Tccd The Collegian February 1, 2023

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TCC student leaders take Austin

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Texas bans TikTok on campuses due to risk

HOPE SMITH managing editor hope.smith393@my.tccd.edu

Due to a federally-mandated ban, students who use TikTok weigh in on the possible effects.

UT Austin, Texas A&M, UTA and others have already implemented this restriction at the beginning of their spring semester.

The restriction targets TikTok access on school provided WiFi and devices, an action pushed forward by the State Agencies letter sent on Dec. 7, 2022, by Gov. Greg Abbott explaining security risks regarding TikTok’s data collection and requiring every state agency to implement the restriction on any state-issued device before Feb. 23, 2023.

The question then becomes what TCC will do in regards to this requirement, but until it is confirmed, NE student Colbie Ratcliff has expressed that she understands the reasoning behind it.

“I do know that they [TikTok] collect a lot of your data,” Ratcliff said.

Along with Greg Abbott’s letter to State Agencies, Congress had banned TikTok on federally-owned devices.

On a crisp Thursday morning at 4:30 a.m., TCC student leaders gathered together to embark on a trip to Austin to question the representatives of their county, or at least the teams of those representatives, at the Texas State Capitol.

Community College Day is a chance for community college students across the state to take a trip to Austin to meet with Texas House and Senate members and ask about problems they see in their community and discuss possible solutions through legislation.

It’s also an opportunity for the students to get an up-close look at what the legislative process is and learn what issues are the most important for the people serving them in their state government.

The journey started with a three-hourlong drive to Austin from TR Campus at 5 a.m.. On the way there, the students, most of which were SGA officers from across See College, page 3

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New food service scheduled for mid-spring

ECI at Trinity River to protect our trust,” Alanis said.

TCC campuses will receive new food options by mid-semester from the vendor ECI Management Group.

Since the sudden closure of the food service options across the district during the winter break, students have been wondering when a stable option will be available. According to chief operating officer Susan Alanis, the previous food vendor Genuine Foods left due to not submitting new terms to their contract that the company initially wanted to renegotiate. Genuine Foods did not return calls seeking comment on the situation.

“They came to us just before winter break and expressed a need to renegotiate their contract because they were having difficulty meeting the financial terms,” Alanis said. “So they didn’t have specific terms to propose, and part of the pressure on the situation was that they were supposed to take over for ECI at the TR Campus.”

Alanis said the district had to make a decision quickly to preserve the relationship with ECI and to consider what they could offer to the other campuses.

“They [Genuine Foods] basically didn’t negotiate any further revised contracts when we told him we were gonna continue with

In the initial bidding process where Genuine Foods was selected, ECI had also put in an offer that the school is now in negotiations with taking over the other campuses’ food services.

“Sort of coffee shop grab and go,” she said. “They’re going to provide that at the other campuses. So we’ve reached an agreement with them. It won’t happen until probably spring break.”

Alanis said she believes that ECI will be a capable food vendor that she is excited about bringing across the district. In the meantime, though, students looking for oncampus food should look into the bookstores as well as the fresh vending available across the campus, she said.

“The Barnes and Noble bookstores all have a selection of grab-and-go stuff that we’ve asked them to ramp up quantities,”

Alanis said.

Regarding the food services on campus, Alanis said the plan is to transition the campuses over spring break to the grab-and-go menu that ECI would provide.

NE student Samuel Peters said he isn’t too concerned about the food options but instead on how they will affect the gaming area in the cafeteria adjacent to the food service stand.

“I’m worried if a lesser-quality food place comes in, it’ll stink up the place, and I wouldn’t be able to use it anymore,” he said.

NE student Margarette Meyers said while she got the email that the food services were closing down, it didn’t settle in until she saw the gates in the NSTU building locked down outside the cafeteria.

“Even though I read the email, I guess it just didn’t hit me as quickly, and I was like ‘Oh, the gates are closed. Oh, goodness,’” Meyers said.

While she didn’t use the food services frequently, Meyers said she cares more about the convenience it brings to students who can’t leave campus for food. She also thinks the new food services would be a great way to give students jobs.

“I think it would be a great thing to have students work in the food service so that there can be more jobs,” she said. “You never know who has talent here, who can actually cook and things like that.”

Meyers said she would’ve preferred more sympathetic communication from administration about the closing of Genuine Foods’ stands instead of an email with a series of links that were hard to follow. But she is interested to see what options the new service will provide in the future.

“Maybe desserts,” she said. “That would be nice.”

Many of the concerns prompting the restriction on TikTok include the collection of information and possible security risks. NE instructional associate Johnathan Adamson theorized that if TCC were to implement the restriction, one option would be a security software to block the TikTok URL.

I feel like colleges have good incentive to block said sites—since they take up so much bandwidth and network traffic.

“You can configure your network to block your URL such that devices on the network can not detect it,” said Adamson. He explained that configuring would happen if they knew what IP address to block. In this case, he said the security software would block the IP, stopping it from being recognized by the browser and therefore inaccessible under the instructions of the security software.

Though a security software could block TikTok’s URL, Adamson brought up the use of VPNs.

Through VPNs, he said URLs would become disguised to access the network and in turn would pass through to access. The way around that, he said, may be that a software would recognize heavy traffic through an unrecognized address, leading to the blocking of that VPN.

NE student Amber, who did not want to disclose her last name, explained that colleges would have reason to push for a restriction, but acknowledged that there were also other things that could’ve had the same attention.

“I feel like colleges have good incentive to block said sites—since they take up so much bandwidth and network traffic—but I would then feel like blocking far more sites is necessary,” she said.

Amber said increasing security against possible safety issues with TikTok was more than likely due to legality and less about security.

“I’m not convinced that banning Tiktok is anything more than the university trying to protect itself from legal liability at the helm of Greg Abbott,” she said. “It is then progressive, since the objective is to keep the college from being sued. There are a number of good reasons that they should have banned this and several other platforms a long time ago. Instead, they waited until they were under intense heat to do so.”

Alex Hoben/The Collegian

Alex Hoben/The Collegian

NE SGA senate chair Olivia Reed does her makeup by the light of the bus in the early morning on the way to Austin.

South SGA president Karina Calderon, SE SGA secretary Xander Todd and SE SGA president Matthew Jewell clap during the student-led debrief after their sessions on Community College Day.

ALEX HOBEN editor-in-chief alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu

ALEX HOBEN editor-in-chief alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu

Amber NE student

TCC puts spotlight on clubs for community event

XAVIER BOATNER campus editor xavier.boatner@my.tccd.edu

NE Campus hosted a special event for students to show off their clubs complete with free food and merchandise.

NE student activities development associate Michelle Taylor helped spearhead Club Rush on Jan. 26 to open students’ eyes to a world of opportunities involving information about student-led organizations and clubs.

“My favorite thing about Club Rush is seeing students connect with other like-minded students,” said Taylor. “I think it’s a great way to network and build new relationships. Club Rush is a fun place to meet other students and join a club you never thought you’d

be interested in.”

Taylor said the event was one that students looked forward to for the exciting and communal aspects it provided.

“It’s [Club Rush] one of the events the students get the most excited about because they want to be able to interact with other students,” she said. “It’s also just a lot of fun. It feels like a party.”

NE student and club representative Alexander Tidwell said Club Rush is a great way to find your place and thinks there’s something special for everyone at TCC.

“There are a lot of options to be found at TCC,” Tidwell said. “If you like something, then there’s a club for it. There’s a club somewhere out there for you to enjoy, and be a part of a community and just exist within TCC and your own unique place.”

Students, staff discuss need of critical race theory in class

NINA BANKS campus editor nina.banks@my.tccd.edu

Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the education of racial issues has become a hot button issue in politics.

The matter has become politicized with officials such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended the choice to reject AP African American studies from Florida curriculum citing that it is “indoctrination.”

Among the topics that conservative politicians have attempted or successfully restricted from school curriculum is critical race theory. According to Merriam-Webster, critical race theory “[examines] the relationship between race and the laws and legal institutions of a country and especially the United States.” SE history instructor Eric Salas believes people fear what they don’t understand.

“The way we alleviate fear is by increasing knowledge,” Salas said. “If we increase our knowledge as to what critical race theory is then we would probably be less apprehensive towards it.”

The censorship of books centering around race and LGBTQ+ issues has been enacted in several school districts in Texas. Though the bans are primarily in public and K-12 libraries, SE public services librarian Matt Butler felt college libraries may be next.

“It’s been felt more in the public libraries,” Butler said. “But I feel like it could possibly start coming for education and college

For SE student Syrina Kimuyu, the lack of education surrounding Black history is not surprising.

“We didn’t speak about it,” Kimuyu said. “There were teachers who were teaching incorrect information.”

Opponents to using critical race theory in the classroom argue that it is discriminatory to white people. However, Kimuyu believed learning about it is necessary to learn.

“We don’t want to make the same mistakes that we have in the past that shouldn’t have even been made,” Kimuyu said. “I don’t care about the guilt, we need to learn about it.”

Teachers may face scrutiny over discussing current events without going over both sides of an issue, which may defer many from even discussing these topics at all. Salas understands the hesitance teachers may have to explore certain ideas.

“Yes they’re afraid,” Salas said. “High school educators work 40 plus hours a week, and everybody argues that public school teachers don’t get paid well. If that’s their gig and it gets threatened, then it isn’t even worth the hassle.”

Despite the often polarizing debates, Salas hopes that individuals can learn to understand one another.

“Because I understand something means I agree with something, that’s not true,” Salas said. “I can understand you and not agree with you. And I think in the classroom we should instruct students to think critically

“I think it’s good to see and meet new people on campus,” NE student and club representative Colton Truitt said. He said Club Rush was a good way to help emphasize the “community” in community college.

“A lot of people aren’t here to socialize,” Truitt said. “Most people are just here to go to class and go home. For a place called community college, there’s not a whole lot of community happening.”

Truitt said the event was a great way to help others see what kind of people attend TCC and find out which ones they may connect with. He hoped the event helped people realize that there’s so much more going on around campus than meets the eye.

“The event is a good way to help people come together and see what we have available here on campus,” he said. “I feel like

there are a lot of great organizations that people don’t know about, so it’s a good way to see what’s available.”

Taylor said she hoped the event encouraged more students to get involved while they’re still in college since the knowledge learned can be useful to them later in life. Joining clubs could help students develop skills that translate to the real world.

She said one of the best qualities of Club Rush is that it can help students grow into themselves.

“In college, you’re free to be who you are,” Taylor said. “You don’t have to fit into any mold and it’s really cool to see students who are also just like them. It’s nice knowing they’re accepted and loved for who they are.”

Staff hope more students join pickleball events held on campus

KEYLA HOLMES campus editor keyla.holmes@my.tccd.edu

South Campus creates the opportunity for students and staff to take part in, according to many, one of the fastest growing sports – pickleball.

With the many clubs and activities offered at South, pickleball is one that anyone, regardless of age, can get involved

“Anyone can play it from a five year old all the way up to a ninety year old,” South HPE instructor Staci Smith said.

For those not familiar with the sport, Smith said it’s similar to tennis and ping

“It’s as if tennis and ping pong had a baby,” she said. “A lot of the rules are a lot like tennis, and then there’s a bit of ping pong because you use a paddle.”

While playing sports may not be for everyone, athleticism may not be an important factor for pickleball.

“It’s fun and I can do it,” South math adjunct Cathy Haley said. “I’m not athletic at all – never have been,” she said.

Faculty and staff have the chance to get together once a week and work on their

“We started this past fall for faculty and staff health and wellness, offering pickleball once a week,” Smith said. “We’ve been teaching pickleball in our classes for several years, so since we’ve come back from the pandemic we’ve really been pushing pickleball out there.”

South’s senior ed program gives their students the opportunity to get involved.

“These last couple of years they’ve been having a senior ed program, so that they offer it to the older people, and that makes it kind of fun – so they’ve been coming out and playing,” South senior student David Gustafson said.

While seniors are joining in on the fast growing sport, getting the rest of the student population involved hasn’t exactly been easy.

“I offered this class last fall for students to take and not enough students registered for it,” Smith said. “I offered it again this spring – not enough students registered,” she said. “We’re hoping by

next fall, more students will sign up for it and a class will really make.”

Haley not only wants to get the ball rolling due to how fun she thinks the sport is, but because of its accessibility.

“I’ve been trying to help Staci get it started here because this is maybe the only sport that you could play life long that’s affordable and accessible,” she said. “Things like Golf people could play, but it’s very expensive.”

Not only is pickleball a growing sport across the country but it’s getting attention and participation right here in Tarrant County.

We’re hoping by next fall, more students will sign up for it and a class will really make.

Staci Smith South HPE instructor

“You go to any tennis courts in Fort Worth, you go to any rec center – YMCA, they’re playing pickleball,” Smith said.

While trying something new can be intimidating, Gustafson said what he’d say to anyone considering the sport.

“You’ve got to try,” he said. “Yes, the first experience is going to be a little rough, and you may not hit what you think you can do, but everybody that’s started had to start playing at that level where they weren’t very good. Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Gustafson said.

For those under the impression that pickleball is only for senior citizens, Gustafson has one last remark.

“Some call it a geezer game, and I’ve told them ‘get out here, and I’ll show you what geezers can do’.”

Kj Means/The Collegian South senior student David Gustafson discusses the sport and the meet ups he’s taken part in because of the senior education program on South Campus.

the district, discussed the questions they would address later that day and what they thought the day would bring. TR peer leader Sunny Whiddon said she was excited to take part in the trip but also anxious.

“I’m scared I’m going to mess up or say the wrong words in front of them,” she said. “I’m scared I’m going to say something silly and they’re going to be upset at me. But also this guy actually represents me, and I want him to know and see who is in his district.”

Whiddon said that as a young queer individual, she has a unique perspective that deserves to be heard. She planned to ask questions regarding public transportation, city infrastructure and queer topics. NE SGA parliamentarian Abiskar Thapaliya shared Whiddon’s sentiment.

great to see students to be able to interact with our government officials. So we all coordinate together all the student activities offices and the directors of student development services to gather student leaders to be a part of this.”

Walker said she loved seeing the interaction between all the campuses and that seeing the students at the rally with the other community colleges was a proud moment for her.

But many students on the trip didn’t actually meet with the person they were scheduled to meet with but rather varying members of their staff.

TR SGA vice president Grace Kadia-Riccardi also couldn’t meet with her representative, Sen. Kelly Hancock. She said she was incredibly prepared for this meeting but was instead met with a wall.

“I was really excited to meet with the representative, Mr. Hancock himself,” KadiaRiccardi said. “I was really thinking that I was going to press him with all these questions that I had about specific inconsistencies with his bills. So when I went to his office, I heard him behind the little wall and I was like ‘OK, cool. We’re actually gonna meet him.’ A lot of people hadn’t been meeting him.”

Instead, she said she met with his policy adviser, who would not answer the questions posed to him because he didn’t want to speak on Hancock’s behalf.

“I had five questions. I got the answers to maybe two of them,” she said.

“I’m just excited to be here,” he said. “It’s 6:04 in the morning, January 26 and everything’s dark. We’re on the highway, excited to be in Austin, meet new people, ready to have fun.”

The event itself included meetings throughout the day with representatives or their teams, as well as a rally in front of the Capitol to kick things off. There, students from community colleges around the state all stood together.

NE student development services director Cara Walker, who was one of the advisers for the event, said it was vice chancellor emeritus Bill Lace who coordinated across the campuses to bring this trip to fruition.

“It happens every other year during the Texas legislative session,” she said. “So I’ve been a couple times before this. It’s always

She said what discouraged her the most was the feeling of disrespect she got from the staff and the experience as a whole.

“These are the people that are sitting in our government right now, and they’re not supporting community college students,” Kadia-Riccardi said. “So it just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Some students did get to meet their representatives, though. Whiddon said while his representative was a genuinely funny guy, the conversation focused more on specific bills rather than change. However, the overall experience was incredibly fun.

“I was expecting to be more bored, to be honest,” she said. “I was expecting that it would be boring on the way in and out. But I got to meet cool people today as well as seeing the Capitol and meeting the representative. It’s really awesome.”

Alex Hoben/The Collegian

SE SGA senate chair Jamea Johnson, SE SGA treasurer John McGee and Connect SGA vice president Anthony Guevara relax in the back of the bus as the sun rises.

Alex Hoben/The Collegian

Joel Solis/The Collegian

Joel Solis/The Collegian Joel Solis/The Collegian

SE SGA president Matthew Jewell, treasurer Xander Todd and parliamentarian Anita Aiguokhian take a selfie before the bus departs TR Campus at 5 a.m..

NE SGA historian Angel Vargas and TR peer leader Sunny Whiddon look through the folder given to members of the trip which included maps and assignments.

Chancellor Elva LeBlanc and NE SGA president Ethan Thomas stand outside waiting to begin the student rally. A complementary breakfast was provided.

Rep. Salman Bhojani meets with TCC SGA members in a Q&A meeting to discuss the students thoughts on current presing topics and how to get more involved.

I had five questions. I got the answers to maybe two of them.

Grace Kadia-Riccardi

TR

SGA vice president

REVIEW

Unexpected existential instrumental album

Mac DeMarco’s album romanticizes roadlife in song vibe, sound

HOPE SMITH managing editor hope.smith393@my.tccd.edu

Fourteen tracks for “Five Easy Hot Dogs” later and much of it can be summed up to what the “Teletubbies” landscape and the air balloon image optometrists show you would have sounded like if they made an instrumental album together. Which realistically doesn’t seem reasonable but neither does the title of the album, so they technically cancel each other out in terms of weirdness.

It’s bleak. But it’s put into the perspective of personifying the process of developing the album when it was produced on a trip from Los Angeles to New York.

Often it’s easy to forget that music is also art when listening to it daily on the radio, on the way to work, streaming endlessly and on and on through the night while no one is really listening. It’s just there – always.

When Mac DeMarco made this album, it felt more like the road trip itself, like maybe he painted the experience through this album. So at first it’s odd, all instrumental, unsure of a purpose. Having experienced many of the roads taken to face a West to North trip like the one of Los Angeles to New York, some of these songs seriously sound like the landscape on the way over, and so much of it is just thinking. When I traveled much like that, all I could do was observe the landscape in front of me and watch the changes of the world as I sat in the car – rural to town and town to city.

That’s the “Teletubbies” landscape. It’s just enough to where it’s almost unsettling that all that space just exists, and the prospect of being alone with it makes someone want to never be alone to think of the sheer existentialism.

The air balloon optometrist image is

SHOW REVIEW

just like that. Except there’s something in the distance to disturb all of the neutral green. It’s big and colorful, and it’s apparent in this album that despite the back rooms-turnednatural aura of the album, it will always have the DeMarco touch.

Each song is crafted by DeMarco in the way that it seems he’s made all of his music, so there is comfort in the chaos or lack thereof.

Overall, this doesn’t make a truly

‘Bling Empire’: the lives of the crazy rich

incredible album, and it requires getting adjusted to no lyrics – which is unlike DeMarco in his other albums.

Still, a funky sound for him. It’s just not preferred. From the standpoint of a regular listener who would play other songs from different albums, it’s not strong to play for enjoyment and certainly not in a car full of people. The second someone puts on “Vancouver 2,” the energy would immediately come to a screeching halt.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Enjoy while studying, maybe falling asleep. Enjoy for analyzing and pondering, but it’s not daily material and it’s not aux proof. Enjoy it because DeMarco’s music is still enjoyable. Enjoy it during a cross country roadtrip and maybe even decipher why there are five hotdogs and what about them is easy.

Netflix’s reality TV show “Bling Empire” is now bicoastal, with a new spin off in New York.

The show follows socialite Dorothy Wang in her move from Los Angeles to New York. Dorothy was featured in the Los Angeles “Bling Empire” in a few cameos, and as the TV genre suggests — drama.

The show differentiates itself from other reality shows as it features an all Asian cast, and is often referred to as a real life version of the movie “Crazy Rich Asians.”

Though both the casts from Los Angeles and New York are indeed crazy rich, there are major differences in the attitudes, fashion and even argument techniques — reinforcing the rivalry between the two cities in a unique lens.

The drama in New York is much more subdued than in Los Angeles. Disputes are far and few. But when they do occur, Dorothy is at the center of them. Rather than problems about an unfavorable lie detector test to determine whether a couple wanted to become boyfriend and girlfriend, the issue in the first episode was that there were no hors d’oeuvres at a function.

The fashion is a focal point of the show. Almost every person is friends with a designer, is in the fashion industry or wears luxury

clothes. New York fashion is avant garde and while undoubtedly in your face, is not about brand status. The art of the clothing is appreciated and outfits are well thought out. Upon realizing this fact, Dorothy revamped her closet to keep up.

In a time where we are more critical about overconsumption, overindulgence and other ‘overs,’ it seems almost hypocritical to enjoy this show — and yet many viewers, such as myself, do. Though I may scoff at them for being frustrated for having no in-house cleaners at their multi-million dollar vacation home, it’s certainly a struggle I could only dream of having.

Bling Empire New York is unlike any other reality show I have seen. Not only is the cast all Asian, they are all unapologetically Asian. Before tuning in, I feared their wealth would mean they would have to sacrifice their identity to fit into the world of power in New York, but I was pleasantly surprised when they created their own sphere of influence in which they embraced being Asian.

Regardless of if the drama is ridiculous, everyone deserves representation in all facets of media, including trashy reality TV.

NINA BANKS campus editor nina.banks@my.tccd.edu

Photo courtesy of YouTube

A large rock sits on the shore among ocean waves in a YouTube music video for Canadian musician Mac DeMarco’s instrumental album “Five Easy Hotdogs.”

Photo courtesy of Netflix Dorothy Wang gazes out of her New York apartment in the new season of Bling Empire New York. The show was released on Jan.

Data privacy concerns lead to TikTok ban

Data privacy is potentially at risk, and in order to combat it people will be prohibited from using TikTok.

Recently, the popular social media platform TikTok has been put under fire by the US House of Representatives for supposedly using spyware to obtain people’s personal information. This has resulted in a TikTok ban across various states around the nation. Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a ban on the app on all state-owned devices, and this has caused controversy among TikTok fans and detractors alike.

While many appreciate the effort being made to combat this invasion of privacy, many believe this is not the best way to approach the situation. Some feel it makes little sense to issue a ban that can so easily be bypassed by using a VPN or turning your WiFi off.

People have also been skeptical of the intentions behind this ban. Some believe that there’s likely an ulterior motive behind banning TikTok specifically, instead of all the other social media platforms.

Some have speculated that the ban could be politically charged in some way because of the backlash TikTok has received in the past for encouraging harmful trends or spreading misinformation.

Others think the ban is unnecessarily invasive, and another poor decision on behalf of the

VIEWPOINTS

governor as well as other state representatives. States that haven’t banned the app are likely to see what other like-minded states have chosen to do with TikTok, which could lead to it being banned across

the entire nation. That’s the general skepticism surrounding the ban, but how badly does this ban impact the everyday TikTok user? Seemingly not much.

People feel the impact will be

minimal in the long term since most avid TikTokers are likely to find various means of bypassing the ban.

Some believe the ban is a great idea, particularly in schools as banning the app could help students

refocus and improve their learning habits during class. It could also help instructors teach more efficiently as the amount of inclass distraction could be reduced significantly.

However, those who rely heavily on TikTok for income or communication like college influencers, students who advertise for their school through social media or people who communicate through TikTok could see this as a major inconvenience for them in their day-to-day campus life.

While it won’t hugely impact that many people, it’s definitely a bit of an extreme and admittedly poorly thought-out reaction to an issue with far more nuance. Banning a single app won’t singlehandedly save people’s search history from leaking. It’s an admirable effort, but there’s room for improvement.

Cybersecurity attacks are becoming increasingly more frequent as time goes on, and it should be known that there is a wide selection of ways to combat them.

Utilizing VPNs, downloading antivirus software, using multistep authentication, increasing the strength of passwords or maybe figuring out how people and schools can provide higher funds to IT departments could help. To reduce these attacks, it’ll take a number of actions as opposed to just not using a single app.

Equating beauty with health has caused irreparable damage to the dentistry and health care system.

In the great country of America, everyone is allowed equal opportunity to make something of themselves, or so we’ve been led to believe. In reality, it’s not that easy.

Living in this country is like being put in a race where some of the cars are top of the line chargers, and others are Craigslist cars where the only thing holding together the engine is a pack of duct tape and a prayer. If you don’t have the money to afford a good life, then you’re already out of the race. This extends to all aspects of living from groceries, to clothes and even to something as basic as health care.

Not only is the most basic of treatments exponentially high but even those that aren’t even that obvious as health care are crazily priced. One main example of this is dentistry. Dentistry is an essential aspect of one’s personal health and hygiene, and yet it has been turned into an industry driven by price rather than accessibility.

Dentistry is seen as a cosmetic commodity, and this has made it so it’s borderline unattainable for those in lower socioeconomic classes. The kicker is this. The longer you can’t afford the restorative or

healing procedures needed for your teeth, the higher your bill will become in the long run.

As soon as you fall off the wagon, you’re toast. If you came from a family that was in a lower income bracket and didn’t have adequate insurance to regularly take care of your dentistry, you are going to be the one paying for it later – which is completely ridiculous.

Dentistry is incredibly important for maintaining one’s health and well-being. There is no worse pain than a toothache, and yet it is one of the most costly things to fix. When did dentistry turn from the health aspect to the aesthetic? Why are there giant Mint Dentistry billboards trying to make teeth sexy?

And why do I have a feeling that they charge based on that qualification rather than the fact that these are medical procedures aimed at improving one’s health?

The grip that the aesthetics department has on the dentistry and the health care field in general is incredibly disheartening to see. Instead of prioritizing the health and wellbeing of others, we have a system determined to squeeze the money out of you by holding your procedures up on a high string.

Going to a dental office when a lot of work is needed to restore your teeth is like receiving a receipt of your worth. It could be three pages with line after line of prices that are more than $100.

The discouragement that someone can feel from this could make them question whether or not they should even care about their health or quality of life if it’s going to cost them a fortune to maintain it.

Cosmetology puts a price on aesthetics which makes sense because it’s adding on to the beauty that’s already there. But dentistry isn’t aesthetics, it’s health care and treating the sometimes sick and injured, and it’s about time the prices start to reflect that.

Across cultures, the idea of marrying and courting within your race is important for the ‘success’ and preservation of races. I couldn’t disagree more.

Racial preferences are, to put lightly, absurd. The idea that a demographic is better off with their ‘own people’ is simply not true. Societies naturally collide, and some relationships are bound to happen.

For instance, in my Sudanese culture we share a lot of food with Arab culture like ‘molokhiya’ which is a plant-based stew. We also intermarry and these marriages are debatably the reason we also speak Arabic.

Even with some interracial relationships, especially marriages, there is an effort by families of both parties to prevent it to happen but they only sometimes succeed.

Am I a hopeless romantic? Yes, not only have I started reading romance books at the age of 10, I have also over-romanticized every crush I’ve ever had since my birthday despite this I know true love prevails a good amount of the time.

A perfect example of this is the famous Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case of the 60s. This seems like a long time ago, considering this happened over 60 years ago, but it is still very important.

It was simple, they loved and fought for

each other, and even the law couldn’t separate them. So why do some people of today’s age believe that others can’t do the same?

Of course, I would not convey this opinion of mine without mentioning that some couples can’t marry because harmful things like emotional and physical abuse may happen. This is totally valid, but wrong as a society to do.

Again, hopeless romantic since the age of ten here, how exactly is it that race and personality types are synonymous?

Trick question – they’re not.

A preference would be that a person is not attracted to people who have short hair, not an entire demographic. Any person of any race can have long hair regardless of hair type. Similarly, a person can be attracted to people that are introverted rather than extroverted. Again, every race has their fair share of extroverts, introverts and ambiverts.

The reason why some people say this is because they associate certain traits to certain races and assume everyone behaves that way. This is what you call a stereotype, which harms many people especially emotionally when it comes to public spaces.

For instance, in my predominantly white high school, my calm demeanor was puzzling to some simply because I did not fit the very untrue stereotype that Black women are aggressive and rude. I was an anomaly to them as a classmate, so I can imagine they thought it was an anomaly to view me romantically because we were not of the same race.

Racial preferences are rooted in assumptions, stereotypes and bigotry. And to be honest I am tired of only talking about them. Society’s next thought should be acting towards making people feel safe if they happen to encounter a problem with their family members or society. The question is who’s brave enough to do something about it.

Campus),or mailed to: The Collegian 828 Harwood Road Hurst, TX 76054

Markus Meneses/The Collegian

Dentistry, health care has become costly necessity

Racial preferences are racist, dangerous to relationships

OLLA MOKHTAR campus editor olla.mokhtar@my.tccd.edu

The Vaqueros: the original cowboy

Influencing modern laws, art and cowboy culture

OLLA MOKHTAR campus editor olla.mokhtar@my.tccd.edu

TR Campus hosted a speaker series focusing on the inspiration of cowboy culture in Fort Worth, Texas.

In the Energy Auditorium, “History of the Vaquero de Fort Worth” was presented by the honorable judge Manuel Tejeda Valdez and “South Texas Vaquero Life” by the author Andrés Tijerina.

On Jan. 25, the author of “Beasley’s Vaqueros: The Memoirs, Art, and Poems of Ricardo M. Beasley” presented his findings of a famous Vaquero, or cowboy and emphasized the importance of credibility as well.

“The facts about Mexican Americans and vaqueros are true facts that are documented in historical records,” he said. “Not myths, political arguments, questions. Believable fact.”

Tijerina chose Ricardo Beasley because he was the only artist who has ever produced an entire art portfolio of vaqueros. They are not mentioned as much as Comanches, confederate heroes and African American civil rights leaders in America, so he opted to teach about the vaqueros.

“Historians have studied and written only facts that gratify their own

audience,” he said. “We now have historians who are dedicated not only to an Anglo American audience, but to true scholarly facts.”

Tijerina compiled the work of Beasley to enrich the audience’s understanding and impact of the Tvaqueros.

“Vaqueros are American heroes,” he said. “Icons who changed American history, diet, clothing, cattle industry, riding skills, etc. that affects our daily lives and pride as Texans.”

He said that the audience was a mix of students, faculty, college executives and public leaders who were grasping for significant facts in his presentation, and probed for meaning in their own life.

“Like a student’s own personal life goals, a judge’s public bronze statue for the city, the college president’s handson personal attention to his students’ academic development.”

He explained the reason behind getting to know the vaqueros.

“Why do they have to know about the American Revolution? Why do they have to know how grampa got rich or didn’t get rich? They now know how to get that wealth, and that they must know how to preserve it,” he said.

Honorable Judge Manuel Valdez described the event as being

for educational purposes, and what the audience can absorb is the most important.

“Events like this are very important so that you can intertwine with the speaker and how it touches you and how you can relate to it,” he said. “Education is the key word to gathering of this nature.”

“The vaqueros played a major role in this state, and particularly in the city of Fort Worth. This institution (TCC) is very much a part of that and will convey this message forward,” he said.

Educating the audience about the vaqueros also meant passing on his knowledge.

“All it takes is one person in the audience to grab the button and move it forward,” he said.

As the grandson of a vaquero himself he gives credit to growing up in that environment for his interest in this subject.

“Overall, the diligent quest of Lucia Ramirez-Amarasekara and Lisa Blank to acquisitively identify programs will stimulate their students to broaden their horizons with professional presentations from the highest scholars,” Tijerina said.

Joel Solis/The Collegian Joel Solis/The Collegian Andres Tijerina signs his book

Vaqueros”.

Andres Tijerina hands his book to TR student Valeria Najera attending the Cowtown event in the energy auditorium on TR Campus. The event featured both him and Judge Manuel Valdez.

Joel Solis/The Collegian

Judge Manuel Valdez speaking at the event “Celebrating Texas’ Unknown Past: Cowtown Edition”.