Tag: 1980

Thank you, Wes ’80 for writing. There were so many first-time and return writers that I had to cut the print column to half the size of what was submitted. In the print version, I urged you to put that magazine down and I hoped you would pick up your phone, tablet, or laptop and go straight online to view the notes in their entirety. Here, online, you will learn more about the lives of our classmates and can click on a few links they sent. I hope that the level of engagement in writing for our class notes column is an indicator that there will be many who, for the first time, will join us “Reunion loyalist” and attend our 40th in May 2020—where we can look back with perfect vision to what one of our classmates who recently wrote called, “a simpler time.”

Cheryl Salden Green writes: My husband, Jim, and I are very excited that our son, Mitchell, was admitted to Wesleyan early decision this year and will entering as a freshman this fall. Mitchell fell in love with the school when we visited during Alumni Sons and Daughters Weekend during his junior year (in spite of the fact that Jim and I went there)! Jim and I met in Foss 7 the first day of freshman orientation in August 1976 (and got married 15 years later, after Jim finished his medical residency and I was out of law school). We have been on campus more during the college application process in the last two years than we have since graduation. I am a real estate attorney in Rhode Island working in-house for CVS Health. Jim and Mitchell (who recently became an eagle scout) are both active volunteers for Boy Scouts and other groups. We live in Foxborough (home of the Patriots). I would love to hear from some of our Wesleyan friends.”

Bruce Post writes: “My second novel, Eris Adrift, was published in May and is available at Amazon, as a paperback and also on Kindle.”

Nancy Stier writes: “I recently spent a wonderful evening here in NYC with classmates Art Feltman, Thom Kleiner, and David Kohane, a dinner we arranged to celebrate our big birthdays this year.”

Paul Edwards writes: “In July 2017, I moved to San Francisco with my family to take up a new position at Stanford University, where I am William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. I’ll be a lead author on the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, a four-year task that’s both an honor and a ton of work. My wife, Gabrielle Hecht, also took a Stanford position in the history department. Our 15-year-old son, Luka, is finishing his first year of high school, playing soccer, and writing poetry, fiction, and rap. Two sightings of the aggressively shaven Alan Jacobs, on his way to Norway to make a film about the 1911 race to the South Pole. (Memo to Alan: Norway is nowhere near Antarctica.)”

Jacquie and Andrew McKenna writes: “Greetings from Boulder, Colo. Our family is back in Boulder after our girls, Xan (16) and Juliana (14), lived for five months in Monteverde Costa Rica with local families and attended the Monteverde Friends School for a semester. They are both basically fluent in Spanish and much more aware of their own traditions after living in a very different culture. They also survived the eye of Hurricane (in Spanish “Tormenta”) Nate—cut off for a week from water and electricity, surrounded by mudslides in every direction but well taken care of by an amazing community.” During these five months, Jacquie and Andrew lived in Monteverde for a couple months volunteering with the local community on solar and conservation, traveled throughout Central America for a couple months and returned to the States for a month as empty nesters (very strange)! Speaking of empty nesters, we sure are aware how time is passing as our oldest daughter obtained her driver’s license this month and is talking about colleges and our younger daughter graduated from middle school and heads to high school next year. As we all say, “where does the time go?!?!” Before we know it, we’ll all be back at Wesleyan celebrating our 40th Reunion year—FORTIETH! Yikes!”

David Claman, PhD, writes: “I recently earned tenure at Lehman College in The Bronx, one of the senior colleges of The City University of New York. I teach music theory, composition, and electronic music. With tenure comes a much-needed sabbatical. I’ve fortunately been awarded a Fulbright-Nehru grant for research and teaching in India next year. So, in September my wife, Sunita, and I will once again relocate to India for many months, this time to Delhi. I will be affiliated with The University of Delhi, composing, teaching, and learning more about Hindustani music. The experience I had learning South Indian music at Wes with T. Viswanathan PhD’75, T. Ranganathan, and K.S. Subramanian PhD’86—among the finest musicians I’ve ever worked with—has stayed with me and continues to play a part in my life. But at this point I’m interested in learning more about music in North India which is significantly different.

“The rest of the time, we live in Jackson Heights, Queens, N.Y., with our dog named Boffin who was rescued off the streets of Delhi three years ago. I’m also in the final stages of putting together a CD of my music for Albany Records. Several of my compositions are posted here, as well as on YouTube and Spotify.”

Peter Scharf writes: “I continue my itinerate life as a visiting professor at various institutions. Last November I completed a three-year appointment at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, and at the end of July I take up an appointment in the Language Technology Research Center at the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad. I’ll teach a course on Paninian linguistics for non-Sanskritists, the aim of which will be to get the future writers of machine translation of Indian languages to include concepts from their own currently neglected Indian linguistic traditions. In the meantime, I keep adding texts, lexical resources, and linguistic technology to the Sanskrit Library website.”

Jeff Green writes: “I started working part-time in the emergency department of a new hospital in Ashdod, Israel, and continue to work in a couple of ERs in Wisconsin sporadically, dividing my time between Israel and Milwaukee. Our oldest daughter is a doctor in Australia, our youngest is in the Israeli intelligence service, and our son (Wesleyan Class of 2015) just got a record deal in LA. Check out his tune—Bring Me Down by Double Twin.”

Walter Calhoun writes: “I presently live in Highland Park, Ill. I have not had steady employment since I was hit by a car as a pedestrian on May 22, 2002 when I was sent 30 feet in the air and suffered a severe head injury after landing on my head and face. Miraculously, I did not break any bones. I was, however, in a coma for close to 30 days and then further hospitalized for another six to seven months as I attempted to recover from my various injuries.

“After I was discharged from the hospital, I continued to try and develop civil defense business in the mid-size defense firm where I was a partner. Ultimately, I was no long able to try lawsuits to verdict like I had before and by 2008 left the practice of law for good. By that time, I was living with my daughter, Sammy, who had obtained her degree in religion from St. Anselm in Manchester, N.H., and had begun work at CDW Corp. We lived in Glencoe, Ill., together for three years until we were joined by my son, Daniel, who was then taking a break from college. Sammy has been working at CDW in Bridgeport, Conn., while living with her fiancé, Brian. They plan to marry on Oct. 12, 2018 art the Bronx Zoo in NYC. Daniel graduated from Lake Forest College in Illinois cum laude this past June and has accepted a position in finance at Ayco. I have tried to keep in contact with Steve Freccero who was nominated to serve as a California state judge after a position as an assistant U.S. attorney and becoming a partner in private practice and Labeeb Abboud who is a general counsel for a company in NYC Blessings in joy.”

Melissa Stern writes: “My mixed media installation project The Talking Cure just finished up a fabulous run in St. Louis at The Kranzberg Center for Contemporary Art. It goes back on the road again in a few months. Stay tuned for details on where and when. Right now ,I’m working like mad getting ready for my solo show at Garvey Simon Gallery in NYC, which opens in October. Hope to see some Wes Tech folks there. I also start teaching at Parsons School of Design this Fall, so it’s going to be a jam packed couple of months!”

Cindy Ryan writes: This May I received my second master’s in clinical mental health counseling – expressive arts therapy from Lesley University. Along the way I had the fortune to be supervised by Deb Madera ’95, who founded one amazing mental health treatment facility, Cultivate Care Farms, where I interned. Expressive arts therapy combines beautifully with animal and farm-assisted therapy! This past year I Interned at an exceptional integrative care facility with cancer patients and their families. As my two adult kids, Juliet and Jonah, have long since found their successes, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting back to the books, finding a new passion, and reinventing myself by harnessing the power of creativity to help others.”

Ellen Haller writes: “I’m writing this while completing my sixth AIDS/LifeCycle, a seven-day, 545-mile charity bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angles. I ride because I was in medical school in 1982 when the AIDS crisos first hit, and I’ve lost countless patients to this disease since those dark days. I ride because AIDS is still here. I ride because California is beautiful. And, I ride because I love cycling! My main news is that, after 30 years on the full-time faculty at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, I’ll be retiring as of June 30, 2018! I’m looking forward to more cycling and also to continued ice hockey playing; yep, I still play! Huge thanks to Wes where my hockey addiction first began.

David Luberoff writes, “At the urging of Jenny Boylan, Eric Segal and I traveled down to Middletown on May 26to join her for the gathering of former Argus editors and writers that marked the paper’s 150th anniversary. We had a wonderful afternoon starting with lunch at O’Rourke’s and then a long stroll around the campus, highlighted by a visit to the Argus’ former home at the corner of Church and High Streets, which now houses the school’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (and looks a lot better than it did when it housed the Argus). After taking some selfies there, we strolled through the Butterfield dorms and around campus, including a recollection-filled hiatus sitting on Foss Hill, where we ruminated on the unexpected paths our lives have taken. We ended at Russell House for a reception where several decades of Argus alumni told similar tales of late nights, crises, take-out food, and a variety of important experiences and lessons that we’ve taken forward, even as most of us moved into non-journalism professions. All in all, a fun and touching day.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

This is the year many of us turn 60. Happy birthday to all! A few of you wrote in January to share what you are doing to mark this milestone and to note other family and personal milestones. Thank you for writing. We all look forward to learning how others will celebrate the entrance to the decade of our 60s, as well as hearing about other milestones in the 38 years since our graduation. After reading this column, please write to me. There are only two more years until our 40th Reunion. Sharing the journey of our 60s together as we transform our roles and goals in the decade ahead will be enlightening and rewarding. We all look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on campus in 2020 when we can look back with perfect vision and ahead with vibrant hopes and dreams. My email is listed below.

Ellen Haller: “After 30 years as a full-time faculty member in the UCSF department of psychiatry, I will celebrate my 60th birthday by retiring at the end of June! To celebrate, I will ride my bike from San Francisco to LA for the sixth straight year as part of the AIDS LifeCycle to raise money to provide free healthcare for people living with AIDS (tofighthiv.org). I will then look forward to more bike trips, continued ice hockey playing (yep, I still play regularly!), and quality time with family.”

Tom Loder writes: “Fun news—my eldest son, Aaron, will be going to Wes this fall like many of your kids did (Amy Zinsser, Bob Ferreira, Walter Siegel, Ed Biester…). Don’t know that there is a better endorsement of a school than to ’let’ our kids go there, even if they would have taken our spots had we had to compete against them for a seat in the freshman class. Guess that insures I’ll be on campus for our 40th.”

Don Rosenstein writes: “Writing for the first time since…well, I guess 38 years! After living in the D.C. area and working at the National Institutes of Health for 18 years, my family and I moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., about a decade ago. I’m at UNC and provide psychiatric care for patients with cancer at UNC. I’ve stayed in touch with Amy Longsworth, Sam Liss ’78, Steve Greenberg ’78, and Ken Kramer ’78. Also, a UNC colleague and I published a book on widowed fathers (Oxford University Press).”

Alex Kolodkin writes: “Well, turning 60 is a milestone that seemed best celebrated from afar, and so my wife, Maria Rodriguez ’81, youngest daughter Talia (who is almost 16), and I traveled to Sicily, where we enjoyed the charms of southern Italy and somehow getting older seemed not so bad at all. I am in the department of neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where I have been conducting research in neural development and regeneration since 1995, and Maria is a partner at Venable LLP here in Baltimore. With our elder daughter, Sasha, only one year out of college, and Talia not yet there, there is little time to ruminate on turning 60, and that seems all for the best.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Jonathan Mink writes from Rochester, N.Y.: “My first class note in many years. I have just returned from giving a couple of lectures in Yangon, Myanmar, at the 16th ASEAN Pediatric Federation Congress. This was the first international pediatrics conference ever held in Myanmar and would have not been possible prior to Myanmar opening up in 2010. I had some concerns about going to Myanmar, and supporting their economy at this time, but the opportunity to advance pediatrics education in a resource-poor country outweighed those concerns. Visiting Yangon was an amazing experience. Interesting history, impressive pagodas, wonderful food, and incredibly friendly people. Professionally, I work at the University of Rochester and love it here. I am president of Child Neurology Society, the primary North American professional organization for child neurology, for the next two years. This gives me an opportunity to be an ambassador for my field, but also to have some influence on public policy regarding care for children with disabilities due to neurologic disease. Janet Cranshaw ’82 and I have been married 32 years. Our daughter, Laura, graduated from college in May, and our son, David, is in his second-ish year of college.”

Scott Hecker writes from San Diego: ”The latest exciting news for me is the FDA approval of Vabomere, a combination antibiotic product for treating those nasty superbugs in hospitals that are constantly in the news. It contains the new beta-lactamase inhibitor “vaborbactam,” a product of an eight-year project to discover and develop a member of a new class of molecules to address a particular type of bacterial resistance. Getting a drug on the market is a dream that is only enjoyed by a small fraction of researchers in pharmaceutical discovery, so this is a big one!”

Melissa Stern writes from India: “I’m visiting an NGO that works with Dalit (untouchable women) to give them access to education and job training. They run boarding schools for orphan girls, training programs in needlework skills ,and university training. Today I met a young woman, a former orphan, found by this group, The Sambhali Trust, and punchline is that on Thursday she starts law school. Pretty mind- blowing. My exhibition, The Talking Cure, opens in St. Louis at The Kranzberg Center for Contemporary Art in January. I will go out there to work with art, theater, and writing students in conjunction with the show. It’ll run for six months. Head’s up St. Louis Wes folks! I am now represented by Garvey Simon, a wonderful gallery in Chelsea, and will be opening a solo show there in 2018. A big year ahead!”

Kim Selby, class secretary, writes from Cape Cod: “Congratulations to Jon, Scott, and Melissa, for their contributions to their fields. It is amazing to hear about the opportunities that 37 years of work can bring. Right now, we are approaching the mid-point between our 35th and 40th class reunions. It is an exciting time of life to connect with classmates. A rewarding and interesting way to connect is to become a class secretary. If anyone of you is interested in engaging classmates as class secretary, let me know.  I am happy to share the joy that comes from this enriching activity.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Marty Saggese writes: “I am one of those investors who have benefited from Joel Tillinghast’s investment expertise. I had the chance to sit next to Joel at one of our Reunion dinners a few years ago, and said thank you to him in person. I am looking forward to reading his book!”

Charla Reinganum writes: “Dan, my husband of 30 years, and I are starting a new chapter this July, moving from the third coast (Chicago) to the West Coast (Napa) less than a week after our daughter, Rachel Schwartz ’11, gets married with unbridled support by bridesmaids Ilyana Schwartz ’13, Janine Petito ’11, Anne Calder ’11, and Joanna Schiffman ’11. Bunny Benenson and Jane Carleton will be celebrating with us. No, we are not retiring. Dan has taken a new position as head of a local progressive private school and I will continue serving as chief environmental engineer for FedEx Express. My commute soon will wend through vineyards instead of interstates. Love to catch up if you happen to be Napa-bound.”

Aleta Staton writes: “I’m thankful to be going into my sixth year with the faculty of the theater department at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. We are building a new theater space this year and look forward to a robust season of productions. I recently attended the Reunion for Wesleyan class of ‘81 with Carlia Francis ’82 (PhD and an August Wilson scholar) and ran into my good friend Beck Lee ’82 who happened to be the keynote speaker.”

Jon Martin, professor at University of Florida, writes: “I’m in the middle of a seven-week field expedition to Greenland. If anyone is curious, you can check out our Greenland project: grainfluxes.geology.ufl.edu.

Melissa Totten, content producer for MandCo.org, reports in from the Boston region, where she would rather not be living. She misses the desert chaparral and the vast southwestern skies. She remembers a life among like-minded adults. A prisoner of East Walpole, Ms. Totten has no access to culturally diverse people, lives, folkways, or foodways. Instead of writing the book she is outlining, she has become physically and emotionally dependent upon the consumption of cable television’s political coverage. Despite her stupor, she has become an accidental climate activist and an associate member of her hometown’s historical commission. In that position, she has great power. According to the town’s by-laws, the commission may issue a six-month demolition permit delay for “historically and/or architecturally significant buildings.” After six months of considering the value of preservation, an owner is free to pick up the demo permit from the building inspector and rip it all down to the earth below.

Melissa Hewey writes: “Alan Chebuske and I celebrated our first date at Wes 40 years ago in February. We now live in Portland, Maine, where Alan practices dentistry in between taking bike trips around the world. With two grandchildren, one living in Beijing, China (son of Cara Chebuske ’06 and Will McCue ’06), and another in Los Angeles, I am pretty sure the airlines are developing a new tier of elite status just for me.”

Mark Zitter writes: “My daughter, Tessa ’21, was accepted ED1 to Wesleyan and will begin this fall! She wants to double major in theater and chemistry, sing in an a capella group, and work in Admission as a tour guide to motivate visitors to apply to Wes. Proud to join the ranks of our classmates who are Wesleyan parents. Extremis, the short documentary featuring my wife and her ICU colleagues and patients, was nominated for an Oscar, so she got to go to the Academy Awards. (Couldn’t snag an extra ticket for me—my best shot to be arm candy!) I’m chairing both my company and The Zetema Project (zetemaproject.org), a group of U.S. healthcare leaders focused on policy issues. I’ve also found a second career as an interviewer at venues ranging from Stanford to the 92nd Street Y to the Commonwealth Club. I’ve hosted U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Obamacare architect Ezekiel Emanuel, palliative care doctor BJ Miller, and others. I joined the Board of the Commonwealth Club (commonwealthclub.org), America’s oldest and largest public affairs forum, which will move into a brand new facility on San Francisco’s Embarcadero this summer. This doesn’t feel like retirement, but it’s fun.”

Amy Kroll writes: “We are heading to Chicago for our son, Sam’s, graduation from the University of Chicago. We are thrilled for Sam (and ourselves—no more college tuition!), but wistful as this chapter of raising children closes. We are still in D.C., and I am a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, watching the daily motorcades up and down Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Congress. I hope that all our class members will give to the Annual Fund—I see the value of a Wesleyan education frequently, as young lawyers and law students who are Wesleyan graduates join our firm and consistently excel. I enjoy periodic catch-ups with John Singer and David Resnick ’81, among others.  

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Tom Loder writes: “Been lawyering in (of course, where else but) Philadelphia for 30 (okay “30-some”) years now, married late (of course), raising two now-teen boys, and happy to be in close touch over the years with Jimmy Schor and Bob Ferreira, and their wonderful and beautiful wives, Sharon Nahill and Amy Zinsser. How improbable is that?—Four from the Class of ’80 who married their Wes college sweethearts, who set the world on fire with their brains and daring (for my part, I’ve been nursing a very small campure with whatever kindling I can muster). And hospital titan (GC) Spence Studwell ’79, author Larry Levey (look up some of his great stories), Barry Williamson ’81 (who, inexplicably, Dos Equis somehow missed in its search for “Most Interesting Man in the World”), Kevin “Middletown” Markowski ’79 and  Ed Biester where, with his permission, I work at the same law Philly firm. Bob’s daughter Amy will graduate from Wes this year, and Ed’s daughter is a sophomore. My eldest was on campus for a college visit two weeks ago (had dinner with Bob and Amy on the trip), so it is apparent that the circle of Wes life remains unbroken. Crazy good, I guess you’d have to call it.

“Wow, right? Very grateful for these lifelong friendships. Many Wes classmates I miss and would like to hear from and reconnect with: Labeeb Abboud, Walter Siegel, Bucky Pereira (Buck: Bob Ferreira  still has some of your mistakenly returned Pereira test results from Herbie), Billy Burnett, Laura Nathanson, Lori Geissenhainer, Michelle LeBlanc, John Dionne, Jono Cobb ’79, Nick Donohue ’81, Joey Virgadula, Jeannette Talavera, Dan Lynch, John Padilla, and too many more to mention (the exit music is getting pretty loud already at this point). Next issue maybe. We’re still young and, as you aptly put it, still (in that indomitable Wes spirit) growing stronger, wiser, and more helpful to others.”

Mark Zitter writes: “It’s a time of transitions for my family. After 27 years of running my healthcare insights company, I’m promoting my president to CEO and transitioning myself into the chairman role. I’m busy starting up a philanthropic venture, The Zetema Project, a highly diverse panel of U.S. healthcare leaders that will convene regularly to debate key issues to better inform the dysfunctional national healthcare conversation. My wife Jessica, a physician specializing in end-of-life issues, will publish her first book in February. She’s featured in Extremis, a short documentary that won awards at several film festivals and was the first short doc picked up by Netflix. I’m chairing a series on end-of-life issues for the Commonwealth Club of California, so we talk about death all the time. We don’t get invited out much anymore.  My eldest, Sol, just started his freshman year at Brown, where he’ll focus on computer science and math. His sister, Tessa, is right behind him. By the time this is published my guess is that she will have applied early decision to Wesleyan! She wants to double major in theater and chemistry. I don’t think my alumni status had anything to do with this; it’s more about Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02. Our youngest, Sasha, is a high school freshman who is passionate about dogs. She has been invited to try out for the U.S. team that will compete next summer in Luxembourg in dog agility, a canine obstacle course. I’m in touch with our classmates Scott Hecker and Julie Burstein regularly, and would love to hear what Paul Singarella is up to.

Kenneth Haltman ’80 is the editor and translator of The Evolution of Taste in American Collecting by Rene Brimo, out now from Penn State University Press.

Kenneth Haltman, H. Russell Pitman professor of art history, has a new book release where he wrote the introduction and did the translation: The Evolution of Taste in American Collecting. According to the publisher, Penn State University Press, “In his introduction, Kenneth Haltman provides a biographical study of the author and his social and intellectual milieu in France and the United States. He also explores how Brimo’s work formed a turning point and initiated a new area of academic study: the history of art collecting. Making accessible a text that has until now only been available in French, Haltman’s elegant translation of The Evolution of Taste in American Collecting sheds new critical light on the essential work of this extraordinary but overlooked scholar.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

September ’16 responses:

Douglas Cuomo writes, “My family and I (wife, the author Sharon Guskin, two boys Ben and Eli) just returned from a three-week stay in Kathmandu, where Arjuna’s Dilemma, an opera I’d written, was produced and performed. The production by One World Theatre, was mounted by a tremendous cast of artists from eight countries, mostly from Nepal, and was extremely well-received, by both audiences and the press. It was the first time a Western opera has been publicly performed in Nepal, and the experience was beyond description. The difficulties of mounting such a complicated show in a country like Nepal were not inconsiderable, but so were the rewards. You can see pictures and read more at douglasjcuomo.com. We also saw many important historical Buddhist sites, which was extremely meaningful to us, since both Sharon and I are Buddhists, and many important figures in our lineage spent time in Nepal. We visited the Segyu monastery in Kathmandu numerous times, with all four of us teaching English to the young monks living and studying there. I have upcoming performances of new pieces this fall in the UK by the Orchestra of the Swan, and in Florida and D.C., by the chorus, Seraphic Fire.”

Wendy Buskop writes, “My daughter, Jacqueline ’19, is now a sophomore at Wes studying earth and environmental science. She wants an internship with a company that builds robots for marine use, like underwater automated vehicles or remotely operated vehicles. Does anyone know someone that can help her? Contact Jacqueline at jbuskop@wesleyan.edu.”

Tamar Bauer writes, “Kim—Intrigued by your son’s start-up. My daughter is graduating with a mechanical engineering degree this spring. She is also into food and farming, and looking for a way to combine all three. Can we connect them?” (We are in the process of connecting them.)

Melissa Stern writes, “After a three-month run at Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, my exhibition, The Talking Cure, opened at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, where it will reside for eight months. There is a wide variety of programming around the exhibition planned and I expect to travel to Minneapolis several times. In October my solo exhibition, Loose Lips, opened at the University of Alabama and I traveled there for the opening. Lastly, I will be teaching a one-week intensive class about storytelling, drawing, and collage at the famed Penland School of Art. In March, my solo show in New York City will open at Station Independent Gallery.”

May ’16 responses:

Ellen Catala writes, “Your e-mail about David Clair was so beautiful and so moving. I didn’t know David, but I am sure he was just as wonderful a person as you describe. My blessing, I will share on this Mother’s Day, was to spend the past 16 years caring for my mother as she lived with slowly advancing Parkinson’s. She died Apr. 5, and I miss her already, but at least I had the honor, privilege, and joy of taking care of her up to the very end. I found that in the last year, when it was becoming clear she would die from not being able to swallow very well, I started feeling towards her as you feel towards a precious infant. Her somewhat mild dementia allowed me to reach out in a different way than one might usually, and I kissed her often, stroked her hands and head, sung to her, and told her often how much I loved her. Were it not for her condition, I probably would never have expressed these feelings, and although I would have done anything to take away her illness, I still feel blessed by its unexpected consequence.

“Thank you for listening and for all the wonderful, loving work you do for our class. My most sincere sympathy to David’s friends and family. How tragic that he died so young, leaving behind a full life and many people who still needed him. By the way, Kim, you might recall that I shared a poem my son’s friend had written about the blood moon. Well, I am soon to become his foster mother. He was removed from his home a year ago and he is doing well—overcoming a sort of mutism that came on as his home life became traumatic. He continues to write beautifully and I am hopeful that he will benefit from his time with us, and vice versa. Happy Mother’s Day! God bless! Many thanks!”

Halsey Frank writes, “Scary how fast the time goes, even in the slow lane in Maine. We have been here almost 17 years. Our daughter, Laura, who was born in D.C., and was three when we moved, is now a freshman at Cornell after having taken a year off to see a bit of the world. Our son, Alex, who missed being a native-born Mainer by months, is a junior at Portland High and thinking about college himself. In addition to other sports, he plays a lot of soccer, which took us to Indianapolis with his travel team for the nationals last summer. My wife Eva’s latest get-rich-quick scheme is shopping bags with helpful logos such as “All mushrooms are edible, some only once.” I hope this one pays off.

“I am a prosecutor at the U.S. attorney’s office, have been somewhat active in local politics, write a column for The Forecaster weekly, and will once again this summer be trying to figure out how to race the Etchells sailboat I bought with friends (it’s got a lot of controls).”

Brian Hasbrouck writes, “I’m enjoying early retirement in Boston, sing in a couple of choruses, and have a variety of projects.”

John Snook writes, “I’m listed in the class of 1980, but I only attended Wesleyan formally from 1976–1977. I have been volunteering for 24 years at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. I would like to get in touch with some of my friends from the Class of 1980 including Jim Burnett, Bill Moss, Stuart Schonberger, Brook Morris, Addy Dix, and Thom Kleiner. My contact info: johnhsnook@gmail.com and 212/749-2707 or 212/666-3914.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Tributes to David Clair, who passed away Feb. 19, 2016:

Mike Rosenblatt writes: “I did not know David Clair well at Wes but both he and his brother-in-law Jesse were classmates of mine in medical school. He was a great guy. Sorry to see he was taken from us at such a young age.”

Gary Gilyard writes: “I was shocked to hear about David. We were in all of the same pre-med classes. David was a huge Flyers fan and we would go at it over his Flyers and my Red Wings. Next week we head to Wesleyan for Shelby ’16’s graduation.

Amy Natterson Kroll writes: “What a lovely tribute to David Clair. I am in DC, married to the same guy for more than 30 years, practicing law at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. Children are grown. We speak with them both most days. Daughter is an emergency room nurse in New York, married to a great guy. Son is finishing his third year (junior to us) at University of Chicago. We are traveling a great deal now, because we can with the nest empty and we are starting to think about second (third?) acts. We saw Hamilton when Wesleyan held its fundraiser last October—amazing show and amazing Wesleyan evening. As co-class agent: Please remember how important Alumni Gifts are each year and give what you can!”

Alan Jacobs writes: “Beautifully written (about David)…And effective…Here’s my contribution to Class Notes: I’m packing my bags and heading to Wesleyan for Ron Jacobs ’16’s graduation, 36 years after we all wore the robes. Pretty amazing. Ron majored in American Studies and will return to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the music industry. His older brother, Gil, took a little longer to finish school and is graduating on the same day/time from Brandeis, so Sharona will attend that one. I asked Wes to push Commencement back a few hours so I could attend both but that didn’t go over too well. The nerve! Avia finished her first year at Mount Holyoke, playing soccer and double majoring in Fun and Local Excursions. Guy is a sophomore at Calabasas High, where he plays bass clarinet and is the league champ in the 800M. He has a small business as a dog walker but it’s not thriving because the dogs can’t keep pace. When did Class Notes become all about our kids? I’m working on a few interesting feature film projects, coming (one day) to a theater or iPad near you. Most satisfying is a new venture I’m helping Gil launch called Quiver.events, which provides complete listings of all live music in your area. The tag line is: “Follow the Music,” which pretty much sums up my life since Wes.

Ben Wolozin’s entry that missed the previous issue: “I haven’t written notes for ages, but this has been an eventful year, so I figure it’s worthwhile. Most important, I just became a grandfather. OMG!! Here is the backstory: For the past four years I have had the pleasure of having my older daughter, Becky (29), live five blocks from my work site in Boston. Nirvana! She got married to Lou Beckman on Martha’s Vineyard 1.5 years ago; a fantastic guy—with wonderful parents as well, so all is well on that end. Becky and I would have breakfast or lunch together, regularly—or she and Lou would come to our house in Newton and have dinner. Then she graduated from law school (JD and MS in International Education, Harvard—Lou was doing a psych residency at Beth Israel/Brigham Women’s) and they moved down to DC. Having them leave Boston was a loss. However, life goes on, and a new phase began because Becky gave birth to a darling little boy, Sammy, on Dec. 14. So cute!! Of course, now I pop down to DC whenever possible. Meanwhile, on the professional front, I started a biotech company, Aquinnah Pharmaceuticals Inc. (aquinnahpharma.com). The company focuses on drugging RNA binding proteins, and our first pipeline focuses on ALS. Soon we expect to have a second pipeline for Alzheimer’s disease. Starting a company has been exciting and challenging, but it opens up another major avenue in my life and gives a vision for new horizons. These are the major changes. Otherwise, it’s the usual—and enjoyable—aspects of being a 57-year-old Wesleyan graduate. I live with my lovely wife, Danielle Murstein, who is a psychiatrist, and we have been together for 31 years. Our other daughter, Jackie, is 25, lives in NYC, does arts, and just went on a ski trip with me and my cousins to Beaver Creek, Colo. Yay!! So much fun!! Actually—point of note—Jackie just saw the new musical Hamilton, and so we spent the first three days of the trip sharing her ear buds on every chair lift and listening to the incredible sound track of Hamilton, which was created by Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02. What a fabulous and brilliant musical—can’t wait to see it. Bravo Lin-Manuel!!! I am a professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine. My research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases—Alzheimer’s, ALS and Parkinson’s. The work is going great. It’s so amazing what you can do in science these days—totally exciting. Hmm, what else? Age 57 going on 58. The down sides: grey hair, needing to eat less to maintain the fantasy of a youthful figure, the challenges of too many commitments, a house that was wrecked by snow dams last year and took one year of painful renovations, and the passing of my dog Anya, of 15.5 years, who was my faithful running partner and probably the only one who was always thrilled to see me come home. Boo hoo. But, the 50s have generally been good, so those things are real, but small potatoes in the bigger picture. We have lots of room in our house if anyone wants to drop by (Newton, Mass.)!!!

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Karen Murgolo is still surviving in book publishing and is editorial director of the nonfiction imprint, Grand Central Life & Style, at the Hachette Book Group. She works with fun chefs like Mario Batali, edited Ellen DeGeneres’ Home book, and is editor of Gwyneth Paltrow’s bestselling, It’s All Good, and upcoming It’s All Easy. Fun fact: She is currently working with Candace Nelson ’96, founder of the Sprinkles Bakeries and judge on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars on her amazing cookbook, The Sprinkles Baking Book: 100 Secrets From Candace’s Kitchen.

Janet Grillo directed the feature film Jack of the Red Hearts, starring Famke Janssen (X-Men, Taken) and AnnaSophia Robb (Carrie Diaries, The Way Way Back); the story of a teenage con artist who convinces the desperate mother to hire her as live-in caregiver for her child with severe autism. Jack Of The Red Hearts won the Jury Prize at the inaugural Bentonville Film Festival, founded by Geena Davis to promote gender equality in filmmaking; played festivals here and abroad, winning 11 awards; and will open in 25 AMC theaters nationwide on Feb. 26th. It will air on Lifetime in April, Autism Awareness Month.

F.X. White writes: “My three children are growing up too fast. Sophia is looking at colleges, and I hope she considers Wesleyan. I’ve been active on the Bernie Sanders campaign, and in fact am running as a delegate for Maryland’s Eighth District pledged to him. Still haven’t made it to a Reunion in all these years, but keeping in touch with a bunch of Wes folks on Facebook, which has been fun. Working as a software developer and writing a book about the year off I took in ’78. The education I had in the COL still sustains me. Recently started a book club with some neighbors. Also coaching a fourth-grade soccer team. Life is good. Best to all.”

Peter Scharf writes: “I’m also in Boston, rather Cambridge. I’m cataloguing the 1700 Sanskrit manuscripts at the Houghton Library at Harvard with the help of two assistants from India. We’ve finished about half of them as of now (Feb. 3) and include them in our Sanskrit manuscript catalogue at sanskritlibrary.org under Reference. I plan to head back to IIT Bombay to teach linguistics in the fall.”

David Hafter writes: “Like many of my classmates whose parents struggle with health and life-management issues, I have my challenges. Otherwise, however, I feel pretty lucky. My 50s have been more exciting than I anticipated. For a therapist, getting older is generally a good thing and I am enjoying running a program for Yolo County schools, where we do one-to-one brief therapy (early intervention), group counseling and mental health presentations/assemblies. I also do trainings for clinicians around California. For fun, I re-formed my Wesleyan band, Wealth of Nations, with a great group of guys who, like me, started playing music young and never stopped. I have gone from solo performing in the basement of Wesleyan frats, to playing with the Original Wealth of Nations (with James Marcus, Kathy Bergeron and Vic Tredwell) at Wesleyan to the new full, seven-piece rock band, playing my originals, lots of Dead covers and other great music from our era. Playing with these guys is more fun than I could put into words. My son, Noah, also a singer/guitar player, is settled in Seattle. So, no complaints here, at least not now; I’m enjoying the moment.”

Wendy Buskop writes: “Daughter Jacqueline ’19 is now in her freshman year. She needs internships in earth and environmental science, if anyone can help out. Contact her at jbuskop@wesleyan.edu. Celebrating 25 years this year of Buskop Law Group—a private practice law firm providing patent drafting, filing, and issuance of patents and trademarks, with five patent attorneys and clients in 23 states and 15 foreign countries.”

Your own Jenny Boylan has left the faculty of Colby College after 25 years, and taken on the new role of Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University. “This has me in the classroom in New York in the spring semesters; each May I return to Maine, where my wife, Deirdre Finney Boylan ’82, and I live on Long Pond, in Belgrade Lakes. It’s been a super busy and crazy time, and I beg for you to forgive me for the inevitable alumna boast-o-rama. Ready? I continue as the national co-chair of GLAAD, the media advocacy nonprofit for LGBTQ people, and also serve as a trustee for the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. On the writing front, I’m a contributing opinion writer for the op/ed page of the New York Times, with an essay appearing about every six weeks or so, or whenever I can think up something to say. My new novel, Long Black Veil, comes out in spring of 2017 from Penguin Random House; let’s call it a literary thriller with a twist. And I’m introducing my new line of fragrances, called KABOOM. No, wait, I’m only kidding about the fragrance. But I am not kidding about this: I’m a consultant and a cast member on I Am Cait, the E! Network reality show about Caitlyn Jenner, on which my primary role seems to be explaining to Cait that Everything She Knows is Wrong. It’s a weird position for me to be in, since playing yourself on TV turns out to be harder than pretending to be someone else. But I continue to believe that visibility brings acceptance, so on I go.

“I loved seeing so many old friends at Wesleyan at our Reunion, and receiving the Distinguished Alumna award from the University was one of the great honors of my life. It is weird to think that I am being feted for being an out trans person; the very thought of coming out when I was a Wesleyan student seemed like the most unlikely turn of events I could imagine. But the world has changed, I reckon. Just like a lot of people I know. And my beloved Wesleyan classmates not least.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Paul Singarella writes in response to my seeing his family name on the firehouse in Beacon Hill: “That’s right Kim: The Singarellas, going back to my grandfather, were contractors and builders in the Boston area, building not only that sturdy firehouse, now a children’s center, but also part of Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo, part of the well-known Morrissey Boulevard, and the North Weymouth drive-in theater, which supposedly was the first one in the region. I, myself, am not a contractor, although that’s what I did during my summer vacations, starting at age 12. It does not feel like child labor when you are a 12-year-old driving a steamroller. These days, I am working as a lawyer on water scarcity issues, such as representing the State of Florida in its U.S. Supreme Court case against the State of Georgia, asking the Supreme Court to apportion enough of the river flow from upstream Georgia to protect the Apalachicola River and Bay of the Florida Panhandle, and the oyster that bears the Apalachicola name. Heather and I are empty-nesters in Irvine, Calif., with Nick (NYU 2013) living and working in the Bay Area, Natalie a junior at TCU, and Juliette a sophomore at Vanderbilt.”

Paul Oxholm writes: “Sarah, a Lehigh senior, is a double major in finance and marketing, with a psychology minor. Catherine is a Denison freshman with potential interest in one of nine majors. Karen continues to teach at school and coach the girls tennis team. I continue to run a small manufacturing company in central Pennsylvania, serve as a financial adviser for a few families, and watch my hair turn grey. Karen and I are entering a new phase as empty nesters with more anticipation than trepidation. Let’s hope that continues…”

Doron Henkin writes: “In October 2013, riding the joyous wave of advances in rights, I ’gay married’ Victor Hall at a ceremony on the eastern shore of Maryland, in a Jewish-Philippino-inclusive ceremony at Historic St. Martin’s Church in Berlin, Md. It was their first LGBT event, ditto for the reception hall in Salisbury. Nine months later our union was suddenly legitimized in Pennsylvania, when Governor Corbett declined to appeal from a Federal District Court ruling in Harrisburg in favor of the plaintiffs seeking marriage equality—which ended an odd period in which we were married in some states and on some tax returns but not others. Victor was born in the Philippines and worked in a number of nonprofits before going back to (culinary) school. He is now a dessert chef at a downtown Philadelphia restaurant. I continue my legal practice, focusing on business, bankruptcy and real estate matters. Children, Dan and Gil, have graduated college. Gil is in physics graduate school at McGill University in Montreal and Dan is looking for that first real engineering job after college. Daughter Hannah is a senior at the University of Michigan and played on Team USA (Women’s) at the recent 23-and-under Ultimate Frisbee World Championships in London, England.

Rebecca Hayden writes: “I am still living in the Cambridgeport section of Cambridge—I’ve been here since 1981 (with the exception of one year in Munich). My husband and I live a three-block walk from Central Square, which means he can bike to his job at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard, and I can walk the three miles to Brookline High School, where I am starting my 15th year teaching English. It couldn’t be a better match; I’m not surprised lots of BHS students go to Wesleyan. They are fun, challenging, quirky, sophisticated in all the right ways, and inspiring to teach. I still sing seriously and occasionally for money. Currently I’m in a large volunteer chorus and gig quite a bit at retirement communities. They enjoy my repertoire of parlor songs, vaudeville, operetta, spirituals, and the great American songbook. I was really fortunate the summer of 2014 to receive one of the last NEH grants awarded to high school teachers for foreign study—amonth in London studying The Canterbury Tales. It brought back great memories of Hope Weissman’s seminar on Chaucer. I am grateful for good health, a career I love, a happy marriage, and a circle of wonderful friends—many of them from Wesleyan: Almut Koester, Christian Herold ’81, Michael Shulman, and Suzy Shedd (with a shout-out to Randy Baron, too!).

Mark Zitter writes: “I’m the proud dad of three teens, including a high school senior and junior. Both of them are considering Wes as they look at colleges. I’m still running Zitter Health Insights but also am doing a lot with death these days. My physician-wife focuses on end-of-life issues in both her clinical practice and her New York Times columns, and we co-founded a telephone counseling service for dying patients that we sold a few years back. Recently I’ve chaired a series of interviews at the Commonwealth Club of California on dying, including one with Jessica. It’s fun to work together on this important issue.”

Dan Connors writes: “Still living in St. Louis and love our baseball Cardinals while hating our football team that wants to leave for LA. Got my CPA a few years ago and now writing financial articles while trying to help small businesses in the area. Two daughters near college age, neither likely to attend Wesleyan and asking me how crazy I was to go so far away knowing nobody… At work for nearly three years now on my novel, which I may just have to self-publish once I get it done. Looking for Wes grads (or anybody else bored enough) who would like to read and critique it.”

Janet Grillo is delighted to screen the feature film she directed, Jack of the Red Hearts, at The Rome International Film Festival, Alice nella Città, in October, after showing it at four American film festivals since May, and receiving 11 awards. Jack (starring Famke Janssen and Sophia Anne Robb) will open in 15 select AMC theaters across the country on December 4th.

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

A 35th year Reunion highlight for me was sitting in Memorial Chapel during the distinguished alumni awards ceremony listening to David Potts ’60 give his closing remarks from his presentation about his book, Wesleyan University, 1910–1970. He said, “I hope my book will nurture our sense of family, and help us achieve one of our key liberal arts goals—a deeper self-knowledge. That goal is well-served when we collectively gain a new measure of institutional self-understanding. And for us as individuals, the quest for self-knowledge is enhanced when each of us knowingly remembers where we came from.” There were about 50 of us at Reunion who had the opportunity to share the experience of remembering from where we came and to collectively gain a new measure of institutional self-understanding. (See the Web class notes for a list of those who were among those the Reunion attendees—too long to add here!)

With Reunion memories Liz Sikes writes: “Catching up with Cesar Noble was the best surprise—especially when he e-mailed me a few weeks later to say his daughter was impressed that he knew someone like me, by which I think he means a college professor scientist studying climate change, but the best part was I was a woman. Made my day! Especially because he is a judge and here I was talking to him and Brad Moss (both judges!) thinking to myself—wow, I feel like everyone here is so much more successful than I! The funny thing is I can’t remember who said that out loud—but someone did… and I think that was the take home moment for me—what an amazing class we have –so many have come so far…I like being in this club!”

Melissa Stern writes: “I had a great time at Reunion. It was a great honor to have been asked to design a tee shirt for our 35th Reunion and I got a kick out of seeing many current students wearing it! It was a great weekend. I particularly enjoyed the ‘writer’ panel with Julie Burstein, Jennifer Finney Boylan and Rachel Basch—a rich and meaningful conversation among artists.”

Not in attendance….Susan Kravit writes: “I have lived in Washington State, first Seattle then Olympia, since 1982. My hobby of breeding flat coated retrievers kept me from attending Reunion, as I had a litter of eight puppies.”

Wendy Buskop writes: “My daughter, Jacqueline ’19, will attend Wesleyan in September.”

Janet Grillo writes: “I am delighted to be back in NYC, teaching full time as an arts professor at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts undergraduate film and television program. The second feature film I directed, Jack of the Red Hearts, starring Famke Janssen (Taken, X-Men) and AnnaSophia Robb (Carrie Diaries, The Way Way Back), won the jury prize at the inaugural Bentonville Film Festival, co-founded by actress/activist Geena Davis, to promote women and diversity. It will be in national theatrical release next winter. Like my first feature, Fly Away, this film also dramatized the impact of raising a child with autism.”

Wendy Davis Beard writes: “While still based in Sydney with our 12-year-old daughter, we traveled to New York last June to enroll Eliza in a three-week summer program at Columbia University. Whilst in America during the summer for the first time in many years, we took the opportunity to visit family in Cape Cod and Pam Mitchell in Maine, which was a real treat, as her husband Mark, a volunteer fireman, was able to carry me up and down the steep stairs to their beautiful sea front home. While able to climb a few steps with my quad stick, a whole flight is still a very big challenge. This past December while visiting my husband’s family in London, including two older daughters and two little granddaughters, we had a lovely lunch with Peter Eisenhardt who has been based in London with his family for over 30 years! I continue to write my memoir of recovery from cancer (now complete) and from my disabling stroke, a recovery which is ongoing—and am also writing fiction. Meanwhile, Peter has written an award-winning screen play.”
Michael Shulman writes: “I live in Ann Arbor, unexpected boom-town of the rust belt, with my wife and our two daughters. My wife is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, as I am. We’ve been in Ann Arbor since our meeting in grad school, except for an eight-year sojourn in Boca Raton, where we lived quite differently, grew mangoes and grapefruit, but ended up longing to return to a place where the intellect stood a better chance of growing.

Since leaving Wes, I’ve stayed in touch with Becky Hayden, Todd Martin ’81, Randy Baron, Christian Herold ’81 and Amanda Hardy. I would love to hear from Karen Murgolo, Claudia Lewis ’78, Leda Hartman ’81, Bradley Hess, or my COL mates from ’80 or ’81. Paul Schwaber ’57 and I, both psychoanalysts, have been in frequent touch in the past decade, despite having lost touch for the two before. A most wonderful recent reunion was sitting down with Henry Abelove in NYC, where we were presenting at the same conference. Maybe the most pleasant of all was hearing Henry’s account of his post-Wesleyan stints at ivy-covered schools whose students, however brilliant, preferred silence to vocal engagement.”