Cynthia RockwellIn 2010-11, when Matthew Ball ’08 was stationed in the Tora Bora region of Nangarhar province, serving in the 4th Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, he and the other soldiers relied on Qismat Amin, then only 19 years old, for both information and communication with the local Afghan residents. Now a Stanford law student, Ball is on a personal mission: To fulfill what he views as his duty to the young interpreter who worked with him during his deployment. "There's a really strong bond that a lot of soldiers have with interpreters—they're crucial members of the team. ... There…
On Aug. 24, Colombia’s president signed a peace deal with FARC rebels, ending the world’s longest running conflict. For insight on the accord, PBS NewsHour anchor and correspondent Hari Sreenivasan turned to Cynthia Arnson ’76, director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Noting that the text of the accord is complex, covering more than 250 pages and five basic agreements—agrarian reform, upcoming FARC political engagement, illicit economies (including drug trafficking), transitional justice, and terms of disarmament—Arnson added, “And as with any peace accord, the real test comes when it’s time to implement, and the…
The list of athletes who ran on Elmer Swanson's teams over the 30 years he served as Wesleyan's track and cross-country coach "reads like a 'Who's Who' in elite running," observed Hartford Courant Sports Columnist Lori Riley. She remembered Swanson, who died Aug. 12, at the age of 92, in an piece rich with comments from some of his well known—and fleet-footed —alumni. Riley's roundup notes: "He coached [Amby] Burfoot [’68], who won the Boston Marathon in 1968, his senior year, and went on to become the editor of Runners World magazine. He coached Bill Rodgers [’70], who won four Boston marathons and…
“Can Serialized Fiction Convert Binge Watchers into Binge Readers?” asked NPR reporter Lynn Neary in All Things Considered. “Serialized books have a long history in publishing—Charles Dickens famously released many his novels in serial form,” she observed. Noting that television “episodic storytelling” is newly popular, Neary reported that Julian Yap and Molly Barton ’01 have entered the publishing industry with this in mind. Their start-up company, “Serial Box… aims to be ‘HBO for readers.’” Neary said, explaining, “Serial Box releases ‘episodes’ (not ‘books’) over a 10 to 16 week season. Each season is written by a team of writers. “'We're not…
Josh Lockwood ’93, CEO for the American Red Cross in Greater New York and co-chair of the national LGBT affinity group, is no stranger to disaster and tragedy in his workday. Heading the organization’s efforts within an area that is home to 13 million persons, he estimates that his chapter receives between five and 20 serious incident-calls each day. Red Crossvolunteers also travel to other states to help out. Lockwood recalls his response when the country awoke to the horrific news about the mass shootings at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12, 2016. “I’ve been on a…
For the July 4 PBS News Hour, hosted by John Yang ’80, Sebastian Junger ’84 offered a video essay, his reflections on American heroes. “Several years ago,” Junger begins,” I spent much of a deployment with a platoon of combat infantry at a remote outpost called Restrepo. It was named after a medic, PFC Juan Sebastiàn Restrepo, who was born in Columbia, emigrated to America as a child, and died fighting at the bottom of a hill in Afghanistan…. The platoon was in several hundred firefights that year. And everyone out there was almost killed. Yet over and over, I…
Charles W. Smith ’60, professor of sociology emeritus at Queens College, City University of New York, spoke to News @ Wesleyan about his latest book, What the Market Teaches Us: Limitations of Knowing and Tactics for Doing (Oxford University Press, 2015). Q: I was surprised to note that you are a sociologist, not an economist. How, then, did this lead you to studying the stock market? Charles W. Smith: The sociology of knowledge—how do people make sense of the world—has been my intellectual pursuit for the past 50 years? We create narratives, not only in our minds, but also in out communities. The…
Bozoma Saint John ’99 took the stage at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), held this year in San Francisco, and stole the show. "It’s not just that Saint John, head of marketing for Apple Music, was a black female executive appearing onstage at WWDC. It was the way she commanded the room—and the show—that blew everyone away," wrote Davey Albey for Wired. Saint John, who spoke about Apple's streaming music service, which now has 15 million users, had led Apple Music’s marketing division since April 2014, when Apple acquired Beats, the company she had joined three months previously. Prior to that, she led…
Kate Cullen ’16, an earth and environmental science and history major from Bethesda, Md., was selected for MSNBC's Women in Politics: College Edition series. The president of the Wesleyan Student Assembly, Cullen received the University's nomination "as a leader making a difference not only through key issues on campus, but in bridging the gender gap in politics." MSNBC plans to use the series to highlight women candidates and as a springboard for national conversations on women's issues. Cullen, who has "been fortunate to have a lot of strong female role models," says she was motivated to work in student government…
"Is gentrification next?" asks the New York Times in a May 31, 2016 article by Jeff Gordinier. Majora Carter ’88, who is from the South Bronx, and her husband and business partner, James Chase, teamed up with Jeremy Lyman and Paul Schlader, entrepreneurs who created Birch Coffee. The result: they have brought "exposed brick, reclaimed wood and $2.75 macchiatos" to "a stretch of Hunts Point Avenue dominated by dime stores, bodegas and auto shops." To those who say they feel as though they are in Manhattan by the vibe in the shop, Carter responds, “'You know what? You are in the Bronx,…
Mosah Fernandez Goodman ’04 was named one of 10 in the TOYO! group—Ten Outstanding Young Omahans—by the Omaha Jaycees. The honor goes to those "who have exemplified the ideals of their communiites and exhibited extraordinary leadership qualities," improving their community through both acts of selflessness and professional excellence. Fernandez Goodman, who earned his Wesleyan bachelor's degree in theater and his MALS with a concentration in the social sciences, received his JD/MBA at the University of Iowa, where he served as vice president of the graduate student body. Upon graduating from Iowa, he joined Gavilon, a commodity management firm, where he…
"There is an entire neighborhood full of funny people in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising," wrote Kevin Polowy, senior editor at Yahoo! Movies. "But some of the film’s biggest laughs belong to newcomer Beanie Feldstein, who makes her major-studio movie debut as the party-hearty sorority pledge Nora." Feldstein '15, a Los Angeles, Calif. native and sociology major at Wesleyan has been acting on stage since she was 5, with "three to six musicals a year every singer year from 5 to 22," ending last year with graduation. She tells Yahoo that Neighbors 2 was not a typecasting situation: “My college experience was nothing…