The popular Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) program turns 20 this year and the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL), which runs the EPIIC program, plans to celebrate the milestone with events throughout the academic year.
Junior Anura Patil, like many other students who are finishing up their last two years at Tufts, is worried about the imminent challenge of moving into the real world. Her plans for after college aren't yet set, but if Patil's pattern in her ventures thus far holds true, one thing is set: success in whatever post-graduate endeavor she decides to pursue.
During sophomore year when it comes time to make the final decisions about where to study abroad, most students already know where they are headed; in fact, they have known for years. This was definitely the case with me: I was going to Paris first semester and then Buenos Aires second. I had prepared for this and had appropriately taken enough French and Spanish to be able to do this. But when the time finally came, "love" (or something like it) drew me away from these places as I followed my significant other to the far-away continent of Australia.
Inclement weather conditions could not prevent the Tufts sailing team from having a successful weekend. The squad placed in third place or above in four regattas held throughout New England.
In an ongoing series, the Daily spotlights Tufts administrators and professors who also attended Tufts as undergraduates.
While the fall television season might look rather grim, one bright spot is our very own TUTV, Tufts University Television. The station, which can be found on channel 23 on campus, has been revamped with new equipment which will help the station reach more viewers than ever, and hopefully bring in more station members as well.
Not even Hurricane Ivan could hold back the women's rugby team.
The building housing the Catholic Center at Tufts, located at 58 Winthrop Street in Medford, was sold to the University over the summer for an undisclosed amount.
There are some movies that make you want to scream in frustration at what might have been. "Silver City" is one of them. The film, written and directed by renowned director John Sayles, just doesn't work. The jokes fall flat, the script is poor though out, and the acting is for the most part uninspired and average.
Tufts women's tennis is well aware that there will be matches down the road where every point will count. And while that was not the case in yesterday's 9-0 home win over Bates College(1-2, 0-2 NESCAC), it is clear just how much energy the team focuses into winning every point, specifically in the doubles matches.
Congratulations to Carl Sciortino on successfully challenging Vincent Ciampa's seat in the Massachusetts state legislature. It is interesting to note that the changing demographics of the City of Somerville probably had a lot to do with this upset victory, and your September 21 article ("Tufts grad wins nomination with door-to-door strategy") correctly cited this.
I know I'm fly, and I wish girls would stop telling me. I know I could be even more dope, however, if I built up these pecs of mine. Any advice on where to begin sculpting my already above-average body?
Coming off a 6-4 NESCAC season and a fifth place NESCAC finish, the women's volleyball team set their sights on winning the NESCAC championship in 2004. The team got off to a perfect start on the path to this goal as they defeated all three of their NESCAC opponents 3-0 this past weekend at home. "We took care of business," coach Cora Thompson said. "We did not drop games. The priority was not just to win, but to win with authority." The Jumbos did just that, as they won every single game, only allowing their opponent to reach more than 19 points once. That occurred in the Jumbos' 30-23 victory in the final game of the first match on Saturday against the Trinity Bantams. The Jumbos did find themselves in a close game in the opening game of the final match of the weekend against the Wesleyan Cardinals. At one point in this opening game, the score was knotted at 14-14. From then on, however, the Jumbos ran away with the match, producing a 16-4 run to take the victory. After that 14-14 tie, the Jumbos outscored the Cardinals 76 to 25, allowing nine and 12 points in the last two games of the match. Senior co-captains Emily Macy and Allison Sauer recorded 12 and 11 kills respectively in the match. Freshman setter Megan Tunstill added 40 assists. The Jumbos started their weekend by handily defeating the Connecticut College Camels 3-0 on Friday night. Junior Courtney Evans recorded six of the team's 13 aces to go along with her three solo blocks, seven block assists and five kills. Sophomore Kelli Harrison added 12 kills and freshman Stephanie Viola led the defense with 15 digs. The Jumbos found themselves tied with the Camels in the third and final game of the match with a score of 10-10. At this point, the Jumbos rallied for a 20-3 run, putting the match out of reach. The next day, the team went on to defeat the Bantams in three straight, 30-14, 30-19 and 30-23. The Jumbos employed a balanced offensive attack as Macy, Sauer, junior April Gerr and Harrison each earned at least six kills. Evans continued her hot serving with four aces to go along with her three solo blocks and three assists. The Jumbos came out of the weekend very satisfied with their perfect NESCAC record. "It's definitely a big deal because the NESCAC matches are what really count; the first seed hosts the NESCAC tournament, which is very significant," Sauer said. "Coming into our next weekend, we're definitely more confident at 3-0 than if we had lost a game." Although it was not a NESCAC game, the team was excited to beat MIT 3-1 last Wednesday in Cambridge. According to Thompson, the team was confident that they could beat MIT, but it was just a matter of execution. "We played so well [against MIT]," she said. "We are a very talented team, but we need to prove that. We need to prove that every day. We need to prove that we are a team to be reckoned with." Evans recorded 13 kills and was aided by 10 kills each from Harrison and Sauer in the match. The Jumbos were successful at the net defensively as they recorded 10 solo blocks and 28 assists. With their current five-game win streak, the Jumbos feel that they are becoming more comfortable with each other on the court. "I thought our communication was great and improved as the weekend went on," Evans said. "[Our communication] really helped us to beat Wesleyan." Thompson emphasized verbal communication as the key to playing together. "We say that when we talk, our feet listen," Thompson said. "One of the most important things to have out there is that kind of running commentary." The Jumbos will try to extend their winning streak against Gordon College at 7 p.m. tonight at Cousens Gym. Although this is not a conference game, the team takes every opponent seriously. "We try to come into every game viewing our opponents as a tough match, so that we play at the top of our game," Evans said.
Tufts alum Carl Sciortino should be commended on winning the Democratic nomination for the Massachusetts legislature for Medford and Somerville. Sciortino's win (the seat, at this time, is uncontested) shows the importance of political involvement by Tufts students and alumni in Medford and Somerville. Tufts students should follow his lead. Tufts students hold the capability to sway local elections. The race between Sciortino and incumbent Vinnie Ciampa had a margin of only 117 votes. But, most Tufts students don't participate, or are barely aware, of local politics. This is evidenced by the continued election of Alderman Bob Trane. He campaigns in Somerville's Ward 7, which includes the Tufts area, on an anti-Tufts platform. Trane is the same official threatening to revoke housing permits for three Tufts fraternities. If Tufts students were involved in Medford and Somerville elections it is unlikely that Trane, or candidates with similar platforms, could continue to be elected. Somerville has about 40,000 registered voters, but only about 9,000 people voted in the Sciortino/Ciampa race. If only some of Tufts' 5,000 students registered to vote in Somerville, the influence would be felt. Tufts students are certainly political, as can be seen by the influence the presidential campaigns are having on-campus life. Fundraisers for candidates and campaigning in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are commonplace activities for students. But the interest does not seem to extend to Medford and Somerville. Local politics directly affect all Tufts students. Obviously, off-campus students deal with local government, most vitally when they are ensuring the safety of their house. Damaging and fatal house fires in recent years show the importance of Medford and Somerville governments to find a way of guaranteeing a certain level of safety when tenants rent an apartment. On-campus students are still affected by local politics. Whether parties are shut down or outside concerts receive complaints, what we do on campus affects our neighbors. And they likewise affect what happens on campus. Last year, the Somerville Historical Society blocked the building of a dorm that would have allowed more students to stay on campus. If students were to become more involved in local politics, these problems wouldn't disappear overnight. Nor would they necessarily be resolved. But, it would give the Tufts community a louder voice in what goes on in Medford and Somerville. By actually voting, local politicians would realize they need to listen and court the Tufts student to get reelected. Voting locally would also show that Tufts students have a vested interest in the Medford and Somerville communities. Students could be viewed as a vibrant part of the community, instead of carpet-baggers who set up camp while classes are on. Hopefully, Sciortino's nomination will encourage other Tufts students to take an active role in Somerville and Medford politics. But first, students should make ourselves noticed by showing our power in votes. We live here at least nine months out of the year. We should be just as involved in what happens in our backyard as to what happens on Capitol Hill.
A Viewpoint yesterday ("The Olympic Games and immortality") stated that Ethopian Haile Gebrselassie was a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. He is a two-time Olympic gold medal winner.
The Women's Cross Country team used a tight pack of runners to take fourth place among a talented field of Canadian and American teams at the McGill Open in Montreal, Quebec on Saturday. Freshman Katy O'Brien (14:46) and junior Becca Ades (14:47) led the Jumbos again this weekend, finishing 13th and 14th, respectively, in the 4k race. Freshmen legs paced the Jumbos again with O'Brien, Catherine Beck (23rd, 15:00), Anna Shih (28th, 15:06), and Laura Walls (45th, 15:32) finishing in the top eight for the team. "You don't generally expect your freshmen coming in to be an immediate impact," head coach Kristen Morwick said. "We kind of lucked out." The freshmen, along with sophomore Raquel Morgan (26th), a transfer student, have joined Ades and sophomore Sarah Crispin (35th) to give the Jumbos considerable depth and firepower. The team managed to place its top seven runners within 31 seconds of each other, an improvement of 21 seconds from the Connecticut College Invitational's split for the same seven. In addition, the top seven runners were the same names, but in a different order. "We have the luxury of having a little depth this year," Morwick said. "Our top seven should be different every week. It's going to be all over place." Tufts has a very deep roster, with senior Katie Mason, junior Arielle Aaronson and sophomore Jennifer Torpey joining Walls to form a middle pack that is only a few seconds off the leaders. Teams rely on such depth to carry them through long seasons, which can be marred by injury. "This year, for the first time since I've been at Tufts, I feel that we have that [depth]," Morwick said. The Jumbos are replete with underclassmen and field only four seniors on their 29-person roster. The addition of the fast freshmen, along with returnees one year older and one year more experienced, has left Morwick very optimistic. "The team is a lot better. People are returning in better shape and the new people are great," Morwick said. "Hopefully, this is the start of a really good trend with cross country." With such a young and inexperienced team, Morwick has been pleasantly surprised by the Jumbos' success. Early in the season, teams train longer and harder and do not expect to see very fast times at their initial meets. Yet the freshmen have set a new trend. "Some of them are completely unfazed by hard training," Morwick said. "They are pretty laid back about competition. It's very rare to have freshmen like that." Tufts lost its top two runners, tri-captains Lauren Caputo and Lauren Dunn, to graduation in the spring. Caputo, an All-American, was the team's only representative at the NCAA Div. III National Championships last season, finishing 71st. However, Morwick is not worried. "We are way ahead of where we were last year," Morwick said. "Yeah we lost Dunn and Caputo, but we put ten people in front of Dunn's time at [McGill] last year." News and Notes: Joining the Jumbos in the Open was NESCAC rival Williams, who took second. Considering that the Ephs, who placed fourth at the NCAA Div. III Nationals last season, have a very strong program with sound recruiting, Morwick predicted that the Ephs could win Nationals this season ... Senior Emily Pfiel, who didn't run over the summer due to injury, will be practicing this week ... The team will join the Men's team at home in Grafton this Saturday for the Jumbo Invitational at 1 p.m.
Students at Tufts can be observed practicing and perfecting many skills - conjugating verbs in Swahili, researching for a Senior Thesis or getting the perfect backhand throw in a game of Ultimate Frisbee. But no matter what subjects students study or what skills they perfect, nearly all students will sooner or later face the same daunting test: the job interview. Whether they are seniors preparing for life after college or underclassmen who hope to hold a job during the school year, job-seekers should apply the philosophy of "research, reflect and rehearse" to their job interviews, said Career Services Director Jean Papalia. "Use all of your resources to learn more about the employer and the position for which you're interviewing," Papalia added. Though preparation is vital before an interview, it is also necessary to hone one's behavior before meeting with a potential employer. Facial expression, handshake and attire are all important components. "First impressions are key," Papalia said. Freshman Nick Pasquariello learned that firsthand when he interviewed for a job at a bakery. "I went in after school, so I was in my uniform - a button-down shirt, tie and khakis," he said. "[The owner] said I fit the 'look' they were going for ... so she hired me." Still, all students make mistakes at times. Bad first impressions or errors during the interview could be handled in two ways. "You can address it at that moment - with candor, honesty and confidence," Papalia said. "Or, you may choose to carefully address it in your follow-up 'thank-you' note." Many students come to Tufts with prior experience in the interviewing process. Freshman Mark Villanueva was no stranger to interviews, having held three separate jobs during high school. His first, at a movie theater, was the most memorable. "I was pretty na??ve back then, so when the manager asked me why I wanted to work there, I told him the truth," Villanueva recalls. "It was close to my house, I liked movies and it paid more than any of the other jobs I'd been applying for." Though Villanueva did in fact get the job, he was "stuck at the door tearing tickets for about three months, which is a really mindless, boring job." Later, he discovered that "the reason they stick people at door is because they give bad interviews." Despite Villanueva's bad experience with telling the truth, Career Services believes that honesty is "absolutely" the best policy. Instead of lying about sensitive topics, such as a lack of experience or a low GPA, Papalia advises students to "discuss the issue with a Career Counselor and develop a response that allows you to respond honestly and keep the interview focused on your strengths." She also warns to avoid the topic of salary in the first interview, as well as "extraneous questions, such as benefits, vacation, hours of employment and the like." However, there is one thing students should focus on but often forget: their enthusiasm. "Employers want to know that you want the job!" Papalia said. The National Association of Colleges and Employers' 2004 Job Outlook listed "motivation and initiative" as the fourth most important qualities employers today are seeking. The first was "communication skills," followed by "honesty" and "integrity." Occasionally, skills like these aren't what make a potential employer get noticed. Now and then, situations come up in which a person can make him or herself stand out above the other applicants. Such was the case with French Professor Violet Thomas, who, before working at Tufts, answered an ad in the Times of London asking for a typist fluent in French. "I went to the interview and it turned out to be at the Tunisian embassy in London," Thomas said. "They were interviewing me and I had to prove that I could type. Of course, the typewriter wasn't working, so the better part of my interview, I spent fixing the typewriter for them, and I think that's how I got hired!" Thomas's work paid off: "I ended up being the private secretary of the ambassador to Tunisia, so it was a pretty big job," she said. Sometimes, though, even the best interview doesn't end successfully. Junior Greg Apostle's application for a job with Enterprise Rent-A-Car seemed to be going perfectly. "I had an interview with the main office, which went well," he said. His second interview with a would-be future boss seemed to go even better. "I had all the right answers," Apostle said. "He made it seem like I had the job." But after being told he would be called back, the company never contacted Apostle again. Though nothing is a guarantee, Papalia suggests that checking sources like the company's Web site could help students interviewing for a position. Without research, a student could be discomfited during an interview, she said. "A recent example here at Tufts was a senior who was asked the name of the firm's CEO," Papalia said. Embarrassment followed when the student was unable to respond. After learning about the organization for which a student hopes to work, Career Services advises him or her to "reflect" - think of answers to possible questions that will be asked during the interview. "The query that candidates most often find challenging: 'Why you?'" Papalia said. "If you've done your homework, you'll be prepared to answer these questions and differentiate yourself from your competition." The final "rehearsal" phase of preparation for an interview is simple: practice. "Somewhere between your brain and your mouth, the most articulate responses become garbled," Papalia said. "Try answering typical questions out loud." Typical questions from interviews are available on the Career Services website. "The better your preparation, the better your performance," Papalia said.
Prepare to be boarded, ye sea dogs and scallywags! The legendary Brethren of the Coast put in t' port at Salem Harbor this weekend past, making good use o' the cursed waters lying within and forcing any lily-bellied landlubbers foolhardy enough to venture among 'em to keep an extra watchful eye on their purses and doubloons. Adventure was abound in Salem as the town played host to its first ever Pirate Faire, which took place Sept. 18 and 19 near the city's harbor. Buccaneers and brigands, turncoats and traitors, pirates and privateers all cast anchor and ventured up the coast for the two-day event, which was put on by a spirited cast of those that have sailed under a pirate flag, in or beyond the Spanish Main. Festival goers ranged from the ordinary, decorated with only an eye patch or a bandana, to the piratical extreme. Colorful cloaks, jingling sashes, leather tricorns and elaborately decorated knee-length boots dotted the fields where the Faire took place, with some guests and cast members sporting full 17th century seafarer regalia. While brigands and buccaneers aren't exactly the first colorful group that comes to mind when one thinks of Salem, pirates have been a fixture in New England for centuries, dating back to the days of Stede Bonnett and William Kidd. Pirate ships may not have pillaged the coast, but buccaneers from the northern colonies did their fair share of disrupting trade and ravaging unprotected ships. The Pirate Faire took advantage of the area's rich history, using colorful characters from New England maritime history to stage a series of ongoing skits over the two days. Edward Teach, Ned Low, Black Sam Bellamy and Mary Read all butted heads with pirate hunters and privateers, in a story that ended with our heroes triumphing just as the festival drew to a close on Sunday evening. Pirate music, puppet shows, and impromptu skirmishes kept the fairground lively all weekend long. In addition, all kinds of piratical vendors were present, presumably to take advantage of faire-goers' newly weighted money purses, heavy from their adventures of plundering at sea. The faire itself was set over extended fields in Salem's Winter Island Park. Visiting marauders could explore the backwoods trails that connected the various areas of the festival. Alternatively, raiders could hike up to a watchtower stationed on the hill to interact with members of the British Navy and to try to capture period cannons from the pirates that guarded them. The celebration was scheduled to coincide with this year's "Talk Like a Pirate Day" on Sept. 19. The impromptu holiday has been celebrated annually since 2002, when Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dave Barry of the Miami Herald wrote about it in his weekly piece, and it has since become popular with pirate fans across the seven seas. The premise behind the unofficial holiday is simple: anything, be it an everyday conversation or a State of the Union address, can be made a thousand times better when you parlay the tongue of a buccaneer. According to the official Web site, a preacher in Scotland was even preparing a sermon in pirate talk that he was planning to give for this year's celebration. Unfortunately, since this year's piratical frenzy fell on a Sunday, many self-styled buccaneers were foiled from displaying the pirate vernacular in front of colleagues or classmates at work and school. Faire-goers expressed their enthusiasm for the celebration, with some swearing a black-hearted oath to extend the holiday into "Talk Like a Pirate Week" in order to get their full shilling's worth out of the event. The Salem Pirate Faire was organized by Pastimes Interactive, a historical recreation group which also puts on Massachusetts' King Arthur Festival and Robin Hood Faire in the spring and summer. They supplied the actors and much of the historical flavor, but it was the buccaneer fans of Boston, Salem and beyond that captured the spirit of sea adventures long past. In the end, after the day had been saved and the heroic pirates had sailed off into the sunset (although not before blowing a hole in the side of the marauding Francois L'Ollanais's ship), the Pirate Faire proved what the piratical at heart have always known all along: any adventure, no matter how well staged, becomes a whole lot more exciting when you add in a healthy "ARRR!"
I never thought I would say this, but from seven to eight on Sunday night I really missed Joan Rivers. ABC's lackluster Emmy pre-show was shamelessly self-promotional and left a lot to be desired: Joan and Melissa Rivers' catty, shallow and deliciously shameless banter was replaced by a sleep-inducing George Lopez, who strolled around passing out "The George Lopez Show" water to fans and actors. And whose brilliant idea was it to have the stars interview with Muppet couple Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy? But on to the real show. HBO miniseries "Angels in America," a drama detailing the AIDS crisis of the 80s, swept the 56th annual Emmys with a record-tying 11 wins out of 21 nominations. The miniseries' win followed the typical awards show formula, in which the members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences fall madly in love with one particular work and proceed to shower it with countless awards. The ceremony is the part where acting on television comes in: everyone else in the audience sits for three hours trying to look surprised. Speed seemed to be the name of the game at this year's awards, with the amount of time allotted per acceptance speech clocking in at a swift 30 seconds. "I'd like to sing this now if I may," Mitchell Hurwitz quipped as the Emmy orchestra began playing in the midst of his acceptance speech. Hurwitz picked up an award for his writing on FOX's comedy and critical darling "Arrested Development." Drea de Matteo, who was offed on "The Sopranos" and resurrected on the new "Friends" spinoff "Joey," received the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She neglected to thank anyone specifically, saying that her surprise over the win might cause her to "puke, choke, cry or die - and you've already seen me do that!" Mary Louise Parker won for best supporting actress in a miniseries for her role in "Angels in America" and credited the show's director, Michael Nichols, saying that "he could get a good performance out of a quiche, I swear." Two mere non-Hollywood mortals provided some of the most original Emmy entertainment of the night: Amy Scholsohn of Florida and Bruce Milam, Jr. of Illinois were led onto the stage blindfolded to unwittingly present the Outstanding Reality Show award (which went to CBS's "The Amazing Race" for the second consecutive year). The pair was in L.A. filming what they were told was a new reality series, but the joke was on them. When the blindfolds came off to reveal the 6,000 stars, and Garry Shandling reminded them of the additional estimated television audience of 20 million, it appeared that Milam began to shed a few tears. Scholsohn, upon spotting Jennifer Aniston and hubby Brad Pitt a few rows from the stage, eloquently blurted out, "Jennifer Aniston! They say I look like you!" Unfortunately for the two new reality overnight sensations, the number of people who were actually watching the Emmys was considerably less than expected: only 14 million viewers reportedly tuned in for the awards show, which is the lowest figure in 14 years. With this year's departure of the television powerhouses "Friends," "Frasier" and "Sex and the City," the continuing deluge of reality shows, and the clean sweep of awards by exclusive cable programmer HBO, mainstream network execs are probably starting to feel the pinch. But at least ABC has a good strategy: George Lopez surely won a lot of new fans on account of that brilliant water bottle idea. With only a few slightly surprising upsets, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences mainly stuck to the obvious, with acting veterans Al Pacino (who won for his role in "Angels in America") and Kelsey Grammer each picking up another statue at Sunday's awards to add to their abundant collections. Grammer has milked "Frasier" for its weight in Emmy gold: his latest statue brings his total to four. Towards the end of the night, another familiar awards-winner took the stage. Meryl Streep brought home an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Emmy for her role in "Angels in America." "You know, there are some days when I myself think I'm overrated," she said, laughing as she clutched her award.
On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 12 at 3:10 a.m., a non-Tufts student created a disturbance by blocking traffic on Packard Avenue. He was approached by an officer of the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD), but refused to move upon request. He was promptly arrested by TUPD for disorderly conduct and refusal to produce a license. An armed robbery occurred at Whitfield Avenue early Saturday morning at 1:40 a.m. During a party being held at the house that evening, a resident spotted a white male in an orange hat and polo shirt leave the house with a laptop, several X-Box games, and headphones. The resident confronted the suspect outside the house, at which point the suspect brandished a knife and subsequently fled the scene in the presence of as many as six eyewitnesses, according to TUPD Captain Mark Keith. TUPD immediately released a description of the suspect to the Medford and Somerville police and within 15 minutes a Medford police officer stopped the suspect on Powderhouse Boulevard. The stolen items were recovered; the knife was not. An unidentified male threw a brick through the window of 100 Packard Avenue, the Theta Chi house, early last Thursday at 1:10 a.m. The suspect, spotted running from the scene, was described as 5'8"-6'0" and sported khaki shorts and a dark shirt. A search of the area yielded no suspect for the vandalism.-- Compiled by Katharine Clark
