Armageddon Outta Here
by Cody Keenan, Opinions Editor on April 30, 2008 in Opinion
As I sit in a Starbucks on Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and the White House, I watch a steady line of staffers clad in Brooks Brothers and clutching BlackBerries march by.
As they obsessively scroll through their inboxes, their bosses do little to prevent our problems from steadily growing worse. I’m halfway tempted to stand in their way with a hastily-painted cardboard sign declaring “THE END IS NEAR.”
I’ve got that uneasy feeling I haven’t had since my mother used to yell at me using my middle name. I’m not much for the evangelical movement that fervently hopes the Rapture is upon us, but I’m beginning to understand their penchant for fitting the Book of Revelation to their needs. Fires. Floods. Earthquakes. Famine. Chaos. Read more
You’re a Lot More Interesting than I Thought
by Carlyn Reichel, Opinions Editor on April 30, 2008 in Opinion
Not to make this all about me, because this is about you - but my birthday is today. So, as the quarter-life crisis careens headlong at me, I’ve been thinking about how to honor the momentous day when I will finally be able to rent a car on my own.
I try to do something unique or interesting or stupid each year to mark the occasion. Last year, I went to trapeze class and got hooked on a niche market skill that will inevitably make for more unique job interviews later in life. This year, I am trying a little self-reflection. Imagine that - it only took me 25 years.
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far: you’re a lot more interesting than I thought you were. Read more
Public Management 101: Bartending Basics
by Leah Vincent on April 30, 2008 in Opinion
When I was 22, I took a job as a bartender in Manhattan to earn some extra cash. As a longstanding teetotaler, I was initially derisive of my new job - until I realized that bartending was in fact a fountain of public management knowledge.
In the months I spent behind the bar, I learned about the effects of alcohol, the rules of hustling and the curious mating games played by American youth. I also learned about myself, our culture and humanity (or lack thereof). But most relevant to my studies at HKS, I learned everything I need to know about running an organization. Read more
Letters: An Online Forum/HKS Talent Show
by The Editors on April 29, 2008 in Opinion
Dear Sir:
For two years I have told friends from home that HKS is a place that guards the free exchanges of ideas, thoughts and speech from the ivory tower’s battlements. Last week that changed. An institution that defends speech turned its back on speech and its own students, condemning things said at the HKS talent show. I hang my head. Read more
Letters: A Waste of Space
by The Editors on April 29, 2008 in Opinion
Dear Sir:
I write to share my frustration with the excessively early time at which the Forum is broken down and reconfigured in the afternoon. On a recent day, I was forced to wolf down my pizza as my table and chair were whisked away at 2:30 p.m. for a forum event with Elizabeth Edwards at 6:00 p.m.
Hours before events, we are unceremoniously and needlessly booted from nearly every corner of Littauer. Almost every inch of HKS’s main building is made inhospitable for studying, eating or gabbing. This is especially distressing to students who have classes from 11:30 to 2:30 and arrive in the Forum for a late lunch, or those who need a work space at the very time of day when the library is most full.
I write to you now from that library, where I sit elbow-to-elbow with a friend who has been similarly displaced by the forces of manic organization. Read more
Coming Out of the Pew
by James Ahlers on April 20, 2008 in Opinion
Pope Benedict XVI is on a mission to shut down the U.S. Catholic Church’s buffet and discipline the spiritually flabby, and I am inspired.
You know buffet Catholics – they can’t swallow the whole doctrine so they fill their spiritual plates with a little of this, a little of that. I used to be one myself, until I decided that what I liked from the buffet was not enough to fill me up and I abandoned my Catholicism altogether. The problem was, I never knew what I was leaving it for. The Pope’s effort to restore traditional Catholic doctrine has inspired me to reexamine why I left the Church and what I believe in.
Micah’s Challenge
by Peter Howard on April 20, 2008 in Opinion
In less than two months, several hundred of us will graduate, carrying with us the name of one of the world’s most prestigious academic institutions. The diploma that we will receive represents knowledge gained, networks cultivated and prestige conferred. Or, to put it simply: “power.”
We will step into worlds of public service where we will bring this power to bear on problems of poverty, injustice and inequality. But how do we steward the gift of Harvard – this “power” – in places where the divide between what we have been given and what others have seen taken seems so vast? Read more
No Hablo Político
by Stefan Reich on April 16, 2008 in Opinion
Language and globalization are like a married couple whose relationship is based on give and take. Take fiesta, piñata, margarita and siesta. From Prague to Toronto, they’re universally understood words for having a good time.
But just as Cervantes’ language has added some joy to the world, it is time for Spanish-speakers to borrow words from other languages to make our politics healthier.
It’s not that we haven’t chipped in to the universal political discourse. Hey, we introduced guerrilla and junta to many dictionaries around the world. But Spanish has failed to create words that allow for a more complex understanding of political processes and ideas. Not being able to translate certain words may be a symptom of a deeper problem. It’s time for a vocabulary upgrade. Read more
I Don’t Read: Tales of an Academic Delinquent
The title explains it all: I don’t read. Specifically, I don’t read for class. No textbooks, no course packets, no online journal articles and certainly no ego-stroking HBS case studies. Amazingly (perhaps), I’ve managed to not look at a single reading-required or optional-for any of my classes since the start of this semester. Part of it is sheer laziness; part of it is to see just how long I could get by as a graduate student who refuses to read. What follows are my findings…in academic form, of course. Read more
Op-Art for April 16, 2008
Hangin' Tough.
