Features

Features

Tufts Dance Collective dances their way through ‘Your Roman Empire’

By Sophie Axelrod | December 11

Tufts Dance Collective’s semester show, “TDC Presents: Your Roman Empire,” on December 2nd at Cohen Auditorium was a performance for the ages. Tufts Dance Collective, or TDC for short, is one of many dance groups on Tufts’ campus that highlight student creativity and freedom of expression. Student choreography and creative wit are the forefront of this energetic and playful club. The Tufts Dance Collective has been around for at least 15 years and is a community event many enjoy participating in, leading or spectating. As one of the most highly anticipated student performances at Tufts, tickets for TDC often sell out within minutes of going on sale.There were 14 different group dances this semester. In pairs, students pitched names and themes around which to choreograph their dances. With titles like “Phineas and Ferbalicious” and “Barb Mitzvah,” the music and choreography of the dances often emulate and combine pop culture references.

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Columns

Weekly Wellness: ‘Veganuary’

By Katie Pflieger | December 11

As the holiday season begins and the New Year looms, the question of what resolution to pursue may start to come up in conversation. Whether in the name of health or to lower one’s carbon footprint, going vegan or vegetarian in the new year is a goal that ambitious eaters may decide to take on. 

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Columns

Munching with Max: Super suppers

By Max Druckman | December 11

For me, the most important meal of the day is dinner. Why, you ask? The generous portions, of course! And you can eat just about anything and call it ‘dinner.’ You can eat ‘breakfast’ foods like waffles or ‘lunch’ foods like sandwiches for dinner. Fun fact, a common synonym for dinner, ‘supper,’ has its roots in the word ‘super' (look it up). 

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Columns

Double Decker Diary: Christmas feels like home

By Alice Fang | December 5

Dear Diary, London celebrates Christmas like no other. Even someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy Christmas would pause and marvel at the glistening lights of the festivities. Almost overnight, the streets were decorated with golden lights, wreaths garnished with fake snow hung on doors and shelves of department stores were lined with Christmas cards. The absence of Thanksgiving in the U.K. lent the stage to Christmas in early November.

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Features

Road trips allow Tufts students to explore new places, experiences off campus

By Katie Hankinson | December 4

As New England transitions from fall to another long, cold winter, the number of outdoor activities on the Tufts campus has started to dwindle. For students looking to combat the Northeast’s notorious winter rut, a day trip or a weekend road trip off campus can be an opportunity to experience new places.

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Columns

Cabinet of Curiosities: Pumpkins, underwear, the books of Rich Shapero

By Jake Ren | December 4

Although it is already December, pumpkins from Halloween continue to haunt the Tufts University campus. Remembering how these gourds were dismembered, carved, gorged and skinned to make into pie, perfume, spice and lattes in October, it is nice to see them just sitting around now. They often perch at inaccessibly high parts of buildings, upright and intact, as if giants had carefully placed them there as ritualistic protection so that “Attack On Titan” (2013–23) could conclude on a satisfying note (which was proven successful). 

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Features

The Somerville Theatre: More than just the movies

By Sam Dieringer | December 1

Never before in the 109-year existence of the Somerville Theatre did it once close its doors to the public. That is, until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. The Fraiman family, owners of the Theatre, witnessed financial losses. Regular theatergoers were forced to watch films from the couch, indulging the rising streaming culture. Once lively hubs for entertainment, Davis Square’s independent cinema and theaters everywhere were stripped of their humanity. Ian Judge, creative director of the Somerville Theatre, explained the hardships the theater faced amidst the pandemic.

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Columns

Weekly Wellness: All about Pilates

By Katie Pflieger | December 1

With celebrities like the Kardashians and Jennifer Aniston praising its benefits and results, Pilates, a type of low-impact workout, has created a vast buzz on TikTok and other platforms, with some enthusiasts saying it’s the only workout they’re willing to partake in.

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Features

Take it for a spin: The Camberville E-bike Lending Library gives access to electric bicycles in the Greater Boston area

By Sarah Firth | November 30

Inae Hwang was torn: Should she buy a new electric bike? “I’ve been looking at e-bikes for six months straight, really looking to purchase one,” Hwang, a Belmont resident, said. Then, a friend referred her to the Camberville E-bike Lending Library, which Somerville resident Christopher Schmidt runs out of his Porter Square home. Hwang decided to take one of the e-bikes for a spin. “I was like, ‘Oh, I should totally borrow one because then I will know what it feels like, and how well it does or doesn’t work for me,’” she said.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: To me, you’re … copacetic

By Ben Rachel | November 30

To preface this column publication, I want to say that I’ve never watched “Love Actually” (2003). My favorite Christmas movie is “It’s A Wonderful Life” (1946). The only things I know about “Love Actually” are that it is my mom’s favorite, and it has the scene where the dude stands outside the fence with a bunch of signs professing his love after the girl says to her (I would assume) partner, “it’s carol singers.” Which, I don’t know, has to be one of the most ridiculous things ever. Like, come on.

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Features

Tufts alumni give back through Winternships

By Abby Stern | November 29

The Film and Media Studies Winternship program harnesses the power of the Tufts community by combining the generosity of alumni and the passionate intellect of current Tufts students. For over 20 years, the Winternship program has provided students a snapshot intensive of the media industry and workforce. Students apply through the FMS Department for one to two week internships over winter break, many of which are set up by Tufts alumni who donate their time and resources in order to give back to their alma mater. The program is Tufts-focused and Tufts-specific, providing the best opportunities for students to enter the competitive media industry.

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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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Features

Lara Hyde expands access to nutrition and wellness education

By Maya Katz | November 28

Tufts University is home to many different schools enacting change in the world. One of these is the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, which originally brought adjunct instructor Lara Hyde to Tufts as a master’s and doctoral student in biochemical and molecular nutrition at the school.

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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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Features

Not your parents’ classics major: Ancient world studies replaces classical studies major

By Summer Maxwell | November 21

When classes began this September, junior Rebecca Short was checking the classical studies department website to make sure she was on track to be able to declare her second major, classical studies. However, when Short looked online, she was met with an unpleasant surprise. “I didn’t realize they were changing the major,” Short said.

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Features

Get ready to trot: 3,200 runners join Somerville’s Gobble Gobble Gobble Turkey Trot on Thursday

By Audrey Peel | November 21

For many, Thanksgiving morning means layering up, lacing up and heading to the starting line. The Turkey Trot, a Thanksgiving day race, has spread in both popularity and size throughout the United States. With many runners showing up in festive costumes, these events are a spectacle for racers and non-racers alike. When did this unique tradition begin? The first Turkey Trot was hosted in Buffalo, New York in 1896. Starting off with only six participants, the Buffalo trot has grown exponentially, hosting an impressive 14,000 runners about 125 years later. According to their organizers, YMCA Buffalo Niagara, their race is the oldest consecutively-run footrace in North America.

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Features

Undergraduate student researchers at Tufts explore opportunities in labs and beyond

By Ella Sanders | November 20

Tufts boasts a plethora of research opportunities that span multiple departments and disciplines. Undergraduates at Tufts use these opportunities to participate in research, gain exposure to academia and explore their niche interests. Just as diverse as the labs they participate in, student researchers learn hands-on while furthering academic projects and knowledge.

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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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Features

Véxoa Nós Sabemos: A powerful exhibition of Brazilian Indigenous art at Tufts University Art Galleries

By Ellora Onion-De | November 17

Upon entering the Tufts University Art Galleries’ (TUAG) exhibition of Véxoa: Nós Sabemos (We know) you are greeted by a vibrant variety of colors, mediums, and sounds. Véxoa, originally showcased in the Pinacoteca de São Paulo in Brazil, found its new home at Tufts this September. The exhibit, curated by Naine Terena, features the work of 22 contemporary Brazilian Indigenous artists from a wide range of regions and peoples. Terena herself is a member of the Terena people of Brazil, making Véxoa the first art exhibit in Brazil to be curated by an Indigenous person. Claudia Avolese, a senior lecturer in the Visual Media Studies department at the SMFA, has led the project through its transition from São Paulo to Medford as TUAG’s guestorganizer of Véxoa. “I moved to the US in 2019. So, when I was still in Brazil, as a professor at the University of Campinas in Sao Paulo, I was following the whole process of putting together the concept of the exhibition, the invitation to [Terena],” Avolese said. “So when I moved and was hired at Tufts, this was in my mind because Boston … is the place with the largest Brazilian community outside of Brazil.”

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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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