Living Among the Dead in the Old Burying Ground

Efforts to preserve the Old Burying Ground’s historical and aesthetic legacy have given rise to an entirely new set of questions: Who gets memorialized after death, and why? What makes us devote money and manpower to the upkeep of a graveyard so old that no surviving descendants are left to visit? And what does all of it say about us now?

Old Burying Ground

The Old Burying Ground, the oldest surviving graveyard in Cambridge, is a fixture of Harvard Square. Over the past two decades, efforts to maintain the cemetery have drawn together a wide swath of Cambridge residents, historians, scholars, and preservationists.

skull and crossbones grave

The tombstones are remnants of Puritan-era craftsmanship that the Fannins take pride in preserving. Many of them are painstakingly carved with images of the “death’s head” — a foreboding, winged skull, etched alongside phrases like “memento mori” (remember you must die) and “fugit hora” (the hour flies).

Easter Graveyard

Volunteers are busy scattering rainbow plastic eggs for the annual Easter egg hunt.

In Defense Of Running Late

By procrastinating my own future, I’ve saved myself from making the most fatal mistake: embarking on adulthood without really considering what I want from it.

Do Blondes Have More Fun?

Bleaching my hair brought me closer than I’d ever been to feeling beautiful — and when you get so close, it’s impossible not to want more.

The Battle for Mass Ave

Small businesses’ need for parking spaces has come into conflict with competing city interests: promoting road safety and encouraging more sustainable forms of travel.

How Real is BeReal?

The first time one of my friends tried to sell me on BeReal, I balked. A mandatory photo of my face at an unpredictable time each day?

How Not to Cook

If I kept hauling home a bag of miscellaneous produce every week, if I kept laboring over Moroccan baked fish and spiced chickpea stew, then maybe I was growing. Maybe I was clawing back control.

Tamar Endpaper Design

Compelled to Coexist: A History on the Desegregation of Harvard’s Freshman Housing

“The drama of it is one young Black man, just turned 21, confronting one of the most powerful people in the country, and therefore the world, and facing him down on something that this man cherished."

A Physician in the Patient's Chair

Susan D. Block, who has taught and researched doctor-patient communication and severe illness for decades, found herself on the other side of that relationship in the fall of 2018, which would transform her work, teaching, and practice.

Maintaining Morale in the Remote Classroom

Alongside technical difficulties and time zone differences, virtual education has brought a new set of challenges for professors and students: How do you foster a social-academic community when you can’t see anyone face-to-face?

Mental Health Data Shows Significant Signs of Depression and Anxiety at Harvard

Harvard students experience significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety than the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s reported national average, according to mental health survey results conducted by Harvard University Health Services in 2017 and 2018.

Counseling and Mental Health Services Launches Same-Day Non-Urgent Appointments

Harvard's Counseling and Mental Health Services has started offering same-day appointments for non-urgent cases, according to a social media post made by Student Mental Health Liaisons last week.