Editor's Note

Dear FM, This week was the week of love. Mushy gushy Valentine’s Day love? Sure. Gal/bro/non-gender-specific-friends-lentines love? Hit me. But most of all, this was the week of love for hometowns, nonstandard units of length, and unhinged answers on the Datamatch survey. First-time scrut writers and news reporter extraordinaires MAH and AJM brought to the cover of this issue their labor of love: a long-awaited scrut on Jewish students’ and organizations’ challenges navigating the politicization of antisemitism and their identities following Oct. 7. It is a deeply important and well-reported piece, full of interviews with students with a range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. It is interrogative yet respectful, compelling and sharp, targeting questions about defining antisemitism and the political tensions within and between groups that our existing coverage has long danced around. Words cannot emphasize how amazing this piece is — MAH and AJM, I am completely blown away by both of you. The rest of this issue, too, is full of labors of love, from the silly to the serious — and everything in between! For this week’s 15Q, DRZ speaks to biological anthropologist Daniel E. Lieberman about exercise and evolution, barefoot running, and his paper on why pregnant people don’t just “tip over.” YAK, ever on her relationships/sex/conservatism(?) beat, speaks to the matchmakers advertising clients in personals in the Harvard Magazine. After attending an event on historians’ and scientists’ efforts to identify the enslaved individuals buried in the Catoctin Furnace Cemetery, AI investigates the role of gene sequencing in tracing African American history. CJK speaks to Lee S. Smith ’69, managing editor of his class’s Harvard Yearbook, about photojournalism and documenting the Black political activism of his time. On a lighter note, OGP and AEP talked to Oliver R. Smoot about how there came to be markings on the Harvard Bridge measuring it in terms of his height. Prolific JKW, carrier of FM, strikes again with a levity on a perfectly horrific Datamatch date between Pisa Schitt and Steve Vulguy. And finally, tying our issue to a close, SZS writes a beautiful homage to her hometown, Chico, CA, which she learned to love when she finally left it. Thank you SET, LPE, and design execs for amazing graphics always and for helping with glossy planning. Thank you to LLL and BHP, our beloved FM-multi execs, for helping us with getting photos — I know it can be tough! Thank you to MJH, EJS, and CY, the holy trinity of damage control. Thank you to all FM execs, especially YAK for diligent scroofing, and JL and YAK for keeping FM a well-oiled machine. And of course, thank you to HD for your support this week, your speedy proofing, and your quick thinking — what would I do without you? FMLove, HD & KT