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Evanescence and the Beautiful Foolishness of Things: Spring snow

By Isabella Jin | February 13

According to the traditional Chinese calendar, on Feb. 4, we officially transitioned into spring. The first season in the 24-term solar calendar, Lichun (立春), marks the start of the new year and the beginning of harvest. It is also known as risshun in Japanese, ipchun in Korean and lập xuân in Vietnamese. Lichun doesn’t mark the immediate defrosting of snow, yet it is felt as and symbolizes the first marks of blooming life. In fact, the present snow is often seen as a contributor to the joys of the season because, as snow gradually melts, it nourishes the ground underneath to bring a strong, lucrative harvest. Beyond its practical role, snow also holds powerful symbolism and aesthetic meaning in East Asian thought. 

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Moments ‘til Madness: An abysmal year for the Big East

By Owen Short | February 12

Coming into the 2025–26 college basketball season, the Big East was projected to earn five to six bids in the NCAA Tournament. With about a month remaining until the conference tournament, the league is now projected to receive just three. Last year, the Big East had five teams in March Madness and appeared relatively strong compared to the rest of the Power Five. This year, however, the conference is rated comfortably last among the five in most metrics. What happened to the so-called ‘basketball-first’ conference?

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A Jumbo’s Journey Abroad: Turning around

By Ben Rachel | February 12

My initial idea for this publication was going to be me complaining about the heinous weather out here in Barcelona. I’ve been here for a month now and it’s only been over 60 degrees, like, five times! It’s been getting pretty cold, with last night dropping to the high 40s. I’m not sure what it’s like back at Tufts, but I bet it’s better than here!

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The Death of Education: Follow Mississippi

By Evan Wang | February 12

As the spring semester picks up, it’s important to remind ourselves that the average National Assessment of Education Progress scores in math, reading, science, civics and U.S. history for students in the United States are now back to what they were in the 1990s. This decline in student performance has been occurring since 2013; it has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-pandemic inability to curtail chronic absenteeism. Presently, 74% of tested countries outperform U.S. students in science, and a staggering 86% outperform them in reading.

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Through Indigenous Eyes: Let’s talk about ICE

By Sorsha Khitikian | February 5

On Jan. 8, an Indigenous man named Jose Roberto ‘Beto’ Ramirez was dragged from his vehicle in Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Despite insisting on both his U.S. and tribal citizenship, he was beaten, detained and then sent to an ICE detention center for questioning. After being told he would facecharges for assaulting a federal officer, he was released over six hours after his initial encounter with ICE.

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Worth Going Broke?: Hot or cold?

By Eloise Bernstein | January 30

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I had the pleasure of giving a friend of mine, Sae, a tour of Tufts. It was a perfect day to tour campus since it had snowed the night before, blanketing everything in a shining layer of white. The tour went great, but by the time we got back to Mayer Campus Center, we were both frozen to the bone. In a moment of genius, I pulled her onto the shuttle to Davis Square, promising her warm food just one bus stop away. With faces bundled into scarves and hands shoved into gloves, we made the trip to Yume Ga Arukara.

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A Jumbo’s Journey Abroad: Hungry, tired, hungover, saying yes

By Ben Rachel | January 28

For those who are wondering if I’m still alive, I can confidently say I think I am. I’m going on my third full week in Barcelona, and my stats have been pretty crazy: 10 nights out past 3 a.m., 50 bocadillos, 100 cafés sin leche, 574 Google Maps searches and one Instagram post (on my spam, because I’m still thinking up a caption for my real account).

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Evanescence and the Beautiful Foolishness of Things: East Asian art in global auctions

By Isabella Jin | January 26

The spectacle of the New York Sales auctions at Sotheby’s last November, which were headlined by Gustav Klimt’s “Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer” (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, 1914–16), sold for $236.4 million, is a great opportunity to introduce East Asian artworks that have set records at international auctions. 

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Through Indigenous Eyes: Vanishing, Surviving

By Sorsha Khitikian | December 8

As my mom and I left Arkansas, we traveled north through Missouri and Illinois to Chicago, then east to Detroit and up through Canada to Niagara Falls. At all of these stops, we never really ran into anything that had obvious Indigenous ties. Once we crossed back into the United States, we still didn’t run into anything explicitly Indigenous. While this may be surprising to you, it was anything but surprising to me.

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Forgotten Fronts: The Security Council must act to prevent further democratic collapse in Burma

By Alexander Degterev | December 8

With a private meeting on Myanmar of the Security Council looming on the horizon, the council must act to further support civilians and strengthen ASEAN-led peace efforts.

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Forgotten Fronts: How you can support mine action in Burma

By Alexander Degterev | December 3

Reading my rants about humanitarian crises around the world, the philanthropically minded among you may have thought to yourselves: How can I lend a helping hand to people thousands of miles away?

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Through Indigenous Eyes: Side by side

By Sorsha Khitikian | November 24

As my mom and I crossed out of the Southwest into Arkansas, we came face-to-face with Fort Smith. For those who don’t know, Fort Smith is widely considered the last stop on the Trail of Tears, a genocidal displacement of southeastern Indigenous people. At Fort Smith, Indigenous people were sent into what is now known as Oklahoma, which the U.S. government deemed “Indian” territory at the time. While I was nervous to explore this site, my Mom and I thought it was important to sit with the pain of this place.

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The Bigger Picture: Beauty doesn’t always age like fine wine, but beauty standards sure do

By Linda Huang | November 12

“MEN WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND!” screamed my housemate, after we finished watching “The Substance” (2024) — the exact same reaction I had after seeing “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) for the first time last Saturday at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square.

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Through Indigenous Eyes: Our American responsibility

By Sorsha Khitikian | November 10

My mom and I share a love of Indigenous history and a good hike. Thus, when my grandmother recommended Bandelier National Monument as a stop on our road trip, we both jumped at the chance. Located near Los Alamos, N.M., Bandelier is home to ancient Pueblo ruins. When we arrived, we were both ready to get our hiking boots on. However, the second we got to the park, I knew something was wrong.

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Forgotten Fronts: The world has failed el-Fasher

By Alexander Degterev | November 5

A new Srebrenica massacre is now upon the world, and much like the U.N.’s inaction then, the international community’s continued apathy will now allow for yet another mass slaughter in Sudan.

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Through Indigenous Eyes: Native authenticity

By Sorsha Khitikian | October 31

On every road trip, there’s a point where you get a bit bored. The scenery outside looks identical for hundreds of miles. The playlist you’ve made? You’ve already listened to it twice. You’ve spent so much time with the people you’re driving with that there’s nothing left to talk about. ...

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A Jumbo’s Journey: midterms are calling OUR phones

By Ben Rachel | October 29

Well here we are again. Midterm season. Let’s do some math together. This is my third year writing “A Jumbo’s Journey,” equating to just under five semesters. Given that each semester comes with a midterm season — some lasting months — this makes midterm piece number five. Wow, I am quickly losing content.

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