Tag: 2005

Matt Lewis is working happily as a lawyer in San Francisco, though at a new firm (Payne & Fears—yes that’s the real name). His family—wife Jessica, 3-year-old, Jack, and 8-month-old, Charlie—are living in Marin County, settling into a new house in Novato, with plenty of space for old friends to visit!

Adam Smiley Poswolsky ’05 proves himself an able guide for millennials trying to find their way in their professional life in The Quarter-Life Breakthrough: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work, and Build a Life That Matters (Tarcher Perigee/Penguin Random House).

Andrew Stuerzel is happy to report that he and his wife, Adriana Rojas ’07, are enjoying life in Middletown with their two children, Reese (4) and Marco (1). Adriana is working at the Weitzman Institute in the Community Health Center, and Andrew is helping expand Wesleyan’s global footprint as a development officer in the Office of University Relations. He was in Asia for Wes this past fall and is making another trip to Southeast Asia in April. Reese will begin kindergarten at McDonough School this fall, and they look forward to hearing about her interactions with the Wes students who take time out of their schedules to help out there. Marco will continue to attend Neighborhood Preschool behind Butterfield B. They are grateful for the wonderful access and exposure they have had to the Wes community during their time there.

Isaac Fleisher recently fled NYC with his wife and two daughters. They moved to his hometown of Northampton, Mass., without jobs! They have jobs and now they’re living the dream, or some approximation of it.

Sivan Cotel was thrilled after the release of Stonecutter Spirits Heritage Cask Whiskey, which grabbed gold medals in the 2016 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition and the 2017 World Spirits Competition.

Emily Pfeiffer-Russell is taking care of her 1-year-old son, Henry, while teaching part-time in Virginia. Her husband is finishing up a PhD. in ecophysiology and ecoclimatology at Virginia Tech. She was so grateful and happy to see many Wesleyan friends at two different alumni weddings this past year: Andreas Mendez-Penate is in Massachusetts and Kelly McFarling is in California.

Jay Kabel started a new job as technical director of software development at SingleStone Consulting and is having a good time in the Charlottesville, Va., area.

Jesse S. Sommer is allegedly in London, where both his wallet and passport have been stolen. He urgently needs just a few hundred dollars…  In other news, CPT Jesse S. Sommer is the senior prosecutor at Fort Polk, La. He has reason to believe that his e-mail account was recently hacked.

Maria I. Nankova survived a hard year in Brussels, having worked very near the airport at the time of the attack. Still living in Belgium with her kids and partner, they welcomed a Wes alum, Andy Gottlieb ’14, who came to Brussels to work at the European Parliament. While Andy was there, they visited Dinant and Namur where they did a little hike, celebrated Thanksgiving together, and went to Indian and African restaurants. All in all, they had a lot of fun and shared fond memories of Wesleyan. Andy was able to give a few history lessons to their older child who learned about U.S. elections at the time of the real elections. If anyone is passing through Brussels, please stop by to visit.

Sara Bremen Rabstenek and her husband, Tom Rabstenek ’03, welcomed their second daughter, Abigail Ruth Rabstenek, on Dec. 30. Along with their 3-year old, Dorothy, they’re happily living on the Upper West Side in Manhattan.

Kevin Egolf, with his wife, Amy Egolf (Nebenhaus) ’07, and daughter Aurora moved to Providence, R.I. They are enjoying the small city lifestyle after many years in NYC.

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Katie Walsh is living in LA, where she is a film critic for the Tribune News Service, LA Times, and The Playlist.

After five long, glorious years at The Jerusalem Post, Niv Elis has taken a position as the opinion editor for the Asia Times (he’s still based in Tel Aviv, though). He’s hoping to recruit some of the very best Wesleyan opinions, so if you have something to say get in touch!

Elizabeth Langston Isaacs and Noah Isaacs ’06 celebrated their four-year wedding anniversary on Sept. 8. The most exciting thing to happen to them so far in their decade-plus relationship has been the birth of their daughter, Vivienne Langston Isaacs, on March 5. Vivi is breaking hearts all over Brooklyn, where she is regularly doted upon by a large contingent of Wesleyan alumni. Elizabeth is an appellate public defender at the Legal Aid Society and Noah is an innovations project manager at ICL, an NYC mental health/social services nonprofit.

Jennifer Mariaschin-Rudin is living and working in NYC as a behavioral health integration LCSW and supervisor for a community health organization. She loves her work serving adults and youth in a community health setting. Jenny is always happy to meet and hear from other Wesleyan alumni interested in social work and mental health!

Doro Globus has just started as managing director of David Zwirner Books. Whilst she is based in London, the position will include more regular travel to David Zwirner’s two gallery spaces in New York, as well as to Hong Kong, as the gallery is opening a space there soon. She and her husband, Gavin, have been enjoying time with their 1.5-year-old son, Tristan—yes, he has red hair!

After spending a year as a visiting assisting professor in anthropology at Wes, Melissa Rosario is moving to Puerto Rico to launch a living-learning project, CEPA, which fosters cooperative economies and eco-social futures amidst the current fiscal crisis. The beta space—charco hogar—will feature short-term rentals and residencies to fund free and sliding-scale workshops to a broad public. Learn more at decolonizepr.com.

Kate Mitchell left her nonprofit job of six years to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, make quilts with her mother, and become a public school teacher in North Carolina.

After launching her novel, From Now On Everything Will Be Different, at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Asia-Pacific Writers and Translators Summit, Eliza Vitri Handayani toured Australia from August to September, appearing at the Melbourne Writers Festival as well as in Sydney and Adelaide. The launch of her novel at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival last October was canceled due to police warnings, and she protested by wearing t-shirts printed with excerpts from the novel to the festival. Copies of her novel were sold out at many events.

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Stonecutter Spirits has taken some big steps forward for Sivan Cotel, with their Single Barrel Gin winning double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition last spring, and the release of their Heritage Cask Whiskey this summer!

Anna Talman Rapp is thrilled to announce the May 14 arrival of Adam Christopher Talman Rapp.

Chris Gateman and his wife, Kim, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, John Colton Gateman, born Feb. 27, 2016.

Heather Olins finished her dissertation on microbes at deep sea hydrothermal vents, and finally earned her PhD in May from Harvard. She also recently had a baby—Mattea Olins Albro! She will be starting a job in the fall teaching science at The Fessenden School in Newton, Mass.

Lindsay Clarke and her husband, Shea Gunther, welcomed daughter Sagan Brandes Gunther, on May 4. While home on maternity leave, Lindsay continues to run Breaking Ground, a nonprofit started through her grant from the Christopher Brodigan fund in 2005. Also on the board of Breaking Ground are Alex Moore and Alden Blair.

Maria Nankova and family are still in Brussels. Her oldest daughter turned 9 and her little one started at a Flemish kindergarten. They are translating papers from school in French and Dutch, trying to learn more of these languages. Maria’s career has been on backstage for the past couple of years but this past winter she started a new job at Deloitte on the healthcare economics team. They haven’t had much time to explore Europe, due to full-time parenting and working but would love to host anyone passing through Belgium.

On the fun side, her daughter auditioned for the Brussels Light Opera Company’s production of Wizard of Oz. and was chosen for the show. She was the youngest performer in the cast and they were delighted to watch her. They are also choreographing a modern dance this summer for her company’s party. So, the Wesleyan spirit has been passed on to the next generation!

Maria was also very saddened to have lost a dear friend, Amelia Geggel ’06.

Marcella Martinez Winearls is still in London and excited to welcome her second son, Lucas, on May 3. Respect to all of the parents out there!

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Jeremy May is living in New Haven and doing an oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital (PGY-3). He and his wife, Anna, welcomed their first baby, Magnus, in August. They will likely move back to California when Jeremy is done with his residency in 2017. He keeps in close touch with other Wesleyan grads Josh Holland, David Wyant, and Blake Maybeck.

Obhi Hazarika is in his first year at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Burlington is an interesting change from San Francisco. A creature of habit—and while the weather holds—he still commutes exclusively by bicycle and motorcycle, and manages to play the drums almost every day. He and some classmates are thinking about starting a band called Foramen Magnum P.I.

Mary Hui has been living in Cambodia for the last six years, has constructed its first rock climbing gym, and hopes to use climbing as a tool to build up confidence and trust in young people. You can support her crowdfunding campaign here at tinyurl.com/phnomclimb.

Robyn Schroeder married Andrew Tobolowsky (whom she met at grad school at Brown) on June 13th in Dallas. She also finished her Ph.D. this summer, and she’s staying in Providence for a post-doctoral fellowship at Brown’s Center for the Public Humanities. She has had the chance to see lots of very dear Wes friends in Dallas: Jeremy Abrams, Jess Weidmann, Evan Losow, Lynn Levy, Dave Ruder, and Michael Andolina and Marissa Brostoff ’07 flew in from New York, where they all live and work; Leon Hilton ’07 was there, and had just about finished his Ph.D. in performance studies from NYU. Emily Polak brought her Texan husband, John, down from Boston. Annika Brink and Jon Psotka came from D.C., where they work in environmental justice and labor rights law respectively. The Portland contingent was Dylan Meconis, Lisa Eisenberg ’06, and Ben Birdsall ’06.

In September, Anay Shah went to Tanzania for vacation, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and came down engaged to his girlfriend, Sheeba Jacob!

On Aug. 2, Jemma Braun and Stephen Siperstein ’06 were married in a small ceremony surrounded by family and friends in the courtyard of the Davison Art Center. They felt blessed to be back on campus to share such a wonderful life event and want to thank Rabbi Leipziger Teva, Kathleen Roberts, and John Kehoe for making the ceremony and celebration unforgettable.

Ez Cukor is enjoying life in New York City and a (not so new anymore) job at the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

Danielle Dixon, Dan Fox, and Hillary Rubesin spent a week in California in August attending the weddings of two of their 64 Fountain housemates. First up, Jana Luft married Jason Barbose on Aug. 2nd in Sonoma (and celebrated with Naomi Ekperigin, Mel McCrea ’06, Susanna Nadler ’06, too!). The following weekend Ali Gomer married Andrew Martinez in Pasadena on Aug. 8th. And in between the two weddings, everyone celebrated Dan Fox’s birthday in San Francisco! It was a wonderful week of celebrating new beginnings and old friendships.

MARCELLA Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Todd Stone serves as “guest secretary” this time:

Matt Lewis changed jobs and is now working at a law firm in San Francisco. Outside of work, he spends as much time as possible with his beautiful wife, Jessica, and their son, Jack, almost 2.

Sivan Cotel is patiently waiting while the first barrels of aged gin get their beauty rest at Stonecutter Spirits, which he and his wife founded last year. The first bottles will hit New York and Boston shelves in summer/fall of 2015!

Lodro Rinzler is teaching meditation in NYC and celebrating the launch of his fifth book on the topic this fall, How to Love Yourself (and Sometimes Other People). He visited Dave Delcourt in Boston for a raucous weekend in honor of Dave’s wife being pregnant with their second son.

Andrew Stuerzel and Adriana Rojas ’07 are eagerly awaiting the birth of their second child in mid-May, right before Reunion and Commencement Weekend! Andrew has been working at Wesleyan since 2010, first in the Office of Admission for two years before moving over to University Relations. He and Adriana love living in Middletown and enjoy their close proximity to campus and Main Street. Their daughter, Reese (Class of 2034?), enjoys playing on the Labyrinth behind The Tomb, watching the West African dance class perform in the CFA, and sledding down Foss Hill.

After six years based in Kabul, Aimee Rose moved back to D.C., and is now the monitoring and evaluation practice manager for Checchi Consulting. She’s adjusting to the freedom of walking the streets sans headscarf and wondering why there is suddenly so much kale in America.

Amy Nebenhaus Egolf ’07 and Kevin Egolf are having fun learning how to take care of their newborn daughter, Aurora Lux Egolf, born Jan. 23, 2015. Kevin is also keeping busy running and managing Local Farms Fund, a socially responsible farmland investment fund focusing on early stage farmers that he co-founded in late 2014.

Chris Lake moved from Brooklyn to Northern California and is expecting a baby in early March. Also on the West Coast, living in Los Angeles, is Katie Walsh. She is pursuing her PhD at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She’s also a film critic for The Playlist on Indiewire and the LA Times.

Sarah Weingarten, a staff physical therapist at Rye Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, lives in White Plains, N.Y. She also works part-time at New York Medical College as an adjunct professor teaching cardiopulmonary and orthopedic physical therapy to first-year grad students. Her doctorate work, “Development of Home Educational Materials for Families of Preterm Infants,” is to be published in the next edition of the journal, Neonatal Network. And she’s looking forward to seeing everyone at the 10th Reunion in May!

Corey Gittus, still loving life out in Teton Valley, Idaho, has been enjoying her winter, spending time with her new daughter, Kenna, born on Halloween 2014. Corey has returned to work part-time at the Teton County fire department and is continuing to work on her paramedic license.

Meanwhile, actress Che Landon was named “30 Under 30 Women To Watch” alongside Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood by AfterEllen. She received an Ovation Nomination for her work in The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, as well as critical acclaim for her performance in the feature film Good Mourning Lucille. She was also interviewed and featured in Backstage Magazine for being the CEO and co-founder of The Creative Artists Lab, an organization and production company which bridges the socio-economic gap between artists and career building resources. She starred opposite Rance Howard and Ivan Sergei in the upcoming feature film, Broken Memories, and is slated to start shooting another feature film, Cosmos, starring opposite comedian Drake Bell.

Adam Stone (whom I, Todd Stone, incidentally knew before Wes) is working in TV in NYC. He and his wife, Rachel, Grandpa Andrew Stone ’68, Grandma Merrill Stone P’05-times-two and I enjoy their very smiley 11-month-old son, Ezra.

Adam and I are still performing “Stone and Stone” (the standup comedy duo we created at Wes!) mostly in the NYC area, and sometimes in LA. Recently, we’ve been really excited about a Web series we hosted for truTV, Grown up, grown down.

As for me personally, some exciting news…I live with my parents! We also live in New York City and I really enjoy spending time with them. But my therapist says I should move out, and I think I will soon. What do you think? Tweet your thoughts to @stoneandstone with #ShouldToddMoveOut? Otherwise, in addition to journalism, I’m expanding to advertising, which I’m excited about, and I’m really looking forward to our 10th Reunion!

Also, I’m filling in temporarily for our trusty class notes editor, Marcella Martinez, who just had her first child. Congratulations, Marcella!

Members of the class of 2005 near and far: Come back to campus for our 10th Reunion. It’s going to be a lot of fun!—Todd Stone, writing for:

MARCELLA MARTINEZ | momartinez@wesleyan.edu

Stephen Becker finished a year at IBM Research in New York and moved to Boulder, Colo., to start a job as assistant professor in applied math at CU. His wife, Kimberly, is still teaching high school physics, and his daughter Sophie just turned two and enjoyed herself dancing at the wedding of Tushar Kansal and Tanya Sehgal in Washington, D.C. Other class members at the wedding were John Logan Durland, Theodore Booth Haley, Max Greene, Henry and Sam White, Amar Shibli and Meng Li, Julia Simpson ’06, and Lena ’04 and Matthew Roe.

Niv Elis has been living the good life in Tel Aviv, where aside from occasional rocket-dodging, he has been focusing on reporting on business and economics for the Jerusalem Post. He has also launched an original podcast with the JPost, the first ever for an Israeli paper, and is hosting a weekly show called The Cost of Doing Business on the TLV1 radio station.

Julia Silbergeld is getting her MBA at UC Berkeley, along with Will Leuchter-Mindel ’07, Lexi Sturdy ’10, and Grace Lesser ’08. Julia is focusing on social entrepreneurship and sustainable food and working at startup Farmigo.

On June 25th Nicole Peterson Pritchard and her husband Stephen Pritchard welcomed their second daughter, Risa Déise, who joins her now 4-year-old sister, Ivy Syona. Risa’s first friend was baby Sebastian, son of Maggie White and Eli Brown ’04. Among her first visitors in the hospital were her Wesleyan Aunties Michelle Grier, Katherine Ambia, Justine Almada, and Rashida Abuwala. She has been a beautiful and cheerful new addition to the family!

Jason Carey ’99 and Beverly Baker Carey welcomed a son, Allister James, on Aug. 19, 2014. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19.5 inches long.

Kevin Egolf is working on starting the Local Farms Fund, a socially responsible venture providing land access to early stage farmers in the New York foodshed.

In October, Shannon McIntyre Hooper and her husband relocated to Nashville. Shannon has taken a role as senior vice president with ReviveHealth, a leading healthcare strategic communications firm, where she’ll be overseeing all health IT accounts.

In May 2014, Dennis Chan started his new job at District Management Council, a consulting and software solutions firm that works with public school districts to improve operational efficiency and raise students’ performance. In his spare time, Dennis picked up board game design, and his first game BioQuest was showcased in Boston Festival of Indie Games.

Colin Casey graduated from Fordham Law School in May, was married to Jonathan Vaughn in August and began working at a large international law firm in New York in October.

Williamsport, Pa., saw a mini ’05 reunion to celebrate the union of Rob Judson and Andrea Torres. Among the illustrious guests on Rob’s farm were, Sarah Connell, Matthew Cron, Jemma Braun, and Anay Shah. Shout outs also to Roslyn Ross ’04,Mike Campbell ’06, Sippy Siperstein ’06, Matthew Donne ’07, and Sam Coe ’06. It was a spectacular event full of Wesleyan love, laughter, and camaraderie. Congrats Sir Robert!

Jayson Whitehorn is continuing to make healthcare better by assisting clinicians in their ability to treat their patients by developing medical software for Mount Sinai hospital. He spends his free time playing in Union Square with various Wesleyan alumni of class years spanning the past two decades (primarily other members of Alpha Delta Phi).

Karen Courtheoux: “Dearest classmates: I know it’s hard to believe, but we are mere months away from our 10th Reunion! Save the date: May 21–24, 2015. Can’t wait to see you there! If you’re interested in having input into our Reunion events, please e-mail ktedford@wesleyan.edu. Many thanks to those already participating. The more the merrier! We’ll be in touch with all of you soon via postcard.”

MARCELLA MARTINEZ | momartinez@wesleyan.edu

Anna Zayaruzny moved to New Haven in August to join the faculty of the Department of Music at Yale as an assistant professor. Her husband, Yarrow Dunham, is joining the Yale psychology department. They are delighted to be within a stone’s throw of Wesleyan and of Anna’s family in Cheshire. They’re also thrilled to be seeing a lot of Michelle Atwood, in nearby NYC.

Last February, Eliza Vitri Handayani published her novel Mulai Saat Ini Segalanya Akan Berubah (“From Now on Everything Will Be Different”) about two best friends coming of age in a newly democratic Indonesia, pursuing artistic ambitions, exploring their sexuality, and trying to break free from a pattern of repeated disappointments. The novel was published by Obor Publishing in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sandy Yudhistira ’12 and Melina Natalie ’10 came to the launching.

Many Wes alums continue to populate NYC in varied capacities. Jon Leland moved to Brooklyn and is the director of community engagement at Kickstarter. Chris Lake joined VHX, a USV-backed startup in Dumbo, as a developer. He now lives and works within a one-mile span and hasn’t left Brooklyn in two months. Ez Cukor is living in NYC and working as a staff attorney at New York Legal Assistance Group’s LGBT Law Project. This past winter she crossed cross-country skiing in the city off her bucket list (a few times). But hopefully there will be better weather fit for biking and beaches by the time these notes come out.

Amy Crawford spent a good portion of 2013 on tour with Os Mutantes as their keyboardist/vocalist and then joined Man Made Music as a producer in December. She then went on to produce Anthony Braxton’s opera, Trillium J (The Non-Unconfessionables), in April in New York. Now that she is off the road, she would love to reconnect with other NYC-based ’05-ers, especially those in music, media, and the arts. Dave Ruder continues to be a jack of all musical trades in Brooklyn. Dave was a featured performer in the premiere of Robert Ashley’s final composition, Crash, at the Whitney Biennial in April. As part of the group thingNY he’s taking a new evening length multimedia opera he co-wrote around the U.S. and Canada this year. His pop duo with Aliza Simons ’09, Why Lie?, released their second album this June on Gold Bolus Recordings, a label Dave started last year. Gold Bolus Recordings also features music from Woody Leslie ’08 and many of Brooklyn’s finest.

Che Landon finished 2013 strong with a critically acclaimed performance in the Lily Tomlin Center’s 16-week run of The Laramie Project: 10 years later, in Los Angeles. She plays the lead, Madeline, in the feature film Good Mourning Lucille, due out this summer. She and her business partner have opened a lauded artists’ collaborative in L.A., “The Creative Artists Lab, whose mission is to bridge the socio-economic gap between working class artists and career building resources, specifically providing education, crafting materials, film equipment and community.”

Sivan Cotel left WhistlePig Whiskey to found Stonecutter Spirits with his wife, in Middlebury, Vt.

Julia Silbergeld is attending UC Berkeley’s, Haas School of Business (with Will Leuchter-Mindel ’07!), focusing on sustainable and healthy food.

Niv Elis is living in sunny Tel Aviv, where he is covering business and economic news as a reporter for The Jerusalem Post.

Anna Talman Rapp recently joined the Gates Foundation, where she works on global vaccine delivery. She’s thrilled to be back in Seattle after two years in Idaho. She married Ryan Rapp in September. Ruth Chaffee, Brielle Madej Rey, Sam Schwartz White, Henry White, Andrew Breck, and Kim Nelson ’02 came to Boise to celebrate.

In April, Ali Gomer took a weekend break from her job as attorney in L.A. to visit Hillary Rubesin, an expressive arts therapist, in Durham, N.C. While driving up to Philadelphia to celebrate Passover, they had a failed attempt at a rendezvous with fellow former housemate, Dan Fox, who could not change his MegaBus reservation to New York so close to his scheduled departure time. Thank goodness they had a chance to catch up the previous summer, when they rented a cabin in Vermont with Danielle Dixon and Jana Luft!

Capt. Jesse Sommer is a paratrooper and judge advocate with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. He serves as the Division’s first special victim counsel, providing legal representation to victims of sexual assault in military courts-martial. He will attend jumpmaster school in July and, if successful, will head to air assault school in August. Capt. Sommer is ecstatic to undergo life-changing corrective laser eye surgery in May, and thus extends his deepest thanks to the American taxpayer for footing the bill.

Dave Ahl writes: “I am delighted to share that I married Molly Catchen on Sept. 21st, 2013. We are happily living in Washington D.C.: She is a lawyer clerking for judges in the district and I’m graduating in May with my MBA from Georgetown University. In June, I start a position with The Washington Post as a manager in digital advertising.” (See a gorgeous photo of the couple on their wedding day in the online notes: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/.)

Sam Fleischner ’06 writes: “My new film, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, (distributed by Oscilloscope) comes out May 23rd. The film won prizes at festivals around the world including Tribeca last year.”

MARCELLA MARTINEZ
momartinez@wesleyan.edu