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TUESDAY MARCH 23, 2021 VOLUME 110 ISSUE 7
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DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT SINCE 1911
Baseball loses to Little Rock in three-game sweep
Nutrition professor seeks to expand government measures for food insecurity
Talk it Out: Should Texas State charge students fees for online classes?
Studio San Martian paints inclusivity, acceptance within local art community
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MAIN POINT
MOTHERHOOD
Opinion: Atlanta shootings highlight racism misunderstanding By The Editorial Board It feels like it was just yesterday when our Editorial Board wrote an opinion condemning silence when injustice, in any capacity, takes place against marginalized communities. That editorial was written in response to the killing of George Floyd and the protests across the nation, including our local community. 10 months later, we find ourselves deeply saddened by the recent spa shootings in Atlanta, which resulted in the deaths of eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent. Since the March 16 killings, we have witnessed it all. Law enforcement has come out and publicly stated that the shooting suspect was just having “a really bad day.” The suspect told officers that he committed those vicious acts to fight his sexual addiction. Asian communities, subject to a history of racism and xenophobia in this country only enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic, are in pain. As we made clear in late May, we believe silence is compliance. We stand with those directly impacted by the massacre in Atlanta. Further, we condemn the hateful actions, rhetoric and white supremacy that led to them — actions that continue to place Asian communities in danger. A report released by Stop AAPI Hate, a national non-profit organization that tracks hateful and discriminatory actions
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Local businesses contemplate future of establishments as state reopens By Timia Cobb Assistant News Editor Sofia Psolka Life & Arts Contributor Various San Marcos businesses, ranging from coffee shops to local thrift stores, have taken different approaches to Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order calling for the lifting of Texas' mask mandate and full reopening of businesses. Abbott cited advancements in vaccinations, specifically the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and the high number of recoveries from COVID-19 in the state as reasons for the decision.
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(Left to right) Texas State meteor science engineering doctoral student Fatema Zohra and her daughter, Maya, blow on a dandelion, Sunday, March 7, 2021, at Ingram Hall. PHOTO BY DOUGLAS SMITH
Student mothers forge educational paths toward successful careers By Payton Russell Life & Arts Reporter With one hand clutching her suitcase and another wrapped around her daughter's tiny palm, Fatema Zohra bravely boarded a flight to the U.S. from her home country of Bangladesh, embarking on her journey as a firsttime U.S. resident and student mother. In Bangladesh, hard-lined gender roles and a crouching glass ceiling made Zohra's dreams of a self-made career seem unreachable. Alone and without options, Zohra left her husband and took her 1-year-old daughter Maya to begin a new life. In 2019, 60% of U.S. college student mothers raised their child without the support of a partner or other family member. On her own for the first time in San Marcos, Zohra faced this statistic, choosing to forge her own educational path in an effort to improve her livelihood and achieve her life-long dreams. “If I was left in my country, I would be jobless, just taking care of my baby,” Zohra says. “I would have felt immense self-hatred having wasted all my years of [undergraduate school] for nothing.” Zohra, a first-year meteor science engineering doctoral student, says her first weeks in San Marcos were nothing but a challenge. She lugged Maya's stroller and her heavy textbooks up Texas State's hills, often fainting from the heat and exhaustion as a result. Now, three years into her postundergraduate journey, she is convinced she is creating the best future for herself
and Maya.
"EVEN AS A BABY, MAYA CAN SEE THAT I AM WORKING HARD, THAT I’M CONTRIBUTING TO SOMETHING. I THINK THAT SHE IS PROUD OF ME."
Texas State manufacturing engineering senior Katherine Ausanka smiles with her son, Jacob, Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at Ingram Hall. PHOTO BY DOUGLAS SMITH
-FATEMA ZOHRA,
TEXAS STATE METEOR SCIENCE ENGINEERING DOCTORAL STUDENT “Even as a baby, Maya can see that I am working hard, that I’m contributing to something,” Zohra says. “I think that she is proud of me.” In her three years at Texas State, Zohra created her own family in Texas — despite her own relatives residing nearly 9,000 miles away. Zohra found a new best friend in Katherine Ausanka, a manufacturing engineering senior and fellow student mother who shared Zohra's dedication to education. “I decided to go to school when I became pregnant,” Ausanka says. “I was told that I was going to be in poverty, working three jobs, but I told myself, ‘I will finish this. It will happen, no matter what.’”
Texas State computer science junior Naomi Padilla (right) smiles with her son, Aidan, on her lap and her mother, Yolanda, Wednesday, March 10, 2021, outside Texas State's Child Development Center. PHOTO BY VANESSA BUENTELLO
Unmarried and with no clear path ahead, Ausanka gave birth to her son Jacob at just 22 years old. She previously studied in New York as a dancer; however, after suffering an injury, she moved to Austin seeking a new opportunity. "I knew I was smart enough to do engineering," Ausanka says. “It’s
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VACCINE
'A little bit of peace of mind': Hays County educators receive COVID-19 vaccines By Tatiana Torres News Contributor In the hallways of Rattler Stadium, Harvey Manning stood patiently in line with teachers and staff from schools all over Hays County. With paperwork in hand, he stepped up to receive his first dose of the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine. "I think it's fantastic," says Manning, a social studies teacher at San Marcos Baptist Academy,
after receiving his vaccine. To educators like Manning, expanding vaccine eligibility to teachers is a big step toward getting students back in the classroom and allowing educators to teach course material in a way each student can comprehend. “Last year when the schools closed down for the spring, you could tell that [Zoom] wasn’t the answer for a lot of kids,” Manning says. On March 3, the Texas Department of State
San Marcos Academy world geography teacher Harvey Manning (left) receives his COVID-19 vaccine from Eliza Herrera LVN, Friday, March 11, 2021, at San Marcos High School. PHOTO BY DOUGLAS SMITH
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