CLASS OF 1998 | 2018 | ISSUE 1

Anthony Veneziale’s new series, Bartlett, premiered on Amazon. Bill Sherman ’02 was music supervisor and Evan Shapiro P’17 was executive producer. Anthony was in another series called The Mortified Guide where he played an adult version of Harry Potter in a gay erotica fan-fiction piece. He had a mini-reunion with Tommy Kail ’99, Sara Miller ’02, Alex Horwitz ’02, and Suzanne Appel ’02 at Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02’s birthday party in NYC.

Amanda Palmer lives in Woodstock, N.Y, but is constantly traveling the world and trying to figure out where to settle. She has a 2-year-old named Anthony.

Anne Thomas and her husband, Andy, attended the marriage of Shelby Tillett ’98 and Matteo Gallo on June 24. In attendance were Kate Berry Grant, Abe Forman-Greenwald, Christine Treveloni Reidenbach, Ryan Chamberlain ’00, Matt Feeney ’99, Jake Fay ’00, Matt Perceval ’00, and Heather Cohen Perceval ’02. She makes summer visits to Middletown to show her children Lucy (9) and Drew (7) their future alma mater. She often sees Makaela Steinberg and Matt Kingsley ’98, and their children Amelia and Eli. Anne is serving on our 20th Reunion committee and looks forward to connecting with many of you in May!

Claire Skorski Garland lives in her hometown, Golden, Colo., with her husband and two boys. She is a psychotherapist working in crisis assessment and counseling.

Laura Ayala is president of the board for Upward Scholars. The Upward Scholars mission is to empower low-income adults, mostly immigrants, by providing them financial, academic, and community support so they can continue their education, get better jobs, and serve as role models for their community.

Sara Brenneis and her husband, Eric, welcomed their second child, Malcolm, on Thanksgiving Day. Her book on Spaniards in the Mauthausen concentration camp comes out in April with The University of Toronto Press. She’s an associate professor of Spanish at Amherst College and will be in Madrid on sabbatical during the 2019-20 academic year. If any Wes alumni are living in Spain, she’d enjoy being in touch.

Amanda Green Marini lives in Oakland, Calif., with her husband, Paul, and their two kids. She teaches English and film at Berkeley with Matt Albinson ’97 and John Becker ’03. She tested for her third-degree black belt in jujitsu. She often sees Mike Della Penna and Summer Halas.

Jessica Cortes is a partner at Davis & Gilbert in NYC. She hosted a Wesleyan Lawyer’s Association networking event in March. She lives with her husband, Lee, and their children in Westfield, N.J. She was proud to co-organize the Second Annual Westfield Women’s March in January, where there were close to 2,000 attendees and speakers including public officials, candidates, members of women’s organizations, and several young children, including her two daughters. She caught up with Daisy Voorhees Bokus and Heather Cunningham Ostrowski.

This year Marianne Benet’s son, Henry, who is 8 years and was born with a rare genetic disorder called Angelman Syndrome, walked 22 consecutive steps independently for the first time! Marianne and her family didn’t know if they would ever see him walk. She and husband Ben have two other sons, Zac (10) and Billy (5). Marianne has put her career in microfinance on hold to be a full-time mom and to help Henry reach his full potential. She keeps in touch with Miki Kawashima, Jeff Matrician, Heather Marciniec, Erin (Fieler) Collins, Andrew Hall, and Isabel Vega.

Keisha Robinson is married with two boys. She acquired her master’s in chemistry from NYU Polytechnic Institute and works as a clinical quality assurance manager dealing with radiopharmaceutical oncology or cancer drug treatments for advanced accelerator applications.

Joshua Stedman’s band, Brothers of Others, released an EP in June (brothersofothers.com).

Adam Abel and his partners founded the nonprofit SkateQilya, which uses skateboarding and art to teach community building and leadership skills to girls and boys in Palestine. It was featured on NBC, CNN, and the cover of Haaretz. Viceland will be airing an episode about it.

Steve Engel was promoted to a full professor in the Bates College department of politics, which he chairs. He got to see Adrienne Lucas who came up from the University of Delaware, where she is a professor, to give a talk to the department.

Markell Parker is executive director of Summer on the Hill, a nonprofit academic enrichment program for low-income public school students in the Bronx, Harlem, and Washington Heights. Markell resides in his hometown of the Bronx where he is raising his 7-year-old son, Malcolm.

We would also like to issue a correction. The notice of the passing of our classmate Marc James Augustine was included in the notes for the class of ’99 instead of being included in our class of which he was a part. It was brought to our attention by his brother who wanted to make sure that his fellow classmates were made aware. Marc passed away suddenly on Oct. 26, 2014, at his home in Durham, N.C. Marc leaves behind his wife Cynthia (Bland) Augustine, brothers Mikael James Augustine and Gerald Darin Augustine, two aunts, and several cousins.

Marcus Chung | marcusbchung@gmail.com 

Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com