Check out page 6
for more pictures from
Back-to-School activities this semester.
Grace Garcia / THE FLARE
Tori Miller, Houston sophomore, cheers during KC Kick-off. Pep rallies will be held in Mike Miller Plaza during activity period each Thursday before a home football game.
Vol. 81, No. 2 Serving Kilgore College since 1936
September 14, 2018
A new stretch for gym Parks Fitness Center offering new group fitness courses
‘Tool or Threat?’ Be a media savvy consumer this election season with research ADRIANA CISNEROS EMERSON Executive Editor
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Catie Denfeld / THE FLARE
Tarisha Shirley leads a Wednesday morning chair yoga class for beginners. She leads classes in the Parks Fitness Center at 9 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and twice on Saturdays in the Dance Room. Employees, students and members are free. CASSIDY DANIEL Staff Writer
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arks Fitness Center is now offering new forms of group exercise with the launch of new classes in as aerobic kick boxing, HIIT, progressive step and yoga to students and gym members. While only a week into her classes, new yoga instructor Tarisha Shirley never thought she would be the one teaching. “Just several years ago I couldn’t even look at people when I talked to them and now I love to share yoga with people because I know what it is for me,” Shirley said. “Spiritual, physical, emotional — it’s all of that for me and I want to share just a little bit of that with people.” Shirley offers several types of yoga each week, and each class can help strengthen, stretch and relieve stress for anyone. Whether you’re an athlete or have limited mobility, there is a yoga class for you.
“Yoga is also good for athletes because it strengthens and lengthens the muscles and that’s even important for people who lift weights,” Shirley said. Chair yoga, offered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m., is a gentle practice for those just beginning yoga and doesn’t involve anything too strenuous. Restorative yoga is offered at 11:15 a.m. each Saturday (starting Sept. 22) and serves its name through gentle, and an overall calm and relaxing, practice. The last class, Vinyasa, is offered at 10 a.m. each Saturday in the Dance Room (also resuming Sept. 22) and is more in the realm of traditional yoga. For KC students, yoga offers an avenue to relieve stress and take the mind off of the routine. “Being a college student is stressful and a lot of the time, we are just on autopilot all week and ignoring ourselves and our bodies,” Shirley said. “Yoga will help with stress relief and bring
awareness to out body.” Awareness is everything. “If we’re ignoring what’s going on with us, then something could be going on that we’re not even aware of yet,” Shirley said. Shirley’s yoga career began in the dark of a Gym Box movie room until recently brought into the light of the Parks Fitness Center. “One day, I passed by the people in the yoga room and I thought ‘I want to try that’ and so I went into the class,” she said. By the end of the class, Tarisha had found a new place and passion. “At the end of the class during savasana, the instructor told us to “inhale love, strength and vitality and release what no longer serves you,’” she said. “I started bawling, and normally when things have an emotional effect on me like that, I know I found my place.” With a new passion in place, Shirley began practicing yoga everyday at the gym and at home. As the
years passed, she began a new job at Gym Box until an opportunity to teach yoga presented itself. “The instructor they had moved on somewhere else and the owner of Gym Box called me and said ‘Hey, do you mind filling in this class? We know you’ve done yoga before and so would you mind coming in and just leading a class?’” Shirley said. “And so I led that class and ended up getting a job out of that.” Now taking the mat five times a week at KC, Shirley has found a fresh perspective on her favorite form of exercise. “The best part of teaching yoga is the awareness and humility it brings,” she said. Which each class, stretch and pose, Shirley continues to grow. “I learned so much more about myself on my mat when I’m up in front of people, than anywhere else,” Shirley said. See more on the Parks Fitness Center on Page 3
ith the upcoming elections taking place on Nov. 6, it is essential for voters to have an accurate, objective idea on the options available to them; who the candidates are and what they stand for. Media, however, does not always serve its informative purpose in a fair way; in fact, nearly 70 percent of the US population is concerned about the use of fake news as a “weapon,” according to a survey carried out by 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer. Government instructor at KC, Katie Owens, recognized the influence that news has in today’s society. “News absolutely affects our society, especially with the proliferation of social media. Now, as opposed to even 20 years ago, the way we consume news has been changed in relation to politics. That has really contributed to us knowing more about candidates as well,” said Owens. However, it is uncertain whether today’s news can be acknowledged as a tool or threat. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants media outlets the legitimate right to openly express their stance on either political wing (left or right). This can translate into biased stories, affecting news consumers and their views on the political matter. “I would consider biased news to be a bigger issue than just out-right fake news, because usually you can just tell if something is fake. I think biased news is actually the bigger problem, just news where there is a huge bias either to the left or to the right,” Owens said. Since inexactness and poor ethics have become
an issue that should not be ignored, nor suppressed, Owens shared what she considers to be the most effective ways to recognize and combat the spread of misinformation. “Snopes is a really good website for fact checking,” Owens said, “you just type in a story or even just copy and paste a URL, so that whatever website you are looking at, you put it in there and it will tell you whether it is true or not, or biased or not, or just how accurate it is, essentially”. When it comes to finding accurate, fair information on the candidates for the upcoming elections, Vote411 is of use; “Essentially, you just put in your address so wherever you are registered to vote, it will pull up a list of candidates, and they ask those candidates questions about the office that they’re pursuing, their education levels, why they think they would be good for the office. It is non-partisan, so they are non-biased and it is a really great resource to find information about candidates,” Owens said. While fake or biased news may remain an issue, it is ultimately up to the news consumer to either proliferate or dwindle the spread of flawed, predisposed information. “I think it (the solution) is more on us as news consumers to know what we are consuming and to be educated about that. It’s less about the media trying to persuade us and more about us knowing what is not biased,” Owens said. Get the facts for yourself: n www.snopes.com/factcheck n www.vote411.org
KC instructors leave a legacy of excellence for former students DESTINY BALDWIN Staff Writer KC lost its own set of legends this summer with the death of three former instructors. From the football field, to the stage, to the library, these people influenced student life at KC in immeasurable ways. Dr. Peggy Crowder Coghlan, VP of Instruction, KC alumna Dr. Peggy Crowder Coghlan, died on Aug. 23. She was an educator, wife, mother, motivational speaker and philanthropist. A Kilgore native, she graduated Valedictorian in 1948 with an associate of arts degree. She was president of Phi Theta Kappa and was a member of the Rangerettes. In 1951 she married Howard (whom she had met while attending KC) and returned to teach government and be Miss Gussie Nell Davis’
first assistant director on the Rangerette line. After raising her two children, she attended Texas A&M where she received her Master of Education (with a 4.0) in 1976. Three years later, she became the first woman to receive a Doctor of Education degree from Texas A&M, again graduating with a 4.0. In 1993, she became the first female vice president at KC as vice president of instruction and chief academic officer. She retired from KC in 1996. While serving as vice president, she developed the KC Foundation, which increased institutional giving to our campus. Dr. Coghlan was also very active in Longview and East Texas in general. She was part of many civic and state organizations throughout her life and her most notable was when she chaired the building and fund raising committees to build a firstclass public library for Longview.
She succeeded in 1987, with more than $1.1 million dollars in private donations. In recognition, the library’s conference room was designated the “Dr. Peggy Coghlan Room” and they even declared July 3, 1987 “Dr. Peggy Coghlan Day” in Longview. “As a child, and throughout her life, she loved to read and I imagine that is why she had such a passion for contributing her time, money, and energy in making the Longview Public Library the fine facility it is today,” said O. Rufus Lovett, KC photography instructor. “I made a couple of portraits of her for publications and we always had conversations about the Rangerette photographic project I was working on at the time. As a former Rangerette and assistant director she loved that organization and later contributed much to the Rangerette Showcase as well.”
Dorothy
Elizabeth “Dottie” Hunt Kleeb, KC Dance program founder Another legend was famed dance and KC dance instructor, Dorothy Elizabeth “Dottie” Hunt Kleeb, who also died Aug. 23. Dottie was a wife, mother and Radio City Rockette. She began the dance department at KC after returning from to Longview in 1958. While at KC she choreographed many major musicals such as “Annie Get Your Gun,” “The Sound of Music,” “Oklahoma,” “The King and I,” “Camelot” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” She also raised two children, son, Gregg County Commissioner Darryl Primo, and daughter, Michele Wood, who leads her mother’s studio today. In 2011, she was awarded the Larry White Dance Educator Award of North East Texas. See Instructors on Page 3
O. Rufus Lovett / Special to THE FLARE
Dr. Peggy Crowder Coghlan’s professional photograph, taken by family friend Rufus Lovett, graced program and obituaries published days following her death.