CLASS OF 2000 | 2015 | ISSUE 1
Many people in our class continue to welcome new babies into their families. Chinelo Dike-Minor and her husband, Randall Minor, welcomed a new baby boy, Obi Minor, in Nov. 2014. Everyone is thrilled, including his big brother!
Demian Szyld and Pia Chatterjee welcomed their daughter Lila on Dec. 24th, 2014. “We are enjoying her smiles and our time together in Brooklyn, N.Y.”
Caroline Cho Reed writes, “We welcomed our third child, a son, in Sept, 2014. His two older sisters are thrilled to have a real live “baby doll” in the house! I’m happily managing and maintaining a busy household schedule but finding some time to do some pro bono communications work for an exercise franchise.”
Melanie Kessler and her husband live in Bristol, Vt., with their two wonderful sons, Ezra (2) and Judah (6 months). She writes, “We manage a small school/community farm and I provide Jewish spiritual education and community programming for a synagogue in Burlington along with organizing community harvest festivals. My husband creates functional metal sculpture and takes care of horses’ feet out of the blacksmithing shop in our backyard. What wonderful joy we have bringing ritual, craft, and celebrations to our home and extended community. Visitors welcome!”
Also, in Vermont, Sadie Danforth Brightman, along with the help of husband Nick Brightman has had an exciting year fulfilling a dream to start a music school. Middlebury Community Music Center is an up and running nonprofit with 20 faculty members and more than 100 students. The vision has long been to create a place for collaboration and diverse music classes for all ages. One of the biggest thrills is having both daughters, now 6 and 4, attending as music students!
Gian-Murray Gianino writes that he and his wife, Maggie Thom, are absolutely enjoying the joys and follies of raising their son, Sebastian Thom Gianino, in Brooklyn. Maggie continues to dance, most recently at BAM with Jodi Melnick, as well as teach at Plymouth Church School in Brooklyn Heights. GM continues to teach and perform all over the map with his theater company, SITI Company, most recently at the Getty Villa in LA.
Ali Haider is an interventional cardiologist in western Massachusetts in private practice with Hampden County cardiovascular associates. He is affiliated with Baystate Medical Center and is an assistant professor of medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine. He is a new member of the heart valve team and performs coronary, structural, and vascular interventions.
Shawn Green is working on his third degree, this time in engineering, at Berkshire Community College.
Josh Lerner published two books last year—Making Democracy Fun: How Game Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics; and Everyone Counts: Could Participatory Budgeting Change Democracy? He lives in Brooklyn, where he directs a nonprofit, the Participatory Budgeting Project, and plays Duplo with his son Miro.
Paul Josephs is still working as a musician and educator with Metrosonics Concepts in Brooklyn, NY. He has a new website: pauljosephs.com, as well as metrosonicsconcepts.com.
Ian Moulton writes, “On July 5, 2014, I married Jillian Johnson in my parents’ backyard in Elkhart Lake, Wisc. Lots of friends and family were in attendance, including my brother Sam Moulton ’98. After the ceremony Jillian and I got into an amphibious car and drove into the lake while our guests followed in a pair of pontoon boats. It was a lot of fun. Jillian is from Klamath Falls, Ore. She is director of HR at the online video company JW Player. I work at TouchTunes as a product manager of digital jukeboxes. We live in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.”
I (Hilda) continue to live in Brunswick, Maine, where I work as a school psychologist in the elementary school down the road. My husband, Peter Wiley, is working at Bowdoin College in data warehousing and analytics. We just had our third child in December, Naomi Joy, and she has been warmly welcomed by big sister Simone (7) and brother Ian (5). I will be stepping down from doing class notes, so if anyone wants to take over for me, please send me an e-mail at hildawiley@yahoo.com. Avery is great to work with!
Hilda Ives Wiley and Avery Esdaile
wesleyan2000@gmail.com