Green Fashion a la Stella McCartney

Here's my new column for Freeze Magazine about eco-friendly fashion... I'm working on a larger product of a sort of guidebook for Harvard entrepenuers outlining the benefits of sustainability when creating a business, and fashion obviously had to be a large component...
http://www.freezecollegemag.com/fb/0409_greenify.php

I also went to a forum for writers last night at our Office of Career Services and all the panelists talked about the importance of blogging, so perhaps I'll start trying to get this blog out there more...

Paris Je T'aime!

I love love love Paris, last night went to the Hotel Costes for dinner with some sort of Saudi Arabian royalty, was so fun- today we are going to the Warhol exhibition at the Grand Palais, yesterday went to Delacroix's old townhome in our neighborhood in St Germain, now looking for coffee to go, which is harder than one would think in Paris....
so much more upon the return xx

Oh Annabelle Lee

In honor of the fact that in 48 hours I will be passed out on a plane to Paris and in the interim I have to summarize in one page four chapters of my history professors' book (note: I for whatever reason volunteered to do this) earnestly apply to the Columbia Publishing Course and put my application in the mail and pack for said vacation and go to a full day of classes tomorrow, I am going to post something a. I don't have to write and b. that doesn't have anything to do with any of this, and it's my favorite poem, incidentally first discovered as a reference in my favorite book, Lolita.
As follows, 'Annabel Lee,' by Edgar Allan Poe


It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

"A good laugh is sunshine in the house"

This weekend was Club Fly, which is the Fly's biggest party of the year. I wore a sequined miniskirt and danced til 3 in the morning- working hard, playing smart... don't worry, dad.
Sunday was gorgeous here, I met a friend from Boston College at Stephanie's on Newbury for brunch. Her name is Jess, I met her at a Georgetown transfer information session freshman year and we decided that if we both transferred, we would be roommates. I decided to come to Harvard and she to stay at BC, and we catch up over a meal in Boston once every couple of months. It's sometimes such a relief to talk to someone a lot like you you feel you can talk to who isn't part of your immediate circle-a close friend you just don't talk to that often. Brunch was long, and we walked to Boston Common afterwards and sat on the grass, which was just starting to warm up, in the sun.
I'm working on my application for the Columbia Publishing Course http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1175372207611/page/1165270091617/simplepage.htm and finally decided what I want my personal statement to be (the prompt is the ubiqitous "tell us something about yourself that doesn't appear on your tanscript or resume") I'm taking a photo of myself with my diary, writing at the top that I've written in a diary almost every day for the past ten years, and putting in clips of some of the more insightful things I've written in my diary in the past few years, with dates after each quote.
I can't believe I'm going to Paris in four days. This is going to be a real adventure, with no need for any excitment to be chased or manufactured. I can't wait just to soak it up...
And currently reading "Vanity Fair," by William Thackeray- the book that spawned the magazine title. A favorite quote so far-- "The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice."

Boss-town

So instead of the Beacon Hill Bistro and war, Kwelina and I wandered through the gorgeous residential parts of Beacon Hill (reminds me of the Central West End, same cracked cobblestone, gas lamps, soft light, ivy walls) went to our favorite store in Back Bay (Louis Boston, is as well curated as any museum I've ever been to) and finally went to Joe's American for dinner, which is wood paneled and cozy and has nooks overlooking Newbury Street. I had a great chicken salad, and we walked back down Commonwealth Ave, which during the day looks like this
and at night has white Christmas lights lit up and wrapped around all the trees-it's long and has old Beaux Arts limestone townhomes running all down its sides.
Friday nights are bum nights at Harvard (although the guys above us appear to be having a major rager tonight) so I'm lounging around, and working on my application for the Columbia Publishing Course- I filled out the form part tonight and tomorrow just have to write two essays- one about why I want to work in publishing, and one paragraph about anything I want. For the one paragraph, I'm going to talk about New York City, and start with an E.B. White quote from a book of hers I love- "On any person who desires such queer prizes, New York will bestow the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy."
Til tomorrow! xx, E

haircuts, coats, wars

Last night was senior bar, the quite genius creation of some senior class council long ago. The senior class council plans a night once a week during senior spring where all seniors are invited to go to a bar in Cambridge and hang out together. Deceptively simple sounding, but at Harvard, where the closest thing we have to communal space is the undergraduate library (seriously, people go to Lamont sometimes just to have social hour and human contact outside of their blockmates) senior bar feels totally unique because you get to see people from your classes, people you see going out, people from activities, etc. all hanging out together, which never happens in any other setting.
So last night it was at Grafton Street, which is a nice restaurant/bar that Bevin, Walter, the boys and I went to last time they were in Cambridge. I went to the Spee and the Pheonix and then headed home.
This morning I picked up my coat from the tailor, finally! Mom had sent me some old mink fur, and I got the tailor to cut it in strips and put it on my classic winter coat- it looks a little like a Russian princess coat now with the sleeves, but I like it, especially with more casual clothes, like the jeans, t-shirt and Converse I'm wearing today.














I went to this great, nice hair salon that has 25 dollar cuts for students and got maybe the best haircut I've ever had (no dramatic changes, just the most meticulous thinning, feathering and bang trim) went to science to turn in a problem set and stayed for the lecture on eating disorders, which was actually interesting and also what I'm writing my paper for the class on.
I had lunch with Kwelina (my best friend and Paris compatriot) in Lowell dining hall.
I'm headed to the Institute of Politics in a few minutes with my friend Jeff for a talk with Mark Penn, who was the chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's campaign, Bill's campaign, Microsoft and Tony Blair. He invented the concept of microtrend polling, and while brilliant, is supposed to be a total jerk- as in infamously jerky. I'm curious to see how he'll treat a group of college students, and somewhat to see why he came, as people don't get paid to come do this sort of thing at the IOP and it's not like his firm needs to be recruiting people or he needs people to like him.
Afterwards, Kwelina, Ali and I are headed in to Boston for a little while to do a little reading. I am in Niall Furgeson's economic history seminar, and every week, someone volunteers to summarize one of four readings. I volunteered to summarize one of Professor Furgeson's books (http://www.amazon.com/Pity-War-Explaining-World-I/dp/0465057128) so I'm going to get started reading that at Beacon Hill Bistro, a favorite lazy afternoon tea haunt for us... http://beaconhillhotel.com/bistro/
Hope everyone is having a good Friday! xx, E