TOW #18 - Yale Renames Calhoun College

                After many debates and protests, Yale University announced on February 11^th that they would be overturning last April’s decision and renaming one of its residential colleges, Calhoun College. The building was originally named after the infamous John C. Calhoun, a white supremacist and major supporter of slavery. The fight to rename the college was first proposed after nine people were killed in Charleston, SC, but last April, the school decide that keeping the name would teach the students about the ‘most troubled aspects of our past’. The decision to finally agree to the change was fueled by the many student protesters who felt that the name supported in keeping a racists legacy alive. Starting in the fall of 2017, the building will now be named after alumni Grace Murray Hopper, she invented a pioneering computer programming language and served as a Navy rear admiral.  Hopper was picked because she was the most frequently requested Yale graduate by the staff and students.

                I don’t really understand Yale’s initial claim to keeping the college named after Calhoun. Their argument that it reminds the students of the country’s tragic past doesn’t really make sense considering the fact that having a building named after someone is generally considered a way to commemorate someone’s memory in a positive way. If the school really wanted to use Calhoun’s name to remind the students of the horrific past, then they should’ve characterized Calhoun in more negative light instead of giving him the honor of having his name on a building.

                The students’ argument that the building keeps his name alive is one hundred percent correct. The whole point of naming something after someone is to keep their memory alive. If a someone didn’t know the history surrounding Calhoun but they knew the building was named after him, they would most likely assume that he did something worthy of having a building named after him. Personally, I can’t wait to see a fascist-fighting, program major, woman to be finally recognized for her achievements, hopefully her legacy will be an inspiration to many young girls interested in pursuing male heavy professions.

IRB Intro #3

This marking period I chose Outliers by Malcolm Galdwell. Reading the synopsis of the book makes it seem like it was written by a sociologist and I just took sociology and I really enjoyed it. However, we didn’t really get to look at a lot of societys and people in depth so I though this book would do that.

TOW #17 – Dear Evan Hansen Musical

                On December 4^th, the musical Dear Evan Hansen finally moved from a small theater in D.C. to Broadway. The musical follows the story of a boy, Evan Hansen, who suffers from severe social-anxiety. To help him deal with his anxiety, his therapist suggests that he writes hopeful letters to himself. While printing one of the letters in the school library, Connor Murphy, picks it up and noticing his sister’s name in the letter takes it. Three days later Connor commits suicide and it’s revealed that Evan’s letter was in his pocket. This then causes Connor’s parents to believe and then confront Evan about a secret friendship between him and Connor. Not wanting to cause them any further grief, Evan fabricated an intricate story of how him and Connor were secret friends who emailed frequently. Evan eventually launches The Connor Project to prevent people from forgetting about Connor and hopefully other people who committed suicide. The rest of the show then continues with Connor’s sudden rise in popularity and struggle to keep the lie going. Dear Evan Hansen portrays through a very long fictional anecdote that it’s important to stay truthful to yourself.

Throughout the musical, Evan finds it difficult to separate himself from the fabricated version that he’s created. Through The Connor Project Evan gets funding an apple orchid that he and Connor supposedly spent time in.  He begins to become so close with the Murphy family that he suddenly forgets about his single mother and the life he lived with her. This huge shift leads to more conflict in Evan’s life because now people are starting to notice small inconsistencies within the emails. This forces Evan to admit that he fabricated the whole thing because he was scared he was going to lose the family he had found with them.  The show then skips to a year later where Evan writes himself one last letter, reflecting on the impact he had on his community and his hope to inspire others to do the same.

                Dear Evan Hansen teaches its universal audience that you should always be true to yourself because in the end you just end up alienating yourself.