TuftsDaily12.01.14

THE TUFTS DAILY

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VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 54

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

Monday, December 1, 2014

Ferguson protests reach Boston Boston residents express pain, outrage in wake of indictment verdict

by Noah Habeeb Daily Editorial Board

Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

TCU Judiciary to revive Judicial Advocates Program

by Denali Tietjen Daily Editorial Board

Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Judiciary will be reviving its Judicial Advocacy Program next semester, which pairs students in violation of the Tufts Code of Conduct with a trained student advisor to advocate on their behalf during meetings and hearings and help them navigate the judicial process.

The new program improves upon the previous advocates program, which became inactive due to lack of student interest, according to TCU Judiciary Advocacy Chair Sophia Gomez. The new program adopts the same mission, but is being developed in a more sustainable way.

“This year, there have been people that have asked for advocates, and we don’t have any, and so that’s why we’re see ADVOCATES, page 2

Peaceful protesters, including over 80 Tufts students, marched through Boston on the night of Monday, Nov. 24, shutting down Roxbury streets before clashing with police at the I-93 ramp by the South Bay House of Correction. The protesters joined thousands across the country who took to the streets in reaction to a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson. Wilson shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 9.

Of the estimated 30 to 45 people arrested, four were Tufts students, including Daily Executive Photo Editor Nicholas Pfosi who was covering the event.

According to Jay Dodd (LA ’14), one of the event’s organizers, the charges against the students were dropped.

Junior Renee Vallejo was one of the students arrested during the protest.

“I was put in a choke hold, thrown to the ground and pinned down by an officer’s knee to the head and entire body on top [of ] my legs,” Vallejo said. “I was thrown into the men’s jail truck because the officer refused to believe I was female … [and] sexually violated because the officer wanted to see that I was really female bodied.”

Other protesters and organizers also reported seeing people injured by police.

“I saw several facial abrasions [and] a young woman had a sprained ankle,” Dodd said of the arrests in general in an email to the Daily.

The Boston Police Department Office of Public Information could not be reached for comment.

The protest focused on larger patterns of police racism and brutality while also expressing outrage about the Wilson verdict and Michael Brown’s death.

“The protest was planned either way,” Dodd said of the verdict.

see FERGUSON, page 2

State Senator Rosenberg reaches out to millennials, across the aisle Massachusetts State Senator Stan Rosenberg spoke about youth outreach and plans for his upcoming term as senate president in the Rabb Room of the Lincoln Filene Center last Tuesday.

Alan Solomont (A ’70), the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, described Rosenberg, who represents communities in Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester Counties, as someone who has dedicated his life “to the people’s business.”

Rosenberg, who was first elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1991, asked the dozen students and faculty in attendance for advice on connecting with millennials, “because millennials are the future.”

“The inevitable life cycle marches on,” he said. “We have to stop making policy focused on the frame of reference of the boomers and their parents.”

One of his priorities when engaging with the public is “reducing cynicism,” Rosenberg explained.

Connecting to constituents through media, however, has changed drasti-

Inside this issue

cally during his 23 years in office, Rosenberg added. When he was first elected, for example, his regional newspaper would contact him for comments almost every day.

“I was in that paper daily — voluminously,” he said. “[Now] if I get a call in six months, I’m fortunate.”

Although Rosenberg said he tries to use social media to discuss issues with the public, he finds it difficult to connect to the right people — especially the large student population in his district.

“I have almost no friends online,” he said. “But I have close to 10,000 people following me.”

Associate Dean for Research at Tisch College Peter Levine noted the ease with which political messages can be drowned out on social media feeds.

“It’s really hard to follow the election,” he said. “You can really go through social media without seeing anything about it.”

Rosenberg said he hopes to eventually leverage Twitter and Facebook, “not to bias the conversation, but at least to provide information.”

“There’s a whole new world and a whole new opportunity,” he added.

Attendees also asked Rosenberg about his plans for the Massachusetts Senate as he moves from majority leader to president. He asserted that he would fight gridlock and reverse the precedent where major decisions are made by only a few players.

“The last three senate presidents all wanted to change the world,” he said, explaining that this compromised their ability to work well with others.

Rosenberg underscored the bipartisan nature of the Massachusetts government, an attitude which he plans to continue to emphasize as Senate president.

“We listen to the Republicans,” he said. “We’ll hold hands, we’ll form a circle, we’ll sing kumbaya.”

—by Nina Goldman

Today’s sections

The Daily sits down with Maziar Bahari, the inspiration behind the new film ‘Rosewater.’

Women’s basketball team wins on the road, remains undefeated this season.

see ARTS, page 5

see SPORTS, back

News 1 Features 3 Arts & Living 5 Editorial | Op-Ed 8

Op-Ed 9 Comics 10 Classifieds 11 Sports Back

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The Tufts Daily

Monday, December 1, 2014

News

Visiting the Hill this week MONDAY “Granoff Music Center Colloquium Series: Large-Scale Formative Processes in Ostinato Music” Details: Michael Tenzer, professor of music at the University of British Columbia, will present the final colloquium of the semester.

When and Where: 12 – 1:30 p.m., Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center, Varis Lecture Hall Sponsor: Department of Music “Semi-Supervised Learning” Details: Eli Brown, a Ph.D. candidate at Tufts, will talk about interactive machine learning with a focus on his research using interactive visualizations to help users leverage machine learners.

When and Where: 9 – 10 p.m., Halligan Hall, Room 102 Sponsor: Tufts Data Science Club TUESDAY “Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series: Boston Mayor Marty Walsh” Details: Boston Mayor Martin Walsh will speak about pressing public issues.

When and Where: 9 – 10 a.m., Alumnae Lounge Sponsor: Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service

WEDNESDAY “Economics Department Seminar Series: Cheap-Talk, Round-Numbers and the Economics of Negotiation” Details: Steven Tadelis, associate professor at the Haas Business and Public Policy Group at the University of California, Berkeley, will give a talk.

When and Where: 4:30 – 5:45 p.m., Lincoln Filene Center, Rabb Room Sponsor: Department of Economics THURSDAY “Tufts University Chaplaincy Annual Holiday Concert” Details: Tufts Chaplaincy will present its annual holiday concert with the Tufts Concert Choir and other musicians across campus, including a carol sing-along, followed by a reception.

When and Where: 4:40 – 6:30 p.m., Goddard Chapel Sponsor: Tufts University Chaplaincy “The Arab Spring: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects” Details: Mohamed ElBaradei, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy’s NobelLaureate-in-Residence and director general emeritus of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will present a lecture and discussion.

When and Where: 6 – 7:30 p.m., Cabot ASEAN Auditorium Sponsor: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

TCU program to help students through judicial process ADVOCATES

continued from page 1

trying to restart it,” Gomez, a first-year, explained.

Judicial Affairs Administrator Mickey Toogood, who is working closely with the TCU Judiciary on developing the program, said that the advocates will be an available resource to students throughout all stages of the judicial process — from drafting an initial response when a case is filed to meetings with deans and involved faculty to the final hearing.

While students can still opt to have an advocate who is not part of the Judicial Advocacy Program and who may know them better on a personal level, the benefit of choosing an advocate from the program is that he or she is formally trained in the judicial process and is familiar with the judicial system, according to Toogood.

“Advocates become familiar with both the policies on campus and with the process, so they can say, ‘You know, if you write that down, that sort of makes you look culpable, don’t write that,’ which is something I can’t say,” he said.

Toogood explained that cases go to hearings if the evidence supporting the violation is disputable or if he thinks that the case warrants an additional opinion.

“One of the reasons I’m interested in reviving the advocates program is that I’m interested in taking more cases to hearings,” he noted.

According to Toogood, as more student cases go to hearing, the advocacy program will become an even more relevant and important resource.

“In a hearing, you have five other perspectives in the room to discuss the violation, the policy surrounding that violation, the response to the violation and what we think should happen,” he said. “The advocates support that process.”

Gomez highlighted that confidentiality distinguishes advocates from other students and faculty involved in the judicial process. While deans and TCU Judiciary members can be

useful in explaining how the process works, they are required to report any disclosed information relevant to the case.

Having a confidential resource who understands the judicial system can be very helpful for students.

“The student can feel free to tell them anything about the matter, and the advocate is not obliged to tell the jury during the hearings,” Gomez said.

The advocate is not the only student involved in the hearing process — two students from the TCU Judiciary sit in on all hearings as representatives of the student body, except for those regarding sexual assault, according to Gomez. Since these students are involved in making the decision, however, they are not allowed to advocate on behalf of the student in the same ways the advocate can.

“It can be really intimidating to advocate for yourself when it’s just you and there’s a dean present and faculty and students you don’t know,” Gomez said. “We think that having the advocate with you would make a student a lot more comfortable during the hearing. For example, the advocate can say, ‘I think we need to take a fiveminute break,’ and can even speak a little bit for the student if they’re having trouble articulating. I think it’s helpful and more fair for the student to have an advocate.”

Toogood said that he hopes that the advocates program, as a representative body, will attract students from all parts of campus so that students have a variety of advocates to choose from.

Gomez explained that in order to develop an initial group of advocates, all interested students will be accepted to the program this semester.

Toogood added that he expects that this first round of advocates will be trained by the start of the spring semester.

Moving forward, students will need to apply for the position, which is expected to be a one-year term, though the TCU Judiciary is still working out the logistics of the program, according to Gomez.

“Fortune, Virtue and Love: An Evening of Opera Scenes” Details: Tufts Opera Ensemble will present an evening of music in scenes from opera and musical theater.

When and Where: 8 – 10 p.m., Distler Performance Hall, Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center Sponsor: Department of Music FRIDAY “World AIDS Day Documentary Marathon” Details: Tufts Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Center will commemorate World AIDS Day, held on Dec. 1 each year, with a marathon of documentaries and a display of images from a panel of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, created in 2011, with supplies for participants to make their own commemorative panels.

When and Where: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., LGBT Center Sponsor: LGBT Center “Fifth Annual Women’s Center Symposium on Gender and Culture Body Language: Constructions of the Body” Details: Students will discuss constructions of the body through research on medicalization, religion, education and agency as they manifest in and on bodies. The keynote address will be provided by Jennifer Burton, professor of the practice in the Department of Drama and Dance.

When and Where: 12:30 – 5 p.m., Sophia Gordon Hall Sponsors: Women’s Center, Graduate Student Council “Sustainable Development in Asia” Details: Nathan Perry, assistant professor at Colorado Mesa University, and Sara Hsu, assistant professor of the State University of New York at New Paltz, will discuss their recent book series examining sustainable development in six countries in Asia.

When and Where: 12:30 – 2 p.m., Cabot Intercultural Center, Room 703 Sponsor: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy “New Music Ensemble: In C” Details: The New Music Ensemble with guest artists will present new works, improvisations and performance art.

When and Where: 8 – 10 p.m., Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center, Distler Performance Hall Sponsor: Department of Music SATURDAY “SALAAM Presents: BOL” Details: South Asian Literary Arts and Music (SALAAM) will host a film-screening.

When and Where: 6 p.m., Olin Center, Room 002 Sponsor: SALAAM —by Jei-Jei Tan

Students arrested Tuesday night while protesting in Boston

FERGUSON

continued from page 1

The rally began in Dudley Square, where hundreds were assembled by 7 p.m. After a fourand-a-half minute moment of silence — the time representing the number of hours Michael Brown’s body remained in the street after his death — protesters came to a microphone to speak, expressing not only their frustration with the grand jury’s verdict, but also indignation with a justice system they framed as inherently unjust.

“We live this,” one woman said. “Black lives matter. It is not a hashtag — it is a f—ing reality!”

Between speakers, the crowd — estimated at 1,400 to 1,600 people — passed around a candle in memory of Michael Brown and held signs proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” and “Justice for Mike Brown.” Chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot!” rang through the square.

“Freedom will not be handed to you. You have to take it!” a 54-year-old woman said. After speaking, she led the crowd in a spontaneous rendition of “Redemption Song” (1980).

At the urging of organizers positioned in the back of a flatbed truck, protesters began to march past the Roxbury District police station and down Dudley Street. Community members stood on the sidewalk, taking photographs and cheering.

Protesters made their way down Melnea Cass Boulevard to South Bay House of Correction, where they met a police barricade on the I-93 onramp. The protesters’ goal was to march onto the highway and shut down traffic.

As the crowd solidified in front of the barricade, constantly chanting, inmates at South Bay House of Correction began to cheer, some banging on their windows and flashing the lights in their cells. Many members of the crowd clapped in response to the inmates’ support, some throwing their fists in the air to express solidarity with those behind bars.

As some protesters attempted to push through the police

blockade, police insisted that they step back. The crowd responded with chants of “You step back!” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police!”

According to sophomore Nic Serhan, many of those at the front of the group were Tufts students.

“I’ve never been so proud of the student body here … when I was at the front lines of the protest I saw Tufts students all around me, and we linked arms and chanted,” Serhan said. “It’s amazing to feel support like that.”

Organizers prepared for confrontation, directing “white allies to the front,” in the belief that police would be less likely to arrest or harm white people.

“The police and the United States don’t value black bodies — they value white bodies,” Victoria Gibson, a junior who was at the front of the protest, said. “If you are going to create a barricade with the police, logically it should be white people at the front going head-to-head with them.”

Although struggles broke out between police and protesters at the barricade, the majority of people were

peaceful in their expressions of anger. According to Dodd, confrontation with police was foreseen.

“I knew the cops would provide a significant and more forceful presence than at other actions,” Dodd said. “This work was about confronting police head-on, and the violence, though still jarring, was expected.”

According to Serhan, protesters eventually left the I-93 on-ramp, marching back to Dudley Street. They encountered a police blockade once more outside South Station.

“When the cops were getting really brutal by the jail we walked back towards downtown, took over Massachusetts Avenue and then Boylston Street … There was another blockade of police at another 93 exit ramp and also one right outside South Station,” Serhan said.

Although some of the protests have ended, for many activists the work is not over.

“This work is only the beginning,” Dodd said. “We will continue this work locally, while maintaining connected to the national movement.”

Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

A woman chants during the Indict America rally in Dudley Square on November 25th, 2014.

Features

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Clubs in health scene strive to give students hands-on experience

by Arin Kerstein Daily Staff Writer

For Tufts students looking toward medicine and public health, there is no shortage of options to pursue. From GlobeMed to Sharewood to Peer Health Exchange, students can enjoy hands-on experiences and unique opportunities to further develop their interests and gain perspective.

To help foster collaboration and communication between the many groups, Tufts Peer Health Collaborative was formed in 2006. According to junior John Ramatowski, a double major in biology and community health and the group’s collaborative director, it functions as an umbrella organization for several health-related groups on campus.

“Before the collaborative existed, there was a lot of duplication of events and very small turnout, and it was kind of disappointing,” Ramatowski said. “But ever since the collaborative has been operating, there has been improved attendance at events. It’s much easier to advertise events to all the different health organizations, and it’s fulfilling its goal wonderfully, actually.”

GlobeMed is among the 15-plus clubs that form the collaborative. A national organization, GlobeMed partners university chapters with grassroots health organizations abroad. According to Emily Miller, a co-president of GlobeMed’s Tufts chapter, Tufts students work with Practical Help Achieving SelfEmpowerment (PHASE) Nepal, which helps promote health, education, infrastructural development, sustainable livelihoods and social justice in Nepalese communities.

According to Miller, the group of 53 members has a fundraising goal of $10,000 per year. The funds go toward a project decided on during the preceding summer by a team of five people who visit the sites in Nepal. This year, the money will pay for the salary of an on-site education development facilitator.

“The whole point of GlobeMed is that it’s not university students going abroad and imposing ideas on the community there,” Miller said. “They want to work on a sustainable partnership model. We are responding to the needs that our partner tells us they want … we go in and ask ‘what can we do, what can we help you with?’”

This year GlobeMed has also emphasized its role in working with public policy, according to Miller. Representatives from the group also served as central figures in organizing the Rally for the Right to Health, held in the Boston Common on Oct. 26.

“We focus our advocacy and events on the fact that GlobeMed is an organization that is trying to promote global health in general,” Miller said.

Miller said the group gives people a unique perspective on global health equity, expanding their knowledge of issues they would not otherwise know about. She feels that this knowledge can be expanded through groups like the Peer Health Cooperative.

“We have so many clubs with so many good intentions,” she said. “It would be good if we could work together more and people could know how to get involved with all of them.”

While GlobeMed, Tufts United Against Inequities in Disease and Tufts Timmy Global Health exist under the collaborative’s umbrella, other healthcare-related groups on campus provide important learning experiences.

One of these groups, Sharewood, sends students to volunteer in a free clinic in the basement of First Church in Malden. The program is jointly operated by an undergraduate group on campus and Tufts medical students, and is open from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. According to senior Michael Char, the group’s undergraduate president, the clinic sees between 14-35 patients a night, depending on time of year and weather.

“A really big draw for us is that we don’t check immigration status, and we’re good with a lot of different languages, so anybody can come see us for free treatment,” he said.

Char explained that undergraduate volunteers’ responsibilities include triaging patients into the clinic, measuring height, weight and blood pressure, and working out the logistics of which patients need to be seen by which doctors. The undergraduates then pass the patients onto the graduate students, who act as physician’s assistants. The attending physicians are Tufts Medical Center doctors.

According to Char, students apply to volunteer at the clinic at the beginning of the semester and then receive training. Undergraduates can participate in the group’s outreach, fundraising and public health committees.

Sharewood also focuses on social services including case management.

According to Char, volunteers help patients sign up for health insurance through the Mass Health System and for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) Program.

“Our main priority is to get them signed up for health insurance, treat their acute needs and try to get them into the larger health care system,” he said. “The idea is that they won’t

Lex Erath | Sugar & Spice

come back because we will be able to integrate them into the system.”

The group has also centered its efforts on education and outreach and held a mental health day on Nov. 7 in collaboration with other health groups on campus.

It is also working to implement an oral health education program in local public elementary schools, according to Char.

Char explained that the experience undergrads get from working in a clinic with graduate students is invaluable.

“You get to work with patients, you get to see the chaos that is a functioning clinic,” Char said. “Patient interaction and experience in a clinical setting helps undergrads discover if the medical field is right for them.”

For those students interested in educating others on healthcare, Peer Health Exchange (PHE) serves as a major volunteer hub with about 110 students volunteering through the Tufts chapter. PHE is a national organization that trains students as health educators and sends them into local high schools that lack funding for health education to teach a comprehensive health curriculum, according to Tufts Co-Coordinator Sophia Epstein, a senior, who said volunteers have a wide variety of academic interests.

According to Epstein, educators master two lessons and teach material on drugs, alcohol, sex, mental health and more over the course of 13 class sessions.

“Our mission is teaching the teenagers the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions,” she said. “If we weren’t going in there, they wouldn’t be getting health education any other way.”

While the club does not give direct exposure to the medical field, Epstein explained that it provides experience with an often overlooked aspect of the field.

“It gives pre-health students an idea of what it might be like to teach within the medical field or public health field,” she said. “It also gives you exposure to certain topics that are relevant in those spheres.”

According to Epstein, the publicspeaking experience and training on particular issues helps the chapter’s health educators grow as leaders. She noted that the experience is beneficial for both the educators and the students who learn from the lessons at hand.

“Students take health education for granted,” she said. “Being involved in PHE really has shown me that this information is really important, because if I hadn’t had it, I’m sure that some of the decisions I made in high school wouldn’t have been as informed and could’ve ended up affecting my life in the long run.”

The search for Somerville's poet laureate The United States has one, Great Britain has one, and soon, Somerville will have one, too. Local writers Doug Holder and Harris Gardner, working with the Executive Director of Somerville’s Art Council, Greg Jenkins, have created a poet laureate position for the city. Applications were accepted until Monday, Nov. 17.

One of the responsibilities of Somerville’s poet laureate will be to promote poetry in places it might otherwise go unappreciated, according to Holder.

“I hope that the poet exposes people who normally wouldn’t listen to poetry, and show that it can be accessible,” Holder said. “That it doesn’t have to be this arcane art.”

According to Jenkins, much of what the poet will do, however, has not yet been decided.

“There is a lot of emphasis on the applicant’s desire to do work in the community, so they have to develop their own proposal,” Jenkins said. “Are they going to work with youth, are they going to

work at senior centers or are they going to do a mix of that? Another question will be whether we can form different partnerships and different relationships. The library, for example, has expressed that it wants to work with the poet laureate.”

According to Holder, poet laureate applicants are being examined for more than just artistic merit due to the active community presence he or she will be expected to have.

“The poet laureate should be someone who is a good poet, but more importantly someone who is an activist, someone who is going to impress the flesh,” Holder said.

“He or she must be someone who will go out there and motivate people, and is accessible.”

Gloria Mindock, a local artist who applied for the position, has other ideas about what the poet laureate could accomplish.

“The poet should reach out to the community, [and] word of mouth will help discover writers that we don’t know

about,” she said. “Closet writers that haven’t quite come out but want the experience … I firmly believe everyone has to start somewhere, and I think the poet laureate should reach out to everybody regardless of where they are in terms of their writing.”

Holder has been pushing for the creation of a poet laureate position in Somerville for some time, but said he is glad that the idea has come to fruition.

“Somewhat recently Cambridge had their first poet laureate, and Boston has had a first poet laureate there,” he said.

“So I think the mayor sees that it is a good opportunity for publicity, and we are a very literary town. We have all kinds of writers … I used to run the Somerville News Writers Festival … [and] we had Pulitzer Prize winners. There are big name writers who live right here in the area, so I think it was a natural thing to come about.”

—by Ian James

Ruiners

E

xcept for that one week when I accidentally submitted my most recent diary entry as my column (now that was embarrassing!), I usually refrain from boring my fellow Jumbos with details of my terribly dull day-to-day life. But today I’m making an exception in order to regale you all with the tale of how exactly my family and I ruined one stranger’s Thanksgiving.

If you know me personally, you’ll know that I am a rather limited chef; it’s entirely accurate to say that while I can feed myself, I cannot cook.

Unsurprisingly, most of those unfortunate enough to share my genes also share this particular shortcoming, and thus Thanksgiving night found us (well into our second drinks at the bar) at a restaurant.

(Let me preface this by saying that much like myself after I’ve been cut off in traffic, my relatives are a very loud bunch who have been known to drop an expletive or two during everyday conversation.)

We were a party of 12 seated in a very central location, so probably eight or nine tables had the distinct pleasure of listening to our every word.

We began drawing glares during the appetizers — some of which persisted all the way through dessert, two hours later. One old lady in particular chose me to be the object of her displeasure, and so I was the subject of the nastiest glower you could imagine; honestly, you’d think I’d skinned her puppy alive instead of laughed at my uncle’s story of how exactly he ended up driving a mail truck as his car. (I have done no such thing unless she happens to be my neighbor and the owner of CleverDog.) Of course, as intoxicated as we were on the family love emanating from our table, we weren’t bothered one bit by the almost tangible hostility. As my grandpa cheerfully said, calling for another bottle of wine, “Haters are gonna hate!”

During the salad course, the nastiest of the hate-glarers got up to move tables away from us, loudly expressing her displeasure as she did so. Everyone got really quiet as we all frantically elbowed our neighbor and hissed, “What’d she say?” But when we established that no one had really heard her anyway, my aunt’s perfect imitation of the lady’s wagging finger sent us all into gales of laughter that earned us several other (inaudible) disparaging comments.

Some of those who had married into the family were a little uncomfortable by all the negative attention, but I reassured my aunt that we were practically celebrities; the notoriety, unfortunately, came with the lifestyle. By the time dessert rolled around, we’d all but forgotten the haters until the aforementioned queen of negativity announced to the room that “the food was lovely, but that loud party ruined my Thanksgiving.” I immediately began rolling up my sleeves, intending to order this woman into the parking lot so I could kick her ass, but the fact that she was 80 had several relatives pulling me back down. Instead, one of my cousins stood up and explained that we were just the Regina George of families: “Sorry, ma’am, but that’s just what we do. We’re Thankgiving-ruiners; we ruin people’s Thanksgivings.”

And at that moment I had never been prouder to call them family.

Lex Erath is a junior majoring in economics and biopsychology. She can be reached at alexandra.erath@tufts.edu.

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Interview

The story of 'Rosewater': Maziar Bahari speaks on citizen journalism, solitary confinement

by Kumar Ramanathan Contributing Writer

Sitting in a hotel room in downtown Boston, Maziar Bahari looked incredibly relaxed for someone who had spent the past several days answering questions about the six months he endured in an Iranian maximum security prison as a political prisoner. An Iranian-Canadian journalist, Bahari was arrested in 2009 while reporting for Newsweek on the protests that unfolded following the controversial presidential election of that year. Five years later, on Nov. 14, “Rosewater,” a film based on Bahari’s 2011 memoir “Then They Came for Me,” which detailed his imprisonment, was released.

That same month, the journalist and author gave roundtable interviews with college students as part of his tour promoting “Rosewater.” Tufts senior Kumar Ramanathan attended the interview and provided the following report.

“Rosewater” begins pre-imprisonment, with Bahari reporting on the election and the protests in Iran before taking a sharp turn to the solitary confinement and interrogations he faced while being held in Evin Prison in Tehran and accused of being an American spy.

During his interrogations, an interview Bahari had given on “The Daily Show” (1996 – present) was used as evidence

Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune/MCT

Stewart (left) and Bahari (right) worked closely while making “Rosewater.” of his espionage. After his release, this fact drew Bahari back onto the show for another segment, which inspired Jon Stewart, who then wrote and directed “Rosewater.”

Unsurprisingly, Bahari worked closely with Stewart on the film, which the former described as “an adaptation of see ROSEWATER, page 6

TV Review

'State of Affairs' a strange new political drama

by Drew Robertson Daily Editorial Board

Katherine Heigl, the actress formerly known as Izzie Stevens, has made her return to television. NBC’s newest drama, “State of Affairs,” which premiered on

State of Affairs Starring Katherine Heigl, Alfre Woodard, Adam Kaufman

Airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC Nov. 17, stars Heigl as the series’ main character, Charleston (Charlie) Tucker.

Charlie and her coworkers at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) work as high-profile briefers. Every morning (apparently at the CIA the early shift starts at 2 a.m.) the briefers assemble “The Book.” The Book is an up-to-theminute report on the biggest security threats around the globe, and it is distributed by the briefers to top military and political personnel. Charlie’s “customer” is none other than the President of the United States herself, Constance Payton (played by Alfre Woodard). The briefers’ job, though only loosely defined by the show, includes informing these leaders on The Book’s contents and then giving limited advice.

Based only on its high-stakes premise and cloak and dagger vibe, it would be easy to file “State of Affairs” under “prime-time political dramas” right next to “Scandal” (2012 – present) without giving the classification a second thought.

However, already “State of Affairs” defies expectations of the archetype. For instance, the pilot features a few energetic scenes of Charlie & Co. sitting at desks and suffering through the morning work grind. But while these moments appear to establish the familiar team dynamics that structure many series — including genre legend “The West Wing” (1999 – 2006) — this friendly atmosphere soon evaporates.

In under 90 minutes of airtime, internal upheaval brings in new CIA leadership, Charlie begins receiving threatening text messages relating to the terrorist attack which killed her fiancé, Aaron

(Mark Tallman), who also happened to be President Payton’s son, and character after character chucks morals and ethics to the wayside in favor of ruthless pragmatism.

By the end of episode two, bluntly titled “Secrets and Lies,” Charlie can’t be sure who to trust — and, undoubtedly, audience members won’t know what to think. One thing, however, is clear: “State of Affairs” shirks the uplifting, patriotic tone to which other series of its kind cling. Yet, paradoxically, flashbacks to Charlie’s life with Aaron and her sentimental conversation with an undercover asset in “Secrets and Lies” prevents “State of Affairs” from following in the cynical footsteps of “House of Cards” (2013 – present).

As it stands, the series is neither “here” nor “there,” and the contradictions and ambiguity it presents are frustrating. Still, if the creative minds behind “State of Affairs” are interested in soothing viewers’ jangled nerves, they don’t appear it. Fictional agents laughing hysterically about “terrorist threats” that they deem ridiculous or, at the very least, below the president’s notice, paint a jarring portrait of the CIA. But even this disquieting scene pales in comparison to the strangely incestuous relationship between the White House and the CIA, as President Payton and Charlie drink together, clinking the former’s glass of wine against the latter’s shot of something clear and strong, an image provocative enough to make anyone squirm in his or her seat. In our post-Snowden age, and on the heels of “Citizenfour’s” October release, the line that separates politics and political entertainment has worn paper-thin, and “State of Affairs” blurs it further.

In addition to the peculiarities of her character’s relationship with Charlie, Woodard’s superior acting makes each subsequent scene increasingly ominous, as she portrays a powerful and griefstricken mother with riveting ruthlessness. Viewers must only hope that series writer and creator Alexi Hawley will continue to develop President Payton as a political leader, and not simply relegate her to the predicable, limited and gender-defined role of a vengeful mother.

NBC/MCT

“State of Affairs,” NBC’s new political drama, struggles to establish a definite tone at the start of its first season.

Heigl, for her part, still seems to be finding her footing. Most of the time she lurks in the realm of “generally good,” only hitting a few false notes. However, as Charlie remains the only identifiable protagonist on the horizon, Heigl must quickly become excellent if she is to carry “State of Affairs” any further.

And there she certainly has her work cut out for her. “State of Affairs” presents Charlie — whose role in the show hinges on her work as an independent, influential and intelligent agent — in three separate contexts before her profession or her personality become clear. We first see her helpless and traumatized in a terrorist attack, then agitated in her therapist’s office and, finally, inebriated while picking up a man in a bar, her hook-up for the night. While such depictions may not be cause for concern in and of themselves, these early scenes frame her character, introducing her in a way unrelated to either her identity as an individual or as an agent. This beginning sets Charlie (and therefore Heigl) up to walk a delicate line — at best she will be a complex character, at worst a problematic stereotype.

No matter what, any future success of “State of Affairs” will depend on the series’ ability to harness Woodard and Heigl’s considerable dramatic power and to give a satisfyingly nuanced portrait of powerful womanhood. Episode three of “State of Affairs” will air tonight on NBC at 10/9c.

Helen Schmidt | Around the Book Block

Reading in bulk

F

or those of you who have been reading my columns from the beginning, you’ve probably gotten a very good sense of how many books I read and have read. Since I’ve only been on this earth, and of reading age, for less than two decades, I’m often amazed myself as to how many books I’ve managed to read. I tend to stop at a bookstore and walk away with no fewer than four or five new books, and I usually start reading them all within the week. At any given time, I’ll be in the middle of ten to 15 different books, some being new finds and others being the 100th read-through of a longtime favorite.

When you walk into my dorm room here on campus, the first thing you’ll encounter is the large stack of books on the table next to my bed. Before Thanksgiving break, I had 16 books piled there (yes, I counted) and I was in the middle of reading all of them. In fact, my roommate has asked on more than one occasion if I’m really reading so many books at once. However, she now knows not to question me when I return carrying a bag of books to add to the collection taking over my desk shelves.

My family often asks me why, if I read so many books, I won’t simply check them out from a library and control the literary chaos. It would be easier to simply borrow the books I read once and decide I didn’t really enjoy, or the books that are “a shot in the dark” when I choose them. However, there’s no way to know if the book I’ve picked up will inspire me in ways I don’t expect and acquire a permanent place in my favorites collection.

I read and reread my favorite books so many times that I can open them to any page and begin reading. Some people say that the fun of reading a book is being surprised at what comes next.

While that’s true the first or second time around, I like my favorite books to become so well known to me that they’re a constant I can always return to. If I’m feeling lost in my schoolwork or in my relationships with others, I can always rely on my favorite books to be a source of calming consistency. I get to know the characters so well that they become real people, ones who’ve influenced me with their decisions and helped me make some of my own.

It is a strange habit I have, reading more than one book at a time and rereading them until I can quote entire pages. However, I think that’s partly why I find reading so enjoyable. At any given time I can embark on an entirely new adventure or spend some time with old friends. Sure, it gets confusing, but that is precisely why I tend to read a story I’ve read a dozen times while I’m reading a brand new book. If I don’t understand the choices a character made or can’t follow the plot, I can always turn around and delve into a sea of calmness, into a story I’ve heard again and again.

I would not recommend following in my footsteps by reading a dozen or so books at one time, but I would suggest that you go revisit a book you’ve read before. Although you will know the details of any plot twists and understand each character from the beginning, there’s also something to be said for reading a book just for the nostalgic pleasure it brings.

Helen Schmidt is a sophomore majoring in biology. She can be reached at helen. schmidt@tufts.edu.

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The Tufts Daily

Monday, December 1, 2014

Arts & Living

Ex-political prisoner gives a roundtable interview with college students ROSEWATER

continued from page 5

the book, which was an adaptation of a life.” When asked how accurately the film speaks to his experience, Bahari said, “I think the film is true to the story — the reality might be different, but of course in a film, reality is not that important; it’s the truth that is important. The film is telling a universal truth about myself and about many journalists around the world who are going through the same thing every day. The film is about my story, it’s inspired by my story, but it’s really not about me as a person. It’s about many people.”

This concern with the truth, and the true stories of many imprisoned journalists, pervades Bahari’s explanations of his and Stewart’s goals with “Rosewater.”

Because “Rosewater” attempts to reflect many similar experiences, some of the physical violence Bahari endured was toned down for the film.

“What we wanted to do from the beginning … was to show a universal reality,” he said. For Bahari, that meant portraying as accurately as possible the realities of institutionalized torture that journalists face in many parts of the world.

“Authoritarian regimes … create institutions, institutions that institutionalize torture, institutionalize interrogation,” he said. “What you see in many films as torture porn, what you see ISIS is doing in front of cameras, these are anomalies. These are not things that are sustainable. What you see in this film, this is an everyday reality in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Russia — it doesn’t matter whether they are American allies or not, these are the governments that want to suppress information. So we really tried to avoid torture porn as much as possible.”

Hearing Bahari speak, one cannot help but be struck by the simultaneous calm and zeal with which he recounts his experience, as well as his humility.

While “Rosewater” is told entirely from the perspective of Bahari’s character, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, the film

avoids turning him into a hero. Indeed, “Rosewater” is centered on the idea that Bahari isn’t exactly the kind of person you would find in a maximum-security prison. In the first act of the film he is portrayed as a fairly ordinary journalist, one who slowly learns from the citizens around him to be more courageous in his reporting. When Bahari ends up in prison, accused of being an American spy, the film frequently ruminates on the absurdity of his situation with humor. “[The levity] is not added — it’s from the book, it’s based on the experience that I had in prison,” Bahari said.

“What I experienced in prison was very Kafkaesque; it was something that, with hindsight, of course, is quite ridiculous.

When you are in prison, in a dark interrogation room, it may not be funny because you are blindfolded, you are beaten, insulted … but with hindsight, when you see someone who thinks that he has a monopoly on truth, someone who thinks that by carrying out the wishes of the Supreme Leader that he can go to heaven and have sex with 72 virgins, that’s just ridiculous.”

Humor helped Bahari escape some of the horrors of solitary confinement. The first few grim scenes of interrogation in the film are interrupted when Bahari’s interrogator plays him a clip from his interview with “The Daily Show” as evidence to prove he is an American spy. In the scene, Bahari’s character bursts out laughing — it’s a sound that returns throughout the rest of the film as a defense mechanism against the stark sensory deprivation of solitary confinement, which Bahari described in ghastly terms.

“When you’re put in solitary confinement, that’s in order to deprive you of all your senses. Especially in those organized institutions like Evin Prison in Iran … these are really clean, strong, solid buildings that they put you in,” Bahari said. “So you cannot see anything except the walls around you, you cannot touch anything except the walls around you, you cannot taste anything because the food tastes like cardboard. You can-

not hear anything because the walls are so thick, and you cannot smell anything because it’s so clean and so hospitallike. At least in hospitals you can smell some medicine, but in prison you cannot smell anything.”

The one thing that Bahari did frequently smell was the scent of his interrogator’s perfume, which gives the film its name. Asked if he still associates the smell of rosewater with his experience, Bahari laughed gently and commented that he has hated the scent since he was young. The ease with which he spoke of these experiences was striking, but ought not to be surprising considering how much he has invested in the process of telling his story.

When asked if the process of making the film, during which he was on set almost every day, was difficult for him, he said that “[The film] is part of the process that started during my incarceration … It heals [wounds] more than it opens them, because by being silent about a traumatic experience like this, you allow it to become deeper and to hurt you much more. If you talk about it, you can heal yourself, you can think about it, and … if there’s any anger or if there’s any negative thought you have about that experience, you can sublimate it into something more positive.”

The self-awareness that Bahari exhibits when discussing his experience in making “Rosewater” extends to the changing world of his own profession — journalism.

“The film shows … the decline of professional journalism and the rise of citizen journalism,” he said in the interview.

“That’s something that all journalists, all aspiring journalists, have to consider. It will be much more difficult to make a living from journalism, you have to understand that. You also have to be more of a multimedia journalist; you cannot just rely on your pen or your keyboard anymore, you have to know how to use the camera and sound.”

Bahari attributes the rise in citizen journalism to digital media, which he sees as having “democratized” information.

In one scene in “Rosewater,” Stewart takes liberties from his fairly conventional filmmaking approach to intercut scenes of protest with hashtags. The technique can appear kitschy, but it speaks to Bahari’s view of how social media has changed our relationship with information.

“The information which was [once] the monopoly of a small group of people right now is available to everyone,” he said. “So you can use this information to follow Shaggy or One Direction, or you can use this social media and information in order to create some change in your society, in your school, in your municipality, in your city, in your country, in the world.”

This zeal for justice has dominated Bahari’s work since his release from prison. Since his release, he founded the website IranWire, which focuses on citizen journalism in Iran, and currently facilitates multiple projects to raise awareness of imprisoned journalists and to lobby for their safety and release.

While his immediate efforts focus on helping those in situations similar to his own incarceration, Bahari’s work is driven by deeper goals.

“What people want in this country, which is to be regarded as citizens of the country … is something that Iranians want, that Egyptians want, that the Chinese want,” he said. “I think that’s a universal phenomenon, that people want to be recognized as citizens of the country, not just subjects of the country.”

Back in 2009, Bahari’s fateful interview with “The Daily Show,” made nearly the same point — that Americans and Iranians are not so different after all; that in both nations, people seek recognition and desire fair treatment. Giving voice to those ideas put him in prison, but, if anything, Bahari’s spirit and journalistic zeal appear to have grown.

In a way, “Rosewater” is not just a film about journalism; it is a piece of journalism itself. And as Maziar Bahari has learned, journalism, rightly deployed, can be one of the most powerful and feared tools for change.

Studying abroad spring 2015?

Required pre-departure meetings: Non-Tufts Study Abroad Tufts Programs Abroad

all meetings in Braker Hall 001 all meetings in Braker Hall 001

Non-Tufts Africa/Asia/ Caribbean/Latin America/Middle East Tues., Dec. 9 @ 10:30 am

Tufts in London/Madrid**/ Paris**/Tübingen Tues., Dec. 9 @ 1:30 pm

Tufts in Hong Kong Non-Tufts Mainland Europe Wed., Dec. 10 @ 10:30 am Wed., Dec. 10 @ 1:30 pm Non-Tufts UK/Ireland/ Australia/New Zealand Wed., Dec. 10 @ 3:30 pm

**for those who did not attend the group meeting with the Resident Director

PLEASE NOTE: If you cannot make your scheduled nonTufts meeting, please attend another non-Tufts meeting.

If you cannot make your scheduled Tufts meeting, please attend another Tufts meeting.

Meetings are required.

Questions? Call x7-5871.

“Developing Leaders” are current first or second year Tufts students who have exhibited leadership potential through their involvement and contributions to the Tufts Community. This conference will focus on a student leader’s overall wellbeing and how that interacts with their leadership abilities. The Developing Leaders Conference is a one-day experience where students will be able to gain insight on balancing life as a student leader.

Please consider nominating first and second year students from your student organization!

Please check our website: ocl.tufts.edu in the near future for more information!

Monday, December 1, 2014

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Free and open to the public, seating on a first-come basis

An accomplished advocate for working people and a proud product of the City of Boston, Mayor Walsh was sworn in as the City’s 54th Mayor on January 6, 2014. With a commitment to community, equality and opportunity for every resident and neighborhood, Mayor Walsh has the record, skills and passion to move Boston forward.

Mayor Walsh previously served for 16 years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he established himself as a leader on creating and protecting jobs and as a champion for civil rights. Mayor Walsh also served for two years as head of the Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District.

Co-sponsored by Tisch College and the School of Arts and Sciences’ Political Science Department

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The Tufts Daily

THE TUFTS DAILY

Editorial

No justice, no peace

Alexander J. Schroeder Editor-in-Chief

Editorial

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Monday, December 1, 2014

editorial | op-ed

The events in Ferguson, Mo. over the past few months have made it clearer than ever that our justice system is failing people of color in this country. The Missouri grand jury’s failure on Monday night to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for his shooting of black unarmed teen Michael Brown, in a flawed and questionable legal process, is only the latest in an entrenched historical tradition of state violence against black people. In response, Boston organizers have called to “Indict America” — or hold our country accountable for the crimes it has perpetrated.

With no justice, there will be no peace.

Over the past week, thousands of people have taken to the streets in every major city, in largely peaceful protests that have sometimes ended in violent clashes with the police. Tufts students were among thousands in Boston who expressed outrage on Tuesday night, not just with this single grand jury decision, but with a system of racial oppression and institutionalized white privilege that affects every part of American society, from education to health to cycles of wealth and poverty.

We stand with these students, for not only being aware of what is right, but also acting on it. The Tufts community

must not forget, however, that although his death is a tragedy, this is not just about Michael Brown. It is not just about Ferguson, despite the city’s long history of virulent racial tensions. These are not isolated incidents, just as the murder of Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner and John Crawford III at the hands of white police officers were not isolated incidents. Garner, Crawford and Brown were all killed this summer within 30 days of each other, with no indictments or arrests of any of the implicated officers. Rice, who was 12 years old and holding a BB gun, was killed a day after the verdict on Darren Wilson was announced.

The deaths of these young black men are a direct result of a broader trend of racial profiling and discrimination, which is merely a manifestation of larger systems of institutionalized racism that deem black people as inherently dangerous. According to Eric Guster, a civil rights and criminal defense trial lawyer, in an article for The Root, it is almost impossible to hold police officers accountable in these cases. In most states they have the right to shoot to kill in defense of self or of others, and have many options to defend themselves against any liability,

no matter the facts of the situation. What does it mean when police officers, who are supposed to uphold order and justice, are clearly enacting injustice against black people?

As Tufts students, this should be a wake-up call, once and for all, that a “post-racial” American does not exist.

Racism is here and it affects all of our lives, from the privilege of white people not to have to fear for their sons’ lives, to the daily aggressions that people of color face. The protesters have spoken out and created spaces that resist these “post-racial” America discourses. While some criticize their tactics, which include shutting down highways, these strategies are methods of calling attention to large injustices within the system. They are no less drastic than the racial oppression they seek to address. The protesters deserve legitimacy because of the urgency of their cause and the difficulty of the task ahead.

We urge Tufts students to join together in the fight for justice and for peace — one cannot exist without the other. This is our moment to express our outrage and pain, to interrogate all our systems of justice, to build unity and solidarity and to move forward.

jehan madhani

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Enjoying Thanksgiving with finals looming Off the Hill | University of Arizona

Donation rule shift not about fresh blood

by Paul Thomson The Daily Wildcat

With only a quick glance at today’s society, it would be easy to dismiss the fact that homophobia still exists. More and more states are beginning to legally recognize same-sex marriage. More and more celebrities are coming out as gay or bisexual. More and more media sources are representing members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and questioning community in dignified, threedimensional ways.

And yet, archaic practices rooted in homophobia are still permitted to remain.

Since 1977, the Food and Drug Administration has prohibited blood donations by men who have had sex with other men. That year stands as the catchall year of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, and this current prohibition is certainly linked to a very real fear of HIV-contaminated blood. Men who have sex with men are considered a “high risk group” for blood-borne infections, such as HIV, and are thus banned from donating blood. Ever.

However, a mid-November meeting of the Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability has proposed a change to this lifetime ban.

Rather than prohibiting blood donations from any man or trans individual who

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.

has ever had sex with a man, the ban would prohibit men who have had sex with other men in the last 12 months.

This marks the first time the committee has voted to alter the policy; past groups voted to keep the lifetime ban in place.

I don’t know if the FDA is waiting for a round of applause, but they won’t get it from me.

The FDA’s policy is inherently homophobic and not based on factual evidence. Put into effect in 1983, when the science was softer and the fear of the recent AIDS epidemic was still very pervasive, the ban is outdated and problematic. Even this “progressive” step still specifically targets men who engage in same-sex encounters as “the enemy.”

According to the Code of Federal Regulations regarding blood donation, each blood donation must be tested for HIV and other blood-borne pathogens before it can be used. And that rule applies to every blood unit — not just those from “high-risk” groups. HIV does not discriminate against who it infects.

Why should the policy? We have to check blood anyway. So, what exactly is this policy really saying?

“The 12-month ban on men who have had a male partner lacks evidence,” said Carol Galper, an associate professor and assistant dean of Family and Community Medicine whose research

includes HIV prevention and education. “Homophobia comes into it. This is discriminating based on sexual orientation, not behaviors. What about the person who is straight and has multiple partners without condoms? … They could have had a partner who used injection drugs and been exposed to another ‘risk group.’”

What the alteration to the ban reveals is a desire to appear more understanding and progressive, but it also represents a pervasive homophobia that prevents any actual progress from occurring. Same-sex partners who have been monogamous for years and may even have a legally recognized marriage would be barred from donating blood based on this new policy, simply for consummating their marriage or engaging in a healthy, consensual act.

Men who have sex with men are still in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic, and though little is said about the lives that were lost and the communities that were broken during this time, the heterosexual community’s fear of gay men and the “dangers” they represent is still terrifyingly present.

So no, I will not be applauding the FDA’s proposed 12-month ban or calling it progressive. It is discriminatory, homophobic and, at the end of the day, it’s not good enough.

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Monday, December 1, 2014

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Off the Hill | University of Southern California

Adam Kaminski | The Cool Column

Millennials must push for change beyond technology

by Alma Velazquez

It’s easy for millennials to feel special these days, considering their overwhelming participation and leadership in current social and political movements.

Generation Y is constantly reminded of its distinct advantages over its predecessors, namely the ability to share ideas within seconds, to summon the world of information at its fingertips and to organize groups with the power of a few clicks and keystrokes. With virtual petition sites such as Change.org, visual representations of approval (e.g. the Facebook like) and tools to self-publish, millennials have no excuse not to become involved in at least the discussion of some cause.

In other words, with technology that facilitates open discussion and enables transparency, surely this generation will accomplish great social change.

But just because these tools exist doesn’t mean their potential is always reached; their limits are pushed to varying degrees. Unfortunately, most discussions stop short of becoming full-fledged movements. The spectrum of social awareness could start with a tweet or a Facebook post and end with organizing followers into a dissenting student group, like Hong Kong protestor Joshua Wong did at age 15. In fact, the particularly tech-centered youth activism in Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil and the Middle East has led many to compare millennials to another well-known generation of activism: hippies.

The Daily Trojan

Discussion over this claim is heated. Its proponents believe today’s youth culture — including values, fads and entertainment — carries a striking resemblance to those expressed in the 1960s and ’70s. For example, they compare civil rights to gay rights, Woodstock to Coachella and LSD to MDMA. Millennial activity on social media sites is eerily similar to the freedom of expression practiced by hippies.

But each generation acts according to completely different contexts. Different time periods yield different informational resources, cultural tastes and social, global and political issues stemming from new or snowballing conflicts.

Millennials possess technological privilege, but it is paradoxically also a hindrance to their causes. Hippies had to work harder to inform themselves on causes, not to mention get their voices heard on a larger platform. Whereas Generation Y carries out its activism exclusively virtually at times, which leads to bandwagoning, hippies genuinely broke down systemic barriers to support their causes. An isolated Tumblr post isn’t directly defying any authority figure. Many traits characterize millenials — an eclectic group above all — but to dub them a generation of activists would be overwhelmingly generous.

Yet, this doesn’t mean millennials won’t have their time in the sun. To deny activism as a relevant aspect of Generation Y would be equally off-putting. Today’s youth is idealistic with an entrepreneurial drive that can be at times naïve. A recent poll, conducted by telecom giant Telefónica, asked millennials worldwide

a series of questions regarding their influence on their surroundings. A majority of young people from the 27 countries polled believed they could make a local difference. The poll also revealed that most millennials see hope for growth in entrepreneurship. And it’s hard not to feel special when a month ago, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on today’s youth to take action in spreading democracy.

According to Ki-moon, young people currently possess unprecedented networking skills, as well as the largest demographic stake in the global population.

Though this is all good news, social media tools like “likes” and “favorites” could give millennials a false sense of their influence. Their activism shouldn’t stop there.

The lazier end of Generation Y should learn from inspiring contemporaries such as Joshua Wong and navigate the continuum of social change in a digital era rather than try to find themselves in yellowed photos of Woodstock. It might create unnecessary pressure to be constantly reminded of generation-specific advantages, but the truth is not all millennials are created equal.

Though there are some tremendous social movements underfoot through innovative use of modern tools, there are also highly embarrassing abuses of them. Generation Y is neither special because of its resemblance to previous generations, nor for its unprecedented gadgets and networks.

The future will remember millennials not for the posts that had the most Facebook likes but for the innovators who used their resources to make meaningful social change.

Off the Hill | University of Houston

Fast food in low-income areas contributes to obesity

by Rama Yousef The Daily Cougar

While driving along Scott Street hoping that there is an available parking space, one will notice the assortment of fast food restaurants that line the street, including Burger King, Popeye’s and Wendy’s. Fast food restaurants are a common fixture for many — passing by them every day, one may not stop and think about why they’re located where they are.

The actuality is that fast food restaurants have a higher density in low income areas, and the availability and affordability of this unhealthy food leads to high obesity rates.

In fact, Texas is ranked the 13th most obese state in the U.S. with 29.8 percent of adults being obese.

If Texas is serious about lowering that percentage, it is imperative to examine the impact of fast food restaurants in urban areas in terms of density and proximity.

While some argue that obesity is a result of poor choices made by an individual, there are factors that influence these decisions that may be out of an individual’s control. Low income communities tend to lack supermarkets and may not provide adequate safety for outdoor exercise, causing residents to live unhealthy lifestyles that put them at greater risk for obesity.

Lorraine Reitzel, assistant professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research at MD Anderson Medical Center, conducted a study of African American adults to explore the relationship between body mass index and proximity to fast food restaurants.

According to the findings of the study, African Americans who lived closer to fast food restaurants had higher BMIs. The findings also reveal that “on average there were 2.5 fast food restaurants within a half mile, 4.5 within a mile, 11.4 within 2 miles and 71.3 within 5 miles of participants’ homes.”

“Fast food is specifically designed to be affordable, appealing and convenient,” Reitzel said. “People are pressed for time, and they behave in such a way that will cost them the least amount of time to get things done, and this may extend to their food choices.”

For those who live in low income communities, transportation may be an issue, or time may not be in abundance. Therefore, the proximity of fast food restaurants may be the easiest way to get food on the table.

The marketing tactics used by fast food restaurants in lower income communities also contribute to high consumption of fast food in low income communities.

From an advertising standpoint, appealing to children can help boost sales, as children will beg their parents to take them to a fast food restaurant Economics senior Sree Karanam said that children eating this way will become a habit when they grow older.

“As a kid, you want to have fun and eat greasy food, and it’s not that bad,” Karanam said. “It’s when you get used to it and it will become a habit [that’s when it becomes dangerous].”

Financially, these fast food companies are bringing in a lot of money by selling this unhealthy but accessible food. However, this type of marketing does raise ethical questions. Hotel and restaurant management senior Trisha Tebo said this type of marketing is an effective business strategy.

“People want to be healthy, but it’s too expensive,” Tebo said. “When you’re in a low income area and you have to work longer, fast food is an option because it’s fast and cheap.”

Fast food restaurants choose to open more locations in lower income communities to capitalize on the lack of other food options.

Jennifer Harris, the director of Marketing Initiatives at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, said that “regulating marketing in fast food companies is the only way to solve this problem.”

9

Op-Ed

In Houston, there are low income communities classified as food deserts. The United States Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy and affordable food.”

Areas in Houston designated as food deserts include Sunnyside, Kashmere and Denver Harbor. To combat the food deserts in Houston, the city of Houston and organizations that promote healthy eating are putting forth effort to provide fresh, healthy food in these areas and other food deserts.

Mayor Anise Parker created the Houston Grocery Access Task Force in 2011 in partnership with Council Member Stephen Costello, The Food Trust and Children at Risk to address obesity and areas lacking access to healthy food.

Parker helped fund an initiative to increase access to healthy eating by partnering with Recipe for Success, an organization dedicated to educating children and parents about nutrition. The organization has a food truck that travels to areas that lack access to healthy foods by selling reduced price fruits and vegetables.

Parker has also given Pyburn’s owner, John Vuong, financial assistance to open up a new grocery store called Pyburn’s Farm Fresh Foods in South Union, which is another low income community considered to be a food desert. The store will be opening in the first quarter of 2015.

“I think the problem is that healthy food in general is more expensive,” Tebo said. “They need to trace it back to the industry that grows the food. They need to cut down the price for everyone. It will become a lot more accessible.”

Having these initiatives in place is helpful, but there is need for initiatives with greater impact. One of the best things to do for residents in these communities is to continue opening more supermarkets that are easier for residents to get to and sell fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices.

What literary theory has taught me

I

don’t think it can be refuted that most people on this planet don’t like literary theory. Most people have probably never heard of it and live in rural Asia, and those who have heard of it probably want to vomit when they read it. Then there are those who have heard of it but don’t study it.

The problem is that when you read Žižek, Derrida, Benjamin, Foucault and other literary theorists you’ve probably heard of, their elegance, articulation and utterly confounding use of language seduces you. And therein lies the golden nugget: Literary theory doesn’t have to be important because it convinces you that it is. The engine exists to perpetuate itself.

Like biology. Science. See, useful things.

In honor of a slice of academia I’ve hardly studied but would like to pretend to know about, here are a few things I’ve learned from literary theory. Maybe I’ll convince you of its greatness along the way.

Possibly the single most efficacious tool literary theory provides can be employed in everyday conversation, most usefully in conversations you don’t really understand. Say, for instance, your smart friend starts talking about the intricacies of quantum theory, electrodynamics and the social significance of bronies. Don’t panic.

The key is knowing how to turn any conversation into a squabble about how we interpret and use words. Here’s an example. Friend: “You know, perturbation theory really isn’t at all a corollary of QED. If anything it’s the reverse.” You: “Perturbation? You mean like to perturb? Like to disturb? Like disturbing?

Like Kim Kardashian’s bum? Geez! Why are all quantum physicists latent sexual monsters?”

Reference Freud whenever you can. Further reading: Lacan, Žižek, Freud.

Another enticing tool in the toolbox you can’t find in your dilapidated basement that is literary theory comes in the form of an excuse.

There is serenity in knowing that if I ever become an accomplished literary theorist, I won’t need to use paragraphs. In fact, I won’t need to use much of the typical and otherwise necessary punctuation normal people (plebeians) use.

So what if without paragraph indents or punctuation my writing doesn’t make sense?

No matter, my fellow theorists will dig it either way. Theorist: “Oh, your refulgent representation of extrajudicial grammatology informing the infantile nonsense compulsion (a thing I made up, i.e. total bull) really captured what the drive toward meaningless means. You’re really quite a good literary theorist.” Me: “Thanks, I know.”

Reference postmodernism whenever you can. Further reading: Deleuze, Barthes, that man with the facial hair (Nietzsche and/or Marx).

Just as entertaining as getting away with grammar sin is the knowledge that under the reign of literary theory nothing is exempt from analysis. Nothing is exempt from scrutiny and nuance (except, of course, the nonsense compulsion). This is a huge break for artists like the legendary rapper Lil B who have for years struggled to say meaningful and relevant things that aren’t just obscene gab.

There is a lot a theorist can say of Lil B, especially when he’s observed through a Derrida-inspired lens. Derrida is known for deconstructionism and for saying things like this: “Every discourse, even a poetic or oracular sentence, carries with it a system of rules for producing analogous things, and thus an outline of methodology.”

Such a position makes stuff like this — Lil B: “DOES YOU MIND CONTROL YOU? OR DO YOU CONTROL YOUR MIND? I AM STARTING TO FEEL THE EARTH IS A GIANT BODY AND WE ARE CELLS AS HUMANS” — irresistibly profound.

I could talk about Lil B’s methodologies all night, with fire in the fireplace and a glass of cognac in hand. May you use these tools wisely.

Adam Kaminski is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at adam.kaminski@tufts.edu.

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 DECEMBER 1, 2014

Crossword

Comics

Monday, December 1, 2014

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Greenhouse growth 6 Condescending one 10 Take wing 13 Andrea __: sunken ocean liner 14 “So I was wrong!”

15 Actor Stephen 16 *Mark of a hothead 18 “A mouse!”

19 Remain fresh 20 North African port city 22 Regret one’s 32Acrosses 25 Cavs, on scoreboards 26 Blurt out 27 Figure skating jump 28 NYC airport named for a mayor 30 One of two matching beds 32 Admission in a confessional 33 Hotelier Helmsley 35 Lady’s title 38 *“This space available,” in a Pennysaver box 41 Peddles 42 Fight mementos 43 Crunched muscles 44 Dog who reveals the Wizard 46 Netherlands airline 47 Those, to Pedro 48 Procedure: Abbr.

49 Stamp sellers, briefly 51 Ancient scrolls 53 Takes over, like termites 55 Menu item 56 Baseball’s “Iron Man” Ripken 57 Foot-operated mechanism on a motorcycle, and what the first word in each answer to a starred clue can be 62 Pitcher’s stat 63 Online letter

Student Organization Annual Awards Ceremony presented by the Office for Campus Life

12/1/14

By C.C. Burnikel

64 Accord automaker 65 Brain scan, for short 66 Put on notice 67 Being hauled to the garage DOWN 1 ASAP cousin 2 Baseball’s “Iron Horse” Gehrig 3 Tycoon Onassis 4 Five-cent coin 5 Unavailable 6 Total 7 Himalayan country 8 Brunch order 9 Arctic hazard 10 *Relaxed 11 Suspicious 12 Chews the fat 14 Back-to-school mo.

17 Lipton shelfmate 21 Basketball Hall of Famer Thomas 22 Filing tools 23 Formally banish 24 *A football referee may throw one 25 Vancouver NHL team 29 Baby talk syllables 31 Alleged Iraqi arsenal, for short

To nominate an organization or for detailed description of each award please visit our website: ocl.tufts.edu

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved MONDAY’s Solution

Herald Award Imagination Award Campus Connection Award Legacy Award Mount Olympus Award Jumbo Award ©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

33 “__ we forget” 34 Sea divided by shrinkage 36 Leafy recess 37 FC Barcelona soccer star Lionel 39 Nearby 40 Deodorant spot 45 Kia sedan 47 “Sleepless in Seattle” director Nora 48 Game trap

Collaboration Award

12/1/14

50 “The Odd Couple” slob 52 Japanese beer brand 53 Slurpee alternative 54 Distort 55 Broadband letters 58 Family 59 Blasting material 60 Tokyo, long ago 61 Like unprocessed data

Program of the Year Award New Student Organization of the Year Award Student Organization of the Year Award

Collecting Nominations Soon!

Ceremony held on Thursday, April 16th, 2015 5:30-7:30pm

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME

by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.

©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.

CASEE SCACES ROCXAB

SUDOKU

Check out the new, free JUST JUMBLE app

SOJUT

Level: Watching one more episode instead of starting your final paper.

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.

A: Saturday’s

(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: OMEGA INEPT HOURLY CAMPUS Answer: The football player got a speeding ticket because he was — RUSHING

Late Night at the Daily

Monday’s Solution

Montana: “Noah, your hair has a plan!”

Please recycle this Daily.

Monday, December 1, 2014

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Sports

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Tufts will close out fall semester at MIT Invitational MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING continued from back

American Johann Schmidt (LA ’14), continuing the Jumbo tradition of dominance on the boards.

“We have had a slow start to the season because of illness and other factors, but I think that everyone is starting to get into a really solid rhythm, and I love the energy that I’m seeing on the boards from everyone,” Rohrer said of the Jumbo divers.

“Everyone has already been doing awesome dives, and I’ve seen a lot of improvement from everyone, so I’m really stoked for what the season is going to bring.”

Part of the reason the team came up short against Keene St. may have been Tufts’ disadvantage in training. As per NESCAC rules, the Jumbos only began swimming with their coaches Nov. 1, while the Owls started in October.

But even at this early stage in their training, many Jumbos have shown promising signs, and several first-year students have stepped up to score points for the team.

After swimming a leg of the first-place medley relay, Ciliv came close to capturing his first individual win in the 200 breast, and he will likely accomplish that feat this season after becoming more comfortable on the starting block. Ciliv also took third in the

100 breastroke. First-year Panos Skoufalos, meanwhile, swam the third leg of the secondplace 200 freestyle relay. This relay featured Winget leading off and Wood anchoring like the medley relay, with junior tri-captain Cam Simko swimming the second leg.

“This was the [first-year students’] first collegiate meet ever, so this meet was just as much about getting a feel for dual meets as it was about swimming fast,” Winget said. “I was particularly pleased with the [first-year students’] performance on relays. They really stepped up when we needed them, so I think the meet gave everyone something to work on as the season moves forward.”

In another strong performance, junior Anthony DeBenedetto narrowly missed out on winning the 200 butterfly, finishing just 0.33 seconds behind the winning pace and a few seconds ahead of sophomore teammate Gus Simms’ third-place finish.

DeBenedetto will likely be able to improve on that 1:56.75 time over the course of this season as his career best, which is also a former school record, was a 1:51.08 that he swam his rookie season.

The Jumbos will swim in their final meet of the semester this weekend when they head down to Cambridge to compete in the MIT Invitational.

“MIT Invite is really fun because it’s our first chance of the season to compete with the MIT divers, who we practice with every day, so I think our goal as a team is to just have a good time and try to get zone-qualifying scores across the board,” Rohrer said. “It’s really funny being at the invite because Tufts and MIT are so close, and a lot of the other schools get intimidated by the fact that we are so comfortable with each other. I think it throws them off and makes us feel better about ourselves. Having that little confidence advantage really goes a long way.”

“For MIT [Invitational], as a team, we want to have some fast swims,” Winget said. “Outside of NESCACs this is our only other meet where we will wear racing suits, so it’s a big goal of ours to swim fast. We want to swim fast times going into training trip, so we know where we are in our training.”

Tufts will face strong competition as usual at MIT, competition that may be even stronger than its NESCAC rivals. Still, the Jumbos hope to continue to incorporate their young swimmers, collectively get more comfortable in the pool and bring home some strong finishes this weekend in preparation for their annual winter break training trip.

Thanksgiving Day winners one step closer to playoffs INSIDE THE NFL continued from back

touchdowns, and Detroit’s Glover Quinn and James Ihedigbo each picked Cutler off.

Despite averaging the ninth most passes per game in the league (38.1), the Bears passing attack, led by quarterback Jay Cutler and receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, is only 14th best in the league. The Bears did not score a touchdown after the first quarter.

The Detroit Lions have the 30th ranked rushing attack and eighth best passing game, but injuries to transcendent receiver Calvin Johnson and running backs Joique Bell and Reggie Bush have deflated the Lions’ offensive production. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has struggled without Johnson, his number one option, but questionable offensive line play (Stafford has been sacked 35 times, second only to the 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick), hasn’t helped his cause. Offseason acquisition, receiver Golden Tate, admirably plugged the gap in Johnson’s absence. Against the Bears, Johnson dominated en route to 11 catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Tate added eight catches for 89 yards. Stafford finished with a highly efficient 390 yards on 45 attempts with no interceptions. Lions running back Joique Bell rushed 23 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Bell’s fourth quarter, one-yard goal line plunge clinched the game for the Lions. The two teams play again in Week 16 to potentially decide which team will play in the postseason.

In the afternoon game, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Dallas Cowboys 33-10 at home. The Cowboys’ power running scheme didn’t necessarily fail, but against stacked eight-man boxes, running back DeMarco Murray was only able to garner 73 yards on the ground in 20 attempts. That is by no means a bad number, but considering the record-breaking pace Murray has been on this season, this game is comparatively a disappointment. Yet for the Eagles, the running game has certainly been an issue. Due to suspension and injury, their league best offensive line from last season has been devastated. LeSean McCoy, who had struggled earlier in the season, exploded up the soft middle of the Cowboys defense for 159 yards and a touchdown on 25 attempts. Thanks to the general effectiveness of the run game, Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez threw only 29 passes but completed 20 for 217 yards and a touchdown, which rookie receiver Jordan Matthews caught. Tony Romo displayed his

Julian H. Gonzalez/Detroit Free Press/MCT

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson had 11 catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the Lions’ 34-17 victory over the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day. usual evasiveness and mobility in the pocket, a good sign for a quarterback coming off of back surgery, but his performance was otherwise uninspiring. Unable to sustain long drives, the Cowboys had 58 plays to the Eagles’ 75, translating to only 29 pass attempts for Romo despite a growing deficit on the scoreboard. Romo completed 18 passes for 199 yards and two interceptions.

Cary Williams and Nate Allen each picked off Romo once. These teams face off again in Week 15, in a game that could potentially decide the division.

The Seattle Seahawks, much less dangerous on the road than at home, suffocated rival San Francisco 49ers 19-3 in front of the 49ers’ fans in the night game. The 49ers are now in danger of missing the post-season for the first time in three seasons. They had clawed to a 7-4 record in the stacked NFC West before dropping this game to the now 8-4 Seahawks.

The Seahawks started the season looking just as dominant as the team that routed the Broncos in the Super Bowl, but injuries on the defensive side of the ball and the exposing of Marshawn Lynch have led to questions about the viability of a repeat champion. Still a top secondary, the “Legion of Boom” hasn’t inspired as much fear this year and the loss of defensive lineman Brandon Mebane to a hamstring injury exposed the Seahawks’ run defense. However, Mebane returned in time to play the 49ers. Despite the outcome of the game, both the Seahawks and 49ers are still chasing the Arizona Cardinals (9-2) for first place in the division.

In a performance reminiscent of last season’s postseason dominance, the Seahawks prevented the 49ers from achieving even a semblance of offense. Colin Kaepernick threw for just 121 yards with two interceptions in 29 attempts, although he did add 17 yards on the ground. Offensive centerpiece Frank Gore rushed for a paltry 28 yards on 10 attempts, and rookie running back Carlos Hyde couldn’t get it going either, rushing for just 19 yards. Top receivers Michael Crabtree and Anquan Boldin struggled for a combined six receptions and 28 yards. Seattle, in contrast, rushed for 157 yards, of which Lynch accounted for 104. Quarterback Russell Wilson, a model of efficiency, threw for 226 yards and a touchdown on 22 attempts. Sherman caught both of Kaepernick’s interceptions.

This was Seattle at its best, with Lynch grinding the game away on the ground, Wilson keeping the chains moving and the defense shutting down the opposing run game without compromising lockdown coverage. These rivals face off again in Week 15 to likely decide which will enter the postseason.

Although all three games ended somewhat lopsidedly, the Lions and Eagles displayed plenty of offense for fans and the Seahawks grinding style offered entertainment to NFL traditionalists. With plenty of postseason ramifications, this season’s Thanksgiving games were an excellent distraction from the pain of a bloated postturkey stomach.

Luke Machamer | Back Around the Horn

Observations on college football Saturday

O

n Saturday the last games of Week 14 of the college football season were played, capping off the slate affectionately referred to as Rivalry Week. Needless to say, I watched a lot of college football this past Saturday. There is a certain pageantry to the college game that separates it from its professional counterpart. The ever-changing uniform designs, the student sections and the noticeably young-looking athletes give the game its uniquely collegiate feel. However, the more that I watch college football, the more its weird ticks and incongruences become apparent.

The first question that came to mind after a day of college football viewing was, “Do all coaches actually have the same haircut?” The answer to that is yes. They also all have brand new $140 white Nike quarter-zip windbreakers and visors. The cult of personality around the best college coaches is undeniable, and nobody embodies that more than Alabama coach Nick Saban. Nick Saban is one of the highest paid coaches in the United States, pulling in a cool $6.9 million as college-educated twenty-somethings across the country find themselves saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. Saban is probably worth that money. His ability to recruit is unmatched, and the Alabama football program has been incredibly successful during his tenure. At the end of the day, though, it just seems odd that these giant sports programs are associated with educational institutions. They serve entirely different purposes, and the marriage of the two will continue to be uneasy at best.

Another takeaway from Saturday is how sometimes college football can bring out the worst in all of us. Take, for example, the state of Oregon. Ever since becoming the 33rd state in our wonderful nation, Oregon has done a good job of being a generally progressive and easy going state. That is why it came as such a surprise to me yesterday when I saw that Oregon refers to its intrastate college football rivalry game, University of Oregon versus Oregon State University, as the “Civil War.” Now I know that having some pre-packaged name for a specific event makes journalism easier; ESPN liberally used the phrase “Iron Bowl” in all its billings last week to hype up the annual matchup between University of Alabama and Auburn University, which has long gone by that name. But does no one realize the near-dystopian level of chauvinism present in referring to a football game between two college teams as a civil war?

How did not one person recognize that it is neither funny nor clever to name a college football game after high-intensity, large scale conflicts between same-state actors? It was hard to watch Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota’s Heisman solidifying performance without shaking my head every time the announcers discussed each schools recent performance in the “Civil War.” Growing up in the northeast has caused college football to be a somewhat unknown entity for much of my life. I know that a good portion of the United States is crazy about it, and as a dedicated NFL fan who wants an early look at emerging football talent I’ve found myself watching more college football this year than I ever have before. With that being said, I still am getting used to the idea of the head football coach being by far the highest paid position at a given university, and I’ll be damned the day that “Civil War” makes me think of a college football game.

Luke Machamer is a junior majoring in economics. He can be reached at lucas. machamer@tufts.edu.

Sports

12

tuftsdaily.com

women’s Basketball

Tufts holds steady to secure win over ECSU

by Alison Kuah Daily Editorial Board

The women’s basketball team continued its undefeated start to the season with a 63-51 win over Eastern Connecticut

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (5-0 Overall, 0-0 NESCAC) at Willimantic, Conn., Tuesday Tufts ECSU

29 34 — 63 16 35 — 51

State University (ECSU) on Tuesday, winning its 11th consecutive road game to continue a streak that began last season.

The win improved the Jumbos’ record to 5-0 while the Eastern Connecticut State Warriors fell to 4-1.

Both teams began the matchup undefeated, with ECSU averaging a 37-point margin of victory over its first four games, the closest game being a 76-63 road win over Emmanuel on Nov. 18. Tufts came into the game averaging a 24-point margin of victory and, save for a 63-58 win against University of New England (UNE) in the opening weekend Ramada Roundball Invitational tournament, had similarly blown out every opponent thus far.

But the Jumbos faced a real test on Tuesday, fighting off a tenacious Warriors team that went on a 16-2 run to erase a 15-point deficit five minutes into the second half. This forced the Jumbos to match the Warriors’ play after a strong start in the second half.

“We started to pull away and by halftime we were winning by 13, but after halftime our energy was low again and Eastern Conn. was able to go on a big run on us,” sophomore forward Michela North said. “We took a timeout to regroup and compose ourselves and think about hitting shots and finding open players.”

The Jumbos then pushed their lead back to 10, with help from a 3-pointer by senior tri-captain Hannah Foley and a pair of buckets from first-year forward Melissa Baptista, to bring the score to 44-34 with 12 minutes left in the second half. The Warriors continued their attempt to chip away at the Jumbos’ lead, until senior trip-captain Kelsey Morehead’s 3-point field goal essentially sealed Tufts’ victory, pushing the lead back to 15, 60-45, with 3:32 left in the game.

Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

Senior center Hayley Kanner attempts to block a layup during a 74-51 victory over Brandeis in Cousens Gym on Nov. 22.

“It was a big win for NCAA purposes.

Competition-wise we’re able to size up other teams based on this one, and they [were] also undefeated,” North said. “It was a big win also because they’re a very scrappy team, and it was good knowing that we can beat that kind of team.”

The Jumbos held the Warriors to 37 percent (20-54) shooting from the floor despite the Warriors’ 31-29 edge over the Jumbos on the boards. The Jumbos were successful at interfering with the Warriors’ passing lanes, forcing 15 turnovers and holding the home team to just six assists of the game, less than half of the number of assists the team has averaged on the season (14.4).

The Jumbos’ offense was led by the play of senior tri-captain Hayley Kanner, who was the game’s top scorer with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting during a game in which her team outscored its opponents 34-18 in the paint. She was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line, while picking up eight

rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 35 minutes of play.

“We always have a game the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and we always call it a trap game because everyone’s minds are on going home and Thanksgiving, so it’s great to come out of it with a win,” Kanner said.

“There were a lot of things [in the Eastern Conn. gym] that we don’t usually have to deal with when we play at home, but when our shots weren’t falling, we did a good job of looking inside, and we had a huge height advantage in the post, so me and Michela had a bit of a fun night.”

Despite Tufts’ strong start to the season, its game against ECSU is the second game, along with the Nov. 16 game against UNE, in which the Jumbos have had to rely on leads built up in the first half. In both games the Jumbos were outscored in the second half, with UNE edging Tufts 37-35 and ECSU leading by a 35-34 margin.

Inside the NFL

Men’s Swimming and Diving

Jumbos split season-opening tri-meet

Division rivals battle on Thanksgiving Day

by Maclyn Senear Daily Editorial Board

The men’s swimming and diving season is underway after the Jumbos kicked off their 2014-2015 campaign by splitting their opening tri-meet on Nov. 22. Tufts easily handled NESCAC rival Middlebury 191-103, but fell in a close battle with Keene St. 162-136.

The split result marks the first time since 2011 that the team did not sweep its season-opening tri-meet, though this was also the first time that Tufts has faced Keene St. in the season-opener. The Keene St. Owls won eight of the 16 events, while the Jumbos took seven and the host Panthers captured just one.

“The team performed very well last weekend,” junior tri-captain Michael Winget said. “There’s always a lot of pressure to perform at the first dual meet, and I think the team really rose to the occasion. There were some fast swims by a number of people, and I think as a team we put ourselves in a good position to have success later on in the season.”

Winget led the team at Middlebury, winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events, in 51.68 and in 1:55.84 respectively, and leading off for the firstplace Jumbo 200-yard medley relay. Winget is also the school record holder in the 100 and 200 backstroke, and last season he represented Tufts at the NCAA championships in both events.

by Phillip Goldberg Contributing Writer

ships and broke the school record in the 200, took first in the 100 fly with a time of 52.25 for the Jumbos’ final swimming win.

Rounding out the team’s seven wins was sophomore Matt Rohrer, who captured first in both the one- and three-meter diving events. Rohrer, like Winget and Metcalfe, was an NCAA qualifier last season and scored 14 points for the Jumbos at the NCAA meet. He is taking his place as the successor to two-time NCAA one-meter diving champion and seven-time All-

This year’s Thanksgiving NFL football games featured three matchups with real ramifications. The Chicago Bears (5-7), desperate for a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, traveled to Ford Field to play the Detroit Lions (8-4), a team with a long history of late-season implosions desperately clinging to a winning record.

Next, the Dallas Cowboys (8-4) hosted the Philadelphia Eagles (9-3) at AT&T Stadium to determine which team would lead the NFC East. Finally, the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks (8-4) traveled to Levi’s Stadium to play NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers (7-5).

In the early game, the Lions defeated the Bears 34-17 despite falling behind early. On the defensive end, the Lions demolished the Bears’ running game. The Bears rushed only eight times despite their season average of 23.1 attempts per game.

The Lions’ front seven, the most dominant in the league, gave up only 13 yards on the ground. The Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler had a familiar line, passing for 280 yards on a measly 5.8 yards per attempt with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Alshon Jeffery caught both

see MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING, page 11

see INSIDE THE NFL, page 11

Tufts Daily Archives

Tufts swimmers prepare to race during a 122-178 loss to Keene St. on Nov. 23, 2013.

Tufts started off the meet with the win in the medley relay, which featured Winget swimming backstroke, first-year Morgan Ciliv swimming breaststroke, sophomore William Metcalfe swimming butterfly, and junior Harry Wood swimming freestyle.

Sophomore Jasper Du won his first collegiate event in the 200 breaststroke, taking first with a time of 2:15.58 after teammate Ciliv, who would have finished in 2:12.62, but was disqualified for flinching on the starting block.

Metcalfe, who swam in the 100 and 200 butterfly at last season’s NCAA champion-

Kanner, though, thinks that this says more about UNE and ECSU than about Tufts.

“I don’t know what it says about us, but the first thing I think of when I hear that [both UNE and Eastern Conn. outscored us in the second halves] is that goes to show how strong those opponents were, how they weren’t going to back down when we’re up at the half,” Kanner said. “I think both UNE and Eastern Conn. are very, very strong teams, and it shows that they’re not going to get pushed over [despite being down].”

Tufts takes on undefeated Wheaton College today at 7 p.m.

“Wheaton is another undefeated team, so we’re learning about their offense, and figuring out how we can get around their defense,” North said.

“We’re looking at personnel, doing our scout team to make sure we’re ready for them. For ourselves, we go over defense every single day in almost every single drill, so we’ll be prepared for them.”