Earthfirst, a blog about environmental issues, puts its spotlight on Wellesley College’s green efforts. The blog recognizes Wellesley’s efforts in waste management and dining services and for attempting to instill awareness of green issues in students so they’ll be a positive influence on the environment once they graduate. The blog also lauds a student-led group on the campus that has created change.
The Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College has released plans for new exhibits beginning this March and for a couple more in the fall.
Beginning March 11, the Museum will showcase “Prints in an Age of Artistry,” which features 16th and 17th century Italian prints, like this one, dubbed Sleeping Cupid.
Also on tap is Michal Rovner’s “fictional documentary” called Borders shot along the border of Israel and Lebanon.
An opening reception for the public will be held March 11 at the museum from 6-8pm. (Also on view will be art from the permanent collection.)
Looking further out, the museum next fall is scheduled to have exhibits called “21 Etchings and Poems” and George Legrady, Cell Tango. This work by this new media artist is an evolving exhibit fueled by contributions from cell phone users.
10. Beach Boys kickin’ it old school in Wellesley: If they’re still allowed to play concerts, I’m allowed to use the phrase kickin’ it old school. An anonymous donor sprang for the free show in May. Town officials pulled out all the stops on the security and transportation front. A Beatles knockoff band also came to Wellesley this summer. We hear there’s a move afoot to bring Elvis to town in ‘09.
9. Davis Museum: It’s a lost art: The Wellesley College museum lost a valuable painting by Fernand Leger called “Woman and Child.” On the bright side, people have now heard of Leger. On the dark side, he died in the 1950s.
8. Linden Square comes to life. Some stores had moved in during 2007, but it was Roche Bros.’ stroll across the street into glitzy new digs that really signaled this project’s arrival. The simultaneous arrival of designer dog food came not a moment too late for many a starving pet.
7. Hoop dreams: Boston Swelltics and Wellesley High are champs: Who says Wellesleyites can only golf and sail when it comes to athletics? Wellesley is like the new Springfield. We tried desperately to lay some claim to the Celtics championship in light of Ray Allen, Danny Ainge and owner Wyc Grousbeck all living in town. Though of course we could legitimately lay claim to the Wellesley High Girls basketball championship.
6. Rte. 16/9 bridge/Wellesley Inn site/Grossman’s lot. Wait til’ next year: There were hopes the bridge might be finished this month, but structural and other issues emerged that have delayed it again. The Durant condos to be built on the Wellesley Inn site are now scheduled to open in 2010. The Grossman’s lot situation could see some court action come spring in light of neighbors’ concerns about traffic. Perhaps St. James the Great can spare a few of its vigil participants to set up shop at these sites.
5. Branches are back: The Fells and Hills library branches re-opened in September thanks to hard work by supporters and generous donations from backers. Stumped on something wise-ass to say about this.
4. What happens in Wellesley never stays in Wellesley: Local press went to town when Wellesley was found to be a massage hotspot. A business called Massage Envy later opened its doors offering a legitimate alternative for those who really want a rubdown. Bank robberies and a street cleaner shooting also grabbed headlines in crime-riddled Wellesley.
3. Sprague’s field of dreams, Perrin Park’s dogfight. The turf war settled down and Sprague fields came to life, including a couple of new synthetic fields. A great new accessible playground also opened (as did a refurbished Reidy field, which gave little leaguers a real thrill to play under the lights at night). But while work was still being done on the Sprague fields overflow soccer and other games were pushed to Perrin Park, where dog owners, other park users and the town got into a nasty dispute over dog leashing that’s still simmering.
2. History is history: The old Wellesley Country Club clubhouse got torn down to make way for a fancy new one. Pieces of the old one, site of the town’s birthplace, have been preserved with the idea of sticking them into other buildings around town. Ouch! Just got a splinter.
1. A tough lesson. The dog ate the School Building Committee’s homework and state treasurer Tim Cahill rapped Wellesley on the knuckles before a more modest design for a new high school gained approval from the state. Town residents overwhelmingly voted to support funding for the new school, despite a feisty effort by opponents who warned the school would sink into the ground while also being a financial sinkhole for the town’s residents.
Came across this postcard showing the college around the turn of the 20th century:
Google is forging ahead with the digitization of everything, including more magazines. The beauty of having all this stuff, including old newspaper articles, online is that it makes it so much easier to catch up on stories you might have missed before you were born or back when you were a youngster. A sampling, which turns out mostly to be entirely from the New York Times and about Wellesley College:
The 4th annual Greenhouse Light Show is scheduled for Dec. 10 from 5-8pm.
Wellesley College’s Blue Notes a cappella group has been selected as one of 18 groups by singer Ben Folds to record with him this month on a new album of his songs done in the a cappella style. Here’s what got his attention:
“I am in love with a 61 yr old woman,” “I change my ipod to Bach at crosswalks, because I would be mortified if I died getting hit by a car while listening to SPICE Girls,” and “ha ha ha ! no silly, I’m not here because of affirmative action…so you can stop staring now.”
Those are just a few of the secrets voluntarily and anonymously exposed by Wellesley College students (and highlighted in The Wellesley News) as part of a program launched this fall by the school’s Campus Wide Diversity Initiative. Students submitted at least a couple hundred decorated postcards to the project revealing their innermost secrets for all the campus to see as part of a public display that has been shown at the student center among other places.
The project is inspired by the PostSecret web site, which since the start of 2005 has done the same thing but on a much broader scale.
At Wellesley, some debate has emerged (such as in the Counterpoint magazine, Wellesley College’s “journal of campus life”) over whether exposing secrets is cathartic or just another way to keep people from expressing themselves face to face with other humans. Organized discussion has taken place on campus to review issues raised on the postcards and students plan to issue reports for the administration on their findings.
Wellesley College’s comedy troupe gets a plug on a recent episode of the “Jeopardy” TV show
Wellesley College is hosting a panel discussion on Oct. 21 in Pendleton Auditorium dubbed “Donkeys, Elephants, Bulls and Bears!” featuring 5 members of the school’s economics department. They’ll be discussing the causes and consequences of the financial crisis.
Meanwhile, supporters of the new Wellesley High School project are urging likeminded residents to attend Monday’s special Town Meeting on the project to voice their support. Wellesley’s Committee 21 group says it believes this is the right project at the right time but acknowledges that it isn’t a done deal. There are concerns among backers that voters could wind up rejecting the project in light of the economy.
