The Tufts Daily - September 27, 2017

Sophomore describes experience as only Tufts student from Mongolia see FEATURES / PAGE 3

TUFTS ATHLETE PROFILE

Sam Agnew serves as DJ, rower, artist, student

Lady Gaga opens up in new documentary see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

VOLUME LXXIV, ISSUE 14

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY tuftsdaily.com

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

TCU Textbook Exchange saves students estimated $30,000 overall

by Lydia Ra Staff Writer

Over 450 textbooks were sold at the first Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate Textbook Exchange — over 50 percent of the textbooks TCU Senate had received, according to TCU Senate Education Committee Chair Philip Miller. He added that Tufts students spent approximately $12,000 at the exchange and saved an estimated $30,000 through the program.

The textbook exchange was open in the Mayer Campus Center from Sept.

4–12, according to the event’s Facebook page.

Miller, a sophomore, said he originally proposed the idea of a textbook exchange with the aim of providing students with an alternative platform for purchasing textbooks.

“It was like a madhouse,” he said.

“Everyone wanted to get the best prices, obviously, because we listed the prices that each seller wanted [which were lower than usual].

The room was so packed, you couldn’t move.”

Miller said he worked on the initiative during his entire first year on Senate in collaboration with others interested in the exchange.

“Administrators, staff, faculty, students, everyone was so supportive and involved in the process,” he said. “I thought that understanding the problem was the main thing, so I met up with everyone trying to deal with the same issue.”

Miller noted that he met with Head of Scholarly Communications and Collections at Tisch Library Martha Kelehan, who ultimately assisted with the exchange by providing boxes to store the textbooks.

Kelehan said she has long wanted to increase the accessibility of textbooks for students.

“This is a complex arena — there isn’t going to be one solution to this problem, because students have a lot of needs,” she said. “We definitely think it’s going to take a lot of different efforts on a lot of different fronts to figure out how to make textbooks more accessible for students, but we’re up for

PAULA GIL-ORDONEZ GOMEZ AND RUBY BELLE BOOTH / THE TUFTS DAILY

A student working at the Tufts Bookstore shelves books after the TCU Textbook Exchange. The exchange is designed to provide an easier alternative for students struggling with textbook prices. talking about and hearing suggestions from all corners.”

Dorothy Meaney, the interim director of Tisch Library, said the library and TCU Senate can work together to make sure students can access their textbooks.

“We want information about what the students need the most, so we can decide if we

TCU Senate uses new voting process

by Liza Harris

Contributing Writer

Students were able to vote in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) elections using Voatz, a new mobile election voting platform, for this first time this fall. This marks a shift from the eBallot system used in years past,

which some students described as too difficult and time-consuming to use.

According to Malachy Donovan, services committee chair on TCU Senate, the new system, which can be accessed via mobile app or by following a link on a computer, has already dramatically increased voter

SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY

Malachy Donovan, a class of 2019 representative for TCU Senate, has been leading the collaboration between TCU Senate and the Tufts administration to introduce the new voting system Voatz.

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turnout. He emphasized that the previous voting software was acting as a barrier to some students voting.

“You had to log onto SIS, then click a tab that said WebCenter [under Student Living], then scroll down, click ‘Vote,’ be redirected to another page and in the end it turned out to be maybe a five-step process,” Donovan, a junior, said.

Senators and students who ran for office in the past noted that communicating this process to students, either through Facebook posts or in person, caused confusion and likely lowered voter turnout, Donovan said.

In some elections, as little as 10 percent of the student body was participating in elections, according to junior Klavs Takhtani, the Tufts Community Union Elections Commission (ECOM) chair.

Takhtani mentioned that for some students, refraining from voting was likely an issue of time-commitment rather than apathy.

“If I wasn’t in student government, I don’t know if I’d go through that whole process, either,” Takhtani said.

With the new voting software, students can vote in three ways: using the Voatz mobile app, using a direct link to a URL or using tablets provided in the Mayer Campus Center.

The Voatz company is cheaper than eBallot, Takhtani said, and by his account, provided better customer service than eBallot.

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should buy something new or stop doing anything,” she said.

However, the textbook exchange did run into roadblocks with other campus partners. According to Miller, there was some confusion as to whether the textbook exchange violated a contract Barnes & Noble had with see TEXTBOOK EXCHANGE, page 2

“We met with [Voatz] and thought their platform was really great, and they also seemed really passionate about the idea,” Donovan said.

Perhaps due to this new voting system, voter turnout among all grades increased from the last election, according to Donovan. Recently elected TCU Senator Janey Litvin, a first-year, along with Donovan and Takhtani, pointed out that first-years historically vote in the highest numbers; this year 52 percent of first-years voted in the fall election.

Takhtani said that he hopes easier methods of voting will incentivize the Class of 2021 to set a trend of higher voter turnout among all grades.

Litvin and Takhtani also said communicating the voting process earlier could increase voter turnout. Takhtani went on to explain that getting the word out about Voatz was difficult during this election season simply because TCU Senators and ECOM members were new to the platform themselves.

TCU Senator Sharif Hamidi advertised the various avenues through which students could vote.

“Specifically for my campaign, I made sure people were aware that they had multiple avenues of voting,” Hamidi, a first-year, said. “I’m very appreciative of

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................5

see VOATZ, page 2

COMICS....................................... 7 OPINION.....................................8 SPORTS............................ BACK

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, September 27, 2017

THE TUFTS DAILY Gil Jacobson Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL Eddie Samuels Joe Walsh

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JumboLife brings substance-free alternative to Tufts social life

by Jess Blough

Contributing Writer

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New student group JumboLife will host its first event, GLOW UP, on the Res Quad on Sept.

30. JumboLife aims to create an inclusive and substance-free nightlife scene at the university by organizing large-scale parties involving visual arts, culinary experimentation, student performances and live music, according to Chief Event Organizer Max Cooper.

Conceptualized and created by Cooper, a junior, JumboLife’s primary goal is to revitalize campus social life, according to the program’s page. JumboLife plans to host a variety of events inspired by students and focused on showcasing student talent.

Cooper explained that he created JumboLife following his personal experiences with alcohol and social life on campus and his internship at the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs. He described Tufts’ social life as dangerously reliant on private organizations, thereby excluding large groups of students or forcing them to conform to a single definition of “fun.”

“The outsourcing of the mainstream social life networking opportunities was all given to privatized groups [including Greek life],” Cooper said.

Cooper feels that this kind of privatization inevitably abets problems like greed, classism and ableism.

Cooper said the goal is for JumboLife events to always be free, so all students can attend regardless of their financial circumstances.

Following his internship at the university this summer, Cooper approached Dean of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon with the idea for JumboLife. The program is fully funded by an anonymous donor, who donates funds to the school strictly for the purpose of creating a more engaging and inclusive student social experience, according to McMahon.

“We want to create a new avenue for people to meet each other, especially first-year students, especially people new to campus,” she said. “We want them to have a chance to come and have fun and hang out together, in a way that is the students’ definition of fun.”

The emergence of JumboLife comes at a time when the university is reconsidering social life on campus, with the Student Life Review Committee releasing its findings and

ANGELIE XIONG / THE TUFTS DAILY

The executive board of JumboLife, an initiative being promoted by the Dean of Student Affairs to plan big weekend events on campus that are fun and safe, pose for a photo at Hotung Café on Sept. 25. recommendations earlier this month. Their final report found a lack of inclusive campus-wide traditions, as well as the dominance of organizations like Greek life in the the university’s social scene.

“Work with student leaders to create and support activities that can be cultivated as campus-wide traditions,” the report recommended.

Cooper conceptualized the program prior to the report’s release, and he noted that JumboLife is not intended to act as a replacement for Greek life or the traditional party scene at the university. Instead, JumboLife would act as an alternative social scene for students seeking a different kind of nightlife.

“I think there is still space and there always will be space for off-campus parties, house parties, etc.,” Cooper said.

However, Cooper hopes JumboLife can provide an alternative for those seeking a different kind of atmosphere.

“The main thing that people should be doing is going to parties that are thrown by people they really care about, the kind of party that they want to have, and to engage in the kind of stimulating, network-building, creative, artistic, interesting event that they’re looking for.”

Director of Health Promotion and Prevention Ian Wong also recognizes a need for spaces on campus that welcome students who choose to refrain from heavy drinking.

“I think if you ask students where there’s a party on a Friday night, they might know,” Wong said. “If you ask them where all the stu-

dents who don’t drink or drink very little will hang out, it’s not quite as easy to say.”

While Cooper said JumboLife is student-run, the organization is also working closely with both Wong and Ashley Austin, associate director at the Office for Campus Life (OCL).

“I meet with Max regularly to go over our event planning process and policies, just as I would any student organization, to help aid in the execution of JumboLife’s events,” Austin told the Daily in an email.

“In the future, I will be continuing to assist JumboLife until they become another one of our relatively autonomous student organizations.”

Cooper also sees potential for JumboLife to host events in conjunction with other groups.

“Max and I have talked at length about using JumboLife to work collaboratively with other student organizations to connect different events to the mission of safe, sober late night spaces,” Austin said.

The event this Saturday, GLOW UP, begins at 6 p.m. and will include performances from student bands TK and the Adams Squa, The Alewives, Coastal Children, Bluewell and the Smoking Babies, Cooper said. He also noted Tufts Culinary Society and T86 will provide food for the event, and a group of artists led by sophomore Isabella Kiser will offer glow-in-the-dark face and mural painting. AfterGLOW, the substance-free after-party, begins at 9 p.m. in Hotung Café and will feature music spun by student DJs Arden Fereshetian and DJ TK, according to Cooper.

Senators hope to increase voter turnout with new voting platform VOATZ

continued from page 1 the fact that ECOM has gone out of their way to maximize the number of ways people can vote.”

Hamidi, Donovan and Takhtani all supported having tablets in other high-density areas on campus during the next election, such as Dewick-MacPhie and Carmichael Dining Centers, and the Tisch Library.

Litvin noted the most popular and straightforward way to vote appeared to

be the using the link.

The project to revamp the voting software was not a short one. According to Donovan, conversations about working with Voatz began last March and involved many parts of the Tufts administration, including TCU Senate, ECOM, the Office for Campus Life and Tufts Technology Services.

Donovan added that the process is still not finished, saying there is still work to be done on updating the mobile app.

During this recent election,

the app was not fully ready, and Donovan expressed his interest in continuing to work with Voatz to finalize the app and make it more user-friendly for Tufts students. He hopes that in coming elections, more students will use the app to vote.

“In the future, we would love to have students all on one platform so that we can do polling, just to make Senate more transparent and get more voices into the mix,” Donovan said.

TCU Textbook Exchange looks to expand TEXTBOOK EXCHANGE

continued from page 1

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BUSINESS

Rayane Haddar Executive Business Director Hannah Wells Receivables Manager

the university to be the exclusive bookseller at Tufts. In the end, no legal action was taken, according to both Miller and Executive Director of Public Relations Patrick Collins.

Collins explained that the company wanted to learn more about the program and made no mention of pursuing legal action during conversations with the university.

“Barnes & Noble contacted the university to inquire about and better understand the textbook exchange program.

The ensuing discussions were cordial and reviewed the program’s purpose and

design. There never was discussion of a lawsuit,” Collins said.

Boon Teo, the store manager of the Tufts University Bookstore, said the bookstore was not involved in the initiative, but had taken to collaborating with the Office for Campus Life on a program called Book it Forward instead. He said that the books could be checked out by students who needed the service, and returned at the end of the year.

Miller said TCU Senate is working on ways to improve the exchange, including starting up User Interbase, a search engine which allows volunteers to access information about exchange books.

“We have so many ideas, but we have to choose what’s more realistic,” he said. “There’s a lot of analyzing data I want to do, and changes I want to make in the User Interbase. We’re also hoping to get an even larger room, with more people working there.”

Miller also said in the future he hopes to be able to pay the people working at the textbook exchange, who currently do their jobs on a volunteer basis.

“I’m trying to get more funding for the volunteers selling the textbooks,” he said. “There’s a lot of setups, moving the textbooks around, keeping the cash, the whole publicity thing and it’s all volunteer. Nobody’s getting paid or anything, but that’s what I want to change.”

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Features

3 tuftsdaily.com

Far-flung homes: Khaliun Narangerel on growing up in Mongolia

KIRT THORN VIA KHALIUN NARANGEREL

Khaliun Narangerel poses for a portrait on the roof of Tisch Library on Oct. 15, 2016.

by Sean Ong

Features Editor

This is part one of a three-part series centering the experiences of students who are the only ones from their home countries to be at Tufts.

For many students with an international upbringing, home is often a faraway place. As of last fall, more than 12 percent of the university’s total enrollment consists of international students, according to data provided by the Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation.

Within this community, there is a subset of students who are the only representatives of their home countries. According to the International Center, of the 75 countries that undergraduates call home, 27 are represented by only one undergraduate as of this September. While these students contribute significantly to the number of countries represented at Tufts, they only make up 4.8 percent of the current international undergraduate population.

In this series, the Daily features the stories of four such students and their far-flung homes. The interviews revolved around their feelings of displacement, encounters with cultural stereotypes and changing relationships with their homes.

These students do not represent the international community at large; their stories are but among the many diverse experiences of students who have lived or are living abroad. However, what

they have to share will still resonate across national, racial and cultural affiliations.

Khaliun Narangerel Sophomore Khaliun Narangerel is a computer science and economics double major. Her home is in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. She grew up there as the youngest in her family of five.

Like Narangerel, her siblings went overseas for college — one to China and the other to South Korea. Yet unlike her siblings, she experienced starker differences between her upbringing and college culture that has affected her relationships with her family.

“China and Korea are similar to Mongolia in terms of beliefs and values,” she said. “But when I come home from college, where the values are very western … I just tend to clash with [my family] on a lot of things. I have to adjust my beliefs, or hold back what I want to say.”

Narangerel has approached this divergence in beliefs with curiosity and empathy, as she strove to learn more about the views of her peers on campus. She noted LGBTQ issues as an example of a topic that she knew little about before college.

“There are things that you need to learn, and times where you just evaluate the beliefs that you grew up with,” she said. “There is a lot of understanding, a lot of learning.”

Over the past year, Narangerel has had to overcome her fear of asking the

wrong — or too many — questions, in order to learn more about other people and their experiences.

“Even with asking something you don’t know, there’s some kind of fear and anxiousness associated with it. Am I really supposed to be asking this? Is it just common knowledge, and I’m a really stupid person?” Narangerel said.

“No matter what question I ask, if I am genuinely interested and if I really do not know, [people] will just answer it.”

Likewise, she finds herself answering many confused questions from others on campus, which often reveal that people have only ever heard of Mongolia for its nomadic culture or its imperial history — if at all. She stressed that cross-cultural understanding must be a two-way process.

“You can’t just expect someone from Virginia or Montana to know all these facts about [Mongolia]. I don’t know much about their state, so I can’t expect them to know about mine,” Narangerel said. “It’s all just a learning process on both sides.”

She neither resents how her presence at Tufts has turned her into a representative of Mongolia, nor desires a formal space — like a student organization — to amplify her voice on Mongolian issues. Instead, she prefers to have informal conversations with others about their homes and their cultures.

“I am in a position of influence, because it’s likely that I am the only Mongolian that [others] will ever meet

in their lives,” Narangerel said. “[But] I don’t want to have a club to just talk about Mongolian culture. It’s not relevant to a lot of Americans’ lives. I just try to have conversations as often as I can, to give them a different perspective of how things go on the other side of the planet.”

Many of the conversations that Narangerel has with other international students center on their transition to college and to the U.S., providing mutual support.

“I occasionally have conversations on diversity and what it means to come from a developing nation, or cultural differences between Americans and internationals, with mostly international students,” she said. “Our experiences are very similar. That reassures me that I am not the only one going through this transition.”

Talking about home can be challenging for Narangerel because despite being familiar, it is so mundane that she cannot find the words to best describe her life back home to others.

“A lot of my friends ask me [what] … my experiences in Mongolia [were] like, but I don’t have any other experiences to compare it to,” she said. “I had never been to the U.S. before I came here for college. The things that I have experienced in Mongolia are just my life, I don’t know what to make of them.”

see FAR-FLUNG HOMES, page 4

4

THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Benjamin Corey Eat Your Heart Out

Talking about home can be difficult for the sole Tufts student from Mongolia FAR-FLUNG HOMES

continued from page 3

Whoopie pies

F

or generations, my family has worked in restaurants. My grandparents even ran their own for several years. What I have learned from this background is that it’s vital to create your own takes on foods that are already familiar to your patrons rather than solely trying to reinvent the wheel. My family’s from Maine, so one of our go-to recipes was the whoopie pie, which is the official Maine state treat. I personally appreciate this recipe for its connections to the region where I was raised, as well as its more traditional nature, shown by its use of shortening over butter. I hope that you too find charm in this unique cookie-cake hybrid.

First, cream together 6 tablespoons of shortening and 1 cup of sugar. To do this, vigorously beat the two ingredients in a bowl until they become white and rather fluffy, kind of like snow. (Hopefully this is the only snow we’ll be seeing any time soon!) This process was a little confusing to me, as I am quite the novice when it comes to baking with shortening. Just keep at it, however, and you’ll be fine.

Next, beat in an egg and mix until the batter is consistent throughout.

Add 2 cups of flour, 6 tablespoons of cocoa, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt to the bowl. In a measuring cup, combine 1 cup of milk with 1 teaspoon of vanilla and stir together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the rest of your batter and stir until there is even consistency. That’s it! You have your batter for your whoopie pies!

Use a spoon to evenly distribute the treats onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for eight minutes. You will want to leave a couple of inches in between the cookies as they are known to expand in the oven. Once they are done baking, remove them from their sheet and place them on a clear surface to cool.

We will return to them momentarily.

To make the cream filling, simply beat together 1 cup of shortening, 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, a splash of milk and 12 tablespoons of marshmallow fluff. If you use too much milk, the frosting will be too runny and won’t hold in between two cookies. Your best bet would be to add an eighth of a cup and mix it in. Continue to add small amounts of milk until you get a thickness that is to your taste.

Once the cookies have cooled, spoon some frosting onto the flat side of the cookie and use a second one to form a sandwich.

I find that whoopie pies are best after they have cooled inside of a refrigerator, but they can also be eaten immediately.

I hope you enjoy my family’s take on this classic New England treat. Happy baking!

Benjamin Corey is a senior majoring in international relations. Benjamin can be reached at benjamin.corey@tufts.edu.

tuftsdaily.com

Despite being bilingual, Narangerel speaks Mongolian to most of her family and friends while she converses in English with those at Tufts. Switching between these two very different languages has not been easy for her, even if she has found comfort and a piece of home in listening to Mongolian songs or reading Mongolian poetry.

“Coming back to campus from Mongolia, for the first few weeks, I struggled with [English]. I can’t quite express myself, like I can’t really find the words,” Narangerel said. “It’s the same for when I go back home, I would have trouble speaking Mongolian.”

Narangerel sees her identity as having

bifurcated into distinct American and Mongolian parts, in the same way that her linguistic abilities have. In each part, she goes by different names, and her interests and activities do not intersect.

“There is this Olivia part of me in the U.S., where I speak English, … and I have certain things that I do and am interested in. But there is this other part of me that is Khaliun, where I speak Mongolian, I have a family of five and the things I’m interested in back home are different. It’s like going between two almost alternate dimensions,” she said.

This cultural gulf is felt strongly, even when Narangerel stays in touch with her family over Skype as a way to cure homesickness or seek support from familiar people.

“Sometimes [talking to my family] makes me feel worse, but it’s the only thing that I can do. My family is back home, they are comfortable in their own space, but here I am: alone, with no one to talk to, with no one who really understands the cultural background that I come from,” she said.

However, Narangerel shares her family’s philosophy of trying to embrace this new American environment, even if it can’t replace home.

“I don’t try to recreate home,” Narangerel said. “My parents, they never told me to reach out to fellow Mongolians in Boston. It’s just the nomad in me — if you are in a different environment, get used to it and adapt.”

ARTS&LIVING

5 tuftsdaily.com

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Matthew Soderberg Citizen Shame

‘Point Break’ my heart

O COURTESY VICTORIA’S SECRET

“Gaga: Five Foot Two” succeeds in bringing Gaga down to earth.

MOVIE REVIEW

‘Gaga: Five Foot Two’ shows the star at her most vulnerable, honest

by Jack Ronan

Assistant Arts Editor

“Gaga: Five Foot Two” (2017) debuted for streaming on Netflix on Sept. 22 as the latest addition to the company’s roster of original documentaries, movies and series. The biopic, referencing the singer’s height, follows the mega pop star Lady Gaga over the course of several months of 2016 and 2017, from the release of her latest album “Joanne” (2016) to her performance at the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show in Houston. The documentary chronicles Gaga’s struggle with chronic pain and offers a close-up, quotidian and almost mundane look at the star who built a global reputation and

massive fanbase around her outlandish public persona and willingness to shock and awe mainstream audiences.

“Gaga: Five Foot Two” succeeds in bringing Gaga down to earth. The opening scene shows the star cooking in the kitchen and wearing sweatpants, and she talks candidly about her struggling relationship with her now ex-fiancé, actor Taylor Kinney.

It’s a stark contrast to how the general public is used to seeing her. Whether it’s arriving at the 2011 Grammys in an intergalactic egg or winning eight VMAs while wearing a dress made of raw meat in 2010, Lady Gaga spent years cultivating a reputation as one of the most bizarre pop stars in the 2000s and 2010s. In “Gaga: Five Foot

Two,” she talks about how, to some extent, her desire to shock came from a sense of vulnerability as a woman in the music industry. Gaga used fashion and performance to push back against a male-dominated industry that tends to value women for their bodies and sexuality.

“When they wanted me to be sexy or they wanted me to be pop I always put some f—— absurd spin on it that made me feel like I was still in control,” she says. “If I’m gonna be sexy on the VMAs and sing about the paparazzi, I’m gonna do it while bleeding to death and reminding you what fame did to Marilyn Monroe.” see LADY GAGA, page 6

TV REVIEW

‘BoJack Horseman’ delivers another splendid offering of harsh reality, introspection

by Ryan Eggers

Contributing Writer

“It’s weird not having you around. I hope you’re okay, wherever you are.”

With those two small sentences in a much larger stream of voicemails that Diane Nyugen (Alison Brie) leaves BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett) during the opening episode, “BoJack Horseman” (2014–) kicks off its fourth season right where it left off at the season three finale — with BoJack being lost, both figuratively and literally. To emphasize this point, BoJack doesn’t accrue one second of screen time in that entire 26-minute debut.

Isolation takes on a new name for BoJack this season, which debuted in full on Netflix on Sept. 8. Now more than ever, BoJack is forced to take on his depression, anxiety, alcoholism and struggles with fame with less and less support from the rest of the main cast.

COURTESY NETFLIX

Netflix original ‘BoJack Horseman’ once again proves that it’s one of the most genuine and thought-provoking shows on television.

Until close to the end of the season, his own journey rarely even crosses paths with the arcs of his former best friend Todd Chavez (Aaron Paul) and former publicist Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), along with Diane and her husband Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins).

Within that lonesome journey, BoJack explores love and family, topics he typ-

ically avoided at all costs earlier in the series. Taking on the responsibility of a young horse named Hollyhock (Aparna Nancherla), he finds himself in a role he’s never had to take on in his lifetime — a role that fleetingly fulfills him, yet one he can’t bring himself to fully see BOJACK HORSEMAN, page 6

ur second stop on this wonderful journey through the iconic sights of American film leaves us stranded in the depths of the ’90s — the darkest, Keanu-est, Vanilla Iciest part. Join me in taking a look back at the film that made everyone realize Gary Busey might just be an actual alien: 1991’s “Point Break.”

Kathryn Bigelow is one of today’s most influential directors, with Oscar-winning credits such as “The Hurt Locker” (2008) and “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012) under her belt. Her successes speak words of encouragement to anyone who has ever faced failure. If you can recover from making a film whose main character is a) named Johnny Utah, b) played by Keanu Reeves and c) jumps out of an airplane more than once, you can do anything.

Johnny Utah is a rookie FBI agent paired with Busey (playing a sad caricature of himself) and assigned to stop a group of bank robbers who dress as former presidents during their heists. Since it’s Keanu, you can count on multiple missed obvious clues and one oddly violent arrest of the wrong gang.

When Keanu finally does encounter the correct gang of robbers, it’s socially, as a group of dudes with whom he learns to surf. This, naturally, makes for several great montages, as Bigelow prioritizes meaningless surf shots over dialogue.

Keanu develops a special connection with Bodhi, the leader of this gang of surfers-turned-violent-criminals.

Bodhi, played by a long-haired and still-living Patrick Swayze, takes a liking to Keanu, and the remainder of the film is dedicated to an odd courtship that the ’90s are not quite yet progressive enough to recognize as overt homoeroticism.

Keanu then starts a relationship with Bodhi’s female friend to maintain a cover, and guess what? She’s played by the lady from “Free Willy” (1993)! Don’t pretend you don’t know who that is.

Things come to a head after Busey and Keanu chase the gang through the streets and Keanu almost catches his best pal and potential lover Bodhi. The two men realize each other’s identities, and Keanu decides to forgo the chase in order to fire several shots into the air, yelling madly.

This is where the film transcends the genre: Keanu realizes he can’t be with who he truly loves because he is a murderous bank robber who likes to jump out of planes.

It’s here where we really feel for our protagonist, and therefore forgive him for sort of doing a robbery with the gang and getting Gary Busey killed in the ensuing shootout. My only gripe is a missed opportunity to put him in a William Howard Taft mask. Whoops! The things we do for love.

The film ends with a beautiful reunion of the two star-crossed lovers who decide that since they can’t be together, the other logical conclusion is for one of them to leave and for the other to die in a giant wave. If that doesn’t touch you, you’re watching it wrong.

Matthew Soderberg is a first-year who can be reached at matthew.soderberg@ tufts.edu.

6

THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Wednesday, September 27, 2017

tuftsdaily.com

Pain, heartbreak, triumph in Netflix Gaga documentary LADY GAGA

continued from page 5 The documentary is interspersed with distressing moments of Gaga suffering from fibromyalgia, which causes widespread chronic pain throughout the body, and recurring pain from a hip injury.

“I just think about other people that have something [like fibromyalgia] that are struggling to figure out what it is,” she says, lying on a couch in tears while a massage therapist works on her forehead. “They don’t have the quick money to have someone help them …

What the hell would I do?”

“Gaga: Five Foot Two” traces Gaga’s career from the release of the first single from “Joanne,” “Perfect Illusion” (2016), to the album’s release. Between clips of Gaga in the studio with producer Mark Ronson and recording “Hey Girl” with Florence Welch, Gaga explains her musical and artistic evolution since the release of her debut album “The Fame” in 2008.

“I want everything to come out of that studio and that girl,” Gaga says sitting by the pool, referring to the stripped down version of herself in a simple outfit of black jeans, a t-shirt and boots that defines the visual and musical aesthetic of “Joanne.”

Gaga’s transition to a toned-down, monochrome uniform is a reflection of her newest album, which trades the maximalist synthpop of “Born This Way” (2011) and “ARTPOP” (2013) for a

more acoustic, almost country sound.

In response to many fans, including this writer, who latched onto the Gaga in the late 2000s for her wacky sense of style and her infectious pop anthems like “Just Dance” (2008), “Poker Face” (2008) and “Bad Romance” (2009), Gaga offers a defense of “Joanne.”

“We’ve seen me f—— glamorous for almost 10 years, it’s boring,” she says.

The film’s second half follows Gaga’s preparation for her Super Bowl halftime show performance, where again she swaps some of her famously eccentric performance for a more down-toearth routine.

“I want to do the opposite of what everyone thinks I’m going to do,” she says. “Everybody thinks I’m going to go out there on a f—— throne, in a meat dress, with 90 shirtless men and unicorns … but it’s not even in the neighborhood of what we’re going to do.”

“Gaga: Five Foot Two” ends where it started, with Gaga slowly ascending to the ceiling of Houston’s NRG Stadium in a bedazzled Versace bodysuit and matching boots right before her now famous dive onto centerstage.

It’s a powerful moment after watching Gaga struggle with chronic pain, heartbreak and the pressure of stardom. “Gaga: Five Foot Two” breaks through the glitter and synthesizers that defined Gaga for almost a decade and delivers an intimate and emotional glimpse of a woman famous for being out of this world.

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'BoJack' season four tackles politics and mental health head-on BOJACK HORSEMAN

continued from page 5 accept. This all ties into BoJack’s own family history, which is referenced more than ever before. Specifically, BoJack’s relationship with his mother is at the forefront of his arc for the season.

The rest of the cast can’t easily be forgotten, however; though their stories have much less to do with BoJack than ever before, their personal developments are highlighted perhaps more deeply than when they were connected to him. Princess Carolyn’s self-confidence is tested throughout a season of ups and downs, culminating in one of the most powerful and unique episodes in the show’s history, where the story is told through the perspective of her great-great-great granddaughter Ruthie (Kristen Bell), giving a class presentation on an awful day that Princess Carolyn once had. Todd takes on independence and learns to accept and embrace his asexuality throughout the season. Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane continue their sometimes happy, sometimes rough marriage as their work lives diverge down two very different paths.

It should be noted that the satirical nature of the show in terms of politics is on display more now than in any other season. It’s understandable, considering Mr. Peanutbutter is making a gubernatorial run in the state of California, but it does lend itself to a different “feel” for how the show implements satire in its writing. Usually, comments about the political world on “BoJack Horseman” are kept as just that: small side-references made within a plot that mostly centers around more personal topics. This started to change a little last season with episodes

focused on topics such as abortion, but this season’s offering blows far past the jokes made within the aptly-named “MSNBSea” news coverage.

Issues like gun control, mass shootings, fracking and the private prison industry aren’t just mentioned in season four; they’re the basis of the episodes they’re featured in. With this dynamic in place, “BoJack Horseman” makes a point of criticizing society’s sympathetic yet ultimately useless form of condoling victims of tragic shootings, the real effects fracking has on the environment and the corrupt lobbying that takes place in politics at every level. It seems like a lot to take in for a show about a cartoon horse, but the ambition is executed perfectly while keeping everything that makes “BoJack Horseman” what it is intact.

Like every other season, “BoJack Horseman” never shies away from its unapologetic grim-yet-hopeful perspective on life, giving fans a reason to smile once they hear the ending track on the final episode. Everything that makes the show enjoyable is heightened this go around, from minor details like Princess Carolyn’s affinity for alliteration to the visualization and imagery of the twisted gears inside BoJack’s mind. While this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, the show will have the opportunity to try and top its own genius again as Netflix recently announced its renewal for a fifth season.

“BoJack Horseman” once again proves that, amidst its heartbreaking honesty and bittersweet reflections on the meaningfulness and meaninglessness of life, it’s one of the most genuine and thought-provoking shows on television.

7

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 | Comics | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Comics

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Sophie: “Can you hook up with people on Yom Kippur?”

Comics

SUDOKU

GARFIELD

BY JIM DAVIS

NON SEQUITUR

BY WILEY MILLER

Difficulty Level: Paying 20% more for 2% milk at Whole Foods.

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Tuesday’s Solution

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)

Today is an 8. Make home repairs after unexpected breakdowns. Take extra care with sharp objects. Decrease clutter and go for clarity. Settle into domestic comforts.

FOR RELEASE SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Got taller 5 Etching supplies 10 Ski area in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains 14 See 66-Across 15 Bad news for the waiter 16 Classic cars 17 Fall in love with something at the home improvement center?

19 “Pretty please?”

20 “Frasier” role 21 Debuting on screen 23 iPhone, e.g., briefly 24 Scooby-__ 25 Bring Bugs into harmony?

30 Golf tee, e.g.

31 “Flashdance...

What a Feeling” singer Cara 32 Barbecue pair 33 Solo in a spotlight 35 Smallish batteries 36 Med. condition with repetitive behavior 37 Get voices in all ranges?

42 Colony resident 43 Gallery filler 44 Went like crazy 46 Second thought 49 Get fuzzy, as vision 51 Grand __ Opry 52 Severely criticize the store special?

54 “Breaking Bad” org.

55 Org. offering written and road tests 56 Mason jar attachment 57 Humdrum 59 Start bubbling 61 Criticize the stringed instrument?

65 Greek peak 66 With 14-Across, event with batons 67 Site with tech reviews 68 __ end

9/27/17

By Bruce Haight

69 Wild West transport 70 Run-of-the-mill DOWN 1 __ Joe, Charlie’s companion on his tour of Wonka’s chocolate factory 2 Time before TV 3 Environmentrelated 4 “Where __ you?”

5 Actress Ortiz of “Ugly Betty” 6 Fish sticks fish 7 Midori on the ice 8 Pop singer Warwick 9 Binge 10 Reliever’s asset 11 Seize, as an opportunity 12 Pooch in your lap, maybe 13 Most people 18 Actor Morales 22 Keep an eye on 26 Personal attribute 27 Rip (up) 28 Opens, as an official document 29 Commotions 34 Jordan’s only port

Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved

©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 In base eight 38 No later than 39 Space 40 Tiny tunes player 41 Big events for film studios 45 Gives a hand 46 Somewhat flabby male physique, informally 47 Diffuse slowly through a membrane

9/27/17

48 Permit to enter the States 49 Unwise wager 50 Country’s McEntire 53 Whopper creators 58 Basics 60 Young chap 62 According to 63 Give in to gravity 64 Word after eagle or hawk

8 tuftsdaily.com

Opinion

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

CARTOON

BY MARIA FONG

OP-ED

Prohibition was no joke

by Roberto Breitman

These days it has become increasingly clear that comedy is a lot like alcohol.

No, I don’t mean that both are ways nervous men talk to women, or that both are significantly worse when you’re in college, or any other silly one-liner. Rather I hope to argue that in the abstract, transgressive humor is today what alcohol was in the early 20th century, the age of Prohibition. I should also clarify here that I do not mean to compare the actions or ideologies of the groups that have fought these social battles, I am rather seeking only to draw an analogy on how each of these ideas has clashed in the social sphere and the base arguments behind each.

The basic narrative is the same: a faction of ideologically driven individuals sought to ban something they saw as ‘bad for society,’ while another (larger) group fought to preserve it, arguing that it was traditional. With alcohol this was a simple equation: the Puritans said it was bad for your health and ideologically a heavenly super being ban-

ished it, while drinkers across the United States believed booze was a welcome distraction — a good thing in life that could be used without being abused.

Though there was always a backlash to comedy (look no further than George Carlin for that) recent developments in social media have allowed normal folk to see their jokes and comments go viral — essentially propelling the issue of transgressive humor to a societal level rather than one centered on a few celebrity comics. Social justice advocates will argue that this raises the stakes, giving more philosophical and nuanced explanations as to how widespread transgressive humor unfairly singles out and persecutes individuals or groups of individuals. Meanwhile, those in defense of transgressive comedy can be equally philosophical, arguing that comedy offers a medium for the discussion of taboo ideas, as well as an equal playing field for systematic criticism. Though the situations are quite different, we can see that with both alcohol and comedy, there is a clash between defenders that claim an upside if moderated, and opponents who maintain that abuse is too

easy and can lead to significant negative effects on all of society.

In the early 20th century we saw this conflict play out slowly, with a national debate eventually leading to Prohibition.

Efforts to curb alcohol use only drove it underground, as bathtub distillers and speakeasies spread a clandestine, unregulated drug through the nation, often leading to more death and negative externalities. A parallel then can easily be made to modern social media where common folk are regularly shut down or shamed for making insensitive jokes, only to be driven into private forums or chats where deeper, more dangerous prejudice tends to lurk.

Prohibition eventually ended, and the society of morally deficient alcohol dependents that the Puritans feared never came; so why don’t we ‘legalize’ transgressive humor? To my eye, there is one key difference when it comes to legalization: unlike alcohol, there is no natural consequence for transgressive comedy. Even when it’s legal, if you drink too much your body will ensure you don’t have a good time. That forces moderation and moderation is what

has allowed us to successfully balance the good and bad of alcoholism today.

The liver offered us an easy out with alcohol, so if we want to replicate it, we will have to find a way to simulate that mechanism. Unlike alcohol, the line between laughing and berating a joke must be deliberately drawn and constantly changed to optimize discourse and criticism while holding shy of persecution — not an easy task.

At the end of the day, I can think of no better moderating force than discourse, especially in comedy. I’m not asking anyone to abandon their beliefs, just to defend them as they would to the real people that read their comments: smart sentient beings that can perceive nuance and can understand a well-written argument. If we can get that, we then just need the readers to consider those opinions and be willing to change their minds (however slightly). I understand this request is not simple, in fact it could well result in world peace, but for now, I would settle for some good jokes.

Roberto Breitman is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Roberto can be reached at Roberto.Breitman@tufts.edu.

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Opinion

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY

9

Paris Sanders P.S. …

‘Urban renewal’ needs an antidote for gerrymandering

F

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Jacob Sanchez Diagnosed with autism

Lack of eye contact is a sign of autism.

Learn the others at autismspeaks.org/signs.

ollowing the 2016 election, the Associated Press (AP) employed a new statistical method of calculating partisan advantage to analyze the outcomes of all U.S. House races as well as the outcomes of approximately 4,700 state-level House and Assembly seats. The method was designed to detect cases in which one party won or widened power by way of “packing” or “cracking” redistricting techniques. Traditional battleground states including Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were among those found to have significant Republican advantages in their U.S. and/or state House races due to gerrymandering. Unsurprisingly, each of these states also had districts redrawn by Republicans following the 2010 census. The AP’s analysis found that there were four times as many states with Republican-skewed state House or Assembly districts than Democratic-skewed districts. As a result, among the 24 states that typically determine the makeup of Congress, up to 75 percent were found to have Republicantilted U.S. House districts. Likewise, a 2014 Duke University-led study titled “Redistricting and the Will of the People” found that in 2012, more North Carolinians voted for Democrats in congressional elections. Yet, while N.C. Democrats received more votes, Republicans won nine of 13 congressional seats. Furthermore, the same study found that when 100 sets of random districts were drawn, and election results were retabulated, an average of 7.6 democratic representatives were elected. As a result, the study’s authors concluded that the notion that elections represent the “will of the people,” particularly in battleground states, ought to be seriously questioned.

It is worth noting that lawmakers and citizens alike have long been concerned about the effects of disproportionate representation, particularly if urbanized districts or populous coastal states were to have excessive influence over their neighbors. However, contrary to previous concern, it now appears that in key battleground states, or those with many less populous, right-leaning districts, urbanization could potentially lead to a sort of “self-packing,” amplifying the effects of partisan gerrymandering even further, perhaps with devastating outcomes. For example, Pennsylvania has approximately three million registered Republicans and four million registered Democrats.Yet, as of 2016, Pennsylvania has 13 Republican-led districts and only 5 Democrat districts — an astounding case of misrepresentation due to redistricting.

Importantly, Pennsylvania has been urbanizing more rapidly in the past decade. Between 2000 and 2010, 5.6 percent more Pennsylvanians lived in urban areas, and the median age of Pennsylvanians in rural areas was higher than that of the commonwealth and of urban areas, as more younger residents are living in said urban areas.

Unfortunately, with this in mind, ensuring fair redistricting in the future will not ensure national proportionality on its own, much less electoral outcomes that more closely resemble public opinion. Due to a growing urban population and the redevelopment of cities, especially in states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio — areas once with far higher percentages of its population in rural districts — gerrymandering will have a larger and more unavoidable effect than ever before. As certain demographics unintentionally “pack” themselves — the notion of “blue dots” in otherwise “red seas” — the effects of Republican-led gerrymandering will only further minimize the voices of a left-leaning electorate overall, distorting electoral outcomes for decades to come.

Paris Sanders is a senior majoring in philosophy and political science. Paris can be reached at paris.sanders@tufts.edu

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Sports | Wednesday, September 27, 2017

tuftsdaily.com

Yuan Jun Chee On The Spot

Why I still really wanted Morata over Lukaku

T

EDDIE SAMUELS / THE TUFTS DAILY

Junior setter Angelu Yu fires a serve in the match against UMass Boston on Sept. 26.

Jumbos go 1–3 in weekend non-conference play

by Sam Weidner Sports Editor

The Jumbos (8–4, 3–0 NESCAC) struggled to find their rhythm at times over the weekend, as they returned home from the Barker Chevrolet Classic II at the campus of Illinois Wesleyan with a 1–3 record for the weekend.

Their only win over the weekend came in a thrilling five-set game against Wisconsin Oshkosh on Saturday.

Tufts struck first in the match, winning set one 25–22. However they los their momentum in the second set, falling by a wide margin.

Oshkosh went from a hitting percentage of -0.043 in the first set to 0.242 in the second set, cutting down on errors and taking advantage of a less aggressive Tufts defense. The teams split the next two sets and the match came down to the a final and tightly contested fifth set. The Jumbos pulled it out with a 15–13 fifth set win largely on the back of extremely strong middle play. Sophomore middle hitters Heather Holz and Christina Nwankpa combined for 23 kills and 14 blocks. Because of their increased production on the offensive end, they forced Oshkosh blockers to commit to blocking them, opening up new hitting angles for the outside and right side hitters and facilitating the entire offense.

Coach Cora Thompson spoke to the importance of Holz and Nwankpa’s improved play.

“Both of our middles had tremendous weekends especially when it comes to blocking. Offensively, when they did get set, they really took care of the ball and put it away,” Thompson told the Daily in an email. “Both Christina and Heather are so important as blockers because the success of our defense depends on their success and discipline in the front row and we simply could not have asked for more from either of them this weekend.”

Earlier on Saturday Tufts matched up against No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan, falling to the host school in four sets. Despite their one set win, the Jumbos failed to keep the other three sets close as the Titans put up dominant hitting percentages in two of the sets. The Jumbos had 21 fewer kills than the Titans in the match and couldn’t seem to get their offense going consistently. Junior outside hitter Mackenzie Bright led the team in kills for the match with 10, but even she had three errors of her own, contributing to the team total of 16 errors.

Tufts also played two matches on Friday, first matching up against No. 18 Washington

University (St. Louis) and then against No. 12 Millikin.

In their match against WashU, Tufts struggled out of the gate, dropping the first two sets by a combined margin of 15 points. The Jumbos fell behind early 10–6 in the first set and after that point they could never quite recover. WashU won nine of the final 12 points to win the set. The second set went mostly the same, as Tufts spent most of the match attempting to dig themselves out of a hole too big to overcome. Tufts managed to flip the script in set three, scoring six straight points behind the strong serve of sophomore libero Kelly Klimo in the middle of the game and taking a lead too large for WashU to handle. They rode that momentum into a big fourth set win where they led the entire way.

The Jumbos took a quick four point lead in the final set and it looked like they might be headed for the comeback win when the Bears responded with four straight service aces on senior defensive specialist Alex Garrett. After that, WashU put together a 6–0 run mostly fueled by Tufts’ errors and built a lead that they coasted to victory. Jumbo errors were the story of the match, with a total of 27 hitting errors over the five sets.

In their second match of the day, a depleted Tufts team fell in four sets to a highly ranked and polished Millikin offense. Millikin had 50 kills with only 12 hitting errors compared to just 26 kills and 31 hitting errors for Tufts. Despite a nail-biting first set victory by the Jumbos 26–24, none of the final three sets were very close and Millikin appeared to finish off the match easily. Sophomore outside hitter Brigid Bell and Garrett led the offense for Tufts with six kills each, and Klimo

finished with 17 digs.

Despite the team’s record on the weekend, Thompson was pleased with the growth she saw from her players.

“Our coaching staff was incredibly proud of the effort the girls put forth this weekend. We traveled to a tough tournament like that to be challenged consistently with each opponent and got exactly what we wanted,” Thompson said. “Our record from the weekend does not represent how much progress our team made as a unit. We served incredibly tough, our blocking improved tremendously and our back court defense was successful as well as a result. Offensively, our players saw that they are just as talented, if not more so than the teams across the net.”

Holz was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts over the weekend. She put up a total of 27 kills and 23 blocks to go along with four service aces.

“Heather was such a presence on the court offensively and defensively and then really stood out for her serving as well,” Thompson said. “She served tough and consistently in some of the biggest matches and in order to preserve her serve she needed to play great defense … which she did! She put up some great digs to keep our team alive.”

Up next Tufts will face Hamilton at home in Cousens Gymnasium on Friday. Holz described the team’s mentality heading into the conference heavy portion of their season.

“Our mindset this year has been ‘Humble and Hungry.’ We have that all over our locker room … Each week we focus on a certain goal,” Holz said. “Last week it was self improvement and other goals are building relationships on the team or focus.”

EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Tufts sophomore middle / opposite hitter Christina Nwankpa spikes the ball in the 3-0 match against Babson on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016.

his summer’s most protracted transfer saga featured two center-forwards with immense pedigree and two clubs with a lot of money.

Chelsea was thought to be the favorite to re-sign Romelu Lukaku, Manchester United was leading the race for Álvaro Morata. The world was then shocked when Lukaku signed with the Red Devils instead, leaving the Blues to pick up the Spaniard.

Since then, both strikers have started the season brightly — each with six league goals in Premier League games — and it looks like the two have settled in nicely at their new clubs. But despite this, I still really wanted Morata over Lukaku.

Last week, I mentioned how Romelu Lukaku was overrated for his $100 million fee. Part of the reason is because he doesn’t turn up against the big clubs. In 57 games against the traditional “Big Six” — the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea — he’s scored just 15 goals and recorded just nine wins.

To put things into perspective, it’s worth looking at his production rate in general.

He has scored more than 115 goals before turning 23, more than Premier League greats Cristiano Ronaldo (97), Wayne Rooney (94), Luis Suarez (77), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (69), Alan Shearer (65) and Fernando Torres (87) before 23 as well. Yet those strikers are always remembered for turning up when the occasion mattered.

In contrast, Morata is a much more efficient striker; he averaged a goal every 89 minutes in La Liga last year. He may have seen the field less than most of the strikers on La Liga’s top scorers list, but it doesn’t take away that he is an effective striker.

You might say, “Hey, hold up, Morata’s simply played with better players at Real Madrid and Juventus, while Lukaku has had to work his way through with limited resources at West Bromwich Albion and Everton.” That’s fair, but I think it’s important to look at the traits associated with each striker. Morata is described by critics as an intelligent striker who can bring other players into the game and score goals on his own; his only downside is that he’s too good at everything and is thus shunted out to positions that don’t necessarily play to his best strengths. Lukaku? Sure, he’s got Premier League experience, but what about his lack of big-game presence and terrible first touch?

Sure, both strikers have been guilty of missing clear-cut chances: Morata in the opening seconds at Wembley against Tottenham, and Lukaku at home to Everton and in the Super Cup against Real Madrid.

But the key difference comes here: Lukaku had to take two shots to score against Stoke City, while Morata easily got his hat-trick.

Though don’t forget Morata’s efforts against Burnley while his team was disadvantaged numerically. I think it says a lot that José Mourinho brought back Zlatan Ibrahimovic while Antonio Conte is content to let Diego Costa go. Lukaku might still be the No. 1 go-to guy and Zlatan will play backup, but it speaks volumes on how confident Mourinho might be with only having Lukaku as his big-man up top.

I hope I’ll be proven wrong.

Yuan Jun Chee is a junior majoring in history and international relations. Yuan Jun can be reached at yuan.chee@tufts.edu.

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Wednesday, September 27, 2017 | ADVERTISEMENT | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Sports

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Sam Agnew’s balancing act

by Emily Burstein Contributing Writer

For sophomore Sam Agnew, there is no such thing as a day off. Agnew is one of a few members of the Tufts community with the overlapping distinctions of being both a varsity athlete and a dual-degree student; he is a member of the men’s crew team and is also seeking a combined degree from the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts (SMFA). For this Jumbo, that means there is little time for relaxing.

“I just take it a day at a time,” Agnew said. “So far [everything] has been manageable.”

Undeniably, Agnew wears a lot of hats as a member of the Tufts community.

In regards to his academic undertakings, he will graduate after five years of study instead of four and receive two degrees, one being a Bachelor of Fine Arts. His responsibilities as a member of the rowing team are as ample as those of any varsity engagement, and include 5:20 a.m. wake-up calls for practice six days a week. However, Agnew certainly knew what he was getting himself into when he chose this sparsely traveled route.

Throughout the college application process, Agnew searched for a place that would allow him to engage in all of his various passions, including art. “[Tufts] was the best school for me to be able to do all the things I want to do at once,” Agnew said. “I did art in high school and I wanted to [continue to] study art [in college] … It’s just work I really love to do.

If I went to a Division I rowing school, I wouldn’t be able to do anything but row.

If I went to an arts school, I wouldn’t be able to do anything but art… I thought [Tufts] would be a good way to balance art [with] other [endeavors].”

So far, Tufts has provided Agnew with just that.

“There is a lot of balance in everything I’m doing,” Agnew said. “It makes it a lot easier to [manage].”

Agnew’s day-to-day schedule can vary widely, depending on which classes he has on the docket for the day. If he has classes at Tufts, he returns to campus following 6 a.m. practice, eats breakfast with the team and then begins his academic day. If he has classes at the SMFA, he rides the Orange Line from the William A. Shoemaker Boathouse to the Fenway campus.

On lift days — scheduled four times a week — he heads to the gym in the afternoon. Those are just some of the finite

components of the day; it’s hard to imagine what a 24-hour period looks like after piling in time for homework, meetings and all of the surprises a day can entail.

Sophomore Adrian Tanner, who is also a member of the men’s crew team, found Agnew’s WMFO radio show commitment last year to be particularly fascinating.

“He had the 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. slot on Wednesdays,” Tanner said. “That means he got up at 3:45 a.m. to go do the radio show.”

Afterwards, Agnew attended practice, followed by his SMFA classes, according to Tanner.

“I think that is probably the craziest [thing] he has ever done,” he said.

Agnew has no grievances, though.

“He definitely does it because he loves it,” Tanner said. “He’s not out to complain, [although] he might be tired afterwards.

[He is following] his passions.”

That is what it is all about for Agnew: passion. He believes that if you really care about everything you are doing, the time requirements won’t be a problem. As for Agnew’s studio requirements, the time demand is a big one, but not one that takes away from his excitement to be doing what he loves.

“Studio classes and the independent studio projects I do take up to 10 to 20 hours a week,” Agnew said. “But it is just work I really love to do. By the time I’m done with that, the other stuff seems a lot easier.”

As Agnew mentions, it is the fervent passion for his various undertakings that makes the flip side of his busy schedule easy to deal with.

“Scheduling stuff is tough because I have to do all of that by myself,” Agnew said. “I have to figure out the right days between the two schools, and transportation is really time consuming. I’m on the T a lot.”

While bits and pieces like these lead to some tough moments for the sophomore, Agnew is never deterred and always lively. Junior tri-captain of the men’s crew team Isaac Mudge speaks to Agnew’s jovial disposition.

“Sam’s a really funny guy; he’s a very cheery, charismatic dude,” Mudge said.

“He’s incredibly modest for how interesting I’ve found him to be. He is why I really like being on the crew team because it is the type of team where guys find that they can just be themselves and own the cool [activities] that they do outside of the team.”

Agnew cherishes the little moments, but also notes that he looks forward to concluding his art projects at the close of each semester. An especially distinctive

COURTESY SAM AGNEW

moment for Agnew, who is studying sculpture at the SMFA, was when he included Tanner in one of his projects.

In Tanner’s words, Agnew was exploring the theme of masculinity in this specific work. Tanner went to the SMFA with Agnew and modeled alongside Agnew’s work. It was an experience Tanner was grateful to be included in, as it also gave him an inside look at Agnew’s artistic method.

“It was really cool to see him work, and [watch] his creative process,” Tanner said.

“He is not your typical athlete… He thinks in ways that are different than most athletes do.”

In addition to his teammates, Agnew has a mass of other supporters throughout the Tufts community. One particu-

COURTESY SAM AGNEW

Sophomore rower Adrian Tanner is pictured modeling for Agnew’s artwork.

lar mentor of Agnew’s is Adam Cowell, the welding studio manager at the SMFA. Cowell describes Agnew as being willing to really delve into his work and get his hands dirty, while never shying away from daunting time commitments.

“He is not afraid of labor,” Cowell said.

“His new project coming up is going to take forever… But, when I asked him, ‘Are you ready for this? Do you have enough time?’, he just kind of smiled and said, ‘No, but I’m going to get it done.’”

It is clear Agnew is well respected among the people he works with. He credits his coaches, the faculty at both his places of study, his friends and his teammates all as having great influence on his Tufts career. The support of his parents is something he greatly appreciates as well.

“My parents have been fully supportive of all this,” Agnew said. “They know I have a crazy schedule, but they know that I am [well] and that I don’t really stress out too much.”

The future for Agnew is bright; he mentioned that he would love to do an art residency overseas someday. While he is aware that his rowing career will conclude following his college experience, what lies ahead for this Jumbo will seemingly always have pieces of his various passions, including his time spent in the boat.

“I have always felt like rowing grounds me and pushes me, and teaches me how to push myself,” Agnew said. “I think that will play into whatever field I end up in.”

However, Agnew is not looking to the future too much just yet. For now, he is still looking to tomorrow and still taking it all day by day, enjoying every moment spent immersed in his many passions.