News Briefs Issue 6

Photo courtesy of MCT Campus. 

EAST

Oddities Prints, a local screen printing company, will be visiting Art Club Nov. 14 to give a screen printing demonstration and display their company’s work.

The event will be held in Room 204, beginning right after school and ending around 3:30 p.m. It is open to all students.

Founder Jordan Carr and Kendall Harbon from Oddities Prints will be running the presentation by walking students through the screen printing process, which involves forcing ink onto a surface through a prepared screen to create a picture, pattern or text. They will also teach different ways to use screen printing with various art mediums and share their experience with running an art business.  

The art department does not have a complete set of screen printing equipment and resources, so Art Club’s sponsor Adam Finkelston hopes that this event will show students a new art form and style that they haven’t been able to experience in class. Finkelston also hopes the event will give students professional insight on ways they can pursue art as a career.

“The ability to connect with professional artists who are running their own business [allows them] to see that art is a possibility that people can do,” Finkelston said.

This is the second time Art Club has put on this event, the first one occurring two years ago with the same company.

“It’s one of those things where you get introduced into a new way of making art, and you’re like ‘Oh my God,  there’s all these new possibilities,’” Art Club co-president and junior Sydni William said.

LOCAL

Democratic candidate Sharice Davids won the Kansas State Representative position for the 3rd District, which includes Johnson County, in the midterm elections Nov. 6, defeating four-term incumbent Republican Kevin Yoder.

According to CNN, Davids’ win was a pickup for the Democratic party and minority women in Kansas since she was one of two female Democrats elected into major offices in a typically Republican state, allowing Democrats to gain more power in the House.  

The midterm victory also earned Davids several political “firsts,” as she is now the first openly lesbian congresswoman, one of the first Native American women in Congress and the first congresswoman who used to be a professional mixed martial arts fighter.

In her victory speech, Davids said she planned to work for all voters in Johnson County, even those who voted for her opponent. Yoder had a similar message of unity in his concession speech.

“My wish and hope is that we will come together,” Yoder said. “We must unite, Republicans and Democrats must find common ground.”

Davids’ main political focuses are health care, specifically dealing with coverage for pre-existing conditions, and immigration policy, according to Young Democrats Club co-president and junior Graham Revare. Revare looks forward to her term and what she will bring to Congress.   

“I don’t think Kansas has ever elected a Native American-gay-woman-boxer before so I think that’s pretty fantastic,” Revare said. “Obviously it’s a new perspective on Congress. We’re sort of re-orienting ourselves towards what I think is a better set of goals to pursue, from what Yoder comparatively was able to do.”

National

The nearly 5000-strong migrant caravan reached Mexico City on Nov. 7 after traveling north from various countries in South America to escape unemployment and violence.

Many of the migrants look to continue on to the U.S., with some attempting to gain asylum from the U.S. government while others illegally cross the border. The caravan has grabbed the attention of President Donald Trump, who announced Oct. 29 that the U.S. would send 5,200 troops to the Mexican border to contain the migrants and prevent illegal immigration.  

Upon the caravan’s arrival in Mexico, the Mexican government has been offering work visas to the migrants and granting them refugee or asylum status in order to allow them to stay in the country legally.

Hundreds of volunteers and city employees in Mexico City have been handing out basic supplies and food to the migrants, who have been camping out in and around the Jesus Martinez stadium.

According to BBC News, over the month leading up to their arrival in Mexico City, the caravan has faced many difficulties, the main problems being lack of food and sunburn and dehydration from the hot weather. The group has also faced kidnapping and trafficking along the way. However the group’s size has given them more protection compared to smaller migrant caravans in the past.

The migrants’ main goal for leaving was to escape the violence, economic inflation and job scarcity in their home countries such as Honduras and Guatemala. According to BBC News, many of the migrant’s seek a new life and better opportunities in Mexico or America.

“It’s our dream to reach the United States, we want to give our children a better future and here [in Honduras] we can’t find work,” one mother of two told local newspaper El Heraldo.