Conversations
5 Questions with Mike Huckabee
FM sat down with Huckabee to talk to him about same-sex marriage, higher education, and the 2016 race.
What's On Your Bookshelf?: Coughlon and Wilson Edition
“We should probably tell her about competitive reading,” Coughlon says to Wilson. It turns out the pair’s massive collection isn’t just a hobby—it’s a full-fledged rivalry. Both friends use the website Goodreads to track what they’ve read. Wilson explains, “I’d started in high school, and was mean to Sarah freshman year about her reading habits, and it just so happened that Goodreads instituted a Challenge Yourself book-reading competition, and so we ended up not only challenging ourselves, but each other. We both read 100 or more books [that] year.”
Starting Up, Staying in School
On a recent Wednesday evening, four floors above Mt. Auburn Street in what is known as the “i-space,” a group of five Harvard students had claimed one small, stuffy office room to discuss the impending launch of their startup. Laptops open, bullet points scrawled on a whiteboard opposite a Rosie the Riveter poster, the group shifted easily between brainstorming and casual jokes.
Grandparents in CB23: The Real Senior Students
Richard A. Slone has never missed a lecture by Shaye J.D. Cohen, Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy. Like certain unnamed students in Cohen’s Culture and Belief course, he doesn’t make it to 10 a.m. class. He knows that they are taped. However, unlike most of the students in the class, he listens to them on his bike as he trains for triathlons. Also, he’s “semi-retired,” which I guess most of us aren’t.
The Legend of the Z-List
The Z-list inhabits an especially remote cranny in the cave of Harvard lore. The core of the Z-list intrigue is exclusivity. As admission rates have plummeted, mystery has increased.
Admissions Stories: Where Were You When You Got In?
Last Thursday, the future Harvard Class of 2018 received the emails of their lifetime. In honor of Decision Day, FM collected some acceptance stories from both current students and faculty and staff who once attended Harvard College.
An Interview with Herbie Hancock
Settled in an armchair and mutely dressed in a grey fleece half-zip and black jeans, Herbert “Herbie” J. Hancock, the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, exuded pure calmness. The legendary jazz pianist, known for leading fearless, searching electric and acoustic projects (Head Hunters, Mwandishi, his Trio) as well as his tenure with Miles Davis’s seminal “Second Great Quintet” in the ’60s, was charmingly low-key but coolly energetic. Hancock, who turns 75 next month, showed absolutely no sign of his age, save for when he stood up and a slight paunch quietly emerged.
The Fragrant Future of Communication
When Rachel D. Field ’12 and her small team encounter a problem, she can’t simply pass off the responsibility to someone else. “I have my degree now,” she says. “In theory, Harvard University says that I’m qualified to do this, so I’m just going to figure it out.” A project that started in a classroom is now unfolding internationally and in the public eye.
Scoped: Canyon S. Woodward '15
In his freshman year, Canyon S. Woodward brought a new trend onto Harvard’s campus: club spikeball. FM caught up with him.
L.A. Jeff
Nico J. Schwalbe ’14 opens the door of a tiny room in the Lowell basement filled with tangled cords, and I take a seat on an amp by the drumset. This is the rehearsal space for L.A. Jeff, a student band Schwalbe helped found. We are soon joined by Sam J.J. Newmark ’14, who greets me and immediately starts unpacking his guitar.
Hey, Professor! Star in a Bottle
Construction will shortly begin on the long-anticipated International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor—a machine that, if it works, promises to solve most of the world’s energy problems for the next 30 million years. Howard M. Georgi ’68, a Harvard physics professor, sat down for a brief chat about how and whether ITER will actually work as well as its possible economic and political implications.
In the Office with Robb Moss
The Visual and Environmental Studies chair’s office in the Carpenter Center looks as one might expect it to: stylish and modern, with soft light spilling in through expansive windows, minimalist white walls, glass tables, shiny metal details, and pops of color here and there. Robb Moss, the current chair, sits in the corner of one of the square black leather couches, and rests his cheek in his left hand.
Hot Breakfast: The Hottest Band Since Dinner
Upon meeting me, Sam Cooper ’14 of Hot Breakfast offers me a plate of oysters from Eliot dining hall and informs me that I am his Datamatch. This might be a conflict of interest.
10 Questions with B.J. Novak
B.J. Novak ’01, an actor and funnyman best known for playing Ryan in “The Office,” stopped by the Brattle Theatre earlier this week to discuss his new book, “One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories.” Before going on stage, Novak sat down with FM to talk about Harvard, 20th-century poetry, and the romantic ideal of Elvis.
