The Wesleyan Connection

(Left to right): State Representative Matt Lesser ’10; NEAT Executive Director Izzi Greenberg ’05; Comcast’s Vice President of Community Investment and President of the Comcast Foundation Charisse Lillie ’74; and Wesleyan Vice President for Institutional Partnerships and Chief Diversity Officer Sonia Mañjon. All were celebrating a collaborative effort to build a community garden in Middletown's North End. (Photo by Cynthia Rockwell)

Philadelphian Charisse Lillie ’74 was back in Middletown working on a community project this spring. She’d been an active volunteer in the city in her undergraduate days, and now, as the vice president of community investment for Comcast and president of the Comcast Foundation, she returned as a member of the nationwide and 11th annual Comcast Cares Day, held this year on April 21.

“It’s just wonderful to be back in Middletown,” she said, recalling her undergraduate community involvement as a drama workshop leader with Teenagers Organized for Productive Services during the 1970s. This time, she, the Comcast volunteers, and members of NEAT (the city’s North End Action Team) were among those creating a community garden in a vacant lot in memory of in memory of Macdonough Elementary School third-grader Alondra Hernandez, who had suffered an aneurysm last February at school and died at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

“We are hoping the garden will foster community spirit and will remember this young girl who I understand was the life of the community, and people loved her very much,” Lillie says.

Also at work, and clearly delighted with the collaboration with Comcast, were executive director of NEAT Izzi Greenberg ’05 and Macdonough Elementary School Principal Jon Romeo.

Additionally, Lillie, on behalf on Comcast, presented Greenberg and Romeo each with a $12,500 check, one for the school and one for the organization, although most likely, NEAT and Macdonough, which work closely together, will combine the funding, Greenberg notes.

“North End residents have worked for years to turn this blighted building into a community garden, both for Alondra and her family and for the health of the neighborhood,” Greenberg says. “This effort is part of a larger social justice movement to create safe, healthy neighborhoods in Middletown’s North End. NEAT was so grateful to have Comcast offer their volunteers and generous resources for our efforts. It has been very much appreciated by residents and has complemented and enhanced our work.”

Joss Whedon '87

In its opening weekend of May 4-6, the superhero extravaganza The Avengers, directed and written by Joss Whedon ’87 (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), opened to critical acclaim and exceeded U.S. box office expectations, debuting at $207.4 million—or $38.2 million more than the previous opening-weekend record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 ($169.2 million) from last summer, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film earned $475.8 million overseas and $226.4 million in North America by May 7.

This dream movie for comic book lovers brings together characters such as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth). At the center of the story is Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), leader of the peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury, along with former Russian spy Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), recruits a super team to combat Thor’s ever-deceptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after he brainwashes ace archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) while stealing a cosmic cube from an underground base.

In his positive  Los Angeles Times review, Kenneth Turan writes:
“As screenwriter, sharer of story credit with Zak Penn [’90] and director, Whedon is the key reason why this $220-million behemoth of a movie is smartly thought out and executed with verve and precision … Whedon’s biggest success, creating TV’s ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ was nowhere near this scale. But he is a third-generation television writer who was nominated for an Oscar for co-writing ‘Toy Story’ and he’s got an innate gift for bringing stories like this to life with the energy and intelligence that should be popular entertainment’s birthright but rarely is.” (more…)

Megan Cash ’14, center, and Hannah Lewis ’13, at right, enjoyed an opportunity to speak with Lara Galinsky ’96 after her seminar for the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship. "The workshop was such an amazing opportunity," Cash says. "I'm thrilled that I was able to meet other people passionate about entrepreneurship." (Photo by Cynthia Rockwell)

Lara Galinsky ’96, senior vice president of Echoing Green, a nonprofit social venture fund that supports emerging social entrepreneurs, was on campus April 20 to lead a workshop, conversation, and networking reception on concepts presented in her book, Work on Purpose. Guided questions helped participants—students, parents, and members of the community—identify potential fields. Galinsky’s goal is to help those in search of a meaningful career locate alignment between “head” (talents, education) and “heart” (passions)—a recipe that creates “hustle”—the energy and stamina to develop a program that effects change.

The evening offered participants opportunity to share ideas individually in front of the gathering as well as network in small groups. Raghu Appasani ’12, founder and CEO of the MINDS Foundation, which seeks to eliminate the stigma and provide resources for those suffering from mental illness in developing countries, found the evening to be beneficial as he prepares for life after graduation: “The new Patricelli Center really opens the doors for Wes alums from the nonprofit/social sector to get involved and bring their skills to the table. Lara’s Venn diagram activity was very useful (writing our head, heart, and merging into a purpose). It really got me in a state of detachment from the chaos and stress of the world and just thinking about what is really in my heart and head.”

Paul Gagnon, the internship and civic engagement coordinator with the Career Center, noted that this was the second guest speaker program with the Patricelli Center since its inception and the feedback he received was tremendously enthusiastic.

For her part, Galinsky was enthusiastic, as well. “It was extraordinary to be on campus; Wesleyan students and alums are among the most inspiring people I meet,” she said. “They encompass a rare combination of extreme smarts, boldness, entrepreneurial spirit and a strong moral compass.

“I left Wesleyan that evening with more hope for a better world—with their visions, passion, and drive, I know the world is in good hands.”

More information on Lara Galinksy’s book, Work on Purpose, is online. 

Book by David Rynick '74

David Rynick ‘74 is the author of This Truth Never Fails: A Zen Memoir in Four Seasons (Wisdom Publications). This intimate collection of short observations and reflections is a personal record of ongoing practice and study of the extraordinary experience we call ordinary life. Although the volume was written over a period of several years, the brief sections are arranged into the cycle of the seasons of a single year. Each piece stands alone but is also part of an overall narrative that involves leaving a home of 18 years and creating a Zen temple in a lovely old Victorian mansion.

The memoir includes a brief study guide for further inquiry, which offers opportunities for personal reflection and exploration on themes touched on in the book.

Rynick is a Zen teacher authorized in two lineages, a Korean Linji heritage and a Japanese Soto one. He is the resident teacher of the Boundless Way Zen Temple in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, Melissa Myozen Blacker ’76, also a Zen teacher. Since 1991 he has worked as a life and leadership coach, providing faith-based coaching to individuals and peer coaching for clergy from diverse faiths.

Michael Massen '84 (Photo by Bernard Levy)

An artist who plans to effectively draw clothing and drapery must learn to recognize the basic shapes of clothing and how the principles of physics act upon those shapes. In The Artist’s Guide to Drawing the Clothed Figure(Watson-Guptill), Michael Massen ’84 presents his thorough and novel approach to drapery by first describing clothing and drapery as basic shapes, and then illustrating how the mechanics of physics cause these shapes to bend, fold, or wrinkle in predictable ways. Massen shares how to use these concepts to depict all types of clothing in a variety of mediums.

Book by Michael Massen '84

This guide focuses on the mechanical principles behind the formation of folds and breaks down all clothing into three types: sculpted forms, loose drapery, and most especially, tubes. Then various techniques for rendering clothing are covered including how factors such as the stiffness, thickness, or texture of a particular material can affect the appearance of an article of clothing.

This resource contains helpful illustrated techniques and examples from old world and contemporary masters—from Leonardo da Vinci to Will Eisner.

Massen is an artist and graphic designer whose clients have included Scholastic, Harper Collins Publishers, Estée Lauder, Goldman Sachs, NW Ayer, and Workman Publishing. In 1993, he was awarded the National Sculpture Society Young Sculptors’ Award and was recognized by the Art Students League of New York with two scholarships. He has an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and a BA from Wesleyan’s College of Letters.

Michael Massen’s web site

Walter Pories ’52, MD (Photo courtesy of East Carolina University)

Walter J. Pories ’52, MD, professor in the department of surgery at Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University was selected as a 2012–13 recipient of the annual East Carolina University Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award.

He joined ECU in 1977 as chair of the department of surgery at the university’s medical school, which had just begun its four-year program. While here, he modified a type of weight-loss surgery into the “Greenville Gastric Bypass” and showed conclusively that not only does it result in durable weight loss but also causes a long-term remission of type 2 diabetes in patients who have diabetes and undergo the surgery.

A biology/chemistry major at Wesleyan with a strong humanities background, he earned his medical degree at the University of Rochester.

Among other honors, Pories is the 2001 recipient of O. Max Gardner Award, the highest honor given by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. Pories retired from operating at age 70 but still follows up with former patients and has continued with research related to his Greenville Gastric Bypass and diabetes.

When asked to name “two or three highlights” of his career for ECU Today, he replied:

“Seeing a patient get better. That’s an incredible reward. You operate on a baby with a congenital defect, and you come back three or four hours later and the baby is hungry and wants something to drink. That’s amazing.

“Making a difference with students. There is great joy in restoring a student’s confidence, in broadening his outlook, in validating her capabilities to manage difficult concepts. Teaching is such a privilege.

“Making a difference in society. You get a whole lot more back than you give. When my mentor, Dr. (William) Strain (at the University of Rochester) and I discovered that zinc was an essential element for animals and man, we showed that two cents worth of zinc added to a ton of feed increased feed efficiency by 20 percent, brought broilers to market in six rather than 10 weeks and accelerated first egg laying by 45 days, we made a difference in food production around the world. That’s very rewarding and made the effort of testing that thesis very worthwhile.”

Dar Williams '89

Dar Williams ’89 will release her ninth studio album In the Time of Gods (Razor and Tie) on April 17. She recently sat down with Glide Magazine to talk about the album, her time spent on tour with Joan Osborne, her dedication to environmental awareness, and the comeback of vinyl recordings. She has survived the music industry for more than 20 years, which has “allowed her the chance to work with some amazing artists, record songs that she wanted to hear (instead of what fit on radio), and most of all build a career in the grassroots aesthetic, all based on her strength as a live performer.”

Williams’ latest album is based on a concept, which she admits is a new approach for her.  She said: “I had this sort of horribly devious and funny thought about what would piss off my record company the most– how about writing a whole album about Greek myths? … And that’s when I really started to think about the different stories I’d grown up with, and that they were still very alive for me. So, in my travels I began to see the world through the eyes of these Greek myths, so coming into Silicon Valley, for example, is very much the song ‘This Earth,’ with this guy tinkering in his basement all the time with little robots as his friends, and he’s married to a beautiful woman for whom he makes beautiful things, but she’s never there and clearly he’s a fan of the Discovery Channel. … And specifically the story of Hephaestus, who is the God of artisans/blacksmiths and volcanoes, and he’s married to the Goddess of Beauty, and she literally is messing around with the God of War, whom she prefers, and so she’s disdainful of her basement-bound husband. It’s kind of like a children’s retelling of a very adult scenario, so that was my next song. And then one by one, they kept on springing up. …”

In the Time of Gods by Dar Williams '89

Because of the economic downtown, the budget for her new album was small but Williams was able to record the songs for free in her friend Rob Hyman’s studio. The recording also features guest artists Shawn Colvin and Broadway star Sherie Renee Scott.

The median age of the musicians playing on the album is around 50. Williams said: “They’re these guys who have done rock-and-roll professionally and really know their way around their instruments in this really incredible way. There’s a lot of professions where the term ‘seasoned’ is a real detriment, but in rock-and-roll it’s for people who have developed great instincts and have a huge repertoire that they can saddle up.”

In another interview with Ms. Magazine, Williams revealed that she will be teaching a music course at Wesleyan in the fall:

She said:  “My course is called ‘Music Movements in a Capitalist Democracy.’ Music movements have taken hold here, and they have interplay with the commercial world. The commercial world mirrors them and recognizes them, and sometimes makes a parody of them.

“I think it would be fun for [my students] to experience what it’s like to be in a movement, to get their mojo going, and make decisions. Like, how would you react to this? How would you germinate the beginnings of a people’s movement, as opposed to a commerce-initiated movement? I hope they experience that feeling.”

Glide Magazine interview

Ms. Magazine interview

Dar Williams web site

Polly Greenberg ’90

New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., announced the appointment of Polly Greenberg ’90 as chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau.

She first joined the office in 1993, starting in the Appeals Bureau and later in the Investigations Division. After leaving the office in late 2000 for private practice, Greenberg returned in 2005, and prosecuted primarily organized crime cases.

She was appointed deputy bureau chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau shortly after its creation two years ago, and has been instrumental in setting bureau priorities and in collaborating with outside agencies to broaden the reach of the bureau and develop a wide variety of investigations. She has supervised investigations into and prosecutions of securities, bank and mortgage fraud, and international and domestic money laundering, as well as wiretap investigations.

She graduated from Wesleyan with high honors in American studies and received her law degree from New York University School of Law.

Timothy Clew '93 - Photo by Paul Goguen/Bloomberg

An article by Krista Giovacco at Bloomberg.com recently featured Timothy Clew ’93 and Brian Mota as founders of The Wine Trust, the only private-equity-structured wine-investment fund in the United States with a targeted amount of more than $20 million. Their firm TWT Investment Partners LP, located in Ridgefield, Connecticut, is in the process of raising some $50 million for the trust, which is “more like a private-equity fund. The money invested is basically locked up for as long as eight years, which helps managers ride out a decline.”

Clew and Mota are former investment bankers.

Clew told Bloomberg: “This was an opportunity to take Wall Street-type disciplines and apply them to an asset class that was largely devoid of that type of thinking. ”

According to Bloomberg: “The fund buys both physical wine and futures — wine that is made and in casks but not yet bottled — directly from negociants to lock-in lower prices and secure significant quantities for investment of the most sought-after producers. It seeks wines with strong appreciation prospects after release, including … Bordeaux.”

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Book by Jonathan Kalb '81

A fascinating study by theater critic and scholar Jonathan Kalb ’81, Great Lengths: Seven Works of Marathon Theater (University of Michigan Press), considers large-scale theater productions that often run five hours or more and present special challenges to the artists involved as well as the audience. He takes a close look at seven internationally prominent theater productions, including Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Nicholas Nickleby, Peter Brooks’s The Mahabharata, and the “durational works” of the British experimental company Forced Entertainment. Diverse and savvy viewers who may otherwise be distracted by film, television and other media nevertheless continue to seek out the increasingly rare experiences of awe, transcendence, and sustained immersion provided by monumental theater works.

The book’s diverse examples range from adapted novels and epics, to dramatic chronicles with macrohistorical and macropolitical implications, to stagings of super-size classic plays, to “postdramatic” works that negotiate the border between life and art. Kalb reconstructs each of the works, re-creating the experience of seeing it while at the same time explaining how it maintained attention and interest over so many hours, and then expanding the scope to embrace a wider view and ask broader questions. The discussion of Nicholas Nickleby, for example, considers melodrama as a basic tool of theatrical communication, and the section on Peter Brooks explores the ethical problems surrounding theatrical exoticism.

The book is aimed at general readers as well as theater specialists. It places the chosen productions in various historical and critical contexts and engages with the many lively scholarly debates surrounding them.

Kalb is a theater critic and scholar whose work has appeared in The Village Voice and New York Press. He is a professor in the Department of Theatre at Hunter College, City University of New York.

Thomas Tucker ’77

Thomas Tucker ’77 joined The Hartford as chief underwriting officer for Commercial Markets and head of Specialty Casualty.

In this role, Tucker will oversee underwriting across Commercial Markets and lead The Hartford’s Specialty Casualty segment, which includes National Accounts, Captive & Specialty Programs and Hartford Financial Products. Tucker will focus on the continued delivery of risk solutions for the Specialty segment, as well as risk controls across the Commercial Markets organization.

A 35-year property and casualty industry veteran, Tucker joins The Hartford from AIG’s Chartis U.S., where he most recently served as chief underwriter and chief risk officer for its U.S. operations. He was responsible for enterprise risk management oversight of the company’s global property, casualty, professional and financial lines, as well as global risk finance. He was a government major at Wesleyan and earned his degree with honors.

Tucker also holds M.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has attended the Wharton School of Business insurance executive program.

Book by Cati Coe '92

Cati Coe ’92 is a co-editor (with Rachel Reynolds, Deborah Boehm, Julia Meredith Hess, and Heather Rae-Espinosa) of Everyday Ruptures: Children, Youth, and Migration in Global Perspective (Vanderbilt University Press), which illuminates the wide-ranging continuities and disruptions in the experiences of children around the world, those who participate in and those who are affected by migration.

When children, youth, and adults migrate, that migration is often perceived as a rupture, with people separated by great distances and for extended periods of time. But for migrants and those affected by migration, the everyday persists, and migration itself may be critical to the continuation of social life. The book is organized around four themes: 1) how children’s agency is affected by institutions, families, and beliefs; 2) how families and individuals create and maintain kin ties in conditions of rupture; 3) how emotion and affect are linked to global divisions and flows; and 4) how the actions of states create ruptures and continuities.

The volume will be useful to scholars from multiple fields, such as anthropology, sociology, geography, migration studies, psychology, and childhood studies.