The Tufts Daily - Tuesday, February 18, 2020 by The Tufts Daily

Alumni trustee candidate Mehta shares experience in medical field, vision for Tufts see FEATURES / PAGE 3

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Jumbos earn several top-50 Div. III performances, personal records over weekend

Iranian author Missaghi discusses tragedy, history, dreams, new novel at local bookshop see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXIX, ISSUE 16

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

School of Engineering kicks off National Engineers Week celebrations

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by Stephanie Rifkin Assistant News Editor

Yesterday, the School of Engineering began its annual celebration of National Engineers Week (E-Week), which honors the profession and study of engineering. E-Week, which will continue through Friday, is intended to highlight what engineering means to both engineers and non-engineers and to introduce the field to those who have not yet explored the discipline, according to Chris Swan, the dean of undergraduate education for the School of Engineering. “It’s a powerful evaluation and acknowledgment of the stuff that engineers do as affirmation to the engineer, but also as a showcase to what engineering is about to those in engineering as well as those outside,” Swan said. The events scheduled for E-Week this year are designed to attract all audiences, from engineers and liberal arts students to students outside of Tufts, according to its organizers. The celebrations began with a carnival on Monday, which will be followed by a spread of other events, some of which see E-WEEK, page 2

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The exterior of the Science and Engineering Complex is pictured on Sept. 18, 2019.

MIT researcher discusses Madagascar pharmaceutical industry by Yiyun Tom Guan Contributing Writer

Gabrielle Robbins, a Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), spoke on Friday about how local farmers in Madagascar navigate their relationships with pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies in a globalized setting. Robbins visited Tufts for the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) lunch seminar, co-hosted by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, for her talk in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose room titled “Exploring the Pharmaceutical Industry ‘On the Ground’ in Madagascar.” Robbins, a student from the MIT Department of History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society, explained that what prompted her to research the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and local communities was her curiosity about what it takes to make a drug.

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“In my work specifically, I focus on pharmaceutical manufacturing,” Robbins said. “What kind of work does it take to make those medicines we often take for granted? Where does that work happen? It turns out that making pharmaceuticals is really complicated. It takes all sorts of ingredients, and they often come from a variety of places.” Inspired by her undergraduate mentor, Robbins first traveled to Madagascar in 2014, where she began fieldwork on the artemisia plantations in the city of Fianarantsoa. This plant is of particular interest to her due to its effectiveness in battling malaria, which is on the rise because of global warming, according to Robbins. “Large pharmaceutical companies … now invest millions in what is called [artemisinin-based combination therapies], or ACTs, which [are] a [World Health Organization]-recommended treatment for malaria,” Robbins explains. “As global malaria severity increases due to climate change, a stable supply of ACTs is critical.” For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

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Robbins then transitioned from her research into questions of power dynamics between a developing country’s rural communities and the global pharmaceutical industry, as well as questions of exponential growth of technological innovations. She went on to explain how a French company, located in Fianarantsoa and supported by the local government, infiltrated farmers’ production. “In 2015, a French-owned company took over a government-built industrial plant that sits along the river throughout [Fianarantsoa] and they began to expand artemisia cultivation around the city,” Robbins said. “The idea was to be able to support rural farmers and urban industrialization at once by establishing what’s called a value-added pharmaceutical supply chain.” Since crop-theft remains prevalent in the region, Robbins noted that companies like the one in her example could ensure the price of the crops to local farmers, so long as they grew the crops the companies wanted. This practice leads to the widespread cultivation of artemisia in

Fianarantsoa, even though the land can be used to grow other valuable crops in need, according to Robbins. Farmers in Madagascar also face competition from the biotechnology industry, which tries to use synthetic biology to engineer products to counter the global rise of malaria, according to Robbins. “Concerns about the anti-malarial shortage in the 1990s [propelled this giant multimillion-dollar research project,” Robbins said. “Artemisia supply was going up and down constantly, and this group was trying to find new laboratory production methods to stabilize this industry … You sort of have a fight playing out between chemical and plantbased [ingredients].” Robbins added that the current biotechnology industry hasn’t yet achieved any technological breakthrough that will threaten small-holder cultivation. She highlighted the conflict that continues between the ideals of sustainability and the protection of low-tech drug industries.

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................4

see ROBBINS, page 2

FUN & GAMES.........................6 OPINION..................................... 7 SPORTS............................ BACK

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Tuesday, February 18, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Ryan Shaffer Editor in Chief

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Mental health, trivia events among E-Week programming E-WEEK

continued from page 1 will be more professional in nature and some more casual. “[It is] really just engineers having a good time. They want to celebrate the show,” Swan said. “There’s also opportunities … on the more serious side for engineering students to interact with alumni and potential employers. So there’s opportunities to actually find a job, find your direction, find your career.” One of the more amusing of these celebrations is an event on Tuesday titled “Are You Smarter than a Faculty Member?” during which faculty and graduate students will face off to answer trivia questions, according to Jessica Stieglitz, the secretary of the Graduate Student Council. “There’s a faculty team and graduate student teams, and they just try to answer questions from different graduate engineering curriculums in the School of Engineering at Tufts,” Stieglitz, a fifth-year graduate student, said. “They’re traditionally not good at it. We did it last year for the first time, and it’s honestly hilarious to watch faculty members and graduate students try to answer computer science questions when they have no idea what the question even says, not to mention the answer.” Stieglitz explained that it is important to focus on creating events that include graduate student organizations, such as the Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Society (BEaChES) and the Graduate Society of Women Engineers, to increase graduate student engagement. “We were originally contacted to try to improve the graduate student attendance during the live events because a lot of them tend to be developed by undergraduate stu-

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continued from page 1

After observing that the industry’s current emphasis on biodiversity protection works against the interests of local communities, Robbins proposed a new model which would integrate conservation of both the environment and the livelihoods and practices of local farmers. “[Madagascar] is itself a biodiversity hotspot with high-grades of species animism … because of this, conservation areas have increased since the 1980s. You have national parks and protected areas that are now proliferating,” Robbins said. “But these conservation projects were

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“Because it is vacation week in Massachusetts in particular, this is a good time to bring your kids in if you haven’t done this yet, and they can interact on STEM projects hands-on and see if they have an interest towards doing engineering,” Swan said. “We also have, on Wednesday visits to our maker space. And those are actually going to be tied into visits from potential Tufts University applicants.” The E-Week events resemble last year’s celebration, except for the absence of a keynote speaker, according to Swan. “Names are batted around but say if we got an astronaut in here, we are already paying $15,000–$25,000 just to get them here, and we’re not capable of pay that funding,” Swan said. “There are enough events during the week that this speaker could get lost in that group. As it is a pretty packed schedule.” Stieglitz emphasized that there are many opportunities for non-engineers to get involved in E-Week as well. “They’re meant to be open to everyone,” Stieglitz said. “I think the expectation is probably people will assume that if you’re not an engineer, it’s not really for you, which isn’t the case at all. Everyone can learn more about how to improve their mental health, right? … There’s no math tests or anything.” Jianmin Qu, dean of the School of Engineering, added that a goal of E-Week is to attract students from across the Tufts community. “The events are open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members,” Qu wrote in an email to the Daily. “Tufts is a highly interdisciplinary university, and E-week serves as a great opportunity for students to begin collaborations that bridge disciplines.”

criticized by anthropologists for their prioritization of animal and plant life and diversity over human survival.” At the conclusion of her lecture, Robbins invited the audience to ask questions. In response to a question about the exploitation of local communities by pharmaceutical companies, Robbins suggested holding a more nuanced outlook on the relationships between the two entities. “Right now I’m not convinced that the power imbalance is that stark,” Robbins said. “I’ve heard a lot from farmers this summer about all the things they were doing to force pharmaceutical companies to help them out, and they refused

to accept the [pharmaceutical] companies’ status quo.” Robbins elaborated on the ways in which farmers have organized to collaborate against the influential industries. “I’m actually very interested in how things like village co-ops, agricultural collectives or other forms of regional social organizations helped these farmers in navigating what is otherwise a global and complex industry,” Robbins said. Robbins explained that her next research project will triangulate the relationship between farms, factories and scientists to investigate how the knowledge-production process plays out spatially and socially.

Events on the Hill — Week of Feb. 16 by Robert Kaplan

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dents, so they’re geared towards undergraduates,” Stieglitz said. Graduate student organizations will also host two other events — a mental health talk on Wednesday and a lunch on Thursday — to celebrate exemplary engineers in their fields at Tufts, according to the schedule of events. “Wednesday is a mental health focus, so it’s a keynote by Claire Weigand in the Academic Resource Center,” Stieglitz said. “Thursday is going to be Exemplary Engineers, which is just a celebratory lunch that’s with [BEaChES]. The faculty and graduate students voted on Facebook for their favorite person, faculty member or graduate student in the departments. And it’s like a mini award ceremony.” For undergraduates, the “Meet Your Majors: What Does Each Engineering Major Actually Do?” event on Wednesday aims to help first-years explore the various majors offered within the School of Engineering before making a final decision on which to declare. “There will be representatives from each one of those degree areas to talk about what their degree is about,” Swan said. “And that one is also tied into fun. So I know that computer science would put up a video game big screen, and they would have a group of people playing the video game, and other displays happened as well.” In order to attract more interest in engineering from the surrounding community, Swan explained that the School of Engineering will host a prospective student workshop for high school students, while another event will introduce elementary school students to projects in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Crop used in Malaria medication influences agriculture, industry in Madagascar

ROBBINS

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TUESDAY “Student-Alumni Panel and Networking Night” Details: Engineering alumni will return to campus to network with students and discuss career paths as part of the School of Engineering’s National Engineers Week programming. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. and appetizers will be served. Where and when: Aidekman Arts Center, 6–8:30 p.m. Sponsors: Career Services, the Center for STEM Diversity WEDNESDAY “U.S. Policy in the Middle East” Details: Sarah Arkin (LA’06), Rachel Brandenburg (LA’05) and Negar Razavi (LA’06) will return to Tufts for a discussion on the future of U.S. engagement in the Middle East. All three

alumnae participated in Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) while at Tufts. Arkin is the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s deputy staff director, Brandenburg is a senior policy advisor for Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and Razavi is a visiting professor of anthropology at the College of William & Mary. Where and when: Room 206, Cabot Intercultural Center, 12–1 p.m. Sponsors: The Institute of Global Leadership, the Middle East Research Group, Women in International Relations and Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES) THURSDAY “Building Castles on the Sea” Details: University of Toronto professor of art history Christy Anderson will deliver the Margaret Henderson Floyd Memorial Lecture, exploring ship construction as architecture, technology and art in the early modern period.

Where and when: Room 104, Barnum Hall, 6–7:30 p.m. Sponsor: Department of the History of Art and Architecture FRIDAY “Is a Social Scientific Definition of Slavery Possible?” Details: Malick Ghachem, an associate professor of history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will discuss the extent to which a definition of slavery can be derived separate from its historical context at this week’s Science, Technology and Society lunch seminar. Lunch will be provided. Where and when: Multipurpose room, Sophia Gordon Hall, 12–1:15 p.m. Sponsors: The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, the Science, Technology & Society Program, the Department of Political Science, the International Relations Program and the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora

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Features

Alumni trustee candidate Tejas Mehta hopes to bring Tufts community together

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The Arnold Wing of the Tufts University School of Medicine is pictured. by Sam Russo

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Every year, members of the alumni community vote for who will represent the alumni on the Board of Trustees, the highest body of governance for the university. One of the two candidates running for that position this year is Dr. Tejas Mehta (M ’92). Mehta comes from a family steeped in the Tufts experience: her son recently graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences and she met her husband while studying at Tufts medical school. Reflecting on why she accepted her nomination for this position, Mehta cites the opportunity to give back to her alma mater. “I’m at the stage in my life where I’m able to give back to the place that was so influential to me and really made me not only the physician … but also the person that I am today,” she said. Since 1993, Mehta has worked at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (known as Beth Israel Hospital when she began) where she now serves as the Chief of Breast Imaging. Through projects she has taken on her professional life, Mehta has learned lessons that she hopes to bring to the board if elected. “I’ve been involved in building and creating two breast imaging centers of excellence and basically transforming how that imaging care is delivered,” Mehta said. “What I learned from that experience is that, although I may have been one of the leaders of that initiative, really it was my entire team of champions that made it possible, and every member of that team … contributed to making it such a great place.” This experience has shown her the importance of engaging as many people as possible with diverse talents. “The Tufts community has a huge amount of talent, and how can we capitalize that and make sure that everyone has the opportunity to capitalize on those talents, to give themselves purpose and also provide an opportunity to succeed?” Mehta said. Mehta has many answers to this question, chief among them being achieving

greater financial accessibility for Tufts students. “Tufts is a research university committed to its students, faculty and alumni, to innovation, to the creation and application of knowledge, to inclusion and collaboration, to environmental sustainability and to making an impact on the world,” Mehta wrote in her candidate statement. “It would behoove me to mention the financial challenges that come with achieving these goals. These are difficult times for all educational institutions, and Tufts is not exempt.” Mehta says she is thinking about the changes Tufts could make, but also how to make these possible, building off of her own knowledge and expertise. “I think we need to be thoughtful, so we can talk about making all these changes, but we also need to be thoughtful of the cost and the environment” Mehta said. “All of the schools already are involved in the largest capital campaign in the history of Tufts, and I’ve already played a part at the medical school level, and I’d like to continue to play a part in that at the larger level, in terms of strengthening our endowment and expanding our philanthropic efforts.” Mehta’s continued involvement with the medical school goes far beyond just being involved with the current capital campaign. She has been a member of the Tufts Medical Alumni Association Executive Council since 2007, currently serving as its president. In this role, she oversees engaging the medical school alumni and allocating donations to programs for current medical school students. This includes sponsoring scholarships as well as many of the major milestones in students’ medical school careers, including giving each student their first stethoscope and a personal note from an alumnus during their white coat ceremony and supporting them during their induction night, when they celebrate their next steps after medical school. In addition, Mehta works with the alumni council to offer mentorship and teaching to current medical students, such as giving students the chance to shadow Tufts medical school alumni at their places of work.

Another major initiative Mehta hopes to take on if elected to the board is to strengthen the connections between Tufts’ various schools. “It’s our vision to be an innovative university, and I think that the strength in our school is really the strength of the combination of all of our schools, and so one of the initiatives that I’d like to be involved with is strengthening the bridges between the various schools because I think that the collaborative multidisciplinary nature [of stronger connections] will help us find synergy, and together with all of the schools, we’ll be able to make the greatest impact … on the world,” Mehta said. Mehta wants to maximize the opportunities for each student to engage with the Tufts community. “I think that the younger generation has a lot to offer … something about the diversity of age actually brings more power or whatever mission or project you’re involved with, so I really would like to make sure that all of the students feel like regardless of whether they’re a first-year at Tufts undergrad or part of the grad school or a Ph.D. student that’s been there a long time, how can we… set up a way that they can contribute?” Mehta said. For Mehta, this connects to recognizing and utilizing the unique value that each person brings to the table, as she has done in her professional life. When Mehta considered why she thinks she would be a strong member of the Board of Trustees, she looked at shared values on the most basic level. The two phrases that she said most represent Tufts in her mind were “making a difference and embracing change,” skills that she sees in her own life as well. “Tufts University really embodies what I believe. What it stands for parallels my beliefs and how I envision the future world we’ll have,” Mehta said. “We need to be noble and change with the world, and I think that is my strength … I believe myself to be a nimble person, a very forward thinker, someone that really embraces and welcomes change rather than shy away from change … and I think that Tufts is very much like that, and that’s why I think my candidacy and nomination are strong.”

3 Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Spencer Christiansen Get off campus guide

Art art art

f you feel like leaving your room despite the howling winds and sub-freezing temperatures, taking in a little of Boston’s rich art scene might warm you up, at least intellectually. The city offers many different venues and types of art to the public, from galleries to museums, but I tried to find options that were cheap or free. The Institute of Contemporary Art’s (ICA) free Thursday night offered the perfect evening activity to relax after a long week and ease into the long weekend. The ICA offers an incredibly curated artistic experience that will be interesting for those seasoned in art and casual viewers alike. The various exhibitions all display refreshing and challenging takes on modern art, and the museum itself is a strikingly beautiful work of modern architecture. The Nina Chanel Abney display is captivating, geometric and compelling. The bright colors and stark shapes are intended to speak to “social tensions in the digital age, including the constant stream of true and false information, the dilemma of liberal racism, and abuses of power that lead to structural inequality,” according to the ICA website. Abney’s work is at the ICA until March 15 and I highly recommend seeing it while it’s still in Boston. The Tschabalala Self: Out of Body exhibit is also a must see. The exhibition is the Harlem, N.Y. artist’s biggest and it’s made up of sculptures and paintings that are “reflections of the artist or people she can imagine meeting in Harlem, her hometown.” In addition to these amazing exhibits and many others, the Sterling Ruby display will open Feb. 26. Admission is free at the ICA every Thursday night from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., making it an awesome activity for an evening in the city. With the money you save, it’s a great idea to enjoy some food in the area. The ICA’s ‘SunBar’ looks out on Boston Harbor, and the Seaport District surrounding the museum has abundant options as well. Yoki Express offers delicious sushi burritos, Bon Me serves tasty Vietnamese cuisine and Harpoon Brewery specializes in the bar food classics. The ICA’s website is required reading for a trip to the museum itself or the neighborhood, with a schedule of events and other recommended eateries. To get to the ICA, take the Red Line from Davis Square all the way to South Station, and then take a Silver Line bus to the Courthouse stop or Uber/Lyft the rest of the way. If you head to the Seaport District this week be sure to stay warm and enjoy all that the ICA has to offer!

Spencer Christiansen is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Spencer can be reached at spencer.christiansen@tufts. edu.

4 Tuesday, February 18, 2020

ARTS&LIVING

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Brookline Booksmith hosts Poupeh Missaghi, author of ‘Trans(re) lating House One’

by Devina Bhalla

Assistant Arts Editor

Brookline Booksmith, an independent bookstore in Brookline, Mass., started a transnational literature series in 2018. This series was created to bring in books, authors and translations that explore borders through their work. Poupeh Missaghi and her novel “Trans(re)lating House One” (2020) were featured on Feb. 12 in Brookline Booksmith’s used book cellar. The crowd itself was diverse, with different languages being spoken and a large Iranian presence as well. Missaghi is an Iranian writer, translator and teacher with a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Denver and an M.A. in Translation Studies. “Trans(re)lating House One” is Missaghi’s first novel. It takes place in the aftermath of Iran’s 2009 election when statues were disappearing all over Tehran. The protagonist is a woman who begins searching for these missing statues, a search that takes her in places she could never have imagined. Missaghi began the event with three longer readings from different parts of her novel. Her accent paired with the gorgeous language of her novel made listening to her enchanting. Her writing in some of the sections used repetition to reveal the full weight of the difficult narrative she was attempting to tell. The next part of the book talk was a conversation between her and Sheida Dayani. Dayani is a theatre historian of Iran and preceptor in Persian at Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. She first asked Missaghi about her idea of putting the statues disappearing in conversation with disappearing bodies. Missaghi responded that it is natural to put the loss of human bodies and statues together with the loss of civil society that was happening. One of the hardest parts, Missaghi commented, is that disappearance does not allow space for mourning. This loss is what Missaghi attempted to retell in the form of art, giving space for the mourning and remembrance that continues to exist. Missaghi said that “Trans(re)lating House One” began as a separate class assignment about the “hermeneutics of [her] life at that moment.” She realized how much she missed Tehran, inspiring the beginnings of “Trans(re)lating House One.” It is a novel of her translating her experience and the Iranian experience while also relating these stories to her own and to one another. After 2009, Missaghi became fascinated with her dreams and wanted to learn more about what they might mean, so she began keeping a dream journal. Although, she had no intention of using these dream journals as part of her novel, she had compiled over 100 pages of material just from her dreams. Once she decided she did want to include them in the novel, she asked an artist to create images out of the words of her dreams which are included in the novel. Part of the title, “House One,” also came from her dreams. “House” and “one” were the most used words in her dream journals and, once she realized that, it felt perfect. Most of her dreams happened in her first childhood home in

DEVINA BHALLA / THE TUFTS DAILY

Poupeh Missaghi’s book “Trans(re)lating House One” is pictured on Feb. 12. Tehran and including “House One” in the title felt like the right way to incorporate it into the vision of the book. She also includes factual reports of people who were killed in different instances during the chaos of 2009. These reports of the dead, as Missaghi called them, were written after extensive research on her part, watching videos and reading about specific instances of violence. These are met with quotations from various historical figures that she believes help illuminate the reports and questions she struggles with throughout the book. She delicately pieced together each of these parts, the reports, quotes, dreams, fiction elements and her own author commentary to create “Trans(re)lating House One.” Everything about the novel is deliberately done. Some questions that

came up for Missaghi when she was writing the novel included what it means for her to tell the story of the dead and what it means for her to be writing it in English. She was going to wait to have conversations about these questions after the book was published, but she then decided that they should also be included within the book itself. Missaghi feels that her book connects history and literature with important questions that all artists have. She also commented on how her book is a combination of contradictions and readers must be comfortable living in a space where everything is in contradiction, and be able to see through it. Missaghi said that one of the best examples of her readers making her see her own novel in a new way occurred at a reading when one of the attendees commented that she first started reading the

book from page one, but stopped at some point and decided to do it differently. Instead of reading chronologically, this reader decided to open the book up to a random page and read from there, before closing it again and choosing another page. Missaghi never thought that someone would have that relationship with her book and saw the story she created as having its own life. This story exemplifies all that Missaghi was doing through her novel and this talk. She is creating art out of tragedy, history, dreams and narrative plotlines in order to create a space for experiencing and conversing about all of these questions she constantly has. “Trans(re) lating House One” is an art piece that is truly Missaghi’s own and gives the reader space to perhaps come up with their own individual perspectives.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY

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‘Drag Race’ reveals season 12 cast

Aidan Menchaca Beginner Mentality

Improvisation

by Tommy Gillespie

Arts Editor

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (2009–) is pictured. sense of superiority all the way back in season 5. Down the Pacific Coast Highway, two of our queens hail from Los Angeles. Dahlia Sin looks to do drag mother Aja proud and inject some sultry sex appeal into our gay veins, while 22-year-old Gigi Goode has turned heads both for her endearing relationship with her costume mother and hotly debated out-of-drag resemblance to a certain makeup YouTuber who shall remain nameless. Season 12’s Southern contingent is made up of Georgia native Aiden Zhane, who could be described as a cross between Violet Chachki, Sharon Needles and that scene from “Contact” (1997) when Jodie Foster flies through a mushroom trip in space. Heidi N. Closet wins the Punny Drag Name Contest of the season (though the Daily believes that the wonderful potential of drag names is too often limited to puns), and she joins the company of legends Stacy Layne Matthews and Victoria Porkchop Parker as the show’s only queens to hail from Top Carolina (Bottom Carolina still has

yet to make an appearance). Last but most certainly not busted, Jaida Essence Hall has already established herself as the season’s glamour queen, and, in terms of Milwaukee’s herstory on “Drag Race,” will hope to land closer to Trixie Mattel than Jaymes Mansfield. The lineup of guest judges slated for season 12 was breathed into life by an act of divine homosexual intervention and trying to encompass the implications in words is futile, so I’m just going to list them: Nicki Minaj, Alexandria OcasioCortez, Chaka Khan, Daisy Ridley, Daniel Franzese, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bennett, Leslie Jones, Normani, Olivia Munn, Rachel Bloom, Robyn, Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg and Winnie Harlow. Until next time, material gargoyles. I will be quite busy getting my life’s affairs and transactions in order for when I die during the “Honey” Lip Sync For Your Life. If you see me before then and you want me to bequeath you one of my posters of Gwyneth Paltrow, let

he orchestra stops and silence fills the air for one, maybe two seconds. The musicians now join the audience and all eyes gaze at the lone figure about to play. The spotlight is on her. Daring and poised, she clothes the themes in a brilliant new dress. This is how I imagine the grand scene at the cadenza of Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto in D major” (1806). After nearly 20 minutes of soaring with the orchestra, the soloist must strike it out for a few minutes of unaided, ‘improvised’ playing. You’d think this would be exhilarating to watch, and it is, to an extent, but I’ve heard this ‘improvisation’ all before… on Spotify. Classical music used to have a rich tradition of improvisation. According to the musicologist and noted improvisor Robert Levin, Bach and Mozart routinely improvised over their own themes. Beethoven even reportedly dueled Daniel Steibelt, a Prussian pianist, in an improvisation contest to gain repute in Vienna. Today such a match would be uncommon. Classical musicians are trained to be strict “textualists.” If the composer didn’t write it into the piece — it’s a no go. For the cadenzas in concertos, musicians write out “improvisations” or, more commonly, use those written by others historically. Indeed, Fritz Kreisler’s cadenza is so remarkable that it has been woven into the Beethoven concerto itself. Yet, I think there is a lot to be gained artistically, and musically, from returning to improvisation in classical music. Improvisation is like a breath of fresh air for old music. While there have been ‘new’ ways to hear Mozart or Beethoven using period instruments or listening to different conductors’ interpretations, the notes are still the same! I’d be excited to see how a 21st century musician transforms the theme of a 19th century Mendelssohn. I’m sure she could bring out different rhythmic and harmonic variations which Mendelssohn could not have dreamed of himself all while blending it back into the piece. Sitting down to seriously improvise adds new words to a conversation across centuries. It is the way we can freshly hear beloved music. Concerts would also be more exciting. Improvisation brings both drama and chance into the concert hall. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Where will the performer go next? How will she transform the music? If, God forbid, she makes a ‘mistake,’ what will she do with it? This is how I’d want to hear music. When I’m warming up to play, one of my favorite things to do is improvise. Maybe this is because I learned guitar first and needed to solo routinely. Sometimes I’ll even record what I’m doing! I have a lot of fragments of music I’d love to realize later. Improvisation is music at its most playful and raw. You can’t really be a complete musician without the ability to just play — no preconceptions, no conditions. There is a lot of change in how we listen to and teach music. In the 21st century, we are broadening the ‘canon’ of classical music and reconsidering what we find valuable throughout history. Improvisation is that gem from classical music history I know we’ll fall in love with again.

ION OF STA IAT TE OC

TERS RES FO

NATIONAL A SS

Hello hello hello! It’s been months since we’ve talked, kitty girls, and so much has happened in the interim. In the time since The Vivienne was crowned the UK’s first “Drag Race” superstar back in November, “AJ and the Queen” (2020– ) has premiered, made us scratch our heads and been renewed for a second season. RuPaul has read children’s book stalwarts to filth on “Saturday Night Live” and brought Jimmy Fallon closer than he’s ever been to his long-overdue date with cancel culture. Nina West’s pedal fixation has bewildered us. Tyra Sanchez has twanged the RPDR subreddit’s conspiracy theory alarms over a rumored retirement from drag, and Monique Heart has predictably continued to dazzle us all with her jaw-dropping Black icon-inspired looks in commemoration of Black History Month. But time and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” wait for no woman, and we finally have a date, cast and guest judges lined up for season 12. On Feb. 28, the race will start again. Thirteen queens (mercifully reduced from last season’s record waytoo-high of 15) will enter, but only one will be spared the chop, receive a sceptre from Yvie Oddly courtesy of Fierce Drag Jewels™ and walk away with $100,000. Who are these queens? Let us find out. Two queens have already fallen victim to the identity-quashing of capitalism, Jan Sport and Brita Filter. These two New York-based queens will have to content themselves with their first names on “Drag Race,” but the Alexis Michellemothered Jan and effervescent, seasoned Brita both surely have the chops to power through it. After season 11 provided a welcome relief from the show’s recent New Yorkdominated lineups, season 12 has doubled down on the Big Apple. Five of our 13 queens hail from New York. Nicky Doll, the first French-born “Drag Race” entrant, will be serving high fashion. Sherry Pie will be honoring the campy roots of drag, sure to excel in performance challenges. Jackie Cox has already won legions of fans (including me!) with both her affable demeanor and her Iranian heritage-inspired looks. Two of our queens call the ShowMe state (Missouri for non-state quarter collectors) home. Widow Von’Du, from Kansas City, has already been predicted as a front-runner on Reddit, and her fiercely funny persona marks her as one to watch. Springfield queen Crystal Methyd’s drag aesthetic appears to be chiefly influenced by her Boy Scout training, Bjork, Pennywise and a Cabbage Patch Kid, which is just beautiful. Real-life cartoon superhero Rock M. Sakura will provide the first San Francisco representation on “Drag Race” since Honey Mahogany tripped over her caftan and Vivienne Pinay’s unearned

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Aidan Menchaca is a senior studying history. Aidan can be reached at aidan.menchaca@tufts.edu.

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Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Riya Matta Shades of Gray

Indoctrination versus education

by Nasrin Lin

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he thing I remember most from the day after the 2016 presidential election, Nov. 9, is my first-period class. Instead of awkwardly pushing through the usual daily routine, my 10th grade chemistry teacher asked us to sit in a circle and invited us to share gut reactions. What still strikes me is how upfront and candid the invitation was and how openly people shared their perspectives — including the teacher. Despite the fact that my political opinions aligned with his, I wondered whether or not his frankness was appropriate. Three and a half years later, the same question arose in my college international relations class. My professor refuses to even use Donald Trump’s name, instead opting to refer to him as “the current administration” or “that guy in the White House.” At the same time, however, my professor uses exclusively neutral language when discussing what are obviously his own opinions. Pop culture depictions of oversharing professors and years of concern from both ends of the political spectrum over faculty proselytizing to undergraduates have led to a common belief that professors are all too happy to disclose their political views in the classroom. My experience, however, is that professors do largely attempt to remain unbiased in their instruction — but often the subject of instruction or the state of current world affairs make it impossible for professors to hide their beliefs. And, contrary to the long-held belief by many, including my 15-year-old self, they shouldn’t have to. Amid political polarization, remaining informed and articulating opinions has become the norm, while neutrality can become equated to apathy — the expectation of which is arguably detrimental to professors’ ability to educate. After all, as with the case of my international relations professor, despite a professor’s best efforts, students are often able to deduce baseline information about a professor’s political leanings. What, then, is the point of maintaining a pretense of neutrality? If the answer is to protect us, I believe we should reconsider. In college and beyond, students will be continually confronted with others’ views which will often differ from their own, and they will be left alone to navigate challenging debates. Of course, there is a fine line between gently sharing opinions and indoctrination, but as college students, most of us should have the poise required to not be swayed by a single opinion. College is a transformative time when students begin to find an identity outside their home — often for the first time — and form their own views on the world around them. Sometimes, however, ill-informed debates between friends quickly turn into echo chambers as students yield to a popular opinion to avoid confrontation. Professors, on the other hand, are a group almost entirely comprised of highly educated adults who are diverse not only in ethnicity but in background, education, religion and life experience, and whose opinions can provide invaluable education and exposure to students. Riya Matta is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Riya can be reached at riya.matta@tufts.edu.

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Arjun Balaraman Off the Crossbar

Sports

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Track and field teams successful at BU, MIT meets

Utter chaos at City

he Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) sent shockwaves through the soccer world last week when they announced that Manchester City would be banned from the UEFA Champions League for two seasons after violating Financial Fair Play rules instituted to prevent clubs from spending more money than they generate. City will appeal the decision, so it may be downgraded, but questions arose immediately about the futures of the manager, Pep Guardiola, and star players like Kevin De Bruyne in the absence of European soccer. While Guardiola recently told his players he remains fully committed to the side, there could be a mass exodus at City in the coming months. The last comparable scenario happened back in 2006 when a match-fixing scandal shook Italian soccer to its core. Four of the country’s biggest sides were found guilty of fixing referee appointments and betting on games. Of those found guilty, Juventus faced by far the harshest punishment — relegation to Italy’s second division and the cancellation of their previous two years’ league crowns. At the time, Juventus was one of the most powerful sides in Europe, led by world-class talents in Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluigi Buffon who would, in 2006, also lead Italy to a World Cup title. While many expected the big names to leave Juventus following the sentencing, a handful of the club’s stars like Buffon and Del Piero opted to stick with the club. As a result, the turnaround was quick: Juve won the second division in 2007, and by 2008 the Bianconeri were right back in the thick of things, finishing third in the league and returning to the UEFA Champions League after a two-season hiatus. City faces much tamer punishments, and the situation is vastly different in other ways too. Many of the players who stayed at Juve were academy graduates who grew up representing those famed black and white vertical stripes — Del Piero had been at the club since 1993 while Buffon had been the starting goalie for over five seasons. On the other hand, Manchester City is a side built almost exclusively through the transfer market in recent years. They owe their renaissance to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, who purchased the club in 2008 and furiously funneled money into it, eventually pushing City towards the European elites. So just how much loyalty will the likes of De Bruyne, 28, and Aymeric Laporte, 25, show when they’re in the middle of their primes and have only been at the club for a few years? For Pep, I actually understand his desire to stay. The one criticism on Guardiola has been the fact that he’s been able to achieve such brilliance only because of the vast resources available to him at all of his previous stops. If he can manage this rebuild and take City back to the top, there will be absolutely no doubting his status as one of the greatest ever managers. But for the players, while it would be romantic to see them stay and stick together through this difficult time, professional careers are too short to waste two years at the highest level — especially when they are not at fault. Arjun Balaraman is a junior studying quantitative economics. Arjun can be reached at arjun.balaraman@tufts.edu.

MADELEINE OLIVER / TUFTS TRACK AND FIELD

Senior Lydia Heely passes a pack of competitors at the Branwen Smith-King Classic on Jan. 29, 2019. by Jake Freudberg

Executive Sports Editor

The women’s and men’s track and field teams competed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Gordon Kelly Invitational and Boston University’s (BU) David Hemery Valentine Invitational over the weekend, earning several Div. III top-50 nationally ranked marks. At the Gordon Kelly Invitational on Saturday, both teams saw successes from first-year and sophomore athletes in particular. On the women’s side, sophomore Rachel Eaglin placed second in the 60 meters hurdles with a time of 9.47, while senior co-captain Nehalem Kunkle-Read placed sixth in the 400 meters at 1:05.02. In the field events, sophomore Chidiebele Ikpeazu placed fifth in the high jump at 4’ 11 ½”, first-year Maya Ansbro came in fifth place in the pole vault with a personal best 9’ 11 ¼”, first-year Lia Rotti earned second in the long jump with a personal best distance of 17’ 10 ¼” and first-year Jaidyn Appel placed fourth in the triple jump at 35’ 3”, also a personal record. Rotti’s mark currently ranks No. 36 nationally in Div. III. The men’s team also had first-years place well: Carter Rosewell placed fourth in the 60 meters with a time of 7.32, Sawyer Wilson won the 600 meters with a personal best of 1:26.97, Oliver Printy finished the mile with a fifth place time of 4:51.63 and Hunter Farrell came in fourth place in the pole vault at 13’ 11 ¼”. In other field events, senior Ranjit Thomas placed third in the triple jump with a personal record distance of 41’ 10 ¾” and junior Dylan Daisey placed sixth in the weight throw with a personal record 50’ 2”, with senior Christian Trebisacci not far behind with an eighth place 48’ 5 ½” mark.

“To have a meet like MIT where you can go and kind of shine in your races builds a lot of confidence,” junior co-captain Harry Steinberg said. “To see those guys run and compete well was really exciting. ” The David Hemery Valentine Invite was a much larger and more competitive meet, with Div. I, Div. II and Div. III athletes from across the nation competing. The women’s team competed on Friday, while the men’s team competed on Saturday. Regardless of the stiff competition, the Jumbos still impressed with several nationally ranked times and personal records as well as a new school record. Senior Matt D’Anieri undoubtedly put up the most exciting results of the day, setting a new Tufts record in the 1,000 meters. His time of 2:27.45 was good for 22nd place, edging out the previous record — set in 2016 — by 0.47 seconds. D’Anieri also set a personal record in the 800 meters with a 29th-place time of 1:52.58, and first-year Evan Ensslin was close behind in 30th place at 1:52.60. When those times are converted — BU has a banked track — they currently rank No. 11 and 12, respectively, in Div. III. Steinberg finished in the 3,000 meters with a personal record time of 8:31.65; his converted time currently ranks No. 47 in Div. III. “BU has a fast track, so it was nice to be able to go there and run fast,” Steinberg said. “There was a lot of energy from earlier races … It was one of those days where I could put things together and run really fast, so it was nice to be able to do that.” The 4×400 meters relay team of junior OJ Armstrong, sophomores Sam Oomen-Lochtefeld and Riley Patten and first-year Andrii Campbell placed 12th

at 3:20.26, which currently ranks No. 31 in Div. III. For the women’s team, sophomore Danielle Page finished the 3,000 meters in 9:55.20, a personal record which currently ranks No. 17 in Div. III after being converted. “A [personal record] is always good,” Page said. “I definitely felt a little flat during my race, but I feel like I can improve on that, which is the most exciting thing.” In the 400 meters, senior co-captain Julia Gake ran a personal record 58.10, good for 64th place at the meet and No. 28 in Div. III. The 800 meters had two top30 times: sophomore Hannah Neilon at a personal best 2:15.69 for 76th place and No. 21 and sophomore Tara Lowensohn finishing a personal best 2:15.94 for 85th place and No. 26. In the mile, senior co-captain Rhemi Toth ran a No. 18 Div. III ranked time of 5:00.32, good for 84th place, while sophomore Anna Slager ran a time of 5:05.13 for 111th place, which currently ranks No. 41 in Div. III. And the 4×400 meters relay squad of first-year Campbell Devlin, Neilon, sophomore Luana Machado and Gake placed 22nd at 3:57.03, which currently ranks No. 23 in Div. III. Both the women’s and men’s teams will travel to Springfield College this weekend to compete in the Triangle Classic, which will be the last indoor regular season meet before the New England Div. III Championship on Feb. 28 and 29. “We had a lot of people set personal bests and have breakout performances, which is always exciting going into the postseason,” Page said. “It’s that point in the season where people are starting to come into their own and we definitely had that demonstrated on Friday [at BU].”