The Douglas Cannon made a brief appearance at the inauguration reception today. I snapped a couple of photos of it at 4:45, and it was gone by 5:15.
The PSafe officer tasked with guarding the cannon said that it had “just shown up” a half hour previous, and he expected that “they” would probably come and take it to “an undisclosed location” afterwards. He resisted further questioning on the identity of said people, their university affiliation (or lack thereof), or any other details.
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you people have no idea what you’re talking about. if you think feeling jaded or cynical about something like the douglas cannon somehow makes you mature or sophisticated you have a long road of unhappiness ahead of you. as someone who personally helped find the douglass cannon after it was “missing” (really being held captive) i can tell you it is indeed real, has an amazing history (it was actual present at the paris peace talks etc…) and represents a wonderful tradition interweaving play and activism across generations of wes. i don’t know if the voices on this site are here simply to be contrary, if so who cares, but otherwise you should all realize that post-modernism established once and for all that meaning in anything can be mercilessly shred to pieces, so you should rather be focused on trying to find things to believe in for moments in time than playing a worn-out game of tearing things down. hopefully someone will see how beautiful something like the douglass cannon is, and how it represents what a unique place wesleyan is (or at least was in the past) and continue the tradition. (someone with real talent would steal it and present it at whatever future multilateral talks may happen over Iraq once the Bush administration is gone.)
you people have no idea what you’re talking about. if you think feeling jaded or cynical about something like the douglas cannon somehow makes you mature or sophisticated you have a long road of unhappiness ahead of you. as someone who personally helped find the douglass cannon after it was “missing” (really being held captive) i can tell you it is indeed real, has an amazing history (it was actual present at the paris peace talks etc…) and represents a wonderful tradition interweaving play and activism across generations of wes. i don’t know if the voices on this site are here simply to be contrary, if so who cares, but otherwise you should all realize that post-modernism established once and for all that meaning in anything can be mercilessly shred to pieces, so you should rather be focused on trying to find things to believe in for moments in time than playing a worn-out game of tearing things down. hopefully someone will see how beautiful something like the douglass cannon is, and how it represents what a unique place wesleyan is (or at least was in the past) and continue the tradition. (someone with real talent would steal it and present it at whatever future multilateral talks may happen over Iraq once the Bush administration is gone.)
People who leave comments here could be professional cynics. I haven’t actually crunched the numbers, but I’m pretty sure that the cannon showing up has very little direct effect on people’s giving. Also, its just fun and utterly harmless, can’t you people just go along with it without having to problematize everything?
People who leave comments here could be professional cynics. I haven’t actually crunched the numbers, but I’m pretty sure that the cannon showing up has very little direct effect on people’s giving. Also, its just fun and utterly harmless, can’t you people just go along with it without having to problematize everything?
I have no problem with university identity. I just don’t like canned university identity created by University Relations or whomever keeps the cannon. It’s a shallow attempt to feign institutional memory at a school where institutional memory really is minimal. What the hell do we have in common with 1950s era alums? Nothing, except for nonsense like the Douglas Cannon. It gets alums feeling nostalgic, and nostalgic alums donate. So the Administration trots out the cannon when large numbers of alums are present, and wham — you’ve got a pretend tradition that just happens to increase donations.
I have no problem with university identity. I just don’t like canned university identity created by University Relations or whomever keeps the cannon. It’s a shallow attempt to feign institutional memory at a school where institutional memory really is minimal.
What the hell do we have in common with 1950s era alums? Nothing, except for nonsense like the Douglas Cannon. It gets alums feeling nostalgic, and nostalgic alums donate. So the Administration trots out the cannon when large numbers of alums are present, and wham — you’ve got a pretend tradition that just happens to increase donations.
I once believed in the douglas cannon, but I’ve seen it twice in the past 4-5 months (at commencement and at the inauguration). I no longer believe in it. It’s fake, and it’s probably kept by UR or somewhere else on campus. There’s no way Wes alums travel the world with it :(. It’s a SCAM.
I once believed in the douglas cannon, but I’ve seen it twice in the past 4-5 months (at commencement and at the inauguration). I no longer believe in it. It’s fake, and it’s probably kept by UR or somewhere else on campus. There’s no way Wes alums travel the world with it :(. It’s a SCAM.
that we have institutional identity. Aside from checkbooks, why would you not want “institutional identity”?
that we have institutional identity.
Aside from checkbooks, why would you not want “institutional identity”?
This is such a bullshit fake university “tradition,” which exists for the sole purpose of convincing Wesleyan alums that we have institutional identity. Apparently, that helps them open up their checkbooks.
This is such a bullshit fake university “tradition,” which exists for the sole purpose of convincing Wesleyan alums that we have institutional identity.
Apparently, that helps them open up their checkbooks.
not…at all…http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/schome/cannon/cannon.htm
not…at all…
http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/schome/cannon/cannon.htm
When Douggie B, our old president, was born, his father commemorated the birth by making a cannon out of solid bronze. Hence the Douglas cannon.
When Douggie B, our old president, was born, his father commemorated the birth by making a cannon out of solid bronze. Hence the Douglas cannon.
what is the douglas cannon?
what is the douglas cannon?