The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, November 3, 2021

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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 26

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

TCU Senate passes resolution regarding legacy in undergraduate admissions, hears appeal from Tufts Republicans

Students petition Tufts to save Portuguese program

by Aaron Gruen

Contributing Writer

The Tufts School of Arts and Sciences decided to terminate the Portuguese minor this fall due to lower than optimal enrollments. The unexpected news was recently announced to Portuguese language students and lecturers, who previously believed that the school would preserve the program.

Following Portuguese Department Head Cristiane Soares’ resignation last spring, the university asked part-time Portuguese lecturer Maria Champlin to act as interim department head while it searched for a full-time professor.

The university also decided to hire a part-time lecturer, Kamilla Silva, until a full-time professor could be hired.

“This opportunity came to teach Portuguese,” Silva said.

“And knowing that the department was at risk, I quickly jumped [for] the position.”

When Silva was hired, it was to her understanding that the Portuguese department would

by Zoe Kava News Editor

MICHELLE LI / THE TUFTS DAILY

The F.W. Olin Center, which houses tured on Oct. 5. continue to offer the minor.

“The people [Champlin] had spoken to had told her that the department was safe and that the minor was going to continue, they just needed time to hire somebody else to take over the position,” Silva said.

Toward the end of September, however, rumors began circulating that the university would stop offering Portuguese classes. According to BR Rose, a student advocating for the preservation of the program, Pedro Ángel Palou, the chair of the

the Portuguese department, is picRomance studies department, revealed during a Spanish department meeting that while some classes would be kept, the Portuguese minor program would be eliminated.

Champlin and Silva, who are currently the only Portuguese lecturers, were not present during the meeting.

“We heard officially — not from Tufts University — but we heard from people who have said, ‘They’ve officially decided see PORTUGUESE, page 2

Somerville improves cyclist and pedestrian safety with new infrastructure

by Kathryn Hood

Contributing Writer

The City of Somerville is redesigning and implementing protected bike lanes and floating bus stops in various locations in order to create a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as a more walkable and environmentally sound city.

The city is implementing major infrastructure improvements at Somerville Avenue, Washington Street and Powder House Circle.

Tom Lamar, chair of the Somerville Bicycle Advisory Committee, which advises the city on improving cycling conditions in Somerville and promotes bike safety, explained that bike lanes are being raised up to the sidewalk level on Somerville Ave to create distance from cars.

“Probably the most important [thing] is being physically separated from cars,” Lamar said. “In this case by being raised up to sidewalk or closest sidewalk level [and] having a curb … as well as a small buffer that’s about two feet wide.”

There are also now signalized crosswalks that alert cars to slow down for cyclists and pedestrians.

Lamar noted that floating bus stops create an island in the

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Wednesday, November 3, 2021

MICHELLE LI / THE TUFTS DAILY

A newly created bike lane near Powder House Circle in Somerville is pictured on Oct. 15. street with a sidewalk and a bike lane behind it, providing a safe place for cyclists to travel and for passengers to wait for the bus.

Arah Schuur, co-founder of the Somerville Bicycle Safety group, which aims to organize people in support of bike safety, discussed the improvements made to Powder House Circle. The city implemented flex posts and protected bike lanes, and delineated the previously unmarked lanes.

It also repainted crosswalks and put in pedestrian-initiated buttons at crosswalks.

Various other locations are making similar changes, includ-

ing at Broadway and Wellington Bridge. Many of these locations also add improvements to bus mobility and driving safety.

These changes have greatly improved the safety of cyclists and pedestrians. Noah Mills, a senior at Tufts, lives in Alewife and commutes about fifteen minutes a day on a bike. He often rides through Powder House Circle.

“I was doing research over the summer … I would enter that intersection and sort of be competing with the cars,” Mills said in an interview with the Daily. see INFRASTRUCTURE, page 2

The Tufts Community Union Senate voted on its first resolution of the semester, heard an appeal from Tufts Republicans and heard supplementary funding requests in a meeting on Sunday.

TCU Historian and Class of 2024 Senator Mariana JanerAgrelot introduced a resolution submitted by Ameya Menta and Christopher Tomo, calling on Tufts Undergraduate Admissions to cease consideration of familial connection to the university when selecting applicants.

The resolution would call on admissions to stop asking applicants if they have family who are alumni, faculty or are connected to the university, and to remove the question of familial connection from all aspects of the application process.

Menta and Tomo, both sophomores, were granted five minutes to present their case. Menta said that eliminating legacy in admissions will serve Tufts’ anti-racist mission.

“The importance of equity in college admission is apparent now more than ever with Tufts’ commitment to an anti-racist institution,” Menta said. “In July 2020, Tufts University recognized a commitment to identify and eradicate structural racism in five key areas and one of the key areas included the selection of the academic body.”

Tomo explained that several other institutions, including the Tufts University School of Medicine, have eliminated legacy from the admissions process.

“In July, Colorado as a state banned the consideration of legacy at all of its public universities,” Tomo said. “Here at Tufts, the School of Medicine announced that it no longer asks that the student application provides special access to legacies. This particular resolution is about undergrad admissions and we demand that they … set the example for institutions across the country by ending this discriminatory policy.”

Class of 2025 Senator Natalie Rossinow asked the authors of the resolution how much impact the removal of legacy admissions

SPORTS / back

ARTS / page 5

FEATS / page 3

Women’s soccer ends season with 1–0 loss to Hamilton

‘Blue Banisters’ blew us away

A taste of the local produce market

would have on admitting more students of color to the student body.

“I don’t think that there’s any way for us to explicitly come out with that data,” Menta said.

“Something that we are looking forward to is seeing how the … [incoming] Fletcher class demographics have changed when they changed their admissions.”

Menta explained that Tufts has made changes to other parts of the admissions process, like transitioning to a test-optional system, but has not addressed the issue of legacy in admissions.

“There are just so many social determinants that are built into a holistic application, but for us, we think that legacy is one of the things that is such an outdated process … that it’s almost ridiculous that it’s still there,” Menta said.

The resolution was voted on and passed with 23 senators voting in favor, one opposing and three abstaining.

The Senate body then heard an appeal from Tufts Republicans, which had requested $560 to attend a shooting range and learn firearm safety training with its members. This funding would cover fees for the shooting range, gun rental and ammunition. The Allocations Board recommended $0.

TCU Treasurer and Class of 2022 Senator Elizabeth Hom outlined the request and said that TCU Senate has not funded this activity in the past.

Tufts Republicans then had five minutes to state their case.

Andrew Butcher, treasurer of Tufts Republicans, said that despite the Allocations Board’s recommending $0, the trip does support the organization’s mission.

“When we requested the reason for this denial … it was that all TCU funding must be central to the mission of the student organization,” he said. “We would argue that this trip is core to our mission as stated in our constitution.”

Butcher, a junior, explained that the trip contributes to the organization’s mission because it would allow its members to learn how to safely exercise their Second Amendment rights. see TCU SENATE, page 2 NEWS

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FEATURES

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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SPORTS

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, November 3, 2021

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Students rally to save Portuguese minor amid funding cuts PORTUGUESE

continued from page 1 this,’ and nothing was really said to [Champlin],” Silva said.

Champlin then met with Palou and Dean of Academic Affairs Samuel Thomas, where they confirmed that the university would be ending the minor program, Rose, a junior, said.

Sophomore Roger Burtonpatel explained that students in his Portuguese class were very disappointed when they learned this news.

“This is extremely hard for all of us, I won’t pretend that anyone’s happy,” Burtonpatel said.

Burtonpatel added that it has been a distraction from class, as students have devoted class time to advocating for saving the program.

The news quickly spread across social media, where junior Sophia Costa learned of cuts to the program.

“I was very infuriated,” Costa said. “And so a couple of us who were involved with the Portuguese program, such as TAs [and] the people who’ve taken the classes … started this movement that is striving to save and uplift Tufts Portuguese.”

With Champlin’s help, Rose, Burtonpatel and Costa decided to rally support for the Portuguese program by spreading awareness about the administration’s decision. A few weeks ago, they created a petition and a list of

demands for the administration, including a guarantee that the minor in Portuguese continue at Tufts and an investment in the long-term viability of the Portuguese program by keeping the full-time coordinator position intact. The petition’s final demand is that Tufts maintain a part-time lecturer position in the department.

According to Costa, the petition to preserve the program has garnered more than 1,000 signatures. Additionally, dozens of students, faculty and alumni have written testimonials arguing on behalf of the program.

Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser, who was involved in the decision to end the Portuguese minor, said that the decision was necessary in terms of using resources effectively.

“We know some students are disappointed, which we understand,” Glaser said. “However, the school must steward its limited resources wisely, and that means making decisions about how to allocate positions to ensure we are supporting classes and departments that are in high demand.”

Senior Luana Machado, who is currently minoring in Portuguese, rejects the idea that the decision was related to low enrollment.

“They may say that their decision has nothing based on the

value of the language, but I think it absolutely does,” Machado said. “Their claims that the program is too small … [are] not fair to say, because the program has had the same … numbers since it was opened.”

Rose believes that since the department is small, it is not a burden on the university’s resources.

“The thousands of dollars that it would take to keep the Portuguese program alive is a drop in the bucket from the institution’s financial perspective,” Rose said. “The impact that that relatively small financial investment has on the students, on the families of the students and on the broader community is immense and not to be understated in any way, shape or form.”

Glaser added that funding would be allocated for a new position in Romance studies focusing on Afro-Latin and Indigenous literary and cultural studies and that no one will be laid off as a result of this decision.

On students’ concerns that they would be unable to complete their minor, Glaser clarified that the department will continue to offer Portuguese language courses through the 2022–23 academic year to allow students who have already begun the sequence to finish it for the purposes of satisfying the language requirement.

Students and professors say that the Portuguese program also helps bridge the Tufts community with the Portuguese-speaking population in Somerville and Medford.

“Tufts makes a lot of efforts to talk about the relationship with the host community,” Rose said, highlighting the Portuguese in the Community course, which allows students to engage and intern with Portuguese- and Brazilian-facing organizations in the surrounding communities. “A lot of these organizations have long standing relationships with Tufts, so these leaders have been really, really shocked,” Rose said.

Beyond its cultural importance, Soares also highlighted the academic and professional significance of Portuguese classes. “[Students] are not taking Portuguese because they want to spend two weeks in Rio de Janeiro,” Soares said. “They see that Portuguese has a very important impact on their academic interests, in their professions [and in] their fields.”

Soares said that instead of reducing funding for the Portuguese program, Tufts should give the department more funding to attract new students.

“The reason why we don’t have more students is not because the program is not working,” Soares said. “It’s just because we don’t have enough resources to make the program grow.”

Senate discusses legacy admissions, funding requests TCU SENATE

continued from page 1 “The right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental tenet of American conservatism,” Butcher said. “We as an organization strongly believe that if you’re going to exercise your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, you have a responsibility to do so safely. This trip would be going to the education of our membership on how to do so.”

Several senators felt that the trip did not lend itself to the mission of Tufts Republicans and asked how gun safety training was related to political advocacy. During a brief question and answer session, senators also asked why this particular activity had been chosen.

“The Second Amendment is one of the topics, if not the most important topic to the members of our organization as expressed by them, which is why this is the activity that we’ve chosen,” senior Jessica Parillo, a member of Tufts Republicans said.

The Allocations Board’s recommendation of $0 was moved and then passed with 19 senators voting in favor, four opposing and three abstaining.

Hom then introduced the other supplementary funding requests.

Tufts Association of Latin American Students requested $600 to pay for a DJ at a fall gala event. The request passed with 26 senators voting in favor, none opposing and one abstaining.

The Vietnamese Student Club requested $150 to pay performers at an annual coffee shop event.

The request passed by acclamation with eight Allocations Board members voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining.

Tufts South Asian Political Action Community requested $500 to pay for a speaker event.

The request passed by acclamation with nine Allocations Board members voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining.

Tufts Hillel requested $2,916 to cover venue, food and transportation expenses for a 21-person retreat to Prindle Pond. The request passed with 24 senators voting in favor, none opposing and four abstaining.

Tufts NeuroNetwork requested $440 to pay for a fall open house. The request passed by acclamation with eight Allocations Board members voting in favor, none opposing and one abstaining.

Tufts Korean Dance Association requested $1,475 to pay for accessories, a videographer, a venue and food and water for their K-pop Dance Showcase.

The request passed with 26 senators voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining.

Tufts Arab Student Association requested $250 to cover food expenses for a movie night. The request passed by acclamation with nine Allocations Board members voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining.

Improvements to bike lanes and bus stops promote safety and environmental health INFRASTRUCTURE

continued from page 1 “Now… you’re protected by sort of barriers from the cars … you’re not head to head with other cars, which is a lot nicer.”

Schuur explained that the goal of these improvements is also to promote a more walkable and environmentally friendly community.

“A large part of Somerville’s emissions are transportation, and a primary source of that are vehicles. So, there’s absolutely no way to meet our climate goals with our current mode share, which means how many people use what mode of transportation,” Schuur said. “Our

guiding policy documents say that we need to shift people out of their private vehicles and into buses, onto bicycles and onto their feet … It also has quality of life benefits.”

Boston-area voters generally support these infrastructure changes. The MassINC polling group reported that 75% of residents were in support of creating bike lanes separated from cars.

While Mills partly chose to bike due to financial reasons, he also recognized the environmental and health benefits.

“The environmental impact was definitely also a part of the decision,” Mills said. “It makes

me feel really good to be able to bike places, and it is also for my body. It’s so much better to exercise and get moving.”

Lamar explained that many of these improvements were implemented alongside utility work that had to be done. “[For] Somerville Ave, the main motivation was the underground utilities … they needed to massively upgrade … rebuild it all from scratch with much bigger pipes and complete separation,” Lamar said. “And if you’re going to rebuild the streets from scratch, you really want to take the opportunity to put it back better than it was before.”

George Schneeloch, co-founder of Somerville Bicycle Safety, said that the group continues to organize behind initiatives to improve safety, including the creation of a bicycle network plan, now underway.

“It’s a visual of what changes would be made to streets to produce a network where people of all ages and abilities can get from A to B, anywhere in Somerville to major destinations like schools, or grocery stores and so on,” Schneeloch said in an interview with the Daily.

“We lobbied hard for a bicycle network plan to be produced, and the city has started.”

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Features

3 Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Ruminations on farmers markets with local vendors

CREATED BY ALIZA KIBEL AND AISHA CATENA

by Keira Myles Staff Writer

Farmers markets carry locally grown foods, creating personal connections and bonds of mutual benefits between local farmers, shoppers and communities.

As opposed to the large agribusinesses that dominate modern food production and create a divide between consumers and their food, farmers markets and their collectivist spirits help to rebuild local and regional food networks, facilitating an appreciation for the origins and stories of whole ingredients.

The Davis Square Farmers Market, which serves as an option for locally grown produce close to Tufts community members, is open on Wednesdays in Davis Square. The market manager, B.J. Daniel, and the assistant market manager and electronic benefit transfer coordinator, Lizzie McCarty, shared their insights on the importance of farmers markets.

“You get to see the seasons because they’re right in front of

you, with fresh local produce, vegetables, fruits, right there,” Daniel said. “You see it, you smell it … your senses are alive with it — it’s right there.”

When customers buy produce from small farmers, they build a more personal connection between themselves and those growing their food.

McCarty explained how talking with farmers provides insight into the seasons, the land and the origins of food.

“You get to interact with the people who actually made what you’re buying. So if you have a question about the fruit, or the vegetables, you can ask the farmer that harvested [it],” McCarty said. “Lots of sharing of ideas here: different recipes being shared, different pairings across the market, which is really fun. [Daniel] started putting honey in her coffee because the coffee vendor told her to. Life changer.”

Siara, who sells products from the certified-organic Langwater Farm in Easton, Mass. at the Davis Square Farmers Market,

highlighted the benefits of buying from farmers markets.

“Buying from local farms guarantees quality,” Siara said.

“It’s coming from the fields to the market. A lot of the stuff was harvested this morning.”

Siara also shared how Langwater Farm’s values are community-oriented. “[Our] motto is that we bring produce to the people,” Siara said.

A farmers market veteran, Peggy Corbett from Peg’s Preserves in Lancaster, Mass., has been jellying since she was 6 years old and selling jellies for 40 years. While selling at the Medford Farmers Market, Corbett explained the communal importance of shopping at farmers markets as a means of supporting both small business and local agriculture endeavors. “[Farmers markets] are really important to the community because they bring local food products that aren’t shipped or bussed or flown across the country,” Corbett said. “They are community products brought to the community at affordable prices.”

Farmers markets support the economic viability of small farms by shortening the supply chain.

In other words, they reduce the number of middlemen, or intermediaries, giving farmers a higher share of the consumer dollar and helping them earn higher revenue for a given crop compared to wholesaling.

At grocery chains, shoppers’ industrialized produce is shipped an average of 1,500 miles from where it was grown, with monocrop agriculture operations eroding soil, using fertilizers and exploiting farmer labor. Grocery stores often prioritize maximum efficiency for the individual shopper, and consumers have thus lost a connection to the sources of their food — many have no clue where their food is coming from.

According to Corbett, being knowledgeable about the sources of the foods we consume should start at an early age. She highlighted the importance of educating young people about sustainable agriculture practices.

“I am a believer in food to table.

I grow almost all the food to make

my product. It’s important to teach children to know what you’re eating, to grow your own food and to survive off the land,” Corbett said.

Ron Manso, of Sherman and Cherie’s Beezy Bees located in Western Massachusetts, concurred that farmers markets provide valuable selling opportunities for small businesses. “[Farmers markets] help because we are fairly small, and we’re not able to break into the larger markets with any meaningful product base because we’re just not big enough to compete,” Manso said at the Davis Square Farmers Market.

Amy Morin, of Hi-Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, Mass., also made similar points.

“We’re able to get a lot of clients that we wouldn’t be able to get in our physical store due to different locations. We do multiple different farmers markets throughout the week, so we get to see a lot of different people,” Morin said. “We can reach out to the community that way and see FARMERS MARKETS, page 4

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Cash talks importance of farmers markets in context of larger food system FARMERS MARKETS

continued from page 3 provide freshly baked bread, [with] no preservatives, and also interact with the other lovely stores here.”

Farmers markets not only support local farmers, but on a national scale, they also help diversify food systems. While incredibly fun for consumers, farmers markets, on a more serious note, act as channels of resiliency from large-scale agriculture.

Buying from diverse scales proved incredibly important during COVID-19.

Sean B. Cash, a Bergstrom Foundation professor in global nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, provided insights into the meaningful impact of farmers markets.

“What people like about farmers markets is that it’s smaller scale — you can buy things directly from the farmer. I do think that we need larger-scale things as well, but it’s a form of resilience for our food systems to be supporting things at different scales, and not just to be relying on buying cucumbers at the local Walmart and Target,” Cash said.

Cash emphasized how farmers can economically benefit from farmers markets. According to him, farmers markets are a way for growers to diversify their income, even if they participate in larger-scale farming.

“They can often receive a higher return on certain things at certain times a year by selling directly to consumers of farmers markets or through other venues, even if they’re also getting significant parts of the revenue elsewhere,” Cash said.

Moreover, when food is grown, processed and sold within the same region, more money stays in the local economy.

As opposed to buying items at grocery chains, where a large percentage of sales leave the community, and even the state, buying at farmers markets keeps money in circulation within the local community.

Case studies by Civic Economics show that for every dollar we spend at a large chain, about 15 cents stays in the area, while locally owned enterprises keep 30 to 45 cents in the area.

Cash also noted how utilizing different scales of food production is necessary for resiliency, particularly in preparation for when food systems fail, like during the COVID-19 pandemic. “[With] something like COVID-19, where we had so many changes, if we don’t have different structures and different ways of accessing food, then when there’s a disruption in the things we’re relying on most, we have even fewer options,” Cash said. “Farmers markets are a way of [ensuring access to different food sources by] keeping multiple channels in play.”

Some farmers markets experienced their strongest-ever sales in 2020.

During the pandemic, wealthy shoppers increased their local food consumption.

Surveys and media reports also demonstrated positive trends in the number of food-insecure people shopping at farmers markets. A survey by the Farmers Market Coalition found that in the summer of 2020, more than 40% of farmers markets saw an increase in payments using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits compared to 2019.

Particularly during the pandemic, farmers markets have become important tools for reducing food insecurity.

Aside from their positive community impacts, it is important to note how many consumers and managers of farmers markets tend to fit the demographics of being white, female, wealthy and highly educated. This is true even for neighborhoods that are not predominantly white. Even when federal food assistance is expanded, most shoppers are still white. This majority-white demographic in farmers market consumption and leadership has been revealed to attract prospective homeowners and renters who want to live in sustainable neighborhoods, which increases housing market competition, and may contribute to green gentrification and the displacement of low-income households of color in urban areas. Thus, there are many calls for farmers markets to open in historically marginalized communities, specifically lower-income communities and communities of color, with targeted efforts to engage communities of color as vendors and shoppers.

The goal of these proposed markets is to increase representation, benefiting both consumers and producers.

“There are sometimes great gains to be had by having certain things [produced] locally,” Cash said. “But I think the larger gains are often about supporting food production at different scales and having that connection to where the food is grown, who’s grown it and being able to try different things that might be regionally specific, important to your local history local culture … and just enjoying the fun of what is local.”

tuftsdaily.com

Sam Russo and David Wingens Potty Talk

Dirty (Ba)llou

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any connoisseurs of spookiness have agreed that Boris Johnson is perhaps the spookiest man alive. And the only building at Tufts that we could find photo evidence of Johnson having entered is Ballou Hall. By the transitive property, then, we know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Ballou Hall is the single spookiest place at Tufts. Join us as we plunge into the monument to capitalism, single-ply toilet paper and hotter-than-average bathrooms that is Ballou Hall.

Ballou Hall is Tufts’ version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory: those who enter are rarely seen exiting, and those who work inside are shrouded in mystery.

Which is why most students are hesitant to venture inside, even when threatened by an urgent excretory disaster. Upon entering the gilded academic mansion, we were shocked to discover the degree to which its bathrooms exposed Tufts’ ugly underbelly.

The trip downstairs felt like a descent into some warped, Halloweenified universe. Most of the rooms are bare shells with exposed cement floors and drop tile ceilings that scream of the age of asbestos. How could this regal building have such a dingy underground?

Just next to the stairwell are three doors.

Two are clearly marked as bathrooms, and one seems like the entrance to a vault. It is a large, dark metal door with a silver handle along with a hefty locking mechanism.

There is also a “caution wet floor” sign just outside so as to indicate to passersby, “do not approach.” We cannot know what is behind this door, but we assume, given its proximity to the building’s plumbing, that it must be some special bathroom, potentially where the ghosts of Jumbo or Hosea Ballou II respond to nature’s calls.

Being too scared to attempt to enter the vault, we moved on to the plebeian lavatories. The men’s bathroom has two stalls — one so cavernous that the toilet paper is nearly out of reach of the toilet, and another so narrow that you hardly have room to perform the classic pre-potty arm circles.

But the stalls were only half the show: the men’s room plays host to two of the finest floor urinals of all time, along with their unloved brother: a urinal with a broken drain protected only by an overturned recycling bin. A floor urinal is a urinal whose basin is not suspended on the wall but is instead embedded in the floor. They are exciting for their rarity, as well as the novel sensation of peeing on the ground indoors, but they also lead to problems with splashback and may mean sticky soles for the unsuspecting.

The floor urinals also had no dividers, which means that if someone happens to urinate next to you, you will be able to communally revel in the rebelliousness of peeing on the floor in such close proximity to the office of Tufts’ general counsel.

While the urinals are probably the most remarkable part of the whole experience, they are emphatically not the first thing you’ll notice. The temperature of the bathroom brings to mind a sauna that’s been left unattended for the past 169 years, producing a relief upon leaving the bathroom even greater than the one experienced in the bathroom itself.

When we walked upstairs, the revelations we faced rocked our understanding of what Tufts really is forever, but for that, you’ll have to join us next week.

Ballou Hall downstairs: 6/10 — I’ve always wanted to pee on the floor of a sauna.

Sam Russo is a junior studying cognitive and brain science and computer 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.

ARTS & POP CULTURE

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Wednesday, November 3, 2021

‘Blue Banisters’ explores the cinematic world of Lana Del Rey

by Jack Clohisy

Assistant Arts Editor

Less than a year after the release of “Chemtrails Over The Country Club” (2021), Lana Del Rey returns with her eighth studio album, “Blue Banisters” (2021). Just two years ago, Del Rey released her widely-acclaimed “Norman Fucking Rockwell!” (2019), and now, Del Rey shows she still has much to offer.

It’s not often that artists are able to rebound so quickly after what many consider to be their magnum opus, but Del Rey does so swimmingly. With an array of prereleased singles, deactivated social media and numerous release teasings, “Blue Banisters” finally dropped on Oct. 22.

Kicking off the album are three of the four singles: “Text Book,” “Blue Banisters” and “Arcadia.” In true Del Rey fashion, her songwriting ability shines through on these simple tracks. Their production is less grandiose than her cinematic epics such as “Young and Beautiful” (2013), but what has sharpened is her ability to hone in on emotions through beautiful, precise language.

Ultimately the best interlude in her catalogue thus far, “Interlude – The Trio” is an incredible combination of horns and trap beats reminiscent of her earlier works in “Honeymoon”

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Banisters” was released on Oct. 22.

(2015) and “Lust For Life” (2017).

The interlude segues from the first three singles into the greater body of the album.

“Black Bathing Suit” finds Del Rey explaining to her lover that controversy enwraps her life.

As she describes her tumultuous life, it’s not her relationship with the media or her own thoughts that makes love difficult, but her “karmic lineage.”

She croons, “So I’m not friends with my mother, but I still love my dad/ Untraditional lover, can

you handle that?” It’s a theme all too familiar to her audience, as Del Rey has cited her relationship with her parents on former tracks such as “Old Money” (2014) and also on “Wildflower Wildfire” later in the album. On the latter, she sings, “My father never stepped in when his wife would rage at me/ So I ended up awkward but sweet.” Though Del Rey’s mysterious image is much of her celebrity, there’s a piece of genuine soul searching when she opens up about

the influences of her life in her songwriting. It’s refreshing when the doyenne of sadness reflects on her experiences.

The next three tracks after “Black Bathing Suit” dive into the cinematic nature of Del Rey’s craft with “If You Lie Down With Me,” “Beautiful” and “Violets for Roses.” The same horns permeate into “If You Lie Down With Me” as Del Rey toils with a romanticized vision of love. On “Beautiful,” Del Rey pens some of the greatest lines in her discography.

She pleads with her lover to stop asking her to be happy when she’s not. Her sadness is art, and she poses, “What if someone had asked Picasso not to be sad?/ Never known who he was or the man he’d become/ There would be no blue period.” Del Rey’s strength is in her ability to describe those emotions often harbored below the surface. Rather than crafting a body of work focused on the bright moments in her life, she embellishes the beauty within her own sadness. “Violet for Roses” accomplishes the same task of acknowledging her own self-worth despite facing struggles.

“Dealer” may be one of the greatest songs released by Del Rey in the entirety of her career. A song reminiscent of her “Ultraviolence” (2014) days, equipped with stellar song-

writing and passionate vocals unheard in years, “Dealer” does it all. With the vocal rasp of Miles Kane opening the track, Del Rey soon wails on the chorus, “I don’t wanna live/ I don’t wanna give you nothing/ ‘Cause you never give me nothing back.”

As is further evident on tracks “Thunder,” “Living Legend” and “Cherry Blossom,” dynamic instrumentation and cutting lyrics are all Del Rey needs for a masterpiece. The three tracks benefit “Blue Banisters” in their ability to highlight the dramatics and beauty in Del Rey’s lyricism.

Acknowledging her past recklessness on “Living Legend,” Del Rey reflects, “I was just living on the edge/ Right between Heaven and Hell/ And I’m tired of it.”

Rounding out the album are “Nectar of the Gods” and “Sweet Carolina.” The former is reminiscent of a soft rock outtake from “Ultraviolence,” and the latter is already buzzing online from its genius lines, “You name your babe Lilac Heaven/ After your iPhone 11/ ‘Crypto forever,’ scrеeams your stupid boyfriend/ F— you, Kevin.” The two serve the record well and close out an incredible chapter in Del Rey’s discography.

It’s uncommon for a songwriter to craft so many noteworthy albums, but Del Rey accomplishes the feat flawlessly with her current masterpiece, “Blue Banisters.”

The rise of fashion resale

by RaiAnn Bu

Contributing Writer

2015 marked the founding of StockX and Stadium Goods, as well as the rise of other luxury resale networks such as Vestiaire Collective and TheRealReal.

These websites have made inaccessible luxury items into more everyday products by selling used items at more affordable prices. In the past decade, luxury resale has risen to a rate where established stores, such as Yoox Net-a-Porter and even Urban Outfitters, have extended into the resale of everything from vintage goods to recent on-the-market items, in addition to their regular stock.

The rise of resale can be attributed to a renewed interest in sustainable clothing and circular fashion. Because fashion is one of the most polluting industries, people have taken it into their own hands to reduce carbon footprints and hyper-consumerism through buying more pieces secondhand. There has no doubt been more awareness in recent years about the sourcing of clothing and ethics behind manufacturing, as shown by many websites marking goods made with recycled materials and including factory information. However, the most sustainable and preferred choice for

consumers seems to be resale with the rise in popularity of thrifting and consignment apps.

Additionally, secondhand can be a cheaper and equally as fashionable route to obtain clothing. Many fashion influencers, such as Bella Hadid, Emma Chamberlain and Travis Scott, can cite some of their favorite vintage stores as inspiration for their styles. Recent interest in archival fashion has also been renewed, shown by the revival of Jean Paul Gaultier and vintage Vivienne Westwood. Since fashion follows cycles, reviving old trends with new takes, secondhand stores can be home to timelessly fashionable pieces.

However, this is not to say that the rise in reselling in fashion can be completely attributed to increased interest in more environmentally friendly resources.

Fashion resale also stands as a side hustle for many people capitalizing on buying goods at retail price and reselling for profit. In fact, many resold goods are in perfect condition, having never been worn before by the buyers themselves. And consumers have taken advantage of luxury resale and rental, a cheaper way to obtain luxury goods, as a way to demonstrate a more affluent lifestyle with an ever cycling closet of luxury goods, worn once and resold. This perpetuates an unrealistic image

BY SAM FARBMAN of affluence and consumerism to an audience that is often kept in the dark about these practices if they are not affluent enough to be participating in luxury resale and rental themselves.

While luxury resale is an imperfect system still meant for those who have extra budgets to spend on clothing in the first place, it is at least beginning to

increase accessibility. Fashion as an art and collection with a specific audience is often overlooked with the primary focus on utility of clothing. For a long time, however, the image and audience to which luxury houses sell have been a demographic of white wealth. Luxury brands have operated off of their exclusivity, debuting haute couture at

astronomical prices in order to affirm an imposing reputation while truly profiting off of more affordable luxury items such as sunglasses and perfume.

This top-down marketing creates an illusion of opulence for their customers to emulate while also keeping their brand largely inaccessible. It reinforces the age-old status quo that art is only for the rich to enjoy and participate in. A democratization of fashion through more affordable prices has continued this legacy of projecting opulence in some ways, but it has also begun to change the traditional demographic and the top brands within fashion, extending to more designs by minority and diverse designers. Social media and technology have democratized fashion for a larger audience.

Luxury resale is looking in the right direction of obtaining more long-lasting clothing, but can continue to perpetuate the disposability of fashion in a onetime wear and sell cycle. Fashion has taken up resale as a way to capitalize off of new markets, decreasing the sense of exclusivity often perpetuated by luxury brands and opening up to new ethical interests and demographics. Luxury resale is reimagining the look of luxury with a more diverse image of who is interested in it and who is wearing it.

6

THE TUFTS DAILY | Fun & Games | Wednesday, November 3, 2021

F& G

tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Brendan: “Are you from Iowa?”

Mac: “No…”

Fun & Games

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Scorpio (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Clear the past from your working spaces. Emptiness invites creation. Your imagination goes wild. Settle into a quiet spot and capture your inspiration.

SEARCHING FOR HEADLINES...

Difficulty Level: Finding good soup on Tufts’ campus.

Tuesday’s Solutions

CROSSWORD

Before anything else, we are all human.

It’s time to embrace diversity.

Let’s put aside labels in the name of love.

Rethink your bias at lovehasnolabels.com

tuftsdaily.com

Jacob Fridman A Better Consensus

We need a national gun license Content warning: This column discusses suicide and gun violence. n average of 100 Americans continue to die from gun violence every day, and just last week the country experienced another mass shooting. Surely, the federal government will step in and fix things, right?

A

Opinion Sadly, no. Even with the NRA’s imminent implosion and nationwide support for expanding background checks, red flag laws and assault weapon bans, nothing can get passed through Congress.

So, let’s try something no reasonable gun owner or supporter can possibly reject: gun licensing. Whoever wants to buy a gun, whether from certified shops or private dealers, will not only have to pass the current background check system (which is severely broken), but will have to have some form of documentation from the government. No responsible gun owner will be denied their right to bear arms, only those who pose a threat or already have red flags on their record will be rejected, just as with bad drivers.

One example of this system working really well on a national scale is Canada. The country currently has a highly praised and effective gun licensing system. Even the Conservative Party of Canada supports keeping the system, and there are way fewer gun deaths per capita than in the U.S., which includes mass shootings, homicides and suicides. While only around 5% of Canada’s 38.2 million people have gun licenses, the overall number of gun licenses issued increased by over 25% from 2015 to 2019, so gun ownership itself is not threatened by a national standard. There’s also the fact that just under 1,000 license applications were rejected in 2019, with a fifth of them listed as a “potential risk to self.” Considering that 60% of intentional gun deaths

7 Wednesday, November 3, 2021

in the U.S. are listed as suicides, a federal licensing system also seems to be a key contributor to a nation’s mental health policy.

In the U.S., states that currently implement this concept have a range of policies, from actual licenses to own guns (like driver’s licenses), to firearm safety certification. Massachusetts’ own system has, in part, led to it having one of the lowest gun deaths per capita in the country. But if you’re worried about infringement on the Second Amendment, it’s worth noting that a study from Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts Boston saw around a 97% acceptance rate for license applications.

Connecticut’s license system saw a 40% decrease in gun homicides from 1996 to 2005. It actually made it harder for criminals to illegal-

ly obtain guns since supply and demand were more regulated, and gaming the system became much harder. By contrast, a 2014 Johns Hopkins study showed that when Missouri repealed its license system in 2007, there was a 25% increase in gun homicide rates.

The evidence is clear that gun licensing allows responsible gun owners to keep their guns and effectively bars those with ill intent from getting guns. We accept that only licensed people can drive vehicles, which can kill people on purpose and by accident, so why can’t we do the same for firearms, whose sole purpose is to cause harm?

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 3, 2021

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s soccer loses NESCAC quarterfinal 1–0

MICHELLE LI / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Tufts women's soccer team is pictured playing Hamilton on Oct. 3.

by Arielle Weinstein Contributing Writer

Tufts women’s soccer was narrowly defeated by Hamilton 1–0 on Saturday in the NESCAC conference quarterfinal game. In a tough, evenly matched contest, the Jumbos were unable to get on the scoresheet. Tufts will end its season 8–7 overall, and 5–6 in conference play.

Entering the game, the Hamilton Continentals and the Tufts Jumbos had already faced each other once before on Oct. 3. The result of that matchup was a 1–0 win for the Continentals. Hamilton was ranked No. 3 in the NESCAC conference standings and No. 19 in the national rankings coming into Saturday’s game.

Tufts was ranked No. 6 in the NESCAC and had won its last three before this game.

The Jumbos came out on fire in the first half, dominating possession of the ball and pinning the Continentals in their own half for the majority of the first 10 minutes.

“We connected all of our passes well, and were moving off the ball from each other,” first-year midfielder Lily Bienstock said.

The Jumbos were able to send in multiple crosses into the penalty box but had them intercepted before the team’s forwards could get to them. Despite these

efforts, the Continentals held strong against the relentless Jumbos attack for the first half-hour of the game.

On the opposite side of the ball, junior goalkeeper Kaelin Logue made a key stop in the 18th minute to keep the game 0–0. As a cross from the left side of the penalty box came in, Logue cut in front of a Hamilton forward to prevent a pointblank shot on goal.

Other than a few forays into the Jumbos’ penalty area for the Continentals, the Tufts defense held strong throughout the first half, allowing only four shots on goal.

The Jumbos’ back line of senior defenders Callie Scala, Kylie Metcalf, Tookie Wilson and first-year Jordan Cushner was able to thwart most of the Hamilton attacks.

In the 33rd minute, graduate forward and co-captain Liz Reed had an opportunity to score on a ball that was deflected into the air. Reed got her right foot on the ball and volleyed it toward the net, but the attempt was saved by the Hamilton goalkeeper.

The best chance for the Jumbos came right at the end of the half. After a Continental free kick, goalie Kaelin Logue quickly threw the ball out to the wing for junior forward Claire Wilkinson, who sent a great through ball across the field to sophomore midfielder Casey Lam. Lam dribbled into the box, evading the

Hamilton back line, and sent in a cross which was cut out just before it could reach senior forward Melina McDevitt.

In the second half, Hamilton began to gain momentum. In the 47th minute, a cross from the right side of the 18-yard box was deflected into the net by Hamilton forward Olivia Zubarik to put the Continentals up 1–0.

The goal changed the tone of the second half, as the Jumbos had to play from behind. Hamilton began to have more possession of the ball and started to test Logue more, managing to post 10 shots.

“I think [in the] second half we were playing well, we just couldn’t get a goal.

I do think second-half Hamilton was a lot more aggressive than the first,” junior forward Margaux Ameer said.

Halfway through the second half rain began to fall, and due to the grass field, conditions became more challenging for both teams. The Jumbo backline continued to hold strong after conceding the goal and limited the shots on goal for Hamilton throughout the rest of the second half.

Tufts had a few chances in the second half that were fractionally off target. Reed took a shot from the top of the box that went inches wide of the far post. Less than a minute later, she had another shot deflected just over the crossbar for a corner kick.

As time wound down, the Continentals shifted into more of a defensive formation by dropping their forwards back.

Conversely, the Jumbos changed their formation as well.

“We switched from a four-back to a three-back, just to get as many attacking players forward as we could in hopes to score,” Ameer said.

This allowed Tufts to possess the ball more in the last 10 minutes, and the team was able to keep the pressure on the Hamilton defense. Many of the Jumbos’ crosses were cleared by the Hamilton defenders before forwards could fire them into the back of the net.

In the final 15 seconds of the game, Margaux Ameer took a shot from outside the penalty box that was saved by a diving stop from the Hamilton goalie.

Unfortunately, that was the last kick of the game and time ran out on the Jumbos.

Overall, it was a very competitive game which emulated many of the games that the Jumbos have played this year. “[We are looking forward to] new blood and a fresh start, because this season didn’t go as we’d planned,” Bienstock said.

This loss ends the season for the Jumbos, who hope to take away the positives and translate them into a successful season next year.