Olivia DrakeAll programs sponsored by the Wasch Center are open to the public. For more information on upcoming events visit the Wash Center web site.
The second Neuroscience and Behavior Alumni Symposium will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 in Science Center 121. The public is invited. Five of the department's “best and brightest” alumni from the last decade will speak at the symposium. "We invited these particular alumni because they are at different developmental stages on paths toward uniquely varied careers," says John Kirn, professor and chair of the Neuroscience and Behavior Department, professor of biology and director of Graduate Studies. "This symposium will focus on their personal stories of post-Wes training in graduate school, biotechnology, medical school, and at…
Writing At Wesleyan, The English Department, and the Shapiro Creative Writing Center announce the Spring Readings Series. George Saunders, the Writing Programs’ 2010 Jacob Julien Visiting Writer, reads at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24 in the Memorial Chapel. Saunders is the author of six books, including the story collection In Persuasion Nation and the book of essays Braindead Microphone. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, GQ, McSweeney's, The Guardian, and other publications. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches in Syracuse University's MFA program. Event organized by Deb Olin Unferth and Anne…
Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literature, translated Jean de La Fontaine's poems in La Fontaine's Bawdy, Revised Edition: Of Libertines, Louts, and Lechers. The 273-page book was published by Black Widow Press/Commonwealth Books, Inc. in Boston, Mass. on Jan. 16. David Schorr, professor of art, illustrated the book. The Contes et nouvelles en vers of Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) were published at various times throughout his life, often these works threatened to get him in trouble with both Church and Academie. This translation covers the entire corpus in all their variety. The mildly suggestive mingle with the frankly bawdy…
Anthony Braxton, professor of music, was featured in a Jan. 27 edition of The Globe and Mail. In an article titled "8 hours + 60 musicians = 1 sonic genome," Braxton explains how his 8-hour concert, Sonic Genome Project, held in Vancouver on Feb. 1, involved "synchronous starting points, target area space points, target strategic points. ... geometric trajectories from the music system, all the way to implanted and target-space objectives." For the Genome, Braxton employed 47 "resident players" from the Vancouver area, a mixture of creative music veterans and high-school students. These players joined Braxton and 12 of his…
A book published by Wesleyan University Press is a 2009 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Versed, by Rae Armantrout, was honored in the poetry category. The finalist reading will be held at 7 p.m. March 10 at The New School in New York, N.Y. The reading is free and open to the pubic. Rae Armantrout is a professor of writing and literature at the University of California, San Diego. Her book also is a National Book Award Finalist. For more information on the book click here.
A book review written by Kirk Swinehart, assistant professor of history, was published in the Dec. 18 issue of The Chicago Tribune. Swinehart reviewed Dorthea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, by Linda Gordon. The photographer Dorothea Lange " is such a figure, a woman whose quietly searing depictions of the American Dream gone awry reflect her own innermost struggles and resonate powerfully with our own," Swinehart writes. "Linda Gordon, a professor of history at New York University, shows how in her arresting new biography of Lange. In Gordon's telling, Lange emerges as something substantially greater than America's pioneering photo-chronicler of the Great Depression and…
Matthew Sellier ’11 was featured a Hartford Courant article titled "Pulling All the Stops to Help Homeless." On Jan. 29 Sellier performed an organ recital at Middletown's South Church to raise resources for and awareness of homelessness in the area. Sellier performed a composition by Neely Bruce, professor of music. The piece is based on the spiritual "Heaven Bell A-Ring." Performing a work by a composer present in the audience, Sellier says in the article, is "nerve-wracking" but also has its advantages in that he doesn't have to guess about a composer's intent. "I can ask Neely what he wants,"…
David Schorr, professor of art, and Keiji Shinohara, artist-in-residence of art and East Asian studies, are showing their artwork at the DFN Gallery, 64 East 79th Street in New York, N.Y. Their work is featured in an exhibit titled "Looks Good on Paper," which runs through March 6. Schorr has been a faculty member at Wesleyan since 1971 where he has taught printmaking, drawing, typography, book design, graphic design and calligraphy. Fifteen years ago he turned to canvas for a series of paintings about AIDS and early death so he could layer the backgrounds, dissolving the figures in the ether…
Steven Jacaruso, art director in the Office of University Communications, recently judged the 2010 Connecticut Libraries Publicity Awards Contest. As one of three judges, Jacaruso observed more than 75 imaginative bookmarks, brochures, newsletters, program flyers and innovative web sites, blogs, podcasts, videos and electronic newsletters. Awards in each category are based on the library’s total operating budget (less than $750,000 or $750,000 and over). The event was held at The Middletown Library Association in Middletown. "Considering the budget constraints and the fact that most of the submissions were by non-professional designers, some of the work was of a very high…