Counterculture
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Hot Take: Ethical Basketball
Thunk. Swish. Throughout the evening of March 10, these were the main sounds anyone in the Miami Heat’s arena could hear, along with the roar of applause with each dunk and free-throw. The Heat’s home game against the Washington Wizards was expected to be a run-of-the-mill beatdown. The Wizards were battling elimination from playoff contention, […]
We Just Don’t Care: U.S. Baseball
While many Major League Baseball players are returning to form during spring training, countries from around the world united to compete in the World Baseball Classic. As a nearly two-week tournament, the Classic features Hall of Fame locks, top prospects, and some players who aren’t even professional ballplayers. With the chance to represent their country […]
Strategy and Uncertainty: Inside the U.S. Response to Iran
On March 10, the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Harvard Kennedy School hosted a conversation with former Deputy U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, moderated by Institute of Politics Interim Co-Director Ned Price and Harvard Undergraduate Iranian Association President Bahar Moradi ’27. The discussion centered on the Trump administration’s recent […]
A Winning Mindset or Winning the Mind?
At the highest levels of sport, athletes generate massive attention, whether in professional leagues or national and world championships. However, nothing quite captures the public’s fascination with competition like the Olympic Games. Success stories catapult athletes to permanent cultural fame—think Usain Bolt, who broke world records and cemented the start of his legacy as the […]
Who Participates in Participatory Budgeting?
The results are in: when it comes to civic engagement, Cambridge, Massachusetts, residents go above and beyond. The city of Cambridge held its 12th cycle of Participatory Budgeting, in which residents voted on which of 20 project proposals should receive funding from the municipal government, from Mar. 5 to Mar. 15. Out of the 121,186 […]
Kitchen Sink No. 8
The bitter wind had been blowing against my face for so long that I had stopped feeling it. My teeth ached. The collar of my coat was wet and was chafing a raw line along the back of my neck. I walked on. I had been in my room reading Henley. Then I was on […]
Politics Doesn’t Stop on the Sideline
Sports are often idealized as a great unifier, existing in a vacuum away from the noise of politics and the stressors of everyday life. To an extent, I agree. There is something sacred about turning on the television or going outside with a ball in hand to escape the seemingly collapsing world around us. That […]
Socratic Seminar
Socrates: “There are only two things in life that are decided entirely by Fate—who you are born as… and your Harvard House.”
Lights Out in Havana
It’s 7:30 a.m. in Havana, Cuba, and the sun is slowly rising above the malecón, the highway that runs along the city’s northern coastline. The orange glow of the sunrise reflects off the waves beating against the seawall. I run north, then east toward the harbor’s edge. After turning around, I pass the U.S. embassy […]
Rethinking the College Dropout Narrative
There is a sense of romanticism attached to counterculture—the idea of actively rejecting the dominant values, norms, and expectations of mainstream society. One of the glorified narratives is that of the college dropout, which frames leaving as an act of rebellion, a rejection of the traditional postsecondary academic path in pursuit of something riskier, freer, […]
The Price of Becoming an Alpha Male
Instead of spending my Wednesday evening of Spring Recess lying on the beach clutching a piña colada in one hand and my faith in humanity in the other, I watched Louis Theroux’s new documentary titled “Inside the Manosphere.” For 91 minutes, I witnessed Theroux try to disentangle the bizarre nature of the “manosphere”—a vaguely connected […]
The Indy’s Guide to River Run Shots
This week, the Charles River Gods return for their annual appearance, manifested in cheap hard liquor on Harvard College’s Housing Day Eve: River Run. The following shots, some classic, some suggestions for a uniquely memorable River Run, may appear along your journey to appease them. My advice is as reliable as any college freshman’s, stitched […]
I Was Good at Loving Her, Not at Being Loved
The first time I met her, she sat next to our mutual friend, shy and quiet. People called her “Mali,” Thai for a small, delicate jasmine flower. She was 30, ten years older than me, yet every part of her body emitted an innocent desire to be loved, to be hugged, to be protected. I […]
Satire: Make Harvard Great Again!
It’s no secret—we’re looking at a new civil war. But this time, the war is actually totalllly understandable and happening for super duper good reasons between two actually relevant groups: Harvard University and the Trump administration. Those government people may not be right about a lot of things, but they are kind of right about […]
Boots, Beats, and Blue Jeans: The Fashion of Country’s Streaming Boom
Over the past six years, country music streaming has surged by nearly 287%, driven largely by Gen Z and millennials. Artists like Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, and Megan Moroney now dominate charts and playlists once reserved for pop and hip-hop. What was once perceived as regional and niche has evolved into a defining sound of […]
Exploring American Hometowns: Irvine, California
Live long enough in Irvine, California, and you might begin to think you are living in “The Truman Show.” Sunny during all seasons, days blur into years under blue skies, white clouds, trimmed hedges, and asphalt streets. For 18 years, I grew up in Irvine, one of three babies born on a sunny December day […]
Do-it-Yourself Shotski
Some may crown sliced bread or the internet as humanity’s greatest invention, but that title belongs elsewhere. Instead, mankind should be lauded for the shotski. This beautiful device features four shot glasses attached to a ski; that’s it. Simple, yet it elevates the experience of taking a shot to a whole new level. What better […]