Opinion

Elgin Hours

As the eastern side of Austin Community College’s zoning district explodes in population, some students state that ACC’s Elgin campus hours do not adequately service student needs.

By Tiara Allen

Photos By Jaime Bajanero

This article was featured in the Fall 2023 issue of ACCENT Magazine

ACC’s Elgin campus is the district’s easternmost campus and services students in Elgin ISD, Bastrop County and eastern Travis County. It is also the home base for ACC’s Veterinary Technician and Sustainable Agriculture Entrepreneurship programs, and has 17 acres of student-run farmland. However, the campus, alongside services such as the library, the counseling center, and the Learning Lab, is only open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday, and has no weekend hours.

In contrast, most other ACC campuses open at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, with more limited hours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. San Gabriel Campus is the only other exception; it closes at 8 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, which still offers a three hour increase for students – one that some students believe would make a significant difference.

Elisha MacGregor, an ACC student and Elgin resident, is displeased with the limited campus hours and course selections at the Elgin campus, and states that it does not adequately address the growth of the Elgin population, as well as the increased immigrant population in the area.

As a student, she has had firsthand experience with the campus’ limited hours. She has noticed that students will come to campus as early as 7:00 am and sleep outside while they wait for the campus to open, and she and her peers have experienced what she describes as a “rush” to leave the building before it closes at 5:00 pm each evening, which she strongly dislikes.

“I pay taxes [in Elgin]. I also pay my tuition out of my pocket, because I don’t use any scholarships, nothing. So I’m basically an investor, and I’m being kicked out at 5:00 pm,” MacGregor said.

Elisha MacGregor, an ACC student displeased with the library’s early
closing time, tours the Elgin Campus. Photos taken by Jaime Bajanero on
Nov. 8, 2023

If a student is interested in using campus services such as the library or the Learning Lab after the campus closes, they will need to travel to the nearest campus, Highland Campus. The Highland Campus is close to 20 miles away, and travel time can often be extended by traffic. However, MacGregor states that this drive may not be accessible at all to some students.

“A lot of those high school kids, they don’t have a car to come to the city,” MacGregor said. ACC Elgin is home to Elgin’s Early College High School, where Elgin ISD students can earn an associate’s degree alongside their high school diploma.

Places for students to study within greater Elgin are also limited. Elgin has a public library, which closes at 6:00 p.m or 7:00 p.m on weeknights and at 2:00 p.m on Saturdays. Additionally, the public library does not open on Sundays or Mondays. There are also a few coffee shops in the area; however, dissidents believe that the early closure of the Elgin campus has much more far-reaching consequences than a lack of study space.

“It’s not just ‘we’re closing at five,’ but [there are] consequences that [are brought] not just to the students, but to the community,” MacGregor said.

Elgin is one of the fastest growing communities in Texas. According to the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Elgin has experienced a population growth rate of 72 percent from 2000 to 2020 – for scale, Texas’s growth rate was cited to be 40 percent. Elgin has achieved such large growth in part due to its location – Elgin’s economic development website boasts that it is 20 miles from downtown Austin and 10 miles from State Highway 130. The ACC Elgin campus is also close to Highway 290.

This proximity to several highways and a major metropolitan area, paired with its rural location and charm, has made Elgin a popular site for relocation for those moving to the Austin area. It is also a community of many different ethnicities, races, and cultures. According to the 2020 US Census, Elgin’s population was 48.56 percent Hispanic or Latino origin; 31.69 percent of Elgin’s non-Hispanic White, making Elgin a majority minority community. The increased growth and change in demographics has led to a new set of needs that ACC Elgin’s limited hours leave it unable to meet.

MacGregor states that ACC’s free English as a Second Language classes used to be offered at the Elgin campus, but with the shorter opening hours, they are no longer offered there. The program does offer distance learning classes that can be taken online, but MacGregor believes that the lack of in-person classes in Elgin leaves a deficit in the community.

“How many immigrants are coming to Texas every day?” MacGregor asks. “Elgin is growing rapidly right now. Even in front of my ranch, there [are] five hundred houses that are going to be built….we are not adapting to the rapid [growth] of the city, and, unfortunately, we’re going to be left behind because we’re not adapting.”

MacGregor is also an active member of the Student Government Association, which has been researching the impacts of Elgin’s open hours on the student body. A survey distributed by Student Government Association (SGA) in collaboration with ACCENT Media to Elgin campus students also shed some light on how students’ habits have adapted to the closing times. Out of 66 respondents, 60.6 percent stated that they would like for campus to open later, with 8:00 pm as the most popular suggested time 37.1 percent.

Respondents had the opportunity to share where they go to study in lieu of campus. Many students stated that they returned to their home. Some mentioned that they went to other campuses, such as Round Rock or South Austin, and others mentioned visiting nearby public libraries, including Bastrop Public Library. A few mentioned visiting a local McDonald’s or coffee shop, and one student said that they studied “on the street somewhere that’s safe enough.”

The survey allowed space for students to share what they believed to be the benefits of keeping campus open later than 5:00 pm. Many students stated that they would appreciate a safe space to study after hours; however, other students suggested that campus could provide access to Wi-Fi and printers to those who did not have access to them, as well as take more classes and provide more schedule flexibility, especially for dual credit students or students who worked 9:00 to 5:00 jobs. One student even mentioned that later hours would allow for a “safe space to be a student.”

Outside of study space, many students were interested in expanded access to ACC campus services. 90.8 percent of respondents stated that they would like to have after-hours access to the library; 63.1 percent wanted more time with the Learning Lab, and 38.5 percent craved more cafeteria or dining options.

MacGregor believes that extending the hours and increasing class options for Elgin students is not only the right thing to do, but will also financially benefit ACC and the City of Elgin as it pushes to expand financially.

“Having access in the community [to classes] will help to…integrate [into] the community, but also get better salaries…that will help them,” says MacGregor. “[They] will be paying more taxes and will be contributing more to ACC.”

This increased investment, MacGregor posits, also has the potential to make ACC Elgin a more attractive option for potential students. As college costs have risen across the country, affordable, accessible education for people of all walks of life becomes a priority to many families. MacGregor says that expanded hours and more class options will allow for Elgin-area students to consider attending Austin Community College.

“It is a win. It will be more appealing to people there because then they won’t have to come to Highland,” MacGregor said.

While MacGregor has been displeased with the direction Elgin’s campus has taken, she has faith that a potential change will be supported by the community at large.

* Since written, the Administration responded to the Elgin Community’s request, and the campus hours were extended. Offering English as a Second Language classes is still an ongoing discussion.

OPINION: Upcoming Legislative Session Poses Threat for LGBTQ Texans

The Texas Legislative session for 2023 began on Jan. 10 and runs through May 29, 2023. Republicans control both chambers. Some bills on the agenda threaten LGBTQ Texans and women’s reproductive rights.

by Foster Milburn

Every two years, Texas representatives meet for a consecutive 140-day period. The sessions include the discussion and passing of bills that affect all Texans. We, as Texans, vote for these representatives to represent us from all 150 Texas House districts across the state, but most people need to understand how these bills pass. Understanding this element is crucial as voting is more than just who is elected governor.

After a bill is passed in both the House and Senate, it is sent to the governor for signing. The last legislative session took place in 2021 and brought much attention to itself.

During this time, two bills passed directly affecting women and critical race theory, such as House Bill 1280 after the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the “critical race theory bill” that severely restricted the teaching of current and past events.

History won’t be erased, but we must learn and move forward from mistakes made and committed in the past. You can track these and more bills on the Equality Texas website, the official state LGBTQ advocacy organization.

This upcoming session will directly attack LGBTQ Texans with laws similar to the ones passed in 2021 that restrict transgender individuals and their access to essential healthcare such as hormone therapy.

In November 2022, Texas Representative Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) hired 22-year-old Jake Neidort as his office’s legislative director. Jake was a UNT student who advocated against transgender equality alongside his twin sister, who was seen in a TikTok video designing fliers, stating, “Criminalize Child Transitions.”

In 2021, videos emerged on social media showcasing the harassment of local drag queens in Dallas, Texas. One was of a man who was driven by a queen who had just left a family-friendly drag brunch held at Mr. Mister, located in Oaklawn. Protests and harassment followed suit. Protesters suggested that drag exposure to children is “abusive, pedophilic, and confuses children.” Dallas police showed up and helped those with children out of the area. A day to celebrate LGBTQ pride disrupted diversity with violence.

Now, in 2023, a bill on the agenda opens the discussion regarding children being in the presence of drag queens and LGBTQ culture in general. House Bill 643 states that any establishment, serving alcohol or not, would have to acquire a license that would require a registration fee and annual renewal. If a venue is found to violate this would be fined $4,000 and sentenced to a year in jail. In short, no more drag brunches for the inclusion of youth to be exposed to LGBTQ culture, even if family-friendly. This bill also brings up the fear of Pride festivals/parades becoming 21 years or older.

Pride parades are a time for all ages of the queer community and allies to celebrate diversity. It is a space where people come to feel safe to celebrate the queer community. This exposure is vital, especially for Texas youth, as being a minor can feel very isolating for younger queer people. I know this because that was me, as a native Texan.

Rain, a gay bar on 4th St., holds drag shows throughout the week. At Rain, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are 18 and up, according to Scott Percifull, a partner and general manager of Rain. “So there’s no opportunity for anyone under that age to get in,” he said, “it would be very challenging to enforce.”

The bill states that any business classified as a sexually oriented business would have to be a certain distance from any school or church in the area. When asked his thoughts, Percifull said, “It is restrictive. It is two steps shy of getting into private businesses and saying you can’t do that because we disagree with the culture.” Restrictions similar to HB 643, alongside other enforcements, foreshadow the hypocrisy as Texas is a state that dislikes rules concerning small businesses.

Parents assert that children should be able to make their own choices, yet when parents who do support the LGBTQ community want to expose their children to all things Pride, it’s wrong? Unfortunately, a brick wall divides the state of Texas into two sides. The side that wants to celebrate diversity and move to a more inclusive world, and the ones who want to bully the LGBTQ community out of the state.

Opinion: Democrats Had The Best Midterm in Decades…Thanks to Generation Z

Nov. 8 midterm elections were predicted to be a “red wave” of Republicans taking the House and Senate. Instead, we saw more of a trickle due to a record turnout in several key states from youths under 30.

Opinion by Ky Duffey

The U.S. midterm elections occur every two years and are often seen as a referendum of the current President’s performance. And for the past 80 years, Americans have sent a clear message that the President’s performance has sucked at the point of midterms.

Since 1934, every President except two have lost members of their own party in the House and/or Senate. Only two Presidents have defeated the odds by retaining or gaining seats in both chambers: Presidents George W. Bush and now Joe Biden.

During the 2002 midterm elections, President Bush received a bi-partisan rally behind him in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. His response to the attacks conjoined with one of the few times in history when we became a united nation bringing both political parties together to not only help him gain seats in the House and Senate, but also overwhelmingly get re-elected two years later.

Here we are now, 20 years later, at the country’s most critical midterm election in recent years. But this time, there is no national event rallying the country behind the President. As a matter of fact, in the week prior to Election Day, Biden’s approval rating was 42%. Even Trump had a 45% approval rating during his midterm at which he lost 40 House seats.

Instead of a terrorist attack, all eyes were on inflation and rising prices this year. That was, until June 24 of this year, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a constitutional right during the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization proceedings. The overturn of abortion rights allowed several states to initiate near or total bans on abortion, resulting in outcries from a majority of Americans – over 60%, in fact, who didn’t support the bans.

While abortion was able to propel Democrats ahead in the polls, most Americans had inflation and new talks of crime by Republicans on their mind. It showed in the polls and by election experts that Democrats had a 13% chance of retaining the Senate and an 8% chance of retaining the House. Things started to look grim for Democrats as election night drew near with some Republicans already setting up speeches and stage decorations to announce the new Republican majority in Congress.

Then election night sent a shockwave throughout the country.

A sudden record breaking turnout of a certain demographic of early voters rapidly swung the pendulum in the Democrats favor: young voters.

Yes, people under 25 or Generation Z (GenZ) were the loudest voices in the midterms, placing over a million more votes than other groups and surpassing their turnout record in any previous midterm as well as the 2020 presidential elections. According to dozens of political pundits, GenZ, who normally votes in favor of Democrats, placed more interest in the 2022 midterm election than any prior election.

Due to those turnouts in key states, Democrats were able to defy the odds and not only retain a majority in the Senate, but retain and pick up more seats in the House, narrowing the gap of their minority in the House by just seven votes as of today – a far cry from the 45 or more seat net loss that was predicted just a day before.

In the end, Democrats did manage to lose their majority in the House, but overall, they won the midterms. And they have young voters to thank for this unique achievement.

But why this midterm? Some experts believe abortion rights was a bigger issue among young voters than inflation and high gas prices. Teenage women are more likely to have late abortions than adults, and abortion limits have much more of an impact on a young person than an adult.

Other experts point to the looming shadow of Donald Trump and his influence on the current Republican Party. Trump left quite a stain on voters, especially young voters, as they turned out in record numbers to oust the former president in 2020.

With that being said, has the power dynamics shifted in terms of voter demographics? Will more polls pursue GenZ answers? Will this surge of growing young voters be a continuing trend, or simply a one time rebuttal of certain policies and candidates?

As Republicans scramble with how to approach voters and rebrand themselves before 2024, I recommend Democrat leadership listen to the youth and their needs – they may be the lifeline of the Democrat Party for the foreseeable future.

In the Eye of the Beholder: A Museum Exhibition Review

ACCENT’s Web Content Editor, Angelica Ruzanova, gives us an in-depth look into Daniel Johnston’s “I Live My Broken Dreams” exhibition at The Contemporary Austin’s Jones Center.

Story by Angelica Ruzanova

Edited by Pete Ramirez

Truth, deep-seated within each one of us, finds its own way of expressing itself. For the late Austin artist and musician Daniel Johnston, it manifested through personified ideas in his imaginary – and perhaps very real – scattered world.

Upon my first visit to the installation located within The Contemporary Austin’s Jones Center museum on Congress Avenue active from September 11 to March 20, my friend and I overheard a gentleman admiring the hung pieces on the walls in awe. He was led by a guide and was in a rush, but it was clear how much every display meant to him.

We later determined the visitor to be Johnston’s best friend, David Thornberry. Thornberry is also an artist and painted the Jones Center exhibition’s front entrance portrait in Johnston’s memory. The acrylic painting on 24″ x 30″ canvas portrayed Johnston in his McDonald’s uniform from his days working there in the 1980s.

An art gallery filled with Daniel Johnston's work. — The gallery at The Contemporary Austin’s Jones Center featured the work of late Austin artist Daniel Johnston. Best known for his mural of a frog asking “Hi, How Are You?” Johnston was also a prolific musician with a distinct childlike voice. Courtesy of The Contemporary Austin website.

The guide leading Thornberry, Tori Sal, gave us insight into the museum’s collaboration with individuals and organizations who helped make the exhibit.

“The Contemporary worked with the Daniel Johnston Foundation and collaborated with No Comply – the skating company downtown, as well as Vans and a lot of local businesses,” Sal said. “We worked with Austin Books and Comics to recreate this comic book in his style to celebrate him, and the mural on the side of our building was premiered on Daniel Johnston’s day.”

The collection of handwritten letters, poems, and symbolic artwork showcase the progression of Johnston’s rugged fate, and the newspaper features with authentic cassette tapes are an exploration beyond merely make-believe worlds.

The displayed work of the late songwriter and cartoonist is a deep dive inside the heart, mind, and soul of an intuitively-driven prodigy of outsider culture and underground music.

The Person

“Well it just goes to show that we are all on our own

Scrounging for our own share of good luck.”
Lyrics from “Grievances” in Daniel Johnston’s album “Songs of Pain.”

Daniel Johnston’s sketches portray common themes the late Austin artist used in his drawings. He frequently used satanic imagery, humans with cut-off limbs, and multi-eyed animals. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.

The innate drive to create began early in Johnston’s childhood. His predominantly Christian household and the popular culture of the time sparked an interest to draw random sketches and recreate the likeness of various comic book characters in his notebooks.

Elements paralleling Van Gogh’s art style, Cubism, and recurring appraisals of Lennon of the Beatles shaped Johnston’s style into what would become a proliferation of unfiltered thoughts inspired by his early idols. As a young student, Johnston began writing songs to amuse his classmate for whom he’d formed an unrequited love.

When Johnston moved to Austin in the early 1980s, the young artist would hand out homemade tapes, recorded individually on a portable device, to strangers and friends while working at a McDonald’s near the University of Texas at Austin. It was through Johnston’s method of making direct connections with people in Austin that he began recruiting a local audience.

Daniel Johnston's musical instruments are arranged in a display in The Contemporary Austin's Jones Center. — The Contemporary Austin was able to acquire Daniel Johnston’s musical instruments for their exhibit “I Live My Broken Dreams.” With this display, the museum aimed to portray the eccentric artist’s workspace and influences. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.

As word of his music spread, so did his cult-like following. Johnston’s childish-like voice accompanied by often sorrowful and sincere lyrics yielded a wave of national recognition for its alternative feel, especially after it was featured on a 1985 MTV episode of “The Cutting Edge”. The title of his first song on television, “Broken Dreams” premiered in front of a live audience. Among his fans and supporters, Johnston was acknowledged as an inspiration to other artists and bands such as Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Sonic Youth, and Yo La Tengo.

Johnston’s mental health began deteriorating around the time of his rise to fame. His unresolved love for his lifelong muse and trips in and out of psych wards undoubtedly made Johnston live his “broken dreams.”

The Art

“The sun shines brightly on my soul

But, there’s something missing.”
Lyrics from “Mind Contorted” in Daniel Johnston’s album “Fun.”

Wild images from Daniel Johnston portray a sinister looking devil, a three-eyed dog from hell, a boxer with an erection fighting a many eyed monster are some of the many images drawn. — “Daniel Johnston’s Symbolical Visions” gives the viewer insight into themes he used throughout his art. Some images are graphic, some are dark and grotesque while others are occasionally cute, but they all allow the viewer to understand the artist’s mind. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.

Johnston’s work is a deep dive inside a scattered mind.

One of my favorite pieces, “Daniel Johnston’s Symbolical Visions,” reveals so much about the inner workings of his often religiously interpreted delusions.

Demon figures, bodies with cut-off limbs, void heads, and imaginative frog-like creatures with many (and I mean many) eyeballs are common themes in the work displayed at the installation.

Every time I laid eyes on one of Johnston’s sketched pieces, the amount of detail enveloped me in its metaphorical universe of events that were either real, made-up, or a mixture of both.

Whether the framework of these anarchic universes is what led to Johnston’s displaced reality or if the digression in his mental state was what the drawings depicted, the line between art and mental illness is blurred.

In the self-titled excerpt “The Origin of the Dead Dog’s Eyeball,” Johnston recalls various memoirs on the distinguishable side of a double-sided paper handwritten in blue ink. The recollection of first learned word “eye,” inspiration from a Beatles song lyric, and a vivid memory of a road trip during his childhood make it possible for him to jump through timelines of his life.

Many sketches of Daniel Johnston's "Captain American" series. — Daniel Johnston’s untitled “Capitan America” series showcases a more fictitious side of the late Austin artist. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.

In his Captain America extensive collection of comic-like drawings with colorful markers, he implies hyper self-awareness through satirical comics and phrases like “fear yourself,” “it’s cold to be alive,” and “there is still hope.”

A lot of Johnston’s artwork is a product of isolation, and so he often speaks of existentialism and makes naive jokes about serious issues or situations. It is simultaneously strange, captivating, and raw. And yet at times, it’s relatable, refreshing, and original.

The Phenomenon

“When I was a little kid

And all the people they looked big

I never exactly understood

How to tell the trees from the wood.”
Lyrics from “Joy Without Pleasure” in Daniel Johnston’s album “Songs of Pain.”

An image of a man with only a skull for a head plays a small piano. — Another of Daniel Johnston’s sketches at The Contemporary Austin. Johnston, who played the piano himself, may have been attempting a self-portrait in this sketch. Photo by Angelica Ruzanova.

With a huge, messy collection of EPs and albums in his discography, lofi self-taped recordings and serious struggles with mental health, Daniel Johnston checks all the boxes for artists categorized into the “outsider” music genre.

Artists in this unofficial category, often driven to create music out of self-prophetic callings and not out of contractual obligations, have an unconventional sound and look to their art. Getting past the first impression of the strangeness and eccentricity of their work allows the observer to experience a new perspective on the world.

If you want to dive deeper into the world of outsider music and the fine line between creativity and trauma, I recommend this documentary on origins of this genre and this short film about Johnston’s embodied manic schizophrenia.

From his famous mural promoting an album titled “Hi, How Are You?” on a now out-of-business indie record store on Guadalupe Street, to the misery and hope depicted in his homemade recordings and sketches, Daniel Johnston openly shared his vulnerability with the world for all to see.

Keep You and Yours Cyber Secure

Video by Nathan Lu

Story by Pete Ramirez

The prominent role the internet plays in our world has highlighted an issue we’ve been dealing with since the creation of the internet: cybersecurity.

Every few months there is a new headline in the news about a prominent company or government organization that has been hacked such as the large-scale Solarwinds breach or the massive Twitch data dump.

Understanding that our ever-connected lives won’t be unplugging from the internet anytime soon, a few Austin Community College students and faculty are doing what they can to educate those around them about the many threats that are lurking online.

“More of our learning has moved onto the internet,” Austin Community College student and Phi Theta Kappa honors society officer, Arden Silva said. “Children are being exposed to the internet at a much younger age.”

Alya Mansoor, another ACC student and PTK officer, said that she works with young kids and has often witnessed them unknowingly download malware and ruin whatever technology they are using.

“A lot of what I see is kids being impacted and easily influenced by the technology, entertainment, and media out there,” Mansoor said.

In order to educate people about the dangers of the web and promote healthy cybersecurity habits, PTK’s Honors in Action committee created a convenient, accessible website that contains eye-catching PDFs filled with tips and guides to keep you safe online.

“I hope that we can at least bring some awareness to these kids and help them in navigating their own lives through the technology that is available to them.”
Alya Mansoor, Austin Community College student and Phi Theta Kappa officer

“We researched in the spring and we found out that kids are being taught cyber security in school but that is not really being enforced at home,” ACC student and PTK officer Isabella Santos said.

The PTK members believe their new website will be a reinforcement tool that parents can utilize to help their families stay protected in the ever-expanding digital world.

“I hope that we can at least bring some awareness to these kids and help them in navigating their own lives through the technology that is available to them,” Mansoor said.

All of the recommendations that are found on PTK’s cybersecurity website are not only for children. Adolescents and adults can benefit from adopting the practices as well.

An ACC faculty member that is doing his part to spread the gospel of safe online practices to all ages is Dr. Michael MacLeod.

MacLeod is a professor working in the computer science department who has a background in cybersecurity.

“I was in information technology for 35 years,” MacLeod said. “I built the fourth-largest state-owned network in the state of Texas.”

Having seen how digital threats have evolved and increased frequency over the years, MacLeod said that most people don’t understand that we’ve been in serious cyber warfare since the early 2000s.

“Every day [hackers] get better,” MacLeod said. “So every day, our people have to get better.”

For those that are interested in entering the world of cybersecurity, MacLeod encourages learning as much as you can and exposing yourself to groups that work in this field.

When it comes to the average internet user who may not know the ins and outs of cyber security, MacLeod recommends purchasing a full suite internet security tool like Kaspersky, Norton, or Bitdefender to protect your devices.

“You’ve got to have something in place to protect yourself,” MacLeod said.

The ACC professor also said that everyone should use caution with the apps that are downloaded onto their devices.

“Every one of those free software apps tracks every single thing you do,” MacLeod said.

Improving cybersecurity habits may seem overwhelming but there are many trusted tools and resources available to the average consumer to use to defend themselves from threats on the web.

“It’s so easy to get caught up in the quickness of the internet but investing in cybersecurity knowledge and skills is beneficial not only to you but others around you,” Mansoor said.

ACC Students and COVID-19

Story by Duncan McIntyre

Edited by Pete Ramirez

We are all still living through one of the most significant periods in human history. Each person you encounter has likely experienced an unexpected change in their own story because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virus has affected each of us in a unique and perhaps fundamental way.

COVID-19 precautions have forced students and educators to adapt to a novel form of learning dominated by virtual meetings, webcams and Wi-Fi. Students who were already facing the challenges of higher education have had their decisions strained even more by COVID-19 and it’s ripple effects.

Whether it be financially, mentally, emotionally or even spiritually, the past couple of years have significantly affected us all and as a society we will be recovering from this for years to come.

A decade ago, Michelle McKown was a student at Austin Community College. Ten years later during the fall semester of 2019, McKown returned to complete her undergraduate psychology degree.

A few months later in March of 2020, ACC shut its doors to in-person learning for the first time and began the transition to online education.

“I started the semester before the world turned upside down,” McKown said.

We can all remember the beginning of quarantine where life became simpler and vastly more complicated all at once.

For some students, this time away from the hustle and bustle of the world allowed a moment to pause and reflect.

Andres Rodriguez, a high school student taking dual-credit courses at ACC, says he’s not the same person he was when the pandemic began. For some people, Rodriguez said, “it gave them an opportunity to reassess themselves, and figure out where they needed to go and what they needed to do.”

McKown also saw this as an opportunity to do some reassessing of her own.

“The pandemic forced a restart on me, so I wanted to take advantage of that and not waste this opportunity,” McKown said.

McKown’s restart included decisions on what and who to keep in her life, and what to change. These decisions affected her spirituality and sense of self.

“What all those choices boil down to is the fact that we, as human beings, are not good at letting go of things that are no longer what they once were,” McKown said.

The new COVID-19 world is a place of contrasts. In some ways it seems some good came out of this period of self-reflection. However, it is undeniable that many experienced great difficulties and losses as well.

Leslie Tejeda, a general studies student at ACC, said she experienced difficulties grasping the material in some classes due to the nature of online learning. Tejeda also said that she experienced, “a lot of isolation, I didn’t even go outside.”

Rodriguez says he is fortunate that he did not personally lose any family members because of the virus.

“I know a lot of people that lost family – aunts, uncles, grandparents,” Rodriguez said.

From elementary school to graduate university, students have also been learning to adapt to a changing educational environment. This has been easier for some compared to others.

Rodriguez is someone who found classes harder because of the switch to online learning.

“I took a couple classes online, it was alright, but some of them were more difficult because of their workload,” Rodriguez said. “The cameras in my opinion, aren’t as effective as in-person learning.”

Tejeda was in the same boat and said that not being able to go to class in-person made grasping the concepts taught in class difficult.

On the other hand, there are students, myself included, that think online learning was easier. McKown said that during the pandemic she discovered that she actually preferred taking classes online.

“I love the freedom that online asynchronous learning affords me,” McKown said. “Now I get to work on things in a way that works with my schedule, and I have to say that I really love it, which was a huge surprise for me.”

The past few years have been tough and the end of the pandemic has yet to be seen. We can’t forget that we are in this together.

McKown offered words of encouragement for those who may still be struggling.

“You are not struggling right now because you aren’t enough, things aren’t hard right now because you’re somehow not strong enough to handle it,” McKown said. “If things feel hard right now, it’s because they’re hard… We have to be kinder to ourselves.”
ACC offers mental health resources to any students who need them. Students can find them at https://www.austincc.edu/students/mental-health-counseling. If you need more immediate help, you can call 512-472-HELP (4357)

Astroworld’s Utopia Turns into Catastrophe

Rager mentality of Travis Scott’s fans fueled the deadly crowd surge incident at Astroworld Festival, placing Houston on headlines across the globe

Angelica Ruzanova runs towards the Astroworld Festival entrance marked by a giant inflatable object depicted as Travis Scott’s head, a landmark that has made an appearance throughout all his previous festivals. Photo by Camille Nul

By Angelica Ruzanova

Edited by Pete Ramirez

There is nothing quite like the anticipation and thrill you experience before attending a concert. Months worth of built-up energy, relentless preparation, and memorizing music culminate in a grand euphoric experience shared with other fans.

But when the audience’s temporary bliss of a live performance becomes an out-of-control mob, you have no choice but to give in to the uncontrollable forces of the crowd.

Multiple investigations are trying to figure out how harmless enjoyment turned the third-annual Astroworld Festival into a catastrophic event, leaving 10 attendees dead and hundreds more injured. The festival, founded and headlined by superstar rapper and Houston native, Travis Scott, has sparked a living hell for the survivors and the families of the lost concert-goers.

After my friends and I attended the 2019 Astroworld Festival, we expected a similar experience extended into two days rather than one. The festival felt like its own Travis Scott mini-world, with everything from a Cactus Jack pop-up store to amusement park rides.

Many people in a crowd in front of a massive outdoor stage at the Astroworld Festival. Screens display the schedule for day-one with Travis Scott headlining. — **The “Thrills” stage scene with the festival schedule for day one flashing on all screens.**
Photo by Angelica Ruzanova

It soon became painfully obvious to us that the number of concert-goers had more than doubled, and the Astroworld “utopia” seemed beyond the maximum capacity offered at the venue. As we noticed the lines of fans growing larger and the crowd becoming extremely packed, things did not feel quite right.

I witnessed people who were missing shoes and wristbands required for entry after running through unprotected security fences. I also observed inattentive staff skipping the mandated COVID-19 tests once the lines of attendees grew longer and more impatient.

With only one single water dispenser area in the arena, people grew dehydrated and ill. Those who fainted as a result of these circumstances were crowd-surfed out of moshing pits. A vast landscape of haze covered the area near the stage as groups of people smoked in the midst of the crowd.

The countdown before Travis Scott’s grand-finale performance felt like the calm before a storm. As minutes turned into seconds, the spaces in between each person morphed us all into a collective clump of bodies.

My friends and I were standing near the front of the crowd on the stage-right side and we were quickly swept up in the shifting waves of people around us, who unintentionally stomped on our feet and continuously hit us with their shoulders. At one point in the madness, I was able to lift up my feet and be held up in the air due to the intense pressure of those surrounding me.

As the crowd’s mixture of excitement and impatience grew more ravenous, people began forcing their way toward a better view of the famous rapper. This came at a cost to those who were in a more vulnerable, unprotected area where they struggled for relief and gasped for fresh air.

I was fortunate enough to grasp onto someone’s backpack which allowed me to make my way through the crowd, but many others were stuck towards the center with no chance to get out.

A lot of people in a crowd in front of a stage where Yves Tumor is performing. One concert-goers holds up a poster that states "Stampede of Lost Souls". — **Musician Yves Tumor and his** band perform at the “Thrills” stage, with a poster titled “Stampede of Lost Souls” raised in the air from the crowd upfront.
Photo by Angelica Ruzanova

To be honest, most attendees did not realize what was happening at the time, but when the tragic news came out, it was a mind-boggling thought.

“I remember at first it took a while for the news to settle for me, to comprehend how big of a deal it all actually was,” said Isabella Conti, a fellow Austin Community College student who attended the festival with her friends.

“I thought to myself, this could’ve been my friends. It could’ve been anyone”, Conti said. “And the ages of those young kids reminded me of my younger brother. They were kids who went to the concert expecting to have fun and enjoy music.”

The night at NRG Park on the 5th of November ended with 10 confirmed deaths, hundreds of injured attendees and a crowd of over 50,000 people. The Houston Police Department is currently investigating exactly how this tragedy unfolded.

Rumors have run rampant after the event. Stories have spread throughout social media of involuntarily injected security guards, drugs laced with fentanyl sold to some of the attendees and even a conspiracy theory of a satanic ritual.

One of the deadliest concerts in United States history has resulted in more than 100 lawsuits being filed against festival organizers and performers, including Live Nation and Travis Scott himself.

“After trying to stay optimistic about the situation, I got angrier with what I heard. The more I learned about the circumstances, the more aware I grew,” Conti said. “I hope this horrible tragedy will change safety measures which go ignored by many festival organizers, and the ‘rager’ mentality gets the awareness it deserves. The tragedy trickles down to poor organization and people’s lack of decency when it comes to helping those around them.”

Our generation chases ceaseless sprees of carpe diem within the pressures of our social media presence. Carpe diem, a Latin phrase for making the most of the present time with little thought for the future, holds a dangerous explanation to why some concert-goers danced on ambulances that carried unconscious fans rather than at least standing back.

The cost of this failure by numerous parties is personal and painful. We must remember and honor these 10 young people who died:

Brianna Rodriguez – 16 years old
Axel Acosta Avila – 21 years old
Madison Dubiski – 23 years old
Danish Baig – 27 years old
Rudy Peña – 23 years old
Jacob Jurinek – 20 years old
Franco Patino – 21 years old
John Hilgert – 14 years old
Bharti Shahani – 22 years old
Ezra Blount – 9 years old

How Students Stay Active

Knowing that COVID-19 restrictions would push people towards the couch, Partin found a way to continue to inspire ACC students to work on their fitness.

By: Pete Ramirez

One of the most significant ways the pandemic has affected Austin Community College is by the cancellation of in-person intramural sports. Losing these extracurricular events placed a hold on what is normally a fun way for students to stay active and socialize with their classmates.

No one has felt this loss greater than Tracy Partin, intramurals coordinator and health & kinesiology professor at ACC.

“It’s been kind of tough, the last year, not being able to see my students or get out on the court with them,” Partin said.

Knowing that COVID-19 restrictions would push people towards the couch, Partin found a way to continue to inspire ACC students to work on their fitness. Last March, Partin began sending an email with workouts and health tips to his subscribers every Tuesday and Thursday during the semester.

Partin’s email fitness program hasn’t missed a semester since it began a year ago.

“Tracy’s emails have been great,” said Brienz Edwards, a student at ACC studying peace and conflict within the interdisciplinary studies program. “I used to think that a gym was a pretty necessary part of working out and it has been quite the revelation for me that that’s not what I really need.”

Edwards mentioned underestimating a workout Tracy sent earlier this semester that only called for using a kitchen chair for the movements.

“I was like, ‘oh I can do a chair workout, that’s no problem’ and I was immediately sweating,” Edwards said. “It sounds ridiculous that you can sit in a chair for ten minutes and sweat but I promise you.”

Partin’s fitness emails not only include workouts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels but they also touch on mental health and wellness advice.

“I send them suggested YouTube workout videos,” Partin said. “And on Thursdays I touch upon mental health a little bit. Stress relief. Things that you can do mentally to help your mindset.”

For Jeshika Lamsal, a prospective ACC student and subscriber to Tracy’s fitness emails, staying active means being conscious about what you are doing.

“My favorite way to stay active is first meditation and second is working out,” Lamsal said. “I think everyone should try to meditate.”

Lamsal encouraged ACC students to adopt a meditation practice a few times a week at first and then slowly increase the frequency as time progresses.

Lamsal also compared starting a meditation practice to going to kindergarten and learning the alphabet. When you first begin, you may not know anything about the subject but as you continue to practice, you learn and grow to have a better grasp of the practice.

Regardless of the route Partin’s students take to stay active, his ultimate goal is to get his subscribers to reconnect with their bodies and improve their mental and physical health.

“It gets those endorphins going and it does make you feel better so anything you can do – whether it’s taking a walk, whether it’s doing some exercises at the house – it helps”, Partin said.

Edwards said her favorite way to stay active is by taking walks at her own pace through her neighborhood.

“It’s a really good way for me to get back into my body and be able to think clearly”, said Edwards. “It helps me organize my thoughts for whatever I need to do next and reconnect with myself but also with the world outside.”

With his fitness emails, Partin wants ACC students to realize that there are simple yet effective things they can do to be active while staying within and nearby your home.

“Most importantly, try to keep a consistent time when you are going to workout”, Partin said. “There’s going to be those days where you are tired and want to blow it off, but you’ve got to push through.”

Partin said he will begin to send out his summer semester fitness emails on June 8 and students will be able to sign up via Student Life.

“I would just like for the students to know they can contact me at any time,” Partin said. “I want them to know that there is somebody out there, that we do care about them.”

Signing Up with a Study Group

The Study Session I attended has introduced me to an additional resource on my academic journey, one that I will be heavily utilizing in the future. I recommend that any student struggling with a class or requiring a place to review take advantage of all the Learning Lab has to offer.

By: Jaxon Williams

In this time of remote learning, Austin Community College resources have found ways to support students in challenges that come with virtual classrooms. Shortly before the pandemic, the Learning Lab began offering study group sessions where students could easily register for a wide array of online tutoring sessions with their ACC Gmail accounts, held through services like Zoom and Google Meet. As more and more students transitioned to remote learning the attendance numbers for all Learning Lab online sessions shot up. So much so that the Learning Lab made the effort to hire full time online instructors to help meet the new demand. Wondering myself exactly what benefits students were receiving from participating in these sessions, I decided to register for one myself.

After attending my first online session, it was clear to me that the Learning Lab at ACC is one of the most valuable resources available to students. A resource that I myself have not been taking advantage of. My experience with the Learning Lab and with their online methods of instruction was nothing short of insightful as well as convenient. From the process of registering to the actual delivery of the instruction, the Learning Lab has definitely managed to make something that could be difficult to navigate and plan out so streamlined and quick. All students need to do is visit ACC’s website and register for a session under the ‘Tutoring’ tab. There, students will find a calendar with a list of future sessions in a variety of different subjects. It only takes registering with an ACC ID and email to reserve a space for you in the session held through Google Meet. The session that I attended was centered around Redox Reactions in Chemistry. I myself am not majoring in science, but surprisingly I was still able to keep up and participate in the session. The instructor took the time to answer any questions I had while also making sure that what was being reviewed was being fully understood. No stone was left unturned. No question unanswered. The experience as a whole was surprising and incredibly insightful. It made me wonder how I had gone for so long without taking advantage of such a useful service.

After having such a positive experience, I decided to reach out to José Resendez, a tutor at the Learning Lab, to discuss what benefits students saw after participating in online study groups. Resendez shared that students who participated in these study groups on a regular basis saw an improvement in their class performance. Not only that, Resendez also reported that the majority of students who attended the Learning Lab sessions were successful in both graduating and transferring to other institutions. He credits these figures to the fact that by attending sessions on a regular basis. Resendez said that “Students begin building the good study habits that are the foundation for success.”.

The study session I attended has introduced me to an additional resource on my academic journey, one that I will be heavily utilizing in the future. I recommend that any student struggling with a class or requiring a place to review take advantage of all the Learning Lab has to offer. Getting started with these good study habits is as easy as going to ACC’s website. There, you will find the option to sign up for online study sessions under the Tutoring tab of the Student Support section of the website. All available upcoming sessions will be shown in the list of Learning Lab Virtual Events.

ACC Students Take on Virtual Events

Three students of Austin Community College share their perspectives on how virtual events have impacted their life, and what they believe could be done better; a guide for officials to consider, and implement into the academic format we now consider our new normal.

By: Renata Salazar

Austin Community College has continued virtual learning during the global pandemic for over an academic year, as of now. As we approach another semester of online education, it is easy to become overwhelmed during the school year when navigating online classes and might often feel discouraged from the lack of every day interaction with classmates and staff. ACC provides more than education, as students continue to develop relationships and interact with each other through student organizations and events. From Arts and Crafts with April Seabourn, to online advising, ACC continues to provide several virtual events and resources that allow students to unwind between classwork, and tips to stay on track with online courses.

ACCENT spoke with student Katheryn Pharr, an active member in the Student Life community, Vice President of ACCess Autism Iva Millsap, and Todd Snow, a student pursuing studies to qualify for a bachelor’s in software development at ACC to learn how student organization can be another resource for peer support. Three students with varying perspectives share their take on the perks and disadvantages of ACC’s online presence and what the school and student organizations can do to improve them.

Pharr feels that in-person events are more casual and provide a sense of community that virtual events lack.

“Student life is doing a great job making sure we can still connect with each other even though we’re all isolated and spread out” Pharr says.

Pharr attended Arts and Crafts with April Seabourn, a recurring event within Student Life. One thing Pharr appreciates from virtual events is the ability to go back and review the event with recordings. Pharr is open to the potential virtual events possess with the fact that abilities such as recordings and screen grabs, allow students to utilize the information from events at any given time. Regarding school resources, Pharr primarily takes advantage of online advising and the ASL IT Lab online.

“I appreciate that even though we are not able to be in-person on our respective campuses, that these services are still available. Although helpful, there is something lost by not physically occupying the same space,” Pharr says.

She added that it is easy to become distracted during online advising, whereas “in-person the advisor can probably tell when the student loses focus.”

The increase of virtual events in student life has made some student organizations get creative and implement new perspectives into their events. Vice president of student organization ACCess Autism, Iva Millsap believes the new virtual platform has driven them to find new ways to make events more interactive by implementing new concepts.

“We had an event where our members would create artwork on how their autism affected them in sensory ways.,” Millsap says.

Though Millsap feels she has been equally involved during the pandemic similarly to in-person events. She still prefers attending events in person due to the sense of community that in-person events can bring to some students.

Virtual events may seem more complicated than a casual in-person event, but ACC’s online platform has encouraged some students to give Student Life a try. Snow shared that his involvement with Student Life became more frequent once Student Life events began going virtual. What kept Snow from getting involved with in-person events prior were factors such as commutes and personal obligations, which can be the case for many other students.

“Virtual events have been great for me. These events have allowed me to explore aspects of SL and ACC that wouldn’t normally pique my interest or just would not have been a priority,” Snow says.

Proving virtual events do present advantages towards students thanks to their accessibility. Snow aforementioned the knowledge they have provided him and how much more understanding he is of what ACC offers to students. Adding he believes the benefits are definitely there when contrasting to in-person events, hoping that “any events in the future conducted in-person maintain a virtual component.

Virtual events and resources prove to have both pros and cons. Though students seem to prefer in-person events as they present a sense of community that can’t be rendered through a screen, they have managed to adapt and make amends with the pandemic and restrictions we abide by during this era.

Some students are even benefiting from this virtual environment and are becoming more involved with Student Life at ACC for the first time, just like Snow.

“I have a much broader understanding of campus operations and the ACC mission. Virtual events have shown me great opportunities for apprenticeships, internships, and have fundamentally altered how I look at my career and academic choices.”