The Journey After Journey

The following article I wrote as a response to what Mr. Steve Aujery represents. He has not only touched thousands of people across the world but he has remained human and ready to inspire others.

On October the 5th, Autmus Fest brought to Texas A&M International University a great number of performers and musicians that entertained the student body and other locals who attended. Among these groups, there was one particularly star, Mr. Steve Augeri. Augeri is an American rock singer best known for his work with Tall Stories, Tyketto and Journey. Journey was founded in 1973 and has become one of the biggest American rock bands of all times; the band has earned 19 Top 40 singles and 25 Gold and Platinum albums.

Augeri arrived to Laredo early Saturday October 5th and had little time to experience the culture and the town itself. However, he tells us he was excited to be this far south. Even though Journey has a great number of fans in Texas, Augeri had never been to Laredo. Even though the time has been short, Augeri says “I love the architecture, I love the weather and especially I love the food!” “Sadly” he says, “we won’t be able to stick around very long.”

The singer shared with The Bridge his excitement of being here at TAMIU and that he doesn’t know what to expect. “Every time you are in a university setting, there is a great energy from the crowd, you know I am easily twice their age so I am going to feel like a vampire sucking their youthful energy and then I’m going to throw it back at them filtered through this old body and this old mind full of experience; I think we are going to enjoy each other very much,” he commented.

Even when the road was over in Journey, Augeri has put together his own band that he finds very appealing since it has members from different places in the country such as New York and Chicago. He believes that this can help the band to create material that would appeal to a larger audience. Augeri has, so far, released two singles, For the Rest of My Life and Behind the Sun, both available on iTunes. During the event, Augeri assures us that some of the greatest hits of Journey such as Don’t Stop Believing will be sang as well as his new material.

Augeri left the group Journey back in 2006 and had then to find his way up from there. He tells us that leaving the group was not only heartbreaking but also represented a “healing experience” as he calls it since by the time he left Journey, he was facing health issues. However, after a couple of years of recovery, Augeri was able to bounce back and do something that he loves “I was able to fulfill my dream of singing” he says “I was an astronaut not being able to go to space” he added.

Augeri gave us a little insight into what we should expect from him for the future and all he can say is that “we are just evolving, just like music, like the world is evolving and unfolding before our eyes; we welcome what the future brings and hopefully create more interesting music” “I think that what the world need is art, more and interesting art” he concludes.

Without forgetting about the university crowd, Augeri gives us a few words for the young people out there, “Certainly I was never a role model, nor do I think that I have the credentials to give advice, but one thing I can give is that ‘rather that success and money’, your main goal in life should be happiness, and that if you can make the world a little better, even a little better than you found it, you should feel fulfilled; be honest and listen to your heart.”

For more information about the artist, visit www.steveaugeri.com.

(Alejandro Meza can be reached at jalejandro_mezalopez@dusty.tamiu.edu)

Photo by Alejandro Meza

For the Love of Art

There are a great number of professors at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) and all of them are great educators with passion for what they do. However, this year we acknowledge one that has made out of TAMIU not only a career but also a part of her life, a professor that started from the bottom and worked her way up to being recognized not only for her first ten years teaching this year, but also for getting awarded “Teacher of the Year”.

Associate professor of communication for the department of Psychology and Communication, Marcela Moran, has come a long way to be where she is today. With her love for art, photography and film, she has inspired many students and professors throughout her career at TAMIU.

“I believe my first semester here was in 2003, photography class was the first” she said. “I was looking for a teaching job but my only experience was as grad student I was a teaching assistant for some film analysis, film history graduate courses and then I thought my own 16mm courses” they just needed a photo professor at TAMIU looking for someone that knew the technology and skills but could also understand art and teach it to others.  The class was intended for the areas of arts and communication. After her first year at the university, she came across the opportunity of creating a production course which the institution was missing; this represented a great opportunity not only for Moran, but also for all those students that during their professional lives were going to come across cameras and film, it was a chance to help them understand the process and not keep them from driving blind towards their careers. Making usage of her preparation on cinema and motion picture, Moran developed a course that was production but using digital filmmaking.

Without stopping there, Moran and the university developed a Media Production track. During this period, Moran was still a part time professor. However her drive and passion were more important that the title she carried. The Media Production track consisted of 18 hours of photo, video and media writing courses.

An opportunity to join as a full time professor with a communication program; during this period, Moran was being shared between the Art department and the Communication department. “The position was for media production which I had developed anyway so I landed a position” she says. This position would become a ten year track a year after she acquired it. “I have to say I am still being shared, now not only by Communications and Art but also by English and Literature with a Film and Literature course” she added. This way, Moran, having a specialized track, has the liberty of teaching in various areas of specialization without getting out of her main focus. “It is nice because I get to change the routine of things and meet students from different areas, so it is a nice change” She says.

During her student years, Moran assisted University of Texas (UT) in Austin where she joined the college of Communication to prepare herself on Radio, Television and Film. Then she pursued her terminal degree or Master in Fine Arts (MFA) at Ohio University with a concentration in Film “when you get you MFA you have to choose between Film, Painting, Drawing, Screen writing, etc.” she explained.

After all these ten years of career with TAMIU, Moran shares with us that recently she was awarded as Professor of the year under the department of Communications. This is the first time that she gets recognized for her teaching but not the first time being awarded in general. However, she doesn't consider this her most rewarding experience with TAMIU, “Teaching in general is rewarding. When you teach and you get the information across, and your students produce work that is of the caliber that can compete with other universities and other students from different places; that is even more rewarding, because that is proof that you are being successful and an effective teacher” she says. “Knowing that my students can compete nationally and internationally is even more rewarding” she added.

Moran is not only highly involved with her students and the school, but also with the community. She has collaborated with Literacy Volunteers of Laredo with service learning, giving her Film and Literature class students the opportunity of getting involved with the project by developing a short documentary focusing on the different places in Laredo where people are trying to make a difference by helping those who can't read or write to get better at it.

We asked Moran to share a piece of advice for all the students out there, whether they are at TAMIU or any other school. “The advice that was given to me was Do what you like.  I was always told choose something that you really like because you are going to do it for the rest of your life and if you like it, you will put all of your time and effort into it and you will be a happy person. Despite of all the hard work it takes because you actually like it” she said “I can tell you as an adult, I have seen many adults that aren't doing what they like, and even though they are making good money, they are miserable. I make a good living and I am doing what I like” she concluded.

With a rapidly changing industry as photography and film is, Moran has been able to stay tuned by teaching her students the basic foundation of these areas while keeping herself updated on the changes that technology has brought up on the concentrations. “Before TV people and Film people where very apart from each other, but today you can see that both industries are merging together” She said. “I find it a benefit for both students and professors” She added. As for her future, Moran is peripherally involved with plans of expanding the Media Production track to get the funds to get an actual Television studio that students can use. “The plan is that KLRN, which is the PBS station in San Antonio, they want to sort of partner with TAMIU to have production in Laredo, to air art and culture. I can't tell you exactly what they would air but they do want to have Laredo represented at KLRN and they want to do something with us as well as have the students benefit from that partnership” She commented “They are currently on the fundraising process to build a studio and to be able to grow the Media Production track into broadcast” she concluded.

To learn more about Moran, visit her website www.marcelamoran.com

(Alejandro Meza may be reached at jalexmeza9@gmail.com)

Photo Courtesy

Aspire to Inspire

From her humble beginnings at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), passing by The Post in New York and MTV.com, all the way to Laredo, TX, appears a hard working reporter that has proven that we do not need years of training or experience to excel in our professional life. Elizabeth Keatinge is a young reporter at KGNS-Laredo who has come a long way to be where she is at. She was born in LA and grew up to study English Literature at UCLA. However, her dream was to become a great reporter. One of her main inspiration to chase this dream was her grandmother, Mrs. Keatinge, who was a journalist. She warned Elizabeth that if money was what she was looking for, she was not going to find it in the news world. Nonetheless, this did not frustrate her aspirations since she was well aware that newspapers and television news was what her heart strived for.

Back in UCLA, she learned that if she wanted to pursue her dream she would soon have to leave home and move to a city where the opportunities would take her farther. That is when she decided to move to New York and chase her dreams. She began to work at The New York Post, an entertainment newspaper in NY City, where she covered mainly soft stories. However, that was not enough. She acquired a job at MTV.com where she wrote about music and films. It was through this experience that she got her first exposure to the usage of video production equipment. She also decided to increase her academic preparation and enroll at Georgetown University, where she would get a master’s degree in Journalism. After four or five years of working hard at The Post and mtv.com, Elizabeth decided that it was time for something different.

With little to none experience over Border City matters, Keatinge was hired in Laredo, TX where she learned that the culture was not the only factor she needed to get acquainted with, she needed to learn how to speak Spanish; but this would not stop her, “If something scares you, you should try it” she said. However, the struggle was not over for Keatinge, the position that she had gotten at KGNS Laredo was not only as a reporter, but also as the “cameraman”, who is in charge of filming the story as well as doing edits on it, and prepares it for every show, for her own stories.  She soon learned that having control over the images and the story gives the reporter the full power of creating a story according to how she imagines it should be seen. However, not everything was great news for her; she began to realize that this kind of career can get really stressful at times.

Keatinge gives us a little heads up about what other factors that young reporters should look out for in order to get great and informative stories. “The one and most important of them is that preparation is key” She said. For instance, to always know where to look and under what rock to dig in order to find good stories. She says that “little facts can spawn a whole story” and that is “always good to be in the lookout for those details”. One of the greatest things that Keatinge has learned is that it is “a great honor to have people share their lives and stories with her”. Her advice to journalists in border cities is that they should be aware of the language barriers and try their best to prepare to be at least 80% fluent in Spanish, and that’s just to be competitive.  

Some of Keatinge´s favorite topics are Small Businesses, the Farmers Market and humanitarian and social events at TAMIU. Finally, Keatinge gives us a reminder that even when hard, competition is healthy. As for her, even when she values every experience she has had, “she would never plan ahead” she says, meaning she enjoys every job she gets and hopes to keep it as long as she is needed to. However, she does have aspirations to get farther. Specifically, she would like to cover war stories, work overseas, and basically any story that involves traveling and getting international exposure.

Her visit to TAMIU has helped students in the Communication Department to better understand the professional environment for what they are preparing for. This makes the experience more valuable for those who are interested in pursuing a journalism career in Laredo or any other Border city. More information about Keatinge and other reporters in Laredo can be found at www.pro8news.com or at the KGNS offices located in Del Mar Boulevard.