From Dusty Shakespearean Relic to Radical Reinvention
A beautiful, reckless, and painful Romeo & Juliet.
In the arts, there are rare moments when innovation, vision, talent, and collaboration converge to redefine the creative landscape—watershed moments that signal new eras. In 1920s Paris, Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas helped shape the Modernist movement in their salon. In 1947, Marlon Brando’s Broadway performance in A Streetcar Named Desire marked a transformative leap […]
Break on a Budget
Make your stay-at-home winter break exciting and productive without draining your bank account.
This year, we have almost six weeks of winter recess. During finals week, it often feels like those weeks will be the most peaceful, perfect break from school. But after the holidays, things start to slow down, and it is easy to find yourself with nothing to do. When everyone returns to school, while your […]
Indy Sportsbook: Football’s Winding Down
A few NFL predictions with playoffs are on the horizon.
The days are getting shorter, the temperature is getting colder, and as the end of the year approaches, this can mean only one thing—NFL playoffs are almost here. With the Wild-Card round commencing on Jan. 11, 2025, we have little over a month before some of the most exciting (and coincidentally, most “bet-table”) football is […]
Sports Spotlight: Women’s Rugby
A look into one of the most dominant sports teams on Harvard’s campus.
Harvard women’s rugby has become a consistently dominant Crimson program in recent history. In the last five years, they have won the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association DI Championships in 2019, 2023, and now 2024, and are currently the defending national champions for rugby sevens. This past weekend, while most undergraduates were busy at the long-awaited […]
How to Talk Politics Over the Holidays
A satire on the do’s and don’ts of making your family dinner a political minefield.
The holidays are a time marked by joy, togetherness, and at least a little bit of family drama. With the results of the latest election cycle looming large, political conversations this holiday season are likely to be more charged than ever, so why not lean into the chaos and make things a bit more memorable? […]
Experiencing the Holiday Season Through the Arts
From The Nutcracker to Shakira to small saxophone shows, there is something for everyone this Boston winter.
As we transition into the holiday season, many of us seek new activities to celebrate this special time—whether with friends, family, or just ourselves. Luckily for those of us in Boston, the city brims with activities to enjoy this time of year. Whether it is a Christmas-themed play, a classic theater production, an iconic ballet, […]
Breathing Room
A poem about our brief Thanksgiving break.
Life slows down at home, I find Like I had been sitting on the remote Letting fast-forward run Without realizing Without rewind The streets are empty past 8 p.m. There are no late-night Jefe’s runs, Uber Eats, Or Ubers at all. The garbage truck doesn’t come by in the morning, And there are no incessant […]
Happy Harv-idays: A Student Holiday Gift Guide
Crimson cheer during crunch time.
Oh no! You have four final exams coming up, you’re scrambling to complete Course Evaluations, and you completely forgot to buy something—anything—for the people you appreciate in your life. For the random friend you got assigned Secret Santa. You are assigned the one person that you have literally never had a conversation with. Honestly, how […]
As It Fell
A short piece about tea and snow.
We meet for tea every Thursday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. Today, though, I am 10 minutes early. I sit at a table by the window facing the street. The taxis drive by, pops of yellow among the otherwise muted winery whites and grays of the building facades. The city moves at its usual pace, rushed […]
Celebrating the Holidays with Food
The foods that Harvard students are most excited about this Holiday season.
It’s the holiday season, so we know what everyone is thinking about: food. The Independent surveyed students to determine which foods they enjoy most at this time of year. Food during the holidays is more than just fulfilling nutritional needs—it symbolizes togetherness, tradition, and family. As the semester draws to a close and finals loom […]
Creative After College: “Mai Anna” Pacheco
An interview with an R&B singer-songwriter and music artist.
If music is a universal language, harmonizing celebrates our shared humanity. “Now it’s more professional, as in I go to sessions and I’m more of a recording artist. But at Harvard, I was definitely more free-flowing, just jamming with people, making songs in our dorms. It just felt way more DIY than it does now. […]
The Ins and Outs of Wintersession
A look into the range of programming offered to Harvard College students in January.
After the fall semester’s final papers, exams, and projects have ended, there is a brief academic lull before the spring semester begins. While some students spend their extended holiday break with family, catching up on sleep, or re-planting their hometown roots, a select population participates in Wintersession. Wintersession at Harvard, colloquially known as “J-Term,” is […]
Harvard Versus Its Own: Trump’s New Cabinet
Harvard alumni selected for Trump’s cabinet have repeatedly clashed with the University.
The relationship between Harvard and two alumni appointed to key positions in Donald Trump’s administration has been marked by tension and public clashes. R-NY Elise Stefanik ’06 and Peter Hegseth ’13 have criticized the University on multiple occasions, basing their criticisms on what they view as Harvard’s liberal agenda. Stefanik, nominated as the next U.S. […]
Furman Forecasts Trump’s Second Term
Professor Jason Furman speculates on the economy under President-elect Donald Trump.
Harvard Kennedy School and College Professor Jason Furman ’92 discussed the future of the American economy under President-elect Trump’s second term at a panel this Monday. The event was organized by the Charles River Economics Labs (CREL), a team of undergraduate pro-bono researchers. CREL co-presidents Julien Berman ’26 and Abhay Duggirala ’26 asked Furman questions […]
Starting School with a Start-Up
How Harvard students maintain (or not) the businesses they founded before college.
Founding a start-up is undeniably hard, but some Harvard students undertake this monumental task before even setting foot on campus—whether to boost their applications, pursue a passion, or make some money. So what happens to these projects once students arrive and get settled at Harvard? Harvard students have reported that many start-ups fizzle out as […]
Traditions and Turmoil
A look into the history of celebrating Thanksgiving.
Every Thanksgiving, millions of Americans gather around dinner tables to celebrate a holiday steeped in tradition and controversy. On the day of Thanksgiving at 8:00 a.m., an army of floats, balloons, and elaborate costumes marched down New York City’s Central Park West. This year was the 100th anniversary of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an […]
Holding Space for Defying Expectations
Harvard first-years share what surprised them about the fall semester.
It is impossible to ignore the outsized role of Harvard relative to other universities in the minds of people around the world. Its name evokes visions of The Social Network, Legally Blonde, and, as many first-years learn during orientation week, Love Story. Its hallowed place in the American psyche is compounded by over eight million […]
From Harvard to New Hampshire
How nine Harvard students crossed state lines on foot.
While the rest of campus was curled up recovering from the previous night’s escapades, one particularly ambitious group of Harvard students set out on foot, bright and early on Sunday, Nov. 17 with a clear destination in mind: New Hampshire. For Asher Montgomery ’26 and Uzma Issa ’25, the idea for the adventure developed over […]
Dawn Redwoods
The Fifth Treetise, on metasequoia and living ghosts.
I discovered the Dawn Redwoods the old-fashioned way: by walking a new path. I’d been climbing my favorite tree in Harvard Yard, the Emerson Tree, looking out over the crisscrossing pathways in the yard between Sever and the gate facing the Art Museums. I wanted to walk towards the Littauer Tree near the Science Center, […]
Whose Home for The Holidays?
How being a child of divorce can complicate your definition of family in the holiday season.
Dec. 24, 2020, 11:47 p.m. On my fourth listen of “Snowman” by Sia, I am finally able to scrawl out the phrase I never thought I would write on a tear-stained piece of paper: Please let them be divorced by next year. While my dramatics may have been augmented by general teenage angst, the root […]
Does Democracy Matter?
What’s next for democracy after the 2024 election.
In theory, above all else, the United States is supposed to function as a democracy. Yet, despite this foundational ideal, the 2024 election showed a stark disconnect between America’s democratic values and the priorities of its voters. While 73% of voters agreed democracy was under threat, only 34% considered it as the most important issue […]