Columns
A Leap Into Faith
My column this semester is meant to acknowledge the overwhelming array of intentions and outcomes of religious peoples. But what I want, more than anything, is for this first piece to convince you not to solely study religion as a quantifiable rule.
Of Bitcoin and Barbarians
Among the many parallels that politicians and thinkers so often draw between the Roman world and ours, perhaps one that should be heeded with caution is the loss of public trust in the Roman “financial” system and the one that we live with today.
If You Can’t Hire More Therapists, Make Them
The effectiveness of layperson therapists hints at a deeper truth about psychotherapy: Therapy is not an arcane art, passed down through the hallowed guilds of Freud and Beck, but rather a structured human relationship.
An Antidote to Optionality
“Preserving optionality" promises the ability to press pause on your decisions while moving forward with your life. But this is a fantasy, albeit one that’s awfully seductive.
The Possible Plague of John Harvard’s Foot
Despite the cheerful backdrop, I can’t help but cringe at the millions of visitors who come to try their luck. As a Harvard student, I know what students do at the preeminent left foot as one of the college’s three most extreme traditions: urinate on it. So does touching the urinated-upon bronze foot bring luck or dread?
Is This an Asian Story?
We need visibility of Asian stories that encompass: in theme, genre, and the term Asian itself. True progress requires traditional decision makers to prioritize the reach of diverse creators to wider audiences.
Inside Weeks Bridge
Weeks Bridge exists as a reminder to take a deeper look at what we’ve written off as commonplace or mundane. Every building, street, and landmark on campus holds a secret, and it’s up to us to uncover them.
Are Lectures Obsolete?
Over the course of this semester, this column will examine crucial challenges with higher education and propose recommendations for improvement. This first piece takes aim at low-hanging fruit — something that has been around for at least a millennium: the lecture model.
Have Some Fun, Hon
So what’s this first piece all about? What’s column number one? People at this school, it seems, Feel guilty having fun.
Announcing The Crimson Editorial Board’s Spring 2023 Columnists
The Editorial Board is pleased to announce its columnists for the upcoming Spring semester.
Duty and Dependence
There is still room in the Jewish prayer service to ask God for whatever we personally need. Nevertheless, the prevailing mantra in our minds must be that we are inextricably linked to all of our fellows, and that we must organize our days around realizing how much they give to us, and how much we are indebted to them.
Five Theses on the Humanities Crisis
There are a million articles on the death of the humanities with a million different opinions as to why the decline is occurring, leaving the scholarship surrounding the issue fairly disjointed and multi-layered. So, I decided to write five theses instead of one overarching argument, Martin Luther style.
Why Discourse at Harvard is Important
Improving discourse at Harvard is necessary both for our own intellectual growth and for our contribution to society. It is a cause that we should pursue not only in our own self-interest, but also for the sake of others.
So Help Me God: Torcaso v. Watkins
In seven states, atheists are constitutionally barred from holding public office.
Breaking out of Digital Sameness
In this new social world, individuals choose social communities that understand them and are no longer limited by a local community consensus.
The Case for Conservative Faculty
Broadening political representation in Harvard’s faculty is no easy feat, but as students who desire a robust education, we should not settle for homogeneity in our classrooms. Diversity in all its forms was never meant to be easy, but that does not mean we shouldn’t try.
A Love Letter to Bad Art (from a Humanities Major)
And the next time someone asks you what you’ve been reading lately, don't scramble for the last Booker-nominated title that the scholar in you hobbled through. Instead, let the human in you answer — and don’t forget to hold your head up high as you do.
The ‘Privileged Poor’ at Harvard
The tale we tell about low-income students at Harvard is simple and affecting. It’s also mostly inaccurate.
Does Harvard Need More Men?
Even though the educational gender gap may not extend to Harvard yet, more people need to be thinking like Justice Kagan and asking about the future of men in higher education.
The Edge of Dawn
And so dawn comes, and the days pass. And in their light, I want to choose to look ahead and to see my own smile on my own face. It’s a smile that says, “Through the good and the bad, I’ll always be there for myself, whoever I was, am, and will be.”
Realizing Our Own Ignorance
Self-recognition of our own ignorance should not lead to hopelessness regarding our own education. It must be an imperative towards an endless quest for knowledge.
A Letter To My Future Self
Recently, I started prompting friends to more concretely imagine their future perspectives by asking: What advice do you think your future self would give your current self?
The Great (Un)Equalizer: Espinoza v. Montana
Our public education system is imperfect. But the solution is to invest in it more heavily, not to funnel those resources away to schools that insulate their students from the diversity (religious or otherwise) of the modern world.
How Do We Reclaim Our Streets?
To many of us, there is something undeniably special about bringing people together outdoors. Across Boston, people are seeking open streets, places to enjoy open space without a car in sight. Open streets can be successful — if cities do them right.
It’s a Weird Time to be Korean in America
In the span of just fifteen to twenty years, Koreans who live overseas have swung from being ignored, fetishized, erased, commodified, and romanticized — all at the whim of white society’s attitude towards our country. When I reflect on these things, I can’t help but wish I could just watch my K-dramas in peace, the way I did as a kid.