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November-December 2009

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Letters

Letters from our readers

The College Pump

This class necktie belonged to Renny Little's father, Bertram K. Little ’23. His class colors were orange and black.

A class tradition refurbished, and “Harvard Yard” threads

Treasure

Investigators construct a virtual Italian Renaissance altarpiece.

In this Issue

Children from New Hope orphanage in Busia, Uganda, make their nightly walk to get water for drinking and washing. They handle all the chores themselves—an important part of director Ken Mulago’s strategy for running the orphanage. “We want our children to behave as responsible adults,” he says. “We don’t want to raise them up just to think about themselves.”

Students and service at a new frontier

Visual, audio, and interactive media are transforming the college classroom

The iconic <i>Silence=Death</i> neon sign, 1987, by the Silence=Death Project, appropriated (and inverted) the pink triangle used by Nazis to identify known homosexuals; the message, in poster form, preceded the formation of ACT UP. This is a copy of the original from the collection of the New Museum, New York.

View video from an exhibition at the Harvard Art Museum that explores the visual legacy of ACT UP’s campaign to galvanize action against a new epidemic.

Brief life of an iconoclastic individualist

On the professionalization of faculty life, doctoral training, and the academy’s self-renewal

Letters

Letters from our readers

Right Now

Richard Wrangham

A Harvard anthropologist argues that cooking, a cultural practice, crucially shaped human evolution.

With “spaced education,” a surgeon offers a better way to learn.

Orchid bees navigate turbulence by extending their massive hind legs to prevent rolling.

Orchid bees in flight extend their hind legs for stability.

Imprinted genes may affect the timing of pregnancy and nursing in humans.

New England Regional

Nancy Cyr conscientiously weighs her holiday options.

Eating well and feeling good through the holidays

Tips for healthy eating at parties and everywhere else

A scene from the ART's forthcoming <i>The Best of Both Worlds</i>

Late fall events at and around Harvard

Structural steel is erected for the Law School’s Wasserstein Hall, Caspersen Student Center, and clinical-wing project on Massachusetts Avenue at Everett Street.

An update on Harvard construction

Wine, fire, and food—a tempting cornucopia at Beacon Hill Bistro.

A cozy Beacon Hill spot that’s a bit French

John Harvard's Journal

The Great Mammal Hall in the Harvard Museum of Natural History is restored and reopened.

A status report on the state of the endowment

John Mugane

Meet the director of Harvard’s African language program.

Drew Faust, speaking in Sanders Theatre on September 24

President Faust opens the academic year with a State of the University address.

Headlines from Harvard history

Cruising the Square: The Window Shop restaurant in the 1950s

A new book of photographs tells Harvard Square’s history since the 1950s. Test your own Square knowledge for a chance to win a copy of the book.

Kathleen McCartney

The Graduate School of Education creates a new doctor of education leadership program.

Michael D. Smith briefing faculty and staff members on September 15

An early-semester financial talk by the dean

Short takes on recent news

Cherry A. Murray

The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences develops a 10-year strategic plan.

A senior assesses life at—and after—college without the pre-med track.

Samuel Saidel-Goley (foreground) and Archery Club colleagues draw their bows.

Renaissance for the Archery Club

Junior quarterback Collier Winters, who made his first varsity start in the Holy Cross opener, passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third in a 24-21 victory over Brown. For his play in the Brown game, Winters was named Ivy League offensive player of the week.

Football kicks off against Holy Cross, Brown, and Lehigh

A new DVD and book capture the legendary 1968 Harvard-Yale game.

Montage

A Fairy leaps.

Diane Paulus, the new artistic director of the American Repertory Theater, has an ambitious populist vision.

An excerpt from <em>Green Metropolis,</em> by David Owen ’78

Adam Kirsch reviews <em>Poems 1959-2009</em> by Frederick Seidel ’57

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

David Wax plays <i>jaranas,</i> Mexican guitars of various sizes

David Wax’s trio La Tuza performs Mexican <em>son</em> music.

Novelist and Wall Streeter Norb Vonnegut, during a book tour in Sydney, Australia

<em>Top Producer,</em> by Norb Vonnegut ’80, is a thriller set on Wall Street. Listen to excerpts from an interview with its stockbroker author.

Amartya Sen

Recent books with Harvard connections

Alumni

James Katz (left) and Bob Nadelberg with an indoor bicycle at their offices

Two Harvard-trained doctors launch a practice in the emerging field of age-management medicine.

The University’s Medal of Honor recipients are memorialized.

The winners of the 2009 Harvard Alumni Association Award

A sampling of Harvard Clubs’ forthcoming events

Harvard offices seek jobs and mentors for undergraduates

News from Shared Interest Groups

The College Pump

This class necktie belonged to Renny Little's father, Bertram K. Little ’23. His class colors were orange and black.

A class tradition refurbished, and “Harvard Yard” threads

Treasure

Investigators construct a virtual Italian Renaissance altarpiece.