The Tufts Daily - Thursday, April 15, 2021

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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 43

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Thursday, April 15, 2021

Somerville and Revere organize vaccination clinic for veterans

by Jack Maniaci

Assistant News Editor

The Office of Veterans’ Services in Somerville and Revere and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System organized a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for veterans on April 3 at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Beachmont Post 6712. The clinic offered vaccines to any and all veterans provided that they were registered for VA healthcare.

This registration could also be completed at the event itself.

In an announcement, Somer ville Director of Veterans’ Services Ted LouisJacques explained the reason behind the organizing of this clinic.

“It was imperative that we create a multi-faceted strategy to reach the veterans population by bringing vaccinations directly into impacted communities and offering an exclusive COVID-19 clinic for veterans of all ages,” LouisJacques said. “This partnership is indicative of the fundamental changes that can happen when you provide access, break down barriers and close equity gaps for the people who need it most.”

The announcement outlined the process and vaccine offerings.

“The Moderna and Janssen ( Johnson & Johnson) vaccine will be offered at the clinic,” the announcement said.

“Individuals who receive the Moderna vaccine will be scheduled to receive the second dose on May 1, 2021. A second dose is not needed for the [ J&J] vaccine.”

The clinic was designed to efficiently distribute doses to a population that was both deserving and in need of vaccination. Marc Silvestri, director of veterans services for the City of Revere, discussed the process of realizing this goal.

“It kind of felt like it was falling on deaf ears for a little while and we kept pushing and pushing and pushing,” Silvestri said. “It was supposed to happen a couple of weeks back, and then it was supposed to happen on [March] 27th again. So I kind of started to lose faith a bit, and then they came out just before the 27th, inspected the hall, and they were able to approve the VFW site in Revere.”

To secure the doses needed to vaccinate veterans, the cities’ Offices of Veterans’ Services

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The Office of Veterans’ Services in Somerville and Revere and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System organized a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for any and all veterans, provided that they were registered for VA health care. were able to go through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which has been able to prioritize vaccination for veterans in particular.

“The doses are actually provided to us from the VA,” Silvestri said. ”I believe that the federal government is the one that’s supplying the vaccinations to the [department], but they’ve handled this amazingly smooth as far as the vaccination rollout.”

The federal government has done more than just supply

doses of the vaccine to the Department of Veterans Affairs — they have also taken action to make these doses available to a more inclusive population of veterans.

“Two weeks ago, Congress filed the Save Lives Act, and Friday … Biden signed it into law, and that opens up all veterans to have access to the vaccine, not just the ones enrolled in VA clinic,” Silvestri said. “So this is going to help get our numbers up and get some people vaccinated that

would be ultimately not able to yet in the VA system.”

According to Silvestri, similar vaccination clinics for veterans had seen around two to four hundred veterans appear for vaccinations, a number that could potentially have increased.

Louis-Jacques said the Somerville and Revere clinic was successful.

“The clinic went well on Saturday,” Louis-Jaques wrote in an email to the Daily.

“Everything was smooth. We

SPORTS / back

FEATURES / page 2

WEEKENDER / page 4

Baseball takes three of four from Colby on opening weekend

What it means to bring ‘twin energy’ to Tufts

Controversy over Xinjiang cotton reveals tensions in global fashion markets

had more than 125 Veterans vaccinated. They were very pleased for the opportunity to get a vaccine.”

The clinic was a successful example of cooperation between the cities of Somerville and Revere over the shared interest of protecting the veterans of each community.

“It all comes down to getting veterans vaccinated,” Louis-Jacques said. “Whatever was going to get that we were willing to put in the work.”

NEWS

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FEATURES

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WEEKENDER

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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2 Thursday, April 15, 2021

Features

tuftsdaily.com

Kevin Zhang Tales from the T

Seeing double: Twins reflect on shared experience at Tufts and their journeys here

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by Aisha Catena

The cooler Green Line

he Red Line currently has the distinction of running both the newest and some of the oldest trains on the MBTA. The newest trains entered service in December 2020, while the oldest entered service in 1945. That’s not a typo — these trains began running during World War II, and were built according to an even older Depressionera design. But you won’t be able to catch these trains from Davis. (You won’t be able to catch the new trains either — they couldn’t last three months in service before being withdrawn — but that’s a different story.) Instead, you’ll have to take the Red Line down to Ashmont for a transfer to the Mattapan trolley.

The Mattapan trolley, known to its friends as the M Line and to its mother as the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, is quite the quirky (insert sparkle emoji) little line. Shuttling between Ashmont and Mattapan, it’s part of the Red Line, but runs streetcars (trolleys) instead of subway trains.

And these aren’t the Green Line’s modern streetcars, but PCC streetcars, a revolutionary 1930s-era model whose innovative, reliable engineering made it a mainstay on streetcar lines across the globe.

That’s cool and all, but why are PCC streetcars still in service nearly 80 years later? Some context: the Mattapan trolley runs on the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad, which was built in 1847. In 1923, a Red Line extension from Andrew south to Mattapan was approved. Original plans called for the line to continue via the Milton branch to today’s MBTA Fairmount Line.

Trains would then run back to Andrew via the Fairmount Line, creating a massive loop encircling Dorchester.

Ultimately, the Red Line was cut back to Mattapan. It was deemed too costly to extend subway service from Ashmont, and so streetcars were chosen. The AshmontMattapan High Speed Line opened in 1929, the name a nod to the line’s separation from road traffic from its steam railroad days. (It’s likely still faster than the Green Line.)

As modern streetcars were too heavy for the line, the Mattapan trolley’s PCCs soldiered on through the decades — first out of necessity, but increasingly out of nostalgia.

With its scenic riverside route and elegant vintage fleet, the line is perhaps the most gorgeous in the MBTA. The line’s special maintenance needs blacksmiths to make spare parts and jet engine-powered snowblowers to clear snow, all of this cementing its uniqueness.

Thanks to loving maintenance and several rebuilds, the PCCs should last for another six years for over 85 total years of service.

But you can’t run from your past forever (believe me, I’ve tried). The fleet’s increasing unreliability during harsh weather and its noncompliance with ADA and safety regulations have made its replacement inevitable, with new Green Line-style streetcars to be introduced after track upgrades. After all, nostalgia aside, the residents of Mattapan deserve modern, reliable transit too. But for the time being, the PCCs are here to stay.

(A reminder that we are, of course, in a pandemic. Transit is generally safe, but nonetheless avoid all non-essential trips until it’s safe for you to travel.)

Kevin Zhang is a sophomore studying civil engineering. Kevin can be reached at kevin.zhang7@tufts.edu.

Assistant Features Editor

Twinhood can be a complicated relationship — it can be like having an ingrained best friend, or it can encourage constant competition. Many children who are not twins might romanticize the idea.

“The Parent Trap” (1998) made the relationship seem appealing with its depiction of mischievous pranks and adventures.

However, according to three sets of twins at Tufts, having a person with whom you share almost everything, including your college, is a more nuanced experience.

Ian and Elliot Lam Seniors Ian and Elliot Lam are from Haworth, NJ. Elliot is studying international relations and economics, and Ian is studying economics and American studies.

The two reported being incredibly close as children.

“I’ve always been really grateful to have a twin growing up, I love my brother to death,” Elliot said. They often shared friend groups but had some different extracurricular interests. Ian was interested in music, and Elliot participated in track.

The twins had quite a unique experience when it came to applying to Tufts — both applied Early Decision I, but at first, only one of them got in. The pair had agreed that even if they didn’t end up at the same school, they wanted to be close

to each other. Application decisions were released: Elliot was accepted and Ian was deferred. In retrospect, Ian tells the story with a laugh, describing how their small high school began to gossip about the fact that only one of the twins was accepted. During the four-month stretch before regular admissions decisions were released, Ian convinced himself it was destiny that he had not been accepted. However, when he eventually got his acceptance letter, he made an instant decision — the twins would attend college together.

When the pair first arrived at Tufts, Elliot said they had a mutual understanding that they would give each other space “to grow into the individual people that [they would] ultimately become.” Even so, Ian said he was slightly nervous about attending the same school as Elliot. He described learning that he and Elliot would be housed just one floor apart in Houston Hall. He was surprised and upset, so much so that he emailed Residential Life to try to get switched to a different room, but no change was made.

Nevertheless, the twins have carved their own paths throughout their four years at Tufts while still staying close and relying on each other for support during hard times.

Ian recalls a party he attended with his friends where he bumped into Elliot’s friend group while Elliot was studying abroad.

“It was almost like a full circle moment.

I was like, ‘Oh, this is really nice … We kind of made our world and made our friends.

And they’re friends with each other … In a way that I think that is really, really nice,” Ian said.

Jen and Lia Rotti Jen and Lia Rotti are sophomores, roommates, members of the track and field team and identical twins. Jen, who is studying biology, is on the pre-med track. She is the self-proclaimed less organized twin. Lia, who is majoring in applied math with a physics minor, laughed as she labeled herself the more orderly of the two. From a young age, the sisters have been extremely close.

“You have a built-in friend,” Lia said. Jen agreed, saying that she and her sister are compatible and share similar humor, values and extracurricular interests like track.

Nevertheless, at times twinhood can be a little isolating, they said.

“You do have that person who’s so close to you that, you know, it kind of makes us a bubble,” Lia said. The twin’s circle of friends usually included the two of them plus a couple of other people.

When it came to applying to college, they made the conscious decision to apply to different universities.

“We had decided that this was the time in our lives where we were going to try to, you know, split up and separate and see TWIN, page 4

COURTESY THE SASANUMA, ROTTI AND LAM TWINS

Sasha and Chris Sasanuma (left), Jen and Lia Rotti (top right), and Ian and Elliot Lam (bottom right) are pictured.

F e at u r e s

Twins reflect on staying close while charting own paths TWIN

continued from page 3 differentiate ourselves from each other,” Jen said.

Jen applied Early Decision I to Tufts while Lia was in the recruiting process for track at the University of Chicago. However, Lia’s offer fell through and Tufts was her second choice, so she applied to Tufts during the Early Decision II round and got in.

With a laugh, they both agreed that ending up at Tufts was a positive coincidence.

Jen and Lia’s relationship at Tufts has remained similar to what it was in high school.

“I was afraid that being stuck in like a 16-by-10-foot room would drive us crazy, but it’s actually been really great … I know that if I have a problem with something I can, like, tell her to stop without feeling bad,” Jen said.

Although some may assume that going to the same university as your identical twin sister would be difficult, it has been a smooth journey for the pair.

But one problem they run into is when people confuse them for each other.

“It’s always kind of funny when people mess it up,” Lia said. Jen added, “People always

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Thursday, April 15, 2021 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY

feel so bad when they mix up our names, but we’re just used to it, it doesn’t bother us.”

Christopher and Sasha Sasanuma Sasha and Christopher Sasanuma are fraternal twins from Tokyo, Japan. Sasha is a sophomore studying international relations and anthropology and Christopher is a firstyear considering majoring in computer science and Spanish.

For twins, Sasha and Chris are quite different from one another: Christopher is 6 feet, 6 inches tall, has smooth short hair and a quiet, introspective demeanor. Sasha is 5 feet, 3 inches tall with curly hair and an extroverted personality. Although they don’t seem to have much in common, they say they have a classic brother-sister relationship that involves joking around at the dinner table and friendly bickering.

The pair attended elementary school and high school together. Both agreed it was fun to share the same friends when they were young.

“It was a big slumber party when we were growing up,” Christopher said.

When they started high school, Christopher did not find as solid

of a group of friends as Sasha did.

Although he enjoyed spending time with her, it became hard not to draw comparisons.

“Part of me was always like, ‘oh, I wish I was Sasha, I wish I had an amazing group of friends,” Christopher said. “It’s like a contrast of obviously having always someone with you but also kind of having that comparison.”

Although both twins applied to Tufts, Christopher knew that he didn’t want to attend the same university as Sasha.

“Part of my identity in high school was, ‘Oh I’m Sasha’s brother,’” Christopher said.

Although Sasha didn’t mind studying at the same university as Chris, she didn’t take his desire personally. “[I have] a pretty strong personality, so wanting a break from that, and wanting his own road totally made sense,” she said.

Chris got into Tufts but Sasha was waitlisted. She attended Boston College for her first year of college, and Chris went to Ecuador with the Tufts 1+4 program.

“I feel like we had our own spaces to struggle a good amount,” Sasha said, reflecting on their time apart as a healthy separation.

When Sasha decided she wanted to transfer out of Boston College, she applied to Tufts again. She knew it would be a great fit, but was unsure of how Chris would react.

Ultimately, Chris just wanted her to make the decision that would make her happy.

The two said they have a positive relationship at Tufts, as their time apart and the fact that they are in different years have allowed them to lead different social lives.

“I feel like being in the same grade as your twin feels just very like this twin energy … and you can’t get away,” Sasha said. “But I feel like now there’s almost a peaceful power balance.”

Sasha knew the people often advise against going to the same school as your sibling, but after she and Chris both struggled independently, she came to the realization that they had grown enough that attending the same college would not be an issue.

“With siblings, it’s not like you part ways and then five years later, you’re like, ‘Okay, I’ll see you in the city,’” she said. “For me, I realized that being close with siblings, and what family means, is really going through each stage together.”

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4 Thursday, April 15, 2021

Drew Weisberg A Fantastic Voyage

‘The Future Foundation’

WEEKENDER

Xinjiang cotton forces fashion to choose its focus — East or West?

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his week, we tackle a whole volume, issues #579–582, also known as “The Future Foundation,” (2010) which sees some fun surprises set up and a few characterizing moments for the Thing and the Human Torch.

The story opens with Reed Richards speaking at a “TED Talk” analog at “Singularity 2010,” which seems to be going well until Reed seems to go offscript. He begins to berate his fellow scientists, proclaiming, “You fear tomorrow.” As such, Reed decides to form the eponymous “Future Foundation”: a collection of young and brilliant minds from around the Marvel universe to solve the problems of the “tomorrow” that his colleagues supposedly fear.

And what is the first problem that this assemblage of young minds decides to tackle? Curing the Thing of his rocky condition. The catch? He can only remain in his human form for one week out of the year. The sequence of Ben Grimm pondering whether or not to be cured is the first moment of true pathos that the character has experienced thus far and it’s a stunner to be sure.

Ben’s hunched posture and downtrodden utterance of “I don’t got time for this” really drives home the bitter nature of his condition — a man forced to watch his best friend create unimaginable technological wonders but mostly unable to cure him.

On the other hand, Johnny Storm is at the center of one of the arc’s most amusing distractions, a fight in a toy store against obscure Marvel fixtures Arcade and the Impossible Man. The sequence is a hoot and really contributes to Johnny’s “fun uncle” persona as he brings young Franklin along for the ride.

The majority of the arc, though, deals with the return of Reed’s absentee father, Nathaniel Richards, from a chronal war among myriad different Nathaniels from throughout the multiverse. This portion acts as a fascinating flip side to the Council of Reeds from previous arcs and highlights the differences between Reed and his father: the former is prone to teamwork and solutions, while the latter is prone to conflict and solitude. The conflict leaves Nathaniel as the sole survivor of the war, and as such he returns to a time bubble in the future where the future versions of Franklin and Valeria await him. With steely eyes, Franklin hurls Nathaniel back in time to comfort an adult Reed as he says, “Every boy deserves a father,” a line dripping with weight given Reed’s constant struggle to be a better family man than Nathaniel.

“Future Foundation” is the best balance between the four members thus far, which sparks my only real complaint: Why couldn’t we have gotten more of Ben and Johnny sooner? Much to my delight, we get just that in next week’s exploration of my personal favorite arc, “Three.”

Drew Weisberg is a junior studying film and media studies. Drew can be reached at mitchell.weisberg@tufts.edu.

tuftsdaily.com

COURTESY PEXELS

A recent controversy has erupted over brands who use Xinjiang cotton, exposing fashion’s role in U.S.-China tensions as well as its broader problems with human rights abuses.

by Phoebe Wong

Assistant Arts Editor

A recent controversy has erupted over brands who use Xinjiang cotton, exposing fashion’s role in U.S.-China tensions as well as its broader problems with human rights abuses. For background, the Xinjiang region of China is responsible for about a fifth of global cotton production. In fact, it contributes to a whopping 1.5 billion garments imported annually by American brands.

Xinjiang is also notably home to the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group which has largely been oppressed by China and has allegedly been forced to work in labor camps.

The heart of this conflict lies in concerns raised by many human rights groups about the region’s cotton production. Several brands such as Adidas, Lacoste, H&M, Ralph Lauren and the PVH Corporation (the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) responded to the human rights allegations by echoing these concerns. The debate over Xinjiang cotton began as early as 2016, but H&M and other brands reiterated their worries more recently in the fall of 2020.

Interestingly though, it only really began to draw widespread responses from China over the past month.

Many Chinese citizens boycotted retailers that accused China of sourcing cotton through forced Uyghur labor, and called on others to do the same through blogging and social media sites like Weibo.

For products of brands like Nike or H&M that they owned, Chinese consumers covered their logos with masking tape or even threw them away entirely. Chinese influencers, who had previously partnered with Western brands and who are integral to their appeal to Chinese consumers, similarly denounced the brands.

Beyond individuals, Chinese e-commerce platforms and digital maps removed H&M products and stores, some shops banned people wearing certain Western brands from entering and restaurants have offered free drinks to those wearing domestic brands. Chinese state television blurred out Western brand names on clothing worn by reality show contestants just last week, and video game companies like Tencent removed character outfits featuring Burberry designs.

In response, some brands walked back on their previous comments. H&M issued a new statement trying to “regain the

trust and confidence” of Chinese consumers, while Inditex removed previous commitments to avoid Xinjiang cotton from its website. Muji even announced a new apparel line promoting Xinjiang cotton. These moves have since received their own backlash from American and European media, revealing the predicament of these brands: they will likely alienate Western or Chinese consumers no matter what they do. If they appease China, human rights organizations will condemn them, but if they do not, they risk losing the increasingly large market which China presents.

Already in March, the U.S., Canada, U.K. and EU each announced sanctions against China over its abuse of the Uyghur population. The U.S. banned cotton imports from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps even earlier in December, despite the difficulty of monitoring and enforcing this rule. Such difficulty is only compounded by experts’ predictions that China will be responsible for the largest amount of global luxury consumption by 2025, showing the huge incentive of brands to maintain favor with China instead of complying with Western attitudes and regulations.

In fact, it is also unclear how brands could fully satisfy human rights organizations and prevent the use of Xinjiang cotton altogether. Supply chains are incredibly complex, and shifting production to other Asian countries does not guarantee that they will not use Xinjiang cotton exported from China. This problem is not unique to Xinjiang cotton — the fashion industry struggles with monitoring and stopping human rights abuses of sweatshop labor and environmental harm in almost all locations where production is outsourced to be cheaper.

Even the Better Cotton Initiative — a group specifically created to increase transparency in cotton production globally — has gotten caught up in the controversy. It reversed previous statements expressing concern over Xinjiang human rights abuses to instead claim that no evidence of such abuses has been found, proving the cotton industry expert Eddie Jernigan’s statement that, “BCI was never set up to try to tell the [Chinese] government what to do.” Monitoring potential abuses by private companies is one thing, whereas investigating a state-sponsored program is another entirely.

The particular case of Xinjiang cotton thus reveals deeper issues that Western brands have with outsourcing, as abuses come to light and outsourcing locations rise as economic powers in their own right. China’s desire to exert nationalism and soft power within the world of fashion was evident at its fashion weeks during the past month. At Beijing Fashion Week, Designer Zhou Li received a bouquet of cotton instead of traditional flowers at the end of her show. “Xinjiang cotton is my sweetheart, my love, which is to say I’m very grateful it has brought me such happiness,” she said after the show. Models also remarked on their national pride and trust in China’s denial of forced-labor allegations. Many other designers incorporated traditional Chinese designs, mythology and dyeing and weaving practices into their collections as well.

Meanwhile, at Shanghai fashion week, which just ended on Tuesday, designers impressively integrated physical and virtual formats, something that other fashion weeks have struggled with due to the pandemic. European brands like Versace traveled to stage their own events too, with Dior actually using the location to show its pre-fall 2021 collection for the very first time. Whereas more international designers have gone to European and American fashion weeks to make a name for themselves in the past, Western labels are now actively courting audiences at shows based in Asia.

A more unexpected type of fashion show where the turning tables of East and West have been on display lies in the world of sports. The Chinese basketball star Guo Ailun has not played since March 26 because he sponsors Jordan shoes, owned

by Nike. On the other hand, the prices of shoes from the Chinese sportswear brands Li Ning and Anta Sports shot up last week due to the increasing support for local brands, reaching about thirty times their original prices. On a global level, the International Olympics Committee has hired the Hengyuanxiang Group, which uses Xinjiang cotton, to make staff uniforms for the upcoming games in Tokyo.

From the Chinese Basketball Association season to the Olympic games, even sportswear is a political performance.

Ultimately, this all speaks to China’s increasing power in fashion as a crucial consumer market, a rising leader for integrating technology into industry events and a production powerhouse. Referring to Better Cotton Initiative’s messy role in the Xinjiang conflict, a previous senior official at the International Labour Organization commented that, “A decade ago when people talked about China being the next power, I couldn’t really see what it would look like … Now, I can see what China as a power looks like … it looks like this.” Chinese officials themselves issued a parallel statement to H&M which harkened back to China’s historical “century of humiliation” by Western powers and declared the “era of bullying” to be over.

Perhaps the reason why China has only now voiced such aggressive responses to the claims of forced Uyghur cotton production is because of the opportune moment that both its fashion weeks and the regional Olympics within Asia this year offer to showcase its potential as a new fashion capital. The controversy over Xinjiang cotton may only be a precursor of further dynamic changes to come in the fashion industry and beyond.

Thursday, April 15, 2021 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

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F& G

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Ryan: “i woke up at noon and am now suffering the consequences.”

FUN & GAMES

SUDOKU

MY DOG: I THINK THERE HAS BEEN A MISTAKE

Difficulty Level: Trying to actually enjoy the long weekend without having to worry about homework.

By Aidan Chang

Wednesday’s Solutions

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Brendan Hartnett Democracy in The Daily

Democracy and oppression

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rance is having an identity crisis. A wave of critical theory has grown popular with the French youth, leading them to question the Fifth Republic and its historical-materialist position.

These ideas regarding race, gender and post-colonialism have led to mass protests under the umbrella of Union Nationale des Étudiants de France, the national student union.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is dead. On the heels of Oprah’s revealing interview

Opinion with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the discourse surrounding Prince Philip’s death not only includes TikToks joking about how a Taki could have killed Philip, but also growing opposition to the monarchy among British youth.

Derek Chauvin, who is charged with George Floyd’s death, is on trial. Yet, more than a third of all Americans said they didn’t support Black Lives Matter as recently as last August, and according to a report published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, nearly a third of Americans don’t believe in the adverse effects of systemic racism. The U.S. empire has yet to come to terms with its stolen land, genocide and post-colonial legacies.

Democracy doesn’t mean oppression is gone. Democracy isn’t justice. Democracies still

experience many of the same systemic issues as authoritarian states; in fact, most are built on it. Few, if any, democracies were founded in an equitable fashion. Few are truly equitable today.

States are built on oppression. Embodying this is the issue of suffrage, a way to explain who democracy is for and who truly lives in a democracy. Neither the U.S., U.K. nor France were born with universal suffrage. The U.K. only introduced universal male suffrage in 1918 and universal suffrage in 1928. France didn’t extend suffrage to women until 1944. While the United States achieved universal male suffrage by 1856, white women were not granted the right to vote until 1920. The United States did not achieve universal suffrage until 1965, when

Black Americans’ right to vote was protected. Nonetheless, we regularly refer to the U.S. as a democracy a century prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

There is a debate between scholars about whether Switzerland — where universal male suffrage was achieved in 1848, but women didn’t secure the right to vote in all cantons until 1971 — or New Zealand — where universal suffrage was achieved in 1893 — was the first democracy.

The existence of this debate about how to classify “democracies” without universal suffrage reveals a harrowing truth: democracies are not universally democratic or free from oppression. While one person may experience all the joys of being in a democracy, others may be pushed aside and feel helpless. The struggle for

Discover the unsearchable Discover the forest

Find a trail near you at DiscoverTheForest.org

tuftsdaily.com basic rights within a democracy must still be waged. It is integral for an observer as passionate about democracy and democratic studies as me to ask the question: Who experiences the benefits of democracy?

“Democracy” doesn’t mean democracy for everyone.

Am I disregarding the benefits of democracy as a political system? No. However, in contrast to more traditional theories of democracy, such as the liberal peace thesis, I’m simply stating a fact: Democracy isn’t justice, and states are, admittedly, built on force and oppression. This must be remembered when analyzing democracy.

Brendan Hartnett is a sophomore studying political science.

Brendan can be reached at brendan.hartnett@tufts.edu.

Sports

Thursday, April 15, 2021 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

7

Men split, women drop a pair to Wesleyan ROWING

continued from back boat there are four [first-years], is a little hard,” Johnson said.

“Getting used to that first race, like how the coxswain calls, how people row, when we need to use power strokes, getting acquainted with all that from the first race makes the second race a lot better.”

Matt Chen 3-Point Play

Play-in viability, injury updates and new Timberwolves ownership

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s we enter the final month of the NBA’s regular season, the fourth through 10th seeds of the Eastern Conference remain in flux while the league’s elites have established themselves as the teams to beat in this year’s playoffs. However, injuries to key contributors on contenders

After both Tufts boats dropped their races to Wesleyan, Johnson said the team and coaches assessed what specific racing skills they needed to work on moving forward.

“Our course is a bit difficult, mentally,” Johnson said. “During part of the race, one team will be up and then the other team will be up and it evens out. The main thing we’re working on is strength-

ening our mental state during the race and preparing ourselves to push really hard when we need to push hard. Even though it may look like they’re gaining on us or they are in front of us a little bit, they’re actually not.”

Going into the next race, Ross and the Jumbos are focused on themselves rather than on their opponents. Both Ross and

Hardiman-Mostow recognize the unpredictability of their opponents in this pandemic-ridden season, and they are looking forward to this weekend’s race.

“It’s hard to expect how the other teams are doing since it seems like every school has had different experiences with COVID,” said Hardiman-Mostow.

“Our only focus for this weekend

is that it’s just another regular season race and to keep building on what we did last weekend.

We’re working on making steady progress and finding our pocket.”

The men’s rowing team will compete on Sunday against Hamilton at home on the Malden River at 2 p.m. The women’s team will compete at the same time against Hamilton and Bates.

threaten playoff and championship hopes for many teams, the new play-in tournament has fallen under scrutiny and one team is soon to be under new ownership.

Players and owners criticize new play-in tournament Prior to the release of regular-season schedules last November, the NBA announced the approval of a play-in tournament, similar to the one used in the NBA bubble last summer. Under this new format, teams that finish as the seventh through 10th seeds in their respective conferences qualify for a play-in tournament that determines the seventh and eighth seeds in each conference.

The tournament will be double elimination for the teams that finished the regular season seventh and eighth and single elimination for the ninth and 10th teams.

However, not everyone is on board with this new format. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and owner Mark Cuban have both criticized the new format, with Cuban calling it “an enormous mistake.” Both argue that the new format places even more physical stress on players, especially stars that are already playing big minutes in the regular season. For teams that tend to rest players, such as the Mavericks, every game down the stretch could have major implications for playoff seeding.

Contenders missing stars, young players go down Prior to this past week, many of basketball’s biggest names have been injured and are currently missing time. Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis has missed the last 26 games with a calf strain, although he could

return within the next two weeks.

LeBron James is still out with an ankle sprain that has cost him his last 13 games. Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward and rookie guard LaMelo Ball are still out with a sprained foot and broken wrist, respectively. Even more recently, Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray suffered a torn ACL, ending his season and dealing a crushing blow to the Nuggets’ hopes of a deep playoff run. To add to the injury bug, Golden State Warriors rookie James Wiseman recently suffered a torn meniscus, likely bringing an end to a solid rookie season.

Timberwolves under new ownership In news that Timberwolves fans are sure to celebrate, longtime majority owner Glen Taylor is selling the Minnesota Timberwolves to former MLB

player Alex Rodriguez and billionaire Marc Lore for around $1.5 billion. While Taylor is likely the reason Minnesota has an NBA team today, the team’s performance and draft record have been less than desirable. The Timberwolves have missed the playoffs in 16 out of the last 17 years, have not advanced past the first round more than once and have missed out on some big names in drafts, most notably in 2009 when the Timberwolves took two guards over Stephen Curry.

Timberwolves fans will hope that new ownership can turn this franchise around, although whether the team will stay in Minneapolis remains to be seen.

Matt Chen is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Matt can be reached at matthew.chen@tufts.edu.

8 Thursday, April 15, 2021

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Baseball opens season with series win over Colby

by Jack Adgate Staff Writer

The Tufts baseball team won three out of four games this weekend against Colby, winning two at home on Saturday and one on the road on Sunday.

The Jumbos took the first game with a strong start from junior right-hander Michael Volgende. The Connecticut native surrendered only two hits in six innings of work, striking out eight and walking only one.

On Monday, Volgende was awarded NESCAC Pitcher of the Week for his dominant performance.

“It feels great [to be pitcher of the week] for sure, considering all of the hard work put in since our 2020 season was taken from us, but at the end of the day it’s about winning baseball games, especially in the shortened season,” Volgende said about the honor.

At the plate, Tufts got off to a slow start before junior outfielder Miles Reid hit a solo home run, the first of his collegiate career.

An RBI triple by sophomore outfielder Jackson Duffy and a two-run homer from senior outfielder Brandon Bay drove in the remaining three runs in the sixth.

Junior Brendan McFall came out of the pen to close out the 4-0 victory for the Jumbos with a hitless seventh inning.

In the second game at Huskins Field, the Jumbo offense got off to a scorching start, scoring nine runs in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore outfielder Jimmy Evans tallied his first career collegiate hit on a

three-run triple to center field, which was followed by a two-run blast from senior infielder Kyle Cortese, the next batter. Junior catcher Ryan Noone sent a ball over the right-field wall for a homer in the fourth, scoring the Jumbos’ 10th run. Seven Jumbos tallied hits in the first inning offensive outburst.

“After last season getting canceled and being part of that locker room when coach broke the news to us, it taught us as a team to truly never take anything for granted,” Evans said about finally making his collegiate debut.

“We’ve waited a long time for this, and thinking about the 2020 seniors gave us an extra boost of energy when we took the field at Huskins on Saturday.”

Sophomore right-hander Cameron Mayer was impressive in his collegiate debut, throwing five strong innings while giving up only two hits and striking out eight. Also making his collegiate debut, first-year right-hander Silas Reed allowed four hits across two innings of work while striking out six, sealing the deal for the Jumbos in a 10–0 victory.

On Sunday, the Jumbos won the third of the four games with an 8–4 victory over the Mules on the road. Junior starting pitcher Luke Gustavson gave Tufts four-and-a-third innings on the mound, surrendering three earned runs and striking out five. Senior Spencer Langdon would throw the remaining two-and-two-thirds innings to close out the victory for Tufts, giving up only one hit and striking out three.

SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Tufts baseball team played Colby College on April 10.

The bats stayed hot for the Jumbos in, with six different players tallying RBIs. Reid registered three hits, while Cortese added another home run. The Tufts offense was active on the base paths as well, with four players recording steals.

The Mules scored runs on hits by center fielder Patrick

McConnell and designated hitter Cabot Maher. McConnell led the way for the Mules offense with three hits in the loss.

Colby showed resilience throughout the fourth game, coming back from a deficit twice to take a 12–9 victory over the Jumbos on Sunday. Tufts jumped ahead in the first with

three runs, but Colby responded with a three-run frame of their own in the bottom half.

Sophomore Connor Kinney started on the mound for the Jumbos, going one inning and giving up three runs.

After Tufts grabbed a 7–3 lead in the top of the third, Colby chipped away, keeping the game within reach. Finally, Colby cracked through to take the lead in a four-run fifth inning. The Jumbos’ pitching staff struggled with command in Game 4, walking seven batters and giving up three hit-by-pitches.

Volgende commented on how the pitching staff can improve from a solid start to the season.

“For the staff, it’s all about having enough focus and commitment to bear down and make quality pitches, rather than trying to gas everybody up,” said Volgende. “There are always ways to improve, whether it be tweaking your routine, mechanics or even work ethic.”

Evans and fellow sophomore Clay Sowell were bright spots offensively in the loss for the Jumbos. Both tacked on three hits and four RBIs, along with the first homers of their collegiate careers . Sowell finished a single shy of the cycle in just his second career start.

“Our offense as a whole swung the bat great this past weekend,” said Evans. “This week in practice we need to continue to focus on simplifying things and passing the bat to the next guy.”

The Jumbos and Mules will meet again on Saturday, April 17 in Waterville to begin another four-game NESCAC set.

Men’s and women’s rowing open season on Malden River

EMMA BOERSMA / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Tufts women’s rowing team is pictured racing Wesleyan on April 10.

by Keila McCabe

Contributing Writer

This past weekend, Tufts men’s and women’s rowing combined for mixed results in their season opener on the Malden River against Wesleyan University. The men’s 1v8 boat lost its first race, but the men’s 2v8 boat edged out Wesleyan. Both the women’s 1v8 and 2v8 boats fell short to the Cardinals.

In the first men’s race, the 1v8 boat lost with a 6:14.9 time to Wesleyan’s 6:08.2. However, the Jumbos secured a win with the men’s 2v8 boat defeating the Cardinals with a 6:28.4 time to a 6:35.3 for Wesleyan. The men’s 1v8 and 2v8 lineups varied in experience with a total of five first-years, seven sophomores, four juniors and two seniors.

Junior bow Henry Ross said that although the team fell short of its goal, the rowers were excited to be out on the water competing again. He attributed the loss to rust and also to a strong competitor in the 1v8 Wesleyan boat, the reigning New England champion. He said the team, despite recent losses, is working hard and has high hopes for the remainder of the season.

“We’re going into this season with some uncertainty, but everyone is still super excited to get back into it, especially with how fast our boats are moving,” Ross said. “With how excited everyone is to be there every day, it’s been a real treat to be a part of. The quality of work that people are doing at practice is the highest it’s really ever been.”

In reference to this past weekend’s performance, Ross said the boat encountered a hiccup in the middle of their race, and they are trying to improve upon that portion of their race.

“We need to work on getting comfortable at slightly higher stroke rates and solidifying our mid-race move,” Ross said. “The first thousand [meters] we rowed on Saturday was really good, just in the pocket having fun. But, then [we] bobbled a little bit and couldn’t really recover in the manner that we wanted to after Wesleyan took a few seats on us.

We’ve been doing a lot of work to keep up the mojo throughout the second half of the race.”

Senior stroke Harris Hardiman-Mostow said he was happy to have had the experience and is not worried about

the loss due to expected rust and suboptimal physical conditions.

“We haven’t raced in so long, so it was more about getting our feet under us rather than really emphasizing just winning,” Hardiman-Mostow said. “We aren’t really in the part of our training cycle that would promote just going out there and having an amazing race. We’re trying to build and be ready for our championship races in the beginning of May.” The women’s 1v8 boat dropped its race with a time of 7:03.1 to Wesleyan’s superior 6:51.5. The Cardinals also edged out the 2v8 boat with a time of 7:07.7 time to the Jumbos’ 7:17.9.

The women’s roster, in contrast to the men’s, is very young, with 12 out of 18 total seats belonging to non-seniors.

First-year rower Elizabeth Johnson, who rowed in the women’s 2v8 boat, said that between the recent hiatus of competitive rowing and the relative lack of experience among the roster, the team still needs to find its groove.

“Every first race, especially with a new crew and in our see ROWING, page 9