On Tuesday, Nov. 29, students had the opportunity to hear famed elementary school teacher, Ms. Frizzle, lecture on the recent crisis of public opinion faced by evolutionary theory. Frizzle is known for her innovative field learning experiences centering on a yellow public transport vehicle known for its ‘magic’ propensity for indeterminacy in shape and size.
The lecture, entitled “Darwinism in Crisis in the Postmodern Post-Sept. 11 World,” drew heavily on intelligent design proponent Phillip E. Johnson’s book The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, and photographs of students standing in front of prehistoric beasts and the ‘Busasaurus,’ the creature that the magic school bus was converted into in order to accommodate the requisite time travel.
The Friz implored her audience to “Take chances, make mistakes and get messy” before haughtily pointing out the paucity of humans other than her students in this documentation of prehistory. A succeeding image in her power point of the time travel dial on the bus clearly illustrated the gradation to be in millions of years, as opposed to in thousands of years, consistent the ‘Young Earth’ hypothesis.
Reactions to the lecture variedly sharply.
“It was great to have Ms. Frizzle on campus,” said Anne Fox ’07. “It’s good to see that Wesleyan can bring in the big names, too.”
“Valerie Felicity Frizzle taught me everything I know about evolution,” said Paul Edwards ’09. “I mean, when you’ve been as intimate with her as I have, your methods certainly do evolve. I went to her a nubile boy and at the end of our relationship I was a man. I evolved, she evolved, we evolved together…just like eukaryotes.”
Despite the University’s reputation as a bastion of heathenism, some students took serious issue with Frizzle’s stance.
“As a strong proponent of intelligent design, I am shocked that Wesleyan would sponsor such a biased, narrow-minded speaker,” said Janet Dewar ’09. “Ms.Frizzle’s poorly researched joke of a presentation offended me. I mean, really. How much of that was even true? She could have doctored that dial on the time machine.”
Dewar was only one member of a section of the audience that took toxic umbrage with the Friz’s lecture. Whilst these students could be seen preparing appeals to the Connecticut Board of Education even as the Friz spoke, the lecture was generally well received. As students bellowed liberal platitudes from the audience, the Friz was many times heard to say “Excellent observation!”
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