Material Girl
Yes, I Said Yes, I Will, Yes
There is a feeling that used to surge through my body each time I entered Harvard Yard. I felt it when I left Weld. I felt it when I saw the Memorial Church spire. It was the swooping feeling of cresting high altitudes.
It was a feeling of gratitude. How grateful I was to find my nerdy self in a community of thinkers, each person I met—each student and each dining hall worker, each librarian and each professor—a new, miraculous world.
Sex and the Social Network
I think about this evening a lot. Late September of freshman year, Annenberg. The leaves just starting to turn. Maybe you remember it. Maybe you were there.
I was sitting at one of those big old wood tables with a group of people who I kind-of-sort-of-hoped were becoming my friends.
Bite the Hand That Feeds You
If you are reading this as a student of Harvard University, something went terribly right.
You worked hard. Your family supported you. Your teacher encouraged you to apply. You had the uncommon grit to push ahead when no one believed in you.
So We Belong
It's going to be that time soon.
Rumors abound. Sometimes you are given a key to a secret door, or asked to sign a book based on political affiliation, or blindfolded.
The First Rule of Final Club
I don’t like secrets. Nor do I have many of them. My bed is located in the common room. I have had sex within the pages of The Crimson. I don’t see the point in closing bathroom doors, unless I am in the bathtub painting my nails, and that’s because a glossy topcoat is an art that requires total concentration. My roommates literally had to teach me when to knock on their doors.
There are good reasons to keep secrets. If being out about your gender identity means losing your parents’ support, not talking can be an important choice. If you’re judging a peer’s poetry submission in a small community, it's best not to know who the author is. And if you’re running a competitive comp, or semester-long audition for an organization, keeping your assessment of compers’ abilities from other candidates is an act of kindness.