I hope you all noticed the snazzy new heading image thing (masthead image? toppy-thingy?) that Xue made in the wee hours of the morning last night. It was like a Thanksgiving present for you all to enjoy alongside your thighs getting fatter and your cousins passed out drunk on the couch downstairs.
Anyway, I call your attention to the shield in particular. This is what Wesleyan’s website says about our shield:
The Wesleyan shield is a simplified version of a heraldic shield created in the early 1950s to be displayed at the University Club of Chicago. The design was taken directly from the family coat of arms of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and namesake of the University. In 1953, President Victor L. Butterfield accepted the design as Wesleyan’s official coat of arms. The red shield bears a cross decorated with five scallop shells. Decorated shields were used in medieval warfare to identify knights and their soldiers during the battle. Pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land wore a scallop on their hats, and so this shell entered the heraldry as the symbol for a pilgrimage. Later, the shell came to symbolize anyone who had made long journeys or voyages to foreign countries.
Ok. So, question: What is the hell is the University Club of Chicago?
Answer: A social club established in 1889 which limited membership to only university graduates. In 1889, only the upper crust of society went on to college at all and thus it was basically this elite safe-space they could build for themselves in the mid-west. Because you need three recommendations to get into the club, and must go through a vigorous nomination procedure, you can probably safely assume that the club still limits membership to what it sees as only the upper crust of schools.
Fascinating.
I’m going to fail college now because it’s 5:36 am, I’m tired and haven’t started climbing Mt. Research Paper(s) yet. Ah, to skip merrily towards Mediocrityland!
Xue adds: The new banner is so Web 2.0 that it makes me throw up in my mouth a little.