— Middletown, Connecticut, since 1868 — TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2014 VOLUME CLIV ISSUE 3 WESLEYANARGUS.COM Tim Wise Delivers MLK Keynote Speech By Sofi Goode other social justice work being done Assistant News Editor around campus. “Access, Equity, and Inclusion On Friday, Jan. 31, students are all topics that the freshmen were and faculty gathered to discuss how introduced to during their orienta- Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message tion last semester,” Alexander wrote has been diluted, to honor his beliefs in an email to The Argus. “Therefore in their entirety, and to discuss the there was a common conversation inequality facing America today. between frosh, their RAs, and stu- The day’s events were titled dents who served as orientation “Access, Equity, and Inclusion: How leaders. We wanted to keep that mo- Are You Living The Dream?”, and mentum going, and expand the con- included two blocks of breakout ses- versation to the rest of the campus.” sions and a closing keynote address. The event was sponsored by They were organized by a group of the Office of Academic Affairs, the students and faculty members who Department of African American make up the Dr. Martin Luther Studies, the Office of Diversity and King, Jr. Planning Committee. Jalen Institutional Partnerships, and vari- Alexander ’14, a member of the ous other academic departments and planning committee, stressed that the event was designed to build on MLK, page 3 EMMA DAVIS/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER “They Extract” conveyed emotional dissonance by using two actors (Matthew Catron ’16 and Connie Des Put Your Brunch on Marais ’17) to portray the character of Woolen. Michelle Agresti ’14 and Josef Mehling ’14 also starred. the Line, Omelettes Love, Commodified Emotion and Capitalism Collide In “They Extract” Are Worth the Wait By Hazem Fahmy productions, Eppler crafted “They man experience that provides refuge Staff Writer Extract” as her senior capstone piece. from the harsh reality of the world. By Emma Davis novice mistake. Watching friends sidle She chose to do so through Second “It’s not an experimental piece, Assistant Food Editor up to the line on the Pastabilities side Theater at Wesleyan is no Stage as opposed to the more stan- because it has a very clear plot,” and walk away with a finished omelet stranger to allegorical pieces that dard track of doing a thesis through Eppler said. “It’s a magical realist Because most of my weekend tebefore I had even moved forward a bizarrely resonate with profound the Theater Department. piece and so functions in a differ- brunch cravings are satisfied by choco- foot closer to the stove left me feeling truths in our lives. Though oc- One of the main themes of ent logic than our own world, [and] late-chip-and-M&M waffles and fresh frustrated and foolish. Was I wasting casionally a tricky performance “They Extract” is the concept of love there’s also the separate logic of the fruit, I’ve never felt much need to brave my morning on a dish bound to dis- to follow and understand, “They as the path to human salvation. The theater in which characters can be Usdan’s omelette line in the past. After appoint, or was my grumbling merely Extract” ultimately performs this show depicts a somewhat emotional- more expressionistic.” all, if you can make a custom waffle in cold feet? Fortunately, before my cu- truth brilliantly. It is a fantasti- ly dystopian society in which, rather If one does not give it adequate 2.5 minutes and supplement it with riosity could wane completely, my cally strange play that strikes a than being denied, love is embraced attention, “They Extract” may seem scrambled eggs from the Classics sec- natural stubbornness kicked in and I powerful balance between formal in an uncannily capitalist way. In a like a play that lacks focus. Given tion, why bother waiting 15 minutes resolved to tough it out in line until I experimentation and thematic world where fossil fuels have been its highly unusual characters and in line for eggs with vegetables and could call out my order of “tomatoes, clarity. exhausted, humans have managed to methods of performance, the show cheese? It wasn’t until last week, when onions, and cheddar cheese.” “They Extract” was written extract energy out of emotion; thus requires that its viewers engross I felt a strong and sudden desire for By the time I was in range of and directed by Alma Sanchez- they attain a society that literally themselves and pay attention to the greens in my 11:00 a.m. meal, that I the sauté pans, the whole process Eppler ’14. A theater major who cannot function without love, but subtle, rich details in the characters’ decided to try out the omelette experi- seemed to be advancing at the speed has had extensive experience with for all the wrong reasons. They have movements, which shed light on ence. of culinary ballet, with each order’s the theater scene at Wesleyan in come to depend on love for material I chose the omelet line next to both faculty and Second Stage sustainability rather than for a hu- THEATER, page 7 the salad bar, which in retrospect was a OMELETTES, page 9 Sink Or Swim In “The Goldfinch,” Resilience Triumphs Over Circumstance By Sonya Levine troduction to Theo Decker, a 13-year- The most curious aspect of the Staff Writer old boy traveling to the Metropolitan painting, however, is the single gold chain Museum of Art with his single mother around the bird’s foot, an object intended Though it appears at first to right before a meeting regarding his sus- to baffle its audience. Why is the bird be a simple coming-of-age tale set in pension from school. They admire his kept imprisoned in this way? Why is it Manhattan, Donna Tartt’s recent suc- mother’s favorite piece, Fabritius’ mas- robbed of the chance to experience the cess, “The Goldfinch,” is a story that terful rendering of a yellow goldfinch world? traverses continents and time periods. perched on its feed box and, puzzlingly, In the novel, Theo and his mother The story is one of deep emotional chained to it. are in the museum, looking at the paint- unraveling and eventual victory. When I visited The Frick over win- ing with great interest, when a bomb ex- Coincidentally, the novel was ter break, I understood Mrs. Decker’s plodes, killing Mrs. Decker and countless released on the heels of the open- impassioned attraction to the painting. others and destroying a host of valuable ing of an enchanting exhibit at The Though it is not much larger than a per- paintings. Theo miraculously survives the Frick Collection in Manhattan titled sonal mirror, the painting is vibrant with explosion. From under the rubble, he un- “Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: color, perfectly capturing the essence of covers the Fabritius painting, still intact. Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the bird’s multicolored wings, its sleek Adolescent intuition prompts Theo to the Mauritshuis.” Notable pieces on head, and its deep, dark eyes. The bird take the painting with him, though he display included Johannes Vermeer’s looks out on the world with a glint of does not fully understand the potential “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” omniscience. The single yellow streak in consequences of his actions. He is simply CHONG GU/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER (1665) and Carel Fabritius’ small mas- the wing provokes a notion of surprise, as attempting to salvage a relic that repre- Though men’s swim and dive took a hit this week, the women’s terpiece, “The Goldfinch” (1654), af- if the bird might take flight at any mo- sents the end of the first chapter of his life. team came out on top. See page 13 for more. ter which the book is named. ment. I almost pictured it flying toward The novel opens with an in- me right off the canvas. GOLDFINCH, page 10 Mad About Mahurin Band Camp Copper Clash Students ask for professor to stay 2 Mag develops musical offshoot 4 New HBO series shines 5 2 THE WESLEYAN ARGUS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2014 The Wesleyan Argus WESPEAKS established in 1868 Editors-in-Chief Mahurin Is Why: One Student’s Testimony Miranda Katz Adam Keller BY ELSA HARDY When I told her I would be present- the relatively high percentage of stu- dents who ordinarily sit on opposite Production Manager ing a section of my senior thesis at dents of color at Wesleyan, gave me ends of Usdan to come together and Michelle Woodcock I met Professor Mahurin on the Yale this coming February, she im- the impression that Wesleyan as an talk meaningfully about race, class, Executive Editors first day of Introduction to African mediately pulled out her phone and institution was seriously commit- gender, and identity—all within the Abbey Francis American Literature, a requirement entered the date of my presentation ted to fostering a diverse commu- context of Alice Walker’s The Color Olivia Horton for all African American Studies ma- in her calendar. “Please, no!” I had nity. In the four years I have been Purple. If Wesleyan truly wants to Christina Norris jors, during the spring semester of pleaded. “I’m going to be nervous here I have consistently been disap- honor its commitment to diversi- my sophomore year. “If you don’t enough as it is. “Oh I’m coming. pointed by the African American ty—the diversity of its student body News Editors Millie Dent like participating,” she said with a I’m going to ask you a question,” she Studies department, which has so and the diversity of knowledge— Tess Morgan serious look on her face, “then this said defiantly.