Marching in picket lines has replaced life as a writer for a group of University alumni who are members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Since Nov. 5, the WGA has been on strike in protest of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ (AMPTP) policies on writers’ residuals.
College-bound GIs can expect a helping hand from Wesleyan now that the University is setting up a scholarship program specifically for student military veterans. The scholarship, which will be funded by the donations of two Wesleyan alumni, will allow there to be up to 10 scholarship-recipients on campus at any one time.
In recent days, the circumstances surrounding the Oct. 28 firing of Summerfields cashier Claudia Hill have become the subject of increasing inquiries from the UNITE-HERE Local 217, the dining workers union. Hill and union representative Len Nalencz believe that the firing was a retaliatory measure aimed at Hill’s husband, Jeff Hill, a union steward who has worked at Wesleyan for 28 years and vocal critic of Bon Appetit’s management practices.
We applaud the University’s initiative to set up a scholarship program for up to 10 veterans from the Armed Forces, although it is sadly ironic that Wesleyan is stepping up to provide important services to vets while the current administration is barely able to.
George Washington Carver, recently named Time Magazine’s most influential person, has something to tell the Wesleyan community: the Buddhist House Dandelions don’t lose. Earlier this week the world witnessed the epic Intramural Champions League soccer finals, one of the most historic games of all time.
I really appreciate Izaak Orlansky’s Wespeak, “An uncomfortable silence on unrecognized Veterans Day.” When I walked across the country on a march for peace this summer, I had more experiences with veterans similar to Izaak’s in Olin than I can begin to count.
In 1922, Woodrow Wilson asserted: “Of course, like every other man of intelligence and education, I do believe in organic evolution. It surprises me that at this late date such questions should still be raised.” In 1922, this would seem to me to be only an appropriate and logical stance on evolution. In 2007, any deviation from the above is absurd in the highest degree.
We’ll be the first to say it: We’re not dorks. We’d rather go to the dentist than study, textbooks make us cringe, and we’ve been known to attend a class or two under the influence (freshman year, we swear!). We have to admit though: The pentose phosphate shunt is pretty sexy, hemes trip us out, and metabolism is, like, pure rock and roll, baby.
So Wes is invested in Raytheon, an armaments maker, and SEWI (Students for Ending the War in Iraq) is up in arms about it. The ancient Romans, whose epic tale could be entitled “War and Peace,” had a saying: “To have peace, prepare for war.”
Here’s a little info about making food into dirt, so we can make dirt into food. The process here may seem a bit mysterious, especially when the only reference points are smelly buckets in the halls.
“Diversity” is a word thrown around so often on this campus in such heated contexts, yet no one ever seems to want to define it. I would like to thank Emily Greenhouse for moving beyond the use of diversity as referring only to students of color, acknowledging the need for “class diversity.” The fact that about 59% of students at Wesleyan receive no financial aid is a scary reality, where the majority of students have no personal investment in Wesleyan’s financial aid policies.
Recently, Nick Fesenko submitted a Wespeak defending James Dewey Watson’s comments concerning the “future of the continent of Africa,” which basically argued that those of African descent are not as intelligent as those with non-African ancestry. Fesenko claimed politics and science should be maintained separate for the purpose of scientific accuracy and invoked the traditional devils, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, as foils to what should be done to Fesenko.
In Tuesday’s Argus, Dave Mingolla wrote an article ostensibly detailing the success of runners on both the men’s and women’s cross country teams at the New England D3 meet, and how the captains of both teams (Sean Watson and Lucia Pier, respectively) earned spots at Nationals.
I understand that Biochemistry is tough because students have to assemble and apply knowledge from many chemistry, biology, etc., courses in order to make sense of it. But that’s the fun part of taking a senior level course, isn’t it? Not to mention that you finally find out how your body metabolizes alcohol.
I was so pleased to see the recent Argus article about students’ concerns with the sushi served at the campus dining facility. As a Wes alum, and an employee of theMonterey Bay Aquarium, I am proud that Wesleyan students are paying attention to the seafood they consume.
Despite back-to-back disappointing seasons, optimism abounds in Silloway Gymnasium this winter, where the men’s basketball team is poised for a turnaround campaign. After finishing 6-17 and 7-16 the past two seasons and missing the postseason both years, the Cardinals are looking to reestablish themselves as one of the NESCAC’s premier programs.
The men’s squash team is poised for a turnaround performance this year, after a disappointing campaign last season when it finished with a 6-13 record, sixth in the conference. With the entire squad returning and the addition of 4 freshmen, the Cards are ready to use their experience and bounce back in 2007-2008.
Cardinal wrestling will begin its 2007-2008 campaign on Saturday at the Doug Parker Invitational tournament, hosted by Springfield College. In last year’s event, the Cardinals executed a seventh place finish in a field of 17 and are looking to turn some heads this time around.
The men’s swimming and diving team will open its season this Saturday with a meet against Bates College. Twelve lettermen will be leading the team of twenty, with captains Jeff Stein ’08 and Mike Pepi ’08 at the helm. The team is returning after a 6th place showing at last year’s NESCACs. Despite putting on a weaker performance than previous years, the team expects this season to be explosive.
The women’s basketball squad aims to put together its eighth consecutive winning season following a strong 2006-07 season in which the women’s basketball squad went 15-9. Over the past seven seasons the Cards have gone 124-49 for a winning percentage of .717, including six straight trips to the NESCAC tournament and two NCAA tournament at-large bids.
The women’s swimming and diving team, from top to bottom one of the most talent-rich teams on campus, opens the 2007-08 season this coming Saturday with a home meet against Bates College. Although finishing with a 6-7 overall meet record last year, the team produced an array of record-breaking races in 2006-07. All of Wesleyan’s standout female swimmers return this season, hoping to lead the team to a new level of team success.
After its slow start three years ago, when only 66 students had made deposits into their Middletown Cash accounts by Thanksgiving Break, the program has finally reached a level of success. “Just about all students use Middletown Cash now, since we’ve added the bookstore and computer store, and laundry facilities to the program,” said Noreen Angeletti, WesCard program manager.
The University has received a McNair grant of $220,000 per year for the next four years. The grant, established by the U.S. Department of Education, will be used to help first-generation college students, and students from under-represented minority groups, pursue and prepare for post-graduate study.
Juicier than celebrity tabloids and more addictive than heroin, Wesleyan’s Anonymous Confession Board (ACB) has claimed many a victim. Few have managed to avoid its gossipy grasp, and those who have succumbed to it require a heavy dosage, lest withdrawal sets in. This dependency made the twenty-four-hour ACB outage last week particularly dreadful for a select few.
Sunday afternoon, the brothers of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Incorporated (LUL), sat by the main stairs of Usdan, offering to exchange Latino desserts for clothes to be donated to The Salvation Army.
If you’re one of the many people who wish that campus parties had a bit more dancing and weren’t so lame, then you should get to know Harrison Schaff ’11. This frosh is making his way in the L.A. DJ-ing scene and, in fact, is coming to a WestCo Café near you this Friday. Read on and enter the musical mind of the man who could bring about the rebirth of the Wesleyan dance scene (if there ever was such a thing).
When you push open that heavy metal door, you enter a subterranean labyrinth. Follow the metallic rainbow of tags, slogans, and insults that adorn the walls ever deeper into the maze. Inhale the distinct bouquet of spray-paint and stale air. Take the time to relish your descent into the bowels of Wesleyan University.
"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave." This is Muslim chaplain (or, Imam) Sohaib Nazeer Sultan's favorite quote from the Prophet Mohammed. He encourages all students to engage in this life-long search for knowledge. "I love working at Wesleyan," Sultan said.
On display in the Rick Nicita Gallery in the Center for Film Studies is a series of posters entitled “Astaire: Posters from the Collection.” Spanning 11 of Astaire’s starring roles, from “Follow the Fleet” (1936) to “The Band Wagon” (1953), the collection, accompanied by an essay written by President Michael Roth, showcases both Astaire’s classic style of movement and the manner in which his work was advertised.
As part of the Russell House Writers Series, filmmaker Henry Ferrini presented an hour-long documentary on Wednesday night, composed in memory of poet and post-modernist thinker Charles Olson ’32. The documentary, entitled “POLIS IS THIS: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place,” comes as one of a series of studies by Ferrini on the hometowns of New England writers.
Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Second Stage and the ’92 Theater hosted “Hip-Hop Showcase,” a dance performance organized and choreographed by Dante Brown ’09. The hour-long performance blended hip-hop, R&B, spoken word, and electro in eight dance pieces, which showcased the variety, exuberance and power of hip-hop as a form of artistic expression.
On Nov. 11, while many students confined themselves to the common room of Olin Library to study for pre-Thanksgiving exams, a handful opted to attend Duke Day, West College’s annual daylong music festival. Duke Day features student and guest bands alike, as well as arts and crafts booths. The festival ran from noon to 5 p.m.
The sound (and silence) of music filled the Center for the Arts (CFA) Cinema on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at the Actual Music Series show “Internal Combustion.” Featuring works by Earle Brown, John Cage, and Katherine Young, the show was a multimedia presentation that counted cardboard boxes among the many instruments on stage.
Critics have said that “American Gangster” is our newest virtuoso crime film. A story skillfully told by director Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Blade Runner,” “Gladiator”) and cinematographer Harris Savides (“Elephant,” “Zodiac,” “Gerry”), and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, “American Gangster” just might be our generation’s closest approximation to the 70’s crime epics.
In the new Mecca of the Montreal music scene, Spencer Krug is an icon among standouts. As lead singer and synth-prog mastermind behind two of the strangest bands to garner followings in the last several years, he’s made a name for himself by fully embracing his adolescent impulses—big emotions in backbreaking songs, all tied together with the charming, slapdash poetry of a literary teenager plugging away on his Livejournal.