The Tufts Daily - Thursday, January 16, 2020 by The Tufts Daily

Civic Semester Fellows join campus from semester abroad see FEATURES / PAGE 3

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Undefeated women’s basketball prepares for NESCAC stretch

Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ breathes new life into classic novel see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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VOLUME LXXIX, ISSUE 1

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T HE T UFTS DAILY Thursday, January 16, 2020

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Fire at Danish Pastry House causes short-term closure by Austin Clementi Investigative Editor

The Medford Fire Department (MFD) responded to a fire at the Danish Pastry House (DPH) Tuesday afternoon. According to DPH’s owner, Ulla Winkler, a ventilation hood served as the source for the fire. MFD confirmed this in an interview with the Daily, adding that the fire started in the bakery section of the establishment. Winkler said in an interview that she had just left the shop when she received a call from the store at 12:50 p.m. telling her there had been a fire. MFD put out the fire but power was lost to the entire building, which includes a barbershop. The building is owned by Tufts’ real estate arm, Walnut Hill Properties. Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of media relations, confirmed that Walnut Hill Properties leases the building to DPH but did not specify whether the company would take part in helping to make repairs.

“We’re still gathering information and are in the process of learning more about what happened,” Collins said in an email. Shortly after putting the fire out, MFD brought investigators to assess the damage done and whether the fire could have been purposefully caused. Lt. Robert Jones, who helped lead the investigation, said it was still ongoing but confirmed that kitchen ventilation was part of the issue. Winkler added that Medford Health Department officials would need to inspect the coffee shop and restaurant before it reopened but did not give a timeline for when the inspection or the reopening would occur. Jones estimated that the store would be closed for “the next few days.” Winkler, who founded DPH in 2004, added that she had been excited to serve Tufts students as the semester began. “I love the students, I love the faculty, I love the product I sell and I love the Danish Pastry House,” Winkler said.

AUSTIN CLEMENTI / THE TUFTS DAILY

Medford Fire Department investigators assess fire at Danish Pastry House on Boston Avenue on Jan. 14.

Tufts pays $2 million for new MBTA station naming rights by Madeleine Aitken

will play a pivotal role in strengthening connections with the City of Medford, Tufts University and MBTA customers,” The Green Line Extension station on Poftak said. College Avenue will be named “Medford/ According to DiRico, this new station will Tufts,” which Tufts announced on Jan. 2 it be extremely beneficial to all members of had paid for at the cost of $200,000 a year the Tufts community. for 10 years. “The Medford/Tufts Green Line Station Rocco DiRico, director of government will have a tremendous positive impact on and community relations at Tufts, explained Tufts University. It will make it easier for our the process which led to the inclusion of faculty, staff, students and visitors to come Tufts’ name in that of the new station. to campus using mass transit,” DiRico said. “My office worked with Tufts operations “Finally, the new station will connect our staff, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Medford/Somerville campus with our other Authority (MBTA) and the City of Medford campuses in Chinatown and the Fenway.” on the naming of the Medford/Tufts Green However, the convenience that the extenLine station.” DiRico wrote in an email. sion of the Green Line will bring does not “This was a collaborative process to come come without a financial commitment on up with a name that best represented the Tufts’ end. DiRico explained why he believes area around the station while strengthening the naming rights were worth the cost. our relationship with the City of Medford “Just as local communities have made a and the MBTA.” financial commitment to ensure the projDiRico manages the university’s relation- ect’s viability, the University is making this ships with the host communities of Tufts’ investment to contribute to the project’s campuses in Boston, Grafton and Medford/ long-term success,” DiRico said. “Medford/ Somerville. Tufts will be the gateway to our Medford/ MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak Somerville campus and this investment will emphasized the connectedness between be a benefit to everyone who uses the new the station’s stakeholders promoted by the station.” Medford/Tufts name. Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of “We have a lot to look forward to as we media relations, indicated that Tufts was willget closer to completing the Green Line ing to accept the MBTA charging for the namExtension, and ‘Medford/Tufts’ station ing rights to the station due to specific costs. Assistant News Editor

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“This strategic investment in a project of great importance to the University is intended to assist the MBTA in managing the ongoing costs of the new station,” Collins wrote in an email. DiRico agreed with Collins, adding that the cost of the naming rights will support the success of the Green Line Extension Project. “Just as local communities have made a financial commitment to ensure the project’s viability, the University is making this investment to contribute to the project’s long-term success. The scope and complexity of this project required a multi-year, collaborative effort on the part of its supporters,” DiRico said. Tufts is not the only Boston area university to have an MBTA station named for them — others include Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). However, these schools did not incur the same price tag as Tufts, because they were named before the MBTA began receiving outside contributions. “Boston College did not pay for the naming rights to the station,” Bill Mills, director of community affairs at Boston College, told the Daily in an email. “The station was renamed to Boston College on May 21, 1947, by a vote of the Boston Elevated Railway trustees … after Boston College bought adjacent land for their Newton Campus.”

In recent years, it has become commonplace for the MBTA to seek support from institutions that will benefit from a new station or renovations, such as Harvard University’s financial support of the planned commuter rail station in Allston, Massachusetts, or MIT’s financial support of MBTA renovations in Kendall Square. “MIT has not paid for naming rights in the past and there are no plans to do so,” Sarah Gallop, co-director of government and community relations at MIT, wrote in an email to the Daily. “However, MIT is renovating the MBTA headhouse on the south side of Main Street in Kendall and has made significant contributions to transit-related funds through its recent Kendall and Volpe zoning processes.” A Boston Magazine article published just after the naming announcement hinted at this decision to acquire the naming rights being fueled by a desire to help Tufts’ brand after the Sackler controversy and the eventual removal of the family name. However, DiRico quelled this rumor, defining the distance between the two decisions. “The negotiations to name the station were underway before the removal of the Sackler name from our Boston Health Sciences campus. The two decisions are not connected in any way,” DiRico said.

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................4

FUN & GAMES.........................5 OPINION.....................................6 SPORTS............................ BACK

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, January 16, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Ryan Shaffer Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL Alex Viveros Nathan Kyn

Managing Editors Tys Sweeney

Associate Editor

Robert Kaplan Abbie Gruskin Alejandra Carrillo Anton Shenk Connor Dale Daniel Weinstein Elie Levine Matt McGovern Natasha Mayor Sara Renkert Seohyun Shim Alex Janoff Andres Borjas Bella Maharaj Carolina Espinal Elli Sol Strich Maddie Aitken

Executive News Editor News Editors

Amelia Becker Sean Ong Michael Shames Jessie Newman Kenia French Sid Anand Fina Short Kevin Doherty Emma Damokosh Dorothy Neher Jillian Collins

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Tufts awarded $1.5 million NSF grant for interdisciplinary data science institute by Matthew McGovern News Editor

The Tufts Center for Transdisciplinary Research in Principles Of Data Science (T-TRIPODS) will celebrate its launch on January 31, following the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) $1.5 million grant awarded to Tufts in October 2019 to establish the center. Funding for T-TRIPODS comes in three annual $500,000 installments from the NSF, which fund alternating and overlapping cycles of research, teaching, and practice, according to the T-TRIPODS website. Tufts is one of more than a dozen research universities, which include Brown University and the University of California-Berkeley, that the NSF is funding to establish data science institutes through its initiative called “Harnessing the Data Revolution,” which seeks to generate new knowledge and methods in the field of data science. Professor of Computer Science Lenore Cowen, the principal investigator named in the NSF grant, explained that T-TRIPODS will foster collaborative research and advising, as well as provide summer academic opportunities, workshops and conferences to undergraduate students, graduate students and professional personnel. Cowen added that she hopes that T-TRIPODS will be a center of expertise and will foster connections between disciplines. “T-Tripods is ‘grounded’ in the 3 departments of Math, [Computer Science] and [Electrical and Computer Engineering] at Tufts,” Cowen said in an email. “But we will connect with many other departments and initiatives at Tufts, even across the different Tufts schools and campuses.” Cowen noted that T-TRIPODS Institute already has relationships with the Data Intensive Studies Center (DISC) and the Center for STEM Diversity. Cowen also framed T-TRIPODS’ goal o f encouraging participation in the field of

data science as timely, given recent technological trends. “We are living in a world where massive amounts of data can be collected,” Cowen said. “If deployed correctly and thoughtfully, there is a tremendous opportunity to advance scientific research and education.” Over the last several years, Tufts has started to consolidate its expertise and add new undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the field of data science, according to Eric Miller, professor and chair of the department of electrical and computer engineering. Miller, one of the co-principal investigators named by the NSF grant, explained that-TRIPODS’ areas of study will include Graphs and Tensors, Data with a Spatial or Temporal Dimension, and Data Guarantees of ethical practice, but not be limited to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) applications alone. “There will be opportunities, for example, to apply Data Science to the Humanities, or with folks downtown in the School of Nutrition Science and Policy,” Miller said. “This is for more than just hardcore computer science electrical engineers and math majors.” Miller also explained that T-TRIPODS will have undergraduate summer research programs in data science, though these programs are still in the planning stages. Ellise LaMotte, director of the Center for STEM Diversity, added that in addition to T-TRIPODS’ research opportunities, the mentor-mentee relationships that this center encourages can be crucial to a STEM student’s development. “The Center for STEM Diversity is collaborating with the T-TRIPODS Faculty team to introduce and include underrepresented students in data science-related research opportunities available during the summer,” LaMotte wrote in an email. Aside from increasing participation in the field of data science, T-TRIPODS aims to bring data science principles and approaches to disciplines as diverse

as biomedical data, education, cognitive science, and the humanities, Cowen explained. An example of this is one of T-TRIPODS’ interdisciplinary projects, called Smart Cities. Laurie Baise, professor and chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering, described how her focus area of “Smart Cities, Development and Design” connects with T-TRIPODS. “We have many research projects related to data collection and analysis around infrastructure and cities,” Baise wrote in an email. “TRIPODS will facilitate collaborations across UEP/Econ/ CS/ECE/Math.” Baise added that T-TRIPODS and the Smart Cities focus group have already begun planning a seminar series. In the spirit of the institute’s interdisciplinary nature, the seminars will be hosted by the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Economics, and Urban and Environmental Planning. Miller explained that the first round of TRIPOD Institutes was funded by the NSF three years ago, and the grant that Tufts received was part of the second round of funding to establish these institutes. According to the NSF website, there is an additional, long-term phase to the TRIPOD initiative. The first phase sought to establish a number of small collaborative institutes, such as the one at Tufts; the second phase will seek to support a few larger research institutes from the smaller collaborative ones already in operation. Miller explained that Tufts might collaborate with other universities in the greater Boston area and beyond to apply for this second phase of funding. “We would look locally and probably nationally at other TRIPODS institutes that we could team up with,” Miller said. “The hope is that in these three years we will gain expertise and momentum, and when it is finishing up we will have the wherewithal to go out and either lead or participate in these larger-scale efforts.”

Shapiro hired as Harvard men’s soccer coach by Jake Freudberg Executive Sports Editor

After leading the men’s soccer team to four NCAA Div. III Championship titles since he came to Tufts in 2010, head coach Josh Shapiro has been hired as the new head coach at Harvard, announced in releases from both Tufts and Harvard on Tuesday morning. Although he will only be moving just a few stops down the Red Line, Shapiro will make a big jump from one of the nation’s top Div. III dynasties to a struggling Div. I program. At Tufts, Shapiro oversaw the emergence of one of the best Div. III teams in the country in his first career head coaching job. With him at the helm, the team won the national title in 2014, 2016, 2018 and most recently in 2019, in addition to NESCAC Championship titles in 2017 and 2019. The four national championship titles were the only in Tufts men’s soccer history, and Tufts is one of just three schools in the NCAA to have won four or more national championships. Overall, in his 10 seasons with the Jumbos, Shapiro’s teams accumulated a 126–37–28 record, with the 2019 season being his winningest with 20 wins. Shapiro also received national honor while at Tufts. He and his staff received the United Soccer Coaches Coaching Staff of the Year award following each of the four NCAA title seasons (2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019). Shapiro

received the United Soccer Coaches Coach of the Year award twice in 2014 and 2018, and the NESCAC Coach of the Year award three times. “It’s hard to see him leave after all he’s given to the program — it’s tough to think about Tufts men’s soccer without thinking about coach Shapiro,” senior forward Joe Braun, who has been one of the team’s top players in the past few years, said. “All the guys and all the alumni are super happy for him with everything he’s given to the program. We’re forever grateful, and we’re excited to see what the future holds for him because this is something he’s passionate about and a new challenge. We definitely all respect that and wish him the best of luck over at Harvard.” Senior defender and co-captain Tanner Jameson expressed a similar mix of emotions regarding the change. “I’m very happy for him — it’s an incredible opportunity for him,” Jameson said. “I think he’s going to do a fantastic job [at Harvard], but at the same time, it is a little bit heartbreaking. He’s a very important person to the Tufts Athletics community here, and we’re all sad to see him go.” The Crimson are looking to Shapiro to turn around a program that has endured a string of unsuccessful seasons. This past season, in 2019, the team went 0–14–1, following a 3–13 finish in 2018 and a 2–10–4 finish in 2017. Under former head coach Pieter

Lehrer — whose departure was announced in November — the Crimson accumulated a 42–58–13 total record. But Shapiro brings a track record of improving programs: when he was hired at Tufts in 2010, he took over a program that had not won any conference games and only two games in total the season prior. According to Braun, there were rumors that Shapiro was considering leaving Tufts during the fall, but that did not impact the team’s performance. “We didn’t let any rumors impact our season,” Braun said. “After the season, our team was aware of a couple of Div. I job openings that opened up in Boston, Harvard being one of them. Moving from Tufts to Harvard seemed like the perfect fit for him.” Before his tenure with the Jumbos, Shapiro previously held assistant coaching positions at Georgetown University, American University, George Mason University and Lafayette College. As a player at Middlebury, Shapiro also was a part of three teams that qualified for the NCAA Div. III tournament. Shapiro stated his gratitude for his time at Tufts as well as his excitement for a new challenge in both Tufts and Harvard press releases. According to the release from the Tufts Athletics Department, the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

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Features

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Inaugural Tufts Civic Semester cohort returns from Peru

COURTESY MINDY NIERENBERG

The inaugural class of Tufts Civic Semester fellows is pictured in Urubamba, Peru. by Sean Ong

Features Editor

Most first-years spend the fall semester finding their way around the hills of Tufts. Not the Tufts Civic Semester fellows, though. They completed internships, learned Spanish and stayed with host families in Urubamba, a town in the mountains of Peru’s Sacred Valley. Civic Semester, one of two overseas service programs for first-years organized by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, offers selected first-years in the School of Arts and Sciences an opportunity to volunteer overseas and receive academic credit during their first semester of college. The program was initially launched with a second service location in Kunming, China, but those plans did not materialize due to insufficient interest from students, according to Mindy Nierenberg, Tisch College’s senior director of programs. “For 2020 … we will be offering Kunming again, because we believe that is also an excellent location, and there may potentially be a third location, which we are still working on right now,” she said. “We are hoping for greater numbers [of students].” The inaugural cohort of 12 Civic Semester fellows have since rejoined their peers on the Tufts campus. Nierenberg said that the first year of Civic Semester was an overwhelming success. “It was a truly extraordinary experience,” she said. “Those 12 students, each of them put so much into it and were so open to the experience.” At the heart of the program is an internship with a local nonprofit organization, Nierenberg said. For 20 hours a week, students worked alongside community members in fields ranging from sustainability to rural health. “We [had] placements for students that would both match what they [were] interested in but also expand their horizons,” she said. “We wanted to have a balance … of understanding that a student is still learning and is not a professional, but also not wanting to draw capacity away from the organization … so that [the students] are having some type of positive impact.”

Yong Quan Tan, a Civic Semester fellow, was placed at Eco Huella, a family-owned farm focused on sustainable indigenous agriculture. His work involved daily farming duties, building greenhouses for high-altitude Andean communities and facilitating visits from local and international organizations. “It was a time for me to understand the challenges faced by frontline communities … and the urgency for them to adjust and to change the way they work and they live their lives in order to confront [climate change],” Tan, a first-year, said. Through his time at Eco Huella, Tan has learned more about the actions that can be taken against climate change. “[I am] being more environmentally conscious … not just of our consumption habits … but also of a greater need for pushing back against factors that are contributing to climate change, and the power of us consumers [who] can decide what kind of choices companies can make to benefit the climate,” he said. Austen Money, also a Civic Semester fellow, worked at Canastas Verdes, a women-run farm that grows and sells organic produce. Money, a first-year in the School of the Museum of Fine Arts combined degree program, tapped into her artistic skills to develop, design and illustrate a recipe book for the farm. “There are weekly basket deliveries, and it’s all produce that’s not really chosen by the customers, it’s just chosen by the [farmers] based on what’s in season. A lot of people didn’t know how to use the produce they were getting in their baskets, so a lot of it would get thrown out. The recipe book was meant to help people who didn’t know how to use the produce figure out how to use it,” she said. Learning to work independently was one of the biggest challenges about the internship, Money said. “When I started with the organization, I figured that they were going to tell us everything we needed to do, when we needed to do it exactly, what they needed help with. But it turned out there was actually a lot more room

for working independently, so I had to figure out how to be a little bit more independent and … push my ideas forward if I wanted to see them put into place,” she said. Civic Semester fellows Victoria Rose and Olympia Swaby worked at Sacred Valley Health, known locally as Ayni Wasi. It provides health services to underserved rural communities in the Sacred Valley by educating and empowering locals as community health workers. “I [like] that Sacred Valley Health recruited women from the communities, as opposed to getting trained U.S. doctors or healthcare workers … [The women] can learn and then go back and be leaders and have power within their own communities,” Swaby, a first-year, said. Rose, a first-year, said that the experience showed her the importance of being “culturally appropriate” in health interventions, such as designing growth charts for parents using visuals rather than words and numbers, or considering differences in beauty standards across cultures when planning activities around body image. “I try to be a conscientious, reflective person, but I think [the program] has heightened that quality of myself,” Rose said. “I knew that I wanted to do something with science, medicine, public health, community health and now … that’s definitely, again, reaffirmed for me that it’s something that I want to do.” In Peru, besides learning Spanish, students enrolled in an online course taught by Nierenberg, where they discussed and reflected on their internships. “I see, having read their writings, this heightened concern for the planet and its health and well-being, [and] an understanding that what happens in the U.S. impacts other countries. Many of them heard … of what happens when the U.S. has a certain posture on climate change and the environment, and how that impacts the environment in Peru,” Nierenberg said. Students also took two introductory courses over the summer in civic studies and Latin American studies, which Rose felt connected strongly with the Civic Semester program.

“What we learned … did actually carry through and informed our experience in Peru, which I thought was great,” Rose said. Swaby found her host family to be an important source of support. “One of the hugest challenges for me as a person of color going to Peru was that there were times where I felt really isolated, just because there’s not really much exposure to people of African descent, especially in the area that I was in,” Swaby said. “But … my [host] family was really awesome, and when I came in, I had a safe space and I felt good.” After a two-day retreat to reconnect with each other and with Tufts, the Civic Semester fellows are getting back into the swing of things with ___classes, activities and dorm life in the spring semester. They will not be alone: All 12 students are living in the same dorm at 123 Packard Ave. and will be taking an advising seminar together. They were also each assigned a student mentor who will support their integration into the first-year class, Nierenberg said. “I think the general feeling of the group is excitement, but also some nervousness because we’re jumping back into things mid-year, and so we don’t know as many people as we might have. But then on the other hand, everyone has 11 other people that they’re super comfortable with and who they could consider their super close friends,” Rose said. Nierenberg said that Tisch College will continue to partner with Where There Be Dragons, a gap year and study abroad programs provider, in organizing Civic Semester. “Part of the success too was the range of placements that [Where There Be] Dragons was able to establish,” she said. “Having that variety, but also having that basic underpinning of … we have something to offer but we have so much to learn … was incredibly important.” Reflecting on her semester in Peru, Rose said that the program pushed her to venture outside of her comfort zone. “What I learned on this trip is [to] just do things, because so many good things that otherwise won’t happen do happen when you take those risks,” she said.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

ARTS&LIVING

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FILM REVIEW

‘Little Women’ showcases Gerwig’s mastery of adaptation by Stephanie Hoechst Executive Video Editor

Adapting a screenplay is about more than simply making the story of a book fit into the format of a script. Satisfying film adaptations understand that novels and films are two entirely different animals — to properly tell a novel’s story requires an understanding of its core, an eye toward the visceral and symbolic rather than the beat-by-beat narrative. Sometimes, telling a filmic version of a story requires foregoing structural or narrative accuracies for a broader, more holistic interpretation. No director has proven their mastery of this concept more than Greta Gerwig, writer and director of “Little Women” (2019). Fo l l ow i n g the c r i t i c a l l y- a c claimed “Lady Bird” (2017), G e r w i g’s t h i rd d i re c t o r i a l p ro j e c t has created something that not only pays homage to Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1868 novel, but retells it in a film whose ver y soul pitches and sways with the emotional beats that h a ve c a p t i va t e d re a d e r s f o r g e ne ra t i o n s. Eve r y f i b e r, e ve r y i n c h , ever y frame, ever y moment of “Little Wo m e n” s e e k s t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e timelessness of the March sisters’ stor y, creating a feat of cinema so immac ulate ly an d sen si tive ly re ndered that it goes beyond diligently retelling a classic to get to Ger wig’s

unique interpretation of the source’s essence. Unlike the novel, which tells the chronological story of the four March sisters growing up, “Little Women” intercuts between adulthood and childhood, creating a collage of experiences that ultimately communicates each sister’s coming of age. The March sisters live in relative poverty in Massachusetts during the Civil War with their mother (Laura Dern); at the center of the tale is Jo (Saoirse Ronan), the tomboyish second-oldest March sister who dreams of becoming a writer. Childhood for the March family is bathed in rosy hues and firelight, and Gerwig expertly captures the chaos of four sisters in one house — at any given point, multiple conversations, arguments and observations may crisscross about the room with dizzying energy, interspersed, of course, with the occasional fistfight. Each sister has her passion — Meg (Emma Watson), the oldest, has an affinity for acting, while Beth (Eliza Scanlen), the quiet peacekeeper, plays the piano. Amy, in a standout performance by Florence Pugh, dreams of becoming a painter and living in high society, often butting heads with Jo as the two battle for the affection of their neighbor, Laurie ( Timothée Chalamet). Scenes from childhood are interspersed with the snow-laden solitude of adulthood, where each of the

March sisters must confront the realities of growing up — lost loves, sickness, poverty and the responsibilities of marriage. While any period piece will communicate women’s struggle balancing love with a responsibility to marry for economic status, “Little Women,” more than any historical film in recent memory, truly dives into women’s emotional burden of having to negotiate these responsibilities, sequestered away from society as objects of marriage and childrearing. Jo grapples with this duty most obviously as she searches for romantic and financial independence as a writer, balking at Meg’s decision to marry and coming to terms with her own feelings for Laurie. However, Amy’s childhood haughtiness morphs into an unexpectedly telling cynicism (or pragmatism, depending on how you look at it) about the economic responsibilities of marriage that is entirely different — though no less ripe with meaning — than her sister’s experience. By juxtaposing these very real tribulations with the shiny, ornament-like memories of childhood, Gerwig asks us to understand how growing up is balanced precariously on the seemingly innocent days of youth. From their shared experience under one roof, each of the March sisters grows up with unique demeanors and desires, guiding each along a different path through the turbulence of adulthood.

Of course, every element of “Little Women” not only contributes to the story, but also makes for an oftentimes achingly beautiful visual experience. Take, for instance, the beach scene that looks as though it were plucked right from a Monet, complete with billowy, breezy clothing, straw hats and high-flying white kites. Or, take Marmee and Jo’s conference as they sit side-by-side on the floor, lit by a low, warm candlelight. Or, perhaps, look at each character’s distinct style — Jo’s boyish waistcoats contrast sharply with Amy’s immaculate pastel dresses, while Laurie lets his sumptuous layers hang a little more loosely and a tad rumpled in times of emotional unrest. Every take, every costume, every set piece, not to mention Alexandre Desplat’s exquisite score, is crafted with intent and the utmost care, creating a masterpiece filled to the brim with visual delights. “Little Women” is an achievement in filmmaking on its own; however, the sensitivity and clarity with which Gerwig handles her subject matter makes it a masterpiece when it comes to the art of film adaptation. By not only translating the story of a text to the screen, but breathing new life into it, Gerwig has once again established herself as a visionary interested in the powers of a story’s essence, executing with an unmistakable passion for beauty.

Timely tribulations in the Met’s ‘La Traviata’ by Sam Heyman

Assistant Arts Editor

In the first few pages of “Heart of Darkness” (1899), Joseph Conrad’s narrator-protagonist Charles Marlow opines: “It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over.” One wonders how Marlow would interpret the events of “La Traviata.” Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece centers on Violetta, a charming Parisian courtesan weakened by a life-threatening illness. When the pure-hearted nobleman Alfredo professes his abiding love for her — he had visited her sickbed every day for a year — she struggles to choose between a life of safe, shallow pleasures and the promise of profound fulfillment offered by a love she thought a woman like her could never have. She takes the plunge and abandons cosmopolitan Paris for Alfredo, selling everything she owns to finance their humble life in the countryside. The pair’s fragile peace shatters when Alfredo’s father, Giorgio, beseeches Violetta to leave his son; the shadow of her former life, he implores, threatens Alfredo’s honor and his sister’s

marriage prospects. Violetta is convinced man’s inability to forgive her past will hurt the people she loves, so she departs again for Paris, resigning herself to a lonely death. By the time a guilt-ridden Giorgio reveals his plot to Alfredo, Violetta has just hours to live. On Friday, “La Traviata” made its season debut at the Metropolitan Opera. Producer Michael Mayer revives the controversial staging of last season’s production, which also marked Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s inaugural show as the Met’s new music director. The current cast stars soprano Aleksandra Kurzak and tenor Dmytro Popov as Violetta and Alfredo, with baritone Quinn Kelsey as the formidable Giorgio Germont. Kurzak’s silky soprano shone bright through Violetta’s famous coloraturas but lost clarity and pitch at the highest registers. Nevertheless, her performance was heart-wrenching. Kelsey’s Giorgio was a well-chosen audience favorite. The young baritone delivered a masterful performance, balancing the power and sensitivity at the heart of the show’s complex antagonist. As much as anything else, “La Traviata” is a stor y about reality. Violetta lies at the heart of multiple cross-cutting contradictions originating both within and without her. Throughout the opera, she dances across the lines between sickness and health, hope and harsh reality, her own self-deprecating pragmatism and Alfredo’s quixotic devotion to her. She wields tremendous power over the

fates of others and is simultaneously imprisoned by their perceptions of her. In fact, Violetta is alone in her understanding that social realities are malleable, and that power over them is akin to power over the real. She leaves Alfredo not because she believes herself unworthy of him, but because she recognizes the intransigence of those who do. Cultural perception conquers all. The Met’s past two productions of “La Traviata” are closely entwined in a string of high-profile accusations of sexual misconduct against some of the opera house’s biggest stars. Just last month, tenor Piero Pretti supplanted golden boy Vittorio Grigolo to portray Alfredo in the second half of the current production. The change came after Grigolo allegedly groped a female performer onstage while on tour in Tokyo with London’s Royal Opera. Grigolo’s spectacular rise and fall tell a familiar tale. He’s a character we’ve seen before — charismatic, irreverent, alluring. He’s handsome. He rides motorcycles. His lush, liquid rendition of “La donna è mobile” from “Rigoletto” captured this writer’s heart. Audiences warmly embraced Grigolo’s splendid freshness. Opera houses clamored for him to fill the shoes of crossover megastars like the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti. But nothing gold can stay. The Royal Opera House, which had given Grigolo his first big break, now sounds what could be the death knell of his

career. Gone are the days when such radiant star power shielded men like Grigolo from the profoundly damaging repercussions of their actions. At the Met, “La Traviata” has transcended its own narrative of oppressive social reality to become an artistic and symbolic frontier for real cultural change. The recent termination of legendary conductor and music director emeritus James Levine following an investigation concluding that he had “engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct toward vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers” left behind both a painful legacy and an identity crisis. Mayer’s rendition of “La Traviata” is the company’s first attempt at forward motion since Levine’s fractious departure. In a word, the Met is exploring the contours of its new reality. Detoxifying the rancid air of opera culture will require opening a window. Closed-door institutions of high art like the Met and their attendants must be subjected to the same standards of conduct as members of the outside world. This homogenizing transvaluation has always complicated discussions of harassment and abuse perpetrated by brilliant and creative people. Is the rarified air of exaltation the only habitable atmosphere for their genius? Must we accept this and other claims made to protect abusers as “confounded fact[s]?” Violetta believes so, but “La Traviata” does not. Neither, thankfully, does the Met.

Thursday, January 16, 2020 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

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CROSSWORD

6 Thursday, January 16, 2020

Opinion

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Letter from the Managing Board regarding Nov. 18 editorial

Dear Tufts community, On Nov. 18, the Daily published an editorial titled, “The Daily stands with The Crimson in defending factual, ethical journalism.” The editorial, which was intended to affirm the Daily’s commitment to journalistic practices, was not given the time and attention required for an editorial on a subject as sensitive as defending the undocumented community and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s role on a university campus. We owe an apology to the undocumented community and to the Tufts community for our negligence on this topic. The editorial failed to address other issues regarding The Crimson’s practices that were rightfully raised by Act on a Dream. It led our readers to the misleading conclusion that we unconditionally support The Crimson and that we denounce the concerns of Act on a Dream and other activist organizations, which we do not. The editorial intended to defend and share some of the basic journalistic practices

employed by news organizations around the world, while also acknowledging the very legitimate concerns raised by the activist community. In addition, this editorial was given an unsatisfactory period to be reviewed and revised, which is in conflict with the Daily’s procedural guidelines. The timing of the editorial was particularly insensitive, as it was published the same week as the Supreme Court began deliberating the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Daily has affirmed DACA and additional measures to protect the undocumented community, as has the university administration. Though it was not our intention to express anything but support for the undocumented community, we recognize that our words have power on this campus, and that this editorial could have made an already-vulnerable community feel threatened or less secure on our campus. For this, we are sorry. The Daily has reviewed its editorial policy to guarantee that future editorials are

given the time and attention they require prior to publication. These changes ensure that editorials are reviewed by more sets of eyes and can be well-researched and revised before publication. The Spring 2020 Managing Board and Editorial Board are committed to abiding by these policies and developing them as needed as they begin their new positions on the Daily. Furthermore, the Daily welcomes criticism from the community and looks forward to its future partnerships with activist groups and organizations that support marginalized voices on campus. The Daily has met with both the FIRST Resource Center and the activist group United for Immigrant Justice regarding how to cover immigrant and undocumented communities on campus, and we are actively revising and creating policies and procedures to justly cover issues on our campus. Through meetings with the FIRST Resource Center, the Daily has developed partnerships and policies to cover the immigrant and undocumented communities at Tufts. The Daily is

continuing its work to improve its coverage of marginalized communities on campus through mandatory trainings and workshops with members of the community, activists and professionals that review our coverage and educate our staff. If you or your organization would like to participate in or host a training with the Daily, please email daily@tuftsdaily.com. We would like to thank the members of the Tufts community that brought the shortcomings of our coverage to our attention. If you have a problem with our coverage or would like to suggest a change, please email daily@tuftsdaily.com. If you would like to submit an op-ed, please email opinion@tuftsdaily.com. Sincerely, Fall 2019 Managing Board Jessica Blough, Editor in Chief Ryan Eggers, Managing Editor Justin Yu, Managing Editor Aidan Menchaca, Production Director Myshko Chumak, Associate Editor

EDITORIAL

Welcome back, Jumbos Winter break has come to a close, and the semester has started; you all have new memories to share, stories to be told and much to give to our campus. We at the Tufts Daily feel similarly about this new chapter; we too have stories to keep sharing and discussions to start about the important problems facing our campus and student body. We are excited to continue expanding on this mission, fully committed to drawing attention to our community’s issues and promoting ongoing talk about the challenges affecting us all. With this goal in mind, we must pay tribute to our fall semester efforts as we go forward. Last semester, we critically reflected on the problems affecting day-to-day student life, discussing the housing crisis involving both our campus and surrounding communities. Additionally, we addressed the financial inaccessibility of everyday life as a Tufts student, tackling the steep laundry, textbook and on-campus dining prices that make on-campus living unreasonably expensive, especially for low-income or minority groups and upperclassmen living off campus. As we move into the new semester, we must continue to discuss these important issues in order to ensure a fair and just college experience. In addition, our campus has repetitively been challenged by incidents of hate throughout the last semester, witnessing white nationalism, antisemitism, homophobia and antiblack racism. This is truly unacceptable, and our administration and student body must do more to address these issues and keep

Tufts a safe campus that champions values of compassion, empathy and equality. We will continue fighting for these values in the coming semester, and we as a community must continue to extend compassion and support to those harmed by systemic racism and incidents of hate. We also addressed problems within Tufts as an institution that affect professors, students and the Medford and Somerville communities. We examined the wage gap between male and female professors at this university, discovering that Tufts ranked 87th out of 93 colleges in terms of gender parity. The university must step up to gather data regarding this discrepancy and address the lack of women in senior positions. Additionally, we emphasized the importance of a tuition freeze in reducing student financial burden, and we discussed issues with the Medford and Somerville communities, urging Tufts to support the communities through higher PILOT payments. We will continue fighting for institutional change in the coming semester and expand on these issues, specifically regarding student academic life. Additionally, it is crucial that we consider the impact that Tufts has on the outside world and strive to create more positive change in our communities. There is a “bubble” surrounding the university and a clear disconnect between our campus and surrounding neighborhoods. We must continue to play our part in supporting local businesses in Somerville and Medford and take into

BY ANNABEL NIED account their perspective on university housing since it affects them directly. We must also fight for a greener, more environmentally friendly campus and further the efforts of the alumni and various Tufts student groups such as Tufts Climate Action that have called on the university to divest from fossil fuels. The university must more carefully invest and consider the environmental implications of its choices, and we will keep advocating for the university to do so.

As both the new semester and decade begin, we hope that this year will be characterized by positive change, and we will continue to do our part through cultivating an atmosphere of discussion, action and awareness. We truly look forward to bringing attention to the issues that matter to this campus and advocating for a fair, safe and engaged community. Welcome back, Tufts: We cannot wait for what comes next.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Response to ‘Gray Areas Matter: Prostitution’ by Rebecca Dince Zipkin John Little’s column is missing an extremely important piece of information: While he is correct that criminalizing people in prostitution is not the answer, he is missing a vital middle ground between fully decriminalizing or legalizing the sex trade and full criminalization. The Equality Model, also known as the Nordic Model, is a third legal framework that addresses the needs of people in the sex trade by offering medical, legal and social services to address

the reasons people end up engaged in prostitution. While the Equality Model decriminalizes those who are selling sex, this model continues to hold sex buyers, pimps and other exploiters accountable through criminal sanctions. When the state decriminalizes the entire sex market, it decriminalizes sex buyers, pimps and other exploiters. Full decriminalization of the sex trade is dangerous and harmful.The sex trade, a multi-billion dollar industry, works like any other market, following economic principles of supply and demand.

As a society, if we allow the state to profit and normalize sex buying, we only create a greater demand. Pimps and traffickers meet the increased demand by increasing the “supply” which is filled by women and girls of color, members of the LGBTQ community and other vulnerable members of society. Many countries around the world, including Sweden, Norway, France and Canada, among others, have adopted the Equality Model because there is strong data to support its success in com-

batting sex trafficking. Countries that have legalized prostitution such as Germany and the Netherlands have created a legalized industry of mega brothels that have fueled and increased trafficking and exploitation in those countries. It is time for the United States to wake up to the harms of the commercial sex industry and for our states to adopt the Equality Model. Rebecca Dince Zipkin is a Tufts alumnus who graduated in 2006. Rebecca can be reached at rebecca.zipkin@gmail.com.

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board. EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director.

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Thursday, January 16, 2020

Sports

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No. 1 Jumbos skyrocket to 14–0 start under new coach Jill Pace by Henry Molot Staff Writer

First-year coach Jill Pace and the Tufts women’s basketball team could not have asked for a better start to their 2019–2020 season. As the season nears its halfway point, the Jumbos stand atop the NCAA Div. III rankings with a perfect 14–0 record, defeating teams from a range of conferences on the East Coast. Pace and the Jumbos went a perfect 6–0 over the winter break, beating teams from five different states. On Friday, the Jumbos tipped off the NESCAC portion of their schedule, rolling over the Wesleyan Cardinals en route to a 78–60 win. The Jumbo offense poured on a steady dose of points in all four quarters, a balanced formula for winning in the ever-competitive NESCAC. Senior guard/forward and co-captain Erica DeCandido, who has once again been the Jumbos’ top scorer, led the charge with a career-high 28 points on 12 for 21 shooting along with 10 rebounds. Junior guard/forward Emily Briggs and sophomore guard Molly Ryan each turned in excellent supporting performances, tallying 15 and 17 points respectively. “We were really working the ball around and adjusting during the game on things we needed to work on,” DeCandido said. “We also boxed up very well considering how many rebounds they usually average.” Starters like Briggs and Ryan, along with DeCandido, have each proved they have the scoring prowess to carry their team to victory. When all three are locked in on the

same day, as they were against Wesleyan, the Jumbos truly get scary. On Jan. 8, Tufts defeated Wheaton College (Mass.) in a 91–47 blowout. Briggs led the way with 19 points, while sophomore guard Sofia Rosa, first-year guard/ forward Maggie Russell and junior forward Angela Alibrandi all had double-digit point totals off the bench. The Jumbos dominated the entire game and entered the fourth quarter with a 75–32 lead. Two days earlier, Ryan stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, six assists and five rebounds in a 79–62 win against SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Rosa also scored 12 points coming off the bench on 83% shooting. In another blowout win against University of Massachusetts — Dartmouth on Jan. 6, DeCandido had another huge performance and logged a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds along with five assists. Briggs also had a strong game with 16 points in the 73–43 victory. Before the new year, the team traveled to New Jersey for the Stevens Holiday Tournament. In the second game of the tournament against The College of New Jersey, Tufts benefited from a strong team rebounding performance led by Ryan, DeCandido and Alibrandi, while Russell scored eight points in 11 minutes off the bench. The Jumbos won with yet another lopsided score, 68–35. The day before, on Saturday, the team prevailed in what was the second-closest game of the season so far, defeating Christopher Newport University 70–65. DeCandido led the way with marksman-like

shooting; she went eight for nine from the field with 19 points, three rebounds, three assists, four steals and no turnovers. It is both a blessing and a curse to start a season so strong, skyrocketing to the nation’s No. 1 ranking before even beginning conference play. Now, Tufts will have a target on its back going into games against tough NESCAC teams like Middlebury and No. 4 Amherst. As the season grinds on, Pace knows how important it is for the team to stick to its guns, identify and act on areas of improvement and block out distractions. “We’re not thinking about rankings too much,” Pace said. “The focus is on improving game by game, and getting better every day at practice.” The Wesleyan game kicks off an 11-game stretch to end the regular season which includes 10 NESCAC opponents, with a lone non-conference game against Babson College. Pace understands that while their perfect start and No. 1 ranking is nothing to scoff at, it is during this stretch of competitive NESCAC opponents that the Jumbos’ league title defense will be put to the test. Pace played collegiate basketball at Bowdoin and served as an assistant coach at Tufts from 2014–16, so it’s safe to say she feels comfortable finding a winning formula in the NESCAC. Pace inherited a team that already relied on creating quick scores off of stops on the defensive end, and the Jumbos thrive on a transition-first offense to push the ball up the court coming off stops.

“Defense has always been our bread and butter,” Pace said. DeCandido also explained that the team is still figuring things out, and that there is always room for improvement. “We are still learning and growing with every game and practice,” DeCandido said. “When we need work on one thing we improve it until we find something else that needs fixing.” Pace’s alma mater continues to nip at the Jumbos’ heels, occupying the No. 2 spot in the NCAA rankings. Bowdoin went a perfect 11–0 during the NESCAC regular season in 2018–19, and its only conference loss came against Tufts in the conference championship. Needless to say, the Jan. 31 showdown in Brunswick, Maine looms large on both teams’ schedules. Nevertheless, the Jumbos need to take the season one game at a time. Next up, they will travel to upstate New York to take on the Hamilton Colonials in their second dose of NESCAC play. Hamilton stood at 10–3 entering NESCAC play before two road losses to Williams (70–61) and Middlebury (63–49). The Hamilton offense is led by two electric guards, senior and co-captain Carly O’Hern and sophomore Kelcie Zarle. Both guards like to push the tempo on offense and shoot lots of threes, a formula that the Jumbos have employed with great success this year. “They love the push, they love the dribble-drive and they shoot a ton of threes,” Pace said. “We need great focus and communication on defense, and we have to play a fast-paced game.” Tipoff against Hamilton is set for Friday at 7 p.m.

After 0–5 start, hockey moves into 2nd half of season at 4–8 by Julia Atkins

Assistant Sports Editor

With a slow start to the 2019–20 season, the 4–8 Jumbos are starting to settle into their skates moving into 2020 play. In their first five games, the Jumbos lost by close margins to some of their toughest conference competitors. As November progressed, the team began finding a way to work better together, securing their first 2–1 win against SUNY Buffalo State College at the Skidmore Thanksgiving Invitational. The team has seen significant improvement to date. “The majority of teams we have played so far have been ranked at some point this year — We play a very competitive schedule,” junior forward Charley Borek said. “I think it took us a few games to find what works for us as a team in order to match up against these tough competitors, but we’re adjusting and improving.” In their most recent game on Jan. 10, the Jumbos lost to the Endicott College Eagles 4–2 in a well fought battle at Valley Forum, Tufts’ home ice-rink in Malden, Mass. Just under four minutes into play, senior defenseman Cory Gottfried gave Tufts an early lead with his second goal of the season off of a pass from junior defenseman Michael Gordon. The Eagles responded with a goal from forward Campbell Balk to even the score at 1–1 in the opening period. The Jumbos remained on the attack, taking back their advantage just over one minute into the second period. Senior defenseman Jordan Haney drove down middle ice and passed the puck off to sophomore forward Brendan Skarda. Skarda flicked it back to Haney

in front of the goal, allowing him to score his second of the season. However, the Eagles scored the equalizer less than two minutes later with a goal from forward Zach Mazur. Borek and senior forward Ross Delabruere had a close two-onone opportunity for the Jumbos halfway through the second, along with a shot that hit the pipe by Skarda, but goalkeeper Conor O’Brien held it down for the Eagles. The game moved into the third period tied at 2–2. Both teams came out with aggression in the third, trading shots for the first half of the period. Ten minutes in, the Eagles took the lead with a goal from forward James Winkler. In response to Winkler’s goal, the Jumbos removed junior goalie Drew Hotte with 1:26 remaining in regulation. Despite a close shot by sophomore forward Cal LeClair, the Eagles capitalized on the empty-net opportunity and secured their 4–2 win with a goal from forward Luke Rodgers. Two weeks earlier, the Tufts hockey traveled in the frozen forests of Northern Wisconsin and competed in the twoday Superior Showdown, playing against University of Wisconsin-Superior and Bethel University (Minn.). Tufts fell to Wisconsin-Superior in a close 2–1 loss on Dec. 28, despite Hotte’s impressive 35 saves. Tufts took on Bethel in the consolation match the following day, emerging victorious 5–2. Gottfried, Skarda, Borek, senior forward Blake McIntyre and sophomore forward Justin Brandt each tallied in a goal. Earlier in December, Tufts had a successful weekend on the road, competing at Colby and Bowdoin. The Jumbos secured their first shut out of the season against the Mules with

a 2–0 victory. Brandt tallied his third goal of the season, along with an empty-netter from Haney. Hotte also put on another impressive performance with 34 saves. Tufts, moving into the Bowdoin game with momentum, came out on top of a nail-biting game with a 5–4 win. Sophomore forward Angus Scott tallied two goals, hitting the scoreboard for the first time this season, while sophomore forward Nick Schultze and senior forward Machlan Sawden also put up their firsts of the season. Gordon secured the win with his goal late in the third. Sophomore goalkeeper Josh Sarlo made 36 saves against the Polar Bears in his second win of the season, ending the Jumbos’ weekend with a NESCAC sweep. “Both of our goalies are playing very well,” junior forward Mason Babbige said. “They’ve definitely held their own when we’ve needed it and come up with big saves.” Before that, on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, Tufts traveled to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to compete in the Skidmore Thanksgiving Invitational. The team secured its breakthrough first win against Buffalo State on Saturday, ending their five-game losing streak. Senior forward Anthony Farinacci got to work early in the first, barreling the puck into the net just 54 seconds into regulation. With the tone set at a 1–0 early advantage, the Jumbos maintained aggression, expanding their margin to 2–0 with a shot from junior forward Edward Hannon about halfway through the first period. The Bengals came back with one goal in the second period, but could not pull off a comeback.

The following day the Jumbos took on the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds, falling 4–2. Hannon scored his first two goals in the tournament, and first-year forward Alex Lycett put one in the back of the net off a power play opportunity for the Jumbos. In their opening five games, Tufts took a hit with a 0–5 record while first competing away at Wesleyan and Trinity, and then home against Middlebur y, Williams and Babson College. According to Borek, the team is now more confident in their play moving forward, according to Borek. “Opening up the season, we implemented some new systems, and I think there was an adjustment period,” Borek said. “But I think we played much better our last seven or so games, and we’re definitely improving as a team. We had three games in a row that were 2–1, and some of those games we arguably should’ve won. When we started to win, it was a culmination of everything coming together. We started to get some more pucks in deep and find more confidence in our game. ” Tufts will take on the Hamilton next on home ice at the Valley Forum. The conference matchup is slated to begin at 7 p.m. on Friday. “In the past, [Hamilton] has had a very good team, but we feel confident moving into Friday’s game,” Farinacci said. “We’ve been working very hard on and off the ice — on our game and on our team dynamic. We’ve been doing a lot of push-ups and frequently listening to ‘All Star’ by Smash Mouth (1999) to stay in the zone.”