Features

Features

Is X a threat to American democracy?

By Olivia Bye | October 16

When first-year Thomas Park first downloaded X in 2019, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, he mostly used it to follow art accounts and look at funny tweets. Five years later, in 2024, the content on his “For You” page is largely unchanged, with one notable exception. Now, interspersed with art accounts and memes are far-right extremist advertisements, AI-manipulated images and videos known as deepfakes and an influx of hateful and discriminatory rhetoric.

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Columns

T Time: Two stops down the Red Line

By Jeremy Bramson | October 15

After a brief hiatus, I’m excited to resume publishing T Time. Every other week, I’ll visit a new station on the MBTA and share a little bit about the station’s history, the neighborhood’s history and fun things to do in the area. As this edition’s title suggests, today I’m discussing a station two stops south of Davis Square on the Red Line: Harvard. For those interested in visiting, you can take the Red Line from Davis and travel two stops or you can take the 96 bus from campus, which makes stops at the corner of Winthrop and Boston Ave, outside the Dowling Garage and at the bottom of the Memorial Steps. The train takes about five to 10 minutes to get from Davis to Harvard while the bus takes between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on traffic. 

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Columns

Hey Wait Just One Second: Cowardice

By Max Turnacioglu | October 15

I’m afraid of the dark. While it may be natural to fear what we cannot see, I can’t help but race to dive beneath the covers in the brief moment I have after turning off the lights, until my seemingly plain room is transformed into a den of shifting shadows. Maybe I am a coward for not simply enduring an ordinary fact of life. Or maybe, I’m a craven, a poltroon, even a dastard, to speak more boldly. Or maybe, by facing my fear and emerging triumphant in my bed every night, I am courageous. For words that, on their face, appear antonymic, cowardice and courage are often difficult to distinguish.

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Columns

The Daily Drip: Medford Fog

By Dylan Fee | October 10

Like fog, I’m rolling into my second column reviewing drinks from The Sink. I am looking forward to making some horrifically cringey jokes on the topic of this week’s feature — the Medford Fog.

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Features

Once-in-a-generation: Historic cleanup breathes new life into Boston Harbor Islands

By Sam Dieringer | October 10

If you’ve ever been to Boston Harbor, you might’ve heard of the Boston Harbor Islands, a group of several dozen islands sprinkled throughout the greater Massachusetts Bay. What you might not know is that these islands face constant threats due to pollution.

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Features

Meet Professor Kim Ruane, the face of the math department

By Dylan Fee | October 10

Professor Kim Ruane has been working at Tufts for the past 24 years and is the chair of the Department of Mathematics. While she has done extensive work as a professor and researcher at Tufts thus far, some of her greatest accomplishments have come from outside of the classroom.

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Columns

Minutia Matters: The beauty of the impersonal sentence

By Leo Deener | October 10

While hanging out with a friend the other day, I was on one of my long rants about something I was frustrated with. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I do remember complaining about someone and saying something like, “You can’t just do that!” I was, of course, referring to whoever was bothering me, but my friend seemed insulted. His facial expression changed, and I could see an eye roll beginning to form. Before I could correct the semantic misunderstanding that had occurred, I realized I had stumbled upon an interesting linguistic phenomenon that I wanted to talk about in this week’s column.

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Columns

The Oxford Comma: Welcome to the UK

By Grace Nelson | October 9

Hello there from the United Kingdom! My name is Grace Nelson, and I am happy to welcome you to my new column, “The Oxford Comma!” This column will follow my journey as a visiting student at the University of Oxford for the 2024–25 academic year, touching upon everything ranging from my English literature studies to future adventures across Europe.

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Columns

A Jumbo's Journey: Wow, what a semester (it’s only been a month)

By Ben Rachel | October 9

This Sunday, my friend and I sat silently at Picante eating our $11 quesadillas (a great deal btw). We sat there with a long weekend of *redacted* activities weighing on our heads, hearts and stomachs. My head lay up against the wall behind me, staring at the blank ceiling; my friend solemnly drank his diet coke, shaking his leg in anticipation of the work ahead of him. The freshmen who sat next to us filled the restaurant with laughter and novelty. A familiar fire burned in their eyes, the same fire that had once burned in ours.

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Columns

Hey Wait Just One Second: Code switching

By Grayton Goldsmith | October 8

Language is powerful. It’s personal. It’s the first and most important gift we receive from our parents, and we carry it with us for the rest of our lives. As we grow older, we add new words to our vocabulary. Our ever-expanding bank of slang reflects the environment and circumstances in which we live and our accents serve as hyper-specific markers of the places we were raised, for better or for worse.

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Columns

Munching with Max: Buttermilk & Bourbon

By Max Druckman | October 7

It’s said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Though I cannot confirm nor deny that, I know that good food makes the heart grow fonder. So, whether you missed me and my lovely insights or just missed the food talk, you’re in luck. After a summer sabbatical, I am taking my talents back to the Daily for another year of munching to the max.

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Columns

Wanderlust: Breaking the wall of expectations

By Carmen Smoak | October 7

Wanderlust: of German origin meaning “a strong desire to travel”Synonyms: restlessness, unsettlednessEtymology: German, “wander” to hike, “lust” pleasure or delight

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Columns

Weekly Wellness: Find or fad?

By Katie Pflieger | October 4

With its rapid rise to fame on TikTok and other social media platforms, sea moss has gained a reputation for solving all of one’s wellness woes. Proponents cite clearer skin, better digestion and immune function. However, according to registered dietitian and TikToker Abbey Sharp, while the alleged superfood may contain high levels of vitamin B, it also contains a high amount of iodine, which can cause problems with thyroid function in excess.

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Features

The Hunt: Breaking down the search for off-campus housing, Part 1

By Claire Wood | October 3

While on-campus housing at Tufts is guaranteed for first and second-year undergraduates, juniors and seniors often embark on the journey of securing off-campus accommodation. The process is intricate, time-consuming and usually competitive as students seek apartments at a reasonable price point and location from campus.

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Features

Birthdays the Tufts way

By Kaitlyn Wells | October 3

For her daughter’s first birthday in 2019, Kylie Jenner hosted the inaugural edition of Stormiworld, a yearly celebration that featured theme park rides, gift shops, custom gilded cakes and celebrity guests. Call it an epic spectacle or an obnoxious display of wealth; it’s certainly quite different from how we approach birthdays here at Tufts.

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Columns

Essentially Tufts: Melvin Calderón

By Molly Sullivan | October 3

Melvin Calderón — who works for C&W Services, a cleaning company contracted by Tufts for the Medford/Somerville campus — sat in Room 313 of the Olin Center for Language and Cultural Studies during his dinner break. Next to him sat two used paper plates, a navy blue lunch box and Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel, “It Ends With Us.” As he recounted the story of how he learned to speak English, YouTube elevator music played from his iPad.

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Columns

The Daily Drip: Lucy in the Chai

By Dylan Fee | October 3

Ever thought it would be nice to have a review of every signature drink at The Sink by a girl you’ve never met? No? Well, I’m giving it to you anyway. You’re welcome.

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Column

Hey Wait Just One Second: Desire paths

By Max Turnacioglu | October 1

“Step outside but not to brawl,” Anthony Kiedis croons in my ear, and I oblige. The midnight wind is cold, not chilling, drifting across the Wren bridge. Light orange, brown leaves pepper the sidewalk, still soft underfoot — “Autumn’s sweet, we call it fall.” I wander in the general direction of Haskell Hall, dodging construction zones — “I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl” — with only a gentle glow to guide me. Past Fletcher, I round an arcing stretch of well-trodden grass, fading yellows drowned out by freshly exposed dirt, down the hill towards the Courts. I diverge from the pavement, freeing myself from its rigid hold as I follow in the footsteps of my peers. My path, imprinted in gentle footfalls, overlays hundreds and thousands of others before it, constructing a collective path of passion — otherwise known as a desire path.

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Features

Student forced to leave Tufts after financial aid cut

By Ellora Onion-De | September 26

On Oct. 6, Emma Do will be flying over 8,000 miles home to Vietnam after having to say a premature goodbye to their beloved Tufts community.

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Features

Bridging the Herd: The SMFA SGA’s plans for the year

By Layla Kennington | September 26

Whether seeking a Bachelors of Fine Arts or combined degree, Tufts students are acutely aware of the nearly 6-mile trek between the university’s Medford/Somerville and Boston campuses. Now, six years after the Fenway-located School of the Museum of Fine Arts formally became a part of Tufts University, the art school’s Student Government Association is looking to bridge both the physical and emotional distance between the two school’s student bodies.

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