TuftsDaily11-14-2012

THE TUFTS DAILY

Sunny 50/36

Tufts revises campus emergency guide

by Stephanie

Haven

Daily Editorial Board

The Department of Public and Environmental Safety has updated its guidelines for the university’s response to emergency situations, expanding it to include protocol for hurricanes, extreme heat and winter storms.

Public Safety’s official Emergency Response Guide received its makeover last month, before Hurricane Sandy hit the Hill, but Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire said that the storm underlined the importance of being prepared for extreme weather and emergencies.

The Natural Disaster section of the guide was one of five sections that Public Safety edited and updated. The section now includes provisions like one that advises students and faculty working in laboratories to stop their experiments until the storm passes.

“We have always been aware that natural disasters can happen in Massachusetts at any time,” Maguire said. “But recent weather events have definitely added to

the importance of the Natural Disaster section.”

Public Safety Program Coordinator Anastassiia Tarassiouk said it is unclear why protocol for hurricanes and other extreme weather events more common to the Boston area, like heat and winter storms, was not included in previous versions of the guide.

Power outages, which Maguire said are more common at Tufts than natural disasters, have been removed from the section on natural disasters and given their own section in the new guide.

“If you think of ... emergencies that could happen on campus, power [outage] is one of the big ones,” Tarassiouk said. “It is important to have that on its own.”

The need to create a new section for power outages was one of the main reasons Public Safety revamped the guide this year, Tarassiouk said. Public Safety worked with Facilities Services and the Office of Residential Life and Learning to develop advice on what to do in cases of power outage and gas leakage, as well as see EMERGENCY, page 2

Tufts student hospitalized after being hit by car A Tufts student has been hospitalized after being struck by a car while crossing the intersection of Powderhouse Boulevard and Packard Avenue at approximately 8:30 p.m. last Thursday, Nov. 8.

According to an email the university sent out to the student body on Nov. 9 regarding the accident, the student was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital. The Somerville Police Department told The Boston Globe that the car’s driver is cooperating with the police’s investigation of the incident.

The Powderhouse-Packard intersection has been the site of many similar incidents in recent years. Last September, two Tufts students were struck by cars at the intersection and required hospitalization, according to an article published last fall in the Daily.

In one of last September’s accidents, senior Sara Honickman was hit at the intersection by a car making a left turn onto Powderhouse.

“Cars treat it like a main road and aren’t cognizant of how many pedestrians there are,” Honickman told the Daily at the time.

The City of Somerville, with input from Tufts, implemented

Anthony Romero discusses free speech at Snyder lecture

by Josh

Weiner

Daily Editorial Board

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), delivered the 16th Richard E. Snyder President’s Lecture in Distler Performance Hall yesterday afternoon.

The lecture, entitled “Sticks and Stones: Freedom of Expression and Political Correction,” addressed America’s history of protecting freedom of speech and

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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 44

what can be done about ongoing violations of this constitutional value.

“While it seems there is now more free speech than ever, there are also more justifications than ever to limit that free speech,” he said.

Romero said it was fitting to be speaking of this matter in Massachusetts, where many of the Founding Fathers began the campaign for free speech over 200 years ago during the American Revolution.

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

“They made it a core belief of theirs,” Romero said. “It reminds me of why free and unfettered speech is so important — it’s how important ideas become real.”

Romero claimed that standing by the First Amendment can produce many harmful side effects, denouncing the idiomatic expression that is referenced in his lecture’s title: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words see SNYDER, page 2

Justin McCallum for The Tufts Daily

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, spoke about freedom of expression at yesterday’s Richard E. Snyder President’s Lecture.

Inside this issue

Kyra Sturgill / The Tufts Daily

The Somerville Police Department is currently investigating an accident involving a Tufts student that was hit by a car at the intersection of Powderhouse Boulevard and Packard Avenue. safety updates at the intersection this fall. Those include painted crosswalks, new stop signs at the Packard Ave. approaches of the intersection and increased pedestrian crosswalk signage.

The intersection currently has flashing red lights and stop signs for traffic approaching Packard Ave., and flashing yellow lights, which in Massachusetts signal vehicles to proceed with cau-

tion, for traffic approaching Powderhouse Ave. In the campus-wide email, the university stated that it is taking steps toward preventing future collisions at the intersection.

Public Safety and the City of Somerville have yet to comment on their plans to improve pedestrian safety at the intersection, which borders Tufts’ campus.

—by Nina Goldman

IGL plans TEDxBeaconStreet by

Elliott Davis

Contributing Writer

The Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) will this weekend participate in the first TEDxBeaconStreet conference at the Lincoln School in Brookline, Mass.

Technology, Entertainment, Design ( TED) events feature enlightening talks given by experts in a wide variety of fields. TEDx events aim to bring the TED formula to local communities around the world, and Tufts alumni have established TEDx franchises in Kabul, Afghanistan and Tehran, Iran, according to IGL Director Sherman Teichman.

Teichman said Managing Curator of TEDxBeaconStreet John Werner approached Teichman with the concept of TEDxBeaconStreet and asked him to be one of the event’s curators and a speaker. According to the organization’s website, Werner established TEDxBeaconStreet in an effort to bring TED to the Greater Boston area.

In his speech, Teichman will highlight the significance of IGL’s local and worldwide initiatives.

“I want people to know what we do with immersive education, what we do around the world and what distinc-

tive things we are engaged in,” he said. “This plays into TEDxBeaconStreet’s emphasis on education and interface, which also incorporates what [ Werner] is calling explorations or ‘Adventures.’”

The IGL and members of the IGL’s Synaptic Scholars program will be organizing Adventures for TEDxBeaconStreet.

Through these Adventures, community members will be able to take part in activities with conference speakers, according to Synaptic Scholar Gavin Murphy, a junior and member of the TEDxBeaconStreet Braintrust, the conference’s leadership board.

The main Adventure organized by the IGL will take place next semester, according to Teichman. Through the IGL’s Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES) program, the IGL will hold an Intellectual Roundtable at Boston University from Jan. 25 through 27.

The Roundtable will feature as its keynote speaker Captain Wayne Porter of the U.S. Navy, the chair of Systemic Strategy and Complexity at the Naval Postgraduate School, Teichman said. Porter is see TEDx, page 2

Today’s sections

Tufts Kink adds a new voice to the campus dialogue about sex.

Eclectic musician Dan Deacon discusses his process and more.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Op-Ed

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Op-Ed Comics Sports

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News

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Romero encourages freedom of speech on college campuses SNYDER

continued from page 1

will never hurt me.”

“The truth is, words do hurt,” he said. “Applied effectively, like a thumb within a bruise, words can hurt a lot.”

Romero described his numerous encounters with hurtful hate speech, from growing up as a gay Puerto Rican in the Bronx to the hate mail he now receives every day at his job.

He added that he witnessed many attempts to curtail that speech, including the “hate speech codes” that were applied to nationwide college campuses, including his own, while he was attending Stanford Law School over 20 years ago.

Although these codes were designed to combat racist, homophobic and sexist language on campus, Romero claimed that this was an inef-

fective and even counterproductive means of acting against hatred.

“I believe that there is no place for speech codes of any kind on a college campus,” he said. “Restricting that speech doesn’t make the hate go away ... You drive that hate and bigotry underground and it becomes harder and harder to control ... In a nursing environment, you need to understand what people think and say to one another.”

Romero then criticized Tufts for an incident in 2007 in which The Primary Source was forbidden from publishing anonymous articles after two pieces provoked sensitive reactions from Muslim and black students.

“Frankly, that’s an unconstitutional denial of free speech,” Romero said. “The freedom to speak anonymously is a right ... once you decide some author-

ity has the right to determine what is or is not legitimate speech, you’ve lost control of the system.”

Romero argued that it is especially important to protect freedom of speech on college campuses, as they are places where students foster many fresh ideas and where many landmark movements — including Occupy Wall Street, the anti-Vietnam War movement and much of the civil rights movement — originated before gaining momentum in the outside world.

“That’s why college life is so great,” he said. “It’s the incubator of those free ideas that will then germinate elsewhere.”

Romero also challenged President Barack Obama to step up his efforts to protect free speech nationwide, though he congratulated him for winning a second term in light of the tremendous opposition he has

faced while in office.

“He is the most unjustly criticized, vilified and stereotyped president I have ever known,” Romero said. “The level of overt racism I have seen against our first black president disgusts me.”

Romero still asserted that hate speech has a right to exist, giving the example of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church, whose leader, Pastor Fred Phelps, Romero has dealt with personally as a client at the ACLU. “Do I believe [Pastor Phelps’] right to present homophobic speech is essential to my right to speak my mind as a gay activist?” Romero asked. “The answer is yes.”

Romero insisted that the right to free speech must not be compromised, as has occurred previously, for instance, with the establishment of “free speech zones”

Conference to feature notable thinkers, IGL speakers TEDx

continued from page 1

notable for co-authoring the Pentagon’s essay “A National Strategic Narrative” under the pen name Mr. Y. “The ALLIES roundtable with Captain Porter highlights exactly what I’m going to be talking about at the conference,” Teichman said.

“It is the resonance of a different kind of educational approach with immersive learning backgrounds.”

Members of the Synaptic Scholars program have prepared other Adventures for the conference, including one that involves bringing youth from disadvantaged areas to the event, according to Synaptic Scholar Tara Kola, a member of the TEDxBeaconStreet Braintrust.

“I think TEDxBeaconStreet

and its mission really align with what Synaptic Scholars stands for, which is expanding the intellectual community and offering experiences for the community,” Kola, a sophomore, said.

“We will be able to partner with a force with a similar goal and allow for some sort of synergistic product to come out of it.”

According to Teichman, Tufts’ participation in TEDxBeaconStreet will help expose the school and the IGL to the conference’s acclaimed speakers.

“It’s fun for some of our Synaptic Scholars who are helping to organghhjhjize and attend this intellectual festival that is also activistoriented,” he said. “It will increase our ever-expanding network of contacts on the

behalf of our students.”

Werner was interested in creating a framework for TEDx that is much more interactive than normal TEDx events, according to Teichman.

“People will be able to question the conference’s speakers and meet them in more intimate settings,” Teichman said. “There will be less of what [ Werner] thinks is the sterile environment that sometimes accompanies other TEDx events.”

The Adventures will allow attendees to experience firsthand the speakers’ diverse interests, Murphy said.

“One of our speakers is a world-champion triathlete, so we get people to set up at South Station and go on a bike ride with her,” he said.

“Another speaker is a marine biologist, so we get people to

go out on a lobster boat with the biologist and a lobster fisherman to talk about ecosystems.”

Murphy noted that the conference will be very accessible, especially for students.

People will be able to attend the conference at the Lincoln School’s auditorium in person and can also apply to view it from the school’s cafeteria, where the conference will be live-cast. The conference will also be livecast to the Google headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Murphy believes that the Adventures will intellectually stimulate the community. “[ Werner] said that when you were five years old, you thought that going to a park was a huge adventure,” he added. “Our goal is to do that, but for adults.”

Zhuangchen Zhou for the Tufts Daily

The Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) heads to the TEDxBeaconStreet conference this weekend, at which IGL Director Sherman Teichman will be speaking.

at several colleges, where student protests and assemblies are constricted to designated areas around campus.

“Designing ‘free speech zones’ is designing to limit free speech as much as possible,” Romero said. “Every part of a college campus should be a free speech zone.”

Romero admitted that “the effects of harmful and degrading speech are real” and that the animosity he has heard and read from others “has given [him] many sleepless nights.” All the same, he believes that the benefits of protecting free speech outweigh the consequences.

“Would I rather live in a society that allowed hateful, hurtful speech,” he asked at the end of his lecture, “or would I rather live in a society where I’m afraid to speak my mind? I think that type of society would be much harder to sleep in.”

Updated guide clarifies emergency protocol EMERGENCY

continued from page 1

water, sewer, data or telephone network failure, Maguire said.

The new guide also features edits to the section on hazardous materials spills to include fuel and oil spills. Though not as frequent as other incidents, these situations tend to occur at Tufts with vehicles or in dining halls, Environmental Manager in the Department of Environmental Health and Safety Peter Kelly-Joseph said.

For example, the revised Emergency Response Guide should make the protocol more clear for cases where small vehicle fuel spills occur on campus and the vehicle’s driver does not already know what to do, KellyJoseph said.

The guide now instructs people in that situation to call the Tufts University Police Department and arrange for a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Coordinator to analyze the situation.

In addition to more comprehensive sections, the cover of the new guide lists pertinent websites as well as emergency and non-emergency phone numbers, Tarassiouk said, explaining that this will prevent overuse of the campus 911 service.

When emergency phone calls are necessary, Tarassiouk said the new Emergency Response Guide is better equipped to help individuals record information about the incident for first responders.

In its centerfold, the Emergency Response Guide features a bomb threat worksheet that prompts the recipient of such a threat to write down all the information the police needs, Maguire said.

Particularly around the time of final exams at the end of each semester, certain departments have reported receiving such telephone bomb threats, Tarassiouk said.

The new version also includes more user-friendly materials, such as a summary of each section on its first page, as Public Safety acknowledged that most people in these situations at Tufts have not looked at the entire Emergency Response Guide.

“It’s always easier for everyone involved in the incident if the person has some idea of what to do,” Tarassiouk said. “We understand that no one will sit and read through the whole guide, but if they have it, we hope it’s accessible.”

Features

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Alexa Petersen | Jeminist: A Jumbo Feminist

Gracious Mittens

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annie wermiel / Tufts Daily archives

Tufts Kink aims to provide a safe space for students to discuss sexual preferences. Above, sex toys from a recent sex fair on campus.

Tufts Kink contributes to dialogue surrounding sex on campus by

Amelia Quinn

Daily Editorial Board

The sex discussion on campus often tiptoes around the dirty details. Concepts like consent and sexual assault have been tackled by the Undergraduate Orientation program, within groups such as Action for Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP) and in the Disorientation Guide published this year. These efforts have also tried to drive home to students the pressing need for a conversation.

But the dialogue tends to stop there, and some students have found that their campus lacks a comfortable and positive space where students can voice their opinions about and preferences for sex.

Enter Tufts Kink.

“There’s still a lot of resorting to uncomfortable laughter when topics are brought up, which partially is [because] we ... don’t have a larger cultural conversation about it,” sophomore Kumar Ramanathan, a member of ASAP and a contributing writer at the Daily, said. “Part of it is just because people are uncomfortable talking about sex, because they’ve been taught never to talk about sex.”

Ramanathan stressed the need for a shared vocabulary and an environment in which students can feel comfortable discussing sexual encounters, for the sake of safety.

“Cultures of silence can have a detrimental effect on people who are struggling with sexual identity, or [on] survivors of sexual assault and violence. [In] day-to-day conversation, I think there are a lot of things that are really taboo — at least, in the communities I’m involved in at Tufts,” he said.

“If people aren’t comfortable talking about what they’re doing, then people find it very difficult to ask for consent just because they don’t know how to use the words right.”

Sophomore Ruby Vail is the president of Tufts VOX, the affiliate group of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, which is active in promoting reproductive health and pro-choice activism. She echoed Ramanathan’s concerns. “[If people aren’t able to talk openly about sex], they aren’t safe,” Vail said. “I’m maybe thinking of safety more as having protection and using birth control, but also if you were going to experiment with kinky sex, doing it in a safe way and not getting hurt, or putting yourself in a bad situation.”

Tufts Kink, a new group for students on campus, provides an outlet for this discussion. The group’s intent is to provide a safe social space for students who identify as kinky or interested in BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, Masochism).

Sophomore Anschel Schaffer-Cohen and another Tufts student had talked about a shared interest in kink. Because there was no outlet for this interest, they decided to initiate a group themselves.

Tufts Kink drew in interested students through posters and announcements throughout various social spaces.

According to Schaffer-Cohen, students were first asked to email tuftskink@gmail. com to express their interest in joining the discussion.

“I think that part of making it a safe space ... [is] to limit the people who come to just kind of gawk,” he said. “I feel like if there is any significant number of people who are doing that, people who are legitimately interested will find it harder to voice that [interest].”

Although Tufts Kink is still in its infant stages, the emergence of the group has not seen any negative reactions on campus, but rather a mild curiosity, according to Schaffer-Cohen.

“There [have] been a few people who have definitely been really excited and really glad that this is happening. The Boston kink community is very vibrant, but has a surprisingly small online presence,” he said. “There’ve been people like, ‘Wow, I had no idea this existed,’ so I’m really glad that that [connection] has [been made].”

Tufts offers groups such as VOX and ASAP that deal with sexual health and consent, as well as resources in Health Services and the Counseling and Mental Health Service (CMHS). However, Tufts Kink’s emergence encourages the development of the campus’ dialogue on sex and strives to create an inclusive and healthy sexual community.

“First, I think there’s a number of students who feel sort of isolated and alienated, and I think it’s very powerful for them to have just a place where they can express themselves and a place where they can make friends,” Schaffer-Cohen said. “[On the] other side of it is, I think, that as a community, we have something to contribute about consent, about various kinds of discrimination and about gender roles and gender issues.”

An anonymous sophomore noted that she appreciated the group for the open and accepting atmosphere it cultivated around sex.

“I definitely think that there is not another group on campus that could fill this space ... where you [could] discuss pretty explicit sexual behaviors and still feel safe about it and not criticized,” she said. “I feel like sex is something that’s talked about in a very impersonal way on campus ... There’s a lot of dialogue about consent and power dynamics and relationships and relationship violence, but [not much], until this

group, discussion about something that’s typically not normative.”

Both Ramanathan and Vail stressed the importance of Tufts Kink as focusing on the experiences of peers as opposed to being a top-down educational program. They see it as a significant opportunity to destigmatize alternative forms of sex.

“There should be an awareness that people should be able to do what turns them on and have resources and talk and learn about that. It’s normal, good to have that as a resource and outlet,” Vail said.

While he reiterated that discussing the potential repercussions of sex is vital to student health and welfare, Ramanathan applauded efforts of Tufts Kink to further positive discussions about unorthodox sex and sex in general.

“That’s one the reasons why I’m really supportive of Tufts Kink and other similar things — because it’s a positive way to talk about the subject, and the problem that a lot of the sexual health and sexual assault prevention groups have had on campus is that it always starts as a negative conversation,” he said. “So it really is a great way to approach it in terms of your curiosity, breaking your taboos, talking about something that people like doing. Let’s talk about it in a constructive way. Hopefully, that will have a side effect of people being more open to conversations about sex from the other angle.”

Tufts Kink aims to transcend the boundaries of what is typically considered normative by social constructs or the media.

“I think it’s also a good way for people to feel less ostracized, less strange, because the type of sex that we absorb through culture, be it mainstream film or pornography, is very rigid in many ways,” Ramanathan said. “There are sort of a few things that are accepted, and then you step back and there are a few more things that are less accepted, and then everything else is either weird or strange or unacceptable.”

Beyond creating an open forum for discussion to challenge this misconception and offer students the opportunity to express an alternative interest, Tufts Kink has long-term goals of education, normalization and community, according to Schaffer-Cohen.

“We’ve gone, over the last 50 [or so] years, from a time where kink wasn’t discussed to a time where it’s very much a punch line. That’s progress, but it’s not enough progress,” Schaffer-Cohen said. “I think that it needs to be normalized. People need to realize that this isn’t some sort of weird, amorphous thing. It’s [something] their friends [are involved in] ... ostensibly ordinary people.”

—with Hannah Fingerhut

ll right. Let me attempt to write something that hasn’t already been written about the election. Just when you thought election coverage was coming to an end on Nov. 6, Nov. 6 came and now there is more election coverage! Lucky you!

First things first: various funny election things. If anyone hasn’t watched Karl Rove give himself a hernia on Fox News over the precincts reporting in Ohio, you shouldn’t miss it. Second, countless newspapers in the United States won’t stop talking about the Republican “demographics” problem.

The roar of Republicans lamenting “demographics, demographics, demographics” has risen so high its become a steady and painful whine in rapture, all regretting the big, fat “oops” that the Republicans forgot to court any other demographics besides straight white men. Third, I will leave you with one last funny-of-funnies: Ann Coulter’s twitter feed.

Second things second: There are some seriously cool things that happened during this election. In this election, and every election, we experienced a peaceful transfer of power. Mitt Romney, after some awkward waiting time and cranky one percent-ers, conceded the election within about an hour of when the major predictions came out. He wished the President well and conceded with grace.

I suspect the conversation the two men had on the phone before Romney conceded was cordial — even friendly.

All because that indubitable principle we have about our elections in this country: when you lose, you lose, and when you win, you win — bar the Florida hole-punching butterfly ballot fiasco in 2000. It doesn’t matter which party, what kind of person or how much power they have. In this country, you accept defeat because that is the expectation and the will of the people.

That is the political norm we have built since the dawn of our republic.

When I walked outside my house on Wednesday morning, I still passed the old men playing tennis at the tennis courts, still waited for cars at the stop sign near the library and still paid $3.50 for my Lucy in the Chai at the Rez. The Jumbos did not storm Gifford House, the losing incumbents in their respective legislatures did not refuse to leave their posts and Coulter is still living on her own planet with Newt Gingrich and Ayn Rand. The political cycle rolls on, and power is transferred without the break out of violence.

We are incredibly fortunate in this country to enjoy and expect political norms where politicians follow the decision of the people in elections, but not every nation is this fortunate.

We’ve got our flaws and that is for certain — answer me this, why in the world do we have Election Day during the workweek? — but nevertheless, we do indeed have the peaceful transfer of power. And it is more than so many nations, struggling for self-governance, can say for their own governments.

So, indeed, this election’s successes in women’s rights, the importance of ethnic and racial minority voices, LGBT rights and a fair chance for all were simply extraordinary. But first, I will appreciate the right and the expectation in this country for the peaceful transfer of power. The people have spoken, and it’s good enough for me.

That’s the best kind of electoral landslide, as far as I am concerned.

Alexa Petersen is a senior majoring in political science and peace and justice studies. She can be reached at Alexa.Petersen@tufts.edu.

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The Tufts Daily

Features

Wednesday, September 14, 2012

Voices FOOD JUSTICE

TUFTS HILLEL PRESENTS

ERIC SCHLOSSER Eric Schlosser is an investigative journalist and author of the best-selling book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. His book helped start a food revolution and changed how Americans think about what they eat. It has been translated into more than 20 languages and remained on The New York Times bestseller list for two years. Schlosser’s body of work includes several more books and a documentary that also deal with food justice.

Arts & Living

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tuftsdaily.com

Interview | Dan Deacon

Deacon creates music for information age Andrew Garsetti

by

Contributing Writer

Today’s art music scene is a dense mass of micro-genres and enigmatic personalities. It’s an entity that occupies less of our cultural center than ever before and has consequently become impossible to define. From the contemporary classical compositions of Nico Muhly to the ambient drones of Tim Hecker, the process of categorizing music or musicians under the “art music” label is quickly turning into a useless task.

Still, Dan Deacon couldn’t care less about what genres people associate him with.

“I’m not sure where I fit in and I don’t really care. I’m just happy anyone listens to my music and comes to my shows,” Deacon told the Daily in an email.

Though his music is clearly indebted to the likes of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, his electronic sketches are more fun and infused with indie pop than anything the two minimalists would ever do. Before his show last night at Boston’s The Paradise Rock Club, Deacon discussed his process, the way the Internet intertwines with his career and his most recent record, “America” (2012) with the Daily via email.

Tufts Daily: “America” is as densely layered and beautifully textured

Andrew Braithwaite via Wikimedia Commons

Deacon creates music from an eclectic mix of equipment. as anything you’ve done so far, but there’s more acoustic instrumentation on here than there normally is.

How important was it for that to come across in your listeners’ minds, considering the United States is an entity traditionally thought of as hyperindustrialized and uninspiring?

Dan Deacon: With this record I wanted to work with all the families of sound, not just the two families I’ve worked with the most, electronics and

Movie Review

percussion. Each has so many timbres and abilities unique to them and I’ve wanted to dive into exploring them — strings, winds, brass — more. I feel like I barely scratched the surface.

I think it’s odd you would think of the [United States] as hyper-industrialized and especially insane to call it uninspiring. That’s crazy to me.

If anything it’s hyper-post-industrialized and in that post-industrial landsee DEACON, page 6

Music Review

‘Tinsel and Lights’ blends Christmas with indie pop

by Sabrina

McMillin

Contributing Writer

Most holiday music is known for its conventional use of sounds: Bells, whistles, choirs that could rival

Tinsel and Lights Tracey Thorn Merge Records Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

joke — “Finding Nemo” (2003), anyone?

— but the “Bad-Anon” meeting is so funny that there’s no time to ponder the lack of originality. The novelty of Bowser, Clyde the Pac Man ghost and a host of other famous villains encouraging each other to stay “bad” is more than enough to keep the scene interesting.

Director Rich Moore brings us into the world of Litwick’s Arcade, where video game characters treat their games like nine-to-five jobs. After hours, the characters are “just like us”: They have weird friends, loud parties and awkward romances. However, even in this pixelated universe, there’s an in-crowd and there are losers. And the title character, Ralph, is most definitely a loser.

For the past 30 years, Ralph has dutifully worked in the fictional game “Fix-it Felix.” Every time someone plays, Ralph must wreck an apartment building so his good-guy counterpart, Felix, can swoop in and rebuild. Afterward, all the building’s occupants cheerfully chuck Ralph off the

heavenly cherubs, a bit of jazz and maybe even a crooner or two are to be expected. But this holiday season, English pop veteran Tracey Thorn presents listeners with a contemporary sound that has the potential to delight young adult listeners without compromising the traditional spirit of the holiday season.

With a voice reminiscent of another English singer, Annie Lennox, Thorn rose from her small-town life in Hertfordshire, England to modest fame in the indie pop world as a member of Everything but the Girl (commonly referred to as ETBG), a band consisting of Thorn and her husband, DJ and musician Ben Watt.

ETBG released original work from 1984 to 1999. Thorn and Watt consider the group on extended hiatus while they focus on other projects, such as Thorn’s successful collaboration with the alternative hip hop band Massive Attack on their hit single, “Protection” (1994).

In late October, Thorn released “Tinsel and Lights,” marking her foray into holiday music. The album is secular in nature, with a total of 12 songs focusing on non-religious symbols and pastimes of the Christmas season. Though Thorn gently croons the traditional Christmas tune

see WRECK, page 6

see TINSEL, page 6

Characters from video games come to life in Disney’s latest.

Snappy ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ falls just short of great by

Diane Adamson

Contributing Writer

In “Wreck-It Ralph,” everyone goes through hard times, even the bad guys.

“When I hit bottom, I was crushing man’s

Wreck-It Ralph Starring John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer Directed by Rich Moore skull like sparrow egg between my thighs,” confesses “Street Fighter’s” Zangief to a room of nodding anti-heroes. But redemption is for everyone, too. Zangief goes on to explain, “Then I have moment of clarity.

I say, ‘Zangief, you are a bad guy, but this does not mean you are bad ... guy.”

Welcome to the world of “Wreck-It Ralph,” where the jokes are always rapid-fire and the pop-culture references are a dime a dozen. Mock Alcoholics Anonymous-style meetings aren’t a new

Megan Clark | Where’s the Craic?

‘My Left Foot’

M

y Left Foot” (1989) tells the story of Christy Brown, an Irish writer and artist with cerebral palsy. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker and was directed and co-written by Jim Sheridan, who also directed “In the Name of the Father” (1993).

Based on Christy Brown’s autobiography, the film follows Christy’s life from childhood to adulthood and moderate fame. Jim Sheridan’s script and DayLewis’s acting reveal the immense challenges Christy faces without making him seem helpless. In fact, the film portrays Christy as an incredibly strong character who tirelessly struggles to be heard.

The film and autobiography’s titles come from the fact that Christy only had control of his left foot. Thus, Christy used his left foot to write and paint. Through occupational therapy, he eventually learned to speak. However, as a child, he was considered mute and mentally disabled. In the film’s early scenes, a young Christy is often seen lying in a corner, ignored by everyone but his mother. Hugh O’Conor plays Christy as a child, brilliantly portraying Christy’s attempts to communicate with his family. After several failed attempts, Christy finally breaks through to his family by writing “MOTHER” on his floor, using chalk held between his toes. In both a touching and terribly sad moment, his father yells, “He’s a Brown, all right. Christy’s a Brown!”

This scene depicts Christy finally coming out of his isolation and becoming a true part of his family. However, it also reveals that his father did not consider him part of the family until that moment. Throughout his life and throughout the film, Christy strives toward approval and inclusion but is frequently shut out due to his disability.

The adult Christy, as played by Day-Lewis, refuses to accept this. Through his everyday life, his writing and his painting, he demands to be heard. Upon receiving his Oscar for Best Actor, Day-Lewis said, “When he was alive, [Christy] needed very little encouragement to make his voice heard. Now, he needs a little more.” Ultimately, that is what this movie is about: making Christy Brown’s voice heard long after his death. Throughout the film, Christy’s family members warn others that he can be a bit cantankerous. As portrayed in the film, this propensity to be difficult is just Christy demanding to be recognized and understood on his own terms.

While some people find this a difficult feat, others do not and accept Christy for who he is: a writer, a painter and an advocate for those with disabilities.

“My Left Foot” is graced by extremely talented actors and actresses. Brenda Fricker, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role, plays Christy’s mother, the first person to accept him and recognize his talents. Christy’s mother has incredible insights into her son’s life. When no one else can even understand what he is saying, she can understand what he is feeling.

The mother-son dynamic that Fricker and Day-Lewis establish early in the film makes these insights believable. Ray McAnally, who plays Christy’s father, imbues his character with just enough kindness to retain his humanity while acting as a dominating and withholding presence in Christy’s life. Day-Lewis, playing Christy from his adolescence into adulthood, gives a starworthy performance. His Christy Brown is sensitive, kind, determined and occasionally difficult. He becomes Christy Brown physically and mentally. Day-Lewis’s performance makes viewers sit up and take note, just as Christy Brown’s remarkable life forced the world to pay attention.

Join me next time as I explain, both seriously and not so seriously, why Day-Lewis is the greatest actor working today.

Megan Clark is a junior majoring in history. She can be reached at Megan.Clark@ tufts.edu.

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Arts & Living

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Thorn pushes Christmas into indie territory TINSEL

continued from page 5

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” the rest of the album is comprised of beautiful, soft rock covers of songs such as The White Stripes’ “In the Cold, Cold Night” (2008) and “Hard Candy Christmas,” a track from the musical “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982). Thorn seals the deal with two original songs, “Joy” and “Tinsel and Lights.”

While the album offers a diverse selection of songs that could seem unsuitable for the holiday genre, it still manages to sound like a traditional Christmas album. Although it is a patchwork of the contemporary and the classic, the crude and the gentle, “Tinsel and Lights” is a mix many Christmas lovers will find appropriate for the holiday season.

The album opens with “Joy,” which features the simplicity of a soft piano and acoustic guitar that accompany the singer’s call for a widespread appreciation of the blossoming winter

season. Electronic ambiance in the background polishes the song into a perfectly typical Thorn tune, resulting in a call for Christmas joy that even the biggest Scrooge could not deny. The lyrics of “Joy” reflect on symbols that appear throughout the album, including the sparkling silver tinsel on Christmas trees, “the holly on the door” and “the candles in the gloom.” All of these images represent the feeling of transformation that exists in situations like the start of a season, or during the first moments of an album.

The album’s title track recalls a traditional Irish drinking song whose lyrics reflect on both a time of youthful merrymaking and the solemn realism of growing old over many Christmases. Thorn reflects on joyous feelings of the past that have been tainted by a life of disappointment. The lyrics conclude the tale by suggesting that Thorn’s December cheer will be rekindled by the kiss of a lover.

Thorn did not go wrong with her choice of cover songs on the album. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is performed within the bounds of the Christmas norms, while “Snow in Sun” serves as both a stylistic translation from boy band to indie pop as well as an ode to 1980s British band Scritti Politti. The cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River” gives the album greater depth through its escapist overtones that contrast nicely with the holiday cheer of the rest of the songs.

Overall, ETBG fans will not be disappointed by the group’s songstress’ solo effort, even if the album does not provide anything particularly unique.

With “Tinsel and Lights,” what you see is what you get: Tracey Thorn performing her quintessential style of indie pop. To a general audience, “Tinsel and Lights” is a reminder that while there may be heartbreak and imperfections that lie within the cold winter months, it is still possible to have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Midnightlounge via Flickr Creative Commons

With ‘Tinsel and Lights,’ Thorn proves that even Christmas can lend itself to great indie pop.

‘Wreck-It Ralph’ has jokes for all ages wreck

continued from page 5

roof. When the arcade closes each night and the other characters go about their after-hours socializing, Ralph is treated like a social pariah.

Ralph is desperate for a little — pardon the pun — “wreck-ognition” and he goes searching for it by abandoning his game. Of course, this attempt to be someone he’s not wreaks havoc on the arcade and Ralph must try to save the day before it’s too late. John C. Reilly brilliantly gives voice to the film’s wannabe hero. Unlike contemporaries Will Ferrell and Seth Rogen, Reilly’s comic genius isn’t about constantly drawing attention to his own bizarre antics. Rather, Reilly shines when playing guys like Ralph, the archetypal average Joe stuck in a bad situation. Other familiar voices include Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Mindy Kaling, but Jane Lynch of “Glee” fame steals the show. As the “Call of Duty”-style Sergeant Calhoun, Lynch delivers a constant stream of saucy

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

‘Wreck-It Ralph’ is entertaining and funny, but the film doesn’t have enough of an emotional core to be truly great. one-liners meant for grown-ups.

“Wreck-it Ralph” has been in the works since the late 1980s and sometimes if feels like Disney is attempting to squeeze 25 years’ worth of jokes into 108 minutes.

Still, the graphics are definitely 2012-style

and it’s easy to be mesmerized by their brilliance. Like its animated ancestors “The Incredibles” (2004) and “Monsters, Inc.”(2001), “Wreck-It Ralph” creates a colorful universe that is both absurd and almost believable. Watching classic video

game characters commute through “Game Central Station” is funny because it seamlessly fuses the banal and the ridiculous: There are monotone PA announcements, dreary security guards and then there’s Doctor Robotnik of “Sonic the Hedgehog” casually riding a train.

Still, something stops “Wreck-it Ralph” just short of “Toy Story” (1995)-esque glory. The dazzling graphics and lightning-quick quips are gleefully entertaining to be sure. And it’s fun to see so many familiar video game characters all jumbled together. But there’s not enough time left over to dig into the heart of the film — that is, what it’s like to be an outsider. It’s amply clear that the redeeming message is meant to be that it’s okay to be “different.”

But in the rush to deliver more laughs, the sentimental moments end up feeling more obligatory than genuine. Maybe that’s why, despite the spectacular animation, Ralph and his friends never quite come alive. But is this wild ride worth a trip to the Somerville Theatre this weekend? Absolutely.

Deacon discusses music industry’s progression DEACON

continued from page 5

scape I think there is a massive amount of beauty. Once you get out of the cities, the rural landscapes and raw geography are mesmerizing. Part of the reason I called the record “America” was because everyone thinks of the word differently, and clearly you and I take the word in very different ways, and that’s beautiful.

TD: Your first real releases to the public were in 2003, about two years after the initial death of Napster. Nevertheless, you’ve still seen the file sharing industry develop and expand wildly with your progression as an artist. Have you had to change the way you think about releasing music over the past decade?

DD: It’s not something I thought about with this release but I will totally from now on. Spotify and YouTube have really changed the game in a way similar to when Napster did. It’s crazy how in 2007 when the album leaked, it was like the best thing that could have happened to me. Now, I think a lot of people just wait for it to show up on Spotify and YouTube and hear it there.

There has been a shift from wanting to have the music files to just wanting access to them. That shift really changes the way people interact with music. I am worried it’s a reversal back to the old corporate model of music before file sharing changed the game, but I don’t want to be a cultural relativist and just think, “New s--t is bad. Old s--t that was new s--t to me

is better.” It’s just a change and music will adapt. If it’s a wrong turn or not, history will tell.

TD: How much has the ubiquity of the Internet affected your career? Is your huge web presence something you enjoy, or do you feel like you’re obligated to do it because it’s really the only choice artists have nowadays for getting their name out there?

DD: It’s just become the standard for most bands. The goal is to make it so that as many people as possible can have my music available to them, and the Internet makes that much easier than in the past when the methods of distribution and exposure were controlled by a handful of large corporations. Not that Tumblr, Twitter, etc. aren’t corporations, but it’s such a drastically different system/structure.

TD: Can you describe what your ideal venue to perform in would be?

DD: A large open room with a flat/level floor, high ceilings, several exits, curtains that actually open and close for the stage [and] a PA that matches the size of the room filled with cognizant/ open-minded people.

TD: What musicians working today are you most excited about or intrigued by?

DD: Future Islands and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. Both of those bands are totally sick.

Gwazda via Wikimedia Commons

Deacon stands out from the crowd with his innovative take on music.

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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

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Editorial | Letters

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Editorial

Tufts Kink will broaden campus sexual culture for the better Today’s Features article introduces Tufts Kink, a group founded this semester that promotes open conversations about kinky sex and endeavors to offer a safe space to students who are interested in BDSM (bondage/discipline, domination/submission, sadism/masochism).

Tufts Kink joins groups like Action for Sexual Assault Prevention and Tufts VOX in an ongoing campus dialogue about sex. According to a recent study conducted by the National Institute of Health, programs considering sex and sexuality on campus should “develop methods to teach college men and women to communicate verbally and directly about sexual preferences, desires and consent and ... identify strategies that will increase their tolerance for and comfort with doing so.” As Tufts Kink, among the aforementioned

campus groups, strives to do exactly that, it should have a positive impact on sexual culture on campus.

Part of the group’s mission includes normalizing discussions of sex. By providing a forum for students to converse about their sexual interests and curiosities, Tufts Kink acts as an equalizer by making students more comfortable in having and expressing these interests. Many campus discussions about sex center on its violent side, and though those conversations are crucial, Tufts Kink provides a counterbalance by emphasizing positive dialogue about sex. And though this is the first group of its sort on campus, it has predecessors at other schools: According to the Columbia Eye, The Harvard Crimson, and Reed College’s website, all three academic institutions host kink clubs of

different specifications. The introduction of groups like these re-inforces the idea of universities as places for open exchange, which Tufts, and any university, ideally should be.

Sexual culture on campus is an undeniably important issue, and it can only benefit from a diversification of voices and viewpoints. By providing Tufts with an opportunity to learn about and a forum to discuss less-explored facets of sexual culture, Tufts Kink does the student body a service. Though the group is newly formed, its success down the line could have numerous advantages for our campus, including helping students develop the capacity and courage to ask questions about their desires, form connections with their peers, feel assured about their interests, talk about sex in a positive light and — for some others — have some fun.

denise amisial

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We all know that teen pregnancy is a problem. But for most of us, it is a far-off threat, one that is confined to the glow of MTV’s “Teen Mom” on Tuesday nights.

The idea of being a mother or father at this point in life or earlier is, for many of us, a distant concern. My typical reaction when Facebook shows me yet another girl from my high school sporting a baby bump is either a sigh or a passing thought of condolence. Personally, it is difficult to imagine toting around a crying, miniature me on my hip, especially since I find it hard enough to take care of myself each day. However, with recent attacks on Planned Parenthood and its contraceptive services and the prevalence of abstinence-only sex education in public schools, my high school classmates’ situations and the country’s financial concerns are inextricably linked.

Which costs more: birth control pills, or a tiny, fully dependent human raised to adulthood? As it turns out, birth control is a tad more cost effective, by about $226,000.

And which is more effective in preventing teen pregnancy: access to birth control, or telling hormone-laden teens “just don’t do it” “Mean Girls” (2004)-style? Again, the answer is not surprising. New Hampshire boasts one of the country’s lowest teen birth rates, with just 16 births per 1000 women aged 15 to 19. Compare this to New Mexico, one of the country’s highest

teen birth rates, at 62 births per 1,000 teenage girls. As common sense would imply, New Hampshire requires a comprehensive sex education course in schools. Though it includes abstinence, it does not focus on it entirely, like in many more conservative states. New Mexico requires no sex education, and other states with similarly high birth rates — such as Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi — stress an abstinence-only approach. These costs aren’t confined to the parents or families of these children of teen parents. Each publicly financed unplanned pregnancy costs an average of $10,000.

American taxpayers spend approximately $11 billion per year on medical care for the 1.25 million unintended pregnancies through programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Thinking back to middle school and my experience with Tennessee’s abstinenceonly sex education program, it seems less and less shocking that so many girls from my high school had children so young.

It makes me wonder what would have happened if these teen parents — and teen parents from the other 25 states that require abstinence be stressed as the best method of pregnancy prevention — had access not only to contraception, but also to knowledge of all preventative measures.

A study conducted by the University of Washington explores that hypothetical: Teens that received a comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to become pregnant. Not only that, but a 2007

federal report showed that abstinence-only approaches, like the one I received in Tennessee, had “no impacts on rates of sexual abstinence.” To put it simply, it’s not working, and that sort of Puritan approach hurts young girls, burdening them — and taxpayers — with the heavy financial cost a child brings.

This is why Planned Parenthood and realistic sex education are so important.

In a 2008 study, the Guttmacher Institute estimated that for every $1 spent on family planning services, groups like Planned Parenthood save taxpayers $3.74 in government spending on health care before and in the year after the baby is born. Realistic sex education — which explains all methods of contraception, their efficacy and how to purchase them — gives young people the power to choose their fate and costs no more than the unsuccessful abstinenceonly approach. Simply abandoning ineffective education methods in favor of a more reasonable policy can reduce teen pregnancies and their subsequent impact on society. It’s not fair that the students in my high school were less informed and able to make smart decisions about their sex lives just because of the values of the communities in which they grew up, just as it’s unfair that Planned Parenthood funding is being cut in those same states. Geography should not dictate one’s ability to control one’s sex life and prevent an unintended birth, nor should conservative states force that financial burden on the rest of the country.

correction P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

The photo published in Features on Nov. 13 for the article “Students, faculty weigh in on value of senior theses as number and interest grows” was incorrectly credited to Alex Schmieder. In fact, the photo was taken by Dilys Ong.

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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Event shafted: Asleep before midnight

by Sam

Zollman

I would say most Tufts students agree that the school’s party scene is predominately, and on some nights solely, reliant on Greek life. Sweaty basements and “Gangnam Style” constitute a typical Friday night and satisfy both the need to unwind and to make regrettable decisions following a stressful week.

But for many, an alternative to the frat party is a welcomed occasion. Whether it’s a B.E.A.T.s show at the Crafts House, Open Mic Night or Film Series, a change of pace is always refreshing. Often flying under the radar, Midnight at Tufts, a “student booking group dedicated to bringing up-and-coming, local, and/or independent music to the Tufts community,” has helped filled that void. With a limited budget, Midnight provides an alternative “social space around great music of all genres” — a respite from Pro Row for anyone interested.

On Friday, Nov. 6, Midnight at Tufts hosted a concert with the Krill, a band partly comprised of Tufts grads, and Ava Luna, a Brooklyn-based experimental indie band.

Midnight at Tufts’ shows are consistently put on in the Crane Room due to its amply sized stage and expansive dance floor.

Event Staff assists in ushering the events and keeping order by checking IDs and monitoring behavior. The concerts fluctuate in popularity depending on the acts, but a Facebook event for the free Krill/Ava Luna concert indicated upwards of 100 potential attendees. Though the room has a marked maximum occupancy limit of 90 people, Midnight felt there was low probability of meeting the room’s capacity.

As expected on the night of the show, dozens of students flocked to the Crane Room to catch the free concert. Per usual, three Event Staff members dutifully checked for Tufts IDs, and the room began to fill with eager concertgoers. As the show’s start time approached, more and more students arrived, expecting no difficulty in seeing the bands. But for whatever reason — perhaps overwhelmed by the turnout — Event Staff arbitrarily cut off the number of students allowed in to see the show. And this is where my and many others’ frustration begins.

It is reasonable to limit the number of attendees to adhere to state laws and safety regulations. It is reasonable to explain with respect and maturity why some students will be unable to see the concert. It is even justifiable to speak with the necessary authority to keep frustrated students in check. But it is beyond disgraceful that the Event Staff dealt with this situation — a concert intended for as many students as the room could safely hold — with complete disregard for all of the aforementioned expectations.

Let me begin with a simple example.

Inside the Crane Room, the capacity is clearly marked with a limit of 90 persons. But according to Event Staff, it was, insistently, 75. All right, so 15 people isn’t a huge difference. Except estimations from members of Midnight inside —I clearly was stuck out-

Courtesy pat00139 via Flickr Creative Commons

side — explained that the room was half-full at best. What’s more, it was apparently too difficult to allow one person to enter if one person from the concert left. So while two people here and three people there decided they had their fill of live music for the night, the 35 or so people patiently waiting outside on the patio were irrationally turned away. To make matters worse, any attempt to reason with Event Staff resulted in a rude dismissal and an order to leave the premise.

But that’s just one injustice, and if the insolent behavior had stopped there, no one would have been too fed up. But here’s another example: Most students accepted that they were going to appreciate the music from outside, so a handful gathered by the room’s windows to listen. Two students recognized each other through the screen and struck up a conversation. Yet, rather than a respectful request to talk elsewhere, the Event Staff called the student obnoxious and a disturbance. The windows, which had been opened for ventilation, were shut in authoritative defiance.

You might be able to retort that the Event Staff had a significant crowd to keep watch over, and with only three members at the show, felt threatened. Or maybe it was too chilly, and tempers were at their limits. But it didn’t stop there.

When one particular concertgoer left the show, he shouted to the crowd that someone else should take his place inside. For whatever reason, this translated to a snappy, even malicious response from the Event

Staff that he must leave before his name is found out. In the Event Staff’s defense, the student instead stayed on the patio.

However, the student created no further disturbance and behaved exactly like the other students who were benignly enjoying what music they could hear. But apparently, such flagrant disregard for orders required TUPD cars to control the crazy rioting and looting that was clearly about to ensue. The night concluded with officers telling patiosquatters to vacate the premise because a patio — with a table and benches — is no place to congregate.

I feel it is unfair to blame the unprofessional, immature and excessively rude behavior of a few Event Staff members on the Event Staff as a whole. The Event Staff plays a necessary role in supervising campus events. I’d even say those at the Midnight show were doing their job by manning the Crane Room’s door and watching the crowd. But in a community that tries to foster respect, the actions of those individuals were so beyond the spectrum of acceptable that I can’t help but feel incredibly indignant at how the situation was handled. At no point was anyone endangered by the crowd outside, nor was anyone disrupting the concert in process. The intolerable, obstinate and derisive behavior of the Event Staff would have made you think otherwise.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll settle for a frat party. At least I sometimes get into those.

Secession not a reality, despite petition efforts The Oracle Editorial Board The Oracle

Elections are supposed to be that component of democracy built in to give citizens a chance to have their voices heard in governance.

But clearly some don’t quite understand that, as they expressed their dissatisfaction with the election in a unique way.

Twenty-one states, including some that have duplicates, have filed petitions with the White House to “peacefully ... withdraw from the United States of America and create its own new government.”

Some states, like Texas, whose petition had 51,069 signatures at the time of print, cited the federal government’s “neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending” and “blatant abuse” of citizens’ rights as reasons to secede. Texas, petitioners stated, does after all have the 15th largest economy in the world.

Florida, which eventually went

Will Shira | Horrifyingly Hilarious

Breathe?

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Off the Hill | University of South Florida

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Op-Ed

Democratic in the election, had more than 15,000 signatures on its petition and stated the “Federal Government has not led our citizens justly and with honor.” Even solidly blue states such as New York and New Jersey have their own petitions.

The White House website states petitions that reach 25,000 signatures will be addressed, but it has also addressed past petitions with fewer signatures, such as one requesting the president’s honey ale recipe.

The real issue is not whether or not these states actually succeed with their desires to secede, for as Yahoo columnist Mike Krumboltz said, the likelihood of the government granting states permission to secede is “on par with winning the lottery while getting hit by a meteor while seeing Bigfoot while finding gluten-free pizza that tastes like the real thing.”

What these noble citizens who took to the Internet and very spiritedly utilized their First Amendment rights to petition haven’t quite realized is that they already

had their chance to make a difference with their opinions — Nov. 6, at the polls.

The people of the United States spoke, and the majority elected Barack Obama as president. If it’s Obama they don’t like, dissenters will have their chance in four years to voice their preference again. This is the way the system of democracy has worked in this country since its inception.

The petitions filed are basically petitions against democracy and mark the heightened levels of partisanship and non-cooperation that deeply divides the nation.

What has yet to be specified is what form of government the “country” of Texas or Florida would have to look forward to upon secession. Clearly, it can’t be democracy, because the next time a candidate with a less-than-100-percent approval rating comes to office, a new country would have to be formed — and that would be a bit exhausting.

But if not for democracy, would the people have a right to petition this way?

ote: Apologies for the lack of hilarity in the column that follows.

It’s been a while, so time to play a quick game of catch up. I would like to congratulate the American populace as a whole for removing every single rape-monger from office who tried desperately to define how rape wasn’t rape, but “a gift.” Furthermore, an experiment has now begun in Washington and Colorado.

The test is far from over, but the stoners apparently made it off their bean bags and meditation cushions to the ballot and refrained from toking up for 45 minutes in order to vote. Then again, maybe reefer madness really doesn’t explain the reality of the culture that surrounds marijuana in this country. Time will tell. Regardless, the Feds will probably be making their move soon, and the battle for states rights will emerge once more. But let’s forget about the real issues at hand shall we? There are now people elected that can think for us.

Speaking of campaigns — oh blessed be, blessed be! The elections are finally over! No more television ads of terror, celebrity endorsements, calls from politicians or, worse, calls from political polling agencies that so desperately desire our opinions but only so long as they fit within one of four defined categories. The advertisements can simply return to advertisements convincing us to buy more of the goods put forth to us by the Koch Brothers and their ilk so that next time around there’s even more money on the table to spend on trying to buy elections. “SC Johnson ... a political company.”

So while Mitt Romney goes on a wild bender drinking chocolate milk, playing monopoly, getting into awkward pillow fights and reaping the untold benefits of his campaign, the US continues its steady pace towards the fiscal cliff on Dec. 31. Mitt forgot to tell you? Well remember that Super PAC money that the Romney campaign accumulated?

Anyway, all that cash is now interspersed across thousands of international bank accounts and investments under front companies that have Mitt pulling the strings. Magic Mitt turned the single most expensive political race of all time into a net-profit gain and then skirted off to go live a life of leisure. He pulled the same trick as his “miraculous” fiscal turnaround of the Salt Lake City Olympics — only this time with better working conditions for his employees.

Then again, no one saw how the janitorial staff lived this time either.

Now President Barack Obama holds the position of chief once more as a highly divided government stands before him. The House of Representatives and Senate — in light of the disdain displayed by the public about the negativity of this past election — will no doubt sit down, sing “Kumbaya” and work together with candor to pass legislation that will crack this nation’s spine into shape with the balance and precision of Jackie Chan’s chiropractor. What a wonderful world this would be.

Or not. This is, after all, reality. And the 2014 congressional elections are coming up. If we don’t have a war to fight abroad, we’ll make one at home. However, as soldiers stationed around the globe fighting an international war against terror would gladly remind us: we are already fighting the broadest war in American History.

So as China and Japan squabble over strategic tiny islands, the new fascist party emerges in Greece, Palestine pleads to the UN and Syria continues to rage, take a deep breath, America. Be thankful for our relative peace, and let us work to make it last.

Will Shira is a senior majoring in peace and justice studies. He can be reached at William.Shira@tufts.edu.

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.

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Comics

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

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Wiley

The Tufts Daily

Wednesday, November 14, 2012 Wanted

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classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only.

All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $15 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

Fifth-place finish sets stage for NCAA Championships MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY continued from back

from the top 35 was senior Kyle Marks, while junior Jake McCauley took 43rd in a time of 25:52. Nine seconds and five places separated the Jumbos’ last two runners.

Tufts’ fifth-place finish matched its showing from last year. With a point total of 114, the Jumbos finished just 13 points out of an automatic qualifying slot and 23 out of first place. In comparison, at last years’ race, Tufts finished 87 points out of first place.

Jumbos finish ahead of MIT, behind U.S Naval Academy SAILING

continued from back

Marchand and Makaretz managed to end Sunday with a pair of third-place finishes. The duo capped off a 59-point cumulative effort that kept it afloat in the top five of the B division, between the U.S. Naval Academy and MIT. “B division did consistently really well,” Quinn said. “[Mariel and Sara] had so much growth and improvement this semester, it’s incredible, and we’re looking forward to what they can do in the spring.”

In total, the Jumbos rounded out their weekend — and their season — fifth overall at the Atlantic Coast Championships, with 114 points total; just five points behind fourthplace U.S. Naval Academy, but twelve points ahead of sixth-place MIT’s 126.

Dartmouth College tied Boston College with 88 points, but due to a head-tohead tiebreaker, earned the right for first place and the trophy.

With its fall season over, the women’s sailing team now enters a winter break looking to continue its training regimen and to enter the spring season refreshed and ready to continue its recent upward trajectory.

“We’re going to be training really hard all winter, and we just can’t wait until the spring season,” Quinn added.

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And even though there was no progress made placement-wise this time around, coach Ethan Barron’s team demonstrated both its mettle and impressive fitness level by narrowing the gap between them and the champions significantly.

Because the New England region is comprised of a number of national powerhouses, Tufts, given the stiff competition it has faced, will advance to the NCAA Championship as an at-large team.

The announcement was made Sunday, as all three at-large teams from the New England region, Bates, Williams and

Tufts, earned a trip to Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 17.

The nation’s 32 best teams from the eight regions will compete, with Tufts, ranked No. 5 in the nation as recently as Halloween, expected to exceed its ninthplace finish from 2011.

“This week is all about rest and recovery,” Marvel said. “This is what we’ve been training for all year, and we have high hopes of finishing very well as a team. It’s been a successful season so far, but we’d like to cap it off with a big kaboom.”

Gould to compete at Nationals WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY continued from back

“We definitely got out better and more courageously [than at NESCACs],” Fisher said. “Even though it didn’t end up getting us a trip to Indiana, I think we can all take comfort in the fact that we followed our plan and put ourselves out there.”

The team had plenty of bright spots this season and will have a deep and talented group returning next year. The Jumbos will look to showcase their talent when it matters most, something they failed to do this season.

“Despite all the talent on the team, we had a hard time putting together all the pieces on one given day,” Barker said. “I don’t think our finish at NESCACs or Regionals is indicative of how much our team has improved since last year. We need to learn how to race well when it counts so we can show that.”

For now, the Jumbos will turn their attention to Gould’s run at the NCAA Championship. As is tradition, the team said that as many as fifty fans may drive out to Indiana to cheer on the talented freshman.

There is certainly no shortage of excitement and confidence about what she can accomplish.

“I think she is one of the top freshmen in the country,” Barker said. “I’m excited to see how she will finish.”

DAILY DIGITS

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Daily File Photo

The women’s cross country team, including junior Madeleine Carey, fell just short of a National Championship berth as the squad finished sixth at the NCAA Regionals, in which a top-five finish was needed to qualify.

.922

Number of underclassmen who started for the men’s soccer team in Saturday night’s NCAA first-round matchup, which Tufts lost on a penalty kick awarded to Vassar in the second overtime. Despite the absence of two usual underclassmen starters, the starting lineup included four freshmen and three sophomores. The Jumbos’ youth shows coach Josh Shapiro’s success in recruiting top talent over the last three seasons, during which Tufts has gone a combined 23-16-8 following a 2009 season in which the Jumbos won just two games.

Age of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim center fielder Mike Trout, who on Tuesday became the youngest AL Rookie of the Year in history.

Trout and NL Rookie of the Year Bryce Harper, a 20-year old Washington Nationals outfielder, were teammates last year when they played for the Scottsdale Scorpions, a member of the Arizona Fall League. Trout finished the 2012 season with 30 homeruns and a .326 batting average, good for second-best in the league. In the Rookie of the Year voting, Trout received all 28 votes and is in the running for the AL MVP award, which will be handed out on Thursday.

Save percentage posted by graduated goalkeeper Scott Barchard (LA ’12) of the men’s hockey team, which opens its season on Friday evening at home against Trinity. Last season, Barchard played over 1375 minutes, saving 817 shots and setting the career saves record despite missing the majority of his junior season due to injury. This season, at least three goalies are vying for Barchard’s starting spot, including freshman Derek Metcalfe, who is joined by returning junior keepers Greg Jenkins and Brian Phillips who have also been competing for the spot.

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6.5

60

Hours on the road ahead for the No. 10 field hockey team on Thursday, as the Jumbos travel to Geneva, New York for the 2012 NCAA Div. III field hockey championship tournament.

Tufts defeated tournament host William Smith on Saturday before scoring a 2-1 win against Bowdoin on Sunday to advance to the Final Four. On their trip back on Sunday night, Tufts ran into the Bowdoin at a rest stop, just hours after beating them out for a spot in the national semifinals – let’s hope their travels this weekend are less awkward.

Shooting percentage posted by the No. 5 Michigan men’s basketball team in a 91-54 victory over IUPUI during Monday night’s NIT Season Tip-Off. Point guard Trey Burke led the Wolverines with 22 points, while teammate and freshman phenom Glenn Robinson III finished with 21 points of his own. In the first half, Michigan shot 65 percent from the field and went 7 for 10 from three-point range. The win propelled the Wolverines to an early 2-0 record.

Club-record number of points scored by the Baltimore Ravens in a 55-20 rout of the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. In the victory, quarterback Joe Flacco threw for 341 yards and the Ravens scored in six of their first seven possessions, improving to 7-2 on the season. Wide receiver Torrey Smith hauled in two touchdowns at 47 and 20 yards each, while Ravens holder Sam Koch ran one in on a fake field goal in the third quarter to make it 48-17. The victory extended Baltimore’s home winning streak to 15.

Ethan Sturm | Rules of the Game

Brave new sports world

L

ately, I’ve been thinking a lot about technology. Maybe it’s because my computer is in for repair and I’m stuck hurriedly writing this column in Tisch. Or maybe it’s because I’m in a class focusing on the effects of the digital world on sports media.

Regardless of the reasoning, it’s amazing how rapidly the world has changed. Less than 20 years ago, there was no ESPN.com. Less than seven years ago, there was no Twitter. Today, we can’t imagine our lives without them. But are we really better off for these changes? Sure, Internet streams allow us to view irrelevant soccer games halfway around the world, and sites like Twitter give us instant analysis from reporters and consistent views into the lives of the athletes we covet, but at what price?

For me, things have gotten quite bad. I slowly became an addict to new-age sports media without even noticing it, simultaneously watching streams of three different Champions League matches and an MLB playoff game while also streaming an ESPN live chat of the soccer games and my Twitter feed. Some people sneak away from their significant other to steal a smoke. I sneak away to send out a tweet. I joke only in an attempt to cover how pathetic the situation has become sports, and sports media, are now an unhealthy habit for me.

I’m not ready to call for the death of Twitter or the end of the live blog, but some things need to change. First of all, someone needs to get a hold of Twitter. The site has become sports’ version of TMZ, with athletes tweeting out stupid comments and everyone eating them up on a near-daily basis. Of course, as sports fans and reporters, we feel we need to follow these stories as though they were announcing the next major blockbuster trade.

By doing so, we become no better than the Kardashian-obsessed MTV watchers I have for so long mocked. Just as people have no right, and no reason, to carefully monitor the lives of actors, sports fans have no right or reason to follow athletes on Twitter with such a fine-toothed comb.

The problem only gets worse for those reporting sports news, who now must rush to be the first one to break something, rather than being able to take the time to fact check and carefully construct a story before publishing it in the paper the next morning. What that trigger first instinct creates is a foggy cloud of contradictory reporting that lasts for many hours in the immediate aftermath of a story breaking. Through Twitter and other means of publishing, reporters will tweet just about anything they hear, whether it actually turns out to be fact or not.

Attempting to follow the Jerry Sandusky allegations at Penn State on the day it broke was an exercise in futility. Every time a new tidbit popped out, it was countered by another article or tweet five minutes later. In an attempt to keep us all in the loop with what was going on, the reporters instead made us wait almost until the next morning’s print deadline to get a definitive story. What I’ve learned over the past five days being without a computer is just how freeing taking a break from the constantly updating world of sports can be. By checking ESPN.com a few times a day, I can remain just as informed about the world of sports as anyone else, just at a slightly slower rate.

Am I the first one to tweet out a witty comment about the Philadelphia Eagles’ pathetic excuse for a team? Maybe not, but in the long run, no one is going to care one way or another who that person was. In fact, even the concept of the scoop is losing its value, as every sports site in the world will have the same article posted within 10 minutes of you posting the original. So take a break, log off of Twitter, and watch sports at your leisure for a few days. You’ll be thankful you did.

Ethan Sturm is a senior who is majoring in biopsychology. He can be reached at ethan. sturm@tufts.edu or @esturm90.

Sports

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tuftsdaily.com

Men’s Cross Country

Women’s cross country

Gould qualifies for Nationals, Jumbos place sixth at NCAA Regional by

Matt Rand

Contributing Writer

Andrew Morganthaler / Tufts Daily Archives

The men’s cross country team fought through a hectic start to end up finishing in fifth place at the New England Regional Championships.

Jumbos finish fifth at Regionals, qualify for NCAAs

by Sam

Gold

Daily Editorial Board

On a day filled with individual accolades, the men’s cross country team finished fifth out of 50 teams at the New England Regional Championship at Westfield State on Saturday.

Spurred on by its first five runners placing among the top 35 overall, Tufts became eligible for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship, and received a bid to nationals Sunday afternoon.

Middlebury, the only team to remain beneath the 100-point mark Saturday, won the team title, with Bowdoin amassing 101 points to finish in second.

The top-two finishers were the only automatic qualifiers for the NCAAs. Bates finished four points behind in-state rival Bowdoin, while Williams barely edged out the Jumbos, a mere one point between them for fourth place.

Although Williams surpassed Tufts in the final moments, the Jumbos hung on for fifth to secure the final at-large slot.

“We got the job done,” senior co-captain Jeff Marvel

said. “The goal for Regionals the mad dash early on. was to make it to Nationals, Senior co-captain Matt Rand, and that’s what we did. After just two weeks removed from a winning NESCACs, it may down-to-the-wire finish at the seem like a fifth-place finish NESCAC Championship, spearisn’t what we were looking for, headed the charge for Tufts. but the region is incredibly Rand, also a contributing writer competitive. On any given for the Daily, crossed the line in day, any of the five teams that a time of 25:00 flat to place sixth qualified for Nationals could in a field of 351. Well within the top 35, Rand earned All-New beat the others.”

Tufts could easily have fin- England honors for the first ished outside the top five, con- time in his four-year career. sidering the hectic beginning His stellar performance was the trailblazer for a slew of firsts to the day.

“The race began and only on the day. Junior Ben Wallis, three of our guys were even on just nine seconds behind Rand, the starting line,” sophomore claimed 11th place and was the Marshall Pagano said. “Needless second runner from Tufts to be to say, most guys got a bad start named All-New England. Also and had to really adjust their earning his first such honor was senior Tyler Andrews, who race strategies.”

When warmups were inter- ran the eight-kilometer course rupted by the sound of the in 25:32 to finish in 28th place. gun, chaos ensued. Officials Juniors Andrew Shapero and initially allotted two minutes Brian McLaughlin finished in for preparation, but, because 34th and 35th respectively, in reality only about a quar- capturing the last two spots ter of that time was given, the designated All-New England. bulk of the Jumbos had to play The award was the first for catch-up for the first half-mile Shapero and the second for McLaughlin. or so.

Fortunately, Tufts regained its Only three spots removed composure mostly unscathed but still was a bit fatigued from see MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY, page 11

A finish in the top five at Saturday’s NCAA Regional Championship at Westfield State would have sent Tufts to the NCAA Championship this weekend in Terre Haute, Ind. But the Jumbos fell just short, placing sixth out of 51 teams.

Regional Champion MIT and runner-up Williams claimed the two automatic qualifying spots, while Middlebury, Bates, and Amherst earned at-large berths. The Jumbos finished only 20 points short of the fifth-place team.

Even though the team came up short, Tufts will still be represented at the national meet.

Freshman Audrey Gould placed 19th in the field of 367 to claim the final of seven individual qualifying spots. She clocked in at a time of 22:12 over the six-kilometer course, finishing first for the Jumbos for the fifth time this season. Of all the freshman runners, only Nicole Zeinstra of MIT bested Gould’s time.

“We’re so proud of Audrey for qualifying,” senior tri-captain Lilly Fisher said. “She’s incredibly talented and worked very hard, but she’s also a natural racer. She knows how good she is and isn’t afraid to run with the front of the pack.”

Running at the NCAA Championship is sure to be a valuable experience for the rookie Jumbo. Although she’ll be racing in an unfamiliar environment without her teammates, the squad still has plenty of confidence in her capabilities.

“Audrey is a very talented runner,” junior tri-captain Madeleine Carey said. “She ran at some high-caliber races in

high school, so I think she will rise to the occasion at NCAA’s.”

Gould was not the only member of the team to turn in an impressive performance on Saturday. Junior Abby Barker was only six seconds behind Gould in 27th, and with the top-35 finish, she earned AllRegion honors for the first time in her career.

“I pushed through and moved up places in the last mile of the race,” Barker said. “One of my goals for the season was to be All-Region, so I’m happy I was able to achieve that.”

Next to finish for Tufts was senior Julia Hajnoczky, who clocked a time of 22:39 to place 43rd overall. Meanwhile, freshman Olivia Beltrani and Carey closed the scoring for the Jumbos as Beltrani placed 48th in a time of 22:45, while Carey clocked a 23:07 for 73rd.

Fisher and junior Laura Peterson rounded out the varsity squad, placing 75th and 78th respectively.

Saturday’s result was not the way the team wanted to end the season, as the Jumbos had hopes of returning to the NCAA Championship, where they placed 20th last year.

Unfortunately, the nationalqualifying meet fell short of expectations.

“Sometimes, it’s just not your day,” Carey said. “Obviously we would like to be running in Indiana this weekend. I think everyone is spending some time thinking about what they can do individually to make the team stronger as a whole.”

Although the squad followed through with their plan to race aggressively, the strategy didn’t propel the Jumbos into the top five. see WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY page 11

Sailing

Women’s team finishes in top five at ACC Championships by

Andy Wong

Contributing Writer

Two weeks ago, Hurricane Sandy wrecked havoc across the entire Eastern Seaboard, and the storm forced the cancellation of the coed sailing team’s championship event at King’s Point. But the women’s sailing team did not let a storm curtail its wave of momentum, and the Jumbos put together a furious advance this past weekend at the women’s Atlantic Coast Championships hosted

by Conn. College.

Featuring a showcase of 18 talented squads from all over the New England area and beyond, the Jumbos managed to finish within the top five overall in the two-day event to end their fall season on a high note before the winter break.

“This was the nationals event for our fall season, so our outlook [based on how we did] is great,” senior captain and skipper Natalie Salk said.

On Saturday, the sailors were greeted with a light northern breeze that turned

into a full day of inconsistent air pressure and a weak current, but that didn’t stop the sailors from ending the day with four races in A-division and another two in B. In fact, the conditions seemed to work in the Jumbos’ favor; Salk and classmate and crew member Amelia Quinn, who is also a Features editor for the Daily, finished their quartet of races in fifth, third, seventh, and eighth places, respectively. Senior skipper Mariel Marchand and junior crew Sara Makaretz captured third and eighth in their two races.

“We actually ended [Saturday] in first overall, which was really cool,” Quinn said.

The second day was a different story, as sailing conditions picked up along with the arrival of a steadier breeze, allowing both divisions to finish their sets of eight races. Holding onto their strong start, Salk and Quinn almost rounded out their weekend with a full set of top-10 finishes, although this time, their competition also stepped it up, taking advan-

tage of the group’s 16th-place finish in their sixth race.

“Natalie and I only had one [race outside the top-10] the entire weekend, so we’ve really improved,” Quinn said. “If we hadn’t had that one bad race, we could have won our division.”

“We were trying to win our division,” Salk added. “We know now that we can win at these championships, and that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Overall, the pair dropped down two spots, finishing its weekend third in the A division with 55 points, three short of matching second place St. Mary’s College of Maryland and only four points behind A-division victor Dartmouth College.

“All our races were so close, having two [bad races] could have dropped us more, so we were really excited to finish third in A division,” Quinn added.

On the other end, B division’s Marchand and Makaretz followed suit with their senior

Courtesy Ken Legler

While the coed team’s race was canceled due to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the women were still able to compete at the Atlantic Coast Championships at Conn. College. teammates.

“Mariel and Sara did really well,” Salk said. “They ended up in fifth, which was very strong, and their races were

just so competitive.”

Despite two narrow finishes outside of the top 10, see SAILING, page 11