Genius Loci
The Spirit of the United States in Washington D.C.’s Art Scene
When you google “quotes about Washington, D.C.,” varying accounts of the capital of the United States will present themselves to you. John F. Kennedy ’40 said that D.C. is “a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.” With regard to art, Dan Brown said that “Washington, D.C., has everything that Rome, Paris, and London have in the way of great architecture — great power bases. Washington has obelisks and pyramids and underground tunnels and great art and a whole shadow world that we really don’t see.”
Witching Out in Salem
As the witching hour reaches its peak, a full moon rises over a twisting maze of russet streets and colonial storefronts. Ghouls flock to graveyards older than the American Constitution, and witches descend on the thoroughfares of Salem, Mass. as they sport thick plaid scarves and modern knitted witch hats — on sale at local apothecaries and street stands for only $29.99. Every October, the quaint city of Salem — only an hour outside of Boston by car or train — is transformed into a premier location for Halloween haunts, as over one million tourists invade the eight square miles of cobblestone streets to conjure the best long weekend of their spooky season.
I Could Literally Be in Italy Right Now
Fed up with my seemingly unsolvable economics homework, annoyed by the surmounting stress of midterm exams, and exhausted by the incessant onslaught of coffee chats and extracurricular meetings, I turned to my friend and said, “I could literally be in Italy right now.”
Autumn in Cambridge
As the first auburn leaves fall onto the grass of Harvard Yard, the horror of a Boston February feels like a far-off fiction. The promise of a dorm room that isn’t 100 degrees fills you with delusions of grandeur: all of the books you will undoubtedly enjoy with all of your free time, all of the fall movies you can’t wait to watch, all of the course readings you will surely complete to the best of your ability this semester. You’ve changed over the summer, you’re a better student now.