Opinion | Column

Column

A Better Consensus: Navigating a (probable) post-Roe world

By Jacob Fridman | December 8

It is highly likely that the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will overturn Roe v. Wade and leave the legality of abortion to the states. The nationwide legalization of abortion could no longer be the law of the land. Twenty one states will automatically implement some level of abortion restrictions, ranging from total bans to enforcement of prior laws, while 14 states and Washington, D.C. will automatically implement laws permitting abortion.

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K-Weekly: Fostering a community with KoDA

By Odessa Gaines | December 6

While I typically use this space to write about Korean songs and artists that I think everyone should be listening to, today’s column will center Tufts' very own K-pop dance association cover group, while recognizing the community it has built. 

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Dreaming of Sandman: Barbie has a nightmare

By Sadie Leite | December 2

Barbie sees a talking dog, Martin Tenbones, from her dreams get shot in the streets of New York City and she’s horrified, naturally. The twisted fifth volume “The Sandman: A Game of You” (1991–92) begins: Gaiman’s imagination is beautiful and perverted­­ –– a perspective just as important as fairytale happy endings.

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The Strike Zone: Urban China and the hukou system

By Eli Striker | December 2

During the last four decades, China has undergone a radical change, metamorphosing from a predominantly agrarian nation to a city-centric, economic powerhouse. The Chinese Communist Party has actively facilitated this trend of mass urbanization. 

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A Better Consensus: We need filibuster restoration

By Jacob Fridman | December 1

There’s a growing consensus in the Democratic Party to eliminate the Senate filibuster. Even President Biden is now open to at least reforming it.

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The Journey: If the walls could talk

By Elizabeth Buehl | November 30

As Thanksgiving approaches on an annual basis, I naturally tend to find myself reflecting on everything I have to be grateful for. Last year, during my pandemic-laden freshman experience, I spent my first college Thanksgiving away from home. Although I was with friends I had met just a few weeks before, we shared a sense of home among each other. From making cranberry sauce in a noodle pot to baking a pie in the Carmichael Hall kitchen and commiserating over the sad state of the university-issued turkey, we made the best out of a less-than-ideal situation.

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K-Weekly: Vibe out with Jessi’s ‘Nunu Nana’

By Odessa Gaines | November 22

As I have mentioned many times before, the world of K-pop is vast and is much more than simply pop music in Korean. K-pop has Latin, pop, alternative, rock, hip-hop and rap influences. The industry is built to mesh these sounds together and try to create distinct sounds. One artist who most definitely has her own sound, but is often overlooked, is Jessi.

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Dreaming of Sandman: Dream tests our power

By Sadie Leite | November 18

And the dead heads sing. Why? Because power, kings and gods have complications.

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A Better Consensus: Let's do a public option instead

By Jacob Fridman | November 17

President Biden finally reached a deal for his Build Back Better bill on Medicare drug pricing. Medicare, the program that gives health insurance to everyone over the age of 65, would be able to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices on life-saving drugs. It would also limit how much seniors would have to pay for drugs bought at pharmacies and keep insulin prices at a maximum of $35 a month. The administration and Congress are also working to have Medicare cover routine dental care, glasses and hearing aids, and also to expand Medicaid, the program for low-income individuals and those with disabilities. 

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A Better Consensus: Expand the Child Tax Credit into a basic income

By Jacob Fridman | November 10

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin’s concerns about the labor participation and budgetary costs of the Child Tax Credit have forced lawmakers to consider extending it for only one more year, not to 2025 as the Biden administration had proposed. Manchin’s demands would cap recipients’ earnings just $60,000 in income and add work requirements.

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The Journey: Fraternal

By Elizabeth Buehl | November 8

Growing up as a twin, often the first question my brother, Matt, and I would be asked is, “Are you fraternal or identical?” Logically, as biologically boy-girl twins, the answer is fraternal. Nonetheless, as we matured, we learned to answer this question with more understanding, recognizing that not everyone could relate to the experience of being born just six minutes apart.

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The Journey: Autumn

By Elizabeth Buehl | November 1

A few days ago, I awoke to a crisp Medford fall morning and heard a rumble from the corner of my dorm room; there’s nothing quite like the annual activation of the heating system to bombard you with thoughts of the upcoming winter. As a native Floridian with only one New England winter under my belt, the anticipation of the coming season is daunting. Even with a closet shoved full of sweaters, jackets, hats, scarves and boots, I know that the changing seasons will inevitably bring a lack of sunshine, more time spent indoors and bone-chilling walks up and down the hill. Although we didn’t have to spend this Halloween with snowfall, as we did last semester, impending below-freezing days loom in our near future.

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The Strike Zone: Critical art as resistance in Syria

By Eli Striker | October 28

The Assad dictatorship in Syria — led for 50 years by Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar — has been brutal, long-lasting and authoritarian. Even movements such as the 2011 Arab Spring revolts, which dethroned dictators in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, did little to dislodge Assad's iron grip on its civilians. The revolts prompted a still-ongoing civil war in Syria, in which millions of Syrians were forced to seek refuge, were externally displaced or perished from the violence. Tragically, the Assad regime has been the main perpetrator of human rights abuses throughout the war, abandoning its obligation to protect Syrian citizens. In her book, “Ambiguities of Domination,” Lisa Wedeen illustrates how this phenomenon reflects the politics of “as if."Per Wedeen, the Assad regime does not care about Syrian citizens, but it acts as if it cares in order to appear legitimate.Conversely, many Syrians do not necessarily support the Assad regime, but act as if they do to escape persecution.

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A Better Consensus: A pro-unity solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

By Jacob Fridman | October 27

What if I told you that there’s a middle-ground solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? 

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The Journey: The power of the Tufts community

By Elizabeth Buehl | October 25

When coming to Tufts, I never envisioned life as a student-athlete. I spent my first year here on the treadmill masked in the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, and I never imagined myself sporting team-labeled apparel. Yet, earlier this semester, after seeing an advertisement for walk-on women’s rowing tryouts, I decided to step completely out of my comfort zone and show up in pursuit of a position as a coxswain.

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A Better Consensus: How the government can secure our digital liberty

By Jacob Fridman | October 13

The recent testimony of Facebook’s degradation of democracy and harm to millions of young women’s self-esteem has proven again that Washington must act.

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The Strike Zone: Gender and modernity in Middle Eastern music videos

By Eli Striker | October 7

Twentieth-century technological advances led to the modernization of Pan-Arabic music. Musicians utilized improved microphones to cultivate the sensation of “atifiyaa,” an artist-centric feeling of sentimentality and sensuality characteristic of modernist Egyptian music. Further technological changes led to the popularity of the cassette tape, which helped deviant underground music reach millions of Pan-Arabic listeners. Underground cassette tape recordings were utilized by Dana International, a transgender Mizrahi Jewish pop singer whose music generated controversy because of her sexual lyrics and provocative dancing. Modernist changes in musical style allow artists to push traditionally rigid boundaries of gender in Middle Eastern culture.

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A Better Consensus: Why ranked-choice voting is awesome

By Jacob Fridman | October 6

We all know how elections go: the most polarizing candidate or the bland incumbent often wins with less than half the overall vote, or the race has so many candidates that just a few hundred votes decide the winner. In 2016, Trump won the Republican primaries with 1,543 delegates, well over half. However, he won only 44.95% of the popular vote. Flash forward to 2020, my own congressional district, Massachusetts’ 4th, had a nine-candidate Democratic primary. First place Jake Auchincloss beat second place Jesse Mermell, 22.4% to 21%, a margin of 2,145 votes in a race with over 157 thousands total. The other candidates had vote totals in the thousands, well over the 1.4% difference. These results are not representative, and in the case of Trump, these ‘plurality’ wins can be disastrous. How do we stop such close wins and candidates who thrive on a minority of the electorate? The answer is ranked-choice voting.

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The Journey: Imposter syndrome

By Elizabeth Buehl | October 4

Today was my first day back in in-person classes. After grabbing a mid-morning iced coffee at The Sink, I sat down in a big, comfortable blue armchair in the Mayer Campus Center. As I bent back the pages of Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence” (1920), I was transported to 19th-century New York City. Despite my fascination with her commentary on the complex inner workings of the city’s upper echelon, I couldn’t help but notice a tour group out of the corner of my eye. The spirited guide took a big step up onto a bench, and I had a moment of realization: I really am a Tufts student.

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The Strike Zone: Music and identity in Israel and Palestine

By Eli Striker | September 30

During the formation of Israel, aspects of two distinct cultural groups — European Ashkenazi Jewish people and Arabic Mizrahi Jewish people — were fused to form a shared national identity within the supposed Jewish homeland. However, Israeli society remains hierarchical; many Ashkenazi Jewish Israeli individuals have long suppressed both Mizrahi Jewish individuals and Palestinians, who claim indigeneity over much of Israel but have long been confined to the margins of Israeli society by the government.

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