The Tufts Daily - Monday, March 14, 2022

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXIII, ISSUE 31

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Monday, March 14, 2022

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Working Group on TUPD Arming to announce recommendations by end of semester

by Rebecca Barker News Editor

Tufts’ Working Group on TUPD Arming anticipates releasing new recommendations regarding TUPD’s arming status this semester, Executive Vice President Mike Howard confirmed in an email to the Daily.

The working group was formed following the release of the university’s Campus Safety and Policing Workstream final report in February 2021, which recommended creating a working group focused on addressing and potentially reforming TUPD’s arming status. The report estimated that if implemented, “this group’s work could take approximately 12 months and would include a lengthier and more comprehensive communication and engagement effort than the [Working Group on Campus Safety and Policing].”

While the Working Group on TUPD Arming seems to be on track to follow a timeline similar to the one proposed in last year’s final report, some commu-

nity members do not feel that the working group has communicated in a transparent and effective way regarding its recommendation process.

The Student Prison Education and Abolition Coalition, an umbrella organization for groups at Tufts that engage with carceral justice work including the Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College, Tufts Petey Greene and Tufts for a Racially Equitable Endowment, launched a letter-writing campaign in December calling for the WGTA to release the results of its arming survey.

The survey, released to the Tufts community in September, asked participants — including undergraduates students, graduate students, faculty and staff — to select how comfortable they would feel with TUPD, local police departments or mental health professionals responding to various safety threats with varying levels of arming.

According to Tatum Schutt, a SPEAC organizer, little was done to communicate that survey results were made public.

NATALIE BROWNSELL / THE TUFTS DAILY

TUPD vehicles are pictured in the lower level of the Dowling Hall garage.

“While the results are now available online, the WGTA did little to publicize their release of this information, let alone directly contact anybody who expressed interest via email,” Schutt, a sophomore, wrote in an

email to the Daily. “As a result, the data is only accessible to those who go out of their way to search for it … When they knew the student interest was there, why couldn’t they have announced that the data was available?”

While she appreciates that the results are available publicly, Schutt added that for the university to truly embody its mission to become an anti-racist institusee ARMING, page 2

Tufts Climate Action calls on Tufts administration to completely divest from fossil fuels

by Olivia Field

Assistant News Editor

Tufts Climate Action staged a protest outside of Ballou Hall on Friday, calling for the university’s complete divestment from fossil fuel holdings. The protest complements the work TCA has been doing since its founding in 2012.

According to junior Julia Silberman, one of the protest’s organizers, the main goal of the demonstration was to encourage the Tufts administration to divest completely from the fossil fuel industry and raise awareness around climate action.

“The climate crisis demands urgent action and we can’t just keep waiting around for

COURTESY JULIA SILBERMAN

Students march to protest Tufts’ investment in fossil fuels on March 11.

bureaucracy to make the decisions that are very important in the fight for climate justice,” Silberman said.

Student organizing in support of fossil fuel divestment is not a new occurrence on Tufts’ campus. Students submitted a proposal that the university divest from fossil fuels in February 2013 and in response, University President Anthony Monaco formed the Tufts Divestment Working Group which, at the time, advised against divestment. TCA again rallied for divestment in February 2020.

Members of the organization participated in the Responsible Investment Advisory Group which, in February 2021, recommended that Tufts ban direct investment in “120 coal and tar sands companies with the largest reserves.” TCA continues to advocate for full, as opposed to partial, divestment.

Helen Cedzidlo, another organizer of the event, emphasized the importance of holding protests in person.

“This [protest] is really helping to bring a lot of awareness to our club because for most of the 2020–21 academic year, we

were limited in what we could do,” Cedzidlo, a sophomore, said. “Bringing this event in person to the forefront, where you can’t avoid it or click away from it, is really bringing awareness to our cause.”

Protesting in front of Ballou Hall was a strategic choice by TCA to try and directly engage with the administration. The protest aimed to put pressure on Tufts administration to follow other universities in the Greater Boston area that have started to divest from the fossil fuel industry.

“Earlier this year, Harvard and BU divested … Tufts is definitely behind the curve on this,” Silberman said.

Not only does TCA believe that Tufts is falling behind in its sustainability efforts but also that the administration’s past decision to divest from coal and tar sands is not a strong enough action.

“Even though this decision was kind of advertised as being really progressive … they have about 80 million [dollars] still in the fossil fuel industry through indirect investments,” Abigail Harrison, another organizer of the event, said.

ARTS / page 4

FEATURES / page 3

SPORTS / back

‘Mrs. Maisel’ steals the show in penultimate season

Students break a sweat in TUSC fitness classes

Real Madrid defeats PSG in epic comeback

TCA does not believe that the administration has followed through on its public commitments to sustainability. Though there have been some instances where the administration has responded positively to TCA activism, they stress that they continue to struggle to make their voices heard.

“In the fall of 2019, we rallied outside Ballou every single week for about six weeks,” Silberman said. “Eventually, [we] were successful in getting the attention of the administration, which led to the origin of the Responsible Investment Advisory Group.”

Despite the progress made with the Responsible Investment Advisory Group, TCA still believes that the Tufts administration doesn’t live up to its sustainability standards.

“When it actually comes to the practicality of activism, they don’t really support it,” Silberman said. “They like to pretend that they’ve always been on board with these activist movements, because it helps to support their image, so they see CLIMATE, page 2 NEWS

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FEATURES

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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SPORTS

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Monday, March 14, 2022

THE TUFTS DAILY Alexander Janoff Editor in Chief

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Task force looks to further university's anti-racist initiative ARMING

continued from page 1 tion, initiatives must go beyond task force meetings.

“We appreciate the progress reports available online.

Communication and transparency are important. So are power and action,” she wrote. “Within liberal institutions there is an extensive tradition of co-opting of the language of change and responding with incrementalism that does not disturb the baseline power structure at play.

At Tufts, this can look like waiting for student leaders to burn out, go abroad, and graduate, establishing work committees accountable to no one, drawing out timelines, and using proceduralism to excuse inaction.”

Schutt hopes that the WGTA’s conclusions will lead to serious reforms. She cited Tufts Action Group, an anti-racist faculty and staff organization that was formed following the

murder of George Floyd, as a group that should inform the WGTA’s recommendations.

Tufts Action Group’s demands, which include abolishing TUPD, garnered support from over 2,000 students, faculty and staff during summer 2020.

Howard noted that while the policing model Tufts currently utilizes is common, the WGTA is researching alternatives. These models include proprietary and contract security departments with varying arming statuses, including armed, unarmed and hybrid models.

“One theme that we heard consistently throughout our discussions with community members is support for flexibility in response, greater reliance on mental health resources, and low preference for greater involvement of municipal police,” Howard wrote in an email to the Daily. “Many of those who participated in our surveys and

discussions indicated that they are interested in differential response, which allows for public safety responses to vary depending on the nature of the call, the campus, and other factors.”

Of the 2,959 total survey responses — 2,040 of which came from the Medford/ Somerville campus — the majority were against an armed response to mental health calls, noise complaints and public intoxication. Some respondents supported armed TUPD or local police departments’ responses to physical assault and theft or robbery, with 56% and 54% favoring such a response, respectively. Over one third of all respondents were undergraduate students, and 62% percent of respondents were white. Fortynine percent of respondents were female, with an additional 10% of respondents’ gender identities listed as unknown or not listed.

“We appreciate the commitment of the working group over the past several months as it has studied this issue, engaged the community, and examined the university’s options,” Executive Director of Media Relations Patrick Collins wrote in an email to the Daily. “We anticipate that the group’s findings will be made available to the community in the next few weeks.”

Schutt hopes the findings will reflect the university’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist institution.

“We are glad that faculty, administrators and the single undergraduate student representative seem to have discussed arming seriously, and we look forward to hearing their conclusions,” she wrote. “Should they conclude inaction and minimal reform, we will be ready to welcome them into serious discussion of alternatives to policing in our shared community and to resist.”

TCA claims administration is greenwashing CLIMATE

continued from page 1 often co-opt the work of activists that have been really hard-won battles.”

Harrison, a sophomore, echoed Silberman’s sentiment, labeling the administration’s behavior as greenwashing.

“Greenwashing is the idea of … pushing this front of sustainability, while simultaneously not … taking direct actionable steps toward being sustainable,” she explained.

TCA believes that it is important for Tufts to divest from the fossil fuel industry not only as a practical measure to encourage a cleaner climate but also to

make a statement as a prominent university.

“It makes a political statement, and it shows that the world is moving away from the direction of fossil fuels, which are really the main contributor to climate change,” Harrison said.

However, beyond setting an example for other universities and institutions, Cedzidlo said divesting from fossil fuels is in Tufts’ own interest.

“From a practical sort of standpoint, we cannot be funding companies that will be making the planet much more difficult to live on for all of us who will be graduating 10 to 20 years from now,” Cedzidlo said.

COURTESY MOLI MA

Students rally with Tufts Climate Action to demand Tufts to fully divest from fossil fuels on March 11.

This Week in COVID-19: Tufts maintains mask mandate as Medford, Somerville, Mass. lift restrictions

by Flora Meng and Alex Viveros Deputy News Editor and Science Editor

COVID-19 cases are gradually on the decline again on the Medford/Somerville campus.

The university reported 124 cases last week, with eight new cases on Friday.

The average number of positive COVID-19 cases on the Medford/Somerville campus has gone down around 14% over the past week with an average of 18 students testing positive per day.

A total of 65 individuals were in isolation on Friday.

While Massachusetts recently lifted its mask mandate for K-12 schools and both Medford and Somerville have removed their indoor masking requirements, Tufts continues to enforce a mask mandate. The university’s position on masking has been attributed to the relatively high positivity rate on the Medford/Somerville and SMFA campuses.

Somerville repealed its mask mandate on March 4 after the CDC announced that 90% of Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors. This figure is up from 70% just over a week ago. According to the nation’s health protection agency, Middlesex County is now considered to be at low risk

for transmission. The move will mean that restaurants, fitness centers, supermarkets and other indoor establishments will no longer require patrons to wear masks.

The lifting of Somerville’s mask mandate comes just two weeks after a group protested against COVID-19 restrictions

in a local Somerville brewery.

A group of anti-vaccine, antimask protesters staged a sit-in protest while unmasked and refused to show proof of vaccination. The protesters argued that the masking and vaccination requirements discriminated against their medical statuses and legal rights.

ALEX VIVEROS / THE TUFTS DAILY

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Features

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TUSC Fitness Program offers free fitness classes to undergraduate students

Kate Seklir Kate in Paris

by Elizabeth Zacks

know the same cannot be said for Medford, where the weather within the past week has fluctuated between 60 degrees and sunny and 30 degrees and snowy, but spring seems to be drawing imminently closer in Paris. While spring does not officially begin until March 20 this year — the day on which the sun will be directly over the equator as it moves into the Northern Hemisphere — the past week has given a taste of what the season is sure to bring here in Paris. Afternoons spent strolling public gardens and people-watching from cafes seem to be in my future.

I once heard a quote about springtime in Paris that I searched for once again when the sun began to shine out from behind the clouds this past week. “When Spring comes to Paris, the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise,” Henry Miller, a famed American novelist, wrote. I’m sure I’m not the “humblest mortal alive” that Miller has in mind; after all, I’m a 20-year-old studying abroad here for the semester, but his words resonated particularly strongly as I exited each metro station this week and was met with a burst of fresh air and sunlight rather than the gust of wind and frequent gray sky to which I had grown accustomed.

There’s that special excitement that comes with the first few warmer days of springtime that is universal. I’ve experienced it each of the past two years at Tufts — those March days when your friends text you “Prez lawn??” after class and you get your meals to go and eat them outside on the grass. In New York, too, early spring meant evenings where the sun began to set later and later as I made my way home from track and field practice each day and when I swapped winter coats for something lighter. And I felt lighter, too.

I can’t wait to see what spring means here in Paris. I think I’ve slowly started to tease out that new definition.

This week, I’ve felt that springtime energy as I made my way through the Jardin de Tuileries for a solo afternoon walk, ice cream in hand. I sat chatting with a friend in metal chairs at the Luxembourg Gardens, marveling at the hoards of Parisians (and tourists, surely) reclining and soaking up those first rays of sun.

I thought a bit of what it means to be in a “new” place during a time of transition. Surely, one might think that the novelty of Paris would have worn off somewhat now that I’ve been here for more than two months, but this change from winter to spring is once again reinventing the city for me, as well as the place I am making for myself in it.

There is a new excitement in the air and a new ease with which I find myself navigating my day-to-day life. I feel increasingly confident in my spoken and written French, and the snail-like spiral of the city’s quarters is cementing itself in my mind alongside the maps of Medford/Somerville, Boston and New York City. I can already tell — spring here is sure to bring something special.

Staff Writer

MINA TERZIOGLU / THE TUFTS DAILY

TUSC Fitness Programs sign outside of the Hill Hall Aerobics Room is pictured on March 13. “[Dance Cardio] is a really fun time to kind of come together and dance in a very positive setting,” Antonio said.

Pearl Young, a senior and TUSC dance instructor, teaches Dance Fit. “One of my favorite things about being in a dance class is it’s a very collective mindset,” Young said. “And, it’s not a competitive mindset, which I feel is very common in the dance world.”

Young tries to prioritize the comfort of Dance Fit attendees.

“I’ve basically chosen a couple styles of dance that I think people are familiar enough with just from pop culture that they … would feel comfortable enough to participate in,” Young said. “I never want you to be pushing yourself past a comfortable limit of what your body can do.”

In addition to dance classes, the TUSC Fitness Program offers high-intensity interval training and kickboxing classes.

Bronwyn Fulton, a senior and TUSC fitness instructor, said that her kickboxing classes focus on cardio while incorporating strength to give participants a full-body workout. She added that attendance varies by day of the week, with anywhere from three to 10 students coming to her classes.

“Kickboxing is something that I enjoy so much. So honestly the fact that I get to be able to do it every week and have people that come and do it with me is so awesome,” Fulton said. “I feel so lucky and privileged to be able to be a part of that community and to workout with people.”

Catie Urquhart, a senior and friend of Fulton, consistently attends Fulton’s kickboxing classes, noting that the class is her favorite part of the week.

“Taking the space out of my day to go … and to have that to look forward to, improves my mental space,” Urquhart

said. “My flexibility has improved because kickboxing isn’t something I had ever done before or would have access to if it weren’t for the class.”

Senior and TUSC Fitness co-coordinator Rowan Bishop teaches Get LIIT with HIIT, which she describes as “a series of circuit training [and] high-intensity interval training exercises.”

“We’re going to push each other [and] we’re gonna have fun during [the class],” Bishop said.

Bishop described her role as a TUSC fitness co-coordinator.

“It was our job to recruit, … interview and hire all the fitness instructors that are currently in the program,” Bishop said.

“We do check-ins … we make sure the equipment [in Hill Hall] is up to date and we answer any questions or concerns the fitness instructors may have.”

The TUSC fitness co-coordinators also plan events like Night Lift.

“In February, we had a night lift … in the gym. … We invited people to come in and learn how to lift and learn how to use the machines,” Bishop said. “It was open for everybody, but we really focused on female and gender non-conforming, nonbinary people so that they can feel like they have actual space in a gym, because … in traditional settings, it [can be] really hard for people to feel comfortable in the gym.”

Khatwani said that she hopes that the TUSC Fitness Program continues after she graduates.

“I hope that Rowan and I laid down the necessary groundwork,” Khatwani said.

“Also… [Andres’] work was also important in establishing this program, because he was there in the beginning as well.

So hopefully the three of us did what we [could] to ensure that this continues after we leave.”

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Want to workout but don’t want to pay for expensive classes or trek to the gym?

Numerous different weekly fitness classes are available for Tufts undergraduate students in the Hill Hall Aerobics Room, as part of the TUSC Fitness Program. Not only are these classes taught by students for students, but they are free with a Tufts student ID. The TUSC Fitness Program began during the fall 2021 semester. Previously, student-led fitness classes were offered through Tufts Student Resources.

In an email to the Daily, John Wescott, the associate director for campus life and staff advisor to TUSC, explained why the TSR fitness classes came to an end.

“Tufts Student Resources was a student-run business that operated in varying capacities for many years prior to 2019,” Wescott wrote. “The student fitness instructors from TSR Fitness (a pay as you go program) continued to work to offer ad-hoc classes as they were able to during the 2019-20 academic year, and then in 2020-21 were limited due to COVID restrictions.”

Wescott wrote that the TUSC Fitness Program began after two former TSR fitness instructors approached TUSC about reviving the program.

Meher Khatwani, a senior and co-coordinator of the TUSC Fitness Program, was one of those students.

“I reached out to TUSC the summer before my senior year … because more than anything I wanted to teach a fitness class,” Khatwani said. “And [TUSC] said, ‘We don’t have anything in place. Would you like to be part of establishing something?’”

Andres Antonio, a junior and TUSC dance instructor, also helped TUSC develop the current fitness program.

“Last semester, I was actually one of the TUSC fitness coordinators,” Antonio said. “I worked on building this program, hiring instructors, training instructors [and] … coordinating classes.”

Antonio then explained the application, hiring and training process for instructors. There’s a written application, where applicants are asked if they have previous experience with teaching classes and whether they are CPR-certified or have any gym certifications. If they’re a good fit, students are interviewed, trained and shown how the program operates, Antonio said.

This semester, Antonio teaches a dance cardio class, which introduces basic dance techniques in a cardio format to help students have fun and de-stress.

In spring

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Kate Seklir is a junior studying political science. Kate can be reached at kate.seklir@tufts.edu.

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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture

tuftsdaily.com

Monday, March 14, 2022

‘Aldus Manutius: Renaissance Printer in Venice’ promotes Special Collections

SADIE LEITE / THE TUFTS DAILY

Exhibition pieces from “Aldus Manutius: Renaissance Printer in Venice” are pictured.

by Sadie Leite

Assistant Arts Editor

Elettra Conoly (A’21) wants the students of Tufts to read more early printed books.

Conoly works full time for Tisch Library’s Special Collections.

She started her job at the end of January and works with social media, programming and more to support the section she fell in love with during her sophomore year.

Conoly described the special collections students can access through Tisch Library.

“All you have to do is wash your hands before you sit down, and you can find yourself looking through a 500-yearold book,” Conoly said. “I think [Special Collections] is underutilized just because not enough people know about it.”

Special Collections held a pop-up exhibit titled “Aldus Manutius: Renaissance Printer in Venice” in collaboration with an art history course titled Renaissance Venice, taught by Professor Chiara Pidatella on March 8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Tisch Library.

The show featured early printed books and extended

the niche collection beyond Pidatella’s class.

“Rather than just setting up all these wonderful materials and just having one class have access to them, we thought it would be great to open it up to the broader Tufts audience and get as many people in to see these beautiful books as possible,” Conoly said.

The exhibit was curated by Curator of Rare Books and Humanities Collections Librarian Christopher Barbour and focused on Venetian printer Aldus Pius Manutius.

Manutius lived in the 1400s and 1500s, and he printed books for about 15 years of his life.

Manutius founded the Aldine Press in 1494. Conoly explained that Manutius “was working off of humanist texts that were basically coming back into vogue during the Renaissance.”

After studying Greek and Roman texts, Manutius invented the italics font for printing. Additionally, he designed a Greek typeface to make Greek texts accessible to a wider community of readers.

Barbour, Conoly and Pidatella guided viewers as

they digested the information.

Pidatella’s class took place at its normal time — 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. — in the room showing the work.

The students used a worksheet to study the books. It encouraged them to find the authors, analyze the typographical layout and evaluate the effects of certain images.

“I think a lot of these students haven’t ever worked with rare books,” Conoly said.

Students mulled over pages with magnifying glasses and other special tools that opened pages carefully. There were manuscripts, such as Albert of Saxony’s “Sophismata” (1398) commonly used by logic students in medieval universities. Incunables, which Conoly described as “books printed in the first half [of the] century basically of the existence of printing, so from 1450 to 1500,” were also on display.

The incunables and manuscripts acted as comparisons to Manutius’s work from the early 1500s. His sons’ prints added to the study too, as they continued working with the Aldine Press — ­­ which was rare. Most presses closed

quickly due to the overestimation of production; there was not enough money to sustain the practice. The acclaimed Johannes Gutenberg press that printed the “Gutenberg Bible” (1455) fell to this fate. However, the Aldine Press persevered for three generations with Manutius, Paulus Manutius and Aldus Manutius, Jr. Conoly said she was excited about “the chronological progression from manuscripts to incunabula, to then early printed books.” She continued, “It’s striking to see how similar the incunables are to how manuscripts were structured, and then seeing sort of a departure from that as you move forward in time.”

The exhibit is a step forward for Special Collections.

In the time Conoly has been with Tisch Library, Special Collections has worked with individual classes, presenting sources for classes’ subjects.

“The Aldine Press was a pretty influential force in the development of typography and early printed books in general,” Conoly said. “We thought it would be great to show more people.”

Conoly hopes to continue more in-depth programming for the Tufts community.

Special Collections is collaborating with the SMFA on an exhibit called “Manuscripts: Medieval and Modern.” The show will position older books from Special Collections alongside SMFA’s contemporary artist books with the help of Darin Murphy, assistant director of the SMFA Library.

When Conoly was a sophomore, she took a class with Professor Melinda Latour on music up to 1750. Latour took the class to Special Collections for sources. Conoly enjoyed working with the texts so much she continued with an independent study the following semester to continue the research.

“When I came to Tufts, I had no idea we had any manuscripts … let alone the fact that as a sophomore, I would be allowed to handle and research them,” Conoly said. “I had no idea that that was an opportunity until it was literally presented right in front of me as a project for a class. And I think a lot of other students are in the same boat.”

A r t s & P o p Cu l t u r e

Monday, March 14, 2022 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY

‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ keeps up the energy and humor in its penultimate season

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Members of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel cast are pictured.

by Nate Hall

Contributing Writer

When your life seems like it’s falling apart around you, what do you do? For Midge Maisel, the answer is stand-up comedy.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which just wrapped up its fourth season, premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2017.

Set in New York in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, the series stars Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a young Jewish housewife who pursues a career in standup comedy. After discovering her husband Joel’s (Michael Zegen) affair, Midge performs an impromptu stand-up routine at the Gaslight Cafe in Manhattan.

Recognizing her natural comedic talent, a Gaslight employee named Susie Meyerson (Alex Borstein) convinces Midge to become a comic and offers to become her manager. As she explores the world of standup comedy, Midge has to deal with her concerned parents (Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle), her nagging in-laws (Kevin Pollak and Shirley Aaron) and several key figures in the New York stand-up comedy scene. The show’s first three seasons were acclaimed by critics and received several accolades, including Emmy Awards Nominations for Brosnahan, Borstein and Shalhoub.

At the start of the fourth season, Midge’s comedy career has hit a roadblock after she loses her spot as the

opening act on a popular singer’s national tour and is forced to return to New York. Strapped for cash, she moves back into her old apartment with her parents and starts working as the emcee at a Manhattan burlesque club. Meanwhile, Midge’s ex-husband runs a nightclub in Chinatown, her mother Rose works as a matchmaker, and her father Abe gets a job as a theater critic for a local newspaper.

As usual, the season is fast paced and ambitious, covering a myriad of plotlines that keep pace with the hustle and bustle of midcentury New York. Although the episodes’ one-hour runtimes allow the series to feature plenty of characters, the plots that highlight the antics of Midge’s friends and family members tend to pull focus away from her own story. As Midge settles down in New York in the first few episodes, it’s easy to feel a sense of déjà vu: finding herself back where she started in season one. It seems like the plot is going around in circles, where quite literally in the season premiere, Midge explains her predicament to her family while riding a Ferris wheel in Coney Island. However, the series gradually picks up momentum and settles into a comfortable rhythm, introducing new characters and storylines that culminate in an entertaining and emotional conclusion.

In keeping with past seasons, “Maisel” is a visually stunning watch, with vibrant costumes and sets that transport viewers

back to the 1960s. Its lively soundtrack highlights the music of the era, and its use of ‘oners,’ or long scenes filmed in one continuous shot, is an impressive feat of cinematography. The series is elevated by witty, mile-a-minute dialogue that demands viewers’ attention; don’t watch this show if you’re merely looking for something to leave on in the background. However, the upbeat and polished tone of the show tends to overlook many of the challenges of 1960s America, leaving viewers to wonder whose voices are being left out of the story.

Brosnahan and Borstein are the heart of the show. Their chemistry and comedic banter makes the show a joy to watch, and Brosnahan brings a confident quality to Midge that makes her character hard not to like. Shalhoub and Hinkle stand out among the supporting cast as Midge’s parents Abe and Rose Weissman, and guest stars Jane Lynch and Luke Kirby steal the spotlight as fellow New York comics Sophie Lennon and Lenny Bruce.

Making a show like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is no easy feat. Tasked with recreating 1960s New York, juggling a host of characters and plotlines and keeping viewers’ attention with likable characters and sharp humor, the series is mostly successful. The series will return for its fifth and final season next year, which will hopefully provide a satisfying ending to Midge’s story.

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Ellie Lester and Sadie Leite The Art of Good Soup

Wet tomatoes

W

e have a confession to make. This week, we almost forgot about good soup. We were so caught up planning events, hosting guests and counting doors and wheels that our minds were elsewhere. We even got stuck in the ‘80s for a bit. And then we got lost in the jungle. It was a little scary, until we realized that camouflage is ugly. Like, really ugly.

Anyway, the journey was a perilous one. We were already late, waiting for a guest columnist who forgot to set his alarm. We also missed a turn and almost got hit by Amazon, UPS and FedEx trucks. Go consumerism!

Still, we made it. Albeit, we were soaked. We didn’t realize it was gonna rain even though three of our friends said it was gonna rain. Sometimes we turn off our ears, so that makes sense.

But it’s not our fault.

Our destination was Stephanie’s on Newbury. We entered looking like a sad pack of wet dogs, especially those without hoods. We tried in vain to dry ourselves with the bathroom hand dryer.

But the air was cold and not worth the embarrassment of trying to tuck ourselves under the vent. We may or may not have more dignity than that.

We sat upstairs under the skylight.

The first thing we noticed was a checklist on the table for customizable bloody marys. We found several of the options quite alarming. We wondered what sort of mental state would make you want Caesar dressing in your bloody mary.

Then again, Sadie would eat mayonnaise with a spoon if you let her.

After much deliberation over the menu, we had already ordered our brunch and crushed a monkey bread appetizer when we realized it was Saturday. Our soup column was due that night! We frantically pulled up the menu, debating whether to consider shakshuka or coffee a soup and call it a day. But we couldn’t fail you all like that.

We ordered Stephi’s tomato soup. It came in a shallow bowl with drizzles of olive oil and grilled cheese croutons. It was heavenly.

At first, we were worried this decision might cause a rift. Sadie is a huge tomato souper, but Ellie is not. The base is too creamy and viscous — it freaks her out. Sadie would only disagree because she loves cream, being the dairy lover she is. Monster.

It took one slurp for Ellie to change her mind. This soup was magical. It tasted a little bit like vodka sauce, but that only made it better. We passed it around the table, and the reviews were glowing. Even the gluten-free guest columnist had a ball. He loved it so much that he went to wipe it clean with a home fry just as the waitress reached to take it away. It was awkward. But not for the rest of us — we all laughed.

Nothing better than good soup and laughing at your friend. Laughing with your friend is okay too.

We rate this soup 6.53097698032770 26402647284782649823562346 spoons.

We’re gonna go take naps now, night night. It was a busy week. Perhaps we’ll dream of tomato soup.

Ellie Lester is a sophomore studying English. Ellie can be reached at eliana.lester@tufts.edu. Sadie Leite is a sophomore studying English. Sadie can be reached at sadie.leite@tufts.edu.

Monday, March 14, 2022 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY

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F& G

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY

A r ts & P o p C u lt u r e

SUDOKU

Difficulty Level: Finishing production before 9pm.

Friday’s Solutions

Mac: “I’m going to go home to do a prayer circle...that you have a very late night.”

HIGH FRUCTOSE HEARBREAK

By Matthew Hixson

SEARCHING FOR HEADLINES...

CROSSWORD

6

tuftsdaily.com

Ethan Jaskowiak Ethics of the Environment

Game reserves: Who do they serve?

T

he global population is rapidly approaching eight billion people.

This growth necessitates increases in food production, resource extraction and overall consumption, putting a strain on remaining wildlife habitat.

Oftentimes, our most precious refuges of biodiversity are left to the protection of impoverished local communities, raising the question: Who should bear the burdens of conservation efforts?

Opinion Who should reap the benefits: locals or predominantly western conservationists?

Poaching is a classic example of this conflict between struggling local populations and concerned conservationists.

The majority of modern poaching occurs within countries experiencing poverty where poaching is the most accessible source of income to sustain the livelihoods of local people. One rhino horn in South Africa can net 150,000 rand, roughly five years’ salary in one day’s work.

With this kind of incentive, and the lack of other viable options, no wonder many choose to poach, and why shouldn’t they?

Many locals receive minimal profits from tourism and are often forcibly relocated to make space for national parks, removing their access to many tra-

ditional food stocks as well as decreasing their ability to adapt to drought and other effects of climate change.

If the main economic and social benefactors of conservation are affluent, foreign elites, why should local populations bother protecting wildlife spaces? Conservation and tourism have increasingly been a source of class conflict in areas surrounding game reserves or national parks. A local politician in Kenya threatened that “we will start killing and feeding on the [wildlife] that are edible” if profits from tourism and conservation were not shared with the local population. There is a burden in protecting wildlife, and it is being supported by those who receive very little of the benefits.

In addition, locals have to deal with the effects of con-

flict with wild animals, including crop destruction, livestock slaughter by wild predators, diseases spread from wildlife to livestock and property destruction. In response, many of those bordering national parks kill wildlife both to protect their property as well as to retaliate for previous destruction. I have experienced this firsthand while volunteering in Namibia with Elephant-Human Relations Aid, where I was tasked with building stone walls around local water tanks to prevent desert elephants from goring the tanks. Since the area was very arid, the locals relied on the stored water for survival, intensifying the conflict and leading to many instances of elephants being killed. The viable solution here must involve both acknowledging the rights

7 Monday, March 14, 2022 of locals to live securely in addition to protecting endangered species.

The most feasible way to resolve the conflict is to give local populations control of the operations and profits of conservation efforts and tourism establishments. If local people are given true incentive to protect wildlife by establishing viable livelihoods in and around national parks and game reserves, then poaching will decrease and wildlife populations will grow. If protecting endangered species is to be a priority for conservationists in the coming century, then it is essential that it include local populations.

Ethan is a senior studying biology. Ethan can be reached at ethan.jaskowiak@tufts.edu.

SPORTS

8 Monday, March 14, 2022

Karim Benzema inspires historic Real Madrid comeback

tuftsdaily.com

Sam Dieringer The Step Back

The puzzling case of the Boston Celtics

A

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Real Madrid players are pictured celebrating after a goal.

by Bharat Singh

Assistant Sports Editor

After a scuffle near the byline, the ball lands at the feet of Neymar who, with a momentary glance to his right shoulder, flicks it over the desperate leap of Éder Militão and into the path of Kylian Mbappe. The Brazilian defender could only watch as the Frenchman raced away, his long strides propelling him towards goal. Now facing goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, a 6 feet, 7 inches Belgian wall, Mbappe opens his body, projecting a far post shot, and within seconds buries the ball in the bottom right corner — 1–0 on the night, 2–0 on aggregate. Game over.

Parisian supporters, tucked away high in the stands of the Santiago Bernabéu, roared into the night.

The tone was set — this cathedral of sport was witnessing a changing of the guard as Mbappe single-handedly dismantled a football dynasty.

Both Karim Benzema and Luka Modrić , Real Madrid legends in the twilight of their careers, marveled at the electric speed and dynamism of a star-studded Paris Saint-Germain side that boasted a front line of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. But these veterans had seen too much to believe that the game was over, and when it comes to the Champions League, you can never write off Los Blancos.

After the first leg, which finished 1–0 against Real Madrid, manager Carlo Ancelotti was criticized for letting PSG control the game. The 12-time UCL Champions sat back, inviting the French side to dominate possession.

Deep in its half, Madrid lacked attacking outlets as Brazilian star Vinícius Júnior was isolated on the wing with Karim Benzema still recovering from an injury.

In the 62nd minute, Mbappe received the ball on the left wing and began charging toward the goal. Marking him was right-back Dani Carvajal, who had struggled to contain the Frenchman all night. Carvajal couldn’t keep up with Mbappe’s quick feet, committing a foul inside the penalty area. Messi

stepped up to the spot, but his shot was saved by Courtois, who dove to his left. Despite the miss, PSG continued to pile on the pressure with Marco Verratti dictating the play. The Italian seemed unfazed by Madrid’s midfield trio of Luka Modrić , Casemiro and Toni Kroos as he advanced the ball effortlessly through midfield.

With their backs against the wall, Madrid seemed content with a 0–0 draw until the 94th minute. A classic Neymar backheel found the feet of Mbappe, who slid through a window of Madrid defenders and slotted away the game-winner. The Parc des Princes erupted with banners of red and blue as the PSG players engulfed their French star. After the game, Ancelotti acknowledged Mbappe as the best player in the world as the Frenchman registered his 13th goal in 13 Champions League appearances this season. Madrid was simply outclassed: The La Liga leaders had no shots on target during the game to PSG’s eight.

In the second leg, the suspension of defensive midfielder Casemiro and left-back Ferland Mendy forced Ancelotti to call up Nacho Fernández and Federico Valverde. The inclusion of Valverde added more energy and attacking mobility to the team, as the 23-year-old Uruguayan often likes to carry the ball into attack. In midweek, Madrid impressed in the league with a 4–1 victory over Real Sociedad while PSG slipped up in a 1–0 loss against Nice. Momentum was with Madrid as the team looked to tame one of the greatest attacks ever assembled.

In Madrid, seas of white flanked the team bus as its players arrived before kickoff. In the warmup, all eyes were on Mbappe as the stadium hailed the presence of its greatest adversary.

Some fans even cheered amid the strong rumors that he might wear the white of Madrid next season.

The game began with a strong Madrid press as Los Blancos looked to force an early error. Withstanding the pressure, PSG began holding possession, slowly frustrating the home side.

Karim Benzema, now in his 13th sea-

son at the club, forced a brilliant outstretched save from Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Minutes before halftime, however, Mbappe gave PSG the lead and surely ended Madrid’s hopes of progressing to the next round.

With a 2–0 aggregate advantage, it looked like the competition’s most successful side was 45 minutes away from elimination.

With 30 minutes to play, Ancelotti brought on Camavinga and Rodrygo in the hopes that an injection of youth would spark some creativity in attack. Moments later, Madrid was handed a lifeline with the mistake of Donnarumma, who failed to control a backpass following a press from Benzema. Júnior immediately recovered the ball and squared it to Benzema, who comfortably finished it.

Suddenly, a team of superstars looked frazzled as Madrid’s players rallied behind Benzema and Modrić .

In the 76th minute, Modrić picked up the ball at the edge of the Madrid box and ran past several PSG players as the 34-year-old turned back the clock in a dribbling master class. A perfectly weighted through ball to Júnior was eventually turned back to the Croatian who threaded a pass to Benzema, who then scored his second goal of the night.

The comeback was complete. Seconds after the PSG kickoff, Rodrygo won back the ball and passed it out wide to Júnior.

The Brazilian darted toward goal with PSG’s defenders scrambling to catch up. A deflected pass from PSG defender Marquinhos was decisively converted

by Benzema, who calmly placed the ball in the bottom right corner, completing his hat trick.

History was made as 60,000 fans erupted in scenes of mass euphoria.

Frozen, the likes of Messi and Neymar could only watch as the Madrid players embraced each other. A last-ditch Messi free-kick landed over the net as the Bernabéu whistled at the longtime Barcelona legend. The final whistle blew, and Real Madrid had completed mission impossible by advancing to the quarterfinals as PSG’s dream of UCL glory ended in heartbreak once again.

s a resident Boston sports fan, it’s come to that time where I’ll be doing a deep dive into the state of my team: the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics are truly a puzzling case.

The past few years have been a continuous roller coaster where every year, I think they finally have a chance at making it past the Eastern Conference Finals. Every year, we come so close but somehow crumble under the pressure time and time again.

I entered this season with moderately high hopes that the green team could get a good enough seed to make a legitimate run in the playoffs. At the beginning of the year, I cringed at the TV as I watched a group that I thought had so much potential stumble through an awkward isolation play, miss wide-open shots and crumble below a .500 record.

That was in 2021. In 2022, the Celtics woke up. In a stunning example of the “new year, new me” mindset, the Celtics have been borderline unstoppable.

Since Jan. 1, the team has the No. 1 ranked defense in the NBA, a top 10 offense and a 25–9 record. What led to this stunning turnaround for a team that once looked like it was going to fade into NBA purgatory?

The first: a new, revived style of gameplay. No longer are the Celtics a team built around isolation and disconnect, with individual players chucking up highly contested shots that lead to inevitable turnovers. Ime Udoka and the coaching staff flipped the script and now play with pace and space in a smaller, eight-man rotation that gets every player involved and motivated.

The second: a spectacular string of trades. In his inaugural season as general manager of the team, Brad Stevens already looks like a genius in the front office.

At the trade deadline, Stevens traded for an underrated scorer and facilitator in Derrick White from the Spurs, bolstering a balanced playmaking scheme. Stevens traded for fan favorite and veteran Daniel Theis, who is making his second stint with the Celtics, adding size and hustle off the bench. He also traded away pieces to get under the luxury tax, setting up the team for more flexibility in the offseason.

The third: the emergence of Jayson Tatum as an MVP-caliber player. Yes, I said it. Tatum has always been a really good player with a unique talent for scoring.

However, what I saw after his 54-point game against Brooklyn on March 6 was a player who, in addition to his scoring abilities, was on fire down in crunch time, got others involved and became a vocal and passionate leader who rallied the troops together to win. The emergence of Jayson Tatum as a poised leader is the single biggest factor of this team’s success.

The Eastern Conference is more wideopen than ever. With a plethora of very good teams, I can see many different scenarios playing out. However, if the Celtics continue to play how they have been playing as of late, they are good enough to beat anyone in this league.

Sam Dieringer is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Sam can be reached at samuel.dieringer@tufts.edu.