“Confronting Social Invisibility: Skills to deconstruct hurtful behaviors”

As a follow-up to his “Ripple of Change” presentation, Dr. Berkowitz will conduct a skill building workshop to provide an opportunity for members of the community to gain valuable skills for fostering health and social justice. The workshop will teach strategies for responding to unwelcome remarks and health-risk behaviors. This workshop will also provide a critical analysis of bystander behavior and offer some skills for intervening in difficult situations.

Light refreshments will be served. Students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend, ask questions and participate in the discussion.

Date: Friday, March 27
Time: 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Place: Usdan, B25

In esleyanway, you will find all kinds of products created by people associated with Wesleyan. In addition to books, apparel and DVDs, there are downloads and links of mp3s and videos. Many of them free. You can search the site by class year as well as by catagory.

We created esleyanway to help members of the Wesleyan community promote what they have created. While current licensing agreements limit the number of “Wesgear” items, we will be offering plenty of alternative items from local businesses, student groups and alumni.

So this is Amazon for Wesproducts, taking the branding of Wesleyan a pretty significant step up.

So far they’ve got all the obvious bases covered – among the available products are Weswings and Red & Black t-shirts, MGMT and Dar Williams CDs, Joss Whedon and Michael Bay DVDs, and books by Michael Roth and Mary Roach.

There’s also more random stuff like Brunami martial arts fight gear, from Brian Lichtenstein ’84.

The site’s layout could use some work, but this is pretty damn impressive – I doubt Amherst or Vassar can match this kind of merchandising.

Need a bike? Got a broken one? Want to be as cool as this guy? Well, LEGIT can help you out.

On Saturday from 11-3, we’ll be set up outside of Usdan to sell, fix, tune and adjust bikes for little money and with lots of love. Our going rate for a sick, slick, campus bike? $50. You want a classic cruiser? $50. Rocket bike? well, prices vary…

Any repair is FREE, except the cost of parts, most of which are rebuilt and FREE. And you can always come by the LEGIT bike room on Friday afternoons (located right outside the HiRise door) Or, set up an appointment.

Contact Angus (amcullough(at)wesleyan(dot)edu), Rishabh, (rphukan(at)wesleyan(dot)edu), or Miles (mbukiet(at)wesleyan(dot)edu).

Date: Saturday 4/28, or every Friday
Time: 11-3, or Friday afternoons
Location: Outside Usdan, or Hirise

Do you not have enough theater in your life? Maybe you should apply to
be on Second Stage! Apps are due this Saturday, 3/28.

Learn more or download an application at the Second Stage website at http://2ndstage.org/staffinterest.php.

It is with great pleasure that I announce to the Wesleyan community that an award-winning best-selling author, a pioneering entrepreneur and philanthropist and two dedicated members of the Middletown community will be the honorary degree recipients at the 177th Wesleyan Commencement on May 24, 2009.

Anna Quindlen P’07, who will also give the Commencement Address, is a novelist, a journalist, and a champion of higher education. She currently writes the “Last Word” column on the back page of Newsweek and serves as chair of the board of Barnard College, where she received a degree in English literature.
(AP Photo)

Ms. Quindlen has published five novels, all of them bestsellers. Her most recent, Rise and Shine, debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list. She has also published many nonfiction books, including Thinking Out Loud, How Reading Changed My Life, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life, which has sold more than a million copies.

Ms. Quindlen spent most of her journalism career at The New York Times, where she wrote three columns, “About New York,” “Life in the 30s,” and “Public and Private.” She won the Pulitzer Prize for her work on the paper’s OpEd page. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities.

Ms. Quindlen is the mother of three children. Her son Christopher Krovatin, also a novelist, graduated from Wesleyan in 2007.

Bill Carbone posted on Aural Wes over break to encourage campus musicians to play more shows at bars and restaurants on Main Street:

The recent stunning loss of Eclectic (if you haven’t already, sign the petition here) as a venue has inspired quite a bit of discussion about the lack of performance spaces at Wesleyan, and it is indeed lamentable. However, there are options that I haven’t really seen floated.

For one, most of the bars and businesses on Main Street would love to be more deeply engaged with Wesleyan students (The Middletown Eye had a great discussion about this recently).

I attempted to launch a concert series at Public this semester to coincide with bar night, and though it was somewhat successful, I didn’t manage to get a single band in which I do not play to do a gig there (several took the gig and then canceled for various reasons). The owner of the bar is very serious about establishing a night that will showcase Wesleyan music; he’s offering a guarantee and free drinks to the bands, not charging a cover, and in general being a pretty cool guy (the offer of a gig still stands, if interested contact me).

There are several other places to play in town as well. For the traditional bar-type setting there’s La Boca, Hair of the Dog and the brand new and quite cool Fishbone Cafe, while the Buttonwood Tree offers a more art-space style room and Javapalooza is that interesting combination of a coffee shop and a microbrew beer bar (and thus a place where one can have a show that isn’t 21+).

Of course there’s nothing as fun as a dark, sweaty dance party show at one of Wesleyan’s venues (or more often living rooms), but in this age of everything local, why not bring your tunes down to Main Street and encourage your friends to put their PBR dollars into a different coffer for an evening? It’s a proposition that benefits everyone involved: the band actually gets paid, the local venue gets a momentary influx of Wesleyan students, and most of all, a night of music goes down free of the looming threat of a P-Safe shutdown.

This would be great – an excuse to get off campus every once in awhile, add more variety to the social scene, and maybe integrate Wesleyan with Middletown a little better. Not to mention a financial incentive for the musically skilled in these economically challenging times.

Thank you so much for your support.

Unfortunately, due to spam, the petition is now closed. We strongly urge you to contact Assistant Director of Student Affairs Scott Backer (sbacker@wes) or President Michael Roth (mroth@wes) to vocalize your concerns.

We’re taking the link down from the sidebar.

WHAT: Orquesta Fiebre
WHERE: La Boca
WHEN: Wednesday, March 25 @ 10:oo PM
WHY: Salsa is second only to the tango (and possibly ballroom) for sexiest dance style