SCENE THE
THE
Fall Issue 1
September 30, 2022
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Moneypox concerns See page 3
Marijuana vote See page 6
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
Taliban kidnapping victim is student at Forest Park
By Quiara Shields my education,” she said. “And he underThe Scene staff stood how important it was to be an educatMany people wouldn’t be able to survive ed woman.” The Taliban is a fundamentalist Islamic a Taliban kidnapping and feel comfortable and jihadist movement. Safi said its militalking about it in a college presentation. But that’s exactly what ZamZama Safi tants kidnapped her at age 15 when she was walking home from school with her brother. did on the Forest Park campus last month. Safi was supposed to enter “I want to use my story to into an arranged marriage with inspire people to never give up, a Taliban commander, but she have strong determination and perescaped by persuading him to let severe,” she said in an interview her go home and tell her family after the talk. about the wedding. Safi, 25, who goes by “Z.Z.,” “I had to swear on the Quaran is a general studies student at St. that I would come back to marry Louis Community College. She him, but my swear was not genueventually wants to earn a master’s ine,” she said. degree in journalism. Safi later worked On Sept. 14, Safi “(Taliban militants are) as a NATO translagave a presentation tor off and on from called “Never Give fighting with guns. I’m 2012 to 2020. In Up” in the Forest fighting with a pen.” some cases, she had Park cafeteria. She to travel to remote described her for– STLCC student ZamZama Safi areas with harsh conmer life, growing up ditions. in Afghanistan, an During this time, Safi also earned a bachIslamic country where girls and woman are elor’s degree in political science at Karwan strictly limited in their opportunities. “Girls weren’t supposed to go to school University in Kabul. After NATO left Afghanistan in because it wasn’t prideful, and it was September 2021, Safi’s case caught the shameful to our community,” she said. Safi said she started attending school at attention U.S. representatives of a special age 4, despite general disapproval among immigrant visa program in Afghanistan. Safi said they helped her emigrate to St. friends and neighbors. Her rights were protected because NATO forces, includ- Louis, where she now lives with a host ing the U.S. military, had a presence in family. Her biological parents are still in Afghanistan. her city. “Though I was very sad to leave my Safi’s family was somewhat isolated because her parents were considered abnor- family, I couldn’t trust any of the people mal for wanting her and her sisters to be in Afghanistan,” she said. “I was always scared that someone could be a spy or turn educated. “My father was the biggest advocate for me in.”
Drive-in movie
Photo by Leilani England
Cars line up in the Forest Park parking lot to watch “Black Panther” on an oversized blowup screen. More photos on pages 4-5.
Photo by Michelle Compton
ZamZama Safi speaks about her life in Afghanistan in the Forest Park cafeteria. She’s asking for help to bring her family to the United States. During Safi’s presentation at Forest Park, she asked fellow students to help with her family’s situation by sending emails to the U.S. State Department and pleading with officials to bring them to this country. “I want people like the women in America who have the privilege and opportunity to receive an education to use that education to help people who are less fortunate,” she said.
Today, Safi doesn’t identify as a Muslim. She describes her religion as “love” and urges people to love and respect one another. Safi is taking English and writing classes at STLCC. She plans to use her journalism to help further her activism. “(Taliban militants are) fighting with guns,” she said. “I’m fighting with a pen.”
Campus renames buildings, changes room numbers By Obersy Robles Valdez The Scene staff Changes in building names and room numbers on the Forest Park campus just before the start of fall semester caused confusion among students, faculty and staff. For the first few weeks, old locations were posted on Banner Self Service, where students get their class schedules. Yet signs next to doors reflected new building names and room numbers. In addition, campus maps at major entrances were still showing former building names, as well as outlines of the A and B towers, which were demolished two years ago. “I was confused,” said Gabriel Montilla, 19, a general studies student who plans to major in interior design. “When I was heading to my Public Speaking class, the classroom lights were completely off, and nobody was inside. “I asked another student who was walking down the hallway, and he told me that the class was in the theater. Luckily, I wasn’t late to my class.” Students such as Shanel Banks, 21, a culinary arts major, were less impacted by the changes. All classes in that department are held in the same area of the Hospitality Studies building, rather than being scattered across campus.
“It’s cool,” Banks said. “Nothing has changed for me. I didn’t even notice that the room numbers changed.” For decades, the Forest Park campus of St. Louis Community College had two major classroom building wings with seven towers: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Each tower had five floors, leading to room numbers such as B-202 or F-418. The college demolished A and B towers in 2020 to make way for the new Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. In June of this year, officials decided to rename the two classroom building wings “East” and “West” with towers identified by numerals and room numbers such as E-322 or W-113. “This is a very large project, and it is more than just changing signs,” said Forest Park President Julie Fickas. “We have to change all the systems. Our focus is to help students navigate through the school a bit easier.” New signs are being installed outside every classroom, office, elevator, bathroom and closet throughout the new East and West wings. Hallway signs will point in the directions of rooms on each floor of each wing.The project is called “Internal Interior Wayfinding.” All the new signs are blue and gray, the districtwide colors of STLCC.