Category Archives: Alumni

FEATURED
Douglas Cannon Spotted in the Career Center

It’s Reunion & Commencement Weekend, which means campus is crawling with wealthy alumni; nervous soon-to-be-graduates; underclassmen working temp jobs as ushers or golf cart drivers or squatting in their senior friends’ houses; and, of course, Wesleyan dads.

In between all the snoozing on Usdan couches, schmoozing on Foss Hill, engaging in Senior Week shenanigans, chasing after famous alumni currently on campus (shoutout to Joss Whedon ’87, Matthew Weiner ’87, Craig Thomas ’97, Carter Bays ’97, Santigold ’97…), and packing up your life’s belongings with your parents (godspeed), you may have missed an important piece of Wesleyan history reemerge in the Gordon Career Center.

That’s right: after a multi-year absence, the Douglas Cannon has made an appearance once more. Read past the jump for more details

Continue reading →

FEATURED
Listen to Trot Fox’s “Do You Realize?” with Lead Vocals from Claire Randall ’12

December was a somber time for many in the Wesleyan community in the light of news of Claire Randall ’12‘s untimely passing due to a horrific act of gun violence. Around a week ago, Nate Mondschein ’12 posted a public status on Facebook announcing the release of Trot Fox’s cover of The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” The rendition is led by Claire as lead vocalist, and is truly a poignant reminder of the talents that she shared with so many.

Back in the spring of 2016, Claire, Nate, and other members of Trot Fox Gabe Gordon ’11 and Declan O’Connell recorded the first version of the cover during a one-day session at Converse Rubber Tracks Studio in Brooklyn. The initial recording was recorded in a single take and, according to Nate, “Claire delivered what remains one of the most honest, astonishingly powerful performances I have ever heard her give.”

The final version of the “Do You Realize” was produced after Claire’s passing, with the help of 30 of her friends and family.

Continue reading →

FEATURED
What’s Going On in the Film Department?

“There has long been an inequality of opportunity within the film industry, and we know diversifying the film industry begins within our education at Wesleyan.”

On March 28, students from the University’s College of Film and the Moving Image released a letter, along with a list of signatures and testimonies, expressing dissatisfaction with aspects of Wesleyan’s Film Studies department. The letter called for systematic changes to the ways in which the department operates, including hiring three tenure-track professors (prioritizing women and POC), offering more diverse courses within the department, and reforming disciplinary procedures so that they are less reliant on “blanket threats” to drop students from the major or drop their theses.

The letter, which has been in the works since February, was a collaboration between a group of current film students – both majors and minors – as well as prospective film students. Before it was put into wide circulation on March 28, the letter was shared amongst students and alumni of the Film Studies department, along with a call for signatures and personal testimonies to present to the CFILM faculty. (From email circulation and tabling in Usdan, the letter received 175 signatures and eight accompanying testimonies.)

Read the full letter and testimonies after the jump:

Continue reading →

FEATURED
Kool A.D. Brought His Kid to Wesleyan and Performed and There Were Lots of Zines at the Concert

“My Liberal University Cemented My Loyalty to Show Ponies” – Zine title

koolad

It has been 5 years since Das Racist broke up. And it has been almost 2 months since Heems added Wesleying on LinkedIn (see screenshot), and only 22 days since he started working for AGW Group, a Brooklyn-based marketing company. But this post isn’t about him.

heemsIt’s about Kool A.D., a different third of Das Racist. He’s coming off an exceptionally prolific 2016. He released 10 mixtapes in 2016, one of which had 100 tracks, as I previously mentioned on this website. He also published a book of 100 vignettes. 

Kool A.D. (or Victor Vasquez ’06) came back to campus this past Saturday to perform in Malcolm X House for the 2017 Disorientation Guide release party. His wife, Saba Moeel (aka CULT DAYS) opened for him, and they also brought their kid. This post is a retelling of what happened. I am really not fooling you. That’s all that it is.

Oh and also: there are 9 startlingly radical zines (which I received at the concert) that are embedded in this post as html flipbooks.

Continue reading →

FEATURED
Overcoats Perform on NPR’s All Songs Considered

Overcoats perform a Tiny Desk Concert on March 1, 2017. (Marian Carrasquero/NPR)

As the electronic duo Overcoats, Hana Elion ’15 and JJ Mitchell ’15 are quickly making a name for themselves in the indie music world. Yesterday they performed on NPR as part of All Songs Considered‘s Tiny Desk Concert series, which is a pretty big deal given who else has been featured. They also performed at this year’s South By Southwest festival earlier this month.

In their Wesleyan days, Overcoats played everywhere from Earth House’s intimate living room to the Spring Fling stage. Even as undergrads, their combination of sparse electronics and warm vocal harmonies allowed them to occupy a unique space in the campus music scene. Now, they’re looking forward to their debut album, Young, which comes out April 21.

You can watch Overcoats’ full Tiny Desk concert after the jump:

Continue reading →

EVENT
Screening of “Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA”

making a killingFrom the Center for Film Studies:

Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA examines how guns, and the billions of dollars made from them, affect the lives of everyday Americans. It exposes the ways powerful gun companies and the NRA are resisting responsible legislation for the sake of profit. Producer Tara Vajra ’10 will host a Q&A after the screening.

Date: Tomorrow – Tuesday, March 7th
Time: 8pm
Place: The Center for Film Studies

EVENT
Seniors – Apply to be the Ford Fellow!

sdadadasFrom Gabriel Borelli ’16:

Hey, seniors! Has the job panic set in yet? There’s an excellent opportunity right here at Wesleyan for any graduate interested in writing and invested in writers.

Do you have excellent editing and interpersonal skills? Are you interested in the fields of teaching or publishing/editing? Would you like to begin your post-graduate career with a prestigious fellowship? If so, apply to be a Ford Fellow in the Writing Programs for the 2017-2018 academic year!

In an administrative role, the Ford Fellow assists in running the university’s Writing Workshop and supporting the First Year Seminar program. The Fellow’s teaching responsibilities include helping to train the university’s student writing tutors, designing and leading the seminar for veteran tutors, developing workshops and tutoring services for first-year students and other campus communities, and serving as the university’s senior writing tutor. The Ford Fellow will be instrumental in designing and updating the web page of writing resources for the entire Wesleyan community.

The Fellowship also includes a generous stipend, and the Fellow has graduate student status and is eligible to take two courses.

Please email the following application materials to Professor Meg Weisberg, Interim Director of Academic Writing (mweisberg[at]wesleyan[dot]edu)

  • A letter of interest explaining your academic experience and future plans
  • A transcript
  • A resume
  • Two academic papers, preferably with grades and the instructors’ comments
  • The names of two faculty members who can serve as references. Your references will be contacted if you are a finalist.

Applications are due MARCH 13, 2017 by 4:30 p.m. and interviews scheduled thereafter.

Deadline: Monday, March 13th at 4:30pm

More information here.

EVENT
Queer Past, Queer Future

Alumni Jennifer Boylan ’80 and Alexander Chee ’89 read recent work, discuss queer lives and storytelling, and share their own experiences as LGBT writers at Wesleyan.

Jennifer Boylan, a professor at Barnard College, is the author of 15 books, including She’s Not There, the first bestselling work by a transgender American, and I’m Looking Through You, which contains a chapter on Wesleyan. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and currently serves as the national co-chair of GLAAD, the media advocacy nonprofit for LGBTQ people. Her new novel, Long Black Veil, is forthcoming in April 2017.

Alexander Chee teaches fiction writing and the essay at Dartmouth College. He is the author of the novels Edinburgh (Welcome Rain, 2001; Picador, 2002) and The Queen of the Night (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016). Edinburgh, which partly takes place at Wesleyan, won the Iowa Writers’ Workshop’s Michener Copernicus Prize in Fiction, the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Editor’s Choice Prize, and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Literary Award.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Wesleyan Library with support from Academic Affairs.

Date: Friday, March 3rd
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Smith Reading Room, 1st floor Olin Library

EVENT
What Can You Do with Anthropology? Alumni Panel + Open House

Alumni Panel-1

From Professor Margot Weiss:

What can you do after graduation with a degree in Anthropology? Come hear four recent Wes Alumni talk about life after Wesleyan!

Friday, February 17, 2017
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
Russell House
reception with snacks to follow — department faculty will also be on hand to answer questions about the major.

Featuring:
Mariama Eversley ’14, Embedded Historian Fellow for Blights Out in New Orleans
Promiti Islam ’08, National Training Specialist at the Posse Foundation in New York City
Michele Ko ’16, Government Relations Associate at Planned Parenthood of New York City
Katie McConnell ’13, Master of Environmental Science candidate at Yale’s School of Forestry

Contact Prof. Margot Weiss with any questions! Click here for more.

Date: Friday, February 17, 2017

Time: 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM

Place: Russell House

FEATURED
Emma Starer Gross ’15 and Ananya Menon ’15 Change the Landscape of Children’s Entertainment with New Webseries

“Jeanine Basinger personally emailed to ask if we’d consider donating the series to Wesleyan’s archives.”

kkbb

Childhood can be a stressful time. On top of endless school days and social politics, children’s brains are often filled with pressing and relevant questions like “how will I make money after losing my job?” or “how do I know if I have an STI?”. Luckily, Emma Starer Gross ’15 and Ananya Menon ’15 are here to help these inquisitive young minds as hosts of their new webseries Kiddie Kiddie Bang Bang. In each episode Emma and Ananya break down a new topic with their wisdom and sage advice. Thankfully, they were able to take time out of doing their important work to answer some of our questions.

Continue reading →