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September-October 2019

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Letters

Letters on family roots, Dani Rodrik, opioid associations, and more

President Bacow describes Harvard’s multifaceted approach to “a defining challenge of our time.”

From Bureau of Study Counsel to Academic Resource Center

The College Pump

Photograph of hen turkey and poults in Harvard Yard

Photograph by Allison Kern/Harvard Magazine

Turkeys, tourists, traditions, tranquility

Treasure

A photograph of an eighteenth-century, three-inch pocket globe in its open case

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard University Archives

Ebenezer Storer’s pocket globe

In this Issue

Photograph of Elizabeth Hinton

Elizabeth Hinton
Photograph by Stu Rosner

Historian Elizabeth Hinton probes the roots of a gathering crisis.

An illustration of Harvard Yard with a superimposed rendering of a youthful male figure contemplating his place at the College

Illustration by Daniel Baxter

A life lesson from Willie Banks

Photograph of David Damrosch

Click on arrow at right to view full image gallery
(1 of 4) David Damrosch
Photograph by Stu Rosner

David Damrosch’s literary global reach

Painted portrait of Adella Hunt Logan

This portrait of Hunt Logan by the Parisian-trained, African-American painter William Edouard Scott, was begun in 1915 while he was in residence at Tuskegee and completed at her daughter’s direction in 1918.
Portrait from Adele Logan Alexander’s personal collection

Brief life of a rebellious black suffragist: 1863-1915

Letters

Letters on family roots, Dani Rodrik, opioid associations, and more

President Bacow describes Harvard’s multifaceted approach to “a defining challenge of our time.”

From Bureau of Study Counsel to Academic Resource Center

Right Now

Teenagers watch a television screen showing a glamorous actress smoking.

Illustration by James Yamasaki

Two public-health veterans warn of new smoking risks, especially for the young.

Illustrated portrait of John Rawls

Illustration by David Johnson

The lasting influence and limitations of John Rawls’s political philosophy

An illustration depicts the torso of a patient as teams of tiny, Lilliputian physicians run tests and examinations.

Illustration by Richard Beacham

Do patients who defeat cancer hold biological secrets?

Harvard Squared

The “Rocking Horse Graveyard,” in Lincoln, Massachusetts

Click on arrow at right to view full image gallery
(1 of 8) The “Rocking Horse Graveyard,” in Lincoln, Massachusetts— “It’s a fun, whimsical thing with a flea- market feel,” Ocker says. “But at night it’s one of the creepiest sights on the planet.”
Photograph courtesy of J.W. Ocker/OTIS

Exploring New England’s more unusual sites with J.W. Ocker

A color-paper collage used by Edwin Land to develop an influential theory of color vision

(click on arrow at right to see full image) A color-paper collage used by Edwin Land to develop an influential theory of color vision
Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments

New Harvard exhibit explores “Visual Science: The Art of Research”

Hikers stand in Purgatory Chasm, near Worcester, Massachusetts

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(1 of 3) Adventures in Purgatory Chasm
Photograph by Normal Barrett/Alamy Stock Photo

Pleasures to explore in and around Worcester

Photo of the colonial-era Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts

The seventeenth-century Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts
Photograph courtesy of the Fairbanks House

Dedham’s Fairbanks House: “the oldest wood-frame structure still standing in North America”

A child’s horse-drawn carriage from 1907

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(1 of 6) A child’s horse-drawn carriage dating to1907, from the Wenham Museum’s new exhibit
Photograph courtesy of Peter G. Gwinn/Wenham Museum

Equestrian life and sports on the North Shore

An indoor photo of people eating and shopping at Boston Public Market

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(1 of 6) The market as a community gathering point
Photograph by Melissa DiPalma

Boston Public Market’s year-round cornucopia

A colorful stack of beer cans against a blue wall

Courtesy of Proclamation Ale Company

Creative artistic collaborations

John Harvard's Journal

Photograph, renovating Harvard Hall, shown in protective construction wrapping

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(1 of 7) Harvard Hall renovation begins.
Photograph by Jim Harrison

New construction in Allston, and renewal everywhere else, from Adams House to Andover/Swartz Hall

President Larry Bacow out for a run with students, August 28, 2018

August 28, 2018: An on-the-run president, out for a run with students

Photograph by Rose Lincoln/HPAC

President Bacow assesses his inaugural year.

Photograph of electrical engineering and applied math associate professor Na Li

Na Li
Photograph by Stu Rosner

For a star electrical engineering professor, it's all about systems.

Drawing of Alan Lomax singing in Harvard Yard

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Photograph of Hansjörg Wyss

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(1 of 3) Hansjörg Wyss
Photograph courtesy of the Wyss Institute

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering gets another boost.

Mike Burke riding his bike in Cambridge

Mike Burke

Photograph by Jim Harrison

The registrar as long-distance rider

Portrait photo of admissions stalwart Dwight Miller

Dwight Miller

Photograph by Jim Harrison

College admissions stalwart Dwight Miller retires.

Photograph of Jane Pickering

Jane Pickering
Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

The Peabody’s new director, early admissions, AI, endowment taxation, and more

A coach cashiered, a professor sanctioned, an Allston update, and more

The author and fellow activists at a Divest Harvard rally this past April: (from left) Caleb Schwartz ’20, Flores-Jones, Anand Bradley ’19, Owen Torrey ’21, Eva Rosenfeld ’21, and Sophia Higgins ’21

The author and fellow activists at a Divest Harvard rally this past April: (from left) Caleb Schwartz ’20, Flores-Jones, Anand Bradley ’19, Owen Torrey ’21, Eva Rosenfeld ’21, and Sophia Higgins ’21

Photograph by Lydia Carmichael Rosenberg/Harvard Magazine

An activist on activism, in college and after

Photograph of Julie Chung and Drew Pendergrass

Julie Chung and Drew Pendergrass

Photograph by Stu Rosner

The Ledecky Fellows provide an undergraduate perspective on life at Harvard.

Linda Liedel (at left), representing Germany in Spain’s 2019 La Manga Tournament, competes for the ball with a Danish rival.

Liedel (at left), representing Germany in Spain’s 2019 La Manga Tournament, competes for the ball with a Danish rival.

Photograph by Quality Sports Images/Getty Images

Linda Liedel ’21 always knew how good she could be.

Montage

Photograph of John Fish

In “Taking Time Off When I’m Most Inspired,” Fish explains the benefits of rest to his nearly 600,000 followers.

Courtesy of John Fish

On YouTube, watch John Fish grow.

Photo of a defunct Saturn dealership

Remote corporate decisions devastate local employers: a defunct Saturn dealer

Photograph by Paul Velgos/Alamy Stock Photo

“The rise of the deal and the decline of the American dream”

An illustration depicting the loss of mental functioning

Photograph by Brian Light/Alamy Stock Photos

A medical anthropologist cares for his Alzheimer’s-stricken wife.

A stage set from “The Bridges of Madison County”

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(1 of 4) Mak designed lighting for a 2019 staging of The Bridges of Madison County by the Philadelphia Theater Company.

Photograph by Rich Hein

Lighting and set designer Elizabeth Mak communicates stories.

Photograph of Dauphin Island, Alabama, after Hurricane Katrina, 2005, illustrating risks of coastal development as climate change progresses

Dauphin Island, Alabama, after Katrina, 2005: a recurrent, man-made disaster that ignores nature—and climate change

Photograph by Gilbert M. Gaul

Recent books with Harvard connections

A still from “Reneepoptosis” by animator Renee Zhang

Click on arrow at right to view full image gallery
(1 of 2) In “Reneepoptosis,” by animator Renee Zhan, three versions of the artist go on a quest for God, traversing an unfamiliar terrain that turns out to be her own body.

Film still courtesy of Renee Zhan

Animator Renee Zhan finds self-discovery in strange landscapes.

Photograph of redeveloped Boston Government Center, 1971

The redeveloped Government Center, Boston, 1971, and surrounding private buildings

Photograph courtesy of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

In the history of urban renewal, a glimmer of the possibilities of social policy today

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Alumni

Elizabeth Thomas shown on her couch at home with her own small dogs, Chapek and Kafka, and her son’s large dog, Clover, whom she watches when he is away.

Elizabeth Thomas at home with her own small dogs, Chapek and Kafka, and her son’s large dog, Clover, whom she watches when he is away.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas’s “laser beam” insights into the lives of animals and humans

Photograph of Alice Hill

Alice Hill
Photograph by Jim Harrison

Harvard Alumni Association president Alice Hill ’81, Ph.D. ’91

Upsolve co-founder Rohan Pavuluri (right) and summer staffer Nick Brown in front of an Upsolve sign.

Upsolve co-founder Rohan Pavuluri (right) and summer staffer Nick Brown are Crimson activists helping those in the red.

Courtesy of Upsolve

Rohan Pavuluri and Upsolve help low-income families cope with debt.

The College Pump

Photograph of hen turkey and poults in Harvard Yard

Photograph by Allison Kern/Harvard Magazine

Turkeys, tourists, traditions, tranquility

Treasure

A photograph of an eighteenth-century, three-inch pocket globe in its open case

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard University Archives

Ebenezer Storer’s pocket globe