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Personal Praguenosis

By Sacha Waters | February 8

Although I decided to study film in Prague for a semester, I’ve always been nervous abroad — a byproduct of my woefully American fashion sense and drawl. Despite possessing an English mother, I’ve found my accent does me no favors in Europe; my brother and I joke that as soon as we dare to speak within London, the surrounding passersby’s estimation of our IQ drops by 30 points. At times, it’s difficult to not feel judged.

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Features

Tufts Persian Student Association comes together in solidarity with protesters in Iran

By Maya Katz | February 7

The Tufts community is home to a wide range of different cultural and ethnic clubs on campus, including the Tufts Persian Student Association. For junior and PSA co-president Sabrina Rangwani, the club has been an important part of her adjustment to Tufts. Growing up with a large Iranian community in Houston while attending an international school, life at Tufts was Rangwani’s first time being surrounded by large groups of Americans.

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Columns

Caffeinated Commentary: Simon’s Coffee Shop

By Natalie Bricker | February 7

If you’re a Tufts student, you may not know about Simon’s Coffee Shop (located at 1736 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge). It’s a bit of a hike from campus (about a 40 minute walk or a 20 minute T ride), but it’s worth venturing to because the cozy vibes are off the charts.

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Features

Tufts’ connection to slavery, Part 1: The Ten Hills Farm

By Guillem Colom | February 6

The founding of Tufts has been a tale told far and wide. When a friend of Charles Tufts, one of the founders of Tufts, asked him what he intended to do with land including Walnut Hill, the iconic centerpiece of campus, Charles proclaimed that “I will put a light on it.”

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Features

Tufts ABLE evolves with campus life, advocates for students with disabilities

By Halia Frishman | February 3

Tufts’ Access Betters the Lives of Everyone, or ABLE, is a student-run club “focused on connecting students with disabilities in a mutually supportive community,” according to its website. Since the club first began in 2020, its mission and goals have continued to evolve.

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Features

Sobriety is a feasible and accepted choice for students at Tufts

By Rachel Wong | February 1

Sobriety on college campuses is a rarely acknowledged notion. Partying and drinking are perceived or practiced as a norm, but for some Tufts students, alcohol does not play a role in their lifestyle.

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Features

Tufts Green Dot, Sex Health Reps provide education with CARE

By Owen Bonk | January 30

Established in April 2014, the Tufts Center for Awareness, Resources and Education has been a campus resource for topics like sexual health and consent for almost nine years. In CARE’s near decade serving the Medford/Somerville campus, its initial office of one has transformed into a collective of more than 150 people. Green Dot and Sex Health Reps, CARE’s two sibling programs, have reached ubiquity at Tufts, cropping up everywhere from stickers on people’s laptops to high-profile, thoughtfully curated programming at first-year student orientations. 

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Columns

Caffeinated Commentary: Diesel

By Natalie Bricker | January 30

This week, I stopped by Davis Square’s Diesel to sip some coffee and assess the overall vibes. Confession: this wasn’t my first time at Diesel. In fact, I stop by this coffee shop (located at 257 Elm St. in Somerville) at least twice a week. The coffee is just that incredible. I usually order a latte with oat milk, but sometimes I opt for a chai latte. The coffee is smooth and flavorful, served in a big mug with thick foam.

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Features

‘Correctional’: Tufts poet Ravi Shankar’s memoir explores forgiveness and hope behind bars

By Mark Choi | January 26

“The impulse for writing this book came out of this time I spent in Hartford Correctional and the men I met,” Ravi Shankar, an English lecturer at Tufts and a Pushcart prize-winning poet, said. “I had filled probably seven or eight composition books, you know, full of everything.”

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Features

From basements to nightclubs, Tufts student organizations host a variety of formals

By Sarah Firth | January 26

With the end of every semester comes final exams, final papers and most importantly, formals. Many student organizations at Tufts host social events known as formals where members pull the fanciest outfit they brought to college out of their closet for a special night with friends or maybe even a date.

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Features

SAPAC 'Resistance' show uses fashion as a medium of POC expression and empowerment

By Kaitlyn Wells | January 24

On Dec. 3, 2022, the Tufts South Asian Political Action Committee hosted “Resistance,” an affinity fashion show open to all POC student organizations on campus. More than 10 identity-based clubs participated in this new SAPAC event, wherein each club prepared outfits to be modeled by their members on a makeshift runway in the Joyce Cummings Center Ballroom.

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Columns

What I Wish I Knew: Study abroad equals freshman fall

By Abby Stern | January 24

Three years ago, as a first-semester freshman, I somehow made friends, found my way around a new city, survived living on my own and experienced new classes, all while watching people I knew on social media seemingly have the time of their lives.

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Features

Vulnerability in the Classroom: CELT’s Pedagogical Partnership Program

By Carmen Smoak | January 20

Over the past five semesters, the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching has worked towards fostering more equitable and inclusive teaching practices through their Pedagogical Partnership Program (P3). The program pairs a student and faculty member in a mutually beneficial partnership in which the student attends and observes one session of the faculty member’s course a week. The pair then meets once a week to discuss equity, inclusion, student interaction and other general feedback on the classroom environment as well as the pedagogical practices of the faculty member.

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Features

Transitioning to college life from a pandemic high school experience

By Ella Sanders | January 18

Members of Tufts’ Class of 2026 were high school sophomores when the COVID-19 pandemic left the educational world scrambling to find new ways to teach. The class has just concluded their first semester of college, which for many students also marks the first return to regular school life since the pandemic.

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Features

Medford to Montauk: A solo road trip

By Vedant Modi | January 18

A long weekend falling right at the end of midterms seemed like a great opportunity to unwind — perhaps to boot up a video game, watch movies or just sleep in. For this past Veterans Day, though, I had a plan. 

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Features

Despite changing structures, foreign language education at Tufts remains strong

By Owen Bonk | December 12

Language programs have always played a curious and multifaceted role in academics at Tufts University. As a foundational requirement for School of Arts and Sciences students who don’t test out through a language proficiency evaluation, they could be considered the closest thing to a universal experience at a school with more than 70 undergraduate majors. Also noteworthy is the extent of the language requirement: The six semesters Tufts students must spend studying another language and/or culture is unusually rigorous for universities of its kind. Language education is also a key part of the international relations major and international literary and visual studies major, both of which require eight semesters of commitment to studying a single language. In this sense, learning a foreign language is quintessential to a Tufts education. 

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Local

Half a century since the lawsuit that shook the city: Reexamining Boston school desegregation

By Sam Berman and David Van Riper | December 8

“Boston made me feel that I didn’t have a chance, and that’s what racism does to you,” Beverly Crockett-Taylor said as a Black woman who grew up in the Dorchester neighborhood in Boston amid the tumultuous events preceding and during the desegregation of the Boston public school system that began in 1974.

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Local

Boston highways: A bridge or a divide?

By Jillian Collins | December 8

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the interstate highway system into existence — forever changing the country’s built environment and social infrastructure. Wealthy white families could now live in suburbs and commute to cities. While highways bridged suburbs and cities, they built straight through urban communities of color.

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Local

Tufts and local community members react to impending Davis Square renovation project

By Maya Katz | December 7

Due to its close proximity to campus, Davis Square has been a place for many Tufts students to spend time and enjoy a variety of local businesses in the area. But according to recent local news reports, Scape Development plans to construct a four-story lab building that would displace beloved businesses including When Pigs Fly bakery, McKinnon’s Meat Market, Sligo Pub, Kung Fu Tea, Martsa on Elm Tibetan Cuisine and Dragon Pizza. On Sept. 22, the City of Somerville’s Planning Board officially approved the renovation plan. 

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Columns

Liz in London: The final stretch

By Elizabeth Foster | December 7

At what point am I not a tourist?

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