Blog Posts

1. Amy Finkelstein, A.B. '95

Tribe Posting : Spotlight : 08/09/2006

Spotlight: With a skyrocketing portion of the nation’s output going to healthcare spending—thrice as much today as in 1960—observers both professional and lay have asked the same question: WTF? Amy Finkelstein may have the beginnings of the weird, head-scratch–inducing answer.

2. Oscar Kashala, S.D. '93

Tribe Posting : Spotlight : 07/20/2006

Who: Candidate for president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Campaign Tactics: Kashala told Boston Magazine that he solicits donations and support from Washington insiders by arguing that “Because of chaos and social misery in [the DRC]…people may go to Al Qaeda or someone else, because they feed on this type of ground…If the United States wants to confine terrorism, Congo must be a factor.”

3. Shep Messing, A.B. '72

Tribe Posting : Spotlight : 07/12/2006

Who: Former goalie for the New York Cosmos, a semi-legendary pro soccer team that once counted Pelé among its members.

Equipment: Fielding a question from the Crimson about why, of all the athletes in the world, Messing was selected to get naked for Viva, the Cosmos’ PR director said, “Some guys were too big, some guys were too small, and Shep was just right.”

4. George Q. Daley, A.B. '82, M.D. '86 ('91)

Tribe Posting : Spotlight : 07/10/2006

Daley is leading one of three research teams that, as part of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s recently announced initiative, have won permission to do experiments involving stem cells extracted from cloned human embryos. Daley claims he’ll use the controversial technologies to investigate diseases of the blood; in reality, he’ll probably just create an army of mindless, genetically identical stormtroopers to do his bidding.

5. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, M.P.A. ’00

Tribe Posting : Spotlight : 06/30/2006

Once trailing far behind leftist frontrunner Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the conservative Calderón rapidly became a serious contender for the Mexican presidency when he started–what else?–running negative campaign ads. Since March, polls have shown him neck-and-neck with his opponent. The race, which ends on July 2, is still too close to call.

6. Donald Hall, A.B. ’51

Tribe Posting : Spotlight : 06/28/2006

American poet laureate Donald Hall’s new title, awarded by the Librarian of Congress on June 14, carries few official duties and only lasts one year (with the possibility of reappointment), but Hall hopes to use his new platform as “a pulpit,” he told the New York Times. “If I see First Amendment violations,” he said, “I will speak up.”

7. Sean Berkowitz, J.D. ’92

Tribe Posting : Spotlight : 06/14/2006

With disgraced Enron execs Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay headed for prison, Sean Berkowitz is sitting pretty. The prosecutor—whom U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald J.D. ’85 hand-picked for the investigation—even indulged in a bit of public speechifying after the verdict: "The jury has spoken, and they have sent an unmistakable message to boardrooms across the country—No matter how rich and powerful you are, you have to play by the rules."

8. Horace J. Hayman, 86; Budget Director

Tribe Posting : Lives : 05/18/2006

According to a death notice in the Boston Globe, Horace J. Hayman, the former budget director of Liberty Mutual, died on May 15 in Methuen, Mass. A native of England, he crossed the pond as a young man, served in the U.S. Army in World War II, and attended Harvard Business School afterward, graduating in 1947.