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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 27
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Thursday, March 18, 2021
The Boxed Art Gallery provides Sororities adapt opportunities for artists amid pandemic recruitment to fit university COVID-19 guidelines by Jack Adgate
Carlson’s inspiration for starting the gallery was his hope that artists could still Second-year Tufts-SMFA have their work viewed by the combined-degree student Ned public despite the pandemic Carlson has teamed up with limiting outreach for the arts the School of the Museum of community. Fine Arts over the past year to “The Boxed Art Gallery was create the Boxed Art Gallery, a something I created to address virtual forum for artists in the the lack of opportunities that Tufts and greater Boston com- a lot of students faced during munities to display their work. COVID,” Carlson said. “The The Boxed Gallery is cur- Boxed Gallery was kind of a way rently holding a competition to lower the barrier of entry [to called the “Boxed Contest.” A the art industry] and make it a monetary prize will be awarded little more egalitarian.” to the top three artists. In the This fall, submission to the first edition of this contest in contest was limited to memthe fall, third-year Tufts-SMFA bers of the Tufts community, combined-degree student including students, alumni and Quinn Luong took home first faculty. However, with the next prize with her digital painting iteration of the Boxed Contest, titled “Resilience.” for which submissions are now Carlson launched the pro- being accepted, Carlson hopes gram with the help of a grant to spread the reach of the galfrom the Jonathan M. Tisch lery beyond Tufts and into the College of Civic Life. He used greater Boston area. this grant to create the virtual “The previous open call was gallery, which displays pieces open only to Tufts University,” on their website. Carlson said. “This time
Contributing Writer
around we’re partnering with Medford Arts Council, the Somerville Arts Council, Pao Arts Center and possibly Arts District Boston, as well as the Office of Government and Community Relations at Tufts to push [the gallery] to community members.” Carlson hopes the Boxed Art Gallery will continue after the pandemic ends. “The Boxed Art Gallery is a project that I want to see live past my time at Tufts,” Carlson said. “I would like to see it be something that we can secure funding for to last beyond my time here, because I think it’s really important that everyone has the chance to share their artwork and their creativity.” Included on the board of jurors for the Boxed Contest is Nancy Bauer, dean of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and dean of academic see GALLERY, page 2
TCU Senator Claire Bolash calls for mandatory in-person components in fall 2021 classes
GRACE LABER / THE TUFTS DAILY
Chi Omega rush presents and merchandise pictured on March 12. by Ella Kamm
Contributing Writer
Tufts panhellenic sororities Kappa Alpha Theta and Chi Omega and newly incorporated local sororities The Ivy and Thalia recruited new members at the beginning of the spring 2021 semester while staying in accordance with university COVID-19 guidelines. The sorority landscape at Tufts has changed over the past
year. Previously, there were three sororities at Tufts: Kappa Alpha Theta, Chi Omega and Alpha Phi, and all were affiliated with their national chapters. However, amid backlash over the summer from Abolish Greek Life at Tufts, a student movement calling for a ban on fraternities and sororities on campus, Alpha Phi and most of Chi Omega disaffiliated from their national chapters in the fall. see RECRUITMENT, page 3
FEATURES
More than meets the eye: Goddard Chapel by Lena Leavitt
Assistant Features Editor
MINA TERZIOGLU / THE TUFTS DAILY
In-person class environment of a hybrid course is pictured in Asean Auditorium in Cabot Hall. by Charlotte Chen Contributing Writer
After a November 2020 exit survey conducted by the Tufts Community Union Senate found a lack of academic engagement and social isolation among the student body, Claire Bolash, TCU
senator for the Class of 2024, proposed a resolution that called for the implementation of a mandatory in-person component for every class in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering. It passed TCU Senate on March 14, with sixteen senators voting in favor of the resolution, eight
opposing it and one senator abstaining. “I sit on the Education Committee, and so at our first meeting, I sort of brought up what the academics section of the exit report said, and brought up the see RESOLUTION, page 3
Goddard Chapel is a pretty odd building. Most New England churches are boxy, covered in bright white weatherboard, their tiered bell towers shaped like wedding cakes. Sometimes they boast grand columns in the Greek Revival style which reigned in the early 19th century (a fascination with ancient Greek culture and its “symbols of democracy” was on the rise). Goddard has none of those qualities. “The chapel itself was designed intentionally to sit in contrast to the aesthetic of New England Congregational and Unitarian churches,” Lynn Cooper, Catholic chaplain at Tufts, wrote in an email to the Daily. Its facade (or facades, for the chapel has many sides) is assembled from local dark blue-gray slate, according to
ARTS / page 3
OP-ED / page 4
SPORTS / back
For Del Water Gap, music is all about forming connections
China must look into more realistic and immediate climate policy options
Team LeBron wins, NBA shows support for HBCUs and more in All-Star Weekend
the University Chaplaincy website. While its no-nonsense bell tower seems to rise one hundred feet from the ground like a stack of Minecraft blocks, the roof of the covered porch on the other side of the chapel slopes to a playfully sharp point. Both the bell tower and the cloister are medieval Lombardic Romanesque — a style chosen by architect J. Philip Rinn, who also designed the old Barnum Hall and part of Metcalf Hall. Rinn planned to cover the chapel in ivy in order to “soften” its imposing stonework. Goddard’s stony exterior is laced with wood on the inside: Fitted pieces form diamond patterns as darker beams stretch across the arched ceiling. The warm natural color of the wood was restored in 2002 after it was painted light blue in the 1959 and 1965 renovasee GODDARD, page 4 NEWS
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WEEKENDER
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FUN & GAMES
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OPINION
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, March 18, 2021
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Tufts-SMFA student launches virtual art contest GALLERY
continued from page 1 affairs for the School of Arts and Sciences. Along with other university administrators and board members of local arts councils, Bauer will judge submissions for the contest in its next open call. “I am honored to serve as a juror for the Boxed Art Gallery,” Bauer wrote in an email to the Daily. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to highlight the art of people in and outside of the Tufts community, and once it’s underway I will be excited to see the work of talented artists.” Bauer referenced the interconnectedness that the Boxed
Art Gallery has brought to the local arts community, and the numerous benefits it brings to the SMFA. “Projects like the Boxed Art Gallery are great ways to connect people from a variety of backgrounds over the shared love for art,” Bauer said. “The gallery is also a great way to increase exhibition opportunities for developing artists at the SMFA and beyond.” Nandi Bynoe, Tufts’ associate dean of diversity and inclusion, is also a juror for the contest. Bynoe emphasized the importance of the gallery’s mission to recognize
racial and socioeconomic injustice through art. “It is incredibly important, now and always, to promote the voices of BIPOC artists that may otherwise be underrepresented in the art world,” Bynoe wrote in an email to the Daily. “BIPOC artists and artists who chose to highlight issues like systemic racism and economic inequality have the ability to reflect the society we live in and imagine worlds better or different than our own.” Bynoe said she sees the gallery as an opportunity to not only start a meaningful dialogue about racial injustice, but to
uplift underrepresented artists in the Tufts and greater Boston communities. “By continuing to seek out submissions and uplift artwork from artists of underrepresented identities, the Boxed Art Gallery can drive meaningful change to the makeup of the local art scene,” Bynoe said. “These artists provoke important conversations, challenge societal norms and influence public opinion.” The current open call for submissions to the Boxed Art Gallery is open until April 2 at midnight. Submissions to the Boxed Contest will have the chance to win a $500 prize if selected.
News
Thursday, March 18, 2021 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY
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New local sororities see over 100 new members combined RECRUITMENT
continued from page 1 Disaffiliated members of Alpha Phi formed The Ivy, and disaffiliated members of Chi Omega formed Thalia. Amid these changes, sororities were also facing the challenge of virtually recruiting new members due to the ongoing pandemic. “In typical years, we do rush in the fall for sophomores, and due to COVID … the sororities together decided to wait for the spring, so that was already a pretty big difference,” Hannah San Sebastian, president of Kappa Alpha Theta, said. “And then also our recruitment was completely virtual this year — no part of it was in person.” This is in keeping with how the general operations of sororities like Kappa Alpha Theta have changed this academic year to comply with public health guidelines. “All of our events are virtual or they’re in person in small groups, depending on which part of the year and what we’ve been allowed to do,” San Sebastian, a junior, said. “Definitely the bigger social events have been canceled, which is one of the bigger
differences, but … all the typical parts of a sorority, those have moved online.” Chi Omega did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily. Both of the new local sororities, The Ivy and Thalia, called their recruitment processes a “membership application process.” The students involved in those organizations developed new recruitment processes and worked to adapt them to university health and safety guidelines, members of both organizations said. According to Kelly Bernatchez, who is part of the Thalia committee, creating a new recruitment process was an opportunity for members of Thalia to keep elements of traditional recruitment that they enjoyed while changing others to better reflect the values of their new organization. Their member application process included Zoom events along with a written application. “We started thinking about how to make [the membership application process] as comfortable and inclusive and equitable for the applicants as possible,” Bernatchez, a junior, said. “Not
everyone is comfortable speaking up, especially on Zoom. It’s super awkward sometimes. So we figured that a written application would be the best way for everyone to be able to share their voice, share their passions and their interests.” According to Bernatchez, Thalia extended offers to potential new members, who were given 10 days to accept or decline them. Bernatchez reflected on the virtual aspect of the process. “It would be a lot easier to do this all in person,” Bernatchez said. “It was a little bit disappointing that we couldn’t have everyone together, and that everyone hasn’t met each other face to face. We had a little Zoom celebration on the night that our offers went out, but we would definitely love to do that in person eventually.” Bernatchez said that Thalia waited to hold elections for leadership positions until after the recruitment process so that new members would have input and the organization of the sorority would reflect their values. “We didn’t want to elect [preexisting members] into positions … that’s not very respectful, it’s
not inclusive, it’s not equitable,” Bernatchez said. “We have a horizontal leadership structure, so there isn’t really this hierarchy of president, vice president. Everyone sort of works together, which I think will be really amazing, and more voices will be heard through that.” Anoushka Kiyawat, co-president of The Ivy, said that one of the sorority’s main goals during their membership application process was to reform the process and make it more approachable to students with different backgrounds. “We felt like a lot of the time, Greek life, in the way that people think of it, has this weird, scary reputation that you have to look a certain way, or dress a certain way, or act a certain way, and we didn’t like that,” Kiyawat said. Similarly to Thalia, The Ivy held “open application days,” in which applicants were placed in breakout rooms with current members of the organization. “The idea behind that was to just take off some pressure behind the interactions,” Kiyawat said. This was followed by an interview stage, in which applicants
were asked questions by existing members. “We felt [that we were] actually making this decision based off of something more substantial than, ‘Were they bubbly and fun?'” she said. Going forward, the new local sororities said they want to establish themselves as another option for Tufts students who want to participate in Greek life but also want an environment not necessarily offered by the nationally affiliated sororities on campus. “By doing events in the community and trying to work with other clubs on campus, [we want to] show that we’re a place that’s trying to better represent the community,” Kiyawat said. “And then as a byproduct of that, we would hope that more people from backgrounds that aren’t typically going to go Greek would consider it instead.” The Ivy has an incoming class of 52 students, and Thalia has an incoming class of approximately 60. “The interest in local sororities has been really amazing,” Kiyawat said. “I was very honored … We got a lot of interest, and it was really nice to see.”
Administration considers TCU resolution in fall 2021 planning RESOLUTION
continued from page 1 concept of having this recommendation implemented as a resolution,” Bolash, a first-year, said. The exit survey asked students to reflect on the fall 2020 semester. A substantial number of students rated their time at Tufts last semester very poorly, partially due to the prevalence of asynchronous and virtual classes. On a scale of 0–10, 70.49% of respondents rated their fall experience a six or lower and 23.34% rated it a three or lower. In the survey, 88.64% of respondents said that their interactions with other classmates decreased significantly because of COVID19, and 67.61% said their virtual class components were not on par with what in-person classes could offer. The intent of Bolash’s resolution is to increase interactions between classmates and create a more personal relationship between students and professors. If students are given the option to stay remote in the fall 2021 semester, the mandatory component wouldn’t apply. “I do still think it’s super important that all these courses are accessible virtually as well, and that they’re still able to be taken by students who aren’t on campus because of these issues or health concerns,” Bolash said. Iyra Chandra, chair of the TCU Senate Education Committee, helped Bolash solidify her ideas into the resolution format and write the resolution, along with the rest of the Education Committee. Chandra, a junior, supported Bolash’s resolution. “It stems from students calling for more engagement with
their learning, professors, and the Tufts community,” Chandra wrote in an email to the Daily. “This will be a sign to faculty and admin that there needs to be more done to physically engage members of the student body. This also should be a wake up call that online learning and zoom classes are not sufficient and that there is a specific importance to having in person academic opportunities.” Chandra also expressed her reaction to the results of the exit survey. “I think it is disheartening to see how many students are having a difficult time mental health wise and with online learning, but
it was not something that surprised me,” Chandra said. Bolash explained how she hopes this resolution will positively impact the student population next semester. “I’m hoping that there will be these institutionally-offered opportunities next semester for students who are on campus to be able to talk to each other about the course material, because it’s so hard to take a course [where you don’t know anyone], and I feel like you don’t learn as much if you’re not able to interact with people and hear other people’s perspectives on it,” Bolash said. Now that the resolution has passed TCU Senate, the respon-
sibility lies in the hands of the administration to implement it. Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, said that the Tufts administration will be considering multiple factors in deciding its next steps. “We appreciate and will carefully review the feedback from the exit survey, along with any other input from our students — including through the TCU resolution,” Collins wrote in an email to the Daily. Bolash recognized that it may not be possible for her resolution to be implemented, considering it will potentially require additional work for professors who may not be planning to feature in-person components.
COVID-19 AT TUFTS
Collins said that the administration adhered to government regulations and received guidance from medical experts when planning for the 2020–21 school year, and that they will continue to consider these factors as they plan for the fall semester. “We recognize many of our faculty and students are eager to return to in-person learning and we hope conditions in the fall will allow us to do so, as access to vaccines increases and the number of infections declines,” Collins said. “We will of course continue to update our community on university plans as they develop over the spring and summer.”
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Features
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Goddard Chapel ‘lonely’ during pandemic GODDARD
continued from page 1 tions, although the ceiling in the back is a dark blue-green, perhaps more akin to the original olive color from 1883. The major renovations in 2002 also unveiled and restored the chapel’s old Hook and Hastings organ and added a light to the top of the bell tower. When Goddard was first built in 1883, it was, like the rest of Tufts’ roots, a primarily Universalist establishment. “Universalism is a testament to universal human dignity and universal salvation,” Cooper said. “Universalists in the 19th century fought for access to education, religious tolerance, prison reform, social services, and care for those most in need who society had forgotten.” However, Copper said it is important to remember the darker history behind the chapel as well. “The landscape which we now know as Tufts campus was originally the territory of the Wampanoug and later incorporated into the Ten-Hills Plantation, which enslaved both African Americans and Native Americans,” Cooper said. “So, when we consider Goddard Chapel, we must place it in this context.” According to the Chaplaincy website, stained glass was something of a “lost art” in Europe and America, as it fell out of favor during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries. Rinn worked with Tomasso Juglaris, an Italian artist, to etch color onto glass using acid, creating the scratchy look of most of the artwork. Then, 19th-century innovation improved stained glass production, and the material was introduced in the United States in the 1860s. It was Rinn who chose the design of Goddard’s windows, most of which was relatively earthly in subject matter rather than spiritual.
Kevin Zhang Tales from the T
Take the “El”
L
ast week, we discussed the inconvenient transfers between North Station and South Station. But it hasn’t always been this way — at one point there were two railroads connecting them. What happened to them? Why do Boston’s streets allegedly smell like molasses in the summer? Why do I always push away the people I love most? We’ll answer two of these questions this week, with our story starting back in 1872. In that year, the Union Freight Railroad opened in downtown
“For the original artwork … the emphasis was on the natural world and human figures of this tradition,” Cooper said. Indeed, two of Goddard’s windows show only plant life — tall palms and lily plants against creamy skies. Even the saints depicted are not angels, but human beings, according to Cooper. “Sadly, as in so many American churches, these figures [St. Paul, John the Evangelist, Mark] are all male and all imaged as white, making the stained-glass in Goddard Chapel at once beautiful and oppressive,” Cooper said. “Here is another tension in the Universalist history of Tufts and the chapel which promises to [welcome] all but only upholds white male images — biblical figures inaccurately depicted as white — as exemplars and pillars of the tradition. And we have much work to do around accessibility.” Even though Tufts was founded as a liberal arts college rather than a religious school, mandatory services on Sundays were initially a standard of cam-
pus life, according to a university catalog from 1889. “All students are required to attend morning prayers in the Chapel, and except those who go to their homes, public worship once on Sunday either in the Chapel or at such church as they may choose,” the catalog reads. By World War II, however, chapel gatherings became simply school assemblies to present “announcements of group interest” and “brief programs of a cultural or religious nature.” Contestation surrounding the chapel’s symbolic history and present function has emerged and evolved. In the Nov. 30, 1989 issue of The Tufts Daily, a student, who was a senior at the time, described their desire to throw a stone through the window behind the altar, which depicted a bearded man holding a bible in his right hand and a sword in his left. “For non-Christians, this figure may be a symbol of a patriarchal and oppressive religion which has propagated many of the injustices, including racism and sexism, that are so prevalent in today’s society,” the student wrote.
A few students responded in the Dec. 4, 1989 issue of the Daily that the author had misunderstood the window’s meaning: “According to the Self Tour Handbook of Goddard Chapel, ‘the sword (carried by St. Paul) was standard iconography in the portrayal of early Christian saints: it was the common weapon by which they often were beheaded,’” they wrote. In response to one student’s claim on Dec. 1, 1989 that “Goddard Chapel was constructed as a Christian house of worship, and that is still its primary function,” another student argued on Dec 4, 1989 that “the original purpose of Goddard Chapel is really not relevant today … The belief that Goddard Chapel is a solely Christian spot and that people of other religions are merely guests in a building on their own campus is absurd. I am personally very pleased that most people associate Goddard Chapel with a place to hear the Bubs, Jills, and Mates.” Most of the windows were dedicated not to Universalist religious traditions, but to Tufts founders like Thomas Goddard, an early Tufts trustee, and Hosea Ballou 2d, the university’s first president. The Latin inscriptions around each window impart more praise of people who donated toward making the window itself than biblical teachings. The only window which has any kind of moral tenet is the one of St. Paul, whose inscription reads: “Stand ye, quit ye like men, be strong.” Ironically, a windstorm broke that window in 1955 (it was reinforced afterward). Notably, according to Cooper, “There is no Jesus or cross built into this structure.” There is, however, a painting by Janet McKenzie called “Jesus of the People,” which hangs
Boston. Railroads, both then and now, terminated at the periphery of downtown. The Union Freight Railroad thus served the vital purpose of shuttling freight between these disjointed railroads (and later North and South stations), while also serving the wharves on Boston harbor. These trains ran right through the streets (And you thought driving downtown was a nightmare — imagine running a full-size steam train through!). Passenger trains arrived on the Atlantic Avenue Elevated (or “El”) in 1901. Built alongside today’s Orange Line tunnel, the “El” carried subway trains to the waterfront above Atlantic Avenue. Through some complex junctions, trains could run through or even loop through downtown (much like
in Chicago), serving North and South stations. When these railroads opened, Boston’s waterfront was teeming with ferries, fishing, shipping and other maritime industries. One such industry was distillation, which used the wharves to import raw materials and the railways to ship them to processing plants. Of particular importance was molasses, which was converted to industrial alcohol. In 1915, the Purity Distilling Company built a massive 50-foot-tall molasses storage tank on the waterfront. Completed to a lower quality than my calculus problem sets, the tank never underwent full testing and routinely leaked. The company’s solution was to simply paint the tank brown to hide the leaks,
but as much as we’d all like, ignoring your responsibilities doesn’t make them go away faster. You can probably guess where this is going. On Jan. 15, 1919, the tank collapsed. Three-and-a-half Olympic swimming pools worth of molasses swept through the North End at 35 mph. Buildings were swept away, and the steel “El” crumpled. Those that weren’t killed upon impact were trapped as the molasses cooled and thickened. In total, 21 were killed and 150 were injured, and the ensuing lawsuits set a precedent for corporate responsibility (or what little of it exists). The cleanup took weeks, and it’s said that the smell of molasses lingered along the waterfront on hot summer days for decades afterwards.
GRACE ROTERMUND / THE TUFTS DAILY
Goddard Chapel is pictured on March 12.
to the right facing the altar and presents “a dark multiracial depiction of Jesus modeled by a woman,” Cooper said. McKenzie’s Jesus wraps themself tightly in black and white robes, a yin-yang symbol on their right and a feather on their left. Goddard has become a gathering space for events of all faiths, carrying Buddhist Sangha meditations on Mondays and Fridays, Catholic masses on Sundays, interfaith meetings and more. “Many of our religious and philosophical communities adapt the space during their holy hours and gathering times so as to reflect the representation they need from their tradition — bringing out their own art and holy elements of ritual,” Cooper said. “Pre-pandemic, the chapel was a hub of connection and silence, a space for gathering, for dropping by to enjoy a cup of tea, and a place for religious and philosophical communities to live out their observances … Folks in the meeting room might hear musicians practicing on the organ or the piano and I especially love the impromptu decompression sessions of students continuing conversations after particularly engaging classes.” As much as the grand arch of the ceiling impresses, Cooper said, “it is the wooden floors [that] speak to me … In walking meditations in Goddard Chapel, I invite students to take off their shoes. When we do this, we direct our attention to each step and in doing so, our socks leave impressions upon the deep red carpet and soft spot patterns of the hardwood beneath become even more apparent. They [creak] and they sing and they speak to us of so much that is beneath the surface.”
Terrifying as it was, the Great Molasses Flood didn’t bring the death of the “El” (I just think it’s a good story!). The “El” reopened two months later, but had already been declining. By the time of the flood, service had already been reduced to a North Station-South Station shuttle. As industries relocated, ridership declined, until the “El” ultimately closed in 1938 and was scrapped for World War II material. For its part, the Union Freight Railroad ran until 1970, declining alongside the railroads and harbor it served. Controversial from the start, few mourned its demise. Kevin Zhang is a sophomore studying civil engineering. Kevin can be reached at kevin.zhang7@tufts.edu.
tuftsdaily.com
WEEKENDER
Del Water Gap talks band roots, meaning of his music, future plans by Maddie Aitken
Executive News Editor
S. Holden Jaffe picks up the phone after a couple rings, greeting me with a “Hey!” His enthusiastic yet easygoing tone immediately conveys the kind of person he is. He says he appreciates me interviewing him as I start to say I appreciate him taking the time to talk with me, and we both laugh. Jaffe is the artist behind the solo project Del Water Gap. He’s an alternative/indie singer and songwriter who’s been producing music since he released his first project during his senior year of high school. Hailing from northern Connecticut, Jaffe started playing the drums in elementary school. As a kid, he was in a Phish cover band. “It was funny … it was all kids and then we had a 50-year-old bass player,” Jaffe said, laughing again. The first real band he was in was a noise rock band with some of his friends from the sleep-away camp he attended in Maine. They rehearsed and played shows in New Jersey, where, driving around, Jaffe got the idea for the name of his current project. “I just used to see signs for [the Delaware Water Gap], and I always thought that it was such a cool name,” Jaffe explained. “I had a growing list of band names because I had the idea to start a project of my own, in an iPhone note, and Del Water Gap ended up on there. It was the one that I chose when I was 17, and it stuck.” Jaffe spent his teen years at the Millbrook School in Millbrook, NY, a boarding school where he turned a storage room into a recording studio as part of an independent study project. It was there that he recorded the first Del Water Gap record. He then went on to attend the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, a specialized and intimate program within the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Jaffe was encouraged by his friends to play a show after they heard the record he made in high school. “One of them became my manager, if you can call it that … and booked me a show at a venue called Sullivan Hall, which is gone now, but we played a show and sold
it out and it went really well,” Jaffe said. “It just became the focus, little by little.” Jaffe reflected on the NYU music scene at the time. “When I got there, everyone was in a band. It was sort of a golden age, in retrospect, of indie bands,” he said. “It was a really exciting time to be there and a really inspiring time for me … I bought a leather jacket and started taking film photos and did the whole thing.” Jaffe spoke of coming out of bars and running into Alex Turner, the frontman of the Arctic Monkeys, a band he cited as one of his favorites at the time, along with Grizzly Bear, Sleigh Bells and Real Estate. Del Water Gap took many forms over the course of Jaffe’s college career, with bandmates coming and going. He said that by the end of college, the two guys he had started it with ultimately decided not to do it anymore. “Right around that time, things started picking up a little bit. I put out an EP that was doing well on Spotify, I started getting a couple small record deal offers, so I effectively was like ‘yeah, I think I’ll keep this and do a solo project,’” Jaffe said. “Over the years, it’s pushed further into the direction of it really being me, an extension of me and my personality and my identity.” Among the passing members of Del Water Gap was Maggie Rogers, an artist who has blown up in the past couple years and is widely known for her album “Heard It In A Past Life” (2019). She was in Del Water Gap for about six months when she and Jaffe were at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music together, having crossed paths with him at the summer camp in Maine where he met his first bandmates. “She was a really integral part to me playing music … She really inspired me to share my art and really helped me do that,” Jaffe said of Rogers. “She was a really, really big part of the early days and I really feel like I learned to be a writer with her, and she has been the way that she is for a long time: very passionate, very gifted and her energy was always very contagious.” Jaffe said he and Rogers did Del Water Gap as a duet for a while, recording music and playing shows together, but
COURTESY DEL WATER GAP
The cover of the album ‘Alive From Fresno’ (2019) by Del Water Gap is pictured.
they didn’t end up releasing any of the music at the time. However, Rogers put out an album in 2020 called “Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016,” that included a track with Del Water Gap on it — “New Song,” from when Rogers and Jaffe played together. “[‘New Song’] had always been very special to me … The really interesting part about [the release] was just thinking about my roots as a creator and sort of dipping back into that,” Jaffe said. “It’s like reading a journal from seven years ago … It’s such a different, uninhibited version of yourself.” Since the NYU days, Del Water Gap has grown immensely as an artist. He has over 900,000 monthly listeners and his most popular song on Spotify, “High Tops” (2017), has garnered over 9.5 million listens. Right now, Jaffe is in the midst of working on new music, with his first fulllength album in the works after a series of EPs and singles. “I’m making a bigger batch of music, which will hopefully be an LP,” Jaffe said. “It’s sounding great and it will be out this year, and I’m so excited to share it.” One of those EPs, “1 (646) 943 2672,” (2017) was titled after a burner phone with the same number. Jaffe bought the phone as an “experiment” to see who would try calling the number and who he could connect with. Jaffe recalled some confused stoners calling the line, but said he mostly got interested callers with whom he had good conversations. “I was shocked with how genuine, kind, curious and warmhearted most people were … I think anyone that was actually curious enough to hit the number was really kind,” Jaffe said. Jaffe spoke often and passionately of these kinds of moments where he was able to connect with fans. Post-pandemic, he’s really looking forward to getting back to playing shows, partially for that reason. Of playing live, Jaffe said, “Oh, god, I miss it so much.” He cited the Bowery Ballroom in New York, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and the Troubadour in Los Angeles as venues he’d love to play at in the future. Jaffe’s desire to connect with fans in these organic ways feels innately rooted in the kind of music he produces and the role he hopes his music plays in people’s lives. With a smile evident through his voice, Jaffe tells the story of what he calls “one of the greatest moments of [his] entire life.” “I put out a song last year called ‘Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat,’ and two weeks after I put it out, I was on a run and this car drove by me and it was playing out of the car,” Jaffe said. “Someone is just going about their life and my song is part of that, in the background, and that’s just the most powerful feeling.” With a palpable change to his tone, he expanded further, speaking to the way he sees his music resonating with others. “I love the notion of just soundtracking intimate moments in people’s lives,” Jaffe said wistfully. “People will send me little snippets, sort of like, ‘Hey, I just wanted to say I was on a drive today with this person I am in love with, and I’m going to tell them later, and your song was playing in the background.’ To me, that is the dream as a creator, to sort of have my music woven into the fabric of people’s daily lives.”
5 Thursday, March 18, 2021
Ramona Meng Xi Beyond the Underneath
I
A world in the bomb shelter
t was a few months ago when I asked the manager of an underground club about the “signing up” process to DJ at the club. She told me people could start off by DJing at a bar. She said the bar’s name under the music. I couldn’t really catch the name — it was something like “Sis,” “Synth” or “Sees.” Eventually, she typed out the name on her phone after my confused look. My guesses were entirely wrong. It’s called “C’s.” “They are really open in terms of welcoming new DJs to perform,” she said. “But their sound system is quite outdated.” The location of this bar is also as confusing as its name. Next to a farmer’s market, you will finally see a dim, round sign that indicates the bar’s direction. You then have to walk into a lightless narrow path, and you will faintly hear the beats. Finally, an entrance with light and a staircase leads you toward the underground. The staircase takes a few turns. Along the way, you can see sporadic graffiti and random drawings, including the big graffitied “C’s.” I felt I had just entered another world. There are no blank walls, but every bit of surface is filled with graffiti, drawings, words, neon paints, stickers and posters. I spent most of my time scrutinizing the wall. The wall art ranges from “I love you” to “Media is not Good,” and there are lots of hidden ones. Each embodies a certain memory or emotion. When they are piled together, they construct a world that forms a sharp contrast to the above-ground world. Just like its very open music policy, anyone can write and draw on the wall. Unlike the Graffiti Street, where doing graffiti is like occupying and defending a territory for as long as possible, here you are just contributing to an artwork as a whole. The place is also much bigger than I imagined. It’s not just a single room but almost a maze. The hallway connects several rooms together. From roaming in and out of rooms, looking at the style of the arches and the bricks on the wall, I was drawn to its structure. It’s like a part of a bigger picture. When I met the club manager again, she told me C’s is located in a bomb shelter built during World War II. In fact, many bomb shelters in Shanghai have now been transformed into hip or non-mainstream places, like wine shops, recording studios, album shops and men’s underwear stores, for example. The transition from the role these shelters played decades ago, serving as lifesavers in an environment of horror, to their current role as “chill” places to hang out, is drastic. What hasn’t changed is the idea of escapism from the ground above. Bold words, candid phrases, expressive drawings, hasty doodles, dancing and smiling people. It is indeed another world with slightly fewer rules and judgments. You let go of part of your pretense. The first person I chatted with at C’s pointed toward the speaker and told me they changed it to a new one. “But the vibe never changes,” I told him. Ramona Meng Xi is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Ramona can be reached at Meng.Xi@tufts.edu.
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THE TUFTS DAILY | Fun & Games | Thursday, March 18, 2021
F& G
tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Alex: “Sorry I got a single spaghetti noodle stuck in my throat so I had to chug a beer.”
Fun & Games
SUDOKU
LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY
Pisces (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) You’re especially brilliant and creative. Write, film or broadcast your views. Research and unravel an intellectual puzzle. Prepare statements and reports. Edit and publish.
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Difficulty Level: Essay crises
Wednesday’s Solutions
CROSSWORD
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Opinion
7 Thursday, March 18, 2021
OP-ED
China’s climate commitments are ambitious but unlikely to be realized This past year, I have been a member of the 2020-21 Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship curriculum that is focused on China and its role in the international system. Through this class, I have been able to explore my interest in international politics, energy policy and economic development. President Xi Jinping announced in September 2020 that China will strengthen its 2030 climate target; the country aims to reach peak emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. These goals were encouraging to climate stakeholders, as China had never made a formal commitment to net-zero emissions before. However, the most recent 5-year plan of the Chinese Community Party (CCP) that lays out the country’s roadmap for economic development is not ambitious enough for many climate activists. Researchers
Brendan Hartnett Democracy in The Daily
Fascist? Populist? Neither.
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lassifications with negative connotations have been fixed to Trump since he announced his candidacy in 2015, most notably “fascist” and “populist.” But these are both incorrect classifications with dangerous consequences. Fascism is characterized by uber-nationalism, anti-democratic ideals, the use of violence as both a means and an end and skepticism toward capitalism. Trump checks the first two
have found that, in order to meet the standards of the 2015 Paris Agreement, China would have to peak emissions by 2025 instead of the CCP’s current 2030 target, and then drastically reduce emissions thereafter. Much of China’s post-pandemic development has not been green. The CCP approved three times the number of coal plants in 2020 as it did the year before, which calls into question China’s commitment to declining emissions and carbon neutrality. China is a world leader in renewables, which has helped to reduce its emissions, but in recent years, the growth of new clean energy capacity has slowed. There are a few main drivers and inhibitors behind China’s energy transition. First is their desire for energy security. China’s rapid growth and development since the 1990s have caused its energy demand to skyrocket. The country is currently highly dependent on imports of oil and gas from the Middle East, which reach its borders through seas controlled by the U.S. Navy. If the
U.S. were to obstruct access to these imports by naval blockade, it would paralyze China’s economy and military forces. Thus, renewable energy is a mechanism for China to increase energy supply and security within its own borders. The second driver behind these targets is an effort to confront the health crisis in China, which threatens the legitimacy of the CCP. The number of coal-fired power plants in China, particularly in the developed East, has created major air quality problems that have driven people to environmental mobilization. This has made a public health issue into a political one. In the last 20 years, Beijing has made significant strides and has been relatively successful in reducing pollution in urban areas to subdue political unrest. Ultimately, while the CCP’s energy policy may include favorable language toward renewables and energy market reforms, their focus is on maintaining stable markets for both renewable energy and the coal sector
in China. Although China is an authoritarian state, it is a large and diverse country with many local and regional governments who rely on a robust coal market for economic development. Considering much of the Party’s legitimacy rests on their ability to provide economic development, the CCP will continue to prioritize economic stability over climate-related issues. On climate issues, China has the ability to build a more positive reputation for itself on the international stage, but it doesn’t look like the CCP is going in that direction. China is one of the largest investors in the Arctic, an area with plentiful natural (fossil fuel) resources. Critics of the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project in over 60 countries, say that China is essentially exporting its emissions abroad due to the lack of environmental and ecological design requirements in the project. Many Chinese analysts argue that coal is a cheap and efficient way to meet urgent energy needs in parts of Asia
boxes and dabbles in the third. But to assert that he is suspicious of capitalism would be a grotesque fallacy. Fascism’s archetype, Benito Mussolini, nationalized the economy to promote the state, controlling the means of production and reaping its rewards. In contrast, Trump deregulated the economy, provided massive tax cuts to the rich and aggressively opposed all forms of nationalization — including the post office. Fascism, thus, is not an apt description of Trump’s behavior. Since Trump’s election, populism has become a buzzword that falls short of accurately characterizing Trump and other far-right politicians. Populism is broadly defined as a “thin-centered ideology” that “considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogenous and antagonistic groups, the ‘pure
people’ and ‘the corrupt elite.’” In practice, however, populism tends to manifest as a left-wing phenomenon based on wealth redistribution, and when this principle of dichotomic division applies to ethnicity and immigration, it is not populism, simply nativism. Thus, the appeal of Trump’s hostility toward immigrants to uneducated whites was not populism, but nativism. While Trump exhibited some characteristics of populists, like his massive rallies and “drain the swamp” rhetoric, his intention was never to better the lives of his supporters; rather, Trump used the nativism and fear within white voters to obtain the one thing he cared for: power. Trump’s entire presidency was not based on policy aspirations but on consolidating his power, and he was willing to undermine democracy to obtain it. While
populist leaders have destroyed democracy in the past through their redistributive policies, as occurred in Venezuela, Trump never cared to respect democracy’s institutional norms. Thus, the label of populist does not apply. Instead, Trump should be classified as a competitive authoritarian. This political phenomenon occurs when democratic institutions exist, but incumbents abuse the state to create significant advantage vis-à-vis their opponents. Competitive authoritarians may employ techniques used by populists, but their end goal is unchecked power. Trump’s goal of destroying American democracy — evident in his support for election interference, attempts to censor the press, lawsuits challenging early and mail-in-voting and his incitement of insurrection
that still lack access to electricity. In the long term, coal not only has serious adverse effects on the environment and health outcomes of a population, but the economic case for coal is also beginning to weaken. In my opinion, China’s unsustainable investments into energy internationally further call into question the strength of their commitment to climate within their borders. If China is to reach President Xi’s ambitious targets, it will need to seriously commit to reducing coal production and consumption within its borders. Please join us for the “Buckling the Belt: Environment and Development and the Belt and Road Initiative” in the EPIIC Symposium (March 18–20, 2021) to discuss drivers and inhibitors of China’s climate policy, as well as the environmental and political implications of the Belt and Road Initiative. Elena Chavez is a senior studying international relations. Elena can be reached at elena.chavez@tufts.edu.
to overturn the results of a free and fair election — is a goal shared not by populists throughout history but by competitive authoritarians. Trump’s abuse of state power to maintain his political power parallels autocrat Viktor Orbán, prime minister of Hungary, rather than the redistributive politics of Venezuelan populist Hugo Chávez that, ultimately, led to the destruction of democratic institutions. Severing Trump from the labels of populism and fascism is not nit-picky; instead, it is a vital realization of the threat Trump posed — an acknowledgment crucial to preventing the rise of a future competitive authoritarian. Brendan Hartnett is a sophomore studying political science. Brendan can be reached at brendan.hartnett@tufts.edu.
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Sports
8 Thursday, March 18, 2021
Samuel Charlton Long Shot
Roger Mason
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his week’s column is about Roger Mason, an 11-year NBA veteran and the current co-founder and CEO of Vaunt Media. Mason played for seven NBA franchises, with the majority of his time spent on the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards. Mason was always a player who wanted to do more than just play, and he pursued various business ventures from the very beginning of his career. During Mason’s time in the league, however, the practice of NBA players pursuing business deals off the court wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is today, and many players who had these interests often got the reputation that they weren’t focused on basketball. In an appearance on “The Game Plan” podcast on March 15, Mason said that he might’ve played more than 11 years in the league had he not pursued his entrepreneurial ventures. His first business endeavor was a promoting company that he started with his business partner. The idea sprung from the fact that young NBA players were always asking Mason where to go to hang out in Washington, D.C. on the nights before their games. Mason, looking to make some money (and possibly help his team win a few games) always helped visiting NBA players find clubs and bars to go to. This process helped him develop a strong set of relationships within the world of Washington, D.C. nightlife and he started a company centered around developing and promoting events in the Washington, D.C. area. The company grossed over $1 million over the first two years, and Mason had officially caught the entrepreneurship bug. In 2016, Mason began his largest and current business venture, Vaunt Media. The concept was a platform on which athletes and celebrities could create content and share their stories. This concept was pioneering at the time, as this was before almost every player shared their experiences via Instagram or Youtube, or had their own podcast. Through the years, Vaunt Media has essentially become a vessel, connecting athletes and celebrities to production companies, and it has been able to monetize on both sides of this process. For example, Vaunt Media worked with Post Malone to create the concept for his celebrity beer pong tournament, which was eventually sold to and produced by Facebook. Roger Mason’s desire to create led him to develop Vaunt Media, which has been successful in offering fans a new way to connect with their favorite athletes, as well as providing athletes and celebrities with a new way of expanding and monetizing their own personal brand. Samuel Charlton is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Samuel can be reached at samuel.charlton@tufts.edu
Matt Chen 3-Point Play
All-Star Weekend recap
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he second half of the 2020–21 NBA season is underway after an eventful All-Star Weekend. This year’s All-Star festivities were condensed into one night in Atlanta, Ga. The NBA pulled off playing without fans in a traditionally fan-focused event, though not without some obstacles. From an actionfilled All-Star Game to some memorable performances in the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest, let’s run through some of the highlights from this year’s All-Star break. 1. Sabonis wins Skills Challenge, Curry wins second 3-Point Contest In what has become a trend in recent years, another big man has taken home the Skills Challenge championship. This year’s champion: Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis. The two-time All-Star defeated fellow All-Stars Julius Randle and Luka Doncic in the first two rounds before defeating Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic in the championship round. In
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the 3-Point Contest, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry took home his second 3-Point title, defeating fellow All-Stars Mike Conley and Jayson Tatum in the championship round. The Warriors guard won it in stunning fashion, nailing his final shot to reach 28 points, surpassing Conley’s 27. In addition to Tatum and Conley, Curry also beat out All-Stars Jaylen Brown, Zach LaVine and Donovan Mitchell to win his second 3-Point title, becoming only the seventh player to win multiple. 2. Simons wins Slam Dunk Contest In a three-person field, Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons was crowned the Slam Dunk Contest winner, beating out New York Knicks forward Obi Toppin and Indiana Pacers guard Cassius Stanley. The participants threw down some truly impressive dunks. From Simons’ dunk in tribute to former winner Tracy McGrady to Toppin’s windmill dunk over two people, viewers at home saw some truly incredible dunks. While many criticized this year’s Dunk Contest for being lackluster, the dunks showcased the true athletic ability of some of the best basketball players in the world. 3. Team LeBron wins All-Star Game, Antetokounmpo wins All-Star MVP as weekend centers HBCUs In what has become a pattern since the All-Star Game format switched
to captains, Team LeBron won yet again, defeating Team Durant 170150. Despite the lack of fans, the feel of the All-Star game was still there. From players like Curry and Chris Paul throwing down dunks to some wild half-court shots from Curry and Damian Lillard, including the winning basket, the All-Star Game still provided fans with a showcase of the league’s best players. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo took home All-Star Game MVP honors after scoring 35 points on 16–16 shooting. While Antetokounmpo won MVP and Team LeBron won for the fourth straight year, this year’s biggest winners were historically Black colleges and universities. From the court design to the pregame performances to the charities both teams played for, many aspects of this year’s All-Star Game centered historically Black colleges and universities. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund and United Negro College Fund, both of which support students at historically Black colleges and universities, came away with at least $1.5 million in funding. Matt Chen is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Matt can be reached at matthew.chen@tufts.edu
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