Real live palm trees!

I am a junior in college and Spring Break 2012 marks the first time that I have ever traveled west of New York State. Before you judge me, though, know that I go all or nothing. As in, for my first trip west, I went all the way to California (and I am SO sorry to anyone who makes that plane trip regularly. Six hours is a long time to sit). To Santa Monica, actually, which is apparently one of the most beautiful cities in America. Not that I’ve seen a whole lot of other cities, but this is what people tell me. Anyway, spring break in Cali…Woooo! Wouldn’t you know that it was warmer in Cambridge than in Santa Monica for EVERY SINGLE DAY that I was out there for break. Hrmpf.

zomg it's the circus.

But whatever, the point is that I was in the illustrious California for the first time ever and that was awesome sauce just on its own. I have to assume that I stuck out as an east-coaster, though, based on my total lack of understanding of, well, basically anything out there. The west coast is not part of the United States (as I know it). It’s another planet. Here are a few gems that stuck out about the Santa Monica/LA/Beverly Hills area:

1. Everybody jogs. Like seriously, everyone. And at all hours of the day. I was also out there on the day of the LA Marathon and I’ve never felt like such a slug as when I was surrounded by a horde of super-fit people wearing “I finished the marathon!” capes and grinning like over-exercised labradors.
2. Everyone has a tiny dog. Sometimes, people carry them in purses. I thought that only movie stars and Paris Hilton (yes, that’s two different categories) did that.
3. All of the women are blonde, tall, and skinny. All of the men are burly, tan, and dashing. Not a single person “could use some sun.”
4. Ladies will wear Uggs in sixty-degree weather. Apparently, that’s “cold.”
5. Parking doesn’t make any sense. 50% of parking is in expensive garages/lots, 40% is valet, and the other 10% consists of meters that are never empty anyway.
6. California really likes frozen yogurt. I thought Harvard Square was cool because we have 2 vendors, but Santa Monica sort of beat us out on that one. Smoothies, too.
7. Everyone is really cheery. Apparently growing up where the sun shines constantly will do that for you.
8.  –>
   

   California goes hardcore on the seaweed.

West-coasters, what was your first impression of Cambridge/the east coast? Did you feel as out of place as I felt going the other way?

Did you love the Harvard Douchebag meme, but thought that it kind of misrepresented our student body? I mean, we’re not all douchebags, here, right? There are still some good guys at Harvard, right?

Now that we’ve sounded just a little needy and insecure, here’s the Harvard Good Guy meme to make us all feel a little less pretentious. A little sweet to go with the sour, if you will.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today, one of my House tutors held his office hours not from behind his desk, but from behind the information table at Occupy Harvard.  You know what I have to say to that?

Rock on.

The Yard’s tent city has become the subject of such hot debate over the last few weeks, but for all the wrong reasons.  I’ve heard a lot of students complain about the “inconvenience” of having to show their IDs to get into the Yard, or of having to choose an open gate because their regular route of travel has been cut off. It seems that students have pushed more of their energies into finding alternate walking routes through the Yard than into thinking about why Occupy Harvard has been constructed in the first place.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rockstar Status.

Source

According to this here Huffington Post article, Lady Gaga recently announced that she will be teaming up with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment, and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University to create the Born This Way non-profit foundation.

Gaga and her mother will head the foundation, which she states will strive to “establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment.” Kudos to Mother Monster for the inspiring message, and to the Huff Post author for turning Bravery and Kindness into proper nouns by capitalizing them!

Let’s give a round of applause to Lady Gaga for attacking bullying head-on, and for using her fame (monster) to spread the message of equality and compassion.

Harvard students just can’t hold it all the way to the bathroom.

Last year, someone took a big ol’ poo in Quincy (and then stuffed it in a dropbox) and what WHAT what, it’s happened again, but this time in the Quad. We received this message that was sent over Pfoho’s house mailing list, and oh how we cringed.

“I stepped out of my room in Wolbach this morning and was greeted by an awful smell. Then I noticed a giant pile of shit on the stairwell between the second and third floors. I don’t know who’s responsible for the act itself and I wouldn’t care if the mess could somehow clean itself up. But it can’t. And the custodians should not have to deal with it. If you know who might have done it (whether you were with them when they did or hosted one of the watering holes they passed through on what must have been a pretty crazy night) please get in touch with that person and tell them to come over to the Wolbach stairwell and clean up their mess. Restore my faith in humanity because right now I’m pretty pissed off.”

Party fouls happen, but that’s no excuse to take a dump on the stairs. Also, once is an accident and twice a coincidence. One more doodie incident will turn this whole situation into a big shitty pattern. Let’s not let it get that far, mmm?

STOP IT, KAY?

…phew.

According to this Daily Finance article, Harvard’s endowment rose 21.4% in the last fiscal year, to close at $32 billion dollars. In case you missed it, the endowment dropped to a meager $26 billion when the economy totally ate it. Harvard was shocked by its newfound poverty and responded by seizing upperclassman hot breakfast and totally ruining everyone’s mornings.

But not to fear. Harvard’s making bank once again, meaning that we should be seeing the perks and bennies in the near future, right?

Here’s a list of things that I think would be appropriate to spend all that cash on.

1. Hot breakfast for all (duh)
2. More shuttles
3. Friday and Saturday brain breaks
4. Cleaning the Science Center bathrooms
5. More reliable Wi-Fi
6. An online course pre-planning tool that doesn’t make me want to punch my computer
7. Free kittens for all students

Please, Harvard?

Section Kid: (n) The one student to rule them all. The one that everyone else wants to throw rotten tomatoes at. The section kid generally doesn’t know its identity, although to everyone else, it sticks out like a pink, three-headed elephant. It answers ALL of the questions and comments on everything said by another student. It also loves to ask questions (relevant to the material or not), and it often takes time after section to brown-nose with the TF.

Are you that kid? Take our quiz:

1. Do you get antsy when someone besides you answers a question?
2. Do people snicker when you raise your hand?
3. Does the TF cringe a little bit when you raise your hand?
4. Are you the only one who speaks in section? Ever?
5. Do you think that you have all the answers? Every time?
6. Do you stay after class to chat it up with the TF, even if you don’t have a question?
7. Do you email your TF more than twice a week?
8. Are you thinking to yourself, “Hmmm, we actually don’t have one in my section?”
9. >>

Are you this excited? Always?

Link

If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, you’re probably that kid. For the sake of EVERYONE else in your section, stop it.

And don’t even get me started on lecture kid…