The Tufts Daily - Tuesday, December 1, 2020 by The Tufts Daily

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Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Tufts partners with local restaurants, Uber Eats for Thanksgiving meals by Peri Barest Staff Writer

Tufts partnered with local restaurants and Uber Eats to provide students with free meals over Thanksgiving break. The meal program aimed to support local businesses while ensuring that students would not have to worry about accessing or paying for food. “We wanted to be sure food security was not a concern over this holiday,” Camille Lizarríbar, dean of student affairs, wrote in an email to the Daily. “We wanted students to be able to take a break from what has been a very different and often stressful semester and to enjoy the holiday without concerns about cost.” The week prior, students who were planning to stay on campus during the break filled out a survey about their meal preferences and preferred pickup location. see THANKSGIVING, page 2

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The entrance to the Gantcher Center is pictured on Aug. 28.

Medical school, Cummings school professors research viral proteins, COVID-19 infection by Sarah Sandlow News Editor

Marta Gaglia, assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at the Tufts University School of Medicine, and Jonathan Runstadler, professor and interim chair of the Department of

Infectious Disease and Global Health at Tufts’ Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, are collaborating to determine how certain viral proteins influence the way a cell is able to sense a viral infection. Gaglia explained that her lab researches how viruses interact with their host and what happens when a virus enters a cell. She

studies how viruses try to change the cell in ways that would benefit the viruses’ replication. Her lab is working to translate the same ideas to the COVID-19 virus. “That’s something that the virus is going to want to do to delay the onset of the immune response so that the virus can keep replicating for a longer time, and that may have a lot of

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The Cummings School is pictured.

implications for the course of the disease in people,” Gaglia said. Gaglia added that with her collaborator at the Cummings School, they are planning on making viruses that lack specific proteins to observe changes in cell behavior following infection. “Our prediction is that the virus is going to replicate less well missing those proteins because the cell is going to be able to respond more quickly to the infection,” Gaglia said. Runstadler, Gaglia’s collaborator in the project, discussed how Gaglia’s understanding of the way in which viral proteins interact with the immune system relates to his experience in working with viruses that have zoonotic potential, or the threat of movement between species. “Part of this project that I’m really interested in is to see if we can learn a bit about mutations in those viral proteins that [Gaglia] is really interested in, how changes in those proteins impact the infectiousness of the [SARS-CoV-2] virus, particularly for humans but also for other animal species,” Runstadler said. Gaglia explained that the lab plans to differentiate cell cultures

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 5

EDITORIAL / page 7

Rising star ella jane shares on songwriting, production process

Liturgy impresses fans with fourth album

It’s up to students to contain COVID-19 spread

to make cells that resemble epithelial lung tissue. Runstadler added that his interest in understanding the movement of viruses between different hosts, as well as the difference in animal response versus human response, can be applied to developing better COVID-19 treatments and preventing viral spillover. Studying viral factors involved in pathogenesis will help recognize ways that could treat or prevent the viral infection. “Understanding this in the particular context of [SARSCoV-2] will help us understand the same kind of interactions with the other viruses as well,” Runstadler said. “We’ll be more prepared in some ways to both study other viruses or to deal with and know where to direct our research efforts if there’s another pandemic.” Gaglia explained some of the criteria her lab uses when deciding on the protein candidates for study, including how strongly they block the cell’s response to the virus, as well as how much is already known about the protein. see PROTEINS, page 2 NEWS

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continued from page 1 “Students who had indicated they need meals over the break [were] asked to complete a survey to enable us to communicate and/or plan what [was] available,” Patti Klos, director of dining and business services, wrote in an email to the Daily. Students on the Medford/ Somerville campus picked up lunch and dinner on Thursday, and lunches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Gantcher Center during an assigned 30-minute pickup window. Lunch from Thursday through Sunday consisted of a variety of selections from three local restaurants, two in Medford and one in Somerville, according to Klos. Students at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) were offered a similar lunch program. Because of the school’s smaller size, a different restaurant provided lunch each day of the break, according to Laura DaRos, associate dean of student affairs at the SMFA. First-year Ashley Jin said she appreciated the variety of lunch options.

“For me, the lunch food was good. They had a lot of different selections from a bunch of different local restaurants. They had noodles and pasta and different sandwiches,” she said. “It was super easy to get everything … They did a really good job of organizing everything.” For Thanksgiving dinner, students could choose between a traditional Thanksgiving meal and several special dietary options. For dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, students were given a $15 Uber Eats credit to use at a local restaurant of their choice, Klos said. “[We] created a partnership with Uber Eats and Uber for Business to enable students to order dinner on Friday and Saturday night,” Klos said. “The [Tufts] mobile ordering app [was] not used.” However, Jin said that many of her friends experienced technical difficulties placing orders. “[I] called the dean [on] call through TUPD non-emergency, and me and my other two friends

who were with me were also experiencing difficulty when ordering, either because we never received the email to set up a business account in the first place, so we couldn’t put down Tufts as the provider for our $15 credit, or because once they did set up the account, when purchasing food, they said there was an ‘account error,'” Jin wrote in an electronic message to the Daily. Jin also said that even if the program worked smoothly, it may have been a burden for low-income students. “$15 is not a lot for Uber Eats because the cheapest thing for a meal might be around $10 or under … But then you have to pay tax, tip the restaurant and tip the driver,” Jin said. About 2,050 students registered for Thanksgiving break meals, according to Klos. Students who were not on a Tufts meal plan were still able to participate in the program, and students in quarantine or isolation could place orders through the Tufts Dining app and get meals delivered to their residence.

This year’s Thanksgiving meal plan differed from that of past years. “This is the first time meals are being offered to students over the Thanksgiving break due to the unusual circumstance of the pandemic,” Klos said. “In the past, a select group of students with the most need were provided a modest Meal Money stipend to use to acquire food during the break.” Lizarríbar echoed Klos’ sentiment and said that many offices across the university felt the need to provide dining options during the break. “[When] the university asked students to remain on campus throughout the Thanksgiving break, there was a general consensus among several offices that we should offer the holiday dining program as a way to provide students with food options that would be different than usual, support our local restaurants and give as many dining service employees time off on and around the holiday as possible,” Lizarríbar said.

Professors consider how research can expand knowledge of how viruses work PROTEINS

continued from page 1 If a protein blocks the process more than others, they may focus on it more. “We have confirmed that the virus has several proteins that can influence this process and now we’re trying to decide which ones … to focus on,” Gaglia said. Gaglia said she wants to examine what happens when these proteins are missing from the virus. This is expected to determine the sensing and response pathways at the level of the lung epithelium that the virus either is or is not activating. “We hope to understand better how the virus influences the

immune response during the disease … in principle, that could make some of those proteins a target for drugs,” Gaglia said. She added that this will help researchers better understand other viruses similar to COVID-19. “I think we also want to expand our knowledge of how coronaviruses work in general, because this is the third time in 20 years that we’ve had a new, emerging coronavirus,” Gaglia said. “There’s a good chance that, as much as we don’t like to think about it, it might happen again. Maybe it won’t be as widespread as this time, but it sort of suggests that it’s a family of viruses that’s worth watching.”

Alexander Poltorak, professor and interim chair of the Department of Immunology at GSBS, explained the difference between the infection caused by influenza and the COVID-19 infection. “The flu is a pretty innocent disease because it affects [the] lungs, mostly lungs and [the] epithelial layer in the lungs,” Poltorak said. The COVID-19 virus is able to infect endothelial cells, the layer lining blood cells. Poltorak noted that all cells that underlie the blood vessels in the body can become infected. Poltorak also discussed the similarities between COVID-19

and septic shock, which both include high cytokine elevation, causing an acute inflammatory response. “It is not the virus that kills, but rather the violent immune response,” Poltorak wrote in an email to the Daily. According to Gaglia, the research began toward the end of the summer. “I think the problem with this pandemic is that we didn’t have as much knowledge of this class of viruses as would have been beneficial, and so I think as long as we feel like there are interesting questions from a biological standpoint, we’ll continue working on [the research],” Gaglia said.

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Features

3 Tuesday, December 1, 2020

ella jane makes indie pop music with a little bit of ‘What is this?’

Jenny Lu Tuff Talks

Dealing with family

VIA ELLA JANE ON SOUNDCLOUD

The cover of ella jane’s single “The City” (2020) is pictured. by Juanita Asapokhai Contributing Writer

Have you ever loved a book so much you wrote a whole indie pop song about it? Relatedly, have you ever wondered what it’s like to manage a full academic course load and a rising music career during your first semester of college at Tufts, amid a pandemic? Look no further: Meet first-year student and singer-songwriter Ella Roth. As she describes in a TikTok video posted in early October, Roth, like many, started quarantine with isolation taking a toll on her mental health. But after her English teacher assigned her Advanced Placement Literature class a creative final project about any book they had read that year, she emerged from her rut with a catchy indie pop song inspired by the titular character of the classic novel “The Great Gatsby” (1925). The song is called “nothing else i could do,” and since its release in July, it has gained over 2 million streams on Spotify. The TikTok video from October has now accumulated over 2 million

views. Roth, who releases music under the name ella jane, is on the path to becoming a star in the alternative pop scene. Named after the late and great jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, Roth comes from a musical family in Westchester, N.Y. Her father is a jazz pianist, and her mother is a tone-deaf but keen fan of music, according to Roth. She has been playing music since her parents put her and her twin brother in piano lessons at 4 years old. “He immediately rejected it, but I just really fell in love,” Roth said. A self-described “nerd for words,” Roth would go on to combine her love for the piano with her love for writing. “As I got older and started putting the pieces together that I could sing and play at the same time, that was pretty much when I started writing. I used to write a lot of stories when I was little, and that kind of transferred over there, and I’ve been writing ever since,” Roth said. Roth released her first single, “The City” in February, at a time when many high school seniors across the country

began to make decisions about what university they would attend in the fall. Roth chose Tufts because it allowed her to earnestly pursue her music career and studies without sacrificing one for the other. “At the other schools I toured, I’d always be asking, ‘What is there to do with music if I’m not going to major in it or put a huge academic focus on it that’s not just an a capella club?’ And they were like, ‘Uh…,’” Roth said. “It was just really difficult for me to find places where I could keep going with music and explore all these different areas of interest and figure out, ‘What am I gonna do?’” Tufts was unique among the schools Roth applied to as a community of multihyphenates, and as a student-musician, she found herself in good company upon arrival on campus. “When I got to Tufts, it was really cool to see so many people devoting equal attention to all their different interests. I remember one of my tour guides was a double major in dance and psychology, and I just thought that

was really cool. There’s really a value placed on exploring all … of your interests,” Roth said. It’s not uncommon for young musicians to forgo higher education altogether, opting to use the early building stage of their career as a kind of college experience and preparation for a career in the music industry. Roth’s openness to finding her purpose outside of music and a true love for learning are the two factors that pushed her to continue her studies after high school. “Part of it was a genuine curiosity to figure out what to do — and it’s such a huge risk not going to college,” Roth said about her decision to attend college. “It was a bit of fear of failure, but also, I’m a nerd — I love learning, I wanted to go somewhere where I could have more of a specialized experience and choose what I want to learn about and get a great education. I knew it was going to be difficult to juggle both, but I didn’t want to shut out any other possibility of studying something and finding out, ‘Oh, maybe sociology is my passion!’” see ELLA JANE, page 4

ear J: How will I cope with being home for at least two months and not coming back to campus until February? Also will we even have a spring semester? J: The situation with COVID19 is hard for everyone right now. After living alone or with a roommate in college, it’s a weird transition to be at home where you are under your parents’ roof and rules. For now, you’ll still have two weeks of classes and then finals to go through. Write up a schedule of when your classes are so that your family members know when not to disturb you. Writing up a schedule for alone time, exercise or whatever else you might want to do might also be a good idea for when classes are over. It’ll be helpful for you to still have some sort of structure in your life and also for your parents. For me, it’s really important to stay in touch with friends, so I have been doing a lot of Zoom calls and FaceTimes. My roommate and I try to do virtual yoga together every morning. Nobody knows what the situation in the spring will be like. For now, I’m optimistic that we will have a spring semester on campus, but the responsibility is on all of us. Try to limit your outings and contact with others as much as possible — this is especially important since we will not be getting tested every other day like at school. The holidays should definitely be virtual this year so we have a chance of being at Tufts. Dear J: How do you know the path you’re choosing for school or your major is the right one if you keep hearing different voices from friends and family telling you things contrary to your dreams/desires? J: The fact that you said your friends and family are telling you things contrary to your dreams and desires tells me that you have a clue as to what your dreams and desires are, and whatever they’re protesting is the right path. I mean, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you mean something along the lines of choosing a major, profession or something like that, and that the dreams your friends and families are against aren’t harmful or dangerous. If I’m correct, then you should fully follow your dreams unapologetically and tell your friends and family that you’re going to do what you want, and they can deal with it. Let them know that you’d be very happy to have their support, but whether they choose to support you or not has no effect on your decisions. Jenny Lu is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Jenny can be reached at jen.lu@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Tuesday, December 1, 2020

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Rising artist, TikTok star ella jane shares inspiration for indie pop music ELLA JANE

continued from page 3 Roth’s course load this semester — History of Blues, Postmodernism And Film, Sex & Gender In Society and Elementary French II — reflects her diverse interests. Having the opportunity to live as a scholar and a musician this semester has been a clarifying experience for Roth. “What [college] is proving to me is that this [music] might be what I want to pursue as a career,” Roth said. “It’s definitely hard — everyone has imposter syndrome. It was kind of hard applying to colleges and dealing with the idea that maybe I have to have a backup plan. But I think something that’s really cool about being at Tufts is that it’s shown me that getting a degree in something doesn’t have to be a backup plan, it can just be an opportunity that maybe I wouldn’t have had otherwise.” For Roth, being at Tufts is socially rewarding as well. “It’s been really nice to see people who are so like-minded. Everyone has different perspectives, which is also nice, but I think we all look at things pretty empathetically, and people are just generally pretty cool and funny and nice,” Roth said. “It’s kind of like the social fulfillment I needed that high school never gave me, in my tiny town where there’s a lot of pressure to think similarly. I’m also just glad to be here.” How exactly does Roth balance music and working toward a college degree? “It’s been so hard,” Roth said. “But I think it has stimulated

my creativity, because it’s really pushed me to try and find these pockets of time, to force myself to write, or work on something I maybe otherwise wouldn’t have done … I’d probably just be playing music for fun and getting to the stuff when I had to,” Roth said. The demands of the first semester have caused Roth, who came to Tufts as a prospective English major, to reevaluate her academic plans. “Being here and having all this focus on schoolwork, I really have to find the time in my day to work on it, and that makes me value the time I spend on music more. I knew going into it that it would be [difficult], but I don’t want to be someone who doesn’t prioritize school work,” Roth said. “What [this semester] has taught me is I might shift my academic focus a little more toward music. I might as well limit the stress I have trying to juggle the two and really get something of value out of it.” Ironically, Roth’s love for English is most pronounced when she is making music. Writing lyrics is one of her favorite parts of the process. “There’s something really satisfying about coming back to a phrase that I was frustrated with and then finally finding the thing that makes it click,” Roth said. Roth said she derives much inspiration from movies and books, listing “The Virgin Suicides” (1993) by Jeffrey Eugenides, “The White Album” (1979) by Joan Didion, and of course, the novel that made her TikTok famous, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as some of her favorites.

“I’m such a nerd for words and imagery, and I just really latch onto things that are put in an interesting way or are really, really vivid,” Roth said. Lyrics are a crucial part of a song for Roth as both a songwriter and listener. “I can appreciate a song that’s meaningless on purpose. There’s value in a song that’s for fun, versus a song that’s aiming for something, and sounds kind of contrived,” Roth said. “But for me, lyrics really matter. My Notes app is just filled with different phrases.” Roth cites Lorde, Simon & Garfunkel, Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Tyler, The Creator as some lyricists she looks up to. “‘Melodrama’ is the album my entire identity is attached to,” Roth said while laughing, referring to Lorde’s 2017 album. “‘Melodrama’ is the blueprint.” As Roth expands her skill set as an artist, she has grown to enjoy other parts of the music-making process as well. “Recently my favorite part has been production,” Roth said. “I started teaching myself over quarantine. It’s really difficult, and I don’t think I’m very good yet at all, but I think it makes it so much more rewarding.” Roth’s latest single, “AUGUST IS A FEVER,” released on Nov. 12, was Roth’s first production credit, though her other two songs had come primarily from demos she had created herself. “’AUGUST IS A FEVER’ is the [song] I had the most involvement in,” Roth said. “It’s really cool to have a vision and execute it myself, and then see it out in the world and people liking it.

[Producing] makes it that much more exciting, [seeing] my own work out in the world.” Roth described her music style as “indie pop with a bit of ‘What is this?'” Roth likes that her music is ambiguous. “I like the idea of music that you can’t really place under a genre. That’s why indie pop appeals to me a lot, because it really has no [single] sound,” Roth said. “So many things can be classified under that big umbrella. I like to make music that keeps people guessing.” Roth’s songwriting and production talent have earned her music a place on several Spotify editorial playlists, where she rubs shoulders with alternative pop darlings like Clairo and mxmtoon. Fans of Ruel might have spotted Roth’s “nothing else i could do” on the popular editorial playlist “softly” when he was a guest curator for the streaming platform last month. Her appearances on these playlists are some of the accomplishments Roth is most proud of. “After months of nothing [happening], and it was just a lot of me doing the grunt work of all the self-promotion and really shoving my songs down people’s throats … It was kind of nice that [my effort] was being reciprocated, and it was a really cool confirmation that maybe what I make is good,” Roth said of the playlists. For first-time listeners to ella jane, Roth recommends her first single, “The City.” “It’s a little less palatable than ‘nothing else i could do,’ but it’s the one that is most reflective of me and my music,” Roth said.

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Roth identifies “AUGUST IS A FEVER” as her riskiest single yet. With its pulsating tempo, anthemic chorus and layered vocals that amplify Roth’s crystal-clear voice, it is an unexpected treat for listeners as they work through Roth’s discography, and it certainly achieves Roth’s goal of keeping listeners guessing. Roth’s music career is in a very different stage today than it was one year ago, when the very idea of releasing music was daunting. “The reason I started putting out music right when quarantine started was being out of high school, and realizing that I had wasted so much time worrying what people were going to say about me, and being really just afraid that I’d be judged for putting out my music,” Roth said. Safe at home, the lockdown allowed Roth to pursue her career in earnest. “There’s literally no point in caring what people are thinking about you. That is something I kind of had to learn through trial and error,” Roth said. “As soon as I was able to let go of that fear of judgment, I was able to let go of a lot of my own judgment for myself.” There’s a lyric on Lorde’s “Melodrama” that has become a popular photo caption for Lorde fans of a certain age: “I’m 19 and I’m on fire.” It also doubles as a pretty perfect description of Roth’s career right now. You can follow ella jane on TikTok (@ellajanemusic), Instagram (@ellajaneofficial) and find her music on all major music streaming platforms.

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Tuesday, December 1, 2020

‘Origin of the Alimonies’ explores identity, philosophy through metal by Geoff Tobia Jr. Arts Editor

Last year, Liturgy created a beacon on the map of black metal with its fourth full-length album, “H.A.Q.Q.” (2019). Many music fans found the record astounding, praising it for its boundary-pushing and experimental approach to metal. The record weaves together elements of classical and glitch, and keeps the listener on their toes at all times. It’s a superb representation of what Liturgy describes as “transcendental black metal.” Liturgy is the project of singer, songwriter, composer and philosopher Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, who has been a pioneer of music over the past few years. Following the popularity of “H.A.Q.Q.” in 2019, Hunt-Hendrix remained in the metal conversation throughout 2020, following late supporters of the album, and more notably, her announcing her gender affirmation as a woman. Fans knew that this public revelation of self that HuntHendrix had experienced was going to influence her work. And, given the philosophical nature of her work, there was no doubt that this event in her life would cause a deeper and more raw sound emotionally, both through her vocals and instrumental arrangements. In October, Hunt-Hendrix announced the release of “Origin of the Alimonies” (2020), which came out on Nov. 20. She teased the album as being an opera album, in which she uses art to embody her personal philosophy of the world. HuntHendrix explained her thoughts in a video on her YouTube channel.

“The form of the answer to the question of the origin of all things has to be opera, because words alone … are not adequate to answer the question … It has to be a mythical narrative set to music,” Hunt-Hendrix said. Almost entirely self-written and composed, this project proved to be an excellent follow-up to one of the most groundbreaking albums of 2019. In the state of her world — and the world in general this year — her emotions are fierce and her orchestration is as sensational as ever on this record. As opposed to the glitchy synth start of “H.A.Q.Q.,” we get a lone flute ringing in “Origin of the Alimonies” in its first track, “The Separation of HAQQ From HAEL.” Instruments like the violin and trumpet accompany the flute, but the occasional glitches remind the listener that this is a Liturgy album, not a classical one. We also get a reminder of Liturgy’s sound from what Hunt-Hendrix likes to call “burst beats” from drums, along with loud and fast-chugging bass and guitar, creating an incredibly grand change in atmosphere. At the conclusion of the song, a harp’s plucking strings serve as a heavenly segue into “OIOION’s Birth,” a one-minute, 47-second-long organ song of eerie chords, grinding double bass and an array of miscellaneous orchestral instruments. This is not unlike the three “EXACO” interludes on “H.A.Q.Q.,” nothing but a display of Hunt-Hendrix’s keen ability to create a beautiful yet unsettling environment for her work to thrive in. “Lonely OIOION” is practically the best taste of Liturgy’s work you can get. A jaw-dropping band performance

A cropped image of Liturgy’s album “Origin of the Alimonies” (2020) is pictured. from drummer Leo Didkovsky, guitarist Bernard Gann and bassist Tia Vincent-Clark, along with HuntHendrix’s powerful screams, make this record staple Liturgy. However, its combination with other layers of glitch and orchestration makes it much more of a work of art than a black metal song. It’s arguably one of Liturgy’s strongest and most complete songs to date. Picking apart this song in particular is an unreal experience. The changing of chord intervals and keys keeps the song from becoming redundant, and each instrument pairs together in a way that any musician has to appreciate. Of course, how else would Hunt-Hendrix want to end the song than with a tranquil flute, trumpet and two harps? That artistic wonder transitions into “The Fall of SIHEYMN,” a binaural roller coaster of various instruments. Hunt-Hendrix uses microtones in this song, while also electing some notes to play on unusual parts of the instruments. While the track

is mostly free-form, it seems almost believable that Hunt-Hendrix would have orchestrated it herself, as nothing in that track seems out of place. “SIHEYMN’s Lament” is by far one of the most surreal moments in the context of this entire record. HuntHendrix’s screaming and singing are layered over an instrumental mostly following a hip-hop framework for the first portion of the song. The tempo fluctuations and mix of acoustic and artificial sounds are outright dizzying and get more dramatic as the song progresses. Hunt-Hendrix, whether intentional or not, is pushing boundaries in black metal much further than other bands have. While certain subgenres of pop and hiphop have taken influence from black metal, it’s not terribly often that these genres influence black metal itself. “Apparition of the Eternal Church” is a 14-minute epic filled with chugging, drumming and nonstop transitions. It’s a reminder of what Liturgy’s music has been known for: incredi-

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bly well-orchestrated songs with elements of black metal, classical and experimental music coming together in perfect unity. The song wastes no seconds throughout its runtime as it goes into closing track “The Armistice.” These final four minutes of the album do not turn down the intensity at all, while still serving as a fitting conclusion to such an intense and awesome musical project. Liturgy will likely deter many listeners, as its loudness and shrillness bring a whole different type of intensity to black metal. Instead of the muddy and dark tones typically found in black metal, Hunter HuntHendrix’s work is surprisingly bright, while being leagues more intense than a considerable amount of modern black metal. However, if you’re prepared to endure the contents of “Origin of the Alimonies,” you will be amazed by what Hunt-Hendrix brings to the table musically. Yet again, Liturgy has brought one of the most mind-blowing albums of its year.

‘The Crown’ brings Princess Diana into the royal picture by Phoebe Yates

Contributing Writer

For several years, Netflix original “The Crown” (2016–) has attracted plenty of attention, thanks in part to showrunner Peter Morgan’s innovative casting methods (replacing principal cast members every couple of years so he can plow through decades of aging in just six seasons), or perhaps the show’s lifted-fromthe-British-tabloids appeal. The events of the show’s first three seasons, which saw Claire Foy, and later, Olivia Colman, step into the twinset and pearls of the United Kingdom’s still-reigning monarch, may have been somewhat unfamiliar to those watching all the way across the pond. Within the first few minutes of season 4, however, we meet the character that will turn “The Crown” from series to blockbuster: Princess Diana. In episode 1, newcomer Emma Corrin twirls her way on screen in a “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” costume as Diana, shyly capturing our hearts (if not really the heart of the bumbling, Camilla-smitten Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor)), and absolutely stealing the show. Throughout the season, she garners adoring fans from Australia to New York, and manages to irritate each and every member of the royal family. And who’s to blame them?

After watching this season of “The Crown” –– which comes replete with the Diana-Charles-Camilla triangle, a very public performance of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” (1983), and painstaking costume design by Amy Roberts that captures Princess Di’s iconic style in all of its 70s and 80s glory –– it’s hard to imagine ever being satisfied with episode after episode of old British people reminding each other to “keep a stiff upper lip.” Actually, after a 10-episode binge of the newest season of “The Crown,” it’s hard to remember why this family and its archaic, ceremonial world haven’t become obsolete. That being said, this is the most fun “The Crown” has had since “Beryl,” the season 2 episode that charted the beginnings of Princess Margaret’s ill-fated romance with charming photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Goode). In those early episodes, Princess Margaret — played then by Vanessa Kirby and now seen in her middle age as an acerbic, chain-smoking Helena Bonham-Carter — would hop on the back of Antony’s motorcycle, flying through the streets of London. It’s hard to imagine her sister, the queen, being quite so free. And therein lies this season’s greatest irony: At the heart of all this grandeur of the palaces, the feasts and the general resplendency, there is a middle-aged woman in “outdoor

shoes” who prefers horses to people. As endlessly fascinating characters — Diana, Princess Margaret, an intruder named Michael Fagan (Tom Brooke) who breaks into Buckingham Palace to sit at the foot of the queen’s bed — volley in and out of her orbit, the queen remains a simple woman who would like very much to be left alone to feed her corgis. “The Crown” makes frequent use of these sweeping contrasts. This season, when not chronicling the miserable breakdown of Diana and Charles’ relationship, comes back to two figures, alike in age, gender and not much else: Queen Elizabeth II and brand-new Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson). Thatcher’s ascendance to her new position causes a stir –– a female Prime Minister! –– but as history can tell us, many of Thatcher’s policies proved not only unpopular, but altogether devastating. Take, for instance, the austerity measures that drove Fagan to climb through the Buckingham Palace window in the first place in the show, demanding the queen “do something” about the ballooning rates of unemployment. But, as anyone who’s been watching “The Crown” since the Foy days can tell you, “something” is precisely what the queen does not do. While Thatcher crafts policy, the queen is constitutionally barred from

speaking out on her political opinion. When Thatcher panics over the disappearance of her favorite son, the queen is revealed to be completely disengaged, going so far as to schedule appointments with each of her children to determine her own favorite

–– and, comically, requesting briefings beforehand on each child’s hobbies and interests. And when Corrin’s Diana shows up at the queen’s country estate, lonely, brokenhearted and in desperate need of a hug, the queen excuses herself to go feed the corgis. Again.

A promotional poster for “The Crown” (2016–) is pictured.

VIA IMDB

THE TUFTS DAILY | Fun & Games | Tuesday, December 1, 2020

F& G

tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Rebecca: “Give me the cheesecake, Alex.”

Fun & Games

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Sagittarius (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) You have an advantage with Mercury in your sign for three weeks. Upgrade personal integrity levels by keeping or changing promises. Strengthen communications infrastructure. Share. SEARCHING FOR HEADLINES...

Difficulty Level: Weathering this storm

Monday’s Solutions

CROSSWORD

Discover the unsearchable Discover the forest

Find a trail near you at DiscoverTheForest.org

tuftsdaily.com

Opinion EDITORIAL

Students must continue to follow COVID-19 guidelines as cases rise Tufts’ campus has seen a substantial rise in cases of COVID-19 in recent weeks. In an email sent to the community on Nov. 15, Tufts established increased restrictions for students studying in person in response to a concerning number of new cases and close contacts. Considering the difficulty of remote learning and lack of means to decompress, the prevailing sense of exhaustion among Tufts students is not surprising; however, it is still critical that we remain vigilant in following university protocols by wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding gatherings. By neglecting these measures, we risk jeopardizing the future of on-campus operations — in the spring semester and beyond. Tufts has done a commendable job limiting the spread of COVID-19 on our campus. Entering the semester, the university implemented semiweekly testing of students, staff and faculty — which was recently increased to testing every other day — and mandated campuswide social distancing requirements. These measures are, in part, what have allowed many Tufts students to continue their academic journeys on campus, and they should be acknowledged. However, these institutional measures are nothing without the adherence of members of

the Tufts community. Receiving negative tests or following guidelines only when convenient does not absolve students of their responsibility to protect themselves and others within the Tufts community. As Tufts pointed out in recent emails, there has been a considerable increase in the number of individuals who have been identified as close contacts. This demonstrates that students may not be entirely adhering to the protocols necessary to contain the spread of COVID-19. While the responsibility to keep our campus safe jointly falls upon the university and community members, it is evident that some students are not completely fulfilling their end of the bargain. The recent increase in cases could potentially be explained by a collective desire to revert to a sense of normalcy. Some students may also feel a sense of false security in the testing system, using negative tests as an excuse to disregard certain guidelines. But this mentality could potentially endanger the rest of our community as well as jeopardize our ability to stay on campus in the future. While frequent testing has the potential to limit the spread of COVID-19, it does not provide protection from the spread of the virus. Negative tests reflect only

a moment in time; it is possible to be subjected to COVID-19 between the time a test is taken and the time the results are received, or to have contracted the virus but still receive a false negative. No matter how tired or falsely comforted by university precautions we may be, we all must continue to hold ourselves to the utmost standard of caution. As we enter our final weeks on campus, Tufts students and community members must uphold university guidelines, both in campus spaces and behind closed doors. This includes wearing masks, washing our hands, maintaining a physical distance from all individuals other than roommates and only leaving places of residence when necessary. The responsibility to protect ourselves and our community falls upon each and every one of us. These responsibilities apply well beyond keeping our own campus safe. As many of us travel home in the coming weeks, we run the risk of exposing communities beyond Tufts to COVID19, both across the country and the world. Even when the semester ends and campus closes, it will be important to continue to diligently follow COVID-19 guidelines and carry on this mission to prioritize the health and well-being of our communities.

7 Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Elizabeth Buehl Sobremesa

Feminist finale

ines of feminism can be drawn through history for centuries past. From property rights, to suffrage and Title IX, the landscape of our gendered society has transformed immensely. As we now prepare to usher a woman into the seat of vice president, it is time to both marvel at progress and look toward areas where work still needs to be done. Research shows that the United States is slowing down on the long journey toward gender equality. Looking from a macroscopic lens of society, it is clear that women hold influential positions across many different realms, from higher education to government and far beyond. Tufts specifically has been admitting female students since 1892. Yet, when we zoom in closer, we can still see deeply ingrained gender disparities. It is time to move into a new era: fourth wave feminism. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that the number of women in the labor force is not expected to significantly increase from 2016 to 2024. While countless women are currently fledging widely successful career paths, our society has hit a ceiling. Unless we make it not just possible but acceptable for men to infiltrate the domestic realm, feminism will falter. Thankfully, studies show that this change is possible. The Pew Research Center has demonstrated that the majority of Americans acknowledge the necessity for continued advancement of gender equality. The first step to change is identifying areas of weakness. Some of the most prominent obstacles to gender equality that Americans point to include sexual harassment, different societal expectations and a dearth of women in positions of power. Increasing the number of women in positions of power will have a ripple effect on our society. By placing strong women like Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in high government offices, we can change the archetype of working women in America. This is not to say that every young girl will grow up to preside over the Senate, but rather that it would be normalized for men to occupy more “domestic” roles. As a result, women can break through the ceiling that is currently stifling societal progress. At Tufts, there are many organizations dedicated to gender equality. The Women’s Center, for example, sheds light on gender inequality and provides resources to empower women. By providing students with the space and educational platform for holistic, intersectional feminism, this center acts as the base for a generation of students who will enter society ready to create long-lasting change. It is up to every one of us to educate ourselves and others and to normalize men immersing themselves in the domestic world. We must build on the significant strides that the women of our generation have already taken toward a fourth wave of feminism, such as through movements like #MeToo, in order to create a world where gender does not determine opportunity. It is time for a new wave. Elizabeth Buehl is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Elizabeth can be reached at elizabeth.buehl@tufts.edu.

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

8 Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Sports

Tufts suspends athletic practices through December to combat rising COVID-19 cases

tuftsdaily.com

Matt Goguen Keeping up with the 617

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

Huskins Field is pictured on Aug. 28. by Ananda Kao and Sruthi Kocherlakota Sports Editor and Executive Sports Editor

As the fall semester comes to an end, the university imposed new guidelines for athletes and sports teams to follow, preventing them from conducting practices for the rest of the semester. Most athletic teams have been winding down their practice schedules leading up to Thanksgiving break, and the new regulations have not altered much of the team’s plans for training through the end of the fall semester. In an email sent out to the student body on Nov. 19, University Infection Control Health Director Michael Jordan, Director of Athletics John Morris and Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar indicated that athletic practices would be canceled for the rest of the semester in an effort to keep the community safe amid the recent rise in COVID-19 cases. The update disclosed that effective immediately, athletic practices will be discontinued for the remainder of the year. As indicated in the email, there is no evidence that the rise in COVID-19 cases is linked to athletic practices, but the cancellation of practices is a precaution that the university will take in an effort to reduce contact among students. “Athletics are a vital part of life at Tufts, and we are disappointed that we must take these actions. We all look forward to a bright and COVID-free future when we can cheer on the Jumbos as they play rival teams and when athletic practice returns to normal,” the email said. A few weeks into the semester, the athletics department approved contact practices. This allowed coaches to plan practices that allowed for more game-like play rather than just drills focusing on shooting and technique. Prior to contact

practices being cleared, athletes were only allowed to train when there was no contact between players. “The transition when we first started [the semester] was definitely tough on a lot of people. We weren’t sure what to expect of each other going into this, which was really hard. It definitely took a week or two for us to figure out exactly what it was we were gonna be doing,” Jackie McCarthy, a sophomore defender on the field hockey team, said. “Once we did figure that out, we definitely had a stride and practice felt more purposeful and productive and stuff. As we were getting more and more comfortable we were able to switch into practices with contact, which was huge. That felt almost like a real practice.” In order to reduce the contact between athletes, smaller groups of athletes who played in similar positions would meet for practices. “In the beginning, there was no contact and mostly shooting drills and passing drills. We divided up into two groups of about eight or nine, and that was the main portion of what we would do for the first month,” Calvin Aroh, a senior midfielder on the men’s soccer team, said. “The best practices are usually when the drills are a little bit more engaging and fun. Everyone was annoyed by the fact that we could not play contact, but practices where we were able to have fun together and still practice and still hang out, those practices ended up being better.” With fall and winter athletic seasons canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic, athletes and coaches used this irregular offseason as a way to develop play and to offer some semblance of normalcy for athletes used to rigorous training schedules during the regular season. “The hardest part was expectations. The coaches didn’t know how [the team]

was going to react and how we were going to come into this fall. When we got there, [our expectations] didn’t really match what we thought they were going to have throughout the summer,” McCarthy said. “There’s a lot of frustrations on both sides because of that, but I think once we got into our groups a bit we really did make the most of it and all we can ask for through this time is to just get a little bit better than we could have been last year. Hopefully, going into the spring, we’ll be able to be in contact again and have some more players here than we did in the fall. I’m really hopeful that we can keep that progression going.” Many sports teams had elected to begin winding down practices prior to the announcement that the university made mid-November. Among these include the men’s soccer team, which decided to stop regular training sessions shortly after the athletics department halted contact practices. “Because we went back to noncontact, we weren’t getting as much out of [practice] as we were. If we were not going back to contact, we’re going to end up in a rut,” Aroh said. “After Thanksgiving, it’s more of going out on your own. There’s no set plan we have to do. A lot of the freshmen are home doing their own thing, and the guys that are still here can go out and [work out] together.” The university and the NESCAC have yet to announce plans regarding the spring athletic season or any plans to return to athletics. Spring season coaches and athletes have been training during this offseason in anticipation of a return to sports; however, with months until the season would likely begin, a lot can change for college campuses across the country.

A Red Sox Christmas list

t’s Christmastime in Boston, which means that MLB free agency is in full swing. As expected, this year’s market is slow, with many marquee free agents, including Trevor Bauer and George Springer, still searching for a home in 2021. With a surplus of salary cap due to the Mookie Betts trade, the Red Sox are equipped to make some major moves this offseason, which they probably won’t end up doing. Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom believes in developing a contender through minor moves and rookie development, which isn’t the worst strategy — take for example the Tampa Bay Rays. Nonetheless, the Red Sox should be dealing this offseason in some capacity, especially with the AL East becoming a juggernaut division. 1. Relief pitching In 2020, the Red Sox bullpen was atrocious, finishing with a 6.01 combined ERA and 13 blown saves, which was tied for second-worst in MLB. Although Matt Barnes, Phillips Valdez and Darwinzon Hernandez had solid splits, the back half of the bullpen was a wet paper towel. If the Red Sox want to be contenders in the near future, the bullpen needs one or two solid arms that the team can rely on. Although a few prospects such as Durbin Feltman are expected to debut in 2021, the free agency market does offer some alternatives. Trevor Rosenthal and Tyler Clippard seem like solid options and will be relatively cheap in this depressed market. Personally, I would rather see the Red Sox sign Rosenthal since he’s only 30 and has a higher ceiling than Clippard. However, both would be solid additions to a bullpen in desperate need of help. 2. Back-end starting pitcher The pitching woes continued for the Red Sox as their starting pitching was one of the worst in the league, with a quality start percentage of 15%, which was well below the league average of 29%. Although Chris Sale’s and Eduardo Rodriguez’s ailments contributed to this decline, there aren’t many excuses to be made for that number; the Red Sox need another pitcher. Currently, the Red Sox have Chris Mazza slated at their 5 spot, a below average pitcher at best. The Sox should target a cheap starter with experience in the postseason — enter Jose Quintana. Although he’s on a noticeable decline, Quintana still can put up quality starts, something the Red Sox desperately need. He’d be a solid piece to the rotation and a guy you can rely on week in and week out. 3. Do not sign Jackie Bradley Jr. This one hurts to write. JBJ is a fan favorite in Boston and will be regarded as one of the best defensive players in Red Sox history. However, he is below average at the plate and continues to decline at an alarming rate. Teams starved for defensive talent will definitely shell out some money for Jackie and will most likely be out of the Red Sox’s price range. As much as I loved him, JBJ just isn’t as valuable as he once was. The Red Sox have plenty of farm system prospects that are well equipped to man center field, and letting JBJ go will wiggle more money for the Red Sox to spend this offseason. This offseason will be a test for the Red Sox under Chaim Bloom — what is their identity as a franchise moving forward? Will they be spending to speed up their contention process or retain prospects and build from the ground up? As a passionate fanbase, we hope it’s the former. Matt Goguen is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Matt can be reached at matthew.goguen@tufts.edu.