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Extracurriculars

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Innovate or Die (?)

February 23, 2012 by Reid | Permalink

 

Hello Everyone! I’ve been really, really busy (in a good way) these past few weeks, mostly with Crimson and school stuff, which is obviously a blast. Although I’m getting worn down, I think I’ve been structuring my day properly to allow myself enough time to do exactly what I need to do and still get some rest. Do you know that I sleep 8 or 9 hours a night? Yep. I do. I pride myself on that, and basically my theory is that anyone who gets less sleep hasn’t organized their time well enough, or totally overbooked themselves. I have managed to (kind of) find a balance, with the help of some schedules and structure.

My schedule from yesterday afternoon...pretty full, but totally do-able!

 

So what, exactly, have I been doing? Same old, same old, except for this INCREDIBLE and very bizarre event I recently went to. It was called “Experiencing Economies; Innovate or Die,” and basically it was a tour of innovative and design businesses/spaces in Boston which ended up selling out in one minute (there were 50 slots, too). My favorite place that we went to was Continuum, an innovative consulting corporation that was definitely one of the coolest places I’d ever been. I was covering this event for The Crimson, and ended up going all alone on a tour with a ton of grad students and people who were older than me. It was all very secretive, and I really had no idea what to expect, so the bus that I boarded could have been going to Akron, for all I knew! However, we ended up at Harvard’s iLab first, which is essentially a large technologically-innovative and up-to-date building where students from MIT and Harvard can come in and collaborate on big ideas, eventually getting funding for them. It’s about half way between Harvard and MIT, and was really cool. There, we did a psychology experiment on advertising and branding, lead by a History of Psychological Science Graduate student. Here are some photos from the event!

Some Art at the iLab

 

This was pretty cute...and cool, because people were drawing on the walls!

 

This was definitely my favorite quotation.

 

Some photos of the psychology experiment….bringing me back to my SLS-20 (intro to psych) days!

Obviously, my artistic and academic abilities were put to the test! The next stop that I enjoyed was Continuum, because there was an incredibly interesting exhibit set up there; these two women had gone into Boston’s inner-city high schools and worked with students who were affected by violence, and they broke that violence down altogether. They filmed fights and replayed them to analyze how they worked, charted the cycle of a fight, talked about the differences between domestic abuse and gang violence, and went into extreme detail to help these students work out the true definition and consequences of violence.

This was really inspiring.

 

This exhibit was moving, and made me really consider pursuing a career within Continuum; it puts creative and innovative ideas to good use, for the benefit of others. What could be better? By the time the exhibit was closing, I started to get really, really hungry. Luckily, there was tons of food, and my friend Ned was bartending, so I could swing by and visit him!

Yummmm

 

Ned with the red suspenders!

 

The evening was a total success, and after I went to my friend/bandmate Noah’s 21st birthday party, I fell asleep both content and inspired. Check out the OFA article I wrote here!

 

The next day (Saturday), it was my mom’s birthday! I called her up a million times until she answered, chatted with her for a while, and was on my way. I love my momma! I had to finish a photography shoot for the cover of this week’s Crimson Arts, so I ended up staying at the Crimson all day Thursday, for part of Friday, and for a while on Saturday and Sunday in order to finish up the cover with my fellow exec, Dean. Here are some behind the scenes shots!

Dean photographing one of our models in The Crimson

 

Our completed cover!

 

It was a really fun assignment for The Crimson that Dean and I got to run entirely, from conception to final product, which was printed yesterday! Many thanks to all of my models/friends for their pretty faces (:

Now that I’ve covered some exciting things in my past, we can look to the exciting thing in the future: this summer, I will be going to Paris in the Harvard Summer Study Abroad!! I was accepted about a week ago, from a pool of many applicants, and will be able to get a jumpstart on my potential path as a Romance Languages and Literatures concentrator! Nothing could be more exciting than spending my summer in the City of Love (and blogging about it while I’m at it). Now all I need is for my grants to be approved, something I’ll know in about a month. By that time, I’ll be in a House, have my summer planned out, and be preparing for my trip to LA with my fellow CUPSI Slam Poetry members. Wow! The future is pretty exciting in general, but even more exciting when you’re at Harvard.

Thanks for reading, and happy Thursday.

-Reid

 

 

Snow White Lies

February 8, 2012 by Jeanie Nguyen | 2 comments

In sophisticated literature, the color white tends to symbolize kindness and purity – that’s why I’m so okay with telling myself white lies. Popular recent white lies to myself include (but are not limited to):

“Oh it’s just Shopping Week. I don’t have any work or books to even think about,”

“This is only the first actual week of school and Rush Week only comes once a year! There aren’t important psets (problem sets),”

and my personal favorite: “I promise this is my last dessert ever.”

                                                                     Going along with Scott’s dessert fantasies,

here are some homemade peanut butter cupcakes

crafty Thetas made in Mather’s (upperclassmen house) kitchen!

It’s pretty unfortunate that I forgot how easily the color white stains. These seemingly harmless white lies have darkened so much that they’ve almost cast a gloomy dark cloud following me everywhere…almost. Things have gotten real this week: my first 5 hour organic chemistry lab, my first frustrating physics pset, my first experiment at HDSL (Harvard Decision Science Lab). I really can’t solicit any sympathy because everyone else is at least just as busy. It’s during times like these (when I find myself doggy paddling just enough to stay afloat) that I think back to what a graduate student at the Harvard School of Public Health said to me: “There’s a difference between balancing and juggling.”

I think the main difference between these two activities is prioritization. When you’re physically balancing objects, you appear to be much calmer and poised. As impressive as juggling is, the image is definitely more hectic and things are much more easily dropped. I personally strive to achieve a balance where I’ll prioritize matters such as my interpersonal relationships with my family and friends, my academics, and my well-being over Facebook, Twitter, and scoring higher on Temple Run than all of my friends. Although the rankings of these priorities are flexible from hour to hour, the activities that have the most meaning in my life will never be dropped. Prioritization is also a great way to determine what is most important to you – in high school, I always did my chemistry homework first and that’s how I knew I liked moles more than beavers (#corny).

In my experiences at Harvard, I’ve heard many people declare that they’re too busy for X, Y & Z. To me, that’s just another way of indirectly saying X, Y & Z aren’t significant enough to prioritize for you. One thing that Harvard students definitely prioritize is breaks! The current hot topic on campus is activities during Spring Break and Summer Break. People are deciding where to go, what to do, and how to fund their interests/travels. There are TONS of options – i.e. study abroad and public interest internships. There’s also an amazing alumni networking tool called Crimson Compass if working in a specific location is of utmost importance to you. Navigating all the opportunities can most definitely be overwhelming so I must give a loud and proud shout out to the Office of Career Services (OCS) who holds frequent informational sessions and office-hour type drop-ins for students seeking guidance.

But for now, I’m prioritizing my organic chemistry pset. Cross your fingers for me and send some positive energy (in the form of protons??) my way! 😀

Wonderful Week

February 2, 2012 by Reid | 1 comment

Heyyyo!

I’ve been having the best week ever, and it’s been so busy that I haven’t had any time to post on this site, so sorry for the delay! This is going to be slightly shorter, because I have a meeting at 3 with my Peer Advising Fellow (PAF) to talk about blocking (aaahhrrggg, deciding on my suitemates is so complicated), classes, and my summer plans. Also, I just applied to be a PAF next year, so we’ll see how that goes, and maybe one of you class of ’16 readers will be my PAFee! (That’d be so exciting.)

Yay random picture I took of Harvard Hall yesterday!!

So: a quick synopsis of what has happened since last Thursday. On Friday, I passed in my official study card (yippee!) and had a meeting with my slam poetry team. Later,  my mom came to visit and we watched the Harvard-Yale men’s hockey game, which I covered for the Crimson. Harvard won 4-3, and we beat Yale in the women’s hockey, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball games. Woohoo! Then I went out to a really fun party with a few of my friends and saw some a cappella people whom I hadn’t seen in a while, which was great. The next morning, my mom swung by for a little bit in between my auditions of common casting through the HRDC. Basically I tried out for  a lot of musicals and got some minor roles that I decided to drop, because I have a million things happening already. (Check out the link above for more information about theater, another addition to my Quest for the Arts!)

 

Go Harvard!

Sunday wasn’t too busy, but I ended the day with great news: I was appointed Arts Photography Exec with my friend Dean for The Crimson! Now I get first “pitches” (really cool events to cover) and I lead a crew of Junior Editors and Compers in their journey of photography this semester. I couldn’t be more excited.

Monday was my first Photo Exec meeting, in the newly designed photo-lounge of the basement. The basement holds design, video, and photography (really, the best part of a newspaper in both online and digital editions), and within that group there’s a great sense of community. I was alerted on Monday that I needed to give a gift to the Exec I am replacing, so that’s been my weekly project (keep reading).

 

Cast Lists are Posted!

Tuesday was my first day of Expos! I was sectioned into Contemporary American Theatre, a course with a very high Q Score and an amazing prof. I’m really looking forward to it, though it’s going to definitely be a difficult course. Later, I had an all-photo meeting with the Junior Editors and Execs, which was great. I pitched The Arts as a beat (translation: I gave reasons to people for why they should take pictures primarily for Arts), in the form of a song! It was very classy and very fun. Later that night, I started drawing up sketches for my gift to the ex-Arts Photo Exec (who is now the Editor-At-Large of Photography), having decided on a shirt as a gift. The design is of a pug puppy (the cutest, obviously… and photo has a bit of an obsession with baby animals) reaching for a soda bottle with the word “AHT” on it. (The ex-exec has a thick Boston accent.) Then, I had a few more late-night meetings and finally went to bed.

 

Oh So Cute

Wednesday, I interviewed Dean from Dean & Britta, an alternative music duo, for the Office of the Arts. Now all I have to do is write up the article, and I will post the link next week! I had my printmaking seminar again, which was amazing, per usual, and continued to work on the project I’d started on Monday. We were asked to create a visual representation of our favorite word, and I chose “noodle.” Okay, I’m not sure if that’s my favorite word, but there were so many to choose from…so I just chose my favorite food-word. Also, there are tons of alternative definitions for noodle (such as brain, or fool, or Mr. Noodle from Elmo’s World), which means I can be very creative. Next week I’ll be pressing my page, framing that bad boy, and maybe gifting it (or keeping a copy for myself). This has definitely been one of the best artistic outlets I’ve found here at Harvard.

Later that day, I met up with my friend Cynthia to work on a few songs for Freshman Formal, which is tomorrow night. Of course I’ll be going, but we’ll also be playing music during dinner, so we met up in Wigglesworth basement to practice. The practice rooms are really big in Wigg, so we had enough space for her piano and my guitar/uke. We’ll be playing some sweet songs (such as Janelle Monae and Adele), and afterwards we’ll be dancing it up in the Night Under the Stars, as it is so aptly named. Yippee!

No Stars in the Sky Yet

 

Then I had to cover a Flashmob for The Crimson. CityStep, a program that teaches children to dance and other valuable skills, went into Ticknor Lounge (a gorgeous room) and busted out some moves. I was lucky enough to experience it, in all of its cuteness/awesomeness.

Haha, Flashmob!

A few hours later, I realized that couldn’t stop working on my gift for my friend, so I went to Urban Outfitters to buy a blank T-shirt ($5), then to Utrecht Arts to buy some fabric paint ($8). I cut out the stencils I’d created in record time (okay, like two hours), ironed them onto the shirt, and painted away. Today, I finished it up, and I couldn’t be happier with the final product! It turned out infinitely better than I had expected, and I’m sure the gift will be well-received.

 

Yay Puppies and Pop!

Now I’m off to my meeting, then some more practice for Formal, homework, dinner somewhere in there, a run-through of some spoken word that I’ll be performing with a group next monday for a belated MLK celebration, and finally an Exec event later tonight. Wow! This semester is going to be awesome. (Plus, it’s cold today–bonus!)

Happy Thursday!

-Reid

 

Squirrel<Pug

Shopping Part Two!

January 26, 2012 by Reid | 2 comments

Ciao a tutti!

Shopping week for second semester is almost over, with Study Cards (an official list of the courses you’re taking) being due tomorrow. Luckily, I’ve figured out my semester. I’ll be taking Intensive Italian (Italian Acd), Advanced French Grammar II (French 50), Expository Writing 20 (Expos), and a Freshman Seminar called “Pressing the Page: Making Art With Letters, Paper & Ink.” I’m very excited about this semester, especially for my seminar and Italian. They’ve been amazing so far, with Italian flying by every day and my printmaking seminar seeming too short, though it’s two hours on M/W! So far I’ve made calling cards and monogrammed notecards. Check out my first creation thus far!

 

I <3 Art

Anyways, get ready for a lot more artsy stuff this semester, to add to my arts list from a previous post. Seriously, this is a Liberal Arts college and my goal is to find out why.

Though all Freshmen do not have to take seminars and two languages (well, there is a language requirement, but I definitely loaded up on Romance Languages), everybody who graduates from Harvard College must take Expository Writing. Shaun talks about it from the other side of the bridge, having taken it already, but I have yet to experience this wonderful essay course. Actually, most people don’t like it, but I really love writing, and all the courses I’ve signed up for have high Q ratings (which means they’re good) and are in very close proximity to my dorm! Sweet graphic here:

Wow, Check it out! Canaday has the best location for all things Freshmen.

 

Anyways, these are the Expos courses I’ve sectioned for. A lot of them haven’t been offered yet, and are brand new, so I thought I’d give them a chance, even though it is risky. Imagining Animals does sound pretty interesting, though.

Location, Location, Location. (Okay, and time/subject.)

If I get sectioned into a M/W 11:00-12:00 time slot, I’ll be having bagged lunch twice a week for the next semester! Good thing Harvard offers them for all students, all the time. Also, our dining services have become quite interesting, with HUDS reintroducing the Korean Barbecue night. Let me tell you, that Kimchi was spicy! After I enjoyed my Korean dinner today with my roommate, I met a few of my bandmates and headed up to the SOCH for our first practice of the second semester. We’re playing a few songs and a lot of transition material at Harvard Thinks Big, which is a very popular set of mini-lectures hosted in Sanders Theater. Last year’s information can be found here. It was awesome seeing everyone again, even though the rehearsal was short and the walk to the quad was a bit chilly. If you’ve forgotten about my band, check out this link! Being part of my amazing mini-community was definitely the best part of my first semester, because it helped me to transition into college life much more smoothly.

Whee!!! Random Picture of Cambridge!

 

Another super awesome thing in my life right now continues to be The Crimson! I realized that last semester was a ton of fun, and I had the best time taking photos of sports and arts, specifically for the Fifteen Minutes magazine. Over break, I took a lot of photos, and they have definitely improved, to the point where I am proud of my photography skills. Soon I will be monitoring compers as a Junior Editor, chillin’ with them as they experience that which I’ve just done. Tomorrow, I’m covering the Harvard-Yale hockey game, and my family is coming up to watch with me. I am also “schmoozing” with some peeps (editors/my superiors/great people) in order to be (hopefully) elected Arts Photo Exec. That basically means a lot of mini meetings in order to hold a higher position than my current status. I’ll update you when I hear back, but for now, cross your fingers for me!

Arts and Sports mixed together!

The weather has been uncannily warm as of late, which definitely freaks me out a little bit; climate change is upon us, and it’s been pretty evident here in Cambridge. Hopefully it cools down, so I can use the really great skating rink on the Science Center lawn. (What? Harvard has a free skating rink? Why yes, we do.) Most of the time though, I’m inside, doing my homework so that I don’t get behind. I definitely don’t want to make that mistake again, because it creates a lot of unnecessary stress.  I’ve been doing a bit of walking recently, because I’m auditioning through  Common Casting  for Legally Blonde and Hair (the musical), and I have to hike up to the Aggassiz Theater (also home of the visitor center), Loeb Theater, and Farkas Theater. I really missed auditioning, so this process has been a blast! But I should get back to the pile of work on my desk….

Busy busy

 

Okay! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my post, and for those applying to Harvard, these next few months might be a little worrisome, but try to keep the admissions process in the back of your head and enjoy your last part of high school. You’ll end up wherever you need to be.

 

Signing off

-Reid

 

Writing Workshop: Wintersession!

January 19, 2012 by Reid | 1 comment

Hello everyone! I’m writing from the comfort of my dorm room right now…it’s definitely cozier in here than it is outdoors. Finally it snowed, but it’s melted since then, leaving the ground bare. Not all hope is lost, though–it should snow on Saturday! Another amazing event that is happening that day is the final performance of my Wintersession spoken word workshop. We’ve been working from 10-3 everyday this week, producing a lot of writing of which we should be proud. The Speak Out Loud club is hosting this program, and we’ve had a lot of amazing guests come in to work with us. Yesterday, we made this crazy web to connect all of these different ideas and created poems about them, and afterwards we talked about the Hunger Games (which was great, because I’m obsessed with that series).

Crazy Web

Spoken word is a really fantastic way of self-expression, and on the sixth of February, we’ll be performing a piece in Memorial Church for a belated-MLK celebration. I’ll be doing a group piece with my friend, which will be fun, because it’s my first time collaborating on any spoken word. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I got back from LA on Saturday night, and came to Harvard just in time to watch the Giants-Packers game with my dad at Tory Row, a café/bar right in the square. Luckily, the Giants whooped the Packers (really, the defense was fantastic), so my dad could drive home happily that night. I also met my older sister at South Station, and after we’d watched the game, we went back to my room and packed her bags for Zanzibar. She’s doing a semester abroad there, and is currently in Tanzania, crossing the ocean in a little while to the island where she’ll spend her next few months. Eloise (my sister) could only take one large backpack and a carry-on, so we had to pack everything tightly. We rolled all of her clothes and crammed them into her bag, densely packing it so that she could fit everything. Lo and behold, there was room to spare after we’d finished! On Monday, we had lunch with our grandparents at Henrietta’s Kitchen in the Charles Hotel, and after my workshop, I took her to the airport. We got there pretty early, checked her bag (11 kilos), bought some candy, and called our mom. Then, we parted ways as she went through security. Today, she called me from Tanzania on Skype–a lovely surprise. It made me think about all the places I’d like to go for Study Abroad, which prompted my transition back into my grant applications for the Summer Study Abroad in Paris. There’s a very good study abroad program here, which can be found at these two links, one for summer and the other for the academic year. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping I’ll be accepted this year!

It’s lovely being back on campus. Nothing has changed much–the same food (though I’m eating less of it), the same buildings (obviously), the same yard (except for the lack of Occupiers). However, there is one new exciting addition to campus: a skating rink! It’s free, with skate rentals being only $5. I’ll have to check it out sometime. Later today, I’ll be heading to a warmer sporting event, covering the men’s swimming and diving competition against Brown, as I’m now a Junior Editor for the Photo board of The Crimson. (Yay!) So, that’s all, folks, but I’m ready for a new exciting year of work and play!

Happy Winter!

-Reid

The lovely snow, from my window!

Home With H-Bomb

December 23, 2011 by Reid | 1 comment

Four inches of snow blanket the ground, my wood stove gives off a warmth only fire can bring, the Christmas tree in the corner twinkles brightly, and the Advising Portal glows gently on my screen– my grades are posted. I exhale a deep sigh of relief, happy to have passed all four courses, something I’d never had to worry about before I came here.  Not to sound arrogant, but high school wasn’t that difficult for me; my first semester at Harvard, on the other hand, was a challenge. Although some things came more easily than others (French exams, for example, were a breeze compared to the Psychology multiple-choice tests), it wasn’t a walk in the park, and I’d frequently find myself swamped, wanting only to go to band practice or to cover an interesting event for The Crimson.

Contrary to this ranking, Harvard is actually difficult once you are accepted, and the gap you need to bridge is even bigger if you caught Senioritis after decisions rolled in. (I know I did; it’s hard motivating oneself when you’ve already achieved what you’ve been working for since fifth grade.) So when I went to a Solstice party last night after a week of sleep and relaxation, I wasn’t exactly prepared to talk about what I’d been doing for the past four months. I meandered over towards someone I didn’t know, and she asked me where I went to school; I replied, “Harvard,” which was about as difficult to say as my own name.* She did the normal “oh!” and asked me what I was studying. I rattled off my four courses, to which she demanded whether or not it was arduous work. I replied with a solid “yes.” I wasn’t about to lie to this woman, pretending that my last four months have been perfect; that’s just unrealistic, and yet she seemed surprised when I told her it wasn’t an easy semester.

There’s nothing easy about Harvard, except for the acquisition of unreal opportunities. I’d gone to a movie premiere, met Jonah Hill, written a full-length jazz composition, listened to incredible lectures, played at the House of Blues in front of 1300 people, and received this amazing education, all because of Harvard. Why does this matter? Because I’m really lucky to be here, as we all are. Even though it took a whole week of doing nothing to rehabilitate myself after the semester, it was worth it: the difficulties are worth it, because there’s nothing I’d rather be doing in those moments of opportunity. Looking towards the future, I have even more opportunities; hopefully I’ll be accepted into the Summer Study Abroad program in Paris, where I’ll spend my time boosting my French (potential major?) and learning about Parisian revolutions. For now, I’ll keep relaxing, preparing for another semester of difficulties– but maybe this time it’ll be just a little bit easier.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

-Reid

 

(I can’t leave the post without including a picture, so here’s one of my cat.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*(Difficult. I don’t know if anyone else has trouble saying their own name, but I always feel awkward saying it for some reason.)

Things I Miss, Things I Don’t

November 27, 2011 by Reid | 1 comment

After spending a lovely few days in Vermont for Thanksgiving, I returned to campus today. This is what I have learned: I miss a lot of aspects of my old life, but I also am glad to be in this new environment; in fact, my life at Harvard is easier in some ways! Here are some mini-lists, interspersed with some recent photography!

 

Things I miss:

1. Fresh _____ (food, towels, air, sheets, silverware, etc.) There is nothing like the clean air of Vermont, and living in a city is quite the contrast. While my lungs miss the fresh air, my skin misses the fresh sheets and towels. This could easily be solved by increasing the frequency of my laundry runs, and has been ameliorated by the smuggling of ANOTHER towel from home to my dorm room. Laundry is normally not my top priority, but I’m not lazy enough to have it done by Harvard Student Agencies (although that’s offered, for those of you who are repulsed by dirty clothes). As for food and silverware, this is another problem that I could probably solve. Although Annenberg is very good for the number of people it serves, I miss the fresh veggies and fruits that my mom would bring home every day. Shaw’s is just a short trip by T, and I technically could go out and purchase some delicacies for my fresh food fix. (For silverware, please see ‘laundry’ above.)

 

2. My old friends!

This is not Harvard’s fault; it is just part of growing up. I had to start a new life at college, and that means losing a lot of contact with my friends, who are at colleges such as Middlebury, Denver, and Queens or living and working across the country. I miss them a TON, especially my lovely friends Tucker and Georgie, who happen to be chillin’ on the  West Coast. This problem, too, will be solved by J-term: FLYING TO LAX!

 

3. Driving!

It’s really, really fun to drive on dirt roads. If you’ve never done it before, you’re missing out.

 

4. My family

Okay, so I miss my mom. And my dad. And my stepdad, my sister, my half-sister, my dog, and my cat. But video chatting on iChat is the best! It was awesome catching up with them all over Thanksgiving break, as well as an extension of this family in the form of cousins, uncles, and aunts.

 

5. Vermont itself!

I hail from the best state in the Union, no doubt. We have maple syrup, cider, and leaves: you know that. We also have COWS, TREES, MOUNTAINS, FLANNEL, TRACTORS, MY HOUSE, MUD SEASON, STICK SEASON, 6 MONTHS OF WINTER, THE ONLY CAPITAL WITHOUT A MCDONALDS, THE BEST SWIMMING HOLES, GORGEOUS RIVERS AND LAKES, AND NOT THAT MANY PEOPLE!!! Maybe you can tell that ILOVERMONT.

 

Things I Don’t Really Miss That Much:

1. Driving

Okay, so it may be slightly contradictory, but driving isn’t always the best. Not paying for gas, worrying about speeding tickets or about where you’re going to stay the night in poor weather is very pleasing. As much as cars are fun, they are also a pain and a drain (of cash), and I’d rather be outside walking in the cold air than trying to drive with these crazy Boston drivers!

 

2. Living at Home

Don’t get me wrong: I have the best house in the entire world, the best family I could ever ask for, and live in the best state. Here at Harvard, though, I don’t have to cook my own meals, do my dishes, worry about making a fire when I get home (yay heating!), share the dessert, feed the dog, or drive an hour to find a town! The Boston area is incredible; there’s everything you need, from British candy at Cardullo’s, to hot-pot in Chinatown… it’s really the perfect city for me, and not too overwhelming for a country girl.

 

3. The Endless Winter

I am a huge snowboarding/skiing enthusiast. Vermont is a great place to do both of those things, but by the time March rolls around, it’s getting a little old. The temperate climate of Cambridge (comparatively, to Northern New England) is really, really nice. For example: there was 6 inches of packing snow in Vermont over break, and it was about 35 degrees most of the time. In Cambridge, there is no snow, it’s around 48 degrees, and spring comes a lot earlier. Way to go, Massachusetts! I really dig this weather!

 

4. My Old Classes

Though my four courses may or may not be kicking my butt right now, they’re waaaay better than the eight I had to take in high school. Having a bajillion courses to choose from is something very novel to me, so I spend a preposterous amount of my free time drooling over all of my options. (Yes, I have already decided on my second-semester courses, but that remains a surprise until I finalize my schedule!) Harvard is great because you can take any class you want to and be guaranteed an incredible professor, as long as you check the handy-dandy Q guide (rating system) to see just what you’d be getting yourself into. There’s nothing quite like the level of academics here, and I sure am glad to have access to all this learnin’!

 

5. Wondering Just What To Do Tonight…

I am now at college, where the number of people in my class exceeds the number of people in my town. Therefore, there are plenty of things going on, which can be seen here. Examples of my week ahead: Eleganza (a fashion show) fundraiser, Opps–Kroks jam (super great a cappella groups), band rehearsal, Little Shop of Horrors, and House Formals. There is no way to become bored here! One would truly have to try in order to do nothing.

 

 

So that’s it! School’s great, home’s great, but they each’ve their own pros and cons. I am very excited to go home after finals, but I think I’ll be even more excited to come back to start second semester. (Yes, this is a little premature….) Check out some of my photos of Vermont!

 

Vermont over Thanksgiving

 

 

Snowy Snowy Porch

 

 

Cider Making! Yummmmm

 

 

Hockey vs Dartmouth!

My Weekend…WAS AMAZING!

November 17, 2011 by Reid | 7 comments

Normally, I have pretty good weekends. Sometimes it rains, which I like (but not whilst parading around Cambridge); sometimes I have a huge exam at 8:30 AM on Monday (cough cough…LPSA); and frequently there are fun fiestas to be attended. However, this was the best weekend I have had in a long time. Why, you may ask? Read on!

 

Thursday Night:

We didn’t have school on Friday, due to Veteran’s Day. So, I didn’t have to wake up for my 9 AM class!  (Fun fact: you may think waking up at 8 is fantastic in high school, as I did, but in college it seems that nobody goes to bed until 3 and everyone wakes up at 10 and I am cursed. Though most people [my roommates] do follow that schedule [as I do on Tues/Thurs mornings], I am pretty lucky to wake up at 9 so I’ll stop whining.) Also, it was FACULTY DINNER, which is an incredible experience. Da ‘Berg is officially transformed into The Great Hall and HUDS prepares an extravagant meal to impress our profs, TAs, proctors, and the like. Although I like Annenberg a lot, I hold no deep feelings of love for it except for during Faculty Dinner! My lab partner and I invited our lab TF, Greg, and dressed to impress before gorging ourselves on mushroom ravioli, some meat thing (is it obvious that I’m a vegetarian?), roasted root veggies, and cake. Carrot cake, chocolate raspberry cake, cheese cake…. Yummmm. Knowing the food would never again be this exquisite, I ate way too much and stumbled out of Memorial Hall with a rather large stomach. It was worth it, by the way.

After that, I went to the IRC semiformal with my roommate, Rachel, as her plus-one. She is some spiffy chair for H-MUN (Harvard Model United Nations), whereas I know nothing about this political smorgasbord. Luckily, we mostly danced. After going to the penthouse of the Cambridge Hyatt (here’s a lovely image) via taxi, we danced the night away until the wee hours of the morning. (Actually, I ended up splitting a cab with some people and leaving at 10:30, in preparation for Friday.) When I thought it couldn’t get any better, along came Friday.

 

Friday in the Lighter Hours

After parting ways with my cozy, cozy bed at 10:30 on Friday morning, I suddenly remembered that my AWESOME band (The Nostalgics) was scheduled to record our Holiday album from noon to six that day. Really, my email alerted me about this, in addition to telling me about a sweet deal at B. Good, this incredible burger joint near the Holyoke Center. UC Restaurants offers great savings on restaurants on some Fridays, so I went down and got 20% off of my mango shake and West-side veggie burger. After eating my second great meal of the weekend with three of my bandmates, I walked to the Quad and entered my favorite building on campus, the SOCH. (I’m not really sure if it’s my favorite building, but it’s very underused and underrepresented, so I have adopted it.) Some fancy event was happening, which is a rarity at this unfrequented 50,000 square feet of space, so we went up to the PentHouse where the recording studio is. Due to a recording malfunction, our recording session soon morphed into a practice session, with some fantastic originals coming together, as well as “All I Want For Christmas,” everyone’s favorite x-mas song. After figuring out some rippin’ horn lines and baller vocal backgrounds, we felt satisfied and packed up to go. Sadly, we got locked into the Emergency Stairwell, which we did not know was alarmed until we were inside. However, one guitarist had left early and saved us from a sure death, and we celebrated life at Pfoho dining hall, eating another fantastic meal, though I soon learned this was not good Chinese food. Expecting to not eat again, my chipmunk-storage complex switched on and I filled up on tofu and mini-corn. Little did I know, this was not the end of my Asian experience.

 

Friday Night

On the shuttle back to the yard, one of my band-mates asked me to go to Chinatown with him in celebration of a friend’s birthday. Although I was full and had little desire to eat, the draw of novelty appealed to me, so I immediately accepted. After taking the T to Park Street, we made our way to Hot Pot Buffet, whose two floors were, to our dismay, completely full. The walk was in vain, I feared. However, my friend was a lot more innovative, and decided we’d go to the Harvard Club of Boston. It’s really lovely, I soon found out, and is full of history, much like its namesake. In the Library, there’s a gorgeous pool table and loads of reunion books, dating back to 1900. My grandfather, whom I never had the chance to meet, went to Harvard for undergraduate and medical school (I think). I quickly (slowly) calculated his year of graduation, found the 10th anniversary book, and read about his life. My mom was just two years old when he wrote the report! This discovery really threw me for a turn, and I was flooded with thanks; perhaps a little premature, but we’re all really lucky to be studying here, and to be part of this history that, for me, binds me to my unknown ancestors.

 

Saturday Day

After again having a tearful departure from my bed, I set out on another lovely escapade. I walked down to Blodgett pool, which is across the river, and took pictures of our men’s swimming and diving team for the Crimson. My freshman class really shone, with Michael Mosca setting a school record in diving in his first meet and the freshman swimmers securing 1st place for Harvard. Here’s a photo:

Blodgett

Then, what did I do? More photo!!!! (FUN) I claimed a really amazing pitch (story) for FM, which is the Crimson’s magazine. What is this amazing pitch? Is the suspense killing you? Well, I will ruin the surprise– I GOT TO TAKE PICTURES OF GUACAMOLE!! Yes, that is right, I spent my entire afternoon sampling and photographing the delicious mush. More good food! My writer and I went to Chipotle, Qdoba, Boloco, Felipe’s, and Border Cafe. The last two were by far the best, which is good, because they are local restaurants, unlike the 3 other chains. Here’s a picture:

¡Guacamole Olé!

 

 

 

Saturday Night:

I continued in the spirit of photography as the sun set, presenting my photo essay to other compers (comp=competitor, but it’s no longer competitive, just an anachronism) at The Crimson.

Then, I sprinted to Holden Chapel, which is a beautiful and tiny space hidden in the Yard. The Speak Out Loud club was hosting a Poetry Slam, which is basically a spoken-word competition. (Think rap battle minus the hip-hop tracks, plus scores.) Eleven poets slammed their AMAZING poems, and I was lucky enough to compete against them. The place was totally humming with energy, as the crowd really participates in poetry through pounding their feet, clapping, and encouraging the poets as they perform. The first round, we slammed a 3 minute poem each, and mine was a story about a cabin I love in Vermont. The next round was the lightning round, where we’d slam a 1 minute poem, and I slammed about my love for poetry. Our scores were added up, and the top 8 moved on to the final round after a brief intermission. My jaw dropped as I found out I’d moved on; I thought those incredible poets had me beat for sure. We had another 3 minutes to get the highest score we could (which is a 30); the top 5 scoring poets became Harvard’s Poetry Slam Team! I slammed about coffee (as a metaphor for something else), and LOVED it, because the packed audience was awesome. At the end, we all lined up and five names were read. I’ll be competing in April at CUPSI along with my four other team-mates! More updates on this soon, and if you want to know more about poetry slams, here’s a great link. (To hear some awesome slam, here’s another.)

I went out and celebrated with my friends afterwards, and caught up on all my work on Sunday.

 

This weekend, I’m not going to Harvard-Yale; instead, I’m going to visit my grandparents and have a pre-Thanksgiving with them! Then, I’m covering the Tail of the Charles (men’s crew invitational) on Saturday, so I’m really excited to see what this new weekend brings!

 

All the best,

-Reid

 

¡The Arts!

November 10, 2011 by Reid | Permalink

So, I must admit that I was very worried about what the arts scene would be like here at Harvard when I first applied.  I was generally drawn in towards other schools which focused more on a liberal, artsy education (e.g. Wesleyan/Oberlin/Brown), and I just assumed that Harvard’s focus would be more academic (it being Harvard). I was not wrong in assuming that Harvard places a lot more importance on academics than everything else (obviously, for how else would it accept top-tier academics?). However, I was TOTALLY incorrect in assuming that nothing else goes on here. On the contrary, there are so many extracurriculars that I can honestly say that I’d major in them if it were allowed. (It’s not. For a full list of actual concentrations, click here.)

My favorite extracurriculars are: 1) the ARTS! 2) making money!* 3) environmental action stuff.  The Arts completely trump the other extracurrics, so here comes my ecstatic list of reasons for why I love them so much.

Reason 1: Art, in general, is beautiful and an excellent emotional outlet.

The Science Center and Canaday lighting can get a little ugly every once and a while, so all I have to do is turn on my Christmas lights (yes, I have them on because yes, Daylight Savings has begun), look at my beautiful painting my sister gave me, and pick up my guitar. Suddenly, everything is gorgeous! My woes become pretty via melody, the cinderblock walls of my dorm room seem to blush with the x-mas’d-out lighting, and I am happy again. Want to know what goes down when I write? Check out my soundcloud. #shamelessselfpromotion

 

Reason 2: Art makes you new friends!

Although you can (feasibly) find friends elsewhere, you will never find your potential soul-mate if you don’t join an artsy group. (Spoiler alert: I’m biased.) I happen to be in the BEST artsy group ever, in fact. We are The Nostalgics, a Motown-soul band with the most extraordinarily-talented musicians on campus, and we have the most fun. Last weekend we took the bus to Wellesley College and played our funky jamz for the TZE formal; it was fantastic, although the travelling was a hike. The moral of this mini-story is: I would never have made these awesome friends without trying out and involving myself in the arts. They are my family, and we do a whole lot more than make music together– we make THE BEST FRIENDSHIPS <3 <3 …yes, that was disgustingly corny, but it’s true, and I wanted to give you an honest account of my feelings towards them and the arts in general.

 

Reason 3: Your evenings will be forever changed…

So, I thought I was going to Asian Feast last Friday night to support my roomie. Turns out, there were a lot more (non-asian, non-food related) things happening in Quincy D-Hall than the title described.  Take a look:

Irish Dancers!

 

 

Reason 4: It can make you money!

Contrary to popular belief, the arts can be [kind of] lucrative. There are many job offerings in the arts here on campus, such as working for the Office of the Arts (which I’m doing second semester as a blogger), writing articles about the arts or taking pictures/video for the Harvard Crimson (which I’m currently doing, but I’m not an editor so I don’t get any money…at least, not yet), joining a killer band that plays at formals and gets paid bank (see reason 3), and/or immersing yourself in the history of art here at Harvard (museums, music library, etc) for pay. Though majoring in Econ will probably make your pockets cozier, nothing is better than getting paid for what you like to do, and if that passion happens to be artistically-inclined, it’s time to celebrate because it’s possible here at Harvard!

 

and finally…

Reason 5: You will fall in love…

…WITH ART! (No guarantees on art’s romantic influences, but take a look at Frank Sinatra’s love life and you might get the gist…) Never tried sculpting before? How about art history? Or, in my case, Jazz Harmony and Composition? You can do all of those things here, for credit! No need to wait until class ends; with hundreds of courses in the arts, you can try out whatever floats your boat and feel the artsy undertow pulling you in.  Next semester, I am planning on taking a Printmaking seminar–and I thought those were only offered at arts schools. Wowzah.

 

Those are all the reasons why I LOVE ART at Harvard (and why you can, too)!

Hope you liked them 🙂

Peace, Love, and Art

-Reid

 

 

ps, even the buildings are artsy! Check out my picture of the Graduate School of Design

 

 

GSD

*One day the wonders of Dorm Crew will be discussed 😀

#lazysunday

November 4, 2011 by Kemie | 6 comments

If you’ve taken a look at my short biography on the “Meet Your Bloggers” page, you’ll know that I’m a member of the Crimson Key Society.  The Crimson Key Society (Key for short) serves the Harvard Community by leading tours, helping with large events, and by through a service program called TEACH.   Adding to the tradition of service, I volunteered to spend the day working on a Habitat for Humanity house in Boston with a group from Key.  Here’s the general deal: Harvard has its own Habitat for Humanity house that a bunch of different student groups have been contributing to over time, and the Crimson Key Society decided to get in on the action.  It was such a great experience, and I can’t help but share it with all of you.

It was a really refreshing change from my typical Lazy Sunday.   Key is full of outgoing and exciting individuals, so I knew that I was in for a good time.  We all decided ahead of time that if we were working with power tools, we needed to look the part.  With that in mind, we assigned a “lumberjack” theme to the outing.  It was a fun little spin on the day.  We all came out in flannel and jeans, ready to get some serious construction done.

After a brief orientation, and a few words of caution, we were let loose on the house.  Even though I had signed up to participate in the build, I hadn’t really given much thought to the fact that I would be expected to perform manual labor.  The experience taught me that I have absolutely no future in construction work.  In fact, I can confidently cross it off my list of potential careers.  Regardless of my inability to properly wield a hammer, it was a FANTASTIC day.

Everyone having fun during a work break.

The obligatory post-build photo shoot.

My team worked on placing the siding onto the house, so we were up on rafters most of the time.  It was so scary! There were a couple of moments that really had me frightened, but it at the same time it was kind of great to overcome my minor fear of heights.  We were responsible for measuring, cutting, and placing the panels on the house.  Like I said, I am no handy-woman, but there is something to be said about getting to see the physical results of your labor.  Each time I successfully hammered a nail into a panel this ridiculous feeling of pride came over me.

Separate from the service part of the trip, it was really nice to be able to spend more time with the people I love from Key.  It felt more like a social event, than work.  When it was time to hand up our tool belts, I didn’t want to leave.  Working on the Habitat house was a nice change of pace for me, because I don’t usually take the time to venture into Boston.  It’s too easy to get caught inside the Harvard Bubble, so I know that I would love to do something like this again in the future.  Hopefully Key will do it again, and I can update everyone on the status of the house!

The group of volunteers from Crimson Key Society, as well as volunteers from Habitat for Humanity.

The crew after at the end of the day. All smiles!

 

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