Harvard University

When I was little, I collected snow globes. My dad brought them back for me from New York, Chicago, Hollywood, Miami, Tokyo, Rome and elsewhere. They spread out across my dresser top between my tennis trophies and my second-to-last place swimming ribbons; the replicas of great buildings, bridges and Ferris wheels were made even more alluring by being covered in “snow.” When I was in elementary school, my friend Diana accidentally broke my biggest globe. I cried as filmy water littered with small flakes seeped into the carpet. In their new exposure, the plastic buildings seemed cheap and…