Daily Archives: November 19, 2020

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A different kind of Thanksgiving

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As we currently experience an upward trend of new COVID-19 cases, NECC students begin to prepare accordingly with the Mass.gov Safety Guidelines for their Thanksgiving celebrations.

We spoke with NECC students on how their plans have changed for Thanksgiving and if it has affected whether their excitement for the holiday has been greatly altered due to the new set of guidelines in place.

Nisaly Gonzalez, a 22-year-old North Andover resident and fulltime NECC student, typically spends Thanksgiving with a large gathering of family and friends. When asked how COVID-19 is affecting her Thanksgiving plans she had this to say, “Corona has affected my plans by limiting our family gathering to just my parents and my sister.”

Gonzalez also stated that the limitations on their gathering has not diminished the Gonzalez family’s excitement.

Next, we spoke with Robert Smith, a second semester NECC student who typically spends his Thanksgiving with a quaint family gathering at his grandmother’s house.

When asked about his plans for this year, Smith responded, “My Thanksgiving plans this year are to get one of those turkey dinners through the supermarket. It will be the same food, but with less people at my house. I will still call my grandmother and aunt to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.”

Smith also said he would watch former Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s on YouTube to supplement his yearly viewing.

In our final interview we talked to Caitlyn Baker, a 20-year-old NECC transfer student who is usually either working for extra pay on Thanksgiving or at home. When asked whether her plans were changed due to COVID-19, Baker answered back with, “My plans are not going to be changed due to having such a small family.”

Baker had also stated that “I enjoy Thanksgiving, it’s time off from school, extra pay, and time with my actual immediate family, which is hard to find especially since my parents have owned their own business together for 23 years.”

After talking with NECC students and affiliates I realized that people’s plans may have changed, but it does not seem to have subtracted from the excitement for the holiday.

I also noticed that if there was a major change in somebody’s plans, they learned to adapt to the situation at hand and remain excited for Thanksgiving.

Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!

For more information about the Massachusetts guidelines, visit:

Mass.gov Thanksgiving during COVID-19: https://www.mass.gov/news/thanksgiving-during-covid-19

News

Students weigh in on 2020 election

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The election began on Nov. 3, just as it always had. The days following seemed to be longer with emotions running high until finally, a winner was projected on Nov. 7 at 11:26 a.m. That winner being Joe Biden. Many students from NECC watched on.

Erica Shwabe, 22, who is studying the arts at NECC shares what it was like during the election. “I had a lot of anxieties towards it for a while before,” she said via zoom.

As the days passed despite the anxiety her nerves relaxed, she said, stating that she held onto hope.

There was a lot of concern floating about with what a second Trump term could have brought to the USA. Shwabe continued on to say she was concerned about, “Mainly what that would mean for minority groups or the lower income classes.”

Like many others, she was concerned how the coronavirus would be handled under a second Trump term.

She says, “Another thing would be how much longer the virus would last with all the poor handling.”

The election process was also challenging for some, shown by Clara Petry, a 20 year old studying environmental science at NECC.

Petrystates, “It was definitely a challenge to focus on my schoolwork while the election was going on,” via text. The distraction was clear with the ongoing urge to check the results.

Features

Students share how pandemic has affected mental health

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According to a Nov. 11 Boston Globe article, since the pandemic young adults have been experiencing higher rates of depression and other mental health concerns as the COVID-19 pandemic rages forward in the U.S. Some Northern Essex Community College students say they have experienced issues with their mental health as well.

Mariam Saldivar is a student from Northern Essex Community College. Her major is Journalism/communications, and she is from the Dominican Republic and now lives in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Saldivar states how quarantine affected or changed her mental health, saying “The days have started to blur together, and there’s this sense of dread that time is running out. So yeah, it impacted my mental health in a bad way.’’

This is a good example of how most young adults are feeling around this time during this pandemic. Life is an emotional roller coaster. Some days you feel like nothing can stop you, but others can be challenging to our mental well-being.

Ariana MacNeil, a reporter for the Boston Globe wrote in the NOv. 11 article that experts have found that young adults, ages 18 to 24, throughout the country, are experiencing higher rates of major depressive symptoms

Saldivar states what she does to make her feel better, “either write, read, or listen to music.” These strategies are great to use when you feel depressed to uplift your mood. Listening to music especially is a great strategy that helps you feel better if you are sad or feeling down that day.

Young adults have experienced anxiety and depression since being in quarantine. Saldivar said she has “absolutely’’ felt the same way. The Harvard and Northeastern study was a follow-up to one released in May 2020, which saw higher instances of depression that spanned across young adults — depression was up 27 percent compared to in the past, according to the Boston Globe. That’s a high percentage of depression among young people.

Communicating with anybody when you feel sad or lonely like a friend or a family member can help people feel less isolated. Salividar reaches out to others explaining, “yeah, I play video games with my friend. That way we can talk, and we spend lots of time.’’  Having a person there for you to cheer you up is very great as well and surrounding yourself with positive activities as well.

Sleep has a huge impact on mental health, so having a good sleep schedule or sleep habits is important during the pandemic to prevent mental health issues.  Saldivar says, “Yeah, it’s all over the place, I sleep whenever.” Having a good sleep schedule is good and developing good habits is important because it can really affect your body.

Mirroajah Metcalfe is another student from Northern Essex Community College.  Her major in Journalism/Communications. She is from Las Vegas and currently lives in Haverhill, Massachusetts. When asked how the quarantine affected or changed her mental health, Metcalfe stated that she, “became more isolated.’’ Being more isolated is a symptom of worsening mental health. There are easy ways to help isolation such as staying active and setting structure in your life and self-care.

Metcalfe stated ways that have helped her do better in that issue. ”I spent time trying to figure out who I am and learning how to be alone.’’ Spending time with yourself and getting to know who you are is also important.

Experiencing depression and anxiety is common during the quarantine. Metcalfe stated, “Yes I have felt depression sometimes.’’

Most young adults have been struggling with this feeling, especially young women. They are at a higher risk to experience mental health problems.

Communicating with somebody when you feel sad or lonely, like a friend or a family member is helpful. Metcalfe stated, “Yeah I have one best friend, but he lives in another state so it’s always over Facetime, unfortunately, but it’s still nice having someone to call and rant to.” Having a friend to be there for you is great and you feel like you can express yourself too, so that is great for mental health.

Having any changes in your sleep schedule or sleep habits can affect your mental health, Metcalfe stated, ‘’My sleep schedule was very erratic and random, so I had to really discipline myself.’’ Maintaining a good sleeping schedule is very important, like setting alarms and making a list of

Arts and Entertainment

My picks for top four albums of 2020

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2020 has been a hectic year full of sadness, loneliness, and disappointment.

We have been trapped within our houses with dwindling forms of entertainment to pass the time. Video games have been completed, television shows binged, and movie credits have rolled.

One consistent form of media that has consistent replay value is music. You’re cleaning your house and no matter how many times you have listened you are always up for throwing on a good album.  Even though we are in a pandemic, artists have been able to consistently put out amazing albums. These are the albums that have kept me going through these “trying times!”

  1. “Feet of Clay” (deluxe edition) by Earl Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt is the Edgar Allen Poe of the rap game. Ever since the release of his debut album “Doris,” Earl has addressed dark topics in his lyrics such as themes of depression, mental health, broken families, and rising to fame at a young age. Dark undertones have been a constant in his music but only recently his sound has started to take an experimental change. On his most recent album “Feet of Clay,” Earl samples jazz music and distorts it to fit the dark vibe of the album. He also changes the way he used to rap to more of a spoken word form. Throughout this album you start to see what a tortured sole this man is and how much loss he had to go through. The best song of this album is the single EAST. The song uses this accordion sample on loop and Earl slightly distorts his vocals to create this uncomfortable feeling. In the lyrics of the song Earl addresses the relationships he lost, the death of his grandma, and the overall hopelessness he has.

  1. “Alfredo” by Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist

Freddie Gibbs has had an interesting evolution in his overall sound.  He has gone from generic underground hood anthems to this new refined sound. Not to say he hasn’t always been talented it’s just ever since 2014 album “Pinata” he has found a very consistent sound. The album itself is amazing, throughout my multiple listens of the album I could not get myself to skip a single song. The album feels like a Scorsese crime film where you follow the protagonist throughout his journey in the criminal underworld. It also has the same immaculate swagger of a Scorsese film. I must give The Alchemist props for the production of this album. I extremely enjoyed the different samples, especially how at the end of some of the songs they sample dialogue from old movies. The best song on the album is “Something to Rap About” featuring Tyler the Creator. The whole song has this chilled laid-back vibe which is complemented by Tyler and Freddie rapping about their come up and how they are currently living in luxury.

3. “Tickets to my Downfall” by Machine Gun Kelly

Machine gun Kelly or MGK as a rapper is a second-rate rapper at best. If you asked me to name you one of his previous albums, I could not. To be completely honest, I only know him from his public feud with Eminem. The transformation he has made on this album is crazy, he has gone from B list rapper to A list pop punk star. He masterfully captures that late 90s early 2000s Blink 182, Green Day type sound while also making it his own. I am really hoping to see more of this style from him because it just works so perfectly.

  1. “The P.U.K.E Mixtapes” volumes 1&2 by payday (favorite new artist)

Payday is a 16-year-old female rapper from Seattle. She has just released 2 mixtapes called the P.U.K.E tapes. The best way to describe her and her sound is that she is Billie Eilish if Billie Eilish could rap. Her sound is unique because it trades off from being melodic singing/rapping to boom bap style of rap. Her beat selection which can range from these slowed down kind of lo-fi beats to these fast tempo upbeat musical beats. Besides her beats she also demonstrates this extremely verbose vocabulary in her lyrics. Please don’t be surprised if she blows up in the next couple of years.