Rain 57/50
THE TUFTS DAILY
TUFTSDAILY.COM
Thursday, October 23, 2014
VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 31
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
Mukherjee calls for compassion in Jonathan Franzen fight against Ebola speaks on career, life by Denali Tietjen Daily Editorial Board
Tufts community members gathered yesterday evening for a public lecture and interdisciplinary discussion of the Ebola virus and its recent outbreak in West Africa. The event, titled “Ebola Outbreak: Causes and Consequences at a Global Scale,” was part of a series of One Health events on Ebola and took place in Cohen Auditorium. “[The Ebola crisis] is clearly something that requires the attention of people who work in the sciences, but it also requires the attention of people who work in the social sciences,” Provost and Senior Vice President David Harris said in his opening remarks. Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer of Partners in Health, began the event with a keynote lecture on the medical and health implications of the outbreak. “This is not just about health. This is about society. This is about human dignity. This is about human rights,” Mukherjee said. “We are wrong if we look at it just from a medical lens.” She started the discussion by listing African cities that have been heavily affected by Ebola to reiterate the interconnected nature of global health. “These are small, forgotten places around the planet, yet I find it very important to remember these names because it reminds us that health anywhere effects health everywhere,” Mukherjee said. “If we don’t feel that we are connected to these places then we will make
gross systematic errors and that is what Ebola represents to us at Partners in Health.” Mukherjee gave a brief overview of the history of Ebola, beginning with the first recorded Ebola outbreak in 1976. This deathly outbreak was largely dismissed as a “controlled” epidemic because it didn’t spread far geographically, even though it had only 38 survivors. “I don’t know how anyone can look at an epidemic with only 38 survivors and call it controlled. Just because it doesn’t reach us doesn’t mean it’s controlled,”
Mukherjee said. “This epidemic is very, very different.” As of Oct. 14 there have been 4,555 recorded deaths from Ebola, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the actual death toll is actually about three times that when accounting for unrecorded deaths, according to Mukherjee. She underscored the notable proportion of health care workers that have died from the disease to show how the lack of protection of health workers is see EBOLA, page 2
harry paul / Tufts Daily
Chief Medical Officer of Partners in Health Joia Mukherjee speaks about Ebola yesterday as part of Tufts’ One Health series.
by Patrick McGrath Daily Editorial Board
Jonathan Franzen, awardwinning American writer, presented a lecture titled “Storytelling and the Modern World,” to the Tufts community last night. The lecture, which detailed his career, was sponsored by the Center for the Humanities at Tufts (CHAT). Franzen, best known for his 2001 novel “The Corrections” — the winner of a National Book Award, a James Tait Black Memorial Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — has been recognized for his work as a novelist and essayist. Director of CHAT Jonathan Wilson introduced Franzen and underscored the enduring importance of the issues Franzen covers in his work. Franzen began by explaining that he would conduct the lecture by asking himself questions that are mostly challenging and that he does not get asked during his time doing interviews. “I’ve had to do a lot of interviews in the past 15 years — it’s kind of what you do as a writer,” he noted. The first question Franzen proposed asked him about his favorite joke.
by Greta Jochem Daily Staff Writer
Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) will host the fourth annual National SJP Conference this weekend, from Oct. 24 to Oct. 26. The conference, titled “Beyond Solidarity: Resisting Racism and Colonialism From the U.S. to Palestine,” is expected to draw 515 participants, including 411 non-Tufts SJP members. Fifty Tufts SJP students, alumni and students from SJP allied groups are also planning to attend, according to Hannah Freedman, SJP media co-coordinator. Freedman, a junior, said the conference will focus on “understanding how the dynamics that are causing and upholding the current occupation in Palestine are being replicated all over the world.” This year’s conference will include several speakers, workshops and open events.
Saturday’s programming will focus on building participants’ knowledge about the topic, with workshops like “Environmental Justice: Water Rights from Hawaii to Detroit to Palestine” and “The Struggle for Academic Freedom on Palestine on College Campuses,” according to SJP member Munir Atalla. Sunday is about “taking the theoretical knowledge from the first day and applying it to pragmatic, practical skills to better organize on campuses and build a movement,” with sessions like “False Claims of Antisemitism: How to effectively respond” and “Best Practices: How to Do Divestment and Deal with Backlash,” Atalla added. These workshops and sessions will be open only to registered SJP students, alumni and students from select allied groups, according to Atalla. “It’s really important for the student Palestine Solidarity
Movement to have its own space to organize,’” Freedman said. “Often, on campuses across the country, basically anytime people are speaking outside of the dominant narrative, people are being challenged. While some of that is legitimate, it often means that the student Palestine Solidarity Movement is on the defense and can’t ever organize for itself.” Some events will be open to the public. Keynote speakers include activists and academics who will speak on Friday at 5:45 p.m., Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 3:45 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium. In addition, on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m., there will be a “Night of Freedom” open to the public and featuring Palestinian music, art, dance, as well hiphop and spoken word poetry performances.
Inside this issue
see SJP, page 2
see FRANZEN, page 2
Student groups gather for Sustainability Week by Gabriella Zoia Contributing Writer
SJP National Conference to take place at Tufts this weekend
“No one has ever asked me this question,” he said, and proceeded to tell the joke to the audience. Next, Franzen asked himself about his own religious views, explaining first that he grew up attending a “nice liberal Protestant church in the Midwest” and was involved in Christian fellowship for six years until graduating high school. He explained that after starting college, he became increasingly interested in literature and later began writing. “Little by little, all of that energy from my youth got poured into the idea that literature could be my religion,” he said. Franzen underscored the link between personal development in religion and his motivations for becoming a writer. “Writing turned out to be a wonderful vehicle for personal growth,” he said. During his time studying literature, he highlighted Flannery O’Connor and Fyodor Dostoevsky as notable inspirations, given their writing of what he called “religious art.” Franzen then spoke about the role that religion plays in human life, noting its importance in helping to make sense of human
Student organizations from across campus came together to present Sustainability Week from Oct. 14 to Oct. 17 as part of the new Extended Orientation initiative.The theme of the week was food waste. The week featured five different events, including a presentation by the Beehive Design Collective, a panel from the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a Sustainability Dinner at DewickMacPhie Dining Hall, a film screening of “Food Inc.”(2008) and an Environmental Activities Fair, in which all sustainabilityrelated organizations held booths for first-years to learn more about their work on campus. Extended Orientation is a sixweek program that focuses on different themes each week in order to allow first-year students to learn about various important issues on the Tufts campus, according to Tina Woolston, director of the Office of Sustainability (OOS). Although sustainability has been a part of orientation in the past, this full week of events allowed students to explore more sustainabilityrelated topics, Woolston added.
“I am thrilled by the opportunity to talk to incoming students, especially because they used to run [sustainability] as a voluntary event during orientation, but this seemed like a better option because of greater exposure,” she said. “Sustainability doesn’t only cover the environment, but also includes social, [judicial and financial] sustainability, as they cannot occur independently of each other.” Tufts Sustainability Collective (TSC) co-directors, sophomores Shelby Luce and Rafael de la Puente, discussed their role in developing Sustainability Week. “For Sustainability Week, Shelby and I met many times with people in the OOS and with the people who were in charge of Extended Freshman Orientation,” de la Puente told the Daily in an email. “We then brought up the project in our TSC weekly club meeting and decided upon a theme for [Sustainability] Week: food waste.” Hannah Freedman, a sophomore, organized last Tuesday’s kick-off event — a presentation by the Beehive Design Collective. She explained that see SUSTAINABILITY , page 2
Today’s sections
‘Orchids to Octupi’ delves into links between science and art.
Women’s soccer team scores three goals to tie UMass Boston.
see WEEKENDER page 5
see SPORTS, back
News 1 Features 3 Weekender 5 Editorial | Op-Ed 8
Op-Ed 9 Comics 10 Classifieds 11 Sports Back
2
The Tufts Daily
Thursday, October 23, 2014
News
Franzen speaks about experience as a writer
FRANZEN
continued from page 2
existence and death. “I think we’re kind of built for religion, because life is just crazy — you exist and then you don’t exist, and you didn’t exist before, and there’s just no way of making any sense of that,” he said. Religion also can bring a sense of duty and hope to one’s life, as well as some sense of meaning, according to Franzen. “Yes, I am a religious person,” he finally concluded. Franzen’s third question concerned the role that envy and competition have played in his life as a writer. “To be a writer is to be envious I think,” he said. ”Somebody always has what you’re not getting.” He explained that he wrote his first novel in his early 20s living in Somerville, when he first began to feel envy for other writers, a feeling he had not experienced in college. He said that he first began to envy his contemporaries who had received some attention, noting that the targets of this envy changed as his work began to be published.
Franzen underscored that the sense of hatred that arrives with envy “comes with moral judgment attached,” explaining that he looked to find the negative traits of writers whom he envied. As an example, he spoke about his friendship with author David Foster Wallace, explaining that their friendship and competition helped allay his sense of envy. “I think competition is good, actually, and competition with David particularly sustained me,” Franzen said. In his next question, he asked about his worst experiences on book tours, describing a number of circumstances giving book readings across the United States and his “glaring lack of media training.” Another question Franzen asked himself was about how he has changed due to fame. “I’m trying really hard not to be changed at all,” he said. Franzen also analyzed fiction’s role in literature today. “The primary purpose of fiction is not to represent, it’s not necessarily to empathize, it’s certainly not to make the world a
better place,” he said. “I think the primary purpose of fiction is to entertain.” Franzen questioned whether it is fair to generalize his experiences or problems to the general public, but said that he knows what is like to be afraid of getting sick or to be afraid of dying. “These things are really universal, and they cut across everything,” he explained. His next question dealt with things he has said publicly and wished he hadn’t, and things he wished he had said but didn’t. “It’s a small exaggeration only to say I became a writer because I could never say in the moment the thing that needed to be said,” Franzen explained. His final question concerned a piece he has published that he wishes he hadn’t. He spoke about an event that for him was particularly difficult — an essay he ran in The New Yorker about a traumatic childhood experience. The event was followed by a question and answer session open to the public and a book signing opportunity.
Harry Paul / the Tufts Daily
Author Jonathan Franzen speaks about his career in Cabot Auditorium.
Tufts hosts discussion on Ebola outbreak in West Africa
EBOLA
continued from page 1
advancing the outbreak. “Five percent of deaths have been among health workers, many of whom were local nationals who did not have proper protective gear,” Mukherjee said. “A lot of clinics are closing because of Ebola … not just because health workers are dying, but they’re also afraid.” Mukherjee also highlighted the gendered spread of the disease. “Seventy-five percent of Ebola victims have been women,” she said. “Why do you think that is? They’re the caretakers. They’re the ones who care for the sick.”
Mukherjee criticized the approach international aid organizations have taken toward educating West African citizens on the Ebola epidemic. She referenced specifically one United Nations Children’s Fund poster that advised ‘don’t touch Ebola patients,’ ‘don’t play with gorillas’ and ‘don’t eat bush meat,’ advice she believed to be unrealistic, insensitive and racially-rooted. “If you are a wife, if you are a mother, if you are a sister, you are going to care for your sick family member,” Mukherjee said. She encouraged organizations and governments to instead shift their attention toward provid-
Sustainability Week features activities fair
SUSTAINABILITY
continued from page 1
the Beehive Design Collective, a volunteer-based activist arts collective, uses art to educate people about current global issues. Its new piece, called “Mesoamérica Resiste,” relates to economic imperialism and resource extraction in Latin America. “The presentation walked us through the pieces, each section telling a specific story of the complex problem and the myriad of ways that communities are organizing through resilience and equity,” Freedman told the Daily in an email. She added that the presentation raised questions about Tufts’ responsibility in these movements. “The conversation was talking about resistance movements against huge international institutions like the [International Monetary Fund] or against the effects of [the North American Free Trade Agreement], and, towards the end, shifted towards the responsibility that Tufts as a large institution has in these conversations,” Freedman said. “Tufts is, in many ways, complicit financially in unsustainable and inequitable practices that relate to these global issues and it was great to be able to talk about them, especially with new freshmen who were present.” To conclude the week, the TSC organized the activity fair for relevant organizations look-
ing to reach out to first-years. “It was a great opportunity for the organizations themselves to talk to each other and develop cross-cutting ideas for events and initiatives,” Woolston said. Tufts Eco-Reps had a booth at the TSC event, in which they hosted a jeopardy game about sustainability on campus and welcomed first-years to learn more about how they could get involved. Ellie Doyle, an EcoRep in Carmichael Hall, discussed the importance of the Eco-Rep program to her. “[The Eco-Rep position] allowed me to talk about sustainability with my peers and have a concrete impact,” Doyle, a sophomore said. “Students are more likely to listen to other students, and if done right, EcoReps can have a huge impact on other students’ habits and behaviors.” Eco-Reps also work to maintain sustainable activities throughout the year, hosting a meatless meal at Dewick on a weekly basis, for instance, she added. De la Puente said that he was happy with the event’s overall outcome. “All of our members, old and new, have put a lot of effort and enthusiasm into this project. This is the first time Sustainability Week [has] happen[ed] at Tufts, so there is obviously a lot of room for improvement and innovation that we hope to see for next year’s Sustainability Week,” he said.
ing resources such as protective gear for people caring for family members at home, hiring community health workers and approaching the epidemic with a face of compassion and solidarity rather than forcible isolation. “We have to set up a system in which people don’t have [to care for them at home],” Mukherjee said. “We can’t just tell people to avoid people with Ebola.” Mukherjee also said that the media’s coverage of the Ebola crisis is both misinformed and exoticized. Media stories have disproportionately focused on the role of African funeral ritual in the spread of Ebola, yet prepa-
ration of the body for afterlife is not unique to African cultures. Virtually every culture prepares the body for the afterlife, she explained. “Exoticizing Africans and funerals and poor people is the wrong message,” Mukherjee said. “Really the causes of this epidemic are much simpler. It’s about structural challenges and basic human rights.” Mukherjee reiterated throughout the lecture that the need for improved health infrastructure and the need for attention to human rights in West Africa extends beyond the current Ebola crisis but is a deeply rooted
structural issue. The lecture was followed by a panel discussion on the environmental, economic, animal health and data collection aspects of the virus with Associate Professor of Economics Margaret McMillan, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Elena Naumova, Associate Professor of Anthropology Rosalind Shaw and Research Assistant Professor of Conservation Medicine at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine Christopher Whittier. The event ended with a question and answer session open to the audience.
Tufts will host range of events for annual National SJP Conference
SJP
continued from page 1
“We want this conference to be a campus-wide event,” Atalla said. “So all of these great resources that we are bringing to campus can be fully enjoyed and appreciated by [the] Tufts community.” According to Freedman, Tufts SJP applied to host the conference over the summer, and the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) confirmed Tufts as the host in August. “It’s reflective of what a strong chapter of SJP that Tufts has,” Atalla said. “It’s pretty exciting to be chosen for the conference because it means that Tufts is at
the forefront of the movement.” He added that Tufts SJP has been working with the NSJP to plan programs, speakers and events throughout the year. In addition, clubs at both Harvard University and Northeastern University are helping to cohost and organize conference events. From Stanford University to the University of Florida, the conference will draw students from schools all over the country, Freedman said. On their GoFundMe page, Tufts SJP has raised over $3,000 to support travel for students from other schools. “We’ve tried to get free hous-
ing for everyone, which of course makes the conference more accessible,” Freedman said. According to Atalla, most of the students will be staying with Tufts students in dorms or offcampus houses, but with help from a pro-Palestine network in Boston, visiting students will also being staying in Cambridge, Medford, Somerville and downtown Boston. “We are all here to learn … there are all sorts of people coming from movements we respect, so we are mostly going to learn from each other,” junior Leah Muskin-Pierret, SJP conference logistics point person, said.
Tufts Mock Trial competes at Penn State Last weekend Tufts Mock Trial (TMT) sent two teams to compete at Pennsylvania State University’s seventh annual Happy Valley Invitational Tournament in State College, Pa. Team Kurland, led by senior Anna Lyons and junior Katie Grosch, took third place out of the 26 competing teams with a record of six wins and two losses, according to TMT External Affairs Officer Eve Feldberg. Team Sokol, led by senior Nick Teleky and junior Will Lorenzen, finished with a record of four wins and four losses, according to Feldberg, a sophomore. Team Sokol also earned a
win against American University, which went on to win first place in the tournament. Team Sokol also faced teams from the University of North Carolina, the University of Georgia and Johns Hopkins University. Team Kurland faced teams from Drexel University, Elon University, the University of Maryland and the University of Georgia. Senior Claire Parsons won an 18 rank award for her role as a plaintiff attorney, and firstyear Kelsey Ames won a 17 rank award for her role as a witness on the defense, Feldberg said.
Both teams were comprised of students of varying levels of seniority and experience, from first-years with no mock trial experience to seniors who are nationally ranked, Feldberg said. Lyons said she believes Tufts’ teams worked hard and performed well at the tournament. “We have a variety of different skill levels on every team, so I’m extremely proud of whatever we were able to do last weekend,” she said.
—by Audrey Michael
Features
3
tuftsdaily.com
Miranda Willson | Ecofeminism for All
Zapatistas, free trade and patriarchy n my Intro to International Relations class, I
I
Melody Ko / Tufts University
Karen Panetta’s “Nerd Girls” program works on various projects, including designing solar power systems for light houses on Thatcher Island, off the coast of Rockport.
Nerd Girls encourages women in STEM by Yennie Jun
Contributing Writer
Historically, women have been less involved in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) than men. Though it may be a problem deeply rooted in society, there has been a recent push to change this imbalance and encourage women to enter and participate in previously male-dominated fields. Karen Panetta, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts, is one of those involved in this movement. In 2000, Panetta created a program at Tufts called Nerd Girls, which aims to empower and encourage women and girls from all around the world to study these STEM subjects. Since then, Nerd Girls has spread globally. Panetta came to Tufts in 1994 as the first woman in the Electrical Engineering Department. She noticed that there were many female students who were engineers and also marathon runners, musicians, writers or dancers. “I thought it would be really cool if younger girls could see that these girls are well-rounded and great engineers as well,” Panetta said. “I noticed that a lot of girls would drop out of engineering because they didn’t think they were good enough.” She began the program to create a group of engineers who could act as role models for younger girls and boost their interest in STEM subjects as well as their overall confidence. Nerd Girls’ first project was the creation of a solar car, which was a novelty since Tufts had no renewable energy projects at that time. Since then, Nerd Girls, through Panetta’s tutelage, has done many community-based projects. “The real part [of Nerd Girls] is building research skills for girls and young women,” Panetta said. “And it doesn’t matter if they don’t become engineers — what matters is showing them that no matter what they do, the engineering and science background helps them use their imagination, and brings people and technology together to help humanity.” Alice Lee, a senior majoring in computer engineering, said that she is the only female computer engineer in her graduating class. She is one of four female students in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments in the Class of 2015. Lee’s situation is not rare. According to a Sept. 30 article in Bizwomen, less than 18.2 percent of women go into engineering fields, 39 percent of women in engineering quit and of that group, 51 percent begin working in a totally unrelated field. Of the engineering fields, electrical, computer and mechanical engineering tend to attract the least amount of women.
According to Saba Kohli Dave, a sophomore involved in activities with the Women’s Center, history can help to shed light on why there are so few women in STEM fields. “I believe the reason there are fewer women in these fields is largely historical,” she said. “Women are typically thought of as the homemaker, and men are supposed to go out there and earn the bread. When science fields began to come into prominence in the 1800s, it was primarily men who dominated those fields, because men had more resources, men had more education. And the legacy of that is still pretty prominent in today’s society.” Because of the historical roots and precedence of STEM areas being predominantly male, there seems to be a social structure in today’s time that has become difficult to break out of. “STEM subjects are super hyper-masculinized,” Dave said. “And it’s uncomfortable for these hugely masculine fields to ‘let in’ women. Why would they want to have women in fields that typically cater to men? It’s uncomfortable. It makes trouble.” According to Dave, only now are these boundaries breaking. Lee spoke about her involvement in Nerd Girls. Her favorite event was one she attended last fall, called “Math Moves You.” For this, Lee went to a local community college with Girls Scouts in grades five through eight to do science activities. They built catapults and had competitions to see whose could throw marshmallows the furthest. Lee said she enjoyed working with these girls because she helped set an example. “[It showed] that it’s possible to get into the science fields and to make it fun for them,” she said. Lee also talked about a project she is currently working on through Nerd Girls and as part of her senior design
project. She is designing portable storage devices in the form of ID cards for women in United Nations refugee camps all across the world, particularly in Syria and Lebanon. These refugee camps often do not have efficient databases (or more often, none at all), making it difficult to keep track of patients’ information. The women in these camps are often raped and abused, and have experienced many traumas in their past and present. These devices would store the women’s medical history and help doctors see what kind of treatments women have received and what they might need in the future. A lot of the doctors do not speak the local languages, so women in these camps often run the risk of being diagnosed with the wrong ailment or being prescribed the wrong medicine. These devices would ensure that was prevented. In addition, the U.N. doctors would be able to privately access the information on the cards without the patients having to relive the trauma of past abuses. Because of programs such as Nerd Girls, women’s involvement in STEM fields has been increasing over the years. However, it is still very difficult for women to feel like they fit in, and may feel ostracized by the unbalanced gender ratio in these fields. “The structure [of the STEM subjects] is built to favor men over women,” Dave said. “Women are like outsiders. Women are not on the same playing field as men, and have the pressure of having to prove themselves. If you don’t prove yourself, or go that one step higher, it’s going to be more stressful because women have to prove themselves in those fields. It’s so hard trying to keep having to validate yourself to something that you shouldn’t have to.”
Melody Ko/Tufts University
Professor Karen Panetta created Nerd Girls as a way to encourage girls to both enter and stay in engineering fields.
learned that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was established in 1994 to improve trade relations between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. In my anthropology class on indigenous rights, I learned that on that same day in 1994, an armed rebellion of mostly poor indigenous farmers broke out in Chiapas, Mexico to protest NAFTA. The group of revolutionaries, called the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), contended that NAFTA would worsen the economic situation for the poorest, mostly indigenous people in Mexico and threaten their land rights, while multinational corporations would profit from these injustices. The Zapatista uprising speaks to the connections between systems of oppression, something that ecofeminism intends to articulate by connecting patriarchy and the destruction of environments — especially those of traditionally marginalized people. In addition to waging war on liberal capitalism, the EZLN incorporated the rights of indigenous women into the struggle for social, cultural and land rights by establishing the “Revolutionary Law on Women.” The law called for women’s reproductive, educational and political rights, criminalizing rape and domestic violence within indigenous societies. Rather than reject their indigenous societies outright, the women in the EZLN connected women’s struggles to the struggles of indigenous peoples and other historically marginalized groups in an increasingly globalized and corporatized world, working to achieve gender equality, economic justice and environmental justice all in conjunction. They recognized that systems of oppression — racism, neocolonialism, environmental injustices and neoliberalism — are intrinsically linked. Furthermore, they realized that many of these systems could be traced back to the white heteropatriarchy. Whether we are talking about feminism, environmentalism or globalization of world markets, we need to be making these connections. Of course, classes on indigenous rights and international relations, as well as those on feminism and environmentalism, are going to look at the world through their own lenses, but when relying too heavily on one lens, we miss crucial connections between economic, political and social systems. And, in the case of my IR class, we miss the impacts an agreement like NAFTA has on marginalized groups of people. Though the Zapatista uprising happened 20 years ago, indigenous people worldwide continue to face similar threats from multinational corporations (largely run by white men) and from their “own” governments. For example, the Keystone XL Pipeline, a huge pipeline transporting oil extracted from tar sands that already goes through Canada and eight Midwestern states, is proposed to extend all the way to southern Texas. In addition to posing numerous environmental threats, the extension of the pipeline has been challenged by indigenous groups in the Midwest and Canada because it could damage sacred sites, pollute water sources, contaminate locally caught fish, force groups to relocate and severely disrupt indigenous peoples’ ways of life. The white heteropatriarchy continues to disregard the needs and rights of marginalized peoples. It has also led to the formation of trade agreements like NAFTA that have contributed to and justified these social and environmental injustices. We cannot only study IR to understand the way the world works. Yet we cannot ignore how capitalism, racism, environmental injustices and the legacy of colonialism function in the fight to dismantle patriarchy. The Zapatista uprising and the EZLN philosophy, specifically the Revolutionary Law on Women, illustrate how patriarchy reinforces and strengthens other systems of oppression, and how we need to tackle these systems together. This is why I call myself an ecofeminist first, feminist second. I want to focus my efforts on dismantling, piece by piece, global systems of oppression — environmental, colonial, racial, economical — together. Miranda Willson is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at miranda.willson@tufts.edu.
4
The Tufts Daily
ADVERTISEMENT
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Weekender Arts & Living
5
tuftsdaily.com
Tufts alumni close out three seasons of ‘My Gay Roommate,’ strive for mainstream TV by Charlotte Gilliland Daily Editorial Board
Chances are, you’ve heard of TUTV. Yep, Tufts University Television — a student group producing music videos, documentary and news content, fiction series and a retelling of the William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” through the modern day series “Jules and Monty.” But before Jules and Monty ever met, TUTV helped kick off another popular mini-series that’s now aiming to become a primetime TV regular: “My Gay Roommate” (MGR). MGR is a highly successful Youtube series that premiered its season three finale on Tuesday. Created by Noam Ash (A’ 13) and Austin Bening (A’13), “My Gay Roommate” began with the simple story of a straight boy from Ohio, James (Phillip Lockwood Bean), beginning his first year of college. On his first day, he walks in to meet his brand-new roommate Nick (Noam Ash) who just happens to be … very, very gay. And dancing in his underwear at that. While the show’s storyline has varied throughout its three seasons, creators Ash and Bening are now hoping to return the show to its original college setting, and are pitching their story to mainstream TV producers to turn the miniseries into a full-length television show. The first season follows the two first-years as they establish a strong friendship, amongst altercations and some slight awkwardness, while they navigate the usual strange and uncomfortable first year experiences to which everyone can relate. The storyline is based heavily on creators Ash and Bening’s actual first year friendship, as they figured out the ins and outs of being first time college students. And believe it or not, after six years, the two remain roommates today. “[The first season is] basical-
ly the highlights of our freshman year,” Bening said. “It’s a little retelling of the whole thing.” “Austin and I had been roommates since freshman year at Tufts,” Ash said, describing the origin of the idea for the series. “I was a drama major and Austin was head of TUTV … He totally convinced me and we wrote the pilot and pitched it to the board of TUTV. It was unanimously selected — also, it was the only show proposed — but with that drawn endorsement, we moved forward.” After Bening and Ash filmed the pilot on the second floor of Carpenter House with the help of TUTV, the first episode was quickly picked up by Queerty Magazine — and the project snowballed from there, according to Ash. While the show’s popularity grew quickly after Bening and Ash graduated from Tufts — the MGR channel on YouTube has over 44,000 subscribers — they credit their senior year and the help of TUTV as setting the foundation for the series. “Every single episode of the third season was featured on Huffington Post,” Ash said. “And we got mentioned in the New York Times. That stuff was really huge for us and that happened after we left Tufts — but the whole foundation is the first season of the show which we shot completely at Tufts during our senior year.” “We were very lucky that we had all of the TUTV equipment,” Bening continued. “We did [the first season] on like a zero dollar budget.” While the first season included moments like Nick giving James dating advice for Valentine’s Day and the two struggling to decide whether or not to live together once again, the second season follows Nick as he returns home to New York for the summer, which Bening and Ash filmed almost immediately after graduating Tufts in 2013.
Courtesy Noam Ash
Noam Ash and Austin Bening created the series while roommates at Tufts.
Courtesy Noam Ash
“My Gay Roommate” explores themes of friendship while generating plenty of laughs. “We basically moved into Noam’s family attic and shot the next season,” Bening said. “That’s how we kind of stayed sane, when were both kind of unemployed.” The material of the second season gets a little grittier, opening with “The Art of Manscaping,” as Nick shaves, well … pretty much in every place you can imagine. “We had Noam doing various yoga poses,” Bening joked, describing the filming of the episode. And in season three, Nick takes time off of school to pursue a life on his own in New York City — allowing each season to function as “its own little album,” according to Bening. According to Ash, however, the finale of season three will be the mini-series’ turning point. “What is most likely going to happen is that season three … will be the last full season on YouTube,” Ash announced. “We’ve recently started working with incredible TV agents in Los Angeles and are working on getting the show picked up to a full 30 minute format for mainstream television.” But never fear -- Ash plans to continue playing everyone’s favorite Nick, while both Bening and Ash hope to work as creative directors on the set. And while the two hope the show will maintain a similar structure to YouTube series, both are looking forward to the expected expansion. “It’s going to be a brand new collaboration, and the people we end up working with are going to end up influencing how [MGR] looks and feels,” Ash said. And while creating one’s own
YouTube series is no simple process, somehow these two friends have managed to do more than just stay afloat while creating three full seasons of “My Gay Roommate.” What’s kept them going all this time? “Love, anger and the YouTube,” Bening joked. “Making your own show is really, really gratifying and satisfying, and it’s also really, really hard,” Ash said. “It is so difficult to get everything moving and shaking. But, ultimately it’s the love of the story. We feel passionately about telling this story and putting our voice out there, and the response has been incredible. People stop us throughout the city recognizing the show, or we’ll get letters. I got a Facebook message from a kid in China that the show had helped him come out to his friends and family, and they all watched it together … It’s those kinds of things that make everything completely worth it.” And MGR does, in fact, tell a genuinely unique story — one that is not often told on mainstream television — of the true intersection between the gay and the straight worlds in the sincere manner of friendship. “Usually shows have either a gay or a straight vibe,” Bening said. “And usually it focuses on one, but this [show] is about a partnership of both, so that’s what I think sets it apart … You just have these two people interacting with one another — one gay, one straight — and those micro-relations [occur] when you live with someone.” While MGR’s humor may be a bit more suggestive than your average episode of “Will and Grace” (1998 – 2006), Ash
echoed Bening’s sentiments regarding the sincerity of the show. “While the humor is very suggestive and risque at times, the content at the end of the day is really about friendship,” Ash said, describing the show’s humor as “unapologetic.” “It’s unapologetic because it’s so personal,” Bening elaborated. “With a lot of LGBT series, you find that you want to be this [type], or you want to be this [genre], but — we’re not trying to be anything but ourselves.” The show’s sincerity and spirit has been supported by a wide array of friends and cast members, both on and off Tufts’ campus, which culminated in the season three finale “Partners in Crime.” “There was very much again a huge sense of community, because it took over 30 people to work on this season finale,” Ash said. “We shot the last part of it in Central Park with 20 of our friends who came to support [us] … It was just such a beautiful, collaborative way to end the season, and I’m really excited to have people see it.” With the future of MGR looking promising, Ash and Bening have high hopes for themselves in the professional world and at home. The pair plan to live happily ever after together as roommates. “I have a plan,” Ash said. “Once the show picks up … and we’re very wealthy, I have designed a lovely mansion … It’s going to have two big wings, each one will have their own separate house, if you will, and there will be a glass bridge with a pool underneath connecting the two.”
6
The Tufts Daily
Weekender
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Artsy Jumbo
Sam Weiser hopes to take advantage of music-tech boom by Dana Guth
Sam Weiser is a rare breed at Tufts: a computer science-savvy violinist who considers arts and academics equal opportunities. In fact, he’s one of only 12 remaining five year, dual degree students enrolled in both Tufts and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. For Weiser, a junior, choosing one path over the other was simply not an option. “I wanted to give myself choices,” he said. “And I just really love the program. The diversity of what it brings to the table, with the people you meet and the flexibility of what you can study, is all just so awesome.” Weiser joined the Conservatory after nearly 17 years of playing the violin, which he picked up — he insisted — the moment he was born. Daily Editorial Board
“I’ve been playing forever,” he said. “It’s like a part of me. Plus, my mom told me I couldn’t play the tuba until I was at least as big as the instrument. My babysitter was cute and she played the violin, so why not?” Since then, Weiser has taken advantage of both the Conservatory and the music scene here at Tufts — from the Symphony Orchestra to the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble to his own band, Thoroughfare, which dissolved last semester. Although he won’t graduate for several years, Weiser is already planning to utilize his musical side as a postgraduate, preferably in combination with his love of technology. “Part of this whole boom is explosion of the tech subset of the music world,” he said. “Everyone’s coming out with a new instrument, new recording technology. I want to get more into that.”
What’s up this weekend “From Orchids to Octopi: An Evolutionary Love Story” (2010): Tufts Drama and Dance department’s newest show explores human relationships, the legacy of Charles Darwin and evolution through a multimedia experience. The performance is filled with puppets reminiscent of Broadway’s version of “The Lion King” (1997), a set that utilizes theater-in-the-round techniques and the talents of Tufts students as they tell this unique tale. (“Orchids to Octopi” opens tonight, Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 with a valid Tufts ID and are available for purchase in the Cohen Box Office and by phone at (617) 627-3493.) Ghanaian Drumming Celebration: The Tufts music community celebrates the drumming of West Africa — specifically Ghanaian drumming — with a collaborative musical experience. Join three experts from Ghana: Dagomba drummers Mashud Neindow and Mohammed Alidu and Ashanti drummer Attah Poku. Also featured are Tufts professor David Locke and members of the Agbekor Society’s Dagomba Section, Ben Paulding,
graduate student of ethnomusicology and B.E.A.T.s. There will be a mixture of both traditional and contemporary music played. (Friday at 8 p.m. in Distler Performance Hall. Admission is free.) The Jackson Jills present Acatoberfest!: Join the Jackson Jills and the Bowdoin College Longfellows as they celebrate what they have called “Acatoberfest!” (a cappella + Oktoberfest). The Jills and the Longfellows will be singing and there will be free apple cider and donuts. (Friday at 8 p.m. in Barnum 104. Admission is free.) Another Option at Tufts presents Arts and Crafts Night @ the Crafts Center: Join “Another Option at Tufts”– a group that focuses on having fun without partying or alcohol — as they host an Arts and Crafts Night at the Crafts Center. A variety of art materials will be available so students can create art and make friends. Refreshments will be served. (Friday at 6 p.m. in the Crafts Center — Lewis Hall basement. Admission is free.) —by Nika Korchok
Top Ten
Top ten gloomy tween songs to get you through this rain Though many of us come from different places and backgrounds, we can all remember a time when we straightened our bangs, applied a heavy dose of eyeliner to our prepubescent faces and went into a Hot Topic store unironically. These days, as the rain falls and the chilly air whips around us, it’s hard not to think back to the music that defined our deep, dark high school days. The Daily Arts section compiled a list of super sad songs that were most definitely featured on your Myspace profile way back when. 10. “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” (2005) by Fall Out Boy: Though not quite a sad song, “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” seems to have awakened our collective emo sensibility. Also Pete Wentz’s hair… also he totally married Ashlee Simpson. 9. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (2004) by Green Day: Many Green Day songs deserve a spot on this list, but “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” is by far the most heavy handed. So much amazing imagery of lonely roads. 8. “MakeDamnSure” (2006) by Taking Back Sunday: The only way to sing along to this song is to force yourself to scream and cry at the same time… trust us, this is not recommended.
6.“Photograph” (2005) by Nickelback: Guys, seriously, what the hell is on Joey’s head?! 5. “Helena” (2004) by My Chemical Romance: With some serious guyliner and a creepy baby face, Gerard Way manages to fling his little body around to sad, sad songs about death… amazing and so emo. 4. “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” (2005) by Panic! At the Disco: It’s a song about a wedding or something, I think? Actually, I really don’t know. No one does. What we do know is the part that goes “shhh” — CUZ THAT’S THE BEST PART. 3. “Numb” (2003) by Linkin Park: Okay, one of the best songs ever. Also, please just guess the lead singer’s name. Guys, it’s Chester Bennington, wtf. 2. “Miss Murder” (2007) by AFI: Just look it up. You won’t remember it until you look it up. 1. “I Miss You” (2003) by Blink 182: The affectation that Tom DeLonge gives to the second verse is so good. “Where are ewwwwwwww? / And aihm sew sarrrhy.” Weird references and mouth piercings — this song represents the best of the best.
7. “Chasing Cars” (2006) by Snow Patrol: You should probably get up off the floor because you’re going to get run over and it’s going to be your fault.
—by Veronica Little
ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES INFORMATIONAL MEETING Monday, 10/27 5:00—5:30pm Department of Art and Art History 11 Talbot Ave. Lounge
Thursday, October 23, 2014
The Tufts Daily
7
Weekender
Theater Preview
Nikki Blank | A SWUG's Life
Drunk in SWUG
D
ear SWUG, Exams and job interviews aside, is there anything you can’t show up to slightly
buzzed? — Sloshed in Somerville
Courtesy Ted Simpson
"Orchids to Octopi" explores scientific themes.
'Orchids to Octopi' blends art and science in multimedia spectacle by Nika Korchok Daily Editorial Board Tufts’ Department of Drama and Dance’s newest production “From Orchids to Octopi: An Evolutionary Love Story” (first performed in 2010) explores the relationships between science and art, faith and logic and family and independence. The show follows Emma — an artist struggling to paint the perfect mural capturing Charles Darwin’s legacy — trying to bal-
ance her art, her marriage and her desire for a family. The play depicts the parallel marriages of Emma and her husband, and that of Charles and Emma Darwin. Fusing dreams and reality, Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” comes to life; the show uses “the entire theater as a canvas,” director and department faculty member Natalya Baldyga said. Written by Boston’s Melinda Lopez, “Orchids to Octopi” is a bold choice for Baldyga, who also collaborated with
Courtesy Ted Simpson
various artists to create an innovative, multimedia production. Puppeteer Faye Dupras designed and crafted puppets with Tufts students to create an interactive experience. The set, which reflects Emma’s artistic progression, was a collaboration between Baldyga and the drama department’s Head of Design, Ted Simpson. “[The show] will be incredibly entertaining, thoughtful, intelligent,” Balch Arena Theater manager Joanne Barnett said. “It will make people think but will also entertain them while they’re thinking.” “It’s a very, very smart show, and it has a lot of big ideas in it,” Baldyga said. “It riffs on the evolution of a person, the evolution of a relationship and the evolution of the human species. My vision has been to try to allow [the audience] to explore those themes in a truly magical environment.” Senior Kendrick Terrell Evans — who plays the Carnival Barker — agrees that “the show is equal parts scientific and fun … it will take you out of reality for 90 minutes.” The show opens Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. and runs until Nov. 1. Tickets are $10 with a valid Tufts ID and $15 for general admission, except for the special evening of Oct. 30 when all tickets are $1. That night’s performance includes a talkback and dinner with the playwright (reservations are required). Tickets can be purchased at the Aidekman box office or by calling (617) 627-3493.
Ensemble cast explores diverse themes in the drama department’s fall production.
Mashed in Medford, SWUG
Tufts, Tailored
Fall fashions I hope everyone managed to stay warm yesterday. It looks like it’s going to rain for the next couple of days, but hopefully the sun will come out this weekend. Until then, keep rocking layers on layers. Sweater weather is here to stay.
"These are Weejuns by Bass … they're a regeneration of a classic style from the '50s." My style is: "modern cybergoth mixed with comfy hippy." — Marissa Malik, sophomore
Dear Sloshed in Somerville, You could probably get away with being slightly buzzed at both an exam and a job interview, but from experience here are the things you definitely can’t show up to buzzed: 1. To drive any sort of vehicle. 2. To play in a varsity sports game or practice. 3. The DMV. 4. To a meeting with your Dean about graduation credits. 5. To perform in SOC. 6. To perform in TDC. You must be blackout, not slightly buzzed. 7. Defending your thesis. 8. A haircut. 9. The gynecologist. 10. The police department. 11. A rape defense class taught by the police department. 12. A meeting with Ian Wong. 13. A calligraphy class. 14. A wood working class. 15. A Bris, and you’re the mohel. 16. Scuba diving. 17. A campus tour of BYU. 18. A swim test. 19. A drug test. 20. An STD test. 21. An IQ test. 22. A pregnancy test. 23. The birth of your child. 24. Your own birth. 25. Packing for a trip. 26. A class with Lee Edelman. 27. A genius bar appointment. 28. Negotiating a salary. 29. Performing surgery. 30. Oral surgery. 31. Jury duty. 32. Babysitting. 33. A Japanese tea ceremony. 34. Tightrope walking across a canyon. 35. Completing an Iron Man. 36. The grav-a-tron. 37. Flying an airplane. 38. Building Ikea furniture. If you have more to add to this list, tweet @a_SWUGs_life with the #drunkinSWUG.
"I was eating a smoothie and decided I wanted to feel nice and cozy ... I wear a lot of blue and a lot of different colors of blue, which typically doesn't work, but I try to rock it." — Aaron Langerman, senior
"I just check the temperature daily and it's fall now ... the simpler the better." — Lizzy Cui, junior —by Jack Kamin
Dear SWUG, I’m interested in a first year but don’t want to have intercourse on a twin bed. How can I get my queen bed into a dorm so my housemates don’t know I’m hooking up with a child? – Cradle Robber Dear Cradle Robber, Ok, back up. Go stand in front of the mirror. Do you see those crows feet starting to form? Do you see the dullness in your eyes from four years of stress at this fine institution? Do you see the extra five pounds in your face that won’t go away until you cut alcohol out of your diet? First years are not the fountain of youth. These babies might be two months into their college careers, but they will not help you feel that way again. They will make you feel old and tired. They will be inexperienced and inefficient. They wear their keys around their necks, as necklaces, out in public, like “Zoey 101” (2005 – 2008). Go grab a bottle of wine, turn up Taylor Swift’s “22” (2012), and reevaluate your priorities. First years are never the answer. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling SWUGGY 2, SWUG Nikki Blank is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at Nicole.Blank@tufts. edu.
8
The Tufts Daily
THE TUFTS DAILY Alexander J. Schroeder Editor-in-Chief
Editorial
Justin Rheingold Lily Sieradzki Managing Editors
Patrick McGrath Executive News Editor Daniel Bottino News Editors Jenna Buckle Abigail Feldman Shana Friedman Daniel Gottfried Nina Goldman Dana Guth Stephanie Haven Alexa Horwitz Audrey Michael Kathleen Schmidt Jei-Jei-Tan Denali Tietjen Melissa Wang Sarah Zheng Jessica Mow Executive Features Editor Maya Blackstone Features Editors Hannah Fingerhut Charlotte Gilliland Kendall Todd Jake Taber Shannon Vavra Sophie Dasinger Assistant Features Editors Mengqi Sun Annie Gill Drew Robertson Veronica Little Dana Guth Nika Korchok Timothy Charouk Abigail Feldman Charlotte Gilliland Grace Segers
Thursday, October 23, 2014
EDITORIAL | OP-ED
Editorial
Lack of diversity in STEM must be addressed
Professor Karen Panetta boldly started Nerd Girls in 2000 in order to address the severe gender gap in fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The group has evolved into a global organization that seeks to empower girls and young women to enter STEM fields. Professor Panetta’s organization directly addresses the need for young girls to see older women in STEM as mentors and role models. According to Forbes, the stereotype of science and math as masculine fields is socialized at a young age by parents, teachers and pop culture. Gender stereotypes and their reinforcement are formative in how children view themselves and their capabilities. This leads to women who enter STEM fields already underestimating their performance. It is crucial to encourage young girls to enter the fields of science and math,
because there is a systemic underrepresentation of women in STEM fields at a professional level. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, women represent less than a quarter of those employed in STEM fields and women have not experienced employment growth in STEM jobs since 2000. The problem does not exclude Tufts, as less than 35 percent of students in the School of Engineering are women. Following in the footsteps of Professor Panetta, others on campus have embraced initiatives to diversify the sciences. For example, Women in Computer Science works to create a community for women in the department through various events and prominent female speakers. Scientista also attempts to increase the number of women in STEM by increasing the visibility of
women in the fields and strengthening existing communities. Gender diversity is not the only diversity lacking in the STEM fields, however. The Center for STEM Diversity responds to the lack of diversity of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic identities in the STEM fields at Tufts. Additionally, out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM) is an LGBTQ group for students in the STEM fields. The group meets to collaborate and connect with one another on issues facing LGBTQ students on campus who pursue this field. Nerd Girls has led the way on campus towards including the variety of identities underrepresented in STEM fields. These initiatives should continue to fight for much-needed diversity at Tufts.
Amy Bu
Executive Arts Editor Senior Arts Editor Arts Editors Assistant Arts Editors
Alex Connors Executive Sports Editor Marcus Budline Sports Editors Sam Gold Jake Indursky Alison Kuah Tyler Maher Jorge Monroy-Palacio Maclyn Senear Jason Schneiderman Chris Warren Steven Hefter Assistant Sports Editors Wil Glavin Annabelle Roberts Susan Kaufman Ruchira Parikh Olivia Montgomory Ray Bernoff Amy Bu Keran Chen Jehan Madhani Ty Enos Jennifer Lien Nicholas Golden Bailey Werner Naomi Ali Chloe Perez
Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors
Nicholas Pfosi Praekarn Nirandara Annie Levine Ethan Chan John Hampson Matthew Schreiber Christie Wu Maya Blackstone Alexander Knapp Kelly Fahey Caroline Ambros
Executive Photo Editor Photo Administrator Sports Photographer Senior Staff Photographers
Cartoonists
Editorialists
Singing through the rain.
Staff Photographers Stock Image Editor Social Media Editor
Rachel Sheldon Executive Multimedia Editor Blair Nodelman Senior Multimedia Editor Aastha Chadha Multimedia Editors Ethan Chan Jade Chan Kristie Le Tanay Modi Nimarta Narang Josh Podolsky Grace Segers
PRODUCTION
Andrew M. Stephens Production Director
David Westby Executive Layout Editor Betsy Allman Layout Editors Hannah Fingerhut Kathy Lu Montana Miller Reid Spagna Noah Habeeb Executive Copy Editors Reena Karasin Aastha Chadha Copy Editors Nina Goldman Sophie Krakoff Julia Russell Rachel Salzberg Jei-Jei Tan Yan Zhao Arthur Beckel Assistant Copy Editors Andrew Kager Serena Kassam Caroline Watson Nitesh Gupta Executive Online Editor Qinyue Yu Marketing Director Richard Yuxuan Zhang Strategy Manager Caroline Talbert Media Coordinator
BUSINESS Daphne Wu
Executive Business Director Li Liang Receivables Manager Chris Chininis Ad Diresctor Jade Chan Ad Managers Kristie Le Tanay Modi Yiran Xu P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com
Off the Hill | University of Mississippi
The art of criticism
by Robert McAulifee The Daily Mississippian
On Monday, I had the privilege of hearing one of the world's foremost literary critics speak on the incomparable American poet from my own hometown, T.S. Eliot. Sir Christopher Ricks of Boston University gave a speech on T.S. Eliot and his relationship with the South. I'll be the first to admit that my familiarity with T.S. Eliot is not an intimate one. I know him about as well as any student who enjoyed English classes in high school. While I did gain some new perspective on Eliot's writing, specifically his religious treatment of the Mississippi River and his socio-political relationship with the agrarian-industrial divide, the primary piece of knowledge Sir Ricks proverbially dropped upon me was a newfound appreciation for the classical art of criticism. While his qualifications certainly entitle him to it, Ricks does not consider himself primarily a scholar or professor. His primary self-identification is as a critic. He has had the opportunity to contemporaneously critique many giants of the Western canon: Housman, Tennyson, Keats, Eliot, Milton and even Beckett.
Ricks' style is distinguished by rejecting the use of postmodern critical theory in his critique of literature and poetry. He utilizes a classical style of empirical criticism, analyzing the objectives of texts without deconstructing them, as modern critical theorists are wont to do. While I find deconstructive analytical techniques more interesting and relevant, there's a refreshing appeal to such a thorough, disciplined approach to critique. This approach values the actual act of criticism itself, elevating it to what I would consider an art form. This appreciation of the value of good criticism is something that is sorely needed in our society today. Ricks was inspirational in that he was willing, in his talk, to highlight many of the problems in T.S. Eliot's thinking. Ricks highlighted Eliot's deeply misguided comments on the nature of the Jewish people, which bordered on blatant antiSemitism. He also expressed the naivete of a son of an urban landscape advocating for a return to localist agrarianism. Ricks was able to make these critiques while still advocating for Eliot as one of the greatest poets of all time. This, truly, is the art of criticism -- being able to analyze and pick out the flaws in
something you love and value, and use these flaws in contrast with many of the great things the author accomplishes. It seems many people today have a problem striking this balance. It is the age of fandoms where it is not enough simply to enjoy a piece of media: You must devote hours to creating fanworks and memes and endless appreciation blog posts about your media of choice. If you've ever tried to criticize something and had a super-fan jump down your throat, you'll know what I mean. Refusing to critically engage with your media indicates a lack of desire to truly understand and appreciate it. Do not buy into the false paradigm that one must unconditionally defend every element of a piece of media in order to enjoy it. You don't have to defend the unabashed male gaze to be a comic book fan. You don't have to go out on a limb to justify Doctor Who's awful writing and cut-rate storytelling to enjoy Doctor Who (well, maybe you do). You don't have to be an anti-Semite to appreciate T.S. Eliot. Take the advice of Sir Ricks. Engage in the art of criticism with everything you consume. If you do not, you are doing a disservice to literature and media. If you love it, critique it.
Corrections Box In the Oct. 21 editorial titled “#wearenotminor offers stepping stone for greater change” it was incorrectly stated that Tufts previously offered an Asian-American studies major. In fact, the major was Asian Studies.
The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 2 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com. All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.
ADVERTISING POLICY All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editorin-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director. A publication schedule and rate card are available upon request.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
The Tufts Daily
Op-Ed
Fighting “fake democracy” in Hong Kong by Sun Ho Lee
Luxurious real estate, flashy hotels and fancy restaurants align the Central part of Hong Kong, frequently named the “Pearl of the Orient.” For those who have visited this beautiful place, it certainly reminds them of the endless lights of Las Vegas. However, it would be truly mistaken if one expects luxury from Hong Kong right now. Hong Kong is in search of unconditional democracy against greedy capitalists and pro-Beijing politicians. Currently, Hong Kong is fighting for democracy against the powers of mainland China. China has declared that the people of Hong Kong will be able to freely vote for their next leader in 2017, except that the candidates will be “China-approved.” This means that the candidates will go through the authorization process by a majority of the 1,200 nominating committee members, which are packed with Beijing supporters and business-minded people. This concept fueled rage in many Hong Kong citizens, especially the student protesters, who called this “fake democracy.” The protest in Hong Kong, called “Occupy Central,” is in a tense stalemate. Hong Kong’s current pro-Beijing leader Leung Chunying presented his unbending opposition to open elections on Oct. 20. He stated to reporters, “If it’s entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you would be talking to half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than $1,800 a month. Then you would end up with that kind of politics and policies.” This seemingly arrogant comment repudiates the majority from having a say in their own country’s political endeavors. Also, it is likely to enrage the protesters, who are already suffering from lack of economic opportunities. Having one of the world’s largest wealth gaps among developed countries, many of Hong Kong’s citizens are unable to handle the city’s extremely high cost of living.
0
The main reason that Mr. Leung is opposing pure democracy is the self-interested mindset of businessmen and wealthy elites. Mr. Leung emphasizes one of the goals of the city’s Basic Law, which is to maintain the confidence of corporate elites. Hong Kong is a global financial destination with many billionaires who are tightly linked with Beijing establishments dominating the markets. Also, with the big four worldwide accounting companies opposing the territory’s movement towards democracy, it is clear that this battle is between the top one percent and the rest. The elites are concerned because this movement could turn out to have a snowball effect. They are insisting that this demand for democracy will convert into demands for redistribution of wealth. It is sad to see a country wiggling for democracy against the corporate minds of the few; it is a recurring theme. While the massive power of the elites won’t easily change from this protest, Hong Kong has to put into place full democracy for its citizens. The elites claim that a democracy will result in decreasing business interests in Hong Kong, which is not a sufficient reason. Mr. Leung’s argument that poor people don’t deserve inclusion in the government’s voice is an extremely snobbish concept. Lastly, the elite’s concern that a full democracy will result in the redistribution of wealth is a mere assumption. The elites should understand that they are not the only citizens in the city and financial purposes shouldn’t be the only endeavor a city should crave. The top one percent is expecting this protest to wane shortly. However, the protesters should stand still until they get what they want and deserve. Sun Ho Lee is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at SunHo.Lee@tufts.edu.
9
Op-Ed
Walt Laws-MacDonald | Show Me the Money
Fed, fun, rates
W
hen dealing with economic issues, countries have two approaches at their disposal: fiscal policy and monetary policy. Fiscal policy is usually what comes to mind when people think of economic policy as a whole. Balancing the budget, adjusting tax rates and income brackets and government spending — the fun stuff, you know? Monetary policy refers to economic policy that uses currency as its primary tool. When your off-kilter Tea Party uncle says that “all that Obama guy’s doin’ is printing money to pay for the old folks,” he’s referring to monetary policy. Monetary policy also uses interest rates to manipulate the economy. Lowering interest rates makes it easier for people to borrow money, while raising interest rates encourages people to stop spending and start saving. Both fiscal and monetary policies have their places in solving economic issues, and they often work together to coordinate their actions. In the United States, fiscal policy and monetary policy are kept separate. Fiscal policy is controlled by the legislative branch, while monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) — an independent, non-partisan body appointed by the executive branch. This separation serves two purposes. First, it prevents one body from manipulating the economy to its advantage. Though fiscal and monetary policies rarely work against each other, there are many cases where the legislative branch uses an economic issue to force an unrelated point. We’ve seen this several times over the last few years, when Republicans took hold of the debt ceiling, “fiscal cliff” and sequestration debates to drive home their own issues. Second, it allows the Fed to act quickly and strongly in times of real crisis. When
the entire banking system was about to collapse in 2007, the global economy didn’t have time to wait around for Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John Boehner (R-Ohio) to parade around Congress decrying the effects of stimulus on their constituents. The country needed a big change, and it needed it now. Though Congress later announced a stimulus package of nearly $800 billion, the Federal Reserve was able to reduce its interest rate to near zero percent almost immediately. Interest rates are arguably the strongest and most visible tool of the Fed. While you’ve probably never heard of the federal funds rate before, this one interest rate has a larger effect on the economy than any other policy tool in the world. The federal funds rate is the rate at which banks borrow from the Fed on an overnight basis. Though this one mechanism might sound trivial, its trickle-down effects are extraordinary. The federal funds rate is a key interest rate for countless other rates. If the federal funds rate rises, so do the interest rates for auto loans, mortgages and savings accounts, encouraging consumers to save their money. Since the Great Recession began, the Fed has tried to get people to spend again — that’s why the fed funds rate remains near zero, and the rates at which consumers and businesses can borrow are near the lows of the last 15 years. Similarly, interest rates on savings accounts are near zero, which incentivizes people to spend their money now rather than wait for it to earn interest sitting in their account. The federal funds rate and the Fed as a whole is hugely important to the health of the economy. The Fed has played a much larger role in the economy since 2007, thanks in large part to their “quantitative easing” programs — a topic for another column. The Fed is expected to raise rates for the first time in nine years sometime in mid-2015, and whether or not the economy can handle such a rate increase will likely define the economic conversation for the next several months. Walt is a senior majoring in quantitative economics. He can be reached at Walt. Laws_MacDonald@tufts.edu.
Attention Tufts students living off-‐campus in Medford:
Fall Street Sweeping Coming in November
Each Fall the “BIG SWEEP” is conducted in November from 8:00AM to 6:00PM on all Medford streets. Please find your street on the city website below to determine the sweeping date of your street. No parking is allowed during the Big Sweep of your street. http://www.medfordma.org/2014/10/10/fall-‐street-‐sweeping-‐ schedule/ Op-ed Policy The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.
10
The Tufts Daily
FOR RELEASE OCTOBER 23, 2014
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
SUDOKU
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
ACROSS 1 Bodybuilder’s pride 4 “Wizards of Waverly Place” actress Gomez 10 Like crudités 13 Helpful URL link 14 Literary postscript 15 Townshend of 22Down 16 Cross-shaped letter 17 Forecast words golfers like to hear 18 Glade target 19 Poet friend of Jonathan Swift 22 Frequent Hepburn co-star 23 Take a load off 24 __ rhythm: brain waves pattern 25 Old-style “For shame!” 28 Soothing sprinklings 32 Rink VIPs 33 Kipling story collection, with “The” 35 Iconic WWII setting, familiarly 36 Missouri tributary 37 Garden product word 38 “Poetry Man” singer 41 Water-to-wine site 42 __ voce: softly 43 Longing 44 Gourmet mushroom 45 Storage media 47 Theorize 48 Title phrase that rhymes with “he lightly doffed his hat” 54 Leave off 55 Hummus ingredient 56 “Run to __”: Bobby Vee hit 59 Galvanizing metal 60 Like many Schoenberg compositions 61 Possible reply to “Got milk?”? 62 Shout of success 63 Seuss reptile 64 Classroom fill-in
Level: Chasing pavements.
Wednesday’s Solution
10/23/14
By Gareth Bain
DOWN 1 Not fore 2 Ewe cry 3 Storage unit? 4 Iroquois Confederacy tribe 5 Powerful adhesive 6 Turkish bread? 7 Gusto 8 Reason to be turned away by a bouncer 9 Patron saint of girls 10 Edit menu choice 11 Straddling 12 “While __ Young”: USGA anti-slow play campaign 15 Can convenience 20 Bodybuilder’s pride 21 Religious ceremony 22 “Pinball Wizard” band 24 Vacation plans 25 Persnickety 26 Lacking sense 27 Encourage 29 Shortcuts for complex multiplication 30 Trumpet cousin
Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved wednesday’s Solution
JUMBLE THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME
by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
31 Toaster’s word 33 Beanery cuppa 34 “Ben-Hur” author Wallace 39 “... and all that jazz,” for short 40 Fullness of flavor 41 __ Nostra 44 Vehicular attachment for the ends of 19-, 33-, 38- and 48Across
10/23/14
Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.
46 Skewered Thai dish 47 Serving to punish 48 Like a warm nest 49 Nice lady friend 50 Confession details 51 London gallery 52 Superhero with a hammer 53 Help for a solver 57 Letters of credit? 58 Group gone wild
HATSS ©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.
BALFE Late Night at the Daily
STARPY
Drew: “It’s going to be published online. Your mommy’s going to be so disappointed when she reads this.”
Check out the new, free JUST JUMBLE app
Crossword
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Comics | SPORTS
TRUEPT
Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.
A: Please recycle this Daily.
Yesterday’s
Editors’ Challenge | Week 8
Hey sports fans! The sports section is back once again with our picks for Week 8 of the NFL season. With such a big discrepancy in scores this week, I think its time to examine from where each of the editors gets their information. After all, we all do a significant amount of research before making our picks every week. Alison “Anderson Cooper” Kuah loves CNN, but don’t let her start talking about missing planes. She won’t stop for months. Jake “Bill O’Reilly” Indursky gets all of his info from Fox News, so he sent his picks in by mail this week, because he’s currently hiding in his homemade Ebola shelter. Chris “Brian Williams” Warren is the most trusted face in the sports section. He’s the guy that you want to hear bad news from, which is good because there are a lot of people looking up to him, both in real life and in the standings. Alex “David Muir” Schroeder get his news from ABC. The handsome young gun came into the semester with a fresh face and new ideas, but it hasn’t totally worked out. He sits in second to last place. Steven “Morley Safer” Hefter watches 60 Minutes every Sunday after football for a nice recap of the week’s news. Unfortunately, he’s too old to know how to use the internet, so he has a hard time getting any additional info. Alex “Rachel Maddow” Connors watches MSNBC all day and night and has recently
OVERALL LAST WEEK SD at DEN CHI at NE DET at ATL STL at KC HOU at TEN MIN at TB SEA at CAR BAL at CIN MIA at JAX BUF at NYJ PHI at ARI OAK at CLE IND at PIT GB at NO WSH at DAL
Alex C 74-32 12-3 DEN NE DET KC HOU MIN SEA BAL MIA NYJ ARI CLE IND GB DAL
Chris 70-36 10-5 DEN NE DET STL HOU TB SEA CIN MIA BUF ARI CLE IND GB DAL
Tyler 66-40 10-5 DEN NE ATL KC HOU TB SEA CIN MIA NYJ PHI CLE IND NO DAL
Alison 65-41 8-7 DEN NE ATL KC HOU MIN SEA CIN MIA NYJ ARI CLE IND GB DAL
Jorge 66-40 12-3 DEN NE DET KC HOU MIN SEA BAL MIA NYJ ARI CLE IND GB DAL
(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: BLEAK DOUSE DOUBLE FIXATE Answer: After losing the hot air balloon race, the team was — DEFLATED
declared Keith Olbermann to be his personal hero. It really pisses off the conservatives that someone who watches MSNBC knows the most about the NFL. Tyler “Jim Cramer” Maher is really concerned about his portfolio and has been keeping an eye on CNBC as often as he can. “Mad Money” has entertained him pretty well, but the rest of the lineup is pretty boring. He can’t wait for a day of watching football on Sunday instead of the rolling stock ticker. Jorge “Stuart Varney” Monroy-Palacio is Fox Business Channel’s biggest fan. When he’s not talking about football, he can be heard yelling about how the rich pay more than their fair share of taxes and how he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. It’s a very inspiring and uplifting story. Not. Sam “Stephanie Abrams” Gold is actually the weekend fill-in on-camera meteorologist for the Weather Channel. Hey Sam, how’s the weather down there? Wil “John Boehner” Glavin falls asleep watching CSPAN every night. What a boring dude. Maclyn “Michael Bloomberg” Senear follows Bloomberg TV religiously. People aren’t too thrilled with him lately though. Because of him, we aren’t allowed to drink Big Gulps in the Daily office anymore. Noah “Lara Logan” Habeeb joins us this week from an undisclosed location overseas to offer his guest picks.
Steven 66-40 11-4 DEN NE DET KC HOU MIN SEA CIN MIA NYJ PHI CLE IND GB DAL
Wil 66-40 12-3 DEN NE ATL STL HOU TB SEA CIN MIA BUF PHI CLE IND GB DAL
Maclyn 65-41 10-5 DEN NE DET KC HOU MIN SEA BAL MIA BUF PHI CLE IND GB DAL
Jake 61-45 8-7 DEN NE ATL STL HOU TB CAR BAL MIA NYJ ARI CLE IND NO DAL
Alex S 61-45 9-6 DEN NE DET STL HOU MIN SEA BAL MIA NYJ ARI CLE IND GB DAL
Sam 45-61 3-12 SD CHI ATL STL TEN MIN CAR BAL JAX BUF PHI OAK PIT NO WSH
GUEST Noah Habeeb DEN NE ATL STL HOU MIN SEA BAL MIA BUF ARI CLE PIT NO DAL
Thursday, October 23, 2014
The Tufts Daily
11
Sports
Wanted
$$SPERM DONORS WANTED$$ Earn up to $1,500/month for less than 5 hours’ time. Help families through California Cryobank’s donor program. Apply online: SPERMBANK.com
classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only. All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $20 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.
Sports journalism should be informative, not sensationalist
Journalism
continued from back
want to learn and talk about sports. “Fandom is not just about the game story anymore, it’s about the larger picture,” Barbarisi said. “Field action, I think, is almost secondary to the actions of the personalities and the things surrounding the games right now. That’s what people have come to care about.” While it may be accurate that the public is more interested in scandal-based stories than “true” sports coverage, the major sports news outlets should not fall prey. Instead of focusing on easy-to-digest fluff pieces, sports reporters should deliver hard-hitting, substantive journalism. Instead of catering to the lowest common denominator of fans, they should improve the discourse, advance the narrative and drag the public with them. In short, they should inform their readers, rather than let ratings dictate the content they produce. The choice between writing to inform readers and writing what readers want to read is one that currently plagues the political journalism industry, too. Writers choosing to do the latter have seriously harmed our nation’s political discourse, and the same is marring sports journalism. This phenomenon is especially apparent in the divide between baseball analysts who successfully incorporate advanced statistics into their work and those who choose to ignore these crucial tools. Organizations like Fangraphs.com and BaseballProspectus.com are currently providing the best, most factually accurate baseball analysis that has ever been
Steven Hefter | The Association
NBA preview
I Evan Sayles / The Tufts Daily
Shira Springer, a sports reporter for the Boston Globe, and Tony Massarotti of "Felger and Mazz" engage in a discussion as part of a panel on Oct. 15. done. But Boston Globe Columnist Bob Ryan gets just as many readers by bashing sabermetrics and talking about players’ values in terms of batting average and RBI totals. Ryan’s readers are genuinely uninformed, and Ryan is in the unique position to change that. But he chooses not to. Sports journalist should not ignore journalistic integrity and, instead, simply write stories to satisfy their readers. “People go to media outlets that validate their pre-existing conceptions,” Barbarisi said. “Because of the fragmentation of media, they’re going to go where they can hear what they want to hear. People are
Been Spending all Your Time Studying? Now Spend a Little Time on Yourself!
You know by now that college presents challenges to healthy living: late nights, stress, and unlimited soft serve at the Dewick. Try one of these tips – your body will thank you!
1. Walk. Walking is an easy way to get moving. Do a loop around campus with a friend, or throw headphones on and walk for a few songs as a study break. 2. Embrace the snack. Healthy snacks keep you focused, energized, and less likely to overeat at meals. Some good choices are popcorn, nuts, fruit, bars, yogurt, and instant oatmeal. 3. Keep your coffee coffee. As you get your java boost, keep in mind that loading a cup with cream, sugars, and syrups turns a drink into a dessert. 4. Be colorful. Seek out vegetables and fruits of all hues to maximize their nutritional value. Sorry, Skittles don’t count. 5. Eat for the right reasons. Eat when you are hungry and not because you are sleepy, stressed, or homesick. Take a walk, drink tea, or listen to your favorite music instead. 6. Eat your vitamins. Most nutrition experts agree the best way to get the vitamins and minerals is via food! Getting nutrients is crucial since lack of sleep, stress, and close contact with other people can be a recipe for illness. 7. Get savvy with the microwave. Master some quick and easy recipes for cooking in a room. A couple of simple ingredients, mini-‐fridge and a microwave and you’ve got the potential for quesadillas, mini-‐omelets, baked potatoes, beans-‐and-‐rice, and tuna melts. 8. Don’t think extreme – balance your life! Being healthy doesn’t require green juices and marathon gym sessions. Good health relies on balance -‐ focus on small choices, one day at a time. Grace Goodwin is Balance Your Life’s graduate intern this year, and currently pursuing her Masters at Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Feel free to contact her with questions about nutrition, or how you (or your student group) can learn more healthful habits: grace.goodwin@tufts.edu
going to see what they want to see and they’re going to consume things the way they want to consume them.” What is the role of the sports journalist? Is it to enlighten and inform? To provide thoughtful discourse? Or to cater to the public and attract readers? If journalists could break out of the mindset of treating athletes like celebrities and instead focus on on-field actions, we would all be better for it — journalists and their readers alike. Both groups could come together as sports fans and get sports the coverage they deserve. Sports are great, but, right now, sports journalism isn’t.
Two NESCAC matches remain in Jumbos' season WOMEN'S SOCCER continued from back
more opportunities than we’ve had in previous games,” Kruyff said. “But especially on set plays we were able to get the ball in the goal. It was great to know we can get the ball in especially in preparation for this weekend’s game.” With just five minutes left in regulation, the Beacons held off a Jumbo victory with a goal from Ericka Garufi off a Ledin cross into the box that tied the game at 3-3, a score that remained throughout the remainder of the game. Although Tufts’ three goals on the night were split between Greer and Kruyff, the co-captains of the team, Kruyff believes that the team’s performance this year has been a result of the entire team’s effort and not solely a result of the team’s leadership. “Honestly the whole season has been very team oriented, I don’t think it has much to do with what me and Catharine [Greer] do,” Kruyff said. “When everyone wants to win, when everyone has the right mindset, it makes our job easier as leaders to just continue [moving forward]. We don’t have to do much to get them in the right attitude to play their game [and] everyone’s been doing their part, trying to score all the goals. It just happened to be that Catharine and I scored the goals [against UMass Boston]. It’s really been a team effort [this season].” “We just need to be motivated and keep our heads up [on Saturday], and focus on getting the result,” Greer said. “To not let our past games discourage us [will be the key on Saturday], and we’ll be able to come out and get the win.”
t’s about that time of year. The NBA regular season begins in a mere five days, and the storylines could not be more intriguing for a league that is coming off an eventful offseason. Be it free agency, a new TV deal, ownership changes or a gold medal in Spain, it’s time for real NBA basketball. Where to begin? Let’s start in the lowly “Leastern Conference,” where the season preview could not be more different than last season. We would have been shocked to see an Eastern Conference Finals that did not include Miami and Indiana last season. But this season, the power has shifted completely to the Central Division, which houses the Cavaliers and the Bulls. Irving, Love and James pitted against Rose, Gasol and Noah. All-star lineups that most expected to blaze a wildfire through the rest of the East on their way to a head-on collision in May. But not so fast. There are other teams in the East that will have something to say about that, but might not have the manpower to back it up. Washington, fresh off a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals, may have the best backcourt in the East with John Wall and Bradley Beal. Add in a savvy veteran like Paul Pierce, and things could get interesting. Miami, although losing out on keeping James, kept Chris Bosh and signed former Cavalier and Bull Luol Deng. Toronto retained their All-Star-game-snub point guard Kyle Lowry, and with DeMar DeRozan playing at a high-caliber level the Raptors could build upon their threeseed last season. There are other teams out there, like Charlotte and Brooklyn, that have the potential to do some damage, but each lacks either experience or talent to make a deep playoff run. The mighty Western Conference seems set up to provide an intense regular season and an even more exciting postseason. The Spurs, Thunder (even with a hobbled Durant) and Clippers seem to be the creme de la creme once again, but there are teams that are in that second tier that desperately want to advance past that second round of the playoffs. I’m talking about you, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Mavericks and Rockets. Golden State enters the season with a new head coach — the highly-coveted Steve Kerr. Maybe he can push the “Splash Brothers,” Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, over the hump. The Blazers were a nice story last year, that is until they met Coach Poppovich and the Spurs in the playoffs. All-Stars Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge will anchor the team again, and they hope to push against the power complex in the West. Dallas signed Chandler Parsons this summer, and with perennial All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, Monta Ellis, and returning center Tyson Chandler, the Mavs look poised to make a run. The third team in Texas, Houston, is the home to James Harden, Dwight Howard and now Trevor Ariza. Although the Rockets do not seem as set up for success as the aforementioned teams out West, it would be naive to count them out. The storylines are endless and fan bases are anxiously awaiting the tip-off to the 2014-2015 rendition of NBA basketball. New stars will emerge and a rookie class headlined by Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker will make its imprints on the league. It’s going to be a fun-filled season rich with highlights. It’s going to be a roller-coaster ride. I can’t wait.
Steven Hefter is a junior majoring in economics. He can be reached at Steven. Hefter@tufts.edu. He is also a Sports Editor for the Tufts Daily.
Sports
12
tuftsdaily.com
Women's Soccer
Tufts ends scoring drought with three goals against UMass Boston by Alison Kuah Daily Editorial Board
Tufts scored three goals on Tuesday in its tie against UMass Boston, breaking the team’s five-game slide — in which the
WOMEN’S SOCCER (6-5-2 Overall, 2-5-1 NESCAC) at Boston, Mass., Tuesday OT 2OT Tufts 2 1 0 0 — 3 UMass.-Boston 1 2 0 0 — 3 team went 1-4 — en route to scoring as many goals on Tuesday as they had in their previous six games combined. The three goals were not enough to give the Jumbos the win, however, as the Beacons overcame three different onegoal deficits to tie the game, which stayed deadlocked through double overtime. The Jumbos moved to 6-5-2, while the Beacons are now 7-3-5 on the season. “Of course we would have liked a different outcome [against UMass Boston], but I think this [tie] has given us a lot of motivation and excitement to come out stronger this coming Saturday [against Hamilton],” senior co-captain Catharine Greer said. “Even if we didn’t win, we’re excited to give it our all on Saturday.” The team has two games left in the regular season, the first of which is this Saturday, Oct. 25 against Hamilton. Tufts ‘attack will try to draw momentum from the three goals scored on Tuesday and break their five-game conference slide, in which they have been unable to score a single goal against a NESCAC opponent since their 1-1 double-overtime tie with Wesleyan on Sept. 16.
“Getting three goals [on Tuesday] we obviously saw that we can score, [but] getting three goals scored on us is very odd for us,” Greer said. “Now that we know that we can score, and we know that we have great defenders, [we need to] be able to put it all together [on Saturday].” Greer scored the first goal in the 25th minute off a corner kick from senior co-captain midfielder Carla Kruyff, snapping a 324-minute and 44-second Jumbo scoreless streak. “Definitely coming out and possessing a lot in the first half, that was definitely memorable,” Greer said. “The connection of me and Carla [Kruyff ] off one of the corners, that was also really memorable.” UMass Boston answered less than four minutes later off a give-and-go in the box. Freshman Hannah Petersen fed classmate Marina Kelly to give Kelly her sixth goal of the year. The stalemate did not last for long, with the Jumbos reclaiming the lead off a Kruyff goal — a high shot across the box over the head of Beacons goalkeeper Dani Perkins — before halftime. “We were doing a good job in the first half of connecting and doing quick passes, transitioning forward, getting the ball and attacking from our defenders, cutting through the midfield and transitioning offensively,” Kruyff said. “That was the most memorable for me, just getting back in the groove of things and playing how we know we can play, for the first half especially.” UMass Boston senior Krista Ledin evened the score before the hour mark, counterattacking on an attempted Tufts’ clearance, racing past the defender and slipping the ball just past Tufts
Alex Knapp / The Tufts Daily
Tufts rebounded from its 1-0 loss to Williams with a tie and three goals against UMass Boston on Tuesday. keeper sophomore Eileen McGarry for her 95th career goal. Tufts was unfazed, responding again in the 75th minute. Kruyff’s hard low shot off a corner kick gave the Jumbos their
Women's Tennis
Women's tennis finishes fall season with strong showing by Steven Hefter Daily Editorial Board
The women’s tennis team wrapped up its fall season over the weekend at Bowdoin, competing in singles and doubles matches against Wellesley, Bates and Bowdoin at the Bowdoin Invitational Tournament. This competition was unlike the previous matches of the fall season, as the Jumbos had always either competed in tournament-style competitions with brackets or team matches, consisting of three doubles matches and six singles matches. Over the weekend, however, Tufts played exhibition matches against the three other schools. Despite the fact that the matches did not contribute to a team win or advance the Jumbos in competitive tournaments, Tufts did perform well. The team played a total of 24 singles matches, winning 17 of them. In addition, it played 12 doubles matches, winning nine of them. “The team did extremely well this weekend,” freshman Lauren Louks said. “It was a great way to end the fall season.” On Friday, the entire team played a singles match and the Jumbos emerged victorious in seven of the eight matches. First-year Aandrita Deb defeated Elena Mandzhukova of Bates by a score of 6-3, 6-1, while Louks beat Wellesley sophomore Carina Chen by a score of 6-2, 6-0. Sophomore Conner Calabro added a third lopsided victory for
Tufts, besting Bates sophomore Kate Rosenthal by a score of 6-0, 6-1. Sophomore Chelsea Hayashi added to the win column for Tufts as well, beating Emma Blakely of Bates 6-1, 6-0. Sophomore Jacqueline Baum also won her match over Dasha Kostikina of Wellesley by a score of 6-3, 6-1. The two closest wins for the Jumbos came from sophomore Alexa Meltzer and first-year Zoe Miller. Meltzer played against Andjela Stojkovic of Wellesley in a highly competitive match that required a super-tiebreaker to determine the winner. Meltzer lost the first set 6-3, but responded to win the second set 6-2. The super-tiebreaker was a nailbiter, with Meltzer pulling out the win for Tufts by a score of 13-11. Miller’s match was similar. She played against Bowdoin freshman Cory Alini, and lost the first set 6-2. But Miller regrouped to blank Alini in the second set, winning 6-0, and prevailed in the super-tiebreaker by a score of 10-8. All eight Tufts players played doubles throughout the weekend, and each player played with the same partner for each match. Meltzer played with Calabro, Miller played with Deb, Hayashi played with sophomore Hannah Conroy and Louks played with Baum. The Jumbos won six out of the eight doubles matches on Friday and three out of four on Saturday. Two of the four doubles teams went undefeated over the weekend. Meltzer and Calabro won their matches on Friday
against Sojung Lee and Carina Chen of Wellesley 8-6 and then Tess Trinka and Pilar Giffenig of Bowdoin by the same score. They then beat Mandzhukova and Elizabeth Erbafina of Bates 8-5 on Saturday. Hayashi and Conroy also won both their Friday matches with identical scores, as they defeated Bates’ Madeline Stein and Alexandra Hakusui and then Blakely and Olivia Voccola of Bates as well, by scores of 8-1 each time. On Saturday, they beat the Wellesley pair of Samantha Stone and Victoria Wu 8-6. “Jacqueline and I played very well as a team,” Louks said. “We are very good at communicating and our styles compliment each other very well. One thing we need to work on is closing out the match when we are up.” The weekend allowed the new players on the team to gain valuable experience that they will take with them into the spring season. The next official action for the Jumbos will be during spring break in 2015, but until then the team has a chance to regroup and reflect on a fall season full of great tennis, competition and growth. “My best memory of the fall season was when we won our match against Babson,” Louks said. “After I won the deciding match the whole team was so excited and everyone was hugging each other, and it drastically compared to the previous match where I lost the deciding match against MIT.”
third lead of the night at 3-2. “Yesterday we did a good job of finishing our chances, granted we had see WOMEN'S SOCCER, page 11
The state of sports journalism by Alex Connors Daily Editorial Board
The Daily sports section published, on Sept. 24, a story on the infamous Ray Rice suspension scandal, and on Sept. 29, an article on the Donald Sterling scandal. In doing so, we joined every other sports media outlet in the United States. In doing so, we drew attention, under the guise of “sports coverage,” to topics that had nothing to do with sports. In doing so, we drew attention away from the fascinating and exciting action taking place on the field in those two great sports. And in doing so, we helped to continue a very troubling trend in sports media. A panel of prominent sports journalists came to Tufts on Oct. 15 to discuss modern sports news coverage. Chris Stone (LA ’92), managing editor of Sports Illustrated, Dan Barbarisi (LA ’01), New York Yankees beat reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Tony Massarotti (LA’ 89), Boston Globe contributor and co-host of sports talk show “Felger and Mazz” on 98.5 The Sports Hub and Shira Springer, investigative and enterprise sports reporter for the Globe, all spoke at the event. Stone, Barbarisi and Massarotti all used to write for the Daily. Each now does important, hard-hitting and well-respected work in the industry. But the same cannot be said for the industry as a whole. The panel members are a poor representation of the current quality of sports journalism. Yet, throughout the evening, the panelists espoused unwarranted confidence in and optimism for the collec-
tive sports media, with the most explicit endorsement coming from Barbarisi. “Sports writing is better now than it’s ever been,” Barbarisi simply stated. While I don’t disagree with Barbarisi — in that there is thoughtful and enlightened work being done — the current work, as a whole, is seriously flawed. The sensationalism employed by the national media outlets, led by ESPN, is unprecedented. Their lone interests seem to be the juicy scandals that have so little to do with sports that they belong on the cover of a gossip magazine in the checkout line at the grocery store. The Ray Rice domestic violence disgrace, Donald Sterling’s racist remarks, A-Rod’s suspension, the LeBron free-agency saga and the 24/7 coverage of Tim Tebow’s career are a few good examples. These stories draw attention to athletes as celebrities and personalities, overshadowing the incredible feats occurring in every season in every sport. Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw have had some of the best seasons in the history of baseball, but they haven’t gotten as much coverage as the Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera farewell tours. The San Antonio Spurs have put together a dynasty unrivaled by any team in any sport during this century, yet their coverage was buried under the racist remarks made by a league owner and the free-agency of a few star players. Barbarisi chalks up this phenomenon to a shift in the way fans see JOURNALISM, page 11