From the editor | March 18

When the coronavirus struck, multiple aspects of our world went askew in ways we couldn't imagine. From the halls of Harvard (pictured) to our dispatch from the front lines in Milan, True Stories descends deep into a locked-down world. Add in the real face of the child separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border and when Interpol failed to save my life, and you have a day not soon to be forgotten.

Eugene S. Robinson, Editor-at-Large

True Stories

COVID-19 Crashes Into Harvard, Chaos Ensues

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Harvard, the ensuing student freakout was both surprising and counterintuitive.

On Tuesday, March 10, I was supposed to wake up at 8:45 a.m. for my 10 a.m. class. I was apprehensive about waking up so early after a weekend of nonstop rehearsals and meetings for every single extracurricular I have, culminating in a 3 a.m. bedtime the night before.

When my alarm rang and I went to turn my phone off though, I saw that I had 33 unread text messages. And I received an email from the dean with the subject line: “An Important Message from Harvard College.”

I didn’t read the whole email. I really only read the bolded phrasing: “Harvard College students will be required to move out of their houses and first-year dorms as soon as possible and no later than Sunday, March 15, at 5:00 p.m.”

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True Stories

The West African Nation That Lasted Only 12 Days

Right after independence, Nigeria was already playing its minority populations off each other.

Fifty-three years ago, the 27-year-old student union president of Nigeria’s first full-fledged university declared the oil-rich Niger Delta region from which he hailed a sovereign republic and himself the head of state.

“We are going to demonstrate to the world what and how we feel about oppression,” Isaac Boro told his supporters in his speech. “Remember your 70-year-old grandmother who still farms before she eats; remember also your poverty-stricken people; remember too, your petroleum which is being pumped out daily from your veins; and then fight for your freedom.” Nigeria had only been an independent country for six years, after an intense struggle against the British colonial administration.

About 150 volunteer soldiers joined the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force to wage guerrilla war against the Nigerian government. It was the first of many secession attempts Nigeria would encounter, and it didn’t go well for the secessionists: After 12 days, the experiment was over and the revolutionaries were arrested and jailed.

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