Wellesley Wire 10/11/02

President Walsh Reflects on Issues Raised By Hollywood Filming At Wellesley -- In an op-ed piece to "The Boston Globe" on October 9, President Diana Chapman Walsh wrote about the issues of race and ethnicity that surfaced during last week's filming of parts of "Mona Lisa Smile," a movie set in 1953-54, on the Wellesley campus. Noting that the campus anticipated many of the physical disruptions that the filming would entail, Walsh noted, "What we didn't know was how much we would learn - not only about the making of movies, but also about the making of our multicultural learning community over the past 50 years."

"The gender issues were central to the script and altogether explicit, but the racial issues were there only by omission," wrote Walsh. "This is because the most dramatic change at Wellesley over the past quarter century is how extraordinarily diverse we have become. ...But as the week wore on, all of us became increasingly discomforted by the painful reality that members of our community were being excluded on the basis of skin color from participating in a reenactment of our past."

The full text of President Walsh's op ed can be read online at http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/President/Speeches/2002/MLSoped.html

Alumna Lynn Sherr '63 Hosts PBS Show On Her Favorite Animal, the Giraffe -- Veteran broadcast journalist Lynn Sherr '63 has long been fascinated with giraffes, so much so that she wrote a book entitled "Tall Blondes" about the creatures. This Sunday (10/13) Sherr will host and narrate the PBS weekly natural history series "Nature" as the show travels around the world to learn about these graceful, long-necked creatures. The show generally airs at 8 pm Sunday; please check your local PBS station for air times.

For more information about the program, visit http://www.pbs.org/previews/2002fall/nature.html

Alumna Pam Melroy '83, Pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis, Gets Wakeup Call With Wellesley Song -- The Friday, October 11, wakeup call to Pilot Pam Melroy and the rest of Atlantis' crew came at 3:46 am. "Oh Thou Tupelo," performed by the Wellesley College Choir, was for Melroy, a 1983 graduate. For more information, visit http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/sts-112/sts-112-08.html





	~Wellesley Wire - 2002~

	Wellesley Wire October 11, 2002 President Walsh Reflects on Issues Raised By Hollywood Filming At Wellesley Alumna Lynn Sherr '63 Hosts PBS Show On Her Favorite Animal, the Giraffe Alumna Pam Melroy '83, Pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis, Gets Wakeup Call With Wellesley Song President Walsh Reflects on Issues Raised By Hollywood Filming At Wellesley -- In an op-ed piece to "The Boston Globe" on October 9, President Diana Chapman Walsh wrote about the issues of race and ethnicity that surfaced during last week's filming of parts of "Mona Lisa Smile," a movie set in 1953-54, on the Wellesley campus. Noting that the campus anticipated many of the physical disruptions that the filming would entail, Walsh noted, "What we didn't know was how much we would learn - not only about the making of movies, but also about the making of our multicultural learning community over the past 50 years." "The gender issues were central to the script and altogether explicit, but the racial issues were there only by omission," wrote Walsh. "This is because the most dramatic change at Wellesley over the past quarter century is how extraordinarily diverse we have become. ...But as the week wore on, all of us became increasingly discomforted by the painful reality that members of our community were being excluded on the basis of skin color from participating in a reenactment of our past." The full text of President Walsh's op ed can be read online at http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/President/Speeches/2002/MLSoped.html Alumna Lynn Sherr '63 Hosts PBS Show On Her Favorite Animal, the Giraffe -- Veteran broadcast journalist Lynn Sherr '63 has long been fascinated with giraffes, so much so that she wrote a book entitled "Tall Blondes" about the creatures. This Sunday (10/13) Sherr will host and narrate the PBS weekly natural history series "Nature" as the show travels around the world to learn about these graceful, long-necked creatures. The show generally airs at 8 pm Sunday; please check your local PBS station for air times. For more information about the program, visit http://www.pbs.org/previews/2002fall/nature.html Alumna Pam Melroy '83, Pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis, Gets Wakeup Call With Wellesley Song -- The Friday, October 11, wakeup call to Pilot Pam Melroy and the rest of Atlantis' crew came at 3:46 am. "Oh Thou Tupelo," performed by the Wellesley College Choir, was for Melroy, a 1983 graduate. For more information, visit http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/sts-112/sts-112-08.html Back to top Back to the Wellesley Wire Archives Back to the Wellesley Wire Homepage

	Office for Public Information Date Last Modified: July 7, 2003

October 11, 2002