Tccd The Collegian April 12, 2023

DISTRICT

Former President Donald Trump indicted

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

The indictment of Former President Donald Trump has students talking about their thoughts, opinions, and predictions on Trump and the upcoming election.

NE student Nathan Schoeber said that he is unsure about the current situation regarding the indictment but he thinks Trump will be the next republican candidate.

“I’m fairly big into the money side of things, and seeing Biden just throw literal trillions of dollars at basically anything— more than likely he’ll [Trump] get elected,” he said.

Schoeber said that it’s likely that Trump will be the next republican candidate because of various reasons.

“There’s a very good likelihood that he would be, just because of the fact that first off, he’s already been president,” he said. “And while yes, a lot of people have shown dislike in him, there’s been far more people that have shown that they do like him as a person, not just the party.”

Since the indictment, what has transpired is a series of investigations into the money issued out through falsified business

records, ultimately leading to a 34-felony count of falsifying business records in the first degree on Tuesday.

Rep. Marc Veasey of the 33 district in Texas for Congress said that in regards to the indictment, the law is to be applied if necessary and people are sworn to uphold it.

“If he didn’t do anything wrong, shouldn’t have anything to worry about,” he said. “But you know, we are a nation of laws and if the rule of law is going to apply, we have a constitution that people are sworn to uphold and they are to abide by.”

Having said that, he does think Trump has a chance at being the Republican nominee in the upcoming 2024 election.

“I think he’ll probably be the nominee. It’ll likely be divisive, I think it’ll be nasty,” he said.

NE student David Fitzgerald said Trump himself doesn’t have the greatest reputation.

“He’s very out there and attention grabbing,” he said. “But as a political view of him, it’s not that great. I don’t like mudslinging. I think that’s like a personal thing for him that he likes to do.”

Fitzgerald said that in regards to the indictment if Trump had done something that there should be repercussions.

“I think that if he did something wrong, it’ll obviously be shown and he should be punished for it,” he said. “Because corruption in politics shouldn’t be a thing in my opinion. Even though obviously it exists and has existed since the second president because I don’t believe that George Washington was ever corrupt.”

Fitzgerald is unsure of the election, but he knows he wants someone in office who will be in

Grief, math, mental health explored in SE production

Samuel Morales star in the leading roles. Clouse, who portrayed Catherine, enjoyed the ability to represent a strong female character.

the best interest of the country.

“I have no idea if the current president is going to be running again, or what’s going to happen with other candidates,” he said. “I just hope there’s somebody that actually cares about people and isn’t just like, ‘Hey, we don’t like those people.’”

TR student Sunny Whiddon says Trump’s presidency was bult on hate, that his feelings towards minorities like Muslim people,

queer people and women were hateful.

Looking towards the future, she says there will likely be a party split with the Republicans against Gov. Ron DeSantis and Trump.

“I think it may be a close race between them because I feel while Trump is popular, still, some of his previous supporters have moved on and caught on to his games,” she said.

Information on organ donor system lacking

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

The government announced plans two weeks ago to overhaul the organ transplant system by breaking up UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing), the only entity ever to operate the system.

According to HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administrator), over 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list.

“I think if people were more aware of organ donations and how many people it can save, I think they would become donors,” South student Chelsea Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson made the decision to become an organ donor after working in healthcare and watching people struggle.

because she knew there were people in need.

“I am not informed at all,” Johnson said. “I just assume that whenever you check it, you’re letting law enforcement know that you would donate your organs if something happened.”

Johnson said that she knows very little about what being an organ donor actually means, and thinks that gaining more information would cause positive change in the overhauled system.

“There’s probably not enough information out there to inform people of how they can help, so I feel like that would be a necessary step to try to help people get the organs that they need,” Johnson said.

TCC SE theatre department will premiere the play “Proof” on April 19.

The play is centered around Catherine, a young woman struggling with her mental illness and profession as a mathematician. Associate professor of drama Drew Hampton acknowledged the nature of the play.

“It’s very modern — it’s certainly dramatic,” Hampton said. “But it knows how and when to be funny.”

Though math plays a large role in the plot of the play, Hampton assured that audience members will still be able to resonate with it.

“Math is the skin of the play, but the bones of it are things everybody is going to get like home, family, mental health,” Hampton said. “Those themes that actually are ones that we can relate to. A lot of people talk about this as the ‘math play’ and that’s the skin of it. But the bones and the life underneath it are much more relatable than that.”

SE students Lily Clouse, Haleigh Ferguson, DaShaun Ellis and

“One of my favorite aspects of the performance that I like to tap into is the whole feminism thing,” Clouse said. “My character is a mathematician, and you know how the whole world is with women in STEM. And there are parts where Hal is very dude guy and he’s like ‘you’re a woman, you can’t do math’ and I kind of like the ability to portray a strong female lead. She can do math and she’s capable of all these things.”

For Ellis, he felt fortunate to step out of his comfort zone with his character Hal.

“In previous plays I’ve never really played people,” Ellis said.

“I’ve played like exaggerated caricatures of potential people. But this is just a dude. Hal is just a guy and strangely enough that’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, just being a guy.”

Catherine’s sister Claire is played by Ferguson. She noted how the complexities of the play made it stand out among others.

“I did notice it was very heavy on subjects, but I actually like that,” Ferguson said. “Other than musicals and some plays, it’s just

basic and the same conflict. It is cool how there are heavy subjects being talked about and different conflicts within the big conflict. It’s a challenge.”

One of the main motifs of the play is mental health. Despite the heavy subject matter, Clouse felt comfortable to harness past experiences and incorporate them into the play.

“I haven’t personally gone through what my character has gone through,” Clouse said. “I remember first talking to Drew about it when we first started the rehearsal process. I’ve never really been able to tap into those emotions I’ve felt before in a show.”

Hampton hopes the audience gains a greater appreciation for theatre after attending the play.

“Live theatre, that particular art experience, is incredibly powerful in a very different way than film and television,” Hampton said. “You go in the program and see four people onstage but there’s like 40 people mentioned in terms of how they affected this play. Just an appreciation for the art of theatre is usually what I’m most excited for people to walk away with.”

“It was people who needed to go to the dialysis all the time and didn’t have very good kidneys that made me think that if something ever happened to me, I’d want to be able to donate my kidneys to someone who is struggling,” she said.

While organ donors do help the system, South student Katie Ferrera recognizes how it comes down to personal preference.

“I guess it depends on whether or not you’re comfortable with giving it away,” she said. “It’s positive that you’re helping someone, but you’re also giving away something you may potentially need.”

South student Hannah Johnson is also an organ donor. It’s a box she just checked whenever she got her license. While she doesn’t know much about the system, she decided to become an organ donor

Along with the issue of the system being overcrowded, South student Layla Chadwick said that she has concerns about people of color being disproportionately affected.

“I think (organ donations) are a good thing, but there needs to be a better way to make it equal for everyone,” Chadwick said.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African Americans make up the largest group of minorities in need of an organ transplant.

Johnson said what she thinks could improve the organ donor system.

“I think spreading information through social media would be helpful, like advertisements and stories telling how this could be beneficial for people,” she said.

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

SOUTHEAST

Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS

Joel Solis/The Collegian

Former President Donald Trump attends UFC 287 at the Kaseya Center on Saturday, April 8, 2023, in downtown Miami, Florida. Trump was indicted on 34 business fraud charges on April 4.

SE students Lily Clouse, Haleigh Ferguson and DaShaun Ellis rehearse their lines onstage together preparing for the opening of “Proof.” The show will debut at the C. A. Roberson Theater on April 19.

Nerds rejoice with “Dungeons & Dragons” film

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

The daring and darling world of “Dungeons & Dragons” has been brought to the big screen in the best way possible in “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”

This movie was able to do something that most nerds back in the early 90s could have only dreamed of: it made the world of fantasy tabletop roleplaying look as cool and breathtaking to the masses as it does to the players themselves.

With a star-studded cast, fantastic special effects and heart-pounding fight choreography, the viewer is brought into a vibrantly beautiful world of magic and adventure. Where dragons and dwarves are real and more than likely trying to kill you, and riches beyond your wildest dream are possible if you’re only crafty enough to get them.

The main group of characters, led by Chris Pine’s character Edgin Darvis, are a rag-tag group of people who band together to fight a common enemy, and if that doesn’t scream the start to a “D&D” campaign then nothing does. The group consists of the standard makings of any fantasy party: a bard, a barbarian, a sorcerer and a druid. All that’s missing is an acrobat.

The story is pretty basic, but in this case that simplicity made the overall experience easier to enjoy. The worst kinds of fantasy stories are the ones that require hours of pouring over dark and dismal lore just so that you can understand the movie that you’re watching. None of that’s required for this one. It’s just that those who have spent a lot of time playing “D&D” will recognize so many more references than the ones who didn’t.

It’s obvious that the people who were behind the writing of the movie cared about the games and had played one or two campaigns themselves. The movie references several items, spells and even places all within “D&D” lore. The group travels along the “Spine of the World” the great mountains in the north all the way to the bustling city of “Neverwinter.” Both of these are very

CROSSWORD

recognizable names in the “D&D” world but to non-player viewers would just be cool fantasy names.

The actors put on a pretty good performance in this movie as well. Chris Pine has a great on-screen presence that really helped nail a lot of the comedic beats. Michelle Rodriguez, though not the first person you’d think to be in a nerdy movie, plays a fantastic barbarian and has some of the best fight scenes in the movie. Regé-Jean Page did great, as expected, and added an element to the movie that would be fantastic to explore more in a sequel if it’s ever made.

The villains and monsters in this movie are well-made. The special effects for the magic and the mayhem that happened during the fights was well-done. Even the costuming of the characters themselves looked like they just stepped out of the “Player’s Handbook.” This movie made “D&D,” a game that has meant so much to so many people but was stigmatized for the longest time, approachable and enjoyable to the general public. People will now be looking up what owlbears are and how Sophia Lillis’ character Doric could turn into one, or what kind

of spells Justice Smith’s character Simon could learn, or even just look up what kind of instrument Chris Pine kept playing in the movie. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is an action-packed, magic-filled and heartwarming tale that seasoned players and non-players alike can enjoy, and maybe those who haven’t played before will consider trying it because of this movie.

Across

3. Health Resources and Services Administrator acronym.

6. Florida’s current governor, Ron ______.

9. The first name of the protagonist of the “Prom Pact.”

11. A proposal to someone to accompany them at prom.

13. “But as a political view of him, it’s not that great. I don’t like _____. I think that’s like a personal thing for him that he likes to do.”

15. _____ is a formal charge or accusation of a crime.

17. Trump was charged with a 34-felony count of falsifying business records in the ____ degree.

18. Twitter and Instagram are social ________ platforms.

19. “She said she remembers being young and watching her father develop prints or family photos in the dark room and she saw the process as ______.”

21. The protagonist of the play “Proof.”

23. Name of the play SE campus will premiere on April

19.

24. On Twitter, a post is referred to as a _______.

26. “She said her view on art in general is that it helps you understand what your ____ are, whether that be images, painting, sculpture or music.”

27. Twitter is currently by Elon Musk, the man behind the ______.

29. A formal high school dance at the end of the year.

32. Area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes.

Down

1. “Dungeons & _______: Honor Among Thieves” is a fantasy film based on the lore of the tabletop roleplaying game “Dungeons & ________.”

2. Chinese _______ Party.

4. Sites like Facebook have changed the _______ of millions of people.

5. A gift for charity.

7. United Network for Organ Sharing acronym.

8. Chris Pine plays a bard in the movie “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” ______ Darvis.

Japanese cartoons.

12. “Former President Donald Trump was indicted on Tuesday in a ______ court.”

13. A social

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

Disney+ made a romantic comedy, and it wasn’t half bad. It doesn’t meet the legendary status of other rom coms on the streaming platform but the “Prom Pact” certainly gave its all.

Released on Mar. 31, “Prom Pact” follows Mandy Yang, an ambitious high school senior who was waitlisted to Harvard and is willing to do absolutely anything to get accepted. In her case, this means tutoring the school’s golden boy Graham Lansing to get a letter of recommendation from his father, a Harvard alum senator. But along the way, Mandy develops feelings for Graham and begins to debate whether Harvard is worth risking her relationships for.

The movie takes heavy inspiration from the 80s. The whole movie leads up to the 80s themed prom. Throughout the film are references to 80s movies. Including a promposal based on the iconic Tom Cruise dance from the movie “Risky Business.”

In typical rom com fashion, Mandy is the exact opposite of Graham. She shares similarities with Kat Stratford, the outspoken feminist protagonist of “10 Things I Hate About You.” She lacks school spirit and believes school dances are severely outdated. Graham on the other hand is the most popular boy in school. Athletic and unafraid to indulge in the stereotypical pleasures of high school.

Do not be fooled by the fact that this is a high school movie by Disney. The film features scenes of high school parties with the infamous red Solo cup and even a crude sex joke. The language or content isn’t wildly explicit.

However to a viewer like me who expected an operating table clean movie, this may come as a surprise.

The movie’s plot was predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless. What was not predictable, however, was the relationship between Mandy and her best friend Ben Plunkett. In most rom coms, Mandy and Ben would’ve ended up together after one of them realizes that they are hopelessly in love with the other. But in the “Prom Pact,” this is not the case.

The platonic chemistry between Mandy and Ben is refreshing. They have a ritual every Friday night involving bookstores, movies and ending the night by sharing a plate of waffles. There is no question that there is love between the two, but it remains strictly platonic with no inkling of possible romance. Who would have thought that genuine male-female friendships were one of the things we were lacking in representation?

Inevitably, Mandy tarnishes her friendship with Ben after prioritizing Graham, but she apologizes and makes up for it in the way they know how — waffles.

The actors do a phenomenal job in their roles and help the delivery of the script. Milo Manheim, who plays Ben, delivers his role in such an endearing way that even his awkward bits come off as charming.

If cheesy rom coms, prom and indecision about waffles are your forte, I highly recommend the “Prom Pact.” Don’t let the Mickey ears deter you from a good time.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Chris Pine and Justice Smith’s characters Edgin the Bard and Simon the sorcerer on top of horses as they travel around the magical realm of “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” The movie premiered in theaters on March 31.

Photo courtesy of Disney+ Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Milo Manheim star as main characters Mandy Yang and Ben Pluckett in “Prom Pact” which premiered March 31 on Disney+.

Florida’s governor is a harbinger of chaos

Florida’s recent trend of hardright leaning legislation is worrying for the future of Texas’ and America’s democracy.

The great state of Florida has always been crazy. The tales of the alligator wrestling by the local Florida man of the week are always entertaining, but the headlines from Florida lately haven’t been as funny especially regarding the legislation passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Under DeSantis’ leadership, the state of Florida has become a beacon of Republican values. In June 2021, it seemed every week there was a new topic that DeSantis was addressing with bills. He led efforts to ban the teaching of critical race theory, a set of ideas holding that racial bias is inherent in many institutions due to being primarily designed for and implemented by white people, in Florida schools, even though it wasn’t even a part of the curriculum.

Later that year, he instituted the Individual Freedom Act, more commonly known as the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act, which gives parents the ability to sue the districts they believe teach critical race theory to their children.

This “war on wokeness” is something DeSantis has promoted for the past two years. With each policy, another group’s rights get run over. In 2022, DeSantis passed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, more commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would prohibit any discussion of gender or orientation in grades kindergarten through third

VIEWPOINTS

grade. This bill was seen as incredibly harmful by the LGBTQ+ community due to the censoring nature of the bill.

How can you have a war on wokeness and then start censoring people?

These bills set frightening prec-

edents. DeSantis is determined to go after whatever groups he believes are a threat to his image of a “perfect America” and is signing bill after bill to ensure that they are kept quiet. He even added an “anti-mob” extension

hate is perpetuated through your informality

eyes or even say they’ve “switched races” after waking up with puffy eyes.

Among the most jarring encounters I’ve had are people who are completely unapologetic towards the atomic bombs and the bombing of Tokyo, which resulted in the death of my great grandfather. Their reasoning: we “deserved it” as retribution for Pearl Harbor.

I didn’t know that there would ever be justification for killing hundreds of thousands of civilians.

to the stand-your-ground law during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2021 for that exact purpose.

This trend in Republican politics is worrying considering that Texas is bleeding red itself. DeSantis has

emphasized in the past that Texas and subsequently Gov. Greg Abbott partnered with Florida against the “woke” left and said that without the two titans of Republican states that America would be a neo-Marxist dumpster fire.

There is no reason that a Texan should be worrying about what happens in Florida, but now we have to. Because what if those incredibly restrictive laws pass through the Republican pipeline and make their home here. This feels like the worst case of catch-up where the losers are the populations in these states.

What’s scarier is imagining what a DeSantis presidency would look like. Thankfully, he hasn’t put in his bid yet, but many speculate that he will and with former President Donald Trump’s historic indictment, DeSantis might be their next nominee.

If he bans everything he sees as “woke” in his own state, then what would he ban nationally? What gives him the authority to define what normal American values are versus the “woke” mentality he’s trying so desperately to fight.

The future of Republican values and the future of Florida are held in the hands of a maniac who has the percentages of the GOP who don’t like Trump anymore in his back pocket, and this recent indictment will send even more to him on a silver platter. If this country somehow falls into DeSantis’ hands as well, there won’t be fun headlines of crazy Florida men anymore, but a crazy United States dictator focused on eradicating the rights of everyone not like him.

TikTok has been under scrutiny after security concerns and its affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party. Or just simply, its Chinese affiliations.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of hate crimes towards Asian Americans. The pandemic was essentially a scapegoat to discriminate against all Asian people. The virus was even named the “China virus” by former President Donald Trump.

It seems TikTok is the newest excuse to say inflammatory things about Chinese people. In several conversations about the recent proposals to ban TikTok, many people drop the “Communist Party” part of the CCP and simply reduce the blame to the Chinese.

People may say “potato potato” and guffaw about the sensitivity of our generation, yet blissfully ignorant of how dropping two words perpetuates hate crimes against Asian people.

Being half Japanese, I have been the brunt of jokes at the lunch table a plethora of times. A boy once told me it was my fault that World War II happened.

I’ve had people pull their eyes taught against their face to mock the shape of my

Letter Policy

The magnitude of the situation finally hit me about two months ago. My mother, a Japanese immigrant, was talking to me about how she feels safer walking our pitbull in case someone tries to attack her.

It’s truly an unexplainable feeling realizing that the chance of being subjected to a hate crime is increasing exponentially. The sad reality of a minority in America is watching your chance of survival fluctuate as you flip through the news channels.

Because to racists, who cares if you’re not Chinese or the ethnicity on the roster to target? To them, we’re all the same.

The irony in all of this is the population of non-Asian people who so fervently consume Asian culture do not speak up when it comes to protecting the population they derive their pleasures from.

Listen to all the K-pop, eat all the pho and watch all the anime you want. But when we speak up about the injustices our community is facing, the least you can do is wipe off your questionable eyeliner and lend an ear.

With the Restrict Act on the horizon, social media could see major changes. Though, that begs the question of whether social media is even needed.

It’s obvious that social media has changed the way society operates since its inception, and perhaps even conception. A place where real people can go to follow the lives of other people whenever they want? That’s the kind of crazy idea that would certainly forever alter the way people interact, right? Yes. Yes, it would. It absolutely would.

It’s difficult to imagine a world where social media platforms didn’t exist. They’ve become millions of people’s go-to source for news, updates, drama, memes –the works. Just think about it, if it weren’t for the existence of Twitter, we wouldn’t have been blessed with tweets from former President Donald Trump talking about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s relationship or how bad Coca-Cola tastes.

Jokes aside, the stranglehold social media platforms have had on people’s daily lives is inconceivable. Realistically, it’s as important and prominent in many folks’ lives as their jobs at this point. One could argue that’s hyperbolic, but – is it though?

Society has grown largely dependent

on social media platforms like Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Not to say that’s inherently a negative thing, but there’s no denying that it’s likely impossible for us as a society to ever truly go back to the way things were before the dawn of MySpace, or if you’re a 90s kid, Six Degrees.

If it weren’t for Facebook or Instagram, building and maintaining relationships with people familiar and unfamiliar would become increasingly difficult at a time when it seems many people have grown tired and weary of others.

If it weren’t for TikTok, Reddit or Quora, new and old generations may have a harder time opening their minds to multiple lifestyles, languages, locations, cultures, backgrounds, likes, dislikes, positives, negatives, historical events and current events.

If it wasn’t for Twitter, chances are a lot of folks wouldn’t have to lose brain cells reading awful tweets, who’d want to miss out on that?

On second thought, maybe Twitter should go actually.

Additionally, politicians, businesses, celebrities, news outlets, schools, etc., have used the available media platforms as an invaluable way to communicate information about themselves to build a stronger image to encourage more people to engage with them.

Despite Senator Mark Warner and his spokespeople declaring otherwise, it’s a bit hard to believe this Restrict Act thing won’t have a large impact on numerous citizens.

Though we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. If social media succumbs to the power of the Restrict Act, what will happen to our society?

Tj Favela/The Collegian

world

NINA BANKS campus editor

Just LikeMagic

Cristina Kahlo’s journey through magic of photography

like cyanotype, or platinum palladium prints. But at the same time, I work with digital photography, so I use anything that helps me to do an image.”

From her home in Mexico, there in her room sat large shelves of paint brushes in small cups, a picture, binders and Cristina Kahlo –photographer, traveler and artist.

She has a legacy following her being the great niece of Frida Kahlo, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. But Cristina Kahlo has made a name for herself building her career around her passion for photography.

She said that there were expectations of her having come from the Kahlo family, but that she knew she had to learn to live with that because she wanted to live authentically as herself.

“For me, it’s important to keep being the way I am, to have my own personality and my own interests and activities as a photographer,” she said. “I know that people have some expectations, sometimes they figure that when I will arrive, I will arrive dressed like Frida Kahlo, for example, which is not my style in any way.”

South Campus art history and art appreciation instructor Carlos Rovelo is good friends with Kahlo. In the past he has worked with her, been invited to events and even to her home to celebrate his birthday. He described her as knowledgeable, inviting, proud of her heritage and complex.

For Kahlo, her photography journey started with her father’s dark room.

“The first time I came into a darkroom, it was with my father,” she said. “I think I was about 10, 11 years old or something like that and for me, that was like magic.”

She said she remembers being young and watching her father develop prints or family photos in the dark room and she saw the process as magic.

For me, it’s important to keep being the way I am, to have my own personality and my own interests and activities as a photographer.

“I remember this idea that I had that when I grew up, I want to be a magician as my father is,” she said. “Not a photographer, you know, a magician, because that was like magic. How you put up a white paper into the developer, and then the image appears.”

When her father passed away two or so years after, she said she kept her fascination with photography and received some lessons on developing film from the brother of her friend.

At 16, she pursued photography at the only photography school in Mexico City at the time.

“It was around the block of my house so that was perfect for me, and later, I went to study in Spain, in Madrid to study photography,” she said. “But I think that I’m very lucky because I never have had any question in my mind about what I want to do as a career, I was always clear that I wanted to do photography.”

When she started photography, she said she began with analog photography. Now, she still likes to use a dark room and analog photography mixed with other techniques.

“In my beginnings as a photographer I used to work in a darkroom, but I still do. Now I work with different techniques,” she said. “But I keep doing analog photography, as well as techniques

She said her work is divided and that she doesn’t like to limit herself. One half is personal to her, and it is her way of telling a story through photos by imagining a scene, creating it and taking photos of it. The other half is documentary photography.

“This last month I have been in a place called Tenejapa in Chiapas and I was documenting a carnival in that place, which was incredible. It was amazing,” she said. “So I do both kinds of photography. One is much more personal, you know, it’s like my personal dreams and images that came out of my mind, and then I create them. But at the same time I like to document and to have these documents about what’s happening around.”

One photo series she particularly enjoys is her “Marco Polo is metaphor” series of images because for her, it’s a metaphor for her story of travel.

“Marco Polo is for me a metaphor of my own movement in this world all the time and the things that you discover in your travels and also the way you move into the world and into my life itself,” she said.

Defining Kahlo can get lost in translation, Rovelo said, because she has such an influence and connection with the people she meets, the places she goes and the way she teaches.

“She’s a private woman, and complex. You have to love it to understand, and love her,” he said.

He recalled teaching a zoom class from Mexico City, and didn’t tell his students that Kahlo would be there with him at her house.

“After the class, obviously, students were like, ‘wow!’” he said.

Kahlo has three pieces of advice for being a photographer. The first was finding inspiration wherever possible.

“I will say that you have to get inspiration from everywhere, and that means that you have to read a lot, that you have to hear music, that you have to go to the movies, you have to see nature. Everything can become a source of inspiration,” she said.

The second piece of advice she has is to save the ideas that come.

“Everything that comes to your mind as an idea of creation, maybe right now you cannot do it. But in a few months, you will have the time or the material to do it. So write them and you will see that they will grow up.”

Her third piece of advice is staying consistent with work and being responsible with time.

“You go to your studio, and you start working every day the number of hours that is okay for you. But every day, if you leave spaces without creating and without working, then it’s more difficult to take the line again,” she said.

Kahlo said it’s important to her that people feel their own feelings come through in her photography and how they relate to it personally.

“For example, if I have an exhibition, and you go to see my exhibition you will feel things according to the way you feel,” she said.

She said her view on art in general is that it helps you understand what your feelings are, whether that be images, painting, sculpture or music. When she is in an exhibition, she said she notices how people come to her with their interpretations of the photos.

“Sometimes when I have an exhibition, for example, people come to me and tell me, ‘I love this photograph, because for me, it’s like this and that,’ and maybe it’s something that I didn’t think at all,” she said. “That is the feeling of the person who looks at that image.”

As Cristina continues on, she says there is an importance in sharing her family’s life and what it means to her.

“People are curious to know what happened to the family after Frida,” she said. “Who we are, what we do, and so I think it’s important to make these kind of lectures so that they can know what the family is about these days.”

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

Cristina Kahlo Photographer

Photo courtesy Cristina Kahlo

From Kahlo’s photo series “Marco Polo is metaphor” the picture “Wonders of this earth” depicts a flower vase.

The photo “Impossible looks” has a vintage case of photo slides. The collections images range from 2013-2019.

The photo “look elsewhere” depicts a woman laying in contemplation with shapes around her.