David LowReaders who are fans of urban history and planning or have a particular interest in New York should find City on a Grid: How New York Became New York (Da Capo) by Gerard Koeppel ’79 a fascinating read. Koeppel shares the story behind the Manhattan street grid, created in 1811 by a three-man commission featuring headstrong Founding Father Gouverneur Morris; the plan called for a dozen parallel avenues crossing at right angles with many dozens of parallel streets in an unbroken grid. When the grid plan was announced, New York was just under 200 years old, an overgrown town and…
In 2010, James Kaplan ’73 had a national bestseller with Frank: The Voice, an acclaimed biography which told the story of singer Frank Sinatra's meteoric rise to fame, subsequent failures, and reinvention as a star of live performances and screen. In his new book, Sinatra: The Chairman (Doubleday), Kaplan continues the singer’s story, starting with the day after Sinatra claimed his Academy Award for From Here to Eternity in 1954 and had reestablished himself as a top recording artist. After winning the Oscar, he was extremely busy with recording albums and singles, shooting several movies a year, and appearing on TV…
In his recently released debut film Mediterranea (IFC Films), director and writer Jonas Carpignano ’06 focuses on two friends from West Africa’s Burkina Faso (played by non-professional actors Koudous Seihon and Alassane Sy) who take a hazardous journey to Calabria, Italy, across the Mediterranean Sea, hoping to better their economic fortunes. Carpignano recently received two awards for his work: the Independent Film Project’s Gotham Award for Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director and the Best Directorial Debut Award from the National Board of Review. In his New York Times review of the film, Stephen Holden writes that Carpignano “has adopted a low-key neorealist…
Cynthia RockwellTricia Homer ’03 was selected as one of "40 under 40" by Prince George’s County Social Innovation Fund. The co-founder of HGVenture, a management consulting firm that specializing in nonprofit capacity building and leadership development, she also is chairperson of the College Park Community Foundation Board of Directors, which supports local nonprofits in capacity building. Additionally, she is cochair of the City of College Park Education Advisory Board and is the assistant director of the Office of Community Engagement at the University of Maryland. To recognize her contributions to the lives of multi-ethnic students at the University of Maryland, last…
Lauren Rubenstein"Kennedy Odede is one of the most joy-filled people I've met," begins David Brooks in his regular New York Times column. On November 10, Brooks turned his column over to Odede '12, who grew up in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya and attended Wesleyan. Together with his wife Jessica Posner Odede '09, Odede created the community organization Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco) and a school for girls in Kibera. Together, they've authored the new book, Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss and Hope in an African Slum. In the column, Odede tells his story in his own words. He describes a tumultuous childhood filled with hunger,…
Read more about the discussion in this Wesleyan Argus article and more about his book in this Q&A, below: Q: What motivated you to write the book? A: I wrote it to give voice to patients and families touched by severe brain injury and chose this genre because it was a complex interdisciplinary problem that needed a broader frame than that afforded by the typical truncated article in a medical journal. Rights Come to Mind is a story that straddles the sciences and the humanities and fundamentally is a question of how scientific advance compels us to change our views about ethics…
Olivia DrakeThe American Studies Department is hosting a panel discussion on "American Studies Takes On the World: American Studies Alumni in the Media" from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Nov. 5 in Downey 113. American Studies Department majors Claire Weinraub ’93, Laura Clawson ’98 and Grace Ross ’12 will discuss ways they are putting American studies into action, thinking about what they are involved in, and what they can do about it. A Q&A and reception will follow the discussion. ABC’s Emmy-winning producer and documentary creator Claire Weinraub ’93 has worked closely with Diane Sawyer on the "Hidden America" series. In February 2015 Weinraub produced a special about…
Marine scientist and author Ellen Prager '84 came to the Exley Science Center on Oct. 8 to talk about her recent research and writing. Discussing her book Sex Drugs and Sea Slime: The Ocean's Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter, she entertained a crowd of Wesleyan students and faculty with stories from her work in the Galapagos and as researcher at the Aquarius undersea laboratory off Key Largo, Fla. Lately, Prager has ventured into the realm of children's fiction in order to spread awareness about the ocean's most pressing issues. Her most recent children's book, The Shark Whisperer, was published in May…
Laurie Kenney#THISISWHY “Alexander Hamilton. My name is Alexander Hamilton.” When Hamilton writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda ‘02 sang his first line to an audience packed to the rafters with Wesleyan alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends, the crowd erupted in thunderous applause. Even Miranda couldn’t stifle a smile. More than 1,300 members of the Wesleyan community descended on the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City on October 2 as Wesleyan hosted a sold-out benefit performance of Hamilton, written by and starring Miranda (who just last week received a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as a MacArthur “genius grant”), and directed by…
Read more about Berger here and past Constitution Day speakers here.
Jody Sperling '92 will present a dance performance, Bringing the Arctic Home, at the JCC in Manhattan on June 20-21. The event includes the premier of Ice Cycle, a collaboration with Alaskan-born composer Matthew Burtner, a specialist in the music of snow and ice. The weekend features three performances, a kids' workshop, and two climate-themed panel discussions. Tickets and more information are available here. See the Bulletin at Wesconnect for Sperling's posting about this event, and to get her special discount code for the Wesleyan community. Read more about Sperling in this story in the Wesleyan magazine.