Harvard University alumni

Forget everything you thought you believed about your hero. Written in 1962, Daniel Boorstin’s, From Hero to Celebrity: The Human Pseudo- Event, a classic piece of cultural criticism, comments on the rise of celebrity and the unfailing decline of the hero. Traditional heroes are believed to have reached their status because they achieved greatness or great accomplishments in their own life times. Boorstin argues that unlike the celebrity, famous people were heroic, “admire for his courage, nobility, or exploits” (46). But, in an intriguing section of his text, Boorstin suggests that with scrutinization, greatness can posthumously be taken back. With further thought, it’s clear that Boorstin introduces this tension to argue humans alone cannot attain greatness. Heroes are not people that represent ideals, but ideals in the form of people. Our heroes are embodiments of time periods, attitudes or ideals. Morality and values can not be encompassed in one person, as every person is flawed and temporary. Also, the death of the hero has promoted the rise of the new, morally-neutral, celebrity. Daniel Boorstin expresses his ideas through his writing style. His arguments are advanced by his choices of words. Boorstin writes, “Under the hot glare of psychology and sociology the heroes’ heroic qualities have been dissolved into a blur of environmental influences and internal maladjustments” (52). His phrasing of “under the hot glare” dramatizes the decline of the hero and suggests…

In the Unlikely Event of a Water landing Tragedies such as murder and rape are thought to be horrendous crimes; acts so violent and malicious that the perpetrators must spend their lives in prison to pay their dues, but these crimes occur so often they rarely make headlines anymore. Every once in a while a big “story” will hit the news and the masses will cry out in outrage but even then the outrage dies down and the victims are forgotten. Many times there are witnesses to these crimes that do…

with a wrench. Will stays secluded in his life only surrounded by a close circle of friends, from the same neighborhood of poor Irish-American boys he grew up with in South Boston, Mass. He is fiercely protective of his three best friends Morgan, Chuckie and Billy. They spend their time together not productively but pass the time, drinking getting into fights and occasionally getting arrested for their bad behavior. In an example of his strong protective nature towards his friends it brings up a…

be geared toward more of an educated audience, educated in music perhaps. Barret writes “storying is a uniquely human phenomenon and one that is deeply implicated in the ways in which we develop our self and identity (405).” Appealing to Pathos through this use of diction, she makes the reader read this as if it were solid fact. She uses this tactic throughout the piece. Ethos comes into play with the citing of many credited sources and this makes the audience confident that what they read is…

room of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, hoping to learn the secrets of the good life. The project is one of the longest-running—and probably the most exhaustive—longitudinal studies of mental and physical well-being in history. Begun in 1937 as a study of healthy, well-adjusted Harvard sophomores (all male), it has followed its subjects for more than 70 years. Interviews: Ben Bradlee: "I Haven't Been Unhappy in My Life" The famed editor reflects on his education, career, and…

While Cummings started writing poetry at a young age, his first self published work was an autobiography. The Enormous Room was published in 1922 and contained Cummings’ experiences in jail during WWI. His next work, Tulips and Chimneys,was published in 1923 and contained numerous short poems. Cummings published more poems at around that time. (Biography.com). Cummings’ next work was the play Him, which was performed by the Provincetown Players in 1927. Then, he wrote Eimi in 1933, which was…

Elbridge Gerry was born on July 17, 1744 in Marblehead Massachusetts and had eleven other siblings. His family was rich and had their own business. His father was a Merchant-shipper after retiring from being a sea captain. After graduating from Harvard to become a merchant himself, Elbridge started working with his father and his two brothers in their family business. This business sent dried codfish to Spain. This job was just the beginning of an extraordinary man's journey into politics.…

“How ‘bout them apples?”- One of the most famous lines in recent movie history was asked in a scene from the film Good Will Hunting that showcases an extremely effective example of the commonly used idiom “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. In order to impress onlookers and make a fool out of a local “townie” character of clearly inferior intelligence, a man that has been costumed to fit the character of “Ivy League graduate student” to a tee is begins to reference obscure academic literature in…

In 1831, at the age of twelve, Walt Whitman began working for his local newspaper. He soon fell in love with the written word and started writing his own poetry (“Poet Walt Whitman”). Fast forward to the turn of the 20th century, and Whitman has already made a name for himself as one of America’s most influential poets. Two of Whitman’s most esteemed works are “O Captain! My Captain!”, written in 1865 to reflect on Abraham Lincoln's death, and “O Me! O Life!”, written in 1891 to contemplate…

When Edward finally had the power of freedom, he choose to enroll at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. While at Wesleyan University, Thorndike studied and achieved his Bachelor 's of Arts degree. He did finish his college education with his BA for science at Wesleyan, however, he opted to continue his education at Harvard University. Edward Thorndike originally planned to get another degree in French and English literature. While attending the University of Harvard, he enrolled in…