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Cole Liberator | Hot Peas and Butter

October 12

It has been a year and a half, but you can finally take out your false teeth, let loose your flowing mullet, and start growing your playoff beard, because hockey has finally returned. As a fan, I have suffered a winter without high-sticking, spearing, cross-checking, fighting, and any other penalty that would land your average 6' 2" 230 pound giant in jail for assault with a deadly weapon. However, my love for this glorious sport extends far beyond bloodlust. The game is back and better than ever, even though teams like the Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers still exist. The rule changes implemented are designed to bring us hockey with scoring that mirrors the live ball era of baseball. Best of all you can still catch the Canadian with the best mullet since Dave Coulier, hockey guru Barry Melrose, on NHL Live. In the eyes of the esteemed Mr. Melrose, the new rule changes are the most exciting thing about the return of the NHL. For those of you who generally don't pick up the season until the playoffs, I will let you in on what to expect come late April. The most obvious change is the rink itself; the net has been moved back and the blue lines have been placed further into the neutral zone. This means that the area in front of the net is larger, allowing bigger players like Joe Thornton and the infamous Todd Bertuzzi to wreak havoc. The elimination of all of the hooking and holding will not only help the big guys, but also the smaller speedy players. Guys like Martin St. Louis will be able to gain a full head of steam through the neutral zone, leaving the bigger defenders flatfooted and wondering who let the little kiddies run wild. The center line has also been eliminated. At first this might not make sense, because if you are lucky enough to catch a game on NESN or the OLN you know that the line is a lot realer than the first down stripe in football. The loss of the center line means that the rule against two line passes is no longer enforced. This will let defenders pass the puck from their net all the way down to a streaking player who has snuck behind the defense for a breakaway. Those aren't the only breakaways the NHL have worked into the game, as it has gone the way of the MLS and decided to end overtimes in a shootout. This is exciting and tragic at the same time. Gone are the dissatisfying ties of the regular season, but also the unbelievably intense triple and quadruple overtime thrillers that the playoffs annually produce. If the goalies seem a little different it is because they are restricted to the area behind their net and are required to wear smaller pads. The NHL is hoping that all of these changes will give hockey the shot in the arm that it so desperately needs. While the game is new and improved, the best part of the return of this storied league is the arrival of the next big thing, Sidney Crosby. Well, in all fairness he's not exactly that big at just 5' 11". Barely 18 years old, this youngster decided to forgo college to take the NHL by storm. For many of us this season marks a culmination of three years of waiting that seems eerily similar to the arrival of basketball prodigy LeBron James. Sadly, for those of us who prefer it on ice, Crosby's Canadian Junior League games were not televised like those of King James's St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. Like James, Crosby has an uncanny knowledge of the game for a teenager. At Crosby's size, his vision on the ice strikes up images of the last great one to come out of Canada, and no, this time I'm not talking about Barry Melrose. Not only has the next great one arrived on the ice, but the original great one has returned to the bench as the Phoenix Coyotes head man. Many have questioned whether or not Wayne Gretzky's soft spoken demeanor will translate into success. Doubts about whether he can lead a team and teach both the skills and intangibles that elevated his own game will persist until he starts winning. And that seems a tall task as Gretzky has taken the helm of one of the many stumbling franchises in a climate unfit for frozen sports. The problem in Phoenix is a microcosm of the epidemic that is the NHL's greatest headache. While hockey has made some impressive changes to the game during the stoppage, it still has yet to address the ridiculous expansion of franchises into the Sun Belt. I mean, what does a community that hasn't seen a snowstorm since the ice age know about hockey? Teams like Nashville and Atlanta have a worse fan base than the ABC fall lineup. Because of the salary cap, marquee players like Paul Kariya are forced to take smaller wages and waste their talents in venues that will never sell out. While we are on the subject of selling out, don't shed a tear for Paul Kariya just yet. I think his residuals from his Mighty Ducks III cameo will take care of him while those embarrassing losses pile up in Nashville. The trend of relocation started when great northern franchises like the Hartford Whalers, Minnesota North Stars, and Winnipeg Jets were all forced to head south for bigger markets, better arenas, and terrible fans. The NHL missed a golden opportunity to consolidate the league and bring hockey back to where it was once profitable, in Canada and the Northern United States. The league got it right with one expansion team in the Wild, but unfortunately for Whaler fans the puck won't be dropping in the Hartford Civic Center any time soon, which is a shame. The latest league slogan is "thank you fans," but if the league truly wants to make it up to this fan and many others in the New England area, they will force Peter Karmanos to move the Hurricanes back to Hartford so we can hear the brass bonanza one more time.

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News

Weekender | Jillian Harrison | Travelling Lush

October 12

I hate tequila. But we'll deal with that later. This story starts with tacos. Once upon a Thursday night, during a particularly dismal performance on the Beirut table by the Lush, a terrible craving struck. The Lush's entire group of friends was seized by an unshakable desire for tacos - half beef, half chicken if possible. No one knows why, no one knows how, but the craving just would not go away. The sacred Friday Night Taco Night was born. We awoke the next day in our respective rooms, in various stages of morning-after pain. Some were dehydrated, some were queasy, some vowed to never drink again, but all had tacos on the brain. Throughout our various Friday schedules, whether heavy or light, attended or blatantly skipped, we were consumed by thoughts of consuming tacos. But we had to wait; Game 3 was on. These tacos would be celebratory, we told ourselves, for tonight the Red Sox would turn the tables and show those White Sox what the 2004 World Champions could do. But we all know how THAT turned out ... So we set out, with the world a little sadder, the air a little colder. It was tacos that drove us to Rudy's that night, but it was baseball that drove us to the bottle. Luckily for the Lush, Rudy's, located in Teele Square, is one part delicious Mexican restaurant, one part drown-your-sorrows (and your liver) tequila bar. We arrived, our hearts still heavy, our party having grown to the obnoxiously large (for seating purposes) number of eight, and, therefore, were forced to wait for a table. Thirty to forty minutes? Eternity when you want those tacos. What could possibly comfort us now? Our team had lost. Our tacos seemed out of reach. There was only one thing to do. We had to drink ... a lot. A silent pact was made, to get wasted and to do so with gusto. The Lush was criticized early on for being too slow with the drink order, but in my defense, what was I to do with the 20 varieties of margaritas? I wasn't even touching the 37 varieties of tequila boasted by the extensive bar menu. Upon the suggestion of my neighbors, Rudy's veterans that they are, I settled upon Ol' Blue - tequila, lime juice and blue curacao - one (or three) of which is a certain cure for the no-taco blues (get it, blues?). My roommate tried the Calientes Margarita, which yours truly unwittingly sampled, not realizing that it had jalapeno juices in the mix. I have been called the whitest person alive on more than one occasion, and let's just say, it took an entire Ol' Blue just to heal my poor, bland cuisine-loving tongue. By the time we were seated, we were all three margaritas in and definitely in full-on obnoxious drunk mode. Call me crazy, but I got a feeling the waiter was used to tequila-induced stupidity. He patiently and accurately took all of our orders, even though half of them were shouted at him rapid-fire by my neighbor Ken, who revealed a hidden, savant-like ability to memorize girls' taco orders and confuse the waiter by ordering them all at once. The server gets high marks for being quick with not only the food orders, but more importantly, with the margaritas. The food was excellent, no surprise there, but two things most enhanced the Lush's dining experience. The first was realizing that half of the table had blue tongues (three or more Ol' Blues will have that effect), which we may or may not have taken to sticking out at passersby on their way to use the bathrooms. The second was discovering that the menu included a margarita entitled the Horny Toad, made with Hornitas tequila, and which a particularly giggly member of my group found hilarious - "because it says horny!" - and spent the rest of the meal trying to convince someone to order it. But we never got that far with the Horny Toad, because dessert happened. First of all, let it be known that the Lush cannot have a typical dessert. The Lush requires something special ... cake? Fried ice cream? Tequila. I wasn't lying, I really do hate tequila. But peer pressure is a nasty mistress and Rudy's is what one might call an enabler. The menu offers a large selection of tequila "flights." A tequila flight is a sampling of three tequilas, one Blanco, or "white," one Reposada, or "Rested," and one Anejo, or "aged." In theory, the flight consists of two ounces in total and is meant to be sipped, enjoyed, appreciated and otherwise savored by the tequila connoisseur. Yeah right. Giving in to the pressure of my seven drunk companions, I asked the waiter to bring me his finest and cheapest flight. Our tequila-expert-in-residence admonished the Lush not to order by price, but as we recall from last week's column, the Lush is cheap, and for a mere $11.95, I procured a flight of Herradura (which is decent as tequilas go, apparently). Finding that the menu underestimated the amount of tequila served in a flight and faced with three full shots, I was daunted. I have a confession to make: I was a coward. I gave one of my shots away, the "rested" tequila if memory serves (which it may not). And I tried to sip, I swear I tried, but I had to just down them. Like I said, I hate tequila. It should be noted that the MVP award goes to my neighbor Josh for sharing his Key Lime Pie. It was a better chaser than you could possibly imagine. As the flights were finished - both Josh and Ken deserve honors for finishing theirs without help - the check arrived. We were a little torn. You see, our food cost exactly 37 cents more than our alcohol. We didn't know if we should be proud that the plate conquered the bottle, much like the White Sox conquered my beloved Red Sox only hours before. The Lush, for one, was ashamed. But then, we realized that we had already paid our bar tab before we sat down to eat. Our alcohol bill had trounced our food bill. It was the proudest moment of our night. We staggered the three blocks home, standing tall. The world was right again.Jillian Harrison is double majoring in history and archeology. She can be reached via e-mail at Jillian.Harrison@tufts.edu, just not on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Tuesday nights.

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News

Volleyball | Despite poor play, Jumbos shut out Camels for the fifth straight season

October 12

Former co-captain and 2005 graduate Emily Macy returned to Cousens Gym Tuesday night - as an assistant coach for Connecticut College. Other than that, the volleyball team proved that it was business as usual between the two teams as it defeated the Camels 3-0 for the fifth straight year. Even though the Jumbos made several errors on their side of the net and faced a much-improved Connecticut team, the team was able to come from behind in the third game to win the match without dropping a game. "We didn't play all that well together as a team," junior Dana Fleisher admitted. "But in the end we were able to take care of business." After two nearly identical games in which the Jumbos jumped out to a sizable lead and then let the Camels creep back before closing out the victory, the Jumbos allowed three straight Connecticut points to cough up the lead in game three. With her team trailing 26-24, coach Cora Thompson, upset with the team's string of errors, called a timeout in frustration. "I was just disappointed in our play," Thompson said. "We were starting to flail around out there, playing out of our system. I just wanted them to relax and take care of our side of the net." Connecticut had scored eight of its last nine points on Tufts unforced errors and appeared to be on its way to taking its first game from Tufts since 2000. "The good news when you're giving away eight of their last nine points is you're controlling the game," Thompson said. "So, I just made them aware that they were controlling their own loss." The team responded to Thompson's talk by scoring three consecutive points to retake the lead. Then, after a Harrison service error and a ball that skidded across the net before landing at freshman Caitlin Dealy's feet, the Jumbos rebounded to score three straight points to close out the match. According to Thompson, the key to the Jumbo comeback was a focus on the fundamentals. "[During the timeout], I told them to play basic volleyball," the coach said. "We were flailing and doing things too fancily. I just told them to play basic volleyball." In a game as close as that one, the Jumbos had no room to get cute. The game was tight from start to finish as neither team took a lead greater than two points in the entire game. That was a change from the first and second games in which both teams were able to make big runs. In the first game, the Jumbos jumped out to a 13-6 lead that they would extend to 23-14 on a Harrison kill. A pair of service errors by sophomore Katie Wysham and Harrison allowed the Camels to close the gap to 26-21. Fleisher was able to bail the team out with a well-placed lob to the back corner, a block and then a hard spike, all in the span of four plays, to allow the Jumbos to win the match 30-23. "Dana is a great passer and certainly a strong hitter," Thompson said. "I thought she did a great job finding the holes tonight. She did a fantastic job listening to her teammates out there. She also had some good serves." Fleisher had 16 kills, three aces and 12 digs in the match. After playing in just eight games in the Jumbos' first 10 matches, Fleisher has come on to play a big role lately. She has played in 21 of the Jumbos' 34 games since the second day of the MIT Invitational. "It helps just to play more and get more comfortable on the court and playing with the team," Fleisher said. "I guess it's easier to mesh with the team." Fleisher played a big role in the second game of the match as well. Once again, the Jumbos were able to sprint out to a big lead in the second game, capturing an 18-9 lead in the match. When a Harrison tap made it 24-16 Jumbos, the game appeared to be in control. A service error by senior co-captain Courtney Evans opened the gates, however, for a 6-1 Camel run that cut the lead to 25-22. The team committed seven service errors in the match, including a pair each by Evans, Harrison and Wysham. The mistakes did not prove too costly, however, as the Jumbos collected themselves and went on to win the match 30-22, with two Fleisher spikes closing the case. Harrison led the Tufts attack with 17 kills and freshman setter Katilin O'Reilly continued her strong play with a 3-game, 47-assist performance. "We definitely weren't playing our best, but they definitely have gotten some good freshmen and have gotten a lot better than last year," Fleisher said of an improved Camels team who is 13-7, 4-3 in the NESCAC and has recorded a victory over Williams. The Jumbos, who moved into a tie with Middlebury for second place in the NESCAC with the win, will play at Wheaton tonight before continuing their NESCAC season at home with matches against Amherst and Middlebury on Homecoming weekend.

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News

Racial caricatures perpetuate stereotypes

October 12

On Tuesday, September 27, on my way to class, a flyer caught my eye and brought me to an immediate halt. The International Club was hosting a bake sale. What stopped me was not the words "Bake Sale" or "Hungry?" but rather, the image chosen to promote this event: a stereotypical caricature of a chubby, slit-eyed Asian child smiling dumbly while eating watermelon. This image made me so mad I ripped it down, went to class, and then spent the rest of the day tracking down various community and administrative leaders to explain my anger. While many see this caricature as a harmless drawing of a kid eating delicious watermelon, others, like me, are reminded of an entire history of cartoons circulated and published as intentional tools of racism. The I-Club immediately responded with an apology and a side note ensuring the designer's harmless nature. Although I do appreciate the I-Club's immediate acknowledgement of this wrongdoing and supportive willingness to increase campus education and awareness of these issues, the harm is done: Unintentional racism is still the perpetuation of oppression. These images mock and degrade Asians as strange creatures. Rather than highlighting the richness of the cultures that I-Club seeks to represent, this image demotes the essence of being "Asian" to the mere possession of squinty eyes and buck teeth. These types of images evoke a history of stereotypical portrayal of Asian Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries as caricatures of Chinese "coolies," who were laborers indentured by Westerners in the Americas during the 19th Century. These depictions were used to subject and belittle Asian immigrants, assuring that social mobility was not possible; as stated before, these images maintain an image of Asians as "foreign looking." They have also been used to lessen the masculine appeal of Asian men by portraying them as cartoon-like and "funny" (as a means of preventing intermarriages between white women and Asian men). In the past, such caricatures have been protested against by national coalitions of Asian Americans, i.e. the Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt campaign in 2004. To add insult to injury, the "Bake Sale" flyer creator found the image in Microsoft Word's clip-art database, showcasing an even larger problem: the ignorance and power embedded within such corporations and institutions. This is not an isolated incident; contemporary pop-culture allows this type of racism to continually offend and dis-empower many minorities. Other racially derogatory images include the black "Mammy" figure embodied by Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. And, of course the image of Native American's portrayed in the ever-popular, Washington Redskins icon. Native Americans have been fighting to remove caricatures from team mascots for years. These images are all offensive and derogatory. Yet they remain in mainstream American culture as a way of marketing a product, getting a sale. They are a reminder of a history of unforgivable racism towards people of color that, unfortunately, clearly persists today. I am dismayed to find such discrimination-perpetuating images being promoted on our own campus, and by members of the Asian community, no less. It is important to recognize that such images are harmful to Asians and Asian Americans, portraying them as alien and unworthy of respect. I am hopeful that the result of this incident will be increased education and understanding between all of our communities on campus, which can prevent such an incident from occurring again. The Bias Intervention Team along with the Asian Community at Tufts and the International Club are sponsoring a discussion that examines questions dealing with the effects this could have on international Asian students, the role of international students in preventing racism in America, the impacts of these images on campus, and also, the harmful impacts of mainstream advertising images that we are all exposed to daily.Kimberly Sue is a senior who is majoring in American Studies.

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News

Men's Tennis | After two tournaments, fall season ends for men's tennis

October 12

The men's tennis team's fall season came to an end this past weekend with mixed results in the Wallach Invitational at Bates College. Sophomore Sean McCooey and the doubles team of junior Corey Keller and senior Paul Roberts advanced to the finals of their respective brackets, and freshman Vin Tran and junior Geof Loh made it to the round of four before being ousted. In the A bracket, Bates senior Will Boe-Wiegaard trumped everyone, including a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Tufts sophomore Will Fleder in the round of eight. Fleder had eked out close wins in the first two rounds, taking each match to a third set super-tiebreaker. Senior tri-captain Paul Roberts was knocked out in the first round of A singles by Colby sophomore Zach Schuman (6-4, 6-1). Tufts had two representatives in the tournament's B bracket. Senior tri-captain Jon Rubenstein beat Bates first-year Mike Sherman (6-3, 6-4) before falling to Amherst sophomore Tal Avrahami in a close second-round match (7-5, 7-5). McCooey's path to the finals included a 6-4, 6-2 win over Bowdoin's Alex White and a tight 6-3, 1-6, (10-7) edge of Amherst Zack Lerner. After taking the first set in the finals 6-4, McCooey fell to Bates senior captain Ben Crane. In the C draw, Tran notched easy 6-2, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-1 wins to earn a spot in the quarterfinals, where he was bested by Amherst sophomore Austin Moller (7-6 (4), 6-4). In the other half of the bracket, Loh also advanced to the round of eight before losing to Colby Junior Tom Gildersleeve (6-1,6-3). The Jumbos' doubles teams were eliminated from the doubles A and B brackets by Amherst's two pairs. In the first round, Moller and senior Josh Rilla defeated Fleder and Rubenstein 8-4. In the B bracket, Tran and junior Craig Kunkes fell to Amherst's Avrahami and sophomore Jeff Wan 8-5. With the fall season behind them, the Jumbos cast their eyes on the spring, when they will play the majority of their matches. The short first-semester season is more educational than it is competitive, as these past two tournaments have been used to examine the players and try out different doubles combinations. "This event becomes useful for testing out things and scouting appointments," coach Doug Eng said of the Wallach Invitational. Until match play resumes, the Jumbos will be spending the winter staying in shape and practicing within a new training regimen. In his first season as head coach after serving as assistant coach under Jim Watson, Eng will be implementing some changes in the team's practice agenda. The team will now train in themes, focusing on certain aspects of the game each session. "Practices are a lot more drill-orientated and Doug has incorporated a lot of new strategies into our game," Roberts said. "Doug has done a great job organizing the team and getting us ready for the season," Rubenstein said. "As a sport scientist, I will also try to generally stay ahead of the crowd," Eng said. "So if something comes out, we will be the first to try it out." With its season split between semesters, the team will be spending a lot of time together. As the fall season has progressed, the team has become a lot closer, meeting for team dinners at least once a week. "Team chemistry gets better each day," Roberts said. "We all really get along and the younger players have good role models to look up to." Coach Eng is confident that, with practice, the Jumbos will be competitors in the NESCAC. As the team practices its conditioning and strategies, it will continue to grow as a unit and hopefully make a bid for the league title. "We have talent, but often it is the smarter team with more desire to win and capacity to work that produces the 'W'," Eng said.

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News

Weekender Feature | Sage Francis

October 12

At a time when rappers tend to be misogynistic, hedonistic, materialistic and stupid, Sage Francis is, in his own words, "different, in a different way." The 27-year-old battle rapper/slam poet/emcee defies nearly every expectation of artists of his ilk, relentlessly carving his private cranny in the genre and, in the process, personally redefining hip-hop music. Hiling not from one of America's despairing inner cities but from Providence, Rhode Island, Paul Francis did not grow up like your average rapper. "I come from a really proper family, a really Puritanical one even," he said. "We were very respectful. I still don't swear in front of my mom." Francis' background equips him to shun the I-have-a-bigger-gun-than-you lyricism of modern rap music, and instead craft some of the most heart-wrenching, caustically critical and unflinchingly personal rhymes in the genre. On 2002's "Personal Journals," Francis spits about tattooing and self-mutilation ("Inherited Scars"), orphans ("Runaways"), and other weighty subjects, and does so in about a dozen different styles. "Any Port," from 2003's "Non-Prophets" collaboration with producer Joe Beats, follows a standard verse-chorus-verse structure. On the other hand, the phenomenal "Smoke and Mirrors" from "Journals" showcases the former freestyle champion's dexterous wordplay in a sprawling, unfettered harangue of desperately hollow women. "I'm so synthetic / I like the smell of coke, get it? / I powder my nose / power to hoes who pound on a hose / while playing in a pound of snow," he sarcastically flows. Not only does Francis rhyme in an assortment of styles, but his delivery further reflects his theme of variety and dissimilarity. Pulling from his background as a spoken-word artist and slam poet, Francis shifts volume and tempo ("changes up" in his own words) from verse to verse, even line to line, frantically. On "Time of my Life" from "Still SickUrine Trouble," the second installment in his series of tour-only oddity compilations, Francis seamlessly cycles a speaking voice, a conventional rapping cadence, and a spastic, Protean bark, manically crescendoing and diminishing throughout. Background This flow wayward, unconventional and unpredictable, mirrors the rapper's career thus far. He began rapping at age eight. By 14, he was performing and battling Providence-area emcees. At 18, he released his first official demo tape, and at 19, he released a 12" with producer Joe Beats, the precursor to the "Non-Prophets" LP. A 21, Francis won the Superbowl MC Battle and the Scribble Jam freestyle title, the Nobel Prize of underground hip-hop. After accumulating such cred, Francis hit the road, and in true DIY style, managed his own tour, selling copies of his "Sick of Waiting..." compilation series along the way. After slaving away by himself to propagate his commercially untouchable brand of music, Francis finally released "Personal Journals" in 2002 with arty Oakland label Anticon. When Ludacris was in his shallow, self-aggrandizing prime, Sage Francis reached into his own chest, tore out his heart, and spiked in on a piece of paper, and people loved it. "When that album came out, it just outsold everyone's expectations. It was just crazy," Francis says. The album is, in part, a backpacker's delight, featuring production from indie hip-hop nobility like Sixtoo and snippets of Francis's spoken-word performances that won him emcee titles and Internet fans. The true success of "Journals," how-ever, lay in its widespread appeal. Francis' intimate, confessional songwriting allowed the album to transcend the exclusive circles of white kids with headphones and wristbands, and appeal to a broader audience. "[Listeners], I guess, identify with it. They've been through their own shit and they have their own appreciation for people who are able to express those things that they are not getting anywhere else." Switching labels The next year, Francis and Joe Beats resurrected their Non-Prophets project to release 2003's "Hope" on flyweight English label Lex Records. In the same year that 50 Cent was dying to get rich, Francis parted with Anticon, the label that had moved more copies of his album than he could have imagined. Purely, Francis said, "for s-ts and giggles. I was just curious as to what [Lex] would do with an album." Though the fledgling label proved unable to distribute the record -"It was the worst business decision I've ever made," said Francis - those who found a copy heard a slight distancing from "Journals." Eschewing the short, chorus-less songs, intermittent live clips, and general eccentricity of his debut, "Hope" harkens back to the hip-hop of yesteryear. Joe's beats are sample-fed, snare-heavy, and synth-laden, and Francis' vocals are simpler and lighter, evoking nostalgia for A Tribe Called Quest and the Beastie Boys. But even in a concept album centered on fidelity to the past, Francis managed to incorporate the acrimonious vitriol and throbbing emotion upon which he built his name, while still staying in character. He both lambastes modern hip-hop ("Das EFX rocked that Band-Aid ten years before Nelly did!" he shouts on "Mainstream 307") and struggles to define life over Beat's wailing trumpets on the disarming "The Cure." Exposing his music to the masses This year, he played music label chairs again, winding up this time at San Francisco-based punk label Epitaph. "They get a lot done, and they're independent still," Francis said of his new label. "They support me and my music and my career and that's all I care about. And the fact that they are able to put out my album to more people... is really important to me." The album he is referring to is 2005's "A Healthy Distrust," his Epitaph debut. If "Hope" is Francis reminiscing about the past, "Distrust" is him ruminating on the future. While the subject matter (male machismo, organized religion, modern music) sits comfortably next to Francis' previous work, the beats are robotic, dense and almost totally inorganic, suggesting that he's heading in a more experimental direction. "Jah Didn't Kill Johnny," for example, is a complete departure for Francis, both musically and lyrically. With no production, long-time friend Tom Inhaler lazily strums an acoustic guitar while Francis ironically rambles "Holler at ya boy," and it sounds so bad that you can only assume it's an avant-garde rapper trick. Still, when Francis connects on "Distrust," it is stunning. His delivery has cleaned up significantly, and tracks like the labyrinthine "Escape Artist" rank among the finest of his career. Upon the release of "Distrust," devoted fans wondered if Francis' new progressive direction would come at the detriment of his roots. Would the adroit wordsmith and electrifying performer forsake his showman's past? Would Francis' thrilling live shows, perfected by over a decade on the stage, take a backseat to some weird kind of ultramodern experimentation? Absolutely not. On Oct. 6, Sage Francis brought The Roxy faithful to their collective knees with a truly remarkable performance and summarily dismissed fears that the performer of old was no more. God of the Stage and Microphone Prophet In the interview, Paul Francis seemed a bit unnerved. His leg was convulsing, he struggled to make eye contact, and he seemed generally nervous and uncomfortable. All that changed when the show began. The house music started and he immediately became Sage Francis, God of The Stage and Microphone Prophet. On songs like "Inherited Scars" and "Escape Artist," every stinging syllable was somehow crisp and totally audible. Watching him switch from Indy Car-flow to unchained, saliva-showering spit is even more impressive than hearing it on the album. Technically speaking, Francis' lifetime of practice serves him excellently in a live setting, but where his experience is best applied is in the more subtle aspects of performance. He has a gift for igniting and then controlling a crowd. His vehement rhythmic gesticulations during songs are enthralling, but never exhaust the audience or seem unnatural. Between songs, he kept the crowd stoked with whispered death threats for the Commander-in-Chief, jaw-dropping spoken-word vignettes, and heads and heads of broccoli inexplicably hurled into the throng. He immediately ensnared the crowd and, except for a few exceptions (the dreadful "Sea Lion"), held them for two hours. Over the years, Francis has also learned how to perform to both first-time audience members and groupies. The indie kid with the trucker hat standing next to me, for whom Oct. 6 was his seventh Francis show, and I, for whom it was the first, were equally surprised and delighted when he grafted the vocals to "Time of My Life" over "Product Placement," and when he performed a diss rap to Jay-Z over "99 Problems" ("I like 99 rappers, but Jay-Z ain't one"), something so taboo in the hip-hop world it's akin to incest. But Sage Francis is different: different from other poets, different from other rappers, different from his stage persona. He adheres to precious few of hip-hop's rules, and it's a very good thing. If he bucks enough of hip-hop's conventions about lyrical content, performance, career trajectory, personality, and pretty much everything else, he just might pry the future of the fallen genre from the hands of those beneath him and ultimately save it.

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News

Weekender Interview | Cameron Crowe

October 12

Writer/director Cameron Crowe defies simple categorizing. Go ahead and try to find a common theme between "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982), "Jerry Maguire" (1996), and "Almost Famous" (2000). The only unifying theme, in fact, seems to be the quality of filmmaking. Probably best known for "Jerry Maguire," "Almost Famous" cemented Crowe's status as one of Hollywood's most interesting and renowned directors. "Elizabethtown," a homecoming story (appropriate for Tufts, no?) about a young man (Orlando Bloom) who falls in love with a stewardess (Kirsten Dunst), opens Friday. Earlier this week, the Daily talked to Crowe about the upcoming film, his career and Cameron Diaz.Question: Your love and deep appreciation for music is apparent in all your films, but you gave up a career as a rock journalist in favor of screen writing and directing. Given this, how do you view music in film? Cameron Crowe: I just have to say that loving music is constantly surprising and viable to me as kind of a background for making movies because when you can match the right piece of music with the right piece of film, both get stronger. You also don't want to overuse or lean on music too much. It is a finicky kind of relationship that music and film have. But like some people that went to film school or grew up learning editing as a background, I sort of grew up loving music, and used it as I entered film making. Music in "Elizabethtown" sort of serves as the voice of the deceased father, particularly the Elton John song "My Father's Gun." So there are many gifts that music can give to a film. Q: In the film, Claire [Kirsten Dunst], when she meets Drew [Orlando Bloom] on the plane, she is speaking about what she believes names mean - the name Ben is predictable and that she has never met an Ellen she liked. What would you say about your name? What would you say that a Cameron would be described as? CC: Hopefully somebody that... I don't know. The only other Cameron that I really met is Cameron Diaz. She seemed really different from me... [Laughter] Q: What inspires you to do the movies you do and were there any personal experiences that you put into your film - besides "Almost Famous," obviously? CC: Yes. I mean this movie, "Elizabethtown," is a tribute to my dad. It is somewhat of a love letter to his home state, Kentucky, and that came from personal experience in knowing how much that was a part of our family heritage. Lloyd Dobler in [1989's] "Say Anything" is a completely fictional character. I think I grew up having girlfriends that I could be really honest with and they would be honest with me, but that is sort of a fictional character, whereas William Miller in "Almost Famous" is pretty close to my own experience. So it changes, but generally the stuff that comes from your heart is the stuff that other people find most universally true for them too, I am happy to say. Q: "Jerry McGuire" and "Almost Famous," are centered around young men who overcome odds of being too sensitive for the world in which they live. Eventually they use their exceptional characteristics for their own strength. CC: Not the next one. [Laughter] Q: How does this film fit into that idea? CC: I look at it more as a revisit to a character that is trying to be a warrior for optimism in a sometimes brutal and often cynical world. I just think that is a hero now, particularly now because it is often pretty dark out there. But life is about embracing both sides and pushing through to be a warrior for that. Q: People are trying to compare "Garden State" with "Elizabethtown." How do you feel about that? CC: I think the world is big enough for two movies about loss and a journey back home for a funeral. Especially two movies as different as these. I later met [Garden State's director] Zach Braff and had a great talk with him. He thought the same thing - the movies are really different. He is a great guy. He said, "You know, you should use the Shins in your movie." I was like no, I think you got the copyright on the Shins. [Laughter] Though I have been playing the Shins on the set of "Elizabethtown." That was the biggest similarity I saw, that we both like the Shins - but that's his territory now. The thing about Zach's movie and our movie is I know they are not easy to get made. It is much easier to make a heist movie or a slasher movie. Those are easier to sell and market and all that stuff. You really have to fight to make a movie like "Elizabethtown." Once you get a chance to make it, then it is about making it right and casting it right and getting all the details right. Then it becomes really fun. Q: Your dialogue is amazing. You said you were always entranced by people talking. So is that where you draw a lot of your inspiration, from your own conversions? Or from conversations you wish you had? CC: Really conversations I wish I had. Or sometimes you hear things in life. I mean remember as early as 1982 when I was researching Fast Times [at Ridgemont High], I overheard this conversation where the girl said to her boyfriend, "I don't want to use sex as a tool." I just thought that was so funny and I built a whole scene in the book around it and then it ended up in the movie too. I thought it cannot be real life - the way people really talk is often as poetic or more poetic than the things that you make up. So that is being a fan of real life, kind of what influences that. Keep a notebook, you know? It is so good to just write things down as you overhear them or you might hear yourself say something and go, "Wow, I just said that. That might be good for the scene I want to write."

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Volleyball Feature | Past Jumbo faces off against present Jumbos

October 12

Former volleyball co-captain and 2005 Tufts graduate Emily Macy made her first trip back to Cousens Gymnasium on Tuesday night since receiving her diploma in May. But she found herself in some unfamiliar territory as she made her way into the gym: on the opposing bench. "It was really weird at first, walking into the gym again, especially as an opponent," Macy said. "But it was very exciting to see all of my former teammates and to see how the program is continuing its success and driving to be one of the top teams in the country." "It was very weird seeing her walk into the gym wearing Camel colors," Coach Cora Thompson, who coached Macy for four years at Tufts, said. "But once the game started we all got down to business." The former co-captain is now a graduate assistant coach at NESCAC rival Connecticut College, splitting her time as a post-baccalaureate student at the school and coaching volleyball. "It was a little weird to see her on the other side of the net because it's such a different role," junior Dana Fleisher said. "I'm just so used to playing with her on the same side of the court, but it was fun to play against her because she's so competitive. It was like a little rivalry." The fans certainly had a good time heckling the former Jumbo. Several of her friends, both graduates and current students, were in attendance, giving Coach Macy a hard time on the opposing bench, to which she couldn't help but crack an occasional smile. "The fans definitely succeeded in making her pretty uncomfortable," Fleisher said. The Jumbos had a little fun with their former star as well. The squad taped Macy's jersey No. 7 on the back of all of their warm-up jerseys and "retired" the jerseys of its two other 2005 graduates, but not Macy's. In more serious pregame introductions, however, the announcer took special note to introduce the assistant coach as "2005 Tufts graduate and former volleyball senior co-captain Emily Macy," almost bringing her to tears as the crowd erupted into applause. The Jumbos were already pumped up for the match because Connecticut College is a NESCAC opponent, but having Macy on the other side of the net certainly gave them an extra push to get the win. "She's so competitive so we knew she would want to beat us really badly," Fleisher said. "It just made us want to win more." After the game, the two teams lined up at the net and the Tufts players got to salute their former teammate. "They all slapped hands with me and said, 'Good game, coach,'" Macy said. "They know that I hate being called 'coach.'" "I congratulated her at the end of the game for her hard work," Thompson added. "Connecticut College has drastically improved defensively because of Emily, and I can really see that she's putting her all into that team and making a big difference." Macy, whose contract with the college expires in May of next year, splits her coaching time between helping to run practice and recruiting players. "I'm really happy doing this right now," Macy said. "But I'm also very glad it's only for a year. I certainly don't want to coach forever, so I'm kind of getting it out of my system now." "We have to remember that this is the first fall in 18 years that she's not [playing] on the volleyball court," Thompson said. "She's always used to motivating her teammates with her hustle on the court, so it has to be hard for her to not be playing but motivating with her words from the sideline."

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The Secret Life of ... a rock hot-spot insider

October 12

Some Tufts students work at The Rez, some at Dewick and others at Cousen's - and then there's senior David Buivid, who works at the incredibly popular Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub in Central Square. "It's the best job for a student," Buivid said. "The place is totally warm - everyone is so friendly." Buivid started at the Middle East three years ago as an intern and the youngest employee at the club. "I loved it so much, I never left," he said. Now Buivid waits tables, works the box office and checks IDs at the door. He also does promotion for the club and works on hospitality, which involves setting up the dressing room and taking care of the performers. His love for the club, Buivid says, stems from the fact it is "not like an Avalon," a large, corporate-owned club downtown, but instead a homey, family place. The Middle East is run by two MIT alumni brothers. It started as a Lebanese restaurant, but now includes three additional performance spaces. It is one of Boston's most successful and prominent rock clubs, regularly featuring up-and-coming talent along with big-name acts. "Everyone who works there looks like a rock star," Buivid said. "The people who are staples all hang out. I love everyone there." The Middle East has three rooms in use on a typical night. "In one room there might be belly dancing, in another a rock show and in another some hip-hop," Buivid said. Buivid waits tables three to four times a week, with shifts starting at 5 p.m. and lasting until 1 or 2 a.m. He spends Saturdays working at the box office. Although his schedule is busy, he can usually be found at the Middle East outside of his work hours, promoting new talent or enjoying the live bands. "I love live music," Buivid said. "If I could play it, I would - but I can't." A native of Weston, Connecticut, Buivid knew music would be a big part of his life from an early age. "I feel lucky to have found my passion so early on," he said. "I just always knew I wanted to be involved in music." Buivid now books his own talent, often at the Middle East. He even started his own small-scale record label, Endless Recordings. Since a young record label is not the most profitable side project, Buivid survives by "taking advantage of all the free stuff I can." Drinks, food, and shows are all free for Buivid at the Middle East. "I don't make a lot of money, but my satisfaction is enormously high," Buivid said. "The tradeoff is definitely worth it to me." Working at a rock club and signing bands to his burgeoning record label consume a lot of Buivid's time, but his student status remains important. "School is my priority," Buivid said. "Everyone at work understands that." An economics major, Buivid is able to balance his Tufts life with his music life, even though he has taken 5.5 credits his first six semesters. "When I'm in class, I reinterpret graphs to things I can relate to," he said. "I see supply and demand curves through album sales." The balance of music and school is not exactly equal for Buivid. "School is really important to me, don't get me wrong, but music is my passion and it just kind of takes over," he said. Dedicated to keeping up with the ever-changing music industry, Buivid took a week off from school recently to attend a music conference in New York City. "I wouldn't say my music life really conflicts with my Tufts life," he said. "When I do see [my friends], we do things." Every Friday night, Buivid meets his best friend at the club for drinks and dinner, and his girlfriend often comes to shows with him. "I don't regret anything," Buivid said. "I don't wish I had more time at either place. It's perfect." When asked about the future, Buivid is sure he will wind up in the music industry. He wants to focus on the industry's creative aspects, such as promoting or advertising. "I want to work for a major label, and I want to work for emerging talent," Buivid said. "I feel like I have a good ear for talent." So what kind of music does the music guru love? Anything that he feels is unique and "where I can't make an easy comparison." But most of all, Buivid is excited by the younger generation of talent. "If people are young and impressive, I'm really impressed," Buivid said. The driving force of Buivid's endeavors is his unbounded passion for music. "Sometimes I think [that] I think about music too much." But then, without missing a beat, he said, "But I put on a new record that I haven't heard, and it blows me away."

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Inside the NHL | Beleaguered hockey fans rejoice as new season finally starts

October 12

As the NHL takes to the ice for the first time in over a year, hockey fans everywhere are ready to get back on the couch, ignoring the abounding snickers about how hockey is the only sport that could cancel an entire season and no one would care. Not only were hockey fans denied the entire 2004-2005 season, but they also were forced to sit back and watch their sport become the butt of late-night talk show jokes and sportswriters' rants. Now comes the inevitable question: "If your sport has so much value, why was the Outdoor Life Network the only network interested in nationally broadcasting its games?" (A quick note to those of you living on-campus: the university does not get OLN, but it does, for some bizarre reason, pick up the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on channel 32, which broadcasts its famous "Hockey Night in Canada" on Saturday nights.) A complete answer to such a question would be long, complicated, and, more than likely, quite embarrassing. So to save everybody from such an onerous task, we'll just admit here that the "New NHL" (as the fresh ad campaign calls it) is indeed in transition. Not only has the league moved TV stations, it has also reformulated its financial structure and implemented a slew of new rules. Most importantly, there's the new salary cap of $39 million per team (along with a salary floor of $21.5 million). This new provision, which was the sticking point during last year's failed negotiations between the owners and players, triggered unprecedented player movement this summer as teams bought out expensive contracts to make room for new acquisitions. The most interesting of these moves was surely Peter Forsberg's journey east to play for the Philadelphia Flyers. As for the rules, the most significant (and exciting) change is the elimination of ties. Now, if a game is still tied after a five-minute overtime period, it goes to a shoot-out-the winning team gets the normal two points and the loser gets one for the effort. Other changes include extended blue lines to make for larger offensive zones, no more two-line passes, (marginally) smaller goalie pads, and "zero tolerance" from the referees for interference, hooking and holding/obstruction infractions. All of these changes were designed to increase scoring and the flow of play, and, though it may be too soon to tell, they seem to have lived up to their charge-a whopping 6.35 goals have been scored a game on average so far. Now that we have all that boring administrative stuff out of the way, we can get to the business on the ice. The season is now a week old and already there are many interesting storylines, not least of which is the eye-opening play of 18-year-old phenom Sidney Crosby. A Nova Scotia native, Crosby has one goal and five assists in his first four games with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Though the Pens have yet to win a game, everyone seems excited about Crosby, including teammate and team owner Mario Lemieux. (In fact, recent reports of a Pittsburgh International Airport baggage handler attempting to nab Crosby's opening night jersey seem to indicate that Mario is not alone in his fascination with the young star.) Another player who has had a noteworthy first week is Florida Panther goalie Roberto Luongo. Long considered one of the league's most consistent netminders, Luongo has had an especially impressive start to the season, tallying three wins, two shutouts and a 97.6% save percentage in his first four games. As a result, the Panthers have jumped out to an early lead in the Eastern Conference's Southeast Division. Out west, the attention has centered more on a new coach behind the bench than on the players out on the ice. Perhaps the most compelling development in the league during the (extended) off-season was that The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, decided to take the head coaching position for his Phoenix Coyotes (he also is the team's managing partner). On Saturday night, Gretzky got his first win as a coach during the Coyote home opener against the Minnesota Wild.

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Eye on the Environment | EPA revamps fuel economy ratings

October 12

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long tested new cars annually for fuel economy. Current miles-per-gallon figures, however, are based on outdated driving habits and do not account for several features that impact the rate at which vehicles consume gas. Under pressure from the Consumer's Union and the American Automobile Association, the EPA recently announced that by the end of the year it would make significant changes to methods used for estimating fuel economy ratings. The EPA's fuel economy ratings are approximately 30 percent higher than the actual numbers, according the Union of Concerned Scientists. The organization severely underestimates average driving speeds on the highway: the EPA assumes an average speed of 48 mph and a top speed of 60 mph, while many state highway limits are set at or above 65 mph. Government data has shown that fuel economy can drop by 17 percent for modern vehicles that drive at 70 mph instead of 55 mph. Driving at 65 mph rather than 55 mph causes a ten percent drop in fuel economy. The current EPA guidelines also underestimate the amount of time spent in stop-and-go urban traffic and assume drivers accelerate and brake very gently. The EPA does not account for the use of gas-dependent air conditioning, although 99 percent of cars sold in the United States today include air conditioners. The EPA also overestimates trip lengths. Its city test cycle is 7.5 miles long, but according to the EPA's own data, average trip length is only five miles long. This difference between EPA testing conditions and the actual average length of driving trips is significant, since engines do not have time to heat up and do not operate efficiently during shorter trips. As the EPA obtains more accurate fuel economy ratings, auto companies will need to produce more efficient vehicles in order to remain competitive and meet consumer needs. More fuel-efficient technologies should help the consumer. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, "a fleet of cars and light trucks that reaches 40 mpg [miles per gallon] will cost consumers only about $1,000 to $2,000 extra per vehicle." This increase in principal should pay for itself, as consumers would save an estimated $2,500 to $5,300 on fuel over the lifespan of the vehicle. Americans could save an estimated $50 billion dollars worth of gasoline annually if all vehicles met the 40 mpg standard. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that owners of the 10 most fuel-consuming vehicles in the nation could save about $200 a year if their car's fuel economy was raised by 27 percent. Ramsay Huntley, a Climate and Entrepreneurship Specialist with the Tufts Climate Initiative, said increasing fuel economy is an important goal, because of the many potential benefits. "Considering that average mileage has been trending down for a number of years, this could be quite significant and is a worthy pursuit, even if you're not considering the environmental benefits," he said. Senior Chelsea Bardot owns a hybrid Honda that averages between 40 and 45 miles per gallon. "It's a great car, it's very easy to drive, and I never have any problems with it," Bardot said. "Especially now, considering the current gas prices, the investment definitely paid off." The environmental solutions go far beyond gas mileage for vehicles. "Our society would be better off by increasing the energy efficiency of our buildings and by designing towns that are less dependent on the car in the first place," Huntley said.

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Inside College Football | Nittany Lions turn back clock in upset

October 11

When No. 16 Penn State upset No. 6 Ohio State 17-10 on Saturday, it looked like a flashback to years past. The Nittany Lion defense, clad in the traditional navy blue jerseys, was stifling, the ageless Joe Paterno was getting fiery on the sidelines, and the crowd of over 100,000 packed into Beaver Stadium was rocking. After four losing seasons in the past five years and a 7-16 mark over the last two, a resurgent Penn State team has the fans in Happy Valley smiling once again. With the win, the Nittany Lions improved to 6-0 on the season and moved up to No. 8 in the rankings, their highest spot since Nov. 1999. Just one week after its first win over a top-25 team since 2002 - a 44-14 romp over No. 18 Minnesota - the crowd of 109,839 (second largest in Penn State history) was pumped up. The Lions rose to the occasion. After falling down by three in the first quarter, Penn State took the lead with 10:20 remaining in the second quarter when explosive freshman wide receiver Derrick Williams turned a sweep into a 13-yard touchdown. Just minutes later, Calvin Lowry made the play of the game, picking off a Troy Smith pass and returning it 36 yards to the Ohio State two-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Michael Robinson punched it in from a yard out to give Penn State a 14-3 lead. As it turned out, those two and a half minutes would comprise the only action in the defensive slugfest. In fact, Penn State was actually out-gained by Ohio State 230 yards to 195. Led by the play of linebacker Paul Posluszny, who recorded 14 tackles and a key fourth quarter sack, the Penn State defense quietly dominated the game. With both teams trading punts, the only real suspense came on Ohio State's final drive. Down 17-10, things did not look good for the Buckeyes when a false start penalty pushed them back to their own six-yard line. On the next play, Smith was sacked, facing the Buckeyes with an unenviable second-and-16 from the five-yard line. On the next play, however, Smith found speedy wideout Ted Ginn Jr. on the left sideline for a 27-yard gain. One play later, Smith connected with Santonio Holmes on a 20-yarder to put Ohio State in Penn State territory. Coming into the drive, the Lions had managed to hold the dynamic pair of Ginn Jr. and Holmes to just 34 yards. The Buckeyes appeared to have the momentum with those big-gainers, but it was short-lived. Just two plays later, Lion end Tamba Hali crashed Smith's side, knocked the ball loose and secured the victory for Penn State. With the win, Penn State became the only remaining unbeaten team in the Big Ten, a remarkable feat considering the conference season is just three weeks old. Given the parity in the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions may have trouble surviving the season undefeated. They still have trips to Michigan and No. 16 Michigan State on the schedule, as well as a pair of tough home games against Purdue and No. 23 Wisconsin. Second-ranked Texas ended its drought in the Red River Shootout this week by destroying the struggling Oklahoma Sooners 45-12. Vince Young continued his incredible play with a 241-yard, three-touchdown day. The win moved the impressive Longhorns to 5-0. If they can survive their next two games against No. 24 Colorado and No. 13 Texas Tech, the Longhorns looked poised to run the table in the Big 12. But even that might not be enough to get them into the BCS Championship game this year. No. 1 USC, No. 3 Virginia Tech, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Georgia and No. 6 Alabama are all undefeated thus far and all likely will have tougher schedules, boosting their computer rankings in the BCS. Because of strength of schedule, it appears that USC and Virginia Tech have the best chances of colliding in the title game. If Tech can survive its home meetings with No. 14 Boston College and No. 7 Miami, it could face Florida State in the first-ever ACC Championship Game. After impressive wins over Miami and BC, the Seminoles' only test could be a season finale matchup against No. 11 Florida at the Swamp. Don't discount the SEC powers from making a title run either. Although Georgia had faced an easy schedule heading into this week, the Bulldogs proved themselves with a 27-14 road win over No. 8 Tennessee. Alabama, on the other hand, is just two weeks removed from a 31-3 upset of Florida. The Tide is now 5-0 and has reclaimed its status as a football powerhouse. Of course, there could be two spots available in the title game if USC falters. While it is hard to predict a loss, the Trojans have looked very human at times this year. They will be tested this week by No. 9 Notre Dame, in what will unquestionably be this week's game of the week.

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News

Turning False Corners

October 11

On Saturday, when Iraqis go to the polls to determine the fate of the constitution that has been ambiguously patched together over the past couple months, the Bush administration will almost certainly claim a great victory in the War on Terror. There will be talk of freedom marching, and of corners turned, and there will probably be some mention of September 11th (because why should Saturday be different than any other day?). The passage of the Iraqi constitution will have been made possible by the heavy hand of American diplomacy, and for this the White House deserves credit. Without American influence, the compromise reached yesterday between the Shia-Kurdish coalition and the Sunni minority would not have been possible. The agreement, allowing for the creation of a committee which will explore making changes to the constitution once new parliamentary elections are held in December, has earned the backing of Sunni leaders and makes it almost certain that the referendum will pass. This will indeed be a momentous occasion for the President, but not because it brings Iraq any closer to having a democratic government or even relative security within its borders. The constitution's passage will mark a special day for Bush because it will reinforce that while he may be the lamest duck ever to sit in the Oval Office, he still has the quixotic power to instill false hope among millions, both in Iraq and in the U.S. Back in the real world, it is obvious that the prompt, almost scripted passage of the constitution on the date deigned by America's democracy promotion playbook has little to do with legitimate government and much to do with marketing. Anyone who has been somewhat conscious for the past three years will remember the presidential aircraft carrier landing and infamous declaration of "mission accomplished," the anticlimactic capture of Saddam Hussein, the even more anticlimactic devolution of power to the Iraqis in June of 2004, and the cute but sickening display of Republicans waving blue fingers and the mother of a fallen soldier "spontaneously" embracing an Iraqi woman (who has since denounced the Iraqi constitution for failing to protect women's rights). Each of these events was supposed to be a corner turned. Baghdad city blocks must have significantly more corners than Boston city blocks. In May, Dick Cheney declared that the insurgency was in its last throes. Since then, violence has increased and Iraq is now in the grips of an insurgency that appears to be gaining strength daily. According to sources as lofty as Air Force General Richard Myers, counterinsurgency campaigns often last as long as a decade. So any talk of turning corners, at least in terms of Iraqi security and American victory is disingenuous and foolish. Politically, the constitution's passage will have little effect on Iraq's long term democratic viability. While yesterday's compromise acknowledges Sunni discomfort with the possibility of an Iraqi federal system, it does nothing to resolve the problem of the Kurdish and Shia desire for independence, or at least autonomy. Until this issue is resolved in a manner that is satisfactory to all three parties, there is no hope for a viable Iraqi democracy, or even a unified Iraqi state. President Bush will speak this weekend about the power of freedom to change the world, and about the courage of the Iraqi people, and the resolve of American troops in the face of global terrorism. These pretty words are meaningless. The effort to bring democracy to Iraq has been a miserable failure, no matter how many utterly irrelevant "milestones" are passed on the road to ultimate defeat.

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Tisch exhibit explores times of Honest Abe

October 11

During the next seven weeks, students may see Civil War soldiers encamped on the Tisch Library lawn or Abraham Lincoln walking the library halls. The traveling exhibit, "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation," opens at Tufts today. The exhibit has toured the country since fall 2003. By next February, 40 libraries will have hosted the exhibit. Next fall, the exhibit will begin a second tour - this time of 60 libraries - that will last until 2010. The University is the only place in Massachusetts to host the exhibit. The exhibit is made up of 150 feet of display panels on the second floor of the library. Actors in Civil War-era costumes introduced the exhibit on Community Day, Oct. 2. The library will kick off the exhibit's opening with several programs this weekend, including a Friday night talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Herbert Donald, a concert on Saturday night of Civil War-era music, and a walking tour of campus on Sunday, highlighting historical spots on the Hill. Faculty, students, and community members are preparing for more events on campus about the former president and his time. "There are two schools of thought about his role in emancipation," according to Stephanie St. Laurence, the Tisch event chairperson. One school, she said, sees Lincoln as instrumental in the end of slavery. The other argues "that the slaves would have been freed without him," St. Laurence said. As part of the exhibit, Civil War-style encampment demonstrations will take place on the library lawn Oct. 16 and 25. A round-table discussion about historical reenactments, lead by Anthropology Professor Cathy Stanton, will take place on the day of the second encampment demonstration. Stanton has researched not only the recreation of specific events, but also "living history" events that try to bring back the experience of what it was like to live in the past. Other events for the exhibit will focus more on drawing lessons from history that apply to the present. English Professor Liz Ammons will lead a discussion about Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and its effects on society Nov. 16. "We are at a time now where we face many, many big problems that humans have created," Ammons said. She mentioned racism and environmental devastation in the United States. "There are really important questions about how to make change. So I want to think about Stowe and "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and learn from [that]." The idea of bringing the exhibit to Tufts originated three years ago when Tisch staff got an e-mail calling for applications from the American Library Association's Public Programs Office. Proposals for the grant had to show that a significant number of qualified scholars would participate in the exhibit and that the show would be accessible to the community. Once Tufts was selected as the only location in the state, inquiries from within the University and from non-Tufts scholars poured in. "Everyone was interested in being a part, in some way," St. Laurence said, "no matter who we contacted in the community." Eighteen different Tufts departments are involved in some aspect of the exhibit, as well as faculty members from Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University and Yale University. The University of Minnesota, Southwest Missouri State University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, the City University of New York, and Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania also hosted the exhibit. The exhibit's major sponsors are the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Library Association, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York, and the Huntington Library in California. It is free and open to the public.

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Men's Cross Country | Team ties record finish on Saturday

October 11

Rough weather conditions and stiff running competition didn't faze the Jumbos this past Saturday as the men's cross country team placed 6th at the All New England Championships, tying its record finish for All-New England's which it set at last season's race. Typically viewed as a race that somewhat mimics nationals due to the quality and quantity of runners, the Jumbos fared well against teams from Divisions I, II, and III. Tufts (209) proved its Div. III dominance, as it was the highest placing Div. III team, handily beating Williams (8th, 274). "It's great that we placed as high as we did," senior co-captain Matt Lacey said. "But I really think we could have even done a lot better." Tufts had three runners place within the top 50 out of the total 321 runners. Lacey (25:05) continued with his impressive and dominant performances this season by finishing 5th overall and first in Div. III. The finish was the best for a Tufts runner in the race since Dan Moynihan won the race back in 1973. "He is really incredible. He just keeps surprising us with all these amazing times," co-captain Matt Fortin said. "I'm definitely happy about that but the truth is he is probably going to do even better in the final races of the season." Junior Josh Kennedy (25:27) finished 15th and Fortin (26:13) placed just inside the top 50 by finishing 48th. "Overall I believe it was a step forward," Fortin said of his race. "I could have done better but I am definitely happy with the progress I'm making." Junior Justin Chung (26:34) finished 70th and senior Neil Orfield (26:36) came in right behind him in 71st place to close out the Jumbo top five. Sophomores Dave Sorensen (27:06) and Brendan McNeish (27:20) rounded out the Tufts runners, finishing 118th and 147th respectively. Brown University dominated the race, finishing first with 40 points, while Harvard (146) placed second and Boston College (157) finished third. Dartmouth (189) placed fourth while UMass-Lowell (206) rounded out the top five. The rough weather turned the course into a wet, muddy bog. "We wore our longer spikes and it didn't affect us too badly," Lacey said. "But definitely when it rains like that it makes people slip around a lot more." Coach Ethan Barron believed the weather slowed down the time. "Any time you get weather like that it's going to have an effect on the race," Barron said. "We saw times slow down by about 30 seconds at the front at the pack and from the middle to the back of the pack, times slowed down by about 45 seconds to a minute." But despite the weather, both Lacey and Barron were fairly satisfied with the performance of the team, especially in the face of stiffer competition. "We actually could have done a lot better, we wanted to finish in the top five and only missed out on 4th by 20 points," Lacey said. "Its fun to run against Div. I and II schools because you have nothing to lose. It makes the race bigger and allows you to just go out and run and have more fun." "It is really pleasing to be able to take down some Div. I and Div. II schools and I was happy that we were the best Div. III school out there," Barron said. "For me it was also pleasing to see that we did this without Chris Kantos and Kyle Doran, two runners that would have definitely made a huge impact." Now, the Jumbos will look forward to this week's Jim Drews Invitational in Wisconsin, a race the Jumbos have never raced in before. "It's pretty important because it gives us the chance to look at some of the teams we are going to see in nationals," Fortin said. "We are going to be able to see how we match up against some of our bigger rivals." "It's a great opportunity for us," Barron said. "I am definitely looking forward to it because we get to see the teams that are ranked ahead of us. During the season we usually have the All-New England's and that is our only chance to see our competition and make race strategies for nationals. But with this opportunity, we can see how our style matches up against theirs and make any adjustments before nationals if we need to."

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Onward and Upwards | In this town, the mayor has Jumbo roots

October 11

During his successful 2004 campaign to become the mayor of Haverhill, Massachusetts, James Fiorentini (LA '69) campaigned so vigorously that he actually injured himself: he tore his knee ligament walking door-to-door. Fortunately, his current reelection campaign has proven less strenuous - and the accomplishments he's made in the meantime have made the injury worth it. Fiorentini's work as mayor has focused on getting municipal finances back on track and drawing people back to the city. "I've worked to turn Haverhill around - it was in fiscal crisis," said Fiorentini, who served on Haverhill's city council for eight years before becoming mayor. "We've worked to revitalize the downtown," he said. Having grown up in Haverhill, Fiorentini has seen a lot of changes in the town - most noticeably its shrinking population. From his time in high school and until recently, the population of the city was decreasing. Haverhil is 40 minutes north of Boston, in the northeast corner of Massachusettes. "For a long time, Haverhill was thought of as a shrinking city - people I went to high school with all moved away," Fiorentini said. The trend seems to be reversing: the city's population is around 60,000 from a low of approximately 40,000. The mayor has increased efforts to bring more people to his city, including the renovation of factory buildings into upscale housing and the establishment of a downtown arts district. "I think cities can be very proactive to bring cities in and residents in, and you do that with zoning laws, rezoning, widely advertising that the city wants young people," Fiorentini said. "I think it's worked. We are now one of the fastest-growing cities in the state." Finances have proven to be the most challenging aspect of his job. "Everything must be looked at through the prism of 'is there enough money' - more money for one thing means less money for firefighters and teachers," Fiorentini said. But these fiscal problems are not by any stretch unique to Haverhill. "Every mayor in the country right now has budget problems. It's been a tremendous challenge," Fiorentini said. His time at Tufts enhanced his already strong interest in politics. "I had a great experience at Tufts, and it certainly prepared me for office," Fiorentini said. "We had some very lively discussions in class. Also, at the time the anti-war movement was very strong at Tufts. That really heightened my interest in politics." Fiorentini's undergraduate years were dominated by a passion for politics. The political science major spent time working on political campaigns for Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy, working under Barney Frank (now a U.S. Congressman for Massachusetts) for the Boston City Council, being involved in the anti-war movement, and leading the Tufts Democrats as their president. For Fiorentini, Tufts is a family tradition: his father, uncle, and cousin all graduated from the University, and he took his daughter on a tour of the Hill in an effort to persuade her to attend. "The campus seemed about the same: when I was there, we had the new coed dorms. They seemed great when I was there, but not so great with my daughter there," Fiorentini joked. Fiorentini's interest in politics is motivated by the desire to help people. "When I was at Tufts, someone said that politics is the greatest helping profession," Fiorentini said. This desire to help the community also pushed him to look into teaching: during his final year at Tufts, Fiorentini worked as a substitute teacher in Medford, Stoneham and Boston. This interest and experience in education is something Fiorentini says he draws on as mayor. After graduation, Fiorentini spent time in VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America, a division of Americorps) working with students who had dropped out of school. He went on to earn his J.D. at the Northeastern University School of Law. He practiced law for 30 years, focusing towards the end of his career as an attorney on personal injury and workers' compensation. While he would not absolutely rule out running for a higher office in the future, Fiorentini enjoys the work he is doing at the municipal level. "I never say never, but I like what I'm doing," Fiorentini said.

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News

Ben Swasey | From Way Downtown

October 11

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And in 2005, we enjoyed the fruits of his arduous labor with one of greatest things ever: the long weekend. Now, although many here at Tufts have that luxury every week with the absence of a Friday class, there's nothing like a university-wide Monday off to really kick the laziness and the partying to another level. To a sports fan in school, however, the true value of this classless 24 hours is freedom, and by freedom I mean the ability to watch Sunday sports on TV without any concern about homework that can be put off to the much more sportingly-boring Monday. (Monday - mundane: coincidence? I think not). Let me explain. Sunday is very much a sports day. A sports day means that there are multiple games, events, or matches that demand that a fan sit and watch them for hours upon hours. Pro football, naturally, leads the way on these sports-filled Sundays, but a truly great day needs more, such as baseball playoffs or maybe a final round or match in a championship golf or tennis tournament. For example, Sunday, Sept. 11 featured Week One of the NFL, a Sox-Yanks showdown won by Randy Johnson and New York 1-0, and the final of the U.S. Open between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi. Little to no work was completed on this day. Saturdays can, of course, be sports days as well with about a billion college football games on, such as this upcoming weekend featuring USC-Notre Dame, Ohio-State-Michigan State, and Florida-LSU. In addition, my favorite sports day of the year occurs mid-week, as March Madness' first round usually commences on Thursday. But Sunday is traditionally the best sports day. After the harm we do to our bodies Saturday night, we need a day to just rest. Couple this with the fact that there are ridiculous amounts of good sports on, and having to think about anything else seems just wrong. There are a few guidelines for properly experiencing a Sunday sports day. First, contact lenses, after being worked overtime the night before, are given the day off. So is soap. And pretty much hygiene in general is unnecessary. A comfortable sweatshirt and a pair of athletic shorts or pants are a must for viewing attire. Those nice J-Lo or Jordan jumpsuits are excessive. Broken in and stained (or as I like to call it, finely aged) clothing is proper. Next, no more than two meals can be eaten on a given Sunday, considering that the first one should come around 1:30 and should be a large portion of artery-clogging goodness. Dining hall brunch is acceptable, but delivered wings, grinders, or pizza is preferred. And you don't have to miss any action. I also strongly suggest slow roasting a pig the night before and letting it cook while you sleep. I've never tried it, but you can imagine how good it would be. Another essential Sunday item is a cozy chair that will allow you to sit contently all day long. Finding a good chair that can fit in a small dorm room on a college budget is tough, but we can all aspire to someday have one of those reclining couches that has cup-holders and a built-in speakerphone. In addition, although there is really no need to move on a Sunday, I recommend periodic stretching in order to remain loose for any exciting plays that require jumping up in amazement. The last thing you want is a pulled muscle sidelining your viewing. The only other times you need to get up are for the bathroom and to check your computer for fantasy football updates to see how many yards your sleeper Seattle wide receiver has. The final sports day necessity is proper remote management. Sports action must be maximized, and therefore the "last channel" button is huge. When one event goes to commercial, the viewer must immediately switch over to another. When all games are in commercial, anger must be expressed. I also say the "last channel" button should be taken to another level by adding the "second to last-channel" and "I really don't care about this game but will watch if I have to" buttons for a rotation of multiple sporting events. Unfortunately, many here at Tufts have their sports day end early because of the lack of ESPN and its Sunday night games, which my colleague Alex Bloom discussed so well yesterday in his column. I have a theory that the school knows it is fruitless to try and take our Sunday afternoons so they shrewdly attack our nights by disallowing the Worldwide Leader. With fewer sports to watch, we are forced to think about work and thus the school can maintain a respectable academic standing. Well, luckily, I have a solution to this "sports day vs. work" dilemma. We need long weekends every week. We need Mondays off all the time. We need more Columbuses discovering more new lands. With this setup, sports days can be properly enjoyed without any stress or worry, and work can be put off and completed totally on Mondays, which suck anyways.

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Notable and quotable: professors and the media

October 11

The effects of national media attention on a professor are unclear: professors like the attention but not too much of it, and students disagree on whether or not a professor's fame drives up enrollment. Professors at Tufts - whether they have been interviewed for magazines or newspapers or asked to appear on TV or radio - gave mixed reviews of their dealings with the press. English Professor Jay Cantor said he has never turned down a request for an interview, and he said he enjoys the attention. When he writes a screenplay, Cantor said, "I rehearse my speech to the Academy." During the month before and the six months after he releases a book, Cantor said, he is approached by the press daily, but the attention is less when he does not have something new. The media attention has not distracted from his job as a professor, Cantor said. His job would only be affected, he said, if the number of requests greatly increased. "If J. Lo were a professor, she would be distracted." Philosophy Professor Daniel Dennett said he has gotten used to the attention. "If it stopped, I would feel a certain emptiness," he said. Dennett said he often receives 50 requests for interviews each week, making it impossible to talk to every reporter. Dennett said he appreciated when reporters do background research and ask informed questions. One of the better reporters at this, Dennett said, is Alan Alda, the host of the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers. A LexisNexis search showed Dennett quoted in 63 articles in major newspapers dating back to 1991. Dennett is on the Prospect/Foreign Policy list of top 100 public intellectuals - a list that also includes former president of the Czech Republic V???¬av Havel and Pope Benedict XVI. History Professor Gerald Gill said he has had some negative experience with the press. "I talked to a reporter from Boston Magazine for two hours and nowhere in the article was I quoted," he said. "I find that too often the press seems to want to oversell its viewpoint," Biomedical Engineering Professor David Kaplan said. He said sometimes his words were taken out of context or distorted. Tia Huang, a graduate student who does research for Kaplan, said the media attention he gets does not take away from his duties as a professor. "He often has meetings to go to, but he always finds time to guide us," Huang said. Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser, whose job includes hiring professors, said the University does not look for professors who will get media attention. "Most professors do not come here famous," he said. "We look for a potential for fame." Students differed on whether it matters that professors receive outside media attention. Sophomore Jayson Uppal said media attention may increase the chances he would take a professor's class. "A professor's credibility in the field is increased if he is famous," Uppal said. Freshman Jeff D'Elia agreed. "If I were hesitating between two classes, I would choose the one taught by the famous professor," he said. D'Elia is in one of Cantor's classes, but he said he enrolled in the class because he was interested in the subject. Freshman Stephanie Kreutz, though, said the media attention a professor gets may not determine the quality of the class. "A professor's name does not guarantee that the class will be good," she said.

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Women's Cross Country | Jumbos fall short at weekend's All-New Englands

October 11

It was a gloomy day for the Jumbos at the Open New England Championships on Saturday. Tufts took 13th on a rain-soaked course at Franklin Park in South Boston. After taking two weeks to prepare for the race, the team came out flat and ran below expectations in a crowded field of Div. I, II and III opponents. "Overall, the general attitude is we can do a lot better," senior tri-captain Becca Ades said. "It didn't all come together." This year's placing matched the team's 13th place finish last season. "It's pretty disappointing considering we're a better team than we were last year and we finished pretty much the same," coach Kristen Morwick said. Sophomore Catherine Beck led the way once again for the Jumbos, taking 31st in 18:46. She was followed by freshman Katie Rizzolo (62nd, 19:16) and Ades (72nd, 19:25). Rizzolo has been in the top three for Tufts in every varsity race she has run. "To be in the top part of the team so far is awesome," Rizzolo said. "It's not a lot of pressure as a freshman to perform because you don't know where you stand so far." The race was a better day for Ades, who has been working to get back to form after returning from an injury. The team will need performances like this out of Ades if it plans to be competitive at the end of the season. "That was nice to see," Morwick said of Ades' performance. "She definitely went out pretty hard, which I think was her plan, and she held on for about two-thirds of the race. She felt better about it. That was one little bright spot." "It was better than it's been this year, but I still have a lot of work to do," Ades said of her race. Following Ades for the Jumbos were freshman Susan Allegretti (87th, 19:32), juniors Sarah Crispin (113th, 19:51) and Raquel Morgan (121st, 19:57), and sophomore Katy O'Brien (171st, 20:27). O'Brien has been battling sickness for the last two weeks and Morgan had a tough time stretching out for the race. "They just had bad days," Morwick said. "There's not much else to say about it." The performances in the sub-varsity race were more encouraging for the Jumbos. Freshman Evelyn Sharkey took third overall in the race in 19:17. Junior Samantha Moland followed in 12th in 19:40. Right on Moland's heels were senior tri-captain Arielle Aaronson (18th, 19:53) and sophomore Laura Walls (28th, 20:10). The sub-varsity times, as well as performances from sophomore Anna Shih (20:20) and freshman Morgan Medders (20:28), were fast enough to make a case for varsity for some of the sub-varsity runners. However, it's still too early in the season to tell who will comprise the Jumbos' varsity postseason squad. "I didn't really know [the varsity team] until the last few races so I don't think it's something you can predict right now," Ades said. "Everybody is still rounding into form." The race was the first time Tufts has competed against many of the NESCAC schools. The team's 13th-place finish put it behind the league's Williams (2nd), Amherst (5th), Colby (7th), and Middlebury (10th). That puts Tufts at fifth in the region and in line for a spot to go to Nationals at Ohio Wesleyan in mid-November. A smaller-sized race will mean the team will be less spread out. "I definitely think we're more capable than what we showed on Saturday," Rizzolo said. "In a smaller race I think that we'll be able to shine a lot brighter." While the race included some very good Div. I and Div. II schools, the NESCAC teams showed why the league is one of the most competitive in the country. Williams beat teams from Brown and Harvard and, along with Amherst and Colby, beat UConn's runners. Tufts finished only 15 points behind Div. I Boston College. In broader focus, Saturday's race was really a chance for the Jumbos to see how they matched up with the rest of their regional competition. "We'll probably be anywhere from third to fifth [in the NESCAC] and we weren't that great on Saturday." Morwick said. "It wasn't our greatest day and considering how sub-par it was, we were still the fifth [NESCAC] team." However, the team will want to improve on its finish so it doesn't find itself in the same position it did last year - with a sixth-place finish at Regionals and just seven points away from a trip to Nationals. "It's still only [early] October so I hope we're not racing our best races at this point," Morwick said. The team will get another shot when it hits the road for the Williams 4k this weekend. The shorter race will be the team's final competition before the NESCAC championship at Wesleyan at the end of October.

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Moviegoers should keep their eyes focused on this 'Prize'

October 11

Big fan of 2003's movie adaptation of "Cheaper By The Dozen?" Did you enthusiastically tell all your friends to go see "Daddy Day Care?" Unfortunately for you, The only thing "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" has in common with those movies is a swarm of children. This film, based on the memoir "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised Ten Kids on 25 Words or Less," adapted for the screen by writer and director Jane Anderson, tells the story of Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore), her husband Kelly (Woody Harrelson), and their ten children growing up in 1950's suburbia. Although Evelyn is a suburban 50's housewife, she's hardly the traditional matriarch. While Kelly squanders his paycheck at the liquor store, Evelyn keeps her family afloat financially by entering creative writing contests for everything from poetry to advertisement jingles, hoping to win cash prizes, bicycles, immense freezers, or ten-minute shopping sprees, among other rewards. At the same time that Evelyn juggles ten kids and her "contesting," she must also cope with the alcoholism of Kelly, whom she continues to love despite his violence, jealousy, and condescension. This seemingly undying love is perhaps the least plausible part of the movie. When Kelly smashes up Evelyn's new freezer in an alcohol-fueled rage, Evelyn shows no anger. When he tells her she's "too damn happy," she only continues to be her impossibly cheerful self. When Kelly grabs Evelyn's arm forcefully, causing her to drop the milk bottles she's carrying and cut herself on the glass, she later allows him to help change her bandages. And when she finds out he took out a second mortgage on the house without telling her, she simply continues her contesting. Even Evelyn's children stand up to their father more than Evelyn does, with lines like "How 'bout you don't spend so much at the liquor store?" Unfortunately, instances like these are often overshadowed by the level of anonymity shared by nine of the ten children in the family. At times, the camera pans over faces of children who don't even look familiar, and it is nearly impossible to remember any of their names. The one Ryan child who does stand out is Terry, or "Tuff," owing to the fact that the real-life, grown-up Terry wrote the memoir upon which the film is based. In any case, "Prize Winner" is in no way a standard 1950s suburban family story. The roles of the authority figures have arguably been reversed, with the mother as the primary breadwinner, despite staying at home, and with the children's utter lack of respect for their father. Additionally, Anderson successfully infused the movie with unique characteristics that set it apart from typical 50's films. For example, the opening sequence of the film features two Evelyns, one going about her daily life and one introducing the movie in the style of 1950's commercials by talking directly to the camera, immediately showing the role that advertisements will play in the story. Anderson was also able to effectively introduce various humorous lines and moments into the movie at key points to balance the serious, heavy topic with which she was dealing. For example, when the local priest in Defiance, the small town locale where the movie takes place, comes to visit the Ryan household, one of the children remarks, "His breath smells like Dad's," referring to the alcoholic tendencies of his father. While part of what was unique about Evelyn was her incomparable patience, it does become hard to believe at some point that anyone could remain so upbeat. Just when it begins to push the envelope of credibility, however, Evelyn rises up in a sweet moment of redemption. All in all, "Prize Winner" should be a prize-winner itself.

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