Earth Day feels like a funeral now. Not one with black veils or organ music—but a well-staged, well-catered wake. A jazz trio hums near the Science Center. Someone hands out succulent cuttings. There are cookies shaped like the Earth, iced in HUDS-friendly greens and blues—flavorless, but photogenic. A booth gives away bamboo forks in rice-paper […]
Every day, I walk seven minutes down Rue Orfila to the Gambetta Metro Station to take Line 3 toward Levallois. The transit part of my commute stays the same, but my short walk often changes. I vary which side of the street I take and when I cross, picking without rhyme or reason. Lately, however, […]
Hi my little tariffs, Apologies for the two-week hiatus. Shockingly, I have school and midterms—eye roll. Just kidding! It was 72 degrees and sunny in Paris. No work was done. But I wasn’t kidding about the midterms. Anywhoseldorf, welcome to the fourth edition of Abreast on Abroad: “Travel Diary Dump: Part Un.” As I’ve mentioned […]
On April 16, the Trump administration threatened to revoke Harvard University’s certification to enroll international students unless the institution sends detailed disciplinary records on student visa holders. The Department of Homeland Security also requested information on the “maintenance of at least the minimum required coursework to maintain nonimmigrant student status.” This follows President Trump’s threat to […]
Editor’s note: The Independent’s annual Weed Issue arrives amid upheaval on Harvard’s campus. On April 14, University President Alan Garber ’76 declared in a message to the community that Harvard would not comply with the terms set forth by President Donald Trump’s administration. The Trump administration responded by freezing $2.2 billion on multi-year grants as […]
On April 14, the Trump administration announced that it would freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year research grants and halt a $60 million contract with Harvard University—a response to the University’s lack of compliance to what the Harvard administration described as an “unprecedented” list of demands. Federal officials characterized Harvard’s response as an example of elite […]
She wore a Miu Miu headband and carried a pastel tote bag as she stepped out of the dispensary, clutching a few 5mg hybrid gummies and a pre-roll “for later.” I passed the storefront—blush-pink shelves, botanical product cards, a wall of tastefully labeled vapes—and thought: we didn’t decriminalize weed. We domesticated it. Not repaired the […]
When I first saw the theme for this issue, I wasn’t sure what I could contribute. Weed is illegal in France, and without a trip to Amsterdam under my belt, I have no funny stories or observations to share. I briefly considered writing about Europe’s smoking culture, but there are only so many ways to […]
America has the munchies. From sea to shining sea, from Doritos Locos Tacos to Manifest Destiny, this country was built on a bottomless appetite—insatiable, indiscriminate, and utterly divorced from actual need. Expansion wasn’t just policy—it was craving. A sudden, stoned hunger for land, for oil, for more. Why stop at thirteen colonies when you could […]
There’s always something to do in the kitchen—something to chop, something to peel, something to stir. Last weekend, after tiring myself of reading, painting, and walking around my host family’s country home, I wandered into the kitchen, where my host dad’s sister was preparing dinner and the next day’s lunch. Eager for a task, I […]