With the return of warm weather comes blooming flowers, chirping birds, day parties and, of course, summer playlists. In between the Sublime and Bob Marley, hip-hop is an essential part of any warm weather playlist. In honor of the arrival of spring, I'll be running through some of my summer music staples.
Just like the rest of America, I am a huge BeyoncACCENT fan. If the states ever decided we needed to make somebody queen, she would be my No. 1 choice. But, I still think we need to talk about the fact that she named her child Blue Ivy. I mean, there is now a person in this world walking around named Blue. Kudos for creativity, BeyoncACCENT and Jay-Z, thinking outside the box and not letting a social construct tell you what is a human name and what is a color, but I still think Blue Ivy was a strange choice.
For coach Don Megerle and the Tufts Marathon Team, the Boston Marathon has neither a beginning nor an ending. Megerle, who's gentle and disarming affect betray a legacy of unparalleled achievement, is the leader in not just name, but also in spirit, of a team that has been pounding the pavement down Boylston Street for 12 years.
With just five games remaining, Olympique de Marseille is poised for a top-10 finish in Ligue 1, a major drop-off following a runner-up performance in its 2012-2013 campaign. Despite the lackluster second act, Marseille sits within striking distance of a sweet consolation prize: one of two UEFAEuropa League spots. Three teams -- Marseille, Lyon and St Etienne -- are vying for this chance at a European title, an elusive accolade even for the top teams in the land, the two winners to distinguish themselves with a timely ravenous streak.
Every player in Major League Baseball wore No. 42 on Tuesday night in honor of Jackie Robinson. It was a day for the league to commemorate its greatest hero and pat itself on the back for preserving Robinson's legacy.
The men's tennis team was unable to overcome yet another blow to its roster, dropping its match against Bates last Tuesday 7-2.
Financing the ideas that embody Tufts' spirit of "active citizenship" can be difficult. But the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), a national conference several Tufts students attended last month, is working to change that.
Director Spike Lee's film "He Got Game" (1998) documents a college-bound basketball superstar's introduction to the national spotlight. While adjusting to his fame, 18-year-old Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) finds himself in the midst of emotional battles brought about by his broken home and imprisoned father, Jake (Denzel Washington). The plot focuses on the emotional roller coaster that both men deal with as they attempt to find closure for past events. An immovable force that exists outside the maze of charged dialogue, basketball itself becomes the glue that holds the story together.
There is a Japanese proverb that reads, "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." Lately, I've been thinking about the role that vision plays in changing the lives of others and, ultimately, changing institutions that have an impact every day. Most politicians run on a platform of extensive experience with the vision to match, but somewhere along the way that vision gets lost (if it ever existed to begin with). I talk about the vision of a leader as not simply an idea of what the future should be, but as the capacity and determination to actually bring about the results that they list in their speeches and websites. Anyone can say, "I believe in an equitable, affordable, enjoyable Tufts and I believe we can achieve it now," but when TCU presidential nominee Andrew N???±ez says it, I believe him.
You know, I would really love to see Boston in the snow." Spoken like the true California girl. My mom arrived in balmy Boston last weekend and came to the conclusion that winter was a figment of my imagination. After our endless winter, I did not appreciate that.
With the weather reaching spring-like temperatures, winter is finally over. So, too, is the Boston Celtics' season. It has been a season to forget, but thankfully it's coming to an end tonight. The finale doesn't mean anything for the Celtics, who haven't played meaningful basketball in months. Boston's opponents, the Washington Wizards, are going to the playoffs. The Celtics, for the first time since I was in middle school, aren't. Strangely, I'm okay with this. I haven't cared less about a Celtics team in my life since, well, middle school. I knew the Celtics were going to be terrible this year, and sure enough, they were. I can count the number of games I watched on one hand. I fell off the bandwagon. I was a fan in name only. I can't even say I checked out on this season, because the truth is that I never even bothered to check in. I barely kept up with the team. I just didn't think it was worth investing my time in a bunch of stopgaps and fill-ins, few of whom will still be around when Boston becomes a contender again. Worse, my relationship with the team deteriorated to the point where I was actively rooting for it to fail so it could score a better draft pick. I was pleased when it lost and mildly perturbed when it won. Winning was counterproductive to its strategy - it only hurt the team's lottery odds. Tanking, I soon realized, turns everything upside down. You root for your team to lose, sure, but it goes deeper than that. You want it to trade away established talent at the deadline, rather than acquire more of it to improve the team. You hope it blows its fourth quarter leads and misses its free throws. You hope its rallies fall just short. When a star or key player goes down, you hope his absence is prolonged. You want him to take his time, wait until he's 100 percent healthy and then wait a little longer just to be sure. You hope the coach gives his scrubs more minutes than they deserve. That sounds cynical, I know, but when your team is tanking you want it to do whatever it can to avoid winning. The more losses, the better. But as bad as this year has been, there are still some positive takeaways. Jeff Green had a fine season, and Rajon Rondo returned to form looking no worse for wear after missing most of the first half of the season rehabbing his torn ACL. Avery Bradley improved his shot enough to evolve from a defense-first player to an offensive threat. Twenty-two-year-old power forward Jared Sullinger took a big step forward in his sophomore season and should be a solid big man for years to come. Rookie coach Brad Stevens acquitted himself well, helping his young players grow and mature. Another highlight was how well Boston played at the start of the season - much better than anyone could have possibly expected. They even led the Atlantic Division for a fleeting moment before the bottom fell out. Since mid-December, the Celtics have gone 13-42. They've won three times in the past four weeks, crashing and burning in a spectacular fashion. If at first they seemed unsure of how to go about tanking, they mastered the art of it pretty quickly. But the constant losing takes a toll after a while, and, at this point, I'm just ready to turn the page and start thinking about next season. I want to be a fan again.
On Saturday, the men's track and field team competed in the George Davis Invitational at UMass Lowell, an unscored meet featuring New England schools from all three divisions. The presence of NESCAC teams such as Conn. College, as well as strong Div. I schools like Boston University, meant that the meet was a chance for Tufts to see how it could perform against various levels of competition. The lone first place finish on the day for the Jumbos came from junior Mitchell Stallman in the pole vault. Stallman jumped 13' 1 1/2", tying his personal-best jump and earning the first win of his career. "This was my first time placing first at a college meet, and it caught my coach and me by surprise" Stallman said. "I had just matched my indoor [personal record] of [13' 1 1/2"] and suddenly was the only one left vaulting, which usually doesn't happen at that height." The jump qualified Stallman for both the NESCAC and Div. III Championships, but as expected, he isn't completely satisfied. "It was obviously a good feeling, but I have to keep it in perspective," Stallman said. "We have NESCACs coming up, and the other vaulters [and I] need to be putting up some bigger heights to get the points we need at that meet. In the end, [13' 1/2"] was a good height to hit at this meet, but it's no time to get complacent." Senior David Sutherland finished tied for second in pole vault with a jump of 12' 7 1/2", rounding out an excellent day for the Jumbo vaulters. The Jumbos weren't done posting impressive performance in field events, however. In triple jump, Tufts claimed spots three through seven on the final leaderboard. In a change of pace, All-American senior sprinter Graham Beutler competed in the triple jump and finished third with a jump of 43' 3 1/4", while sophomore Mitchell Black, moonlighting from his day job as a middle distance runner, placed fourth with a jump of 41' 9 1/4". "The other jumpers were extremely helpful and supportive in the input they gave me, helping me fix my form and getting up my confidence" Beutler said. Freshman Jarad Asselin, senior Ned DeLeo, and senior Andrew Osborne finished directly behind Black, with jumps of 41' 1/4", 39 7 3/4", and 39' 6", respectively. "The wind was helpful ... we had a tailwind, which gave a nice boost to the approach on the runway," Beutler said. Junior Brian Williamson had two strong performances for the Jumbos, earning a pair of third-place finishes in throwing events. In the hammer throw, Williamson threw a distance of 161' 4", and in shot-put he finished with a distance of 50'. On the track, the best event for the Jumbos was the 5,000-meter run. Freshman Luke O'Connor finished second with a time of 15:12.75. Directly behind O'Connor in third and fourth places were senior Ben Wallis and freshman Tim Nichols, with times of 15:15.33 and 15:15.66, respectively. Overall, Tufts placed six runners in the top nine in the event. The Jumbos had several successful performances in the sprinting and mid-distance events, with sophomore sprinter Francis Goins finishing second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.3, and senior Jamie Norton running a 1:56.82 in the 800 to take fourth place. The team has one more week before the NESCAC Championship at Colby, so this time of the season is all about training to peak at the right time. "We're focusing in practice, preparing for each day as if it were a competition ... and putting in the repetitions, while also trying to stay healthy," Stallman said. "But, in the end, the work has been done. Our whole team is hitting [its] peak now and after a year of hard work, I'm confident that our team will unleash [its] potential and put on a good show come championship season." The Jumbos will have a chance for a final tune-up before NESCACs this upcoming weekend, when most of the team will compete in the Sean Collier Invitational at MIT on Saturday.
Hey all! I'll be your substitute columnist for the day, and the next week and the week after that - get excited! I have a smattering of interests so our theme here is "things that Nick will rant about." Again, excitement. Today, I'm talking about something that I've wanted to discuss for a while - whatever happened to American foreign policy? It doesn't seem that we have coherent goals anymore (full disclosure: I'm a big fan of grand strategy) and that, I believe, has caused a lot of problems. Like the fad of the moment, we invade countries willy-nilly with very little strategic value. Was the invasion of Somalia worth it? Iraq? Afghanistan? We tried to build up countries that looked very difficult to help - to what end? In an article for Foreign Affairs titled "The Rise and Fall of the Failed-State Paradigm," Michael J. Mazarr describes how our borderline obsession with rebuilding failed states has distracted U.S. foreign policy from our more significant goals. Mazarr points out that there have been many intellectual problems with the Failed State obsession. Blanket assumptions about the connections between terror and failed states, and the assumptions about the feasibility of intervention have allowed the "state building-obsession" to "distort the United States' sense of its central purpose and role in global politics." I tend to agree. When people get all excited about making democracy happen at the tip of an M16 or obsessed with saving lives in a situation that looks untenable, I find myself skeptical. Part of having no grand strategy or strategic narrative means, as far as I see it, a lot of bad, misguided foreign policy decisions - a tendency which isn't helped at all by sensationalist media or rich donors who love the idea of spreading the democracy. What's worse is that distortion of our purpose that Mazarr pointed out. I do agree, as many may point out, that human rights issues across borders are the problems of the future. The increasing popularity of Right (or Responsibility) to Protect (R2P) with the UN crowd since the 1990s underscores this belief that it has become a legitimate and worthy idea to intervene to protect people from their own governments. I'm of the opinion, however, that that future hasn't happened yet. The reports of history's end have been greatly exaggerated, as it seems: just ask Vladimir Putin. State-level rivalries and regional stability remain the names of the game. And though at this point, dear reader, you're probably saying. "Well, no duh," I think it's still an important point to make. Because all those dumb interventions we were making? Into places with little to no strategic value where we've killed tons of people for little gain? We spent a lot of money doing that, and the country has little will to jump into anything else, just in time for the Russians to decide to flex their muscles and conquer old parts of the Soviet sphere (led by a guy who worked for the KGB toward the end of the Cold War - he definitely has scores to settle). This is where the title of the column comes in. The '90s were the last years we had some idea of what our part to play was. Especially under former President George H. W. Bush in his New World Order, our role was to facilitate global stability and continue to end the vagaries of the old world ? like the Persian Gulf War. Because of long, brutal wars and ideological opposition, we've chosen to forgo that role. It makes me miss people who believed in the centrality of America's role. But I think I know some people in Kiev who just might.
I spent a year at a community college. I know - maybe gasps from many of you; maybe indifference from others. There's a real stigma against community colleges, even if you haven't experienced it yourself. Whenever I tell people a story involving a class I took at community college, I find myself explaining the strictness of the class, and how it was considered harder than the one at the local state college (UMass Amherst, if anyone's interested). When I first realized I was going to have to do community college for a year, I was pretty upset. My high school calculus teacher desperately looked around for other options for me, but I couldn't afford regular college classes, and the school wouldn't let me graduate early. She told me it was a shame, because I was better than that. I'm not. That's not how it works. That's never how it works, actually. Sure, a lot of students didn't care. They were there because they thought they needed a college degree, or because all their friends were going, or because it was what their parents expected. But people who don't care tend to cluster together in the easier classes, and don't take the more involved ones. So - surprise, surprise - the hard classes were where the real learning happened. My classes were filled with people who cared deeply about their education, whether they were returning to school or trying to save some money while getting their four-year degree. There were the people who had entered the job market only to find that things were getting increasingly difficult for those without a college diploma. There were those who had taken years and years off to raise kids, only to decide to come back to school and finish that degree. There were those who had messed up in their youth and were now looking for a second chance. They were the students who cared about their education and who worked their butts off to make it count. They turned good classes into great classes, asking questions and prompting lively intellectual discussion. I'm not going to lie, I had a couple classes that could have been a lot better. Classes taught by adjunct faculty members who were underpaid and overworked. Classes filled mostly with students who were just there to get a grade. And one memorable physics class that dropped from over 20 students to eight, despite a great professor. And yet, it was still surprisingly easy to find people who cared - professors who were more than willing to stay late and talk shop, and students who encouraged them to do so. I remember the engineering physics professor stopping by to chat with the engineering club on the way out and the math professors whose doors were always open. We talk a lot about diversity here at Tufts, but we're not really that diverse. Sure, we have a lot of international students - international students who can afford to come here. Tufts is very generous with financial aid, so you do get a fair amount of socio-economic diversity. But we all chose to come here. We all shopped around for schools and then chose Tufts. Many people at community college don't get to choose. They go to the one that's closest to where they live or the one that offers the specific program they need. Obviously, community college isn't for everyone, and that's okay. But the next time you meet someone from a community college, don't make assumptions about them. Because they've probably got a lot more going on than you could ever guess.
In a previous column, I referenced a kind of unique collectivist culture in Spain: Spaniards tend to make their family, their friends and people in general a priority in their lives. In my experience, I have found this culture prevalent in every corner of Spain, from big cities to small pueblos. After having recently traveled to Istanbul, however, I think Spain may have met its rival in terms of collectivist, people-oriented and confrontational culture. Like in Madrid, people in Istanbul have a propensity to be out of their homes. In Spain, there is even a saying that specifically references this phenomenon: "La genteest?? la calle" (translation: the people are in the street). In other countries like the United States, entertaining is often done in the home, but in Istanbul, people are out eating kebabs near Taksim Square, smoking peach-flavored hookah and drinking small glasses of Turkish tea outside and strolling down one of the many bustling streets. At any given hour of the day, you can find a large amount of people walking around outside ... Just make sure to be on look-out for masses of people - otherwise you could end up in a Turkish political demonstration that may or may not contain tear gas. In all, I would call this "fluid collectivism." People are constantly spending time with each other outside - but are also constantly in motion. There is a plethora of street food in Istanbul, from kebabs to baklava to fried clams, and it is possible to have a whole meal just by walking from one food stand to another. The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul are also popular destinations, and at both locations, the many vendors span dozens and dozens of streets. My sneakers were significantly worn down by all of the walking I was doing in Turkey. This fluidity does not really exist in Madrid and throughout Spain. There, one could say, that most of the outside congregating, which is done at outdoor caf?© and restaurants with tapas and sangria, has a more stagnant collectivism. However, these issues really get interesting when people from collectivist cultures immigrate to countries with clearly individualistic one (i.e. if a Spaniard were to immigrate to the United States) - and vice versa (i.e. if a Turkish person were to immigrate to Sweden). While talking to a Turkish man living in Sweden, I asked him what his favorite Swedish food was, and he replied that he always eats at home, never out. There are two explanations for this. First, the cheapest meal you're going to encounter in Sweden is equivalent to roughly $20. Second, he may have already adopted the individualist cultural approach found in Sweden that is such a drastic change from his homeland of Turkey. I don't know if I could definitively say either way that fluid is better than stagnant collectivism, but I do believe the United States and other individualist countries have a thing or two to learn from this mindset. Why not go outside of your house more? Why not create more opportunities for social cohesion? It's all about making these things a priority. Maybe if we had more immigrants from these fluid and stagnant collectivist countries, there would be a bigger influence on American culture. If this were the case, we would perhaps be able to move in a new direction - one that would help us be less aggressive, less competitive and, ultimately, more satisfied with what we have.
This semester's Cause Dinner, held last Tuesday in Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie Dining Halls, raised funds to benefit the Palestinian Association for Children's Encouragement of Sport (PACES).
Upon its inclusion in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, much of the sporting world was aghast. No matter the stakes, it does not appear to require the same mastery of nature or body as do the mainstays of the Olympics; swimming and gymnastics come to mind as foils. And while athletes might be interspersed among the field of competitors, opponents of the decision conceded, the majority is still older, white, and decidedly somniferous.
Near the end of Elm Street, on the very edge of Porter Square, a bright orange and green storefront announces the local Mexican restaurant, Aguacate Verde. The small eatery is instantly inviting - the door remains propped open in mild weather, allowing the sizzling sounds and enticing flavors emanating from the tiny kitchen to greet visitors as they approach. Once inside, the sun-soaked tables, each topped with a bottle of hot sauce, encourage patrons to stay, take a rest and order one - or several - of the restaurant's excellent dishes.
Nothing is better for self-discovery than an Internet quiz. After all, if you don't know what "Full House" (1987-1995) character you are, or which Eminem songs best describe you or which famous butt you should have, do you really know yourself at all? Luckily, some super-genius Internet tycoon realized how much our generation desperately needed to know these things and more, and Buzzfeed was born.
The men's tennis team took on two conference rivals this past week at home, facing off against Conn. College on Thursday and Bowdoin on Saturday.
