The Tufts Daily - Friday, February 11, 2022

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXIII, ISSUE 12

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Friday, February 11, 2022

Tenants Union protests LaCourt Realty, claims exploitation, negligence

TCC group report prompts university action against antisemitism

by Claire Ferris

Assistant News Editor

Protestors are pictured outside the Davis Square T stop on Feb. 3.

by Emily Thompson Deputy News Editor

A group of 20 tenants, organizers and local supporters holding signs reading “Somervillain” and “LaCourt Lies” marched from the Davis Square T stop to the office of Mouhab Rizkallah, owner of

EMILY THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

LaCourt Realty and The Braces Place in Somerville, on Feb. 3. The protesters, organized by the LaCourt Tenants Union, demanded Rizkallah withdraw his lawsuit against former LaCourt tenant Alona Brosh, whom he has sued for $28,875 of “unpaid rent,” according to a demand letter to LaCourt Realty. Brosh was not

present at the protest and did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

In their demand letter, the tenants union claimed that Brosh was pressured to sign an “intent to renew” letter under the threat

Diane Whitney Beck, the director and vice president of the Cambridge Brickwalk Conservancy, has advocated for similar repairs to brick sidewalks in Cambridge.

“People come to Cambridge in part to see all this history,” Beck said. “But it’s not maintained well.”

While many residents agree that Davis Square’s pedestrian spaces are in need of repair, the Somerville Commission for Persons with Disabilities and DavisNow disagree on whether new sidewalks should be repaved with brick or concrete.

Bonnie Denis, the chair of the Somerville Commission for Persons with Disabilities, believes the brick sidewalks in Davis Square should be completely removed and replaced with concrete.

“The Somerville community of people with disabilities has been very clear for quite some time that we don’t believe brick is the best surface, and we’d like them to listen to our guidance,” Denis said.

Denis, who uses a wheelchair, said that concrete is “just easier to get across.”

“[It] tends to be a lot smoother and not as slick when it rains,” she said.

On the other hand, Chris Iwerks, one of the leaders of DavisNow, believes there are misconceptions about the safety of brick as opposed to concrete. “[the accessibility commission] didn’t want brick … even though you can show that both materials are acceptable,” Iwerks said. “So there’s a point at which it’s not criteria driven, it’s more feeling driven.”

A surface’s safety can be roughly measured by the amount of vibration it creates on a wheelchair. Too much vibration can cause discomfort, and in some instances, spinal damage and muscle fatigue.

In a defense of brick’s safety to those with mobility impairments, Beck pointed to a 2001 study suggesting little statistical difference between vibration caused by brick and concrete. However, Denis refuted the applicability of the study, noting that only able-bodied people participated

see PROTEST, page 2

Somerville residents are fighting for a new Davis Square, disagreement persists on what it should look like

by Aaron Gruen

Assistant News Editors

For at least three years, concerned Somerville residents have urged city hall to repair and restore damaged walkways in Davis Square. The walkways, which are primarily made of brick, are rife with missing bricks, potholes and uneven ground.

The main advocate for brick restoration is DavisNow, a group of Somerville residents lobbying city officials to divert resources and attention to repair the walkways of Davis Square, which were first laid in 1984.

The organization proposed repairs to former Mayor Joseph Curtatone three years ago, but after failing to secure a bid to perform the repairs within the city’s expected budget for the projects, the efforts stalled.

DavisNow has called on the city to straighten bent parking meters, plant trees in empty tree wells and replace faded signage, but few of these requests have been met, according to the organization’s website.

In an email to the Tufts community on Jan. 20, the Office of the President announced some of the recommendations that a committee of Tufts administrators and board members, Hillel International and TCC Group, an external consulting firm that implements social impact solutions, proposed after conducting an assessment of the prevalence of antisemitism on Tufts’ campus.

To address the concerning findings, University President Anthony Monaco shared a number of proposed solutions ranging from further education and bias awareness programs to the creation of a university-wide council of faculty and staff to advise the senior leadership team.

The report found that most members of the Tufts community, including a majority of Jewish respondents, feel that Tufts is a good place for Jewish students.

However, over half of the Jewish respondents reported witnessing antisemitism at Tufts.

According to the email, the effort initially focused on undergraduate students but ultimately heard concerns through focus groups comprised of students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees. The email, while optimistic, indicated a very real and troubling presence of antisemitism on Tufts’ campus.

Some students reported attempting to hide their Jewish identities in order to be welcome in student groups, while faculty respondents noted the difficult line between political and antisemitic speech, especially in relation to recently heightened political issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Hillel Student Board President Allison Cohen and Executive Vice President Jess Friedman, both

seniors, echoed the concerns and call to action that are highlighted in the email.

“We are very concerned about the findings,” Cohen and Friedman wrote in a joint statement to the Daily. “Antisemitism is unfortunately present at Tufts and needs to continue to be addressed and ultimately eradicated.”

Though the findings of the campus climate assessment reveal a concerning presence of antisemitism at Tufts, the email remained optimistic for the community’s future, focusing on a proposed course of action to address and eradicate antisemitism.

Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, spoke to the importance of the current and future support of existing framework to reduce antisemitism on campus.

“There is a great deal of good will and commitment in our community to eliminate antisemitism from our campuses,” Collins wrote in an email to the Daily. “We have structures already in place that are critically important to this effort, such as the Office of the Chief Diversity Officers and the Cabinet on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Other offices – such as the Dean of Student Affairs and the Office of Equal Opportunity – will continue to play important roles.”

Collins explained that, in addition to the role of these offices, the Office of the President will be taking more steps to adopt the recommendations made by the committee.

“We are in the early stages of assembling a university-wide advisory council of faculty and staff who will advise the senior leadership team on the best ways to approach the implementation process,” Collins wrote. see ANTISEMITISM, page 2

NATALIE BROWNSELL / THE TUFTS DAILY

see DAVIS, page 2

The Granoff Family Hillel Center is pictured on Feb. 9.

ARTS / page 4

FEATURES / page 3

SPORTS / back

‘Artists Call’ calls for solidarity with Central American History

As housing prices rise, SCLT looks increase affordability

Our sports writers break down the upcoming Super Bowl matchup

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

BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, February 11, 2022

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Union protests unjust landlord-tenant relationship in Somerville PROTEST

continued from page 1 that her residence would be placed on the market immediately if she refused. After Brosh’s roommates moved out in August 2020, she also moved out of the apartment because she was unable to find replacement roommates, according to the organizers.

“Despite her only having signed the letter indicating her intention to renew, since the term of her sublease ended LaCourt has claimed she is obligated not only to pay rent for a place where she no longer lives, but also to pay the rent of her two former roommates,” the demand letter from the LaCourt Tenants Union reads.

In addition to demonstrating solidarity with Brosh, the protesters also claimed that LaCourt raised rents and continued evictions during the pandemic, exploited its tenants and neglected its maintenance duties.

Speaking through a bullhorn on the steps of Rizkallah’s office while one of his employees filmed, Michael M. explained the important role of the tenants union to “[resist] the current housing situation in Boston.”

“People everywhere [are] exploited … by government institutions, by racism and patriarchy and imperialism,” Michael said. “If you start now, you can be an agent.

… You can change the course of history. If you can convince yourself that you’re worthy, you can take part in the proper struggle to free the world.”

In an email to the Daily, Rizkallah said the union is making “nonsensical demands” rooted in baseless accusations.

“Ms. Brosh is an adult that made a contractual commitment that she failed to honor, and that failure caused harm,” Rizkallah wrote.

According to Rizkallah, LaCourt has approximately 3,000 tenants in the Boston area, and he said that LaCourt has a dedicated administrative and maintenance staff but conceded that it is not a perfect business.

Addressing further claims made by the protesters, Rizkallah said that LaCourt did not raise rents during the pandemic, with the exception of two apartments, and that certain tenants had renewed their leases at a higher rent prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

“Those increases came into effect during the Pandemic, but were not created during the pandemic,” Rizkallah wrote. (At Rizkallah’s request, all formatting has been retained from the original correspondence.)

After marching through Davis Square, protesters chanted, “No justice, no peace!” and “You know what’s disgusting? Union bust-

ing!” outside of Rizkallah’s orthodontics office.

Minutes after they arrived outside Rizkallah’s office, the protesters were met by a police officer.

After chatting with an organizer, the officer stood a few feet away across the street, leaning against his car and watching the remainder of the protest. Rizkallah declined to comment on whether he or someone in his office contacted the police.

Rizkallah said LaCourt was initially open to speaking with the tenants union to address any issues they might have been unaware of.

“It became quickly clear that there were no problems,” Rizkallah wrote. “We have stopped interacting with this hostile group, and most tenants resent them as pretending to represent tenants.”

Rizkallah repeatedly claimed the people protesting were members of the Greater Boston Tenants Union and not LaCourt tenants.

Maria, a LaCourt tenant who participated in the protest, said she looked into the union after experiencing maintenance issues in her building and feeling that LaCourt was blaming those issues on the renters. She was inspired to protest after hearing of Brosh’s case.

“If I were in [Brosh’s] position, I would hope people would show up for me too,” Maria said. “It’s really great that there is a space where we

can all come together and then just be there for each other when things go wrong.”

Rizkallah defended LaCourt Realty against the protesters’ allegations.

“The[ir] basic premise… is that housing is a right, and no one should profit from it – They repeatedly stated this at their protest,” Rizkallah wrote. “The law of supply and demand makes affluent University areas such as Davis Square cost more, just as Tufts University costs more than a state school.”

Protesters repeatedly referenced the current lawsuit against Rizkallah, brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, for allegedly defrauding MassHealth by intentionally leaving children’s braces on for longer than necessary in order to collect more money.

Rizkallah explained to the Daily that he is suing the attorney general for defamation and is also planning to file a defamation lawsuit against a former LaCourt tenant and current tenants union organizer, Michael Ventura, for making “improper public statements” against him.

Rizkallah said that some of his tenants have left the union “because they knew they were at risk of a defamation lawsuit for the false public statements.”

Chloe Courtney Bohl contributed reporting to this article.

Students report witnessing antisemitism, feeling the need to hide Jewish identities at Tufts ANTISEMITISM

continued from page 1 Cohen and Friedman said that Hillel is optimistic about the committee’s recommendations and the university’s efforts to resist antisemitism.

“We are very encouraged by President Monaco’s leadership in taking on this comprehensive survey on antisemitism and for his commitment to implementing its recommendations,” Cohen and Friedman wrote.

As another first step, Tufts has joined Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative to learn practices and solutions from peer institutions.

“We are also encouraged that the administration, along with Tufts Hillel, is part of the Campus

Climate Initiative,” Cohen and Friedman wrote.

“With our engagement with CCI, we will be able to learn from the other 18 institutions in this year’s cohort, which will help us respond to the recommendations that the ad hoc committee has made,” Collins wrote.

The CCI initiative is yearlong and helps higher education leaders develop plans to meaningfully improve their campus climates, with the goal of eliminating antisemitism.

Collins also elaborated on other courses of action, including dialogue, education and training, proposed by the committee and outlined in the president’s email.

“As part of our response to the ad hoc committee’s recom-

mendations, we will be enhancing our education and training for students, faculty and staff on what is considered antisemitism and antisemitic speech,” Collins wrote. “We also will be promoting conversation, dialogue, and discussion forums on understanding better the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, which often influences how antisemitism manifests itself at our university.”

Collins stressed the important role undergraduate students play in fighting antisemitism, with Cohen and Friedman echoing the importance of continued action in response to the survey results.

“The survey and recommendations are a great start, and we hope that the university will

continue with their efforts to act on the recommendations that emerged from the survey with full transparency,” Cohen and Friedman wrote.

As the university continues to polish and implement their solutions, self-reflection and individual action will remain of paramount importance to the success of these solutions and Tufts’ social climate as a whole.

“The most important thing any member of our community can do … is to be vigilant and speak up if you see an act of antisemitism,” Collins wrote.

“We all play a part in ridding our community of antisemitism and in making it clear to all members of our community that they are welcome and safe here.”

Accessibility advocates say Davis should be repaved in concrete DAVIS

continued from page 1 in testing, tests were only conducted on inclined surfaces and trial scenarios did not account for moisture on surfaces.

Mayor Katjana Ballantyne has expressed support for pedestrianizing Elm Street and updating brick sidewalks, but she noted in a letter to DavisNow last year that “the first priority needs to be to make sure that Davis Square is ADA accessible.”

Denis emphasized that if Elm Street were to be converted into a pedestrian-only zone, it would have to be not just safe but also inclusive of pedestrians with disabilities.

The city is currently working to develop plans for a Davis Square

renovation, Somerville Deputy Director of Communications and Community Engagement Meghann Ackerman told the Daily, but officials haven’t yet decided whether the new sidewalks will be made up of brick or concrete.

Although city hall has yet to estimate the potential cost of repairing Davis Square’s sidewalks, DavisNow estimated that the restoration of sidewalks, curbs, poles and trees would cost around $740,000.

Iwerks said he doesn’t expect his group’s proposals to be taken up immediately by Mayor Ballantyne, who is currently working to implement her 100-day plan.

“It’s really very early,” Iwerks said. “[The 100-day plan] is very ambitious, it contains lots and lots

of socially oriented things and climatological issues, so I think it may be a little bit early to expect that this kind of endeavor is going to get a lot of traction.”

In Iwerks’ opinion, the condition of bricks in Davis Square unfairly characterizes the safety of other brick installations with better laying methods.

The streets of Davis Square are pictured on Jan. 30.

ELIN SHIH / THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

Features

Somerville Community Land Trust looks to address housing affordability, access

3 Friday, February 11, 2022

Koloris Wu Kolumn

Lunar New Year and feeling at home anywhere

T

IAN LAU / THE TUFTS DAILY

A row of Somerville houses is pictured on Feb. 1.

by Chris Duncan Features Editor

Many members of the Tufts community call Somerville home, but that is becoming a reality increasingly out of reach for some within and beyond our community. With the inequities in Greater Boston’s housing supply exacerbated by the pandemic, the Somerville Community Land Trust is doing its part to strengthen housing affordability in the city, moving towards community ownership of land and housing.

A community land trust is a nonprofit organization that exists to acquire land in order to increase ownership within the community. Most of the time, and in the context of Somerville, they work to create and preserve long-term, affordable housing. CLTs are usually structured democratically and are governed by a board made up of community members. The SCLT currently has an interim board, but eventually, its board of directors will consist of one-third residents of CLT units, one-third SCLT service area residents and one-third housing experts and community leaders.

Ben Baldwin (AG’16) is a dedicated SCLT volunteer. He recounted that CLTs in the United States emerged during the civil rights era when Black Southerners living on leased land would be evicted for registering to vote.

From there, he said, people got together and worked to acquire land collectively so that they could secure their voting rights without facing eviction.

“Maybe no one person could afford to buy land, but together they could,” Baldwin said. “It really does come from that kind of intersection of social justice and land [justice].”

Somerville’s own CLT, however, doesn’t trace back very far. According to Baldwin, the conversation around creating a community land trust in Somerville emerged ahead of the 2017 local elections.

Baldwin, a Tufts Master of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning alum, wanted to lend his own expertise to the organization; at the time, he was a Somerville resident working as the operations manager for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a

community land trust in Roxbury and North Dorchester.

With the support from much of the city government, the SCLT formally launched in 2018.

Today, the SCLT is continuing to fundraise and has hired a consultant to help in its campaign. It also received seed funding from a community benefits agreement negotiated by the Union Square Neighborhood Council and plans to use that money to hire its first executive director, Baldwin said. However, most importantly, the SCLT is working on acquiring its first housing units.

In Somerville City Councilor Ben EwenCampen’s words, the SCLT is “sprinting” towards acquiring its first piece of land. The organization is remaining tight lipped about the details, but there is a clear sense of enthusiasm and urgency on the SCLT’s part.

“Everybody always wants things to move fast … but this is a particular[ly] strange case, which is why it’s sort of ended up in our lap,” Baldwin said.

Swift and decisive action to create permanently affordable housing in Somerville cannot come soon enough. Tufts Senior Lecturer of UEP Laurie Goldman diagnoses Somerville’s housing problem with a number of causes. Firstly, there is the problem of supply — there simply isn’t enough housing for every person who wants to live in Somerville, especially lower-income people and families.

Secondly, the community actors working on building permanently affordable housing are competing for increasingly few opportunities to do so.

Ewen-Campen, who is a founding board member of the SCLT, noted that the SCLT’s capacity for land acquisition is limited by the high price of land.

“I think that … we want to get housing into the land trust however we possibly can. … We are just going to only be limited by the astronomical price of land,” Ewen-Campen said.

Baldwin echoed Ewen-Campen’s sentiment about the difficulty of acquiring land, particularly in the context of Somerville.

“I mean, just the fact that there isn’t a lot of vacant land in Somerville makes [acquiring it] more difficult. It’s all wrapped up in the problem of Somerville being a small city that’s close to Boston with cool stuff,” Baldwin

said. “People want to be there. People want to live there.”

For the time being, the SCLT is currently looking at acquiring existing housing and subsidizing its affordability. They’re flexible, however, and they want to explore any ways possible to expand its affordable housing stock.

“For a smaller organization like ours, [building new affordable housing involves] a lot of risk, money, a lot of technical know-how to build from the ground up, even if you’re hiring somebody else to do it,” Baldwin said.

Above all, the organization is simply eager for opportunities.

“If there’s an opportunity for developing new housing, we’re definitely interested in that, especially if we can latch onto bigger projects — something like the Union Square redevelopment or other Green Line Extension stops,” Baldwin said.

But one aspect of the CLT that EwenCampen emphasizes is not just the results of stable, affordable housing stock but also of community governance.

“Once we have people living in these homes and making decisions collectively, you could certainly imagine that they will start to prioritize additional things that they want to see on the land that the land trust owns,” Ewen-Campen said. “If you look at DSNI, Dudley Square Neighborhood Initiative, for example, that is one [place] where my sense is that the residents also place a huge value on open space, community gardens, small businesses, things that really make a neighborhood.”

The land trust is only just beginning to materialize. Certainly, with housing prices in Somerville at the levels they’re at currently and with looming pressures to housing prices like the incoming Green Line Extension, the need for permanently affordable housing in Somerville will likely increase.

“There’s this famous phrase that gets used in land trusts — just like planting a tree, the best time to start a land trust is thirty years ago, and the second-best time is now,” Ewen-Campen said. “I want people thirty years from now to look back and think, ‘Oh, thank God they started this thing while they still could.’”

he 31st of January is a special day for people whose cultures adopted the Lunar Calendar — a full lunar Year of the Ox has ended.

Different from the solar calendar, which records time in terms of the Earth’s completion of orbiting the sun, the lunar calendar is based on the different phases of the moon. Therefore, there are discrepancies in time measurements and definition of ‘the New Year.’ More than simply a timing system, the lunar calendar bears additional cultural meanings, one of which is the Chinese zodiac — a traditional classification scheme that assigns an animal to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. This scheme is widely practiced by Asian countries including Vietnam, Korea and China.

The completion of a lunar year is exuberantly celebrated by such countries, similar to the celebration of Christmas in the West. The Lunar New Year is significant because it is a special occasion where people can take a breather from their hectic work schedules, go back to their hometowns and reunite with their extended families.

During this time period, people practice many traditional activities to express their joy, and having a grand meal on the Lunar New Year’s Eve is the most important one. The meal symbolizes family integrity as well as a decent end of previous year; it carries over good wishes for the new year. On a typical Chinese family table, there are an even number of dishes, and one is a fish entrée, since ‘fish’ is a homonym for ‘excess’ in Chinese. Both ‘table rules’ bear the meaning of good fortune.

Although not being situated in the same cultural environment can make the celebration difficult, Asian communities on the East Coast of the US try their best to remain attached to their traditions. Delayed by 13 hours from China Standard Time, they still share their joy by sending blessings to family and friends, as well as having that big New Year’s Eve dinner.

On the 31st of January, Chinese restaurants all over the US were crowded by dine-in customers and takeout orders. Instagram even created Year of the Tiger story stickers for communities to share their celebration online. These behaviors not only are an opportunity to have fun together but also a confirmation of identity, especially when people are far away from home. Such confirmation is important to individuals as they get a sense of belonging by identifying themselves with people from similar backgrounds.

This also gives valuable mental support, relieving their nostalgia towards their mother country, hometown and most importantly, family.

Koloris is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Koloris can be reached at Caibinfen.Wu@tufts.edu.

4 Friday, February 11, 2022

WEEKENDER

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‘Artists Call’ at Tufts University Art Galleries promotes historical dialogue

by Sadie Leite Arts Editor

For about five years, curators Abigail Satinsky and Erina Duganne have worked on the new Tufts University Art Gallery “Art For the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities,” which opened Jan. 20 on the Boston and Medford campuses.

On Wednesday afternoon, with midday sunshine lighting the gallery and its work, Satinsky first explained the history behind the exhibition to contextualize its main themes.

In the United States in the 1980s, refugees fled political violence in Central American countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. Additionally, Central Americans participated in revolutions to protest brutal government policies. However, Ronald Reagan’s presidency and fear of communism prompted the U.S. to support oppressive right-wing governments, meaning the U.S. was responsible for these governments’ violent suppression of Central Americans.

“Artists wanted to talk about it, share information about it and raise awareness,” Satinsky said.

Therefore, in 1982, “Luchar! An Exhibition for the People of Central America” –– an exhibition showcasing political strife in Central America –– took place. Artist Daniel Ascencio Flores spoke, advocating for larger resistance. The resulting campaign, “Artists Call Against U.S Intervention in Central America,” was a broader version of “Luchar!

An Exhibition for the People of Central America.”

More than 1,100 artists in 27 chapters across the U.S. contributed to the campaign. The widespread political and artistic response of the 1980s is the focus of Tufts’ current exhibition, “Artists Call and Central American Solidarities.”

The gallery presents a range of artwork. For instance, two photos taken by Susan Meiselas hang at the entrance. The first, taken in Nicaragua in 1979, depicts a “street fighter,” a desolate environment in his background. The second, from El Salvador in 1980, shows two white hands on a red door –– the death squad’s sign for murdered civilians.

Much of Meiselas’ work promotes awareness around human rights issues in Latin America.

Specifically, some of her photos featured in The New York Times Magazine in 1978 helped educate readers on the insurrection against the Somoza regime in Nicaragua.

Many of her photos from the 1981 El Salvador Mozote Massacre have also been used to commemorate the victims and draw attention to the event.

Satinsky turned to three glass tables in the center of the gallery. Colorful documents, flyers and schedules decorated their tops. According to Satinsky, these

The arts exhibit “Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities” is pictured. archives, which are from the Museum of Modern Art, form the backbone of the exhibition.

Satinsky described how Duganne, her co-curator, discovered these archives at MoMA in 2015.

“They were uncataloged, they were sitting in boxes, … and this sort of starts her on the research of seeing how large ‘Artists Call’ was and how many people were involved.”

Satinsky continued, discussing a critical, shared intention of the curators.

“Erina and I don’t have the lived experience of … being from Central America,” she said.

“So, we invited a range of artists, who have a range of experiences, to think about what the archives are telling them.”

Satinsky and Duganne commissioned five artists to respond to the archives. A catalog that accompanies the exhibit showcases the artists’ insights.

Artist Josh McPhee’s billboard is a part of the Boston SMFA “Artists Call” exhibit. Satinsky said that his catalog piece centers on making the MoMA archives more accessible.

Salvadoran artist Beatrice Cortez questioned the original representation of Central American artists in “Artists Call.” Her piece in the catalog inserts critical art from Central American history into the original “Artists Call” exhibitions.

Shifting from the thoughts in the catalog back to the art in the space, Satinsky gestured to a raw canvas covering almost all of the gallery’s right wall.

“This is a pretty important work that we’re able to have here,” she said, explaining that it was Leon Golub’s artwork “Napalm 1,” a reference to the Vietnam War. “It is a work explicitly speaking to political violence and masculinity,” she said. “He makes it by mixing his pigments and … [using] a butcher knife to push the pigments around. So even in the act of making, it’s speaking to this kind of political violence.”

Satinsky moved on, introducing Muriel Hasbun’s collection of art and noting that the section “goes into this idea of making and community.” In the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, Hasbun’s mother ran the avant-garde gallery El Laberinto in El Salvador. From it, Hasbun organized a small collection of

work from her mother’s archives for Tufts.

“I think when we’re talking about communities, they’re often contentious,” Satinsky said. “They’re not homogenous, and they have their own relationships.”

Hasbun’s mother’s gallery and the selected work currently on display express these more nuanced intentions of “Artists Call.”

In addition to a piece in the catalog, artist Beatrice Cortez was commissioned to create a separate work of art for the exhibition.

Cortez made a “geodesic dome” that viewers can climb inside of.

Hanging from the sculpture are “Artists Call” archives. There are family photographs, political clippings and other pieces of history.

Satinsky then elaborated on this assortment, explaining Cortez as “creating this confluence.”

“She’s thinking about herself as a young person, as a young artist living in El Salvador when ‘Artists Call’ was happening,” Satinsky said.

“But there was this gesture across time, so this structure is meant to cross time as well.”

The final section, called “SelfDetermination and Sovereignty,” is downstairs.

COURTESY SADIE LEITE

“One of the core tenets of ‘Artists Call’ was about self-determination for Central American peoples and very much that is tied up with indigenous self-determination,” Satinsky said.

To end the exhibition, Satinsky mentioned an artwork that comments on the pervasive nature of historical trauma. It is a 2003 film by Daniel Flores that presents interviews of “La Mantanza” descendants, survivors of the January 1932 massacre that killed between 10,000 and 40,000 Salvadorans who were protesting the oppressive government.

“We end with that piece because it speaks to the cyclical nature of things,” Satinsky said. “It speaks to the kind of complexity of experiences and how we tell stories.”

The exhibit certainly speaks to the complexity of history and the importance of the stories woven through it. “Art For the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities” is an impressive display of this complexity of experience. Open until April 24, it is sure to spark important dialogue and memorialize the victims of atrocity.

A r t s & P o p C u lt u r e

Friday, February 11, 2022 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY

5

Sacha Waters Public Cinemy No. 1

Introduction

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Request for 2022 Bridging Differences Seed Grant Proposals The Bridging Differences Task Force is now accepting proposals for the next round of seed grant funding. Selected proposals will be funded by the Office of the Provost to support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across Tufts. Any Tufts student, faculty, or staff member may apply for up to $2,000 in funding for initiatives that will be implemented in the spring, summer, and fall of 2022.

The Bridging Differences Task Force encourages applications that are proposed by members of multiple campuses or by a cross-section of students, staff, and faculty. Projects that aim to unify multiple campuses or cross-sections of the Tufts community are highly encouraged.

The deadline for 2022 proposals is February 18, 2022 at 5 p.m. Final funding decisions will be made based on overall impact score, available funds, and the funding level required for project implementation with the goal of accepting proposals from a range of colleges. All proposals will be notified of the outcome and accepted proposals will be posted on our website.

To learn more, please visit https://diversity.tufts.edu/what-we-do/initiatives/bridgingdifferences/bridging-differences-grant-program/. You can access the application here.

Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure: All proposals will be deemed proprietary and confidential and will be protected against any unauthorized use and any unauthorized or uncontrolled disclosure beyond Tufts. We look forward to receiving your proposals. If you have questions in anticipation of the funding deadline, please contact us at BridgingDifferences@tufts.edu.

have always loved that moment when the lights go down in a movie theater. Whether you’re watching a summer blockbuster with friends, laughing and sharing popcorn or absorbing the newest avant-garde French feature straight from Cannes, moviegoing transports you into another place, another life, another mind.

I’ve spent my life captivated by the art, from begging my grandma to let me watch Tim Burton’s vampire flick at nine years old to memorizing the “Teen Beach Movie” (2013) soundtrack as a tween to watching “Parasite” (2019) every day for a week straight during quarantine. I am a political science major because of Armando Iannucci, and I don’t know how much of my personality developed naturally and how much I stole from “Megamind” (2010).

The art of film and television is beautiful, fascinating and complex, and every time I watch a new favorite movie, it feels like the director is peeling back the layers of my heart.

Cinema is more than a periscope into another world — it is a mirror through which we can observe ourselves. Film and television from every country imaginable reflect its politics, culture and society. It is no accident that media examining wealth inequality has spiked in South Korea, that French cinema is undergoing a resurgence of Banlieue filmmaking portraying suburban poverty and police violence or that China’s 2021 war epic depicting American military defeat smashed box office records.

Whether the message of a film or show is that blatant or whether it can only be found subliminally, cinema within every community imaginable reflects and even directs societal issues and commentary.

When I tell people I study political science and film and media studies, I laugh with them about how unrelated the two are, about how random it seems, but every day I become further convinced that the two fields are more entwined than we imagine. That idea constitutes the birth of this column, where I will write about the connections between cinematic trends and broader cultural phenomena with the expertise and brazen confidence of a 19-year-old college student who has yet to be thrust into the real world. I’m no Scorsese, but I am a self-professed addict to film and civics alike. As I wish to spare my poor suitemates from the constant tirades, I will henceforth be subjecting the entire Tufts community to my love of film.

We’ll examine different countries, creators and audiences, focusing on whatever I feel like that week because this is my column and here I control the narrative. We’ll cover all my favorite methods of communication: rambling, raving and ranting, with a touch of copy editing to make it a tad more coherent. I hope you’re as thrilled to see where this goes as I am, and I can’t wait to talk about my interests with you all (and perhaps insult some of your favorite movies and shows in the process).

Until next time, Sacha Sacha is a sophomore studying political science. Sacha can be reached at Sacha.

Waters@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Pop Culture | Friday, February 11, 2022

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Liz Buehl The Journey

Behind closet doors

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ach time I take to The Tufts Daily with my words, I strive to be as vulnerable and honest as possible. I have come back to this platform for another semester seeking to continue expanding upon the message that I have previously shared in The Journey.

I plan to foster the same sentiments giving you a window into my real, genuine, beautiful yet messy world.

I grew up wearing a khaki skirt and a hunter green polo shirt with white stripes on the collar. The embroidered crest logo in the top right corner decorated the apparel of my youth. Every weekday, when I would open up my closet, my hands mechanically reached in for a hanger; I already knew what I was putting on.

My relationship with clothing has been neither smooth nor linear. Being a fervently opinionated, assertive yet anxious young girl, I was constantly in pursuit of what I deemed the best apparel, settling for nothing less than what I deemed perfectly fitting, flattering, stylish and comfortable.

Wearing a uniform simultaneously gave me a sense of freedom and engulfed me. While

one would assume my predetermined school attire offered an escape from decision making, in reality, it simply brought up different emotions.

At eight years old, I can remember being conscious of the length of my skirt. Each fall, I would enter the uniform store and proceed to try on innumerable skirts. An array of sizes hung off of my frame. I would roll the waist, manually doctoring the length, trying to make it as short as possible. At school, I’d walk around campus with my peers, glimpsing at my reflection in window panes. I silently chastised my juvenile body for the way it looked.

As I have matured, I have slowly begun to develop a sense of

peace with clothing. Thankfully, being a college student without a uniform has given me the agency to choose what I want to wear each day, allowing me to mold my identity in a new and exciting way.

Moreover, stepping out of my former environment has allowed me to see the way I present my body in a new, more clear light.

Recognizing that my story is a manifesto ridden with privilege, I wish to tell my younger self the following: Dear Liz, Your body is not broken. You are organically beautiful in your own light. You get to choose how you show up in the world each and every day, mind and body. You are loved for who you are on the inside.

7 Friday, February 11, 2022 The way society sexualizes your body is not and has never been your fault. Your feminine identity is something to celebrate rather than fear. Own your confidence from within; seeking external validation is destructive.

Be unapologetically who you are, not who you think others want you to be.

Have patience with yourself. Peace comes in waves and growth is a journey. When you celebrate your strengths and do what makes you happy, you fill your own cup.

Liz Buehl is a sophomore at Tufts studying psychology. Liz can be reached at Elizabeth.Buehl@ tufts.edu

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8 Friday, February 11, 2022

Aiden Herrod The Intangibles

An ode to parity in the NFL

SPORTS

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Sports writers predict Super Bowl LVI winners

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his weekend, millions of people across America will sit down to watch one of the most exciting-on-paper Super Bowl matchups in history. Why? Because nobody saw it coming. On one side is the Cincinnati Bengals — who entered the 2022 season boasting similar Super Bowl odds to the likes of the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets — and on the other, the Los Angeles Rams, who bet a boatload of draft picks on a flashy quarterback who had never won a playoff game.

While a few savvy bettors believed in Los Angeles’ chance to succeed due to the big names the team was amassing in veterans, such as Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller, other NFC teams like the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were far safer picks. Meanwhile, Cincinnati has transformed into a bonafide Cinderella story thanks to the heroics of superstar second-year quarterback Joe Burrow.

Who will win? I instead ask a more important question: Who cares? This NFL season has put an exclamation point on the reason we all love it more than any of the other big American sports leagues — true parity. Any given Sunday, a lowly bottom feeder can knock off a Super Bowl favorite and look like the better team for all 60 minutes while doing so. It’s what makes the Sunday slates of games so wildly entertaining.

Basketball had the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs before them, the Miami Heat before them and the Chicago Bulls before them. Superstars banding together along with a couple of generationally great coaches and players largely decide the fabric of the NBA’s power balance.

Baseball is a mess of bloated and minuscule payrolls clashing together, with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers outspending small markets by more than double their own salary caps. Don’t get me wrong, both sports are perfectly entertaining to watch, but true parity and unknown outcomes only come along every once in a while.

In fact, until recently, football was plagued by this feeling as well, but we are entering a new era of exciting possibilities in the wake of a true changing of the guard. The crumbling of the New England Patriots’ dynasty ended the most dominant single franchise’s run in sports history. In the past three years, we’ve seen decades-long stalwarts in Philip Rivers, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady all call it a day, opening the door for a wildly fun and entertaining new crop of quarterbacks who have yet to truly establish a hierarchy amidst one another. Even football’s new GOAT heir-apparent, Patrick Mahomes, fell to a slice of new hotness in the Super Bowl-appearing Burrow.

Parity to such an extreme and unpredictable level is what elevates football in my mind.

It gives me hope for my favorite teams, year in and year out, and lends an intense but addictive legitimacy to all the villains of the league.

It allows me to sit down for any game and immediately get invested, whether it’s the first week of the season or the Super Bowl. Most of all, it gives me hope that we can crown one of the most unexpected champions in recent memory with Cincinnati, a team whose swagger, fanbase and likability are all the best thing the NFL could ask for.

Aiden is a senior studying film and media studies. Aiden can be reached at Aiden.

Herrod@tufts.edu

SoFi stadium, the venue of Super Bowl LVI, is pictured in November 2021.

Name: Isaac Karp Winner: Bengals Score: 34–28 Explanation: It’s time for Joe Burrow. At the end of the day there’s no one else you would rather have controlling your offense in the last two minutes of the game right now in the NFL. The Bengals are on an unbelievable hot stretch and put themselves into a position that every franchise dreams of when making a playoff run.

Sophomore quarterback sensation Joe Burrow has nothing to lose and everything to gain for a franchise that hadn’t won a playoff game for 31 years.

Meanwhile, the Rams risk their prime chance to take home the Lombardi trophy with Matt Stafford nearing the end of his career. I’m rolling with the Bengals, and I’m confident they won’t let me down.

Name: Ethan Grubelich Winner: Rams Score: 21–17 Explanation: I sense upset potential because I believe the Bengals, not the Rams, have played their best football down the stretch. However, I think the most lopsided matchup that ultimately decides this game for the Rams is their star-studded defensive line against the Bengals’ less-than-desirable offensive line, which has caused Joe Burrow problems already in this year’s playoffs.

Super Bowl LV saw the home team’s defensive line exploit their opponent’s offense line weakness en route to victory, and the Rams have the chance to make history repeat itself this year.

Name: Ananda Kao Winner: Bengals Score: 27–24 Explanation: Joe Burrow hates losing, and the Bengals are long overdue to bring an NFL championship back to Cincinnati. Everyone loves a good underdog story (when the Patriots are no longer contenders).

Name: Sam Dieringer Winner: Rams Score: 24–17 Explanation: This is going to be a close one. While I believe the Rams are the favorites, Joe Burrow and those loyal to Cincinnati feel as though they have all the momentum with this Cinderella run. However, I do believe that this game is going to be a tale of two lines, with the fearsome Rams’ D-line that includes the likes of Aaron Donald and

Von Miller constantly breaching the Bengals’ more meager O-line. While Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals have an incredibly bright future, the Rams’ experience coupled with their current all around talent on both sides of the field is hard to ignore.

Name: Arielle Weinstein Winner: Rams Score: 27–21 Explanation: While I would like to see a Bengals victory, I think this game will be dictated by two significant factors: line vs. line and star power.

Although the Bengals were able to hold off the Chiefs’ pass rush in the AFC Championship, they will be facing a much more experienced Rams defensive line which includes Von Miller and Aaron Donald among other threats. If they are able to get to Joe Burrow and/ or stop the Bengals’ run game, this could be ugly for Cincinnati. Also, the Rams are loaded with star power such as Matthew Stafford (who is having a great year), Odell Beckham Jr., Jalen Ramsey and not to mention the triple crown winner Cooper Kupp. All of this added to the fact that the Rams will be playing at home, and we all know what happened the last time a Super Bowl was played at home.

Name: Matt Chen Winner: Bengals Score: 30–27 Explanation: Full disclosure, I am fully aboard the Joe Burrow hype train.

The Bengals offense has been explosive, sporting a budding superstar at quarterback, a revitalized Joe Mixon (shoutout to everyone who drafted him in fantasy), and one of the NFL’s most talented receiving corps. The offensive line is an issue, but if Burrow is able to stay mobile around the pocket and mix in some short routes to get the ball out of his hands quickly, the Bengals should be able to outpace the Rams defense. Matt Stafford is legit and the Rams have talent for days on both sides of the ball, but this is a Rams team that nearly blew a 27–3 point lead against the Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional, needed a collapse from the Bucs defense to prevent overtime and overall has looked shaky at times this season. I think this game will be extremely back and forth, with both offenses trading jabs at one another, but the Bengals will finally bring a Lombardi Trophy back to Cincinnati

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

off a game-winning field goal from Evan McPherson.

Name: Tim Valk Winner: Rams Score: 16–10 Explanation: Joe Burrow’s Bengals are the Cinderella story, but the Rams have it all and are built to win now. Les Snead has accumulated a star-studded front line, with Von Miller, Odell Beckham Jr., DeSean Jackson and Eric Weddle all donning the golden horns.

We’ve seen Burrow survive (and, for a large part, thrive) despite his shaky offensive line, but the Rams’ front-four pressure could prove to be too much.

The game has a chance to be lower scoring than predicted with both quarterbacks in their inaugural Super Bowls.

Name: Steven Landry Winner: Rams Score: 27–6 Explanation: Unfortunately for the city of Cincinnati, this Super Bowl looks like it’s going to be a case of Cincy football deja vu. In front of thousands of their most loyal fans, the Rams likable quarterback Matt Stafford will throw for 350+ yards passing. On the other hand, the league’s most sacked QB Joey B will be picking grass out of his helmet for most of the game in futile attempts to escape Aaron Donald and friends. The Bengals will suffer the same fate as their collegiate affiliate, and the Rams will win 27–6.

Name: Alex Sharp Winner: Bengals Score: 24–17 Explanation: Put the rock in Joe Burrow’s hands and get out of the way.

Name: Oliver Fox Winner: Rams Score: 27–13 Explanation: The Joe Burrow fandom can only produce a certain level of mental gymnastics to justify an upset, and at the end of the day, the Rams hold a significant advantage in all the places games are won and lost. They lead the league in pass rush win rate against an offensive line that has struggled to protect Joe Burrow all season.

Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd and Von Miller are going to be simply too much to handle. Cooper Kupp will run circles around the Bengals secondary, and while the gasping Bengals may manage a few short plays, using brute force, the Rams will win their first Super Bowl representing the city of Los Angeles.