Oh, spring break. Weather’s getting warm, trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and birds are chirping. And taking a hint from those baby birds who are taking wing and flying from the nest, Wes bands Duchampion, The Last Minutes, Apache Kid, Metacomet, and Ishmael are using this break as an opportunity to sing their songs in new and exciting locations. For those of you in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia who are feeling a little homesick for Wesleyan already, check out the tour dates after the jump to see when you’ll have the opportunity for a little Wes love. I’m not listing college shows, as they might not be accessible… Oh, and Aural Wes put up a similar post with some more info on some of the bands, so if you’re curious about any of the individual bands you should check that out here. Read More »
Are you interested in getting more involved in the theatre community at Wesleyan? Would you like to learn what it’s like to run a small theatre? Come expand your love of theatre and have fun at the same time! Join us! To apply, fill out the staff interest note (visit 2ndstage.org) and submit to the Second Stage mailbox in the theatre office, to the envelope on the callboard in the theatre studios, or to any current staff member (check out their email addresses on the Staff page). You have until after Spring Break!
Somewhat in keeping with the flood of parodies that have inundated Wesleying over the past few days, here’s one in honor of Dr. Seuss’s bday (which is today). It gets really good around 2:00.
I just received the exciting news that A.O. Scott, a film critic for the New York Times, is coming to speak at Wes on April 29.
He is speaking for free as part of the Times’ Readership Program, which provides free papers to students. The program is funded by the WSA and an anonymous donor.
More details will come some time after break, but save the date now!
A.O.’s bio:
A. O. Scott joined The New York Times as a film critic in January 2000. Previously, Mr. Scott was a Sunday book reviewer for Newsday and a frequent contributor to Slate, The New York Review of Books and many other publications.
He has served on the editorial staffs of Lingua Franca and The New York Review of Books. He also edited “A Bolt From the Blue and Other Essays,” a collection by Mary McCarthy, which was published by The New York Review of Books in 2002.
Born on July 10, 1966, in Northampton, Mass., Mr. Scott graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in literature from Harvard College in 1988. He did graduate work in English at Johns Hopkins and left before completing his doctorate.
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
Jordan Lewis ‘12 writes in about a sweet Westco show this Saturday:
Wesleyan affiliated band Ishmael will be playing live music at the Westco Cafe on Saturday, February 27. Ishmael is Jordan Lewis and Andy Werle, along with Aaron Silberstein of NYU and Nick Otte of the New School. We will be playing at least two hours of music and are gonna give the Wesleyan premier of a bunch of new songs. Come for an evening of exuberant progressive music.Facebook event here.
Check us out at myspace.com/ishmaeltheband.
Date: Saturday, February 27 Time: 10:00 pm – 1:30 am Place: Westco Cafe Cost: Free
Reb Drew is a rabbi in the Reform movement who “weaves traditional Jewish liturgy and musical modes into the increasingly popular call-and-response chant technology from India, known as Kirtan.”
His main vocation is to make Torah accessible, deep and fun, — to Jew and non-Jew alike — in a way that is participatory and memorable. David Leipziger Teva, Rabbi and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Wesleyan University, recently wrote to Rabbi Hahn, saying, “You have enlightened our community in countless ways. I am envisioning your coming back every eighteen months or so. We should not let students graduate without being exposed to your Torah.”
Come for an afternoon and evening of “great energy, passion and melodic flow.”
BuHo: 3-4pm
The Bayit: 6pm (with FREE home-cooked dinner to follow!)
Date: Feb. 26 Time: 3:00 PM – 8:00 PM Place: BuHo (356 Wash) and The Bayit (157 Church)
Come join us for a wonderful family-style meal and learn about Vietnamese culture. Don’t forget to bring a dollar or two for raffle tickets and win some authentic Vietnamese souvenirs. Proceeds from this event will go towards Doctors Without Borders in the continuing relief effort to aid Haiti.
Date: Saturday, February 27 Time: 6-8 pm Place: Nicolson Lounge Cost: $4 in advance, $5 at the door
Tickets will be sold in Usdan at lunch and dinner starting Wednesday.
Come see Bad Island, an opera by Ben Bernstein ‘10 based on the book by William Steig. One day on an island filled with horrible, ugly, rotten monsters, complacent in their horrible life, a beautiful flower comes out of nowhere. The monsters then explode into a new kind of violence. This staging uses 16 singers, many instruments, visuals, vibrant costumes and choreography to depict layers of treachery, pride, and violence.
Tickets are available day of at the box office. Capacity is extremely limited. Sponsored by Second Stage and the Wesleyan Music Department.
Date: Friday, February 26th and Saturday, February 27 Time: 8:00PM both nights, 1:ooPM matinee on Saturday Place: ‘92 Theater Cost: Free Friday show and Saturday matinee; $5 Saturday night: all proceeds and donations go to benefit the Matenwa Community Learning Center in Haiti.
This Saturday night, come to one of the most transformative shows you’ll ever see at Wesleyan.
F to eMbody, a multi-media hip-hop/spoken word show, features two transgender performers: Athens Boys Choir (right) and Katastrophe (left). Athens Boys Choir is a one man explosion from Georgia known for his heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics and award-winning videos. San Francisco based rapper Katastrophe performs passionate hip-hop about lives lived outside the mainstream.
DJ JD Samson (center, from le Tigre and MEN) will finish the night with a queer dance party dj set sure to please.
Come on out for this equally thought-provoking and booty-shaking event!
Tickets sold at the door, and all week during lunch at Usdan. Get yours before it’s sold out!
Date: Saturday, February 27 Time: 10:00PM Place: Eclectic (200 High Street) Cost: $3
Come see the Wesleyan Theater Department’s Spring Production entitled “Unexpected: Voices of Incarcerated Women.” It features performances by former inmates of the York Correctional Institute located in Niantic, CT as well as your fellow Wesleyan students. Thursday’s performance features a talk from Wally Lamb, author and editor of “I’ll Fly Away,” from which many of the writings in the show were excerpted. You can buy tickets now at the Wesleyan Box Office located in the Usdan University Center.
Directed byProfessor of Theater Ronald Jenkins
Featuring: Aubrey Hamilton ‘12,Ala Faller ‘12, Samantha Pearlman ‘11, Sabina Friedman-Seitz ‘11, Rebecca Kowal ‘10, Matthew Tannenbaum ‘10, Victoria Barron ‘13, Kiara Williams-Jones ‘12,and Sara Schineller ‘12
Date: Thursday February 25th and Friday February 26th Time: 8:00PM Place: The CFA Hall (The CFA Old Cinema) Cost: $4 for Wesleyan students, $5 General
Yep, it’s me again….. Malcolm Tent. I’ll be at Wes this coming Monday, February 15, with a heaping helping of records and cd’s. I’ll be there from noon till 5 PM (ish) and “there” is the Usdan Center, by the big staircase. If you have any special requests, let me know at trash(at)trashamericanstyle(dot)com and I’ll do my best to hook you up. Rock!
“An on-campus group of students working to end the war on drugs will gather tomorrow night on the steps of Olin Library at Wesleyan University for a silent vigil to honor the recent victims of a drug cartel-related massacre which claimed the lives of 16 people, mostly students. This vigil is part of an international day of protest to stop the escalating drug war violence in Mexico and change U.S. drug policies.”
Who: Wesleyan Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Date: TONIGHT — Thursday, February 11
Time: 8:30 – 9:00 in the P.M.
Place: Olin Library steps
Background: Since President Felipe Calderon announced his war on drugs and drug cartels in 2007, more than 10,000 people have been murdered in Mexico. January and February have already proven to be two of the deadliest months for the country after 14 high school students celebrating a soccer team victory and birthday were gunned down by drug gangs in Ciudad Juarez last week.
Many are expected to take part in the vigil to honor those killed. Standing in candlelight, the mourners will read the names of those killed, and stand in silence for 82 seconds, matching the number of bullet shells found at the scene. The vigil is just one of dozens taking place simultaneously around the world including Washington, D.C, San Francisco, Vancouver, and London.
Do you have West African dance experience and are interested in continuing to develop and challenge yourself in this field? You may be the one we are looking for.
Iddi Saaka, instructor of West African Dance at Wesleyan University, is forming a drumming and dance group; the Sunsum (soon-soom) Dance Company. The company among other things will promote and celebrate the rich, vibrant and diverse cultures of Ghana and West Africa through music and dance, as well as create original choreographies inspired by traditional West African dance and contemporary movements.
An audition will be held to recruit dancers and musicians for this group.
Date: 1) Feb. 10 + 2) Feb. 12 Time: 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM Place: CFA Dance Studio 001 (downstairs of Theater and Dance Dept.)
Come to the opening reception for BE THE ART: You Want To See In The World, the student art show formerly known as Skittles. There will be refreshments, student performances, and a chance to meet featured guest artist Mica Anaya ‘08. The exhibition will run until February 27.
Co-Sponsored by Wesleyan University’s Center for African American Studies, Office of Diversity and Strategic Partnerships, Wesleyan World Wednesdays, and Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.
Five Animal Kung Fu is an aesthetic art as well as a devastating fighting style. Classes are on Tuesdays at 4:30 in the Fayerweather rehearsal rooms, and this week (02/09) is the last time to sign up. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn some different and exciting stuff. For more info, go to http://www.wesleyan.edu/weswell/classes/oncampus/five_animal.html.
Sure The Jersey Shore made more waves than NJ recently passing ish on medical MJ, but what’s happening in CT? Paul Blasenheim ‘12 scribes:
“Please join Wesleyan Students for Sensible Drug Policy (WesSSDP) for a panel discussion with leading Connecticut drug policy reform advocatestoexamine the current state of drug policy reform in CT. If you would like to know how to actively and productively engage in efforts for sensible and compassionate drug policy reform as a student, please come to this meeting! This will serve as a launching point for Wesleyan’s SSDP Chapter to begin statewide outreach and organizing to change CT drug laws. All are welcome, and those who are new to the issue of the War on Drugs are encouraged to attend!”
Date: THIS TUESDAY — February 9 Time: 7 – 8:15 in the P.M. Place: Woodhead Lounge (Exley Science Center, Room 184)
Hey Wesleyan, let’s start a street theater troupe this semester! If this sounds like a good idea to you, come to the first meeting. Artists of all mediums as well as writers, thinkers and shouters should find something to contribute here as well as something exciting. You don’t have to be a “theater” person to engage with people in the public space in a way that’s conscious of its performative aspects. What’s exciting about this medium is that such a wide variety of skills, knowledge and perspectives can make up a part of what we end up doing. I’m also hoping this will run like a collective. For more information, join the Facebook group.
Wesleyan media has clearly been in a recruiting mood lately. First the once-a-semester Argus Recruitment Meeting, then an impassioned plea to Keep Wesleying Weird (or at least, y’know—alive). Method Magazine wants in on the fun, too.
Method Magazine is looking to highlight thesis art and creative writing in our print issue coming out this spring. Email methodmagazine(at)gmail(dot)com if you are interested. Method is a little of this, a little of that. Here is the blog site.
Inspired by vaudeville and contemporary performance art, WesBurlesque organizes an annual show that combines music, dance, and theatrical elements. Through our show, we wish to encourage both performers and audience to carefully consider their reservations and fears with regards to sexuality. If you’re interested in singing or dancing for the WesBurlesque 2010 Performance, come to auditions on Sunday, February 7! Come ready to shake it!
So the ACB is abuzz with rumors—supposedly, and hopefully, true—of Dirty Projectors, Big Boi, and Black Lips possibly maybe playing Spring Fling. From the spring 1994 Argus, here’s an amusing anecdote from a past generation’s Spring Fling planning.
Sometime in early 1994, the Social Committee hired ’90s ska favorites the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to play Spring Fling. They offered the band nearly $7,000 to play, and the deal was set—until Krishna Winston, then Acting Dean of the College (and current professor of German Studies), put a stern foot down, citing the fact that ska is pretty much the worst thing ever given the Bosstones’ reputation for encouraging slam-dancing, stage-diving, and moshing, somebody could get hurt. P-Safe concurred, and good ol’-fashioned judicial activism ensued.
The result? The only band set for Spring Fling was a student group by the attractive name of White Boy Drummer, whose members described themselves as “very surprised” that they had won Eclectic’s recent Battle of the Bands and, perhaps consequently, “very nervous about Spring Fling.” But no fear—the band describes their music as “an amalgamation of everything,” which is about as insightful as that friend who likes to tell you they “listen to a little bit of everything.”
“On the evening of October 7, 1989 several hundred people got together for some evening exercise and marched for the right to go for walks without the Berlin Wall getting in their way.”
Come watch “Goodbye Lenin!“, a tragicomedy that explores how East Germans dealt with the total collapse of their state. A fascinating look at one of the more dramatic periods of modern history.
Winner of several awards, including Best Actor, Best Film, Best Screenwriter, and Best Foreign Language Film.
German with English subtitles. Facebook event here.
Date: Thurs, Feb. 4 Time: 7:30pm Place: German Haus, 135 High st. Price: FREE
Music and philanthropy have been a natural combination since the dawn of time. Well, maybe not quite that long, but for quite a while now. Remember MJ and “We Are the World”? Now this combination can happen Wesleyan-style, with a series of benefit concerts that will raise money for Partners in Health in Haiti.
To kick things off, student bands Duchampion, Fly Machine (formerly Soul Kat Too), and Linus (formerly Friendsome) will be doing what they do to make you move, sweat, and love. And to confuse you endlessly about name changes. Duchampion: if you want to change your name, this is the time.
Where: Psi U When: Friday, February 5th, 10PM Cost: $4
The following week some of Wesleyans best acapella groups will bring vocal bliss to the Memorial Chapel.
The Spirits, Onomatopoeia, New Group, Quasimodal, and the Cardinal Sinners will be performing.
Where: Memorial Chapel When: Thursday, February 11th, 7PM Cost: $3
Tickets will be sold in Usdan Monday-Friday at lunch. If you buy both together it’s $6.
Perry Romanowski once joggled (juggling while jogging) a 50-mile ultra marathon in eight hours and 24 minutes. For two hours on Sunday in the Exley lobby, jugglers will unite from across Connecticut, Middletown, and the Wesleyan campus to juggle, practice our tricks, juggle together, and, most importantly, teach all who come to juggle as well. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next Perry Romanowski . . .
Jugglers and potential jugglers of all levels and lacks of skills and coordination are welcome.
Come to the newest exhibition center at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies! “Splendid Details: Textiles from East Asia” is a collection of intricate and decadent textiles recently acquired by the Center. Chinese silk jackets, Japanese robes, and Mongolian gowns are all on display. The gallery is open noon-4pm, every day except Mondays.
Date: Jan. 28 – March 5 Time: Noon – 4:00 PM Place: Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies (343 Washington Terrace, at
the end of Wyllys Ave)
getting warm, trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and birds are chirping. And taking a hint from those baby birds who are taking wing and flying from the nest, Wes bands Duchampion, The Last Minutes, Apache Kid, Metacomet, and Ishmael are using this break as an opportunity to sing their songs in new and exciting locations. For those of you in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia who are feeling a little homesick for Wesleyan already, check out the tour dates after the jump to see when you’ll have the opportunity for a little Wes love. I’m not listing college shows, as they might not be accessible… Oh, and Aural Wes put up a similar post with some more info on some of the bands, so if you’re curious about any of the individual bands you should check that out here. Read More 
Come see the Wesleyan Theater Department’s Spring Production entitled “Unexpected: Voices of Incarcerated Women.” It features performances by former inmates of the York Correctional Institute located in Niantic, CT as well as your fellow Wesleyan students. Thursday’s performance features a talk from 
Come hang out with friendly French TAs, have snacks, speak in the Language of Lurve, and sometimes, if you are lucky, make your own dessert crepes!
Mica Taliaferro ‘11
Cloudy44°Fwind speed: 2 mph NForecast March 11, 2010day
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