375th party under the treetops
The puller of levers The man behind the green curtain in “The Wizard of Oz” worked the levers, pulled the wires, kept the show going. For Harvard’s 375th birthday party, that man was Jason Luke ’94, associate director of custodial and support services at Harvard’s Facilities Maintenance Operations. He is, in effect, the ceremony czar. Or maybe Pooh-Bah. Every spring he gets Harvard ready for Commencement week. But this fall, Luke and “many other people,” he said, have been working on the birthday bash: the lights, sound systems, stages, tents, chairs, first aid stations, signage, and other accoutrements of fun. “This is different. It’s all new,” Luke said of the 375th, as compared with Commencement. “There’s no routine.” For a few moments Friday afternoon, he stood at ease in Tercentenary Theatre, with his gray suit, red tie, floppy brown bush hat, and raincoat over one arm. His walkie-talkie crackled. Commencement is still the biggest...