Spring 2012 - Issue 1

TUFTS OBSERVER february 6, 2012

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volume CxxIV / issue 1

inside the The price of Iran’s Somerville’s newest Dewick delicacies: a  nuclear ambitions  art haven how to guide (page 10)

(page 6)

(page 20)

featured articles Ruth Tam

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feature Introducing 2012’s GOP contenders CC

news An overview of Obama’s address

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Amy Connors

off campus Off campus adventures at Saloon

Jessica kulig

Natasha Jessen-Petersen

campus Tufts athletics fill the bleachers

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opinions Reflections on post-revolution Tunisia

The Observer has been Tufts’ publication of record since 1895. Our dedication to in-depth reporting, journalistic innovation, and honest dialogue has remained intact for over a century. Today, we offer insightful news analysis, cogent and diverse opinion pieces, creative writing, and lively reviews of current arts, entertainment, and culture. Through poignant writing and artistic elegance, we aim to entertain, inform, and above all challenge the Tufts community to effect positive change.

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Contents

February 6, 2012 Volume CXXIV, Issue 1 Tufts Observer, Since 1895 Tufts’ Student Magazine www.tuftsobserver.org

editor-in-chief Natalie Selzer managing editor Cara Paley

production director Katherine Sawyer production manager Ben Kurland

production designer Catherine Nakajima section editors Kyle Carnes Zach Laub Ellen Mayer Molly Mirhashem Nicola Pardy Kumar Ramanathan Angelina Rotman Molly Rubin Ariana Siegel Evan Tarantino Megan Wasson

photography director Louise Blavet photography editor Knar Bedian art editor Becky Plante lead artists Natasha Jessen-Petersen Ruth Tam copy editors Kristen Barone Gracie McKenzie Isobel Redelmeier Michael Rogove production assistant Bernita Ling

2 feature Four Elephants in a Circus, by Eliza Mills and Molly Rubin 5 news New Year, New Crisis, by Nick Vik campus 6 off Seeking Asylum, by Ellen Mayer 8 opinions Nonpartisan Nonsense, by Kumar Ramanathan 10 news Iran: International Emotions Run High, by Kyle Carnes 12 news Avoiding an American Autumn, by Munir Atalla inset 13 photo NomNomNom campus 17 off Random Trysts & Bucket Lists, by Milas Bowman and Stella Denning 18 campus We Got Spirit, How’Bout You?, by Jon Svenningsen & culture 20 arts Which ’Wich?, by Luke Pyenson & culture 22 arts Panoramic Picture Show, by Munir Atalla 24 opinions Thoughts on Tunisia, by Phil Hoffman & prose 26 poetry Scales, by Michael Leeper & prose 27 poetry The Pearl, by Nick Cutsumpas blotter, 28 police

by Becky Plante

business manager Lenea Sims editor emeritus Eliza Mills

Contributors Munir Atalla Amy Connors Nick Cutsumpas Alexa Firmenich Phil Hoffman Michael Leeper

Elaine Kim Luke Pyenson Jon Svenningsen Nick Vik

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Four Elephants in a

Circus

What You Should Know About the Republican GOP Race Socially: Mitt Romney was just kidding when he promised LGBTQ Mas-

sachusetts Republicans that he would “provide more effective leadership” than Senator Edward Kennedy. He would like you all to know that he has never, ever been supportive of marriage equality, even if it may have seemed that way in the past. If you’re wondering if there are other issues Romney has changed his mind about, look no further; although he previously supported abortion rights, Romney has taken on a shiny new pro-life position in his presidential campaign.

Mitt Romney

“I Guess Romney Is My Only Option”

Politically: Skeptics, including some Republicans, charge Romney with op-

portunism and having a lack of core principles. The fervor with which Romney adopted his new stances contributes to perceptions of insincerity, which continue to create cracks in his shiny exterior. While governor of Massachusetts, Romney was integral in passing revolutionary universal health care reform; but, since the declaration of his candidacy, he has publicly supported smaller government and privatized health care. Romney is less aggressive about international entanglements; he’s not quick to call for war with China or Iran, though he has been critical of China (a “currency manipulator” that is “stealing our intellectual property”) and is wary of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. He advocates for the return of troops from Afghanistan, though only when military leaders think it’s appropriate. Basically, a tepid and well-rehearsed snooze-fest, if you ask us.

Economically: In January 2009, Romney supported economic stimulus,

saying that “government can help make up [for economic losses] in a very difficult time.” After declaring his candidacy, Romney has reversed his position and now speaks out against economic stimulus, though he still supports the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the government bailout of the auto industry.

Romney opposed the Budget Control Act of 2011 during the debt ceiling crisis and instead signed the “cut, cap, and balance” pledge.

Highs: Winning most of the debates. And consistently being just bland enough to poll at number one, as he did again last Tuesday, when he won Florida’s primary by a landslide.

Lows: The release of Romney’s tax returns proves to us he is not only a filthy millionaire, but also a filthy millionaire capable of mastering and luxuriating the corporate tax-code. C’mon, seriously?

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Best quotes: “I’ve been looking at some

video clips on YouTube of President Obama—then candidate Obama—going through Iowa making promises. The gap between his promises and his performance is the largest I’ve seen, well, since the Kardashian wedding and the promise of ‘til death do we part.”

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es, we know. The Republican Presidential Primary has been dragging on for decades. Each candidate has come out, guns a-blazin’, hair perfectly coiffed and newly minted, as the Great Conservative Hope for America’s future. They’re charismatic! They’re rich!

They’re suspicious of America’s youth!

And then, we had the pleasure of watching them crash and burn, guns still a-blazin’ as the GOP primary became a forum for name calling, tantrum throwing, and some of the most ridiculous soundbites we’ve had the pleasure of hearing in our lives. (eg. “The more toppings a man has on his pizza, I believe the more manly he is…Because the more manly man is not afraid of abundance...A manly man don’t want it piled high with vegetables! He would call that a sissy pizza.” - Hermain Cain, Oct. 2011).

Months ago, when Michelle Bachmann was confusing serial killers with cowboys, Cain was finding personal mantras in Pokemon lyrics, and Rick Perry was forgetting names of vital government organizations, the GOP’s three-ring circus of a primary contenders was literally the best form of entertainment a person could ask for.

However, as the Presidential Election edges closer, we are going to have to suck it up and start taking these candidates seriously, as potential leaders of the free-world. The longer Santorum stays in the race, the slimmer the chances that Googling his name will guarantee a good laugh. The Observer is getting serious (sort of!). This is our look at the candidates---their positions on major issues, their highs and their lows, and some of the more poignant remarks they’ve made along the campaign trail.

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by Eliza Mills and Molly Rubin

Newt Gingrich

“The Perpetually Pissed Off Augustus Gloop”

Socially: While he’s technically against same-sex marriage and has publicly

come out as pro-life, he has not pledged to propose constitutional amendments that would make them illegal. Honestly, it just seems like he could not be trifled to concern himself with other peoples’ social lives. He’s too important. Spending the majority of his time campaigning against ObamaCare, corporate tax cuts, and government spending, as well as pursuing his newest hobby—Moon Domination—Gingrich hasn’t focused on social issues but rather on his own public persona as America’s doughiest schoolyard bully.

Politically:

Gingrich generally favors policies intended to stimulate job growth through reductions in government regulations and federal taxes. He has criticized the Obama administration for its spending, along with its role in the private lives of Americans. He stands firmly against TARP and plans to significantly reduce the size of the Department of Education. However, he’s in full support of the Patriot Act and supports government eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.

Economically: Gingrich favors keeping federal and state taxes as low as Art by Ruth Tam

possible in order to encourage economic growth. He has stated that he believes the corporate tax rate in the United States is too high, inhibiting job creation.

Pointing to emerging competitors such as India and China, which offer lower corporate tax rates than the United States, Gingrich has recommended that the US adopt something similar to Ireland’s 12.5 percent corporate income tax. He proposes eliminating the capital gains tax entirely, for both individuals and businesses, to encourage entrepreneurship.

Highs: 1. Asking his ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, to be in an open marriage.

Best quotes: “We should replace bilingual

education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.” - Newt Gingrich.

Two years later, Gingrich unveils a new Spanishlanguage website, The Americano.

We understand, Newt; a man’s gotta get it from somewhere, right? 2. Winning the South Carolina Primary. Honestly, who could have seen that coming?

Lows: JUAN WILLIAMS: “Speaker Gingrich, you recently said black Ameri-

cans should demand jobs, not food stamps. You also said poor kids lack a strong work ethic and proposed having them work as janitors in their schools. Can’t you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?”

GINGRICH: “No, I don’t see that.”

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Ron Paul

“Crazy Old Gynecologist”

Socially: Not as conservative as you’d think (and we know you think about it a lot)

but still pretty conservative. He’s declined to sign pledges to constitutionally ban samesex marriage, but he is anti-choice and supportive of the personhood movement.

Politically: Paul is known in Congress as “Dr. No” because he is a doctor and will

vote “NO” for any proposed legislation unless it is specifically authorized by the constitution. The main principle of Paul’s political philosophy is that “the proper role for government in America is to provide national defense, a court system for civil disputes, a criminal justice system for acts of force and fraud, and little else.” Paul’s views on the military and international relations set him apart from the other three candidates; he is extremely opposed to the war in Afghanistan, advocates a peaceful trade relationship with China, and is the only candidate to explicitly oppose any attack on Iran.

Economically: As a libertarian, Paul is pro-privatization and wants the government out of business entirely. He would like to abolish the income tax and is a proponent of the FairTax, which would replace all personal taxes with one broad national consumption tax on retail sales.

Highs: Let’s be honest, Ron Paul peaked long, long ago. His highs probably date back to moments during his gynecological days, before modern medicine made childbirth such a breeze.

Lows: After his son, Senator Rand Paul, was detained by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for refusing a pat-down during a security screening while on the way to an anti-abortion rally, Paul launched a campaign to end the TSA, promising to abolish the institution if elected and urging voters to donate to the cause. Apparently, Paul thinks the government has no business regulating American bodies—unless those bodies belong to pregnant women.

Best quotes: “1913 wasn’t a very good year. 1913 gave us the income tax, the 16th amendment, and the IRS.” (He should know; he was there.)

Socially:

Rick Santorum may have the fashion sensibility of Mr. Rogers, but if you’re socially liberal, any day spent in his neighborhood will be far from beautiful.

He’s basically every kind of -ist and -ic a person could be, all wrapped up in a sweater vest. Santorum opposes marriage equality, doesn’t believe that homosexual couples should be able to adopt children, and thinks that abortion should be completely illegal, even in cases of rape or incest.

Rick Santorum “Frothy”

Politically: Santorum argues that we’re already at war with Iran and that military

action cannot be taken “off the table.” As for the actual war in Afghanistan, Santorum believes the US occupation should not end until the Taliban is “neutered.” The only war Santorum doesn’t seem to want to fight is a trade war with China.

Economically: Tax cuts for everyone! But by everyone, he really just means corporations.

Highs: … search found no results.

Lows: Where do we even begin? We could start with spreadingsantorum.com, the first Google result for “Santorum,” and then visit his wife Karen’s six-year relationship with an abortionist (who just so happened to be THE doctor who delivered her, currently kicking it at 96 years young). There’s also his denial that there are any Palestinians living on the West Bank (just not true…), as well as his unsubstantiated attacks on homosexual relationships (sans logic).

Best quotes: “Is anyone saying same-sex couples can’t love each other? I love

my children. I love my friends, my brother. Heck, I even love my mother-in-law.

Should we call these relationships marriage, too?” (Santorum’s Philadelphia Inquirer column, May 22, 2008) 6

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he euro zone kicked off 2012 on a gloomy economic note with a World Economic Forum annual meeting wrought with negativity and uncertainty. Though a trio of young, topless protestors may have provided Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, with some superficial media attention and internet virility, most eyes remained fixed on the Swiss mountain resort for a different reason: shared hope for some positive news after a tumultuous 2011, which saw European fears of economic disaster careen toward reality.

In reality, anything written about the future of the euro zone becomes outdated almost immediately. With that said, an examination of the vital features of the integrated euro zone economy, as well as its underlying political and economic trends, can offer some indication about the region’s financial and economic future.

While the euro zone crisis can be traced to the advent of the Greek sovereign debt crisis almost two years ago, economic tumult has now consumed the region as a whole, moving beyond Greece to states like Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Italy. This group of states, called pe-

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ripheral Europe by many economists and analysts, suffers from sovereign debt issues, which have led to skyrocketing interest rates on government bonds. This has led major agencies to slash their debt ratings, citing major concerns of potential default.

For most of 2011, core Europe managed to contain the economic cancer in danger of infecting peripheral Europe.

Analysts at major financial firms attribute this to the persisting long-term investment value in France and Germany, as well as in the Benelux countries, particularly among the countries’ blue-chip companies. Moving into 2012, Europe’s economic outlook largely hinges on the ability of core Europe to distance itself from its peripheral European counterparts. Unfortunately, a number of indicators suggest that the success of this plan might be limited. Most importantly, Germany, the euro zone’s economic darling in many ways, reported negative growth rates for the fourth quarter of 2011, despite major austerity measures to shore up its economy. (A country is deemed to enter recession after posting two consecutive quarters of negative growth.)

UROZONE UROZONE STATISTICS

Greece 143 Iceland 123 Italy 119

Ireland 95 Portugal 93 France 83 Germany 83

United Kingdom 76 Spain 60

Debt as a percentage (%)of GDP

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100%

NEW YEAR, NEW CRISIS

BY NICK VIK The second major proposal—perhaps the defining factor of the euro zone crisis as it moves into 2012—is a contingency plan in case of a euro zone nation’s default and the bailout it will likely necessitate. While European leaders have continued to strongly endorse political, economic, and social integration, countries have been at odds with respect to a major intervention in the economies of peripheral Europe. To make matters worse, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cited major concerns regarding its ability to finance rescue packages for the growing number of European nations in danger of default and further economic crisis.

Overall, the outlook for the euro zone appears bleak. From rising concerns about the ability to protect nations from default to the inability of distressed economies to take fiscal policy into their own hands, European leaders are faced with a diabolical collection of economic challenges. These obstacles have led to heated economic and political confrontation in the region, as well as 16 economic summits over the course of the crisis thus far.

These summits have confirmed leaders’ commitment to maintaining the unity of the euro zone and protecting its economic future but have done little to address the most important question of all: what will happen when it all hits the fan? O FEBRUARY FEBRUARY6,6,2011 2012

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Seeking Asylum

Somerville’s Creative Community Gets a New Home by ellen mayer

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omerville has long been known as a hub for artists and artisans. Combine this community with the wealth of engineering graduates in the Boston area who want to continue working on their own projects after college, and you get a huge demand for workspace and machinery. Enter Artisan’s Asylum, a non-profit community craft space near Union Square.

The Asylum resides in a 25,000 square foot warehouse and rents studio space to over 100 tinkers, artists, and artisans. The site also has communal machinery for welding, woodwork, metal machining, fiber arts, robotics, and bicycle building. It’s a veritable playground for the creative mind.

Artisan’s Asylum is one of many community workshop spaces that are popping up across the country. These are often known as hackerspaces. The term “hacker” refers to someone who takes a product or technology, sees beyond its intended purpose, and refashions it to do something completely different.

Director of Operations at the Asylum, Molly Rubinstein, is not sure the term accurately applies to the Asylum’s members.

“Hackers have a connotation that tends to more heavily suggest electronics, so it feels less natural to call ourselves a hackerspace,” she said. “We have this focus on fabrication and manufacturing and art which often are not really included in the hackerspace model.” Instead, Rubinstein prefers the term “makerspace.”

Some of the Asylum’s “makers” operate businesses out of their studios in the

warehouse. These businesses range from jewelry design to organic home restoration. Others are just there to play—to pursue hobbies and projects they can’t easily take up at home. For example, the asylum plays host to SCUL, a loose organization of imaginative sci-fi bikers who build their own “mutant” bikes and ride them out on missions that “explore the Greater Boston Starsystems.”

The Asylum’s particular combination of professional and amateur members, of expertise and enthusiasm, makes for a vibrant and collaborative community. The warehouse is open plan, so members can walk between studios and learn from each other. The Asylum also engages in official projects as a community, often in collaboration with the Somerville Arts Council.

Last winter, it helped organize a Snow Art Flashmob in Union Square. During SomerStreets’ Halloween celebration, Monster Mash, the Asylum’s artists carved giant pumpkins with chainsaws.

To encourage general DIY craftiness in the Somerville community, the Asylum offers monthly and daily memberships that grant public access to the ware-

house’s workspace and machinery. The Asylum also offers courses every month, ranging from the fundamental, like “Intro to Woodworking: Build a Box,” to the esoteric, like “Fire Eating and Fleshing.” In between, there are classes about bookbinding, beer brewing, robotics, and bicycle maintenance, to name a few.

The Asylum just officially opened to the public in December, but it has already become a central institution within the Somerville community. Rubinstein feels there is definitely a cultural explanation for the growth and popularity of spaces like Artisan’s Asylum.

“We are the over-extracurriculared generation,” she explains. Having been encouraged all our lives to engage in a plethora of hands-on, team-oriented activities during and after school, us Americans crave the kind of collaborative community that the Asylum offers. O Artisan’s Asylum is located at 10 Tyler Street, Somerville, MA, 02143.

Open 12 - 8pm, 7 days a week.

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NONPARTISAN NONSENSE WHY THIRD-PARTY CANDIDATES CAN’T SOLVE OUR POLITICAL PROBLEMS

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very four years, when a presidential election is around the corner, dissatisfaction with party politics resurfaces. After watching party members clobber one another for months, only to coalesce during the death-match with the opposite party, pundits and voters begin to wax lyrical about a magical thirdparty candidate who might rise above the bipartisan woes of our government.

This time around is no different, and the “magical outsider” idea has now taken the form of a nonprofit organization called Americans Elect. Its goal is to have a nationwide online primary that would choose a presidential candidate based on the nation’s current issues and put him or her on the ballot in all 50 states. The organization has succeeded in securing ballot status in 15 states so far, and is continuing its efforts to introduce a third choice to the 2012 presidential election.

Americans Elect succinctly reinforces the idea of the third-party candidacy in their promise to let you “pick a President, not a Party.”

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BY KUMAR RAMANATHAN

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Americans are quick to blame the mistakes of Washington on the evils of partisanship. Partisan gridlock underlies every political news story of the day, and this past year saw bipartisanship compromise our government’s ability to act. The partisan problem is real, but a third-party candidate is not the solution.

Political parties are an effective tool in democracies. They allow voters, activists, and politicians to build mandates and coalitions. No politician can govern alone. Parties allow politicians to group according to their political views, and they allow voters to support their interests broadly even if they may not completely agree with a party on every issue.

Having two parties instead of several is a matter of expediency that is born out of the size of this country and the nature of its political system. In a country as massive as the United States, political interests are prioritized differently across regions and groups. Political parties allow these interests to coalesce into overarching groups that can then win the support needed to govern.

Partisanship is a sound idea in theory, but considering the reality of American politics, it seems to fail in its purpose. Still, to blame partisanship for the failure of the modern American political system would be a gross misdiagnosis that distracts from the real and dangerous problems embedded in that system.

One problem is that massive moneymaking machines are at the heart of American parties. Corporations and industries with large pockets have a sickening amount of control over our politicians. This is a crippling feature of American politics, but an independent or third-party candidate could not solve the problem; he or she would still need financial resources to compete.

Even if an independent candidate were to win an election, how would he or she be able to fix the broken political system?

With no allies in Congress or regional politics, the hypothetical maverick would have no coalition and no political constituency with which to change the system. Without any allies in Congress, a nonpartisan president would in fact exacerbate partisan gridlock between branches of government.

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HAVING TWO PARTIES INSTEAD OF SEVERAL IS A MATTER OF EXPEDIENCY THAT IS BORN OUT OF THE SIZE OF THIS COUNTRY AND THE NATURE OF ITS POLITICAL SYSTEM.

In practical terms, third-party candidacies can also upset an election enough to cause an outcome that voters actually oppose. If a third-party candidate runs to the left of the mainstream, they could hand the election to the right-wing candidate. Think of Ralph Nader, the left-wing independent who got 2.74 of the national vote in the Bush-Gore election. This example reflects a structural issue of American electoral politics, and a solution must be directed at its structural root, rather than come from an outside third-party candidate. Politics is a vast enterprise composed of an endless series of difficult and slow processes. We must treat it as such, and we should let go of the concept that an individual politician can fix everything.

These problems are structural, and they run deep. Congressional inefficacy is perhaps the most complained about issue within Washington’s broken system. In recent years, filibustering has exacerbated this problem to the point that the Republican Party has been effectively in control of the Senate, rather than the rightfully elected majority party. This is a serious underlying problem that drives partisan gridlock to unacceptable extremes.

It is issues like these that we as responsible voters should strive to focus on. By buying into the flawed idea that candidates with the right campaigns can fix everything, we allow a thirdparty candidacy to undercut the activism truly needed to attack structural problems in congress.

In short, the problems we find in American politics are structural and endemic. Rather than blaming partisanship for the failures of Washington, we must engage in the political process outside of elections alone. Voters should discuss structural problems and look for innovative solutions to the broken system. We should voice dissent with the status quo. But in doing so, responsible voters should also consider whether supporting a third-party candidate truly could improve American democracy. O

POLITICS IS A VAST ENTERPRISE COMPOSED OF AN ENDLESS SERIES OF DIFFICULT AND SLOW PROCESSES. WE MUST TREAT IT AS SUCH, AND WE SHOULD LET GO OF THE CONCEPT THAT AN INDIVIDUAL POLITICIAN CAN FIX EVERYTHING.

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In 2012, the United States Army will remove all combat troops from Iraq and transition major combat divisions out of Afghanistan. A major 10-year US military presence in the Middle East will be coming to an end. With it, however, comes the rise of some lingering questions about the security and stability of the region.

Provocations between the US and Iranian navies in the Strait of Hormuz over the possibility of a ban on Iranian oil and persistent tensions between Israel and Iran over a nuclear program make peaceful relations in the coming year extremely tenuous.

As of January 23, the European Union voted to enact an embargo on all Iranian oil trade. This is yet another tightening of sanctions intended to reign in the nascent Iranian nuclear program, which many Western powers view as a military nuclear program veiled by civilian declarations. The Iranian government claims that the program is completely peaceful and only civilian in nature, and it hotly disputes Western accusations to the contrary.

The EU ban on Iranian oil puts even greater strain on an Iranian

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economy that revolves from one UN sanction to another. For the last decade, one American dollar has been able to buy, on average, 9,000 Iranian rials. In the last week, the exchange rate rose as high as 23,000 rials per dollar. The rial has seen over 50 percent depreciation since the end of the year, due in part to economic sanctions, the fall in the price of oil, and reports of possible Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. While still hypothetical, the threat of an Israeli strike on a weakening Iran has only intensified uncertainty in the Iranian economy, leading to massive fluctuations in the exchange rate. According to a recent NPR report, many Iranian business people cannot afford to buy foreign goods, and Iranians are finding it difficult to purchase enough dollars to pay for their children to study abroad. These pressures will only intensify national dissent, especially in a parliamentary year, when President Ahmadinejad and his party are looking to maintain power in the Iranian Majlis.

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The United States has used a great deal of aggressive official rhetoric concerning Iran and stands firmly against its possession of nuclear weapons. The Obama administration has made it a point to impose tighter sanctions on Iran and has approached many of Iran’s Asian trading partners to cut oil imports. The EU imports around 25 percent of Iranian oil, and the ban on imports, which goes into effect in the coming month, would be a drastic escalation of past sanctions. The Iranian government has claimed that, if it were unable to export oil, it would attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fourth of the world’s oil supplies pass. The United States government has stated that they would not tolerate such an action and would respond accordingly. This intensification of diplomatic exchange has left some in Washington worried that the US is on another crash course with a Middle Eastern oil power. The US-led quest to pacify an Iranian nuclear program has created the possibility of economic destruction that would no longer be limited to the Iranian economy alone. A disruption in oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, even briefly, has been speculated to send the price of a barrel of oil to well over $100, and put the price of gas well over $4 a gallon in a very short time. This would be disastrous not only for the US, but also for European economies that are slowly

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emerging from recessions and reestablishing their shaky financial foundations.

In the last two years, three Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated, each killed by a magnetic explosive device attached to their vehicles. The American government wholly denies any involvement, while Israel gives no comment, which has come to be a standard practice.

The pressure is mounting on the Iranian government, and in recent days, the Tehran regime has shown interest in talks over its nuclear program. They have allowed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors access to the country’s nuclear sites, though the results are yet to be seen.

If these inspections help reduce tensions between Iran and the West, we can be more optimistic about the possibility of peaceful relations in the future.

A war between the US and Iran would have major implications, both socially and economically. Over 1.5 million people died in the last war Iran fought (Iran-Iraq), while the US has lost over 5,000 men and women in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The economic impact of the Iran-Iraq war is estimated at $500 billion, while the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is estimated at $4 trillion. In a world still recovering from a major recession, a war that would spark a clash of civilizations could have devastating effects. O

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Avoiding an American Autumn STATE OF THE UNION 2012

BY MUNIR ATALLA

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n Tuesday, January 24, President Obama took the podium to deliver his final State of the Union address before the upcoming election.

The president used his prime-time spot in front of America as a veritable kick-off for his re-election campaign, highlighting his accomplishments and outlining how he plans to keep America marching forward.

While some might say that America is in its autumn, the president claims to be an unshaken believer in American spirit, values, and manufacturing.

“Anyone who tells you that America is in decline, or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” boomed the familiar voice from behind the microphone. This line inspired a standing ovation from attending politicians—the same leaders we’ve come to trust less and less. Americans have learned the hard way that talk is cheap and hype is transient.

Three years ago, Obama promised change to an enamored and hopeful American public, who viewed him as more than just another politician. But an incumbent president can’t run on the promise of change. No longer America’s sweetheart, Obama now addresses a disenchanted populace, an America that has suffered three years worth of consequences for the policies and politics of

the past. The real question this coming election brings is, “Does Obama’s magic still work on the jaded hearts of postrecession Americans?”

In a Steve Jobs-inspired presentation with accompanying visuals, Obama talked his citizens through his blueprint for “an America built to last.” As usual, the president spoke beautifully. The strong point of his address was the eloquent way he framed his policies. Obama made it clear that he is not out to attack the rich but merely feels that an America where Warren Buffet’s secretary pays a higher tax rate than her billionaire employer is not an equitable place to live. Everyone needs to start playing by the same rules: “No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts.” This time around, Obama is doing what he can to instate a liberal agenda.

At certain points during his speech, it was hard not to feel a familiar buzz similar to the one felt years ago in Obama’s early election days. This time, however, the thrill was noticeably ephemeral.

Many students reported that they tuned in for the first part of the address, only to tune out once they had gotten the gist of it. They are tired of the seeming charade.

It’s clear that the problem for Obama is not reaching the liberals who supported him last election; it’s reaching those who have given up on Washington politics

altogether, a demographic composed mostly of youth. At a time when many Americans are questioning their belief in government altogether, the president will have to thoroughly accompany his promises with concrete actions.

It may look grim, but Obama’s saving grace is—and has always been— that he gets it. He knows that, however ominous the budget deficit is, there is an even more important deficit of trust between Washington and the rest of America that must also be repaid.

Obama even turned the magnifying glass on the executive branch, which he believes is often “inefficient, outdated, and remote.” The president explicitly asked Congress to grant him the power to consolidate federal bureaucracy. He is giving banks the chance to revitalize by sending Congress “a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low interest rates.” He is also monitoring Wall Street by establishing a Financial Crimes Unit to closely investigate corporate crime. He spoke about the corrosive effect of often-extreme party-on-party mudslinging. In short, he addressed most of the popular concerns that have surfaced in these past few months. O

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top to bottom: Elaine Kim, Amy Connors

top clockwise: Knar Bedian, Alexa Firmenich, Elaine Kim, Laura Liddell, Knar Bedian

opposite page top right clockwise: Louise Blavet (x2), Laura Liddell, Knar Bedian (x4)

Elaine Kim

Milas and Stella Channel Bogart and Bergman at Saloon Bucket List Destination: Saloon 255 Elm Street; Somerville, MA Goal: To drink all 105 varieties of whiskey Successful? Fortunately not, but we were offered free house-made drams at the end of the night. Minor win for Milas and Stella.

ff us O p am C

random trysts & bucket lists

By Milas Bowman and Stella Dennig

S

ince the start of the semester, more and more students have been talking about Saloon, a pre-prohibition style bar that opened in December underneath the Foundry in Davis Square. You would easily miss it if you (a) weren’t paying very close attention or (b) didn’t know exactly where you were going. Up until recently, Saloon has relied entirely on word-of-mouth advertising, and somehow it seems to be working; Yelp exploded with reviews in its opening week, and only a month later the place is bustling every night.

Bartender Tom

Atmosphere

We started out the evening by snagging a corner booth, an ideal vantage point for casual observation. The windowless basement interior made us feel cozy and at ease under the warm glow of the iron chandeliers. After an overwhelming few minutes of “orientation” with the hostess, we perused the wood-mounted menu of over 100 whiskies. Indecisive and overwhelmed, we settled on a flask of house punch for two, which arrived in a funky pre-prohibition glass bottle with a metal clasp. It was like sangria, but complemented by a whiskey smokiness and biting citrus; its innocence was called into question at last call when we found ourselves taking shooters of straight bourbon.

51% rye or 51% corn?

American rye whiskies are made from at least 51 percent rye, while bourbon is made from at least 51 percent corn.

Frequently believed to be from Bourbon County, Kentucky exclusively, bourbon can in fact be made anywhere in the US. We decided to try the Riverboat Rye and Buffalo Trace Bourbon (off-menu), both recommended to us by our suspender-clad bartender, Tom. While Stella enjoys the occasional glass of Jameson, whiskey is not Milas’ drink of choice. Still, our experience took us both by surprise; the whiskies fell lightly on our tongues and left barely any bite at all. Saloon caters to connoisseurs and adventurous newcomers alike; both Tom and our waitress Brittany were happy to answer the silliest of questions.

Saloon does serve Narragansett tall boys and cans of Budweiser along with its healthy selection of craft beers. Bartender Tom admitted, however, that unlike his previous gig on Boylston Street, this is no “Bud Light crowd.” For a bar whose only proof of existence at street level is a small lantern emblazoned with Saloon in tiny script, we were surprised by how vibrant it was on a Wednesday night. According to Tom, the busiest nights are Thursdays and Fridays, yet you are guaranteed lively attendance any night of the week.

Cocktails, bitters, and drams Daisey Whiskey, yellow chartreuse, lemon, black currant syrup, soda ($11) Saloon Sour Gin, green chartreuse, lime, pineapple syrup, egg white ($11) House-made drams* House-made pork belly rye whiskey, bitter berry, Southie Comfort ($9) *Taken like a shot

Our unrealistic expectations

Although we appreciate a bar in Davis whose music level allows us to feign intellectual conversation over our whisky, the ambiance begs for a live band. On a busy night, you might also find yourself seated uncomfortably close to a mid-thirties couple digging into a giant, whole chicken with their knives and forks. Respite can be found in the secluded chestnut-crowned nook across from the bar.

Though we applaud Somerville for keeping cigarettes out of bars, we cannot help but wish there had been a hazy cloud of smoke to separate us from that chicken so we could feel a little more like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. O

Amy Connors

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

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Molly Rubin

S CA M PU

We got spirit, How 'bout you?

Tufts Athletics tries to fill bleachers with the Fan the Fire initiative. by Jon Svenningsen

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Molly Rubin

AM C

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S PU

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t’s 11 in the morning, and drinks are already being served. Different friends are having different parties and pregames—some even have their grills fired up. Everyone starts in different places or hops from one location to another, but no one wants to be too late for the big game…

No, this is not Tufts’ Homecoming or Spring Fling, but a normal Saturday morning or early afternoon in the fall before a home football game at any number of bigname Division I football schools.

On January 20, the New York Times published “How Big Time Sports Ate College Life,” an article investigating the relationship between Division I athletics, money, fan involvement, and academic performance. This article generated a lot of interest among sports fans and in the blogosphere. It discusses several huge debates taking place in college sports—namely, the corrupting influence of money and the negative influence successful sports teams can have on fellow students at the university. These conclusions were not at all surprising, given stories I have heard from friends at major sports schools; still, the concepts were totally foreign to me as a Tufts student, considering I can count the campus sporting events I’ve attended on one hand.

Many Tufts students are fans of campus sports, and almost everyone has at least one friend playing on a varsity team here, but Tufts is not known or chosen for its sports culture. Tufts does have an important athletic past, playing arguably the first true American football game against Harvard in 1875 (a 1-0 victory for the Jumbos), as well as against Army in 1913, ending the athletic career of their star-halfback, future president Dwight Eisenhower. In recent memory, however, Tufts has not been a school known for fan passion or interest.

Today, the attendance of Tufts students at games is average or even below average compared to peer NESCAC schools. Our average attendance for football games this past season ranked seventh out of the 10 NESCAC schools that play football (Connecticut College does not have a football team), and 166th out of 234 total Division III schools. Men’s basketball seems to be similar—Tufts is pretty average for the NESCAC in terms of average attendance.

One sport in which we have had the highest attendance of the NESCAC is men’s lacrosse, which won the National Championship two years ago, pointing to fan interest and team success. According to NESCAC Assistant Director Daniel Fischer, “Fan involvement can ebb and flow sometimes with how a team is performing—Middlebury being a prime example of that. The hottest ticket in town there now is for a men’s basketball game, when before the focus may have been more on ice hockey.” His comments point to a trend in NESCAC sports: there is a passionate group of friends and family who follow the teams closely, which grows to

“At Duke it’s OK to paint your body blue.

Not at Tufts.” include students with less connections to the team as success increases.

As one professor put it when asked about the level of interest towards sports at Tufts, “At Duke it’s OK to paint your body blue. Not at Tufts; too much pain and suffering in the world.” The athletics department recently launched a new initiative called Fan the Fire that seeks to take advantage of this ethos, merging Tufts’ passion for active citizenship with athletic events. President Monaco trumpeted the initiative in his most recent email to the Tufts community.

Fan the Fire was proposed last year

by Melissa Burke and Amanda Roberts as part of their senior capstone for the Communication and Media Studies minor.

According to Burke, who currently runs the program, the aim of the project is to increase university awareness of athletics

through the connection to active citizenship. “We decided that the best way to get the rest of the university to pay attention… was to promote the active citizenship piece of what teams are doing. Everyone at Tufts is very passionate about what they are involved in, but we found that the thing that everyone at Tufts believes strongly in is active citizenship. Thus, Fan the Fire: Spirit, Sports, Service was born.” These events tie into the causes that many teams support, such as the men’s ice hockey team and breast cancer awareness, or women’s soccer and their mentorship of an eight-year old cancer survivor from Brockton.

While there have only been three Fan the Fire events so far, they have been successful in bringing more fans to games, as well as raising awareness for team causes (and giving out free t-shirts). These events will continue to be used by the university and the athletics department to raise awareness for sports. According to Athletics Director Bill Gehling, Tufts athletics are “the best kept secret around, with good teams that are fun to watch... If we can get people to the games, they will see how exciting they are and will come back in the future.” He envisions Fan the Fire becoming a major face of Tufts athletics, and he hopes to create partnerships with service-based groups like the Leonard Carmichael Society, “groups that are interested in similar things—a sort of synergy. Everyone at Tufts will benefit if there is more spirit around athletics and active citizenship.”

Tufts students will continue to be divided on the role of campus sports and whether or not our lack of school spirit in terms of athletics is a problem. We all chose to come to the school knowing full well what the athletic situation is and will likely continue to be—a facet of the school that will always be second to education. While major sports schools are engaged in debates over the serious ethical problem of earning money on the backs of student-athletes, as well as scandals like what happened at Penn State, Tufts Athletics instead focuses on building partnerships with community service to increase both athletic spirit and active citizenry. With such an ethos, we can all be proud to be Jumbos. O FEBRUARY 6, 2012

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D O FO

Which ’Wich?

I

t’s been a couple years since I was a regular presence in the hallowed walls of Dewick-Macphie

or Carmichael. It’s also been a couple years since the Tufts Daily published the wonderful column “Between the Slices,” written by my dear friend and fellow food enthusiast Ben Kochman. You know the man. He knows the secrets to good sandwich making, good sandwich locating, and, above all, good sandwich eating. I hate to trample on his territory here, but he’s abroad in Tübingen eating pretzels or whatever. Please enjoy these suggestions for dining hall sandwiches.

If, like me, you don’t eat in the dining halls anymore, you can obviously try to re-create these at home. O

Catherine Nakajima

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FO O D

SRIRACHA TUNA SALAD SLICED HARD BOILED EGG GREENS MUENSTER

by Luke Pyenson

Don’t eat the pre-made tuna salad—make your own. Use the so-called “flaked tuna,” and mix it with your desired amount of mayo, Dijon mustard, and black pepper. Add generous squirt of Sriracha sauce. Cut up a hard-boiled egg and top it with mixed greens and Muenster. This sandwich would be good pressed, but I prefer it cold, on rye bread.

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HUMMUS SLICED CUCUMBERS BLACK OLIVES SPROUTS RED ONION

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e

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This sandwich is pretty intuitive. If you’re some sort of vegetarian, you’ve probably already made it, or something like it. What I’m going to propose, though, is pressing it.

Hot hummus is good. Hot hummus sandwiches are good. It’s a less mainstream way to enjoy hummus. I’d use whatever fresh bread they have by the soups to make this.

Cut thick slices yourself.

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(VEGGIE) BURGER GRILLED PEPPERS & ONIONS ONION RINGS GUACAMOLE

h

h

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For this sandwich to work, of course, certain stars need to be perfectly aligned. That is to say, there have to be onion rings, and there ought to be guacamole. The sandwich is also good without guacamole, though. Usually there are peppers and onions by the hot dog/burger stations. If there aren’t, you can grill your own by using materials from the salad bar and repurposing the panini press as a flattop. Put this on a bun. Wait—also, add some Frank’s Red Hot.

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g

o

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AR TS

Panoramic Picture Show

by munir atalla

The O’s guide to those that made the list.

no.1 For the cinema rise of the planet of the apes

no.2 22

To inspire you midnight in paris

TUFTS OBSERVER

February 6, 2012

Becky Plante

For those of you who haven’t yet, it’s time to give this strange franchise a chance. In a breathtaking blockbuster that straddles the fence between social commentary and surprisingly heart-wrenching emotion, Andy Serkis stars as Cesar, a genetically altered simian. He is lovingly raised by scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) until he grows up and is forced to live in a shelter where he is abused and unhappy. Rise will have viewers questioning the differences between humans and our evolutionary counterparts.

It’s hard not to fall in love watching this film, either with Paris or with Gil (Owen Wilson), a lost poet who finds himself wandering the streets of the City of Light at midnight, only to discover that he has been whisked back in time. This may sound like the plot of a French sci-fi movie, but it’s actually a romantic comedy written and directed by Woody Allen. This film is a mustsee for literature and art history majors, who will experience the joy of seeing heroes like Hemingway and Dali brought to life on the silver screen.

TS AR

no.3

for your inner critic the artist

This probably isn’t the first time you have heard about The Artist, and it definitely won’t be the last. A clear favorite for the Oscars this year, The Artist has reeled in 11 nominations. So what makes a black and white silent movie one of the most acclaimed films of the year? Joyful imagination, visual style, and a clever cast. The Artist brings back the simple magic of movies stripped of all spectacles and reminds us that the past sometimes must be revisited in order to be perfected.

no.4 no.5 no.6

Becky Plante

for the kids (but not really) hugo Writing off Hugo as another kid’s movie is veritable cinematic blasphemy. Hugo is an ode to the cinematic arts in its purest form. Director Martin Scorsese has the heart-shaped key to viewers’ emotions, and he uses it to unlock a place of innocence that hasn’t been visited in years. Simply put: watch this film.

from abroad a separation (iran) One from abroad: A Separation (Iran) No film list would be complete without a tip-of-the-hat to the fast growing genre of foreign film. Famous critic Roger Ebert was so taken by this movie that he put it at the top of his film list for 2011, saying that it combines a “plot worthy of a great novel with the emotional impact of a great melodrama.” A Separation involves a deep moral tangle, self-discovery, and a life-draining disease. It is a film that will floor you from a part of the world that is not fully understood.

no.7

for aspiring badasses drive

Extremely stylized and set to an 80’s synth soundtrack, Drive tells the story of a nameless stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) and his beautiful neighbor (Carey Mulligan) as he chivalrously attempts to fight off underworld crime from her doorstep. Gosling takes badass to a new level with art-house violence masked behind a flawless poker face, reminding us, “There are no clean getaways.”

For the fans moneyball

Becky Plante

A sports movie that isn’t a sports movie, Moneyball is Jonah Hill’s breakthrough and Brad Pitt’s masterpiece. Offering a new angle on the sport that has long fascinated the nation, Moneyball makes viewers question what goes on behind the scenes of baseball.

Billy Bean (Brad Pitt) is an all-too-common sports figure: an ex-player who fell just short of the big leagues and now manages a subpar team. However, this season is different, as Yale graduate and prodigy Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) helps him reinterpret the game he thought he couldn’t know any better. O FEBRUARY 6, 2012

TUFTS OBSERVER

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oFE pAi nTU ioR nE

Thoughts from Tunisia Reflections on life after the fall of an autocrat

BY PHIL HOFFMAN

W

hat I saw and did not see in the streets of Tunis on the anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution’s apex encapsulates nearly every major issue facing the country today. Just one year after a popu-

list surge ousted former dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, the streets bustled with hopeful optimism and foreboding challenges that read like a horoscope of the country’s future.

As I pushed through the crowds along Avenue Habib Bourguiba, one of the capital’s main thoroughfares, I saw masses of people gathered together, hoping for some form of emotional release. Groups were roughly divided by ideology: in one area, leaderless nationalists marched aimlessly about, waving Tunisian flags and chanting about the fall of an autocrat.

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o pi n io n

These “agenda-less” revelers navigated around other, more organized secular and nationalist groups, complete with Che Guevara banners and photos of Gamal Abdel Nasser. But these secularist groups stood several blocks away from the most organized and well-attended event: a structured rally by the Islamist group, Ennahda. The contrast between the amorphous, secularist masses and the Islamists’ unanimous chants seemed to perfectly represent the campaign strategies in the recent Tunisian elections.

Meanwhile, police officers and soldiers tasked with preventing a breach of the Interior Ministry looked on from behind layers of barbed wire. They had built their careers within an institution suddenly open to intense public ridicule, and they now seemed scared and directionless. One officer draped a Tunisian flag over a police van while another untangled a protest banner from the sharp coils of the barbed barricade. Clearly, the relationship between the police and the people they had protected during the revolution was in need of repair, but in that moment, both groups appeared content to play their carved-out roles.

As I walked through that mass of free expression, I was stopped several times by young demonstrators curious about an unfamiliar face. They eagerly introduced themselves, and in a mix of French, Arabic, and broken English, offered me their opinions on the political situation as breathlessly as if they were recounting the details of a recent football match. In fact, one student gleefully told us that politics had replaced sports as the de facto topic of national small talk. These encounters always ended with an exchange of names on small scraps of paper, for Facebook purposes, and a group picture so that the effusive Tunisians might remember our brief conversations. A few people we met told us that Tunisians have become newly talkative after the lifting of several generations’ worth of political repression, but I have a hard time believing this. Though the topics of discussion may differ now, talkativeness seems, to me, to run deep within Tunisian culture.

Perhaps the most startling feature of Tunisia’s current political atmosphere is the lack of demand for economic improvement. The very forces that catalyzed the fall of the Ben Ali government were missing from this celebratory demonstration. This absence was the most troubling part of the long-term Tunisian outlook. The state of near-segregation that exists between the country’s impoverished interior and relatively affluent coast is as much an economic divide as one of language, religiosity, and political outlook. Now that votes from both of these areas have equal sway, major political discord seems almost inevitable. Whether the mediation between them will be democratic remains to be seen.

The celebratory streets of Tunis certainly inspired an optimistic outlook on Tunisia’s future in me. Just as striking, however, were the signs of the challenges that Tunisians must face once this hopeful surge fades. O

photos by jessica kulig

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

TUFTS OBSERVER

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RY ET PO

Scales

by Michael Leeper

A tune comes through, distorted in my dreams Some kind of distant melody A visit from a ghost of another life But the riff is so faint Piano my piano Like a prisoner in death row I await its call From the radio on a bus or a hole in the wall Something flew free now echoes inside In a stained glass soul Dissonant and holy Cocoon buzzing on the outskirts of desire Opens up to wildfire Swallowed whole by the deepest earth Murmurs in the dark Searching and searching

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February 6, 2012

LAURA LIDDELL

PO RY ET

Life in the darkness is lonely But I do not mind For I am the creator I make beauty out of sand and sediment A beauty unbecoming Of such humble beginnings Oh how She shines Sometimes I feel like an artist But I will never join the likes of Michelangelo Picasso Or Van Gogh For I am selfish It is just me and my Masterpiece And I do not need the recognition For true art never hangs in a museum But now they have come for Her They, the Thieves of Creation, Pry me open And steal Her from me Admiring Her as they toss me back Without even a farewell But as I sink to the sand I am not bitter Rather I hope they enjoy Her Marvel at Her, and Cast Her about the necks of beautiful women Where She will shine But what they don’t know Is that She will never shine as bright on them As She shines inside of me

The Pearl

by Nick Cutsumpas

Monica Stadecker

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

TUFTS OBSERVER

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POLICE BLOTTER Jan 11, 8:20 PM A student walking back from Davis started to cross the street at Conwell Ave when she noticed a shadow behind her. A black male, early 20s, with a beige jacket tried to grab her backpack and threatened her with what appeared to be a stun gun. She screamed, and he ran away.

Somerville Police responded.

Jan 15, 12:27 AM A student from an off-campus house was brought to the hospital after drinking 10 shots, and one or two beers. Probably two.

Jan 18, 2:40 PM A student living at 114 Pro Row (The DU house) reported a theft. Missing were 2 cases of water, 2 cases of Gatorade, and a 36” Samsung TV. One can only assume this is a symptom of the campus-wide water and Gatorade shortage I keep hearing about.

Jan 19, 10:00 PM Tufts Police responded to a room’s fire alarm going off in Lewis Hall. The resident of the room met the officers downstairs, to assure them he’d just been cooking eggs, and there was no cause for alarm. Officers investigated further, and found that by “cooking,” he meant “making a down-right mess of!” And by eggs, he meant home-made hash oil.

Jan 21, 1:15 AM A resident of South Hall called in a marijuana complaint. When officers arrived on the scene, there was no marijuana left, but they confiscated a glass pipe. Well played, stoners.

Jan 22, 10:30 AM Two students in Hodgdon Hall reported that while they had slept the night before, a laptop had been stolen from their room. Apparently they had closed their door for the night, but it hadn’t locked. This should serve as a reminder to all Hodgdon residents that there is some sort of bogeyman/burglar hybrid who tries to get into your room if you fall asleep. So you should probably lock your door.

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Jan 21, 1:32 AM An individual at Houston Hall suffered a minor concussion when his friend jumped on him, causing him to fall. The injured student had had 5 shots, 3 of which were vodka, as well as two other shots that were unintelligible to police. He was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for treatment. I was going to make fun of this guy, but he just had 5 drinks and goofed around with his buddies.

He seems like a pretty cool guy. So I drew him looking handsome.

Justin MCCallum

Tufts Observer Since 1895

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DECEMBER 12, 2011