Editor's Note

Dear reader, We're coming up on spring break — which means you might be reeling from midterms, or checked out and ready to jet off to a tropical location. But whatever your mood, let this week's issue be your chicken soup (or tofu soup, for the vegans among us) for the soul. This week, SEW profiles Harvard senior Emma Choi, who is hosting her own NPR podcast called “Everyone and their Mom.” BBWF talks to Beth Huang, a political organizer at Massachusetts Voter Table, about what it takes to build political power in Boston. WSH examines the life and legacy of Archie C. Epps III, who served as Dean of Students in the 1970s and was one of only a handful of Black senior administrators in Harvard’s history. SCS and JKW report on a viral article in the Harvard Law Review which argued that the Constitution doesn’t actually require free and fair elections, and investigate the Law Review’s policy of anonymity. SAL lightens things up with a levity about alternatives to river run for the superstitious among us as Housing Day nears. KIB takes us along to Grendel’s Den to hear “master storyteller” Odds M. Bodkin. HTL has two articles in this issue — one covering the Kirkland Beer Club, a quirky bunch of brewers who meet weekly in Kirkland’s basement, and the other a heartfelt reflection on her relationship to Vietnamese cuisine, Le’s Restaurant, and what it means to belong far from home. And KSG writes our endpaper for this issue — a reflection on moving from derealization to authenticity after the pandemic, facilitated by the most unlikely of tools: her finsta. MG and KT (both middle-initial-less!) ground our issue with a thoughtful scrutiny — their first, though you wouldn’t know it — about humanities concentrations and the “battle of the university” at Harvard. There’s been a marked decline in humanities concentrators since around 2008, though the number has stabilized in recent years. The humanities are often seen as frivolous or unemployable, and yet, many claim that the world’s most pressing issues require precisely the type of interdisciplinary cooperation that such a devaluation of the humanities prevents. In the face of such cultural biases, what might a path to true interdisciplinary conversations look like? Thank you to all of our execs, especially SWF for crafty scrut-proofing and KL for double EAL duties. As always, thanks to MH, SS, MHS, PCZ, JH, and the rest of our Multi & Design team for stellar work. Special thanks to YY for a gorgeous cover design! Eternal gratitude to JGG, who turned 22 this week and still found time to proof our stories. And of course, to SSL, for being organized and level-headed through it all. XOXO, MVE & SSL