collegian.tccd.edu
Jason lives. The impact of the horror movie icon. PG. 2
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 – Volume 33 • Issue 8 News
Entertainment
Opinion
Opinion
Editorial
VOTING IN TEXAS Limited mail-in voting options spark controversy. PG. 1
TERRIFYING TALE Classic horror story influences new netflix series. PG. 2
CHECK YOUR RACIST COSTUMES How cultural appropriation in costumes affects minorities. PG. 3
AMBIGUITY IN HORROR Why scary movies can have an impact without jump scares. PG. 3
TRICK OR TREAT SAFETY How to be safe celebrating Halloween this year. PG. 3
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Being active is vital for health in a pandemic SABLE WILLIAMS reporter
Photo courtesy Adobe Stock
Absentee voters have the option to deliver their ballots in person to avoid potential postal delays for the 2020 Election.
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Texans given few options for safer voting during pandemic ALYSON OLIVER campus camp us editor
Texas has given its voters scarce options to avoid risking exposure to COVID-19 this election. Access to absentee ballots is limited. “I think that our government needs to work a lot harder to make sure that everyone has a chance to make their voice heard while feeling safe,” TR student and government association historian Kaitlyn Moore said. According to the Texas Tribune, many states have made mail-in voting easier and more accessible to their residents in response to the pandemic, but the restrictive qualifications for absentee voting in Texas have not changed, meaning applicants must be seniors, have a disability, be out of the country during the election or be incarcerated but still eligible to vote in order to meet the requirements. “Many people do not qualify for absentee voting, which leads to several people just forgoing voting altogether, and obviously this is a huge problem,” Moore said. Governor Greg Abbott has expressed con-
cerns about security, although experts disagree that mail-in voting is unsafe, according to the Texas Tribune. “I think instead of just saying it is fraudulent, then there should’ve been more investments put in place to ensure that there are more workers and ballots with clear instructions to allow more people to use this method of voting,” NW student Taylor Travis said. On top of the already restrictive qualifications, Abbott limited absentee ballot drop-off locations to one per county, according to the Texas Tribune. At these drop-off sites, voters are able to deliver their own ballots themselves and eliminate the risk of postal delays. Since this order even applied to larger, more populated areas such as Harris County, which covers approximately 1,700 square miles, it raised some concerns about possible voter suppression, the Texas Tribune said. Crowding people together at one site, without consistent sanitization between visitors, sounds just as risky as going to vote in person, Travis said. According to the Texas Tribune, the order was recently overridden by Travis County
judge Tim Sulak, and there can now be more than one drop-off location per county. However, there is still only one site in Tarrant County. Earlier in the year, six days were added to the early voting period in Texas, the Texas Tribune said. Voters may also deliver their mail-in ballots prior to Election Day. “Extending the deadline for voting is smart,” South student Sarah Taiclet said. She added that she believes the deadline could be extended further. “I think that this is a sufficient amount of time,” Moore said. “Many people have been able to prepare for this influx of mail-in ballots. So, I have confidence that the system they have worked out will work and be accurate.” Travis said, with the expected influx of ballots from immunocompromised people. There should be more time allowed for voting, especially with the decline in federal funding for the U.S. Postal Service, potential mail delays and “the need to properly count and sort all of the ballots by Election Day,” she added. “Votes matter, every single one,” Taiclet said. “It’s important the people of the U.S. have a voice.”
TCC exercise facilities are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and students are finding new ways to get physically active. Students are turning to the internet for ideas because they must be more careful in public gyms, be aware of their surroundings and wear a mask, TR physical education instructor Kelly Broomfield said. “This has forced students to become more creative with their workouts, using things they have at home, YouTubing or googling workouts to do in their homes instead of in public,” Broomfield said. It is hard to stay motivated when a lot of group activities are canceled, NE student Ashley Cunningham said.“I’ve been trying to include more outdoor games to keep working out more fun.” TCC student Beau Baker has found outdoor activities to be his new workout norm changing his whole workout routine. Baker said the last few months have been hard, and depression and stress related to the pandemic have made it difficult to find the motivation to do anything at times. “If you are lucky enough to live by trails like me, you can still easily bike, hike, and jog whenever you want,” Baker said. Broomfield said working out is a huge stress relief and good for confidence and self-esteem, so even in the midst of students’ hectic schedules, it is important to take some time each week for self care, including physical exercise and getting outside. “It’s especially important during these scary and unnerving times (with the pandemic) to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally and mentally,” she said. Even just a little physical activity is better than doing nothing, Broomfield said. “If working out doesn’t come easy or naturally to you, I always recommend starting slow and having a workout partner,” she said.
“If you are lucky enough to live by trails like me, you can still easily bike, hike, and jog whenever you want.”
Beau Baker
TCC student
NORTHWEST
Student writers craft short stories for creative writing competition VANESSA SUGGS reporter
NW student activities are pairing up with the Creative Writing Club in hosting a short story competition to celebrate Halloween. Both will gather student submissions for a chance to win a grand prize and have their work read online on the student activities’ Blackboard page. Participation in the event started off as a submission requirement of a science fiction short story to celebrate the month of October. However, both the Creative Writing Club and student activities decided to allow short stories of any type as well as other literary content from poems and plays to nonfiction. Students
passionate about writing but not interested in science fiction or short stories will now not be excluded. The original science fiction idea was pitched by the TCC student development coordinator Holden Childress after a late-night viewing of the film “The Vast of Night,” which he said was reminiscent of an old 1930s radio broadcast mixed with Rod Sterling’s storytelling in “The Twilight Zone.” According to Childress, any TCC student can submit one piece of work they would like to be read. “We have reached out to our theater department to recruit drama students interested in reading aloud the grand prize winner’s work in a virtual environment if the winner is comfortable with that,” Childress said.
Other than that, the grand prize is still in the works. Student Activities is known to serve students with engaging, entertaining, and educational events, so this collaboration was just one of many ideas to get students involved into “niche” subjects. This collaboration is the first that many have seen from Student Activities that there has been a literary based event that has the potential to benefit tremendously from the passion for the content. “I took a creative writing class in high school, and I loved it,” student Deyuan Sanchez said. “I had no idea that TCC had a club just for that. It’s cool to see that student activities are helping spread awareness of other clubs.” As time in the pandemic has gone by,
Childress says “this has been unlike anything Student Activities has seen.” Student activities are said to have seen a stable increase in student involvement, where some events now yield higher attendance than on-campus events. “We are using this virtual space to experiment with fresh ideas that we could see carried over upon return to campus,” Childress said. So far, there are as many submissions as expected, however, both the Creative Writing club and Student Activities hope to see more toward the end of the month. TCC student Iveth Villegas said, “With everything going on right now, it’s nice to see student activities pair up.