Cynthia RockwellThe Wesleyan magazine issue on the future of journalism (2018, issue 2) prompted Adrienne Scott ’76 to write a letter to the editor, recalling a high point in her early career in journalism: when legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali granted her an exclusive interview. Scott, who had been a columnist for The Wesleyan Argus as an undergraduate, as well as a student of University Editor Jack Paton ’49, P’75, was at that time a young journalist and the first African American full-time news reporter at WPRI-TV in Providence, R.I. The Connection reached out to Scott to continue the conversation that…
“Herb Kelleher, who turned conventional airline industry wisdom on its head by combining low fares with high standards of customer service to build Southwest Airlines into one of the nation’s most successful and admired companies, died on Thursday. He was 87,” wrote Glenn Rifkin in The New York Times. An English major who graduated from Wesleyan in 1953, Kelleher also earned a bachelor of laws from NYU in 1956, and a little more than a decade later he founded Southwest Airlines, a small Texas commercial aviation company. With a larger-than-life personality—he notably settled a dispute over the company's name by…
Lauren RubensteinOn Dec. 18, approximately 100 Wesleyan alumni and family members as well as staff gathered at The Bushnell in Hartford to celebrate the Connecticut debut of Hamilton: An American Musical, the Tony Award-winning musical created by Lin-Manuel Miranda '02 and directed by Thomas Kail '99. Hamilton is currently touring the U.S., with a run at the Bushnell Dec. 11-30, 2018. Photos from the event are below: (Photos by Rich Marinelli) (more…)
Newsday writer Rafer Guzmán quotes Jeremy Arnold ’91, a film historian, commentator, and author, in his roundup of new movies and old favorites for this time of year in his article "More Christmas Movies Than Ever This Holiday Season.” Arnold, the author of Christmas in the Movies (Running Press, 2018) a Turner Classic Movies book, points out that “The new big-screen films are not only competing with Hallmark and Lifetime but all the previous feature films that are available on home video.” A film studies major as an undergraduate, Arnold also answers Guzmán’s question of what constitutes a film of this genre: “‘I would say…
In a cover story for Vanity Fair, titled “The Supercalifragilistic Lin-Manuel Miranda,” writer Bruce Handy explores both the upcoming movie, Mary Poppins Returns, as a sequel to Walt Disney’s 1964 adaption of the children’s books by P. L. Travers, and one of its stars, Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Hon. '15. In the 1964 movie, the chimney-sweep companion to Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) was Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke. This 2018 Mary Poppins (Emma Blunt) has chimney sweep Jack (supposedly a former protégé of the late Bert), played by Miranda, as her sidekick and friend. Hardy offers biographical background, along with personal…
In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News 1. Los Angeles Times: "As the World Warms, Deadly and Disfiguring Tropical Diseases Are Inching Their Way Toward the U.S." In this op-ed, Professor of Biology Frederick Cohan and Isaac Klimasmith '20, both in the College of the Environment, write that infectious disease is a growing threat, resulting from climate change, that humans may find hard to ignore. Cohan is also professor, environmental studies and professor, integrative sciences. 2. Hartford Courant: "Trump's Immoral Response to Climate Report" Gary Yohe, the…
Sophie Zinser ’16, deputy director of Syria Direct in Amman, has been selected as a Schwarzman Scholar, one of the world’s most prestigious graduate fellowships, located at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing. This Schwarzman Class of 2020 is only the fourth in the program’s history, with 147 Schwarzman Scholars selected from over 2,800 applicants. The class is comprised of students from 38 countries and 119 universities, with 40 percent originating from the United States, 20 percent from China, and 40 percent from the rest of the world. The Class of 2020 will enroll in August 2019. In a…
Olivia DrakeIn this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News 1. Inside Higher Ed: "Voting Is Good, but Higher Ed Must Do More" In this op-ed, President Michael S. Roth writes: "In a year when inducements to political violence have become normalized at the highest level, colleges and universities must do more than just encourage our students to vote." It is crucial that colleges actively work to protect free expression, free inquiry, and fact-based discussion, Roth argues. (more…)
Alumni who have met with success in the midterm elections include: Democrat Alex Bergstein '88, who won a Connecticut State Senate race; Democrat Brian Frosh ’68, who won re-election as Maryland Attorney general; Democrat Matt Lesser ’10, who prevailed in Connecticut's State Senate race for the 9th district, which includes Middletown; Democrat Amy Martin ’99 is judge-elect for the Texas District Court 263; and Democrat Max Rose ’08, who won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 11th Congressional District. An article in the Greenwich Time quoted Bergstein, post-victory, as saying, "'I am elated. I am humbled. I…
Himeka CurielJeffrey Stein ’08 had only one thing on his mind when he registered for the 43rd Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.—redemption. After a wrong turn off-course a quarter mile into the race in 2017 landed him an 8th place finish and a trip to the hospital for heat stroke, Stein registered for the 2018 race with one overriding goal: “to reclaim a little bit of dignity.” He achieved his goal and more, surging ahead in the last 2 miles to finish first with an official time of 2 hours 22 minutes 49 seconds. (more…)
Avery Kaplan '20In this Q&A, we speak to artist Melissa Stern '80, whose latest exhibition, Strange Girls, is open at the Garvey Simon Gallery in New York City Oct. 11–Nov. 11. Stern double-majored in anthropology and studio art at Wesleyan, and earned her MFA in ceramics from SUNY New Paltz. In Strange Girls, Stern uses media such as assemblage, ceramics, painting, drawings, and collage to explore girlhood as a state of being and state of mind. Q: You have been exhibiting your art since the ’80s, and Strange Girls is your ninth solo show in New York. How is this exhibition a continuation of…