Columns

Columns

Building Blocks: Preemptive support

By Elizabeth Buehl | March 23

While much research has been done on the avenues that have impacted students, not as much attention has been paid to the ways that the pandemic has affected teachers. Therefore, while I agree with Cardona that we must prioritize reopening of schools, I believe that we must simultaneously institute a plan to support many of our nation’s educators who have been overlooked during the past year.

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Columns

Power to the Players: Inequities in the NCAA bubbles

By Isaac Karp | March 23

March Madness got off to a rough start last Friday after Sedona Prince, a forward on the University of Oregon's women's basketball team, released a TikTok video that exposed the disparities between the men’s and women’s facilities in the college basketball tournament bubbles. 

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Columns

A Fantastic Voyage: 'Fantastic Four' #573

By Drew Weisberg | March 23

A good way to ease yourself into this portion of the Fantastic Four saga would be to accept the following: It’s going to get even weirder real quick, so best prepare yourself for the wackiest and strap in tight. In a total departure from last week’s entry, we begin with Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm going on vacation to the bizarre Marvel fixture, “Nu-World,” built as a backup Earth by the mad genius Ted Castle.

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Columns

Transferable Skills: Loneliness kills

By Marco Sheng | March 23

It’s one thing to know, intellectually, that relationships play a vital role, but it’s another to internalize that in our everyday behaviors. I’m far from a social butterfly (in fact I’m quite socially anxious), so I’m probably not the best person to tell any audience how to have better social skills. But I’m also telling this advice to myself, and I feel that through therapy and reflection, I’ve learned some things.

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Columns

Hot Take: ‘Midnight in Paris’ deserves more love

By Derin Savasan | March 22

In essence, this movie is not just an allegory for what happened to the Lost Generation. It’s about what happens to human beings, in general, when the world surrounding us seems hollow and meaningless. It’s about our inherent urge to create or experience art made by others to find comfort — comfort in knowing that we’re not alone.

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Columns

The Honeymoon Period: What's next for Biden?

By Matt Rice | March 22

The most immediate logistical challenge for Biden is what to do about the crisis on the southern border. As xenophobia helps drive some Republicans’ electoral successes, many have been trying to pin the crisis on Biden to better their chances in 2022. But an honest evaluation of the situation makes Biden look more hypocritical than pro-immigrant. 

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Tuff Talks: Food

By Jenny Lu | March 22

Dear J: I know the dining hall workers work very hard but I just can’t bring myself to enjoy the food at Tufts. What can I do? Tufts has to cater to thousands of students, so sometimes that just means that the food has to be simple and inoffensive. I don’t know what year you’re in, but as I’ll be a sophomore next year, I am looking forward to cooking more if I’m able to score an apartment-style dorm with a kitchen.

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Columns

Keeping up with the 617: 3 biggest moves of Patriots' offseason (so far)

By Matt Goguen | March 22

Three weeks ago if you told me that Bill Belichick would be overly aggressive in this year's NFL free agency period, I would've simply laughed in your face. Belichick's philosophy has long been to sign bargain players and build the New England Patriots from within, but he has taken the complete opposite approach this offseason. As of March 21, Belichick has signed 19 players, many of whom were ranked as top free agents in 2021. Although some of these signings were for depth and familiarity with the Patriots system, Belichick was playing chess with a few of his free agency moves in the past week.

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Soundtrack to the end of the world: Psychedelic pseudonyms

By Jessica Blough and Kristina Marchand | March 19

When asked about my music taste, whether during an awkward first date or during pre-orientation duck, duck, goose, my answer was always the same — “Anything but country, really.” But through the haze of the last year (carrying my clothes in trash bags and dozens of pies out of Latin Way), I found my music taste through much trial and error, not understanding what I liked, and chasing the goosebumps. So now, when asked what music I like listening to, I answer, “weird … psychedelic … funky.” I like my music to not sound normal, to put you on edge as much as it soothes you.  

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Columns

The Fast Break: The Eastern Conference in 5 years

By Aiden Herrod | March 19

A couple of weeks ago, I looked at what the NBA’s Western Conference could look like five years down the road. This week, I plan to do the same for the East, an admittedly far more difficult task. The talent distribution is more lopsided, and far more teams are in the uncertain phases of long-winded rebuilds. However, there are still plenty of franchises with bright, sustainable futures on the horizon. Let’s take a look at them now.

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Columns

Democracy in The Daily: Fascist? Populist? Neither.

By Brendan Hartnett | March 18

Fascism is characterized by uber-nationalism, anti-democratic ideals, the use of violence as both a means and an end and skepticism toward capitalism. Trump checks the first two boxes and dabbles in the third. But to assert that he is suspicious of capitalism would be a grotesque fallacy. 

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Columns

3-Point Play: All-Star Weekend recap

By Matt Chen | March 18

The second half of the 2020–21 NBA season is underway after an eventful All-Star Weekend. This year’s All-Star festivities were condensed into one night in Atlanta, Ga. The NBA pulled off playing without fans in a traditionally fan-focused event, though not without some obstacles. From an action-filled All-Star Game to some memorable performances in the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest, let’s run through some of the highlights from this year’s All-Star break.

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Columns

Long Shot: Roger Mason

By Samuel Charlton | March 18

This week’s column is about Roger Mason, an 11-year NBA veteran and the current co-founder and CEO of Vaunt Media. Mason played for 7 NBA franchises, with the majority of his time spent on the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards.

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Beyond the Underneath: A world in the bomb shelter

By Ramona Meng Xi | March 18

The place is also much bigger than I imagined. It's not just a single room but almost a maze. The hallway connects several rooms together. From roaming in and out of rooms, looking at the style of the arches and the bricks on the wall, I was drawn to its structure. It's like a part of a bigger picture.

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Columns

Tales from the T: Take the 'El'

By Kevin Zhang | March 18

Last week, we discussed the inconvenient transfers between North Station and South Station. But it hasn’t always been this way — at one point there were two railroads connecting them. What happened to them? Why do Boston’s streets allegedly smell like molasses in the summer? Why do I always push away the people I love most? We’ll answer two of these questions this week, with our story starting back in 1872. 

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Columns

Coffee Talk: Bagelsaurus

By Casey Cummings | March 17

A bagel from Bagelsaurus is never just a bagel; it is an experience. Their bagels are light and fluffy; their eggs are just a little bit runny; and their cheese is melted perfectly. Every bagel I’ve had from Bagelsaurus (which has been many) has been accompanied by the most photogenic cheese-pull, and I have the pictures to back it up. 

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Columns

The Strike Zone: 'The Social Dilemma' and fascism

By Eli Striker | March 17

"Dialectic of Enlightenment" was published after the Nazi propaganda machine fully infiltrated German society and offers a unique perspective on the roles of mass media and fascism. Similarly, Netflix’s recent documentary "The Social Dilemma" (2020) analyzes how social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter promote the spread of misleading, hyperpartisan information.

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Comfort Cartoons: Roller coaster ride 'Lilo & Stitch'

By Christopher Panella | March 17

“Lilo & Stitch” has always been focused on family, whether it be broken or whole, and how we can find connections and purposes that matter. The franchise’s earnestness has made it both famous and a generational touchstone. For people who grew up with the film (and its subsequent show), Stitch is just about the cutest plush animal you can get at The Walt Disney World Resort.

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Columns

Building Blocks: Modern fault lines

By Elizabeth Buehl | March 16

It has been almost 70 years since the Supreme Court made its precedent-setting decision to desegregate schools in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. While our nation has made immense progress from our former legal structures that openly endorsed blatantly segregated schools, we still have a long way to go. Approximately 6% of students currently in the American public education system are enrolled in gifted programs. The aforementioned group of students is overwhelmingly composed of white and Asian students, while many incredibly intelligent Black and Hispanic students are left without the same chances for academic advancement. For example, in New York City, almost three-fourths of students in gifted programs are white or Asian, despite the fact that Black and Hispanic students make up 65% of the school system.

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Columns

Transferable Skills: You don't need to swim in self-pity

By Marco Sheng | March 16

I was pretty angry for many of these last few days. Anger is an easy but supremely unhelpful emotion. I was angry that I failed my editors by not meeting my deadline (I didn’t publish a column last week). And I am angry because each day I’ve been failing at the values I outlined at the beginning of the column. I haven’t been curious, but judgmental. Instead of being vulnerable, I’ve put armor around me. I’ve been far from optimistic. I’m consistently vague in my thinking and task lists. Most importantly I haven’t put in any kind of effort towards compassion, kindness and generosity.

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