Columns

Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: The Darryn Peterson dilemma

By Owen Short | February 25

The 2025–26 season has been one of the most entertaining and competitive seasons of recent memory. It seems like every Saturday offers multiple marquee matchups. The one thing that hasn’t delivered is No. 1 recruit Darryn Peterson’s health. The Kansas first-year is facing lots of backlash for his unpredictable availability that has plagued the Jayhawks all season: It’s one of the biggest stories in sports right now.

---

Columns

The Bright Side: The power of a hug

By Sera Kwon | February 25

Dear Reader,The other night, I landed in Boston from Milan, flying head first into two midterms I had not studied for, a completely booked Google Calendar of postponed meetings and a literal blizzard.But I had just witnessed my friend, Alysa Liu, compete and win the Olympic gold medal in figure skating, and my issues here at Tufts suddenly seemed less significant.

---

Columns

An Everyday Art Tour: An ephemeral art

By Sophie Herron | February 25

Donald Chapelle, founder and owner of Brilliant Ice Sculpture, made his first foray into the world of ice carving at 18 years old. He was living in a hotel and noticed a large block of ice in the freezer. A waiter told him it was used to make sculptures.

---

Columns

The Full Court Press: Rooting for the red, white, blue

By Noah Goldstein | February 20

Rooting for the United States, whether it be in the Olympics, the World Cup or any other sporting event, almost always leads me to some degree of internal confusion. Sure, I’m as much of a red-blooded American as the next guy, but it’s often difficult to reconcile the instinct to root for the home team with the knowledge that its banner — so often touted as that of the ‘good guys’ — is emblematic of a nation flawed at its core.

---

Columns

Serve & Survey: Emotionally editing humanity

By Jaylin Guzman | February 20

Welcome back to “Serve & Survey.” This week’s question came from a movie night watching Disney’s “Inside Out 2.” In the movie, a group of animated emotions fight for control, but, in the end, they learn that they are all needed to make Riley who she is. That made me wonder: What would happen if we didn’t let all of them stay?

---

Columns

Road to the World Cup: Tournament opinions at Tufts

By Antonia Toro | February 19

With 112 days until the World Cup, even the CVS in Davis Square is stocking tournament merchandise. I sat down with two Tufts students to hear what the tournament means to them.

---

---

Columns

The Intangibles: The dying spectacle of the NBA Dunk Contest

By Jonah Cowan | February 19

The NBA Dunk Contest used to be a special showcase of the pinnacles of basketball athleticism: Michael Jordan’s free-throw line dunk in 1987 and Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine’s legendary duel in 2016 are the most famous examples.

---

Column

Through Indigenous Eyes: Revisiting Greenland

By Sorsha Khitikian | February 19

Last year, I published an article about the colonial history of Greenland, exploring why it and its Indigenous people would want to be independent from Denmark. Since then, the people of Greenland voted Demokraatit, a center-right, moderately independent party, into power. At the same time, President Donald Trump has intensified his effort to buy Greenland from Denmark, Greenland’s former colonial owner. Greenland has achieved autonomy from Denmark, but is not fully independent. Trump had made it clear that he would consider violence as a tactic to annex Greenland, but walked back such statements earlier this month.

---

Columns

The Bigger Picture: How Roman Polanski became his own ‘art’

By Linda Huang | February 19

Oscar-winning Polish director and convicted sex offender Roman Polanski can be said to have redefined the way ‘evilness’ was depicted on screen in the 1960s through his masterpiece “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968). Unfortunately, just nine years later, he redefined the same evil himself by committing statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

---

Columns

Get Souped Up: Tomayto, tomahto

By Arghya Thallapragada and Emily O'Hearn | February 19

Welcome to the first installment of the Daily’s finest soup column. Whether you are a soup novice or enthusiast, we’re thrilled you’re here. Our passion for soup started when we realized something important: Soup builds community. It warms and nurtures, bringing people together regardless of season and texture.

---

Columns

Beyond the Sidelines: The Olympics do not define the GOATs in ski racing

By Anjali Mishra | February 18

As I write this article, the Winter Olympics in Italy are in full swing. Perhaps the two most prominent names from Team USA are Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn. If you have any knowledge of either of these athletes, you may know that luck has not been on their side when it comes to the current Olympics. Widely considered the GOAT athletes in ski racing, it would be expected for them to place very well in these prestigious games. GOAT swimmer Michael Phelps has a total of 28 Olympic medals. GOAT gymnast Simone Biles has 11 Olympic medals. Shiffrin and Vonn each have three Olympic medals, relatively few compared to their respective peers.

---

Columns

Sharper Advice: Sugar daddy dilemma

By Harper Stone and Sophie Penenberg | February 18

Q: I found someone who wants to be my sugar daddy. ... He said it would only be FaceTime ‘dates’ for online shopping (while I’m in a low-cut top). A couple hundred for the first call. Should I do it?

---

Column

Another Bites The Dust: A deep dive into cancel culture

By Jachin Lam | February 18

Like many other kids, I was obsessed with “Harry Potter” growing up. I never enjoyed reading back then; it always felt like a chore. That is until my friend recommended the “Harry Potter” series to me.

---

Columns

Worth Going Broke?: Heaven in a sandwich

By Eloise Bernstein | February 13

Before midterms last semester, I desperately needed to get off campus. My body and soul were begging for a change of scenery — anything but my usual rotation of Tisch, Fletcher and my dorm. My mind, on the other hand, knew that if I stopped studying, I would no doubt fail every test. As my pent-up energy started to leak out in the form of aggressive pacing, unnecessary snacking and snapping at my well-meaning friends, I came up with a solution: convincing my friend Kellan to escape with me to anywhere outside of Medford or Somerville. My goal became to simply find a place where I could buy an overpriced (but absolutely necessary) coffee and actually lock in.

---

Columns

The Bigger Picture: ‘When Harry Met Sally…’

By Linda Huang | February 13

Welcome back to my column! Thanks to the one and only movie review submission I received last semester, today I’ll be revisiting Rob Reiner’s classic, heartwarming, Valentine’s-perfect “When Harry Met Sally…” (1989) — easily one of my all-time favorite comfort rewatches.

---

Columns

Serve & Survey: Cupid’s dilemma

By Jaylin Guzman | February 13

While college is known for bringing together people from countless backgrounds, it’s rare to see all those differences in one place at one time. But despite everything that makes us different, we all share the neurobiological feeling of hunger. And where else do all of our worlds collide where this need for food is met other than in a dining hall? In my view, this makes dining halls the perfect place to consider the question: How different are we, really?

---

Columns

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. 

---

Columns

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?

---

Columns

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!

---

Column

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.

---