When Shannon McDonald arrived to teach her summer Music Appreciation class, she walked into an empty room.
Her roster said there were 15 students registered for her blended class on NE Cam-
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TCC is putting together a legislative response team to look at the impact of a new state law requiring transgender people to use on-campus bathrooms that match their assigned sex at birth.
Senate Bill 8, also called the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, places these restrictions on bathrooms at public institutions and government-owned buildings. The restrictions will not apply to gender-neutral bathrooms and will only affect multi-occupancy bathrooms. The bill, which goes into effect Dec. 4, places a fine of up to $125,000 on the institution if they violate the law.
Gov. Greg Abbott posted a video on X of him signing the bill Sept. 22. He said the bill will keep men out of women’s restrooms.
“This is just common sense,” he said.
TCC General Counsel Antonio Allen said he is in the early stages of forming a legislative response team that includes him and Vice Chancellor for Communications and External Affairs Reginald Gates. He said the district is dedicated to both following the law and giving transgender students alternatives.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, Texas is the seventh state to restrict transgender people’s access to bathrooms in all government buildings, joining Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Florida, South Dakota and Arkansas.
Some students are concerned about the effects the bill would have on transgender individuals living in Texas.
SE student Austin Barfield, a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance, said the fear of having transgender people in bathrooms is unfounded.
“It’s a perpetuated fantasy that comes from lack of education and bias,” he said. “It’s quite ignorant to insinuate what’s being said or what might happen.”
Barfield said these kinds of
See Bathroom Page 3
pus. It turned out none of them were real. “I was flabbergasted and so confused. I just had no idea what was going on,” McDonald said. “I had no background that this was even a possibility, that they were all fraudulent students.”
Fraudulent students are individuals who enroll for class with the intent to secure grants and loans through FAFSA by using stolen identities.
This year, TCC has frozen 26,549 student accounts and labeled them as fake, more than triple the number in 2024.
“In 2024, we began noticing a rise in
NORTHEAST
suspicious applications, prompting the college to establish internal processes to monitor and potentially identify fraud before these bad actors could reach the registration phase,” said TCC Provost Shelley Pearson.
It’s challenging to quantify the number of seats occupied by bad actors but according to Pearson, TCC is in the process of implementing a better way to detect suspicious applications at the point of submission before they can register for class.
If fraudulent students pass through this process and can register for classes, the next step for these bad actors is to wait until the
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HOPE SMITH campus editor
hope.smith393@tccd.edu
of 49,393 students this fall, just shy of the 50,000 goal set by the college.
The college saw a 4.4% increase since last fall’s numbers and almost a 22% increase compared to the enrollment low point in fall 2021.
“These enrollment gains represent bold dreams of better futures and lives forever changed. Students find value here. We’re honored that they do,” Chancellor Elva LeBlanc said in a TCC press release announcing the growth in enrollment.
Especially in this landscape, it’s good to know that we are attracting more individuals...
Reginald Lewis public relations manager
Public Relations Manager
Reginald Lewis explained that seeing enrollment numbers rise for the college is a success that shows the efforts of engagement from TCC.
“Especially in this landscape, it’s good to know that we are attracting more individuals, and we do that through a variety of media,” he said.
Cecilia Jacobs, executive director of Public Relations and Marketing, explained that while the college didn’t hit 50,000 like they had hoped that post-October enrollment numbers might be the push the college needs to meet the Trailblazing
2030 strategic plan goal.
She said that the marketing team at TCC has found success through sharing students achievement stories at the college.
“This is a great place to get an education, and not just with the current students, but we’ve interviewed a number of folks who have gone on to do great things and just believe that all of our students will be the same,” Jacobs said.
The strategic plan is a fiveyear road map, Jacobs explained, that includes increasing visibility and engagement, reaching 50,000 in enrollment and achieving 8,000 credentials awarded.
Currently, the college has awarded 8,498 certificates and degrees in the 2024-2025 school year.
Lewis said that TCC is unique in that the college focuses on job readiness and focuses on sending students into the workforce.
“You know, a lot of the institutions are increasing their enrollment, but we’re doing it in a in a different way, because we service our students in a different way,” he said. “We obviously don’t have dorms and some other things, but what we do provide is we provide excellent opportunities to start here and if they want to go on and get a four-year degree, they can do that.”
High demand credentials are a point of focus for the college in the plan, as well, as they survey what industries students find the most success in, as Lewis explained, like the automotive program, aviation and medical studies.
“Things that are growing specifically in North Texas, because we are one of the fastest growing areas in the country. And so, what’s coming here – more and more business,” he said.
census date. “We’re giving our refunds to people that technically don’t exist,” said Sonya Brown, NE interim vice president of academic affairs.
Financial aid fraud is an issue she said her department is working with student affairs on how to identify in the classroom before financial aid disbursement.
“We need to see you face-to-face
Infographic by Rena Aquino/The Collegian
Photos by Diego Santos/The Collegian
Diego Santos/The Collegian
Briana Arroyo pinches clay into a pot with her fingers for an upcomming garden club event on campus.
NE continuing education student Beverly Davis throws clay on a pottery wheel during open studio hours on Sept. 29.
Gender Neutral Restroom in NE library restroom.
ASH
FRED NGUYEN
See Financial aid, Page 2
Every Monday NE Campus welcomes students to work on art projects from 3 to 6 p.m. in the NFAB ceramics studio.
Leaders encourage campus engagement
being brave, going to talk to someone and trying to get involved, because these skills help you have a better future,” he said.
In high school, Josh Dobles was introverted and didn’t participate in extracurricular activities
Now, the NW Campus student is the interim secretary for the Student Government Association and president of the Rotaract Club.
“The main reason I got involved was because I was yearning for a sense of connection, to be able to meet like-minded people, and finally have a group of people I can hang out with outside of school,” he said.
Dobles was one of four students who spoke about their decision to become a student leader during the Lead Like a Trailblazer Student Leadership Panel event on Sept. 25 on NW Campus.
Dobles said he never expected to be brave enough to be a featured speaker in a student leadership event. He said fear holds everyone back, but it’ll never go away.
“I recommend taking that risk,
Fellow panelist Joe Serrato, who is part of NW SGA and works with peer leaders, said one way to build confidence is to learn new skills. One of the skills that helped him was learning to ride a skateboard.
“By getting good at that and being able to at least ride the skateboard down the sidewalk, I can build that confidence in myself and trust my body,” he said.
Obstacles are part of being a leader. Serrato said an obstacle for him was working with different people who have opposing opinions.
“I’m learning how to communicate and remain result- oriented, and that means realizing that we’re going to get to our goals together,” he said.
Supplemental Instruction leader Nathanial Smith said having good energy and receiving that
See Leadership, Page 3
Financial Aid (continued from
McDonald said she had assignments prepared in Canvas for the students to complete during the first two online days.
“Nobody did it, and I sent out lots of announcements to make sure they knew that’s what we were doing,” she said. “About four out of the 15 clicked on Canvas pages, but it was odd. It was like 40 pages in five minutes each, just showing they were active, but not actually doing the work.”
McDonald’s first in-person class was on a Wednesday. That’s when she realized something wasn’t right.
“Two hours and 50 minutes. I was sitting there the whole time, doing almost nothing, waiting for someone to show up,” McDonald said.
She reached out to music department chair Jerry Ringe and asked what to do. He advised her to email the students informing them if they did not show up for their inperson class the following Wednesday, they’d all be dropped from the course.
“I got one email from somebody that said they would be there, but they didn’t actually show up,” McDonald said. “Everybody was then dropped from the course, and I never heard from a single student about it.”
Before the students were dropped, she said she did her own investigation from the information she had available to her from the students.
“It was bananas. Pretty much all of them had a previous degree on their record and a lot of them had addresses that were out of state,” McDonald said.
She even Googled one of the student’s names.
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“I got a LinkedIn profile of someone with the same email qualifications, and I’m quite sure that person was not the person enrolling in the class,” McDonald said.
As an adjunct instructor, she is paid by the school per class.
“I was really concerned that I was not going to get paid for an entire class. I gave up opportunities to do other things for the summer work to teach these classes,” McDonald said. “That’s my livelihood.”
Even though the class was canceled, McDonald was paid for the summer course.
District Director of Student Financial Aid Services Samantha Stalnaker said once fraud reaches her department it’s difficult to stop it, which is why new financial aid practices were implemented by the U.S. Department of Education this year.
These new practices are to help financial aid identify fraud and suspicious activity separate from legitimate students trying to get through the process.
“It is a balancing act,” Stalnaker said. “If we put too many roadblocks in front of students, then they get discouraged and aren’t able to come to school.”
Stalnaker said the admissions process is the first to identify fraud and freeze student accounts.
By requiring student interactions through orientation, advising and placement tests, she said the affairs offices can connect enrollment applications to actual faces.
“Stolen identities will always be the most difficult [to identify], but once the college knows the patterns, we can target a specific group,” Stalnaker said.
Hazing occurs across all types of colleges
and community colleges are often overlooked when the topic of the hazing epidemic is brought up, the event organizers said.
SE Campus hosted “Don’t Haze, Trailblaze” on Sept. 24 that allowed students and staff to educate themselves on hazing prevention. The event was created in light of National Hazing Prevention Week.
The Drugs, Alcohol, Sex, Harassment and Hazing Prevention Squad, supported this event, which included different games and had staff available to educate the importance of preventing hazing.
Hazing is a nationwide issue in schools,
According to a 2008 national study from the University of Maine, researchers found 55% of college students who are in a club or organization endure hazing.
Kecia Baker-Morris, SE Director of Student Conduct and Prevention Education and one of the event organizers, said this event has been going on for a few years and when DASHH started, one of the topics was hazing.
Typically, it is often fraternities and sororities from universities that are tied with the hazing narrative. This usually includes the
See Hazing, Page 3
Courtesy of TCC Provost Shelley Pearson
Infographic by Rena Aquino/The Collegian
Airianna Roman/The Collegian
NW students Joe Serrato, Oore Fasalojo, Nathaniel Smith and Josh Dobles speak about the ways they are able to balance school, clubs and work along with their social and family life.
AIRIANNA ROMAN campus editor
SE Student plays Khoot! quiz put on by DASHH for a free T-shirt and cupcake insid SE03 commons area.
Courtesy of Varini Thenuwara
Student succeeds in social media outreach
COCO staff writer collegian.editor@tccd.edu
Deja Burt started her brand Your Equanimity, an online space focused on the mental health struggles young people face, when she was just 16-years-old. Since then, Burt has focused on cultivating her account and resume, recently becoming a brand ambassador for Monster Energy and working as a student digital specialist for TCC on TR Campus. She shared her personal journey with mental health, the responsibilities she has to both her brand and TCC social media in an interview with The Collegian.
Have you spoken to anybody who has been directly impacted by the work you’ve done?
I definitely got a lot of DMS. I screenshotted them. All probably gone because I erased my storage, but I got a lot of messages. ... I had this one post that blew up that got like over 10 million views. That gave me like over 11 to 12,000 followers just within like that day
Do you feel like getting to be able to build a brand on helping other people helped yourself somehow?
I guess it has. I noticed a lot of the times when I make posts about giving advice. It’s usually always advice that I need to hear myself too. So it is kind of when I post, it is also like a reminder for me, like, “Oh, yeah. I should also listen to myself too not just give it out, but practice what I preach.”
And I guess building the community made me feel also less alone, because at the time and even younger, I used to be bullied and struggle to make friends. So it was nice seeing tons of people, of a variety of ages, come together and look at the platform that they built.
What do you do at TCC?
Earlier in August, I recently got hired to be a student worker for the TCC school district, running, being a digital specialist, curating content for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, whatever, and it’s been going great. I’ve been hearing a lot of feedback from students and they didn’t even know it’s me that’s doing it and I’m just like, walking around doing my job. They’re like, “Holy! Have you seen what’s been posted?” Like, it was so fun.
Are you the only intern or are you part of a team?
I’m the third ever student that they hired for that. And the first two, one was too shy to to do camera things and the other one did not do camera stuff at all, so she did graphic de-
Bathroom
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bills are made to target transgender people.
“Since trans people make such a little percentage of the population, I always find it silly that there’s always these huge laws going into place that primarily affect us,” he said.
According to a 2022 Williams Institute study, only 0.43% of all adults in Texas identified as transgender, which is slightly lower than the national average of 0.52%.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas released a statement on the day of the bill’s passing. Ash Hall, the policy and advocacy strategist on LGBTQIA+ rights at the ACLU of Texas, said the bill is unconstitutional.
“This law puts anyone at risk who doesn’t seem masculine or feminine enough to a random stranger, including the cisgender girls and women this bill purports to protect,” they said. “Some people might forgo using public restrooms entirely out of fear for their safety, even if it endangers their health.”
Barfield said the bill would have a significant impact on transgender individuals who have been on hormones for years and physically pass as the gender they are transitioning to.
A transgender man who passes as a
Leadership
(continued from page 2)
same energy back from other students makes him feel better. He recalled a recent SI session when he was having a bad day, but he was still able to push through to help a student.
“By the end of the session, I felt happier, and I felt like maybe I did change their day and made it better,” he said.
Perserverance is also important for panelist Oore Fasalojo, a member of Phi Theta Kappa, who said she sometimes struggles emotionally and gets discouraged because of work, family and school obligations.
“All the things I’m working with, I have them for a reason, and always just look at my end goal and know that I’m on my path,” she said.
signing. So I guess I’m their first ever student worker that’s actually able to help them out and create their visions and their ideas and make them come to life.
So I’ve been getting a lot of praise. I met a lot of the presidents of the campuses. And they’re all like, “we’re glad you’re doing this, because we really need this.”
How do you juggle so many projects and jobs?
That’s actually something I’m still learning currently, because I just started the TCC job in August. I just got hired for Monster Energy Drink to be a brand ambassador literally a couple of days ago. My first day is next week.
So I guess just like the only thing I can really do so far is just prioritize, using a calendar and a planner, make a list of everything that needs to be due first and least important. But I really do hope that I can get used to it. ... You have to know how to put yourself out your comfort zone and do things that you’re not used to doing
Do you have any advice for any young entrepreneurs at TCC?
I haven’t been successful yet, but I would say just go for it. If you have the idea in the passion,
Hazing
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man, for example, could be making cisgender women and girls uncomfortable in the women’s bathroom.
“Obviously, this grown man, this [transgender] man, does not belong in that restroom or that setting,” he said. “I think it’s also like to protect one group you’re harming another.”
SE student Leslie Zacarias, who is also in the GSA Club, said the bill puts the penalty on the institution instead of the individual in violation of the law because they are afraid of any cuts in funding from the government as punishment.
“Ultimately, those are the people that give, especially community colleges, most of their funding,” Zacarias said. “The last thing they want is for money to be taken away from the school. ... So they try to stay in line with compliance. We saw it with the DEI and we’re probably going to see it again.”
Some of Barfield’s transgender friends have left Texas for a blue state out of fear. Barfield said he hopes the pattern doesn’t continue and that there can be change.
“I don’t think trans people should ever feel the need to leave their home because they’re worried about laws that are targeting them,” he said.
The panel members shared their favorite memories of being a leader.
Serrato said he remembers being with friends and attending the Trinity Trash Bash at Panther Pavilion last semester.
“It was really rewarding seeing that physical contribution going back into their environment,” he said.
Fasalojo said her favorite memory was a tie-dye event where PTK helped people wrap their clothes in dye. Then they got to swim afterward.
The panelists also said it has been rewarding to create new friendships with other students.
Dobles said SGA went to a four-day
it really takes work ethic for sure.
Like people say, “Oh, I want to be an entrepreneur so I can be a millionaire and make tons of money,” but there’s so much more that goes into it that people don’t even realize.
So it just really takes the work ethic, the right idea, have a lot of time and patience and be willing to take risks and not be afraid to fail and always learn from your mistakes. ... You just got to keep going. And eventually, over time, it will happen and you will be successful.
Do you have any advice for young students struggling with mental health?
I would say, definitely, never be afraid to ask for help. I feel like a lot of people suppress their feelings and try to avoid it, or they’re scared to tell people, because they don’t want people to feel sorry for them.
So I would say talk to a close friend, your parent that you trust. Therapy. I like therapy. I’ve been going to it since I was 16. It works for me. Helped a lot with teenage years and even like those years ... Just make sure you always prioritize yourself first before you start worrying about school, friends, relationships and work.
contestant having to do certain things in order to be accepted.
“A lot of the times, the feedback was ‘Why are we educating students on hazing when we don’t have fraternities and sororities on campus?’ and different things like that,” Morris said. “However, research shows that the most amount of hazing cases come from student organizations.”
Varini Thenuwara, administrative assistant for the Student Conduct and Prevention Education office who joined Baker-Morris as an organizer, said the DASHH prevention squad goes by the slogan “Step up to stop it.”
Hazing is not discussed as much as it should be in the world, so this event provided clarity to what it looks like.
“Hazing is basically making a person or a group of people do something that they’re uncomfortable with,” Thenuwara said.
SE students stopped by the booths set up for this event and played a Kahoot game with different questions about hazing and if a student did not know the answer a student worker was there to give them the information.
“I don’t really see this often at TCC, but hazing is around the world,” student worker Ian Williams said. “You’re in situations where you’re feeling pressure to do stuff, such as in a
conference in Galveston during the spring semester. He said he made connections with students from other colleges and developed leadership skills.
“It was a really great opportunity spending time with all these people in student government that I’m so used to working with formally, to just hang out with them in an informal environment,” he said.
Smith said he enjoys seeing former students he used to help. They sometimes say hello and give him feedback on how his sessions helped them.
“I can actually just be their friends, and I see a lot of them on campus,” he said. “ It’s really rewarding.”
I don’t really see this often at TCC, but hazing is around the world
Ian Williams student worker
group setting like if you’re at a party, drinking alcohol or being forced to drink some type of alcohol.”
The event had different prizes such as Tshirts and cupcakes for students after participating in the Kahoot game.
Thenuwara said that the goal of the event is to let students know how to identify hazing.
“And to be able to look out for signs of hazing so that they can step up to stop and prevent it happening to other students, their friends or just anyone in general. That is really our goal,” she said.
DISTRICT CRIME LOG
South: An unattended vehicle was hit.
Sept. 24
SE: An unattended vehicle was hit.
Sept. 25 Sept. 23
NW: Vehicle was broken into and is being investigated.
Tarrant County Opportunity Center: Damage of property valued at more than $100 but less than $750 and is being investigated.
CARA
Photo by Kelly Amtower/The Collegian
TR student Deja Burt edits an Instagram video in the library for a campus secret agent series she works on called “Toro Too and Deja Vu” where interviews students about campus life and student culture.
Club Corner
NE GamEr’s ClUb
By Nicholas Boltz
Gamer’s club on NE Campus provides a space for students to come and play a variety of games, ranging from card games to tabletop and video games.
“Gamer’s club is basically just a club where fellow gamers can come over and play,” said Jon-Ethan Wilson, Gamer’s Club president. “I like to have a room for ourselves. I try to provide that kind of environment for anybody that wants to play.”
New Gamer’s Club member, Peter Ntoti, said he enjoys spending his free time on Thursday afternoon playing games with other members.
“You get to learn about new games you never played,” Ntoti said. “I got to try one of the Smash Bros. Ultimate, which I never had.”
Most members come to the club with their own games, so each week there is a different variety for members to choose from.
In the cafeteria of NE Campus, games are set up on tables for students to play in between classes and during their breaks. Gamer’s club offers interested students a place to game with each other weekly in a dedicated space without outside interruptions.
Alexander Tidwell is a returning Gamer’s Club member, and he said so far this year they’ve been having a good turnout.
“The entire time I’ve been going, obviously I’ve enjoyed,” Tidwell said. “I think they’re a pretty open environment.”
He said he enjoys how students can bring their own games for others to try because it creates a fun and welcoming environment for members.
“The environment is very energetic. It’s very fun,” Tidwell said.
NE Gamer’s Club meets every Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. in the NBSS, Room 1103.
“[It’s] a nice environment and welcoming for ev erybody,” Wilson said. “Where two people on com
Photos by Nicholas Boltz/The Collegian Gamer’s club members playing Cards Against Humanity in NSTU.
Photos by Nicholas Boltz/The Collegian NE Students Nicholas Taylor and Alexander Tidwell playing Magic: The Gathering.
Humans will always be social creatures. We cannot help finding community and developing culture wherever we go, and that fact ties us together more than anything else.
The necessity in celebrating culture not only preserves the culture, but it allows education and strengthens community. We learn how to appreciate the differences other communities bring and how they fit with others in a country like the U.S. that is already intertwined.
Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman voted into the Texas Senate in 1966, was an incredibly strong and vocal figure in strengthening the U.S. She spoke about uniting people, sharing responsibility and warned against a divided nation.
“How do we create a harmonious society out of so many kinds of people? The key is tolerance — the one value that is indispensable in creating community,” Jordan said in her speech “All Together Now” at the 1976 National Democratic Convention. In 1976, racial violence was still at a high. For Jordan to make a stance about unification and acceptance of other cultures and races was not just an act of bravery but necessity. Even during a time of political unrest amid the Nixon and Carter presidential race, her message remained clear.
We only have each other.
In current day times when politics seems to desire tearing people apart and overshadowing cultures the country holds in its borders, we must remind ourselves why it matters. We don’t celebrate cultures to hide others. We don’t highlight them because we prefer one over the other. We do it to share pride.
As soon as people graduate high school, they’re expected to immediately go to college and pay for their education.
Although this is completely fine, I do admire those who delay their education to travel.
It’s impossible for an 18-yearold to know exactly what they want to do for the rest of their life, because they haven’t truly experienced it yet.
Traveling helps people understand the world and truly grasp some sort of concept of how the world works.
Why shouldn’t we do this while we’re young? While we still have the time to?
When people are stuck in the same environment, they’re not truly experiencing what it’s like to be around other people who are extremely different than themselves.
Traveling around the world is expensive, but it provides valuable life lessons. It gives people experi-
Free speech is alive and well in the United States.
That is, as long as you agree with the president.
The First Amendment protects our right to speak freely without facing legal punishments for an opinion we may have.
Over the last decade, we have seen that it’s getting increasingly difficult to speak your mind without being heavily criticized or even have your platform of speech taken away.
Debate should be encouraged as long as it’s done in a respectful manner. Personal attacks go beyond where the line should be drawn.
It is alarming that simply speaking your mind or making a comment seen as controversial can get you bombarded by critics.
However, it’s clear that our president has certain views and only respects those that share the same feelings. It is sad to see that un -
are exchanged, too. Transcendentalism reached American philosophers through the writings of Chinese philosopher Confucius, who drew from the social changes he saw in the Zhou dynasty era of ancient China. Children are signs of success in this country, and as people often say, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Everything this society does is to help raise the upcoming generation to be more aware, intelligent and secure than the last.
Christmas Eve in 1944 Germany, 12-year-old Fritz Vincken and his mother let three American soldiers into their home and four German soldiers shortly after that. The morning after everyone had been fed and their wounds had been treated, the soldiers shook hands and parted ways to rejoin their sides of the war.
America would look very different if we didn’t allow expression of culture in the early days of the nation. In fact, there was no choice. The early immigrants of America had nothing but the culture they remember from their home across the ocean.
ence of different cultures, beliefs and traditions. Being in different settings around people who are opposite of us gives us a difference in perspectives. I have traveled to a few different places and experienced different cultures.
Going to New York for the first time was very different for me and my family. In Texas, we’re used to driving everywhere and relying on our vehicles, not our bodies. In
less your words are appealing to our government, they are frowned upon and punishable.
We, as a nation, have all seen the downfall of freedom of speech with the recent incident involving late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel made a comment two weeks ago on his show regarding the assassin of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
It’s unfair to say it is a choice now, and a choice that doesn’t deserve the public eye. Anyone who believes it unfair that a culture gets a set time of celebration are rejecting opportunity and a life of experience. That is a lonely existence.
Everything in culture matters.
Art, music, literature and food are just by-products of the unique mindset culture cultivates among people.
“Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat,” Guy Fieri once said.
Sharing culture is how ideas
We don’t want the next leaders of this county to lose sight of what makes America so unique to any other. We are not going to be here forever, and while the country continues to change, we have to start thinking now about how we can preserve the freedom and integrity we are supposed to be proud of.
Tragedy is happening all around us, and hope is easily lost in the face of divisive politics and angry, scared citizens. Just remember that at the end of the day nothing feels better than knowing you can find community in the people you share a country with.
New York, everybody walking everywhere was new and made me realize how different other lives are compared to my own. Everyone was in a fast paced environment.
I’ve also traveled to Puerto Rico. The food there is different from the U.S. since there isn’t a lot of salt added to their food. The culture there is also more family oriented and more friendly to strangers than here in America.
The difference between New York and Puerto Rico was how different the culture was. People were more interactive with tourists in Puerto Rico compared to the people in New York. In New York, everyone was minding their own business.
Surrounding yourself with people who have different personalities helps us become more known to other cultures and have more of an idea what the world is really like.
When we’re young we don’t realize how much of the world we
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said Sept. 15.
Two days later, his show was taken off the air.
Trump, in a Truth Social post, called it “Great News for America” and said, “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
It seems Trump and his administration wanted for Kimmel’s platform to be taken from him.
Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, insinuated beforehand that if ABC did not take action against Kimmel, the FCC would have more work to do.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said in an in-
have yet to experience, but we’re expected to know exactly what we want to do the rest of our life. Traveling doesn’t mean going to other countries or even states. It can simply be the nearest city.
Dallas and Fort Worth are two vastly different cities with different cultures, diversity and beliefs. Dallas is known for its love of sports such as the Dallas Mavericks or the Dallas Stars. It’s also widely known for its nightlife, being fast paced and the pride of its tall buildings.
Fort Worth is the opposite of Dallas. Sure, it has its nightlife, but the culture is different. Because Fort Worth was a cattle industry, it earned its name as Cowtown.
Fort Worth has Dickies Arena which hosts rodeos, and it also has the Stockyards which is where the cattle drives happen, western stores and museums that show Fort Worth’s history.
These are two different cities
terview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.
ABC attempted to take the live show off the air permanently. However, hundreds of celebrities including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks signed an open letter condemning the government’s threats. Talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart sarcastically criticized the government’s initiative to silence the media.
ABC reversed course and let Kimmel’s show resume Sept. 23. Now, Kimmel is back at his desk.
This situation is a clear representation of our government trying to limit media freedom. Is it really freedom of speech if there is only freedom to say certain things?
The selective repercussion on media freedom is overt.
This situation was just the beginning of what we can foresee as
that people could visit and experience the distinctness of the culture. Texas and California are two different political states. California has more democratic beliefs while Texas is more of a republican state with more traditional values. Meeting different people who come from different backgrounds can change the way we think about certain topics, along with having a more open mindset than a narrow mindset.
Traveling is a privilege that many people don’t get to do, so when you have the chance to travel, take that chance as it can lead to something worth more than life its own. One of the greatest writers, Mark Twain, even said staying in the same environment can lead to narrow headed people. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
an ambush on talk shows.
The official Instagram page for the White House shared Trumps post on Truth Social regarding the Jimmy Kimmel situation.
The post states that on top of the removal of Kimmel, he insists that Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers be next.
“That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!” he said.
This is a prime example of the opposite opinion being considered wrong or limited to speak about. I believe as a nation we need to fight back.
Letting this slide will only worsen the suppressive retaliation from the current administration. Today it’s talk shows, and tomorrow it could be newspapers.
The future of our freedom of speech is dwindling right before our eyes, unless we take action.
Izzie Webb/The Collegian
Cultures Cherishing
Instructor shares her journey of integrating two cultural identities
Rebecca Balcarcel is a result of two cultures finding each other.
The NE Campus English associate professor shared the discovery of her mixed identity through her children’s novels to help others find theirs too.
Being a real-life link to two ends of the world, Balcarcel explored traditions from both origins.
“I grew up kind of bicultural. Half of my family was having tamales at New Year’s, and the other half was having black-eyed peas,” she said. “I think that was good for me, you know? It made me feel like the world was bigger. My ideas of what family is, and everything, transcended boundaries [from] just one culture. It was doubled.”
Born in Iowa, Balcarcel learned to accept her European identity from her mom’s side.
“There were miles of corn and not a single tortilla,” she said. “I was the little brown baby in the hospital with all the blonde hair, you know, my little, my black hair sticking up and you would never confuse me with any of the other babies because there was only one kind of dark.”
Balcarcel said she did not think of herself as different as she felt more like her northern European self.
“I guess I sort of thought I was white,” she said. “I don’t know if that sounds funny to say, but I was treated no differently in Iowa, and so I just didn’t think of myself as different.”
When her family moved to Texas when she was around 10 years old, Balcarcel found herself juggling her two identities.
“It was sweet that I grew up with my dad, [who was] sort of a celebrity in the little Iowa town,” she said. “They didn’t have but like two other Spanish speakers in the whole town. But he was so funny and sociable that everyone who knew him liked him, and so he never experienced cruelty or ugliness.”
Balcarcel danced through the discovery of her Guatemalan roots with the help of her dad’s guitar strings. Her love for the Guatemalan side of her culture grew as she was entering her adulthood.
“I enjoyed growing up with guitar songs in Spanish, like my dad singing to my mom every day, and they trained me to sing in Spanish too, so that we could have three parts and stuff,” she said.
She had to teach herself to embrace both sides
of her identity. She said she was embarrassed to wear clothing from Guatemala until she got to be an adult. After some time, she found pride in her traditional clothing.
She said she began her career when she got a degree in creative writing and poetry. She was writing poems mostly about nature when it struck her that she could write poems about her own upbringing.
“That stack of poems I sent to an agent, and the agent said, ‘This would really work as a novel,’” Balcarcel said. “I took a whole summer, and I just worked hard and turned those poems into a story, and those poems became scenes in the book. And that was my first book, ‘The Other Half of Happy.’”
Her novels are a representation of her young self who was on the path of discovering her biracial self, who felt as a child that she wasn’t sure where she fit among both sides of the family.
“My books have bicultural characters who are searching for that identity because it does get complicated when you feel like, ‘Wait, am I a real Latina because I don’t speak Spanish fluently or do I count in my Anglo family because my skin is darker than everyone else’s?’” she said.
She based her first novel off her experience being a kid with two different backgrounds and her gradual love for her Guatemalan culture.
Balcarcel said she realized how she had been rejecting her Guatemalan culture when she started reading “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros that follows the experience of a Mexican American girl facing societal problems.
“I had never, ever read about a kid so much like me, and I didn’t even think I could write about my experience – my real experience – but when I saw that character, it sort of opened the whole world for me,” she said.
In her first novel, Balcarcel includes a character who must find her other half to be truly happy. The book starts out with her not wanting to wear the indigenous clothing that was a gift from her Guatemalan grandmother and ends in meeting her and being happy to wear her outfit.
“She’s discovering that this is a richness that she shouldn’t cut herself off from, that it adds to her life,” she said. “It’s not something to be embarrassed about.”
Likewise, her second novel, “Shine on Luz Véliz,” is another depiction of a very complicated but sweet part of her life where she finds out she has a half-sister she has never known before.
“When I was about 40-ish, my dad found out that he had a daughter in Guatemala who’s older than me, so I have a half-sister,” she said.
She said her dad was so heartbroken to have lived his life without knowing or helping his daughter that he was determined to get to know her resulting in Balcarcel’s family going to meet her sister in Guatemala.
“It turns out she’s a delightful, interesting person,” she said. “I decided to write in my second book about a sister coming to live with the main character.”
NE English professor Lynda Davis said Balcarcel was also a student here, like her. She said Balcarcel is one of the most kindhearted people she has ever met, and she’s passionate about her writing.
Davis said Balcarcel was once a student of an English professor who mentored her.
“So, Rebecca was once her student, and now she’s in the office of the professor [who] she studied creative writing under,” Davis said.
Jeff Nelms, another NE English professor, said he has known Balcarcel ever since she had been teaching here.
“She’s always had really close connections with her students, and she enjoys that.” he said. “I know that last week she was very excited because she had a student who said that the poem they were doing had changed her life... That’s the reason why I think she teaches for those kinds of moments.”
I grew up kind of bicultural.
Half of my family was having tamales at New Year’s, and the other half was having black- eyed peas.
Rebecca Balcarcel NE English associate professor
Photo by Kelly Amtower/The Collegian
NE English associate professor Rebecca Balcarcel reads through the young adult novel she wrote called “Shine on Luz Véliz.”
