The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, February 26, 2020 by The Tufts Daily

Women’s squash has promising wins in last team match of season see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

EDITORIAL

Tufts should expand fitness options to improve student health

The Bayit offers classic, special flavors in hamantaschen sale see FEATURES / PAGE 3

SEE OPINION / PAGE 7

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXIX, ISSUE 22

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

New policy think tank established at Tisch College by Alexander Thompson Staff Writer

The Center for State Policy Analysis (cSPA) launched on Feb. 13, housed within the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Barnum Hall. As the name implies, the new center will focus its work on state-level policymaking in the commonwealth. ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

Evan Horowitz, the newly named director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at the Jonathan M. Tisch College for Civic Life, poses for a picture outside Ballou Hall on Feb. 24.

see POLICY ANALYSIS, page 2

Women’s Center symposium focuses on intersectionality in sexual education, healthcare by Elli Sol Strich

Assistant New Editor

The Women’s Center held its ninth annual Gender and Culture symposium titled “Sex and Accessibility” on Friday, at which student and guest speakers explored issues surrounding sexual education, comprehensive healthcare and more. The event, held in Dowling Hall, began with a panel titled “Queering Sex Ed, Explaining Abstinence, and Intersectional Healthcare.” The panel highlighted the differences in accessing and exploring sexuality and information about sex through inequalities across geography, class, race, cultures, abilities and identities. The panel was followed by a talk titled “Making Way for Disabled Sex Educators,” presented by Disability and Sexuality Access Network cofounders Amber Dipietra and Cassandra Perry. Later, activist Andrew Gurza, who has spoken internationally on the topics of sex and disability, delivered the keynote address. The event concluded with sophomore Akbota Saudabayeva’s presentation titled “The Body in Poetry.” The panel began with first-year Lee Romaker discussing the history of sexual education in the United States. According to Romaker, before sex education was taught in the public school system, sex-related information was reserved for the family and religious spheres, which often included scare tactics to inspire fear and framed premarital sex as immoral. However, Romaker cited the Teach Safe Relationships Act of 2015 to counter these notions.

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“In 2015, the Teach Safe Relationships Act was introduced into the U.S. Congress, which would require sex education that focused on sexual coercion and sexual communication,” Romaker said. The Teach Safe Relationships Act died in committee, however, but was implemented at the state level to varying degrees, according to Romaker. Romaker emphasized that discrepancies across states persist. Due in part to the minimal number of states that require medically accurate sexual education and in part to the often heteronormative focus of the sexual education, teenagers often turn to the internet for more inclusive and comprehensive sexual education. Romaker predicted that the internet — with the benefits of accessibility but the downsides of misinformation and unrealistic presentation — will most likely be a source of information for sexual education until queer and medically accurate sexual education is implemented in public schools. Sarah Lewinger, a knowledge management specialist at Pathfinder International, an international sexual reproductive health nonprofit, discussed her previous research on the effects of abstinence-only sexual education on students’ self-esteem , bodily integrity and sexual health decisions. Lewinger asserted that research in the United States shows the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education; however, comprehensive sexual education, which is medically accurate and objective, promotes safer sexual behavior among young people. Lewinger explained, however, that the lack of substantial research on such education in For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

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sub-Saharan African countries led her to further focus her work. In Uganda, abstinence-only education dominates, in part due to high sexual risk factors stemming from one of the highest rates of HIV in East Africa, according to Lewinger. Lewinger explained that Ugandan girls and women are “untapped” sources of knowledge. In her research, she conducted 33 interviews with them to better understand their experiences, what they had been and wished to be taught, and what they believe others should be taught. “I chose to discuss the experience of sexual education with young Ugandan women, recognizing that their experiences are rarely heard and considered in the formulation of policies that intimately affect their lives,” Lewinger said. Lewinger concluded from the interviewees’ responses that implementing a culturally relevant and comprehensive sexual education in the region would increase female empowerment, lead to safer sexual health decisions and could combat gender-based oppression. Hannah Robins, a doctoral student studying clinical psychology at Suffolk University, joined the panel to discuss how issues in healthcare interact with identity. To ensure productive and appropriate healthcare, Robins explained that there are many factors that affect positive patient-provider relationships for gender and sexually diverse populations in health care. Robins cited specific examples of heteronormativity in healthcare, but also emphasized that it can be conveyed in numerous ways.

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Tisch roof garden renovation proposal wins Green Fund competition by Yiyun Tom Guan Contributing Writer

The Tufts Office of Sustainability announced the seven winners of this year’s Green Fund earlier this month. In one of two such grants awarded to the Medford/Somerville campus, winners Alicia Bellido and Bayley Koopman plan to renovate the rooftop garden on top of the Tisch Library in order to improve its environmental impact. Using budgets that total $40,000, the Green Fund can financially support various projects across Tufts’ four campuses that address environmental issues, using budgets that total $40,000. This year, the Green Fund received about 30 applications, according to Green Fund intern Olivia Ireland. However, only seven proposals were funded, according to the Office of Sustainability’s website. Bellido, a junior, explained that the project will take out the existing plants in the Tisch roof garden, renew its soil and plant pollinator-friendly plants that attract native pollinator populations. Its fruition will also allow the garden to reduce stormwater runoff and absorb solar radiation, according to the project proposal. “Populations of pollinators in cities and around the world have been declining at alarming rates in recent years, and we at the Student Garden are hoping to do our part in providing hospitable areas for pollinators wherever we can,” the project proposal said. “This is especially important in cities because of the lack of vegetation, especially the lack of native vegetation on which so many native bee species rely.” As co-president of Tufts Student Garden, Koopman, a sophomore, also expressed the need to promote local pollinators. He indicated that the initiative acts as a way for his organization to take on a bigger role in the campus community. “I think it’s a really great opportunity for Tufts Student Garden to get more publicity because we are a very small club … but I also think it’s a great way to give back to the Tufts community, at least [in terms of] visual aes-

see SYMPOSIUM, page 2

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................5

see GREEN FUND, page 2

FUN & GAMES.........................6 OPINION..................................... 7 SPORTS............................ BACK

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, February 26, 2020

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Policy center to disclose donor information, publish several reports yearly POLICY ANALYSIS

continued from page 1 Evan Horowitz, the center’s inaugural executive director, says the cSPA will provide independent analysis of legislation being considered in the statehouse as well as state ballot initiatives, taking the federal Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as its model. “People have been talking about having a CBO-like organization for the state for decades,” Horowitz said. “We are now operating, undertaking research, trying to provide some additional research capacity for the state legislature.” The center will prioritize analyzing high-impact pieces of legislation, which are currently being debated, according to Horowitz. The new director also hopes to produce reports on issues being put out to voters as ballot initiatives, an area of policy-making Horowitz said is underappreciated. “We have major pieces of legislation that get passed through the ballot rather than through lawmakers, and there’s no group currently dedicated to providing analysis of ballot initiatives,” he said. Horowitz wants the center to publish between six and eight reports a year. He has already begun work on the first two projects, which includes a look at a proposal to create a regional carbon market that will come out by early April. Alan Solomont, dean of Tisch College, hailed the center as a way to further engage the university and its students with community, elevating Tufts’ role in state decision-making while providing opportunities to faculty and students. “It’s part of the civic responsibility of the university, not to take a position, but to really support something that will, we think, enhance the conversation about state policy in Massachusetts,” he explained.

Solomont also praised Horowitz as a capable leader for the new center. “He has a real skill being able to translate technical matters having to do with the economy or having to do with policy in a way that could be clearly understood by folks,” Solomont said. Horowitz got his start as a professor of literature before moving to Boston and becoming the director of communications at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, another think tank. He is perhaps best known as a data journalist at the Boston Globe where he wrote the newspaper’s “Quick Study” column for four years. Horowitz is currently the center’s only employee, and while he hopes to hire a handful of other staff members, the cSPA plans to stay small. The center will work with outside experts and researchers on a case-by-case basis, including Tufts professors if possible. Solomont said that this flexible model — which maximizes the potential for interaction between faculty and the center — was another reason he was attracted to the idea. Even with just one staff member, the cSPA has brought on a number of high-profile members for its board of directors, including former Massachusetts Governors Michael Dukakis, a Democrat, and Jane Swift, a Republican, as well as leaders from the private sector and academia like Solomont. The center’s financing reflects the diverse nature of the board, and Horowitz is seeking donations from foundations as well as the private sector, following the guiding principle of non-partisanship. “[Funding] is going to come from a diverse group of sources; it has to,” he said. “The minute you start getting your funding all from right-leaning groups or left-leaning groups, it’s very hard to protect the integrity of your output.”

Horowitz also intends to make all donation information public. Marie-Frances Rivera, the president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, where Horowitz once worked, explained that fundraising can sometimes be a challenge for organizations like hers and the cSPA because donors may prefer direct service organizations or political campaigns over objective analysis. However, she says that especially in Massachusetts, funders tend to understand the need for policy research and government transparency and are willing to put money behind it. That need is certainly present in the state, as Rivera explained that the demand for research currently exceeds the amount her organization and others can provide, and that the center at Tufts represents a new and welcome addition to the conversation. Much like Horowitz, she pointed to ballot initiatives as an increasingly important yet relatively understudied area of policymaking where the cSPA could step in and make its voice heard. “I do think there’s a void there that the Center for State Policy Analysis could fill,” she said. Horowitz would like to see the center interact with students on campus, potentially through internships or other opportunities, though there are no concrete plans for it at the moment. Solomont shares that vision. He hopes that the center will not only offer students research opportunities, but also get students engaged with state government and how it impacts Tufts and the surrounding communities. “This is basically the antithesis of the university as an ivory tower,” he said, “We don’t believe in that model … we think that part of what a university ought to do is play a role in the world.”

From competitive applicant pool, only 7 projects funded

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GREEN FUND

continued from page 1 thetics,” Koopman said. “The student garden cannot do a ton in winter and spring, and it’ll be a really nice change to add another project [for the club], to get a change of pace.” According to Ireland, a senior who helped organize Green Fund committee meetings, the Green Fund was first established using money from Tufts University Sustainability Fund, and the leftover dividend turned out to be around $40,000 per year. The Sustainability Fund was created to allow people to donate to sustainable causes. The Fund, Ireland explained, serves as a response to Tufts Climate Action’s call for the Tufts administration to divest from fossil fuels. Setting up this fund was one of the recommendations of the Divestment Working Group established by University President Anthony Monaco. Despite the Office of Sustainability’s goal to promote environmental sustainability at Tufts, the race to obtain funding remains competitive, as only seven of 30

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Ireland commended the feasibility of the Tisch roof garden proposal for its potential positive environmental impact on campus. She emphasized that Bellido and Koopman have a comprehensive plan with great logistical details, such as meeting with facilities services to ensure students can go on the roof to work on the garden. “When we look at projects, we look at the impact it’ll have on campus, whether or not they will reach a large number of

students, whether or not they’re feasible,” Ireland said. “Sometimes a project can’t get funded not because of the project itself but because of administrative [limitations] … the other [criteria] would be the expense and whether the project is able to justify its costs.” The Tisch roof garden renewal is cost-friendly, as its $1,095.51 budget is relatively inexpensive compared to the $40,000 the fund is allowed to allocate, according to Bellido. She explained that the original proposal was to build a new roof garden, and that $525 of the budget will be used to pay an outside engineer who can assess this possibility. Both Bellido and Koopman expressed overall satisfaction with the Green Fund committee and found it supportive in endorsing their causes. They also stressed the importance of student engagement in promoting sustainability at Tufts. Koopman encouraged students to be more involved with organizations like the Tufts Student Garden, and Bellido invited students to work as summer caretakers for the project.

At the root of these practices of discrimination, neglect and stigmatization, Robins said that clinicians across healthcare fields are vastly undertrained for “competent and sensitive care for gender and sexual minorities.” Robins referenced one study that concluded overwhelming numbers of obstetrician-gynecologists reported a lack of education on lesbian health and no training on the care of transgender patients. It is important to consider intersectionality in health care as discrimination in

healthcare disproportionately affects racial, gender and sexual minorities, according to Robins. Robins added that to ensure inclusive care, key factors must be upheld. “[These factors] include clinician knowledge about the specific health care needs of gender and sexual minorities, medical confidentiality and the use of inclusive language and research question[s] asking such as ‘how would you like me to refer to you,’” Robins said.

PATRICK MILEWSKI / THE TUFTS DAILY. COURTESY ALICIA BELLIDO

Tufts Green Fund winners Bayley Koopman (left) and Alicia Bellido (right) are pictured.

Symposium panelists discuss sexual education reform, provider care

SYMPOSIUM

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projects were funded this year, according to Ireland. However, the application process is self-selective; applicants are required to provide comprehensive plans that cover the logistical problems a project might face.

continued from page 1 “It can mean and look like many things, but among them are things like a lack of diversity in pamphlets, flyers, educational materials and posters in office settings,” Robins said. “It’s also conveyed in the language used by staff and clinicians, including but not limited to instances such as assuming the gender of a patient’s partner or only using the term ‘mother and father’ when talking about family planning.”

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Features

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Spencer Christiansen Get off campus guide

ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Jewish Cultural House at 98 Packard Ave. is pictured on Feb. 25.

The Bayit baking, selling hamantaschen for charity by Olivia King

Contributing Writer

Lemon lavender, blushing peach, roasted strawberry pistachio: these are just some of the unique flavors for sale through the Bayit’s new hamantaschen bake, Not Your Bubbe’s Hamantaschen. The Bayit, the Jewish Culture House on campus, has started a new project to bake and sell unique flavors of hamantaschen around the Jewish holiday of Purim. The holiday of Purim commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from genocide in the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire. The holiday has evolved into a day of giving. People traditionally give hamantaschen, or “Haman’s pockets,” filled cookies that refer to the empire official who planned the genocide. Jacob Shaw, a junior living at the Bayit, brings the idea for a mass-hamantaschen bake to Tufts from his hometown of Glencoe, Ill. “Our claim to fame is these really sort of creative and eclectic flavors,” Shaw said. “Every one [flavor] is inspired by an actual person and what would make them smile.” Several of the unique flavors available for purchase are linked with different charities. “For those with the specific charities, 50% of profit is then donated to those charities,” Shaw said. The remaining profits go toward funding future Bayit activities. The members of the Bayit worked to coordinate the charities with the hamantaschen flavors. The profits of apple hamantaschen go to education, and lemon lavender’s profits go to The Trevor Project to support LGBT+ rights. A comprehensive list of charities can be found on their website. Aviva Michaeli, house manager of the Bayit, was excited when Shaw suggested the idea. “We were all proposing ideas for events that we could kind of have open to the public, and Jacob Shaw br[ought] this project from back home where he does this hamantaschen baking with his family every year, and he thought it would be a really fun and great idea to bring it to the Bayit,” Michaeli, a sophomore, said. Shaw hoped to bring a new project to campus that would have a broad impact. “We want to really do something fun reaching campus-wide,” Shaw said.

Each of the unique flavors has a story behind them, and a special meaning for Shaw. “The first one that I developed was the apple one. It’s good. Nobody does apple hamantaschen, but it’s like a little apple pie cookie. I have never seen anyone bite into that and not smile, so that means we’ve done our job,” Shaw said. Apple is also one of the flavors Michaeli is most excited to try. The two don’t agree on all flavors though. Michaeli said, “I usually go for the poppyseed flavor.” However, according to Shaw, “No one wants the poppyseed.” Regardless of people’s individual views on poppyseed, it, along with the other traditional flavors of prune and raspberry, are available for order through the website. First-year student Max Album, who learned about the project through a poster at mail services, is excited to try the new flavors. “They have a lemon one that seems pretty good, and they have a chocolate one, it’s chocolate-covered … Yeah, that one looks really good,” Album said. Album has already placed his own order for 20 hamantaschen. “I’m just going to share them with my friends,” Album said. The website also has a page for people to submit their own flavor ideas. “If there are other charities that people would like to have us donate to, they can submit a flavor and a charity that goes along with it,” Shaw said. Although one of the only dietary restrictions that Not Your Bubbe’s Hamantaschen currently accommodates is for those who keep kosher, the Bayit is open to evolving. “In the future if there are people who say, I really want gluten-free or vegan hamantaschen, and they have a solid idea, submit it to our flavor cut. You might win a whole box. We’re very open-minded about the whole thing,” Shaw said. All of the hamantaschen will be baked in the Bayit. “All of the students in the house are coming together to do this. We’re spending a week. At night I’m going to be making the fillings, and then we’re going to make the cookies,” Shaw said. “We are bringing in Rabbi Tzvi and Chanie Backman of Chabad to help us fully kosher

the kitchen so it’s kosher for those that keep kosher,” said Shaw. In terms of the Bayit students who will be making the hamantaschen, “We like to bake as like, a break from our studies, so I think it will be a welcome break from all the studying we’ll have to do,” Michaeli said. In his hometown, Shaw and his family normally bake around 500 hamantaschen each year. He’s not sure how many will be ordered by the Tufts community this year, but Shaw said, “We are prepared to take on as many orders as we get.” “Some of the logistics had to do with getting in touch with the person who gives us the P-card — the card that funds our events — and just buying supplies,” Michaeli said. Shaw himself is also used to large-scale projects and pragmatic planning from his role as President of Tufts Chabad, a center for Jewish culture and religious life. Shaw made clear that the purpose of the project is to bring people together and make people happy, not converting people. “We’re not trying to impose religion on people, we’re not trying to impose traditions, we are observing our traditions of making people happy. That is a mitzvah, that is a good deed for us to do,” Shaw said. This is the first year the Bayit has done a hamantaschen bake, but they have high hopes that it will be a success. “I don’t think they’ve done a hamantaschen bake before, so this is hopefully something we can continue even next year,” Michaeli said. And should the project continue into the future, Shaw has no problem continuing to share his family’s recipes. “If I can make a new house of people and by extension a whole next generation of Tufts campus-wide students happy, of course I would,” Shaw said. Preordering closes on Feb. 29, so anyone who wants to order these unique hamantaschen will have to do so before then. All of the hamantaschen are available for purchase and preorder at notyourbubbe.com. The hamantaschen will be available for pickup or delivery the week of March 9. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to bring joy to the Tufts campus. “The whole idea is just making people happy: making people happy and giving,” Shaw said.

f your midterms aren’t too overwhelming, the upcoming weeks are a great time to get off campus and enjoy all of the live music that Boston has to offer. There are two very different concerts happening later this week. On Wednesday night, up-and-coming rapper Lil Tjay will be performing at the Paradise Rock Club. The Bronx, N.Y., rapper is best known for his feature in the 2019 song “Pop Out” by Polo G. This Friday, Giancarlo Guerrero will be conducting soloist Johannes Moser with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in several unique compositions. This is the first time that the BSO will perform British composer William Walton’s work since 1997, and it promises to be a great show. Coming up on March 13, the Dropkick Murphys will be kicking off their Boston Blowout at the Encore Boston Harbor casino, followed by shows at House of Blues Boston and Big Night Live. The Quincy, Mass., band will be playing from March 13 to 17, alongside many other acts, such as Lars Frederiksen of the band Rancid, Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, The Old Firm Casuals, the Belfast band Kneecap and more. On the night of the 16, the Boston Bruins will also be celebrating Irish Heritage Night and donating raffle proceeds to The Claddagh Fund, a charity established by the Murphys. Following the game, the Murphys will perform at Big Night Live. If you are into rowdy and energetic punk rock, this Irish-themed show is for you. In May, the Murphys are kicking off their Boston to Berkeley II tour, with stops across the country. Soon after St. Patrick’s Day, Billie Eilish will perform at TD Garden. The young chart-topping singer is beginning her “WHERE DO WE GO?” world tour in early March and will be at TD Garden on March 19. The star is partnering with REVERB, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a more environmentally sustainable concert experience. Refillable water bottles will be permitted, and plastic straws will not. Information about sustainability and protecting the Earth will be promoted as well. Tickets have been on sale since October, so those that remain online run relatively expensive. That said, Eilish’s stardom continues to rise, leading one to believe that her future concerts will not be cheaper or available. If you want to attend, you better act fast. Spencer Christiansen is a sophomore studying international relations. Spencer can be reached at spencer.christiansen@ tufts.edu.

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ARTS&LIVING

Grimes’ frustrating art, ‘Miss Anthropocene’

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The cover of “Miss Anthropocene” (2020) by Grimes is pictured. by Christopher Panella Arts Editor

The Canadian artist Grimes might be flooding the news recently: her drama with Azealia Banks (the highlight of which involved leaked text messages of Banks telling Grimes she “smell[s] like a roll of nickels”), her relationship with billionaire Elon Musk and confirmed pregnancy with his child and as of last Friday, her new album, “Miss Anthropocene” (2020). According to Grimes’ Instagram, “Miss Anthropocene” is “a concept album about the anthropomorphic Goddess of climate Change: A psychedelic, space-dwelling demon / beauty-Queen who relishes the end of the world. She’s composed of Ivory and Oil.” It’s certainly a vibrant — and slightly concerning — concept. For Grimes, the dark and fantastical has been done and redone. She’s explored the human psyche and experience through various magical ideas. She’s made music that feels spacious and otherworldly. And even if we can’t admire the final product — although we’d be mistaken not to consider Grimes one of today’s most interesting artists — we can recognize her talent. After all, she made her breakthrough album “Visions” (2012) entirely by herself. With “Miss Anthropocene,” the final product is certainly very good, but not bulletproof. There’s plenty to initially question about Grimes’ fifth album, especially considering the narrative surrounding its release and Grimes’

personal life. It’s her loosest album; there’s plenty of breathing room between tracks like “So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth (Art Mix)” — which flows like a light and apocalyptic whisper — and the heavy-hitting “Darkseid” (with P 潘 AN). And there’s something refreshing about the openness of “Miss Anthropocene.” It provides moments for reset, like listening to the futuristic rock of “Before the Fever” after the swanky funk of “You’ll Miss Me When I’m Not Around.” But an exciting listening experience is commonplace for a Grimes album. What’s the narrative? What story is she telling? That’s where “Miss Anthropocene” becomes much more interesting to think about. If we’re to accept that it’s a concept album focused on climate change, then it becomes much more difficult to figure out what the album is saying about our current climate crisis. Grimes herself has said much about it: she tweeted a pro-climate change poem penned by her creation, Miss Anthropocene, said she wanted to personify climate change so that it’s easier to discuss and noted that she wanted “to make a reason to look at it” and “make it beautiful.” But this is all pretext for “Miss Anthropocene.” In truth, we shouldn’t necessarily trust Grimes the artist when looking at her art. And that’s because Grimes is now living a complicated life — her relationship with a billionaire is too deeply rooted in the public consciousness to forget. Before even listening to “Miss Anthropocene,” it’s easy to

critique Grimes for this; is it possible to listen to an album that creates fantastical allusions in an effort to analyze climate change when that album is made by someone who defends Musk online? It’s complicated. What makes “Miss Anthropocene” a great entry in Grimes’ discography, despite any initial frustrations or criticisms, is that it never commits itself to answering any questions we might ask of it. It just exists. Its songs just play. Bangers like “Violence” (with i_o) are stuffed with rhythmic pumping that’s almost like mind control. “4ÆM” is mysterious and tropical until it explodes into a dance floor bop. It all almost sounds like music an anime character might play during the episode’s big fight. The album’s lack of focus or expectation means that we can just enjoy each song on its own. There’s nothing really holding the album together. Besides the idea of “Miss Anthropocene” being a concept album, any themes of vulnerability, struggle and human experience seem to stay relatively confined to their tracks. With this, an album that seemed too big and broad to listen to suddenly becomes the perfectly sized Happy Meal. Grimes did not make an album that’s cohesive. Rather, any track can be listened to in any way. This album’s looking to sketch various outlines, not take its time filling in one painting. And that’s important. If“Miss Anthropocene” had worn some sort of message about climate change on its sleeve — besides the aforementioned paratext it was released with — then it would’ve been much easier to connect Grimes the artist and Grimes the person. But because “Miss Anthropocene” develops its goddess of climate change in various small ways, the listener can’t discover a larger narrative to pin to Grimes’ latest release. Sure, we can critique Grimes for her personal choices and laugh at her public feuds, but there’s no way to connect this to the art she’s creating. It’s certainly frustrating to conclude that “Miss Anthropocene” is good enough to make us forget for a moment about our criticisms of Grimes or our understanding of Grimes in our current culture. But perhaps that’s the paradox of both Grimes as an artist and the art she creates. She’s here to be appreciated but never fully understood.

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Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Anna Hirshman and Allison Morgenstern HillSide Story

Dot dot dot

his week we watched “Mamma Mia” (2008) and welcomed our first special guest: peace and justice studies advocate and study-abroad-in-Greece aficionado Abigail Alpern Fisch (AAF). In an ideal world, we could attach the audio of us singing along, but apparently that is not an option in print media. Allie Morgenstern (AM): If you have not seen this movie, please go watch it. This film never fails to brighten my mood, and I can never choose which song is my favorite because they’re all great. Anna Hirshman (AH): When I had the flu in 2008, all I did was sit on the couch and watch “Mamma Mia” and “High School Musical 3” (2008) over and over again. AAF: To start off, Donna clearly has the self-awareness to be writing in a journal about her boy troubles, but she loses points for not realizing the impact it will have on her future child’s #socialemotionalcompetencies. Look how tortured Amanda Seyfried is! AH: While I’ve never been in her position, I cannot imagine being okay with the uncertainty of having three ‘dads.’ I would want to know which one is my actual, biological father. They are all there and able to submit a hair sample. AM: Plus, the other two could just be her fun uncles. AH: There are at least three 50-somethings who are able to sing and act effectively alongside Meryl Streep. None of them are in this movie. AAF: Also, how did Amanda Seyfried become Meryl Streep’s counterpart? AH: How does anyone earn that honor, though? AM: Meryl Streep is a goddess. Whether she (as Donna) is crying in the bathroom after seeing her three former lovers or dancing in fantastic outfits with the Dynamos, she is just great. I also think that Streep and Seyfried have great mother-daughter chemistry. AH: While watching the movie, the three of us decided to take a Buzzfeed quiz to see which Dynamo we are. AM: I’m not going to lie, this is a matter that I think frequently about. I always want to be Donna (mostly because it’s Meryl, but also because she’s fun-loving and chill), but I can never decide between her and Rosie. AAF: It’s like the Myers-Briggs test but different. AM: Sure. The results are in: Abigail and I are Donnas and Anna is Rosie, so we just need a Tanya. AH: I maintain that the best thing I did abroad was going to ABBA The Museum. I danced and sang alongside hologram versions of ABBA. AM: I maintain that one of the best things I did while visiting Abigail in Greece was getting to sing “Mamma Mia” songs on a boat in Santorini. AAF: I’d like to leave the readers with some parting words. One, “Mamma Mia” proves that all women are shimmery no matter their ages, as long as they believe in their own power and continue to sing in bell bottoms. Two, I went to Greece thinking I’d find my Kostas (from “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” (2005)), but instead, I found myself. Three, Greek taxis in the movie do not look like the Greek taxis in Greece #fakenews. Anna Hirshman is a senior studying psychology. Anna can be reached at anna. hirshman@tufts.edu. Allie Morgenstern is a senior studying child study and human development. Allie can be reached at allison. morgenstern@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Wednesday, February 26, 2020

F &G FUN & GAMES

tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Brendan: “I think it would be kind of fun to embezzle.”

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Pisces (Feb. 19–March 20)

Keep your customers satisfied. The profit potential keeps growing. Don’t dig into savings. Provide valuable services and invoice for them. You can make good money.

Difficulty Level: A newspaper’s midlife crisis.

Monday’s Solutions

CLASSIFIEDS Personal assistant needed for immediate employment, must be drug free and subject to background check, $400 per week, send your resume to Robert Ninkovic on uphigher77@gmail.com

CROSSWORD

tuftsdaily.com

Opinion EDITORIAL

Tufts must prioritize student wellness by increasing free fitness class offerings For many students, college inspires new starts, new academic investigations and new personal growth. During this time of change, many students begin to focus on personal health, often starting to incorporate fitness into their lifestyles. While the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center ideally provides new opportunities to students who previously might not have had access to a gym or been able to afford a membership, this positive intention is overshadowed by clear barriers to making such positive lifestyle shifts: due to the intense overcrowding and a lack of community in the student gym, students often feel uninvited and uncomfortable working out on campus. Free high-quality fitness classes would instantly address these issues; however, while Tufts offers some classes free of cost, they are in high demand and fill up quickly, thus inhibiting interested students from participating. In order to address the athletic facilities’ lack of communal inclusivity and allow all interested students to enroll in fitness classes, Tufts should offer all classes free of cost and add physical education course options. These classes would not only help students maintain their physical and mental health, but they would also increase accessibility and build stronger relationships between peers. Exercise for college students is essential to effectively manage stress as well as build a foundation for a healthy adulthood. From preventing disease to promoting better

sleep to improving mental health, consistent exercise betters countless facets of one’s life, especially for college students. Active lifestyles prove especially important when one considers a decline in student mental health and depression, self injury and suicidal thoughts in American college students has more than doubled in the last decade. As shown by various research studies, fitness promotes improved mental health through increasing cognitive function and reducing stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. However, due to inclusivity issues and the at-times intimidating nature of the gym, some students do not feel comfortable freely attending the gym without a formal class. Notably, some female-identifying students feel that the gym has a domineering nature, failing to properly invite women to use its equipment. Men largely monopolize the weight section, causing women to feel unwelcome and uncomfortable experimenting with machines, especially if they are new to the process of working out. Overcrowding in the gym, in part due to a lack of on-campus fitness options and broken machines, leads to waiting lines and minimal space to comfortably work out. Senior Rachel Yao told the Daily that she had this experience first-hand, as she does not utilize the Tufts fitness center due to its negative atmosphere. She remarked that “it is always crowded, and I feel like everyone is always watching each other.”

EDITORIAL CARTOON

BY CARYS KONG

Implementing more free fitness classes at the Tisch Fitness Center would address these issues of accessibility and inclusivity by giving gym-goers a variety of fitness options. In these classes, those typically uncomfortable working out in male-dominated, overcrowded spaces would have more financially-accessible and convenient spaces to improve their physical health and thus their overall lifestyles. Additionally, free fitness classes would inspire students to exercise and reap the mental and physical benefits of a healthy lifestyle. People, especially engaged students, often struggle to begin working out, as physical exercise requires commitment, motivation and free time. Fitness classes catalyze this process, creating a judgment-free space rich in social opportunities and accountability. First-year Christine Char shares this sentiment, describing her experience attending a kickboxing class earlier this year. “I liked that it was an excuse to be with friends while staying active and healthy,” Char said. Had the classes been free, she added, she likely would have attended future classes. By increasing the amount of free fitness classes, Tufts would signal to its students that it believes in the prioritization of wellness, even in the midst of hectic schedules. While this is a matter of inclusivity and accessibility, basic health lies at the heart of this issue. Tufts must allow students the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle, for health is a human right and should never be sacrificed.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Sarah Kaplan Funding Our Future

Watching JumboCash wash away

ith every load of laundry, Jumbos see at least $3 wash away. Tufts does not subsidize student laundry costs, leaving students to front their own cash for clean clothes. Having undergraduates pay for their laundry is problematic, not only because it discourages students from washing their clothes but also because it depletes the amount of spending money students can budget for each semester. Tufts must support its undergraduate students by subsidizing laundry costs, allowing for two loads per week per student. The cost of doing laundry on campus adds up over the course of the semester. It varies by payment method (JumboCash or coins) and the frequency of loads, increasing if one chooses to pay with coins or wash more than one load every week. At a bare minimum — in a world where there are no defective laundry machines, students only wash one load of laundry every week and they pay with JumboCash — students pay $51 for laundry every semester. More realistically, however, students wash an extra load of laundry at least every other week for sheets or towels. In that scenario, laundry expenses hike up to $75 every semester. On the Premium Meal Plan, students (namely first-years) receive $75 in JumboCash each semester, which is only enough to cover that last laundry scenario. If a student wishes to use their JumboCash for other expenses like a drink from the Rez, a snack from a local convenience store or a meal at a participating restaurant in Davis Square, they would have to add value to their JumboCash account out of their own pocket. While Tufts Dining advertises that students can use their JumboCash “At numerous locations on and off campus, including restaurants, cafés, [and] convenience stores,” students become responsible for fronting the cash for those expenses. By simply doing a typical amount of laundry, students watch their JumboCash wash away. In its brochure explaining how JumboCash works, Tufts Dining estimates that the cost of laundry is only $30 each semester. As previously indicated, this is a tremendous underestimation. Furthermore, when students elect to pay with coins instead of JumboCash, their laundry expenses increase by 50¢ per load, amounting to $84 every semester. These cost calculations are only accurate in a flawless laundry world wherein machines do not break down. Yet as past Daily editorials have noted, Tufts’s on-campus washers and dryers often do not work well. When dryers do not completely dry a student’s clothes, that student must pay at least an additional 25¢ for extra drying time or even more for another drying cycle. Accounting for six extra full drying cycles because of defective machines, students pay up to $84 in JumboCash or $98 in coins each semester. As a primary necessity of residential living and cleanliness, laundry should not limit students’ funds while at Tufts. But today, it does. Just this past September, the Daily’s editorial board called for Tufts to subsidize undergraduate laundry costs. It’s time for the Tufts Dining, the Financial Aid Office and the Office of Residential Life and Learning to listen. Sarah Kaplan is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Sarah can be reached at sarah.kaplan@tufts.edu.

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.

Sports

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

tuftsdaily.com

Aiden Herrod The Turf Monster

Tom Brady and New England — Upcoming divorce?

om Brady: New England Patriots quarterback, Super Bowl winner, future Hall of Famer, greatest of all time, resident pretty boy. The famed signal-caller is entering his age-43 season later this year, and has repeatedly claimed he aims to play until he’s 45. That tacks on another two seasons to what is already a legendary career. Those final two seasons are soon to be defined by a free agency decision for the ages. Tom Brady is about to enter the open market for the first time in his 21st season with the league. So he should re-sign with New England, right? For Brady, there are two primary factors I believe to be at play. The first and most obvious is his chance to win a Super Bowl. No team whose quarterback isn’t relatively spoken for gives Brady even half as good of a chance to win as New England does. The presence of a coach, system and roster that he knows inside and out creates unparalleled levels of comfort and familiarity. The second factor is his legacy. What does Tom Brady have left to prove? He’s already the greatest of all time, but playing until 45 suggests he wants to put an exclamation point behind that title. Does he think his best way to do that is a seventh Super Bowl with New England? Or does he want to prove he can still be the greatest regardless of the team, environment or system he resides in? Seven Super Bowls with one team is gaudy, but so is reviving a franchise such as the Raiders or Colts. However, this article exists to shed some light on what New England’s world looks like, not Brady’s. At the end of the day, Brady is a person with human needs that no article or writer can ever fully capture. New England’s football team, however, is an organization with countless moving parts. Brady should not be one of them. His 2019 season is the first and most obvious reason for this. His completion percentage, yards per attempt and touchdown/interception ratio were all well below many of his careerlong marks. When a player does this at age 42, you can’t be confident it’ll get much better. Brady’s demise could not have come at a better time for the Patriots. Brady is hitting free agency for the first time in his career. Losing him costs the team nothing in terms of dead cap. Meanwhile, the quarterback market for this offseason is deep and potentially lucrative. The free agency and trade markets hold young, old, proven and unproven quarterbacks of all calibers. The quarterback class in this year’s draft also has some intriguing options projected toward the back of the first round where New England drafts, like Utah State’s Jordan Love, Washington’s Jacob Eason or even Georgia’s Jake Fromm. My point is, New England’s options are limitless. They are the best-run organization in the league, and Belichick’s genius in evaluating talent should make them confident that they can assess and uncover the next face of the franchise. Aiden Herrod is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Aiden can be reached at aiden.herrod@tufts.edu.

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior co-captain Catherine Shanahan prepares to return the ball during a match against Conn. College at the Tufts Squash Center on Feb. 1.

Women’s squash places 3rd at Walker Cup by Delaney Tantillo Sports Editor

The women’s squash team traveled to New Haven, Conn. over the weekend to compete in the College Squash Association National Team Championship hosted by Yale University. The tournament was broken into five divisions, A–E, with the teams in each division competing for their division’s respective cup. Tufts competed for the Walker Cup in the C division bracket of the tournament. Seeded No. 3 in the C division, Tufts opened the tournament with a decisive 7–2 win over No. 6 William Smith College on Friday morning. The depth of the Jumbos’ ladder was on display in this match, with six threegame wins coming from positions four and below. Playing in the No. 4 position, sophomore Diya Sanghi defeated William Smith sophomore Molly Wachter decisively in three games. “It was a good matchup,” Sanghi said of the team’s match against William Smith. “We had to stick to our game.” First-year Isa Schneider, who lost her match 3–2 in the second position, similarly credited the team’s success in this match to adhering to its plan. “We went into it and we had a game plan,” Schneider said. “We all thought about energy and persistence and getting through it, and I think that really helped us.” Tufts’ win over William Smith sent them to Saturday’s semifinal round during which they faced second-seeded Franklin and Marshall College. The Diplomats proved a difficult opponent earlier this season when they defeated the Jumbos 6–3 on Nov. 23. Going into the match, Tufts considered themselves

the underdog, and the team looked to make improvements in areas it struggled in during its prior meeting with Franklin and Marshall. “We went in with more purpose, more fight, more energy,” Sanghi said. The Jumbos ultimately fell to the Diplomats in what proved to be a downto-the-wire match in which each individual point was crucial. Four of the five matches that Franklin and Marshall won lasted five games, with the winner of some of the individual games surpassing 11 points to win by the necessary two-point margin. “We came into the Franklin and Marshall match with the mentality that we were the underdogs,” Schneider said. “We wanted to prove to them that we are really tough. I think it showed with all of our five game matches that we really wanted it — we really, really pushed.” Senior co-captain Catherine Shanahan showed resilience in this match, playing despite illness that had sidelined her during Friday’s quarterfinal round. Shanahan’s teammates were inspired by her determination to play in what would be her final two team matches of her college career. “She fought and it was amazing,” Sanghi said. After Saturday’s narrow loss to Franklin and Marshall, Tufts faced No. 4 Wesleyan in the third-place match on Sunday. The Jumbos defeated the Cardinals for the third time this season with a score of 8–1 to claim third place in the 2020 Walker Cup. The Jumbos faced the Cardinals in their Nov. 16 season opener, coming away with a 6–3 win, and again in the NESCAC Championship consolation round, winning 8–1 to advance to the fifth place match against the Bates Bobcats where they would ultimately

lose and claim sixth in the NESCAC this season. During Sunday’s matchup, several individual players faced Wesleyan opponents who they had seen at least once already this season. Playing in the No. 2 position, Schneider defeated Wesleyan junior Ananya Vir for the third time this season. Schneider believes that the team’s two prior wins over Wesleyan motivated the players to fight hard for the same result on Sunday. “We know what they do well, and after playing them so many times,” Schneider said. “[ We wanted to] keep proving to them that they’re not going to beat us.” At the No. 3 position, Shanahan defeated Wesleyan senior Josie Russ in a back-and-forth five game match. After giving up the first game 9–11, Shanahan fought back, winning the second game 14–12 to even the score at 1–1. Shanahan and Russ split the third and fourth games to force a fifth. Shanahan won the fifth game 11–8 to secure an individual win and a point for the Jumbos. Sunday’s match was the final team match for senior co-captains Shanahan and Claire Davidson. As the only two seniors, the two have been instrumental to the team’s success this season, and their absence will surely be felt. “They left their mark on our team,” Sanghi said of her co-captains. “Both of them are fighters on the court — they never give up. Everyone looks up to them on our team.” This weekend’s tournament marked the end of the 2019-2020 season for the Jumbos, who finished with a 10–11 record, a sixth place finish at the NESCAC tournament and a third place finish at the Walker Cup. The CSA Individual Championship will take place on March 6, 7 and 8.