Olivia DrakeCelebrated fiction writer and poet Michael Ondaatje, winner of the British Commonwealth’s highest literary award, the Booker Prize, is this year's Joan Jakobson Visiting Writer. Ondaatje will read from his prose at 8 p.m. Nov. 5 in Memorial Chapel. The event is free of charge and open to the public. "Michael Ondaatje's works are haunting, seductive stories and his prose is stunning," says Anne Greene, director of writing programs. "This is a rare chance to hear Ondaatje's own voice." Born in Sri Lanka of Indian/Dutch ancestry, Ondaatje went to school in England and then moved to Canada. Among his best-known…
By Intisar Abioto '09 The current Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery exhibition Framing and Being Framed: The Uses of Documentary Photography, challenges the traditional space between the artist, the subject and the viewer. The exhibition of two-dimensional photographs, photo installations, video and web-based works features art by Ann Messner, Perry Bard, Matthew Buckingham, Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas, An-My Lê, Emily Jacir, Alfredo Jaar, Eric Gottesman and Kota Ezawa. Curator Nina Felshin planned this exhibition after meeting with Jennifer Tucker, chair and associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, associate professor of history, associate professor of science in society, several years…
When Frank, Angela, and their two children are evicted from their New York City apartment, they have no choice but to move into a homeless shelter. After a few difficult months, an apartment becomes available in a nearby housing project. There’s only one catch: Frank needs a job in order to qualify or the apartment will get rented to someone else. While the rest of the city prepares for Christmas, Frank and his 10-year-old stepson, Justin, roam the cold streets of New York trying to find a job by day's end. While this is the story line for the feature…
During a session on algebraic topology, graduate student Weiwei Pan spoke to dozens of mathematical scholars from around the world on "Categorified Bundles and Classifying Spaces." Pan was one of 220 speakers who presented math-related talks during the 2008 Eastern Sectional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society held Oct. 11-12 at Wesleyan. More than 300 participants registered. "One of the best things about being a mathematician is that there are people all over the world who share your interests, and that mathematics (more…)
Physicists, predominately from New England and Europe, will convene Oct. 26 at Wesleyan to discuss topics related to mesoscopic systems. The one-day event, coordinated by the Physics Department's Complex Quantum Dynamics and Mesoscopic Phenomena Group, will be the first-ever New England Mesoscopic Systems Symposium. The mesoscopic scale lies between microscopic and macroscopic, which is visible to the human eye. (more…)
Seiji Naito, adjunct associate professor of Asian languages and literatures emeritus, died in Zama City, Japan. He was 66 years old. Naito was trained as a linguist. He earned a bachelor of arts in education from Yokohama National University and a Ph.D in linguistics from Harvard University. He held positions at the University of Hawaii, Boston University, and Tokyo Junshin Women's College before joining the Wesleyan faculty as adjunct assistant professor in 1993. In 1999 he was promoted to adjunct associate professor, and he left Wesleyan in 2003. (more…)
David PesciPulitzer Prize winning author, historian and philosopher Saul Friedlander will deliver a presentation titled "Toward an Integrated History of the Holocaust" as the featured speaker at this year’s Hallie Lecture, which will be held at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23 in Memorial Chapel. (more…)
In Introduction to Archaeology, all students were trash-talking their first assignment. Titled "Understanding Garbage - Research and Analysis," the laboratory project helped students understand ways archeologists collect and analyze data by rummaging through rubbish and taking note of their findings. (more…)
Corrina KerrMichaelle Biddle, head of preservation services, has returned from a five-week sabbatical to Nigeria, where she conducted a survey of Islamic manuscripts and related materials in northern Nigeria under the auspices of the Arewa House, Centre for Historical Documentation and Research, Ahmadu Bello University. Biddle was there working on preserving documents and taught conservation workshops to preserve documents in Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Maiduguri and teach archivists and conservationists how to best preserve paper documents in accordance with international conservation standards. The program Biddle taught was entitled “Conservation in a Box” and was funded by the U.S. Ambassador's Cultural Preservation Program.…
It’s all about politics, about western influences, Asian influences, African influences, gender relations, protest, genocide, violence, spirituality, centuries of culture, the latest fad, and performers in the New York Subway system and more than a hundred other topics set in disparate times, places and civilizations. Which is all another way of saying it’s all about music. Specifically, the Annual Meeting for the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), which will be held Oct. 25-28 at Wesleyan. (more…)
The topic of “Climate Policy: A Progress Report” is the theme of the Fourth Annual Robert Schumann Environmental Studies Symposium "Where on Earth are we Going?" which will be held on Oct. 18. The event begins at 8:30 a.m. in Exley Science Center Room 150, the Tischler Lecture Hall. (more…)
"Come Home" is the theme for the 2008 Homecoming/Family Weekend, scheduled Oct. 17-19 on campus. "Come Home is a literal invitation for alumni, but we also address this message to parents, families, students, faculty and staff," says Makaela Kingsley '98, associate director of events and alumni association secretary. (more…)