The Wesleyan Connection

The 35-minute film, Songs of a Sorrowful Man, will be screened at 5 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Powell Family Cinema inside the Center for Film Studies.

A film directed by Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology, emeritus, and edited by film major Joe Sousa ’03, explores the life of a painter, composer and singer living in West Bengal, India.

The 35-minute film, Songs of a Sorrowful Man, will be screened at 5 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Powell Family Cinema inside the Center for Film Studies.

The “sorrowful man,” Dukhushyam Chitrakar is a charismatic figure who encourages women to take up the traditional craft of scroll painting and musical composition pursued almost exclusively by men before.

In a series of edited sequences, the film chronicles Dukhushyam’s vision of the decline and rebirth of his art; his tolerant Sufi Muslim spirituality; his engagement with Hindus, Muslims and the modern world; his encyclopedic knowledge of changing musical and painting histories and techniques; the influence of his beliefs on his way of life, and his teachings for future generations of painters and singers in his community.

Joe Sousa '03 and Matt Sienkiewicz '03 directed and produced Live: from Bethlehem.

Another film, directed and produced by Sousa and Matt Sienkiewicz ‘03 producer/director will be shown after Songs of a Sorrowful Man. Live: from Bethlehem, is a feature documentary and online video source that tells the story of how journalists from the Ma’an Network have declared independence from hate-filled propaganda and are revolutionizing media in the Palestinian Territories.

The film chronicles the struggles, failures and triumphs of the network, the only major independent news source in the Palestinian Territories. Following the lives of the station’s reporters, producers and photographers, the documentary provides an in-depth, balanced look into the challenges of making news in one of the world’s most combative regions.

Östör and Sousa will discuss their films following the screenings.

Team co-captain Nick Whipple '10 and the Wesleyan Cardinals men's soccer team, have remained in the top spot among New England Division III squads for four weeks, as well as maintaining a top-10 position nationally. (Photos by Peter Stein '84)

Wesleyan men’s soccer has accomplished two feats never before witnessed by Cardinal faithful: they have yet to lose after 15 games, and have set a school record for shutouts in a season.

Now they are looking for a NESCAC title, something that has only been done once before (in 2005) by Wesleyan Men’s Soccer.

Their campaign has in no way been easy. They opened the year on Sept. 12 facing perennial power and Little Three rival Williams College on the road. In that match the Cardinals came back after being down 1-0 to forge a 1-1 tie. Over the eight weeks that have followed the squad has pushed its NESCAC-best overall record to 11-0-4 and 6-0-3 in league play, earning Wesleyan the top seed in the NESCAC Tournament. The Cardinals are one of only two unbeaten Division III teams in the country.

Keisuke Yamashita '10 goes for a goal against Colby College.

The 15-game unbeaten streak has eclipsed the previous school mark set in 2006 when the team opened the year 9-0-3 before falling to Williams in game 13. With 11 shutouts so far this year, the 2009 squad has broken the record set by the 1980 Cardinal team, which collected eight shutouts on its way to a 12-2 record and an ECAC New England Division III title.

It’s been quite a rebound for a team that finished at 5-8-2 last year.

What has made the difference in 2009?

Co-captain Mark Murphy '10.

“I think it was a question of taking a step backward in order to take two steps forward,” says 11-year head coach Geoff Wheeler. “Last year was a learning experience and a chance for the upperclassmen to reflect on the disappointment and use it as a positive.”

Mixing 21 returnees, seven of them seniors, with a very capable crop of nine newcomers, Wesleyan has gelled into a national force, one that has held the number-one spot in New England for four straight weeks, debuted on the national rankings at No. 15 on Oct. 6, then climbed to No. 6 on Oct. 13 and continued its ascent to No. 5, a position it has held since Oct. 20. A new poll is coming out Nov. 3 and Wesleyan is expecting a rise to No. 4 nationally.

In one of the team’s recent games Oct. 24, a 0-0 overtime deadlock at Little Three rival Amherst, 21 Cardinals saw action in the contest, seven of them first-years, including the team’s starting netminder Adam Purdy ’13.

Adam Purdy '13 at Trinity.

“He has been an extremely welcome addition to the team,” says Coach Wheeler. “There’s no doubt his presence has given us a big lift. While we came into the season with a concentration on defense because we gave up 27 goals in 2008, Adam has been called upon to make some big saves and he has really come through.”

Purdy leads the NESCAC in both save percentage (.926) and goals-against average (0.32). Both these figures rank him among the top-10 nationally in Division III. Wesleyan has given up just five goals in 15 games in 2009.

The Cardinals opened NESCAC Tournament play at home Sunday, Nov. 1 with a 5-0 shellacking of Colby. Wesleyan will now host the conference Final Four the weekend of Nov. 7-8, facing Middlebury in one semi-final Saturday while Williams takes on Bowdoin in the other. The winners meet in the championship game Sunday with an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament going to the victor.
“It’ll be something we shoot for and hope comes our way,” says Coach Wheeler.

Wesleyan has set at a goal of raising $130,000 through its annual United Way workplace campaign, which kicked-off Oct. 6.

Wesleyan employees can help strengthen lives and improve community conditions in the 15 towns in Middlesex County by participating in the 2009-10 Middlesex United Way Campaign.

Wesleyan has set at a goal of raising $130,000 through its annual workplace campaign, which supports the building blocks of life – education, income, health and housing. Through the agencies it funds, United Way hopes to increase children’s readiness to learn by school entry; increase economic self-sufficiency of individuals and families; reduce the rate of risky behaviors among youth and adults; and increase the ability of individuals and families to attain affordable housing.

The campaign kicked-off Oct. 6.

“All of us can help,” Wesleyan President Michael Roth says. “We can assist a homeless family seeking shelter. We can help young people make good choices about behavior. We can ensure that children are ready to learn when they start school in our towns. We can look after neighbors who experience a devastating disruption of their lives and get them the help they need to recover. United Way supports all these efforts and much more.”

During the 2008-09 campaign, 160 local businesses and organizations, including Wesleyan, raised 65 percent of Middlesex United Way’s total during their annual workplace campaign. Wesleyan contributed $128,348, of which $1,172 was from a student bake sale.

“Wesleyan has always been a generous supporter of United Way, and the theme of ‘Live United’ speaks directly to the spirit of community service at Wes. United Way not only provides essential help for our neighbors with immediate needs, it’s also working to address the root causes of problems, such as homelessness, that people throughout Middlesex County have identified as important to solve,” says Wesleyan Campaign Chair Bill Holder, director of publications, editor of Wesleyan Magazine.

Employees can make a one-time donation or have funds withdrawn once a week, once every two weeks or once a month through Wesleyan’s payroll deduction plan. Department (more…)

Barry Chernoff, the Robert Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies, professor of earth and environmental sciences, professor of biology and director of the Environmental Studies Certificate Program, highlights the new Environmental Studies Linked Major and ENVS certificate program Sept. 11 in Usdan University Center.

From his home in Hawaii, Evan Weber ‘13 can walk a couple hundred yards and be standing in the Pacific Ocean. Or, he can walk a couple hundred yards and be on the Ka’iwa Ridge, climbing through forests.

As a result of his fortunate placement, Weber grew up with a deep connection to the natural world and developed a sense of personal duty to preserve and uphold the “multifaceted wonder that is our home, Earth,” he says.

At Wesleyan, Weber plans to expand his appreciation and knowledge for the planet by double majoring in the new Environmental Studies (ENVS) Linked Major. The new area of study is more than an expansion of the Environmental Studies Certificate Program.

“My interest in environmental studies has to do with taking my spiritual, ethical and conservational ideas about nature and helping to disperse these ideas into the semi-functional globalized, industrialized, materialistic and political society that we are all members of,” Weber explains. “When one has the opportunity to know nature as place of solitude, a place for reflection, a thing (more…)

Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78, Joe Allbritton P'92, Barby Allbritton P'92, Elena Allbritton ’93 and Robert Allbritton ’92 take part in a Allbritton Center ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 2. (Photo by Bill Burkhart)

With a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 2, Wesleyan unveiled a facility that enables Wesleyan to focus resources, encourage curricular innovation, original research and scholarship, and foster greater public understanding and responsibility.

The new Allbritton Broadcast Center is located on the second floor.

The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, which occupies the renovated Davenport Campus Center, will emphasize its academic engagement with the public sphere. The center continues Wesleyan’s commitment to preparing students for lives as active citizens and for leadership. It seeks to support Wesleyan’s tradition of the scholar-teacher by encouraging faculty research in a manner that directly benefits and enhances student learning.

The Center reflects changes that have transpired across the social scientific disciplines. These include the creation of new multidisciplinary ventures, the growing number of studies employing multiple methodologies, (more…)

Nathaniel Draper '12 and his friend Matt Firpo (NYU '12) stand in front of Festival de Cannes emblem in the Grand Lumiere Theater. Draper was an intern at the Cannes Film Festival in southern France.

For 15 days, Nathaniel Draper ’12 mingled with top filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival while participating in educational workshops, seminars, pitch sessions, roundtable discussions and screenings. He also happened to pick up an award for a film of his own while he was there.

As a student intern at the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival, held May 13-24 in southern France, Draper had a hands-on opportunity to explore the film industry through the prism of perhaps it most prestigious international event.

“It was, to put it lightly, a surreal experience,” Draper recalls. “I was able to meet iconic directors such as Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, and found myself interacting with actors and directors such as Inglorious Basterds’ Eli Roth.”

Draper applied for the internship though the American Pavilion Student Filmmaker Program at Cannes, which is the festival’s center for American film and filmmakers.

Draper spent a week with avant garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas in Paris.

The internship program included a three-day pre-Festival orientation and tour of Cannes, including workshops and seminars on the business of filmmaking; nightly festival premiers; roundtable discussions with industry professionals; and an opportunity to network with industry insiders and observe the business of filmmaking firsthand.

“I was granted full festival accreditation–basically a carte blanche to go anywhere in the festival, which allowed me to interact with filmmakers, explore the Cannes film market, and essentially network with the incredibly array of industry professionals that were there,” Draper says. “I took part in panel discussions ranging from screenwriters to the screen actors guild to premier directors.” (more…)

Elizabeth Milroy, director of the Art History Program and professor of art history and American studies, and Anne Calder '11 use a scanning tool to survey grave markers in the Washington/Vine Street Cemetery Oct. 2.

On Oct. 10, 1741, Mr. William Bartlit was laid to rest in the Vine/Washington Street Cemetery near Wesleyan University. According to his gravestone, Bartlit was “aged about 70 years” and was “the first interred in this yard.”

“Mr. Bartlit has the oldest marker in this cemetery,” says Elizabeth Milroy, director of the Art History Program and professor of art history and American studies at Wesleyan University. “We would like to find out more about him.”

Milroy, who is teaching the Service Learning Course AMST 205 “The Study
of Material Culture: Marking the Past in Middletown,” is assigning each of her eight students particular grave markers in the cemetery. Students will conduct research on a deceased person, while studying how artifacts can mark the history of space and place within the urban environment of Middletown.

John Hinchman, a lecturer and research specialist in the Architectural Conservation Laboratory of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Pennsylvania, teaches Anne Calder '11 how to conduct a digital site survey using a total station. The equipment records the 3-D location of the corner of each stone on the site, and results in an accurate representation of the cemetery. Calder is enrolled in the class, "The Study of Material Culture: Marking the Past in Middletown."

In addition, students will gain a working knowledge of the theoretical approaches that have been applied to material culture studies, as well as practical experience in the physical and contextual analysis of artifacts and cultural landscapes.

On Oct. 2-3, John Hinchman, a lecturer and research specialist in the Architectural Conservation Laboratory of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Pennsylvania, taught Milroy’s students how to use a “total station” and scanner tool to map the cemetery’s terrain and grave markers. The collected data is imported into engineering software AutoCAD, and as a result, the class will have a detailed and accurate map of the entire cemetery’s physical layout.

“There’s no paper work on this cemetery, so we know no more about who is buried here than what their headstones say,” says Augie DeFrance, president of the Middletown Old Burial Ground Association.

At the end of the semester, (more…)

Neely Bruce, professor of music.

The following is the second installment of The Wesleyan Connection’s new feature, “5 Questions.” This issue, accomplished composer and Wesleyan Professor of Music Neely Bruce is our guest.

Q: I see your piece Vistas will be performed at the “Hearts Pounding and Skins Taut” concert in late October at Wesleyan. For what instrument was this piece originally composed?

NB: Vistas at Dawn is a short (approximately three minute) piece for organ and vibraphone.

Q: For what musician did you compose this piece?

NB: I wrote it for Ronald Ebrecht, Wesleyan University Organist, to play. Over the years I’ve written two major works and several smaller pieces for him. Ron has been a staunch advocate for new music for the organ for years, and has encouraged his faculty colleagues and our students to write all sorts of music in all sorts of styles for that remarkable instrument. This has been going on for more than 20 years, and dozens, perhaps hundreds of new organ works have seen the light of day because Ron asked people to write them and offered an opportunity to get them before the public. Vistas was originally written for a tour that he did in Russia with a Russian percussionist, although he’s played it many times in the US with several different vibes players, including Wesleyan’s own Jay Hoggard. It’s something like a pop ballad—slow, languorous, very chromatic, sometimes almost atonal, sometimes with jazz-like quasi-standard chord changes.

Q: Aside from hearing Vistas at the Center for the Arts in October, where can people see you perform publicly this fall?

NB: October is an exceptionally busy month, even for me. I’m playing the world premiere of Twelve Fugues by Gerald Shapiro, chair of the Music Department at Brown and one of my closest friends. (Shapiro and I were freshmen together at the Eastman School of Music). I’m playing these pieces at Wesleyan’s Crowell Concert Hall on Saturday October 10 at 8 p.m. and at Brown on October 14, with a little Stravinsky and Ravel as the warm-up. The Bill of Rights: Ten Amendments in Eight Motets is being performed at Mitchell College in New London on October 20. For (more…)

The new Wesleyan installation, Labyrinth, was presented to Wesleyan to honor Kit and Joe Reed. Kit is an author and resident writer at Wesleyan and Joe is professor of English and American studies, emeritus.

“Every university should have a labyrinth, for it represents our desire to unravel the essential mysteries of human existence. It is a problem to be solved, a question to be answered, a paradox to be considered.  Each labyrinth has a center and, as a diagram of learning, its tangled patterns lead us to that hidden core.  Even as the pursuit of knowledge follows many diverging paths there is also a basic symmetry to these designs, a unified whole that pleases the eye and piques the mind.” – Stephen Alter ‘77

This month, the Wesleyan community can leave the stress behind while taking a meditative walk around a newly constructed labyrinth.

Located between the Skull and Serpent building and the Davison Art Center Courtyard, the 30-foot-wide circular maze simply titled “Labyrinth”, is a result of six years of planning and alumni fundraising. Labyrinth was presented to Wesleyan to honor Kit and Joe Reed. Kit is an author and resident writer at Wesleyan and Joe is professor of English and American studies, emeritus, who taught film courses at Wesleyan from the mid 1960s until his retirement in 2004.

Labyrinth detail. (Photos by Bill Burkhart)

“Kit and Joe Reed represent the very best of Wesleyan’s labyrinthine traditions,” explains Stephen Alter ‘77, who spearheaded the Reed project. “They have led us along paths that do not follow a straight or predictable route. They have challenged and provoked us with questions that digress from ordinary disciplines and discourse. They have surprised and inspired us with their humor, their eccentricities, and their love of literature, film and art. For all these reasons, we dedicate this labyrinth in their honor, so that future generations of Wesleyan students will trace these paths and discover the secrets that lie therein.”

Alter and Cheryl Sucher ‘78, with help from University Relations, started raising funds from Wesleyan alumni who were taught by Kit or Joe Reed. They hoped to create a structure that would reflect the Reeds’ love of literature, film, “irrepressible imaginations, and above all, their subversive integrity.” With the Reeds’ input, the group (more…)

Stanley Lebergott.

A service in tribute to Stanley Lebergott, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, Emeritus, who passed away on July 24, will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18. The service will be in the Daniel Family Commons in the Usdan University Center and will be followed by a reception.

The Lebergott family invites friends and colleagues who may have photographs or remembrances of Stan to bring them to the service.

Lebergott began his career as a public servant, working for 20 years in the U.S. Department of Labor, the International Labor Office, and the U.S. Bureau of the Budget. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1962 as professor of economics, becoming University Professor in 1970. He was a pivotal scholar in his field, and a prolific author.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth, daughter Karen, and granddaughters StarRose Keyes-Lebergott ’10 and Sunshine Vogt ’98. In lieu of flowers, Lebergott’s family has asked for donations to be made to a scholarship being established in his memory at Wesleyan. Memorial gifts may be sent to Wesleyan University, 318 High Street, Middletown, CT 06459.