Daily Archives: April 20, 2022

Opinion

The Mission Act wasn’t built in a day

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Walk a mile in my shoes, comes to mind when I hear someone says the word “Veteran.” When people look at veterans, they see a person in uniform who is was willing to put their life on the line to protect this country.

When a child sees a veteran, they see a hero. But do we see what the Veteran sees?

What few people do not know about veterans is the struggle they put up with when it comes to getting the proper health care. With Veteran Affair Health Care building all over the country one would think that Veterans are getting the help they need and yet if we take a deeper look, we find that the VA Health Care system was going through needed attention. Before 2019, scandals and rumors had been making their way to the surface, were becoming increasingly accurate. Speculations of Veterans not receiving the proper treatment they needed. Some Veterans waiting hours and hours to receive their medication prescribed by their healthcare physician. There were even reports of VA Hospitals losing patients due to dismissal which in turn was causing patients to become even more sick, some had even died do to the negligence of the VA Hospital and its staff. Mental Health patients were not getting the help they needed, and reports were coming in that quite a few Veterans were taking their own lives due to the struggle of having not getting the help and guidance they needed.

Then in June of 2019, an act was a passed that would change the way the VA Healthcare System was towards Veterans.

The Mission Act, which was a historic legislation aimed at expanding access to and improving the quality of care for veterans—went into effect. This “Mission Act” was to improve care for all veterans in and out of the hospital. It has been three years since the Mission Act launched forth and life for Veterans seems to be working, but not for all.

An article on usatoday.com, which dates to November 1, 2021, written by Jill Castellano states that a former Navy Reserve Lieutenant by the name of Christine Russell states that the VA had stopped paying for her cancer treatment. With tumors already spreading, the VA had already agreed to pay for her treatments outside the VA in the San Diego, California area back in 2018. Russell, who was having trouble in early February of that same year filled for federal complaints only to receive a letter back stating that she was “disruptive” and there for the VA was no longer going to be paying for her cancer treatments.

“The U.S. is facing urgent demands from veterans for medical and mental health care. Veterans have faced almost 20 million cancelled or delayed health care appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August has caused crisis hotline calls to spike as former service members have struggled to process the unfolding events” reported  Jill Castellano.

Into the present year of 2022, changes to help improve the quality of life at all VA Hospitals have been and are still at work.

Multiple work has gone into making sure that all veterans are getting the proper health care they need, but to quote John Haywood, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” The Mission Act is still a slowly growing and change Act that is still young and needs work. Veterans are still needing help being able to guide through the usage of this new legislated act.

“ I am aware of it [THE MISSION ACT]. The biggest issue I think for Veterans is the navigation of how it works.” These are the words stated by Amanda Boyd manager of the Kalispell Vet Center in Montana after I emailed questions about the VA and the Mission Act. Amanda Boyd who has worked for the VA since October of 2016 and is a veteran herself understands that veterans struggle to understand the system and how it operates, and she goes beyond her job to make sure vets get the proper care they need.

She goes on to say, “Some think that it’s an instant processes” she goes on to say, “but unfortunately it is not, there are several steps that must happen for it to be approved.” What Amanda Boyd is talking about is the processes it takes to be able to start receiving appointments outside the VA Healthcare. But not all Veterans want to receive help, when I proposed the question of why Veterans don’t want to receive the help that is given, she had this to say on the matter, “ I think a lot of it must deal with the pride that they still carry from being in the service, and I have been told this a few times from Veterans; they feel that there is someone else is in need of it more, but I always tell them that you did your time and earned the car through the VA. That’s why it was created.”

The future of the VA still has a long road ahead of itself, with many trials and tribulations at hand. The bar has been set and the VA is reaching it and going beyond the call of helping Veterans which is an improvement since before 2019. As the years continue and more service members becoming Veterans the VA Health Care will continue to improve it care for patients and future patients to come.

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Are summer classes a good option?

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During the summer, NECC offers three different summer class sessions that allow students to take extra classes, some on their own time, and lighten their load in the normal school year. However, some students value their summer as time to get away from all classes.

The regular semesters at NECC are in the fall, winter, and there is even a winter intersession semester in between.

That being said, summer classes are available at NECC. There is a session from May to June, July to August, and a longer one that lasts May to August.

These summer classes are available asynchronous, in person, or online with meeting times. Some students love and utilize the summer courses, while others prefer to spend their summer away from the classroom.

Olivia Hansen enjoys the summer classes because she has more time in the summer, so she can focus more on her classes then in the normal school year.

Hansen is a biology major, so she has to take heavier courses like biology, chemistry, and calculus. She is constantly busy in the year with other classes, commitments, and events like chorus and piano. In the summer, besides her summer job at a summer camp, she has plenty of time on her hands to take classes that she couldn’t handle during the other semesters.

“In the summer I chose to take asynchronous classes that are harder, so I can allot more time to work on them. I found that if I spend just a little bit of my days doing school, I still have plenty of time to work and do fun summer things.”

A question posed to Hansen was “do you feel like classes take away from your summer?”

Hansen answered with no. She thinks that putting in just a little everyday makes for a light load. Without the full structure of school, just one or two classes a session doesn’t feel like too much for her. She also points out, for her at least, that taking summer classes helps ease the transition into the fall semester where there is a much heavier load. She is already in the routine of school by then, so she doesn’t get overwhelmed when the summer ends.

However, other students such as Cassidy Smith don’t choose to take summer classes because they want to spend their summer with school out of sight. Smith is a busy psychology major during the school year.

She spends her summer at her restaurant job for a little, but for the most part likes to relax, read, and enjoy the time off. “I could take classes in the summer if I wanted to, but I don’t want to add any stress to my summer. I enjoy having the time off to reset and relax after the crazy spring semester.”

This is a very understandable route to take; people cherish their summer, so why would they voluntarily “ruin” that with summer classes? When asked about her workload in the normal school year, Smith says she doesn’t mind having the extra class that she decided to take in the fam/spring instead of summer. At that point, she is immersed into the school environment, so adding another class doesn’t feel out of place like a summer class would.

Last but not least, there are students like Gianna Mckeown who have taking summer classes as their only option.

While Mckeown is not majoring in anything, she is still taking classes. As a dual enrollment student, her school year is busy enough as is with her high school classes on top of what she chooses to take at NECC.

But, being a 16 year old high school student without a license, she is unable to make many classes during the fall and spring semesters. Classes like chemistry labs are available in person only, which is new after COVID, during the high school hours.

Although she may not want to, to take the classes she needs, she needs to spend a few weekdays in the summer going to classes she couldn’t take at any other time without a license and in high school.

“It is frustrating that these labs aren’t offered online, but it is understandable because it is a truly hands-on class that would be best executed online. However, I do wish that these labs were offered later in the day in the school year. I would take them then.”

So for students like Mckeown, while not ideal, summer classes are the only option.

Arts and Entertainment

Morbius: Not even so bad it’s good

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On April 1, 2022, Morbius was released in theaters. I got to watch the film on opening night with a couple of friends. I figured I would review it, and give my thoughts on the film. While Morbius has been doing decently financially, making about $84 million on its opening weekend, it has been doing very poor critically. Only having a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 5.2/10 on IMDb. Going into this movie, I was expecting a bad, but at least very entertaining film. I quite liked both Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, when it came to Sony’s other Spider-Man villain movies, so I was hoping for at least the same thing: A film that’s bad, but still a lot of fun.

I didn’t even get that. It was worse than I expected it to be.

Now first up, the story and writing. It was really bad on both ends. It wasn’t even a bad story with at least funny dialogue. To me, the story was very generic and predictable. It’s a narrative that I’ve seen countless times and I predicted almost everything to happen in it. The pacing and editing are also all over the place. It moves either too quickly or drags a bit, and there are even some scenes that felt awkward in terms of placement. Not even the comedy was all that funny in my opinion. Going back to the past two Venom movies, I thought both had quite funny moments and ended up making the experience more enjoyable for me. I don’t know what it was, but the comedy just didn’t work for me here sadly.

How is the film in the action department? Not good in the slightest. It feels so obstructed, and the camera shakes so much and is extremely difficult to see. More specifically the final battle is what I am referring to. The other fights are not great, as they have similar problems, but the final fight is the worst offender of this. I didn’t even know what was going on throughout this fight because of how disorienting it was. Even the action scenes have odd cuts that happen when an interesting moment happens, which causes the scenes to be more disorienting and not feeling as cool as they should.

There are still some positives to say about the film. Despite finding the story generic, I found the concept cool, since Morbius is a cool Marvel character mainly to the fact he’s a vampire. Jared Leto does a very good job as the titular character, and I think some of the visuals look really nice when I can see them. While I didn’t care about this movie, I still found some good things to enjoy about it.

Overall, I really didn’t like this movie. I was still hoping for a bad but very fun film, but it is just really boring. I would say to still go and check it out, however. There may be something that one might see in it that I didn’t, but this is how I felt watching this movie. It’s not the worst comic book movie I’ve seen, but it could’ve been so much more fun.

 

Features

Local church goes above and beyond to serve the community

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Pastor Craig and Agnes Matheson
Pastor Craig and Agnes Mattheson Courtesy Changing Lives Christian Church

Located at 17 Newcomb St. in Haverhill, MA, Changing Lives Christian Church has found multiple ways to help its surrounding community, as well as ways to serve people in communities abroad. Founded by Pastor Craig Mattheson of Methuen, MA, Changing Lives Christian Church has implemented various outreach programs through its ministry over the years, which aim at spreading the message of The Gospel while simultaneously helping those in need.

Changing Lives Christian Church, which is nestled between Town Hall and the Haverhill Public Library, has come to represent a place in the city where one can not only build a relationship with God but also a place where one can receive help, guidance, and support. Mattheson, along with his wife, Agnes, have dedicated their time and energy to create important outreach programs through the church. Changing Lives Christian Church offers a weekly food pantry to the citizens of Haverhill, as well as a donation-based outreach program that raises money for people in Uganda who need food, Bibles, and other necessities. The church also funds and participates in a radio broadcast in Uganda that works at educating a potential audience of 5 million listeners about the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and aims to bring as many of those listeners to salvation as possible.

Changing Lives Christian Church has come a long way over the years, and the wonderful forms of service that it is able to now provide to a vast portion of people is a testament to how much the church has grown since its humble beginnings over 20 years ago. “The church started off in my living room – we only had maybe three or four people when the church had first started,” said Mattheson. “Then the church started to grow and it outgrew the living room, so we started renting a building on the corner of Oakland avenue and Broadway in Methuen. The church outgrew that spot, so then we ended up on 446 Prospect St. We were there for 18 years.”

It was at 446 Prospect St in Methuen when Changing Lives Christian Church began running a weekly food pantry. The idea for a food pantry was suggested by a church member, and the church has been running one ever since, even after having to find a new place to run the church after an unexpected fire destroyed the Prospect Street location. “The building unfortunately in the middle of the night burned down. That was God telling us we needed to get another place. That’s why we’re here now at 17 Newcomb Street,” said Mattheson, with no sense of regret or defeat in his voice.

Since being in Haverhill, Changing Lives Christian Church has cemented itself in the community landscape of the city, and has continued to offer its food pantry services to anyone in need. The food pantry, which is open to the public every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., aims to provide people with various canned and boxed goods, among other non-perishable necessities. No identification or documentation is needed for anyone who is in the Haverhill area that wants to attend the food pantry at Changing Lives Christian Church. All that is required for anyone seeking food is that they provide their first name.  Haverhill has a large homeless population, which Changing Lives Christian Church is happy to try and accommodate. “There are a lot of homeless people in Haverhill,” said Mattheson, “and they count on the food pantrys, so its a real blessing for us to reach out and say ‘Hey, we’ve got some good stuff for you here.”

Changing Live Christian Church building
Changing Lives Christian Church in Haverhill. Courtesy of Changing Lives Christian Chur

The service doesn’t stop there – Changing Lives Christian Church has set up a ministry outreach program through the church that raises money for people in Uganda who are low on resources, like food, and don’t have access to Biblical literature or other Christian resources. A locked donation box is located within the lobby of Changing Lives Christian Church where money can be dropped in order to provide these things. Every cent raised by the church goes to the ministry’s affiliates in Uganda, where it is spent on food, water, Bibles, and other things the people need. Many of those who the money goes to are starving children who do what they have to in order to survive.           

“There’s actually, 7, 8, 9 10, 15 year olds that are on the street and have no parents or anywhere to go. These people look through dumpsters for food. We feel really bad.” said Mattheson. “We’ve given them money in order to buy food and to feed these kids as well. It’s working out great, so we thank God for that.” Changing Lives Christian Church sends every penny  raised in donations straight to Uganda – the church keeps nothing. “We don’t take anything out for costs or expenses. Everything 100% goes to them.” said Mattheson.

The Uganda outreach ministry at Changing Lives Christian Church isn’t the only tie to Uganda that the church has. After learning how to live stream its worship services as a response to the drop in church attendance during the March 2020 COVID-19 lock downs, Mattheson ended up connecting with a live stream viewer who had a special proposition for him. The viewer, from Uganda, messaged Mattheson after a live streamed Sunday worship service. The viewer had a faith centered radio program that they wanted him to teach on. The radio station, known as Grace Radio 92.6 FM in Uganda, reaches the potential of 5 million listeners in the Uganda area.

Mattheson agreed to do a virtual teaching online for the broadcast, where listeners got to hear the pastor teach about Jesus Christ, salvation, and the Gospel. “I do a teaching for the first half hour. The second half hour, the people call the station live, and they give us prayer requests.” said Mattheson. “People were calling in saying, ‘I’ve accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior!’ The testimonies are unbelievable.”

Such testimonies were recorded by Grace 92.6 FM and sent to Changing Lives Christian Church, and they show how effective Mattheson’s preaching the Word of God was to the people in Uganda. After a September 2021 broadcast with Mattheson, 3,000 phone calls and SMS messages were dialed and sent in to the radio station declaring salvation and acceptance of Jesus as their Lord and Savior. One listener in Uganda, named Tom, wrote in to Grace FM to share how he was moved by Mattheson’s preaching. Tom testified that “the preaching has been an inspiration for him. He feels he doesn’t get enough of listening to them. He believes the Lord has visited his home.”

Another listener in Uganda, a Pastor Tumwiine, wrote into Grace FM to share how he was moved by Changing Lives Christian Church’s broadcast. Tumwiine said that the radio program was “an answered prayer. He bought a big radio and placed it in his church compound for the people to listen, and the Christians doubled and he bought more chairs to accomdoate all the people.”

The radio broadcast got such a good response that the station asked Mattheson to return the next month, and the month after that. Gladly, the pastor obliged. Soon after, however, the radio program told Changing Lives Christian Church that they couldn’t afford to continue to broadcast. “They contacted me and said, ‘We got some bad news – it costs $120 to be on the radio for one hour and we can’t finance it.” shared Mattheson. This is when Changing Lives Christian Church decided to help sustain the radio broadcast in Uganda by volunteering to finance all future broadcasts for Grace 92.6 FM.

“We said we’d pay that $120 dollars in order for this thing to keep on happening. And that’s what we’ve been doing,” said Mattheson.

 The church continues to think of other new ways to bring the local community of Haverhill into the church, to build fellowship and a sense of togetherness. One Saturday each month at 6pm, Changing Lives Christian Church hosts a free movie night with free refreshments. A Christian themed movie is played on a large projector screen in the church, and it is open to the public. “Our movie night is bringing a lot of people in from Christian singles groups and other churches, so everybody can get together and have a really good night of fun with a really good evangelistic movie in a really good environment.” said Mattheson.

Changing Lives Christian Church holds worship services every Sunday morning at 11a.m., as well as a Bible Study group every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. There is also a prayer meeting every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Changing Lives Christian Church encourages anyone seeking to grow in their faith to go out to the church and take part in the many services they offer to the public.

It is this dedicated commitment to bettering the community of Haverhill and the community abroad that truly shows how public service, and ultimately service to God, is at the heart of what the church does. “Jesus told us to preach the gospel to every creature,” said Mattheson. “He says ‘Go make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,  and teach them what I’ve taught you’…Go doesn’t mean to stay.” And that is just what Changing Lives Christian Church has done.

 

Sports

No offseason for Athletic Director Dan Blair

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For Dan Blair, who serves as the Northern Essex Athletic director, there is no offseason, he has a hand in every sport and sporting activity at NECC (Northern Essex Community College). Blair is entering his fifth school year as of 2021-2022 as our school Athletic director. Daily tasks for Blair include scheduling practices and officials for games, overseeing all facilities and communicating with other Athletic directors from different regions.

Before arriving at Northern Essex in 2018, Blair was employed for ten years at Franklin Pierce University located in Rindge, NH serving in various roles. He began as the university’s NCAA compliance coordinator in 2007. In February of 2009 he was promoted to Assistant Athletic director. In Early 2015 he rose to the position of Associate director of the athletics. During this time, he supervised all the Franklin Pierce’s sports activities over his final two and a half years at the university. Then Blair departed from Franklin Pierce University to join Northern Essex in the fall of 2017.

 Blair successfully led the sports program throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Northern Essex was among one of just two schools in the region able to play.  “Being the only community college in Massachusetts and one of only three in New England to play last year, we became a model for how to run the athletic program through COVID for other schools in the region to follow” Blair said.

During Blair’s tenure the sports department has thrived. The baseball team is considered among the best in the country. In Blair’s inaugural year at Northern Essex the baseball team claimed an XXI region championship and later achieving a District F win which advanced them to the college world series in Nashville, TN. The volleyball team has also claimed a pair of region XXI championships. In the 2019-2020 season Men’s Soccer and Women’s basketball teams made a return to Northern Essex and for the first time esports appeared at NECC.

The number of students participating in the athletic program have risen exponentially. “we’ve grown from 43 student athletes to about 150 and we have over 200 enrolled students interested in the program each year.” Despite a top-notch sports program, the aspect he is most proud of is “seeing the students succeed both in the classroom and athletics.”

Blair graduated from Bridgewater state university in 2006 earning a degree in Psychology and special education. Then he went on to Franklin Pierce University where he received his master’s degree in sports facility management. Over Blair’s time at Bridgewater state, he took part in the school’s track & field and cross-country teams for four years while he was a student. He also spent a single year coaching the track and field team at Bridgewater.

Blair lives in Newburyport, MA with his wife Amy, as well as his two daughters, Kennedy, and Mackenzie. Outside of NECC he enjoys golfing, traveling with his family and doing yard work

News, Slider

Students speak out about war in Ukraine

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The on-going conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been well-documented by several high-profile media outlets. Many Americans feel compelled to share their disapproval of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and stand in solidarity with Ukraine from afar.

Local college students share their perspective on the war and elaborate on their understanding of the conflict occurring abroad.

Nicole Smith Discusses her feelings and understanding of what’s happening overseas.

“It’s awful. I don’t watch the media often. I get bits and pieces and what I hear from it is upsetting. I do know that innocent people are suffering.”

Smith goes on to explain that she’d need more information before determining the best course of action in terms of finding a solution to this conflict.

“The situation is extremely complex. I would have to research further and contemplate possible solutions and outcomes.”

Another local student, studying Biotechnology, Sarita Sanchez, shares a similar sentiment to Smith in regard to understanding the gravity of the war in Ukraine.

“I don’t think there is a thorough understanding- one it’s dangerous to be in Russia and Ukraine for reporters to fully describe what is happening and two I think it’s hard to wrap our minds around why anyone would entice violence like this on innocent people.”

Despite Sanchez’s mention of the barriers and challenges reporters abroad may face when getting news to United States citizens, she shares some possible tactics to resolve this conflict.

“Overall, some solutions might involve: eliminating nuclear weapons, preventing the practice that one leader can be in office for so many years and have the ability to make decisions that directly kill innocent people, regulate military activities, and full support of Ukraine from all countries regardless of political agendas.”

Craig Sullivan, a horticulture major, shares “what the Ukrainian people are suffering at the hands of Putin is unfathomable. I can’t imagine living with that fear and uncertainty.”

Sullivan also admits his lack of total understanding regarding the war “I feel I know only the information that’s been given to us through media outlets. I don’t have any first-hand or inside knowledge, but I know that it has been a long-standing conflict between the two countries.”

The general consensus amongst the three college students is that despite there being a lack of understanding of the politics behind the war in Ukraine, what is occurring is deplorable and the people of Ukraine are suffering immensely.

Features, Home Page News Bytes

A look into the mind: The Story of Elizabeth Casanave

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“I’m driven to be constantly improving myself – growing into a better person, a more caring, contributing, productive member of society.” says UMass Lowell’s Graduate Programs Advisor and psychology and philosophy professor here at NECC, Elizabeth Casanave, who has long been fascinated with the mind and life’s large ideas.

Casanave received her bachelor’s degree from Principia College in Elsa, Illinois and went on to accept her master’s degree, which combines the areas of psychology, philosophy and education, from UMass Boston. She is currently working on obtaining her Ph.D. at UMass Lowell.

She says “I’m working on my Ph.D. and my research is focused on integrating diverse perspectives of self-knowledge into the higher ed. classroom to improve social and emotional well-being.”

From rural Arkadelphia, Arkansas, young and inquisitive Casanave grew up with memorable childhood friends, a love for animals and many talents. She sang in the school choir, swam on the swim team for 18 years and was even editor of her highschool newspaper.

She says “I had very supportive parents who always encouraged me to learn, grow, do my best but they never made me feel pressured or anxious.” Now with a family of her own, she is most proud of raising her two boys.

Casanave enjoys the outdoors, anywhere from walking and gardening to swimming and hiking. She’s also fond of reading and her dog. She’s also passionate about learning and her teaching and strives to increase her patience both in and out of the classroom. She stands for civil rights and abhor’s narrow-mindedness, greed, arrogance, prejudice, violence, and discrimination.

Casanave says “I think a lot about what gives life meaning, about reality versus perception, about what it means to be a good person, about how best to support the people I love, and what it means to be a good friend.  I think about how to improve my courses, help students social and emotional learning and critical thinking skills, and support student success. I think about how we can make the world a more equitable place, better protect the environment, and improve animal rights.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Speechapalooza 2022: Planning an in-person event post pandemic

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NECC’s eighth annual Speechapalooza event is Thursday, April 21 from 1-2:30 p.m. in Lecture Hall A in the Spurk (C) building.  Hosted by NECC Public Relations students, Speechapalooza was created in the hopes of bringing back the sense of community so many of us have lost because of the pandemic.

As a student in a Public Relations course this semester, I have gotten a behind-the-scenes look into what goes into making those events — the ones we always see in our weekly newsletters—come to life. From press releases and venue booking, to flyers and mass-texts, I have come to learn that planning an event is no easy act. Add on the pressure of this being the first in-person Speechapalooza in two years, and you’ll understand the chaos that has been this planning process.

Throughout this process, we as a class have worked through our beginner confusion, as well as our mid-semester stress to create a solid plan for Speechapalooza. One of these fellow classmates, Leiliana Igartua, a NECC journalism major, has always been the person to plan family events and keep everyone on track.

When her Public Relations class began the process of planning this year’s Speechapalooza, Igartua knew her organizational and planning skills would be put to good use; she was given the title of PR Director.

As PR Director of Speechapalooza, Igartua was responsible for overseeing all communication with others on the team as well as participants and advisors. She also played an integral role in the creation of flyers and other promotional tactics.

This event acts as many of our first involvement in a professional event, and with this comes responsibilities and chaos. “It’s nerve-wracking,” Igartua shares, though she finds comfort in being part of a team.

“I enjoy working as a team with my fellow classmates” said Igartua. “If I ever came across a challenge, all I had to do is send them an email and we all get to work to fix it.”

This year’s Speechapalooza planning has been quite the contrast from the past two years; the pandemic had once again changed the trajectory of an event, which has been around for nearly a decade. Igartua shares that one of the best parts of this process has been sharing the same space with classmates. “From seeing the venue we will host this event in, to brainstorming in class, we are definitely creating some fun memories together in our classroom!”

Though the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 put a damper on in-person events like this one, we are more than excited to share a space with our fellow students and amplify our voices!