Columns

Ripple Effect: Can peace be bought?

Out on the Town: Boston Half Half Half Half Half Marathon

I have always wanted to attend a ‘joke’ Facebook event. My friends are constantly marking themselves interested in these events, and I always wonder if they are as fun in practice as they are online. Recently, I seized the opportunity by registering for the “Boston Half Half Half Half Half Marathon." ...

Anti-Bostonian: The Celtics' Game 1 win is a mirage

It’s playoff season for the Celtic army, and it started with a win that was as underwhelming as underwhelming can be. In the age of pace and space with offensive output at an all-time high, the old-fashioned-looking Cs might as well have been playing in the age of Red Auerbach instead of Brad Stevens.How ...

Review Rewind: 'Strangers on a Train'

The Movie: "Strangers on a Train"The Year: 1951The People: Farley Granger as the supremely stressed-out tennis player, Guy Haines; Robert Walker as the slick psychopath, Bruno Anthony; Ruth Roman as Guy’s supportive, elegant girlfriend Anne Morton; and Patricia Hitchcock as Anne’s inquisitive ...

Somerville with Townie Tim: Running Around

Marathon Monday has now come and gone, and because you're an avid reader of this column, you learned about the Tufts Marathon Team (TMT) and coach Don last week. I'm happy to report that the TMT did great as always, with many smiles, hugs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches being passed out ...

America is dying: Brooklyn ft. the Measles

In 2017, two cases of measles were reported in New York City. Within the last year, 285 cases of measles were identified in New York City. Think about that.  This 142-fold increase has a point source — one unvaccinated individual.This highly contagious disease is fatal, particularly for children ...

Repeal and Replace: The Sacklers at Tufts

It shouldn’t take too much activism or comment to convince our leaders at Tufts that severing ties with the Sackler family is a good idea. More than 130 people die each day in the U.S. due to opioid overdoses in an epidemic kicked off in the 1990s by Purdue Pharma and their aggressive marketing of ...

Making my (Den)mark: The final month

Overall, this past week has been high quality: I went to my visiting host mom’s school with her (she’s a fifth-grade teacher), and I went with my cousin and her parents to the Danish Royal Ballet. Things have been really great, except for the fact that finals are starting to roll toward us like ...

Love it or Haute it: Biker shorts

From the Fashion Nova website to social media influencers' Instagram photos, biker shorts are blowing up. In this week’s installment, Coco and Beans will decide: Is it Haute or Not?Coco: You may be asking yourself, "Why wear your athletic undergarments as a fashion statement?" Maybe ...

Weidner's Words: The Magic is gone

The Los Angeles Lakers' season began with more promise than most — the NBA’s premier franchise once again had the best player in the NBA suiting up for them every night. Lakers legend Magic Johnson was on board, and he was reformulating the roster into one that would win again. Then he signed ...

Hidden Panels: 'Hellboy Omnibus Volume 1: Seed of Destruction'

OK, I’m going to level with you all: I try not to base my weekly spotlight on what comic book movies are coming out this week. Usually I try and keep my reviews to books I think you should read on their own merits … but some weeks I indulge myself, and this is one of those weeks. With a rebooted ...

Ripple Effect: The commons' globalization

The government of Sierra Leone has banned industrial fishing in its territorial waters for the month of April. Why would one of the world’s poorest nations put a halt to one of its most important industries? Sierra Leone’s fish stocks have been dangerously depleted — not by local fishermen — ...

Off the Crossbar: Can City win the quadruple?

Unlike American sports teams that only compete for one trophy, almost all soccer clubs around the world enter multiple competitions each year. And, while some trophies carry more weight than others, a trophy is a trophy. All the prominent European leagues have one or even two domestic cup competitions, ...

Peripheries: The limits of free speech online

This week, British regulators unveiled a proposal to punish technology giants such as Facebook and Google who “fail to stop the spread of harmful content online.” “Harmful content” includes terrorist activity, violence and fake news. This proposal would create a regulatory body with the power ...

Anti-Bostonian: Tom Brady loses class of '77 March Madness

In case you didn’t know, Tom Brady is not a young man. As he continues to test the stringent laws of Father Time, more and more jealous critics continue to bemoan his successes and continued championships. Henceforth, in the spirit of good jealousy, here will be yet another attempt to knock back the ...

America is dying: Big Pharma, with no end in sight

When a diabetic walks into a drugstore, they could pay about $9 to fill their prescription for insulin. Then, American taxpayers could front the rest of the bill, which amounts to around $280. This scenario reveals a little-known fact: When drug prices skyrocket (for no other reason than capitalistic ...

Somerville with Townie Tim: Marathon Monday

Spring is finally happening. The weather is getting warmer, restaurants are starting to put tables outside and that one guy with the Bon Jovi covers has resumed his residency in Davis Square. You've probably also noticed that this is that time of year when people decide to start running. Maybe these ...

Out on the Town: Chelsea Pupusa Festival

Trying new foods is endlessly exciting to me, and discovering pupusas was no exception. Despite this El Salvadoran dish’s decent representation in Greater Boston, I hadn’t heard of it until a few weeks ago. When I discovered the Pupusa Fiesta happening in Chelsea, Mass. this past weekend, I knew ...

Spaceship Earth: Communities and the climate

When following national climate news, it can be extremely exciting to read articles about progress being made, and feel like real change is happening and that there is hope for the future. However, when bad news arises, it’s also easy to get demoralized. With a truly global catastrophe such as climate ...

Weidner's Words: Pierce vs. Wade

Saturday marked a day in NBA Twitter that no one saw coming. If you were scrolling through the thread at all, you had to have noticed a weird theme in all the tweets. Saturday was the day that the entirety of Twitter turned on Paul Pierce. It started this past week when Pierce was asked on ESPN who ...