At The Voice, we love to blog. A lot. So it’s no surprise that we found many within our ranks have been keeping blogs this summer to document their travels (or non-travels). So if you’re curious as to what we’re all up to and why this particular blog has been quiet as of late — it’s because we’ve been blogging elsewhere!

Here is a handy directory of  which Voice member is blogging where, and about what.

Kathleen French ‘13
Everyone Is Drunk – “General musings on the world’s often unintentional hilarity.”

April Sperry ‘13
The Rainy Season – April’s summer in Italy

Suzanna Bobadilla ‘13
Nearly Fluent – A blog about Suzanna’s time in Uruguay researching the Plan Ceibal, a program that has given a laptop to every elementary school study, along with following the World Cup…of course.

Shadai Graham ‘13
La Dolce Vita – Shadai’s summer in Italia

Ingrid Pierre ‘12
The Worst of YouTube – Documenting the…worst of YouTube.
If This Book Was A Sentence – You can submit your own refreshingly brief summaries of books!

Abby Sun ‘13
Relax-Play – Begun in early 2009, a blog with Abby’s (amazing) photography and other miscellaneous projects.

Michelle Nguyen ‘13
My Petite Life – a personal blog

Alisha Ramos ‘12
Alishalisha.net – A collection of interesting bits and bobs, powered by Tumblr.
Bows & Ivy – Personal blog, recent entries about her time in London

Do you keep a summer blog, or a personal blog? Let us know in the comments!

Someone’s VES thesis was a graphic novel. 1. Who is this person? 2. How do I meet them? 3. Why the hell am I in Gov? FML

(Source)

Last Friday, I had the honor of seeing such thesis and the wonderwoman who created it in person. As part of Dunster House’s Senior Theses Series, Mariah Bush, a senior VES concentrator, presented in front of a 20-odd person audience Elite, a graphic novel about a group of elite superheroes that was inspired by her time at Harvard. (We would inspire a superhero story, what with our fighting Gov, Math, five thousand extracurriculars and a horrifyingly non-existent dating culture at the same time. Duh.)

After a good 10 minutes struggling with the JCR door, I finally managed to get in by realizing that I was, in fact, supposed to pull. Just in time to see someone take the last piece of Finale dessert. Great. But I digress.

Usually, a thesis isn’t the kind of stuff that generates excitement. Conan O’Brien wrote a thesis during his senior year at Harvard concerning the use of children as symbols in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor. In his words, “nobody is ever going to care.” That is perhaps putting it a little too harshly. But as I stood outside of Dunster JCR and saw a guy presenting his research project on a bug-eyed insect, I felt like going home (or more precisely, back to my comfy chair in Lamont, where I was cramming for my HAA 1 final the next day).  I’m sure it is all hard work that might potentially turn into something monumental, but it definitely isn’t the stuff I would joyfully jump out of my Lamont chair the night before a final exam and take a shuttle to see. (But I’m also a humanities nerd who’s too lazy to walk to Annenberg, let alone Dunster House, so what do I know?)

(Image: Mariah Bush ‘10 with her senior thesis, Elite – A Graphic Novel)

Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Moss from the class of 2013 who also toured with the award-winning Broadway show “Spring Awakening” is auditioning for Glee. Let’s get some Harvard on that show! Vote here!

At Harvard, that is.

Half of the campus might be harboring a crush on David J. Malan ‘99, but the course that he lectures, CS50, is actually churning out awesome applications that might make your life at Harvard that much easier. Check them out!

Shuttleboy: Never miss that shuttle again! Arguably one of the most famous and loved “boys” on campus, the web-based application that tracks the time and duration of trips for all of Harvard’s shuttles also features text-messaging and voice-calling options. Text: Sboy [first 3 letters of origin] [first 3 letters of destination] to 41411 for a list of departure times. For instance, if you want to go from Boylston gate to the Quad, text: Sboy boy qua to 41411. Or call 617-BUG-CS50 (617-284-2750), and select option 1 to talk to an automated machine. Or just access the URL. My friend prefers calling shuttleboy than the actual Harvard shuttle operator because “i don’t have to talk to a real person!”

HarvardEnergy: A detailed ranking of how “green” Harvard residential houses and dorms are, according to a multitude of categories like Carbon Dioxide emission, usage of electricity, etc. By measurement of CO2, Currier is the greenest house (how appropriate! It is called the Tree House for a reason), while Leverett is the least environmentally friendly. Clearly, Harvard’s largest house is only about quantity. Among the freshman dormitories, Matthews is the greenest and Canaday is the least green.

HarvardEvents: A comprehensive list of the gazillion (literally) events that are happening on all of Harvard’s 12 campuses, including everything from cultural nights, to parties, to the most random shindig like the Harvard Breakers’ Initiation. It also has a function that allows you to add all the events directly to your iCal, GCal or whatever else people use these days to schedule classes, functions and bedtimes into their lives. You’ll never miss a mixer with hot law school students again!

HarvardMaps: Like Google Maps, but specifically for Harvard.

HarvardNews: A comprehensive list of all news articles and blog entries that are written across the University campus. All Harvard publications and blogs, including the Voice, the Crimson, Harvard Gazette, and graduate school publications, are included. It is updated simultaneously as the article gets published!

HarvardTweets: Twitter updates from every Harvard-related person who is on Twitter, from Niall Ferguson to the IOP JFK Jr. Forum (Secretary of Homeland Security was at the IOP today!). Contact CS50 to get your name on the list!

HarvardIdeas: Clearly, CS50 has a solution for virtually any issue on campus. If you have any suggestion (like a Harvard Sports website perhaps?), use the link and drop them a line! An anonymous idea reads: “Add an option on harvard college facebook to allow us to search by room #.” I have no words.

Also worth checking out are some of its students’ projects: CrimsonList , CrimsonDining, Rover, and of course I Saw You Harvard (i’m curious how the Senior Bar episode goes!)

(Image courtesy of Google Images)

Didn’t we just report last week that the Daily Beast also ranked us as the fifth most stressful college? We’re all about happiness here but there seems to be a little overlap of “I don’t understand your logic.” Harvard came in second to Claremont-Mckenna in California. It must be the whole sun thing.

Also, B+ on dining? HUDS a’int that bad y’all. Doesn’t everyone look so happy in that picture right there? It’s like unicorns are in the yard! We can just feel it. From here. From right here.

What do you think?

No, not the actual sailing team. We’re sure you’re great though. This comedy sketch group is hilarious--it has our alma mater’s name in it, so obvs have to cover! Enjoy peeps…enjoy:

Also here is their website. Harvard Sailing Team if you read this you should come perform here. We would love to have you.

The Daily Beast has the answer. The popular news website, the brainchild of former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, just released its ranking of the 50 most stressful colleges in the US. Lo and behold, Harvard is ranked #5, only trailing after Stanford, Columbia, MIT and Penn.

(Image courtesy of Google Images)

The five criteria taken into consideration are (excerpts from the actual article):

• The cost: Financial pressure is a huge stress-inducer. Tuition plus room and board, weighted at 35 percent. With 2009-2010 data from the National Center on Education Statistics.

• Competitiveness: How academically rigorous is the school? Weighted at 35 percent, with 2010 data from US News & World Report.

• Acceptance rate: More competitive schools generally produce a more competitive student body. Weighted at 10 percent, with 2010 data from US News & World Report.

• Engineering: Is the school known for its particularly rigorous graduate engineering program? Weighted at 10 percent, with 2010 data from US News & World Report.

• Crime on campus: Adapted from The Daily Beast’s analysis of college crime, weighted at 10 percent and ranked relative to this particular group of colleges. With data from the US Department of Education.

Read the rest of this entry »

You may have noticed a number of other universities that have long been broadcasting selected lectures over iTunes for anyone to subscribe to–well Harvard is now joining the pack. Look out for it when they start! And no…this doesn’t mean don’t go to class.

Yep.

Today, at Boloco, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., they’re giving away Mini and Small Burritos, Bowls, Wraps and Salads.  The large burritos are only a dollar.  Take advantage of the deals.  We college students love our free food, as evidenced by the lines yesterday at Ben and Jerry’s and Chipotle (oh, but you know it was worth the wait).

Harvard Square Homeless Center will be at Boloco asking for donations.  Contribute whatever you can.  It is a great organization and you are getting free food for the second day in a row after all.

You’re welcome for all the updates on free food.  We wouldn’t want you to miss out.

As one Voice Staff member is quoted saying “Ben & Jerry’s is the closest I get to believing in God.” With that said, it is important to report that between 12 p.m. (like now), and 8 p.m. you can go into Ben & Jerry’s (maybe a few times if you wear disguises…get creative…seriously, we want to see this), and get a free ice cream cone. Apparently it’s Fat Tuesday. Just sayin’.