Columns

Columns

Attack of the B-Movies: Fading away into ‘Altered States’

By Ethan Essner | November 29

Cinema and hallucinogens: a match that’s a far cry from our typical pairings on television or theater screens. Yet, Ken Russell is one of those classic directors who doesn’t have any trouble submerging your head into pools of visual craziness. All the humdrum of any plot is thrown out the window and replaced with the utmost of sadistic experiences. His 1971 breakout masterpiece “The Devils” tackles sexual repression under the guise of the Roman Catholic church and is perhaps most infamous for splicing religious power and horniness with the ever-so sacred crucifix. Nearly ten years after “The Devils,” Russell coupled salvation with a magic mushroom trip in his 1980 film “Altered States.” This film possesses the off-kilter elements of a B-movie classic while also containing a remarkable lead performance from William Hurt.

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Columns

T Time: Ditch the Uber for the T

By Jeremy Bramson | November 29

Typically, I use this column to focus on one specific MBTA station and the neighborhood surrounding it. However, I recently traveled out of Boston via plane and Amtrak, so I thought it would be helpful to discuss how to use the T to access other forms of transportation, especially before the upcoming winter break.

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Columns

Sports and Society: Making stuff up

By Oliver Fox | November 29

The College Football Playoff is ridiculous. To demonstrate, let me paraphrase a conversation I heard between national analysts Danny Kanell and Ryen Russillo on the latter’s podcast about which teams deserve to make the playoff: Russillo argued that if Georgia beats Alabama, the question then becomes if Florida State should get into the playoffs over Texas, even with their backup quarterback.

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Columns

Tok the Talk: Rachel Zegler and gender bias in the media

By Annika Pillai | November 28

“If it hadn’t been so successful, I think people would have thought it was really weird. It’s a really weird story. But I think once it becomes mainstream, it’s difficult for people to see how strange the story is.” These wise words were spoken by Robert Pattinson (Twilight heartthrob, though he would probably hate to admit that) in a recent interview with Wonderland magazine. In hindsight, his comments are amusing, and if anything, sensible. The Twilight franchise is known for its peculiar nature, and Pattinson has detailed how the books are like “reading [Myers’] sexual fantasy.” Gross.

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Columns

Double Decker Diary: LinkedIn

By Alice Fang | November 28

Dear Diary, This is a story about LinkedIn. Part I. A couple of days intoFreshers Week, hundreds of students at theLondon School of Economics and Political Science crammed into a windowless gym. Spotted between tables with promotional trifolds: Men in Suits.

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Columns

The Step Back: The heart of a champion

By Sam Dieringer | November 28

What defines an NBA champion? Domination? The hard road? Historical impact? With each season ending in a new coronation, how do we compare championships over time, and determine which teams are truly the best in NBA history?

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Column

The Budget Line: Boston under 30 bucks

By Justin Hong | November 20

We finally made it.Fall break officially starts on Wednesday, though for some, perhaps, it started as early as last Thursday. For many, it means heading home and catching up with family or friends from high school.

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Column

The Policy Perspective: The importance of climate policy

By Keshav Srikant | November 20

Over the past few years, Tufts has made it easier and easier for students to act in environmentally conscious ways. One only needs to walk a few steps into the Joyce Cummings Center to see the carefully separated trash, recycling and compost bins with useful labels to help students dispose of their waste sustainably. These steps aren’t insignificant, but they’re often less significant than we are told or may assume. 

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Columns

Compost in the Daylight: The wishing tower

By Sadie Leite | November 20

Once upon a time, I traveled to a small country in Eastern Europe with two friends. We signed up for a road trip of sorts with a talkative tour guide and one other tourist: a middle-aged man who consistently cradled a small camera. Our first stop was a town with a wishing tower.

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Columns

Munching with Max: Max on the move

By Max Druckman | November 20

Recently, a reader of this column suggested I try off-campus dining options. To whoever that was: I appreciate your request. You don’t have to ask me twice to go on an edible expedition.

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Columns

Extra Innings: The two sweepstakes

By Henry Blickenstaff | November 20

There are two players that teams looking for a superstar this offseason will be all-in on. The first is, of course, Shohei Ohtani. We’ve been waiting all year to see where the two-time American League MVP plays next. The other is Juan Soto, who no one thought would be available this offseason, and who still might not be (it’s complicated). Here are my thoughts on where these two end up.

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Columns

In the Crease: More NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | November 17

The Minnesota Wild, just as they have been for the past few seasons, are a good team. They are not overwhelmingly talented but have the pieces needed to rack up wins.

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Columns

Inside the MFA: What not to miss

By Claire Wood | November 17

It would be impossible to see all of the nearly 500,000 pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts in one visit. You can check items off your MFA bucket list over time, but you can only see and appreciate so many pieces in one visit.

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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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