The Tufts Daily - Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Brie Larson’s directorial debut a poignant tale of adulthood, dreams see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Tufts beats Bates, Colby away from home court this weekend

Men’s track and field put on strong performance at MIT see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 48

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T HE T UFTS DAILY Tuesday, April 9, 2019

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Rachel Kyte appointed 14th dean of the Fletcher School

by Zachary Hertz News Editor

Tufts has named Rachel Kyte dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, according to a press release provided to the Daily. Kyte, who graduated from Fletcher’s Global Master of Arts Program in 2002 and has served as a professor of practice at the school since 2014, will assume the deanship on Oct. 1.

She follows Ian Johnstone, who has served as dean ad interim since Admiral James Stavridis stepped down in August.

“I know firsthand the powerful impact a Fletcher School education can have,” Kyte said in a comment in the press release. “We are now at a transformational time in history in terms of higher education, as well as world politics and civic engagement. I look forward to harnessing the brainpower and enthusiasm of this community to heighten Fletcher’s impact on the world as we prepare the next generation of global leaders.”

Currently, Kyte serves as the chief executive officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), an international organization launched by former SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon to address energy efficiency, access and sustainability. She is also the special representative of the UN secretary-general for SEforAll and previously led the World Bank Group’s campaign for the 21st Convention of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as its vice president and special envoy for climate change, according to the press release.

According to University President Anthony Monaco, this experience makes Kyte ideal for the role. “[Kyte’s] leadership and commitment to addressing global challenges such as

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Rachel Kyte, new dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, is pictured. climate change — combined with her deep understanding of the complexities of multilateral international negotiations, and her advocacy for the marginalized in society—make her the perfect choice to lead The Fletcher School,” Monaco said in the press release.

In an interview with the Daily, Kyte noted that her career, focused on climate change and sustainable energy, has prepared her to be a leader at the Fletcher School.

“I think that we’re at a particular moment in time where we face an existential global threat that is climate

change. It is an intensifier [of ] the threats of hunger, malnutrition, security supply chains, social cohesion and global public health. It is the context in which we must govern It is the context in which we must govern.” Kyte said. “Having had that perspective and that experience means that I can help both Fletcher and the greater Tufts community … position those who come through Tufts and through Fletcher to lead in this particular time.”

Kyte said that as dean, she is hoping to take a hands-on approach that is reflective and considers the needs of the community.

“My job is to help everyone do their jobs brilliantly and make sure that we’re a jewel in the crown of Tufts,” she said.

She emphasized that the deanship will provide her with the opportunity to continue to lead the effort for more equitable, sustainable development, but through the development of leaders through the Fletcher School.

“If there was ever a moment where we need our A-Team, it’s now,” she said.

“And I think Fletcher can produce and has produced A-Teams and I want to be a part of continuing to produce global leaders for this world.”

Annie Soisson to become director of CELT

by Ellie Hewell

Contributing Writer

Annie Soisson will step into the position of director at the Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) beginning July 1, a promotion from her current role as senior associate director. The position has been held by Donna Qualters for the past seven and a half years.

Both Soisson and Qualters have been involved in the development of CELT since its inception in 2006. Soisson

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and Linda Jarvin, former director of CELT from 2008 to 2011, had already developed some programs when Qualters joined the team in 2012.

The Center offers services to Tufts faculty across all departments and experience levels. According to the program’s website, these services aim to help faculty integrate the latest research in learning into the classroom.

To Soisson, moving into the role of director means being able to continue the direction of growth she has developed with Qualters.

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“Part of what we need to do is look not two years out, but probably 10 years or more so that we can understand what we think the classroom is going to look like,” Soisson said. “What do we think students coming in are going to need, what’s the workforce going to look like, how do we help faculty shape their teaching to this rapidly changing landscape?”

Qualters also reflected on the early parts of her tenure as director.

“I saw my mission as taking the teaching center from the margins and moving into the center of the university so that

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anything that had to do with teaching, learning, assessment — people would see CELT at the table,” she said.

Soisson is particularly proud of the Center’s focus on inclusive teaching. She said CELT hired Associate Director Ryan Rideau to help faculty understand what it means to teach a diverse group of students. Through the Inclusive Learning Institute, faculty explore how to “engage students from all different backgrounds and traditions and experiences in ways that are meaningful,” Soisson said.

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

see CELT, page 2 FUN & GAMES.........................5 OPINION.....................................6 SPORTS............................ BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Tuesday, April 9, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Elie Levine Editor in Chief

EDITORIAL

David Levitsky Anita Ramaswamy Managing Editors Luke Allocco Jessica Blough Austin Clementi Charlie Driver Jenna Fleischer Juliana Furgala Kat Grellman Abbie Gruskin Liza Harris Zachary Hertz Gil Jacobson Rachael Meyer Catherine Perloff Seohyun Shim Alexander Thompson Hannah Uebele Joe Walsh Alejandra Carrillo Robert Kaplan Noah Richter Jilly Rolnick Grace Yuh Costa Angelakis Jenna Fleischer Sean Ong Michael Shames Fina Short Sidharth Anand Amelia Becker Mark Choi Sarah Crawford Mitch Lee Ellie Murphy Ananya Pavuluri

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meets for eight sessions over the course of a semester.

Soisson described CELT Faculty Fellows as “our signature and original program.”

Margaret (Peggy) Morris, a senior lecturer in the Department of Occupational Therapy, participated in the Faculty Fellows Seminar in the Spring 2014 cohort and reflected on her experience.

“My teaching style, course design and understanding of student learning improved immensely after my time with the CELT Fellow program,” Morris said in an email to the Daily.

Through the community of faculty created by the program, Morris said she has been able to observe a wide range of teaching styles to which she was not previously exposed. She said these relationships have also evolved into collaborative projects across disciplines.

“One of the lovely and unexpected benefits of taking part in any CELT program is exposure to other faculty across the three campuses of the University,” Morris said.

Morris praised Qualters and Soisson for their commitment to faculty.

“They are both adept at individualizing CELT programming to suit a teacher’s need, are intensely patient, are fierce cheerleaders, and truly love supporting the faculty here at Tufts,” she said.

Soisson in turn expressed her appreciation for the Tufts faculty.

“Tufts faculty are such amazing people to work with — really obviously very smart. They are really dedicated to teaching well,” Soisson said.

Soisson pointed to an upcoming collaboration with Tisch Library emphasizing the Center’s focus on research, which will explore how Google has changed the way students find information.

TCU Senate reviews fiscal year 2020 budget

Assistant Arts Editors

Production Director

Isabella Montoya

CELT

continued from page 1 In the past three years, CELT has developed a number of new institutes for faculty, including the Course Design Institute, the Institute for Learning Assessment and the Inclusive Learning Institute, according to Qualters.

Qualters pointed out that although they are highly educated, faculty sometimes lack the tools they need in the classroom.

“If you get a Ph.D., nobody teaches you about teaching,” she said.

The CELT website says programs like the Faculty Fellows Seminar help close the gap between being an accomplished Ph.D. and an effective teacher. According to Qualters, the Faculty Fellows Seminar welcomes 12 faculty members each semester to discuss and reflect on their teaching through discussion and community. The group

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PRODUCTION Ryan Eggers Catalina Mengyao Yang Mia Garvin Jordan Isaacs Maygen Kerner Aidan Menchaca Kiran Misner Alice Yoon

Qualters reflects on expanding CELT in her time as director

by Robert Kaplan

Executive Opinion Editor Editorialists

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The Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate reviewed and approved most of its budget for student organizations for fiscal year 2020 at its meeting on Sunday night in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room.

The budget is divided into nine councils and an engineering council, each focusing on a different category of student organizations.

Before beginning a review of the budget, TCU Treasurer Izzy Ma, a sophomore, explained that the budgeted total income of $2,139,200 was estimated by multiplying the student activities fee of $382 by the approximately 5,600 undergraduates.

Council One, which is comprised of cultural groups such as the Black Student Union and Chinese Student Association, was budgeted $140,940 in total.

TCU Associate Treasurer Sharif Hamidi, a sophomore, explained why the total Council One allocation changed little with respect to last year’s budget.

“Some groups received a budget increase, some received a decrease, so that is why the council as a whole only shifted about $500,” Hamidi said.

The TCU Senate approved the total with 24 senators in favor and none opposed.

The Council Two budget, which includes programming and social organizations such as Tufts University Social Collective (TUSC) and Another Option, was allocated $895,530 in total.

The first objection raised to the Council Two budget centered on a line item of $7,500 in the TUSC Traditions budget for “consumable supplies” such as t-shirts at Tuftonia’s Day. TCU Vice President Adam Rapfogel, a senior, explained why he believed the proposed line item was excessive. “$7,500 is a considerable amount of money. It’s more than a lot of budgets and can add a lot of value in other ways,” Rapfogel said.

TCU Senator Jonah O’Mara Schwartz, a senior, added that many students such as himself value memorabilia like TUSC T-shirts.

“Tufts gear is really expensive … it’s one of those things that [levels] the playing field — everyone having Tufts gear,” O’Mara Schwartz said. “When I think of things that I remember about my Tufts experience, T-shirts are one of those things.”

Ultimately, TCU Senate approved the total of $250,600 for TUSC Traditions,

which included the original request of $7,500 for the consumable supplies, with 13 senators in favor, nine opposed and two abstaining.

Additionally, Rapfogel questioned the high cost proposed for the Senior Gala run

by TUSC Senior Events.

“I think we can have another venue that is also quite nice that doesn’t need to be super high with a view of the water,” Rapfogel said. “Fifty-five thousand dollars is a lot of money to spend on a venue.”

However, TCU Senator Grant Gebetsberger, a sophomore, explained how he believed the significant meaning of the event warranted the significant expense.

“I think that it’s worth investing in and not shortchanging those experiences that are to celebrate accomplishments of an entire class,” Gebetsberger said.

Ultimately, the TCU Senate maintained the original TUSC Senior Events budget with 21 senators in favor, none opposed and six abstaining.

Before reviewing the total Council Two budget, a proposed reduction to the TUSC Film Series budget failed that would have reduced showings to one per week, and a small adjustment was made to the budget of Another Option.

TCU Senate approved the total of $895,530 for Council Two with 26 senators in favor and none opposed.

The TCU Senate voted to table further review of the Council Three budget until next week, which includes media and print publications such as the Zamboni and Future Histories literary magazine.

According to Ma, the concerns raised by senators and the lack of reduced budget proposals from some of the student organizations would have led to a lengthy and difficult review of the Council Three budget.

Council Four, which is comprised of religious groups, was ultimately allocated $94,108.50 with 27 senators in favor and none opposed.

TCU Senator Karan Rai, a senior, explained why the total budget for Council four was reduced from last year’s total of $101,584.50.

“Overall, a lot of groups were saying that they got too much money last year and that they didn’t need nearly as much,” Rai said.

Council Five, which is made up of performance groups, was allocated $138,272 with 27 senators in favor and none opposed.

Council Six, which includes both service-based and miscellaneous groups,

was allocated $170,395.55 in total, with 23 senators in favor, two opposed and one abstaining.

Council Seven, which is comprised of pre-professional organizations, was ultimately allocated $42,356.29 with 24 senators in favor, none opposed and one abstaining.

TCU President Jacqueline Chen, a senior, initially objected to the budget of the Tufts Trading Fund, criticizing the club’s history with the Tufts Financial Group (TFG).

“I don’t think it should exist,” Chen said. “It is completely redundant with TFG … it is only here because someone didn’t win president of TFG three years ago.”

The TCU Senate ultimately passed minor adjustments to the Tufts Trading Fund and TFG budgets.

Council Eight, which includes political groups, was allocated a total of $28,045 with 25 senators in favor, none opposed and two abstaining.

TCU Senator Rabiya Ismail, a first-year, explained why the total budget for the council increased over last year’s total.

“A lot of [the student organizations] were groups before; they just weren’t TCU recognized … Now that they’re being funded, the budget went up,” Ismail said.

Council Nine, which focuses on student government, was allocated $227,936.50 with 27 senators in favor and none opposed.

The Council Nine budget includes funding for student leadership stipends, club sports, Hall Councils and SMFA Student Government, as well as TCU Senate, Judiciary and Elections Commission.

The Engineering Council, which includes all engineering organizations such as Society of Women Engineers and Design for Social Good, was approved for a total of $67,543.70. Twenty seven senators were in favor and none in opposition.

In addition to the full budget review, TCU Senate also heard several supplementary funding requests from student organizations.

TURBO, TCU Senate, BlackOut Step Team, Robotics Club, sQ! and the American Society of Civil Engineers requested supplementary funding, and were allocated $260, $220, $176, $766, $435 and $222 respectively.

Rapfogel also announced that applications for faculty-student committees will soon be released, which is earlier than the typical autumn release date.

TCU Senate will reconvene for its final meeting of the spring semester on Monday, April 15.

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Features

Alumni Q&A: Amy Spitalnick Part II

Spring in Copenhagen

Executive Features Editor

Editor’s note: This is a continuation of a two-part Q&A. The first part was published in yesterday’s issue and can be accessed here.

Y

The Alumni Series aims to create a diverse collection of experiences at Tufts through highlighting notable alumni.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Tufts Daily (TD): What did you do after Tufts?

TS: How long were you at J Street and what did you do after?

AS: I was at J Street for almost 3 years as their press secretary. When I was at Tufts, after a conversation with Jeff Berry, my advisor, I decided that the summer between my first-year and sophomore year was the perfect time to get campaign experience. It was a mayoral election year in the city [of New York]. I ended up interning for Anthony Weiner. I was the press intern. That was really how I got into political communications; It was a fantastic opportunity in that on a campaign like that, you really get to do so much and be on the ground in many ways. When I was living in D.C. after graduation, after a few years I felt like it was time for me to move back to New York. Someone I knew from the campaign was then a state senator in New York and was looking for a communications director. So I worked for then-senator Daniel Squadron, who rep-

tuftsdaily.com

Allison Morgenstern Making my (Den)Mark

by Grace Yuh

Amy Spitalnick (AS): So I was very lucky in that I was the last fellow through a program called the Dutko Fellowship that the Tisch College had in collaboration with a Tufts trustee named Deb Jospin for students that wanted to go into public services. So students could basically take a year after graduation and work wherever they wanted to, which is a dream. It was a total dream. Actually, I packed up my car and drove out to New Jersey for a congressional race. It was 2008, … the year that Obama was running. I knew I wanted to go into politics … Getting to be involved in a campaign that same cycle as President Obama was huge. Immediately after that, I packed up my car again and moved to D.C., and through this fellowship, started working at a brand new organization [at the time] called J Street. It was founded to provide a political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans and [to] advocate, particularly given the changing administration, for a peaceful resolution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. I couldn’t have thought of a better intersection of what I studied here, my experiences here, what I studied in Jerusalem. It was politics, it was communications, it was Middle Eastern studies and I felt so lucky to be one of the first staffers at this organization. I highly suggest to people interested in advocacy and politics to do two things.

The first is work on a campaign. Given how small and cash-strapped they are, you often end up getting to do more than you normally would. The second is to work at a small startup nonprofit where, again, you’re one of few staffers and the opportunity to really learn and grow are so much bigger than at a larger organization.

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VIA TWITTER

Amy Spitalnick poses for a picture. resented lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. That was again an opportunity where, in a small office, in a district like that, with so much potential … I really got to sharpen my elbows a bit and learn some of the traditional communications skills that are necessary, especially in New York. After, I took a job at City Hall with the de Blasio administration as spokesperson. I was there for almost three years.

There, I was the communications point on a number of issues like city and state budgets, labor and contracts, which, in a city with 300,000 employees are a big deal, along with environment and climate change, a number of women’s issues and federal affairs. That was a wonderful opportunity and I have such a soft spot for local and state government because right now, it’s where you can make a lot of difference. From there, I went to the New York State Attorney General (AG)’s Office two weeks before the 2016 election. I think we all assumed the election would go one way. What did happen is that the AG’s office became the front lines for fighting a lot of dangerous policies coming out of the Trump White House.

From the first few weeks in January with the travel bans, we were in court within 48 hours if not sooner and beat back the first few iterations of that ban. There were so many other moments, from immigration to women’s healthcare to affordable healthcare to the census. Getting to be involved with those cases and the Trump Foundation lawsuit and the Trump University settlement, there was no better place to be in those first few years. I felt lucky to be able to help protect people’s rights. It also showcased the importance of state and local government. Congress couldn’t do much, so state AGs were the ones who could do the most.

TD: Why do you think political communications is so important?

AS: If no one knows what you’re doing, it often times doesn’t work. So being the person who gets to figure out how to tell those stories to stakeholders

and the public, to people whose lives will be impacted by this is such a fascinating role and I’ve also felt very lucky to do that, to take that great work and then figure out how do we actually communicate it in a way that people understand and that resonates with them.

You learn so much because, really, you are the person translating the wonky politics or the legal theories to regular people. And I would love digging into these complicated policies for cases and figuring out how we’re going to share this. It’s a fantastic thing to get to do.

Right now, in a news environment that is saturated with what the crisis of the second is and a news cycle that is moving so incredibly fast, getting to spend your days trying to focus the media is a really useful thing to do. It’s daunting but it’s also very gratifying.

TD: What was a particularly difficult moment and a particularly rewarding moment you’ve experienced in your career?

AS: Last year, the former AG resigned.

I’m very proud of the way that we came out [of ] that. It was a moment where all the work that we were doing on the federal front in terms of fighting those dangerous policies and protecting people’s rights, could have been harmed.

But instead, working with some of the best people in the business, we moved very quickly to ensure that the Solicitor General Barbara Underwood was the right person to be put in the job for the rest of the term because continuity was so important. Within a couple weeks, the legislature confirmed her as the next attorney general and the first woman attorney general. Getting to sit on the floor of the state assembly at that moment was one of the best moments of my career as a woman who had grown up in New York … But the transition was difficult for everyone there at the time but it also provided an opportunity to move the office forward. It’s often times crises that lead to opportunities like that.

ou’d think that three months into studying abroad I’d be doing fewer touristy things.

While I do feel more like a real city-dweller than I did at the beginning of the semester, I’m still making my way through many more must-sees in Copenhagen. Some things are just now opening up for the spring and summer, so I’ve been trying to check those out.

There really is such an abundance of things to do here, so I never find myself bored.

This weekend, I got to explore some new parts of Copenhagen I haven’t seen yet. This is embarrassing, but it’s taken me this long to see the Little Mermaid statue, which is one of the most touristy things to see in Copenhagen. Well, I finally got to see it, three months in! I had been telling my host family how much I wanted to go see it, so we planned to meet up in the city and walk along the water until we reached the statue. I was warned by all my friends about how “underwhelming” the mermaid would be due to its size and lack of intricate details, but I really liked it. Maybe it’s because “The Little Mermaid” (1989) is one of my favorite movies, or maybe it’s because I wanted to be a mermaid for a large portion of my childhood.

I also got to check out Reffen, the largest food market in Copenhagen that just opened up for the spring. It’s located right by the water, so there is an incredible view to go along with all the delicious food. My friends and I went for dinner, perfectly timing our meal so that we would be there in time to watch the beautiful pink sunset. I even found a vegan Asian food cart, so I got to enjoy my nice dairy-free spring rolls for dinner, even though I ended up just taking a Lactaid pill and eating a crepe anyways — I couldn’t resist!

Flowers are another thing I love about spring. Everything is starting to bloom, including dozens of cherry blossom trees located in a large cemetery 20 minutes from the city center. Because cherry blossoms only bloom for a short amount of time, tons of people flock to the cemetery to see the dainty pink flowers. Of course, I had to join them.

I’m not the biggest fan of huge crowds, mostly because I don’t like when people walk too slowly, but it was worth going with the flow to see such a pretty area.

To finish off a great weekend, my host family took me to get ice cream, walk along the beach and explore an old fortress. The weather was perfect — a little crisp outside, but sunny enough to stay warm — and we got to see so many cute dogs.

I’m looking forward to what these last five weeks have in store. I’ve decided to rent a bike for the rest of my time here, so stay tuned to see how I learn to ride a bike in the city without getting run over — hopefully.

Allie Morgenstern is a junior studying child study and human development. Allie can be reached at allison.morgenstern@tufts.edu.

4 Tuesday, April 9, 2019

ARTS&LIVING

Tuna Margalit Review Rewind

T

‘Swingers’

he Movie: “Swingers” The Year: 1996 The People: Jon Favreau as the recent dumpee Mike; Vince Vaughn as the womanizing Trent; Ron Livingston as Mike’s go-to friend for therapeutic relief, Rob; Patrick Van Horn as the easily angered Sue; and Heather Graham as the beautiful woman Mike meets at the end of the film, Lorraine.

The Non-Revealing Plot: Small-time comedian Mike is living in Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a successful actor. He spends his nights (and some of his days) cooped up in his shoddy apartment reminiscing about his recently-ended relationship with his ex, Michelle, who’s living in New York. Mike’s friends try to cheer him up by taking him to Las Vegas and various nightlife destinations in Los Angeles, with the ultimate goal being to get their friend to forget his ex and move on to a new romantic interest. The entirety of the film consists of Mike grappling with post-breakup sadness and longing while simultaneously trying to start anew, with more failures than successes.

Unofficial Genre: This film is a dramedy, with the two genres present in equal abundance.

My Opinion (Emotional): This film did a good job of creating real and relatable characters. Mike always felt like a genuine character (save for one voice-message-involving scene that was quite cartoonish and off-putting), whereas Trent, for most of the film, serves merely as a Tyler Durden-type character. Trent gives Mike advice, but when Mike fails to adhere, Trent shows him the correct way to do it. That being said, the film doesn’t treat any one of its main characters as all-knowing beings who offer perfect advice and make perfect choices. There’s a scene towards the end where even the boisterous and confident Trent is humbled by the realization that he mistakenly believed he had caught the eye of a woman a few tables down.

In reality, she was waving and responding to her baby who Trent couldn’t see until she picked the baby up. The whole movie we see Trent as this suave, successful guy, but the movie adds this scene to demonstrate that even though someone is admired, they are able to fail. That’s what impressed me about this movie and helped me emotionally connect well to the characters — they were clearly people striving to be the best that they could, and the movie did not unrealistically portray them as perfect.

My Opinion (Technical): Aside from the last two scenes of the movie, which were extremely impressive for their dialogue and acting, the technical aspects of this film were somewhat disappointing. This film was made with a miniscule budget of $200,000, so the low-stakes settings and storyline made sense and were adequately executed. However, I’m not a fan of montage shots of settings in movies, and there were quite a few of them.

Not including two shots that were tonguein-cheek references to famous shots from “Goodfellas” (1990) and “Reservoir Dogs” (1992), the camerawork was uninteresting and sometimes just poor.

Overall Rating: For its good characters, great final scenes, boring storyline and bad visual aspects, I’d give this film a 6.8/10.

If You Like This, You’ll Also Like…: “Reservoir Dogs” (1992) and “I Love You, Man” (2009).

Tuna Margalit is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Tuna can be reached at yonatan.margalit@tufts.edu.

tuftsdaily.com

‘Unicorn Store’ is a quirky, glittery directorial debut for Larson

COURTESY OF IGN

A scene from ‘Unicorn Store’ featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson is pictured.

by Christopher Panella Arts Editor

Nearly two years after its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, Brie Larson’s directorial debut “Unicorn Store” (2017) officially hit Netflix for everyone to see and enjoy. It’s a colorful debut, full of bright paint and plenty of shiny spectacle. And those sparkles aren’t just for show. At its heart, “Unicorn Store” is a flawed story with plenty of love, weirdness and honesty.

Early on in “Unicorn Store,” Samuel L. Jackson’s magical and mysterious character The Salesman tells Kit (Brie Larson) that in order for him to bring a unicorn to The Store, she needs to be “the right sort of girl.” This phrase hangs over the entire 92-minute run of “Unicorn Store,” pushing a desperate Kit to do whatever it takes to get her unicorn. The unicorn is, of course, a metaphor, but also a real, living and breathing animal.

Kit, after flunking out of art school, moves back in with her parents. She sees her childhood bedroom transformed into a home gym and finds many of her glittery rainbow decorations and stuffed animals packed away. She struggles to adapt to being an almost 30-year-old with nowhere to go. It’s a story that feels increasingly common: a protagonist nearing an age that should be full of milestones — marriage, mortgage, good job — but finding she has nothing to call

her own. Enter the unicorn.

Surrounded by parents who think she’s crazy (played by the absolutely perfect duo Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford), a boss whose weird advances are practically sexual harassment and Virgil (Mamoudou Athie), a hardware store worker who she develops a strange romance with, Kit seems suffocated for most of “Unicorn Store.”

There’s certainly heartfelt moments and it’s great to see Kit own her glittery self at the film’s climax — a vacuum ad presentation in front of the company’s board where she dumps about 10 pounds of glitter all over the conference room — but Kit spends much of “Unicorn Store” looking for a way to run away from it all. She’s seemingly desperate to succeed while also longing to return to her younger days, when it was acceptable to run around in princess costumes and only consume pizza and soda.

“Unicorn Store” isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. Kit struggles with real problems, real sadness and deep loneliness that feels relatable and understandable. It’s through these struggles that Kit learns how to become an adult while still remaining a kid at heart. By the film’s ending, in which Kit meets her unicorn and gives her up to another woman, there is a sense that Kit has accepted that her childhood is over, while not giving up what makes her who she is.

It’s a weird, quirky, almost unexpected directorial debut for Larson. There’s much to praise about “Unicorn Store,” and it’s

nice to feel that Larson had a vision for the story she was telling, but the film’s still flawed. “Unicorn Store” is too concise for its own good. By the ending, there’s a real feeling that there’s still more to Kit’s story. Perhaps an epilogue scene where Kit opens her own arts store or sells things on Etsy — both feel so on-brand for her — would give the story more closure. Kit’s parents also deserved a little more attention, and a wrap-up on Kit’s time as a temporary worker under her terrible boss would’ve been satisfying.

There is more to “Unicorn Store” than audiences get, and there’s probably parts of “Unicorn Store” audiences don’t understand. The film’s script lacks as much luster as Larson puts into the role. There are jokes that don’t hit, characters that don’t need to exist — like Crystal and Sabrina, the two bland company workers that gossip in the break room — and moments where “Unicorn Store” just falls flat. Sure, the subplot of Kit’s parents loving her childhood friend Kevin (Karan Soni) for having a job is funny, but it runs far too long.

The Salesman’s comment about Kit needing to be “the right kind of girl” applies to “Unicorn Store.” It needs to be the right kind of movie, which can be said for many of its parts. And sure, it has its missteps, its moments where its whimsical nature just doesn’t feel authentic, but it’s still a refreshing watch. It’s still a film that deserves love for its honesty, for its absurdity and for its creativity.

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Tuesday, April 9, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

F &G FUN & GAMES

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY David: “For me, carrying racks from the liquor store to my house is a full-body workout.”

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Difficulty Level: Watching the temperature dip below 40 degrees again.

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Noah Mills Spaceship Earth

Communities and the climate

Opinion

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

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hen following national climate news, it can be extremely exciting to read articles about progress being made, and feel like real change is happening and that there is hope for the future. However, when bad news arises, it’s also easy to get demoralized. With a truly global catastrophe such as climate change, it often feels like nothing we do individually matters, and that with Trump in office, we are all doomed.

However, outside of legislation, the reality is that all change happens on the local level.

There are no national solar panels that are built when legislation requiring more solar panels to be built is passed. There are only local solar panels that contribute to national trends. Climate movements like the Sunrise Movement, US Youth Climate Strikes, Extinction Rebellion and Earth Strike are comprised of individual chapters that work to make local change. Without individual members taking action together, there would be no national headlines. There’s no magical national force that is working to stop greenhouse gases from being pumped into the atmosphere. Instead, there are small groups of people who come together to block pipelines, train tracks and coal barges. Individuals taking radical action for the causes they care about create the change that leads to global trends.

This means all of us have a part to play in tackling the problems created by climate change. When we work to improve our local communities, we are doing the fundamental labor critical to preventing climate catastrophes. When you go to help clean up a local park, protest against companies in your area that are pollute our environment or visit your representatives to do things like create subsidies for solar panels, you are taking the necessary steps to prevent climate change.

When you take action, and those around you take action, eventually the problem will be fixed, and although one community alone isn’t enough to stop the sea levels from rising, one community with many others all fixing their own problems truly does make an impact.

In the end, the critical aspect of this movement is to remain hopeful and active.

Trump doing things like pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord does not mean that we should stop working to make our communities greener. Perhaps it means a loss of funding for some efforts, which is, of course, a problem (and a reason why you should still vote), but it is by no means a death sentence for climate movements. Thinking locally, the reality of change and how it can impact individuals in our community becomes clear when we look at collective efforts like the struggles of the Tufts Dining workers. Through community action and individuals working together to demand a fair contract, it eventually became a reality. When we fight against climate change we must think the same way. We are fighting not only within our communities but also for the members of our communities. And as it was often chanted in support of the dining workers’ contract, “when we fight, we win!”

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Noah Mills is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Noah can be reached at noah.mills@tufts.edu.

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Sports

Tuesday, April 9, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Jumbos win 7 events, take 2nd at MIT MEN'S TRACK & FIELD

MADELEINE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY

First-year Joseph Harmon, sophomore Patrick Nero and senior Dylan Jones compete in the 10k race at the Snowflake Classic on March 30.

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continued from back page For Wallace, reaching a PR was especially meaningful, since his last one was nearly a year ago.

“When you have a really good day it reminds you that you are getting better,” Wallace said.

The team used the day’s prime outdoor conditions and the competition’s small size to its advantage. Wallace explained that while the first outdoor meet in the area is typically in the 40s and raining, the meet at MIT had low winds and weather in the 60s. The weather, coupled with the small size of the meet, allowed Tufts to hone in on its skills.

“In a shorter meet, there are multiple guys in each heat, which allows us to focus in on individual performances,” senior co-captain Tommy Miller said.

Next weekend, the team travels to Conn.

College to compete in the Silfen Invitational.

At this point in the season, the team isn’t solely focused on picking up victories. A team goal for the Silfen Invitational is to continue to bring high-energy, fine-tune performances and focus on improving consistency.

“All we’re focused on is having the best individual performances that we can,” Miller said. “We’re trying to do the best we can individually, so by the time the points matter, we will be well prepared.”

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Sports

No. 7 women’s tennis dominates NESCAC play over weekend

EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Sophomore Kiara Rose volleys a shot at the MIT Invitational on Sept. 16, 2017.

by Julia Atkins

Assistant Sports Editor

Tufts women’s tennis had a busy weekend, facing off against the No. 1 team in the nation, Emory, at home on Friday, and then competing in back-to-back matches against Bates and Colby on the road. The top-ranked Eagles took a 6–3 victory home with them, but the Jumbos came back in full force the 9–0 victory over the Bobcats and a 7–2 victory over the Mules.

“It was a very busy weekend,” first-year Maggie Dorr said. “So many great things came of it, and we’re progressing as a team.”

At the tail end of the double-header weekend, Tufts traveled to Waterville, Maine to compete against Colby. The Jumbos’ doubles pairings were on fire, and they completely swept the Mules. Dorr and first-year Caroline Garrido, senior Tomo Iwasaki and sophomore Patricia Obeid and junior Kat Wiley and firstyear Anna Lowy all earned victories to propel the Jumbos to a 3–0 lead.

Tufts continued to dominate in singles matches. Colby earned its first point of the day with first-year Carly Levitz’s win over Dorr.

Levitz is also the Mules’ No. 1 player and ranked No. 29 in the nation. Iwasaki, Obeid and sophomore Kiara Rose all won in two sets to give Tufts a 5–1 lead, squashing any hopes of a Colby comeback. Wiley continued the two-set win streak, losing only two sets in her No. 5 singles match with a 6–1, 6–1 victory over junior Jessica Tsai to secure the win for the Jumbos. Colby earned their last point in No. 6 singles to make the final score a 7–2 Tufts win in the last match of the day.

Earlier that day, Tufts was in Lewiston, Maine, competing against Bates. The Jumbos dispatched the Bobcats with ease, coasting to an impressive 9–0 victory. Dorr, Iwasaki, Obeid and Garrido all recorded wins in both singles and doubles for the Jumbos. Obeid’s No. 3 singles match went into a third set, winning 4–6, 6–3 and 10–3 against first-year Anna Rozin.

Tufts first-years Nicole Frankel and Rose won two other tiebreaker matches in fifth and sixth singles, respectively.

“At Bates, we fought really hard,” Dorr said.

“Our confidence definitely showed and we were all very proud of how the team performed.”

On Friday, Tufts matched up against topranked Emory at Winchester Tennis Club. Dorr

and Garrido grabbed an 8–4 win against sophomores Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico and Defne Olcay for No. 1 doubles, but the Eagles took home the majority of the other matches.

Nonetheless, the Jumbos claimed the final two games of the day, with Iwasaki’s three-set (7–5, 3–6, 10–7) victory over Olcay and Rose’s three-set tiebreak (7–5, 4–6, 14–12) win over sophomore Stephanie Taylor.

“We played really well against Emory,” Dorr said. “We all had really close matches and gave it our all. The score may have been 6–3, but it was a lot closer in reality … We can definitely get them next time.”

After winning two out of their three matches this past weekend, the Jumbos now stand at No. 7 in Div. III NCAA, with a 5–5 overall record and 4–2 conference record, representative of the NESCAC’s competitive nature. The team has yet to win a home match, but Tufts has an opportunity to change that when they face Brandeis in Medford on Thursday, April 11.

“Our overall goal is to just keep getting better as a team and in our confidence in each other and on the court,” Dorr said. “I think we’re all really looking forward to what this team can do by the end of the season.”

Men’s track and field impresses at MIT Quad Meet

by Helen Thomas-McLean Assistant Sports Editor

On Saturday, April 6, Tufts competed against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT ), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Bates in a quad meet hosted at MIT. The Jumbos amassed an impressive 185 points at the meet, finishing a close second place behind MIT (190.5). The team reached many personal and season bests, setting the stage for future success in the outdoor season.

Coming off of the success at the Snowflake Classic, the first home meet of the outdoor season, the team carried its momentum into the MIT meet. Tufts claimed victory in the 100-meter finals, with senior Brandon Levenstein coming in first with a time of 11.11. At his heels was junior Jordan Abate who came in second with a career-best 11.17.

First-year Nick Delaney led the pack in the 800-meter race, coming in first with a personal best 1:56.77. Also representing the Class of 2022 was firstyear decathlete Ben Stein, who competed in four events and obtained PRs in the long jump, 110-meter hurdles and javelin throw. First-year Neerav Gade ran a season-best 15:31.16 in the 5k, placing 10th out of 36 competitors.

Tufts excelled in both the 4×100 and 4×400 relay events, coming in first and second place, respectively. The 4×100 team of Levenstein, junior Jordan Abate, senior Anthony Kardonsky and sophomore OJ Armstrong finished in 43.08. In the 4×400, junior Billy Witrock, Delaney, first-year Sam Oomen-Lochtefeld and senior Tom Doyle posted a 3:25.54 time.

Senior Josh Etkind won the men’s 110meter hurdles, finishing in a season-best time of 14.66 seconds, good for a No. 6 national ranking.

Tufts impressed in the throwing events, with senior Henry Hintermeister taking first place in the javelin throw with a season-best and No. 20 nationally ranked 187’0”, and junior Kevin Quisumbing winning the shot put with a 49’3¾” heave.

In the pole vault competition, senior co-captain Benji Wallace came in first place with a 15’9” height, topping his career best by an astounding four inches. Sophomore Daeseob Lim also hit a career-high height, coming in fifth with 14’1¼”. Wallace’s 15’9” finish is currently ranked No. 9 in Div. III outdoor field events for 2019.

The team rallied behind the pole vault, cheering on Wallace and Lim from the sidelines.

“The pole vault had a lot of energy,” Wallace said. “It was awesome, I absolutely loved having that many spectators going nuts when you clear a bar.” see MEN'S TRACK & FIELD, page 7

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Sam Weidner Weidner's Words

Pierce vs. Wade

S

aturday marked a day in NBA Twitter that no one saw coming.

If you were scrolling through the thread at all, you had to have noticed a weird theme in all the tweets. Saturday was the day that the entirety of Twitter turned on Paul Pierce.

It started this past week when Pierce was asked on ESPN who he thought had a better career between him and Dwyane Wade, and without any hesitation, Pierce said himself.

“That’s easy,” Pierce said. “I could say that off the bat — that’s me. If you give me Shaq, if you give me LeBron, if you give me these guys early in my career … when I was 24 years old, you give me Shaq, when I was 25, give me LeBron …

I’d be sitting on five or six championships, easy. I played 10 years with who?

With who?”

After this statement, Pierce had to sit on a talk show on ESPN live television while Jalen Rose seemed to list every stat he could find to prove that Wade in fact had a better career. Pierce has fewer AllNBA selections, fewer points per game, fewer championships and fewer AllDefensive team selections. To be fair, it could just as easily be flipped with other stats to say that Pierce has more total points, more total rebounds and a higher true shooting percentage, but that isn’t the narrative that Rose wanted to tell.

Fans across Twitter and other social media platforms attacked Pierce. Wade’s son Zaire Wade came to his dad’s defense with an Instagram story, and Wade’s wife Gabrielle Union spoke out with a tweet, seemingly making the comments more serious than they were. It was an onslaught of attacks that made you hope Pierce doesn’t actually go on Twitter.

Before anything else, I’ll just say that Dwyane Wade is definitely better than Paul Pierce, but why do people expect Pierce to say anything else when asked who is better between them? He is an all-time Celtics legend who won a championship for Boston in 2008 and definitely deserves to have confidence and pride in his own legacy. This situation was just about Pierce having confidence in his own game, but people have turned on him faster and more aggressively than they turn on athletes that face allegations of domestic violence or other crimes.

Union’s tweet said that Pierce’s comments were wrong and troublesome because they were trying to “diminish” Wade so that Pierce could shine brighter, but the comments weren’t that serious. We debate player legacies constantly; you almost can’t go a week without seeing something about LeBron James and Michael Jordan on Bleacher Report.

There shouldn’t be an issue with Pierce saying he is better than Wade. Pierce didn’t even bring the topic up on his own — he was prompted to speak about it.

There are plenty of stories in the sports world, so things like this shouldn’t be what motivate and wanger people above anything else.

Sam Weidner is a junior studying mathematics. Sam can be reached at samuel. weidner@tufts.edu.