On a warm September morning, the steps of Widener were crowded with students smiling for photos with friends. Their signs read “FDOC,” commemorating the First Day of Classes. Beyond the unusual pre-10:30 a.m. cheer, one thing stood out: their outfits. Every year, students don their finest polos and sundresses for the first week to impress […]
Striped, terry-cloth towels hang flimsily from the ceiling beams as my cabin of 16 12-year-old campers scream about Taylor Swift, Sharks and Minnows, and what we’ll have for lunch. I make attempts to stay clued into their pop-culture discourse—teaching them the “Pitch Perfect” cup song at Camp dinner and the lyrics to Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” […]
Before the semester started, I argued in these pages that Harvard shouldn’t ban AI but instead teach students to use it critically, the way calculators or word processors were once absorbed into learning. That argument felt urgent then; it feels even more now. When I returned to campus this fall, I found classrooms not only […]
I hate texting. I’m a bad texter. Like, BAD. Anyone who knows me can vouch: I’m notoriously terrible at responding to messages. And it’s not because I don’t see them—that excuse doesn’t fly in a world where our phones are glued to our hands. The truth is, I just can’t take texting seriously as a […]
Brain-computer interfaces are no longer science fiction. For most, the idea brings to mind “Severance,” Apple’s unsettling series about surgically divided minds. Yet beyond television, companies like Neuralink are already conducting human trials, Chinese firms are investing heavily into neurotechnology, and research labs are learning to decode brain activity in real time. The question is […]
“I don’t eat before 1 p.m. because I’m better than you. Eat 300 grams of protein, sleep 8 hours, drink 8 glasses of water, reduce stress, get 10,000 steps, lift heavy, and remain in a calorie deficit. For a high-protein afternoon shake, put a large steak and matcha powder into a blender.” Over the past […]
“But midst the crowd, the hurry, the shock of men, To hear, to see, to feel and to possess, And roam alone, the world’s tired denizen, With none who bless us, none whom we can bless…” Solitude, Lord Byron Solitude. As the youngest sibling of three and one of the younger grandchildren in a sprawling […]
At the start of high school, I set a simple, resolute goal: get into a top college. For me, that felt like the ultimate measure of success, the culmination of years of work. Many students share that mindset—the process is grueling, but in hindsight, the path looks fairly straightforward. The formula is not exactly a […]
There’s a moment every shopping week when the choice isn’t between two classes you love, but between an easy A and a harder B+. You look at the syllabi side by side: one packed with weekly papers, late nights, and the risk of failure; the other promising generous curves, lighter reading, and a safer GPA. […]
Dear Readers, This fall marks the 56th anniversary of the Harvard Independent. Born in 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War and a campus disrupted by protest, the Indy emerged from students who demanded unbiased, topical reporting and a space for counterculture writing. For over half a century, the Indy has chronicled Harvard at […]