CLASS OF 1990 | 2018 | ISSUE 2

Hi all. I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer. Here’s what we have:

I’ve started to lose count, but our class certainly seems to have a growing number of Wes parents in our midst. Joining the club are Alexis Neaman Roberts and Chris Roberts ’89 who are very excited that they will be on campus more frequently for the next four years—visiting their daughter Beatrix ’22!

It was also great to hear from Ruben “Bengy” Ballesteros, who remains a staff attorney at Legal Aid in the Baltimore area, specializing in juvenile and foster care cases. Joy Challenger Slaughter moved to Alexandria, Va., and would love to connect with some Wesfolk soon!

Writing to our class notes for the first time is Graham Guest, who has a bunch of great news. First, in 2016, Graham’s philosophical novel, Winter Park, was published by Atmosphere Press. Second, in 2017, Moses Guest, Graham’s band, put out its seventh album, Light. Finally, in 2018, Definition, a work of Graham’s in the philosophy of lexicology, was published by Floating Records Press.

Carol Booth was awarded the Helen Diller Family Award for Excellence in Jewish Education in their Informal Education category.

Carol help started the Jewish Baby Network in the San Francisco Bay Area. The award is for her work with Jewish Baby Network. The award includes $2,500 for Jewish Baby Network and $10,000 for Carol. “The goal of Jewish Baby Network is to bring together Jewish community organizations and funders to create programs for parents with babies and toddlers. The focus is on community building and connection. We add over 100 member families each year and now have two chapters in the Bay Area, and we will add one more chapter in 2019. The award is very exciting for me personally and also for Jewish Baby Network. It recognizes the need for Jewish organizations to create supportive programs for families with babies and toddlers. I love the work, especially since I get to hold and play with lots of babies!”

Carol’s son, Josh, is still enjoying Seattle, and her daughter, Naomi, just finished her first year at Barnard College. Her youngest is finishing her junior year of high school. “I am trying to convince her to apply to Wes, but we will see.” David Booth ’91 is the rabbi at Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto. “The congregation is in the middle of rebuilding its entire facility, so currently the synagogue site is a large hole in the ground. The new building should be completed by January. In the meantime, we are truly wandering Jews having services and events all over the community. We leave soon for a four-week vacation to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which I think will be enough adventures to last us through the year!”

Kate Hardin, in Boston, has taken on a new focus at work, leading a couple of projects on low-carbon transportation, looking specifically at the impact of electric vehicles and ride hailing on global oil demand. Kate and her family are gearing up for summer with their 13-year-old headed to camp in western Massachusetts for a month, and their 10-year-old taking sailing lessons on the Charles. Kate has been in touch with Debbie Gahr, whom she saw when she was in New York recently to see Dear Evan Hanson. “I also wanted to say thanks to Wes for the excellent article in the alumni mag on the book, Blood Sugar—it’s on the reading list!”

Finally, we have Mark Cooper as another first-time class notes contributor. Mark is a professor at the University of South Carolina, and has a new coauthored book coming out in August that might interest folks: Media U: How the Need to Win Audiences Has Shaped Higher Education (Columbia UP). Mark and his coauthor, John Marx, also blog about higher education issues at coopermarx.net.

That’s all for now. Please send news for the next issue!

Vanessa Montag Brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com