With all of the sturm, drang, disruption and depression in Cambridge last week after Donald Trump was elected President, I thought I’d retreat to upstate New York to commune with nature and art.

The nature went well,  but as it turned out, there was a shooting, probably gang-related, at Crossgates Mall, not far from my family home. There was news of hate crimes in New York  and elsewhere. And  I arrived at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College a few minutes too late for a community discussion of the election and its aftermath.

The discussion had been held beneath an installation called “Flag Exchange,”  comprised mainly of torn American flags. The flags collected as part of a multi-year project in which artist Mel Ziegler traveled across the US— offering new replacement flags for tattered ones flying at homes, post offices, businesses, and other public locations. The exhibit also included picnic tables painted red, white, and blue–all aimed at provocation and one would hope thoughtful dialogue on the current state of democracy.

After  accepting the gift of  a safety pin (the post-Trump election symbol of solidarity with those who have experienced racism, homophobia, xenophobia and such),  I did manage to escape somewhat into art in a wonderfully expansive  exhibit called “Six-fold Symmetry: Pattern in Art and Science,” curated by Skidmore faculty from a variety of disciplines.*

Among my favorite pieces were:

Drawing Memory, 2016, a wall-sized installation in which Nigerian artist Victor Ekpuk (b. 1964) uses white chalk on black-painted background to evoke and build on his understanding of Nsibidi, an African art form used by the secret Ekpe, or (Leopard Society). Art history Professor Emeritus Lisa Aronson writes that while he remains an outsider to the society, Ekpuk’s work resembles the dense and crowded aesthetic of Nsibidi (which is  often played out on cloth) giving his viewers a complex display of imagery to decode. Ekpuk’s wall drawings mirror Nsibidi’s impermanent and performative nature, both in his preferred use of an erasable chalk medium and his practice of removing the murals from the wall at the end of exhibition.

First Family–Hexagon, 2010

Iranian born Monir Farmanfarmaian (b.1924) synthesizes Persian history and artistic traditions and western geometrical abstraction in her mirrored sculpture “Hexagon.” According to  Computer Science Professor Michael Eckman, the calculation and geometry of 14th century mosaics are closely tied to Sufism, the mystical aspect of Islam, and its sacred numerology. As Farmanfarmaian explains, “The six sides of the hexagon are the directions, forward, backward, right, left, up, down. The hexagon also reflects the six virtues: generosity, self-discipline, patience, determination, insight and compassion. All the mosques in Iran, with all the flowers and the leaves and the curves and so on are based on hexagons. For me, everything connects with the hexagon.”

 Arachna’s Arcade, 2008, by Providence, RI, sculptor Dean Snyder (b. 1955) is a “drawing in space,” of a spider web. Its  “silk” is composed of highly-polished steel–which makes the web appear almost photographic in that it transposes the outside garden into the Tang gallery, curator Rachel Seligman, associate professor of mathematics, points out.

Energy Scaffolds and Information Architecture (Return to Formlessness), 2015  With use of color pencil, graphite and architectural stencils on antique ledger book pages, the intricate drawings of American artist Louise Despond (b. 1983) emerge  “organically”,  beginning with a few marks on paper but with no formal plan.  “Each drawing is a process of discovery, with a larger, universal force guiding the emerging patterns. This intuitive process generates imagery that is symmetrical, highly geometric and possessed of an expressive energy that she feels is connected both the spiritual realm and to nature,” Seligman writes.

Hours 1-8, 2016. In this series of oil paintings on linen, Grace DeGennera (b. 1956 ) “explores the ways we experience the passage of time.”  As  Roe-Dale points out, DeGennera uses “iteration”  to depict this movement, not unlike  the way in which mathematicians iterate a model (as Gravner and Griffeath did to generate their “snowfake”, described below). “Time that progresses discretely is visualized in her beads of pigment, suggesting a clock ticking …hour by hour,” Roe-Dale writes. “From afar, however, the series evokes the continuous unbroken flow of time from past to future, through the loosely brushed washes of color in the backgrounds, which reflect the shifting light as day turns into night.”

Bentley “photo” of real snowflake

Wilson Bentley’s “Snowflakes” are captured through novel
photomicrosopy techniques he developed  starting in 1885. Bentley (1865-1931) a farmer and amateur meteorologist, was the first to photograph a single snow crystal. According to Roe-Dale, Bentley’s work responds to the 1611 inquiry of  German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler’s  into the genesis of forms and to his theories about he origin of the intricate hexagonal pattern of the delicate snowflake structure.

Snowfake

Snowfakes
In 2016, Janka Gravner (b. Slovenia, 1960)  and David Griffeath (b. US, 1948)  used a mathematical model to computationally generate what they call “snowfakes.”. A goal was to investigate the formation of snow crystals and perhaps to advocate for the human ability to replicate natural, ordered beauty with deliberate, algorithmic design. According to Roe-Dale, Gravner and Griffeath used the methods of cellular automation to account for physical variables such as temperature, pressure and water vapor density in modelling the diffusive, freezing, attachment and melting actions of individual water molecules in a matrix of three dimensional space. They came up with more than 80 types of snowflake crystals generated by nature, thus providing insight into the form and design of ice and other crystalline solids.

*
Thomas Bansted’s “Last of the Dreadnaughts,” 2011-2012, (below) is  based on “Dazzle,” a pattern of disruption conceived by British artist Norman Wilkinson in 1917.  During World War I, Wilkinson commanded a unit in the Royal Academy, in which artists and students created bold patterns used on ships to make it difficult for submarines to predict boats’ paths or aim weapons.

In “Dreadnaughts,” Bangsted, (b. Denmark, 1976) created a series of large-scale digitally-assembled photographs of World War I ships.  Associate Art Professor Sarah  Sweeney writes that in his manipulations, Bangsted applies a Dazzle pattern that “highlights the incongruity of the ship with its background”–breaking up the form of the ship and concealing its identity.

As explained on the Tang Website, Patterns, systems, and networks are all around us, and in this digital age we are increasingly aware of their influence on our lived experience. This exhibition explores some of the ways in which human beings create and manipulate patterns, and why we are intrinsically driven to do so. Patterns allow us to understand and predict complex natural and cultural phenomena, and to create artworks and other structures of surprising complexity and unity.

Yet the exhibit also shows that in nature–as in snowflakes and spider webs–while amazing and beautiful patterns exist, no two creations  are exactly alike, and patterns are enhanced and enlivened by variation.

Given the current political situation, it strikes me that that much as we may crave the comfort and safety of ongoing patterns, we can also be bored by them. And that as inhabitants of the natural world we must expect–and find beauty despite– disruption in our lives.

I highly recommend the exhibit, which will be at the Francis Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga, New York, until March 12, 2017.

*The exhibition was co-curated by Rachel Roe-Dale, Associate Professor of Mathematics, and Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs, Tang Museum, in collaboration with: Lisa Aronson, Professor Emeritus of Art History; Grace Burton, Associate Professor of Spanish; Michael Eckmann, Associate Professor of Computer Science; Rebecca Johnson, Associate Professor of Psychology; Elizabeth Macy, Visiting Professor of Music; Josh Ness, Associate Professor of Biology; Gregory Spinner, Teaching Professor in Religious Studies; and Sarah Sweeney, Associate Professor of Art. The exhibition is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Friends of the Tang.

–Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is an author, photographer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. 

New Cambridge Observer is publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning PR and digital marketing firm located in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

Having made calls and canvassed for Hillary Clinton over the weekend (and joked about her seeming a bit stiff –like cardboard–in the photo to the left),  I’m saddened, confused and a bit shocked by her loss to Donald Trump. I’ll be writing more about this in days to come, but for now, thought I’d share her concession speech, which I received in an email from her campaign, so that you could read it in its entirety. I found it eloquent and inspirational.

–Anita M. Harris

Thank you.

Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans.

This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I’m sorry we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

But I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together –- this vast, diverse, creative, unruly, energized campaign. You represent the best of America, and being your candidate has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

I know how disappointed you feel, because I feel it too. And so do tens of millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this: Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love — and about building an America that’s hopeful, inclusive, and big-hearted.

We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe in America –- and I always will. And if you do, too, then we must accept this result -– and then look to the future.

Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power, and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it. It also enshrines other things –- the rule of law, the principle that we’re all equal in rights and dignity, and the freedom of worship and expression. We respect and cherish these things too — and we must defend them.

And let me add: Our constitutional democracy demands our participation, not just every four years, but all the time. So let’s do all we can to keep advancing the causes and values we all hold dear: making our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top; protecting our country and protecting our planet; and breaking down all the barriers that hold anyone back from achieving their dreams.

We’ve spent a year and a half bringing together millions of people from every corner of our country to say with one voice that we believe that the American Dream is big enough for everyone — for people of all races and religions, for men and women, for immigrants, for LGBT people, and people with disabilities.

Our responsibility as citizens is to keep doing our part to build that better, stronger, fairer America we seek. And I know you will.

I am so grateful to stand with all of you.

I want to thank Tim Kaine and Anne Holton for being our partners on this journey. It gives me great hope and comfort to know that Tim will remain on the front-lines of our democracy, representing Virginia in the Senate.

To Barack and Michelle Obama: Our country owes you an enormous debt of gratitude for your graceful, determined leadership, and so do I.

To Bill, Chelsea, Marc, Charlotte, Aidan, our brothers, and our entire family, my love for you means more than I can ever express.

You crisscrossed this country on my behalf and lifted me up when I needed it most –- even four-month old Aidan traveling with his mom.

I will always be grateful to the creative, talented, dedicated men and women at our headquarters in Brooklyn and across our country who poured their hearts into this campaign. For you veterans, this was a campaign after a campaign — for some of you, this was your first campaign ever. I want each of you to know that you were the best campaign anyone has had.

To all the volunteers, community leaders, activists, and union organizers who knocked on doors, talked to neighbors, posted on Facebook – even in secret or in private: Thank you.

To everyone who sent in contributions as small as $5 and kept us going, thank you.

And to all the young people in particular, I want you to hear this. I’ve spent my entire adult life fighting for what I believe in. I’ve had successes and I’ve had setbacks -– sometimes really painful ones. Many of you are at the beginning of your careers. You will have successes and setbacks, too.

This loss hurts. But please, please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it. It’s always worth it. And we need you keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives.

To all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

I know that we still have not shattered that highest glass ceiling. But some day someone will -– hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

And to all the little girls watching right now, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world.

Finally, I am grateful to our country for all it has given me.

I count my blessings every day that I am an American. And I still believe, as deeply as I ever have, that if we stand together and work together, with respect for our differences, strength in our convictions, and love for this nation -– our best days are still ahead of us.

You know I believe we are stronger together and will go forward together. And you should never be sorry that you fought for that.

Scripture tells us: “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season, we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.”

My friends, let us have faith in each other. Let us not grow weary. Let us not lose heart. For there are more seasons to come and there is more work to do.

I am incredibly honored and grateful to have had this chance to represent all of you in this consequential election. May God bless you and god bless the United States of America.

Hillary

Anita M. Harris, a writer and communications consultant, is the author of Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity. Broken Patterns is about women of the baby-boom generation in relation to their mothers and grandmothers. It presents a spiral theory of change, which, Harris believes, goes far in explaining the current election results.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, based in Cambridge, MA.

MIT, Convergence Idea Challenge

For the  last few months, I’ve had the opportunity to work on an amazing national report about the Convergence of technologies in the life sciences. The goal of the report–which will be launched this coming Friday at the National Academy of Sciences, in Washington, DC– is to encourage  increased  funding for engineers, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and information technologists for work in health and life science fields.  More on the report and Convergence later this week.

For now, I want to let you know that Nobel Prize winning scientist Phil Sharp of the MIT Koch Institute  has offered a $3000 award for the best Convergence idea submitted by students across the US–and that the public is invited to help choose  a second, $1000 “community” winner—-by “liking”  ideas submitted via on Facebook.  The goal is to challenge  emerging researchers to combine the life/physical sciences, information technology, social sciences, and engineering to improve human health.The voting deadline is 6 pm on Thursday, June 23, 2016.

Here’s a list of the submissions–which come from researchers across the US.  More info on each idea–and “like” options– are available at https://www.facebook.com/ConvergenceIdeas/

• Hex House; a rapidly deployable, dignified home
• A Multi-disciplinary Approach to Tackling Childhood Poverty
• Biomarkers and Neural Circuits Underlying Resilience to Stress
• Neuroprosthetics in Nerve Reanimation: Implantation of Intraneural Building
• Beyond Biology Breast milk – mine of potential therapies
• Getting VacSeen-ated Mobile Screening and Diagnostics
• Engineering Pro-Regenerative Immunotherapies
• Empowering HIV-positive Youth in Swaziland, Africa: A Novel Digital Mentorship Experience
• Development of minimally invasive assessment of placenta across gestation
• An Epidemiological Cellular Automata Model of Gun Violence
• Transforming Clinical Data Into Field-Deployable Medical Apps
• Engineering a Flexible Organic Photovoltaic Cell as an Artificial Retina to Restore Sight: A Promising Vision in Bio-nanoelectronics
• Accelerating translation from bio-discovery to engineered applications by single cell niche sequencing
• Using Nature’s Fundamental Choice Against it
• Drinking Water Health – Intermittent Water Supply in Developing Countries
• “Brain train” – optogenetic cognitive-conditioning for neuropsychiatric disorders
• Sparsh- Sleeping Bag
• Quantified ethology decreases time to diagnosis of infection
• Interlocking culture system for resolvable three-dimensional cell arrangements
• A New Treatment for Depression through Modification of Semantic Networks in the Brain Using a Computer Game

–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a marketing and communications firm based in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA.

Having just published a book on the late 1960s, and having driven past the famed Corita Kent gas tanks on route 93 South of Boston hundreds of times, I wondered, on entering the wonderful new exhibit “Corita Kent and the Language of Pop” at the Harvard Fogg Museum how I could possibly have missed Kent’s amazing presence in the Pop Art scene.

The show juxtaposes some 60 works by Kent–who was born in 1918 and became a nun in 1936–with approximately the same number of works by  known pop figures such as Andy Warhol,  Jim Dine,  Edward Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, and others.  It examines Kent’s screen prints; that 1971 bold “rainbow swash” design for the Boston Gas tank, as well as films, books, and other works.

But in a talk after the September 3 opening, Susan Dackerman, consultative curator of prints at the Harvard Art Museums, said that she herself had  not known much about Kent’s  work until she met another curator’s sister–Mary Anne Karia (née Mikulka), a former student of Kent’s at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, and a long-time friend of Kent’s. Mikulka showed Dackerman the notes, papers and prints saved from her student and later days. That introduction, in 2010, turned into a multi-year research project in which a team of Harvard art historians and graduate students began to place Kent–who left the convent and moved to Boston in 1968– in the artistic and cultural movements of her time.

The exhibition explores how Kent’s work both responded to and advanced the concerns of Vatican II, a movement to modernize the Catholic Church and make it more relevant to contemporary society. The church advocated conducting the Mass in English. Kent, like her pop art contemporaries, simultaneously turned to vernacular texts for inclusion in her vibrant prints, drawing from such colloquial sources as product slogans, street signs, and Beatles lyrics. Vatican II also  advocated having priests turning to face their congregants–a theme shown in the reversals of words in various Kent prints which require viewers to commune or relate to the work in new ways, as pointed out by Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities. While Kent questioned the authority of the Church, she also took up  the church’s fight against poverty as an artistic theme. 

By bringing “Wonder Bread” into her work,  according to American studies graduate student Eva Payne Kent, Kent pointed out the need for food and  the leavening qualities of bread–as well as the symbolism of the communion wafer, and the sharing of bread as a means of communion among everyday people.

Kent thus emphasized the egalitarian rather than the authoritarian, and, unlike the implied messages of recognized pop artists,  her messages made her art not purely critique of the commercial world but brought out the importance of quotidian life.

In 1968, a year after she was featured as the new nun on cover of Newsweek Magazine, Kent left the convent and her teaching position and moved to Boston.

At this point, as sixties political protests escalated, Kent began to include news photo images of war, racial struggles, political figures in her prints– perhaps relying less on words to express emotion.  I found these works less vivid–but they packed a punch-. I was especially taken by an anti-war print that included a photo of Daniel and PHilip Berrigan, friends of hers who were priests and antiwar activists with whom I interacted at Cornell and later, during the Trial of the Harrisburg 8.

Asked in Q&A why Kent had not been considered important to the Pop Art, Dackerman pointed out that a center of the movement had been the Ferris Art Gallery, in Los Angeles–and that the recognized pop artists were often referred to as the “Ferris Studs.”  Not only was she a woman, Dackerman said, but she was, of all things “a nun.”. Another speaker mentioned that unlike her male counterparts, Kent, then called “Sister Mary Corita,” might have been considered “too cheery” and positive about the Church, possibilities for communion, and the egalitarian nature of the commercial world.

All in all–the show is a must-see for anyone interested in the 1960s, pop art, female artists or the relationship of art, religion, politics and social change.,

Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is the author of Ithaca Diaries, Coming of Age in the 1960s and of Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity.
Print and e-versions of both books are available on Amazon or Kindle.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning PR and marketing firm in Cambridge, MA.

In an interview with Lisa Mullins on “Here and Now” a daily program of National Public Radio,  author Anita Harris reflected on how her college years shaped her career path.  The interview, which aired June 11, focused on Harris’s book, Ithaca Diaries, a memoir and social history of her years at Cornell University in the 1960s.

Those years “gave me courage to start a newspaper and become a journalist,” said Harris about her time at Cornell.  “They gave me the courage to fight for social change through my work and my writing.  They have me the courage to work with students and help them understand better their own place in the world.”

Harris attended Cornell University during a time of racism and world turmoil.  In Ithaca Diaries, she writes about heavy topics such as the tearing up and burning of draft cards by students opposed to the Vietnam war and demonstrations for civil rights.

“There were all kinds of demonstrations and eventually all hell broke loose,”said Harris.  “At the university, nationally, and internationally students were demonstrating and even rioting all over the world.”

While Harris tried to focus on her studies and stay “sane,”  she also explored and wrote about Cornell’s dating scene, which was filled with “boys, and frats and football games,” she told Mullins.

Harris used her journals, letters to her parents, and Cornell’s independent student newspaper, the Daily Sun, to help tell her story, which takes readers on a coming-of-age journey from Harris’ arrival on campus  in 1966 with her pink suitcase to her graduation day, when she led a demonstration against the military.

“One reason I wanted to write the book was to understand what had happened and how it still affects me today,” said Harris.  “To this day, I think back to the events of that time.”

“Ithaca Diaries” can be purchased on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Ithaca-Diaries-Coming-Age-1960s/dp/0692294988.

Harris’ “Here and Now” interview  is available at http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/06/11/ithaca-diaries-anita-harris.

— Morgan Brittney Austin
Morgan Brittney Austin is a 2015 graduate of LaSalle College, near Boston.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning PR and marketing firm based in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA.

My writers group, the Write Stuff, based in LIncoln, MA, Public Library , will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on May 27;  I’m delighted to be joining fellow-members in a public reading from our work at the Library, 3 Bedford Rd, at 7 pm.

The Write Stuff started in fall 2005 as a series of craft sessions led by Jeanne Bracken, then research librarian, to encourage more local writers to contribute to the Lincoln Review, a local publication founded and edited by Elizabeth Smith, of Lincoln.

According to Neil O’Hara, who volunteers as Write Stuff’s facilitator, “It morphed into a critique group over the winter, led by Jeanne through September 2006, when I took over as facilitator.”

WS meets twice a month all year round, typically with four readings of up to 1000 words. All types of writing are welcome: fiction, non-fiction,  poetry, scripts and the like, with no restrictions on content/subject matter, O’Hara said.  There is no charge to join or contribute.

“Our goal is to provide constructive criticism to foster better writing–and it works, as any longstanding member will attest.”  O’Hara says his own writing has improved over the years, which he credits in part to WS, both because members have provided excellent feedback and because, as facilitator, “I feel an obligation to explain both what works and doesn’t work for me—and also why.”

While intent to publish is not a requirement, five Write Stuff members have published books in the last several years. They include: Bracken, Children With Cancer, a comprehensive reference guide for parents,  updated, rev.; Susan Coppock , Fly Away Home;  Anita M. Harris, Ithaca Diaries and Broken Patterns: Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity 2^nd edition; the Rev. Jean F. Risley, Recovering the Lost Legacy:Moral Guidance for Today’s Christians; and Rick Wiggin, Embattled Farmers: Campaigns and Profiles of Revolutionary Soldiers from Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1775-1783;

In addition to providing members with a safe place to test out their work, the group continues to serve its original purpose, O’Hara says. Today, almost every edition of the Lincoln Review includes contributions from one or more WS members.

Readers on Wednesday will include:

Helen Bowden
Carmela D’Elia
Deborah Dorsey
Anita M. Harris
Joyce Quelch
Jean Risley
Ed Robson
Channing Wagg

The library is a member of the Minuteman Library System,  is a consortium of 43 libraries with 62 locations and a Central Site staff that work collectively to provide excellent service to its library users. The members include 36 public and 7 college libraries in the Metrowest region of Massachusetts..

For more information about the Write Stuff please contact Neil O’Hara: neiloh52 at gmail.com For directions to the library, please check the library home page at http://www.lincolnpl.org.

–Anita M. Harris
Anita M. Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA.New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a PR and marketing firm based in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

Excited to have been interviewed about Ithaca Diaries by radio personality  extraordinare Lisa Mullins.  A segment is slated to air nationally on NPR’s “Here and Now,”  on Memorial Day, May 25, 2015.  The  program airs live on WGBH Boston from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Both in Boston and elsewhere you can  choose a live stream from WBUR or Click here for a searchable list of public radio stations that broadcast Here & Now.

According to the Here and Now Website, you can also:

Hear individual stories: Audio for stories in the first hour of Here & Now is typically posted by 2:30 p.m. EST. Audio for stories in the second hour is typically posted by 3:30 p.m. EST. You can listen to past shows by browsing or searching the archives.

Hear the whole show: You can stream each hour of Here & Now using the WBUR mobile app. A podcast of each hour is also available in the iTunes store, within hours of its air time (better time estimates coming soon). For more ways to download the podcast (not using iTunes), go here.

About Here and Now:
Here and Now is a live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with public radio stations across the country.  According to its Website, the program reflects the fluid world of news as it’s happening in the middle of the day, with timely, smart and in-depth news, interviews and conversation.

Co-hosted by award-winning journalists Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson, the show’s daily lineup includes interviews with NPR reporters, editors and bloggers, as well as leading newsmakers, innovators and artists from across the U.S. and around the globe.

Here & Now began at WBUR in 1997, and expanded to two hours in partnership with NPR in 2013. Today, the show reaches an estimated 3.6 million weekly listeners on over 383 stations across the country.

About Ithaca Diaries
Ithaca Diaries  is a coming of age memoir set at Cornell University in the tumultuous 1960s. The story is told in first person from the point of view of a smart, sassy, funny, scared, sophisticated yet naïve college student who can laugh at herself while she and the world around her are having a nervous breakdown. Based on Harris’ own journals and letters, interviews and other primary and secondary accounts of the time, Ithaca Diaries describes collegiate life as protests, politics, and violence increasingly engulf the student, her campus, and her nation. Her irreverent observations serve as a prism for understanding what it was like to live through those tumultuous  times.While often laugh-out-loud funny, they provide meaningful insight into the process of political and social change we are continuing to experience, today.

Ithaca DIaries is available from Amazon, Kindle and the Cornell Campus Store.

Anita M. Harris is an award-winning writer, blogger, and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. A new edition of her  first book, Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity, was published in 2014. 

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning PR and marketing firm based in Cambridge, MA.