Etera
Eastfield College
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Trump triumphant in historic upset Trump flips Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin
21 million people cast early votes 55% of millennials voted against Trump
Trump gained more Latino voters than Mitt Romney did in 2012 See pages 2-5 ➤
Volume 48, Issue 6
2
ELECTION 2016
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
www.eastfieldnews.com
The Et Cetera
Trump defies experts’ predictions By JAMES HARTLEY Managing Editor @JamesHartleyETC
Riding on his promise to “make America great again,” Republican Donald Trump defied polls and expectations Tuesday, winning key battleground states to upset Hillary Clinton and become the next president of the United States. In a historic election, Trump will become the first president not to have served in the military or in a political office prior to being elected. Trump surprised pollsters by winning Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. He finished with 276 electoral votes to Clinton’s 218. Clinton was predicted to win the election with more than 300 electorates. Trump reaffirmed his plans to create a job-friendly environment and rebuild inner cities. He promised to answer to the people and look to them when he makes his decisions. “Every American will have the ability to recognize his or her fullest potential,” Trump said in his victory speech. “We will put millions of people to work as we rebuild [the nation]. … Hopefully, you will be so proud of your president. You will be so proud.” Trump addressed Democrats, third party supporters and independents, calling for them to put aside differences. “To Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as a united people,” Trump said. “I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.” Shortly after the race was called about 1:30 a.m., Clinton called Trump to concede and congratulate him on the victory. “The American people have spoken, and the American people have selected their new champion,” Vice President-elect Mike Pence said over chants of “USA! USA!” before Trump spoke to supporters. ‘Brexit plus, plus, plus’ On Nov. 7, Trump predicted that his campaign would defy polls. “I think it’s going to be Brexit plus, plus, plus,” Trump told supporters, referring to the poll-busting vote for the United Kingdom to exit the European Union. “It’ll be amazing.”
As the race drew to a close, Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta announced about 1 a.m. that Clinton would not speak until morning. “We waited this long, we can wait a little longer,” Podesta said to a crowd of Clinton supporters. “Everyone should go home, get some sleep. We’ll have more to say tomorrow.” Less than an hour later, after losing Wisconsin, Clinton made her call to Trump. “I don’t think in the last hundred years, and I’m not familiar with presidency before that, that we’ve had a president who had never been in Washington or politics and has been just a businessman,” said Phillip Huffines, chairman of the Dallas County GOP. “I think you’ll find that the lobbyists are upset because they like having politicians in there.” Trump’s win comes despite the fact that his campaign was filled with controversy. His derogatory statements about women and minorities caused him to lose support from Republican loyalists. Republican voter John Fielder of Dallas said he switched sides for the presidential election this year. “I never liked [Trump’s campaign] from the very beginning when he made the speech and called Mexicans rapists,” Fielder said of his decision to pull the lever for Clinton. Trump’s path to victory Early predictions showed Clinton with a strong chance of victory, but an upset in Florida followed by a victory in Ohio paved the way for a Trump win. FiveThirtyEight, which correctly predicted all 50 states in the 2008 and 2012 elections, showed Clinton with a more than 71 percent chance of victory over Trump on the morning of the election. The data analysis website predicted a 54 percent chance of victory for Clinton in Florida, the major tipping point for the election. Instead, Trump pulled out a narrow win with 49 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 48. The New York Times predicted a 20 percent chance of victory for Trump at 6 p.m. Nov. 8. By 8:30, they showed Trump and Clinton at 50/50. By 11 p.m., The New York Times predicted Trump had a more-than 95 percent chance to win. From Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, after FBI
RESULTS AS OF 3:12 A.M.
Director James Comey reintroduced the Clinton email scandal, Clinton’s polling numbers saw a sharp decline. FiveThirtyEight showed a drop from a 79 percent chance of victory on Oct. 29 to a 64 percent chance on Nov. 3. Nov. 7 polls ranged between a seven-point lead for Trump to an 11-point lead for Clinton. Most showed Clinton with an advantage. A win in Ohio boded well for a Trump presidency, and wins in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin solidified it. Mitt Romney, the 2012 presidential nominee, lost Pennsylvania, Iowa, Florida and Ohio, all states that led to Trump’s win. After Clinton won New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland, she took the lead for a short time, but with returns from Texas, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Kansas, Trump rose to a 123 to 97 advantage in electorates. Although 61 percent of Dallas County residents voted for Clinton, and she also carried Austin, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, Trump still won the state of Texas with 52 percent of the vote. The GOP retained solid control over the U.S. House while maintaining a majority in the U.S. Senate. A victory in Pennsylvania ensured continued control over the Senate,
DONNA MANN/THE ET CETERA
J. CONRAD WILLIAMS JR./NEWSDAY/TNS
President-elect Donald Trump pumps his fist, with running mate Mike Pence standing by, following his victory speech.
which had been up for grabs. Historically unpopular Despite his victory, polls still show Trump as the most disliked major party candidate in recent American history. As of Nov. 4, Trump’s disapproval ratings were more than 50 percent, while Clinton’s were just under 40 percent. Controversies and scandals have fueled debates and speeches on the
campaign trail, from the video of Trump making lewd comments and the leaked emails showing cooperation between Clinton and media outlets like CNN and Politico. However, voter turnout was heavy nationwide. Texas saw record-breaking numbers during the early voting period, surpassing 2012 totals by Day 10. More than 15.1 million votes were cast in Texas, nearly 55 percent of the total voting population.
ELECTION 2016
3
The Et Cetera
www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
First campus election party attracts crowd By JENNIFER RINCON and JENNIFER SANMIGUEL Contributors @TheEtCetera
The Pit was transformed into an election watch party Tuesday night, with dozens of students, faculty and community members anxiously watching the results roll in. Eastfield President Jean Conway sat alongside students near the stage where a faculty panel provided analysis and predictions of the nerve-wracking election. As other students looked on from the balcony, four televisions in the middle of the Pit provided live news from popular channels such as PBS, CNN, NBC and FOX News. A mix of emotions filled the room. “This election reflects the distraught state of this country,” student Joshua Nelson said. Most of the younger watch party attendees had a similar response. They used words like “sick” and
AHMAD ASHOR/THE ET CETERA
Government and history professors Cindy Castaneda, Glynn Newman, Mike Noble and Matt Hinckley react to Donald Trump winning North Carolina.
“shocked.” By 7:30 p.m., all chairs were full as the crowd listened closely to each panelist analyze the state-bystate results. Government professors Cindy Castaneda and Glynn New-
SOURCE: ET CETERA SURVEY OF 100 STUDENTS WHO ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE
man, along with history professors Mike Noble and Matt Hinckley, gave updates as they came in via an interactive Electoral College map, coloring each state red or blue once the
votes were counted. “Hillary Clinton is most likely to win the Electoral College,” Hinckley predicted. “However, there are many undecided voters. They are unpopular [candidates].” The audience was allowed to ask questions and share thoughts about the election. The biggest applause came when a fourth-grader named Joseph asked, “Does Trump want us to be friends with the Russians?” The panelists expressed surprise at how close the election was. When Trump took Arkansas at 8:13 p.m. to take a 128-97 lead in the electoral votes, it became evident that this election would go down to the wire. “We could be here all night because it looks like we will not have a winner any time soon,” Noble said. Aside from questions, the panelists quizzes the audience trivia from past elections and awarded prizes for correct answers. Castaneda, who helped organize the event, said she was very pleased
with the turnout of the election watch party and enjoyed the experience. “I’m a government geek and could really shine here,” she said. “I was concerned it might only be me and my 25 students and some faculty. But I think it’s really a fantastic show of the community, and I think it helped a lot that we had early voting on our campus.” The event wrapped up just before 11 p.m. with the presidential election's outcome still in doubt. Newman expressed optimism about the future, regardless of the outcome of the election. “Whoever wins tonight, we’ll respect whoever leads our nation,” he said. “This government is a great government. I’ve heard people clapping for Hillary, and I’ve heard people clapping for Trump. … This is what makes America great.” Noble agreed. “You are more mature than the people running for president,” he told the audience.
LAUREN MESHACK/ET CETERA
4
NEWS
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
www.eastfieldnews.com
The Et Cetera
Dallas incumbents secure new terms in House Hensarling, Johnson sail to easy wins
BY PARKER WARD CRISTHIAN HERRERA AND JACQUELINE ESTRADA Contributors @TheEtCetera
Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson and Republican Jeb Hensarling scored easy victories Tuesday night to keep their seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Johnson was elected for a 13th term as the District 30 representative, finishing with a commanding 78 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Charles Lingerfelt’s 19 percent. Hensarling was also dominant,
ANDREW GONZALES/THE ET CETERA
Trump supporters Brett Cummins and Van Freeman, both of Dallas, react to Ohio selecting the Republican presidential candidate.
defeating Libertarian Ken Ashby by securing 66 percent of the vote in District 5 to Ashby’s 34 percent. Hensarling, who will be serving his eighth consecutive term, attributes his success to getting his message out to voters.
“You work hard, you tell people what you believe in and you listen closely,” Hensarling said at the Dallas County GOP watch party at the Westin. “It’s not my seat in Congress. It’s their seat, and I work hard to keep it. I continue to be humbled by that and
ELECTION RESULTS U.S. Rep. District 5 ☑ Jeb Hensarling (R) 66% 0 Ken Ashby (L) 34% 103 of 103 precincts reporting
U.S. Rep. District 30 0 Charles Lingerfelt (R) 19% ☑ Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) 78% 0 Jarrett R. Woods (L) 2% 0 Thom Prentice (G) 0.94% 243 of 254 precincts reporting
U.S. Rep. District 32 ☑ Pete Sessions (R) 70% 0 Ed Rankin (L) 19% 0 Gary Stuard (G) 10% 199 of 200 precincts reporting
Railroad Commissioner 0 Wayne Christian (R) 37% ☑ Grady Yarbrough (D) 53% 0 Mark Miller (L) 6% 0 Martina Salinas (G) 4% 783 of 880 precincts reporting
State Rep. District 100 ☑ Eric Johnson (D) 87% 0 Heather Marcus (L) 13% 71 of 73 precincts reporting
State Rep. District 107 0 Kenneth Sheets (R) 49% ☑ Victoria Neave (D) 50% 52 of 52 precincts reporting
State Rep. District 113 ☑ Cindy Burkett (R) 55% 0 Rhetta Andrews Bowers (D) 45% 43 of 43 precincts reporting
Supreme Court Place 3 0 Debra Lehrmann (R) 40% ☑ Mike Westergren (D) 53% 0 Kathie Glass (L) 4% 0 Rodolfo Rivera Munoz (G) 3% 783 of 800 precincts reporting
Supreme Court Place 5 0 Paul Green (R) 39% ☑ Dori Contreras Garza (D) 57% 0 Tom Oxford (L) 3% 0 Charles E. Waterbury (G) 1% 783 of 800 precincts reporting
Supreme Court Place 9 0 Eva Guzman (R) 41% ☑ Savannah Robinson (D) 55% 0 Don Fulton (L) 3% 0 Jim Chisholm (G) 1% 783 of 800 precincts reporting
Court of Criminal Appeals Place 2 0 Mary Lou Keel (R) 40% ☑ Lawrence “Larry” Meyers (D) 55% 0 Mark Ash (L) 4% 0 Adam King Blackwell Reposa (G) 1% 783 of 800 precincts reporting
Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5 0 Scott Walker (R) 39% ☑ Betsy Johnson (D) 56% 0 William Bryan Strange III (L) 3% 0 Judith Sanders-Castro (G) 2% 783 of 800 precincts reporting
Court of Criminal Appeals Place 6 0 Michael E. Keasler (R) 40% ☑ Robert Burns (D) 56% 0 Mark W. Bennett (L) 4% 783 of 800 precincts reporting
Sheriff 0 Kirk Launius (R) 37% ☑ Lupe Valdez (D) 59% 0 David Geoffrey Morris (L) 3% 0 J.C. Osborne (G) 1% 783 of 800 precincts reporting
am grateful people keep electing me.” When not campaigning for himself, Hensarling has spent the campaign cycle with vice presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence (R-Ind.). He was traveling with Pence when his plane skidded off the runway at LaGuardia Airport on Oct. 28. “It happened so fast,” Hensarling said. “It was kind of tense. I have never been on a plane that skidded off the runway before.” While in office, he said he plans to focus on what he calls the “sluggish economy.” “I think there’s going to be a lot of work in front of us,” Hensarling said. “The economy has been sluggish. The economy is not working for working people.” Johnson did not attend the Dallas County Democratic Watch Party on Tuesday night at the Hyatt Regency, but her supporters weren’t surprised that she won so easily.
“She’s an asset. Even if Congress is Republican, she is knowledgeable enough to make a difference in our local lives,” said Marilynn Mayse, who once worked for Johnson when she was a state senator. Lingerfelt disagreed. “She’s been there 24 years,” he said. “She’s like the furniture. She hasn’t moved.” Chip Serrano, who works for the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, has supported Johnson every time she has been re-elected. “As far as labor and immigration goes, she’s with us 100 percent,” he said. The 80-year-old has served in the House since 1993 and is still highly active within her district. On July 8, Johnson addressed the House of regarding a peaceful protest that turned violent in downtown Dallas on July 7. Johnson urged legislators to “bridge the divide between law enforcement and community.”
Neave upsets Sheets, Burkett re-elected to Texas House BY JULIO VEGA AND TAYLOR ROBERTS Staff Writers @TheEtCetera
Democrat Victoria Neave upset Republican incumbent Kenneth Sheets in a close race Tuesday to become the new Texas state representative in District 107, while Republican Cindy Burkett, an Eastfield graduate, was re-elected in District 113. Neave narrowly edged Sheets by taking 51 percent of the vote. Burkett secured 55 percent of the vote in her race, compared to Democratic challenger Rhetta Andrews Browers’ 45 percent. Her supporters believe Neave, a local attorney and community advocate in northern Mesquite and Garland, will open doors for Latinos in the Dallas area and throughout the state. “She has a very noble heart … and shows lots of support to her fellow Hispanics,” said Genoveva Castellanos, a volunteer on Neave’s campaign, who was watching the election results at the Dallas County Democratic watch party Tuesday night. “She sees them all as brothers and sisters. As a lawyer, she knows what’s out there and how to deal with it. She promised all of us that she would help fight [the problems] in the Garland area.” Other supporters commended Neave’s ability to connect with the people within her community. “We need women like her [in the Texas House],” said Miriam Taeb. “We need women that are willing to be loud and are willing to stand up for us and will say no when others are trying to push flawed policies down our throats. She is very supportive of other fellow Democrats, and that camaraderie is what we need right now to get any of our policies through. We can’t have our party break in anyway.” After the announcement of her win, Burkett
ANDREW GONZALES/THE ET CETERA
Cindy Burkett, an Eastfield alumnae, celebrates after winning re-election.
said it feels “awesome” to be re-elected. She said her next step is to “get back to work.” “I will be working on transportation again for the North Texas area,” Burkett said. “I will be doing more work on [Texas Child Protective Services] and getting all the issues we have there resolved.” District Director Barbara Reese said she is confident that Burkett will accomplish those goals in her next term. “She is a great lady,” Reese said. “She puts her whole heart in everything she does.” Burkett, who earned an associate’s degree in business from Eastfield, encouraged students to become more involved in the political process. “If you are not involved and not voting, you need to be,” she said. “The decisions that we are making right now affect [students] more than they affect me.”
NEWS
5
The Et Cetera
www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Calendar Rousseau remembered as relatable teacher PUT IT ON YOUR
November/December
Wed
9
Veterans’ Spirit Day with activities, music and cake, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., the Pit Cops ‘n’ Donuts alcohol awareness, 9:30 a.m.noon, C-135 Microscopes with Murray, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Library STEMinar: Physics of sports, 12:30 p.m., S-100 FAFSA help, 1-3 p.m., L-108D
Thu
Arbor Day celebration, 10 a.m., Lower Courtyard
Fri
Veterans Day flag ceremony, 8 a.m., flagpole in front of C building
10 11
Transfer trip to UTA, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., contact Trio in C-141 to reserve a spot
Tue
15 Thu
17 Fri
18 Thu
24 Fri
2
Mon
5
Free HIV testing, 9 a.m.2 p.m., C-139 Blood drive, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., C-135 Last day to drop Courtney Hamilton gallery show opens, H Gallery, reception 6-7:30 p.m. Student Government Association meeting, 12:30 p.m., C-295 Thanksgiving break starts, campus closed until Monday, Nov. 28 Student Government Association meeting, 12:30 p.m., C-295 Relaxation Week begins, pre-finals stress-relief activities, times and location vary
ABOUT THE COVER ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN WENCES
By David Silva Editor in Chief @DavidSilvaETC
Government professor Phoenix Rousseau, known for her eccentric personality and love of animals, died of cancer Oct. 29, about a year after her diagnosis. Rousseau became a full-time professor at Eastfield in fall 2005. The Social Sciences Division is holding a memorial at 1 p.m. Nov. 17 in S-100. Braulio Tellez, a former student of Rousseau, said she was outspoken and often shared stories from her life in her lectures. “A class will only speak up and start engaging with each other if the professor creates the culture in the classroom,” he said. “She very much created that culture.”
Rousseau lived in the Middle East with her family for 11 years. She returned to Texas after the invasion of Kuwait at the beginning of Rousseau Operation Desert Shield and pursued teaching. According to Dean of Social Sciences Mike Walker, Rousseau was open about her political affiliations and passions and was beloved for her unique personality. “She was very nonconventional,” Walker said. “Students liked her because of that. She was very relatable.” Walker said he admired how Rousseau wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. “You can ask anybody around
here,” he said. “After your time with her, you’re going to be shaking your head and smiling because she was such a unique mixture of fun. How you can use words to describe her? I don’t know.” The walls of her office are decorated with Libertarian Party candidate posters and various quotes about the importance of government and education. Closer to her desk are photos of family members, donkeys, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and her many large dogs. “Her great love was rescue animals,” Walker said. Rousseau also adopted potbelly pigs and devoted much of her time and money to helping animals. In Rousseau’s honor, philosophy professor Michele Svatos is asking colleagues to donate time, money
or supplies to the Atlasta Home pig sanctuary in Ennis, where her potbelly pigs were sent over 10 years ago. Rousseau obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in government from Texas Woman’s University. Rousseau taught at Tarrant County College and Richland College before working at Eastfield. History professor Mike Noble said her loss was tough to accept because of how quickly her condition declined. “She’s someone that I respect and will miss greatly,” he said. “She was a person who loved her job and loved the people she worked with.” Walker said Rousseau was an important piece in what makes Eastfield distinctive. “We loved her very much,” he said. “This was her family.”
NEWS
Briefs OSER, police hold food drives
The Office of Student Engagement and Retention and the Service Learning Program are accepting non-perishable food items to provide local low-income families with holiday meals. The Harvester Hunger Project includes a prize for the most donated goods collected. Drop-off food in C-237. Donations will benefit Sharing Life Community Outreach. The Eastfield College Police Department is accepting food donations for their third annual food drive benefiting families of Motley Elementary. Donations can be dropped off in the box outside the police department until Nov. 16.
Theater company presents ‘Yellow Boat’
The Harvester Theatre Company’s production of “The Yellow Boat” will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 through 3 in the Performance Hall. Tickets for students and children are $7. General admission is $10. Free matinees will be 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Dec. 2. The company has nominated for four 2016 BroadwayWorld Dallas awards for its fall 2015 production of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The nominations are: Best Ensemble Performance; Production Award (Adult): Best Overall Production of a Play; Best Direction, Mara Richards Bim; and Best Original Script, Christopher Cook.
DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA
Voters line up in the C building to cast ballots Nov. 1, one of two early voting days at Eastfield.
Dallas Sheriff Valdez wins re-election By Parker Ward Contributor @TheEtCetera
Incumbent Lupe Valdez (D) easily defeated her opponent, businessman Kirk Launius, with 59 percent of the vote to keep her seat as Dallas County sheriff. The race was a rematch of the 2012 sheriff ’s contest. Elaine Sacks, who has worked for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, thinks that Valdez won this race due to her approachability. “There has never been a reason you can just go up and talk to [Val-
dez,]” Sacks said. “She’s someone who is very warm. She doesn’t mind talking to anyone about anything.” Launius believes that there is still much to be done in a Democrat controlled Dallas County. “We’ve got a lot of work to do in Dallas County,” he said. “It’s a big urban center and the Democrats want it very badly. It’s a cornerstone to what they would hope to achieve.” Clara Brown-Trimble, a Valdez supporter at the Dallas Democrats watch party at the Hyatt Regency, has faith in Valdez’s experience in law enforcement and how the world currently treats women.
“The world is changing,” she said. “The world is open, and the world is accepting ladies and then once they get in there, they don’t shut you down. They lift you up higher and make new things happen.” After losing twice, Launius is not sure if he plans to contest Valdez again. However, he is ready to get back to work full-time. “My business partners are going to be happy to see me back and helping out,” Launius said. “Wednesday morning will be the first day in 12 months where I don’t wake up and wonder what I have to do to help the campaign.”
6
NEWS
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
www.eastfieldnews.com
The Et Cetera
STEM grant provides millions to expand labs By JAMES HARTLEY Managing Editor @JamesHartleyETC
Eastfield’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Division is building new labs, creating credittransfer agreements with four-year universities and hiring special academic advisers with a $4.5 million grant from the Department of Education. Funds from the Hispanic Serving Institute STEM grant will be disbursed over the next five years. The first installment of $1.1 million was disbursed last month. Dean of Organizational Development Tricia Thomas-Anderson said most of that will go to construction. The STEM department plans to build new geology, biology, chemistry and computer science labs at the main campus. “It’s really a feather in our cap, and I’m thrilled about it,” said Dr. Gretchen Riehl, executive dean of STEM. “I’m probably most excited about the new labs. In geology, for instance, they can’t really add any more sections because there’s no lab to put them in. … With the computer science lab, it’s going to allow us to reactivate a program in cyber security.” The Pleasant Grove campus will be outfitted with a new multi-purpose lab suitable for all science courses except chemistry. Riehl said this will give Pleasant
Grove students more options in their science requirements. Students “have to get two science classes to get a degree, but they can’t if we don’t have a science lab for them to work in,” Riehl said. “We’ve been teaching geology down there because you can just use boxes of rocks, and they’ve given us a closet to keep stuff in down there. But that’s about all we can teach.” Dr. Vinu Johnson, who teaches chemistry, expects the organic chemistry lab to be ready for students by spring 2018. “We’ve been losing students to other DCCCD colleges,” he said. “That’s primarily because we don’t have the proper facilities for organic chemistry. Many of the other colleges, including Brookhaven and Mountain View, they have decent organic chemistry labs. Now that we have this grant, it gives us a platform to increase our enrollment, too.” Johnson said a major problem with Eastfield’s current chemistry lab is that it does not have a proper fume hood, which ventilates the room and removes any toxic fumes produced by experiments. “Now we have the opportunity to have a very good system up there,” Johnson said. “We have the ability to have all new equipment, which can be used for organic chemistry experiments.” Johnson said that in addition to making Eastfield more attractive to
DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA
A 4.5 million grant will fund new and upgraded geology, biology, chemistry and computer science labs.
students, the organic chemistry lab will better equip students for work in STEM fields. “Whatever you see around, including plastics and fuel and everything, is primarily based on hydrocarbons,” Johnson said. “Our bodies are even hydrocarbons. … All toptier STEM fields, including medical or chemical fields, has to have some background in organic chemistry.” Johnson said the state-of-the-art
equipment will offer Eastfield an advantage because it will be closest to what is being used in the industry today. Eastfield is designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution, and this is the college’s first grant designated for such schools, Thomas-Anderson said. “I think if we have that designation, we should definitely be pursuing those opportunities, so that’s
probably one of the more significant parts of it,” she said. Riehl said she didn’t expect to receive the grant. “I thought we had a competitive application, but this is a nationwide competition, and we’re competing with UTD and UTA,” Riehl said. “We’re competing with them, and they have staffs of application writers and we have Tricia. She does a great job, but she’s just one person.”
Immigrant siblings overcome growing up alone By KILEE TORREZ Contributor @TheEtCetera
With his parents in another country, Juan Terrazas and his younger sister were left to fend for themselves at a young age. Terrazas came to the United States from Mexico with his mother and sister when he was 5. The family was reunited with his father, who was working in Texas. Nine years later, his father was arrested and deported. His mother also returned to Mexico, leaving a 14-year-old Terrazas and his sister, Alma. “She asked my younger sister and I if we wanted to go to Mexico with them,” he said. “We said no because
we heard that Mexico was dirt poor. You won’t amount to anything over there, and we have friends and family here.” Terrazas spoke about his experiences at an Oct. 25 event honoring Hispanic Heritage Month. His story is told in the book “Left in America,” which is also the name of a nonprofit organization that supports immigrant children. The Terrazas siblings lived with a cousin, but Terrazas was soon forced to leave. “I didn’t have a stable home, so every month or two months I would move somewhere else because I felt like my welcoming was becoming overdone,” Terrazas said. “I felt depressed and rejected; like I didn’t belong anywhere.”
Terrazas eventually connected with Youth with a Mission and other church groups which supported him and strengthened his faith. “My story would be different because I had certain events happen that kind of made my mind change,” Terrazas said. “My dad was a great man, but he also had his own troubles, and I was learning from him. I would have been walking in his steps. Since he got deported and my mom left, I basically had to grow up earlier than most people had to.” Terrazas joined a church and started making music. “Since I was young, I grew up listening to hip-hop and rap,” he said. “I started realizing that music helped change my paradigm, so I started writing my own lyrics and finding
my own instrumentals. I now perform my music for children and youth groups just to get a message out.” Terrazas and his sister, who atTerrazas tended his speech, reunited with their family in Mexico in 2015, 11 years after their separation. They shared a video of the reunion as their parents watched via Facetime from Mexico. Alma Terrazas said some of the struggles she faced overlapped with her brother’s, but she strongly felt the loss of her mother. “As a girl, you want to have your mom there with you,” she said. “I
missed out on my teenage years without my mom and all of the stuff that comes with being a girl that you would need your mom for. I would have to rely on my friends’ moms.” Terrazas also performed one of his rap songs during his presentation. “I read the book and he is a huge inspiration,” student Juan Carlos said. “He’s an immigrant just like I am, and a lot of what he says is relatable to me. Being in touch with yourself and being vulnerable and being able to cry even though I am a man is something I will take away from today.” Terrazas lives near Atlanta with his wife, Amy Mulloy. He blogs at leftinamerica.org and posts his music at reverbnation.com/Juanton. —Jennifer Rincon and Esmeralda Olguin contributed to this story.
Life &Arts
The Et Cetera
7
www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Canadian trio links with campus music, dance By JON AGUIRRE Staff Writer @TheEtCetera
Foreign instruments litter an empty stage. Soft pink lights illuminate the background behind three large white sheets resemblship sails. A trio of musicians takes the stage, later joined by members of the Eastfield Chorus and Dance Company and the Women’s Chorus of Dallas. What follows is a performance combining instruments, voices, dancers, set and video projections three years in the making. The Orchid Ensemble was originally an all-female trio that played traditional Chinese music. The ensemble was founded in Vancouver by Lan Tung in 1997. Jonathan Bernard joined in 1999, replacing the previous percussionist, and brought other regional influences to the band. The Ensemble had a three-day residency Oct. 24-26 and performed two shows with student artists on the final day. When Melinda Imthurn, music professor and artistic director of the Women’s Chorus, first heard The Or-
chid Ensemble, she knew she had to bring them to Eastfield. Imthurn and the ensemble members worked for three years to plan the visit. “When you’re in a band, you have to constantly plan for the future,” Tung said. Tung plays the erhu, or Chinese violin, and Xiaomei Zhu plays the zheng, or Chinese zither. With Bernard on percussion, the trio plays a variety of musical styles including traditional and contemporary music of China, jazz and creative improvisation. Part of their artistic mission involves cultural exchange between Western and Asian musicians. “I believe the most important thing to pay attention to in this performance is the mood and emotions that come from each instrument,” said social science major Zeke Issacs, who attended the Oct. 26 matinee. Imthurn funded the Orchid Ensemble’s three-day residency through the Takis Mouzenidis Endowment Fund, a grant awarded annually to one college in the Dallas County Community College District to pay for performances from guest artists. During the visit, the ensemble
worked with faculty, staff and students to coordinate a performance. Imthurn led the chorus, and dance professor Danielle Georgiou was in charge of the choreography. Technical theater coordinator Lori Honeycutt was the technical director, and website coordinator Preston Cooper directed the video design. Cooper oversaw digital media students, who designed video for the performance. The video was projected onto three large sails behind the ensemble. Dancers performed behind the sails to project their shadows on the sheets. Both the Eastfield Chorus and the Women’s Chorus learned songs in Mandarin and Taiwanese. “There are standard languages that singers know how to sing in: English, Latin, Italian, French, German, Spanish,” Imthurn said. “It was nuts. We must’ve rehearsed one piece for an hour solid on” the first day. The collaboration was demanding for Georgiou and her dancers as well. “It was a challenge to figure out the rhythms and tempos because they are very irregular,” Georgiou said. “The [student] dancers have not worked with live musicians before.”
DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA
Xiaomei Zhu of the Orchid Ensemble plays the Chinese zither as student Alondra Puentes dances during a Oct. 26 performance.
Discover comic books, old soundtrack vinyls at East Fork Mall By MACKS PREWITT Staff Writer @MacksPrewittETC
East Fork Mall houses the largest variety of goods anywhere in the Mesquite area. Like a thrift shop on steroids, this mall is a must-stop attraction for the shopper who wants to discover new items and deals. It is like the “I Spy” books I used to read when I was a child. Except in East Fork Mall, I decide what I want to find. East Fork is a vendor-based mall where retailers sell whatever they want in rented booths inside a red brick warehouse. At the entrance, an antique furniture booth sits next to a booth that sells “Star Wars” action figures and has a large cardboard cutout of a First Order Stormtrooper. Farther down, a booth that is in essence a shrine to American singer
and actor Roy Rogers is across from a booth that sells model car collectibles. You will never go to East Fork and find the same items. Rows and rows of about 250 booths stretch out to the left and the right when you walk into the mall. They meet in intersections at seemingly random intervals. Yellow arrows painted on the cement floors guide shoppers throughout the rows, lest they get lost, and directs them to important places like the register or the bathroom. The booths themselves are organized by the vendors, and sometimes it seems like they just dumped their items onto shelves and slapped on prices. The scale of the mall can be disori-
MACKS PREWITT/THE ET CETERA
A life-size cardboard cutout hides behind boxes of comic books at East Fork Mall in Sunnyvale.
enting because you go from the long aisles of booths to the booth itself. You have to switch from scanning the booths as you walk by to staring intently at the individual items. An upside to this type of mall is that individual vendors can have sales on their items. If a booth is selling comic books for more than they are worth, try again later. You might
return to find that same booth offering its wares half-off. Look for the white paper signs that describe the various sales. The items themselves are mostly antiques and can range from bayonets and a cavalry saber to a collection of old-timey radios and suitcase record players. Anything and everything can be found at East Fork.
Vendors have old movie soundtracks on vinyl, classic comic books like “The Avengers” and “Justice League,” collectible action figures and even a life-size cardboard cutout of Sen. John McCain. Elvis memorabilia can be found in almost every booth, as well as action figures still in their boxes. Glass cases are popular with most booths ,and they usually hold a treasure trove of pocket knives and other knickknacks. The novelty of the mall alone is worth a visit. But make sure you have money because you will inevitably find something you want. Check out the selection on the mall’s Instagram account, @eastforkmall. East Fork Mall is located at 613 U.S. 80 Frontage Road in Sunnyvale. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m.-5:50 p.m. Sunday. Look for the giant pencil.
8
LIFE&ARTS
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Story by Rodrigo Mendoza Illustrations by Emylee Lucas
www.eastfieldnews.com
Harry Potter
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the first film spinoff in J.K. Rowling’s wildly successful Harry Potter franchise, hits theaters Nov. 18. Inspired by the 2001 book of the same name, “Fantastic Beasts” chronicles the tales of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he ventures to 1920s New York with a suitcase of magical creatures. We muggles have been following the story of the orphaned wizard Harry since the first book debuted in England in 1997. Though Rowling’s original series concluded in 2007 and the final film adaptation followed in 2011, the story of the wizarding world has continued via the Pottermore website, the Universal Studios theme parks, the 2016 play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and much more. In honor of “Fantastic Beasts,” the first in a planned trilogy, The Et Cetera presents five top moments from the eight-part Harry Potter film series.
an
4.
Hermione punches Draco Malfoy
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” This moment is flat-out hilarious. Draco has been a thorn in the side of our heroes for three years, and Hermione has had enough. When Draco taunts Harry, Ron and Hermione about the impending execution of Buckbeak the hippogriff, Hermione snaps. “You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach,” she yells, and she draws back her wand. Draco just laughs. So instead of a spell, Hermione unleashes a punch right to the nose.
5.
Harry, Hermione and Ron form a friendship
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” After being teased by Ron, Hermione flees to the restroom to cry. When Professor Quirrell announces that a troll is inside Hogwarts, Harry and Ron race to warn Hermione. Together they defeat the troll, and Hermione takes the blame for the destruction of the bathroom. The incident bonds the trio in a friendship that will define them for the rest of their lives.
The Et Cetera
LIFE&ARTS
9
The Et Cetera
www.eastfieldnews.com
1.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Round 2
“Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2”
nd the
Harry is presumed dead, and his allies are paralyzed with shock and dismay. But Harry then leaps off Hagrid’s arms, and a thrilling battle of spells begins. Mrs. Weasley turns Bellatrix Lestrange into dust, and Neville Longbottom beheads the snake Nagini. Harry defeats his long-time enemy for the final time with a spell to disarm rather than kill — staying true to the character we’ve loved since his 11th birthday.
Top Five Moments
3. The Return of Voldemort “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” The first proper appearance of “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” comes in the fourth installment of Harry’s story. After jointly claiming victory in the Triwizard Tournament, Harry and Cedric Diggory are magically transported to Tom Riddle’s family gravesite. Peter “Wormtail” Pettigrew promptly kills Cedric, cuts off his own hand and drops a deformed version of Voldemort into a cauldron for a resurrection spell. Voldemort emerges, stronger than ever, and battles Harry, who barely escapes with the help of several apparitions, including that of Cedric and Harry’s parents.
2.
The Death of Dumbledore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” At this point, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is one of Harry’s few remaining adult allies and has taken the teenager into his care. As a hidden Harry watches, a weeping Draco holds Dumbledore at wandpoint, saying he must kill him in order to save his own life. But it is Severus Snape who kills the wizard, solidifying Harry’s belief that Snape is evil. We later learn that all is not as it seems, as Snape killing Dumbledore was part of the former’s master plan to keep Harry alive and eventually defeat Voldemort.
10
LIFE&ARTS
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
www.eastfieldnews.com
The Et Cetera
MOVIE REVIEW
Visuals elevate ‘Strange’ past typical plot By DAVID SILVA Editor in Chief @TheEtCetera
Just as “Iron Man” and Robert Downey Jr. broke open the gates for the “first generation” of Marvel Cinematic Universe glory, “Doctor Strange” and Benedict Cumberbatch look to keep the golden age of superhero movies alive and strong by bridging the gap for a new generation of superheroes. I can’t deny that I was skeptical when I first heard that the classic “Doctor Strange” comic book series would have a big-screen adaptation. In fact, I thought this would be the first major disappointment of the MCU, figuring that their massive success with “The Avengers” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” would make it hard to introduce new characters outside of the “Captain America: Civil War” breakout stories. The mystical universe of “Doctor Strange” can also be extremely difficult to adapt to film. Trying to accurately represent its
vast possibilities without confusing your audience or leaving them inside a green screen for 90 minutes can be tricky. The eponymous Doctor Strange is not everyone’s cup of tea, either. In the comic books, he’s a brilliant but egotistical surgeon who coldly chooses his patients depending on their likelihood of success. Even after a devastating car accident leaves him unable to perform surgery, he sinks deeper into his selfishness and pushes away everyone close to him. Yet in the comics, he’s still a loved protagonist, largely due to the convenience of thought bubbles, which enable the reader to see a complicated man capable of doing what’s right. Making Strange a hero to root for would be a feat I deemed too hard to translate to the big screen. Cumberbatch kicked my expectations to the curb the moment he appeared onscreen.
COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
Benedict Cumberbatch transforms from sidelined surgeon to superhero in the newest Marvel adaptation, Doctor Strange.
Cumberbatch, acclaimed for his roles in “12 Years a Slave” and “Sherlock,” shines with the confidence and arrogance you would want from the original comic book character. Strange is introduced performing brain surgery while playing a game of music trivia with a colleague. He guesses the song name, artist, album title and year of release, all while removing foreign objects from
someone’s cranium. His charisma is so effortless you can almost forgive his arrogance. Then the car accident ruins his hands and causes his life to spiral out of control. In his search to cure the nerve damage in his hands, he finds the Ancient One, who introduces him to the mystic arts and reveals the dark forces who intend to consume Earth.
At this point, Strange freaks out because all he wants to do is fix his hands and go back to doing some surgery, but he gets a cool new red cloak that allows him to fly, so he’s going to stay and fight the good fight. And then we go into the famous mystical world, and oh my goodness, it’s phenomenal. The Rubik’s Cube-style breakage of the surrounding structure makes for multiple jaw-dropping moments. Some of the CG looked so realistic that during one of the fight scenes when a New York City skyscraper twists and splits in half, I actually thought to myself, “How the heck did they get the budget to split a building in half?” The film does take notable liberties. Several of the supporting characters don’t resemble their comic book counterparts. The Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, was in the original form a Tibetan man. Karl Moldo, played by Chiwetel See View, page 16 ➤
TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY Come learn about earning your bachelor’s degree •
Get admissions, scholarship and financial aid information
•
Meet advisers and faculty, and receive sample degree plans
•
Receive information about the Touchstone Honors Program and other services tailored to transfer students
8:30 a.m. – Noon
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19 Denton Campus
Receive a $50 application fee award! Register today at twu.edu/transfer
LIFE & ARTS
11
The Et Cetera
www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
What an Ex-FEAR-ience on campus
DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA
JONATHAN WENCES/THE ET CETERA
JONATHAN WENCES/THE ET CETERA
Students participate in a costume contest at the Ex-FEAR-ience Halloween event Oct. 28. Clockwise from bottom left, Cynthia Mendoza sports a face painting of the villain Venom. Anderson Trey Irby III dances on stage. A BB-8 robot built by professor David Kirk takes meets 3-year-old Jake Traynham, grandson of Upward Bound's Sandy Hampton. Enashia Robinson gives her best zombie impression. Greg Burton portrays Deadpool.
APPLY NOW NEW PROGRAMS GREAT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE HEART OF FRISCO unt.edu/newcollege
AA/EOE/ADA
URCM
9/16
(17-210)
© 2016 UNT
DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA
opinion Etera
12 www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Dual credit students’ success can inspire fellow classmates
Award-winning member of: • Texas Intercollegiate Press Association • Associated Collegiate Press • Texas Community College Journalism Association
Eastfield College 3737 Motley Drive Mesquite, TX 75150 Phone: 972-860-7130 Fax: 972-860-7646 Email: etc4640@dcccd.edu Editor in Chief David Silva Managing Editor/Sports & Features Brianna Harmon Managing Editor/News & Opinion James Hartley Copy Editor Caitlin Piper Presentation Editor Jonathan Wences Photo Editor David Sanchez Staff Writers Jon Aguirre Emily Martinez Macks Prewitt Staff Photographers Ahmad Ashor Alejandra Rosas Jesus Ayala Timothy Nicholas
Winston Easy Rodrigo Mendoza Julio Vega Jasmin Jimenez Isabel Espinoza Andrew Gonzales
Designers & Artists Emylee Lucas Donna Mann
Alec Ogle Lauren Mesnack
Editorial Assistants Martha Especulta
Marie Garica
Reporters Landon Williams Kaci Gonzalez Avery Williams
Cat Dyson Katrina Bond
Contributors Bryan Crady Cristhian Herrera Jennifer Sanmiguel Esmeralda Olguin Jennifer Rincon Kilee Torrez Parker Ward
Taylor Roberts Jaqueline Estrada J. Gomez Janet Barragan Jonathan Nuno Sarah Sanchez
Advertising & Marketing Keturah Hill Student Publications Manager Elizabeth Langton Faculty Adviser Lori Dann
Editorial Policy 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 every two weeks—except December, January and summer months—by a student staff. Each member of the college community is entitled to one free copy of The Et Cetera. Additional copies are available in Room N-240. 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. Letters considered for publication must be 250 words or fewer. Letters may be delivered to Room N-240 or sent to etc4640@dcccd.edu.
OUR VIEW
BY MARTHA ESPECULTA
Pentagon should honor recruitment promises On Oct. 22, the Los Angeles Times reported that thousands of veterans of the California National Guard were being forced to pay back thousands of dollars of enlistment bonuses erroneously awarded by the Pentagon over the last decade, many with interest charges. Following the rightful public outcry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter later announced the suspension of the collection effort, but the injustice is far from resolved. As of this writing, no plan has been set in place for those who have already made payments. Some who refused to pay were threatened with wage garnishments and liens. Others were having their military-funded tuition assistance put on hold, further threatening their livelihoods, and the resulting legal battles are only adding more tangles to the controversy. The problem isn’t new. The California media has been reporting on this issue for years, and only now is it starting to gain some traction. Ten-year-old contracts are being unearthed by the Pentagon for collections, and after so many years of interest accrued, those affected are only finding it more difficult to pay back what they do not rightfully owe. These brave men and women were promised a future made possible with funds from the federal government, and just because these bonuses were
originally intended for soldiers taking highdemand assignments doesn’t make their service any less valid. These bonuses were often used as incentives for recruitment. Taking their hard-earned money back from them once they’ve served is immoral and sets a poor precedent for potential recruits. And the fact that the Pentagon had the audacity to demand interest on their payments only makes it more sickening. Our veterans should have never been punished for someone else’s incompetence. The majority were unaware that their bonuses were mismanaged, and the Pentagon has no right to take away the incentives used to recruit them in the first place. All collection efforts against these soldiers have rightfully ceased. Those who have already paid should be reimbursed for their bonuses, interest and legal fees. The Pentagon and the California National Guard have every right to retract the bonuses for future recruits, but they must pay what has already been promised to others. Our troops deserve to be given what they were promised, especially when so many are putting their lives on the line every day to defend our country. Poor management is no excuse for demanding that they give back what they risked their lives to earn.
Get ready for high school freshmen to Avery join you in your Williams next class here at Eastfield because the rules are changing. Texas House Bill 505, passed in the last legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, lowered the age of students eligible for dual credit courses and removed the limit on the number of credit hours high school students may take. While some may be concerned with students entering the “college atmosphere” as young as 14, the academic advantages far outweigh the concerns. One of the main concerns about allowing students so young to take college courses, specifically on campus, is the risk of them being exposed to adult situations and subjects. For example, the use of profanity is common and can be observed throughout the entire campus, even within many classrooms. Many think that young students should not be exposed to these negative influences. These concerns, however, should belong solely to the parents of the students. They are the ones who decide what their children should be exposed to, being the people who best know what their children can handle. Once high school students have proven their academic maturity and college readiness through the TSI, SAT or similar tests, they should have the opportunity to advance their studies and further prepare themselves for four-year universities, regardless of the social situation. There is no better preparation for the transition to a university than being set in a competitive classroom and treated as an adult. When an academically mature student is placed in a room of people much older than them and is set with the same adult-level expectations, they are forced to adapt. The earlier that they are presented with these standards, the better it prepares them for similar treatment at a four-year university and reduces the shock when they transfer. Students should not be denied the ability to take their education to the next level, no matter their age. Being able to do so creates the most diligent and competitive of students — students who thrive in a university setting and work to attain the highest achievements. If those types of students are encouraged and given the opportunity to strive for the best education possible, they will blossom and in turn be an inspiration to other students.
13
OPINION The Et Cetera
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Book events deserve more stories To the Editors: In the time I have been teaching at Eastfield, I have watched our student newspaper grow and improve. The Et Cetera has done some top-notch work in the past few years, and the awards and accolades it has received are well-deserved. But I must express great disappointment in the overwhelming lack of coverage for Common Book events. This is sad for me as co-chair of the committee and for the paper because it is missing history in the making. At our keynote events, we had two eloquent and engaging decedents of Henrietta Lacks speak to two packed houses in the Performance Hall. In our second event, renowned bioethicist Dr. Fred Grinnell twice presented his lecture “HeLa Cells and the Ethics of Human Research.” More people attended Dr. Grinnell’s lecture than all of last year’s Common Book events combined. And the response to both of these presentations has been astounding. Student and faculty from several disciplines are still buzzing. The paper did present a short piece on the book itself early in the semester. A recent edition included a fine article on the Eastfield Theatre Company’s production of “A Doll’s House” but failed to mention it was a Common Book event. I see in the recent edition that our next event, “Microscopes with Murray,” is on the calendar, but this is fine print, not actual reporting. The Et Cetera was sent a schedule of our events for the semester by my co-chair, Megan Horlander, so I can think of no reason to exclude them in coverage. The Common Book is a vital program on the Eastfield campus with a rich and interesting history of its own, and this year’s book and activities have been enthusiastically received by students and instructors. We are on the cusp of something amazing, and your talented staff is missing it.
www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Black Lives Matter should abandon violence The Black Lives Matter movement must eliminate and disavow violence from their protests in order to succeed as a civil rights group. I don’t quite remember how I reacted when I heard about the death of Trayvon Martin. I can’t say I felt strongly about the situation. I didn’t know the facts, so I couldn’t have an opinion. I didn’t feel a certain way when the jury acquitted George Zimmerman of all charges. I knew that the lack of evidence against him would not be enough to lock him up for murder, regardless of his intent. After that, media outlets placed a spotlight on black men killed by police officers. Protests followed the death of Michael Brown, then Eric Garner. The names seemed to be piling on faster than I could keep up. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. Freddie Gray. And Keith Lamont Scott over two weeks ago. The coverage and the subsequent videos caught my eye, and the lack of consequences for the police involved was a shocking reality check. The deaths of these unarmed civilians cannot be justified, and that’s where the Black Lives Matter movement got its voice. These individual police officers who do not deserve to be given the trust and responsibility we give law enforcement were then guarded from consequences. This can only create further animosity from the public toward the entire institution, leading to dangerous consequences.
David Silva
This, however, is where participants of the Black Lives Matter movement took a step in the wrong direction. Early protests in Ferguson, New York City, Chicago and other cities around the United States began to make a case for themselves. It’s not that racial oppression felt by the black community was ever non-issue. The failure of local police departments to discipline officers for shooting unarmed citizens is simply a climax of what is, at most, widespread institutional racism if not structural negligence at the very least. Despite civil rights victories in the years following the Civil War, the U.S. government has done little to provide the necessary opportunities for minorities, primarily the AfricanAmerican community. But as the protests around the country began to grow, some of the rhetoric within the movement began to develop a generalized tone. The Blacks Lives Matter message began to get flooded by anti-cop sentiment. Furthermore, in addressing these issues, individuals within the Black Lives Matter move-
ment have not shied away from violence, and this has done a lot to undermine the movement’s credibility. Riots in Ferguson, New York and Chicago were broadcasted all over the nation, and while some of us understand the frustration the rioters feel, it’s difficult for the general population to see anything other than destruction, divisiveness and counter-productivity. This also gives far-right talking heads a chance to portray the Black Lives Matter movement as the enemy to safety. This violent culture has also lead to devastating tragedy. The July 7 killing of five Dallas police officers was an action taken by a lone individual, but the extreme anti-police sentiment that does persist among some in the Black Lives Matter community is hard to wash away. This further damaged the movement because it cemented the Blue Lives Matter sentiment, a counter that has effectively changed the focus to what was at stake. I say this not to cast blame on the young men and women who are attempting to create awareness for a worthy and essential cause. Nor am I trying to discredit the importance of their fight. It is because I deem the cause so worthy that I feel it is essential for the Black Lives Matter movement to focus. The movement needs direction. The movement needs discipline and leadership. And just as police departments need to purge themselves of dangerous individuals, the movement needs to as well.
THE HOT TOPIC
What are you most thankful for?
Professor Michael Morris Co-Chair Common Book Committee
First Amendment 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.
Luis Medino Engineering Major
Johnny Santillan Music Major
Ruben Manzano Undecided Major
Jeanette Costello Financial Aid Advisor
“I’m thankful for my car, because not everyone has a car. It’s your gateway to freedom.”
“I’m thankful for my classes that I’m taking, because I’m trying to major in music, so I’m taking a lot of piano and voice.”
“I’m thankful for being at this college, for being able to study and hopefully find my career path.”
“I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my job. I’m thankful for the students here, I love being here.”
Sports
The Et Cetera
Nov. 15 Nov. 18 Nov. 19 Dec. 1
Basketball vs. Texas Wesleyan Basketball vs. Temple JC Basketball vs. Seminole St. JC Basketball vs. Houston CC
www.eastfieldnews.com
6 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 6 p.m.
14
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Volleyball team aces regionals Harvesters defeat Brookhaven, head toward nationals
By BRIANNA HARMON Managing Editor @BHarmonETC
After falling in the first game of the Metro Athletic Conference Tournament to Brookhaven, Eastfield rallied to win the next two games and go up 2-1 over the Bears. In the final game, the Harvesters led the entire way, extending their lead to 16-12 over Brookhaven as the team’s energy exploded. At game point, Eastfield held a 24-16 lead and fans rose to their feet held up the No. 1 sign with their fingers. As the ball hit the ground, outside hitter Cailey Clogston, setter Alyssa Jimenez, and libero Karina Lay leaped in the air and screamed with excitement. “I am proud of the girls for what they have done and accomplished this year,” coach Brandon Crisp said. “We lost the first set, but they didn’t crumble and give up. They fought back.” The Harvesters’ defeat of conference rival Brookhaven 3-1 came in close games (25-27, 25-15, 25-21, 2516). Now they advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III National Championship Nov. 11-12 in Rochester, Minnesota. Eastfield was undefeated in conference play and won the MAC title for the first time since 1994. Brookhaven had won the conference for the previous 12 seasons. Eastfield’s last trip to nationals was in 2013, where they finished sixth. Throughout the match Crisp talked to the team about playing good defense. Crisp told the girls throughout the game to keep fighting and keep every ball up. Then he began to tell the team to not get ahead of themselves and to focus on the task at hand. Brookhaven would start out each game with a small lead, but in from the second game on, the Harvesters would pull away in the middle and Brookhaven would be too far behind to catch up. Lay led the Harvesters defense with 27 digs. Jimenez added 20 digs and Clogston had 16 digs. Jimenez also had 23 assists and Zelda Ortiz
Eastfield players celebrate after defeating Brookhaven Oct. 29 to win the Metro Athletic Conference tournament.
had 17. Courtanae Calhoun led the team with 20 kills, and Kerstin Fredrickson added 13. Eastfield took complete control of the game; the gym rang with cheering from fans the entire time. After each point scored The Harvesters bench would go wild. “I’m shaking,” Calhoun said. “I have never shook in my life. It’s a happy feeling. If we can play just like we played now, we are going to be unstoppable.” Ortiz over the season has developed her own in game ritual. No matter where she is located on the court or bench, when Eastfield scores, you will hear her screams and see her dancing. “It took every ounce of energy I had in my body to keep my team motivated,” Ortiz said. “Being loud and obnoxious gets to [the opposing team].” Clogston was impressed with how the team came together after losing the first game. “We got down a little, but we knew it was do or die,” Clogston said. “We
ISABEL ESPINOZA/THE ET CETERA
The Harvesters were undefeated in conference play this season.
were leaning on each other for encouragement to lift us up. We beat our rival. There is no better feeling.” Lay was named Metro Athletic Conference Player of the Week and NJCAA Player of the Week for her performance against Brookhaven. “It’s amazing,” Lay said. “We
have put so much hard work into this. Every practice was worth this. Brookhaven hasn’t lost in forever, so to beat them is a big accomplishment.” Eastfield leads the nation in digs per set with 22.30. The team is ranked third in the nation for kills
AHMAD ASHOR/THE ET CETERA
per set with 11.59 and assists per set with 10.51 The team talks about playing as a family. “I showed up today I was extremely nervous,” Ortiz said. “I thought about it and said, ‘It’s for the person next to me, It’s not about me anymore. It’s gut check time. I’m proud of my team.’ We did what we had to do to win.” Crisp doesn’t plan to change his approach to get the team ready for the national tournament. “It business as usual,” Crisp said. “It doesn’t change. I told the girls today this is nothing new, it’s just another day for us. We won’t do anything special. We will get back in the gym and practice and work even harder.” Eastfield will play North Hampton Community College at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 11. North Hampton is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Spartans are coming into the tournament with a 30-1 record, their only loss being on Sept. 3 to Butler County.
SPORTS
15
The Et Cetera
www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA
Goalkeeper Karla Corchado sobs on the ground after failing to block the game winning penalty kick in the semi-final of the MAC tournament against Brookhaven on Oct. 29.
Soccer relives last year’s heartbreak in tournament
for 2017.” Although she said she was heartbroken, defender Sayman said
she was proud of the team’s performance against Brookhaven. “We all went out there with heart,” Sayman said. “That is the best I have ever seen my team play. Every girl out there put her heart on the field. We just couldn’t capitalize. We couldn’t finish.” The teams where scoreless through regular play and after 20 minutes of overtime, so they went to penalty kicks. The first team to score 3-out-of-5 penalty kicks wins. Eastfield had Karla Corchado, Yessenia Calvillo, Emily Juarez, Elizabeth Cobar and Sayman kick. Calvillo and Juarez found the back of the net, but the others missed. As Sayman approached the ball to line up her penalty kick, the score was 3-2 with Brookhaven ahead. She had to make it to keep the game alive. She kicked and missed and immediately fell to the ground. It was her last play for the Harvesters. She will graduate in December. The Harvesters finished 14-7
overall and 7-4 in conference. Eastfield played a tight game against Brookhaven. “I think we played well,” Stein said. “The first half we struggled a bit. We played nervy. Our defense played incredible. Karla [Corchado] played incredible. It was just one of those days where the ball wasn’t going to bounce our way and go in the back of the net.” Corchado said she was disappointed in herself for missing her penalty kick and failing to block the three by Brookhaven, but is motivated to come back next year and get better. “This whole year I feel like I’ve carried this team on my back, and I feel like I fell in the last second,” Corchado said. “Right now there is nothing I can do about it, not anymore. The only thing I can do is be the best next year. After you make a mistake, the first thing you should do is turn around and fix it and that is what I’m going to do.”
In the second half of the game, captain Karla Gutierrez went down with an ankle injury and had to be helped off the field. She did not return to the game. “I felt it. I already knew I was out,” Gutierrez said. “When I fall, normally the pain starts going away lightly, but I couldn’t stand the pain. I was crying not because of the pain, but because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sit there in the semi-finals and not be able to help and be the captain.” Sophomore midfielder Cobar said she could feel the difference in the team once Gutierrez left the game. “We just lost one of our best players,” Cobar said. “I really wish she wouldn’t have come off the field because I knew she could have made a difference in the game. She is very smart with her plays, and she is the main reason we move the ball around. When she left, the ball wasn’t moving anymore. It was on one side. We couldn’t function as a team.”
3-pointers. Williams took a scholarship to play at University of the Southwest. Going into this season the Harvesters are ranked No. 3 in the nation in pre season polls. Only shooting guard Zack Duncan and forward Jacob Donahoe are returning from that team. Duncan’s role changed as the season went on, he went from playing. Now Duncan starts for the Harvesters. Duncan said he is excited to finish what he started last season, when he was named third team all conference for his performance at the end of conference play. “It feels good coming back this year to a brand new squad,” he said. “I’m a scorer and a shooter,
so I want to have my shooting percentage up. I want to be able to make big shots when I need to.” New additions to the team are shooting guards Ishmael Hook and Melvin Joiner. Hook is a transfer from Ranger Junior College, where he redshirted last season. “I want to win a national championship here,” Hook said. “I want to be able to help the team where they need me. I want to keep my field goal percentage high.” Joiner, a true freshman out of David W. Carter High School in Dallas, where he was named to the All-State, All-District and All-Region teams during his senior season. He was also named the defensive MVP for the
district and co-MVP of the district. Joiner said it has been a transition for him coming straight from high school to play ball at Eastfield. “The game speed is something you have to adjust to,” Joiner said. “Goals for myself this season are to lead my team to victory every game and perfect my craft. Coach Anthony Fletcher said the Harvesters have all the pieces needed to make it back to the tournament. “I think we have a shot. We are out there competing,” Fletcher said. “I think this team will be like any other team in the past where any night there can be a new leading scorer.” Eastfield has started non-conference play 4-0, leading the nation in points scored per game with 138.3
and most 3-pointers made in a game with 15. “Every game a new person can step up and be the game’s MVP,” Fletcher said. “That is exciting to me because when you play like that you are hard to guard because somebody can’t come in and focus on a certain guy.” Fletcher says that the biggest thing for the team is buying into the system. “We are skilled offensive players,” Fletcher said. “We can put five guys on the court that can shoot the ball and score in many different ways, that’s our system. That’s Eastfield basketball. You have to give your body up for your teammates. You can’t get complacent, and these guys don’t.”
By BRIANNA HARMON Managing Editor @BHarmonETC
Sophomore Torri Sayman fell to the ground after missing the final penalty kick that would have tied the game against Brookhaven. With the miss, the Harvesters lost 3-2 and their season ended. There was not a dry eye on the Eastfield sideline. The jarring pain of last season’s loss against Richland in the conference tournament final returned to the surface. This time it was in the semi-final of the Metro Athletic Conference tournament. “I’m devastated for these sophomores,” coach Dustin Stein said. “Right now it crushes me seeing Torri like this. I put a lot of pressure on her, and she missed the shot. It’s never easy to be the fifth shooter. We just have to get through the next 24 to 48 hours dealing with the girls and their emotions personally, but at the end of the day my job is to prepare
DAVID SANCHEZ/THE ET CETERA
Assistant coach Alexis Wilkerson comforts defender Torri Sayman after she missed the tying penalty kick in the semi-final of the MAC tournament.
New basketball team anticipates return trip to nationals By BRIANNA HARMON Managing Editor @BHarmonETC
The Eastfield Harvesters basketball team has one thing on its mind: returning to the national tournament. Eastfield finished fourth in the national tournament last season. The Harvesters have made 14 national tournament appearances, winning only one national championship under former coach Bob Felder in 1997. They were runners-up in 1992, 2004, and 2013. The Harvesters were the topscoring team in the NJCAA Division II rankings last season, averaging 101 points per game. Shooting guard Ed Williams led the nation with 123
Wrapup The Et Cetera
16 www.eastfield.com
ExtrEmylee By Emylee Lucas
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Strange shines on big screen Continued from page 10 Ejiofor, is presented as an idealistic mystic disciple, and the filmmakers decided to make Christine Palmer, played by Rachel McAdams, Strange’s sort-of love interest. This might not go over well with some comic book fans, but I applaud the filmmakers’ decisions. Perhaps the weakest, or least spectacular, thing about the film is that the writing and the villains are presented in the tried and true Marvel
formula. Although all the jokes hit their mark and Kaecilius is a very real threat, the combination of the two remind you that you’re in a Marvel movie and that there’s really not that much at stake. This movie is definitely worth watching on the big screen. The kaleidoscope-like visuals are stunning, the action is of the highest Marvel quality and Cumberbatch’s charisma carries the show the whole way.
‘Battlefield 1’ revisits horrors of first World War By CAITLIN PIPER Copy Editor @CaitlinPiperETC
There’s something inherently hypocritical about a developer trying to paint their game with a “war is hell” message while still setting aside room for a spirited multiplayer death match somewhere in the code. Civilians are being slaughtered, entire countries are toppling and men barely out of high school are being left to rot out in No Man’s Land, but we can’t deprive our players of their kill streaks and leaderboards. Did you know that the Battle of Arras was actually just a game of capture the flag where the two teams spent the entire ordeal rhythmically crouching over each other’s corpses and shrieking about how much they enjoyed the night with my mother? It’s a trap a lot of war-based action games fall into, and while it certainly isn’t exclusive to the first-person shooter genre, it’s gotten so prevalent these days that I feel like I need to be donning a neck brace before the jump from singleplayer to multiplayer gives me whiplash. “Battlefield 1,” the latest to follow the trend of slapping a “1” onto a game’s sequel for no other discernible reason than to confuse and anger relatives during their dreaded Christmas GameStop visit, at least makes an impressive effort to distance itself from these types of shooters. “Behind every gunsight is a human being,” the opening cinematic boasts, and it starts off strong by throwing the player directly into the line of fire in the final days of World War I. Amidst the smoking ruins of what was once an idyllic French hamlet, the Harlem Hellfighters struggle to hold off the German offensive. One by one, the Hellfighters are picked off, and the player experiences every death through
Gamer Z ne
COURTESY OF CAPCOM
the eyes of each doomed soldier in a prologue where losing simply means moving on to the next controllable survivor. In the end, an artillery barrage leaves only two men alive on the battlefield — one American, one German. The two raise their guns, ready to become the last man standing, then freeze. They’re cold. They’re hurting. They’re surrounded by smoldering corpses. Crying silently, they both lower their weapons. The futility of the war weighs down on them until they both crumple with exhaustion, and the proper first level begins. It’s an incredibly powerful sequence, one that could have easily been hackneyed or forced, and it effortlessly sets the tone for one of the best shooters I’ve played in years. Which makes it a little disappointing that it steadily undermines its own core message —
that no matter the color of the uniform, there is a life behind that gun — after the opening level. Don’t get me wrong, “Battlefield 1” is easily one of my favorite games to come out this year. The gameplay, while not exactly original, feels very organic and mixes things up between levels in a way that doesn’t feel gimmicky or distracting. A minimal HUD keeps the player nicely immersed, and the levels are as varied as they are visually stunning. But I have to wonder how this game can include a line like “The war is the world and the world is the war” only to ignore an entire half of the war by focusing exclusively on the Allied Powers. That’s not say I’m against playing as yet another wise-cracking American or uptight Englishman, especially since this game goes out of its way to make its characters likeable and interesting before the war inevitably crushes
them. But how can the game expect me to learn to humanize the enemy when all the Central Powers are eventually reduced to hordes of faceless mooks conveniently hidden behind hoods and gas masks for fear we mistake them for anything other than virtual cannon fodder? That single German soldier from the prologue expressed more depth and emotion than all of the other Germans in the game combined, and he didn’t have a single line of dialogue. I would have loved to have been able to play as a soldier from Austria-Hungary or the Ottoman Empire to keep things a little more rounded, especially since the six playable characters we do have barely round out to 10 hours of gameplay total. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but this is a game in desperate need of some DLC levels. It also doesn’t help that despite the overall high-quality writing, there are still a few sections that try just a little too hard to tug at the heartstrings. I believe the developers wanted me to have some kind of reaction when they decided I needed to play as a messenger pigeon flying in slow motion through a series of horrific explosions, all juxtaposed with some heartfelt piano music, and “bewildered giggling” probably wasn’t one of them. The fact that the poor bird immediately flew out of bounds and died because I didn’t realize it was an interactive scene my first time through didn’t help. But at the end of the day, “Battlefield 1” sets out to make The War to End All Wars more than just another bullet point in our history textbooks, and it does it very well. Its strength lies in its writing, give or take a few oversights, and the gameplay is more than solid enough to support it. Consider this one of the biggest pleasant surprises of the year.