27 feb. -

march 6

2006

godzilla will spark imaginations in common text project

This year none other than Godzilla will loom over Wellesley’s Common Text Project, an annual event that brings together faculty, staff and students in a shared experience of enjoyment and heightened understanding of an extraordinary work of the imagination. “Nuclear Sublime: Gojira vs. Godzilla” will offer a look at monsters and imagination, according to Nicholas DeWarren, philosophy.

“Monsters inhabit the landscape of the mythic imagination,” he said. “These imposing creatures personify terror, power and cosmic struggle. Its origin shrouded in mystery, a monster’s narrative presence is inseparable from the meaning of its defeat—salvation, redemption, a world restored. Gojira, an amphibious, dragon-like monster, feared as a god by the Oto islanders, emerged from the Pacific Ocean in 1954—nine years after the cataclysmic end of the Second World War and in midst of the Cold War—to terrify the population of Tokyo. Ishiro Honda’s film provided a medium in which Japanese culture could reflect on nuclear devastation, its bellicose past, its relationship to the American empire and the nuclear sublime—the power of science to destroy the Earth. Gojira became Godzilla with the 1955 release of an American and politically cleansed version of the film, and has since entered into the global imagination.”

The Common Text Project offers an evening of visual spectacle, lecture and discussion on Thursday, Feb. 28. The film Gojira will be shown at 4:30 pm in Collins Cinema. A lecture, discussion and sushi will follow in Punch’s Alley, Wang Center, at 6:30 pm when Japanese historian Gregory Pflugfelder of Columbia University will talk about “Godzilla and the Nuclear Imagination: Toward a Global Visual History.” Events are free and open to the College community, their friends and families. For more information, call x2698.

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professor and candidate asks: why don’t women run?

Jennifer Lawless (left), professor of political science and public policy at Brown University, is running for U.S. Congress in Rhode Island for 2006. She hopes to spark the Democratic Party and voter interest by focusing on education, health care, jobs and reproductive choice. She also hopes to serve as a role model for other women contemplating a career in politics. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 5:30 pm, she will discuss “Being a Woman in Politics in Study and Practice: Reflections on Running for Congress” in Pendleton East 225.

Lawless co-authored a book, It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office, on the lack of women in politics. She says women are less likely to run for office because they feel a lack of confidence in their qualifications and they worry about family responsibilities. She graduated from Union College with a B.A. in political science and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. A nationally recognized expert on women’s involvement in politics, she has published articles in political science journals and has issued a policy report on the barriers that preclude people from running for office.

In 1998, she began working for the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit organization in the South Bronx. Its mission is to provide the vocational and educational training and services necessary to enable the transition from welfare to work. She moved to Rhode Island to teach at Brown, and now hopes to be elected to Congress from that state’s 2nd district. Her lecture is sponsored by the Committee For Political and Legislative Action. For more information, e-mail cplamail@wellesley.edu.

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midday music

A celebration a world of music could be just the antidote for late winter “cabin fever.” The Jazz/World Music Faculty will present “Brilliant Corners: A Musical Journey Around the World” Friday, March 3, from 12:30-1:30 pm in Jewett Auditorium.

Kris Adams, voice; Emerald Forman, fiddle; Doug Johnson, piano; Reid Jorgenson, percussion; Cercie Miller, saxophone; Kera Washington, percussion; Patrice Williamson, voice; and Paula Zeitlin, violin, promise a musical journey to the far corners of the world including traditional Celtic music, sounds of Haiti, Brazilian bossas, blues and classic jazz. For more information, call x2028.

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gubernatorial candidate deval patrick to speak

Deval Patrick (right), Democratic candidate for Massachusetts governor, will present a lecture, “You Can’t Fuel the Future on the Fumes of the Past” Monday, March 6, at 4:30 pm in Pendleton East 225. Wellesley College Democrats, sponsor of the event, say Patrick will speak about his vision to move Massachusetts forward.

Born in 1956, he grew up in one of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods, living on welfare and sharing a single bedroom with his mother and sister. Public leadership captured his imagination early on when his mother brought him to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. “I remember feeling connected to all these people who were like me—of limited means, but limitless hope,” Patrick said. “People build whole lives on hope.”

Through A Better Chance, a Boston-based organization, he earned a scholarship to Milton Academy. He went on to Harvard College, the first in his family to be formally educated beyond high school. After graduating with honors in 1978, he worked in Africa for a year, then attended Harvard Law School, where he was named best oral advocate in his class.

After serving as a law clerk for a year to a federal appellate judge, he joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in 1983 where he devoted most of his time to death penalty and voting rights cases. He left LDF in 1986 to join the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow, where he became a partner in 1990. In 1994, President Clinton appointed him assistant attorney general for civil rights, the nation’s top civil rights post.

He returned to private practice in 1997 with the Boston firm of Day, Berry & Howard and was appointed by a federal district court to serve as the first chairperson of Texaco’s Equality and Fairness Task Force, following the settlement of a significant race discrimination case at the company. He became vice president and general counsel at Texaco in 1999, in charge of global legal affairs. He then joined Coca-Cola Co. as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. For more, e-mail Democratsmail@wellesley.edu.

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slater international needs auction donations

Slater International Center (building, right) is collecting items for the annual Slater Silent Auction, which supports relief projects around the world. Faculty, staff and students each year donate items from their international travels to help people around the world.

Best-selling items are those that are somehow typical to the country or culture from which they come. They can be large or small. Popular items include jewelry, decorative ornaments, handicrafts and souvenirs. “The auction itself has not been scheduled yet, but should happen sometime after spring break,” said organizer Krista Katenneva ’06. “However, in order to get everything catalogued and organized, we’d like to receive the auction items themselves by the end of February.”

Donations can be brought to Slater International Center Monday-Friday from 8:30 am-4:30 pm. All proceeds of the auction will be forwarded to the Slater Relief Fund and used to support a relief project to be voted on by the Slater executive board. For more information, e-mail kkatenev@wellesley.edu.

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don't miss: under milk wood is a play for poetry lovers

Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, directed by Nora Hussey, theatre, will be presented by Wellesley Summer Theatre beginning Thursday, March 2, at 7 pm. Subsequent performances are March 3 at 8 pm; March 4 at 2 and 8 pm; March 9 at 7 pm; March 10 at 8 pm; March 11 at 4 pm and 8 pm; March 16 at 7 pm; March 17 at 8 pm; March 18 at 4 pm and 8 pm; and Sunday, March 19, at 2 pm. Tickets are free to Wellesley, Olin and MIT students with an ID for the first weekend and $5 thereafter; $10 for Wellesley staff, other students and seniors; and $20 for general admission.

“The usual creative team is involved and the evening should be a delight to all and sundry,” Hussey said. “Come see the town that Dylan labeled ‘quite mad.’ The performance is suitable for the family and will feature live music as well as the company of actors you’ve come to know over the past eight years.”

Thomas completed this poetic “play for voices” just weeks before he died in 1953. It tells the story of a day in the lives of 53 characters in a small Welsh village. It is a highly entertaining and touching account of simple people dealing with the complexities of existence. For more information, call x2029 or reservations at x2000.

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colleagues in the news

daniel brabander, geosciences, and two Wellesley students will present research at the 40th annual meeting of the South-Central Section of the Geological Society of America March 6-7 at the University of Oklahoma. About 250 geoscientists are expected to be in attendance when christine grant ’06 of the environmental studies program presents “Spatial and Temporal Trace Metal Geochemical Signatures in Urban Ponds: Recorders of Past Land Use—Indicators of Future Development,” and kathleen mccarthy ’08 presents “Metals and Human Health: The Characterization of Toxic Metals from Mine Waste at the Tar Creek Superfund Site and Assessment of Exposure to the Tar Creek Community.”

jessica irish, art, is exhibiting a site-specific, three-channel video installation titled Surround at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Designed specifically for the exterior of the famed Equitable Building at 15 Nassau, the piece presents fleeting images of a pre-existing urban environment described as “juxtapositions between the built and natural world suggesting dream spaces unhinged from laws governing reality.” The project is supported by Swing Space, a program of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, funded by the Sept. 11th Fund. The piece is on view until March 9 with a closing reception from 5-7 pm.

phyllis mcgibbon, art, has presented a gallery talk at the opening reception for Domestic Policy: An Invitational Portfolio at the Sawyer Fine Arts Center at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, Conn. The exhibition includes lithographs, intaglio, digital, photo-collage, silkscreen and block prints from 30 artists interpreting domestic issues ranging from home and family concerns to political and governmental policies.

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calendar

monday february 27

japanese table. 12:30-1:20 pm, Tower Court. Info: x7922.

panel. “Study Abroad in Latin America.” 4:30-5:30 pm, PNE 225A. Sponsor: International Studies. Info: x3532.

lecture. “Biology of Human Breast Cancer.” Speaker: Nancy Davidson ’75, oncology, Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine. Reception: 5 pm, Sage Lounge; lecture: 5:30, SCI 277. Sponsor: Biological Sciences. Info: x3153.

meeting. CG Senate. 6 pm, Academic Council Room. Info: cgpresident@wellesley.edu.

esl tutoring. 6-8 pm, PLTC small conference room. Info: x2480.

cws workshop. “Alumnae/Student Mock Interviews.” 6:30-8 pm, GRH 441. Info: x2352.

meditation. 7-8:15 pm, lower chapel. Sponsor: Buddhist Community. Info: x2793.

german table. 8-9 pm, Stone. Info: x1685.

bahá’í gathering. 8:30 pm, Freeman. Info: x4188.

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tuesday february 28

lecture. “Bordering on Success: Bilingual Schooling in Calexico, CA.” Speaker: Catherine Belcher, Ford Foundation Diversity Fellow; Education Dept. candidate. 12:30-1:20 pm, PNE 139. Info: x3232.

film. Gojira. 4:30 pm, Collins Cinema. Sponsor: Newhouse Center. (See story) Info: x2698.

lecture. “Being a Woman in Politics in Study and Practice: Reflections on Running for Congress.” Speaker: Jennifer Lawless, political science, Brown University. 5:30 pm, PNE 225A. Sponsor: CPLA. (See story) Info: x1838.

lecture. “Interview and Career Make-Up Techniques.” Speaker: Winnie Lee, esthetician. 6-7:30 pm, PNW 212. Sponsor: Toastmasters. Info: x2679.

discussion. “Godzilla and the Nuclear Imagination: Toward a Global Visual History.” Speaker: Gregory Pflugfelder, Japanese history, Columbia. 6:30 pm, Punch’s Alley. Sponsor: Newhouse Center. (See story) Info: x2698.

discussion. “Halaqa/Study Circle.” 6:45-8:30 pm, lower chapel. Info: nkhalil@wellesley.edu.

lecture. “An Evening of Poetry and Politics.” Speaker: Rachel Tzvia Back, poet. 7 pm, College Club. Sponsor: Spanish. Info: x2402.

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wednesday march 1

ash wednesday (start of lent). Christian tradition.

deadline. CWS summer stipend programs.

deadline. Lumpkin Summer Institute for Service Learning program.

catholic mass. 12:30 pm, Houghton Chapel. Sponsor: Newman Catholic Ministry. Info: x2688.

russian table. 12:30-1:30 pm, FND 416. Info: x3549.

spanish table. 12:30-1:30 pm, Tower Court private dining hall. Info: x3571.

training. “Girls’ LEAP Self-Defense Teaching Woman.” 12:30-2 pm, Shafer Recreation Room. Weekly through 4/12. Info: x4658.

lecture. “Asian Feminist Journey: Five Turnings.” Speaker: Hyun Kyung Chung, Union Theological Seminary. 4:30 pm, Wang Center, Tishman Commons. Sponsor: Buddhist Community. Info: x2793.
ecumenical ash wednesday service. 5:30 pm, Houghton Chapel. Sponsor: Newman Catholic Ministry. Info: x2688.

community meeting. 6 pm, lower chapel. Sponsor: Unitarian Universalists. Info: x3484.

workshop. “The Art of Chinese Calligraphy.” Speaker: Qianshen Bai, calligrapher, Boston University. 6:30-8:30 pm, DMCC. Info: x2065.

theatre. Under Milk Wood. Director: Nora Hussey. 7 pm, Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Alumnae Hall. Wellesley/MIT/Olin students with ID: free, first weekend, $5 thereafter; staff/students/seniors: $10; others: $20. (See story.) Info: x2000.

film. Cry of the Snow Lion. 7:30 pm, Collins Cinema. Sponsor: Students for a Free Tibet. Info: lpahl@wellesley.edu.

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thursday march 2

concert. “Brilliant Corners: A Musical Journey Around the World.” 12:30 pm, Jewett Auditorium. Sponsor: Music. (See story.) Info: x2028.

lecture. “‘Stepping Into a Lion’s Den’: California’s Takeover of the Compton Unified School District.” Speaker: Emily Straus, Education Dept. candidate, University Prize instructor, Brandeis University. 12:30-1:20 pm, PNE 139. Sponsor: Education. Info: bbeatty@wellesley.edu

prayer/discussion. Muslim communal (Jummah). 12:30-2:30 pm, lower chapel. Info: x2656.

shabbat service. 5:30-6:30 pm, BIL 300. Info: x2685.

bible study. 7 pm, Wang Center 413. Sponsor: Asian Baptist Student Koinonia. Info: x1831.

films. Harold and Maude, 7 pm; Some Like It Hot, 9 pm. Collins Cinema. Sponsor: Film Society. Info: x7043.

theatre. Under Milk Wood. 7 pm. (See 3/1 listing.)

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friday march 3

concert. “Brilliant Corners: A Musical Journey Around the World.” 12:30 pm, Jewett Auditorium. Sponsor: Music. (See story.) Info: x2028.

lecture. “‘Stepping Into a Lion’s Den’: California’s Takeover of the Compton Unified School District.” Speaker: Emily Straus, Education Dept. candidate, University Prize instructor, Brandeis University. 12:30-1:20 pm, PNE
139. Sponsor: Education. Info:mailto:bbeatty@wellesley.edu

prayer/discussion. Muslim communal (Jummah). 12:30-2:30 pm, lower chapel. Info: x2656.

shabbat service. 5:30-6:30 pm, BIL 300. Info: x2685.

bible study. 7 pm, Wang Center 413. Sponsor: Asian Baptist Student Koinonia. Info: x1831.

films. Harold and Maude, 7 pm; Some Like It Hot, 9 pm. Collins Cinema. Sponsor: Film Society. Info: x7043.

theatre. Under Milk Wood. 8 pm. (See 3/1 listing.)

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saturday march 4

panel. “Contemporary Art and Contemporary China.” 10 am-2 pm, Collins Cinema. Sponsor: DMCC. Info: x2051.

cws conference. “Learning from Lawyers: For Students Considering Legal Careers.” 10 am-2:30 pm, Wang Center, Tishman Commons. Preregister: skirby@wellesley.edu.

theatre. Under Milk Wood. 4 and 8 pm. (See 3/1 listing.)

films. Some Like It Hot, 7 pm; Harold and Maude, 9 pm. Collins Cinema. Sponsor: Film Society. Info: x7043.

concert. Brandeis/Wellesley Orchestra. 8 pm, Houghton Chapel. Sponsor: Music. Info: x2028.

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sunday march 5

worship service. 11:15 am, Houghton Chapel. Sponsor: Protestant CCC. Info: x2685.

teleconference panel. “Future of Western Muslim World Relations.” Noon-2 pm, PNE 127. Sponsor: International Relations Council. Info: IRCmail@wellesley.edu.

reception. Retirement of Pat Walton, chaplain. 12:30 pm, College Club. Info: x2685.

talent show. 1-6 pm, Jewett Art Center. Sponsor: Harambee House. Info: x2134.

catholic mass. 4 pm, Houghton Chapel. Sponsor: Newman Catholic Ministry. Info: x2688.

meeting. Darshana. 5 pm, lower chapel. Sponsor: Hindu Community. Info: x2794.

concert. “Israel Contemporary String Quartet.” 6-7:30 pm, Houghton Chapel. Sponsor: Hillel. Info: x2679.

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monday march 6

start of lent. Orthodox Christian tradition.

workshop. “Relational Leadership: What Works, What Gets in the Way.” 9:30 am-4 pm, College Club. Cost: $225. Sponsor: JBMSTI. Info: x3800.

cws workshop. “Preparing for 1st and 2nd Interviews.” 12:30 pm, PNE 239. Info: x2352.

japanese table. (See 2/27 listing.)

foh seminar. “Fruits and Nuts: Edible Landscaping for Home Gardens.” Speaker: Tricia Diggins, horticulturist.
Reception: 1:30 pm; lecture: 2-3 pm, Botanic Gardens Visitor Center. Members: $10; others: $13; FOH volunteers: free. Info: x3094.

lecture. “You Can’t Fuel the Future on the Fumes of the Past.” Speaker: Deval Patrick, Mass. gubernatorial
candidate. 4:30-6 pm, PNE 225A. (See story) Info: Democratsmail@wellesley.edu.

meeting. CGSenate. (See 2/27 listing.)

esl tutoring. (See 2/27 listing.)

meditation. (See 2/27 listing.)

lecture/film. “Ciudad Juarez Femicide.” Speaker: Veronica Rosario Leyva, Mexican activist. Film: Seniorita Extraviada, Missing Young Woman. 7-9 pm, PNE 239. Info: Mezclamail@wellesley.edu.

german table. (See 2/27 listing.)

bahá’í gathering. (See 2/27 listing.)

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ongoing

exhibit. COLLISIONnine BOTbits. Jewett Arts Center, through 3/8. Info: x2043.

exhibit. Remembering Wellesley’s Black Past. Clapp Library Archives, through 3/31. Info: x2127.

exhibit. On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West. DMCC, through 5/ 24. Info: x2051.

exhibit. Any Opinions? Artist: Xu Bing. DMCC, through 6/ 3. Info: x2051.

book sale. Clapp Library reading room. Donations: 50 cents to $4. Info: x2894.

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