Opinion | Column

Column

Is This Thing On?: The woman behind the curtain

By Nikki Margaretos | November 28

What does it take to make a pop sensation today? It doesn’t hurt to coin an iconic hairstyle, date high profile celebrities, have an Ariana-octave range or score a hit song or two. See, a lot of people can sing — just ask our eight a cappella groups on campus. But the real magic of songwriting doesn’t come as easily. Many of these chart-topping pop stars today receive help in this department, working with a team of creative writers and producers to engineer their perfect, infectious hits. One woman's work has been going viral over the past few years, whether you've known it or not.

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Thoughts from Places: Jersey City

By Mina Ghobrial | November 27

Tufts has become a de facto home for more than a thousand fresh faces over the past few months. Despite the occasional, instantaneous zeal to remain a renegade while on campus, every so often it is time to pay a visit to family. This break was the perfect opportunity to take an eight-hour journey (which ...

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Thoughts from Places: Pearson Hall

By Mina Ghobrial | November 6

With another midterm season approaching its end (because somehow a semester has multiple middles here at Tufts), I found myself in a familiar place: room 106 of Pearson Hall. Flipping through the pages of a 10-question chemistry exam and realizing that questions nine and 10 are, in that moment, incomprehensible, ...

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Citizen Shame: The planet without a Santa Claus

By Matthew Soderberg | November 1

Spoiler alert: This column contains plot information from the 1964 film “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.”It’s the day after Halloween, which is known in enlightened circles as the start of the holiday season. Christmas carols, flashing lights and probably, like, one half-exciting flurry ...

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Thoughts from places: Carmichael Hall

By Mina Ghobrial | October 30

Content warning: This column mentions blood/needles and HIV.The line that usually wraps around Carmichael Dining Center in the early hours of the afternoon was missing. Last Friday, the particular buzz of a hungry crowd of college students, freshly starved by lecture halls and study sessions, was absent. ...

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Majors and Minors: Cumbias and reggaeton in Panama with Carlos

By Haruka Noishiki | October 26

This is Carlos Irisarri, a first-year from Panama and France who has already declared both his majors in political science and history. He used to play the acoustic guitar. He — along with the the rest of Panama — is very excited that his home country has just qualified for the World Cup. The entire ...

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Citizen Shame: The 'Cat' that won't leave your head

By Matthew Soderberg | October 25

My seventh grade French class is memorable for two things: that time I spilled my entire water bottle on the girl sitting next to me and the relentless screenings of French-dubbed movies.Maybe it was our class’ fascination with cinema, but it more likely had to do with our teacher’s lack of belief ...

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Is This Thing On? Music on the brain

By Nikki Margaretos | October 24

With the advent of the internet, we are living a huge portion of our lives online. As a result, our personal information is being tracked and recorded everywhere, all the time. If you subscribe to a music streaming service, this is especially true. Now, you might choose not to publish what you’re playing to your friends (private session for those guilty pleasures), but you are always providing this information to the streaming platform. That’s a crazy amount of data! It’s not only what you listen to, but how you listen to it. Do you find a new song and listen to it on repeat for three hours? Which songs do you skip over on shuffle, and which will you stop and rewind? Are you more likely to leave your playlist untouched, or do you obsessively curate the queue? 

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Thoughts From Places: Distler Hall

By Mina Ghobrial | October 23

Last Wednesday, for the first time since arriving at Tufts, I made my way over to Distler Hall to see an actual performance and not an orientation program. Despite my overall lack of understanding of the Spanish language, I was talked into going to Argentinean multi-instrumentalist and singer Clara ...

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Majors and Minors: Punta to Candu from Honduras with Yanelle

By Haruka Noishiki | October 19

This is Yanelle Cruz Bonilla, a junior from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She’s thinking of studying sociology and political science. She loves singing and musical theater, and she has worked backstage. Through selecting songs as a part of her artistic expression, dance is another way Yanelle engages with ...

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Citizen Shame: It's John Green's Fault (in Our Stars)

By Matthew Soderberg | October 18

With the recent release of the latest book from young adult author and icon John Green, it seems fitting to revisit another disturbing chapter of my childhood: my sister’s obsession with "The Fault in Our Stars" (2012).My sister might be the smartest person I know, and in high school she ...

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Is This Thing On? Thinkin’ bout boys

By Nikki Margaretos | October 17

Hello world! Today’s column requires some homework before you proceed, and that is watching Charli XCX’s music video “Boys” (2017). Get a cozy bathrobe and all your friends, ‘cause this one’s syrupy. If you need to watch it more than once, that’s totally fine. Same.

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Thoughts From Places: The North Reservoir in Winchester

By Mina Ghobrial | October 16

Venturing off campus is a natural phenomenon for the new college student, and this week’s column reflects that.New England is known for its mark on U.S. history, its ‘chowdah’ and its brief stint with beautiful fall foliage before devastating winters. With the viewing window for this sight being ...

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Is This Thing On? Spotify vs. Apple

By Nikki Margaretos | October 10

Anyone who knows me could tell you that I am very passionate about one argument: Spotify vs. Apple Music. In economics, we often talk about substitutes, or completely interchangeable products. At face value, that's what they are. Spotify and Apple offer almost identical music-streaming services. The pricing tiers, the music available, the features... so why do people choose one over the other? I am a die-hard Spotify fan, but I wanted to find out if Apple Music had any redeeming qualities. So, I swallowed my pride and signed up for the free trial, for science of course. To compare the two, I had to dig deeper.

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Eat Your Heart Out: Peanut butter squares

By Benjamin Corey | October 4

This week, I chose a recipe that doesn’t originate from my family. When my mother was in grade school, there was a woman by the name of Rose Doak who worked in the cafeteria and was beloved by the children for the baked goods that she would make. One of her recipes for peanut butter squares had specifically ...

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Citizen Shame: If only something was 'Happening'

By Matthew Soderberg | October 4

In 2007, Boston’s own Mark Wahlberg found a new level of success when he was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Martin Scorsese’s "The Departed" (2006). Two years later, he demonstrated that talent is a spectrum by performing in M. Night Shyamalan’s disasterpiece "The ...

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Thoughts From Places: Outside the Campus Center

By Mina Ghobrial | October 2

Over the past week, vendors have set up shop outside the Mayer Campus Center and sold antiques on at least two occasions. From Royal typewriters of the Kennedy era to torn-but-true leather jackets that could have been right out of Michael Jackson's “Bad” (1987) music video, there was a definite ...

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Majors and Minors: Lithuanian pop, sutartinės and 'Three Million'

By Haruka Noishiki | September 28

This week, I spoke with Žygimantas Jievaltas (known as Zygi), a first-year from Vilnius, Lithuania.He’s thinking of majoring in quantitative economics and has lived in five different countries. Zygi gives his take on pop music in Lithuania, influences of traditional music and the history behind ...

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Citizen Shame: 'Point Break' my heart

By Matthew Soderberg | September 27

Our second stop on this wonderful journey through the iconic sights of American film leaves us stranded in the depths of the '90s — the darkest, Keanu-est, Vanilla Iciest part. Join me in taking a look back at the film that made everyone realize Gary Busey might just be an actual alien: 1991’s ...

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Thoughts From Places: Barnum 113

By Mina Ghobrial | September 25

On Mondays, I spend three consecutive hours in Barnum Hall. I make my way past the Jumbo statue and enter by the stone lions that guard the doors. In the façade etched into the stone, the building declares itself home of the biology department. As I wander through the labyrinth of far-too-yellow hallways, ...

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