Kick out the Kierkegaard
This article is part of a series on the impact of humanities studies in and out of the classroom. Storytelling has been a part of Brynn Elliott’s identity since she was a child, when she made up interpretive dances around her house and directed plays with her family’s nativity set. Coming to Harvard was an extension of that narrative. “I wanted to research songs,” said the Elliott ’18, who learned guitar at 16 and performs with a self-titled band. “I have written very personal songs, but the songs I’m most proud of are rooted in a deeper tradition than my own life.” The Atlanta-raised scholar-rocker got serious about music a year before arriving in Cambridge. In 2013, her name on Harvard’s wait list, Elliott took an internship with music producer Clif Magness (Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson) in Portland, Ore., recording a series of songs that included the Tolstoy-inspired “Dear Anna.” “At that...