FROM THE HOCO
Oh little Freshmen, your eyes so bright, your cheeks aglow from your first drops of alcohol tentatively sampled during the “river run” — you’ve been here for almost a year and you still know next to nothing. “I hope I don’t get Quadded,” you pine. “I hope I end up near the Yard.”
Mather House is nowhere near the Yard. I know that seems important to you now, but let me explain why it is not: Harvard Yard is filled with freshmen. Right now, these people are your friends. As an upperclassman, your disposition toward freshmen will be as cold and unyielding as so much concrete.
Did somebody say “concrete?” Why yes yes yes yes yes, we have some concrete right here. But I know, you came to an Ivy League school, you want to live in a “pretty” neo-Georgian house, right? How original of you! You want charming, low-lying, slanted ceilings; dirty water from rusted-out pipes; chipped paint on cracked moldings; and five or six stories with no elevators? Or do you want a hipper, more modern aesthetic of function and accessibility? Would you like to live in a masterpiece of space and light? Would you like to look out through massive windows, as I am doing now from my spacious tenth floor single, onto a panoramic vista of campus, the Chuck, and the Boston skyline? If you want to live in the one place on campus where you cannot see a giant concrete tower, Mather House may be for you.
Let’s talk about culture. The Mather House Council has established a tradition of fielding the most vibrant, innovative, and daring chairs on campus. Our happy hours are the best attended, occur with the most frequency, and are occasionally held in outer space. We’ve produced two of the four Fun Czars, thrown all of the last five Mather Lathers, and have the most babies in residence by a healthy margin. There is a community here which makes you feel incredibly at home, and fills you with the knowledge that you are better than all of the other houses of which you have such a lovely view. Is Mather House fun, you ask? Is Mather sexy? Is it, sometimes, just a little bit dangerous? Ask anyone. Ask anyone.
THE BASICS
Dining Hall
Unlike many Harvard dining halls that resemble caves or airtight 19th-century libraries, Mather’s dining hall is designed to let in natural light. Large windows look out onto the river. You can ponder the flow of the river or watch rowers while you eat. The dining hall in Mather is always open, so you can come any time you want to study or hang out somewhere besides your room or the library — and unlike your room or the library, it has soda machines.
Sophomore Housing
Mather offers some of the biggest rooms on campus. Most sophomores live in the Lowrise, where residents enjoy the unique experience of living in two-story rooms. The room opens on a large common room, then stairs lead up or down to individual rooms, usually four of them. Mather guarantees all of its residents single bedrooms for all three years, so snoring roommates aren’t going to be a problem anymore.
Perks
There are a lot of great things about Mather. Mather has a friendly and fun-loving community. Mather HoCo works hard to sponsor events like the Louie Cup, Mather Week, and the best Happy Hours on campus, which despite suffering from the ban on hard alcohol, have remained a great house event.
— Andrew Rist ’09
LITERARY MATCHUP
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
It sounds deceptively scenic: a welcoming island chain on the River Charles. But in winter the walk to the Yard becomes a Siberian trek, and the Soviet-labor-camp architecture may leave you colder than Ivan Denisovich.
X-MEN MATCHUP
Nightcrawler
Scary on the outside, but fun-loving within, Nightcrawler is the perfect match for Mather House. With blue fur, yellow eyes, and claw like fingers, Nightcrawler isn’t the most aesthetically appealing of the X-Men. Nevertheless, his adventurous and joking prankster nature makes sure he’s the life of the party.
NOTABLE ALUMS
Conan O’Brien, host, Late Night with Conan O’Brien
Michael Kinsley, co-host, Crossfire
Zac Corker, inaugural fun czar