Nursing students fight for fair treatment
TR’s graduating nurse cohort petitions to get a grade for training
RABBIA MOLAI managing editor rabbia.molai@my.tccd.eduA program called Compass has caused TCC’s graduating nursing cohort to reach their breaking point.
At the beginning of the fall semester, TR’s nursing students were informed that they would be required to purchase an ad ditional training program called Compass for $350. Compass is an online program meant to help prepare students for their in-class exams.
Although Compass had been utilized for previous cohorts, the administration decided that unlike previous semesters, they would no longer offer points for the work com
pleted through the program.
This means, along with their existing workload, the students were now respon sible for up to 15 additional hours of work each week that would not contribute to their grade.
After voicing their concerns and receiv ing no action the students decided to come together and start a petition.
TR student Brianna Ross started the pe tition for her and her classmates as a way to show their strength in numbers.
“We decided it would be best if we showed the unity because all of us are upset about this,” Ross said. “It’s not just a few people, so we said that the petition was the best way that we could show unity through this.”
After creating the petition, which
gained over 200 signatures, the students again decided to contact the Dean of Nurs ing Dr. Jose Alejandro. They were met with the same response, to speak to their instruc tors and move up the chain of command— which they did, multiple times.
Alejandro refused to respond to numer ous emails and calls seeking comment as did other members of the nursing staff and faculty.
This cycle has continued for months and has yet to receive a resolution from anyone on the chain of command. Instead, they said they have received snarky remarks and been made to feel as though they are the villains.
For some students, the reactions and lack of support have manifested into a fear of retaliation.
“In general, this whole program has been very unorganized since the beginning of the semester,” said one student who want ed to remain anonymous for the fear of not being able to graduate. “We all sincerely feel like no professor advocates for us, and we feel like it’s just really toxic.
“I don’t want anything to keep me from graduating and I feel like the nursing pro gram, in general, has been really iffy, and I wouldn’t want them to do anything to hinder that.”
For some, the situation has come to a head and has affected more than just their grades. Another student who wanted to re main anonymous said that he and his class mates are exhausted from this situation and just want to be done with it.
IRENE DOMINGUEZ campus editorirene.dominguez370@my.tccd.edu
There is a crisis of missing and mur dered Indigenous women in this country, according to Jodi Voice Yellowfish, who spoke to TR students on Nov. 17.
Yellowfish is the chair of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Texas Rema triate, which brings awareness to the vio lence affecting Indigenous women.
“Domestic violence, murder or hav ing to report a missing person’s case, this violence touches very close to home,” Yel lowfish said. “One of my first cases was my cousin. That was in Oklahoma.”
Yellowfish said it is stories like her cousin’s that are all too common. These are crimes that have been committed against
Indigenous people since the first time their land was ever stolen.
“This includes literally millions of In digenous women over the history of the colonization of our lands, now called the United States,” Yellowfish said.
“Colonization is violent, and it hasn’t stopped,” she said. “Our land and our ways weren’t something that we were willing to just give up. There was a lot of violence and a lot of that ended up being genderbased violence.”
She said that because this treatment has persisted over the years, non-Indige nous people have become used to it.
TR student activities director Carter Bedford said he wanted students to be aware of this phenomenon being a current issue.
“It’s 2022 and we’re still having issues like this,” said Bedford.
Violence against Indigenous people happens because people think they can get away with it, Yellowfish said.
“Historically, we’re viewed as dispos able. We’re viewed as objects,” Yellowfish said. “We lack that humanization on many levels. If we didn’t lack that human under standing, then we wouldn’t be used as mas cots and costumes.”
Yellowfish explained that this dehu manization is put on display for entertain ment.
“Things like the sexy Indian princess costume you can find at Party City dur ing Halloween, people think they’re funny or it doesn’t matter but it feeds into that fetishization and sexualization of our peo ple,” Yellowfish said.
The story of Matoaka, better known as Pocahontas, is a good example of how
See Indigenous, page 6
Chancellor appointment questioned
ALEX HOBEN editor-in-chiefDuring the Nov. 17 board of trustees meeting, three people addressed the board questioning the speed of the board’s appoint ment of Elva LeBlanc as sole finalist for TCC chancellor and called for the process to be held again.
David Lowe, a resident of North Richland Hills, asked whether the board followed the correct legal procedure for LeBlanc’s appoint ment and if more than one candidate was considered.
“I believe there’s always more than one candidate,” Lowe said. “It is not right to only See Meeting, page 3
KEYLA HOMES campus editorkeyla.holmes@my.tccd.edu
The arrival of a respiratory illness has once again called into question the safety of children and the public.
With the semester coming to an end and the cold arriving just in time for the prepara tion of finals, maintaining grades and taking care of one’s health can be quite the balancing act.
While illnesses like the cold and flu are going around, RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, is causing an influx of patients in children’s hospitals, creating a potential ob stacle for students with children.
‘Sonic Frontiers’ SEGA’s speedster has a new game out and it’s mediocre
RSV impacts students, staff for semester endTRINITY RIVER
DISTRICT
Special presentation explores the impact of diversity
XAVIER BOATNER campus editor xavier.boatner@my.tccd.eduTCC campuses hosted a virtual presen tation to spread awareness of current diver sity efforts within Hispanic communities.
TCC TACHE president Casey Chavez and TCU ethics associate professor Santiago Piñon met Nov. 16 to express the importance of Hispanic representation across American history and promote discussions surrounding Hispanic culture.
“Lots of times when you tell the history of the U.S., Latinos are excluded from that history even though they’re a very important part of that history,” Piñon said.
The presentation was meant to inform people of Latinos’ roles in history and en courage different groups to talk about the impact they’ve left, he said.
“Part of my motivation is to promote these types of conversations,” Piñon said. “Oftentimes, we don’t have these conver sations in public. We have them privately, and we need to bring awareness to stuff like this.”
Piñon said he hoped people would un derstand how much history means to others and how learning where different people come from matters.
“I hope they learn history matters and how you present history is important,” he said. “You can’t just present a particular part of history to the exclusion of others.”
Lots of schools across Texas have been steadily becoming more inclusive over the years, but the amount of cultural and racial representation needs work to become the best it can be, Piñon said.
“If you’re defining diversity as add ing people who aren’t white, then a lot of schools do a good job,” he said. “But does that mean those people are well-represented? Absolutely not.”
During the presentation, Chavez shared details about the student population and where TCC campuses’ largest diversity gap lies.
“We have a large gap between our stu dent population demographics and our fac ulty staff demographics,” she said. “We are a Hispanic-serving Institution, but the biggest demographic gap is within our Hispanic students.”
The takeaway from the presentation was to inform a wider audience of Hispanic his tory, Chavez said.
“I think the takeaway is what was men tioned by Professor Piñon – awareness,” she said. “I think the first step to any movement begins with awareness.”
When asked about the quality of diver sity and representation across TCC cam puses, Chavez said it’s not where it needs to be to make a difference.
“I think there’s always room for growth,” she said.
population.
“We are really far behind,” Rovelo said. “Yes, we are trying to improve, but trying is not good enough. We need results.”
Rovelo said TCC should want to make changes that accommodate a stronger multi cultural and multiracial student community.
“We need to be progressive,” he said. “We need more people for the student popu lation. I care about our future. I don’t want to play any games. I want our students to have a future.”
Students of varied backgrounds and cul tures provide other students with opportuni ties to learn more about different people and their lifestyles, he said.
Santiago Piñon TCU ethics associate professorSouth government and history instruc tor Carlos Rovelo said TCC campuses could benefit from a more diverse student and staff
“It has been a great experience to be in a classroom filled with diversity,” Rovelo said. “I get to learn about students’ challeng es through their diversity.”
People should be more open to inclu sive efforts and start thinking about the ben efits of diversity and representation in the long term, he said.
“If we fear diversity, we fear the future,” Rovelo said.
Virtual learning gives more options to different students
KAYLEY BRADY-ESTES reporter collegian.editor@tccd.eduTCC has made it possible for many nontraditional students to continue their education, but some of them say they still face challenges, particularly with financial aid.
Traditional college students are in the 18-23 age range, making up over half of the students who go to TCC. However, 23.4% of TCC students are 26 and up. Most, at this point in their lives, either live on their own, have a family or have other responsibilities outside the classroom that make their experience differ from the tradi tional student.
ICWA possible overturning worrisome to TCC teachers
HOPE SMITH campus editor hope.smith393@my.tccd.eduA former Tarrant County court case has made its way to the Supreme Court in a de bate about overturning a federal law protect ing Native American children.
The Indian Child Welfare Act has some TCC teachers concerned for the future of Texas and Native American children in the adoption system.
The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, or ICWA for short, was implemented be cause it was acknowledged that Native chil dren were being removed from homes and displaced from their native tribes. Congress had declared the right of Native tribes to have governance over where a Native child will be placed in the event of adoption.
One of the practices leading up to the ICWA involved taking Native children from their tribal homes and bringing them into Native education facilities. NE government professor Lisa Uhlir said her father had ex perienced this, and she explained that the Native children had to run and scatter in order to avoid being removed.
“What they did in my dad’s tribe for a long time in Northern Michigan when they would come and try to send the kids to school, they would have a hide-and-seek game,” she said. “As soon as the Bureau of Indian Affairs bus would show up on the reservation, the kids would scatter and hide in the woods, and they would try to round up the children to take them off to school, and they would hide. My dad got away with it for the first three years, and so he didn’t get sent away to school until he was about 7.”
Her father did not come back for 10 years, which was typical of these institu tions.
Uhlir believed the act is crucial to giv ing Native tribes the right to have some control over what happens to their people, especially children who were removed from their homes.
“Children were in essence sold out of the schools by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the low fee of $5 — there are newspaper
ads from the time offering them straight from the schools — and it could be done with minimal notification or reason to the parents,” she said.
The possible overturning of the ICWA has brought up concerns that tribes will begin to lose their Native community’s link age. NE history professor Felisha AverySmith said if the ICWA is overturned, it will undermine tribal sovereignty.
“The ICWA has stood for the protection of fairness and the continued effort to keep Indian families, especially children connect ed to their culture,” she said.
Concerns also extend to the remorse of losing progress for Natives, Avery-Smith said.
TCC alumna Susan Salazar, who is 45 and in a nursing program at Trinity Valley Community College, is working toward becoming a registered nurse. She studied through Connect Campus and said she was glad it was there when she needed it.
“I returned to school in August 2019 due to my job,” Salazar said. “I have been in the medical field for over 10 years, and my job required a few of my co-workers and me to go back. Fortunately, my job helped me register for classes, and FAFSA paid for most of my schooling because I couldn’t afford it otherwise.”
Salazar said the easiest thing about going back to school was the motivation of her co-workers. Since they were in the same boat as her, it was easier to keep moving forward even when the work-andschool balance was hard to achieve.
“The hardest thing about returning to school was learning to study again,” she said. “I had been gone since 2011 when I got my LVN [licensed vocational nurse] li cense. After all, I had to find what worked for me because my experience at a trade school wasn’t good. Plus, balancing school with a 6-year-old poses different challeng es too.”
Going to TCC allowed Salazar to get her associate degree, a raise at work and get accepted into a nursing program. How ever, she said it had its set of challenges.
“While FAFSA helped me immensely, I tried to get funds to help with schooling outside of that and found it rather tricky,” she said. “I live in Terrell, Texas, and many scholarship opportunities I saw were re stricted by age or county, so I couldn’t find much more help I could apply for.”
TCC helped not only her personal goals but her finances, but she wished the college had more scholarship opportunities that don’t have an age factor.
said she realized she wasn’t getting young er and expressed interest in continuing education after retirement.
“I feel traditional college students learn all these skills and different ways of thinking because of school but don’t know how to apply those skills because they don’t have experience or minimal experi ence in the job world,” she said.
Key said she applies what she learns to the field she has been in for 16 years. While she found a use for her skills from returning to college, she too had difficulty getting scholarships at her age.
“While you can get scholarships, I have experienced age restrictions as to what scholarships you can get,” she said.
“While looking for a transfer college, I realized how much the college system only appeals to straight-out-of-high school stu dents based on the schedules offered.”
Key said nothing about college is easy, especially for those who work full time and study full time. The enrollment process was challenging, primarily because of the gap in her college career. She also listed the challenges of finding a transfer school, the application cost to get accepted to different schools and creating a schedule that could work with her work schedule.
“School isn’t for the faint of heart,” Key said.
Connect student Michael Key Jr., the 26-year-old son of Claire Key, started school again in the fall semester to move further in his career.
“I left school at the end of 2017 due to changing jobs,” Key Jr. said. “I didn’t mean to be away from school for so long, but the time escaped me. Before the start of the fall semester, I realized that I would hit a paywall at some point in my career if I continued on my current trajectory. So I needed to continue my education to ensure that nothing limits me.”
Key Jr. said even though he is unde cided on his major, he wanted to get an associate degree as it is better to have some degree than none.
“If no online school options were of fered at TCC, college wouldn’t be possible, as my job is mentally draining,” he said.
“It’s difficult to see our court systems derail so many long-held policies acting in good faith to provide justice for Native American populations,” she said.
The main goal overall for the ICWA was bringing more support to the Native community, and Uhlir believed the govern ment had too much leeway to remove Native children.
“Native children should be treated to the same standards as other children in the foster and social service system,” she said.
“I didn’t realize how much the schol arships appeal to a younger demographic,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with scholarships being made for traditional students. Still, I couldn’t imagine being someone who is older and can’t get finan cial aid that’s trying to pay for school all out of pocket and raising a family on top of that. I feel as if it can be discouraging to people who are looking to continue their education.”
Claire Key, 48, who graduated in the spring with her associate, now attends Texas Wesleyan to study business.
“I went back to school in August 2019 due to boredom and trying to separate my identity from my job and my kids,” Key said.
When her kids became adults, Key
“Since returning to school, finding a worklife balance has been difficult. I don’t think I have yet to find my rhythm, but I know I have good people in my corner, like my mom going through the same experience, so it makes it easier.”
Key Jr. is grateful that TCC gives him an opportunity but believes changes can help nontraditional students like him.
“TCC needs to consolidate its options and offer even more flexibility to working people,” he said. “While TCC is doing so many good things, the options are over whelming, making it harder to figure out precisely what I need to graduate. There is such a thing as too much help. When I went to the school to get advice, everyone I talked to was at different experience lev els, and it was hard to get a straight answer from anyone.”
The ICWA has stood for the protection of fairness and the continued effort to keep Indian families, especially children connected to their culture.
Felisha Avery-Smith NE History professor
Lots of times when you tell the history of the U.S., Latinos are excluded from that history even though they’re a very important part of that history.
Book club allows students to flip the script
IRENE DOMINGUEZ campus editorMystery, true crime, drama and great conversation are what’s to be expected as a member of the Beyond Words book club.
Beyond Words was started during the pandemic as a way to keep students con nected and engaged.
Upward Bound is a federally funded TRiO program that offers year-round support for students while still in high school and pre pares them for entrance into college.
Mandy Hernandez is the Everman High School coordinator for Upward Bound.
“Our goal is to motivate and encourage the students to become more interested in reading,” Hernandez said. “To show students how reading can be engaging, impactful and fun. To promote healthy and powerful dia logue through different themed novels and to increase student vocabulary, reading skills and literacy.”
South student Deyanira Mendoza is on campus for the book club or the Upward Bound podcast every week. Beyond Words has caused her to get back into reading.
“On my free time I tend to read,” Men doza said. “I don’t find it just as a hobby but something I’m passionate about. When you’re stressed, reading can help you focus on something else besides your issues.”
Beyond Words has given the students a way to relate to each other and the world around them.
Camila Valdez, a sophomore at Everman and South Campus student, enjoys books with familiar characters.
“The House On Mango Street shows a lot of Hispanic culture and we can relate to that,” Valdez said.
She talked about “If These Wings Could Fly” by Kyrie McCauley, which is a novel about sisters stuck in a tough situation.
“In the book there are three sisters,” she said. “It’s like me and my sisters. The middle child, I could relate to her because I’m a mid dle child as well. We don’t get as much atten tion from our parents as our other siblings.”
The book club also gives the students a stage to speak freely amongst each other.
“When we have our discussions about the chapters, I get to hear the different per spectives from the different schools,” Men doza said. “So you think about a new aspect, as to how they viewed the book and the chap ters.”
Valdez said that she sees the book dis cussions as a safe space.
“Sometimes I’m scared to say some thing, or to share my own opinions,” she said.
“I’m scared they’re going to judge me or ig nore me, but in book club we’re all there for the same purpose.”
Since the book club has students from two other high schools, the participants have the opportunity to connect with a broad range of people.
Mendoza said she likes hearing other people’s opinions on certain topics.
“Sometimes when we have our discus sions about the books and we take turns say ing our opinions, someone else says some thing I was about to say,” she said. “It kind of makes me think that they have the same mindset as me.”
Mendoza is clear that there are no raised voices during discussions.
“We don’t get mad at every little thing if we don’t agree with the other person,” she said. “It helps us to be mature and considerate of others’ opinions.”
The Beyond Words members are having fun and want more students to join in their
Meeting(continued from page 1)
just pick one person without interviewing or considering other options. Please take a min ute, review the law and I think that you need to redo the process and start interviewing some additional candidates.”
Denise Linn, a Tarrant County resident, said she wondered about the timing and open ness of the meeting where the decision for the finalist took place.
“There might be nothing wrong with the chancellor that you chose,” Linn said. “She might be a great person for the job, but the way that you did it makes us wonder.”
LeBlanc’s appointment as the finalist for the chancellor position was voted on in a spe cial meeting on Saturday, Nov. 5.
The process regarding the chancellor’s appointment is currently in the statutorily re quired 21-day period where a contract is being
Nurse
drawn up to be presented not only to the board but to LeBlanc for discussion and possible ap proval.
All the items on the Nov. 17 agenda were passed except for an item regarding the move management services required for the con struction on NW and SE, which was delayed to the Dec. 8 meeting.
Also during the meeting, some board members honored several members of the TCC community, past and present. One of them was a painter and former student, Fred Garza, who donated a piece of art to the chan cellor’s office.
“Mr. Garza doesn’t know this about me, but I’m the daughter of an art and art history teacher,” said board secretary Jeannie Deakyne in introducing Garza. “So this has profoundly impacted my life, what I’m about to share.”
(continued from page 1)
book club and Upward Bound. Camila said her sister has been a big in fluence for her.
“My sister got me into Upward Bound,” she said. “She just kept promoting it to me. It sounded fun.”
Her sister Viridiana Valdez joined Up ward Bound right before high school. She is a senior now and already taking several classes at South Campus.
“Personally I feel like Upward Bound is like a second family,” she said. “I’ve created
relationships with the staff, and they have helped me throughout the years. I feel like I can rely on them for anything,” Viridiana said.
Viridiana Valdez wants other students to know the book club is a good way to try new things.
“I would say that it is a great opportunity to not only grow and learn but to have new experiences,” Viridiana Valdez said. “Beyond Words allows you to collaborate with new people and hear different perspectives.”
The oil painting he donated, titled “Koi Pond at the Dallas Arboretum,” he said took about four months to complete. Garza said this “labor of love” was possible because of the instruction he received at TCC.
“The reason that I’m able to paint that way is because of the wonderful instruction that TCC gave me,” he said.
Garza attended art classes on SE Campus, and he said the quality of instruction speaks to his skill now. He said the teachers he had were exemplary and helped him and other students like him reach their potential, and now he is giving back with this donation.
“But I truly want for you to go ahead and have the opportunity to share it with all those that come into your office, and you can say, ‘Look what we did,’” he said. “Because it’s not only me that’s represented in that paint
ing. It’s each one of you, and each one of your decisions whether it’s financial or whether it’s based on faculty.”
Also honored were current NE students Tomy Huynh and Cristian Aponte, represent ing Phi Theta Kappa organization, and Avery Jones, a former student of NE’s GrapevineColleyville Collegiate Academy NE who now teaches algebra .
“I just wanted to say thank you so much for the amazing opportunity that you provid ed for me, and many of my friends and now my current students,” Jones said. “It provided a lot of support because I was not sure if I would be able to afford college even though it was something that I always knew that I wanted to do.”
“We’re at the end of our semester so our stress is already heightened, and it just feels like our fight has been beaten out of us,” the student said.
For him, Compass had an effect on not only his grades but also his stress levels as a whole throughout the semester.
“When we throw in Compass into our situation, and it is a 15-20 hour distrac tion from our exams, it really damages our grades,” he said. “Had I not had that, I feel I would not be in the situation that I’m in which is complete and utter crisis mode be cause I’m failing.”
He said that had the school remained fair and given this cohort the same points as the previous ones, not only would he be passing but he would be in the realm of an A.
The students’ only solace throughout this has been hearing the news that Com pass will not be required for future cohorts, which while beneficial for the next group of students does nothing more for these stu dents than to once again make them feel singled out.
“It’s just unequal treatment,” said one student. “We didn’t go into healthcare be cause we’re heartless, we just want to be treated with the same dignity and respect they want us to treat our patients with.”
We just want to be treated with the same dignity and respect they want us to treat our patients with.
Anonymous student TR nursing student
“ “
building breaking some up some down
Construction on SE, NW continues as TCC community adjusts
so nobody’s really stopping you. think it’s totally worth it.”
As buildings start to take shape and cranes hover overhead, construction on NW and SE Campus continues as the TCC community adjusts to the changes it brings.
The redevelopment programs for NW and SE should be completed in 2025 with new buildings for students to enjoy, but in the meantime the construction itself has proved a challenge for some students.
Senate chair of the SE Student
Government Association Jamea Johnson said that the most noticeable things are the noise around campus during class and the issues with parking.
“For one it’s noisy, won’t lie,” she said. “I actually have an 8 a.m.
Government class that backs right up to the construction. So we’re in here learning about checks and balances while the diggers are working.”
While the noise is disturbing at some points, she understands the importance of the construction as a whole.
Johnson said that some of the student body may feel it’s unfair that they have to deal with the construction when it won’t be completed while they’re still in attendance, but that shouldn’t stop them from seeing the worth in the renovations.
“Well, one thing feel like is that for the current students, we’re the ones kind of making the sacrifice for the future students to come in and be able to enjoy these new amenities,” she said. “But one thing about TCC is once you’re a student, you’re always a student. You can always come back on campus. You can always enjoy these things. It’s an open campus,
Construction on SE Campus started in June of this year and is projected to be completely finished in Fall 2025. The project involves two full new buildings as well as the renovations of the main building.
SE student DaShaun Ellis has felt as if the construction is taking forever and said he’s excited for it to be finished.
“It’s just annoying seeing the entire front of TCC blocked off with no progress and multiple cranes in the back with very little progress but I don’t blame the workers,” Ellis said. “They’re doing their job and they’re doing it well. They’re just doing it as fast as any other construction job in Texas.”
All the construction is being completed so that we create a great engaging and learning experience for our students.
to the president
SE
SE assistant to the president Frank Powell said that these renovations are all geared to the betterment of the student’s campus life.
“The purpose of the construction includes: to create a better student onboarding experience, to increase the number of classrooms, from 42 to 84, showcase our Culinary Arts, Dietetics & Hospitality Management programs, to
Students talk about how music affects mood
The music people listen to can impact their outlooks on life. TCC students are talking about what they’re listening to and what head space it puts them in.
Connect student Selena Cruz said she loves listening to rock, metal, screamo, alter native indie and sometimes pop. She listens to Papa Roach when she cleans, specifically the songs “Help” and “The Fire.”
“My favorite artist is Pierce the Veil be cause I enjoy the melodies they put together, and they bring back many good memories of when I was growing up in the 90s,” Cruz said.
She believes music and people’s emo tional states correlate. Like when people work out, they listen to upbeat music to give them more adrenaline.
“My thoughts on mainstream music is that it is trash,” Cruz said. “Music today is
fluffed with unrealistic expectations and vio lence, and it’s hard to relate it to everyday life. The message the artist put in their work set the younger generation to have a certain expecta tion that forces them to compromise their mor als for the sake of being cool and fitting in.”
Connect student Meaghan Butler said she listens to a little bit of everything when it comes to music, but R&B is what she listens to the most.
“I don’t have specific songs for occasions or moods, but for me, it’s all about the setting,” Butler said. “For example, if I’m on a road trip, country music is what’s on as a great way to jam out. Or on rainy days, I want soulful music with a woman with raspy vocals.”
Butler said she constantly discovers new artists and always looks for new music to enjoy.
“If I had to pick a favorite song, it would be Yamz by Masego and Dave Morrison,” she said. “That’s because the music video brings a new meaning to the song and simulates togeth
erness with the ones you love and being the best version of yourself.”
Butler said she believes music and emo tional state correlate because if people listen to something that matches their mood, it can either uplift or leave people stagnant.
“Music that kids listen to now dif fers from when I was growing up,” she said. “Music today only excites me if they tap into the 90s era of music. It’s a bit raunchy, and I think it desensitizes kids to adult themes they shouldn’t be concerned with.”
NE student Janisty Brown said she lis tens to multiple genres, mostly R&B. Brown doesn’t listen to any particular songs for spe cific occasions or moods but lets her playlist dictate the mood.
“My favorite two artists are Raveena and Sabrina Claudio,” Brown said. “I love Ravee na since her music takes me out of this world into a trippy fantasy land, and it relaxes me. I enjoy Sabrina Claudio because of her stories, and I always seem to relate to them.”
Brown said her favorite songs are “Petal”
by Raveena and “IOU” by Claudio. She said that Petal makes her want to daydream, and that “IOU” reminds her of her past.
“‘IOU’ talks about how the artist felt she owed her man in a relationship because he loved her. The guy in the relationship was a terrible person to the artist,” she said. “That’s how I felt in my early teenage years, but peo ple who make you feel that way don’t tend to be good for you. It reminds me to know my worth and my limits.”
Brown said music and emotional state correlate strongly due to good artists putting emotion into their craft. The emotion in a song can trigger a good or bad memory, and when a song comes on, it can give the listener nos talgia.
“Mainstream music now is overly sexual ized and overly violent,” she said. “There is much more to life than sex, partying, drugs and violence. Glamorizing that lifestyle puts kids in a stronger position to think that behav ior is OK. I wish more meaningful messages in music were what makes the tabloids.”
long Indigenous people have been misrepre sented, Yellowfish said.
“Pocahontas was one of the earliest and most famous missing and murdered Indig enous women who disappear from Native American communities every year,” Yellow fish said. “This history has been really roman ticized.”
The Disney movie “Pocahontas,” glo rified John Smith and romanticized his and Pocahontas’ relationship, Yellowfish said.
“She was a child when she met him,” she said. “She was trafficked to Europe. She never returned. She died alone, not ever coming back to her tribal lands.”
Yellowfish wants people to try to under stand how mistreatment of Indigenous people has led them to where they are today.
“We are only 2% of the entire population, but we’re indigenous to this country,” Yellow fish said. “We have to get that historical con text or you can’t understand our present-day struggles.”
A contributing factor to violence against Indigenous people is camps that spring up because of energy extraction, Yellowfish said.
“They are extremely close to tribal lands,” she said. “There are stories of people having slaves at these camps and people being tor tured and never leaving.”
Yellowfish said these horror stories are hard to hear, but they need to be talked about.
“We fight pipelines not just to protect the
water but to protect the people,” Yellowfish said.
This was in reference to people from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Another factor that puts indigenous peo ple at risk is not being able to assert tribal sov ereignty, Yellowfish said.
“If a non-Native comes on to tribal land and commits a crime, tribal police and govern ment cannot prosecute,” Yellowfish said. “It’s understood that you can basically go in there and do what you want.”
She said that when these crimes do hap pen there is confusion as to what authority will be able to prosecute. This can leave affected families waiting to see if anything will be done at all.
“That’s when organizations like ours come into play,” Yellowfish said.
She said that MMIW helps people with health issues, domestic violence and missing persons cases.
“Our mission is to help MMIW families,” Yellowfish said. “A lot of times it is to help them heal.”
Yellowfish said her organization will con tinue to be there for those Indigenous people in need.
“I hope you do not ever need my help in those situations but we are here if you do.” she said.
Health
“This is a problem for the students that have small children at home, and for the class room teachers that are taking care of the young children in the Children’s Center,” NE Child Center MSTR teacher Barbara Smith said.
Focusing on school work while having a sick child can be difficult, especially when one needs reliable child care to attend classes.
“Students with children may struggle if their child gets diagnosed with RSV because of lack of child care for a sick child and or accompanying parental illness,” TR associate nursing professor Alison Carmona said.
Carmona said what RSV is and why it can be specifically dangerous for children.
“RSV is a cold virus, but it produces a lot of thick mucus and boogers, and that affects children under 2 with small airways much more significantly than bigger children and adults,” she said.
Although NE Child Center hasn’t had many RSV cases, the incubation period is something the staff is well aware of.
“We have not had many children diag nosed with RSV at the Children’s Center; how ever, we have been told that if a child is diag nosed with RSV, they can be contagious for 3 to 8 days,” Smith said.
In order to keep students and their chil dren healthy at NE Child Center, precautions are in place.
“We recommend that the parents have their children tested for COVID, Influenza, and Strep when we send them home from school with a high fever,” Smith said.
With many getting sick this fall, Carmona said ER staffs’ have been struggling to tend to all of their patients.
“The high number of children visiting the ER is causing a strain on a healthcare system that is already struggling,” she said. “In 2021, around 100,000 nurses left the workforce, the largest decline in over 40 years.”
Surges of sick people in hospitals can not only be stressful for nurses, but may make it difficult for them to take care of themselves as well.
“Personally, so many of the nurses I know and work with are struggling, especially those in the Emergency Department,” Carmona said. “Many nurses are missing their breaks and lunches, and sometimes there is not enough time to stop and breathe before the next sick patient comes through the door.”
Aside from the stress of having a sick child, students can have a hard time overcom
ing their own illnesses and staying on track in classes.
“I think that being sick in college is prob ably one of the hardest [things] to bounce back from, if the teacher isn’t helpful or you just don’t know people,” SE student Abi Cliff said.
Preparing students for finals can also mean more assignments and studying.
“Having finals around the corner – so much information is piled onto us,” she said. “Just missing one lecture can set you back re ally far if it’s just a lecture-based class.”
It can be important for students to remem ber that experiencing stress is normal, and that some staff understand this.
“I think most of our students are stressed about their grades right now,” Carmona said. “The semester is coming to an end and this is a natural feeling.”
Cliff said how she thinks we can keep each other healthy.
“I think we can help prevent sickness by staying home if you aren’t feeling well, wear ing a mask or a face protector, and constantly washing your hands or using hand sanitizer to kill germs,” Cliff said.
Carmona said what she’d say to a student who’s sick or has a sick child, and is experi encing stress when it comes to maintaining their grades.
“So many times as a professor, when things are going wrong with students, I could have helped, but most of my students don’t reach out to me and I can’t help if I don’t know,” Carmona said.
The high number of children visiting the ER is causing a strain on a healthcare system that is already struggling.
Alison Carmona TR Associate nursing professor
‘Sonic Frontiers’ can’t outrun mediocrity
SEGA’s newest ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ game doesn’t live up to hype
XAVIER BOATNER campus editor xavier.boatner@my.tccd.eduSEGA has finally brought its blue mammalian mascot up to speed with the rest of the gaming industry in “Sonic Frontiers” – the latest 3D “Sonic the Hedgehog” outing.
“Frontiers” had a lot to prove to fans of the series since it’s the first mainline Sonic title following 2017s “Sonic Forces.” The game saw the titular character become a prisoner of war and experience the horrors of war alongside a grappling-hook-wielding custom-made player avatar who zipped through levels to the beat of vocal J-Pop tracks. It was not well-received.
The game left fans and critics scratching their heads. No one seemed to know why SEGA couldn’t produce a 3D Sonic entry that scored higher than a 5/10, or why they insisted on characterizing a 3-foot-tall talking animal as a gritty, wartorn prisoner.
It seemed as if SEGA didn’t even know why people liked the series to begin with. But Frontiers aimed to get the franchise back on track by implementing a new open-ended approach.
The game sees Sonic’s cast of colorful friends getting trapped and corrupted in a digital dimension. The only way Sonic can free them is by running fast and doing other Sonic-y things like dismantling robots.
The details are light to avoid spoilers but just know it’s not anything to write home about. As a matter of fact, the “Sonic Forces” melodrama returns, and it just doesn’t land – like at all. Maybe that can be attributed to the fact that Sonic sounds like a 45-year-old man now.
Thankfully, the story isn’t what most people play Sonic for anyway.
Frontiers takes a hands-off approach to its design compared to previous titles. Instead of propelling players down carefully constructed corridors, the game gives the player more freedom in how they progress through the game. It’s an interesting pivot, and it has a lot of potential assuming SEGA sticks with it.
The basic idea is to collect tokens to save Sonic’s friends, then collect gears to unlock levels, then play the levels to collect keys, then use the keys to collect the coveted Chaos Emeralds – a series staple.
Once all the Emeralds have been collected, Sonic powers up and kills off the main enemies known as Titans in progressively violent ways while metalcore music blasts in the background. It’s stupidly over the top and wildly endearing.
There’s fun to be had running around the open-ended levels and chaining together various actions like sliding on rails, launching off bounce pads and speeding across ramps.
This type of freedom and experimentation feels fresh and easily eclipses anything the series has done before –when the game functions.
Similar to previous titles, the game has a strange way of thanking its players for having fun by actively going out of its way to sabotage them at nearly every turn.
One of the biggest drawbacks of this game is the abundance of technical issues.
Sonic games have garnered a reputation for being generally unpolished and technically unstable. But good God, it’s never been this bad.
Controlling Sonic is an uphill battle. He gets stuck on certain parts of the environment frequently. Often, running into a crack in the ground will either stop him dead in his tracks or launch him into the ozone layer with no warning.
Random level assets float haphazardly in midair and pop in and out of existence repeatedly. It’s distracting and makes it infinitely more difficult to justify the game being $60.
The levels aren’t just semi-functional but also pretty ugly. This particular hedgehog adventure tries its hand at photorealism, and the result is muddy and drab. The levels lack the style of previous Sonic games, and they all blend together by the end.
If players get tired of racing photorealistic seagulls as a blue cartoon rat, then they can take a detour to Cyberspace. This is where the old-school corridor Sonic levels are, and they feel like a last-minute inclusion.
Players race against the clock through colorful vistas to the beat of vocal J-Pop tracks and EDM – so much EDM. These levels provide a sense of familiarity that contrasts the new open-ended levels well.
Despite this, they don’t give longtime fans much to chew on. The layouts and aesthetics are taken from past Sonic games and Sonic’s physics are more inconsistent
than in the open-ended levels – somehow.
Cyberspace provides the style and music the open-ended levels lack, but worse physics and shamelessly recycled content hold it back from being more than a cheap gimmick. Miraculously, making it even harder to justify this game being $60.
That’s the hardest pill to swallow about “Sonic Frontiers.” It just doesn’t feel worth the wait. The game falls short of expectations in far too many areas and struggles to maintain consistent highs. There’s lots of untapped potential in the open-ended format, and when the game is at its best, it’s some of the most fun Sonic has ever been.
The problem is – the game is rarely at its best.
OLLA MOKHTAR campus editor olla.mokhtar@my.tccd.eduThe sequel of the “Black Panther” film franchise emerges with an outstanding movie lead by actress Letitia Wright, who played Shuri, Black Panther’s sister.
With the death of Chadwick Boseman came the death of his character T’Challa, or Black Panther. Since his death, the nation of Wakanda is seen without a protector, and many different countries have tried to take advantage for access to the vibranium from their facilities.
Little do the countries know, Wakanda is still as strong as it was before T’Challa’s death. However, America is still adamant on finding vibranium and finds it someplace else.
In the opening scene, the Wakandians are performing a funeral ritual wearing allwhite clothing. The culture portrayed through this ritual is a mixture of traditional and contemporary African design. Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer for Black Panther, visited different parts of Africa for inspiration and accuracy.
Carter was the first African-American designer to win an Oscar because of the skill she demonstrated in the first film’s costuming. For instance, T’Challa’s mother, Ramonda, wears a 3D-printed version of a South African married woman’s headdress called an isicholo.
Throughout the movie, her hard work is demonstrated through the characters and the meaning their clothing has to the scene. From funeral costumes to the Black Panther suit, it truly is an Oscar-worthy performance. She also created the design for the characters of the underwater world of Talokan, an ancient civilization.
The whole plot gets thrown into turmoil when America discovers they have something they want.
The upbringing of this mysterious civilization was, in one word, beautiful. The
first “Black Panther” movie was mostly about the Wakandians and their intricate, delicate, strong and sensational nation that has a precious substance to protect. The movie introduces another civilization with a whole different world full of literal blue people. They introduced these new cultures mixed with traditional roots well in both cases.
Wright’s acting is phenomenal. We see her character develop more because of her brother’s passing. When Wakanda is in trouble, it seems that she is its savior just like her brother was.
Hurt, grief and trauma are all seen in this movie with the tragedies that surround the main characters, but the most important of them all was the honor they gave Boseman. One scene has T’Challa painted on the nation’s walls and mentions his name as well, reminding the audience not only of the character but the man who played him in tribute.
The film was different from any other Marvel sequel shown in theaters. From the costume designs, acting and portrayal of the movie from the Wakandians and Talokan, the directors of the movie painted the beauty of the actor Boseman and gave the world “Wakanda Forever.
nina.banks@my.tccd.edu
Though it has a straightforward definition, the concept of femininity has always been complicated. The spectrum has reached far and wide, and society has prided itself on telling us which forms are acceptable or not.
“The Cool Girl” – an archetype that has been an unspoken acknowledgement of how desirable women are meant to act. The trope was popularized in Gillian Flynn’s novel “Gone Girl” by the female antagonist Amy
Dunne.
Cool girl is effortlessly beautiful. She wears fashionable clothes, but never shows that she puts effort into her outfits. She likes sports, she laughs at dirty jokes and she doesn’t have girl friends because they are ‘too much drama.’ But for this facade to ultimately work, cool girl must be conventionally attractive.
The late 90s and early 2000s fostered an era of effortless beauty. Wearing pink and heels was too girly, and showed you were vain and cared far too much about your appearance. More ‘masculine’ colors were trendier, and sporting a pair of converse under a dress differentiated you from other girls.
However, with the advent of social media, new niches and aesthetics resurfaced or were created. Today, the coquette aesthetic, derived from the word ‘coquettish,’ is very popular and embraces being girly. The style is flirtatious and feminine as the definition suggests with soft colors, bows and dresses being core parts of the aesthetic.
Femininity comes in different shapes and forms and the coquette aesthetic capitalizes off of the stereotypical aspects of it. Though it is great that this side of womanhood is being embraced again, we must acknowledge society’s dislike towards it in the first place.
Whether that is recognizing the emotional or physical associations we have with gender, femininity is becoming more and more welcomed in different facets of society. The lines between what is strictly for men and women have become more blurred in recent years, with male celebrities such as Kid Cudi and Pete Devidson donning skirts and dresses on the red carpet.
It also has a racial aspect that often deters many from participating in activities that may appear traditionally effeminate, men and women alike. Traditional American femininity is rooted in proximity to whiteness. For women of color, the concept has often contrasted to the stereotypes placed upon them, and thus unattainable to achieve.
Both of my ethnicities’ stereotypes have
iPads are parenting the next young generation of children
gives them immediate gratification is right in front of them?
The pandemic really didn’t do anything to help either, it seemed children only secluded more into their own digital world. Bringing children out of the pandemic must have been a struggle, and it must have been so much harder to do so with a child that owns an iPad.
of
juxtaposed expectations of womanhood. Black women are often masculinized while East Asian women are frail and docile. Two vastly different expectations have made it difficult to find which standard I should adhere to.
The return of certain makeup looks and fashion trends have shown our stance on what we regard as feminine. The return of nomakeup makeup looks have returned, and it’s labeled as the clean girl look.
Fluffy brows, no foundation, blush and gloss define the style. And though it is a take on the original look, it embraces beauty by enhancing the features and the fun of makeup, rather than a rejection of femininity and a way to have the least amount of makeup on.
Womanhood looks different to everyone. It is important to acknowledge what standards we expect to see for feminine presenting people, and decipher whether those expectations are a barrier to being able to express oneself fully.
Summer break: fun for some and grim for others
more isolated and misunderstood than they may have already been feeling. Making sure students are aware of how to get in touch with their school counselors can really be helpful for students who may need to talk to someone.
HOPE SMITH campus editorhope.smith393@my.tccd.edu
Think of anything, the internet has it, for anyone too. It’s incredible. But do you recognize the feeling you get when you see a family of three at a restaurant: the parents and their iPad’s child?
This phenomenon has been affectionately labeled the “iPad Kid,” a term tossed around social media for some time. They are too young, vacant-faced children. This can’t be good for their development.
At some of their youngest stages in life, these children are given devices in which they don’t even have full proper motor function.
The child isn’t the issue though, it’s the parents. Children are hard, and children are needy. So the solution may look like giving them a form of constant portable entertainment to get a moment to breathe. It’s like slapping a bandaid over a gunshot wound.
Part of parenthood should be addressing the issue. They can’t push it on to an inanimate object and say, “I did all I can do!”
In the end, the child is going to develop more of an attachment to the device than to anything in the real world.
It’s scary because so much of human development is heavily reliant on social interaction. It’s hard to believe iPad Kids go out, and why would they when everything that
The growth of the new generation should be a big concern. It’s going to shift the way people interact with each other and how they communicate.
Obviously, the internet is unavoidable. At some point someone’s kid is going to have access. That’s OK. Children can still develop some sort of skill when it comes to the internet when they can properly pour something into a cup first.
It’s simple, but so much motor function can go into just steadily holding a cup, which is something that a lot of young children can’t do. That’s been apparent with a certain TikTok trend, where parents film their children trying to fill a cup by themselves and in a shocking turn of events, most of them can’t.
Let kids be kids. Let them first discover the real, tangible world. They are so curious, and let them be. There is a lot to discover in real life that a child will benefit a thousand times over from seeing in person, rather than have an iPad sing them the ABCs.
Parenthood isn’t easy, but children grow into adults who will eventually help lead the world. Raise people who are going to be eager to join the world, not hide from it behind a screen.
keyla.holmes@my.tccd.edu
While many kids are excited for summer to start, considering those that may be having to spend all day in abusive homes is important to keep in mind.
For some, going to school can be an escape from the problems at home. Although plenty of books and movies portray kids being overjoyed for school to come to an end, it can be a bittersweet experience.
It can be harmful for students when their teachers and peers are talking about summer in one positive light. For many, summer break is filled with sleepovers, camping, swimming and traveling. However, not everyone has it that good.
Being asked questions such as, “Are you doing anything fun this summer ?” can inadvertently be putting a child in an uncomfortable situation. Even going around the class and having everyone talk about what they did over the break in summer can be difficult to navigate if you’re living in an unhealthy household, or something traumatic happened while on break. It can leave someone feeling
While teachers may unintentionally put kids in uncomfortable situations in regards to summer break, students can too. Other kids can make it seem like it’s supposed to be full of fun.
Although that makes sense, it can remind the student living in a difficult situation how much fun they won’t be having. Students can also brag about the trips they’re going on. With kids and young adults already struggling with body image and wanting to be well liked on social media, summer can be full of triggers. From all the vacation posts to bikini pictures, a student can just feel worse about their circumstances.
Which is why letting kids know that they’re not alone can be really important. In elementary school, I feel like I never really heard anyone bring up how summer break could be a difficult time.
It wasn’t until high school that I remember a teacher responding to a student who said, “who doesn’t like summer?” She brought up the idea of how summer break could actually be something that someone may not be looking forward to. She reminded us of how important it is to be open minded, and consider those who may see school as an out.
Abbott’s reelection as governor raises concerns
Not all villains wear masks, some wear red ties and are the governor of Texas.
Governor Greg Abbott was reelected into office for his third term during the midterm elections. The race for governor was close, with Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke trailing 11 points behind according to the Associated Press.
The debate over abortion has been one of the hot-button issues on the table. Abbott has notably been in support of pro-life policies, passing the Texas Heartbeat act, more commonly known as the heartbeat bill, which prohibited abortion after six weeks.
For many Texans, O’Rourke provided a beacon of hope during these trying times. O’Rourke opposed restrictions placed on abortion, and promised to restore rights for women and people with uteruses to have a say in their reproductive health.
Texas’ history as a red state did not make O’Rourke’s loss unexpected, but still equally devastating. Under Abbott’s reign, Texas is doomed to become unsafe to virtually everyone.
Exactly a week into his third term, Abbott announced on Twitter that he enacted ‘invasion clauses’ to protect the Texas-Mexico border. Part of the clauses included identifying Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
In recent years, Republican politicians have furthered the idea that Mexican immigrants are a threat to America through
derogatory rhetoric. Invoking these clauses unfortunately only further this racist and xenophobic mindset and erases America’s perception as a safe haven for immigrants.
Abbott has been known to lay down the law when it comes to immigration, with strict border laws, refusal to accept refugees and several recent stunts
of sending buses of detained immigrants to a location with no prior warning.
Using immigrants as a mere political stunt is extremely dehumanizing, and reflects the lack of care Abbott has towards the prospective citizens of America. However, Abbott has demonstrated on several occasions that the
welfare of Texans will not deter him from passing legislation.
Whether it is signing into existence a law that deems parents seeking gender affirming health care for their transgender children child abuse, or still refusing to create stricter gun laws to prevent tragedies such as Uvalde from ever happening again, Abbott’s
concerns are not about the people of Texas
This seems quite unlikely. If anyone has proven it better, Abbott has surely shown actions speak louder than words, and his actions are ultimately creating the fear and hostility within so many Texans.
Fearing whether they must die because the law prohibits abortions, even when the mother’s life is at risk. Fearing whether families must be separated at the border, since legal immigration is so ‘easy.’ Fearing whether your child will survive another day because of poor gun laws. Even fearing for their mental wellness because their gender dysphoria is so unbearable, but you are simply unable to help because your governor considers it abuse.
In spite of Abbott, we still must remain hopeful in the power of our vote. Gen Z was a large contributor to the Democratic vote. Though the future for Texas looks unpromising for many groups of people, we still have the power to affect change.
Many counties, such as Dallas, turned blue. The future isn’t completely bleak, and with the activism of Gen Z and continued efforts by politicians that care about Texans, it is possible to make Texas a land of acceptance.
The issues of this state will not resolve without individuals that see and comprehend the wrongdoing Abbott is doing to Texans and ultimately Americans.
Goodbyes are bitter, but memories are sweet
Moving
RABBIA MOLAI managing editor rabbia.molai@my.tccd.eduI found The Collegian during a time in my life when I felt lost. I had just made the decision to quit my job and then all of a sudden while walking around the NE Campus and thinking about what my future would look like I remembered the voice of Chris Whitley.
Taking his class during the previous semester made me think I wasn’t ready to be a journalist but I decided to take a leap of faith and I walked into the office and applied. I may not have known it at the time but The Collegian and everyone a part of it would become an integral part of what made me, me.
My first semester with the team made me realize so many things about myself and also about the world I was preparing to enter. Every step of the way I was met with encouragement and understanding from my peers, even if I doubted myself they were there to look me in the eyes and tell me I could do it.
I started writing about the things I was passionate about, from student affairs to personal experiences, every story formed a new facet of my mind. Finally, I was beginning to feel like I had found a group of people that understood me and my passions. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
The spring semester was wrapping up faster than I could have imagined and with it came the departure of many of my
Before I knew it the fall semester was here and with it came the realization that we were starting from scratch. There were four of us left and I had been promoted to managing editor. Honestly, I was scared out of my mind. I still felt like a novice so the idea of being second in command was daunting, to say the least. The amount of times I sat in Chris’ office and expressed my
fear of being the wrong person for the job in those first couple weeks is uncountable, but each and every one of those conversations was met with the same unshaken response.
“You wouldn’t have been considered if you weren’t ready,” Chris repeated this mantra to me over and over again until one day I finally started to believe him.
I guess I should’ve known better than to question any of Chris’ beliefs, unfortunately the man is always right.
Chris Whitley and Stacy Luecker are two people to whom I am eternally indebted. They made me feel seen in a world where I felt alone, and they gave me the courage to kill the sacred cow and go after my dreams regardless of anyone else’s opinions.
To the team I am leaving behind, I want you to know that you are the most talented group of people I have ever met. Your drive to report the truth and your dedication to our craft has inspired me endlessly. I am leaving a part of my soul with you and in exchange taking a part of it I would have never expected to find otherwise.
I walked into the doors of The Collegian as a confused college student without direction and I’m honored to be leaving as a journalist who may not have all the answers but is willing to walk through the dark to find them.
I may still not love the idea of change but as a great mentor once told me, “change is inevitable, if you’re not moving forward you’re standing still.”
So here’s to moving forward.
Campus),or mailed to:
on to new things is scary, but the experiences are worth itcomrades. Michael Foster-Sanders, José Romero, Abbas Ghor, Juan Salinas II and Cameron Webster taught me how to use my voice in a way I didn’t think was possible. They counseled me on my bad days and cheered with me on my good ones. At the end of it when I felt like I couldn’t do it without them they assured me that I would be fine. Illustration by Tj Favela/The Collegian
