Archive for March 2008
I’m quoted in the Crimson
In yet another case of insensitivity toward undergraduate concerns, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) shut down all the dining halls over spring break—leaving the many students who remained on campus over the vacation period without a viable meal plan.
It didn’t have to be this way. While the fiscal and labor-related constraints of HUDS certainly are of concern, the health and well-being of the numerous students on campus should not have gone so neglected.
After all the house dining halls closed on Friday, March 21, a $35 billion institution became home to possibly hundreds barren bellies and scholar-scavengers.
A surprising number of undergraduates are compelled to stay for a wide variety of reasons, all of which call for a daily meal plan.
First, many seniors are forced linger over break in order to complete theses. The final deadlines for many departments fall after the break, concentrators often open out of returning home for a spell or wiling away hours out in Cancun. Honors track concentrators studying Religion, Visual and Environmental Studies, and most of the hard sciences spend their vacations holed up in their rooms.
While spring-sport athletes who stay behind are often cared for by coaches and nutritionists, not everyone has that luxury. Perhaps most importantly, the lack of HUDS meals over break harms students who are socio-economically disadvantaged. For those who are financially prevented from a leisurely spring break, a meal plan is of utmost importance, for dining daily in the square can be prohibitively expensive.
Diego Rentería ’11 was surprised that the dining halls close for Spring Break, yet stay open for intercession. “It’s unreasonable to close the dining halls for a whole week mid-semester. Students on strict budgets like me stay because they cannot afford to travel somewhere. At least two dining halls should stay open for those students who stay behind.”
Opening a few dining halls, as HUDS does for other breaks, would be a potential solution. Bottom-line: Kids on campus should be taken care of.
There are myriad ways for HUDS to address these concerns. HUDS has been excellent about feedback lately—especially since student complaints erupted about food quality a few weeks ago. Perhaps, in line with the recent push toward more open communication, HUDS could do an online poll to find out exactly how many Harvard students will be staying over break, and what meals are most important for students to dine in. They might be able to open only a few dining halls, reduce the number of hot entrees, and still accommodate everyone while minimizing costs.
We understand that there are personnel and financial issues involved with operating dining halls over vacation. Taking into consideration the way that HUDS’ budget is determined each year, its constraints are understandable. But the distribution of funds is decided each winter prior to the school year, and the next time around HUDS should allocate some resources to providing food over Spring Break. Given the amount that students pay for board, we simply cannot have hungry kids at Harvard.
April Fools
I had a prank prepared for April Fools, but I got too lazy to post it here. Until next year!
Google Maps, stop scaring/entertaining me
Google Maps Street View has been updated to include most of L.A. County, including the Southeast. This now makes it possible for me to look at my friends’ houses (or my own) and laugh if I see them (already have).
Voy desvelado por estas calles esperando encontrar…
“Desvelado,” sung by El Macizo wholly encapsulates how I’m feeling right now (it’s three a.m. in Boston) and how I have been feeling for the past week. I already featured this song as a video of the week back in October, but that was the original, Bobby Pulido version. I like El Macizo’s version a lot more at this moment. Less pop song, more love song.
I get back to Los Angeles sometime in late May/early June.
Video of the week: Cuando dos almas
This blog post will attempt to make justice for this great song and a great singer.
This past Monday, the 24th, was the twelfth anniversary of the death of Lola “La grande” Beltrán. I vaguely remember her death and some of the memorial programs for her on T.V. I never heard her much on La Ranchera 930 and never really listened to her until this year, when I looked for her videos on YouTube and found a lot of great recordings of her, most from her later years. The song of hers that has struck me the most has been “Cuando dos almas”.
From what I’ve been able to glean from simple internet research, “Cuando dos almas” is a folk song from Coahuila. Like any good folk song, there is no known composer. I had never heard this song before I looked for Lola Beltrán videos on YouTube a few months ago. The moment I saw the first video of the song, I knew I liked it. It’s a simple song of one lover singing to the other, imploring for their love to not end after the death of one of them. The singer asks their lover to take to their grave some flowers as a way to remember their love.
This song is great on so many levels: the singer is accompanied by the guitar only, the guitar intro is short yet emotive without being flashy, and la Grande’s voice and performance makes her version of “Cuando dos almas” stand above the others I have heard. I have spent the past few hours learning the guitar parts and I have most of them down. If my dad, uncles, or anyone, really, ever wants me to accompany them when singing this song, I’d do it.
I’m going to put up two videos: the first one has the intro guitar part included in the video. It was recorded at one of her performances in el Palacio de Bellas Artes.
This next version is my favorite. The video begins with her singing, but the main differences of this video is the key change (from G to A) halfway through the song and Lola’s performance. No matter how many times I see this video, I cry. You have to see it.
Si vas al campo donde los muertos reposan ya
Busca mi tumba y allí solita la encontrarás
Llévame flores, muchas gardenias y un rosal
Que sean violetas y no me olvides y nada más
So much good news!
- Last night I found out one of my friends back in high school was accepted at UCLA and UChicago. I wish her and her family the best when choosing.
- Today in the morning I got into Cabot House, which is in the Quad! I’m so happy!
- I got an email from the Cabot House master as an official welcome. The email included this snippet: “Cabot came in first among all the houses in student satisfaction on last year’s senior satisfaction survey.” I’m in the happiest house!
- Though I floated, my roommates and half my entryway is also in the Quad, though most are in Currier. I’m happy.
- I checked my mail today and I got a letter from Cabot House and I also got my order of Pedro Páramo y El llano en llamas. I think I might read them during Spring Break.
I’m so happy that Spring Break is almost here! Though I have to do financial aid forms on Saturday, I’m ready to rest and apply to jobs.
Harvard, ¿por qué?
I have been in a tizzy to find out when el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán performs at el Milión Dolar in Downtown Los Angeles. I just did some googling and I found out that they’re at el Milión Dolar for Mother’s Day. I can’t go because I have to be at Harvard for reading period/final exams, but I urge you all to go to it. Take your mothers! It promises to be great. You can always YouTube them and hear them for yourself.
You can call el Milión Dolar at 213-617-3600. Go, do it!
War protest… or housing celebration?
This was the scene last year over by Memorial Hall on Housing Lottery Day.
Video de la semana: ¿Tú eres karateka?
Pos yo soy un hijo de la chingada.
Me encanta el cine de ficheras.
Mi futura casa
Last week, Harvard freshmen entered a random lottery (the only control is for gender) that determines what upperclassmen house they will live in for the rest of their undergraduate stay at Harvard. Only 2% of Harvard students decide to live off-campus, making this a big deal for all students. The house system exists for freshmen to create friendships and a sense of community.
Students are allowed to form blocking groups of up to eight students to ensure that undergraduates have friends in the same upperclassmen house. Blocking groups are also able to link to another blocking group; this means that they will be placed in houses near each other so as to make sure that friends stay together. Those students who do not block with anyone are called “floaters.” I’m a floater in a sea of blocks.
Some blocking groups stay really close all four years, yet others disintegrate the moment the lottery results are out. Just like any relationship, it depends on the effort each party involved puts in. Read the rest of this entry »
