The Tufts Daily - Monday, March 22, 2021

THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 29

tuftsdaily.com

Monday, March 22, 2021

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Medford Mayor LungoKoehn proposes investments totaling $107.6 million over six years

by Jack Hirsch

Assistant News Editor

Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn released a proposed Capital Improvement Plan on Feb. 24. The CIP provides a blueprint for Medford’s capital expenditures, with a proposed $107.6 million to be invested into the community over fiscal years 2021–26.

In a letter addressing the members of the Medford community accompanying the CIP, Lungo-Koehn explained what the plan is and what it will do.

“The CIP is not a budget or wish list – it is a strategic plan to guide how, when, and why we will undertake projects, track general maintenance, and advise how we will move forward together,” Lungo-Koehn wrote in an email to the Daily.

The money will be invested into 123 different projects. The projects include investments in roadway quality, parks and recreational spaces, vehicles and equipment for staff, water and sewer infrastructure and capital projects.

Of the $107.6 million, investments will be made from specific funds.

The General Fund has $79.5 million and the Enterprise Fund $9.2 million, and more than $18.7 million will come from grants and other non-tax levy sources, according to the plan.

According to Jackie Piques, director of communications for the City of Medford, the plan was constructed with the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Medford applied for and received a grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a part of the Community Compact Program.

Sarah Concannon, public services manager for the Collins Center, explained the importance of plans like this in a city’s financial management.

“The City of Medford is responsible for a wide variety of capital assets from police cruisers and fire engines to School buildings and City parks,” Concannon wrote in an email to the Daily. “These assets have to be maintained and periodically replaced so that City staff can do their jobs efficiently and effectively and for the use and enjoyment by the public. Proper planning allows the City to fulfill

this responsibility in an affordable and strategic way.”

Piques elaborated on this.

“Our goal is simple – create and maintain the best infrastructure possible to deliver high-quality services to the people of Medford,” Piques wrote in an email to the Daily. “By having a multi-year plan for the first time, we are able to have a roadmap to get there over [time].”

Piques also explained how projects in the plan were decided.

“The CIP team, led by the Mayor, worked with every department across city and school operations to identify projects needed,” she said. “Of course a greater number of projects were identified as [needed] than could be included within the plan – inclusion within the plan itself was based on priority and financial feasibility.”

According to Concannon, the Collins Center helped the city leadership create a list of capital needs with priorities, based on a dozen criteria such as economic and environmental benefits and impact on service to residents and businesses.

“The CIP put forward by the Mayor addresses many of the needs of the community, there is nothing in the CIP that is not long overdue, similar to what other [mayors] have put forward in the past,” Medford City Council President Richard Caraviello wrote in an email to the Daily.

Though the City Council was not involved in the development of the CIP, per Adam Knight, vice president of the Medford City Council, it is the body responsible for approving the spending of the funds.

Knight said he appreciates the work of the Collins Center and the effort that has been put into the plan thus far, but he noted there were some omissions that he would have liked to see addressed.

“I believe we need to make more of a commitment to the resurfacing of our roadways, and revitalization of Medford Square and the Mystic Avenue Corridor,” Knight wrote in an email to the Daily. “I noticed there was no mention of reuse/restoration of the former Hegna Center property. I would also like a better idea see CIP, page 2

GRACE ROTERMUND / THE TUFTS DAILY

Medford City Hall is pictured on March 12.

TUSC organizes more than 100 events for spring break ‘staycation’

by Matthew McGovern News Editor

This week, the Tufts University Social Collective is hosting over 100 in-person and virtual events for Tufts undergraduates as part of its “Spring Break Staycation 2021” initiative. The idea was initially proposed by members of the Tufts Community Union Senate, and it is a collaborative effort between TUSC and TCU Senate

as well as about a dozen other on-campus organizations.

TCU President Sarah Wiener and TCU Senate Services Committee Chair Avani Kabra came to TUSC with the idea, and both groups also worked with John Wescott, the associate director of campus life.

There is a wide variety of programming planned for the week, including kickboxing, yoga and zumba classes, grab-n-go events, cooking classes and mindfulness sessions.

The events are taking place during what would have been a week-long spring break, had it not been for the pandemic. Kabra, a sophomore, spoke about how she hopes the “Staycation” can benefit students who are missing the typical mid-semester break.

“Of course, this Staycation cannot completely replace the relaxation and decompression that Spring Break typically prosee TUSC, page 2

TCU Senate passes resolution to expand TUPIT program, discusses anti-Asian racism

by Chloe Courtney Bohl Assistant News Editor

The Tufts Community Union Senate passed a resolution calling on the university to give incarcerated and formerly incarcerated participants in the Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College (TUPIT) the opportunity to earn a Tufts degree and discussed recent anti-Asian racism in a virtual meeting on Sunday evening.

Elections Commission Chair Mark Lannigan opened the meeting by speaking about the TCU government elections that will take place in April.

Elections for all positions within TCU Senate, TCU Judiciary and the Committee on Student Life will be held April 13–14. The TCU Senate presidential election will be held April 22–23.

TCU President Sarah Wiener encouraged the senators to recruit interested students to run for student government positions.

“Elections that are contested are always motivation for people to be extra committed to Senate,” Wiener, a senior, said. “So, if you have friends that are interested in running for Senate, talk to them about it.”

TCU Senate then voted unanimously to pass a resolution calling on Tufts to expand the TUPIT program. The program currently offers an associate’s degree from

Bunker Hill Community College to its incarcerated and formerly incarcerated participants; this expansion would offer those students the opportunity to pursue a Tufts bachelor’s degree with a major in Civic Studies.

Claudia Guetta was one of the two TUPIT student coordinators who submitted the resolusee SENATE, page 2

ASHA IYER / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

A view from the President’s Lawn on Nov. 12, 2017.

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 4

OPINION / page 7

Louisa Terrell talks journey from Medford to Washington, career in politics

Tufts hosts award-winning author and ‘unreliable storyteller’ Meir Shalev

Breakout rooms are awkward, but they give insight into students’ lives

NEWS

1

FEATURES

3

ARTS & POP CULTURE

4

FUN & GAMES

6

OPINION

7

SPORTS

BACK

2

ThE TUFTS DAILy | nEWS | Monday, March 22, 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 Producer Sophie Dolan Executive Photo Editor Austen Money Executive Video Editor

— PRODUCTIOn — YANQING HUANG Production Director Campbell Devlin Elizabeth Foster Kendall Roberts Executive Layout Editors Annabel Nied Calisa Sana Executive Graphics Editors Mariel Priven Kate Seklir Executive Copy Editors Michelle Li Tiffany Namkoong Executive Social Media Editors

— BUSInESS — EVELYN MCCLURE Business Director Rebecca Barker Jilly Rolnick Sam Russo Outreach Coordinators Etai Barash Web Manager contact Us P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 daily@tuftsdaily.com thetuftsdaily tuftsdaily tuftsdaily

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

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.

ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor in Chief, Executive Board and Business Director.

tuftsdaily.com

Vice President Knight of the Medford City Council sees some omissions in plan CIP

continued from page 1 of what the future plans are for the Fire Headquarters.”

Piques said that the next phase of the plan will be incorporating it into the fiscal year 2022 budget, among other processes.

“The CIP is designed to be a living document – as projects and priorities are finished and changed, the plan will be updated each year,” Piques said.

Concannon echoed this.

“Capital planning is an annual process, and it should be expected that the later years of the plan could change,” Concannon said.

“Now, after working with the Collins Center, the City has the process and tools in place that it needs to manage and maintain the CIP on an annual basis.”

The next step for the City Council, according to

Caraviello, is to meet with the administration to discuss the timeline for their projects and the sources of funding for those projects.

“The Council may have other priorities that we feel need to be addressed as part of the CIP, but everything is open for discussion at this point,” Caraviello said. “Again we look forward to meeting with the Mayor in the near future.”

Concannon praised Medford for undertaking this plan and these projects.

“The City of Medford and Mayor Lungo-Koehn should be commended for undertaking this project,” Concannon said.

“It was a lot of time and effort during a year when City and School staff were already overwhelmed with work to address the pandemic.”

Senate votes unanimously on TUPIT resolution SENATE

continued from page 1 tion. She explained the reasoning behind the resolution. “[Participants are] taking the same classes that Tufts Arts and Sciences students do, so for equal credits we’re essentially … saying that these Tufts students deserve equal degrees,” Guetta, a junior, said.

Guetta expanded on this further.

“For us it really comes down to educational and racial equity,” Guetta said. “Tufts’ anti-racist mission is claiming to implement new education programs and revised curricula … and we see TUPIT’s work as furthering that [goal of] racial and economic justice.”

Faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences will vote on the resolution on May 14. Guetta and Alex Lein, another TUPIT student coordinator and co-author of the resolution, hope that TCU Senate’s unanimous support of the resolution will encourage faculty to vote to expand the program.

Next, TCU Senate read an abstract for a resolution submitted by Class of 2024 Senator Ritesh Vidhun and TCU Senate Administration and Policy Chair Ibrahim AlMuasher that would call on Tufts to require that all undergraduate students receive their COVID-19 vaccinations prior to returning to campus for the fall 2021 semester, barring medical and religious exemptions.

The abstract also calls on the university to provide vaccines for those students who otherwise would not have access. TCU Senate will vote on a full-text version of the resolution in the coming weeks.

TCU Parliamentarian Taylor Lewis then led senators in a discussion of proposed changes to the TCU Senate bylaws.

One proposed change would create the position of assistant diversity officer within TCU Senate. The assistant diversi-

ty officer would be elected from within the TCU Senate Committee on Community Diversity and Inclusion.

TCU Senate heard supplementary funding requests from two student organizations.

JumboCast requested $100 to upgrade their broadcasting software. Eight members of the Allocations Board voted in favor of the request, with none opposed and none abstaining.

The request passed TCU Senate by acclamation.

CheeHoo Hawai’i Club, a new student organization, requested $434 to fund four events, including a trivia night and a lei-making event. Eight members of Allocations Board voted in favor of the request, with none opposed and none abstaining.

The request passed TCU Senate by acclamation.

TCU Diversity Officer Mathew Peña called for a moment of silence for the victims of this week’s Atlanta shooting, six of whom were of Asian descent.

“Just take a step back and actually recognize how much hurt and pain is currently within that community,” Peña, a senior, said.

After the moment of silence, Peña led TCU Senate in a discussion about racism and violence towards the Asian American community. The senators discussed how anti-Asian racism is not isolated to the COVID-19 era, nor is it unique to any one century or geographic location.

“I’d also just highlight, on a personal standpoint, there are so many Asian people in your life who you know and love, who are scared for their own safety and/or for the safety of their loved ones,” TCU Vice President Grant Gebetsberger said. “That’s something to just consider in your interactions … right now because that’s something that’s really raw and scary for a lot of people.”

SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

TUSC’s in-person events will follow university distancing and health protocols while providing students opportunities to de-stress and have fun.

TCU President Wiener emphasizes concern about lack of week-long break TUSC

continued from page 1 vides,” Kabra wrote in an email to the Daily. “However, in lieu of that, we wanted to create a time for students to value their mental health and engage in activities for the purpose of having fun rather than solely working on their schoolwork.”

Wiener, a senior, noted that the original impetus for the planning of this week’s events was concern over not having more than one weekday off at a time for the entire spring semester.

She also cited a survey that TCU Senate conducted at the end of the fall 2020 semester.

“The last survey Senate conducted also noted the absence of community, destressing and de-compressing spaces, and spaces to process loneliness and what it is like to be a student in the pandemic,” Wiener wrote in an email to the Daily. “The idea for a week to meet these needs (partially, of course one week is not an ‘answer’ for mental health challenges) came from an initial call to ask professors not to have midterms the week that would have been Spring Break to give students some time to catch up in coursework and catch their breath in the semester.”

Although neither TCU Senate nor the university can actually dictate how professors should organize their classes, Wiener said she and other students brought this idea to faculty with the support of senior administrators.

“I think some professors chose to observe this suggestion by not having midterms the week that would have been spring break, and many did not for various reasons,” Wiener said.

Sophomore Sean Lim, traditions co-coordinator for TUSC, spoke to some difficulties of organizing these events in compliance with COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.

“For staycation we weren’t super certain when we first started brainstorming events whether we could do any of the in-person things,” Lim said. “It’s kind of recent where they relaxed a lot of the COVID restrictions around campus … that opened up a lot of options.”

Lim explained how this has impacted TUSC’s work.

“It’s really forced us to be really creative with the things that we do have, like how do we con-

tinue to engage people without just doing grab-and-go events because they can be a bit static and sort of passive,” Lim said.

With the ability to host in-person events, the TUSC coordinators faced the logistical challenges that come with planning in-person events while abiding by the university’s COVID-19 guidelines.

Amber Asumda, another TUSC traditions co-coordinator, noted that the group sizes for in-person events are all limited to 10 people, including instructors when necessary, and that for activities in which students will be touching objects, there are rigorous health and safety procedures in place. “[We’re] making sure to upkeep with cleaning, make sure everyone’s doing their part in terms of wearing masks and just staying six feet apart from each other,” Asumda, a junior, said.

Deborah Donahue-Keegan, a professor in the Department of Education and the associate director of the Tisch College Initiative on Social-Emotional Learning and Civic Engagement, has been part of the programming coordination.

“I just felt so strongly about this, both in my role at Tisch College … but [also] just as an educator and just as I listen to students, and can sense the stress,” Donahue-Keegan said. “I was just fully in support.”

Donahue-Keegan explained the focus of the reflection and discussion sessions, emphasizing that they are meant to be positive and encouraging.

“There are a lot of tensions, there’s a lot that students are dealing with, and so we want this to focus on what is going to fill your well … on self compassion, and not seeing that as selfish,” Donahue-Keegan said.

The Monday, Wednesday and Thursday sessions are hosted by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, while Tuesday’s session is hosted by the University Chaplaincy and Tufts Hillel.

Kabra noted that these groups were crucial to organizing the week’s events.

“To accommodate all of these events and make sure as many people could attend as possible, the number of events grew, and we are so grateful for all departments and administrators who have been integral in providing the resources to make this vision happen,” Kabra said.

tuftsdaily.com

FEATURES

Louisa Terrell: From Tufts to the Biden administration

D

Staff Writer

Carmichael Hall is pictured from afar. solve problems,” Terrell said. “Whatever the issue is — immigration, infrastructure, foreign policy — there’s always a balancing of equities. You can do that in a courtroom.”

After graduating Boston College Law School in 1995, Terrell was a self-proclaimed “baby lawyer” still trying to figure out what to do with her life. She had to make a choice: Should she be a trial attorney or should she use her law degree to enact change through public policy?

Terrell ended up being an intern for the mayor of Cambridge. In this job, she attended many city council meetings, which gave her a first taste of politics.

She decided to take the public policy path and move to Washington, D.C. Life in Washington was very different from Terrell’s life in Boston, and living in the capital presented its own obstacles.

“D.C. is a very one-horse town,” Terrell said. “It’s all politics all the time. At times, that can be kind of exhausting. I miss my friends who are teachers and artists and writers.”

However, Terrell found that some aspects of life in the district greatly appealed to her, including the work ethic of her colleagues and their commitment to making the world a better place.

Monday, March 22, 2021

Jenny Lu Tuff Talks

by Abby Stern

Move-in day for college first-years is full of nerves, fear and excitement.

Parents ferry bags up and down stairs while new students with first day jitters do their best to present a calm facade.

Louisa Terrell’s (LA’91) first day at Tufts was the same. She arrived at Tufts in 1987, a little lost as she attempted to navigate her way through the beginning of her first year. Terrell walked the lonely footsteps so many Tufts first-years do.

Now, she is President Joe Biden’s White House director of legislative affairs.

Terrell has had an illustrious career in public policy, and she began her career trajectory at Tufts as an American studies major.

“Right away [I] knew that American studies was the perfect major for me,” Terrell said. “It allowed me to knit together a lot of things that I was interested in.”

Raised in Wilmington, Del., Terrell moved to New England to attend Tufts and quickly fell in love with the area.

Terrell, a former resident of Hodgdon Hall and a self-proclaimed “downhill girl,” loved her time at Tufts and met some of her closest friends during her college years.

“My dearest friends in the world are still the people I met at Tufts,” Terrell said.

“Those were some anchor pieces for me.”

She also made deep connections with people through her involvement in athletics, playing on both the squash team and rowing on the crew team over the course of her time at Tufts. Athletics allowed Terrell to meet all kinds of new people from varying class years.

“It was a great way to have a … connection at Tufts,” Terrell said.

After graduating Tufts in 1991, Terrell moved to New York to attend law school at Syracuse University. However, she soon realized she wanted to return to Boston and transferred to Boston College Law School.

Law appealed to Terrell because, in many ways, it felt like a continuation of American studies and an intersection of her many interests.

“What I liked about law school … is you sort of have choices about how you

3

SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

“They’re just really smart … people who are really thinking about solving problems all the time,” Terrell said. “I find it’s inspirational.”

In Washington, Terrell advanced her career, landing a job in legislative affairs in the Obama administration.

She worked as a member of the team responsible for determining the best way for the president and vice president to move legislation through Congress.

Terrell held this job for two and a half years and learned the ropes of how best to work with Congress and make sure the president received the information he needed.

Now, with the Biden administration, Terrell is working in the same area of the presidential administration. This time, however, she is leading the team.

“It’s always good … to do a job twice because then you’re not totally clueless on round two,” she said.

Terrell sees her job as having three major components. The first is leading and working with a cohesive team.

Terrell addresses her team every morning in order to share information on what Congress is doing and how best to move forward. see TERRELL. , page 4

Food

ear J: Why are the dining hall lines so long? When’s the best time for dinner?

The short answer: the earlier, the better. I usually go at around 6:30 p.m. or so to Dewick or Carmichael and there is no line. Around 7 or 7:30 p.m. is prime dinner time so there will be a wait, so earlier is better. Although 6 or 6:30 is quite early for dinner, you can always save your food for later. On nights when there is a special dinner, however, such as Asian Food Night, Latin Food Night, Chinese Takeout Night or whatnot, you want to go as early as possible — seriously! Dinner opens at 5 p.m., so head over as soon as you can. The line starts building up around 5:30, and by 6 or 6:30, it’s not even worth it to wait in line.

Dear J: Which dining hall offers the best breakfast?

The options are quite similar at Dewick and Carm, they just alternate what they offer on different days so your best bet is to check the menus to see what you want for breakfast. You can view their menus here. Personally, I like Carm better as a breakfast/brunch option, but convenience is a major factor for me because my dorm is much closer to Carm! You can also check out the local cafés for breakfast options like coffee and pastries for something lighter. One hack is to keep extra food in your dorm. Even though I would like to wake up early enough to catch breakfast, most days out of the week, I either miss the 10:30 a.m. breakfast time cutoff or I just don’t want to walk to a dining hall. At Carm, I always ask for some cereal and milk cartons in the drink line. That way, I have a stash in my room and can enjoy breakfast whenever I want. You can do the same thing with muffins, yogurts, etc.

Dear J: I know the dining hall workers work very hard but I just can’t bring myself to enjoy the food at Tufts. What can I do?

Tufts has to cater to thousands of students, so sometimes that just means that the food has to be simple and inoffensive. I personally love spicy food, so I always keep Sriracha sauce in my fridge to put on my food. You can stock up on hot sauce packets and other condiments to put on your food or buy your own at a grocery store nearby like Whole Foods.

I don’t know what year you’re in, but as I’ll be a sophomore next year, I am looking forward to cooking more if I’m able to score an apartment-style dorm with a kitchen. Medford and Somerville also offer a variety of foods from different cultures — there are plenty of options nearby if you want good food.

This can be rather expensive, but some places accept JumboCash like Picante or Whole Foods.

While I have you here: Please remember to separate your compost, trash and recycling after eating at a dining hall.

Submit your questions here: CUTT. LY/TUFFTALKS Jenny Lu is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Jenny can be reached at jen.lu@tufts.edu.

VIA WHITEHOUSE.GOV

Louisa Terrell’s job demands strong leadership, constant communication with the White House and the ability to handle issues on the fly.

4

Arts & POP ARTS Pop Culture CULTURE

tuftsdaily.com

Monday, March 22, 2021

Renowned author Meir Shalev speaks on fact, imagination

by Ellie Lester

Contributing Writer

Hedda Harari-Spencer, senior lecturer in the Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies, and the Tufts Judaic Studies Program hosted a conversation with Israeli novelist Meir Shalev on March 17. The self-proclaimed “unreliable storyteller” spoke about his literary career and his experience blending “fact and imagination.” Shalev is the winner of several Israeli literary awards and uses his lively stories to plot his way through history and into the present.

For Shalev, the writing process is akin to gardening.

Having not quite yet earned his green thumb, the author finds that both his personal garden and his writing need “a lot of patience.” He compared his drafting process to cultivating flowers in a desert climate; like seeds that “can wait in the ground for 10, 20, 30 years,” Shalev said his novels are like “very old seeds” that sprout once they find the right water.

“Sometimes I forget about … the existence of these memories,” he said. “I start to write, then they start to move.”

Shalev’s novels — including his latest work, “My Wild Garden: Notes from a Writer’s Eden” (2017) — feature collections of stories situated “on the borderline between the real and the unreal,” he said. He spoke to the words of Swedish author Dr. Axel Munthe, whose works also inhabit this “dan-

gerous no-man’s land.” Shalev recalled how Munthe’s book of memoirs, “The Story of San Michele” (1929), included the imaginative story of a man who, while taking a night’s refuge in a stranger’s barn, awoke to the curious company of a 20-centimeter-tall man.

“This is not fiction; this is an autobiography,” Shalev said.

Shalev uses Munthe’s literary license to explain his own.

“There is this freedom of imagination and this freedom of writing,” he said.

Shalev also cited the German author Erich Kästner, who once concluded that a true story “doesn’t have to take place.”

Rather, according to Kästner, any story “could have happened the way you explain it.”

Shalev agreed that an author has the power to make any story true.

In his own writing, Shalev takes a similarly liminal approach. Within his stories, some elements are realistic and others could not “happen in the natural world.” Fact and fiction aside, Shalev writes all his stories in the first person, as it allows him to “write from the mouth and memory and principles and values of another person.” He likens himself to a ghostwriter, noting that such writing requires one to “remember [their] modest position.”

Shalev enjoys how first-person narration allows him to play with his readers, as they “can always be suspicious about what the narrator tells.”

His goal, he says, is to garnish concrete facts with imagined

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Meir Shalev, Israeli writer and newspaper columnist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, is pictured at the Leipzig Book Fair in 2015. elements and alterations; his narrators “sometimes [have] reason to hide facts, sometimes [have] reason to change facts.” Ultimately, “a good reader should trust his writer,” he said.

This is not always the case, however.

Shalev recalled fielding an audience member’s complaints after delivering a lecture on his book, “Fontanelle” (2004), which features a main character whose skull is still soft and vulnerable from infancy. The audience

member stayed behind after the lecture and followed Shalev outside to inform him that he had made a terrible mistake in his research — his character’s condition was scientifically impossible.

“Writers have a license to lie … We tell stories that may not have happened, or are not even possible,” Shalev said. He admits that he did not know how to reply to the man; he believes that anything he says in his books can happen. In his books, “people with an open

fontanelle are possible,” as are “people flying in the air.”

For Shalev, storytelling is not only personal, but cultural. He noted how storytelling is embedded in Jewish tradition, marveling at how ancient texts written in Hebrew are decipherable to this day.

“These kinds of stories are important in our national identity,” Shalev said. “It is not only the rules and commandments that shape our identity, but also the stories.”

Louisa Terrell discusses role as White House director of legislative affairs TERRELL

continued from page 3 “I’m talking to [the team] at the beginning of the day and the end of the day,” Terrell said.

“What do we learn? What do we need to do? How are you issue spotting?”

The second element of Terrell’s job is communicating with the White House. She must anticipate what the president and vice president need to know to do their jobs as strongly as possible.

“What [are] the president and the vice president trying to achieve today?,” she explained.

“What are our messages? What are we doing to move our legislative goals ahead?”

This aspect of the job also involves communicating with other members of the political scene and spreading the word, which Terrell credits with making a huge difference in getting legislation passed.

“Part of the reason we got the American Rescue Package done was because it was very popular and people knew about it,” Terrell said.

The last piece of Terrell’s job is handling issues on the fly and reacting to the day’s events as they transpire. There is no way to predict what happens in a day’s worth of politics, so Terrell and her team must be able to act quickly and adapt to changing circumstances.

“You’re adapting every day about the news of the world,” Terrell said.

Terrell acknowledges that communicating is particularly difficult because the pandemic makes her job even more unpredictable, and not everyone can be physically present at Capitol Hill or the White House. “[In] a job like this in particular, you’re trying to be the connective tissue. You’re creating a great spiderweb, and in some ways, it’s really hard to do that,” Terrell said. “There’s a lot of back and forth, trying to make it feel kind of seamless.”

Terrell is also challenged by having to work with an incredibly divided Senate. Navigating the complexities of Congressional relations presents many dif-

ficulties when trying to push forward with achieving policy goals. Terrell recognizes the high stakes of her job and how important it is that the quality of her work is always high.

“You have to be patient, you have to be looking around the corner and thinking of ways of how your plan could go off into 16 different directions,” Terrell said. “You have to give people the benefit of the doubt and go in with good faith.”

Though the job is difficult at times, Terrell loves the team she works with and how she can learn from her coworkers.

“My personal goal is to keep doing what I’m doing, which is bring a team around you that is smarter and better than you and then get out of their way,” she said.

She feels privileged to be in a job where she knows her work matters. Plus, she experiences perks from holding her position in Washington.

“I walk into the White House every day,” she said. ”That’s just amazing. And I can’t believe

it.” Looking back on her time at Tufts, Terrell sees how the lessons she learned in college still help her in her career today. As a first-year, Terrell had to learn how to deal with discomfort and manage new situations. Once she did that, she saw that “Tufts just sort of opened up, and it was just such a gratifying place to be.”

She acknowledged the lasting impact that her experience at Tufts has had on her career.

“Every two years, I … do something different in my career, for better or for worse,” she said. “And every time I do it, I have to kind of remind myself of that lesson that I learned when I was 17 at Tufts.”

Now settled in her job, Terrell is thankful that Biden stepped up to take on the difficult task of being president in this challenging moment. She has faith in his ability to lead.

“I’m enormously grateful that he chose to do this and to really take good care of our country and our communities and our families,” Terrell said. “I think

there’s no one better suited for where we are in this moment.”

Terrell continues to pursue her public policy goals and does her best to assist the president in his agenda. She is honored that Biden chose her to take on this task and knows there is a lot of work to do.

“If I can help in any small, small way, that’s a deep, deep privilege,” she said. “This isn’t just repair work that we have to do. There are deep structural pieces, whether it’s how we tax people, where the work opportunities are, our existential crisis of climate … [or] understanding [how] racial equity shows up in every single place in our government.”

Though Terrell has moved beyond Tufts’ gates, she still remembers her roots and lets her experiences and friendships made at Tufts anchor her.

“There are moments where I have to call my girlfriend who I met at Tufts, who has nothing to do with this world [of politics], and just get a gut check,” she said.

A&P

Monday, March 22, 2021 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts student author series, Part 2

by Devina Bhalla Arts Editor

Books are able to connect people and their stories from cultures to cultures.

Student authors Saherish Surani and Sebastian Fernandez both utilized language and their books to speak to larger societal ideas and give voice to those issues.

Fernandez’s book, titled “Icarus” (2020), is a dystopian novel that takes place in a future devastated by climate change.

All the people are living in cities encompassed by walls and a dome with fans that help to create breathable oxygen. The main character, a 16-year-old boy, sets out to find a mysterious man living outside of the city who he thinks is the key to solving and improving life for all the rejected people that live outside the city.

Even though English is not his first language, Fernandez first wrote the book in English before translating it to Spanish.

“Writing in English was interesting because it’s not my mother tongue, my

primary language,” Fernandez, a firstyear, said.

He did all of the work for the book except for the cover and wrote it in just three weeks. As he was brainstorming for the book, he had ideas about what he wanted for a character and tried to find a setting for the story that would really make an impact.

“What else could I do and what [would it] be like? What could be an impact to the audience?” Fernandez reflected. “And then I thought about climate change and [the] environment, which is something that … I really wanted to explore.”

Despite being a mechanical engineer, Fernandez wants to keep writing even as he progresses in his engineering degree.

“I think it’s just that if you have two interests that are different, that does not necessarily mean that you have to choose one instead of the other,” he said.

He self-published “Icarus” through Amazon. Surani, a senior, also published her book on Amazon, but her writing

Saherish S. Surani poses with her book, “The Stories of U.S.” (2019).

COURTESY SAHERISH S. SURANI

5

Derin Savasan Hot Take and publishing process took a slightly different route from Fernandez’s. She went through New Degree Press, which helped her through the publishing process of her book, “The Stories of U.S.” (2019).

“The Stories of U.S.” is a collection of short stories from undocumented and first-generation immigrants of all ages that Sakerish herself interviewed. She spent hours with each individual, hearing and listening to their story.

The idea of “The Stories of U.S.” came from an encounter with police in her hometown in South Texas. She had forgotten to put her headlights on while driving and realized how for someone that was undocumented, forgetting something so simple like that could be detrimental.

Though this happened in high school, she was still reflecting on it years later and realized she “wanted to provide a safe and a platform that gave undocumented and first-generation immigrants a way to get their stories out,” she said.

Surani said the hardest part of writing her book was doing justice to each person’s story. She navigated this by writing each chapter in a different format to better fit the person’s story she was telling.

“When I had these interviews with these individuals I tried to find a format that I felt kind of embodied their stories,” Surani said. Moreover, she worked collaboratively with the people she interviewed, sending drafts back and forth to make sure she captured their story in a way that they agreed and were comfortable with.

She never thought that she would write a book but already has a second edition out.

“I never thought that I would be in a position to have the time, the capacity, the energy or even the inspiration to undertake a project like this,” she said. “But especially through this project, I feel like I’ve learned so much … I’ve grown a lot from this process.”

Surani has no plans of writing another book anytime soon. However, Fernandez does plan to write another book but isn’t yet sure about what that story will be.

Nonetheless, both authors have given time and energy to exploring and utilizing the written word to share stories, a powerful outlet that can connect people and speak to larger issues.

“I would recommend [those looking to write a book] to think about something that really interests them, that is worthy of their interest and think about what they want to accomplish with their writing,” Fernandez said. “It might take time, but in the end, it’ll be worth it.”

Elizabeth Sander contributed reporting to this article.

‘Midnight in Paris’ deserves more love

“

Midnight in Paris” (2011) perfectly captures the human condition — specifically, how and why we seek consolation through art.

For those of you who haven’t watched the movie, “Midnight in Paris” is about a screenwriter named Gil (Owen Wilson) who visits Paris with his annoying fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and her family as he’s trying to finish his debut novel. Beguiled by the city, one night, Gil stumbles upon a magical car one night that takes him back to the 1920s — allowing him to meet his literary heroes, from Picasso to Hemingway. Overjoyed by nostalgia and creativity, he slowly starts drifting away from the present and ultimately ends up staying in Paris and calling off his engagement.

Now, I’m neither a screenwriter nor a person who has time traveled to 1920s Paris. But I understand the way Gil feels and why he seeks comfort in the past.

And I’d like to believe that I’m not the only one. Let me explain.

Gil reminds me of the Lost Generation: those who returned to America with a hopeless view of the world after seeing horrendous death and destruction in World War I. Soldiers returned to an America that was more interested in materialism and social status than the complexities of the human struggle. Shortly put, America had become an emotionally barren wasteland.

These men didn’t need suits or mansions. They needed consolation. So, they traveled to Paris — a city overflowing with art and philosophy. There, they came to terms with their pain and alienation through art. A generation of writers like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald (among many others) were part of this Lost Generation.

As a creative, Gil, too, finds himself in love with the culture and the history of Paris. His fianceé? Not so much. She’s more focused on luxury boutiques and pseudo-intellectual friendships. When she puts Gil down for his view of the past and wanting to be a novelist, Gil often feels alienated. He yearns for the age of Paris when writers and artists were free to express themselves, a quality he believes is absent in today’s culture. He’s emotionally numb and oblivious to the present.

So, when that car from the 1920s picks him up at midnight and takes him to the period of the Lost Generation, he finally feels at home. For the first time, he can freely ask existential questions and critique art. He no longer feels alone in the world. And over time, he realizes that he feels alienated in the present not because “the times have changed” but because he’s surrounded by the shallow, inauthentic world of materialism — not the art or those who appreciate it like he does.

In essence, this movie is not just an allegory for what happened to the Lost Generation. It’s about what happens to human beings, in general, when the world surrounding us seems hollow and meaningless. It’s about our inherent urge to create or experience art made by others to find comfort — comfort in knowing that we’re not alone.

Derin Savasan is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Derin can be reached at derin.savasan@tufts.edu.

6

ThE TUFTS DAILy | FUn & GaMES | Monday, March 22, 2021

F& G

tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY

Rebecca: “You can’t cancel me for not emailing my English teacher back!”

FUN & GAMES

SUDOKU

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Aries (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Glamour is good now. A touch of glamour or blue sky won’t hurt.

An excellent suggestion.

Stash away thesurplus.

Group efforts bear fruit now

SEARCHING FOR HEADLINES...

Difficulty Level: Carm closing for 24 hours

Friday’s Solutions

CROSSWORD

tuftsdaily.com

oPInIon VIEWPOINTS

Awkward breakout rooms offer a gateway to social authenticity

by Ariana Arvanitis Contribting Writer

Some of the hallmarks of the COVID19 era include masking, social distancing and awkward breakout rooms. The announcement of breakout rooms in class catalyzes that moment where you feel compelled to sit up, turn on your camera and prove that yes, you really are there on the other side of the screen.

A few minutes spent “face to face” with a stranger, of which the only obvious and shared fact is being a Tufts student, has become the very definition of awkward. A glance to one corner of the screen may lead to the initiation of an intense staring contest with the movie poster hanging over a peer’s bed in the background. Every blink, hiccup and chomp is noticed in this virtually intimate moment.

The beginning of new breakout rooms gives rise to the recitation of a well-worn script that consumes the first few seconds. “Hi, my name is Ari and I’m from Miami, Florida. I am majoring in psychology and going into consulting or marketing after college.”

Except one time, that routine didn’t happen. We skipped over introductions and my writing seminar classmate blurted out, “Your favorite color is pink! … Right?” Privately questioning how she knew this trivial fact, I slowly nodded. After ruminating on this

exchange, I turned back to see my pink dumbbells perched on my windowsill, which peek through the right side of my frame on Zoom.

This prompted me to think: Zoom, an unfortunate consequence of our inability to be together, has actually granted us a lot more insight into each other than we might have in a normal academic year.

In typical in-person classes, our peers glean initial impressions of us from our clothing, which changes every day, and the stickers on our laptops, which may not have changed since high school. Since these observations are purely physical, it follows that we can curate ourselves to be the version we want our classmates to perceive. On Zoom, though, there is no concealing who we are. With our bedrooms as the backdrop every time we turn our cameras on, we are forced to show our classmates a personal segment of our lives. The intricacies of a room — the chosen color scheme, hung vinyl and sports posters, maps of a hometown city, shelves brimming with plants, the warm glow of waterfall string lights — allow a glimpse into a more private life.

In these rooms, there is no pressure to contort yourself into someone you’re not and pretend to like the things you don’t.

In my case, those pink dumbbells were a glimpse into a part of who I am that would never have been obvious in an in-person class.

Zoom’s little rectangles, defined in neat rows and columns and separated by thin black lines, are, literally and metaphorically, superficial barriers.

They’re the gateway into each other’s lives on a deeper, more personal level than we have ever experienced before.

“Awkward” breakout rooms give us a profound sense of connection, as small talk now revolves around that neon LED sign on the wall and not how windy it is on the Hill today. Breakout rooms are notoriously uncomfortable because others are seeing the place in which we are freely and totally ourselves. Zoom demands us to exhibit our sincerest selves and in doing so, it encourages us to compensate for time apart by forming connections rooted in detail and authenticity.

As vaccine distribution unfolds and we look to return to educational practices that are not entirely facilitated

by Zoom, let’s promote forming relationships of this same caliber. Genuine connections are not about what we wear or the stickers on our laptops; they’re about the interests that make us our unique selves. Let’s forget all that was awkward about breakout rooms and cherish in-person dialogue. Next time you start a conversation with the student sitting next to you in class, skip over the mundane weather chatter and leap right into “Your favorite color is pink! … Right?”

ASLI KOCAK / THE TUFTS DAILY

7 MOnDAy, MARCh 22, 2021

Matt Rice The Honeymoon Period

What’s next for Biden?

E

arlier this month, President Joe Biden delivered remarks about his landmark American Rescue Plan surrounded by high-level Democrats in the White House Rose Garden. This $1.9 trillion piece of legislation provides billions of dollars for vaccine distribution, direct payments, school reopening and many other progressive priorities. But now that this relief bill has made its way through Congress, which part of his agenda will Biden push for next?

The most immediate logistical challenge for Biden is what to do about the crisis on the southern border. As xenophobia helps drive some Republicans’ electoral successes, many have been trying to pin the crisis on Biden to better their chances in 2022. But an honest evaluation of the situation makes Biden look more hypocritical than pro-immigrant.

Biden, like his predecessor, has invoked Title 42 of a 1944 public health statute that allows the government to indefinitely close the border for health reasons, such as COVID-19. Biden stopped building former President Donald Trump’s border wall, and he is making important efforts to rebuild the asylum intake process, but to claim Biden has not lived up to his campaign promises on immigration is not a stretch.

In Congress, Democrats are trying to move forward with their “For the People Act,” which would enact a series of necessary pro-democracy reforms, including automatic voter registration, restoring the voting rights of felons and establishing at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections. But because this legislation cannot be moved through the Senate by the reconciliation process, it will require 60 votes in the upper chamber.

Biden opened the door to the possibility of reforming the filibuster, but it is unlikely any changes will be made. Sen. Joe Manchin, the necessary 50th vote in such a scenario, has already said he is “still at 60 [votes].”

The most likely course of action for Biden is to move his infrastructure agenda forward.

It is seen as a non-ideological, bipartisan issue area where he will be able to work with Republicans. Plus, it seems fairly easy to buy a member’s vote if you promise to spend a few million dollars on roads and bridges in their district or state.

The Biden administration is already engaging with business leaders to find their best path forward. Biden’s campaign promises included spending $500 billion per year over four years to electrify public transportation, or at least to make buses and passenger trains run on clean fuel. Trump long promised a national infrastructure overhaul, but Biden actually has a real chance to move this ball forward. Nothing is more popular than repaving your roads and highways or making the subway cheaper and more efficient.

Biden has been and will always be a creature of the Senate. For newly elected progressive House members like Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Rep. Cori Bush and Rep. Marie Newman, it’s frustrating to be dealing with a president who may not be moving at the necessary speed or scale. Biden should learn from the career of former House Speaker John Boehner and fortify his left flank as quickly as possible.

Matt Rice is a senior studying political science. Matt can be reached at matthew.rice@tufts.edu.

8 Monday, March 22, 2021

Matt Goguen Keeping up with the 617

Three biggest moves of Patriots’ offseason (so far)

3

weeks ago if you told me that Bill Belichick would be overly aggressive in this year’s NFL free agency period, I would’ve simply laughed in your face. Belichick’s philosophy has long been to sign bargain players and build the New England Patriots from within, but he has taken the complete opposite approach this offseason. As of March 21, Belichick

SPORTS has signed 19 players, many of whom were ranked as top free agents in 2021. Although some of these signings were for depth and familiarity with the Patriots system, Belichick was playing chess with a few of his free agency moves in the past week.

Matthew Judon, LB In 2020, the Patriots’ linebackers seriously underperformed, allowing offenses to pound the ball on the ground and allowing opposing quarterbacks ample time in the pocket. Although some of this underperformance can be chalked up to Dont’a Hightower’s COVID-19 opt out, the Patriots were desperate to sign a game-changing linebacker.

Enter Matthew Judon. Signed to a four-year, $54.38 million contract, Judon will have an immediate impact on the edge. During his four years as a Baltimore Raven, Judon registered 35.5 sacks, forced eight fumbles and

made two Pro Bowls. Judon will most likely take the reigns of the linebacker room alongside Hightower, who will be returning to the lineup after last season’s opt out. I expect Judon to have a massive 2021 season under Belichick and vault this Patriots defense into elite status.

Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, TE Ever since Rob Gronkowski left Foxboro, the Patriots’ tight ends have been abysmal. With quarterback Cam Newton on the downslope of his career, Belichick needs some weapons — which the Patriots lacked last season.

Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, two of the top tight end free agents available this offseason, will be an amazing package for Josh McDaniels’ offense. Smith and Henry are both extremely versatile at their position, as both are solid blockers and exceptional in the open field. I’m curious to see what

COVID-19 AT TUFTS

Belichick does with Smith, who is very versatile and even lined up as a running back during some plays while on the Tennessee Titans.

This tight end tandem is going to instantly boost the Patriots offense and hopefully give Newton enough options in the red zone to keep the Patriots in close games.

Kyle Van Noy, LB After departing the Patriots for the Miami Dolphins during 2020 free agency, Van Noy is returning on a two-year, $13.2 million contract. Although he was one of the Patriots’ more minor signings, I can’t stress enough how excited I am to see Van Noy back in a Patriots uniform. He plays with such tenacity and effort, which translates to a solid defensive performance each game.

I understand that he’s not the same player he was two years ago, but he will still provide a positive impact for the Patriots run defense. He’s so skilled as

tuftsdaily.com a linebacker, and I cannot wait to see how much damage Judon and Van Noy will cause in 2021.

After seeing Tom Brady hoist the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LV, Belichick is gearing up for a revenge tour in 2021; he absolutely hears the rumbles of his coaching tactics being overrated and draconian and wants to prove the doubters wrong. Again.

With nearly 20 signings and most likely a few more coming in the following days, the Patriots have a solid roster heading into training camp. If Newton can take another leap and tap into his true potential, I love what the Patriots could do next season. I’m not predicting a Super Bowl victory but a wild card spot — or dare I say a division title — is definitely within their grasp.

Matt Goguen is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Matt can be reached at matthew.goguen@tufts.edu.