10.13.15

Recently published study by Assistant Professor Keren Ladin links social capital, organ donations see FEATURES / PAGE 3

Men’s soccer climbs in rankings with Homecoming win

Strong performances make “The Martian” impressive installment in director Ridley Scott’s flimography see ARTS AND LIVING / PAGE 5

see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

the

i n de p e n de n t

stude n t

n e w s pa p e r

of

T ufts

u n i v e r sity

est. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXX, NUMBER 23

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

tuftsdaily.com

Tufts among five recipients of Higher Education Civic Engagement Award

by Reena Karasin News Editor

Retired professor returns to teach Marxism course

by Miranda Willson

Tufts was one of five colleges and universities that received this year’s national New York Life Higher Education Civic Engagement Award, along with $20,000 worth of scholarships in an internship program. University President Anthony Monaco and Alan Solomont (A’70), the dean of Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, were in Washington, D.C. last Monday to receive the award at a luncheon at The Washington Center and the New York Life Foundation. The Dominican University of California, John Carroll University, Rutgers University– Camden and Weber State University were also among this year’s recipients.

The award was given by The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, which “recognize[s] institutions achieving breadth and depth of civic engagement through sustained and mutually transformational partnerships that define and address issues of public concern,” accord-

Assistant News Editor

minority, middle school youth” — 16.8 percent of girls reported dating abuse, as well as 26.4 percent of boys — and a 2012 study done by RTI International found over a third of seventh-grade respondents reporting experiences with “psychological dating violence” and nearly a sixth encountering “physical dating violence.”

“In order to end domestic violence, we need to educate,” Tiffany Melendez, director of programs and services for Somerville’s domestic violence advocacy and support service RESPOND, said.

The PeaceKeepers said that domestic abuse affects a broad range of people throughout Somerville, not just adolescents.

They said the 16 domestic violence-related fatalities in Somerville in the past year claimed victims whose ages ranged from 17 to 58, and included both men and women.

“Everyone is touched by domestic violence,” Melendez said. “So if you are not experiencing it, maybe your friend or your friend’s friend is.”

The speakers emphasized that support for victims of domestic violence could be found at all levels of the community. Darai said she will be meeting with individual first responders to teach them how to better

History Professor Daniel Mulholland has returned to Tufts as an adjunct professor this semester to teach a history course on Marxism, following his retirement in spring 2014, in order to fill what he perceives as a missing niche in the Department of History.

Mulholland, who began teaching at Tufts in 1968, said that he decided to return to the university to teach the course “HIST 100-50: Historical Marxism” after a student emailed him, asking if the course would be offered again.

“As it happened, the history department was rather depleted in European history courses that were being offered, so they were perfectly happy to have me come back again,” he said.

Mulholland plans to resume his retirement next semester, but he hopes that he can impart some Marxist thought to students in his class this semester, since he believes that Tufts lacks professors who teach Marxism from a historical perspective.

“Marxism has evolved into cultural studies,” he said. “People are more interested in Marx in the English department than in the history department.”

According to Beatrice Manz, history professor and chair of the Department of History, many of the professors who specialize in the intellectual history of Europe are on leave this year.

She added that, though it is uncommon for a professor to return to teach a course after having retired, it is not unheard of. “[Mulholland] wanted to come back, and we wanted him back,” Manz said. “Since he used to teach a course on Marxism, it made sense on both sides.”

Manz added that Mulholland’s class on Marxism had developed “a real following” among some students over the course of his long career at Tufts.

Annette Lazzara, the administrator of the Department of History, said students have loved Mulholland at least since she began working for the department in 1990.

In addition to teaching the course on Marx, Mulholland has also taught courses on Russian and German history throughout his four-decade tenure, according the Department of History website.

Mulholland has also been a supporter of campus activism since his arrival at Tufts on Aug. 21, 1968.

“The first thing I saw [when I arrived]

see VIGIL, page 2

see HISTORY, page 2

Courtesy Katie Cinnamond Benoit

Dean Alan D. Solomont, second from left, and President Anthony Monaco, third from right, traveled to D.C. to accept the 2015 Higher Education Civic Engagement Award. ing to the organization’s website. The award was established in partnership with New York Life Foundation, according to an Oct. 5 press release from The Washington Center. The New York Life Foundation, according to its website, gives grants to nonprofit organizations.

According to the center’s website, the organization is a non-profit that “provides internships, academic seminars and internship placements in major private, public and see CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, page 2

Somerville community holds annual vigil for victims of domestic violence

by Will Kenneally Contributing Writer

Members of the Somerville community gathered for the annual Domestic Violence Vigil outside the Somerville Public Safety Building in Union Square last Wednesday evening.

The vigil, held to remember those who lost their lives to domestic violence, included a candlelit parade through the streets of Union Square and concluded with a spoken agenda at the Public Safety Building.

The event was hosted by Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and the Somerville Commission for Women, and was directed by Director of Somerville Commissions Sonja Darai.

Speakers at the vigil included members of the Somerville community, such as Somerville Chief of Police David Fallon, Director of Somerville’s Health and Human Services Douglas Kress and State Representative in Medford and Somerville Christine Barber, all of whom spoke about their roles in addressing the issue of domestic violence.

Barber said she supported budgetary amendments that included provisions for increased domestic violence and sexual assault services.

Showers 73 / 53

“I’m in this fight with you,” she said.

Many of the speeches at the vigil focused on last year’s launch of PeaceKeepers, a youth group that was organized by Darai to address the issue of dating violence to an adolescent audience.

Darai explained that as a part of the PeaceKeepers program, she reached out to local teens and taught them about domestic violence. She said her message seemed to resonate with three students in particular, all of whom came to the weekly meetings consistently.

“Sonja [Darai] made learning about it fun,” one of the members of PeaceKeepers said.

The PeaceKeepers worked closely with Darai to develop different techniques to raise awareness about domestic violence, and especially dating violence. They hope to employ a diverse selection of social media outlets to reach a broad base.

Organizers at the vigil spoke about the high number of adolescents who are victims of dating abuse, and PeaceKeepers volunteers explained that one in four seventh-grade girls are subject to dating abuse nationally, as well as one in three seventh-grade boys. A 2013 study by the National Institutes of Health found roughly similar statistics to the ones described

by PeaceKeepers members among “urban,

For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit

TUFTSDAILY.COM

/thetuftsdaily @tuftsdaily

Contact Us P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

News............................................1 Features.................................3 Arts & Living.......................5

COMICS....................................... 7 OPINION.....................................8 Sports............................ Back

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Tuesday, October 13, 2015

tuftsdaily.com

News News

Visiting the

13

today

“Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution” Details: Award-winning EgyptianAmerican feminist writer and commentator Mona Eltahawy will be speaking about Egypt, the Islamic world and women’s rights.

When and Where: 6 p.m., Room 104, Barnum Hall Sponsors: Center for the Humanities at Tufts

14

Wednesday

“The Simple Analytics of the Greek Financial Crisis” Details: Economics professor Drusilla Brown will be giving a crash-course talk about the financial crisis in Greece.

hill this week When and Where: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m., Room 104, Barnum Hall Sponsors: Tufts International Relations Program

15

Thursday

“Improving Equality of Opportunity in America: New Evidence and Policy Lessons” Details: Stanford University economics professor Raj Chetty will be the speaker for the 2015 Wellington Burnham Lecture.

Chetty is one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard history and has received various awards for his work as an economist, including the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the John Bates Clark medal.

When and Where: 4:30 p.m. – 6 p.m., 51 Winthrop Street Function Hall Sponsors: Department of Economics

Police Briefs Window Pain On Oct. 2 at 6:15 p.m., a call for help was heard from a Carmichael Hall window. When officers from the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) arrived at the room where the call had originated, they found a student icing her hand after having closed a window on it. The call for help had come from the student’s mother because the two were having trouble lifting the window off the student’s hand. The student was not transported to the hospital.

Rough Night TUPD was called to the third floor lounge in Miller Hall on Oct. 2 at 10:15 p.m. to help a student with minor face injuries. The student reported that he had been walking on a bench outside

the hall when he fell and hit his face on the concrete. He was transported to the hospital for further treatment.

Pissed Off Early in the morning on Oct. 3, a male student entered the dorm room of two female students and urinated in their drawers. The female students reported that he appeared to be intoxicated. The incident was not reported until 2:15 p.m. that afternoon. TUPD instructed the students to notify the police immediately if anything similar were to happen again.

Tufts receives scholarship funding in Civic Engagement Award CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

continued from page 1 nonprofit sectors in Washington, D.C.” In the Oct. 5 release, President of The Washington Center Mike Smith spoke highly of Tufts’ commitment to civic duties.

“Tufts University is a shining example of how universities are taking the traditional curriculum model and incorporating initiatives that teach self-awareness, community engagement and lifelong leadership skills,” Smith said in the release.

Tufts will receive $20,000 worth of scholarships for The Washington Center’s Academic Internship Program as its award, according to The Washington Center’s website.

Alan Grose, the senior director of academic affairs at The Washington Center, said students who participate in the internship program spend a semester in D.C. interning full-time and taking one upper-level academic course, typically an elective.

“It’s an academic semester that is built around an internship,” Grose said.

Grose said The Washington Center’s internship program has much to offer students interested in political and civic life, including tracks in politics and public policy, law and criminal justice, international affairs

and media and communication.

“Just living in Washington, D.C. is a learning experience in and of itself,” he said. “It’s a pretty global city, as well as a city for major policy debates and [the] political arena.”

Solomont said Tisch College is considering sending students to the Center’s Academic Internship Program in the future.

“Tisch is interested in looking at what opportunities there are for Tufts students to spend time in Washington,” he said. “I don’t believe we have participated in The Washington Center’s program [in the past], but we’re looking at whether there is interest.”

Solomont explained that when Tufts applied for the award, it highlighted its involvement with the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH), a program that researches the health impacts of air pollution in the Boston area, as an example of its role in civic engagement.

“There were groups in both Somerville and Chinatown who were concerned about the health impact of living near [interstate] 93,” he said. “Through the [Tufts Community Research Center], we brought them together with a faculty member from the Medical School, Doug Brugge, and he led [CAFEH].”

Solomont added that while Tufts supplied the seed funding for the CAFEH initiative, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has since provided more than $6 million in additional funding. Over 20 peer-reviewed articles have been produced as a result of CAFEH, according to The Washington Center’s website.

However, Solomont said Tufts was not selected for the national honor solely because of CAFEH’s success.

“I’d like to believe that we succeeded [not only] on the strength of…this one initiative, but also on the strength of our overall commitment to civic engagement,” he said.

Solomont explained that another example of Tufts’ civic engagement is the 1+4 Bridge-Year Service Learning Program, through which some students accepted into the Class of 2019 are now embarking on a year of community service before they begin their first year at Tufts next fall.

“It wasn’t until I met the first group of fellows this summer, when they came to campus for orientation, that I understood how this initiative is really going to change people’s lives,” he said.

Solomont said the 1+4 program is indicative of Tufts’ commitment to instilling civic values as part of its educational mission.

“When I was an undergraduate, my life changed as a result of my Tufts education, and we want to contribute to that kind of positive change in the education of all Tufts students,” he said. “1+4, I think, is going to do that.”

The 1+4 program fellows will return to campus after their year of community service with new insights, knowledge and perspectives that will strengthen their academic studies and the Tufts community, Solomont told the Daily in a Sept. 16 article.

Deb Jospin, a member and outgoing chair of the Tisch College Board of Advisers, spoke highly of Tisch College’s role in the university’s civic engagement.

“Tisch College amplifies the active citizenship of all members of the Tufts community,” she told the Daily in an email. “[This award] challenges us to continue to strengthen Tisch College’s impact and leadership role.”

Solomont added that while Tisch College and the university are honored to receive the award, their work is not driven by such recognition.

“It’s nice to get an award…but that’s just sort of icing on the cake,” he said. “The real work we do every day here, without the need for awards, but with really believing in what an important mission we have.”

Somerville community members show support for domestic violence victims at vigil VIGIL

continued from page 1 treat domestic violence victims.

“The support that you will get from all these agencies will be remarkable,” John Georges, an EMS commander of Cataldo Ambulance Service, said.

The candelit parade caused a small traffic jam in Union Square, but Fallon said he was not worried about the traffic.

“People should be inconvenienced,” he said. “We have to let the people in the community know we are here to support them.”

Darai said she hopes to continue to

engage the Somerville community, including the Tufts community.

Within the Office of Somerville Commissions, community members focus on topics such as women’s issues, human rights and multicultural affairs, she said.

“Anyone with a Somerville address is free

to join [the Commissions],” Darai said. “And not enough Tufts students join.”

Darai said the community aspect of addressing domestic violence is important.

“All of us can improve … If we do it together, we really can change the world,” she said.

Mulholland recounts changes in campus activism over years HISTORY

continued from page 1 was a notice on Ballou Hall that said, ‘We ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s Farm no more,’ signed by the Tufts Students for a Democratic Society,” Mulholland said.

Mulholland recalled protests by Tufts students and outside organizers over the construction of what is now Lewis Hall, since at the time the university had hired contractors that did not incorporate equal opportunity initiatives into their hiring processes.

Mulholland served as the keynote speaker a year later for a counter-commencement ceremony in 1970, organized by students who did not want to participate in the university-sanctioned commencement.

“The people building this dorm were

entirely white,” he said. “[The dorm] was suddenly picketed by an organization comprised of black students from colleges and universities in the Boston area, which brought the building of the dorm to a halt and led to a major crisis and confrontation with the administration. This was part of the backdrop of why the 1970 commencement took place. The university hereafter would have no contracts for buildings that didn’t include equal opportunity.”

According to Mulholland, over half of the senior class boycotted the university’s commencement and attended the counter-commencement ceremony that took place the next day. Mulholland had agreed to student requests to speak.

“I made a rather intemperate speech,” he

said. “It had to do with education, capitalism, imperialism — that kind of stuff.”

Mulholland said the counter-commencement was inspired by a series of local, national and international events taking place during that time period, including the Cambodian Campaign during the Vietnam War and the shootings of student protesters at Kent State University, James B. Dudley High School and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

“The incursions into Cambodia and the illegal activities of President [Richard] Nixon and his advisor Henry Kissinger were taking place,” he said. “As a consequence of that and other things, some graduating students decided they didn’t want to go to commencement.”

The 1970 counter-commencement

event resurfaced last semester when a Tufts student contacted Mulholland about it this past spring. The student wanted to know how it had taken place, with the intention of staging a counter-commencement or protest of Madeleine Albright, the most recent commencement speaker who received an honorary degree from the university this spring.

“I told the people who wanted to do something [last spring] that it was a different circumstance now and that if they got up and made a disturbance and fuss, they would probably be more of an annoyance to their neighbors,” he said.

Mulholland said he has watched the student body grow less excitable than it was in the 1960s and ’70s, having taught at Tufts and lived next to campus for over 45 years.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Features q&A

Professor Keren Ladin discusses recently published study about organ donor designation

by Constantinos Angelakis Contributing Writer

Keren Ladin, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, recently published a study in the “Milbank Quarterly,” a health and public policy journal. Ladin, who has been researching organ donations since 2007, finds that social capital — which, according to the Harvard Kennedy School, refers to the “specific benefits that flow from the trust, reciprocity, information and cooperation associated with social networks [or who people know]” — can account for over half of organ donation designations.

This new insight shifts the focus from individual characteristics to community interaction as the basis for analyzing such altruistic decisions.

Last week, Ladin sat down with the Daily to talk about her research.

The following is an abridged version of the interview.

Tufts Daily (TD): What got you interested in this topic?

Keren Ladin (KL): I’ve been researching [organ] transplantation more broadly since 2007, and it started off because it merged my interests in disparities and ethics and healthcare resource allocation.

Transplantation within the U.S. healthcare system — thinking pre-Obamacare — is a fairy unique example where, in kidney transplants at least, you have a fully insured and regulated market. So everyone who is transplant-eligible for a kidney in the [United States] is insured under Medicare, and the actual transplants and candidates are all recorded and public. So we have data on everything, which rarely happens. And yet, despite this sort of perfect market situation, we continuously have disparities.

So even when we update the algorithm in terms of taking out criteria that we think are reinforcing inequities, disparities remain … And it’s interesting…in the context of the discussion of healthcare reform. You know, the notion was that “If we insure the entire population, if we give everyone health insurance, then we’re going to really alleviate disparities.”

There is some element of that which is true; you will mitigate some level of disparities. But it is not the be-all-end-all.

So studying transplantation and disparities in transplantation gave us a way to think about that, about what other mechanisms might be at play. And because [living-donor transplantations, or organ donations,] is also a sensitive issue…it brings to bear [on] or incorporates other fields in which I have an interest: psychology, social psychology, sociology and health economics. So for me, it was sort of a perfect area.

In 2007, I was approached by the Chief of Transplant[ation] at Beth Israel Deaconess [Medical Center] to help start their disparities research or expand their disparities research, so that’s really when I became interested in this. And this paper is somewhat an evolution of that, with a colleague Jim Rodrigue, who’s still at Beth Israel, and had access through one of his grants to the Registry of Motor Vehicle[s] database. He was using that database to look at other things, but I

became very interested in questions of social capital and whether or not that might affect organ donation or people’s willingness to become organ donors.

TD: Do you know any [types] of activities that might be able to promote higher social capital?

KL: It’s an area where a lot of people are doing important work.

Raising social capital is difficult. It requires you to raise trust between people who may or may not encounter each other in Courtesy KeREN Ladin a confined community. But there According to Assistant Professor Keren Ladin, “The map displays organ donor designation rates from community to community in the...area [surare ways of doing rounding Tufts].” The key indicates organ donor designation rate (for examthat. So promoting ple, 0.233 signifies that 23.3 percent of the population are organ donors). collaborative projects, for example through participation for me, so there’s no reason for me to parin shared religious interest or in [Parent ticipate. Or other studies have looked and Teacher Organizations] or in neighbor- documented that people feel a sense that hood watch or, some might argue, even doctors won’t try as hard to save them if the Black Lives Matter type of move- they are an organ donor. All [of this] kind ments. Giving people agency, having of [suggests] to us that there is something them work together toward a shared or systemic going on and something that we common goal, [is a way] of encouraging can affect by moving the needle on social social capital. Part of what we found capital.

TD: So alongside working to increase is that areas where racial segregation is higher have lower social capital and social capital, do you think there should lower rates of donation, or of organ be an increase of awareness against donor designation. Again, [we see] this those misconceptions?

KL: I think so. I think more qualitative notion that some of the things we need to do to solve the major social problems work needs to be done to understand of our time have real implications for exactly the variation in barriers. So I think our health. And this is one way that they might be different even if you look in it becomes evident, should…any of us communities or zip codes of high versus need an organ. Improving social capital low social capital. More work needs to be and ties between people is likely to have done to understand the shades of gray — what are the perceptions out there in vara better effect.

TD: Do you also feel that by increasing ious communities that have lower social social capital, the effect might spill over capital versus middle versus higher social into other altruistic behavior, like voting? capital? And then [there is] the question KL: Yes, one reason we looked at social about whether doctors should advocate capital and organ donation in gener- [for donating organs]. I think they should, al is that there are established theories but I think part of medical distrust is that of altruistic behavior that suggest that, they may not be the most trusted people. when people feel more strongly tied to And so partnering with communities may a group, their likelihood to deviate from be the best way to do this. So looking in that or not participate is going to be your community at people who need much lower. If you feel engaged, if you an organ and having them advocate, or see yourself as part of the group, you are people who have donated and having likely to do things that benefit the groups, them advocate, may be more effective and you are less likely to deviate. We fol- in encouraging donation and also dislow in the footsteps of the literature about pelling myths than hearing it from somevoting and about other sorts of altruistic one who’s…in a different position.

I think practically, when we think behavior and public participation.

It’s an interesting question to think, “If about individual behavior, expanding you affect organ donation, are you going our scope of inquiry and focus to lookto affect voting?” I would assume it would ing at communities as the level of interbe more the other way around. If people vention is central to many things in feel like they can be engaged, then they public health. But it’s central to social can be engaged in all levels and all areas policy as well, and I think that’s what our of their lives. Part of the literature of look- findings demonstrate — that we ought ing at barriers to organ donation has to not to focus on individuals or even try deal with distrust: medical distrust, dis- to identify subgroups based on their trust of government, community distrust. only individual-level characteristics. We This [is the] notion of it’s not going to go should focus on communities and what to me, [that] it’s going to go to someone communities are like and then try to different. And if I need it, it won’t be there work within that framework.

pg.3 tuftsdaily.com

Clara Wagner To Life, Sincerely Clara

An open letter to Tisch’s bathroom graffitists

D

ear Graffitists in the Tisch Bathroom, During my first major Tisch study session of college, I found myself in the first stall of the firstfloor bathroom. My head was whirring with calculations of how many pages of reading I had left, how long my French homework would take and whether or not I had time to grab a snack before practice.

But you, my dear vandalizers, snapped me out of all that.

There are several separate notes written on the metal stall wall, all messily scribbled in pen and pencil and going in different directions and slants. A few excerpts read as follows: 1) “‘God is dead’ -Nietzsche; ‘Nietzsche is dead’ -God; ‘Nietzsche is God’ -the dead.” 2) “I feel so fat. I want to feel pretty again,” which is next to the reply 3) “Skinny and pretty are not mutually exclusive.” 4) “You are a warrior.”

Sound familiar to anyone? If by any chance you were the person behind any of these, thank you. First of all, you took what could have been a mindless bathroom break and made me think. Not about my own schedule, or work, or reminders, but about the world, Tufts and the people behind the notes.

I wonder what you look like and how you were feeling on the days that you wrote those things. I wonder if you have a habit of writing on bathroom walls or if this was the first and only time you’ve thought to do so.

If you could go back, I wonder if you’d still want to write those same things. One of the cool things about graffiti is that you’ll likely never know the people behind it. When we see a painting, the artist’s name is on a plaque to the side. A book has its author on the cover. But with the graffiti, the act stands unaffiliated.

I couldn’t help trying to imagine the kinds of people I think you’d be, though — and that’s the biggest reason why I’m thanking you. Because that bathroom stall reminded me of why I came to Tufts. I picture one of you as a nerdy reader, and one as a long-haired, selfie-posting fashionista. Another might be the person who embraces mud, sweat, tears and dreams of becoming Mulan, or perhaps one of you is utterly unremarkable, a seemingly quiet girl but with a head bursting with thoughts.

Granted, I’m stereotyping and probably overthinking all this. But for me, your graffiti painted a picture of a school with all shapes, shades, sizes and sorts of people. It brought to mind a culture where people could be nerdy, and where support and re-defined beauty weren’t lame. It reminded me that I’m in a place where people have complicated, amazing, diverse, interesting, kind thoughts — thoughts that they decided should have a home on a bathroom wall.

And so, anonymous vandals, thank you for your petty crime, thank you for reminding me why I’m here and thank you for being you.

Sincerely, Clara Wagner Clara Wagner is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at clara. wagner@tufts.edu.

4

THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Tuesday, October 13, 2015

tuftsdaily.com

Hear current empower fellows present how they spent their summers and learn how you too can:

`

Committee on Student Life (CSL) is now accepting nominations for the…

The Wendell Phillips Memorial Scholarship is one of two prize scholarships (the other being assigned to Harvard University), which were established in 1896 by the Wendell Phillips Memorial Fund Association in honor of Boston’s great preacher and or senior who has best demonstrated both marked ability as a speaker and a orator. The award is given annually to the junior

2016 WENDELL PHILLIPS AWARD

high sense of public responsibility. The recipient of the award receives a cash prize and traditionally is selected as the only student speaker at the Baccalaureate Ceremony in May. Nominees will be invited to apply and following a review of finalists, the Committee on Student Life will select this year’s recipient in March 2015. .

To nominate student(s) go to http://ocl.tufts.edu/wendellphillips/ and complete the on-line nomination form Nomination Deadline: November 2, 2015, 5:00 pm \

Nominated students must be a current Senior or Junior.

Students may nominate themselves or other students.

For further information contact Joseph Golia, Director Office for Campus Life at joseph.golia@tufts.edu or x73212

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

ARTS&LIVING

pg.5 tuftsdaily.com

Maya Blackstone A Semester of Netflix

Movie Review

‘Unbreakable / They’re alive dammit / It’s a miracle’

T

Giles Keyte via mct

"The Martian" finds life on a barren planet in more ways than one.

Ridley Scott’s ‘The Martian’ takes viewers to new frontier

by Josh Podolsky

Executive Arts Editor

“The Martian,” Ridley Scott’s new space adventure starring Matt Damon as botanist Mark Watney, is not what everyone thought it would be. Trailers foretold a pulse accelerating thriller fueled by disasters on an alien frontier — Mars, humanity’s next stepping stone. The movie has plenty of high blood pressure moments to keep viewers alert, but the marketing department’s portrayal is hardly genuine.

In reality, “The Martian,” released Oct. 2, has maybe half a foot in the thriller genre, with the other foot and a half in comedy. The story of how Watney becomes stranded on the red planet feels a bit contrived, but the movie wastes no time getting straight into the action. Scott squanders not a single moment of his opus’s almost two-and-ahalf-hour runtime. Even the silent panning CGI shots of Mars’s barren and inhospitable surface are worth every second.

While Scott uses these shots to show viewers how lonely life on an empty planet can be, the writers, Drew Goddard and Andy Weir, use the dialogue to show life continuing on, even in a vacuum. The dialogue tells viewers about the trials and quirks of surviving an inhospitable environment in clever, sometimes absurd, ways that will make viewers enjoy these lessons in the technicalities of space exploration.

For example, because of the United Nations Treaties and Principles on Outer Space, no nation on Earth can lay claim to land off the planet’s surface. As a result, maritime law applies on all planets to which humans travel. Technicalities abound, however; while Watney is inside the NASA base on Mars he is bound by United States law, but while outside he is in international waters and under a totally different legal system. In light of this, Watney argues that he is the first human space pirate as well as the first colonizer of

Mars, all with decent legal, scientific and anthropological evidence.

The general, simplified gist of the movie is this: Watney encounters a challenge, finds and explains a solution to address the challenge and finally executes the solution. The plot swings from a tragedy of errors to a comedy of solutions and sits at a happy equilibrium between the two genres. Much of the film shows Damon talking to the camera about his troubles and random thoughts (Watney keeps a video log for the edification of any eventual Mars explorers). Interspersed are montages of the protagonist going about life alone on a planet where one small problem could spell death for him.

Performances on the whole are quite good, and with such a stacked cast they should be. Besides Damon, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Sean Bean, Kate Mara and Donald Glover all make appearances in this film and deliver solid, if tangential, performances. Glover’s character, a space cadet of a different sort, is a particularly unlikely hero and entertaining addition to the story.

For all of its technical discussions and lessons, “The Martian” is first and fore-

most a story about humanity in all its facets. It is the story of achievement and ingenuity, overcoming petty conflicts (at least, petty in the context of interplanetary travel) and dealing with complex moral realities. Is it worth exposing government secrets to save one person? Should we risk five lives for the sake of one? How do you travel the width of the United States in a rover whose design only supports short daytrips? And is disco music acceptable even when it’s the only music on the whole planet? These, and many more, are the questions “The Martian” confronts.

With the plot’s various strands rather neatly tied up at the end, this is not a movie that will leave its viewers mulling over questions and deep concerns at the end; rather, it will leave viewers in awe of what they have just watched. “The Martian” is a feat of content and technical skill.

The thesis of the movie seems to be that, no matter where humans go, no matter what challenges they confront on the furthest and least hospitable frontiers, humanity is everywhere. “The Martian” is an ode — if, at times, an overly enthusiastic one — to humanity at its best.

Handout via MCT

Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, a NASA explorer abandoned on Mars who must fight for his life alone on the planet.

his week, I binge-watched “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (2015-present). First of all, can I say, this is such a good show! Tina Fey and Robert Carlock created the sitcom, which stars Ellie Kemper, who you probably know as Erin on “The Office” (2005-2013).

Unfortunately, the first season, which premiered on Netflix on March 6, is only 13 episodes; the good news, however, is that “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is definitely coming back for a second round.

Kemper plays the eponymous Kimmy, who is rescued after 15 years in a cult.

She and three other women had been kidnapped and forced to live in an underground bunker. I’ve always had a weird fascination with cults and kidnappings, like the real-life case of Elizabeth Smart, so this show is perfect for me because of this focus. I know — I’m weird. Anyway, Kimmy decides that, after years underground, the one thing she wants to do is move to New York City, where she can also spend her life living underground via the subway system.

Kimmy really is “unbreakable” — absolutely nothing gets her down. Watching her go through life with unparalleled enthusiasm and optimism in spite of all that life throws at her is inspiring. I know she’s a television character, but I wanted to be more like her with every episode. It was also hysterical to watch her try to adjust to life without trying to get by on sympathy from people who feel bad for her. I mean, it seems difficult enough to try to make a name for yourself in New York City as a young woman, but way harder if the last time you were in public was in middle school. One of my favorite lines in the show is when the stepdaughter of Kimmy’s boss (Dylan Gelula) confronts her, saying, “I googled you,” and Kimmy replies, “What? I didn’t feel it,” unaware that googling is not actually something you can feel.

Part of what makes this show so good for binge-watching is that you can really get addicted to the characters and their relationships to one another, which are established quickly in the first few episodes. This includes Kimmy’s troubled boss (Jane Krakowski), her insanely quirky landlord (Carol Kane), and even her love interest (Ki Hong Lee). The first few episodes really take time to establish relationships and create funny moments. This pacing is important because it lets the audience come to understand Kimmy and her very real struggle for acceptance and knowledge as she comes of age in New York.

Meanwhile, the whole time we’re watching it, every viewer is thinking about what will happen to the reverend (Jon Hamm) that kidnapped Kimmy and wondering if he will receive appropriate justice. The season culminates in his trial, and it is up to Kimmy to testify in court. I personally was incredibly invested in the case throughout the entire season ending, figuratively sitting on the edge of my seat (lying in bed). I won’t give away any spoilers, but I’m just saying it was nice to be able to watch all the episodes together so I didn’t have to wait in suspense too long.

Stay tuned for next week’s binge and remember: I’m still taking show recommendations — and also food. Especially food.

Maya Blackstone is a sophomore majoring in drama and peace and justice studies. She can be reached at maya.blackstone@tufts.edu.

6

THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Tuesday, October 13, 2015

tuftsdaily.com

A&L

ARTS&LIVING

Album Review

Matt Nathanson wows with ‘Show Me Your Fangs’

by Josh Podolsky

Executive Arts Editor

Every once in a while, a new album in the otherwise extremely underappreciated folk-rock genre will come along and earn 15 seconds of fame rivaling the visibility of mainstream pop music. Often, these albums burn bright and fast, leaving the scene just as quickly as they arrived and are totally forgotten.

Matt Nathanson, the man behind the 2007 song “Come On Get Higher” from the album “Some Mad Hope,” is a textbook example of the short lifespan folk-rock hits enjoy. Since then, Nathanson has released two other albums, “Modern Love” (2011) and “Last of the Great Pretenders” (2013), neither of which reached the heights of “Some Mad Hope.” Now the singer-songwriter is back with “Show Me Your Fangs,” released Oct. 2.

“Show Me Your Fangs” sees Matt Nathanson executing everything he does well with aplomb. His charisma is off the charts on this album as he immediately endears himself to his listeners with the opening track, “Giants.” “Yeah, we’re only hearts and bones and blood / But we are giants, giants,” Nathanson sings over a bouncy instrumental background filled with heavy percussion and flying horns. “Giants” dissolves cynicism like bleach dissolves a stain, leaving the listener fresh and eager for more.

Nathanson produces music that is sure to delight all listeners. Even in the darker reaches of the repertoire, his music maintains a driving, upbeat message, and, even when the material is totally unrelatable, listeners will find themselves empathizing.

That’s not to say that Nathanson overloads his latest release with uplifting, feelgood songs. “Bill Murray” takes a more somber turn, with muted lyrics and quiet piano backing Nathanson as he sings to

Matthew Straubmuller via Flickr Creative Commons

Matt Nathanson is an accomplished singer-songwriter with a respectable folk-rock background that he pushes beyond on “Show Me Your Fangs.” his love, “You only get one person knows you best / And it’s temporary everybody else.” The premise of the song is unbelievably charming: Nathanson is dreaming that he and Bill Murray are friends traveling the world together, with Murray offering the dreamer intermittent relationship advice as they go. Perhaps Nathanson saw “Lost in Translation” (2003) before writing this song. Even at its darkest moments, “Bill Murray” remains utterly endearing and refrains from becoming indulgently introspective, always keeping the musical and emotional content of the song fresh.

To wit, songs such as “Playlists & Apologies” and “Headphones (feat. LOLO)”

push beyond the folk-rock sounds of “Show Me Your Fangs” and the rest of Nathanson’s oeuvre. In these two songs in particular, the percussive elements move to the front of the arrangements, punctuated by piano and strings in a way that is reminiscent of mellow hip-hop arrangements. LOLO, previously featured on Panic! at the Disco’s “Miss Jackson (feat. LOLO)” (2013), counterbalances Nathanson’s singing with her own occasionally auto-tuned vocals. The digital processing on LOLO’s voice makes it seem like an instrumental rather than a vocal addition to the arrangement, and the contrast sits well with the production approach taken to the other tracks.

On the whole, “Show Me Your Fangs” is a heavily and beautifully produced album. Few, if any, of the songs would sound the same in a coffee shop environment. That said, they would probably all sound amazing as acoustic arrangements — as folk-rock music should. “Show Me Your Fangs” is the story of two albums: on one album, there is a singer-songwriter exploring new genres of music and succeeding, and, on the other album, there is a singer-songwriter doing more of what he does best: ooze charisma.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with either one, and both albums, so to say, are worth a listen.

Podcast Review

‘The Savage Lovecast’ provides refreshing take on sex and relationships

by John Gallagher

Assistant Arts Editor

After being mentioned in the Oct. 9 installment of the arts column “New York Style Deli,” “The Savage Lovecast” seemed in need of further examination. For the uninitiated, “The Savage Lovecast” is a podcast hosted by national media personality and syndicated advice columnist Dan Savage. Savage is, among other things, known for his caustic criticism of right-wing homophobia; his 2003 crusade against former Senator Rick

Santorum stands as perhaps the most salient example. Savage crowdsourced a sexual definition of Santorum’s name from his readers, and the highly searched ranking of their hilarious response has dogged Santorum’s presidential campaigns ever since. In the weekly “Savage Lovecast,” Savage adapts this trademark mix of sex and politics to the podcast format, resulting in a show that is equal parts op-ed, advice column and interview.

“The Savage Lovecast” opens with a short theme song comprised of charmingly tuneless vocals — that nevertheless

Dan Savage via Wikimedia Commons

Dan Savage hosts “The Savage Lovecast,” a podcast largely focused on sex and politics, which listeners will either love or hate.

manage to deliver clever rhymes — and delightfully upbeat music. The levity of the opening theme contrasts sharply with the op-ed-like monologue that follows, where Savage gives no quarter on a particular issue.

Recently, gun control and the plight of LGBT youth with conservative parents have drawn Savage’s attention.

Savage’s opening monologues are almost always laden with references to current affairs and are often viciously critical of Republicans and the political right in general. Regardless of your political position, Savage’s monologues will make you angry. Whether you’re a social conservative who resents being characterized as a homophobic bigot or someone who shares Savage’s outrage at rightwing America, the opening of “The Savage Lovecast” will invariably elicit in you a visceral emotional response. While engendering such feelings might be the mark of an effectively executed think piece, the heightened blood pressure that accompanies Lovecast’s opening monologue can be difficult to endure over the course of a binge-listening session.

After his monologue, Savage answers callers’ pre-recorded questions about sex and relationships. His listeners are a diverse bunch and, therefore, so are the relationship problems they face. Their issues, like most human stories, range from the bizarre (how to respond when, on a first date, someone proposes marriage) to amusing (how to avoid personal grooming mishaps in intimate areas) to heart-breakingly depressing. (Many callers

find themselves struggling with break-ups or trapped in toxic relationships.) After playing a caller’s plea for guidance, Savage dispenses often obscenity-laden — and usually sage — advice before moving on to the next question.

Sometime after his opening monologue, Savage also has a conversation with a guest. Like his callers, the guests Savage invites onto the show are diverse; they have recently ranged from NPR hosts to academics researching sexuality to porn stars.

These interviewees are generally charming and speak articulately and engagingly about whatever topic is on the table.

“The Savage Lovecast” operates on a “freemium” business model, with “micro” episodes available for free and “magnum” episodes behind a pay wall. “Micro” episodes include ads, which, surprisingly, are actually interesting and often read by Savage himself. As a result, the ads never feel like an attempt to exploit a large audience for profit.

According to an FAQ page on the podcast’s website, the “magnum” episodes include “an additional 40 to 50 minutes of new content, usually with guests,” as well as no ads. And, yes, the names of both the episode tiers are, in fact, penis jokes.

The subject matter and obvious political bent of “The Savage Lovecast” might make the show seem distasteful to some, but the podcast’s high production value, its equal parts funny and sage advice and advice and its interesting guests make this podcast worth your time.

7

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 | Comics | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

Comics

Late Night at the Daily Evan: “If my mom were on Slack, I’d Slack her every single day.”

Comics

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME

by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

SUDOKU

JUMBLE

GRETI ©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.

FEHTT OKERIO

Check out the new, free JUST JUMBLE app

Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.

LETOTU Answer here: Level: Watching Netflix instead of studying.

Yesterday’s

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.

(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: HOIST METAL GOALIE NIMBLE Answer: The retired army general tried to lose weight, but it was a — LOSING BATTLE

Monday’s Solution

Non Sequitur

By Wiley Miller

FOR RELEASE OCTOBER 13, 2015

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis Crossword

our contact (617) 440-7361 or

bostonburgerco.com

our hours

our location 37 davis square somerville, ma 02144

mon - wed:

11 AM to 10 PM

thurs - sat: 11 AM to 11 PM sun: 12 PM to 8 PM

ACROSS 1 Attorneys’ degs.

4 Clipper or Laker, briefly 9 Up to now 14 Sup 15 Get up 16 Jigsaw puzzle unit 17 Norse war god 18 Ruthless adversary 20 Planting ground 22 Have debts 23 Joints often sprained 24 Words before card or lock 26 Precious 27 Serious software problem 30 “Rats!”

34 Hyundai luxury model 35 Victor’s cry 37 Besides 38 Actress Hagen 39 ’60s-’70s “Hollywood Squares” semiregular 42 __ bind: stuck 43 Video game letters 44 Circular imperfection in wood 45 Slip-on shoes 47 One with a killer serve 49 Wisenheimer 52 Obsessed whaler captain 54 Boating stopover 55 Half of the hiphop duo Black Star 58 Certain NCO 59 Billions of years 62 Truth known only to a few ... and a hint to a word hidden in 18-, 27-, 39- and 49Across 65 Agcy. with narcs 66 Mark with a sale price, say 67 Greek goddesses of the seasons 68 Vex 69 Airline seat choice 70 Hinged fasteners 71 McMahon and Sullivan

By Mike Peluso

DOWN 1 One of two MetLife Stadium NFL teams 2 Belafonte hit 3 Erotic dance 4 “Platoon” war zone 5 WWI era English poet Rupert 6 High-flying battles 7 East, in Mexico 8 “Michael Collins” actor Stephen 9 Exhausted 10 Made a pig of oneself?

11 Have a hunch 12 Summit 13 Husband-andwife creators of Curious George 19 Doctor House portrayer Hugh 21 Prevaricator 25 Lewis’ partner 26 Monastic hood 27 Flora’s partner 28 Ancient Mexican 29 Rodeo rope 31 Life-ending season in Ecclesiastes 32 Socially insensitive, in a way

10/13/15

Monday’s Puzzle Solved Monday’s Solution

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

33 “__ your mother” 36 Tibet neighbor 40 More than a little risky 41 Mausoleum 46 1997 movie beekeeper 48 Tire type 50 Hardships 51 Letter-shaped shoe fastener 53 Line of shrubbery

10/13/15

55 Juan’s “Look!”

56 “Dedicated to the __ Love” 57 Grounded fast planes, briefly 58 Spartan promenade 60 Techie, stereotypically 61 Fifth Avenue retailer 63 Librarian’s rebuke 64 “Amen!”

8

THE TUFTS DAILY | Opinion | Tuesday, October 13, 2015

T HE T UFTS D AILY Joe Palandrani Editor-in-Chief

tuftsdaily.com

Opinion Opinion

Editorial

Editorial Lancy Downs Abigail Feldman Managing Editors Sarah Zheng Executive News Editor Marianna Athanassiou News Editors Melissa Kain Reena Karasin Arin Kerstein Safiya Nanji Sophie Lehrenbaum Emma Steiner Roy Yang Isha Fahad Assistant News Editors Miranda Willson Mengqi Sun Executive Features Editor Kendall Todd Features Editors Arin Kerstein Nicole Brooks Becca Leibowitz Nina Joung Assistant Features Editors

Joshua Podolsky Executive Arts Editor Anjali Nair Arts Editors Yotam Bentov Assistant Arts Editors Merilla Michael John Gallagher Ascher Kulich Yuki Zaninovich Nick Golden Erin Sifre Katie Matejcak Hannah Hoang Ty Enos Fury Sheron Natasha Khwaja

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editor

Cartoonists Editorialist

Alison Kuah Executive Sports Editor Ross Dember Sports Editors Alex Schroeder Chris Warren Steven Hefter Phillip Goldberg Ray-Paul Biron Josh Slavin

Media coverage of shootings sensationalizes, encourages violence Though it’s only been 13 days since the start of the month, three on-campus shootings have already made national news during October 2015. Ten people died during an attack that took place at Umpqua Community College on Oct. 1, and two more people were killed on Oct. 9 in separate attacks at Northern Arizona University and Texas Southern University.

This exceptional bloodshed reflects a dramatic increase in the rate of gun-related mass killings reported in past years, according to FBI reports. With school shootings making headlines so often, it is almost enough to make one wonder whether these shootings even newsworthy anymore.

Of course campus massacres are newsworthy — and that just may be part of the problem. Recent studies show that media coverage may have a role in increasing rates of school shootings and mass killings, not just homicides and suicides.

The idea that media is complicit in spreading violence is nothing new. In 1974, American sociologist David Phillips coined the term “the Werther effect” to

Evan Sayles Executive Photo Editor Sofie Hecht Photo Administrator Caroline Ambros Picture Tufts Editor

describe copycat phenomena. Phillips found that highly publicized stories of violent behavior led to increased incidences of similar behaviors. In this way, violence could be described as contagious.

Concern about the way media outlets portray perpetrators of armed violence resurfaced a couple of weeks ago when Douglas County, Ore. Sheriff John Hanlin, who spoke at a press conference following the Umpqua Community College attack, refused to name the shooter. Hanlin said he did not wish to glorify the gunman’s actions and has continued to remain silent about the suspect’s identity, despite the fact that other sources have leaked the man’s name to reporters.

Hanlin is not the only one to object to typical coverage practices. The No Notoriety campaign, launched in the wake of the Oregon attack, calls on media outlets to limit the amount of information they release about shooters and elevate coverage of the victims. Instead, supporters of the movement claim that publishing gunmen’s photos and self-serving

statements could lead others to commit similar crimes and that the suspect’s name is often irrelevant to coverage of investigations.

At present, there does not seem to be enough research data to either confirm or deny the claim that publishing a suspect’s name can impact copycat violence. The growing number of mass murders, nevertheless, seems reason enough for media outlets to reconsider their approach to reporting. To start, it might be useful to ask institutions that research mass violence for help. The World Health Organization and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have already issued guidelines to journalists for reporting on suicide. Perhaps it’s time to develop similar recommendations for reporting on campus shootings.

As a college publication, the Daily is particularly concerned with the way its coverage impacts campus safety.

Information is imperative to keeping a campus safe, but it must be stewarded responsibly to avoid replicating the violence it ought to help prevent.

Editorial Cartoon

by Ty Enos

Merilla Michael Executive Jumbo Beat Editors Rachel Allen

PRODUCTION Andrew M. Stephens Production Director David Westby Executive Layout Editors Nick Golden Julie Doten Layout Editors Molly Harrower Annabelle Roberts Emily Sharp Shirley Wang Creative Director Alison Epstein Executive Copy Editors Sophie Lehrenbaum Iqra Asghar Copy Editors Arthur Beckel Aastha Chadha Melissa Feito Noah Habeeb Jonathan Heutmaker Andrew Kager Melissa Kain Reena Karasin Serena Kassam Claire Mullany Rachel Salzberg Dan Strauss Caroline Watson Kayla Williamson Assistant Copy Editors Sarah Kalinowski Paolo Scalla Nitesh Gupta Executive Online Editor Max Bernstein Executive Tech Manager

BUSINESS Kristie Le Executive Business Director Chris Chininis Yiran Xu Daphne Zhao Josh Morris

Ad Director Receivables Manager Ad Manager Ad Manager

Caroline Talbert Marketing Director Qinyue Yu Marketing Manager Scott Geldzahler Social Media Editor Vera Masterson

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 2 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com. All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified.

The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

ADVERTISING POLICY All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editorin-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director. A publication schedule and rate card are available upon request.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

Opinion

9

Opinion

Op-Ed

Palestine, Israel and birds

by Ethan Freedman In June of 2013, Audubon magazine published an article on a cooperative bird conservation project between Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian schoolchildren.

An Israeli zoologist partnered with organizations and schools to bring children together to enjoy nature and local birds and learn about conservation. This is a sociological issue, but let’s take a step back for a moment and talk about birds.

Birds are a truly amazing group of wildlife. As you know, the vast majority of them can fly, practically monopolizing the skies as habitats. They are as diverse as they can get, ranging from minuscule hummingbirds to massive, land-bound ostriches. Moreover, many of them travel long distances every year to breed, hitting corners of the world never spoken about in the arena of international politics. The area between the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Jordan River is one of the world’s major migratory hotspots, with birds from Africa, Europe and Asia all converging over a small strip of land. Those migratory routes have been the same for thousands, if not millions, of years. The array of the continents creates the perfect land bridge that birds have found useful to use as a stop along the way.

Much like our winged friends, human civilizations have often found themselves crossing over the land now in Israel and Palestine, and in many cases, deciding to claim it as their own. The same birds flew their route each spring and fall, however, no matter if the Romans or the Phoenicians or the Ottomans had their soldiers in Jerusalem.

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians today is plagued by contrasting interests, long-held beliefs, lack of dialogue, lack of want of dialogue, fears, hatred, divisions, weapons, outside players, politicians and policy. It is a political conflict; much of the discussion around it is political, the proposed solutions are political and politics will likely determine whatever happens next in the region. The program in the Audubon article is derived from a political reality. Avian conservation science in these migratory routes is political because politics has the power and authority to protect and conserve

key habitats and resources. Many political discussions — and discussions within the framework of a political reality — are had in formal and informal contexts on our campus.

Birds, however, are not political. Birds are just birds. The calm demeanor of a heron as it stalks fish in a shallow pond by the remnants of the Jordan river is the same as it was 1,000 years ago. Hoopoe don’t care if they find food on the east side of the Green Line or the west. These are things that the shifting nature of our politics has yet to change, and this is true not only in the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean.

We have increased the atmospheric temperature of our planet, we have eradicated many species entirely and we have done all of this across most of the globe. Glaciers are disappearing, and hyacinth macaws are in danger of becoming extinct, all because of our actions. Why is it, though, that we even care? We care because these things exist and because these things are beautiful. A glacier is a gorgeous composition of ice, water and rock, shaping the landscape, advancing and receding with the seasons. A hyacinth macaw is an amazing, massive, navy blue bird, with a shock of yellow around the eyes and below the bill. Every species, landscape and process on this planet has beauty and importance simply by virtue of its existence.

We need to see and respect this beauty if we are to ever fully grasp the need for the politics we use to deal with our relationship to nature.

In much the same way, the campus conversation on Israel and Palestine needs to take a moment to appreciate why it is that many of us care so much about this issue. The notion of self-determination is central to democracy. The respective and shared cultures of Israelis and Palestinians, of Jews and Muslims and Christians, of the land between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea, are rich with thousands of years of history. Perhaps most importantly, human rights and dignities and feeling free and safe in our homes are central concepts for enriching our lives. This must extend to all people; simply by our existence we are worthy of this.

Respecting the core of why we care about this issue can reframe the context and tone

of our conversations. The political stage on which we talk about the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories needs to change. The political reality is inexcusable and morally unacceptable. We must recognize that there are two peoples living in the area, and each has spent a long time working for a homeland. The Palestinian people have been subject to the racist violence of a faction of Israeli extremists and discriminatory policy from the share of Israelis who would like to see the military occupation continue. Israelis have lived in fear during the Second Intifada. Palestinians continue to live in fear. We need to talk about history, about what has been just and what has not. We cannot, however, use history as an excuse not to move forward.

We cannot, and must not, define for anyone their identity as a people. A solution involving two independent states of Israel and Palestine next to each other isn’t perfect and doesn’t right the wrongs of the past or solve every problem. A two-state solution works, however, because peace doesn’t have to be living under the same government, and peace doesn’t have to be a perfect solution. Peace needs to be about the best we can do with our moment in time, whether that be in slowly resolving a decades-old conflict or in slowly finding our way to co-exist with other species. When a political agreement is reached between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, it has the potential to be a defining moment. Eventually, though, peace can be about more than a political agreement. Peace is having a piece of fruit with your neighbor. Peace is going out with your neighbor to see the birds that have had the luxury of flying over borders and fences.

I encourage you to learn more about this issue through the various outlets we have on campus. Important political conversations are happening, and we need to break out of our bubble of self-protection to see what other groups of people have to say instead of relying on what we think we know. Sometimes we need to talk about things that transcend politics, however.

Sometimes it’s better to talk about birds.

Ethan Freedman is a senior majoring in biology. He can be reached at ethan. freedman@tufts.edu.

Isabella Garces El Locutorio

Wrinkles and time

A

predicament we face today is the menace that our wrinkle-count will one day supersede what we can count on two hands. Breaching the geriatric gates is now comparable to waltzing into one of Dante’s circles of Hell.

“Waltzing” is too kind of a term. “Dragged by the undaunted claws of time” seems more adequate. Somehow, society has come to fear the natural and unavoidable process that results in old age. People have resorted to injecting fluids into their flesh to escape the likes of E.T and reach the haven of what can only be described as “White Chicks” (2004) on acid. For those of you unfamiliar with the film reference, two AfricanAmerican men plaster their faces in such a way that they appear to be white females.

The results are quite disturbing. As a society, we partake in various endeavors to slow down the natural process that enables us to physically display the extent of our experience and overall plentitude of life. I’m just curious as to why.

In a world that values physical appearance, wrinkles are warning signs to be avoided at all costs. Aging is inversely correlated to beauty. The basis for this all-encompassing fear of aging is more linked to the importance we dote on beauty rather than the worries we confer on our looming death.

Our fear of aging can also be linked to that lovely fear of ending up alone harbored by many. Of course, not everyone is burdened by the heavy weight of impending loneliness.

But those are few in between, and those who crave company are alarmingly numerous.

Where I come from, women in their early twenties possess a gnawing desire to get married. They somehow feel that they need to get married before they reach the point of no return, i.e. turning 30. I’ve come to the realization that this anxiety is directly correlated to the aging process. The fear of it. If in some kind of parallel universe we happened to be a non-aging species that maintained our youth, and its superimposed companion, beauty, then women wouldn’t give a damn about getting married. They wouldn’t fear that if they don’t find a concrete settlement of eternal companionship as of now, their beauty will slowly wither away as well as their chances of finding someone who wants them, and they’ll be forever stuck in the decrepit vault of solitude.

Thankfully, just as we come up with cures for diseases, we’ve also come up with some temporary solutions for aging. Here we go, a coalition of activists undertaking a merciless battle against the perilous storm of withering skin and disintegrating cheekbones. If injecting Botox into your flesh doesn’t stretch your face significantly enough, maybe some cream will permeate your pores and grant your countenance the texture of a newborn baby’s bottom. Then again, maybe you could skip a step and just marry whoever comes along, if only to make this whole aging debacle become a mere sign in your rear-view mirror, indicating that you are indeed heading in the right direction. You are driving forward your predisposed idea of a perfect life where you might get old, but you are assuredly not alone.

Isabella Garces is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at isabella.garces@tufts.edu.

Op-ed Policy The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

10

THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Tuesday, October 13, 2015

tuftsdaily.com

Careers in Public Health Wednesday, October 14, 2015 5:30 PM Dowling 745

Come hear a panel of recent alums discuss their careers in various public health professions!

Sponsored by Health Professions Advising and the Community Health Program

The “It’s Not Like I’m Drunk” Cocktail 2 oz. tequila 1 oz. triple sec 1/2 ounce lime juice Salt 1 too many 1 automobile 1 missed red light 1 false sense of security 1 lowered reaction time Combine ingredients. Shake.

Have another. And another.

Never underestimate ‘just a few.’

Buzzed driving is drunk driving.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

Sports

11

Sports

Men’s CREW

Jumbos earn bronze at Head of the Snake Regatta

by Andre Chuong Contributing Writer

The men’s rowing team made a strong showing Saturday at the Head of the Snake Regatta in Worcester, Mass., taking third place in the varsity eights race and ranking in the top third in the varsity fours race in their first performance of the fall racing season.

The Head of the Snake Regatta takes place annually on Lake Quinsigamond.

A “head race” is a time-trial competition that staggers each crew’s launch from the starting line about 10 to 15 seconds. The Head of the Snake takes place over a two-and-a-half mile distance, longer than the 2,000-meter races typical of the spring season.

The varsity four launched in the late morning to less than ideal conditions. A headwind worked against the crew’s ability to easily set the boat. The entry, made up of senior stroke Jackson Horwitz, senior tri-captain Jonathan Lapadula, senior Andrew Warren, sophomore bow Matt Cohen and senior coxswain Maria Karam, worked to overcome these conditions.

“The weather conditions [made] the boat feel very heavy for the rowers, so it was quite a difficult row — especially since we had only rowed for three practices in [this] lineup,” Karam said. “As a coxswain, the regatta actually went very smoothly. Problems can arise when [there is] miscommunication, but this race course [was] pretty straightforward.”

During the race, Colby College remained nearly a boat length behind the varsity four until the one-and-a-half mile mark, motivating the rowers to keep their lead. The Mules eventually pulled even with the Jumbos, staying that way for

nearly 400 meters, before finally passing the crew by a quarter length at the finish line.

Tufts’ varsity four was ranked fifth in a field of 19 teams and clocked in at 12:29.879. The top four boats hail from schools that place emphasis on their varsity four, as opposed to Tufts, whose focus is centered on the varsity eight.

The first varsity eight entry consisting of firstyear stroke Ryan Bell, sophomore The Tufts first varsity Andrew MacMillen, New England Rowing senior tri-captain Jon Williams, first-year Chandler Glass, sophomore Tyler Hagedorn, junior Tyler McCullough, senior Zhuangchen Zhou, junior tri-captain and bow Zach Merchant and first-year coxswain Hannah Frankel launched in the early afternoon to favorable, less windy conditions.

Starting off the race two boat lengths behind the University of New Hampshire (UNH), Tufts’ first varsity eight quickly passed UNH and then focused its efforts on passing Middlebury — four boat lengths in front of Tufts. Taking the stroke rate up to a 33 during the sprint, the Jumbos managed to pull even with the Panthers, and the two schools crossed the finish line at the same time.

Tufts’ first varsity eight won bronze in a field of 18 with a time of 14:15.578

Courtesy Anna lindgren-streicher

eight saw a bronze-medal win at the Head of the Snake Regatta, beating defending Champions Bates by one second.

— only 15 seconds behind gold medalist Holy Cross, which competes at the Div. I level. The second and third varsity eights came in 15th and 16th place, respectively.

“We raced aggressively and ended up beating many fast crews,” Frankel said. “The highlight of our race was that we beat Bates College, the defending [New England Rowing Champions] by one second.”

Glass not only expressed his satisfaction with the result of the first varsity eight’s race, but also recognized the shortcomings that prevented the crew from reaching its full potential.

“I was very happy with the result, but from a technical perspective we actually did not have a very good race,” Glass

said. “Our set was not very consistent, and we also got hit with a big wake in the middle of the race. However, [our] power application was crazy — power moves the boat and everything else just supplements [it].”

The Jumbos nevertheless hope to use the momentum from their bronze-medal victory at the Head of the Snake in their upcoming races this weekend at the prominent Head of the Charles in Boston, Mass.

“It really was a fantastic feeling putting medals around our necks Saturday,” Williams said. “Our medal finish has shown us what we are capable of on the water, and if we can reach our full potential [this weekend], I think we are going to make some serious noise.”

Jumbos look to continue climbing NESCAC rankings VOLLEYBALL

continued from back against Endicott and Bates, both games still boasted impressive scorelines, with Endicott scoring just 13 and 14 points in the last two sets, respectively, and Bates scoring only 12 in the first set. The biggest score disparity came in the game against Brandeis, in which Tufts won the first set by an impressive margin of 25-4. The

Jumbos scored 13 points in a row, quickly downing the Owls. In the second and third sets, Brandeis managed to narrow the gap, but its efforts were not enough to prevent Tufts from quickly claiming its decisive win.

“Brandeis was a good competitor, and we, as a whole, played very clean volleyball in the first set,” Yu said. “[In] the next sets, Brandeis made significantly [fewer] errors, but we still kept

our flow and pushed through the next two sets.”

Last year, the Jumbos advanced to the NESCAC championship after claiming the top regular season record in the conference, and they are hoping to repeat that success this season.

“As a team, we want to learn and grow throughout the season,” Yu said.

“We want to use every opportunity as a

learning moment and get better from our experiences.”

With this past week’s sweep of their opponents, the Jumbos move to 13-4 on the season and 4-2 in the conference. Tufts will take on Wesleyan and Trinity — both of whom are currently tied for last place in the conference — at home this weekend and will look to move up further in the standings, where they currently are tied for fourth.

Tufts offensive drought ends as team posts 13 shots against Middlebury MEN'S SOCCER

continued from back Despite the Jumbos’ inability to capitalize on their scoring opportunities early on, Shapiro insisted that pre-game jitters during Homecoming were not the case. “[There were] no nerves,” Shapiro said. “If anything, we were excited.”

The Jumbos came out aggressive in the second half and scored within 10 minutes of returning to the field. Senior tri-captain Jason Kayne possessed the ball and sent it upfield to Majumder, who was able to get his foot on the ball in the left side of the box. His shot sailed past junior goalie Greg Sydor, putting Tufts in the lead in the 53rd minute.

“Kayne has such good vision on the field,” Majumder said. “I know whenever he has the ball and is driving at a defender that if I make a run behind the defense,

he’ll get me the ball. I’ve been trying to look for that through ball more often, so when he got the ball in the midfield, I just cut diagonally behind the defender that engaged him. And he played me a beautiful ball down to the left side of the goal. The goalie charged, so I just hit it one time and was able to slip it through into the net.”

Greenwood posted his fifth shutout of the season. Despite helping to keep the Panthers at bay for much of the game, Greenwood had to save himself in the 78th minute, when Middlebury senior midfielder Tyler Bonini had the ball in the box in a one-on-one situation with the former all-conference keeper.

Greenwood dove and saved the shot from 10 yards out to preserve the lead — and the win — for Tufts. He also collected some individual accolades in the pro-

cess with his 23rd career shutout, setting a new Tufts record.

The win brings the Jumbos’ record to 6-3-1 on the season and 4-2-1 in the conference. This puts Tufts in a three-way tie for second place with Conn. College and Middlebury, two teams that Tufts has already beaten this year. All three teams sit behind Amherst, who owns a 5-0-0 conference record (10-0 overall) and is ranked No. 2 in the country.

“The game had big implications in terms of NESCAC standings, as well as for our chances of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament in a month’s time,” Majumder said. “Everybody knew what was necessary to get the win, and I think it showed with our ability to possess through them and put more shots on goal than we had in past games.”

Up next for Tufts is a non-conference

home game today against non-conference opponent Gordon College and then a trip to Bates on Saturday. The Jumbos look to build on this strong performance in order to put themselves in a good position for the postseason NESCAC tournament.

“The fact that we’ve seen what it takes to get the results we want will definitely help us finish the season out strong,” Majumder said. “We had a similar stumble around midseason last year where we didn’t win for four games, and…of course, we [also] lost in the first round of the NESCAC tourney. So we know how to bounce back from disappointments like the stretch we just went through.”

This was the mantra when the stakes became higher last season, and the team hopes it will work to perfection once again.

Sports

pg.12 tuftsdaily.com

MEN'S SOCCER

Jumbos win on Homecoming, pull into second place in conference

by Steven Hefter Sports Editor

Fans and players alike were all smiles after the final whistle on Saturday afternoon at Kraft field. The Tufts men’s soc-

MEN’S SOCCER (6-3-1 Overall, 4-2-1 NESCAC) at Kraft Field, Saturday Middlebury Tufts

1

0 0

2 1 0

1 0

cer team put out a strong performance on Homecoming weekend for a 1-0 win against Middlebury. After losing two consecutive NESCAC games on the road, the Jumbos were happy to return home to a lively crowd. The team played at a high tempo throughout the game and kept the pressure on the Panthers from start to finish.

“It was extremely important [to come out strong],” coach Josh Shapiro said.

“We thought we deserved something from both games last weekend, and to not get it was disappointing.”

Tufts amassed 13 shots in the game with four on goal. The first shot came in the seventh minute, when junior forward and leading scorer Nathan Majumder sent a ball wide right of the net. One min-

Evan Sayles / Tufts Daily Archive

Tufts senior midfielder Jason Kayne blocks a Middlebury player from reaching the ball in the Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 10. ute later, Majumder set junior midfielder Zach Halliday up for a shot that flew just over the crossbar. Another quality scoring opportunity came in the 23rd minute when junior midfielder Luis Echeverria attempted a bicycle kick, but the shot sailed just high of the crossbar.

Middlebury only mustered three

shots in the game, with just one requiring a save from junior goalkeeper Scott Greenwood. Although both teams remained scoreless for the first 45 minutes of the game, Tufts outshot Middlebury seven to one during that time period. see MEN'S SOCCER, page 11

VOLLEYBALL

Tufts dominates in four-game homestand

by Maddie Payne

Evan Sayles / Tufts Daily Archive

Saturday’s homecoming game against Colby provided three sets of exciting play.

The first set was especially close and ended in a final score of 25-23. Tufts was forced to play catch-up early on, as Colby dominated at the beginning of the set.

However, a pair of kills from Kuppe propelled her team from a 22-22 scoreline to 24-23, with the final point of the set going to Tufts on a Colby error.

The Jumbos took the tough start in stride and slowly began to put the game out of reach for the Mules in the second set, maintaining a six- to seven-point lead.

The slower start from Tufts in the first set against Colby had been a result of their strenuous game schedule; the team played four teams in four days this past week.

“Playing multiple games a week definitely is something to prepare mentally and physically for; however, nothing beats the excitement and drive we have to play the game we love,” Yu said.

Despite Colby’s attempt to regroup with a timeout, Tufts continued to bombard its opponent so that Colby could not gather enough momentum. The Mules conceded several attacking errors to hand the second set to the Jumbos, 25-19.

Tufts opened the third set aggressively, with a strong offense to which Colby could produce no answer. The Jumbos scored seven points in a row in the middle of the set, giving them a resounding lead, and eventually took the set 25-16.

Tufts has consistently produced strong opening sets, winning the first set in all four games. Despite dropping one set each

Junior outside hitter Mary Maccabee jumps to hit the ball in Tufts’ game against Springfield College on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

see VOLLEYBALL, page 11

Contributing Writer

The Tufts volleyball team cruised to four straight victories last week, including two wins over NESCAC opponents: the team beat Bates and Endicott 3-1, then both Colby and Brandeis 3-0. The Jumbos dominated every match with well-placed kills, most of which were powerful but interspersed with strategic, gentle touches over the net, fooling opponents.

Tufts statistically outperformed its opponents last week. The team scored 97 points to Bates’ 74 and made only nine errors in its matchup with Brandeis, in comparison to the latter’s 26. Against Endicott, Tufts led in kills by a margin of 48-32.

Senior Maddie Kuppe continuously topped the board, scoring a total of 63 points across the four games. Closely following her was junior Elizabeth Ahrens, who scored 42 points.

The team has four new players this year — first-years MacKenzie Bright, Alexandra Wood, Angela Yu and Katie Zheng — who have already made a strong impact on the team.

“Game by game, we work to improve our team chemistry more and more, so I would definitely say that that would be something we always work on improving,” Zheng said. “Also, improving our mental toughness [is important] because we have more NESCAC games coming up against other respectable opponents.”

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Phillip Goldberg Fantasy Football with Phil

Changing of the guard at RB?

T

here is no other way to begin this column than to lament the loss of superstar, centerpiece, carry-monster and fantasy mainstay — Jamaal Charles.

After wishing your top-five pick a speedy recovery from a potenitally season-ending ACL tear, you should explore backups Charcandrick West and/or Knile Davis. West acted as Charles’ replacement in Kansas City’s Oct. 11 game against Chicago, but the undrafted rookie is likely stuck in a committee with former third-round pick and three-year veteran Davis. Expect 10 to 15 carries per game for West and around 10 touches per game for Davis going forward, but downgrade the offense as a whole. Normally receivers would benefit from more targets in this sort of situation, but there is no reason to expect that in an Alex Smith-led “offense.”

If you own Atlanta’s Devonta Freeman, I recommend trading high. Seven touchdowns, 262 yards on the ground and another 177 yards through the air over his last three games is an obviously unsustainable pace. The talent, role and offense are present, so the only real concern is injury and a surprisingly average 3.8 yards per carry. Chicago’s Matt Forte is a sneaky buy low right now. His schedule will lighten considerably after the Bears’ week 7 bye and when injured star receiver Alshon Jeffery returns to stretch the field.

Looking at the high scorers among running backs in week five, youth jumps off the page. Tampa Bay’s Doug Martin leads the list with over 150 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns, his second 100 yard-plus game in a row. Freeman is next, followed

by Justin Forsett of Baltimore, whose low career usage qualifies him as “young” and then Seattle’s Thomas Rawls, who rushed for 169 yards and a touchdown against a solid Cincinnati run defense. Teammate Marshawn Lynch is considered questionable for week 6, but my bet is he could be held out or limited until Seattle plays Dallas in week 8.

Todd Gurley is clearly a feature back, ripping off 159 yards against Green Bay, but St. Louis better stop giving the rookie 30 carries in a blowout loss. That kind of workload is a sure bet to wear him down. I’m saving face here for advocating Jacksonville’s Allen Robinson over him two weeks ago.

Jeremy Hill’s disappearing act continues, and if you weren’t smart enough to trade him away after last week’s three-touchdown effort, you are likely stuck with him until he rips off another couple TDs. Since he’s averaging almost two fewer yards per carry than last year and has an ugly schedule for the rest of the season, it is highly unlikely we see the Cincinnati halfback turn this season around.

Green Bay’s Eddie Lacy is a must start every week, and owners can be confident when, next week, the Packers take on the San Diego Chargers — who have allowed an average of 121.8 rushing yards per game and a touchdown to running backs through five weeks. Side note: Aaron Rodgers hadn’t thrown an interception at home in almost three calendar years.

I hate to be that guy, but Denver’s Peyton Manning owns a 6:7 TD to interception ratio right now. His passer rating and yards per attempt are also the lowest they have been since his rookie season. If he has a good game, trade him immediately.

Phillip Goldberg is an Assistant Sports Editor at The Tufts Daily. He is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major and can be reached at phillip.goldberg@tufts.edu.