Contributing writer
Petra Laura Oreskovic
Latest Content
On the Loss of Our Mentor, Professor Alesina
As we find ourselves at the crossroads of college and “the real world,” Professor Alesina’s absence has made what should have been a new beginning feel like a standstill.
The Gender Pay Gap Beyond Hollywood
The reason it matters is that the way we talk about Hollywood scandals mirrors the flawed structure of the arguments we make about gender inequality in the workplace on a daily basis.
Paul Rudd: From Reading British Comics to Writing Marvel Movies
On Feb. 2, Paul Rudd, Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Man of the Year, received the famed Pudding Pot in an event he likened to “a Terrence Malick movie.”
Arts Vanity: The Execs as Zodiac Signs
Disclaimer: The only people who were qualified to write this did not.
Arts Asks: Elif Batuman on Autobiographical Inspiration
Elif I. Batuman ’99, a staff writer for The New Yorker, is the author of the newly published novel “The Idiot.” The book chronicles the experiences of Selin Karadag, a Turkish American beginning her freshman year at Harvard in 1995. Batuman spoke with The Harvard Crimson about her writing process and sources of inspiration, both literary and autobiographical.
‘Song to Song’ Familiar and Overlong
Terrence Malick’s “Song to Song” opens with what seems like a trailer for the rest of the film, yet the two hours that follow introduce little more in narrative content or character development.
‘Girls’ Grows Up in Its Final Season
In the final season of Lena Dunham’s often controversial, often hilarious, TV series, the self-professed “voice of her generation,” Hannah Horvath, finds herself (for the first time in a long time) on what seems like an upward career trajectory that might finally lead her towards maturity.
‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ Self-Assured and Funny in Second Season
The truly crazy thing about “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is that it even exists, given its eccentric combination of the medium and the message.
'The Crown' Offers a Lush Look at a Sedate Ruler
The show pays very cinematic, almost excessive attention to social machinery at the micro-level.
'Little to Do with Anything' Provides Pointed Fun
“We have statues to pee on,” says one of the characters, a Harvard student, while encouraging another to hurry up in “Little to Do with Anything.” Kirkland Drama Society’s newest production—its annual, very loose adaptation of a Shakespeare farce—is a version of “Much Ado About Nothing,” relocated to Cape Cod and set a week before graduation.
Nicolas Jaar’s ‘Sirens’: Alarms and Affects
It seems likely that the titular sirens are not meant to allure—rather, they are a political alarm. “Sirens,” Jaar’s most socially engaged album to date, is a surprisingly mature exploration of the connections between the current political realities of both Chile and the U.S., and his relationship with his father.
‘Embodied Absence’ Bring Chile’s Suppressed Art Back to Focus
“Embodied Absence: Chilean Art of the 1970s Now” is a new exhibition at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, but one might encounter pieces from it, such as Luz Donoso’s “Señalamientos con cuerpo estrecho” (Signage with Narrow Body), while taking a walk through Cambridge. This is not the exhibition’s only unconventional aspect—it also largely involves performance art.
James Blake: Pushing the Boundaries of Live Electronica
As one could hardly describe Blake as a natural performer, and as his particular brand of sentimental electronica seems unconducive to replication under concert conditions, the substantial success of his live set is remarkable.
‘The Last Wolf’ and ‘Herman’ Bleak and Moving Portraits of Modernity
Republished together, "The Last Wolf" and "Herman" skillfully explore approaching modernity and the clash of humans with nature.
