Columns

Columns

Weekly Wellness: What supplements should you actually take

By Katie Pflieger | November 17

Vitamin B-12? Omega-3s? Calcium? Here’s a rundown of the supplements that you might want to implement into your routine to actually benefit your overall health. There’s no question that the supplement section is a daunting place to shop. From Flinstones gummy vitamins to sketchy-looking ‘magic’ pills, the shelves are stocked in an anxiety-inducing way that leaves shoppers, or at least myself, overwhelmed and settling for the first multivitamin on the shelf to avoid the whole fiasco in itself.

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Columns

The Hard Count: The Deshaun Watson Problem

By Reece Christian | November 17

In last week’s column, I wrote about the success of the Houston Texans with CJ Stroud at quarterback, and I stated that the Texans had ‘finally’ found their franchise quarterback. This ignored a wrinkle in the Texans’ history, that being the promise of 2017 draft pick Deshaun Watson during four seasons in Houston.

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Columns

The Power of the Pen: The actors strike is over

By Odessa Gaines | November 16

The 2023 actors strike officially ended at 12:01 a.m on Nov. 9. PT. After 118 days, a deal was finally struck between SAG-AFTRA and major Hollywood studios. A unanimous agreement was made following negotiations on Nov. 8 that led to significant wins for the actors union. 

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Columns

Sports and Society: Ban bandwagons

By Oliver Fox | November 16

We need some standardization for sports fans, and I’m declaring bandwagoning illegal. You heard me. There are all sorts of rules governing player and team movement across professional sports in America. Players sign contracts and can be traded without their consent. Teams can’t just move to Barbados without running things through the proper channels. The NFL even has a borderline-authoritarian policy called the franchise tag, which can just force a superstar player to stay put regardless of their wishes.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Thanksgiving for the project manager

By Elizabeth Foster | November 15

I must confess that while I adore cooking, I am a computer science major. I don’t see cooking as a future career. I do, however, see a career with enough of a work-life balance and extraneous funds for exploring cooking as a hobby. But I argue that there is much overlap between these two interests. As a software engineer, I am constantly breaking down big problems into smaller, more manageable problems. As a project manager, I perform the same tasks but further consider timelines and resource allocation. And as an amateur cook, I am breaking down the most notable meal of the year in the same way.

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Column

From Classroom to Clinic: Navigating reproductive rights in the wake of Ohio’s Issue 1

By Deeksha Bathini | November 15

As a native Ohioan, the recent statewide referendum that included Issue 1, formally titled “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health Safety,” has been on my mind. The citizen-initiated amendment that passed on Nov. 7 provides the “right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions” on abortion, contraception, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care and fertility treatment.

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Columns

T Time: Back Bay

By Jeremy Bramson | November 15

Last weekend, I took the T to Back Bay station to visit a friend in the South End, so I thought it would be a perfect time to review the station! For anyone interested in going to Back Bay, you can take the Green Line from Medford/Tufts to North Station then transfer to a Forest Hills-bound Orange Line train. Back Bay is six stops away from North Station, and it took me a little more than 25 minutes to get there from Tufts.

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Column

From Classroom to Clinic: Primary care shortages and the growing mental health crisis in America

By Deeksha Bathini | November 14

The demands of medical training are notorious, and at the end of a tortuous (and expensive) road, medical students must determine their specialty. This decision is not just a personal one, but it also informs the future of healthcare.

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Columns

The Step Back: Why the NBA needs expansion now more than ever

By Sam Dieringer | November 14

For almost twenty years, the NBA has comprised 30 teams. With vastly increasing league popularity and a treasure trove of player talent, team expansion has become a tantalizing idea for fans and executives alike. As other major sports leagues like the NHL have expanded in recent years, the NBA board has yet to budge on the topic of expansion. It was only this past summer that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver finally acknowledged the possibility of expansion following the end of the league’s media rights deal in 2025. What Silver fails to realize, however, is that NBA expansion is not a luxury – it’s a necessity.

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Columns

Tok the Talk: TikTok’s influence on the fashion industry

By Annika Pillai | November 14

“Is that Shein?” I found myself asking that on a Sunday afternoon, holding an overpriced coffee in one hand and two shopping bags from the two previous thrift stores my friends and I had just hit up in the other. We had spontaneously decided to stop at a nearby Goodwill to try our luck one last time. I was right: Behind a vintage, very heavily worn camisole lay a Shein bolero (a fancy name for a cropped jacket). 

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Columns

Double Decker Diary: Entry No. 1

By Alice Fang | November 14

Dear Diary, We are not taking the tube today, so let’s take a walk to school. Every day, I repeat a 25-minute walk to campus. I hold my breath as I break into the crisp, cold air that smells of fresh rain, confirmed by the patches of puddles ahead. My chest tightens as I realize that I’ve forgotten my umbrella, and releases when I remember that some bastard from the movies took it when I fell asleep to a two-hour black-and-white nonsense.

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Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: What to know from Opening Week

By Owen Short | November 14

Looking at the schedule for the first week of college basketball, there wasn’t much to be excited about. But even with the very weak slate of games, we still got to see some great battles that will definitely affect seeding come March.

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Columns

I Can’t Think Straight: Red, white and royal BS

By Cole Reese | November 13

Here’s the thing: Gay love is not easy. There’s no TV meet-cute where your hands accidentally touch as you reach for the same bag of kale in the grocery store. There’s Grindr, and Tinder, and an endless cycle of feeling bad about yourself because it feels like everyone is hotter than you and you’re never going to find that perfect movie romance. Maybe this is what straight people go through all the time. Honestly, it must suck to have so much idealized romance shoved in your face. That’s exactly what it felt like to watch Amazon’s “Red, White & Royal Blue” (2023) as a gay man.

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Columns

Compost in the Daylight: Lonely echoes?

By Sadie Leite | November 13

Every time I bring friends to my lake house, I drive them to a corner of the lake — where there are no houses lining the dark green edge — and scream bloody murder.

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Columns

Extra Innings: 2023 MLB award predictions

By Henry Blickenstaff | November 13

The Baseball Writers Association of America will announce the winners of its annual awards over the course of this week, starting tonight. Here are the finalists and my thoughts on who should win each award.

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Columns

Cabinet of Curiosities: Maybe Lena

By Jake Ren | November 13

I was loitering in my dorm one afternoon when I received the following text: “Hi Amy, I’m Lena, are you still in NY? I will come to NY next month. Do you have time to go hiking together?” I tried to remember if I’d left a fake alias of Amy anywhere, and when I couldn’t, I told her she had the wrong number. The conversation should’ve ended with whatever she’d say next, probably something short, but then came two cordially punctuated sentences.

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Column

Ukraine at War: Fall 2023 Ukraine Action Summit

By Mariia Kudina | November 9

On Oct. 22, over 500 people from 36 states gathered in Washington, D.C. to participate in the second Ukraine Action Summit of the year. The conference was organized by the American Coalition for Ukraine, a union of 97 partner organizations working on strengthening Ukraine’s defense, safeguarding its sovereignty and enhancing relations between the U.S. and Ukraine. 

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Columns

In the Crease: More NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | November 9

Now, we shift our focus to the Western Conference. The Arizona Coyotes are continuing with their rebuild, but for the first time in many years, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Arizona has a plethora of young talent in forwards such as Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley, Barrett Hayton and others. For the time being, the Coyotes are not ready to compete for a playoff spot due to below-average defense and goaltending. However, with the young talent the Coyotes have brought in, the future is bright in the desert, but the club will have to wait another year or two before they are ready to compete for a playoff berth.

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Columns

The Power of the Pen: The talks go on

By Odessa Gaines | November 9

Editor’s note: This article was written before SAG-AFTRA and studios reached a tentative agreement to end the actors strike. SAG-AFTRA and studios met again on Monday to negotiate on contracts regarding actor residual payments and the use of AI to recreate actor likeness in future productions. As always, the biggest point of discussion has been the studios’ desire to use AI. Big studios proposed their “last, best and final offer” to reuse AI scans of deceased actors without needing to ask for the consent of the actors guild or the deceased actors’ estates. The studios also proposed to pay a one-time fee to secure AI scans of living actors who make more than the minimum earnings in the guild; however, SAG demands that studios compensate these actors for every use of their likenesses.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: Spanish music ensues

By Ben Rachel | November 9

“La Mamá de la Mamá” (2020). “Danza Kuduro” (2010). Bad Bunny. Spanish music has become a staple of my short tenure here at Tufts. It’s reached the point where I learn more Spanish on the weekends than during my classes throughout the week. Whether it be in some poor soul’s basement, a fraternity or a dorm, Spanish music is a guarantee.

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