In a 2019 interview, Anderson Cooper asked Stephen Colbert if he really believed a statement he had previously quoted from a letter by J.R.R. Tolkien: “What punishments of God are not gifts?” Colbert, after a brief pause, replied “Yes” with a smile on his face. The interview between the two is heartbreaking, wholesome, and everything […]
My name is Hayden Brackeen. I am a junior at Harvard College writing to register my staunch opposition to the new grading policies as proposed in Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh’s recent email. I will not mince words in the interest of brevity. It is ridiculous for a school that primarily admits undergraduates based […]
Professor Hendricks didn’t introduce himself in the usual way. He walked into the lecture hall five minutes past ten, late enough that all but the last few students had taken their seats, yet early enough that none had debated leaving. He strode down the aisle, a gauche gait with a limp in his left leg—noticeable […]
Walk into any public library in Boston, Cambridge, or Somerville—or in most cities across the country—and you will find physical copies of the “New York Times,” “Washington Post,” and “Wall Street Journal,” alongside a few magazines. But walk into the Harvard Kennedy School of Government library, and you will not find any print periodicals—to access […]
“We accept the love we think we deserve.” I vividly remember the moment I heard those words while watching the television screen. I hated Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” but that sentence stuck, even more than a big spoonful of honey when sick: slow, heavy, impossible to swallow. Those words dwelled because, […]
When it comes to recent blockbuster television and cinema, it feels like we are all going to the proverbial cottage. Every time I reach for the remote or head to the movies, I seem to be unknowingly subscribing to a porno-violence screening, often, and unfortunately, with my family. Sex and blood have always been central […]
Perhaps Ronald Reagan was right all along when he jokingly said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” ICU nurse Alex Pretti, as well as writer and poet Renee Good, were killed in the streets of Minneapolis in Jan. by ICE and United […]
Anyone who knows the two of us knows the Harvard Independent. They know where we are every Monday night, how we start our Thursday mornings, and what we are texting, calling, and brainstorming about at all hours of the day. To say that the Indy is woven into the fabric of our college experiences would […]
When I landed at Los Angeles International Airport this past December, I immediately noticed the way that Southern California smelled. As the automatic doors slid open with a hiss, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia—as well as a literal wave of hot, dry air. Growing up in the Greater Los Angeles area, I […]
While many spent their winter break watching home videos on DVD players or sorting through old photo albums, this private nostalgia transitioned to public social media this new year. On Jan. 1, 2026, Instagram feeds were suddenly filled with the long-forgotten dog-ear Snapchat filter, quirky poses in front of Los Angeles’ iconic pink wings, and […]