The Tufts Daily - Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Eco-Reps, Tufts Dining work to provide vegetarian, vegan options see FEATURES / PAGE 4

MEN’S SOCCER

Jumbos advance to sixth straight Sweet 16

‘The Mandalorian’ has potential, underwhelms in pilot episode see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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Tuesday, November 19, 2019

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Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine launch 7-day action highlighting elements of ‘Deadly Exchange’

by Connor Dale

stop partaking in them,” Tunis, a senior, said. “Obviously Kevin Maguire is just one small piece of the puzzle, but creating these exchanges and building up this country’s military industrial complex can really have these big repercussions and it really did scare a lot of people on this campus.”

A 2018 Daily investigation revealed that Maguire, along with other Bostonarea police chiefs and federal officers, attended an Anti-Defamation Leaguefunded counterterrorism seminar in Israel in December 2017. According to previous reporting by the Daily, these seminars have been criticized by activists both for trying to sway the officers who attend to favor the Israeli government and because some the trainings have been conducted by Shin Bet, which has been accused of using torture tactics.

Since then, the university has repeatedly defended Maguire’s attendance of the training, citing the need for local and university police departments to prepare for potential terror attacks. Patrick

News Editor

Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) launched a seven-day action calling attention to various disturbing elements of police exchange programs between the United States and Israel, according to a press release from the group.

The action, which started on Nov. 13 and will continue through Nov. 19, is part of SJP’s broader campaign to “#EndTheDeadlyExchange,” which seeks to end military training trips for the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) and all other police militarization on campus. Over 15 student organizations have signed on to SJP’s campaign.

According to SJP member Molly Tunis, the group started the campaign after it learned that Kevin Maguire, executive director of public safety and chief of TUPD, attended a training trip with the Israeli military in December 2017.

“There was quite an uproar after we found out — there was a letter from faculty members condemning the trip and a petition went around calling on Tufts to

COURTESY MOLLY TUNIS

see SJP, page 2

Members of Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine recreate Palestinians’ treatment at Shin Bet.

Pressley hosts town hall; discusses Signs bearing white supremacist impeachment, gun control message appear on campus for 2nd year

by Isabella Maharaj Assistant News Editor

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA7) held a town hall this past Nov. 17 in Somerville, part of the district she represents. Throughout the 90 minute-long town hall, the Congresswoman answered questions from her constituents over a wide scope of topics, including impeachment inquiries, the affordable housing crisis, transportation concerns and gun control.

She began with a discussion on the public impeachment hearings for President Donald Trump that have begun in the House of Representatives. Pressley has been publicly supportive of impeachment inquiries since April. She spoke on the outcomes of the House’s public hearings last week.

“These public hearings have been an opportunity for our nation to hear directly from dedicated public servants, from decorated combat veterans, and career diplo-

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AM Rain 44 / 37

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mats who confirm the extent of occupant’s abuse of power for personal gain. This testimony was damning and the evidence is piling up higher every day,” she said.

The Congresswoman also updated her constituency on the plan forward in the impeachment inquiry process.

“Next week, the House will continue to use our efforts to engage in the effective and efficient pursuit of the truth by holding three more hearings, and I serve on two of six committees that have been actively involved in the investigative process of this impeachment inquiry,” Pressley said.

Pressley currently works on both the Financial Services and the Oversight and Reform committees.

Later in the town hall, Pressley was asked about her plan on gun control by a student. She referred to the bipartisan bill, H.R.8, that was passed in the House of see PRESSLEY, page 2 For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

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by Austin Clementi

Executive News Editor

A sticker bearing the message “It’s okay to be white” appeared on campus, according to a post on the Facebook group Tufts Memes for Quirky Queens.

The Daily found another sticker near Hillsides Apartments on N. Hill Road.

Since the Facebook post was shared this morning, the posters have been taken down.

This marks the second time such signage has appeared on campus. Last year, the Daily discovered the same signs the night of Oct. 31 over get-outthe-vote posters put out by JumboVote and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. This year, similar posters were discovered on other college campuses, including Christopher Newport

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University, East Tennessee University, Oklahoma City University, Susquehanna University and Western Connecticut State University.

According to reporting by the Daily, the posters first appeared on 4chan forums and were originally intended to sway voters to “pro-white” candidates.

The slogan has been adopted by white nationalist figures such as David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and has been promoted by white nationalist forums online, who encouraged the postering to take place on Halloween night this year. However, no posters were reported on Halloween.

It is unclear when these posters first appeared on campus. Tufts administrators and the student who made the Facebook post could not be reached for comment at press time.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Tuesday, November 19, 2019

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In week of actions, SJP highlights effects of Deadly Exchange SJP

continued from page 1 Collins, executive director of media relations, said that the trip in question was attended by executives from law enforcement agencies throughout New England for the sole purpose of learning about the latest methods in preventing and preparing for emergency situations.

“The trip was not intended to serve as an endorsement of any particular policy or policing strategy,” Collins said. “We want to reassure all Tufts community members that Tufts is committed to keeping all members of our community safe.”

According to SJP member Julia Asfour, SJP’s seven-day action is meant to reflect a sample itinerary of a typical military training trip.

“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to recreate the most disturbing elements of the deadly exchange so that people can understand how dangerous it is that U.S. officials are being sent to Israel to train with their military,” Asfour, a junior, said.

SJP’s first action, which took place on Nov. 13 outside of the Campus Center, highlighted how American officers meet with Amichai Magen during the exchange, who is the head of the Governance & Political Violence Program at the Institute for CounterTerrorism (ICT ). Some activists and scholars have criticized the ICT for

producing Islamophobic and anti-Arab analysis on terrorism and military campaigns.

Since then, members of SJP have kneeled blindfolded in front of the cannon in order to reflect how Palestinians are treated at Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency that officers learn from on the exchange visit. They have also recreated a West Bank checkpoint, another stop on the trip’s itinerary, in order to call attention to how checkpoints are used to prevent Palestinians from being able to travel freely.

Tunis hopes that these actions, which will continue through today, will call attention to the factors that determine the university’s policing practices.

“We want to ask Tufts: how is this safety?” she said.

Jewish Voice for Peace ( JVP), an activist group that advocates for Palestinian human rights, launched a campaign in May 2017 to end U.S.-Israel law enforcement exchanges. The campaign, called Deadly Exchange, condemns exchange programs like the National CounterTerrorism Seminar, where, according to the campaign’s website, “‘worst practices’ are shared to promote and extend discriminatory and repressive policing in both countries.”

According to Tunis, SJP’s mission to “#EndTheDeadlyExchange” is an extension of JVP’s campaign, with the addi-

tional goal of ending all police militarization on campus.

“When Tufts sends police officers to train with a literal military known for its human rights violations and known for its gross violence against civilians, it makes it very clear that they’re becoming more and more militarized,” Tunis said.

Collins rejected any claims that Tufts campus police officers were becoming militarized and upheld TUPD and the Office of Emergency Management’s commitment to providing a secure environment in which students, faculty, staff and visitors can live, work and learn safely.

“We strongly disagree with any characterization that the Tufts University Police Department is ‘militarized,’” Collins told the Daily in an email. “To the contrary, the University and TUPD have repeatedly made it clear that they do not support or intend to pursue the militarization of the Tufts University Police Department.”

Asfour, however, emphasized that the issue of Tufts police training with a military force particularly affects students of color, especially since the Israeli forces often target Palestinians, who are also people of color (POC). “[Police] are being normalized to the idea of fighting against or arming themselves against [people of color],” Asfour said. “It’s becoming a normal narrative that POC students are capable of danger.”

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United States Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley speaking on April 22 in Cabot ASEAN auditorium as part of the Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series.

PRESSLEY

continued from page 1 Representatives on Feb. 27. The bill establishes universal background check requirements. The bill is now waiting to be presented on the Senate floor.

“I think it has been at the door of Mitch McConnell for 172 days now,” she said.

The Congresswoman also expressed the need for gun violence prevention in forms other than mass shootings.

“Whether we are robbed of a life on a city block, gang affiliated or not, whether because of domestic terrorism, at a mosque, at a synagogue, at a church, at a school or at a concert … it is a public health crisis and it’s an epidemic,” Pressley said.

She urged the need for investment in

support for trauma and mental health issues that can lead to gun violence. The H.R.8 bill attempts to deal with this by allocating $5 million dollars for school-based help centers.

Pressley gave her constituents Mitch McConnell’s phone number and urged them to call his office and tell him to “do your job.”

The Congresswoman also discussed her position on legislation concerning a pathway to citizenship. She stated that she would not support legislation that would only provide a pathway for Dreamers — people affected by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and not for the parents or community as a whole.

“The truth of the matter is: it is not just DACA recipients who are Dreamers, it is DED [Deferred Enforced Departure],

TPS [Temporary Protected Status] holders who have been contributing to civic life, their community, our economy for 10, 15, 20 years. They have dreams too.

And so we can’t push just an exceptional immigrant narrative. We can’t think that only one group deserves to dream. We have to continue to be intersectional and vigilant.”

The final question of the town hall voiced concern on the polarization of the current political climate entering the 2020 elections. Pressley expressed a degree of confidence in the anti-Trump sentiment.

“I don’t put too much stock in the polls, however I have seen enough polls that affirm to me the electorate’s opinion is changing.”

News

Tuesday, November 19, 2019 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Israeli journalist discusses economic transformation of Israel at FOI event

by Alexander Janoff Staff Writer

Amotz Asa-El, an award-winning Israeli journalist, best-selling author and former executive editor at The Jerusalem Post, spoke to students at the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room in an event hosted by Tufts Friends of Israel.

According to Tufts Friends of Israel Political Director Max Price, who introduced him, Asa-El currently is a senior commentator at the Jerusalem Post, as well as a commentator for American publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Market Watch on issues regarding Israeli and Jewish affairs.

“He writes a column called Middle Israel, which is an attempt to provide the down the line center perspective on issues from foreign policy to domestic policy,” Price, a sophomore, said. “[He discusses] political events that are occurring [in Israel], business, religion — all these issues that have defined Israeli politics for a long time.”

Asa-El spent much of his time discussing both recent and historical political and economic events that elevated Israel’s economy among the world’s strongest.

Asa-El began his discussion by talking about some of the difficulties that put

Israel as a country at an economic disadvantage at the time of its founding.

“Israel was completely shorn of natural resources other than some potash from which you make fertilizer that comes out of the Dead Sea, and some anecdotal quantities of copper north of Eilat,” Asa-El said. “There was nothing.

No oil, no gas, no precious metals, no industrial metals, no water, no timber, nothing.”

While lacking natural resources, according to Asa-El, Israel also lacked trading partners immediately near its borders. Furthermore, companies wouldn’t enter Israel due to the Arab League’s boycott of Israel, which, according to Asa-El, would threaten and blackmail firms around the world so they wouldn’t do business with or in Israel.

“Nestle, McDonald’s, Shell,” Asa-El said. “All these firms that you’re familiar with as Americans, they unabashedly surrender to that Arab Boycott, which meant that running the Israeli economy became now even more challenging because not only did it lack natural resources, not only could it not trade with its immediate neighbors, [but] even more distant trade partners were now being driven away from Israel.”

According to Asa-El, this economic environment led to serious hyperinfla-

tion, a widespread increase in the price of Israeli goods and services, especially in the 1980s. Asa-El said that as the value of the shekel decreased due to this inflation, the Israeli government subsidized the purchasing of specific goods instead of taking steps to strengthen the currency. This led to inflation occurring at an even faster rate than before. By 1985, inflation had reached nearly 450%.

According to Asa-El, if the price of a good or service was too high for general consumers to purchase, the Israeli government would pay the difference between what the price actually was and what the consumer could afford. In doing this, the government intervened and artificially lowered the prices of goods and services nationwide.

“Economically speaking, subsidizing the product’s price corrupts the pricing mechanism for those of you who study economics, because there is a reason something costs whatever it costs,” AsaEl said.

According to Asa-El, in response to these crises the Israeli government made a series of adjustments in 1985 to adjust the growing economic issues. These included removing these price subsidies, slowly lowering taxes and adjusting the way the Bank of Israel printed money to keep the economy stable. The govern-

ment abruptly and heavily adjusted the value of the shekel.

Israel completed its transition from socialism to capitalism more recently with current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Finance Minister.

According to Asa-El, Netanyahu closed every state-owned corporation that he could and severely decreased government spending on social programs.

“There were big protests and [Netanyahu’s actions were] extremely controversial,” Asa-El said. “But strictly economically and financially speaking, it worked. Israel’s budget deficit plummeted to zero because it stopped spending all these expenditures.”

The former president of Tufts Friends of Israel who coordinated the event with Asa-El, Ben Shapiro, took away a great deal from the discussion with Asa-El. “As someone who doesn’t have a background in economics or regularly rarely interface with these topics, I thought it was a fascinating case study to look at with a country that is not often discussed on campus through this economic lens,” Shapiro, a senior, said.

“Oftentimes when we talk about Israel we’re not looking at it from an economic perspective, so it’s interesting to connect many of the social or political aspects to this new economic context.”

4 Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Jon Adams Oops We Did it Again

Return of the right

A

ccording to the Chinese artist Peng Wang, “the most tragic thing for a nation is to have no memory.” Spain, which on Nov. 10 held its second general election in 2019 and fifth overall in only eight years, seems increasingly ignorant of its own past.

The governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) lost three seats in the Congress of Deputies, Spain’s equivalent of the House of Representatives, as its control of the 350seat assembly fell to 120. The PSOE’s closest ideological allies, the far-left electoral alliance Unidas Podemos, lost seven seats as it too saw voters’ apparent dissatisfaction with the left in Spain grow. The two parties failed to come to a power-sharing agreement after 10 months of negotiation, forcing PM Pedro Sanchéz to call an election which further weakened his hold on power.

Conversely, right-wing parties in Spain made impressive gains after poor performances in the earlier April election. Partido Popular gained 23 seats, bringing its total to 89. It is still a far cry from the 137 it held in June 2018 when it lost power to Sanchéz’s PSOE after failing to clear a vote of no confidence, but nonetheless is a sign of a growing resurgence.

More notable was the performance of Vox, the upstart far-right phenomenon that in six years has come to embody Spanish conservatism. After premiering with 24 seats in the April elections, far fewer than predicted by pollsters, Vox saw its vote share increase nearly 5% and its total number of seats rise to 52, establishing it as the Congress’ third largest force.

While many heralded Vox’s performance as an indication that Spain is shifting farther right, election results tell a more nuanced story. The 43.09% of votes won by Spain’s three prominent conservative parties is consistent with the 43.85% average won by Spain’s right in the past five elections. Thus, Spain is not becoming more conservative; instead, the makeup and distribution of Spain’s conservative movement itself is shifting, with Vox’s success coming at the expense of Ciudadanos, which posits itself as politically right of center and lost 47 of its 57 seats.

The visibility being garnered to Spain’s far right is concerning in a country that only began to transition to democracy as recently as 1975, after years of dictatorship under Franco. Many had hoped the recent transfer of Franco’s body to a cemetery from the war memorial and quasi-shrine where he was elaborately interred was a sign that the nation was finally leaving behind its past. However, the fact that Ciudadanos’ campaign slogan, “España en marcha” (“Spain on the move”) was the same motto employed by Franco’s extant, ultra-far-right party Falange in the 2014 elections was a sign that some habits are harder to shake than others.

As Spain wrestles with the weight of its past, its conservative movement continues to reinvent itself as a means of survival. Vox is a far-right party for the modern day: fresh, loud and its prejudice attractive to more than just Franco’s traditionalists of old. Spain truly is a nation on the move and one at risk of heading down a familiar road if it doesn’t remember the last time it gave such voices prominence.

Jon Adams is a senior studying international relations and Spanish. Jon can be reached at jonathan.adams@tufts.edu.

Features

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Eco-Reps foster accessible vegetarianism through initiatives such as Meatless Mondays

by Sammy Park

Contributing Writer

The history of meatless meals in the United States can be traced back to World War I, when American families were asked to ration the scarce supply of meat. Today, a renaissance of meatless days has been framed in terms of environmental conservation. Public school districts in New York City, Baltimore and Los Angeles have declared Mondays to be meatless. Tufts, through the partnership of student Eco-Reps with Dining Services, has participated actively in Meatless Mondays.

Every Monday night, Tufts Eco-Reps stand near dining hall entrances to encourage students to choose to forgo their meat consumption for dinner that day or every Monday. Because meat dishes are still offered, for students, going meatless remains a voluntary choice.

“As students walk in, we try to encourage them to participate in a meatless dinner. We emphasize the importance of not pressuring anyone and treating Meatless Mondays as a great opportunity to make change,” senior Eliza Hilfer, Eco-Reps assistant coordinator of special projects, said.

Alongside Hilfer’s work as an Eco-Rep, she has shifted her own diet to be more environmentally conscious. She said that her lifestyle changes have been focused on not only reducing the amount of meat consumed, but also eating meals with ethically sourced ingredients.

“Being an ethical consumer requires research to truly understand where everything comes from and how it is disposed, and that may be out of our hands,” Hilfer said.

Eco-Reps Assistant Coordinator Taite Pierson came to Tufts having been vegetarian since elementary school. In the summer after fourth grade, Pierson said that she was motivated to eschew meat from her diet after seeing a scene from “Julie & Julia” (2009) where Meryl Streep, as chef Julia Child, stuffs a duck.

“The meat just looked so much like a real animal that had been alive. I declared at lunch after that I would no longer eat meat. Of course as I matured, I started getting interested in the sustainability side of being vegetarian, and I learned a lot more about the horrors of factory farming. What started with empathy for animals has definitely grown into a sense of responsibility for the environment,” Pierson said.

Pierson added that her favorite plantbased dining hall dishes are thyme green beans and tofu sandwiches.

According to a recent poll conducted

by Gallup, 8% of Americans aged 18 to 34 identified themselves as vegetarian.

However, Shaw said that at Tufts that number is around 27%, according to the 2018 Dining Survey. Part of the survey, distributed by Dining Services via email, allows the university to gauge how many students have religious, health or voluntary dietary restrictions.

“While not a large percentage of the total population, Tufts Dining takes the needs of these students seriously and ensures that there is a variety of vegan and vegetarian options on every menu,” Kelly Shaw, a Nutrition Marketing Specialist told the Daily in an email.

COURTESY LYZA BAYARD

A student picks up fresh vegetables from the Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center salad bar.

In 2016, Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Associate Professor Christian Peters, along with a team of other scientists, found that a vegetarian diet which incorporated dairy products maximized the amount of people that could be fed. This limit, called the carrying capacity, peaked under a lacto-vegetarian diet while a vegan diet was concluded to have the second lowest carrying capacity of all of the eating habits.

“It is easy to get caught up in comparing the diets to one another, but a more relevant question is what dietary changes help to reduce our environmental impact. Each person who follows a vegan diet contributes to lowering the total population-wide consumption of meat. Bear in mind, however, that hunger and climate change are too multi-faceted to be solved by a single action – even one as dramatic as global veganism,” Peters told the Daily in an email.

In addition to ensuring that there are a sufficient number of vegetarian and vegan dishes served on campus, Dining Services has also focused its effort on a more general priority to decrease its environmental impact.

“Tufts Dining follows the principles of the Menus of Change to create globally-inspired plant-forward menus that focus on beans, legumes, nuts and seeds as well as fruits and vegetables,” Shaw told the Daily in an email.

In addition to partnering on Meatless Mondays, Eco-Reps and Dining Services have also led initiatives such as Scrape Your Plate, which encourages students to reduce their food waste. Although both dining halls already compost all food waste, bringing compost bins into the open and allowing students to scrape their own plate allows diners to visualize the aggregation of leftover food.

By spreading awareness of ecologically-friendly practices like composting, both the Eco-Reps and Dining Services promote sustainable eating.

“You can always come back for seconds and thirds in the dining centers, which is much better than having left over food.

With the Scrape Your Plate program, we emphasize that the food in the dining centers is always composted. However, leftover food that is not taken from the stations is turned into meals for members of the community who are food insecure, with the help of Tufts Food Rescue [Collaborative],” Hilfer said.

Ultimately, while initiatives like Meatless Mondays present the option to go meatless as a completely voluntary choice, the fact that slightly more than a quarter of Tufts students have gone meatless is a sign the choice is accessible and easy.

“I’d say Tufts must do a pretty good job, because I know comparatively way more vegetarians and vegans here than I do at home,” Pierson said.

tuftsdaily.com

ARTS&LIVING

‘The Mandalorian’ readies, aims, misfires

‘How We Fight for Our Lives’

by Daniel Klain

Assistant Arts Editor

I

Over a month ago Disney+, Disney’s new streaming service, sent everyone down a nostalgia rabbit hole when it put together a thread of all the content coming to their platform. Their upcoming supplemental original content seemed just as attractive, though.

For “Star Wars” fans or Disney fanatics who signed up on the service’s first day, which reports say numbered over 10 million, the most intriguing piece of new content awaiting them was “The Mandalorian” (2019–).

Run by “Iron Man” (2018) director Jon Favreau, the show boasted a list of directors and actors to try and signal a level of prestige that Disney now wants associated with its commodified franchises. Episodes directed by Taika Waititi, Deborah Chow and even Bryce Dallas Howard, along with a cast of Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers and Nick Nolte, is compelling alone.

Set sometime between the sixth and seventh episodes of the Star Wars films, the series focuses on an unnamed bounty hunter, in the same vein as Jango and Boba Fett, and his dangerous work around the galaxy.

The Mandalorian is a tough character to empathize with, to say the least. In “The Mandalorian”’s most emotional moments, the camera zooms in, the music swoons, but we can’t pierce through the mask to see how he grapples with the moment, creating a wall between him and the viewer.

To show off his cold exterior, his mask, the one made famous by his preceding characters, never comes off. It’s slightly difficult to relate to a character, another human being, when you can’t see their face. The more cynical might even go so VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for ‘The Mandalorian’ (2019–) is pictured.

BOOK REVIEW

Carmen Maria Machado publishes personal memoir ‘In the Dream House’

by Peter Lam

Contributing Writer

Late into “In The Dream House” (2019), Carmen Maria Machado recalls how, in the midst of an abusive relationship, she found that her creativity unexpectedly flourished. Though she notes that one would assume that this context would have the opposite effect, Machado instead found herself prolific, producing stories outside of conventional forms. The shape of these stories were in weird constraints: entire narratives might take place in the form of lists, or in episode synopses for TV shows. Later, some of these works are included in her debut short story collection “Her Body and Other Parties” (2017), and she is praised for how she steps outside of convention, breaking down conventional form. But though Machado accepts the praise, she can’t unlink the stories from the relationship that helped to produce them.

Like these short stories, “In the Dream House” also breaks down tradi-

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Devina Bhalla Bhallin’ with Books

TV REVIEW

see THE MANDALORIAN, page 6

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tional narrative form, pushing the limits of what a memoir can be. Machado traces a lesbian relationship in her mid 20s that turns psychologically abusive, as she pursues an MFA at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. At the time, her girlfriend lives in Bloomington, Ind., and Machado regularly makes the drive to the house which they share there. As her girlfriend starts to act out in increasingly harmful ways to Machado — screaming torrents of abuse at her, or chasing her around the house — Machado grapples with the space of the home itself, noting the ways in which it doubles in conflicting sensations, a space both intimate and snug at the same time that acts as a threatening ground, hosting her abuser.

In the telling of this story, Machado breaks away from the established format of memoir: She drops into the second person “you,” and takes the reader on a montage through dozens of tropes and genres, as varied as the Bildungsroman to Chekhov’s Gun. This is an innovative choice, connecting to one of Machado’s

central problems in the text. Little art or material exists which documents queer abuse, and as a result it’s a difficult experience to live through or depict in words. By bringing the reader through all these different tropes, Machado makes the format of her words recognizable, though the relationship painted by them may not be.

In particular, Machado finds that the lack of an archive for lesbian abusive relationships makes it difficult to share her experience with others. She confronts the stereotype that lesbian relationships are “safe,” since men are removed from the equation. However, this belief removes the possibility of sharing experiences which don’t conform to the stereotype. Throughout the memoir, the reader gets a clear sense of how Machado struggles to live a narrative that goes ignored by many, even by those in the queer community. In the chapter “Dream House as Naming the Animals,” she writes about Adam in the see MACHADO, page 6

t’s that busy time of year, and unfortunately I was not able to attend Saeed Jones’ book talk about his latest memoir, “How We Fight for Our Lives” (2019), like I had planned. Jones’ book is important and deserves coverage though, so I am giving it some space here to talk to you all.

“How We Fight for Our Lives” is Jones’ story about growing up a black, gay man from the South. He is constantly battling with both identities and struggling with what the combination of them both results in. Jones reveals how he grappled with placing himself within his family, this country, this world and even within his own body.

He follows his life chronologically, giving you peeks into different scenes and events. Each reveals another interaction with the world, his family, lovers and his identity. You watch him develop his sexuality and wrestle with it. Lovers come and go and the tumultuous relationships he has are bluntly laid out for the reader. It is raw, honest and therefore sometimes difficult to read because of his vulnerability with the reader.

I flew through his book. It drew me in, but it also weighed on my heart in ways that I cannot explain and gave me the space to acknowledge his feelings even though they are ones I could never actually feel. Jones does it wonderfully, and I don’t want to try and encapsulate all that he does in this short column.

I am not a black, gay man and will never truly understand his experience.

But his memoir was powerful, and its gritty and unvarnished portrayal gifted me with a deeper understanding.

Jones is brutally examining the intersection of race and sexuality. His language is a fiery combination of his poetic roots and prose, pouring every ounce of his energy into his sentences.

His voice is incredibly loud in the most intoxicating way.

It is sexual as well, explicit in some parts. But the casual way he treats sexually-charged language is important. It is just as prevalent or valid as his stories about college or his relationship with his mother. I think he purposefully put them all on the same level, gave them the same value. In turn, he de-stigmatizes the way sexual language is so often treated.

Moreover, Jones emphasizes the connections between people and the ways that your fight to be yourself interacts with other people’s fights. Everyone is fighting for their own spot and fighting to help someone else find footing in themselves as well. Each section of his book intensifies this while continuing his intersection of blackness and queerness, of love and sex and of power and vulnerability.

I struggled writing this column because I am simply in awe of all that “How We Fight for Our Lives” accomplishes and the space this little book takes up. He does so much, and you deserve to give yourself the gift of reading his words and hearing his voice.

Devina Bhalla is a sophomore studying sociology and English. Devina can be reached at devina.bhalla@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Tuesday, November 19, 2019

tuftsdaily.com

Disney+’s flagship show hits but at times is oversaturated THE MANDALORIAN

continued from page 5 far as to say that Pedro Pascal might not have ever come on set, but merely just read his lines for voiceover. To be honest, there’s no real way we can tell them they’re wrong.

Even more confounding and cold, viewers still don’t know his name, and it doesn’t seem like we are going to learn it anytime soon because all the characters in the show just call him “The Mandalorian.”

There’s a fair defense for this, though.

The Mandalorian is an outsider, a classic lone gunman scouring the galactic west for money and criminals to hunt down.

The viewer is nothing like the bounty hunter they’re watching, so they shouldn’t even try to get into his head to understand him. The problem with that, though, is that just because he’s a loner in the world he occupies does not mean he needs to shut the viewer out as well. Even more so,

“The Mandalorian” gives little throughout the rest of the show for viewers to emotionally attach to.

One of these moments comes in the climax of the first episode. Sent on a mission

by Werner Herzog in Star Wars cosplay, The Mandalorian is pinned down with enemies all around him and is forced to shoot his way out. It’s an excellent western homage. Everything from the set to the action itself feels like an incredibly effective blending of Western and sci-fi genres.

It highlights just what seemed so promising from the trailer. On a simple level, “The Mandalorian” seemed like an opportunity to be the “Star Wars” gritty, adult content that adults who grew up on the original “Star Wars” movies desired.

What happens following this shootout suggests otherwise, unfortunately. The Mandalorian survives the shootout and discovers that that the target he was supposed to kill is an infant that looks like

Yoda. Given “The Mandalorian’s” place in the timeline of “Star Wars” canon, though, it is not the famous Yoda, but more likely an offspring.

It’s a shocking reveal, and one that absolutely changes our perspective and knowledge of the “Star Wars” universe.

The second episode, though, doesn’t utilize this information to up the stakes or shed light in any insightful way, but merely use a child character as a placeholder for pathos and a savior for The Mandalorian when he falls into a sticky situation. It’ll be interesting to see how long this character is used as a prop before its origin is truly revealed.

It’s difficult to watch “The Mandalorian” and not compare it to HBO’s “Watchmen”, another auterist’s attempt to expand the universe of a franchise. Where “Watchmen” has succeeded so far, “The Mandalorian” has confused. Its lack of information matters more than “Watchmen’s” does because

it gives us less to cling onto from both an emotional and universe-building aspect.

Viewers without background knowledge of “Watchmen” don’t need to understand why or how Robert Redford became president, but because it’s based in reality are able to understand or at least contemplate the consequences of it. Viewers of “The Mandalorian” are stuck wondering things like ‘what is Beskar Steel?’ or ‘where do Mandalorians come from?’ and the show makes information like that unclear, yet also make it feel incredibly relevant, hence the confusion.

Despite its flaws though, there is still plenty to be entertained and intrigued by. With its week-to-week format, and decently short run time, people who are fond of the “Star Wars” universe should check it out. For those who don’t really care though, it’s not clear if “The Mandalorian” alone is enough to warrant paying $6.99 a month.

‘In the Dream House’ breaks traditional structure to reflect on relationships, abuse MACHADO

continued from page 5 Garden of Eden, and the difficulty he must have felt in giving all the animals a name: “I feel a lot of sympathy. Putting language to something for which you have no language is no easy feat.”

Part of the difficulty of sharing her experience also involves widespread misunderstandings about domestic abuse. It’s difficult for Machado to share her experience because her girlfriend’s actions are technically legal; at

one point in the text, she wishes that her girlfriend would hit her and leave a mark, so that she could show other people something that would fit their understandings of abuse. The memoir also paints a clear picture of the difficulty of leaving such a damaging relationship, doing so through the tone of the voice and the devices strewn throughout. At one point, the text takes the form of a Choose-Your-OwnAdventure novel. If one reads through this section linearly, rather than skip-

ping to the appropriate pages, they see a page that says “You shouldn’t be on this page … You flipped here because you got sick of the cycle. You wanted to get out. You’re smarter than me.” There is a combination of desperate longing to get out and intense self-hatred for not doing so throughout the text — and yet, at times the reader forgets that leaving the relationship is an option for Machado, so swept are we into the intensity of their relationship.

But ultimately, there’s something

noble in the work Machado does, how she’s willing to look at her past unflinchingly. If her own experience was worsened by a lack of material regarding queer abuse, “In the Dream House” attempts to fight against this problem by way of its own existence.

The creation of this book was difficult work — requiring a painful unearthing for Machado — but it’s now a strong addition to the archive of documented queer experiences, something that can only get stronger as it grows.

tuftsdaily.com

Opinion CARTOON

Look, it’s…

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Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Deeksha Bathini Looking for Life, Destroying Life

Turning poop into water

Y

BY MARIA FONG

MY SHELTER PETS ARE MY BEST FRIENDS

OLIVIA MUNN WITH CHANCE AND FRANKIE: ADOPTED 2014 AND 2016.

THESHELTERPETPROJECT.ORG The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community.

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ou’ve probably heard of the software tycoon Bill Gates before: Harvard dropout, co-founder of Microsoft, one of the richest people in the world. But to me, some of Gates’ biggest contributions to the world stem from his philanthropy. Bill Gates and his equally incredible partner Melinda Gates are trailblazers in global health.

Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have pioneered solutions to sanitation and human waste disposal. In my last column, I discussed the issue of open defecation, which is the practice of defecating into the environment perpetuated by the lack of toilet infrastructure. This is an issue that deeply disturbed the Gates family. The Gates Foundation notes that so many people care about clean water, but reiterates that areas of poor sanitation have incredible difficulty acquiring clean water.

Many low and-middle income countries do not have a proper means for human waste disposal. Often, people have to use pit latrines, which are glorified holes in the ground separated by walls. Eventually, the holes fill with fecal matter, which is eventually dumped into the environment (i.e. water sources, landfills). Over time, people simply do not know what to do with these massive amounts of … shit.

The Gates family knew that the solution to poor sanitation would be complex, so they reached out to top engineers, offering a multimillion-dollar award. The goal was to create a toilet that required no external energy, no external plumbing and no short-term upkeep.

On top of all this, it had to be extremely cheap because low-income countries cannot process waste like America.

Sounds hard, right? No one could figure it out.

Then, the Gates Foundation partnered with Sedron Technologies (formerly Janicki Bioenergy) to create the first prototype of the Omni Processor (OP), which treats fecal sludge. Its technology works to completely eliminate pathogens from stool and generate useful outputs.

Let me break it down because this machine literally blew my mind. Basically, you insert fecal matter into the machine. The waste is boiled, and the water vapor that is given off is recovered.

The remnant dry feces is combusted, which removes pathogens and also powers the boiler that heats the initial stool. The steam from boiling the waste is converted to electrical energy.

This energy purifies the steam to produce clean, drinking water and powers the entire OP. This invention is groundbreaking. It is extremely inexpensive, completely self-powered, eliminates waste and creates clean drinking water from human fecal matter. Bill Gates discussed the OP in an interview with Jimmy Fallon in 2015. In the video titled, “Bill Gates and Jimmy Drink Poop Water,” both tried the so-called “poop water.” Needless to say, the difference between bottled water and poop water was undetectable.

A pilot-version OP has been working in Dakar, Senegal since 2015. Now, the goal is expansion. This technology saves lives and was created by considering the challenges of low and middle-income countries. In many ways, American advancements do not scale down to the developing world. When that happens, we need creative solutions. The Omni Processor is just the beginning.

Deeksha Bathini is a junior studying community health. Deeksha can be reached at deeksha.bathini@tufts.edu.

SPORTS

8 Tuesday, November 19, 2019

tuftsdaily.com

Men’s soccer heads to Sweet 16 after victories More respect for against SUNY Maritime, WPI

David Meyer Postgame Press

J

Morant

a Morant put the ball behind his back and hit the layup. He caught alley-oops. He assisted from underneath the basket. He soared for dunks. The Memphis Grizzlies won 107–106 over the Utah Jazz on Friday and Morant finished with 25 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and a nice highlight reel. This was the game after he hit his first game-winner, a layup over three fully-grown men.

Ja Morant is good. I know that sounds obvious, especially if you have been paying attention, but it is also worth saying. Zion Williamson was a star of rare caliber and a basically undisputed No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft. His shine was national news almost every day during the season, whether it was one dunk or pass or the next. No complaints either. He deserved the hype.

If he did not get hurt at the beginning of this season, his name would still be in the headlines whether he played as well as expected or not. Once again, Ja Morant may have been overshadowed.

Since Zion has not played yet, the No. 2 pick has shown his stuff and gotten the recognition he deserves.

Morant has been underestimated time and time again. He has cited some of his success to his dad, who he calls his “first hater.” After he hit the game-winner against the Hornets, he went to his father and they shared a moment. ‘Hated on’ by his father, this was also a player who only had one chance to play college basketball.

Only recruited by one school, Murray State found their investment returned tenfold. He played well in his first-year campaign but took a major leap in his second year and led Murray State to a second-round NCAA Tournament exit in 2019. His college career was over, but his NBA career was on its way. It was Murray State’s first loss since January, led by a player with one offer because he was under 6 feet and could not dunk at the end of his high school career.

When Morant was picked as No. 2 in the draft, he gave a shout out to his cousin, who was a big believer of his and had passed away in a motorcycle accident. Morant was making it, a dream that his cousin Trey Beverly told him that he could and should achieve.

While his father gave him the negative energy to push him, Trey Beverly gave Ja Morant the positive belief in himself.

Now, Morant has taken the belief that he had in himself and passed it on to NBA fans like me.

When Williamson comes back, the excitement about Morant may fade into the background. Hopefully, he has shown enough people that he deserves to be on the map and on the map for good. A threat in so many facets of the game, Morant will be making highlight reels and SportsCenter top 10s for a long time to come. Not bad. I highly recommend that no one underestimates Ja Morant.

David Meyer is a senior studying film and media studies. David can be reached at david.meyer@tufts.edu.

by Jake Freudberg Sports Editor

The men’s soccer team advanced to the Div. III NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the sixth year in a row after defeating SUNY Maritime 5–1 in the first round and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) 2–1 in the second round over the weekend.

Both matches were hosted by Tufts at Bello Field, and now the team will travel to Swarthmore, Pa., to take on Washington and Lee University of Lexington, Va. on Saturday.

The Jumbos advanced through the second round of the tournament on Sunday against the WPI Engineers in what was nothing short of an exciting Div. III soccer game that came down to the final minute of regulation.

The Engineers got on the board first in the 14th minute as midfielder Jivan Purutyan scored off of a cross from midfielder/forward Jackson Conroy. The Jumbos quickly tried to answer, getting off three shots in the next eight minutes, but could not capitalize. Despite having four corner kicks and matching the Engineers in shots with five, the Jumbos struggled to get opportunities in the first half.

“I think [the Engineers] showed why they were very resilient — they were very difficult to break down,” coach Josh Shapiro said in a press conference after the game. “We got very little, especially the first half, and we had to grow into the game.”

But the Jumbos came out in the second half ready to fight back. In the 55th minute, junior midfielder/defender Calvin Aroh gained possession after the Engineers defense cleared the ball from

junior midfielder Travis Van Brewer. Aroh fired a shot and scored to tie the game at 1–1.

The rest of the second half featured several opportunities to score for both teams, but it remained tied until the final minute.

With only 55 seconds left on the clock, senior midfielder Brett Rojas took a shot that was deflected out of bounds, giving the Jumbos a corner kick. Sophomore midfielder Zach Seigelstein took the corner and served the ball in to senior defender and co-captain Tanner Jameson who headed the ball into the net.

Jameson’s first career collegiate goal gave the Jumbos the 2–1 advantage that they kept for the last minute until the final whistle. “[Seigelstein] played a beautiful ball just right across the six, and I just kind of jumped up and got it,” Jameson said in the press conference. “Honestly [it was] kind of a blur.”

Senior midfielder/forward and co-captain Gavin Tasker attributed the comeback victory to the team’s depth.

“I think our second guys came on and made a big difference to us, and kind of allowed us to catch our breath,” Tasker said in the press conference. “And then we really piled up the pressure in the last 15 minutes.”

Just over 24 hours before the second-round win against WPI, Tufts beat SUNY Maritime in the opening round of the tournament with a resounding final score of 5–1.

The action started quickly as Rojas scored just 30 seconds into the game, assisted by Tasker. The Privateers got a goal of their own though, just over six

minutes later, as a free-kick from midfielder Thomas Kropp was deflected into the net by the Jumbos. In the 24th minute, a corner kick from Seigelstein found senior forward Joe Braun, who scored to give Tufts the lead 2–1.

That goal turned out to be all the Jumbos needed, but that did not stop their offensive attack in the second half. Junior midfielder/forward Alex Ratzan scored in the 80th minute off of a pass from junior midfielder/forward Mati Cano. Then, about four minutes later, first-year midfielder Woovin Shin notched his first career collegiate goal, set up by Cano and Ratzan. Shin scored again shortly thereafter to give the Jumbos a four-goal lead.

Now, the Jumbos will shift to focus on their next challenge in the Washington and Lee Generals. Shapiro explained his approach looking ahead at his weekend.

“I just said to the guys that I think the heart and belief we show is going to be required,” Shapiro said. “And then, the concentration levels have to go up. The margin for error is just smaller, right?

Like if you make a mistake, you’re more likely to be punished. Chances are few and far between — you’ve got to work on taking them.”

Tufts and Washington and Lee will play at 3:30 p.m. following another Sweet 16 match between host Swarthmore and familiar NESCAC foe Conn. College. The winners of those two games will face off on Sunday in the Elite Eight game at 3 p.m. to earn a berth into the Final Four.

“I can’t wait for the next challenge,” Shapiro said. “I’m excited for another week with my guys, and we look forward to playing another Sweet 16.”

Men’s squash kicks off season with convincing victory over Wesleyan

by Pranav Jain Staff Writer

The No. 24 men’s squash team cruised comfortably over Wesleyan College in its season opener held at Wesleyan, notching a 7–2 win.

Wesleyan’s Sean Choi drew first blood by blanking first-year Kunal Valia 14–12, 11–6, 11–4. The Jumbos, however, bounced back to win seven of the remaining eight matches to register a convincing victory and start to the season. Tufts expected as much.

“We came in thinking we were going to win 9–0, but they actually made us work really hard,” first-year Sanjeev Jeyabalan said. “They had a strong top, and what we had to do was fight hard in the bottom to ensure that we could secure a win. Most matches ended in 3–0, so people played well.”

Jeyabalan, playing at the fourth position, came back after a rocky first set to defeat Wesleyan’s William Bienstock 7–11, 11–9, 11–1, 11–8. It was his first match for the Jumbos.

“It was my first college match, so I was nervous initially,” Jeyabalan said. “This was a match I was meant to win 3–0, but I lost the first game 7–11. My teammates and my coach told me to play my game and not be too distracted by what my opponent was doing.”

First-year Shloke Sahay followed suit, besting Wesleyan’s Thomas Brinton 11–6, 11–2, 11–6. As squash is an individual sport, Sahay reflected on his experience of playing in a team for the first time.

“I loved the experience of playing for a team,” Sahay said. “When you look back at the crowd, if you have people you know and who have been with you throughout the journey of preparing, it is quite comforting and motivating.”

The Jumbos played a scrimmage against the Harvard women’s squash team a day before their encounter against Wesleyan. This served as valuable match practice and exposed them to the intensity of college squash.

“The match against the Harvard women’s team was a really good preparation for this match and eased us into the match playing process,” Jeyabalan said. “I got a chance to test out my shots just the day before. It served as a good introduction to the whole college squash league.”

With the squash courts at Tufts under renovation, the team travels to Harvard to conduct its practice sessions. Although this puts them at a disadvantage in terms of time and flexibility, Valia looked at the brighter side of things.

“Harvard has one of the nicest facilities in the country so getting to play there is definitely a privilege,” he said. “Nobody on the team complains about it.”

With the renovation of the Tufts courts to be completed by February, Jeyabalan was excited at the prospect of training whenever they wanted, and not just when they have a ride available to take them to Harvard.

“Once Tufts has courts, it will be a lot more flexible in terms of training times,” Jeyabalan said. “It means that more people on the team can have individual sessions with the coach and just have more independence on when we want to train.”

The Jumbos made full use of the offseason, focusing on strength and conditioning to avoid injuries coming into the season.

“We did a lot of conditioning at the start of the season,” Valia said. “We have also been involved in a lot of match play before the season for fine-tuning our skills and just sharpening up for these matches.”

The Jumbos hope to utilize the mix of youth and experience in their team to their advantage and make the most of their opportunities.

“I feel that we’ve recruited pretty well this year with four [first-years] and a walk on, so the team has improved a lot,” Sahay said. “We hope to at least jump up a couple of spots into the top 20.”

The team will travel to Franklin and Marshall College for their next match on Nov. 23.