Voice!

Hey kiddos! As you’re all finishing your applications to Wesleyan and other colleges, we’ll be busy studying for finals! Yes, when classes are over tomorrow afternoon/evening, reading week officially commences! Six days of hanging out with friends, writing papers, studying for finals, and attending fun social events to de-stress and close out the semester! In previous years, reading week has certainly been a blast for me. I don’t think I’ve socialized with so many people in the library in an attempt to put off my work! On Tuesday night, we’re having the ever-so-popular, bi-yearly “breakfast at midnight” at Usdan, the new university center! So excited! Other highlights of the week include

- the “primal scream” Monday at midnight (to release all tension and frustration built on over the semester, Wes students will emerge from their dorms/libraries/rooms/etc. at the stroke of midnight, screaming at the top of their lungs outside for a full minute - it’s really interesting to be around so many people who are ready for finals!)

- music concerts

- dance performances

- comedy troupe shows

- and much, much more!

It’s that time of the year!!!

CHEERS!

H. Rizk ‘08
Senior Interviewer

Whether or not you choose to take a writing course at Wes (It’s your choice: no core curriculum! Woo!), writing is at the heart of almost every class here. For some students, the lack of a freshman writing seminar is liberating; however, many others worry that their skills are not up to Wesleyan’s high standards. If you are a member of the latter group, Wesleyan offers resources to that can help:

• The Writing Workshop: This is the epicenter writing resources at Wesleyan. Stop by the office and meet with a writing tutor or peruse sample essays and writing resources. Workshop tutors also hold satellite drop-in sessions throughout campus. Check out the schedule here.
• Writing Course Tutors: Attached to a specific course, these tutors are excellent resources for course and dicipline-specific writing help. Every course tutor is well versed in the specific subject of the course and/or the department. Course tutors are often associated with FYI courses.
• Writing Mentors: Unlike workshop and course tutors, writing mentors work repeatedly with the same students to help them improve their writing skills. Students and their mentors are encouraged to meet as often as possible to work on any writing assignment. This is an excellent way for less experienced writers to work one-on-one with someone who knows the student’s writing intimately and can facilitate growth.

Additionally, the English department offers “The English Essay,” a course on developing your non-fiction essay writing skills. This course is especially helpful for non-native speakers.

For more information, check out the Writing Program’s website.

And for those of you who dream of being published in The Atlantic Monthly or other media outlets, head over to WesMaps and check out the amazing creative writing courses (numbered between 130 and 170) we’re offering this year.

Justin Holzwarth ‘08
Senior Interviewer

While Wesleyan Professors are some of the best there are (Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics Gary Yohe, for example, recently won the Nobel Prize for his work with Al Gore on Global Warming ), it is sometimes nice to bring a new perspective to campus. Fortunately, Wesleyan has AWESOME lectures with top notch academics, entertainers, creators, and authors that are some of the best in the world.

A small sampling of some of the best speakers to come to campus in the past four years:

Music and Art:

Dar Williams ‘89 - a folk singer-songwriter

Patti Smith - singer-songwriter, poet, musician, who was one of the women most influential in the birth of punk rock.

Sol LeWitt - minimalist and conceptual artist specializing in wall drawings with exhibitions in museums such as the Museum of Modern Art.

Amiri Baraka - author and poet, former Poet Laureate of New Jersey.

Books and Literature:

Art Spiegelman - comics artist, editor, and Pulitzer-Prize winner for his best selling graphic memoir, Maus.

Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket ‘92 - author, screenwriter, and musician. Best known for his children’s series A Series of Unfortunate Events. He has played accordion with The Magnetic Fields.

Eric Schlosser - author best known for Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness.

Journalism and Politics:

Ralph Nader - consumer advocate and presidential candidate.

Seymour Hersh - Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist and author.

Amy Goodman - progressive broadcast journalist and host of the radio program “Democracy Now!”

Madeline Albright - former United States Secretary of State.

Film and Television:

Joss Whedon ‘87 - Academy-Award nominated writer and director famous for his show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Alexander Payne - Academy- Award winning director and screenwriter best known for Election.

Michael Bay ‘86 - director and producer best known for The Rock, Transformers, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor.

Paul Weitz ‘88 - director and screenwriter best known for American Pie, American Dreamz, and In Good Company.

Jonathan Demme - Academy- Award winning director, producer, and writer best known for Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense, and Philadelphia.

Martin Scorsese - Academy-Award winning director, producer, and writer best known for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed.

and… finally… gracing our campus this coming Thursday …

Robin Williams - Academy-Award winning actor and comedian best known for Mork and Mindy, The Birdcage, Patch Adams, Jack, Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, and Dead Poet’s Society.

Enjoy!

Emily Einhorn ‘08 and Jeff Wong ‘08
Senior Interviewers

The College of Letters (COL) is one of Wesleyan’s many exciting interdisciplinary programs, and one of the main reasons I, for one, chose to come study at Wes. Despite the grandiose name, the COL is organized like most other departments, with many classes open to non-majors, a great series of first-year courses, and an amazing faculty. The COL’s areas of focus are literature, philosophy, and history, with a strong emphasis on foreign language and creative thought. With its interdisciplinary approach, the COL offers a wide range of courses, including “Francophone Uses of America in Literature and Film,” “Dante and Medieval Culture,” and “Theories and Fiction of Androgyny” to name a few from this spring’s course catalog. The COL was also the home of Wesleyan’s most infamous course (no longer offered), “Pornography: Writing of Prostitutes.”
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Wrote for your school newspaper? Always wanted to do some investigative journalism? Just interested in covering some concerts or sports games?

Well, here at Wesleyan, the Argus has it all. The Wesleyan Argus is published twice a week during the academic school year, except for exam periods. Sections ranged from your standard News, Sports, Arts, and Features, to our own comic section and joke section. Wespeaks are Wesleyan’s unique version of a letter to the editor. These pieces can be written by anyone in the Wesleyan community and range from the serious ( for example: campus politics, world politics) to the absurd ( for example: a call to action for more dancing on campus).

Unlike some larger schools, freshmen are welcomed and encouraged to write for the Argus as soon as they come to campus. And, with some dedication and commitment, you can become an editor or columnist early on in your Wesleyan career. People who write and work for the Argus have very varied experiences with high school journalism, some people were editors of their school paper while others, like myself, had never written an article before Wesleyan. But, after writing for four semesters, I was co-editor of the Arts section my Junior Year. Once an editor, you serve on the Argus editorial board, which writes an opinion piece each paper about something related to campus politics, world politics, or issues affecting the Wesleyan community.

Also, one way to be clued into what’s happening at Wesleyan before coming to campus is to read the Argus online. New editions are posted on Tuesdays and Fridays, sometimes late in the afternoon. So stay posted, be aware, and know what is going on before you even step foot on campus! It’s a great way to get in on the conversations as soon as you get here and see all that Wesleyan students are involved in and passionate about.

Happy reading!
Emily Einhorn ‘08
Senior Interviewer

Whether you’re in the fifth grade or twelfth, you’re probably anxious about your first year of college. Don’t try to play it cool; everyone has his worries, and a lot of them are about academics. One of the questions that prospective students ask most often is, “what special courses does Wesleyan offer the first year students?” Well, as first years you will have the opportunity to pre-register for a couple of classes. On WesMaps, our online course catalogue, there is a long list of courses that the registrar has deemed appropriate for first year students.

Some of these are First Year Initiative (FYI) courses. The FYI is a special breed of Wes-course and is one that we take great pride in. To put it simply, these courses are Wesleyan’s answer to the freshman seminar. We cap the courses at 20 first year students (and only first year students), so you’ll be able to have an intimate class right off the bat. Furthermore, departments assign their cream-of-the-crop faculty to teach these courses, which tend to be outside the standard curriculum. Wesleyan is a core curriculum-free zone, so there isn’t any sort of freshmen writing seminar. Therefore, one of the main goals of FYI courses is to make sure that every student has a proper introduction to writing at the college level. Many FYI courses have their own writing tutors who are there to read students’ work (before it’s handed in) and help them through writing their first college essay. Most students sign-up for at least one FYI, but they are not required. I actually took four, because I found the topics so intriguing.

My favorite was “Culture and Cuisine,” taught by Professor of Government John Finn. It was a sociological look at food, and Professor Finn has been to culinary school, so of course he cooked for us! “Culture and Cuisine” was very reading and writing intensive, but the topic was so interesting that it never felt tedious. And that’s just the nature of FYIs! So head over to WesMaps Search and click the box next to “First Year Initiatives.” A lot of them sound really neat! I wish seniors could take them.

Justin Holzwarth ‘08
Senior Interviewer