Volume XXXVI, Issue XIII

Dear Reader, This week, our issue opens with a Camberville double feature. First, we turn to an outgrowth of Cambridge's competitive parenting culture. SAB and AJPL take an in-depth look at the Russian School of Mathematics, an after-school math program with 15 centers in Massachusetts alone. So many students have enrolled in the program that it's begun to change the inner workings of Cambridge classrooms. What does it mean for Cambridge students when the center of learning moves beyond the school day? In our second scrutiny, RCG and CJ examine polyamory in Somerville. In 2020, Somerville became the first U.S. city to allow groups of more than two partners to register for a domestic partnership. At the time, the ordinance received national media attention. Five years out, this story asks: What is it actually like to be polyamorous in Somerville? Elsewhere in this issue: KJK's column on corecore, SG's 15Q with Benjamin L. Bivort, SG's conversation with Taylor Swift scholar Stephanie Burt, HGL's review of the grand opening PopUp Bagels, MAB and VO's venn diagram about turkey terrorism, and MEL's lovely endpaper about unseen sickness. FMLove, YAK+MTB

Russian School of Mathematics Map

Volume XXXVI, Issue XII

Dear Reader, In this issue, MK, CS, and AJBS profile eight international students caught in limbo. Among these students, no shared narrative emerges: Some become high-profile activists. Others feel ambivalent. One is set on returning to his home country. Another has dreamt of America since she was a child. Through beautiful storytelling, MK, CS, and AJBS bring you eye-to-eye with the students at the heart of the national headlines. Elsewhere, AS imagines an AI addict going a day without his beloved chatbot, while AA, CSB, and NG report live from the sudden, sprawling line outside of BerryLine. JPL profiles John M. Muresianu, an Adams affiliate who claims to possess the "Messiah gene," and MBF speaks to Jim MacArthur on the eve of his retirement. KHL closes us out with an endpaper on how a cross-country road trip gave her a new understanding of her mother. FMLove, YAK+MTB

Volume XXXVI, Issue XI

Dear FM, In this week’s cover story, SG and JES probe a legal theory with growing influence on the right-wing legal landscape: common good constitutionalism. The theory itself originated at Harvard, from the work of Harvard Law School professor C. Adrian C. Vermeule ’90. Through careful analysis of material ranging from dense legal documents to tweets, SG and JES raise questions about the future of common good constitutionalism. Will the theory begin to appear in more court decisions and law school syllabi? What will law school students — the future’s lawyers and judges — make of the theory? And will common good constitutionalism remake right-wing jurisprudence, much like originalism did a few decades ago? Elsewhere, CB talks to another figure in the legal world: Alfredo Gutierrez Ortiz Mena, a former justice of the Mexican Supreme Court. DCB takes up One Tap Away — our new laundry app — in a levity that will make you mourn Crimson Cash. Closing the issue out, AM gets philosophical about flies. FMLove, MTB + YAK

Volume XXXVI, Issue X

Dear Reader, This week's scrutiny covers Beacon Academy, a gap year program between eighth and ninth grade designed to help students from historically underrepresented communities gain admission to private high schools. What differentiates Beacon from similar college preparatory programs is its cultural curriculum: Alongside their coursework, students will take trips to Martha's Vineyard, take rowing lessons, and learn dinner table etiquette. AR and CGH examine how Beacon Academy helps its students achieve upward mobility—at the risk of alienating parts of their identities in the process. Also in this issue: KJK's first column installment on the cringiness of cringe, EMK's conversation with Prof. Spencer Lee-Lenfield, and JPL's endpaper on falling back in love with visual art. FMLove, YAK+MTB

Volume XXXVI, Issue IX

Dear Reader, We kick off this semester with MHJ's profile of Yi-An Huang '05, Cambridge's eleventh city manager. Huang's role is a complicated one. He's partially a bureaucrat and partially a politician, and many describe him as the most powerful person in Cambridge. Through extensive reporting and incisive prose, MHJ deftly portrays the way Huang has navigated his time in City Hall. Has Huang brought change to his historically contentious role — or have the many demands of the job ultimately changed him? Elsewhere in this issue, you'll find VWR's 15Q with Professor Annabel Kim and KJK's 15Q with Professor Curtis McMullen, HGL and JPL's look at consciousness studies with Professor Anne Harrington, and MSA's report on Bread and Puppet's latest Cambridge performance. KJK takes a tour of the city's internet-free cafés, and HPL attempts to attend every event pubbed to him, over mailing list, flyers, and word-of-mouth. In her latest Venn Diagram, MEL compares the new Harvard Foundation with the act of sharing one's location, and HPL unveils FM's first cyptic crossword. MRT closes us out with his reflection on losing and learning from the HUA election. FMLove, YAK+MTB

Volume XXXVI, Issue VIII

Dear Reader, In the last cover story of the semester, ECG, AR, and KJK take us inside the world of lightweight rowing, in which every rower must weigh less than a set weight limit. In theory, the category is the great equalizer in a sport that prioritizes size and strength. In reality, it often leaves its rowers with eating disorders. With rigor and empathy, these reporters examine the impact Harvard’s lightweight program has had on its athletes — and the limits of reform in a sport defined by weight. In this week’s Around Towns, true soldiers JES and SLSY take us to the Battle of Lexington — reenacted at 4:16am on its 250th anniversary. VWR plays pickleball with the Harvard Pickleball Club. JPL, MSA, and NURC party at Queer Prom. JHP sets out in search of a sports bar near Harvard’s campus. AJPL and MSA look at the story behind Allston’s nickname “Rat City.” XSC profiles the married HBS alumni who founded Beli (like Letterboxd, but for food). AJPL and MK speak to Narayan Khandekar, director of the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. AR writes about HMS researchers affected by the Trump administration’s funding cuts. ASM profiles Ed Childs, an icon of Harvard’s labor movement. JMK and SZ explore the effects of the Trump administration on ESPP concentrators’ job prospects. CGH brings us a write-around profile of Michael Abramowitz, a former CrimEd suing the Trump administration for its dismantling of Voice of America. JES and NURC speak to Logan McCarty, Chem 20 lecturer and opera singer. CJ writes about Brittany Charlton and her fight to save the LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence. For a double-feature 15Q, CL sits down with poet and Economics PhD CJC, and CES talks to chess grandmaster and Economics professor KSR. Our columnists close out the semester. AJBS blurs the boundary between the digital world and “real life.” AS writes about her study-abroad experience in Cuba. CS traces his genealogy of queer ancestors. In a standalone column, MEL quits her phone for a week. This issue brings a quartet of poignant introspections. JES writes about the memories stored on her old laptop. IS writes about her mother’s feelings about weakness. JMK writes an introspection about growth, feeling, and magnolia trees. Capping off her annual series, MG writes a letter to her senior year. At the end of the semester, we could all use a little levity. MHJ and NURC parody the chaos of the Currier mailing list. JK and MK compare corsetry to LS1b. MEL compares the Widener stacks to Harvard fighting back. And, finally, FM’s staff presents Alan Garber with advice on how to recoup billions of dollars in cut funding. FMLove, YAK + MTB

Volume XXXVI, Issue VII

Dear FM, In this week’s cover story, AJP and SG take a look at Fenway Health, a giant in the world of LGBT healthcare. Through archival research and on-the-ground reporting, AJP and SG tell Fenway Health’s storied history — from its origins as a radical free clinic to its status as “ground zero” for LGBTQ healthcare during the AIDS crisis — while highlighting staff and patient concerns with the organization’s current management and recent downsizing. And though Fenway Health has struggled with financial insolvency and stalled union negotiations in recent years, the center is now facing a new challenge: a federal government hostile to its founding mission. How will Fenway Health meet this moment? Can they? The rest of the issue is full of wonderful pieces. For levities, we have two venn diagrams by HGL and JMK and JPL’s list of Harvard’s recession indicators. A series of pieces take us all around town: first to Currier, to stop for some eggs with CGH and JK; then to the Little Crepe Cafe to hear some revolutionary poetry with MK and AM; to the Cambridge Antique Market with MSA and NFLL; around the Houses’ art galleries with HGL; and to Allston, to watch microgreens grow with NCI. REGC takes us back in time — to explore how John Harvard moved from his old spot outside of Annenberg to his familiar perch in the Yard. AWA and HGL talk to influencer Sean Park about @askharvardstudents and his in-the-Yard interviews of Harvard students. JES discusses the chaos of Harvard’s twelve housing lotteries, which — of course — lack standardization. For columns, CS discusses queer cinema, AJBS talks about neighborliness on Harvard’s campus, AS asks us to reconsider our spring break habits, CJ probes our preoccupation with dairy, and CL writes a letter to letters. To close out this issue, we have some introspections: SZ pens an ode to the book “When Breath Becomes Air” and the use of tears, RZN takes a trip to Detroit, DMH reflects on her relationship with Syria, and SJ talks about how travel pushes us to inquire and grow. And finally, in a piece that came out on Wednesday night, NHS talks to Larry Summers — former Harvard president and Secretary of the Treasury — about what comes next in the fight for Harvard's future. FMLove, MTB + YAK

Volume XXXVI, Issue VI

Dear Reader, Sibling power duo JL and JL take us back to their hometown of Allston. Allston is often pigeonholed as a transient neighborhood: full of artists, hipsters, and college students, a place where people come and go. But, as JL and JL show through their warm storytelling, Allstonians love the city. They want to stay. JL and JL examine how influential forces in the neighborhood make it difficult for residents to settle down — and how Allstonians help each other put down roots. We have three comper debuts in this issue: SLSY profiles Mira Nair, MSA visits a series of campus Bible studies, and CAE attends the Radcliffe Pitches’ 50th anniversary concert. In a Levity combo, DCB gives us advice on how to beg our professors for an extension, and MEL compares Humanities 10 to Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken.” In this week's 15Q, VWR sits down with John Urschel, MIT math professor, Harvard junior fellow, and former NFL player. Thank you, as always, to the FM exec team, for making my Tuesday nights. Thank you to Design and Multimedia for your wonderful visuals. And, of course, thank you to MTB for your thoughtful edits and your unwavering commitment. FMLove, YAK+MTB

Volume XXXVI, Issue V

Dear FM, In this week’s cover story, NHS profiles Hopi E. Hoekstra — a talented biologist, a former college volleyball player from California, and FAS dean during Harvard’s most tumultuous period in recent years. As the tumult shows no sign of stopping, Hoekstra toes a difficult line as dean; she has to balance her dedication to representing the faculty with her responsibility to protect the University. CS takes us into the skies (or, more accurately, Boylston) to learn about Harvard’s first Air Transportation Forum. MEL pens a beautiful introspection about taking time to just exist, on a campus that prides itself on productivity and busyness. RLA writes an endpaper about the Eliot tunnels, and our often futile attempts to decorate and claim the places around us. JPL and HGL head to Luxor Cafe for their late night Ramadan hours. And CL, in the second installment of her column, writes about our cultural fascination with digital and disposable cameras. A million and one thank yous: to CEK for proofing, to KHL for humoring my last-minute design asks, to MTW and LLL for mice-photographing excellence, to XSC and KJK for being comp superstars, to all compers for great pitches and great energy, and to NHS for pulling off a last-minute interview this morning. And, as always, thank you to YAK, for steady and constant leadership. FMLove, MTB + YAK