TUFTS OBSERVER
APRIL 8, 2013
VOLUME CXXVI, issue 5
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modern censoring of sexuality ( pag e 5 )
Creating a new kind of boy band ( pag e 1 0 )
language barriers in america ( pag e 2 0 )
2 BERNITA LING
ZANE BIEN
Will Vaughan
Bernita Ling
Mahlet meshesha
Izzie Gall
Beyond gunS, gates, and guards by Moira Lavelle
Goodnight & Goodluck by Ruth Tam
Seeking a new order by Claire McCartney
Renew by Shobhita Narain
Fighting from afar by Charmaine Poh The 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.
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Editors editor-in-chief Anna Burgess managing editor Kyle Carnes production director Ben Kurland section editors Eric Archibald Aaron Langerman Ellen Mayer Claire McCartney Gracie McKenzie Molly Mirhashem Kumar Ramanathan Angelina Rotman David Schwartz Evan Tarantino Megan Wasson publicity director Lenea Sims photography director Bernita Ling photography editor Misako Ono art director Flo Wen lead artists Izzie Gall Robert Collins design assistants Moira Lavelle Angie Lou copy editors Liana Abbott Anastasia Mok Sarah Perlman staff writers Justin Kim Alison Pinkerton Nader Salass editor emeritus David Schwartz
Contributors Maddy Burton Alison Graham Mahlet Meshesha
COVER BY: Monica Stadecker CORRECTION: In the Issue 4 article “Going the Extra Mile,” Coach Donald Megerle’s name was misspelled throughout. We apologize for the error and wish his TMT Runners the best of luck in the upcoming Boston Marathon.
April 8th, 2013 Volume CXXVI, Issue 5 Tufts Observer, since 1895 Tufts’ Student Magazine
Table oF contents Beyond Guns, Gates, and Guards by Moira Lavelle 2 feature Censoring Sexuality by Molly Mirhashem 5 news Goodnight & Goodluck: Behind the Boston Phoenix’s Collapse by Ruth Tam 6 news Continental Drift: Cyprus and the Politics of Economic Union by Jon Dutko 8 news & culture Pop Out by Ellen Mayer 10 arts & prose Mother of Beauty by Flo Wen 12 poetry inset Crossing Oceans 13 photo & prose Pipes by Paul Reilly 17 poetry & culture Seeking a New Order by Claire McCartney 18 arts Lost in Translation by Angelina Rotman 20 opinion Renew: environmental sustainability & corporate responsibility by Shobhita Narain 22 opinion On Transferring to Tufts by Maeve Stier 24 campus campus Fighting From Afar by Charmaine Poh 26 off blotter Police Blotter by David Schwartz & Flo Wen 28 police
RE FE AT U
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Moira Lavelle
It is often said that today we live in a global age. With the advent of the Internet, people and countries are more interconnected than ever before. Information can be shared instantaneously. Therefore, information can be stolen just as instantaneously. A downside to this heightened interconnectedness and information deluge is the increased chance that classified or private information will be leaked or hacked. With the increase of sensitive and valuable information online, there is an even greater opportunity and incentive for individuals and governments to create hacking initiatives. The consequences of hacking have become widespread and have created a new type of both espionage and warfare. No longer do states have a monopoly on violence. The paradigms of warfare are changing. Much of it is shifting online. On March 11th, the Obama administration openly demanded that the Chinese government adhere to “acceptable norms of
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behavior in cyberspace.” This request comes at a diplomatically tense time, as Washington is looking for cooperation with China in preventing North Korea and Iran from amassing a nuclear arsenal, and desperately wants to maintain stable Sino-American relations. But the Chinese have frequently been implicated in large-scale theft of information from American networks—both commercial and federal—leading the White House to decide that it was high time an official complaint be made against the Chinese. Analysts state that Chinese hackers are stealing data at an unprecedented rate. Mike Rogers, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, stated: “China is stealing our intellectual property at a rate that qualifies as an epidemic.” This epidemic has hit many American media outlets. The New York Times, Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post have all reported that they have been the victims of Chinesebased cyber attacks. In many cases, the
media outlets were hacked after running an article or story on important officials in China, or if reporters had connections to classified government information. CocaCola was hacked by the same group as they entered into negotiations to buy out a Chinese juice company. The negotiations eventually fell through. A computer security company, Mandiant, recently did an in-depth investigative report and determined that these hacks all originated from the same place: a hacking group they call “Comment Crew.” Comment Crew is known as one of the most sophisticated hacking groups currently operating. The Mandiant report concluded that the group is based in a building that houses the P.L.A. Unit 61398, officially known as the 2nd Bureau of the People’s Liberation Army’s General Staff Department’s 3rd Department. Therefore, Comment Crew is either a Chinese military operation or, as Mandiant stated, “the people who run the most-controlled, most-monitored Internet
FE E UR AT
“Cyber attacks involve the common citizen in a way traditional warfare attacks could not.”
networks in the world are clueless about thousands of people generating attacks from this one neighborhood.” China denies that any of the hacking attacks are government sponsored, but the evidence does not support this statement. These attacks were made through e-mail and are called “spearphishing.” The group sends a bug e-mail that, once opened by one employee, gives the hackers access to the entire computer system. Most of the e-mails were sent to low level individuals who never knew that they had any part in a hacking scheme. One click on one of the many e-mails that employees see in a day is enough to compromise the information of an entire corporation. And in a world where so much business is conducted using the Internet, that one click can compromise the information of all the clients of a company. Cyber attacks involve the common citizen in a way traditional warfare attacks could not.
Comment Crew has recently been focusing on even larger targets. There were successful attacks made on The Defense Department, the State Department, the United States’ largest defense contractor Lockheed Martin, contractors for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Another computer security company, Dell SecureWorks, states that it believes this same group of hackers was also responsible for a series of cyber attacks uncovered in 2011 that targeted the United Nations, and various government agencies in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. However, analysts say the most alarming of these incidents is an attack on a branch of the company Telvent, based in Canada. The company creates software that coordinates the power switches and security systems of oil and gas pipelines. It is unclear if these attacks were a search for industrial information that could be used for profit, or if they
were the beginning of a more combatant style cyber-attack. Hacking isn’t always about economics. Governments are beginning to use hacking in place of traditional methods of warfare, such as bombings. The United States and Israel were recently involved with one such initiative called Stuxnet. Stuxnet has widely been acknowledged by experts as the most sophisticated and complex cyber weapon ever created. The program was a cyber worm that infiltrated the computer systems of a nuclear plant in Iran. The plant contained hundreds of centrifuges that enrich uranium to be used in nuclear weapons. Stuxnet worked into the computer systems and lay dormant while it recorded the normal operations of the plant. The program then caused the centrifuges to rapidly speed up so that they spun themselves into destruction, while projecting what appeared to be normal operations on the security cameras at the plant. The attack was so sophisticated that it appeared
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RE FE AT U the centrifuges were merely malfunctionAnalysts warn that soon the world ing due to faulty parts. Thus, even some may see a new type of cold war. But instead undamaged centrifuges were taken out of of nuclear warheads, countries will begin service because it was believed they too an arms race of hackers and sophisticated would malfunction. Some estimate the computer viruses. Government officials damages to the plant will push Iran’s nu- state that there are currently 12 countries clear weapon production back until 2015, developing offensive cyber weapons. although most estimates don’t predict as Organized governments aren’t the only drastic of a lag in production. ones forming attacks. The hacking group Washington and Jerusalem are both Anonymous has been making headlines as certainly happy about this development, of late. The group seems to be a loose collecbut both initially denied responsibility for tion of hackers based all over the world who the Stuxnet virus. However, evidence irre- have met in the depths of the internet on futably points to the U.S. and Israel. forums such as 4chan. The group is known In retrospect, some U.S. officials wor- for attacking certain organizations ry that the Stuxnet attack will create a new t h e y dis ag re e precedent for cyber attacks. That in the with. future we will be obligated to attack North Korea’s nuclear plants. That other coun“Power tries will begin attacking us. That it will grids, commubecome a norm for oil pipelines to self-destruct because someone will nication satellites, have both an economic or political oil pipelines, and even motivation and the tools to act. Stuxnet is the first large-scale banking structures, cyber attack of it’s kind. Yet it apcould all be brought pears countries like China, with their highly sophisticated Comment down within Crew, are already beginning to test 15 minutes.” similar programs, and may soon act against American infrastructure. This is why the infiltration of companies such as Lockheed Martin and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association are so somThey’ve hit bering. the websites of Sony’s PlayStation network, Furthermore, there are many in- Fox television, Paypal, and the C.I.A. Most stances of hackings that have yet to be recently, Anonymous began attacking Israeli traced back to a certain group or gov- government and business websites: forcing ernment. There were hackings in July the sites temporarily offline, publicly postof 2009 that disabled the Web servers of ing usernames and passwords, and deleting the U.S. Treasury, Secret Service, Federal some online information. Though these atTrade Commission, and Transportation tacks don’t seem to be as nefarious as those Department that are believed to have Israel is facing from elsewhere, they have come from North Korea. And it is be- slowed the workings of many important Inlieved that the virus left “trapdoors” that ternet sites and tossed thousands of unsuswould allow hackers to go back and re- pecting civilians’ usernames and passwords access various servers and networks in online. No longer do sovereign states hold the future. Israel and Palestine are also the key to waging warfare. Today, a loose currently dealing with a series of hack- collection of hackers can have an effect. ings that have reached their energy and Another hacking tactic that analysts water supplies, seemingly originating are wary of is what is known as Distributed from Iran. These hackings also began as Denial of Service (DDoS). This is a method spearphishing attacks through email. Is- wherein hackers hit Internet servers with rael has even been forced to take its po- such immense amounts of traffic that the lice force network offline. server is rendered unreachable. The web4
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site Spamhaus, which determines if certain websites or emails are spam, was recently sieged with a DDoS attack. Spamhaus’s Domain Name System servers were targeted and deluged with false traffic. Though the website managed to remain functioning due to their many servers, the attack was at a frequency of traffic previously believed unattainable. Attacks of this magnitude could take down online government infrastructures, e-mail, and communication sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which showed their value in revolutionary movements such as the Arab Spring. In an arms race of hacking, DDoS tactics would be a simple but powerful weapon. Analysts warn that the precedent for this cyber arms race is particularly threatening because the U.S. is incredibly vulnerable to cyber attacks, much more so than many other big players such as Russia or China. Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism chief to both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, writes in his new book warning about America’s cyber fragility that China has “the ability to disconnect all Chinese networks from the rest of the global Internet, something that would be handy to have if you thought the U.S. was about to launch a cyberwar attack on you.” The U.S. has no such mechanisms available. Offices like the Pentagon often use software that is commercially bought, and thus highly susceptible to hacking. Clarke asserts that the entire U.S. infrastructure of power grids, communication satellites, oil pipelines, and even banking structures, could all be brought down within 15 minutes. Clarke argues that if the U.S. were to separate our necessary infrastructure from the public Internet, and begin working on cyber weapon control agreements with other countries, we could avoid the whole conflict. But this doesn’t specifically prevent attacks that originate through spearphishing. And these changes can’t be enacted immediately. Hacking and the information age have altered the paradigms of warfare. Countries can attack each other remotely. Civilian organizations can be as important players as governments with armies and navies. The examples of the Comment Crew and Stuxnet appear to be merely the beginning of a modern precedent. O
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Censoring
Sexuality by Molly Mirhashem ewspaper pages sprinkled with images of condoms and sex toys were abruptly swiped from their shelves. Students distributing condoms to their peers received menacing letters from their school’s administration. College campuses are known for their intellectual discourse, so when freedom of expression is limited in the college setting, it’s nearly guaranteed to make headlines. This censorship has been a recent issue both close to home and far away, as Boston College (BC) and Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) each intervened in issues of free expression in the past few weeks. At Boston College, members of the student group “BC Students for Sexual Health” (BCSSH) were rebuked for handing out condoms to members of the student body. BC’s student handbook prohibits sexual activity between unmarried couples, and the college threatened to take disciplinary action if the group’s actions continued. BC’s student newspaper, The Heights, reported that the condom distribution was taking place in rooms labeled “Safe Sites,” and listed the services provided there: “access to free sexual health resources, including male and female condoms, dental dams, and lubricant, as well as sexual health pamphlets.” BCSSH isn’t a registered student organization—they’re supported by groups such as the Great American Condom Campaign and Planned Parenthood—but BC’s administration still insisted that the students were in violation of Jesuit and Catholic values, and could face punishment.
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The Boston Globe reported that BC’s Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life both signed a statement that read: “while we understand that you may not be intentionally violating university policy, we do need to advise you that should we receive any reports that you are, in fact, distributing condoms on campus, the matter would be referred to the student conduct office for disciplinary action by the university.” In the same Globe story, the chairwoman of BCSSH states her position quite succinctly: “Students shouldn’t have to choose between holistic health care and a world class institution.” Only a few days before this, a community college in New Mexico suspended The CNM Chronicle for their publication of a 12-page sex-themed issue. A curt statement from the school’s administration dubbed the content “offensive and not appropriate for the educational mission of CNM,” while adding that the school was planning to “reevaluate how students can be trained, educated, and supervised in operating a widely disseminated student publication.” CNM administrators pulled some issues of the newspaper off their racks. The sex-themed issue of the Chronicle covered topics spanning from sexual orientation to abstinence, sex positions, and a list of sexual resources. After the announcement of the suspension, The Daily Lobo, the student newspaper at University of New Mexico, announced it would cease publication “in solidarity” with the Chronicle. Neither of these issues ended so quietly. BCSSH reached out to Sarah Wunsch, staff attorney of the American Civil Lib-
erties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts, for assistance with their case. Wunsch asserted that BC students’ rights were being violated, and the Globe reported that the ACLU chapter has vowed to take legal action against Boston College. On the other end of this debate, Catholic universities across the nation have risen up in support of BC’s administration. Representatives from Georgetown, Providence College, Notre Dame, and others have offered words of corroboration with Boston College’s decision. A meeting between the school’s administration and the student group is set to take place in the coming weeks. At CNM, the outcome was much different. Very shortly after the suspension was announced, the school reinstated the paper. The administration offered a convoluted explanation, claiming that the college had been concerned about the quotation of a high school student. The staff of the Chronicle confirmed that the student was quoted on the issue of abstinence, and her parents had granted permission. The Associated Press quoted the Chronicle’s editor, Jyllian Roach, saying that the sex issue was meant to be educational. She added: “We knew that some people were going to be uncomfortable. But we never expected CNM to do something like this.” Neither of the conflicts has been totally resolved, and it’s likely that similar conflicts will arise elsewhere as these two ordeals work toward eventual resolution. What seems clear, however, is that when sex enters the campus conversation, freedom of speech is no longer guaranteed. O APRIL 8, 2013
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Behind the Boston Phoenix’s Collapse
n Thursday, March 14th, Scott Schultz, a Boston Phoenix account executive, got up and headed to his desk at the Phoenix office. Because he hadn’t been online the night before, he didn’t know what was going on when his co-worker asked him about the mandatory town hall meeting scheduled for that day. If he had checked his email at 8 p.m. the previous night, he would’ve read the announcement, and any lingering suspicions would have been confirmed: the Phoenix was going under. Shaula Clark, one of the Phoenix’s managing editors, read the meeting announcement in the office the night before while she was publishing content to the web. Previous town hall meetings had announced layoffs and pay cuts, so in the break room, Clark turned to the senior web producer and joked around to ease the tension. They had been working on the Phoenix’s annual “Best of Boston” issue. It served as a nice distraction, but it didn’t help that the management had been acting strange all week. The next day, publisher Stephen Mindich called the meeting to order. The email had asked everyone to come in and the size of the staff forced the meeting out into the middle of the newsroom, circling Tufts senior Scott Sugarman’s desk. An intern since the fall semester, he was resizing pictures for the website and prepping for a concert review of metal group Between The Buried And Me. He was listening to them at his desk when he noticed people gathering. He took off his headphones in time to hear Mindich announce the immediate closure of the 47-year-old publication. The terse statement fulfilled the worst possible scenario, something Schultz had predicted but Clark had only laughed about. “There was a silence throughout the room,” Sugarman remembers. “I can’t comprehend what it must have felt like [to
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the others] because I haven’t had a job that I’ve depended on and then lost in a moment.” After the news broke, Clark regrouped with editorial staff, and the sales team went out for lunch to say goodbye. Rather than joining them, Shultz made a beeline to Government Center to collect a free dessert as part of a Pi Day promotion. “I didn’t want to be around a negative vibe. It wasn’t going to benefit me to be around a bunch of sad, worried people so I said, ‘F-ck it. I’m gonna go get a free pie and go down to the harbor.” He headed to the waterline and sat there for a while before heading back. He had told himself last October that the Phoenix would be the last publication he’d ever work at. It was the end of an era. Like many fellow staff members, Schultz grew up reading the Phoenix and preferred it to more traditional publications like the Boston Globe. “It was interesting for me to read sarcasm and see fingerpointing at politicians,” Schultz said. “Even if I didn’t understand it. In the 1960s and 70s, alternative newsweeklies enjoyed a reputation for rabble rousing commentary. Printed once a week on low-grade newsprint, alt-weeklies used the temporary medium to their advantage, reporting on the shifting winds of community politics and art in their respective neighborhoods. Clark started working in alternative media in 2001. As an intern at the Weekly Dig (now DigBoston), Clark did the “drudgiest editorial scutwork” to become the managing editor seven years later. During those formative years for Clark, Schultz started selling ads for alternative media companies in southern Florida. In 2005, he left for Los Angeles and started work at the LA Weekly. That same year, Craigslist doubled their annual revenue from the year before.
The attraction of free, online ads had been siphoning off the demand for print classifieds since 2000. But over the past decade, print advertising, the main source of revenue for alt-weeklies, plummeted from $60 billion to $20 billion, shrinking Shultz’s favorite publications to a quarter of their original size. He was convinced the industry was on its way out, but delayed his own exit when he saw a position open at the Phoenix. Despite the industry’s shifting landscape, the appeal of working at the legendary paper was too strong. Six months ago, after the Phoenix underwent a makeover in the hopes of drawing more national advertisers, Schultz joined their sales staff. “I loved the new design,” Schultz said. “I thought if it worked, it would save alternative media across the country. I liked being a part of that revolutionary moment.” Hilary Hughes, an arts and entertainment journalist and former Phoenix contributor, held her breath when it came to the makeover. “I think they were really courageous to try it, but I was skeptical,” Hughes said. “We all cringed when we saw what was happening, but at the same time, it was a gamble. Nobody knew if it would do well or if it was going to tank.” “It was all part of this gambit to gain more advertisers who liked the glossy magazine format more,” Clark explained. “I don’t know shit about advertising, but I thought it sounded plausible. Personally, I liked the idea of it but everyone knew it was risky. It felt like everyone was saying ‘the Phoenix is gonna close if we don’t put on the best damn show in town.’” After the redesign, the Phoenix’s financial misfortunes became the spectacle. Editor at large Peter Kadzis claims the paper was costing the publisher $1 million a year, which has accrued $1.2 million in debt. The sudden close leaves 50 people unemployed without severance pay. The
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By Ruth Tam
“Best of Boston” issue Clark was working on the night before the announcement will never be published. The Phoenix’s smaller, younger rival, DigBoston, is now the city’s only alternative media company. “You can point out what went wrong from a purely business standpoint,” DigBoston editor-in-chief J. Patrick Brown said. “It’s like having a sick uncle. We weren’t surprised because we knew it was coming.” The slow bleeding of funds from altweeklies comes as no surprise to those in the industry. But when observers equate the Phoenix’s financial problems to the death knell of alternative print media, Brown thinks it’s a bit premature. “People use this as a springboard to wax philosophical on the end of alternative media and print media in the 90s,” he said. “But the causes of the Phoenix’s end are ca-
pable of being identified. It’s like someone catching pneumonia and everybody saying they died of a broken heart.” Hughes also remains optimistic about alternative journalism in the Boston area. “This is a city where people come to cultivate their genius,” Hughes said. “If anything, this gives people a kick in the ass and an opportunity to start writing their own material and starting their own beat.” Sugarman is not so sure. On the day of the closure, “I was definitely the person in the room who this affected the least,” Sugarman said. “But there are greater implications for me and people interested in journalism. This is gonna keep happening to some extent.” The Monday after they were laid off, Schultz and Clark went back to the office to clean out their desks. Clark sorted through
piles of books and stacks of special issues, and put her taxidermied chipmunk in a box to take home. A rapid response team employed by the state was there to assist in the transition into unemployment. They passed out St. Patrick’s Day cookies and tried to crack jokes. “Tough audience, huh?” the presenter quipped. Schultz and Clarke may have lost their jobs at the Phoenix, but both were fortunate when it came to finding new work. Within weeks, Schultz was offered an advertising position by a long-term client. Clarke is now the online editor of the Non-Profit Quarterly. “I love it,” Clark says of her time working in alternative media. “It’s a holding tank of total weirdos who you’ll never meet anywhere else. I’ve done really fun things [here], but I don’t think I could do it again. There’s too much heartbreak.” O
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news
Continental Drift Cyprus and the Politics of
Economic Union I
f you were unable to locate Cyprus on the map, you would be forgiven. It is an island nation in the Mediterranean wedged between Greece and Syria, with a landmass less than that of Vermont. Cyprus has a population of less than a million and its GDP makes up less than one quarter of one percent of that of the entire Eurozone. Nevertheless, Cyprus and its crumbling economy have been making headlines for the past month. The Cypriot economy is in shambles; an initial plan formulated between the government of Cyprus and the European Union (EU), to impose a one-time tax on all accounts in Cyprus banks, has been voted down. The most recent proposal by the Cypriot government involves a similar tax imposed only on those accounts exceeding 100,000 euro (roughly $130,000), and has, predictably, caused a measure of unrest. Protests have formed before the doors of national banks. Wealthy Russian depositors make up a large percentage of foreign investments in Cypriot banks, but a plea made to the Russian government for a more generous has fallen on deaf ears.
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This is a watershed moment in Cypriot history, after which the country will either begin the long road to economic recovery, or, in the absence of aid from the International Monetary Fund and its sibling-states of the Eurozone, will find itself plunged into a deeper economic ruin—perhaps irreversibly. The fate of the Cypriot economy, while perhaps provincially important and riveting in a theatrical sense, does not seem to be a matter of global importance. So why have the eyes of the world been fixed upon the fate of this small island nation since this crisis began? Cyprus is only the most recent in a string of sovereign nations relying upon the IMF and Eurozone neighbors for support in the wake of the global subprime mortgage crisis. Cyprus’s most immediate neighbor, Greece, has been in infamously dire straits since 2010; the nation has received two major bailout loans from both the IMF and individual creditor-nations in the EU and is now subject to strict austerity measures. Spain received a €100 billion “bank recapitalization” package last year through the combined efforts of the Euro-
pean Commission, the European Central Bank, and the IMF. The struggling country is now being considered for another loan. Together the IMF and the EU have given €78 billion to Portugal and €67 billion to Ireland in bailout cash. These drastic financial measures have been crucial to maintaining the integrity of the Eurozone. The legitimacy of the euro rests upon the binding nature of a nation’s decision to adopt the single currency. If the euro were to fail anywhere, there would be devastating monetary consequences across the rest of Europe. It follows that each nation in the Eurozone has a vested interest in keeping their partner nations afloat fiscally. Indeed, it is this spirit of international cooperation that led to the adoption of the euro and the formation of the EU in the first place. Weigh this temperament of collaboration against the self-protective interests of the individual states of the EU. The nearly half a trillion euros combined for these bailout efforts have come directly out of the pockets of the more wealthy nations of the Eu-
news
Robert Collins
By Jon Dutko rozone, like Germany and the Netherlands. So-called “peripheral” nations of the Eurozone have generally been hit hardest during the global recession. These struggling countries have started to chafe at the economic restrictions levied upon them by creditor nations. The Cypriot foreign minister Loannis Kasoulides, stated that the engineers of the EU bailout were aiming for nothing less than the brutal destruction of [the Cypriot] economic model.” This dissatisfaction is not unique to Cyprus, however. Faith in the European Union is at an all-time low across the continent. In 2007, a poll conducted by TNS Opinion and Social for the European Commission showed that over 50% of European citizens surveyed had a positive image of the European Union. That number is down to 31% as of May 2012. That same poll found that that the majority of respondents no longer believed the EU satisfactorily addressed the interests of their own countries. These continent-wide metrics find themselves manifested in local politi-
cal landscapes. The extremely right-wing Golden Dawn party in Greece gained entry to the Hellenic Parliament for the first time in 2012 on a Eurosceptic platform. A
The Euro is currently experiencing a crisis of legitImacy similarly Eurosceptic party was founded this March in Germany. France and the United Kingdom, two countries with historically negative attitudes toward the EU, are seeing these outlooks redoubled in local elections. Poverty protests have broken
out in Bulgaria. Hungary amended its constitution this month, in direct opposition to the wishes of the European Commission. All this to say that the EU is currently experiencing a crisis of legitimacy. International tensions have risen and simmered, tending along lines of credit, default and bailout. After the multitude of crises last year (Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, et al.), however, the Eurozone seemed to be holding itself together with a relative degree of stability. Cyprus, for its size, and its miniature GDP, might have provided the EU with an easy economic victory. After three years on the default crisis battlefront, the EU had an opportunity in Cyprus to demonstrate that it was in control. Instead the Cypriot economy has turned into a debacle, complete with bank runs and cash-only service. Last month at a demonstration outside the Cypriot parliament, one protestor held a sign that read “Fuck Europe.” He was protesting the EU’s unpopular bailout plan for Cyprus, but he might have been speaking for the whole continent. O
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POP OUT
Tomorrow’s pop stars are playing yesterday's rock
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formed an original song, a funky ska-inflected ode to Los Angeles entitled “Sunset Boulevard.” Throughout the competition, the trio tried, with limited success, to stay in control of their career. They quickly distanced themselves from song choices like Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” and fought hard for less poppy fare like Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way.” When they were voted off the show, they looked relieved, and after their elimination, Wesley told reporters, “We’re happy because we can go make some badass music now and not be under any restrictions.” In fact, the band never really escaped the world of The XFactor. Cowell quickly signed Emblem3 to a new branch of Syco Entertainment under the direction of Savan Kotecha. Something of an industry wizard, Kotecha is an X-Factor vocal coach and the songwriter behind One Direction’s three biggest hits. And now, for all their early protestations against One Direction comparisons, Emblem3 is looking more and more like a boy band. All three of the band-members are able guitarists, Keaton plays acoustic bass, and Drew plays a mean ukulele. At the Paradise last week, however, the trio rarely picked up their own instruments. They sang with a backing band and occasionally a backing track as well. Composed of five mediocre vocalists, One Direction relies heavily on its backing track of pre-recorded and auto-tuned harmonies. Keaton, Wesley, and Drew are significantly stronger singers and more confident performers. For a band like Emblem3, the backing track feels redundant and stale, leaving no room for spontaneity. It is as though the music industry no longer trusts its talent to be talented. “Chloe,” the band’s first single, is a Kotecha cowrite. Much like One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” the song reassures tween listeners that their insecurities are baseless. On “Chloe,” Kotecha deals in the same hopeless clichés with lyrics like, “If only you could believe in yourself in the way I believe in you.” It’s no surprise that Kotecha would recycle so blatantly. As it turns out, exploiting female insecurity is quite lucrative, as “What Makes You Beautiful” peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
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n Sunday, March 24th, the band Emblem3 played a sold-out show to an audience of shrieking tweens at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. In fact, without having released a single album, these surf-bro heartthrobs sold out their entire East Coast tour. They’ve got washboard abs, an avid social media following, and a record deal at Columbia. Take note: Emblem3 may well be the next big thing in pop music. This is a bold statement, considering that band-members Wesley Stromberg, Keaton Stromberg, and Drew Chadwick name Sublime and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as major influences, bands that are neither poppy nor current. Indeed, Emblem3’s particular blend of ska, rock, pop, and rap can sound like a musical time capsule from the 1990s—not exactly top 40 material. Emblem3 is a prime example of the strange star-launching power of TV singing competitions. The band finished fourth in the second season of the American X-Factor. Because singing competitions are decided by popular vote rather than industry wisdom, victors are not guaranteed successful careers. As a judge and executive producer on the X-Factor, Simon Cowell takes advantage of the new talent on the show, scouting and grooming the competitors for his own label, Syco Entertainment. Emblem3’s trajectory may sound familiar to fans of a certain British boy band--One Direction. The group was assembled by Simon Cowell during season seven of the British X-Factor, and while they finished third in the competition, they’ve been winners when it comes to album sales. In 2012, they made history as the first British band to top the Billboard 200 with a debut album. When Emblem3 auditioned for the X-Factor this fall, Cowell swiftly staked his claim, clearly hoping to duplicate One Direction’s successful boy band formula. From the beginning, however, Emblem3 resisted the boy band label. As they were quick to point out, all three boys play their own instruments and write their own material. Unlike One Direction, they arrived as an already formed band, with their own sound and their own agenda. For their audition, the band broke with the traditional model of singing competitions and per-
by Ellen Mayer
On the other hand, Kotecha has left Emblem3’s distinctive sound mostly intact. In 2012, the songwriter told Billboard Magazine that he purposefully wrote “vanilla” music for One Direction, veering away from anything “rhythmic” or “urban.” With “Chloe,” however, Kotecha actually highlights Drew’s melodic rapping, and on the bridge, allows for a tiny of hint of ska influence. Most importantly, “Chloe” has the makings of a smash hit. The chorus is tremendously catchy and a little outrageous, opening with the line, “Chloe, I know your sister turns everyone on.” The single doesn’t even have a release date and yet most of the girls at the Paradise already knew the words, having watched shaky YouTube videos from earlier tour stops. In the few months since the X-Factor, Emblem3 has already recorded its whole album but as yet, they do not have an album title or a release date. In fact, during an interview at New York’s Z100 radio station, Wesley explained that the band is still in the process of “killing babies,” or eliminating songs from the final track list. In the meantime, Emblem3 seems to be in limbo as they figure out what kind of band they can be. It may be that Cowell and Kotecha are slowly molding Emblem3 into another vanilla boy band. On the other hand, it may be that the members of Emblem3 are pioneering a different path and forcing 90s rock back into pop music consciousness as they go. The band’s reception at the Paradise seemed to be evidence of the latter. Music critics tend to dismiss the significance of the tween audience. But if there is anything to learn from the careers of Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, or Taylor Swift, it is this: as go the tweens, so goes the nation. The girls who showed up hours in advance to see Emblem3 at The Paradise shrieked and sang their way through the concert in home-made fan t-shirts. They took endless videos on their cell phones and desperately stretched out their arms to grab Wesley’s hand. And they enthusiastically sung along to covers of Sublime’s “Santeria” and Third Eye Blind’s “SemiCharmed Life.” They did the same at every tour stop including two back-to-back sold-out shows at Chicago House of Blues. If that isn’t evidence of a change in pop music, I don’t know what is. O APRIL 8, 2013
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Flo Wen “It’s just a phase of every life,” The adults like to say. When offspring of a common pair Begin to disobey. They’ll fight, they’ll feud, they’ll interfere, By Cain and Abel’s lead. For children—namely those of kin— Are hardly all agreed. Yet as the farmers grow to men And younger shepherds age, Their boiling blood runs cooler and Respect is born from rage. For all begin to realize Their own misguided ways: Their twin or kin the enemy, Instead of numbered days. Then soon enough, they too will take Their final breaths of air; And what a shame to realize That love could have repaired. The youthful battles—bored disputes— Our mothers couldn’t cease. For she grows old, thus from her rule We siblings are released. We’re disciplined by someone else, A stricter reaper now; For beauty’s mother wakes us up Before she lays us down.
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Top going clockwise: Bernita Ling, clarissa sosin, Gabriel Rondon
Crossing
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Ruth Tam
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y l l i e R l u a P Professor Littlejohn fingered a sixteen-year-old the day after the office’s septic tank split in half. The commute to campus felt drearier than usual; all the trees stood naked and dead along the freeway’s barrier. Mounds of dirt crowded the department building’s entrance. He asked a maintenance worker what had happened as he walked through the front door. She told him it probably had to do with the cold weather. He knew that the office should have upgraded its plumbing, that some disaster should have happened years ago. The toilets clogged easily, barely filled with water, and the pipes made terrible groans throughout the day. He thought he could hear the creaks of broken mattresses from within the walls. One day, months ago, he had wished that the entire system would burst open and flood the professors’ lives with a wave of their own excrement. Except for one blank spot. The women’s restroom remained a mystery. He had assumed its facilities were superior to those of the men’s room. The female professors and students stepped out looking brand new, with glowing blow-dried hands. He once caught a glimpse of the entrance corridor, its pink tile slowly vanishing as the door gently sighed closed. The day the septic tank burst, Professor Littlejohn resolved to discover if its rosy tiles were touched by ruination. He did not tell any of this to the maintenance worker, because the woman seemed like she thought she knew how to do her job. Instead, he held in his shit all day until it was time for his daughter’s CYO volleyball game, where he ran into Patricia, a blonde libero on the hunt for toilet paper, in the unisex bathroom. He strode in, unlocked, an exploding pipe. O
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culture
SEEKING A NEW ORDER Why are young Catholics leaving the pews?
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ven though there is the whole confession thing, that’s no free pass, because there is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you’re simply...eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt.” Jokes like this one - made by Alec Baldwin’s Boston-born, Irish Catholic CEO in 30 Rock - echo a sentiment that’s become familiar to us all, Catholic or not. Negative views of the church— from the lightly humorous to the dead serious—can feel ubiquitous, especially among the younger population, who are reportedly leaving the church in droves.
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By Claire McCartney Four out of five Catholics who have left the church did so before the age of 24, according to The Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life, part of the Pew Research Center—a non-partisan think tank. The largest religion in the world is shrinking, at least in North America and Europe, and its youngest members are leaving the church faster than anyone. “I think it’s a major problem for the Church and it should be a wake up call,” Tufts senior Rebecca Marrero said when discussing her own views on the church. As the president of Tufts’ interfaith group, CAFE (Conversation, Action, Faith and Education), she explained that her disagreements with the church disappoint her, but have not led her to completely abandon her faith. A 2009 Pew study found that half of former Catholics said the church’s teachings on abortion, homosexuality, and birth control were their primary reasons for leaving. Those doctrinal stances combined with the devastating clergy abuse scandal have only added to the church’s complicated relationship with both the secular community and its own 1.2 billion members. “They messed up real bad,” Marrero said. “It’s unrealistic for people to just take this lying down. No, they’re not going to protest - they’re going to leave, and you may never see those people again.” Senior Juan Carlos Montemayor Elosua is among the formerly faithful who have rejected the church’s ideas. His journey away from the faith started at a young age. “My first decision to leave the church may or may not have coincided with starting to masturbate,” he said, laughing. “I went to a priest and he said a boy my age shouldn’t do that...oh, that’s wrong because Jesus said it was wrong, did he really though?” Elosua is a native of Mexico, where in 2010 about 87% of the population categorized itself as Catholic. This number dropped from 88% in 2000, reflecting trends in other traditionally Catholic countries like Ireland and Spain. Sociologist Roberto Blancarte claims that between 2000 and 2010, more than one thousand Mexicans left the Catholic Church each day. For Elosua, who says that going to mass in Mexico is a “social event,” the decision to eventually leave the church was met with resistance from his family.
“[My grandmother] said, ‘Listen, you can’t renounce this religion until you know more about it.’” That made sense to Elosua, who decided to learn everything he could about the church and make an informed decision. “I became a hard core Roman Catholic,” he said. After immersing himself in the church’s practices through mass attendance, mission trips, and Bible study, he decided by the ninth grade that he still could not in good conscience be a part of the religion. As the 2009 Pew study reflects, many Catholics may feel conflicted with wanting to remain part of their faith community, but feeling alienated by some of the more conservative social doctrines. “These issues don’t affect me personally because I don’t get my social views from the church,” Marrero explained. “I want spirituality and underlying big concepts like love, humility, and respect for the poor—not mandates about sex. So I ignore the church whenever they make those proclamations. I learn about them so I can know what’s happening, but I won’t follow if I don’t agree.” Elosua sees this kind of cherry picking of ideas—which can occur among members of any institution, from organized religion to political parties—as problematic. “A big part of why I made the decision I made was because of the hypocrisy,” he said. “A lot of people define on a personal scale what it is for them to be a Roman Catholic, but... there are teachings that tell you what being a Roman Catholic is. You can’t believe in this and not believe in that.” Senior Griselle Ong, who serves as current president of the Tufts Catholic Community and is from the predominantly Catholic Philippines, views this as a multifaceted issue. “Let me explain this through the eyes of my Facebook newsfeed,” she began. “On the one hand, I see Facebook friends with status messages decrying the conservative stance of the Vatican; on the other hand, I see Facebook friends on the other side of the Pacific talk about their faith in the church.” She suggested that cultural differences play a large role in perceptions of the church’s current dynamic with its younger members, as well as its sometimes controversial social stances. “Bring up a person in a specific place with a specific belief system and the Catholic Church
can either be saying all the wrong things or all the right things. Consequently, anyone is either trained to or chooses to pick and choose what he or she wants to see.” With the recent election of a new pope hailed by some as refreshing change and bemoaned by others as a step away from the church’s recent trend towards older traditions, the religion’s relationship with its young people remains in a state of flux. Newly elected Pope Francis, an Argentinean, is known for displays of solidarity with the poor as well as public gestures of simplicity, such as his much-discussed swapping of former Pope Benedict XVI’s golden throne for a simple white chair. Francis is also a Jesuit—an order of brothers known for their intellectual approach to doctrine and liberal-leaning social views. But many question whether his appointment will change anything at all, and for many young Catholics who have already strayed far from the church, his election may be far from enough to draw them back. Even more timeless than the church’s far-reaching influence and reluctant overtures towards change is the young person’s archetypal quest for spiritual meaning and truth. The deep and open examination of established institutions is not unique to today’s young Catholics by any means; their current inquest has just been thrust into the spotlight. Ong suggests that this sort of questioning that some see as cause for alarm is actually exactly what all young people, Catholic or not, should be engaging in. “I think all of us should ask why we believe whatever faith we have and why we follow certain traditions,” she said. “I don’t think it’s productive for anyone to blindly follow traditions simply because his or her parents or family made him or her do so. Being religious is only rewarding when you can attest to having asked the right questions, engaged in the necessary conversations and devoted enough time for introspection. Particularly, in the case of the Catholic Church, it is important to distinguish between the faith and the limitations that are present in any institution established by people. Thinking about all these issues is a lot of work, and it’s never-ending work, but ultimately it will only make your sense of faith and identity stronger.” O APRIL 8, 2013
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могу ajudar pomoći c hjælp helpen heltama tulungan apua er axudar helfen ede ség hjálpa membanbhrú le aiuto padėti u hjelpe pomocy kuhjälp yardim ayuda by Angelina Rotman мощ ndihmë kömek zeko дапамогу aju- B omoći pomoc hjælp en helpi aitama tugan apua aider axur helfen ede segítség a membantu cabhrú o help padėti jgħinu lpe pomocy kusaidhjälp yardim ayuda мощ ndihmë kömek zeko дапамогу ajuomoći pomoc hjælp en helpi aitama tugan apua aider axur helfen ede segítség
eing an immigrant is rough. Trust me, I’d know— my family moved to the US from Russia when I was three years old. We think starting our lives in our twenties is hard, but we don’t realize that we’re not starting at all. We have a 20-something-year-old foundation of family, connections, and community on which to build. Immigrants are people who have abandoned that foundation and are starting their lives entirely from scratch—no community, no connections, and often, no family. But the hardest, most frustrating part of giving up your former life is this: no language. Most people who have studied a foreign language or been abroad have experienced the frustration of having limited communication abilities. As an educated, intelligent person, you want the people around you to know and appreciate who you are. That becomes incredibly difficult to achieve if you can’t say more than “hello,” “thank you,” and “where’s the bathroom?” But imagine that being your life all the time. Imagine that the language narrating your world is not the one that’s in your head. As an immigrant, you have to function with limited language capabilities no matter what. You have to file taxes, apply for a mortgage, and puzzle out your insurance policy in a language that’s not your own. Whether it’s checking out in a store or giving someone directions on the street, we’ve all encountered immigrants in the US who have trouble communicating in English. For me, those people are my parents. No matter how many language lesson books, language classes, or vocabulary tapes my parents went through, English never quite stuck, even after 19 years of being in the United States. Many immigrants start speaking English at home to learn the language quickly. My family never did that. They wanted me to be bilingual—to know Russian as well as English—so my parents chose to speak only Russian at home. Thanks to that, I’m one of the lucky ones who can switch between two languages with perfect ease. As a result, my parents are Limited
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I looked at my mom’s evaluation. Civics: Passed. Reading: Passed. Writing: Passed. English: Failed. She had passed every part of the entirely English test, but the test administrator had failed her for being unable to speak/understand English. A few months later, we learned that her test administrator had been fired for failing every immigrant whose test she administered. My family’s time in the US has been fraught with episodes like my mom’s citizenship test. As I was growing up, it didn’t take me long to realize that many English speakers seemed to decide that a person who didn’t speak English very well was either not terribly bright or just downright stupid. Sometimes, this turned out in the immigrant’s favor, like when my mother overheard two coworkers insulting her when they thought she couldn’t understand them. She quickly corrected that impression. Other times, it can cause persistent problems. The manager of the condominium complex where my family lived for years continually talked down to my parents and would frustrate any complaints by assuring us we had just misunderstood. These misunderstandings would sometimes end rather costly for us and quite profitably for him. It’s even more frustrating when I realize that if they spoke the same language, my mother would have likely intimidated him into good behavior years ago. Those who argue against anything being printed in Spanish and English on grounds that it will keep immigrants from learning English forget that even if a few signs and some paperwork are in both languages, English is still by far the dominant language in the US. If there were as many options for Russian speakers as there are for Spanish speakers, it would certainly make my life a whole lot easier. Even so, I have never met an immigrant who has not tried to learn English. If you want any degree of autonomy, you have to be able to communicate. No one wants to be dependent on an interpreter for the rest of his or her life. If someone’s English is poor, know that it probably isn’t for lack of trying. Learning a language in school with plenty of time to study is one thing. Learning a language while working a full time, often low-paying, job and trying to rebuild your entire life at the same time is quite another. O
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English Proficiency (LEP) speakers. They know enough to get by, but for more complicated things they’d need me. The federal government defines LEP individuals as people “who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English.” In 2011, LEP speakers accounted for 9% of the US population. That’s a lot of people dealing with the stigma, prejudice, and discrimination that comes with not being able to speak English as well as people who have been immersed in the language since birth. Yes, there are plenty of immigrants who speak English almost as well as their native language. However, chances are that even they have an accent, and this alone can incur all the negative stereotypes about immigrants. But I’m not talking about those immigrants. I’m talking about the immigrants, like my parents, who have spent years in the US and just have trouble acquiring the language. Few things get my blood boiling like hearing people say, “If you’re in America, speak English.” I agree with that statement as a general principle, but usually when people say it they actually mean, “If you can’t speak English as well as I can, you shouldn’t be in America.” Maybe that’s because I grew up on the border of a small Southern town where diversity was rare and immigrants even more so, and maybe that’s affected my experience as an immigrant. A couple of years ago, my mom decided she wanted to become a U.S. citizen. We’ve lived here for nearly 19 years, and have been permanent residents for almost 13 of those years. She filled out the forms, paid the $600 application fee, and waited for her interview and test. She studied for months, and knew the test questions backwards and forwards. I don’t think I’ve ever studied for anything as hard as she did for that test. The first time she went in, she failed. They gave her a second chance, and she failed that too. The test itself is made up of two sections: the civics test and the English test. For the civics test, you are asked three questions about US history and government; and for the English test, you are asked to read a sentence in English and write a sentence in English that is dictated to you. The whole thing is conducted, obviously, in English. After the second try,
“As an immigrant, you have to function with limited language capabilities no matter what. You have to file taxes, apply for a mortgage, and puzzle out your insurance policy all in a language that’s not your own.”
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Renew Enviromental Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility by Shobhita Narain
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ith the growing energy demands of developing countries and the continued massive energy consumption by the developed world, the need for a cohesive global approach to tackling environmental change has become urgent. The Kyoto Protocol and carbon credit system were significant steps towards keeping a check on the environment. However, the industrialized world has yet to introduce a measure that justly and effectively helps the developing world moderate its energy consumption. More than anything, the debate over usage of natural resources in developing countries must be revamped into a debate about the collaborative usage of natural resources by corporations in developed countries. Corporate social responsibility has become a recent buzzword within the developed corporate world. It is now commonly accepted that companies stand to benefit significantly by moving toward ecological sustainability. They benefit by reducing costs by capturing emerging “green” markets, ensuring long-term profitability, establishing better community relations, and improving their corporate image. Due to the spread of environmental education, many consumers are committed to “going green.” Because
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of this, eco-friendly businesses benefit from a favorable public opinion and greater customer loyalty. Environmental sustainability will eventually promise corporate sustainability. This will establish long-term consumer and employee value by creating a “green” strategy aimed towards the natural environment and considering every dimension of how a business operates in the social, cultural, and economic environment. This is all well and good for companies operating in a smoothly-functioning, post-industrial business setting. Consumer and employee values are likely to merge only in an economy where individual and corporate aspiration levels have surmounted simpler, more basic needs. In developing economies, however, individuals often want for bare necessities without regard for the broader environmental consequences of their consumer choices. Analogously, businesses in developing countries struggle to overcome economic settings rife with bureaucracy, corruption, and an overbearing public sector. Such businesses cannot afford to be swayed by the idyllic, Western ambitions of environmental sustainability; the carbon credit scheme and Kyoto Protocol have had minimal impact on the corporate sector in the developing world.
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its low-cost washing detergent in new markets. The bank’s local network and regional know-how would not only provide soft value for the consumer-goods company but also enable it to cut down on billboard and TV marketing costs, as well as reduce time and natural resources that would otherwise be used up in reaching the rural market. At the same time, the bank can benefit by introducing local communities to better lifestyles, eliminating middlemen and increasing their need for a financial manager. There is much opportunity to drive down operating costs by exploiting similar ecological efficiencies. In India, such collaborations have already started taking place. On a local front, corporations are engaging in environmentfriendly practices in order to improve their efficiency and consumer loyalty. Ambuja Cements Limited, a cement company in India, has taken the lead in the utilization of industrial wastes in Cement production. Fly ash, a fine glass powder recovered from gases emitted by burning coal during the production of electricity, creates huge pressures on land and water. The cement industry traditionally uses coal for lighting kilns and for captive thermal energy. Instead of using coal, Ambuja Cements burns other waste products like plastic, shredded rubber tires, and cow dung as fuel to reduce their carbon footprint. The company has championed this new, environmentally-friendly process of manufacturing cement among its would-be competitors, with the result that many other local companies are choosing to obtain and share industrial wastes to conserve energy and boost profits.
Toshiba and Hitachi have been gaining a competitive advantage in the worldwide battery industry through the design of acidfree and renewable batteries. These batteries are more expensive than conventional acid batteries; however, when the costs of renewal and disposal are factored in, they are more economical, less harmful for the environment, and in compliance with increasingly strict disposal regulations. Environmental synergy, as a concept, needs greater backing by governments in developing countries. Politicians should introduce subsidies and tax benefits for firms choosing to engage in partnerships that can increase business efficiencies while preserving the environment. More importantly, however, developed nations must push for innovate, synergistic ideas that developing nations can easily implement. Environmental sustainability must be integrated into the logic of corporations and sustainability should become an integral aspect of any corporation’s effectiveness and its longterm mission. At this embryonic stage of corporate environmentalism, companies have the potential to create unique and inimitable environmental strategies, thus both distinguishing themselves and becoming environmental leaders within their industries. It can help companies to establish a social presence in markets and to gain social legitimacy. In order to unleash the enormous, latent potential of corporations to resolve ecological problems, researchers and managers must re-conceptualize their roles in society. Since corporations are major players in economic growth and development, they have an inherent duty to introduce enduring positive influence on all their stakeholders, including the essential, but often ignored, planet earth. O
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Corporations in the Western world use environmental sustainability as a means to an end. The more “sustainable” a business’ image, the likelier it is in attracting customers to its environmentally friendly product. Every aspect of environmentalism has been used to further the cause of consumerism—to extract every last dollar of profit from the environmentally-aware consumer. For example, the carbon credit system charges environmentally unsustainable corporations in order to force them into becoming more sustainable or face the possibility of lower profits. Essentially, the concept behind conservation of natural resources has been politicized and has adapted to the competitive, consumer-oriented business culture of the developed world. So how can the noble ideas behind environmental sustainability be translated into a language that developing countries’ business recognize and embrace? Present them in the garb of business synergy. What is synergy? Synergy is the interaction of multiple elements in a system that produces an effect different from or greater than the sum of their individual effects. The notion of synergy in business seems to repudiate that most basic tenet of business: competition. However, in the developing world, environmental synergies between businesses across various sectors will not only further ameliorate interests but also protect the environment while driving the bottom line. Specifically, businesses should be encouraged to collaborate with each other on workflows and supply chains. A bank with regional branches in rural villages could engage in a joint venture with a consumer-goods company seeking to sell
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s a transfer, it’s fitting that one of the most common questions that I’ve received at Tufts has been, “Why did you decide to leave your other school?” From the semester and a half that I’ve spent as a student here, it’s become clear that the response to this question is, of course, different for each individual transfer. For some, it was academic unhappiness; for others, moving to Medford meant moving closer to family. For me, it was something a bit harder to explain: a lack of excitement might be the best way to describe it. I arrived at Tufts after having spent two years at a small, all-women’s liberal arts college in Western Massachusetts. My former school was beautiful, near four other colleges, and academically challenging. I had no trouble making friends, lived with a fantastic roommate, and even joined the school’s Track & Field team 24
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as a high jumper. On paper, it seemed I had found my perfect school. However, beneath the surface, something felt off. I wasn’t excited. My most exciting story from a total of four semesters was about a time that I helped a sick friend make it home safely—and really, it wasn’t a very thrilling night. I simply knew that when Amy began clutching her stomach, vomiting, and sporting a burning forehead, she needed to get back to our campus. I took her to the bus stop, checked the schedule, and made sure to get on the correct bus. I had no number to call; no familiar way to navigate the situation. The normally easy act of getting home felt arduous. I had to ignore the anxiety that accompanied the situation and instead fake confidence for Amy, assuring her that one way or another, we would get back as fast as possible. When the bus finally pulled
into our campus, right outside of my dorm, I knew everything would be okay. However, this is not a story about overcoming obstacles or being loyal to friends. This is a story about my previous two years spent at another college and how they led me to Tufts. That night on the bus was followed by many other college stories and yet my appetite for the “college experience” was not satisfied. That had been my first dose of college excitement, and that was just the trouble. In the past, this lack of excitement had never been a problem for me. All throughout high school, I was a neverending stream of enthusiasm. My stories were endless. My parents would have to cut me short during the routine question of “how was your day?” at dinner, because I had so much to say. But once I arrived at the place where I assumed I would spend the next four years of my life, and even al-
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by maeve stier lowed myself time to adjust and get comfortable, I still felt nothing. My classes may have been rigorous, but I was never enthusiastic about any of them. I may have made friends easily, but I still had to travel the 15 minutes to another campus in order to have a fun night out and maintain a social life. And, to top it all off, the lack of a high jump coach during my first two semesters made my athletic experience pretty disappointing. That was enough to make me want to do something about it. Enough to drive me to re-create my Common App, to contact my high school guidance counselor for transcripts and a recommendation, and to spend hours writing and editing essays that I had once thought I would never have to think about ever again. I had to tell my parents, who were in full support of my decision, and eventually I had to tell my college friends, who
were not. As I wondered what would happen if I was accepted—whether or not I would fit in, make new friends, be able to handle a double major, and other worries. What scared me most was the prospect
On paper, it seemed I had found my perfect school. However, beneath the surface, something felt off. of spending the next two years of my life stuck right where I was. This is where my story meshes with the stories of other transfers: no matter the specific reason behind the move, all
of us realized that we weren’t as happy as we could be and decided to do something about it. I refused to look back on my college experience with remorse, and the full knowledge that I could have changed my situation but didn’t. Tufts was the perfect solution. I knew about the school since my mother and sister had completed their undergraduate degrees here. But then Tufts offered me opportunities that I never thought I would have—both academically and socially. Transferring has taught me the importance of taking initiative when I’m unhappy with my experience, and I can only hope that other transfers have had such a positive experience. That’s what college is about— finding your own path. Mine led me from that never-ending bus ride to Tufts, where even a Joey ride can be exciting. I can honestly say that transferring has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. O APRIL 8, 2013
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CA O M FF PU S Since 1950, when the Chinese government asserted its presence in Tibet, Tibetans have found a sense of community in various pockets around the world. In Boston, the small, tight-knit community finds itself struggling to maintain hope for a country to which they cannot return.
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APRIL 8, 2013
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sepa Poy glanced at the crowd of people surrounding him. He was at the center of attention, a clear leader despite his relatively young age. “We are here to protest China’s occupation of Tibet,” he announced through his loudspeaker to the public on a Sunday afternoon. Some onlookers stood by, curious at the mass of several hundred Tibetans who had descended upon Fanueil Hall that day. It was March 10, a date that stands out significantly for Tibetan communities around the world. On this date in 1959, a Tibetan revolt had occurred against the Chinese government in Lhasa, eventually leading to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the revered spiritual leader of Tibet, to flee to India, where he now lives in the mountain town of Dharamsala. Every year, the global Tibetan community gathers in pockets to protest the Chinese presence in Tibet with demonstrations, songs, and speeches. Earlier that morning, activists from the Boston area community had gathered at Government Center, where young leaders performed traditional song and dance before reading out letters of support from various US congressmen. The passion was palpable; members of the local community came out dressed in their traditional attire, a long dress known as the chuba, determined to showcase their national and cultural pride. Some hung placards around their necks, each with a black-and-white photograph of a Tibetan who had self-immolated. According to The International Campaign for Tibet, the number has risen to 111 since 2009, with the most recent occurring just a few days ago. In the middle of the protest, the Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive” suddenly blared through the square, causing the crowd, for the first time that day, to falter in their chants. A street performer had turned up the volume in response to the demonstration. It was an uncomfortable situation— the Tibetan crowd was unsure about how to react to the abrupt mockery. In a few minutes, reactions turned into anger, as a small group, some still with placards hung around their necks, walked briskly to the
S FF U O P AM C
FIGHTING FROM AFAR by Charmaine Poh performer for a confrontation. Poy, the activist leader in his late twenties, continued to encourage the crowd, trying his hardest to not get distracted by the potential conflict that was brewing at one end of the square. Eventually, with the help of police officers stationed around the area, the conflict was mediated, with the performer agreeing to turn off his music for the protest. A Tibetan lady shook hands with him, thanking him for his understanding, before returning to the demonstration. The entire encounter lasted only a few minutes, but the performer’s interruption was perhaps reflective of the international community’s response in general. Despite persistent movements like Students for a Free Tibet and the International Campaign
“
We’re fighting for basic human rights. In Tibet, if you hold up a picture of the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan flag, you’ll be arrested for it.
”
for Tibet, and the dramatic surge in selfimmolations, all the odds are still stacked against the Tibetans. The Chinese government has refused to budge, in spite of His Holiness’ request for autonomy rather than full independence. Instead, recent years have seen government policy growing stricter, with greater encouragement for mass Han Chinese immigration into Tibet in an effort to unite the area as part of China. Access into the region is similarly strictly monitored; tourists are currently only allowed on group tours booked through approved agencies. Most recently, Human Rights Watch reported the Chinese government’s plans to introduce a new surveillance policy known as grid management, which will see the construction of over 600 police-posts enabled with high-tech equipment to monitor daily life, as well as the building of volunteer security groups known as “Red Armband Patrols”. For many of the crowd members that afternoon, the immediate call seemed to
be for freedom and human rights, rather than any specific government policy. As the crowd moved towards Park Street in a procession, it was evident that this sentiment was shared among Tibetans of different backgrounds, from young children to the elderly. One of the most prominent youth present that day was Tenzin Chokki, a fresh-faced senior at Somerville High School. “We’re fighting for basic human rights,” she said at an interview in the apartment she shared with her family in Somerville’s Union Square. “In Tibet if you hold up a picture of the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan flag, you’ll be arrested for it,” she said, citing examples of harsh Chinese security implemented on daily Tibetan life. Chokki was born and raised in Dharamsala, India, and came to Boston as a refugee with her family in 2009. Dharamsala is the site of the Tibetan government in exile, and naturally where a large population of Tibetans resides. Despite having never seen Tibet herself, Chokki retains a strong connection to the country and its people. She attends the community’s weekly Sunday school in Central Square, where she learns the Tibetan language and takes part in music and dance lessons. The school, which rents out several rooms in the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) building, provides a gathering place for the Tibetan community to engage in, a much welcomed resource for the small but tight-knit refugee population. Boston’s Tibetan population currently numbers at around five to six hundred. Despite the odds, hope for a free Tibet seems unceasing among the Tibetan community. Every Wednesday evening, a small group gathers at Harvard Square to hold a vigil. One of the most regular attendees is an elderly man, known to the local Tibetan community as “Vigil Pala,” “pala” meaning “father” in Tibetan. He says that he is there every week, rain or shine. “My life is for Tibet until the day I die,” he said. “I will be here every week until Tibet is free.” O This article and photgraphs are part of an ongoing project by the author. APRIL 8, 2013
TUFTS OBSERVER
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Ex tras
Police Blotter TOO MUCH
OVER YOUR HEAD
Thursday, March 28th, 4:30 PM
Sunday, March 31st, 2:30 AM
Prospective students were gathered in Cabot Auditorium for an information session when a large number of students from the Tufts Divestment Group verbally accosted the presenter, disrupting the session by yelling about divesting from fossil fuels. When TUPD officers arrived, the uproar had already ended. It is unclear if Admissions paid the protestors to display acts of political activism or if they really thought that it was okay to do that.
FLASHY
PARTY FOUL
Friday, March 15th, 4:00 PM
A staff member was walking on Professors’ Row when a male stranger flashed her. The man, in his early twenties, was not a Tufts student. She immediately called TUPD, who identified the flasher and arrested him— only after interrogating every single member of Tufts Mountain Club first.
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TUFTS OBSERVER
TUPD received a call from Conwell Ave requesting medical assistance for an injured female. She and her friends had been drinking at “an establishment” in Davis Sq. As they were exiting the cab home, the student fell to the ground and struck her head on the pavement. She remained unconscious and unresponsive, and eventually post-gamed at Somerville Hospital.
APRIL 8, 2013
Sunday, March 31st, 12:43 AM
For the second time in two weeks, TUPD and Medford police were dispatched to a party on Bristol Ave. The officers told residents to clear out the 300 guests at the party while noticing several individuals urinating off of the second floor roof. A noise sounded when one of the residents tried to close the door and shut his hand in it. In that room, 50 party guests sought refuge. Said Sergeant McCarthy, “It’s been a problem house all year.”
You’ll have a chance to answer this question with ‘Tufts Before I Die,’ a community-based art installation coming soon to campus. Go to www.Facebook.com/TuftsBeforeIDie for more information about the project.
O
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