-scentedcandles lit all around a small-sized bedroom,lights are dim and the mood is set, and noone can disturb Keturah McClinton as shezones out on her full-sized mattress. Boseheadphones cover her ears and a sleep maskcovers her face. This might not sound like anideal college study session, but for the 23-year-old Lamar University business major,this is the only way she knows how. “I keepmy trusted sound recorder on in all of myclasses,” she says. “I learned a while backthat I am more of an audio learner. I love torecord the lectures and go back home andlisten to them in a relaxed state until I fallasleep — and even then I have them playingin the background on a speaker so the infor-mation can seep into my subconscious.” TheHouston senior has been studying this waysince high school and plans on continuingher study habit into graduate school. “Someof my professors don’t really lecture and theybombard us with notes, so sometimes I readthe notes onto my sound recorder and playthem to myself continuously,” Keturah says.While some students may sleep in class,Keturah sleeps on good grades.

Dreaming of an A

Thoughts in Motion

Text and photo by Olamide K Oladunni

More People, page 22

Text and photo by Okolo Ifeanyichukwu

Sabo Ogbeide is a haptic learner. “I just can’t sit still while studying,” hesaid. “I need to be active to stay focused.” Haptics learn better by experi-

ence, experiment and just moving. They have to pace around the room,they must have music or a television playing in the background. “I pace

around my room while studying for an hour and then I take a 20 minutebreak, I repeat the same process over and over again,” the sophomore

nursing major said. “I have to constantly be in motion while studying so Idon’t get distracted.” When he was in high school in Nigeria, Sabo could

not understand his classmates. “I would always look at other students andwonder how they were able to study while sitting still in a quiet atmos-

phere.” Sabo says that he can’t study for a long time without daydreaming.“I had more success studying while listening to music because I kept mov-

ing my head and my legs to the beat,” he says. “The motion keeps mefocused and awake.” So if you see someone pacing around with a textbook

in hand, don’t worry — it’s probably just Sabo cramming for a test.

A p r i l 2 0 1 58UPbeat

Education key to

STORY BY LAUREN VAN GERVEN

GRAPHIC BY DESMOND PICKENS

A p r i l 2 0 1 5 9 UPbeat

There are two sides to each story. Bothsides, however, are not always given equalweight. This is how it goes in all areas of life,including in the media.

Freedom of the press means that newsmedia are free to publish any information oropinion they desire. What is not allowed islibel, a false statement that is damaging to aperson’s reputation.

But what if such a statement isn’t hurtingone person specifically — but an entire group,or religion?

After Sept. 11, 2001, Mohammad K.Hamza, professor of counseling and specialpopulations, shifted away from his researchcentered around online education, to work ondiscovering the truth behind media bias andterrorism, and the consequences it has onMuslims around the world.

“I did a lot of counseling and planning foronline education,” Hamza said. “Me and mycolleague Alhalabi, from Florida AtlanticUniversity, developed something calledremote labs, so my work was mostly in com-puter science. Then 9/11 hit. When 9/11 hit,suddenly all my interest shifted.”

Hamza said he was shocked by the prop-aganda and broadcasts by reporters such asFox News commentators Steven Emerson andDaniel Pipes.

“I started saying, ‘Well, is there anythingwe can do to counteract what is going on?’” hesaid. “I wanted to see if the media, whateverthe kids were watching, if that was impactingthem.”

In his own life, Hamza had two specificexamples of how the media affected peoplearound him.

“After 9/11 things changed,” he said. “Itchanged for the worst. The father of mydaughter’s best friend said, ‘Well, you can’ttalk to her anymore, she’s a Muslim.’ My goodneighbor said, ‘Please don’t take it personal,but I’m afraid for my daughter because youmight be targeted.’ And his daughter wouldn’teven talk to my daughter anymore. So, therewere two separate incidents, and I’m going,‘This is the impact of the media. The media isreally doing a very bad job.’”

Hamza said that his biggest issue is howthe media bias affects children.

“I’ve seen and talked to many children,specifically as a psychologist,” he said. “I can’t

tell you the number of times I’ve talked to kidsand teenagers — since we’ve started talkingabout ISIS and ‘American Sniper’ — thatthose kids come to me, and say, ‘Today, thisis what they called me, this is what they saidto me, that I belong to ISIS, just because I’ma Muslim.’”

Another big issue is when acts of terrorhappen at the hands of a Muslim, Hamzasaid. The media immediately links that per-son’s identity to his religion, while this is notso when people of other religions commit sim-ilar crimes. Hamza cites the recent example ofnon-Muslim Roger Stockham, who wasstopped by police forces prior to executing aplan to bomb a Michigan mosque.

“You didn’t hear about it,” Hamza said.“It’s not this Christian, or this Jew did this,but it is this Muslim. Like the psychiatrist outof Fort Hood. He was a major in the army, andthen he went nuts. Why does religion haveanything to do with it?”

Oney Fitzpatrick, associate provost of stu-dent retention — who joined Hamza’sresearch after spending time in Morocco anddoing preliminary research on what Americancollege students really know about Islam —said that the whole idea of biased informationis to get people to think a certain way aboutwhatever the information is.

“That’s how stereotypes are perpetuated,”he said.

The level of attention a news channel givesto a certain event shapes the ideas of the pub-lic.

“What’s sad, is when they kill 200Christians it’s all over the news, but nobodysays anything when they kill 10,000Muslims,” Hamza said. “Why? Because whenI show that they are killing everybody, then Ishow that it has nothing to do with Islam.That’s very important, but when I only show

to you that they are killing Christians, what’sgoing to happen to you? You’re going to hateMuslims.”

Hamza said that he has no problem aslong as the information is authentic and real.

“Cast it as it is,” he said. “It’s amazing, it’sreally pathetic and sad when they twist (thetruth), and when they twist it, sometimes thepublic is naïve, watching only one channel —being programmed by one channel — andthinking that this is the truth. It is not thetruth.

“Objectivity is very important to me, espe-cially as a researcher, because, the more youreveal the unbiased truth, the naked truth,the better it is. The more you poison people’sminds with hatred, just because you don’tlike someone — if you’re gender-biased, eth-nic-biased, whatever it is — then you knowwhat? You are twisting the truth. If we takeagain the bias part, what is happening, we arecreating hatred. Is that good for our society?Of course not, that’s my point.”

Hamza said that this is a key reason whyhe moved from computer science into mediabias and its impact.

“I switched to the human model, the cog-nitive, because there is something seriouslygoing on here,” he said. “Many researcherssuch as Dr. Ashraf El Hubi, Dr. OneyFitzpatrick, renowned multicultural expertDr. Carlos Diaz, and Dr. Betty Duncan joinedme, so we started putting a lot of work in it.Then some people from overseas, such as Dr.Farah from Al Balqa University in Jordanjoined us.

“The first part of our research, which tookabout 10 years, was all about Western media.Now, we are starting to work — we startedlast year — at collecting data on how they per-ceive us, because there are two sides — I’veseen it from here, I want it to be fair, so howdo they see us from over there as well.”

Fitzpatrick said that most people don’t getanother perspective, which is why it is impor-tant not to focus just on the American side ofthe issue.

“We want to go back across the ocean andinterview people doing the same kind ofresearch, who are looking at what the views intheir countries are, to see what their views are

peace, understandingMEDIA PORTRAYALS OF MUSLIMS SOURCE OF CONFLICT

See MEDIA, page 17

“Within ten years, if this is not taken care of,

ISIS will be the dove of peace

compared to what is coming next.”


Pushing, screaming and pain — this is nor-mal for women who are giving birth. For moth-ers, the child who will receive enormousamounts of love is worth enduring the long,drawn out pain. Pregnancy and birthing can bea rough encounter, where women may feelalone and need support in the decisions ofbirth.

That’s where doulas come in. Doulas provide unbiased support whether

it’s during pregnancy or after, even offering sup-port after the loss of a baby.

Most people are unfamiliar with doulas, andthose that do know of them often confuse themwith midwives.

“I think a lot of people don’t know what therole of a doula is,” doula Amy Jones said.“They don’t understand what the differencebetween a midwife and a doula is — there’s abig difference. I think that probably the biggestmisconception is that if you have a midwife youdon’t need a doula or if you have a doula youdon’t need a midwife, or that the roles kind of

overlap — and that’s really not the truth at all. “Midwives do all the medical stuff. They’re

doing blood pressure, checking cervical dila-tion, doing any lab work monitoring the babies.They’re just making sure everyone is medicallyokay — physically okay. And that’s a really bigjob and so that’s kind of where the gap is — thesupport gap. Whoever is doing those medicaljobs, that’s really their primary focus. A lot oftimes men want to be really helpful, but theyjust don’t know what to do. You know it’s notintuitive for them to be nurturers. We feel thatdoulas fill a gap — a support gap in maternityservices.”

The role of a doula is to support thewoman, not make decisions, doula HeatherThomas said.

“Even with your doctors, doulas are notdecision makers — they are strictly support,”she said. “They are not going to talk to yourdoctor on your behalf. They are not going tointervene with your doctor — they’re not sup-posed to. That’s a huge misconception, where a

doula’s role is.”Thomas said that some men think the

doula is going to replace the father’s role in thebirth team.

“That’s not the dynamic we promote,” shesaid. “We really promote dad being mom’s pri-mary support, and our goal is to really bringthem together. Whenever we’re working with acouple, we devote an entire prenatal visit toshowing dad how to support her — physically,things to say to her, helping them communicatewith each other, and find things that she maynot want or women tend to find helpful or irri-tating and then minimizing that. Actually, atthe birth, our primary role is to physically sup-port mom so that dad can sort of be in her faceand her primary emotional support, if that’s thedynamic the couple wants.”

The role of a doula is to be supportive andunbiased, Tiara Little, doula in training, said.

“It’s nice to have someone who will helpeducate you and help give you answers tothings that you have questions about,” she

Braced for Birth DOULAS OFFER SUPPORT FOR PREGNANCY CHOICESSTORY BY ELIZABETH GRIMM • PHOTOS BY YVETTE MICHELLE


said. “It’s an unbiased support.”Little said sometimes, family dynamics can

be confusing, and that doulas are able to offeradvice and support that is objective and in tunewith the mother’s wishes.

“It’s not a sister who might have a differentopinion about what she thinks you should bedoing — we love our mothers, but it’s not com-ing from your mother,” she said. “We are justthere to give them the support that they need.

Even for postpartum and helping womenthat want to breastfeed, of having a good latchand initiating that even if they might not havethat breastfeeding support.”

Jones, who is also a breastfeeding peercounselor, said that doulas educate parents onpregnancy.

“I think that’s one of the biggest questionswe hear most often out of dad is, ‘I really wantto be her support person, why do we needyou?’” she said. “A lot of dads feel intimidated bythe thought of inviting someone into their birthspace. Men want to protect and they want a jobto do, also. Men are protectors and they are alsotypically really task oriented. In that way, wehelp prepare them prenatally by giving themspecific jobs to do while their partner’s in labor.

“I think a lot of the work we do, that maybepeople don’t know a lot about, is the prenatalwork. It’s a really big part of working with doulaclients and preparing them prenatally for whatbirth is going to look like, what’s going to behelpful and not helpful, and what it’s going tosound like and smell like. We have them watchbirth videos and we get on their living roomfloor with them, we do positioning with themand we show them things that they can expectus to suggest during labor.”

Jones, Little and Thomas are members ofthe Whole Mothering Center, Southeast Texasfirst cooperative doula practice. The collectiveencompasses a wide range of personal and pro-fessional experience, personality types andpractice styles for expectant mothers. Thomassaid that there is a wide network of doulasnowadays, and it is important to make andkeep connections.

“Connecting with a larger community isreally important to us,” Thomas said. “We makesure that we maintain good relationships withHouston-area doulas if we need to refer some-one over there. One of the things that we feel isreally important for doulas in general is a peerreview process. It’s something that midwiveshave, doctors have, other professional organiza-tions have it and it’s not something that’sestablished within doula care. We do that inour particular doula group and we also workwith a couple of Houston area doulas to dothat. We learn from those experiences.”

There are many different methods for child-birth, Jones said, mentioning hypnobirth, a selfhypnosis used as a way to cope with pain.

“It’s just repetitive use of these CDs theysend you, like tracks and affirmations,” shesaid. “The coolest birth that I’ve ever been to —

I’ve actually been to two births with this mom— she’s a local mom who’s had home births.She does hypnobirth. Both of her births havebeen, water births (and) home births (and) havebeen, what she says, completely pain free. Shedid the hypnobirth and just a lot of prepara-tion during her pregnancy and I rememberat both of those births it was exactly thesame thing. We were all just kind of there,just watching her labor, because therewasn’t much that she needed from us. Ata certain point she would reach downand feel and go, ‘I think my babiescrowning.’ And sure enough, bothtimes, she knew.”

Doulas support whateverbirthing situation themother feels is best forthem, whether it be ina hospital or a homebirth. Thomas saidhospitals are notbad, but home canprovide a more com-fortable atmosphere.

“Hospitals anddoctors have policies,and even midwiveshave standards andpolicies from their gov-erning bodies that theyhave to operate within,”she said. “And because ofthe amount of liability thathospitals and doctors have to cover, they aremore conservative in their practice. This is theirlivelihood. This is their job. This is how they

See DOULA, page 20

DoulaHeather

Thomas, farleft, assists Jessica andher husband

with the birthof Jessica’s

baby. Doula Amy

Jones, below,uses touch

and pressureto help

Jessica’s birth

process.

UPbeat graphic by Desmond Pickens


It’s that time of the year again— the time when friends and fami-lies come together to sit and feast.

No, it’s not Thanksgiving, orChristmas — it’s crawfish season.

Depending on the weather,availability and overall size, primecrawfish season starts around thebeginning of March and endssometime in June.

Some people refer to them asmudbugs, others call them craw-dads, but the folks of SoutheastTexas don’t get too wrapped up inthe name of these fresh water crus-taceans, only the quality.

One popular location to get ahold of this Cajun delicacy is Juju’sCrawfish Shak, located in Fannett.

Lacy “Juju” Carter has run thedown-home restaurant since shewas 19, when her father built herthe crustaceous shack.

“I remember when we firststarted,” she said. “We would get allexcited after selling like three bagsof crawfish. Now I can’t even counthow many we use.

“You’re only working a couplemonths out of the year, and youspend it cooking crawfish. You justcan’t go wrong.”

Be prepared to wait as there’soften a line heading out the door.

Inside the crawfish joint youwon’t find much — a few picnictables surrounded by sweaty faces,with Zydeco music playing in thebackground.

There’s a BYOB policy atJuju’s, and patrons are encouragedto bring their own coolers. Theyalso provide take-out service.

If you’re looking to avoid a drivePaige’s Seafood on Gladys Street inBeaumont has crawfish availablefor purchase, alive or boiled. Prettymuch any decent seafood restau-rant gets in on the crawfish craze.

Whether you like them spicy ormild, there’s nothing quite like asteaming plate of prehistoric look-ing monsters on your plate —unless they are already in yourstomach!

Crustaceous King of SpringPICTURE STORY BY GRANT CRAWFORD

SOUTHEAST TEXANSGATHER FOR MUDBUG

FEEDING FRENZY


about us, and how those have changed, orhow they are changing,” he said. “Just tocompare if you also find similar kinds of bias-es everywhere.”

A lot of biases in Western media are gen-erated from information delivered by homoge-neous experts, Hamza said.

“I mean, they’re all the same experts,” hesaid. “Suddenly, there’s an expert on terror-ism. We didn’t see them before (9/11). Theywould talk, and they would secrete poison tothe public. But now we know those individu-als, and they come in and talk with a lot ofconfidence, and it’s really ridiculous, likeSteven Emerson said that every Muslim fam-ily has the Jihad manual. We laughed aboutit, but it was sad — we were sadly laughing atall this.”

Earlier this year, the news showed ISIS allthe time, ignoring the chemical weapons andkilling by the Assad regime. Then “AmericanSniper” came out, which created more hatred,Hamza said.

“I swear to you, I knew something wasgoing to happen,” he said. “Well, three inci-dents of killing Muslims happened.”

Hamza said one incident was portrayed asan angry driver, another as a parking lot dis-pute.

“These are three (incidents) all over thecountry, well why? — because people are nowprogrammed to hate,” he said.

Muslim-Americans are upset, and tired ofbeing associated with someone else, Hamzasaid. They are not happy and are sufferingbecause of it.

“During the 9/11 era, it was a tragedy, sowe did a lot of faith-based counseling,” Hamzasaid. “We tried to reach out to synagogues andchurches, ‘For God’s sake, don’t believe whatyou see on TV. Question us. Our mosques areopen. Come talk to us.’”

Hamza said that it was ignorance and lackof education that created harm.

If the same kinds of bias continue, thetensions between different cultures are goingto remain, Fitzpatrick said.

“I don’t think it will be something that willbe easily overcome,” he said. “If nothing else,we have a history now of distrust between oneanother. So if you’re asking will things getbetter? I mean, I think they could over time,provided we start dealing with some of therealities of what’s being put out there. But aslong as information is skewed bias in onedirection, I’m not very hopeful that things aregoing to change dramatically.”

Because of media bias and the trouble inthe Middle East, there is identity confusionand anger amongst Muslims.

Hamza said that if we can’t treat everyone

with equality, we should at least try to showthe world what is happening.

“Extremism, killing, transgression — Ireally don’t think it has a god, a religion” hesaid. “I think it has to do with two things —power and money. If we do not come togetheras people, under one god — the force, what-ever you want to call it — and as one humanrace, I really think we are losing, becauseeveryone is losing, the innocent are losing.”

Hamza brings up the conflict in Syria,where according to syrianrefugees.eu, morethan three million refugees have fled to neigh-boring countries since the start of the war in2011. Many of the refugees are parentlesschildren.

“When the world doesn’t stand by them,and they are the victims of war — chemicalwars — and no one jumps to stop it, what are(those children) going to turn out to be?” hesaid. “Compare that psychologically to Al-Qaeda when it was created. Who were theirrecruits? They were the Pashtun childrenfrom the war with Russia. They were angrierthan hell about losing their parents and fam-ilies. What would you do if you were one ofthose children?”

Hamza said that the anger is moving. “It used to be only in Palestine, now it’s in

Syria, it’s moving to Egypt,” he said. “It’snever too late, I don’t think it’s too late, but Idon’t think that what I am asking for is goingto happen, because fairness is only in the

eyes of the powerful.”With ISIS having more than 30,000 well-

trained and well-funded fighters, Hamza isworried about the future.

“So what is going to happen?” he said.“I’m afraid to say what is going to happen,because it is not looking good. I am worriedabout it all over the world, because they arejumping from one place — Tunisia is nowinvolved, Yemen is involved, they are involvingeveryone. And do you think it is not going toreach Europe? It has already reachedEurope.”

After 9/11, Hamza looked at Al-Qaeda asa researcher and a psychologist.

“If hatred and fair dealings with theMiddle East will not change — specifically bysuper powers — Al-Qaeda will look like thedoves of peace compared to what might hap-pen,” he said.

Now, ten years later, Hamza says thesame thing about ISIS. He said that nohuman mind can comprehend what ISIS isdoing, which is why he refers to it as a“Satanic State.” However, “Within ten years, ifthis is not taken care of, Isis will be the doveof peace compared to what is coming next.”

“If I think that I can create a monstersomewhere, and that monster is not one daygoing to get me, I have news for you — you arenot going to be able to control it, and that’s

See MEDIA, page 21

MEDIAContinued from page 9


Technically, I am a midget.A midget is the term used for a propor-

tionate dwarf. According to Little People ofAmerica, dwarfism is defined as a medical orgenetic condition that usually results in anadult height of 4’10’ or shorter.

Now, most people don’t think, “Oh look! Amidget,” when they see me, but they do oftenthink, “Where is that small child’s parents?”

You see, I’m a measly 4’10,” and havequite the baby face for a 25-year-old woman.At best, most people think I’m in high schoolwhen they initially meet me.

I know when I am older I’m going to love

that people think I am so much younger thanI am, but for now, it’s generally more of a nui-sance.

For starters, I can’t reach most things.When I’m shopping I have two options — Ieither climb the shelves to get what I need, orI have to wait for someone to come near me soI can ask them to get it for me. I’ve literallygiven up on buying certain things, at times,because I couldn’t reach them and there wasno one around that could help me.

Just in case you didn’t know, thoseshelves aren’t really made for someone toclimb. I don’t want to brag, but I’ve probably

broken more store shelves than you have.Work is also a challenge. I work in a phar-

macy, and even though I have worked thereeight years, new customers always assume Iknow nothing about my job. It isn’t unusualfor new customers to not let me help them. Italways comes full circle when they have todeal with someone who is “older and wiser,”but doesn’t know what they are doing.

They always come back to me. Along with people automatically assuming

I have no idea what I’m doing, I am constant-ly referred to as “sweetie” or “baby.”Apparently, if you look young, you should def-

It’s not a small

Tall shelves not only issue when you’re 4’ 10”

COLUMN BY KRISTEN STUCK


world after allinitely always be called one of these names.Also, people love to touch you. Even though Iam little, I still have a personal bubble that Idon’t like strangers to enter.

But I still get a pat on the head.Going anywhere where there is an age

limit is always a challenge. Whether I’m goingto buy lottery tickets, liquor, walk into a casi-no, or even a movie, I am always carded.

Always.They don’t just check my ID either. Oh,

no. They check my birthday, they quiz me onevery aspect of the ID, they use the black lighton it, they stare at me repeatedly, then backat the ID, and then when they still can’t figureout how I have such a good fake ID, they callsomeone else over.

It’s exhausting. I can’t even imagine thepure pain that their brains are feeling. Howcould this pre-teen obtain such an amazingfake ID?

The upside to this situation is I am nor-mally pretty safe, because there’s always onesecurity guard who follows me around allnight.

Safety first, right? Another downside is all the obstacles that

“normal-sized” people fail to even notice.I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many

side mirrors I’ve walked right into goingthrough parking lots. I’ve literally hit one sohard that I fell down.

Nothing is more embarrassing than run-ning into a stranger’s car, and then having topeel yourself up from the concrete praying toevery god that you can think of that you did-n’t break anything on the vehicle — and thatno one saw you do it.

On top of the embarrassment, there isalso the giant red mark or goose egg on myforehead. Obviously, that is a telling sign thatI just clotheslined myself.

Out of everything though, the worst thingis when I am out anywhere and a strangerflirts with me.

I am well aware of how young I look. Evenall done up — which I am normally not — Istill look like I might be 16. That means thatwhen someone who doesn’t know me comeson to me, they probably think I’m at least thatyoung.

Let that sink in for just a second.There is nothing creepier than that — and

it happens far more often than it should. Itmakes me worry about society a little bit.

I would, however, love to be the bait on“To Catch a Predator.” I would absolutely loveto lure in some creep on the Internet to bebusted at a nice house by Chris Hansen. Ihave a bit of a mean streak in me that wouldtake full advantage of making these peoplefeel like they are even smaller than I am.

So NBC, if you read this, please contactme.

Now, of course, the men that hit on mealways aren’t older than me. In fact, some-times they aren’t even men at all — they stillhaven’t even hit puberty.

These young lads are sometimes evenmore persistent than the creeps. It’s reallyhard trying to convince someone that, in fact,no, you don’t go to their middle school — andcertainly are not in their art class. I’ve proba-bly made several young girls who actually dogo to their school look quite mean.

After I tell you “no” once, I don’t like torepeat myself. After a few times, I get agitat-ed. A few more times, I get mean. There is agood chance that I have made a few boys cry.

Dating in general is a hassle.

I genuinely feel bad for the guys that Ihave dated. No matter who I date, it neverlooks right. To make it worse, I have a ten-dency of being attracted to men who are olderthan me.

No man ever enjoys dealing with thishardship. I’ve learned to look past the staresof people around me, because I have dealtwith them for as long as I can remember, butfor someone who hasn’t had to deal with it,it’s rough.

Of course, looking like I’m still a baby isn’talways bad. I get into most things cheaperbecause they think I’m a child. At first, Ihated it when I would buy a movie ticket andthey would ask if I needed a children’s ticket.But then I realized I’m a broke college kid — Ijust saved $5.

I also quite often buy children’s clothes. This is probably my favorite thing about

being little. Although it can be a little difficultto find things that are age appropriate for me,I love it when I can find something good in thechildren’s section. Little boy’s T-shirts are myfavorite things.

I usually pay about half of the price of anormal pair of shoes, too. I can’t even shop inthe adult shoe sections of most stores. It’shorrible trying to find a good pair of highheels in my size. When I do find any shoe inmy size, I almost always buy them because Inever know when I’m going to find anotherpair.

Another upside to being the smallest inmy group of friends is going anywhere withthem and having people say anything about“their kid.”

These are the moments when I generallyplay up my small stature the most.

I can’t help but love it when my friends —who are only a few years older than me atbest — get asked about me being their child.The utter horror on their faces makes it sosweet. It’s probably the sweetest payback forall the times that they have made fun of mefor not being able to reach things or get inanywhere without an ID.

It’s also a guarantee that I will follow themaround the rest of the day calling them Momor Dad, and basically forcing them to buy methings in front of strangers.

Anyway, long story “short,” littlepeople are people, too. It’s a big worldfor a “normal”-sized person, but it’sabsolutely gigantic for us midgets.

Such terms as dwarf, little person, LP and person of short stature

are all acceptable,

although mostpeople would

rather bereferred to

by their namethan bya label.

“”


support their families. Understanding that theirgoal at the end of it is a healthy baby, a healthymomma. Your experience is secondary to thatgoal. It absolutely must be.”

Jones said that expectant mothers need tounderstand that doctors are consultants, notdecision makers.

“There’s a lot of things that women don’tunderstand about the way doctors practice,”she said. “Sometimes, there’s this mispercep-tion that doctors are decision makers and that’sactually not the case. They’re consultants andthey’re trained to provide services, like treat-ments for whatever ailment you have. They cando surgeries, they can prescribe medications,they can diagnose conditions and treat condi-tions. But you can decline any of those thingsat any given point as long as you’re still mental-ly capable to do that.”

Many people believe that once a woman hashad a cesarean, they can no longer have aVBAC — vaginal birth after cesarean — butthat is not true, Jones said.

“One of the things that’s really tragic aboutour area is that there’s not really anywhere in ahospital in Southeast Texas that a woman cango get a VBAC,” she said.

The American Congress of Obstetriciansand Gynecologists released a practice bulletinin 2012, and said most women are good candi-dates for TOLAC — trial of labor after cesarean,even women who have had multiple cesareans,Jones said.

“There’s not a doctor in Southeast Texaswho will allow a trial of labor after cesarean,even though their own governing bodies saythat they should,” she said. “Most of the hos-pitals in Southeast Texas have VBAC bans andmost of the OB’s in Southeast Texas won’t do it,even if the hospitals allowed it. The big hospi-tals in Houston, the big trauma centers inHouston and Galveston, they will do VBAC andthey will even do VBAC for women who walk inin labor.”

Doulas focus on what sort of experience thewoman wants for her birth, Leia Koehler, doulain training, said, adding that many C-sectionsare performed in hospital because the birth isfailing to progress according to a set guideline.However, part of that is due to the environment,she said.

“The labor isn’t progressing because themom is stuck to the bed,” she said, adding thatresearch shows that moving around helps stim-ulate the birth process.

“I think our biggest thing is that for thehospital they do this all the time — it’s aneveryday thing,” she said. “It’s their job andthat’s wonderful. but for this woman, this is herexperience and this is the experience that shewants. And so we just do our best to help herget that.”

Daphne Garcia, doula in training, said thatit is important to create a bond between themother and the doula.

“Before you go and have a baby, you’regoing to meet me at least three or four times,”she said. “We’re going to have an hour consult,and possibly an hour and a half meeting forthree separate occasions, and we’re going to goover laboring positions and we’re going to becomfortable with each other — we’re going to befriends.There’s a lot of comfort knowing thatsomeone is there. Whoever their partner is, it’show to best help the mother. There are tech-niques that help a woman, that a womanwants, that a husband may not even know. We

See DOULA, page 21

DOULAContinued from page 11

Doula Amy Jones assists Emily, who is also a doula, as she pushes through her pregnancy.


do not take the place of a husband, we add toit.

“Birth is the most natural thing and some-where along the way, (doctors) were like,‘You’re in pain, let’s do this and add this.Obviously, the medical interventions havehelped in some ways but really, a normalpregnant woman, or even someone who mayhave a little bit of issues, can still have a natu-ral birth or a vaginal birth without (drugs).”

Koehler said that every woman has differ-ent needs when it comes to the type of sup-port and birth experience they want.

“Many times, the doula is doing thingsthat the dad or somebody would have to bedoing,” she said. “Going to get food or drinks— the doula is doing that while the dad orpartner is providing the hands-on support.(Doulas are) making suggestions about posi-tion, providing hands on pain management,massage or pressure (or) using intelligenttouch to help with pain. And every mom is sodifferent. You don’t know what is going torelieve pain for one mom and what is going tomake another mom swear at you.”

Doulas take on many tasks throughout thepregnancy and even after the birth, Koehlersaid.

“Right now, I’m doing postpartum, so I goand support the mom after the baby hasarrived and provide breastfeeding support ifthat’s necessary,” she said. “I can do foodpreparation, help light housekeeping — justcoming in to help mom. I can help care forolder children.”

Koehler also teaches prenatal yoga. “I think prenatal yoga is really helpful to

prepare for birth,” she said. “You work a lotwith relaxation techniques — learning tokind of nip that fight-or-flight response andmove over into the relaxation response. Goinginto that fight-or-flight mode is pretty muchdeath to labor, because oxytocin will shutdown. There’s a lot of things that are hap-pening in a hospital just with lighting andthe sounds of machines and having peoplecome in and out that can trigger that fight-or-flight.”

Doulas bring a wide range of expertise tothe mother’s birth experience, Koehler said.

“There’s birth doulas, postpartum doulas— there are doulas that specialize in loss, theloss of a baby and can support you throughthat, and I think there have always been peo-ple that are there to provide death doula

services, and that’s something that is comingmore and more into the mainstream —doulas that specialize in the end of life tran-sitions,” she said.

Koehler said that women should knowthey always have a choice and a say in thebirthing process — it just takes research.

“It’s her birth, and she has rights and shehas the power of decision,” Koehler said. “Shehas the ability and even responsibility ofresearching her choices.

“I read something recently that talked aboutchild birth, and how most women approach thepurchase of a new computer, a new phone or anew car with way more research than theyapproach child birth. They’ll spend hours read-ing reviews and crowdsourcing information tomake the decision about what new thing they’regoing to buy.

“But they just walk into birth. Theymaybe go to the OB that their insurance saysthey can go to. They trust that doctor andcertainly trust that doctor to manage illness ifillness occurs — trust that doctor to be ableto provide life-saving measures if they arenecessary.

“But, research your options. Learnabout the physiological process of birth,decide what it is you want from yourbirth. You have choices.”

DOULAContinued from page 20

what’s going on”Fitzpatrick said that for extremist groups,

such as ISIS, using religion as a tool is not anew tactic.

“Like many religions, you can use it to putyour point forward, to pull out whatever partssupport your views,” he said. “That’s probablywhat ISIS has done.

“It’s not the first group to have done that.Many people have argued that over the cen-turies that Christianity has done the samething with the crusades, or to justify slavery.

“I think that the important thing is forpeople to read, and to understand for them-selves, and open discussion. There are alwaysgoing to be people that are going to agree withthe radical approach. And you take pieces outof it, to support whatever your particular ideais. It can be sound bites, videos, readings,whatever. You can continue your agenda andget people to believe whatever it is you wantthem to believe, if you present it long enoughand in the right format, tap into what peoplehave a need for and just capitalize on that.”

In order for things to get better, the publicneeds to be educated, Hamza said.

“People don’t have time to investigate and

research,” he said. “So they depend on themedia.”

Hamza said there is really only one way toimprove understanding between cultures.

“Education, education, education — andreaching out,” he said.

Hamza said an inter-faith conference tookplace at the Islamic center in Beaumont lastNovember.

“We invited the Rabbi of the synagogue, afew officials and Christian leaders — it wasgreat,” he said. “And the reason why it wasgreat, when you walked in, there were Jews,Muslims, Christians, everybody was thereand was talking.

“I think that when you create a mystery,that’s where problems happen.”

Fitzpatrick said that it’s hard to get peopleto research and to look in to different matters,because people like their information quick

and succinct.“We don’t like the idea of digging into it,”

he said. “But, I really think if you’re going toget into the real root causes, and you reallywant to institute change, that’s what it’s goingto take — lots of conversations. It’s going totake more and more interactions.

“I think that we’re going to have to be will-ing to sit across from each other and debate,but I think, in the end, we’re going to have tobe willing to maybe disagree on some areas,but that doesn’t mean we can’t coexist.”

Without looking at diverse sources, whatone watches becomes one’s reality, Fitzpatricksaid.

“For people, their perception is their reali-ty,” he said. “What they get is what they aregoing to believe. Until we can expand that —and have a constructive debate — we aregoing to continue to see people build wallsand there is going to be contention.”

Hamza said that the optimist in himbelieves that through education things will getbetter.

“I know I’m only a drop in the ocean,” hesaid. “But, my goal is to bring some peace tothe world by taking time out of my own life,sitting, talking about it.

“So, in the next ten years — and Ihope that what I think is going to hap-pen doesn’t happen, but it’s not lookingpretty — I hope for peace.”

MEDIAContinued from page 17

“Extremism, killing, transgression — I really don’tthink it has a god, a religion.

I think it has to do with two things,

power and money.”


Pianist and composer Caleb Fontenot approaches jazz not only as art, but also asconversation — a conversation that has to be studied, broken down, and absorbed.However, the “test” is no scantron, it’s the final sound that comes from the piano.“What you do as a jazz player is look at tunes from the ’30s, ’40s and so on, that allthe greats have written. The understanding of jazz is usually that you are able toabsorb the language, the genre, and do with it what you want to.” The LamarUniversity alumnus plays a few notes. “If you think of the 88 notes that you aregiven on a piano, these are the only notes that have been used over time,” he says.“Beethoven used these same 88 notes, Mozart.” Caleb graduated with a degree inmusic composition in December and currently works in the music department as atutor, lab monitor and recording studio assistant. The Port Neches native says jazzpeople use the same musical language — the 88 notes — but have different conver-sations. “I take elements I enjoy and create my own sound, and put my influenceon the tune.” Even though he has his degree, Caleb never stops studying the lan-guage of jazz.

Keys to ConversationCALEB FONTENOT

Text and photo by Caitlin Duerler

upbeat spring 2015

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