There's an interesting dynamic that goes on in sports: We condemn the cheaters and criminals ... unless they're on our team. We blame the athlete for retaliating when, in fact, the fan is the clear instigator.
Hip-hop artist Donald Glover, commonly known by stage name Childish Gambino, will headline this year's Spring Fling concert on April 26, Concert Board co-chairs Emily Schacter and Mark Bernado announced at Battle of The Bands last night.
Ever since last October, when seeing Mandy Patinkin (you know, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya...") in concert rekindled my love for romance, swordplay and mustaches, I'd been dying to fence. Really, I had been dying to either fence or save a mistress, but fencing sounded safer. I asked Chandler Coble, my friend, co-worker and fierce-fencing guru, if she'd be willing to teach me and she agreed. Maybe it was the suave new facial hair festering on my upper lip that convinced her. Chandler and I met in Jackson Gym to fence. And by "to fence," let me be clear, I mean "to humiliate myself," in all likelihood blinding the Tufts fencing squad in the process. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened, and I even learned a lot about fencing (and mustaches) in the process. Fencing rule number one: you cannot fence in pajama pants and Birkenstocks. I had anticipated wearing my typical getup, but, apparently, that would have been "not suitable at all." So, I arrived in long socks, sneakers, athletic shorts and a filthy exercise shirt. Our first formal lesson came in the gym's basement, where Chandler dressed me in spare fencing gear. The off-white pants were a bit too small and the faceless helmet a bit too big, but the lesson fit just right. I felt empowered in my new suit. Fencing rule number two: everyone (or was it no one?) looks sexy in fencing gear. After we had taken care of my dress, our attention turned to what I consider the second most important part of fencing (second to the mustache): the sword. Fencing rule number three: there are three types of swords, but it's all very confusing. I quickly learned that the three fencing weapons are the foil, sabre and ?©p?©e. But really, I learned that hardly anything physically distinguishes the swords from each other. Any fencer would likely disagree, but I'm not any fencer. What distinguishes the swords, rather, is the set of rules applied to each one. For example, the foil can't target the arms or legs while the ?©p?©e can. Chandler and I then each took an ?©p?©e and began the more advanced lessons upstairs. Fencing rule number four: there are seven more varieties of parry than I thought there were. How many maneuvers can you think of to avoid being stabbed? I could only think of a few, three namely: duck left, duck right and run away. Fortunately, after Chandler showed me footwork too complicated to describe here and attacks too gruesome to recount, she opened my mind to the expansive world of parries. Learning to defend myself may have been the most valuable of Chandler's lessons. If only I could do it well. Fencing rule number six: Chandler is too nice. We were then ready to fence. Again, just to be clear, by "fence" I mean "humiliate myself." She could have dominated me easily, but instead, humoring me, she toyed with my newfound skills. She then dominated me anyway. It would have been a shutout but for a single hit when I accidentally poked her thigh. It was a proud moment, despite my lack of intention. Have I learned much about fencing? Some, but nothing I couldn't have learned from Wikipedia. What I really learned was more about Chandler, a friend, and my own inability to wave a sword about menacingly. It's a day I'll enjoy remembering every time I sit down to re-watch "The Princess Bride" (1987). Even though I'll never be Inigo Montoya, I know some day Chandler will. I can hear it now: "Hello. My name is Chandler Coble. You sought my teachings. Prepare to fence."
Do you like a good underdog story? David slaying Goliath? The Sox taking down the Yanks? Mercer stunning Duke? If you do, then you must know who to root for in one of the most lopsided battles in sports history: Northwestern football vs. the NCAA. Since I last wrote on this topic two months ago, the Wildcats pulled off a truly remarkable upset: The National Labor Relations Board determined that the Northwestern football players are workers. Not that they can apply to be workers. Not that they can pretend to be workers. That they are workers. Don't pop the champagne just yet. Yes, this is a major victory for college athletes, and yes, it's a massive plot twist in the "student-athlete" fairytale that fuels the NCAA. But if you think the NCAA won't fight this tooth and nail - if you think Mark Emmert won't breathe fire and destroy the Earth if that's what it takes to maintain his athletes' amateur status - then you just don't know the NCAA. While there is a thorny road ahead for KainColter and his teammates as they attempt to form the first union for college athletes, the arguments against unionization are unconvincing. Here's what they boil down to: "Change scary. Unions bad." "Nobody disputes college football players deserve scholarship guarantees, more flexibility to transfer, lifetime medical coverage for injuries suffered on scholarship and, yes, stipends to supplement college's hidden costs," writes David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune. "Nobody disagrees that the NCAA needs to be less tone deaf, more inclusive and respond immediately to the unrest reflected by the commotion Colter caused." I'll tell you who disagrees: the NCAA. That's exactly why we're here in the first place. Labor movements arise when workers are being treated unfairly and employers refuse to make concessions. Don't try to tell me that, if only the athletes would quit causing such a hullabaloo and simply ask nicely for, oh, you know, some basic freedoms, this whole thing would be resolved. That's not how change happens. Not in a David vs. Goliath battle. This is about much more than a few angry football players. It's about workers' rights, for one. Northwestern University is currently leading the appeals process against the players because, as Edge of Sports' Dave Zirin points out, "They are afraid that if the football players can unionize, then the graduate teachers, the custodial staff, the work-study students and the cafeteria workers will all say, 'If they can be a recognized union, then why not us?'" It's also about racial justice. Over half of Div. I football and men's basketball players are black, and it's no coincidence that the athletes in those two sports are most heavily exploited. As Taylor Branch explains in his groundbreaking piece for The Atlantic: "To survey the scene - corporations and universities enriching themselves on the backs of uncompensated young men, whose status as 'student-athletes' deprives them of the right to due process guaranteed by the Constitution - is to catch the unmistakable whiff of the plantation." I'm not naive enough to think the NLRB ruling will lead in a straight line to better conditions for big-time college athletes. Inevitably, unionization will create dozens of tough questions. But there is no viable alternative. When questions arise, the two sides can battle it out. At least in that scenario, the athletes have a seat at the table. They might even get a slice of the pie. So you know what? Take out the champagne. Sip to celebrate Northwestern football's inspiring achievements so far. Save the rest for when Goliath is finally slain.
Once upon a time in the 1980s, there existed two well-loved characters - a wacky scientist and his heartthrob teenage sidekick - who starred in a trilogy of blockbuster movies involving time travel, high-school drama and hover boards. Almost 30 years have passed since then, but "Back to The Future" (1985) still remains a nostalgic trip. In recent decades, the stock characters of Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) have been parodied to various ends, the most recent of which is animated Adult Swim series "Rick and Morty" (2013-present). This newest project from "Community" (2009-present) creator Dan Harmon features two characters oddly familiar to the duo from the original Robert Zemeckis movie. It goes without saying that "Rick and Morty" is a parody of "Back to the Future" at its most basic level, yet the show is so much more than that. Although it utilizes the stock profiles of the mad scientist and his sidekick, the tropes are reduced to their very core and then transformed into their own individual personalities. Rick (Justin Roiland), the mad scientist, is an alcoholic with a cold exterior - though perhaps somewhere deep on the inside he feels love. Morty (also Roiland) is an awkward 14-year-old that is probably as distant from Fox's character as can be, even if they look similar. What "Rick and Morty" manages to do best is to take these two absurd characters into even wackier adventures: You're never really quite sure what is going to happen next. This unpredictability can, at times, make "Rick and Morty" a rip-roaringly funny show, as the show seems to take an almost a no-holds barred approach. Serious topics such as feminism, alcoholism and divorce are lampooned alongside more conventional sources of comedy, such as toilet humor and references to sexual acts. Some of the show's best moments come from a bizarre combination of lowbrow and highbrow humor; parodies of both "Inception" (2010) and "Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984) have been particular highlights. The show even pokes fun at television itself, like in a recent episode, "Rixty Minutes" - an excellent and entirely self-referential installment. Whenever "Rick and Morty" becomes meta - a concept that is starting to lose its originality in this postmodern era - it manages to do so in a way that, for the most part, avoids groan-inducing moments. Rather, "Rick and Morty" accomplishes self-reference more indirectly. In "Rixty Minutes," Rick gets bored of conventional Earth TV, so he invents a machine that allows the family to tune into the channels of every possible universe. When the channel surfing commences, Rick notes that television from other dimensions seems to have a much looser feel to it. The episode becomes more and more ridiculous, and we get a sense of the absurd, improvised nature of the short television bits. However, not all of "Rick and Morty" reaches the same high notes. Throughout much of the season, the show endeavors to maintain a status quo: It seems that no matter what happens in the episode - much like other conventional cartoons - everything will be fine when the credits roll. This is a mechanism that detracts from the overall quality, especially when you consider how unconventional the rest of the series is. This grievance, though, is being addressed more frequently, as actions from earlier episodes are starting to have real consequences. "Rick and Morty" is poised to leap headfirst into bold new territory, with two episodes remaining in the first season, and a second one in the works. It still hasn't hit perfection, but if it is able to make certain adjustments, it might be on the right road - though where they're going, they might not need roads.
Last weekend, the Tufts Model United Nations (MUN) team competed in the Five College Model United Nations Conference (FCMUN) hosted by Mount Holyoke College to mark the team's fourth and final conference of the year. MUN social chair Leonard Wachs explained that this conference was the group's most successful to date. "This was our best showing yet at any conference we have attended in the past four years," Wachs, a sophomore, told the Daily in an email. "We brought 24 members, the largest delegation we have taken to a conference, and we received seven awards, including two Best Delegates. Compared to last year, our delegation at this specific conference more than doubled in size - that goes for our club in general, as well - received more awards and had an overall bigger impact at the conference." Tufts delegates Jenna Smith and Michael Bird received the Best Delegate awards, while Vice President Annirudh Balachandran and Wachs earned Honorable Mentions. Tufts MUN team President Ashley Scarfo received a Verbal Commendation recognition. According to Scarfo, a senior, the conference consisted of series of crisis committees that test delegate's abilities to make quick decisions during imaginary crisis scenarios. The types of committees ranged from realistic scenarios, such as the Ninth East Asian Summit, to imaginary situations, like the World War Z Committee, in which delegates were forced to make decisions in the face of the outbreak of an imaginary virus. Scarfo explained that MUN conferences, like last weekend's, offer opportunities to develop practical skills that are applicable to a variety of majors. "Doing MUN, you definitely develop public speaking experience, debate skills and thinking on your feet that you cannot get anywhere else," Scarfo said. "Being able to confidently talk in front of hundreds of people is a great skill to have, and I think it can be useful for any Tufts student of any major. Most think that Model UN is for [international relations] nerds, but we have biomedical engineers to music majors who benefit just as much." Balachandran added that MUN has a great community. "It really comes down to the people you have with you," Balachandran, a junior said. "It's the people at Tufts Model UN, the e-board to the underclassmen [to] the seniors who have graduated, who make it all the worthwhile and entertaining. They gave me the confidence to go out there and to do well, and you just learn so much from others in the club. Our club is full of people who are knowledgeable in international aspects, and, as an international student myself, it's nice to have a shared community." According to Scarfo and Wachs, the club meets each week to practice technical skills such as speaking, researching and writing resolutions. Wachs added that the group holds mock committee sessions each semester to prepare for the conferences. Although the season is over, the MUN club is already planning for next year, Scarfo explained. The team is also hoping to hold its own MUN conference for local high schools as a way to build relations and teach prospective MUN delegates. "We've been contacted by local high schools whose students want to grow their own high school MUN teams," Scarfo said. "We are trying to develop relations with the neighborhood, and we thought a great way to develop that was to host our own MUN conference for them. We don't know how far we can extend in the first year, but we are going to try out best to simulate what these high school delegates will encounter at the college level." Wachs added that hosting a conference will put Tufts in a special group. "We're also really proud of the fact that next year we will be hosting Tufts' first ever high school conference," he said. "This will really put Tufts and Tufts MUN into a select group of schools." While Tufts MUN is a Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate-recognized group with funding and had its largest-ever team this year, Balachandran added that in the past, costs have been prohibitive to some students. "The last thing we want to see is a student not being able to go to these conferences," Balachandran said. "Yet, I've met students who couldn't afford it." However, with the Senate's recent development of a new funding program for students on financial aid, Balachandran and Wachs hope even more students will be able to participate in the future. "We are very excited about the new student fund that TCU [Senate] has passed, which should allow us to put less of a financial requirement on students wanting to attend our conference[s]," Wachs said. "This will allow us to better pursue our club's ultimate goal: to allow undergraduates in the Tufts community the opportunity to learn about the bodies, functions and methods of the UN and other organizations. More money means more people can learn." In addition to this learning, Balachandran explained that participating in MUN has also helped him to develop both a sense of school pride and citizenship. "You learn about active citizenship and what it means to be a global citizen, and it really helped my entryway to the Tufts community," he said. "Model UN opened me up to the community, and I was able to meet more people and became more confident [in] being a Tufts student. By being in MUN, I get a very strong Tufts pride."
Finally, I've done it! I've finally watched "12 Years A Slave" (2013). Will I ever do it again? We'll see. Do I want to? Certainly not. Let me explain. I watched the winner of this year's Best Picture Academy Award several months too late, after all the media buzz had fizzled away. The funny thing about my waiting so long is that I actually really wanted to see the movie since its release, but I was never able to find the perfect moment to do so. You know those movies that you think are so good that you don't want to watch them for the sake of avoiding that "Man, that was awesome, but it's too bad that I've already seen it now" feeling? Well, that's exactly what happened to me. "12 Years A Slave" was just about to join the ranks of movies that are too good for me to watch - a "The Godfather" (1972), "Malcolm X" (1992) and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) - when I randomly made a decision to buckle down and watch it. Before I started the movie, I ensured that absolutely everything in the room was just right. I tilted the television to an optimal angle, I adjusted the temperature to just-the-right-level-of-lukewarm, I prepared a flawless bowl of popcorn with no kernels, I gathered a nest of pillows and I wrapped myself up in a blanket so soft that I swear it had fallen straight down from a passing cloud. At last, I was ready to experience what everyone had been talking about - the wonderment, the emotional turmoil, the gripping imagery, the stunning acting. I took a deep breath and pressed play. Then, just like that, it was over. What? Was that it? Wow. It sucked. To be fair, I may have been judging the movie based on the wrong criteria. I happened to be expecting to see a film that would pull me into the bowels of an intriguing biographical narrative, portraying the experience of protagonist Solomon Northup's (ChiwetelEjiofor) seemingly endless suffering in the midst of a dehumanizing institution perpetuated by slave masters, kidnappers and bystanders alike. I wanted to see a movie so good that I'd even forget that it was a movie. Instead what I got was a forced amalgamation of scattered scenes with missing transitions and other annoying cinematic issues. I kept searching for a character to sympathize with, and I never knew quite which emotion to feel. Furthermore, the film lacked a cohesive storyline. I grew so disconnected from it that I couldn't even properly empathize during scenes that accurately depicted physical suffering. I just wondered why those things were happening in the first place, since often times they didn't really seem to fit into the supposed narrative. Furthermore, the motives of the perpetrators were usually vague and unclear. And as for the painfully awkward ending ... I can't even. Oh, well. Just a swing and a miss, I thought. But then I suddenly came to terms with a sad reality. "Django Unchained" (2012) which I like to jokingly describe as "the best made bad movie ever made" was, even with all its flaws, a far better film than "12 Years A Slave." Hands down. Then I realized an even sadder reality: that "Django Unchained" was the only prominent film I could think of to compare to "12 Years A Slave." There are, however, often-overlooked and well-executed films that tell the story of slaves. Be sure to watch HaileGerima's 1993 film "Sankofa," a well constructed, well-written and realistic slave narrative that highlights the realities of antebellum slavery and is both mentally and emotionally engaging. You can skip "12 Years A Slave."
As part of World Autism Awareness Day, the Tufts' chapter of Autism Speaks and the brothers of the Theta Delta Chi (123) fraternity worked together to raise autism awareness on campus yesterday. World Autism Awareness Day, organized through a partnership betweem Autism Speaks, a national autism advocacy organization, and Theta Delta Chi's national organization, aims to raise awareness about autism's prevalence and diagnoses, according to Tufts Autism Speaks chapter fundraising chair Danielle Feerst. "Autism Awareness day is a day dedicated to making people aware of the fact that Autism diagnoses are increasing and to help people understand what it is," Feerst, a sophomore, said. As part of the awareness-raising efforts, the Autism Speaks chapter at Tufts hosted Boston Medical Center Autism Specialist Lauren Bartolotti (G '12) to discuss Autism prevalence, as well as current Autism research and treatments. One in 68 American children are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder every year. By 2020, it is estimated that rate will increase to one in five, according to research released last week by Autism Speaks. Yet Bartolotti told students at the panel last night that this statistic may be exaggerated to gain media attention. "The thing with the new statistics is you have to remember that the media likes to make people interested in the story," Bartolotti said. "Yes, the presence is 'increasing,' and I'm not diminishing that, but the data was only taken in 11 communities of eight year olds. So the one in 68 statistic isn't completely accurate. This statistic is really good for raising awareness, but it's not accurate in treatment." Bartolotti also discussed the financial burden imposed on families with autistic children. Autism families spend on average $60,000 on a child's medical services a year, according to Feerst. "It's really a lot tougher than people would expect," Bartolotti said. "A lot of my patients can't pay for their rent, let alone services for their child." Theta Delta Chi has been working closely with the newly introduced Tufts' Autism Speaks chapter at improving Autism awareness on campus, Feerst explained. "When I first became philanthropy chair, one of the first people to reach out to me was Shannon McHenry, who is the president of the Autism Speaks chapter here at Tufts, and since then we have been a really good team in terms of maximizing fundraising and awareness for Autism Speaks," Rob Jacobson, the Theta Delta Chi philanthropy chair told the Daily in an email. The fraternity brothers wore blue, painted the cannon and lit their house blue yesterday as part of World Autism Awareness Day, Jacobson, a sophomore, explained. "Theta Delta Chi is also national partners with Autism Speaks, so our house has always been very involved with the organization," Jacobson said. "But [since] Shannon brought the chapter to Tufts this fall, it has really taken off. This past fall we raised over $2,000 with our [Blue Luau] fundraising social event, where we sold wristbands along with tickets as a way to both fundraise [and] raise awareness." World Autism Awareness Day is part of a longer national Autism Awareness Month and the two student organizations will continue to host awareness-promoting events throughout the month, Feerst added.
Here's an interesting finding from a recent study published in Jan. 2014 from the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, entitled "How stereotypes impair women's careers in science." Both male and female managers are twice as likely to hire a man to preform mathematical tasks. This is despite the fact that, on average, women and men preform equally well. In fact, it goes farther than that. When job candidates are asked to rate themselves, men often exaggerate their skills while women often downplay theirs.
On March 11, 2014 Tufts announced its decision to raise tuition by nearly four percent to $61,000 next semester. Only weeks later on March 27, 2014, Tufts announced to the student body via an email entitled "Why is today #tuftsbestdayever?" that our tuition had "run out."
In Granada, you cannot avoid "la cultura de los hippies." It permeates the area. Even if you don't pass by a dreadlock-sporting or rainbow apparel-clad individual, you will inevitably hear about the hippie caves in the mountains surrounding the city. A tour through Granada will almost always lead to a conversation about these hippies, who live on the outskirts of the city. They have lived in the caves of the Granada mountains for the past 25 years. "Hippie," by the way, is a term used frequently in Spain, with the same meaning in Spanish as in English.
For the first time, Tufts Summer Study is offering select rising high school seniors a chance to live in South Hall this summer.
Monday was opening day for the Red Sox, and while their first game ended in defeat to the Baltimore Orioles, I'm still brimming with early season hope. It's only one game, after all. It's still possible for Boston to go 161-1. On that note, here are six optimistic predictions for this year's crew:
The baseball team kicked off conference play this weekend with a scheduling nightmare, as a three-game series meant to be played at NESCAC East-rivals Bates was moved to Tufts due to poor field conditions and an incoming storm that threatened the Lewiston, Maine area. After the Jumbos recorded a 2-0 win on Saturday, however, rain in Medford caused the second and third games to be postponed.
The Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) released the first installment of a new environmental storytelling initiative last week, entitled "Chixoy: The Story of a Dam".
The TCU Senate announced that it has awarded this year's Cause Dinner to the Palestinian Association for Children's Encouragement of Sports (PACES). According to Senator Isabella Kahhale, a freshman, the dinner will take place Tuesday night in both Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie Dining Halls, where students will be able to donate the meal equivalent to the charity.
Sometimes, creators decide to take their love triangles to new extremes that are particularly cruel to their readers or viewers: everyone is in love with someone else, false hopes and hook-ups-best-forgotten abound and, in short, all love is unrequited. Notably, this is distinct from the No Marriage Rule, the trope where a couple simply can't stay a couple. In that trope, there is mutual love and a chance of a happy ending, but when all love is unrequited, happy endings seem nearly impossible.
When a seasoned musician releases his or her first self-titled album, it is usually a hint that the album is a statement about the artist's career and style. In the case of Colombian songstress Shakira, who has commanded serious respect in the pop arena for years, her self-titled album is a perfect snapshot of who she used to be, who is she is and, ultimately, who she hopes to be.
Nearly 180 graduating students at the School of Medicine gathered on March 21 to celebrate Match Day, a time when medical students receive their residency training assignments for the next three to four years. Most were matched within one of 17 specialties across the country.
For those of you who have never read George Orwell's novel "1984" (1949): I am so sorry. For everyone else, the title of this column probably rings a faint bell. "1984" is a dystopian novel that would take me multiple columns to really explain/do any semblance of justice to, so today I'm just going to talk about doublethink. Doublethink is the paradox of simultaneously believing two contradictory things, like being able to tell a lie and believe it while still being aware it isn't true. I fully admit it's kind of hard to wrap your mind around, especially on a Monday morning, but I also have a sneaking suspicion that it's one of those things that makes more sense the less sleep you have, so maybe it's perfect timing after all.
