International Symposium on Online Journalism

Kidnapping (Podcast)

Click here for the audio to the podcast.

Spanish Transcript (Original)

Estoy en el teléfono con una persona que se encontraba en bienes y raíces cuando sufrió un ataque en parte del cartel.

Tres sujetos armados, con armas de alto calibre entraron y nos dijeron que nos tiráramos al suelo.

Y nos tiramos al suelo. Mi compañero y yo y el dueño de la agencia de bienes y raíces trato de quitarle el arma a uno de los secuestradores y forcejeó con él y le dieron un culetazo en la cabeza y yo esta acostado ya en el piso y vi como cayo convulsionado del golpe que le avían dado en la cabeza.

Entonces a mí me pusieron……….. el arma ……..en mi cabeza. Me dijeron que no me moviera…….. me esposaron y ya que nos subieron esposados todos nos levantaron y nos echaron a una camioneta. A la caja de una camioneta.

Después de viajar en la camioneta llegaron a una casa de seguridad

Llegamos a la casa de seguridad. Nos transculcaron, nos quitaron los shorts nos quitaron….. todo esteee…. nos raparon, nos vendaron, nos esposaron. Nos dejaron nada más en ropa interior. Estábamos en un cuarto cuando llegamos. Estaba muy frio, demasiado frio. Entonces uno de los, de los que custodiaban ahí la casa de seguridad este le dijo “oye ahí viene el comandante, híncalos, híncalos, híncalos, híncalos! Ya no tarda en llegar” y en ese momento que nos hincaron pues llego el comandante. El comandante de ellos verdad?  Un tal comandante Hummer. Entonces nos hincaron y pregunto inmediatamente en cuanto entro dijo, “Quien es el federal de caminos?” y luego pues ya le dijo unos de los, des  las gentes que estaban ahí. Custodiándonos dijo “Pues este” “Bueno a ese federal de caminos échenlo pa fuera, pa ya pal patio” Y a mí, me agarra la cabeza y me dice “Profe usted no se preocupe todo está bien, todo está bien usted y su compañero mañana se van.”

En eso, lo dejan y luego lo vuelven a llamar y le hacen preguntas sobre su persona y también preguntan de dónde lo levantaron.

Después de eso le raparon todo el cuerpo menos las pestanas y lo regresaron al cuarto.

Pasó el tiempo y empezó a escuchar algo raro.

Entonces escuche que alguien se quejaba, que alguien murmuraba. Que avían personas murmurando. Ósea no se les entendía porque traían una venda o una cinta en la boca y estaban murmurando. Entonces uno de los que nos cuidaban ahí les dice a estos cuates “OYE YA CALLENSE DEJEN de estar hablando!”

Total, después de escuchar eso decide no dormirse pero se rinde y luego lo despiertan.

“Levántate, te vas a meter a bañar” y pues le  dije “oye no yo no quiero bañarme tengo mucho frio.” “no pues no te estoy preguntando te levantas y voy por ti porque te vas a meter a bañar” y ya llegamos donde está la puerta del baño y ahí en donde me avían pelado y me dice “Mira, las reglas son estas: te quitas la venda adentra del baño, cuando salgas del baño no vayas a salir sin la venda puesta porque si sales sin la venda puesta te va a pasar lo que le paso a estos” entonces le dije “No. Está bien, yo no me voy a quitar la venda.

¿Y que le paso a estos, apoco los mataron?

No a estos cuando me dijo estos, le dije “No no te preocupes yo no me voy a quitar la venda.” Y me dijo “No, quiero que los voltees a ver” y le dije” No no, es que no los quiero ver” y me dijo“No no es que no te estoy preguntando. Quiero que voltees a verlos” y le dije “No pues esque yo no los quiero ver” “No es que te estoy diciendo que los voltees a ver” y me metió un golpe en las costillas. Entonces cuando me mete el golpe en las costillas pues yo volteo a ver a los que estaban a hi. Y si eran unas personas muy obesas como unos 130 kilos cada uno. Estaban esposados de pies y manos boca abajo con cinta gris en la boca y estaban murmure y murmure y murmure. Quien sabe que dirían ósea no se les entendía absolutamente nada porque traían la cinta ahí en la boca entonces ya le dije “Ya los vi ya me voy a meter a bañar” Y me dijo “No, ahora quiero que me voltees a ver a mi” y le dije “No nombre a ti no. Yo no te quiero ver” me dice “Es que quiero que me voltees a ver” Y le dije “No, es que si te veo yo no voy a salir de aquí y a mí el comandante dijo que si me portaba bien pues yo iba salir entonces no te quiero ver” “No, vas a voltear a ver!” Entonces me da un golpe y me da otro golpe en las costillas y entonces ya lo volteo a ver y me asusto ¿no? Ósea le hago como que me asusto porque si la verdad comoquiera me asuste porque traía una máscara puesta de calavera. Entonces volteo y le digo “¡Ahí Canijo!” le digo “!Estas bien feo!” y me dice “Ándale ya métase!’ y me da una patada y me meta al baño. Me empuja para que me meta al baño. Y pues ya me metí a  bañar y nada, me dio jabón me dio un cepillo de dientes, me dio pasta me dio un rastillo para que me rasurara y ya me metí y ya me estaba bañando y todo pero antes de meterme a bañar yo..

En el baño, busco una forma de escaparse y solamente encontró una ventana.

Por la ventana escucho los gritos de su amigo el ex federal.

Se bañó, se puso la venda y le hablo al sujeto para regresar al cuarto.

Me salgo, y me da un golpe en la cabeza con la mano y me dice “Porque te tardaste tanto profe?” y le dije “no pues lo que pasa es que mira avía un champú ahí y me lave el pelo, por eso me tarde tanto” entonces me dio otro tancazo en la cabeza y me dijo “No seas payaso no trais ni pelo!” Toda la gente que estaba allá adentro en el cuarto se rio. Entonces yo oi risas diferentes de tanta gente que estábamos ahí. Yo creo que avian como unos 12, 14 gentes ahí en esa casa de seguridad

No le daba miedo hacer chistes porque el comandante Hummer le dijo que iba a salir de ahí

Le pedi mucho a dios, que estuviera conmigo y si pues si era mis últimos días que le encargaba mi vida y me ponía en sus manos y si me llegan a matar pues adelante verdad?

Antes de dormir se dieron cuenta de algo

Entonces pero en el inter, antes de quedarme dormido le dice uno delos que nos cuidaban ahí “Oye ganso, oye estos cuates ya no murmuran” Osea los que estaban murmurando que eran los monos que estaban ahí encadenados ya no murmuran. Y yo también yo ya no los oí dije “Si es cierto ya no murmuraron” entonces le dice ganso “Levantate y ve a revisarlos” Y fue y el cuate que reviso dijo “Oye sabes qué? Están muertos” “¡¿Como que están muertos?!” Dijo “Si, están muertos” “¡No puede ser hombre! A ver deja ver.” Ya se levanta el ganso y ahí checa y “Ahhh si es cierto. Dile al comandante. Háblale al comandante y dile que estos cuates ya se murieron” Entonces llega el comandante “¡A ver!” Ya los checo el comandante y dijo “No pues si están muertos ¿saben qué? Levántenlos, llévenselos de aquí y a ver dónde los tiran” Y se los llevaron y ya no oi murmullos, ya no oí nada

El día siguiente los forman contra la pared y les dan de comer Y finalmente se les acerca y les dicen

Le dije “No pues quien sabe a qué hora nos vayamos ¿verdad?  Porque yo pensé que nadamas me avian dicho a mí.” Pero dijo “Ya se van!” Entonces le digo “Yo y mi compañero. El ex federal no creo que se valla con nosotros” “No pues si” Nos empezaron a regresar la ropa. Me puse mis shorts, me puse mis tennis, mis calcetones. Me regresaron una playera que no era mía y dije “Pues esta no es mia” “Tu pontela.” Ya veníamos en el camino. Estaba oscuro.

Mientras manejaban los amenazaban con muerte pero finalmente los dejaron escapar. Al llegar le pidieron que haga una demanda pero no quiso y los medios de comunicación consiguieron tomar una foto de él y ponerlo en el periódico. Quedo traumado unos tres meses después del secuestro. A veces se levantaba en la madrugada gritando y corría  fuera de su casa. Pero en estos momentos se encuentra bien. Yo soy Rocío Tueme, reportando.

Hölle the tattoo artist

SAN ANTONIO – Cigarette smoke fills the room, backstage. The surroundings are dark and opaque. Women in corsets decorate the dance floor in anticipation for an international metal band, Rammstein. Off to the side, sky-blue eyes pierce the smoke. Her jet-black hair contrasts the colorful designs on her arms.

“My name is Hölle, it means hell in German,” she answers. “I was born in Frankfurt, Germany.”

 Hölle is a tattoo artist. She has been interested in tattooing since an early age.

“In Germany, when a child gets sick it is a tradition to give the child a gift because medicine was too expensive. If the child was sick, and medicine could not be afforded, the parents would want for the child to at least be happy,” she explained.

Hölle Hellfire has known she wanted to be a tattoo artist since she was six years old. She felt that knowing what she wanted to do with her life at such an early age might have deprived her of a normal childhood.

“When I was six years old, I got sick and my father gave me a gift. It was a tattoo magazine. I knew I wanted to be a tattoo artist since then.”

She got her first tattoo at the age of 11. “It was shooting stars; I did it myself. I had to hide it from my parents,” she explained.

Hölle only gets tattoos on herself if that piece of art holds a deep meaning for her. Most of her visible tattoos are on her right arm. From top to bottom her tattoos on her right arm are: A Portrait of Marilyn Manson, a herse, her cat Kiki, the bride of Frankenstein, an interpretation of her soul, and “Momo.” 

A Marilyn Manson tattoo on her upper right arm. His aesthetics and music have greatly influenced Hölle's life and helped her through a rough childhood.

“I got the Marilyn Manson tattoo actually on a whim. I was hanging out with my best friend and made the comment that I would love to get a color portrait of Marilyn Manson tattooed somewhere on me because his music had such a big influence on me artistically. When I was young, the intelligent lyrics to his songs changed the way I saw things. I know his music isn't for everyone because he's seen as a ‘weirdo’, but due to having such an open, artistic, and mature mind for the age that I was, the music really stood out to me. It was beyond Aesthetics; beyond my fascination with the image he became famous for. I had a pretty rough childhood and the music helped me escape it all.”

She actually met Marilyn Manson once. At the age of sixteen, Hölle added Marilyn Manson on myspace and he noticed a piece of art in her photos. He became interested in that artwork and offered her $1,300 for it. He said he would put it in his museum. Hölle gave Marilyn Manson the artwork for free; her condition was that he could not use her artwork on his museum because then the museum would not be his anymore.

A tattoo of Kiki, Hölle's cat. Kiki currently suffers from melanoma on his eye and might need radiation or removal.

Below the Marilyn Manson tattoo, Hölle has a tattoo of a black Hearse on her antecubital. She owns two Hearses and explains that the Hearse is the best car anyone could own because “you could drive to the beach and sleep in it [the Hearse].” She also explains that when she moved, all her belongings fit in her Hearse. She only had to make one trip.

Under the Hearse she has a tattoo of the face of a cat.

“The cat tattooed on my arm is actually a cartoon version of my cat, Kiki. I've had Kiki since he was two weeks old and the cat has been through my toughest times in life without ever leaving my side. When I first got him, a little girl broke his back. I put him through kitty rehab rather than letting the Vet decide that he would never be able to walk. I was told that being so young, the best thing I could do for him was to put him down. He will be seven this year and he now walks and is able to climb. He's still trying to learn how to jump, which he's getting better at, but he still needs a step stool for most higher places. I recently found out that he has melanoma and will need to have his left eye removed. He may possibly have to undergo radiation treatment. I'm confident that he will pull through this due to how strong he has already been. So the tattoo represents him and his will to make it through anything that is put in his path... and also because I love him like a child.”

A tattoo Hölle dedicated to her father. It was the creation of a famous tattoo artist, Tony Ciavarro.

Next to Kiki, Hölle has a green tattoo of the bride of Frankenstein. This particular tattoo was dedicated to her father.

“When I was very young, I didn't see my father very much at all because he was always working. He worked at a factory called Lancer, which closed years ago. The very few times I would see my dad, he would always watch classic horror movies. As a child, I was not allowed to watch horror movies. ‘It'll give you nightmares,’ [her father would say]. My father would let me watch Bride of Frankenstein with him and it became one of my favorites. I think I loved the movie more because I was being granted this special, extra time with my dad and well, I was always a daddy's girl. The tattoo was actually designed by a tattoo artist by the name of Tony Ciavarro, who is famous for cartoon style tattoos.”

An interpretation of Hölle's soul. The meaning of this tattoo to her is "beyond what words can say."

To the right of the bride of Frankenstein there is the blue figure of a woman. There are red arrows coming from the blue figure’s heart. Hölle says that this tattoo is the representation of her soul.

“The meaning to me is beyond what words can say,” she explains. “This is the way I see my spirit.”

A tattoo dedicated to her late great grandmother. Hölle found that her great grandmother had passed away and felt closure after getting this tattoo.

Under Kiki’s face, there is a coffin on top of a rose. There is a skull inside the coffin and the word “Momo” decorates the lower half of the tattoo. Momo is slang for the word “Oma” which is German for “Grandma.”

“My great grandmother was one of my best friends until she passed away when I was fifteen. When I was fifteen, I walked to her house to invite her to dinner. Her front door was unlocked and the dogs were still outside, which was odd for the time of day. Ask any German. We are all organized, on schedule, on time. ALWAYS! I ended up walking to her bedroom to find her and then her bathroom; where I found her lying dead on the floor. It's an image that I cannot get out of my head, even today. Ever since getting the tattoo, the nightmares from the event have subsided; which I guess means that the tattoo gave me closure.”

Hölle's late pet tarantula, Rosa. Her friend helped Hölle taxidermy Rosa by spraying formaldehyde on the tarantula.

Besides tattooing, Hölle also likes to collect animals and put them in jars of formaldehyde. She gained interest in doing this since middle school. She had a science teacher that had hundreds of preserved specimens and that is how she became interested in collecting them. She bought them off amazon.com at first but that eventually became too expensive so she bought five gallons of formaldehyde and went looking for road kill. Among her notable specimens she has her pet gerbil, Ivory, and her pet tarantula, Rosa, preserved.

“Rosa was a pet of mine. I got her from a pet store that treated her really badly. She eventually took to me and I was able to handle her without her getting defensive. Due to a stressful life at a young age, unfortunately she didn't make it long. I was pretty devastated when I saw her die. So much so that I didn't have it in me to taxidermy her myself. I had a friend of mine, Ratchet help me out with preserving her.”

Ivory, Hölle's pet gerbil. Her cause of death was unknown to Hölle at first but she later found out that the gerbil was missing a paw. Ivory must have hurt herself and then chewed off the paw.

"Cadaver rose" tattooed on the belly of a pig. It is preserved in a jar of formaldehyde.

A photograph of her portfolio. This is one of her realism pieces.

A tattoo she made on a client. The client is a musician so he wanted speakers on the forehead and mouth of the art.

 Hölle Hellfire currently resides in San Antonio, Texas where she pierces and tattoos her clients for a living. She is also an alternative model and photographer.

UT Professor Séance

BMC 2.106 – The room is dark. Candles line the walkway of the auditorium. A projector and two wide screen televisions display a black background, a splash of white and an eye in the center of the image. The professor walks to the left side of the room and then to the right side of the room; he is holding a microphone.

The professor had a little bit of a gift for his students. He explained he would try to reach those who had passed on in their lives. 

“If this interferes with any of your religious affiliations, or makes you uncomfortable, feel free to leave,” the professor advised. 

After this suggestion, eight to ten students stood up and left the room. The professor walks to the left side of the room, and pauses. 

“I’m seeing miles and miles of blue skies and I hear folk music being played.” Suddenly, a girl in the same side of the auditorium gasps loudly. The professor approaches her seat and hands her the microphone.

The student explains that her friend Myles had died in the past couple of years and that he was a folk musician. The professor smiles and proceeds to ask “He was really short wasn’t he?” the student agreed. The student proceeded to talk more about her deceased friend, Myles, with a few tears rolling down her cheeks. “Her voice trembled,” the student Alison R. Herschap recalled.

The professor walked again from left to right and received more messages from spirits. One spirit apologized to a student for eating too much candy. The spirit was diabetic. Another spirit expressed. “I do not need my glasses anymore,” the corresponding student explained that his relative made a big scandal at the funeral because the deceased was not wearing his glasses. She did not want the deceased to be buried without his glasses.

Herschap explained that she thought a lot about what she had seen in class that day and had concluded that the students whose deceased took part in the séance were probably paid to be there. Nevertheless, she later noticed that she is classmates in a different class with Myle’s friend.

After speaking with Myle’s friend, Herschap became a believer. “I have to say, at first, I was a skeptic but the things that [the professor] said were right on the spot. When class was finished, everybody walked out speechless. I just hope that if he ever performs a séance again, some of my passed relatives will try to reach me too!” Herschap exclaimed.

Professor Josh Gunn explained he would only perform a séance in the first day of class. During the séance, he reached around five people. Professor Gunn’s accuracy aroused mixed sentiments among the students. Some laughed, a few cried. By the second day of class, around seven people dropped the course. Nevertheless, Professor Gunn is still very popular among students.

“Professor Gunn is a really cool guy. Don’t get me wrong, his teaching style is a little unorthodox but students end up appreciating that in the end. He really connects with the kids,” said Rachel Plumley, Professor Gunn’s former student. “He has an interesting style. I guess you could call it goth, but that would be a stretch. The way he dresses adds to his entire persona,” Plumley explained, referring to professor Gunn’s appearance.

Herschap also explained how popular the professor is, “he told us that his students bring their friends to class,” she expands “He also told us that one of his students brought his mother to class once.

Apparently, that particular class was heavy on obscenity. The mother got very offended and reported it to the school. He did not get fired, of course. His students love him too much. He has a lot of really good reviews.” Herschap believes this is the reason why the professor’s policy is to decline interviews, even from journalism students.

His séance might have been popular among most students but not so popular in church. When asked about the church’s opinion Father Jamie Baca, of the University Catholic Center, expressed “I think we should let the dead rest. We don’t want to disturb the dead. People that want to contact the dead should wait until it’s their turn and meet them in heaven.”

When asked about his personal opinion “It’s all a show.” Father Jamie joked. “This used to be very common but now you see this take place mostly only in countries like Brazil.”

Father Jamie turns and looks at the altar server and explains “A séance is when a person tries to speak to the dead.” Real or not real there is not a sure way to determine. For now it does not seem harmful to allow student, and their friends, to visit and enjoy Professor Josh Gunn’s Rhetoric of Religion class every Tuesday and Thursday.

Warm Bodies Movie Review

Not your typical romance movie. 

This movie was everything I expected and more. 

90% comedy, 9% romance and 1% horror.
Very funny and charismatic. 
A must see.
Take your boyfriend or girlfriend with you (if you have one) because there are a few moving moments in the film.