Editorial

OPINION: TikTok, do we really need it? By Marissa ContrerasEditor-in-ChiefPublished Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 At 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, the U.S. was hit with a ban that would only last 12 hours. TikTok, ByteDance’s well-known social media platform used by all ages, went through a congressionally mandated ban.  The app’s use has helped small businesses, spread awareness, offered D.I.Y. or allowed people to share light-hearted funny videos. There was something for everyone; however, when TikTok went down, it left everyone turning to other apps, such as Instagram, the social platform X, and RedNote, a Chinese app similar to TikTok. Marissa Contreras With this ban came the question, was it ever that serious? As a user myself, I also found myself wondering what would come...

OPINION: This is for all the sad voters By Marissa ContrerasManaging EditorPublished Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 Nov. 5, 2024, was a stressful night. Being in The Bridge office, looking at the red and blue United States, I waited for Pennsylvania to turn blue. It never happened. By morning, our new president was called, and it was who I expected but not who I wanted. Marissa Contreras The reason I wanted a female president was because I knew everyone’s basic human rights were going to be protected. I knew I would be a secure woman living in America. As an American, I knew my privilege with this election was higher than others. But as a person with empathy, I knew no amount of tears and love could help my friends whose lives after this election will not have the same outcome as...

OPINION: Goodbye TAMIU, it’s been nice By Juan Carlos PuenteEditor-in-chiefPublished Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 This will be my last opinion piece for The Bridge since I am graduating in December. At first, I had been putting this article off because I felt like I had nothing to say. I’m graduating, why does it matter? Now that I am writing, I can’t help but feel a tightness in my chest. Juan Carlos Puente The Bridge has been my home away from home for the past three semesters and I’m left with the regret that I didn’t join sooner. Coming into college, I was in a bad headspace riding off a breakup and a parental divorce. I felt that nothing else mattered, not even my classes. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do afterward, the original plan was graphic design at University ...

OPINION: Brat summer prompts voter dissonance By Ana VaraAssistant EditorPublished Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 As the Troye Sivan- and Charlotte “Charli xcx” Aitchison-led Sweat Tour comes to an end and the brat remix album continues to top the charts, we have only just left the peak of brat summer—a phenomenon I can’t quite fathom to have grown quite as big as it has. I should understand this. My second-ever college class taught us that the last sequence of the existence of social movements in contemporary American society is integration, a folding into the mainstream culture. My mind won’t budge. Ana Varaassistant editor Though I can see it. There we are, the American populace, barrelling down from the brat green hill that we decided to stake our Jonathan “Lil Jon” Smith-endor...

OPINION: In Satan can we trust? By Dora GuerreroAssistant EditorPublished Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 Sometimes it’s so much easier to fear the things you don’t understand; sometimes people demonize them so they don’t have to look at them for too long. As children, they tell us to not misbehave or “el cucuy” is going to take us; the cucuy represents some evil that is out of this world, which goes against everything we have been taught. This ungodly presence steals misbehaving children and takes them away, but are all “ungodly” things really that bad? Dora GuerreroAssistant Editor The Satanic Panic from the 1990s created a false vision of the “occult” focused on a great conspiracy of Satanic cults that abduct children for human sacrifices. What many people failed to realize is that t...

OPINION: Eros’s quiver holds piercing influence Marissa ContrerasManaging EditorPublished Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 According to Greek mythology, it is said that the god Hephaestus allowed for two beings to become one after the god Zeus separated them. This became evident on the Friday of the first week of school. Where exactly? The Kinesiology Convocation Building Green Greek Showcase. He didn’t come right away, but when he did, I didn’t notice. I was talking to my friend, not caring about the crowd of smelly, sweaty college students. Marissa Contreras Then I felt the tug of my heart turn me around, and there he was. Talking among his bros. They looked dumb, but he didn’t. I wanted to go up to him, but the worst scenario played out immediately in my mind. What if I stut...

OPINION: Games bring joy through friendships By Neto GonzalezEditor-in-chiefPublished Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023 Growing up, playing video games with friends is often among a gamer's fondest memories. These are the moments that etch themselves into our hearts, forging friendships that withstand the tests of time and distance. In those days, we counted down the minutes at school, eager to return home and immerse ourselves in the virtual worlds that awaited us. It was a time of boundless excitement, where the hardships of the day could be forgotten, even if for a short moment. Neto Gonzalez Editor-in-chief As we reminisce about the games of our childhood, it's easy to get lost in a wave of melancholic nostalgia. Games like "COD: Zombies," "GTA V" and "MW2" hold a special place in o...

OPINION: Fear will find you, so let it fuel you By David Gomez Jr.Editor-in-chiefPublished Friday, May 5, 2023 As I type away this opinion column between our staff’s managing editor and interns on the row of Macs in our office, I realize this is something I’ve always wanted. It’s a shame it comes at the end of my time at this university. The paragraph you just read was written two days ago. This opinion piece will be written with a new mindset and for the better—the theme is fear. David Gomez Jr. I must admit I am taking inspiration from Kendrick Lamar’s song “Fear” because it is a powerful song, and lately, that’s what I’ve been feeling while I type away on this laptop on my kitchen table. I fear earning my degree will be for nothing. I fear I gave up so much quality tim...