your leaders

Abby Brown

Nickname: Technically, Abby (but i'll pretty much respond to anything that isn't incredibly offensive)
Hometown: BOSTON, MA (!!!)
Concentration: Social Studies!
House: In flux
Activities: breaking technology (while breaking down systems of oppression... hollaaa), rallying with the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM!), speaking words with Spoken Word, resurrecting Students for a Democratic Society (SDS!), oversleeping, Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) ish, feeling older than she is (but not really any wiser).
Interests: being a distraction, drinking bubble tea, poetry, laughter, radical make-up, radicalism, Harvard's relationship (or lack thereof) with Boston and Cambridge, sitting by The River, things not from America, art, scarves, hair dye, footnotes*, tasty food, common humanity, social justice, realness.
*they're a good time.
Hottest Cause: education reform, student activism, radicalism, de-socialization, youth empowerment (although that's a pretty adultist phrase), gender issues, art as an avenue to social justice, spreadin' the love.
Summer Plans: interning for the student union (sort of a mixture of Students for a Democratic Society, a lobbying group, a Political Action Committee, a dash of the EU's internationality, and a pinch of FUP) UNEF (l'Union Nationale des Étudiants de France) in Paris until July while, of course, FUPping day and night with the other 4 inimitable members of Steercom.
Favorite Metro Boston location: somewhere between the Boston Harbor Islands, the Condon Elementary School in Southie, Centre St. in JP, and the 24 Hour Dunkin Donuts around the corner from mi casa in Brighton.
Short Bio: Abby sends her greetings to all the (so) fresh (and so clean, clean) new faces of FUP 2009 (oh so fine)! She's also had a really tough time deciding whether or not to use upper case letters in this bio (generally, she prefers to write without them but it looked weird to her with all the capitals everywhere else). Abby is a rising (whee!) junior concentrating in Social Studies with a focus on "Community, Identity, and Collective Action" (!!!). This summer, she's looking to learn from and organize with the left-leaning French student union, UNEF (Union Nationale des Étudiants de France), whose HQ is on the same block as the Parti Communiste... vive la France! Also this summer, she is so thrilled to be FUPpin her life away serving as a member of Steercom for her second year in the company of some of the most beautiful human beings on the planet. When Abby is not being away, she's in and around Boston (field trips are a must), missing The Children (she was a counselor in the S[ummer] U[rban] P[rogram] during summer 2008), organizing with SLAM, dreaming up grand schemes that are thwarted and revised, and relishing sleep. Abby has a weird obsession with German music while speaking little to no German. She is also a fan of qualifying statements, Lady Gaga (against her better judgment), powerful women, people with a capital P, drawing, poetry, new and wonderful friends, British comedy, the ensuing of hilarity, and sarcasm. She loves talking and would probably love to talk to you... get on it!

Ann Cheng

Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
Concentration: social studies?
House: leverett
Activities: ballet folklorico, franklin after-school, ceramics
Interests: art, kids, education, communities
Hottest Cause: mission hill SUP!
Summer Plans: mission hill SUP!
Favorite Metro Boston location: chinatown
Short Bio: ann is a rising sophomore in leverett house, and thinks FUP is the best thing at harvard. she's hoping to major in social studies, and likes thinking about race, economics, education, inequality (she actually prefers thinking about equality, but this usually involves thinking about inequality too...), and the intersection of those things. she's from cincinnati, oh, home of skyline chili (but she's usually a vegetarian), race riots (she's actually not fond of those either), an awesome contemporary art center (she does like this), and her wonderful family (yes!). she thinks harvard is a pretty crazy place, so if you're ever feeling like everyone around you is way out of line, please come talk to her (you're right, and she expects that this will solicit at least one visit from all of you). she's excited to be working for mission hill's summer urban program this summer!

Anselm M. F. Beach

Nickname: "Anselm the Handsome" (Thanks Christian)
Hometown: Little Rock, AR/Woodbridge, VA
Concentration: African American Studies
House: Currier
Activities: Kuumba, Brothers, BMF, HSBSE, Cambridge After School Program, Collegebound, Drama, Music
Interests: Music (Vocal and Instrumental), Drama, Science, Racial issues, Mentoring, Writing
Hottest Cause: Race relations at Harvard
Summer Plans: Senior Counselor for Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program at Roosevelt Towers
Favorite Metro Boston location: Harvard Square (There's no place like home)
Short Bio: Right now, Anselm Beach's life is like a crappy soap opera/teenage drama. He has an evil twin brother who sometimes takes his place, thereforecausing mayhem and confusion. He auditioned for the lead in High School Musical, but was rejected because he didn't have, and I quote, "It" (whoever can tell me the inspiration of this sentence will get a cookie). He's in love with a girl who he so could be with right now, but since he waited too long to say anything she ended up getting with someone else. He tries to make people laugh (you can be the judge of his success in that). And on top of that, he's a superhero who is finding it very difficult to balance saving the freakin' world every day and being a rising Junior concentrating in African American Studies who loves to sing, act, and play the sax, and who's living in Currier House...and is premed...but also plans on making movies, recording a hip hop album, and just being all around a! wesome (phew! that was a mouthful). Only one of these statements (including this one) is true. Which one do you think it is?

Alice Laramore

Nickname: shhh...it's a secret
Concentration: Hist and Lit
House: Pfoho = best ever
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
Activities: Singing (loudly and everywhere, especially a cappella), the Athena Conference, Strong Women Strong Girls
Interests: Chick Lit, feminist music, Wednesday adventures, Friends (the TV show and the real thing), walking my dog anywhere and everywhere, playing the ball game, and Whangdoodles
Hottest Cause: education for everyone
Summer Plans: Working in NY at the I Have A Dream Foundation and learning to play the guitar, cook, and navigate the NYC subway system
Favorite Metro Boston location: Jamaica Pond, baby!
Short bio: Alice is a rising junior hailing from Indianapolis, IN, famous for its Children's Museum, state fair, and lots and lots of corn. Alice is studying Hist and Lit, and had a love affair this year with Off the Road, Carolyn Cassidy's novel that is the companion to Jack Kerouac's. When she is not in spending time in Pfoho (the best house ever!), she is probably drinking tea in the Women's Center, reading under a tree in the yard, or visiting one of the many ice cream places around the square. Come find me!

Athena Lao

Nickname: αθηνακε (it means "Little Athena" in Greek :p)
Concentration: Classics, Pre-Life
House: Cabot
Hometown: Athens, GA
Activities: Ethnic Studies Coalition, Asian American Association, Harvard Philippine Forum, PBHA awesomeness (reppin' BRYE, MIHNUET, and the PB 'n' J Newsletter), Peer Advising Fellow, Asian American Dance Troupe, GMS/APIASF First Year Initiative Committee, napping in Boylston Hall, occasionally trying to remember how to play the piano or tennis, dancing at inappropriate times
Interests: Dead languages, ethnicity/identity/liminality, medicine (ancient and modern), human rights, the APIA community, music, tennis, words, agape love, earrings, trivia, emoticons, ellipses...(ooh)...(ooh)...
Hottest Cause: public education, health care reform, bringing ethnic studies to Harvard (!!!!)
Summer Plans: I went on an archaeological dig in Greece for 5 weeks. Now I'm back in my hometown, interning for the Clarke County School District Office of Student Achievement and Educational Equity and Family Connection/Communities in Schools, getting paid to say all of that 20 times fast.
Favorite Metro Boston location: That whole area outside Copley Station on the Green Line
Short bio: Athena hails from the beautiful southern college town of Athens, Georgia, where she could go to all the necessary places - the movie theatre, Chik-fil-a, the library, and occasionally, school, all along one glorious road. She thinks the North is pretty cool though, or rather, extremely cold. Athena is easily bribed with gummy bears. She plans to use her humanities skillzzz to find a cardboard box to live in after college, just like that Facebook group - "I Picked a Major I Like and One Day I Will Probably Be Living in a Box." Some other Facebook groups she should be a member of are, "Writing Papers Single Spaced First Makes My Double Spaced Result Climactic," "Of course I believe in evolution - how else would Charmander become Charizard," and "Sleep...It's the New Sex." Although she made some unfortunate choices during freshman year, like not doing FUP, she survived and is pleasantly surprised and excited that she can partake in some 2009 FUP love with you all!

Brandon Perkovich

Nickname: Bones
Hometown: Naples, FL. Hells yeah, the 239.
Concentration: History and Science, or something like it.
House: Currier
Activities: Being late, queer stuff, HIV/AIDS research, denying that he's PreMed, HBomb Magazine (Harvard's journal of all things sex, sexuality, and gender). Oh and FUP ate my life, in the most socially just of ways.
Interests: Queer stuff. HIV/AIDS research and advocacy, particularly among queer youth. Healthcare reform. The color green. Pandora. Thrifting. New media and how it's shaping and shaped by our generation. Six Feet Under. Being outside. Ellipticals. Oh, and the 80s.
Hottest Cause: Health as a human right. Health is H-A-W-T!
Summer Plans: When not FUPping, I take (get pummeled by) Organic Chemistry.
Favorite Metro Boston location: The Public Gardens at night.
Short Bio: Brandon hails from a town called Naples (FL). He grew up next to the beach where he used to do his homework after school. He now spends his time wondering why he moved to New England. Just Kidding. Boston is his favorite city in the world (New Orleans and London are respectively close second and third). This city is perfect for walking, and he'd love to show you around. He's super into queer politics, health as a human right and the advocacy that demands (I'm looking at you, Congress), the history of medicine, epidemiology, and sciency research. This all comes together to mean he does an irrational amount of stuff with HIV/AIDS, specifically with subcommunities within the greater queer community. At his best, he loves inappropriate dancing, loud music, espresso, HBO, sand, and never wearing shoes.

Catherine Ntube

Hometown: Austin, Texas
Concentration: History and Literature, Postcolonial Studies
House: Pforzheimer (Pfoho!)
Activities: ABHW Action Committee, Peer Counseling, PBHA's The BIG Question
Interests: music, literature, poetry and other forms of creative expression, mexican food, hanging out with friends and family, and talking to her mom everyday
Hottest Cause: This isn't really a cause, but I'm super excited about the popularity of grassroots organizing and community-based activism right now, and the applicability of this form of activism to many different causes
Summer Plans: At home in Austin, Texas, spending some much needed time with the fam and working
Favorite Metro Boston location: Park Street T-stop...I'm slowly realizing how small Boston is, and Park Street is in walking distance of a lot of cool things
Short Bio: Catherine Ntube is a rising junior from Austin, Texas. She's concentrating in History and Literature, studying gender and cultural hybridity in postcolonial Africa and South Asia (at least for now). She loves listening to music, laughing until her stomach hurts, and having long conversations when she should be doing homework.

Conor Walsh

Concentration: Linguistics
House: Cabot
Activities: FUP, Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, Crimson Summer Academy
Interests: people, cultures, language, learning, laughing, and FUP
Hottest Cause: Linguistic equality for underrepresented minority language groups
Summer Plans: Crimson Summer Academy!!!
Favorite Metro Boston location: Castle Island

Danny Pellerin

Hometown: Leeds, ME!
Concentration: Neurobiology
House: Leverett! All you need is Lev!
Activities: Mission Hill After School Program
Interests: The Brain, Shopping, Scarves, Public Health, Palm Trees, Gay Marriage
Hottest Cause: California’s opposition to gay marriage
Summer Plans: Scooping ice cream and working at a day camp at home :)
Favorite Metro Boston location: The North End.
Short Bio: Danny’s favorite pastime is cruising down PCH with the sunroof open and the music blasting. Oh wait. That is the life that he wishes he had. Instead, he hails from the great state of Maine, a place that he loves in the summer but hates in the winter. As a child, he loved HGTV too much and never got along with his brother. He discovered early in life that he hated camping (ask Abby about how much he hates it) yet loved skiing. At Harvard, he is currently a neurobiology concentrator and plans to get a secondary field in public health. His favorite activity is working with kids at the Mission Hill After School Program (he highly encourages everyone to check it out), especially Destinee, the 7 year old with the attitude of a teenager. This summer he will be scooping ice cream and working with kids at a day camp at home. He eats at Chipotle at least once a week and lives on Starbucks. He enjoys long walks on the beach, shopping trips to Newbury Street, Will and Grace, and New York.

Danny Selgrade

Hometown: Belmont, MA
Concentration: Science (Let's just go with MCB for now...)
House: Quincy!!! (The People's House)
Activities: Harvard Program in International Education, Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, Harvard Men Against Rape, Harvard College Democrats, Harvard World Model United Nations, Model Security Council (Lolz)
Interests: Scarves, Mango Popsicles, Totoro, Science Geeks, The West Wing, Tea Parties, Paraplegic Body Suits, Hipsters, Lady Gaga, Cardigans, HotMess, Bros, Yogurt, Transformers, Electronica, The Gym, HIgh-Fives, Caring about People
Hottest Cause: Domestic Violence within the LBGTQ Community
Summer Plans: Working for an MCB lab on campus with retroviruses like HIV and SARS. Preparing RNA, growing bacteria, playing with carcinogens. In one word: Retro-Science Electropalooza. (I guess that wasn't one word.)
Favorite Metro Boston location: Alewife (Reminds me of home...slash there's a Bowling Alley next to a Whole Foods. So I can be bougie AND ironic at the same time!)
Short Bio: Danny Selgrade is a rising sophomore and is simply tingled by the prospect of joining FUP as the other openly gay, white, pre-med Danny from New England. (Have fun telling us apart; I'm usually the one with the scarf and/or glasses). Danny has grown up within the 5 mile radius that circumscribes Cambridge and its deliciously suburban neighbor, Belmont. When he's not being a hot mess, Danny tries to make life a little less of a struggle, even if all he can do is make people laugh by making a fool out of himself (that's all he asks). After spending half of the summer on the 78, Danny is excited to return to Harvard and meet his new FUPpies and share with them all the little eccentricities that makes the Bay State the greatest place on earth (Goodrich v. Department of Public Health What??).

Gabriel Unger

Nickname: some people call me gabe. others address me as "my liege". i'm indifferent.
Concentration: social studies, focus on political economy.
House: currier
Hometown: NYC
Activities: missing the shuttle, walking to and from the quad.
Interests: espresso, chess, theory, etc.
Hottest Cause: shunning post-political "hot causes".
Summer Plans: living at st.catherine's, an ancient christian monastery at the foot of mt.sinai, in the middle of the sinai desert in northern egypt, with like 25 eastern greek orthodox monks. reading. hopefully making it there and back alive.
Favorite Metro Boston location: south station, it helps me get to NYC.
Short Bio: gabriel unger is a rising junior. last summer at some function in washington dc, he introduced himself to someone as a "rising sophomore". she earnestly inquired: does this mean you are somehow ascending, rising above normal sophomores, or what? he was quite taken with this interpretation.

Jess Frisina

Nickname: Ojessie, jFri, jFraz, Friseens, Friseen-star, Messyjessie, Mess.
Concentration: History and Literature of America
House: MATHER House
Activities: Mission Hill After School Program, Mission Mentor, Alternative Spring Break, FUP (obvs), and Women's Club Soccer
Interests: civil liberties, civil rights, old school PBS shows, and marykate and ashley.
Hottest Cause: Golf carts for humanities students to and from widener. Walking back and forth to Mather with twenty books in each hand has gotten real old.
Summer Plans: Interning at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in D.C.
Favorite Metro Boston location: Addis Red Sea (for awesome ethiopian food)
Short bio: Jess Frisina comes from The City (of New York), is a senior in Mather House (Best House), and is concentrating in History and Literature. This summer she is living in Georgetown and working at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. In her spare time she is doing things like trying to trap the mouse in her bedroom and figure out why exactly the basement smells like rotting flesh. Her favorite things in life are soccer, icecream, and the Mission Hill After School Program, but her guilty pleasures include Olsen twin movies and free food. She is interested in social movements, youth protests in Argentina, civil liberties, and constitutional law. Summer is cute and warm weather is nice, but she's excited and ready to meet the new FUPstars.

Jessica Ranucci

Concentration: Social Studies
House: Leverett
Activities: Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment (BRYE), Strong Women Strong Girls, Summer Urban Program (SUP)
Interests: hanging out, talking about indiana
Hottest Cause: immigrant education
Summer Plans: working for PBHA's summer urban program
Favorite metro Boston location: Field's Corner
Short Bio: jessica ranucci is a rising senior, social studies concentrator, and Leverett house resident. Although she is originally from Carmel, Indiana, she spent the summer in Boston, working for PBHA's Summer Urban Program. What does that mean? Mostly, it means that she drives vans, hangs out with some cool kids, and makes many, many lists. When she's not working for SUP or doing various other PBHA activities, you can probably find her at the boston tea stop, the foosball table in quincy house, or staying at brain break until way too late at night. 2009 marks her fourth FUP, which is exciting but also sort of scary. She is looking forward to meeting new people and enjoying her final fup week with the fuppies of 2013.

Lucerito Ortiz

Nickname: "Little Star"
Hometown: Los Angeles (WOO LAKERRRSSS! <3)
Concentration: Social Studies; Secondary in Psychology
House: Eliot (DOMUSS)
Activities: Phillips Brooks House Association, Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program, Fuerza, Raza, Ballet Folklorico de Aztlan, Dancing in my underwear, loving my turtle, "Monkey," eating obscene amounts of junk food, procrastinating in really creative ways.
Interests: Monkeys, Junk food (particularly corn nuts), food in general, dancing, writing, spoken word, puttering about, not puttering about, YOU.
Hottest Cause: Educational Reform
Summer Plans: Working at KIPP:STAR in Harlem, New York, through the Summer Teaching Fellows Program
Favorite Metro Boston location: South End
Short Bio: Lucerito "Little Star" Ortiz is a monkey-lover from sunny Los Angeles, California. Indeed, she loves monkeys so much, she has a turtle named Monkey. He's chill, you should meet him. Lucerito can often be found eating corn nuts with lime in between her activities, which include coordinating for the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program, PBHA and all its awesomeness, Latino groups, and Ballet Folklorio de Aztlan. Last semester she spent abroad in beautiful Barcelona, Spain, which she misses dearly. This 2010 Social Studies concentrator from Eliot house is UBER excited about FUP 2009, as it is sure to be full of awesome fabulousness. Oh, and she likes to use the word "poopyhead" as an insult…so don't mess.

Malik Knox

Concentration: Sociology
House: Lowell
Activities: Capoeira, Ultimate Frisbee, BMF, Suffolk Prison Tutoring, David Walker Scholars Program, Hip-Hop Dance
Interests: Videogames, Talking
Hottest Cause: Education
Summer Plans: Working at a jump-start camp in Bmore
Favorite metro Boston location: Central
Short Bio: Malik Knox is an '08 fuppie and first time leader from Baltimore, MD. He will probably concentrate in Sociology and is excited to be a sophomore in LOWELL HAUS! this coming year. He has spent the summer working at a jump-start camp in Baltimore with middle schoolers that act like they're grown one second but want to act like they're two years old in the next (he still loves them though). There is (almost) nothing he loves more than hip-hop so if you do too than he loves you according to the transitive property. Malik is looking forward to FUP '09 and getting to know some wonderful people.

Matthew Garcia

Nickname: Bonecrusher
Hometown: Corpus Christi, Tx
Concentration: Social Studies
House: Dunster
Activities: Roxbury Youth Initiative Term, HPAC, Phi Iota Alpha
Interests: WWII Airships, Texas, Christian Demonology, Root Beer, and Texas
Hottest Cause: Immigration
Summer Plans: DREAM Act advocacy for the Service Employees International Union
Favorite Metro Boston Destination: Roxbury
Short Bio: Matt Garcia '10, economics concentrator, enjoys accumulating wealth. He is frustrated with the governments efforts to destroy consumer choice and squash competition by socializing medicine. Matt spent the summer keeping our borders safe from Mexicans. His favorite television show is The Bachlorette.

Megan Shutzer

Nickname: Christian Starling calls me shutzbaby or shutzmama.
Hometown: New York, NY
Concentration: Social Studies
House: Coop!
Activities: SLAM, club soccer, crimson editorial board, coop, alternative spring break
Interests: photography, soccer, local activism, non-local travel, the harvard cooperative house, bike rides, swimming across ponds, occasional filmmaking, harvard workers, learning guitar
Hottest Cause: no layoffs!
Summer Plans: thesis research in Kenya on internally displaced persons
Favorite Metro Boston Destination: castle in union square (view of metro boston)
Short Bio: megan shutzer kicks it from nyc, but home is where the heart is: the coop. class of 2010-- that would make her a senior. she is a social studies concentror who poses as african studies. interests include other fup leaders, vanquishing ponds, greek yogurt, gay-ities, subversiveness, kickball, drag kickball and the great outdoors. she also likes a good A+ hug. she is intrigued by the issues with "helping people" outside of her/your local community and yet is still wide open to the idea and would really love to talk more about it with FUPpies. you are likely to find megan on her bike or perhaps somewhere in east africa.

Mihir Chaudhary

Nickname: Mick
Concentration: Social Studies
House: Cabot House!
Activities: Suffolk Prison Tutoring, The Roosevelt Institution, Harvard International Review, Harvard College Coalition for Ugandan Peace
Interests: political activism, teaching, social justice
Hottest Cause: anything to do with children (especially to do with child soldiers)
Summer Plans: Microfinance Field Work in India and HIV/AIDS Community Education in Tanzania
Favorite Metro Boston location: chinatown
Short Bio: Mihir Chaudhary (aka Mir Sean-Harry aka Mick) is a rising Sophomore and future resident of Cabot House. He was born in Cambridge, MA in the only hospital to deliver a king in the continental united states (the king of thailand). But Mick is a citizen of the world: he has lived in Bombay and traveled all over. Mick is particularly passionate about working in global health and is coming off an amazing summer doing just that in Tanzania (ask me about it!). He is absolutely thrilled about continuing the shenanigans (favorite word!) and wonderfulness that is FUP this summer and is a firm believer in its transformative power.

Nandini Sarma

Nickname: Nunds, Sarms, Dini... the list goes on and on...
Hometown: Kansas City, KS
Concentration: unsure (MCB or Social Studies?)
House: Cabot
Activities: Ooh Aah, CityStep! CityStep! , Global Health and AIDS Coalition, Undergrad Research Association, Harvard Bhangra (BBRRRUUUUUAHHH!!!!), SADC, LBD
Interests: chillin, climbing buildings (or trying to), meeting people, chocolate, the sun, binocular soccer
Hottest Cause: access to medicine
Summer Plans: HIV/AIDS education in Tanzania
Favorite Metro Boston location: unfortunately, I need to up my Boston literacy... but chinatown's interesting
Short Bio: Nandini has skipped her way down the yellow brick road to Boston, but knows that if she ever misses home too much she can just click her heels and return to the wondrous, heavenly land of wide open spaces, otherwise known as Kansas!!! When she's not trying to hide the fact that she's never actually seen the Wizard of Oz in its entirety, Nandini can be found running around campus, enjoying the days when the sun actually comes out, dancing (reppin the motherland (India) w/ Bharatanatyam and Bhangra as well as a touch of hip hop), baking, sneaking into music rooms to play out-of-tune pianos, protesting unequal access to medicine, or doing psets. She is a rising sophomore in Cabot house, and even though she will miss hopping from table to table in the Berg, she loves her FUPtastic blocking group, and can't wait to figure out which concentration will win the epic battle between MCB and Social Studies that rages in her mind. She's super excited to spend two months in Tanzania, and even more excited that she gets to go straight from there to some wonderful FUP time with new FUPpies!!!! yayyyy!!!!! : )

Nworah Ayogu

Qing Wang

Nickname: Emma
Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD
Concentration: Gov? Social Studies?
House: Eliot
Activities: QSA political co-chair, illustrator for Tuesday Magazine, GLAD intern, PAF
Interests: good people, international relations, gender issues, languages and cultures familiar and unfamiliar, nature and hiking, soccer, debate, politics, picking out notes on the piano and guitar, my dog Addie, the food network, acrylic paint and charcoal.
Hottest Cause: gender rights
Summer Plans: Study abroad in France for 8 weeks. Just kicking it in South Dakota for the other 3.
Favorite metro Boston location: Park St:- everything comes together here + you could go anywhere.
Short Bio: Emma Wang feels like she is writing yet another cryptic/lyrical facebook status in the third person, but without the proprietary character limit. She finds writing this very awkward, but she is an awkward person so she is trying to embrace it. "It" can be in reference to many things in her life: Not being able to vote in the 2008 elections because she remains stamped with a Chinese citizenship (along with a Made in China sticker, discretely placed), being relocated against her will to South Dakota at the age of 14 when she had been very content living in Boston thankyouverymuchparentsandthemarketeconomy, having to reassure her anxious Asian parents that it is okay for their only child to not be pre-med, and having to reassure herself that it is okay that she is not necessarily pre-anything but herself as she is and will be. She embraces the fluidity of identity. This summer she is studying abroad in France, and will also be investigating the issue of gender quotas in the French legislature, combining her interests in political science, French, and women’s issues. She is also a fan of everyday subversive performance.

Rachael Goldberg

Nickname: Goooooooldberg (á la The Mighty Ducks)
Hometown: Boca Raton, Florida (According to Richard Breeden, “the only coastal city in Florida where there are more sharks on land than in the water.”) Once home to Marilyn Manson, Tucker Max, your grandparents
Concentration: English with a focus on creative writing
House: Quincy
Activities: Tuesday Magazine, meandering, The Gamut, Suffolk Prison Tutoring, doodling, Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, avoiding text messages like the plague
Interests: Life; London; This moment in June, poetry, loitering, spoken word, running, gender/queer stuff, Hieronymus Bosch, tie-dye, foreign films, “writers”, green-tea, books, acoustics, vegetable creations, fiction, Thailand, Miranda July, red, Polyverse.
Hottest Cause: radical change through artistic expression, education reform, (dis)ability awareness, people?
Summer Plans: teaching myself to cook, watching autopsies, writing, learning to love the beach.
Favorite Metro Boston location: The Cantab Lounge!
Short Bio: Rachael is so excited to FUP! She is a sophomore, short-ish, Jew-ish, English concentrator in Quincy House, has slightly orange tinged hands due to hypercarotenemia (yummy?) and is always on the lookout for carrots and apples. She loves poems (Scheherazade), poets (Lee Ann Brown, Mary Oliver), poetry (L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E), art, runners, her family, vegetables (especially spaghetti squash!), pomegranate parties, and of course, FUP! Rachael is uber-excited to meet you all this summer!

Rachel Singh

Nickname: I hate nicknames
Concentration: Social Studies
House: Pforzheimer
Activities: RYI, Suffolk prison tutoring, Indian classical dance, Crimson Editorial Board, Boston Workers Alliance
Interests: karma, theory, Boston, holistic change
Hottest Cause: prison reform
Summer Plans: internship at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Joburg, South Africa
Favorite metro Boston location: the piers behind Faneuil Hall
Short Bio: Romans, country friends, and lovers: i'm rachel and i can't wait to meet all of you! in the time between now and then, i will be traveling to joburg, sa to learn a little bit about prison reform and then i will hole up in harvard's imposing widener library to read social theory and try really hard to think big thoughts. the hope is that a thesis will appear out of all this. on another note, i am obsessed with veggie burgers and ice cream and used bookstores, so if you're into any of that stuff, we should make a date to explore the best that this city has to offer. when i'm not eating and talking really fast, i also like to dance bharatnatyam and tutor and pretend i can sing. okay, that's enough about me! let's meet and talk about you!

Rashmi Jasrasaria

Nickname: Shmi (pronounced Shmee), Rash (pronounced Rush)
Concentration: Social Studies (Gender, Development, and Health); pre-med
House: Kirkland/ K-House/ the BEST house
Hometown: Boxborough, MA
Activities: Support for International Change (SIC), recruiting and training volunteers to work for HIV/AIDS Prevention NGO in Tanzania; global health activism on campus; Community Health Initiative; Harvard Radcliffe Collegium Musicum- singing alto in a great mixed choir, mostly Renaissance and Classical music; South Asian Dance Company; Ghungroo; Lamont Cafe
Interests: East African history and culture (Swahili); South Asian modern culture (dance, music, food); Singing music--anything from beautiful Renaissance polyphony through rock band versions of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; Education (pedagogy); Social theory; Medical anthropology; Partners in Health (Paul Farmer); Disney; Student life
Hottest Cause: equal access to health-care and healthy, empowered lifestyles for women and men / poor and rich / rural and urban / developing and developed country populations; integrating the social, historical, structural, contextual aspects of health problems into medical care and preventative action through education, economic and political change
Summer Plans: senior thesis research in Arusha, Tanzania about the effects of micro-finance on women's HIV prevention abilities; visiting extended family in India- New Delhi, Kolkata, and Assam.
Favorite Metro Boston Location: Charles MGH--spent a lot of time at this hospital; wonderful part of the red-line where the train comes up and takes a breath on the bridge over Charles, which is gorgeous; beautiful, quaint street to go strolling on; river is awesome, winding through many neighborhoods
Short Bio: Rashmi Jasrasaria is a rising senior (note: time warping is a real phenomenon because just yesterday she was an incoming FUPpie, overwhelmed by the energy and excitement before she even knew what hit her!) in Kirkland House, concentrating in Social Studies with a focus on gender, development, and health. She's spending the summer in Tanzania doing thesis research on microfinance and HIV prevention (trying to find some sort of link, which she thinks is embedded in the question of women's "empowerment"), and ending up in India to visit her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She loves languages (Swahili, Spanish, Hindi, and English), dance (and dance parties), music (anything I can sing along to), family (my two little sisters!), and friends (blockmates, housemates, lifemates). She is passionate about health as a human right, global solidarity, equality among men and women, colonial/postcolonial/and development history, and liberal education. She is generally optimistic (despite the world's constant attempts to bring her down with its cruel injustices) and looks forward to sharing laughs and smiles (along with tears, fears, and rage) with all the FUPstars of '09.

Remeike Forbes

Hometown: Fairburn, GA (Jamaica, NY / Mandeville, Jamaica)
Concentration: Visual and Environmental Studies
House: Dudley House (The Center for High Energy Metaphysics)
Activities: SLAM, SLAM propaganda, BlackCAST (propaganda), SDS (as soon as it leaves its coma), lazing about drinking tea, propagandizing while drinking tea, advancing revolutionary praxis while drinking tea, banjo pickin' (or as some say banging and sawing).
Interests: Unions, the 1930s, Pete Seeger, America, Jamaica, design, old-time music, mento (not the mint), Southern radicalism, utopia.
Hottest Cause: Labor
Summer Plans: Hanging with the Southern literati in Kris Allen's hometown (working for The Oxford American).
Favorite Metro Boston location: South Station
Short bio: Remeike is a rising junior in the Dudley co-op. He was born in Mandeville (former outpost of bauxite imperialists), Jamaica on the "Day of Smiles," or so his mother claims. He soon realized the "Day of Smiles" to be a sort of fiction, crafted to beat him out of his not-so-sunny disposition; yes, it failed. At the age of two his family picked up and moved to New York City for reasons still unknown. There he lived in Brooklyn and then Jamaica, Queens, home to America's finest Black Cowboys. Tired of "city-living," his mother, the smile longer, relocated the family to a nondescript suburb of Atlanta. He has since spent his two-week vacations away from Harvard in the decadence of Southern, suburban splendor. From his Georgian subdivision to Harvard's own hippie-palace, Remeike is reclaiming his dubious birthright, one pick of the banjo or FUP at a time.

Richard Kelley

Nickname: Raos; rkelley
Concentration: Folklore and Mythology
House: Mather
Activities: Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA)!! (Officers, Cambridge After School Program (CASP), Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program (CYEP), Harvard Square Homeless Shelter (HSHS), Native American Youth Enrichment Program Big Sib (NAYEP Big Sib), Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM)) – Peer Advising Fellow – FUP Leader – Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) – Intramural Sports
Interests: LGBTQ issues, education and empowerment, Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee
Hottest Cause: equal opportunity and access to educational opportunities regardless of background and identity.
Summer Plans: Summer Urban Programs
Favorite Metro Boston Destination: Park Street (I really like the statues – learning, religion, and industry)
Short Bio: richard kelley is a rising senior in Mather House and one of a rare breed of Folklore & Mythology concentrators. Richard was raised in Carpinteria (an extremely small beach town in Southern California that he is extremely proud of even though it doesn't even show up on most maps). Richard spent his summer in Cambridge, working with SUP (the Summer Urban Program) where he had the time of his life! This past FUPpie and third year leader is extremely excited to meet the next generation of FUPpies and is always available for late night chats, random walks around Cambridge, game nights, movies, festivals, or whatever else!

Sabrina Lee

Nickname: Sababa, Sabamomma, anything.
Concentration: SOCIAL STUDIES!
House: Dunster House, Cockroach Infestation Head Quarters
Activities: Perspective Magazine, racially profiling unexpected demographics
Interests: Gender, prison, education.
Hottest Cause: Some hierarchy of oppression in the house?
Summer Plans: Girls' LEAP, FUP, boxing.
Favorite Metro Boston Destination: Brigham Circle.
Short Bio: Sabrina is a rising sophomore and comes from the exotic town of Milton, Massachusetts. She loves writing/getting angry and then writing editorials that no one reads. She loves people and their ideas, discussing, debating, and laughing.

Sam Enumah

Nickname: Sam
Concentration: Neurobio
House: D HAUS (Dunster)
Activities: FUPing...a LOT
Interests: Soccer (watching, playing, discussing) and Halo: Combat Evolved
Hottest Cause: Middle School Math Tutoring (reminds me of the days when i was GOOD at math...)
Summer Plans: Research at MGH
Favorite Metro Boston location: Forest Hills
Short bio: Sam Enumah is 50% Nigerian, 100% Hot! (and yeah, we have a facebook group too!). Sam is a rising junior concentrating in Neurobiology, and he currently resides in the D-Entryway of D-House. Originally a native of Columbus, GA (read: medium-sized, old money city full of staunch conservatives), Sam has thoroughly enjoyed the past three years in his true home, a small liberal campus located in Cambridge, MA. Sam loves/hates food. Simply put, you can quickly befriend a Sam Enumah by subtly passing him a jelly-filled doughnut sometime after breakfast but before lunch. Due to the number of calories, he'll scold you for tempting his taste buds (he's a closet health and fitness freak), but just know that any visual display of disapproval is actually his own subtle way of showing appreciation. In his free time, Sam enjoys football (soccer), playing video games (Halo), philosophizing (meaning of life?), and being a "team player" (ask for details).

Taj Tucker

Nickname: Taj Tucker
Concentration: Social Studies?
House: Leverett
Activities: Suffolk Prison Tutoring, RYI
Interests: love, sex, magic
Hottest Cause: education, no doubt
Summer Plans: working for RYI as a senior counselor
Favorite Metro Boston location: Quizno's by Symphony Hall
Short Bio: Taj Tucker is a rising sophomore from Claremont, California. He is black, Mexican, and white. He is tall. He likes skinny jeans. His favorite pair are red. He is going to major in Social Studies. He is going to live in DeWolfe next year. He is really a member of Leverett. He is going to be a Senior Counselor at Roxbury Youth Initiative this summer. He is going to work with eight-year-olds there. He is going to learn more than he teaches, he is sure. He and his students are going to work in a garden, hopefully. He likes idle time. And people who like idle time, too. And photos. He likes awkward people, too. And Quizno's. He is awkward.

Tara Venkatraman

Concentration: Social Studies and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies (repping the interdisciplinary concentrations hard)
Hometown: Brookline, MA
House: Pfoho fo sho (where I live on the strongest FUP floor in all of Harvard, next to FUP leaders Alice Laramore ’11, Rachel Singh ’10 and Ellie Nowak ’10)
Activities: (not) sleeping, Leaders!, being late for almost everything, living in the Women’s Center, the Athena Program/Conference (gender empowerment program & conference for high school girls in the Boston/Cambridge area), Ghungroo, the Big Question (biweekly discussion forum on service and social justice questions), watching countless television shows (Veronica Mars, How I Met Your Mother, the Big Bang Theory and Chuck being the current favorites) and, of course, FUP.
Interests: you, the revolution, education, riding shopping carts, community, organizing, Veggie Planet, Bollywood, youth power, being social & just, Stuff White People Like, Texts From Last Night, feminism, social and gender theory, FUP love, social movements, poetry (particularly ghazals), meaningful conversations of indeterminate length, dancing (particularly Indian classical dance to Single Ladies) and action movies
Hottest Cause: gender empowerment/youth organizing/an education revolution
Summer Plans: SUPping by day (as one of the Leaders! Coordinators doing social justice and leadership development programming with the incredible Junior Counselors of the Summer Urban Program) and FUPping by night (working with my fellow Steercom members who make my summer—and life—complete)
Favorite Metro Boston location: Punjabi Dhaba in Inman Square (my favorite Metro Cambridge location)
Short Bio: Tara Venkatraman is a rising junior from Brookline, MA (yes, she has spent over 20 years in the Boston area. Yes, it is cold here. Get over it). She’s majoring in Social Studies and Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality, with a focus on social theory, social movements, social justice and anything academic that involves the word social. She is interested in spaces and people that are challenging and revolutionary, and she is also loves FUP and each and every person that comprises this critical community. Get at her for long chats about any of the above interests or anything that you’re interested in!

Terry Ding

Hometown: Hong Kong (CHINA!)
Concentration: Applied Math
House: Winthrop
Activities: SUP, RYTE, Chinatown Afterschool, Alternative Spring Break
Interests: Symmetry, scintillating conversations, friends, not planning things out, association football, Monty Python, The Gothenburg Sound, laughter, monogamy, row reduction, symmetry
Hottest Cause: education for underprivileged children in China
Summer Plans: Summer Urban Program—Refugee Youth Summer Enrichment!
Favorite Metro Boston location: The Chinatown supermarket that sells fresh soybean milk.
Short Bio: Terry Ding is a rising junior in Winthrop House and is the proud self-appointed FUP China (CHINA!!!) representative. He is particularly passionate about education for children in rural China and has spent the past three summers teaching in different provinces. This summer, however, he will be working with refugee and immigrant high schoolers in Boston as part of the Summer Urban Program. He is obsessed with British humor, Indian food, Swedish melodic death metal, football of the non-American variety, and most of all good conversations with good friends. He is incredibly excited because he believes there is no better way to start the year than with FUP!

Winta Haile

Nickname: Wintafresh
Hometown: Beantown babyyyyyy (aka Boston, MA)
Concentration: Romance Languages and Literature (French and Spanish), plus some pre-med on the side
House: Lowell HOUSE
Activities: Singing in KeyChange (an a cappella group on campus) and singing generally all the time, teaching girls self-defense skills, volunteering/working with kids (winta luh da kids), being happy, laughing, talking to people... oh yeah, and FUPPPPPP
Interests: FUPpin things up, learning languages, being fabulous, doing science, making a difference
Hottest Cause: Generally working with/mentoring kids to make a better tomorrow
Summer Plans: Doing research at Brigham and Women's Hospital
Favorite Metro Boston location: Hmm...as of last week, the Arboretum

Zach Arnold

Concentration: Social Studies
House: Eliot
Hometown: Swarthmore, PA
Activities: Environmental Action Committee, Resource Efficiency Program, eating, biking around, reading many many blogs, looking at trees, gratuitous sleeping
Interests: food, making food, talking about food, gardening, old music, books, law, nature in its many forms, my friends and family, geography, pizza
Hottest Cause: can I have two? food systems reform + clean energy
Summer Plans: thesis research, lazing, baseball watching, cooking
Favorite metro Boston location: Law library 4th floor; Formaggio Kitchen, when I'm in the mood
Short Bio: zach arnold, a senior, is from the beautiful town of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. At Harvard he concentrates in Social Studies and spends his spare time exploring Boston and Cambridge, searching for good food. Zach enjoys gardening, classical music, walking around, cooking and other old-people pursuits. This summer, he's spending time in Cambridge (and maybe elsewhere) researching his thesis (an environmental law + legal/ethical philosophy sort of deal) and devoting himself more fully to developing the essential skill of eating. Zach thinks FUP is pretty spectacular and is looking forward to introducing all the fuppies to Christina's.

Zachariah Pietro Hughes

Nickname: Zach, Steven
Concentration: Social Studies
House: Leverett
Activities: SLAM/SDS, The Crimson (editorial board), comping the Lampoon, Lamont Undergraduate Library, long lunches, concerts in Boston
Interests: Privilege, post-colonialism, punk rock, Noam Chomsky, trying to figure out why I'm laughing
Hottest Cause: Anything prefaced by "anti." I think opposition is really hot.
Summer Plans: Summer school in Istanbul, Turkey
Favorite Metro Boston location: Central Square, Falafel Palace with Taj.
Short Bio: In many ways, Zach Hughes exemplifies what Marcel Proust once referred to as "a rising sophomore in Leverett house and a gentleman if I ever saw one." Zach was born under a lunar eclipse and a meteor shower in the rural hamlet of New Haven, or Pistol Wavin' New Haven in the local parlance. Raised on a series of yachts and near polo clubs, Zach excelled at mathematics but gave up the glamorous lifestyle to focus on social studies, and according to his critically praised by highly secretive diary he keeps a running list of thesis topics he might one day write about. They include: "Dinosaurs: What Do we Really Know," "Richard Nixon and Humor: How one man's dream of being a comedian resulted in the Vietnam War," and "Word Play: My secret to successful living." Zach attends many of Boston's fine hardcore shows and will take you if you're interested, but you ought not to wear Harvard sweatpants. Zach once saved a thousand puppies from a river fire, and was seen the next day wearing a beautiful suit from a material he refused to identify. Zach is spending the summer getting learned about the economy in Istanbul Turkey, the country in which he lived for a year before getting knighted. When not talking about how he should be in Lamont library, Zach can be found in Lamont library surrounded by empty coffee cups and sketches of Andrew Jackson or Fred Hampton. Zach hopes to one day be both a socially conscious student and a member of the Harvard Lampoon, and he wiles away the lunch hours explaining to his blockmates Taj and Ann how this doesn't make him a hypocrite, and that they should just shut up, that's what they should do. The world wept when Zach flew too close to the sun and died a hero's death last autumn.