The Tufts Daily - Thursday October 1, 2020

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Thursday, October 1, 2020

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Professors, students react Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, city to adjusted lab courses, officials join Tisch College to discuss COVID-19 impact on COVID-19, racial inequities STEM

by Matthew McGovern News Editor

For laboratory courses in the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering this fall, professors have had to adhere to new density requirements and safety protocols, and create feasible alternatives for in-person labs.

In Biology 13, one of the largest classes at the university with approximately 480 students, the lab component is in a hybrid format in an effort to give all students the option of completing the course remotely.

Dr. Ekaterina “Kate” Mirkin, laboratory coordinator for Biology 13 and lecturer in the department of biology, explained that flexibility was her primary focus when structuring the labs for the course.

Students will have the opportunity to complete hands-on experiments for the course in October and November.

“In September, while some students are still moving in and getting tested, we are online, so everyone can participate and learn … in October and November, we will have in-person labs for those who can attend,” Mirkin wrote in an email to the Daily.

She noted that the course will be online by the end of the semester to accommodate those students who are reluctant to return to campus after Thanksgiving.

Mirkin also shared her early predictions for the semester.

“I knew it wouldn’t be an ideal semester; my goal was to make the best of what can be done under the circumstances,” she said.

Chris Swan, dean of undergraduate education at the School of Engineering, explained that density restrictions and new safety measures have forced professors to change the way they conduct labs.

He shared that many professors in the School of Engineering have generated creative solutions to teaching labs, in light of all COVID-19 guidelines.

In an email to the Daily, Swan cited a specific example: “An instructor for a first-year engineering course providing synchronous demonstrations of laboratory tests to their class, then providing the students the data

so that they can reduce and analyze laboratory results, as if they performed the test themselves.”

He added that some professors have also been increasing the number of lab offerings.

In addition to providing greater access to labs, Swan touted experiment kits that professors are using to mimic in-person experiments.

“Faculty have adopted a number of methods to continue their hands-on pedagogical approaches, even for students who are remote. The most common method is the use of ‘kits’ that students may pickup, or if remote get mailed to them, to conduct the hands-on activity,” he said.

Chorng Hwa Chang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, who is conducting his courses in both a hybrid and in-person format, indicated that virtual courses have forced students to communicate in new ways.

“They have to share their ideas, they have to communicate their results,” Chang said. “Each [student] has their own computer, their equipment, and their results might be different.”

Sophomore Jojo Zhang, who is taking lab courses in chemistry, computer science and statistics, explained in an email to the Daily that certain labs have been more conducive to virtual learning than others.

Zhang, who is studying cognitive and brain science, expressed appreciation for being able to perform in-person lab experiments in his organic chemistry course.

“For [organic chemistry] especially, I feel fortunate that I have the opportunity to come back to campus this semester,” Zhang said. “There’s a lot to learn from diagrams and lectures, but especially for those planning on doing research in the future, the inability to practice some of these skills is quite the shame.”

Kaitlyn Szalay, a sophomore studying biochemistry, explained that while virtual labs can afford more time to watch and study the lab, in-person experimentation is a high priority for her.

“I don’t like the labs being online and hybrid because I feel I am not learning the skills or see REACT, page 2

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A screen capture from the Tisch College Civic Life Lunch ‘COVID-19 in Boston: Running a City During a Pandemic’ event on Sept. 30 is pictured.

by Alejandra Carrillo Executive News Editor

The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life hosted a discussion with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and city leaders Dr. Karilyn Crockett, chief of equity, and Marty Martinez, chief of health and human services.

The event was held Wednesday as part of Tisch College’s Civic Life Lunch series and was moderated by Dean of Tisch College Alan Solomont.

Solomont first asked Walsh about his response to the COVID19 pandemic.

Walsh explained that when Boston saw its first case of coronavirus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, officials were faced with immediate decisions.

“February 2 was the first case of coronavirus in Boston … March 6 was the sixth case,” Walsh said.

“We were faced with decisions like closing schools, school buildings, canceling the St. Patrick’s Day Parade … [and] postponing the [Boston] marathon.”

He emphasized city officials’ adherence to science-based protocols to prevent the spread of the virus and their determination to take immediate action.

“It was important that we listened to the science and it was important that we took action because lives were at stake,” Walsh said.

Solomont then asked Walsh about the role of the national government and state governments during a global health crisis.

“You have the national government that helps and works

down to the states which works down to the cities and town … whether it’s creating systems for giving ventilators out or equipment or giving us information alone,” he said.

Walsh criticized the national government’s response to the pandemic.

“In this particular case with COVID-19, that did not happen … there was a major fundamental breakdown in the national government,” he said.

Solomont later directed questions at Martinez and asked him about how the city is protecting communities of color, which have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Martinez cited a task force Walsh created in an effort to address health inequities exacerbated by the crisis. “[Task force members] represent and reflect the diversity of Boston … they are working with us in partnership to understand: What does the data tell us? Where [are] the disparities?” he said.

Martinez indicated that city officials have seen a rise in COVID-19 cases among Latinos in the past few months.

“I’m in those communities and what we’ve really tried to do is be very transparent about data … about what we see and be clear we need to roll up our sleeves and solve this together,” Martinez said.

Solomont returned to questions for Walsh and asked him about city leaders’ efforts to reduce racial inequities.

Walsh recalled a study that underlined gaps in earned wealth between different racial groups.

WEEKENDER / page 4

FEATURES / page 3

SPORTS / back

COVID-19 can’t stop the music of the Handel and Haydn Society

Professors create learning experience out of chaotic election

Preparing for his senior comeback, Enge reflects on men’s soccer championship runs

“We have to do better to create opportunities for people to be able to move into the middle class,” he said.

Crockett, who leads the city’s racial equity fund, echoed Walsh’s sentiments and advocated for structural change.

“We are in the midst of a structural crisis as much as we are in the midst of a public health crisis … what it takes to address a structural crisis is structural change,” she said.

Crockett also emphasized the importance of having the support of academic institutions, like Tufts, to implement positive change.

“We have some work to set a table and let people know what’s important, but we can’t do it alone, which is why it’s so important to have partners like Tufts and folks in the education world,” she said.

Solomont asked Crockett about her plan to address racism and racial inequalities as the city’s chief of equity. She responded by outlining current societal structures.

“The real question here is climbing up anti-black racism and this larger structure of white supremacy that we’re situated in,” she said. “[The structure] will convince us that racial hierarchies are a normal and natural way to organize society, which we know is not the case.”

Crockett mentioned that such racial issues can be expansively found in history.

“The fact that you could assign someone’s worth, and their see DISCUSS, page 2 NEWS

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, October 1, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Alex Viveros Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL Managing Editors Jake Freudberg Associate Editors Jilly Rolnick Alejandra Carrillo Maddie Aitken Jessica Blough Tom Guan Liza Harris Alex Janoff Matt McGovern Sara Renkert Sarah Sandlow Anton Shenk Carolina Espinal Sam Klugherz Alexander Thompson

Chief of Equity Karilyn Crockett addresses systemic racism, structural change DISCUSS

Rebecca Barker Hannah Harris

Executive News Editor Deputy News Editor News Editors

Assistant News Editors

Ryan Shaffer Executive Features Editor Sid Anand Features Editors Amelia Becker Jillian Collins Claire Fraise Evelyn McClure Kayla Butera Assistant Features Editor

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continued from page 1 opportunity, based on melanin, or lack of, is … the root of our society and the root of our nation, our history,” Crockett said. “It’s not about singling out

a particular group of people, white or black, but it’s a system we’re all implicated in all of our structures.”

Solomont asked Walsh about the current political scene and his reaction to

the presidential debate on Tuesday.

“I was embarrassed, in some ways, of the performance of how [President Donald Trump] conducted himself … there is so much at stake right now in our

country,” he said.

The event ended with questions from the audience.

“I am a firm believer, when you’re governing as a leader, it’s a collaboration. It’s not lead from the top down,” Walsh said.

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A lab in the Science and Engineering Complex is pictured on April 28, 2018.

REACT

continued from page 1 the topics as well as when I did it myself,” Szalay said. “I feel virtual does not prepare us for when we work in labs.”

Mirkin acknowledged the challenges students are facing and shared her concerns about online learning.

“We can do the thinking part online … [but] students cannot actually do the experiment online,” she said.

Despite the limited number of hands-on experiments and in-person opportunities available to students this semester, Mirkin remains optimistic about students’ progress.

“We can focus more on [the] conceptual side of things and learn the physical side later,” she said. “As long as there is intellectual curiosity and some imagination, learning will occur.”

Swan echoed her sentiments and looked ahead to the benefits that may result

from the changes to teaching this fall.

“I’m confident that we will find ways in which learning from remote locations is not only possible and doable, but also provide another viable and exciting avenue to explore for future engineering education and research endeavors,” Swan said.

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Features

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Students turn towards the classroom to learn about the US Election

by Jillian Collins Features Editor

As many of us watched the first presidential debate on Tuesday, the closeness to the election became clear — we are only a short month away from election day.

In an ode to election season, classes, in various disciplines, are being held this semester on the topic of the election. Students are given the opportunity to apply their education directly to what is happening in the U.S. government and in the media.

Jack Waisel, a senior and political science student, is teaching the Experimental College course Presidential Campaigns. When creating this course, he pulled from current events.

“I actually built [the course] during the summer, and during COVID, and shortly after the murder of George Floyd. So a lot of it really focused on COVID and racial injustice and systemic racism,” Waisel said. “It’s a lot more about the current election and the stakes, and about all of those issues surrounding this year.”

His course is also studying the systems that exist in the government.

“I’ve tried to have a lot of focus on how the structure of American government and American elections has got us to where we are today, such as the electoral college,” Waisel said.

Waisel explained how concerns around the presidential election system are affecting his course.

“Perhaps more broadly just how the structure of American politics and government has put us into the situation that we’re in today, and how … it has brought us to this point where for perhaps the third time in 20 years, we’re going to have someone win the presidency without winning a plurality or majority of the popular vote,” Waisel said.

More than just studying it, Waisel wants to discuss political reform with his students.

“I want them to take that away and say, ‘Wow, we have a system that might be pretty unjust, and so how do we go about fixing that?’” said Waisel.

Like many Experimental College courses, Presidential Campaigns is an exploration course for first-years and is very hands-on in terms of discussion and participation. Last week, his students presented critiques on political advertisements, focusing on their messaging and effectiveness.

“I think a lot of them are good enough to be [advertisement] makers,” Waisel said. “It was pretty entertaining.”

By diving deep into the topic of campaigns, Waisel hopes his students can get more out of understanding the election.

“I want the students to, and myself too, cause I’m learning a lot in class as well, to really understand how we got here. This is just a crazy moment in really anyone’s lifetime,” Waisel said. “[If you] understand how we got here, maybe you can help us either prevent situations like this or change the way we do things.”

In the political science department, Professor Brian Schaffner is teaching Seminar in American Politics: Polling the 2020 Elections.

Through the lens of political polling, students are analyzing the 2020 election. It is a project-based course, where students create their own research study on voter behavior.

More specifically, the class focuses on predicting the factors that bring different groups of people out to vote, according to Schaffner. Right now, they’re learning the fundamentals of survey design.

“I spend the first month or two of the class basically teaching the students how to write good survey questions [and] how to analyze survey data,” Schaffner said. “Then they come up with research projects that they want to pursue with survey data, and then they design survey questions.”

Students’ research questions can span a variety of subjects.

“In 2018, [students] did all sorts of different projects. Some people were looking at how different people voted differently depending on the race or sex of candidates.

Some people looked at support for changing the constitution,” Schaffner said.

When this class was taught during the 2018 elections, many students had the opportunity to write about their projects for a blog at Data for Progress, a progressive think tank. This year, students will do write-ups on their data for the election website of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civil Life, according to Schaffner.

Schaffner commented on how the uncertainty in this election is affecting his students.

“This past weekend, a lot of students were talking about how they’re feeling, [being] upset and worried about Ginsburg’s passing and what that would mean.

You can definitely feel the emotions,” Schaffner said. “Even on

VIA JONATHAN M. TISCH COLLEGE OF CIVIC LIFE

Brian Schaffner is pictured. the first day of class, students had lots and lots of questions about who’s going to win. ‘How sure are you that that person is going to win?’”

Current political polls are in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden’s winning. However, we are still five weeks out from the election.

Since 2012, Eitan Hersh, professor of political science and civic studies, has taught courses on U.S. elections at Yale University and now at Tufts.

Hersh’s course is primarily based on election laws and political campaigns in the United States. Some topics covered in the course are the U.S. constitution, public policy, redistricting and voting rights.

In addition to learning about the structures of an election, Hersh finds ways to bring in examples from today’s political climate.

“We are learning about the rules of party nomination, like primaries.

As people learn about the analysis that political scientists [make], it shows whether it’s better to nominate a very extreme candidate like very liberal, or very conservative, or is it better to bring someone more moderate?” Hersh said. “If you bring up a question like that, people bring up the race of Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.”

Hersh finds that students this year are reacting differently to the upcoming election compared to past semesters.

“The students this year are not particularly engaged in the election, most of them are not volunteering, for example. I don’t think that many of my students are enthusiastic about Joe Biden,” Hersh said.

Hersh’s students are pretty divided in terms of predicting the presidential election outcome.

“I actually just surveyed the class today. Three-quarters of them say Biden is going to win, one-quarter says Trump is going to win,” Hersh said.

Hersh believes his course to be helpful in better understanding the 2020 election.

“In order to understand how voters are behaving and what politicians are doing, you have to understand the rules that they are playing by,” Hersh said.

This election season brings up many stresses. However, taking a course on it may just be a way for students to relieve some of that stress.

“Sometimes when you are anxious about something, or something bothers you, one, way of dealing with is actually just [to] study it.

It helps you feel like you have a little more control over the outcome, and just because you can understand it better,” Schaffner said.

4 Thursday, October 1, 2020

WEEKENDER

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Handel and Haydn Society opts to hold virtual concerts

by Megan Szostak

Executive Arts Editor

For many ensembles and artists, COVID-19 has immeasurably changed the industry of live performance. Many ensembles have had to adapt; the Handel and Haydn Society (H+H), Boston’s premier historically informed performance (HIP) ensemble, has been forced to reinvent their season of live concerts in accordance with new public health guidelines.

Conveniently, COVID-19 and HIP complement each other well. As an ensemble that practices HIP, concert repertoire is normally baroque or classical and is performed on period instruments in appropriately sized ensembles. According to Guy Fishman, the principal cellist of H+H, the repertoire performed by the ensemble often lends itself to smaller groups of musicians.

“You can play a Vivaldi concerto with 40 people, you can also play that same concerto with six people, and have it be equally powerful,” Fishman said in an interview.

“In fact, more likely than not, it would have been composed for that smaller size of an ensemble.”

With the ensemble’s ability to safely rehearse in smaller groups with primarily strings and keyboard instruments in mind, a modified concert schedule for the fall was released: the COVID-19 catch? At least the first five concerts of the season will be livestreamed rather than performed for a live audience at Symphony Hall.

For each of these livestreamed performances, H+H plans to limit the number of performers on the stage and have them all appropriately distanced, in accordance with health guidelines. H+H is both an instrumental and a choral society and, in a typical season, would regularly perform large-scale choral works of the baroque and classical periods.

SAM BREWER / HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY

(left to right) Musicians Susanna Ogata, Emi Ferguson, Guy Fishman, Ian Watson, and Aisslinn Nosky are pictured.

“The safety around singing is an issue,” Fishman said. “That is especially harmful for H+H because we are, at our core, a choral society.”

This does not mean that vocalists of H+H will remain silent all season; several livestreamed concerts will feature solo vocalists or small choral ensembles drawn from the members of the H+H Chorus and members of the H+H Youth Choruses Concert Choir.

One question that has come up among Fishman and other professional musicians concerns the value of live music over livestreamed music. According to Fishman, the argument in favor of live music lies in the relationship between communication and community.

“The word ‘communication’ and the word ‘community’ come from the same root in Latin; you have to communicate in order to create community,” Fishman said. “A community communicates amongst itself. So as much as music communicates something, what the composer believed or what you, the musician believed the composer intended,

you are partaking in community building.

That can be done virtually, but the community also needs to experience itself as a unit and that is what those two hours in the concert hall provide … That experience is irreplaceable, both for the musicians and for the audience.”

Despite the irreplaceability of live performance, Fishman and the rest of H+H have been taking COVID-19 guidelines very seriously and are looking forward to an age where live performance is an option once again.

“There is nothing like air molecules that have been displaced coming from a vibration coming from an instrument or a voice that is in the same vicinity of you hitting your eardrums, as opposed to those which have been displaced by a speaker, like on your computer,” Fishman said. “You cannot replicate the sensation, the physical sensation.”

Fishman performed in the first virtual concert of the season, “The Magic of Bach,” alongside Emi Ferguson (flute), Aisslinn Nosky (violin), Susanna Ogata (violin) and Ian Watson (harpsichord). The chamber ensemble performed three works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

When Ferguson was playing, the rest of the musicians in the space were masked, but when it was only the strings and harpsichord playing, members of the ensemble removed their masks and sat far apart from one another.

The concert was performed in the Fraser Performance Studio at WGBH, and according to Fishman, “air circulation has been attended to ... and they’ve done something with that air circulation to increase it.” Only five people are allowed in the studio at a given time due to new health regulations.

Because listeners will attend each upcoming H+H concert from their homes, Fishman offered suggestions as to how the virtual audience members can approach this unconventional concert experience.

“I hope the listener comes as they are. The good news with Bach is that there is something for everyone; he wrote such multilayered music that you can enjoy the instrumental virtuosity, you can enjoy the counterpoint — the way voices interact with each other and therefore the way musicians interact with each other. You can enjoy the material and the way in which he treats the material, and how much variety you find with a relatively small number of players,” Fishman said.

With unemployment of professional musicians having skyrocketed after the national shutdown this past spring, there has been concern regarding the eternality of the live performance industry. Fishman, however, does not find himself overly worried: “We’ve gone through plagues and we’ve gone through wars, depressions and famines, and music has survived. And classical music in particular, which is a genre that has been said to be dying for about a thousand years; for about a thousand years people have commented ‘oh this is the end of classical music.’ And it has yet to die.”

Revisiting ‘Turn Off the Light’: Kim Petras' hauntingly good Halloween album

VIA SPOTIFY

The album cover for “Turn off the Light” (2020) by Kim Petras is pictured.

by Chris Panella Arts Editor

The beginning of October is marked by many things: spooky Twitter names, seasonal Hershey’s candy shapes (pumpkins, ghosts and bats!), and Kim Petras’ “Turn Off the Light” (2019). Its music was originally enjoyed in dark and crowded spaces with sweaty bodies. But revisiting the album just a year later finds us in vastly different circumstances; instead of hearing the pounding beat of songs like “<demons>” while dancing with someone dressed as a sexy doctor, we’re now enjoying the music alone in our bedrooms.

Petras originally released “Turn Off the Light” as a “Vol. 1” (2018) and a planned “Vol. 2,” the latter becoming a full-length compilation that, according to Petras, gives listeners “the whole damn story.” The result is a 17-track album full of sexy, bloody and gory hits that transports fans to the dancefloor.

And those qualifiers hit at the very reasoning why “Turn Off the Light” is such a strong release: the album simultaneously captures both the scary and sexy elements of Halloween, two things that might seem a little strange together on any other day of the year. But on Halloween — or perhaps throughout the entire month of October — they work together in wicked ways.

That sweet spot combination is evident in songs like “Death by Sex,” a deep bass banger. The lyrics are pretty amazing (“I’ma put you to sleep, yeah/Make you my soul to keep, yeah/ Ain’t no point tryna scream, yeah”) and serve as a reminder of how witty Petras’ writing is. “Close Your Eyes,” too, is strung together by great one-liners like “You know I got designer taste/And your design’s too good to waste.” Both songs crown Petras as a princess of the spooky-sexy narrative.

And “Turn Off the Light” plays with those ideas, connecting with our expec-

tations and personal projections of what Halloween is about. Some of us might vibe with the scary movies and the blood and gore, while some of us feel more comfortable with sexy costumes from PartyCity and how Cady Heron talks about the holiday in “Mean Girls” (2004).

The sexy and the scary have always been elements of Oct. 31, but “Turn Off the Light” takes it to a higher level.

Other songs — like the title track, which features Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (Cassandra Peterson) — also play into that discussion. “Bloody Valentine” throbs with distorted vocals and “Wrong Turn” features gravelly singing from Petras about an enticing and fateful encounter. And club bops “i don’t wanna die...” and “Boo! Bitch!” are perfect breakdowns for dancing with strangers.

It all creates the vibe and sense of a party playlist. There are powerful vocals and dance instrumentals that act almost like transitions, but Petras is in control of it all. It’s like she’s hosting a DJ set playing banger after banger.

But this year, since we won’t — or shouldn’t be — going to large parties or trick-or-treating, listening to “Turn Off the Light” can be very, very painful. Fans are being robbed of enjoying this album the way it was meant to be enjoyed, but that doesn’t mean we’ve lost all hope.

Indeed, “Turn Off the Light” still slaps through headphones or a dorm room’s wireless speaker. But as Petras’ fantastic vocals on “There Will Be Blood” and the gritty pounding of “TRANSylvania” shred through our eardrums, we are still clawing to get into a gathering of over ten people.

That’s the bittersweetness of listening to Petras — or any dance music — right now; nothing beats that in-person interaction of enjoying music live. It’s something 2020 has certainly reminded us of. But in the meantime, we can find ways to enjoy the spookiness and sexiness of “Turn Off the Light” (and Halloween in general). Maybe we dance with our cohort or in a Zoom party. Perhaps we post our costume pictures on Instagram for thirst likes (maybe some costumes will be innovative and include masks!). Possibly we text that cute boy from calculus class and invite him over to bake some cookies and watch a scary movie (after he’s tested negative, of course).

Point taken! There are ways to enjoy Halloween and “Turn Off the Light” this holiday season. Petras made the perfect soundtrack for the entire month’s festivities — that fun won’t stop given the current circumstances. In fact, we need these bops now more than ever.

Thursday, October 1, 2020 | Fun & Games | THE TUFTS DAILY

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F& G

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Alex: “I haven’t showered in two days.”

Kevin: “Amateur numbers.”

Fun & Games

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Libra (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Adjust to a change in plans. Reach a turning point with a partnership or collaboration under the Full Moon.

Compromise for shared commitments

SEARCHING FOR HEADLINES...

Difficulty Level: Talking uninterrupted while debating against Trump.

Monday’s Solution

Monday’s Solution

CROSSWORD

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Sports

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Getting to know Tufts athletes: Derek Enge

by Ananda Kao Sports Editor

Winning two NESCAC championships and two NCAA championships in just three seasons, senior midfielder and co-captain Derek Enge will patiently wait until the 2021 season for a final chance at repeating these successes on the Tufts men’s soccer team.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team has had to adjust their usual spring and summer offseason. In addition to players going abroad and then having to come home, many players’ plans to play in a U-23 summer league were cancelled as well. The team, as well as many other Tufts teams, utilized Zoom calls to stay connected and to build relationships with their new head coach Kyle Dezotell.

Additionally, Enge noted that the team had several Zoom calls surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement throughout the summer. These meetings included watching a documentary and having discussions with teammates.

On track to graduate in seven semesters as opposed to the usual eight, Enge decided, after fall sports were cancelled, to take the year off to work and wait until next year to complete his final semester. Many other players in his senior class will also use their extra year of eligibility, hoping to take home one last championship ring, sealing off four very successful years at Tufts.

“I saw this as an opportunity to get some unique experience in — normally when you do those summer internships it’s 10 weeks, and now I have the ability to do something for seven months, which means I get to dive a little bit deeper than you may be able to do during a summer internship,” Enge said.

“I’m excited, I just started last week and will be doing that for the next year, so hopefully it’s a good experience, I think it will be.”

In addition to not competing as a team this fall, Enge, as well as the other players that are not currently enrolled at Tufts, will not be able to participate in the small team training sessions. He will miss playing as well as spending this time with all of his teammates.

“Just being out there with your teammates, that’s the most fun part,” Enge said. “Then the competitive aspect as well,

Aiden Herrod The Turf Monster

S

My NBA Finals pick

omehow, we finally made it. We are sitting down to watch a championship in 2020. The NBA has blessed us over the past few weeks with some truly incredible basketball delivered from the Orlando bubble. In the process, the NBA proved it’s the most forward-thinking, modern-age league in the U.S. by a longshot. Its dedication to player health and safety has allowed COVID-19 to be a near non-factor as teams restarted the season, and once we hit the playoffs it almost felt just like any other year.

The postseason itself was incredible, with countless nail-biting series and surprise exits. Watching the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers get dispatched was a real treat, and seeing Houston’s roster implode in a storm of missed threes and Russel Westbrook shoot bricks was delightful for me as a Warriors fan. The two teams which emerged from

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Derek Enge goes after the ball during a soccer game against Trinity on Oct. 5, 2019. there’s nothing more fun than a close game that goes straight to the end or an overtime game. Being around the guys, being around the coaches, and all those fun little moments whether that’s in warm up or in between drills, those are the moments you remember most.”

Throughout Enge’s career at Tufts, the men’s soccer team has been extremely successful, boasting a 53–4–9 record in the past three seasons. They won the NESCAC championship his first year, the NCAA championship his sophomore year and then went on to win both championships his junior year.

This winning culture, as well as the general team culture, are some of Enge’s favorite parts of playing for Tufts and also why he wants one more season to compete.

“The postseason is just special,” Enge said. “There’s this change in atmosphere on the team. All of a sudden everyone just realizes, including the coaching staff, the

seriousness of the situation you are now in and I think that intensity is pretty fun. Every training session, every game, you’re going out there being like, ‘this one could be the last one this season.’ I think looking back, those postseason runs are my favorite time of year because of that intensity. Regardless of whether you end up going all the way or not, those games are hard to beat.”

Enge has played an important role in the team’s success since he stepped on the field his first year at Tufts. Going into his last season, Enge has played in 60 games, including all 24 games his junior year.

“Derek is someone that the younger players look up to,” junior back Will Raphael said. “I know my freshman year, despite Derek only being one year older, we all looked to Derek for guidance on the soccer field and outside the soccer field — whether that be class selection or how to navigate school, Derek is always more than willing to help and is very approachable.”

Over his three years on the team, Enge has naturally stepped into a more prominent leadership role. Teammates credit Enge’s ability to balance being focused and being a leader on the field while also being able to take a step back and form bonds with his teammates off the field.

“I think something that is very important on the team is, and we’re lucky that this is the case, that everyone really gets along both on and off the field,” Raphael said. “Sometimes it’s hard to find the balance between being a leader, because ultimately when you’re on the soccer field, you’re leading your friends — they’re the same guys you go back to your house or your dorm and joke around with — and also being someone who’s down to earth and willing to help. It’s been really great to have him as a resource and being able to look up to him, while also realizing he’s just another one of the guys — he’s your friend, he’s someone you want to hang out with — and he does a really great job of towing that line.”

the absolute mosh pit of an NBA postseason are truly deserving of their respective conference crowns. Let’s dig into them a bit, shall we?

The Los Angeles Lakers The basketball world’s most obnoxious fan base has been reawakened, and with it, a team out for blood. Lebron James and Anthony Davis are a downright unfair pairing, and the duo has taken turns this postseason absolutely annihilating lesser squads. Lebron as a point guard has been a revelation, with him dishing out some truly beautiful passes to a somewhat quirky supporting cast.

The Lakers back up their pair of stars with a lot of gadget veterans who fade in and out almost at random. Kyle Kuzma is a promising young third scoring option, Dwight Howard has provided some defensive “oomph” down at the baseline, Rajon Rondo has been right there as another defensive veteran boost and Alex Caruso has been the analytics-driven fan’s truest image of perfection. The question for the Lakers is whether or not this ragtag supporting cast can step up for one final series. They’ve looked good so far, but any one of them regressing or making mistakes could expose the Lakers’ depth.

The Lakers are the truest incarnation of a star-driven team. They are built to serve the generational duo of James and Davis, and their success may simply boil down to the two playing lights-out basketball. But the depth of this team will be tested like never before as they suit up to face the Heat.

The Miami Heat Miami has been a truly surprising entity in the 2020 NBA landscape. After they lost Dwayne Wade, the franchise somewhat went into hiding. However, after they traded for Jimmy Butler, the sleeping giant awoke.

Years of savvy drafting and roster-building have yielded a truly deep and ferocious roster. You have Butler, the villain-turned anti-hero, as the heart and soul of this team on both ends of the floor. Bam Adebayo has emerged as a true superstar, punctuated by a dominant Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics.

While this star duo may be several pegs below Lebron and Davis, they don’t need to be. There’s also Tyler Herro, the rookie sensation who made history when he dropped 37 points in a playoff game. You have Duncan Robinson, the 3-point wizard. Andre Iguodala, a veteran from Golden State who has boundless experience playing on the biggest stage. I could go on. This

team is deeper than the Mariana Trench, and they’ve gelled into something truly terrifying. This team has the chemistry, the coaching and the heart to make any series a nightmare for their foes.

So who am I picking? I am firmly and unabashedly proclaiming my love for this Miami Heat team. I have immense respect for well-built, deep and complementary rosters, and the Heat are just that. They bring the energy every night on both ends, and the competition they’ve dispatched to get here is superior to what the Lakers dealt with. They swept a surging Indiana Pacers squad, made a mockery of the runaway favorite in Milwaukee and stifled a talented Boston roster. They haven’t even kept it that close in a lot of these instances. I think their depth will make the Lakers sweat when LeBron and Davis can’t be on the floor, and they have a number of defensive stalwarts to throw at the talented duo in key moments. Miami is taking this series in six.

Sorry city of LA, but the West can only win if Golden State is representing.

Aiden Herrod is a junior studying film and media studies and entrepreneurial lweadership. Aiden can be reached at aiden. herrod@tufts.edu