Fantasy Roundup: Week 8
Another week closer to the Super Bowl and another week of games. In a league already plagued by injuries, Cam Skattebo joins the list after a nasty tackle left him with an ankle injury. Around the league, many teams are continuing their dominance as the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield beat the Saints, Drake Maye and […]
Harvard’s Haunted House
At Harvard, you don’t need ghosts to make the place feel haunted—stress is enough to fill the halls with the unease of ambition that never sleeps. It’s hiding within busy comp schedules and crowded day-to-day schedules, breathing through the walls of dorms that never quite feel “homey” enough, and slipping into the quiet. It’s a […]
The New Economics of National Security: A Conversation with Gina Raimondo
On Oct. 21, Harvard Kennedy School’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum hosted a conversation between United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo ’93 and former Treasury Secretary and Harvard professor Lawrence H. Summers. Together, they examined the Biden administration’s approach to industrial policy—particularly its push to rebuild America’s semiconductor and technology sectors—while debating the tension […]
Harvard’s “The Addams Family Musical” Delivered a Fun, Heartwarming, and Delightfully Weird Experience
On the final official day of 2025 Family Weekend, Harvard community members of all ages made their way to the Agassiz Theatre to watch the last performance of “The Addams Family Musical,” which came to campus just in time for Halloween. Presented by the Office for the Arts, the Harvard rendition of the classic story, […]
Midterms: How They’re Made and Why They’re Taken
For first-year students, midterms mark one of the first formal assessments of their Harvard College career. “It felt a little bit daunting or scary just because I never took a college—Harvard College—midterm, and I didn’t know what to expect,” Sarah Zhang ’29 told the Independent. The first major round of exams for Harvard College students […]
AI Advancements: Implications for the Human Creative
On Oct. 14, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on X that the latest version of ChatGPT would be more personable—an artificial intelligence engine capable of responding in a “very human-like way,” or even acting like a friend. This news comes amid rising controversy over how far AI should go in mimicking personal expression and the […]
Generation Z Through the Looking Glass
“No Home, No Retirement, No Kids.” This New York Times headline from June 11 captures the uncertain future awaiting Generation Z. Confronted with an increasingly competitive job market, deep political divisions, and an escalating climate crisis, the world’s second-youngest generation sees a stable future slipping further from reach. While some have called Gen Z’s outlook […]
A Conversation with Harvard Nonprofit Founder Olivia Zhang
Her story started with loss. “My situation specifically was born out of a really difficult time,” nonprofit founder Olivia Zhang ’27 explained. What started as a mere effort to memorialize her mentors—her elementary school teacher and grandfather, who Zhang lost both to cancer within two months of each other—led to the creation of Cancer Kids […]
Harvard Ghost Stories
Students in Hollis Hall once received a chilling ultimatum: they had 36 hours to evacuate their rooms, or face a supernatural punishment. The message, purportedly from the ghost of a Revolutionary War soldier, appeared in the winter of 1940 and claimed that the spirit was tired of living in the attic and wanted the entire […]
When Halloween Grows Up
I imagine the first Halloween night in college feels different. You pass clusters of students covered in glitter and fake blood, music spilling from a random location, and for a moment, you can’t help but think of the years spent running through quiet neighborhoods with a pillowcase full of candy. Among college students, there’s an […]
Channeling Capone
In third grade, I strutted through hallways and across the playground on the most exciting day of the school year, dressed in a pinstripe suit, bowler hat, and sunglasses —finished off with a bright red lip. In my full ensemble, I was more than ready for the Halloween parade as 1920s gangster Al Capone. My […]
Thoughts from New Quincy: Seamless Surfaces
Each morning this summer, I passed the same wall on my way to work. Behind me, the brakes of a bus hissed, and a gust of warm air carried the smell of exhaust and garbage. The wall changed constantly—first a movie poster, then a perfume ad, then a mural commissioned by a sneaker brand. Each […]
Sugary Salvation: A Review of the Candies that Define Halloween
It’s Halloween, and you’re on your way home after a laborious night of trick-or-treating. Your costume is getting itchy, and your patience is running thin after being asked for the fourth time why a “grown-ass man,” such as yourself, looks like a “walking stop sign” in your rendition of the Red Line. Right now, climbing […]
A Day in Salem
Few places capture the spirit of Halloween quite like Salem, Massachusetts. Just 16 miles north of Boston, this historic seaside city draws crowds for its haunted history, witchy charm, and autumn atmosphere. Earlier this October, my friends and I decided to make the trip ourselves—a quick getaway from campus to explore the cobblestone streets and […]
More Than Just Sunday Scaries
For years, my dad and I have watched so many horror movies on Halloween that I could hardly sleep without fearing that Freddy Krueger would chase after me in my dreams. However, as the tradition continued, I became desensitized—horror movies no longer scared me. Because of this, I’m always taken aback by the “I can’t […]
Out of Sync
“You look older.” Hearing those words from my 45-year-old English teacher when I was a sophomore in high school felt particularly insulting. I was torn between considering it a sentimental comment or if Ms. Sworn was trying to pick a fight. This moment—though small—was one of the first times I became hyperaware of how I […]
Sports Spotlight: Vanessa Zhang
On Oct. 19, Vanessa Zhang ’28 finished out the golf season, accomplishing an impressive feat: back-to-back first-place medals for the final two tournaments of the season. According to Harvard Athletics, Zhang is only the fifth female golfer in Harvard’s history to have two consecutive wins. In both tournaments, Zhang was the only golfer to finish […]