Columns

Columns

Extra Innings: Where the PECOTA projections went wrong

By Henry Blickenstaff | February 20

PECOTA stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm. It’s a fancy way of describing a system used by the organization Baseball Prospectus to predict the MLB standings in a given season, which it does every year. Let’s just say I’m not too crazy about the algorithm — and not just because it doesn’t have the Chicago Cubs winning the National League Central. These are, in my opinion, the five most insane PECOTA projections from this year’s iteration. 

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Columns

Munching with Max: Kindlevan Café

By Max Druckman | February 15

In the words of Eminem, “Guess who’s back, back again?” Spoiler alert, it’s me. I’m back and hungrier than ever. So, this column is back too, allowing me to rant and rave about my eats at Tufts.

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Columns

The Bookmark: ‘Writers and Lovers’ by Lily King

By Natalie Bricker | February 15

Let’s start this column out strong with a recent favorite read: “Writers and Lovers” (2020) by Lily King. This novel is smart, fun, reflective and just an all-around great read. It’s guaranteed to make you feel the full range of emotions, prompting you to laugh one second and cry the next. Narrator and protagonist Casey Peabody is very lovable in her awkwardness and determination to make it as a writer. We see her face the complexities of life: grief, love and, of course, geese. More on the geese thing later…

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Column

Ukraine at War: Two families killed in a Russian attack in Kharkiv

By Mariia Kudina | February 15

Taking a psychoanalysis class this semester brought me to a frightening realization — most of the dreams that I remember upon waking up are war-related nightmares. The dreams have a repetitive plot that always revolves around the aftermath of Russian attacks: burned-down buildings and dying family members. On Feb. 10, when a Russian drone attack caused the fire that killed at least seven people in Kharkiv, that dream partially came true.

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Columns

For the Culture: Women in hip-hop breaking barriers

By Paul Osmond | February 15

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill and Lil’ Kim deconstructed barriers that negated the artistic expression of female rappers in mainstream hip-hop music. In their records, the trifecta explicitly and implicitly subverted patriarchal binaries. Fundamentally, these rappers envisioned liberation through the expression of female sexuality, romance and emotions.

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Columns

In the Crease: Norris Trophy predictions

By Zachary Gerson | February 14

This week’s focus is on the Norris Trophy, which is awarded to the best defenseman of the NHL season.

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Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: Each conference’s questions

By Owen Short | February 14

Here are my big questions for every conference in the college basketball Power 6.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: Dabbling in some tomfoolery

By Ben Rachel | February 14

My friends think of me as a modernized, reincarnated Plato. My philosophical mind has been compared to Kant, Aristotle and many other great philosophers. Oftentimes, in the hallway of Hodgdon Hall 2.5 (the floor I call home), we debate and converse about the values and ethics of life into the wee hours of the morning.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Cheesus Christ

By Elizabeth Foster | February 14

Now, I have colloquially described my college house as “The Cheese House,” firstly, because my roommate (now abroad) is Coby Formaggio, founder of the current Tufts Cheese Club, and because I am from the grate state of Wisconsin. Refusing cheese feels a little blasphemous, and yet, I blaspheme.

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Columns

T Time: The magnificent Maverick Station

By Jeremy Bramson | February 13

For today’s publication of T Time, I decided to cover Maverick Station and the surrounding neighborhood. You may ask, why cover Maverick? My answer – it has a cool name.

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Columns

Brown and (Usually) Blue: Imagining the environment

By Ishaan Rajiv Rajabali | February 13

My room back home in Bombay (or Mumbai, depending on who you’ve heard it from) faces the Arabian Sea. I’ve gone to sleep listening to the soothing lull of waves since before I learned the meaning of the word, walked past couples posing against clear blue skies and admired crimson west coast sunsets, especially since my foray into Instagram. But the rose-tinted glasses (or filters, if you will) of social media can’t hide the reality of where we’re headed.

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Column

The Policy Perspective: Fund the IRS

By Keshav Srikant | February 13

If there’s one thing that many Americans can agree on, it’s that they dislike the IRS. The Internal Revenue Service is a federal agency responsible for collecting and administering federal taxes. The IRS primarily ensures that everyone pays their taxes, often by auditing individuals or businesses, and processes requests for tax refunds. It’s understandable the IRS is not popular, especially as 56% of Americans feel their tax burden is unfair and a majority state that the complexity of the American tax system “bothers them a lot.”

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Columns

Dorms, Dishes and Delicacies: Hodgdon Hall

By Katie Hankinson | February 13

After two consecutive weeks at uphill locations, I decided to book a trip downhill this week to cook up some bean quesadillas in none other than Hodgdon Hall. Hodge is known for a lot of things — the convenient Food-on-the-Run dining location, forced triples and its disorienting floor plan all come to mind. Unfortunately, the student kitchen should not be added to the list of things that make Hodge stand out.

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Columns

Public Cinemy No. 1: Reality television in the digital age

By Sacha Waters | February 13

Compared to the rest of the world, American television is infamous for its glossiness. Whereas British soaps and Italian reality TV shows tend to feature girls-next-door and regular Joes (Giuseppes?), US shows are chock-full of toned abs, low-cut tops, gleaming white teeth and other trademarks of the young and fit.

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Columns

Extra Innings: Royals make big bet on Witt

By Henry Blickenstaff | February 13

It’s Aug. 18, 2023. My friend and I had bought last-minute tickets to see the Chicago Cubs play the Kansas City Royals at Wrigley Field. A Cubs win should have been a safe bet — they had been playing good baseball since mid-July, but more importantly, Kansas City was an abysmal 39–84. Unfortunately, Bobby Witt Jr. had other ideas.

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Columns

The Round-off Roundup: Gabby Douglas’ elite comeback

By Sarah Firth | February 9

The singular thing I’m most excited for as the elite domestic season begins in the lead-up to the Olympics is Gabby Douglas’ elite comeback. Douglas competed in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, becoming the first Black woman to win the Olympic All-Around with her 2012 victory.

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Columns

Ruminations from Rabat: First impressions

By Chasya Cohen | February 9

I arrived in Rabat, Morocco just over a week ago. I was, of course, immediately struck by cultural differences: everyone eating out of the same dish at dinner, an immunity to Western cultural influence that I’ve seldom experienced and the sheer amount of time many people spend sitting at cafés, drinking tea. Yet the first thing I want to write about in this column is not my cultural observations but what my host mother told my roommate and I over dinner the other night. A conversation which I ruminated over and concluded must be the mindset with which I approach my semester abroad in Rabat.

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Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: Transfers or freshmen?

By Owen Short | February 9

In April 2021, the NCAA decided that first-time transfer student-athletes would be able to immediately suit up for their new schools, eliminating the one-year sit-out policy. Just a couple of months later, the NCAA suspended its prior rules on name, image and likeness that restricted players from receiving any compensation. The combination of these two significant changes to college athletics made for a whole new landscape in college basketball, along with other highly competitive sports.

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Columns

For The Culture: Don’t bite the bait!

By Paul Osmond | February 8

Hip-hop has a problem: unoriginality. Espoused by “oldheads” and hip-hop traditionalists for years, criticism of unoriginality in hip-hop is now an established sentiment within the community. Although some hip-hop artists and groups like JPEGMAFIA, Smino, EARTHGANG and Griselda maintain the experimental and innovative spirit of the genre, mainstream hip-hop is overwhelmed with strikingly stale records.

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Columns

GC in DC: Tales From the Swamp: The DC college rivalries trifecta

By Guillem Colom | February 8

It’s a frigid Saturday afternoon in the middle of a January snowstorm, and I just convinced myself that it would be a great idea to walk 25 minutes in near 15-degree temperatures to Georgetown. I planned on meeting one of my hometown friends who’s a senior at Georgetown University for coffee, and she informed me that she was bringing along another mutual friend who attended American University. He majored in international relations, and I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to yap about the ignominious failures of Kevin McCarthy.

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