DISTRICT Budget change not expected to hurt students
AVA REED campus editor ava.reed046@my.tccd.edu
Tarrant Area Food Bank has had $4 million worth of funding cuts, but its Vice President of External Affairs Jared Williams said it is working to ensure TCC still receives donations.
The cuts are a result of the Department of Agriculture cutting its Local Food Purchase Assistance Program funding this past March. Organizations like the food bank
are responsible for donating goods to food pantries across the county.
“We experienced cancellations of food deliveries as well as reductions totaling an impact of about two and a half million meals,” Williams said. “Since those announcements were made, we have worked really closely with all of our partners to help fill the gap and to ensure that our neighbors facing crisis and hunger have the food that they need.”
People living in food insecure households are being impacted by the changes in SNAP benefits, Williams said.
“We see a reduction [of] economic impact of $58 million per year,” he said. “And then as well as a reduction in SNAP education of
See Food bank, Page 3
Students take sail
a doublesided sign outside NSCE building Oct. 7.
Page 2
AIRIANNA ROMAN campus editor airianna.roman@my.tccd.edu
Dana Latham discovered her passion for sailing in seventh grade when her older brother Chris bought a Lone Star 13 sailboat.
They grew up in Dallas near White Rock Lake, where Chris would participate in races. When he needed members for his crew, Latham decided to help out.
“We would sail on different lakes around the Dallas area, different regattas, and that’s where it all got started,” she said. “That’s how I learned to sail and really enjoyed it.”
She learned some of those sailing lessons the hard way.
“I remember slamming his boat into the dock when I was first learning how to sail,” she said with a laugh.
Today, Latham is a kinesiology instructor who teaches a sailing class on NW Campus, using some of the same skills her brother taught her.
“It’s fun on windier days. It’s not quite as peaceful, but it’s more of an adrenaline rush,” she said.
Latham said before students can take the boat out on their own, they must spend at least 30 minutes with her on Marine Creek Lake.
“I have intermediate students that will take the others out so that people can be sailing, but they can’t drive the boat until they meet with me,” she said. Buoys are placed in the lake as targets for students to hit as they learn how to steer the sailboat.
“They learn how to sail a course, and they’re actually sailing to a certain place,” she said. Students also get to race the sailboats, but they must follow Latham’s rules, such as not being able to hit any buoys and understanding who has the right of way. One of the requirements for the class is knowing how to swim.
FRED NGUYEN managing editor collegian.editor@tccd.edu
The storage room was barely big enough to accommodate three people and two large trash bags Samantha Elkins and Sara Reed set on the floor.
Peeking out from the opening of the trash bags were the vibrant colors of crocheted baby blankets that the club they sponsored made to donate to John Peter Smith Hospital.
“It’s kind of exciting and to know that little babies are gonna have their fingers in all the little holes,” Elkins said about the blankets.
Elkins and Reed are using the blankets as the first big project of the NE Campus Needle Arts Club, which the two of them advise.
Six members of the club created 26 baby blankets over the summer to donate to JPS Foundation, who will give them to premature babies at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth.
The sponsors had expected to see 10 or 15 blankets be made over the summer. Reed said they were shocked when everyone came in with the blankets during the first club meeting.
“Everybody started showing up with all of these blankets,” she said. “I took them home to wash
them because they have to be washed in that special detergent, baby detergent, and I counted them up and texted Samantha, ‘Oh my gosh, we have almost 30 blankets.’” The project came about earlier this year when Elkins got an email from someone from JPS Foundation who was reaching out to clubs and organizations across Tarrant County and its schools to look for collaborative opportunities.
Donor relations coordinator Alex Bustamante had emailed any clubs at TCC that could partner with JPS, and the Needle Arts Club replied.
I felt like I needed it to be perfect because somebody was going to be getting this, and it was going to be for their child.
Ashley Miller club president
“Samantha and the club in general have been super sweet, and I am just amazed just with this new partnership and how well they’ve communicated with me and just how eager they are,” Bustamante
said. “I’m just excited as them to see where this goes.”
The blankets, which are headed to the maternity ward of JPS Hospital, were made in many sizes and colors. The materials were chosen by the members to be the softest and most easily washed for the comfort of the baby and the parents.
“My kids have crocheted blankets that Sara actually made for them, and they call them the spider blankets because they look like almost spider webs when they spread them out really big,” Elkins said. “And so, it’s fun to know that now
there’s gonna be other babies out there with their own blankets that have their own little nicknames and stuff.”
During the pandemic, Reed crocheted two baby blankets for Elkins, who was pregnant and expecting twins, as a gift for her virtual baby shower. Neither of them knew that the other could knit and crochet.
“She got them, and she’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I knit,’” Reed said. “And so, when we came back to campus, we connected, and we’re like, OK, well, we’ve got to start a
club because surely we’re not the only two people who can knit and crochet.’”
NE student and club president Ashley Miller has been crocheting for five years and sometimes sells her crochet pieces. She said she was a little harder on herself for this project.
“I felt like I needed it to be perfect because somebody was going to be getting this, and it was going to be for their child, and especially for the kids in the NICU [neonatal intensive care unit], I wanted it to be perfect,” Miller said.
Club sponsor Jamie Melton said comfort items like baby blankets are especially important at a young age.
“My nephew actually was in the NICU back in July ... and I noticed this little handmade woobie thing,” she said. “I asked his mom about it, and she had said they gave that to Benji in the NICU. They would take it to her, and she would hold it close and kind of keep it under her shirt so it would smell like her. And then they would take it back to Benji.” NE student Rachel Toll has been a member of the club since last fall and made five blankets for the project. She said knowing that the baby blankets will go to premature babies motivated her to make them.
Diego Santos/The Collegian
Kelly Amtower/The Collegian
Kelly Amtower/The Collegian
A protester argues with NE students while holding up
NW student David Lambeth rigs his sail with assistance from class kinesiology instructor Dana Latham on Marine Creek Lake. The class only takes place during fall and summer semesters.
NE Needle Arts Club sponsor Sara Reed hands over blankets made and donated by the club to Alex Bustamante, the donor relations coordinator of JPS Foundation, on Oct. 10.
NE dental program offers $10 cleanings
check it.”
Guadalupe said seeing patients is a requirement for the students.
The NE dental program provides the public with dental cleanings at a low price, giving the opportunity for anyone, with or without dental insurance, to get their teeth cleaned for just $10.
Norma Guadalupe, a second-year dental student, said the cleanings were beneficial to her and her family because they do not have dental insurance.
“I’ve been bringing my whole family,” she said. “Every single one of my family members just get to pay the $10, and they feel comfortable because it’s me doing the service.”
The program director, Amy Cooper, said that there are 20 dental treatment rooms in the clinic and only five are used at a time. Because of that, there are small groups of dental hygiene students in each room, allowing them to observe the cleaning closer without crowding.
Brittany Green, NE dental instructor, said both first-year and second-year dental students can do the cleanings. However, the first-year students must wait until their second semester.
Dental cleanings For a $10 Fee at the NE campus Dental Clinic
“Some schools actually don’t have a clinic on campus, so these students are lucky that they have that,” Green said. “So they’re
able to bring care and services here. The school that I went to, we actually had to go to county facilities and serve patients there.”
Green explained that the students have a checklist to go over before they approve the patient for a cleaning.
As a clinical instructor, she reviews the patient’s medical history taken by the stu -
For just a $10 fee, services include:
• Dental cleaning
• Full-mouth X-ray
• Panoramic X-ray
• Pit and fissure sealants, plus bite wings
• Referrals
dents, then checks for any medical allergies. The students also perform an extra oral exam to look for oral cancer or for any lesions they think could be cancerous.
“They also take measurements around the gums, and then they perform the cleaning,” Green said. “So everything that they do in there, the instructor has to go in there and
“We have something called a pool,” she said. “So, when we need patients, we’ll just look in the pool and then look at their availability, their schedule and then we’ll contact them.”
Another NE dental student, Brianna Hernandez, takes it upon herself to find patients so she can meet the requirement of seeing eight patients this semester.
“I’m not from this area, so I have to depend on that pool,” she said. “I did an ad on Facebook where I found people I don’t know, and they never even heard of the clinic before.”
Hernandez said community work also plays a key role in her dental curriculum.
“It’s like a part of our rotations,” she said. “Dental Health Arlington [is a] nonprofit, and it’s discounted rates for these patients. We’ll go in there and then we have sterilization rotation, cleaning the instrument and then the front desk. So we’re bouncing off in every part of the clinic.”
Green said the service is open to all. She explained that she has had patients who have driven four hours to get a cleaning.
“People that don’t have dental insurance, cleanings could be from $120 to $1,000,” she said. “So a $10 cleaning is beneficial to people that can’t afford it.”
Students argue religion, gender with protester
A protester confronted transgender and Muslim students on NE Campus before being escorted to the parking lot by police on Oct. 7. The unidentified man stood outside of NSCE on top of a rock with a two-sided sign, urging students to repent and follow Jesus.
The double-sided sign displayed the title “conversion therapy” with terms like
“LGBTQ,” “Muslimite” and “sexual immorality,” with an arrow pointing to “sanity,” “delight” and “purity” and separated by the word “repent.” The reverse side included offensive language like “punches boobs” and “pedo” targeting the Prophet Muhammad.
NE Muslim student Emadeldin Alias said he was concerned when he heard the protester’s loud disrespect toward Islam.
“I told him I’m Muslim, and we think God is merciful. Even if you sin, you can enter heaven. You just have to take a step further, you know?” Alias said. “But then he
started flipping my words. ... And he started saying ‘Muhammad is a pedophile,’ and his mood totally changed. He was harassing me.”
According TCC’s Title IX policy on the college’s website, the district prohibits hostile environment harassment, which includes acts of verbal, nonverbal or physical aggression, intimidation or hostility based on sex or gender.
Vice Chancellor for Communications and External Affairs Reginald Gates said in an email that TCC is committed to maintaining an environment where students feel safe and supported. However, he said the college also supports the constitutional right to free expression, including that of visitors in outdoor designated campus areas.
“While speech — even if offensive — is generally protected, harassment or threats are not,” he said.
Gates said the campus police officers “responded professionally and appropriately” when removing the protester.
“When a visitor’s behavior creates a substantial disruption — especially when reported by multiple students or employees — the College may intervene in accordance with applicable law and policy,” Gates said.
Transgender NE student Clementine Cook said she was approached by the protester, who insulted her gender and her looks.
“He said, ‘Oh, you’re one of them transgenders. You have such a feminine woman body, but you have a such a deep, manly voice. It’s like a tuba,’” Cook said.
According to Cook, the protester flipped his sign from the Islamophobic side to the anti-LGBTQ side when he confronted her.
Another passerby, NE student Chris Hummel, said the protester didn’t bother him. He found it entertaining.
“I don’t think it was right or wrong. I think he should be ignored if you don’t want to hear what he has to say,” he said. “I mean, is he any more right than anyone else? Everyone has the right to their own opinions.”
However, Hummel said he didn’t agree when the protester started “calling people
“You shouldn’t interrupt somebody from what they’re doing because you have to tell them something that you don’t like about them,” he said.
NE student Amy Powell, who was studying in front of the NSCE building, said it wasn’t until a student walked up to the protester and started talking that he got very loud.
“He started raising his voice, and he even said something along the lines of, ‘I apologize for being loud,’ but then he just kept being loud the entire time,” she said. “So, it was like the kickoff to his sermon.”
Powell decided to try to deescalate the situation because it was a disturbance to students.
“I asked him politely. I was like, ‘Hey, there are people here trying to study,’ and he got combative after that,” she said. “He was like, ... ‘don’t tell me what to do. I’m allowed to have free speech.’”
Powell said she didn’t deem the campus area as an appropriate space for mean comments.
“This is supposed to be a safe place for students, and that didn’t seem safe to me,” Powell said. “If you can’t walk across your campus without being basically attacked verbally, that’s not safe.”
Cook said she had seen the protester at a recent Keller-Southlake Pride event at St. Martin Episcopal Church with a megaphone protesting LGBTQ individuals.
“I think Keller was probably not his first rodeo, and this won’t be his last,” she said. “He already had the double-faced sign, and this is probably just like his hobby, going to different places and spouting off his hatred.” NE student Dallas Gartrell, who is bisexual and transgender, described the incident as absurd.
“I’ve heard about all these people, the ‘God hates gays’ [people] all my life. But I’ve never really seen these people before,” he said. “It’s like seeing like a rare animal almost.”
Infographic by Kiarah Smith/The Collegian
NANDA
Diego Santos/The Collegian
The unidentified protester displays the side of his sign comparing the Prophet Muhammad to Jesus. The bottom of the sign says Jesus throws sinners into Hell.
Sailing (continued from page 1)
The students take a swimming test on the second day of class, and there are lifeguards on duty as well. Students also learn boating terminology in a classroom before sailing.
Latham said the class is available during the fall semester and the first summer session. The class does not take place in the spring due to the weather.
“The water is super cold. Even the temperature doesn’t get warmed up enough because the water is cold,” she said. “It would just be miserable.” NW student Caleb Moore said he is enjoying taking the class this semester.
Food
“It’s pretty fun,” he said. “Mostly we’ve just been sailing around. We got to put up the sails. ... It’s a good way to spend your mornings.”
Another NW student, Jenny Harberts, enjoyed the class so much that she is taking it again.
“I wanted to improve my sailing skills from last semester,” she said. “Dana, the instructor, is personable. She’s fun to learn from.”
It’s fun on windier days. It’s not quite as peaceful, but it’s more of an adrenaline rush.
Dana Latham sailing instructor
In addition to teaching, Latham has had experience sailing boats at resorts in different countries, including some of the same boats used in her class.
“We went to Jamaica, and the resort’s boat was our boat. It was a Hobie Wave,” she said. “So it made it nice because I already knew how to rig it, sail it. [That’s] nice for our students. If they ever go to a resort, then they are most likely to be able to sail that boat.”
Bank (continued from page 1)
about $450,000 here locally.”
NE student employee Leilani Egan works at the food pantry on her campus, and she said the cuts to food programs will greatly affect students.
“There are many students who come in here and get groceries, they get food and I know they take it home to their families,” Egan said. “If they’re cutting funds for food supply stuff, hopefully they’ll be able to keep this up and running.”
The food bank delivers fresh food to the NE pantry every Tuesday, and Egan said the rest of their supplies are stocked with donations from the community.
“We haven’t had a lot of donations lately,” Egan said. “Before [Monday], we were almost out of food because no one had brought any food in for a while.”
She said Oct. 6 the pantry received one huge donation, but it doesn’t normally work that way.
SE Campus’ food pantry reopened after closing during campus construction, and Student Activities Coordinator Carla Hernandez said her focus isn’t on the cuts.
“We have really good people that are always here to support students,” Hernandez said. “We have a lot of employees who are on a routinely basis checking with me to see what we need at the food pantry, and I think people care so much about student success and the mission of the food pantry that we continue supporting it.”
Hernandez said SE Campus also receives donations from Arlington charities, but she greatly encourages more of TCC’s community to donate as well.
“We all need help at some point in our lives,” Hernandez said.
She also encourages people to utilize the food pantry regardless of what their financial situation may look like. The food pantry is for everyone and does not require the user to be facing hardship.
“We help supplement students’ pantries, students and employees,” she said. “We also support our employees, and that is something that a lot of people don’t know.”
Although the food bank is being affected, TCC is not likely to experience lack of food for those in need, Hernandez said.
Blankets (continued from page 1)
“It kind of made me feel like I was doing some good in the world, and that it was going for a good cause so it wouldn’t be thrown out or anything,” Toll said.
“At least someone will get it.” NE student and club senator Emily Proctor has been crocheting since she was 8 years old and was taught by her grandmother.
She donated three blankets, but even before joining the Needle Arts Club, Proctor led the crochet and knitting club at her church that would meet every month to do service projects like making hats for veterans hospitals.
“It’s wonderful to do this,” Proctor said. “It only takes a few hours of your day to make a big project like that for a couple weeks, and it can help so many lives.”
This semester, the Needle Arts Club plans to collaborate with the NE Cultures of Other
Languages Club to make crochet and knitwear items like hats and scarves for JPS Foundation to give to homeless people during the colder months.
Elkins said the partnership with JPS Foundation will open more opportunities for donation projects at the Needle Arts Club in the future.
“I’m really excited more that we’ve got a contact with someone that’s gonna continue to be there, and that we can trust that they’re gonna take them to people who actually need it,” she said.
Proctor said she hopes the baby blankets she made will be passed down to the baby’s children.
“That’s not always the case, but as long as they keep the babies warm for at least a little bit,” she said. “That’s the job for the blankets.”
“I don’t see that affecting our students and we [TCC] wouldn’t let it affect our students,” she said. “So that’s why I’m not too focused on what the government or the administration is doing because regardless of what they do, our students are not going to feel that.”
Photos by Kelly Amtower/The Collegian
Infographic by Rena Aquino/The Collegian
NW student Guadalupe Peña rigs the sail on her boat during a sailing class on Marine Creek Lake near NW Campus in Fort Worth.
Theodore Derbyshire and Josh Dobles launch their two-man kayak during a sailing class.
Diego Santos/The Collegian Needle Arts Club senator and NE student Emily Proctor teaches Karisma Tovar and Caleb Joiner how to make plush animals.
Club Corner
There is a special cruelty that comes with denying an inmate’s basic care. In fact, the Eighth Amendment states that no inmate should suffer cruel and unusual punishment.
Since Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017, however, over 70 inmates have died in Tarrant County Jail. The causes have ranged from negligence of medical needs to asphyxiation, according to a KERA news report.
There’s a difference between inmate deaths in hospice and deaths inside jail walls. Waybourn maintains hospice death is the more frequent event and not the fault of the jail when they receive inmates with pre existing conditions.
What do you call Javonte Meyers, who after a seizure took his life in his cell, laid there for hours undiscovered?
That incident resulted in a lawsuit against two correctional officers of $250k and probation of five years who tampered with government records on routine cell checks to cover up the negligence.
These examples aren’t instances of hearsay or accusations. The fact of the matter is they happened with few legal repercussions and keep happening.
Accountability is severely lacking when 70 people have died in an eight-year period. There isn’t an excuse that could make up for the
same mistake over and over again. It takes one serious criminal offense for someone to be admitted to a prison, and Waybourn can write off multiple “isolated incidents” because of human error.
Since Waybourn was reelected for four more years in 2024, we urge him to spend what time is left to cor-
rect the institutional issues he has been overseeing.
That starts with respecting the Sandra Bland Act that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into effect in 2017, which demands law enforcement agencies investigate jail deaths.
How are we supposed to trust law enforcement that ensures our
safety in Tarrant County if they can’t even ensure a fair and proper process of investigation? In January, it came out that former inmate Mason Yancy’s death was never properly investigated, and autopsy results were not released.
Waybourn’s reelection campaign statement does not reflect the
hope of a better future for the Tarrant County community he serves.
“I look forward to working with our community to create a warm hand-off for inmates as they transition back into society and working to remind the community of Tarrant County that all law enforcement is here to serve, help and protect the community,” he stated on his campaign website.
Open communication for law enforcement does not mean denying briefings on jail deaths requested by Commissioner Alisa Simmons. That is not the situation our community deserves. Silence is just as much an answer as the truth –– the only difference is you earn respect when you choose the option with the most dignity.
There is an actual opportunity for Waybourn to release answers that grieving families who have lost their loved ones in the Tarrant County Jail have been desperate to know. It would begin to bridge an absurd gap between the county and the jail. We acknowledge the huge dedication and work it takes to run a jail, and the goal is not to accuse evil inside the walls of a facility that handles a variety of serious issues on a daily basis. There is still a responsibility to ensure that the law and safety is the first priority. You don’t heal wounds by covering them up and ignoring the injury.
To some, hair is simply a part of their appearance. But for many people, hair is deeper than that. It’s culture and identity.
I never realized how polarizing hair could be until I experienced it myself. As a white girl with naturally curly hair, I struggled with maintaining it as a child. My parents, realizing it or not, were driven by internalized racism when it came to caring for my hair.
I was never allowed to use products or methods that were created for Black people.
I would brush my hair dry, use Head & Shoulders in the shower, and when I got out of the shower, I wouldn’t put any products in it. That routine alone makes me cringe. For most of my childhood, my frizzy hair was either in a ponytail or braids. When I wore it down, I would get nicknames from family members like “Sideshow Bob” from “The Simpsons.”
It wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I realized
The Collegian wanted to publish a story about our libraries’ Banned Book Week displays, until we were sort of banned from writing it. Two weeks ago, a reporter began planning to write a story about Banned Books Week, an annual event promoting the freedom to read and bringing attention to censorship.
TCC libraries have celebrated Banned Book Week for years, dating back as far as 2015 when NE Library first created its banned books display with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Les Misérables,” “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” and “Where the Wild Things Are.” Before the week of Oct. 6, the reporter sent emails asking to set up interviews with library employees on multiple campuses to discuss the following questions regarding
what my hair really needed was products marketed for Black hair. I asked a close friend who is biracial and has a curl pattern similar to mine if she could share her curl routine with me. She sent me a whole slideshow of products and how to use them. I immediately went to the store and bought the products that worked for me. I still use them all today. When looking back at my adolescent years, I understand that it wasn’t just ignorance about hair types. It was subtle and unspoken racism that had consequences but
Banned Books Week: Will the library be doing any displays or events for Banned Book Week? Has the library done anything in the past for Banned Book Week? Are there any banned books or challenged books in the library?
Do you think it is important for students to have access to banned or challenged books at TCC libraries?
That Monday morning, the reporter had interviews scheduled.
less for me and more for the Black women whose hair has been politicized and discriminated against for centuries.
Across the country there are still schools that suspend students for wearing braids, locs or afros. Employers continue to describe natural Black hairstyles as “unprofessional” or “messy.” Even in spaces that preach diversity, there’s often an unspoken expectation that Black people should “tame” their hair.
According to research done by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Black women with natural hairstyles are less likely to get job interviews than White women or Black women with straightened hair.
“Our individually held biases often precede the type of racist practices that become embedded and normalized within organizations,” said head researcher Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, a management professor and a senior associate dean at the time of the study.
By 4 p.m., all the interviews were canceled without reason, and the reporter was told to contact the college administration.
When our reporters are referred to administrators, we often don’t get a response before 5-7 business days.
Since the story only had four days to be written, the reporter dropped it.
Even if the college responded with enough time, the reporter knew they couldn’t get anyone else to talk, and stories must have at least three sources.
On Tuesday, two other staff members returned with anonymous sources tipping The Collegian off about what happened behind the scenes.
Neither source would go on the record out of fear of losing their jobs.
Now, there are no banned book
There is a long history of Black hair being policed. During slavery, heads were often shaved to erase identity, and later, straightening hair became a need for survival in a society that viewed naturally curly hair as unprofessional. Black people have been conditioned to the idea that in order to be accepted into society they need to tone down their hair. But Black hair is not unprofessional. It’s not anything that needs to be “tamed.” Curly hair is beautiful and deeply cultural, and the fact that it’s still treated as if it’s distasteful speaks volumes about how much racism is engrained into society. In recent years, laws like the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, which prohibits hair-based discrimination in schools and workplaces, have been passed in several U.S. states, including Texas.
The fact that we need legislation to allow people for wearing
displays in any TCC library, and no one will speak to us about what happened.
This is just one example of the current situation journalists on and off college campuses are experiencing across the country.
People are naturally skeptical when a journalist uses an anonymous source. Putting a name to the source used adds credibility to the story being told.
So, when everyone refuses to go on record, the story can never be told. As editor-in-chief, I’m left with trying to find out how our staff can report when everyone has been told not to speak with us.
Banned Books Week isn’t a hard-hitting breaking news story.
However, it’s an example of a weekly situation we encounter when trying to report on issues that impact students.
their hair the way it naturally grows from their heads tells you everything you need to know about how deep the problem goes.
My experience with curly hair doesn’t even come close to the discrimination Black people face. I’ve never been suspended from school or denied a job because of my hair, but my experience does show how racism quietly shapes our thinking.
As a child I believed that “Black products” weren’t for me because that’s what my parents believed, even though that’s what my hair needed.
But that’s how systemic racism works. It’s not loud or hateful. It’s subtle.
It hides in the hair care aisles. It lives in the dress code of businesses. It whispers through marketing campaigns. Hair is not just hair. It’s identity, it’s history and it’s pride. Everyone deserves the freedom to wear their hair without fear of judgment or discrimination.
Silence is the result of paranoia.
Hearing instructors I’ve learned so much from and value tell me they are scared to speak up, I boil inside.
The anger doesn’t only stem from the journalist inside me but from my own fear as well.
If people are hesitant to talk about things they have freely spoken about before, I want to know what has changed.
But I have to respect others’ reasoning for being quiet.
However, if no one starts the conversation, how can anyone be informed?
I value sharing every side of a story. The media is often used to divide people, and I want to help change that.
However, if only the people in control are the ones allowed to speak, whose story am I sharing?
Izzie Webb/The Collegian
Activities
Hall’s Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze is a family-owned farm that has been serving the Grapevine community every fall since 2001 when it opened its doors.
The property offers different choices of experiences including the pumpkin patch, corn maze and hayrides.
The farm is open Wednesday through Sunday. Admission costs $5 on weekdays with the exception of children 3 and under and senior citizens, plus veterans being free.
On weekends, admission is $15 for peo ple 11 years old and up, with a discounted price of $5 for children under 4, senior citi zens, plus veterans.
Along with admission, all attractions are cash only.
A general admission ticket purchase grants access to the corn maze both during day and nighttime.
The pumpkin patch is the biggest attraction of the experience.
Throughout the land, different types of pumpkins are available for purchase ranging from all different sizes.
When I went recently with my family, I noticed that Hall’s has definitely added some new activities throughout the years. The farm seemed to have expanded the options for guests since the last time I went in 2021.
As I walked through the pumpkin patch, I noticed the ambient lighting that was produced by hundreds of string fairy lights.
This made for a relaxing evening with no harsh lighting.
The hundreds of different pumpkin varieties available caught my eye. The farm grows pumpkins anywhere from an average orange pumpkin to an extremely unique one with different colors and textures on it.
The farm is kept surprisingly clean considering the amount of foot traffic that rushes through each hour.
Face painting is available with different choices costing anywhere from $6 to up to around $20 depending on what you get.
The options included fictional character designs, animals and standard art, like hearts.
This was an interesting addition because it wasn’t just kids using this, adults too.
Most of the people walking around the
Even 25 years later, “Gilmore Girls” is still a call for the fall. The seven-year-long show paved the path for fall girls to truly get into the season.
Being a girl in my teens, one thing I am always excited about fall is getting to rewatch “Gilmore Girls.” Even with 153 episodes, I always find a way to come back to fully watch it.
“Gilmore Girls” is not just a show for us teenagers, it’s a personality trait for longtime fans. We bond over our obsession for the small-town life of a single mom, Lorelai, and her daughter, who she initially named Lorelai as an act of self-love and humor and later went by Rory.
Together, Lorelai and Rory would live their lives in Stars Hollow, a small fictional town in Connecticut.
Most of the show’s viewers watch it for the appeal of Rory’s life, a life where all the people in your town adores you, not only because you are the top student at the local school, but also because you are compassionate and chatty like your mother.
Rory’s life, although full of joy, was also full of ups and downs which kept the show interesting. Her encounter with her potential boyfriends, being in a love triangle and a love-hate relationship with her filthy rich grandparents was a plus for the watchers.
farm had a Mason jar with a festive straw in their hands.
When you go to Hall’s, it’s a given to purchase one of the $5 ice teas served in a souvenir Mason jar. The farm houses several concession stands across the property that offer kettle corn, burgers, nachos, apple cider, fries and, of course, funnel cakes.
I spoke to a group of friends who had come to Hall’s with the intention of going through the corn maze as that’s their favorite part of coming to the farm.
They said the maze is extremely confusing, especially at night, but besides that it’s fun.
Grapevine farm presents off-the-vine fun
“It’s pretty complicated, especially if you think you’re in this part of the maze, but [in] actuality you’re in a different part,” Zoe Fang said. “And there’s a lot of bottlenecks like squeezes where people are being told to go another way and then people are just lying to each other.”
The corn maze can be a spooky experience when the sun sets due to the overall ambience, but it has no scare actors or anything that will make it intentionally scary.
Personally, I have been both day and night, and I think that they’re equally as difficult.
This is because everything looks the same, making it extremely tricky for your mind to process.
Hayrides are available during the day for $5 and night for $3. During the day, patrons are allowed to feed the donkeys and cows as the tractor will stop for them.
When I went most recently, the hayrides were sold out. Similar to the corn maze, it is not intentionally scary but gives a spooky Halloween-like vibe when it gets dark.
I would argue it is more of a fun experience during the day since you get the opportunity to interact with the farm animals.
“But overall, the cows are really sweet,” Fang said. “They eat the bread you give, and it’s overall really fun.”
Most people in attendance were using the pumpkin patch for photo opportunities only and then leaving after. With the number of unique setups, I can’t blame people for strictly going for pictures.
I wish I had done the hayride, but they were sold out of nighttime tickets. I will be visiting again before the season ends to get to do the things I walked past this time.
Carole King’s “Where You Lead” written in 1970 was used as the theme song for the show. The visuals for which brought out the autumn vibes since it had scenes of crisp brown leaves and warm cups of coffee. The warm sweaters, scarves and pumpkins everywhere in the town, probably advocated to be kept by the town selectman, Taylor Doose, who always forces the townspeople to glamorize the town, were also a hint at the upcoming fall in the show.
Viewers’ motivation to watch the sevenseason show was sparked by Rory’s astounding accomplishments like being on top of her class, having perfect grades and her aspiration
to become a journalist. Her inspiration to her accomplishments came from her hardworking single mother, her grandparents and Christian Amanpour, a TV journalist. She was the cute girl who filled her whole town with pride over her achievements. Rory was infamous for having three major love interests, Jess, being my favorite because of his love for Sylvia Plath’s books and my least favorite being Logan, the ultimate “daddy’s money” guy who was son to a very rich journalist and businessman.
“Gilmore Girls” is also for the happiness
you find in family whether it be chosen or the family you are born with.
Luke, a local diner owner and a coffee dealer to the caffeine hungry mother-daughter duo, is the embodiment of the found family. He was like a father figure to Rory who never had her dad around, and a brief lover to Lorelai. The creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, emphasized the role of a mother and the heavy baggage she must lift in a family by creating characters like Lorelai, a 16-yearold pregnant runaway who worked hard for her daughter and Sookie, her best friend who raised three children while also being a fulltime inn owner.
Palladino had also managed to create a new standard for family-friendly TV through the show that implicated that it is not always a family of three that is happy.
“If you think a kid’s got to have a mother and father, go nab yourself a husband, reel him in, pop out a few kids and have The Dick Van Dyke Show,” she said in an Entertainment Weekly article. And although they were faced with many challenges like not having enough money to invest in a business and being in debt, in the end, Sookie and Lorelai together created a beautiful inn called The Dragonfly, with a little help from Luke. The show that showcased fall also emphasized familial relationships, friendships and romantic relationships that tied everything together and is the reason this show is still a classic for the fall 25 years later.
Izzie Webb/The Collegian
Courtesy of IMDB
Lorelai Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham, and Rory Gilmore, played by Alexis Bledel, hold hands together while celebrating Rory Gilmore at her birthday party.
