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Anthro Talks: Urbanization and urban periphery tension

By Keira Myles | April 2

Autoconstruction's constriction of Sao Paulo citizens into poor, peripheral neighborhoods, politicized the citizens and altered their notion of rights. Insurgent citizenships emerged from cramped confinements of unbearable slum peripheries, helping Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who also rose from autoconstruction peripheries, to secure the presidential victory for the Workers’ Party in 2002. His election demonstrated how, in three decades, the working class had amassed enough support to fight against Brazil’s maintenance of exclusive and unequal citizenships.

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Features

Tufts, surrounding communities rally support for Danish Pastry House

By Casey Cummings | April 2

Providing a laid-back study environment, warm and welcoming service and of course, tasty food to enjoy with friends, Danish Pastry House on Boston Avenue has become a staple of the Tufts experience. Yet, after experiencing a kitchen fire in January 2020 and then observing the enforcement of COVID-19 regulations in the following months, DPH has had a difficult year.

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Features

Tufts defends divestment decision as TCA calls for full divestment from fossil fuels

By Justin Yu | March 31

Tufts will continue to have exposure to fossil fuel investments due to its involvement in various commingled funds and separately managed accounts, according to Patrick Collins. TCA expressed dissatisfaction that the new policy does not specifically target oil and natural gas companies.

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Columns

Coffee Talk: Blackbird Doughnuts

By Casey Cummings | March 31

Blackbird has multiple locations throughout Boston, including one in Harvard Square. So, if you’re looking for an excuse to leave campus (in a socially distanced way, of course), go grab a doughnut from Blackbird! In addition to the classic doughnuts that it offers year-round, its March menu includes flavors such as mint chocolate chip, tiramisu and Irish soda bread, among others. Seriously, these doughnuts put Dunkin’s to shame.

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Features

Students struggle with burnout without longer spring break, professors make some changes

By Amelia Becker | March 30

Some professors updated their syllabi prior to the start of the spring semester to be more accommodating to students. Other professors have made changes more recently based on student feedback. Even so, many students find it difficult to bring up concerns to professors. 

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Features

Transferable Skills: There's no midway point

By Marco Sheng | March 30

Life is messy and nonlinear. Life occurs where ambiguous thoughts fluctuate, vulnerable situations emerge and authentic growth is hard. Life contains suffering, a part of what makes life special. I’ve struggled for many years (and still do) with these themes of ambiguity, vulnerability and authenticity. But they are, in my opinion, ingredients to a life well-lived.

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Features

To increase sustainability, Carmichael Dining Center implements Meatless Mondays

By Delaney Clarke | March 25

Tufts Meatless Mondays, an initiative implemented by Carmichael Dining Center this semester in which each Monday the dining hall serves solely meatless options for dinner, started on Feb. 22. Although the decision was implemented by Carmichael Meatless Mondays involves a collaboration between the dining center and the Eco-Reps. 

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Columns

Tales from the T: The Southwest Expressway

By Kevin Zhang | March 25

Part of the Orange Line until 1987, the Washington Street Elevated was then demolished, ostensibly due to its noise and age. The Orange Line was then rerouted westward to its current route, in a trench alongside commuter and intercity trains. If postwar planners had their way, the line would also have run alongside an eight-lane expressway. What happened?

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Columns

Anthro Talks: The intersection of race and gender with COVID-19

By Keira Myles | March 25

Though a “we’re all in this together” mentality attempts to boost national morale in battling COVID-19, it shrouds the structural inequities faced by Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Latino and other marginalized groups who bear disproportionate effects of COVID-19, not to mention HIV/AIDS, hypertension, poverty, diabetes, climate change disasters, unemployment, mass incarceration and more. 

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Features

More than meets the eye: Carmichael Hall

By Kayla Butera | March 24

The hall was named to honor Tufts trustee and seventh president, Leonard Carmichael. Carmichael's family had a deep connection to Tufts; in his dedication address, he referenced his grandfather who was a former member of the Board of Trustees and helped raise money to build the college in the 19th century. He also mentioned that his parents had held their wedding ceremony at Goddard Chapel. Carmichael himself was a Tufts alumnus, who graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in 1921. 

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Columns

Coffee Talk: The Scoop N Scootery

By Casey Cummings | March 24

What do I miss the most about pre-COVID-19 campus life? Easy: Sundae Sunday. First-years cannot understand the pain I have every Sunday night when I leave Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center without a fat bowl of ice cream. So once I found out about the Scoop N Scootery, which delivers massive ice cream sundaes to your door until 2 a.m., I was immediately a fan. 

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Features

Fighting the social-technical divide in undergraduate engineering

By Jillian Collins | March 23

In addition to the original computer coding-based content in the course ES 2, there will be new content on social justice issues. Instead of only professors leading the course, equity learning assistants are coming into the classrooms and facilitating conversations around these topics.

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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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Features

Louisa Terrell: From Tufts to the Biden administration

By Abby Stern | March 22

Louisa Terrell, Biden's White House director of legislative affairs, began her career trajectory at Tufts as an American studies major in 1987. “My dearest friends in the world are still the people I met at Tufts,” Terrell said. After graduating and attending law school, Terrell moved to Washington and landed a job in the Obama administration.

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Column

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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Features

‘Distance junkies’: Tufts Running Club attends virtual track meet

By Aisha Catena | March 19

The Tufts Running Club participated in a virtual track meet against Harvard University last month. At the virtual meet there were no computer-generated people running on virtual tracks nor did participants run with one arm up in the air filming themselves in selfie mode. nstead, the meet was held late last month and participants could individually compete in specific events at any point over a number of days and record their own times.

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Features

More than meets the eye: Goddard Chapel

By Lena Leavitt | March 18

When Goddard was first built in 1883, it was, like the rest of Tufts’ roots, a primarily Universalist establishment. “Universalism is a testament to universal human dignity and universal salvation," Cooper said. However, it is important to remember the darker history behind the chapel as well.

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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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Features

Greater Boston area celebrates 2nd St. Patrick’s Day during pandemic

By Katie Furey | March 17

Last St. Patrick’s Day came just shy of a week after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and only a day after Tufts required that all students move out of on-campus housing. It was the first holiday we experienced in a pandemic, and many states were just beginning to enter almost total lockdown. So little was known about how the virus spread that wearing face masks was not yet the norm for most people in the United States.

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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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