The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, April 20, 2022

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VOLUME LXXXIII, ISSUE 47

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Resources fair connects students to on-campus academic, safety, identity resources

Psychology department hosts second annual anti-racism colloquium

by Elizabeth Zacks Staff Writer

ice cream and an assortment of games, music and prizes. A wide variety of groups, from safety-focused organizations like Green Dot and Action for Sexual Assault Prevention to academic resources like the StAAR Center to student identity organizations including the Asian American, Latinx and LGBT centers, were on hand to inform students of their work on campus.

The event was conceptualized during a meeting of the TCU Education Committee and inspired by a discussion with the Center for STEM Diversity.

“This conversation led us to a discussion on what demo-

graphics at campus may not be aware of or utilizing campus resources, and how generally students seem unaware of what resources are available to them,” Education Committee Chair Claire Bolash told the Daily in an email.

Bolash explained the COVID19 pandemic has been detrimental to students’ awareness of campus resources.

“With the pandemic, a lot of resources that are offered had to be halted or modified because students/faculty were not on campus and then much see RESOURCES, page 2

The psychology department hosted its second annual Psychology of Anti-Racism Series talk titled, “What We Learn From Where We Live,” on April 15. The Zoom webinar featured Dr. Neil Lewis Jr., an assistant professor of communication and social behavior at Cornell University, who spoke about how to foster an anti-racist society by understanding the connection between people and the places in which they live.

Professor Sam Sommers, who chairs the psychology department, moderated the webinar.

Sommers began by introducing University President Anthony Monaco, who discussed the importance of the event.

“This important event is dedicated to scientific inquiry, which aims to investigate, confront and remediate the causes and consequences of systemic racism in our society and within our communities,” Monaco said.

Monaco went on to talk about the current steps being taken to make Tufts an anti-racist institution and then turned the talk back over to Sommers.

Sommers proceeded to introduce Lewis, who, in addition to his position at Cornell, has an appointment as an assistant professor of communication research in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.

“Dr. Lewis’ research examines how the interplay between

fund. The request passed by acclamation.

Tufts Dance Collective requested $2,115 for their spring dance showcase. The Allocations Board voted to fully fund the request, which passed with 21 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

The Tufts Amalgamates, an a cappella group, requested $231 to pay a sound and space fee for a performance venue. The request passed by acclamation.

Tufts Synthetic Biology requested $8,500 to cover registration fees for an engineering competition. The Allocations Board voted to fully fund the request, which passed with 11

senators voting in favor, four opposed and four abstaining.

Melisma Magazine requested $226 to cover costs of changing their website platform. The request passed by acclamation.

The South Asian Political Action Community requested $650 to fund their spring symposium. The request passed by acclamation.

Tap Ensemble requested $800 to rent Cohen Auditorium and pay sound fees for their spring show. The request passed by acclamation.

The Tufts Asian Student Coalition requested $800 to pay speakers fees. The request passed by acclamation.

The Arab Student Association requested $1,000 for their end of year gala. The request passed by acclamation.

The Japanese Culture Club requested $1,200 to fund their community building retreat. The request passed by acclamation.

Applejam Productions requested $980 to fund the purchase of two loudspeakers. The request passed by acclamation.

The Vietnamese Student Club requested $300 to fund their culture show, which passed by acclamation.

TEDxTufts requested $2,825, which the Allocations Board voted to fully fund, for costs associated with taping, editing and uploading speeches from

QUAN TRAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Student Resources Fair is pictured at the Joyce Cummings Center on April 6.

by Spenser Walsh Contributing Writer

The Tufts Community Union Senate Education Committee held a resources fair on April 6 to educate students about the resources and organizations available to help them with academic work, keep them safe and enhance student life on campus.

The fair, which was moved indoors from the roof of Tisch Library to the Joyce Cummings Center due to rain, featured 40 tables with organization representatives on hand, food trucks serving popcorn, hot pretzels,

people’s identities and social contexts influence people’s motivation to pursue their goals and their success in goal pursuit efforts,” Sommers said. “He most often studies these processes in the domains of education, health and environmental sustainability in hopes that a better understanding of situated, identity-based motivation processes can provide useful insights for developing interventions to help people achieve their goals.”

In an interview with the Daily, Lewis spoke about why his talk is important for the Tufts community.

“Tufts is one of many universities … that has been really doing some soul searching and reflecting on what both individuals can do and what can larger institutions do, to move towards more equity and justice in our society,” he said. “There’s lots of things that Tufts is trying to do, and I think this talk could help the Tufts community have some better understanding of some of the science behind these other initiatives that are happening.”

During his talk, Lewis discussed how societal stratification affects how we think about the American education system and how it creates barriers and disparities.

“In effect, by segregating our society, the law has created two different pathways,” he said. see PSYCHOLOGY, page 2

TCU hears capital expenditure requests, passes resolutions in final meeting of year

by Tess Harmon

Assistant News Editor

The Tufts Community Union Senate heard supplementary funding and capital expenditure requests and voted on resolutions about the presidential search committee and student mental health on Sunday night in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room. The meeting was the body’s last of the semester.

TCU Treasurer Elizabeth Hom introduced 15 supplementary funding requests.

Ears for Peers requested $400 for their annual retreat, which the Allocations Board unanimously voted to fully

SPORTS / back

FEATURES / page 4

ARTS / page 5

Women’s lax crushes Bates, Wesleyan

The history of grade inflation at Tufts and across the country

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ embraces the chaos of life

virtual speakers at the TEDxTufts event. The request passed with 21 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

The Philippine Student Union requested $1,890. The Allocations Board voted to fully fund the request, which passed with 21 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

Tufts Burlesque requested $600. The request passed by acclamation.

Elizabeth Hom then introduced eight capital expenditure requests. In certain circumstances, capital expenditure requests can be funded by the see SENATE, page 3 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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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, April 20, 2022

THE TUFTS DAILY Alexander Janoff Editor in Chief

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TCU Senate Education Committee hosts resources fair for undergraduates RESOURCES

continued from page 1 of campus life was virtual,” she wrote.

Despite the last-minute location change, students showed interest in learning more about resources available to them.

“There was a good turnout and a really lively atmosphere,” Amanda Wright, interim program coordinator of Tufts Global Education, wrote in an email to the Daily.

“After two years of disruptions to study abroad and international travel, we wanted to make sure students know that our office has been working hard this year to support students,” Wright added.

Shanley Daly, events coordinator at the Tisch College of Civic Life, was glad for the

chance to interact with students face to face at the fair.

“Tisch College serves and supports all students at Tufts,” Daly wrote in an email to the Daily. “The resource fair was a great opportunity to meet many students—in person—and to share our programs and event opportunities with them.”

Wright also emphasized the importance of communicating with students studying abroad about their semester abroad.

Alexandra Donovan, director of the Center for Awareness, Resources, and Education, which includes Green Dot and Sex Health Reps, also spoke positively of the event.

Donovan shared her gratitude for the chance to represent CARE’s work to the broader Tufts community.

“Outside of orientation or Student Org Fair, there are few opportunities to represent our office in larger community events,” she wrote in an email to the Daily, lamenting the poor weather that brought the event indoors and lowered attendance.

Donovan emphasized that CARE is available as a resource for any student impacted by sexual misconduct, and she highlighted the importance of the resources fair and other events, such as the recent Green Dot Day, that help raise awareness of the office on campus.

Bolash wrote that she was satisfied with the results of the event.

“The atmosphere during the event was very energetic and engaged—it made all of us feel

gratified for the work we had put in,” she wrote, emphasizing that the food trucks added to the sense of community at the event and that the event organizers received positive feedback from both students and the groups that tabled.

“Students have had positive things to say about the event, especially our raffle winners!

The attending resources were sent a feedback form to let us know how they felt about it and that has been very positive as well.”

The Education Committee views this event as one step in an ongoing process of boosting student engagement with on-campus resources.

“We are hoping to hold the event again in the fall next year,” Bolash wrote.

Dr. Neil Lewis discusses how to build an anti-racist society at virtual event PSYCHOLOGY

continued from page 1 “There are some students for whom there’s a clear shot from the cradle to college and other students for whom we’ve made it a long and winding road.”

Lewis talked about some of the steps that can be taken to improve the barriers to matriculation in the American education system.

“One of the things we’ve done … is build programs into the fabric of institutions that take these issues seriously, and then use the insights to change the experiences that students have and the resulting outcomes from those experiences,” Lewis said.

Next, Lewis talked about the stratification processes in the American legal system and specifically how these processes

can affect jury decision making about police brutality.

“With little information to go on, juries often have to rely on their priors, [which] … depend on how you grew up and were socialized and the experiences you had in those contexts,” Lewis said. “These jurors who were drawn from the segregated and stratified society are starting from different places, and they’re thinking about officers due to those differences in past experiences.”

Lewis and his colleagues found that the language used in court appears to be shifting judgments to the favor of officers rather than respondents.

Finally, Lewis spoke about environmental injustices and how the field of psychology hasn’t paid enough attention to the people who are most

adversely affected by environmental issues.

Lewis pointed to a poll he conducted where he found that “the highest levels of environmental concern in the [United States] are among racial minorities and poor people. … That makes sense, given how the patterns of segregation and stratification … have led to those groups having higher exposure to environmental hazards than their whiter and wealthier peers.”

Lewis said that the field of psychology needs to improve representation in study samples. One of the ways that he and his colleagues are doing this is by building on community partnerships to recruit participants from underrepresented groups. In turn, this has shown them how much race and class segregation in the places where

people live have shaped how Americans receive and conceptualize environmental issues.

“What I now think of as one of the biggest collective action problems facing humanity, [is] if we don’t take the time to figure out what people are experiencing and learning from the places where they’re living, it will be difficult to build the kinds of coalitions that are necessary to get out of the mess that we’re currently in,” he said.

Lewis concluded that in order to solve this problem, individuals must actively work to change the places where they live and the institutions they inhabit.

“If we do that, … we will not only be better positioned to make meaningful progress, we’re building an anti-racist society,” Lewis said.

COURTESY ROBERT KIM

A flyer advertises the virtual event “What We Learn from Where We Live.”

News

Wednesday, April 20, 2022 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Seniors reflect on the year's accomplishments in final Senate meeting

TESS HARMON / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior senators Amma Agyei, Elizabeth Hom and Tim Leong are pictured at their TCU meeting on April 18.

RESOURCES

continued from page 1 TCU Senate when there is a surplus in their budget. They differ from supplementary funding requests in that they usually fund long-term investments, as opposed to one-time costs.

The first capital expenditure funding request, which requested funding to update the AV system in Hotung, was withdrawn because the Office of Campus Life and the Allocations Board determined that it was not the Senate’s responsibility to fund the maintenance of a campus space.

Tufts Gaming Hub requested $13,310 to fund the purchase of gaming equipment and furniture. The Allocations Board unanimously voted to fully fund the request, which passed with 19 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

Tufts Korean Dance Association requested $4,000 to fund video production equipment. The Allocations Board recommended funding the request in full, which passed with 20 senators voting in favor, none opposed and one abstaining.

The Palmier requested $414 to fund photography equipment. The request passed with 19 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

Torn Ticket II requested $25,000 to fund a soundboard and equipment bundle. The Allocations Board recommended to fully fund the request, which passed with 19 senators voting in favor, none opposed and one abstaining.

Tufts Bikes requested $4,747 to fund a new shed to house bikes, which the Allocations Board voted to fully fund. The request passed with 20 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

Tufts University Television requested $8,650 to fund recording equipment. The request passed with 19 senators voting in favor, none opposed and one abstaining.

Tufts University Social Collective requested $40,000 to fund fitness equipment and publicity equipment. The Allocations Board unanimously voted to fully fund the request.

The body debated over $10,000 which would fund air conditioning units in Hill Hall, due to concerns that it is the university’s responsibility to maintain and improve campus facilities.

The request did not initially pass, but the body then voted on each individual request and ultimately voted to pass the total of $40,000 to TUSC. Tufts WMFO requested $9,785 to fund recording and broadcasting equipment and new air conditioning units, which the Allocations Board recommended to completely fund. The body debated over the air conditioning units. The request passed with 15 senators voting in favor, none opposed and one abstaining.

Then, TCU Parliamentarian Ibrahim AlMuasher introduced two resolutions to be voted on during the meeting.

The first, “A Resolution Calling for Additional Members for the Presidential Search Committee,” aims to give a better representation of the array of academic disciplines in the search committee for University

President Anthony Monaco’s replacement. The resolution calls for the addition of one professor representing the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, one humanist professor from a department with a graduate program and one undergraduate representative from the School of Arts and Sciences. The resolution passed with 18 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

The second, “A Resolution Calling for Financial Investments and Equitable Policy Regarding Students’ Mental Health,” seeks to improve the mental health resources at Tufts. The resolution calls for adding more counselors while ensuring that at least 50% of the additional counselors represent Black, Brown, Indigenous and/or LGBTQ communities; offering long-term, in-house counseling; cutting down appointment wait times; improving mental health training for residential advisors and professors; and releasing guidelines on assisting students during universi-

ty-wide crises. The resolution passed with 17 senators voting in favor, none opposed and none abstaining.

TCU Vice President Tim Leong then opened the floor for updates from the committee chairs.

Services Committee Chair Arielle Galinsky gave updates on the textbook exchange and the final exams care kits.

Education Committee Chair Claire Bolash encouraged senators to grade professors based on course evaluations this summer, which will help administration decide on promotions and tenures.

Leong recognized members of the general board and acknowledged his appreciation for the Senate during his time at Tufts.

TCU Diversity Officer Jaden Pena gave a speech about his appreciation for the other members on the Community and Diversity Committee and brought attention to their successes this semester. He called out the accomplishments of the Senate body, acknowledged the diversity of the incoming Class of 2026 and thanked the Class of 2022 senators for their work over the school year and throughout their time at Tufts.

Hom, a senior, reflected on this past year as the body’s treasurer, expressing gratitude to the members of the Allocations Board, the treasury and the rest of the Senate. She highlighted the accomplishments of the Allocations Board and the work the board has done to support student organizations and revive student life on campus since the COVID-19 pandemic. She lastly thanked the executive board in supporting her to accomplish her goal of supporting all students at Tufts.

TCU President Amma Agyei gave a brief overview of the body’s accomplishments, including the initiatives on which the Senate’s different committees have worked over the year as well as her own projects. She thanked the Senate for its support and wished the next TCU president luck for next year.

The body conducted a closed session before adjourning.

The 2022–23 Senate presidential election will be held April 26–27.

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Now it’s time to tackle your retirement savings at AceYourRetirement.org

4 Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Chris Duncan Talking Transit

An ode to cargo bikes

I

want to take today to continue last week’s trend of positivity and talk about one of my favorite developments in carfree living: cargo bikes!

Of course, cargo bikes are anything but a novel concept — they are literally just bikes with space to store stuff. But they hold enormous potential to solve issues posed by car-free living. For one, cargo bikes solve the issue of the grocery store trip by allowing you space to store all of your bags. An electric motor on many bikes even takes away the rigor of biking up and down hills to the store and back.

Cargo bikes could be huge for an area like Tufts, as most Tufts students live at an inconvenient distance from our surrounding grocery stores. They especially open up access to grocery stores like the Wegmans in Medford or the Market Basket in Union Square to kids who don’t have cars or don’t want to drive. These are not long rides, and they’re even shorter with an electric bike.

Now, of course, you have to think about the price. These things cost hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. But, ultimately, if you’re weighing it against the cost of a car, your perception might change. A decent used car might (emphasis on the “might!”) be several thousand dollars — a new car, even more. The best cargo bikes are going to cost about as much as the worst of those offerings, so the cost comparison really isn’t close.

Cargo bikes also have huge potential for solving issues with urban delivery trucks. Big trucks in urban areas are not only loud and disruptive but also incredibly dangerous for pedestrians and bikers and horrendous for the environment to boot. Cargo bikes come in many forms and can be used to make similar-scale deliveries as trucks throughout our cities. And, as this piece from the Guardian shows, some evidence suggests that cargo bikes can deliver goods significantly faster than certain vans.

Cargo bikes are great for small-scale deliveries too. Some of the well-known apps like Doordash allow drivers to deliver on bikes, and Getir, a relatively new delivery company that operates in only a few cities — Boston included — uses a delivery network that is entirely made up of bikes and scooters. Cargo bikes are a great vehicle to use for work like this, getting deliveries done faster, more efficiently and without the emissions from cars or trucks.

There is a ton of space for growth in the cargo bike market. Demand is expected to grow at a rate of almost 12% annually over the next decade, as urban areas grapple with logistical challenges like congestion and seek ways to address pressing environmental issues like air quality and climate change.

Cargo bikes have the potential to alleviate some of our biggest stresses around getting rid of cars, and the faster we can build infrastructure for them, like bike lanes and bike racks, the faster we can take cars off the road and solve the biggest problems they cause in our cities.

Chris Duncan is a junior studying political science. Chris can be reached at christopher.duncan@tufts.edu.

Features

tuftsdaily.com

The ABCs of grade inflation at Tufts

by Kaitlyn Wells

Assistant Features Editor

If the letters ‘ABC’ send a chill down your spine, perhaps you’re a Tufts student and currently in the middle of midterm season. As Tufts becomes an increasingly competitive institution, here we will take a look at grades at Tufts in the national context of grade inflation.

Looking broadly, a 2010 study from the Teachers College Record found that grade point averages of public and private colleges rose significantly during the height of the Vietnam War and have been rising steadily from the 1980s onwards. Tufts was not featured in the data, though a 2008 article published in the Daily revealed a rise in average GPA from 3.26 in the 1997–98 academic year to 3.39 in 2007–08 for the School of Arts and Sciences. The Office of the Registrar’s policy on sharing information about average GPA prevented them from being able to provide more recent information to the Daily.

Deans of Academic Affairs Samuel Thomas and Heather Nathans, both of whom are also professors, shared that Tufts is accountable to the New England Commission on Higher Education. “​​[The grading system at Tufts] seems very similar [to those at other colleges], and I would imagine part of that is due to accreditation processes,” Nathans said. “Transcripts have to be legible across institutions. When you have an external body of accreditors, [such as the New England Commission on Higher Education], they want to see that you are actually evaluating student work in certain ways.”

James Glaser, the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and a professor of political science, has observed an upward trend in GPA, especially during the pandemic.

“It’s been a slow rise for a long time,” Glaser said. “And then [over] the last couple of years, it’s been quite dramatic, and part of that is — I think — a function of the exceptional pass provision that was put into place because of [COVID-19], which enabled lots of students to opt out of grades that would bring their grade point averages down. … I think that [exceptional pass] was appropriate for the circumstances, … [though] it did have the potential to mask problems that students might have which would lead them less prepared for future classes. That’s the main reason that we … aren’t continuing that policy.”

Jonathan Conroy is a senior majoring in computer science who has served as both a teaching assistant and teaching fellow for Algorithms (CS 160). He noted that he has heard that there have been more regrade requests from students in Algorithms during the pandemic than there had been previously.

“I have only been a TA during [COVID-19], and so I can’t speak to this personally, but I’ve been told that we used to get far fewer regrade requests before the pandemic, even though grading has remained relatively consistent throughout the semesters,” Conroy said.

While Conroy’s anecdote is not evidence of grade inflation, it could be indicative of students’ changing expectations surrounding grades.

Thomas disclosed that members of the administration do not place any specific parameters on the distribution of exact grades, respecting the autonomy of each instructor.

“We have grading policies, but we in the administration don’t go looking [at] how faculty grade individual courses and say, you know, ‘You’ve given too many As’ or something like that,” Thomas said. “I think that falls under this sort of academic freedom.”

Academic performance may be a criterion in college rankings, but Glaser said that this does not exert inflationary pressure on grades at Tufts.

GRAPHIC BY ANNABEL NIED “I don’t think the faculty are thinking about … how each of those individual-level [grading] decisions [add] up to some sort of result at the school or university level,” Glaser said.

From a professor’s point of view, Nathans described the thought process behind grade assignment and how it relates to the progress a student makes throughout the course.

“You look at each student as an individual and you [ask], ‘How far did that person get from wherever they started in meeting the learning objectives?’” Nathans said. “I think if faculty weren’t grading based on student progress, we would literally just hand the test out and say, ‘See you at the final.’”

Thomas elaborated on what grades represent.

“I think it is a very complex set of variables that come together to determine whether someone will be successful or not,” Thomas said. “Are the students who got As in organic chemistry smarter than the students who got Bs? I’m pretty sure I would say ‘no,’ … and I’m not assessing whether those students are smarter.”

Glaser partly related an increase in high grades at Tufts to an increasingly competitive student body.

“I do think that … the large number of very strong students that are at Tufts and other fine institutions … is correlated with high grades,” Glaser said.

Nathans, however, does not view GPA as a great reflection of competency.

“I think GPAs are maybe the least expressive aspect of what Tufts students are,” Nathans said. “I don’t know [if Tufts students] are markedly smarter. I just think [that] the students at Tufts ask fantastic questions and are compelled to do really amazing work in service of those questions. And I think the grades that they may achieve are one manifestation of that.”

The question remains whether grades reflect the level of rigor of a class.

“Are grades [a] measure of rigor? I don’t think that they’re the same thing. … They’re somewhat different dimensions,” Glaser said.

Nathans takes issue with the term ‘rigor’ itself.

“The term rigor can be used to close doors rather than open them, … because it can often assume there is only one way of learning,” Nathans said. “And that forecloses … possibilities for people. It becomes a thing that can feel very exclusionary.”

This is particularly relevant to courses that are informally perceived as serving to weed out students.

“I know that there are departments across [the School of Arts and Sciences] that are particularly conscious of this reputation,” Nathans said. “One of the things that I really appreciate hearing faculty talk about [is] … how you reframe [weed out classes] so that they move away from being hazing … to make them as welcoming as possible and to really optimize student success.”

Susan Atkins, the associate director of employer relations at the Career Center, wrote in an email to the Daily that grade inflation can have multiple consequences.

“It’s our understanding that grade inflation creates unequal opportunities for students depending on the employer and their use of grades or transcripts as part of the evaluation process,” Atkins wrote. “Certain industries require a GPA, and of course grade inflation could have a positive impact for some students seeking roles in those particular fields. The downside of grade inflation is that it doesn’t provide students with consistently reliable information about what they do and don’t do well. If someone receives only As and very little in the way of constructive feedback, they might be less prepared for the demands of the ‘real world’.”

Such demands are elucidated by a survey conducted by the Career Center.

“The responses to our survey varied based on industry sector, and we learned that about 53% of our employer respondents don’t require transcripts as part of their overall application process,” Atkins wrote. “We found that about 25% of employers do want to see specific grades as part of their application process vs. seeing a pass/fail or exceptional pass grade. Lastly, about 22% want to see grades and will look at both pass/fail and actual grades equally for students as they are considered for employment.”

According to Conroy, undergraduates generally regard their academic grades through a short-term lens.

“I hear people stressed about the grade they received in and of the grade itself, not necessarily as it relates to some final outcome in the future,” Conroy said.

Going forward, it remains unclear how the overall trend of grade inflation nationwide impacts Tufts and the extent to which it is organic or manufactured.

Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture

tuftsdaily.com

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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ will inspire, confuse and make you want to call your mom

by Alice Belaya

Contributing Writer

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) is a breathtaking visual delight, spun by an actionpacked plot and brought to life by Michele Yeoh in the lead. We follow Evelyn Wang, a laundromat owner juggling a failing marriage, a dwindling relationship with a resentful Gen-Z daughter and her father’s failing health, all while enduring a tax audit. Exhausted and exasperated, Evelyn is roped into a mind-bending mission to save the multiverse.

Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, a film-making duo known as Daniels, have gained their fame through music video direction, including the iconic video for DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What” (2013), which currently has over 1 billion views on YouTube. Since their transition into the cinema realm, the Daniels have transferred their skill of maintaining a viewer’s attention into film. Right from the start of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” it is impossible to look away for fear of missing a crucial plot point or clever visual clue –– impressive, considering the nearly 2 ½-hour-long runtime.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” makes heavy-handed use of cliched cinematic tropes: Evelyn is proclaimed as ‘the chosen one’ during a no-time-to-explain rudimentary exposition dump. This fillin, all provided by an alternate-reality version of her husband, is promptly followed by a recognizable Jackie Chan-style fight scene.

This style of cynical hilarity permeates “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The film’s irreverent, bordering on absurd, humor balances out the sheer grandeur of the questions it poses: One’s position in relation to the multiverse is no easy topic to approach. As Evelyn struggles to understand her place

Odessa Gaines K-Weekly

How to enjoy comebacks

K

-groups make their musical comebacks throughout the year, but these next few months are going to be extra exciting with groups like Monsta X (April 26), TXT (May 9) and BTS (June 10) all confirmed to come back with new albums over the next few months, with others rumored to make 2022 comebacks and debuts.

Comebacks are some of the most important times for a group and fandom, so I thought I’d take

in the crumbling cosmic puzzle in front of her, the viewer is distracted by policemen with phalluses in place of arms, a sneak peak into a rom-com parallel universe full of hotdog-handed people and finally a literal everything bagel –– the film’s rendition of a black hole.

Belly laughter elicited on the brink of genuine fear renders the film a perfect equilibrium of existential concern and the sheer thrill of being alive.

The film’s major themes are rooted in many of the hyperhuman universal experiences. Evelyn must connect with more successful or capable versions of herself from parallel universes to stop otherworldly forces from destroying everything. The notion of unrealized potential and existential dread are both common anxieties, but the film does so much more than address these psychological weak spots. In a spell-binding combination of highly choreographed action and poignant drama, it offers the kind of emotional release that only comes from another unlikely combination: truly valuing family and kindness –– and sincerely not giving a s**t.

In an interview for the New York Times podcast “Sway,” the star of the film, Michele Yeoh, described “Everything Everywhere All at Once” as a complex mix of film genres: “It’s a science fiction. It’s comedy. There’s drama. There’s a love story.” The conclusion of the film may appear to be somewhat cheesy, but it is precisely with this kind of unadulterated sentimentalism that it sends the viewer into true catharsis. After the gut-punching blend of LSD trip visuals and raw emotional clarity, an easily digestible happy ending is gratefully appreciated.

Turning a very ordinary woman into a superhero and humanity’s routine struggles into a superb multidimensional action, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” makes life seem like an adventure, no matter how hard you try to resist it.

The promotional poster for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) is pictured.

this time to outline five things you should do to make sure you enjoy any comeback to the fullest.

1. Fear 12 a.m. KST Since K-groups are based in South Korea, official comeback announcements drop at 12 a.m.

Korean Standard Time, or 11 a.m.

EST. Official announcements can drop any day of the week, along with music video teasers, concept photos, tracklists and tour and collaboration announcements. Before the actual announcement, however, group members may tease when they are working on new music, and fandoms may speculate that a comeback is around the corner. When the rumors start, it’s time to get in the habit of checking your group’s company’s official social media pages at 12 a.m.

Korean Standard Time to stay up to

date or risk missing watching the fandom as a whole fall apart.

2. Prepare for 6 p.m. KST While teasers and small pieces of information about comebacks typically drop at 12 a.m. Korean Standard Time, actual albums and music videos typically drop at 6 p.m. Korean Standard Time, 5 a.m. EST. Because of this, you may decide to either nap earlier in the night or stay up all night to be awake for a comeback and engage with the fandom. Albums and music videos usually drop on Fridays, so always choose which route is best for you if you have to get up early for classes or work.

3. Go on lockdown The comeback of any music group you enjoy should be a time of celebration and happiness, not a time for fan wars. When comeback

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

week starts, it’s best to stay away from antis and to instead engage in that group’s content with other people who love and appreciate the music. Social media sites like Weverse and Twitter can be great places for fan bonding, especially if you don’t know many K-pop fans (just remember to block and not engage with the haters). Focus on the group you’re supporting, and turn your energy toward them.

4. Save some money On top of the digital and physical albums, comeback season is typically when new merch and lightsticks go on sale. From hats and shirts to bags and pens, K-pop merch can seriously drain your wallet, and each new lightstick usually is an omen for an upcoming concert. So if you really wish to have it all — new albums, new merch,

new lightsticks and possible tour announcements — you need to save some serious cash. How much can depend from group to group, but to get it all, it never hurts to try to set aside a few dollars a week between the official announcement and the official comeback.

5. Have fun A K-pop comeback is supposed to be fun, from theorizing with friends and other fans to counting down the minutes to the rush of elation when you hear your favorite group’s new music for the first time. So always aim to have fun and enjoy the time spent with the fandoms and groups.

Odessa is a first-year studying child study and human development. Odessa can be reached at kgaine01@tufts.edu.

6

THE TUFTS DAILY | Fun & Games | Wednesday, April 20, 2022

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Opinion

7 Wednesday, April 20, 2022

VIEWPOINT

by Makram Bekdache Staff Writer

The first round of the French presidential elections came straight from a textbook. Held on April 10, the elections sent current President Emmanuel Macron, head of the centrist political party La République En Marche! (“The Republic On The Move” in English), to the second round with an admirable 27.85% of the vote.

Pundits and pollsters alike have long given incumbent Emmanuel Macron a big lead in the polls, which pushed the president to declare his candidacy late and campaign very little.

This strategy backfired, as some voters may have viewed this move as contempt for his competition and general pretension. His ratings progressively tanked, placing him within reach of the far-right perennial Marine Le Pen. Le Pen had initially suffered from TV pundit-turned politician Éric Zemmour’s campaign.

Zemmour positioned himself as a rival of Le Pen, taunting the French public with similar populist and bigoted antics to those of former President Donald Trump.

At one point, Zemmour was neck and neck with Le Pen in the polls, and there were fears on the far right that the electorate was cannibalizing itself. But this allowed Le Pen to clean up her candidacy.

Dropping many of her anti-EU slogans, she started advocating for popular social causes, such

France marches on! as lowering the retirement age and putting a heavy accent on restoring the French’s purchasing power. She won over some of the traditional moderate right and even some of the left’s electorate. The latter demographic is disenchanted by the progressively weaker Parti Socialiste (Socialist Party) and the poor showing of their candidate, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who is deeply unpopular outside her city. This gear shift propelled Le Pen to late campaign gains that led her to collect 23% of the vote, leaving Zemmour far behind at around 7%.

The traditional French parties now face an existential threat.

The Socialist Party only got 1.75% of the vote, down from 6.36% in 2017. As for their traditional opposition, Les Républicains (The Republicans), the result might be even more catastrophic given the magnitude of their fall: They failed to get more than 5% of the vote. This result is a big deal because, under French law, a party is only entitled to subsidies or refunds for their costly campaigns if they reach that threshold, forcing candidate Valérie Pécresse to borrow 5 million euros under her own name to maintain the party afloat and seriously hurting their electoral machine ahead of crucial parliamentary elections in June.

Indeed, The Republicans currently have more than 100 members in Parliament and will need to fight hard to maintain this

group, which is already less than half the number that Macron’s party holds.

Most candidates have already called to vote for Macron in the second round to block the far right from reaching the presidency.

Third-place Jean-Luc Mélenchon exhorted his supporters not to give Le Pen a single vote, while Valérie Pécresse, Anne Hidalgo and Yannick Jadot all directly endorsed the current president. This highlights the real fear amongst the political establishment that Le Pen has her first true chance of success. Zemmour’s endorsement angles his voters toward her, setting her up to win 30% of the vote.

But is France ripe for far-right populism? In all likelihood, not yet.

A sizable chunk of the population still sees a right-wing vote as taboo and will likely choose to vote for Macron just to block Le Pen. Furthermore, the French generally support E.U. membership, and Le Pen’s pivot to more moderation toward Brussels is still too recent to be seen as genuine. There isn’t grassroots appeal for a euroskeptic populist, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which placed Le Pen in an awkward position, as she had been a vocal admirer of Vladimir Putin. Thus, we can foresee that Macron and his “The Republic On The Move” party may face a more formidable challenge in parliamentary elections.

Traditionally, parliamentary elections are held right after presidential elections, ensuring

a majority and allowing the president to govern for his five-year term. However, unpopular measures brought forward by Macron have led some to denounce the rubber-stamp nature of the National Assembly. While Marine Le Pen showed in 2017 that a strong showing does not guarantee legislative success (her party only won 8 seats in the 577 seat assembly), Mélenchon could quickly turn into a kingmaker in Parliament. His party currently only holds 17 seats, but he has turned into a much more palatable and legitimate political figure since the 2017 contest. His “La France Insoumise” (“France Unbowed”) party is consistently popular with the youth, which offers him an overwhelming dominance on social media platforms and campuses. In my view, they will make strides in the upcoming elections, especially considering the beating taken by both The Republicans and the Socialist Party and Marine Le Pen’s still repugnant image with many of the French. Macron can count on the consistency of the Democratic Movement Party, which has ruled in coalition and offered him a sturdy supermajority in Parliament. But it is The Republic Marches On! that is most at risk of losing seats. They had a dismal showing in the municipal election last year, winning barely 12.46% of the vote, essentially through coalition partners. The party benefited from the scan-

dals that hit The Republican’s candidate in 2017, along with François Hollande’s unpopularity that badly tarnished the Socialist Party’s appeal. Today, Macron has to immediately start leading an aggressive campaign in stark contrast to his presidential run. Macron should expect political blockage and tough negotiations if he doesn’t win a majority.

And with his ambitious agenda of economic and international diplomatic investment, Macron cannot afford to make many concessions. Mélenchon’s base has already shifted their sight to June, seeing the parliamentary elections as both a referendum on and a message for Emmanuel Macron: ‘We elected you because we had no choice, but you don’t get carte blanche this time.’

That being said, I still believe Macron benefits from a discrete and determined majority amongst the urban French and the upper-middle class. He has vowed to place France back on the map, and while his economic policies hurt the worker, they please a significant portion of the population that wants to see France lifted from its economic stagnation. I believe renewing his supermajority might be a tall order, but the first round has shown Macron will likely rule for five more years and continue to try to impose his reformatory agenda, albeit against a backdrop of increasingly hostile and partisan opposition.

SPORTS

8 Wednesday, April 20, 2022

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s lacrosse returns to form, takes down The Derby crisis Bates and Wesleyan

Michael Wallace-Bruce Over The Top Football

F

ollowing their loss against Queens Park Rangers on Monday, Derby County has been relegated to League One. While many relegated teams suffer their fate through poor performances, Derby County’s demise occurred for a special reason.

Wealth is an important aspect within soccer. In some ways, there is a blueprint associated with wealthy teams and success. In the Premier League, for example, teams that have a greater net worth perform better as their propensity to give lucrative wages assuages better players to join their clubs. Consequently, they tend to win more games, attain a higher league standing and participate in international competitions where they earn profit from broadcast views.

Although Derby was in the Championship League — a league where teams earn less in broadcast revenue — the team’s chairman in 2014, Mel Morris, attempted to use this buying power approach to gain promotion.

From 2015 until 2019, the team bought several expensive players. Yet, the goal of promotion proved to be difficult as Derby failed to gain promotion either through winning the league or the playoffs. Furthermore, as a moderately wealthy team, the speculative initiative to gain promotion through excessive expenditure proved to be unsustainable and it hurt the club’s account balance.

In 2020, Mel Morris announced his intention to sell the club due to bankruptcy, which meant that the team would instantly lose 12 points going into the next season. Amid talks with potential buyers in 2021, the English Football League again deducted 9 points from Derby as they agreed through examination that the club had disregarded financial fair play rules. With these severe point deductions, the club was destined for relegation. However, the squad led

by Wayne Rooney produced some great results, which left some intrigued about their effort to evade relegation.

Derby’s relegation illustrates the importance of fiscal management, prudence and uplifting the integrity of soccer. The current state of soccer would lead one to believe that fairness, especially in English soccer, no longer exists. Across all leagues, English teams spend the most.

Out of the 10 teams with the most expenditures in European soccer, six of these spots belonged to English teams. In all, winning is equated to money.

While one cannot simply dislike clubs for overspending, the main issues appear when clubs value money more than soccer and the process of building a winning team. Consequently, having such a mentality eschews fairness, and it pushes teams to bully their way to success.

Amid this shameful moment, I must applaud Wayne Rooney for how he has managed the club. Although the team’s record is not the best, Rooney has led the team well. His conduct and resolve to defend the team show a great sign of an English Premier League manager in the making.

Michael Wallace-Bruce is a junior studying international relations. Michael can be reached at michael.wallace_bruce@ tufts.edu.

MAC CALLAHAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts junior attacker Colette Smith challenges a Williams defensive opponent on March 6.

by Isaac Karp

Executive Sports Editor

After a close loss to Amherst College on Sunday April 10, the now No. 7 nationally ranked women’s lacrosse team won two straight conference games by large margins. With three uncharacteristic regular season losses already, the Jumbos cannot afford to lose focus with only three games left in the regular season. The Brown and Blue went into the home stretch with big wins over Bates and Wesleyan.

On Wednesday, the Jumbos handily defeated the Bates Bobcats 18–5. After the first whistle blew, senior midfielder Anna Clarke came out strong by scoring two quick goals in the first couple of minutes.

Senior midfielder Kathryn Delaney, firstyear attacker Margie Carden and senior attacker Mae Briody kept it rolling by scoring a combined four goals to put Tufts up 6–1 to end the first.

Senior goalie Molly Laliberty spoke about what the team needs to do right to prevent more losses like the Amherst game.

“I think that’s what’s going to make us successful,” Laliberty said. “We can

continue to hold each other accountable, regardless of who’s on the field.”

The second quarter was Carden’s time to shine as she netted three goals, bringing her total to five on the day. Another first-year, midfielder Ella L’Esperance, scored to add to the Jumbos’ lead.

Sophomore midfielder Madeline Delaney also beat the buzzer to end the first half with three seconds left, giving the Jumbos an 11–2 lead.

Laliberty commented on the performance from younger players.

“If execution is coming from the upper grades, then that’s who’s gonna be in the game, and if the execution is coming from the lower grades, then that’s going to be who’s in the game,” Laliberty said.

Tufts continued to control the game heading into the second half as they scored five more times in the third, led by two goals from L’Esperance. The fourth quarter was more of the same, as Tufts clearly overmatched Bates and finished the game with an 18–5 win.

The energy continued for the Jumbos in their 16–11 victory against the Wesleyan Cardinals on Saturday. Carden got the game started for the Jumbos as she scored

a goal off an assist from Delaney. Junior attacker Caroline Walter, Delaney and Clarke also scored to put the Jumbos up 4–2 in the first 15 minutes. Clarke scored to start the second quarter with Carden adding to the total. Walter and L’Esperance combined for three goals in the last five minutes of the second.

Laliberty explained what she’d like to see from the team heading into the final leg of the season.

“Something that would be really great as we go into the playoffs stretch would be to put together some consistency,” Laliberty said.

The third period was a back-and-forth affair as Wesleyan and Tufts traded goals, each netting five. L’Esperance led the Jumbos with two goals in the quarter. With the game in the bag, Tufts played defensively in the fourth quarter, letting in one goal and scoring once as well with a goal

by Carden, assisted by Clarke.

With first-year duo Carden and L’Esperance scoring ten and eight goals, respectively, over the two games, the Jumbos have a bright future. Next, Tufts will play Emmanuel (Mass.) on Wednesday at Bello Field.