The Tufts Daily

After several weeks of inconsistent messaging, Tufts University announced in an email on April 8 that it will allow February, summer and remote graduating students to participate in the in-person ceremonies for their departments. Students who are not currently enrolled in surveillance testing are able to request free tests from the university to be eligible […]

For this last column, I asked my friends to share a bit of what they’re looking forward to as a post-pandemic world starts to come into focus. They sent me songs of rumination, rest and, most of all, celebration. This is part 2; part 1 is available at tuftsdaily.com. As for me, I just celebrated […]

Content warning: This article discusses sexual assault and other forms of sexual misconduct. In a year of COVID-19 restrictions and mandatory social distancing, reports of sexual misconduct at Tufts increased, with students seeking support for more cases of sexual harassment, cyberstalking and domestic violence than previous years. Cases of sexual assault remained slightly below average, […]

For this last column, I asked my friends to share a bit of what they’re looking forward to as a post-pandemic world starts to come into focus. They sent me songs of rumination and rest and, most of all, celebration.

I write this on an abnormal day — white builds up in the corners of windows that should be refracting April yellow-red-orange glow —  but I know these days of light and sunroof-down drives with Spotify are near. My weather app says so. The return of the sun will clear the sinuses of snow, as summer hovers on the horizon. Play these songs as you learn to live again. 

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” (2021) is an appropriate starting point for Swift’s journey to re-record her first six albums. She’s jumping “head first, fearless” into a creative project that she’s been hinting at for years, since she failed to secure ownership of her master recordings in 2018. There’s an unmistakable parallel between the breakups Swift mourned in 2008 and her breakup with her first record label, Big Machine Records.

When Jess asked me to write for this column this week, I realized something that I hadn’t before; a large number of my friends, even those I’ve been tight with for a lot of my college life, don’t know what my music taste is. The truth is, I usually keep my favorite songs private because I think they’re best appreciated in moments alone. I like to reserve my music for late-night walks back home from the Daily office, or long nighttime drives in California.

In an event organized by Tufts University Social Collective, Rea chatted with Tufts graduate Noah Brown (LA'20) while simultaneously grating, chopping, boiling, stirring and (finally) eating his one-pot mac and cheese. Since 2016, Rea has amassed more than 8.7 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he posts regular episodes of "Binging with Babish" (a cooking show), "Basics with Babish" (another cooking show) and "Being with Babish" (a lifestyle show that also includes some cooking).

There’s something euphoric about dance music’s pounding beats and explosive drops. It’s a sort of catharsis, an exchange of energy — I think that’s especially true when we dance with others. Dancing alone this past year hasn’t felt the same. But post-pandemic, I’m excited for the empathy, love, excitement and power that comes from anyone and everyone’s enjoying dance music. With each song, we’ll be celebrating.

Hot girl music is for when you’re done feeling the feels for the day and want to walk around, mask on, like a total badass. Hot girl music makes you sweat. This is powerful lady music, this is sexy music, music for dancing in front of the mirror, music for putting on your headphones and absolutely strutting to Pax et Lox to pick up a salmon bagel.