Wesleyan in the News

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni.

Recent Wesleyan News

1. The Wall Street Journal: ‘The Lost Education of Horace Tate’ Review: Civil Rights for Schoolchildren

President Michael S. Roth reviews Emory Professor Vanessa Siddle Walker’s new book on a previously “unseen network of black educators” across the South, who fought heroically “over many decades for equality and justice.”

2. Forbes: Top 25 Liberal Arts Colleges 2018

Wesleyan is featured among Forbes’ annual list of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

3. Hartford Courant: Connecticut Had Significant Role in Tumultuous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago

Professor of History Ronald Schatz, a Chicago native, is quoted giving context to this important historical event.

Recent Alumni News

1. Smithsonian Magazine: “How Chuck Berry’s Cadillac and His Guitar, Maybellene, Came to the Smithsonian”
2. 
   African American History Museum Curator Kevin Strait ’97 recalls the day he met the famous musician, beginning his tale with, “I wasn’t nervous until we were about five minutes away from arriving at Chuck Berry’s home.”

2. NPR.org: “Wattstax: The Benefit Concert From The Past That Echoes Into The Present”

NPR All Things Considered Host Audie Cornish interviews Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia ’88 (of the podcast, What’s Good with Stretch and Bobbito) about a 1968 concert in L.A. that Garcia says, “resonates in a way in 2018 and will beyond….” The conversation notes political and social comparisons to present times, as well as the effect of the Wattstax music on early hip-hop.

3. New York Times: Opinion: “Can Ultimate Frisbee Save the World?”

This essay, by Jennifer Finney Boylan ’80, considers the organization, Ultimate Peace, which teaches Israeli and Palestinian youth the game of Ultimate Frisbee—a self-refereed sport offering lessons in conflict resolution. Boylan also mentions David Garfield ’80, who was active in Wesleyan Ultimate Frisbee, and talks with Wes Ultimate Frisbee alumnus Steve Mooney ’80, who is involved with Ultimate Peace.

4. KCRW: Art Talk Podcast: “Vincent Fecteau [’91] at Matthew Marks: Host Hunter Drohojowska-Philp Likes the Soft Power of the Bay Area Artist

“Vincent Fecteau is a master of disguise. His sculptures, about the size of a carry-on suitcase, are poised on clean white pedestals in the perfectly proportioned Matthew Marks Gallery in Hollywood. At first glance, or worse, in a jpeg online, they appear to be cast of some sort of dulled metal. That is Fecteau’s sleight of hand.” Fecteau received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005 and a MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2016.

5. Broadway World: “The Tank Presents ‘In the Penal Colony’ By Miranda Haymon [’16]”

“Adapted from Franz Kafka’s short story of the same name, In the Penal Colony is created and directed by Princess Grace Award/Honoraria-winning theater artist Miranda Haymon (Roundabout Theatre Company Directing Fellow); it investigates the performance of power, patriarchy, and punishment.” Also working on the production: Rose Beth Johnson-Brown ’18 (associate producer), Zack Lobel ’19 (lighting designer), and Tekla Monson ’18 (set designer).