With the Patriots having the weekend off, the possibilities for activities to keep Bob Kraft's loyal employees occupied on Saturday were endless. While Tom Brady may have hit the beach, Richard Seymour may have gone shopping at the Big and Tall retailer, and Adam Vinatieri probably did a Rotman's Furniture ad, Patriots coach Bill Belichick had other ideas.
Members of Tufts University Presents the Archaeology Club (TUPAC) enjoyed a game of T-Ball in togas on the Residential Quad yesterday.
A Tufts tradition has verged on disrespect and vandalism as students let their creativity spill off of the cannon outside the Goddard Chapel and onto the sidewalk around it. Painting the sidewalk is not considered part of the cannon tradition, however, and is considered vandalism according to Tufts regulations. The bylaws in the Pachyderm guide state that the cannon "tradition excludes painting the sidewalk and other areas surrounding the cannon." The Pachyderm also states that Tufts' code of conduct is "respecting the property of the University," which includes "theft, vandalism, and graffiti." Captain Mark Keith of the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) has not yet caught students guilty of this vandalism but said that if a TUPD officer were to find students painting the sidewalk, they would be referred to the Dean of Students' office. The area around the cannon is continually cleaned throughout the year, keeping it clean and presentable, especially during prospective students' campus tours. Black paint has recently been used to conceal graffiti on the sidewalk. Students and alumni agree that the cannon is an important part of Tufts' history and tradition and that it serves to celebrate Tufts and bond students. "It is a part of Tufts' identity," two-time cannon painter Cristina Gioioso (LA' 04) said. Brittany Sommer, president of the Freshman Class Council, has not yet had the opportunity to paint the cannon, but said she intends to do so during her years on the Hill. "The graffiti that is now being painted on the sidewalk is unnecessary and looks sloppy," she said. Gioioso agrees. "Each time someone paints the cannon, the next person is going to do it bigger than the last," she said. "Instead of just the small area in front of the cannon being painted, it will end up extending farther out from that." Students can also express their creativity in other ways, as shown by the sidewalk chalkings that dot campus. Chalking is not in violation of any University bylaws. The cannon has been a part of the Tufts' history since 1956, when it was given as a gift from the Medford Historical Society. It is a replica of a 24-pound cannon found on the deck of the USS Constitution, today a museum docked in Boston Harbor. Painting the cannon began in 1977 and has been a Tufts tradition ever since.
Their number one single, "I Usta Love Her," has outsold singles by U2, the Corrs, the Cranberries, and every other Irish band you've ever heard. Many consider the song Ireland's second national anthem. That was twelve years ago. Since then, they've topped the UK charts and were part of a million dollar-campaign for Harp Lager. So, why have you never heard of the Saw Doctors? Subject to an odd mix of media desertion and fan devotion, the Saw Doctors' career has become something of a musical odyssey: circuitous, but enduring. Buoyed these past years by their strong, established fanbase, the Saw Doctors are your classic cult act; playing in a world of sold-out concerts and absent widespread popularity. "Mostly, people don't know we exist," says Leo Moran, guitarist, lyricist, and one of two founding members still playing in the Saw Doctors. Wearing a well-loved Ramones t-shirt and retro glasses, Moran is pensive, hospitable and seemingly devoid of the drama and cynicism crawling around the current music industry. "We don't get much media attention. We've always been on the peripheral. It doesn't bother us much, but you have to find other ways of letting people know you exist," says Moran. After enduring an all-night drive from Chicago, followed by a painfully early performance on Fox 25 that very morning, it's a wonder Moran isn't passed out on his tour bus. Rather, his repartee winks; his wit bites. "We're a mix of country, punk, folk, and rock - with an Irish accent," he says. "It's the music I loved over the years...the Ramones, I got to see the movie [documentary "End of the Century"] the day after Johnny died," and his voice cracks for the briefest of moments. But the list of admired musicians continues, "I love Creedence, Springsteen, Steve Earl, Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie ..." he says. And the list goes on. Moran's list speaks to the generational gap between the Saw Doctors and many of the newer bands gaining speed these days. The Frames, which Moran claims are the "biggest Irish band in Ireland these days" have paid their dues like the Doctors, but they've also gotten more press than Moran and the band, having been featured in Maxim, NPR, the BBC, and other such worldly sources. On the day of their first show in Boston, the Globe gave the Saw Doctors only a small box in their listings section. Called the "people's band" by many, Moran quips that they've only been labeled as such because "it probably means that most people are as good musicians as we are." He is wrong. They're masters at the art of live performance. All six Saw Doctors are so comfortable on stage, they practically carve out a second home for themselves; they care for the audience so much, they practically invite to be part of a second Saw Doctor family. During the Boston show, the other founding member of the band, Davy Carton dedicated a song to "all the familiar faces, which is nearly everyone" and with that gesture of a thousand welcomes, even newcomers felt like they, too, belonged at this reunion. It's a give-take relationship, however. Buying your ticket to see the Saw Doctors is an unspoken contract; with that ticket, you're also agreeing to play an important part in their musical progression, their lives. It's not a tough bargain though. Frank lyrics and warm personalities make them impossible not to enjoy live. That said, their main problem, in terms of increasing their popularity, is transferring that special bond with their fans at live shows to their studio works. Their most recent release, The Saw Doctors Live in Galway, a live CD and DVD recorded in their hometown, tries to bottle the magic of the live show with mixed results. "It's as close as we can get to capture the show. You have to be at a show to experience a show. I'm skeptical how far a live album/DVD can bring it to people," says Moran. This time, he's right. The live album, while a treat to devoted fans, ends up sounding muted and harsh on the ears. It is as close as listeners at home can get to the real, live band - but it's not nearly close enough. One would think that Moran and his bandmates might be frustrated at their lack of recognition over the past 15 years, biting their thumbs at the unfairness of the MTV age when bright young bopping things seem to dominate the industry with their smiles and exposed skin. Even in Ireland, MTV glamour dominates the club scene and much of the airwaves. But, with a patient grin, Moran explains his logic, "The Saw Doctors aspiring to be on MTV would be futile ... I don't bother about it. Why beat your head against the wall worrying about it? I've got a na??ve belief that if you keep going at it long enough, you'll get a break somewhere."
It started as Tufts 1200, when three freshmen set themselves a goal of registering 1,200 students to vote last year - a quarter of Tufts' student body. Today it is Tufts Votes, a non-partisan organization affiliated with more than nine student groups, including the Tufts Democrats and Tufts Republicans. Since its humble beginnings last year, the group has received funding from the University College of Citizenship and Public Service and has combined its efforts with other groups such as Democracy Matters. "There are a lot of registered voters out there that don't know what to do after that first step. We are hoping to mobilize them all. We are hoping to streamline not just registration on campus but voting too," said sophomore Dan Grant, one of the founders of Tufts Votes. "When students see a Tufts Votes sign they know that that's where they need to go, that they have that one contact number they need," he said. The group's new mission statement reflects this attitude: "A coalition of student groups dedicated to the education, registration, and mobilization of all eligible voters in the Tufts community." A Kennedy School of Government study published in June 2003 found that 59 percent of college students said they would "definitely be voting" in the 2004 election and 27 percent said they would "probably" vote. But according to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 36 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted in the 2000 presidential election, the lowest turnout of any age group. The Census Bureau said this may be due to the fact that young adults - especially those in their 20s - are the most transient and must re-register to vote after each move, leading to lower registration and voting levels. This low voter turnout "shows in the focus of politicians and it shows in who they represent and who they don't represent. That won't ever change until we become a large united voting block," said sophomore Kayt Norris, who participates in Tufts Vote through the University College. Tufts Votes hopes to change these low youth voting levels this year. The new group has planned a number of events running up until the critical date: Nov. 2, Election Day. One such event is Dorm Storms, which starts in three dorms tonight. Group members will eventually visit every dorm on campus with voter registration forms for every resident. A voter registration training session was held yesterday where 62 undergraduates volunteered to be "voter registration ambassadors," according to Grant. Tufts Votes will also host Dewick Debates and Carmichael Crossfire, which Grant says will provide "a chance for dinnertime discussion about politics to get people interested." The group will also offer viewings of the presidential debates and the Emmy-winning "fake news" broadcast, "The Daily Show." Senior Mary Smith has been working on registering voters since she first arrived at Tufts more than three years ago. "[It's important for me to] combine the many parts of student life; learning and active citizenship are so important to our lives as students," she said. Smith helped arrange freshman orientation this year so that every incoming freshman received a voter registration form, fulfilling a goal Tufts 1200 had set last year. In comparison, Harvard has a 100 percent voter registration rate thanks to registering students at freshmen orientation, Grant told the Daily last spring. "My goal is to have a 100 percent registration rate here at Tufts in four years by focusing on freshmen," he said in May. Junior Michael Lingenfelter is so excited to vote in November's elections that he is planning to host a concert on election night or the day before. "The right to vote is just awesome. There are so many people that are voting for the first time, we want to get them to not just register but to go out and vote and be happy that they did," he said.
Tufts University, as an academic institution, is no joke. If you doubt this statement, then ask any pre-medder, international relations major, or engineer how many grueling hours a week she spends writing papers, solving problem sets, and reading pages upon pages of text. I have even heard of a couple economics majors who have worked into the silent-study-only point of a Tisch late night. These are people breaking their backs to eventually compete in today's job market or apply to graduate school in hopes that someday all of the countless hours spent studying will pay off. I, for one, am pre-med, and my goal of becoming a physician has been with me since childhood. But now, in my senior year, I am at a crossroads. On one hand, I have this drive to go to medical school and set up my own medical practice in order to better other people's lives. On the other hand, I have to look at the practicality of this career decision. In today's world, being a physician is not all that it is cracked up to be. The costs of owning a private practice backs many doctors up against the wall and then out the door to places where practicing medicine is more affordable. The American Medical Association has identified over a dozen states in which skyrocketing medical insurance rates cause a significant exodus of physicians. The reality of the state of health care is making me second-guess my decision of entering medical school. Setting my childhood desires aside, the thought of putting myself $200,000 in debt, a consequence of a medical school education, before struggling financially in my chosen medical profession is not very appealing. I have learned that holding a private medical practice is becoming exceedingly harder to keep and is not very lucrative. Therefore, it is not surprising that many physicians become specialists in their chosen medical field and are working in mega-hospital environments rather than becoming primary care physicians, a position which is lacking in numbers in the U.S. health system. This turns into a major economic and social problem when the lack of primary care is causing mothers to take their children to emergency rooms for flu symptoms and other problems, which should be left to the family physician. The result is clogged hospitals and greater healthcare expenditures. The rising cost of medical insurance stems largely from the proliferation of medical malpractice lawsuits. In 1999 the average medical malpractice law settlement broke the $1 million mark and this figure has steadily risen, resulting in a rapid increase in health care expenditures. Insurance companies impose higher medical insurance premiums on the doctors to cover large payoffs. Doctors, in turn, practice unnecessary testing and additional procedures to prevent malpractice liability. The excessive usage of medical technology and lab work, along with other extraneous medical fees, contributes to the increasing national healthcare cost - approximately 15 percent of our nation's gross domestic product! Whether or not I enter the medical field, I will be affected by this trend of increasing government expenditure as a taxpayer and as a consumer. This problem is not exclusive to doctors and should be considered by all voters during this year's Presidential election. President George W. Bush proposes legal reform to prevent frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits by capping court settlements and creating boundaries to lawyers where there presently are none. Senator John Kerry and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, a former medical malpractice trial lawyer, do not propose a well-defined plan. They oppose frivolous lawsuits, but they do not have a solid plan for reducing such occurrences. Instead, they want to attack insurance companies and doctors and hold medical providers more accountable to the patient. They propose a "three strikes and you're out" program for lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits - meaning, if a lawyer were to present three frivolous medical malpractice cases, that lawyer will be placed on suspension. This plan lacks substance and offers two strikes too many for Edwards' "Learjet lawyer" friends. In order to solve the healthcare problem, physicians need to take action against legal encroachment. Medical malpractice occurs, and those who are injured should receive the necessary compensation; doctors should be held accountable for their actions. I am not against money given to the plaintiff for economic damages (i.e. extra operations, drugs, loss of job) resulting from medical malpractice. However, when courts run away with lawsuits filed for millions of dollars in non-economic damages (i.e. pain and suffering, emotional damage) a line must be drawn. I understand that it is almost impossible to put a price on a child whose death resulted from medical malpractice. The courts should not reward the sympathy invoked by monetary excess, however. To lawyers, it is just another million dollars that the multi-billion dollar insurance firm contributes to a family's suffering. Unfortunately, to the rest of us, malpractice insurance abuse has led to a loss of jobs for doctors and more money taken from the taxpayer's wallet.Eric Zimmerman is a senior majoring in biology and a member of Tufts Republicans
For the last three years, our lives have been jam-packed with courses and club meetings, homework and friends in Tisch, and Sunday brunches at Dewick. Now all of a sudden we are seniors - and the time has come for us to answer that infamous question, "So, what are you doing after graduation?" Many Tufts students view our seemingly endless post-graduation opportunities with a mix of excitement and fear. There are so many options: graduate school, travel, Peace Corps, investment banking. Wherever our paths may lead, however, we all have at least two things in common: the experience of world-class education behind us, and the opportunity to pursue our dreams ahead of us - whether they include medical school or an acting career in New York City. For many children in our own country, though, these are opportunities they will never know. In 1989, a Princeton University senior named Wendy Kopp was writing her thesis on educational inequity as she began to notice disturbing trends even among her fellow Ivy League classmates. Her friends from low-income communities struggled at Princeton in ways her wealthier friends did not. Furthermore, many of Wendy's classmates were making choices about what to do after graduation for what seemed like the wrong reasons: for money, for lack of better options, for their parents. So Wendy put her ideas into action and founded Teach For America, a national corps of outstanding college graduates from all academic majors who commit to teach for two years in low-income urban and rural communities and who become life-long advocates for change. Since its inception in 1990, more than 12,000 exceptional leaders from all academic fields and career interests have joined Teach For America's movement to eliminate educational inequity, including nearly 100 Tufts University alumni. Today, Teach For America alumni are working as leaders in every field from medicine and business to law and politics, and of course, education. Imagine what the world would be like if every lawyer, CEO, and HMO executive had started their career after teaching in our nation's most struggling communities for two years. Children in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in wealthier communities by the time they are just nine years old. Fast-forward ten years, and they are seven times less likely to graduate from college. These are startling facts, and many of us are probably tempted to shrug them off, thinking, "What a shame ... but what can I do about it?" Well, you can do something about it. It is outrageous that so many of our peers are unable to even think about college simply because of their birthplace or elementary school. Children in struggling schools need committed teachers and leaders who will set the highest expectations for their students and do whatever it takes to ensure that they have the opportunity to attend excellent universities like Tufts. This is the essence of Teach For America: it is an opportunity to change lives. During their two years in the classroom, Teach For America corps members go above and beyond traditional expectations to impact the lives of their students. Beyond their two years, corps members take their insight and added commitment to assume leadership roles from inside education and from every other sector and to work toward the fundamental changes necessary to provide more equal opportunities for all children in our nation. After four years and $150,000, some of us can imagine nothing but corporate law or a lucrative engineering position in our future. A starting teacher's salary of $39,000 in New York City may not bring the rewards a job on Wall Street can - a closet full of Prada, an expensive car, a vacation in Europe - but it brings the reward of teaching a child to read, helping a high school student with college applications, and the knowledge that had you not been there, the children you interacted with everyday in your classroom may not have made it much further. Negotiating for stock options seems trivial in comparison. Teach For America is a job. Corps members go to work early, stay late, deal with frustrated parents and often disorganized administrators, and get paid the same amount that any other beginning teacher would, with an added Americorps benefit. Teach For America corps members also change their students' lives. You do not need education coursework to apply - but you do need energy, motivation, leadership, and a desire to make the world a better place on a daily basis. The 96 Tufts alumni who have joined Teach For America since 1990 have majored in everything from International Relations to Chemical Engineering and History. What they have had in common is an exceptional willingness to step up and lead the movement to eliminate educational inequity.Maggie Rasor is a senior majoring in history
It is the time of year when the playoff bracket is gradually becoming clearer. But with the regular season closing next Sunday, we're fixing our gaze in the direction of some individual honors bestowed annually by the Baseball Writers Association. And it looks like 2004 could be a good year for the National League's senior citizens.NL MVP As tiresome as the official MLB engraver may be of emblazoning the name "Barry Bonds" on the MVP trophy each year, at least he's not in any danger of misspelling it. Why? Because 2004 will be the seventh time the San Francisco Giants slugger's name has graced the award and the fourth year in a row. It might be dull to see the 40-year-old claim the honor yet again, instead of sharing it around, but there is no comparison to Bonds' achievements this season. Say what you will about the Los Angeles Dodgers' Adrian Beltre (.342 average, 47 homers, 117 RBI through Saturday), who is having a career year at third base. The St. Louis Cardinals' trio of Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, are the deadliest middle of the lineup in the majors. But no one has posted numbers like Bonds. Through Saturday, the leftfielder had cranked 44 longballs and driven in 100 runs in just 356 at bats. And let us not forget the walks - 221 and counting, including 116 intentionally. Bonds has scored 123 runs, many because of those walks, and is slugging .834, almost identical to the OPS (on base percentage plus slugging) of Chicago Cubs offensive expert Sammy Sosa. Yikes. Barry's .615 on base percentage is off the charts. To sabermatricians, he is an itch you cannot scratch, a statistical improbability. Yet there he is, doing it in the flesh. To take a leaf from ESPN's Jayson Stark, if you took away all 132 of Bonds' hits this season, his OBP would still be .390, tied for 20th in the majors with the Boston Red Sox' Jason Varitek, ahead of the likes of Vlad Guerrero and Alex Rodriguez. It's no contest.NL Cy Young The Cy Young Award is a little less clear cut. Just a little less. Middle-aged Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks leads the majors with 272 strikeouts and a 0.89 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched). He is third with a 2.69 ERA. Opponents are batting just .193 against him. But The Big Unit is just 14-14 thanks to an anemic D-Back offense that has scored just 22 runs in his 14 losses - an average of 1.6 runs a game. Baseball writers, whose votes determine award winners, don't typically like players on losing teams, and Arizona is the worst team of all. Throw in several other NL pitchers with decent numbers, and the only hardware Johnson will take home this winter is the "No Really, I Do Like Curt Schilling" Award. The Houston Astros' double punch of the ageless Roger Clemens (18-4, 2.89 ERA, 210 K's) and Roy Oswalt (18-10, 3.59, 194) are also in the mix. Oswalt - 15 years Clemens' junior - is an unlikely outsider, as is former Sox castoff and current Florida Marlins ace Carl Pavano (17-8, 3.05), who lacks the strikeouts to compete with Clemens and Johnson. Clemens has also pitched very well in hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park, and could have even more impressive stats if he bothered to get on the team bus. San Fran's Jason Schmidt, the preseason pick of many experts, won't claim honors either, and unlike last season, when the Dodgers' Eric Gagne was the Cy recipient, there are no closers who stand out as distinctively this year. The Rocket will take this one again, like Bonds, for the seventh time, but Randy deserves recognition for pitching in the Hell Hole that is Arizona and doing a pretty good job, considering the team he plays in front of every five days.NL Rookie of the Year This one may appear toughest of all, with two legitimate players contending for the title. San Diego Padres' shortstop Khalil Greene and outfielder Jason Bay of the Pittsburgh Pirates have had impressive years both offensively and defensively. But only one will win, and it will be Bay. Playing the tougher of the two positions, Greene has posted a .273 average with 15 homers and 65 RBI to go along with a .349 OBP and .446 slugging percentage while playing in pitcher-friendly PETCO Park. He's been solid defensively too, helping lead a substantially improved Padres team into playoff contention. But Bay has far better numbers than Greene, and every other NL rookie, in most offensive categories - a .293 average, 25 homers, 78 RBI, .369 OBP and .573 slugging - and has made some highlight reel plays of his own. And consider this: his slugging percentage is the third-highest NL rookie mark ever. Former Pirate Barry Bonds didn't slug that high until his seventh big league season (and final in Steel City). Bay may play a less demanding position, left field, and hits within the small confines of Pittsburgh's PNC Park, but his numbers are significantly better than his peers. He missed the first month of the season due to injury, but that hasn't stopped him from breaking the club rookie home run record: pretty impressive given the likes of Bonds starting his career there. Bay will take home the Pirates' first ever Rookie of Year Award.NL Manager of the Year Two words: Bobby Cox. The Atlanta Braves have won 13 straight division titles (excluding the 1994 strike season). How's that for consistency?
Columnists, meet our readers. Readers, columnists. I have the honor of introducing to you today this semester's brand new columnists. These writers are one of the highlights of the paper, but can also be the bane. They just refuse to fit into an easy mold, which can be unbelievably frustrating for editors. Columnists and editors, at the Daily and at other papers, usually exist in a sort of uneasy truce. The problem lies in the fact that columnists are not from the newspaper, and it is maddening for editors to observe 750 words every week that do not mix well with the newspaper's overall tone and style. But that is exactly why a newspaper needs them. Columnists bring to the Daily that unheralded voice and those issues that are missed by the rest of the editorial staff. Their freedom to write what it is that they want to write bestows upon them the ability and the responsibility to cover topics in ways that a standard news, sports or arts article cannot. Columnists speak for themselves, not for the newspaper. What they write represents their own thoughts and ideas and we as editors stay out of it - short of libelous or untrue statements that need to be changed. In the past, former columnists like Rodrigo de Haro and Jonathan Pearle explained complicated and vast foreign policy issues in ways our articles never could. Drew Shelton wrote hilarious columns that a standard arts article could never capture. And who could forget the last two years of Amber Madison's sex advice? And so this week I urge you to read all the new columns, which consists of nearly all of them. Adam Pulver is the only returning columnist this year, and he is a perfect example of the uneasy truce that columnists and editors share with his sharp criticisms of campus issues that sometimes makes me cringe. But he is most certainly not the only example. Allison Roeser will be taking over for Sarah Dalglish as our "abroad" columnist, writing about her fascinating observations of Tokyo. Ben Hoffman's sports column highlights just the kind of issues that a post-game wrap-up is likely to miss. Saj Pothiawala has a column that will make you sit back and just laugh. I do not mean to exclude the other nine columnists from the discussion, but I am beholden to the same word count restrictions as they. Please, enjoy our columns, and I hope that in some cases, they will spark you to write Letters to the Editor and Viewpoints in response, and in other cases I hope that they lead to a smile in your 10:25 math class. In any case, the Daily has added over a dozen new voices to its pages this week, and I think you are going to like them.
Tufts Water Watch kicked off another semester of cleaning up the Mystic River Sunday with a volunteer-led cleanup effort along the river's banks. The clean up effort involved removing trash from the river banks along a half mile stretch of the Mystic River. "A lot of the community along the river aren't aware that there's any problems with it so there's children swimming in the river. So we're looking for awareness right now but also the long term goal is to make the river accessible," said Zack Harlow-Nash Mass Community Water Watch Organizer for Tufts University. The clean up is one of many which the Tufts chapter of Water Watch will complete this year - both on the Mystic River and the Alewife Brook. The group organized Sunday's clean up in conjunction with Mystic River Watershed Association. On Oct. 23, Water Watch will hold its biggest event of the year, the Make a Difference Day Clean Up. At that event the Water Watch campus organizations throughout the state will combine together in a massive clean up along the Charles River. Harlow-Nash hopes to deliver 100 Tufts students for the big clean up less than a month away. According to the group, Massachusetts water-ways rank among the worst polluted in the country, behind only New Jersey. The group says that 60 percent of Massachusetts water-ways are too polluted for fishing or swimming. - by Robin LissThe group hopes to improve the water quality throughout the state by organizing cleanup efforts and trips for student volunteers. Tufts Water Watch is a division of Water Watch organization which has local chapters on many campuses throughout the state. The Massachusetts chapter is funded by Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG). The group does consumer advocacy work and environmental cleanup projects throughout the state.
In what had the makings of a tight match-up at the start, Wesleyan proved to be too much for Tufts to handle as the visitors romped 37-7 on Saturday at Zimman Field. With Patriots coach and Wesleyan alumni/fan Bill Belichick on hand, the Cardinals appeared to be using pages from straight out of Bill's playbook as they passed for 339 yards and ran for another 127 en route to the victory. In the first quarter, after Wesleyan had chewed up the clock and collected a field goal, Tufts got the ball back and suggested it would make the game an offensive free-for-all. Senior running back Steve Cincotta ran the ball five times for 44 of his 68 yards and was rewarded with a score off the right side to give the Jumbos a 7-3 lead. "We thought it was going to be a battle after those first drives of the game," senior offensive lineman and quad-captain Dave Hatch said. Such was not the case for the remainder of the day, though, as tiny flashes of Jumbo prowess were overshadowed by Wesleyan's brilliance on both sides of the ball. Sophomore quarterback Zach Canter was 26 for 38 with two touchdown strikes and only one interception in his first game replacing the graduated Brennan Carney. Canter's classmate, Phil Banks, also had quite the showing to the tune of 95 rushing yards and three touchdowns. "We got hurt by their pass game and their run game," senior defensive tackle and quad-captain Chris Lawrence said. "Our defensive line could have played a lot better, especially on third down." The aforementioned third downs were the Jumbos' Achilles heel all day, both on offense and defense. The Cardinals were able to convert nine of their 17 opportunities, while Tufts was just two for 11. "They found the right ways to choke our offense when they had to, like putting eight men in the box, and we couldn't respond," Hatch said. "Mental mistakes also hurt us." Although Wesleyan had eight penalties compared to Tufts' five, the home team's mistakes proved to be more costly. One in particular came near the end of the first quarter, after senior cornerback and quad-captain Donavan Brown had returned an interception 78 yards to the Wesleyan one yard line. On second down, the Jumbos incurred a false start penalty, which pushed them back to the six. A three-yard loss on the next play and incomplete pass after that forced the Jumbos to kick a field goal, which junior Phil Scialdoni missed. The mistakes were not limited to penalties though. Turnovers haunted the Jumbos as well. With 1:17 remaining in the first half, a fumble by sophomore punt returner Brett Holm near midfield resulted in another Cardinals touchdown just before the half. Down 23-7 at the midway point, the Jumbos were unable to make adjustments to stop the high-powered Wesleyan attack. The balance of their offense shone through in the fact that they had the exact same amount of passes as runs on the day (41). The Jumbos, on the other hand, were not able to find any offensive rhythm after their first drive. Senior quarterback and quad-captain Jason Casey was held to 47 yards passing to go along with three interceptions. "We just didn't play well on either side of the ball," Lawrence said. "But we have to move on. We can't roll over. This was just one game of eight, but we still have to make some big strides to make sure this doesn't happen again." Hatch echoed those sentiments. "We're a better football team than what we showed on Saturday," he said. "We just have to go out and prove it." With better execution as its focus, the football team will prepare this week to face Bates on Homecoming Saturday.
When John Waters' "Pink Flamingos" (1972) first came out, Roger Ebert said that its vulgar depravity, filmed with such pop whimsy, defied conventional criticism. It wasn't a movie; it was a foreign object unto itself. For those of you who have seen "Pink Flamingos," you can probably sympathize. For those of you who haven't, Ebert's sidestep might seem like a critical cop-out. Well, Ebert has another chance at vindication, for John Waters has struck again with "A Dirty Shame," his latest foray into pushing the bounds of good taste as far as he possibly can. The movie is about sex addicts taking over a Baltimore suburb in a style similar to a zombie B-movie, but infinitely grosser. For these are not the safe, cuddly sex addicts of Playboy or Penthouse, the kind that people might not mind taking over the town. Oh no -- there is a middle aged man with a fetish for acting like a baby; a teen who becomes sexually obsessed with dirt; and a family of very large, very hairy homoerotic men who like to growl and call themselves bears. Salivating over these people would be out of the question. Tracey Ullman plays Sylvia Stickles, the owner of a convenience store who has grown weary of sexual encounters with her husband Vaughn (Chris Isaac), who works at the store along with Sylvia's mother, Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepard). Incidentally, Big Ethel is not big. But what are big are the gargantuan breasts of the Stickles' daughter, Caprice, also known as Ursula Udders (Selma Blair). Sylvia and Vaughn lock Caprice in her room due to her rampant sex addiction to exhibitionism. Caprice's scientifically, or in this case, digitally enhanced mammaries are so stupefyingly large that it wouldn't be surprising if they caused traffic accidents. I'm sorry officer; her boobs were just too big. Big Ethel becomes concerned that the town is being over-run with perverts like the voyeurs who try to cop a leer at Caprice. She takes a stand and organizes the level-headed Baltimore citizens in order to get rid of the sex addicts. In turn, the sex addicts are taken under the wing of a sexual messiah named Ray-Ray, played rather terribly by Johnny Knoxville. Ray-Ray is constantly on the lookout for new addicts to add to his ranks. Now I know what you're thinking: this all seems pretty straightforward so far. Well here's where it gets weird: a person becomes a sex addict from an accidental concussion to the head. Sure, it's been noted that personality changes occur after severe brain damage (the first documented case was when a mine worker started spitting out obscenities at his loved ones) -- but "Dirty Shame" puts a new, insane spin on that idea. Sylvia's brain gets mangled early in the film, and that's when everything starts to get out of control -- if it was ever in control to begin with. At times I wasn't sure if I was laughing with or at "A Dirty Shame." Tracey Ullman's performance is fabulous, and there are moments so outlandishly raunchy, I found myself, a liberal-minded and might I add slightly immature 21 year old guy, squirming happily along with Waters' depravity. But the majority of the film left me feeling either confused, dirty, or a little queasy. Look at a picture of John Waters. Sure, it takes a degree of neuroticism to maintain that pencil thin mustache, but the face reveals none of the depravity that is rampant in the film. Completely bizarre, depraved, inane, outrageous, and in no good taste most of the essential plot questions are clearly outlined -- except why Waters put on this degenerative show to begin with. If Waters made the film as a means to speak out against a society that has become prudish, grossing out the audience to the point of nausea is no way to make any kind of a case. Maybe he's testing the limits of the American audience in some kind of movement to take lude to the extreme. Or maybe it's a stab at pointing out the world's internal meaninglessness. But then, any attempt to scratch under the surface of this movie seems utterly ridiculous. Whatever it is, it is definitely like nothing else.
The creation of the Tissue Engineering Resource Center will bring attention to Tufts and place the University at the forefront of vital research in the field. The first of its kind in the world, its foundation shows that Tufts is taking steps to lead research initiatives in the ever-expanding field of biomedical engineering. The center's first project focuses on the structure of synthetic tissue and its effects on the differentiation of stem cells. The center was created by a grant from the National Institute of Health, and thus is partly dependant on the outcome of November's elections for continued funding. The Bush administration has not made secret its disapproval of stem cell research. The government currently bans the funding of stem cell research due to moral reasons. Opponents, including the Roman Catholic Church and the religious right of the Republican Party, are against the issue because embryos can be destroyed in the process of research. The benefits of stem cell research, however, far outweigh the concerns of these conservative reaches. The Republican Party is not even unified in its opposition. Nancy Regan, a stalwart of the party, voiced her support of stem cell research after the death of her husband this summer. The reward of stem cell research remains unknown, largely because the Bush administration continues to stifle its development in the United States. The majority of Americans support stem cell research, according to a study by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The nationwide survey found 72 percent surveyed support stem cell research in order to study diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and juvenile diabetes. The Tissue Engineering Resource Center will put its research to practical work by studying use of stem cells to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL. Both students and faculty will study the technique aimed to help a common, but severe, injury that afflicted over 200,000 people in the country last year. The method Tufts will use won't even deal with embryonic cells - instead new ACLs will be grown from bone marrow. But the Bush administration's policy won't differentiate between what kinds of stem cells are used in research. This black-and-white viewpoint will suffocate the ability for American scientists to remain at the cutting edge of research. The United States may very well see a drain of biomedical talent leaving for European or Asian countries that are more hospitable to stem cell research. In order to stay the best in the world in biomedical engineering research, the United States must enable researchers to use stem cells in their work. The Tissue Engineering Resource Center is working on issues that will enhance the quality of life for many Americans and others. Tufts should be proud that the National Institute of Health has enabled the University the ability to do ground-breaking research. The Bush administration should see that stem cells are likely to be crucial to future research in the growing biomedical engineering field. Hopefully, policies will change and Tufts will be given more funding to continue this vital research.
The other night, I ventured into Shibuya with a group of friends to celebrate someone's 20th birthday. If you have seen "Lost in Translation," you have seen Shibuya. If you haven't, imagine a place with the size and intensity of ten Times Squares. For a society that is, admittedly, largely homogenous, I may as well have been in New York or San Francisco or Paris. Lost in translation? Hardly. Just walking through the tree-lined and neon-signed avenues, I spotted a Boylston Bar, a London Hub Pub, and a Jamaican souvenir store. As our group made its way into the French restaurant, La Fabrique, I wondered, why the overwhelming obsession with so many different cultures? Yes, American cities are crawling with restaurants and stores and bars that feature various ethnic themes, but we're the melting pot of the world and so it doesn't seem so unusual to me. In my own neighborhood in New York, I know a Japanese-American family that owns a restaurant, several Italian-American families that own their own food businesses, and an Israeli-American man that sells books only in Middle Eastern languages that he imports every few months. But the majority of these Japanese establishments are not owned and operated by French-Japanese, Caribbean-Japanese, English-Japanese, etc, but by the native Japanese themselves. It seems that Tokyo sells foreign and international goods at a better rate than a Honda dealer in the States. There is such an attraction - almost desperation - for something other than "Japan" around here, yet, subtle nuances of Japan are never quite erased from the scene. The results are often fascinating. Despite its attempt to sell itself as "Straight Out Of Paris Heart [sic]," La Fabrique was a whirlwind of culture shock. The menu screamed "Italian!," the d?©cor said "Art Deco!," and the English-speaking wait staff dressed in rather traditional Japanese formal wear. In fact, the only things remotely French about the place were the snippets of French poetry on the walls. My friends and I wondered, why the decision to appear authentically Parisian? Even with its contradictory menu and interior design, what about Paris and France is so much more inviting to Japanese clientele? Intrigued, I approached our waiter and asked why this was labeled as a French restaurant when there wasn't a single item of French cuisine offered. He laughed and explained to me that, "The Japanese just love and adore France." The aura of French elegance and style is apparently something the Japanese have been capitalizing on for years. My Japanese friend Rie told me that French is one of the most popular languages to learn among college students and business people in Japan, despite the fact that it is also one of the most difficult languages for them because of the pronunciations. Indeed, it's rare to walk a few blocks around Tokyo without stumbling across a panya, or bakery, which is almost always saturated with the red, white, and blue stripes of the French flag. Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Christian Dior all trump any other international designers here. After Japanese and English, French may be the next most frequent language seen on the streets. After faux-French dinner, our group proceeded to another themed bar and restaurant whose popularity is really quite interesting to me: Rastafarian. This was the third Rastafarian establishment that I had been to in three weeks, and by no means were my friends and I specifically searching for them. The name of the place was "Abyssinia," and its logo was a green, yellow, and red striped map of Africa. At this point, if someone tried to tell me I was indeed in Tokyo, I would have laughed. If it weren't for the Japanese couple with dreadlocks and Sean John garb at the table next to us, I could have forgotten where I was for the next hour. The owners of Abyssinia are an Ethiopian couple who heard of a steadily growing African movement in Japan about five years ago. Equipped with enough money to buy a place smack-dab in the center of Shibuya and an eager audience of young Japanese adults into hip-hop and Rastafarian studies, Abyssinia was born. The owners speak a decent amount of Japanese, primarily thanks to people they've met in Tokyo, but there is also a large amount of English around the place, as it is the language they are more comfortable with. Bob Marley, The Toots, and Stevie Wonder blared from the sound system. The menu was mostly Ethiopian food. Green, yellow, and red were everywhere you turned and the tablecloth was a homemade creation that featured information on various east African traditions and culture aspects. My friend Shota explained that it all stems from a large interest in hip-hop and reggae music here. From the musician's backgrounds to their lyrics to the rasta wristbands they wear, the young Japanese don't want to miss out on anything. The night ended on a similar note as we were all transported back to the United States at a hip-hop dance club. Not a single non-American hip-hop song was played. My friends and I knew every single song, every single word, every single artist. The amazing thing was, so did the throngs of Japanese people around us. After I was blown away by a group of Japanese girls rapping along with Eminem, Shota shouted over the music to me, "You know, it is a fun and easy way to learn English, man!" It made me wonder what cities in the States would be like if they were modeled after Tokyo. What if our restaurants were all in foreign languages and the majority of our nightclubs chose to only play foreign music? If I learned anything from my Shibuya experience, it was that the title of "melting pot of the world" can be interpreted in so many ways and can be found where you least expect it. Like a Japanese guy with dreadlocks.
Often it is said that "water is the elixir of life." Unfortunately, according to Zachary Harlow-Nash and the other members of Water Watch, this does not apply to the water in the Mystic River. Massachusetts has many spectacular rivers, from the Connecticut to the Charles. Unfortunately, over two thirds of its waterways are too polluted for basic uses like fishing or swimming. "Massachusetts ranks second in having the worst water quality in the United States," said Harlow-Nash, the organizer for Water Watch at Tufts. "It is upon us to do something about it." Harlow-Nash believes that, far from being an elixir of life, the water of the Mystic River inhibits the creation of new life. "In fact, to use anything derived from the river is advised against," he said. "It is unfortunate that the river cannot be used by the community which it belongs to." Harlow-Nash, who is supported by AmeriCorps - a federal domestic volunteer group. Harlow-Nash's project is supported by a group of eight Tuft student interns and a variety of other student volunteers. Harlow-Nash is a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans. He says he is incredibly impressed with the environmental activism of the Tufts campus compared to Tulane. Water Watch has three major programs: addressing water quality problems and the need for river clean-ups, conducting stream monitoring, and providing environmental education. The group also seeks to encourage community members, from fourth graders to college students, to volunteer and see the difference one person can make in the environment. "The goal is to make the river water 'swimmable' and 'fishable' by 2010," Harlow said, betraying his optimism that the river problem is treatable. "But it's upon the volunteers to reach that goal." According to Harlow, Water Watch's immediate goals are to educate and rope in as many volunteers as possible. Reaching these aspirations would mean the Mystic Valley River could one day be transformed into a hot spot for students, offering recreational activities like boating, swimming and fishing. There are indeed beautiful spots accessible to students like the Mystic River Bay front where students could be able to enjoy boating and canoeing. This semester it hopes to organize at least three clean-ups, one of which took place yesterday. Other opportunities to volunteer are vast. For those who don't want to get dirty, Water Watch offers the chance to sign up for activities including giving presentations to educate community members. Education and volunteerism, however, are not always enough. Funding for Water Watch, a joint program between AmeriCorps and the MASSPIRG Education Fund, is indeed a problem: Water Watch's budget is subsidized by donations of money and equipment such as gloves, but the lack of steadier and more substantial funds makes it difficult to advertise the cause. In addition, individual clean-ups are helpful, but one of the greatest keys to a clean river is the need for corporations to cease their pollution of the river. Civil and environmental engineering professor John Durant told the Daily last year that the biggest progress has been made by the surrounding cities pressuring factories to not continue polluting the river. The most valuable work "can only be done by municipalities," he said. One of the greatest difficulties in getting the people in those municipalities involved is that many of the families who live alongside the river do not speak English as their first language. "It would not have been as difficult if the families spoke English," Harlow said. In addition, the lack of attention focused on the Mystic River, as opposed to its more famous counterpart, makes gathering public support difficult: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal similar to that of Water Watch to make the Charles River swimmable and fishable by 2005. No such EPA plan exists for the Mystic, however. In the meantime, Harlow has recommendations for people who would like to make small changes in their everyday lives to improve water quality. One suggestion is to switch to chemical-free organic cleaners. Another is to pick up after pets, as animal waste may run off of lawns into drains or water sources, sending harmful bacteria into the river. On both individual and group levels, Harlow hopes Tufts' Water Watch will continue to build on its own successes, as well as those of other chapters: during 2003, Water Watch conducted 39 river cleanups, educated 7,733 school-aged children on water quality issues, and conducted 960 hours of stream monitoring. In recognition of its commitment, Water Watch received National Take Pride in America Award from Department of the Interior in 2003. The Water Watch program was the only organization in New England to receive the Take Pride award that year.If students would like to become involved with Water Watch, they may email Zachary Harlow-Nash at Tufts@waterwatchonline.org or look for the group in Miller Hall in the Tufts Institute for Environment.
Tufts recently established a Tissue Engineering Resource Center - the first facility of its kind in the world - with the help of a $4 million grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The Tissue Center, devoted solely to the advancement of tissue engineering, is based at Tufts Science and Technology Center in Medford. The cross-disciplinary nature of the center places it in a unique position, said David Kaplan, Center director and Biomedical Engineering Department chair. Kaplan said the center's two main goals are "building a fundamental scientific base for tissue engineering" and "providing resources and facilitating growth in the field." The establishment of the facility brings Tufts to the forefront of tissue research and into the controversial realm of stem cell research. The Center's first project will study the structure and morphology of synthetic tissue in relation to its effect on the differentiation of stem cells. Stem cells play an important role in the field of tissue engineering because they enable the growth of human tissues and organs in a laboratory, according to a press release. The tissue can then be used for transplants or to study new drugs and procedures. The Bush administration limits the use of federal money for stem cell research and the government spent just $25 million on it in 2003, according to the New York Times. Senator and presidential candidate John Kerry has promised that, if elected, he would lift these restrictions and increase spending to at least $100 million a year. Tufts students and faculty at the Center will use stem cells to tackle the recent development of a technique to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament, commonly known as the ACL. The project was developed by Tufts doctoral candidate Greg Altman under Kaplan's guidance. A torn ACL is a common but severe knee injury - an estimated 200,000 ACL repair surgeries were performed in the U.S. last year at a cost of approximately $3.5 billion. Recovery time for the surgery is generally six months, but many people do not recover full use of their knee for over a year and 15 percent of people who injure their ACL never return to their original level of activity. Using the new method, a completely new ACL is grown in a laboratory using stem cells from a donor's bone marrow. The tissue can be grown even before an injury has occurred and can be preserved, allowing a brand new ACL to be transplanted immediately following an injury. This will shorten the recovery time to weeks and likely result in normal use of the knee. According to Kaplan, the Tissue Center will also use stem cells to grow various tissue models in order to test new drugs. The procedure has the potential to drastically reduce the need for animal testing and make the development of new drugs an easier and more efficient process. Kaplan will work with a diverse array of researchers, including Tufts faculty members from the schools of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Dental Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. He will also be working with personnel from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Division of Health Sciences and Technology. The overriding goal of the center is the advancement of the field of tissue engineering. The center's laboratories will allow scientists from around the world full access to the techniques being developed. A number of collaborations on specific projects are already being planned. Private companies, such as Tissue Regeneration Inc., recently formed by Altman to develop and test his ACL repair method, will also have the option of using the Center's labs. "This center will help stimulate new economic growth by filling an important niche for start-up companies looking for support," Provost Jamshed Bharucha said. "Tufts is proud to be part of this growing field." Tissue engineering is a relatively new field, defined by the NIH as "an emerging multidisciplinary field involving biology, medicine, and engineering that is likely to revolutionize the ways we improve the health and quality of life for millions of people worldwide by restoring, maintaining, or enhancing tissue and organ function."
In Onward and Upward, the Daily spotlights innovative and motivated Tufts alumni who are achieving success in their chosen fields. Since Neal Shapiro graduated from Tufts in 1980, he has traveled a long and distinguished road in his career, beginning as the assistant to the Vice President at ABC News and culminating in his appointment as President of NBC News in June of 2001. From his salvage and expansion of "Dateline" in 1993 after scandal and disorganization left it almost lifeless, to his ability to help out current-day Tufts students with internships, his skills are diverse and his appeal is broad. But his career in television almost didn't happen. Shapiro began his career at Tufts as Editor-in-Chief at the Observer, while working for the New York Times and the Boston Globe as a stringer. "I was very lucky," Shapiro said. "I wanted to have a career in print, because I had loved working on the Observer. It was one of the best things I did in college." Shapiro began pursuing that goal in his typically go-getter fashion. "I sent in about 500 resumes [to newspapers] and I got close to a job at the Washington Star [which shut down a year later]," he said. "But then I got an internship with David Burke, Vice President of ABC News, also a Tufts alum. It turns out the president of ABC had a college kid working for him, too." What Shapiro gained from his print work was not lost once he made the transition to television. "I think [my work in print] was incredibly valuable first because writing is such an important skill to have," he said. "The discipline of writing, of organizing thoughts, of making cogent arguments, being able to report what you've seen or heard: these are all important skills to have." Additionally, Shapiro credits his ability to edit and critique people's work today to his background in writing. Shapiro arrived at NBC when he took the job of executive producer of "Dateline" in March of 1993. He was drawn by "the chance to run my own program - I had done a lot on television, but never had the chance." Shapiro transformed and expanded the show. The Los Angeles Times credited him with restoring the credibility of "Dateline" after an incorrect piece marred its reputation. He expanded the show into its multi-night format while maintaining the quality of the programming, garnering awards that include 25 Emmys and 19 Edward R. Murrow Awards for the program. "When I took over 'Dateline,' I thought it couldn't get much worse, so there was only one place to go: up," Shapiro said. "I saw there [was] a great foundation of talented people. If we work together, remember our obligation to everyone else - if there's anything risky or confusing, we all have an obligation to look at this again - if we did really smart journalism, the show could recover. And it did relatively quickly." In light of his start at NBC and the recent controversy over unverified documents at CBS, how does Shapiro monitor all the stories within his department, not to mention MSNBC? "It is impossible to monitor every piece," he said. "I try to surround myself with the smartest, best people I can find, and if something is particularly high profile or risky, then I get involved." Shapiro has shown an ability to react quickly and change with the pace of news. He became president of NBC in June, 2001, just three months before Sept. 11. "News changes all the time: it is what makes it interesting," Shapiro said. "What Sept. 11 did is change the whole country." "News pre-Sept. 11 is often criticized that it was only titillating, while post-Sept. 11 there are big issues of the day to deal with and we cover them all the time - terrorism, the election, the economy," Shapiro said. Regarding the recent rash of books discussing bias in the media, Shapiro can only speak for his own newsroom. "I think we as journalists need to be on guard that our own personal opinions and views don't shape what we report," he said. "I think the best kind of [news programs and correspondents] are the ones where you don't know who they support." Shapiro cites Tom Brokaw as an example of a correspondent with whom he has worked frequently, but whose political affiliation is still unknown to him. Shapiro hopes to help Tufts students learn these lessons for themselves. "I think it is nice to be able to give back a little bit, and Tufts gave me a lot," said Shapiro, who frequently allots NBC internships to Tufts students. "The quality of education, the friends I made there, have helped mold me." "One of the most import things about being a journalist is to have a wide range of knowledge, and in that regard the liberal education I received at Tufts was incredibly valuable," he added. "So that whether a story is about politics, history or economics, all three of which I studied, or whether someone makes a reference to literature, I have some sense of what they're talking about." Shapiro was able to grow creatively at Tufts as well. "Another valuable [part of my education] was the ExCollege," he said. "I took courses in film and discovered that I liked it and had a good deal of ability to look at a story visually. Television is about marrying the best words and the best pictures." Shapiro has many tasks ahead of him as president of NBC. "I think there are a lot of stories we can do better," he said. "The economy is an incredibly important story. We need another way to tell it. It's still a very dry story, with too many numbers." Shapiro will likely be in a position to achieve that goal for quite some time. "This could be it - I love what I'm doing and I'm fortunate to do it," he said. "At the moment I have no plans, and no plans to make plans." Shapiro's advice for students is simple. "You'll be fortunate if you can find a job that matches you up with your interests," he said. "I feel incredibly lucky that my job is to pay attention to what happens in the world." "Be someone who works harder than anybody else," he added. "And never make the same mistake twice."
The Shape Up Somerville program, a community partnership program which aims to educate first to thirdgraders about healthy eating and physical activity habits as a means to prevent obesity, took kinetic form yesterday as Somerville children played during the last hours of their weekend.
You can smell it in the air. You can see it in the streets and on campus. It's football season. You know what that means. Gathering around with a bunch of your friends to ... hold your league's fantasy draft and pick your team. Running backs go first, than quarterbacks, then wide receivers, tight ends (Kellen Winslow anyone?), defenses, and even kickers. Then you vigorously watch as much football as possible so you can ... scout players, make trades, and improve your team so you score the most points in your league and have the best record. Eventually, toward season's end, playoff fever starts. No, it doesn't mean that the best teams in the NFL will be jockeying to see who wins which division and who gets each wild card spot. Playoff season has a whole new meaning. It's when the best fantasy teams will square off in head-to-head battles for bragging rights over who is the better football fan and who will win The League Title. Sacking the Tufts campus like a hit from Willie McGinest, fantasy football is everywhere. Everyone has a team. Most people have more than one (I have two). I was on my way to Dewick on September 20th when I saw someone in a McNabb jersey. Finally, I thought, a fellow Eagles fan. Actually, the kid was just showing his support for his fantasy quarterback, who had a big game that evening against the Vikings (he was huge, throwing for 245 yards and 2 TDs while rushing for another. Go you Birds!). Another sophomore, who shall remain anonymous, compared fantasy football to a certain addictive powdery illegal drug. Indeed, fantasy football has taken hold of the nation with such force that it can no longer be ignored as simply a hobby. A poll conducted by Harris Interactive found that an estimated 29.6 million people play fantasy sports. An Ipsos-Reid Group study followed and showed that 93 percent of people playing fantasy sports play fantasy football. Ipsos-Reid also found that on average, a fantasy football player is a 37-year-old man with an ever-increasing income and an undergrad degree who manages 2.4 teams and spends $154 a year to feed his habit. That's chump change compared to the 672 competitors in the World Championship of Fantasy Football, who forked over a $1,450 entry fee and traveled to Las Vegas for the draft. A $200,000 pot awaits the winner of the league. Most people may not spend as much time and money on fantasy football as these diehards, but on average fantasy players still devote six hours a week to their fantasy football teams. The hobby has become an industry, with an estimated 1.3 million people playing at NFL.com's pay site, according to Nielsen Media Research. Yahoo! estimates that 8.5 million visit its fantasy site every month and ESPN's most profitable division has become its fantasy football pay sites. The Sporting News offers cell phone updates, Best Buy has its own league, and millions are spent by magazines and websites to break down who will be the fantasy sleeper and the big bust of the season (my guess is Matt Hasselbeck, with an incredibly weak first two games). Feeling left out because you don't already have an online franchise? Don't worry. It's easier than ever to become a fantasy guru like the rest of the population. Step 1: Simply get a few friends together and go to one of the many websites that offer fantasy sports and form a league. Yahoo! generally has the best site. You may have to register with Yahoo if you are a new user, but it's free and easy. Step 2: Pick a team name. It can be anything. Examples include Brady/Branch_in_2004, DamnitfeelsgoodtobeaJumbo, or the ever popular Undefeated. Since fantasy football is about trash talking and bragging rights, use your team name to irk your friends. GoYankees! would be a surefire way to piss off any New Englander. Step 3: Scout out your team. Look at the many, many Web sites and magazines for fantasy rankings and injury reports. ESPN The Magazine often has great fantasy numbers, as does The Sporting News. (Hint: use LexisNexis through the Tisch Library server to see most of these for free) Step 4: The Draft. Be sure to take your running backs early, something I learned the hard way. Tyrone Wheatley will not make up for not getting Priest Holmes, Jamal Lewis, or Clinton Portis early. Also, use the draft to trump up your football prowess over that of your league rivals ("Keyshawn Johnson? Why would anyway take a washed up Dallas receiver who's taking passes from Vinny Testaverde. He's almost as old as Bill Parcells"). Step 5: Watch the games. Watch your team. Try not to fall behind. You'll learn very soon which players are keepers, sleepers, and busts. Make deals and improve your team. Look for bargain trades and big free agents. Step 6: Watch the injury wire. You don't want to be that guy who looks at his team Sunday morning and sees that your starting tight end is out this week with turf toe (thanks Jeremy Shockey). Step 7: Bash your friends throughout the season for lousy trades, bad pickups and poor managing and try to withstand their jabs. Step 8: Hope that the football gods help you enough each week for you to come out on top and win the league. Welcome to the new NFL, the new football season. Give up playing a pickup game of tackle football in the icy wind after a Patriots victory and embrace the glow of your laptop as you calculate how many points you are going to score this weekend. Fantasy football is here to stay.
These days vampires aren't the only ones going for the jugular. Anne Rice, empress of vampire novels everywhere since "Interview with a Vampire" was first published in 1973, has now become the empress of the hissy-fit. Earlier this month, Rice used the Internet to fire back at critical Amazon users when she found them posting "outrageously negative comments" about her most recent book. But Rice isn't the only author using the Internet as a means to connect to readers, for better or worse. More and more writers are trading in their status as demi-gods to relate to their fans. The Rice fracas developed over reviews of "Blood Canticle," the ninth and last novel in her "Vampire Chronicles" series. Disappointed readers took to the Amazon rating system to express their disdain for the book after it was originally published in October 2003. This is the second avalanche of criticism to occur on the same online forum, but the first time Rice acknowledged it. "... There is very little plot to be found in 'Blood Canticle,'" reader Sebastian Pharand wrote on Amazon. "As a matter of fact, there is very little to appreciate in this self-loathing, overwrought novel." "I thought 'Blood Canticle' was not only extremely disappointing ... but also whiny, affected, uninspired, and poorly written," reviewer David Warner wrote. "I could have written a better final installment myself, even if I'd never read the rest of her series." Such negative reviews are hardly uncommon, even for as popular an author as Rice. But the renewed attacks evidently touched a chord in the famed vampire novelist, and on September 6, she took to Amazon herself to address her critics head on. "Seldom do I really answer those who criticize my work," Rice wrote. "In fact, the entire development of my career has been fueled by my ability to ignore denigrating and trivializing criticism as I realize my dreams and my goals. However, there is something compelling about Amazon's willingness to publish just about anything and the sheer outrageous stupidity of many things you've said here that actually touches my proletarian and Democratic soul." The comment lambasted those who had criticized Rice's characters, her writing style, and her fan-base. "[Y]ou have used this site as if it were a public urinal to publish falsehood and lies," she wrote. Rice finished by telling critics to e-mail her personally, and told any disappointed readers who "wanted [their] money back" that they could send their books back to her personally, giving an address and stating that she wasn't "a coward about my real name or where I live." Though the comment was eventually removed from the Amazon's databases, the author admitted to posting the review in a note to her readers on her official website. She offered up her e-mail as well as claimed to have responded to her critics who had written her personally. But beyond Rice's temper-tantrum saga is the growing reality that authors are increasingly utilizing the Internet to answer critics and interact with readers. The Internet is popular among writers because it allows them to mix with the public as equals, giving fans the opportunity to see a favorite author as a human being rather than simply a name on a book. Romance novel publishing companies have utilized Internet forums for years to encourage their writers to intermingle with readers. Neil Gaiman, a popular comic book writer turned novelist, answers questions and jokes with fans through a personal blog published on his Web site. Writers have even turned to the Internet to keep up interests in their series when there has been a long delay between books. Earlier this summer, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling launched a personal Web site that offered readers a behind-the-scenes look at her popular series while the publishing date for her upcoming novel is presumably years away. But there is a dark side to the increased contact between writers and fans, as the Rice incident shows. The Internet, with its forced equality, has done much to break down the "fourth wall" between the mystified author-god and his/her reader - something that would have thrilled literary theorist Roland Barthes, but often does little to support the legends that spring up around media figures. For the first time in history, readers no longer have to depend on professional critics for individual opinions of an author's work. The Internet puts everyone on equal footing, throwing away the distinction between a world-class book critic and a bored college student when they publish their opinions on Amazon.com. As a result, attacks can become much less filtered, much more personal, and infinitely numerous. But when an author like Rice fires back, it's her own image that often suffers in the eyes of her readers. She looks like a baby, whining, instead of a literary goddess. "[Y]ou have strained my Dickensean [sic] principles to the max," Rice informed her reviewers on Amazon. "I'm justifiably proud of being read by intellectual giants and waitresses in trailer parks, in fact, I love it, but who in the world are you?" Unfortunately for Rice, thanks to the Internet, thanks to her taking their bait, they are her equals.
