Conversations
Adam Aleksic photo
Aleksic’s videos range from silly, like a deep dive into whether the past-tense of “yeet” is “yeeted” or “yote” (spoiler: it’s “yate”), to informative, like an explanation of “Why Gender is a Linguistic Construct.” Aleksic not only embraces Internet slang but gives it thoughtful, thorough linguistic analysis.
Jazz Jennings Portrait
Jennings grew up in the spotlight. Starting at age six, when Barbara Walters interviewed her and her family on “20/20,” Jennings has been publicly sharing her experience growing up transgender. Now, Jazz is just a normal Harvard student, who also happens to make mermaid tails.
Jazz Jennings is in Her Self-Care Era
Jazz Jennings’s reality TV show “I Am Jazz” aimed to increase trans visibility by showing she “was just a normal girl going through life, who just happened to be trans.” Now, Jazz is just a normal Harvard student, who also happens to make mermaid tails.
For Linguistics Influencer Adam V. Aleksic ’23, Language is Political
One of the Internet’s first and only “linguistics influencers,” Aleksic, who works under the handle @etymologynerd, spends his time post-graduation traveling the world and creating videos about etymology for an audience of over 1.3 million across TikTok and Instagram.
Eva Shang on Startups and Storytelling
Shang’s skill at shaping the narrative has served her well in the startup world. When asked about a strength that’s helped her succeed in the industry, Shang pauses for a second, and then replies, “I think I’m a good storyteller.”
Maia Ramsden on Pro-Running, Pacific Poetry, and Y2K fashion
When Ramsden leaves Harvard for the real world, she’s planning to be a professional runner. I ask her what she’ll miss most. “I think I’ll miss being super busy, even though it’s hard to imagine right now,” she says. “That’s what everyone’s telling me anyway.”
Fifteen Questions: Elena Glassman on Human-Computer Interaction, Freestyle Wrestling, and MIT Dorms
The human-computer interaction expert sat down with FM to discuss software design, the importance of bicycling infrastructure, and her time competing in women’s freestyle wrestling.
Fifteen Questions: Steve Hyman on the Genetics of Mental Health, Mind Reading, and Speaking his Mind
The Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology professor spoke with FM about the ethics of neuroscience, mental health research, and his work as the former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. “We have to do better in coming up with both preventive interventions and treatments for mental illness,” he says.
Entrepreneurial Academia with Gary King
Professor and serial entrepreneur Gary King argues that his frequent traversal of the boundaries between academia and industry is “not a double life.” Rather, they’re just different facets of the same job — and, if anything, that back-and-forth “helps both.”
Caroline Calloway Is (Basically) Done Being a Scammer
“I actually think ultimately, in the long run, my first priority in this life is my art,” Calloway says. “If it’s: make books that live on after your death, or have a fulfilling family and be happy, I’m choosing books 10 times out of 10. I would rather make my art than be happy.”
Gary King Portrait
Gary King, Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor and Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, blends entrepreneurship and academia in pushing the boundaries of social science.
Caroline Calloway books portrait
Calloway is a ‘scammer,’ at least in narrative, but she’s no Elizabeth Holmes or Anna Delvey. What she’s stealing isn’t money or any other exhaustible resource — it’s attention. And are you not entertained?
Caroline Calloway portrait
“The driving force of my very existence is,” she reveals to me, “I have the memories. I have the friends. It's time to put them on the page.”
Fifteen Questions: David F. Elmer on Test Anxiety, ‘Percy Jackson,’ and His Favorite Harvard House
The Classics Chair and incoming Eliot House Dean sat down with FM to discuss ancient Greek literature, South Slavic oral traditions, and why he hasn’t read the bestselling Rick Riordan series.
Getting to Know Sungjoo Yoon, the Datamatch Leaker
Sungjoo Yoon ’27 became a campus celebrity when he leaked a list of Rice Purity Test scores from freshmen’s private Datamatch profiles. But despite his newfound celebrity status, Yoon doesn’t see himself as the infamous “Datamatch Leaker.”
Wesley Wang Portrait
Wesley Wang '26 started filmmaking when he was just 11. Now, the sophomore is undertaking his first full feature film with Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky '91.
‘Going Viral’ with Wesley Wang
Wang’s last film gained 3.7 million views on YouTube in the span of a few months. “You never expect anything to go viral,” he says, “although I did know for a fact this one was going to do better than my other ones.”
Fifteen Questions: Arthur M. Kleinman on Caregiving, Field Research in China, and His Love Story
A professor of anthropology of over 40 years, Kleinman studies patient-caregiver relationships in Asia. “I had the personal experience of taking care of my late wife, Joan, for 10 and a half years while she suffered from early onset Alzheimer’s disease and died from it,” he says. “That experience was transformative for me. I thought I knew everything about illness and care. I realized that I had a hell of a lot to learn. What is it to take care of someone who you love with a terrible disease?”
Ned Friedman Tree Picture
"It’s kind of a magical tree, and it’s a mutant tree, too," Friedman says.
Ned Friedman 15Q Arboretum Road
"Because these are really important trees for science and their conservation, we have to keep them alive," Friedman says.