Fall 2015 Issue 6 by Tufts Observer

TUFTS OBSERVER DECEMBER 7, 2015

VOLUME CXXXVIII, ISSUE 6

LIFE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT PAGE 6

OUR DESICCATED WATERWAYS PAGE 10

INVISIBLE ILLNESSES AT TUFTS PAGE 20

#bodies

Staff editor-in-chief Katharine Pong managing editor Moira Lavelle creative director Chelsea Newman news Nina Hofkosh-Hulbert Claire Selvin opinion Ben Kesslen Jamie Moore

December 7, 2015 Tufts Observer, since 1895

Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 6 Tuftsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Student Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS

arts & culture Xander Landen Carly Olson campus Gabby Bonfiglio Julia Doyle tech & innovation Dana Guth Tess Ross-Callahan poetry & prose Aishvarya Arora photography director Alison Graham photography editor Menglan Chen art director Eva Strauss assistant art director Rachel Cunningham lead artists Tess Dennison Nina Hofkosh-Hulbert lead copy editor Liza Leonard

CHELSEA NEWMAN

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR by Katharine Pong

2 FEATURE Where We Are Now

POETRY Unlearning of Years by Aishvarya Arora

by Charlotte Hoffman, Maya Pace, Emma Pinsky, & Claire Selvin

copy editors Will Hodge Emily Ng Maya Pace Emma Pinsky Lauren Samuel

NEWS Boxed In

publicity director Yumi Casagrande

publicity assistants Ashley Miller Kyle Scott

NEWS Water Woes

by Xander Landen

by Cooper McKim

KAYDEN MIMMACK AND RICARDO MOREIRA MOREIRA

web editors Lily Hartzell Greta Jochem

ARTS & CULTURE Float On

design team Zoe Baghdoyan Alexandra Benjamin Lynette Bian Chase Conley Franny Kamio Kayden Mimmack Astrid Weng Conrad Young

by Emily Lin

OPINION The Naked Truth

by Alexandra Benjamin

Contributors Anastasia Antonova Riley Aronson Ricardo Moreira Jake Rochford

EVA STRAUSS

PHOTO INSET Figura Humana

by Anastasia Antonova

13 Theme

POETRY Half Moon

by Chelsea Newman

CHELSEA NEWMAN

TECH & INNOVATION Fashion Forward

Bodies tell stories. They are subjects of discussion, objects of desire, sites of understanding, and constanty changing. We hold them, watch them, care for them, and inhabit them. In this issue, we consider how we interact with bodies, both our own and others’.

by Carly Olson

24 CAMPUS Beauty, Blackness, & Booty Calls by Kyle Scott

TESS DENNISON

OPINION Invisible Illnesses

26 POLICE BLOTTER

by Chelsea Newman

by Moira Lavelle

The Tufts Observer has been Tufts’ student publication of record since 1895. Our dedication to in-depth reporting, journalistic innovation, and honest dialogue has remained intact for over a century. Today, we offer insightful news analysis, cogent and diverse opinion pieces, creative writing, and lively reviews of current arts, entertainment, and culture. Through poignant writing and artistic elegance, we aim to entertain, inform, and above all challenge the Tufts community to effect positive change.

@tuftsobserver

www.tuftsobserver.org COVER BY STEPHANIE COHEN

These past weeks have been full of activity and questions and motion. On campus, it’s that stressful time of the semester full of both scrambling and sluggishness. You can overhear students talking about how little they’ve slept, how many pages they have to write, how they can’t do dinner this week but maybe next week. Off campus, the world seems to be cracking and spinning and stalling all at once. There is incredible violence and incredible resistance happening every day, in the moments we talk about and in the moments we don’t. All this has me feeling overwhelmed, scared, and small. Enough so that it doesn’t feel quite right to be doing the same things I always do: class, swim, the . It feels easy to question how meaningful these things are when I think about all of the parts of the world. In moving forward with the same old routine, I worry that I am not fully pausing to hold the weight of now.

But it’s happening and I’m doing it. And on this night, after hours spent with this magazine, here are some things I know to be true: This publication is full of love. It is full of intentional thoughts, of careful decisions made. And knowing that reminds me of how much I believe in what we are doing—telling stories, starting conversations, even just saying some words that matter. And this is worthwhile. So in these last few moments of the year, I’m trying to remember how the small things can feel heavy with meaning just as much as the big ones. I’m trying to understand that motion and stillness can happen at the same time. And I am trying to both sink into this stillness and feel purposeful in moving forward. Our magazine is a place where I find and explore these contradictions. I hope in these pages you find a way to pause and consider them as well.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 2

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

FEATURE

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Tufts and sexual assault since the Title IX violation

By Charlotte Hoffman, Maya Pace, Emma Pinsky, and Claire Selvin

he news came out just before finals week of spring 2014: Tufts was violating Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in the allocation of federal funds. The national Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the US Department of Education declared that Tufts had “failed to provide prompt and equitable responses to student complaints of sexual assault and harassment” and had asked the University to sign a Voluntary Resolution Agreement (VRA) outlining measures that the administration would take to ensure compliance. Then, on April 17, the University publicly stated that they had revoked its signature from the VRA, effectively refusing to acknowledge they were breaching Title IX in any way. Students reacted immediately, protesting Tufts’ response with an occupation of the administrative building, Ballou, and rallies in solidarity with those participating in the sit-in. To the students on the Sexual Misconduct Prevention Task Force, which had been working with the administration for the past several months to improve Tufts’ treatment of sexual assault, this revocation came as a complete surprise. Emily Schacter, a senior and a student on the Task Force, said that the Uni-

versity’s denial of misconduct was “kind of a shock.” One of the consequences of Tufts’ refusal to adhere to the OCR’s demands was the discontinuation of federal funding. With money at stake, the University eventually acknowledged its noncompliance and accepted the VRA. Since April of 2014, Tufts has been implementing measures to ensure that it is in compliance with Title IX. So where are we now? Has Tufts improved its handling of sexual assault? The signing of the VRA does not signify full compliance with Title IX, only that Tufts has acknowledged its shortcomings and has agreed to take steps towards full compliance. Tufts must continue to take active steps towards preventing sexual assault on campus and supporting student survivors—and we are not there yet. Almost immediately after signing the VRA, the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO)—the office that deals with sexual misconduct and assault, anti-discrimination laws and practices, and affirmative action—created two new positions: the Sexual Misconduct Prevention Specialist and the Sexual Misconduct Resource Specialist. Alexandra Donovan and Nandi Bynoe were hired to fill these positions

(respectively). It is notable that students from Action for Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP) and Consent Culture Network (CCN) had written an open letter calling for such a change a year before, but it took a Title IX violation, and the threat of decreased funding before Tufts actually created and hired for these positions. After the threat, the two administrators were hired in the course of a few months. The new OEO positions seek to provide resources and additional support for survivors. Donovan works with Bynoe and the OEO to coordinate “all student prevention and education programs across the three campuses,” according to the OEO’s website. Bynoe acts as “a first point of contact for students in accessing a variety of resources relevant to sexual misconduct response. This position is necessary to ensure timely access to resources.” In an interview with the Tufts Observer, Donovan said that “having a position devoted solely to prevention allows for greater access and reach within the Tufts community,” and that “[having] confidential [resources] reduces barriers to services and builds trust,” helping ensure that more people receive the help they want. December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

FEATURE

Tufts Health Services has also taken action to support survivors of sexual assault. Michelle Bowdler, the director of Tufts Health and Wellness Services, feels that her role at Health Services is critical to survivors’ recovery process. She said, “Clinicians may be the first person someone has disclosed an assault to, and how they respond is critical.” In 2014, Bowdler worked closely with student activists on the President’s Task Force for Sexual Misconduct, and has since been part of a working group focused on revisions to Tufts’ sexual misconduct policy. The counselors at Health Services have been educated on “trauma informed therapy,” Bowdler said, and there are resources for students to receive medical exams on campus. In the event that a student opts to have a rape kit done, Health Services offers free transportation to the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. One issue raised by the open letter of 2013 was the failure of the university to provide adequate support for survivors, should they choose to report their assault. Some students feel that the OEO’s process for dealing with cases of sexual assault is far too bureaucratic. According to the OEO’s website, the process goes as such: a survivor “initiates a complaint” via a formal statement and a complaint form and then signs a Privacy/NonRetaliation Agreement. The respondent is notified of the charge and signs a Privacy/Non-Retaliation Agreement as well. The respondent signs the complaint form, and a “No Contact Order” is implemented, meaning the survivor and assailant may not communicate. Then, the respondent can either accept the charges or submit a respondent’s statement. Each party is given the other’s statement to read, and a “Fact Finding Investigation” commences through the OEO. Finally,

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

pre-decision conferences and a panel review occur, followed by the panel’s final decision. This complex and burdensome process is off-putting to those who are considering reporting an assault. One survivor at Tufts, junior Blaine D., said that the OEO’s process convinced her not to go through with reporting: “I’ve had positive experiences with supportive individuals who work for the OEO, but ultimately the structure of the reporting procedure itself doesn’t seem to protect or support survivors. I decided not to go through with reporting because it sounded like it would be a really adversarial and punitive pro-

66 percent of those who filed with the OEO were not satisfied with the outcome of the process. cess. Just by initiating a report, there would be limitations and restrictions put on me as a survivor, which doesn’t make sense to me. It’s scary to enter a ‘justice’ process that takes even more control away from me, because being sexually assaulted was also something outside of my control,” she said. Donovan feels the two new OEO positions will help to make this process easier on survivors. “We review all the options available and empower the student to make the best choice for them,” she said. And, according to Jill Zellmer, Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), there are many options. Students can reach out to confidential resources such as Health Services and

the Chaplaincy, as well as Bynoe and Donovan. They can pursue “academic accommodations” or request to transfer living spaces; they can also file a formal or an anonymous complaint. Despite these options that seemingly work toward prevention and support, sophomore Paris Sanders, who is on the E-Board of the Consent Culture Network, said that “the process survivors go through is still abhorrent and needs to be addressed.” She expressed concern over the adjudication process, referencing the possible emotional stress from reading the response statement written by the accused during the process. “It’s not a nurturing process,” Sanders said. Zellmer acknowledged this, saying that the process can be “emotionally difficult” and that because of this survivors are allowed to bring a “support person” to the meetings. However, these support people cannot be in any way associated with the event or the relationship being investigated. This policy can lead to the exclusion of a complainant’s close circle of friends. The Task Force has been working to revise policies and the adjudication process to make them more comprehensive and supportive. This comes in the wake of the OCR’s statement that Tufts “disproportionately burdened the student” and “allowed for the continuation of a hostile environment” when responding to a sexual assault accusation. Though the Task Force had been doing work before Spring 2014, the Title IX violation has acted as a catalyst for the administration to respond to the Task Force’s suggestions, with change being made rapidly in the past two semesters. In addition to administrative action, student groups on campus have taken an active role in effecting change on campus. Students involved in Greek life have recently evaluated

FEATURE

their role in the problem of sexual assault and how they can contribute to prevention. The Inter-Greek Council has created a group devoted to preventing sexual misconduct within Greek life, and Fraternities on campus have recently created R-MAT, or Risk Management Assessment Team. R-MAT, identifiable at parties by their neon green t-shirts, tries to “proactively assist each [fraternity] chapter in creating an even safer space for its members and guests,” said Rob Jacobson, one of the leaders of the R-MAT initiative. While Sanders said that she appreciates the heightened scrutiny that fraternities are giving to sexual assault, she said that R-MAT, in particular, may be problematic. “‘Risk management,’ that’s a ridiculous phrase. They’re not going to just stop it; they’re going to ‘manage’ it. Having the language of, ‘we’re going to have frat brothers trained to be strong and protect people’ is kind of heightening the sense of masculinity that furthers rape culture,” she said. R-MAT was created partially in response to the results of the Tufts Attitudes Towards Sexual Misconduct survey, distributed in spring 2015. Lauren Conoscenti of the Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation was the lead research analyst of the survey. “More women than men responded to the survey, as they do for most student surveys administered at Tufts. All other demographic variables aligned adequately with the demographics of the university population as a whole. However, to account for nonresponse bias—the possibility that people who did not respond to the survey might have very different attitudes and experiences—data was weighted using a post-stratification procedure, which is a common sta-

tistical approach,” she said. This data weighting was made all the more necessary given that less than a third of students responded to the survey at all. The results were “wholly unacceptable,” according to an email from President Monaco dated September 30, 2015. 24.7 percent of undergraduates reported experiencing either nonconsensual intercourse or other nonconsensual sexual contact. 83 percent of those who experienced non-consensual sexual intercourse felt that it was partially their own fault. In addition, over half of the student body remains unaware of Tufts’ sexual assault policies and procedures, and only 7 percent of those who were raped reported to the OEO. This hesitancy to approach Tufts affiliated organizations might stem from the lack of transparency surrounding Tufts’ policies. Although Zellmer directs those who are wondering about the specifics to a document called the Sexual Misconduct Adjudication Process—a step-by-step guide to what happens when someone files a complaint—the actual questions survivors are asked remain a mystery. This concern about transparency is expressed across the board. Donovan said that she and Bynoe are “still working hard to let everyone know [they] exist.” Schacter also said that while transparency has increased in past years, “there’s always more room” for improvement. The survey results also highlight the continuing need for reform in other aspects of Tufts’ handling of sexual assault. Over 21 percent of those who filed with the OEO did not feel respected, heard, or supported during the process. 66 percent were not satisfied with the outcome of the process. “Although I haven’t gone through with it, it seems like the process is very much about finding the ‘facts’ and

administering punishment, rather than focusing on healing for anyone involved,” said Blaine D., “Thinking about having to ‘prove’ the validity of my experience to a group of strangers made me start to doubt myself, and I didn’t want to go through with a process that would force me to question my own experience. I really wish the process was more focused on restorative justice and more open to the specific needs of each survivor.” “There’s always work to be done in creating a culture of consent. That’s kind of a nebulous goal,” says senior Bruce Bausk, a Task Force and ASAP member. Bausk emphasizes student activism as having a role both in changing campus culture and Tufts policy. However, the process is often slow. For example, ASAP asked Tufts to show that they did not endorse the nickname “the Rape Steps” for the steps behind Wren. The group specifically requested a visual installment representing the new name “the Rainbow Steps.” The process took two full years, and when the administration finally conceded, they did not inform ASAP. Still, Schacter says, “a lot of the changes that have been made could not…and will not happen without student activism.” Tufts has clearly made more efforts in the wake of its Title IX violation to address the prevalence of sexual assault on campus. Yet the survey results have revealed that Zellmer’s goal, shared by many, of “eliminat[ing] sexual misconduct...on Tufts’ campuses” is still a long ways off. Yet, mere federal compliance should not be the end goal. Tufts should aim to move past regulations with the well-being of students, rather than funding, in mind. Given the survey responses and the voices of survivors, Tufts has failed to remedy the “hostile environment” at the root of the violation.

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

NEWS

BOXED IN

The Fight to End Solitary Confinement in America

By Xander Landen 6

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

ART BY JAKE ROCHFORD

NEWS

ive Mualimm-ak was handed 40 dollars and dropped off in the middle of Times Square on January 15, 2012. He had just spent years in a cell where the only people he interacted with were trained not to speak to him or look him in the eye. Now, he was in the center of a sea of commuters, surrounded by billboards and lights. Within moments he had a panic attack and ended up in the hospital. “That’s what we do, that’s what reentry now is,” Mualimm-ak said. “‘Hey it’s been ten years, let’s open the gate. Here’s a bus ticket. Here’s 40 dollars. Make it.’” Mualimm-ak spent 12 years in prison on weapons and drug trafficking charges that were later overturned. Over half of his prison sentence was spent in solitary confinement, an institution that he has now devoted his life to eliminating from the criminal justice system. After being alone in a 6x9 foot cell for months at a time, Mualimm-ak believes he retained permanent psychological damage from the time he spent in solitary. Having experienced isolation firsthand, he also believes that the least 80,000 people currently alone in prison cells across the United States aren’t being punished, but tortured. Mualimm-ak isn’t alone in this opinion. Since 2011, the United Nations has called for a ban on solitary confinement, arguing its use can amount to a violation of human rights. This year, President Obama ordered the Department of Justice to review solitary’s implementation at the federal level. In the past few years, states including Maine, Illinois, and New York have limited the use of solitary confinement in prisons. But critics of solitary confinement don’t think this is enough and call for a swift overhaul of the criminal justice system. At a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention in July, Obama said the practice of isolating prisoners is unproductive and needs to be stopped. “That is not going to make us

safer. That’s not going to make us stronger. And if those individuals are ultimately released, how are they ever going to adapt? It’s not smart,” he said. Part of what makes solitary so inhumane, according to Mualimm-ak, is the way it numbs a prisoner’s senses. While “in the box,” he said he became so accustomed to his surroundings that his brain was no longer curious or stimulated. “You stare at the wall until you see the paint strokes in the wall. You know every crack in your wall. The drip that’s driving you crazy doesn’t bother you now but it’s never going to stop. The light has been on so long that it just buzzes because it’s overworked,” he said. “Those things are just silent in the background. You don’t really focus in on [them] but [they’re] happening.” To pass the time in the box, he wrote out the entire Webster’s dictionary. Then he wrote it backwards. He ripped up pieces of paper and wrote on them to make a deck of cards for playing solitaire. When his boredom became unbearable, he would try to sleep for the entire day with a blanket over his face to block out the fluorescent light beating down on him. The only thing that broke up the monotony of isolation was when correctional officers brought him his three daily meals through a slot in his door. Whenever he tried to speak with them, they ignored him in accordance with their training. He said the constant fight for attention and recognition was one of the hardest parts of living in solitary confinement. “When people aren’t listening to you, you just get upset really fast because you’re asking for your medication to stay alive, toilet tissue, your food to eat, and people are ignoring you...but you have to deal with it, you have to put up with it,” he said. Mualimm-ak, who is diabetic, constantly struggled to stay healthy in solitary confinement. In one instance a nurse unknowingly failed to give him a proper injection, and he didn’t receive

enough insulin to get through the day. While he was going through insulin shock, correctional officers walking by his cell didn’t respond to his pleas for medical attention, so he got their attention the only way he knew would work for certain: harming himself. He managed to cut his hand before a guard came by to deliver his meal. When the guard saw Mualimm-ak’s hand was bleeding as he

After experiencing isolation firsthand, he also believes that the at least 80,000 people currently alone in prison cells across the United States aren’t being punished, but tortured. reached for the tray, he was forced to get medical assistance. “It’s a system that breaks you down morally. You will do anything for attention,” he said. The New York State Officers and Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents correctional officers, wasn’t able respond to The Tufts Observer’s request for comment on Mualimm-ak’s description of the conditions in solitary. However, in a 2012 op-ed published in the New York Post by Donn Rowe, the group’s president, Rowe said that conditions “[bear] no resemblance to the Hollywood stereotypes that perpetrate a myth of inhumane treatment.” According to Rowe, inmates are “closely monitored through

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

NEWS

constant rounds made by correction officers, security staff, prison management, mentalhealth staff, medical personnel, the inmategrievance coordinator and other staff.” Rowe and other prison officials say that solitary confinement is needed in prisons to keep order and ensure that inmates and correctional officers are safe from violent prisoners. In his op-ed, Rowe cites examples of how solitary is used to separate dangerous inmates with histories of beating guards and starting fights from the rest of prison population. “This is our reality. Inmates continue to perpetrate violence even after they’ve lost their freedom and are living behind prison walls,” he said. But solitary confinement is not reserved only for the violent. According to a 2012 report by the New York Civil Liberties Union, only 84 percent of tickets that send prisoners to solitary in the state result from violent infractions. Mualimmak received tickets for infractions including “hoarding,” “possession of multiple weapons,” and “possession of stolen property,” all of which landed him time in the box. While the titles of these infractions sound extremely serious, Mualimm-ak says it isn’t the acts that he committed, but the way in which they were labeled that is harsh. For example, he received a ticket for “hoarding” too many postage stamps and t-shirts in his cell. The citation for “possession of multiple weapons” came from the 24 pencils he used to draw portraits and that a guard classified as “ice picks.” He was accused of “possession of stolen property” because he had borrowed a magazine from a friend. He didn’t want to tell the guard that a fellow inmate had lent it to him because that could have gotten his friend in trouble. “I think that when two human beings live and cohabitate next to each other in cages then they’re going to tend to do certain things…like talk to each other, like have a conversation, like maybe exchange something and say ‘Do

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

you want to read this book?’ Those are normalities that are actually punishable by tickets.” In solitary confinement, any contact between inmates is punishable. Mualimmak said he could hear a lot of the inmates in the solitary cells close to his struggling with their isolation—particularly the younger ones still in their teens. He said that in order to cope, they would rap, sing, and yell songs all day. After a week he could hear them forgetting the lyrics and eventually the songs would turn into frustration and crying. Ending solitary confinement for teenagers and minors has been at the top of the agenda of advocacy groups and organizations across the country, and some strides have been made. The work of groups including the New York Civil Liberties Union ended solitary for minors in Rikers Island Correctional Facility this year, and the groups Disability Rights Advocates and Los Angeles-based Public Counsel did the same for a Bay Area juvenile detention center. Advocacy groups in Massachusetts are aiming to make similar reforms. One group, Prisoners’ Legal Services Massachusetts, testified before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary in October with a list of proposed reforms that would not only limit the age of prisoners that could be put in solitary, but would also restrict the amount of time prisoners can be left in solitary. Right now, Massachusetts has one of the harshest solitary policies in the country, and prisoners can be punished with isolation for up to 10 years at a time. Mualimm-ak directs his own advocacy group, Incarcerated Nation Corp., a network of ex-inmates, criminal justice experts, and others based in New York City with firsthand experience in the prison system. Their goal is to improve human rights in prisons, lower the recidivism rate (which is now over 50 percent nationally), and end solitary

confinement. But Mualimm-ak said that the work of formal advocacy groups like his aren’t the only force of change in the criminal justice system. He credits college students and protestors with raising awareness in recent years. Multiple universities in the Northeast have protested solitary confinement in the public sphere. For the past three years, students at schools including Boston University, Harvard, and Yale have demonstrated by standing in 7x9 foot duct tape squares on busy streets to display the conditions of prisoners in isolation. Students at CUNY Law School and NYU conducted reports on the effects of psychological solitary confinement in New York State and brought them to City Hall. Mualimm-ak said that their work has been key in raising political awareness and making strides in the fight against solitary because it takes more than prisoners upset by the system to bring about change. “City Hall didn’t listen to us at first because they thought ‘There’s a guy who just came from prison. Of course he didn’t like it,’” he said. “[Student testimony] is what gave us the leeway to approach the city council…That is what broke the ground.” Reports like those done by college students at NYU and CUNY Law about the psychological effects of solitary confinement on prisoners are in no short supply. In 2011, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan Méndez, said “indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should... be subject to absolute prohibition,” and cited scientific studies proving that even a few days in isolation can lead to irreparable damage. In 2006, psychiatrist Stuart Grassian published an extensive study on the psychiatric effects of solitary on inmates, interviewing hundreds of prisoners who were isolated for long periods of time. According to Grassian, half of prisoners acquired extreme fears

NEWS

of persecution. He found that one third of inmates in solitary are “psychotic and/or acutely suicidal and urgently in need of acute hospital treatment.” The study concluded that solitary can lead to a specific psychiatric syndrome with symptoms of hallucinations, panic attacks, and paranoia. Dr. Raymond Patterson, a psychologist commissioned by a federal court to study the effects of solitary in the California prison system, discovered that inmates kept in the box are 33 times more likely to commit suicide than individuals in the general population. Despite knowing about the psychological impact of solitary, many prison officials worry that limiting its use in the prison system will threaten both prisoners and correctional officers. “Today’s disciplinary confinement policies have evolved over decades of experience, and it is simply wrong to unilaterally take the tools away from law enforcement officers who face dangerous situations on a daily basis,” The New York State Officers and Police Benevolent Association said in a statement this September. Others are warming up to the idea of reform. The director of Colorado’s prison system, Rick Raemisch, voluntarily spent 24 hours in solitary last year to experience the conditions firsthand. Since then he has vowed to stop what he sees as an overuse of solitary in the state. Last year, the state stopped putting prisoners with longstanding mental illnesses into isolation, and this year it started a program to limit the use of solitary confinement on all prisoners. “We realized it was a time for a change,” Raemisch said. “We talked to our executive team and said, ‘Somehow we’ve lost sight of our mission.’ To send

someone out worse than they came in is not part of our vision.” The psychological effects of solitary can stay with

pris oners long after they leave the box. Mualimmak says his short-term memory is permanently damaged from the years he spent in isolation. Dr. Grassian’s study found that this is common in many inmates kept in solitary for long periods of time. According to the study, in solitary, prisoners’ brains become so “hyperresponsive” and alert to the limited world around them that it becomes challenging for their brains to store information subconsciously. Mualimmak says it’s hard for him to retain new information, so he always keeps dozens of Post-Its on him for note-taking. He claims his ability to process information subconsciously is so damaged that he is no longer able to dream while he sleeps. Aside from the damage done to his memory, Mualimm-ak said his ability to interact with other people is also very limited, and that he “[doesn’t] have social skills anymore.” “I don’t know how to respond to things. I try to smile, I think,” he said. “I don’t like when people touch me...Sometimes I respond, I jerk and it makes people

uncomfortable and it automatically puts me in a weird situation.” Mualimm-ak said that today, aside from the life he has with his two sons in the Bronx, he doesn’t have much of a social life and spends most of his hours working for Incarcerated Nation Corp and other advocacy groups. He gives speeches, runs programs, and drafts legislation aimed at ending solitary and helping inmates who return to society stay out of prison. He said his sense of injustice and anger is what drives him. “My [psychologist] sent me this clip when Avengers had came out and it was this little scene when the Hulk said ‘Well that’s my trick, I’m always angry.’” Like the Hulk, Mualimmak is constantly motivated by rage. “But,” he says, “I’m content with that.” Mualimm-ak said part of the reason the advocacy movement to end solitary confinement has picked up in the last few years is that more and more prisoners are coming forward and sharing their stories. He believes that is the best way to get people outside the prison system as angry about it as he is. Once while in prison, one of Mualimm-ak’s fellow inmates was applying for his GED, and preparing to write a paper on a magazine article. The article, covering a PETA demonstration, frustrated him. People were rallying because they believed it was inhumane for labs and companies to keep mice contained in small boxes for 24 hours. The inmate wondered why, if people were passionately fighting for animal rights, they weren’t fighting for prisoners’ rights. “He was like ‘Are they outside here? Are they rallying about here?’” Mualimm-ak said. “But we have no human rights like that.” O

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

NEWS

ear the head of the Parker River in Georgetown, Massachusetts, dead branches and white turtle shells rest atop trampled soil. A once roaring floodplain sits desiccated, engulfed in silence. Only footprints and the wheel tracks of an ATV remain. This stem of the Parker has been dry for five months. “What would be the reaction of Boston if people woke up and saw the Charles River like this?” said George Comiskey, the president of the Clean Watershed Association for the Parker River (PRCWA). The Parker River is a 21-mile long coastal tributary north of Boston that’s been suffering from periodic dry conditions since 1990—and the situation is only getting worse. A study in 2013 shows that current flow conditions are lower than ever before and Comiskey is desperate for real change to occur. “[Georgetown] is totally dependent on the Parker for our water supply,” he said. But the Parker isn’t the only struggling river in Massachusetts. Over 20 percent of the state’s sub-basins—main sources of water for rivers—are severely impacted by excessive water withdrawal. The Ipswich and Merrimack rivers are also suffering from erratic flow conditions, making them unreliable sources of fresh water for Massachusetts’ residents. This degradation of rivers in Massachu-

setts has all happened within the law, without any mandated water restrictions, and without significant public outcry for change. The most recent regulations trying to address these issues were drafted in 2009, and they still aren’t being implemented across the entire state—largely due to compromise and debate slowing down the process. It is because of ineffective water regulations that today’s Massachusetts faces serious biodiversity loss, erosion, and drought conditions. In 1986, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) introduced the Water Management Act (WMA), the state’s first attempt to limit how much water towns in Massachusetts could withdraw from rivers over a 20year period. This limit was determined by assigning different “safe yield” numbers to each river basin, which specify the amount of water that can be withdrawn from a basin without making significant ecological impacts. However, using safe yields hasn’t saved the state’s many rivers from drying up because the numbers are too high and aren’t followed strictly. For the WMA to be passed in 1986, the DEP had to strike compromises with companies that provide water to residents’ homes. That meant the DEP settled on high withdrawal rates in many towns in the interest of water suppliers.

Duane Levangie, who is with the DEP, acknowledges there are problems with the WMA, but said an important part of its creation was making sure the water withdrawal rates worked for everyone involved. “If we could start from scratch that would be wonderful, but we can’t. We have a state that’s allocated water for a couple hundred years so there are going to be trades—there are going to be areas where water and the environment have issues. I don’t know any way to resolve that.” In some cases the DEP hasn’t taken action or even noticed when towns have exceeded their withdrawal limits. Last year, a section of the Parker River by the town of Rowley had dangerously low streamflow, dropping below the required minimum set by the DEP. This alarming event should have set the town on mandatory water restrictions. When water suppliers in the town didn’t respond, Comiskey of the Clean Watershed Alliance reached out. “I’ve had to call water suppliers in Rowley when the streamflow triggered... and told them they should be on water restrictions now according to their permits given by the DEP. They weren’t aware that the triggers of the river were even dropping.” In 2012, the Executive Office of Environment and Energy Affairs (EOEEA), which oversees the DEP, introduced new regulation aimed at fixing problems with

WATER WOES

The Story of Massachusetts’ Struggling Rivers

By Cooper McKim

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

ART BY RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

NEWS

the current system. The goal of the Sustainable Water Management Initiative or SWMI, was to continue to compromise with the relevant stakeholders (water suppliers, citizens, fishermen, etc.) and come up with better safe yield numbers. “However, SWMI will do nothing to reverse [the] unacceptable environmental degradation that was the reason for the SWMI process in the first place. On the contrary, [it] provides a 5 percent increase in existing withdrawals even in the most stressed basins,” stated Paul Lauen-

“What would be the reaction if people woke up and saw the Charles River like this?” stein, the former Georgetown Conservation Coordinator. Comiskey also doubts SWMI will repair the state’s rivers and believes it favors water suppliers over conservation. “I think it’s going to be a paper exercise for the water suppliers. They’re going to go to their different departments and say, ‘what have we done so we can get more water,’” he said. If the status quo persists or gets worse, low flow conditions will become even more prevalent and continue a trend of biodiversity loss, erosion, and overall ecological degradation. These effects were evident as Comiskey stepped over old reeds in the Parker’s dry floodplain. He pointed to a small grouping of low-lying plants, explaining that it was once a turtle nest, perhaps for a spotted, painted, or wood turtle. Now, these local turtle species are dying out due to low flow. Lack of water isn’t just a threat to animal and plant life, it also threatens households reliant on wells. Without water, household plumbing will pull sand through the pipes, an expensive problem to fix. Byfield, a town along the Parker, is particularly affected by low stream flow. The town is

bumping up against their yearly withdrawal limit and is in dire need of more water. To address the problem, the DEP wrote that Byfield should simply apply for more water. Comiskey laughed at the prospect. “It’s simplistic on their part to say, ‘Just find another water source’... how about telling them to conserve more water, to fix the leaks!” he said. Instead, Byfield is now digging another well rather than taking steps towards a long-term solution. Nevertheless, the EOEEA’s Director of Water Policy, Kathleen Baskin, says towns are still getting accustomed to the new SWMI regulations, as kinks in the policy are still getting worked out. “The weakness is that it’s a new program... it’s still being introduced into permits now, so towns are not that familiar with the framework. They are getting up to speed, they’re sure yet what they’ll need to mitigate their impacts.” According to Lauenstein, the framework needs to prioritize conservation more than it does now. One method he recommends is a water rate structure, where the cost of a family’s water bill

matches the true cost of supplying highquality water. If a household has to pay more, they’ll likely waste less. Advocates say a serious issue is that citizens aren’t aware of our rivers’ problems or what they mean for the environment long-term. PCRWA Director Yvonne Buswell explains, “People don’t see what’s happening. If it’s not happening in your face, you just go about your business until if affects you at a personal level.” This coming year could be a turning point for Massachusetts as towns renew their 20-year Water Management Act permits that incorporate the new SWMI framework. Advocates warn that serious changes still need to be made to water policy because struggling rivers can’t fix themselves. At the Parker, Comiskey points out a Go-Pro camera facing barren river banks, which was placed there the week before by the Vision for Ecological Restoration. “They want to see how much rain it’s going to take to get this river flowing again,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot.”

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

POETRY

By Aishvarya Arora My birth changed my mothers constitution, tinted her hues as stains. Garbled her language to nuisance, the sound as paper tearing between gears. For the first years it was her face my demons brought forth to me, the colony calling her stranger myself turning with it till even my own name jumped like uncooked rice in my mouth, teeth aching to parse syllables * A dhaga blooms from my forehead, I forget itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s there sometimes. In crowds, its silent pulling from my belly guides my eyes to women that look like my mother. I search their faces, waiting to see the eyes that I keep closed peering back at me. * I hear them say my name correctly. A sound like watching your lover enter a house from a distance, their familiar stride yet unknowing of you, primordial

OF YEARS Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll plant myself like tulsi at the center of that house, Vishnu in her most patient form.

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

FIGURA HUMANA

by Anastasia Antonova

FEATURE

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

POETRY

HALF MOON By Chelsea Newman I. The sky is so clear tonight that you can barely stand to look at the stars. Breathe deeply—you can tell yourself that the familiar crackle in your lungs is just the smell of the autumn leaves drying up and crumbling into your body. Tell yourself that the blinding spots of light are only an arms reach away. The half moon watches—you dont know which way its going. Tomorrow it could be plump with urban haze or it could be thinned out with the coming of winter. II. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? What if that place we try to escape is the only place we can count on returning to? If I could rip the lungs from my body I would, but then where would that leave me. The unknown tastes like metal and it lingers in my mouth this year. III. Sometimes I don’t know how I’ll get myself out of bed when. When my two machines greet me like lumbering beasts in the morning. When I take fistfuls of grass ripped up from the lawn and lie down on the dirt and I can’t see green anywhere. When the promise of things to come loom over me and I won’t know which way I’ll go till tomorrow.

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

OPINION

By Chelsea Newman

hat does your morning routine look like? As soon as I wake up, I begin the process of clearing out my lungs. I hook myself up to two pieces of medical equipment. A nebulizer delivers medication into my lungs and I wear a vest that vibrates to help me cough. I cough, and I cough, and I cough, and half an hour later, I’m ready to start my day. 18

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

I was born with a rare genetic disorder called Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) that causes chronic respiratory illness, hearing problems, and chronic sinusitis, among other things. It feels like having one of those colds that is irritating but not debilitating— this is what “healthy” feels like to me, like I have one of those colds every day. Put in simple terms, the cilia—the microscopic hairs that act as your body’s cleaners—in my body don’t work. When I do get an infection,

it hits harder and lasts longer than it would for other people because of my body’s inability to clear itself. I often get asked, “Are you sick?” People look at me with sympathy when they hear my deep cough and shake their heads, tell me it must be that virus going around. When I’m having a “healthy” day, that question stings more than I like to admit. It reminds me that, even at my best, I am still sick and always will be. And in each of ART BY CHELSEA NEWMAN

OPINION

those moments, I have to decide whether or not I want to disclose my illness and explain that I’m never actually going to get better. The decision to disclose illness can be difficult. Tufts senior Gemma Stern, who has a rare genetic disorder called Incontinentia Pigmenti, talked to me about when she decides to disclose: “At Tufts...it’s been this process of almost having to come out to people. Once I get close with someone I feel like it’s something I have to tell them, and it’s not because I’m worried they won’t accept me, but that they won’t understand me as a whole until I do.” Disclosure is important to me, though, because you wouldn’t know about my illness unless I told you. My PCD is largely invisible, partially because I have never been open about it, and partially because people have preconceived, subconscious ideas of what illness looks like. When I do choose to disclose my disorder, the information is frequently met with surprise. People say, “You don’t look sick!” as if people with chronic illness must look a certain way—as if my chronic illness should somehow be manifested in my appearance in order to be valid. We need to realize that physical genetic differences and chronic illnesses exist at Tufts, both visible ones and invisible ones. Valuable discourse is beginning to happen on campus about mental illness, but I have not heard anything about physical illness. At Tufts, physical health is too often taken for granted—especially on a campus where students are expected to excel at classes, take on leadership positions in extracurricular activities, be athletes, and hold internships all at the same time. It’s hard not to compare yourself to your peers, and those of us with illnesses often feel like we fall short. Jon Atkins, who has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), says he struggles with the disconnect between what he wants to do and what his body will allow. “My goal

is to do everything, meet all deadlines and not make excuses but I often feel like I have way less time in the day than I need,” He said, “A lot of times I have to plan for three to four hours throughout a given day where I feel so dehydrated and lightheaded that I just can’t do anything.” Another student, Chloe Hyman, who has an eye disease called Multifocal Choroiditis, commented, “It probably takes [me] one and a half times longer to read anything anybody else can read, and we all know how much work an average college student has.” Students with chronic illnesses and genetic differences not only need to exert more effort to get through their regular schedule, but also need to schedule in time for health care. Every morning, for example, I have to wake up early enough to complete my treatments. When I’m sick, I need to make time for extra treatments. Jon spoke about the way his diagnosis changed

few years, I just couldn’t. I needed the sober sleep.” And when friends get sick, it can be dangerous for people with chronic illness who are immunocompromised to be around them: “Everybody in my hall would be getting a cold,” Amanda said, “but I would be getting sinus infections and bronchitis.” Despite the challenges ill students face, many suppress their chronic illnesses and genetic disorders—many of which are already invisible—in order to appear normal. Each student I talked to made efforts to minimize the effects of their genetic difference. “Chronic illness is something that’s just not talked about,” said Amanda. Gemma had similar feelings: “Even a lot of my close friends here have no idea that I have any type of disorder because I don’t talk about it. It’s just not something that’s talked about at college.” Maybe we feel the need to cover up our illnesses because we’re afraid we won’t be supported by our peers, professors, and school. I have so much trouble asking for help because I fear being viewed as lazy, inadequate, and insufficient. We need to break down the stigma attached to physical illness, and we can begin that process by having conversations and supporting our friends who choose to open up. So let’s talk about physical illness and genetic disorders. Let’s talk about all the different ways our bodies work. Let’s stop teasing our friends if they are too tired to go out and let’s stop holding on to this idea that we must do everything, all the time, to be successful. Let’s let go of our ableist assumptions about people, and our assumption that appearance of health means health. When someone says they are sick, believe them even if they don’t look like your visualization of illness. Let’s talk. Tell me about your illnesses, your differences, your disorders, and I’ll tell you about my morning routine. O

We need to realize that physical genetic differences and chronic illnesses exist at Tufts, both visible ones and invisible ones.

his everyday routine: “There were a lot of lifestyle changes that were required... things I actively had to work on and make sure I was getting myself healthy.” Healthcare, such as hospital visits or treatments, also have to be taken into account. “A lot of the classes I want to take,” Chloe said, “are usually on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, which is problematic, because I have to go to the eye doctor on those days several times a semester.” The effects of chronic illness are felt not only in academic life, but also in social life. Having a chronic illness can be so exhausting day-to-day that, by the time the weekend comes around, it’s sometimes hard to muster up the energy to go out. Amanda Rhine, who has Common Variable Immune Disorder, talked about how it’s sometimes hard to keep up. “My friends [would] say, ‘let’s go out, let’s do this, let’s do that,’ and for the first

If you live with a chronic illness or genetic disorder and are interested in getting involved in a support group, contact the author at chelsea.newman@tufts.edu. December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

ARTS & CULTURE

FLOAT ON By Emily Lin

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

ART BY KAYDEN MIMMACK AND RICARDO MOREIRA

ARTS & CULTURE

wo summers ago, Tufts senior Conor Ward floated naked in a 7x8 foot soundproof tank filled with water and nine hundred pounds of Epsom salt, enveloped in total darkness. After an hour, he emerged feeling more refreshed than he had ever been before. Ward had just experienced “floating” for the first time—a form of sensory deprivation therapy that immerses a person in an environment completely devoid of any visual, auditory, or proprioceptive stimuli. The cerebral and corporal effects that accompany flotation have been touted as cures for everything from fatigue to fibro myalgia. While some turn to floating in the hopes of managing chronic pain, others seek to deepen a spiritual practice or maintain mental health. In an era of everincreasing sensory overload, many also float to take a break from the world, relieve stress, and unwind from the day to day. Ward tried floating two years ago at a center called “Conscious Drift” in Fairfax, California, after getting a Groupon deal with two of his friends. He describes the space inside the tub as infinitely large, due to a lack of reference points. Because the water is heated to body temperature, he had no sense of the relative position of his body parts. “I went to scratch my shoulder and I just missed completely because my proprioception was completely broken down,” Ward said. During his hour-long session in the tank, Ward initially attempted to focus on his breathing and engage in self-reflection, but accidentally dozed off. “Those forty minutes of sleep were not normal at all. I woke up feeling so refreshed, like I’ve never really experienced before.” When he saw his friends emerge from the flotation pods, Ward recalled, “They seemed really out of it, in a good way. We were all in total ecstasy. Our bodies felt great. Our minds were clean swept. It felt like I had nothing clouding my brain.” Though popular in other areas, floating has only recently been introduced to the Boston area. This year, Sara Garvin and her husband Colin founded Boston’s only flotation center, FLOAT: Flotation Therapy, in Somerville’s Magoun Square. Since opening FLOAT in February, the Garvins have seen a steady rise in demand with reservations booked out weeks in advance, enough to prompt the construction of two additional flotation tanks in the coming year.

According to Sara, the environment inside the flotation tank automatically triggers a relaxation response that is otherwise difficult to achieve: “Anxiety is a huge problem these days. Our culture is nonstop stress and input, and we aren’t very good at relaxing and de-stressing.” John Consilvio, facilities operator at FLOAT, used to experience anxiety, but after floating regularly for a year, he says, “My anxiety is the lowest [it’s] ever been by far. It’s like night and day.”

While some turn to floating in the hopes of managing chronic pain, others seek to deepen a spiritual practice or maintain mental health. For Consilvio, floating provides an environment free from the mental chatter that he experiences every day. “It gives you a time to be with your own thoughts…and separate yourself with the rest of the world. When you come back [from floating], it’s a lot easier to participate in everything else,” he said. Consilvio describes floating as being the opposite of meditation. “In meditation you use your mind to calm your body. When floating, your body relaxes, which translates into a relaxed mental state.” While some people float to treat anxiety by reducing stress levels, others turn to floating for its physical benefits. Colby Bostain, float facilitator at iFloat in Westport, Connecticut, has been floating for five to 12 hours a week for the past four years. After several motocross injuries, he developed a large, painful bubble on his knee that he had to continuously get drained. “During the first three or four floats, I didn’t have any physical pain [in my knee]. At this point now, after three or four years of floating regularly, it doesn’t bother me at all,” Bostain said. According to Bostain, flotation can help to heal tissue and strained muscles

from sports injuries. “The Epsom salt pulls lactic acid out of muscles and helps your body to detox. [It’s] actually magnesium sulfate so the magnesium is absorbed into the skin and it helps to repair cartilage,” Bostain said. As of now, the boundaries of what flotation can accomplish on a regular and consistent basis still remain widely unknown. Its effects vary considerably from individual to individual, with some encountering entirely new states of consciousness and others seeing little to no change at all. Floating has seen the most success in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles—areas with a high volume of overstressed and over-paid individuals eager and able to shell out $60 for an hour of repose sans stimuli. For a college student, the high entrance fee can be pretty cost-prohibitive. “I would go back in a heartbeat if it was just five bucks,” said Ward. The first iteration of the immersion tank traces back to the National Institute of Mental Health, where renowned neuroscientist John C. Lilly developed a lightless, soundproof tank to simulate an environment free from any form of external stimulation. While sensory deprivation was a hot field of study in the 50s, it was not until the late 60s that isolation tanks began being used for purposes other than research. Their adoption as a method of alternative medicine began with a comprehensive rebranding effort: sensory deprivation was renamed Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique (REST), and Lilly’s isolation chambers were redesigned into futuristic “flotation tanks.” Flotation tanks have seen a surge in popularity as a method of alternative medicine after Lilly’s death in 2001. “Certain trends like yoga and meditation are at their most popular right now because they really work for people. I think flotation fits along with those practices,” Consilvio said. Perhaps flotation has reemerged because of the ever-increasing inundation of sensory stimuli that we experience on an everyday basis. “Floating lets you rediscover who you are without everything that’s competing for your attention,” Sara says. “If nothing else, floating is a short vacation from your phone.” O December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

OPINION

THE NAKED TRUTH By Alexandra Benjamin

y painting professor likes to tell our class that when she first started learning to make art, it was like someone had taken a blindfold off her eyes. She couldn’t believe how much more she noticed about the world around her—the way light fell on an object, or how many colors could coexist in a single image. At first, I didn’t really feel that my experience in her class had been quite this profound or enlightening. That is, until my focus was no longer an object or still life, but rather a living person. Studying the human figure in painting forced me to confront an issue that’s been on my mind more and more often: body image. It has become a societal standard, especially for women, to fixate on the parts of ourselves we wish we could change, for our eyes to be automatically drawn to the extra fat on our thighs or the curvature of our stomachs. I don’t consider myself to be someone who is overly body conscious. However, lately, I have noticed that the bodies in my life, particularly my own, are being criticized more than appreciated. But this semester, many of the common attitudes surrounding the human body that I had accepted changed in a way I had never expected. When I signed up for Laura Fischman’s Foundation Painting course at the beginning of the semester, body image was the last thing on my mind. I had never done any kind of serious art before and wanted to try something new.

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

A couple of weeks ago, Professor Fischman informed our class that we would be painting a nude model. While I knew that this was a common practice for many artists—even at the college level—I’d never done it myself, and was unsure of what to expect. I had seen plenty of nude art in museums and books, but had never really thought about the person behind the painting and the process of creating the depiction. Wouldn’t it be awkward to have a naked stranger in a room of students for hours, being scrutinized and measured down to the very last detail? In our first class with the nude model, I set up my easel and sketchpad and waited anxiously as my professor explained the assignment. The model, who was introduced to us as Cally, wore a thin green robe. She moved to the center of the room. The feeling of uncertainty in the room was palpable, and I could tell that my classmates and I were wondering what would happen when room and woman would no longer be separated by flimsy cloth. Yet when my professor nonchalantly asked the model to disrobe, there was no change in Cally’s demeanor. I was dumbfounded by the fact that this young woman, an art student not much older than me and my classmates, could display such poise, maturity, and professionalism. She remained unfazed as she bent her limbs this way and that to expose different angles: first in a half twirl, then a hunched squat, then an arched backbend. She glided from one position to the next, fluid and without hesitation. The class

grew focused and intent. Any awkwardness from the start of the class dissipated once we started working. Cally even began to chime in throughout the process as my professor continued giving instructions. “I call this one the naked archer,” she joked as my professor handed her a bow to pose with, releasing a relieved round of laughter from the class. My classmate Belle Newman echoed my surprise at the experience: “I think that at first when we see a nude model we’re all a little taken aback and uncomfortable… because we don’t know the person well and nudity is…very personal,” she said. “But it’s interesting to see how comfortable everyone gets once they start painting her. You can connect with someone you don’t know by appreciating them.” What was most surprising to me was how the tranquility that settled over the room during our painting sessions seemed to come entirely from the model’s confidence. As I began the assignment, I realized that perhaps one of my first misconceptions came from the very nature of thinking about who a “model” is. It’s easy to associate the word “model” with photoshopped celebrities on the covers of magazines flaunting perfectly taut, glowing skin, zero body fat, and ageless faces. Despite my better judgment, it’s easy to internalize the notion that women have to have these bodies in order to be comfortable exposing them. Studies show that many young women have come to believe the same thing.

ART BY RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

OPINION

Reducing the human body to such a bare linearity left nothing to be embarrassed by or self-conscious of. The Dove Real Beauty Campaign, for example, found that only 4 percent of women around the world consider themselves beautiful, and only 11 percent of girls are comfortable using the word beautiful to describe themselves. The campaign attributes this finding to our society’s unrealistic standards of beauty. Knowing numbers like these, I was astounded to see a young woman so apparently comfortable exposing her body to be permanently drawn on canvas. While at first I was rattled by this unfamiliar experience, when I started working from her figure, I realized why there was nothing strange about this at all. On our first day working with Cally, the assignment was to draw her in very short time blocks, starting at 30 seconds and working our way up to a few minutes. I scribbled as fast as I could, but it was impossible to capture every detail of her body. My professor encouraged us to draw the essence of her posture and the movement in the shape of her body. Sometimes, this came with just a brief slash of a few continuous lines curved to embody her shape. Many of my drawings came out in chaotic jumbles of black strokes. But the spirit behind them was clear, and more than that, it was the most honest representation of a body I’d looked at in a long time. These were the real breakdowns of a person—all the details that we normally fret about were abandoned. Reducing the human body to such a bare linearity, the lines twisting and turning in a delicate charcoal path, left nothing

to be embarrassed by or self-conscious of. And that’s really all a body is—lines and shapes and shadows that create a whole person. Putting that down on paper gave me a feeling of truly being in charge of how I approached the idea of bodies. Before, if I was just looking at someone, I might have unconsciously compared their body to my own, or thought about how it could be “improved.” It’s easy to forget what a wonder the human body is, and recreating it made me consider the sophistication and beauty not just of a person, but of all the structure that goes into them. I continued to ponder this as the class moved on to more detailed drawings and paintings. Professor Fischman constantly reminded us that people often have ideas about the human form that are removed from what the body actually looks like and how it works. But, when trying to render it, we must look closely and focus on what we see, rather than relying on previous assumptions. One might think that having to render a figure exactly as they see it would cause them to zone in on its “flaws.” For me, this was not the case. The hard part wasn’t necessarily resisting the reflex to slim some parts down or tighten others up; often it was just trying to replicate a body part like a nose, and realizing that it may not conform to the idea we’re used to. Laura warned us that the traits we would tend to exaggerate when drawing another person are the ones we’re most self-conscious about on ourselves,

a clear reflection of the bias in our own insecurities. The renowned portraitist Chuck Close once echoed a similar sentiment. “I like the warts-and-all approach,” he said. “The things I like best are the things that other people hate the most. I find that stuff interesting to paint because it’s the road map of your life.” This idea reminds us that what makes us beautiful—what makes us people—is not what we expect or believe we should be, but simply who and what we are. Artist or not, this must be understood. Even Cally herself remarked that for her, the actual modeling process was what changed some of her body views. “I actually had a lot of body image issues throughout high school and college, and modeling helped me work through all of them. I don’t know any better self-confidence booster, really,” she said. For me, acceptance of my body didn’t come through positivity campaigns, but rather through action, which allowed me to see beauty for myself. Taking the matter into my own hands by creating art was what gave me the power to be comfortable with my own body. It was one thing to be told “everyone is beautiful,” but it was another to come to that conclusion through my own creative process. By looking at a figure in its simplest form—through an unembarrassed, brutally honest lens—it became possible for me to appreciate the complexity of a body, embrace its imperfections, and truly behold all the beauty it possesses.

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

TECH & INNOVATION

FASHION FORWARD By Carly Olson

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

TECH & INNOVATION

n today’s world, consumers can monogram almost anything, pick up a pair of custom-fitted earbuds, and even order a rubber stamp of their own faces. The ability to customize is no longer novel; it’s the norm. And the technologies that make it happen are becoming more intricate, advanced, and available. 3D printing, which has carved out a place for itself in the manufacturing world, is finding a new niche in the fashion industry. Uploading a bodyscan to a program will “print” a dress perfectly tailored to an individual. This potential for product customization has become attractive to both designers and consumers. Nervous System is a Somerville-based design studio that creates many of its products using 3D printing technology. The plasticlooking jewelry and sculptures displayed in the studio have all been created using a 3D printer. Jessica Rosenkrantz, an architect who also holds a degree in biology, and Jesse LouisRosenberg, a computational designer who has a background in mathematics, lead Nervous System. Though the two come from seemingly different fields, they work in tandem on day-to-day design processes. Nervous System’s collections are inspired by biological processes, which explains why the 3D-printed art in the studio looks so much like elements of nature (one plastic sculpture looks almost identical to a potted succulent on the neighboring windowsill). Nervous System “translate[s] scientific theories and models of pattern formation into algorithms for design,” said Design Associate Margaret Swanson. To print their designs, Nervous System creates programs that do not have fixed outcomes but instead expand and morph based on input, like a growing plant. A plant develops differently depending on the amount of light it sees or how much water it receives, and the same is true in these programs— depending on a user’s input, the output can vary. Two products created by the same program can be unique, yet share the same core qualities. Instead of an assembly line process where a machine creates identical pieces, Nervous System’s flexibility in the code allows for product customization. This groundbreaking system, which Nervous System used to print their first 3D dress, is called Kinematics. Kinematics is not only dynamic, but also space-efficient. “Jesse and Jessica were exploring a system by which larger models could be compressed to be

PHOTO BY STEVE MARSEL

printable in a smaller machine space,” Swanson said. The dress comes out of the printer in a folded mass that unfurls into a complete garment—no assembly required. Now acquired by MoMA, the Kinematics dress flows naturally like fabric, though it is made entirely of hard plastic. To create this illusion, the dress is composed of thousands of tiny, interlocking pieces in different sizes. “[It] also allowed us to explore a 3D-printed textile that…could move and conform to a person’s body,” said Swanson. The result is a flexible medium, a human equivalent to scales. Because this new technology is groundbreaking, Nervous System’s Kinematics dress is too expensive to be on the market. Though Swanson is excited about the dress, ultimately, she said, “The goal is to create wearable and customizable garments and not museum pieces.” Nervous System is not the only design studio to explore the intersection of 3D printing and clothing design. MIT-based assistant professor and architect Neri Oxman collaborated with fashion designer Iris Van Herpen to create a 3D-printed dress that debuted at Paris Fashion Week. In a TED Talk given in Vancouver earlier this year, Oxman explains how design, biology, and technology are more connected now than ever before. She talked about the classic architect’s dilemma: “The split personality of every designer and architect operating today is between the chisel and the gene, between machine and organism, between assembly and growth.” Oxman challenges viewers not to see nature and industry as inherently at odds with each other—but as something designers should make work in tandem. She applauds 3D printing for making it possible to design these complex structures with code. In her own work, Oxman exemplifies this melding of biology and technology. Her dress with Iris Van Herpen is printed as a series of tiny, interconnected cells combining stiff and soft materials to fit the contours of the human body. Her printing technology allows a material with multiple textures to be printed as a single sheet, much like the skin of a living being. Oxman says, “Designers have access to such high-resolution analytical synthetic tools, which enable us to design products that fit not only the shape of our bodies, but also the physiological makeup of our tissues.” What is the future of this technology? As a fashion-conscious person myself (who lacks drawing, design, and sewing skills), I imme-

diately imagined the possibility of designing and printing my own wardrobe someday. Swanson brought me back to earth, explaining that the future of 3D printing is not to give everyone free reign as a designer—the ideal outcome would be to create the ability to customize one’s own garments within the bounds of the programs that Nervous System and Oxman design. This is an ideal future for the “you” generation, who are used to a hyperpersonal approach to their belongings. Both dresses will be on display at the MFA in their #techstyle exhibit, beginning March 6th. The exhibit will showcase “the synergy between contemporary fashion and technology,” by conglomerating the works of

Design, biology, and technology are more connected now than ever before. many progressive designers. Michelle Finamore, Curator of Fashion Arts at the MFA, highlighted that the key to many of these innovative works is collaboration between designers and tech-focused people. Like Rosenkrantz and Louis-Rosenberg, or Oxman and Van Herpen, a designer-coder duo is often necessary for a project that’s deeply rooted in both technology, and clothing design. “There are some really amazing collaborations going on with people who are in the technology field and fashion designers who are coming together to create these unique objects,” she said. With 3D printing technology, making a truly unique object becomes bothpossible and encouraged. “The combination of having the output come directly from computer-aided design and…that it comes out of a 3D printer has great potential for what the fashion industry can do in the future,” said Finamore. But Finamore and Swanson echo the same idea: the 3D-printed fashions of today are mostly limited to art, and they hope to see the technology become more accessible. “I think that it is going to have a dramatic effect in the future,” said Finamore, “but right now we are kind of on the cusp of all this excitement, energy, and experimentation.” O December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

CAMPUS

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

CAMPUS

BEAUTY, BLACKNESS, & BOOTY CALLS They balled you up.

By Kyle Scott

And it was quick, under a minute. Bang and there you were amongst a heaping pile of Chipotle receipts and forgotten to do lists. Another speck in the room. You oozed out of the bed and gathered your clothes in silence. Why did you do this? And because they could see that your feelings were hurt, they began to award you. “Tonight was really fun”: badge of honor. They let you know that they chose you. That they, out of the 100 soulless faces that crowded around a keg, wanted you. And they wanted you because you were special. The darker berry that proved just as easy to wipe from their lips as any other. “We should hang out again sometime”: magna cum laude. And just when all of your prizes and clothes almost became too much to carry, you remembered the glorious crown that your partner for the evening bestowed upon you: “first black guy I’ve ever hooked up with.” Ding ding ding! And just like that, you were a winner. The world class show pony that was always good for a shadowy, midnight booty call. They leaned back against the headboard and watched you put your clothes back on. You felt your flesh start to burn. You felt as their eyes pierced into your back with the strength of a thousand suns because you, better than anyone, knew exactly what was happening. You were getting stored away. You, the special one, were simply being slid right into the trophy cabinet along with everything else. You, the chosen one, brushed past the perfect attendance award and the Eagle Scout plaque and claimed your very own place. Another feat for Christopher Columbus who sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and had been stealing your sense of self ever since. You don’t get angry though. Because it’s the other black boys who get mad. It’s the ones with unruly hair who shout and scream. It’s the ones who can’t quote The Canterbury Tales and hang on street corners, who tear things apart. But not you. You occasionally listen to R&B, have nice cropped hair, and know exactly how to behave. You never spoke over them or threw too much of a fit when they mocked your existence. The perfect, gift wrapped dosage of blackness minus the rage and all the other complexities. You still speak to them. A lunch here or there. But it’s different now. You have bite marks in your flesh. A fork in your back. How long could this last? Because quite frankly you’re tired of going to Dewick and always being on the menu. O

ART BY EVA STRAUSS

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

POLICE BLOTTER

Police Blotter By Moira Lavelle

Sanitizer Insanity

Tuesday November 17, 8:00 PM

TUPD responded to a call from the Campus Center with TEMS. A student had somehow gotten liquid sanitizer in his eye. At 8:00 PM on a weeknight. The student was transported to the hospital. He has since lost his ability to give dirty looks.

East of Eden

Sunday November 22, 12:00 PM

An officer noticed a broken window at East Hall. Facilities was contacted to repair the broken window. Next time you are trying to turn in a late paper, the English department would probably prefer you just email them.

Mailbox Mischief

Tuesday November 24, 4:00 AM

Patrolling officers noticed that the FedEx box on Packard Avenue by West Hall had been knocked over. Officers put the box back in place and FedEx was notified of the damaged box. It is unclear if pranksters were trying to cause general chaos, or just really trying to obstruct the delivery of packages.

Tufts Observer

December 7, 2015

PARTING SHOT FEATURE

December 7, 2015

Tufts Observer

RILEY ARONSON

TUFTS OBSERVER SINCE 1895 www.tuftsobserver.org observer@tufts.edu @tuftsobserver

please recycle