CLASS OF 1982 | 2019 | ISSUE 3
Yikes! It seems like I was just writing about how surreal it was to hit 50, now 60 . . . Elizabeth Feigelson is one who is doing it with grace: “I just turned 60 and am finding a convergence of gratitude for so much, including the great luck and privilege of my years at Wesleyan. At the core are all the amazing people, friends, and teachers. I revisited our history of protesting for Divestment in South Africa as well as drafting the first template for a women’s studies program with Heather Baker-Sullivan, Beth Ross ’83, Laurie Trupin, Mary Freeman, Alice Aplen, Kay MacCabe ’83, Marion Wilson ’83, Andrea Smith ’83, and George Snee ’80 at the inspiring wedding of Denise Joseph. Then celebrated with Heather and Pearl Raz ’81, my first housemates and still soul sisters. Also in regular contact with Mary Purpura ’84 (check out her All Her Flavors blog at strugglinggoddess.com). I’ve also reconnected with one of my former guitar teachers, Tom Ross ’67, PhD’85 (then a Wes grad student) who is still one of the most inspiring I’ve encountered. And still working as a child and adult psychiatrist, promoting mental health in schools and being a mom. Looking forward to less work and more play. Forever grateful for David McAllester, who helped me stay in school by introducing me to his Navajo family. Savoring it all.”
It seems like this is a time of reinvention for many of us. Rachael Adler married Danny Newbrun, a man she dated 25 years ago; he’s a Kaiser doc who has inspired her daughter to aim at med school when she heads to college this year. Rachael’s acting students’ classes are so successful she’s been batting away job offers from the top theatre companies in the Bay Area.
Michele Dow writes, “I used to be Joseph Dow, so that’s probably news.” She earned her PhD from Lesley University in Cambridge in May and her book on transgender educators is coming out from Rowman & Littlefield next summer.
Kathryn Moody Benjamin downsized after 27 years in one house. “It took two years of mental preparation and one year of active decluttering (thanks to Marie Kondo).” Both her daughters relocated, and in the midst of major change, she started a new job at Simmons University in Boston.
Mary Downs lives in Washington, D.C., and works in funding and policy for preservation of global cultural heritage. She gets up to NYC regularly for music and theater and had coffee with Gail Marowitz ’81 on the eve of her Grammy appearance last January. She’s caught up with Traies Roe and Amy Anson in D.C., Kate Cooper in London, and Deirdre Finney Boylan in Maine. Another reunion was had by the authors and followers of Kaylie Jones Books at East City Bookshop on Capitol Hill: Patti Smith, Kaylie Jones ’81, Kathy Prager Conrad ’81, Joanne Godin Audretsch ’81, and Jeff Tsu.
Stephen Daniel writes—for the first time!—that all is well in Chatham, on Cape Cod, where his family moved full-time: “The 40th annual gathering (seriously) of the Stupid Dogs (Jack Taylor, John Mooney, Peter Frisch, Kevin Foley, Dan Hillman, Bruce Crain) will take place here at the end of the month. One of the SDs observed a few years ago that we’ve been getting together for so long we’ve replaced acid with Advil.” He says his daughter, India ’22, just moved into Eclectic and has a higher GPA in her first year than he achieved in four. India’s twin, Harding, is at Kenyon. Stephen is working informally as a private investor/public servant, serving on a range of scientific and educational boards, including those of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which he chairs. He also chairs the Chatham Finance Committee which, effectively, represents the legislative branch of municipal government in Massachusetts—Town Meeting (a direct gift of the Pilgrims).
Laura Fraser | laura@laurafraser.com
Michael Ostacher | mostacher@gmail.com