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Lowell Speaks

March 12, 2013 in Kemie's Blog by Kemie | 1 comment

Since I can’t always make it back to the Quad for meals in Currier, I tend to bounce around from River House to River House for lunch and dinner.  The great thing about being a dining hall wanderer is that since I spend so much time in other upperclassmen houses, I get a pretty strong sense of the culture in each individual house community. Each house has little quirks and traditions that set it apart from the other 11.

I was hanging out with my friends in Lowell House after dinner the other week, when I inadvertently discovered Lowell House Speeches. Basically, for a number of weeks in the spring semester, the Lowell provides the opportunity for residents to sign up and share a 5-minute original speech with their peers following dinner.  I’m just an outside observer, but I think that the idea is to give students a space where they can reflect on major life events or lessons learned, and grow from sharing something personal with their housemates.

I didn’t know about the event when I made plans to eat in Lowell that evening.  At first I was totally caught off guard when a girl walked up to podium and started speaking into the microphone, but it didn’t take long for my confusion to swing to delight.  I can’t get over this tradition.  Sure, as students we get to share our academic thoughts on a regular basis in response papers and section discussion. But we don’t always have the opportunity to speak broadly about the life experience (like you would in a college application essay) outside of conversation between friends.

I really enjoyed listening to this speech, so maybe you will too.  Here’s the link to the speech that I stumbled upon that night.  It was really well done, and I think it’s a great example of why it is so important that students have a platform like this to share their take on things.

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Miles to Go Before I Sleep…

December 7, 2012 in Reid's Blog by Reid | Permalink

Hello everyone!

It’s been a good amount of time since I last blogged. I have had a whirlwind few weeks, mostly packed tightly with extracurriculars but certainly very fun. Some important milestones were passed since I’ve last updated you all on my life, so here goes.

The first important event was The Opportunes’ Fall Jam with The Callbacks, my roommate Cynthia’s a cappella group, which took place only a week ago (wow, it seems like forever). I wasn’t very nervous for the jam, but it’s really important so I felt a lot of pressure going into it; we had ‘heck week’ leading up to our concert, which meant 4 hours of rehearsal a night instead of 6 a night, which is our schedule for ‘hell week.’ However, all of our work payed off wonderfully, as we had an incredible concert and rocked Sander’s Theater. If you’re interested, you can check out our videos on our newly designed webpage, found here. It took an all-nighter until 8:30am, but I did manage to finish editing the videos and designing our webpage to have them released simultaneously, which was an awesome feat to accomplish! I’m very proud of our group, and if any of you freshmen are reading this, come audition for us in the spring! We don’t call ourselves the Harvard Boy-Heavies for nothin’.

Fall Jam!

At our post-jam party, a lot of alums came down to Harvard and hung out with us, which was really fun. I hadn’t met them properly before, and was really excited to be able to make friends with people who were only connected to me via a cappella! Some of my friends weren’t able to make it out to our Fall Jam, but luckily our Spring Jam is March 9, and in preparation we’ve already started deliberating on songs for our new set. So exciting. Unfortunately for me, I just discovered yesterday that I have vocal nodules, a condition where the vocal cords become callused and inflamed, which means that I am going to have to take it very easy next semester. I am very bummed about that, so wish me good luck in my therapy and treatment.

Another important milestone was Grand Elections, where the new members of the Crimson, our newspaper, are elected. It’s a very secretive and very fun experience, so I can’t talk about it that much, but come and join the paper if you’re interested in knowing more! I had to leave early from The Crimson in order to get to Mather formal (one of the many upperclassmen house formals) which was at the Harvard Club of downtown Boston, and was a nice gig with The Nostalgics, my soul and Motown band. I was really tired, but we pulled through and had ourselves a blast.

Some Photo friends at H-Y…just imagine us at Grand Elections!

Tonight I’ll be going to Lowell Winter Formal with my friend Ned, and will certainly have an awesome time. This in itself is certainly a milestone, because last February we went to Freshman Formal together, and now’s the perfect opportunity to come full circle! I’ll keep you posted, but expect a great night on everyone’s part.

Ned and me last year…who knows what this year will bring?

Later in the weekend, I will be going to see my friend Kim perform in “Rent,” a show that’s playing at Oberon, a venue right near campus. She’s going to kill it, and I heard opening night was great yesterday! I also really need to start working on my final projects, as I leave for home in one week (wow, where did THAT come from) and have a lot of stuff to do before then. Next week I have my VES (art) project due, my Stats project due, my Anthropology paper due, and my final Stats exam; mostly I’m worried about Stats, as it’s definitely not my best subject, but I need to crack down this weekend and get to working on my other projects. Hmm…probably should have started those earlier, but I’ve been so busy ever since Thanksgiving break! Ah, well, I can push through.

Although this time of year is always stressful, I am really blessed to have such amazing friends. They supported me through my difficulties last year and will continue to support me through my upcoming recovery, and I know that I will always have them by my side, even when things get a bit exhausting. One thing’s for sure; these people will always be my friends.

Love and happiness,

Reid

 

I really love Harvard!

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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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Back to Our Roots: Harvard Community Garden Harvest Fest

November 4, 2011 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 5 comments

As fall begins to approach Boston and the leaves start to change into magnificent shades of orange and red, farms and gardens across New England also slow down.  Our Harvard Community Garden is no exception—and what better way to do so then with a great celebration?

So for the second year in a row—our garden being just two years old—we had Harvest Festival. I’ve worked on the Harvard Garden since last year and its amazing how its grown. And students have been at the forefront of this growth, planning, planting, and establishing everything from compost to a set-watering schedule.  There’s nothing more fun to me than getting your hands in the dirt to start the weekend.

So this last Saturday we put together Harvest Fest to celebrate community and sustainable food. Kids from the community helped us carve pumpkins and set-up scarecrows. Student bands performed everything from folk music to motown. We had two local food trucks including Lefty’s Silver Cart and Katalyst Kombucha. Additional food included freshly pressed cider and samples from food demos by the Harvard Food Literacy Project (FLP).

One of my jobs on campus is working for the FLP as the Lowell House Representative. In addition to educating students on food literacy, we also get to take part in fun events like this. At Harvest Fest I cooked up a sautéed apple cider kale with rosemary, garlic, and onions. My favorite though was the freshly popped popcorn made with heirloom corn.

As the day winded down, I was struck by the beauty of the fall season, something we in Southern California rarely experience. But most of all I was grateful that even in the stress of midterm season, there are great opportunities to relax with friends. A much-needed break is just as essential to Harvard life as the academic rigor. As such, this weekend, right after classes today, I’ll be taking a trip up to New York City where my brother lives–a great local trip that can cost as low a $10! Hope you have a great weekend too!

~Natalie

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