If you have a love for the theatrical arts and need something to do besides studying and watching Netflix these upcoming weekends then you should check out some upcoming plays and performances here in Texarkana! This weekend there are not one but two events. On Saturday, November, 12th Grant Freeman will be performing “An R-Rated Magic Show,” this show is going to be filled with magic, tricks, and hilarious antics.

The other event will be “Tarfuffe: The Imposter,” by the Texarkana Repertory Company. This comedy was first staged in 1664 by the playwright Moliere and was once a very controversial play during that time. “It’s a fun show!” said Michael Wells. The show will be performed November, 11th-13th. Don’t worry if you miss it because of Grant Freeman, it will be performed the following weekend on November, 18th-20th.

However, you want to make sure to make room for Pleasant Grove High School’s iteration of Disney’s “Beauty and The Beast” Musical. Adapted from the Academy Award-Winning animated musical movie of the same name, “Beauty and The Beast” tells the story of a gruesome monster who imprisons a beautiful woman in his castle filled with talking inanimate objects. The musical will be performed on November 17th, 18th, and 19th.

Arkansas High School will be showing something we might recognize from our childhood, “Schoolhouse Rock Live!” “It’s very educational, it originates from the cartoons that helped kids learn about different things like math, English, science, and history. There are lots of different types of music and singing,” said, Camilla Gutierrez, choreographer. The musical will be performed on December 8th-9th.

As many of you know already, the midterm elections just passed with the results still up in the air as of writing this. Many positions have been decided on by the people and whether or not we will see any major changes is up to the candidates who have taken the positions. However, what lots of people don’t know is that the people who wish to run for president in the next two years are already making moves, mainly former president Donald Trump.

Mr.Trump has had quite the turbulent presidency, and his name is well known across the country due to many controversial things that have happened in his circles. Regardless, the man has been planning to use the recent midterm elections to springboard a presidential campaign in order to get a second term in office. Some of the students at Tamut have expressed grievances with this idea. “The last time that man was in office it formed a huge divide between Americans, him getting a second term would harm us even more in my opinion.” Said an age 21 education major.

There was a bit more willingness to speak on former president Donald Trump among the student populace, most of the words negative or neutral. “I don’t know much now that the midterms happened, but Trump trying to use this to get ahead for the next elections…well its part of democracy. He has a right to try and get elected again, i’m not quite sure how it would affect me since I didn’t feel affected by his last election.” Said Ellie Andrade, a political science student, age 19. 

Despite some of the negative reactions among the students at the mention of Trump’s name, there seemed to be a bit of an “American spirit” when it came to talking about allowing Trump to run again. Many students seem to dislike Trump as a person, however since he’s only had a single term, they seemed to be somewhat alright with the idea that he is allowed a second term if he gets a majority vote. Many stated that they hoped he would not be put back into office, but in the spirit of fairness, they would bear with the consequences if he were to be placed in a second time. 

Of course not everyone was against the former president, some students hoped that he would get back into office. “Not every president does all good or all bad, most are a mixed bag, and some get blamed for the mistakes of their predecessor. I personally don’t care much for either party, but I’d vote Trump back in. It just seems like the lesser of two evils.” Said a social work major, age 20. This opinion was by far much less popular, but not entirely non-existent.

Overall there was a mixed bag of emotions, however the unanimous idea among students seemed to be allowing Trump to run again to be fair. Even if they disagree with much of what he stands for, the students who dislike him know the importance of a fair and balanced system of government so they will tolerate Trump’s second campaign attempt.

 “HER LOSS” Drake & 21 Savage Album

Nearly a week after releasing their highly anticipated album “Her Lost” Drake and 21 Savage are facing a potential lawsuit with Vogue. The two recreated a Vogue magazine cover to promote the album. However, this wasn’t approved by Vogue and the duo is now being sued for over 4 million dollars and punitive damages. The album consists of 16 Tracks with the duo going bar for bar with each other. The songs Circa Loco and Spin Bout U caught traction fast. lyrics in these songs have given fans mixed emotions towards Drake. Mixing both of their unique styles together this project is well on its way to a platinum plaque with songs already on the billboards. 

In the beginning of the song Circa Loco it feels like living in Miami during the Scarface era. The beat is like a mental vacation to the Bahamas. In the song Drake says “This b—th lie about getting shots but she still a stallion, She don’t even get the joke but she still smiling.” leaving fans to assume that line was about Megan Thee Stallion who was allegedly shot by Tory Lanez. Drake has yet to respond to the allegations. Rapper Little Yachty tried to speak up for the rapper claiming the lyrics were not about her. 

“Spin Bout U” , A  trap love song is very relatable. If you enjoy quoting lyrics on social media to express your feelings like myself you’ll find plenty in this song. Using a sample from the song “Give me your loving” by Oobie the duo was able to create a song that could be played at a wedding or inside a nightclub. This album shows both Drake and 21 Savage’s ability to colab and make great music with each other.

Overall, This album is a combination of remade songs and lyrics recreated in a new way. Throughout the songs you hear familiar sounds of old songs and flows. It’s right on time with hip hop being called one of the most dangerous businesses to be in. In the last 2 years over 20 major rappers have died from gun violence. 21 Savage, known for his violent lyrics is able to switch the motive and give fans more versatile lyrics about love and the other side of the street life. Similar to his hit single “A lot”.

Trevon Jamison

On October 31 Texas A&M University Texarkana (TAMUT) hosted two Halloween events. Trunk or Treat and a Haunted Trail. Trunk or Treat took place on the University Center lawn, while the Haunted Trail took place on the trail used by the cross-country team. 

Trunk or Treat was an opportunity for children of all ages from the surrounding areas to attend, and get candy in a safe and confined space. People dressed up and participated in games and various activities to get candy, as well as walked to the various booths put together by the different sports teams and organizations that participated in the event. 

“It was actually a rather large turnout,” Coordinator of Student Life Alana Briley said when talking about the Halloween events that took place on campus. “I think we weren’t fully prepared for it because we actually ran out of candy.”

Along with Trunk or Treat, TAMUT hosted its first-ever Haunted Trail. With only 3 weeks to plan the trail, Amber Galvan, Athletic Academic Coordinator, and Crosscountry Coach Natnael Amere worked together with various sports teams at TAMUT to put together the trail. 

“With this being the first time,” Galvan said when talking about future haunted trails. “Improvements can be made to make it better each year.”

This was not only an event to celebrate and have fun, but rather an event to help the TAMUT community connect better with the rest of Texarkana as a whole. Being on the outskirts of town sometimes feels a lot farther than we are. Events like these can help create a better connection within the communities. 

“There’s this huge disconnect a lot of times between the community and us [TAMUT],” Briley said. “We want to have that connection with the community so that they [Texarkana] know that we are out here.”

If successful advice and life experiences of people in your field of interest are an interest to you, you should attend a Colloquium .Dr. Craig Nakashian, is the organizer behind the Colloquiums here at Texas A&M University Texarkana (TAMUT), and never fails to have a guest speaker present,and ready to educate the students of the University. Dr. Nakashian has three Colloquiums left for the fall semester.

The next colloquium coming up on campus will be on November 1st, when Dr. Trisha Ray will be the presenter. Dr. Ray’s expertise is in educational leadership, and she will be speaking on ‘preparing for a career as a high achieving educator’. Her main goal is to help those who want to go into education get the most out of it and be as effective as possible. The main take away people should get from this colloquium is how to get the most out of being an educator while also maintaining their desire to teach.

Set to follow Dr. Ray on November 10th, will be Dr. Corrine Hinton, Associate professor of english at TAMUT. Dr. Hinton will touch on the subject of the rhetoric and communication around military veterans and military caregivers. Hintons Colloquium will tie in with Veterans Day and all will be opened to join the event, as with all the Colloquiums held at TAMUT. Hinton will also probably touch on her work with the Dole foundation, which is a nationwide support group for the aforementioned demographic.

The Final Colloquium of the Fall Semester will come on December 7th, when Dr. Ben Neuman, Professor of Biology and Chief Virologist of the Global Health Research Complex, closes with his annual virus lecture. Dr. Neuman has given his annual lecture on viruses dating back to December of 2018, 2 years before the infamous coronavirus was even a thought. It is likely Dr.Neuman will use Covid 19 as his main focal point again this year, and inform those in attendance on new variants and where we stand with the CDC and their guidelines in 2022.

Dr.Nakashian sets a goal to have around 5-8 Colloquiums per semester, and will allow anyone who has an idea and wants to share it to set a time and date to present one. He normally gets university faculty and staff who volunteer for the slots available, but wants to encourage the student body of TAMUT to fill those spots as well. The goal of the Colloquiums is not only to learn from the great minds of your peers and professors, but also a time to get out of your comfort zone, and expose you to intellectual inquiry in a way you normally would not go out of your way to do.

While the Fall semester is pretty much set on the remaining colloquiums, the Spring semester is wide open with slots for the taking. Nakashian hopes for students to fill those spots, and plans to send a reminder out in mid November for people to set times and dates for presentations. Colloquiums are the setting, whether you have a doctorate or not, to own a room and present something you are an expert on to a non-hostile audience.

With midterm elections coming up on the 8th of November this year, around 35 of the 100 senate seats and all 435 house seat positions are becoming available for election. It is important that young men and women know who and what they are voting for in addition to what it could imply for the future of our country.  However, whenever politics comes up in conversations people either have a lot to say, or nothing to say at all. With students now being old enough to enter the voting pool, their opinions on such things will begin to matter far more than before. 

The students here at TAMUT didn’t seem particularly fond of talking about politics, some students embracing the old adage “In polite company, you should never discuss politics and religion.” Those who were willing to speak however, didn’t seem to know that the midterm elections even existed. “Midterms? Oh I’m done with those. Wait, you mean like, voting midterms? Those are a thing?” Said one Male computer science major, age 20.  

There also seemed to be a bit of uncomfortable air when speaking on the subject. Like giving the wrong answer would make you look bad or cause some sort of consequence. “I don’t know much about the midterms, but I’d rather not even talk about politics. There’s a very high chance that I could lose all my friends and even some family if I told them who I wanted to vote for,” Said one Male Nursing student, age 19. 

With the exception of the previous two cases many other students refused to speak on the subject, either because they weren’t knowledgeable on the topic or because they simply just didn’t care. And why would they care at this point in their lives? Many have more pressing concerns such as passing their own individual midterms in their classes and working jobs if they have them. This leaves little room to do research on the midterm elections, especially when the midterms aren’t advertised as frequently or given as much weight as the Presidential elections seem to be given. And with how much research one would have to do to understand all of the 400+ open positions, what each of them means, who is running, and what those people each promises to do, it’s quite daunting. The average young person would simply rather not bother than look into it.

The faculty and older generation seem to be a bit more relaxed when talking about subjects such as this, although more relaxed does not equal comfortable. There was still a bit of tip toe-ing around the subject matter whenever discussing these topics, and in the end it boiled down to “Do what you think is best for the country, however consider the consequences for not just yourself, but for others as well,” which is good general advise, but it is vague and doesn’t get to the root of our problems.

Politics seems to be quite the touchy subject on campus, and with all of these negative connotations combined with the fact that students don’t seem to know much about the subject in the first place. It’s a brew that could be potentially very bad for the political future if it’s something that continues past this stage in life.

Trevon Jamison 

MCM310 

Sports Update 

Texas A&M – Texarkana (TAMUT) Eagles Women’s Soccer team is having a great season so far under the direction of Don Koontz and  Klarissa Hernandez the team has a 15-1 record. The Eagles recently beat their last opponent with a 5-0 victory. They also have qualified for the RRAC tournament and also clinched the RRAC regular season title. Alyssa Daily recently won the RRAC offensive player of the week award and Abigail McGuire won the defensive player of the week award in September. 

The women’s volleyball team with a hard fought 14-11 record will have their next game on Nov. 4th 2022 at 6pm. They will be facing the University of Southwest. Michael Galvan is the Athletic Director and Amber Galvan is the Athletic Academic Coordinator for TAMUT. If you are a student or fan that wants to support the Eagles you should “ Show up and cheer them on at all games and follow, like, and share all social media accounts. Each program will have their own accounts.” said Amber. 

Fall sports at TAMUT is always a great time of the year. Student athletes have the chance to show off their skills and fans get to enjoy the intense competition. Sports have grown tremendously over the years with the university now having over 5 sports. Both men and women are able to participate in most of the sports. Admission to all sporting events is free of charge. 

“So far so good, winter sports (Men and Womens) basketball are just getting started and spring sports kick off at the end of January.” said Amber. With so many games going on it is important that fans know how to get information regarding the teams. Fans of the TAMUT Eagle Sports can find all the information they need about games in the athletics tab on the university website. Here you will find knowledge about mental health, the eagle club, student handbook for athletes and more. All home events and practices will be held at either the Patterson Center, George Dobson field, Judy Kelley Morgan soccer field, and the Bramlet field. Come out and support the Eagles. 

Dr. Daniel Mintun is one of the Political Science Professor here at TAMUT who helped students understand the meaning of changes in human nature using the book “A Paradise Built In Hell” by Rebecca Solnit as his guide. Through the lecture he wanted us listeners to understand that “if people are fundamentally good, why would we need government?”

He mentioned Thomas Hobbes, a famous political philosopher who says human beings “are in a state of war which life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”  After, Dr. Mintun brings to our attention that “if there was no one watching over us, we would all be at each other’s throats,” referring back to Hobbes stating, “it’s a war of all against all.” But Mintun uses Solnit book to peel back the idea that society isn’t so bad after all.

 Mintun gave examples from the book or “case studies,” stating that certain disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the fire in San Francisco should raise chaos but instead humanity use these situations as “building blocks.”  Dr. Mintun calls humans “social creatures” or people who look to their neighbors when situations like these come about. He said, “if you have a disruption in society, you actually get to see people’s true reflections.”

            With our society growing day by day, it raises the question, “should we be scared if there is no change in government style?” Dr. Mintun mentions “with gut instinct, yes, but is proven wrong more than we think.” He refers back to the book to help us understand that people come together when things are going downhill. Mintun says, “there’s no shortage of examples when times get scared, but you also see a lot of people coming together in times of need.”

Dr. Mintun says, “everyone should strive to do better,” and left us all with a quote from the book. “A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always heading.”

With transformative text being founded in Purdue, Dr. Doug Julian, TAMUT English Professor has brought it here to inform and direct everyone that “transformative text is more than just an old book,” but the understanding that any type of text can be transformed for teaching.

If interested next Thursday on the 10^th Dr. David Yells will be discussing “The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous” by William Wilson and that following Thursday on the 17^th Liz Patterson is breaking down “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey. Both held in UC 217 from 12:20-12:50. You do not want to miss it!

The Perot Theatre is one of Texarkana’s oldest cultural icons. Located downtown it is one of the oldest landmarks being established in 1924. People often forget about it because it can be overshadowed by the Cinemark or attribute it to “The Nutcracker” ballet performance. However, it is more than just a building downtown to take your prom photos at.

Last weekend they showed the cult classic, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The film is interactive and viewers purchased kits containing props. “People were very enthusiastic and they sang and danced along with the movie,” said Andrea Loredo.

For all the music enthusiasts, the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and Pianist Andrew Staupe will be performing “Metamorphosis” on November 5, 2022. 

It’s not all music and musicals. The Perot Theatre can also bring tricks, jokes, and pranks. Comedy magician Grant Freeman will be coming to Texarkana to perform “An R-Rated Magic Show” on November 12, 2022. This show will be full of surprises and hilarious spectacles.

The Perot Theatre is also gearing up to get into the holiday season.“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” musical will perform on November 18, 2022. Following that month, the Texarkana Community Ballet will showcase our city’s youth in “The Nutcracker” on December 2-4, 2022. To finish the year, the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra will perform “Christmas at the Perot” on December 11, 2022.

The Perot Theater has been a staple of entertainment in Texarkana since 1924 and it’s important to support local art and history. Make sure to grab your tickets before it’s too late! For more information visit https://www.perottheatre.org.