CLASS OF 1988 | 2018 | ISSUE 3

Peter writes for this edition: Jim Most ’89, Joe Grasso ’86, Greg White, Jim Maynard, Phil Guidrey, Matt Nestor ’87, Jim Cashin ’89, Steven Therrien, and Jeff St. Sauveur gathered to honor the life and support the family of our friend and teammate, Greg Ballarino, who sadly passed away last spring after an illness.

Bronwyn Poole updates: “After more than 15 years in Chicago, my husband, Peter, and I have decided it’s time for a new adventure. We’re moving to Santa Fe in 2019. If anyone would like to visit, please come and experience the City Different! It will be bittersweet leaving our friends in Chicago, but we’re looking forward to hiking in the mountains from our backyard and walking to the Plaza for festivals.”

Natasha Judson writes in: “I’m preparing to lead my third trip for Williams College students to India, coming up this January for their winter study course. We will study at a Tibetan monastery in the south of India and practice Iyengar yoga next to the Ganges up north in Rishikesh, while volunteering at a school for kids living in the slums.”

Alex Bergstein was running for State Senate to represent Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan in the Connecticut legislature, and she won! “This seat has never been held by a Democrat, but it’s time for that to change. Campaigning has been an extraordinary experience because every day I get to do what I love—discuss serious issues and real solutions. I find that people are hungry for the truth and for a reason to hope.”

David Lazer shares: “I guess my big news is the release last week of my new book, Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy. It is a reform proposal, in which we argue that the relationship between citizens and their elected representatives can be strengthened through regular (and specially structured) online town halls. It is based on a series of field experiments my collaborators and I did around online town halls, involving citizens meeting with their members of Congress. More info at politicswiththepeople.com.”

Hannah Doress: “I just started as a resource conservation climate specialist at County of San Mateo, recently cofounded the Bay Area Hub for the American Society of Adaptation Professionals and spoke at the California Adaptation Forum representing Women’s Alliance for Climate Justice. Living in San Carlos near San Francisco in Silicon Valley—come visit!”

Stuart Ellman reports, “I have gotten together with Mark Niles a few times since our sons were randomly paired as freshman roommates. Very nice coincidence.” Gail Agronick had lunch with Mark when he was dropping his son off and advises: “I really enjoyed spending a few days at Wesleyan last spring during WesFest with my daughter, Addie. The performing arts continue to thrive on campus and the food is much better than I remember!”

John Ferrara chimes in: “I had one child, A.J. ’18, graduate from Wesleyan this year, while I sent another child, Claudia ’21, into her freshman year at Wesleyan. Note to self—you do not get a family discount!”

Neil Benson and his wife, Lori Price ’87, advise their “oldest son, Oliver ’22, is happily ensconced at Wesleyan and is having a great time so far. He lives in Bennet (the new dorm where once MoCon did dwell). We can’t wait for parents’ weekend!” Neil got out of the music business and now owns a restaurant, Red Zebra, in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. Lori is a senior VP at Cornerstone Research in NYC.

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2018 | ISSUE 2

Hillary writes for this issue. Greg Wolfe started working with a client a couple years ago, The Forward, and had a chance to meet the editor, Jane Eisner ’77, over the holidays this past year, and reminisce with her about Wesleyan. He ran into his neighbor, Lincoln Bjorkman ’87, at a high school graduation party. Greg’s hoping to get together with Meg Harris and Raph Worrick soon for their (almost) annual visit.

Laura Bennett wrote in for the first time in over 30 years. Laura and her partner have a podcast called American Diplomat, which goes behind the scenes to hear personal stories from diplomats who lived newsworthy events overseas.

Jenifer McKim went to Reunion for the first time ever in May, and had a fantastic time catching up with old friends and making new ones. She’s already looking forward to our 35th. [See p. 22  for more on Jenifer]

John Ferrara celebrated our 30th Reunion on campus with his wife and three kids while watching one son graduate (A.J. ’18) and picking up his daughter after her freshman year (Claudia ’21). “A pretty cool experience.”

David Silverberg had two books come out this year on the topic of transformation in higher education. The books feature case studies and interviews from colleges and universities around the country and are titled Empowerment at the Tower: Leadership & Identity in Higher Education and Institutional Change from Within: Teaching & Learning in Higher Education.

Timothy McCallum is settling into his fourth year on Maui and is busy teaching pilates, raising his son (who is not quite 2), and doing a radio show every Friday on Manao Radio 91.7 FM.

Nathan Ainspan received a Spirit of Service Award from the Department of Defense for his work helping service members transitioning to civilian status. Nathan is a research psychologist with the Transition to Veterans Program Office. He was selected for the award for his work using psychological research to improve the military-to-civilian transition process. He founded and organized the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s (Division 14) Veterans Initiative, a national volunteer outreach project that provides information and guidance to employers interested in hiring military veterans and connecting veterans with industrial psychologists for pro bono assistance on résumés, interviews, and job networking.

Laura Hall Jonas launched her own consulting business, LivingHealthyMatters, combining all of her interests in education, health care, and helping others. She is delivering evidence-based interventions for multiple causes (e.g. diabetes prevention, falls prevention, stress relief for caregivers) and is providing development assistance for the Village Movement in her local region.

Rich Silverman writes, “I’m still living in Los Angeles and working in the entertainment industry. I just got back from a fun trip to Tokyo and we’re trying to figure out the next travel adventure.”

We love hearing from you—keep sending us your news!

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2018 | ISSUE 1

Bruno Oliver has been living in LA for two decades now: “Certainly not the place I anticipated ending up back in ’88! Working as an actor on TV, voice over, and some film. I’m the current board president of The Sacred Fools Theater Company and have been kept very busy shepherding the company’s transition from our old single theater space to a new, multi-venue home in Hollywood. The company has been my passion for many years. If you live in LA or are just visiting, hit me up and I’ll give you a tour…and we can have a drink in our (just about to open) theater bar.”

Stephen Morison shares: “My family and I have returned to the U.S. after 10 years overseas in order to be within driving distance of our daughter (where she is on the same dorm as Steve Pryor’s daughter—it has been great to catch up with Steve and his lovely wife, Leslie). We are enjoying our experiences working at Cape Cod Academy in Osterville, and we are getting used to driving American roads again. I’m still writing for Poets & Writers Magazine. We occasionally catch dinner with Kim Carr Hare and Jon Hare ’87 who live in Falmouth, and of course, we look forward to seeing Paul Gosselin, Steve Kullback ’89, Wendy Blum ’87, Nancy Nachbar ’89, Drew Davis, and other Wes folk at Paul’s annual summer Cape gatherings.”

Dave Grotell writes: “I have taken a position as professor of videography at  the University of Alabama in Huntsville. I never thought I would say this, but I’ve moved to the Deep South! It’s quite interesting. I got a chance to canvas for U.S. Senator Doug Jones and enjoy the victory party on home turf. And I am working to create a program in film and video where none had existed. If you’re in Alabama, say hello!”

John Stein chimes in from Burkina Faso in western Africa. “We are in Ouagadougou. Loving it. The littles are playing in local soccer clubs and/or learning to drum.” John’s Chi Psi brother Tim McCallum updates that he is “happily running my Pilates studio and trying to keep up with my 15-month-old son. Two full time jobs, plus Tai Ji school, and the avocation of life on Maui. It’s a beautiful blur.” In his first unforced class notes submission since graduation, Stuart Ellman claims he “is looking forward to hanging out with Peter Bond at the 30th Reunion.”

Greg Wolfe reports: “I started working with a new client last year, The Forward, a Jewish news magazine and website, and it turns out their editor-in-chief, Jane Eisner ’77, also taught at Wesleyan. It was great meeting her and talking about Wesleyan.”

Hannah Doress updates us: “It has been an exciting year serving on the Steering Committee of the Resilient Communities Initiative—where I was able to bring lessons learned through Shore Up Marin (the equitable climate—especially coastal flooding & sea level rise—adaptation organization I co-founded in 2013) to San Francisco Bay Area efforts. I would love to connect with others in the Wes community who are working on climate, social equity, and voting rights issues. Emily and I celebrated two decades together not long ago and our son, a gifted mechanic and musician, is now in eighth grade. I made a whirlwind trip to New York and managed to sneak in a visit with David Milch ’89 while there.”

Kara Stern advises: “I am freshly relocated to Tel Aviv and would love to connect with anyone who might also be here! sternkara@gmail.com.” Joanna Martin shares: “I have spent the past 30 years in Berlin, Germany, and enjoy watching world history unfold from this vantage point.”

Bobbito Garcia is cohosting What’s Good With Stretch and Bobbito, a new National Public Radio podcast. Garcia is working again with his collaborator from the ’90s, DJ Stretch Armstrong. Garcia was on campus this fall to speak in the Sociology of Music in Social Movements class, taught by John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology Rob Rosenthal. Garcia spoke on the role of the music industry in presenting artists whose work has an underlying political theme.

Robert Wrubel’s Financial Freedom for Special Needs Families has been named a finalist in the 30th annual Independent Book Publisher’s Association Benjamin Franklin Award program.

Finally, Jenifer McKim lets us know she co-taught a class a writing class at Wes this spring which was “pretty fun.”

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2017 | ISSUE 3

Hillary writes for this issue. As always, great to hear your news!

Rob Wrubel’s new book is called Financial Freedom for Special Needs Families. The book is based on the financial planning work Rob does for families with a member with an intellectual or developmental disability.

Peter Bond writes: “After three great years in Rhode Island reconnecting with classmates Jim Maynard, Ollie Bennett, and Jeff St. Sauveur, I have accepted a new role as VP of consumer activation at Spins Ventures, a natural/organic products market research firm. My wife and I are relocating to Chicago and have a new home in the Bucktown neighborhood. We spent our last East Coast weekend across Long Island Sound at the summer residence of Stuart Ellman and his wife, Susan Ellman ’90.”

Trudy Martell-Olofinboba lives in Farmington, Conn. She is a staff anesthesiologist in Integrated Anasthesia Associates Partners. She and her husband will be celebrating 24 years of marriage and have one daughter.

Lisa Renery writes: “In June I was thrilled to attend the bar mitzvah of Brad Kramer’s son. I’m looking forward to spending time with the Kramer four at our 30th, among tons of others! Andy Laken, Denise Dupont, and Rannylin Dalley —missed you at our 25th. Please come this time!”

Majora Carter acquired a permanent easement on the historic Cass Gilbert-designed rail station in her South Bronx community of Hunts Point, and entered a joint venture to redevelop the unique site for commercial use. She’s looking for creative food tenants. Down the street, she is co-owner of the new Boogie Down Grind Café, the only locally-owned specialty coffee shop in the South Bronx and the first such establishment in the neighborhood in over 30 years.

Kate Hellenga writes: “I am living in San Francisco with my partner, Jason, my 13-year-old stepson, and my Taiwanese rescue dog. In September, I took a new job as staff psychologist for Jail Behavioral Health Services, a unit of the Department of Public Health. Corrections work was my ‘first love’ and I’m glad to be getting back to it after about 10 years away. Aside from that, San Francisco is beautiful, expensive, and hard to imagine leaving. So we indulge in cranky middle-aged nostalgia: ‘Remember 25 years ago when that pricey, curated, self-conscious _____ was a cheap/dive/arty ______?’”

Mark Miller is a founder, CFO, and CSO (Chief Sandwich Officer) of the recently opened Hex & Company, a board game café in NYC.

Beth Kaufman Miller ’86 is finishing her studies at the New School and teaching ESL at The Sanctuary for Families in downtown NYC. They are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their band, Spuyten Duyvil, with a Midwest tour and the making of a new CD of original music. The Ladle and the Fire-Pan is a follow up to 2016’s International Folk Music Awards Album of the Year-nominated The Social Music Hour, Vol. 1.

We hope to see you at our 30th Reunion!

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2017 | ISSUE 2

Peter writes for this issue. Matt Olton reports in: “On picture perfect Saturday, May 27, in Los Angeles, Ricky Barragan and Samantha Goodman married in front of a small group of family and close friends that included Ricky’s daughters Bianca ’21 and Lauren ’21 (incoming Wes class) and Samantha’s children, Annabelle and William. A nice Wesleyan contingent was present that included Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, Victoria Harper, Tony Rosenthal, Craig Morgan ’89, Andy Stern ’87, and Matt Olton.”

Tim McCallum “had a kid: Logan McCallum, born in October to parents with a combined age of 94. First kid for us both.”

After 23 years at Silicon Valley Bank, Jim Maynard has departed to join MResult Corp out of Mystic, Conn., cutting his commute by 80 percent—but he still makes regular trips to Boston for Red Sox games.

Steve Morison shares: “After three terrific years in Rome we are returning to Cape Cod next year, largely to stay close to our daughter.”

In 2016, Dr. Emily Bliss Gerber joined UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland as Director of Behavioral Health.

Majora Carter advises: “My husband James Chase and I celebrated our 50th birthdays and our 10th wedding anniversary at a party last winter in NYC with awesome Wes friends: Evie Lovett and her husband Jeff Shumlin ’82, Leticia Pineiro ’88, Schuyler Allen-Kalb ’90, Steven Toledo ’04, and Sohana Punithakumar ’04. They all participated in what was an epic Soul Train line! I’m super excited about the new restaurant project I am co-developing in my hometown of Hunts Point and, I am the very proud co-owner of the only locally-owned specialty coffee shop in the South Bronx, the Boogie Down Grind Café.”

Michael and Cheryl Sheffler Rubenstein write: “We celebrated our oldest daughter Lily’s Bat Mitzvah in Arnold, Md., in May. We were blessed to be joined by David Lazer, Deborah Edelman Caney, and Gordon Agress ’89.”

Paul Lewis just published the award-winning book, Manual of Section, a comprehensive analysis of the history and the role of section in architecture, already in its third printing and available in six languages. Paul was recently elevated to the level of fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), and was promoted to full professor at Princeton University, where he serves as the associate dean of the School of Architecture.

Federico Quadrani is “executive producer of The Lead with Jake Tapper on CNN, having moved to the D.C. area from New York four years ago to launch the program. My wife Elena and I live in Bethesda with our two children, Luca (15) and Chiara (10).”

Hannah Doress updates: “I recently joined the Steering Committee of Resilient Communities Initiative, a coalition of environmental justice groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, including ShoreUpMarin.org, which I co-founded. Since the election I made a resolution to be (even) more politically active (I know, shocking!). Among many other activities, I have started writing blogs on Medium and Daily Kos and was super honored when our classmate Brad Kramer picked up my piece on Trump’s gaslighting for his site LetsDoTruth.org. My Wesleyan experience was a major motivation to write about Neil Gorsuch, as was my role as VP for the Breaking News Network because of having a built-in audience. You can see my tweets/pieces there and follow local news in 400 cities at tbnn.it. We moved to Silicon Valley where my wife is a music teacher and our 13-year-old is a budding mechanic, musician, and rebel extraordinaire. We’ve been having fun Wes get-togethers in the Bay Area around author events with great turnouts for Alex Chee ‘89 and Hida Viloria 90 this year. Some of the folks that turned up included Amy Randall ’89, Jason Dewees ’91, Judith Sansone, Kate Hellenga, Tawnya Dudash ’89, and Samantha Ostergaard ’91. Amy Randall and Mat Reed ‘91 joined us for a DIY progressive seder this year as well.”

Cecelia Bolden lets us know that “In June of 2016, I was promoted to chief delivery officer for my company (sdipresence.com).  We are a systems integrator, with a staff of 150, and offices in Chicago, Charleston, and LA. In 2016, I was honored to be selected as a Woman of Excellence by the Chicago Defender because of my work in the Chicago business community, as well as my philanthropic work within the city of Chicago. Also, I will be awarded the 2017 Business Leader of Color by Chicago United (chicago-united.org), an organization that advocates to achieve parity in economic opportunity for people of color by advancing multi racial leadership in corporate governance, executive level management, and business diversity.”

Andrew Drury shares: “I still manage to survive as a jazz drummer in New York somehow. I’m busy playing and recording with lots of groups. I’m co-curating this fall’s Edgefest (a jazz festival) in Ann Arbor and will be playing there with several groups, including my quartet, Content Provider, a trio with Joe McPhee, and a project with a large ensemble of UM students in a cathedral. I run a house concert series, Soup & Sound (soupandsound.org), at my house. I did a two-week music residency in Bogotá in February—performed and gave workshops at the Universidad de los Andes and Javeriana U, played at a percussion festival run by a musician’s collective, and did a lot of collaborating with locals. I’ll be doing similar work in the Fall in Argentina. My wife, Alissa Schwartz ’91, good friend Michael Reinke ’91, and I started a nonprofit organization, Continuum Culture & Arts (continuumculture.org), that does innovative educational programs in Brooklyn public schools, facilitates international cultural exchange, puts out recordings, and helps the music community in various ways. Also I was recently awarded a fellowship from the Jubilation Foundation.”

U.J. Sofia is “starting a new job (with the longest title ever!). On July 1, 2017, I will head west to become the Weinberg Family Dean of the W. M. Keck Science Department of Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges.”

Cyrillene Clark has been busy with her son’s college applications. “Through the whole college admissions whirlwind I got to reconnect with former Wesleyan dean and recently retired vice chancellor at UCLA, Janina Montero. She is still awesome.”

Finally, John “Sparky” Ferrara boasts: “My daughter Claudia ’21 has accepted her admittance to Wesleyan, joining her brother AJ ’18 next year (who will be a senior).”

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2017 | ISSUE 1

Hillary writes for this issue.

Greetings, classmates. I had the good fortune of catching up with Bronwyn Poole in November when I traveled to Chicago on business. My other news is that I adopted a new pup at the end of the summer; he’s keeping me active and smiling.

Robert Wilder ’88 draws on his 25 years of teaching experience to paint a complex, funny, poignant picture of life in middle school in Nickel: A Novel (Leaf Storm Press).

Elline Lipkin writes that she is a research scholar with UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women, but taught at Scripps College this fall as a guest scholar. She also teaches poetry for Writing Workshops Los Angeles, and was appointed the poet laureate of Altadena, a community two miles north of Pasadena. She has enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth Saveri ’87, whom she met in the local Trader Joe’s, and would be glad to connect with other Wes alumni in the Pasadena area.

Jenifer McKim shares her Wes moments from last year: “Met Julie Hobert and Melissa Albert in January for a ski weekend. Reconnected with Sharon Greenberger at the Wes Sons and Daughters Weekend in November. And an unexpected honor: I’m teaching a six-week non-fiction writing class at Wes this winter.”

Steve Morison reports that he’s still in Rome teaching. He recently saw Paul Gosselin in Paris, and Steve Kullback ’89 in Rome last spring.

Amelia G ’88 is the editor of BLT 25: Black Leather Times Punk Humor and Social Critique from the Zine Revolution, a collection of every issue of the punk humor zine.

Tim McCallum shares the announcement of a new son, Logan. He and his family are living happily in Kihei, Hawaii, and while they miss people, they don’t miss the Mainland at all.

All the best,

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2016 | ISSUE 3

Peter writes for this issue. Justine Gubar reports: “I’ve moved to Miami to work at Fusion, Univision’s English-language cable network and digital platform, as the supervising producer of investigations.”

Pat McDarrah connected with some classmates in San Francisco, notably Jono Marcus, Andy Weissman, Robert Wilder, and Michael Shaffer. Pat writes, “Rob’s new novel, Nickel, is now available in stores and online. Jono just became a father for the second time. Andy came out to Bay Area to see a Phish show with Wilder, and they also had a mini-Wesleyan reunion at Toronado. Shaffer just started at Dropbox after a long stint at EA (Electronic Arts). He has a new son named Dylan. I’m good. All settled into NorCal life and will celebrate six years here this December with my wife, Emma Gardner ’89. We are up in Petaluma, Sonoma County. Look us up if you’re visiting wine country! I still keep in touch with other classmates. Perry Klebahn is a professor at Stanford and makes occasional appearances out. Dylan MacDonald comes out for beers. I saw my freshman roommate Chris Strobel ’89. His family moved to Dallas.”

Steve Pike writes, “I have retired from the Foreign Service in July 2016 and am now assistant professor of public relations at Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. My wife, Jenny, my kids, Aubrey and Zach, and I are getting used to a whole new life in Central New York, and looking forward to staying in one place for a while instead of moving every two to three years!”

Harry Berger sends an update: “I have taken a position as the tier one Canada research chair in ethnomusicology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where I will serve as director of the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place, and professor of music and folklore. It’s a great gig at an excellent university in a wonderful town, St. John’s. My family and I are very happy to have made the move.”

Rob Wrubel shares, “David Mendels and Leila Yassa put together a weekend for their birthdays and invited a bunch of Wes friends and their families to celebrate at Squam Lake in New Hampshire. We spent the last weekend of June with Rob Krulak, Judy Haas, Laura Flynn, Karin Stack, Ryan Alexander, Carrie Corrigan, and other friends. There were close to 50 people paddle boarding, swimming in the lake, and catching up.”

John “Sparky” Ferrara writes, “In July, a Chi Psi reunion party was held at my Massachusetts home. The celebration was a weekend-long party that included the 1980s campus favorite Tommy O’Carroll, Irish folk singer. Attendees (60-plus) represented 13 Wesleyan classes spanning over 35 years, traveling from 10 states. Wes ’88 alumni included Jim Van Hoven, Stephen Worth, Andy Campbell, and Roger Scholl, among others.”

Tim McCallum reports some major changes in his life: “In 2014, I sold my business. In 2015, I moved to Hawaii. In 2016, my first kid arrives. In 2017, I can’t even imagine…”

Linda Brinen-Stout writes, “We are living in Mill Valley, Calif., and I’m still at UCSF, as an associate professor of pharmacology. In July and August, my husband, 11-year-old son, and I took an amazing trip to Alaska to celebrate the combination of my 50th birthday and seven years of survival post-brain cancer. We took a small plane into McCarthy, Alaska and explored from there. Unbelievable sights and experiences on land, glacier, in the air, and on the water throughout the trip.”

Jennifer Taylor writes, “I’m three weeks into my new position as director of design and construction at OHSU in Portland, Ore. This is an exciting career shift for me from practicing architecture to working on the owner side overseeing the department that runs all the construction projects for the hospital and university. It also means a return to Portland from the Bay Area. My whole family is enjoying being back in our house and neighborhood! I also had the pleasure of seeing Dina Goldman and meeting her son when they passed through Portland.”

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Hillary writes for this issue.

Lisa Renery reports that she recently left Ancestry.com for a design research role at UBER’s San Francisco headquarters. She is one of two other Wes alums on her team (Jenny Lo ’10 and Hilary Hoeber ’96). Lisa’s been having fun commemorating/commiserating with classmates Rick Stein, Paulette Taylor and Brad Kramer about their (our!?) milestone birthdays.

Laura Wiessen writes in for the first time(!), sharing that after years of being a news and documentary producer in New York and Chicago (with a stint in Jerusalem), she married in 2008 and is living in Gloucester, Mass., with her husband and two girls. Laura says this move is quite a change from her urban lifestyle, and wants you to let her know if you’re in Gloucester.

Majora Carter’s company, StartupBox, and Birch Coffee will open a new café in the South Bronx. StartupBox also acquired a historic rail station and plans to transform it into a restaurant incubator. Majora says “both of these projects are part of my theory about self-gentrification, i.e., the creation of great economic development projects, by and for the people currently living in low-status communities, before they get traditionally gentrified, builds resistance to brain drain because the smart, hardworking people born and raised in those communities (the ones like me, who were taught to measure success by how far they get away from their hometowns) will want to re-invest in their own communities instead of fleeing as soon as they can.”

Andrea Gural has been busy “managing life and general chaos with four boys.” She recently switched jobs and is now working as director of Budget and Analysis at NYU Global Programs, which is NYU’s study-away program. She had been looking for a move to nonprofits and education, and says this is a good fit with her global work experience.

Rob Wilder’s first novel, Nickel, will be published by Leaf Storm Press in September. Author Augusten Burroughs states that “no one has ever written about the pains of being a teenager—physically and psychologically, inside and out—quite like Robert Wilder in his startling debut novel. He has created indelible characters in Monroe and Coy—funny and sad and strong and broken—and Nickel is about as real as it gets.”

Christina Pugh received a 2015–16 Guggenheim fellowship in poetry, and has two poetry books in the works: Perception and Stardust. She will share more info with us when the books are available.

PETER v.s. BOND | 007@pvsb.org

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2016 | ISSUE 1

Peter writes for this issue:

Andy Stewart won his third election as Orangetown, N.Y., town supervisor and is “excited to work on local government stuff for another two years. Rachel Grob and I are headed toward the 30th anniversary this September of our meeting in the reading room of the Science in Society Program, and just moved to a new house in Nyack, N.Y., a village on the Hudson River where we have lived since 1996. She is researching, publishing and organizing on issues of health care reform, working for the Center for Patient Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. We recently brought our daughter, Talia, to the Wes campus for the Sons and Daughters program for learning about the college application process, and Rachel and I got a kick out of showing her our old haunts.”

Benjamin Junge is teaching anthropology at SUNY-New Paltz: “Had a great mini-reunion with Schuyler Frautschi and William Weiss last summer—The gents came to Beacon to see me make a fool of myself in an XTC cover band! On other fronts: I’ve just started a three-year, NSF-funded study of class mobility in Brazil; very exciting!”

Joey Xanders reports, “I am the proud mama of a baby kitten called Halo. She brings me great joy! I inherited this kitten from Clarence Thomas (CT) at the same time I signed on to manage him. CT is a young hip hop/R&B artist/musician from East Oakland. I’m also managing a music collective CT created called UMC (United Music Crew) filled with young urban rappers, singers, and gospel artists. On the other end of the spectrum of life, I have consulted to create a new fellowship for healthcare. It’s called the Carol B. Emmott Fellowship for Women Leaders in Healthcare. (I produced a 90-minute documentary on Carol which lead to the creation on this fellowship.) Lastly, I’m working on my book proposal on my experience as the founding director and co-creator of The Moth. If you attended The Moth anytime from 1997-2001, shoot me a story! All said, I’m most blessed with my 12-year-old son, Magnus, who is a stellar soul and ardent basketball player. Please drop a line if you’re in California.”

Bobbito Garcia shares: “Recently directed my second film, Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives (stretchandbobbito.com), and have been touring the world to promote the release. Also have the fourth season of my basketball tournament Full Court 21™ World Final (fullcourt21nyc.com) coming this summer, with qualifiers in Beijing, London, LA, Philadelphia, Chicago, Ghana, Mali, New Zealand, Toronto, and Vancouver. I’m most busy though raising my 2-year-old son.”

Cher Gray advises: “I am living a modest life in South Florida (been here over 20 years.) I am a freelance consultant in advertising. Always looking to extend my clientele list. Bummed that I haven’t had the time/opportunity to visit Wes in some time, but would like to change that in 2016.”

Andy Goldman writes in from the Pacific NW: “In September 2015, I was selected to become the Arnold Distinguished Professor at Gonzaga University, where I’ve been working now for 14 years. I’m very honored to have been selected, and for the next three years I’m appointed to act as something of a ‘champion’ of the humanities, working to promote them at our school and in our wider community. If anyone has any ideas on how I might best do this, I’m all ears (goldman@gonzaga.edu). This summer I also began as the field director for a new excavation project in Sinop, in northern Turkey on the Black Sea coast. We’re exploring ancient Sinope, a Greek colony and later the capital of the Pontic kingdom, with support from the NEH and National Geographic.”

David Silverberg chimes in from the Midwest: “I’m now director of the Telego Center for Educational Improvement at Ashland University in Ohio. We do university outreach to K–12 school districts to address contemporary needs for professional development, grants, curriculum audits, special events, etc. I am also a faculty member with ASCD International and, in that position, provide training and research for school districts around the country. I live in the Cleveland area with my wife and two children, now 7 and 9.”

Bruno Oliver recently hit the 20-year mark in Los Angeles. “I would have considered the very idea [of living in LA] ‘insane.’ It’s ‘home’ now, but I still yearn for Chicago—the Lake, Lincoln Park, apartments with long hallways, and neighborhood bars with half-lit Old Style signs that beckon safety in a snowstorm. Still acting, hopefully I’ll be on your TVs more this year than last. Also teaching, coaching, and consulting for actors. Last year I became board president of Sacred Fools Theater Company, one of the busiest and most important forces in L.A. small theater.”

C.C. (Crichlow) Clark: “I live in Arlington, Va. I have been doing college visits with my son. The last time I was on campus I ran into Eric Greene ‘90. He is working at UCLA. I also had dinner with Ingrid Gordon this summer when she was in northern Virginia for work.”

Steve Morison is in Rome with his wife and daughter, “working and living at St. Stephen’s School. All is well. In the last month, I’ve visited with Paul Gosselin and Amy Madigan Simmons ’91, both in Paris.”

PETER V.S. BOND | 007@pvsb.org

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2015 | ISSUE 3

Hillary writes for this issue.

Greetings classmates. You will see that our notes this time around are pretty slim; we hope you’ll update us on your news so that we’ll have more to share next time.

Ilya Vinkovetsky writes, “This year I am a visiting scholar at the University of Helsinki. My work here is about how Russia and Britain, two countries far away from any tea plantations, became cultures heavily associated with tea. Being in Finland is a great adventure for me and the whole family.”

And Pauline Frommer reports, “It’s been a crazily busy couple of years, as my father and I, through a long process, regained ownership of the Frommer guidebooks and Frommers.com. And suddenly I went from a person who had done editorial work for most of her career to being a publisher, and dealing with everything from the cost of paper to the fact that if a book is returned to the publisher the publisher has to issue a refund (making each book a calculated gamble—who knew?). Part of me wished I’d taken more math—okay, any math—at Wes, but a bigger part was grateful for all of the philosophy classes I took so I could remain sanguine when our books sat on the California docks for an extra two months due to a slowdown there by the dockworkers. (And being a Wes grad, of course I was on the dockworkers’ side). Long story short, we’re a small family business once again, which is exciting and exhausting in equal measure. (Oh, and I get to write the Frommer’s EasyGuide to New York City, which means I have an excuse to spend lots and lots of time in museums and at historic sites, and pretend I’m not a middle-aged mom when I go out bar- and club-hopping to get the necessary reviews.)

“I was lucky enough to go to the Wesleyan Mad Men event at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, N.Y., which was superb, thanks to the awe-inspiring curatorial gifts of Carl Goodman, who’s the president of the museum, and his staff. I caught up there with Cobina Gillitt ’87 and Claire Conceison ’87. I was also so happy to get to spend some time with the always delightful Kara Flannery, who is becoming a real maven of marketing, and also a force in the local politics of the Connecticut town she lives in. I look forward to seeing more Wes folks this fall when I head to the Sons and Daughters event at the school with my 16-year-old daughter, Veronica.”

PETER v.s. BOND | 007@pvsb.org

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com