The uncertainty around the remainder of our academic year is a nail-biting experience for many. With the fall semester coming to an end, many students are wondering what next semester will look like. It is important for TAMUT students to understand precautions that will still be in place and how our campus will look in the spring semester. Will there be any face to face courses? Can we have events again? Is there any chance random COVID testing will be implemented? Students want to know as much detail as they can about what the remainder of our academic year will look like. There are many faculty and staff members working tirelessly to make sure our campus is safe and covid free. 

There are many members of the COVID assessment team who assess our school amidst the pandemic. One of the key personnel during this time is Jill Whittington, compliance and risk management director. Whittington is the one who contacts all students when needing to be tested, of any on campus exposures, or quarantine updates. Many students have had their own sets of questions throughout this semester, some have been answered but others may have gone unanswered.

1. What will next semester look like? Will things remain the same as this semester or will there be changes?

• “As things stand right now, Spring Semester 2021 will be very similar to Fall 2020.  Guidance about COVID-19 is always changing, but right now we do not anticipate any drastic changes with how the campus will operate even though cases continue to surge.  Mask usage and social distancing will continue to be required.  Testing will still be available.  Many classes will still be remote and instructors will be doing their best to manage student learning when quarantines and isolations have to occur to contain the spread of COVID-19 on campus.  A lot of work was done by the COVID-19 team to manage our cases through the fall, and that will continue.  And the students and employees were great to work with – no one wants to be in quarantine or ill.  But everyone pitched in and we have a relatively successful containment on campus.  We had no known spread within a class, in the cafeteria, in the Rec Center or through student org activities.  We did have a few cases among athletics which, while disappointing, was not a complete surprise.  The unmasked, close proximity and contact during sports was the most likely way to spread and we did see some of that.  It just reinforces the importance of wearing a mask and being a little more physically distant – it really works.  We will continue to ask everyone to be very diligent about monitoring their own well being and staying home if they’re not 100%.  Waking up with that scratchy throat or slight fever is a sign that something may be starting.  We are very fortunate to have free and easy oral COVID-19 testing on campus and everyone should be taking advantage of it when they’ve been exposed or aren’t feeling quite right,” Whittington stated.

2. Will our campus implement random COVID testing?

• “The COVID-19 task force has considered random COVID-19 testing a couple times through the fall semester.  We never eliminated it from consideration, but never found the right time or justification.  Some of the larger System campuses are doing random testing, but it is very labor intensive.  Since we do not have a full Health Center, it is difficult for us to organize efforts like that.  And we have a significant number of students who are all distance-learning.  We are currently beginning the planning of very visible testing campaigns for when we return in January to make sure that everyone is healthy at the beginning of the semester.  It will be important that students, and employees too, really be careful about their activities during the holidays so as to minimize the spread.  Those last couple weeks in January before returning should be thought of as a mini-quarantine so that everyone is sure they come back well,” Whittington stated.

3. Will we be able to have more events on campus next semester?

• “Campus events have happened through Fall 2020 semester and as things stand now, will continue through the Spring.  We have learned what it takes to remain safe and several organizations have started planning smaller scale events.  Student Life has done a great job trying to plan activities that can be done via Zoom and outdoors, where it is safer.  During the cooler months, it will be harder to have activities outdoors.  But I have full faith in their creativity!  Each event or activity does have to be reviewed – this happens anyway to look for any (normal non-COVID) risks and planning steps needed.  But then once it clears the normal reviews, a team of staff and faculty also look through the plans to ensure that COVID-19 precautions have been taken.  Unfortunately the larger events will probably continue to be restricted – things like full attendance to basketball games.  But the new Student Life area should be open by the time students return in Spring and I’m sure having a new ‘home’ for them will help bring a little more life back to campus,” Whittington stated.

4. Will there be any face to face courses in the spring?

• “The University has worked to strike the balance between those wanting face-to-face classes and those wanting remote.  This goes for students and faculty.  Some programs really need to be face-to-face, and some are required.  Others can function a bit easier in a remote environment.  Data from TAMUT and across the country is starting to show that many students tend to be more successful in the face-to-face environment so we will be working to make those options available as much as possible.  But we need to be sure that we are protecting those individuals that need to be remote due to their own personal situation.  And of course this is all based on the government guidelines and restrictions as we know them now.  As the pandemic has continued to spread and cases increase, we never know what steps may be necessary to contain it.  We are making sure that students and faculty have the tools ready to take classes online if necessary, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we can keep pushing through and have a successful Spring 2021,” Whittington stated.

Our campus is trying to implement as much normalcy as possible while staying within COVID guidelines. This pandemic has changed many things including the way things are done on our campus. However, as we are trying to slowly incorporate more events on campus it is important to follow all guidelines provided by our campus. Stopping the spread will allow us to be one step closer to how things used to be. “Please understand that being asked to quarantine because you were exposed is not ‘punishment.’  It’s frustrating and difficult and can lead to disappointment when you have to miss something.  But it is important.  You’re being asked to isolate because you were exposed and may be sick but not realize it!  People are contagious 2 days before they have symptoms.  So by quarantining you limit how many people you expose to YOUR illness even before you know you’re sick.  And it can take up to 14 days for that illness to develop.  So quarantining really is important – stay home, stay away from roommates, and totally isolate when asked,” Whittington stated.

Links to learn more about our campus and COVID-19:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an island-themed adventure filled with cute villager friends and fun holiday events. This wholesome Nintendo Switch game is an exciting game for all ages. Not only are there lots of things to do in the game, every few months Nintendo releases new updates for the game and they’re free! 

The past few updates have been very fun. With the Fall update, players received a handful of new items as well as getting to meet with Jack, the Czar of Halloween, on Halloween night to exchange tricks and treats. The recent update which was made available on November 18, also came with lots of exciting additions to the game. This winter update included the exciting addition of several Thanksgiving and Christmas themed items as well as the NPCs such as, Franklin, who leads the Thanksgiving day event, and Jingle, the reindeer that leads the Christmas event. 

Additionally, after the game came out on March, 20th of this year, it has become one of the top games released this year and garnered record sales for Nintendo. I believe that the pandemic had an influence on this. The island simulation really keeps the player busy with crafting tools, catching all kinds of fish and insects, and creating the perfect little island. Not to mention finding the right villagers to invite to the island of course. It has certainly helped keep me distracted. Not to mention the game has also been nominated for game of the year for the Game Awards. 

New Horizons is running up against Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, the indie hit Hades and The Last of Us Part II. According to Liam Doolan at NintendoLife.com. Additionally, it is a running nominee for the best family game, as well as for the best multiplayer game. The award show will air live on December 10, at 6 pm, and is free to watch on all major streaming services. 

All in all, this game is excellent for those that are looking for a game that is fun, adventurous, and creative. It can be played with friends as well through Nintendo Online or by playing co-op on the same Nintendo Switch system. I have certainly had a great time with this game playing solo, and with friends. Overall, it’s a great game to try out. 

To find out more about Animal Crossing: New Horizons check out the links below.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, acknowledged as the one of the best games of the year, is now available for purchase. I have played through Black Ops Cold War and I am quite impressed with the multiplayer combat for this game so far. The combined arms 12 vs. 12 map called Cartel, set in a stronghold in Nicaragua. The map is filled with a jungle feel and various types of terrain that will keep you on the edge. You want to be careful of the tall grass in the middle of the map, because players  are lying and waiting to pick off opponents at anytime. The tower provides a 360 degree look of the map and helps you see players in the river, field, stations and the hangar. The riverbed is the most dangerous place on the map, because players can come from any direction  and   there is not much to take cover behind. The hangar is quiet most of the time and the transport truck is a great place for coverage and view of the field. I really love this map, because  it brings intensity and gives you a adrenaline rush everytime.

The gunplay is thrilling and I love the Milano 821 Submachine gun, because it is lightweight and is a very accurate weapon for the players who love to get close and personal like I do. In my first game of team deathmatch, I really enjoyed the graphics, atmosphere, sounds and was pumped, because I ended the match 40 kills to 8 deaths. I really enjoyed using the M16 rifle, because of its range, impeccable accuracy and strong damage.  When I played the Map Satellite, I used the M16, because you want to have a weapon with long range and with a fantastic fire rate on such a large-scale map. Satellite is deep in the sandy  desert of Central Africa and I feel is a map for close range weapons, because you will be face to face with your enemy very quickly and the tight desert trenches where you are your to meet enemy’s every time.

Deep in the Russian city of Moscow, this map is another classic  close range map,  because it has tons of cars and objects to hide behind and a gives you a insane adrenaline rush. Miami is not my favorite  map, but is exciting with a beach feel and plenty of bright neon lights. Crossroads gives you a cold snow covered feel and is loved by snipers, because of it’s open spaces areas, but enough structures throughout to have close-quarters combat. There are ten multiplayer maps so far and I am sure more to come. This Call of Duty is probably my favorite so far , because it feels like a mixture of  black ops 1-4 and gives you  new thrills and spills in Call of Duty Cold War. The game is set from the year 1968 and 1981, but when using weapons in the game, you do not always feel your using older weapons. The game is developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, but published by Activision. This will be the sixth installment of the Call of Duty Black ops Series.

I love the multiplayer and the new game mode, Fireteam, which can allow up to 40 players to participate. I love how smooth the gameplay experience is in the multiplayer mode with the shooting and aiming of the weapons, but can still use some tweaks and updates. I have noticed when playing , that the snipers had been nerfed and I was able to make a good 10-yard run without being picked off by so many campers willing and waiting patiently. On some of the maps I have noticed how vast they are for just a few players, so I am hoping for the addition of more players added in to these such vast maps, like Moscow or Miami.   The time-to-kill I really enjoy and I think it is right on point if you play core.  I have never been really a person who sits and camps, but I do like using the sniper rifle in this game, because the places you can hide and easily pick off people from a good distance. When gaming I like being close and personal with my opponents and I like to move fast paced, so I am really enjoying the mobility in this game and feel I move much faster compared to Modern Warfare.

In most of the Maps that I have played in so far, I think the sound is great due to extra sound layers. I really enjoy the extra added sound that helps you hear the enemy footsteps and gunfire. The map Cartel, is probably my favorite place to play so far, because of the jungle feel and reminds me of the map Jungle from Black ops 4.  I have talked a bit about the regular game-play of Black ops Cold War, but I love the new zombies mode. The new zombie’s mode is a continuation from Black Ops 4, but is set in the early 1980’s and there are new and much different content in this new zombie’s map.

This exciting and incredible zombies story is very mysterious and has unexpected twists and turns around every corner of the map. What I really like about this new Black Ops zombies, is the ability to be able to play as Operators from Multiplayer.  You can add attachments and equip them before heading into each zombies round. When gaming in zombies I found out that the rarer the weapon the more lethal and damage it will inflict upon zombies. I am really enjoying everything about Black Ops Cold War so far, from multiplayer to zombies, this Call of Duty game is for anyone who loves the Call of Duty franchise like I do and plus zombies, then I would totally recommend purchasing this game today.

The Second Borat film also called Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bride to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is a story by Sacha Braon Cohen who actually plays the character Borat Sagdiyev. Following the events of the first documentary/mockumentary, Borat 2 finds its hero in jail for treason for bringing dishonor to his homeland.  In order to secure his release, he is tasked with bringing a monkey to President Donald Trump.  When Borat discovers that the monkey cannot be delivered, he decides to give his daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) to Vice President Pence instead.

Now what’s interesting about this film is the amount of times he’s managed to infiltrate real-life Republican and Right Wing gatherings. When I first saw the film, I truly wasn’t for sure if he had actually attended some of these rallies until I looked online and indeed it was true. 

Sacha Baron Cohen actually went to the Conservative Political Action Conference that Mike Pence was at as his character Borat Sagdiyev dressed as Trump. In an interview he said how difficult it was for him to get in but as we see in the film he was successful. The second notable instance were he attended a real-life event was at a Far Right Wing rally full of militias such as “the Proud Boys” and racist groups like “Nazis”. Sacha even sang at the event but was quickly discovered and because of this fled in his van as people banged on the door.

But the final and perhaps the most controversial part of the film was when Borat 15 year-old daughter Tutar who was interviewing Rudy Giuliani and possibly almost had sexual intercourse. That said, we don’t know if Giuliani knew she was 15 years old and the real actress age is 24 but the situation as a whole is very strange. Giuliani thought Tutar was a journalist but Sacha as Borat stepped in telling Giuliani “STOP SHE’S 15!” as Giuliani took his hands out of his pants. In an interview Sacha Cohen said that situation was a bit scary because he didn’t want to get Maria hurt in any way. 

Overall these three instances are memorable in the film and somewhat effected the real world. With that said, the over-all film was interesting as it was slightly political but had a comedic effect to it. Personally I think the film was kinda funny but defiantly not a family film. 

Many curses words, sexual references and antisemitism, therefore the movie is rated R. But over-all the film is what I expected from a Sacha Baron Cohen story so if you like his previous work then you’ll like this movie.

If you’re bored during lockdown, fret not because the latest action flick is here. If you’re 

tired of superhero, spy ‘or’ war films than you should check out “Love and Monsters” directed 

by Michael Matthews. The story begins with narration by the protagonist Joel Dawson played 

by Dylan O’Brien. He explains how the earth was almost destroyed by an asteroid, but all 

nations around the world sent nuclear bombs to destroy it. Surprisingly it worked however 

when the radiation rained back down it mutated small animals such as craps and frogs and 

insects such as ants and centipedes. All these creatures and more turned into monsters and 

began devouring humanity and thus came the end of civilization and mankind being on the top 

of the food chain. 

The plot starts with Joel seven years later in an underground bunker (like most of 

humanity) in fear of what lies above the surface. Everyone in his colony has a lover but him, 

prior to the end of the world Joel had a girlfriend named Aimee but they were split up at the 

beginning of the apocalypse. However, he managed to find her colony via radio and they 

actually communicate quite often until one day giant ant breaks into his colony and even kills a 

few of their members. Because of this tragic event Joel decides to leave his colony and find 

Aimee fueled by a sense of purpose to protect her and believing that by reaching her, life would 

return back to normal and of course there is the fear of not wanting to die alone. Therefore, he 

sets of on his journey to find Aimee. Along his journey he finds a dog, meets a man named 

Clyde Dutton played by Micheal Rooker and learns how to survive in the wild even meets a 

robot. 

The film follows all the beats of “The Hero’s Journey,” a young character who can’t quite 

do for self but meets others who helps them and trains them along the way ending with the 

protagonist a changed a new person. We’ve seen it all before right? Yes, however although you 

may consider this a B+ film it surprisingly had some emotional moments and very good 

character development. On top of this the visuals were beautiful, especially at a scene in the 

film were you see glowing, flying jelly fish. Something about that scene with, Ben E. King’s 

“Stand By Me” playing in the background is very satisfying and reminds me of James Cameron 

Avatar film.

Now you maybe wondering if the film has a lot of death and mayhem although we do 

have monsters and they do eat people you never directly see it. The film isn’t gore when it 

comes to human death scenes and for a film with monsters set in the end of the world you may 

assume it could be very sad. Although there are emotional moments, the film isn’t depressing, 

at times its actually funny. Most of the humor coming from three human characters and even a 

dog. So, if you fear that this movie could depress you fret not because it may uplift you.

As for sexual content there are only a few kissing scenes and a couple in bed but you 

only see the legs and no actual sex. The film is rated PG-13 thus only so much can be shown, so 

if you want to watch this with the family on Thanksgiving go right ahead. As for language it’s 

mild and there aren’t any F-Bombs but it does have a few more curse words than a typical live-

action Disney film. Over-all this is a great film to watch if you have nothing else to watch and I 

would say still watch it even if you have something to watch. When you get a chance check out 

“Love and Monsters,” shown on Video on Demand or AppleTV.

Around 500,000 people are beginning writing projects this November as part of National Novel Writing Month. So far, participants are two weeks into Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) and about 20,000+ words deep into a messy manuscript or other writing projects. So far, the nonprofit organization has raised $1,065,768 from over 16,965 donors. These donations help to fund the organization and contribute to the wonderful writing community that Nanowrimo has helped to establish. 

The famous challenge during Nanowrimo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. With the full support and encouragement from other determined writers around the world. 

Since 1999, Nanowrimo has served as a platform for writers of all ages to come together to write and create. You may be wondering why 50k? Well, according to the organization, “We’ve found that 50,000 words is a challenging but achievable goal for many people, even folks with full-time jobs and children. And, though on the shorter side, it’s definitely long enough to be considered a novel: 50,000 words is about the length of The Great Gatsby.”

Not to mention, the list goes on for writing projects that can be started during Nanowrimo. Like a film script, graphic novel, essays, etc. will do for Nanowrimo. The word count goal doesn’t necessarily have to be the intimidating 50k either. Basically, writers set their own goals and Nanowrimo helps to keep them on track with that goal with the help of around 900 volunteers to help aspiring writers.

According to their website, “NaNoWriMo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page.” Additionally, since 2006 “NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization that supports writing fluency and education. But it’s also a social network for writers…” It is this social networking and writing community that really makes Nanowrimo what it is. The organization also aims at “… creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community of writers.”

This makes Nanowrimo an excellent experience for young writers as well. “Each year, over 100,000 young writers under 18 enjoy our youth-friendly writing space, progress tracking tools, and Young Novelist Workbooks.” Around 80,000 of those being students and educators who share their stories in the classroom through the Young Writers Program.

It is important to mention that Nanowrimo isn’t limited to the month of November. The nonprofit organization also holds a similar event called, Camp Nanowrimo every April and July for all ages. 

Additionally, Nanowrimo might have also served as the foreground for one of your favorite novels. According to Jill Grunenwald of OverDrive.com, Erin Morgenstern’s, The Night Circus and Marissa Meyer’s, three novels Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress all began as Nanowrimo drafts to name a few. Just think, you could be the next bestseller!

For more on Nanowrimo check out these links: