Category: Harvard

When a Harvard Graduate Still Believes in Magic

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As I prepare to graduate from Harvard this morning, I had some words I thought worth sharing:

I’ve been waiting half of my life for an owl, more specifically, a letter delivered by an owl, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one here who’s been waiting. That Hogwarts owl has a really bad sense of direction; it is so very lost. Hogwarts was only on the pages of a book, but to a ten-year-old, and even to a twenty-two-year-old, Hogwarts, and the magic that exists there, are real.

I believe in magic. I can practically hear my parents groaning, wondering what kind of school they sent their daughter to. This is what you get for supporting a liberal arts education. I took the required science classes alongside my Folklore and Mythology classes.

Yet I still believe in magic. It’s not the magic of Narnia or Hogwarts or Oz or any other place we love to read and daydream about. It’s a much simpler kind of magic and far more extraordinary.

Someone once gave me a piece of advice that has stayed with me ever since: You don’t have to be trying to change the world in order to change someone’s world. The person giving the advice was referring to writing, that a novel about vampires could matter just as much, if not more, to a reader than a play by Shakespeare, a statement which feels blasphemous as an English major, but it is true nonetheless. You don’t have to be trying to change the world in order to change someone’s world. You just have to be. To me, that is magic.

We as people can change. We are not set in stone forever. We can change and be changed by other people. A smile as you pass by, a message over Facebook, a meal to catch up on life, a hug when there are no words at all. This is the magic that we possess, the power to connect to other people and through that, to do wonderful things. We have changed over the past four years and we will continue to change over the next four years and the many years after. You don’t have to be trying to change the world in order to change someone’s world.

Now some of us are planning on actually changing the world, but for the rest of us, we’ll just be. Abraham Lincoln said, “Whatever you are, be a good one.” A good friend, a good daughter or son, brother or sister, roommate, coworker, partner, leader – a good person. Be a good one. You don’t need to be a great one or the best one, just a good one. So that if you’re not out to change the world, you can still change someone’s world, even if that world is just your own.

I’d like to take a moment to recognize the people who have changed our worlds for the past four years. The House Masters, tutors, and staff who helped make homes for us. The professors, teaching fellows, and advisors who made learning exciting. Each other, our friends, who made the day to day worthwhile. And last but certainly not least, our families, without whom, we’d have no foundation to stand upon. Thank you all. You have changed our worlds for the better and I hope we’ve done the same for you.

All that said, if anyone does see an owl flying by with a letter in its beak, please let me know.

Congratulations, Harvard Class of 2017. The world is waiting for us.

 

Research Consent for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Or How an English Major Does History of Science

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This past semester I decided to go outside my academic comfort zone and take a History of Science class, which was recommended to me by a friend. I am very glad I took the class – the topics were interesting and the professor was amazing, would recommend with enthusiasm.

Despite this, I am an English major at heart, always have been and always will be. So when one of the essays on the final exam had a creative aspect, I took it where any English major would have taken it – to the literary world.

The prompt was to draft the “perfect” consent form for participants in genomic sequencing project, taking into account what information needs to be included and issues of genomic sovereignty, ownership of genetic data, patient privacy, social and ethnic inclusion, and informed consent. The prompt was set up that we could either create a group and write the perfect consent form for them or write a more traditional essay addressing how these issues would be handled in the perfect form. I decided to go the creative route – why write a traditional essay when you do not have to? – but instead of creating my own fictional group, I decided to tap into my literary love and write a consent form for an already famous fictional group. The result is below. I had a lot of fun preparing this “essay” and writing it.  If my teaching fellow was a fan of the series, this would be a hit; if not, well…thankfully, this was an elective class.

Genomic Research Consent Form for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

The following are the elements that would be necessary to include in a research consent form for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:

  1. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to discover the “Wizard” gene. By sequencing British Wizard DNA and testing it against British Muggle DNA, it may be possible to discover what genetic differences or similarities exist between Wizards and Muggles.
  2. The samples provided for this study will not be used for any other purpose or testing without further consent from the participants.
  3.  Procedure: Researchers will come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to collect saliva, hair, and blood samples from students, faculty and staff. The DNA from these samples will then be sequenced. The genomic sequences will then be compared to British Muggle DNA.
  4. All samples will belong to the participants.
  5. Every participant will be required to sign a consent form. Underage wizards will require consent forms from legal guardians.
  6. Prior to entry to the school, researchers will be in communication with the Ministry of Magic to gain access to the community and the school itself.
  7. Prior to beginning the study, researchers will conduct information sessions for the Ministry of Magic as well as Hogwarts students, faculty, staff, and parents, as well as any interested community members. Hogwarts does not teach a biology or chemistry course so it will be necessary to educate the community on DNA and genomic sequencing, in order for participants to be informed about the process.
  8. Should studies be published based on this research, credit will be given to the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School for its assistance and participation in this research.
  9. Should any profit be made from this research, half of the profit will be given to the Wizarding community, to be divided equally between the Ministry and Hogwarts. Money will be transferred in Muggle form to Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
  10. It is the belief of these researchers that conducting the study at Hogwarts School is the most efficient way to test for the “Wizard” gene, for the following reasons:
    1. Because Hogwarts is a boarding school, all possible participants are conveniently situated in one location. This would mean minimal contact with the community at large and efficiency in collecting the DNA.
    2. Because most of the British Wizarding community sends their children to Hogwarts, the School’s student body is a good representative of the population at large.
  11. Should the research prove inconclusive or suggest further studies, the researchers will return to the Ministry and Hogwarts to discuss further steps. This may require conducting research in the Wizarding community at large, in which case, permission from the Ministry will once again be sought.

It is the hope that this research will result in the growth of mutual ties between the Wizarding and Muggle communities of Britain. It is our hope that should we discover what makes Wizards and Muggles both different and similar, these two communities will be able to work together towards mutual goals.

 

I passed the class.