TUESDAY
January 17, 2023
VOLUME 112 ISSUE 16 www.UniversityStar.com
COMMUNITY
HEALTH
Pandemic, cold and flu season: What to expect returning to campus By Blake Leschber News Reporter
Stonewall Warehouse after its closure, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, on The Square. PHOTO BY ALLISON MENDOZA
Stonewall closes after eight years By Elijah Cardenas Life and Arts Contributor On Jan. 1, after a successful New Year’s event, Stonewall Warehouse, San Marcos’ only LGBTQ nightclub, closed its doors and sold the business. According to former manager and show director Lena Jacobs, the Stonewall Warehouse staff were called in by the owner to discuss plans for the new rules for 2023 but after the meeting, the entire Stonewall staff was let go.
SEE COMMUNITY PAGE 5
This winter is different than the ones prior as the cold, flu and COVID-19 have continued to wildly spread across communities. Dr. Emilio Carranco, assistant vice president for student affairs and director of the Student Health Center, said viruses spread earlier this season causing a worse winter than in previous years. “We had a very early flu season, we saw very high levels of flu activity in the state of Texas,” Carranco said. “We saw a lot of people developing serious illness with the flu so we saw that earlier this season than in other seasons.” Carranco said that while the flu may be starting to decline, other viruses such as Rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, are continuing to rise and infect individuals. According to Carranco, the Student Health Center can provide prescriptions for these viruses to help students who cannot get to pharmacies off campus. According to Rodney Rohde, professor and chair of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program at Texas State, the weather is a large factor. “When it’s cold weather […] the humidity goes way down,” Rohde said. “That’s because there’s no moisture in the air and when that happens, viruses can do a better job of staying airborne because there’s nothing to pull them out of the air.”
Another explanation for these diseases spreading during the winter according to Kim Deming, an MSN registered nurse, is that more people are gathering indoors rather than having outdoor experiences. “We usually see a rise in flu, cold and COVID cases in the winter due to many gatherings,” Deming said. “These
would include schools and colleges starting classes, holiday parties, social events, and travel for holiday.”
SEE HEALTH PAGE 2
ILLISTRATION BY AFAAF ALNAHAS
MLK DAY
San Marcos and Texas State celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day By Brianna Chavez Life and Arts Reporter
Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a federal holiday in 1983, 15 years after the civil rights activist’s assassination. The holiday wasn’t officially celebrated nationwide until three years later in 1986. Since then, those who remember King’s legacy have come together each holiday to celebrate and acknowledge the work that has been accomplished, as well as the work that still needs to be done in order for everyone to be treated equally. The Dunbar Heritage Association (DHA) hosted its 21st MLK March and Celebration on Jan. 16, as well as an MLK Kids event held at the San Marcos Public Library on Jan. 14. Jonafa Banbury, secretary for the DHA, was excited for the community to celebrate. “It’s that one time of year where so many people come together for the very same reason,” Banbury said. “We hope that they learn a little bit of history, as well as remember and commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s life.” The march began with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Crossroads Memorial on the corner of LBJ and MLK Drives. The march began at 9:30 a.m. at the memorial and continued down MLK Drive. Alex Banbury Jr., president of the DHA, noted that the route goes through The Dunbar Historic District, a historically Black neighborhood in San Marcos. “Given this opportunity to walk through the neighborhood lets others know that there is a historically Black neighborhood here in San Marcos, filled with a lot of history,” Banbury Jr. said. The Dunbar Historic District holds memories of days past but is something DHA doesn’t want the public to forget. Harvey E. Miller, the founder of the DHA, moved to San Marcos in 1966. Years later, Miller helped turn the old Dunbar school, which was closed due to integration, into the Dunbar Park and Dunbar Recreation Center for the community. He also organized Juneteenth celebrations. He organized the
DHA in 1999. Miller died in 2020, but the legacy of his community work lives on. Some people may see MLK Day as a day off from work or a three-day weekend, Jonafa Banbury said, but everyone should be reminded of its historical significance. “This celebration of MLK Day is an opportunity to celebrate as well as start thinking of the history because the civil rights movement wasn’t very long ago,” Banbury said. “There are things happening all the time, injustices that we still see today” After the walk down MLK Drive, Volunteers walk in the Dunbar Heritage Association’s 21st MLK March and the group made their way to the Hays Celebration, Monday, Jan. 16,2023, in downtown San Marcos. County Historic Courthouse where a celebration was held. This year’s theme was Black Resistance and featured guest speakers including Buda city council member LaVonia Horne-Williams and Texas State President Kelly Damphousse. Creole food from Lil’ Lafayette 337, sausage wraps from the San Marcos Police Department and snacks from Texas State’s Center for Diversity and Gender Studies were freely served at the Dunbar Recreation Center after the program and keynote address. Texas State’s Division of Inclusive Excellence hosted the 39th annual Commemoration Celebration, with a poster-making workshop on Jan. 16 in People wave and walk during the Dunbar Heritage Association’s 21st MLK the LBJ Student Center (LBJSC) Unity March and Celebration, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in downtown San Marcos. Lounge. The posters will be used for the Solidarity March on from the LBJ Statue to the LBJSC Grand Ballroom on Jan. 17. Evan Bookman, a political science master and graduate assistant within the Division of Inclusive Excellence, said that Texas State alumnus and former president Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. worked to enact the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960s. King pressured Johnson to sign into law the policies that his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, had been working toward. From the ending of legal segregation to prohibiting racial discrimination when it comes to voting, these Marchers hold up signs for Joshua Wright during the Dunbar Heritage Association’s laws changed the U.S. and Johnson’s presidency. 21st MLK March and Celebration, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in downtown San Marcos. Wright, a pretrial inmate at the Hays County Jail, was shot and killed by a Hays CounSEE MLK DAY PAGE 7 ty corrections officer while receiving treatment at the Ascension Seton Hays Hospital in December. PHOTOS BY ALLISON MENDOZA