Letter to the Editor: Civic Engagement Across the Generations

2020 Issue 2October 21, 2020October 21, 2020

Letter to the Editor: Civic Engagement Across the Generations

The Spring 2020 issue of Wesleyan University Magazine correctly conveys with breathless immediacy the urgency of political and cultural issues now facing the United States of America. I only hope that the sense of immediacy of your presentation does not quietly suggest to readers that “civic engagem…

2020 Issue 2October 19, 2020October 19, 2020

Letter to the Editor: Justice, Hiding in Plain Sight

I write with encouraging news and a call to action. At a moment when the abject failings of the criminal legal system stand in such clear and crushing relief, the Wesleyan alumni community has an opportunity to deepen it…

2020 Issue 2September 24, 2020

Editor’s Note: Cultivating Equity

After her appointment in December, Nicole Stanton was slated to begin her official duties as Wesleyan’s 12th Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs on May 15, 2020. In honoring interim Provost and SVPAA R…

2020 Issue 2September 24, 2020

President’s Letter: ‘This Changes Everything’

Each year, incoming students are asked to read a common text as an intellectual introduction to Wesleyan. This year’s selection, a documentary entitled "This Changes Everything," offers an unflinching look at the impact …

2020 Issue 2September 24, 2020September 25, 2020

Letter to the Editor: Teaching Moments in a Time of Diaspora

I met with my New School students for the last time on Wednesday, March 11. I’d instructed them to bring their laptops; we were going to have a trial “webinar.” This was right before our extended two-week break, …

2020 Issue 2September 18, 2020September 25, 2020

Letter to the Editor: A Richmond Reckoning

A day after my classmates and I graduated remotely from Wes, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd on camera. This horrific act caused the country and the world to take to the streets to fight fo…

2020 Issue 2September 18, 2020September 25, 2020

Letter to the Editor: Virtual Commencement a Chance to Reflect

In the days preceding Commencement in 2018, I kept a strict schedule—hosting my parents on campus tours, engaging with my professors and mentors, celebrating with friends and classmates. In the midst of all that activity…

2020 Issue 1June 30, 2020

Remembering Norm Shapiro

At our Boston-area literary translators’ group meetings, Norman Shapiro was a rare participant, but he always meant to show up, usually when he had a new book he wanted to advertise. I used to say of him that he was like…

2020 Issue 1May 1, 2020May 7, 2020

Editor’s Note: Before and After

My senior year of college, I was assigned to read a book titled She’s Not There. It blew my mind. Even more than the book itself, which I tore through wide-eyed in a day or so, I remember the discussions it engendered…

2020 Issue 1May 1, 2020May 1, 2020

On Retirement: Reflections on 30 Years at Wesleyan

I have had the best job in the world since 1989, when I joined the staff at Wesleyan’s Office of Public Information (now University Communications). Editing the Class Notes section of this magazine was an immersion exper…