Conversations
5Q: William Deresiewicz
William Deresiewicz stirred up a frenzy last July with his New Republic article, “Don’t Send Your Kids to the Ivy League.” Before appearing on a panel moderated by Professor Homi K. Bhabha, Deresiewicz entertained FM’s questions.
Hey, Professor!: Copyright Law
In order to share assigned readings with their students, many Harvard professors post materials on their course websites. Are these professors violating copyright laws? Kyle K. Courtney, a copyright advisor and program manager in Harvard’s Office for Scholarly Communication, works in conjunction with Harvard libraries on copyright matters. He shared his thoughts on this sticky issue with Fifteen Minutes.
5 Questions with Pankaj Pradhan
Enjoying the improved dining hall menu this year? You can thank Pankaj Pradhan, the culinary artist behind The Red Lentil, a vegan and vegetarian restaurant in Watertown, Mass. This Summer, he shared his talents with Harvard University Dining Services to bring more flavor and variety to the dining halls. FM sat down with Pradhan for five questions about the collaboration.
Interview With David Mitchell, Author
On Sept. 18th, David Mitchell, acclaimed author of such works as “Cloud Atlas” and “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet,” visited Cambridge to talk about his new book, “The Bone Clocks.” After more than an hour of book-signing and joking with fans, Fifteen Minutes sat down to a late-night dinner with the English author. .
10Q: Christian T. Rudder ’97 OkCupid Co-Founder
Christian T. Rudder ’97 is not a statistician by trade, but the 39-year-old founder of OkCupid just so happens to be a pioneer in a certain branch of data analytics—the data behind love and romance.
Office Hours With Katherine K. Merseth
“We don’t have a fundamental agreement across the populace about why we have schools.”
A Talk With the Polyglot
“It sounds like a thyroid condition,” says Doner. “Oddly enough, it’s not.”
Out of the Army, Back to School
Israelis are not the only students at Harvard who have to factor in mandatory service to their education and career plans. Fifteen Minutes also spoke to students from South Korea—who typically take time off in the middle of college in order to complete their mandatory two years—and from Singapore about their transitions between service and scholarship.
Fifteen Minutes with Nicholas Kristof
FM sat down for fifteen minutes with Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times.
The MetaLAB Drone
A white round creature with four arms and four legs, the Phantom drone II is differentiated from its cousins by the stabilized GoPro camera dangling from its belly. Its job is to help the metaLAB get their fancy aerial footage.
Race and 'Respectability'
The organizers of Harvard's Ferguson solidarity event speak about respectability politics, the narrative of success, and why being a Harvard student shouldn’t matter.
After Acceptance
But for many, the true challenges begin only with entrance through Widener Gate on the first day of freshman year. The past year has seen efforts by students and alumni alike to bridge a possible disconnect between administrative enthusiasm to attract first-generation students, and weaker support and outreach once they arrive on campus. For the students, part of this process has included the development of a “first-gen” identity as something to be embraced.
Fifty Years of Alan Dershowitz
“I don’t believe in retirement, I believe in changing careers,” former Harvard Law School professor Alan M. Dershowitz tells me over the phone on his way to Logan Airport, where he will board a plane to Paris. He officially retired from the Law School this December, but he intends his retired life to be far from relaxing. “My retirement from Harvard reflects the fact that I’ve been doing this for 50 consecutive years and at age 75, I wanted to try something different,” he says. “My plans are to be even more active than I’ve ever been before.”
5 Questions with Mike Huckabee
FM sat down with Huckabee to talk to him about same-sex marriage, higher education, and the 2016 race.
What's On Your Bookshelf?: Coughlon and Wilson Edition
“We should probably tell her about competitive reading,” Coughlon says to Wilson. It turns out the pair’s massive collection isn’t just a hobby—it’s a full-fledged rivalry. Both friends use the website Goodreads to track what they’ve read. Wilson explains, “I’d started in high school, and was mean to Sarah freshman year about her reading habits, and it just so happened that Goodreads instituted a Challenge Yourself book-reading competition, and so we ended up not only challenging ourselves, but each other. We both read 100 or more books [that] year.”
Starting Up, Staying in School
On a recent Wednesday evening, four floors above Mt. Auburn Street in what is known as the “i-space,” a group of five Harvard students had claimed one small, stuffy office room to discuss the impending launch of their startup. Laptops open, bullet points scrawled on a whiteboard opposite a Rosie the Riveter poster, the group shifted easily between brainstorming and casual jokes.
Grandparents in CB23: The Real Senior Students
Richard A. Slone has never missed a lecture by Shaye J.D. Cohen, Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy. Like certain unnamed students in Cohen’s Culture and Belief course, he doesn’t make it to 10 a.m. class. He knows that they are taped. However, unlike most of the students in the class, he listens to them on his bike as he trains for triathlons. Also, he’s “semi-retired,” which I guess most of us aren’t.
Admissions Stories: Where Were You When You Got In?
Last Thursday, the future Harvard Class of 2018 received the emails of their lifetime. In honor of Decision Day, FM collected some acceptance stories from both current students and faculty and staff who once attended Harvard College.
The Legend of the Z-List
The Z-list inhabits an especially remote cranny in the cave of Harvard lore. The core of the Z-list intrigue is exclusivity. As admission rates have plummeted, mystery has increased.
An Interview with Herbie Hancock
Settled in an armchair and mutely dressed in a grey fleece half-zip and black jeans, Herbert “Herbie” J. Hancock, the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, exuded pure calmness. The legendary jazz pianist, known for leading fearless, searching electric and acoustic projects (Head Hunters, Mwandishi, his Trio) as well as his tenure with Miles Davis’s seminal “Second Great Quintet” in the ’60s, was charmingly low-key but coolly energetic. Hancock, who turns 75 next month, showed absolutely no sign of his age, save for when he stood up and a slight paunch quietly emerged.
The Fragrant Future of Communication
When Rachel D. Field ’12 and her small team encounter a problem, she can’t simply pass off the responsibility to someone else. “I have my degree now,” she says. “In theory, Harvard University says that I’m qualified to do this, so I’m just going to figure it out.” A project that started in a classroom is now unfolding internationally and in the public eye.
Scoped: Canyon S. Woodward '15
In his freshman year, Canyon S. Woodward brought a new trend onto Harvard’s campus: club spikeball. FM caught up with him.
Hey, Professor! Star in a Bottle
Construction will shortly begin on the long-anticipated International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor—a machine that, if it works, promises to solve most of the world’s energy problems for the next 30 million years. Howard M. Georgi ’68, a Harvard physics professor, sat down for a brief chat about how and whether ITER will actually work as well as its possible economic and political implications.