Today’s SectionsInside this issue

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

THE TUFTS DAILYTUFTsdaILy.cOM

Where You Read It First

Est. 1980

Charles Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and president emeri-tus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will in May deliv-er the 2011 commencement address to this year’s graduating senior class. Vest served as president of MIT from 1990 to 2004 before taking the top position at the NAE in 2007. “Chuck Vest is perhaps the most powerful voice speaking in the United States today on behalf of continued investment in sci-ence and engineering,” University President Lawrence Bacow said in an e-mail to the Daily. Bacow served for three years as MIT’s chancellor while Vest was president there. Bacow recounted Vest’s accom-plishments at MIT and his skill as a public speaker. “During his tenure as president of MIT, he was widely regarded as the nation’s best college president. He is a true moral leader — courageous, down to earth and inspiring. “He also has a fabulous wit,” Bacow added. “I think he will give a memorable speech.” Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler said Vest’s extensive experi-ence in higher education adminis-tration makes his selection pertinent to students. “His selection as this year’s speak-

er is based on his extraordinary over-all record of leadership and inno-vation, not specifically because of his engineering credentials,” Thurler said. “I think that he will give people something to think about.”

According to a press release from Thurler, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) on May 21 will address graduates of The Fletcher School

South-Korean film-maker Lee Chang-dong explores the power of poetry in her aptly named movie, ‘Poetry.’

see ARTS, page 5

Agriculture is gaining popularity as a career path for recent college graduates.

see FEATURES, page 3

Rain50/37

Op-Ed 9Comics 10Sports 11Classifieds 15

News 1 Features 3Arts | Living 5Editorial | Letters 8

VOLUMe LXI, nUMBer 33

MIT president emeritus Vest to deliver commencement address

by Martha Shanahan Daily Editorial Board

Courtesy tufts PubliC relations

Mit President emeritus Charles Vest will deliver the 2011 commencement address on May 22.

Vice Provost Newell pegged as interim replacement for Bharucha as the university continues its search to replace Provost and senior Vice President Jamshed bharucha, faculty members learned yesterday that Vice Provost Peggy newell will hold his position in the interim beginning July 1. newell does not wish to be considered for the per-manent position, university President lawrence bacow and incoming university President anthony Monaco said in an internal e-mail to faculty and staff members informing them of the change. bharucha last month announced that he would step down at the end of the aca-demic year to become presi-dent of the Cooper union in new york City. He is one of a number of top administrators who plan to leave tufts this year. associate Provost Vincent Manno last month announced that he would leave Medford in July to become the provost and dean of the faculty of the franklin W. olin College of engineering. bacow and Monaco in the e-mail also announced the for-mation of a search committee to find a permanent replace-ment for bharucha. Headed by Vali nasr, a professor of international politics at the fletcher school of law and Diplomacy, the committee con-

sists of administrators and fac-ulty members from across the university and will collaborate with the executive search firm isaacson Miller. “the search committee will be asked to move ahead expe-ditiously, and it might be pos-sible to have a new provost in place at the beginning of the spring 2012 term,” Director of Public relations Kim thurler said in an e-mail to the Daily. bacow and Monaco expressed confidence in newell’s past leadership and her familiarity with research at tufts. “she is well-known, admired and respected on all three cam-puses as someone who deeply understands and respects the work of our students and fac-ulty,” their e-mail said. “We are confident that she will keep the office running smoothly until we have a permanent succes-sor to Jamshed in place.” in the short term, Professor of Mathematics Misha Kilmer will serve as a special adviser to newell and Monaco on aca-demic appointments and will lessen the burden on the office as the two adapt to their posi-tions. Kilmer will give advice on issues like tenure and pro-motion decisions, bacow and Monaco’s e-mail said.

—by Ben Gittleson and Ellen Kan see COMMENCEMENT, page 2

Courtesy MiCHael niConCHuK

romanian President emil Constantinescu, modern slavery expert ben skinner, and Chechen human-rights activist lidia yusupova at last year’s forum.

IGL will sponsor trip to Oslo Freedom Forum by Minyoung Song

Daily Editorial Board

Four students this May will have the oppor-tunity to travel to Norway to participate in the international Oslo Freedom Forum as part of a new initiative launched this semester by the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) and the Human Rights Foundation.

The Oslo Scholars Program this week will select four students to attend the third annu-al human rights forum, in which dozens of activists lend their perspectives to a certain aspect of the politics and study of human rights, Vice President of Strategy at the Oslo Freedom Forum Alex Gladstein (LA ’08) said. The program will also match the select-ed students with human rights activists for

internships, according to senior Michael Niconchuk, the program’s co-coordinator. Niconchuk said a total of 20 students applied to the program. This year’s Oslo scholars will have the opportunity to intern with Izzeldin Abuelaish, a doctor from Gaza; Justine

see OSLO, page 2

TuftsTools can now be used for online password change

by Pattra audcharevorakulContributing Writer

In a further attempt to make Tufts’ system of passwords more user-friend-ly, University Information Technology (UIT) has implemented TuftsTools, a web application that allows members of the Tufts community to change and update their Active Directory (AD) password and e-mail account informa-tion online. Students use their AD passwords to access campus computers and their accounts on the Microsoft Exchange e-mail platform that will by June replace Trumpeter Webmail across Tufts’ campuses. TuftsTools goes hand-in-hand with UIT’s Simplified Sign-On (SSO), the project which has been replacing all of the passwords students are currently required to remember with the AD pass-word. The SSO project will improve the security of Tufts’ various online applica-tions, Director of Communications and Organizational Effectiveness for UIT Dawn Irish said. Students and faculty can now use TuftsTools to change their passwords online whenever needed, according to Irish. Before UIT developed the ser-vice, the passwords had to be changed in person when they expired with a

see PASSWORD, page 2

2 The TufTs Daily News Wednesday, March 16, 2011

See tuftsdaily.com for an interactive map.Police Briefs

RetuRn to sendeR

Students living in houses on Powderhouse Boulevard at approximately midnight on March 12 reported to Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) that an individual wear-ing a light-blue shirt and blue jeans was trespassing on their porches. Two officers responded and found an 18-year-old drunk male matching the descriptions slumped over a porch railing on a house on Powderhouse. The suspect told officers he was visiting a student from Tufts and got lost. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital.

A pRickly situAtion

TUPD officers on Professors

Row at 12:55 a.m on March 12 responded to a student’s report that his friend had just been hit in the face by another male who was then walking away. The officers caught up to the alleged assailant, a 20-year-old male, who denied involvement. When the victim insisted that the the suspect was his attacker, the suspect produced a fake Arizona driver’s license and claimed he was visiting Tufts from Arizona. He eventually admitted the ID was fake. The officers arrested the suspect for assault and bat-tery and disorderly conduct.

i get by with A little help…

A TUPD officer at 2:55 a.m on March 13 responded to a

call regarding a drunk male stu-dent lying on the sidewalk in front of Olin Hall. His friends had attempted to help him home until he fell over. He was not oth-erwise injured but was still trans-ported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

duh.

A student at 10 p.m. on March 13 reported to TUPD that his bike had been stolen between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the same day from a house on Curtis Street. The stu-dent had locked the bike’s wheel to its frame, but had not secured the bike to anything else.

—compiled by Brent Yarnell based on reports from Tufts University

Police Department

UIT worker authorized to complete the process. Lee Raymond, manager of the e-mail transition and head of the SSO project, said this in-person system was ineffi-cient for busy students whose schedules may not align with UIT’s office hours. “Right now, if you want to have your password reset, you need to have an IT colleague assist you, whether it’s going to Eaton Hall or working directly with other support staff,” Raymond said. “We saw many people resetting their pass-words at 10 o’clock at night or 11 o’clock at night, and we know that students are up working at different times than we are working.” UIT made both the TuftsTools and SSO initiatives available to students and staff at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy early last month, according to Raymond. TuftsTools offers other features beyond password resets, Irish said, including e-mail forwarding and reminders of

students’ Tufts usernames. “It’s a self-service portal for all things password,” she said. Tufts OnLine Supervisor Judi Vellucci commended the service for making the password system more accessible to the student body and comprehensive in its offerings. “Most importantly, it’s user-friendly,” Vellucci said. “It takes so much time for reviews and approvals, and sometimes it seems slow, but it’s thorough.” Password consolidation through the SSO initiative has already begun and will occur in phases throughout the rest of the semester. All members of the community, including all graduate stu-dents and staff, are expected to switch to the new password system by the end of June, according to Raymond. “We’re constantly bringing in new technology. Our overall goal — not just UIT, but for the entire university — is to make life for students and faculty members both easier and better,” Irish said. “It’s a very simple tool that does great things.”

of Law and Diplomacy during the school’s annual Class Day ceremony on the Saturday prior to Commencement. Kerry is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Thurler said that the com-mencement speaker, selected each year by the university president in collaboration with the Board of Trustees, is based on a number of qualifications. “We look for people who are going to have something notewor-thy to say, people who have mod-eled achievements that they can use to inspire the graduates and people from a variety of different fields,” she said. Vest chaired the former President

Bill Clinton’s NASA Advisory Committee on the Redesign of the Space Station in the early 1990s. Former President George W. Bush in 2004 also named him to the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction and in 2006 award-ed him the National Medal of Technology. Vest will receive an honorary doctorate of science at the ceremo-ny on May 22. Six other honorary doctorate degree recipients, includ-ing director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thomas Frieden, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar (E ’88) and Nobel laureate economist Robert Solow, will join him in receiving honorary doctorates.

Former MIT president, Kerry to speak at graduation ceremoniesCOMMeNCeMeNT continued from page 1

Hardy, a journalist who has written about Kashmir; Vincent Manoharan, an activist for Dalit rights in India; and Busi Kheswa, a LGBT rights’ activist in South Africa, accord-ing to Oslo Scholars Program co-coordinator Alisha Sett, a junior. Niconchuk said the program will allow participating students to network and pro-vide them with a base for a practical educa-tion in the study of human rights. “The [objective of the] Oslo Scholars Program is to directly engage with and work for the advancement of both inter-national and local-level human rights campaigns around the world,” Niconchuk said. Senior Molly Dow, who applied to the pro-gram and is waiting for notification of her acceptance, said she was impressed with the program’s caliber. “I think it’s a really high-rate opportunity for students and it’s surprising how high-level it is,” Dow said. “I’m happy that IGL is taking on this kind of project.” The forum typically attracts policymakers, business leaders, public intellectuals, journal-ists, social entrepreneurs and legislators who are passionate about human rights issues, according to Gladstein. He said the interdisciplinary nature of the event sets it apart. “From my perspective, the reason why I think it’s unique is that it [the Oslo Freedom Forum] really brings together completely diverse community of people to talk about human rights,” Gladstein said. Gladstein said he first envisioned the Oslo Scholars program two years ago during a conversation with IGL Director Sherman Teichman. Sett, who attended last year’s forum with Niconchuk, said Oslo was an appropriate location for the event. “Being in a city where you have so many

human rights symbols all around you is … great,” she said. This year’s Oslo Freedom Forum, sched-uled for May 9-11, will feature about 40 speak-ers who will give individual presentations and lead panels, Gladstein said. Niconchuk said that the forum will be pub-licized across Europe. According to Niconchuk, the program gives students opportunities they wouldn’t

otherwise find at Tufts to directly interact with human rights leaders and conduct an intensive study of the discipline. “The IGL doesn’t have a program yet that is exclusively dedicated to human rights,” he said. The Human Rights Foundation helped the IGL to fund the students’ trip and stay in Norway. “We’re trying to cover most of the fund-

ing for both the forum and the internship,” Niconchuk said. “[The] Human Rights Foundation is providing a very large subsidy.” Niconchuk said the program will bring a personal feel to the forum for its student par-ticipants. “No students other than Tufts [students] will be participating,” he said. “You’re not competing for endless attention, and it’s a very intimate thing.”

Password changes can be done onlinePAsswORDcontinued from page 1

DAnAI MACRIDI/TUfTS DAILy

Students no longer have to visit the Eaton computer lab to update their Tufts passwords thanks to a UIT program that allows them to do it online.

IGL program will select students to work in May with human rights experts in OsloOsLOcontinued from page 1

COURTESy MICHAEL nICOnCHUk

The IGL will sponsor the Oslo Scholars Program this May. Oslo City Hall, seen above, was the location of a reception for last year’s forum.

tuftsdaily.com

Many 20-somethings are leaving their books behind upon graduation and pre-paring to get their hands dirty — literally. The number of young farmers in the United States is growing, despite data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture indicating that the average age of American farmers is around 60, according to a March 5 article in The New York Times. Jeffrey Hake, M.S. candidate in agri-culture, food and environment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and aspiring farmer, said that a substantial divide exists between the two generations of farmers. Many older

farmers, especially those who work with commodity-type crops like corn and soy in the Midwest, according to Hake, feel stuck in the same agricultural process. “For farmers who are starting out now, there is a lot more hope, as well as a sense of innovation,” Hake said. “They are much more excited about the opportunity to become farmers.” Molly McCullagh, who is pursuing an M.A. in urban planning and an M.S. in agriculture, food and the environment at the Friedman School, said that in general, the young crop of farmers is exhibiting ingenuity and entrepreneurship as they enter the field. “[They are] not just taking over their parents farms — they’re starting their

own,” she said. Both Hake and McCullagh indicated that new farmers embarking on such a traditional path see a tangible opportunity to make a difference. “People recognize all of the issues in the environment, like global climate change, and feel powerless to do anything because a lot of it has to do with societal behavior and federal policy,” McCullagh said. “[But] farming represents one way that they can have an impact on the environment.” Hake noted that many farmers once saw their work as a practical manifestation of passion for environmental issues. “Back in the late ’60s, during the hippie

For time-strapped undergradu-ates, efficient and useful resources are never unwelcome. Although universi-ties strive to provide such services, the Internet is often a more looked-to source for assets aimed specifically at college students. One such source is NoteWagon.com, a website that allows users to upload their class notes. The site then pays that user when another student in the same class downloads those notes. Founded in May 2010 by Saif Altimimi, Gabriel Chan and Ali-Reza Asaradizeh, three students from Waterloo, Ontario, the company was launched in October and was made available to Tufts students this month. Altimimi told the Daily that the site grew out of his frustration with classes that didn’t cater to his personal learn-ing style. “Basically [it was] a pet peeve of mine — I’d take a lot of courses which are very note-intensive,” he said. The goal then evolved to provide a resource for students who had dif-ficulty extracting anything useful from a barrage of lecture material, accord-

ing to Altimi. This aim translated into a website catering to a restricted — yet ever-expanding — community of uni-versities in which student users tag their uploaded notes as class-specific and receive tokens for their uploads. Tokens not only give users the ability to buy others’ notes but can also be traded in for actual money. NoteWagon has now expanded out of Canada and into the Boston area. “It just blew up at our own school,” Altimimi said. “We just launched four months ago, and we’re already at 15,000 users.” Despite the relatively simple service that it provides, Altimimi sees the web-site as much more than a forum for note exchange. “Our vision is not just sharing notes; we’re technically a social-learning platform,” he said, adding that in the future the site will incorporate videos to facilitate online teaching and tutor-ing services. “We’re releasing new features pretty much every week,” Altimimi said. Another of Altimimi’s goals is to open the site up to not only more and more universities but college-hope-fuls as well. “[We] want to open up to high school

students,” he said, explaining that the clientele should have the ability to go online and preview class notes to get a sense of what they’ll actually be learn-ing in college. This, Altimimi envisions, will aid the process of choosing a course of study. Despite all of NoteWagon’s future goals, its endgame remains simply to encourage learning in all forms, accord-ing to Altimimi. “Each student has a different learn-ing style and our vision is to facilitate those styles of learning to enhance the university experience,” he said. Another website providing a unique service is DateMySchool.com, which will make its way to Tufts next month. Founded by Columbia Business School students Balazs Alexa and Jean Meyer, DateMySchool is an online dating ser-vice originally meant to foster inter-departmental relationships. In an interview with the Daily, Alexa related a story about a date he went on with a fellow Columbia student. Over the course of the date, Alexa’s companion complained that her peers from the university’s School of Social Work were mostly female, leading Alexa

Features 3

AlAnnA Tuller | Archive AddicT

Eighty-eight! Rah rah rah!

I can’t wait for spring break to arrive, but I’m not exactly looking forward to what will greet me upon my return: April Open House. Though I freely admit to feeling

quite nostalgic as hoards of pre-frosh swarm the Hill, it’s difficult not to feel a little cynical as I wait for massive tour groups to stop block-ing the entrance to my dorm. Of course, this overcrowding wouldn’t have been an issue had I attended Tufts when the entire stu-dent body was smaller than my “Principles of Economics” lecture last semester. In light of the pending admissions decisions for the Class of 2015, I began to wonder how I would have fared as an applicant in the late 1800s, despite the fact that my gender would have barred me from admission. Although Tufts did not ask lengthy essay questions or request YouTube supplements, the require-ments back then were still fairly strict. Rather than submitting an application, prospective students came to campus and completed an entrance examination the June before their first year. The exam covered a wide range of subjects — if “wide” can be taken to mean classical history, languages and literature. Students taking this exam in 1888 were tested on Caesar, Cicero, Virgil and Ovid in Latin, as well as Homer’s writings in their original Greek. Students also solved problems in arithmetic, algebra and plane geometry; demonstrated their knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman history and geography; and translated a pas-sage of “The Iliad” into English. And no need to worry about running out of time: This exam lasted for two days. But let’s say you came out of the womb reading Virgil and could practically translate ancient Greek in your sleep. What could you expect once you arrived for the 1888-89 aca-demic year? To say the least, Tufts was a pretty happening place to be. In the spirit of a true Tufts education, the class of 1888 represented a geographically diverse mix of three states. Of the 21 students in this class, 14 came from Massachusetts, six came from Vermont and one brave soul ven-tured all the way from Maine. And although I’m still uncertain as to what this term actually means, the class of 1888 lists ten additional “Special Students” in its yearbook, including a young man from São Paulo, Brazil. Therefore, a whopping 3 percent of the undergraduate population was comprised of international students (or international student, I suppose). But enough about demographics; how was the social scene? For starters, we didn’t have fraternities, but instead “Greek Letter Societies.” Jumbos had the option of pledging Theta Delta Chi, Zeta Psi or Delta Upsilon, all of which are still represented on campus today. Even if you chose not to participate in Greek life, you wouldn’t have been a social outcast. In fact, the entire university convened every day for the required morning prayers in Goddard. (The effectiveness of this require-ment is debatable, however. A faculty letter in the 1889 yearbook stated: “You worried us considerably last [semester] because you cut chapel so much; it doesn’t look well.”) Much like the Tufts of today, the class of 1888 represented a wealth of musical talents. Jumbos of yesteryear could sing in the Glee Club, strum along in the Banjo Club or play in the College Orchestra. I’m not sure, though, that a cornet, three violins, two flutes, two clarinets and a piano, which comprised the entirety of this last ensemble, actually qualify it as an “orchestra.” And as if this rousing social scene wasn’t enough of a draw, the strong sense of school spirit surely would have convinced you to attend Tufts. Although we recently lost a beloved Tufts tradition (R.I.P. NQR), I believe we can all learn a lesson in school spirit from the class of 1888 by examining their mind-blowingly creative official class cheer: “Eighty! eighty! eighty-eight! rah! rah! rah! rah! eighty-eight!”

Websites designed for the college crowd give new definition to the term ‘user friendly’

by Falcon ReeseDaily Editorial Board

see WeBSiTeS, page 4

Alanna Tuller is a sophomore majoring in English and Spanish. She can be reached at Alanna.Tuller@tufts.edu.

Farming re-emerges as viable career pathby Vicky Rathsmill

Contributing Writer

see FArMinG, page 4

CouRtEsy LIsa yaRnELL

Farming is no longer confined to rural areas like Montana, pictured above, but is now spreading to urban areas.

Agriculture a growing vocation among young work force

4 The TufTs Daily Features Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Kavita Ramdya received her B.A from New York University and her M.A. and Ph.D from Boston University. She is a regular Arts

Op-Ed columnist for “News India Times” and writes about culture and current events for “India Abroad” and “The Indian American”. She also co-chairs the Women for Women

International London Junior Leadership Circle, a charity which provides financial and emotional assistance to women survivors of war. She is currently working at an American bank in London.of war. She is currently working at an American bank in London.

Author Kavita Ramdya discusses the dating and marriage process as viewed and interpreted by first

and second generation Hindu Americans. She explores the influence of Bollywood – the Hindi-language film

industry – and the impact of inter-racial and inter-religious marriages on these generations.

Her talk will be followed by a dinner and discussion.Her talk will be followed by a dinner and discussion.

to realize that most of the business students were male. A lack of communication and interaction between the schools inspired the idea for the website. “There’s not much communi-cation going on between differ-ent departments and universi-ties even though they are very close to each other,” Alexa said. The site is currently only available at a limited number of schools, including Columbia, New York University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and a few small colleges in California. Next month, DateMySchool will become available for students at Tufts, as well as those at local schools like Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The website’s primary goal, Alexa said, is the pri-vacy of its users; as a result, DateMySchool offers a cus-tomizable user interface. “All the controls are in the hands of users,” he said. “It’s a very transparent, very clear experience.” Alexa also emphasized that the exclusivity and adjust-able settings offer an appeal beyond simple privacy, saying that many students either feel too embarrassed to use online dating websites or think that the services did not provide enough safety. “We found that less than 20 percent [of students] have tried an online dating website,” he said. “People feel that it’s embarrassing, [which] half of them say [is] because they are seen by friends and family.” As such, the site’s privacy settings allow for fine-tuned

control over who exactly can view a user’s profile, providing users with the sense that they know exactly who they will be meeting, according to Alexa. “It’s anonymous, it’s exclu-sive and it’s extremely safe,” he said. “[Users] go on the site, and within two hours they [have] a date … and you can be sure that you can trust them.” As a site that operates without making a profit, the founders keep DateMySchool ad-free and therefore have no incentive to sacrifice the user privacy that they pride them-selves on in order to generate revenue, Alexa said. “Whenever we face a tradeoff, we always choose to maintain the value that we promised,” Alexa said. “We care about users getting the safest and most secure ser-vice and that’s how it’s going to be forever.”

New academic and dating sites appeal tocollege students for their specialized featuresWeBsItescontinued from page 3

movement, a lot of people got into communes, and there was a more ideological rhetoric and hard-line philosophy in these communities,” he said. According to Hake, many now see farming as a viable career option rather than an alternative lifestyle or a way to get back at the “man.” Hake — unlike many of his peers, he said — sees agricul-ture as a fulfilling way of life. “A lot of people are missing [ful-fillment],” Hake said. “That’s why [farming] is attractive to me.” For Hake, the entire profession and the feelings that surround it are changing. “Instead of being a cog in the machine, which for many older farmers is demeaning and con-descending, we have the chance to be creative,” he said. “You can be known for your tomatoes and lettuce, but you can also decide to plant some raspberries and start making jam. There is so much more available, and that’s very attractive for people our age.” Younger farmers are embrac-ing more specialized markets than their predecessors, accord-ing to McCullagh. “A lot of new farmers are doing a more diversified production,” she said. “There are also more specialty niches that support a healthy diet.” The growing interest in sustain-able agriculture is also visible at Tufts. Hake last fall co-taught a class at the Experimental College called “Emerging Alternatives in Modern Agriculture.” Registration for the class filled up in the first hour of registration, Hake said, and the waitlist was crammed soon after. Interest is also evident on cam-pus with students groups like the

Tufts Sustainability Collaborative, which is committed to maintaining a student garden, called the Tom Thumb Garden. Another factor in the surge in farming among college grads is the growth of agriculture in cities across the United States, rather than strictly in rural areas. Urban farms have existed since at least the 1800s and have resurfaced in recent years, according to McCullagh. “In one sense, it is part of the new farmer movement, but it is also a tool for revitalization for cit-ies that have a lot of surplus land, especially post-industrial cities [in] the Rust Belt such as Detroit,” McCullagh said. She added that community gar-dening plays a vital role in urban revitalization. “In response to the obesity epidemic, health inequities and urban populations who can’t afford healthy food, community garden-ing serves as a way to get food to populations and engage them in growing food themselves.” Although Hake recognizes that space for farming is limited in cit-ies like Boston and New York, he embraces the challenge. “Part of the reason people are excited about urban agriculture and becoming farmers is these creative challenges that are new and novel,” he said. Skeptics who may consider this merely a passing trend among youth are barking up the wrong tree, according to Hake. “This ... has a lot of traction, so [naysaying] is unfair to people who are taking [farming] incredibly seri-ously,” he said. “Anyone getting into farming knows it’s going to be really hard. Most people are very aware of how difficult it’s going to be, and they’re excited about that.”

Farming among post-grad options for some JumbosFarMINGcontinued from page 3

notewagon.com

notewagon.com, founded by three canadian students, offers students the ability to buy and sell class notes.

Relinquishing control to the audience must be a nightmare scenario for any writer-director but is a necessary sacri-

fice for any film seeking to pull off subtle, understated storytelling. With “Poetry,” South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong wisely strikes such a bargain, offering an antidote to the brashness and ham-fisted symbolism of would-be “art film” fare, while deftly proving the merits of narra-tive restraint. The 56-year-old filmmaker, now presenting his fifth feature, has every reason to show such quiet confidence — with a win at Cannes last year for this film’s screenplay, he’s clearly on to something. The story here, perhaps surprising on account of its award-winning nature, resembles a character study more than it does a hidebound plot. Moving deliber-ately, but not slowly, as it crosses the two-hour mark, the picture glides through the life of aging grandmother Yang Mija (a captivating Jeong-hie Yun) as she wres-tles with the combined struggles of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and a delin-quent grandson who scarcely acknowl-edges her existence. And while Mija’s trials embody the film’s content, they hardly reflect its emotional core. This isn’t a film about Alzheimer’s — see Sarah Polley’s “Away from Her”(2006)

for that — nor is it one about ungrateful adolescents. Instead, the story is but Lee’s means to an observational end, a tender exploration of human nature both closest to death and furthest from it, in the form of a cross-generational portrait of Mija

and her grandson Jongwook (Da-wit Lee). The structural framework traces the languorous progression of Mija’s ailment as it is paralleled by a disturbing social

Noah and the Whale fans will be surprised by the more upbeat sound of the eagerly anticipated third album from the folksy quar-

tet. “Last Night on Earth” is a positively happy sounding album, and those with educated ears will know it marks a change from the band’s previous sound.

The album opens on a strong note with “Life is Life,” a catchy pop tune that hooks the listener with a desire to experience the rest of the album. The chorus is an amalgamation of cheerful voices singing “your life is your life,” with Charlie Fink’s strong tones proclaiming over the top, “and it feels like his new life can start/ and it feels like heaven.” This is definitely a different approach from the melancholy themes of the group’s previ-ous album, “The First Days of Spring” (2009). The most notable change between Noah and the Whale’s first two albums is the lack of a female backing singer on the second album, due to Laura Marling’s departure from the band. This meant that its sophomore album

Watching “Secret Millionaire” will reveal the answer to a question many of us ask on a day-to-day basis: Are there truly good people out there?

“Secret Millionaire,” a reality TV show now on ABC after spending a single season on Fox three years ago, depicts a predictable yet praiseworthy plot: Millionaires leave their families behind for a week and are thrust into a poor town or city to volunteer, with only a small stipend on which to live. As the title implies, their wealth is kept a secret until, after interacting with the local organizations, schools or other such worthy causes, they reach into their deep pockets and donate to the places and people they deem most deserving. The season premiere follows Dani Johnson, a successful, self-made entrepreneur as she volunteers in some of the poorest areas of Knoxville, Tenn. In addition to the fact that she is a secret millionaire, this episode has a second twist. We learn throughout the episode that Dani is no stranger to poverty. She and her sister grew up on food stamps and welfare, and she

Arts & Livingtuftsdaily.com

5

Pass that herb

You know those men’s soap com-mercials where there’s a buff guy lathering up in a shower and suddenly, cue snaking vines, the

bathroom morphs into a verdant forest in spring? To me, this series of images encapsulates the two facets of the world’s feelings toward cilantro. Either you think it tastes like soap, or you think it is the essence of freshness in a plant, making it the world’s most polarizing (legal) herb. The extent to which some people hate is so great that it inspires anti-cilantro blogs and even real scientific inquiry into the possible genetic and evolution-ary basis of cilantro loathing. The vocal minority makes such a hullaballoo about their dislike of the little green leaf that I can’t help but think that maybe they should stop eating it and move on to dif-ferent seasonings. Taste preference is a fascinating phe-nomenon. Having had the same friends for a long time, I can definitively recite their least-favorite vegetables or most-beloved candy. There’s the one who doesn’t like bacon unless it’s crispy-sweet with brown sugar. Another cringes at the slightest whiff of broccoli. There’s the guy who won’t eat food that came from nature and the one who drowns nearly everything in Sriracha sauce (he might actually be a dragon). As for myself, I don’t think I’ll ever under-stand Boston’s single-minded devotion to Dunkin’ Donuts when clearly the title of superior doughnut belongs to Krispy Kreme. I pity those who have not expe-rienced the benediction of a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut, freshly emerged from a waterfall of glaze like a tiny inner tube from heaven. The talk of taste preference starts to sound snooty, albeit hilarious, when it turns to wine. No unoaked Chardonnay for you? Riesling too sweet for your Cab-trained taste buds? Like everyone else, there are flavors I hate and those that I love, but I have little patience for judg-ment when it comes to what people enjoy or don’t enjoy eating. People can get really crazy over food opinions, but those opin-ions have nothing to do with superiority and very much to do with nothing. That’s why I’m not going to let the can-tankerous few make me feel bad about lov-ing cilantro. Yes, I love cilantro like Asher Roth loves college and no, I don’t think it tastes like soap. Not one bit. It’s the verdant forest for me when I dunk fistfuls of the stuff into a scorching hot bowl of pho. The balance of those lovely translucent spring rolls wouldn’t be right to me without the bright herbal note of the cilantro, which you can always find peeking coyly from behind the rice noodles. One of the simplest applications for cilantro is in guacamole, which in itself is a great example of a food easily adjusted to suit personal preferences. The follow-ing recipe is written according to my taste, but you cannot make guacamole without tasting it along the way. If you think it needs more of an ingredient or a smoother texture, go for it, and don’t let anyone tell you that it’s wrong. Just don’t leave out the cilantro. That would be nuts.

2 ripe Haas avocados, flesh spooned out and diced into large chunks.1 tsp mashed garlic1/2 cup finely minced onion (for a less sharp onion flavor, rinse with running water and drain)1 tbs. fresh lime juice1/2 tsp salt1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Mix the ingredients together, mashing the avocado until the desired consistency is reached. I like it chunky. You can serve this mix with tortilla chips.

Emily Balk | Whisk-y BusinEss

Emily Balk is a senior majoring in biopsy-chology and community health. She can be reached at Emily.Balk@tufts.edu.

TV REViEW

In TV show, ABC helps millionaires spread the wealth

by Alex KAufmAnDaily Staff Writer

see milliOnaiRE, page 6

secret millionaire

Airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC

alBum REViEW

Noah and the Whale explore new, more upbeat style

by KAte GriffithsContributing Writer

see nOah anD ThE WhalE, page 6

last night on Earth

Mercury Records

Noah and the Whale

MYsPAce.coM/NoAhANdtheWhAle

Noah and the Whale is back and exploring a new musical frontier.

mOViE REViEW

Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Poetry’ is, well, poeticThoughtful characters, subtle storytelling make for a poignant film

by John-michAel sequeirADaily Staff Writer

see POETRy, page 6

filMx.Net

this south Korean film explores the power of poetry.

Poetry

starring Jeong-hie Yun Nae-sang Ahn and Da-wit Leedirected by Lee Chang-dong

6 The TufTs Daily Arts & Living Wednesday, March 16, 2011

scandal, in which her grandson and a band of his cohorts are accused of driv-ing a female classmate to suicide. On the fringe of these darkly spiraling narrative pools is Mija’s enrollment in a poetry course and resultant attempts at artis-tic reflection, seeking to capture a sem-blance of meaning and understanding in her late life before language slips away from her entirely. Each shot of Jongwook’s blank gaze at the television seems to be mirrored by one of Mija earnestly studying the sun-light or the taste of fruit or finding just the right word to express a color. While he actively collects external stimuli — blaring music, constant companionship and a depthless appetite — she discovers life’s smallest joys amid the chaos of the surrounding world. Perhaps in other hands, the under-current of social commentary would be brought to the surface, gaudily unveiled. But Lee is able to create dialogue on matters so complex as human nature and life before death precisely because he doesn’t seek to provide any answers; he contents himself with simply ask-ing the best questions. Using the tools of observation and reflection as Mija searches for meaning and definition, the phrase “to really see things” becomes an identifiable personal challenge and one that succeeds as a narrative by shying

away from traditional resolution and over-characterization. By twisting away from expectations, Lee manages to provoke thought on tradition-ally held values and, in the process, creates a wholly unexpected thematic landscape. Rather than hammer away at the sorrow of memory loss and impending senility, Lee colors them almost seductively, using the grimness of reality to show the bliss of forgetfulness and living in the moment. As her illness progresses, Mija seems more and more to float through her surround-ings with a demure sense of detachment, encased in her own private world, even as her circumstances would seem to render this an impossibility. Shrouded in half-light, Mija becomes an altogether difficult entity to pin down, just impenetrable enough to provoke curi-osity but so authentic that even her most surprising actions never ring false. It’s a quality that carries through to her actions in the film’s final moments, which end “Poetry” on a note of partial finality that only leads to further questioning. Much like poetry as an art form, the matter of resolution becomes one of per-sonal interpretation. The writer essentially cedes trust over to the viewer, a gift in the world of art. And while in this film especially it’s often a challenge to know just what it is you’ve been handed — and just what it means — it would be a grave injustice not to thank its maker for his thoughtfulness.

herself was homeless for a period. She first visits The Love Kitchen, found-ed by two passionate, elderly twins named Helen and Ellen — a place, Dani says, simi-lar to one she used to go to growing up. The two women and their organization serve over 2,000 people each week, providing hot meals for all who enter and creating a space for friends and families to gather — it is, in effect, a community center. The next place Dani volunteers is Joy of Music, a school where students of all ages are provided with instruments, lessons and a space to grow. Frank Graffeo, the director of the center, tells Dani that many parents of the children at the center face unem-ployment, are on welfare and are generally unable to even rent instruments for their children. Graffeo introduces Dani, and the audi-ence, to several musical prodigies: obvi-ously the school’s brightest stars, who have attended the school for many years and are recipients of scholarships. Dani volunteers last for Special Spaces, an organization dedicated to providing children who are suffering from severe ill-nesses with their dream bedrooms. Dani meets Jennifer Swain, the founder of Special Spaces, as she and other volun-teers prepare the truck to make over the room of Daisy Silva, a five-year-old girl afflicted with leukemia. The Silva family leaves as the volunteers do their work, and when they return, the smiles on their faces

just show how much good was done. At every one of these sites, Dani vol-unteered with and encountered people who benefited from the center’s work. The struggles of the volunteers easily overshad-ow many of the troubles an average college student would face, and surely one who is as well off as Dani. Dani was touched differently, but touched nonetheless, by every site and person she met. She expressed her belief in each site’s worth and value as she found it. The secret millionaire ended the epi-sode by donating a total of $100,000 to the three organizations she volunteered at and to the Silva family for Daisy’s treatments. Each check she gave out was met with hugs, gratitude and tears. “Secret Millionaire,” though predictable, gives each of us hope, and some of us a good cry. To see a millionaire — from a class of people that many of us initially judge as only self-absorbed and fixated on rising up the social ladder — take from her pocket and donate truly from her heart is heartwarming and inspiring. This show also shows a more positive trend in reality TV. Instead of always show-ing the harsh, vulgar and inappropriate side of people that entertains (such as what you might see on “Jersey Shore”), shows like “Secret Millionaire” and CBS’ “Undercover Boss” have conveyed to the American viewer that execs and business-people can lend a helping hand to others and that they do care about their less well-off counterparts.

‘Secret Millionaire’ is uplifting TV fareMiLLiOnAirEcontinued from page 5

Courtesy ABC

twins ellen turner and Helen Ashe run the Love Kitchen, one of the organizations fea-tured on the premiere of ‘secret Millionaire.’

consisted purely of male voices, lending the band a different sound without the purpose of doing so. Yet the band seems to have found a female backup singer to contribute to the chorus for the second song, “Tonight’s the Kind of Night,” another strong, optimistic tune. With lyrics like “His heart is full of perfect joy/ He whispers his goodbye/ ’Cause tonight’s the kind of night/ Where everything could change,” it is evident that while Fink’s previ-ous state of heartbreak lent him the inspira-tion for the perfect self-indulgent ballads, the band’s new state of buoyancy does not detract from its ability to compose finely-tuned indie folk songs. The first single off the album, “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.,” is a catchy, somewhat bluesy song with a chorus able to be sung along to by anybody who can spell. The con-tinuous strain of solid tracks bordering on the pop side of the genre ends with “Wild Thing,” a slower tune, relying mainly on Fink’s voice and the resonating guitar chords. “Give It All Back” seems at first to be a return to Noah and the Whale’s roots, when the ukulele was an instrument unheard of on the indie music scene and Mumford & Sons were but a budding idea in the head of a schoolboy, yet 10 seconds in the band manages to effectively balance between new and old. Noah and the Whale has moved on to a more guitar-based phase in its sound while retaining remnants of its former sound in each of its songs with the use of a cheerful violin in “Just Me Before We Met.” The short interlude “Paradise Stars” is con-fusing and more out of place than anything else. A one-and-a-half minute piano-fueled

instrumental piece in minor key seems to conflict with the optimistic timbre of the rest of the album — maybe it is a reminder of what the band is capable of, maybe a prelude to the hopeful lyrics and tone of the ensu-ing song, “Waiting for a Chance to Come.” Mostly, it is forgettable after the joyful chords and confident drumbeats of the next song

start. The last two songs on the album, “The Line” and “Old Joy,” are a reminder of Noah and the Whale’s proficiency at composing folksy ballads that, while bordering on mel-ancholy, still manage to be heartfelt and not contrived. “Old Joy” especially is an elegiac tune with surprisingly positive lyrics, “Day by

day/ Old joy/ Comes back to me.” Avid fans of Noah and the Whale may be sad at the departure from its previous trademarked folk sound, but “Last Night on Earth” is a solid, genuine album — though it certainly is telling that an album focusing on hope is 10 minutes shorter than one about the pain of heartbreak.

Noah and the Whale maintains original identity but takes on new stylenOAH AnD tHE WHALEcontinued from page 5

MyspACe.CoM/noAHAndtHewHALe

noah and the whale’s Charlie Fink uses his life as inspiration for his songs.

Lee’s ‘Poetry’ an interesting mood piece, grounded in emotionPOEtrYcontinued from page 5

FiLMx.net

the effect of art on a person’s life is examined in the new film, ‘poetry.’

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 7The TufTs Daily Advertisement

Spring registration stressing you out? Relax. Summer is just around the corner.

TUFTS SUMMER SESSION 2011First Session May 25–July 1, 2011

Second Session July 5–August 12, 2011

Twelve-Week Session May 25–August 12, 2011

http://ase.tufts.edu/summer

Over 250 day and evening courses to fit your work or internship schedule.

Registration ongoing now

A COURSE FOR EVERYONE

The Daily wants to hear from YOU.

Have a problem with our coverage? Upset about something happening at Tufts or in the community?

The Daily welcomes thoughts, opinions and complaintsfrom all readers — have your voice heard!

Send op-ed submissions, 600-1,200 words, to oped@tuftsdaily.com.Send letters to the editor to editor@tuftsdaily.com.

8 The TufTs Daily Editorial | lEttErs Wednesday, March 16, 2011

ADVERTISING POLICY All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director. A publication schedule and rate card are available upon request.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 2 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com. All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the aca-demic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

Executive Business Director

BUSINESS

Executive Technical ManagerTechnical Manager

Ammar KhakuMichael Vastola

Kristiina Yang Executive New Media Editor

Laura MorenoDwijo Goswami

Advertising DirectorReceivables Manager

Darcy MannEmily DentonWilliam Wong

Executive Online EditorOnline Editors

Managing Editors

EDITorIaLMick Brinkman KreverSaumya Vaishampayan

AlexAndrA W. BogusEditor-in-Chief

Ben PhelpsEmma BushnellMitchell Geller

rebecca SantiagoMatthew Welch

allison Dempseyandrew Padgett

Joseph Stileashley Wood

Executive Arts EditorArts Editors

Assistant Arts Editors

Derek SchlomJon Cheng

Sarah KoronesEmilia Luna

romy oltuskialexa Sasanow

Falcon reeseangelina rotman

Sarah Strandamelia Quinn

Executive Features EditorFeatures Editors

Assistant Features Editors

Assistant Sports Editors

Ben KochmanPhilip Dear

Lauren FlamentClaire Kemp

alex Lachalex Prewitt

Daniel rathmanNoah Schumer

Ethan SturmMatthew Bergeraaron LeibowitzDavid McIntyre

ann Sloan

Executive Sports EditorSports Editors

P.o. Box 53018, Medford, Ma 02155617 627 3090 FaX 617 627 3910

daily@tuftsdaily.com

Production Director

ProDUCTIoNAndrew Petrone

Assistant Layout Editors

Executive Layout EditorLayout Editors

Sarah DavisLeanne Brotskyadam Gardner

Jason HuangJennifer Iassogna

Sarah Kesteralyssa KutnerSteven Smith

rebecca alpertJennifer Betts

Shoshanna KahneMackenzie Loy

alexia MoustroufiEmily rourke

Alexandra HustedSara Eisemann

Niki Kriegandrew Paseltiner

Zehava robbinsElisha Sum

ashley ChengBenjamin Considine

Linh DangPatrick Donnelly

Lauren GreenbergDrew Lewis

rebecca raskindMelissa roberts

alexandra Salernoalison Williams

Stefanie Yeung

Executive Copy EditorCopy Editors

Assistant Copy Editors

Staff Photographers

Assistant Photo Editors

Executive Photo EditorPhoto Editors

Meredith KleinVirginia Bledsoe

Jodi BosinDanai Macridi

Dilys ongJames Choca

Lane FlorsheimMeagan Maher

Justin McCallumoliver Porter

ashley Seenauthaalok Kanani

andrew Morgenthaler

Executive Op-Ed EditorOp-Ed Editors

Editorialists

Cartoonists

Rebekah LiebermannBhushan Deshpande

Larissa GibbsDavid Kellogg

rachel oldfieldJeremy ravinsky

Daniel StockElaine Sun

Devon ColmerErin Marshall

alex MillerLouie Zong

Craig FruchtKerianne okie

Michael restianoJoshua Youner

Executive News EditorNews Editors

Assistant News Editors

Martha ShanahanMichael Del Moro

Nina FordBen Gittlesonamelie Hecht

Ellen KanDaphne KoliosKathryn olson

Matt repkaCorinne Segal

Jenny WhiteBrent Yarnell

Elizabeth McKayLaina Piera

rachel rampinoMinyoung Song

THE TUFTS DAILY

Benjamin Hubbell-Engler

Corrections

lEttEr to thE Editor

Dear Editor,

I have noticed recently that the Tufts “no solicitation” notices that are posted at the entryways of nearly every univer-sity building have been vandalized in the past week with stickers that say, “We support Justice for Janitors.” While my classmates and other members of the university community are welcome to voice their support for the janitors during the university’s bid process for the janito-rial contract, they cross a line when they vandalize school property.

I have noticed that the university has attempted to remove the stickers, caus-ing damage to the “no solicitation” notic-es. Not only does the university have to replace damaged notices, but also the process of removing the stickers has wasted the valuable time of our (union-ized) Facilities Services staff. I urge the administration and Tufts’ police department to investigate the matter and punish any members of the community that were involved in this vandalism. Moreover, the perpetrators ought to pay for the replacement of the

“no solicitation” notices. Lastly, if a Tufts Community Union- (TCU) funded group used Student Activities Fee money to buy the stickers that were placed across cam-pus, the members of the group should be required to reimburse the TCU Treasury. I applaud my fellow students for advo-cating for causes they believe in, but I urge them not to vandalize our campus in the process.

Sincerely,John K. AtsalisClass of 2011

Libyan no-fly zone is a slippery slopeEditorial

The Group of Eight (G-8) nations were not able to agree yesterday, after nego-tiations in Paris, on the issue of a no-fly zone over Libya. Intended to shield civilians and opposition forces from Col. Muammar Qaddafi, the measure was strongly supported by France and the United Kingdom, while Germany and Russia led the opposition. The United States has, thus far, been hesi-tant to support intervention. The Daily believes that the Obama administration should not support a no-fly zone. President Barack Obama has stated his desire to see Qaddafi leave office and allow for a transfer of power. Though he has been cagey in his response, he has reportedly been considering, in addition to the no-fly zone, aerial surveillance, humanitarian assistance and tougher enforcement of an arms embargo that was passed by the U.N. Security Council two weeks ago. The United States was wise not to jump to intervention at the first sign of violence against the population. Now, it seems as though these other options make more sense. Though France has been a propo-nent of a no-fly zone, the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé told his parliament

yesterday that it may now be too late to implement. It would no longer be viable, he said, and at this point, the ground movement of Qaddafi’s troops is the utmost concern. The significant progress made by Qaddafi’s forces on Tuesday included the overtaking of Ajdabiya, one of the rebels’ essential cities. No more than 10 days ago, rebels were close to marching on Libya’s capital and Qaddafi’s stronghold, Tripoli, but the momentum has shift-ed toward Qaddafi’s forces over the last week. The Libyan leader said the opposi-tion’s only options now are to “surrender or run away.” If a no-fly zone were implemented, the United States and other nations would be putting themselves at the top of a very slippery slope toward on-the-ground intervention, a move which many would agree is unacceptable. Were the measure put into place and Qaddafi continued to massacre the opposition from the ground, would the international community stand by? With their airplanes overhead enforc-ing the no-fly zone, it is difficult to imag-ine intervention not increasing. Nor, for that matter, is the imple-mentation of a no-fly zone a benign step. Defense Secretary Robert Gates,

in testimony before Congress two weeks ago, rightly said, “Let’s just call a spade a spade. A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses.” The situation is complicated by the fact that Libya is entering what increasingly appears to be full-scale civil war. Though Qaddafi’s forces clearly have the upper hand militarily, the opposition is not a defenseless and complacent people being massacred by its leader. This differs, for example, from the no-fly zones enforced by the United States and others in Iraq in the 1990s. In that case, it was clearer that, in the wake of the Persian Gulf War, a no-fly zone could impede Saddam Hussein’s hostilities. In Libya, Qaddafi has made it clear that he will not tolerate any efforts by the opposition to secure autonomy in its eastern stronghold. Due to the lack of consensus from the G-8, the issue was punted to the United Nations Security Council, where a resolution is being sought by its member nations. Given the degree of mayhem on the ground, it is clear that a no-fly zone is untenable. Instead, the Obama admin-istration should focus on the less inter-ventionist options it has on the table as a way of inducing Qaddafi to step down.

alEx millEr

Yesterday’s op-ed, “Reflections on Israeli Peace Week,” mistakenly stated that Abu Rahmah had been released from prison after four months. In fact, he was released after 16 months, four more than his original sentence. This was a mistake made during the editorial process and was not the fault of the writer.

In Tuesday’s article, “Students protest NQR’s end with ResQuad run,” senior Sarah Habib was incorrectly identified as the chair of Programming Board. She is the co-chair. The article also incorrectly stated that Habib and Tufts Community Union Senate President Sam Wallis sent the e-mail announcing a contest for an NQR replacement on behalf of their respective organizations. In fact, they sent the e-mail as individuals heading the search for a new event.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 The TufTs Daily Op-Ed 99

Op-ed pOlicy The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

Much news these past days has rightly focused on the terrible disaster happening in Japan. Most of the coverage has been on the ongoing problem of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. The situ-ation there is critical, and it seems now highly likely that there could be a sig-nificant release of radioactive matter. As frightening as this is, the continuing news coverage has helped me realize the thing I fear the most in the world. Most media outlets are doing their very best to sensationalize the story. Newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times, CNN and The Associated Press, have all published articles that con-fuse readers about what the actual danger from the nuclear reactors is. Small side-bars contain miniscule links to difficult-to-follow stories on how nuclear reactors work. Words such as “meltdown” — gener-al and ambiguous terms with little actual meaning in the nuclear power community — are used freely. In many of the reports, radiation is discussed without any note of the actual levels, and rarely are bench-mark radiation levels given. An article in the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, calls this disaster “Japan’s Chernobyl,” yet neglects to mention that the differences in reactor type, design, regulation and operation between the doomed Ukrainian plant and Fukushima Daiichi mean that even in the worst-case scenario, Japan will face a disaster several orders of magnitude less than that at Chernobyl. Frankly, the public is being misinformed. The comments on these stories are even more worrisome than the stories themselves. A vast amount of reader posts on websites ranging from The Huffington Post to Fark.com are to the effect that the results from this disaster are going to be as bad as, if not worse than, Chernobyl, that the reactors will explode like giant nuclear bombs and that under normal operating conditions, there is no radiation emitted from nuclear power plants. These statements, however, are all false. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) has called for a halt on all nuclear-power construction projects in the United States until the faults in the Japanese plants can be found yet seems unaware that current reactor safety systems are much more advanced than those on the aging

Japanese plant and are continuously being improved. It would seem that many of the people posting comments online are unaware that their knowledge of nuclear energy is lacking. Yet there is ample opportunity for the general populace, the media and politicians to learn about these facts. There are many credible experts who are willing to make statements as to the truth of the situation. Even the Wikipedia page on nuclear energy, a source that should in almost every case be questioned, pro-vides an honest, easy-to-understand basic level of knowledge. But the unin-formed voices are clamoring louder than ever and are unfortunately influencing the world’s policymakers. Nuclear power is but one of many tech-nologies misunderstood by the general public. This misunderstanding leads to fear, and fear causes the rejection of a potentially beneficial discovery. Vaccines, climate change, even wind and solar power have all been misunderstood, have all been subjected to fearful, knee-jerk reactions and have all suffered because of it. And appeals in the court of public opinion are almost impossible to win. The fact is that the future of science and technology is controlled by people, who one, have no understanding of it; two, believe false things about it; and three, have no desire to correct points one and two. Even at Tufts, where interdisciplinary study and broad interests are the norm, it is a rare political science major willing to take a course on biotechnology, fuel-cell design or hazardous-waste management. How can we hope to face these issues if we know nothing about them? This

trend must change. The degree sheet for a peace and justice studies major should list fewer courses like “From the Big Bang to Human Kind” and more courses like “Clean Energy Technologies and Policy Issues.” However, this works both ways. Mechanical engineers need to study eco-nomics if they want to understand the financial ramifications of their new devic-es. Biochemists must learn the ethical dilemmas of genetically modified food. And most importantly of all, everyone in a technical field needs to learn how to com-municate their ideas effectively, because it is through this communication that misinformation can be fought. Scientists and engineers must step up efforts to combat technological igno-rance. We must become more involved in politics and policy. We must not remain quiet when we hear a fallacious discus-sion in our area of expertise. We must expand educational efforts, not just to those still in school, but to all people who lack a solid understanding of a subject. Only then will there be a chance to cur-tail the all-too-common backlash against new technology. Because my greatest fear is not nuclear energy creating three-eyed fish, global warming destroying the planet or even being hit by a car while crossing College Avenue in front of Anderson Hall. My big-gest fear is for a potentially life-changing technology to be kept from use by easily preventable scientific ignorance.

Staying cool on Vietnam

prashanth paramEswaran | thE asianist

Whenever starry-eyed inves-tors knock on his door at the Vietnamese embassy in Washington, D.C., Tung

Nguyen, the boyish, bespectacled deputy chief of mission, is sure to inject a dose of reality into their sunny optimism. “I have to cool them down, because things are not that rosy in Vietnam right now,” Mr. Nguyen told a roundtable at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy last month. Vietnam has certainly made great strides over the past few decades, digging itself out of the ravages of war, push-ing for economic reforms and pulling an astonishing 40 percent of its population out of poverty. The Goldman Sachs and HSBCs of the world have boldly included Vietnam in their catchy lists of future emerging markets, citing its robust eco-nomic growth (7 percent per year on aver-age), well-educated and young populace and stable political system. Yet a gloomy shadow has recent-ly descended upon the rising dragon. Vietnam has struggled to restore investor confidence amid stubbornly high infla-tion, ballooning trade and fiscal deficits and an ever-weakening dong. Its large, unwieldy, state-owned enterprises still have an iron grip on the economy despite their inefficiencies and abject recent failures. The government continues to round up dissidents and suppress media freedom, an authoritarian streak that manifested itself most recently when a U.S. official in Vietnam was roughed up while attempting to visit a dissident Roman Catholic priest. Most worryingly, the Communist Party elite appears to be turning Vietnamese capitalism into a family business through powerful, cor-rupt networks. These problems are not intractable, particularly for a resilient nation like Vietnam, which has persevered through centuries of war and weathered several economic crises over the past few decades alone. But they are formidable nonethe-less. Mr. Nguyen laments that there is “frankly speaking no political will” to bat-tle corruption and that Vietnamese mac-roeconomic policy continues to be run by interest groups rather than intellectuals. For years, Vietnam’s party elite has tried to set policy from behind the scenes and delegate implementation to the state, nudg-ing and pushing where appropriate. Now some wonder whether the party will either be overwhelmed by corrupt forces or be underwhelmed about redistributing wealth from its wealthy supporters to the poor. To their credit, Vietnamese leaders have recently hiked interest rates and slashed the dong to control inflation, which hit an alarming annual rate of 12.2 percent in January. Yet many believe that deeper changes are required with regard to cor-ruption, government spending and the state sector in order to avert a financial crisis. They were disappointed when the Communist Party’s five-yearly congress concluded earlier this year with an unwav-ering commitment toward maintaining heavy state involvement in the economy and remain unconvinced that the govern-ment has decided to put tackling inflation ahead of stimulating growth. In his declaration of independence speech in September 1945, Vietnam’s rev-olutionary hero, Ho Chi Minh, spoke col-orfully about “mobilizing” all the “physical and mental strength” of the Vietnamese people. That may well be the kind of energy the Vietnamese government needs to confront the emerging problems that it faces en route to becoming a major eco-nomic power.

Larry Bacow is not my homeboy University President Lawrence Bacow’s decision to end Naked Quad Run (NQR) is symptomatic of Tufts’ widespread fail-ure to address the flourishing drinking problem on campus. The administration’s past behavior suggests that Tufts is clue-less about how to stifle rampant alcohol abuse and relies on increasing security or canceling events to give the appearance of meaningful action. But buffed-up secu-rity and event cancellations don’t improve Tufts’ drinking culture; it only decreas-es the opportunities it has to be visible. Perhaps as a PR ploy, Bacow’s decision was successful, but otherwise it displays an alarming lack of judgment. I have no illusions about the problems NQR presents. A bunch of drunk, naked college students running around in sub-freezing weather is almost any school’s nightmare. However, President Bacow’s — and the Daily’s — worry that someone will eventually die is misplaced. Once again, I don’t deny that NQR has the potential — often actualized — to be dangerous. But this danger stems primarily from Tufts’ drinking culture, not anything inherent to NQR. Bacow’s melodramatic line, “no tradition is worth sacrificing a life to pre-serve,” only obscures the reality of the drinking culture on campus. Excessive drinking, not NQR, puts students at risk. Canceling NQR does not remove the dan-ger posed by alcohol poisoning; it merely pushes it further out of sight from admin-istrators and the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD).

We tend to take perverse pride in how much and how often we drink. Binge drinking, while not glorified, is certainly encouraged. My friends and I often come up with occasions to justify binge drink-ing (celebrating National Punctuation Day comes to mind). As a participant, it is hard for me to frown too intensely on such practices, but from the standpoint of an administrator, such drinking should be anathema. NQR only provides an occa-sion for such bacchanalian pursuits to be visible. Canceling the event will only force such festive libations into dorm rooms, frats and off-campus houses. Far from preventing eventual student demise, President Bacow seems to be encouraging that it happens away from TUPD, Tufts Emergency Medical Service (TEMS) and anyone else who could help. Moreover, President Bacow and all who support his decision seem to have a par-ticularly rosy-eyed picture of their ability to end this tradition. The Daily’s edito-rial states “NQR isn’t coming back” and Bacow said, “In the end, it’s my decision.” Though other adjectives to describe such sentiments come to mind, I will stick with “deluded.” Since NQR is a student tradition, the school has absolutely no guarantee that students will abide by the president’s wishes. Bacow’s warning that a student violating his decision will be punished is hardly doing the school a favor. Considering the accusations lev-eled at TUPD after last fall’s NQR, Tufts would best avoid lawsuits by keeping Tufts’ finest uninvolved. Pledges made by the university and the Tufts Community

Union Senate to come up with an alter-native tradition ring of both paternalism and wishful thinking. Tufts seems much more willing to eliminate NQR than to deal with its void. Even more curious is Bacow’s insistence that his decision sprung from “responsi-bility to an institution.” President Bacow, who is leaving this particular institution in June, will not be the authority overseeing next year’s possible rebellious reassertion of NQR. I understand that the difficulties a school president faces are monumental, but the responsibility of enforcing Bacow’s decision lies with his successor. This deci-sion seems rooted more in the determined pursuance of a failed policy. More cops and fewer events do not control drinking. Tufts does have a drinking problem, but the fact that Tufts students run around naked when drunk is an eccentricity, not the cause of the campus-wide drinking problem. The endemic drinking culture, unfortunately, is much less simple to rem-edy than the decisive cancelation of NQR and any solution is less likely to impress Tufts’ trustees. Regardless, for a president who ostensibly promotes doing “what is right, not what is easy,” (a particularly Spiderman-esque phrase), this decision marks a serious failure in both policy and judgment. I suspect that Tufts’ love of binge drinking, and perhaps NQR, will outlive Bacow’s tenure, no matter what his decision may be.

Ben Van Meter is a sophomore majoring in Russian and East European studies.

by ben Van Meter

Technology, politics and fearby eVan Weixel

MCT

Evan Weixel is a senior majoring in chemi-cal and biological engineering.

Prashanth Parameswaran is a first-year Fletcher student. He can be reached at Prashanth.Parameswaran@tufts.edu. His blog is asianist.wordpress.com.

10 The TufTs Daily ComiCs Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Crossword

Late Night at the daiLy

tuesday’s soLutioN

www.marriedtothesea.com

Level: Picking the perfect upset to brag to your friends about

Tuesday’s Solution

Rebekah: “Every single morning, I wake up and find different people’s clothes in my room.”

Married to the Sea

NoN Sequitur by Wiley

dooNeSbury by Garry trudeau

sudoKu

Please recycle this Daily.

11

tuftsdaily.com

John Casey isn’t sure how one of the baseball team’s longest-standing traditions began; it’s happened for so many years now that the ori-gins are hazy for the coach, who is now beginning his 28th season with the Jumbos. The event occurs annually — that much is certain — just outside the Best Western Ocean Front in late March, beyond the grainy sand and razor-sharp shells of Virginia Beach and beneath the backdrop of the setting sun. On the final Friday of Tufts’ spring-break trip to Virginia and North Carolina, with win-ter finally entering hibernation and temperatures still colder than desirable, the baseball team goes swimming. For after a dizzying slate of 11 games in 10 days, it’s only fair that the Jumbos partake in a bit of relaxation and unwind in the water. When the team boards its Amtrak train later tonight, Tufts will, like in the many years before, head South past the Mason-Dixon Line to kick off its season with a sched-ule that would make even the most seasoned major-league veterans tired. The team will travel just under 2,000 total miles over spring break, head-ing from Medford to 10 dif-ferent Div. III schools, all of which are in the middle of their seasons. Just like the late-night dip into the Atlantic Ocean or one of the other traditions that inevitably emerge while packed into vans rolling down the highways, the spring trip has evolved into another attri-bute of the baseball team’s dis-tinguished culture. “It’s like living with your family,” Casey said.

“You love them, but they also see your best side and your worst side … Baseball’s a social sport. When you come back from a baseball game, you talk more baseball. It’s a good bonding experience and becoming a team is something we always talk about.” Being on the road, without homework or other collegiate worries, allows the Jumbos to get a taste, for a few days, of the professional baseball experi-ence. The hotels, the vans and the day-night doubleheaders make dreams come true. “The spring trip is really, for most of us, the best part of the season,” senior co-captain shortstop Dave LeResche said. “You almost feel like a minor league baseball player. You’re waking up, eating, playing baseball and sleeping.” Such a demanding schedule, on the surface, should theo-retically take an emotional and physical toll on a roster. But this is what the players live for; after months of cramped practices and outfield-less scrimmages in the Carzo Cage, Casey’s squad will finally step between the lines to officially start yet another season. “When we first started going a zillion years ago, it was more of a ‘spring trip,’ where guys would just find the lineup and do all of that stuff,” Casey said. “With the way the NCAA is now, with every game count-ing, Lynchburg on Friday is our opening game, and that’s how we prepare for it. It’s a little bit different now.” The constant travel mirrors the grind of road trips in the NESCAC, and Casey has made a concerted effort to accen-tuate that at various stages throughout the trip. To wit, the Jumbos will deliberately spend Thursday night away

The baseball team won a program record 34 games last year, took home the NESCAC championship and needed just one more victory to clinch a trip to the Div. III College World Series. But, as any mem-ber of this year’s squad will attest, a frustrating defeat in the New England Regional championship game left a sour taste in the Jumbos’ mouths. Tufts carried a 6-3 lead into the fifth inning of that contest against UMass-Boston, but the Beacons surged ahead in the middle frames, and their bull-pen slammed the door shut at the end. The 12-6 defeat brought an abrupt end to an historic season, but the 2011 Jumbos are determined not to let another season end like that.

Sports

When the baseball team kicks off its season on Friday at Lynchburg College, the Jumbos will do so without the ser-vices of the most prolific closer in school history. Junior Chris DeGoti, a 2010 D3baseball.com First-Team All-American and 2011 preseason First-Team All-American, will miss the entire 2011 season after under-going Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow, coach John Casey confirmed to the Daily. DeGoti is not currently listed on Tufts’ roster and is report-edly taking the spring semester off to rehab his injury at home in Florida. According to Casey, DeGoti injured his elbow dur-ing the summer while playing for the Kauai Menehunes of the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League. Casey said that the surgery, which replaced a ligament in

DeGoti’s elbow with one from his leg, was done by James Andrews, a renowned ortho-pedic surgeon who has per-formed surgery on profession-al athletes like Albert Pujols and John Smoltz. According to a 2007 ESPN.com article, Andrews had performed over 2,500 Tommy John surgeries up until that point. The Jumbos will lose the pro-gram’s career leader in saves, a mark DeGoti set during a prolific sophomore campaign in which he tied for the Div. III lead with 12 saves. He also recorded a 1.17 ERA in 20 appearances, allowing just three earned runs in 23 total innings. During Tufts’ NESCAC Championship-winning effort, just the second in school his-tory, DeGoti saved two out of the three games. “My feeling is, we’re going

to miss Chris,” Casey said. “He brought a bit of something to us at the end of games, a lot of confidence. “But from a purely statistical standpoint, it’s a hell of lot eas-ier to replace 22 innings than it is to replace 80, so we’re going to have to do the best we can without him. Why worry about things you can’t control?” In other injury news for the Jumbos, senior pitcher Jack Dilday will not play on the team’s spring trip after hurt-ing his elbow a week and a half ago. The flamethrower, who appeared in nine games for the Jumbos in 2010, will still travel with the team to Virginia and North Carolina. The timetable for his return is uncertain and depends on the results of an MRI.

All-American DeGoti out for season with elbow injury

ANDREW MoRGENTHALER/TuFTS DAILy

Junior Chris DeGoti, Tufts’ all-time leader in saves, will miss the entire 2011 season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

—by Alex Prewitt

BAseBAll

BAseBAll

Jumbos have rare opportunity to repeat as NESCAC champions

by Daniel RathmanDaily Editorial Board

JAMES CHoCA/TuFTS DAILy

Senior shortstop David LeResche hopes to follow up last year’s All-NESCAC performance with another strong season.

BAseBAll

Jumbos dive headfirst into spring trip games

by alex PRewittDaily Editorial Board

see sPRING TRIP, page 15

see BAseBAll, page 14

It’s official: Senior attackman D.J Hessler is the best offensive — if not overall — player in Tufts men’s lacrosse history. With a goal at 11:38 in the third quarter of last night’s 23-5 victory at Lasell College, Hessler passed Bryan Griffin (LA ’05) as the program’s all-time highest-scoring player with 236 points. The senior co-captain tied the record with an unassisted goal late in the second frame. The top-ranked Jumbos moved to 2-0 with a crushing victory over Lasell, racking up Tufts’ highest goal total since March 23, 2009, when the Jumbos had 26 tallies versus Mount Ida College. Tufts’ defense was strong in the Amherst win last Saturday, but the offense struggled at times, managing just one goal in the third quarter and 13 overall. But after starting last night’s game slowly, and even trailing 2-1 midway through the first frame, Tufts began

to score in bunches, dwarf-ing Lasell 17-2 in the second and third quarters combined. Hessler led the Jumbos with seven points, to which junior attackman Sean Kirwan and senior attackman Ryan Molloy added four points apiece. Junior goalkeeper Steven Foglietta split time between the pipes with sophomore Tyler Page and first-year Patton Watkins, a threesome which as a unit gave up five goals on 31 shots. With a seven-point game, Hessler now has 238 points on 109 goals and 129 assists in his career. He already holds Tufts’ all-time assist record, having broken Griffin’s mark of 101 with a six-assist performance in last May’s NESCAC Quarterfinal win against Williams. The No. 1 Jumbos will con-tinue their season against NESCAC rival Colby on Saturday at Bello Field.

MeN’s lAcRosse

Hessler breaks all-time scoring record in blowout win over lasell

—by Ben Kochman

12 The TufTs Daily SportS Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 The TufTs Daily SportS 13

Ranked as high as No. 9 in the coun-try last fall, the sailing team is focused on one thing this spring: a return to Nationals, where early last summer the team finished in an impressive 10th place. And with two weekends of regat-tas under their belt and high expecta-tions to fulfill, the No. 15 Jumbos are ready to kick it into high gear as the season heats up. “I think we’re pretty psyched,” senior tri-captain Margaret Rew said. “The thing about the spring season is

that it’s a sprint. We spend all winter getting mentally prepared for it, but as soon as the gun goes off this com-ing weekend, we’re at a full sprint the rest of the semester.” The Jumbos are coming off a suc-cessful fall season in which they were consistently ranked in the top 15 teams nationally. The team last November finished eighth overall at the Atlantic Coast Championship, with junior tri-captain Massimo Soriano and soph-omore Amelia Quinn capturing sixth place in the A Division. Quinn is also a features editor for the Daily. Based on the team’s fall results, the

Sailing World College Rankings has Tufts at No. 15 in the country, while the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association has ranked the Jumbos No. 7 in New England behind rivals Vermont, Brown, Roger Williams, Yale, Boston College and Harvard. “I think we don’t get too nervous about rankings,” Rew said. “We’ve been sitting in the top 20 in the nation for 30 years now, so it’s really nothing too new. It has a lot more to do with the other teams and sort of seeing how it’s going to play out against them.”

Brian rowe | CallS the ShotS

Best pitcher in the NL?

A sking others whom they con-sider to be the best pitcher in the National League is like ask-ing them their favorite fruit: It

changes every few minutes, you can’t really argue with them because they’re all so good and as soon as they men-tion one you hadn’t thought of, you find yourself nodding and convincing yourself that the newest name is the right answer. I like blueberries and Cole Hamels, you like strawberries and Chris Carpenter; potato-potahto. There are at least four or five good choices, some better in the first half (first bite of a good peach), some better towards the end (last bite of a good banana), and some good the whole season (Grapes. Are these ever out of season?). Enough with the fruit. Let’s kick off the discussion with the reigning Cy Young winner, and “ace” of the Philadelphia Phillies. Ace is debat-able purely because of the quality of the other pitchers on the staff, not because of his ability. Many consider Roy Halladay to be the gold standard of modern-day pitchers for his durability, consistency and amount of sweat that drips off his nose. He’s brought home baseball’s premier pitching award twice in his career and led the league in wins, innings and complete games last year. Not one team in baseball would be dis-appointed to have Halladay headline its rotation. His partner in crime on the Phillies recently finagled a contract more than twice as large as Halladay’s, despite a slightly shorter track record. Cliff Lee might be the coolest 32-year-old around these days, after taking October by storm for the second year in a row. The dude walked 18 batters in 212 innings last year. Eighteen in 212! That’s like walking through Tufts and only 18 of the 212 people you see are unhappy NQR was canceled. You know it should be more than that. Tim Lincecum? Somehow the San Francisco Giants’ No. 1 starting pitcher has managed to accumulate two Cy Young awards, 18 inches of hair, zero percent body fat and one misdemeanor for smoking weed in the past three years. “The Freak” plays with the best of them, leading the league in strike-outs since the start of 2008 and hold-ing pole position on looking most like a 16-year-old. Underestimate him at your own risk; he’s the best chance you have at seeing a 300-strikeout season this year. The St. Louis Cardinals have a long history of good pitchers, notably Bob Gibson’s ’68 season, but Adam Wainwright is their most recent incar-nation of dominance exemplified. Yes, he just had Tommy John surgery, yes he’ll be back better than ever in 2012 and yes he will maintain his top spot among awkward ESPN.com player card pictures. Over the past two years, he ranked third in innings and second in ERA, showing that his strikeout of Carlos Beltran in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS was not a fluke. The list stretches on, moving to Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, Yovani Gallardo, Matt Cain; trying to name all the good pitchers is like trying to name all the bad (good?) Samuel L. Jackson movies: You just have to realize you’re going to miss a few unless you look them up. Many of these guys are young, still evolving and we haven’t yet seen their best years. But my pick for the 2011 Cy Young? He’s 22, fearless and inspires visions of Sandy Koufax. Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a curveball dubbed by Vin Scully to be “Public Enemy No. 1,” will take home the hard-ware at the end of the year. As for my favorite fruit? Clementines. Catch them at their best, like Kershaw on the mound, and they can’t be beat.

Brian Rowe is a senior majoring in eco-nomics. He can be reached at B.Rowe@tufts.edu.

Elephants in the Room

ALL photos courtesy tufts AthLetics

Chris FlahertySenior midfielder

Men’s soccer

tV show i’d like to guest-star on

first thing i’d download in the matrix

My toppick-up line

Best birthday present i’ve

ever received

What i do on a first date

“the Wire” red sox-yankees tickets

if you were a booger, i’d pick

you first.

Better pick-up lines

Don’t get them. (see: top pick-up

line)

Katie lotzJunior defensemanwomen’s lacrosse

Steph perezJunior attackmanwomen’s lacrosse

Sam SagerJunior infielder

Baseball

“Lost”phish tickets (but i haven’t actually gotten them yet)

Are you return-ing something? ‘cause you’re bringing sexy

back

speak every language in the

worldsalsa dancing

tickets to my first Mets game

slow down sugar,

i’m diabetic

cook anything in the world

share some pizza Days

“Modern family”Barbie

dreamhouse (with elevator)

Do you mind if i stare at you up close instead of from across the

room?

how to play the drums

the zoo, then an italian restaurant,

then a movie

“californication”

Sailing

With 2010 behind them, sailors aim to have similar success in the spring

by Nick WoolfDaily Staff Writer

courtesy KeN LegLer

the co-ed sailing team, seen here at a meet over spring break last season, hopes to make noise in the playoffs this spring.

see Sailing, page 15

14 The TufTs Daily SportS Wednesday, March 16, 2011

You tell himabout the hot

girl in yourPsych class.

You tell him whereto get thebest pizzaon campus. You even

tell him about your

sleeper pickfor fantasy

football. So when willyou tell him he has agamblingproblem?

When it stops being a game…

8 0 0 . 4 2 6 . 1 2 3 4

it’s time for straight talk.

Funded in part by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.Reproduced with permission from the Vermont Council on Problem Gambling.

masscompulsivegambling.org

“Our goals this season are to match and exceed what we did last year,” senior pitcher Derek Miller said. “We want to get through regionals in

Harwich, [Mass.] and take a flight to the World Series in Wisconsin. As far as we’re concerned, we’re currently on a one-game losing streak.” A challenging, 35-game regular-sea-son slate stands between the Jumbos

and the playoffs. The team recognizes that its route back to the postseason is a marathon, not a sprint. “The key for us is to approach every situation the exact same way and not change who we are or how we play,” senior second baseman Frank Petroskey said. “We can’t control how the other team plays, but we can con-trol focusing on every pitch and being ready for every situation.” One factor working in the Jumbos’ favor is experience. The team will return the vast majority of its start-ing position players from last season, including perhaps the best infield in the conference. Co-captains junior Sam Sager and senior David LeResche were both named to the All-NESCAC First Team in 2010 for their efforts at third base and shortstop, respectively. Petroskey was a Second-Team hon-oree after batting .353 in his first sea-son at Tufts after transferring from the University of Vermont. The outfield, meanwhile, will return seniors Ian Goldberg, Chase Rose and David Orlowitz, as well as classmate Ben Walkley, who split time at des-ignated hitter and in the outfield in 2010. All of those players hit over .300 last season and had at least 20 RBIs. Additionally, the Jumbos have brought in sophomore Nate Izzo, a transfer from Div. I Boston College. Coach John Casey’s pitching staff will feature even more continuity than the lineup. Miller and junior Dave Ryan had the most starts last sea-son, while senior Ed Bernstein led all relievers with 42 strikeouts. Four of the team’s top five pitchers from last year, in terms of ERA, will all take the mound for the Jumbos again. Junior closer Chris DeGoti — a preseason All-American — is the lone exception, as he will miss the entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. (See the accompanying box on page 11 for more information on DeGoti’s injury.) “It’s always in your favor to have guys who have been here before,” Petroskey said. “We have a large group of upper-classmen to help the young guys learn the ropes, but we’re going to need everyone to play their part in order to be successful.” Ranked No. 17 in the latest NCBWA top-25 poll, the Jumbos are ready to embark on their annual spring break trip to Virginia and North Carolina. The team does not plan on taking its first competitive action of the year lightly — especially considering the transition outside. The team has spent the snowy weather practicing in Carzo Cage, as it usually does each winter. “We’ve been able to work on a lot of things while practicing indoors, but there are elements of playing outside that will be different, so we need to be prepared for that,” Petroskey said. As the defending conference cham-pions, the Jumbos know that once they return from spring break and kick off the NESCAC portion of their schedule, they’ll be targeted from the get-go. “After winning NESCACs last year, every team is going to be pumped up to play us,” Miller said. “The league is very balanced this year, and every team

is capable of sneaking through.” This year’s conference docket begins with a three-game series against Bates at Huskins Field on April 1-2. Like the Jumbos, the Bobcats are a veteran team and set a school record with 25 wins last season. Bates — along with all the other teams in the conference — is hoping for even greater things this spring. “Bowdoin was a team that gave us a run last year and Trinity has done it the last few years,” Miller added. “But Bates, Colby and all the teams out west are great too, and every league game can make or break your season.” The Jumbos believe that their blend of depth and experience gives them a chance to win every game. They are anxious to take the field and begin their quest to repeat as NESCAC cham-pions, a feat that only two teams — Amherst in 2004-2005 and the Bantams in 2008-2009 — have accomplished this decade. “We have the talent to compete with any team in New England,” Miller said. “But we have to show up to play and take it inning by inning, pitch by pitch, to give ourselves a chance.”

FIVE For FIGHtINGComing off one of the most prolific seasons in program history, the baseball team will look to replicate its efforts beginning on Friday at Lynchburg. Here’s a look at the top five games for the Jumbos which could make or break their season:

5. Fri., March 18 at LynchburgThe season-opener is always one of the most exciting games of the year, and it’ll be the first chance for the Jumbos to prove that they’ve retained their prow-ess from 2010.

4. Mon., May 2 at Eastern Conn. St. Tufts faced ECSU twice last year, and the results – a 19-5 loss during the regular season and a 3-0 win in the New England Regionals – couldn’t have been more different.

3. Fri., April 1 vs. BatesDon’t be fooled by the upstart Bobcats when they come to Medford for the conference-opener, armed with new coach Mike Leonard and four All-Con-ference seniors.

2. Sat., April 30 vs. Bowdoin (Game 1) Sophomore Oliver Van Zant, the reign-ing NESCAC Rookie and Pitcher of the Year, is likely to be on the mound for the 2010 runner-up Polar Bears in the seven-inning middle match. Van Zant struck out 51 batters in 39 innings during his freshman year. 1. Sun., May 22 vs TBA in Harwich, Mass.The Jumbos’ goal is to return to the New England Regional Championships and be the last team standing when the final out is recorded at Whitehouse Field. You can bet May 22 is circled on their calendars.

DAiLY FiLE PHOTO

Junior co-captain Sam Sager, pictured above on April 19, 2010, was last year named to the All-NESCAC First Team along with senior co-captain David LeResche.

Tufts confident in 2011 season’s first conference matchup against BatesBASEBALLcontinued from page 11

Tufts may be Div. III, but THE SCORE is No. 1

blogs.tuftsdaily.com/thescore

the Daily sports department’s place for the latest info on all things sports

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 The TufTs Daily SportS 15

Housing

1 Bedroom ApartmentGorgeous 1 Bed Apartment.

2 Blocks to Tufts, Large Sunny Rooms, New Bathroom & Kitchen, Refinished Hardwood Floor, Huge Thermal Pane Designer Windows.

Off Street Parking available 09/01/11. Amazing Apartment No Fees. $1,000. Contact (781)396-

4675

UPLAND RD, 1 BLOCK FROM CAMPUS

All renovated gorgeous !! new e-in kitchen with d/w, modern

bath,hardwood floors,new windows,new gas heating sys-tem, w/d, F+R porches, parking for 3 cars. Rent is $680.00 per

person without utilities. Available 6/1/11 or may consider 9/1/11 call for details. Contact 617-230-0215 or email nickkondilis@yahoo.com

$$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$Become a California Cryobank donor and earn up to $1,200/

month, receive free health and infectious disease testing, and help people fulfill their dreams of starting a family. Convenient

Cambridge location. Apply online: SPERMBANK.com classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only.

All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $15 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

Housing Wanted - - -

from Lynchburg, the site of the team’s season-opener on Friday, to simulate the experience of waking up early for games that becomes commonplace during the conference slate. “We move operations a few times, but there’s a method to the madness,” Casey said. “I think it’s like living what you always wanted to do. If you’re play-ing baseball, wouldn’t you want to keep playing it at a higher level? What more do you want if you’re a baseball player? This is it. This mirrors what you were dreaming about when you were eight years old, dreaming about putting on a major-league uniform.” With little else to do but focus on the game, the Jumbos are afforded ample opportunities to prove themselves on the field before they return to the Hill and begin conference action. When LeResche was a freshman, for instance, then-sophomore catcher Alex Perry (LA ’10) was sidelined with an injured ham-string. LeResche, who had never caught before in his career, had to suit up behind the plate for four games during the trip. His strong efforts caused the coaching staff to reshuffle the starting infield to make room for LeResche, who ended up starting 29 games in 2008. The Jumbos used to make the 10-plus-hour drive down to Virginia, but school rules forced the team to switch to flying in 2009. This season, for the first time ever, they will make the journey by train. Regardless of the method of transportation, though, the importance of spending time with teammates in an exclusively baseball-laced environment, away from other on-campus distractions, isn’t lost on the Jumbos. “It’s just a bunch of guys hanging out,” said senior pitcher Ed Bernstein, who will be making his fourth trip this season. “Every year, Coach impresses on us how important it is to become a team, how important it is to trust each other and play together. So you’re around people all the time who you love to play with.” For a program that, along with a history of success, preaches the impor-tance of camaraderie, there is no bet-ter arena to foster friendship than in cramped vans. Each year, the team holds its annual “van draft” to select players to fill the cars, and each class must be repre-sented in each van. LeResche fondly recalls what he describes as a distinct van culture, which extends to every-thing from music selection to baffling word games. “Every van has a unique culture, dif-ferent vans have their own things, it’s the place where you’re with guys for hours at a time,” Bernstein said. “The

team’s a team. I think we pride our-selves on not being cliquey.” In a sport Casey describes as contain-ing more frustration and failure than any other, such traditions — like when parents join the team for dinner or the annual Sunday brunch towards the tail end of the trip — preach the subliminal message of fun through sport. “All [the players] do is turn it into something that’s fun,” Casey said. “You can’t have a good team if you don’t

enjoy being around each other. We tell them all the time, ‘You can’t force team.’ The first thing is you don’t have to love everybody but you have to respect everybody. But if you try to incorporate it and guys start to have fun with each other.” For the seniors, the spring trip has provided them with some of their best memories in the program. In 2010, the Jumbos racked up an 8-2 record, the most victories earned on the trip since

2000. That set the tone for a record-setting campaign in which Tufts set a new program record for wins. “Some of the best memories I have, personally, are from spring trip games or being in Virginia Beach with the guys,” LeResche said. “You’re going to be thinking about baseball and talk-ing about baseball, which is great. We really use that as a bonding experience. The intangibles really come out there.”

The squad, which includes 23 freshmen, spent much of the offseason in the weight room, according to Soriano. “A lot of our team mem-bers practiced over winter break on their own, and since we’ve gotten back from break we also started having weekly meetings to get us in the right mental state for the season,” Soriano said. But there’s still one dilemma for the Jumbos heading into their spring season — Upper Mystic Lake in Medford has yet to thaw out. “It’s been a little tough to

practice because our lake is still frozen,” Soriano said. “We’ve been sailing on the weekends and whenever we can scav-enge a practice together. We sailed down at BU a couple times and even made the trek down to Roger Williams twice, two weeks ago.” But even an iced-over lake hasn’t stopped the Jumbos from competing. “They’ve really been warm-ups — the way our coach puts is that they’re just ‘practice hours on the water,’” Rew said. “We weren’t up against the best competition, but we definitely showed that we can dominate and hold our position against

the teams that we should be able to.” At the Thames River Team Race at Conn. College on March 5 and 6, its first regatta of the season, Tufts dominated its New England competition. The Jumbos’ A Division team won the regatta and the B team finished fifth in the eight-team field. The Jumbos also compet-ed in two more regattas this weekend: the Wood Trophy at Salve Regina University and the Team Racing Invite at MIT. The Truxtun Umsted Trophy, the team’s first real challenge of the season, takes place this week-end at Navy.

At the helm of the sailing team is Ken Legler, who enters his 31st year as head coach of the squad. In his career at Tufts, Legler has coached 19 national championship teams as well as 92 All-Americans. Legler’s expe-rience and success should keep the Jumbos on course through-out the spring. Standout freshman Will Haeger is a key sailor to watch this season. The brother of a two-time women’s All-American sailor at Boston College, Haeger will be moving up to the team-race squad this spring. As for season-long goals, Tufts is simply hoping for another successful postseason run.

“One of our main goals is to qualify for all the national com-petitions,” Soriano said. “Last year we had an exciting post season, as we qualified for all three, the women’s Nationals, the coed Nationals and the team racing Nationals.” Rew is equally confident in her team’s potential this spring. “I think sailing is a lot about peaking at the right time, and we’re ready to build off of last fall,” Rew said. “What I’m real-ly looking for this spring is to be able to build off of our whole season from last semes-ter and really peak at the end of this season to do well in the postseason.”

On Southern road trip, ‘van culture’ a unique experience for the JumbosSprING trIpcontinued from page 11

Daily File Photo

the baseball team, seen here in 2009, will head South tonight to embark on a 11-game spring break trip.

After dominating performances in practice meets, Tufts will travel to NavySAILINGcontinued from page 13

16 The TufTs Daily Advertisement Wednesday, March 16, 2011