Tag: 1981

Greetings once again from Brooklyn. There is ice and snow on the ground as I write this. I hope you are reading this on the beach with at least spf 30 slathered all over you….

I ran into Seth Kaufman ’70 recently, as it turns out that our wives work together for a Manhattan not-for-profit. We compared stories of takeovers of North and South College in our activist youth, eight years apart, and he told me, as head of the student body, how he convinced President Etherington not to call the State Police, and thereby prevented a riot.

“Etherington asked, ‘So what do I do?’

“I told him, ‘You do nothing. They’ll take over the building, they’ll stay for a while, and then they’ll leave!’”

And that’s pretty much what happened. Brilliant.

John Ravenal, formerly the curator for modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, is the new executive director of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. He brings to deCordova extensive administrative and curatorial experience, having served as president of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC), and having held curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and at the Wadsworth Atheneum, where he worked on the museum’s first showing of the Sol LeWitt collection.

Shelley Berson writes: “I still marvel every time I turn right onto the Wes campus to visit our daughter, Elizabeth Weinstein ’16, that my Wesleyan is as uniquely perfect for her as it was for me all those years ago.”

Shelley adds, “I’ve been busy growing my Zzenter—a wellness center in Bergen County, N.J., that merges my board certifications in ENT, sleep medicine, and allergy to answer the question ‘What’s going on in your bedroom?’ Using individualized form and function data, we create customized treatment plans to provide ‘CPR for your dreams’ (zzenter.com).” Her husband, Jack Weinstein, is a consultant who shares her pride in the accomplishments of Liz and their son, Aaron, (UPenn ’17). They look forward to a future joint a cappella concert of Liz’s “Notably Sharp” with Aaron’s “PennyLoafer” groups.

Stephen M. Misarski is serving as the English Pastor at the Chinese Gospel Church of Massachusetts in Southborough. He is in his 23rd year serving as an Massachusetts Air National Guard chaplain (Lt. Col.). He is also working on his doctor of ministry at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Matthew King was selected to receive the Secretary of Homeland Security Exceptional Service Award (Gold Medal). This is the highest award for service granted by the Secretary. The award honors exceptional leadership or service that is distinguished by achievements of unique national or international significance, reflecting genuinely exceptional service rendered to the Department by markedly improving the security of our homeland.

Matt sent me part of the citation, which I assume is declassified! It reads like the plot of a spy novel, involving Panama, Cuba, North Korea, and “the seizure of sophisticated weapons and materials aboard a North Korean-flagged merchant vessel.” It concludes: “Your work is an example to your colleagues across the Office of Policy, and a great service to our Nation. The story of this operation will be retold across our Department as a model of all that we strive to accomplish.” Bravo, and, well… thanks!

Delcy Ziac Fox is pleased to announce the opening of her business, FoxCommunications. FoxComs provides marketing and communications planning; media relations; copywriting, editing, and proofing; and development communications. Those of you who are parents or professors, please spread the word that FoxComs offers student transition services, including an interviewing workshop. Check out FoxComs.com.

Finally, comes the sad news that our classmate Dorothy Christine Ames passed away on Sept. 22, 2014, at her home in Lambertville, N.J. She leaves behind four children, three sisters, her beloved Jack Russell terrier, and the memories that those of us who knew her will cherish.

David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com

JOANNE godin audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com

Greetings, classmates! It’s been a while since I have reported due to various and sundry electronic mishaps, so allow me to publicly thank my co-anchor, David Block, for pitching in at the last minute on several occasions. Much obliged, David!

Leora Freedman has joined Occidental College (in Eagle Rock/Los Angeles) as its general counsel after spending several years in the Office of General Counsel at California State University. “I am very excited about this new challenge and opportunity,” she writes. “The job keeps me very busy, which is good because our children have left the nest, and I miss them a lot!” Leora’s daughter, Anna, graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2013 and lives in N.Y.; Leora’s son, Jeremy, is currently a junior at Berkeley. One nice thing, Leora notes, is that “Occidental is a beautiful school and working on the campus reminds me of my days at Wesleyan!” I guess we can’t go back… but we can sure appreciate the memories.

I received news from both Kaylie Jones and Lisa Greim as to how their paths crossed this summer at the Norman Mailer Center’s summer program in Salt Lake City, where Kaylie taught a memoir-writing workshop in which Lisa participated. “It’s the coolest thing I’ve done recently,” Lisa noted, “and it was the first time I’d seen Kaylie since graduation day in 1981! So it was especially fun to reconnect and bomb around SLC!” Lisa reports that she is still living in Denver, still writing, still empty-nesting—and still single!

As to the news from Kaylie: In addition to her writing and her regular university position, Kaylie often teaches at workshops like the one at the Norman Mailer Center. “It was one of the best workshops I’ve ever taught because Lisa Greim came from Colorado to be in the group. We reminisced about old times and our shared mentor, Jack Paton. It was a great gift to spend this time with her.” On a more personal note, Kaylie writes that her daughter Eyrna (a high school senior) spent the entire summer studying kung fu with Shaolin monks in Qufu, China. She is planning on applying to Wesleyan.

“When I brought her to my 20th Reunion,” Kaylie writes, “Eyrna went to Camp Cardinal for the day and said, ‘I like college very much. This is where I want to go.’ She was three and hasn’t changed her mind since!” One of the more exciting developments in Kaylie’s professional sphere is the new imprint she began under the aegis of Akashic Books which, she informed me, “just happens to be a fantastic independent publishing company created by another Wesleyan grad, Johnny Temple ’88.” This New York-based imprint, called “Kaylie Jones Books,” has created an exciting cooperative of dedicated emerging and established writers who are integrally involved in the entire publishing process. What an exciting endeavor!

It was great to hear from Charlie Newell, who deserves congratulations as he celebrates 20 years as the artistic director of the University of Chicago’s Court Theatre. The Theatre is poised to open their most ambitious season yet as they commemorate 60 years of theater. On the slate are two world premieres, a Greek tragedy, a Beckett masterpiece and a classic American musical—all supported by the Center for Classic Theatre at the U. of Chicago. If anyone is in the neighborhood, don’t miss one of these productions! Check out courtheatre.org for schedules and more information.

Ariel Rubissow Okamoto is still heavily involved in ecological issues out in the Bay Area, where she continues to write and publish on California water and ecosystem restoration issues. And speaking of restoration, Ariel writes that she and her family spent several weeks putting their vineyard to rights after the August 2014 earthquake in the Napa Valley. “Who knew so many plumbing and irrigation connections could be broken in 12 seconds,” she muses, “not to mention wine glasses? The tremor was so strong it broke the leg off the iron wood stove and the wheel off the grand piano!” Wow! Fortunately, everyone made it through the quake safely and—luckily for wine aficionados—the Rubissow wine inventory remained intact.

Matt King wrote in with news of his family. Daughter Isabelle ’16 is currently studying abroad in Copenhagen, where Matt and his wife plan to visit later this fall. On the work front, Matt has been asked to take over as the deputy assistant secretary of a new division at the Department of Homeland Security called “Law Enforcement Policy” while still keeping one foot in International Affairs. “This should be fun, and busy,” says Matt, “but it makes the holiday in Denmark seem too far away!” Congratulations on your new position, Matt, and all the best—it’s no easy task in today’s world!

Stephen White tells me that he retired from the military in 2011, is working at his wife Gayle’s property business, and enjoying it very much. Their 20-year-old daughter, Taylor, is living and working in Amherst, Mass. Steve also writes that he was “back on campus just last night picking up the latest sweatshirt!” Go Wes! He sends a special shout out to Jim White ’80, Mike Whalen ’83 and Bryon Lyons ’82.Another alum who was recently on campus is Ed Suslovic, who dropped off his daughter Kate ’17 for the start of her sophomore year. He and Spence Smith ran the Alumni Cross Country Race Sept. 6th., placing “respectably” behind the current set of runners. Ed writes that he and his wife dropped off their other daughter at Smith, where she is following in Ed’s footsteps as a cross-country runner. “I tried to keep up with her this summer with no success. I was hoping that experience would trump age but no such luck.” Son Matt started his sophomore year of high school and is unsure how he feels about being an only child. (My son Christopher found himself in the same boat last year… I think he’s looking forward to college!)

Kathy Prager Conrad, too, was back on campus in June for the graduation of her daughter Caroline ’14, who is now living in New York City along with her sister Liza ’11. This past July, Kathy, Deb Chapin Neebe, and Livia Wong McCarthy reunited at Livia’s beautiful home in Princeton—alas, without the fourth member of the Sunday Night Co-op (me!). Needless to say, a good time was had by all—even minus the Gallo Hearty Burgundy (and yours truly)!

Doug Mannen ’82 checked in from Oregon via Facebook. So much happening in his life! His two oldest daughters are getting married this coming year, child four of five just started college, and the youngest just entered high school. “It kind of feels like the beginning of the end of this phase of life,” writes Doug, a sentiment to which most of us can relate. He laments that he does not see too many Wes alum out in Oregon but this July he had the pleasure of welcoming Mark diTargiani ’85 and his family, as well as Coach Mike Whalen ’83.

Bart Brebner sent along this update: “In September, the following members of the Class of ’81 and ’82 held a dinner party in New York City to celebrate the milestone of their turning 55 in 2014: David Resnick P’13 (and wife Cathy Klema), Jeff Kluger (and wife Jenny), Laurie Jacobs P’12 (and friend, Robert Zorowitz), Jim Bordewick with his wife, Martha McNamara ’83, Amy Horowitz Schorr with her husband, Brian Schorr ’79, Joe Fins ’82 (and wife Amy Ehrlich) and Bart Brebner with his wife, Karen Liepmann ’83. Bart brought with him the Class of 1981 ‘Facebook’ printed in August 1977 and everyone—other than the spouses—agreed that we did not look much different from when we entered Wes!”

And as for me? I keep busy with my various volunteer activities, traveling, and teaching Zumba, which I really love. Our summer took us to Berlin (as usual) and then to the south of France (exceptionally). We happened to be in Nice during the jazz festival—wonderfully serendipitous and great fun! Where else can you sit back, sip champagne and listen to amazing jazz? That’s my kind of festival! All three of our sons are now here in town. Our eldest son, Alex (a software engineer), has returned home to the Midwest after a stint in Seattle working at Microsoft. He is happily ensconced back in Bloomington and gainfully employed in his field, and doing some consulting on the side. Our middle son, James, is a sophomore and studying informatics here at Indiana University, keeping busy with his studies (we hope!), his group house, his music, and his position on the IU Ultimate Frisbee Team. He took a summer class in Germany and apparently very much enjoyed showing the other students around the city of his birth, Berlin—or so it appeared from his Facebook posts! Last but not least, our third son, Christopher, is (maybe?) enjoying his status as “single child” as he enters his junior year in high school. He is a good student and musician (first chair sax in addition to being an accomplished pianist) as well as an athlete (tennis and ultimate Frisbee, whose team he captains); he also volunteers as a chess teacher in a local elementary school. So all in all, life is good!

Please write to me with news of you and yours.

David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com

JOANNE godin audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com

Greetings, once again, from Brooklyn. I never know when these will find their way to your mailbox, months after I write them. I write this in June, as I am about to visit my oldest son in Arizona, and, more importantly, his 2-year-old girl. He is a year from 30, and his sister just turned 25. Yes, their youngest sibling is still 9, as I write this, but some of you must have children who have hit 30 already. How do you cope with the knowledge that your child has hit the big 3-0? And, as important, if not more so: Can you still trust them?

Brian Ford reports that his book came out last year: Respect for Teachers: The Rhetoric Gap and How Research on Schools is Laying the Ground for New Business Models in Education, which examines and critiques the privatization of the public education system.

Gene Norden writes that after Wes, he got a law degree from Duke and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago business school. “I practiced law and was a wealth manager for many years, and recently made a career move to become director of trusts and estates at Bonhams auction house in New York. I love being in the art world and have never been happier! I remain very close friends with Tom Danziger, who is uniformly considered one of the top art lawyers in New York, and who has been invaluable in helping me make the transition.”

Steve Blum, who blogs at negotiatingtruth.com, finally finished the book he has been working on since he was class secretary. Negotiating Your Investments joins knowledge from his two longtime careers by applying negotiation methods he has taught at Wharton for two decades to investing and finance strategies from his practice.  Steve wonders aloud about the loss of dignity involved in begging classmates to read the darned thing.

Paul Godfrey is proud to report that his son, Charlie, graduated with distinction from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with degrees in math and physics. Next year he will be going to graduate school at the University of Washington headed towards a PhD in math. And, he will be a graduate teaching assistant. “Since I took self-paced calculus at Wes on a pass-fail basis and got a P, followed by a huge sigh of relief, this makes perfect sense.”

After a 25-year career as a broadcast photojournalist, Kit Tyler founded The American Mercury Inc., a media production company specializing in broadcast documentary programs. Kit has created dozens of series and programs on a wide range of topics from Autism to climate change to Western history.  Saving The Bay, a history of San Francisco Bay, won several Emmy awards. His latest work, Becoming California, the environmental history of California will premier in the fall of 2014. Kit lives in Sacramento, with his wife, Libby. They have two sons, Nicholas and Henry. 

Wesleyan friends Nancy Traub Chirinos and Charlie Spiegel recently traveled together to Seattle to celebrate Nancy’s younger daughter Eva’s graduation from University of Puget Sound, and to show Seattle Univ. to Charlie’s daughter, Nora.  “We continue to ask Nancy’s daughters, who are in college, if they want to stay in touch with their friends for their next 35 plus years,” Charlie adds, “although we progressively less articulate the exact number of years.”

Nancy is a marriage and family therapist intern at S.F.’s Marina Counseling Center. Charlie is a family lawyer/mediator in solo practice, and recently completed re-writing a California-wide low-cost divorce educational presentation to include same gender couples (divorceoptioninfo.com). “So we do weekly morning exercise walks up S.F’s Twin Peaks, and often swap case tips, and recognize how lucky we are to still live one block from one another. Join us some morning.”

David Todd informs us that “Since graduation, a collection of men from the class of ’81 has gathered now and then for a weekend in the wild. In April, Rich Eastman, Danny Haar, Chris Heye, Joel Kreisberg, Tom Land, Beck Lee, Kevin Osborn and I traveled to upstate New York to navigate a treasure hunt, hike together while all still can, and play poker. Kevin, as usual, won. Other outings have included Ryan Helwig, Rob Levin, Ted Parker and Perry Pockros. See the photo: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/

And finally, I will make one more shameless plug for my cousin, Gabrielle Fondiller ’07’s not-for-profit Hatua Likoni (hatualikoni.org). It’s a community NGO working to promote education and employment among youth in Likoni, Kenya. Through scholarships, mentoring and career guidance, Hatua helps Likoni’s top students gain the skills, credentials and networks they need to contribute to and benefit from Kenya’s growing economy. As you consider end-of-year charitable gifts, please keep this in mind.

David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com

JOANNE godin audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com

David writes: Greetings from Brooklyn. Thanks for your contributions this month:

Tom Furrer is in his 27th year of ordained ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and the 10th year of cooperative medical clinic ministry with the Anglican Diocese of Kaduna, Nigeria. In July 2013, he was installed as the Archdeacon of Kaduna Diocese—the first non-Nigerian to receive this honor. Over the past 10 years, this cooperative work has provided medical care to 100,000 people. A second clinic will open in 2014 that will double the capacity of the medical ministry.

Dave Robertson writes: “Mary Roach and I have at least four things in common: We’re both Wesleyan class of 1981. We both published books in 2013 (me: Brick by Brick; Mary: Gulp). Both of us have focused on topics that are of interest primarily to 7-year-old boys (in my case, LEGO; in Mary’s, eating and pooping). We shared a mailbox freshman year. Remember how they used to group us by last name? Robertson and Roach shared a box.”

Brian Tarbox is proud to announce, “I had a patent granted for caching of media in video streaming, and gave a sermon at our local UU Church on the meaning of spirituality in a heterogenous liberal faith. I’ve trained our congregation to replace ‘amen’ with Battlestar Galactica’s ‘So say we all’ at my services.”

Judith Mogul, with her husband, Dan Kramer ’80, tells us, “We had a Wesleyan wedding this summer, with our daughter, Ilona Kramer ’08 marrying Daniel Meyer ’08 at our home in Cold Spring, N.Y. Daniel’s mother, Anne Meyer ’71, is also a Wesleyan grad, so his father Rob was the only non-Wesleyan among the four parents.”

Jeremy Kenner still lives in Melbourne, Australia, “a wonderful city,” and works for the government in the health advice and research field. “I am the expert adviser for ethics to the National Health & Medical Research Council (our NIH, but much smaller scale). More important, after raising three sons to adulthood, I am starting over as the stepfather of a 6-year-old and father of a 15-month-old named Akiva Benjamin, with whom I am completely smitten. With their mother, a Russian emigré, I live a peaceful life by the bay just south of the city. I am also developing a piece of land in northeast Tasmania as a getaway for me and my five sons. Life couldn’t be better.”

During a US trip last summer, Jeremy saw Bob Stern ’80, Suzanne Papert Hinman, Bob and Fran Pepperman Taylor ’80, Peter Frumkin ’80 and Anji Fink Citron and Todd Herron Citron ’82. “All are well, as are all their 14 children.”

He adds, “Australia is all the good things people say it is. Come and see!”

Neil Foote got promoted to principal lecturer at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, where he teaches introductory and advanced classes, including digital and social media for journalists. “I also am still running my communications consulting firm, where I do everything from traditional public relations, media strategy, content management and brand positioning for such clients as nationally syndicated radio personality and entrepreneur Tom Joyner. My wife, Jane, and I have enjoyed visiting our daughter, Alex, who is in her junior year at Harvard where she is in East Asian Studies. I’m a lifetime trustee at The Lamplighter School, an early childhood school, which my daughter attended and where fellow alumnus Jonathan Morgan ’94 serves on the board. I’m also president of the board for the National Kidney Foundation, where we’re raising money to increase awareness about preventing kidney disease.”

Chris Heye was fortunate last fall to see many old Wes friends. “I spent time before and after Game 6 of the World Series wandering the streets of Boston with Dan Lynch ’80 and Steve Mooney ’80. I also saw Dan Haar and Joel Kreisberg at the Head of the Charles regatta in October. Finally, I visited Dave Bartholomew in his new digs in St. Louis. Fortunately this was before the World Series. I hope he will still have me back.”

Chris Graves has more news than can fit here! “The big news is that my daughter, Julia Graves ’17, started this year at Wesleyan, alongside many alumni friends’ sons and daughters, as well (Matt King, Melissa Stern ’80 and Jim Friedlich ’79). Julia also ran into several friends from Hong Kong, now also at Wes. How amazing to be young and at Wesleyan. Not so bad to be old and visit either.” At Homecoming, Chris witnessed our first Little 3 title in 43 years. “Who knew it had been that long?”

Chris continues to serve as global CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations, whose group, Ogilvy and Mather, was named for the second year running, number 1 at the annual Cannes Festival. He was also a contributing author of the third book in a series, called Reimagining India, which includes fellow contributors Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt (Google chairman). In October, he chaired an event in NYC he named “Content Frenzy!” leading a no-holds barred debate among media leaders from Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Business Review and digital “natives” from BuzzFeed and others.

Finally, here’s a plug for a worthy not-for-profit, run by Gabrielle Fondiller ’07, who also happens to be my cousin. She spent a semester abroad in Kenya while at Wes. After graduation, she started and now runs an organization called Hatua Likoni (hatualikoni.org) helping young Kenyans to be able to afford high school, which is not mandatory, so they can get the education they need to succeed. Please help if you can. Thanks.

David I. Block and Joanne Godin Audretsch 

dAVID.I.block@GMAIL.com
Berlinjo@aol.com