Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Tufts Daily's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query.
26 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
After a media campaign for a Cartoon Network show mobilized emergency response crews in Boston on Wednesday, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone will take part in a meeting this morning to discuss legal settlements.
Turning violence into poetry
In today's ADD-addled society, readers often find it excruciating to have to sit through an entire novel. Most people want their books to be like their TV news: quick sound bites of bright images and funny catchphrases that aren't too difficult to digest in one sitting.
When applying to college, for a job or for a scholarship, people try to set themselves apart with descriptions of their singular accomplishments and unique abilities. There's a sense that, in order to succeed, one must be anything other than ordinary.
Anyone who has ever been on a diet knows the immense struggles involved in losing weight, staying in shape, and resisting temptation. Such battles are almost nonexistent for the title character in Jemima J, the best-selling novel by Jane Green. While 27 year-old Jemima Jones does suffer from poor body image and low self-esteem, her ultimate quest to lose nearly 100 pounds lasts a mere quarter of the book. The rest of the text centers on the invigorating sex life and shopping sprees she experiences upon becoming a svelte 120 pounds at the height of 5'7". With a structure that is reminiscent of corny teenage series like Sweet Valley High, Jemima J takes mature themes like love and sexuality and twists them into trivial clich?©s that mark the shallowness of our society. The novel seems to dictate that overweight people can't get anywhere, and that even achievements as simple as job promotions are based on appearance as opposed to talent. We see this through dynamics in the office of the Kilburn Herald, the tiny British newspaper where Jemima works to compile "Top Tips," a column offering Martha Stewart-esque advice on domestic issues. She hates the redundancies of the job, hates that she is constantly rewriting her friend Geraldine's articles without getting any credit, and loves the attractive news editor Ben. But, alas, Ben seems to be an unattainable goal as she lacks the figure and the confidence to even strike up a conversation with him. New excitement hits when the Herald office goes online (how tragic - a newspaper first getting Internet access in 1999), and Jemima and Geraldine discover the wonders of chat rooms and online dating services. They stumble upon a forum called the LA Caf?©, where Jemima hits it off with Brad, a macho gym owner from Southern California. Yes, that's right, they pair the fat girl with the buff exercise fanatic, creating a scenario that fails miserably in its overly obvious attempt show that beauty is far more than skin deep. It only gets worse: Jemima creates an alternate personality and becomes JJ, who embodies all the qualities of the person Jemima has always wished she could be. JJ is a slim, fit, and pretty television reporter, who not surprisingly molds to exactly what Jemima learns Brad wants from a woman. And it works - the two begin to talk on the phone regularly after their first online encounter, at which point Brad eventually suggests that they meet in person. Though Jemima has fallen about as madly in love as you can get with someone known only by voice, she must continuously make excuses for why she cannot see him because she knows the JJ he wants to meet doesn't exist. It doesn't help that Jemima is consistently described as someone who would be beautiful if she lost the weight. She herself first realizes this when a co-worker in the graphics department airbrushes her photo, dissolving all wrinkles, rolls, and chins. This is the photo that gets sent to Brad, at which point Jemima finally decides to bite the bullet and become the beautiful woman in the picture and meet her elusive Internet lover. It's a shame that the author doesn't grant Jemima an ounce of self-motivation - her quest to lose weight is not for her own well being, but rather an effort to impress others. And while her personal encounter with Brad is a great success at first, Jemima finds that he loves her more for her appearance than for who she really is, and learns what life is like on the other side of the fence. The novel seems to say that while society is obsessed with appearance, neither the fit nor the fat can ever be completely happy. Nevertheless, the book is an interesting read regardless of its downfalls. If nothing else, you'll get a good laugh out of the characters' obsessions with hair dye and dressing "airplane chic." Green's style is witty and upbeat, encompassing humorous dialogues with endearing characters that drag the reader in for pages and pages at a time. The problems lie more in the fact that she takes a serious issue, tries to touch base with its lighter side, and winds up creating a scenario that mocks both thin and heavy alike.
The air was full of camaraderie and reciprocal praise, as faculty members filled the Coolidge Room in Ballou on Tuesday evening. Dec. 7 marked the second annual Dean's Book Celebration, a small reception with a fairly large collection of recent faculty publications displayed for the academics attending the event to view. "For us, this is one of the most important parties because it recognizes our publications," said Dean Leila Fawaz, one of the event organizers. The inaugural event took place last fall, when faculty members at both the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Engineering were invited for the first time to see their peers' accomplishments outside the gates of the University. Roselle Levey, who worked with Fawaz this year on the planning of the event, noted the support it garnered last year. "It was so very popular last year that we decided to do it again," Levey said. At this second Celebration, there was an aura of decadence and the food was divine. While enjoying stuffed mushrooms, hors d'oeuvres, and an assortment of pastries, faculty members milled around the room chatting, reacquainting, and congratulating each other. Amid the talented schmoozers stood the embodiment of their accomplishments - a table which displayed over 60 books, most of which had been published between 1997 and the present, along with a collection of books that will be published in 2000. Levey explained that all of the faculty members were asked to identify and contribute books that they had worked on and published since the reception in 1998. Some of the earlier published books that had not been available last year were honored this year. While some books such as Professor Peter Winn's Americas, The Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean were directly related to the courses that the faculty teach, others had a more outside and personal focus. Michael Dowling, a creative writing professor, was one such author. He published a fictional book of his own entitled Breakfast with Scott. Professor George Norman edited an in-depth, advanced economics book entitled The Economics of Price Discrimination, full of complex graphs and equations. It was placed right next to a large collection of Prentice Hall Science books for children, co-authored by engineering professors Martha Cyr and Ioannis Miaoulis. These books included titles from Animals to Weather and Climate, and contained exciting pictures and activities for younger students to enjoy. While all of the books at the reception seemed to be very different from one another in content, they all had something in common. Each embodied the dedication of a professor who had completed a work in addition to other commitments at Tufts. "It is an outgrowth of what I do. Normally, in my subject, writing books is not a main focus, it is secondary as a general rule," psychology Professor Julio Garcia said about his book, which is a recently published teaching instrument. While most of the attendees will attest that writing a book is a difficult task, it is well worth it when the work is honored in either a forum like this or by an outside honorary organization. Three of the books have recently received various awards. Professor Jane Bernstein, who just published her book Music Printing in Renaissance Venice, The Scotto Press (1593-1572) was given the Otto Kinkeldy Award of the American Musicology Society (AMS). This award is given annually the most distinguished book published by an American or Canadian member of the AMS. Bernstein worked on her book, which was 18 years in the making, while teaching, holding the department chair, and raising a family. In October, at the annual meeting of the 16th Century Studies Conference, Professor Cristelle Baskins won an honorable mention for her book Cassone Painting, Humanism and Gender in Early Modern Italy. Professor Jeffrey Berry, author of The New Liberalism: The Rising Power of Citizen Groups was awarded the 1999 Aaron Wildausky Award earlier this year. With so many individuals to honor, this celebration is certain to remain a tradition. "It's a nice way to show appreciation for all of their hard work," Levey said.