The late English philosopher, Sir Roger Scruton, spoke on conservatism in a 2017 lecture, describing a conservative as “someone who has found something to love and wants to retain it.” He then went on to define it, more generally, as a “philosophy of love.” Although I’m sure this will be perceived as controversial, especially on […]
The Knights of the Round Table have always known two versions of the dragon. They gathered anyway. Same rooms, different buildings, the same low music, cold coming through the window that someone cracked for airflow. This is what the Round Table looks like in practice: six people distributed across every available surface, coats still half […]
The sink in the ward was not like the sink in room fourteen. It was larger, institutional, the porcelain yellowed at the drain where decades of hands had passed over the same spot, the iron taps stiff and slightly out of plumb. There was only cold water. The hot tap was a decoration, a concession […]
The ceiling had not changed. The crack ran from the corner to approximately the center of the room, branching near the light fixture into two thinner, diverging lines. My eyes had traced it so many times that I had begun to suspect it meant something—though deep down I knew it meant nothing. It was only […]
On March 27, Harvard hosted its annual Housing Day—a fun-filled tradition of “dorm storming,” celebration, and welcoming freshmen to their residential House for their next three years. While the day is always filled with rituals and superstitions, the College added a new aspect this year: the Housing Day Challenge. This event offered alumni, community members, […]
Man was not made to inherit the stars but to be stewards of the Earth. “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” These words, spoken by President John F. Kennedy in […]
It’s 8 a.m. on March 27, but it’s unlike any other Friday morning in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard feels like a completely different place. It’s Housing Day. Upperclassmen crowd the Yard with color-coordinated outfits representing one of the twelve residential Houses. Freshmen watch from their rooms, wondering which cohort of students will knock on their doors […]
Describing my gap year as an annus horribilis is cruelly ironic, but given the circumstances surrounding it, it is an accurate reflection of what was the most tumultuous year of my life. The phrase annus horribilis itself was brought to prominence by Queen Elizabeth II in her own reflections on the year 1992, which she […]
In discussing spring break this year, I found that pretty much everyone goes to the same places—“Flah-dah,” “Cali,” “the D.R.,” “P.R.,” Spain—you get the point. I heard about these locations over and over—that’s not to say they aren’t great trips. However, in looking for a good, unique, yet still budget-friendly trip, my friends and I […]
The paper was in my pocket when I woke. I had not put it there—or I had put it there and forgotten, which amounts to the same confession. I unfolded it at the desk in the grey light and read it again: a name, an address, the handwriting almost mine but tilted slightly and with […]