Self-esteem has a big impact on your mental health. Body image can also affect your mental health. Body image is how you think and feel about your body. Having a negative body image can cause low self-esteem which can harm your mental health. Society wants everybody in the world to have the perfect body. Not being too overweight or underweight is awful and society tends to criticize those with not the perfect body Society thinks women are the only ones suffering from body image issues, Men are suffering too. Northern Essex Community College students recently expressed their thoughts on this topic.

Robert Smith is a student at Northern Essex Community College, in his third year of college. He is from Massachusetts. Smith states, “I do think that society cares too much about this. We are all told that we have to look and act the same but that is not the case. I believe that companies exploit this to sell their products and make profits.’’

Most people with a positive body image are more likely to have good mental health. People are constantly trying to look better, feel better, be better. Some turn to working out and subscribing to healthier diets and others develop not-so-healthy habits like starvation and consuming big amounts of alcohol. Either way, when a woman doesn’t have “that” body, society expects her to change. This shouldn’t be the case. This can cause sadness and insecurity among people which can lead to mental health problems. People’s self-esteem has changed since the pandemic, they feel more insecure and not happy since there are in lockdown and cannot find a way to workout. (Covid-19 and self-esteem). Smith says, “I think that it depends on the person. Many things make up self-esteem and I feel that it is individual-based.”

Some people overthink body image and get concerned about what others think of their bodies. Smith states “I believe that people do this to fit in with what is popular at the time.” It is also that people are identifying images on social media as a key factor that makes them worry about their body image. Conversations with their friends also have a major role in causing young people to worry.

Pop culture has the opportunity to teach people to have better self-esteem through movies and social media. Smith says, “I think that society can do this by having campaigns that focus on the qualities that make us up as people and by celebrating diversity in all aspects from the skin to body type.” Society can be hard to please since it can be very judgmental. Some people can get sad and depressed because of it.

Mariam Saldivar is a student from Northern Essex Community College. Her major is Journalism/communications. She is from the Dominican Republic. she currently lives in Lawrence Massachusetts. Mental health can occur from having anxiety from people judging them not being perfect enough. Society cares very much about being the best slim and in shape body, Saldivar agrees, about how people self-esteem has gone low during the pandemic, “Yes I do.” People have changed since the pandemic and they are trying their best or many, COVID-19 is an incredibly stressful and traumatic experience; stressful situations can have a huge effect on mental health. ‘’A majority of adults (61%) reported experiencing undesired weight changes since the start of the pandemic, with more than 2 in 5 (42%) saying they gained more weight than they intended. Of this group, adults reported gaining an average of 29 pounds (with a typical gain of 15 pounds. (American Psychological Association).  “As COVID-19 has changed the idea of normality and raged through the world for an entire year, people have had more time to contemplate their self-esteem.

Weight change is a common symptom when people are having difficulty coping with mental health challenges. A majority of adults (61%) reported experiencing undesired weight changes, since the start of the pandemic, with more than 2 in 5 (42%) saying they gained more weight than they intended (American Psychological Association). Saldivar says, “Yeah. They’re nothing to do. A lot of us stuck at home. All that does is create the opportunity to overthink.”

Since the pandemic, a lot of us overthink and overanalyze certain situations and their body image can be their weight, and the way look causes depression and insecurity that can lead to mental health issues. This society will always care about body image Saldivar agreed,” Society does overthink about body image.”

There are many great ways to teach people who feel sad and depressed and insecure to have high self-esteem. Saldivar states, “I think we need to teach people that just because you have a different body type doesn’t mean that you are a horrible creature. People are different and that’s ok. Everybody should love themselves for who they are is important. People shouldn’t compare their looks with others, be happy with who they are.”

Bryan Fernandez is a student from Northern Essex Community College and his major in journalism/communications. He is from Bronx NY, and he currently lives in Lawrence Massachusetts. Society makes it hard to love yourself and it’s difficult to have high- esteem when everybody idolizes people in the media and social media with the perfect body. Fernandez states, “Absolutely, “As a whole, we have these unrealistic standards of what the perfect body’’ should be and we tend to beat ourselves if we don’t fit this standard.”

People want to have the perfect body because that’s is trendy and trying to be perfect and trying to remain flawless with your body can cause stress and anxiety. Which can lead to bad mental health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the pillars of people’s lives. Face with quarantine school closures and social distancing, many people deprived of the everyday experiences that can build their self-esteem and sense of worth as a person. Having low self-esteem is a critical ingredient of people’s mental health issues. People with higher self-esteem tend to have happier lives, better relationships, and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression. (American Psychological Association).

Fernandez stated what he thinks about people’s self-esteem changed during the pandemic. ‘Yes, as most of the people that I know GAINED weight during the pandemic, which is also understandable, A lot of people don’t have the drive to work out at home either, so it makes sense.’’ People have not become less active and more concerned about their well-being. People try not to get infected with Covid-19.

Some people overthink the way they look because they tend to compare body shape or their appearances to other people. Fernandez claims that “I do think people overthink their body image. I think people will never be genuinely satisfied with the way they look.” People need to gain self-love and not worry about what others think of them.  Fernandez says, ‘’One way we can boost self-esteem is to start using real people of all sizes and shapes for marketing and advertising. The industry is fill with extremely skinny models for all types of advertising. It insinuating not only that their product is for the body type that is what is expect.  I think there should more inclusion.’’   The media want to fill the world with products pills to make them thinner or more in shape.  People get surgery on their faces to look better. They want to look different and not accept who they are. People are never going to be satisfied with what they are and that builds stress and anger that cause mental health issues with not being happy with who they are.

The most important thing society can do is teach people to love themselves help people to build confidence.  They won’t feel depressed about how they look and develop health problems with insecurities.

When you think of the functions and inner workings of a local government, you may not think of how the police department might be involved within that system.

To discuss exactly how the police operate, Deputy Chief of Police in Amesbury Craig Bailey, speaks about how a police department functions to keep people safe within their communities. At the Amesbury Police Department Deputy Chief Bailey works to instill discipline and training, while making sure that each of the officers are equipped. As well as handling some of the logistical issues, as he puts it, he, “Keeps the ship pointed in the right direction.”

The deputy chief of police works within the department directly with the sergeants and lieutenants while the chief works directly with town hall, the community members and all the other heads of departments. As Deputy Bailey puts it, “The deputy chief is a down and in kind of job, while the chief is more of an up and out kind of position.” Deputy Bailey says, “Ultimately under the deputy chief of police we have the seven sergeants and a lieutenant… The lieutenant oversees other tasks including administrative investigations. So, he is really in charge of all the detectives.” One of the sergeants operates as a detective while the other six are shift sergeants, coordinating with the six different shifts.

The officers within Amesbury are required to attend a mandatory 120 hours of training each year. This training typically includes officer’s CPR and First Aid training, implicit bias training and their legal update which totals to forty hours of training. Then further training includes firearms, driving, use of force training, and applied patrol procedures which adds eighty hours of training into the mix.

This very machine operates without most of us batting an eye as to how it works until we need it. A police department plays a crucial role within our communities to hold law and order within a sometimes-hectic society.

As we draw into mud season, the dreary stretch between early March and April, the grass finally becomes visible through the melting snow, trees start to bud, and slush and mud rule the Earth, most farmers in Massachusetts have one thing on their mind; Maple syrup. Maple sugaring, also known as the process behind making the glorious golden syrup, is a time honored New England tradition dating back to the 18th century, when it first spiked in popularity here in Massachusetts, which now has over 300 maple producers in the state. Many more small town hobbyists are picking up the taps and pails too, according to the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association. You’ve probably seen the lines and sugar taps running through just about every forested property by now, as the process can start as early as mid-February, and run through late March. As maple syrups from all across the begin to fill the shelves of local grocers and sugar houses, it comes to mind if all maple syrups are made the same. The simple answer is; absolutely not.

To understand and appreciate the full process that goes into making maple syrup, a brief ecology lesson is needed. The mud season is the perfect time for collecting sap from maple trees due to the rapid change in temperature from night to day. Nightly thawing, and immediate daily warming, build up pressure in maple trees, and force sap from the top of the trees down to the roots, allowing for the sap to be collected in mass daily. The first run, or first tapping of selected trees, typically happens the first day temperatures reach above 55 degrees. The sap from the first run is always the most potent, taking only around 38 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup. Snow helps the process along as well, keeping moisture out of the sap. If that seems like a lot, it is. However, as the season draws on, and the sap loses some of its sugar contents, it can take up to 55 gallons to produce one gallon of refined maple syrup. That means that farmers from all across the state have trudged through the early morning snow, and bitter cold, for hundreds of years chasing that perfect first run. For them, its well worth it.

I was lucky enough to get a tour of a local sugar shack, a “small” mom and pop shop out in Byfield, MA. Bernie Fields, owner of the Field Family Sugar House, was kind enough to show me his operation, which he’s been running with his close family since 2007, when he split out from his extended families sugar shack out in Leverett, which has been family owned and operated since 1814. He taps 898 maples of different variety, mostly red maple, sugar maple and black maple, spanning over 10 different properties. He says that Norway maples, the most invasive, proliferate sap producing maple, “aren’t good for anything but firewood”. Most massive sugar maple farms use vacuum pumps to suck sap from trees and transport to a massive sugar shack, and use a process called reverse osmosis to clean sap, and turn it into marketable syrup as quickly as possible, but not Bernie. He does things the old fashioned way, just as his families done for generations. He still rides around collecting sap in an old fashioned buggy, with a large tank on back for storage. He does all his collecting by hand.

“You can visit any sugar shack in the state, and every one of them would have a different way of doing things. This is just the way that I’ve found works best,” Field told me as he showed me his boiling setup. He filters all his sap through handmade cloth filters; no reverse osmosis or vacuum pumps like all the large scale farms use. A massive tank, usually filled to the brim with sap, flows into the boiling chamber at very precise volumes and is held at a consistent temperature, both of which are monitored with old fashioned equipment. No dials, pressure sensors, or flashing lights; manual hydrometers, offset collectors to monitor the process, and intuition gathered over years in the business guide Field’s maple sugaring process, and it works. I was a bit skeptical how much of a difference this process would make, but after a taste test, I was made a believer in quality, naturally made maple syrup! And the best part? “Anybody can do it. Anybody.”