The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, February 2, 2022

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXIII, ISSUE 6

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Somerville health board rejects Ballantyne’s bid for vaccine mandate

by Ethan Steinberg News Editor

Individuals in Somerville will not have to show proof of vaccination to enter businesses in the city, at least for now, a health panel said in late January.

Mayor Katjana Ballantyne’s bid for a vaccine mandate was rejected by the city’s health board by a vote of 2–1 at a Jan. 20 meeting.

The order would have required eligible individuals in the city to show proof of vaccination to enter gyms and theaters, or to dine indoors.

Board of Health Chair Dr. Brian Green voted against the order, as did board member Paula Machado. The third member, Robert Ciccia, voted in favor.

“I think this policy is a really good idea for what we were facing with delta, and I’m worried that it’s less of a good policy for omicron,” Green said at the meeting.

The policy was drafted in December, when the delta variant was still the dominant strain circulating locally. Amid a mas-

sive wave of infections triggered by the highly infectious omicron variant, Green said the mandate would have been unlikely to curb transmission, given that vaccines have been shown to be less effective against the new variant.

He also feared that the lack of a uniform regional policy — with cities like Cambridge and Medford opting not to implement vaccine mandates — would have stifled the order’s effectiveness of boosting the city’s already-high vaccination rate.

Roughly 80% of Somerville residents were fully vaccinated at the time of the meeting. City data shows that the number has remained roughly stationary in the weeks since.

“Vaccines really are helpful to decrease illness and death, and that’s true of every strain of this virus,” Green said. “I really think the punchline right now, the most important thing we need to be focusing on, is masking and testing.”

Multiple members of Ballantyne’s administration including her chief of staff, Nikki Spencer, pushed hard for the

mandate at the Jan. 20 meeting, assuring the board that the policy would be part of a holistic approach to battle the pandemic.

Still, Green expressed doubt that the mandate would successfully quell vaccine hesitancy, fearing it would force restaurant workers, some of whom opposed the mandate, to shoulder the burden of enforcement.

“The important takeaway from last night’s hearing is that the Board and the City are in agreement that vaccination is critical to getting this virus under control,” Ballantyne said in a statement after the meeting. “We were hoping the Board would support the proposed requirement, but I respect their decision and their thoughtful deliberation.”

Prior to the vote, a group of businesses in the city expressed strong opposition to the proposed mandate.

Many were convinced it would discourage customers from patronizing their establishments, and some feared losing employees from their already short-staffed teams.

UEP receives $325,000 from Barr Foundation for racial equity program

by Aditya Acharya News Editor

The Barr Foundation awarded Tufts’ Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning a two-year grant of $325,000 to fund the department’s new Racial Equity in Policy and Planning program.

Beginning in fall 2022, the REPP program will educate and prepare five graduate students per year as they pursue their degree in either of the UEP department’s two master’s programs.

The Barr Foundation is a Boston-based nonprofit organization that is committed to advancing education, climate advocacy, arts and creativity, according to Emily Sidla, climate program manager at the foundation.

“Barr focuses regionally, and selectively engages nationally, working in partnership with nonprofits, foundations, the public sector, and civic and business leaders to elevate the arts and creative expression, advance solutions for climate change, and

NATALIE BROWNSELL / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning building is pictured on Jan. 31.

connect all students to success in high school and beyond,” Sidla wrote in an email to the Daily.

“Barr has grown to become one of the largest private foundations in New England with assets in excess of $2 billion and a 2021 grantmaking budget of nearly $120 million.”

Penn Loh, interim associate chair of the UEP department, explained that the goal of the REPP program is to solve the persistent legacy of racism in urban policy and planning.

“This program is … trying to bring a new generation of folks who have closer connections and actual experiences in some of these marginalized communities [and help them] be better prepared to figure out how they can help to dismantle some of the white supremacist culture and dynamics that have led to perpetuating these inequalities in the urban landscape,” Loh said.

Loh spoke about the connection between the UEP department and the surrounding region, as well as the local expertise that the REPP program aims to foster among its fellows. see GRANT, page 2

tuftsdaily.com

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

Somerville City Hall is pictured.

“This [vaccine mandate] is going to necessitate a lot more investing without necessarily a return,” Joe Carreiro, business manager of El Potro Mexican Grill in Union Square, told the Daily prior to the vote.

Carriero is fully vaccinated, wears a mask indoors in public and supports mask mandates and other efforts by the city to promote public health. But the

mandate would have run him out of business, he said.

“There are lots of other places where the spread of COVID is a lot more problematic than in my restaurant,” Carreiro said.

The health board’s vote came just a week after a community meeting was disrupted by anti-vaccine protestors who see MANDATE, page 2

Res Life releases housing lottery numbers, prioritizes Hyatt residents

by Madeline Mueller Assistant News Editor

Tufts sent out lottery numbers to eligible students of all class years on Jan. 21, about one month after first-year students were told they would receive their lottery information. In the intervening weeks, uncertainty abounded among first-years seeking clarity on their housing plans for the coming academic year.

Confusion and disappointment characterize the student body’s reactions to this year’s on-campus housing policies.

Due to a shortage of beds, approximately 100 members of the Class of 2025 are currently being housed at the Hyatt Place Medford rather than in Tufts residence halls.

Tufts promised the students living in the hotel that they would receive priority lottery numbers to make up for their housing assignment this year,

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 4

SPORTS / back

Legacy Project binds generations through storytelling

‘Abbott Elementary’ revitalizes mockumentary style

Track and field teams sprint to success

True Becker, a Hyatt resident, explained.

Joshua Hartman, senior director of Residential Life and Learning, confirmed that the housing lottery does indeed prioritize Hyatt residents.

“Hyatt residents will receive lower numbers than all other sophomores, giving them preferential status,” Hartman wrote in an email to the Daily. “Juniors and seniors will be given the opportunity to select before sophomores, as has always been the case.”

Becker, a first-year, and other Hyatt residents have dealt with some challenges while living off campus, including navigating an unreliable shuttle system at the beginning of the year.

Nevertheless, Becker says he made the most of his experience and developed a closeknit community with fellow first-years at the hotel. see HOUSING, page 2 NEWS

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FEATURES

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, February 2, 2022

THE TUFTS DAILY Alexander Janoff Editor in Chief

— EDITORIAL — PERI BAREST SAM RUSSO PHOEBE WONG Senior Editors

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2–1 vote against mandate follows pushback from local businesses at previous BOH meeting MANDATE

continued from page 1 pummeled Dr. Green with verbal attacks and flooded a virtual chat box with misinformation about the virus vaccines. The disruptions forced the board to adjourn the meeting early and delay the vote another week.

The proposed mandate in Somerville largely resembled the City of Boston’s vaccine requirement for public indoor spaces, which had gone into

effect just days before the Somerville Board of Health convened for a vote.

Boston’s mandate was announced in December, and in the weeks since, roughly 29,000 residents of the city received their first dose of the virus vaccine, raising the city’s vaccination rate for at least one dose by nearly 4 percentage points, according to the latest city data.

Infections in Somerville have declined in recent weeks following a rapid omicron-fueled surge, the city’s COVID-19 dashboard shows.

At Tufts, 166 students on the Medford/Somerville campus have tested positive in the past week and more than 350 are in isolation.

The university has relaxed public health restrictions on campus, Dr. Michael Jordan,

who oversees Tufts’ pandemic response, announced last week. The gym and all dining centers will reopen fully for the first time since December, and visitors will once again be allowed on campus.

Jordan said the changes come in response to falling infection rates throughout the state, including at Tufts.

Information from previous Daily reporting was used in this story.

Grant money will fund 5 fellows dedicated to racial equity in regional urban planning GRANT

continued from page 1 “We are prioritizing bringing people into the REPP Fellowship who intend to do their careers in this region because our department is very much embedded in our region,” Loh said. “We have a good majority [of the department] who are developing their careers in Massachusetts and New England.”

Loh said that the REPP fellows supported by this program will build upon the accomplishments of UEP professors and alumni who have transformed the field of urban policy and planning.

“We already have a rich network and people who have been really shifting the fields out there in housing, community development, environment [and] transportation,” Loh said. “We’re hoping that this generation of REPP fellows … continues to build upon that.”

Loh explained how the REPP program will be structured similarly to the Tufts Neighborhood Fellows (NF) midcareer program, which pays for up to five “urban leaders” each year to enroll in UEP’s Master in Public Policy (MPP) program. “[Neighborhood Fellows] has been around for 20 years, and through that program, we’re able to bring in five experienced urban leaders of color with full-tuition scholarships,” Loh said. “We’re basically creating a parallel process for the REPP fellows.”

Sidla outlined the joint efforts of the UEP department and the Barr Foundation to provide a high-quality fellowship experience to the selected students.

“UEP will select Fellows from underrepresented groups who also demonstrate a commit-

ment to advancing racial justice in the policy and planning fields,” Sidla wrote. “Fellows will receive full-tuition scholarships, stipends provided by the Barr Foundation, paid internships, and other additional programming to build leadership skills and develop networks.”

Mariella Puerto, director of the climate program at the Barr Foundation, explained why the Barr Foundation selected the Tufts UEP department for the grant.

“We are excited to partner with Tufts UEP to build a pathway for leaders of color in the policy and planning fields in our region,” Puerto said in a Tufts Now article. “Supporting the next generation of leadership in our region reflects our long-term commitment to centering racial equity in the climate movement.”

The UEP department is running the REPP program in partnership with the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Dayna Cunningham, the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar dean of Tisch College, described Tisch College’s role in advancing the experiences of the REPP fellows.

“Tisch College will serve as a second home for the REPP students,” Cunningham wrote in an email to the Daily. “The Tisch College family is committed to supporting the development of engaged active citizens to effect meaningful change at Tufts University and in the world. We intend to work hand-in-hand with our UEP colleagues, REPP students, and community partners to position the Boston region as a hub for racial equity in the planning field.”

Tufts to add on-campus beds to accommodate growing student body HOUSING

continued from page 1 “Once they fixed the shuttle situation, there’s shuttles every 20 minutes,” Becker said. “So it only takes an extra 10 minutes to get to campus. … I think it has been a positive experience for some students, mainly because most of my close friends are from the Hyatt.”

Becker also explained that being guaranteed a low housing lottery number helped to make up for some of the incon-

KIANA VALLO / THE TUFTS DAILY

West Hall is pictured on Oct. 7, 2021.

veniences of being housed in the hotel.

Hartman told the Daily that the university does not anticipate housing students in the hotel next year.

“We are reviewing all of our options for adding new on-campus beds for the Fall of 2022, and once those plans are finalized, we will share them with students,” Hartman wrote. “Right now, we are not planning to use the Hyatt next year.”

Rising campus population has necessitated the adding of beds on campus for incoming students.

“Over the past five years, we have added more than 450 on-campus beds,” Hartman wrote. “We are also planning to build a new, high-density on-campus residence hall.”

The Class of 2025 is Tufts’ largest on record, and its size has already created some challenges, as evidenced by the need for housing in a satellite location.

Nonetheless, ORLL does not anticipate any major changes to campus housing assignments for the fall 2022 semester. ​​”There may be slight adjustments in some of the smaller buildings, but we do not anticipate any major shifts in the ways

MICHELLE LI / TUFTS DAILY

Metcalf Hall is pictured. we assign the current student housing stock,” Hartman wrote.

“We do, however, plan to offer more apartments for sophomores than we have been able to in the past.”

Buildings that offer apartment-style living for rising sophomores include Latin Way and Hillside Apartments.

Juniors and seniors with lottery numbers can also live in these buildings and have priority over sophomores in the housing lottery.

Now that lottery numbers have been sent out, the next step for students is group formation.

Some first-year students have found the release of the housing lottery somewhat overwhelming.

“When people are talking about [the lottery], every-

one’s a little on edge,” Becker said. “Everyone’s so hyper focused on needing the perfect number.”

Anya Chan agrees with Becker’s assessment.

“It’s been a little stressful trying to form groups … with everyone vying for people with [lower] numbers,” Chan, a firstyear, said. “I think it’s pretty complicated.”

Still, she does not begrudge the advantage that the Hyatt residents have in the lottery process.

“Commuting from the Hyatt to campus every single day is … a lot of work,” Chan said. “So I think they deserve it. It’s crazy that they got put into the Hyatt in the first place.”

tuftsdaily.com

Features

3 Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Tufts Legacy Project builds intergenerational connections, one story at a time

by Mark Choi

Features Editor

Disclaimer: Katie Furey is a former features editor at The Tufts Daily. Katie was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.

Two years into the pandemic, many have struggled with feelings of loneliness and isolation, with hugs and handshakes replaced by six feet of distance and smiles hidden behind masks.

For older adults, the pandemic has only accentuated feelings of loneliness, as nearly one-fourth of adults aged 65 and older in the United States are considered to be socially isolated, according to the CDC. To help build meaningful connections across different generations in this context, sophomore Arielle Galinsky and junior Katie Furey started a new group, the Legacy Project at Tufts, which soon grew into a club of 30 members last fall. The club is centered around storytelling and having one-on-one conversations with the residents in the Medford Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Ultimately, the Legacy Project hopes to preserve the senior citizens’ life stories in a written format, Galinsky explained.

Galinsky, co-president of the club, is a published author, whose book documents the life stories of 18 residents of a Massachusetts senior community. Through the Legacy Project, Galinsky hoped to provide other Tufts students an opportunity to foster meaningful friendships with residents.

“When I told people about my project and the book, many of my peers showed a huge interest to pursue a similar project: to talk to senior citizens and get an understanding of their lived experiences and stories,” Galinsky said.

It was a sense of regret that first motivated Galinsky to listen to the stories of senior citizens.

At the age of 10, she lost both her grandfathers in just a year.

“I realized how little I actually knew about their past and what stories made them into the people they were, despite the fact that they were my role models,” Galinsky said. “When you have someone in your life who is really important to you, you almost take it for granted, [and] unless you take time to ask them these deep questions about their lives and stories, you are not going to understand … who and what made them the person they are today.”

Galinsky elaborated on the significance and salience of the Legacy Project.

“During the pandemic, when we were still in lockdown, I called the residents in a senior community once a week to have a conversation with them, for whatever length of time they wanted to chat,” Galinsky said. “Listening to their stories really grounded me. … A lot of times after our conversations, the [resident] would tell me, ‘Thank you for this; thank you for listening and sharing my story.’”

Through these weekly conversations with the seniors, Galinsky learned how to put the ongoing pandemic in perspective.

“As a member of the younger generation, the pandemic has been really difficult because I have never experienced something of this magnitude before,” Galinsky said. “But a lot of the seniors told me about how they had gone through World War II or other extremely difficult parts of life, and that this is just another obstacle that we are going to overcome together and that there is hope and optimism ahead for us.”

According to Ella Fasciano, the club’s head of media, conversations with senior citizens have the power to create a more understanding world.

“When you go to talk to the [residents] and learn about their stories, you can listen to their amazingly complex, beautiful lives which can create these connections and bridges across so many differences that divide people today,” Fasciano, a junior,

said. “I also realized that not only does storytelling have so much power in the stories themselves but also the fact that every human being deserves to have their stories heard and remembered by others is really important to me.”

Fasciano elaborated on her philosophical view of storytelling and memories.

“Memory is beautiful in that it is the past, and you are now a changed person in the present and people who are in the memory are also changed, but when you think about a memory, then the memory becomes the present in that moment as you are,” Fasciano said. “When I realized this, it brought me a lot of comfort and joy to think that I can still make these moments I cherish the present by my reflecting and remembering them.”

Joining the Legacy Project has been an emotional experience for Fasciano.

“As someone who cares wholeheartedly about storytelling and having conversations with [senior citizens], I just could not believe that this community of people exists,” she said. “Seeing this community that cares so deeply about senior citizens and their stories has been so important and a little emotional for me.”

Echoing Fasciano’s sentiment, Dhanush Sivasankaran, a sophomore on the club’s executive board, reflected on his visits to the senior center last semester.

“I felt that there is just this connection that you feel during these visits, a human connection at a one-on-one level with someone you don’t necessarily get otherwise, especially during times like these,” Sivasankaran said. “Having conversations with someone who is completely out of my age group … has been a very unique and refreshing experience.”

Through his conversations with the seniors, Sivasankaran learned to slow down to enjoy the present moment.

“I really learned that I do not necessarily have to worry about

MARK CHOI / THE TUFTS DAILY

Members of the Tufts Legacy Project are pictured at the club’s General Interest Meeting on Jan. 27.

my career or the future all the time, but instead just try to live in the moment,” Sivasankaran said. “When they talk to me about their lives and stories, it is always about their friends or their family, not about their careers or school. … I learned that it is the people in our lives that really matter.”

Fasciano similarly recounted how the seniors have taught her to relish the small moments in life.

“When I ask the [residents] what their favorite moment from their lives is, it’s always the little moments like going out and feeding the birds in the morning or sitting down and watching the sunrise that makes them so happy,” Fasciano said. “Just to listen to their stories and think about those little moments grounds me and makes me think about how stunning life is.”

Ultimately, the Legacy Project plans on presenting the stories and wisdom of the residents in the format of a book, Galinsky explained.

“The book would be a compilation with many authors of all of our club members and they would each write the stories of the person they have interviewed,” Galinsky said. “In the future, the club’s goal would be to publish the stories every year.”

The club’s members have grappled with the ethics of truthful storytelling and its philosophical implications, acknowledging the gravity and magnitude of capturing many decades of life into a story.

“It is a powerful thing to tell your story, but it can also be very scary and intense. And when you are talking about someone’s life story of 60, 70, and 80 years, then people often are just worried about putting their stories into writing,” Fasciano said.

All club members are to record and transcribe the interviews to make sure that each story accurately represents the lived experiences and truth of the seniors.

“After each interview, I would always go back to the seniors before the publication and go

over the transcript line by line in a separate meeting,” Galinsky said. “Even if a sentence may be factually correct, … how that sentence reflects who they are as a person and how they want to be remembered are all important parts of truthful storytelling.”

Sivasankaran elaborated that at its core, good storytelling is about building connections with the senior citizens.

“We do not want our conversations to feel like an interview, but instead, we want to feel like we are having a good, twoway conversation with them. … It really is about establishing that connection and trust,” Sivasankaran said.

Jasmin Kuo, a sophomore on the club’s executive board, added how the club members came together to bake goodies and write cards for their senior matches last semester.

“Seeing how everyone takes their time out of the weekends to travel to the nursing home and [make] the [resident’s] days better really warms my heart,” Kuo said.

Moving forward, the club hopes to find new senior care facilities to visit and connect with, expanding its social impact and outreach. Kuo and Sivasankaran, the club’s senior outreach coordinators, are working together this semester to build more contact and partnership with local nursing homes.

Kuo hopes that initiatives like the Legacy Project can inspire the greater public to join in having meaningful conversations with senior citizens and pass on their lived experiences.

“We are striving towards the mission to bring to light the wisdom and personal stories of [residents] and bring them into our social consciousness,” Kuo said.

“Just because you reach a certain age does not mean that you and your stories do not matter anymore. We, as a society, need to pay more attention to the [residents] and their stories because every story deserves to be heard and remembered.

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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture

tuftsdaily.com

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Fashion brands attempt cultural inclusivity for Lunar New Year

by RaiAnn Bu

Assistant Arts Editor

As a celebration of Lunar New Year, Italian luxury fashion house Bottega Veneta covered part of the Great Wall of China in a digital installation of their brand name and the Mandarin New Year’s greeting, “新春快乐.” The brand paired their signature green with the lucky color of the new year: a tiger orange. Along with this art installment, the brand has pledged a donation to the maintenance and reconstruction of the segment of the wall titled the “First Pass Under Heaven.”

Upon first seeing this installation, it appeared insulting.

An advertising logo covering a historical landmark with great cultural, historical and spiritual significance under the guise of celebrating Chinese culture seemed so culturally insensitive. The Great Wall represents the history and strength of China, taking hundreds of thousands of lives to buildcc, with some bodies still instilled into the wall. The wall stands as a monument to the war and conflict that arose while unifying China and the military power required to build such a large monument.

Branding such a monument is a bastardization of the history and culture, reducing a diverse

country and its complex past to fit the perspective and creative vision of a Western company trying to market to a stereotyped “mystical East.”

To see people applauding this installation demonstrates the monolithic lens through which Westerners see Asia, viewing China and the Great Wall as the best representation of a much larger, even more culturally diverse population of countries that celebrate the holiday: from China to South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Though Bottega Veneta alone is not representative of the luxury market or markets as a whole, this misrepresentation of the Asian community has been a repeated fault of Western corporations’ cultural insensitivity. In 2018, Dolce & Gabbana released an ad representing an Asian model attempting, in a cartoonish foolishness, to eat pizza, spaghetti and cannoli with chopsticks. The inclusion of Lunar New Year into a broader cultural atmosphere does not erase the heavy xenophobia still present in many of the European countries in which these brands are based.

Cultural insensitivity in marketing toward Chinese audiences is directly tied to the

objectification of Chinese power; in the name of diversity, companies such as Disney and Marvel create lazy renditions of Asian representation to profit off of the rising buying power in China. Why are these advertisements predominantly aimed towards China rather than other countries who celebrate Lunar New Year? Largely because China has the largest buying power among them, making it the country with the greatest economic incentive.

However, there are conflicting opinions on this installation, each with their own valid points. Asian Americans may be more skeptical of these advertisements for cross-cultural connection because of the history of ridicule and generalization of Asian culture in the West. On the other hand, some mainland Chinese citizens — possibly lacking some of the strong experiences of racial animosity one could face in the West — may choose to celebrate, less cynically, the recognition of Lunar New Year, seeing it as cultural appreciation in the form of mainstream representation and praise of their culture.

To fully discount the recent inclusivity of Asians and their cultures into the mainstream as purely economically driven would be unfair, as cultur-

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Bottega Veneta covered part of the Great Wall of China in a digital instillation of their brand name and the Mandarin New Year’s greeting, “新春快乐.” al competency has increased adorned with the dominant along with interest in Asian animal, the tiger. As much cultures. These representa- as the brand is problemattions, though perhaps rudi- ic, Bottega Veneta’s varimentary, have the potential ations on the theme of the to share the richness of the new year with their leather diverse cultures of Asia. goods collection do stand out Many other brands have for their minimalistic yet elereleased capsule collections gant inclusion of the holiday with the incoming Year of the with iconic silhouettes. Most Tiger, creatively transform- eye-catching is the orange ing signature silhouettes to edition of the previous year’s include tiger stripes, patch- “it” bag, their cassette bag, es and the lucky red color. along with the orange edition Those born in the Year of the of the Arco bag.

Tiger can commemorate their The reality is that these lucky animal with a well loved fashion brands are still compiece of fashion with a bit panies in search of profit, of personalization. For exam- and installations like this can ple, Alessandro Michele’s be performative and hollow.

Gucci harmonizes pleasant- These campaigns should be ly with the playfulness and viewed critically to dissect vibrance of the optimism for true motives, but it is still a the new year, releasing signa- vague step in the direction of ture scarves, knits and shoes inclusivity and representation.

‘Abbott Elementary’ tackles harsh realities of our education system

by Odessa Gaines Contributing Writer

The new ABC mockumentary-comedy show, “Abbott Elementary” (2021–), has been shooting to the top of everyone’s watchlist this winter and making waves in on-screen representation. The show follows a group of educators at Abbott Elementary, an underfunded public school in Philadelphia based on the realities of the American public educational system. The show is shot in the same style as the American “The Office” (2005–2013), with the educators being the center of an in-universe docuseries following their careers and lives.

The show depicts the hardships underfunded and overworked teachers go through as they try to give the best they can for their children.

With most of the cast being minorities, the series is able to show the struggle educators go through as they pull money out of their own pockets and work overtime to give their students a stable and loving learning environment. “Abbott Elementary” does a great job

at showing the impact a single teacher can have on the lives of a student by giving them the resources and support to succeed at school.

The educators in the show also are able to represent teachers at various stages in their careers. The clearest way we see this dichotomy is between the new teacher, Janine Teagues, and the school’s older teacher, Barbara Howard. While Teagues is shown as a go-getter from the start, looking for new ways to help the school and how to contribute to the well-being of the students, Howard seems to take more simplistic routes.

When the school needs more school supplies for their students, Teagues makes use of social media and TikTok to encourage donations while Howard uses the by-the-book list. When Howard’s route seems futile, it is Teagues who helps her adopt new classroom practices.

Teagues also learns from Howard that sometimes the old way is the best way to do things. When Teagues accidentally fries the electricity in the school or upsets the principal,

Howard is there to help pick up the pieces and comfort her.

When an even newer teacher, Gregory Eddie, enters the scene and has trouble with parents and students, both Janine and Barbara are able to impart their own knowledge and charisma onto him to help make him a better teacher.

Not only do all the characters work towards being better at their jobs in the few episodes we have gotten, but they all also work to keep each other going.

There is a shared understanding in the teachers of Abbott Elementary that they have a lot of responsibility for their students. There is also a shared love for teaching and guiding these students in their lives. The characters of “Abbott Elementary” truly make the show.

The show consistently displays the work it takes to be a good teacher in a low-privileged setting, taking on the roles of a parent, a friend or even a social worker. The teachers have to get their hands dirty in order to keep the school running. They have to jump through hoops to earn classroom basics and constantly find ways to make learning and

going to school fun and wanted by the students.

As mentioned before, what truly makes this series a mustsee is the chemistry between the characters and actors. With a stacked cast including Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams and Janelle James, every minute of this show is full of hope, laughter and love.

The realistic aspects of “Abbott Elementary” should give the show a sad or solemn tone, but the scriptwriters and cast are able to tackle these hard-hitting topics with light heartedness. This show not only brings light to the conditions underserved communities of color have to face in the educational

system, but it also brings hope and knowledge that there are educators who truly care for their students.

By breaking up more heart-wrenching scenes — such as when our main protagonist has to watch her student catch up on sleep on the floor with teachers joking about “not asking the name of the supplier” for a new rug — the show keeps your attention without becoming overwhelming.

“Abbott Elementary” is a light hearted and much needed show that is both a learning experience and a good laugh. With its outstanding cast, witty writing and important messages, this is one show you cannot miss.

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“Abbott Elementary” premiered on Dec. 7, 2021.

Wednesday, February 2, 2022 | Fun & Games | THE TUFTS DAILY

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LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Chloe: “Ethan just writes every article… Like it’s the Ethan Steinberg section.”

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Aquarius (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) Completion leads to profits. Meet or beat deadlines and financial goals. Physical action gets lucrative results. Wheel and deal. Sign on the dotted line.

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6 Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Daniel Chung Countering China

Countering China: Chinese doomographics

T

o the rest of the world, China may seem like a strong nation, but in reality, domestic insecurity drives a large portion of its posturing abroad. Specifically, and as outlined by Tufts’ own Professor Michael Beckley, Chinese demographics and resource scarcity make it so that if China does not capitalize on potential gains from aggression overseas now,

Opinion

its economy would suffer greatly and it would no longer have the capacity to realize some long term strategic goals.

These demographic issues have been driven by China’s aging population, a result of the failed one-child policy of the post-Mao era. With a smaller working population, a whole host of economic issues follow, including there being extreme pressure to take care of parents as social care prices rise. Chinese workers, needing to increase their individual productivity to keep up with a larger aging population, have to work “996” – that is, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 6 days a week more often than not – just to feed themselves and keep the economy stagnant.

Additionally, Chinese housing and land distribution policy exacerbates the already-present strains which resulted from the current generation taking

care of an aging population.

Local governments often rely on land sales and construction to achieve GDP growth goals, leasing the land of the government to corporations at driven-up prices to maintain cash-flow to municipalities. This drives up the cost of housing up to about 50 times the annual incomes of average workers, further straining individual and overall economic well-being. These high housing prices combined with the increasing cost of education creates extreme costs of living, leading more and more people to decide against having kids since they can barely afford to take care of themselves.

The Chinese middle class is now confronting the reality that it may have become more similar to the American middle class than it had hoped, with upward social mobility becoming increasingly unlike-

ly, instead overshadowed by an increased risk of downward social mobility.

How are these demographic changes relevant to Chinese aggression overseas?

With Chinese demographics heading in the wrong direction with extreme decreases in childbirths, the country is trending towards an almost certain demographic crisis. If reports continue to reflect trends of recent years, the Chinese government will need to derive popular economic legitimacy from a source other than domestic labor forces. Almost always, this encourages the Chinese government’s foreign policy to become more aggressive so that it can retain support, and also so it can capitalize on China’s still-high ability to project itself globally and attain influence using its current workforce.

In the long term, these domestic realities are likely to constrain Chinese geopo-

tuftsdaily.com litical ambitions to deal with economic crises at home, but in the short term, the opposite is likely to happen. The fans are flamed for a more risky and assertive foreign policy to finally achieve Chinese aims of securing Taiwan and other geopolitical goals before their perceived window closes. In light of this information, the United States should take more logical steps in its political confrontation with China to avoid a worst-case scenario resulting from misunderstanding the economic situation. Ultimately, the U.S. should aim to focus on a strategy of deterrence which would encourage China to resolve its domestic issues by turning inwards rather than resorting to outward aggression.

Daniel is a first-year who has not yet declared a major and can be reached at Daniel.Chung@tufts. edu.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2022 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Track and Field score high at last weekend's meets TRACK

continued from back “I think it should be said that the two other people that were competing with me weren’t going at 100%, they were going at 80% of their top performance. We have a much higher ceiling than what is shown just on a stat sheet,” Zskila said.

On the women’s side, first-

Bharat Singh The Final Whistle

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard’s first steps into management To many fans, overturning a 3–0 deficit at halftime is considered impossible, but in the 2005 Champions League final, Liverpool’s own Steven Gerrard led a historic comeback against a formidable A.C. Milan side. The Reds conceded within 50 seconds of kickoff and went toe-totoe with Italy’s finest club, which featured two of the greatest midfielders of all time: Andrea Pirlo and Ricardo Kaká. On either side

year Alexa Burst came third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:05.19. Three Jumbos placed in the top six of the 1000-meter race, with firstyear Carly Rinko coming in first with a time of 3:06.23, followed closely behind by sophomore Rose Kitz.

Three women made it to the 60-meter hurdles finals, and sophomore Sarah Pillone won

of them, you’d find Gennaro Gattuso, who would go on to win the World Cup with Italy the following year, and Dutch legend Clarence Seedorf. Add to that a defense anchored by Paolo Maldini, Nesta, Cafu and Jaap Stam, all flag bearers of the greatest defensive era in modern football. The script seemed set, as A.C. Milan fans roared on. But to Gerrard, a quiet 25-year-old from Whiston, Merseyside, the game was far from over.

17 years on from that historic night in Istanbul and Steven Gerrard finds himself on the touchlines again. This time, not as a Champions League-winning captain but as a manager of Premier League side Aston Villa.

After closing the curtains on an illustrious career that saw both heartbreak and glory, Gerrard began his transition to management in 2016. Initially, Gerrard began coaching at Liverpool’s academy, Melwood, where he

the race with a 9.33 time. The Tufts ‘A’ team beat out the Tufts ‘B’ team for a little friendly competition in the 4 x 800-meter relay to secure first place in that event. The ‘A’ team consisted of Rinko, Kitz and seniors Tara Lowensohn and Anna Slager.

In the field events, the women took individual first place in the high jump, pole vault and triple jump. Junior Jaidyn Appel won

spent the early days of his own career. After six months of experience, Gerrard took charge of the U18s for the 2017–18 season. In reflection, Gerrard has talked about why he chose to start coaching at the academy level and turned down an offer from League One side MK Dons.

Current Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp offered him some advice: forget his fame, develop his fundamentals as a coaching prospect and truly treat himself as a student of the game. Klopp, a former player, himself, stressed the importance of tactical experimentation and failure — words that guide Gerrard to this day.

In his first season, Gerrard worked with the likes of Neco Williams and Curtis Jones, both of whom have since represented Liverpool in the Premier League. Williams has acknowledged Gerrard’s role in his development, as he went on to become one of

the high jump with a jump of 5’ 7.25”, first-year Sarah Firth won the pole vault with a jump of 11’ 7.75” and junior Lia Rotti led four Jumbos in the top seven in the triple jump with a jump of 38’ 5.5”.

With these two successful meets, the focus is now to build on those performances.

“We are heading into championship season,” Zskila said.

“We only have three more weeks

the youngest players to represent Wales at Euro 2020.

In May 2018, Gerrard joined Scottish side Rangers, his first role as a first-team manager. In his three years, Gerrard transformed Rangers into a high pressure attacking unit that was built around a disciplined defensive spine. In his last season at the club in 2021, Gerrard led Rangers to the Scottish Premiership title on the back of a clean sheet record-breaking unbeaten season that saw them score 92 goals and concede just 13.

For fans, however, the victory was even sweeter as Rangers stopped fierce rivals Celtic from winning 10 championships in a row. Gerrard was now battle tested and ready for a new challenge.

In November 2021, Gerrard was appointed as the new Aston Villa manager, as the side looked to move into the

until we have to get ready to go.

We don’t have time to sit around anymore. We have to go out and put our 100 percent day in and day out because there’s only so many days left.”

The men’s and women’s teams will both continue this journey at the NEICAAA Championships this weekend at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center in Boston.

top half of the Premier League table. Within three months, Villa has climbed from 16th to 11th, and Gerrard played a key role in completing the loan signing (with an option to buy) of former teammate Phillipe Coutinho from FC Barcelona.

Having rescued a point against Manchester United in an electric 2–2 draw, Coutinho seems to have rediscovered his form, building on the Premier League legacy he built at Liverpool.

Formation-wise, Gerrard prefers a traditional 4–3–3, with his attacking players cutting through the channels to open space for fullback overlaps.

With a young squad and a fearless style of play, the sky is the limit for Gerrard, and he’s only just getting started.

Bharat Singh is a first-year who has not yet declared a major.

Bharat can be reached at Bharat.

Singh@tufts.edu

8 Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Men’s and women’s track and field dominate last weekend

by Arnav Sacheti Sports Editor

On Sunday, men’s track and field sent squads to compete at both the Boston Universityhosted John Thomas Terrier Classic and the Tuftshosted Branwen Smith-King Invitational. Two days prior, on Friday, the women competed on a separate day of the John Thomas Terrier Classic at BU. For the men, the BU meet featured dominant performances by junior Alex Lemieux and sophomore Luke Botsford.

Lemieux recorded a 21.66 in the 200-meter race, which was good for fifth place out of 108 runners. That race gives him not only the school record in the event but also a time that is ranked in the top 30 in Div. III all time. Botsford performed equally well, finishing at 21.92 in the 200-meter race and 49.16 in the 400. His 200meter performance placed him 9th out of 108, while his

400-meter mark was 10th out of 76. Both marks are top 20 in Div. III this season.

Despite his great performance, Botsford felt he had room to improve. This was Botsford’s first indoor track 400meter race, and he was still getting used to the 200 track that requires more frequent turning than an outdoor 400 track.

“My goal going in[to the race] was to get sub 49 seconds,” Botsford said. “My PR for outdoor track was a 48.1, so I just wanted to get myself anywhere near that. And I knew it was possible just because of the competition and this track is a banked curve, which makes you go a lot faster.”

The women’s side on Friday was also littered with national level times. First-year Aoife Hernon finished 30th out of 87 in the 200 with a time of 25.74, good for 15th in Div. III after being converted due to the banked track. The 4 x 400-meter squad also set a top 15 time in Div. III. First-year Annika Kral,

senior Luana Machado, senior Hannah Neilon and first-year Emma Smith made up this 4×4 unit that recorded a time of 3:58.97. Smith ran the 400 in 59.34, which was good for 27th place out of 82, and was the 33rd best 400 time in Div. III this season. Two Jumbos came in the top 15 in the 500-meter race, with Machado placing 11th with a time of 1:17.04 and Neilon coming in at 1:18.05, which was good for 12th.

Since there were races at two different locations on Sunday, there was some communication through the form of a Slack group chat that went on between the runners at the BU and those that ran at home, which provided a major boost to the runners.

“Whenever anyone does anything impressive, usually there is some chat, and it is nice to see your name and someone else’s name,” Botsford said. “It’s been really awesome.

Just because you get to connect with not only your teammates

of your grade, but you get to talk to upperclassmen.”

There was a lot going on in the group chat, since the performances at not only the BU meet, but also at the home Branwen Smith-King Invitational, were impressive.

As a team, the men finished first out of 10 teams while the women finished second.

On the men’s side, Tufts had three runners make it to the final of the 60-meter dash.

These included junior Amos Trinidad, who finished second, first-year Naheim Washington who finished third and sophomore Daniel Williams who came in fourth.

Junior Carter Rosewell won the 400-meter dash, coming in at a time of 52.98, which is a personal record for him.

The 600-meter race featured six Jumbos in the top seven, with sophomore Chris Tilton leading the pack with a time of 1:24.58. Both the mile and the 3000-meter also featured three Jumbos in the top seven, with

junior Connor Giersch taking second place in the 5000-meter with a time of 16:02.32.

The 4 x 400-meter squad consisting of junior Andrii Campbell, first-year Ethan Forde, first-year Noah Turner, and junior Sawyer Wilson took first place with a total time of 3:29.56. In the field events, sophomore Harry Rienecker-Found was first in the high jump, and the triple jump featured three Jumbos on all spots on the podium. Senior Alex Zsikla led the way with a jump of 45’ 3.75’’, and firstyears Washington and Anthony Bhangdia followed close behind with jumps of 41’ 1.5’’ and 40’ 9.5’’, respectively.

“I’m very happy with my performance. I think that it is still very early in the season, which means that it’s a good predictor for what’s the outcome,” Zsikla said.

When reflecting on the team’s overall performance, Zsikla was equally enthusiastic. see TRACK, page 7

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Student athletes at the Tufts Branwen Smith-King Invitational are pictured on Jan. 30.

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