Most days, I can’t help but fixate on my hair. Amidst the social isolation of a reality colored by COVID-19, I find myself constantly teasing, twisting, and tugging at it. Sometimes, I fear that I’ll end up running my fingers through my hair only to come up short and find that it, and by extension, … Read more
When 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg became Time Magazine’s youngest ever Person of the Year, it took less than 24 hours for President Donald Trump to criticize the selection. With the Trump administration’s strict curtailment of environmental protection measures and encouragement of harmful industrial practices, it comes as no surprise that the president disapproved of … Read more
Harvard University’s motto has a long history: It began in 1650 as In Christi Gloriam (“for the glory of God”), briefly morphed into Christo et Ecclesiae (“for Christ in the Church”), and finally secularized into the familiar Veritas (“truth”). As far as I know, the school is not trying to crowdsource a fourth version, but … Read more
On December 3, thousands of graduate and undergraduate student-workers represented by the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers went on strike. Bundled in winter coats and sporting “UAW On Strike” signs, strikers picketed, marched, and rallied in falling snow and pouring rain. For nearly four weeks, HGSU-UAW withheld grading, research, and teaching; disrupted deliveries, trash … Read more
Lasers were once considered to be tools of the future. While movies like Star Wars and James Bond have traditionally depicted them as science fiction, the days of thinking about lasers as a futuristic tool have come to an end. Protesters around the globe are now using cheap, commercial lasers to confront police, cause disorder, … Read more
“We need to shift from a government that focuses primarily on working for you, to a government that works with you. Working with you, for you.” That was how Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat articulated the changing philosophy of governance of the ruling People’s Action Party, speaking in a widely-reported 45-minute speech outlining … Read more
Amidst a historic housing crisis in the United States, there is a burgeoning YIMBY movement — a movement of people saying “Yes In My Backyard” to affordable housing. This movement works to push back on local anti-housing sentiments in many high-cost communities, which reflect a culture known as NIMBYism or saying “Not In My Backyard” to affordable housing. … Read more
When Fox News and The New York Times agree with one another, you know something’s wrong. In November 2018, that unlikely scenario came to pass. After aggressive questioning from CNN reporter Jim Acosta during a press conference, then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders suspended Acosta’s White House press credential. CNN sued to have his access … Read more
“Everybody’s posting online and I’m like, I want to go. Take me with you. Put me in your suitcase,” said Tate and Camden, two young travelers preparing to embark on a 21-day adventure across Europe. The duo agreed to share their plans with the HPR as they paced around the boarding area at O’Hare Airport … Read more
Kishore Mahbubani, former Singaporean Ambassador to the United Nations, once declared, “When ASEAN [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] was born on the 8th of August 1967, it was destined to fail.” After all, Southeast Asia was, and continues to be, one of the most diverse regions in the world, hosting four major religions, 800 … Read more