NEWS

ANGELA BASSETT AMERICAN ACTRESS

Students celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day

ALISIA PAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Communities worldwide celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Oct. 10; At Yale, programming will continue throughout the week.

BY BRIAN ZHANG STAFF REPORTER

Joy is taking center stage as Indigenous student groups on campus herald a week of Indigenous Peoples’ Day programming. This year’s schedule features meals, speaker panels and events — such as beading and smudging — hosted by the Native and Indigenous Student Association at Yale and the Native American Cultural Center.

“Something about Indigenous communities that I think most people don’t realize is that we laugh a lot and we tease each other a lot,” said Assistant Dean of Yale College Matthew Makomenaw, who also serves as the director of NACC.

For Makomenaw, this joy is not something one can read in a book or see in a panel. It comes with interpersonal interactions and collective laughter. The celebrations have greatly expanded in recent years, Makomenaw said, noting the full week’s worth of programming beyond Indigenous People’s Day on Oct. 10.

He said that in the ongoing journey to make Indigenous identities in America more visible, “happy celebration” should come hand-in-hand with academic education on the colonial genocide and systemic struggles that some Indigenous Americans have faced.

Makomenaw praised students for heralding the initiative and creating an interactive experience that transcends such academic structures and the preconceptions people have of Indigenous culture based on “westernized movies and books.”

NISAY chairperson Joaquín M. Lara Midkiff ’24 underscored joy as an integral part of the healing process.

“When I ask myself what it means to be Indigenous — and what it means to live and continue on [as] faithfully, fully and vividly as I can … it’s for all the millions of people who were robbed of the opportunity to do so,” Lara Midkiff said.

Lara Midkiff acknowledged the tension that comes with celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day in a city that has historically honored Columbus Day each fall.

Debate over the celebration of Columbus Day has ricocheted throughout New Haven in the last two years, with the city’s Board of Education voting in 2020 to redesignate Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day and remove Columbus’ name from a local school.

Lara Midkiff hopes that this week’s programming — beyond recognizing Indigenous “pride and patrimony” — will approach Columbus Day from a corrective lens and instead celebrate the people who have suffered most at the hands of American colonial projects.

“Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day cannot coexist,” agreed Nyché Andrew ’25, who is on the house staff at the NACC. “The latter has no honorable means of celebration given the history of colonialism.”

Both Makomenaw and Kala’i Anderson ’25, a peer liaison for the NACC, said that while events like Indigenous Peoples’ Day and other cultural heritage months are important in centering marginalized voices, there remains a need for a more persistent inclusion of those voices in the mainstream narrative.

Yale should continue to educate itself on its colonial history, Anderson said. He mentioned a recent trip to Vassar College during which he and a group of Native Hawaiian students, along with Native and Indigenous Studies Assistant Professor Hi’ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart, returned iwi kūpuna — native Hawaiian skeletal remains — that had been in Yale’s possession to a repatriation group that met them in New York.

Makomenaw urged students to take advantage of the yearround programs offered by the University’s cultural centers, which provide them with opportunities to connect with each other as well as to get a glimpse into Yale’s diverse communities. The events, similar to this week’s programming, welcome students of all backgrounds, Indigenous or not.

“Visibility is important,” Makomenaw said. “Part of the role of students and myself is to push towards having more representation of Indigenous identities in the curriculum, the faculty, and the staff. But just as important is smiling and having a good laugh. Seeing students gather today to eat cake prepared by an Indigenous staff member, taking pictures and enjoying the time with one another, that made me really proud.”

The Yale University Press’ 2022 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Reading List can be found here.

Contact BRIAN ZHANG at brian.zhang@yale.edu .

Endowment returns may be lower than reported

BY EVAN GORELICK STAFF REPORTER

The University seems to have preserved its capital in a year marked by volatility and shrinking college endowments.

But experts say that the way certain assets are priced may mean Yale’s true returns are lower than reported.

Their analysis hinges on the pricing of illiquid assets — assets that cannot be quickly converted to cash, such as real estate, private equity and venture capital. These assets, which have no concrete market value until they are sold, must be estimated when reporting returns, and during downturns could be estimated more favorably to aid otherwise poor numbers.

“It’s hard to know for sure what these investments are worth at any point in time, and any endowment that invests heavily in illiquid assets is really just producing estimates of the portfolio’s fair market value each year,” NYU Stern School of Business professor David Yermack wrote to the News.

Alternative investments refer broadly to non-traditional assets, which are often illiquid. These assets were particularly difficult to appraise in 2022, Yermack wrote, because a slow economy translated to fewer transactions and less data on which to base an estimation.

The Yale School of Management’s James Choi and institutional fund expert Charles Skorina also described illiquid assets as a point of difficulty in estimating the endowment’s returns. Overall, the analysis suggests that Yale’s endowment return could be lower than the 0.8 percent gain the University posted last week.

Nevertheless, Yale’s numbers this year outperformed those so far released by its peer institutions, which Skorina said is relevant given that other endowments may be similarly vulnerable to pricing imprecision. So far, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College and Duke University have all reported negative or near-zero endowment returns.

As of 2019, about 60 percent of Yale’s portfolio was allocated to alternative investments, implying that reported returns depend in large part on estimated values.

For over 35 years, David Swensen managed the Yale endowment under “The Yale Model,” a framework for institutional investing that he developed alongside then-senior endowment director Dean Takahashi.

The Yale Model favors broad diversification of assets, allocating less to traditional U.S. equities and bonds and more to alternative investments like private equity, venture capital, hedge funds and real estate. Swensen passed away last year, but the Yale Model has remained the University’s primary investing scheme — and has become the industry standard over the last three decades.

A revolutionary idea of the Yale Model is that liquidity — the ability to quickly buy or sell an asset without drastically changing its price — can be undesirable. The bulk of Yale’s investments are illiquid, and thus difficult to value. Until they are sold, the value of these assets can only be estimated, often using a combination of complex market analysis, mathematical models and subjective reasoning.

But the model’s strong preference for alternative investments makes Yale’s endowment numbers much more susceptible to estimation-based imprecision.

That imprecision could “[apply] more to Yale than any other university, given its very large over-weighting of so-called alternative investments,” Yermack wrote.

Imprecision itself can also be difficult to pinpoint because of the Investment Office’s reliance on third-party managers. Instead of carrying out in-house investing for specialized assets, the Office generally delegates to external investment managers, allowing Yale to diversify its investments more than it could otherwise.

Heavy reliance on investment managers has made manager selection at Yale a famously deliberate process. According to the Yale Investments Office website, Yale’s “superior manager selection” contributed 2.4 percent per annum of outperformance relative to the median university endowment.

While these third-party managers can boost returns, they can also make accurate asset valuations more difficult.

“The smartest people on earth can’t figure out what these assets are worth until they sell them,” Skorina told the News. “If a private equity firm tells Yale an asset is worth some amount, how do they really know that?”

The Yale Investments Office confirmed that it “generally uses valuations provided by its investment managers.”

“The majority” of these managers report their investments at fair market value in compliance with Accounting Standards Codification 820, the Investments Office reported.

“Determination of fair value relies upon several accepted valuation methodologies: third-party appraisals, similar

AMAY TEWARI/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The University’s recent 0.8 percent gain may not represent the portfolio’s true return, experts told the News.

transactions, marketable comparables, option pricing models and discounted cash flow models,” an Investments Office spokesperson wrote in an email to the News.

The spokesperson said that the Office believes its valuation procedures are currently applied in a manner consistent with standard industry practice and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP, which are guidelines imposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Skorina told the News that, regardless of these precautions, there is “wiggle room” — particularly in private equity and venture capital.

“Swensen was terrific,” Skorina said. “There is beauty in alternative assets. Everyone has a vested interest in showing wonderful gains and minimizing losses. But, until an asset is sold, there’s a lot of flexibility around what you can say it’s worth.”

Other experts, including Rutgers Business School professor John Longo and School of Management professors William English, wrote to the News that Yale’s performance was good considering the market circumstances.

Choi, however, pointed out that this does not mean Yale’s published returns are totally reliable.

“That return looks pretty good, considering that an investment in the S&P 500 that reinvested dividends back into the index lost 11 percent over the same period,” Choi wrote in an email to the News. “The caveat is … there’s evidence that private equity managers smooth out reported returns over time, rather than recognizing the full impact of market losses and gains immediately. That sort of smoothing would temporarily make endowment losses look less severe.”

Skorina explained that this smoothing can happen any year, but, when the market is doing worse, these problems are often more pronounced because “there is a greater incentive to cheat.”

This year, Yale’s returns were their lowest since the Great Recession, when the endowment tanked nearly 25 percent.

After large university endowments dropped record levels in 2009, a 68-page report released in May 2010 argued that “the endowment model of investing is broken. Whatever long-term gains it may have produced for colleges and universities in the past must now be weighed more fully against its costs — to campuses, to communities and to the wider financial system that has come under such severe stress.”

In response to the report, Mark Yusko, a veteran endowment manager and the founder of Morgan Creek Capital Management, argued in a video interview that the endowment model — a more general name for Swensen’s Yale Model — remains the most viable proposition for long-term investors.

However, he commented that pricing obscurities can have an outsized impact on reported performance now that large endowments depend so heavily on alternative investments.

“You can’t fault the endowments, but they’re just as aware of the issue as everyone else,” Skorina said.

The S&P 500, short for “Standard & Poor’s 500,” was introduced in 1957 to track the value of 500 large corporations on the New York Stock Exchange.

SPORTS

CHRISTINE ERNST '76 FORMER CREW CAPTAIN.

Field Hockey falls to Harvard, UMass

BY BETSY GOOD CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

After a hard-fought weekend, the Yale field hockey team fell to two Massachusetts schools.

The Bulldogs (6–5, 1–2 Ivy) traveled to Cambridge to play Harvard University (8–3, 3–0 Ivy) on Friday at the Berylson Family Field Hockey Field before hosting the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (10-3, 3-1, A-10) on Sunday.

The Crimson scored twice in the first 10 minutes against the Bulldogs during the game on Friday in Cambridge. The Blue and White played aggressively for the rest of the game, but two more goals from Harvard came in the second and third period. The Bulldogs remained goalless on Friday with the final score reading 4–0.

About a minute into the second period, Ellie Barlow ’25 took a penalty corner that midfielder Théodora Dillman ’23 attempted to convert into a goal, but was blocked by the Crimson’s goalkeeper. Bulldog goalie Luanna Summer ’24 maintained strong form by securing six saves as she played all 60 minutes for the Bulldogs.

“I’m most looking forward to getting back into Ivy play and proving ourselves within the league. Our team goal is top three and that is still very achievable,” Keely Comizio ’25, a sophomore on the team, said. “After this weekend we realized we need to come into every game believing we are as good as the teams we are playing and not start playing scared where we then concede a goal and are forced to come from behind.”

On Sunday, the Bulldogs came home to New Haven to take on the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (10–3, 3–1 Atlantic 10) for family weekend at Johnson Field.

The Minutewomen began play by scoring a goal 54 seconds into the game. Although the Minutewomen had the opportunity to put another goal in with six penalty corners throughout the match, goalie Summer remained strong for the second game in a row.

In the tenth and 11th minutes of the first period, the Bulldogs attempted six shots. While the Bulldogs fought hard, the Minutewomen did not let any goals in, leaving the Bulldogs scoreless again this weekend.

“The highlight of the weekend was Sunday, when we debriefed as a team,” coach Gonzalez wrote to the News. “The group has big goals and they’re willing to work towards them. Our focus is set on continually improving and the games ahead.”

The Bulldogs attempted 11 shots against the Minutewomen and Summers completed four saves throughout the game.

Looking ahead, the Blue and White will host Columbia to continue their Ivy League play on Friday.

“In practice, we plan to continue to work hard to get back on track and secure an Ivy win against Columbia.” Julia Freedman ’25 said.

Yale will also host Lafayette on Sunday at Johnson Field.

Contact BETSY GOOD at betsy.good@yale.edu.

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS

Looking ahead, the Blue and White will host Columbia to continue their Ivy League play on Friday.

Seven Bulldogs advance to Super Regionals

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS

The Bulldogs will begin their spring season in late January. Their schedules have yet to be released.

BY GRAYSON LAMBERT STAFF RERPORTER

Both the Yale men’s and women’s tennis teams kicked off October with powerful performances at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association individual competition in singles and doubles.

Singles victories at the ITA Northeast Regionals at Penn this weekend qualified Walker Oberg ’25 and Aidan Reilly ’25 for the ITA Super Regionals at Harvard, where they will join doubles team Theo Dean ’24 and Michael Sun ’23, who previously qualified. Wins in the finals of the ITA Women’s Northeast Regionals at Dartmouth earned Ann Wright Guerry ’26 and Vivian Cheng ’23 spots at their Super Regionals at home later this month. There, they will join Chelsea Kung ’23 who previously earned a spot.

“Ann Wright Guerry had a great performance at ITA regionals,” women’s head coach Rachel Kahan said. “Especially as a first year, to qualify for super regionals is very impressive. I was proud of how we competed in general and adjusted our games when needed. We are continuing to improve our doubles and making big courageous moves.”

At Super Regionals, players will vie for a spot at the ITA National Fall Championships, which will be held in San Diego from Nov. 2 to Nov. 6.

The National Championships will feature 32 of the nation’s strongest singles players in both men’s and women’s competition for a combined 64 players. In doubles, 32 of the strongest teams from each side will compete for a combined 64 doubles teams.

“I am looking forward to Harvard next weekend for Super Regionals,” Oberg said. “Looking ahead, I am excited to be back in the team environment cheering on everyone.”

In practice, Oberg noted that he has been working on his serve and backhand in anticipation of his upcoming competition. Oberg earned his Super Regionals spot after cruising to a 7–6, 6–1 victory over St. John’s Axel Vila Antuna.

Although Reilly lost the first set to the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Nejc Skorjanc, he rebounded and secured wins of 6–0, 6–3 in the second and third sets to qualify for Super Regionals.

Sun and Dean qualified as a doubles team for the Super Regionals in an earlier round at the Northeast Regionals.

“I think all of the guys that qualified, and even most that didn’t, have been improving considerably over the last year,” men’s head coach Chris Drake said. “Aidan made some significant technical changes this summer that are paying off, and Walker has really increased his focus throughout this fall.”

Cheng earned her spot at the upcoming competition at Yale via a 6–3, 6–3 victory over Brown’s Sophia Edwards. Guerry posted a victory over Boston College’s Addie Ahlstrom in a super tie-breaker (10–5). Cheng and Guerry will compete alongside Kung, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year in the Super Regionals.

Earlier this month, Kung played at the ITA All-American Championships where only the top 64 Women’s DI players competed in the qualifying round. In Kung’s first match of qualifying, she beat LSU’s Safiya Carrington. However, Kung ultimately fell to UCLA’s Kimmi Hance 6–1, 6–4 in the second round.

Players from both teams not competing in Super Regionals this weekend will have the opportunity to compete in other invitationals. Members of the men’s team will travel to Dartmouth, while members of the women’s team will venture to Brown. These players will get a glimpse at Ivy competition ahead of the spring season.

The Bulldogs will begin their spring season in late January. Their schedules have yet to be released.

Contact GRAYSON LAMBERTat grayson.lambert@yale.edu.

Football picks up first win against Dartmouth since 2016

BY AMELIA LOWER AND SPENCER KING STAFF REPORTERS

The Bulldogs (3–1, 2–0 Ivy) took down Dartmouth (1–3, 0–2 Ivy) in their second Ivy League game of the season, pushing their win streak up to three.

Donning new commemorative jerseys this Saturday, the Yale football team started off in a deficit before soaring back to secure a 24–21 victory over the Big Green. The game came down to the last minute with Dartmouth in possession, but middle linebacker Hamilton Moore ’23 ended the game with an interception at the Dartmouth 15-yard line.

“We say all the time that we have to be ready to win on the last play,” head coach Tony Reno told Yale Athletics. “[Moore] made an amazing play to close it out. For our team, it was really special.”

Yale’s win against Dartmouth was its first since 2016.

With under three minutes left in the first quarter, Dartmouth quarterback Dylan Cadwallader made a 12-yard pass to wide receiver Jonny Barrett for the Big Green’s first touchdown of the game. Cadwallader filled in for quarterback Nick Howard and completed 28 passes on 45 attempts during the game.

Despite a first period where both teams were getting a sense of the other, the Bulldogs entered the second quarter down in score but determined to take the lead.

Over five minutes into the second, quarterback Nolan Grooms ’24 ran the ball in on a designed quarterback keep to score a five-yard touchdown, and kicker Jack Bosman ’24 added the extra point to tie the game. Grooms had a total 90 rushing yards during the game and was 19-of-22 in the air, throwing for 170 yards and a touchdown.

“Every league win is important [and] the team played well,” offensive lineman and team captain Nick Gargiulo ’23 said. “The offense did a nice job establishing the run and dictating the tempo of the game, [and] the defense was able to force two key turnovers that shifted the momentum of the game.”

Following Grooms’ touchdown, it was the Eli defense’s turn to shine. With the game knotted at seven, Dartmouth seemed poised to take the lead, as they drove the ball to the Yale 15-yard line. Big Green running back Q Jones took a hand off all the way down to the Yale one-yard-line where Moore and sophomore cornerback Sean Guyton ’25 stacked him up to prevent the touchdown.

As Moore and Guyton worked to bring down Jones, Bulldogs safety Brandon Benn ’24 jumped on top of the pile and ripped the ball out before falling on it himself to force a momentum-shifting turnover.

Following the fumble, the Yale offense worked its way down the field, and with 16 seconds remaining in the half, Bosman made a 41-yard field goal to give Team 149 a threepoint lead at the break.

After a halftime show featuring the Amistad drumline from Achievement First Amistad High School in New Haven, wide receiver Mason Tipton ’24 reeled in a 25-yard pass from Grooms in the endzone to cap off a 96-yard scoring drive. Tipton led the Elis in receiving for the second time in four games with six catches for 73 yards.

Three minutes later, running back Tre Peterson ’24 tallied another six points with a two-yard run into the endzone.

Prior to Moore’s game-sealing interception, Peterson was the story of the game, as the junior running back ran rampant through the Big Green defense all afternoon. The game marked the second straight Saturday in which Peterson has gone over 100 yards, as he followed a 144-yard performance against Howard with a career best 173 yards on 28 carries.

The Bulldog running back’s performance did not go unnoticed, as he won the New England Football Writers Association Gold Helmet Award as the outstanding performer of the week and was also named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week.

Despite Yale’s strong 24–7 lead, Dartmouth attempted to come back in the fourth frame. Cadwallader scored off a seven-yard run, and kicker Ryan Bloch added an extra point to cut the deficit to 10.

With 1:44 left in the game, Cadwallader made a 23-yard pass to wide receiver Paxton Scott, bringing the Big Green within three points of an overtime game.

The tension on the Yale sideline grew, as Dartmouth maintained possession in the final minute of the game. Facing the possibility of overtime, the Bulldog defense worked to keep the Big Green at bay, holding Dartmouth to 20 total yards rushing over the course of the game — the Big Green’s lowest output in a decade.

Dartmouth took over the ball at their own 13-yard line following a Yale punt with 41 seconds left in the game, leaving them an opportunity to drive the length

YALE ATHLETICS

The Bulldogs will kickoff against Bucknell at noon next Saturday at the Class of 1954 Field at the Yale Bowl.

of the field for a tying field goal or game-winning touchdown.

Operating out of the shotgun, Cadwallader took the snap before firing a ball to the left sideline, looking for a quick throw and catch to start the drive. Moore, however, had other ideas, as he reached his right hand in front of the Dartmouth receiver, tipping the ball into the air. Before it landed, he was able to secure it for an interception to seal the Bulldogs’ second Ivy League win of the season.

“Just wanted to thank our coach for putting us in a lot of two-minute situational drills during practice,” Moore said. “It wasn’t our first time doing that, and [we knew] that they were looking to go for the sidelines.”

In addition to his late-game heroics, Moore also led the team with nine tackles on the day and was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week.

Other key players for the Blue and White were wide receiver David Pantelis ’25, who had eight catches for 67 yards, and defensive back Wande Owens ’23 who had seven tackles. Defensive linemen Tamatoa McDonough ’25 and Clay Patterson ’24 each added a sack.

“There are areas where we need to improve,” Gargiulo said. “[We’re] looking forward to our last out-of-conference game this weekend against Bucknell.”

The Bulldogs will kickoff against Bucknell at noon next Saturday at the Class of 1954 Field at the Yale Bowl.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2022

ONE MORE NIGHT WEEKEND AT BROADWAY

// BY BRIAN ZHANG & HANNAH QU

Sometimes,

I wish I were Broadway with rainwashed streets and bitter winters that never faze buildings standing so tall, a repertoire of motorcycles and quiet nights that startle, cheek to cheek, skin against skin always managing to draw life back to this place in the city where there’s never a shortage of visitors or feelings or people. I love people I hope people love me too

When I sit hungover in Gheav sharing avocado chips with my girlfriends and earbuds with my boyfriend Old pop songs airing from older speakers I tell myself: I wish I were Broadway because these moments the color of pastels that I love so much I want to keep them, like I still keep the farmer’s market carnations he bought for me, now dry and brown on my nightstand I look at them as I try to sleep. And I can’t sleep. I’m scared of closing these eyes because I know that I’ll fi nd myself alone when I open them. People I used to hold around my chest leaving me for new cities that never sleep, surrounded by new names I’ll never know Forgetting me. Wait, hold on, What about me? What about me? I wish I were Broadway My head craves aspirins, pangs with jealousy of these streets That get to keep their memories forever Deep in graveled soil, Protected by asphalt Layered and relayered underneath New Haven snow, I’m jealous of this place with buildings always standing so tall And never a shortage of visitors or people or life or feelings

When I’m rushing to class, and a hungry man stops me, Asks me to buy him a bacon, egg and cheese I tell myself: I wish I were Broadway Because Broadway would never turn someone down, Broadway is home, Broadway would never say no And yet I do, I say no when I know I should be saying yes I say no because I think People are watching — why do I care about who is looking? People are staring — are they really staring, though? I say no because my two feet are always on the move and I’m not used to stopping and helping, I only know how to walk, walk, and walk away And so I do, Wishing I were Broadway as I lie that I have a class to return to, no change in my pockets I wish I were Broadway Buildings always standing tall Never a shortage of visitors, Always home, always here, never leaving I love people How do I love people? Do I love people? When it’s senior year of college, and I’m wondering Where all this time went, slipped past my fi ngers like water, pricked them like pins, nursed them like blankets I’m trying to remember the happys, the sads, the dids and didn’ts, The bright lights and the birthdays — 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 That kind girl in the dining hall who always waved hi That boy from Russian class who I never said hi to again It’s so hard to remember, because this place is home and I never needed to remember home All I know is how to live in one, But when I wake up tomorrow and see that the world will have moved on Just a bit Friends parted for di erent lives, leaving our past blowing away with the autumn leaves, pumpkin-spice weather When I wake up in the morning and see graduation balloons, tied on fences — mostly blue and white but all the other colors, too I ask myself if home is still here Am I proud of myself? Did I give more than I took? Is this it? So this is it? What now that I’m fi nally free? It doesn’t feel free.

And fi nally, when I revisit this place on my tenth year reunion, seeing how much everyone has changed, fathers, mothers, toddlers holding burgers, editors at The New Yorker I can’t help but put my hands in my pockets awkwardly, nervously, like the fi rst day of freshman year I can’t help but look at these rainwashed streets, listening to deafening motorcycles, Catching the snow on my tongue, Running past the Willoughby’s down the street, where I see two boys drinking peppermint tea behind the glass windows. They look familiar, and I wonder if He’s still there. If I’m still there. If we’re still there, together. Will he recognize me? He doesn’t. I keep walking, and I keep wishing I were Broadway buildings always standing tall Never a shortage of visitors or people or life or feelings. I want to stay here Please let me stay, I need to Stay. Will you let me Stay? Will you Stay with me one more night?

Sometimes, I wish I were Broadway so much that I repeat it to myself. “I wish I were Broadway” over and over again In and out of Urban Outfi tters From one frat party to another, friends on my shoulders and mine on theirs Up and down the streets so bright and cold And warm and dark and silent and loud Until I become, until I am I repeat it to myself until I am Broadway. I’m exhausted, but these words roll o my tongue, molding cement around my feet and grounding me in a permanence made of human soul I belong right here, History belongs to me I am history, and I’m not going anywhere.

I don’t need to know you to remember everything about us.

Contact HANNAH QU at hannah.qu@yale.edu and BRIAN ZHANG at brian.zhang@yale.edu .

HOROSCOPE

// CLARISSA TAN

// BY MARSHALL ADAMS

Aries

Feeling frustrated? Take it out on your suitemates! Now is the time to put yourself fi rst. You were born to crush these midterms – and maybe the people around you in the process.

Taurus

Skip that class. If you nap for long enough, the readings you have due tomorrow will simply cease to exist. It’s true – I read it in the stars.

Gemini

You’re having a terrible week because I said so. I don’t trust you – you literally have two faces. Sorry, but not really sorry.

Cancer

Midterms are well underway, meaning you’re probably going to spend the majority of this week trying not to cry. Spoiler alert: it won’t work. Cue the waterworks. Leo

We’ve gotten to the point in the semester where you’ve realized you’re just a small fi sh in the big pond. If that’s not the case, sorry to have broken the news to you! Your ego will cope.

Virgo

You’re probably in the midst of a nervous breakdown. Embrace the mess. After all, you have absolutely no other choice! The only way out is through.

Libra

It’s your season. You’re almost defi nitely thriving right now, and I kind of resent you for it. Enjoy your birthday dinner at Harvest while the rest of us go down in fl ames.

Scorpio

The imminent prospect of Halloween is the only thing keeping you going right now. Cling onto that hope and don’t let go. School might be kicking your ass, but you bet your goth makeup will put everyone to shame come Oct. 31. Sagittarius

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Good job on tuning out the noise – your liver might not thank you, but your sanity’s staying intact! At least until your GPA comes in.

Capricorn

It’s recruiting season for fi nance, but you already knew that. I have literally no other news for you. Do we even go to the same school?

Aquarius

What’s going on with you? Where even are you right now? Call your mom. She misses you.

Pisces

Now is not the time for introspection. Go people-watching on Cross Campus and be reminded of how ugly Handsome Dan is. I promise, it’ll make you feel better.

Contact MARSHALL ADAMS at marshall.adams@yale.edu .

ODE TO TOMATO-EGGS

// BY KAYLA YUP

My inner child often escapes. She knows I cannot ground her — college students are tethered to nothing but air. Removed from home, life shifts around us like a giant rubix cube. Instead, she teaches me to be grounded in sensations. To relish thick, gusty winds that envelop me like a weighted blanket. To trust a taste as simple as Commons’ tomato-eggs to bring me home.

Every Chinese person I know was shocked to see tomato-eggs o ered by Lotus. It’s an unexpected love story. If tomato-eggs is the classic ‘boy-next-door,’ then Lotus is the ‘it’ girl. Everyone wants her or wants to be her. She’s hot, popular, bold — her devotees wrap around Commons like a conga line. But for some reason, Lotus picked tomato-eggs and his simple, small town charm.

The marriage of scrambled eggs and tomatoes is foreign to the Western world. After all, Chinese restaurants rarely serve it. It feels like a secret. Tomato-eggs is the defi nition of comfort food, often the fi rst dish a Chinese kid learns how to cook. Having grown up on cafeteria lunches, I’d learned to lower my expectations when ethnic food was on a school menu. But to everyone’s surprise, Lotus delivered a rendition that tasted authentic, that captured the classic sweet and sour tang. Either they had a real Chinese person behind the menu or there was a Chinese Ratatouille hiding under their chef hats.

As the nosy person I am, I arranged to interview six members of the Lotus team to fi nd out how they unlocked this cultural gem. Spoiler alert, the tomato-eggs dish — now o the menu — tasted authentic because it was.

The current menus for Lotus were developed by Executive Chef David Kuzma and Cooks Helper Sherry (Xuewei) Chen. Kuzma was the one who actually pitched the dish. He had traveled to Beijing around nine years ago, where he stumbled upon the combination of eggs and tomatoes. When he proposed the idea to Chen, who was of Chinese heritage, she brought it to life. Four years ago, Chen had started at Yale Hospitality as a dishwasher. When Lotus launched, she began to cook, striving to bring her own vision to the menu.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was ever going to make it to the menu because it was such a comfort food,” Chen said. “The tomatoand-egg dish was actually the fi rst dish I ever learned how to make … I was nine years old.”

The recipe for tomato-eggs is not something you get from a cookbook. It is simple, yet intimate — a tradition passed down. Francis Lam, a writer also of Chinese heritage, states in his New York Times piece that the tomato-eggs recipe would have to come to him through his people or not at all.

“Calling up my mother to ask her, I knew, would be like asking her to describe how to tie shoelaces: almost impossible to articulate, buried so deep in her muscle memory,” Lam writes.

Growing up in New Haven, Chen learned how to make the dish by watching her grandma. She would proceed to cook the dish whenever her grandma visited. Chen adapted the recipe for Lotus’ rendition, with the only modifi cation being some added hoisin sauce. While this allowed the Lotus dish to capture the dish’s core fl avors, naturally, it is impossible to match every Chinese individual’s way of cooking it. My mother’s tomato-eggs is usually juicier. Chen’s own sister likes to add a little bit of ketchup.

Seeking to learn my mother’s recipe, I watched her make the dish, taking pictures and jotting down notes. She found it amusing. To her, the way she cooks tomato-eggs is nothing special. To me, it is a family secret: the way her pillowy eggs float perfectly in a tangy pool of tomato juices. A generational gift.

“For me the secret ingredient is ketchup,” Commons-goer Yuen Ning Chang ’25 said. “It brings out a sort of sweet and sour tang, and you don’t even need sugar.”

Admittedly, my family uses sugar. But I trust the origins: my grandmother was always the one called up when her village needed good catering. My mother learned by watching her, emphasizing the slight tartness of the tomatoes and balancing the salt with a little bit of sugar. Now I’m her mirror. I like to think that her own inner child is at play, grounded in the inherited comfort written all over my face.

Chen and Lobsang Dolma, another cooks helper, described students regularly approaching them about the dish. I didn’t doubt it — I had already seen countless Chinese Yalies post the dish on their Instagram accounts, as if it were a beacon of Chinese culture.

“There are six of us sitting here talking about tomato-and-egg,” Adam Millman, senior director of Yale Hospitality, said. “Something so simple, but that is so important because it means something to you. It’s something that you and your friends grew up with and it gives you that little sense of comfort. As homesickness sets in, having that comfort of remembering that you ate it with your family at home is reassuring.”

Amid the usual instability of life, Commons o ers consistency. Humans are creatures of habit. We like to be surprised, but not too surprised. We seek a constant fl avor, something to ground us. Something to bring us back to a memory, to make college feel a little less lonely. It’s why I ate Lotus’ tomato-eggs multiple times a week.

As heartwarming as it was to see the dish brought to life at Yale, I must acknowledge that tomato-eggs is gone. O the menu. In the grave. But I’m not too worried. Every time I return home during breaks, I see six juicy tomatoes on the counter and a fresh carton of eggs in the fridge. It’s a love language that sparks fl uent dialogue between my mother and me. It welcomes me home. In a world that keeps on spinning, tomato-eggs manages to ground my wayward inner child, tethering her to generations’ worth of love.

// ARIEL KIM

Contact KAYLA YUP at kayla.yup@yale.edu .

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