Nourish and Serve a Great Success!
Posted 9/10/11 by Christine Hurd
This afternoon, we held our first event of the year–a trip to The Greater Boston Food Bank. A big shout-out to everyone who came to sort and box over 6,236 pounds of food. We provided, in our short trip, enough meals to feed a person for almost two months. However, the work is never complete, and we will be partnering with the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard tomorrow for their Interfaith Community Service event (packaging 9,110 meals!). If you’d like to attend and continue to nourish and serve, then the place to be is Ticknor Lounge at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow!
HCD Nourish & Serve Weekend
Posted 8/25/11 by Christine Hurd
Join the Harvard College Democrats for our first service weekend of the semester at the Greater Boston Food Bank. RSVP
here for the event to be held on September 10. Meet at 12:15 by the Harvard T Ticket Station! Our second event is with the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard. RSVP for that event
here.
Hope to see you there!
Dem Summers: Adan Acevedo’s Art of Actualizing Awesome Abroad
Posted 8/24/11 by Christine Hurd
The Dems have been busy over the summer: interning, working, volunteering, traveling, and of course, indulging in some leisure time not oft found in Cambridge (leave it to a Harvard student to be busy spending leisure time.) This is part VI of an indefinite series. If you’re a Harvard Dem (or rising pre-frosh with interest), we’d love to hear what you’ve been up to. | E-mail communications@harvarddems.com.
Events Director Adan Acevedo was in Brazil and Los Angeles this summer!
I have one rule: spend as much time as possible in my city, Los Angeles, during the summer.
…unless you’re going to Rio de Janeiro.
I spent my summer taking language classes with Professor Clemence Jouet-Pastre, the head of the Romance Languages Department at Harvard, and learning about Brazil’s economic promise and cultural diversity. I talked to everyone I met about Cardoso, Lula and Roussef. Everyone (including some very charismatic receptionists) had opinions about the Plano Real, and how the economic boom was either helping or hurting those lower in the socioeconomic ladder.
Our first week and a half was spent in Sao Paulo, a city larger than New York and a city that has the jaw-dropping mansions of Higienopolis only a few minutes away from skycrapers with few windows that serve as, rather unsafe, housing to the very poor in the city.
After our time in Sao Paulo, we visited Paraty for about four days. Paraty, my version of paradise, is a romantic colonial city surrounded by islands, which we visited on a day-long boat trip. We spent the four days we had in Paraty exploring, swinging from ropes into waterfalls, and experiencing the religious traditions of the town.
Finally, we reached Rio de Janeiro. Rio is a city rich in culture that loves the modern. It is a city that has favelas just a few meters away from the fanciest of hotels. The city has the best beaches I’ve ever seen, the liveliest teenagers and some of the most honest people I’ve ever encountered (and that’s coming from someone who has lived in a Hispanic household for the past 20 years). The wealth discrepancy, the memories of a military regime, and the high crime rates tinge every aspect of Carioca (what people from Rio call themselves) life, but one can’t help but be amazed at the greatness and promise of the city. I wrote a few papers, took a few tests, but I learned a lot from my day-to-day interactions with people and the late nights at bars chatting with people who had just gotten out of class or work.
I read a ton this summer, improved at speaking Portuguese, ate delicious food, kept up with the ridiculous antics of our US Congress and managed to slip in a quick road trip to Northern California. Now I’m excited to meet all of you and work with you to make this year enjoyable (and to gear up for 2012!).
And if you’re wondering…yes, they are tall and tan and young and lovely.
Dem Summers: Allison Gofman’s Academic Greatness
Posted 8/23/11 by Christine Hurd
The Dems have been busy over the summer: interning, working, volunteering, traveling, and of course, indulging in some leisure time not oft found in Cambridge (leave it to a Harvard student to be busy spending leisure time.) This is part VII of an indefinite series. If you’re a Harvard Dem (or rising pre-frosh with interest), we’d love to hear what you’ve been up to. | E-mail communications@harvarddems.com
This summer I took a break from partisan politics to do some research and work for a nonprofit. I was research associate to Patricia Duff, Founder of nonprofit The Common Good, and Stuart Sundlun, Managing Director of BMB Group. My assignment was to research international statistics for an upcoming book – a 390 page report later, I’m finally done. Whewh. Comparing the United States to the rest of the world was an interesting project; the conclusion: we are no longer number one on many metrics, but I believe in our country enough that I’m sure that with enough dedication, we can remedy faults in the categories we need to focus on (the middle class and female health/representation are among our weakest points). Favorite fun fact is that we produce the most cheese in the world.
I also had the opportunity to intern with The Common Good, a non-partisan political nonprofit committed to a mission of increasing involvement in the political process and encouraging civil dialogue. Although I’m usually a firm Democrat, this was a great opportunity to encourage genuine discussion and debate across the isle, which is something that our political process does not have nearly enough of. We ran a large number of events over the summer, ranging from policy discussions on the Middle East, events with Representatives Shelley Berkley and Barney Frank, and larger events with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, a panel on social media in politics, and co-hosting the premier of documentary Life in a Day at the Museum of Modern Art.
During a bout of nerdiness and boredom, I wrote an article
about the politics of Lord of the Rings. I’m looking forward to returning to the Dems in lovely Cambridge, where civil dialogue is almost always the norm!
