Northwest Fun Fest - NW Campus held colorful community event Page 4
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 – Volume 36 • Issue 3
DISTRICT
@tccthecollegian • collegian.tccd.edu
DISTRICT
Gun violence has become part of students’ daily lives RABBIA MOLAI
managing editor rabbia.molai@my.tccd. edu
While getting ready one day, NE student Ana Duran faced the scariest situation that any parent could imagine. Duran was in her room when she asked her mother to put her young daughter down for a nap. As her mother took the girl into her room, she suddenly felt strange about putting her granddaughter in her crib. Instead, she chose to lay down some blankets and put her on the floor. She may not have known it then, but that split-second decision saved her granddaughter’s life. Within a minute, someone drove down Duran’s street, opening fire on the row of houses. One bullet went directly through her daughter’s bedroom window and landed on the floor outside her door. Before hitting the floor, the bullet went through the crib, the same crib Duran’s daughter would have been sleeping in had her grandmother not trusted her gut instincts. Unfortunately, for Duran and her family, the sound of gunshots was not unfamiliar. “As a parent, it is scary. I have been in two drive-bys,” Duran said.
Emerson Clarridge/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS
Three people were shot on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 28 at a house in northwest Fort Worth. “First, one being early afternoon, two of my kids ages 4 and 5 were walking out the front door to go play outside when a car passed through shooting. Bullets hit the house right above their heads. Now, any lower or them being taller, they would have got hit.” Having one shooting experience was scary enough, but after the second, Duran was so petrified that the only way she could sleep was low to the ground with her children in the same room. According to the Centers for Disease Cont rol a nd Pre ve ntion, Texas had over 4,000 gun-related deaths in 2020. On Aug. 29, two boys aged 17 and 5 were killed in a drive-by shooting in Fort Worth. Along with them, an
18-month-old was injured. According to students, as sad as these tragedies are, they seem to just be daily occurrences at this point. “It’s always devastating when a shooting happens, and most certainly when people lose their lives,” NE student Keylynn Jenkins said. “It has honestly happened so much in the past few months that I’m not surprised anymore. It’s sad to feel this way, but it’s almost like the new ‘normal.’” Along with feeling the country’s desensitization to these acts of violence, some students also felt a need to try and come up with solutions to end the gun violence they see so often for fear of who might get hurt next.
“I was aware of the shooting that happened, and my first thought was, ‘I hope it wasn’t anybody I know,’” NE student Julian Herrera said. Since he graduated from high school in 2020, Herrera has lost four classmates to gun violence. He spoke about wishing he could find a solution to end gun violence in America. “I would love to see the banning of assault rifles and extensive yearly background checks for gun owners with the possibility of mandatory training like for a driver’s license,” Herrera said. “Gun violence is such a prevalent problem in America because guns are legal.” Much like Herrera, NE student Katherine Beltran also thinks more needs to be done to fix the problem “I think if people, in general, are worried about the state of the country and how it’s falling apart with senseless violence, we need to do a whole lot more than relying on ‘sending our thoughts and prayers,’” Beltran said. For student like Duran, until the changes are made the fear will continue to live on in the back of their minds “It’s a life-changing experience,” Duran said. “It leaves you scared to live your normal life.”
Dancers slide into Northwest Fest
Joel Solis/The Collegian
Josh Cook and the Mosaic Dance Project show off their moves at Northwest Fest. Page 4
Muse releases new music “Will Of The People” is for the people Page 2
New 365 days of headaches A movie so bad it shouldn’t have made it to the screen Page 2
Gen Z mental meltdown The world Gen Z has been given is a mess Page 3
Ariel Desantiago/The Collegian
NE financial aid assistant Emma Carter-Auzenne provides information to NE student Michael Villegas.
Biden announces loan reductions ALEX HOBEN
editor-in-chief alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu
The U.S. government says it will forgive $10,000 of student loan debt and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. On Aug. 24, President Joe Biden outlined the details of this new plan. He spoke about how the cost of schooling has nearly tripled in the past 40 years. He outlined the three-part system that he worked on with Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Here’s what my administration is going to do: provide more breathing room for people so they have less burden by student debt and, quite frankly, to fix the system itself, which we came in and we both acknowledged was broken,” Biden said. Individual borrowers who make $125,000 or less per year qualify and for married couples it is $250,000. According to Biden, these cancellations were made with the thought of low-income students in mind. “Both of these targeted actions are for families who need it the most — working and middleclass people hit especially hard during the pandemic making under $125,000 a year,” Biden said. “You make more than that, you don’t qualify.” Also in the plan is an extension of the payment pause to Dec. 31, cutting monthly payments, lowering the price of college tuition and monitoring the institutions to prevent price hiking in the future. Biden expressed his hope for what this will do for students in debt. “All of this means people can start to finally crawl out from under that mountain of debt to get on top of their rent and their utilities,” he said. “To finally think about buying a home or starting a family or starting a business.” Currently, there is a total of $1.75 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S. across both federal and private loans. District director of student financial aid services Samantha Stalnaker believes this will surely have an effect on both TCC and university students. “Students will be able to complete their TCC or University degrees with less debt and or no debt,” she said. “This will allow students to explore additional opportunities after school. Such as considering graduate school, starting a business, saving for future investments and financial flexibility in career choices.”
Stalnaker said how she believes this plan will help the majority of borrowers, especially after the pandemic. She said how those with outstanding loan debt are struggling and this will seriously affect their lives and future endeavors and opportunities, but there is the potential for change. “Individuals will be able to pursue small business opportunities, home ownership, and other life enhancing opportunities,” she said. Stalnaker also said how taking out a student loan isn’t for everyone and the student should weigh the loan against a realistic post-graduate salary expectation. “Financial literacy and understanding your current and future financial goals are key to making the choice to borrow for your education,” she said. For SE student Matthew Jewell, this announcement, while it doesn’t affect him personally, was a shock. “When I first heard about the announcement, I found it to be too good to be true,” he said. “Biden, our current president, has been promising a student loan plan for almost two years, so for it to happen finally surprised me.” But Jewell is skeptical about the logistics of the proposed method and worries about what it can do to the economy. “We can only print so much money until inflation, which it already is, becomes a constant problem,” Jewell said. Universities now are incredibly expensive, and Jewell said people are straying from higher education and looking for other ways to make money. “The cost of everything, especially education, continues to increase, and I find that it will keep increasing,” Jewell said. “Most people are not eligible for FAFSA, and scholarships are hard to find when you do not know what you are looking for.” NE student Curtis Patterson was interested to see the updates about the student loan forgiveness plan and is curious how the government will afford it. “I think it’s interesting to see where that money comes from and how it may inflate other areas,” he said. Patterson said while he doesn’t currently have any student loans, he can see how they’re unavoidable to attend a university in the future. “I think they’re unfortunately a necessity for the average person,” he said. “So they are needed for higher education.”
2 • Wednesday, September 7, 2022 MUSIC REVIEW
Photo courtesy of YouTube
Scene from the music video of “Will Of The People”. The video was released two months prior to the album’s debut and depicts an animated rebellion.
Muse comes back swinging in new album ALEX HOBEN
editor-in-chief alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu
Muse is back with a new album after a four year drought and are as anti-establishment as ever, but it still hits hard. The album, “Will Of The People”, was released on Aug. 26 and it is a trip from start to finish. The synths were electric in their melodies, the lyrics were full of thinly veiled criticisms of how our society is currently run and of course the guitar riffs shredded their way into my soul. The band’s lead singer Matt Bellamy described this album as “a greatest hits album – of new songs” and it shows. Listening to this album brought me to when I heard “Uprising” for the first time and I was happy for the call back. The first four songs feel like you’re witnessing a post-apocalyptic feud between the people trying to survive and their government overlords, with the people crying out for change and the conflict that erupts from it. The first track is the namesake of the album and it’s a strong start. It’s a hardrocking anthem for anarchy. They explicitly say, “We’ll smash your institutions to pieces,” right there in the lyrics with a choir chanting in the background for the “will of the people”. The hard rock instrumentals with the hoarse crowd all shouting merged well for the message in the lyrics. Then, in response to that show of defi-
ance, the next song is a deliberate voice from the perceived enforcers, highly encouraging the masses to fall back into line and then they will see the greatness of their own way. The lyrics and the technological synthed vocals paint the vision of a rigid idealistic society with no free will. In the next two songs, you follow the story of the public’s rebellion against this plea for “Compliance”. From there the story takes a break and instead we get to the more experimental songs on the album, one of which stands out the most, “You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween”, just because it’s completely different from every other track. The lyrics are remarkably simple compared to the deeper yet explicit messages of the other songs, but somehow this was probably the most fun to listen to. Listening to this you can tell that this was the one they were heavily experimenting and pushing themselves with, at least on this album. Somehow all the jarring elements happening still mesh for this number. There’s a grungy guitar solo in the middle of the song with the electric organ and a robotic voice choir all working together to crescendo into a crazy rock synth symphony. I know that I’ll be blasting this alongside “Thriller” when spooky season starts soon. What’s great is that these songs all show Muse’s strengths with a fresh twist here and there to keep the listener wondering what will happen next. Very few bands are able to capture the same apathetic yet anarchist tone that Muse does in their songs.
Photo courtesy of Warner Records
The UK band released “Will Of The People” four years after their last album. This all culminates in the last song of the album, where each lyric is a reminder of the problems in our current society and how screwed we are. This is the only explicit song on the album and it is heavily explicit at that. Overall, the album is full of songs that
a listener would definitely enjoy if they have liked the work that Muse has put out in the past.
MOVIE REVIEW
“The Next 365 Days” spent trying to forget this RABBIA MOLAI
managing editor rabbia.molai@my.tccd.edu
There may not be enough words in English, Polish or Italian to describe how to feel about “The Next 365 Days”. The third installment of the 365 Days or 365 Dni movies came out on Netflix Aug. 19 and to say it was mind-numbing is an understatement. The entirety of the series isn’t great, however after the crapshoot that was the second movie, there wasn’t much hope for the third one. The acting has been mediocre since the first installment of the series, yet somehow they have gotten worse as the movies have progressed. What’s strange is you almost can’t tell if they’re over-acting or underacting. Perhaps it would be easier to tell the difference if there were more than two seconds of dialogue before the beginning of another three-minute music sequence. The entire movie felt like a two-hour music video. “The Next 365 Days” truly solidified the opinion that Laura is the most self-centered and sex-obsessed character that has ever existed in the history of trashy cinema. Not to mention the fact that she spent the entire movie walking around like a newborn calf on drugs. In the third film, we get more of an insight into her home life and parents which seem pretty normal. It begs the question – what the hell went wrong in this girl’s life to make her have such weird Stockholm syndrome issues? Sure, we can justify falling in love with one mafioso who kidnapped you, but two? No ma’am. Bringing a secondary love interest
Photo courtesy of Netflix
Laura Torricelli meeting with her lover Nacho at a fashion show. The movie released on Netflix on Aug. 19. in to stir things up makes sense, but it’s hard to believe that even after finding out Nacho was only using her as a part of his father’s plan Laura would still fall for him. Other than our main female lead’s character regression, Massimo surprisingly actually managed to make some progress in this movie. Even though he still had his aggressive moments He showed restraint and dealt with all of Laura’s tantrums with love instead of anger. This particularly showed through at the very end when he revealed he already
knew about Nacho and Laura’s relationship. It would have been better if Michele Morrone had worked on his acting skills a little more instead of using the series as a way to shove his music down our throats. Frankly, the only saving grace of not only this movie but the entire 365 franchise has been the one and only queen, Olga. She was constantly there for Laura even when she kept making stupid decisions and not returning the favor. Most of all, Olga was honest with Laura and didn’t tiptoe around the truth.
She was also hilarious which helped. The only reason this review is two stars instead of one is because the queen deserves a star for herself. Overall, “The Next 365 Days” was a major waste of time that further proved some stories only need to be told through Wattpad, not the big screen.
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 • 3 EDITORIAL
Generation Z has snowball’s chance in hell The latest generations have faced so many world-changing events that the mental consequences are glaringly obvious. From the turn of the century, it seemed like everything started to speedrun. There was a new earthshattering incident every few years, and the further we went into the 2000s, the less downtime was given to recover. Generation Z, the population of people born from 1997 to 2012, have had a uniquely unfortunate experience because their brains were developing during this time period. The formative years so necessary for a child’s development and mental stability were filled with news of war, financial crisis and now sickness. The first major event that happened in the Gen Zers time was 9/11, a day that will live in infamy across America. But for this generation, 9/11 wasn’t about the event but the effects. For those too young to remember the day or born after it, all they know are the videos shown in elementary and middle school classrooms every year of people jumping out of buildings and the towers going down in smoke. What did adults think being shown videos like that at such a young age will do to their psyche? Then, there was an economic collapse. The 2008 housing crisis struck financial fear into parents and their children alike, but children didn’t know how to cope with that fear. All they knew was suddenly their family was stressed about something they couldn’t help with. That feeling of helplessness is
Tj Favela/The Collegian
perhaps the only thing that every Gen Zer can relate to. What can make someone feel more helpless than a global pandemic that forced them inside, away from human interaction? COVID hit everyone hard, but it took years from the younger generation. The pandemic started right as many Gen Zers were
entering the adult world and trying to find themselves, but then they were shut back in with their families having to make do on their own. How can that be seen as fair? Some younger members of this generation had to go through school in the pandemic. And for many, it was incredibly difficult. Some even had to graduate through a Zoom
meeting, dressed in their cap and gown in an empty room instead of an auditorium, unable to walk across the stage and get the diploma that they just went through hell to earn. The years that were supposed to be the best of their lives now are just under a haze of trying to survive and make it through with
their sanity intact. Even with everything opened up now and schools open again for the youngest members to go back and return to normalcy, these constant beatdowns of sensational events have left their marks. The feeling of constant anxiety has become the norm and they have become numb. They know there’s always something in the news, which they can access through their phones. Technological advantages have become a major contributor to the constant barrage of bad news. So many horrible things have happened, and we’ve had a front row seat to the carnage through a screen. It wasn’t even just COVID during these past few years – riots, publicized deaths, political unrest, inflation jumps and a fullfreight boat that interrupted trade lines after getting stuck in the Suez Canal. Each of these is just another turn of the cog, winding up the anxiety and turmoil of a whole generation who will now have to live through the decades figuring out how to deal with this new normal. Gen Z has been set up with a world to try and turn into something they can live in, but it seems like an impossible task. Instead of a push into the race with words of good luck, it’s a climb from the bottom of a pit that we didn’t dig. We have been buried under gas station price signs, COVID tests, masks and every single piece of technology that was supposed to pave the way for the better, but now just shows us every way it can get worse.
VIEWPOINTS
Women are faced with double standards in music industry
HOPE SMITH reporter
collegian.editor@tccd.edu
It appears that women in the music industry are held to impossibly high standards, having to fight to stay on top and be the loudest in the room. I thought about what it was like to grow up as a girl under the influential eye of a society that held the woman artist in the music industry under its thumb, gently applying pressure. To me and the rest of the girls growing up, we watched that thumb and did not want to be associated with it. For the women under that thumb however, it was just another day in the music industry. In order for a woman to be accepted in that space, she has to be scrutinized and then approved on a level far more than the men, and until then she is under fire. Taylor Swift’s very legacy was criticized and I remember her being under that thumb since I was young. I did not want to be “the girl” who listened to her, because I was made to believe she was crazy, didn’t you know? Truthfully I hadn’t, I was only a young girl without access to the internet. Yet I was made to believe that Taylor Swift was the kind of girl who couldn’t get over her exes and each song was some reach to the men she once dated, she was simply crazy. But Harry Styles seemed to have built
an entire empire off of love songs. I believe “Fine Line” by Harry Styles is a heart aching, admirable story. Both are incredible artists, undoubtedly, but where along the lines had Taylor Swift’s content become so disconnected from Harry Styles’? I can’t help but feel like she had been dragged down too far and squashed too hard, another result of the standards for a woman in the music industry. And think of all those eyes watching female artists. We can all recall Brittany Spears’ moments of mental struggle and shaved head, we k now about Miley Cyr us’ transition from Disney’s Hannah Montana to her “Wrecking Ball” era and have not stopped talking about Demi Lovato’s addiction. It has been more than easy for the internet to speak about these women like they are only topics, not human beings. It’s not hard to tell when the thumb will come crashing down on a woman in the music industry because it typically happens after a minor incident but expectations hit her like a freight train, crushing her under the weight. One moment of vulnerability will mark her fame for years to come. I think it’s unfair that the freedom of women in the music industry is so restrictive that their content is limited to what is perceived as appropriate for her. It is often looked down upon to sing on sexuality and yet it sells more. She is wrong if she is honest and will not succeed unless she appeals. Do you see the contradiction? She must do more in performances, dance, sing and maintain an image unlike any man in the industry. I have seen the world pass by Chris Brown’s actions, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop hearing about the mistakes a woman will make in the music industry at least once a month.
Hijabis deserve to have their own identity apart from religion
OLLA MOKHTAR reporter
collegian.editor@tccd.edu
A dangerous narrative that has followed many hijabis throughout their lives has stripped their personalities bare and has not recognized them as someone who has interests, quirks, strengths, weaknesses and a plethora of other things that makes us truly “unique”. With each school year that went by, compelling myself to get out of bed and into school had been harder to do. The first question that is usually asked is tell the class three interesting things about yourself. My response would usually be “I love Boba so much I named my cat after it, my name isn’t actually hi in Spanish and I’m taller than my dad,” which I would say is a pretty good answer. However, it seemed that no one was interested in that answer. So instead of countering my answers with a question about the identity of my cat, it would sound more like “Why are you wearing that hat?” I’m not unique because I wear a scarf on my head and wear modest clothing. I’m unique because I started reading novels when I was nine-years-old and have my instagram handle named after “Harry Potter”, the first series of books I ever read. During high school this was a recurring
theme, a dilemma that I struggled to get free from. My religion and ethnicity became something I based my personality on, since my true self didn’t appear to be important or worth discovering to others. I finally understood what in-person diversity brochures meant when other people expressed their opinions and asked questions that had nothing to do with the conversation at hand. Almost daily, when I am going out in public I wear my scarf on my head, and wear loose-fitting clothing, so I am fully aware of what people see. I know that being Muslim is the first thing people notice, my wish is that it isn’t all they focused on. When I started college, it was a whole different ball game. In high school I was one of maybe 10 people that wore a hijab, but on SE Campus I am one of probably 200-300 hijabis. As one could imagine I had a quarterlife identity crisis. I was no longer the “girl who wears a hat” but just another girl who happens to wear a scarf. Which in hindsight I was grateful for. But then I realized that I had lost what I had left of being myself due to a social narrative that perceived me as only Muslim. Before all the critics come, I am proud to be Muslim, I don’t mind that it is the first thing people see, but I want to be known for more that just that. My friend and I joke about hating the word diversity and how every time we are at an event people make it known that they are diverse. It isn’t a bad thing, it just appears to be all that matters at times, and we wish it was different. If there was one thing that I could claim as being absolutely true though, it would be that I am an extremely talented artist but I also happen to be a hijabi.
Letter Policy The Collegian is a weekly student publication serving the Tarrant County College District. Editorial statements and advertisements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the TCC administration. Letters to the paper should be 150 words or less, free from libel and poor taste and include the writer’s Colleague ID or telephone number (the numbers will not be published). Letters may be brought to The Collegian of-
fice (NCAB 1124A, NE Campus),or mailed to: The Collegian 828 Harwood Road Hurst, TX 76054
@tccthecollegian • collegian.tccd.edu TCC is an equal opportunity institution that provides educational and employment opportunities on the basis of merit and without discrimination because of race, color,
Office: 817-515-6391 email: collegian.editor@tccd.edu
religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status or disability.
Meet the Staff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alex Hoben
MANAGING EDITOR Rabbia Molai
ILLUSTRATORS Tj Favela
PHOTOGRAPHERS Ariel Desantiago
LEAD DESIGNER Hannah Seese
DESIGN & WEBSITE Shelby Gatewood
PHOTO EDITOR Joel Solis
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Nathan Hailu
Professional Staff ADVISER Chris Whitley PRODUCTION MANAGER Stacy Luecker
4 • Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Photos by Joel Solis/The Collegian
Students look around different tables set up for Northwest Fest held on Sept. 1 in the WTLO building under balloon decorations hanging from the ceiling.
Northwest Fun Fest NW Campus held an event showcasing clubs, campus services and community resources. Free food was offered, as well as live music, T-shirts and prizes.
NW student Taylor Guerra spins a wheel to earn a prize at the Walsh Library booth at Northwest Fest.
NW student River Cain browses the kinesiology booth.
NW student Aaron Treviño explains details of the NW music association club.
NW students Monica Biasi and Hector Maldonado register to vote at the booth set up at Northwest Fest.
Chef Karriem hands out brisket sandwiches that have been cooking for 17 hours to students at Northwest Fest.