The Tufts Daily - Monday, November 22, 2021

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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 36

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Monday, November 22, 2021

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

CIRCLE examines relationship Fletcher student between youth activism, voting patterns Hengrui Liu researches in new study effectiveness of emission trading in China

by Michael Weiskopf News Editor

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts released a study titled “Protests, Politics, and Power: Exploring the Connections Between Youth Voting and Youth Movements” on Oct. 4. The study detailed a nuanced relationship between youth activist movements and youth voting patterns.

The eight participating researchers observed that youth activism in the United States reached historic levels in 2018 and 2020. They argue that young organizers were galvanized in 2018 by the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla., and in 2020 by the murder of George Floyd.

They also observed record youth turnout in the 2018 and 2020 elections.

Johnnie Lotesta, an assistant professor of sociology at

Appalachian State University and one of the study’s researchers, explained that the primary goal of the report was to explore the correlation between activism and voting among American youth.

“In recent years, we’ve seen surges in youth-led protests and social movement activity on the one hand, as well as historic levels of youth voting,” Lotesta said. “I really wanted to learn more about what is driving this moment of intense civic engagement among young people.”

The researchers came away from the study with several findings. According to Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, the Newhouse director of CIRCLE, their discovery was that different youth-led organizations use elections to their advantage in different ways.

“We saw that [for] the really local groups that are really working on issues specifically [on the local scale], voting and election

MICHELLE LI / THE TUFTS DAILY

see CIRCLE, page 2

Students are pictured on the Academic Quad on Sept. 14.

by Ashlie Doucette Contributing Writer

Fletcher School Ph.D. student Hengrui Liu presented his research on China’s emission trading system on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at an in-person seminar in the Fletcher School’s Crowe Room. Liu concluded that China’s implementation of an emission trading system was unsuccessful, prompting audience questions about whether a successful implementation is possible.

Liu, who is pursuing a Ph.D in economics and public policy, began the presentation by discussing the motivation behind his research.

“The biggest challenge of this century is climate change and how [we can] reduce carbon emissions,” Liu said.

Specifically, Liu wanted to examine the effectiveness of emission trading systems, such as carbon taxes and caps, at reducing emissions in developing countries.

“I [wanted] to see if a developing country implements this policy … first, whether this policy will be effective, second, whether this policy will be cost effective,” Liu said.

To address the first question, Liu presented data on the emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter in regions of China where the emission trading system was implemented in recent years. He compared it to regions where an emission trading system has not been implemented.

“The pilot ETS programs in China, their effects on the emissions reductions are not significant and that policy right now seems not robust,” Liu said.

After presenting the data and his conclusions, Liu took questions from the approximately 30 audience members attending over Zoom and in person. As Amy Jaffe, see EMISSION TRADING, page 2

Tufts sees rise in seasonal illnesses, respiratory viral infections on campus

by Flora Meng News Editor

Student Life sent out a campus-wide email informing the Tufts community about the rise of seasonal illnesses as well as cases of norovirus, influenza, mono and strep throat on Nov. 5.

The email encouraged students to take numerous measures to protect themselves from contagious illnesses.

Marie Caggiano, medical director of Tufts Health Service, explained that the campus is seeing a rise in both seasonal illnesses and viral infections in an email to the Daily.

“Some of these illnesses are seasonal, but the number of students sick with respiratory viral infections is high, which is why we are strongly encouraging mask wearing, good hand hygiene and flu vaccination,” she said.

Caggiano also detailed some of the symptoms that are common for these illnesses.

“Most of these illnesses cause respiratory symptoms, including cough, runny nose, sore throat and fever,” she said.

She emphasized that each student’s situation is different, but general preventive and protective measures can be taken to ensure the safety of all individuals in the community.

“It’s difficult to generalize because each student’s case can be different from the next but, generally, when feeling sick, it’s important to limit your contact with others so you do not spread illness,” she said. “It’s also important to rest so your body can recover. Students who need medical care or health advice can contact the Health Service or their PCP.” Caggiano discussed the importance of masking when students are ill in public, as well as the positive effect of the influenza vaccine on preventing seasonal flu.

“Most respiratory viral illnesses spread the same way COVID19 does, through respiratory droplets and aerosols,” she said.

“Influenza vaccination is a very important strategy for preventing seasonal flu, especially in a close community such as Tufts.”

In terms of whether the rise in common illnesses is related to

the pandemic, Caggiano suggested that the surge may be related to reduced COVID-19 restrictions, which have largely limited in-person contact.

“We continue to see a moderate number of COVID-19 cases, most of which have been acquired in the community,” she said. “Although many students may be experiencing illness for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, this is a direct result of having more contact with others and a general relaxing of the measures that have been in place to prevent spread of COVID-19.”

Amelia Gleixner, a sophomore, explained that the growing number of sick students has impacted attendance in many classes.

“I would say in the classes that don’t take attendance … attendance has significantly decreased, and people have been saying they’ve stopped coming because they’re sick … and then in my classes that do take attendance, there’s been a lot of coughing … and even some professors have gotten sick,” she said.

Gleixner also detailed her suitemates’ and her own expe-

riences becoming sick in the past month.

“I would say five out of the six people in our suite have some kind of respiratory illness and have had for like the past four weeks,” she said. “[In the] beginning of October, I was really, really sick. Just like chills, exhaustion, really bad cough… that lasted for like three weeks. And then I got better and now I’m sick again.

Pretty much the same stuff, mostly the cough is the worst of it”.

She also described her suite’s experience with health appointments at Health Service.

“My suitemates called Health Services after two weeks in and they were only giving telehealth clinician visits, which makes sense,” Gleixner said. “[Health Service] basically said… take this list of [over the counter] medication.”

Michelle Bowdler, executive director of Health and Wellness Services, discussed the work of see ILLNESS, page 2

ANNA STEINBOCK / THE TUFTS DAILY

Health Service is pictured on Oct. 15.

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 4

SPORTS / back

Community members express frustration over the effects of the anti-racist initiative

Hooked on books: Porter Square Books opens new Seaport store

Men’s and women’s squash squash Hamilton, Hobart and William Smith and Conn. College

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 | Monday, November 22, 2021

THE TUFTS DAILY Madeleine Aitken Editor in Chief

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Youth voting experts highlight organizing as one of many tools when effecting change

CIRCLE

continued from page 1 is kind of a minor aspect of what they do. Building community up and then changing how the people change power structure in the community was really important to them,” Kawashima-Ginsberg said. “But maybe a national organization that [is] working on electing multiple officials in different states and different congressional districts really saw voting and election as a really important tool.”

According to Jerusha Conner, another of the study’s researchers and a professor of education at Villanova University, the study found that youth movements view electoral organizing as just one tool for affecting change among many.

“Even youth who are highly engaged in electoral work harbor strong critiques of our political system and the power of voting as a lever of change,” Conner wrote in an email to the Daily. “They stressed the importance of organizing through, not to elections … They believe that to be effective, this work must be paired with other organizing strategies, including direct actions, education, and community healing.”

The researchers identified lessons that student activists and

organizers should take away from the study. Lotesta argued that one of the most important implications of the study is the potential for burnout among activists.

“Particularly in the context of the ongoing pandemic, young people and adult organizers alike are often doing this social movement work on top of work commitments or school commitments,” Lotesta said. “One of the learnings that young organizers can take from our study is … the importance of trying to design social movement organizations in ways that are supportive instead of extractive.”

Kawashima-Ginsberg also highlighted the issue of burnout and suggested that youthled organizations can curb its effects by building coalitions with other groups.

“One of the things that I think about as I reflect on that finding is the importance of really connecting with other leaders and other peers, and thinking about cross-organizational collaboration in some cases,” she said.

“I think [the study] shows how important it is to … take care of each other, as well as accomplishing the winning that they want to do as a group.”

Conner echoed KawashimaGinsberg’s point about the importance of collaboration.

“One lesson for organizers concerns the value of collaborative efforts with other issuebased and/or youth-led organizing groups,” Conner said.

“Collaborations can build capacity to take on work that may not be central to your organizing priorities (such as voter registration), increase name recognition, which helps with base-building, and allow broader shows of power as coalitions work together to issue collective demands.”

Based on the study’s findings and 2020’s record voter turnout, Conner predicted that young people would mobilize once again for this year’s local elections, which took place around the country on Nov. 2. Data on voter turnout for these elections is not yet widely available in most cases.

“Several of the groups we studied found success in mobilizing their base to turn out by highlighting down-ballot candidates whose policy priorities could significantly impact their communities,” she said. “Indeed, organizers can use school board elections or elections for other local offices to emphasize the stakes for the issues they care about in their hometowns.”

Lotesta, meanwhile, was particularly excited to learn that all but two of the youth-led social movement organization members interviewed for the study knew how to get involved in their local elections.

“Don’t take young people for granted — that’s for sure,” Lotesta said. “I would say our research suggests that young people are becoming informed, educated and engaged in their local elections. So I think this means that lawmakers should really pay attention and that we should be excited to see this cohort of voters remain engaged for years to come.”

Kawashima-Ginsberg reiterated the importance of youth involvement in local politics.

“Young people, especially transient young people like college students or [people] who just got a job in a new city, feel like they don’t know enough about the town that they live in, but [they] still deserve to vote,” she said. “I think it is important to actually take the time to get to know the local community and your local election officials because, as a university, we sit in Somerville and Medford as part of these towns … college campuses are not at all an isolated island in these towns.”

Looking at the distributional effects of the emission trading system

EMISSION TRADING

continued from page 1 research professor and managing director of the Climate Policy Lab at Fletcher, posed a question to Liu about the specific policy designs used, she offered her own take on his conclusion.

“I think the policy design itself was purposely weak,” Jaffe said.

“The central government was trying to experiment at the local level with these different pilots before creating a national system. And then each pilot system was using a different approach. I don’t think anyone really expected that emissions would go down, because it was this very soft approach to experimentation with emissions trading.”

Virtual attendee Charlie Heaps asked a related question via Zoom’s chat feature.

“Can you conclude that ETS programs in general have no significant impact? Or that only this particular ETS had no impact?”

Heaps asked.

Liu responded that his research deals with the specific

conditions of China’s pilot emission trading system, suggesting that the failure of the program could not necessarily be extrapolated to all emission trading systems.

The question-and-answer portion of the presentation continued with clarifications about how the data was collected and ideas about how to further develop Liu’s research in the future.

Toward the end of the question-and-answer segment, Jaffe added her takeaway from the presentation regarding the potential for an emission trading system to reduce emissions.

“In theory there’s nothing wrong with this tool. In practice, there was something wrong with this tool because of the way they designed these pilots,” Jaffe said.

Liu also noted that in the future he will look at environmental justice within emissions trading systems and explore how policies affect different demographics of people.

“I’m trying to find the distributional effects of the trainers’

ASHA IYER / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

The Fletcher School is pictured on March 4, 2018. pilot ETS,” Liu said. “Whether the implementation of ETS can affect people living in different regions — for example, people living in urban areas versus people living in rural areas. This policy might have different effects [depending] on your location and your income levels.”

Liu explained how the varied distribution of effects across different demographics should factor into the implementation of an

emission trading system, emphasizing why research on that topic is important.

“If [in] one province emissions [reduce] faster than [another] … part of people will benefit more and the other people will suffer,” Liu said.

Liu plans to look at power plant-level data next, and he concluded his presentation with a graph of the data he plans to use.

Health Service reports unusually high number of seasonal illnesses ILLNESS

continued from page 1 Health Service in assisting students with symptoms of illness in an email to the Daily.

“We are working very hard to provide medical care and advice to all students who need it,” she said. “Students who call with

respiratory illness will speak to a nurse who will triage their symptoms, provide advice on self-care, and schedule an appointment to be seen if needed.”

Bowdler confirmed that there has been a significant rise in students who have reported sickness in the past few weeks.

“There has been a significant uptick, which is why we sent a communication to students encouraging them to adopt strategies to prevent further spread of illness,” she said.

Bowdler noted that even though seasonal illnesses vary by year, this fall has seen a partic-

ularly high number of students with sickness.

“Every year is different, but this fall the volume of ill students has been very high,” she said. “There are so many reasons why this may be the case. We should all focus on the ways we might be able to prevent further spread of illness.”

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Features

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Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution, Part 2: Challenges, difficulties and hopes for anti-racist initiative moving forward

by Mark Choi Staff Writer

In July 2020, University President Anthony Monaco made a commitment to make Tufts an anti-racist institution. Almost a year and a half later, many members of the Tufts community have been left unsatisfied with how these efforts have materialized on campus.

Zach Everett, a second-year resident assistant in Lewis Hall, shared that there have been two incidents of racist and antisemitic acts being committed in Lewis Hall this semester alone. In one of the incidents, Everett’s Black Lives Matter posters were willfully torn down and removed.

“As an RA, I had gone above and beyond to try to facilitate a nice living community. As I decorated the common room, a part of the decorations I put up were my Black Lives Matter protest signs [from last summer],” Everett said.

“When I woke up at about midnight, the night of early movein [day], I noticed that my signs were torn down as I went to the bathroom.”

Following the incidents, Everett said that it was difficult for them to live in a dorm where they no longer felt safe.

“A few weeks later in Lewis, a mezuzah was torn down a Saturday night,” Everett said. “I was just told that the investigation was ongoing. But I didn’t know what to do with that … I live in Lewis, and this is my home, but I live right off the door where this happened. I found it challenging and uncomfortable being in that space at that point.”

Everett’s hope for action from the university, however, soured into frustration.

“The next step that [the Office of Residential Life and Learning] took was sending out a university-wide email, titled, ‘Hate has no place at Tufts,’” Everett said.

“While it was nice to see Tufts taking some form of action, I was very frustrated that the only actionable step listed was that they would hold a university-wide meeting, which I still looked forward to.”

At the university-wide meeting, Everett was disheartened and shocked by the fact that none of the university’s administrators attended.

“The meeting happened on a Sunday in the Lewis common room. When I got there, the common room was almost completely empty, except for the five people who were there,” Everett said. “We sat there and waited for more people to show up … This was the one and only actionable step that Tufts said they would take, and there were six people in attendance. I was so immensely disappointed and shocked by the level of inaction.”

Prompted by the student body’s inaction, despite the recurrence of incidents of hate on campus, Everett wrote an email to the university administrators proposing that Tufts should hold more anti-racist trainings and classes.

“I proposed a mandatory anti-racist class that students should attend. I wrote about how the meeting’s turnout shows that Tufts student does not care enough about anti-racist practices,” Everett said. “So that in the future, when these [incidents of hate] happen, students know that they are the acts of injustice and know what steps that they can take [as a response].”

Similarly to Everett’s proposal, Tufts Community Union President Amma Agyei called for increased anti-racist training, a more proactive way for the Tufts community members to approach and understand anti-racism.

“I definitely feel like there should be more training for students, especially during orientation, [as] the university has training on alcohol [consumption], trigger warnings… and sexual consent,” Agyei said. “If Tufts is an anti-racist institution and takes its words seriously, then I would assume the university to have training in that regard.”

In addition to Everett and Agyei’s remarks, Aaron Parayno, director of the Asian American Center, noted that there is much more for the university to do and consider financially and institutionally in actualizing the anti-racist goals.

Namely, despite the university announcement that it would commit “at least $25 million of university resources” to the anti-racist cause over five years, the Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion, which supports historically underrepresented students at Tufts, has not seen a much-needed increase in their annual budget, Parayno explained.

“Budgets are moral documents,” Parayno began. “If we are not factored into certain budgets, like that $25 million … that means that we are not as morally important point for the university [within the anti-racist initiative context].”

Parayno called for greater university support for the Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion as the Tufts student body continues to become more racially and ethnically diverse.

“Over the span of [past] 10 years, Asian American population on campus has increased [by] over 200%,” Parayno said. “We haven’t had increased resources in supporting our Asian American students at the center.”

Parayno detailed how the Asian American Center needs more staff, for example, to better support their students across the university’s three campuses.

“[In the wake of the Atlanta shooting last March] the assistant director at the Center, Emily, and I were supporting students not only here on Medford/Somerville campus, but we were getting requests to support students at the medical school and the dental school,” Parayno said. “We want to provide that support for everyone, but at the same time, we are two people, right?”

Still, though, university administrators hold the position that the initiative is just taking time to evolve and take root in the university’s culture and norms.

In his statement on Feb. 17, 2021, Monaco acknowledged even then that there would be room for improvement.

“Our recommendations, while thorough and well-intentioned, are not fully comprehensive or complete, and no implementation process is perfect,” he wrote.

“Some community members may be dissatisfied by these reports viewing them as falling short, and others may disagree on the best way to achieve our stated purpose,” Monaco added in his written statement. “We should not shy away from these tensions.

Respectful discourse and debates are the hallmarks of a thriving academic community,” Monaco added in his written statement.

Within this context, Joyce Sackey, the university’s associate provost and chief diversity office for Health Science campuses, shared how the university continues to work on fostering a more inclusive community at Tufts both at institutional and structural levels.

“We are excited to share that we have hired a Director for the Initiative — Lisa Fenn, who will assume her role on November 22, 2021,” Sackey wrote in an email to the Daily.

The Rev. Elyse Nelson Winger, university chaplain, wrote in an email to the Daily that the University Chaplaincy also hopes to contribute and extend the university’s anti-racist efforts, moving forward.

“The University Chaplaincy’s mission includes a commitment to educate about spiritual and ethical issues in society and the world, and we work across chaplaincies, through our interfaith programming and campus partnerships to create opportunities … that align with the university-wide anti-racist initiative,” Winger said.

Winger went on to explain actions the Chaplaincy continues to take.

“Signature programming examples include our annual partnership with the Africana Center, Tisch College for Civic Life, and Race, Colonialism and Diaspora studies for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium as well as this year’s programming related to Valarie

COURTESY ALFREDO RAMIREZ, ROBERT MACK, ZACH EVERETT, AARON PARAYNO AND AMMA AGYEI

Alfredo Ramirez, Robert Mack, Zach Everett, Aaron Parayno and Amma Agyei are pictured.

Kaur’s powerful and challenging book, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love,” Winger said.

Alfredo Ramirez, a Fletcher School student who was a part of the Compositional Diversity Workstream, shared his hope for the university’s initiative as he detailed some of the salient questions that he raised and continues to grapple with throughout his time at Tufts.

“As a student, I do not get paid by Tufts, and so I have had the liberty of asking challenging questions like, what [do] our promotions look like [for the faculty and staff]?” Ramirez said. “Do we have the right opportunities for different faculty and staff of color to thrive at Tufts? In asking these questions, it catalyzed a conversation within our committee about what anti-racism truly means at a much broader sense, beyond just a set of policies and programs [for the initiative].”

Reflecting on his involvement with the university’s anti-racist efforts, Ramirez described the university’s initiative as “enlightening,” “inspiring” and “tough,” a work in progress, ever-perfecting itself.

“Anti-racism is not a goal that you are going to get to, and it is not a metric that you are going to hit,” Ramirez said. “It is something that you [instead] have to work toward consistently and constantly … It is not just a committee … strategy, or a policy, but rather it is embedded into everything that you do.”

Echoing Ramirez’s sentiment, Robert Mack, the university’s chief diversity officer and associate provost for the Somerville/Medford and SMFA campuses, emphasized that anti-racism can never be “achieved” or “accomplished,” for it represents an ongoing, conscious effort both individually and collectively for the Tufts community moving forward. “[The goal of the initiative is to] get the members [of the] Tufts to a place where they can recognize, name, and then effectively respond to racism as it arises and presents itself,” Mack wrote in an email to the Daily.

“We will never rid the community of racism, but we can learn how to disrupt it, dislodge it, and divorce ourselves from its snares over and over again.”

Sophia Grekin Humans of Tufts

Katrina Lin ’24

S

ophia Grekin: “You said … ‘I was young and dumb.’ Do you have a memory [you associate with that?]”

Katrina Lin: “Oh my god, which one though… Oh my gosh so when I was little I read a lot of fantasy books. So I, like, tricked myself into thinking I was a witch.”

KL: “I would go on walks and I would sing on these walks, and I would do improv. It was like Ariel from the little mermaid, ‘this is my moment.’ I would just sing. I would pick up litter and be like, ‘I’m such an eco friendly witch,’ like making the world a better place. I would go into the backyard and pretend I talked to the animals, and surround myself with nuts so that the chipmunks would come, because I wanted to feed chipmunks so bad. I was also a major horse girl.”

“One time I had a crush on this boy… Well I looked up spells, like love spells. This is me at 10 years old. I remember this spell, it was something like you’d have to write either why you liked him or other stuff on a piece of paper, and then fold it into a square and draw an eye on top of it and you put it under your pillow…

Then it’s supposed to manifest something between you and your crush… I did that. I put it under my pillow and I slept… I dreamed about him and I was like oh my god it worked.”

SG: “Did it?”

KL: “No, I talked to that boy a grand total of three times.”

SG: “Talking about being younger, you think your younger self would be proud of you?”

KL: “Yeah. I think so. I think young me would be very proud.

Well maybe not because I’m not a witch. I think yeah, she would be proud of the person she became and the things in her life that have come to fruition.”

SG: “What were your dreams?”

KL: “I really wanted life to not be mundane. I would read all these fantasy books and be like, ‘Life is so boring. Like grass just grows, I wanna make the grass grow… and why aren’t there unicorns?’”

“I think one thing I learned as I got older is that the mundane things are the magical things. It’s so cheesy, but I think I was able to turn that want for something more into what I already have.

So now I’m like the sky is blue … or that cloud is shaped like cotton candy, we don’t deserve it. I think I found a lot of the magic I wanted when I was little.”

Sophia Grekin is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Sophia can be reached at sophia.grekin@tufts.edu.

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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture

tuftsdaily.com

Monday, November 22, 2021

Porter Square Books expands with new location

Odessa Gaines K-Weekly

Vibe out with Jessi’s ‘Nunu Nana’

A

COURTESY PORTER SQUARE BOOKS

Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass. is pictured.

by Carl Svahn Staff Writer

David Sandberg never saw himself owning two bookstores. The former lawyer, who has been co-owner of Porter Square Books since 2013, recently oversaw the opening of the famous local bookshop’s second location in Boston’s Seaport District. Despite the setbacks of COVID-19 and the pressures of expanding, Sandberg sees a bright future ahead for the new shop. “I just think that we worked really hard to make this new store feel very much like it is Porter Square Books,” Sandberg said. “I think it’s too early to tell, we’ve only been open a month, but it looks like we’re going to be successful in creating that.”

Sandberg and his wife, Dina Mardell, first moved to the Cambridge/Somerville area in the mid- to-late ‘80s with very different career plans. Sandberg worked as a private attorney for a time and eventually as the General Counsel for ITA Software (a role he continued when the company was purchased by Google in 2011), while Mardell worked as a teacher. Then, in 2013, the couple saw in the newspaper that the owners of Porter Square Books were retiring and putting the store up for sale. “We had no background in, not only in the bookstore business, but in any kind of retail at all,” says Sandberg. “But it was an amazing … opportunity. And so, in 2013 I left Google and she left teaching and we bought the bookstore.”

The pair initially thought their story would end in Porter Square. They set up pop-up stores at Bow Market and the Porter Square Shopping Center at one

time or another, but otherwise they saw the bookstore as their final home before retirement. Offers for expansion from real estate developers and the like were declined at every turn. The couple even made waves in 2018 when they sold half of the store to 10 of their employees, making them their de facto heirs. But once again, a new opportunity landed in their laps.

In 2019, GrubStreet, a community writing organization based in Boston, approached Porter Square Books about creating a bookstore in their new building downtown. The two organizations were quite familiar with each other, as they had hosted many local author events together over the years, and in Sandberg’s words, “because it was GrubStreet, and we really were excited about the prospect of working with them, we did agree to do it.”

Another aspect that excited Sandberg was the chosen location, an office and apartment complex located in Seaport, an up-and-coming district of Boston.

According to Sandberg, Porter Square Books is one of only three main independent bookstores that sell new books, so “when you consider a city the size of Boston, and especially a city that considers itself as cultural and literary as Boston … it seemed like there was a great opportunity.” He also saw Seaport, with its community still forming and its large tourism base, as the perfect area of the city to put down roots. It was all going better than he could have hoped. Then came 2020.

Work on the store had begun in late 2019, when COVID-19 was still a far-

off thought to most Americans. When the virus finally hit the United States, everything was put on pause. Sandberg admits that this caused reservations to emerge about the new store. “We had a number of discussions at various points over that year and a half,” says Sandberg. “‘Does this still make sense?

Are we doing this?….Is this just insane?

To think about opening a new business when the world is falling apart?’”

However, when it came down to the line, he says that they had enough support from GrubStreet and their customer base to turn the opening question from an “if” to a “when.” Finally, after years of work and dedication, Porter Square Books: Boston Edition opened in October 2021.

Sandberg swears that this is the last stop for him and Mardell. At their ages, and after all the work they put into building this new store, he says he sees the two locations as the perfect balance for expanding their neighborhood while retaining the spirit of Porter Square Books. Whatever happens in the future, and after the couple fully retires, Sandberg believes the store can always count on its customers, local and beyond (Neil Gaiman made them the only other outlet besides Barnes and Noble that could pre-sell signed copies of his novel, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”). “The amount of excitement that was out there when we first announced we were doing this new store really convinced us that there was such a desire for it to happen,” says Sandberg. “That it was still going to be worth doing.”

s I have mentioned many times before, the world of K-pop is vast and is much more than simply pop music in Korean.

K-pop has Latin, pop, alternative, rock, hip-hop and rap influences. The industry is built to mesh these sounds together and try to create distinct sounds. One artist who most definitely has her own sound, but is often overlooked, is Jessi.

Jessi is a 32-year-old singer-songwriter who first debuted on the K-pop scene in 2005. She was born in New York and lived in New Jersey for 15 years, before moving to South Korea to make it as an idol. Jessi was a former member of the groups Uptown and Lucky J, before joining P Nation records as a soloist.

Since then, she has collaborated with many notable global artists including Jay Park, Lee Hyo-ri and Ed Sheeran.

The Korean-American artist dropped her second EP, “Nuna” on July 30, 2020.

The album includes six tracks in a mix of Korean and English, ballads and bops — all music that illustrates who Jessi is as an artist.

The album’s title track, “Nunu Nana,” is a mix of hip-hop and pop, a clear bridge connecting Jessi to her artistic roots. As she clearly states, she is “still Jessi from the block,” only now she is showcasing her evolved sound and style. The name of the single itself is a nod to this artistic development, as it refers to a “noona/nuna (누 나 ) ,” a male’s older female relative or friend in Hangul. Jessi, now in her early 30s, with 17 years of experience under her belt, has the ability to show her rise in the Korean idol world and even on the global scene.

Jessi’s declaration of “that’s why I’m that nuna,” paired with her success flexing, is supposed to make a statement to the listener — and make a statement it does.

Her easily definable husky voice, sharp dance moves and performance delivery will make you get out of your seat screaming along while you “put ’em up in the air.” Jessi manages to make an absolute banger with girlboss energy, reminiscent of her 2019 single “Who Dat B,” without it feeling overwhelming or too in-your-face. Truly notable is her mini collaboration with Lee Hyori, South Korea’s “Nation’s Fairy,” in the music video.

The music video itself is a pop of color with swirling camera angles. Jessi and her all-girl backup dancers completely dominate the video, with Hyori’s cameos filling the almost three minutes and a half minutes with unbelievably good vibes.

Jessi has shown for years that she is an artist who transcends the K-pop industry. From “Gucci” (2017) to “ColdBlooded” (2021), Jessi has twisted the definition of K-pop and shown that you don’t always need to live by the rules.

“Nunu Nana” is just one manifestation of her unique artistic evolution.

You can check out the music video for “Nunu Nana” on YouTube.

Odessa Gaines is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Odessa can be reached at kayla.gaines@tufts.edu.

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Monday, November 22, 2021 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

F& G

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Maddie: “I’m in a soup moment.”

SUDOKU

IT KEPT SAYING “BACH! BACH! BACH!

Difficulty Level: The two days of classes before Thanksgiving break.

By Juju Zweifach

Friday’s Solutions

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CROSSWORD

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6 Monday, November 22, 2021

Opinion

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VIEWPOINT

The unnerving implications of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse

BY CAMILLA SAMUEL

by Gian Luca Di Lenardo Contributing Writer

Mark Zuckerberg has changed Facebook’s corporate name to Meta to reflect the company’s growing focus on creating an all-encapsulating virtual reality known as the “metaverse,” a decision that has elicited a wide array of reactions. For those who consider themselves technologically inclined, Zuckerberg’s decision may be in line with that of a visionary, a progenitor of a new, exciting era of tech.

For others, myself included, Zuckerberg’s decision reflects a growing gap between the world of everyday Americans and the world of people like Zuckerberg.

In a world where lockdowns and social distancing have become realities, the last thing many of us desire is to live in a world mediated by holograms and finely tuned avatars. Zuckerberg is calling for nothing less than a reimagination of our relationship with technology and this

should make us, at the very least, uneasy.

The decision to change Facebook’s name has been met with cynicism on all levels but especially by those in the media.

In the wake of immense scrutiny regarding the company’s improper management of user data, as well as recent scandals like the Cambridge Analytica data breach and the recent release of internal documents by a whistleblower, many argue that Facebook is merely trying to give itself a facelift.

However, Zuckerberg’s decision was not merely political, as evidenced by the fact that he had been distancing himself from Facebook for several years — choosing to focus increasingly on acquiring digital platforms, like Oculus.

In many ways, Zuckerberg’s decision to pursue virtual reality reflects the fact that he is no longer content with merely being seen as “that social media guy.”

Instead, he is attempting to rein-

vent himself and join the lofty ranks of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, who have each preoccupied themselves with putting forth a vision for the future of tech. While Zuckerberg may have lost the space race, his idea of the metaverse is perhaps more daring and unnerving than that of his contemporaries in that it appears to be one that will come to fruition in our lifetimes.

In Zuckerberg’s world, technology no longer simply occupies the “in-betweens” of our lives. Instead, it has become more and more integrated into our everyday existence, making the distinction between our world and the digital one practically nonexistent.

Zuckerberg’s world is one in which a morning commute is replaced by a walk to the computer, where arguments are settled through keyboards and headsets and where physical interactions with annoying colleagues become nonexistent. It is a remote, COVID-like world

of social isolation that extends into the indeterminable future.

It’s a world lived on demand.

It is, in some sense, perfect in that it ultimately allows us to alter our surroundings to fit our desires.

However, it’s also a world where our data becomes increasingly valuable. And while Zuckerberg may have attempted to address concerns over data privacy in his most recent announcement describing the metaverse, should we be comfortable with one company having access to so much of our data? Of course, these problems are not necessarily new, but Zuckerberg’s metaverse seems to highlight their importance.

Still, it’s not just Zuckerberg’s access to our data that should concern us, but also the way in which this type of technology molds our worldviews. Even in our current digital reality, we find ourselves looking at images on a screen that claim to show us the “truth” of what’s happening.

After all, when we look at photos in the news, some of us may often falsely assume that the image we are seeing accurately portrays the entirety of complex situations. It is for this reason that technology gives us a false sense of connectedness with the world and with others. The more we feel connected — the sharper the image, the clearer the video — the farther we may actually be from the event itself.

The danger with Zuckerberg’s metaverse is the same as that of Thales, the ancient Greek astronomer who fell into a well while looking up at the stars in the sky. Technological innovation can have its useful place in society, but if we idealize it or blindly trust it without first addressing the underlying problems, we risk a long, hard fall into a well of ignorance.

After a year of social unrest and a pandemic that has torn us apart, it is more important than ever that we focus on fixing this reality — not the next.

S

Monday, November 22, 2021 | SPORTS | THE TUFTS DAILY

7

Club soccer seeks additional funds SOCCER

continued from page 8 said that club sports only has three total supplementary funding requests, so that presented difficulty for our club director to allow us to use two out of the three.”

Having to fly to the tournament isn’t the only thing that is raising the budget for club

Michael Wallace-Bruce Over-the-Top Football

The effects of financial takeovers in Premier League soccer

O

n Oct. 7, 2021, multiple newspapers and sports channels confirmed that the Public Investment Fund, a Saudi Arabian wealth fund, had bought the English football team Newcastle United. The $400 million deal makes Newcastle United, nicknamed the “Magpies” by local fans, the richest football club in the world.

Although the confirmation seems to have surprised Premier League fans, talks about a Saudi consortium willing to purchase Newcastle have been known

soccer, according to Captain Colton Spirko.

“Obviously the trip down to Foley is costly,” Spirko wrote in an electronic message to the Daily. “We have to cover the costs of flights, lodging, transportation [to and from games], meals, and even more.”

Without access to supplementary funding, club soccer looked wherever they could at the uni-

versity to scrape together parts of their budget.

“We’ve also reached out to President Monaco, whose office has been able to give us $1,000,” Bracken said. “It helps, but definitely doesn’t cover everything.”

With no other options, club succer turned to fundraising. The team has started a crowdfund, a version of GoFundMe that Tufts

utilizes, and held a raffle with prizes for the winners.

“We’ve been able to do a bake sale and a raffle with gift cards and some technology so that kids can donate a lower amount and also have something to win,” Bracken said. “It’s been a lot of work balancing a lot of complications between departments… [but] we’re hoping to still make more.”

With the money it has raised so far, the team was able to set off on its trip. Since it wasn’t able to raise enough, though, some spending may have to come out of players’ pockets. Nevertheless, the team plans to continue fundraising, even after the tournament is over, to ensure players are reimbursed.

since 2020. However, the deal appeared to have been disbanded due to fears that the Saudi state would directly impact the club’s internal affairs.

The move has stirred controversy among the league and others. Big names, like Liverpool F.C.’s manager Jürgen Klopp, are concerned about Saudi Arabia’s human rights issues. In response to the Saudi takeover, advocacy groups like Amnesty International have called for the league to include “human rights infractions” to the Owners’ and Directors’ Test, a guideline that the Premier League uses to consider prospective owners.

Newcastle fans, on the other hand, are ecstatic over the deal.

Fans were pictured adorned in traditional Saudi headdresses and waving the Saudi Arabian flag. Club legend Alan Shearer even took to Twitter to announce his refreshed hopes for Newcastle’s future. Such a response to the takeover should not come as a surprise. Under

the 14-year reign of its former owner, Mike Ashley, Newcastle was relegated from the Premier League twice. Coming into the current season, the club has invested little to no money in the team, culminating in its winless Premier League start. Currently holding the title as the worst team in the Premier League, the news of the takeover could not have come at a better time for Magpie fans.

Like Newcastle fans, I am somewhat happy about the financial takeover by the Public Investment Fund, since it has the prospect of improving the competitive state of the league.

Namely, Newcastle will acquire highly rated players and an experienced coach. These additions should improve the competitiveness of the Premier League, or will they?

Most people point to the English Premier League as the best European soccer league because of the level of competition; historically, there have been six or seven teams

who stand a chance to win the league. In comparison, Spain’s La Liga typically has three teams ranked as favorites while the German Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1 have a maximum of two teams competing for their respective titles before the leagues commence.

The rigor of this competitive spirit of the English Premier League has dwindled for the past few years in my opinion.

Although the same teams are viewed as favorites, the most well-funded team is almost guaranteed to win the league.

To be competitive, one has to be better than another on a comparable level. However, the wealth of certain teams creates a chasm where the ‘elite’ teams are unrivaled with their league counterparts. Following its takeover

by Roman Abramovich in 2003, Chelsea’s new wealth buoyed it to win three trophies in seven years.

Following Chelsea, Manchester City became the richest club in the league after it was acquired by the Abu Dhabi

United Group (a private equity company based in the United Arab Emirates) in 2008. The team would also go on to win five league trophies in 13 years.

I will admit that the ratio to trophies-won and year-span following a takeover may hint at competition within the league, but the discrepancy is sometimes due to Financial Fair Play rules stopping teams from overspending. Other times, both teams’ over-expenditures simply failed to materialize into a league title. Nonetheless, both these teams have dominated the Premier League for the past decade due to their vast wealth.

With the reported wealth within the Public Investment Fund, Newcastle will erode the competitive spirit of the league and diminish it to a point where the Premier League is simply ‘competitive’ in name only.

Michael Wallace-Bruce is a junior studying international relations.

Michael can be reached at michael.wallace_bruce@tufts.edu.

8 Monday, November 22, 2021

SPORTS

tuftsdaily.com

Men and women’s squash claim victories in season opener weekend

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

A Tufts player returns the ball during a match against Conn. College at the Tufts Squash Center on Feb 1, 2020, the last season Tufts was able to play before the pandemic.

by Brooke Kraftson Contributing Writer

Tufts men’s and women’s squash took to the courts in Clinton, N.Y., to win their first three season matches this weekend. On Friday, both Jumbo teams blanked the Hamilton Continentals, each winning 9–0.

Both teams brought that same momentum on Saturday when they beat Hobart and William Smith, followed by shutting out Connecticut College. The men’s team, ranked at 18th, lost only one game in the triple-header weekend, while the No. 16 women’s team lost three.

This year, the women’s team is full of new Jumbos, as seven of the nine players made their collegiate debuts this weekend — as this is the first time since 2020 that the team has been allowed to compete. In her first match of the season, senior Natalie Bartlett made a name for herself against the Continentals as she came back from being down 2–1 to ultimately win 3–2.

“We’ve been training super hard and we got a very talented recruiting class, so we are very confident about this season and we were also about this weekend,” Bartlett said.

In their match against the Connecticut College Camels,

the Jumbos took a leap of faith, despite the young team.

“We sat out our top three players because we were very confident about [Connecticut] College, meaning we all played three positions higher and still beat them easily 9–0,” Bartlett said.

The men’s team had a similar experience against the Camels, when first-year Oliver Eielson shut out his opponent in his first game, followed by 11–4 and 11–4 wins. Junior Shloke Sahay had an impressive showing when he won his match 11–2, 11–1 and 11–1. The toughest competition of the day was junior Kunal Valia’s, as he not only came back

from being down in the first two games but had to go five sets to secure his win.

In their Friday match against the Continentals, the 9–0 score set a new precedent for the Jumbos, since the last time they played them in the 2017–18 season, they suffered a tough 5–4 loss.

Against the Hobart Statesmen, the Jumbos ceded one match in the No. 2 position but were able to secure their victory with their 8–1 win.

After extensive travel and a tiring weekend of three games each, the Jumbos will keep the intensity high this upcoming week. As they look forward to

their next games, as well as the rest of their season, the Jumbos feel confident to continue putting it all out there on the court.

“We’re excited about Harvard on Tuesday. They are better than us. They’re No. 1 in the country by a head and shoulders, but we have a great relationship with their team since we used their courts in previous years, so we’re excited for the challenge to play them and learn from them,” said Bartlett.

Both teams will be taking on No. 1 Harvard at Tufts Squash Center on Tuesday.

Men’s club soccer searches for funding after qualifying for national tournament

by Jack Adgate

Assistant News Editor

On Nov. 17, the Tufts men’s club soccer team flew to Foley, Ala., to participate in the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) National Championship tournament. The road there, however, has not been completely smooth.

After winning its own league and qualifying for the regional tournament, the Tufts club soccer team advanced all the way to the regional final, losing on penalty kicks. However, the team received

an at-large bid, thanks to its success throughout the season.

Tufts club soccer is a student organization recognized by the Office for Campus Life. The club has grown to be a significant venture, with multiple teams and a competitive schedule, according to graduate student and team captain Andrew Bracken.

Unlike varsity sports teams at Tufts, Tufts Club Soccer receives its funding for the season from the Tufts Community Union Senate.

This budget given to club soccer is meant to cover the different costs of their regular season.

“We’re underneath the… athletic department, but also get our funding from TCU,” Bracken said.

“We use that funding in the regular season for game balls, [referees], fields and pretty much anything else we need.”

According to Lance Greene, assistant director of club and recreational sports at Tufts, this funding is determined on a yearly basis.

“I would assume they have a process with regard to [funding] based on past experiences … and that fluctuates on a yearto-year basis given the traveling

to certain places and how much that may cost,” Greene said. “I think all of those things weigh into the decision of how much funding goes to each particular program.”

As of this year, Tufts club soccer received a total of $4,000, with $2,000 each being delegated to the A and B teams. In special cases, student organizations can reach out to the TCU Senate for supplementary funding, should they use up their original budget.

“We got more money for regionals from the TCU Senate,” Bracken said. “You can request

[supplementary funding], and if they approve of it, they’ll send it to your account just as other clubs do.”

However, needing a very large budget for the trip to the national tournament, the club has had to turn in many directions to look for funding. Supplementary funding from TCU is limited in terms of which student organizations can receive it.

“Our total now [for nationals] is probably $20,000 to $22,000,” Bracken said. “TCU see SOCCER, page 7