Oddblotter: Harvard Student Goes Hacking--on Trees

A Harvard student got caught trying to cut down trees that weren't his last Sunday morning. James Powers, a Lampoon editor, decided he didn't like trees that had just been planted at Mount Auburn and Holyoke.

The Cambridge Chronicle tried to get a comment, but Powers isn't saying anything. He thinks that's funny? Does he plan to pay the city back for those trees? Oh, his parents can probably handle it.

Fifty-three people commented on the Cambridge Chronicle's website. Most of them left Lampoony comments, a few of which involved Powers being a leprechaun. Also, various people claimed to be the "James Powers" or the "REAL James Powers." Someone else commented claiming to be the tree.

Universal Hub and the Crimson cover the tortured history between the Harvard Lampoon staff and Cambridge trees. At one point, former Cambridge mayor Al Vellucci wanted to put a public bathroom in the Lampoon building. Now that's a funny idea.

The Crimson also found the news that a Lampoon editor was in trouble absolutely thrilling. Their headline read, "'Poon Caught Whacking Wood." The Crimson regularly calls the Lampoon "a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine."

C. Fernsebner contributed to this post. Photo of the injured tree in question from C. Fernsebner.