2011-10-03

THE TUFTS DAILY

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TUFTSDAILY.COM

Monday, October 3, 2011

VOLUME LXII, NUMBER 17

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

University invests Tufts-in-Chile program on track despite strikes $500,000 in community bank

by Saumya Vaishampayan

Daily Editorial Board

by

Corinne Segal

Daily Editorial Board

The Board of Trustees last semester invested $500,000 of the university’s operating cash into a community bank, a decision that promotes responsible sustainable investment, according to junior Caroline Incledon, president of Students at Tufts for Investment Responsibility (STIR).

The money that the university invested is not from the endowment, but it is part of the short-term cash that they invest in order to secure the money and gain interest on it, Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell said.

The Board of Trustees selected a community bank that met their standards and invested the money last semester, Campbell said.

“We’re always looking for good places to deposit our cash so we can have it secure, as well as earning the best interest rates,” she said.

Campbell did not specify the specific bank in which the university invested.

Two student groups, the Advisory Committee on Endowment Responsibility (ACER) — formerly the Advisory Committee on Shareholder see INVESTMENT, page 2

Amid widespread student strikes in Santiago, students participating in this semester’s Tufts-in-Chile program have been able to take classes at Chilean universities and are scheduled to complete the program on time.

Demanding education reforms, university and high-school students have been on strike since early August, causing several Chilean universities to postpone classes.

Tufts students abroad in Chile during the fall semester, which begins in midJuly, normally take most of their classes at the University of Chile along with a Spanish language class at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, according to Associate Dean of Programs Abroad Sheila Bayne.

Many departments of the University of Chile have been on strike since the end of May and have not been offering classes, forcing Tufts students to take more of their classes at Catholic University, Tufts-in-Chile Resident Director Carmen Gloria Guiñez said in an email to the Daily.

Chilean university students often go on strike during the semester that begins in March, when the university budgets are decided and scholarship levels are determined, according to Professor of History Peter Winn, the faculty advisor for the Tufts-in-Chile program. But the strike, which surpassed typical student issues such as interest rates on loans, has lasted longer than most, he said.

Courtesy Hailey Alm

Strikes calling for education reform have forced the Tufts-in-Chile abroad program to make some changes, but have not canceled the program entirely.

“What was different was that in addition to articulating student demands, students began articulating a much larger reform agenda,” Winn said, adding that students were protesting the privatization of education and prevalence of for-profit universities. “Put all of that together you have an explanation for as to why this has been so dif-

ficult to resolve.”

Two of the departments at the University of Chile, which operate with some autonomy within the university, resumed a few classes for the benefit of study abroad students, according to Guiñez. see CHILE, page 2

Wittich Symposium to showcase research by

Fund for Alternative Energy Research.

Peter Wittich (E ’83), who started the fund with his wife, Denise, will introduce a series of short lectures about Tufts faculty and student research facilitated by the family’s donations.

The event is the second of its

Nina Goldman

Contributing Writer

The Wittich Energy Sustainability Research Symposium will tomorrow showcase new findings in sustainable energy. The event, hosted by the School of Engineering, presents research that is supported by the Peter and Denise Wittich Family

see WITTICH, page 2

TCU Senate Update

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

The City of Somerville changed its ticketing procedures last week, and will now issue parking tickets to vehicles with expired registrations and inspections.

Somerville introduces new ticket laws

by Julia

Wedgle

Contributing Writer

The City of Somerville last week began issuing $50 parking tickets to vehicles with expired registrations and inspections.

Previously, Somerville police had given violators a one-week warning in order to give them

time to renew expired registration or inspection, according to Somerville’s Director of Traffic and Parking Matthew Dias.

Violators who did not renew their registration or inspection would then be fined $100, have their car towed and get points deducted from their

licenses by the Somerville Police Department, according to Dias.

The new law allows parking inspectors to issue $50 tickets without a warning, according to Dias.

Several cities and towns

Inside this issue

see TICKETS, page 2

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate held in-house elections last night during their first full meeting of the semester, electing three representatives to the Allocations Board (ALBO) and one representative to the Boston Intercollegiate Leadership Council (BILC).

Freshmen Matthew Roy, Darien Headen and Jessie Serrino were elected to ALBO. One of the seats on ALBO was left vacant when former associate treasurer Christie Maciejewski, a sophomore, was elected TCU Senate treasurer last month.

Ard Ardalan, a junior, will fill Maciejewski’s former position as

associate treasurer, and Roy will serve as assistant treasurer.

Sophomore Stephen Ruggiero will serve as the Tufts representative on the BILC, a network of Boston-area college and university student government associations designed to foster intercollegiate cooperation.

The Senate will next week elect a co-chair of its Services Committee to serve alongside junior Jeremy Zelinger, who was elected co-chair last spring.

Dan Katter won a run-off election for the seventh freshman Senate seat on Sept. 23, after tying with opponent Chloe Perez in the Sept. 20 election, according to Tufts Elections Commission Historian Joel Greenberg.

—by Amelie Hecht

Today’s sections

The Daily visits Carmichael for its legendary stir-fry night.

Wilco releases its eighth studio album.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

9 10 11 Back

The Tufts Daily

2

Research to be presented at symposium WITTICH

continued from page 1

kind, the first of which occurred in April 2009.

The two symposiums correspond with two waves of funding, each of about $150,000, according to Associate Dean of Research at the School of Engineering Eric Miller.

“The idea here was to support really seedling efforts of the faculty,” Miller said.

Miller, along with several other administrators, has been responsible for organizing the conference since this past spring. Senior Director of Development at the School of Engineering Cynthia LuBien also helped plan an agenda. According to LuBien, the event will include lecture-style presentations by professors funded through the Wittich Family Fund and a poster session where other Tufts researchers, including those working on sustainability issues more generally, will present additional findings. “[We wanted] to allow the Tufts community and our supporter Peter Wittich to see in-person the results of the work that was sponsored in alternative energy,” LuBien said.

Wittich worked as an oil trader after graduating from Tufts and now runs his own asphalt marketing company. His business experience is at the root of his interest in solutions to the United States’ dependence on foreign oil, according to School of Engineering Dean Linda Abriola.

“He knows that petroleum products are not … the fuel of the future,” Abriola said. “So he has been interested in stimulating research into alternative energy.”

The main goal of the symposium, Abriola said, is to highlight the impact that the donations of the Wittich family will have on the future of sustainable energy.

It’s just an example of how an alumnus can make a difference,” Abriola said, “in terms of giving back to the university and also helping to develop new knowledge and support students.”

According to Abriola, funding was also extended to the school’s course offerings.

“They … contributed money for us to develop a course in wind energy, which is being taught in mechanical engineering this fall,” Abriola said. “[Wittich is] interested in getting students involved.”

Although Tufts professors will give the majority of the presentations, students will also participate, Abriola added.

“This is going to have more student involvement than the past,” she said.

For example, the Tufts Hybrid Racing team will be showing designs for their racecar, according to junior Chris Jackson, the project leader for the team.

Jackson said that the Wittich family has provided funds for the team in the past.

“We’ll definitely be looking to reconnect with them … We’d like to show him what the team’s doing now,” he said.

Tufts Hybrid Racing was invited to help highlight the contributions of students to Tufts’ goals of increasing sustainability, Miller said.

“They’re very active in this area and they’re certainly one of the more high profile student groups in the School of Engineering doing work in sustainable energy and in energy related research,” he said.

Miller added that the event would provide opportunities for students to learn about and become involved in the field of sustainable energy.

LuBien is expecting around 50 attendees, but said that the event was open to the entire Tufts community. She also said that although the research being presented is only in its primary stages, the potential for future development makes it compelling.

“We’re really excited and grateful to the Wittich family for helping to catalyze work in this area and look forward to seeing the ideas that come out of the laboratory … actually be put in application to solve real problems,” she said.

News

Monday, October 3, 2011

Program continues with modifications CHILE

continued from page 1

“In order to meet foreign students’ academic needs, [the] School of Government offered 4 of the most demanded courses and Faculty of Art did the same,” Guiñez said. “However, those courses consisted mainly of foreign exchange students.”

In response to the lack of available classes at the University of Chile, the Tufts-in-Chile program was forced to make structural changes in order for students to complete the necessary credits, Bayne said.

Guiñez met with the Catholic University’s vice chancellor in August to discuss contingency plans and the availability of classes at the university, whose students were also on strike at the time, Guiñez said.

“At that meeting, he assured us that foreign students would end the semester at the original scheduled date and with all the classes completed, regardless [of ] the strike, which, according to him, wouldn’t last more than 2 weeks,” Guiñez said. “In fact, the [Catholic University] students’ strike ended in about two weeks.”

In August, Tufts students were allowed to register for additional classes at the Catholic University, Bayne and Guiñez said.

“I wrote to students and parents that the program will continue but those that wished to return could still do so,” Bayne said, adding that one student chose to return to Tufts.

The duration and solidarity shown during the student strikes is a product of the students’ emphasis on societal issues such as inequality, according to Winn. For the first time, the heads of universities and high school stu-

Investment in local bank promotes sustainable banking INVESTMENT

continued from page 1

Responsibility — and STIR both approached Campbell last semester suggesting that Tufts invest in a community bank, Incledon said.

ACER serves as an advisory committee on investment for the Board of Trustees, according to ACER President junior Kelsea Carlson.

Community investment is a sustainable banking method because it is locally beneficial, Martin Bourqui (LA ’09), national organizer for the nonprofit Responsible Endowments Coalition, said.

“Many [community banks] have policies aimed specifically at, for example, supporting environmental projects or supporting small business growth,” Bourqui said.

The Responsible Endowments Coalition, which works to raise awareness of responsible investment and help change universi-

ties’ investments to make them more sustainable, approves Tufts’ decision to invest in a community bank, Bourqui noted.

Community banks provide loans for low-income residents and small businesses, Incledon said. Community banks also work with people who were foreclosed out of their homes during the mortgage crisis, Bourqui said.

The risk of investing in a community bank is roughly the same as investing in a larger bank, Incledon added.

“Your money will be just as safe in a community bank, so why not invest it locally?”

Incledon said.

Larger banking institutions don’t consider the local community as much as community banks, according to both Incledon and Bourqui.

“I think a lot of people after the financial crisis have really been trying to look for alternatives to the major banks, partly considering the role that they

Takuma Koide/Tufts Daily

Tufts moved $500,000 to local bank to promote sustainable investment. played in causing the economic crisis,” Bourqui said.

More community banks used to exist, Bourqui noted, but larger banks bought many of them.

“There are a few major play-

Visiting the Hill this week MONDAY “Life in Japan After the Earthquake” Details: Freelance journalist Chie Goto will discuss the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan.

Where and When: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.; Olin 011 Sponsors: Japanese Program, Japanese House “The Challenge of CO2 Capture” Details: Professor Howard Herzog, senior research engineer in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative, will present on the challenges of capturing CO2 as part of the Chemical and Biological Engineering Seminar Series.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.; Science and Technology Center 136 Sponsors: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering WEDNESDAY “Goddard Chapel Forum: Religion and

Moral Courage”

Details: Shareda Hosein, Lt. Col., USAR,

will deliver a lecture titled “Muslim and Military Perspectives on Religion and Moral Courage.”

When and Where: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Goddard Chapel Sponsor: University Chaplaincy THURSDAY “Television Reporting on Environmental Topics: Endangered?”

Details: Emmy-award winning anchor Anthony Everett (LA ‘83) will deliver a speech on the decrease in reporting on long-term environmental issues, such as climate change.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.; Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center Sponsors: Environmental Studies Program, Tufts Institute of the Environment —compiled by Marie Schow

dents are joining the university student strikes, he said.

“The educational system is supposed to be a solution,” he said. “It should lead to social mobility, but in fact, what has happened in Chile is that the educational system reproduces inequality instead of solving inequality.”

Winn emphasized the unique opportunity for students this semester to learn about Chile in a non-traditional way outside of the classroom.

“Two-thirds of the country supports the students,” he said. “There is [an] unprecedented type of unity among the student movement and society as a whole.”

Bayne echoed Winn’s sentiment regarding the current situation’s educational impact for students on the program.

“I think this will be an absolutely unforgettable experience for these students,” she said. “They’re turning it into a learning opportunity.”

Junior Hailey Alm, who is currently on the Tufts-in-Chile program, was amazed by the scale and solidarity of the Chilean students on strike.

“I’ve never seen any kind of huge social movement in the U.S.,” she said in an email. “Seeing how active these students are has been really surprising and impressive. Especially because it’s not just university kids, but also a lot of high school students.”

Junior Rachel Ganz, who is also on the program, has been impressed by the students’ courage and the overwhelming presence of the strikes.

“No one is afraid of the police or what could happen,” she said in an email. “People of all ages are present to support the movement.”

ers in the space that really have been driven by greed and a lot of poor decisions that have really caused a lot of problems for our economy,” he said.

Carlson believes that it is important for universities to be as transparent as possible in their financial decisions.

“A lot of times, universities come under attack because their investments aren’t always environmentally or socially responsible,” Carlson said.

A university’s investment choices inevitably have consequences, Bourqui said.

“Both individuals and big institutional investors like Tufts have the amazing opportunity to use their money, not only to save or to spend or to invest, but to actually help out those in need at the same time,” he said.

“I think that this community investment is definitely a step in the right direction.”

He added that it was important for universities to consider

the wide-reaching consequences and possible benefits of their investments, Bourqui said.

“All universities can and must be held accountable to not only the investment office but also the people that make up the broader community,” he said.

According to Bourqui, responsible investment strategies will most likely become more popular in the future.

“As the responsible investment movement grows and develops, the issue of transparency is only going to get bigger and bigger,” he said. “I see us as being in the early stages of a large, very meaningful movement.”

He stressed the importance of awareness of responsible investment strategies within the Tufts community.

“We support students and people in general at universities across the country who are working to make universities’ investments more in line with their missions,” he said.

Somerville changes ticketing regulations TICKETS

continued from page 1

in Massachusetts, including Boston, Brookline, Revere, Cambridge, Worcester and Lynn issue similar tickets for expired registration and inspections, according to Dias.

“This is a far better alternative in my mind,” Dias said. “I’d much rather get a $50 violation, run inside my house [and] renew my registration online ... If I get caught by a state trooper or a City of Somerville cop, it’s going to be a lot worse.”

Dias explained that cars with expired registrations and inspections are technically parked illegally.

“Renewing registration and inspection stickers is something people have to do on time,” said Deputy Director of Communications for the City of Somerville Jackie Rossetti.

Michael Meehan, Somerville’s director of communications, called this new ticket “easily avoidable.”

A car’s registration is issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV ) and lasts for two years, Meehan said.

“Anyone can renew their registration online 24 hours a day, seven days a week by going to [the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s] website,” Dias explained.

Inspection, which can be done at any car service station, ensures that a car is running properly and must be renewed every year, according to Meehan.

The money generated from tickets will go into Somerville’s general fund, which helps parks, roads and ultimately citizens, Dias said.

The law also eliminated the possibility of having one’s car towed if the fine is paid, Dias added.

Meehan said that out-of-state students who bring their cars to campus must check with the local DMV in order to ensure that their vehicles’ registration and inspection are valid in Massachusetts.

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

The art of Asian-style stir-fry

Hannah Furgang | The Tim Tam Slam

Behind the scenes of a Tufts tradition at Carmichael

by Jon

On avocados

Cheng

Daily Editorial Board

The great “Carmichael versus Dewick” debate has been the subject of both friendly and fierce rivalry for at least as long as any senior can remember — and the question won’t be resolved anytime soon. While it can be said that Dewick-MacPhie is traditionally known as the more diverse eatery, Carmichael’s legendary stir-fry nights have nevertheless given it a competitive edge.

Here’s a look at the logistics and creativity behind the tradition, and a glance forward at what may soon cross Jumbo diners’ plates.

With al dente noodles, chicken breast, sprouts, mushrooms and a dash of chili tossed to order with sauce, it is no wonder that Carmichael regularly pulls in between 900-1,000 students on Tuesday and Thursday nights as the Expo Station burns through up to 90 pounds of chicken and over four gallons of teriyaki sauce.

According to Carmichael Chef Manager Peter Kourafalos, stir-fry night was born from a 2003 concept that brought an Asian-style stir-fry night to the dining hall on Tuesdays and a Mediterranean one on Thursdays.

“The stir-fry itself happened when we realized that we had an empty station there and we wondered how best it could be utilized,” Kourafalos said. Stir-fry proved to be a good bet. Cooking foods ‘a la minute’ continues to be popular on all sides — it won over the student crowd, while Kourafalos and his staff felt, and still feel, similarly about the nifty new concept.

“We love to do it because it’s a monotony breaker,” Kourafalos said. “It goes astray from the difficult foods — for example, if you’re not interested in what’s in the menu, you might walk to the station to create your own dish.”

The mechanics behind stir-fry are simple. Students line up with a bowl of fresh ingredients — whether they are raw bell peppers, diced onions, shallots, spinach or ginger — and hand them over to the chefs.

The white-coated magicians, in turn, toss the ingredients together with the students’ choice of either white sticky rice or noodles and a sauce of either peanut, teriyaki or chili garlic. For meats, Carmichael usually offers a selection of chicken breast, beef and shrimp. Presto!

On the other side of the counter, though, putting together the combinations of protein, starch and vegetables from memory can be a difficult feat — the station’s chef typically keeps three orders in mind at the same time.

The line cooks usually handle it with finesse, according to Kourafalos. In fact, for one of his station’s proteges, Second Cook Sahra Warsame, the juggling act is not only a breeze but a period of gratification.

“Stir-fry has always been my favorite part,” Warsame said. “I knew everyone, and I enjoyed getting to know the students by their usual [orders]… what they want and like.”

The long queue, she said, is a compliment for the wok-wielding chefs. “It’s so nice that people would line up for 20 minutes for stirfry,” Warsane noted.

Hungry diners have come up with some crazy combinations, and Wasarme said she is happy to fulfill any special requests. Still though, Jumbo appetites have been known to baffle.

“One time someone came up to me with a bowl of salad and said, ‘Can you add this in the stir-fry?’ It was confusing, but I figured they really liked it that way,” Warsame said.

“And then another came up to me asking to create a stir-fry with no sauce at all. How is that even possible?”

Since her promotion to second cook, Warsame now stays largely behind the scenes on stir-fry night, supervising and aiding in the preparation side of things.

However, she still looks forward to her once-a-week opportunity at the Expo Station.

“It makes the time go faster, as we’re here at the station for nearly three hours,” she said.

Time, in fact, has passed by quickly for the stir-fry tradition. At its inception, the stir-fry menu offered nine sauces. That dwindled to

I

Justin McCallum/Tufts Daily

Carmichael’s popular twice-weekly stir-fry night brings students and chefs together in culinary creation. three when the chefs realized that each dish was not as readily gobbled up as the next.

“Cantonese sauce used to be one of our favorites,” Warsame said. “We also had plum sauce, but not everybody liked plum. It was the same with orange ginger — that was a little too sweet.”

Whatever evolution has edged out in the sauce department, the stir-fry gods have more than made up for in Carmichael’s selection of vegetables, which at this point stands at a solid 10.

Stir-fry and beyond Stir-fry’s success has led the way to a myriad of other innovations from the wizards behind Carmichael’s menu.

The now-defunct “Wing-It!” station, for example, was born out of this experimentation. The feature took flight soon after Stir fry did, offering various sauces for their honey-barbeque and Buffalo wings. One of these sauces, the fiendishly spicy “Inner Beauty,” was derived from Central Square’s East Coast Grill. Here at Carmichael, the recipe honored the original with the exception of a few tweaks.

“We incorporated canola oil instead of peanut oil because it could accommodate more students with allergies,” Kourafalos said.

As it turned out, wings were not the only hot items in the menu line-up to be introduced as temporary fixtures on the Carmichael scene. Kourafalos and his team were able to test other concepts, most of which were met with immense success — a burrito bar, for example.

“We must have rolled around 800 burritos that night,” he remembered. “Students loved it so much and made comments on the board. So right after we did it then we came up with the item on the menu the next fall.”

From then on, the new inventions increased in frequency — Jumbos have seen such innovations as a “chicken and waffles” station, a crepe station and a particularly thrilling addition to the dessert station, Bananas Foster Flambe.

“I used to do [the Bananas Foster] tableside in a restaurant I worked before Tufts,” Kourafalos said. “We tried that on Caribbean night, and it was a great show. We flambeed the sauce with a flame, browned the sugar, butter, etc. — the students loved that.”

It is no surprise that Kourafalos is hard at work at some new concepts, most of which are top-secret. However, he reveals a couple that he has in the back-burner. Bibimbap, a signature Korean rice, vegetable, egg and meat dish, is on the docket, he said, along with a recipe of the Carmichael staff’s own creation.

“It’s called the ‘Fast and the Fresh,’” he revealed. “A black and blue salad which was sort of a mesculin green salad with Cajun blackened chicken, blue cheese and a nice vinaigrette that accompanied it.”

Another idea is a creative marriage between a Mexican burrito and Asian sushi — a riff, perhaps, on a Korean taco.

“Sushi is also very popular, but there’s the problem of raw fish,” he said. “So we’re trying to come up with a way of doing an Asianinspired burrito that doesn’t come with it.”

Kourafalos hopes these items, like the concepts before them, will be enough to please the new breed of intellectual foodies, for their appreciation of the food is what he enjoys most.

“The thing I love most is when I see the students’ reaction when they love a particular dish,” Kourafalos said. “… Like the first time we did Bananas Foster — getting the reaction of how happy it made them was and is a big part of the excitement I get out of it.”

’m pretty sure I’m in the running for most freshman freshman.

In the first few weeks of school, I have: Asked for directions to Carmichael, name-dropped the one senior I know at least once a conversation, asked for directions to Mail Services, done the Saturday night “where’s-the-party waltz,” only to end up in bed by midnight, asked for directions to Cabot and asked for directions to Hillsides.

“Wow,” you must be thinking. “This girl isn’t cool at all!” And you are so right. But believe me when I say it gets better — for your general amusement, not for me.

Given my record, I should have seen it coming. It was a Thursday, and I had eaten a super-late breakfast, so I left for lunch at 4 p.m. (CoLlEgE lyFe!!!!1!). Too self-conscious to eat alone, I checked my dorm’s common room. Everyone was either immersed in their homework or napping. I walked up and down the halls two, maybe six times. A dining mate never materialized.

Defeated, I left for Dewick on my own — the solo trek to a meal: a walk of shame without bragging rights. I had heard that they were serving avocados that day, so I figured that I could at least drown my loneliness in some rich, green goodness.

Dewick at 4 is a sad place indeed. I scrounged through the dregs of what I can only imagine must have been, just a few hours earlier, an enticing lunch spread.

I sighed and settled on a salad. I asked a kind Tufts University Dining Services (TUDS) lady where I could find an avocado. She said they had only been set out for breakfast, but lo and behold: Some higher power guided her hand to the produce compartment, and I was presented with a leathery fruit of my deepest cravings — TUDS folks, you light up my life.

Avocado and salad in hand, I set off in search of a familiar face. The main dining area was a no-go. The back part followed suit. I had lost the naivete I had been graced with circa Orientation — the naivete that had me convinced that it was socially acceptable to sit with complete strangers and strike up some killer small talk. Before surrendering myself to the prospect of eating alone, I decided to venture upstairs.

I tripped. I tripped and spilled salad everywhere. Climbing stairs is one skill I never quite mastered. Do you wanna know what the worst part was? There was no friend there to laugh at me and make a big deal out of everything. No one to bring it up every chance they get for the next couple weeks while I pretend to be embarrassed when really I’m just relieved that they find me emotionally stable enough to handle a little teasing.

But I was a fool and came to D-Mac alone. It was just me and a dining hall full of people who were cooler than I am, simply by way of not being covered in lettuce.

Side note: Thanks to everyone who avoided eye contact with me. I’ve decided that in this type of situation it’s best to let the weak suffer silently.

At this point, I was looking rull cute.

There was little stopping me from standing up, spreading my arms, and proclaiming to those in the near vicinity that “I AM GRADUATING IN THE YEAR 2015,” when an angel of an upperclassman came to my rescue with a basket of napkins and a smile.

The moral of the story is, no matter how much goes wrong, everything will be OK because avocados have that thick, nasty skin so you can eat them even if they fall.

Also, next time, I’m going to Hodgdon.

Hannah Furgang is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Hannah.Furgang@tufts.edu.

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Album Review

Chris Poldoian | Extra Butter

‘The Whole Love’ assures Wilco’s alternative rock dominance

My little secret

With its eighth studio album, Wilco proves it still deserves its seat on the alternative rock by

Wes Engel

Contributing Writer

H

The Whole Love

Wilco

dBpm Records throne. “The Whole Love,” the band’s first release on their own label, dBpm, delivers 12 solid tracks that strike the perfect balance between fresh and familiar. The band manages to walk the fine line of creating a unique and consistent sound while still evolving and pushing itself musically. Each track off “The Whole Love” is expertly crafted and lovingly polished by frontman Jeff Tweedy.

Tweedy employs a mix of tight, catchy hooks and loose, open arrangements, deftly moving between these two approaches.

The first track, “Art of Almost,” is a chaotic, fuzz-driven jam that proves to be one of the album’s

Zoran Orlic/wilcoworld.net

Wilco, pictured here during a recording session, worked on its eighth studio album this year. strongest songs. A tight, engaging drum beat anchors the massive wall of synths and distortion in the background. Tweedy guides the song with his lively vocals until the track devolves into noise and screeching guitar solos. It’s a journey of a song and a good metaphor for the album as a whole. Above all else, Wilco makes interesting, engaging music that takes the listener

on an unpredictable ride from start to finish.

Impressively, each track sounds unique while still feeling related and cohesive. The fuzz bass of “Art of Almost” works its way into a few other songs as a nice recurring motif.

While much of the album’s tones back the amount of distorted craziness, there is a nice sense of movement and conti-

Theater Review

nuity from song to song. Wilco manages to make “The Whole Love” an album best listened to straight through, while still ensuring each track works well on its own.

“Born Alone” is a particularly catchy tune. The echoing of the main vocal theme with a droning electric guitar repeats the see WILCO, page 6

TV Review

ABC’s ‘Pan Am’ unable to take off

by Stephanie

Fischer

Contributing Writer

The 1960s were filled with cliched phrases, impossibly gorgeous women and a never-ending loop of galvanizing

Pan Am

Courtesy Speakeasy Stage Company

Luke (Dan Roach, left) surprises his partner Adam (Will McGarrahan) with a prayer before breakfast.

‘Next Fall’ makes powerful political statement Melissa MacEwen

In the aftermath of a small dispute, partners Luke (Dan Roach) and Adam (Will McGarrahan) talk quietly in their kitchen. by

Daily Editorial Board

Next Fall Written by Geoffrey Nauffts Directed by Scott Edmiston At the Roberts Studio Theatre through October 15 Tickets $25 to $50 “The New York University kids are back from the summer,” one of them observes, as a muffled rendition of R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” plays in the background. The other nods in agreement, and as their conversation continues, it smooths over their disagreement. For its very subtle depiction of love affected by underlying religion, this moment in “Next Fall” is among the best in the production, encapsulating this controversial play.

Given the frequent portrayals of the LGBT community in stereotyped, overblown roles, it’s difficult to find representations that don’t feel like caricatures. Furthermore, religion is almost never added to the mix.

Actor Geoffrey Nauffts’s first full-length play, “Next Fall,” confronts these two issues

Starring Christina Ricci, Margot Robbie, Michael Mosley, Karine Vanasse Airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on ABC

with great success.

Though “Next Fall” is Nauffts’s freshman effort, his show has already garnered impressive critical acclaim. The piece was a 2010 Tony nominee for both Best Play and Best Direction of a Play. It also won the 2008 Theatre Visions Fund Award from the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

Nauffts himself won the 2010 John Gassner Award of the Outer Critics Circle Awards for playwriting.

The play begins when a soon-to-be comatose Luke is rushed to the hospital after getting hit by a taxicab in New York City. While his family, friends Brandon (Kevin Kaine) and Holly (Deb Martin) and boyfriend Adam wait with bated breath to learn his prognosis, flashbacks illustrate the relationship between Luke, an evangelical Christian, and Adam, an atheist. Though the couple has been together for four years at the time of the accident, religious differences still arise between them.

“My original exploration was going to be about two worlds colliding — believer and nonbeliever,” Nauffts told The New York Times. “Then, in giving it a plot, all of these other contemporary issues started to come up and arise. Gay marriage, Proposition 8 — suddenly I had to explore all that. Marriage is a hot-button issue, and religion fits into it in a huge way for us.”

Nauffts also told the Times that Adam and

music that made you feel as though you could sprout your own pair of wings and fly away to your destiny. At least, that’s what ABC’s new series “Pan Am” seems to think.

About 11 million viewers tuned in to watch the show’s hour-long pilot episode on Sunday, Sept. 25 after its lead-in, “Desperate Housewives.” It’s humorous because “Pan Am” could be renamed “Desperate Stewardesses” and it would probably convey the show’s plotline a bit better.

Though “Pan Am” did not take off as smoothly as it could have, it will probably be airborne longer than it should be, especially considering its pilot. And yes, the script for Sunday night’s episode featured airplane-centric one-liners and metaphors about as cheesy as that one.

The show’s redeeming qualities lie not in its details, but in its potential trajectory.

While “Pan Am” originally appeared to be little more than an imitation of AMC’s booming ’60s series “Mad Men”, its pilot differentiated itself by offering travel pornography and a cherry-pie outlook on the time period that “Mad Men” never offered.

While “Mad Men” mocks the antiquated attitudes and technological expectations of the 1960s, “Pan Am” seduces its viewers with cotton candy clouds and gold-tinted film. In what seems to be the longest opening teaser in television history, “Pan Am” plays up the sheer thrill of travel to make viewers nostalgic for an era with an apparently bright future.

However, this shiny, $10 million episode stars a group of beautiful women

see FALL, page 6

see PAN, page 6

ello, reader. We’ve gone on a couple of 600-word dates by now. You’ve gotten to know me a little. Before we go any further, there’s something I should tell you. Please no judging.

Promise?

OK, I cry a lot during movies. Sometimes it’s a surreptitious sniffle — think of the final moments of “Toy Story 3” (2010) — other times I just bust out some Kleenex and sob into my popcorn — the first 10 minutes of “Up” (2009). It doesn’t take too much to set me off. Last year’s trailer for “Waiting for Superman” (2010) rendered me a big blubbering mess, and that was before the feature film had even started.

My tears elicit a variety of reactions. When I’m on a movie date with a girl, my crying oftentimes scores me some cute points. But when I’m with my guy friends, I might as well be wearing a Team Edward t-shirt.

The communal viewing experience means you oftentimes find yourself in a very emotionally vulnerable state while surrounded by complete strangers. This can lead to plenty of awkward encounters.

While this outburst of emotion most often applies to crying, I’d argue that we are even more vulnerable during fits of laughter. It’s tough to be the only one audibly crying, but it’s even worse when you’re the only one laughing. I’ve had that experience, and it wasn’t pretty.

When I saw “Bridesmaids” (2011), I was one of the few with a Y-chromosome in attendance. Like any self-respecting, redblooded American, I love any joke that incorporates sex, flatulence and/or fecal matter.

So for me, the infamous bridal gown studio scene was absolutely hysterical. I laughed so hard that my body ached. The only issue: No one else in the theater was laughing. I could practically feel the audience members’ menopausal judgments as they shook their heads in disapproval. Needless to say, I felt guilty for the rest of the movie.

Sometimes, you just can’t help it. You get so caught up during a movie that you forget about the rest of the audience. For example, when I was flying back to America from Spain, I was running on one hour of sleep, several shots of absinthe and a churro. For whatever reason, I settled for “Music and Lyrics” (2007) as my in-flight entertainment.

In the film’s climactic concert at Madison Square Garden, Hugh Grant serenades Drew Barrymore. The concertgoers respond with thunderous applause. Suddenly, I felt my own hands spasm into applause. It was only after a good 10 seconds that I realized that I wasn’t in a movie theater or Madison Square Garden — I was on an airplane, sandwiched between a Spanish cat lady and what looked to be Kimbo Slice.

If these stories tell you anything, they should show my trepidation for cinema.

In the comfort of my own home, I love a good movie-induced cry and laugh. I get to curl up on my beanbag with a pint of Half Baked ice cream. At home, I don’t have to worry about being the only white person laughing at a joke in “Undercover Brother” (2002). The Casa Poldoian is a judgment-free zone: You can cry or laugh at whatever you want.

I want to see the movie “50/50” (2011), but have been too afraid to ask my friends.

From what I’ve heard, “50/50” achieves the perfect balance of sidesplitting comedy and heartbreaking tragedy. “About Schmidt” (2002), “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) and “Lars and the Real Girl” (2007) also succeeded in this regard. Maybe next weekend, I will muster up the strength to see the movie.

So, if you find yourself in the Somerville Theatre next Friday afternoon, take pity on that kid laughing or crying in the back row.

Because more likely than not, that kid is me.

Chris Poldoian is a senior majoring in Spanish and economics. He can be reached at Christopher.Poldoian@tufts.edu.

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Arts & Living

Monday, October 3, 2011

‘Pan Am’ offers little more than ’60s-era fluff PAN

continued from page 5

with some ugly back-stories, including Laura (Margot Robbie), a new Pan Am stewardess who hopped on board after leaving her fiance at the altar. She apparently represents the innocence of the day and its impossibly bright future — so much so that TIME, to her and her sister’s dismay, placed a candid photograph of her on its front cover.

Meanwhile, her sister, Kate (Kelli Garner), is not only chagrined by Laura’s stolen spotlight, but is also burdened by an intelligence assignment for the U.S. government that she must execute on this very flight.

Next in the line of dysfunctional females is Colette (Karine Vanasse), the exotic French beauty who “loves surprises” — that is, until the man with whom she’s having an affair and his family board the plane.

However, it is the least featured character, Maggie, played by the doe-eyed Christina Ricci, who attracts viewers’ attention the most. First portrayed as a beatnik arguing about Karl Marx with her hippie boyfriend before being called to fill in for a missing stewardess, Maggie is more than a wafer cookie of a character. Compared to her saltine-cracker costars, she’s a tall drink of water audiences will accept with relief.

Not surprisingly, these characters immediately find themselves inextricably wrapped up in drama usually reserved for hospital shows and reality television. “Pan Am” flies in the same network skies as “The Bachelor” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” appealing to an audience that expects a good television show to blend “House” with “Sex and the City” (1998-2004).

“Pan Am” is different, however, because writer Jack Orman, who rose to fame for his work on “ER” (1994-2009), reminds viewers that this idyllic series takes place during the Cold War, as American airline stewardesses double as spies against the Soviet Union.

Although every scene in “Pan Am” could serve as the end to a dramatic, CGI-obsessed film, the series has the potential to go somewhere other than the ABC hangar of shortlived, canceled shows: “Off the Map” (2011), “No Ordinary Family” (2010) and “Detroit 1-8-7” (2010).

This will be especially true if “Pan Am” finds its voice and tells the music department that silence is occasionally a good thing. All we want to do is watch the show without Bobby Darin constantly belting in the background. Just kidding.

Who doesn’t love Bobby Darin?

Religion and love collide in ‘Next Fall’

FALL

continued from page 5

Luke’s biblical names are intentional. Their titles hail from Genesis of the Old Testament and from a Gospel of the New Testament, respectively, in a furthering of the play’s themes of contrast and tension.

Nauffts himself is no stranger to inner conflict: Like his character Adam, Nauffts grew up in a household absent of religion, but later came to deeply respect the faith of a variety of friends and coworkers before coming out as a gay man.

Though Luke and Adam’s on-stage physical chemistry leaves something to be desired, their relationship is poignant in its authenticity. It is, in fact, the only romantic relationship in the play that doesn’t come off as blatantly dysfunctional. From their first standoff about religion to a scene in which Luke literally shoves all evidence of his life as a gay man into a closet when his father comes to visit, the couple’s romance is touchingly honest.

As the story of their relationship unfolds,

it becomes all the more gut-wrenching to realize Luke’s medical situation. Fortunately, Adam’s snarky, cynical one-liners keep the piece from becoming too heavy. His wit maintains the play’s power as a dichotomous, hilarious tragedy.

Luke’s parents are melting pots for many of the play’s conflicts. Luke’s father, Butch (Robert Walsh), is convincingly vulnerable underneath his shell of misogynistic masculinity. Luke’s mother Arlene (Amelia Broome) is also an unexpected gem. Though she plays a more minor character, her sincere empathy and warmth complement the abrasiveness of Butch perfectly and make their moments together on stage much more manageable.

Regardless of Luke and Adam’s sexual orientations or the views of the media and the people around them, theirs is a genuine relationship built from respect and affection. It would be difficult to find a more empathetic or emphatic theatrical argument for gay marriage.

MCT

‘Pan Am’ capitalizes on ‘60s glitz but lacks substance.

Wilco beautifully constructs latest album WILCO

continued from page 5

central hook until right before it loses its impact. The breakdown of the seemingly straightforward beat and structure in the middle of the song keeps it fresh for another few verses. Like many of the tracks, “Born Alone” ends with an instrumental crescendo of sorts by building on the song’s established themes and tearing them apart.

Other standout tracks include “I Might,” “Dawned On Me” and “Rising Red Lung,” but each song earns its place on the album.

The masterful arrangements weave dozens of instruments into the picture without getting busy or overpowering. The sliding pedal steel guitars on the mellow and acoustic “Rising Red Lung” build to a nice crescendo at the end.

The way the band works with these kinds of crescendos keeps the listener constantly engaged. A lack of dynamics can kill an otherwise great song, but Wilco has a keen ear and avoids this problem. At this point in

Wilco’s long career, it knows exactly what it is doing — and its savvy shows.

After all, not every band can write a 12-minute song that manages to avoid feeling like a 12-minute song. The album’s final track, “One Sunday Morning,” moves along at a steady pace and employs all the catchy hooks, interesting arrangements and clever uses of dynamics discussed to make its 12-minute run fly by. Tweedy establishes the melodies that drive the song, and then he plays around with them at length until the entire track melts into a loose jam that picks those melodies apart. It’s a great ending to a great album.

“The Whole Love” proves to be Wilco’s strongest offering in recent years, and may even overshadow their early masterpiece, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” (2002), the first album to garner them attention.

For fans of Wilco or well-crafted alternative rock and Americana, this album is a must-have, but everyone owes it to himself to give it a listen.

Monday, October 3, 2011

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Carter W. Rogers Editor-in-Chief

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Occupy movement needs to grow up

This past week, hundreds of Occupy Boston protesters have been gathering in the financial district of Boston. Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protesters, they are people who think this country is in need of some serious changes.

It’s clear that all of the Occupy Boston protesters are passionate about change, but what’s not clear is what exactly they hope to accomplish through their actions. The national Occupy movement has been unable to produce definite leaders or a clear list of objectives beside a general series of left-leaning talking points. It’s definitely understandable to be upset about the state of the economy, but successful protest movements require a lot more than just a public outpour of frustration.

Some of history’s most effective protest movements were intricately organized and had clear, defined goals. A great deal of planning went into the Montgomery Bus Boycott as well as Gandhi’s Salt March.

For such a young movement, the Occupy protesters have proved remarkably well-organized, leveraging social media to get the word out and discuss behavioral guidelines for protesters. However the movement, as it is currently structured, faces serious hurdles in becoming more than a gathering of individuals airing their

grievances. In the first post on their website, Occupy Boston’s organizers state, “We do not represent any one union, activist group or organization in Boston. We are a large gathering of disaffected, angry, fedup Americans from all walks of life.”

The biggest issue the Occupy movement seems to have is that it does not know what it wants. Just like the protesters, people in the United States are angry about the economic situation, rampant foreclosures and sky-high unemployment rates. A protester from Occupy Wall Street told the Associated Press, “We don’t have one central argument... we have a lot, but the basic issue is our democratic structures are broken in this country.”

Saying that our government is broken is actually not a very “basic issue;” it’s a massive one. Is the purpose of this protest then to demand a new governmental structure or a new economic system? If so, then it’s going to take a lot more than people camping out in financial districts to make that happen.

The Occupy demonstrators have stated that they were inspired by the Arab Spring demonstrations that rocked the Middle East earlier this year. However, the comparison is flawed: Those movements were most effective in countries both smaller than the United States and with far more

totalitarian governments. The people in power in the United States were put there legitimately via open elections. A complete, protest-spurred governmental overhaul isn’t going to happen overnight in a country as large or as democratic as ours.

The protest has also failed to produce known leaders or a leadership group.

Leadership is integral to a successful protest. It’s almost as important as the feelings behind the protest themselves. There is a reason why Martin Luther King, Jr. is synonymous with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, as is Gandhi with the Salt March.

They were vital in training their protesters, stating the demands of their movements and giving a voice to the collective masses. Occupy Boston and the Occupy movement thus far have no leader. Even if someone in the finance industry or the government was planning to work with the protesters, who would they talk to?

They can’t engage in negotiations with a horde of thousands.

The feelings behind this movement are certainly understandable. People have a right to be angry, especially given the years-long downturn that this country is in. People also have the right to protest, but for these protests to effect change, they need to have goals and defined methods for how to obtain said goals.

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Corrections The Sept. 29 article “Maguire to direct Dept. of Public and Environmental Safety” inaccurately credited the quote “We want to make the public safety department part of the community and not apart from it” to Vice President of Operations to Dick Reynolds.

The quote was said by Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire.

Two of the pictures in the Sept. 29 “Street Smarts: Sartorial Scene” feature depicting designers’ works at Boston Fashion Week were incorrectly captioned. The leftmost picture was of Eli Tahari’s design, and the center picture was of an outfit by designer Karen Millen.

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Monday, October 3, 2011

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Op-Ed

‘Occupiers’ struggle to define goals

by Mike Del Moro

Being an unemployed Tufts alumnus, I cannot help but find the Occupy Wall Street movement appealing and even attractive.

After all, the protests that have flared up in downtown Manhattan and now Boston and elsewhere typify everything Tufts students love: active citizenship, exploiting the right to protest and bringing people together for the sake of progress. But as much as I want to spend my otherwise pathetic, purposeless days camping out near the center of world finance with a sign that expresses my outrage at corporate greed in a costume that mocks the hypocrisy of our synthesis of capitalism and democracy, I cannot bring myself to do it.

When the people of Egypt took to the streets of Tahrir Square in January, emulating their Tunisian counterparts in mass dissent against tyranny, they had a simple, unified message. Indeed, the architects and participants of the so-called “Arab Spring” were not pleading for the destruction of Israel (though some of them certainly desire it), neither were they marching in the name of Islam, nor human rights, nor female equality. Though all of these things were in some way a part of the movement, the Arab Spring, as manifested in the Middle East over the past nine months, had a much clearer goal: the ouster of the states’ respective tyrannical dictators and corrupt regimes.

In Egypt the protesters’ chants were concise, repetitive and straightforward — “the people want to bring down the regime” — but in downtown Manhattan, the chants are much more nuanced, in many cases restrictively so. Many of the posters represent the middle and lower classes claiming, “We are the 99%.” Others call for the shutdown of Wall Street, heavier tax burdens on the rich, the expulsion of money from politics, the blocking of cuts to “entitlement” programs, an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I, like many of you reading, agree with a lot of these things, and while I don’t think

I Elizabeth Robinson/Tufts Daily

protests are required to have a singular message, I struggle to understand how this movement can lead to anything positive without a more succinct goal. It took millions of Egyptians 18 days to bring down one of the longest-standing, most corrupt regimes in recent history. By most standards, it was an exceptionally fast revolution, but reaching a critical mass here in the United States will be just as exceptionally difficult given the convoluted nature of the movement and the nuanced demands.

This is not to mention the complacency of the American public that unfortunately wins out over its anger toward, what I readily concede, is a crime that resulted in financial catastrophe three years ago. Nor does this take into account the surprisingly limited attention given to these protests by mainstream media, despite the allegedly unprovoked police brutality and more than 700 arrests that occurred this past weekend in New York.

Some of these protesters are partially nude, some wear Guy Fawkes masks

mimicking the rebellion seen in the film “V for Vendetta” (2006), others are plaindressed Americans and some are more patriotically garbed. A wide range of individuals can be found in the crowd. Those that fault government and those that fault Wall Street bankers march alongside.

Unity, bipartisanship, and people coming together from all walks of life for a cause are great things. We should take pride in the freedoms we do have, and we should exploit them for the greater good. Yet, I have to agree with recent “occupation” passerby Susan Sarandon, who expressed her support for the movement, but called on those involved to develop clearer goals.

Americans should be angry, and we do deserve better, but it is only through a conviction that rests on serious, achievable ends that we can ultimately turn these truths into a better system.

Mike Del Moro graduated from Tufts in 2011 with a degree in international relations.

In defense of the defense of Troy Davis

I felt a great deal of dismay as I read David Eder’s op-ed, “In defense of the state of Georgia,” published on Wednesday in the Daily. I’m certainly not naive enough to think that all Tufts students share the progressive political outlook often ascribed to our university.

And diverse points of view are essential to encouraging robust discourse on campus. I was very surprised, however, to see such a piece written by a peer, and I felt the need to respond.

First, Eder did not fully engage with the compelling evidence for the innocence of Troy Davis. Eder gave little credence to the fact that seven of the nine witnesses who testified that Davis was the shooter in the 1991 trial later recanted their testimony. According to signed affidavits available on Amnesty. org, all seven of these witnesses stated that they did not know with any certainty that Davis had been the shooter.

Witnesses also claimed that they had been coerced by police officers into implicating Davis. Furthermore, nine witnesses signed affidavits stating that Sylvester “Redd” Coles, who was present on the night of the shooting and was the first to incriminate Davis, was in fact that shooter.

What truly happened on that night, more than 20 years ago, will probably never come to light. Some were there, and perhaps they know the truth of what happened. While Eder is bent on declaring the definitive guilt of Davis, I cannot speak with any authority on whether or not Davis is innocent. But it does seem to me that the “known facts of the case” do not sum up to certainty. The wellknown credo states that the prosecution must prove the defendant’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Many around the world, including Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI, rightly by

Charles Laubacher

Prashanth Parameswaran | The Asianist

voiced their own doubts, but these voices went tragically unheard. On Sept. 21, the State of Georgia put down a man, having failed to convince the world that he deserved to die.

I also had difficulty with the way that Eder described Davis’ court proceedings.

Eder stated, “In this country, we don’t leave justice up to a judge or a bureaucrat. Rather, an impartial jury is selected by both sides.” While it is impossible to quantify the degree to which Davis’ racial and social positioning impacted the outcome of his trial, it is important to recognize that Troy Davis’ struggle came to stand for a greater issue.

The uncomfortable truth, which many pundits and politicians are unwilling to acknowledge, is that social and political conditions still systematically disenfranchise minorities and the poor in America, nowhere more evidently than in the criminal justice system. In Georgia, African-Americans make up less than one-third of the population, yet they are incarcerated at a rate of nearly five times that of whites. While African-Americans make up on 14 percent of the U.S. population, they comprise 40 percent of prison inmates.

When Eder argues that Troy Davis got as fair a trial as any American, he is participating in the kind of “levelplaying field” rhetoric that attempts to bury the unfortunate realities of race dynamics in the United States.

Regardless of whether the specific circumstances of Davis’ trial were shaped by larger social and structural inequalities, the message of the eventual outcome was loud and clear to many: The American criminal justice system had failed another black man.

What I find most dismaying about Eder’s piece was his refusal to acknowledge the humanity of Davis. Eder stands in judgment of Davis and believes, based on his estimation of the “facts” of

the case, that he is worthy to appraise Davis’ character. Eder speaks of Davis as a man “with nothing but evil in [his] heart,” which is beyond presumptuous.

The ethics of the death penalty are too complex to engage in here, but the sort of blood retribution Eder championed in his piece seems to me to speak to a deep and problematic attitude among Americans. Like so many, Eder seems concerned with imposing a certain absolutist moralism on the behavior of others. Reading this article, I could not help but recall the Republican debate of a few weeks ago, in which the crowd loudly booed an openly gay soldier currently serving in Iraq and cheered the idea that the government would let an uninsured man die.

I was struck by the Christian resonance of Eder’s phrase, “No matter what he could have done the rest of his life, it would have never atoned for this sin.” This particular take on morality is based on eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-atooth standards of vengeance. It seems to me that this approach misses the crux of Christianity, and for that matter, most major religions: compassion and forgiveness.

Please don’t take me merely for a bleeding-heart or a hippie, because the concerns I raise are also pragmatic ones. Today’s America is characterized both by widespread hardship and bitter political deadlock. If we cannot collectively begin to put aside the kind of hatred and anger that fuels statements like, “There are people in this world who deserve to die,” if we cannot start to recognize our mutual humanity and move forward thinking not for ourselves but for one another, we as a nation are in deep trouble.

Charles Laubacher is a senior majoring in English and American studies.

Cracks in the House of Saud

t’s been a busy week of reform for King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s octogenarian and progressive monarch. Over the past few days alone, he has granted Saudi women the right to vote and stand for office in municipal elections, and overturned a sentence of 10 lashes handed down to an activist who defied a female driving ban.

On the one hand, these changes are nothing short of historic by Saudi standards.

Under the kingdom’s puritanical brand of Sunni Islam, women must be fully veiled, cannot travel without a male chaperone and face restrictions on everything from jobs to inheritances. This is only part of Saudi Arabia’s dismal human rights record, where foreign workers are treated like modern-day slaves while Shia Muslims and religious minorities remain second-class citizens.

But these concessions also do not go nearly far enough. King Abdullah, who pledged to “open all doors for Saudi women” over a decade ago, has struggled to even keep the few doors he has opened ajar due to fierce backlash from the conservative religious establishment. Even though his latest decree on political participation would only come into effect in 2015 — rather than in time for elections last week — he still faced stiff resistance from hardliners who tried to undermine his reformist push.

Yet the Saudi people’s patience for glacial reform could soon wear thin. For decades, the ruling royal family has held the reins of power through its vast oil reserves, strict Wahabbist Islam and nimble mix of cooption, coercion and change. Now, the Arab Spring abroad and a winter of discontent at home are coalescing into louder demands for change. Forty percent of Saudi youths are unemployed, while their cabinet ministers, who average 65 years of age, continue to line the pockets of patronage networks to prolong their rule. Saudi liberals, Islamists and disaffected youth, through a string of online petitions, have called for protests and a constitutional monarchy, inspired in part by similar uprisings by their Arab brethren.

Few expect a revolution in the kingdom soon. The House of Saud has a firm grip on its patronage networks and security services, and continues to co-opt key elements of the opposition. Predictably, the regime has also responded to the latest wave of domestic discontent and foreign instability with a counterrevolution of its own. To stem the tide of Arab uprisings, Saudi Arabia has, among other things, sent tanks to Bahrain, housed Yemen’s embattled president Ali Abdullah Saleh and poured financial assistance to Jordan, Morocco and friendly political movements in the region. And at home, the king unveiled welfare decrees earlier this year with $130 billion earmarked for things like job creation and unemployment assistance.

All this may just kick the proverbial can down the road. The kingdom’s strategy of throwing money at problems is proving more unsustainable and earning fewer returns. The oil price at which its budget breaks even — now just above $80 per barrel — is expected to soar to $110 by 2015. Attempts to increase public jobs will expand an already bloated bureaucracy where almost 50 percent of total government outlays are for salaries while also undermining private labor markets needed for long-term economic growth. And Saudis are displaying their dissatisfaction with the system by voting with their feet: last week’s election suffered from an incredibly low turnout. Abroad, the kingdom’s money and meddling have sometimes not produced desired outcomes, in part because of divisions within the aging royal family about what to do in places like Yemen.

It is still unreasonable to expect the Saudi regime to collapse like a house of cards under the weight of the revolutions sweeping the Arab world. But there are clearly cracks slowly emerging in the House of Saud; ones that money may not be able to fix for long.

Prashanth Parameswaran is a student at The Fletcher School studying international relations. He can be reached at Prashanth.

Parameswaran@tufts.edu.

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

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Monday, October 3, 2011

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Friday’s Solution

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Inside MLB

Zach Drucker | The Loser

After eight years, Francona leaves Red Sox

A year ago, then-Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell was viewed as the eventual successor to manager Terry Francona. But that future seemed unfathomable, as Francona’s job was among the safest in the league. So, when offered a chance to become the skipper of the Toronto Blue Jays, Farrell jumped at the opportunity, passing up the position he had coveted since coming to Boston in 2006.

Little did Farrell — or anyone else — know that just 11 months later, that job could have been his.

After a disastrous September during which the Red Sox went 7-20, blew a 9.5 game Wild Card lead to the Tampa Bay Rays and fell short of the playoffs, despite being viewed as a preseason contender for the World Series title, the team and Francona parted ways.

General manager Theo Epstein painted the decision as mutual. Rather than explicitly firing Francona, the Red Sox simply chose not to exercise a two-year option in his contract that would have kept him in Boston through 2013. As a result, the Sox let go of a man who many would call the best manager in the franchise’s 104-year history.

Francona’s tenure in Boston was defined by the Red Sox’s World Championships in 2004 — his first year on the job — and 2007, but not merely for his on-field decisions. The average Joe could have pinch run Dave Roberts in Game 4 of the pivotal 2004 American League Championship Series and called for a stolen base. Yet, only a down-to-earth, team-first manager like Francona could have aptly deflected the negative media attention that comes with a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 series deficit and paved the way for the historic comeback.

Unfortunately, by the end of the 2011 regular season, it became clear to Francona that this no longer was his team. He would still play cribbage with second baseman Dustin Pedroia in the clubhouse before games and customarily congratulate players returning to the dugout after home runs, but when the team came upon rough waters, “Tito” could not provide the leadership necessary to right the ship.

Francona is a skilled manager of people and a shrewd baseball coach, but he is not a leader in the way that second-year Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson is. And unlike in the 2004 campaign, Francona did not have the selfproclaimed “idiots’” clubhouse chemistry to support him this past month. by

Babe, Bucky, Buckner, Boone and…

Baltimore

Daniel Rathman

Daily Editorial Board

R

MCT

After parting ways with Terry Francona (right), the Red Sox may look for an easygoing manager like the Rays’ Joe Maddon (left) to take his place.

Now, Epstein and team President/ CEO Larry Lucchino must find the right man to replace him. Farrell — who has experience in both coaching and player development and familiarity with the frantic Boston media scene — would have been perfect. Current Rays skipper, Joe Maddon, a finalist when Francona was hired eight years ago, would also have fit the bill. But instead of having either in their own dugout, the Red Sox are now tasked with bringing in a manager who can match wits against them in an increasingly competitive AL East.

And just as the Red Sox are likely to have a plethora of candidates for their new opening, Francona should have no shortage of suitors for his services.

He has already been tied to both the Chicago White Sox, with whom he was a minor league manager in the early1990s, and the Washington Nationals, a team on the rise that could use his experience to take the next step. There is little doubt that Tito will land on his feet, but there is plenty about whether the Red Sox will do the same.

Epstein and Lucchino could begin their search with the big names: former New York Mets manager and current ESPN broadcaster Bobby Valentine, former New York Yankees manager and current MLB executive Joe Torre or former Cincinnati Reds manager and current Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin.

Or, they could stay within the organization and promote veteran bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who received

Francona’s endorsement on Friday.

But regardless of whom the next Red Sox manager is, the situation he will face is at once tantalizing and terrifying. On the one hand, the team has as much talent as any in baseball, and is likely to bounce back with another 90-plus-win season and a chance at the pennant in 2012. On the other, there is a clear dissonance in the clubhouse, where the squad is more a series of cliques than a cohesive unit and — with Jason Varitek’s decline and David Ortiz’s impending free agency — may not have a “face.”

In addition to a new skipper, the Red Sox need a new identity, or — in Francona’s words — a new voice.

When the Rays found themselves in uncharted waters in 2008, Maddon earned the respect of his players by joining the team’s Mohawk hairdo campaign, and rallying Tampa Bay to the World Series for the first time in the franchise’s history.

When the Yankees came upon hard times after the 2008 season, they traded for the fun-loving Nick Swisher, who helped loosen up their locker room during the team’s 2009 championship run.

The 2012 Red Sox need a Joe Maddon, and they could use a Nick Swisher, too.

But those two are one of a kind.

If Epstein and Lucchino are to make Boston forget the collapse and revive the energy the team had in 2004 and 2007, they will need to find someone like them.

Despite loss, Jumbos look forward to Amherst, Middlebury VOLLEYBALL

continued from page 12

stronger, and we were working together much better. We definitely talked more on the court, and our energy and our focus helped us play at a much higher level.”

Still, the Saturday victories came on the heels of a disappointing Friday evening match against Bowdoin. Played in front of a partisan home crowd, the match was tight from the very beginning and truly showcased the skills of two of the top teams in the NESCAC. The Polar Bears finished the first set with four straight points to pull it out, 25-23.

The second set was one of the most thrilling of the season, and unfortunately for the Jumbos, they were on the short end of an amazing comeback. After Tufts took an 11-1 lead, Bowdoin would not give in, and after bringing the match to

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23-22 with a 21-11 run, consecutive kills from junior Hillary Cederna and a final attack from senior Kristin Hanczor completed the stunning comeback and gave the hosts a two-set advantage.

“It was all mental,” Brennan said. “We just fell apart mentally in that second set. We proved we can play with them, because every set was really close, but it was just a mental breakdown that cost us the match.”

Understandably, the Jumbos were deflated by the second-set loss and ended up dropping the match in the next frame, 25-21. Tufts finished without a player with double-digit kills, while Bowdoin had a slight edge in almost every statistical category, besting the Jumbos in kills, assists and digs.

“We had a big lead but just got too comfortable, and didn’t capitalize, which let them back in it,” Spieler said. “But

we talked for a long time after the game, about what we need to work on and how we need to communicate better. That definitely helped us to come out stronger in the next games, and I’m really happy with the way we performed on Saturday.”

Despite the loss, the team can look back at the weekend knowing that it did well enough to keep Tufts in second place in the conference, whose only remaining undefeated team is Bowdoin.

The Jumbos can now look forward to their only home NESCAC games of the season, as they take on Amherst and Middlebury this weekend at Cousens Gym. “I think that if we continue to work hard, then winning NESCACs will be in our future,” Brennan said. “Hopefully we can keep improving and make a strong run for the rest of the season and into NCAAs.”

ed Sox fans, I feel your pain. I know what it’s like to see your team hit cruise control with a month left to play and forfeit a seemingly insurmountable lead. I know what it’s like to watch your entire season slip away like a feather in the breeze. And I know what it’s like to lose it all on the final game of the season. Yet, don’t feel too miserable, because only I know what it’s like to see that same fate become my team two years in a row.

For those of you who were hibernating, living under a rock or on tour with Phish last week (the only three justifiable reasons for not knowing about the dramatic end to the 2011 MLB season), let me inform you about the historic turn of events now etched in baseball lore. The Red Sox, who held a nine-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL Wild Card on Sept. 3, lost 20 of their last 27 games and missed a playoff bid by one game. In the process, the Sox lost their last game of the season to the bottom-feeding Baltimore Orioles after a blown save by the usually stellar Jonathon Papelbon, while the Rays overcame a 7-0 eighth-inning deficit to overcome the New York Yankees in extra innings. Babe, Buckner, Bucky, Boone and… Baltimore?!

To put this into terms everyone can understand, imagine a monkey beating Bobby Fischer in chess while, simultaneously, the Yankees lose a seven-run lead to the Rays! There’s nothing to compare with the latter part of this equation because the Yankees haven’t blown a lead like that since 1953. The year 1953, as in Eisenhower was president, “Peter Pan” was released and the polio vaccine wouldn’t come out for two more years.

Anyway, the Red Sox’s loss is particularly alarming for Boston fans, who have grown complacent after watching their four major sports teams win seven championships since 2002. Yet, despite all of the Tim Thomas shutouts, Paul Pierce buzzer beaters and Adam Vinatieri game-winning field goals, nothing matters more to a Boston fan than a Red Sox win. Bostonians have more passion for the Red Sox than any other team simply because of the legacy. After being historically bad for a quasi-century, Boston fans continued to stand proudly behind their team; memories of Ted Williams’ last at-bat and a Carlton Fisk homer waved fair provided unwarranted hope.

The untimely end to the 2011 season, however, brought back a bad taste for Sawx fans everywhere, and I can commiserate.

My New York Mets blew a seven-and-ahalf game September lead in 2007 and a three-and-a-half-game lead in 2008 to the rival Philadelphia Phillies, missing the playoffs with a loss to the luckless Florida Marlins on the final day of both seasons.

I felt like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day” (1993), if “Groundhog Day” only consisted of a big dude offering you a cookie then punching you in the face with it.

My friend told me that the day the Sox won the World Series in 2004 was the first time he saw his father cry. I first saw my dad cry when I crashed his Jeep into a telephone pole, but that wasn’t quite as powerful an image. The question remains, however, when will it be my turn to weep for my team? Not with Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” in the background and an empty tub of Ben & Jerry’s in my lap, but with a smile on my face and a Mets cap on my head.

Zach Drucker is a senior majoring in international relations and Spanish. He can be reached at Zachary.Drucker@tufts.edu.

Sports

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INSIDE Inside MLB 11

tuftsdaily.com

VOLLEYBALL

Tufts goes 2-1 this weekend

Football

Jumbos second in NESCAC despite tough loss by

David McIntyre

Daily Editorial Board

The women’s volleyball team finished its second NESCAC weekend of the year with a 2-1 record, responding to a heartbreakVOLLEYBALL (4-1 NESCAC, 11-3 Overall) at Brunswick, Maine, Saturday Tufts Colby

25 25 25 — 3 15 13 19 — 0

Tufts Bates

25 25 25 — 3 12 18 14 — 0

at Brunswick, Maine, Friday Tufts Bowdoin

23 25

23 25

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

The Jumbos’ offense turned the ball over four times against Bates, leaving the defense to protect a short field.

21 — 0 25 — 3

ing loss to Bowdoin with emphatic wins over Bates and Colby. The results leave the Jumbos with a 4-1 conference record and a tie for second in the NESCAC standings.

The games, all three of which were played at Bowdoin College, were somewhat of a mixed bag for the Jumbos, who will undoubtedly regret losing to Bowdoin after squandering an 11-1 lead in the second set before losing in three. However, Tufts rebounded well with straight set victories against Bates and Colby.

The match against Colby might have been the squad’s most convincing victory of the season. The Jumbos dominated all aspects of the game, outscoring the Mules in aces, assists, digs, blocks, kills and killing percentage en route to the straight set victory. More importantly, they were able to forget about the loss to Bowdoin and go back to playing fluid team volleyball in the same fashion that has served them well all season.

Tufts also got strong contributions from its freshmen in the match, a theme that has been apparent in almost every game this season. The attacking trio of Hayley Hopper, Isabel Kuhel, and Kelly Brennan combined for 18 kills, while fellow first-year Juliana Goodbar provided

Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

Freshman Kelly Brennan was part of a trio that made 18 kills against Colby on Saturday.

by

three kills and two digs.

“We just realized that we had nothing to lose and that if we gave everything we can definitely be successful,” Brennan said.

“As long as we work hard on every point, there’s no reason why we can’t come out strong and be really successful.”

The Jumbos put on a very similar performance against Bates earlier in the day, again winning in straight sets and dominating the stat sheet and the pace of the play. The Bobcats ended up with more errors than kills in the match, which was due in large part to the tenacious defense of the Jumbos, who had three players — senior tri-captains Audrey Kuan and Cara Spieler, and junior setter Kendall Lord — finish with double digits in digs. Kuan is also the executive online editor for the Daily.

“We had a more positive attitude on Saturday, and we really worked on the little things,” Spieler said. “We came out see VOLLEYBALL, page 11

EDITORS’ CHALLENGE: 2011 World Series Edition E WINNER

Jumbos fall to Bobcats for second consecutive year

RUNNER-UP GAMES

MVP

Aaron L.

7

Evan Longoria

Alex P.

6

Roy Halladay

Annie S.

7

Michael Young

Ben K.

6

Ryan Braun

Claire K.

6

Roy Halladay

Daniel R.

6

Mike Napoli

David M.

6

Robinson Cano

Ethan S.

6

Roy Halladay

Kate K.

6

Nick Swisher

Lauren F.

7

Ryan Theriot

Matt B.

6

Josh Hamilton

Ben Kochman

Daily Editorial Board

Before last season, Tufts hadn’t lost a football game to Bates since 1986.

But after Saturday’s 28-9 drubbing FOOTBALL (0-2 NESCAC, 0-2 Overall) at Clinton, N.Y., Saturday Tufts Bates

0 3 0 6 — 9 13 8 7 0 — 28

at the hands of the Bobcats (1-1) at Garcelon Field in Lewiston, Maine, the Jumbos have lost games in consecutive seasons to a team they for decades easily kept at bay.

Tufts (0-2) was on its heels from the opening kickoff Saturday, which Bates junior Patrick George returned nearly to midfield. Six plays later, the Bobcats scored, as sophomore running back Ryan Curit took a screen pass 16 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.

Later in the first quarter a Bates punt pinned the Jumbos at their own 3-yard line. After a three-and-out and a 29-yard punt from junior Marty Finnegan, the Bobcats only needed to go 38 yards in four plays to score another touchdown and take a 13-0 lead.

“One thing that hurt us on defense was that Bates was able to get a short field on a couple of drives,” senior defensive tackle Ian Levinsky said. “They were able to capitalize on that, which put us in a hole in the first half.”

Playing from behind the rest of the way, the Jumbos never established a running game. They were dwarfed in running yards 218-18 in the contest, as Bates’ triple-option attack gave them fits all afternoon long.

“They executed very well, they did a nice job with [the triple option],” Tufts coach Jay Civetti said. “I thought our guys prepared well in practice but that’s just part of the challenge of playing Bates.”

Tufts closed the gap to 13-3 early in the second quarter when senior kicker Adam Auerbach’s field goal ended a 10-play, 69-yard drive.

Senior quarterback Johnny Lindquist did have some success moving the ball through the air Saturday, finishing with 258 yards — 75 of which went to his go-to receiver, senior Dylan Haas, who had eight catches.

But four of Lindquist’s drives were derailed by interceptions, two of which came off tipped passes that were caught by senior linebacker Brett McAllister.

The Tufts quarterback was under

fire all game long in his second career start. His was sacked six times in the contest.

“Bates put a lot of pressure on him, and he was blitzed more than he’s used to,” Civetti said. “Still, he made some good throws, and he’ll work hard to get better.”

The second of Lindquist’s interceptions came early in the third, interrupting what had been a 37-yard Tufts drive into Bates territory.

Bobcats junior quarterback Trevor Smith led his team down the field and George capped off the ensuing drive with a 1-yard rush to make the score 28-3.

“The Bates defense did a great job of forcing us into turnovers, and that’s something that we as a defense need to work on,” Levinsky said. “We need to get more pressure on opposing quarterbacks, maybe by rushing linebackers from the edge, because we haven’t generated any fumbles or interceptions through the first two games, while Bates had four. That made a huge difference in field position.”

Tufts scored its lone touchdown on a 1-yard run from sophomore running back Ryan Pollack midway through the final frame, but by that point the game was out of reach, a far cry from last week’s near-heroic comeback on the road at Hamilton that barely came up short.

“We were out-physicaled from start to finish, there’s no doubt about that,” Civetti said. “They did a great job attacking us, and they won at the point of attack.”

Senior linebackers Zack Skarzynski and tri-captain J.T Rinciari, who led the team with 15 and 10 tackles, respectively, anchored the Tufts defense.

Civetti praised the unit for its leadership and for coming up with a goalline stand with nine minutes remaining in the second quarter, which kept the game 13-0.

“That stand at the 1-yard line, and then at the six when they had a false start, was definitely our defensive highlight from the game,” Levinsky said.

But Civetti knows his team needs to play far better to win in the NESCAC, an opportunity the Jumbos will have in their first home game of the season this Saturday versus Bowdoin on Zimman Field.

“We get another week to come together and grow. We’re still an inexperienced team and we need to learn to win, I guess,” he said.

“The record is what it is, but we still have the fire, the passion. We have to get better fundamentally, and now we get to do it at home.”