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THE TUFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXI, NUMBER 48

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Curtatone prescribes growth measures at town meeting by

Rachel Rampino

Daily Editorial Board

Mayor Joseph Curtatone last night challenged Somerville business owners to work with the government to promote long-term economic growth, emphasizing the city’s potential to compete with economic centers like Boston or Cambridge.

Curtatone, speaking at the sixth annual Somerville Business Town Meeting at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, said that the city is ready to shake off its nickname of “Slumerville.” With help from local business owners, he said, Somerville aims to transform the outdated disrepute by revitalizing infrastructure and employment growth.

“We need to think about how we are going to be in the position to take advantage of the next economic cycle,” Curtatone said. “During the most recent economic waves, we got leapfrogged again. We can’t hide in a corner.”

Community business owners and civil servants of Somerville attended the talk, which was sponsored by the Somerville Chamber of Commerce.

Curtatone, now in his fourth term as mayor, described Somerville as a family-friendly environment and discussed the city’s economic and historical past, present and future.

“We’re always chasing this train and we’ve never caught up to it. We’re going to catch it now,” he added. “We need to identify the next wave of innovation and market to it.”

It is most important to the future of the city to keep successful small businesses and the valuable workforce in the city and attract new industry, the mayor said.

“We know where we’re going and what it’s going to mean 15 to 20 years down the road,” Curtatone said. “We need to identify where we conserve, enhance and transform.”

Curtatone explained how past changes curtailed Somerville’s development as a major center of commerce. The removal of public trolley stops in the 1950s cut Somerville off from commuters and the business they bring.

“When the stops were taken away, things changed. That’s when Somerville started to become ‘Slumerville,’” Curtatone said.

Curtatone compared Somerville population statistics with those of other Massachusetts cities in the Boston area.

Since the 1990s, there has been almost no job growth, he said, though the percentage of college-educated residents has risen to 55 percent of today’s adult population.

“We have a talented, educated workforce in this city,” Curtatone said. “There’s a disconnect between Somerville jobs and Somerville workers.”

Somerville Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Stephen Mackey emphasized the importance of continuing diversity among industries in the area. see SOMERVILLE, page 2

Meredith Klein/Tufts Daily

The spring Senate election season saw no contest, as 17 senators ran unopposed.

With uncontested Senate seats, many look to ECOM by

Kathryn Olson

Daily Editorial Board

In the wake of a spring Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate election season that saw atypically low participation and no competition for any of the 17 candidates, senators and administrators have cited an inadequate effort on the part of the Elections Commission (ECOM).

Twenty-one seats were available to rising sophomores, juniors and seniors; since only 17 students submitted the required signatures and paperwork, each seat was uncontested and there will be no election for senators held this spring.

The lack of contested seats has led a number of individuals, both in and out-

side the Senate, to question whether ECOM, whose five student members receive a $500 stipend per year-long term they serve, held up its end of the bargain in effectively advertising the open seats.

According to Senator Wyatt Cadley, a sophomore, ECOM this semester did not provide potential candidates or voters with sufficient information about the upcoming elections.

“Multiple factors went into the Senate seats going uncontested; the most important was ECOM,” Cadley said. “Every student with a stipend has responsibilities, and the student body expects certain things to be provided right now that are not being see ELECTION, page 2

Tufts to gauge perception of alcohol, sex norms with survey by

Martha Shanahan

Daily Editorial Board

Danai Macridi/Tufts Daily

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone last night challenged Somerville business owners to promote long-term growth at a business town meeting at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

Inside this issue

Students are getting a chance to anonymously voice their perceptions about Tufts’ alcohol and drug culture in a confidential survey circulated this week by the university for use in future programming and policy decisions.

A randomly selected group of 2,400 undergraduates received requests via email to participate in an American College Health Association (ACHA) survey, which Director of Alcohol and Health Education Ian Wong said will provide a fresh look at how the university should address, among other things, education about the alcohol culture at Tufts.

While the survey’s questions also address sexual health and violence, as well as dietary and exercise habits, Wong said one of the survey’s most important aims is giving the university a more accurate view of alcohol consumption and clearing up misconceptions about the drinking culture at Tufts.

“It will tell us how many students are, and how many students are not, drinking on campus,” Wong said.

The survey, which takes about thirty minutes to complete, is following up on

a census that the university circulated in the spring of 2009 to gauge sentiments about the same issues, according to Wong.

The data collected in that original census have been especially influential in Wong’s approach to educating students, he said, citing specifically the information he received from the original census in his approach to dealing with students who have violated the school’s alcohol policy.

“I was really looking at my data, and I was coming into my discussions and know[ing] that not everyone who might have an alcohol violation is … necessarily a problem drinker,” Wong said.

The survey fits into coordinated efforts between Wong and the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate to run a campaign correcting students misconceptions of social norms relating to health on campus, according to Wong.

Yulia Korovikov, a sophomore senator who is chair of the Senate’s Administration and Policy Committee, said the new data would provide a boost to the campaign.

“It is an incredibly important survey,” Korovikov, who is chair of the Senate’s see SURVEY, page 2

Today’s sections

The crusade against obesity has led to a stigmatization of being overweight.

Despite some advances, diversity on television is sorely lacking.

see FEATURES, page 3

see WEEKENDER, page 5

News Features Weekender Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 12

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

13 14 17 Back

The Tufts Daily

2 Police Briefs

See tuftsdaily.com for an interactive map.

Tough guy

Healthy habits

A Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) officer at 1:23 a.m. on April 10 responded to a report that a male student had punched through a window in a stairwell between the third and fourth floors of Lewis Hall. The student admitted to the officer that he had broken the window and refused medical treatment for cuts on his hand.

A TUPD officer at 2:55 a.m. on April 13 responded to a call that a student’s nutrition textbook had been stolen from latenight study at Tisch Library. The student had left the textbook, along with her laptop computer, unaccompanied on her desk and returned to find the textbook missing.

The computer was still there.

—Compiled by Brent Yarnell based on reports from Tufts University Police Department

News

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Mayor challenges business owners to help lead city’s regional resurgence SOMERVILLE

continued from page 1

“Business development and economic diversity are vital to developing the way of life,” Mackey said.

Somerville residents, business owners and civil servants must work together toward this effort, Curtatone said.

“You can’t think about the city in a vacuum, like in previous years. I need you to think about the long term for your busi-

ness and our city,” Curtatone said. “Get engaged now; we’re here and we want to act, and not just chase to compete, but set the stage. We need to lead the charge.”

Curtatone said many of his goals for the city revolve around facilitating public transportation. He hopes, through projects like the extension of the Green Line through Medford and Somerville, to eventually bring transit stops to within a half-mile of 85 percent of Somerville’s residents.

Survey results will help guide university approach to alcohol education SURVEY

continued from page 1

Administration and Policy Committee, said. “We currently don’t have any data on what’s going on [on] the campus … and we’re hitting a speed bump because we realized that there wasn’t any data for us to use.

“Once the survey ends, we would know what’s going on better,” she added.

“It finally gives you the statistics on the perceived use of drugs and alcohol and their actual use.”

Wong said that the responses, which are completely anonymous, will affect how the university frames its alcohol education policies in the future.

“They will help us look at any policy that we look at down the road,” Wong said.

“When I put together my budget … I can say why we need money in this area or that area,” Wong said.

“That’s why we’re really [encouraging] students to fill this out; it really supports us in what we do,” he added.

According to sophomore Brent Abel, chair of the Student Health Advisory Board, a group that serves as an advocate for students on health-related university policies, the new data will provide a fresh snapshot of the reality of health issues at Tufts and how they are perceived.

“We can use the new information to see how these things have changed,” he said.

Wong said the survey will likely become a regular part of the university’s efforts to gather information and direct its educational objectives.

“We’ll probably do this every two years,” he said.

Wong said that statistics resulting from these kinds of surveys, which typically show that fewer people drink dangerously than most think, are helpful in convincing students.

“The important piece about it is when you say more student[s] don’t binge drink than do, then we can say this information came from the survey,” Wong said.

“Everyone thinks everyone’s doing it, but it’s really a lot less,” Wong said.

Minyoung Song contributed reporting to this article.

Daily File Photo

Randomly selected students this week received requests to fill out an anonymous survey about Tufts’ alcohol and drug culture.

Campus life director proposes two distinct ‘election seasons’ per semester ELECTION

continued from page 1

provided, and that’s very obvious.”

Although junior and senior Senate seats are typically uncontested, Cadley said, candidates seeking to represent the sophomore class are usually met with challengers.

“It’s somewhat expected that junior[and] senior-year senators walk on,” Cadley said. “The problem was that there wasn’t a targeted effort to recruit freshmen to run for sophomore positions.”

This marks the second time this year that ECOM has come under fire for inadequate advertising efforts. The body defended itself in the fall against criticism that it failed to sufficiently notify freshmen of the procedure for applying for Senate positions.

ECOM Chair Katherine McManus, a sophomore, maintained that the commission’s advertising efforts for its general interest meetings and candidates meeting, which provide students with materials and procedures for how to run for Senate seats, were up to par. She attributed the uncontested election to lack of interest among freshmen.

“I don’t think our publicity was the root of the problem,” McManus said.

ECOM held two general interest meetings this month that attracted approximately 20 students each and were advertised through TuftsLife, flyers and a Facebook event, according to McManus.

ECOM’s budget each semester, which draws from the student activities fee, was as of this April pegged at $1,477, according to TCU Associate Treasurer Matthew Schuman, a junior. Schuman said twothirds of that sum is typically allocated for the presidential election, but the remainder is allocated for advertising general elections. He said the money should have been more efficiently used.

“If they’re not going to spend the money we allocate them, why are we giving it to them?” Schuman said. “When we give money to groups, we try to make sure they have an ad in the Daily; it adds to the seriousness of the event.”

ECOM cited budgeting constraints because of several special elections earlier in the semester as the reason it did not purchase an ad in the Daily.

The responsibility of generating student interest in Senate elections does not rest

solely on ECOM. Cadley said in order to bolster participation in future elections, the Senate must become more appealing to Tufts students.

“It’s about getting students to recognize that Senate is an organization that can bring about tangible change. We have to redirect our image from being about 35 people with an inflated ego arguing over amendments to being more driven and more about action,” Cadley said. “I think that in the coming years there’s going to be pressure on Senate to rebrand itself and to redefine its relationship with the administration and student body.”

Office for Campus Life Director Joe Golia, the administrative contact for ECOM, agreed, saying the lack of student interest could be alleviated by sustained efforts by both ECOM and the Senate aimed at generating knowledge of opportunities on the body beyond election season, essentially giving the Senate a facelift and keeping students up-to-date on open positions.

“It’s a matter of truly not understanding the work of Senate, and if more students understood those opportunities,

they would want to be a part of it,” Golia said. “They need to do more outreach on who they are, what they do and what they accomplish.”

The current method, Golia said, of holding general elections once a year and filling each open Senate position as senators resign or take leave detracts from the overall election process, wasting time and money that could be better spent.

Golia has approached ECOM about amending its bylaws to create two fullfledged “election seasons” each semester rather than trying to fill each seat as it opens up.

“It has the potential to be much more organized. People know what’s coming and what’s happened; they’re not just running for a new position every week,” Golia said.

Golia said that amending ECOM’s bylaws to create such an election system would require the leadership of ECOM members and enough votes to pass necessary amendments.

“It’s a matter of someone taking the lead; I don’t [think] anyone was opposed, but I don’t think anyone’s gone for it yet,” he said.

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Stigma a side effect of fight against obesity Programs try to combat obesity, may end up blaming the overweight by

Emilia Luna

Daily Editorial Board

Fashion Week is not the only time of year when size zeros are put in the limelight. On and off college campuses, eating disorders and mental health issues have increased as being thin has been established as the ideal and being fat as the ultimate taboo.

With obesity on the rise in the United States, numerous health and nutrition campaigns nationwide, like First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” antiobesity campaign, employ a variety of methods with the hope of lowering obesity rates. Yet these efforts come with a harsh consequence: the stigmatization of being overweight.

Public health campaigns against obesity struggle with the challenge of making sure they don’t unintentionally reinforce negative perceptions of overweight people.

Edith Balbach, senior lecturer and director of the community health program at Tufts, said it is easy to discriminate against heavy people when promoting well-being and healthy weight.

“It is very easy to slip into language that makes it sound as if it’s their fault or that they are lazy or they don’t have willpower if their weight is higher than average,” Balbach said.

To avoid stigmatization, Balbach said, health programs should strive to improve overarching factors that inspire healthy eating habits, such as making sure that individuals have access to healthy food and that they can afford to pay for it.

“If you are doing good community health interventions, you really focus

on the environmental and social factors that are leading to obesity, and you try to avoid blaming the person for being obese,” Balbach said. “You try to look at the larger factors that are leading to obesity.”

Similarly, Miriam Nelson, director of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy’s John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Prevention, stressed that designing nutrition-related policies and campaigns unique to the communities in question, rather than focusing on the scale, was key to avoiding stigmatization.

“You want to focus on becoming healthier, eating better, becoming fitter and managing any health concerns that the person might have,” Nelson said.

“You focus on the behaviors around fitness and good nutrition rather than on the weight itself.”

Balbach cited Shape Up Somerville as one such program that focuses on positive language and messages. The citywide campaign, started by the Friedman School, aims to increase daily physical activity and healthy eating in the community — not weight loss.

“When we intervene from a public health standpoint, that is the kind of stuff that we are looking at as opposed to doing a lot of shaking our finger at people because they are eating too much,” Balbach said.

While eating disorders are prevalent on college campuses, obesity might be less present in college environments because it is correlated with lower social classes, Balbach said.

“Inasmuch as the college-aged population would tend to be more affluent,

coming from middle class, there is just less obesity,” she said.

Environmental factors built into the campus experience, such as healthy food options and walking as the dominant method of transportation, also contribute to low obesity rates.

Nonetheless, Balbach worried that while obesity rates on campus are too low to determine whether people suffering from the condition are stigmatized, overweight people may very well be.

“I do worry that, in the Tufts population as a whole, there are people who take on disordered eating patterns to conform to a thin norm, even if that is not their normal body weight,” she said.

“Stigmatizing anyone for their health behavior is a terrible strategy to try to improve the situation.”

Nelson, who is also an associate professor at the Friedman School, explained that, in general, there has always been a negative stigma against overweight and obese people. Yet the problem today is not so much the growing stigmatization but the growing national obesity rate itself, which brings the stigmatization into view.

Still, Nelson said that the degree of stigmatization depends on geographic location and the values accepted by certain communities. For communities with strong stigmas against obesity, the consequences can be far-reaching.

“It makes it even more difficult for someone to change their behaviors, it contributes to poor mental health and possibly some other risky behaviors like excess drinking, eating disorders or smoking,” she said. see OBESITY, page 4

Street Smarts: Tufts’ sartorial scene Ever notice the Jumbos on campus who put more into their wardrobes than a momentary thought about which pair of sneakers doesn’t clash with their sweatpants? We have, and some of their sartorial styles caught our eye in particular.

Compiled by Romy Oltuski

Photos by Justin McCallum

“This shirt was my stepmom’s from the ’70s. It sort of lends itself to a classy, comfortable look.”

—Leah Bastacky, sophomore

“Bowties are something I like to rotate in.

I can’t wear them every day. I didn’t learn how to tie one until a couple years ago, but they’re actually much more sanitary than ties. So I decided, you know, not to contribute to H1N1.”

—Mark Gosztyla, professor of English

“I like wearing blazers over dresses — mixing up feminine looks with a little more masculine looks, vintage with commercial dress.”

—Caroline Wilkes, junior

See Jumbo Slice at blogs.tuftsdaily.com for the full shoot.

Yuantee Zhu | What Would YuAntee Zhu?

Grumpy in Gifford

D

ear Yuantee,

There comes a time in every man’s life when he must come to terms with the limitations of his body. While I fear this time has come, I remain optimistic that your consistent, fully baked advice can cure me of the evils modern science has failed to thus far alleviate. I’ve been with my lover for quite some time. She’s truly the belle of the ball. I want and need to show her my gratitude, Yuantee, but I can’t get it up. What should I Zhu? —Grumpy in Gifford GG, I’m no sex columnist, as many of my readers seem to think, but I have been having lots of sex lately. Hanging out with pre-eminent Tufts band Knives For Sale will do that for you.

They play every Thursday night at The Burren, except on Senior Pub Nights.

In your letter, you expressed disappointment in “modern science.” Judging by your tone, you’ve tried Viagra, Cialis, Enzyte, Levitra, all kinds of marijuana, gummy bears and autoerotic asphyxiation. Now, I’m admittedly not in the best position to give my usual “fully baked” advice because I’ve never used three of the aforementioned methods, and also because I’ve essentially maintained an erection my entire adult life. Nevertheless, I do know the feeling. There was this one instant, I recall, when I lost my erection briefly following intercourse. It was during this three minute post-coitus span where I, like you, feared my hard-on would be lost forever. Fortunately, my date at the time rolled over, and something about the soft swing of her long Spanish curls struck me deep, and my lion came roaring back with a healthy vengeance. And if mine can, maybe yours can, too, with my help.

The first thing that comes to mind is Taylor Swift, particularly her songs “Our Song” (2006) and “You Belong With Me” (2008), which can be used to set the mood. If her playful hiccup of the lyric “real slow” in the third chorus of the former can’t give you the edge you need, maybe you’re more of a Katy Perry guy. Perry’s video “Teenage Dream” (2010) is the most conducive role-playing video of the decade, or second if you count the 2002 Ja Rule and Ashanti role-playing anthem “Mesmerize” (I’ve got a thing for cotton candy and Ferris wheels).

Or you could keep it simple. Try it in public.

There’s nothing like the thrill of the public arena to rile up your loins. My personal favorite is the steps behind Carmichael, whose generous breadth provides a romantic haven for consensual sex. But if that spot’s in use, you could always try the President’s Lawn, although you may have to wait your turn to use the swing.

I also sought the advice of my horny housemates. Several YouTube clips were suggested to get the blood flowing. Among them were a number of Serena Williams highlights, one from a recent match against Danish smokeshow Caroline Wozniacki. Two other Taylor Swift videos, “Teardrops on My Guitar” (2006) and “Fifteen” (2008) — though she was 18+ when she wrote the song; nothing illegal here — were also mentioned as instant remedies.

One housemate in particular suggested something very different — the Japanese freshwater eel Unagi. Rumor has it Unagi was first discovered by the earliest Chinese fishermen before Japanese pirates began noticing its effects. But only in the last hundred years was Unagi unveiled to the free markets of the globe, and only recently have sages spoken of the true value of its fruit. It’s no coincidence that the recent exposure of this protein- and calciumrich product comes at a time in man’s history in which seniors have been unabashedly reporting their wildest sexual rejuvenations yet.

Perhaps it’s time, GG, you relent to the craze.

Or, if that still doesn’t do it for you, you could always ask Bacow, that dirty old innovator.

At least, that’s what I would Zhu.

Yuantee Zhu is a senior majoring in biology.

He can be reached at Yuantee.Zhu@tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

Features

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Societal shun of ‘fatness’ a relatively modern, Western phenomenon OBESITY

continued from page 3

While thinness has been established as the model of attractiveness in society, it was not always the goal, according to Stephen Bailey, associate professor of anthropology. Historically, he said, individuals who were moderately obese were seen as desirable in many cultures.

“It was a signal that [people] had enough food, that they were successful and probably had enough wealth to be able to consume extra food,” he said.

“That was a good thing in some cultures.

It was even a mark of beauty. Young brides were deliberately fattened prior to their weddings.”

Meanwhile, thinness is often associated with the upper-middle classes.

“Part of the equation is that wealthy people have time and disposable income to work out, have access to healthy food and access to better health care that leads to lower levels of obesity,” Bailey said.

In certain areas in Latin America and much of sub-Saharan Africa, Bailey said, it is still considered desirable to be obese or at least overweight, the primary reason being those areas’ relatively little exposure to the Western world and its standards. The popular opinion of obesity as a distinctly bad thing is fairly new, he said, and seems to have been born in the Occident.

“What we find in America and in Western culture in general is that there has been a stigmatization of obesity and an identification of obese individuals as being out of control, lacking self-discipline,” Bailey said. “A lot of moral judgment has been fixed to individuals on the base of their physical appearance.”

Largely, this equation is the result of modernization, Bailey explained. In the Western world, factors such as Hollywood and the mass media have contributed to a shift in the perception of obesity and thinness, he said.

“In the modeling industry, a plus-size is actually what the average American woman is,” Bailey said. “Nowadays, it’s not enough to be average.”

bruce wang/Tufts Daily

As organizations attempt to promote health and reduce obesity rates, they run the risk of stigmatizing the overweight people they are trying to help.

Advertisement

TCU Senate Bulletin S.11-10: A Resolution Calling for the Hiring of an Athletics Business Manager

recognized club sports that are permitted to compete under the Tufts University name, but are not guaranteed any funding or space; and

WHEREAS over 620 students participate in club sports annually; and

WHEREAS there are currently 15 Tier I Club Sports and 6 Tier II Club Sports; and

WHEREAS, since 2000, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate has provided upwards of $20,000.00 each year through the Student Activities Fee towards the club sports program; and

WHEREAS new club sports are being added to the Tier II Club Sports program on a regular basis; and

WHEREAS the TCU Senate currently contributes $53,000.00 towards the club sports program; and WHEREAS the Arts & Sciences administration no longer contributes any funds towards the club sports program; and WHEREAS there are currently two tiers in the club sports program, where Tier I Club Sports are the historically recognized club sports that receive both funding and space for practices and matches and Tier II Club Sports are newly

WHEREAS the complete oversight of club sports does not fall under any one person’s authority; and WHEREAS the managing of the club sports program is associated with a significant administrative cost for which the involved staff in the Athletics Department is not compensated; and WHEREAS the addition of new club sports to the program will continue to increase the administrative cost of the program and will increasingly

impact other university departments; and WHEREAS Tufts’ athletics department is the only university athletics department in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) that does not have a position dedicated to overseeing the finances of the department and the only Tufts University department with a budget of its size that does not have a business manager; and WHEREAS the lack of a designated employee to oversee the club sports program has led to a great deal of miscommunication between the TCU Senate and the Tufts Athletics Department over the club sports program; and WHEREAS the lack of a designated employee to oversee the club sports program has led to funds not being allocated to or used by their designated recipients: Tier I Club Sport athletes; therefore BE IT RESOLVED that the TCU Senate feels that additional oversight is required for the funds

that the TCU Senate gives to the Athletics Department for the purpose of funding club sports; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the TCU Senate advocates for the creation of a Business Manager position in the Athletics Department which will be charged with overseeing club sport finances as well as the general finances of the athletics department, and act as a liaison to other departments to improve the oversight and transparency of club sports program and Tufts Athletics as a whole.

Respectfully Submitted on 10 April 2011

by Katharina de Klerk Adopted by a vote of 27-0-1

Weekender Arts & Living

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Weekender Feature

American television: Not quite the land of opportunity

Photos: therogersrevue.wordpress.com, posh24.com, imdb.com, onlinesportsbuzz.com design by leanne brotsky

by

Ben Phelps

Daily Editorial Board

What do “Two and a Half Men,” “Glee,” “NCIS” and “House” all have in common? To start, they are four of the most popular shows on television. But they also share a trait that is endemic throughout television and the broader entertainment industry: They are all led by white actors, with few (if any) performers of color making up the supporting casts.

Although racial attitudes have changed dramatically over the past 50 years and the election of the first black president is a celebratory accomplishment, racial inequality continues to play a substantial role in a society that is dominated by white culture. The television landscape has followed a similar trajectory to that of the nation’s overall racial progress: Blatant acts of racism and bigotry are now taboo, but people of color are still marginalized and their opportunities limited.

The number and quality of the roles available to actors of color continue to be limited and reflect neither the numerical size nor the contributions of the population of color in the United States. For a country that will be less than 50 percent white by 2050, as the U.S. Census Bureau projects, it seems time for American TV screens to better reflect the audience watching them.

“When it comes to [the] position of … minorities in the television industry, I honestly think there’s been far too little progress — things aren’t much better than they were a decade or two ago. In some ways, they’re worse,” Maureen Ryan, TV critic for AOL, said in an email to the Daily. In essence, racial diversity in TV, in both quality and quantity, is still lacking, and “sadly nobody seems willing to do much about it,” she said.

History of racial diversity on TV People of color have historically been underrepresented on television, but their portrayals have evolved over time. “The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show,” which aired from 1951 to 53, was the first television series to feature an all-black cast, yet it immediately drew the ire of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which condemned the show during its 1951 convention for the humor “built on the backbone of negative stereotypes.” The blatant racism of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” was unacceptable, but after it was canceled

— due primarily to pressure from the NAACP — it still took roughly 20 years for another primetime network TV show with a predominantly black cast to make it to the air.

Even once the wave of shows with casts of color began, it did not reflect a broader trend of diversity on TV. “The Jeffersons” (197585), “The Cosby Show” (1984-92), “Family Matters” (1989-98) and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (199096) for instance, all aired between the mid-’70s and mid-’90s, but they were a relatively small number of shows in a still white-dominated TV landscape.

“When those shows were on, it’s not like all of the rest of the TV schedule was notably diverse,” Josh Wolk, entertainment editor for New York Magazine’s Vulture blog, said in an email to the Daily. “I think it’s a mistake to say that those shows were symbols of a more diverse era.”

Dan Fienberg, executive editor and TV blogger for HitFix.com, explained that those shows were able to succeed because of the narrow television landscape at the time.

“Shows like [those] came along at a time where the Big Three networks were the only game in town, so you could guarantee that an audience was available and watching and that the press would pay attention,” he said in an email to the Daily. “Today those shows would probably only be developed for cable; they’d get a tenth the audience, and much of the media would ignore them until they reached genuine phenomenon status.”

Why the continued marginalization?

In 1999, the NAACP publicly criticized the major television networks for a fall schedule that featured no people of color in prominent roles. Organization president Kweisi Mfume referred to it as a “virtual whiteout,” and although the NAACP concluded it was more a problem of narrow thinking and “country club elitism” among network executives, rather than deliberate decisionmaking, the problem of an evergrowing population of people of color not being adequately reflected, quantitatively or qualitatively, on TV screens remained.

Entertainment journalists and TV critics agreed that deliberate decision-making was not the problem, but that it was embedded in more structural and systemic considerations. “I don’t think they [network executives] actively think, ‘We’ve gotta keep minorities off of

the television,’” Wolk said.

Ryan echoed that sentiment. “I don’t think it’s conscious racism, but I do think that people want to go with what has worked before — and what has worked before are shows starring white characters,” she said.

Myles McNutt, a TV critic at Cultural-Learnings.com and The A.V. Club, believed the reason for the continued marginalization of people of color in television is “simply a matter of demographics.” In an email to the Daily, he said, “The truth is that networks don’t want to limit their audience and thus aim towards a generalized (read: white) audience.”

“There’s always been an underlying and horribly flawed theory that minority audiences will watch shows led by white characters, but white audiences won’t watch shows led by minority characters,” Fienberg said.

“But what are we basing that on?

When networks do minority-driven shows, it ends up being something like ‘Brothers’ (2009) or ‘Outsourced.’

When those shows fail, is that an audience rejecting minority-centric TV or is that audiences rejecting trash? Nobody ever says that a show like ‘Lone Star’ (2010) or ‘My Generation’ (2010) failed because audiences don’t respond to white people.”

While there seems to be a consensus that the proliferation of white-led TV shows is not due to active racial discrimination, the problem at least partially lies in the fact that executives and those behind the shows that make it to the screen are predominantly from privileged backgrounds.

“People generally tell stories that interest them, and if I’m a middleaged, white, middle class, heterosexual man, what interest[s] me?

Not surprisingly, it’s probably stories about middle-aged, white, middle class, heterosexual men,” Ryan said.

“The upper echelons of the TV industry are still predominantly white and, although there are more exceptions, disproportionately male. Although there are more exceptions every year, the majority of TV writers and showrunners are still white and disproportionately male. Of course that’s going to have a major impact on what you see on your TV,” Fienberg said.

Indeed, the heads of four out of the five major networks are white: Bob Greenblatt (NBC), Paul Lee (ABC), Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly (Fox) and Dawn Ostroff (The CW).

Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, is Latina, but even

that “has not had any significant impact on the whiteness of that network because CBS’ audience remains demographically older and stereotypically less likely to find these types of programming appealing,” McNutt said.

McNutt thus cautioned that more diversity in these positions would not necessarily solve the problem. “I would say that the lack of minority representation within these types of positions is its own problem, and that even if there were executives of color it would likely not make much of an impact.”

Evaluating on-screen representation People of color continue to be underrepresented on TV, but considerable progress has been made since 1999, when the NAACP and the four major broadcast networks agreed to promote diversity in the television industry. In its 2008 report “Out of Focus, Out of Sync — Take 4,” the NAACP reported that “more actors of color are on-air, particularly as ensemble players” and that “network television places more emphasis on outreach and recruitment of qualified minority candidates.” However, looking across this season’s TV offerings, it’s hard not to notice the continued lack of meaningful minority representation.

Of the shows that aired this TV season on the major networks (NBC, CBS, Fox, ABC and The CW), only a handful featured a lead character of color. Unfortunately, two of those — “Outlaw” (2010) and “Undercovers” (2010) — have already been canceled, narrowing the field even further.

That is not to say there are no lead roles available to actors of color. “TV is actually beginning to change and take advantage of similar racial difficulties on the big screen,” Fienberg said. He pointed to lead actors like Forest Whitaker (“Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior”), Laurence Fishburne (“CSI”) and Don Cheadle (the upcoming Showtime comedy “House of Lies”).

“These are actors who by any measurement are among the best we have, but they look at what [they’re] being offered in movies and suddenly taking the lead in a generic CBS procedural looks really good,” Fienberg said. “Well, that’s bad for them as movie stars, but it’s good for TV.” Other shows, too, have racially mixed casts, even if they are not led by actors of color. “There are some show creators who work hard to have a diverse cast. Shonda Rhimes,

for example, with her shows on ABC. … [And] ‘Community’ is pretty diverse,” Wolk said.

But for every rich, uncliched lead or racially diverse cast like those mentioned above, there are many more token supporting roles.

“Roles available to actors of color are generally in the friend/assistant category. They play characters who can help the lead characters achieve their goals, but we rarely, if ever, see those supporting characters’ goals.

They really only exist in relation to the lead character, who is usually white,” Ryan said.

This is particularly evident when looking at characters of color who are in positions of power (Lance Reddick as the team leader on “Fringe,” Blair Underwood as the U.S. president on “The Event”) but are still supporting characters.

Although they hold power within the show’s dynamic, they are not driving the narrative and remain in second position to the white leads.

When broken down by race, the results are even worse, with very few roles for Latino and Asian American actors and practically none for Native Americans. Wolk did point out the recent increase in Indian Americans on screen, citing Aziz Ansari, Danny Pudi and Archie Panjabi as actors who “all have regular roles where their ethnicity seems to be beside the point,” but also noted “Outsourced,” which features a white lead and “where the whole show is a joke about how they’re Indian.”

“The idea of doing an ensemble without at least one minority is no longer acceptable,” Fienberg said, “but often it’s just that one character who’s there to keep people from asking why the show is so darned white.”

Even an increase in roles for actors of color wouldn’t be a final solution, though, according to McNutt. The failure of “Undercovers” on NBC “demonstrate[s] that just because minorities are placed in those [lead] roles does not mean that the battle is won,” he said. “I’d argue that even if the role imbalance was corrected there would remain larger systemic concerns within the industry.”

Diversity for diversity’s sake would be a step toward formal equality, which ignores historical context and circumstance, but the deeper question is how to attain substantive equality so that TV screens not only reflect the numerical population of people of color in the United States, but also the breadth and depth of their contributions to American life.

The Tufts Daily

6

Weekender

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Conscience and Science in the Nuclear Age: The Legacies of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Andrei Sakharov J. Robert Oppenheimer is credited with being a founding father of the American school of theoretical physics. When World War II began, Oppenheimer became involved in the efforts to develop an atomic bom. In June 1942, General Leslie Groves appointed Oppenheimer as the scientific director of the Manhattan Project. He brought the best minds in physics to work on the problem of creating an atomic bomb. He is often referred to as the “father” of the atomic bomb. The joint work of the scientists at Los Alamos resulted in the first nuclear explosion at Alamagordo on July 16, 1945, which Oppenheimer named “Trinity.” After the war, Oppenheimer was appointed Chairman of the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), serving from 1947 to 1952. It was in this role that he voiced strong opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb.

Andrei Sakharov was a Soviet physicist who became, in the words of the Nobel Peace Committee, a spokesman for the conscience of mankind. He was fascinated by fundamental physics and cosmology, but first he spent two decades designing nuclear weapons. He came to be regarded as the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, contributing perhaps more than anyone else to the military might of the USSR. But gradually Sakharov became one of the regime’s most courageous critics, a defender of human rights and democracy. He could not be silenced, and helped bring down one of history’s most powerful dictatorships.

with

Martin J. Sherwin and Joshua Rubenstein Recipients of the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award

Martin J. Sherwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian. His scholarship mostly concerns the history of the development of atomic energy and nuclear proliferation. He was the long-time Walter S. Dickson professor of English and American history at Tufts University until his retirement in May 2007.

He is now a professor emeritus of Tufts and a University Professor at George Mason University. He has received numerous awards and grants. He and co-author Kai Bird shared the Pulitzer Prize for Biography/Autobiography in 2006, for their book on Robert Oppenheimer’s life, titled American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Sherwin worked on the book for two decades before collaborating on the writing with Bird. Sherwin also wrote A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and its Legacies, which won the Stuart L. Bernath Prize and the American History Book Prize.

Sherwin serves on the board of The Nation magazine, to which he is a regular contributor.

Joshua Rubenstein has been professionally involved with human rights and international affairs for 30 years as an activist, scholar and journalist with particular expertise in Soviet affairs. A long-time Associate of Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, he has made many research trips to Moscow and other Russian cities.

He has lectured and written widely on the Soviet human rights movement, including a series of lectures in Russian at the Mendeleev Institute in Moscow in the fall of 1990 and in the spring of 1991. Since 1975, Mr. Rubenstein has been the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA, overseeing Amnesty’s work in New England, New York and New Jersey. He is author of Soviet Dissidents, Their Struggle for Human Rights (1980) and Stalin’s Secret Pogrom: the Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, which was awarded the National Jewish Book Award in 2001-2002. He is the co-editor of The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov.

TONIGHT, THURSDAY, APRIL 14 CABOT AUDITORIUM, 8:00pm This is the first event of a new Tufts Student Pugwash chapter -- the purpose of Pugwash is to promote social responsibility in science and technology Part of the 2010-11 EPIIC theme on “Our Nuclear Age: Peril and Promise”

For more information: www.tuftsgloballeadership.org or x73314

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 14, 2011

7

Weekender

TV Review

Mitchell Geller | Makes It Rain

Parents just don’t get it

I

Courtesy Monty Brinton/CBS

Something tells us they don’t actually work for Organic Teas of Portland.

Embrace the stupidity and let ‘CHAOS’ reign

Ridiculous new CBS dramedy, though uneven, shows strong potential by

Andrew Padgett

Daily Editorial Board

Kitsch, when wielded properly, can produce masterpieces — the Teletubbies, movies about horses, so on. It’s the kind

CHAOS Starring Freddy Rodriguez, Tim Blake Nelson, Eric Close, James Murray Airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on CBS of personalized, winking absurdity that makes shows like “Jersey Shore” shine.

Unfortunately, CBS’ new governmentthemed comedic drama “CHAOS” just doesn’t quite get it.

The show is about Rick Martinez (Freddy Rodriguez), a rookie CIA agent whose life falls apart during his first day at the office (and in such zany ways!) Driving to work, he’s mistaken for a terrorist and pinned down by a SWAT team. While bafflingly (and delightfully) stupid, scenes like this are not the show’s actual problem. The real trouble begins when “CHAOS” tries not to be stupid, thereby rendering itself even dumber.

Album Review

Right from the start, the show attempts to mock the efficiency of government-run intelligence programs, which proves a fatal error. The moment the plot tries to tackle a real-life issue in a clever way, the show loses its surreal nature and all the punch lines fall flat and tired. “CHAOS” would be much better off if it stopped trying to be funny, because the show’s contrived and preposterous storylines are already dumb enough to keep viewers entertained.

Once Rick resolves his series of comic fiascos, the premise boils down to this: He joins a small group of CIA agents in the Office of Disruptive Services (or ODS, a name vague enough to allow their actual job to vary in every episode) and travels with them to random countries around the world in accordance with whichever goofy plot conflict arises. In the second episode, for example, the spies pretend to be anti-American documentary filmmakers in order to gain entry into North Korea and save an exiled diplomat’s wife by sneaking her over the Chinese border on a tour bus.

This is not an exaggeration. Every storyline really is this remarkably farfetched, which appears to be the show’s greatest strength. Not only are these plots aware of their kitsch, but they’re also quite original and effortlessly funny at their core.

Though viewers will occasionally cringe

at the show’s illogical twists, no one can deny that Rick swallowing a live scorpion in order to make friends with Sudanese terrorists is simply an awesome idea.

“CHAOS” also presents the rare scenario in which the main character is not the best spy — in fact, Rick serves as more of a guinea pig to his more experienced (and thus more jaded) coworkers. They use and abuse him in astronomically brainless and self-serving ways: In Sudan, they even knock him unconscious and send him to terrorists on a horse as bait. But of course, ODS’ crazy antics always work out in the end, somehow. And even though each episode contains upwards of three fight scenes, during which spy Casey Malick (Tim Blake Nelson) impossibly wards off several armed gunmen with his bare hands, there are never any deaths.

Quoth Casey: “I am a human weapon.”

Every other scene possesses a little magic moment like that, where the acting, writing and glaring cliches mesh harmoniously to create something relatively pointless but nonetheless amusing. It’s too bad that crippled acting, plot inconsistencies and tension between kitsch and taste bog down “CHAOS” with the same proverbial red tape it tries so desperately to destroy.

The pilot episode, for instance, see CHAOS, page 11

Restaurant Review

b.good could be a lot better Album fails to get band out of its one- Burger joint has cheap, if unimpressive, fare note musical cave by

Nick Bayhi

Daily Staff Writer

by

Kate Griffiths

Daily Staff Writer

Cold Cave, the musical brainchild of Wesley Eisold, has significantly evolved from its last studio album,

Cherish the Light Years Cold Cave

Matador Records “Love Comes Close” (2009). The band’s original sound was an amalgamation of synthpop and haunting melodies showing tribute to the new-wave goth movement that Eisold discovered in New York City.

As Eisold wrote on his blog, “When the album was announced a few weeks ago, it was said that the record is a love letter to NYC. That’s not exactly true.

It’s a love letter to the path that has led me to where I am now, to loss and love and friends and enemies and the see COLD CAVE, page 8

Every city has its culinary specialty. In New York, you eat pizza; in Munich, it’s bratwurst; in Boston, it’s the lobster roll.

b.good 24 Dunster Street Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 354-6500 Price Range ($-$$$$): $ The hamburger makes for a a close second to the lobster roll in our fair city. Ranging from Davis Square’s own Boston Burger Company to Mr. Bartley’s Gourmet Burgers in Harvard Square — with a few McDonald’s in between — you can’t go three blocks without hitting a burger place in and around Beantown.

Recognizing this, I searched around for a lesser-known burger place that could still satisfy Jumbos’ carnivorous cravings. I wanted a place that was close by (nobody is going to go into the Back Bay for something as simple as a hamburger) and relatively cheap.

Enter b.good, a small local chain with

seven locations around the Boston area, including one nearby in Harvard Square.

The restaurant purports to make fast food “real,” serving “burgers and fries made by people, not factories.” They use allnatural and local ingredients (things that make the West Coaster in me smile) and keep their menu simple: five kinds of burgers, plus a seasonal choice; normal and sweet potato fries; a few salad options; and milkshakes and smoothies.

The restaurant is located a block away from a major thoroughfare, so though it is extremely accessible, it is unlikely to be noticed by the casual eater. When I opened the door, I was bombarded by loud music and the greasy smell of a deep fryer, but the place wasn’t too crowded.

Immediately dismissing the veggie, turkey and chicken burger options, I perused the topping choices and ended up selecting the West Side burger, featuring avocado, cilantro, tomato and chipotle salsa ($6.29). I opted for a small burger, instead of a regular and added a mango smoothie ($3.99 for 16 oz., $1 more for a 24 oz.) and side of fries ($2.44) to the meal. In true fast-food fashion, my order was called up within about five minutes. With a squirt of ketchup, I was ready to dig in. see B.GOOD, page 10

was having trouble starting this column. For whatever reason, nothing jumped out at me this week. It’s not writer’s block, exactly, because I wrote a few hundred words and then decided they weren’t up to snuff. It was more like false starts.

And then I decided to call my dad.

I planned on having him listen to some rap song and tell me what he thought about it. Then I was going to write about that. Or something. I was going to call it “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” I’m clever like that.

So I called my parents without looking at a clock, and my mom picked up and asked if I knew what time it was. It was late. My dad had been asleep for a while, after dozing off watching “Deadliest Catch.” You know, dad stuff.

I’m going to do that next week. I will expound on my father’s thoughts on whatever songs I choose to send him. He has great taste in music but stopped listening to new stuff after 1975 or so. He saw The Doors play with The Who in Brooklyn. He saw The Grateful Dead jam until dawn.

He played Iron Butterfly and Hot Tuna for me before I could read. He’s gone off, many times, when they’ve played the short (four-minute) version of “Light My Fire” (1967) on the radio rather than the full (seven-minute) version.

But my dad doesn’t listen to hip-hop.

He tries to keep up with my column, and sometimes asks me about it when it makes no sense to him, but, as far as I know, he has zero interest in the music.

What about rappers’ parents, though?

All rappers have parents — even orphans had parents at some point — and I wonder how rappers’ parents feel about their children. I mean, it’s common knowledge that Jay-Z’s mother loves him, as did Kanye West’s late mother.

Christopher Wallace’s mother has gone on record saying how much she loved her late son, despite his insistence that “[he knew his] mother wished she got a f****** abortion.”

Even with a line like that, Biggie Smalls’ mom loved him.

Tyler, the Creator, the current propagator of horrifying hip-hop, recently tweeted that his mother has been going to all of his shows because she wants to support her son. While he is known to lie for fun, that sentiment seems about right. That means Tyler, the Creator, the boy who raps things like “and you call this s*** rape but I think that rape’s fun,” has a mother who loves him.

And hears him rap things like that.

Maybe it’s just my own familial relationship (or prudish disposition), but I’m somewhat uncomfortable with the fact that my own mother could ostensibly read that. It’s the mindset that there are some things parents probably don’t need to know about. Like rap music, a genre that glorifies violence, sex and drugs like no other.

But then I think about the stuff they were into when they were our ages: again, my dad saw The Dead jam until dawn.

When I heard that story for the first time, my mind reeled. I’m still not quite sure what to make of that.

So then we also have to wonder what rappers’ children think of them. Ludacris has kids, as do 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Dr. Dre, most of the members of the Wu Tang Clan, The Game, Nelly and ... well, a ton of rappers, actually.

It’s not weird for rappers to have kids, but thinking that these guys are raising children is a little frightening. But the world keeps turning and each generation cringes thinking about — well, let’s not think about those things.

So what do rappers’ mothers think about them? They’re probably proud that their kids are living their dreams. Parents can be cool like that.

And I don’t think that my dad will want to listen to rap for my little experiment.

But I know he’ll do it if I ask.

Mitchell Geller is a senior majoring in psychology and English. He can be reached at Mitchell.Geller@Tufts.edu.

8

The Tufts Daily

Weekender

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Certain tracks stand out but newest Cold Cave album ultimately falls short COLD CAVE

continued from page 7

dizzied and blurred ways of the world.

This song and record is about magic, preservation, youth and movement.”

The lyrics do play into the romantic themes Eisold references, picking up on the nostalgia he felt as he traveled through all the cities he’d grown up in, but on first listen the lyrics are not the first thing you notice.

“Cherish the Light Years,” the band’s newest release, is a loud, harmonious chorus of ’80s-style synthesizers, reminiscent of everything from New Order to Depeche Mode, especially with Eisold’s moody vocals lamenting the too-quick progression of his life.

The opening song, “The Great Pan is Dead,” is a bold beginning, and it is clear to anyone who knows any of Cold Cave’s previous music that this album is going to be very different.

From songs such as their 2009 single “The Laurels of Erotomania,” a hypnotic dance track that wouldn’t have been out of place alongside anything

by Visage in an ’80s disco hall, to the deceitfully upbeat sound of this album’s “Pacing Around the Church,” Eisold has definitely acquired some depth in his songwriting. The energetic and prominent tones of the synthesizers mask the attitude of the lyrics as Eisold sings, “You can seldom count on love/ You can often count on hate/ You can always count on/ Death as your fate.”

The timbre of “Cherish the Light Years” is somewhat repetitive, though, the replicated percussion setting a tone at the start of the album that persists throughout its entirety. This gives the impression that the album is just a single rather long song with no identifiable breaks. Some prefer this manner of listening to albums, but the strongest albums tend to set an overall tone and then build upon it, with songs branching off into different pitches and creating new atmospheres.

The only spot where this happens is in “Alchemy Around You,” well after the

Courtesy Sebastian Mlynarksi/Matador Records

‘Cherish the Light Years’ is the latest album by synthpop band Cold Cave. halfway mark on the album, where the synthesizers are temporarily replaced with trumpets. It is from this point on that the album peaks again. “Cherish the Light Years” admittedly starts off strong, but after “Alchemy Around You,” it becomes all the more apparent that the first several songs are almost indistinguishable from one another.

“Burning Sage,” the second-to-last track, starts off slowly but builds up into the most dramatic song on the album. Eisold declares, “I feel so old but so young,” before the song hits its apex and the drums and synthesizers kick back in for an impressive ending to the song. The final song on the album, “Villains of the Moon,” is,

unfortunately, an unremarkable way to end an album that could have been less forgettable had it ended on a higher note.

Yet Cold Cave’s sound, however onenote it seems to be, is an interesting one. Perhaps with a little more evolution, the band will reach a place where every song stands out.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Tufts Daily

9

Weekender

LAST CHANCE Applying to MEDICAL school in 2011?

Medical schools WILL expect a Tufts Health Professions

Recommendation Committee letter.

Register NOW, as interviewer our contact

assignments will be made this weekend.

If you are not registered, you will NOT be assigned.

http://uss.tufts.edu/hpa/ApplicationPro cess/

(617) 440-7361 or

bostonburgerco.com

our hours

our location 37 davis square somerville, ma 02144

mon - wed:

11 AM to 10 PM

thurs - sat: 11 AM to 11 PM sun: 12 PM to 8 PM

Want to know what the “real world� is like?

Find Your Mentor Apply online by Monday, April 18th Enrich your summer experience by connecting with alumni mentors through the CASE (Connecting Alumni and Student Experiences) Network.

Summer mentorships are available in: Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. For more information visit http://activecitizen.tufts.edu/?pid=293 or email Rachel.Szyman@tufts.edu

The Tufts Daily

10

Weekender

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Dilys Ong/Tufts Daily

All-natural beef burgers prove a juicy success, but b. good’s fries and other food are mostly uninspiring.

Soggy fries, lackluster fare dampen the b.good experience

B.GOOD

continued from page 7

The fries, soggy and greasy without any of the crunch and fluff you expect from a well crisped french fry, were disappointing — a bad omen for the meal to come.

The burger was not as bad, but it was really nothing to write home about. The salsa, tomato and cilantro all blended into the bland guacamole and the various toppings became indistinguishable from each other. The bun, not quite thick enough, was unable to hold up to the liquidy salsa on top and the hamburger juices on the bottom, and quickly fell apart. The best part of the hamburger was actually the meat itself.

Grilled but not blackened, juicy and meaty, it was everything you would expect from high-quality, hand-ground beef.

The mango smoothie also went a long way toward making up for those flaccid fries.

I would not have expected to find it here, but it was one of the best smoothies I have ever had and really the highlight of my meal.

Overall, b.good needed to show a little more culinary effort in order to live up to its name and be, well, good. Indeed, my first thought as I bit into the burger was that I was eating the same acceptable yet uninspired hamburger that I had eaten so many times in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall. b. good desperately needs to rethink its french fry-making methods, but the chain is obviously doing something right in its delicious smoothies. They also succeeded on the core element of the hamburger — the meat itself — so it is possible that another topping choice would have tasted better.

If you find yourself in Harvard and want a cheap, decent dinner, don’t shy away from b.good, but don’t bother unless you are already in the area and craving pureed mango.

Dilys Ong/Tufts Daily

b.good offers a ‘real’ alternative to standard burger fare.

What’s up this weekend?

Looking to make your weekend artsy?

Check out these events!

Arabian Nights: The Tufts Department of Drama and Dance continues its spring production of Mary Zimmerman’s play, directed by Luke Jorgensen. (Tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Balch Arena Theater. Tickets are available at the Balch Arena Box Office for $7 with Tufts ID and for $1 tonight.)

Lux 2011: Tufts China Care presents its annual fashion show for one night only. Models in clothing from design-

ers such as Marc Jacobs, Cotelac, ALO and Soodee will walk down the runway, accompanied by a live DJ, vocal performances and a raffle. All proceeds go toward surgeries for orphans in China. (Tonight at 9 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium. Tickets are available at the Mayer Campus Center info booth for $8 or $10 with five raffle tickets.)

British Band Music for Winds: The Tufts Department of Music presents an evening with the Tufts Wind Ensemble, featuring music by Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy

Grainger. (Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Distler Performance Hall. Admission is free.)

SUPERMATE: The Tufts Amalgamates, Tufts’ oldest co-ed a cappella group, present its spring show, where they will sing a new repertoire and celebrate their three senior members. The Boston University Aural Fixations will also perform. (Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Goddard Chapel. Admission is free.)

Shir Appeal’s Spring Show: Tufts’ co-ed Jewish a cappella group presents its spring semester show, complete

with skits and goodbyes to the seniors in the group. (Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Granoff Family Hillel Center. Tickets are available at Hillel and are free with Tufts ID.) #lollegeFEST: The latest installment in the WMFO-Midnight Spring Concert Series will feature music by Craft Spells and Beach Fossils. The show will be simulcast on WMFO.org and 91.5 FM. (Sunday at 8 p.m. in Remis Sculpture Court. Admission is free.)

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 14, 2011 Top Ten | Statements Not Intended to be Factual During the recent legislative budget debates, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) falsely claimed on the Senate floor that abortions account for “well over 90 percent” of what Planned Parenthood does. After it was revealed that abortion services actually count for about 3 percent, Kyl’s office issued a statement that the figure was “not intended to be a factual statement,” to which Stephen Colbert promptly replied on Twitter with a swarm of his own notintended-to-be-factual statements.

We at the Daily Arts Department came up with 10 more to add to the list.

10.Rebecca Black still relevant #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 9. Justin Bieber to produce next season of “16 and Pregnant” #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 8. Daily Arts Department obsessed with eagles #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 7. Lindsay Lohan to play Daisy in “Great Gatsby” remake #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 6. Katie Couric to become a judge on “American Idol” #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 5. Francine Pascal (of the “Sweet Valley” series infamy) to win a Pulitzer Prize #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 4. “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” to be next semester’s Torn Ticket II show #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 3. If you see “Jane Eyre,” you don’t have to read the book #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 2. Aretha Franklin to headline Burning Man Festival #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement 1. Charlie Sheen losing #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement #ActuallyIsFactual —compiled by the Daily Arts Department

11

Weekender

From the office of the Tufts Daily Dear Justin Bieber, We’re not necessarily saying that you’re the second coming of Christ, but we’re not, you know, totally discounting it or anything: the long hair, the “crazy” ideas and the innovative way of spreading your message. It all fits.

See, we heard that your meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, was canceled the other day. First, we thought nothing of it: You’re just some kid. Some pop star. What makes you think you can do anything to change the world?

But then we realized, in all seriousness, that you’re doing what we spend every day talking about here at Tufts. Rather than thinking globally and acting locally, though, you’re thinking globally and acting globally.

You’re, what, 17? And you’re already trying to get into politics? And not just politics, but one of the most volatile political situations in the world? There are plenty of world leaders many times your age who want nothing to do with the Middle East.

And you’re doing your best to break into that world and solve the problems with your dulcet tones. If anyone can do it, it’s you.

We believe in you.

We’re here to spread the gospel of Bieber.

You Tweeted that all you wanted “was the chance to walk where jesus did here in isreal [sic.]” Well, it looks like you’re definitely doing a fine job of following in his footsteps.

Or, you know, your footsteps.

Blessed be in the name of the Lord, The Daily Arts Department

Interesting characters, situations help ‘CHAOS’ despite poor writing, lack of realistic plot line CHAOS

continued from page 7

prominently features one female CIA employee, Fay Carson (Carmen Ejogo), who shares a bit of a romance with Rick when she meets him. I was pretty excited for them, especially after Rick said, “I know what you’re thinking. How can I be a good spy when I’m blind when it comes to matters of the heart?”

Adorably transparent writing.

Anyway, I was actually excited because for the first time (pretty much ever) on a TV show, a Latino man and an African-American woman were assuming the lead romantic roles. It’s groundbreaking when you consider how often minority characters are brushed aside to minor plotlines.

But alas, the show randomly introduces (with no explanation) a white, blonde leading woman, Adele Ferrer (Christina Cole) in the second episode, who immediately snatches all of the screen time away from Fay and ever-soslightly flirts with Rick on top of that.

Since Adele’s arrival, Fay has appeared in a total of one scene. Not to demonize the white woman or anything (my mom is white, my cat was white), but I’d just

Courtesy Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

Left to right, Freddy Rodriguez, Eric Close, James Murray and Tim Blake Nelson star in ‘CHAOS,’ a comedic drama about a group of rogue CIA spies. really like to see “CHAOS” push some institutionalized television norms the same way it does with its around-theworld rescue plots. In my book, the show is already bad enough to get away with anything. So why not shed the restric-

tions and trim the BS? Ultimately, I think the writers of this series are well on their way to liberating themselves. When they’re completely free, you can count on me to embrace the chaos.

The Tufts Daily

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THE TUFTS DAILY Alexandra W. Bogus Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Mick Brinkman Krever Saumya Vaishampayan Managing Editors Martha Shanahan Executive News Editor Michael Del Moro News Editors Nina Ford Ben Gittleson Amelie Hecht Ellen Kan Daphne Kolios Kathryn Olson Matt Repka Corinne Segal Jenny White Brent Yarnell Elizabeth McKay Assistant News Editors Laina Piera Rachel Rampino Minyoung Song Derek Schlom Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Sarah Korones Emilia Luna Romy Oltuski Alexa Sasanow Falcon Reese Assistant Features Editors Angelina Rotman Sarah Strand Amelia Quinn Ben Phelps Executive Arts Editor Emma Bushnell Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Rebecca Santiago Matthew Welch Allison Dempsey Assistant Arts Editors Andrew Padgett Joseph Stile Ashley Wood Rebekah Liebermann Bhushan Deshpande Larissa Gibbs David Kellogg Rachel Oldfield Jeremy Ravinsky Daniel Stock Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Alex Miller Louie Zong Craig Frucht Kerianne Okie Michael Restiano Joshua Youner

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

Editorial | Letters

Thursday, April 14, 2011

EDITORIAL

Once again, ECOM flouts its responsibilities

Following an inadequately advertised pre-election process, 17 students last week walked onto the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate uncontested. The Senate did not even manage to fill the 21 seats that were available to rising sophomore, junior and senior students, meaning that Tufts Elections Commission (ECOM) will have to organize another election in the fall to fill the empty spots.

This election is not the first time in recent semesters that ECOM’s failure to properly advertise has resulted in low election awareness among both candidates and the student body. Last spring, ECOM received criticism for putting the community representatives referenda on the TCU presidential elections ballot at the last minute without advertising or properly informing the student body of its contents, thus failing to abide by ECOM bylaws.

More recently, ECOM came under fire last semester for lack of advertising, as well as miscommunication with freshman Senate candidates regarding election procedures.

According to many freshman candidates, ECOM failed to make candidates widely aware of the mandatory general interest meeting and was unclear and uncommunicative regarding deadlines.

This semester’s apparent lack of interest in the Senate seats further suggests that ECOM’s methods for promoting elections

and generating student interest are not working. ECOM officials said that they created a Facebook event, emailed student center directors and student leaders and put up flyers in order to advertise the candidates general interest meeting.

These methods are flawed and do not properly reach out to the entire campus.

Emailing current leaders and inviting students on Facebook only ensures that those who are currently involved or associated with ECOM members will be well-informed about the elections. This represents a tiny percentage of the undergraduate population, and the lack of widespread advertising excludes many students from the opportunity to run for the Senate simply because they are not aware of their ability to do so.

ECOM needs to find ways to reach out to all students, not just those who are already familiar with the Senate and leadership positions. The body needs to table in the Mayer Campus Center and dining halls and make the election process exciting for students. An email should also be sent to the entire student body informing them of the upcoming election so that no person misses out on the opportunity to get involved.

ECOM members receive a stipend of $500 per term they serve, and they should be held to the standards that this amount merits. Sending out emails to leaders so

that they can do their own recruiting and inviting friends to a Facebook event is not sufficient or effective, and it does not represent an amount of work proportionate to what they are paid.

ECOM holds elections at different times each semester depending on resignations and the need for special elections. Office of Campus Life Director Joe Golia suggested that ECOM hold elections only twice a year and have an “election season,” about which students are completely aware and informed. This consistency would help to heighten election buzz among some students, particularly juniors and seniors who have been through several elections.

Students are often quick to berate the Senate for inaction or for creating controversial policies. The way for more voices to be heard and for more ideas to be put into action is to diversify the Senate and get directly involved in the decision-making processes. Putting aside any criticism, the Senate has the ability to make significant changes that affect the entire Tufts community, and there is no reason that any student should be prevented from running due to lack of awareness, particularly when there is a paid body of students in charge of ensuring that this does not happen. ECOM must revamp its system for advertising and conducting elections so that this type of event does not occur in the future.

ERIN MARSHALL Cartoonists

Editorialists

Ben Kochman Executive Sports Editor Philip Dear Sports Editors Lauren Flament Claire Kemp Alex Lach Alex Prewitt Daniel Rathman Noah Schumer Ethan Sturm Matthew Berger Assistant Sports Editors Aaron Leibowitz David McIntyre Ann Sloan Meredith Klein Virginia Bledsoe Jodi Bosin Danai Macridi Dilys Ong James Choca Lane Florsheim Meagan Maher Justin McCallum Oliver Porter Ashley Seenauth Aalok Kanani Andrew Morgenthaler

Executive Photo Editor Photo Editors

Assistant Photo Editors

Staff Photographers

Off the Hill | New York University

AT&T/T-Mobile merger raises concerns of a telecom duopoly

Kristiina Yang Executive New Media Editor

PRODUCTION Andrew Petrone Production Director Sarah Davis Executive Layout Editor Leanne Brotsky Layout Editors Adam Gardner Jason Huang Jennifer Iassogna Sarah Kester Alyssa Kutner Steven Smith Rebecca Alpert Assistant Layout Editors Jennifer Betts Shoshanna Kahne Mackenzie Loy Alexia Moustroufi Emily Rourke Alexandra Husted Executive Copy Editor Sara Eisemann Copy Editors Niki Krieg Andrew Paseltiner Zehava Robbins Elisha Sum Ashley Cheng Assistant Copy Editors Benjamin Considine Linh Dang Patrick Donnelly Lauren Greenberg Drew Lewis Rebecca Raskind Melissa Roberts Alexandra Salerno Alison Williams Stefanie Yeung Darcy Mann Executive Online Editor Emily Denton Online Editors William Wong Ammar Khaku Executive Technical Manager Michael Vastola Technical Manager

by

Kenny Kyunghoon Lee Washington Square News

AT&T’s acquisition of its competitor, T-Mobile, will give birth to a new juggernaut in the American telecommunications industry, producing a company which can supposedly better serve its customers by providing a faster and stronger network. But is it really worth risking consumer interests?

The merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, the second- and fourth-largest wireless service providers, respectively, is expected to create a duopoly of AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which makes the market far more consolidated than necessary. The deal, which is expected to close in a year, makes AT&T by far the largest service provider in the nation with 130 million total subscribers.

Various market analysts are raising concerns over the upcoming change in the market.

AT&T justified the acquisition in a statement on March 20, claiming that the acquisition will benefit the customers by “enhancing network capacity, output and quality in near term for both companies’

customers.” This statement is realizable as AT&T and T-Mobile have similar technology, and their networks, which already cover large areas of the country, can contribute to each other to create an even stronger and faster wireless network.

However, it still seems that consumers have more to lose than to gain. The customers may enjoy enhanced services after the acquisition, but they have to expect a future increase in price when two or three behemoths dominate the market.

Concerns over future price hikes are wellfounded. AT&T presents itself as the provider of the highest quality mobile services, which collides with T-Mobile’s brand image as a provider of affordable services. Thus, some of T-Mobile’s more price-efficient contracts may be terminated or altered to maintain AT&T’s brand image and profit margins. In a recent media release by T-Mobile, the company suggested that future rate plans may be subject to a price increase. T-Mobile merely states “all customer contracts entered into before the change of ownership will be honored (for their applicable period),” suggest-

ing the looming possibility that prices may rise in the future.

Moreover, if this acquisition is approved by the regulators, it may encourage future mergers in the market. Mergers and acquisitions are very attractive options to businesses as they can take advantage of various economies of scales (various economic benefits made available by the increase in the size of a firm, such as a stronger bargaining power in business deals and lower interest rates on loans). In addition, in the telecommunications industry, a bigger size usually means larger control over the market (in other words, more subscribers) and increased revenues as the companies deal directly with their customers. Once AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile is approved, it may encourage other mergers in the future, as they are highly profitable for telecommunications companies.

There are always banes and boons when economic decisions are made, and they have to be measured carefully. In this acquisition, at least for now, the banes seem to outweigh the boons.

BUSINESS Benjamin Hubbell-Engler Executive Business Director Laura Moreno Advertising Director Dwijo Goswami Receivables Manager P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

Correction

Tuesday’s article, “2011-2012 TCU Senate seats go uncontested; 17 students walk on,” incorrectly stated that the unfilled 2013 and 2014 class seats would be offered to rising senior and junior candidates. The seats will remain open to rising sophomore and junior applicants.

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY 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. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

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Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Tufts Daily

13

Op-Ed

Celebrating at 63: Revisiting the birth of Israel by

Daniel Bleiberg

More than 80 years ago, Albert Einstein famously declared, “Zionism springs from an even deeper motive than Jewish suffering. It is rooted in a Jewish spiritual tradition whose maintenance and development are, for Jews, the basis of their continued existence as a community.” With Einstein’s sentiments in mind, the Tufts community prepares once again to congregate in the Mayer Campus Center tomorrow to celebrate our annual I-Fest tradition as Israel turns 63 years old.

Nonetheless, several questions have been raised regarding the legitimacy of celebrating the State of Israel’s independence and its basic right to exist.

Should Israel’s policies, in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, be addressed and extensively debated? Absolutely. However, when that scope overshadows and questions the commemoration of Israel’s very existence, it becomes increasingly concerning.

Nakba Day, translating to the day of “the catastrophe” in Arabic, mourns the displacement of the Palestinian people after the creation of the State of Israel. The fundamental issue I take with Nakba Day is not the fact that it highlights Palestinian suffering, which must be both recognized as well as remedied, but rather its denial of legitimate Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel.

The vision for Jewish self-determination was conceived by early Zionist thinkers and political philosophers who believed that after centuries of persecution and pogroms, the Jewish people were entitled to independence under the universal ideal of self-determination. That principle, as defined by Article 1 in the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, states that “All peoples have the right to self-determination.

By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”

To address local Jewish and Arab demands for autonomy and liberation from the British Mandate of Palestine, the United Nations passed the Partition Plan in 1947.

U.N. Resolution 181 Part I, Number 3 specifically calls for the establishment of both a Jewish state and an Arab state, with a Special International Regime overseeing the contentious city of Jerusalem. The implementation of Resolution 181 depended on the acceptance by both parties, but it was subsequently rejected by the League of Arab States, who could not come to terms with the idea of Jewish sovereignty in the British Mandate.

The Arab leaders boldly declared they would wage war on the State of Israel “with the same determination and force as during the Crusades,” as King of Saudi Arabia Ibn Saud warned. The Arab League was vocal in its genocidal intentions, as Secretary General of the League Azzam Pasha declared on the eve of Israel’s birth that “this will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres.”

As promised, hours after the nascent Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, five of the seven Arab League members launched a military attack on the Jewish state. Lebanon and Syria invaded in the north; Iraq and Transjordan (now Jordan) attacked from the east; and Egypt, assisted by Sudanese reinforcements, assailed the south.

The defenders of the young State of Israel were ill-trained, ill-equipped and lacked a professional military, as judged by international standards.

The Independence War left a deep psychological as well as physical toll on the newly founded State of Israel. On a human scale, Israel lost 1 percent of its population, the proportional equivalent of 3 million Americans today for the United States. The reality that many of the fallen soldiers in the 1948 clashes were Holocaust survivors, some having just returned from concentration camps in Europe, left a deep wound in the psyche of the Jewish people. With the memories of Auschwitz-Birkenau’s gas chambers still fresh in their minds, world Jewry were presented with a stark message that the international community would continue to turn a blind eye to the slaughtering of their kin.

Even as the young State of Israel was struggling for its survival, it proudly stated in its Declaration of Independence that, “The State of Israel … will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of creed, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.”

It was during this tumultuous birth of Israel that what we now know as the Palestinian refugee problem came to be. This issue is based heavily on the claim that the Zionist forces ethnically cleansed the land through systematic expulsion. This, however, could not be farther from the truth.

The hundreds of thousands of Arabs who abandoned their homes in the wake of the war in 1948 had a few reasons, including credible instances of expulsion, but it has been historically noted by historians, including “New Historian” Benny Morris, that the majority of these soon-to-be refugees left not because of Israel, but rather because of other Arabs. According to Morris’ estimate, up to 80 to 85 percent of Palestinian Arabs who left were not forcibly expelled.

Furthermore, a research report by the Arabsponsored Institute for Palestine Studies in Beirut, Lebanon, asserts that the majority of the Arab refugees in 1948 were not expelled, and 68 percent of them left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier. Emil Ghoury, Secretary of the Arab Higher Committee during the 1948 war, wrote in the Beirut Telegraph that same year that, “the fact that there are those refugees is the direct consequence of the action of the Arab states in opposing partition and the Jewish state. The Arab states agreed upon this policy unanimously.”

Even among the Palestinian leadership,

COURTESY DANIEL BLEIBERG

this fact is well-acknowledged. In 1976, in the official journal of the Palestine Liberation Organization, current Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas admitted, “The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny but, instead, they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland. … The Arab States succeeded in scattering the Palestinian people and in destroying their unity.”

To this day, the plight of Palestinian refugees in member states of the Arab League such as Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia has not been duly addressed. The autocratic regimes of the region have deliberately chosen to use refugees as political pawns, rather than helping them integrate into society, a clear violation of U.N. Resolution 194, which calls on all governments involved in the Palestinian refugee question to share responsibility. The international community repeatedly ignores the countless government-sanctioned abuses and breaches of Resolution 194, such as the Hashemiteorchestrated “Black September” campaign, in which thousands of Palestinians in Jordan were massacred.

I call on pro-Palestinian activists to celebrate Palestinian culture on this campus, while acknowledging the Israeli narrative and the right of a Jewish and democratic state to

co-exist peacefully with its Arab neighbors. I implore my colleagues to explore the other Nakba — the inability of failed Palestinian leadership over the decades to coalesce around a constructive goal of building a prosperous and peaceful Palestine. At a time when Israel’s neighbors in the Middle East cry out for freedom from oppression in the so-called “Arab Spring” and their autocratic leaders respond with equally tenacious and violent crackdowns, it becomes evident that the singular oasis of stability in the region is Israel. The Jewish state, while by no means a perfect democracy, can attribute this stability to its vibrant, maturing and functioning democratic system of government. Despite its flaws, astonishing images such as Arab women voting en masse with blue ballots in their hands for Knesset (parliamentary) elections, an Arab-Israeli judge sitting on the High Court of Justice, and Muslims and Jews alike treating patients at Israeli hospitals in unison all serve as microcosmic testaments to Israel’s thriving democracy. Curious to learn more? Come see for yourselves, as we celebrate I-Fest 2011 in the Campus Center tomorrow from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Daniel Bleiberg is a sophomore majoring in international relations. He is the president of Tufts Friends of Israel.

The essential nature of laughter by

Hai-Jung Theresa Kim

The Light on the Hill seems a bit dimmer as of late. I see a lot of people on campus who appear to be struggling day to day just to get by. It may just be finals approaching, it could be the awareness of the weather irregularities and the general state of things or it could be the economic situation straining our personal finances. I get a sense that a lot of people are feeling the blues, ennui or, perhaps, nothing at all.

It’s funny when you arrive at the point in your life where you have no choice but to laugh. This point arrived for me six years ago. During that time there weren’t many authority figures whom I trusted in visible sight, so I retreated to where I believed the truth-tellers were at work — the arts. I do remember, however, with great clarity, walking down the hallway one day and having one of my teachers addressing me by name and telling me to smile.

It has taken me this long to understand what was being conveyed to me then and I find it exquisitely brilliant. I think this ancient truth is best embodied in the symbol of the

Laughing Buddha. To those who aren’t already familiar, Buddha merely means “one who has achieved a state of perfect enlightenment.”

Everyone has the capacity to become Buddha.

I feel now as if I had been let in on a secret back then from someone who’d been traveling on this path to enlightenment a bit longer.

Why does Laughing Buddha seem so happy all the time? Doesn’t Buddha know that the world is, as Russell Tyrone Jones put it, “a big ball of fire and it’s just burning with no feeling?” It seems clear to me now that Buddha does not laugh oblivious to what is going on, but precisely because of what is going on. In the face of the abyss, the weapon of choice is laughter, due to its essential capacity to uplift, defuse tension and bring people together.

Laughter is a natural anti-depressant. One of the cruelest jokes to me was the rapid rise of the pharmaceutical drug industry just as I was ready to lose my mind. We came of age in the era of Prozac, Xanax, Adderall and the like. We know that many of our peers or ourselves are on medication for various reasons, and it just seems to be the way things are nowadays. If I had to point out a trend, it would be that the friends of mine with

iconoclastic tendencies have been the ones medicated earlier. But that is indeed just my perspective. More essentially, I’ve found that my moods are naturally elevated after joking back and forth with other people, so I try to do so as much as I can. Scientifically, laughter has been linked to the activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region, which happens to release endorphins.

Laughter can defuse tension. Sigmund Freud in his book “The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious” (1905) described jokes as allowing the conscious to express thoughts forbidden by society. Moreover, Freud believed that laughter was a way to release feelings sexual and hostile in nature. More recently, laughter has been studied in relation to stress levels.

M.H. Abel found that among undergraduates, the “high sense of humor” group experienced less stress and anxiety compared to the “low sense of humor” group faced with a similar number of everyday problems. Likewise, I’ve found laughter to be remarkably effective at preserving my peace of mind.

Laughter is contagious. As we grow older, our self-preservation instincts seem to push us to detach ourselves whenever we sense the

blues in other people (thankfully, some sing them). Yet on the flip side, many of us are able to retain the ability to laugh with one another.

Recent studies involving fMRI have found that when another person laughs, neurons in our own brains fire as if we ourselves are laughing.

It appears as if laughing allows us to coexist joyfully. The type of laughter might change, we may laugh more out of sorrow than joy, but laugh enough and these tend to blur together.

The essential nature of laughter is clear to me when I look at people in the twilight stages of their lives. Here, it is easy to find the ones who understand Laughing Buddha.

The ones who’ve attained this understanding radiate from within, as if they’ve preserved their inner child. The ones who haven’t appear to have checked out early, if only for the time being. I hope to stay here alert until the end as one of these radiant beings. So regardless of finals, the weather or the zeros in your bank account, I’ll be laughing and I hope you are here laughing with me.

Hai-Jung Theresa Kim is a senior majoring in psychology.

Op-ed Policy 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. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

The Tufts Daily

14

Comics

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

by

Tuesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME

by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

FIRTD ©2011 Tribune Media Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RAAVL LITRLH YTETWN

www.marriedtothesea.com Sign Up for the IAFLOFCI (OFFICIAL) Jumble Facebook fan club

Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.

SUDOKU Level: Bustin’ out the bikini

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.

A: Yesterday’s

(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: BLUSH MINUS COYOTE LENGTH Answer: Saving your pennies could be considered this — “CENTSIBLE”

Late Night at the Daily Wednesday’s Solution

Mick: “You have no idea what kind of condom curveballs I will throw at you.”

Please recycle this Daily.

Wiley

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Tufts Daily

15

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2011 Wellington Burnham Lecture

The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States

David Autor Professor of Economics, MIT David Autor is a Professor and Associate Department Head of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech‐ nology Department of Economics. He is also a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Economic Perspectives (published by the American Economic Association), and has served on the Board of Editors at the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the Journal of Labor Economics.

Professor Autor received a B.A. in Psychology from Tufts University in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999.

His current fields of specialization include human capital and earnings inequality, labor market impacts of technological change and globalization, disability insurance and labor supply, and temporary help and other intermediated work arrangements.

Professor Autor is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award for his research on labor market intermediation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, and the Sherwin Rosen Prize in 2008 for outstanding contributions in the field of Labor Economics. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists and was a recipient of both the John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award given by the Labor and Employment Relations Associa‐ tion (2006) and MIT Undergraduate Economics Association Teaching Award (2005). Pro‐ fessor Autor is currently a member of the American Economic Association’s Standing Com‐ mittee on Oversight and Operation of Programs (SCOOP). Prior to obtaining his Ph.D., Professor Autor spent three years directing efforts in San Francisco and South Africa to teach computer skills to economi‐ cally disadvantaged children and adults.

April 21, 2011 4:30—6:00 p.m.

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The Tufts Daily

16

Sports

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Magic, Hawks battle to salvage seasons east

continued from page 19

like Jason Richardson and Gilbert Arenas have failed to meet expectations. For his part, Howard has had an incredible year, averaging 23 points, 14 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting just a shade under 60 percent from the field.

As for the Hawks, they’ve been a model of inconsistency and uninspiring basketball, led by their $119 million man, Joe Johnson.

Johnson is averaging just 18.5 points per game, his lowest average since the 2004-05

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season. His 3-point shooting percentage is below 30 percent for the first time since his rookie season. His partner in crime, Josh Smith, who a year ago was praised for his decision to stop shooting (and subsequently missing) 3-pointers, decided to give the long-distance shot another attempt to enter his repertoire, and, to no surprise, has shot just 33 percent from behind the arc. The Hawks certainly have talent, but the lack of energy they have shown all season will continue to plague them in the playoffs.

The Pick: Magic in six.

Wild Grizzlies remain unpredictable west

continued from page 19

Portland Trail Blazers: Strength: defense With shutdown defenders at every position but point guard, the Blazers defense has carried them this entire season (sixth in the league at 94.6 points per game allowed).

Weakness: scoring The Blazers lost their leader and crunchtime scorer when Brandon Roy’s knees decided to disintegrate. Since then, LaMarcus Aldridge has elevated his game to an all-star level. However, Portland still struggles to score, averaging only a league best 23rd in points per game at 96.4.

Unfavorable matchup: Lakers Kobe and the Lakers would be too much for a Blazers team still trying to mesh with the acquisition of Gerald Wallace and the transition to LaMarcus Aldridge as “the guy.”

New Orleans Hornets: Strength: Chris Paul Say what you want about his gigantic knee brace, Paul brings it every single night.

Since the loss of leading scorer David West, Paul has had to put the Hornets on his back even more just to keep them in the playoffs.

They are likely a first-round exit, but New Orleans knows they can go to war behind their leader.

Weakness: depth Jarrett Jack, Willie Green, Quincy

Pondexter, Jason Smith, Aaron Gray: Those are the backups at each of the starting five positions for New Orleans. Having to move sixth-man extraordinaire Carl Landry into the starting lineup has depleted the Hornets’ second unit.

Unfavorable matchup: Lakers The Hornets are 0-4 against the Lakers this season. They have no answer defensively for Bryant and Gasol.

Memphis Grizzlies: Strength: toughness The Grizzlies are a motley crew. On the wing they have two of the game’s best shutdown defenders in Tony Allen and Shane Battier, and on the blocks, they have two monsters in Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.

Weakness: outside scoring Randolph is one of the best in the NBA at scoring in the post. However, the loss of star Rudy Gay for the season has left the Grizz thin at scoring on the perimeter. If a team can shut down Randolph, then Memphis will struggle to score.

Unfavorable matchup: anyone and no one The one thing the Grizzlies have going for them is that they are crazy enough to believe they can beat any team in the league on any given night. With a combined 7-5 against the Spurs, Lakers and Mavs this season, Memphis has proven they can back up their swagger. The question is, can they maintain it for seven games?

American Studies Ted Shapiro Memorial Award Winners for 2011 Seven American Studies majors were selected to receive a Ted Shapiro Memorial Award for 2011. They will be honored at an awards ceremony on Thursday, April 14.

Welcoming remarks will be presented by Dean Jim Glaser. Mr. and Mrs. Aaron and Elaine Shapiro will be present along with family, friends, faculty and past winners.

Khadijah Hall, a junior majoring in America Studies, hopes to conduct research on the success rates of Black small businesses and microenterprises within the United States. She aims to study the history of these businesses, as well as to assess the various factors preventing them from becoming as successful as their White counterparts. She also hopes to interview some of these businesses to better understand the intricacies and to write a paper on her findings. This project will eventually help her with her Senior Honors Thesis.

Crystal Jackson, a junior majoring in American Studies, is continuing her studies of the Bodwadmi Native language. She hopes to travel to Waupun, Wisconsin, where she will join an immersion language program with workshops taught by Donald and Dolores Perrot, whom she currently takes online courses with. Crystal is a member of the Citizen Band Potawatomi and is hoping to become closer to her heritage and connect with her community by learning this language.

Vivian Mbawuike, a junior double majoring in American Studies and Community Health, is hoping to invest her interest in social justice theories by examining systems of urban education and health, and the effect that SPARK the Truth, a youth-led community initiative, has had on teens in the Boston community. She seeks to interview SPARK the Truth’s members as well as review their policies to better understand positive youth leadership programs. This work will eventually help her toward her Senior Capstone Project or honors thesis.

Ann Noling, a junior majoring in American Studies, aims to travel across the country and visit a variety of theaters that aim to promote racial diversity by presenting work by and for artists of different races and ethnicities. She hopes to connect and understand how and why they operate as they do, with an ultimate mission of helping her grow as an aspiring director. She aims to write a paper documenting her experiences, as well as comparing and contrasting the various theaters and their missions.

Justin Pequeño, a junior double majoring in American Studies and Psychology, aims to travel to California and volunteer at daycares to observe cross-racial and interracial interactions amongst the children. He hopes to interact with the children and observe any marked differences between the races and ethnicities, as well as if there is any skin tone bias. He hopes to use this research for his Honors Thesis, and aims to study the psychological reasoning and ramifications of any biases he observes post graduation as well.

Jason Roos, a junior majoring in American Studies, is aiming to create a mixed-media essay documenting the experiences of first-generation college students at Tufts. He hopes to assess what resources are available to them and which they are unaware of in order to pinpoint the gaps that can later be remedied. He hopes to conduct one-on-one interviews as well as photograph these students in places that they found to be the most helpful or supportive for them.

Lorrayne Shen, a junior majoring in American Studies, is hoping to study counter-narrative comic books that focus on race and politics, as well as interact with the creators of these comics in hopes to eventually create her own counter-narrative comic project. She also aims to speak to comic-book consumers, specifically children, to better understand their passion. She hopes to have her comic reflect her own racial identity and help dispel stereotypes of the Asian race. Her eventual goal is to have her comic published in a student publication and online.

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 14, 2011 Wanted

Housing

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4 BR at 300 BOSTON AVE $2200/mo + utilities. Across from Tasty Gourmet. Hwd floors, eat-in kitchen w/ dishwasher and disposal. Living room, bathroom, front and back porch. Off-street parking.

Laundry and storage in basement.

Availabe 6/1 or 9/1. Call (617)6285310 or email: tipp3@hotmail.com

17

Sports

Housing

Housing

4,5 6 BR units Next to Campus! Will not last 4, 5 and 6 BR units Great condition!

Free washer/dryer! Parking included. Sunny! Avail 6/1/11 to 5/31/12 call or text (617) 217-1239.

June 1st - 44 Chetwynd Great Location! 4 Bedroom w/gas heat, driveway, porch, yard, free laundry, storage, microwave, hardwood floors. Next to tennis courts. $725/bedroom. Utilities not included. Clean & sunny. For info contact GreenLight Property Management at andrew@gpmanagement.com or at 6179538809

Somerville Apt for Rent Apartment for Rent on Powder House Blvd. 3 BR, living room, dining room, modern kitchen, 2 bathrooms, hardwood floors, F+R Porches, parking. Tel day: 6173545170. cel:617-240-0800 $1,950/ month.

Wanted Part-time Childcare position Are you hoping to earn extra $?

Local Tufts alum (close drive to Tufts) seeking responsible, patient, loving, energetic, non-smoking nanny for 20-35 hrs/week starting in the summer/fall. Hours and scheduling flexible. Salary commensurate with experience. Call Faith at (781) 258-9027 for details.

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DAILY DIGITS: NBA PLAYOFFS EDITION

11

Years since the New York Knicks last won a playoff series. The 1999-2000 Knicks, led by talented guards Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell, beat the Toronto Raptors in the first round before dispatching the Miami Heat in a seven-game series in the semifinals. The team finally lost to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. After the season, Hall-of-Fame center Patrick Ewing left the team, and, ever since, New York has been in a downward spiral — that is, until now.

0-3 The Knicks’ record against the Boston Celtics this season, their first-round opponents in a series that starts Sunday at 7 p.m. in the TD Banknorth Garden. New York added a trio of stars to its roster but will face just as many superstars on the Boston roster, on a Celtic team with serious playoff experience. Only one of these three defeats came after the team added ’Melo to its roster.

523

Total games of playoff experience for the San Antonio Spurs’ starting lineup of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson and DeJuan Blair. San Antonio has continued its dominance in the West this season, and this experience may be the difference against younger teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies.

6

Total games of playoff experience for the Indiana Pacers’ starting lineup. The No.8-seed Pacers head into a first-round matchup with No.1 seed Chicago this weekend with only star forward Danny Granger owning any sort of NBA postseason experience. Granger was a rookie in 2006, the last time Indiana went to the playoffs, where the team lost in six games in the first round.

25.5

Points per game scored by Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant during his 13 playoff appearances. Bryant’s career spans five NBA titles, including the last two NBA championships. Bryant will need to be stellar once again to lead LA back to the Finals, especially given a recent injury to center Andrew Bynum. It won’t be easy for Bryant to lead.

10

Consecutive years the Dallas Mavericks have made the playoffs without winning an NBA title. The Mavs are one of the most consistent teams in the league, along with the Spurs, yet have endured three first-round series losses in the past four years. The closest Dallas got to glory during this period was an NBA Finals berth in 2006, when the Mavs lost to the Miami Heat in six games.

Ground-ball battle leads Gulls to upset over Jumbos MEN’S LACROSSE

continued from page 20

knew they were good, but we expected to win as we do every game; we just didn’t perform like we know we can. The only thing we can do now is learn from it and prepare for Conn.”

Tufts’ leadership did all it could to keep the game within reach, as Molloy and fellow senior quad-captains D.J. Hessler and Matt Witko combined for 10 points, including five of Tufts’ eight goals.

However, Endicott was successful in slowing down the pace of the game dramatically, which the Gulls knew would be the best way to beat the Jumbos’ vaunted fast-paced offense and transition game.

Tuesday’s eight-goal total for the Jumbos was by far the lowest of the season for a team that came into it the averaging over 15 goals per game. Though Tufts didn’t execute to the best of its ability, the Jumbos give most of the credit to Endicott.

“Endicott is a very talented team who has given us great games for the four years I have been here,” Molloy said. “Endicott came out extremely fired up in an excellent environment. They out-ground-balled us and outworked us. I am not really sure how to pinpoint our weakness [tonight], but overall it just seemed as though they wanted it more, which is inexcusable.”

Of course, the Jumbos expected to win the game, but by no means did they underestimate this team. The Gulls came in with a solid 9-2 record, including a close 11-10

QUINT KAPPEL | FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

loss to Amherst, one of the best teams in the NESCAC this season. They also entered the game having scored over 20 goals in six of their 11 games. And for all the upperclassmen on the Endicott squad with several years of frustrating losses to Tufts, there was something left to prove.

“We never underestimated them,” Molloy said. “We knew going into this game they were going to give us a game and they were going to be fired up. We ended their season last year and defeated them twice on the year. We knew they were going to be a fast, scrappy, well-coached team, and that is exactly what we saw.”

A young Tufts defensive unit that includes three sophomore starters in Matt Callahan, Sam Gardner and John Heard, with freshman goalie Patton Watkins making his fourth start of the season, did all it could to stifle the Gulls’ attack and get the ball up to the offense. Watkins made 10 saves, and the defense caused nine turnovers to Endicott’s seven.

But the difference in the game may have come when neither team had the ball — when the ball was on the ground, in the middle of blurs of sticks and bodies. Endicott won the critical ground-ball battle by a tally of 43-31, a big part of which was lost at the faceoff X, in which Endicott face-off specialist Sam Ozycz beat Tufts junior Nick Rhoads in 13 of 21 of the draws.

Winning the ground balls enabled the Gulls to slow the game’s pace and keep the ball out of the hands of one of the top attack

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units in the nation in Molloy, Hessler and junior attackman Sean Kirwan, who scored twice on the night.

The Jumbos know how important Saturday’s game against the Camels is. It is a NESCAC game, an opportunity for revenge on the only team that beat them last season and, perhaps most importantly, a chance to prove wrong anyone who thinks the Jumbos are weaker than their high ranking implies.

“Obviously the loss from last year is in the back of our minds and this loss is fresh on our minds, and we are going to be doing everything we can to focus on getting better and fixing all of our mistakes,” Molloy said.

“Other than that, this is just a huge league game for us and for our season. Hopefully this loss is a wake-up call that rankings don’t mean anything other than being a reflection of a few coaches’ opinions.”

The hope is that the loss will build team character. It’s not easy to lose, especially while on such an impressive win streak, but sometimes it helps. For now, the Jumbos needn’t worry and should heed the words of American Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Anna Quindlen, who said, “The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”

Should the Jumbos truly become themselves over the next few weeks leading up to the conference and NCAA tournaments, it’s doubtful that there’s a team out there who will beat them.

David McIntyre | The Beautiful Game

Time for an overhaul?

I

n my March 10 column, I tentatively predicted that Arsenal would win the Premier League, although I also said it would be a close race that came down to the last day, with perhaps Chelsea jumping in at the very end. Apparently, I should stop taking those amateur psychic classes, because neither of those things has come true: Manchester United is running away with the title, and the London clubs have nearly given up hope of catching the Red Devils.

At least Chelsea fans can ignore their aging team and look back to fond memories of last year, when they captured their first Premier League title since the 2005-06 season.

Arsenal’s last moment of Premier League glory came back in the 2003-04 campaign, and the Gunners haven’t won any trophies at all since 2005. Additionally, the failure of both clubs to win the Champions League (and the continued success of Liverpool and Manchester United in that competition) continues to be a stain on the legacies of the pair.

All of that begs the inevitable question: Is it time for major changes at the London giants?

Of course, the changes would be different at both clubs: Chelsea already goes through managers like Terry Francona goes through bubble gum, so an overhaul would mean gutting the core of the squad in the summer and starting afresh by spending a ton of money on new, younger players. For Arsenal, who always seem to have a young, promising squad, the change would come at the top; in other words, the club would fire Arsène Wenger, the club’s manager since 1996 and one of the most successful managers in the history of the Premier League.

First, let’s go to the blue half of London and examine the situation at Stanford Bridge.

Certainly, most every Chelsea fan would agree that the squad has gotten too old. The Mourinho era core of Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, John Terry and Petr Cech now average 30.2 years old, and Drogba and Lampard in particular have been dogged by injuries and a lack of production this season. All five are still effective, top-level players, but there’s no doubt that the club needs turnover to remain competitive over the next few years.

The question is, who should stay and who should go? In my mind, Drogba is as good as sold the minute the final whistle blows on Chelsea’s season. The Ivorian provided great service to the club and was the best striker in the world at one point, but his bout with malaria this season (and frequent bouts with management) should mark the end of his great career with the club.

Along with him, I see owner Roman Abramovich forcing the club to sell at least one more player; as much as I hate to say it, it will probably be Frank Lampard. The oldest of the remaining group, Lampard’s legs have diminished significantly this season, and his frequent injuries make him too much of a liability.

Now, to Arsenal. In the end, I think it will be just a stretch too far to fire Wenger after what, for any other club, would be considered a successful season. Is it time for new leadership? Probably. But Arsenal fans and management are understandably reluctant to fire a man who brought the greatest success the club has ever known. So great is Wenger’s influence that a bust of his head sits in the entrance to the Emirates Stadium.

But as with Chelsea, patience is running out. At Arsenal, the fuse might be slightly longer for Wenger, but if he doesn’t deliver over the next couple of seasons, he’ll likely be swept away for someone who brings new promises of trophies to an immensely talented team.

David McIntyre is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at David.McIntyre@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

18

Sports

Thursday, April 14, 2011

NBA Playoffs

Five things to watch for in the upcoming NBA playoffs Spurs back with new style; Knicks back after seven-year drought by

Alex Lach

Daily Editorial Board

Here are five things, in no particular order, to keep your eye on during what might be the most hyped, star-studded NBA playoff season ever.

1. Health Championships are often decided by which team can stay healthy for the duration of the playoffs. Last year’s NBA Finals is a perfect case, as many objective observers have argued that had the Celtics’ Kendrick Perkins not torn his ACL in Game Six against the Lakers, the championship parade would have cruised through Copley Square and not down South Figueroa Street.

The Celtics and Lakers are both on the forefront of health concerns this year as well.

Boston has battled injuries all season and is counting on the return of Shaquille O’Neal — who has played just five minutes since Feb. 1 — to bolster a much-beleaguered front line that has struggled mightily to rebound effectively on both ends of the court.

Los Angeles seemed poised to enter the postseason as healthy as any team until Tuesday night, when center Andrew Bynum, who has blossomed since the All-Star Break, hyper-extended his knee. Though Bynum believes the injury should not sideline him very long, it is still uncertain when he will be available to play again for the defending NBA champs.

But besides teams coming

a more exciting and passionate postseason.

in with injuries, the ability to keep key cogs healthy during the two-month playoff grind is vital to lengthening any team’s post-season stay. Even losing an important bench player can disrupt a team’s rotation and throw any squad for a loop.

2. The Spurs trying to win a championship with offense The Duncan-Popovich Spurs have won four championships since 1999 on a recipe of airtight defense, timely offense and slowing the game down to a pace that would bore a sloth. Yet this year, for somewhat unclear reasons (though some commentators truly believe Gregg Popovich was simply bored with his old formula and wanted something new), San Antonio has picked up the pace, and the change has resulted in one of the highest win totals in franchise history. Yet with the more up-tempo style, the Spurs have sacrificed some of their former defensive prowess.

How will the new style work in the playoffs? Will they be able to get key stops when they really need them, as they did time and time again throughout their previous championship runs?

Can their defense still bail them out on a night when their shots aren’t falling?

3. Return of playoff basketball to Madison Square Garden For the first time since 2004, the Big East Tournament or Jingle Ball won’t be the most exciting event at MSG this year, as New York has finally made it back to

4. Officiating As exciting as playoff basketball can be, it would be naive to believe that the poor officiating that has plagued the NBA for years won’t play a role again this year. Search YouTube and you will find compilations of some of the most egregious calls in recent memory (think the 2006 Finals or the 2002 Kings-Lakers series). But besides the conspiracy theories, NBA refs have consistently shown both an ineptness to make the correct calls in crucial situations and, in some instances (see: Crawford, Joey), an obvious desire to make themselves the stars of the show. Overall, expect at least one bad call to define a game, and maybe even a series, in this year’s postseason.

MCT

Tim Duncan enters the playoffs in search of his fifth career NBA title. postseason play. The team is led by the duo of Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, and long-waiting, die-hard Knicks fans will be cramming into the world’s Basketball Mecca again to create the type of basketball atmosphere only possible in New York. Throw in the fact that the first-round opponent

just happens to be the hated Celtics, and the “World’s Most Famous Arena” should be abuzz well before tip-off. Whether you despise Carmelo for forcing his way out of Denver or you’ve lost all respect for Mike D’Antoni’s coaching (or lack thereof ), there is no denying that the Knicks’ return to the playoffs makes for

5. Chasing history Adding a first (or another) trophy to the résumé means a lot to most of the league’s elite players. If the Lakers win, Kobe will notch his sixth championship, equaling Jordan, Pippen, Abdul-Jabbar and Cousy for ninth-most titles won, behind a number of Celtics from the ’50s and ’60s and, you guessed it, Robert Horry. Also, a Lakers victory would be the franchise’s 17th title, tying LA with the Celtics for the league lead. A victory for either Boston or San Antonio would also give Shaq and Duncan, respectively, a fifth title, tying them with Bryant and Fisher for the active lead.

EDITORS’ CHALLENGE: NBA PLAYOFFS CHAMP RUNNER UP M.V.P. Aaron L.

Kobe Bryant

Alex L.

Rajon Rondo

Alex P.

Pau Gasol

Ann S.

Dirk Nowitzki

Ben K.

Derrick Rose

Claire K.

Amar’e Stoudemire

Daniel R.

Kobe Bryant

David M.

Derrick Rose

Ethan S.

Kobe Bryant

James C.

Tony Parker

Jason H.

Paul Pierce

Lauren F.

Kevin Durant

Matt B.

Derrick Rose

Meredith K.

Jason Kidd

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Kevin Garnett will need to contain Amar’e Stoudemire for the Celtics to oust the Knicks.

Defense, outside shooting are keys to success CELTICS

continued from page 20

Noah S.

Jeff Green

Phil D.

Dwyane Wade

Steve S.

Kobe Bryant

in the NBA finals.

5. 3-pointers fall in bunches One of the Celtics’ weaknesses is that they lack players who score by driving to the bucket, with the exception of Rondo. This often forces them to settle for difficult jump shots and 3-pointers. Luckily,

Doc Rivers draws up plays that seem to leave these kinds of shots open, and the team’s success this season has been due in part to players consistently making these shots. In the playoffs, the Celtics should keep doing just that. Ray Allen, who’s shooting at a phenomenal 44 percent from beyond the arc, will need to continue

producing while Paul Pierce, shooting at roughly 37 percent from deep this season, will need to become a bit more of a threat. If a third 3-point shooter emerges from the Celtics’ bench — perhaps Delonte West or Jeff Green — then the Knicks and other Eastern Conference opponents will have trouble stopping them.

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 14, 2011

19

Sports

Western conference preview

Eastern conference preview

Familiar faces, Spurs and Lakers, lead loaded West

Bulls look dominant even in top-heavy East

by

Alex Arthur

Daily Staff Writer

Advancing out of a Western Conference that includes the defending NBA Champions, perennial contenders like the Spurs and Mavericks, and a slew of talented teams that could be primed for an upset will be a marathon. Making it to the finals will take skill, focus and, sometimes, a little luck of the draw.

The Daily breaks down each team in the West’s chances of advancing to the title game, as well as which team each contender would prefer to avoid this playoff season:

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San Antonio Spurs: Strengths: coaching and experience The Spurs outlasted the competition and are poised to begin the 2011 playoffs perched atop the ultra-competitive Western Conference. San Antonio’s core of coach Gregg Popovich, forward Tim Duncan and guards Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker has led them to postseason success for the better part of the past decade. As the role players throughout the years have changed, the team’s formula for success has not — relying on their coaching and their Big 3 to manufacture efficient and winning basketball.

Weakness: size While Tim Duncan remains one of the most hulking defensive presences in basketball at almost 7 feet tall, his fellow forwards and centers lack comparably imposing physicality. Starting center DeJuan Blair clocks in at a generous 6 feet 7 inches tall and rookie international back-up center Tiago Splitter is as soft as Play-Doh in the paint.

Unfavorable matchup: Los Angeles Lakers The Lakers’ twin towers of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum down low would prove to be too much for San Antonio’s forwards to handle throughout the course of a seven game series.

Los Angeles Lakers: Strength: being the back-to-back champs The Lakers are a perfect 8-0 in their last eight playoff series. The defending two-time NBA titleholders know how to win a sevengame series. With the game’s fiercest competitor in Kobe Bryant and most imposing frontline of Lamar Odom, Gasol and Bynum, the Lakers are cocked and ready for another deep playoff run.

Weakness: lack of athletic point guards Starting point guard Derek Fisher is a turnstile on the defensive end, as opposing lead guards blow by him. Teams with athletic, penetrating point guards will give the Lakers trouble as their defense must constantly collapse in the paint to help on Fisher’s man.

Unfavorable matchup: Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets

Russell Westbrook of the Thunder is the most athletic point guard in the game. While his shooting is suspect, his ability to get to the paint is among the NBA’s elite. Ty Lawson of the Nuggets may not have Westbrook’s leaping and playmaking ability, but Lawson may be the game’s shiftiest lead guard.

by

Alex Lach

Daily Editorial Board

Though the two-time defending champions reside in the West, the Eastern Conference playoffs are shaping up to be the marquee event of this postseason. Can Derrick Rose continue to lead the Bulls all the way through to the finals? What about Boston and its veterans, and the Heat’s terrific trio?

The Daily provides a primer for the firstround matchups set to begin this weekend:

Dallas Mavericks: Strength: Dirk Nowitzki When the heart and soul of the Mavs is in the lineup, Dallas is 54-17. Without the big German dude, the Mavs are a paltry 2-8. With Dirk healthy and starting, the Mavericks are capable of going liveauctioneers.com toe-to-toe with the West’s best.

Weakness: one-dimensionality While the Mavs are fortunate No. 1 Bulls vs. No. 8 Pacers: enough to have a player like Nowitzki Since the NBA expanded to a 16-team on their squad, they rely on him too playoff format in 1984, only three eightheavily. The Mavericks’ roster is so riddled seeds — the 1994 Nuggets, the 1999 Knicks with mediocre and washed-up players that and the 2007 Warriors — have managed to they utilize a 12-man rotation — unlike topple their top-seeded opponents. The the NBA norm of nine or 10 — limiting Pacers will not turn this trio into a quartet. many players’ minutes.

While the Bulls may not be any more domUnfavorable matchup: Portland Trailblazers inant than the opponents the three “upset Gerald Wallace, Lamarcus Aldridge and ters” faced, the Pacers lack the dominating Nicolas Batum, three of the league’s longest presence of a young Dikembe Mutombo and most versatile defenders, all happen to on the 1994 Nuggets, the coaching ability excel in covering perimeter forwards a la of Jeff Van Gundy and the stifling defense Dirk Nowitzki. If the Mavs were to face the of the 1999 Knicks, and the fearless leaderBlazers, the Portland trio would be able to ship of Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson shut down Dirk. and an unbelievable crowd that carried the 2007 Warriors. Instead, the Pacers are a Oklahoma City Thunder: team that has a 37-44 record with a roster Strength: well-rounded full of inexperienced playoff players.

After acquiring Kendrick Perkins from As for the Bulls, by now it is clear how the Celtics, the Thunder have suddenly dominant they are. Derrick Rose, the prebecome the most well-rounded team in sumptive MVP, has been as dynamic an the league. They have two go-to scorers offensive force as anyone in the league. in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook And with a defense led off the court by and an athletic, defensive-minded wing to defensive guru Tom Thibodeau (who was throw at the Kobes and Lebrons in Thabo largely responsible for running the defense Sefolosha. Most importantly, they have an during the Celtics’ last three playoff runs) interior defense and toughness in Serge and on it by Joakim Noah, Chicago has Ibaka and Perkins that can block shots and steamrolled opponents in a fashion that out-rebound anyone on a given night. hasn’t been seen since that Jordan guy Weakness: youth? played. Not only have the Bulls had a tre The only knock against the Thunder was mendous season, but they’ve played their that they were too young to compete in best basketball of late, winning their last the 2010 playoffs. Last postseason, OKC eight games and last 12 of 13. pushed the Lakers to the brink and proved The Pick: Bulls in five they could hang with the best. This past summer, however, Westbrook and Durant No. 2 Heat vs. No. 7 76ers: were leaders of the gold-medal-winning After 82 games, the verdict is still out on USA Basketball Team, which gave the two what the Heat (or Heatles, or MoHeatos, or young guns invaluable experience. whatever you want to call them) are really Unfavorable matchup: Lakers or Spurs all about. Are they the team that looked These are the only two teams that could unbeatable on Christmas Day against the conceivably out-coach and out-execute the Lakers or the squad that looked lifeless in a Thunder in the half-court game, courtesy of loss at Cleveland?

Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have been dominant at times and have proDenver Nuggets: duced unbelievable plays possible only Strength: athleticism and versatility for two phenomenal athletes at the peak With the departure of Carmelo Anthony, of their game (did you see that full-court the Nuggets do not have one go-to-scorer. alley-oop?). At other times, however, the For most teams, not having an elite superoffense has stagnated, with James and star normally earns you a trip to the lottery Wade appearing tentative to step on the — however, Denver has an arsenal of unique other’s toes. As for the third amigo, Chris ways to score. They can shoot the 3, they Bosh, it’s hard to argue that his style of play can play small ball and turn the game into a and necessity of receiving the ball in the track race, or they can go big and bang in the low post complements Wade and James paint for a few minutes per quarter. the way Pat Reilly thought it would when Weakness: the playoffs are different the team was assembled. Still, with James History has shown that teams that rely and Wade on the floor, it’s hard to imagine on being faster and taking more shots how a team can keep at least one of them struggle in the postseason. During the from taking over in a seven-game series. playoffs, the game slows down; every pos Yet the 76ers may be one of the bestsession counts, and half-court execution suited teams to slow down the Heat’s and defense win championships. The slashing attack. Sixers swingman Andre Nuggets are suddenly the most exciting Iguodala has made a season of shutting team in the league to watch, but their style down the league’s premier scorers. Elton of play can be exploited.

Brand has taken a trip down memory lane Unfavorable matchup: Thunder and regained some of the form that made Since the Anthony trade, the Nuggets him one of the premier low-post players have literally run through the entire Western in the league, which could cause probConference — except for the Thunder. lems against what has been a soft interior Going 0-2 against the Thunder in the past defense for the Heat. Coach Doug Collins week, Denver made it clear it has no answer has turned around a team that started the for Kevin Durant. In a seven-game series, season 3-13 and has gotten his squad to the combination of Danilo Gallinari and buy into his methods. In the end, however, Wilson Chandler will not be able to slow James and Wade should prove too much Durant down. for the Sixers to contain for a whole series, and Philadelphia doesn’t have a dynamic enough offense to expect success in close see WEST, page 16

playoff games.

The Pick: Heat in five

No. 3 Celtics vs. No. 6 Knicks: For basketball purists, this is a matchup made in heaven: two of the NBA’s first franchises going head-tohead in

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the playoffs for the first time since 1990. The Boston-New York rivalry has blossomed this season, headl i n e d by a dramatic Dec. 15 Celtics win on a gamewinning Paul Pierce jumper in front of an electric Madison Square Garden crowd.

For the Celtics, the key — as it has been all season long — will be health.

How many minutes, if any, will Shaquille O’Neal be able to provide? And what about his fellow O’Neal, Jermaine? If the two can play anywhere-near-significant minutes to help a front line that has struggled tremendously to rebound, it would be huge for the Celtics.

The Celtics’ success also depends on the effectiveness and energy of Rajon Rondo.

When the shifty point guard is running the floor on fast breaks, penetrating and attacking the rim, the Celtics possess one of the most beautiful offenses in recent NBA history. When Rondo becomes complacent, however, the energy of the whole team comes down, and the C’s go through some ugly stretches of basketball, as they have a few times this season.

The hopes of the Knicks rest on the shoulders of Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Anthony has played tremendously well offensively since coming to New York in a deadline deal, and Stoudemire has embraced his new teammate without suffering much of a drop-off in his own production. What remains to be seen, however, is if the Knicks will be able to make a key defensive stop when the time comes; under Mike D’Antoni, the Knicks defense has often been lackadaisical at best. If New York can’t come up with a formula to keep offenses from running rampant, it’s hard to see how they can win a playoff series.

The Pick: Celtics in six.

No. 4 Magic vs. No. 5 Hawks: In a repeat of last year’s second-round matchup — a Magic sweep with an average margin of victory of 25 points — this year’s version presents a fight between two underachieving squads. The Magic underwent a roster overhaul, and the changes resulted in eight fewer wins than a year ago and a team that few believe possesses enough talent or passion to make a title run. Apart from Dwight Howard’s dominance, most of Orlando’s players are having unimpressive seasons, and new players see EAST, page 16

Sports

20

INSIDE NBA playoffs preview 18-19

tuftsdaily.com

Men’s Lacrosse

Loss to Endicott serves as wake-up call for top-ranked Tufts by

Philip Dear

Daily Editorial Board

The No. 1 men’s lacrosse team lost one game by one goal to one of the top teams in the nation on Tuesday night. Really, there’s no reason to panic.

MEN’S LACROSSE (9-1, 5-0 NESCAC) at Beverly, Mass.

Tufts

Endicott

2 2

2 5

2 1

2 1

— 8 — 9

The 9-8 loss on the road to the No. 18 Endicott Gulls on Tuesday night will be a thorn in the Jumbos’ side for quite some time, though. It ends a 19-game winning streak and a chance at a perfect season — the only possible way to improve upon last year’s 20-1 National Championship-winning campaign. Just thinking about the satisfaction Endicott is feeling after beating the top-ranked defending champs may cause the Jumbos to lose sleep for days.

But such is the nature of competitive sport. More often than not, the champion at the end of the season has to work through some adversity. Just ask Tim Tebow, who as quarterback for the Florida Gators famously declared after a 31-30 loss to Ole Miss in 2008, “A lot of good will come out of this. …

You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.” He stuck to his word, and the Gators won their second BCS title in three years.

The Jumbos now turn to Saturday’s NESCAC home matchup against Conn.

College, the only team to beat them last year, where they hope to right the ship and make further progress toward their foremost goal of a NESCAC regular-season title. But as much as the Jumbos will focus on moving forward, the Endicott loss will likely always be in the back of their minds.

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

Sophomore face-off specialist Nick Rhoads, shown here on March 28 in a game against Western New England, won eight out of 21 face-offs against Endicott’s Sam Ozycz on Tuesday night. The Jumbos struggled to gain possession for much of the game, which they lost 9-8.

“We are taking our medicine and focusing on never letting that happen again,” senior quad-captain attackman Ryan Molloy said.

“I can’t even describe how we feel currently because losing is unacceptable to tolerate in our program. As far as the rest of the season, we are focusing on Tufts lacrosse today,

tomorrow and especially on Saturday in a huge league game.”

The Gulls were able to take down a commanding Tufts team Tuesday night with overwhelming intensity from the get-go, catching the Jumbos on their heels.

“I don’t think Endicott had some genius

game plan that we couldn’t decipher,” senior quad-captain longstick midfielder Alec Bialosky said. “They came out of the gates fired up and they flat-out outplayed us [on Tuesday]. Going into the game we see MEN’S LACROSSE, page 17

BOSTON Celtics

Five keys to a successful return trip to the finals for the Celtics by

Nash Simpson

Daily Staff Writer

The Celtics are three years removed from their last NBA title and, with a core of stars at the end of their careers, basketball’s most storied franchise has a slim window in which to add another title to its mantel.

They’ll get back to the land where “anything is possible” if these five things happen:

1. They stay healthy It’s hard to believe that the Celtics are in contention for yet another NBA title after a long season of wear and tear on the ever-aging bodies of the “Big Three.” Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are old in the world of NBA basketball (33, 34 and 35, respectively) and may start considering retirement as soon as this offseason.

It is imperative that the Celtics’ top dogs stay healthy if they plan to make a run at the title. Injuries to the team’s big men have plagued the Celtics all season, and Shaquille O’Neal remains questionable to play in Boston’s first-round series against the Knicks as he nurses a sore calf muscle.

Though they can compete against New York without the “Big Diesel,” the Celtics need Shaq in order to compete with the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Orlando Magic in this highly competitive Eastern Conference.

2. They get better bench play The Celtics bench has been consistent throughout the entire season. Former Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jeff Green has proven himself worthy of substantial playing time this postseason, recording an impressive 49 percent field-goal mark since joining the team. Still, Green has played dismally in his past 10 games and will need to step it up in the postseason.

Meanwhile, fellow forward Glen Davis is in the midst of his best season as a pro, averaging nearly 12 points per game. If he and Green play well, the Celtics will be almost unbeatable, as defenses will struggle to match up against a versatile, athletic scoring attack.

The Celtics will also look to Jermaine O’Neal off the bench, who surprised everyone with a 15-point, 13-rebound performance against the Washington Wizards Monday night. If he plays well, it will allow big men like Garnett, Shaq and Nenad Krstic to rest and stay fresh for later rounds in the playoffs.

3. Rondo returns to top form Ever since Boston traded Kendrick Perkins to the Thunder, the Celtics’ starting point guard Rajon Rondo hasn’t been the same. Perhaps Rondo hasn’t gotten over the trade emotionally, or maybe he hasn’t yet adjusted to the new dynamic on the court.

Regardless, the Celtics have

no chance of making another finals run if Rondo doesn’t play at a very high level. He needs to get back to posting 15-plus assists on a nightly basis in order to facilitate the C’s fastpaced, aggressive offense.

His defense also needs to be spectacular since he’ll have to match up with New York’s Chauncey Billups — and possibly MVP candidates Derrick Rose of the Bulls and Dwyane Wade of the Heat, if Boston advances.

4. Defense gets its swagger back Ever since their resurgence in 2008, the Celtics have been focused on defense, and this year’s playoff run will call for a defensive lockdown at every position. The challenge starts on Sunday with the New York Knicks. The Knicks are averaging 106.8 points per game (second in the league) and they have two of the NBA’s best scorers in Carmelo Anthony (25.6 points per game) and Amar’e Stoudemire (25.4 points per game). As long as the Celtics can shut down at least one of these superstars each game, they should be able to take the series. Defending Miami and Chicago will not be nearly as easy, but if the team’s big men effectively fill the void left by defensive stud Perkins, Boston will have a much better chance of making another appearance see CELTICS, page 18

MCT

Paul Pierce, right, and company will have their hands full with the Knicks offense in a first-round series that kicks off Sunday.