The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, February 24, 2021

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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 11

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

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Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Residential Life plans to support students in roommate search process

Tufts lifts some COVID-19 restrictions, others remain in place

by Sarah Sandlow Deputy News Editor

LYDIA RICHARDSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

Decorations are pictured in a dorm room in Hill Hall on Nov. 15.

by Flora Meng

Assistant News Editor

Given limited social opportunities this year, the Office of Residential Life and Learning plans to initiate events and utilize a new connection platform to help current first-year students meet and interact with potential future roommates.

Nadia Vargas, associate director for residential education, wrote in an email to the Daily that COVID-19 restrictions have increased students’ need for support during the roommate search process.

Angy Sosa, associate director for residential operations, explained this further.

“We do anticipate students needing assistance with determining housing options or finding people to live with if they do not have a group,” Sosa wrote in an email to the Daily.

Paige Duff, a first-year student, shared some of her personal observations about campus social life this past year.

“I think it’s really hard because a lot of people on campus … like freshmen this year … only have a few really really strong connections with other people,” Duff said.

Although the restrictions have not significantly affected Duff’s social experience, she detailed how they could make meeting new people more difficult for others.

“I consider myself pretty outgoing, I like talking to new people, I like meeting new people … but I know a lot of people on this campus who aren’t comfortable just reaching out to someone,” she said. “My mom is on this Facebook group and people have literally [said] ‘My kid is having such difficulty making friends because of [the pandemic] that they don’t have anyone to live with.’”

Izzy Martinez-Merlos, also a first-year student, expressed similar sentiments.

“I think it’s pretty difficult [to meet people outside of your dorm], just because most of the

classes are online and there are a lot of COVID restrictions … and not just meet new people, but also get close to them,” MartinezMerlos said.

Martinez-Merlos said she has been able to form a housing group with students she met on the floor of her first-year dorm.

ORLL is aware that there are many students who have not been able to find their communities yet. Vargas said that ORLL will be organizing ways for students to meet in advance of the selection process. She added that the events will be open to all students, since this concern may affect students in other class years as well.

“Finding roommates can impact all class years, so we will be offering opportunities for students of all class years to connect and find roommates for next year,” Vargas said.

Tim Jordan, assistant director of residential education for the continuing student area, outlined the two main ways ORLL see HOUSING, page 2

The Tufts community received an email on Feb. 18 informing students and staff that certain COVID-19 restrictions on Tufts’ campuses will be relaxed. Some restrictions, including those concerning fitness center use, dining services, student organization meetings and the stay-at-home order, were lifted. However, other restrictions, such as the 10-person gathering limit and testing frequency, will remain in place.

Michael Jordan, university infection control health director, said the number of cases has declined at Tufts since arrival quarantine and in Massachusetts in general, which led the university to make the decision to relax certain restrictions. In an email to the Daily, Jordan shared that Tufts considers the condition of the state as well as the Medford and Somerville communities when making decisions about on-campus COVID-19 guidelines.

“We closely and continuously monitor the number of positive cases in the state and our host communities and factor this data, as well as numerous other data points, into our decision making,” Jordan said.

“Depending on the data, we will ease or tighten restrictions as necessary as we have done throughout the pandemic.”

Jordan said that in addition to the number of cases, the university also takes into account the number of secondary contacts who contract COVID-19

through exposure to infected individuals when evaluating whether restrictions can be safely lifted.

According to the Daily’s COVID-19 dashboard, there was one new case on Feb. 20, with a seven-day average case rate of three cases per day. This is down from a peak of 21 new cases on Jan. 25.

The email sent to the community explained the details of the new guidelines. The fitness center reopened, but club, intramural and varsity sports remain on pause for the time being.

As of Feb. 21, students are allowed to make in-person reservations at Carmichael Dining Center and Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center. Prior to this change, students had been limited to ordering on the Mobile Order application and picking up pre-packaged food when they received a notification that their food was ready. Although all food is still packaged in to-go containers, students may now walk through and order from the various stations, and the dining centers allow in-person dining at 25% capacity.

Gov. Charlie Baker lifted Massachusetts’ overnight stay-at-home order on Jan. 25, which required residents to remain in their homes from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and had been in place since November. Tufts had been enforcing the same curfew since that time, but due to the continuing downsee GUIDELINES, page 2

First-years launch student organization to foster connections among minority groups on campus

by Zoe Kava

Assistant News Editor

Three first-year students launched Tufts Jumbos for the Advancement of Minorities at the start of the semester, a student organization that aims to create connections between different minority groups at Tufts and beyond. The organization will also provide students with an established network of resources to help reach their academic potential and launch their post-college careers, according to the founders.

Tebebu Mekonnen, co-founder of JAM, said that part of the organization’s mission is to create a space where minority students can come together to form meaningful relationships.

“Our purpose, although ever evolving, is to connect minorities students at Tufts with each other, develop a sense of community, cater to their academic and professional needs, and strengthen our ties with the surrounding communities,” Mekonnen wrote in an email to the Daily.

Mekonnen said that JAM is unique because it promotes collaboration and focuses on bring-

ing different minority groups together.

“Tufts needs an organization that actively promotes, advances, and uplifts minorities,” Mekonnen said. “We hope that JAM will create a refuge for minority students in the Tufts community, and equip our members with the knowledge, skills, and network to pursue their passions.”

Co-founder Chance Bootstaylor said that JAM hopes to unite the on-campus identity-based centers.

“My friends and I felt as if the various diversity centers on cam-

pus were unnecessarily segmented from each other,” Bootstaylor wrote in an email to the Daily.

“Our mission is to foster greater connection between minorities at Tufts as well as between Tufts and the Greater Boston area.”

Bootstaylor acknowledged the long-term nature of some of their goals.

“We aim to accomplish more intangible goals like fostering the connection between underrepresented students at Tufts as well as strengthening the Tufts connection to surrounding minority communities,” Bootstaylor said.

ARTS / page 5

FEATURES / page 4

SPORTS / back

Kim Jenkins finds common threads in fashion of 1920s, 2020s

Daily Week: Justin Yu talks time on the Daily

Timmins looks forward to student-athlete life at Tufts

Bootstaylor said the group wants to begin by creating spaces for minorities to convene.

“Our short-term goals include having a place for all minorities of Tufts to congregate, hear from various diverse panels about different professions and fields, as well as host workshops on business, professionalism, and skills necessary to enter the workforce after college,” Bootstaylor said.

Co-founder Wanci Nana explained that JAM will encourage its members to come together to pursue their own see JAM, page 3 NEWS

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FEATURES

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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SPORTS

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, February 24, 2021

THE TUFTS DAILY Megan Szostak Editor in Chief

— EDITORIAL — ETHAN STEINBERG Managing Editor

LIZ SHELBRED COLTON WOLK Associate Editors Maddie Aitken Executive News Editor Sarah Crawford Executive Features Editor Tuna Margalit Executive Arts Editor Priya Padhye Executive Opinion Editor Julian Perry Editorial Editor Juanita Asapokhai Amulya Mutnuri Caroline Wolinsky Editorialists Alex Sharp Executive Sports Editor Jess Blough Investigative Editor Hannah Harris Executive Audio Editor Sophie Dolan Executive Photo Editor Austen Money Executive Video Editor

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Please rec ycle this newspaper!

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The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily.

OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself.

Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions.

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Lottery system may make housing choices even harder for struggling students HOUSING

continued from page 1 plans to support students with their housing plans for the 2021– 22 school year.

“Our current plan is to address these concerns on both a micro and macro level,” Jordan wrote in an email to the Daily. “On a smaller scale, we are working with our RA staffs to create event outlines that they can carry out for their floors if they see a need within their community.”

On a larger scale, Jordan explained that students will be able to use the new platform to connect with others.

“We will launch a platform in the next few weeks where students can input some of their room preferences and view stu-

dents who are in a similar situation to themselves,” Jordan said.

“This will allow students to consider various options and open up conversations about possible matches.”

Jordan also said there will be events open to Tufts students without roommate matches.

“We will also be hosting several events open to Tufts students who do not have a roommate match,” he said. “These events will aim to educate about the process and provide conversation opportunities for students to find a roommate pair or pairs.”

Josh Hartman, director of residential life and learning, discussed the role of resident assistants and virtual bonding activities in helping students connect

with their residential communities during the pandemic.

“There has been an ongoing iterative process in terms of community building during a pandemic,” Hartman wrote in an email to the Daily. “As a result, we have learned a lot more about how to create meaningful virtual opportunities for residents and hope to apply those lessons both this semester and in the future.”

He expanded on how this process will progress.

“We will continue to gather feedback from our residents and RA staff to create safe and engaged communities through neighborhood meetings, weekly reports, one on one meetings and RA Roundtables,” Hartman said.

In terms of the lottery system, which involves a random generator that determines students’ housing options, David Watts, assistant director for housing services, explained that the process will remain largely the same since it has been an entirely virtual process for several years.

Duff explained how the lottery system may amplify challenges for students to find a suitable residential group.

“I think that the lack of flexibility when it comes to the number of people in a certain place makes it really hard because if you got a group of seven people, and someone’s lottery number only … ends up making it so that you can get a place for six, someone’s got to go,” she said.

Jordan says campus could move down to Yellow status if case numbers continue to improve GUIDELINES

continued from page 1 ward trend in cases, has lifted it as well.

The email noted that despite the decrease in the number of cases, all events and gatherings of any kind are still limited to 10 people. Tufts’ travel policy implemented this fall remains in effect and the COVID-19 surveillance testing protocol will remain as it was, with all undergraduates in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering studying in person and all graduate students in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering living in Tuftsowned housing and playing on varsity teams being tested every other day.

Jordan said that despite these relaxed guidelines, the residential campus status level remains at “Yellow Plus” as it was at the start of the spring semester.

“We have not officially changed status to Yellow; however, we are moving in this direction,” Jordan said. “When and if it becomes safe to decrease the frequency of COVID testing that we did in the fall, we will do so.

This will move us to Yellow.”

Joe Golia, director for campus life, wrote in an email to the Daily that student organizations are now able to operate in the same manner as they did at

COVID-19 AT TUFTS

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

A sign announcing the closure of Tufts Athletics fields due to social distancing guidelines is pictured on a fence near the Ellis Oval/Zimman Field on April 25, 2020. the beginning of the fall semester. Golia said he hopes organizations appreciate the change.

“Not much change for student organizations from where they were but … hopefully [this] will help some groups,” Golia said.

The details of the updated student organization guidelines were sent in an email addressed to student organization leaders on Feb. 18 in which certain restrictions for student groups and organizations were lifted beginning Feb. 22. Among these relaxations, up to 10 people are allowed to meet in person for organization meetings

and use on-campus spaces provided that capacity and physical distancing guidelines are followed.

The Office for Campus Life’s student organization guidelines state that student groups may offer hybrid events that require pre-registration for picking up supplies in person. In addition, grabn-go events are permitted in any campus event space that allows for physical distancing.

Information on the OCL website concerning restrictions on student organizations will continue to be updated as changes are made, the website says.

Jordan stressed that it is still vital to continue wearing masks, practicing physical distancing and adhering to the COVID-19 testing protocols, stating that restrictions may be reimposed if the data once again begin to show concerning trends.

“We will closely monitor the number of positive cases at Tufts and in Massachusetts, and continue to track the potential emergence of variants within the state,” Jordan said. “An increase in the number of cases at Tufts or in the state may require the tightening of restrictions … We cannot let our guard down.”

News

Wednesday, February 24, 2021 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Tufts JAM seeks to connect with minority communities in Massachusetts JAM

continued from page 1 projects and enact change on campus.

“We hope that JAM will change the Tufts community by bringing together various groups within the community and giving them the opportunity to collaborate on projects that will raise awareness, display excellence, or enact change within Tufts,” Nana wrote in an email to the Daily.

According to Nana, another goal of JAM is to establish an easily accessible network of

opportunities for minorities at Tufts, and provide students with resources needed to succeed.

“As freshmen we recognized that there are a lot of underrepresented groups that possess vast potential to do great things within the Tufts community,” he said. “We wanted to provide this network with a number of opportunities, experiences, and resources that are not easily accessible.”

In the realm of resources to succeed, Mekonnen said JAM wants to provide its members

with tools that they need to launch their post-college careers.

“JAM will create a student-led community [—] one where students will learn how to thrive in the corporate world, how to make a resume, how to create a LinkedIn, how to land an internship, how to keep up with mental health and wellness, and so much more,” Mekonnen said.

Mekonnen said that JAM also hopes to collaborate with several other student-run organizations and clubs on campus.

“We hope to partner with the Center for Stem Diversity, Africana Center, Latinx Center, and the LGBTQ+ center, to name a few,” Mekonnen said.

Nana added that part of JAM’s focus is to form relationships not just between minority groups at Tufts, but also with minority communities in different parts of Massachusetts.

“We would like to foster a relationship with minority communities in Boston and in the greater Massachusetts area by recognizing their needs along

with the problems they face, and using our diverse network of adept students to address them,” Nana said.

Though COVID-19 poses some challenges to forming these relationships, JAM already has plans to get involved with some of these communities.

“As of now, we aim [to] foster these relationships and connections through volunteer work, luncheons held at minority owned restaurants, and fundraisers,” Bootstaylor said.

COURTESY TEBEBU MEKONNEN, CHANCE BOOTSTAYLOR, WANCI NANA

Tufts JAM co-founders Tebebu Mekonnen (left), Chance Bootstaylor (middle) and Wanci Nana (right) are pictured.

FEATURES

4 Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Casey Cummings Coffee Talk

Danish Pastry House

I

t was 2019, my first year at Tufts. I was grabbing coffee with my soonto-be best friend when we luckily made the decision to venture away from Dunkin’s watered-down coffee (hot take, I know) and walk into Danish Pastry House. Needless to say, since that day, I’ve been loyal to DPH. For the next semester and a half I continued to study, drink coffee and try every menu item at DPH. Then, March came. While students were sent home, forced to adapt and navigate Zoom classes, DPH was fighting a battle of its own. After experiencing a kitchen fire two months earlier, seeing many of their student customers leave the Medford area, and — of course — having to adjust to the new COVID-19 protocols, DPH faced adversity. Sitting thousands of miles away from campus, I wondered if my favorite coffee shop would be forced to close down.

I was getting sick of whipped coffee, banana bread and all the other TikTok trends; all I wanted was to be sitting in DPH with a kringle and a hot cup of coffee.

Fast forward six months to the day I finished Tufts’ fall semester arrival quarantine … I eagerly walked down Boston Avenue and was relieved to see that DPH was open for business; a new sign welcomed oncoming traffic. While some aspects of DPH had changed (mask wearing and social distancing were enforced and tables were frequently sanitized), the coffee shop managed to maintain its high-quality food and welcoming atmosphere that first drew me to it. The Tufts community played a large part in this; students have continued to pick up their morning coffees from the small cafeIn short, the Tufts community came together to support DPH in a crucial time.

So, what do I order?

Best pastry: ​If you couldn’t tell from my earlier reference, it’s the kringle.

Like a cross between an almond croissant and a Danish, if you try one thing from DPH, make it the kringle. A true game changer.

Best drink:​Iced almond milk latte.

Also-deserves-a-mention:​ Toffee chip cookie. They are moist, chewy and delicious. Pro tip: Ask for it warmed up and enjoy with a glass of milk (or that iced latte). Whoever said Oreos are milk’s favorite cookie has not had one of these.

What I’m trying next:​The carrot cake! I’m loyal to Tufts’ carrot cake but this carrot cake looks amazing — plus, it’s not packaged in an extremely-difficult-to-open plastic container.

How I finesse the menu: ​ If I’m ordering to-go, I order an espresso shot — or two. Then, when I get back to my room, I mix it with my own vanilla almond milk (which I’ve taken from Dewick, of course) and pour that over coffee ice cubes (Dewick coffee that I freeze in my ice tray). Boom: I’ve saved a few dollars and made a vanilla latte that won’t get watery as I walk home.

Casey Cummings is a sophomore studying international relations. Casey can be reached at casey.cummings@tufts.edu.

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Daily Week Senior Profile: Justin Yu

by Kayla Butera Features Editor

Editor’s note: The Daily’s editorial department acknowledges that this article is premised on a conflict of interest. This article is a special feature for Daily Week 2021 that does not represent the Daily’s standard journalistic practices.

Long before senior Justin Yu was ever a Jumbo or a contributor to The Tufts Daily, he was a Slytherin.

Brookline-born and Seattle-raised, Yu grew up in a household where playing outside and reading books were valued over video games and other technologically oriented activities. As a result, Yu developed a deep love for the “Harry Potter” (1997–2007) series.

His passion for Harry Potter evolved into writing fan fiction about the series. “I was creative, but not really a good writer … at one point I found my old fan fiction and it was pretty bad,” Yu said.

As Yu got older, his interests expanded to chess and sports — particularly soccer. As a sports fan, having roots in both Boston and Seattle proved to be a bonus.

“I was able to root for my home team Seattle, but also since Seattle wasn’t that good at sports, I could refer to Boston,” he said.

When it came to choosing a university Yu was drawn to the freedom of a liberal arts education, which is why he chose Tufts.

Self-proclaimed as shy, Yu initially struggled to get out of his comfort zone in a new environment.

“So when I came to Tufts, I was prepared for the academics, but not all the new people,” Yu said. “I pretty much just spent my entire freshman fall working on my grades — I wasn’t part of any clubs.”

When the spring came, Yu decided it was time to try something new and joined The Tufts Daily.

“Freshman spring, I joined The Tufts Daily, and I had no idea what to do, so I went to the GIM, and I thought Features was a pretty cool thing to do,” Yu said.

Writing for the Features section appealed to him because of the longer deadlines and opportunities for thoughtful reflection. Yu was also interested in the detail-oriented nature of copy editing.

Yu joined the Copy section and was soon going to the Daily’s office in the basement of Curtis Hall for editing shifts. There, he worked with the Copy section and members of the Managing Board.

“I was a bit of an outsider and shy, so definitely intimated,” Yu said. “But one of my first [executive copy editors] was Nihaal Shah and I thought he was a really friendly Copy exec, so even though I was a really shy [first-year], he always made a point of talking to me.”

This experience proved to be pivotal for Yu, who found himself in the role of executive copy editor a year after joining the section. In the fall semester of his junior year, Yu went on to become one of the Daily’s managing editors.

“Being on [the Managing Board] was my first real leadership experience, so at the beginning it was a huge learning curve for me to be an effective leader,” Yu said. “You have to lead by example, so I think one thing is the professionalism of being in an office.”

COURTESY JUSTIN YU

Justin Yu (‘21), a Tufts Senior, is pictured.

In his roles as executive copy editor and managing editor, Yu reflected on his experience as a first-year.

“One thing I really tried to focus on was being friendly to all the new people in the office, because one of the things I remembered from my first semester was pretty much no one talked to me because no one knew who I was,” Yu said. “So I really tried to make sure that [with] every new copy editor or new writer, I tried to ask them their name and anything about them, to make sure they felt [like] part of the team.”

Copy has become one of Yu’s favorite sections of the Daily, and one that he feels captures his personality.

“Copy is essentially the last set of eyes before an article makes it onto the paper,” Yu said. “I think Copy is what makes a paper look polished, you know when a paper has no obvious errors and is consistent in its style.”

Yu also explored written content in the Features section of the Daily. His first assignment was on students serving on the board of the Experimental College.

“I was pretty nervous to write for Features, because I had no experience in journalism,” Yu said. “I had to interview [ExCollege Director and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education] Howard Woolf, and I remember walking into his office and being really nervous, but then it eventually felt like we were having a conversation.”

Yu discovered some of his favorite aspects of journalism through a different Features assignment. Following the devastation of Hurricanes Maria and Harvey, he was assigned to cover how the Tufts administration provided support to students who

were dealing with natural disasters that affected their homes. According to Yu, he quickly realized that the Tufts administration was limited in the ways that they could help.

“I remember texting my [executive features editor] because I thought there wasn’t much to write about, but then she told me that … I could feel free to pivot it to whatever I wanted to write about,” Yu said.

The finished product was a collection of stories from the perspectives of students coping with the tragedies at home. Yu considers the opportunity to talk to people he otherwise would never speak with one of the best parts of journalism.

“Being able to talk to various students on campus about their personal stories was really impactful to me,” Yu said.

Throughout his time at the Daily, the annual matriculation and commencement issues were some highlights.

“I really liked not focusing on anything else in my life, and just working with the team,” Yu said. “These are the two biggest issues of the year, and the content of these papers cover everything that goes on on Tufts campus.”

As a chemistry and economics major interested in law, involvement in journalism may not have been the most obvious choice, but it’s one that has helped develop Yu as a person, and yes, even a Slytherin.

“Even though journalism is not exactly connected to chemistry, economics or law, the skills you learn with the newspaper — the detail-oriented nature of the work [and] the interpersonal skills — are applicable anywhere and they’re skills I learned at The Tufts Daily.”

TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER

ARTS & POP CULTURE

tuftsdaily.com

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Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Kim Jenkins talks clothes, culture in the 1920s and today

by Phoebe Wong

Assistant Arts Editor

Content warning: This article includes mentions of racial violence.

Thinking of similarities between the 1920s and today, fashion may not be the first thing to come to mind.

However, the seemingly superficial changes in clothing both then and now speak to similar moments of social upheaval, dually framed by pandemics, changing gender norms and body positivity and changing race dynamics and discourse. Earlier this month, WGBH’s “Curiosity Desk” hosted “BostonTalks: The 1920s and Now,” which explored these ideas through a virtual interview with Nicholas A. Christakis, a professor, social scientist and physician at Yale University and Kim Jenkins, a professor at Ryerson University and founder of the Fashion and Race Database.

One of the first topics Jenkins discussed was the iconic flapper dress of the 1920s.

With a loose tubular silhouette, it marked a sharp turn from traditional corsets. Jenkins also observed that many young women wore their hair in short bobs to accompany the more androgynous look. The overall style both allowed women more physical movement and showed their rejection of the traditional female attire and form in favor of more gender fluidity. These shifting aesthetics mirrored historical changes for women with suffrage and increasing presence in the workplace since the beginning of World War I. Furthermore, although the dresses were simpler in shape than their corseted precedents and likely less ornate than those shown in movies and costumes today, designers certainly did not hesitate to play

Chris Panella Comfort Cartoons

Zany to the max ‘Animaniacs’

P

icture this: it’s a hot summer afternoon and you’ve just plopped on the couch. Remote in hand, you flip through the channels. And suddenly, you’re lost in “SpongeBob SquarePants” (1999–) and a “Phineas and Ferb” (2007–2015) marathon, with the occasional “Ed, Edd n Eddy” (1999–2008) episode thrown in.

Before you know it, mom’s home.

You spent the day enjoying some cartoon violence and comfort television. Good for you!

with detail or opulence either.

The new outfits and lifestyles of many young women embraced and reflected an increasing consumer culture, aligning with their growing purchasing power and independence.

Despite the current strain on the fashion industry due to COVID-19, Jenkins’ comments also prompted thoughts of today’s consumer culture adapting in a similar manner with alternating simplicity and glitz. In some sense, dressing in sweats at home resembles the more relaxed, casual trend of the roaring ‘20s drop waist dresses.

On the other end of the spectrum, some high fashion brands are responding to the harsh realities of our time with even gaudier outfits, as could be seen in the designs starting off the year at the most recent Paris Haute Couture Week. The Instagram account Diet Prada — whose practice of calling out copied pieces has earned it 2.5 million followers as well as begrudging respect within the fashion critic community — wondered if Valentino’s humongous platform heels added this haute couture season to a trend of using overthe-top fashion statements as escapism after periods of recession and hardship. In this light, one wonders if the whimsical ornamentation of flapper dresses was also, at least partly, in response to the austerity of World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic.

In another connection to the 1920s, Jenkins noted her fashion students’ increasingly pushing the boundaries of binary gender norms and body positivity in recent years. In general, the increasing fame of more curvaceous Black female celebrities has shifted standards of female beauty. Brands like Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie line have explicitly

worked to expand representation within the fashion industry.

However, the historical demonization of Black female bodies, which Jenkins described (citing the text “Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia” (2019) by Sabrina Strings), suggests that Black women faced more barriers to embracing flapper style than others during the 1920s. In fact, some fashion critics of the time expressed their frustration with white women breaking tradition, bemoaning flappers adopting “savage styles” from Africa.

As awful as this is, even worse is the fact that some flappers did truly appropriate African and African American history in painfully insensitive ways. According to Jenkins, some women wore collars and cuffs meant to look like those of enslaved people as fashion statements, and the discovery of King Tut’s tomb spurred the popularization of a stereotyped Egyptian Cleopatra look.

More broadly across both the United States and Europe, there was an othering obsession with African culture, from so-called “primitive” art to jazz music. Jenkins recommended looking at “Negrophilia: AvantGarde Paris and Black Culture in the 1920s” (2000) by Petrine Archer-Straw for more information on this topic. As futile as any attempts to characterize this as appreciation rather than appropriation would already be, the violent race riots during the Red Summer of 1919 undeniably prove the racist fervor of this period.

Conversely, protests against racial violence took the streets again this past summer, led by the Black Lives Matter movement. People took action and spoke out across the country, but the question of intent versus impact is yet again a cen-

In this column “Comfort Cartoons,” my goal is to revisit some of the most formative and re-watchable animated shows. We’ll be discussing their nostalgia, their merits, how they’ve held up and what it’s like to watch them again as a (relative) adult.

This week, we’re looking at “Animaniacs” (1993–1998, 2020–), the wackiest animated comedy out there. The series originally ran in the ‘90s but was recently picked up for a shiny reboot. Both iterations follow the adventures of Yakko Warner, his brother Wakko and their sister Dot. And the structure’s the same, too. Each episode’s a variety show, including a segment for the genetically modified mice Pinky and the Brain. The Brain starts each episode hellbent

on taking over the world; he fails, and the never-ending cycle continues.

The older “Animaniacs” episodes hold up very well. The animation’s richly detailed, and the plots are easy to follow.

There’s a larger cast of characters, each of whom contributes their own unique personalities and jokes. The show’s almost slapstick qualities, along with the characters’ self-awareness, keep the jokes and gags fresh.

And there’s plenty of satire and racy humor to laugh about — in the first moments of the pilot alone, we’ve already got a Ronald Reagan joke and Hello Nurse, a curvy character whom Yakko and Wakko lust over.

Despite focusing on younger audiences, “Animaniacs” markets itself as a show for all ages.

Jess Harnell, the voice actor

VIA VIRGINIA.EDU

Mary Ann Rush (1902 – 1933) is pictured dressed in a long, drop waist dress in the 1920s. tral issue with social media’s tendency toward performative activism. It’s still hard to say whether this year will bring lasting change, but a piece of breaking news from Jenkins that was shared during the interview is a slight glimmer of hope.

The very day of the event, she finalized a partnership with Tommy Hilfiger, whose brand committed to integrating the Fashion and Race Database’s educational resources into its designs and

mission. While she admits this is only a starting point, it’s also a “first-of-its-kind engagement [—] a global fashion brand linking with a fashion education platform.”

As explored in the interview, fashion has contributed to and evidenced changes in social attitudes throughout time. While hindsight shows 1920s fashion as progressive in a very limited scope, perhaps this recent development suggests we’ll emerge from the 2020s for the better.

for Wakko, has said that, “At its heart, ‘Animaniacs’ was always a kid’s show masquerading as a social satire, masquerading as a Broadway musical.” Perhaps it’s more of a show for the whole family, something akin to “Phineas and Ferb.” Regardless, “Animaniacs” thrives off of its main trio’s boundless energy and insane antics to keep everyone entertained. That’s even more true for the reboot, which cut most of the original cast.

That’s only one of the adaptations the reboot has made to fit into the 21st century. From its theme song’s lines about being “gender-balanced, pronoun-neutral and ethnically diverse,” to plotlines about technology, fancy donuts and Russia, the “Animaniacs” of 2020 explores everything happening in our modern day. It’s especially

political, with an episode satirizing gun fanatics, and Trump appearing just about everywhere. The Warner siblings are still as wild as ever, and the audience feels much more involved in “Animaniacs” than before.

That’s a good thing. The reboot focuses on the Warner siblings as characters who are simultaneously just like their old selves and disillusioned with some aspects of today’s culture.

It’s almost like they’re grown-up versions of themselves; it makes re-watching “Animaniacs” just as much of a pleasure in adulthood as it was in childhood.

“Animaniacs” is available on Hulu.

Chris Panella is a senior studying film and media studies and English. Chris can be reached at christopher.panella@tufts.edu.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021 | F&G | THE TUFTS DAILY

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6

Eli Striker The Strike Zone

Why nuclear weapons are good for peace

S

ince the election of President Biden, U.S.-Russia relations have quickly worsened; the U.S. government fell victim to a cyber hack by Russian hackers in December and Western-backed politician Alexei Navalny has inspired pro-democracy protests across Russia in recent weeks. However, in a rare display of Russian-American cooperation, the United States and Russia recently agreed to extend the New START treaty, an agreement that limits both nations’ nuclear stockpiles. Despite extreme tension, the United States and

Russia have historically found common ground on the issue of nuclear weaponry.

Since the implementation of nuclear technology, nuclear limitation treaties have served as the backbone of cooperation between the two nations. For example, after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis — the closest any two nuclear nations have ever come to war — Soviet-American relations were restored through the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks of the late 1960s and 70s, in which both countries agreed to reduce their production of nuclear weapons. It may sound counterintuitive, but nuclear weaponry has been crucial in preventing major warfare since World War II. The threat of mutually assured nuclear destruction deters countries from engaging in total interstate wars and gives countries incentive to strengthen international institutions through arms control treaties and collective security measures.

Since the end of World War II, zero interstate wars have been fought between

democratic countries, an unprecedented phenomenon in recent history that has been debated by scholars for decades.

Cynical “realist” scholars, who believe that humans are inherently selfish, argue peace exists because the strategic and economic benefits of winning a war are now outweighed by the casualties of modern war. In contrast, “liberal” scholars believe that democratic values and political-economic interdependence between countries provide the modern world with stability and order. Nuclear peace theory combines thinking from both schools of thought, meshing the realist fear of mutually assured destruction with liberal support for international cooperation. Critics of nuclear peace believe that it is fragile, as one irresponsible action by a rogue leader could set off a chain of events that lead to nuclear Armageddon. However, we have seen the effects of nuclear weaponry in the wrong hands; Kim Jong Un, arguably the most erratic, autocratic leader in the

7 Wednesday, February 24, 2021 world today, has access to intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, but even he has never come close to deploying them.

Instead, rogue leaders tend to use nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip, as credible possession of a nuclear bomb represents a powerful trump card for negotiations.

The arguments against nuclear proliferation are valid and logical; nuclear weapons are more destructive than anything humans have ever created and have become exponentially more powerful since World War II. However, the invention of nuclear weaponry brought forth a period of unprecedented peace in modern history, so it is safe to say that nuclear weapons — despite being horrific weapons of mass destruction — have prevented millions of more deaths than they have caused.

Eli Striker is a sophomore studying international relations. Eli can be reached at eli.striker@tufts.edu.

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Sports

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Milton native Louis Timmins to play football, lacrosse at Tufts

by Brigitte Wilson

Assistant Sports Editor

For Louis Timmins, soonto-be member of both the Tufts men’s football and lacrosse teams, the idea of playing two sports in college was never too far-off of a fantasy.

“I didn’t exactly think it was impossible,” he said. “When I started playing club lacrosse I thought that was going to be what I was going to do in college, but then at the start of quarantine recruiting picked up … and mostly football schools were talking to me … I narrowed it down to those schools where I could play both [football and lacrosse],” Timmins said.

Timmins’ interest in sports predates his successful athletic career at Boston College High School: His dad was an avid basketball player who encouraged Timmins to play with him when he was young.

“I started playing football and lacrosse in fourth grade and I’ve always played basketball since I was really little,” he said. “When I was younger I was always doing something with sports, so yeah, I’d say most of my life I’ve been an athlete.”

Timmins played basketball until his sophomore year of high school, when he stopped to focus on football and lacrosse. It was then that he started to take college recruitment more seriously, and the notion of playing both collegiate sports soon entered the realm of possibility.

“My junior football season went really well and I got a lot of interest for football that I was not expecting,” Timmins said.

While COVID-19 impacted the recruitment processes for many athletes, Timmins was lucky enough to have spoken with Tufts men’s lacrosse coachCasey D’Annolfo (LA’06) and Tufts

Henry Gorelik Off the Gridiron

Hop aboard the QB carousel With the Lions trading Matthew Stafford to the Rams for Jared Goff and Carson Wentz heading to the Colts, the quarterback carousel is beginning to take shape. The Colts were always the ideal destination for Wentz, as the move would reunite him with head coach Frank Reich, the former Eagles offensive coordinator under whom Wentz had the most success. In exchange for Wentz, the Colts sent a thirdround pick and a conditional second-rounder, a fair haul given Wentz’s terrible 2020 season.

This is a great trade for the Colts. In Wentz, they are getting a 28-year-old QB who has

COURTESY LOUIS TIMMONS

Rising first-year Louis Timmins is pictured playing lacrosse. men’s football coach Jay Civetti a small gym in his basement. before restrictions were imposed “The trainer at school gave me a in March 2020. bunch of stuff to do and gave me “I visited a lot of schools a list of stuff I had already been before any seasons got called off doing … By the time everything and visits got halted. I went to got shut down, I was able to go Tufts in February, so I had already to fields and play football and talked to coach D’Annolfo and lacrosse or do conditioning,” he coach Civetti,” he said. “It sort said. “I didn’t really miss out on of impacted me because I didn’t a whole lot of training but it was have a wide range of schools just a little tougher not being that I was talking to, probably around kids. It’s a lot more enjoybecause I wasn’t able to play able to work hard with teamin front of a bunch of people mates.” during the summer, but I was Athletic talent and a penkind of fortunate to have already chant for Tufts runs in had relationships with a lot of Timmins’ family. Beyond his coaches before everything got father’s affinity for basketball, shut down.” his brother Stephen Timmins Many schools have had to (LA’20) played on the Tufts reduce the number of spots avail- men’s football team after gradable to high school prospects due uating from Boston College to many athletes’ gaining anoth- High School, where he had er year of eligibility. played football, basketball and To stay fit and inspired during lacrosse. Louis’ familial conthe pandemic, Timmins has used nection to Tufts gave him the

opportunity to talk to other athletes, especially those who played more than one sport, such as his brother’s roommate and coach D’Annolfo.

As a former three-sport Tufts athlete, D’Annolfo was able to comfort Timmins about the reality of playing more than one sport in college.

“I talked to kids who went there and it seemed like doing two sports was doable, and obviously both teams have done well in recent years,” Timmins said.

“It seemed like the right fit for me to go to two successful teams. A lot of people said it was doable to play two sports, so I thought Tufts was the place to be.”

Timmins is enthusiastic about getting to know new people at Tufts, stating that he wants to “build really, really strong bonds with kids.” He said his brother told him that having 50 friends

from his team was “one of the most enjoyable things he’s done in college.”

Beyond the Tufts athletic world, he is excited to talk to students from different backgrounds.

Outside of playing sports, Timmins is an NFL fanatic, though he enjoys watching hockey and basketball as well.

“Sunday is the only time of the weekend I’m sitting on the couch for eight hours straight,” Timmins said. “Watching the Pats get beat up on this season was tough.”

Timmins is one of many Tufts recruits who has had his final years of high school competition interrupted, but next year, the local athlete will be driving up the road to Medford, ready to embark on a busy (and hopefully uninterrupted) collegiate athletic career.

shown flashes of exceptionalism during his career. The Colts are gambling on the fact that a less porous offensive line, better weapons on offense and the trust of the coaching staff can revitalize Wentz’s career in Indianapolis and make them a legitimate contender in the crowded AFC. As for the Eagles, this was a trade they had to make. Ever since Nick Foles brought a Super Bowl to Philadelphia while Wentz was sidelined by injury, it has been all downhill. While there were miscues by both the Eagles and Wentz, it became clear that the relationship was irreparable.

Given the capital they used to move up and select Wentz in 2016, the Eagles are likely disappointed in the return, but trading him means that Wentz is no longer an organizational distraction. The trade allows the Eagles to move forward with either Jalen Hurts or a quarterback they choose at number six in this year’s draft.

Watson playing in a Joe Brady offense that features DJ Moore, Robby Anderson and Christian McCaffery would be tantalizing.

Similarly, imagine how potent the 49ers would be if Kyle Shanahan got his hands on Watson. Or imagine Watson throwing dimes to Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy and Noah Fant in Denver, competing against Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert in the AFC West for the next 10 years.

Despite how exciting these possibilities are, the Texans probably will not and honestly should not trade Watson away. It is extremely hard to find a franchise quarterback and the Texans have one in Watson, who I would argue is the second most valuable player in the league after Mahomes. The Texans’ fastest path to success involves repairing their relationship with their franchise quarterback and building the team around him, not without him.

Assuming Watson stays put, there are still plenty of teams

who are looking to upgrade at quarterback. Teams in a position to draft a quarterback include the Jaguars, Jets, Dolphins, Falcons, Eagles, Panthers, Broncos and Patriots.

With Trevor Lawrence pretty much set to the Jaguars at number one, the rest of these teams will have to fight over Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Mac Jones. The Bears, Saints, Steelers and Washington Football Team also have uncertainty at the QB position. These teams will be forced to either roll with in-house options or look toward veteran options such as Sam Darnold, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Gardner Minshew or Cam Newton. However the dominoes fall, it is shaping up to be yet another fascinating QB carousel.

Now that Stafford and Wentz are settling into their new teams, they put even more of a spotlight on the Deshaun Watson vs Houston Texans standoff.

Between ex-head coach Bill O’Brien’s head-scratching trades and now Jack Easterby’s intervention in the search for a new general manager and head coach, the Texans have become an example of a completely dysfunctional organization. This has culminated in Watson requesting a trade, a request that the Texans have not shown any interest in honoring.

Watson’s primary suitors include the Panthers, Broncos, 49ers, Dolphins and Jets. While the Dolphins and Jets are the most realistic destinations for Watson due to their draft assets, I would love to see Watson go to the Panthers, Broncos or 49ers. The Panthers have emerged as a serious player for Watson, as owner David Tepper appears eager to find their franchise quarterback.

Henry Gorellk is a sophomore studying international relations. Henry can be reached at henry.gorellk@tufts.edu.