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Cam Lyons

Cam Lyons has been an editor for The Thunderword since 2023. Their short story blog, loser pulp is released twice a month. https://thiccarus.substack.com/?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web

Cam Lyons's Recent Posts:

New York City Mayor Eric Adams charged with bribery

The recent unsealing of bribery and campaign finance charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams has narrowed the public eye into the past few years of his behavior and business dealings.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York unsealed the indictment on Thursday, Sept. 26, sparking public outcry for his resignation.

2024 summer pop culture recap

Welcome back Highline scholars! You have likely come across the myriad of world-changing news that has been unfolding over the past few months, and things can slip by if we don’t give them their due diligence, so let us recount some of the biggest pop culture events that have happened since our last issue of the Thunderword.

Emily Hamilton confidently steps into her future

Emily Hamilton (she/her) is not a stranger to service to others. Even in regard to her passion for poetry and literature, Hamilton has served illustriously on the National Poetry Committee here at Highline, carrying the torch proudly, and with it, the tradition among Thunderbirds to be especially keen to the arts.

Highline advisor Tarisa Matsumoto-Maxfield said of Hamilton, “Her work has helped to elevate the writing and creative works of Highline students.”

Illegally Blonde: Former President Trump convicted on 34 felony counts

After a near 12-hour deliberation over the course of two days, jurors made U.S. history last week by finding former President Donald J. Trump guilty on all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. The verdict has been the center of stark debate across the nation, highlighting the divide between voters of the Republican and Democratic parties.

Immediately after leaving the Manhattan courtroom, Trump decried a “rigged trial”, and made multiple comments on the dangers inflicting the United States, should he be convicted. These comments echoed his intentions to exercise revenge-laden control of the country if he wins a second term as president.

Jack3d walked so Panera Bread’s charged lemonade could run

With Panera Bread dropping its Charged Lemonade in response to multiple wrongful death lawsuits, it may be time for a stroll down memory lane back to 2013, when an enraptured gym culture felt the side-effects of another nearly unregulated stimulant, Jack3d.

Jack3d (pronounced ‘jacked’) is a caffeinated pre-workout supplement that was banned in the U.S. in 2013 because of the illegal substance, dimethylamylamine (DMAA), though its updated formula sits on store shelves to this day.

Laura Manning leaves her legacy a legend

Laura Manning has taught at Highline since the spring of 2000, and that length of service hardly does proper credit to the sheer impact she has had both in and beyond our campus. The end of this spring quarter marks the start of her retirement and following journey to Oklahoma, but students and faculty have found it difficult to let her go without showing exactly how much she means to our community.

The Thunderword sat down with Manning and reminisced about past challenges, lessons learned, and the core aspects of teaching that kept her coming back year after year, giving her all to students and faculty alike.

Highline College celebrates Earth Week

Earth Week at Highline has officially kicked off this past Monday with a presentation by Isaac Kastama of Water Street Public Affairs at the Mt. Constance building and has been raging ever since. Speakers and presenters like our institution’s own Woody Moses (Biology) and Lonnie Somer (Anthropology).

Activities like a forest cleanup, an environmental resource fair, and bird watching compelled students and faculty alike to take a step back and appreciate our environment and, perhaps even more importantly, see the urgency in caring for it.

BECU shred-it event comes to Tukwila this Saturday

Is your home cluttered with old paperwork or outdated electronics? BECU Tukwila Financial Center is holding their bi-annual shred-it event this Saturday, April 20, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and this could be the week that you clear out all of your clutter!

The event (held at 12770 Gateway Drive in Tukwila) has been a hit the past few years with those who want to get rid of old tax paperwork, and their partnership with the Tukwila Food Bank and Northwest Center makes this effort a win-win.

“Marry My Dead Body” is the queer friendly, paranormal, buddy cop movie that you didn’t know you needed

After finding a mysterious red envelope and being compelled by a group of old women into marrying their dead grandson, police detective Wu Ming-Han has to solve a drug case while simultaneously coming to terms with the ghost husband to whom he is now wedded. Maybe the hardest thing to believe about this movie is that it gradually gets weirder from there.

Wu (played by Greg Han Hsu) starts off the film as an arrogant and homophobic cop, chiefly concerned with his own career’s trajectory, and as he is faced with the unbelievable task of marrying a dead man, lest he continue to receive bad luck.

"X-Men ‘97" is a dream come true for lifelong fans (spoiler free review)

“X-Men ‘97” is more than another superhero property; it is a revitalization of the famous 1992 X-Men cartoon that – despite its low production value – enraptured 90’s kids back before the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) took over the comic landscape. “X-Men ‘97” is everything that a nostalgia property should be.

Though only four episodes have been released so far, the new iteration has created waves online, widely consisting of praise for the series’s animation, faithfulness to the comics, and impressively crafted dialogue.

Poetry and self-reliance: a conversation with Susan Rich

Highline College has been a bastion for passionate educators and leaders since 1961, and for the last 25 years, it has been fortunate enough to be home to Susan Rich. The Thunderword spoke with Rich this past week and discussed her tenure at Highline, her favorite moments at the Arcturus publication, and some highlights from her upcoming book, “Blue Atlas”.

Taking in the views on campus as her last quarter as Faculty Editor for “Arcturus” and creative writing teacher, Rich is now looking onward to her oncoming book tour with as much creative zeal as she did at the start of her career.

Go watch “Dune Part Two” in theaters right now (spoiler free)

Denis Villanueve’s cinematic vision of the sci-fi epic “Dune” has graced us with the second part of the acclaimed novel. Timothy Chalamet, Zendaya, and Rebecca Ferguson are three most prominent actors in an already stacked cast that completely electrifies what would have already been a pillar of sci-fi moviedom.

The first “Dune” released in 2021 ended with Paul and his mother escaping into the desert after the Harkonnens failed to keep the mother/son witch combo restrained. The competing houses and societies assumed Paul’s family was completely wiped out with the news of his father’s demise.

Opinion: A response to the recent visit from anti-abortion advocates

Disclaimer: Please consider where you are mentally and emotionally right now. The following article addresses and elaborates on the subject of abortion, sexual assault, and death.

Our campus received a visit from a group of men this past week. They brought with them enlarged photos of fetuses in an attempt to spread their belief that abortion is wrong, and nobody should have access to safe reproductive healthcare.  

It is clear to me that they did not come to fight for a woman’s right to choose to see her pregnancy to term. Women already have that right, and nobody has tried to take it away. Instead, they came here to prevent women from ever having that choice.

Opinion: “Madame Web” is great actually

Dakota Johnson stars as the subtly-named Cassandra Webb in Sony’s newest attempt at money laundering: “Madame Web”. Boasting a 3.8 out of 10 stars on IMDb, a 13% critic rating, and 55% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, “Madame Web” is, in my opinion, actually not a bad movie – but perhaps the greatest Pepsi commercial ever made.

While product placement is a common aspect in film, especially modern film, “Madame Web” seems to hint at Spiderman characters as side plots to a larger, expanded “Pepsi Cinematic Universe” (PCU), which I personally find inspiring.

Even the climax of “Madame Web” is atop a giant Pepsi sign, wherein one of the letters falls off and crushes the villain, almost suggesting that the hero all along was Pepsi Cola, with some assistance from strong independent women. 

Veterans Office grand opening at Highline College

Last time the Thunderword checked in with Highline College’s own Veterans Services Office, Kendall Evans, who is at the helm, was eagerly awaiting a new and improved room for student veterans to congregate at their leisure. Well, that day has come!

Evans and his student veteran staff want to spread the word that Building 23, room 111, boasts free coffee, snacks, a TV, and computers for those wanting to get ahead in class while they take a load off.

Highline to host Year of the Dragon Festival

The Lunar New Year is approaching, and that means the Year of the Dragon event is coming soon to the Highline campus! 

The Inter-Cultural Center (ICC) and Global Student Ambassadors (GSA) have been working together to give the Highline community a true celebration on Feb. 15 with a stockpile of games and food for any students who want to come by and join the festivities.

Inter-Cultural Center peer facilitator Chansophalysa Than sat down with the Thunderword to explain what the Lunar New Year means to her, as well as providing everyone a sneak preview of the good things to come.

Is there a right way to give to charity? 

Is cash really the best thing to donate? How used can my used clothes be? Exactly how do I get a tax write-off for this? If you’ve ever considered donating to a charity, you have most likely gone through a thought process similar to this.

Before we can get into the specifics, let’s start with the first question you will encounter: Which charity do I pick? Are there bad ones?

Three songs/Three artists

Spotify has over 550 million active listeners, and artists like Taylor Swift and Drake hover around 100 million monthly for themselves, but what else is out there, waiting to be discovered?

Here are three songs by three artists with under 50,000 active listeners that you should check out!

Highline Highlights - Sergio Martin Acuña Carrillo (he/him)

Welcome to Highline Highlights, where we at the Thunderword get to sit down with one of countless students who make up our incredible campus community! This time, we sat down with Sergio Martin Acuña Carrillo, and asked him five questions to really get to know him!

Resolving New Year’s resolutions

The new year is underway, and we are already halfway through January, so this begs the question: How are your New Year’s resolutions coming along? 

Whether a person makes a fitness goal, plans to spend more time with family, or even spending less time on their phone, the follow through of these resolutions seems to be the biggest challenge. 

No need to fear, the Thunderword is here to simplify the problem and offer three tangible solutions to help make this year’s plans come through to their fullest!

Career & Transfer Services sets students’ sights beyond Highline

With scores of students starting new careers or focusing on transitioning to a university, it is paramount that they know they don’t have to take these challenges on alone. Here at Highline there are systems in place that can help them make sense of it all.

In fact, the amount of resources afforded to working Highline College students is more plentiful than some may realize. 

The Thunderword sat down with Daniela Esan with Highline College Career & Transfer Services to get the word out about what you can expect from her department and how to get the most out of your time at Highline.

Highline Highlights - Marianna Ibarra (she/her)

Every week, the Thunderword asks five questions to a student around campus to get to know the wonderful people that make up our community! We started off the new year and new quarter by sitting down with student Marianna Ibarra. 

Three songs/Three artists

Spotify has over 550 million active listeners, and artists like Taylor Swift and Drake hover around 100 million monthly for themselves. But what else is out there, waiting to be discovered?

Here are three songs by three artists with under 15,000 active listeners that you should check out! 

An open letter to anyone considering suicide

Hey there. If you’re up to it, I would like to extend some thoughts to you. I don’t have the ability to fix a problem, or stop the stress, but I would like to exist in your mind for just as long as it takes you to read this, and then maybe as long as you’ll have me after that.

My life has been touched by suicide at numerous angles, and even knowing that pain, I have still sought it out myself in the past. Those I’ve confided in throughout my life have had a countless number of remedies that worked for each of their own individual minds and souls.

Movie Duel Christmas Edition! “Violent Night” vs. “The Mean One”

Christmas is right around the corner so it’s time to watch a Christmas horror comedy where a Santa figure lays waste to unsuspecting civilians. “Violent Night” and “The Mean One” face off in this week’s Christmas Edition of Movie Duel!

“Violent Night”(2022, directed by Tommy Wirkola) boasts an impressive cast with David Harbour (best known for his role in “Stranger Things”, 2016) and John Leguizamo (who appears in many movies including “Super Mario Bros”, 1993) facing off as Santa versus a mercenary named Scrooge. Both actors are not only watchable, but seem to be having genuine fun in their roles.

Highline Highlights - Ayoub Kemao (he/they)

This week the Thunderword sat down with Ayoub Kemao to discuss his favorite things! Ayoub is a new student at Highline College who is enjoying the process of learning and adapting to new challenges out of high school.

Highline Highlights - Lizhuojing Xu (goes by Jing, she/her)

The students of Highline College are such an eclectic group of scholars. It seems impossible to know each and every one on campus, but that won’t stop the Thunderword from trying.

Welcome to Highline Highlights, where we sit down with a fellow academic and take a peek into their life, using only five questions. This week’s subject is Lizhuojing Xu, who goes by Jing.

Three ways to take care of your mental health over the holidays

Taking care of your mental health should be a priority all year long, but never is it more important (and often never more difficult) than when the holiday season gets in full swing.

Halloween is in our rear view mirrors, Thanksgiving is in full swing, and December is approaching at full speed. Christmas music is flooding your local mall and students are nearing a much needed break from school. So why do so many people feel more stressed than ever?

Movie Duel! "Antz" vs. "A Bug’s Life"

A neurotic underdog ant falls in love with the princess of the rest of the ants and is compelled to stand up to an authoritarian predator in this computer-animated allegory for Communism? It sounds like we watched “Antz” (1998) and “A Bug’s Life” (1998) this week! But which film is superior?

Because this is Hollywood, we look first to the cash each film brought in. Disney’s “A Bug’s Life” grossed $360 million USD at the box office, doubling the $171 million USD that Dreamworks’ “Antz” was able to bring home.

Cyberforce team represents Highline in annual competition

Highline’s Cyberforce team competed against a staggering 107 schools this past weekend, at a competition annually held by the US Department of Energy. Students competed for accolades, networking opportunities, and valuable internships, though everyone went home with a rich experience in cybersecurity.

Each year the competition reflects a different scenario – this year it was ensuring smart meters and that everything behind the scenes was kept operational. Jordyn Ceplina and her team secured their website and database, fixing over 40 anomalies, all the while proudly representing their team and campus.

Drop in relief funding hurts local nonprofits

Highline College’s own community pantry, along with other local food banks, shelters, and nonprofits are experiencing a drought in funds, due to a major dip in both state and federal funding.

Though a myriad of problems can affect food bank funding, there is a specific issue that has hit these shelters, and it has to do with a drop in COVID relief – a fundamental source for nonprofits during the brutal impact COVID had on the world’s population.

Sitting down with the mayor: A conversation about involvement, civility, and coffee

Mayor Matt Mahoney and Deputy Mayor Traci Buxton are on a crusade to learn from, and engage with, the everyday citizens of Des Moines, Wash. In less than a week, you can find them at the city’s monthly social staple: Coffee With The Mayor.

Coffee With The Mayor has been a hopeful endeavor by the city leadership to invite the people of Des Moines to make themselves heard, stay informed, and, while they’re at it, support some local businesses.

Resources abound for veterans at Highline

Veterans of the US military have more benefits afforded to them now, than any previous generation, and Kendall Evans with Veterans Services wants every single vet at Highline to take advantage of them.

If you’re a veteran, you have already seen the basics: the act of enrolling in classes requires you to email your schedule and verify your monthly enrollment with the Veterans Affairs (VA). But there is so much more at Highline that is built just for you, as well as a team dedicated to guiding you every step of the way.

Movie Duel! Halloween Edition!

It happened, our duels are dueling! “Freddy vs. Jason (2003)” (FVJ) and “Alien vs. Predator (2004)” (AVP) both provide a solid, simple, and foolproof premise: take two popular franchises and mash them like two action figures together until one of them breaks.

“FVJ” gives us two horror icons finally battling, after nearly 20 years of solo movies. The eighth movie in the Freddy franchise and the 11th in the Jason franchise, we begin with two fleshed out characters (pardon the pun) sitting in hell as punishment for their crimes.

Movie Duel! "Venom" vs. "Upgrade"

Crazy fight scenes, outlandish sci-fi, suspicious companies lurking in the shadows, and two near identical actors both having a violent second consciousness fused to them? Sign us up! Welcome back to Movie Duel, where we pit “Venom” (2018) against “Upgrade” (2018).

Join me as we compare box office revenue, casts, fans, and overall execution to find out which one of these dark twin tales is truly the better choice.

Movie Duel! "Despicable Me" vs. "Megamind"

Let’s talk about that 2010 kids comedy where a super villain played by a middle aged comedic actor who loses his purpose as an antagonist then ends up saving the world. Of course, I’m talking about Despicable Me, with Steve Carell. Oh, and also Megamind, with Will Ferrell.

This is more common than you think, and there’s even a name for it: twin films. Multiple studios catch wind of developing projects from screenwriters and directors, or sometimes the rights to a book becomes available and the race to cash in for the newest summer blockbuster begins.

America’s romance with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

On Sept. 24, the country set its eyes on a promising new love; Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s possible relationship, following the NFL Chiefs game. Swift was seen at the event, sitting with the athlete’s mother, Donna Kelce, and even leaving with Travis afterwards.

At first glance, this interaction resembles any other celebrity get together, whereas two famous people are seen in public and the occasional tabloid will sound off some gossip, hoping to stir up some clicks or views.

Solution for homeless encampment weighed down by ticking clock

Burien City Council voted in Ordinance #818, a law created to combat the growing unhoused population that has been afflicting the city, as well as the surrounding counties, including Seattle.

The purpose of this ordinance (officially voted on September 26) is to remove, or clear out unhoused people, though it is written specifically to target people sleeping or pitching tents on publicly owned property.