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The bigger picture column
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The Bigger Picture: Let Maggie Cheung tell you about wealth and identity

On my flight back to Boston from Hong Kong, I watched “Comrades: Almost a Love Story” (1996), a Hong Kong film directed by Peter Chan and starring Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung — the perfect ending to my summer. The bittersweet emotions this romantic melodrama evoked quickly earned it a place at the top of my list of Hong Kong classics, despite its poorly translated English title. The original Chinese name, “Tian Mi Mi,” literally means “Sweet Honey,” a far better description of the film’s tender yet heartbreaking tone.


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Through Indigenous Eyes: Tribe-run tourism

After spending our first night with a family member in Las Vegas, my mom and I hit the first destination on our road trip: the Grand Canyon. A bucket-list item for both of us, we decided to make the most of the drive. Along the way we stopped at cool sites such as the Glen Canyon Dam and Wahweap (where I even got to touch the Colorado River!). But by far the standout of these stops was Upper Antelope Canyon.



The bigger picture column
Column

The Bigger Picture: How I see the world through the camera

Most people who have read my viewpoints probably know by now that I am an enthusiastic opinion-haver on political and socioeconomic issues (check out my previous column “Coffee Table Socioeconomics!”). What they might not know, however, is that I’m also an avid movie-watcher and amateur reviewer. Combine these interests, and this column is born. 


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Through Indigenous Eyes: A great (Native) American road trip

Hello! Welcome back to another semester of “Through Indigenous Eyes.” I realized that I never introduced myself last semester: My name is Sorsha Khitikian, and I am a junior at Tufts. I am Yurok, a tribe on the Klamath River in Northern California, but I grew up away from my tribe’s reservation, making me an ‘urban Indian.’




Ukraine At War
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Ukraine at War: How Ukrainian businesses and students adjust to the war

With the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, businesses faced existential challenges and had to find ways to survive in the midst of the military aggression. Students pursuing careers in business found themselves navigating a world where traditional paths would no longer work, having to adjust to studying despite the Russian bombings. Yet, amid the destruction and uncertainty, according to Ukrainian venture investor Ruslan Tymofieiev, the startup ecosystem has emerged stronger than before, supporting students as they deal with the war threats. This article is based on the experience of Tymofieiev, who founded CLUST SPACE, a charity project of smart shelters for students at Ukrainian universities. It will explore how Ukrainian businesses and the next generation of entrepreneurs are adjusting to a radically changed economic climate.


Coffee Table Socioeconomics
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Coffee Table Socioeconomics: Final remarks

I’ve spent the past year being what my friends jokingly like to call a “professional hater,” writing columns where I rant about the bleak state of our world’s social and economic conditions, usually while drinking coffee, as my column name suggests. To be clear, there’s no shortage of issues worth addressing, and I can always think of more to critique. Maybe this makes me a cynic, a pessimist, a subscriber to realpolitik or all of the above. But beyond venting, I’ve come to realize that the true value lies in the process itself — the act of recognizing the significance, complexity and multidimensional nature of these problems. It has made me realize that — in a self-conceited way — the ability to critically think about social and economic issues is what’s the most important. That said, all I ask is for you to do three things.


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Through Indigenous Eyes: Indigenous education

On March 27, the Rapid City Area Schools district in South Dakota received a letter from the Trump administration’s Office of Civil Rights. Having concluded a 14-year investigation into school-based racial discrimination about a year ago, the district had finally agreed to provide equitable access to education for Indigenous students, who had disproportionately high disciplinary rates compared to their white peers. A civil rights agreement was settled, and an action plan was implemented to combat Indigenous discrimination. Now, President Donald Trump has nullified this agreement due to “DEI” and the district is no longer obliged to treat students equitably.


Coffee Table Socioeconomics
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Coffee Table Socioeconomics: The rich should want to save the legal system

One of the seven core principles of conservatism is the commitment to the rule of law. It’s a principle that ensures stability, predictability and fairness — the very conditions under which societies flourish and individuals thrive. Hand in hand with this is another value conservatives proudly uphold: the pursuit of economic growth and wealth accumulation through a free market economy. These principles intertwine because without a robust legal system that regulates the market, the ultimate goal of profit cannot be achieved.


Ukraine At War
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Ukraine at War: A reflection on the deadly attacks in Kryvyi Rih and Sumy

On April 4, I was co-moderating a discussion on risks and art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University for the event “Arts and Society: Dialogues.” I was looking at my phone and going over the sample questions to ask the participants when I received a text from my mom saying, “We were outside with your brother and our dog, the explosion felt far but the ground was shaking.” Momentarily, I tracked back my thoughts to before the event. Right before the discussion, I saw a notification that there was an air raid alert in Kryvyi Rih, possibly due to the missile carriers being launched in Russia. I had a feeling that this was not a precautionary alert, yet never in a million years would I assume that the attack would be that deadly.



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Through Indigenous Eyes: Indigenous invisibility is once again the norm

President Donald Trump has been on a DEI purge since taking office — removing almost any content that remotely resembles support for diversity from government websites. Many aspects of life, from science to performing arts, have been affected. Now, to be sure, I expected a lot of vital data to disappear under the DEI banner. I did not expect the removal of data concerning murder and missing persons.



Coffee Table Socioeconomics
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Coffee Table Socioeconomics: Workaholism

“A workaholic will die before an alcoholic,” said Christina Maslach, professor emerita of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, whose research laid the foundation for the World Health Organization to declare burnout as an occupational phenomenon in 2019. While alcoholics endure a gradual, long-term deterioration of the liver, workaholics face the immediate risk of stress-induced blood clots or heart attacks — potentially striking just when life seems to be going well.


Ukraine At War
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Ukraine at War: How private initiatives help Ukrainian universities adjust to the war

Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine despite the attempts of peace talks. Meanwhile, the rocky relationship between President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin diverts the media’s and, consequently, the international public’s attention from the ongoing war. At the same time, Ukrainians continue to adjust to the dreary realities, finding ways to go on with a semi-normal life. In the realm of education, one example of such an adjustment is a charitable initiative by the venture builder CLUST, focused on creating smart shelters for students at Ukrainian universities.


Coffee Table Socioeconomics
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Coffee Table Socioeconomics: Enhance our business education

With its highly educated workforce, business-friendly legal system, strong sense of interconnectedness between universities and government and businesses that drive continuous technological breakthroughs, the United States is arguably one of the best places for industries to succeed. However, none of this would be possible without a foundation of strong business education. Business literacy is essential in the private sector, where startups thrive and hands-on engagement with business ideas is key — it’s also an area where Tufts falls short.


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Through Indigenous Eyes: What’s in a name?

For weeks, a battle between the administration of President Donald Trump and The Associated Press has raged over Trump’s executive order that changed the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America.” The AP has stated that it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as such and has since been barred from White House press briefings. Now, the issue is being brought to court, with the AP suing Trump administration officials for violating the First and Fifth Amendments. But in that same executive order, another name was changed — one that the AP Stylebook has been updated to reflect.



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Through Indigenous Eyes: The colonial history of Greenland and why it matters

Greenland is a relatively new player on the global stage. Only gaining autonomy from Denmark in 1979, the region is known for fishing, ice and being the largest island that isn’t considered a continent. However, the history of colonialism and the Indigenous fight for sovereignty in Greenland is largely unknown outside of Greenland and Denmark. While this serves historically colonial powers, examining Greenland as a case study is vital to contextualizing Indigeneity within global politics. As U.S. President Donald Trump explores buying Greenland, it’s important to not only consider the opinion of European powers, but also the Indigenous people Trump’s proposal would immediately affect.


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