Marvel and Disney have always had a way of making movie magic together when it comes to Marvel and the Cinematic Universe that they have created due to the countless blockbuster hits they have made over the years. I have watched every marvel movie ever made since the MCU was created and all the earths mightiest heroes stories started to intertwine with each other once marvel started producing the Avengers. Usually, Marvel doesn’t miss but this time I believe they completely dropped the ball.

After watching this movie, I start to remember that it was supposed to be different, wasn’t it? The latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Eternals, was supposed to be positioned as the stronghold of the next phase, with the goal of pushing the whole complex universe further than it has ever been but all you really left with in the end is a bunch of uneasy questions because you could still be unsure of what’s going on by the end of the movie, but at that point you may not even care because you are just so happy that the movie is finally over and I truly cannot emphasize this enough: the film is 2 hours and 37 minutes long!! In simple terms, “Eternals” is really just a mess because the diverse cast is so large and there is so much story building to do that it felt forced and disappointing. However, there is a plot that you will probably forget about as quick as you started to understand it. I wouldn’t try to beat the movie up so much for the length, but the film’s general drowsiness deprives from the actual pleasant parts of the film, as it takes an awful lot of time to deliver almost nothing. It would have made way more sense to just make this movie into a Disney plus series so that they could have taken their time developing the many main characters and their stories.

In the centuries since they came on Earth in a huge marble-like starship, the Eternals have dispersed all over the planet. They’ve been quietly guiding humanity and battling bloodthirsty beasts known as Deviants all along. However, a potentially apocalyptic situation forces them to abandon their peaceful lives, reassemble (pun intended), and use their combined skills to avoid what is effectively the apocalypse. That description may sound like it will make for an entertaining trip to the cinema, but don’t expect constant action as in Avengers: Infinity War. This is a movie that takes its time, switching back and forth in between past and present to teach you about the characters’ backstories so that you care about the ramifications as the plot progresses. Eternals has many Protagonist which is way more than they needed because you barely really got to know any of these characters but I guess this won’t be the last time we see these characters due to the movie ending. It would have made a much better episode series if given the chance to learn the diverse cast. Phastos, the first gay superhero in the MCU, appears in Eternals. His backstory is indicative of humanity as a whole, as he becomes skeptical after assisting society’s technological advancement. He is played by Brian Tyree Henry and I can’t help but to think about how much money they had to pay him play that part. Much different character than he has ever played in any of his other movies especially if you first knew him as Paper boy in the hit series Atlanta on FOX. He was probably the most notable character for me just because of the sexuality they chose for him.

As huge as this film seemed, I believe it barely scratched the surface when it came to introducing Marvel’s next era of films. As far as this movie as a standalone film, which is exactly what if felt like, I would give it a C rating. It wasn’t just a extremely bad movie but definitely could have been better put together if produced differently. It’s far from flawless, yet even with its shortcomings, this film has the potential to inspire many more excellent films in the future from Marvel.

In the last couple years, racial division and equality have been highlighted in this country to a much higher degree after the death of George Floyd. Although his death was unfortunate and sad, there was a lot of good that came from his death. So many organizations for racial equality have been started around the country and thanks to this campus president Emily Cutrer we now also have a group of people dedicated to help educate and bring awareness to racial and prejudice issues. The group is still fairly new and still in the initial stages, but members Toney Favors and Corey Robinson feel like the committee is in good hands and in position to blossom in the near future.

Toney Favors is one of the committee members who over recruiting and has been deeply involved with starting the committee. It all started with President Cutrer having town meeting at city hall where she met with city officials. “From there we wanted candid Conversation, and so candid conversation took place” Favors went on to say, “From that it was suggested that we needed a committee to address some of the concerns not only nationally but locally with our students.” It is not unusual to come across people who are passionate and sincerely want to participate in serious attempts to enhance diversity and equity. However, it is rare for these attempts to result in long-term institutional change that extends beyond the short term wins and temporary successes. To be able to effect meaningful change at least on our campus, the DEI committee needed to locate allies in essential departments with decision-making authority who can give the necessary support to bring about true change across the university. The committee was able to achieve this. There are lots of committee members from many different departments around the campus. These people have been meeting at least once a month to talk about the next steps of the committee.

One of the departments on campus that was reached out to for help was the counselor department where Corey Robinson was happy to oblige in assisting the committee in its mission. “We are in support of all of this… This is a Unified effort and whatever bad things been going on will not be tolerated” He expects the club to be the face of the school that lives up to diversity, equity, and Inclusion. “And not just stating it on paper but putting things into action so students will feel that this is a safe and comfortable environment that everyone can feel a part of.” The DEI committee is expected to be the head on many projects in the near future and the immediate plan for the committee is to establish an official office and bring in somebody who can spearhead the entire mission of the club. The club has held a couple events so far by partnering up with student life and even held an event to combat hate speech that was put on display in the University center early last month.

The DEIC’s mission is to provide leadership, formulate action plans, and oversee important operations. Furthermore, the committee should be proactive wherever possible and in doing so providing solutions before problems even emerge. It is expected that several of the projects in the initial plans, if successful, will demand a lot of time and commitments from both the Department and the Institute in order to assure their long-term viability. Efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are still ongoing. The process is never-ending, take time to develop, and will rely on key factors to be successful.

Brittany Stanley is a woman of many words and its smart to listen to what she says. She has the potential to be a very influential person on the Campus of Texas A&M Texarkana. She is not only full of words but also information. She currently is taking a break from school only because she gave birth and needed to tend to her newborn. She is working on her Masters in Instructional Technology to focus on the technology part of her degree. Brittany actually works for the college in enrollment services, and she was able to give a lot of insight information that helped me and I’m sure can help plenty of other students. She was very knowledgeable about the campus and all the school programs. I got the chance to sit and conversation with Brittany and she seemed really down to earth and was very open about any question I had asked. I asked her personal life and how school life is at Texas A&M. I even got some background information on her before she started at A&M.

Brittany let me know originally from DeKalb TX. She told me about her husband, which she met on a dating website which was very intriguing to me because most times you don’t find love on the internet. I got to learn how they met and got to know each other. It actually inspired me to look for love in other places also. There encounter went to well that it has resulted a marriage in a newborn child. She is also a first-time mother at 27 years old. I had so much fun asking her about her personal life because she was just so honest and actually quite a delight just to talk to that I almost forgot the reason for the interview, which was to ask about her about Texas A&M Texarkana.

She tells about her life living on campus during her time their trying to finish her bachelor. She was very active in school activities and has had her fingers all over many programs in the school. She was one of the original students before the campus even had all the building they got now. When she was at the school Texas A&M only had 3 buildings. Because of all of her experience with the campus she was able to give me miles of information for example how to get more involved with school activities to how to join a sorority or fraternity. We even complain about how expensive school has been over the years together. She was even able to tell about how the party life was like while she attended college and it didn’t sound too fun to be honest. After that she gets a chance to explain how much harder it is to get your masters compared to getting your bachelor. She goes on to even tell me about her experience with covid 19 and how it affected her campus life. She was able to give some good insights on getting a Masters degree and how difficult it was for her/ She told me the hard obstacles she had to go through to almost get done with her Masters

Brittany just seemed like a very honest and free spirit to me. I feel like we could have really talked about a lot more things if we ever got another chance to speak to each other. We were even able to get off subject from time to time and talk about our own views on the world. She was very talkative and was not scarfed to say what was on her mind. We talked about Texarkana and the bad state that its in with not having many good paying jobs. She believes that Arkansas side of the city needs more business to flourish but we know that Texas side will be bread winner for the town. She was really a delight to talk to and believe I met a person who can be a good mentor while finishing my degree hear. I would truly recommend that anyone looking for any type of info that has to do with the Texarkana campus that you go to Brittany because she is a very informal and kind person.