CLASS OF 1992 | 2015 | ISSUE 1
Adam writes: Greetings, all! As I write this, my kids are home from school for the sixth day in the last three weeks and I’m looking at 30-foot pile of snow from my window. It was so big that it actually made the local news as it became a makeshift neighborhood ski slope. It’s been a heck of a winter here in Boston. Otherwise, though, things are well. I continue to live in a 500-person graduate student dorm at MIT with my family and remain gainfully employed as a political science professor.
Last November, I went to D.C. to give a talk at George Washington University and spent a day with my old housemates Chris Heikemian and Jon Pratt. It was great to catch up, but even better, just a couple months later Jon got engaged to Bridget Lines. Jon and Bridget met in Pakistan, both working for the State Department, and will be posted together in China as their next assignment.
It was great to hear from a bunch of my old Clark 3 hallmates as well. Ruthbea Yesner Clark lives in Brookline, Mass., and has a terrific job —as a smart city expert—writing, researching, and consulting with cities and vendors around the world about emerging technologies in urban environments. She is planning her first trip to Saudi Arabia for a project there. Sam Robinson lives in Philadelphia with his wife and daughter, 11. Sam has been practicing architecture in Philly since 1998. In 2011, he started his own firm, and in 2013 formed a partnership with Jane Ahn—Ahn + Robinson Studio. They do primarily residential renovation work in the city. Finally, Anne (Jennings) Paris and her family (husband Marc, son Duncan, 10) are taking a hiatus from their lives in Portland, Ore. Over the summer, they moved to London, where they plan to be for two years. They are renting in Kew near the Thames and living out every English major’s fantasy of getting to know England. Duncan is enrolled in a state primary school. Marc works as a software design consultant, and Anne is a part-time teacher at a small private school. She keeps up with what’s happening in the States by reading Sarah Guernsey’s and Adam Blumer’s live coverage of major cultural events and trends on Facebook.
Jill Slater proudly (though belatedly) announces the birth of Slater Ande Schwartzberg. She and Jill share a birthday of 12/12. Slater is 14 months old and loves to dance. Jill continues to develop her second career as a sustainable food systems consultant, building on her first career as a city planner.
Mark Hunter is moving to Burlington, Vt., in April with his wife of six years. He published his first book in 2014 and his executive leadership coaching company (Pinnacle Coaching) is 10 years old this year and going well. Also on the publishing front, Kristina Milnor’s second book came out last January: Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii (Oxford, 2014).
In other New England news, Dina Amsterdam is a visiting scholar at MIT, bringing the practices and principles of InnerYoga to a variety of projects at the MIT Media Lab. She’s normally based in San Francisco and Marin County.
Also in New England, Jonathan Bell wrapped up his first year of running his own architecture practice in Providence. Alongside teaching drawing and design studios at RISD and Roger Williams University, he has been occupied with a number of projects, including an addition to a 1950s Better Homes and Gardens plan house, and renovations to a 1920s service station, to be repurposed as a natural-chewing-gum company’s headquarters.
Maurice Harris started a new job as rabbi/senior educator with InterfaithFamily (interfaithfamily.com), a national Jewish nonprofit organization supporting interfaith couples and families and providing training and resources to Jewish community organizations on welcoming and inclusion of interfaith families. He still lives in Eugene, Ore., with his wife, Melissa Crabbe, and their two children, Clarice and Hunter.
Amy Larson continues to practice law at a small firm in Portland, Ore. She and her partner welcomed their first child into the world in September. Also, Amy had the chance to see Eric Leach ’92 a while back at his wedding in NYC.
Also on the West Coast, Rick Barot has been living in Tacoma, Wash., for 10 years now, directing the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at Pacific Lutheran University. His third book of poems, Chord, will be published by Sarabande Books in July 2015. He’s also the poetry editor for New England Review. Corinne Drumheller lives in Seattle with her husband, David, and their two children, Talia (7) and Zane (2).
Chris Chesak just took a job as director of partnerships with Intrepid Travel and reports that he, Karen Cacase, and Mike Flynn ’93 received a warm and vibrant welcome from Costas Darras during a recent chance meeting at a restaurant in Harlem.
In November Jennifer Schonborn attended Wesleyan’s Sons and Daughters weekend, which allows Wes alums to come to campus with their kids who are juniors in high school. She brought her daughter Charlotte (an overdetermined member of the class of ’20 since Jennifer’s husband is Rik Treiber ’91), and had a great time being on campus, seeing all the new buildings, and having a nice talk with our frosh dean Meg Zocco. While there, Jennifer ran into David Kane ’92. Though they didn’t know each other at Wes, they had a great time together with their kids.
Speaking of David, he writes, “Ty Jagerson (CEO) and I are partners in an investment crowdfunding platform for clean energy projects called Village Power. Ty and the team cover the West Coast from the home office in Palo Alto, while I run East Coast operations from NYC. We recently won a SunShot grant from the Department of Energy for promising new solar finance models.”
David Shadrack Smith continues to helm a production company in New York, part2 pictures, which just showed its first narrative feature film, I’ll See You in My Dreams, at Sundance this January. Part2 is entering its ninth year and it’s best known for the series This Is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN. This fall, his series, Belief with Oprah Winfrey, will get to air after three years in production around the world.
Heather Claudine Nash continues to practice psychology. Her short collection of poems, The Problem with Loving Ghosts (published under her middle name Claudine), was recently released by Finishing Line Press.
Byron King joined, as director of software engineering, a company providing hardware and software services to credit unions across the country.
Noelle Nelson enjoys living in Atlanta and working at the CDC on vaccine research and policy in the US and globally, with a focus on hepatitis vaccine. She recently returned from Sierra Leone and the Ebola emergency response.
Wendy Moore Hershey was part of the closing bell ceremony at the NYSE on Jan. 29 because of work she does as a field consultant to nonprofit clients at Mercer Investments The biggest fans? Wendy’s kids, ages 6, 6, and 5 who went crazy “seeing Mommy on TV.”
That’s the news for now. Don’t forget to write to me or Paul—we’d love to hear from you!
ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu
PAUL COVIELLO | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu