@tccthecollegian • collegian.tccd.edu Lacking rings PG. 4
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 – Volume 35 • Issue 22
Flowing rhythm
DISTRICT
Students mixed on service AUSTIN FOLKERTSMA
senior editor austin.folkertsma@my.tccd.edu
Alex Hoben/The Collegian
Elisa De La Rosa performs during the Merge concert in Fort Worth April 14. She has helped choreograph work for TCC. Page 6
SOUTHEAST
Ukrainians share their strifes JUAN SALINAS II
senior editor juan.salinas465@my.tccd.edu
With the war in Ukraine ongoing, SE Spanish instructor Oksana Nemirovski wanted to focus on how it's been impacting ordinary people. Nemirovski had five Ukrainian guests speak to students about their experiences. It started with Irina Rodriguez. She is a professor of modern languages and comparative literature at the University of Dallas. She is originally from Kharkiv but moved to the U.S. in 1998. She spoke about the history of Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin's reasons behind the invasion. “People started to open their eyes about how vicious his propaganda is,” Rodriguez said. She said that Russia’s talking points for the war are misleading and some even outright false. She said she believed in some of the propaganda until 2014, when Russia annexed parts of Ukraine. “In 2014, that is when I really felt my
identity lies with Ukraine,” Rodriguez said. “[Putin] probably thought he was going to be met with open arms in Ukraine.” She cited that more Ukrainians are nationalists than ever before. They’re ready to push away the invasion for as long as possible. Helen Obidov — a fashion designer based in Dallas — shared her experience in 2014 during the annexation of Ukraine. “Eight years ago, Russian invaders came to my peaceful city in eastern Ukraine,” Obidov said. Obidov said she heard unfamiliar sounds that turned out to be grenade explosions and gunfire. She describes how Russians took over important government buildings, starting with the police building and city hall. “Russian invaders were pointing their machine guns at passing cars, and when the car would stop, they would throw out the driver and take them away,” she said. Obidov said she was threatened during an interview with Russian media. They wanted her to talk about how oppressed she was when Ukraine was in control and how grateful she was for Russia for invading.
“They had the text prepared in advance, and there was a man with a machine gun that had me at gunpoint,” she said. Obidov is still haunted by witnessing a little girl and her mother being killed by a mortar attack and said war isn't a video game. It must be stopped at all costs. It took Olena Partow five days to escape the current invasion of Ukraine on her annual trip to see her parents. “War comes suddenly. No one calls you,” Partow said. “‘Hey Oksana, we’re going to bomb you at 5 p.m.’” While she was escaping Ukraine, she was optimistic because she’s American, so she would get the help she needed. Partow expresses her frustration with Americans' attitude about the situation. “Stop complaining about gas prices,” she said. “Skip a couple of cups of your Starbucks per month, and you will be good.” Partow said people should be grateful to be in a first-world country not dealing with the direct effects of war because the Ukrainian people have lost everything. “Putin is an evil guy and a terrorist,” Partow said.
Alex Hoben/The Collegian
Oksana Nemirovski, Olena Partow, Irina Rodriguez and Liliana Nedzelska getting interviewed by CBS employees.
There is a certain pressure students feel when delivering a letter from Student Accessibility Resources to a faculty member. It can be an intimidating or embarrassing experience for them. Some even worry faculty members won’t adhere to their accommodations. For South student Ethan Huffman, he said the majority of his professors are phenomenal about adhering to his SAR letter and accommodations. “My math teacher, in particular, has been nothing but supportive about it, and has a class structure that is very easily adaptable to my situation,” Huffman said. “He even has a room designated for me in the math lab to take my tests.” NE student Julie Hollingsworth’s experience on NE Campus has been great. “They make me feel at ease, heard and understood,” Hollingsworth said. “All of my professors to this point at TCC have abided by my accommodations, and some have even gone above and beyond.” Hollingsworth said it’s always a little nerve-wracking meeting someone for the first time to talk about her disabilities. “My professors are kind enough to let me come in early or stay late to meet my accommodations,” she said. “They will wait until all students are gone to read a question out loud for me or so I can verbally clarify to them what big science word I’m trying to spell.” NE student Ashley Shaw’s experience with her professors is a bit different. Shaw has bilateral epilepsy — a type of epilepsy that starts in one area of the brain and then spreads to both sides — so she gives hand signals to her professors when she feels an oncoming seizure and needs to leave the classroom. “I can have some teachers be helpful with the accommodations, such as my history teacher Dr. Jack Anderson, but others
“It’s pretty common that the professors will miss the point of the accommodations in some aspects.”
Lei-sea Sky TR Student
aren’t so helpful,” Shaw said. “Some professors don’t show as much understanding and help that I tend to need, such as more time with an assignment or my seizures.” She appreciates that her history professor gives her more understanding and time with assignments when needed. “When my teacher doesn’t give me time for my assignments, I try to ask for more time, but when I’m told ‘no,’ I try to stay strong and keep going the best I can,” Shaw said. TR student Lei-Sea Sky is deaf, and she’s not overly concerned with confidentiality. “It’s pretty obvious that I’m the student the interpreters are there for, so for me personally, it doesn’t bother me if the professors don’t follow [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] to a T,” Sky said. “It’s pretty common that the professors will miss the point of the accommodations in some aspects,” she said. She relies on a visual aid to communicate. She said by the time she’s looked at what “this” or “that” is, the professor has moved on. “Also, because it’s challenging to take notes while watching the interpreter, one of my accommodations is a note-taker, or [Communication Access Realtime Translation] services,” she said. “Referring to ‘this’ or ‘that’ creates a lot of gaps in the transcripts.”
News
Feature
Entertainment
Opinion
Editorial
BLOOD FEST NW drama puts on horror comedy show. PG. 2
EMBRACING CULTURES NE event aims to culturally educate students. PG. 3
UP TO NO GOOD Prequel franchise needs stronger spells. PG. 4
DEBATE IS DEAD Intelligent arguments have become a thing of the past. PG. 5
BLAZE IT UP Weed should be legalized. PG. 5