Columns

Columns

The Power of the Pen: Why are the actors still on strike?

By Odessa Gaines | October 26

With the writers strike of 2023 over, the big question is: When will the actors follow suit and leave the picket lines? Even though both the writers and actors strikes started because of similar reasons, the two unions have had different levels of success in meeting their goals with the big studios. The actors strike, in particular, has continued because of disagreement surrounding increased actor residuals and the use of AI in film and television productions. 

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Column

Ukraine at War: Promoting Russian culture means supporting the genocide of Ukrainians

By Mariia Kudina | October 26

Scrolling through chats on WhatsApp the other evening, I saw a poster advertising a Russian tea drinking ceremony that is to be hosted on campus on Friday. The next morning, my mom texted me that she and my younger brother heard explosions caused by a Russian missile during their mid-afternoon walk with our dachshund. While Russia continues to bomb Ukrainian cities, towns and other localities daily, Tufts’ Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies sponsors an event to promote the culture of a nation that commits genocide.

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Columns

Extra Innings: 2023 World Series preview

By Henry Blickenstaff | October 26

My preseason World Series prediction — Atlanta Braves over Houston Astros — sounded great way back in March, and with both teams having first round byes in the playoffs, it looked pretty good in October, too. But baseball isn’t that easy. The 2023 World Series will instead feature the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. It’s the first time since 1991 that two teams with losing records the year prior have met in the World Series. Here’s the tale of the tape between these two clubs, and my almost certainly inaccurate prediction for the series.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Sheet-pan fan

By Elizabeth Foster | October 25

As a senior, I’ve seen the wide range of what Tufts Dining is capable of and, more specifically, what the Tufts administration is willing to provide students with for their meal swipes (and how that has decreased over the years). But you know what doesn’t decrease over the years? The effort-to-yield ratio of a sheet pan meal.

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Columns

Attack of the B-Movies: The allure of the ‘Crash’

By Ethan Essner | October 25

In 1996, David Cronenberg released “Crash,” a film which transcended the characteristics of any preceding B-movie through its depiction of violence and sex. Inherently, every character in the film is an overstimulated, hypersexualized being coexisting in a crazy world of voyeurism and loneliness. In this vein, the film traces arousal and getting off through the sight of car collisions. Cronenberg's conscience functions here as a horny man looking to make a movie about sex, not romance. In this way, it truly is love at first crash.

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Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: The best in the sport

By Owen Short | October 24

As the countdown continues to opening day for college hoops, the speculation over the season awards only grows. Anything can happen this year, but for now, these are my 2023-24 preseason individual awards.

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Column

The Budget Line: That little treat you just bought doesn’t count, right?

By Justin Hong | October 23

With the semester finally setting in, we’re all falling right back into our addictive relationship with coffee. I, for one, love this magical bean juice, and need a cup almost every day. The only problem is that coffee can be expensive. Buying coffee every day can really add up, but fear not: Turning your dorm or apartment into a full-functioning coffee bar isn’t your only alternative. By making informed decisions, even someone who buys coffee every day can save.

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Columns

Compost in the Daylight: Crying on the Peter Pan

By Sadie Leite | October 23

“The last time I was on a public bus I was also crying.”

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Columns

Munching with Max: Lunch at Hodge

By Max Druckman | October 23

While my capacity as a columnist for the Tufts Daily doesn’t permit me to travel the world in search of its best sandwiches (yet?), it does allow me to eat my way through Tufts’ campus, one sandwich at a time.

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Columns

The Hard Count: Ugly New York showdown raises questions as Bills top Giants 14–9

By Reece Christian | October 20

The Buffalo Bills faced some unwelcome déjà vu while facing off against the New York Giants in week six. Towards the end of the second quarter, Bills running back Damien Harris suffered a dangerous hit that left him lying on the field for several minutes and required an ambulance to take him to a local hospital.

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Columns

Stress-less: Tips to reduce your everyday stress

By Katie Pflieger | October 20

As the leaves begin to change and the word “midterm” begins to be synonymous with “Monday” instead of “next month,” it feels appropriate to address the collective feelings of stress and anxiety rising around campus. Whether your current preferred method of dealing with stress is locking yourself in the Hirsh Reading Room chugging Celsius drinks, or choosing to ignore the ever-looming assignments ahead of you, here are some scientifically backed practices that can help lower cortisol levels and foster a more calm and collected state.

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Columns

Inside the MFA: What can the MFA do for you?

By Claire Wood | October 20

Although all Tufts students have free access to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, many forget to utilize the museum. The MFA houses almost 500,000 works of art across a multitude of ancient and modern collections. You can find art ranging from 6,500 B.C.E to even the 2000s. The museum is open every day except Tuesdays and is eager to welcome visitors with a variety of interests and needs. Regardless of what you’re looking for, the MFA has an incredibly diverse and expansive collection available to students.

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Column

From Classroom to Clinic: Rethinking the name ‘heart failure’

By Deeksha Bathini | October 20

I looked at my patient’s wistful brother as he asked, “How long does he have left?” We had just told him that our patient, his brother, was experiencing “heart failure.” I stood there as a medical student, wishing I could tell him that, despite its name, heart failure is not necessarily a death sentence. But that’s the thing about “medicalese”: The language we use doesn’t always directly translate into what we mean. There is nothing hopeful or optimistic about hearing that your heart “failed.” For most people, that sounds like you’re already dead.

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Columns

In the Crease: More NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | October 20

The Montreal Canadiens are clearly continuing their rebuild, which began at the start of last season following their appearance in the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals. Apart from their two young star forwards Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, Montreal does not have any notable pieces, emphasizing the fact that they are eyeing future success, keenly focused on developing their young prospects. The Canadiens finished last season with 68 points. Since the front office did not make any key improvements during the offseason and is focused on their rebuild, the club will finish in about the same spot they did last season.

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Columns

Sports and Society: Somebody find me a quarterback

By Oliver Fox | October 19

I simply do not believe NFL quarterbacking is this hard.Using my highly-sophisticated data collection system known as recency bias, Week 6 of the 2023 NFL season was the worst single week of quarterback play ever. I have never seen more game-killing interceptions, more ill-advised throws and more boneheaded decisions than I did this past week, and I’m staging an intervention.

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Columns

The Power of the Pen: What happens with the delays?

By Odessa Gaines | October 19

Although the writers’ strike has come to an end, its lingering effects, as well as the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike, have caused many delays in television and movies. The strikes have not only caused delays in writers’ rooms, but also on sets and in promotional activities. By going on strike, the actors agreed to walk out of their current projects per SAG guidelines. As such, the cast of “Barbie” (2023) cut their promotional tour short on July 14 when the strike officially began.  

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Columns

T Time: North Station

By Jeremy Bramson | October 19

I want to begin by crediting Kevin Zhang for inspiring this column. Before graduating from Tufts, Zhang wrote a column called “Tales from the T,” which I seek to now continue with “T Time.”

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Columns

MisCONceptions: To be strong abroad, we need to be strong at home

By Trent Bunker, Nicholas Rishi, João Ribeiro and Katherine Brown | October 17

The attacks last week in Israel are likely to drag the U.S. into another prolonged proxy war. President Biden has already indicated that the U.S. will provide ‘unwavering’ support for Israeli security. Before Hamas’ attack last week, the U.S. had already provided nearly $3 billion to fund Israel’s iron dome defense system. And with the war in Ukraine still showing no signs of ending soon, it is likely the U.S. will find itself further entangled with allies across the world. A growing number of Americans of various political affiliations have begun to question U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine, arguing the money could be better spent at home, closing our own border, reducing crime and uplifting the U.S. economy. If the U.S. government is serious about confronting threats abroad, it must maintain a united front at home and secure support for foreign aid by tackling the pressing issues that are at the forefront of many Americans’ minds.

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Columns

Tok the Talk: Ruby Franke, the reality behind family vlogging channels

By Annika Pillai | October 17

Ruby Franke probably would not have seen the lights of superstardom, at least in the world of YouTubing, if it wasn’t for the major influx of family vlogging channels in the 2010s –– oh, and of course, the six children she paraded across the face of the internet, ignominiously, for years. Perhaps the strangest concave curve of the last decade is the rapid rise and painfully slow fall of family vlogging channels. For better or for worse, it’s hard to argue that there wasn’t a huge audience supporting family channels, including “The ACE Family,” “Bratayley” and “The LaBrant Fam.”

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Columns

Compost in the Daylight: A dead squirrel

By Sadie Leite | October 16

There’s a note on my phone and it’s titled “What’s Important.” I think every writer or young person who’s thought they’ve had a great idea has something similar. It’s tucked away on their phone or in a journal or on scraps of paper floating in an accessible area. Those pieces of words never get off that list though, so I thought it was time they did. Or at least mine did. Here are some of the things I’ve written down:

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