The Tufts Daily - Thursday, February 15, 2024

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Thursday, February 15, 2024

VOLUME LXXXVII, ISSUE 4

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CPLT stages walkout on National Student Day of Action for Divestment Matthew Sage

Executive News Editor

In a walkout from classes on Thursday, students assembled in front of the Mayer Campus Center to protest Israel’s continued war in Gaza, which has now taken the lives of over 28,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023. The protest, organized by the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts, coincided with similar demonstrations at other schools in a National Student Day of Action for Divestment.

The protest began with a student introducing themselves as a member of the indigenous students organization at Tufts, which is part of the coalition. They spoke about a “radical international solidarity” in reference to “Native American-Palestinian unity” and other historical examples of colonial resistance.

“Despite the silencing and pressure we perceive from those who back imperial occupiers, more and more citizens choose to stand for Palestinian liberation,”

MATTHEW SAGE / THE TUFTS DAILY

After leaving classes around 2 p.m., student protesters marched down Talbot Avenue and continued on to Ballou Hall. the student said. “As we gather at Tufts, we join the movement of schools throughout New England, throughout the nation, to end our complicity in colonial genocide.”

The student used the term “Turtle Island,” an Indigenous name used by some groups to reclaim traditional history, to refer to the continent of North America.

“From Turtle Island to Palestine, our liberation from settler colonial pressures is intertwined,” the same student said. “We are here now

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to actually stand in support of our Palestinian relatives, and although we are called here today in crisis, creating long-term sustainable relations is fundamental to our movement of solidarity.”

This is the coalition’s second protest of the semester, following just two weeks after its last.

“CPLT has called on a student walkout from all classes on Thursday 2/8 as part of a national call for universities to divest from financial holdings in the Zionist settler colonial project,” the coalition wrote in a statement to the Daily. “We join a massive country wide action that will kickstart our escalated actions as tufts university remains complicit with the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We call on all TCU senators to support the soon-to-be introduced resolutions on divestment.”

In an Instagram post promoting the protest, the CPLT wrote that it was beginning a national divestment campaign as it continues “the struggle against tufts see WALKOUT, page 2

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Housing lottery numbers released Friday Carmichael Hall residents for 2024–25 school year see rodents’ reign recede Caroline Vandis

Senior Staff Writer

On Friday, the Office of Residential Life & Learning released housing lottery numbers for sophomore housing via email.

All rising sophomores, who are required to live on campus per the two-year residency requirement, were given lottery numbers which ranged from 1,000–2,900. Interested rising seniors and juniors had to apply for a lottery number in the fall, and those accepted last semester were assigned numbers between 1–400 and 500–900 respectively, with some flexibility.

“This system has been in place for some time now,” Angy Sosa, associate director for residential operations, wrote in an email to the Daily. “Over the years we have continued to adjust and build out better ways of using the system.”

Lottery numbers determine the order in which students can select their housing option for the coming year. Sophomore housing options can be a departure from the hall-style singles, doubles and triples of the firstyear dorms.

“I got [No.] 1,143, so I got pretty lucky,” first-year Adriana Pervizaj said. “One of my friends … got [No.] 1,009, so hopefully I’ll be rooming with her doing a quad in Latin Way. That’s what I hope happens, but I’m not really sure on how the process works.”

Ten, six and four-person suites tend to be a more popular option among rising sophomores as they offer a more communal living situation.

“I was going for a suite originally,” sophomore Dylan Fee said of her housing selection process this past year. “But, I ended up getting a double. I feel like that happens to most people because

4 FEATURES

6 ARTS & POP CULTURE

Renovations run rampant at Tufts

Antiquity and atmosphere at the Gardner page 7

we didn’t have a good enough number.”

For students who might want to live with their friends in a suite but don’t have a low enough lottery number, Sosa recommends regrouping for a smaller size space.

“Keep trying!” Sosa wrote.

“There is no particular method to the group formation or selection processes to ensure any particular room type, but having multiple options is the best way to ensure first years can live with their chosen group.”

For students who may want to live in a single dorm but may not have the lottery number to do so, Sosa explained that having a good lottery number is not their only opportunity.

“Many students believe that it’s your lottery number that will determine your access to a single room, but actually, if you hold see LOTTERY, page 3

Josue Perez Staff Writer

Students in Carmichael Hall reported an uptick of mouse sightings and encounters following their return from winter break, prompting the university to formally address the problem of pest control on Jan. 19 via an email from the Office of Residential Life & Learning.

In emails to the Daily, Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations at Tufts University, reported that no mouse activity had been reported since the end of January, but acknowledged that Residential Facilities had received an increased amount of reports after winter break.

One student, first-year Anna Augart-Welwood, said that she had one such encounter with a mouse in the middle of the night.

“My roommate woke me up at 3 in the morning ‘because she

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saw the mouse come in under the door,” Augart-Welwood said. “We basically just had to wait for it to leave. ... It had chewed through the wrapper of one of my granola bars.”

After waking up AugartWelwood to alert her of the mouse, Augart-Welwood’s roommate left the room for the night leaving her alone to deal with the pest.

“I just had to sit on my bed really quietly and not move until [the mouse] came out and started investigating,” she said. “Then it left and went back under my door, so I shoved paper towels under the door so that I could go back to sleep and know that the mouse was not in my room.”

Augart-Welwood blamed the reportedly poor-fitting door of her room for letting the mouse enter. She said that see CARMICHAEL, page 3 News Features Arts & Pop Culture Fun & Games Opinion Sports

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Journalist Neil Swidey discusses nonprofit for college completion Samantha Eng

Assistant News Editor

Tufts alumnus Neil Swidey spoke at the Tisch College Civic Life Lunch about his work on the Alray Scholars Program, which aims to support Boston Public School students in completing their college degrees, on Feb. 5 in Barnum Hall.

The national graduation rate for college students who reenroll in their degree program after dropping out is about 25%, a figure that Swidey — through Alray — hopes to raise. The Alray Scholars Program helps students navigate the complications embedded in the reenrollment process of higher education.

In addition to being the Alray Scholars Program founder and director, Swidey is an editor-atlarge at the Boston Globe and director of the journalism program at Brandeis University.

His presentation, titled “Giving Students a Second Chance at College,” described how the Alray Scholars Program provides one-on-one mentorship, scholarships and post-grad career services to help students from Boston Public Schools complete their college degree.

While working on his book, “The Assist: Hoops, Hope, and the Game of Their Lives,” Swidey followed the athletic careers of inner city students through their college lives, including Alray Taylor. The Alray Scholars Program was founded in memory of Taylor, a Charlestown High School graduate, whose college career was cut short because of his parents’ passing. With plans to reenroll in university, Taylor was shot in Hyde Park at age 21 in 2006.

Swidey said working on the book revealed how common small missteps such as financial responsibility, transferring credits across universities, reenrollment or other exterior responsibilities can cause the derailment of college careers.

“I went looking for a nonprofit, where I could donate the pro-

NATALIE BROWNSELL / THE TUFTS DAILY

Barnum Hall, home of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, is pictured on Oct. 27, 2022. ceeds of this book, and I couldn’t find a single nonprofit in Boston working in this space,” Swidey said. Upon discovering this, he ultimately decided to organize one himself.

The Alray Scholars Program has had three in four of its scholars finish earning a degree where the national average for students who take a break and then return to college is just one in four. It has awarded over $600,000 in scholarship funding and supported over 80 graduates, many of which have gone on to complete their masters degree and one scholar completing a doctorate degree.

Currently, Alray is working with about 54 scholars who have reenrolled in their universities to complete their degree.

“Nothing in college and higher ed is cost effective right now, but our average scholarship award is about $1,700 a semester and then just over $5,000 in their lifetime scholarship working with us,” Swidey said. “Students who have a bachelor’s degree versus not make about $40,000 each year more. So it pays out very quickly.”

Swidey founded Alray in 2008, when he said there was a gap in the conversation. Not enough

programs addressed college completion and supporting students during their education, not just before they get in.

“Back then, everyone was talking about college access,” Swidey said. “College access was: ‘Get low income students into college and that will level the playing field.’ At some level, that’s a big important on-ramp … but it’s only the first step.”

A major unresolved problem was “about two out of every three students in Boston public schools who are going to college were not earning any kind of degree,” Swidey said. “Boston Public Schools has great exam schools that tend to skew the numbers in terms of college billing and college completion.”

With a staff of three, Swidey says that Alray is “deliberately small and intimate.” The importance of mentorship became apparent to him during the process of working with students to complete college.

“We learned that mentoring is really sometimes the important piece of that, more so than the financial piece,” he said.

There are no strict qualifications about achieving a certain

GPA for students to join the program, Swidey said.

“We work with them until they get their degree,” he said. “Some of them come to us and they need only one more course to get their degree and some of them have been out of school for seven years.”

Swidey said that the Alray Scholars Program has become a way for him to get involved in causes he once had to distance himself from. He also said that his experience as a journalist helps him navigate bureaucratic systems like higher education. “There are a lot of great things about journalism, but one of the ones that I struggle with is you can’t get involved,” Swidey said. “To be a journalist sometimes you can see things happening, but your role is not to advocate for the people you’re writing about.”

“There were many times when I was working on the book, where I felt so frustrated that I couldn’t get up and say, ‘Hey, wait, there’s something going wrong here.

This student is getting short changed,’” Swidey said. “I followed the students through the court system and saw some real inequity happening.”

Coalition to introduce TCU Senate resolutions for divestment, ceasefire WALKOUT continued from page 1 university to divest from israel apartheid and ongoing genocide.”

Another speaker referenced one of CPLT’s previous protests — when over 250 students staged a sit-in in the Campus Center for 10 hours in a show of solidarity with Palestine — and a successful University of Michigan faculty movement to call for the school to protect students’ free speech and divest from companies profiting from the Israeli military.

“Students have spent the past 110 days building power on campus,” they said. “We have activated every sector of the academic community in support of the liberation of Palestine. Our campus is primed

and ready to engage in a sustained, long-term campaign to push our university to end our complicity in the genocide of Palestinians.”

Students then marched down Talbot Avenue, proceeding up College Avenue and blocking vehicles from accessing the road.

Unlike the last protest on Jan. 26, they were not accompanied by a police escort. Turning on Professors Row and continuing up Packard Avenue, the protest eventually gathered outside Ballou Hall.

While marching, students chanted “min el-maiyeh lel mayieh, Falasteen Arabiya,” an Arabic phrase translating to: “From the water to the water, Palestine will be Arab.”

“We rally outside Ballou Hall as part of a national divestment campaign [launching] across college campuses [which is] demanding that American institutions of higher education end their complicity with genocide,” a third speaker said.

“We will not rest until divestment becomes a reality.”

The final speaker mentioned again the coalition’s plans to introduce “numerous resolutions” to the TCU Senate, “breaking down divestment into numerous feasible and actionable steps for Tufts to take immediately.” The steps include ending study abroad programs in Israel, boycotting war-profiting companies and pushing for the administration to recognize “the ongoing genocide in Gaza and

Palestine and [have] a meeting with the coalition to discuss it.”

After the rally, the indigenous students organization and Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine co-hosted an event titled “Parallels from Turtle Island to Palestine” in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room.

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, February 15, 2024

NEWS

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Students respond to on-campus housing lottery numbers LOTTERY continued from page 1 out for general selection, you will also have the possibility of a single room in various locations,” she wrote.

Pervizaj mentioned that the housing process has been confusing, with different dates and misinformation being floated around.

“I’ve definitely been having to look for more information because people were posting before that lottery numbers were supposed to come out two weeks ago, then it was supposed to be last week, and then finally, they said today,” Pervizaj said.

“So I really just didn’t understand when they were coming out.”

Pervizaj referenced Sidechat as the source of much of the misinformation. The platform has been filled with Tufts housing-related memes in the past couple weeks, as well as upperclassmen who have been through the process before weighing in on their own experiences.

“I also feel like a lot of it’s kind of research on your own about which dorms are the best fit for yourself,” Pervizaj said. “I wish they had more pictures and tours of the dorms so you can see what you’re getting yourself into.”

For accurate information on the process, Sosa recommends utilizing the resources provided by the Office of Residential Life & Learning.

“The website has a lot of information,” she wrote, “but we will also be scheduling webinars where students are able to further understand the process and what their lottery number means. … Something to keep in mind is that every year, groups of students change, their thoughts on the best locations change, etc.”

Fee is waiting to hear back about her application for a resident assistant position while also trying to find a backup housing plan if she doesn’t get the job.

“I’m looking for a place to sublet if I don’t end up getting this RA job,” Fee said. “But as of right now, I don’t have anywhere to live just because of the awkward time period of all the applications coming out.”

Fee said that she didn’t apply for a junior lottery number, adding that the timeline of both applications could line up better. She is expected to hear back about the position, which offers free housing, by the end of

BEN KIM / THE TUFTS DAILY

Harleston Hall is pictured on Jan. 29, 2019.

February, well after many of her peers signed leases for the next academic year.

“I did consider [applying for a lottery number] briefly,” Fee said. “I kind of wish the RA application came out earlier, and decisions came out earlier, more around the time when people are getting places.”

While on-campus housing options are currently limited for upperclassmen, a new residence hall on Boston Avenue set to be finished in 2025, as well as an expansion of the Community Housing initiative known as CoHo, seek to increase on-campus beds available to upperclassmen.

“Once complete, new housing projects would increase the number of spaces available for students,” Christina Alch, director of ORLL, wrote in an email to the Daily.

“However, it’s possible that there could be noise or other disruptions during construction, which may cause us to remove a small number of spaces for some of that time.”

ORLL formally addresses reports of mice in residence hall CARMICHAEL continued from page 1 after putting in a work order, she started noticing mouse traps in the room but with no notice that maintenance workers would be regularly checking them.

“I only noticed it because I saw across the room something under my radiator,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘what if I dropped a pencil and then bent down to pick it up and then it snapped on my fingers?’ or ‘what if I had to deal with a dead mouse?’”

Lexi King, another first-year Carmichael resident, shared in an interview with the Daily that she saw mice “for a while, every time I went into the common room,” and that she thought “there was just one specific mouse living in

the common room, just going into the couches.”

When residents came back from winter break, resident assistants held their beginning-of-semester floor meetings, which included a quick discussion of the mice issue.

King also said that the Office of Residential Life & Learning’s email was the first time that Carmichael residents had been given any sort of guidance about dealing with mice. The delay in communication allegedly caused uncertainty, with King sharing that she “didn’t even know” that she was supposed to report pest encounters.

In an email response to the Daily, Collins wrote that this was the case because “reports were initially rather isolated, so emails

The top of Carmichael Hall is pictured on Jan. 23, 2021.

were sent to individual students who submitted work orders and reached out with concerns.

Once more reports came in following the break, ORLL wanted to ensure all students knew the steps to take to have their concerns addressed in a timely manner.”

The email from ORLL urges residents to submit a work order if they see mice or evidence of them. It also shared the action steps that Residential Facilities take when notified of pest issues.

ORLL first contacts Tufts’ pest control representative, and from there, an exterminator “will assess what they find in the space and put together an action plan and bait accordingly.” After that, Residential Facilities will contact cleaning services to help disinfect

and wipe down surfaces and use a HEPA vacuum to clean the room.

Following the cleaning process, Facilities works with a carpenter to identify any openings in the reported room that could be the source of entry for any pests. Once identified, the carpenter will immediately seal up any openings.

ORLL also provided additional steps that residents can take to help “avoid pest activity” in rooms, including clearing trash bins daily, keeping food in a sealed glass or plastic container and cleaning up crumbs from surfaces.

King expressed annoyance over ORLL’s email recommendations and said that “as a student … it’s hard to keep taking out the trash. Especially if you don’t fill up your trash [often].”

SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

Sophie Coe, another first-year Carmichael resident, shared that “some people were saying that the people that found mice in their room after winter break didn’t put their food away.”

Coe also recounted hearing a story in which a first-floor resident allegedly returned after Thanksgiving break to find dead mice in their room.

Augart-Welwood reported that it felt “not great” to know that mice had access to her room at night.

“It was probably my fault because I did have food on a shelf that was low to the ground, but I also didn’t think that there would be a mouse in my room,” she said. “Now I keep my food in a plastic container, but I feel like maybe they could have told us that before we moved in … because I think it was a well known problem … even if they had just said, ‘we have a mouse problem, so just keep your food in a container,’ I would have appreciated that and then probably could have avoided the issue.”

However, according to Collins, the university has successfully addressed the problem of mice in Carmichael.

Collins added that “there had been occasional sightings of mice in the Dining Center, which correlates to what we had seen in the building overall.” After mice were spotted where students eat, Residential Facilities took mitigation steps and now “evidence of pest activity has decreased dramatically.”

“If Residential Facilities receives additional reports of pest activity, it will address them immediately with mitigation measures,” he wrote.

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Features

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Features On-campus construction craze: A necessary growing pain

CARMEN SMOAK / THE TUFTS DAILY

Eaton Hall construction is pictured on Feb. 14.

Grace Nelson

Deputy Features Editor

When taking a stroll through the Tufts Medford/Somerville campus, it is impossible to ignore the many ongoing construction projects. The constant buzz of construction has become a familiar sound for Tufts students and staff, with multiple ongoing projects scattered about the campus. One of these buildings, located in the heart of campus, embodies Tufts’ longstanding dedication to the humanities: Eaton Hall, home of multiple departments, including classical studies and sociology.

Max Druckman Munching with Max

Kindlevan Café

I

n the words of Eminem, “Guess who’s back, back again?”

Spoiler alert, it’s me. I’m back and hungrier than ever. So, this column is back too, allowing me to rant and rave about my eats at Tufts.

As the Daily’s chief culinary connoisseur, I thought I had sampled all the dining options on campus. However, one day, my friends suggested that we meet for lunch in the Science and Engineering Complex. As you can tell by my writing a

Opened in 1908, Eaton Hall is over a century old and is certainly due for a makeover. David Proctor, a triple-Jumbo and distinguished senior lecturer of history and classical studies, expressed his love for the building, as it served as his primary teaching location.

“I was notorious in the registrar’s office for requesting Eaton [room] 333,” Proctor said. “I actually crafted my recitations in my upper-level courses so they would be capped at just the right number to fit in Eaton [room] 333. During an average fall semester, I taught ten recitations a week in Eaton [room] 333. And

in the spring semester, [I taught] five recitations and four other classes, so I was in there probably 12 times a week.”

Despite his admiration for Eaton, even Proctor could admit to the building’s state of deterioration.

“Obviously Eaton needed some fixing. In the 13 years that I was there, the roof was repaired numerous times [and] ceiling tiles fell in,” Proctor said. “It was just in desperate need of repair.”

And it is receiving a repair, with a massive renovation process currently underway. The interior of Eaton is entirely gutted, with new concrete struc-

tures installed on the outside as well. According to Ruth Bennett, senior director of capital programs, the project remains on schedule and is currently set to be completed in spring 2025.

“The project is going very well,” Bennett wrote in an email to the Daily. “The interior demolition is complete and the contractor has started framing out the walls. The contractor is also digging out … the foundations for the new addition.”

However, there are still multiple semesters before Eaton will be ready to host classes. In the meantime, the Department of Classical Studies has been tem-

porarily relocated to Lincoln Filene, which has proven to be a tight squeeze. Furthermore, professors such as Proctor have turned to lecturing in unconventional locations.

“I’ve got a bunch of classes in Braker, I’ve got a random class in Tisch [and] I’ve got a class in Olin [room] 12, so I’m kind of all over the place,” Proctor said. “It’s a good thing they’re doing [repairs], but [Eaton] was a major classroom teaching space.

So with Eaton offline, it does put pressure on other buildings, particularly at peak time.”

food column, I don’t frequent the SEC. Nonetheless, I obliged and discovered a gastronomic oasis, Kindlevan Café.

Striving for variety, I selected a panini, a smoothie and a baked good.

First up, the Pepperoni Pizza Panini. Let’s get one thing out of the way — it was not a panini. It was a quesadilla. Paninis are typically grilled and crispy between two firm slices of bread, not pressed into a soft tortilla. As a pizza elitist, I applaud Kindlevan for the effort, but it takes a lot to impress me with something modeled on pizza. The mozzarella and pepperoni were plentiful and artfully grease-flooded the wrapping (napkins are a necessity). The familiar pizza

flavor combination was palpable, but it lacked sauce. The panini’s ultimate undoing was the bread. Mushy and frail, it collapsed under the weight of the stuffings and did not provide the necessary crunch expected from a pizza crust.

Next, the antidote for Massachusetts winters, the Mango Sunrise Smoothie.

Featuring mangos, strawberries, bananas and lemonade, I was pleasantly surprised by this fresh force of flavor. Despite the sweet ingredients, the drink was not overly tart. During every sip, each fruit got its moment in the sun (pun definitely intended).

The beverage stayed cool, allowing for leisurely drinking, but was not brain-freeze-inducing.

A truly refreshing option, the

smoothie packed a punch of island flair that would brighten any winter day.

Lastly, a classic chocolate chip muffin. For this review, I’ll revert to my favorite adjective — meh. I mean, it was a muffin. There were sufficient chocolate chips, and the sugary glaze topping offered a sweet crunch. The bread itself was a bit dry, despite appearing freshly baked, and it did not crumble messily. I will add points for the size, as the muffin was neither too small — to the point where a bite would crush it — nor too big, where a bite would be impossible. In short, it was a solid snack to pair with a coffee.

As usual, I will conclude with my ‘gut’ reactions.

Pepperoni Pizza Panini — False advertising. It’s a quesadilla. Let the pizza places handle the pizza.

Mango Sunrise Smoothie — Fresh, sweet and delicious.

Highly recommend.

Chocolate Chip Muffin — If you like muffins, go for it. If not, don’t (but I don’t know why anybody wouldn’t like muffins).

With Valentine’s Day having just passed, I hope that, whatever your plans were, a good meal was enjoyed. Because, as the old saying goes, it’s not about the people we meet but about the food we eat along the way (or something like that).

see CONSTRUCTION, page 5

Max Druckman is a first-year who has yet to declare a major. Max can be reached at max.druckman@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Features

Residential, academic buildings closed for renovations CONSTRUCTION continued from page 4 One of the contributing factors to Eaton’s lengthy renovation time is the construction of a large glass atrium, similar to those of Houston Hall, Miller Hall and Sophia Gordon Hall. The glass gives the building a more modern flare in contrast to the Georgian architecture of the building. While some members of the Tufts community embrace this change, others — including Proctor — prefer Eaton’s former, more traditional appearance.

“From what I’ve heard, people are really enthusiastic about it. It’s going to be a more flexible space, a more collaborative space,” Proctor said. “As someone who’s been here for over 30 years and is kind of old-fashioned, I’m not loving it myself, but my office won’t be in there. So maybe I’ll teach in there, maybe I won’t, once it’s up and running.”

Unlike Eaton, multiple other campus projects are dedicated to providing undergraduate housing. In 2022, the Daily found that Tufts’ undergraduate enrollment rates have been consistently increasing in the postCOVID-19 era. In this year’s application cycle, more than 34,400 students applied to Tufts’ Class of 2028, marking a 1% increase from last year. However, Angy Sosa, the associate director for residential operations, stated that this increase will not result in higher undergraduate enrollment numbers, which would require the construction of more housing.

“The number of applications should not be confused with the number of admitted or enrolled students,” Sosa wrote in an email to the Daily. “The university does not anticipate growing undergraduate enrollment beyond its current levels.”

In 2022, Tufts University built three new residential facilities for the influx of students in the Class of 2026: 91, 93 and 95 Professors Row, also known as The Court at Professors Row. However, according to Sosa, these dormitories are not permanent editions to the Tufts Medford/ Somerville campus.

“Courts were installed as a temporary measure that will stay in place for the foreseeable future while permanent additions are finalized,” Sosa wrote.

One of these permanent additions is the renovation of Blakeley Hall, the 1926 Georgian-style dormitory located behind Houston Hall. Blakeley Hall was shut down on Sept. 24, 2022, after the handful of undergraduate students living there were permanently moved into 91 Professors Row. Currently, the building is fenced off and is tentatively scheduled to reopen in the fall 2025 semester with over 120 new beds.

“We have done interior demolition to understand the structure of the building, but the actual construction will not start until the spring,” Bennett wrote.

Another exciting addition for undergraduates is 80 Professors Row, the former Zeta Psi house that has sat abandoned since the fraternity was disbanded by the university in 2021. In 2023, Rocco DiRico, executive director of government and community relations at Tufts, announced the university’s intentions to purchase the building. DiRico told the Daily that Tufts has successfully purchased the building.

“Tufts University has purchased 80 Professors Row in Somerville. Our intention is to use that site for undergraduate housing,” DiRico wrote. “Once we finalize a plan for the property, we will apply for permits and meet with all the necessary city boards to seek approval for the project.”

According to the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds, Tufts purchased the 150-year-old building for $2.4 million. This means that future undergraduate students will have a plethora of new options when choosing where they want to live on campus. The new buildings will bring a shakeup for which grades of students can expect to live where on campus.

“We would likely adjust the current breakdown of building designations among other class years,” Sosa wrote. “We will communicate that at the appropriate time to the student community.”

Additional projects include Bacon Hall (which started construction in December 2023), Halligan Hall (set to be finished in late spring 2024) and 123 Packard Avenue, which is anticipated to be completed in the fall 2024 semester. 123

A rendering of the future Blakeley Hall.

Packard Avenue will be the new on-campus option for graduate students in The Fletcher School.

While it is an undeniably positive addition to the Tufts campus, the Packard Avenue construction has proven to be an inconvenience for some, especially for those living next door in the Russian/ Slavic and Central Asian Culture House.

“Last semester, they [tended] to do some of the noisiest things in the morning,” Joanne Fan, a junior living in the house, said. “The drilling would just wake me up a lot. I would have to put on my noise canceling headphones, [but] they still didn’t block out the noise. So I just couldn’t sleep.”

Despite the Tufts motto referencing illumination, students often feel left in the dark regarding construction projects.

“Moving into the Russian house, I had no idea that there was going to be construction,” Fan said. “I don’t think they have an obligation to … tell students, because I [was] going to live [in the house] regardless. But I think letting us know … [would] help in terms of [knowing] what to expect.”

When considering potential solutions to the inconvenience, Fan suggested that the construction team notify neighboring students of the time windows in which they plan on working.

“We are right next door, closer than any other student house. So it’d be nice to have them tell us,” Fan said. “It [would make] our lives easier, so I think that could be a good step.”

Despite the growing pains of the construction process, many still remain enthusiastic about the future of Tufts, as the projects promise to bring forth a fresh new era to campus.

“I am really excited about many of the projects happening on our Medford/ Somerville campus,” DiRico wrote.

“Housing more students on campus will help alleviate housing pressures off campus in Medford and Somerville … [and] these renovations will make these buildings more energy efficient, sustainable and accessible.”

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5

Jeremy Bramson T Time

The magnificent Maverick Station

F

Originally published Feb. 13. or today’s publication of T Time, I decided to cover Maverick Station and the surrounding neighborhood. You may ask, why cover Maverick? My answer — it has a cool name. As it turns out, Maverick Station, located in Maverick Square, is named after Samuel Maverick, a young man who was murdered in the Boston Massacre at only seventeen years old. For anyone interested in traveling to Maverick, take the Green Line from Medford/Tufts to Government Center, then transfer to an outbound Blue Line train and take it for three stops. It took me a little over 30 minutes to get there.

Exiting the train at Maverick, I was let out onto the largest platform I have ever seen at an MBTA station. Upon some research, the platform’s width owes itself to its history as a streetcar terminal. Until 1952, Maverick was an intermodal station where passengers could easily transfer between the Blue Line and Boston’s network of streetcars. It is a shame that those streetcars no longer operate, but at least they left a legacy of an interesting-looking station. I walked out of the station and immediately found myself in the heart of Maverick Square which is lined with businesses and restaurants.

Maverick Station is located in the heart of East Boston (which should really be called Northeast Boston if we are being geographically accurate). Like many of Boston’s neighborhoods, East Boston owes its existence to landfills and was formed in the 1830s after a number of islands were linked together. Also like many Boston neighborhoods, East Boston has been a mecca for immigrants coming to the United States. It was first settled

by Canadians and Italians; today, however, the neighborhood mainly consists of Latino people, with Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala being the primary countries of origin.

East Boston’s Hispanic community is prominent and the majority of businesses either had Spanish names or featured Spanish writing in their storefronts. As I walked through the neighborhood, I was constantly greeted with the pleasant aromas of grilled meat and other delicious foods. After attempting to restrain myself, I gave into my hunger and got a couple of tasty steak tacos from Taco Mex, a restaurant located right in Maverick Square near the station.

After finishing my tacos, I continued my walk through East Boston. I passed by at least five gorgeous churches on my walk. They were primarily made of stone or brick and all featured ornate stainedglass windows. Eventually, I made my way to the waterfront and was greeted by possibly the best view of Boston I have ever seen. From left to right, you have Boston Harbor, downtown, Kendall Square, the Zakim Bridge and the Bunker Hill Monument. I doubt you can see this many iconic Boston landmarks from anywhere else other than East Boston.

Overall, I had quite an enjoyable time on my excursion to Maverick Station. From authentic Mexican food to historic neighborhoods with unbeatable views, I am glad I got the chance to visit East Boston.

Jeremy Bramson is a sophomore studying economics and urban studies. Jeremy can be reached at jeremy.bramson@tufts.edu.

6

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Arts & Pop Culture

ARTS & Pop POP Culture CULTURE Arts Natalie Bricker The Bookmark

‘Writers and Lovers’ by Lily King

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for “Writers and Lovers” (2020). elcome to “The Bookmark,” your new go-to column for book reviews! Over the course of this semester, this column will be diving into a wide variety of books. Expect reviews on everything long sci-fi novels, to poetry collections, to silly romances…

Let’s start this column out strong with a recent favorite read: “Writers and Lovers” (2020) by Lily King. This novel is smart, fun, reflective and just an all-around great read.

It’s guaranteed to make you feel the full range of emotions, prompting you to laugh one second and cry the next. Narrator and protagonist Casey Peabody is very lovable in her awkwardness and determination to make it as a writer. We see her face the complexities of life: grief, love and, of course, geese. More on the geese thing later…

Quick plot summary: Casey is an extraordinarily normal girl; she’s headstrong, funny yet down-to-earth and overall an incredibly relatable character. Readers follow along with Casey’s daily struggles to succeed as a writer (hence the first half of the title) and to navigate her complicated love life (the other half of the title). Her love life is super complex and confusing, as she juggles several men, none of whom she’s particularly very invested in.

When one of the men — whom Casey is quasi-dating but not really because he’s much older and has kids — confesses his love to her, saying: “I like myself when I’m with you,” to which Casey replies: “I’m not sure that’s being in love with me, Oscar. That’s being in love with you.” And with that statement, the reader’s love for Casey grows. She’s so perfectly blunt, authentic and she doesn’t put up with (too much) crap from the men in her life.

One of the reasons this book is so fun to read is because King’s writing style resembles that of Sally Rooney. The writing is clever, focusing on points of life that authors tend to stray away from. Both King and Rooney ‘pull back the curtain,’ so to speak, and let the reader feel a little uncomfortable. There are also aspects of this novel that resemble Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” (2017), the popular indie movie known for its beloved ‘quirkiness.’ Both “Lady Bird” and this novel honor the subtleties of life.

It is in these subtle moments that we see Casey’s emotions really come through — like in her connection with the geese and their symbolic tie to her mother.

“I sing to the geese. And I feel her. It’s different from remembering her or yearning for her. I feel her near me. I don’t know if she is the geese or the river or the sky or the moon. I don’t know if she is outside of me or inside of me, but she is here.”

Throughout the novel, Casey returns to the geese as a way of processing her overwhelming grief from her mother’s death. The book ends with a final reflection on the geese, which feels slightly predictable, but still feels right: “Those geese are already home.”

I’ll leave you with one final line from the book that sums up the weirdness and simultaneous depth of Casey: “I start to sob, like a fearless blue giraffe.”

W

Natalie Bricker is a senior studying English. Natalie can be reached at natalie.bricker@tufts.edu.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston’s timeless gem

Urvija Mafatlal

Contributing Writer

“C’est mon plaisir,” which translates to “It’s my pleasure,” is inscribed on a crest that hangs above the original entrance to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Gardner’s welcoming spirit greets visitors with open arms. So if you are looking for a little adventure in Boston, look no further! This place is more than just a museum — it’s a portal to another era, packed with history, art and a whole lot of charm.

The museum is located in the heart of Boston’s Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood and is a cultural gem that transcends time and space. Nestled among bustling streets, this museum stands as a testament to the vision and passion of its namesake, whose enduring legacy continues to inspire and captivate visitors from around the world.

The museum itself is a work of art, a Venetian-style palazzo meticulously designed to house Gardner’s extensive collection of fine art and rare artifacts.

Stepping through its ornate doors is like entering another era, where every corner holds a story waiting to be discovered.

From the majestic courtyard adorned with lush greenery to the intricately decorated galleries, each space within the museum exudes a sense of grandeur and elegance.

But the true magic of the museum lies not only in its physical beauty but also in its rich history. Gardner was a prominent figure in Boston’s high society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known for her keen intellect, artistic choice and philanthropic endeavors, Gardner was a trailblazer in her own right, defying soci-

etal norms and leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of Boston.

Born in 1840 to a wealthy family, Gardner developed a lifelong passion for art and culture from a young age. Her travels throughout Europe during her teen years exposed her to the great masterpieces of the Renaissance, igniting a desire to create her haven for art lovers in her hometown of Boston. In 1903, she fulfilled this dream with the opening of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which she envisioned as a place where art could be experienced in an intimate and immersive setting.

Today, the museum stands as a living testament to Gardner’s vision, housing an eclectic collection of over 7,500 works of art spanning centuries and continents. From priceless paintings by the likes of Titian, Rembrandt and Vermeer to ancient Roman and Byzantine artifacts, the museum offers a diverse array of treasures waiting to be explored.

But perhaps what sets the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum apart is its unique atmosphere. Unlike traditional museums, which often feel sterile and impersonal, Gardner’s museum exudes warmth and charm, inviting visitors to linger and contemplate the beauty of the art surrounding them. This intimate setting is no accident; Gardner meticulously curated every aspect of the museum, from its layout to its lighting, intending to create a space that would inspire wonder and awe. She even stipulated in her will that if any object within the museum is moved from its original placement, the entire collection would be donated to Harvard University.

In addition to its permanent collection, the museum also hosts a variety of special exhibitions, concerts and events throughout the year, further enriching the visitor experience. From classical music performances in the museum’s stunning concert hall to contemporary art installations in its galleries, there is always something new and exciting to discover at the Gardner. In fact, from Feb. 15 to May 12, artist Raqib Shaw’s work will be displayed in a new exhibition titled “Raqib Shaw: Ballads of East and West.”

For those interested in delving deeper into the history and legacy of Gardner, there is no better place to start than the “Rivals on the Fenway” class, taught at Tufts by Andrew McClellan, a professor in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. A part of this course explores Gardner’s life and influence in the context of Boston’s cultural and social landscape, providing valuable insights into her role as a patron of the arts and a trailblazer for women in the male-dominated world of art collecting.

In conclusion, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum stands as a beacon of culture and creativity in the heart of Boston and is a testament to the enduring legacy of its visionary founder.

Whether you’re a seasoned art enthusiast or a curious novice, a visit to this historic institution is sure to inspire, educate and delight. So why not step through its doors and embark on a journey through time and space, guided by the timeless beauty of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s vision?

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

From the majestic courtyard adorned with lush greenery to the intricately decorated galleries, each space within the museum exudes a sense of grandeur and elegance.

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Arts & Pop Culture

Linnea Axelsson’s ‘Aednan’ is an epic story of stories Sadie Leite Arts Editor

Originally published Feb. 13.

The English translation of “Aednan: An Epic,” by Sámi-Swedish writer Linnea Axelsson, came out on Jan. 9. Saskia Vogel completed the translation. The highly anticipated translation comes after much praise for the original, which was initially released in Swedish in 2018. That same year, it won the prestigious August Prize, which Sweden gives annually to the country’s best books.

“Aednan” is a “novel-in-verse,” an “epic poem” — or perhaps to lose the stringent genre classification, a radical, seemingly genius masterpiece made up of seamless poetry that reads like a mythic song, dripping in history. It chronicles the lives of two Sámi families across multiple generations.

The Sámi are the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia. They are known for being semi-nomadic, finding homes in Nordic fjords, arctic fields and other environments characteristic of the beautiful North. However, as history tragically affirms, because the Sámi are an indigenous people, they are perceived as harmful outsiders. Indeed, starting in the Middle Ages, Christian law prohibited trips to Sámi villages for rituals such as receiving prophecies.

Axelsson tells the story of the Sámi people, and her tool is masterful poetry.

The epic starts in early spring in 1913, with the voice of Ber-Joná, a Sámi father

who loses his son, Aslat, in a horrible accident. The boy falls and dies. He becomes one of the many voices that makes up Axelsson’s chorus of characters — even after his death. He speaks as “Aslat the dead,” declaring he could not stay shackled to the place where he died.

In a beautiful stretch of poetry that starts with the child asking, “Could you feel it Papa,” Aslat queries, “Didn’t you hear me / Among the seabirds / as you came walking / with your summer-fat / reindeer.” He says, “I was the forest thickening,” affirming the feeling that loved ones don’t fully dissipate into darkness after death.

Even more, for the Sámi, connection perseveres in their strong relationship to the land. Aslat becomes the seabirds and the forest, and his father carries this bittersweet burden with his reindeer through the snow.

This opening tragedy sets up the following stories of Aslat’s descendants. The characters suffer many permutations of loss. The development of harsher borders between Norway and Sweden interrupts their traveling. Sámi children face the loss of their culture as missionaries and other educators force modern society upon them.

The character Lise suffers in “nomad school” in the 1970s. Assimilation into Swedish society takes away Lise’s Sámi culture and language. Lise’s daughter Sandra then attempts to use her traumatic past in her quest to become a modern Sámi activist. Axelsson occupies this uncomfortable space between reckoning with trauma and achieving justice.

Lise doesn’t want to talk to her 15-yearold daughter about her past, when Sandra asks her at the kitchen table, supposedly for a project that will better the both of them. Lise describes “The latticework of silence / its familiar crackling around / the soft heart.” This chilling depiction captures the immense difficulty of bridging two generations that indeed share the same culture, but surely carry different understandings of their ancestry as marred by their individual experiences.

Even though talking to her daughter may be the nobler action (it could even lead to legal reparations), “the latticework of silence” succeeds in shattering hearts.

The epic ends with a chapter from the voice of a curious priest, burying one of the Sámi characters. The epic’s final words are, “And she wondered who they were.” In a sense, this ending is frustrating because it seems to strip away the voices of a cast of strong Sámi characters. Though perhaps that is Axlesson’s intention. Already, so many have denied Sámi stories.

Doubly, asking who the Sámi were makes the novel circular. The reader has no choice but to start from the beginning of “Aednan,” so they can answer this final question. And they will answer it again, with each reading, as this epic surely deserves to be consumed many times.

Even more, if the epic truly asks the reader to return to its start, then the first word to be reread is the title, “Aednan.”

Axelsson ends her work with a note: “In Northern Sámi, the word Ædnan means the land, the earth, and my mother.”

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

A historical photograph shows a group of Sámi people. Linnea Axelsson’s epic starts in 1913 and follows multiple generations of Sámi characters.

BSO’s spring program welcomes the next generation of classical musicianship Erin Zhu

Deputy Arts Editor

Originally published Feb. 14.

American violinist Randall Goosby made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the Symphony Hall stage on Feb. 2, the first of two performances.

Conducted by Andris Nelsons, BSO began their Feb. 3 program by performing the overture to “The Wreckers” (1906).

Composed by Dame Ethel Smyth, a prominent English composer and suffragist who studied at the Leipzig Conservatory alongside Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, the piece is considered one of the most important operatic works in the English canon. For the second piece of the program, Goosby arrived on stage, performing Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, with “Louisiana Blues Strut” (2000) as his encore piece, both with astounding musical sensitivity and virtuosic technical ability.

Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor (1866) is the most popular and acclaimed

violin concerto by composer Max Bruch and is considered a staple piece in the violin repertoire. In fact, its status soars above its Bruch concerto peers to such a great degree that it is simply referred to as the Bruch concerto. The concerto is classified in the Romantic period of German classical music, and its cadenzas and virtuosic double-stops, deep and melodious second movement and its energetic finale have made it one of the most recognizable and recorded pieces in classical music.

Goosby’s encore piece, played between the first and second movement of the Bruch violin concerto, was Louisiana Blues Strut by American composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. A brief but energizing piece, its sliding use of dissonance, double stops and rhythmic creativity reflects a fusion of classical music, blues, jazz and Black folk music that inspired much of Perkinson’s orchestral compositions.

At just 28 years old, the Juilliard graduate studied under the likes of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho and has

already released two classical music albums. Goosby demonstrated tremendous musical promise from an early age, debuting with the Jacksonville Symphony at age 9, performing with the New York Philharmonic at age 13 and signing exclusively with Decca Classics at age 24.

Aside from his performance commitments, Goosby is also motivated to share classical music in a way that promotes its accessibility to the general public.

Following the performance, Goosby took the time to meet with a small cohort of young students backstage. Goosby represents the next generation of energetic, talented and passionate classical musicians who continue to perform not only the classics of the Western canon but also the masterpieces of composers who were not thoroughly appreciated during their time. Indeed, his performance is one of the many today that demonstrates that classical music has not been carried off into the graves of old men but continues to exist in performance halls across the world, reborn every night.

7

Paul Osmond For the Culture

Women in hiphop breaking barriers

I

n the late 1990s and early 2000s, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill and Lil’ Kim deconstructed barriers that negated the artistic expression of female rappers in mainstream hiphop music. In their records, the trifecta explicitly and implicitly subverted patriarchal binaries. Fundamentally, these rappers envisioned liberation through the expression of female sexuality, romance and emotions. For instance, Hill, throughout her revolutionary project, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” (1998), regularly embraces emotional vulnerability in romance.

In her cover of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (1967), she sings “Pardon the way that I stare / There’s nothing else to compare / The sight of you leaves me weak / There are no words left to speak.” Until the emergence of Hill, Elliott and other female rappers during this era, explicit indications of sexuality or emotional vulnerability in mainstream hip-hop were reserved for male rappers.

Today, female rappers have readily embraced the sexual liberation that Hill, Kim and Elliott pioneered in the early 2000s. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” (2020) samples “Whores In This House” (1992) by DJ Frank Ski. The two rappers describe their sexual fantasies in graphic detail: “Gobble me, swallow me, drip down the side of me / Quick, jump out ‘fore you let it get inside of me.”

Although the song generated immense controversy online, many praised the song for its open demonstration of female empowerment. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, “WAP” was an immense commercial success.

However, many conservative listeners disparaged the record for promoting offensive sexual depravity. Reflecting the increasing public denigration of female rappers today, the social fallout from the record generated questions about the appropriate presentation of female sexuality in music. Even though many of these female artists state that their records promote sexual liberation, female empowerment and emotional vulnerability, some listeners suggest that the records encourage the oversexualization and degradation of women. Moreover, many critics question the impact on Black female youth who may idolize female rappers.

Cardi B and Megan rap about their affairs as adult women: Can these rappers really be faulted for parents’ failure to monitor the media consumption of their children?

Fundamentally, with most female hip-hop artists being Black, the condemnation of female sexual freedom in mainstream hip-hop is misogynoir. Historically, Black female sexual expression was controlled, confined and stigmatized. Today, public attempts to censor the work of Black female artists reflect an effort to resurrect patriarchal confines on Black female sexuality. Black female rappers, like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, vigorously subvert patriarchal attempts to regulate Black female sexual freedom through the active expression of sexuality in their records.

Paul Osmond is a fourth-year combined-degree student studying English and studio art. Paul can be reached at paul.osmond@tufts.edu.

8

F&G

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Fun & Games

Late Night At The Daily Fun & Games

Nat: “is anyone goldfish?”

SUDOKU

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 _____ & Eve 5 Have the skills to do 9 Extra things one can pay for 14 Harmful ingredient now banned in Sunscreen 15 Charles Le ____, according to Louis XIV, greatest French artist of all time 16 Tree's offspring 17 Egyptian God of air 18 South African money 19 Van _____ & Arpels 20 Arguably best way to combat 35-. 27-, down and 40- across. Or one of the many daily chores farmers have.

23 Go in 24 Suffix with Ball & Bass 25 By way of 28 Places 33 Friend in French 36 Obsessed fan 37 Heroic holy person 38 A time to give up something for Christ 40 Opposite of asleep 43 1,102 in Roman numerals 44 Fools 46 Herculean love interest 48 Poetic contraction of ever 49 Warning Florida was given when Ian came along

53 Gong x2 54 _ __ for Alibi, Sue Grafton book 55 "Ta-da!"

59 No matter the moral implications, it must be done 64 Baby chicken 66 Vogue rival 67 ____- Flush, toilet bowl cleaner 68 What you wear to fix teeth, posture, broken bone etc.

69 Southeast Asian flatbread 70 Chemical Suffix 71 Interior design 72 Typing oopsie 73 Director, Gus Van ____ DOWN 1 Swiftly 2 Voice behind Gorillaz's 2-D 3 Approximately 4 Controlled by man 5 French shelter 6 Good source of fiber 7 What smoking turns black 8 Finishes on 9 Rises 10 Proofreading mark 11 What Morgan Freeman is famous for 12 ___to joy 13 Letters on a rubber check 21 Uno + Dos = ?

22 Home Owner's Association 26 Naval type 27 Excitedly up and about 29 Train stop Abbr

1

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4

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6

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17

10

34

35

29

30

31

44

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30 Game where you shoot marbles 31 Where birds spend most of their time 32 Cartesian conclusion 33 Lets not have to use _ ____ resort 34 Perle ______, American diplomat 35 Sleepless person 39 Dutch painter, Gerard ___ Borch 41 _____-Tiki expedition 42 Famous QB who played for the Giants 45 One who smacks 47 One of the deadly sins 50 Michelle ___, pro golfer

51 Give the green light 52 Halloween impersonation 56 Trump's 1st ex 57 Summer clothing fabric 58 The paper you when grocery shopping 60 Big shoe brand 61 Knight when confronting a dragon 62 "Take __ ____!" PE teacher probably 63 City in Nevada 64 Along with THC, commonly found in cannabis products 65 Holy Roman Empire

Puzzle By Lucas Xian Yu Chua Interested in submitting a puzzle? Reach out to production@tuftsdaily.com

Difficulty Level: Scrolling through Instagram on Valentine’s Day.

LAST PRINT’S SOLUTIONS: CROSSWORD

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Opinion

Thursday, February 15, 2024

9

Opinion VIEWPOINT

Being, and being seen as, trans Miryam Onstot Staff Writer

There is something sacrilegious about being transgender. One sheds everything that is sacred about being woman or man: the sanctity behind living out the life blessed to one by the divine. The irony is that I write this as someone raised nonreligious. To this day, I don’t logically buy the stories of the Bible or the validity of its institutions. It’s debauched, then, that I have still chosen, either consciously or not, to impose a worldview of religious gender and sexuality on myself. But what is a logical acknowledgement does not belie the irrational recognitions we all have.

The religious dogma that’s infused in our society begets the trans person’s feeling of sin.

This idea that the institutions — churches, mosques, the Papacy, Bible teaching — we laud could be pernicious and destructive is an uncomfortable reality for many people, but it is still a pragmatic truth that I believe we need to collectively grapple with. Admittedly, religion is not the basis of every trans person’s tumultuous relationship with their gender and sex. I speak only for myself. Still, this sense of invasion into the

closed identity of our birth-given gender foil engenders a universal feeling of perversion I wish to specifically address.

But I do not mean to reaffirm to the world my perpetual struggle, and the tension of my perception of my sex that prevents me from functioning to some semblance of normalcy. I share the same concerns as other young women in university: classes, internships, unrelenting situationship issues. But the underbelly of my life, the moments when my mind isn’t occupied with the stresses of simply being a person in the world, is a constant negotiation with the most bestial, unmanageable part of my transness. What’s particularly draining is that I do not always have the time in the day to manage being a woman at this stage in my life while coping with the reality of my transness. This is because being trans is not simply a matter-of-fact identity that can exist neutrally within a person. It is by its very essence an internal struggle with self. All external forces aside, transness has a uniquely personal dimension to it that will continue to permeate one’s happiness and internal sense of emotional stability. My relationship with my gender won’t ever reach a level of banality, as one’s womanhood might within

the right hypothetical where misogyny might cease to exist. I am in conflict against the very real internalised binaries of sex and gender within myself.

Beyond the internal struggle, there are many uncomfortable realities of being trans that are derived from our negotiations with the external world. Admittedly, this is not new analysis; the entirety of the reactionary Abrahamic world is hyper-aware of the vigilance at which the world views and criticizes our identities. This deduction derives from my own experience as a trans woman; I intimately understand how the world so critically perceives me and my body. But what still so many socially conscious, woke, cisgendered people continually misunderstand is the crux of the world’s opposition to transness. I challenge the idea that it is because we compose a jarring contradiction to manhood or womanhood that evokes a rational confusion or understandable fear. This easy conclusion to draw reconstructs the transphobe into a naive victim of the human reaction to strangeness and oddities, and also neglects the heart of the modern world’s fears: The Abrahamicreligious world is terrified by sex.

The crux of cisgender disgust of

our identities is — according to the psyche of Papacy-incited repulsion to sex — a confrontation with trans sexuality. There is nothing more retaliatory and antagonistic in any other human identity than our own. Indeed, we openly declare a rejection of and search for genitals and secondary sexual characteristics. I guess then there is something more pernicious behind transphobia as a fixture of the Judeo-Christian and Muslim world. To grapple with the transgender wave of the 21st century is to grapple with our discomfort with sexuality as vulgarity. These institutions have made sexuality latent in our minds, but transgender people have revolutionarily resurrected to the surface.

Unending scrutiny of sexuality is a uniquely trans experience. While many feminists might decry my analysis, there is a distinction between cisgender-female and trans sexualization: the breadth and intensity of our bodies’ surveillance. In the case of the sexualization of cis women, in my opinion, men at least have the capacity to occasionally grant women their rationality and understand that, surprisingly, women can exist independent of their feminine sexuality. Conversely, for trans women, we are never given the benefit of being people perceptive above our waistbelts. Our existence is rendered down as an act of sexual subversiveness.

VIEWPOINT

Mind over Musk: Keeping new tech on a short leash Kaashvi Ahuja Staff Writer

We are living in an era of rapid technological growth, the dawn of remarkable innovation.

As much as he is disliked, it would be disingenuous to deny that Elon Musk is, in many ways, a trailblazer. But seeing what his most recent invention is capable of gives rise to an unsettling thought: Many years from today, it is likely Musk will be viewed not as a pinnacle of progress, but as a man whose dangerous pursuits eventually serve as the impetus for our collective decay.

In 2016, Musk founded Neuralink, a neurotechnological company that aims to “create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs,” and aid those with limited motor function due to disorders like paralysis and Parkinson’s. For this, I commend him. Just last month, Musk said Neuralink implanted its first brain chip in a human subject during a preliminary clinical trial.

The implant in question processes neural signals and sends the information to the Neuralink app which enables remote access of computers or other electronic devices with your brain. From here, the chip “decodes the data stream into actions and intents” — a person can operate a computer or smartphone by simply thinking.

While Neuralink’s current mission may appear well intentioned, this new technology is capable of more than just medical marvels. The company itself has alluded to other potential uses of its technology such as connecting with loved ones, browsing the web or even playing games using only one’s thoughts. These are all seemingly harmless and innocent things, yet the thought that all this can take place without even having to lift a finger seems absurd and frankly, sinister.

However, there are some who advocate for more caution due to the adverse effects that these devices can have on our minds. Tristan Harris, a former

Google employee and founder of the Center for Humane Technology, has warned us to consider the damaging effects of present-day technology on our attention spans before blindly subscribing to a hightech future.

When we realize our average weekly screen time is way too high, we know it’s time for us to force ourselves away from our gadgets.

In some way or another, we impose certain restrictions to help us limit our interaction with our devices, such as monitoring apps or scheduling screen time. Similarly, there must be restrictions in place when dealing with new technology that has potentially far greater dangers. Self-restrictions are not enough for an implant that could virtually grant us superpowers. If a device could grant us the ability to order Panda Express with just our thoughts, there’s no saying what lies in the prospects of this technology in the hands of those whose motives lie far beyond the scope of instant food delivery.

We are not only living in an era of rapid technologi-

Elon Musk presents Neuralink technology in 2020. cal growth, but we are also surviving an era of political polarization and international conflict, an age in which new developments like Musk’s brain chips hold the power to make or break a society that is becoming increasingly fragile. We love convenience and we have an ongoing desire for instant gratification, but how

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much are we willing to sacrifice for it? New tech has made our lives easier, but that has come at the cost of us becoming over-reliant on it. For this reason, there needs to be tech legislation and enforced safeguarding so we can reap the medical benefits of Musk’s new technology without sacrificing ourselves in the process.

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10 Opinion

Thursday, February 15, 2024

THE TUFTS DAILY

Mariia Kudina Ukraine at War

Two families killed in a Russian attack in Kharkiv

T

aking a psychoanalysis class this semester brought me to a frightening realization — most of the dreams that I remember upon waking up are war-related nightmares.

The dreams have a repetitive plot that always revolves around the aftermath of Russian attacks: burned-down buildings and dying family members. On Feb. 10, when a Russian drone attack caused the fire that killed at least seven people in Kharkiv, that dream partially came true.

Like many Ukrainians, I have a habit of skimming the news on Telegram Messenger right after waking up, even in the middle of the night. It would be impossible to convey the astonishment I felt when the nightmare I was having that night transitioned into a real-world terror. Russian Shahed drones hit a gas station in the city, causing an oil leak that turned into fire, contaminating more than 10,000 square meters of territory around it. The fire flames spread to residential houses nearby, and although some people have been rescued, two families, one of them including three children, died. “The eldest son, Oleksii, was seven years old; the middle son, Mykhailo, was 4, and the youngest son, Pavlo, was seven months old. Children who had not yet seen life were killed

by Russian lunacy. There was another family killed: a husband and wife,” wrote Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Due to its proximity to Russia — Kharkiv is located about 25 miles from the Russian border — the city is a frequent target of Russian attacks.

Russians can attack it with short-range ballistic missiles, in addition to regular missiles and drones, making it difficult for Ukrainian defenses to counter. The deadly attack on Feb. 10 is far from being the only incident in which civilians, including children, were killed.

When I visited Kharkiv for the first time last summer, the city surprised me, not only because of its beautiful parks and convenient infrastructure, which are famed among Ukrainians but also due to the number of shelled buildings.

Churches, governmental structures, universities and regular houses that managed to stay relatively intact often have cardboard instead of glass in the windows. There are many more that were damaged to the point when reconstruction is not possible.

In one of the parks, there is a monument devoted to children who were killed

by Russia. It is surrounded by flowers, candles and an insane amount of plush toys. After visiting such sites and places of attacks that retain the smell of smoke for months, it is weird to hear that some people in the U.S. think that it is peaceful and safe in Ukraine now.

As much as I am used to mentally blocking out the emotional aspects of such events, allowing myself to only partially feel the pain, it is challenging to avoid thoughts about the possibility of the same tragedy affecting my family.

Talking about it helps to some degree. At the very least, it reminds people that the war is still ongoing.

Mariia Kudina is a junior studying studio art. Mariia can be reached at mariia.kudina@tufts.edu.

Protesters at the Rally for Trans Rights in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 22, 2018 are pictured.

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VIEWPOINT

We need to make queer media accessible to children Liam Chalfonte Opinion Editor

Originally published Feb. 14.

Beliefs about queerness being dangerous to children are not new. Ever since the gay liberation movement began gaining traction, accusations of corrupting children and pedophilia have been hurled at people in the LGBTQ+ community. Today, these boogeymen manifest in many ways, such as bans on books and drag shows, and “Don’t Say Gay” laws like the one infamously passed in Florida in 2022.

It can be easy to write these issues off as disturbing quirks of deep-red states like Tennessee and Florida, but these issues can and do occur everywhere, even in more liberal states like Massachusetts. Just this past December, a parent in Great Barrington, Mass. called the police to complain about the presence of “Gender Queer: A Memoir” — a story about trans issues that is one of the most frequently banned books of the past year — in their child’s eighth grade classroom. This led to a plainclothes police officer coming into the classroom to remove the book.

In events like these, it’s easy to overlook the effects this has on the queer children who attend this school. A police officer came into their school to remove one of the few books that talked about kids like them. What takeaway are they supposed to have from that?

That images of queer people must be removed from schools? The message

that incidents like these send can be devastating.

One of the greatest challenges of growing up queer is the isolation. Unlike many people growing up in other minority communities, queer children often don’t have the benefit of being raised in a family that shares their identity. This means that, even in the most accepting environments, queer children are often forced to learn about their community and culture through broader societal means: from news media, social media, movies and TV shows, religious teachings or peers and teachers in schools. Oftentimes, these sources can be traumatically negative.

They learn that queerness is abhorrent, deviant, an embarrassment, a sin. From bans on transgender girls participating in girls’ sports, to comedians making the queer community the butt of their jokes, to young children using gay slurs as casual insults, it’s easy for children to learn, from an early age, that who they are is unacceptable.

All of this is what makes access to queer media so important for young children.

Being able to see examples of themselves in their books and on their screens, especially rendered in positive ways, allows queer children to learn about themselves and their community in ways that won’t create lasting trauma. This is an easy policy prescription, but in practice, it can be deceivingly difficult.

Often, queer media is difficult for queer children to access or to learn healthy lessons from. Industry censorship and nega-

tive portrayals of queer characters hamper queer children’s ability to find a positive sense of self and community. Perhaps no corporation or content creator has done more to hurt queer children than Disney.

They did not include a single queer character in their media until 2016, and even that representation was lackluster. In earlier films, queer creators did not feel that characters who represented them would be welcome — “High School Musical” creator Kenny Ortega stated that he did not make the character of Ryan openly gay for this reason. Disney has canceled or dropped several shows with queer storylines from their streaming services. They’ve even purposefully based villainous characters off of queer stereotypes to make them seem abhorrent by association.

All of this being said, there is a very real impact that consumers can have on the way queer media is made and how accessible it can be for younger audiences.

Simply being a vocal supporter of queer media can make a huge difference; the success story of the queer, young-adult-targeted show “Heartstopper” was largely due to the outpouring of support it got from fans. Supporting shows like these, fighting against book and media bans in your community and not supporting companies and creators who won’t champion queer media can all create tangible benefits for queer children who are in desperate need of seeing, watching or reading about someone like them to feel less alone.

THE TUFTS DAILY

Sports 11

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Sports Women’s basketball loses last regular season games, looks ahead to NESCAC Tournament Keila McCabe Sports Editor

The women’s basketball team dropped two road games this weekend to conference opponents Wesleyan and Trinity. The two losses will put the team’s regular season record at 11–12. Prior to its last weekend of NESCAC play, the Jumbos came off a four-game losing streak, including a triple overtime loss to the Middlebury Panthers.

With a tall task of shifting momentum and — on Saturday — clinching NESCAC Tournament entry with a win against Trinity, Tufts ultimately came up short. However, thanks to a Wesleyan loss to Bates on Saturday, the team squeezed in as the tournament’s No. 8 seed. The Jumbos now seek their fifth NESCAC championship, hoping for a “Cinderella” story and a fresh restart.

On Friday night, the Jumbos lost 73–61 to the Wesleyan Cardinals.

This marks the program’s first loss to Wesleyan since 2006. Despite an unfavorable outcome, the team produced on offense, with only a weak second quarter ultimately causing their downfall. Tufts came out strong in the first, leading the Cardinals 21–19. Senior forward Maggie Russell scored 17 of the team’s 21 first-quarter points, tallying a good chunk of her eventual 28 for the night. The offensive production was stymied, however, in the second half, as the Jumbos put up only 7 points and allowed 16 from the Cardinals.

COURTESY TUFTS ATHLETICS

Sofia Gonzalez is pictured in the Feb. 6 game against Smith.

The wheels were back on for the remainder of the game, but it did not prove enough as the team was unable to make up the deficit.

Junior guard Sofia Gonzalez cited the second-half bounce back as one of the game’s positives.

“Our third quarter was actually very strong,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve been struggling with that in a lot of games, coming out and going 100% in the third quarter. I think we actually did a very good job of that in the Wesleyan game, despite the outcome.”

Gonzalez was the second leading scorer of the night, behind Russell, adding 17 of her own to the Jumbos’ total. More notable, however, were her nine steals, which is the most

the program has seen since 2010.

Gonzalez said her preparation and teammates made it possible.

“We’ve reviewed their plays before and I feel like I had a good sense of what they wanted to do and that they were very consistent in running their plays exactly correctly,” Gonzalez said. “I was able to anticipate a lot of steals, just due to that, and due to a lot of me being able to get to the double team with my teammates. I think that also allowed me to create a lot of steals for myself.”

Heading into Saturday, Tufts needed a win against Trinity.

Otherwise, the fate of its postseason would be determined by the Bates and Wesleyan game.

However, coming off an unexpected loss to Wesleyan and going into a game against the No. 2 seeded Trinity Bantams, the clinching task proved difficult. The Jumbos lost 57–30 on Saturday, scoring the lowest amount of points in a game since their trip to the Division III National Championship game in 2017. The defense did hold the Bantams, currently averaging 63.3 points per game, to only 57.

However, the lack of offensive production, which included a shocking statistic of only one team assist the entire contest, made a victory near impossible on Saturday afternoon. In the first quarter, the team did not score a point until four seconds remained. Senior forward Mallory Folliard executed on a pass, and the only assist of the game, from first-year guard Stella Galanes.

The Jumbos ended the first quarter down 12–2 and continued to work from behind in the following two quarters, which ended 31–14 and 39–16 respectively. Gonzalez described the offensive mentality facing Trinity.

“We just wanted to see the ball go in the basket, which I mean, obviously, who doesn’t?” Gonzalez said. “But, I think that we were, in a way, having to force options that weren’t necessarily there.”

Gonzalez continued and offered thoughts on how to improve the offensive roadblocks the team faces.

“The first step is definitely running what we have all the way through because that could definitely help with opportunities to score,” Gonzalez said. “If that breaks down, I think being able to rely on each other to score and create something is going to be really key for us, and just working together overall because obviously you just can’t do it alone.”

Despite the two games’ outcomes, the Jumbos qualify for the NESCAC Tournament. The team heads into the postseason with a 0–0 slate and hopes of upholding a NESCAC legacy of success. The Tufts women have appeared in the tournament for 21 consecutive years and made it to the semifinals for the past nine. The team and head coach Jill Pace, however, will face a formidable opponent in No. 1 seed — and Pace’s alma mater — the Bowdoin Polar Bears. Gonzalez weighed in on the team’s mindset heading into this weekend.

“We’re feeling really good,” Gonzalez said. “We know the journey doesn’t end this Saturday … we’re just all really locked in on this weekend and really focused. We’re all on the same page in terms of what we need to do better. … We’re maintaining a very positive attitude and I think that’s going to be key to our success this weekend.”

The Jumbos are on the road for round one of the NESCAC Tournament, playing in Morrell Gymnasium at Bowdoin College on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Men’s basketball splits doubleheader weekend at home Nick Dohr

Staff Writer

Tufts men’s basketball looked to conclude their regular season on a high note in games against Wesleyan Cardinals and Trinity Bantams over the weekend. Walking into the Friday evening game, the Jumbos knew they needed a win against the Cardinals in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Cardinals sat at 12–10 for the season going into Friday, while the Jumbos had the record of 17–5.

Tufts started on the slower side of things, with Wesleyan piling on the points in the first four minutes. Wesleyan scored 10 of the 14 points in the opening possessions. A layup from sophomore center Joshua Bernstein and 4 points from junior guard Khai Champion brought the Cardinals back to a tied ballgame. The momentum swung back into the hands of Tufts, with a 3-pointer from firstyear guard Dylan Reilly and a 3-pointer from sophomore guard James Morakis to make the game 20–14. Junior guard Nicky Johnson responded with a 3-pointer for the Cardinals, but it was once again James Morakis who added to the Jumbos’ tally,

extending the lead again to 6 on the game. Control of the game sat in the hands of the Jumbos, especially when senior guard Jay Dieterle and sophomore forward Scott Gyimesi put shots up from behind the 3-point line that both went in.

At the end of a 3-point-heavy first half, the score sat 34–26 in favor of Tufts. Wesleyan was not to be outdone starting the second half through. Two 3-pointers in quick succession by junior guard Shane Regan and Johnson after three minutes of play cut the lead down to just 3, and a minute later sophomore forward Fritz Hauser cut the lead to just one. Similar to how a pendulum swings back and forth, the momentum once again swung in the opposite direction, landing in the talons of the Cardinals. Wesleyan pushed their lead to 3, but that wouldn’t stand for long.

The lead continued to swing back and forth, never extending beyond 4 points for the rest of regulation. First-year guard Jon Medley put in a 3-pointer to make the game 65–64 in favor of the Jumbos. Again not to be outdone, Johnson shot a three with 41 seconds left and made it, making the score

COURTESY TUFTS ATHLETICS

Jon Medley is pictured in the Feb. 9 game against Wesleyan.

67–65 in favor of Wesleyan.

With just a mere 10 seconds left on the clock, Bernstein caught a pass in traffic under the rim and put up a reverse layup, tying the score and sending the game to overtime.

“I was pretty confident in us.

I knew that they missed some free throws down the stretch, and we sort of got lucky with that.

Josh [Bernstein] had a huge play, down low to tie the game and I

felt the momentum on our side,” Gyimesi said.

The control of overtime sat firmly in the hands of the Jumbos.

A series of layups, jumpers and free throws by players like Bernstein, Champion and Dieterle took the game beyond the reaches of the Cardinals, ending the game 82–70 in favor of the Jumbos. This was a notably important win for the Jumbos, as it clinched a playoff spot for the squad and improved

their chances of playing again in Cousens Gymnasium during the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments.

The Jumbos shot 30-for-70 from the field and went 7-for-22 from behind the arc, while in contrast, the Cardinals shot 27-for-71 from the field and 10-for-23 from behind the arc. Gyimesi led points for the Jumbos with 17, Bernstein had 15 and Champion had 14.

On the Cardinals’ side of the ball, Regan had 25 points, Johnson had 15 and Hauser had 10.

Tufts then took on the powerful Trinity Bantams on Saturday, who up until this point had lost only one game, and played a solid game, scoring nearly the same number of points as the Bantams in the second half. Unfortunately, with a 20-point deficit racked up in the first half, the Bantams sealed the game with a score of 82–66 in the end.

The weekend games set the team up to go into the NESCAC playoffs at 5–5 in the conference.

“We still are enjoying where we’re at, but doing everything that we can to prepare ourselves, put ourselves in a good situation for this weekend and, if all goes well, hopefully the next,” Gyimesi said.

The Jumbos now will take on Middlebury College at home in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs on Saturday afternoon.

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