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Small Classes, Big Ideas

March 24, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | Permalink

If you walked through Harvard Yard this week you would have seen groups upon groups of flip-flop-wearing, sun-dress-adorning college students relaxing on the grass and playing Frisbee in the shade. The 80-degree weather even promoted my Philosophy 97 Tutorial (environmental ethics) to be held outdoors, as many Harvard classes opted for.

 

Debates raged about immigration and the Kyoto treating as we lounged in the shade. This is my favorite time at Harvard, spring, when the stresses of classes are mingled with the soothing warmth of sunlight and playfulness that becomes evoked as students enjoy the moment. There’s a certain comfort in the coming of this season again, and reminds me of years past and the same events.

Students having a “beach party” at the Charles River sans the beach

I found myself relieving memories of academic in particular when I ran into an older teaching fellow from a favorite philosophy class of mine, Philosophy of Psychology. He told me about his dissertation work and I my thesis work, somehow feeling timid all of a sudden about my own work. Perhaps it was because I remember how far my own writing in theory has come since then, or perhaps it was odd realizing I was at the end of the time of academia.

 

As excited as I am for the real world, there’s a certain scary uncertainness to it all. There’s no obvious next step, no ever-expanding choice of options and new options to explore, but just more narrowing and narrowing. I’m in the process now of determining how to choose as I apply to jobs and fellowships. Only a short post for this mid-semester evening, but I’ll keep you updated as it turns out.

 

~Natalie

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New York, I Love You

March 16, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | Permalink

Perhaps it is the 70-degree weather, the free (working!) espresso machine I found on the side of the road, or perhaps being in the company of friends and family, but New York City is intoxicating. While a flight to California was just out of reach, visiting my brother and his girlfriend in Brooklyn, NY was a perfect substitute, especially considering I was able to make the trip with my boyfriend and our other friend, Dan.

In case you haven’t been (or just if you’re interest to know about all the great cities you can visit easily by bus from Harvard), here’s a short whirlwind tour of NYC, Brooklyn, and beyond.

New York has great buildings…

… delicious (and beautiful) coffee…

… thiiiis many cool used book store (as does Harvard square too!)…

(PS. ^ that’s me)

… cheap thrift stores…

(as modeled by my boyfriend & legal advisor here ^)

… towering buildings…

… and towering people? (or the use of wide-angle lens cameras)…

(^ Dan & I just grew a few feet…)

One of the greatest parts about the location of Harvard (besides Boston being a fun city and Harvard Square having some of the best sandwiches around) is its closeness to other great cities to travel too—D.C., Portland Maine, and Pennsylvania have been among the ventures.

Indeed, all the time away from Harvard has given me the breath of fresh air (though being in the city, perhaps not so fresh) necessary to come back for part two of the semester. Already the Leverett House Open Email List is filled with discussions of diplomas, graduation day speakers, and job openings.

And speaking of post-grad plans, I have recently been working on my submission to the Carol K. Pfrozheimer Student Fellowship, which invites Harvard Undergraduates to take advantage of the Schlesinger Library I discussed in my last post. The Fellowship provides money for research that draws of the library’s holdings and given the amazing diversity of literature on food culture and history in Schlesinger Library, I’m putting together an application that draws together my work in political-economic anthropology and food culture, focusing on the recent artisanal movements. I believe this research would also be extremely beneficial for my final project for my American Food history course.

I’ll try to stay up to date on that process and until then, hope you guys all have a great weekend! I know I’m looking forward to this last weekend off and yet also to hanging out with my Harvard girl friends once a few of them return from their own spring break adventures in Austin, Texas as the South-By-Southwest Festival.

~Natalie

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The Many Causes for Celebration!

March 9, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 2 comments

FedEx/Kinkos, 12:17am the morning before my thesis is due

It’s official! My thesis has been turned in, despite accidental hole punching, buying the wrong binders, and picking up printouts from FedEx at midnight, it is done! I, luckily, wasn’t feeling as disheveled as I look above once I finally got my print out, but perhaps a bit delirious (though I also just really like that hat). There was even a nice ritual to turning it in, signing your name off, being congratulated, and getting a free Government tote bag.

 

To celebrate, at 5pm the day my thesis was due, the Government Department had a toast with the department staff and other students who had made it through. My only advice at the end of it all, besides choosing an advisor you can talk openly with, is to make sure you really love your topic. I know everyone says that, but it is not that you must just “like “ or “love” your topic, you must “REALLY love” it because you will get sick about reading it and writing it if not (and probably even if you do).

 

And upon finishing my midterm for my “American Food: A Global History” course, Spring break has arrived. In our last section for this course before break, we went over our final research projects for the year. I’ve been looking forward to this project all semester, as it will be the first (and hopefully not last) time I get to really utilize Harvard’s Schlesinger Library. I’ve never seen such an extensive archive on food and women (two academic subjects of my fascination), including everything from old cookbooks aboard military ships from the 1700s to the first U.S. vegetarian magazine.

Leaving my midterm I saw this beautiful ornament near the Religion Department

As I wait for that time, this week at least offers a nice break with some friends visiting and a trip to New York to see my brother. From my “American Food” class, I’ll bring along “The Jungle” (an assigned reading) for some nice company on the bus ride (besides my boyfriend, who just sleeps the whole time anyway). Hope you all are enjoying spring too if you’re near my part of the world!

Oh yeah, and as some of the other bloggers here have already mentioned, this week was housing week where freshman are sorted into their houses for next year (a la Harry Poter style minus the fancy hat) and upperclassmen in each of the houses welcome in their new housemates with social events and awesome videos. I’m in Leverett, but the Quincy Housing Day video for two years has been epic (see if you get the reference)!
~Natalie

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(Pre-Storm) Food & Education

March 2, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | Permalink

Inside America’s Test Kitchen

It’s crunch time. Midterm, essay, thesis due… and then a week of pure celebration also known as spring break. I’m not sure if it was thoughtful or actually unsympathetic that teachers and the Government department planned these due dates as such but I’ll go with the former.

 

Basically that means from this moment on out, for the next week I’ll be cuddled up in my bedroom and Lamont library with the continuously glowing computer light to keep me company. Yet, it’s not as bad as it sound. The myriad of other students all doing the same around me brings forth a sense of camaraderie with everyone else thinking the same, “two days until my thesis is done forever”, “six days until spring break”, and the like.

 

As a last minute push to procrastinate against the inevitable slew of work however, I journeyed earlier today with the Food Literacy Project to America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) (located in Brookline in Boston, MA). Our group and the FLP coordinator Louisa took an afternoon train to the location where ATK (the PBS cooking show) is filmed as well as the headquarters for the magazine Cook’s Illustrated and show Cook’s Country.

The Test Chef’s in action!

While I wasn’t able to grab a shot of him, we got a glimpse of ATK host Chris Kimball as we tour the location, meet and did a Q & A with some of the test chefs, and did a tasting of our own. While our tasting consisted of three varieties of dark chocolate, ATK often has to do full tastings and then recommendations of less pleasant food items on their own, such as red wine vinegar or fish sauce.

 

The whole atmosphere was ripe with enthusiasm and foodie passion, and there were delicious smells wafting from every corner. We were even able to raid their library and take home a few select cookbooks and magazines, which I’m looking forward to trying out soon.

Test #??: Wedge Salad

Indeed, it seems this whole week has been quite the foodie experience. Last night I helped film and do the sound recording for a community dinner hosted by FLP in Currier House featuring Tamar Adler and Professor Richard Wrangham, a discussion on the future of cooking. I took a freshman seminar with Professor Wrangham on human evolution and war, but it was great to have a discussion together and with other students on evolution and foodways (he wrote the book, Catching Fire). For any potential Harvard freshman, I truly recommend taking a freshman seminar if one of them piques your interest—it was a great experience to have such an intimate seminar with such a great professor as a freshman.

 

In any case, this was a great first event in a series we are starting of community dinners through FLP (“Harvard Talks Food”) to connect professors, academics, and other experts in the food industry with Harvard students as a way to build dialogue and food education. And then prior to that, I was running about a pound or so of guacamole through campus on the way to the Culinary Society’s Annual Guac’ Off (guacamole making contest)! This event is always a hit with students, but who doesn’t love guacamole, prizes, or food competitions? Local burrito restaurant Qdoba and Boloco provided delicious guac’ and queso cheese for those watching the competition.

 

All-in-all the whirlwind of a week was not much of a calm before the storm—it fact, it was quite the storm itself (the snow just continued to pile down as I attempt to ride by bike around campus yesterday). Yet the fun and education experienced made up for it.

 

Hope you have a good weekend and check-in after the “storm”!

 

~Natalie

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Good for your Health, Good for your Brain

February 24, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | Permalink

For better or for worse, in a week and a half my thesis will be in, done, gone, and sweet sweet spring break will be the reward! For once the description is perfect as spring seems to have come early here to Cambridge this year (almost 60 in February? Amazing–though I hate to think of what summer will bring…). This spring break I’ll be sticking around here but my friends from California will be visiting complete with tour of Boston and New York City.

As for now, the week has flown by as I really get started in this semesters extracurricular. Tonight I just held my first Food Literacy Project event in Lowell House, a Superfoods Tasting. With the sudden ’bout of sickness that seems to be transversing around campus this antioxidant filled event was just the recipe. Lowell house students and friends came by and were able to sample a variety of healthy fare including cacao nibs, spirulina, coconut water, and roobios tea.

On the other end of the spectrum, I’m about to finish my second article for The Crimson today. I’m currently writing as an arts columnist about Culinary Arts in a postmodern era. You can find my first article here and another great column from a fellow writer here. It’s odd to think that The Crimson is over a hundred years old, but its the sort of place that when you walk into their headquarters to certainty feels established (in the best possible way). I’m excited to see how the column develops through-out the semester and am getting teary eyed already at the thought of this being my last semester to do extracurriculars such as these.

So in an effort to make the best of it now, I’m going to go finish the article before burying myself in the library for the weekend, hoping to emerge with a more finely edited thesis (i.e., readable). Have a great weekend!

~Natalie

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A Tale of Two “Mornings”: A Week in Review

February 17, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 4 comments

It’s the moment when you wake up and realize its still dark out that something is wrong—this happened twice in a one-day span. Don’t try this at home kids (unless you have it, but boy its rough), but when you have to wake up at 3am after a 2 hour nap to finish a paper due that morning, the next “nap” you take at 3pm may happen to turn into sleep (until 9pm). As a result, apologies for the late update.

 

Perhaps it was all the “I’ll finish it tomorrow” sentiments, but who could resist during this week of love and celebration. It began on Monday when my housemaster hosted his Open House—a great gathering in the master’s residence filled with friends, food, and fun including anything from costume parties on Halloween to pre-valentine card making as per this week. Even through the crowded residence my friends, after first greeting our housemaster, made a beeline for the Monkeybread.

 

And what is Moneybread you ask? If you have to ask, you have been missing out. The picture above describes it all, but this freshly made wonder from each Open House is basically a giant cinnamon roll. A Leverett House classic.

 

So there was that, and then there was Valentine’s Day, and a celebration with friends in the dorm. A ground meeting with the Food Literacy Project here, some planning for the Culinary Society Guacamole Festival (only weeks away!) there, and somehow its Thursday afternoon and work has just ended at 4pm. (At least there’s a delicious sandwich from Clover, my part-time job, involved).

 

In a sleepless daze that was the hours after I turned my paper in, I couldn’t help but be caught in awe as I admired the Harvard façade—yes, it was beautiful, but more it was quirky. The building for the departments represents each so well: the philosophy building—Emerson—with your large and clearly ancient armchairs, the Science Center in a shape of an—outdated—camera. And each with their own complimentary library filled the smell of old books—who doesn’t love that smell?

 

Needless to say, the paper turned out fine, and sleep is right around the corner. Have a good night!

 

~Natalie

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I(nnovation)-Lab

February 10, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 3 comments

Inside the I-Lab

If you’re in college, Boston, New York, California, or perhaps many other places around the U.S., you may have noticed the explosion of “start-ups”. A recent article I read suggested this movement is indicative of a large economic movement. Just as over a hundred years ago marked a move towards massive industrialization and so a new boss-employee relationship from the days of the small-scale apprentice, so too may this era be marked by a move towards independent or self-starter employment from freelancing to entrepreneurship.

 

Harvard, along with other universities, has caught up to this idea and the result is spectacular: The Harvard Innovation Lab. Open from 9am to midnight every day, the I-Lab—as its known—hosts events to prospective entrepreneurs, provides space for start-ups, and offers a wealth of advice from entrepreneurs-in-residence, mentors, and other experts in the legal and investment fields.

 

Harvard Business School (across the river from Harvard Yard)

Yesterday I jumped on the Harvard shuttle across the river to the business school to check out the newly opened I-Lab. The event? Evaluating your Start-up Career. Entrepreneurship has always been a passion for me—perhaps it’s the idea of a 9 to 5 desk job, but more likely it’s the opportunity to really create something new and of value. Indeed, as a recent speaker noted, entrepreneurs are business artists.

 

The event was an hour and a half and led by two successful entrepreneurs, one who create the product of e-ink (Have a kindle or nook? It’s the screen). I was happy to find I wasn’t the only one (undergrad, Harvard Business School student, or MIT grad) wondering about how to evaluate risk or the most important key to a start-up, recruiting a great team. The wealth of resources for student entrepreneurs is fantastic and I can’t wait to see the development of the in-residence start-ups a few years down the road.

 

Speaking of start-ups, you may have remembered my mentioning the Harvard Careers in Food & Wine from over wintersession: through that I meet a great start-up company, two years started, 90+ Cellars, a wine distribution company. Today was my first day beginning an internship with them on their marketing and operations team—a fantastic opportunity for learning an industry from the very start of a company. I’m looking forward to the experience and will update soon about it. I’m looking forward to a thesis-ful weekend, but a chance to take advantage of Harvard’s new ice-skating rink on Tuesday, Valentine’s Day. Hope you all have a great weekend!

 

~Natalie

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Follow Your Passion

February 3, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 3 comments

One of my favorite things about Harvard is the vast array of extracurricular to get involved in—you have a passion, there’s probably a place for it. If you haven’t noticed, food is one of mine. Not just the taste but also the ability of food to bring together community, create dialogue, and allow us to aid the world through a meal. And, indeed, at Harvard there’s a place for that passion—a group called the Food Literacy Project (FLP).

 

Created and funded by Harvard University Dining Services, this unique group hires student representatives from each undergraduate house—as well as a few additional representatives—to increase food literacy on campus.  We host study breaks in the evenings, lectures on the weekends, and community dinners whenever. Whether the subject is the question of the ethics of Genetically Modified Foods, or helping soon-to-be-leaving seniors learn how to shop & cook for themselves, students around campus help facilitation discussions on the important issues.

I’ve been so lucky to be part of this group of individuals truly excited about what they’re doing. And the energy was once again flowing this past weekend at our semester’s first FLP retreat, where we generate great ideas and made and devoured fresh vegetarian sushi (see pictures below).

 

As the Lowell House Representative, I’m currently putting together plans for a community dinner series featuring some of my favorite professors. One I’m hoping to host an event with in Professor Ted Bestor, an expert on the Japanese Tsukiji Fish Market and the Political and Economic effects of the global fish trade. Perhaps another vegetarian sushi night will be in order.

 

Speaking of passions, the beginning of the semester has been a torrent of applications and meetings and interviews, all maybe, possibly, hopefully. The Culinary Society (of which I’m the Vice President) is currently underway planning our big event for the semester—a guacamole making contest and festival (Guac’ Off), a previous smash the last few years. The whole planning experiencing has been overwhelming and emotionally rewarding at the same time as we it has become time for those of us who are seniors in the club to hand off the baton to the next officers.

 

And then there’s that pesky thesis.  When times get rough, the best thing is knowing you have a friend’s shoulder to lean on. My friend Anita has been invaluable in our mutual venting, crying, and oh-my-gosh-we-can-do-this experiences through our own push to write a thesis. Her block-mate Angelia has been great in realizing I’m not alone when it comes to uncertainty in our writing. I realize now that the greatest value of writing a thesis is in the process itself, of following through, of learning to create something full, and of how to deal.

 

Perhaps that’s one of the greatest values too of Harvard as well—I sure have learned a lot on that front. Academics aside for the moment, it’s now officially Friday evening and time for a movie with friends at our local independent theater, The Brattle Theatre. Hope you enjoy you’re weekend too!

Ps. Here’s a picture of my house cat that I just couldn’t leave out—adorable or what?

 

~Natalie

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Figuring it Out: Post-Shopping Daze

January 27, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 4 comments

You know those days where sometimes things just fall apart? I was having that pretty much for a week. Sounds worse than it is… I’m really referring to my once-thought-to-be-set-in-stone class schedule, which is now completely switched around.

 

I started with my hope to cross-register and take a class at the Harvard Kennedy School, Food & Agribusiness. Note the picture above from the Kennedy School… they have an affinity for quirky floors there I suppose.

 

Turns out my class was nowhere to be found because it didn’t start until mid-march, a half-semester class. That won’t do. A so starts the long chain of moving, and shopping, and disliking, and moving, and shopping new classes.

 

Four hours to go till our Study Card detailing our course choices are do, but I think I figured it out, with classes one may more than I cared for, but another interesting food course to do research in:  American Food, A Global History.

 

My second choice that got run out was a History of Science, Machines and Human Nature course. Any class that starts out an introduction with a clip from The Matrix sounds awesome to me! Bladerunner, AI, I-Robot, all assignments for the course. Even the view (see below) from the fourth floor of the Science Center where the class is was persuasive.

 

Note the reflection on the glass window…

Alas, sometimes things just don’t work out (i.e., no history of computer course because another put a discussion section in the way). But with Friday upon us I can feel little reason to worry (except the sudden need to run out and find the cheapest books to buy….).

 

Tonight is the first in semester for senior social gatherings: a series event put on during the last semester for seniors featuring discounts of food, lots of friends, and everything from games to live music. I’m excited to see all my friends again and relax. I saw a lot of them, but not all, last weekend when we trekked by bus to Allston for Korean Food (btw. do try Bibimbap in a hot stone if you haven’t, so delicious!) for my friend’s birthday—great times! We ended the night back in Harvard square at a favorite restaurant, also the location for the first senior social.

 

But most of all, what I’m looking forward to on the next few Friday nights is some free s’mores, hot chocolate, and ice skating right inside Harvard! Above is a picture of the new erected (temporary) ice rink by the science center… can’t wait to try it out!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

~Natalie

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Wintersession 101: Fun in the Snow

January 20, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 1 comment

So apologies to begin with for missing out last week on posting: it was a busy week trying to get packed up from California and move back to campus in Boston. But I’m back now and will be making a particularly detailed post to make-up for it because it’s been a particularly busy (but fun!) week.

 

This week we saw our first two snow falls since Halloween, luckily nothing too heavy but gives a nice winter-feel to the barren trees. Trudging through the windy days, Harvard campus finally saw the return of many students to campus for the week long Wintersession.

 

Wintersession is a great, recently invented opportunity for students to come back to campus a week early to participate in a number of activities, some free or quite discounted. Everything from a one-day ski trip to a TV script writing class (taught by Carlton Cuse, Harvard Alum and scriptwriter of Lost, aka. Greatest drama show ever). I was lucky enough to participate in some great events that I know will be extremely useful as I move forward towards graduating and living on my own.

The first was a weeklong(-ish) afternoon Personal Finance Program set-up by the Harvard University Employees Credit Union. The subjects covered each of the four weekdays were Financial Budgeting and Planning, Personal Credit, Personal Insurance and Taxes, and Investing.

 

After a continental breakfast (much needed coffee and bagels at 9:30am), we received lectures from experts on personal finance as well as practice making our own budgets, choosing insurance plans, and credit cards among others. The information on personal credit was of particular interest as I’m currently looking into starting to build my credit now, as was the investing day for potential use in the future.

 

One more of the career oriented side, I participated in three different events put on by the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) and the Office of Career Services (OCS) oriented towards understanding jobs in food and wine. These events were led by Harvard alum Cathy Huyghe, wine-writer and contributor to WGBH—part of NPR and the Public Broadcasting for Boston.

The first event was an evening on wine writing where we learned to understand all the sensory aspects to wine (including sight, texture, taste, small) and history to allow us to write about wine more creatively. After my experience on the wine tasting tour in Santa Barbara, this was a great way to integrate the skills I learned in sensory description of wine into creative writing. Of all the wines tasted that night I found my favorite to be this Argentinean Malbec that elicited a strongly smoky smell and brought forth an interesting history of how foodways changes with cultural adaptation (Malbec being originally a French grape).

 

The next day was an amazing experience. For the first time I took the commuter rail from Harvard Square to Concord, MA where we were led on a tour of recently opened restaurant by HBS alum (Ian Calhoun) and his partner, 80 Thoreau. Carolyn Johnson (former Chef-de-Cuisine at Rialto) is the head chef for this quaint upscale restaurant on the second story of the station, overlooking small shops and quite streets. Calhoun and his partner Vincent Vela were incredible informative and friendly in telling all of us about how to open a restaurant and what its like running a business. My own future endeavors I hope one day will lead me towards opening a restaurant/bar and the information I learned was enlightening.

 

After that we proceed back to Harvard Office of Career Services for the Harvard Food and Wine Internship and Job fair. There were a number of interesting opportunities I look forward to applying to in the next few weeks both during school and after. I’ll keep you updated as the career moves proceed. For now, I’ll enjoy the first days of snow with the last free weekend before classes start.

 

~Natalie

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