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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 33
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Tufts Dining reintroduces reusable takeout container program, pauses Dining2GO
MINA TERZIOGLU / THE TUFTS DAILY
Reusable takeout packages in Dewick Dining Hall are pictured on Nov. 8. by Ava Autry
Assistant News Editor
Tufts Dining reimplemented its reusable takeout container program on Nov. 1 that had first been launched in 2019 in the Carmichael and DewickMacPhie dining centers , and stopped Dining2GO due to low participation. Both programs serve as ways for students to
eat outside of the dining halls while also reducing food waste, Patti Klos, director of Dining and Business Services, said. “The Reusable Take-Out container program enables a student to self-select items that are placed in the green boxes,” Klos wrote in an email to the Daily. “Most things available in the servery (except for soup and very liquid items) can eas-
ily be placed in these to-go containers.” Tufts Dining, along with the Office of Sustainability and EcoReps, promoted the reusable containers as a dining option prior to COVID-19. Dining2GO was put in place during the pandemic to accommodate COVID-19 regulations, see TAKEOUT, page 2
TCU Senate hears supplementary funding requests, discusses upcoming resolution
by Zoe Kava News Editor
The Tufts Community Union Senate heard supplementary funding requests and discussed an upcoming resolution in a meeting on Sunday, Nov. 14. After a brief roll call and committee updates, TCU Treasurer and Class of 2022 Senator Elizabeth Hom introduced six supplementary funding requests. The Tufts Mock Trial team requested $750 for return travel from a competition in Washington, D.C. The Allocations Board recommended $675 and the request then passed by acclamation with seven Allocation Board members voting in favor, none opposing and two abstaining. Mock Trial also requested $1,400 for round trip travel to Chicago, and the Allocations Board recommended $1,260. The request passed with 22 senators voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining. Future Histories Literary Magazine requested $46 for website management. The request passed by acclamation with nine Allocations Board members voting
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Tufts Commnity Union Senate is pictured holding its regular meeting in the Sophia Gordon multipurpose room on Feb. 9, 2020. in favor, none opposing and none abstaining. Tufts Culinary Society requested $500 to pay for food and supplies for its annual “Culture Crawl” event. The request passed with 24 senators voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining. Public Harmony, an on-campus community service performing group originally requested $1,670 for the purchase of equipment, including amplifiers, an electric drum set, a PA system and cables. The costs were recalculated to be $1,440, and the request then passed with 25 senators voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining. Pen, Paint, and Pretzels — a theatre group— requested $350 to hire a trainer to give a violence and intimacy workshop in prepa-
ration for its next play. The request passed with 25 senators voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining. Men’s Club Soccer requested $5,000 to help cover the cost to send 24 student-athletes to a national tournament. The Allocations Board recommended $4,500, and the request passed with 24 senators voting in favor, none opposing and one abstaining. Vice President Tim Leong then introduced a resolution submitted by Sophia Costa, BR Rose and Roger Burtonpatel that called on Tufts to cancel its cuts to the Portuguese program and invest in its long-term viability. The resolution will be heard and voted on by the TCU Senate on Dec. 6. The TCU Senate Town hall was also moved from Nov. 15 to Nov. 18.
DSDI announces plans for new Indigenous student identity center
CHRISTINE LEE / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
112 Packard Ave, which will house the new center for Indigenous and Native students at Tufts, is pictured. by Madeline Mueller Staff Writer
The Tufts Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion recently announced its plans to form a new on-campus identity center for students who identify as Indigenous and Native American. The creation of the center was among the recommendations of the Compositional Diversity Workstream that took place this past February. The creation process will be led by Ellise LaMotte, who started her tenure as associate dean in the division of student diversity, inclusion, and success on Nov. 1. Members of the Indigenous Students’ Organization at Tufts have been an integral part of the work to establish the center behind the scenes. Although ISOT is not yet recognized as an official student organization through the TCU senate, it has existed on campus since fall 2019. Even before the announcement of the center, members of the ISOT worked with admissions to recruit new students by participating in the Voices of Tufts Diversity Experience. ISOT member Tylee Tosia, a sophomore, was initially drawn to Tufts by the support she found during Voices. “I knew that there probably wasn’t going to be a center for me,” Tosia said. “But the fact that ISOT did exist at Tufts, that was a … big reason why I actually chose to come here.” Junior Hannah Norton was one of the students who helped form ISOT in 2019. “When we do the program Voices — hosting Zoom meetings with incoming Indigenous students — one of our main points is [that] we’re working towards
ARTS / page 4
FEATURES / page 3
SPORTS / back
After the success of their single, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak are back with an album
NeuroNetwork networks the brainy
Almost 2 years later, women’s basketball grabs 2 wins to start the season
the center,” Norton said. “And having that hopefulness of working towards the center … has been used to bring in freshmen and bring in Native students,” Norton and Tosia noted that despite being mentioned only once in the announcement of the center, ISOT was a major driving force behind calls for an Indigenous identity center. “It was infuriating that ISOT only was named once in the whole announcement,” Tosia said. “Tufts has used a lot of Indigenous stories and Indigenous voices to promote us basically, and the fact that they hardly mentioned us in that article was very hurtful … Every single member of ISOT has put in so much effort and so much time … It didn’t give us justice for what we all have done and everything we have sacrificed just to be here and to have our voices heard.” During their work over the past year, Norton and other ISOT members had support from former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Sean Ashburn (AG’20) and former graduate student Sidney Kabotie. As part of their graduate capstone projects, Ashburn and Kabotie interviewed ISOT students and organized their stories. Kabotie helped present student conclusions and concerns to the Tufts administration. LaMotte is charged with managing the opening of the center, including hiring a director for the center. The director of the Indigenous People Center will have a joint role in admissions. Norton said that they would like to see an effort to increase see INDIGENOUS, page 2 NEWS
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, November 17, 2021
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Dining implements takeout containers while Dining2GO is paused TAKEOUT
continued from page 1 as students were prohibited from dining indoors for a large part of the year. “The Reusable Take-out Container program was introduced in the fall of 2019 with good success,” Klos said. “We were not able to offer this service last year, but now that our COVID-19 response allows us to reintroduce more typical types of service, including not having to maintain social distances, it made sense to reintroduce them at this time.” First-year Connie Yu said she has not yet used the takeout containers, but has seen her friends utilize them when they want to grab a quick meal. The decision to restart this program was made by Tufts Dining. EcoReps assisted with the reimplementation of the takeout containers into the dining halls, Klos said.
“The Office of Sustainability and EcoReps have been great collaborators with us, and we knew we could extend the reach of our messaging by collaborating with them on the relaunch of this program,” Klos said. “The EcoReps in particular were very willing to help explain how the program works, and why it is important, during our relaunch.” Junior Sabrina Zhang, an EcoRep, believes that integration of the program into Tufts Dining is a success. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing if it were to be fully integrated into the Tufts Dining system,” Zhang said. “So that becomes more regular of a thing, because then I think it can become much more permanent in a sense… it’s not something that’s just like a little project that might go away at some point.” While the reimplementation of reusable containers creates less food and plastic waste, the
reintroduction of Dining2GO brought back more single-use plastic to campus dining halls. Nonetheless, Director of the Office of Sustainability Tina Woolston said that introducing these initiatives in tandem will actually have a potential to more positively impact the environment. “So I think it’s really great that they’re offering [Dining2GO] you know, the problem with sort of forcing [the reusable containers] is that it becomes more wasteful because if students aren’t committed enough to the program to bring them back, then they’ll throw it out,” Woolston said. “A durable item that’s thrown out has a higher environmental impact because more material is used in the creation of it.” With reusable containers now being the only option for takeout, there is no guarantee that they will return them. To try to prevent this, Tufts Dining
is enforcing a $5 fine for lost or unreturned carabiners and containers, Klos said. Woolston said that this will ultimately raise dining costs for students. “This is like a classic tragedy of the Commons,” Woolston said. “The cost to produce the waste is an individual cost, but the cost to dispose of the waste is a shared cost … so the risk that Dining runs right now is that of people [not returning containers] becomes a big expense. Every expense that they have gets passed on to students.” While Yu usually eats in Dewick with friends, she believes there are many benefits for time and flexibility with the takeout system. “I would definitely try out the green to-go containers because I think it’s easier to carry … and to store,” Yu said. “Also you get to return it and it doesn’t have to be super soon.”
ISOT advocates for the creation of Indigenous Peoples Center INDIGENOUS
continued from page 1 Indigenous representation among staff on campus. “Having people that were working with the center with the students directly that were faculty and staff … has been something that we’ve brought up since [spring 2020],” Norton said. Tosia sees the job opening as an opportunity to deepen connections with the local Indigenous community. “We are on [Indigenous] land right now. And so it’s important that they are aware of [this posting],” they said. When interviewed by TuftsNow, LaMotte noted that she is looking forward to working with students who identify as Indigenous in order to develop a supportive space for them, although she was unable to comment further to the Daily about specific details at this time.
In response to the creation of the Indigenous People Center, junior Jaden Pena, TCU diversity cfficer, explained that the TCU Senate announced its intention to create an Indigenous community senator position. “The process of creating a new community senator position is interesting. It requires 250 signatures on a petition,” Pena said. “That petition needs to be started by a TCU student organization that is recognized.” ISOT, however, is not currently a recognized student organization by TCU Senate. “ISOT being recognized as a club will be the first thing. I don’t think [ISOT] should have an issue being recognized,” Pena said. “That would be awesome if we get the senator position and the center.” Pena recently introduced two abstracts for resolutions on
behalf of identity-based centers. He sees the resolutions as an example of the importance of the role of community senator voices in the Senate. “My resolutions came from meetings with senators of the [identity] centers and their directors,” he said. The first abstract calls for more funding for identity centers, coming from funds from Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution Initiative. The second abstract asks that funding be distributed among the community centers proportionate to student-body diversity. If passed, the resolutions will also apply to future community centers such as the Indigenous people center once it begins operating. After their efforts to advocate for an identity center, Norton and Tosia are excited to have a
community space available on campus. “We take a lot of inspiration from the other identity centers at Tufts. We really want to use [the center] to create a community for Indigenous people, or even Indigenous allies, to come and relax,” Norton said. “If I were to go into Tufts now, I think I would be much happier, without having the pressure to be a freshman and establishing a Native voice on campus … I’m very glad that we can provide it for the students now.” While optimistic, Tosia also cautioned against celebrating too soon. “Yes, we’re getting a center, but … there’s so much more to be done. This is just the beginning,” she said. “There needs to be constant talks and constant work being done to make this a safe space for Indigenous-identifying and Native students.”
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Features
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NeuroNetwork gives undergraduates exposure to burgeoning field of neuroscience by Ari Navetta Features Editor
Although Tufts does not have a neuroscience major, students are finding alternative ways to get involved and build connections in the field. NeuroNetwork, the largest undergraduate neuroscience organization on campus, aims to expose interested undergraduate students to neuroscience by building relationships with labs and students pursuing neuroscience at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. NeuroNetwork held their largest event of the semester, the fall open house, on Oct. 29 in the Science and Engineering Complex Atrium. The open house included poster presentations by graduate students and featured a presentation by keynote speaker Anthony Monaco, president of Tufts University and geneticist. The organization typically hosts a spring open house at the Boston campus as well. Senior Sanjana Puri, co-president of NeuroNetwork, explained the importance of these events for students looking to get a start in neuroscience. “There isn’t a neuroscience major or minor at Tufts, and I think a lot of students come in interested in learning about neuroscience and then they find there isn’t really anything related to neuroscience,” Puri said. MD/PHD candidate Jacob Klickstein had no exposure to neuroscience in his undergraduate years at Tufts, and is appreciative of the role NeuroNetwork plays. “When I was invited to come to NeuroNetwork for the first time last year, I was like, ‘This is a great club, a great experience,’” Klickstein said. “I love to be able to get other undergraduates excited about neuroscience and have them have some exposure to what is going on, especially other labs at Tufts.” Planning the organization’s first in-person event since the pandemic started proved challenging, since members who had planned in-person open houses have since graduated, according to Puri. Still the presentations at the open house left Cole Chalfant, a sophomore studying psychology on the pre-medical
Sam Russo and David Wingens Potty Talks
Musical toilets “Where does a ragtag, volunteer student body in need of a shower somehow find a bathroom in their darkest hour?” When Lin-Manuel Miranda first posed a version of this question circa 2015, he did not realize the degree to which his question would resonate with his NESCAC rivals. Today, we bring you the answer. Deep in the cellars of Tufts’ longest building — the Aidekman Arts Center compound (henceforth referred to as “compound”) — there lies a labyrinth with a lavatorial terminus. Non-thespian visitors, us included, may at first feel like imposters to these bathrooms — hidden away in the actors’ dressing rooms. Any intimidation, however, melted away the moment we stepped into the warm, loving environment of the dressing room bathrooms. Awe replaced any discomfort, and we were filled with
KIANA VALLO / THE TUFTS DAILY
Tufts NeuroNetwork fall open house is pictured in the SEC atrium on Oct. 29. track, with an appreciation for the effort that goes into the research process. “I noticed how in-depth this research is and how much of a difference they can make,” Chalfant said. “One thing that I did see was the stages that research goes through, how it starts at a super small level with testing on mice, and then eventually the goal – this is a common trend among a lot of them – was to work their way up to be applicable to humans and the human brain.” The highlight of the fall open house event was a presentation by keynote speaker Anthony Monaco, who presented recent research on the co-evolution and inheritance of RNA and DNA pools. While introducing Monaco, Puri highlighted his distinguished career, including his work leading research on the discovery of the gene responsible for x-linked Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Monaco’s research has widespread implications for the future of evolution and disease. “Humans have become the dominant species with rapid population growth, reduction in biodiversity of other species and heating of the planet,” Monaco said at the event. “Humans are interacting
more frequently with other species and their RNA pools. When this occurs with increased frequency we know the result: we get a pandemic.” To conclude the presentation, Monaco called for more resources to study RNA pools and emphasized the potential of this research to illuminate mechanisms of disease. “The study of the RNA pools should have the same priority for funding and international collaborations which heralded DNA sequencing and the Human Genome Project,” Monaco said. “Only partial answers to the complexity of common disease have been uncovered by an unwavering focus on DNA variation.” Following Monaco’s presentation, postdoctoral scholar Adam Mullis offered tours of labs in the SEC, including the David Kaplan lab where he works. Mullis also offered some advice for undergraduates interested in getting involved in research. “[Be] reasonable about what goes into research – it’s very time consuming,” Mullis said. “It’s a lot of tedious stuff, but you can get some really exciting new knowledge out of it. [Go] into it with expectations that it may not be fun day-
some ineffable, primordial warmth. First, we took a right turn and found the all-gender restroom. We knew this was so because there was a carefully crafted ink-on-paper sign, perfectly designed to mimic the more traditional plastic ones, that said, in its own words, “ALL-GENDER RESTROOM.” The most nontraditional aspect of this bathroom is certainly its approach to sinks. The sleek black marble countertop has a pretty generous amount of counter space, but instead of two or three small, dinky sinks, the designers went for one huge kitchen style sink. It has a humongous basin which could nearly fit all the stacks of the Daily piling up in the Carm vestibule. The sink also boasts an extendable spray head, making this a convenient location for washing dishes, filling water balloons or cleaning oil off innocent ducklings with Dawn dish soap after a massive oil spill. While standing at the sink, an astute observer might notice that the wall to the bathroom’s solitary stall is being held in place by a single C-clamp. This could be either a commentary on the state of
the Tufts Theater Department or simply the result of the state of the Tufts Theater Department; the department has yet to comment on which. We hadn’t yet discovered this bathroom when we wrote our column a few weeks ago about showers on campus (big shoutout to Daily cartoonist Juju Zweifach for the tipoff), but after close inspection, we determined that it has undoubtedly the nicest showers of any academic building at Tufts for one simple reason: it has soap, and lots of it. There is a soap dispenser mounted to the wall. It is mostly white, with three transparent compartments for shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. They were low on all three but not out of any — a potential sign of active use. The “shower gel,” a bourgeois codeword for soap, was deep blue with a hint of green; the shampoo’s color made it look like it was comprised of urine samples collected from the severely dehydrated. The conditioner was a welcomingly soft light yellow. Beneath the dispenser, there lay a solitary bar of extremely crusty soap. While each option in isolation was not
to-day, but in the long term it generates useful knowledge.” Overall, the event succeeded in generating excitement about the field and its future. “This field is in such an early stage in general because of how new the technology is,” Chalfant said. “It’s really interesting to see all the different researchers and how we’ll be able to understand the brain … so much more in the near future.” Ben Laddis, a sophomore who attended the open house, left the event feeling excited about research being conducted at Tufts. “It just made me super optimistic about the future,” Laddis said. “I had not that much of an idea that all of this research was going on at Tufts. It gets me really excited about the future.” Klickstein offered his own advice to undergraduates, urging them to get experience in research before deciding to pursue it as a career. “You can Google and read about things all you want, but you’re gonna find that reading about something and actually doing it are very different things,” he said. In order to get started, Klickstein recommended undergraduates reach out to graduate students involved in research who may have more time available than lab principal investigators. “[Principal investigators] might not get back to you, but it’s not because they’re insulted or anything like that; they usually just don’t have time,” he said. “Often graduate students get super excited that someone else is interested in their work, and they’re going to be the ones that are the most honest with you about what it’s like to be a grad student.” Naz Akdilek, a research tech in the Klaus Miczek lab, also encouraged undergraduate students to attend other conferences to get a feel for the work and make connections. She specifically recommended conferences of the Society for Neuroscience. [Otter link] At the close of the open house, Klickstein echoed the advice President Monaco gave him when he was an undergraduate trying to discover his interests. “If you find something that you enjoy, you can investigate it, but don’t question it. Just follow it and see where it takes you,” Klickstein said.
fantastic, the mere existence of all these options at all was a welcome sight. Now, given the soap situation, this shower could have looked like it was coated in Carm’s mysterious Tex-Mex Casserole and we would still have loved it. But it was not. No, this shower was clean, had a shower mat and had extremely powerful water pressure, leaving us wanting nothing. When we finished scrutinizing the bathroom on the right of the dressing room, we crossed the room to find a nearly identical restroom on the other side. The only major difference was that there was a clothing steamer sitting just outside the bathroom, with which, under the impression it was a vacuum, Sam successfully steamed three entire floor tiles. The compound dressing room bathrooms: 10/10 — these bathrooms left us “Satisfied.” Sam Russo is a junior studying computer science and cognitive and brain science. Sam can be reached at samuel.russo@ tufts.edu. David Wingens is a junior studying international relations. David can be reached at david.wingens@tufts.edu.
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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture
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Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Silk Sonic transcends genres, generations on debut album ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’ by Maeve Hagerty Arts Editor
There are certain feelings that cannot be put into words. That feeling which is a combination of joy, good vibes and a solid bass line, and which is best encapsulated by “An Evening With Silk Sonic” (2021), is one of them. Released on Nov. 12, the album is the synthesis of creative genius. Pop culture icon Bruno Mars and the masterful Anderson .Paak are Silk Sonic, and their shared project “An Evening With Silk Sonic” is the perfect blend of ‘70s soul and disco topped off by a large dose of modern charisma. With the legendary Bootsy Collins narrating the album throughout, the album is an ode to the music and style of the ‘70s, but “An Evening With Silk Sonic” is entirely unique to Mars and Paak. Highlighting Paak’s effortless rapping and Mars’ signature vocal style, the album isn’t just an imitation of ‘70s music — it’s a reflection on its influence on modern music. All nine tracks, including the three prereleases that hinted at the quality of the album to follow, fit cohesively together, and yet each offers something special. “Silk Sonic Intro” sets the tone for the rest of the songs to follow, introducing Bootsy Collins as the curator of this ‘70s time capsule. The intro flows seamlessly into “Leave The Door Open.” A prereleased single, it is so far the album’s most-streamed track with over 625 million streams on Spotify. “Leave The Door Open” showcases Mars’ beautiful voice swinging over the main choruses as Paak lines up the rhythmic verses. The subsequent “Fly As Me” stands out from the rest of the album for its dirty
Colette Smith Brands who deserve your dollars
Asportuguesas This week’s column is dedicated to my love for those shoes that are ugly enough that they are cool. Think Birkenstocks, dad sneakers and now, the new addition to the list: Asportuguesas shoes. Asportuguesas started their shoe design process with the explicit intention to create sustainable footwear. They achieve this by using sustainable mate-
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“An Evening With Silk Sonic” was released on Nov. 12. bass line and warbling guitar accents. The track is washed in Silk Sonic’s playful charisma as they sing “I deserve to be/ With somebody as fly as me/ Somebody this fly.” “After Last Night (with Thundercat & Bootsy Collins)” follows the upbeat “Fly As Me” with a return to a slower, more sensual ballad style. Drawing on Paak’s and Mars’s singularly stylish vocal riffs and harmonization, the song is easily one of the best from the album. It is
immediately continued by the soothing but upbeat “Smokin Out The Window,” opened by a delicate string quartet tremolo. These strings wash over the choruses throughout — slightly distant from the main melody, but audible and significant nevertheless. It is because of these strings that the end of this song and the emergence into the next, “Put On a Smile,” is so smooth. “Put On a Smile” opens with the same string quartet flitting cinematically down a scale and dissolving
into another tremolo. As “Put On a Smile” builds, the percussive elements are often underscored by the sounds of thunder and rain and distinguish this track for its ingenuity. It’s really the small details like these that make the album so sonically interesting and fresh. And the groove continues through the rest of the track list. “777” is unabashedly this author’s favorite. The syncopated rhythms and powerful bass guitar really strengthen a song
rials and a small, manual production process. Asportuguesas are the world’s first cork flip-flop company and they have made cork their signature material across their wide range of shoes. The cork is a 100% natural raw material extracted from cork oak trees. The cork oak is unique in its self-regenerating bark, meaning that the cork can be harvested and used to make the shoes without ever needing to cut down a tree. The company is able to harvest the cork from the same tree once every nine years. Asportuguesas blends the 100% natural cork with rubber to make the soles of all of their shoes. In addition to this blend, shoes that are closed-toe, like the
mules, for example, use a fabric made from natural wool fibers. Though certainly not a sleek and modern look, the cork-rubber blend and the wool felt gives the shoes a cozy vibe that would be perfect for slipping on with a casual, comfortable outfit to run an errand. In addition to the materials, the brand’s manufacturing process is small-scale and effective. The cork extraction is all done by hand and, because of the difficult process to get the cork, all of the workers are very well-trained. To add another level of sustainability, no power or mechanical tools are used to take the bark off of the cork trees. Along with the extraction process, the brand uti-
lizes all local workers from rural areas in Portugal. This is important because it creates jobs in the community, and Asportuguesas provides cork workers the highest salaries in the agricultural sector in Portugal. Large companies, like Starbucks and IKEA, have committed to a goal of reducing more greenhouse gases that they emit over the next decade or so. However, Asportuguesas has already achieved a negative carbon footprint thanks to some of the core aspects of their production process. First, cork naturally removes about 740 times its weight in CO2 from the atmosphere. Second, the manual production process means that
that was already an impressive display of Silk Sonic’s decadence. The horns and varied rhythmic structure on the drum kit lend the song its own distinct place on the track list. “Skate” is as smooth as the title would suggest, evoking images of retro roller-skating rinks as Paak and Mars sing about falling in love. And finally, “Blast Off” is deceptively sweet and calm with an upbeat tempo that fades into a luxurious outro, closing out the project with soft piano and ethereal strings over the lyrics “Blastin’ off straight to some good vibrations/ Can we take it higher?” followed by a few finishing words from Bootsy Collins. Throughout, the album is characteristically fun. Silk Sonic is truly one of the best musical collaborations of the past decade, and the resulting “An Evening With Silk Sonic” will not easily be forgotten. The kind of funky groove exhibited by Mars and Paak seems perfectly tailored to this moment in time despite its reliance on ‘70s motifs. However, equally impressive is that Mars’s fame never seems to overpower Paak. Even in the music videos for tracks like “Skate” and “Smokin Out The Window,” Silk Sonic feels like the musical project of two highly respected musicians on even footing despite Paak’s smaller following. It is an album which transcends generations and unites ‘70s soul and disco with that special touch only provided by Mars and Paak. “An Evening With Silk Sonic” is decadent and suave, classy and raunchy, funny and sweet. It would be hard to enumerate every other applicable descriptor, but they would certainly all be praiseful. manufacturing is not causing many greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, the company has achieved its goal of helping rather than hurting the planet by implementing a simple supply chain and using regenerative materials. These shoes could very well be the next Birkenstocks, and they have a very similar energy to the Birkenstock Boston style. My two favorite Asportuguesas shoes are the taupe, round toe mules and the light blue round toe city shoes. Add them to your holiday list and help our planet out! Colette Smith is a senior studying quantitative economics. Colette can be reached at colette.smith@tufts.edu.
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Wednesday, November 17, 2021 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY
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‘The Eternals’: Is it one of Marvel’s best or one of its worst? by Catherine Cahn Assistant Arts Editor
Marvel’s Phase Four has introduced countless new elements to its Cinematic Universe. What was once simply a world of superheroes, now includes a multitude of creatures, planets and timelines. We received a new Captain America, met the Time Variance Authority and the Multiverse and now the Eternals. “Eternals” (2021) gave the Marvel Cinematic Universe its first in depth look at the Celestials, beings who have existed since the beginning of time and bring about new planets and forms of life into existence. Though this is the first Marvel film to be centered around the Celestials, they have been previously mentioned in other Marvel movies, including “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (2017), in which Peter Quill’s father Ego classifies himself as one,, so Marvel has been leading up to this film for years. The Eternals are sent to Earth by the Celestial Arishem in the year 5000 B.C. to protect humankind from monster-like creatures, the Deviants. Each Eternal has a different power, including everything from healing to mind control, from superspeed to finger guns. After the Eternals exterminate the final Deviants in 1521, they go their separate ways and live individual lives on Earth until the Deviants return in the present day. The Eternals team up once again to protect humans from the Deviants, but along the way, discover a new, unexpected enemy. Once they learn that the seed of a Celestial planted in the Earth’s core threatens the lives of all of humankind, the Eternals must decide whether to protect the lives of humans or allow this Celestial to grow as Arishem ordered. “Eternals” both fits perfectly into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, at the same time, has an abundance of differences from a traditional Marvel film. It is the first individual Marvel film to have 10 main characters. Traditionally, the films are based around one character and follow their path as they grow into a superhero.
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021), another addition to Marvel’s Phase Four, is an example of a film that is simply the origin story of one character. While some may find following the growth, nuances and storyline of 10 different characters confusing, others may see this as a more compelling portrayal of one Eternal family. Reviews were overall mixed. While some claimed it was “overly ambitious” and “boring,” others loved seeing 10 different characters grow on the screen and appreciated the film’s subtle nods to Greek mythology. Having 10 main characters also brings much needed diversity into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as most of the main characters over the past 13 years have been white, straight, cisgender men. Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) is the first deaf character in the MCU, and “Eternals” is also the first Marvel film to feature an LGBTQ relationship. When the rest of the Eternals team seeks out Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) in the present day, they find him living a blissful life with his husband and son. As this is the only true feature of a human family in the film, it is an enormous leap in the right direction that this is not another straight couple. This LGBTQ representation sadly garnered some negative reviews from small-minded, hateful people and faced censorship in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. Despite this struggle, it grossed $161.7 million globally during its opening weekend and has also received widespread praise for its LGBTQ representation. Another aspect of this film that differs from many of its Marvel counterparts is that it features the directing of Academy Award-winning Chloé Zhao. Marvel films are constantly lucrative (“Avengers: Endgame” (2019) is the second-highest grossing movie behind “Avatar” (2009)); however, apart from “Black Panther” (2018), Marvel has not attracted nominations in the Academy Awards Best Picture category. There was speculation that Chloé Zhao’s masterful directing may bridge this gap. At its core, the Eternals’ journey with Celestials on Earth begs the question, is it worth sacri-
VIA IMDB
“Eternals” came out in theaters on Nov. 5. ficing a smaller number of lives (those currently on Earth) to give rise to a larger number of them (those that would be created by a new Celestial)? Or is it most important to save the lives that
already exist? The film squeezes a lot of material and plot into its two hour and 37 minute runtime; however, for those who are deeply invested in the progression of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
and enjoy an action film with comedic relief and stellar cinematography, watching “Eternals” is an overall enjoyable experience. Who knows… in the end it may surprise you.
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THE TUFTS DAILY | FUN & GAMES | Wednesday, November 17, 2021
F& G
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VIEWPOINT
Reclaiming the Jamahiriya by Makram Bekdache Staff Writer
A decade ago, following in the footsteps of its Tunisian neighbor, Libya revolted against the decades-long dictatorship of Muammar Gadhafi. The self-proclaimed “king of kings” of Africa responded in a typically bloody fashion by firing on demonstrators and imposing harsh repression. Bolstered by its European allies, notably Nicolas Sarkozy’s France, the U.S. assembled a wide-reaching NATO operation in support of the rebellion. The UN declared Libya a total no-fly zone, and months of round-the-clock aerial bombings quickly tilted the advantage into the rebellion’s hands. Gadhafi’s Jamahiriya (which, ironically, translates to “state of the masses”) fell in late 2011, and the dictator was captured and killed in October of that year. Widespread chaos quickly followed. The coalition had misjudged the new UN-backed National Transitional Council’s ability to govern the unstable country. Libya descended into a fullblown civil war that split the country into a UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in the west and an east backed by multiple U.S. allies, notably Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. In a confusing turn of events, traditional allies gave their backing to the side opposed to the United States, with France and Saudi Arabia notably opposing the GNA. In April 2019, the eastern Libyan National Army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, launched an offensive on Tripoli that aimed to forcefully reunify the country and crush the GNA. Haftar advanced rapidly and scored many victories, compelling the GNA to sign an agreement with Turkey for military cooperation. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan quickly sent in tactical support that controversially included mercenaries recruited in war-torn Syria to fight on the Libyan stage for meager salaries. The Turkish leader’s decision was an attempt at carving out for himself a position as a regional power broker. Libya’s strategic location and valuable contribution to Europe’s energy supply make it highly prone to interference from many countries. It is a phenomenally hydrocarbon-rich nation and has long been one of Italy’s main energy suppliers. Furthermore, its location in Northern Africa, with an extensive coast on the Mediterranean, could make it a vital logistics hub for establishing naval bases. Libya’s strategic position between many regional powers also makes it a prime location for movements to curb its neighbors’ influence. Indeed, the Arab League already feels Iran’s pressure in its eastern regions, and Turkey has played the same trick on the Mediterranean Basin. A proxy scuffle between Libya’s Arab neighbors and
BY ALIZA KIBEL this newcomer, Turkey, emerged. As mass graves were discovered in GNA-reclaimed areas, Egypt’s President threatened a fullblown intervention if the Turkey-backed GNA advanced on the city of Sirte. The opposing sides fell back to an east-west stalemate, and the UN quickly acted to organize peace talks in Geneva. The effort succeeded. In October 2020, the rival administrations signed a ceasefire agreement that paved the way for the upcoming elections. While the UN is often criticized for seldom achieving good results, this success can be attributed to Western powers’ explicit desire to curb Turkish influence and prevent Egyptian bulwarking of itsNorth African borders. The West is also seemingly attracted by the myriad investment opportunities that may open up once Libya stabilizes, eager to nudge away any competition. The December polls will be the Arab country’s first direct presidential election since 1951. Turnout is assumed to be accordingly enthusiastic, with the population finally seizing this opportunity to enact change after its revolution was stolen from it by warring militias. One surname on the list of potential candidates sounds quite familiar: Gadhafi. Indeed, Saif al-Islam — longtime heir apparent to his father — hinted at a presidential bid in a surprisingly comprehensive New York Times interview. Saif had, in years past, adopted a posture similar to that of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad toward his father Hafez. Saif sold himself as a reformist who would eventually take over and bring Libya into the modern age. However, it wasn’t to be, as he stands
accused of a long list of war crimes. It is a testament to the instability that hit Libya after the senior Gadhafi’s death that a significant portion of the population wants a return to the family. This observation in many ways parallels the Iraq war. After a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime and wiped out Iraq’s army, angry Iraqi generals built their private militias and waged war throughout the country. Without its strongman, the nation was quickly overrun by Iran’s influence, deeply harming the peace process and throwing Iraq into permanent turmoil. In Libya, it was again a U.S.-led NATO coalition that left the country prey to interference. Gadhafi was no doubt a bloody dictator, but removing him laid bare the entire state apparatus. Military men took advantage of the chaos, claiming entire chunks of the country’s institutions. Corruption became rife, and instability set in. Going to war abroad and flaunting democracy does not work without a deep knowledge of the country in which you are fighting and a serious plan involving local actors to replace the dysfunctional system. Militias might be good at engaging in battle, but they are not necessarily ready to run a country, especially one like Libya, which has an extremely fraught and fragile relationship with democracy. The United States is getting involved in too many wars and then withdrawing with her work unfinished, leaving countries in worse shape than they were initially, and with the same exactions and corruption still rampant. It is now time for the U.S. to exercise restraint and carefully consider the battlefield before demolishing a dam, however flawed it may have been.
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Jacob Fridman A Better Consensus
Let’s do a public option instead
President Biden finally reached a deal for his Build Back Better bill on Medicare drug pricing. Medicare, the program that gives health insurance to everyone over the age of 65, would be able to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices on life-saving drugs. It would also limit how much seniors would have to pay for drugs bought at pharmacies and keep insulin prices at a maximum of $35 a month. The administration and Congress are also working to have Medicare cover routine dental care, glasses and hearing aids, and also to expand Medicaid, the program for low-income individuals and those with disabilities. This is great news for a system that is dead last compared to the developed world, but we can do better. If you read the headline of this column, it’s not Medicare for All (the proposal for a fully government-run health insurance system, or what’s known as single-payer): it’s a public option. It’s basically a government-backed health insurance plan that’s just like private insurance. People would be able to buy into the public option and it would compete with private companies. It would be funded by people paying their bills, just like private healthcare, and not through taxes from all Americans like with Medicare or Medicaid. And because it’s an option, no one on private insurance would have to give up their insurance, unlike the Medicare for All plan. Trust me, this isn’t radical. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, had a public option before intra-party negotiations took it out. In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported a public option. In 2020, President Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar and then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg all supported similar plans. It is important to note that Obamacare had its roots in former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s Romneycare. Meanwhile, since 2019, Colorado, Nevada and Washington state have had public options. If they’re successful, they could influence national policy sooner rather than later. By comparison, Vermont (Senator Bernie Sanders’ state) had its single-payer system crumble after three and a half years. As for the politics? In March of this year, Morning Consult polling showed that more than two-thirds of all voters backed a public option, and over half supported Medicare for All. Even a slight majority of Republican voters supported a public option, compared to less than 30% approval for Medicare for All. When Obama was pushing for a public option, Robert Reich, labor secretary under Bill Clinton, wrote in a Wall Street Journal piece, “The choice people make between private plans and a public one is likely to function as a check on both. Such competition will encourage private plans to … [offer] more value at less cost … [and] encourage the public plan to be as flexible as possible.” In 2009, critics of the proposal attacked its scale, size advantage and financial solvency. Reich responded that because the government would play the same game as the private companies, with the same bureaucracy and revenue streams but with greater power and reach, companies would innovate to stay in business, resulting in lower costs for average Americans and increased access. Jacob Fridman is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Jacob can be reached at jacob.fridman@tufts.edu.
8 Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Sports
tuftsdaily.com
Women’s basketball opens season 2–0 in first games since March 2020 by Matt Chen
Assistant Sports Editor
In its first game action in nearly two years, Tufts women’s basketball opened up the 2021–22 season with two victories in the Tyler Tip-Off Tournament at Smith College this past weekend. The Jumbos clinched a 69–59 victory over the Vassar College Brewers on Sunday. Sophomore forward Maggie Russell was a force on the boards, posting a dominant 27 points, 18 rebound double-double while shooting an ultra-efficient 10–14 from the field. Russell was named the New England Women’s Basketball Association’s first Player of the Week for the 2021–22 season following her performance in the first two games. Senior forward and co-captain Sofia Rosa was also unstoppable down low, dropping 22 points of her own while shooting an equally impressive 10–13 from the field. The Jumbos opened their season the day before with a 73–53 victory over the Rowan University Profs. The Jumbos dominated the box score, with senior guard and co-captain Molly Ryan leading the team with a career high 33 points, shooting an efficient 11–17 from the field. Tufts out-rebounded Rowan
35–31; a whopping 17 of those rebounds came from Russell, earning a double-double by adding 11 points to the aforementioned 17 rebounds. Despite the comfortable margin of victory, there were moments throughout the game where it looked like the Jumbos might lose their lead. However, Tufts quickly answered back in response to mini-runs from Rowan. Ryan emphasized the importance of keeping composure in high-pressure situations while knowing when to make adjustments on the court. “We knew it was going to be frantic at moments as it was our first game back,” Ryan said. “I think collectively we all did a great job at recognizing when we needed to slow the pace down, collect ourselves, and communicate with one another.” With the Jumbos leading nearly every statistical category in both games, Head Coach Jill Pace emphasized the importance of winning those statistical battles, colloquially known as games within the game. “Our goal is to win every game, but then beyond that, we always set specific game goals just based on our opponent,” Pace said. “Teams that can do those little things and can be gritty and tough and dive on the floor after
loose balls and win the 50-50 balls are going to be the teams that are successful and are successful in those little moments too.” Tufts was dominant down low all weekend, holding both Rowan and Vassar to 20 and 24 points in the paint, respectively. Rosa praised the team-wide defensive effort that led to their dominance down low, as well as the Jumbos’ ability to force turnovers. “It’s definitely been a team effort on the defensive end,” Rosa said. “The guards have been doing a good job at getting deflections and making it a hard entry pass into the post which makes our jobs as posts easier.” Saturday’s game against Rowan marked the first game for Tufts since March 7, 2020, when the team was in the midst of an NCAA tournament run in Pace’s first year as head coach. Now in her second full year as the coach of the Jumbos, Pace expressed her excitement to be back on the sidelines coaching. “I’ve always been excited to coach basketball but a little bit more excited, a little bit more grateful during this time, especially coming back from COVID,” Pace said. Rosa also spoke to the benefit of returning from such a long hiatus with two wins.
“It was great to come away from this weekend with two wins, and we’re excited to learn from these games and continue to improve as a team,” Rosa said. With a squad that has only six upperclassmen, the importance of leadership is going to be a focal point for the Jumbos all season. Ryan noted the importance of instilling confidence in the younger players. “I think it’s important to lead by example,” Ryan said. “We can provide leadership and composure on the floor to help give the underclassmen confidence on the court.” Rosa also had nothing but great things to say about the future of the program due to the underclassmen’s willingness to learn and become leaders themselves. “We hope that we can teach our younger players what Tufts Women’s Basketball is all about so that they too can be leaders in the coming years,” Rosa said. “We’re really lucky to have such great underclassmen who are so eager to learn and contribute right away.” The Jumbos travel to Maine for a matchup with the University of New England Nor’easters on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before their long-awaited return to Cousens Gymnasium on Saturday at 1 p.m. when they host the Brandeis University Judges.
Tufts field hockey ends season 15–5 by Sophia Antezana
Assistant Sports Editor
Tufts field hockey faced the Middlebury Panthers in the NCAA regional final, also known as the “Elite Eight,” on Sunday. The Jumbos and Panthers fought tooth and nail for the first half; however, Middlebury ultimately pulled off the 2–0 win. This loss ended Tufts’ season with a strong 15–5 record. The only goal in the first half came from Middlebury with 3:59 left in the second quarter. Junior goalkeeper Sam Gibby recorded two saves in the first half and ended the game with an impressive six saves. The score remained 1–0 until the fourth quarter, when the Panthers added another goal off of a penalty stroke to make it 2–0. With this win, the Panthers advanced to the Final Four. In the NCAA Championship second-round game, before the Elite Eight game, Tufts faced SUNY New Paltz at Middlebury College on Saturday. The Jumbos started off strong, with three goals
Oliver Fox Sports and Society
Football or… football? Football is the most popular sport in the world. Although you would never know it in the United States, football boasts an astonishing four billion fans worldwide, over half of the world’s population. Fans from England to Nigeria and China to Iran all revere football as “the beautiful game.” Here in the U.S., we call it “soccer.” Every four years, the world comes together to celebrate it at the World Cup, arguably the most important sporting event in the world. Unless you’re from the United States, because in 2018, the U.S. Men’s National Team wasn’t invited to the party. We stayed at home, failing to qualify.
OLIVIA BELLO / THE TUFTS DAILY
Tufts field hockey players defend against Johnson & Wales during Tufts’ 1-0 win in the first round of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship. in the first half from the Jumbos’ top scorer, senior forward Gillian Roeca. They held the Hawks to no goals for the half. The Jumbos continued their forward momentum and extended their scoring into the second half, with a goal each from senior forward Claire Foley and graduate student midfielder and co-captain Beth
Krikorian. The Hawks then got on the board late into the fourth quarter, scoring two goals of their own. Overall, the Jumbos had the advantage on both shots and corners, 24–8 and 5–3, respectively. All three of Tufts’ goalies, Gibby, senior Emma Smith and senior co-captain Andie Stallman, saw action in the 5–2 win.
Was this because our team didn’t play well enough? Was the competition too tough to overcome? Could we just blame the manager for this disaster? All of those may be factors, but the truth to our team’s failure lies on the home front. America does not care enough about soccer. And that’s a problem, both for American soccer culture and for America’s standing abroad. Last week, the USMNT secured a critical win over Mexico in its effort to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. A crucial game against its archrival, it still failed to beat out the concurrently airing NBA regular season game between the Golden State Warriors and the Chicago Bulls in viewership. Yet the USMNT fields arguably the best team it has ever seen, with superstars like Christian Pulisic, Zack Steffen and Weston McKennie playing for giant European clubs Chelsea, Manchester City and Juventus respectively. The team is ranked
No. 13 in FIFA’s international men’s soccer rankings, making it a real contender in the coming World Cup. Yet, the bright prospects are dulled by the country’s daunting history; the U.S. has made it to the quarterfinals once since 1930, and missed the competition entirely from 1950 to 1990. Even with the USMNT’s struggles, the U.S. Women’s National Team is wildly successful, having won four World Cups, four Olympic gold medals and eight CONCACAF Gold Cups, making it by far the winningest women’s soccer team in the world. Yet only 7% of Americans say soccer is their favorite sport — and that number is vastly higher among liberal, young people, lower among moderate or conservative people and virtually nonexistent for people over 55. American Football and basketball are massively more popular among all groups. The collective apathy for soccer creates issues for not just international soccer and Major League Soccer, whose viewership is
Although the Jumbos will not move forward in the NCAA tournament, they still had a successful season and have a lot to be proud of and grateful for. “This team is truly so talented, resilient, and hardworking, and I couldn’t have asked for a stronger group of people to have gone through the craziness of this season with,” sophomore defender Kate Lee said. “To make it to the Elite Eight of the national tournament is no small feat on its own, and we did it despite injury, the flu and tremendous losses.” Stallman echoed Lee. “It was a really hard season for a number of reasons,” Stallman said. “Everything that happened, though, pulled us together in a way that I wasn’t expecting, but that was really amazing to be a part of. I’m really proud of and grateful for the way everyone, even underclassmen, stepped up at different times to support the team and their teammates. I couldn’t imagine getting through this year with any other group of girls.”
rising but is still significantly lower than the NFL or NBA, but for the whole culture of soccer in America. Even at the high school level, soccer is squarely behind football, track and field, basketball and baseball for boys and behind track and field, volleyball and basketball for girls. From an American cultural point of viewe spot, this is unsurprising. The U.S.A has never been a bastion of soccer -love. But it is the world’s game, and we live in an increasingly global society. American competition in international men’s soccer would do wonders to increase prestige worldwide. Sports have never been just sports, or this column couldn’t possibly exist. Soccer is the world’s game, and America has a responsibility to the world. We’ve failed that duty in many ways, but let’s start by acting like it on the field. Oliver Fox is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Oliver can be reached at oliver.fox@tufts.edu.