Editors' Choice
Editorial Snippets: Happy 150th to The Crimson
In 1873, The Crimson published its first newspaper. One hundred and fifty years later, as alumni flock back in town for this weekend’s 150th Anniversary Celebration, we’ve asked members of the Editorial Board to reflect on the bits of magic that have brought — and continue to bring — 14 Plympton St. to life.
Elsa Dorfman, Harvard Square’s Attendant of Instants
Follow the life and legacy of photographer Elsa Dorfman, longtime Cambridge resident and former Mather House adviser. Understanding Dorfman means understanding both the brevity and the universality of the moments she captures.
Memories of a City I’ve Never Known
Where we were was the gated avenues and green-grassed gardens of Johannesburg’s northern suburbs; where we weren’t was South Africa.
Paraphernalia of Love
This year, I’ve found that my relationship with the past has gradually changed; that its pull, while still tender, has become primarily sharp and painful. I’ve found myself not just indulging in these trips down memory lane, but wishing I could stay in them forever.
Teenage Dream
When I was a preteen, Rookie fueled the daydreams that I had about my incoming teenage years. I imagined warm parties, memorable misadventures, my picture-worthy prom dress. Not something perfect, but something precious that I could only access in the years between 12 and 20.
Crimson Unclear: Anxiety and Confusion in the Wake of Harvard’s Covid-19 Restriction Rollback
In 2023, there are still continued logistical challenges that Harvard affiliates face back on campus, but the minimization of these challenges — and of the pandemic itself — has created uncertainty, confusion, and continued disruption of many students’ experiences at Harvard.
How Harvard Careerism Killed the Classroom
As Harvard transitioned from a patrician school to a seemingly meritocratic one, students increasingly began to view their degrees as financial investments, attempting to maximize return while limiting downside risk. It is this new, pecuniary approach to one’s college education that is to blame for the vertiginous increase in consultants and bankers.
What’s Going On With Embedded EthiCS?
In 2017, two Harvard professors launched the Embedded EthiCS program, hoping to “bring ethical reasoning into the Computer Science curriculum.” But few students take the program seriously, and many even consider it “funny-bad.” At a time when tech-ethics seems more important than ever, what’s going on?
Inside Bow & Arrow Press’ Final Days in Adams House
Through hours long visits to the Bow & Arrow Press, we discover a vibrant and passionate community in celebration and sadness. It is the week of the Press’ 45th anniversary — it is also the week that the Press learns of its imminent closure.
C is for Capitalism: Cookie Monster Pays a Visit to Harvard Business School
The following is a transcript from Cookie Monster’s recent guest lecture at the Harvard Business School. Like Kim K., he also wore his finest pinstriped pantsuit, black leather trench coat, and (though not for public viewing) SKIMS undergarments. Unlike Kim K., Mr. Monster opted to perform his speech to the tune of his smash hit, “C is for Cookie.”
In Defense Of Running Late
By procrastinating my own future, I’ve saved myself from making the most fatal mistake: embarking on adulthood without really considering what I want from it.
Let’s Go: Gone at 63
“Let’s Go” was a travel guide written and produced by student members of Harvard Student Agencies. Today, it has all but disappeared from travelers’ pockets, from the internet, and from Harvard’s campus.
On Solid Ground
I had witnessed the magic some people found in this sport. I learned something entirely new that day; I hadn’t learned something so new in a long time.
Beloved Math Lecturer Dusty Grundmeier Bids Farewell to Harvard
Math lecturer Dusty Grundmeier is leaving Harvard at the semester’s end. Known for his empathy and engaging lectures, he’s something of a legend among students on campus. We sat down with Grundmeier and interviewed students to explore what makes his teaching special.
Aliyah Collins Is Eco-Healing
Collins founded the Eco-Healing Project last fall to “help HBCU students heal and recover from the impact of climate disasters.”
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Tamarra James-Todd on the Hidden Toxins in Black Hair Care
But with products filled with unpronounceable chemicals like linalool methylparaben and methylisothiazolinone, one might begin to wonder: What exactly are Black women putting in their hair, and what does it mean for their health?
TransQuinceañera: The Party that Educates as it Celebrates
A party that educates as much as it celebrates, TransQuinceañera, an event hosted by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Latinx Student Association and the LGBTQ@GSAS Association, invited the Harvard community to a vibrant evening of art and activism.
‘A Million Data Points’: A 30-Year Long Lung Cancer Study Meets AI
This is the Boston Lung Cancer Study, a long-running study of lung cancer patients that analyzes the disease’s genetic and environmental risk factors. But in recent years, the study reached a new frontier in medicine. The Harvard Artificial Intelligence in Medicine program has begun analyzing the dataset in unprecedented ways — by using artificial intelligence.
Surviving Life Alive
It seems that I’ve been driven to do the unthinkable, to commit the cardinal sin: purchase a nearly $14 açaí bowl from Life Alive Café.
Direct Flash
I can’t shake the fact that my love for Los Angeles Apparel opposes my self-professed feminist politics. When I add another tennis skirt to my shopping cart, I line the pockets of a man who built his career on the degradation of women.
William Cheng, Scholar of Music and Video Games
William Cheng, a professor of music at Dartmouth College and a 2022–23 fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, loves video games. He has studied and played them through a complicated and trailblazing career in academia, where he says that caring for the “whole person” is often “perceived to be extracurricular and kind of secondary.”
“I Don’t Chase, I Attract”: The Lure of Manifestation TikTok
On manifestation TikTok, superstitions and unfounded techniques promise the fruition of anything you desire. The more I scrolled, the more I was told to repeat phrases, to embrace my delusions, or to use an audio for good luck.
(Comic) Stripping Down the Patriarchy
These scenes are from the panels in “Breaking Out,” one of the stories in the July 1970 edition of “It Ain’t Me Babe Comix,” in which popular female comic characters revolt against the men dominating their lives and defy their creators. The “uprooted sisters” team up “into small groups not unlike witch covens” and go picketing for women’s history and self-defense classes. They consider if they should “take that acid we’ve been saving and commune with the moon,” while Supergirl frees the inmates of a women’s prison.