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Ben Rachel

Ben Rachel is a first-year studying economics and finance. Ben Rachel can be reached at benjamin.rachel@tufts.edu.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: Staring at the blank page before us (Year 1 reflection)

By Ben Rachel | April 17

Wow. Look at us. The academic year is almost over. That’s a crazy statement to think about. It’s almost over; those 7 a.m. lawnmowers, the slow walkers and the hospital lights are going to be nonexistent for the next four months. Especially as a freshman, this is a tremendous moment. And, as a mature, rising sophomore (I can say that now), I will spend my last column publication dissecting it.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: The penultimate mile

By Ben Rachel | April 3

“Life is getting pretty real,” one of my friends said as I was attempting to peacefully eat my Hodge bowl in the hallway. When we sensually locked eyes, his pupils were filled with anxiety, nerves and worries. It wasn’t until later that night when I was staring at the ceiling of my dark, lonely single when I realized that life is, actually, getting real.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: Born to dilly-dally, forced to lock in

By Ben Rachel | March 13

Throughout my tenure at Tufts, I’ve learned that there are three constants of college: work, tiredness and sickness. There hasn’t been a day that I haven’t been at least one of those constants. Even as I write this article, I am stressed from midterms, tired from the Tufts gardeners who have decided that 7 a.m. on a Monday morning is the best time to mow the lawn and sick from my third iteration of the freshman plague. Nonetheless, no matter how sick or tired I — or anyone at Tufts — may be, the continual stream of work never ends until the semester does. And, of course, this persistent stream of work also inherently disregards our genetic desire to dilly-dally. In turn, it forces us to lock in. Tufts, and schools in general, deny us of our innate trait of monkeying about and pressurizes us to get in line.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: A day which will live in infamy — lotto numbers

By Ben Rachel | February 28

The infamous housing lottery numbers: they can tear apart friendships, induce murderous plots and force students to contemplate transferring. For months, the first-year class has heard rumors and stories about these numbers. And, of course, we’ve heard about the laudable 10-person Latin Way suite. Wow. Even after numbers have dropped, I still get butterflies whenever someone mentions Latin Way.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: Dabbling in some tomfoolery

By Ben Rachel | February 14

My friends think of me as a modernized, reincarnated Plato. My philosophical mind has been compared to Kant, Aristotle and many other great philosophers. Oftentimes, in the hallway of Hodgdon Hall 2.5 (the floor I call home), we debate and converse about the values and ethics of life into the wee hours of the morning.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: Why I have beef with the +C in calculus

By Ben Rachel | February 1

The term +C that is pasted in the answers of indefinite integrals in calculus has always troubled me during my 1 ½ year tenure as a calculus scholar. Its anomalous obscurity. Its pestering nature. Its constant and continual reminder that we are merely specks of dust floating in an ever-growing universe.

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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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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: Spanish music ensues

By Ben Rachel | November 9

“La Mamá de la Mamá” (2020). “Danza Kuduro” (2010). Bad Bunny. Spanish music has become a staple of my short tenure here at Tufts. It’s reached the point where I learn more Spanish on the weekends than during my classes throughout the week. Whether it be in some poor soul’s basement, a fraternity or a dorm, Spanish music is a guarantee.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: My very first Duo Mobile push

By Ben Rachel | October 12

There are probably a plethora of questions: Why is a freshman writing a column titled “A Jumbo’s Journey”? What is this column, and why is it being published by the prestigious, apparently seventh-best college newspaper, The Tufts Daily? As I sit here in the darkness and loneliness of mysingle room, I understand that I can’t answer all of your questions just yet. Instead, I hope to give an overview of who I am and what this column will be.

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