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September-October 2013

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Letters

A letter from the editor on the humanities at Harvard

Letters on geoengineering, energy divestiture, drug discovery, and more

A letter from President Faust

The College Pump

Alan Nawoj winning the 2013 Antarctica Marathon

A race in Antarctica, a rescue on Everest, a dip into the past

Treasure

Civil War amputee Charles T. Green, photographed by William Bell (circa 1864)

What life was like for those who did not die

In this Issue

Dimitar Sasselov, director of the Origins of Life Initiative, searches for planets around red dwarf stars. Because they are dimmer and smaller than our sun, red dwarfs make ideal targets for taking images of the extrasolar planets that orbit them.

Studying how life bloomed on Earth—and might emerge elsewhere

Porter University Professor Helen Vendler in Houghton Library with a copy of the Arion Press edition of John Ashbery's "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror"

The poetry critic, the publisher, and the art of bookmaking in a digital era

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

On crafting a liberal-arts education by reading the classics and shaping one's life course

Henry Beston (in a Coast Guard uniform) on the Outer Beach, Cape Cod, in the early 1920s

Brief life of a nature writer in a machine age: 1888-1968

Letters

A letter from the editor on the humanities at Harvard

Letters on geoengineering, energy divestiture, drug discovery, and more

A letter from President Faust

Right Now

The Internet has led to cultural and economic changes that tilt power away from large organizations, argues Nicco Mele in a new book.

A former resident of the neighborhood and his son revisit the World Trade Center site for the first time.

Elizabeth Greenspan explores the rebuilding of the Twin Towers in her new book Battle for Ground Zero.

A poster by Harvard scientists shows 4.6 billion years of evolutionary history.

New England Regional

Families must weigh housing options, costs—and therapies.

Three snapshots from the front lines

A detail of the extensive scale model of the renewed galleries, from <i>In-Sight Evening: Preparing for the New Harvard Art Museums</i>

Harvard arts and cultural events

Amy Stillman&rsquo;s painting <i>Ocean 1 </i>(1997), Institute of Contemporary Art

A fall and winter guide to New England’s many museums

Strip T&rsquo;s nuanced fare, such as these sea scallops with yellow curry and chanterelles, is served in simple environs.

A Watertown luncheonette morphs into a stellar restaurant.

John Harvard's Journal

The Science Center plaza, renovated, becomes a Harvard crossroads.

Drew Faust and Alan M. Garber

The president and provost put The Harvard Campaign in perspective.

Dan Shore

Putting The Harvard Campaign in fiscal context

Michael B. Keating and William F. Lee

An outside review of Harvard's e-mail reviews finds further problems of policy and execution.

Judith Grant Long

The associate professor of urban planning studies sports facilities and their impact.

James Ryan

Lawyer James Ryan, new dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a scholar and champion of equal educational opportunity.

From the pages of the <i>Harvard Alumni Bulletin</i> and <i>Harvard Magazine</i>

Diana Sorensen

Facing declining enrollments, the humanities seek to reinvent themselves.

In the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, efforts are under way to attract more tenure-track women.

Existing campus map: Allston buildings (2013)

The University details its 10-year aspirations for development on the other side of the Charles River.

A rising senior offers advice to the first-year she once was.

Noah Pisner and Jessica C. Salley

New Ledecky fellows

Donald Pfister

Harvard news: College dean, HarvardX, socially responsive investing, library leaders, and more

Holding a rugby ball, Sue Parker stands before rugby goalposts. She is Harvard&rsquo;s first varsity coach in the sport.

Varsity rugby for women begins a new era in Crimson sports.

Harry Parker

The head men's heavyweight crew coach at Harvard for 51 years died at age 77.

Montage

Max Sandvoss with some of his goats at the First Light Farm and Creamery in East Bethany, New York

The brothers Sandvoss moved from glitter to goat cheese.

An alumna recounts a refugee crisis in South Africa.

Joshua Redman

Joshua Redman's sonorous voice on tenor

A rooftop chase from the <i>Assassin’s Creed III </i>video game

<i>Assassin’s Creed’</i>s head writer Corey May explains how writers create video games that are immersive and participatory.

<i>The First Cotton-gin, </i>by William L. Sheppard, published in<i> Harper&rsquo;s,</i> December 18, 1869, shows slaves at work&mdash;and masters who profited from their labor.

The capitalist economy and dark dreams of the slaveholding South

A New Yorker&rsquo;s self-made map of Manhattan: a plot of places visited (or not)

Recent books with Harvard connections

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Alumni

At her gallery, Emma Katz promotes sophisticated original work by young artists such as sculptor/photographer David Rodriguez, represented here (left to right) by <i>A Love Song Played at a Very Specified Frequency, Holding Device,</i> and <i>The Thing About Distance.</i>

Where inspired artists meet aspiring collectors

Catherine A. Gellert

An energetic alumni leader emphasizes her “ability to listen.”

Top row from left: Marshall Allen, T. Carter Hagman, John Irving, and Margarita Montoto-Escalera. Bottom row from left: Elaine Hoffman Morris, Miguel M. Palos, Claudia Friederichs Palos, and Milton Yasunaga

The College’s Office of Admissions and Financial Aid honors eight outstanding alumni interviewers.

Diana Mara Henry

Photographer Diana Mara Henry ’69 publishes her collection <i>Women on the Move</i>.

Wilson’s vessel, <i>Great American III</i>. Wilson is barely visible just behind the cockpit at upper right.

Rich Wilson ’72 circled the globe—nonstop, solo, under sail—and has written the tale.

Shared Interest Group events in September and October

Harvard alumni may sign in to view class notes and obituaries.

The College Pump

Alan Nawoj winning the 2013 Antarctica Marathon

A race in Antarctica, a rescue on Everest, a dip into the past

Treasure

Civil War amputee Charles T. Green, photographed by William Bell (circa 1864)

What life was like for those who did not die