Olivia DrakeDecember 11, 20123min
Ring in the new year with a night of entertainment, dancing, music, laughing, fireworks and crafts in downtown Middletown. Starting at 3 p.m. Dec. 31, the City of Middletown will host its second Middnight on Main 2013, an alcohol-free celebration with unique activities for revelers of all ages, centered in the city's historic downtown. More than 10,000 people attended the 2012 event. Since Wesleyan is co-sponsoring the event, Wesleyan students, employees and their families are encouraged to attend. More than 100 events are packed into bank lobbies, performance halls, storefronts, churches and galleries, spanning four blocks in Middletown. Activities include a…

Brian KattenDecember 5, 20124min
This fall, the Wesleyan softball team has expanded its efforts beyond the sports field in order to help others. In November, the team "adopted" a 13-year-old Cromwell, Conn. girl who struggles with multiple health problems, and donated to the Red Cross' Hurricane Sandy relief effort. Joining the Wesleyan softball team through the Team IMPACT program is 13-year-old Stephanie Lubogo (shown seated in middle of photo with younger sister Emily on the right). Team IMPACT matches local youngsters suffering from a variety of maladies with college athletic teams to boost their confidence and sense of belonging. Stephanie was born with an…

Olivia DrakeDecember 5, 20122min
Peta2 selected Wesleyan University as the 2012 “Most Vegan-Friendly College” in the small U.S. schools category. Wesleyan also won the contest in 2009. Tens of thousands of students nationwide voted for the nominees. According to Peta2, the number of vegan college students has more than doubled nationwide since 2005, and it only continues to rise as students learn about the routine abuse that animals face when killed for food. “When a school has chefs who specialize in vegan desserts on staff, you know you’re in for a treat,” Peta2 reported on Wesleyan's dining options. “This year’s (Halloween dessert) theme, Gotham…

Olivia DrakeDecember 5, 20123min
Gina Athena Ulysse, associate professor of anthropology, associate professor of African-American studies, was invited to perform her avant-garde meditation, "Voodoo Doll, What if Haiti Were a Woman?" at two international conferences in 2013. Ulysse's piece focuses on coercion and consent inspired by Gede, the Haitian Vodou spirit of life and death. She intersperses the story with Haiti’s geopolitical history, statistics, theory and Vodou chants. On Jan. 12-19, Ulysse will attend the 8th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. There, she will join more than 400 artists, performers, scholars and activists who will…

Olivia DrakeNovember 26, 20125min
Influential experimental music composer, writer and artist John Cage (1912-1992), famous for his avant-garde music, was affiliated with Wesleyan from the 1950s until his death in 1992. During his 37-year relationship with Wesleyan, Cage collaborated with members of the Wesleyan music faculty, composed and performed on campus, and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in 1960–61 and 1969–70. Wesleyan University Press published several of his books. To honor Cage's time and achievements at Wesleyan, the university is celebrating the centenary of Cage by focusing on his understanding of music as a social process through a collection of events.…