CLASS OF 1979 | 2015 | ISSUE 2
Ann writes: It’s sunny in New York and I just got back from the Mojave Desert for a three-day Skip Barber Racing School driving event, in which I drove an open-wheel race car. I had a blast!
Bill Levinson and his wife, Julie, spent a wonderful sunny afternoon swimming and boating with Matt Jarvinen during his 10-week American tour around the country, enroute to New York City to see Jim Friedlich and his wife, Melissa Stern ’80, Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow. Julie and Bill spent the winter in Key West, playing almost every night with his band, The Happy Dog, from February through April. They are now back in New Hope, Pa., recording a new album and enjoying the incomparable beauty of life there.
Jono Cobb writes “Did you get the Facebook post about AfroPop winning a Peabody Award? (Congratulations to Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow!) Get in touch if you are ever going to be on the Vineyard this summer…”
Ann Kaplan submitted the following: “In May, Laurie Dicker, Heidi Mastrogiovanni, Debbie Mincer, and I, who met freshman year on the same hall in Butterfield C, embarked on a 40th reunion of our own design. We call ourselves the Gang of Four. Our Go4 reunion t-shirts were emblazoned with the slogan, “Claw your way to joy!” That’s what we’ve been doing for 40 years. We met in what is possibly the least-convenient place for any of us to get to—Santa Fe. We convened at our hotel’s outdoor hot tub, and from there went to our suites to unpack and begin the journey. We took yoga, worked out, and got massages. We went for walks amid the adobe architecture, desert plants, and wind chimes. We ate beautiful meals. We visited churches and the Georgia O’Keefte museum. We drove to Taos, stopping at the shrine of Chimayo, where we collected healing dirt, and I disclosed to Heidi that I do not believe in a mind/body dichotomy. We went to dozens of galleries. Laurie bought yarn made by a cloistered nun. I bought a tiny gold knife, a long black dress, and a bracelet that is either religious or goth. We stopped beside the Rio Grande to marvel at the panorama of the river and the endless sky cut by rocky peaks, some capped with spring snow. We streamed music. We sent postcards home. We also went on a misguided winery tour. The person who arranged it said she did not believe that my friend (Eric Asimov) could possibly know anything about wine because he wasn’t that familiar with New Mexico wineries, and they’re the oldest in the country. When you have the best wineries, let me know. And, by the way, French wineries? Much older. But, it was a small detour, and we did visit the Gruet winery where we tasted some sparkling wines that are not usually available in stores. And at the first stop, the vintner served us a rosé that tasted to me like a fresh, pink Christmas tree. Plus, we were with each other, and that, my fellow classmates, is what makes the world go around.”
Harry Matossian, his wife, and three kids have enjoyed their time in the beautiful wine country of Northern California in Mendocino County. He has a very busy gastroenterology practice and spends time off hiking, biking, going to Tahoe and to the Mendocino coast. He finds it hard to believe that his oldest son, Armand, is a senior at University of the Pacific in mechanical engineering, and his next oldest, Sarah, is a junior at Seattle University in nursing and his youngest is a junior in high school. Also scary to think will they be empty nesters in two years.
John Tjia writes in that he “is in Class of 1979, although I started Wesleyan as Class of 1976. I took a three-year leave of absence in my junior year to go to Taiwan to study Mandarin. After graduation and with a BA in East Asian Studies, I hung around New York before a friend suggested banking. I still remember my response: ‘B-b-b-banking?’ Sure enough, I got into JP Morgan’s management training program in 1981 and ended up working there till 2002, including a three-year stint as an investment banker in Hong Kong in the 1990s. Now I am executive director in the business modeling practice at Ernst & Young, working in New York City. I have a book out: Building Financial Models (McGraw-Hill). So, an interesting journey from the starting point of my major. I live in Pleasantville, N.Y., and there are several alumni whom I know of here: Brian Skarstad ’76—ex Class of ’73, violin maker, and married to Louise Beach ’78—they live just down the block from me; and Peter Scherer, graphic and environment design studio owner, and, oh yes, also mayor of the town. His wife is Kathy Herron. Brian, Peter and I have offices in the same building in the center of the village—I have a small office for telecommuting and for my weekend painting hobby—and we also share the distinction of having children who are going (my son, this fall) or have gone to Skidmore College.”
Casey Dinges comments, “It was great to see Matt Okun in May at the Brookings Institution in D.C., where the 40th anniversary of dad Art Okun’s highly influential book Efficiency and Equality: The Big Tradeoff was honored.” March 1, Casey was on HBO’s Last Week with John Oliver where “Oliver had quite a rant on the poor state of the nation’s infrastructure.”
Katharine L. McKenna writes, “I recently won the People’s Choice Award for my paintings exhibited at the Desert Caballeros Museum in Wickenburg, Ariz. After eight shows for the last year-and-a-half, I am taking a little break from exhibiting and am experimenting with photography and color combinations printed on fabric. I will be out West again this summer to paint near Buffalo, Wyo., at the HF Bar Ranch. Regards to all!”