The selection of Michael Bloomberg as the speaker for commencement has been surrounded by controversy. Many articles have been printed expressing outrage and disgust with the university’s choice; however, these articles refuse to acknowledge anything Bloomberg accomplished outside of the political world of New York City. I, like many of us, have never lived in … Read more
The word “Harvard” is instantly recognizable with or without the word “University” attached to it. The name is as singular as Beyoncé or Madonna. Harvard is an entity, a cultural bastion worldwide. Every person in my parents’ very small hometown in southern Nigeria is familiar with the name and my exchange family in Madrid knew … Read more
“You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.” First articulated by former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, this political maxim has been repeated in both Hillary Clinton’s 2008 primary campaign and an episode of NBC’s The West Wing. Yet articles such as “Where has Obama’s inspiring oratory gone?” by Washington Post columnist and former Bush … Read more
For seventy-two years, Martha Reeves has called Detroit her home. It is where she was raised in a home ebullient with Southern musical influence, paid for by her father’s hard work in the Northern industrial center. It is where she found, according to her autobiography, “a strong sense of neighborhood” and community support for her … Read more
Demonstrations are the physical representation of the will of a group of people, a show of force by those whom the world might see as peripheral. Yet, for all the muscle that a protest may exhibit, lasting impact comes from something more intangible, something that strikes a chord and resonates with all those involved. This … Read more
“We will not stop until we have a revolution!” yelled several protestors, collected in Piazza Castello in Turin, Italy. It was December 9, 2013 and the movement known as “I Forconi” (the Pitchforks) was at the peak of its strength, paralyzing many Italian freeways, commercial centers, and other strategic hotspots. With leafleting, demonstrations, and violence, … Read more
On March 28, 2013, the Harvard College Events Board announced that the rapper Tyga would be the headline performer for the College’s annual Yard Fest concert. Within days a petition was posted on the grassroots organizing website change.org, demanding that the Events Board rescind the offer to Tyga, contending that his music “promotes sexism and … Read more
Finally, a Congress that is viewed more negatively than root canals, lice, or even Nickelback, and rightly criticized for its paltry productivity, can finally begin to address those criticisms. In the past month, similar bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate: on February 5, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) and House … Read more
In November of last year, Iran and a six-nation group that included the U.N. Security Council and Germany signed a historic agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. Regardless of whether a permanent deal can be reached, the apparent policy shift on the part of Iranian leaders seems to validate the sanctions imposed by the United States, … Read more
Much of the international attention on Russia’s incursion into the Crimean Peninsula has focused on narratives of Russian strength and American weakness. Commentators from Charles Krauthammer at the Washington Post to Foreign Policy CEO and Editor-at-Large David Rothkopf have issued both implicit and overt criticisms of the “weak” American response to Russian aggression. The prevailing … Read more