Texas Tribune
Brandon Herrera gains momentum against Tony Gonzales
by Matthew Choi and Renzo Downey, The Texas Tribune – 2024-03-25 17:40:01
SUMMARY: Brandon Herrera, a pro-gun influencer with 3.3 million YouTube subscribers, is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, the state's sole GOP House member who voted for gun safety legislation after the Uvalde school shooting. Motivated by Gonzales' stance on gun rights, Herrera is making his first political bid. Known as “The AK Guy,” his outspoken and controversial online presence includes dark humor and political incorrectness, which has offended many people across the political spectrum. Despite having no formal political experience, Herrera's grassroots campaign has gained traction. Gonzales, despite facing backlash for perceived moderate stances, still garnered substantial campaign funding, endorsements, and performed well in the primary. Yet without securing a majority, Gonzales now faces Herrera in a May 28 primary runoff. Herrera's online following and campaign contributions have boosted his candidacy, contrasting Gonzales' establishment support.
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Editor's note: This story contains explicit language.
WASHINGTON — Stepping out of a recent hearing in the Colorado Legislature to testify against a ban on semi-automatic firearms, pro-gun activist Brandon Herrera griped into a camera about how much he hates these kinds of things.
“I don't know why I signed up to talk to politicians,” Herrera said, speaking to his 3.3 million gun-loving YouTube subscribers. “I forgot how much I fucking hate doing that.”
He may soon have to.
Herrera, a 28-year-old influencer who made a name for himself online by selling reassembled military-grade weapons and defending gun owners' rights, is building momentum in his bid to oust U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales — the lone Texas Republican in the House to vote for gun safety legislation that passed in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.
It's that particular vote that motivated Herrera's unexpected launch into politics.
“If you vote against our interests, if you vote against gun rights, if you vote against the Constitution, “ Herrera told a crowd of gun rights advocates last week in Denver, “we will challenge you, we will primary you and we will win. We will take your fucking job.”
Known for his politically incorrect online persona as “The AK Guy,” he is guns first, and politics second. His entire brand and fanbase surrounds promoting and sensationalizing guns on his YouTube channel where he explains gun history, trolls gun safety advocates, rates his favorite “gun fails” and shoots a variety of firearms.
His crassness and irreverence has offended many on the left and the right. He has no formal political experience and the most high-profile endorsement he has garnered so far is from Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who was reportedly scolded by GOP House leadership for campaigning against an incumbent.
Despite those hurdles, Herrera has managed to tap into right-wing ire against Gonzales — who is uniquely vulnerable this election cycle for his moderation on guns, as well as a handful of other policy positions Gonzales' took over the past two years that put him at odds with the state party.
Ahead of the March 5 primary, Gonzales, a San Antonian, appeared well armed to sail into a third term in the 23rd congressional district. His campaign had raised over $2.8 million before the primary — more than three times Herrera's haul — and had some of the deepest pockets in politics steadfastly backing him. The district stretches from San Antonio to El Paso and includes more of the border than any other Texas district.
Credit:
Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune
But Gonzales had made enemies in his party's right flank — a conflict that showed its heft when he failed to secure an outright victory with only 45% of the vote. In 2022, Gonzales won the primary with 78%. It's Gonzales' first major challenge since getting elected to Congress and his first race since the Texas Republican Party censured him last year for policy positions the party deemed insufficiently conservative — including his vote on the gun safety bill. Now Gonzales will face off against Herrera in the primary runoff on May 28.
To many of Gonzales' primary challengers, getting rid of Gonzales was as much the goal as serving in Congress, and they are now all rallying behind Herrera.
“Guess what???? I'm still in this race to make sure you LOSE!!” third-place candidate Julie Clark, who garnered 14% of the primary vote, said on social media to Gonzales.
Gonzales' campaign did not make him available for an interview for this story.
The edgelord
Running for Congress was a surprise move to many of Herrera's followers. He made the announcement at a Young Americans for Liberty event in Florida last August. Though a San Antonio resident now, he had spent much of his life in North Carolina.
His followers largely know him for his YouTube channel, which he said he first started in 2015 as “just some idiot kid making videos with guns.” Often clad in a T-shirt with brushed-back long hair, Herrera delivers monologues like a native of the internet: peppering his speeches with pithy one-liners and laughing when he knows he's pushing the envelope. He normally speaks from a gaming chair in front of a wall decorated with various firearms.
Popular videos include him testing guns that killed John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln and reviewing “the worst internet gun fails.” He once crashed a gun control rally and tricked anti-gun protestors into signing a petition supporting a pro-gun group, the Firearms Policy Coalition.
His gun-advocacy goes beyond his internet fame. He testified before Congress in a field hearing last year against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as overreaching its authority. He was invited to testify before the Colorado Legislature last week to defend access to guns as the state puts together new definitions and restrictions on assault weapons.
Prior to his internet fame, Herrera started a small firearm manufacturing business, from which he got his internet moniker, The AK Guy.
Herrera's flippant style has generated plenty of controversy. He joked about veteran suicide, saying: “I often think about putting a gun in my mouth, so I'm basically an honorary veteran.” That set off a firestorm of criticism, including from Texas' Border Czar Mike Banks who called the comment “sickening” on social media.
“I just can't even believe that someone would think that something like that is funny,” Clark, whose husband is a veteran, said in an interview before the primary.
“Special place in hell for scum and villainy who mock veteran suicide or shoot up a church,” Gonzales, who is a retired Navy master chief, posted on social media.
Herrera said that the veteran suicide joke was said in the company of veterans who use dark humor to cope with past trauma (Herrera himself is not a veteran).
“The military has failed veterans. The VA has failed veterans. Politicians have failed veterans. The last thing they have to rely on is dark humor,” Herrera said on the UnsubscribePodcast, which he helps host. “You want to take that from them? Fuck you.”
Left: Brandon Herrera, Republican candidate for the U.S. House for Texas' 23rd congressional district, signs magazine covers of himself that Brandon Holloway and his daughter Wilder brought to a campaign event in San Antonio. Right: A campaign sticker for Brandon Herrera.
Credit:
Christopher Lee for Texas Tribune
Herrera also mocked former President Donald Trump's son, Barron Trump, as “starting to become a meme” who is “like nine-feet tall.”
“Daddy is coming. Daddy is angry,” Herrera said, mocking the younger Trump.
As he runs for a seat in Congress, Herrera doesn't appear to be prioritizing friendships with his future colleagues. He joked that politicians were “diddling kids,” then cut himself off “before I'm found hanging from my ceiling fan.” In another video, Herrera joked, “It's going to be very awkward” when he reads the client list of Jeffrey Epstein — the deceased financier charged with sex trafficking — and sees that “several of the people on that list are my coworkers in Congress.”
Herrera has brushed off criticism as attempts to get him “canceled.” In an interview at a recent San Antonio campaign event, Herrera said that completely changing his tone would mean becoming a “sellout that people are afraid of their politicians being.”
“I'd rather lose for who I am than win for who I'm not,” he said.
Herrera also fielded concerns before the primary that he was a single-issue candidate with regard to guns. Bexar County GOP Chair Jeffery McManus, who supports Herrera, said at the San Antonio campaign event that he should be more vocal in his support of Trump and anti-abortion policy.
During the campaign event, Herrera also spoke at length about inflation and the border — the top priority across Texas Republican voters. It was colored, however, with his penchant to offend.
“You know, I saw a statistic that, last year, more fentanyl came across the southern border by weight than would be required to kill the entire population of the planet — or about 26 Austin feminists,” Herrera said to a burst of applause. “It's funny the way my mind works now after this whole thing, because I'm already seeing that headline tomorrow.”
Gonzales has no compunction skewering Herrera on social media, casting him as an uninformed carpetbagger who has no business running for Congress. Gonzales noted that Herrera voted in North Carolina for much of his life, calling him an “East Coast fake.” Gonzales' campaign set up a website highlighting objectionable comments by Herrera under the URL “brandonherrerafortexas.com,” including doubt that Trump could win the general election.
“Anti-Trump Brandon Herrera has trashed Donald Trump on numerous occasions. Perhaps Herrera has been too busy begging for clicks on the internet to notice, but Donald Trump is the GOP's presumptive nominee and the America First movement is stronger than ever. Herrera's anti-Trump remarks are a slap in the face to Republicans everywhere,” Gonzales wrote on social media.
Herrera shot back that Gonzales voted to create the bipartisan committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee eventually referred Trump to the Justice Department for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump's campaign did not respond to a request for comment on his involvement in the race.
Getting into a gun fight
Gonzales voted for the bipartisan gun safety bill in 2022 with Uvalde on his mind. The vote was held one month after Texas' most deadly school shooting which resulted in the deaths of 19 elementary school children and two teachers.
He was one of 14 Republicans in the House to vote with Democrats to pass the bill but no other Texas Republican supported it except for Sen. John Cornyn, who had a leading role in negotiating the legislation. Cornyn also faced backlash in Texas for working on the bill, though he sailed to reelection in 2020. The bill provided federal funding for state and local violence prevention efforts including the implementation of red flag laws. Gonzales used the bill to bring millions of federal funding to Uvalde.
Herrera, for his part, has said red flag laws are unconstitutional and that law enforcement should be held accountable for its botched response to the Uvalde shooting.
Despite his support for the gun safety legislation, Gonzales has a history of defending the Second Amendment, and said he doesn't support weapons bans or universal background checks. He told CNN in January: “I do not support anything that infringes upon the Constitution or, or prevents those from having due process.”
Still, disdain for Gonzales runs deep among the GOP's right flank over his gun vote. It was a main pillar of the Texas Republican Party's censure against Gonzales last year. The party also took issue with his votes supporting gay marriage protections, against a hardline rules package negotiated to make Kevin McCarthy House speaker and against U.S. Rep. Chip Roy's border security package. Gonzales eventually worked with Roy to get another hardline border security bill passed.
Clark, as then-chair of the Medina County Republican Party, first launched the censure motion against Gonzales, alleging he doesn't represent the conservative values of the district. Despite her previous misgivings about Herrera's humor, she endorsed Herrera and said she would do everything in her power to keep Gonzales from office.
Left: Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and Brandon Herrera, Republican candidate for the U.S. House for Texas' 23rd congressional district, speak at a campaign event in San Antonio. Right: Supporters of Brandon Herrera, Republican candidate for the U.S. House for Texas' 23rd congressional district, bow their heads in prayer during a campaign event in San Antonio.
Credit:
Christopher Lee for Texas Tribune
It's a sentiment echoed by the other challenger candidates.
Victor Avila, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agent who also ran in the primary, said he would support whoever was running against Gonzales in the runoff. He also appeared at the San Antonio campaign rally for Herrera.
“From the very beginning, when I met Brandon, we knew that we weren't challenging each other. The challenge was Tony Gonzales,” Avila said at the event. “We disrupted and dismantled this district in the right way.”
Even before the other primary challengers rallied behind him, Herrera proved himself a formidable candidate, fundraising over $827,000 before the primary mostly through individual contributions.
Despite his relentless gun advocacy, he was able to come in second in Uvalde County with 28.34% of the vote — almost two points more than his district-wide percentage. After the shooting, many of the victims' families advocated for Texas to raise the legal age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle, like the one the gunman used at the school.
Herrera may get most of his donations from out of state, but he insists that Gonzales is the one who's out of touch with his district.
“We've been going around all over the district to the little towns that a lot of — that Tony doesn't go to, the towns that are, I think, most negatively impacted by border issues and things, towns like Alpine, Fort Davis, Eagle Pass, just all these little towns that get overlooked for Bexar County or El Paso,” Herrera said.
Gonzales' campaign hits back that he has visited every county in the district and won a plurality in all of them. Gonzales has a record in delivering on hyperlocal issues in the sprawling district. Don McLaughlin, who was mayor of Uvalde during the Robb Elementary shooting, praised Gonzales for bringing federal aid money to the city in school safety grants.
In Brewster County, where Gonzales did worse than his district-wide average, County Judge Greg Henington said Gonzales had visited the county many times and has been easily accessible to him. Henington credited Gonzales for securing funding for Marathon School in the county.
“If I do need him for something or advice on what's going on in Washington, I have not had any issues with him. He's been responsive to me,” Henington said. Henington stressed that he could not endorse in the race as a nonpartisan official.
To Tony's rescue
Shortly after the primary, House Republican leadership came out endorsing Gonzales. House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that Gonzales has “gone above and beyond to keep the pressure” on the Biden administration on the border and called him “one of the hardest working members I have the pleasure of serving with.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik and Majority Whip Tom Emmer all issued similar statements.
Gonzales has also made moves to push back on being labeled a moderate, telling the Tribune last year that he would rather call himself “a conservative Hispanic. But many people call me many different things. And they're not all good.”
He was one of the leading advocates for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — an effort spearheaded by far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
He also signed onto a letter led by House Freedom Caucus leaders, including Roy, with whom he feuded over border legislation, threatening to vote against federal funding legislation that doesn't include hardline enforcement measures at the border. When a group of Texas Republicans sent out a similar letter in August, Gonzales did not sign on. Gonzales is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which sets federal funding levels for individual programs.
Still, he has a lot of backing from moderating forces in Congress. His top two donors are the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying and campaign organization that gives to members of both parties, and the No Labels Problem Solvers Political Action Committee, a group that promotes bipartisanship.
“We proudly endorse Rep. Tony Gonzales, as he has proven to be a strong supporter of the US-Israel relationship during his tenure in Congress. For example, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, he has worked to ensure that Israel has the resources it needs to defend itself against Hamas and other Iranian terrorist proxies,” AIPAC's political action committee said in a statement. The group said it would continue to support Gonzales into the runoff.
Gonzales also enjoys support for corporate interests, including Dell Technologies, Toyota and Devon Energy, all of whom gave $5,000, the maximum individual contribution per election.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also endorsed Gonzales after the primary, potentially paving the way for a Trump endorsement ahead of the runoff. Trump endorsed Gonzales before his competitive 2020 runoff, helping him beat Sen. Ted Cruz-backed rival Raul Reyes.
Herrera said Patrick's endorsement was “disappointing” though “I wish he really paid more attention to Tony's record.” Herrera pointed out that he worked on Trump's 2016 campaign and was hoping to secure his endorsement.
Still, Herrera takes pride in his grassroots operation. His YouTube following was a major force in his ability to get where he is now.
“I don't have any big shady corporate donors. I don't have any Super PACs. I don't have any of that stuff,” Herrera said in a YouTube video. “I have an army of militant pissed off autists who want to remind their politicians that they can be held accountable. And at the end of the day, that proved to be enough.”
— Renzo Downey reported from San Antonio.
Disclosure: Dell has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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Texas Tribune
North Texas colleges partner to make transferring easier
by By Sneha Dey, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-26 13:00:45
SUMMARY: Four Dallas-area schools—Dallas College, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman's University, and the University of North Texas at Dallas—are collaborating to streamline credit transfers from community colleges to four-year universities. This initiative aims to prevent credit losses, helping students stay on track for degree completion. More than 13,000 Texas transfer students lost credits in 2022, delaying their graduation and increasing costs. The partnership introduces joint academic advising and three new programs in business, education, and health sciences, with an online portal to track credit transferability. This effort aligns with Texas legislators' changes to incentivize community college transfers.
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Transferring between North Texas colleges could get easier because of an effort to prevent students from losing credits and help them stay on track to finish their degrees.
Four Dallas-area schools — Dallas College, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman's University and the University of North Texas at Dallas — are partnering to improve the pipeline from community college to four-year universities. The schools are introducing joint academic advising and new programs of study to help students pick courses that will transfer between the schools and count toward their bachelor's degrees.
More than 13,000 Texas students who transferred from a two-year college to a university in the fall of 2022 did not receive credit for at least one of the courses they completed, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Those students did not get credit for about 21,000 community college courses because those credits fell outside of their new school's degree requirements.
Students lose time and money when they take classes that don't end up counting toward their degrees. The setback can discourage them from seeking or completing their bachelor's degree altogether. Those who do complete their degrees are not graduating fast enough, which delays their entry into the workforce and makes going to college more expensive.
The partnership between the Dallas-area schools includes three new programs of study in high demand fields — business, education and health sciences. The schools have agreed on what Dallas College courses will be counted for credit if students transfer to related majors at the Texas A&M Commerce, TWU and UNT-Dallas.
“The collaborative will simplify the process by providing clear, concise information for students,” UNT-Dallas President Warren von Eschenbach said. “It's really building the bridge across that pipeline between the two-year and the four-year institutions.”
The new programs of study mimic Texas Direct, a state transfer initiative that identified courses from several majors that would be guaranteed to transfer to any public university in the state.
The Dallas-area schools will also launch an online portal in the fall where prospective students will be able to see how their credits will be counted across the schools and track their progress toward degrees.
Texas legislators changed how they finance community colleges last year in part to incentivize transfers. Community colleges now get more money when their students earn at least 15 semester credit hours before enrolling in a four-year university.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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Texas Tribune
What I learned from my own reproductive health care emergency
by By Jayme Lozano Carver, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-26 05:00:00
SUMMARY: A journalist recounts her harrowing health ordeal with reproductive issues, highlighting systemic problems in the healthcare system. After suffering from severe migraines and period pains, she discovered she had a large ovarian cyst and fibroid, necessitating urgent surgery. Despite insurance, her medical bills were exorbitant. She faced long wait times, difficulty in finding a doctor, and emotional turmoil. The piece underscores the prevalence of untreated conditions like fibroids due to inadequate public education and research. Through her experience, she critiques the healthcare system's inefficiencies and high costs, while reflecting on her survival and ongoing fears of recurrence.
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Tick. Tick. Tick.
The clock in my OB-GYN's office was taunting me.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Any moment, I thought, this could kill me.
For more than a year, I knew something was wrong. Crippling migraines radiated through my skull, I would get dizzy standing up, and I felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside during my period. Every month, my husband offered to take me to the emergency room after I doubled over in pain. I usually objected, convinced I'd be brushed off because, well, periods are supposed to hurt.
As it turns out, periods aren't supposed to hurt that bad. A cyst the size of a peach was growing in my ovary, and they found an even bigger fibroid was on the back of my uterus. An urgent care doctor said I had to find an OB-GYN. I likely needed a hysterectomy, she said.
“You're done having kids, right?” She asked.
I had told her 10 minutes before that I didn't have any children yet.
I'm 33. My husband, Johnathon, and I married in 2022, after five years together. The doctor's words cut especially deep because this was the year we wanted to start a family.
My body was frozen, but my mind was racing. What does this mean? Am I in danger? She said hysterectomy. I have to be in danger.
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That was January. Yesterday, we published the second story in a series dedicated to maternal health in the Texas Panhandle, in partnership with the Journalism and Women Symposium. My reporting paints a bleak picture for women who live north of me in and around Amarillo, where health care is difficult to come by.
The same can be said around Lubbock in the South Plains, where I've always called home. As I was working on that project, I was on the brink of an emergency with my own reproductive health.
My experience showed me a little bit of everything wrong with our health care system, including the high costs and how hard it is to see a doctor. Conditions like uterine fibroids, tumors that grow in the uterus, are common — 26 million women in the U.S. are affected by them, women of color more. And up to 77% of women develop fibroids during their childbearing years. And yet, many go undiagnosed because of a lack of public education and research.
The rest of that day, my phone was hot from calling nearly every OB-GYN in Lubbock. I told them how big both masses were and cried while I waited on hold. Some weren't accepting new patients, some said it wasn't severe enough, and others had waitlists as far out as 2025.
I didn't have that kind of time.
I finally found an OB-GYN's nurse who could see me, then refer me to the doctor if needed. It was an extra step, but I just wanted to get in the door. From the time I was diagnosed to when I met my new doctor, a month passed; it was the end of February. Every day felt like a day too long.
She got straight to the point — the cyst was dangerous. At any moment, it could flip and twist my ovary, which could make me lose the ovary or, in rare cases, cause infertility. It had to be removed.
Then there was the fibroid. It was closer to the size of a grapefruit but I could live with it. If we took the cyst but left the fibroid, there would be no guarantee that my pain would go away. This option meant a more extensive abdominal surgery, paired with a longer and harder recovery.
I booked the surgery to remove both. My doctor had an opening six weeks away — an eternity handcuffed to my cyst. Intrusive thoughts swirled around my head: What if the cyst flipped? What if it popped? My internet search history reflected my anxiety: “Can a cyst make my ovary explode?”
Words like “common,” “harmless,” and “without treatment” weighed heavily. My assailants were huge. I was part of the 8% of women who develop large cysts that needed treatment.
I won a lottery I never wanted to play.
I scrolled social media endlessly for other women's experiences. Some women with more fibroids or bigger cysts than mine commented that they couldn't afford their surgeries yet. It gave me a small taste of survivor's guilt. For so many people, medical care is a matter of debt or health, and some don't have the option to choose. I could split the $2,600 I had to pay upfront between two credit cards, and suffer with interest later.
A few days after scheduling, my doctor's office called and said my surgery was moved up to the following week. Someone else had canceled, and I was their first call.
I wasn't even close to coming to terms with my body betraying me. And I was frustrated with myself. I have reported on health care for years, and yet I fell into the same trap as so many of the people I've written about.
An urgent health issue caused by ignoring routine care? Check. A long wait because patients outnumber providers in my area? Check. Sticker shock from what it would cost to return to a clean bill of health? Check.
It was a cycle I couldn't escape. I was stuck in anger, close to depression, but far from acceptance.
By the morning of my surgery, some of my anger was replaced with resolve. I checked in, begrudgingly paid $100 toward my growing hospital bill, and tried to stay calm while my husband, parents and sister distracted me. My doctor stopped by my room to remind me that she's done this hundreds of times. She was confident. I was terrified.
Bright bunnies for Easter led the way along the walls of the hall toward the surgery center. I wondered if it was too late to turn back now.
Then, as my eyelids grew heavier from the anesthesia, I finally felt calm.
I woke up a few hours later. A little blue pillow, sewn by a local church, was on my midsection. I moved it and felt the bandages covering the seven-inch cut along the bottom of my stomach.
The surgery went as planned. She got everything, didn't find any more growths, and took photos in case I wanted to see, which I did. The fibroid looked like an anatomical heart. The cyst that I was so afraid of, was like a water balloon. Nurses warned me I would feel sore as the shots to numb my stomach muscles wore off.
I told myself to breathe. It's over.
But, the truth is I'm not sure if this is ever actually going to be over. Depression hit when I had my first period post-surgery — it was the most painful in my life. My body ached any time I got up, walked around, or even coughed. I wondered if the surgery and all the pain from recovering was even going to be worth it.
Then there's the scar. It's different from the one on my arm when I scraped it against my car's trunk as a teenager. It's not like a scratch from my cat. It's dark and sensitive to the touch. I see it and relive the whole experience all over again.
Months later, it's a good reminder of how I survived something that could have destroyed me.
I think back to the eight weeks between my diagnosis and my surgery, and I'm proud of how I managed to keep it together and write and prepare, knowing what was growing inside me. My friends, who know my love for horror movies, joke that I'm a real scream queen now, since I've been sliced open and lived to talk about it.
The price of everything does frustrate me when I look back on it. Some charges included $37 for inserting the needle in my vein for a blood sample or $11 per ibuprofen pill. After the first 30 minutes of my surgery, I was charged for every minute I was on the operating table. In the recovery room, I was charged per minute after the first 15 minutes while the anesthesia wore off. Before insurance, the surgery was nearly $31,000. My share after insurance was nearly $5,000.
There is something surreal about knowing the faults of our health care system first-hand now, instead of through collecting other people's stories. I still feel random rushes of pain, though not nearly as powerful as they were before. I'll probably always be worried that any little sign of change in my body, like my hair not growing or the return of my dizzy spells, means something is growing back.
All I can do is go to my annual screenings and stay ahead of it.
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Texas teachers welcome Kamala Harris’ support
by By Jaden Edison, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-25 18:21:47
SUMMARY: The Texas Tribune reports on the experiences of Texas teachers during the past few years, highlighting their feelings of burnout, lack of resources, and underappreciation, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, political decisions, and inadequate funding. At the American Federation of Teachers' national convention in Houston, Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged these struggles and expressed gratitude for their efforts, promising to advocate for adequate resources and fight against conservative measures that may undermine education. Teachers like Gena Coston and Tiffany Spurlock appreciated Harris' message of solidarity and urged for tangible changes to improve the education system and support for teachers.
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HOUSTON — Gena Coston summed up the experience of being a teacher over the last four years with two words: very stressful.
Texas teachers have reported feeling burned out, underresourced and underappreciated in the last few years as they've dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, classroom changes spearheaded by Republican officials and unsuccessful calls for more state funding toward raises.
For them, Vice President Kamala Harris' message of appreciation at the American Federation of Teachers' national convention in Houston on Thursday was a welcome change.
“It is you who have taken on the most noble of work, which is to concern yourself with the well-being of the children of America,” Harris said.
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Harris' remarks came on the last day of AFT's national convention, three days after the labor group of more than 1.7 million members became the first union to endorse her presidential run.
“I'm excited because I know that she cares,” said Coston, who teaches eighth grade English Language Arts in the Aldine Independent School District.
Gena Coston poses for a portrait at the American Federation of Teachers' 88th national convention after Vice President Kamala Harris' keynote speech.
Credit:
Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune
Harris' message was on par with what some educators said they hoped to hear from her in recent days — a message of solidarity. They acknowledged that while the president cannot control everything that happens in schools, their influence and support while shaping the national agenda is meaningful, particularly at this time in Texas.
In the last few years, teachers had to adapt to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrollment declined. People left the profession. Officials, districts and parents fought over mask mandates. New state laws limited how they could teach about race, gender and sexual orientation and expanded the influence of Christianity. School boards banned books. A mass shooting happened. The state ousted the democratically elected school board and superintendent of its largest district. Gov. Greg Abbott used his power to push for a program that would allow families to use tax dollars to pay for their children's private education. And through it all, their calls for raises were largely unheeded.
Tiffany Spurlock, who teaches second grade math and science in Cy Fair ISD, said she is concerned about school districts' budget woes, accentuated by inflation and the Texas Legislature's failure to approve significant funding increases amid the fight for vouchers last year.
Spurlock also worries about her colleagues in Houston ISD, which is currently under state oversight. She and her three children previously attended school in the district, and she said current students, parents and teachers are being held to an unfair standard.
Left: Convention attendees hug during Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III's speech. Right: Vice President Kamala Harris arrives on stage to deliver the keynote speech at the American Federation of Teachers' 88th national convention.
Credit:
Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune
Attendees of the American Federation of Teachers' 88th national convention clap during Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III's speech, a pastor who spoke before Vice President Kamala Harris' keynote speech at the convention.
Credit:
Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune
Spurlock said Harris has the perfect chance to advocate for a system that serves all families.
“We have to make sure we're doing things that's best for kids,” Spurlock said. “Not just processes wise, not just systematically, but also morally.”
Harris, who arrived in Houston a day earlier to receive a briefing on Hurricane Beryl recovery efforts, said Thursday she would fight for the rights of children and educators to have adequate resources to thrive in and out of the classroom.
She said she would also push back against a conservative-backed plan for a second Donald Trump presidency known as Project 2025, which calls for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, phasing out billions of dollars in assistance to schools serving low-income families and rolling back protections for students on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
“Project 2025 is a plan to return America to a dark past,” Harris said. “But we are not going back. No, we will move forward.”
Prior to Harris' arrival, some advocacy organizations criticized her for being “out of touch” with Texas values.
“The people of Texas made it clear that it wants parents in charge of their children's education — not government,” said Genevieve Collins, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Texas.
Coston saw Harris' visit as an opportunity for the vice president to hear teachers out. She said Texas teachers are quitting their jobs because the pay and school funding are inadequate. She worries about the rise in teachers without formal training. She is also concerned about student and teacher safety, particularly as it relates to gun violence.
Tiffany Spurlock poses for a portrait at the American Federation of Teachers' 88th national convention.
Credit:
Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune
“We gotta feed our teachers and get them motivated,” Coston said. “So in turn, they'll get the kids motivated.”
Going into Harris' speech, Coston's expectation was for the vice president to show awareness of what's going on in schools. She said she was encouraged by what she heard.
“Now we just gotta see it happen,” Coston said.
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