Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898 | SUBSCRIBE

Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

March-April 2020

Download a PDF

Letters

Beautiful math, guns, sexual harassment, and more

The perils of noncommunication

The College Pump

Photograph of Samuel Eliot Morison

Samuel Eliot Morison
Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images

 

Morison, Handlin, and a new view of the Mem Hall fire

Treasure

Illuminated manuscript page

Manuscript courtesy of Houghton Library/Photograph by Harvard Library Imaging Services

Consequences of book-breaking

In this Issue

Frank Hu holds a plate filled with food.

Click on arrow at right to view full image
Hu believes a plant-based diet can help feed a growing population in a healthy, sustainable way.
Photograph by Jim Harrison

Frank Hu confronts the triple threats of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change.

Photograph of Pippa Norris

Pippa Norris

Photograph by Stu Rosner

Harvard political scientist Pippa Norris chronicles the rise of populist authoritarians in Western democracies.

German author Karl May dressed as his Old West hero, Old Shatterhand

Click on arrow at right to view full image and image gallery
(1 of 5) Iconography of an author: Karl May as his famous character Old Shatterhand, with silver rifle (ca. 1900)

Photograph by Ullstein bild Dtl./Contributor/Getty Images

Brief life of a myth-making writer: 1842-1912

An original eighteenth-century colonial map of Jamaica

Vincent Brown adapted several eighteenth-century maps of Jamaica to create his own narrative map of Tacky’s Revolt. 
Map courtesy of Vince Brown

 

 

Vincent Brown writes war, empire, and slaves’ agency into the history of Atlantic slavery.

Letters

Beautiful math, guns, sexual harassment, and more

The perils of noncommunication

Right Now

Illustration of human torso with affected organs highlighted

Illustration by Darrel Rees

Researchers studying 95 million Medicare records find new fine-particle impacts in the blood, gut, skin, kidneys, and other organs.

A businessman reclines on the deck of a ship with no one at the helm

Illustration by Michal Steich

Index funds cast a large proportion of proxy votes in U.S. companies, but take a hands-off approach with management.

Flanking a ballot box are a monarch on the left and a senator holding a book of law on the right.

Illustration by Phil Foster

The right to rule depends not only on the way power is gained, but how it is wielded.

A common plasticizer causes infertility, and fructose affects fat metabolism.

Harvard Squared

Photograph of Emily Dickinson’s family home, The Homestead, an elegant wooden building

At The Homestead

Photograph by Norman Eggert/Alamy Stock Photo

Delving into the world of Emily Dickinson

Painting of a young woman standing at a French window, looking at a verdant garden

At the French Windows. The Artist’s Wife, (1897), by Laurits Andersen Ring

Courtesy of the Bruce Museum

Images that help unveil the truth of what we can see

A bluegrass guitarist, banjoist, and singer perform on stage

Sean Staples, Hazel Royer, and Eric Royer perform

Photograph courtesy of Atwood’s Tavern

Boosting bluegrass in Cambridge

Three fiddlers playing

Photograph by Ryan Carollo

Contra dancing, Balkan music, sea chanteys—and more!

The bar at Gustavo restaurant

Gustazo’s lively bar zone

Photograph courtesy of Gustazo Cuban Kitchen & Bar

Modern delights of Cuban cuisine, in Cambridge 

Increasing your property’s value

John Harvard's Journal

Photograph of several players competing for the puck in front of the Harvard goal

Mind the net: Sophomore goalie Lindsay Reed, flanked by teammates Ali Peper (13) and Nicki Lutschaunig (12), homes in on a speeding puck during a January win against Union College. Last year, Reed averaged more than 30 saves per game. 
Photograph by Gil Talbot/Courtesy of Harvard Athletics Communications

 

The many saves of a six-foot goalie

Photo of labor law experts Benjamin Sachs and Sharon Block

Labor law experts Benjamin Sachs and Sharon Block, co-leaders of Clean Slate
Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

A Harvard Law School initiative calls for a revitalized labor law “to shift power from corporations to workers.”

Photograph of Alan Jenkins

Alan Jenkins
Photograph by Jim Harrison

A brief look at a Harvard Law School professor's long journey

Photograph of Elisa New

Elisa New began teaching online humanities courses in 2013.
Photograph by Rose Lincoln/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

Literature professor Elisa New spearheads an online poetry course for talented students in underserved high schools.

Photograph of Caroline Tervo

Caroline Tervo ’18 researched North Carolina politics—at the local craft brewery, at Olive Garden, and at IHOP.
Photograph by Jon Chase/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

Undergraduates contribute to a new book on grass-roots organizing at the center of American politics.

A professor arrested, gift-giving guidelines, and an update on the graduate-student union

Cartoon shows an audience viewing a 3D rendering of the Holland Tunnel, with a ship floating above it and a car emerging from one end

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Drawing of proposed new campus buildings in Allston

Rendering courtesy of Tishman Speyer

 

The Law School launches a “Shield Working Group,” Allston update, keeping tabs on “fake news,” and more

Four young women of different ethnic backgrounds converse in a homey lounge

Illustration by Bodil Jane/Folio Art

The Undergraduate writes about the Harvard Women’s Center.

Matt Gilmore, sitting behind the wheel of a Zamboni

Matt “Happy” Gilmore smiles behind the wheel. Zamboni-driving takes focus, but Gilmore says that he loves waving to children in the crowd and making their day.
Photograph by Jim Harrison

Harvard’s Zamboni operators’ quest for the perfect sheet of ice

Montage

Photograph of the two actors on stage

Actors Jon Michael Hill (seated) and Namir Smallwood in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Pass Over
Photograph by Jeremy Daniel

 

 

Playwright Antoinette Nwandu confronts race, religion, and her personal history.

Photo of a young boy reading a book

Bookworms often start young.
Photograph by Fox Photos/Stringer/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 

An addiction to reading

A view of the Frank House study in 1940, with many books and examples of modern art from the 1930s

The Frank House, in 1940: the study, with a large collection of books on architecture and modern art from the 1930s 
Photograph by Ezra Stoller 1940/ ©2020 Alan I. W. Frank ‘54

Recent books with Harvard connections

Photograph of Matthew Berlin

Matthew Berlin
Photograph by Stu Rosner

 

Avocational bassist Matthew Berlin

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Photograph of Jack Gross

Jack Gross
Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images

A thumb on the scales

Photograph of Yangsze Choo

Yangsze Choo
Photograph by James Cham

Malaysian-born Yangsze Choo writes novels infused with the tropical mysteries of her childhood.

Alumni

Photograph of Steven Choi urging passage of driver’s license bill

Choi and supporters gathered at the New York state capitol last year to urge passage of new driver’s license legislation.

Photograph courtesy of the New York Immigration Coalition

Steven Choi, J.D. ’04, works—and fights—at the vitriolic epicenter of immigration politics.

Guidelines for this year’s May gala

The HAA recognizes those who bolster Harvard clubs and SIGs.

The official 2020 slates

Alumnus Paul Lee ’46 carries the (replica) Little Red Flag at the 2012 Harvard-Yale game. Steve Goodhue ’51 is beside him; Spencer Ervin ’54 and Jeff Lee ’74 stand behind.

At his seventieth Harvard-Yale game, in 2012, Paul Lee ’46 proudly carried the replica Little Red Flag. Steve Goodhue ’51 is beside him; Spencer Ervin ’54 and Jeff Lee ’74 stand behind.

Photograph courtesy of Judy Goodhue

Are you eligible to carry the (replica) Little Red Flag?

A possible film about cardiologist Paul Dudley White

The College Pump

Photograph of Samuel Eliot Morison

Samuel Eliot Morison
Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images

 

Morison, Handlin, and a new view of the Mem Hall fire

Treasure

Illuminated manuscript page

Manuscript courtesy of Houghton Library/Photograph by Harvard Library Imaging Services

Consequences of book-breaking