Daily Archives: May 6, 2022

Features

The Perspectives of NECC professor and philosopher, Dermot Luddy

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In South Ireland, in the big city of Cork, Dermot Luddy grew up quite adventurously. He felt a sense of belonging in his historic, neighborly community. To Luddy, a prodigious music fan, the theaters excited him as well as Cork’s annual jazz music festival. He says “When I was old enough, I used to enjoy going to some of the sessions in hotels and pubs around the city. Once I saw Dave Brubeck perform. It was magical.” 

 Back in Ireland, Luddy attended Maynooth University where he received his under-grad and graduate degree in philosophy and theology. He then went on to receive a graduate diploma in applied computing and computer programming at the University of Limerick. And after careful consideration from one of his professors, Luddy decided to move to the states and undertake a doctoral program at Fordham University. 

Like many philosophers, Luddy has always enjoyed thinking about the large notions of life.

He says “When I was an undergrad I really liked metaphysics. I was intrigued by weird questions about how there was anything at all, and why, if there is a divine being…”.

Moving further in his academic career he became more interested in ethics and social justice issues.

He then goes on to say “Today, I think I’d say that ethics is the area that lights my fire most. It’s not quite that I enjoy ethics most, but I think that it is an area that many people can relate to and understand its implication in their own lives.”

Here at NECC, he is positioned as an academic counselor and one of the administrators of the SOAR Program, an empowering, communal program that helps students succeed in their academic career. He is also an adjunct professor in Philosophy and World Religion.

 Luddy has an inherent desire to help others as well as a knack for looking at where someone is, where they want to go and then knowing just how to get them there.

He is most proud of his family and raising healthy and happy children as well as the work he does with the SOAR Program. He strives to improve his teaching by creating an environment built on trust and connection in the classroom. 

Luddy is a natural teacher. He is driven by justice and an inspiration to see his students succeed and fulfill their passions. He says “I want to help them to navigate their studies as painlessly as possible. In particular, I want to ensure that those who were shut out of higher education when I was young are given a fair chance to succeed.”

 He often thinks about the well-being of his loved ones and chooses to focus on the things he is in control of, the things he can “do something about.”

 If there is any legacy Luddy would like to leave, it would be, naturally for him, to establish an organization of some sort that will help others and continue to have an impact.

He says “I think that sometimes we work hard for a future time when we might achieve a level of comfort and satisfaction with life. But, as I always tell my own kids and my students, it is important to acknowledge moments of joy every day. If not, we may not recognize what happiness looks like if it were to look back at us from a mirror.”

 

Features

Paranormal pandemic lockdown: Covid connections from beyond the grave

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The world became a turtle on its back when the pandemic was at its highest point in 2020. Even more so when cities began to go on “lock down.”

Streets and freeways became quieter with only the essential workers making their way to and from their jobs. Although the death rate was climbing, and everyone seemed to be doing their part, the living found ways to cope with the reality of being stuck at home.

Many seem to be creating new hobbies, such as baking bread, starting a Podcast, catching up on their favorite tv shows or movies.

But as people were making TikTok’s and vlogging about their life in the pandemic lock down, what was the afterlife up too?

Something we forget to think about is that the afterlife is still very much alive and was still wanting very much so to contact the living. Reports of the afterlife becoming restless started making their way into social media.

Paranormal activity which has been portrayed in many movies such as The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity, Ouija, and the list goes on, shows us the dark and scary side of what it could be like when contacting spirits. Televised shows like Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, Paranormal Captured and many more that seem to show us what we think Paranormal activity may or may not be.

On November 2, 2021, Spectrum News 1 published an article titled, “Investigator Says Paranormal Calls Went Up During Pandemic” by Evan Sery. In an interview with Alex Matsuo a Paranormal Investigator from North Carolina, YouTuber and Author of One Bed Over: A Hospital Haunting, The Brave Mortal’s Guide to Ghost Hunting, The Haunting of the Tenth Avenue Theatre, More than Ghosts: A Guide to Working Residential Cases in the Paranormal Field, and The Haunted Actor,  Sery had this to say, “One Raleigh woman says she’s confident they exist in one form or another, and she says she’s hardly the only one who believes this.”

Alex Matsuo investigates at the City Cemetery of Raleigh, North Carolina. She has a strong belief in the afterlife and has been doing her own investigations to continue to gain knowledge and understanding of the afterlife by being on the forefront at night, “I had experiences…” she tells Sery,  “…when I was a kid, and then I had an intense experience when I was 19 or 20 years old.”

She goes on to say that those encounters and limited knowledge with spirits is what led her to doing what she set out to do today. Matsuo also mentions why she was getting in increase of clientele who had been experiencing paranormal activity in their homes while the lock down had taken place. She told Sery ““People [were] home more often than [they] used to being, so I think they were noticing more things happening,”

Matsuo didn’t seem to be too far off with her answer, on May 23, 2020, another article was published about the same subject.

CBS News Los Angeles which has been on the air since 1927, published in article titled,
“Reports of Paranormal Activity on The Rise During Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Orders” as seen on their website as well, www.cbsnews.com.

The article starts off by saying, “There has been an increase in the number of reports of possible hauntings at homes amid the pandemic lockdown. Believers say they have no way to keep themselves socially distanced from the spirit world and claim they have been subjected to an extra dose of paranormal activity during the coronavirus quarantine.”

With this type of news being published for the public during a pandemic, the very idea that the afterlife is looking to communicate could very well be possible.

However, reading further into the story I came across this, Paranormal investigators believe some are likely the “real deal”, but others have simpler explanations. ‘People are spending more time in their home and everything from the wood drying out … you’re getting popping sounds … because we are getting into the warmer months of the year,” said Jason Hawes, the host of “Ghost Nation”. J

ason Hawes, who is one of the founding members of T.A.P.S from the widely popular show GHOST HUNTERS, addresses the increasing cases of Paranormal Activity to be considered, self-paranoia, which seems to be a factor given the entire world was in a state of paranoia and the death rate increasing week after week due to the variant, COVID-19.

Also weighing in on his thoughts about this increase of paranormal activity with a slightly different opinion is John E.L. Tenney, a paranormal researcher and former host of televised program Ghost Stalkers.

On May 15th , 2020 Tenney told CBC Radio an interview that he was used to receiving two to five calls a month about possible paranormal activity happening in homes, but as soon as the pandemic took place those calls had increased to five to ten call a week.

“Everything from typical knocks and footsteps in the hallway, to some very new, strange occurrences, like people hearing whispered voices through their television sets or getting text messages from long deceased friends and relatives” he tells Carol Off, one of the Hosts of AS IT HAPPENS, Podcast.

“If we’re going to allow or believe that ghosts exist, then people are seeing an uptick of ghosts. They’re in a heightened emotional state. They’ve been sequestered. They’re spending time in their house, which they normally don’t do at certain hours. Most people are gone at work and so they’re not used to hearing the pops and creaks in their house normally. But if there are ghosts, perhaps they’ve had a ghost in their house all along and they’ve just never noticed that.”

So, could this have been the main reason why so many people were reporting paranormal activity in their homes? Perhaps Alex Matsuo experience was that of a child having an overactive imagination and that Jason Hawes of T.A.P.S was right in saying that with many people spending more time in their own homes, and the fear of Covid-19 has managed acclimate our minds into noticing more unexplainable experiences nd sounds in our homes.

However, the case stands, many people seemed to be experiencing more than usual paranormal happenings throughout the lock down.

In March of 2020, the world was placed on standby and in doing so it allowed our five senses, along with our spiritual side, mind, body, and soul, to open up and notice more among our own homes.

Lastly, in the CBC Radio article, Tenney states, “Perhaps the ghosts are getting bored too.”

This, and many others, could also be a factor as to why so many reports were coming in.

The afterlife was seeking attention just like many of us during the lock down.

Living or not, we were all looking to find a way to connect with the world that had been locked up.

The use of social media was in our grasps for the living, but for those beyond the beyond, making noises in our homes, catching  glimpse of something moving from the corner of our eyes, hearing a whisper of a voice form another part of the house, was the afterlife letting us know that they are still here and wanting to connect.

Opinion

Modern utopia: A visit to Santa Catalina Island

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My alarm goes off playing the Captain America theme song on my mobile phone, I reach over to turn the volume off and check the time. Its 5:30am, why would anyone be getting up this early unless they had to be at work?

As I look at the time, I begin to feel a wave of excitement as I counted down the hours till my girlfriend Lauren and I were going to board a boat from the New Port Harbor, which was heading to an island off the coast of California.

An Island I had not been to since I was about the age of six. Santa Catalina Island is just off the coast of California where over one million tourist take their Summer and Spring Break vacations to get away from the busy life of Los Angeles or Long Beach, depending on where you take off from. This 22-mile-long island with its eight miles from its widest point, had everything I needed to get away and spend a relaxation getaway, with Lauren.

As we packed the last of our bags, double and tripled checked our belongings, my mind became more excited with the thought of knowing that I was going to an Island that was not only was rich with tourists, souvenir shops, but also rich in history as well.

This place, this Island in which over one million people flock to every year, is one of California’s, sought out vacation getaways. As we back out of the driveway, and Lauren at the wheel, we began to make our way to New Port Beach. An hour later we arrived, checked the car in and walked less than a mile to the dock where a boat, called the CATALINA FLYER was awaiting to take myself and Lauren to our vacation getaway, Avalon.

Lauren and I made our way on to the CATALINA FLYER were we and other passengers set our bags in the baggage area of this taxi on the water, made our way up the stairs to sit out on the top deck of the boat. As eight o’ clock rolled around the boat begin to move and just like that we were off!

With a forty-seven-minute boat ride ahead of us, I staredout into the open ocean and started to think about the history of the island. Weeks before we started packing, I did my research about the Island, because naturally that is what you do when you do not know much about your destination.

What I found out and what I learned about the Island was astounding. Back to 1919, which was a very transformative year for the United States, U.S. troops were coming home from World War I; the treaty of Versailles was being signed, and a man by the name of William Wrigley Jr. had just purchased Santa Catalina Island somewhere in the vicinity of 4 million dollars which was reported by Riverside Daily Press, Volume XXXIV, Number 38, 13 February 1919. That’s right, the man of Wrigley chewing gum had just bought an Island that would soon become a very popular vacation destination not only for tourists, and many celebrities, but also the players of the Chicago Cubs would be doing their spring training as well, “An island Utopia in a modern, busy, everyday world. A land where there are neither rich nor poor. A heaven on earth – without a fence around it.” These were the words Wrigley Jr. said as he was working to make Santa Catalina Island a place for all those you want to get away.

As the boat made its way closer to the Island, I could hear those very words echoing in my head as I stated to see people looking towards the front of the boat with smiles on their faces and their eyes lighting up as paradise that awaits them. To the left side of the boat wild dolphins started to make their presents known at the same time, the operator or captain of our vessel made the announcement as to why we were seeing so many dolphins. As I stated earlier about researching your destination, I came upon information that stated, “Catalina is part of the Channel Islands archipelago. The eight islands that make up the archipelago are divided into two groups — the Northern Channel Islands and the Southern Channel Islands. Catalina Island is one of the four Southern Channel Islands.” [www.lovecatalina.com] With this information I had also learned from a blog, “dolphins and massive whales are often spotted between the mainland and the island, with more than a dozen species regularly spotted. One of the more common sights are pods of Pacific bottlenose dolphins, which travel and hunt around the island year-round.” [www.catalinavacations.com] T

he sight was just as wonderful as the time I went whale watching in Massachusetts, but that is a story for another time. As the boat continues to get closer to docking port number 4, I could see boats just floating on the water, parked as though they were in a parking lot made by the ocean. As the Catalina Flyer came to a stop, we made our way back down to the deck where we left our bags, grabbed them, and began to walk off the boat down a metal ramp and on to the Island.

The sound of golf carts  driving by and families laughing and talking about the first things they wanted to do flooded my ears. Lauren, being the ever so clever and organized one, had already made an itinerary of what the day was going to look like, and I could not have been more thrilled. We grabbed our bags and as the sound of the rollers on the bottom of the bags went metal to cement pathway to pathway, weaving in and around the concrete sea of tourists who arrived with us, my eyes kept looking around at all the sights and sounds. Golf cart, after golf cart whizzing by.

Eventually we made our way to the hotel only to discover that our room had not been ready yet. So, we dropped our bags off and made out way out into the town of Avalon where we grabbed a bite to eat at one of the many well know restaurants on the Island. With our feet a little more well rested and our stomachs full of a delicious Mexican lunch, we soon realized we had time, before our first tour, the glass bottom boat tour.

A tour that has been around since the 1890’s, “Charley Feige [Faggie] used a box with a glass pane in the bottom that he held over the side of his boat to better see beneath the surface of Avalon Bay. He then installed a glass pane in the bottom of one of his rowboats.” [www.islapedia.com] These boats are amazing and when they say glass bottom, they mean a glass window that is an inch in thickness and divided into four compartments.

Around the immense water glass are an arrangement of comfortable seats. Before all that, we made our way to the golf cart rental shack, were once again Lauren was behind the while and drove an amazing one-hour tour of the island. Not the whole Island, but on a guided pathway that took us to breath-taking views overlooking Avalon Bay. It is no wonder why people make their way to this beautiful island. But it still did not answer my question as to why people come to this Island. Perhaps, my answer will come on the next part of this Island Adventure.

Once Lauren and I made it back to the hotel, our room was ready, and we headed up to the very nice but very small room and relaxed the rest of the evening. The next morning, we awoke to at a little bit of a later start, had hearty breakfast and made out way to the first part of our adventure tour, called The Bison Tour.

Bison on an Island? Yes, this Island is known for having Bison which turns out was due to the Hollywood film industry leaving them behind. Bison or the American Buffalo, found in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, in the National Bison Range at the Flathead Valley of Montana and are not native to Catalina Island. That was until a director from Hollywood, Zane Grey, wanted to film a movie on the Island, “There are many stories about how they came to be but the most told tale is that they were brought over for the filming of one of Zane Grey‘s feature film in 1924, either The Vanishing American or The Thundering Herd. Fifteen head of bison were used to portray scenes of the American West. As the story goes, the parts of the film that contained the bison ended up on the editing room floor. However, with limited means to remove and wrangle the bison, Mr. William Wrigley, owner of Catalina Island, allowed the transplants to stay.” [www.lovecatalina.com]

The funny thing is these Bison never appeared in the film! Today with the help of the Catalina Island Conservancy who help maintain Catalina’s American bison herd at about 150 to protect both the bison and the island’s landscape. The tour, in which you enter a hummer with an open back, covered with a canopy and seats with very little leg room, which is a 12-passenger eco-friendly H1 Hummer, takes you on an amazing tour from the city of Avalon up into the beautiful roads which eventually become a dirt roads that takes you into the heart of the valleys and hills of Catalina. With our trusty tour guide behind the while, and her countless comedic jokes, the ride was not bad! With all the lush’s nature and greenery, my thoughts of why people come to this Island began flooding back.

The adventure of traveling to an Island full of nature and countless different plant life really makes you appreciate your time on the Island. Also, a tour about Bison could very well be the reason. Discovering or rediscovering a place full of history and gaining new knowledge about the trivial things may very well be the reason too. The tour did inform us that there was a high chance that a Bison making its presence know where pretty low. Even though it was springtime, it was begging to get warm out and the Bison, I imagine were doing their best to stay in the shade. However, as our hilarious driver was, and managing to entertain us with her driving skills, in and around bends of the dirt road, all while playing the Indian Jones theme song, I kept a sharp eye out. You would think a Bison who weighs between 660-2,200 lbs. would be easy to spot? As our tour guide was beginning to inform us that we would be making our way down the hills, it happened! As the Hummer made it way pass an area of the hills known as the China Wall, a man on our tour stated aloud, “Bison!” Our tour guide as gently as she could, put her foot on the breaks and asked where the man saw it. As we all looked to the right of the vehicle, down below roughly 150 feet from the H1 Eco friendly Hummer…was a Bison, just lay there in the sun. The 660-2,220 lb. animal laying out in the sun, back facing us, but with my trusty camera and my finger on the zoom button I was able to grab a photo. I could not have been happier.

As we made our back to the where the Bison tour had started and stepped off the Eco friendly H1 Hummer, Lauren and I were still full of excitement as we talked about seeing a Bison on our way to get lunch. We were going to need to refuel our stomachs before the second part of our day two adventure in Catalina. That afternoon we had a guided snorkeling tour on near the popular landmark known as the Casino. This 93-year-old build has been the bacon and a historical landmark of Catalina since it was erected On May 29, 1929. Not know for a place of gambling, “ the Avalon landscape from its regal perch on the edge of Avalon Bay, the Casino exemplifies the style and romance of Catalina Island. It gets its name from the Italian language, where “casino” means a gathering place. There has never been gambling at Catalina Casino.” [www.visitcatalinaisland.com] However it is a popular spot to visit with its breath-taking architectural design, this twelve-story building, movie theater on the first floor and a 20,00 square foot ball room which still hold the world record for the largest ball room is a stunning reminder of Catalina’s past. On the other side of this majestic building is a Beach Club called Descanso Beach where Lauren I made our way to on day three of our Catalina Island adventure. This very popular Beach Club is the perfect place after two days of adventuring. With lounge chairs, umbrellas and beachside service, this club was the perfect spot to stop and think about my main question again. As Lauren laid to the left of me in her beach front lounge chair, slowly drifting off into full relaxation, I as well laid on my very comfortable lounge chair and thought about what it was like in the 1920’s being here on this Island, and as I began to lay there and think I slowly closed my eyes and at that very moment a light bulb clicked.

When people go on vacation, they do not just go around looking for that one thing that makes the vacation. Depending on your destination, which is the vacation! Vacation is watching other passengers faces light up at the sight of their destination.

Vacation is discovering the petty things you never knew about or forgot about. When people make their way to Catalina Island they are here about tranquility and relaxation. Easing the mind away from the office or having to grade papers. They vacation to release all that anxiety or find the courage to try something they were afraid to do. Catalina Island has reasons as to why different people from around the world make their way to this Island of fun, excitement, mystery, and bliss. This paradise of fun, off the coast of California has much to offer. For a town with a population of 4,000 residents it sure is a busy one. When William Wrigley Jr. bought this Island, he did not just do it because he wanted to, or that he gave the Chicago Cubs a place to do their spring training, he did it for those looking to find a utopia in a modern busy, everyday world.

Arts and Entertainment

Rock artist Kelsy Karter performs at the Middle East in Cambridge

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Man and a woman standing together and posing for photo
Observer Arts and Entertainment Editor Shaun Hood with Kelsy Karter during meet and greet prior to the concert on April 25 at the Middle East in Cambridge. Photo courtesy Shaun Hood

On the night of Monday, April 25th, I finally got to see Kelsy Karter perform live here in Massachusetts!

Kelsy Karter is a singer-songwriter, who released her debut album in October 2020. The album, titled Missing Person, features lots of modern rock melodies, including Karter’s hit track, “Liquor Store on Mars.” Karter gained a lot of attention when she posted a photo of herself with a fake face tattoo of Harry Style’s face. Fans of both Karter and Styles believed that the tattoo was real at the time, and after some time, Karter revealed that the tattoo was fake and that it was a way to promote her single,

“Harry,” which is a song about Harry Styles. That’s something that helped get Karter to where she is today.

Throughout the past few weeks, Karter has been touring the U.S. with King Mala and Animal Sun. The concert was at The

Middle East in Cambridge. Unfortunately, King Mala was unable to make it to the east coast for this particular show. Local band Condition Baker opened the show instead.

Once Condition Baker finished their set and got the crowd hyped up, Animal Sun took the stage and got everyone ready for the great Kelsy Karter.

Per usual, it’s likely that Karter did not disappoint fans with her heavy rock songs, as well as covers from other artists like Billie Eilish’s song, “Happier than Ever.” While performing her song, “Catch me if you Can,” Karter quickly turned around with her back facing the audience, and jumped backwards for the audience to catch her and get her back onto the stage!

Two men pose for a photo at the Middle East in Cambridge
Observer Arts and Entertainment Editor Shaun Hood with the lead singer of Animal Sun after the opening performances of the Kelsy Karter show at the Middle East in Cambridge on April 25. Photo courtesy Shaun Hood

At every show throughout the tour, Karter awards a framed pair of pink panties to whoever she feels deserves the “best dressed award!”

This is a good way for Karter to encourage fans to be their true selves and show how much her music has meant to them by dressing in a way that’s very expressive.

Karter closed the show by singing my favorite song of hers, “Liquor Store on Mars.”

Check out my interview with Kelsy Karter on Fandomize Media!

See my video of Karter performing “Liquor Store on Mars” at the Middle East in Cambridge here.

Arts and Entertainment

Guest comic strip: Color Or No Color

 
A comic strip with drawings
Comic strip courtesy of Yomerly Rodriguez

Editor’s Note: NECC student Yomerly Rodriguez, submitted this comic strip to the Observer.
In an email she writes:
“The inspiration for my comic was that I felt that more and more people nowadays have some sort of mental illness that prevents them from living a happy life. So, once a person knows how to love themselves and teaches others how to do the same, the whole population can become a better place. That’s why in the beginning, the town is black, white, and gray, and the ending is filled with color thanks to a girl that found color. This comic was an Artsy Saturday prompt for Art Club. I am studying General Studies: Art & Design as a major. I am from Lawrence, Massachusetts, and my family is from the Dominican Republic. This is my first year here at NECC and I’m 17 years old.”
The Observer welcomes submissions, both written and visual. Feel free to get in touch with us at observer@necc.mass.edu.

Features, Uncategorized

After Earth Day: How to continue to care for the planet all year long

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A hand holding a small green plant
Photo courtesy pexels.com

Earth Day was celebrated by people all over the country on April 22. Some commemorated the holiday by attending Earth Day rallies, attending beach cleanups, or, of course, posting the collage of the most beautiful pictures of the Earth.

While celebrating the earth is great, the attitude of saving the Earth must carry through the entire year.

In other words, “Treat every day like Earth Day.”

To keep the Earth looking just as beautiful as it does in the Instagram collages, everyone needs to become more conscious of how their actions impact the planet.

A simple way to become more eco-conscious is to educate ourselves.

This allows us to become more aware of the fragility of our environment and how important it will be to continue to protect it.

There are many ways to get educated; one is to watch documentaries.

This one can be a fun activity, and two, extremely beneficial to our understanding of the Earth.
Cassidy Smith, a Northern Essex Community College Early College student, shared that she became more aware of her recycling during Earth Day and hoped to continue this throughout the year.

She is also interested in starting to compost this year. Compost not only reduces landfill space but also can provide soil for gardens rich in nutrients.

Composting does not have to be complicated or even done by yourself. For example, Black Earth Compost is a company near

Smith that picks up compost in a bin, just like a trash truck would do on trash day.

This makes saving the environment accessible and convenient.

Avery Hocheiser, a NECC Early College student, became vegan this year and was especially conscientious of how this impacted the Earth on Earth Day.

Going vegan is an extreme change, and it is not realistic for many people; however, being conscious of our meat intake and attempting to cut it down when possible could greatly help the environment.

A New York Times article titled “What if We All Ate a Bit Less Meat” by Jillian Mock shared that according to a study by the journal Scientific Reports, if everyone in America reduced their consumption of meat by 25% and substituted it with plant-based proteins, 82 million metric tons of greenhouse gases would be saved per year. This reduction is a little more than 1 percent.

Just adding a meatless Monday into the weekly meal plan can help the environment and make you more aware of the impact of meat.

As discussed above, there are also many interesting documentaries to watch about meat’s impact on the environment that could help to increase an understanding of the topic.

One simple thing that Gianna McKeown, an Early College student at NECC, does to help the environment is to bring reusable bags to the store.

Sometimes it can be challenging to remember to bring them with you, so leaving them in the trunk of your car will make you more likely to use them in place of the single-use bags they provide you at the store.

McKeown also shared that she likes to carpool to limit her car usage.

Even better than that, if something is within walking distance, she opts for that, allowing her to get some exercise and reduce her carbon footprint.

Walking will become a great option, especially as the temperatures continue to change.

Overall, the changes made in our lives can be as small as bringing bags to a grocery store to as large as going vegan; both bring us one step closer to helping the environment.

The most important thing is that our work doesn’t stop after April 22, and we continue to do our best to care for our home.

Features

A moment with Professor Michael Cross

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Michael Cross is an adjunct professor at Northern Essex Community College and has a passion for science.

Cross has a PHD in organic chemistry from the University of Utah.

He has been working here at Northern Essex Community College for 11 years now.

Cross is also very interested in forensic science specifically.

He says, “I love all kinds of science (chemistry, physics, biology, etc.) and I especially love the application of science. So when

Paul Cavan and I began discussing the need for a forensic science course I was very excited to create and teach the course.”
Cross teaches primarily online classes at NECC now.

He says, “I taught full-time at NECC for 11 years. In 2020 I moved to Utah and now teach online as an adjunct instructor.”

When asked what the most difficult thing about online teaching was, he said, “It’s hard to keep the class engaged. With face to face classes I can see when my students lose interest and we can switch up what we’re doing in class. But with online classes it’s much harder to gauge where students are at.”

However, he does like the fact that online classes offer a wide range of different students who may not normally be able to attend in person classes. He also says that there could be certain disadvantages to students who take online classes.

He says, “It is extremely easy to fall behind in online classes. Without a professor there to remind you in person about upcoming assignments, it is easy to procrastinate and fall way behind.”

Despite certain challenges, Cross is a very passionate professor who enjoys working at Northern Essex Community College.

When asked what it was that he liked about NECC specifically, Cross said, “I really enjoy teaching such a wide variety of students. At a community college you get to work with students of all ages and from all walks of life. It’s great to have such a wide variety of life experiences in a classroom.”

 

Features

Behind the scenes of the NECC Observer

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At Northern Essex Community College, journalism students have the chance to have their class stories featured in Northern Essex Community College’s own newspaper, The NECC Observer.

About every two weeks, Journalism students are asked to write a story about something happening at NECC.

If they are lucky, talented, and write a newsworthy story, they have the chance to get a feature.

The Observer is advised by Mary Jo Shafer, as she is also the instructor of the Journalism course. As she said over email The Observer is a student-run paper. This means that the students are the ones putting in the work,deciding what gets published, and are even writing stories for their own sections. This is something that makes The Observer such a special paper.

When asked through email what her role at The Observer is as Faculty Adviser, Shafer told me she mainly just advises, as it is a student run paper, but she does other jobs such as sending in stories to the editor-in-chief.

However, being that she is the instructor, she plays a large role in selecting the stories that are going to be published in The Observer. Her first step is reading through all of the stories that have been submitted to her. She then decides whichstories she will share with the student staff over at the Observer. “Ideally these would be the stories that are stronger candidates — well-written, newsworthy, accurate, with good quotes and sources. However, because there is a wide range of experience with journalism students, sometimes I do share stories that need help or editing,” she said over email. She then sends the stories out to the different editors, depending on what the editor is in charge of and what the story is about.

After this, it is up to the staff who get to decide which stories make it in.

However, things have changed since COVID happened. Before, with only 12-24 pages in the paper, less students were getting published. There just wasn’t enough room. But now with The Observer having an online platform, more and more students are getting the opportunity

Shafer said her biggest goal with The Observer is to be asstudent centered as possible. For her, this means students would choose and post all stories for the print edition.

Journalism student Cassidy Smith has become very fond of this program.

As she said in an interview, “I have always loved journalistic writing. Being able to have my work published in The Observer has really made me feel like a real journalist. Although I’m not sure if it’s what I want to be when I grow up, it does give me insight to what it is truly like. I think this is an amazing addition to the class.”

Smith says this gives her the real life experience she loves to see in class. To her, this makes the journalism class one of the best ones to take. Writing her stories, she feels like it is more a job than an assignment.

This year, the editor-in chief at The Observer is Jose Rodriguez, who also happens to be the sports editor.

This means that he goes to the sports games, home and on the road, writing what happens during the game as well as interviewing the athletes and coaches pre and post game.

He gets these stories into the paper by collecting the highlights of the games along with the quotes and putting them together into a story.

After he triple checks everything, the stories are ready to go.

Rodriguez said in an email that he chooses the stories of journalism students, after being sent them, by seeing if they are newsworthy and interesting. “We want stories that are worthy for NECC students like an event that is happening that could bring more audience to the event or even if it is something that happened in NECC recently that student didn’t make it and wanted to go.”

There are fewer stories in the print version of the paper, the best ones make it, but there are also many spaces in the online version if not.

So, if you are a journalism student writing newsworthy stories, you have the opportunity to get published.

If you have any interest in joining The Observer team, email Shafer at
mshafer@necc.mass.edu.

“It really is a great hands-on experience for those interested in journalism and they will be able to get clips/be published and learn valuable skills such as InDesign software, editing and website posting,
she said in an email.

 

News

Why are less and less students choosing college in 2022?

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Less and less students are attending college as the pandemic continues to show its effects on our country, and academic professionals are wondering what this is going to mean for the future of academia and the economy. NPR recently reported that over a million less students enrolled in an undergraduate program than before 2020 this year alone.

This means that the enrollment rate has fallen a total of 6.6% since the beginning of the pandemic.

As a student of NECC, I would argue that these effects are very visible in daily campus life.

The connection between peers, professors and campus life has fallen drastically since the beginning of the
pandemic, and it is becoming obvious that kids are beginning to suffer socially because of the change of dynamic on campus.
NPR also reported that community colleges were feeling the majority of the decline in enrollment, showing 13% enrollment drop since before covid-19.

Many people believe that part of the reasoning in the enrollment decline is because of students who decided to take a gap year, and never persisted in enrolling into a program afterwards.

As someone who was considering a gap year while the effects of the pandemic continued to negatively spread in the United States, I would argue that it was definitely easy to fall into this mindset.

It is becoming more and more popular amongst college aged students to obtain an associates degree, or no degree at all, followed by going directly into the workforce because of the instant reward they might receive, such as a paycheck.

As the price of tuition continues to increase drastically amongst four year schools, I believe this trend will continue to move upwards.

There are many factors that could impact why less and less students are feeling the need to enroll in college after highschool, one of which could be their financial situations.

Many Americans were affected negatively by the pandemic, and ended up with expenses for medical purposes, as well as feeling the pressure of inflation as our economy tries to plateau again.

Over the past year, the average public college tuition has increased by 3.4%, with an average tuition of over 38 thousand dollars.
Because of this, and the increasing employment pool, it can be assumed that college aged kids would rather get out and work rather than continuing their education beyond highschool and paying such prices.
Doug Shapiro, from the National Student Clearinghouse states that this may pose an issue for students in the long run, saying:

“It’s very tempting for high school graduates, but the fear is that they are trading a short-term gain for a long-term loss,” according to the same article from NPR.

He argues that it is going to be harder for college aged kids to get back into school after pushing it off for a certain amount of years, and there is a strong possibility that they might never go back.

So, what does a lower presence of kids in college mean for the state of our country in the long run?

Well, less students graduating with the necessary skills for the workplace means less competition for pay in a given job.

Therefore, a decrease in more experienced workers means less high wage jobs, and in turn an increase of welfare costs.

There are many ways students themselves can lower the cost of tuition if they are proactive.

Utilizing resources such as taking AP classes in high school, considering dual
enrollment, starting at a community college, and trying to save money on supplies such as new textbooks may help, however the increase of tuition is in the hands of the universities themselves.

Creating affordable and reasonably priced public education may be one of the most effective ways to see an increase in enrollment for college aged kids.

News, Slider

Weighing the benefits of choosing a community college

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El-Hefni building on the Lawrence campus of NECC
The El-Hefni building on the Lawrence campus of NECC. Photo courtersy NECC Newsroom

When choosing what college to attend for the next 4 years of life, it can be quite a daunting task.

It feels like you’re being pulled in so many different directions, with this college offering these benefits, or this college giving out those hefty scholarships.

But when it comes down to the ultimate choice, what really matters to students? While going to university offers the “college experience,” many overlook the multiple benefits going to a community college has to offer, especially in the long run.

While community college mainly offers a 2-year degree program, the plethora of jobs one can still get without a bachelor’s degree is immense.

These jobs include research developers, becoming a registered nurse, and becoming an editor.

Most jobs even offer to pay for students to continue their education!

According to the Northern Essex Community College website, the college offers 14 areas of study with over 60 associate degrees to choose from, ranging from marketing and business, art and design, or healthcare.

These degrees cover a large area of work study and will provide students with a comforting level of security in finding future jobs.

An additional benefit on opting to attend a community college is cost, which is one of the biggest factors students take into consideration when choosing a school.

On the NECC website, there is a huge section all about cost, and how the college will help students graduate at an affordable rate. At NECC, over 65% of students receive financial aid, and a typical course costs right about $750, while similar courses at a 4-year university cost around the $1,000 marker, or more depending on the school.
By choosing to attend a community college, students can save thousands of dollars on tuition, textbooks, and even laptops through the NECC laptop program.

One of the more major things students look for when attending a college is the social aspect of the school, and what student life is like on campus.

Students look for what kinds of activities the school holds, how engaging students are with one another, and what kinds of involvement students are allowed to participate in.

Despite being a community college, NECC has so many clubs, organizations, and resources that are continuously offered to incoming students.

NECC allows students the opportunity to become a member of the student government association, use any library resources needed, and utilize the campus-wide wellness and fitness center.

The options are endless when it comes to becoming an involved member on campus!