CLASS OF 1999 | 2015 | ISSUE 1
Kevin writes: Limited submissions this time, so please take a few minutes and send in your updates for the next Wes Mag so we can hear what you’re up to! For example, I recently heard from Mark Zubko, but he quickly went to ground again after the Seahawks lost in the Super Bowl. He may have been hiding from Pete Czerepak’s celebrations of the New England victory.
From Greg Brodsky: “Scott Cavanaugh and Ashley Grant ’00 just gave birth to a bouncing baby boy in Easthampton, Mass., in December. Word on the street: baby Ezra was locally sourced, and 100% free range.” Greg is still living in Somerville, and is with a tech start-up, OrderWithMe, which helps groups of independent stores to buy together. He works out of Workbar in Cambridge, and occasionally sees Matt Goldstein there. Suzanne Bouffard also just joined.
Speaking of free range—Eve Fox has been busy writing about the hopeful world of sustainable agriculture with a focus on all the cool things happening where she lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. Eve also writes about plain old delicious food on her blog: http://www.thegardenofeating.org. She and her family also had a chance to meet up with Makaela Kingsley ’98 and Jonah Sachs ’97 at the tail end of 2014 for a reunion.
Jon Stewart made news with his Daily Show retirement this year. Our own Catie Lazarus was there to get his first reaction on her show, “Employee of the Month.” The New Yorker wrote a nice piece on her repartee with Stewart that is worth a read (and, of course, you should watch Catie’s show!).
Nina Kontos just had a son, Nicholas Kontos Busquet, born in Dec. 2014. Forever a New Yorker (and married to one), Nina still lives in the city and considers herself lucky to see lots of fabulous Wes friends here on a regular basis. She has been working at Google in communications for five years…work takes her to the Bay Area fairly often and so she gets to see Allegra Jones and Caitlin Lang. Fun fact: freshman year Maya Mitchell predicted Nina would have a career in the field of public relations/communications and she was right.
In January, Ellen Sluder started a new position: head of marketing for MedForce Technologies, a software company focused on productivity applications in health care. “It’s only been two months, but I’m really excited about the change, even if I look solely at the elimination of two hours of my previous daily commute. It’s also just been really fun as I’m digging in to rebuild the brand from the ground up and pioneer a proactive marketing program where there previously had been very little.” Ellen’s husband, Stephen, flies for the Conair Corporation (“think hair dryers, not convicts”). “We’ve got a good rhythm down with our two daughters (4 and 1), not that it makes it any easier on me mentally when he gets to leave behind this below-zero NYC weather to spend a long ‘work’ weekend in the Turks and Caicos. I hope he brings back some warmer temperatures for us!”
The Bay Area continues to be a beacon for our classmates. In Oakland, Tara Cohen and Jessica Flintoft welcomed their child, Oscar Rose Cohen-Flintoft, into the world on Dec. 20th, 2014. They could not be more in love with their sweet little one, sleepless nights and all. Danielle Lazier is living in Bernal Heights, San Francisco. “In my 13th year of selling SF real estate and blogging for SFhotlist.com. Recently connected with some old Wes friends in NYC.”
Chris Chambers completed post-production on Aram, Aram—his first feature as writer-director. Jim Gilbane contributed his talents as editor. “Pic is an indie drama set within the Armenian community of Los Angeles. Coming to a film fest near you…or, worst-case scenario, YouTube.”
Laura Zaks writes, “I just completed a two-year contract working for the Inter‑American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, based in Costa Rica, as an international specialist in food and nutritional security for Latin American and the Caribbean. Primarily, I provided technical assistance and advised on policies to increase the availability and quality of food produced through small and medium-scale agriculture in the region. My family also welcomed a baby girl, Sabine Antonia, born in Dec. 2014, who joins her two older brothers, Tiago and Luka.”
Finally, we close with some solemn news. Wesleyan recently learned of the death of our classmate, Marc James Augustine, on Oct. 26, 2014. The full obituary notice is available online.
C. DARRYL UY | darryl.uy@gmail.com
KEVIN KUMLER | kevinkumler@gmail.com