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November-December 2011

  • The Living Dinosaur
    Peter Del Tredici’s search for the wild ginkgo and the secret of its uniquely long survival
  • Bullish on Private Colleges
    Two scholars of higher education buck the negative tide.
  • A miniature portrait of Craigie in his prime, this watercolor on ivory, painted around 1800, is attributed to Archibald Robertson.
    Andrew Craigie
    Brief life of a patriot and scoundrel: 1754-1819
  • The <i>Invention of Book Printing</i> comes from <i>Nova Reperta</i> (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), by Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), the first such illustrated compendium of postclassical innovations (ca. 1599- 1603). The ability to print many copies of such works revolutionized communication of ideas in the sixteenth century.
    Spheres of Knowledge
    An exhibition at the Sackler reveals the connections among Renaissance art, invention, and the evolution of science.
  • The Mediatrician
    Former Hollywood filmmaker Michael Rich of HMS studies how media affect youth.

Explore More

Montage

Puddles of water, a leitmotif in <i>Foreign Parts,</i> fill the rutted streets of Willets Point in Queens, a mecca for auto repair and parts.

An Elegy Set in Queens

The documentary film “Foreign Parts” explores Willets Point, a vanishing junkyard neighborhood in Queens.
Grilled shrimp adds color to The Omega, a salad with avocado, corn, and cilantro.

Salads with Panache

Erin Wade’s Vinaigrette salad bistro serves organic, home-grown greens in Santa Fe.

America as Argentina

Menzie Chinn and Jeffry Frieden review recent U.S. economic woes in the context of the “capital flow cycle.”
A scene from Meredith James’s video <i>Day Shift </i>, starring James herself

Disruptive Creations

Meredith James ’04 creates surrealist videos and sculptures that challenge perceptions.
Illustration by F.D. Bedford for J.M. Barrie’s <i>Peter and Wendy.</i> As the children sleep, Peter crosses the sill in the glow of Tinker Bell’s light.

Off the Shelf

Gordon S. Wood on the birth of the United States, Steven Pinker on declining violence, Jack M. Balkin on “Living Originalism,” and a dozen others whose recent books have Harvard connections

Letters

Cambridge 02138

Harvard @375, Mary Berenson, energy options, colleges in crisis, and more

Right Now

How the Web Affects Memory

Psychology professor Daniel Wegner has found that access to information online changes what people remember.
Skewed Preferences: From left to right: the wealth distribution Norton’s respondents said would be ideal; how they estimated wealth was currently distributed; and the actual distribution of wealth in the United States.

What We Know About Wealth

Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton finds Americans prefer a more equal distribution of wealth.

Life: The Edited Version

George Church has developed tools for large-scale editing of the genome as fast and easy as word processing.

A Bet and a Black Hole

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics confirm the presence of a black hole in the constellation Cygnus.

New England Regional

Evoo’s earthy food is served in a modern, open interior with a view of the kitchen.

Evoo Evolves

One of Cambridge’s locavore leaders thrives in Kendall Square.

John Harvard's Journal

Commemorating 9/11

The Mahindra Humanities Center erects eight “poetry posts” to prompt reflection about loss and recovery.

Allston Agenda

The Allston Work Team’s development recommendations have been endorsed by the Harvard Corporation.

Financial Aid Refigured

The College redistributes aid among lower- and higher-income undergraduates, and introduces a new family financial-planning tool.
Rebecca Henderson

Rebecca Henderson

The newly minted McArthur University Professor co-directs the Business and Environment Initiative at Harvard Business School.
William A. Graham

Brevia

Divinity School dean William A. Graham steps down, Nobel Prizes awarded to seven alumni, Dumbarton Oaks’ expansion, MacArthur Fellows announced, and other Harvard news.
The author with some of her grade eight math students

Far Away

An undergraduate travels to Namibia in the hope that, by flinging herself to a faraway place, she will figure things out.
Backup quarterback Colton Chapple ably directed the Crimson offense in a 24-7 victory over Brown, completing 15 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns in a rainstorm.

Hanging Tough

This year’s football team is tough, physical, and resourceful.

Court Sparks

Two basketball co-captains with a nose for the hoop

Alumni

Top row from left: Michael A. Cooper, Judith A. Dollenmayer, Philip C, Haughey, Thomas G. McKinley, and Walter H. Morris Jr. Bottom: June Storey

HAA Award Winners 2011

The Harvard Alumni Association Awards recognize outstanding service to the University through alumni activities.
Peter Winship (left) and Bill Christian examine photographs recalling their days as student researchers in the village of Chanzeaux, under the tutelage of the late Laurence Wylie.

Return to Chanzeaux

Alumni join in to help British filmmaker Elizabeth McKay with her forthcoming documentary, ”Harvard at Chanzeaux: A Tribute to Laurence Wylie.”
Happily at home: Brian Buckley, Katherine Hunter, and their children in the family’s poetry bookstore in Boulder.

“In the Bee-Loud Glade”

The Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Café in Boulder, Colorado, sells beverages, pastries, and poetry—nothing else.
Tay and Johnson

Points and Shoots

“No Look Pass,” a documentary film about Harvard basketball player Emily Tay ’08, was written, produced, and directed by Melissa Johnson ’00.
Rebecca Cooper (left) and Lily Erlinger at a Socks for America distribution event

No Nonsense Filmmaking

Two alumnae travel across America to distribute socks and document the plight of homeless youths.

The Classes

Harvard alumni may sign in to view class notes and obituaries.

Treasure

Envy in Hand

Is this a dagger which I see before me…? Not primarily.

The College Pump

One of the earliest American football posters, done for <i>Harper’s</i> in 1894 by Edward Penfield. This example, in B+ condition, sold at a Swann Galleries auction August 3 in New York City for $1,320, including buyer’s premium. In 1894 Yale beat Harvard 12-4.

The Master Leads

Robert J. Kiely on gay rights at Adams House, plus the Harvard M.B.A. Indicator