The Battalion: January 24, 2018 by The Battalion

BIPARTISAN BAR

The Angry Elephant provides space for debate and drinks By Taylor Fennell @TaylorPFennell By serving food such as “The FDR All-American Dog” and “The Bill Clinton Dirty Chili Cheese Dog” along with “liberal cocktails at conservative prices,” a new politically-themed bar in College Station is providing an atmosphere for fans of politics to let loose and discuss their views. The Angry Elephant, a bar and grill franchise with two locations in San Antonio, opened its first location in College Station earlier this month. The bar, located on William D. Fitch Parkway, boasts of a comedic menu and is decorated with pictures of former presidents. Chip Ingram, owner of the Angry Elephant franchise, said the bar is open for customers from both sides of the political spectrum. Because of this, he said the bar can feel like a sports bar on election days. “We’re not strictly a Republican or Democrat bar,” Ingram said. “I was open for the first election between Obama and Romney, and it was like a Super Bowl atmosphere. People would come in and sit on the right or the left, and they watch, yell and clap. Sometimes they get after each other, but it’s always in good fun.” Ingram said he doesn’t expect his customers to agree on everything. He said he wants to provide them a

place to disagree, and have a drink while doing so. “At the end of the day, people are more divided, not less divided when it comes to politics,” Ingram said. “People are more visceral, more angry than they’ve ever been. God forbid people sit down and don’t agree with each other and have a drink. At the end of the day, that’s the theme of this place.” A large Budweiser cartoon hangs on the back wall, featuring an elephant and donkey toasting drinks and reads, “When gentlemen agree.” Other posters feature President Nixon’s infamous peace sign and President Obama smoking a cigarette. Tressie Medlock, Class of 2007, said the fun decorations provide the perfect atmosphere for a political discussion. “I think you could probably come in here and have a nice conversation,” Medlock said. “The decor and funny menu lightens the mood, so that opens up room for a nice, healthy political conversation.” Ingram recalled one of the most interesting occurrences that since opening the bar, when Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin visited his San Antonio location. According to Ingram, a customer brought Walker the Angry Elephant menu, which features a “Scott Walker Bratwurst,” inspiring the visit. “His people called my cell phone and they said, ‘The governor is going to be in town. He heard you had ANGRY ELEPHANT ON PG. 3

The Angry Elephant offers customers politically themed entrées and drinks in a unique atmosphere. C. Morgan Engel — THE BATTALION

Cristian Aguirre — THE BATTALION

Jennifer Mercieca, an associate communication professor, started Aggie Agora in the fall of 2015.

Discussion in division The founder of Aggie Agora discusses program and A&M By Kenya Robinson @_KenyaJ In early Greek history, in the time of city-states, major cities would make space for the agora: The center of town meant for communication and fellowship. In that same vein, associate communication professor Jennifer Mercieca founded Aggie Agora. Aggie Agora is a part of the College of Liberal Arts and focuses on facilitating positive political conversations among students. Throughout the school year, Aggie Agora hosts events such as Workshop Wednesdays to discuss political engagement and a Friday Lecture Series based on a specific theme. For the 2017-2018 school year, Aggie Agora’s theme is based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s “Hidden Figures.” Shetterly’s novel was se-

lected for the College of Liberal Arts’ Common Ground Reading Initiative, an effort to create a learning community through a shared reading experience for first year students. Mercieca has been a professor at Texas A&M since 2003 and said she considers herself very fortunate to join the communication department in the College of Liberal Arts. “It was my first job outside of grad school and I was very lucky to get it,” Mercieca said. “When I came here, this communication department was very well known for its department in presidential rhetoric and one of the best places in the country for research and scholarship, which is one of my interests, so I felt like I won the lottery.” In 2015, Mercicia co-chaired a committee that focused on getting the entire university involved in the 2016 Presidential debate that was potentially going MERCIECA ON PG. 3

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Howdy Farm provides produce to local farmers markets and hopes to begin cooking demonstrations with the food they grow.

Fighting frost and facing the future Students continue tradition and hope to grow in spring By Megan Rodriguez @MeganLRodriguez Despite the winter weather and chaos of a new semester, the Sustainable Agriculture Student Association’s (SASA) start to the year has been a success, one they expect to maintain through the spring. SASA, more commonly referred to as Howdy Farm, is an organization that grows fresh produce on the Texas A&M campus and sells their harvests to local farmers markets. The organization’s goals for this semester include teaching people how to cook with the food they grow, finalizing partnerships with The 12th Can, A&M’s food pantry and a continued search for increased student involvement.

The purpose of the farm is to encourage students to get in touch with the food they eat, according to Megan Turner, bioenvironmental science senior and president of SASA. “We want to promote sustainable agriculture practices,” Turner said. “Another thing is just reconnecting people to where their food comes from ... reconnecting people with these processes they rely on and empowering people by giving them the skills and teaching them so they can grow their own food and be more self reliant.” This winter, the farm has had to contend with unusual weather, including snow in December, temperatures 10 degrees below average near the new year and more cold days than normal. These struggles led to the loss of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and banana trees. However, due to other carefully planned crops which could sustain cold weath-

er and watering plants before big freezes to prevent them from drying out in the cold, the farm did not suffer overwhelming loss. “We didn’t actually go to market until March last year because we had a little bit of freeze and didn’t have enough crops that could handle cold weather like that,” Michael Legorreta, Howdy Farm manager, said. “It’s kind of a big win to have outfought the winter ... just the fact that we were even able to go to market at all. I think it’s a really big win for us.” While cold fronts and freezes are still a possibility until March or April, Legorreta said he doesn’t expect significant damage. This semester, Howdy Farm is working toward giving donations to The 12th Can and are currently sorting out the logistics of storing fresh produce, according to Turner. HOWDY FARM ON PG. 2