Kara Lessin ’16

 

 

 

Year: 2016

 

Concentration: I’m doing a joint concentration in Social Studies and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

 

 

Describe yourself in 3 words: Opinionated, empathetic, community-centered

 

Favorite TV show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the West Wing for a throwback – Broad City for something amazing and new (in other news, I love all TV)

 

Favorite feminist theorist: Kimberlé Crenshaw (I find it difficult at this point to take feminism by itself without applying critiques of race, sexuality, wealth, etc. – so if I were choosing one, I would have to select Crenshaw, the mother of those who vocalized and put into academia the feeling and idea of intersectionality)

 

Favorite place in Harvard Square: I love the Cambridge Artists Co-Op! Beautiful everything, with some zany stuff on the side.

 

Fun fact: I’m dyslexic, and I couldn’t actually read until I was about 10. Also, there was a time when I could unicycle thanks to a stint at circus camp – in case that triumphant moment doesn’t sound like very much fun.

 

What’s your favorite first-year memory? Housing Day! My blockmates and I were so nervous; there are actually pictures of a couple of us in fetal position on the floor. I think we might have been the last room that got assigned to Eliot House. But then it was just a blur of excitement and total homecoming.

 

What’s one thing you could never live without? NPR (when my roommates and I have been too busy to talk, I’m pretty sure they know I’m alive by hearing my podcasts)

 

What’s one place you want to see before you die? I would love to see Antarctica – before both I and it dies. The only non-scientific way I’ve figured out to go is to be a poet in residence, but I’m not sure my high school poetry is quite good enough…

 

You’ve been very involved in getting HUHS to bring Stillman back. Why do you feel so strongly about this? I feel strongly about this because there are so many students who utilize Stillman – from seriously injured athletes to people recovering from surgery to those recovering from emotional vicissitudes (which isn’t to say that there isn’t any overlap among those!). It is more accessible than a vast number of the houses on campus right now and is closer, less complicated, less intense of a decision, and less scary than Mount Auburn Hospital, which is the alternative that HUHS is offering right now. There are merits to attending a university that takes its money seriously, but when it begins to run caregiving institutions as though they are average, for-profit ones rather than on-campus sanctuaries for those in need, it becomes problematic. This school should be about its students more than nominally.

 

Are there any concrete steps that people can take to help the cause? Tell your story – to the Crimson, to Dr. Barreira, to alumni, to Drew Faust, to whomever you know about who is a decision maker, knows a decision maker, or is a fellow-student, alumna/us, or community member. When you are told not to worry about the details, if you are so inclined, ask for the details anyway, and work with them. Think of yourself as a voice of the community, and think of what that means and how you can contribute. (Is it art? Conversation? Protests? Teach-ins? Strategic city zoning? Reaching out to sports clubs and teams to organize their power?) Lastly, if you still want to get involved and aren’t sure how, email me and we can brainstorm!

 

What other organizations are you involved with on campus? I’m also involved in Contact Peer Counseling, on the board of the Radcliffe Union of Students, in the Harvard Democrats, occasionally write for Manifesta magazine, and am an active participant in house life in Eliot!

 

In what ways do you find your work with them meaningful? Sometimes I feel like I’m a big-picture policy person. But then these issues come up, or somebody comes in to peer counseling, and I realize that so much of what makes me happy at Harvard has been to make connections with individuals. Sometimes they’re intellectual, sometimes they’re emotional – sometimes I know they’ll last for my entire life, sometimes a smile and a kind word is all the situation needs. But when it comes down to it, the old mantra that “the personal is political” is very true, and is true in reverse – that the political is personal.