Eastfield Et Cetera March 6, 2019

Mediterranean done right at Maya’s See page 7 ➤

Eastfield College

Your spring fix Five ways to enjoy the break, whether you’re broke or not See page 8 ➤

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Volume 50, Issue 10

2

NEWS

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

@TheEtCetera

The Et Cetera

Campus IDs requirement seeks to increase security

By JAMES HARTLEY Life & Arts Editor @ByJamesHartley

A policy that will require all students and employees to wear Eastfield IDs in an attempt to improve safety lacks specifics approaching the April 1 deadline.

Dallas County Community College District police Chief Lauretta Hill said as of now the procedure for officers on campus will be to educate about the new policy and encourage students and employees to obtain and wear ID badges.

It will not solely be a law enforcement effort but a community effort, Hill said.

“What we’re trying to do is change the culture,” Hill said. “The ID policy will take a while before it becomes muscle memory, so initially what we’re going to do is make sure everybody has an ID. It’s not just a police program or policy. It’s for all the campuses, so everybody is our eyes and ears.”

Police on campus are still waiting for direction on how to handle implementation of the policy.

Many students are unaware of the policy’s existence.

Information Technology major Beyani Quiroz said she did not know about the policy.

She said it makes sense but isn’t necessary.

“I think it’s good that they’re trying to do

JULIE CORDOVA/THE ET CETERA

that, but it’s been like it is right now and I feel like we’re safe right now,” Quiroz said.

Jorge Bravo, a biology major, knew about the policy but was not aware of any specifics.

He heard about it from a professor during class and said he doesn’t think it will hurt anything.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Bravo said. “Most of us already carry a lanyard, like for our keys.”

Donielle Johnson, director of marketing at Eastfield, said there will be no disciplinary action for members of the college community who do not wear their ID badges on campus.

Johnson, who is on a committee to help implement the new policy, said many of those details will be handled by police.

Johnson said it is unclear how the policy could impact Eastfield’s status as an open campus in the future, but that the main concern is safety.

“This all kind of stems from the incident at North Lake and the incident at El Centro,” Johnson said.

The incident at North Lake was a man who killed a woman and himself in 2017. The year before, Micah Xavier entered El Centro in an ambush that ended with five police officers dead and two civilians injured.

For now, Johnson said college officials are focused on raising awareness of the policy.

Posters have been placed across campus to help remind students of the upcoming requirement.

For instances where members of the campus community repeatedly refuse to comply with the policy, there may be further action taken, according to Justin Lonon, executive vice chancellor for the DCCCD. That may be through the student or employee codes of conduct, but the procedure is still being formed. It is expected to be finalized by April 1.

“That could obviously have a greater impact, but the intent is just to remind folks that this policy is in place and make it as commonplace as it is in many other institutions,” Lonon said.

Computer engineering major Christian Nava said that while he was not aware of the policy, it makes sense.

“Regardless of any place, whether it’s a col-

Cops teach shooting defense

By ADOLFO RESENDIZ OLGUIN Reporter @AdolfoOResendiz

Students and professors can be prepared to handle active shooter situations on campus through the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events, reducing the threat to the college, Eastfield police Officer Harlan Thompson said.

Thompson hosted a seminar Feb. 28 to teach the Eastfield community about CRASE, a program developed by a group of Texas law enforcement agencies to educate people on the proper response to an active threat.

According to the FBI, there have been 250 FBI-designated active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2017, with 799 people killed and 1,418 injured.

“I feel like this class is fairly urgent, just because of the incidents that are occurring around the world,” police Lt. Jason Brown said. “We want to make sure that our students are prepared in the in-

stance something like this were to happen on campus.”

Most people will respond to an active shooter situation in three stages, Thompson said: denial, deliberation and decisive actions.

Denial is ignoring the sound of gunfire, believing it to be something else. Deliberation is reacting and adapting to surroundings using fight or flight.

Decisive action is making a thoughtful decision on how to act.

Thompson’s advice was to avoid, deny, defend, a tactic he called an improvement on run, hide, fight.

“If you look at somebody and you scream run, what are they gonna do?” Thompson asked.

“They’re just gonna turn around and take off. Do they think?”

Instead, he advises being aware of your surroundings and being smart about how you flee the situation.

“Avoid is the same thing as run, but it’s running smartly,” Thompson said. “Have as much stuff between you and the bad

guy as possible.”

Denying is barricading access from you and the attacker.

If your defense is breached, you have to be prepared to defend yourself because your life does depend on your response. One thing Thompson warned against was trying to eliminate the threat yourself.

“If you have a CHL, or a license to carry, … I don’t want you going out and hunting the threat,” he said. “Because once you go out there, you have now entered my food chain. I don’t know who you are. Even if I know who you are, I don’t know what your intention is.”

To avoid being shot by officers, Thompson recommends gathering as many people as possible into a room, barricading it and only permitting police officers in while following police commands.

Social Sciences Division assistant Margaret Leicht said she was glad she went to the seminar.

“I think everybody needs to know,” she said. “It’s valuable information that can benefit everyone.”

lege or a workplace, they require that you have your identification card so they know who you are and it makes their job easier,” Nava said.

Lonon said he does not expect the policy to impact the open campus status of district campuses.

“This really is a foundational one that many other institutions have in place for just trying to know best who’s on campus,” Lonon said. “The intent is not for a community member who shows up to be harassed or anything like that.

It’s just helpful to have a sense of who is supposed to be there and who’s not.”

In the future, campuses may have a visitor center or a requirement for visitors to obtain a badge. The difficulty with implementing that is in the number of entrances on most campuses.

El Centro is the only district campus with a 100 percent ID check policy, Hill said.

Students can get their first ID for free at advising in C-120.

Any replacement IDs will cost $10. Employees should pick up their IDs in human resources, C-215. There is no cost for employee replacement IDs. The IDs can be used to get discounts around Dallas-Fort Worth and are used to check out material from the library, access the school gym and can be used when making payments to the business office.

DART Student GoPasses also require a student ID.

Active shooter stats: Since 1966 1,153 people have been killed victims ages range from eight months to 98 years old

309 guns used 171 obtained illegally 59 obtained legally 79 unknown There have been 162 mass shootings in the U.S. A “mass shooting” consists of four or more people being killed by one or two shooters in a public space

Santa fe high school shooting: on may 18, 2018, 10 victims were killed and 10 were injured in about 30 minutes Source: The Washington Post

Graphics by Jesus Madrid and Mateo Corey

NEWS

3

The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Booze, weed, tuition: 6 issues to watch in Austin

Among the more than 2,800 bills filed during the state’s 86th legislative session, many have the potential to change major aspects of life for Texas residents.

An increase in K-12 funding and a proposed tax cap on local governments have grabbed the state spotlight, but as the March 8 filing deadline approaches, legislators prepare to shape the future of Texas in a variety of ways.

From medicinal marijuana and beers to go to easier voter registration, here are prominent bills filed to look out for.

— Compiled by David Silva Marijuana (again)

Bills that edge cannabis toward decriminalization have been filed time and time again in recent years, and all but one have been dead on arrival.

But that one, a 2015 bill that allowed for high-CBD, low-THC cannabis products to be used to treat epilepsy, has seemingly cracked open the door for medicinal marijuana across the state.

At least six bills have been filed relating to marijuana.

Each makes different attempts to bring cannabis closer to legality.

Most notably, Senate Bill 90 proposes expanding medicinal marijuana options to treat other illnesses such as cancer, autism and posttraumatic stress disorder.

House Bill 63 would decriminalize having less than an ounce of marijuana, instead making it a civil offense.

The passage of these bills, along with shifting public sentiment, would bring the full use of medicinal marijuana closer to reality.

Easier voting access

Seven bills have been proposed that would allow eligible citizens to register to vote online.

Texas is currently one of 12 states that don’t provide online registration.

Another bill, House Bill 1950, would allow college students to use their school IDs as acceptable voter ID. The law requiring registered voters to provide IDs is considered one of the strictest voting laws in the country and was blocked by two courts before being upheld prior to the 2018 midterm elections.

Many critics pointed out that the law accepts handgun licenses as identification, but doesn’t include student IDs. This would not only allow students who do not possess driver’s licenses or passports to verify their identity but also elevate the value of a student ID as a form of identification.

Abortion restrictions Multiple bills have been filed that would chip away at abortion access.

House Bill 47 would criminalize abortion except to save a woman’s life or prevent serious

injury to the mother.

House Bill 1500 would make an abortion illegal after six weeks of pregnancy.

Since the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, conservative legislatures like Texas’ have increased the number of bills filed that would limit abortion access.

Out-of-state tuition for Dreamers

House Bill 413 proposes undocumented immigrants pay out-of-state college tuition.

In 2001, Texas passed a law that allowed undocumented students who have lived in the state for three years to pay in-state tuition.

The bill’s language targets people “not authorized under federal statute to be present in the United States,” including those registered in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Since the arrival of DACA, legislatures across the country have tried to define whether DACA students should be considered in-state residents.

States like Maryland consider DACA recipients as in-state students, while states like Arizona consider DACA recipients to be out-of-state.

Free college Two bills have been filed that would essentially provide free two-year and four-year tuition to eligible students.

Senate Bill 32 would allow Texas residents who have an annual household income less

than $100,000 to attend college for free.

Senate Bill 33 would allow students to go to community colleges without paying tuition.

As of now, the bills look like they have a long way to go before becoming law.

Getting rid of daylight savings House Bill 49 would effectively eliminate daylight saving time in Texas.

Legislators have being trying to pass a bill like this for almost 20 years, to no avail.

These bills have failed largely due to lawmakers and constituents being unable to decide which time zones they want implemented across the state.

If this bill were to pass, it would make Texas only the third state in the U.S. to opt out of daylight saving.

Beers to go Very few things get legislators to work across the aisle more effectively than booze.

Senate Bill 312 and House Bill 672, filed by a Republican senator and Democratic representative, allow Texas craft breweries to sell beer directly from their premises.

Texas is currently the only state that doesn’t allow breweries to directly sell beer for offpremise consumption.

House Bill 1100 would allow the sale of packaged liquor on Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. and would change the Monday through Sunday liquor sale from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Eastfield engineering students can take A&M classes at El Centro

By ANDREW WALTER Copy Editor @AndyWalterETC

Funded by a $5 million gift from Chevron, the Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academy will allow Eastfield students to save money while getting a head start on their engineering degrees.

The program started in the Dallas County Community College District at El Centro in 2015.

A student in the academy is enrolled at both a DCCCD college and Texas A&M University at College Station.

Once accepted, a student has the choice of staying at a DCCCD college for one or two years and then transitions to College Station.

The academy’s creation was influenced by Texas’ need for more engineers, said Amy Vance, the Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academy liaison.

The Texas Workforce Commission estimates that 53,000 more engineers will be needed in the workforce by 2024.

Get in touch

“Prior to this academy, students would take their core classes their first couple of years at Eastfield and then transfer to A&M,” Vance said.

“But when they transfer to A&M after that second year, they’re one or two years behind in their engineering courses. So, what should take four, maybe five years, you’re taking six or seven years because you didn’t start your engineering courses right away.”

Once the academy has expanded to all DCCCD schools, students will take their core classes at the DCCCD college of their choice and take engineering classes at El Centro, Vance said.

“I am so excited about this program,” she said. “It is such a benefit to students to be accepted at A&M, which is an incredible engineering college. [Your] very first year, you’re going to save a tremendous amount

Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academy

of money by taking a majority of your courses here in Dallas. Then you’re already in [at A&M]. You just move.”

The 2017-2018 annual estimated cost of attendance at Texas A&M College Station was $28,476 while it was $11,006 at a DCCCD college for in-district costs while living at home.

Promotional flyers for the Chevron Academy claim that enrollment in the program can save students up to $4,000 per semester.

Applications to the academy for fall 2019 are due June 30.

Vance said that the academy’s expansion will make it much easier to obtain an engineering degree by starting at Eastfield.

Engineering professor Ian Horbaczewski, who’s employed by both the DCCCD and Texas A&M, teaches for the academy at El Centro. His

students work in the lab created with funding by Chevron.

“It’s a small program right now,” he said. “We’re definitely looking to expand it. We’re trying to make sure that people locally here know about the program.”

Mechanical engineering major Duncan Robertson is in the program and will transition to A&M in the fall.

He said he learned about the program by word of mouth during an Eastfield summer class several years ago.

Currently, Robertson said the program has less than 25 students in the DCCCD.“It is a very small program for the DCCCD,” he said. “But if you were to compare that to other coleges that are also running the same academy, some of them have 80, 90 kids throughout their same community

Amy Vance Associate Dean, STEM Academy Liaison

eastfieldcollege.edu/tamuengineering. amy.vance@dcccd.edu 972-860-7141

college academy program. It’s a very stark difference.”

Computing professor David Kirk graduated from Texas A&M University at College Station years ago.

He said that the academy’s expansion could open opportunities that STEM students at Eastfield don’t normally see.

“Still, for our students to be able to drive or take the train [to El Centro for A&M engineering courses], that’s awesome,” Kirk said. “That’s an incredible opportunity. I wish I could’ve done that.”

4

NEWS

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

@TheEtCetera

The Et Cetera

Looking over her shoulder

New lights coming to Staff member embattled by almost 30 years of stalking parking lots STALKING BY THE NUMBERS Eastfield is awaiting approval from the Violence Against Women Act for a grant that would help pay for lighting in areas on campus that are dark at night, such as the Lower Courtyard.

Counselor Jaime Torres is seeking feedback from students, faculty and staff about which other specific areas are dark at night.

“I think anything that helps to make the campus a safer environment for everyone is beneficial,” he said.

It is one of two lighting improvement programs working to provide better lighting in parking lots, courtyard areas and other dark spaces on campus.

Director of Facilities Services Michael Brantley said the goal is to make campus safer and save energy. The lights being replaced in parking lots is part of a 2012 bond package that included improvements around campus like upgrading the parking lots from asphalt to concrete.

“There are actually specific sciences for how much minimum light is required for safety,” he said. “We’re challenged with trying to figure out, to make sure that we illuminate the campus from door to car, and that people feel safe. That’s our goal.”

Brantley said facilities is conducting photometric testing to determine if the campus is well lit. He said the LED lights that are being installed are brighter, cast light 360 degrees and save energy.

He said this project will likely be completed in May, but facilities will begin planning the lighting project that is part of the VAWA grant before then.

The lighting from the VAWA grant will focus on lights that hang from the walls of buildings and focus on areas closer to campus.

—Compiled by Aria Jones

By ARIA JONES Editor in Chief @AriaJonesETC

Laura Jarnagin was sound asleep.

Then, a banging on her front door jolted her out of bed. She was terrified. As she peeked through her front window in the middle of the night, she saw four police officers outside, guns drawn.

“I’m going to open the front door!

I do not have any weapons!” she hollered at them.

When they got inside, she was informed that her stalker had called the police and told them he was about to cut her head off. The police saw this as a viable threat.

They searched her entire house, including the attic, but didn’t find anything.

They asked her if she was OK. Physically, she was. But she lives in constant fear of violence. Her stalker had been to her home before.

Jarnagin, who works in the president’s office at Eastfield, has been a victim of stalking for almost 30 years. She is one in six women who experience stalking, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.

Stalking is a pattern of harassment that is unwanted and causes safety concerns for the victim. Examples of stalking tactics include making unwanted phone calls or sending unwelcome texts, emails, cards, or presents; watching or following; showing up at the victim’s home, workplace or school; leaving strange or threatening items for the victim to find; or sneaking into the victim’s home.

At Eastfield, there was one instance of stalking in 2017 and four in 2016, according to the annual security report. Counselor Jaime Torres said while stalking is more prevalent than other offenses, he is grateful there was only one report in 2017, with the Eastfield population having more than 15,000 students.

At North Lake College, student Janeera Gonzalez was shot and killed on campus in 2017. Her mother told WFAA that her killer had been stalking her.

Torres has been leading the efforts to provide training on these topics after the college received a grant

Stalking involves a pattern of harassment and threatening tactics that is both unwantedand causes fear or safety concerns for the victim.

About 19.1 million women and 6.4 million men were victims of stalking in their lifetime, according to a 2015 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.

Stalking tactics measured Unwanted phone calls, messages, emails, cards,

Nearly

1 in 6 women

letters, flowers or presents.

in the U.S. were victims

Watching or following

point in their lifetime.

of stalking at some

from a distance, spying.

Leaving strange or potentially threatening items for the victim to find.

reported stalking occurring

before age 25.

About

Nearly 41% of male victims

in the U.S. were victims

experienced stalking

of stalking at some point

before age 25.

in their lifetime.

Source: The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey/CDC

from the Violence Against Women Act. The Bee Aware team has been created, a group of employees who work to prevent stalking, sexual assault and domestic and dating violence on campus.

A lawyer from the Texas Advocacy Project, which provides resources and free legal services, visited Eastfield Jan. 30 to provide information about stalking. Jarnagin decided to speak up when she attended.

“It can go from something as simple as a postcard in your mailbox to the police kicking down your front door because they think you’re being murdered,” she said to the attendees.

She wanted the young people in attendance to take the issue seriously and “not to just blow it off as some kind of freak thing.” She felt like she could give stalking a face.

Jarnagin started receiving notes in her mailbox in 1989 after her son went off to college. The sender went to high school with her son and had a romantic interest in him.

When she checked with her son, he remembered the person from school but didn’t have contact with

More than half of female victims

him. Then Jarnagin began receiving strange phone calls in the middle of the night, with loud music playing, the stalker speaking incoherently or screaming into the phone.

She filed a police report each time, but the calls and postcards became more frequent and her situation continued to escalate. When they found him and arrested him, she found out that he suffered from mental illness.

Jarnagin said the district attorney was helpful. Her stalker was warned and there were hearings, but at the time her experience didn’t fit into the definition of stalking. She had no previous relationship with her stalker. She didn’t even know him. The office couldn’t decide what to charge him with and he was hard to locate.

In 2009, he was convicted of stalking and sentenced to 18 months in prison, but when he was released she said he started all over again.

A few days before the police banged on her door in 2014, the stalker had come to her home and thrown bricks through the front of her house. He had vandalized her home while she was away, throwing

1 in 17 men

Graphic by: Jackie Trevino

oil and defecating on her porch and drawing on her garage door.

She had a lifetime protective order issued against him that year.

The laws have changed since Jarnagin’s stalking situation began. Ashley Kolb, a lawyer from the Texas Advocacy Project said stalking, previously a misdemeanor, in 2001 became a third-degree felony, which could result in two to 10 years in prison.

In 2011, the term “following the other person” was removed from the Texas Statute.

“It used to be that defense attorneys were able to get a lot of cases dismissed because what the person was doing was not necessarily following,” Kolb said. “In this cyber age there’s a lot of ways to keep tabs on someone, trace someone, that doesn’t really fit a normal definition of following, and also there’s a lot of ways that you can threaten or scare someone without following them.”

In 2011, prosecutors were also allowed to introduce evidence of the facts and circumstances. Kolb said Continued on next page ➤

NEWS

5

The Et Cetera this was a game changer. Now juries could understand why behavior that may seem innocent out of context was frightening to victims.

“Imagine that a woman gets a bouquet of flowers from a man, and they say ‘I can’t wait to see you next week.’ That might not sound very scary,” she said. “That might not seem like stalking. But what if you had some special context? What if they came from a man who was incarcerated for sexually assaulting her and he gets out on parole next week?

Well now you can see that is a threat.”

In 2013, stalking was linked to the harassment statute and the phrase “reasonably believes” was replaced with “reasonably should know.” She said before, the person being prosecuted could reasonably believe their behavior wasn’t scary when it was.

“There are people who stalk who have a skewed sense of reality and the facts,” she said. “They really believe that what they’re doing shouldn’t be scary, but a reasonable person would be terrified by it.”

Kolb said there have been some good changes in the laws, but a minority of these cases result in conviction.

“As you can see, [they are] really complicated, really convoluted and hard to prosecute,” Kolb said.

Jarnagin’s sister Cathy Odneal said the lack of legal protection is what let Jarnagin’s stalking get so out of control.

“I think it was just the legal system itself, the laws on the books, and to a certain de-

gree, the stigma that came around it being a woman’s complaint,” she said. “As many times as she had called, as many times as she had provided information, she still got no response.”

The police had their hands tied, she said.

The lewd letters weren’t violent enough for them to make it their top priority. Odneal said it was the stalker’s call to the police, threatening to decapitate her sister, that sent things over the edge.

“I always knew that it was going to be something violent that happened before anybody would take it into account,” Odneal said. “You see examples of that every day and it still happens.”

Jarnagin was put in charge of her own safety and protection. She remembers a police officer strongly advising that she buy a gun and get training.

She keeps that gun near her when she’s home. She also has motion sensor lights and cameras around her home, a security system and all of her neighbors have been informed of her situation.

“I never go out of my house without looking and making sure that there’s no one hiding in the bushes,” Jarnagin said. “That there’s no one standing over beside the garage.”

Her sister said all she could do was encourage her to call the police every time something happened. She said it was often hard to find her sister’s stalker because he was on the streets. His options for mental healthcare are limited.

TWU Transfer Connection Event Visit our Denton campus, March 23, 8:30 a.m. - noon, to: • Get admissions, scholarship & financial aid information • Meet advisors & faculty; receive sample degree plans • Learn about Touchstone Honors transfer program Learn more at TWU.edu/transfer

www.eastfieldnews.com “There’s got to be a different way to address that as well,” Odneal said. “I’m not excusing what he did in any way, shape or form, but I think I understand a small portion of it.”

She said there is stigma around mental health, women and the police.

“All three of these things are working in conjunction to make things difficult to navigate and to accomplish what you need to accomplish out of them,” Odneal said.

According to the Office of Women’s Health, someone who thinks they are being stalked should call 911 if they are in immediate danger and find a safe place if they are being followed. They should also file a complaint with the police, keep evidence, secure their home, tell people about the stalking and always have their phone to call for help.

Jarnagin hasn’t seen any evidence of her stalker being on her property in a long time, but it’s not a guarantee he hasn’t been there and avoided detection. She said she has kept every piece of evidence of her stalking and urges others not to throw any letters, pictures or other evidence away.

“Be very, very careful and take it very, very seriously,” Jarnagin said. “Don’t just say ‘Oh, he’ll go away’ or let your friends tell you to just ignore him. Sometimes the more you ignore them or the more you don’t respond or the more you don’t do anything, the wilder they get.”

—Andrew Walter contributed to this report

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Life &Arts The Et Cetera

Q A

How did Texas Ale Project start as a company in 2014, and how have you grown since?

It was a little bit of an accident. I was getting my MBA at Cornell, and at the end of the school year at graduation, there was a homebrew competition.

Brent and I – he was my boyfriend at the time and now my husband – had never brewed anything in our lives before. But we were very passionate about food and wine, and we loved traveling to the wineries.

So I said, “Sure, why not? We’ll buy a kit and figure this out.”

So, we started homebrewing with that competition, and Brent kind of turned to me and said, “I want to do this forever.”

So we dove into it, brewed another batch in our 700-squarefoot apartment and did research on the market feasibility of us opening a brewery. Next thing I know, here we are.

Q A

Have you faced bias or discrimination as a female CEO?

When we got started. My husband is 6-foot-1 and has a beard, and then there’s short me next to him, and we were in conversations with people and telling them how we just opened a brewery. They would always look at him.

He is the one brewing the beer. That’s his side. His expertise is on the production, equipment [and] the beer. My background and what I add to the table is the business side: the numbers, the finance, the art as well, the can design and all that. So, we’re a good team, but there was that just immediate stigma.

Q A

6

www.eastfieldnews.com

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

with Kat Thompson

She brews business While it may seem like craft beer is a man’s world, many women are powerhouses in the industry.

Founder and CEO of Dallas’ Texas Ale Project Kat Thompson is one of them. Her brewery was the first to partner with Eastfield when the college launched its journeyman brewer certificate program.

For Women’s History Month, Thompson sat down with The Et Cetera’s Ashleigh Amburgey to discuss her position as one of the top-ranking women in the Dallas-Fort Worth beer industry.

What’s something we might not know about women in beer?

There are a lot of women in the brewing industry.

There’s the Pink Boots Society that promotes female brewers and ownership of breweries as well.

Did you know that New Belgium is female-led? There are a few out there, including a couple in Texas, but not very many. We’re the largest in North Texas that is female-led.

Q A

In a world where craft beer is booming, what do you do to stand out?

Since your family is in the beer business, what are family functions like?

We highly encourage other families to come here and experience it.

We have a 4-year-old son, and I’m about to have another. At first I was a little worried about having him running around the brewery and the safety of that and everything, but it’s actually better that he’s growing up with it because he learns to appreciate it.

He learns where the boundaries are, and it’s part of our culture rather than something to stay away from.

Q A

What was it like starting off so small and then growing to be such a large brewery?

I wish I had a time-lapse video of this. It was hard, and stressful.

Piloting beers one barrel at a time is definitely very different than this production scale. It is exciting.

You learn as you go, you make a lot of mistakes that cost lots of money. But if you don’t make those mistakes, then you don’t learn and improve, and don’t end up with quality beer.

What we did, as much as we could afford it, was hire experienced people that knew more about beer than we did.

We knew our strengths and tried to hire a team around us that could help us grow. Some of that I wish we could have done a lot faster from day one, but you’ve got to budget, and these things take time and money.

Starting out, the biggest thing was construction. We’re the first brewery in the city of Dallas to build from the ground up since Prohibition in the late 1800s, so the city did not know what hit them when we came to them with our plans.

We said “Hey, we want to build this building in downtown for a brewery.” You have to have boiler inspections. There were questions like, “Do we need sprinklers or not? And what’s the taproom for?” All kinds of stuff.

So working on all that on top of trying to develop a product line – test the beers, test recipes, test and install equipment, open a taproom, hire for the taproom, have a baby and get a new house in the same five or six months.

All of that hit at once.

Do you have plans to expand even more than this?

The good thing about building our own building from day one was now we have an awesome, stateof-the-art facility we built with a long-term vision in mind.

So we’re good here for 20,000 to 23,000 barrels. We just need the equipment, and we already have plans that show where the tanks are going to go for each of those phases.

Q

What do you think about the brewing program at Eastfield?

We participate in the program with Peter [Boettcher].

It’s a great program. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in getting into the brewing industry. It gives you a good level of classwork, but also hands-on work at a brewery to see what it’s really like.

We’ll host interns as part of that program, so we’ve had quite a few folks come here and get that experience.

Q A

Q A

It’s just as much about consistent, quality beer as it is about your brand and how you present that.

The colors – you know, having colorful cans, keeping something fresh, like from a packaging standpoint – are important.

Promoting it, the events that we do through the brewery, just bringing in the community in, is really important as well. We’re hosting a homebrew competition this year. We started Geeks Who Drink Trivia. We try to keep the brewery really active.

Q A

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

A

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

How do you envision the future of women in beer? And do you have advice for women wanting to pursue a career in brewing?

I think it’s going to expand. Just start getting into it and get your hands dirty.

You have to prove yourself, just like a man starting out in the career who knows nothing about brewing but wants to be in it. Same thing goes for a woman.

You just kind of have to get in there and show that you can do it.

LIFE&ARTS

7

The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

HIDDEN GEM

Mediterranean meets healthy at Maya’s

By YESENIA ALVARADO Visual Arts Editor @YeseniaA_ETC

Great food can be simple. Maya’s Modern Mediterranean proves that.

This gem opened its doors in October in the busy Casa Linda Plaza surrounded by all of the greasy fast food you already know about.

Maya’s offers a new, fried-free take on Mediterranean by specializing in Israeli and Palestinian cuisine.

Russell Birk is the owner and self-proclaimed “Chief Hummus Maker” of Maya’s. He said he wants to provide more access to whole foods in the area.

“This area is grossly underserved,” Birk said.

“If you want to eat healthy here, where are you going to go? Torchy’s Tacos? Pei Wei?” Birk used to be vice president of treasury at Blockbuster, but said he prefers his current job as owner of Maya’s restaurant.

“I hated all of it,” Birk said. “It’s hard to do something when you’re not passionate about it.”

After spending a lot of time in the Middle East and learning recipes from chefs in Israel, Birk decided to open up his own restaurant with a different take on Mediterranean.

When you walk in to the bright and minimalistic restaurant, you’re greeted with the words “HEALTHY,” “FRESH” AND “SIMPLE” in large bold teal letters on a white wall.

The decor matches their message. Maya’s clean and minimal design is translated into their dishes with air-baked and air-fried ingredients and vegan and gluten-free options.

Maya’s simple theme is seen in their short menu.

Besides the $15 plate with salmon, their dishes with other proteins range from $6.99 to $10.99. You can get an appetizer or dessert for less than $5.

They have six main proteins: kafta, shawarma, schnitzel, honey chicken kabobs, airbaked falafel and garlic-roasted eggplant.

You can get any of these in a bowl with rice or spinach, in a pita with Maya’s chopped salad or on a plate with your side of choice.

When I get one of their balanced plates, I forget that I’m eating wholesome food because it’s so good.

Birk said he wants to make quality, affordable food that with a little exercise can keep people, including students, in good shape.

“Students need to get healthy,” he said. “But they don’t really know how to eat healthy because you walk in anywhere and the portion sizes are too big.”

One of my favorite dishes is the shawarma bowl mixed with their perfectly spiced turmeric rice and spinach with sesame dressing.

The toughest part is deciding on a sauce, but a plate of their kafta with Persian honey soy

PHOTOS BY YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

Clockwise from top, a plate of kafta with rice and Maya’s salad can be bought for $10.99 and a bowl with salmon and harissa butter is on the menu for $13.50. Line cook LeJordan Fulton at Maya’s Mediterranean sautees a salmon for a bowl. Owner of Maya’s, Russell Birk, lets his 9-year-old son, Oren, take orders Feb. 26.

dressing creates a flawless balance of sweet and savory.

Some of their most popular dishes include the hand-rolled beef kabobs, also known as kafta, Big O’s hummus and the roast chicken, known as shawarma.

What makes these short hand-rolled beef kabobs so savory is the spiced and grilled grassfed ground beef.

If you have tried Greek hummus and aren’t a fan of the garlic and lemon taste, Big O’s hummus is Israeli style, rich in tahini and olive oil.

The shawarma begins with hormone-free chicken marinated overnight with a variety of

Mediterranean spices.

Unlike the usual shawarma, which is cooked on a vertical rotisserie and resembles taco meat, this chicken is oven-roasted, then sliced and grilled.

Maya’s doesn’t just offer hummus as one of its appetizers. The menu also includes a variety of sweet dessert hummus for less than $4.

Birk said he once tried the popular chocolate hummus but saw that it had a bunch of preservatives, so he decided to create his own version with natural, whole ingredients.

And if you’re old enough, you can wash the hummus down with a local craft beer or some

wine like an Annabella pinot noir.

Despite its modern look, Maya’s is a familyowned establishment. Birk said the restaurant is named after his 4-year-old daughter.

Birk’s 9-year-old son Oren can be seen at the register wearing a Big O’s T-shirt, advertising the hummus named after him.

The portions may be smaller than what you’re used to, but the dishes are filled with whole foods.

As soon as you take your last bite, you should feel completely satisfied.

If not, their pita bread is pretty delicious all on its own.

8

LIFE&ARTS

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

@TheEtCetera

The Et Cetera

Don’t wing spring break The break is next week, March 11-15, and it’s not too late to make plans. Here are five ways to spend your five class-free days.

—Compiled by Aria Jones

Se e some f re e art

General admission to the Dallas Museum of Art is always free.

For $5 you can visit Thursday, March 14 from 5-9 p.m. The second Thursday of each month, the museum has programming centered around pop culture. This month’s theme is Star Trek. They will be playing famous episodes in the auditorium, have an art-making activity and a scavenger hunt.

Admission to the Nasher Sculpture Center is free March 12-17 from 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

There will also be a free concert and screening of Black Panther on Friday, March 15 at 6 p.m. until midnight at the Nasher.

St art your Ne w Ye ar ’s re solu t ion (ag ain)

It’s never too late. Maybe the first half of this semester just wasn’t the right time, maybe you need new goals. But it’s a whole new season. This is a great time to start planning for the new you.

G o some whe re e lse in Te xas

If you’re willing to spend a lot more money and have a few friends who can split the bill, you can take a nine-hour drive to South Padre Island. There are concerts every day of spring break. Cardi B will be there at the Beach Bash Music Festival. And for $108 you can buy a VIP pass that will give you access to that concert, a week of free concerts, parties and discounted drinks and food.

If you’re just looking to see the beach, try Corpus Christi which is a few hours closer.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MANUEL GUAPO, JACKIE TREVINO AND ROXANA SANTILLAN

G o on a sc ave nge r hun t

If you haven’t had the time to see Downtown Dallas and all its historic and cool places, try going on a scavenger hunt with up to 10 of your friends. You can compete to answer riddles, and you may even find a place you want to stop and hang out. For $25 each, scavengerhunt.com will take you through Downtown Dallas. Try looking on Groupon.com for discounts.

Spe nd t he day at t he arc ade For $10 you can visit Free Play in Richardson or Bishop Cidercade in Dallas for unlimited games. Free Play has food and beer. As the name suggests, Cidercade has a selection of cider. There are also food trucks Thursday and Friday, 6-11 p.m.

LIFE&ARTS

9

The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

A short guide to Fat Tuesday Fat Tuesday, which took place March 5, may be famous for the wild celebrations in New Orleans, but its roots go deeper than that. The holiday is the last day to indulge before Lent, the Christian tradition that calls for believers to fast from something, whether it be social media or a type of food, for 40 days. It’s meant to be a reminder of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness.

Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” in French, but

the term has evolved to cover the entire Carnival season between Epiphany, or Three Kings’ Day, in January and Ash Wednesday, which falls six weeks before Easter.

To many, Mardi Gras has become synonymous with a day of fun, overindulgence and sometimes debauchery. Here’s a brief history and some fun facts about the holiday.

— Staff Reports

A colorful history Beginning in 17th and 18th century medieval Europe, Mardi Gras passed through Rome and Venice and eventually reached the French House of Bourbon.

Once Mardi Gras reached France, the traditional revelry of “boeuf gras,” or “fatted calf,” was created and spread to France’s colonies.

French-Canadian explorer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville established the settlement “Pointe du Mardi Gras” about 60 miles south of

New Orleans on March 2, 1699. Two years later, Bienville established another settlement, naming it “Fort Louis de la Mobile.” Historians today still debate whether the first Mardi Gras celebrated in the Americas was in Mobile or New Orleans.

While many consider Mardi Gras to be a Christian holiday, it holds roots in pagan religion.

Some people believe the holiday was originally a festival to celebrate spring and fertility under the names Saturnalia or Lupercalia.

Fun facts about Mardi Gras Super Gras The 2013 Super Bowl interrupted the scheduled parades in New Orleans. The city hosted the game the same week as Mardi Gras. The combination of the two events was so overwhelming that people nicknamed the week “Super Gras.” To control the crowd, the city expanded the 12-day parade season so that no one would be marching on Bourbon Street on Feb. 3, 2013.

Cancellation chaos Mardi Gras festivities can get canceled, especially in its modern-day party city New Orleans. Most of the interruptions have come during times of war. In 1870, the celebration was called off due to a yellow fever outbreak. The last cancellation was during World War II. The celebration was held but downsized the year following Hurricane Katrina.

A cake worth celebrating If you celebrate a Mexican holiday called Three Kings’ Day, you might know about the Rosca de Reyes and its traditions: Whoever finds the baby Jesus inside the cake must make at least 100 tamales. Mardi Gras has a similar tradition with a cake called king cake. The pastry is a brioche dough cake, braided and laced with cinnamon. The dough is then glazed with purple, green and gold sugar or covered in icing in those same Mardi Gras colors. Just like the Mexican tradition with the baby Jesus, whoever finds the baby in his or her slice must buy the cake next year or host the party.

Graphics by Roxana Santillan and Julie Cordova

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

Game design major Jaylon Gross wears his decorated hat and mask during the Mardi Gras Madness celebration in the Hive March 5.

10

LIFE&ARTS

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

@TheEtCetera

The Et Cetera

MOVIE REVIEW

French horror goes on full display in ‘Climax’

By DAVID SILVA Managing Editor @DavidSilvaETC

Mesmerizing choreography, a heart-pounding soundtrack and bold cinematography make Gaspar Noe’s sadistic psychological horror “Climax” his most impressive descent into debauchery yet.

The film, set in the 1990s, centers on eccentric dancers that, while celebrating a rehearsal in a remote studio, begin to collectively experience vivid hallucinations.

Upon realizing that someone spiked their sangria with LSD, the members of the dance troupe begin to act irrationally, leading to violence, aggressive sexual desires and a macabre selection of dance moves.

As with most new French extremity films, the horror lies in the excessive cruelty the characters inflict upon each other.

“Climax” also boasts Noe’s stylized and sensory-overloaded direction, with more strobes and screams than an EDM festival inside the nine circles of hell.

But despite its plummet into

the most messed up corners of the human psyche, the film lifts itself above traditional body horror and exploitative cinema by its incorporation of both menacing and surprisingly sensual dance pieces.

The dance doesn’t occur as a break from the narrative, and aside from one instance, doesn’t take center stage. Instead, it adds to the overall menace of the studio and its drug-induced occupants.

Dancers bend, twist and crawl across the floor like props in a Halloween haunted house.

As everyone starts losing their minds, the soundtrack succumbs to insanity too, progressively going from celebratory to eerie to nightmarish to flat-out assaulting.

Noe takes it a step further by treating the camera like a victim of the laced drink, rotating it, shaking it and by the end, literally turning it on its head.

Combine all of that and you have yourself a pretty stomach-churning experience that is impossible to take your eyes off of.

COURTESY A24

“Climax” focuses on a group of dancers who engage in debauchery and violence as they experience vivid hallucinations after rehearsal.

As far as the plot goes, there isn’t a whole lot to cling onto, with no real main protagonist and no clear theme to tie it all together (except maybe one that suggests we’re all

either destructive animals or their victims).

Nevertheless, this film is still more accessible than most extremist cinema, partly because its commit-

ment to its sinister atmosphere and uncanny dance moves allows it to ease away from an overindulgence of physical shock horror.

For a director who is known to cause people to walk out in the middle of his movies in horror, not including an overly extensive violent or sexual encounter is a step toward the mainstream, I suppose.

In fact, “Climax” bares the possibility of crossing over from a strictly art house audience into the general consciousness and may be many people’s introduction into France’s super messed up film movement.

“Climax” is not for the faint of heart, something the filmmaker intends wholeheartedly.

I suppose Noe sums up the spirit of the film best in an interview he had with the Guardian a year ago, when it started to make its rounds at film festivals.

The interviewer informed Noe that he witnessed maybe six or seven people walk out during the film.

Seemingly disappointed, the French director proclaimed, “I usually have 25 percent of the audience walking out.”

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

The Et Cetera

11

Sports

March 8 March 9 March 11 March 12

The Et Cetera

Eastfield baseball coach Michael Martin is on the verge of a milestone 600th win.

Martin recently sat down with The Et Cetera’s Francisco Longoria and reflected on his coaching career, the relationships he has developed with his players and assistant coaches, and the Harvesters baseball program.

Q

What are your thoughts on your upcoming 600win milestone?

A

To be honest, I hadn’t given it a thought before people started making a little fuss of this.

I look at my record at Eastfield College once a year and that’s just because I had to fill out a form and put on there how many total wins and losses I have.

That’s the only time I look at it.

Q

Let’s start from the very beginning. What were your thoughts when you first got the job here?

A

Well, I had big shoes to fill.

They were coming off winning the national championship, and I was excited about the opportunity. I felt like I was coming to a place that had some history to it. I thought it would be a good place to recruit kids to and to have a chance to compete at the highest level.

A lot of people don’t want to come in and take a job where the coach preceding them just won a national championship.

There are high expectations that come with that, but that was the part of the challenge for me. I wanted to try to maintain the level of consistency that this program had put forth.

2 p.m.

Noon 2 p.m.

1 p.m.

Baseball vs. Mountain View Baseball vs. Mountain View Baseball vs. Rock Valley Baseball vs. Northland

www.eastfieldnews.com

12

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Baseball coach approaches 600 career victories Q

Who would you say was your mentor during your first years as a coach?

A

Actually, it was my head coach in college that ended up recruiting me to play there, Pat Patterson, and his assistant coach who later became the head coach, Mike Cain. He was the man that actually gave me my first opportunity being a college coach and hired me to be an assistant at Louisiana Tech.

And before that would probably be my dad. He was a longtime baseball coach here in Dallas.

He coached at different high schools in the area, and I grew up learning the game from him mainly. So I owe a lot to all three of those guys.

Q

Do you have any favorite or funny moments from your coaching career?

A

There was one year when the tornado warning signal horn that is right next to the field went off. It goes off the first Wednesday of every month, and we were out there playing.

I don’t know if it vibrated the ground or something, but a swarm of bees all of a sudden came over the first base dugout.

Then you could see the guys that were in the bullpen start kind of running and ducking in, and then you see [the bees] come over the field. The guy in the batter’s box kinda looks up and everybody just starts scattering.

The bees just passed across the field and went right over the third base dugout and left, but it sent some people scrambling.

Q

With all the things you have achieved, have you ever received any offers from four-year universities?

A

There were a couple of opportunities for me to

move on to scholarship junior colleges, but because I have two children that live in Louisiana, I was never making a move from Eastfield College unless it was going to get me a little bit closer to them.

There have been a couple of opportunities in the last 18 years, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me. This place has become home.

Q

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

If you ever face your former coaching assistants, will you take it easy on them?

Coach Michael Martin of the Harvesters baseball team.

Oh no, and I know they’re not going to take it easy on me either. I’m as competitive a person as there is, and I want to win at every opportunity I get.

It doesn’t matter who it is. If it’s a former assistant across the field, I know he’s going to go out there and beat me.

If they didn’t, then I wouldn’t have hired them as an assistant in the first place.

Actually, probably our first year here. Back then the winner of the conference went to the national tournament.

I think we had to beat Richland two out of three, and I think we may have lost the first game, then we won the second game.

So it goes to the third game, winner-take-all, and you’re going to the national tournament.

Back then the bats were a little bit more lively, the balls were a little bit more lively, and Eastfield was known as a little bit of a launching pad. The wind was blowing out of the south, and I can remember it being a tied ballgame.

I’m like, “We’re winning and we’re going.” I had my best three hitters in the lineup coming up, and if one of them could just hit it out one more time we were going to the national tournament.

I don’t recall if all three struck out or if they all flew out to the wall, but that one slipped away.

And that one kind of sticks with me for some reason.

A

Q

How did it feel when you won your first championship?

A

Man it was exciting. It was a lot of fun. It was a great experience for our guys.

We got to travel to New York, and it was several players’ first time being on a plane or their first time being out of Texas.

We had an opportunity to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame while we were up there. And I’m sure that 90 percent of them haven’t been back.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those guys. So to provide those kinds of experiences for young men, that’s something they’ll look back at and remember forever. And then having an opportunity to win a national championship and win four straight games was pretty special.

Q A

Q A

Do you have any playoff heartbreaks?

What’s easier to remember: championships or heartbreaks?

Probably the championships, to be honest with you. It just comes down to seeing

the players having those experiences, having those reactions, and then seeing the emotions out of the guys.

For our first national championship in 2006, our assistant back then made T-shirts before going to the national championship, and the bottom of the shirt said “Pile on the bump.”And the guys were asking what that meant.

I told them that that’s what you do when you win the national championship.

You pile on the mound to celebrate.

So we had that inscribed on our first national championship ring: “Pile on the bump.”

Q A

How many years coaching do you have left?

I’ve got plenty of years left. I enjoy it. I enjoy these kids, the relationships that you make, the relationships that you build and seeing these guys move on. Those are my proudest moments. When they come back to say hello or to talk about what they’ve got going on in their lives, that’s what makes it special. It’s not about 600 wins. As long as I am happy, having fun doing this, making an impact on some of these kids’ lives in a positive way, that’s what it’s all about. That’s what I enjoy doing. I look forward to doing it every year.

SPORTS

13

The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Brutal match against Richland ends Eastfield’s season

By SKYE SEIPP Staff Writer @seippetc

Eastfield’s goal of reaching the national tournament came down to the very last shot in the Region V basketball championship game, but it ended with a heart-crushing 82-80 loss to Richland.

The grueling defeat on Feb. 23 ended the Harvesters’ 25-8 season and sent the Thunderducks to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Tournament in Minnesota.

The loss was particularly difficult for point guard Rashaun Coleman, who had a record-setting season but missed the final layup as the buzzer was blaring.

“We’ve been talking about it all year, our road to Minnesota,” he said.

“We had all the pieces for it, but we just fell short.”

The Harvesters, who were ranked as high as fourth in the national polls earlier in the season, led the nation in scoring with 100 points per game and finished in the top 10 in total re-

bounds per game (44.9), field goals per game (36.8) and free throws made per game (17.4).

Despite the disappointing ending, coach Anthony Fletcher said he does not consider the season a total loss.

“People really think highly of you when you’re nationally ranked,” he said. “Anytime in the coaching profession that you get over 20 wins, it’s a good season.”

Eastfield and Richland played a vigorous game of cat and mouse in the tournament finale, with neither side able to secure a comfortable lead.

The Harvesters were up 41-34 with three minutes left in the first half, but an extended run of Harvester fouls and missed shots allowed the Thunderducks to take a 42-41 advantage going into the half.

Richland pushed its lead to 59-47 with 13:30 left, but Eastfield refused to roll over as Coleman went on a nine-point scoring streak to make it 59-56 with 11 minutes left.

Both teams fought relentlessly, trading baskets to set up the dramatic finish.

“It hurts because we only have an eight-team (national) tournament,” Fletcher said. “It’s crazy if you think about it. Division II has 16. Division I has 32. At the end of the day this team could go to the national tournament and cause problems.”

Coleman, along with fellow sophomores Scott Garriga, Danny Salamah, Anthony McGee and Demauria Haywood were key players the past two years who plan to continue playing at four-year institutions.

While they fell short of a national title, Fletcher said the connection the players had with each other allowed them to have a successful season.

Coleman led the NJCAA Division III ranks in assists with 285 and shattered the Eastfield record for career assists with 447.

He ranked fifth in the nation in overall points with 719 and is now second on Eastfield’s career scoring list with 1,151 points.

“I feel like we had a very good season,” Coleman said. “Freshmen stepped up and the sophomores led the freshmen. My two years here have been two of the best years

DAVID SILVA/THE ET CETERA

Guard Ta’Marcus Butler blocks a shot in the semifinals against the Mountain View Lions on Feb. 21. The Harvesters won 107-82.

I’ve ever had.”

One of the top freshmen this season was D’Angelo Smith, who said he is looking forward to making another run toward the national tour-

nament next year.

“We’ve got a whole other year next year,” he said. “We’re gonna be faster, and we’re gonna do our thing next year.”

opinion

14 www.eastfieldnews.com

Etera

Get off our backs baby boomers: The soap box ranting of a millennial

Award-winning member of: • Texas Intercollegiate Press Association • Texas Community College Journalism Association • Associated Collegiate Press • College Media Association

Eastfield College 3737 Motley Drive Mesquite, TX 75150 Phone: 972-860-7130 Email: etc4640@dcccd.edu Editor in Chief Aria Jones Managing Editor David Silva Visual Arts Editor Yesenia Alvarado Copy Editor Andrew Walter Life & Arts Editor James Hartley Graphic Design Editor Mateo Corey Web Editor Anthony Lazon Senior Graphic Designer Manuel Guapo Staff Writers Macks Prewitt Aji Mariam Skye Seipp

Alexis Rodriguez Samuel Farley

Photographers Rory Moore Saralyn Corey

Yvonne Garcia Rudy Bustillos

Videographers Esteban Andrade

Marisol Ramirez

Reporters Adolfo Resendiz Olguin Ashleigh Amburgey Francisco Longoria Contributors Sarah Ivy

Kaitlyn Moore

Graphic Artists Abednego Leal Jackie Trevino Jesus Madrid

Aldahir Segovia Roxana Santillan Julie Cordova

Editorial Assistant Marie Garcia Tambresha Anderson

Daniel Durrett

Student Media Manager Sarah Sheldon Publication Adviser Elizabeth Langton Faculty Adviser Lori Dann The views expressed on the opinion pages and other opinion pieces and cartoons in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Et Cetera, Eastfield College or the Dallas County Community College District.

The Et Cetera is published by a student staff.

Each member of the college community is entitled to one free copy of The Et Cetera.

First Amendment Right Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Letters to the Editor Letters must be typed, signed and include a phone number. Letters will be edited for profanity and vulgarity, Associated Press style, grammar, libel and space when needed. The content will remain that of the author.

ABOUT THE COVER ILLUSTRATION BY MANUEL GUAPO DESIGN BY ARIA JONES

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

OUR VIEW

ANTHONY LAZON/THE ET CETERA

Vandalism isn’t worth it, use your talents for good About a week ago, tags marked “Siren” started showing up in some men’s restrooms throughout campus and in a stairwell in the C building.

The tags, many of which have been removed or painted over, were done with a grease pen, which is a pain to remove.

While The Et Cetera encourages artistic forms of expression, we strongly denounce vandalizing public property.

The students of Eastfield College who pay for their tuition, books and additional learning materials deserve a campus that isn’t covered in unsolicited graffiti.

The custodial staff, who were quick in their response, shouldn’t have to make graffiti cleanup a regular part of their day.

And frankly, there are more constructive ways of expression than defacing your campus.

We aren’t asking the culprit to come forward, we’re simply asking the culprit — student, employee or otherwise — to find another, less disruptive way to express themselves. We even have suggestions.

Tagging has had a rich history since the late 1960s when a Philadelphia high school kid tagged city walls to get attention, but graffiti art has its own foothold in Dallas.

Take the Sour Grapes graffiti crew, who started out in Oak Cliff in 2000. Now their work is displayed across Dallas and one of its founders is an adjunct art professor at the

University of Texas at Arlington.

Another example would be to join volunteer projects around campus. One example would be the Coltan Call, a partnership with the Dallas Zoo and Keep Dallas Beautiful to collect and recycle cellphones. They’re seeking volunteers to help design and paint cellphone collection boxes for the recycling drive.

Why not express yourself while helping the environment? If you aren’t interested in saving the environment or joining an art group, this next suggestion might be good enough if you want to stay a casual tagger.

We are declaring a campuswide emergency to build the wall. The graffiti wall, where people can paint whatever they want on it, that is.

While we are against tagging as vandalism, why shouldn’t we encourage expression and bolster our artistic tendencies with one fell stroke? A free-to-use graffiti wall would be a great way to encourage art students (and taggers) to practice their craft and stay engaged on campus.

Tagger, if you’re tagging to simply break the rules or prove something, then congratulations, you’re such a rebel. But if you want to be noticed or take your art further, next time try something that doesn’t risk a fine or jail time.

We’d love to see what you’re capable of when you aren’t vandalizing our space.

I’m tired of the constant complainSkye ing from baby Seipp boomers and Gen @seippETC Xers about millennials.

Quit blaming adolescents for everything. It’s an age-old trope that should be weaned out of human consciousness.

I apologize if my generation seems coddled, self-righteous, narcissistic or just different from your generation. We’re simply a product of our environment. We didn’t ask for a participation trophy. Our parents gave them to us.

There is constant complaining about millennials being glued to their phones. We didn’t ask for or invent the technology. It was you who created and mass-produced smartphones.

Now, I make no claims that we are perfect or even justified.

We’re naïve, stubborn and absorbed in our own self-actualization. Self-actualization that is nothing more than our own pursuit of happiness in wishing to become our ideal self.

According to the Pew Research Center, baby boomers are anyone born from 1946 to 1964. Which means that the young hippies were baby boomers, in addition to being the ones who burned with disco fever. Let that soak in for a minute.

The same people that now complain about millennials were the ones searching for their ideal self at either Woodstock or a disco. Is it so wrong that we wish for a more accepting society of various cultures, races and sex?

If anything, it may make us one of the first generations to truly ensure that the values of the U.S. Constitution are guaranteed to everyone regardless of their identification. Isn’t that what the American dream is all about?

Yet we are consistently attacked for doing nothing more than trying to find our place in the world.

All we’ve found so far is copious amounts of debt and an increasingly existential threat to the environment that we’ll somehow have to resuscitate.

A study conducted in 2014 by the Federal Reserve claims the average student loan debt of 24- to 32-year-olds was $10,000.

And while the problem of climate change is something that people of all ages can take responsibility for, the current people in power are the ones who can pass reasonable legislation to curb the problem.

The average age of U.S. representatives is 57 years old. The average age in the Senate is 61.

There hasn’t even been a president from Generation X, much less a millennial.

So your generation’s unwillingness to accept the facts about climate change and pass reasonable laws will be another headache we’ll have to deal with.

Until we royally begin screwing up the country with our own policies, can you just lay off of us a little bit?

We appreciate your concerns, but the kids are all right.

— Skye Seipp is a journalism major and a staff writer at The Et Cetera

OPINION

15

The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Wall benefits all Americans, even newcomers Members of the media and dominant political figures often push the narrative that President Donald Trump’s wall is a racist and unethical proposition, but that is far from the truth.

This anti-wall viewpoint is generally followed with arguments that are not grounded in facts or logic but rest entirely on emotional or unrealistic standpoints.

Nothing is wrong with emotions or feelings, but we must understand the necessity of realities to back up our claims.

The first of these arguments states that building a wall prevents people from immigrating to the United States in search of a better life, or as an escape from terror in their home country.

In short, others claim it holds people back from a more opportunistic and improved life.

However, anyone can apply for asylum in the United States just by approaching a port of entry and asking for the application.

Thus, a wall would actually help keep these immigrants safer, as they would not have to cross the border in dangerous areas where sex trafficking and drug smuggling is evident.

This application process for asylum, of course, has its own flaws and should be addressed and re-evaluated in the future. That being said, it still does not justify the illegal

Kaitlyn Moore @TheEtCetera

crossing of immigrants when there are alternatives.

Another argument many people claim is that the United States is not fulfilling some kind of moral obligation as a wealthy nation by keeping people out.

The reason why this argument is not valid is because it ignores the entire way in which the United States operates as a country.

America can only help immigrants and the rest of the world if it remains a stable nation. The best way to do that is to build a flourishing economy with workers who are educated and driven.

Accepting every single immigrant into the United States is simply not the best way to achieve and maintain this level of solidity.

Criminals, terrorists and other individuals with bad intentions would also be able to follow fleeing immigrants, as well as pose new threats to current Americans.

In other words, a wall would not just protect the current people of America, but also any future people of America.

There are also concerns regarding the wall’s ability to deter crime and

illegal immigrants.

However, walls have been built up in dozens of countries all over the world for these very reasons. There are barriers on the Iran-Pakistan border and the India-Bangladesh border, as well as plans to build a wall between Saudi Arabia and Yemen – and that is only naming a few of them.

This isn’t to claim that building a wall solves the problems in every instance. However, when the construction of a wall is combined with other deterrents and efficient programs, it can prove to be a useful endeavor.

Another popular argument people try to say is that the calling for building a wall is a racist notion.

If that is so, then why does Mexico have a wall and fencing on its southern border with Guatemala?

Because it wants to protect those in Mexico and monitor who enters the country — exactly like the United States.

Some people on both sides of the political aisle will attempt to make this a racial issue, claiming this misses the problem and diminish arguments that are based on concerns, not personal biases.

Merely having a wall doesn’t illustrate that the United States is racist toward Mexico — the dominant race of Mexico is irrelevant to the fact that there is a large amount of crime funneling in from the border and illegal immigrants crossing it.

Though there are certainly some who do, I do not stand for building the wall because I have a hatred for immigration or people of a certain race. It’s just the opposite.

I couldn’t care less about their skin color or where they come from.

In fact, I love the idea of people wanting to come to America to help build a better future for their family and the nation. However, there is a reason they call this the American dream.

Many people fail to realize that the nation in which this dream can be a reality must be carefully fortified and guarded. It is only possible because of previous generations fighting for today’s freedom.

What would be different if the home countries of fleeing immigrants had built their own walls?

What war, famine and cruelty might have been prevented? I stand for building the wall because I know that nations left unprotected, unprepared and unguarded are often left in shambles.

Our world has been in a constant cycle of great nations being built, invaded and torn down by others.

Every country’s history is littered with this conflict. By building up our defenses, both physically and otherwise, we help ensure the longevity of the United States in a world that is continuously changing.

Building a wall does not just illustrate that America is its own

nation with laws to be respected, but it shows the value in what we must protect. In other words, the wall is not just an anticipatory measure, but also a symbol of something bigger.

All of these common arguments have been used against President Trump’s wall since his campaign and election into office. The newest argument is regarding his claims of being able to declare a national emergency to build the rest of it.

Personally, while I do agree with building a wall, I do not think bypassing Congress is the best course of action in which to do so. By doing this, President Trump sets a precedent for future presidents to do things like this as well.

If I do not want my Republican president to operate like this, then I do not want a future Democrat to do it either.

Regardless of people’s feelings on the president, we must be able to separate our personal feelings of him from those of the wall and examine them as two separate entities.

We cannot allow personal, fleeting emotions to affect something as important and lasting as our national security.

Because if a wall is built on our southern border, I imagine it will be there long after President Trump has been in office, and long after personal moods have faded.

—Kaitlyn Moore is a political science major and a contributor

Don’t let your kids be screen junkies, take them back to good old days When most of us think back to our childhood, we see a simpler time when we didn’t have to worry about much except if there would be an open swing on the playground at recess.

Sadly, children today are not experiencing these kinds of memories because they are being sucked into their screens and consumed by a false reality.

Media saturation is stealing their precious and fleeting childhoods, diminishing social abilities and creativity and exposing them to inappropriate content.

We must give our children, or future children, a better life than a cellphone has to offer. One of the biggest fears parents have is that their child will get caught up in drugs, yet the very tools that parents use to keep them occupied, such as tablets, can cause the same effects as drug addiction.

A neurological study conducted by Children’s Hospital of Michigan psychologist David Rosenberg tested the effects of internet

Ashleigh Amburgey @TheEtCetera

games on children’s brains. The study shows that playing games produces a “digital high.”

When exposed too much, children grow addicted to that high just like an addictive substance. After studying MRI scans from the children being tested, Rosenberg compared their media-addicted brains to a brain addicted to heroin.

It may seem outlandish to compare internet use to heroin, but if this is truly consuming our children, we must take preventative steps to keep our children from falling in this deep hole. Instead of using television to keep them busy, teach them to ride a bike or enroll them in soccer.

Not only does exercise prevent internet ad-

diction, but it also promotes a healthy lifestyle from a young age, improves cognitive function and helps children to meet new friends.

It’s nearly impossible for children to make grand discoveries, or see the simple beauty of life, when a screen is blocking their sight.

Children no longer color on kid’s menus in restaurants because they’re too busy playing games on a tablet, and reading books doesn’t seem necessary when you can just watch the latest YouTube video from your favorite channel.

Reading books can be a magical discovery as a kid, when you realize that words can actually paint a picture in your own mind, instead of a movie doing all the work for you.

Another harsh reality of media saturation in children is the exposure of inappropriate content.

According to an online study conducted

by Chiara Sabina, 93 percent of boys and 62 percent of girls are exposed to pornography in their adolescent years.

They are also constantly exposed to images of violence, foul language and content that should ultimately be left to an adult audience.

We always say that children these days are growing up too fast, and perhaps it’s due to this type of exposure. While parental blocks may seem like an easy way to combat children accessing inappropriate content, be cautious.

Whenever we give our children access to technology, we must pay attention to what they are looking at. Our childhood is the foundation of the individuals we grow up to be.

We should teach our children that media, though it can be a great tool and outlet, can also be a very dangerous and consuming source. Teach your children, or your brothers and sisters, that it is not OK or cool or justifiable to constantly be on a media device.

Teach them to plug in to the world around them, rather than whatever technology they’re using.

—Ashleigh Amburgey is a journalism major and a contributor

16

WRAP-UP

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

www.eastfieldnews.com

The Et Cetera

Culture shines in skits, poetry The Black History Month celebration was filled with performances by accomplished musicians, poets and speakers, open dialogues and more.

— Andrew Walter

ANTHONY LAZON/THE ET CETERA

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

NEWS

Briefs

Clockwise from left, Ron Jones and Jeff Marcus performed the Black-Jew dialogues with short sketches and puppets on Feb. 21. Soprano Amanda Kosi performs at the Barbara Hill Moore recital on Feb. 27. James Simmons participates at the poetry slam on Feb. 26. Anga Sanders shares her experience as one of SMU’s first black students in S-100 on Feb. 7.

Eastfield students earn awards for acting, tech in state competition

The Harvester Theatre Company scored awards in the Texas Community College Speech and Theatre Association competition at Eastfield Feb. 20-23.

Here is a list of the awards won during the competition by Eastfield students performing “In Love and Warcraft.”

First eight weeks ending The first eight-week term of the spring semester will end March 21.

Grades for all first-term courses are due March 23. The second eightweek term will begin March 27.

Eastfield will offer students a buy one get one free deal on classes for the second term with a HarvesTerm Scholarship. The only requirement is for students to take an eight-week course in the second term.

Contact efc8week@dcccd.edu for more info and to apply for the HarvesTerm Scholarship.

— David Silva

High school art on display Mesquite High School advanced placement art students have their work on display through March 28 in Eastfield’s art gallery, F-219.

A closing reception for the Mesquite ISD Future Makers show will be 5:30-7 p.m. March 28.

The next show is a comics exhibition that runs April 1-23.

— Adolfo Resendiz Olguin

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

Left, Victor DeTerra performed as Raul, who was the lead’s love interest in “In Love and Warcraft” on Feb. 28. Right, Karen Fanka plays lead actress Evie who has trouble with love and her relationship with Raul.

Karen Fanka: Superior Acting – Respondents Quynesha Pierce: Excellent Acting – Respondents Vashti Moffett: Excellent Acting – Respondents, Audience Choice; Superior PR/Lobby Display – Professors Victor DeTerra: Excellent Acting – Respondents, Professors Choice; Excellent Dramaturgy – Professors Julissa Hernandez: Superior Stage Management/Props – Respondents, Professors Niels Winter/Taylor McMillan: Superior Assistant Scenic Design/Props Design – Professors Josh Taylor: Excellent Lighting Design - Professors