2011-3-29

THE TUFTS DAILY

Windy 44/27

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

VOLUME LXI, NUMBER 37

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Tufts permits withdrawal from Japan program Bike-share program to be unveiled this week by

Corinne Segal

The university is currently in the process of deciding whether its study abroad program located in Kanazawa, Japan should continue in the wake of recent concerns about radioactive leakage from nuclear plants, according to Associate Dean of Programs Abroad Sheila Bayne.

The university, in a March 18 email to the five students in the Tufts-inJapan program, authorized a voluntary departure and tuition refund for the five students currently studying in Kanazawa, according to junior Ezra Salzman-Gubbay, who recently returned to the United States from the program in Kanazawa.

The university decides to authorize voluntary departure from its programs abroad “if the situation is such that we feel that students should have the option of leaving the program without penalty,” Bayne said. Administrators decided that the crisis in Japan fit such criteria.

The university has asked students to inform them by today whether they wish to receive a tuition refund, according to Salzman-Gubbay.

International concern has focused on the safety of Japan’s nuclear reactors since a March 11 9.0-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami damaged several nuclear facilities, most notably the complex at Fukushima Daiichi.

The university will decide whether to continue the program by April 12, when the program’s next semester is scheduled to begin, according to Bayne. She added that the university was continuing to monitor the situation, which she said is evolving daily.

“Just like everybody else, we’re reading the news, looking at the State Department travel advisory, trying to gather as much information as possible,” Bayne said.

“We’re monitoring the situation to see whether the program should continue or not,” Bayne said.

Soon after the university authorized a voluntary departure, administrators Daily Editorial Board

by

Minyoung Song

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts Bikes, a student organization dedicated to spreading bike accessibility at Tufts, will launch its bike-share program this Friday, showcasing a fleet of new bicycles available for student use as early as this weekend.

The kickoff event, which will feature a bike parade, informational booths manned by bike-advocacy organizations and a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by University President Lawrence Bacow, will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. on the Mayer Campus Center upper patio.

The bikes will be available for student use this weekend, at which time riders can check out a bike, helmet, lock and keys at the Tisch Library circulation desk for free using their Tufts ID, according to Tufts Bikes President Sally Sharrow, a senior. The bikes will be divided between two bike rack stations — one outside of the entrance to Tisch and another at the campus center’s upper patio — and can be borrowed for up to eight hours.

The effort is made possible through the $50,000 that the TCU Senate allocated in surplus funds to Tufts Bikes in November. With the funds, the group last month purchased 30 bikes from manufacturer Kona, according to group treasurer Karen Andres. With a wholesale discount, the bikes were priced at $300 apiece, Andres, a senior, said.

The organization bought two different models of Kona bikes, which Sharrow said have a reputation for being easy to ride and maintain. The 20 Kona AfricaBikes and 10 WorldBikes are versatile and sturdy, making them ideal for heavy use on a college campus, she said.

The group’s choice of Kona as a provider had the additional benefit of helping to reduce poverty abroad, according to Andres.

“Every two AfricaBikes you buy, they donate a bike to aid workers in Africa,” Andres said. see BIKES, page 2

Mountain Club reaches out with resource center, courses by

Brent Yarnell

Daily Editorial Board

For students hoping to explore the great outdoors as the weather warms, Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) this month launched the Outdoor Resource Center (ORC), a new initiative bringing wilderness education to campus.

“The purpose of the Outdoor Resource Center is to increase the outdoor skill and abilities of mountain club members as well as the general Tufts community,” TMC president Joshua Elliott, a sophomore, said.

Future programming will include rock climbing workshops and various instructional sessions like compass reading, he added.

“We hope to … encourage those with less experience in the outdoors to try new activities and meet new people, experience new things,” Elliott said.

The ORC leaders’ next program will bring Stonehearth Open Learning

Opportunities (SOLO), a school offering wilderness medicine and safety education across the country, to campus to provide the Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course, according to TMC’s On-Campus Director Daniel Meer.

The two-day first-aid course aims to provide students with the particular skills needed to handle emergencies in the wilderness, freshman Anna Graham, who helped organize the event, said.

Outdoor emergency care requires special skills that aren’t part of conventional first-aid training, according to Graham.

“First aid is a good thing to know anywhere, but in the wilderness it’s different because you don’t have access to normal things like proper medical equipment,” Graham said. “You have to be able to improvise.”

Upon completion of the course, students will earn a WFA certification, see ORC, page 2

Inside this issue

MCT

The nuclear crisis in Japan has prompted the university to allow a voluntary withdrawal from Tufts’ study abroad program in Kanazawa. sent another email requesting that students consider returning to the United States temporarily, SalzmanGubbay said.

The university provided all students with round-trip plane tickets to leave for two weeks and return on April 9, shortly before the start of the program’s second semester, SalzmanGubbay said.

“We asked our five students on the Tufts-in-Japan program to consider leaving Japan during the later portion of their semester break — which is not over until early April — while we were further assessing the situation,” Director of Communication for Arts and Sciences Anne Fishman said in an email to the Daily. “However, the individual decisions they made to return to their homes or stay in Japan were their own.”

Two students on the Tufts program, including Salzman-Gubbay, have returned to the United States and are scheduled to return to Japan on April 9, Bayne said.

In a March 20 Skype chat among the five students, Bayne and Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences James Glaser, three students indicated that they did not plan to follow the university’s direction to return home, Salzman-Gubbay said.

Bayne asked the three students who chose to stay in the country to inform the university of their decision within an hour of the Skype conversation so that they could cancel the flight reservations in a timely manner, he said.

The university also asked them to sign see JAPAN, page 2

Comedy Central’s Nick Swardson to perform at Spring Comedy Show next week Comedian and actor Nick Swardson will perform at this year’s Spring Comedy Show at the Somerville Theater on April 7, Entertainment Board confirmed this week.

Swardson is best known for his roles in the films “Grandma’s Boy” (2006) and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” (2007), the TV show “Reno 911!” (20032009), his Comedy Central sketch comedy show “Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time,” and multiple Comedy Central specials.

Entertainment Board co-chair Chris Kudlack said the board had more flexibility in choosing the spring performer than in previous years because of extra funding left over after the expected fall comedy show performer, Michael Ian Black, withdrew from the appearance.

“Since the fall show didn’t work out, we decided to have a little different approach and see first of all which comedians would be in the area and we could actually rely on to go to Tufts,” Kudlack, a junior, said.

Entertainment Board co-chair Austin Glassner said the leftover funds meant they were able to upgrade from the lower-

profile acts of previous years.

“Instead of trying to get two up-andcoming smaller ones [this semester], we tried to go for a bigger one,” he said.

Kudlack said the board chose Swardson based on the popularity of his work in television.

“Looking through that list of comedians, Nick stood out very well because I know him very well, I’ve seen him on TV, his standup specials are hilarious, and I figured a lot of people … knew his name,” Kudlack said. “He’s just a hilarious guy.

I figured that would definitely fill up the Somerville Theatre and be a success.”

Glassner said that even if people do not instantly recognize Swardson’s name, they will most likely recognize him from his work.

“He’s kind of the thing where once you see his face, you know instantly who he is,” Glassner, a junior, said.

Tickets for the show are now on sale at the Mayer Campus Center.

—by Laina Piera

Today’s sections

Legal or not, street performance — or basking — appeals to artists across the globe.

Fox has an impressive lineup of comedies and is starting to move away from the cheap laughs of “Family Guy.”

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts | Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Sports Classifieds

9 10 11 15

2

The Tufts Daily

News

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Thirty bikes to be available for free use starting this weekend BIKES

continued from page 1

Andrew Morgenthaler/Tufts Daily

Tufts Bikes will on Friday launch its bike-sharing program at a kickoff event featuring free food and a parade of 30 newly purchased Kona bikes.

Tufts Bikes Vice President Neil Aronson, a freshman, hopes that the bike-share program will induce a visible change in the Tufts community.

“One of our main goals is to make Tufts Bikes a staple of campus culture,” Aronson said.

The opening celebration is designed to inform the broader Tufts community of the group’s commitment to making bikes readily accessible for all wishing to use them, Sharrow said.

All 30 bikes will be on display during the celebration and will be ridden through campus along Professors Row and Talbot Avenue as part of a parade, according to Sharrow.

“At this little parade, members of Tufts Bikes will be riding the bikes,” she said.

All members of the Tufts community are welcome to participate in the event, Andres said.

“People are invited to bring their bikes,” she said.

Tufts Bikes representatives will be on hand at the launch to inform students about the services offered by the group and about the logistics of the bike-sharing program, Andres said.

The launch will also feature various educational stations community members can visit to learn more about bike resources on campus and in the Boston area.

“We’re going to have a number of tables from different vendors — local bike shops and bike-related organizations,” Aronson said.

Local bicycle advocacy organizations, including Livable Streets Alliance, Urban AdvenTours, and Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition will be present at the kickoff, according to Andres.

A number of local vendors, including Boloco, Redbones BBQ and J.P. Licks, have offered food donations for the launch. The event will feature a prize wheel, which will offer, among other items, T-shirts, tickets to the Somerville Theater and gift certificates to Sound Bites Café, according to Andres.

“We have had a lot of businesses from Ball Square and Davis Square donate prizes,” Sharrow said.

First-aid course part of new TMC outreach initiative ORC

continued from page 1

according to Meer, a junior. He said a WFA certification qualifies individuals to work in a wide range of outdoor positions.

“It’s really an all-purpose certification that people who have a long-term commitment to the outdoors should have,” Meer said.

The certification has practical applications for students looking for work opportunities in the outdoors, according to Graham.

“I’m working in a state park this summer, and … it’s one of those things they like to see,” she said.

Freshman Will Ross, who also helped organize the event, said the clinic is also relevant for anyone intending to explore the wilderness.

“It’s an extremely important course to have for anyone who is planning on leading a trip … or is at all interested in the outdoors,” Ross said.

The two-day course, which costs $95 per person, will prepare participants to care for injured hikers and transport victims to medical authorities, according to Ross.

“The first day is really about assessment and figuring out, ‘How big of an emergency is this? Where can I evacuate?’” he said. “The second day you start doing basic treatment.”

Those treatments might include building splints out of sticks or simply preventing injuries from worsening, Ross added.

“Part of it is in the classroom, then the other half is practical work where you’ll see students being placed in trees, while other students will have to use the first aid kit to stabilize the student to be able to take him out of the wilderness,” Meer said.

The SOLO certification, which lasts for two years, is widely seen as a reputable accomplishment, Meer said.

Graham emphasized the importance

courtesy TMC

An outdoors first-aid course next weekend will teach participants to handle emergencies in the wilderness. of quality instruction when it comes to learning how to give emergency care.

“To be first-aid certified, to be able to care for someone in an emergency situation, it’s a big deal,” Graham said. “You want to have a good instructor.”

Graham said that students can regis-

ter at TMC’s website and that the course will be capped at thirty participants to ensure the maximum level of the quality of instruction.

“You want to keep it small so that people can have personal attention,” Graham said.

Administrators to continue monitoring crisis in Japan JAPAN

continued from page 1

a waiver stating that the students and their families will take the responsibility for their safety.

The waiver asks students to acknowledge the health risks of staying in the country, Salzman-Gubbay said. It also states that Tufts strongly recommends that students leave Japan for the next two weeks, and students who do not accept the university’s plane tickets must provide their own transportation if they later decide to return.

Salzman-Gubbay called the request “confusing,” since all students perceived Kanazawa as safe.

“I think everyone involved agrees that when they made that decision, Kanazawa was a safe place to be,” he said.

“The reason for not wanting to go home was because Kanazawa just wasn’t a dangerous place to be, as far as concerns about radiation go,” he added.

“It’s 270 miles from the power plant … and up until that point, all of the wind predictions were saying the radiation was going to be pushed [away].”

Salzman-Gubbay said that students also feared that the university relied heavily on U.S. news — which he said sensationalized the situation at Fukushima — for their information.

Bayne during the Skype chat mentioned to the students that other universities were pulling their students out of Japan, though she did not specify which universities, Salzman-Gubbay said.

Salzman-Gubbay said the university’s treatment of the situation was fair, but some students expressed dissatisfaction that the university did not consult them in the decision to purchase the tickets.

Two Tufts students studying at Kansai Gaidai University through a non-Tufts program in Osaka are not planning to return, Brian Libby, foreign study advisor for non-Tufts programs, said.

The decision whether or not to return is based on students’ personal choices and the decisions of their program, he said.

“Since this is a non-Tufts program, students are on a leave of absence from Tufts to participate,” Libby said.

The U.S. government has warned residents within 50 miles of the plant to evacuate, and the State Department on March 21 issued a travel advisory for Japan.

In order for a travel advisory to take effect, the country must contain “longterm, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable,” according to the State Department website.

Kanazawa, where the Tufts program is located, is far from the damaged nuclear plants, Bayne said. “[The] Fukushima nuclear plant is more than 200 miles from the students,” she said.

Similarly, Kansai Gaidai, the location of the non-Tufts program, is several hundred miles away from the areas of Japan affected by Fukushima, Libby said.

“I think, at this point, it’s still out of reach of any danger. That’s my understanding,” he said.

Students in non-Tufts programs in Kansai Gaidai have registered with travel insurance provider International SOS, through which they receive updates about the safety of staying and travelling in Japan, Libby said.

Salzman-Gubbay said he would be disappointed if the Tufts program was canceled, but he believes it is a possibility.

“To be honest, I don’t think we’ve seen the significant signs of improvement at the power plant that Tufts wants to see,” he said.

“I think the plant is still the focus of the potential instability and potentially dangerous and unforeseen conditions,” he said.

Libby and Salzman-Gubbay noted that it was important to empathize with the people of Japan.

“I think we have to put this in perspective and remember that it really is a tragedy for the people of Japan,” Libby said. “First and foremost, it’s something that is, for most Japanese, it is the most difficult situation that they’re gone through in their lifetimes.”

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Busking a global staple of urban culture A look into the lives of street performers on campus and beyond by

Ben Anshutz

Contributing Writer

Street performing, or busking, is a profession that dates back to antiquity. Before recording technology and personal electronics, it was a principal form of income for many performance artists. Still, even today in the digital age, street performers can be found playing for gratuities all over the world — with one caveat: It is illegal or frowned upon in many cities.

While some performers might enjoy the illegality of performing in public spaces like subway stations and plazas, many more are disheartened by recent crackdowns on busking.

“I just want to share my music with people and make enough money for food,” Stanley Livingston, a folk musician from New York City, said. “I’ve been living in this city for 30 years, and it’s only recently that cops have been shutting me down when I play in Union Square or something.”

Livingston has run into trouble with the police and the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) as an unlicensed street performer several times.

In response to the tenuous relationship between performers and prosecutors, many cities across the globe have institutionalized street performance by creating unions or similar organizations for performers. The London Underground, for one, requires that subway musicianhopefuls audition before a panel of judges.

If selected, they are assigned a specific location and time during which they are allowed to perform.

“I think it’s working out great,” Richard Swelter, a self-described troubadour balloonist based in London, said. “There’s no more cutthroat competition among musicians for the choicest spots; that’s always been a problem in the past. I’ve gotten

James Choca/Tufts Daily

A busker, or street performer, puts on a show outside of Boston’s city hall. some nasty remarks from other performers who say I’m encroaching on their pitch. It’s a lot better now.”

This guild of street performers provides Londoners with over 100,000 hours of live entertainment every year during their commute. In return, the performers have a unique audience which continually cycles throughout the day, totaling over 3.5 million Tube passengers every single day.

Locally, joining one of these union-like groups is quite easy. In Cambridge, Mass., anyone can walk into the Cambridge Arts Council (CAC) and pay $40 for an official street performing ordinance if their definition of performance is in accordance with the CAC’s.

But $40 can be a hefty fee for many struggling artists in the area, Boston-based street musician Caravaggio Rossi said.

“Sometimes you can work for a whole day, moving around to different spots, and only

pull in $30,” he said.

At Tufts, some students enjoy busking for the fun of it and, without giving it a second thought, simply forego the costly license.

For senior Drew Walker, a member of student percussion group B.E.A.T.S, the appeal of street performance is the lack of regimen and rules associated with more organized performances.

“We haven’t done it yet this year, but usually we go to Fenway [Park] once a year, take all of our buckets and just start jamming. If anyone wants to join in, they can,” he said. “It’s all for fun. Just plop down on the corner somewhere and jam out. There’s no right or wrong.”

According to Walker, impromptu outdoor and underground performances like theirs give a city the opportunity to get to know its own artists. see STREET ARTISTS, page 4

Street Smarts: Tufts’ sartorial scene

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

Compiled by Romy Oltuski

Photos by Justin McCallum

“My favorite things are my glasses and boots. I am really into the brown scheme.

They give a ‘Look at me, but don’t look at me’ vibe, and lace is really fun right now. I’m a mix of New Yorker chic and suburban casual, if that means anything.

Point-blank: swag.”

—Gabrielle Thomas, sophomore

“I’m from LA, and I think girls from there try to take the hippest thing and wear that, and I try to tone it down. … I feel like it’s too runway for me. I’m a college student. [I] want something I can sit and take notes in.”

—Emily Poole, sophomore

“My personal style is Ralph Lauren with an indigenous twist.”

—Amalia Toro, junior

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

Romy Oltuski | The Dilettante

If you’re into the whole brevity thing

O

ver spring break, I learned a new abbreviation that apparently has been circulating for some time without my knowledge. “Adorbs.”

Clearly, it’s fabulous, but when I immediately took to it, my friends looked at me like a mother who just friended her own offspring on Facebook.

Let me explain. A week ago I wouldn’t have done this. My text messages are fully punctuated. I care that, according to the Associated Press, “email” recently shed its hyphen. These are the things that keep me up at night — the nonsensical phrase “intensive purposes,” the wrong “there,” an umlaut added for pizzazz with no regard to pronunciation (you’re not cool, fancy restaurants).

Naturally, I was not the first to integrate the initialisms of the Internet age into my lexicon. I get that some of them are ironic and funny, but really who needs an abbreviation for a phrase they don’t even use in its totality?

(LOL, I mean you.)

“So why would you, of all things, abreve?” you may ask. (I know you’re asking this.) Well, aside from the esses and gees, it’s because now I can do so with official sanction: In its latest edition, released Thursday, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added, among others, LOL, OMG and FYI to the dictionary. And if the OED can get with the times, then I cn 2.

Now, first of all, don’t get all holier-thanthou at the people down at the OED. No, they don’t just make up words when they’re running low or because the dictionary is getting a little stale. Our language, like any, is a living, changing one, and the dictionary is its diary. We don’t use a given word because some editor decided to write it down; that editor documents a word because we already use it. If the dictionary kept out words for being too young, it wouldn’t be a very good record of our language — not for future generations about where words came from, nor for non-native speakers about how they’re culturally used.

If there’s anyone to berate about the addition of Internetisms into our vocabularies, it’s We the People who popularized them.

But I’m not so sure there is. Many of the now-respected elements of our lexicon were once considered bastardizations of “proper” English. An orange used to be called a norange. The word “okay” derived from Boston slang. “Blog” is an abbreviation of “weblog,” which itself is a word that didn’t exist until recently.

We are only aware of so many etymologies and obsolete word usages because of the careful analysis of thousands of documents.

The current dictionary editors are simply making the workload lighter for word enthusiasts to come. They’re archivists working for the future, not gatekeepers working for the present, so we may as well let them archive thoroughly.

Besides, if clinging statically to old versions of our language really makes it more proper, then when is the cutoff? Before the Internet? Before the Americas? Before the Great Vowel Shift?

I heart the English language as much as the next guy (heart |härt| v. to love. Yours truly, the 2011 OED), and sure, last week I was of the vocal opinion that the compulsion to cut off one syllable of fully pronounceable words is what’s dumbing down our generation. Next week, I’ll probably be back in that boat. But for now, I say, what’s so offensive about adorbs? (NOTHING. IT’S PERFECT.) You say WTF; I say Winning the Future.

P.S. At the same time, excess is not a thing I encourage, especially excess in the name of brevity. I got your Facebook message, Leonard Carmichael Society, and while I’m all in favor of riding the wave as you so obviously are trying to do, “FWOYDA” (Faculty Waits on You Dinner and Auction) is pushing it.

Romy Oltuski is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at Romy.

Oltuski@tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

Features

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Street artists meet welcoming and notso-welcoming receptions across globe STREET ARTISTS

continued from page 3

“I haven’t lived in too many cities, but seeing people play in the subway is pretty cool and shows a side of the region you might not see otherwise.”

Senior Henry Felsman, another Tufts musician who uses the outdoors as his practice room, explained that for many artists living in tight quarters or next to irritable neighbors, outside is the only available venue.

“We play on the street because when we play at home the neighbors complain,” he said. “And there’s the benefit of other people walking by. I like that I get to watch random passersby probably even more than the random passersby like to watch us.”

But whether or not they decide to invest in a license, buskers in the United States often have a harder time getting by than their European counterparts, Rossi said.

“I have some friends in Spain, for instance, who can actually squeak by on just what they make from street performing. I think there’s just a better appreciation of artists in Europe. They protect their poets.”

The word busking has its roots in the Spanish word “buscar,” meaning “to seek.”

And, indeed, Rossi pointed out, Spain’s street culture of an evening stroll offers a large audience to hopeful performers, not to mention the added benefit of the 2€ coin — easier to toss into a hat than paper bills.

Still, some European street musicians, like guitarist Naythan Puyol, are of the opinion that European police departments have of late developed much more negative attitudes and stricter punishments toward street performers.

“I used to do very well in Spain,” he said.

“But, recently the police have been cracking down. I heard of someone getting a 42-euro fine for [busking], and the police confiscated his guitar!”

No matter what the letter of the law, he said, on the streets it comes down to the whims of police officers when deciding how to persecute performers; relationships between the police and buskers vary from city to city and country to country.

“It’s at the discretion of the officer whether or not to make someone pack up and leave,” NYCTA employee Shauna Davis said. “I just try and make a good judgment call. If I think the performer is more panhandling than busking, I’ll tell them to move along.”

So for those intrepid performers willing to take on the risk of punishment, what can they do to make it as a successful busker?

Puyol said that he always tries to smile and dress smartly.

“In a lot of places, there is still the view that street performers are poor, even desperate, beggars. It’s important to give yourself a professional, groomed image. I usually wear button-down shirts and smile at people as they pass by. Just try to make a good impression like you’re at a job interview,” he said.

Indeed, busking can be a steady source of income for traveling minstrels.

“I’ve made 140 euros in an hour,” Bat Olzi, a traveling musician from Mongolia who performers regularly in the London Underground, said. “I came here for a tour and didn’t have any money in my pocket.

Busking has really saved me. It’s all about making a connection with people that pass by. That’s what is going to get them to give you some money, not the actual song you’re playing.”

Most importantly, New York street magician Carl DelCanto said, street performers need to remember that they are in show business, just like any screen or stage performer, and must please their audience as such.

“It’s a business of entertainment, and you’ve got to stand out from the crowd,” he said.

To set himself apart, DelCanto usually sports an eclectic suit ensemble reminiscent of Willy Wonka, complete with a goldsequined vest and purple felt blazer. The costume, he said, succeeds in drawing attention, though not always from the right observers.

“I think I attract more attention from the Transit Authority, too. This suit, while unmistakably glorious, can be a doubleedged sword.”

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Romy Oltuski contributed reporting to this article.

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Arts & Living

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Sitcom Survey

Fox offers laughs beyond Seth MacFarlane

Promising new shows bolster the network’s tried-and-true programs by

Ben Phelps

Daily Editorial Board

This is the second installment in a fourpart series investigating the current state of television comedy. Over the course of the week, the series will look at the half-hour comedy offerings on the four major broadcast networks. Today’s installment focuses on those comedies airing on Fox, the toprated television network in the all-important adults 18-49 demographic.

Just as CBS has become the Chuck Lorre laugh factory, Fox serves the same function for Seth MacFarlane. His three series, “Family Guy,” “American Dad!” and “The Cleveland Show,” are the bedrock of the network’s Sunday night Animation Domination lineup, and at this point often draw more viewers than Fox’s other signature animated show, “The Simpsons.”

As with CBS, though, popularity is not necessarily a measure of quality.

MacFarlane’s shows have proven immensely profitable for him and for Fox, but have done so largely by appealing to the lowest common denominator, with cheap humor, gross-out gags and little-to-no character development.

“Family Guy,” when it first premiered in 1999, seemed revolutionary in its use of cutaway gags and pop-culture jokes.

Low ratings actually got it canceled in 2002, though, until strong DVD sales and a successful string of reruns on Cartoon Network led Fox to revive the show in 2005 — an unprecedented move in network television. The post-revival episodes have certainly made some improvements, especially in terms of animation quality, but, overall, have come to rely more and more on easy references and jokes, at the expense of any greater depth.

Similarly, “The Cleveland Show,” a “Family Guy” spin-off that focuses on the character of Cleveland Brown, relies so much on cutaways that it would be almost indis-

Courtesy Fox

Loren Bouchard’s quirky new show ‘Bob’s Burgers’ is a welcome addition to the Fox lineup. tinguishable from “Family Guy,” except for the fact that its main characters are black.

The show is certainly notable for that fact, considering the lack of diversity in network television, but otherwise has about as much creativity as its mother series. Cleveland is a more sympathetic lead character than Peter Griffin, so the writers can at least get some mileage out of his relationships with his family, but overall the show seems like a cheap rip-off that just furthers, rather than corrects, the faults of “Family Guy.” “American Dad!” focuses on CIA agent and ultraconservative Stan Smith and his family. The show is also co-created and

Album Review

After five-year hiatus, The Strokes return with new sound

by John-Michael Sequeira

Daily Staff Writer

From the first calypso-inflected notes of “Machu Picchu,” it’s clear that those five years apart did something to The Strokes.

Angles The Strokes

RCA Records Gone is vocalist Julian Casablancas’ trademark slurred delivery, replaced by cleaner, more polished elocution. Over a bouncing, almost-danceable guitar line, it’s the opening salvo from a band that’s barely recognizable in its new sonic clothes.

“Angles,” the New York quintet’s latest effort since 2006’s “First Impressions of Earth,” quite frankly comes out of nowhere.

Even the solo releases of rhythm guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr., or Casablancas’ own “Phrazes for the Young” (2009) hardly establish a precedent for the groove they’ve settled into here. It’s what you might get if you filtered their old sound through a neo-psychedelic ’80s pinball machine — that is to say, it’s not much like their old sound at all.

The closest any of their previously recorded output comes to this album is a steroid-laced, guitar-centric romp through the lead single on “Phrazes,” “11th Dimension.” Rather than focus their efforts on recapturing the sound that made them famous and returning to familiar roots, they chose to dig up their roots and replant

them somewhere else. They become resurrectors of the slippery, synthetic soundscapes that riffed off of technology before it was submerged beneath the hulking beasts of auto-tune and overproduction.

But far from being bogged down by this broader palette, The Strokes use it to selfadminister a much-needed jolt of electricity, sounding more awake and alive than they have in their entire career. The sleepiness and bemused detachment of their albums “Room on Fire” (2003) and “Is This It” (2001) seem miles away from this new vivacity, so it’s certifiably odd to catch those scattered moments linking the two styles.

What stands out most is the palpable sense of energy, prominent on lead single “Under Cover of Darkness.” While the song was initially off-putting, there’s a dynamism and constant shifting in the songwriting that’s unexpectedly lively, almost jangly, as if the band found itself so brimming with new ideas that they all had to be stuffed into one song. Eventually it works, but it’s a style that requires a bit of getting used to.

Beyond the strains of this second track, there’s a clear branching off into two distinct territories with the remainder of the album.

On cuts like “Two Kinds of Happiness” and the quirkily named “Gratisfaction,” The Strokes are more shimmery and vibrant than they’ve ever been, with swirling guitars and swelling choruses anchoring an outlook that’s practically sunny.

But then, on the darkly synthy “Games” and ruminative “Call Me Back,” there’s a pervading “last night on Earth” feeling, twisting that familiar Strokes standby of see STROKES, page 6

executive produced by MacFarlane, but it has the least MacFarlane feel to it — perhaps why it is the best of the three. There are almost no cutaways, there is much less reliance on pop-culture humor and the characters actually have some semblance of continuity and believability. Granted, it is a cartoon and two of the main characters are an alien and a talking goldfish, but the fact that the show takes itself seriously while being so clearly absurd is one of its greatest strengths.

Outside the MacFarlane empire, “The see FOX COMEDIES, page 6

Movie Review

‘Certified Copy’ boasts compelling character portraits

by John-Michael Sequeira

Daily Staff Writer

Imagine the quintessential French film — coffee, cigarettes, plenty of quietly intellectual conversation and

Certified Copy Starring Juliette Binoche, William Shimell Directed by Abbas Kiarostami an effortlessly casual pace. Fold in a bit of philosophical musing on art, add in Parisian superstar Juliette Binoche, and you have “Certified Copy.” Indeed, what could possibly be more French? Perhaps a picture crafted by a French director. Because, for all its overwhelmingly Gallic qualities, the film is but the latest work of acclaimed filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami — who is, in fact, Iranian.

Whether it’s an intentional channeling of such an iconic style or mere happenstance, the internationalism of the whole affair is unmistakable. No fewer than three distinct languages are integral components of the spoken dialogue — Italian, English and, of course, French.

But, in spite of its familiar stylistic touchstones, Kiarostami’s work here is, for the most part, pleasantly consee CERTIFIED COPY, page 6

Madeline Hall | The Tasteful and the Tasteless

Weekly wonder

I

already feel a sheepish sense of misplaced intention by writing this column on my chosen topic. This cultural phenomenon is not more complicated to understand than any other broached in my writing; in fact, the subject of this week’s column has a distinctly straightforward style in communicating its message. That being said, by writing a column with a Tuesday timestamp, I think I immediately compromise my purpose and confuse my reader. After all, the only day of the week that truly matters is Friday.

Rebecca Black, America’s favorite societal offender, has sprung in and out of our collective consciousness in just a few short weeks.

As is the case with YouTube-enabled cultural icons, 13-year-old Black unexpectedly and offensively burst into Internet awareness with her video for “Friday,” a true work of redundancy thoughtfully dedicated to a day of the week. Denounced by most media commentators as inane and mindless, “Friday” has still received more than 57 million views, demonstrating that paradoxical tendency in American culture to simultaneously reject and rejoice in train wrecks (for further discussion, see anything written about Charlie Sheen in the last two months).

With this magnum opus, Black bows to the appalled and enthralled public, and parties her way into the perpetual weekend that will become her life of halffame. The coverage of Black’s emergence into popular culture has been exhaustive, ranging from adamant criticism and ironic speculation to sincere defense for the appreciation of Friday.

One aspect of her anthem has not been adequately addressed, however, and it is a fatal flaw in her logic that compromises her work.

Perhaps it is the naivete associated with many 13-year-olds that enables and encourages this assumption, but Black operates under the profound belief that enjoying the week cannot truly start until Friday (after she has had her bowl of cereal, of course). Sure, the constraints of school and work might limit the hours of frivolity pursued from Monday through Friday, and true partyin’ partyin’ (YEAH) might be restricted until the ordained weekend. But even though Black insists on the malaise of her life starting with her 7 a.m. alarm, she clearly must have found some coping methods to aid in surviving Monday through Thursday.

Individuals who are dismayed by the fact that “time is goin’/ tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’” sometimes partake in activities that restore a sense of control in life, even during the week. Take shoplifting, for example. Often, the fruitlessness of waking up at 7 a.m. every morning and waiting for the weekend drives individuals to reclaim a sense of power and steal things from established stores and businesses. The beauty of shoplifting is that you don’t need to wait until Friday to partake; you can shoplift any day! “You got this.” Another weekday powerrestoring activity could be a daily subversion of authority. Tag a brick wall with offensive graffiti, trip a police officer, litter — you’ll feel like your own person at the end of the day, even if it isn’t Friday!

Black’s song and video also suggest that partyin’ partyin’ (YEAH) cannot occur fruitfully without the accompaniment of her friends. Anyone disillusioned by the Monday to Friday drawl of life knows partyin’ can occur alone, gently and sorrowfully, in your apartment on a Tuesday night with a bottle of wine, a Snuggie and fistfuls of Cheetos shoved into your mouth. If you have a cat that will listen to you sob about your problems, it’s all the better. That’s kind of like partyin’, right?

Friday is irrelevant. Partyin’ is all the time, if you are resourceful and hate your life as much as Rebecca Black does.

Madeline Hall is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Madeline.Hall@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

6

With shifting characterizations, ‘Certified Copy’ is a challenging experience CERTIFIED COPY

continued from page 5

founding. Tossing scriptwriting convention aside, he offers up a wonderfully ambiguous, challenging and evolving test of his viewers’ willingness to become active participants in the creative process.

The relevant and non-spoiling underpinnings of the plot are as follows: an unnamed woman (Binoche) and a British arts writer (William Shimell) spend an afternoon together in the Tuscan countryside, conversing all the while. Along the way, the nature of their relationship undergoes significant transformation, such that the audience is forced to question just how well these two know each other, if they even know each other at all.

The identities of these characters are obscured in a way that’s undeniably deceitful, but forgivably so, while only occasionally providing a kernel of what seems to be truth.

It’s an elegant dumping-out of a pile of emotional puzzle pieces, after which the audience’s task becomes active reconstruction.

Such a concrete role in the narrative process becomes both incredibly frustrating and exciting, with each viewer formulating an individually “true” sequence of events as a limited body of evidence unfolds onscreen.

Kiarostami’s approach to storytelling is sure to be polarizing, as it borders on fullon duplicity, but in a way that’s part of the allure. To see a film so gleefully bend such an iron-bound rule of offering up the full, honest details of two characters’ relationship is, above all, refreshing.

Nearly as impressive as its willingness to toss out the book on storytelling is a pleasantly unpretentious approach to philosophical material. From debates on art to notions of personal and romantic responsibility — most of which are framed through polar oppositions — the film’s intellectual content manages a level of originality without succumbing to the pitfall of seeming to try too hard. These discussions instead serve as entertaining misdirection, feints that preempt the hammer-blow of later characterrelated revelations.

To offer up some further detail with-

out exposing the machinations of the plot, imagine the similarly conversational “Before Sunrise” (1995) stripped of its pleasant, rosy sheen. Where the European romantics therein seem real, if overly idealistic, honesty here is traded for an acute sense of emotional vulnerability. With their characters’ furtive stabs at self-preservation, Binoche and Shimell are forced to safeguard their credibility while being pulled into circumstances that accommodate their clouded-over identities.

That Kiarostami is even able to entertain the concept of such disguise and sleight of hand is thanks, in large part, to the commitment and sincerity of his actors. In lesser hands, this noble experiment might have crumbled to dust, but both performers lend an authenticity to these two personalities, which are intentionally shielded from full exposure. Binoche, particularly, deftly navigates spiking emotions and unexpected mood swings on her way to one of the most memorable performances of her career. Her bitterness at the past measured to balance with tempered hope for the future rings true, and each tonal shift comes away suffused with an underlying truth.

Kiarostami’s focus on depicting character comes through not just from the plot, but visually as well. Nearly half of the film’s shots hover in close-up territory, leaving an actor little room to hide as one conversation flows into another and coffee is sipped. French to its bones, in appearance if not in authorship, the film presents a simplicity through its uncomplicated frames, made beguiling by the context in which they are delivered.

It’s a quality that extends to the film’s conclusion and the gut-smacking appearance of the credits as if from nowhere, like a reverse cold open that hits as hard as a ton of bricks. Here, though, it works: The irresolution fits in with the hints, the uncertainty and the suggestiveness of the whole affair.

Perhaps this unassuming piece of intellectual drama might have been better served by the tagline of current 3D eyepopper “Sucker Punch” than the film it was designed for — you will be unprepared. It’s just that kind of rare find.

Arts & Living

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Strokes amp up new album, their first in five years, with synthetic beats STROKES

continued from page 5

detachment and aloofness into spiraling loneliness and solemnity. Most impressive, perhaps, is that these sentiments carry through more strongly musically than they do lyrically.

There are moments of certifiable strangeness, too, and “You’re So Right” gets credit for being, without a doubt, their most confounding track to date. At a scant two-and-a-half minutes, it’s the shortest cut on the album but perhaps the most memorable. Penned by the silent, stolid Nikolai Fraiture, its shifting, fragmentary episodes prove jarring and unexpected on their way to something otherworldly.

Of course, ever self-aware as The Strokes are (see debut album title “Is This It”), things wouldn’t quite be com-

plete without a bit of reflexive songwriting. With a sly hint at their former sound in album closer “Life Is Simple in the Moonlight,” the band seems to be offering the track’s instant familiarity as something of a parting wink, a knowing nod to the band they used to be.

Largely freed from the pressures of hyper-focused media attention, but in a fashion subject to new skepticism because of the lengthy lead-up to the release of “Angles,” The Strokes are finally beginning to cast some light on their considerable talents in composition and musicianship. It’s hard to say just how things will evolve from here, but it’s a safe bet that they won’t be delivering anything the least bit predictable — and, for critics and fans alike, what could be more satisfying than that?

Two days a week, Fox has entertaining mix of animated, live-action comedies FOX COMEDIES

continued from page 5

Simpsons” is still going strong in its 22nd season. It’s not what it used to be, but it still has some smart plotting, good jokes and original stories after all these years.

Newcomer “Bob’s Burgers” is proving to be a fun little show that is just starting to find its voice. Starring H. Jon Benjamin, one of the best voice actors in the business (see also: FX’s “Archer”), “Burgers” struggled in the beginning to find a good mix of absurdity and heart, but a recent episode — about paintings of animal anuses, of all things — proved it knows how to strike the right balance and still provide big laughs.

Like CBS, Fox has two comedy blocks during the week. The animated series make up the Sunday lineup, while Tuesdays are dominated by live-action. “Glee” is an hour long and more of a dramedy, but “Raising Hope” and “Traffic Light” are both charm-

Author Kavita Ramdya discusses the dating and marriage process as viewed and interpreted by first and second generation Hindu Americans. She explores the influence of Bollywood – the Hindi-language film industry – and the impact of inter-racial and inter-religious marriages on these generations.

Her talk will be followed by a dinner and discussion.

Kavita Ramdya received her B.A from New York University and her M.A. and Ph.D from Boston University. She is a regular Arts Op-Ed columnist for “News India Times” and writes about culture and current events for “India Abroad” and “The Indian American”. She also co-chairs the Women for Women International London Junior Leadership Circle, a charity which provides financial and emotional assistance to women survivors of war. She is currently working at an American bank in London.

ing, if unextraordinary, sitcom offerings.

“Raising Hope” has been a solid performer since it began, and was the first new series of the 2010-11 TV season to gain a full-season pickup. The show’s focus on a lower-class family is a nice change of pace, and it is bolstered by a strong cast, including Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt.

The premise of “Traffic Light” is more generic — three friends from college, now at different stages in their lives — but is similarly held together by winning performances from a cast that seems to have genuine chemistry. It’s funny and entertaining, if not necessarily appointment television.

Bottom line: Fox is the place to go for animated comedy, and its live-action offerings aren’t half bad, either. Most of its shows will go for the cheap jokes first and foremost, but there is some quality comedy to be found if you look beyond the marquee MacFarlane name.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

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5:45 – 6:45 p.m.

Pearson Chemistry Building, Room 106 4:45 p.m. Reception Aidekman Arts Center, Remis Court

4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Barnum Hall, Room 104 Reception follows in Aidekman Arts Center, Remis Court

save the date S u n d a y, M a y 2 2 , 2 0 1 1

4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Pearson Chemistry Building, Room 104 Reception follows in the Sophia Gordon Lounge

Commencement

2011

Visit our website at: commencement.tufts.edu University Commencement Office telephone: 617.627.3636 E-mail: commencement@tufts.edu Don’t forget to stop by the Commencement Fair at the Campus Center on April 6 during Senior Days, to pick up graduation announcements and other commencement-related information.

The Tufts Daily

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

Editorial Mick Brinkman Krever Saumya Vaishampayan Managing Editors Martha Shanahan Executive News Editor Michael Del Moro News Editors Nina Ford Ben Gittleson Amelie Hecht Ellen Kan Daphne Kolios Kathryn Olson Matt Repka Corinne Segal Jenny White Brent Yarnell Elizabeth McKay Assistant News Editors Laina Piera Rachel Rampino Minyoung Song Derek Schlom Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Sarah Korones Emilia Luna Romy Oltuski Alexa Sasanow Falcon Reese Assistant Features Editors Angelina Rotman Sarah Strand Amelia Quinn Ben Phelps Executive Arts Editor Emma Bushnell Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Rebecca Santiago Matthew Welch Allison Dempsey Assistant Arts Editors Andrew Padgett Joseph Stile Ashley Wood Rebekah Liebermann Bhushan Deshpande Larissa Gibbs David Kellogg Rachel Oldfield Jeremy Ravinsky Daniel Stock Elaine Sun Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Alex Miller Louie Zong Craig Frucht Kerianne Okie Michael Restiano Joshua Youner Ben Kochman Philip Dear Lauren Flament Claire Kemp Alex Lach Alex Prewitt Daniel Rathman Noah Schumer Ethan Sturm Matthew Berger Aaron Leibowitz David McIntyre Ann Sloan Meredith Klein Virginia Bledsoe Jodi Bosin Danai Macridi Dilys Ong James Choca Lane Florsheim Meagan Maher Justin McCallum Oliver Porter Ashley Seenauth Aalok Kanani Andrew Morgenthaler

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

Editorial | Letters

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

EDITORIAL

Times paywall a difficult step in the right direction

Four hundred fifty-five dollars is no pittance. But as of yesterday, that is the amount of money per year one has to pay to read The New York Times across all digital platforms.

Subscriptions start at $15 every four weeks, $195 a year, for website and smartphone access and jump to $35 every four weeks, $455 a year, for unlimited website, smartphone and tablet access. Compare this to The Wall Street Journal and The Economist, two other news giants that charge for digital access, whose price tags come in at $207 and $110, respectively, for yearly access. There is no doubt that the Times is asking for a large amount of money for access to its content, but it is a price worth paying, and the newspaper is taking a logical step.

The Times is putting out what is arguably the best content in its history and its website is among the best on the web. Still, while it remains for many of us simply a bookmark on our toolbar, the Times is ultimately a business. Like any other business, it has expenses to take into account and employees to pay. Owing largely to the online revolution of the past decade, consumers have come to expect nearly all online content to be free, even as

print advertising revenues have fallen drastically. There is clearly a chasm here, and the Times has taken a rational step toward bridging it.

A starting price tag of $195 a year seems, at first, to be excessively hefty.

It is on the higher end of most other media organizations, especially when one considers that it does not cover all platforms. The idea of paying today for something that was free yesterday is arresting, but it represents a necessary shift in Internet culture.

The era of universally free Internet content is certainly appealing but unquestionably unsustainable. No one expects a doctor or lawyer to offer his or her services free of charge, and neither should we expect that of journalists. For all the hype of citizen reporting, professional journalists offer a level of expertise as vital to the fabric of our society as any other vocation.

Amateur YouTube videos from Libya may give a scattered snapshot of the situation on the ground, but it is only with professional journalists that we can learn about relatives looking for missing relatives in Ajdabiya, government propaganda and crackdowns in Tripoli or Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s money laundering — all Times articles

from the past several days. Journalists are not charity-workers.

The Times has left open a number of loopholes in its paywall. Readers can access 20 articles per month for free. And even after those 20, they will be able to read a limited number of full articles if they click through a link found on a search engine, blog or social medium, like Facebook. This is a tacit admission by the Times that it cannot charge for the breaking news readers can find anywhere on the Web. But the newspaper offers content almost unparalleled in scope and quality, and its owners have rightfully concluded that theirs is a product worth paying for, no matter what medium readers use to access it.

We live in an era of instant gratification, where most people think that a few clicks of a mouse is all they need to find important information. Unfortunately, times are tough, especially for journalistic organizations, and that expectation is no longer sustainable. It is unrealistic to think that everything one can find online is going to be free simply by nature of its being online.

The Times’ paywall may be annoying, but the reality of the situation is simple: It is a necessity.

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Off the Hill | University of Southern California

Facebook needs an identity

Facebook has established itself as a leading presence in all facets of life.

Mark Zuckerberg was named TIME’s Person of the Year, there was hot debate over Facebook going public, “The Social Network” [2010] was a huge success and the website has played a revolutionary role in the recent uprisings in the Middle East.

Still, the website is facing identity issues. Facebook is many things for many people. But what is Facebook to Facebook itself?

The number of newspaper articles and blog posts and the amount of general conversation about Facebook’s role in by

Ellen Kadvany

The Daily Trojan

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

recent historic moments is enormous.

The website has fueled protests, mobilized citizens, helped overthrow dictatorships and helped spread democracy.

Amid these movements, the website has tenaciously stuck to a policy requiring users to sign up with their real identities as a protection against fraud. It also doubles as self-protection against costly lawsuits and other troublesome user issues.

In November, Facebook shut down one of its most popular Egyptian protest pages because one of the page administrators, Google executive Wael Ghonim, had created a profile under a fake name. Was Facebook protecting Ghonim? Maybe.

But whether it was acting in his best interests or the company’s is unclear.

It’s important to recognize that from Facebook’s perspective, the site is running a worldwide business that needs consistent protection and regulation to successfully operate.

Facebook can — and does — have a positive impact on the world, both as a casual social networking website and as a catalyst for democratic change.

But whether you’re an American college student or an Iranian activist (or both), it’s crucial to understand the tension between the vision of Facebook as a platform for political and social change and the company as a business.

With the exponentially increasing importance of all things online, the challenge for Facebook is to find a way to reconcile its two conflicting identities.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

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Op-Ed

Perspective on NQR: Finding a new tradition

Now that we are back from spring break, we, as Tufts Community Union (TCU) president and co-chair of the Programming Board, would like to take this opportunity to explain how we are moving forward following the announcement about the decision to end the Naked Quad Run (NQR).

Like many students, we were very disappointed to hear that NQR was coming to an end. We were especially disappointed considering we had fought to defend the event.

Contrary to what has been written recently in the op-ed pages of the Daily, we took our defense of NQR to the highest level: the Board of Trustees. We made presentations explaining how important NQR is to Tufts’ spirit and tradition and how recent changes to the alcohol policy have made campus drinking safer, especially at large events like NQR. The Trustees heard our concerns about school spirit, and we had a lively debate about the event’s risks. The Trustees, who were skeptical of the event’s continuation, placed the final decision in University President Lawrence Bacow’s hands.

Despite our presentation, we were unable to convince the administration that the event should continue. That left us with two choices.

We could have kicked and screamed, as recent op-eds suggested we should have done. But if we could not convince the Trustees — many of whom understand firsthand Tufts’ traditions from their years as students here — that NQR is worth the risk, then it is doubtful that a TCU Senate resolution or op-ed in support of the event would have changed anyone’s mind. We could have led protests at Ballou Hall, expressing outrage, but does that do justice to the student body? Past Tufts students have protested the military draft, apartheid in South Africa and in favor of women’s rights. How does a protest in defense of NQR compare to those causes?

We chose a second option: to look forward and to trust the creativity of our peers

by Sam

Wallis and Sarah Habib

Lansdale

I picked up some almonds in the store the other day and noticed the label: “No Salt. No Guilt.” Excuse me? I had heard about “guilt-free eating” blogs but hadn’t thought much about them, and then I came face to face with this trend of attempting to assuage (predominantly female) guilt about eating. Where does this come from? Why does my grocery store want to convince me not to feel guilty about eating? I already don’t feel guilty about eating! By presupposing guilt, they help to create it. They have

Love to hate crimes legislation

O

daily file photo

and alumni to come up with a new (or revive an old) tradition.

Already, we’ve received numerous proposals for this replacement tradition, and we will continue to accept proposals until Friday. Some of these proposals involve traditions that existed for decades but which died from lack of funding. We are confident that we have really solid options that won’t disappoint the student body.

We are especially confident that the new event will be successful because of the resources available to us for it. While our defense of NQR did not preserve the event, it did secure significant resources for a replacement. We are proud to have won that concession. We have also budgeted TCU funds for this new event next year.

We have heard the concern that we cannot just “invent” a new tradition. The term “new tradition” itself may be self-contradictory. But a look at recent Tufts history speaks to the contrary. We believe that students for the most part consider Fall Ball and Winter Bash crucial pieces of the Tufts experience and events that are deeply engrained in the

Tufts culture. In reality, these events are less than a decade old. All originated from an attempt to find new school-wide traditions.

Students at the time of the creation of these events probably also questioned the idea of “new traditions.”

So, while we are very disappointed that NQR has ended, we have confidence in our peers’ ideas, creativity and suggestions to unite the campus.

We had an option to yell to make ourselves feel like we were doing something, with no tangible benefit. Or we could’ve taken the more pragmatic and productive approach.

We have an incredible opportunity now to create something that will last well beyond any of our years as students here.

We chose to make the best of the situation, as yelling only made us hoarse.

Sam Wallis is a senior majoring in political science. He is the TCU president. Sarah Habib is a senior majoring in American studies. She is co-chair of Programming Board.

Eve and Mary at the grocery store

by Sadie

Elisha Sum | InQueery

given me a free pass because I’ve bought the unsalted almonds, but if I bought the salted ones, we’d have a problem. Horrible feelings of shame as I bring the roasted, salted nut to my lips. Laugh, but I think the connection between guilt surrounding food and guilt surrounding sex is pretty clear.

Female desire is seen as shameful, terrifying and dangerous for everyone involved. Our friends in the almond advertising business have picked up on this and they want to help! Help to curb your insatiable lust with plain almonds, just don’t get fancy!

Let’s apply the divide in femininity

meredith klein/tufts daily

between the Virgin Mary and Eve to food.

On the one hand, you have the Madonna: grapefruit, whole grains, plain almonds, quinoa, yogurt. All delicious things, but not particularly sexy. On the other hand, there is the whore: chocolate cake, burgers, fries, mac and cheese. Also delicious things, but not very good for you and consequently extremely appealing. By vilifying the fattier foods, we make them sexy. By saying we should resist them, we cannot. Our culture sexualizes food and every time we eat, we have to choose between being Mary or being Eve. And of course, the American paradox: Our affliction is excess. We have too much and we don’t know what to do with it. Most of the underprivileged youth in America are not suffering from starvation, but obesity. Not everyone can afford to eat like Mary because fruits and vegetables are expensive and processed TV dinners are not. Our twisted food culture puts added stress on low-income families and individuals who do not have access to inexpensive healthy foods.

So what is the point of all this? Food should be for health and for pleasure. If you’re lucky enough to have access to healthy food, you shouldn’t feel like you’re making a sacrifice by eating an apple. If we stop putting food into the sexualized categories of “guilty” and “not guilty,” we might have a chance at living healthier lives. I don’t feel guilty when I eat, but the almond company, advertisers and food blogs with titles like “Guilt-free, LowCalorie Foods” that are primarily directed at women are trying really hard to make me feel bad every time I put food in my mouth!

Let’s resist the female-desire-as-sin story, both in our bedrooms and in our kitchens.

It’s 2011. Let’s get out of the garden of Eden and stop blaming Eve every time we satisfy our hunger.

Sadie Lansdale is a junior majoring in English and women’s studies.

n October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This legislation widened the scope of its landmark 1969 precursor, extending hate crimes to include those based on a person’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability. Its passage was followed by praise and adulation from voices both from within and outside of mainstream LGBT groups. As expected, such a one-sided story fails to paint a complete picture about the issues surrounding hate crimes legislation (HCL). So I’d like to look at some other perspectives, particularly but not limited to that of queer peoples.

In April 2009, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), an organization that strives to assure that people can freely decide their gender identity and expression, wrote a letter to the Gender Employment Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) coalition, cosigned by the Peter Cicchino Youth Project, Audre Lorde Project, Queers for Economic Justice and FIERCE. The letter expressed a collective dismay and the groups’ consequent non-support of GENDA for its inclusion of HCL. HCL unintentionally allows for backlash against oppressed groups, according to the letter, which cites as an example the New Jersey 4, a case in which a straight man accused a group of queer women of color of “committing a ‘hate crime’ against him.”

According to the 2009 FBI hate crimes statistics, 16.5 percent of the offenses were due to anti-white bias and 1.4 percent due to anti-heterosexual bias.

HCL also bolsters the power of a criminal legal system that is, as the letter states, “deeply flawed, transphobic, and racist,” which puts various marginalized groups, who are already disproportionately imprisoned, at further risk. So why should these communities put their trust in such a system? SRLP further notes that the threat of longer sentencing has not been proven to either prevent or discourage hate crimes.

Carolina Cordero Dyer, associate executive director of the Osborne Association, a group advocating prison reform, provides the Rockefeller drug laws as an example. That legislation led to an influx of incarcerated people and did not stop increase in drug use and sales. SRLP also points out that HCL becomes a symbolic gesture that provides a facade of governmental support of marginalized communities, while the government continues to ignore institutional reproduction of oppressive prejudices. In sum, the letter suggests reframing the issue of hate violence to be a question of “how can we help the survivor(s) and the community heal from this violence.”

Along the same lines, much earlier in 2001, Katherine Whitlock of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization dedicated “to social justice, peace and humanitarian service,” wrote the paper “In a Time of Broken Bones” to challenge the notion of justice vis-a-vis hate crimes and offers a vision of healing justice rooted in community action and interaction with the government while also pointing to the drawbacks and detrimental consequences of HCL, some of which are echoed above.

Lastly, to wrap this up, I’ll end with the thoughts of Yasmin Nair, a writer, academic, activist, and commentator. In an article written for the Bilerico Project, a LGBTQ group blog, she stresses that HCL has several problems: one is determining what type of hatred was in play during the crime (i.e. hate “against gays … against someone who has more money than you, has “stolen your spouse,” etc.”), two is deciding which prejudice trumps others, and three concerns deciding the length of the penalty enhancement based on the prejudice.

It is then clear that HCL cannot be properly examined within the limited scope that unquestioningly considers it a step toward more security and protection for the LGBTQ community.

Elisha Sum is a senior majoring in English and French. He can be reached at Elisha.

Sum@tufts.edu.

Op-ed Policy The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

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10

Comics

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

Monday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Putting Vaseline on the toilet seat

Late Night at the Daily Monday’s Solution

This is the first installment in a three-part series.

Mick: “I’m on a drug, and it’s called Ben Gittleson.”

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

Sports

11

tuftsdaily.com

Baseball

Tufts hitters struggle during up-and-down spring break by

Daniel Rathman

Daily Editorial Board

When MLB Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks uttered his catchphrase, “It’s a beautiful day for a ball game, let’s play two,” the former Chicago Cubs star surely didn’t intend for the second game to last a grueling 17 innings.

But that’s precisely what happened when the baseball team took on the Apprentice School on Saturday, capping an eventful spring break trip for Tufts.

“In baseball, you can’t replicate some scenarios unless you actually play them,” coach John Casey said. “Having that experience of a long extrainning game, and having the guys play well in it, was really good for us to see.”

The Jumbos — who opened the season at No. 15 but will likely fall out of the upcoming NCBWA Top 25 poll — traveled to North Carolina and Virginia striving to match the outstanding 8-2 record they posted on the journey last year. That hot start propelled the team to its record-setting 34-win campaign in 2010, and Tufts hoped that this year’s trip would serve as a similar springboard for the season.

Yet Casey’s normally potent lineup sputtered throughout the week and, despite a valiant effort from their pitching staff, the Jumbos managed to bring only a 5-4-1 record back to the Hill.

Tufts battered Lynchburg College’s arms en route to a 12-3 victory in its season opener on March 18, but the offense was unable to find a groove and landed on the wrong side of a 5-0 shutout at the hands of Washington and Lee two days later. Overall, the Jumbos compiled a lowly .246 batting average and .642 OPS over the 10-game trip, managing just 21 extra-base hits and 39 walks, while striking out 75 times.

Casey attributed the offensive struggles to a variety of factors, including players’ early adjustments and the team’s new bats.

“These are different bats and that’s going to make a big difference,” the veteran coach said.

“We’re using aluminum bats like the ones you would’ve seen 20 years ago, and the days of hitting .350 as a team are over.”

Of the four players who see BASEBALL, page 15

Daily File Photo

Senior outfielder Chase Rose, here in a game last March, was the sole Jumbo that started every game of the team’s spring break trip to hit over .300, contributing six doubles and hitting at a .426 clip over the 10 games.

Instant Analysis | Men’s lacrosse

Softball

Jumbos rebound after slow start in Florida by

Ethan Sturm

Daily Editorial Board

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

Freshman goalie Patton Watkins made two huge saves late in yesterday’s 14-13 win over Western New England to seal the game for the Jumbos.

Freshman Patton comes up big as No. 1 Jumbos narrowly avoid defeat by

Phil Dear

Daily Editorial Board

The Western New England College (WNEC) men’s lacrosse team smiled and high-fived as it MEN’S LACROSSE (6-0, 3-0 NESCAC) Bello Field, Monday West. NE 2 2 6 3 Tufts 3 6 1 4

— 13 — 14

ate postgame snacks yesterday at Bello Field. It looked as if they had done the improbable — knocked off Div. III national No. 1 Tufts and become the first team since, well, themselves in the NCAA tournament in the spring of 2009 to beat the Jumbos on Bello.

But the problem with the scene was that, in fact, the Golden Bears had lost. Granted, it was a close game. It was closer than anybody had expected, including the Golden Bears themselves, or else they wouldn’t have been celebrating some sort of moral victory.

The Jumbos ultimately gritted out a 14-13 victory yesterday afternoon, moving to 6-0 on the season. But the win didn’t come easily.

WNEC caught Tufts in the midst of a defensive lapse at the start of the second half, which the squad took advantage of by going on a 4-0 run to start the quarter and eventually tying the game at 10. The Jumbos had pulled away late in the second quarter to take a 9-4 lead going into halftime, but slowed tremendously from the get-go of the third see MEN’S LACROSSE, page 14

The softball team opened its 2011 campaign on its annual spring break trip, this year traveling to Clermont, Fla., for a nine-day, 14-game marathon against opposition from as far as Minnesota and as close as Plymouth, Mass.

The squad initially looked rusty, dropping its first four games in the first action outdoors all season. But the Jumbos rallied to close out the week by winning seven of their last 10 games, avoiding their first sub .500 spring break trip since 2006 and setting themselves up for their home opener tomorrow.

The Jumbos have not had many opportunities to get outside this spring due to the harsh New England winter, and the cobwebs were evident on the first day of play, especially on offense. The team dropped its opener 6-2 to Plymouth State while putting together only five hits, three of which came off the bat of junior third baseman Lena Cantone.

The team fell again, later in the day, this time to a St. Thomas (Minn.) side that was already nearly two weeks into its season. The Tommies put three runs on the board early, but sophomore pitcher Rebecca DiBiase kept them quiet while a two-run single from junior shortstop Mira Lieman-Sifry brought the lead back down to one.

Unfortunately for Tufts, St. Thomas finally got to DiBiase and freshman hurler Lauren Giglio in the sixth, exploding for seven runs and ending the game by mercy rule.

“A lot of softball teams were from somewhere where they weren’t indoors all the time, and being from the East Coast where you are indoors and you aren’t able to get outside right away is hard,” freshman catcher Jo Clair said. “The ground is completely different, the ball takes different hops and it’s a very different game. Getting adjusted definitely takes a couple games.”

The next day may have been even more frustrating for Tufts, as the team hung tough against both New Paltz State and No. 13 Wisconsin-Whitewater, sending both games to extra innings on the back of strong pitching performances by sophomore Aly Moskowitz and DiBiase.

Yet in the extra frames, Tufts struggled to advance the courtesy runner placed on second base, popping up sacrifice bunts to the catcher in both games. Their opponents took advantage and escaped with a pair of narrow one-run victories, leaving Tufts at a disappointing 0-4.

“I would say that hanging with [Wisconsin-Whitewater] was a definite confidence booster, but I still think going into extra innings and losing shows that we still have work to do,” Cantone said. “But obviously hanging with a top25 team, especially after we had lost a couple games, shows how well we can play and what we are capable of.”

After scoring just nine runs in its first four games, Tufts finally exploded for 17 runs the following day, defeating Fontbonne University 10-7 and Wisconsin-Stevens Point 7-6. see SOFTBALL, page 15

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Sports

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

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The Tufts Daily

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

13

Sports

Women’s Tennis

Jumbos finish 2-1 at tournament in Atlanta Tufts defeats Washington and Lee, UChicago; falls to Emory by

Kendall Lord

Contributing Writer

The women’s tennis team traveled to Emory University in Atlanta over spring break to compete in the Fab WOMEN’S TENNIS (4-2, 0-1 NESCAC) at Atlanta, Ga., Sunday Tufts Emory

2 7

at Atlanta, Ga., Saturday Chicago Tufts

4 5

at Atlanta, Ga., Friday Wash. & Lee Tufts

4 5

at Chattanooga, Tenn., March 22 Tufts Sewanee

8 1

10 Tournament, which hosts ten topranked Div. III teams. No. 8 Tufts faced three teams in the national top 10: No. 9 Washington and Lee, No. 4 University of Chicago and No. 3 Emory. Despite the tough competition, though, the Jumbos came away with a 2-1 record in the tournament, falling only to Emory in their last match.

“The tournament couldn’t have gone much better,” sophomore Lindsay Katz said. “We went in with a lot of confidence, and we got the job done.”

Tufts’ biggest win by far was a 5-4 victory over the University of Chicago on Saturday, who on Friday night beat the Jumbos’ NESCAC rival No. 2 Williams 6-3. Due to poor weather conditions, the match was pushed back from its original start time of 3 p.m and moved to the inside courts, and did not begin until 5:30 p.m. To make matters even more tense, the match came down to the last singles match between freshman Sam Gann and Chicago sophomore Shanelle Trail — a match that finished after midnight.

“It felt amazing,” Gann said. “I felt nervous throughout the entire match. But when I won and the whole team rushed on the court … it was a moment you dream about.”

Gann’s 7-5, 7-5 victory clinched a victory for the Jumbos that included dramatic three-set victories for both Katz and No. 4 singles player and

67

Daily File Photo

Sophomore Lindsay Katz, here at a practice last spring, had a dramatic three-set victory at No.3 singles over UChicago as part of Tufts’ 5-4 upset of the Maroons. freshman Eliza Flynn.

“It was the biggest win of our lives,” said No. 1 singles player senior Julia Browne. “I have never had a more exciting win in all my four years at Tufts.”

The happiness of the victory over the Maroons was short-lived, however, because it was immediately followed by a 2-7 loss to No. 3 Emory.

Fatigue was evident in the team, as nearly every Tufts entrant lost, with the exception of Browne and Shelci Bowman at No. 1 doubles and Katz at No. 3 singles.

“We were so exhausted the next day,

DAILY DIGITS

175-1

because [Saturday] was draining emotionally and physically,” Katz said. “If we had played them another day, the match could have gone our way.”

The only other match the team played this weekend took place on Friday against No. 9 Washington and Lee, when Tufts pulled out another 5-4 victory. Unsurprisingly, the unflappable Browne-Bowman duo came out victorious (and now have won 10 straight matches as of the end of the tournament,) while Katz and Flynn also eked out a victory at the see WOMEN’S TENNIS, page 15

3

The combined ages of Butler coach Brad Stevens and VCU coach Shaka Smart. The two young coaches have led their teams on improbable runs to the Final Four, and the two squads will meet on Saturday for the right to go to the National Championship game. For Stevens, it is familiar territory, having guided Butler to the final game last year, but for Smart, the matchup is a totally new experience, with the 11th-seeded VCU reaching the Final Four for the first time.

The pre-tournament odds of VCU winning the Div. I Men’s Basketball championship.

Many even believed that VCU did not deserve to make the tournament, and the Rams had to beat USC in a “First Four” game to prove themselves in the Big Dance. Similarly, Butler had 150-1 pretournament odds of winning, a stat which equally demonstrates just how much of an underdog the two teams were before the tournament began.

Top 25 teams defeated by the No. 8 women’s tennis team between March 22 and March 26. Last Wednesday, the Jumbos handled No. 22 Sewanee, 8-1.

Next, on Friday and Saturday at the Fab 10 Tournament, they edged No. 9 Washington and Lee and No. 4 University of Chicago, respectively, both by 5-4 scores. The team’s remarkable run came to an end on Sunday with a 7-2 loss to No. 3 Emory.

The age of University of Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun. Unlike Stevens and Smart, Calhoun is hardly a spring chicken and has plenty of experience in the spotlight, winning the tournament with UConn in 1999 and 2004. This year, Calhoun will be relying heavily on star guard Kemba Walker to get the Huskies past Kentucky in their Final Four game and back to the National Championship.

Innings played by Tufts baseball team in one game against the Apprentice School on March 26. The game included a marathon performance by senior pitcher Pat O’Donnell, who pitched 10 innings in the contest. Tufts had multiple chances to win, scoring one run in both the 11th and 12th innings, before allowing the Builders to come back each time.

Finally, in the 17th, the Jumbos grabbed two runs with two bases-loaded walks, which gave Tufts the lead for good.

17

24

68

Saves made by junior goalie Steve Foglietta in No. 1 Tufts’ 14-13 victory over No. 2 Stevenson in Towson, Md., last Wednesday night. Foglietta was bombarded with 76 shots in the thrilling, rain-delayed contest that did not conclude until around 11:30 p.m.

Tufts has since defeated Williams and Western New England to improve to 6-0 on the season.

Alex Prewitt | Live from Mudville

Leaving the ball

M

arch is almost over, which is a good sign because I don’t think I can handle much more madness.

A quick aside: Putting things in historical perspective can be difficult, especially when a modern example challenges the perceived hierarchy. We tend to believe that the most recent instance stands alone, simply because it is the freshest in our memories. This, in turn, causes the “best ever” conversation to arise quite frequently; no one wants to relegate their opinion to the silver medal. “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy” (2004) is the funniest movie of all time. No album can top “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967). Taco Bell’s cheesy gordita crunch is the ultimate latenight snack. These debates often disintegrate into a shouting match because, realistically, acquiescence is not an option.

Back to something more sports-related: So what would I say to someone who claimed that the 2011 NCAA Tournament was the greatest ever? I would first add some sort of baseless qualifier that it’s solely their opinion and that it doesn’t necessarily represent the beliefs of the masses.

Then I would respond that they’re absolutely right.

We’re just days away from tip-off time in Houston for the Final Four, and the reality is finally setting in: Either 11th-seeded VCU or eighth-seeded Butler will make the National Championship Game. This year’s Final Four will be lacking a No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the first time ever, with No. 3 UConn and No. 4 Kentucky rounding out the field.

Cinderella’s not just crashing the ball; she’s driving the pumpkin carriage straight through the front door, mowing down the haughty aristocrats and leaving sobbing women and children in her wake.

A low seed reaching the Final Four is good. A mid-major low seed reaching the Final Four is great. But two mid-major teams seeded No. 8 or below advancing to college basketball’s biggest stage? Those are near-impossible odds that, when executed, formulate an impossibly entertaining tournament sure to drive office workers insane.

Each March seems to inevitably be the season of chalk, when the top seeds plow through the weaker ones and upsets fall by the wayside. Raise your hand if you had just one No. 1 seed in the Elite Eight.

How about three double-digit seeds in the Southwest Region’s Sweet Sixteen?

I’m talking about first-round 5-12 games with a 4.5 average margin of victory or the 8-9 contests that were won by 3.5 points apiece. Look at VCU over Georgetown, then Purdue, then Florida State and finally Kansas; the Rams had little business even making the tournament to begin with, and certainly have no business being in the Final Four, but here we are, just two more victories from mayhem in Richmond.

The Princeton TI-89s nearly took down Kentucky before the Wildcats reeled off three more single-digit wins to give John Calipari another chance at choking away a national title. Evil stepsister Duke pleased a nation by blowing it against Arizona and Prince Charming Jimmer Fredette couldn’t muscle BYU past Florida.

What about Butler’s one-point win over Pittsburgh just days after a two-point victory versus Old Dominion? The Bulldogs are in the Final Four for the second straight season, this time sans Gordon Hayward, and I’ve developed a massive man crush on coach Brad Stevens and his enormous ears.

The brackets are shot, the pools decimated. Just two people on ESPN’s bracket challenge nailed all four Final Four teams.

Hell has frozen over. Pigs are flying. The month is full of Sundays. Grapes are ripe on the willow (That one’s Croatian).

Nothing can dampen my spirits this time of year. Not miserable refereeing. Not atrocious coaching mistakes. Not the fact that announcers inexplicably decided that the opening four games would be called the “First Round.”

And the year the madness supersedes 2011’s, the cactus will grow on my hand (Polish).

Alex Prewitt is a junior majoring in English and religion. He can be reached at Alexander.Prewitt@tufts.edu. His blog is livefrommudville.blogspot.com.

The Tufts Daily

14

Sports

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sailing

Win at BU Bridge Invitational caps impressive weekend for Tufts After an impressive weekend that bumped the coed sailing team up three spots to No. 12 in the Sailing World national rankings, the Jumbos continued their success with strong finishes at five separate regattas this weekend, winning one: the BU Bridge Invitational.

“It looks good for the season being able to come off a long week and not be too tired,” senior tri-captain Meghan Pesch said. “Coming out of spring break we definitely had some good results, and it shows that we should be able to get through the season and not overwork ourselves or get too tired out.”

The Jumbos took to the seas at five different venues this past weekend, sending teams to the 82nd Boston Dinghy Cup at MIT, the Owen Trophy at Kings Point waterfront, the Boston University Bridge Invitational Central Series Race and the Clark Open. The women’s sailing team also hosted the Duplin Trophy on Mystic Lake.

As the defending Dinghy Cup champions, the Jumbos entered three boats into last Saturday’s regatta. Up against a formidable field that included No. 2 Boston College, No. 7 Yale and No. 8 Harvard, Tufts finished the two-day race in fifth place, ahead of both Harvard and Yale.

The women’s team also enjoyed success this weekend with a second-place finish at the Duplin Trophy. The No. 11 Jumbos led the pack throughout the regatta and into the final round-robin stage but ultimately lost out to No. 3 Boston College (BC) due to a head-tohead tiebreaker, Pesch said.

“We thought we performed very well,” Pesch said. “We were hoping to put up a good fight against some tough competition, and the fact that we were able to hang with BC and tie them for first was really impressive. I think we were all really pleased with that.”

“Being the home team really helped

courtesy ken legler

The No. 12-ranked sailing team, seen here during last year’s spring break, finished ahead of both No. 7 Yale and No. 8 Harvard on Saturday. because the conditions were very shifty, which is very typical of the Mystic Lakes and something we are used to practicing in,” Pesch continued. “It’s useful to be aware of the shiftiness and know how to deal with it, since most of the other teams weren’t necessarily prepared for it.”

But the biggest success of the week-

end came at the BU Bridge Invitational where the A-Division team of senior James Altreuter and junior Elizabeth Lynch and B-Division team of sophomores Andrew Meleney and Mackenzie Loy, who is also an assistant layout editor for the Daily, helped to secure a first-place finish with 87 points. The Jumbos ended Saturday leading the

field of 15 and never looked back, continuing their dominance on Sunday to secure the victory.

With six regattas this next weekend — one of which they will be hosting — the squad is looking to keep improving and moving up in the rankings.

—by Nick Woolf

Two key saves by Patton seal the game MEN’S LACROSSE

continued from page 11

frame. It wasn’t quite complacency; it was simply a lack of the usual tenacity that has carried this team to great heights over the past season and a half.

The problem for Tufts early in the second half seemed to be that WNEC had too much space on offense while the Tufts offense didn’t have enough, causing the Jumbos to force their shots in a way that gave the Golden Bears’ goalie Brewster Knowlton no trouble at all. Tufts’ defensive players weren’t closing the gaps quickly enough. The Golden Bears were left with several open midrange shots, and after the first few went in, NESCAC co-Player of the Week junior goalie Steven Foglietta got a little shell-shocked. He started to leave his pipes a second before he should have in an attempt to be proactive — almost overly aggressive — and stop the bleeding, but that ultimately backfired as it left space for WNEC to slip in shots when it normally wouldn’t have had the angle. Coach Mike Daly made the switch to freshman goalie Patton Watkins in an attempt to calm the

nerves of his scrambling defense.

But through the adversity, Tufts held on. It was a gritty win. Key players made key plays, and there was hustle from every player on the field. Watkins made two of the most impressive saves of his short collegiate lacrosse career late in the fourth quarter to seal the game. Senior quad-captain attackman D.J. Hessler showed his field smarts as usual, racking up three goals and four assists to lead his team. Junior attackman Sean Kirwan and junior midfielder Kevin McCormick continued their solid play, scoring four and three goals, respectively. And although they don’t show up on the stat sheet, pure hustle plays like sophomore Sam Diss’s successful race to the end line against a WNEC attackman after a shot, which gave the Jumbos possession late in the fourth quarter, were the difference between winning and losing.

The close game will be useful for the future. If Wesleyan had a chance of catching Tufts on an off-day this Saturday, that chance is now kaput.

Scoring is easy.

Just trust the experts at THE SCORE. blogs.tuftsdaily.com/thescore The Daily sports department’s place for the latest info on all things sports

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Browne and Bowman win again to extend winning streak to 10 matches WOMEN’S TENNIS

continued from page 13

No. 2 doubles position, showcasing the depth of the squad.

The Jumbos also faced No. 22 Sewanee earlier in the week, on March 22, defeating them 8-1.

“This team is so much deeper, and [this weekend] we have proved that we can beat any team in the country,” Browne said. “We got a lot closer, we played a bunch of tough matches, and got through a bunch of stressful times in the match. There is a lot of team unity.”

In the end, though, the Jumbos have their eyes set on larger prizes: a chance to compete for the national title and another shot at No. 1 Amherst, who downed the Jumbos in

last year’s NESCAC finals.

“I definitely think that we can beat them,” Gann said. “We are much closer to them after this trip. And that is going to take us a long way.”

Those lofty goals still seem far off, however, as the team takes on Colby this weekend, followed by a trio of critical conference games against Bowdoin, Trinity, and Conn. College from April 8 - 13. Despite this weekend’s strong performances, the team knows they will need to improve if they are to get through the grueling NESCAC schedule.

“We are focusing more on our fitness and our conditioning,” Browne said. “We need to make sure that we have the stamina to play a bunch of matches in a row.”

Solid pitching lifts up sluggish lineup as team readies for NESCAC BASEBALL

continued from page 11

started every game for the Jumbos, only senior outfielder Chase Rose hit over .300. The senior contributed six of Tufts’ 19 doubles and one of its two homers, while batting a terrific .426 and earning the first NESCAC Player of the Week honor of the season.

However, Rose also fanned 11 times and did not draw a walk — a ratio that will need to improve for his hot streak to continue.

Co-captain infielders junior Sam Sager and senior David LeResche were among the hitters who started the season in a slump. The 2010 First Team AllNESCAC duo combined for just three extra-base hits, while hitting .220 and .275, respectively. LeResche will look to improve on his .327 on-base percentage to stay in the leadoff spot in coach Casey’s lineup, while Sager will search for the pop that led to his .534 slugging mark last spring.

“I’m not concerned, because offense is the last thing to come along during the season,” LeResche said. “We pitched and fielded the ball well, and the offense will come as we get more comfortable with each at bat.”

Fortunately for Tufts, while the offense scuffled last week, the pitching staff showed that despite the absence of All-American closer junior Chris DeGoti, it can be just as effective as last year’s group was. The Jumbos held opposing batters to just a .226 average and 4.7 runs per game, and eight of their 11 pitchers returned to Medford with an ERA of 4.00 or lower.

“From a pitching standpoint, I thought we had some guys throw the ball real well,” Casey said. “It’s the same type of staff as we had last year — no superstars, but a lot of good depth — and as long as we catch the ball behind them, they’re going to be successful.”

Junior righty David Ryan had the best starting performance of the trip, hurling seven shutout innings in an 8-1 win over Guilford. Ryan — who went 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA last season — is rapidly developing into the ace of the Tufts staff.

Meanwhile, senior Ed Bernstein, sophomore Alex Cronkite, and firstyear Dean Lambert did their part to ensure the bullpen would not miss a beat in DeGoti’s stead.

Bernstein continued to whiff batters at a superb rate, racking up 13 strikeouts in 8.2 innings of work, without allowing an earned run.

Cronkite excelled at pitching to contact, inducing a terrific 19 groundball

outs compared to just seven flyballs.

And Lambert quickly adjusted to the collegiate game, pitching 5.2 frames and maintaining a flawless 0.00 ERA. Thanks to their efforts, the Jumbos have yet to lose a game they have led after the fifth inning.

If there’s one knock on the Jumbos pitchers’ otherwise stellar start, it’s that they have issued 44 walks and hit eight batters in 99 innings while only collecting 51 strikeouts. Giving away more free passes than punchouts will not be a problem as long as the staff continues to prevent hits, but the ability to put batters away will ultimately determine whether the Tufts staff is solid or elite.

Though the Jumbos were unable to match their stellar spring break performance from last year, the team maintains optimistic that it is improving as conference play approaches.

“Every year, our goal is to be better at the end of the spring trip than we were before it,” Sager said. “In this sense, I think our trip was very productive, as we had to play in a lot of pressurepacked moments, especially the extrainning games, which will prepare us for similar situations later in the season.”

The Jumbos will return to action on Wednesday against Mass. Maritime, riding a two-game winning streak from their doubleheader sweep of Apprentice on Saturday. The 3 p.m. tilt against the Buccaneers will be the team’s final tuneup before Bates comes to Huskins Field to kick off the NESCAC slate this weekend.

“Right now, Wednesday’s game is all we’re focused on, and Bates is the next step,” Casey said. “As long as we play well defensively, we’re going to do well.

That’s what we tell our guys every day and I thought we did that the last four or five games.”

Daily File Photo

Junior third baseman Lena Cantone, shown here in an April 3, 2010 game, hit at an incredible .528 clip over the softball team’s 14-game spring break trip.

Trip marked by individual performances SOFTBALL

continued from page 11

Cantone was at the heart of the offensive renaissance, tallying five hits and seven RBIs in the two games. The matchup with Fontbonne was also the breakout game for Clair, who had a pair of home runs, including a key response after the team had lost the lead in the fifth inning.

“Every time I go up to bat, I’m not looking to hit a home run by any means,” Clair said. “I’m just looking to make contact with the ball and get on base. College is a whole new ball game, a lot of the pitchers are a lot better, so it’s a good feeling to be able to hit two home runs in one game.”

The Jumbos dropped a pair of games the following day before taking a much needed two-day break from the field. Not only did the break give the squad some much-needed rest, but it also gave them a chance to grow even closer as a team.

“It helped because it was away from the softball field so we didn’t have to think about the game and we could just be together and get along and talk,” Clair said.

Tufts looked like a new squad following the break. They had back-to-back five-inning mercy rules on their first day back in action, defeating Allegheny and Grinnell on March 25 by a combined 25-3. Sophomore second baseman Emily Beinecke, making just her second and third starts of the season after battling a bad hamstring and a case of mononucleosis, went 5-for-6 over the two games, while Lieman-Sifry was 5-for-7 and scored five runs.

The Tufts squad got its first chance to test itself against NESCAC opposition the next day, taking on the Middlebury team that finished third in the NESCAC West last season. The Panthers jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Jumbos soon began to claw their way back. Senior pitcher Izzie

SPRING BREAK RECAP Both the baseball and softball teams had a busy spring break, playing a combined 24 games against a majority of non-conference schools. While the men spent the week traveling around Virginia and North Carolina, the women stayed in Clement, Fla., for the National Training Center Spring Games. Here’s a recap of what happened.

Record Run Differential Avg Team ERA Extra Innings Batting Average

Baseball 5-4-1 +7 3.27 10 .246

Softball

7-7 +16

4.03 0 .328

Highlight

6-4 17-inning win

vs. Apprentice School

Four runs scored in last two innings in win vs. Middlebury

Santone shut the door on Middlebury in the late innings while adding a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh.

In the final frame, Tufts put two runners on base, thanks to a pair of singles from Giglio and junior third baseman Katherine Darveau. Cantone tied the game with an RBI single, and the Jumbos loaded the bases before Santone sent the team home with a walk-off base hit, earning herself a win in the process.

“I think that out of all the games we played that was probably the most important win for us, but I think it was also a huge confidence booster because we came from behind and just kept fighting until the last inning,” Cantone said. “That entire week, I didn’t see anyone as tired as they were at the end of that game.”

With the trip coming to a close, the Jumbos rode the momentum of the Middlebury win to a pair of easy wins, taking down McHenry County and Buffalo State 8-2 and 9-1, respectively.

Though the bats took a while to warm up under the Florida sun, the team still ended the week with some impressive offensive performances. Cantone hit .528 for the week while amassing 17 RBIs and only striking out once. LiemanSifry finished the week batting .390, more than one hundred points higher than what she finished with last season.

Meanwhile, Clair pounded out all five of the team’s home runs and led the team with a slugging percentage of .833.

On the mound, Moskowitz led the team with a 2.23 ERA, but also walked 14 batters in 22 innings. DiBiase got the lion’s share of the work over the week and finished with a 3.62 ERA, while Santone drew many of the toughest assignments but looked impressive with a 8.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

After a week completely focused on softball, the team returned to campus, where they will deal with much cooler temperatures and a busy schedule.

Tufts hosts Springfield College for a doubleheader tomorrow and then takes on Williams the following day, looking for revenge against an Ephs team that knocked the Jumbos out of the NESCAC Championship last season. Tufts will then close the week with a three-game series against Bates this weekend as the squad officially opens its conference slate.

“I feel the confidence is definitely there, especially with how we ended our week in Florida,” Cantone said. “But also last week prepared us for how exhausted you can possibly get after playing so many games, so I don’t think we’ll have any problems with the amount of games we have upcoming.”

16

The Tufts Daily

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

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