Editor's Note

Dear Reader, We’re back, and it’s a Thursday! This means that it’s Housing Day (when freshmen get assigned to upperclassmen houses), but more importantly, that the issue is out on time! Dorm storming for Cabot there’s always a risk that things end in tears, but they didn’t! And besides, what’s to hate about the Quad when six out of 13 of FM execs live here… Speaking of the quad, this week’s scrut opens in Currier dining hall, as our intrepid scrut writers, KSG and GRW, get caught in a five hour conversation about their experiences taking psychiatric drugs. That conversation became the impetus for this scrut, which explores the experience of taking psychiatric drugs, weaving their stories together with other student’s reflections and expert opinions. It’s brave, beautiful, and important, so go read it — it’s sure to leave you in tears (the good kind). MGB and MAT tell us the history of 2 Divinity Ave., and how it turned from a Widener-funded Institute to the home of East Asian Studies at Harvard. SND and RR dive into (no pun intended) the sea voyage of a Harvard professor with a strange obsession with Christopher Columbus seeking to reenact his trip across the Atlantic. AGF takes to the stacks to write about the “Pfoho Cookbook,” written in 2007 by two Pfoho friends who immortalize the best HUDS creations. CSE and ESKS make a visit to “Symbionts,” an art exhibit at the MIT List Visual Art Center that displays BioArt, an artistic practice at the intersection of biology and art. One exhibit involves a mushroom that’s kept alive with human urine… MG talks to Joe Harris '72, the Math 55 Professor for 15 Questions, and BWF talks to David C. Atherton ’00, an East Asian Languages and Civilizations professor. OGP and LLQ visit “Nailed It,” a Somerville community baking event based on a Netflix show of the same name, that promotes mental health wellness through cupcake decoration. NHS listens to the sounds and stories of Somerville on a recently-installed jukebox in Kendall Square. YAK and CJK talk to the creators of a new club on campus: the Harvard Undergraduate Pole Dancing Club. Their mission: uplifting women of color through body positivity and strength training. In this issue’s endpaper, KLM writes about his grandma Ruth, a local celebrity in New York City and an expert in the craft of sewing, making matzo ball soup, and the art of living (for 99 years and counting). Shout out to compers for publishing their first articles. Thank you to JJG, JH, MQ, SET, SS, MHS, and SCS for maestro and a gorgeous, gorgeous glossy, and to JYY and KL for helping us put that glossy up on the website — go flip through the issuu pdf now! Thank you to MG for fierce dedication, to DRZ for timely comments while scroofing, and to BLK and MX for sage advice and, of course, proofing. Thank you to AHL, for never letting go of the rope even when everything feels like it’s falling apart. And, a massive, massive thank you to KT for empathetic and careful scrut editing — 14,000 words and all. Semper cor, IYG & AHL