David PesciWesleyan President Michael S. Roth reviews the book A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society, 1997-2008 by Adrienne Rich in The San Francisco Chronicle. The book, a collection of essays and book reviews written by Rich during the last 12 years, displays Rich's on-going dialogue on art, politics and social justice.
Melanye Price, assistant professor of government, was a featured guest speaker for the University of Nevada's College of Liberal Arts on April 23. She was broadcast on 88.9 KNPR Nevada Public Radio. In a lecture titled "Dreaming Blackness: Black Nationalism and African-American Public Opinion," Price spoke about ways African-Americans have come to understand Black Nationalism, an ideology important to the Black Power movement of the 1960s.
Elizabeth McAlister, associate professor of religion and expert on Vodou and Haitian culture, discusses perceptions regarding zombies and Vodou as they gain attention in a new book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is adapted from the Jane Austen classic.
The April 27th New Yorker has a piece that in part profiles Ron Bloom '77 who is one of two "Auto Czars" appointed by President Obama to preside over the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler as the government attempts to bail-out both companies. Bloom had previous success helping to right U.S. Steel. There is a link to a synopsis of the story here (the full text is subscriber only).
According to CBS Sports, New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick has one major advantage over his peers in the NFL coaching community: a brilliant mind. According to the story, this is especially true when it comes to selecting and managing personnel and will be particularly advantageous as the annual NFL draft (April 25-26) approaches.
This link, provided by the Office of the University Registrar, has the location of the Monday, April 20 classes that have been relocated from Hall-Atwater.
In a oped piece for The New Haven Register, Sophie Pollitt-Cohen '09, suggests that Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd can start to re-burnish his bruised public image by, among other things, coming up with a more folksy nickname.
Jonathan Cutler, associate professor of sociology and a labor issues expert, comments in The Washington Post on the differences between the layoffs and sales declines of Toyota versus those of General Motors and Chrysler, which have needed federal bail-out money to survive.
Kennedy Odede '12 and Jessica Posner '09 are recipients of a "Projects for Peace Award" for their proposal to build a girls school in the Kenyan slum of Kiberia. The slum was Odede's home growing up and a place where girls and young women routinely become victims of violence, mistreatment, and abuse of all sorts. The students, who received $10,000 to build the school, hope that the institution will provide both a refuge and an opportunity for girls who enroll.
Olivia DrakeBorn and raised in Africa's largest slum, Kennedy Odede ’12 witnessed abuse, rape, domestic violence and general mistreatment of school-aged girls in his community. His own sister, at age 17, gave birth to a baby recently as a result of rape. Sadly, this is the norm. Without access to education, many of the girls are forced into commercial sex work at early ages. The Kenyan Government views the slum, named Kibera, as an illegal settlement and therefore does not provide any services or government-funded schools. "Girls in my community lose their hope of ever attaining an education and ever leaving…
David LowAuthor Wells Tower ’96 recently garnered rave reviews across the country for his first short story collection, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (Farrar Straus Giroux) which was published in March. The book received two fine reviews in the same week in The New York Times and was the cover review for The New York Times Sunday Book Review. For the Sunday Times, acclaimed writer Edmund White wrote: “Every one of the stories .., is polished and distinctive. Though he’s intrigued by the painful experiences of men much older than he is, Tower can write with equal power about young women and…
Bill Holder“Book-lover Dick Rohfritch didn’t set out to buy 12,000 modern first editions once owned by an eccentric lawyer-collector found murdered in his rural Missouri home. It’s just that he doesn’t like to play golf. And thereby hangs the tale of how The Woodlands got Good Books in the Woods, a new secondhand bookstore full of remarkable finds.” The Houston Chronicle recounts this story about Rohfritch ’66, an English major who works in chemical sales but has always loved reading and enjoys collecting books. The dead man, 70-year-old Rolland Comstock, was an avid bibliophile who acquired signed first editions by 20th-century…