The Wesleyan Connection

Paul Yoon '02

Paul Yoon ’02 makes his literary debut with a short story collection, Once the Shore (Sarabande Books), about residents of an imaginary island somewhere off the coast of South Korea. In his eight stories, Yoon introduces characters who live over a span of half a century, several of them working in modern tourism jobs or more traditional fields of fishing, farming, and diving. Yoon often writes about individuals who have suffered great losses in their lives. His imaginary world was inspired by a handful of sources he happened to read, and he did little research for the book.

In the celebrated title story, a horrific accident at sea becomes the catalyst for an unlikely friendship between an American widow and a young waiter at a coastal resort.

This lyrical work was included in The Best American Short Stories 2006. Another story, “And We Will Be Here,” in which a troubled woman takes care of an unconscious soldier, was included this year in the Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories collection.

In her review of the collection in The New York Times, Joan Silber writes that “the beauty of these stories is precisely in their reserve: they are mild and stark at the same time. … Most of the collection’s characters move through events with a resignation or forbearance rare in contemporary fiction. Once the Shore is the work of a large and quiet talent.”

Book by Paul Yoon '02.

Link to New York Times short interview with Paul Yoon: http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/stray-questions-for-paul-yoon/

Tesla Place, a “thunderous light project” by Pedro Alejandro, associate professor of dance, was performed May 10 and 11 on the Wesleyan campus. The dance, light and sound-based performance began outside Crowell Concert Hall and ended in the Center for the Arts Courtyard. The theme focused on the inventor/scientist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943).

Tesla Place was created in collaboration with Marcela Oteiza, adjunct assistant professor of theater and faculty fellow; Paul Boylan; Sal Privitera, audio-visual technician; Adam Tinkle; graduate student Rod O’Connor; Dante Brown ‘09; Brittany Delany ‘09; Aaron Freedman ‘10; Spencer Garrod ‘09; Shayna Keller ‘09; and Samantha Sherman ‘09.

Tesla Place was funded by a Mellon Foundation grant and the Office of the Dean of Arts and Humanities.

Photos of the performance are below. (Photos by Olivia Bartlett and Alexandra Portis ‘09)

The dance and music departments of Wesleyan hosted the West African Drumming and Dance Spring Concert showcasing the vibrancy of West African cultures through their music and dance forms. In West Africa, dance is life embodied in rhythm and movement. It celebrates and reinforces life and its various cycles. Right from conception to death, people in West Africa are called upon to honor and celebrate the different stages, achievements and successes of life, as well as to mourn and remember bitter experiences and losses, through music and dances. (Photos by Alexandra Portis ‘09)

Singapore-Malaysia Cultural Night was held April 23 in Beckham Hall. The first-ever event offered music, dance, drama, comedy, political satire and ethnic foods to introduce the Wesleyan community to the Singapore and Malaysian culture.

Photos of the event are below. (Photos by Alexandra Portis ‘09)

Two Wesleyan alumni performed May 12 for President Obama, his family and others at the White House. The event was titled “An Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word.” Ayelet Waldman ‘86 and her husband Michael Chabon, both writers, were among the speakers. An NPR story about the event included Waldman discussing the power of the written word: “To harness the power of language you have to be able to put yourself in the position of the person you are speaking to—to imagine what they are thinking, what they’re feeling. That’s hard.”

Also at the White House was Lin-Manuel Miranda ‘02, creator of the award-winning Broadway show “In the Heights.” In her blog, Waldman says he won over the audience “with a hip hop song about Alexander Hamilton, as sung by Aaron Burr.” She credited Miranda with being “one of those performers who comes along every once in a rare while who’s just got magic about him.”

Book by Rebecca Hill '91.

Rebecca N. Hill ’91 is the author of Men, Mobs, and Law: Anti Lynching and Labor Defense in U.S. Radical History (Duke University Press) in which she compares two seemingly unrelated types of leftist protest campaigns: those intended to defend labor organizers from prosecution and those seeking to memorialize lynching victims and stop the practice of lynching. Her incisive new study suggests that these forms of protest are related and have considerably influenced one another. She recognizes that both campaigns worked to build alliances through appeals to public opinion in the media, by defining the American state as a force of terror, and by creating a heroic identity for their movements.

Hill focuses on the narratives produced during the abolitionist John Brown’s trials and execution, analyzes the defense of the Chicago anarchists of the Haymarket affair, and compares Ida B. Wells’s and the NAACP’s anti-lynching campaigns to the Industrial Workers of the World’s early 20th-century defense campaigns. She also examines conflicts within the campaign to defend Sacco and Vanzetti, chronicles the history of the Communist Party’s International Labor Defense, and explores the Black Panther Party’s defense of George Jackson.

Hill is an associate professor in the department of social science at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York.

Elizabeth Gauvey-Kern '11, a music and government double major, sings Duke Ellington's "It don't mean a thing (if it ain't got that swing)" during a Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra performance April 30 at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Middletown.

Wesleyan jazz musicians have been tooting their own horns to the local community.

During spring semester, the 20-member band has performed six times at public elementary, middle and high schools in Middletown. They work under the direction of vibraphonist-composer Jay Hoggard, adjunct associate professor of music.

Jay Hoggard directs the Wesleyan jazz orchestra at Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

“It’s good for the Wesleyan students to get out of their little shell of the universe according to Momma Wesleyan, go a few blocks away and play for young people who may or may not have been exposed to this type of music before,” Hoggard says. “We’re representing jazz and we’re representing Wesleyan.”

The orchestra’s 2009 repertoire consists of music by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Thad Jones, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and Jelly Roll Morton. The group spends the fall semester listening and learning music, and performs select pieces at the schools during the spring semester.

The Wesleyan students dress to impress. On stage, they don black pants, shirts and a Cardinal red vest.

The concerts themselves lasted for about 50 minutes. If time allowed, Hoggard also introduced the Wesleyan musicians and their instruments, which ranged from clarinet to trumpet to piano.

“We sound, and we look, impressive,” Hoggard says. “The audience, especially the elementary-age kids, look at the Wesleyan students as professional artists.”

Baritone saxophonist Bob Gambo ‘10 played for a large jazz orchestra in high school and joined the Wesleyan orchestra to continue his musical education, and gain a deeper understanding of jazz music.

“Playing at local schools is a great experience; we learn a lot about ourselves as musicians, the music we play and the community at large,” Gamo says. “Jay emphasized the community-building nature of these concerts, and refers to us as ‘ambassadors’ of jazz music to the children and school faculty that we entertain. The response has been positive and encouraging from the students we perform for.”

Elizabeth Gauvey-Kern ‘11, a music and government double major, sings two songs, “It don’t mean a thing (if it ain’t got that swing)” a famous anthem of jazz written by Duke Ellington, and Frank Foster’s arrangement of “In a mellow tone,” another Ellington tune. She also sings in the band, rather than in front of the band, for Charles Mingus’s “Moanin.”

“It’s really an honor for me how Jay makes me part of the band,” Gauvey-Kern says. “As a singer, it is often typical to be the final add-on, the last piece, not really included in the day to day rehearsal process. Jay doesn’t let that happen. I haul equipment and take part in rehearsals. He makes sure I’m one of the band.”

The students travel to the schools in their own vehicles, or a Wesleyan passenger van. They leave campus around 12:20 p.m. and return by 2:30 p.m. But it’s the getting there – and getting back – that teaches the Wesleyan students the most about life as a musician. Hoggard says the prep and take-down account for more than 50 percent of the time at the schools.

“It can become a real madhouse when you have 20 students packing and loading up instruments and equipment, setting them up, getting into place, hurrying up to get ready and finally playing for about an hour,” Hoggard says. “But, that’s what being a musician is. No one cares if you had to break your back carrying a piano up the steps. The audience just wants to hear the music.”

The young musicians are given a sample of the touring life in a way that few of them have ever experienced.

“Jay emphasized these practical aspects of the concerts just as much as the musical aspects, teaching us lessons of responsibility and leadership at the same time,” Gambo explains. “We became used to moving, unpacking and setting our equipment up quickly so as to maximize our time playing for the students.”

This is Hoggard’s 17th year directing the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra at local schools. He started the program in 1992, when his own children were enrolled in the Middletown Public School system. He’s maintained the connection with the schools ever since.

In Spring 2009, Hoggard directed the Jazz Orchestra at, Keigwin Middle School, Wesley Elementary School, Moody School, Middletown High School and Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

“As a band-leader and professor, Jay cultivates the responsibility, independence and humility that are essential components to life at and beyond Wesleyan,” Gambo says. “Few other professors have the ability to do this so effectively.”

Photos of the orchestra below by Bill Burkhart.

The 177th Commencement Ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. on Andrus Field. The ceremony will be simulcast in the Memorial Chapel, Patricelli ’92 Theater, Crowell Concert Hall, and Tishler Lecture Hall (Room 150) at Exley Science Center, rain or shine.

The ceremony also will be broadcast through a live video stream at http://condor.wesleyan.edu/openmedia/webcast/cast1.qtl.

The latest version of Quicktime Player is required to view the webcast. The player can be downloaded for free, for both Windows and Mac, by clicking here.  A high-speed internet connection is also necessary to view the broadcasts.

Wendy Norton, a cashier for Bon Appétit Management Co., sets up pastry and dessert trays before the breakfast and lunch crowd.

Q: Wendy, how many years have you worked at Wesleyan?

A: I’ve worked at Wesleyan 10-and-a-half years. I started at WesShop and worked there two years. I’ve also worked at Summerfields, a half year at MoConn and a half year the Davenport Campus Center in food prep. I’ve worked here at Usdan in The Martketplace since it opened two years ago. Summerfields had a very homey atmosphere, but the best part about working here in Usdan is that I get to meet more students.

Q: What hours do you work?

A: I’m here 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday during the academic year, and I work some nights when we cater events. In the morning, I help set up pastries. Breakfast opens at 8 a.m. and ends at 10:30 a.m. Then I help set up desserts for lunch. Our bakers, Mike and Dennis, make amazing desserts. They make everything fresh the night before.

Q: Why do you like coming to work every day?

A: I like to see the students. They make me happy with their smiling faces and big hugs.

Q: Do you get to know the students on an individual basis?

A: Yes. I enjoy getting to know them. I learn about their classes, their families and where they are from. And now, because of Facebook, I can keep in touch with them easier after they graduate.

Q: Speaking of, there is a “Wes Loves Wendy” fan club on Facebook, 103-members strong.

A: That’s what I’ve heard.

Q: What do meals cost in The Marketplace?

A: Breakfast is $5.50, lunch is $7.99 and dinner is $9.25. It’s all buffet style and students can use their meal plans or pay with “points.”

Q: Do you eat any meals here at the Marketplace?

A: Yes. I loved the baked goods, the pizza and the Mongolian grill. That’s also a favorite of the students.

Q: Do you attend any Wesleyan related events?

A: Yes. If a student asks me to attend their dance recital or sports event, I will go. I’ve been to many football, baseball and lacrosse games. I love going to the games to support the Wesleyan Cardinals. I also love the a cappella and choir groups here, like the Wesleyan Spirits, New Group and Quasimodal.

Q: Where are you from and where do you live now?

A: I was born in Greenwich and grew up in Cos Cob, Conn. Now I live in Durham with my husband, Ken, and my three children, Amanda, 18, and twin sons, Jay and Brandon, 16. The boys keep me very busy. I’m always driving them to track meets, baseball and basketball games. Amanda also works for Bon Appétit

Q: You were recently honored as a 2009 Morgenstern-Clarren Social Justice Employee Prize winner, created in memory of Peter Morgenstern-Clarren ‘03 who pursued social justice while a student at Wesleyan. How did that make you feel?

A: I couldn’t believe it. I felt so honored.

Q: What are your hobbies?

A: I enjoy cake decorating, taking pictures and gardening. Well, I shouldn’t say gardening. I don’t have a green thumb at all. But I’m pretty good at pulling weeds.

A former storage room in Olin Library is now part of the Preservation Services facility.

When one of Olin Library’s books becomes tattered or torn, Preservation Services helps restore the book, making it again available for circulation.

In April, the one-room shop located in Olin’s basement received its own facelift.

“We outgrew the space that we had,” explains Michaelle Biddle, head of preservation services. “Our carpet was saturated with dirt and mold, and we needed more space and better lighting.”

The renovation included removing a wall between Preservation Services and a storage room formerly used by Special Collections and Archives. The storage area was merged with the current preservation lab, adding an additional 180 square feet to the working area.

The lab received new paint, new lighting and a Scottish tile floor. The project was funded by the Adelphic Education Fund.

Biddle works in the lab with between five student preservation technicians. She will be hiring eight students for the 2009-10 academic year.

“We now have wonderful light, cleanliness and enough space to be organized,” Biddle says. “Our productivity is up by over 100 percent compared to last year because we can now work on several different projects simultaneously.”

Preservation Services, established in 1999, restores books that have torn binding or pages, mold, page staining, and defacing. The department helps maintain the library’s collections, to ensure their availability to users, and to make items available in different formats when the originals are no longer useful because of severe deterioration of paper or bindings.