The spacious atrium of the Dimitry Building on the Lawrence campus with hand painted murals with inspiring quotes and one large glass wall like a fancy sunroom, is mostly empty. Unless Early College students are having classes, the big lobby is far from having engaged students hanging around or studying in groups. 

In front of the lobby, there is the welcoming study room/SOAR office but if they are closed and you need to charge your device, the beautiful atrium becomes a dark place to study because it lacks of electrical outlets for laptops or cellphones. There is only one “charging station” next to the entrance door, and the other remaining outlet is next to the microwave near the food vending machine. 

I have been working standing up several times because I had to charge my laptop on the counter top where the microwave is placed, and the table next to the charging station was busy.

More than once, I have seen an elder lady carrying many bags, presumably homeless, sitting down in the lobby arranging her belongings or reading a flyer. 

There used to be a couple of soccer tables that at least, for a short time, while waiting for school busses, Early College students were interacting together in real time away from their screen. However, those “fulbito” tables are gone.  

I don’t think the lobby in Dimitry building in Lawrence needs any decoration. Instead, it needs an upgrade in being an effective and accessible space, maybe with a/some recreational or interesting entertainment that bring students together. The piano in the Spurk C-building calls curious and experienced piano player students around. 

Dr. Naydeen Gonzales de Jesus, is the new vice president of the Lawrence campus and community relations. She said regarding her first and foremost important focus about her role is “to create a sense of belonging, sense of community, so that all of the students that are coming through our doors feel that they belong, and this is their place to be, to learn, to grow.” 

She also said she would work beyond the look-and-feel of Lawrence campus. “I want to establish strong and healthy relationships with our partners in the community with employers, City Council, and other four-year schools and universities to create pathways of opportunities for students to have to get jobs, to have internships,” she said.

In order to be more engaged with Lawrence community, Dr. Naydeen moved to Lawrence with her family. 

She aims to bring local community residents and organizations to Lawrence campus so they can see NECC as a partner and they could celebrate their events in Lawrence buildings.

Dr. Naydeen was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the US when she was 14 years old. At that time she did not speak English. That was her first educational challenge, but once she started, she has taken a long academic journey. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in journalism with a concentration in broadcasting, a master of arts in student personnel services, and a PhD in industrial organizational psychology. 

Through her education, Dr. Naydeen was focused in learning in empowering the lives of people working with students, as student counselors or career and advancement for college students, and lately in her PhD, she focused on identifying assets, special needs and people’s feelings about their organization or workplace to improve it. 

Dr. Naydeen, as she likes to be called, wants to help and she wants to know Lawrence campus students’ points of view, their preferences and concerns, and is organizing the Lawrence Campus Townhall for Student Voices, on Tuesday, April 1 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Dimitry Atrium (lobby). 

Light refreshments will be provided. 

I know it looks like a PSA public service announcement, but I promise you it’s not. It has a well-being message. 

First, I’d like to apologize for this late show-up of the year of the NECC Observer. If you have seen the blue post of our newspaper all winter, you may see a sun faded edition portraying last Christmas rehearsal although we are close to spring. The reason is that suddenly we were informed that our prior printer company would not be able to continue working with us. Our research into printing services took a while but finally, we got a reasonable agreement and here we are again. 

Although we have a different format, the current printed version is small in height and wider than the previous one, the NECC Observer is still strong and portrays our sharp minds staff and collaborators, and their efforts to echo our peers’ preferences or concerns. 

This is my last semester before graduation, and something I would like to see happen is more peer’s engagement. Not that one through social media. I mean eye-to-eye engagement, human to human interaction. Maybe because I was born in the 1900s and grew up without a cellphone, I’m not used to, yet, sitting in the hallway and seeing almost everyone immersed in their screen with their earbuds or their big DJ’s style headphones. 

Therefore, I will try to encourage you to take a break from your mobile and look around, I promise you that good things are happening here, at NECC. Join the different activities, presentations and conversations and smile, ask questions and meet new people. 

“When you first meet someone, your brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward, creating a “feel good” sensation, especially if you are experiencing initial attraction or interest, essentially giving you a positive response to this new encounter,” says the Royal Institution, a website that “brings the public and scientists together.”

Visit necc.mass.edu/events and see if you can join one of them. Although, for some reason I will later investigate, there are some flyers with events that are not posted on that website as they need to be submitted and approved, so please look up and see the flyers posted on the wall boards. 

My faves until the next edition are: 

For the interested in freedom of speech, “Sunshine Week Reading Party” is on 3/10 from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. at C-209.

For the adventurous, “Ski Trip to Gunstock Mountain-NH” will be on 3/14. Limited space. Book your spot to dleaffer@necc.mass.edu

“Bach’s Lunch Concert Series.” It’s like a mini concert with a talk about different instruments. It’s fun! Next will be 3/27 at noon – TC 103. 

For those  a year close to graduation, the “LinkedIn profile workshop with guest presenter from ALKU” should be a must. It will be on 26/3 from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. – C203.   

Lastly, it’s midterm exam season, I’d like to point out that the library has lots of resources, and librarians are always eager to help above and beyond. If you are looking for a space to study /work on your own or in a group, on the Haverhill campus, there are private study rooms for 2, 6 or 8 people with bean bags. They tend to be busy! Last Spring ‘24, they had 225 student bookings, and last Fall ‘24 they had 340 bookings. So, I’d strongly recommend you book it in advance. Visit necc.mass.edu/library. 

Shops and malls playing Christmas carols from open to close remind us of the list of presents we may try to purchase. Also, it’s the season to go out and chat in real time, face-to-face, having a special meal with those special ones. 

Whether you want to pamper yourself for being good during the year, or you want to celebrate the advent of the new year with your peers or coworkers, going out to eat is the premise for this season.

If you are the one inviting, or you and your party will split the cost of the bill, here is my cautionary tale for you to avoid surprises when the check arrives.

I recently went out with my family to the Seaport area to a Christmas fair called the “Snowport.” 

Looking for Betty the Yeti, trying different bites in the food area and visiting the little stands full of all sorts of crafts, we spent close to three hours. 

We tried food and beverages from four different stands and all of them, except for the small stand selling hot cocoa and hot apple cider, were using Clover point-of-sale (POS) machines. Those POS have a noticeable 8-inch screen for the client to tap the card, select the tip and chose how we want the receipt –or not- to be sent. 

Wait, what? 

I understand a tip for service in a restaurant but why do I have to tip if there is no service given by the provider besides handling the food I’m already paying for? Which most of the time, is more expensive than going to a standard restaurant.

The venue has a limited area to sit down, one with beach chairs and a reduced area with benches covered with a tent. With a captive audience of thousands of people visiting on a bright but windy Sunday afternoon, there was not enough space to sit down. Eating — standing up — waffles dripping with chocolate can be very messy, especially for kids. So, what is the service tip for?

Tips suggestions on those screens can vary from 15% up to 25%. There is the option of “No Tip” but as the person behind in the line can easily see the client tapping the screen, there is a kind of pressure to add a tip just “not to look bad.”

We continued our visit, and my kid was chanting “I want this…I want that,” incessantly. 

Wait, what? (Part II) 

Money does not grow in the trees. So, I took advantage of my kid learning math, and before getting too far, I said, “This is your total amount to purchase whatever you want, take note of the things you like (luckily, she carried a tiny notebook and a pencil), and then do the math to make the right choices. No extra penny will be given.” 

Assigning yourself a general budget for Christmas or if you are a parent, giving a limit on your child’s shopping could be helpful.

When the cold was getting intense, we went for dinner. We drove 20 minutes from Boston Seaport to Somerville. 

Nothing luxurious nor too fancy, but cozy and with a promising delicious culinary experience is what I chose to close the field trip welcoming the Christmas season. 

We were the first ones to arrive at the tiny casual restaurant. The staff were chatting placidly. The music was a little loud and repetitive and slightly annoying. However, we were laughing and talking about various things, and when we were hesitant to go for or skip the dessert, the bill arrived. 

I almost fainted. The receipt had a list of tips percentages to choose: 20%, 22% and 25%, the equivalent value in money and the total including the tip. As a rule for a non-royal service, I add, without thinking, a standard 20%, which turned the check into close to $200. 

Wait, what? (Part III) 

We were three adults and one kid. We ordered three entrees and four beverages. I shared my meal with my fussy eating kid. How did it turn out to be that expensive? 

It was not an everyday meal, but it was neither “Fugu,” a poisonous blowfish considered as a Japanese delicacy, nor even a filet mignon. It was basically a stew of chicken, stew of lamb, a vegan choice, and non-high-end drinks. 

My husband and I scanned with our eight eyes the bill again. We realized the “tip” equivalent of 20% was already added to the bill. As we were not told about it, we mechanically were adding the standard tip in Massachusetts of 20%, exacerbating the total cost of our one-course dinner. 

Under state law, section 152A, “service charge” is defined as fee or charge in lieu of a tip that the customer would expect to go to wait staff, and it is treated as tips because it belongs to the employees who provided service to the customer. 

Also, the legislation says that employers can impose “on a patron any house or administrative fee in addition to or instead of a service charge or tip” but employers need to “inform” their patrons that fee is not assigned to staff employees. 

This is the case for banquets like a wedding reception or a large party of guests, where the quote has an item that says, “service charge” and specifies that is not a tip. 

Nonetheless, it did not say “service charge,” it did say “Gratuitity 20%.”

We should have been informed the tip was already included before ordering!

Ultimately, we left the 20-seat restaurant without adding extra tip and agreed to “no need to come back.”

So, if you are going out for dinner, remember to double-check if the chosen eatery includes the tip. If you are going with relatives or friends, ask after how many seats they consider a group and how much the service fee is. 

Lastly, make sure to express among your party that the check will be split evenly including taxes, fees and tips, and please be mindful with what you order. Don’t go for the most expensive item on the menu! Also, beware of those pals that prefer to pay what they order based on the itemized cost in the menu. That price does not include taxes, neither service fee (if it’s charged) nor tips. 

Remember the idea of the season is to have fun and enjoy each other’s company wherever you go without breaking into your savings.

In the aftermath of the presidential election, most newspapers, Youtubers, podcasts or wherever you listen to the media, the trend topic is why, we the people, made Mr. Donald Trump go back to the White House.  

Statistics and possible explanations are served for every political party the same for the non-party. However, coming from a developing country where the political chaos reigns, I’m still impressed that it seems that people, the majority, were able to forgive all the accusations and proved charges against the returning president.  

On top of that, the two attempts of assassinations which fortunately did not work — I may not agree with most of his rhetoric, but nobody deserves that — played on his favor, making him a “hero” as he stated “I’d like to think that God thinks that I’m going to straighten out our country.”  

Being a Latina voter, I’m amazed for the increase of the Latino supporters to the Republican party considering his warhorse is his immigration plan, and the countless times the MAGA leader has openly poured detrimental comments against Latinos. Those comments have  encouraged his supporters — mostly white men — to be widely loud against Latinos, sparking racism and division in our country.  

In their defense, Latinos tend to value faith, family and traditions. The Republican party campaign included talking to Judeo-Christian leaders, and its leader stating “We are one movement, one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God.”  

This moving, spiritual and patriotic statement could have moved even to the most agnostic undecisive voter, not only to ex-Democrat Latinos.  

Most of them, as many as his faithful followers, coincide with the main reason is the economy. Harris did not make any effort to differentiate herself from Biden, but his political partner did not play very well in the economy, international politics among other relevant topics. The result shows most people are screaming for a change. Period. 

Whatever the reason is, no more ink nor time should be invested in deciphering the results of the election. Let’s look at the future and envision what we want for ourselves, our family, our community and our nation. 

Knowing the U.S. Senate is now 53 red vs. 46 blue seats, and the red hat leader being a strong persona, as he tends to impose his will, let’s all, we the people, regardless of if we support him or not, be the watchdogs on his second term.  

Like in the airport saying, “if you see something, say something.” 

“No one is above the law” and that is what I personally love and admire about this great nation. The political apparatus is stronger than anything or anyone.  

Let’s be alert, stop hating, and let’s work together.