Brave the wind, rain, and cold for some pizza and good company!
Happy Hour, 6:00 pm in the Grad Lounge
[image: image.png]
(You, making it to happy hour)
reminder! *tonight in the grad lounge @ 5:30pm*! come hang with the
admitted students and enjoy some free food and drink!
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*↑* *this is a hyrax **↑*
also *no happy hour tomorrow* *only tonight*
With the book sale winding down, we want to tell you about today's deal:
*Buy 1 Book, Get 2 Free!*
[image: Orange Green Red Fall Black Friday Sale Flyer Portrait.png]
Friends, colleagues, and now, competitors:
I write to you in advance of a truly magical time of year. What could
possibly be magical about March in the Northeast, you ask? No, it is not
the weather, oscillating between freezing rain, suspiciously warm days, and
endless skies of gray. Nor is it the quality of our scholarship, as G2s
finally give up on their reading lists and turn to book reviews, and DCF
candidates are forced to hunt down footnotes that have long read "find this
later."
No, it is basketball. An event for which many clamor--I see your emails
asking when the brackets will go live. But I also hear the sighs of
disappointment from those among you who have not yet waded into the waters
of college sports viewership. You say to yourself, "This is a history
department--a place of learning, of intellectual achievement."
To that I say, it's time to turn your brains off. Participation in a March
Madness bracket requires 0 (zero) thought, expertise, or experience. To
quote Cam Elliott, "Knowledge about the sport not required (and, in most
cases, only a hindrance)." Last year's men's bracket winner, Victoria
Gonzalez, made her selections based on which team was located farther west
in each matchup. Lauren Bohm chose which mascot she felt would win in a
fight. There is no rhyme or reason to success in this endeavor.
So, let's get down to brass tacks:
- March Madness is the NCAA Division I championship tournament for men's
and women's college basketball.
- It is single elimination through-and-through
- The tournament begins with 64 teams (not counting the First Four) and
quickly narrows to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four.
- Approx. 40 million Americans fill out brackets each year. You choose
who you think will win in each match-up of the tournament. *Note: no one
has ever created a perfect bracket.*
- Each of the 64 teams is given a ranking (a "seed") which denotes how
"good" the team is. Ie. a 16 seed should probably definitely lose to a 1
seed. But the seeds are far from perfect predictors--there are upsets left
and right. Hence the madness.
*Now, some directions:*
1. follow this link
<https://fantasy.espn.com/tc/sharer?challengeId=240&from=espn&context=GROUP_…>to
ESPN's tournament challenge site for the men's bracket
and this link
<https://fantasy.espn.com/tc/sharer?challengeId=241&from=espn&context=GROUP_…>for
the women's bracket (you are encouraged to make brackets for both!)
2. click "create a bracket now"
3. create a free ESPN account (if you don't already have one)
4. make your picks! this is easier to do on a big screen
5. *join our group "History x Harvard x Hoops" - password: robinson*
6. watch the ~madness~ play out starting tomorrow (first four) or Thursday
(main pool)!
**brackets can only be submitted before the round of 64 begins on Thursday**
Bonus: the department is providing a Coop gift card and new history tote
bag to the winners of our brackets!
Here are some resources for those of us who have not experienced March
Madness before:
What is March Madness?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_men%27s_basketball_tournament>
Information on each of the women's teams
<https://www.espn.in/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39737796/womens-nc…>
Information on each of the men's teams
<https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/page/FirstLookField-39…>
Sending luck and thoughts of hours in front of the TV,
Annie
--
Annie Boniface
PhD Candidate, History
Harvard University
that's right, we're having happy hour *TOMORROW, thursday, the 21st at
5:30pm* *instead of* the regular friday at 6pm. if you want pizza and beer,
you gotta come *tomorrow*...
AND HELP US WELCOME OUR ADMITTED STUDENTS!!!
they'll be there! come say hi! hang out!
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see you there!
hey there *LGBTQIA+ community* (et al)....
join me from *4-5pm in the History Dept. Grad Lounge* for the
★ *QUEER STUDENT SOCIAL* ★
to welcome our admitted students with some treats* and conversation!!
*(they're really good I promise... from a local bakery whose name starts
with "s" and ends with "a"...)
Hi all!
With the book sale in full swing, we want to tell you about today's deal: *Buy
2 Books, Get 1 Free! *
*Also, *see this year's poster by our very own Saffron Sener (G2)!
[image: book sale poster.png]
See you at the book sale!
Hello all !
Believe it or not, it's almost that time of year again! I write to request your help with the spring HGSA book sale, which will take place the week after spring break (March 18-22) so as to overlap with graduate student recruitment.
As a reminder, the book sale is a great opportunity to get books donated by faculty. Every hour you volunteer will be compensated with a free book of your choosing, and as usual, those who help with setting up the Sunday before the book sale will get two books/hour and lunch!
The job is a very light lift – all it involves is taking payments, reminding people of pricing, and periodically replenishing books as they sell out.
I hope you'll consider signing up to volunteer; the book sale depends on you!
Sign up to volunteer here<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/115kJrD02FMERqMtLh4iSiQijzwEPrz9Mbos…>.
As always, don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.
All best wishes,
Lauren
