CLASS OF 1980 | 2016 | ISSUE 1

Karen Murgolo is still surviving in book publishing and is editorial director of the nonfiction imprint, Grand Central Life & Style, at the Hachette Book Group. She works with fun chefs like Mario Batali, edited Ellen DeGeneres’ Home book, and is editor of Gwyneth Paltrow’s bestselling, It’s All Good, and upcoming It’s All Easy. Fun fact: She is currently working with Candace Nelson ’96, founder of the Sprinkles Bakeries and judge on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars on her amazing cookbook, The Sprinkles Baking Book: 100 Secrets From Candace’s Kitchen.

Janet Grillo directed the feature film Jack of the Red Hearts, starring Famke Janssen (X-Men, Taken) and AnnaSophia Robb (Carrie Diaries, The Way Way Back); the story of a teenage con artist who convinces the desperate mother to hire her as live-in caregiver for her child with severe autism. Jack Of The Red Hearts won the Jury Prize at the inaugural Bentonville Film Festival, founded by Geena Davis to promote gender equality in filmmaking; played festivals here and abroad, winning 11 awards; and will open in 25 AMC theaters nationwide on Feb. 26th. It will air on Lifetime in April, Autism Awareness Month.

F.X. White writes: “My three children are growing up too fast. Sophia is looking at colleges, and I hope she considers Wesleyan. I’ve been active on the Bernie Sanders campaign, and in fact am running as a delegate for Maryland’s Eighth District pledged to him. Still haven’t made it to a Reunion in all these years, but keeping in touch with a bunch of Wes folks on Facebook, which has been fun. Working as a software developer and writing a book about the year off I took in ’78. The education I had in the COL still sustains me. Recently started a book club with some neighbors. Also coaching a fourth-grade soccer team. Life is good. Best to all.”

Peter Scharf writes: “I’m also in Boston, rather Cambridge. I’m cataloguing the 1700 Sanskrit manuscripts at the Houghton Library at Harvard with the help of two assistants from India. We’ve finished about half of them as of now (Feb. 3) and include them in our Sanskrit manuscript catalogue at sanskritlibrary.org under Reference. I plan to head back to IIT Bombay to teach linguistics in the fall.”

David Hafter writes: “Like many of my classmates whose parents struggle with health and life-management issues, I have my challenges. Otherwise, however, I feel pretty lucky. My 50s have been more exciting than I anticipated. For a therapist, getting older is generally a good thing and I am enjoying running a program for Yolo County schools, where we do one-to-one brief therapy (early intervention), group counseling and mental health presentations/assemblies. I also do trainings for clinicians around California. For fun, I re-formed my Wesleyan band, Wealth of Nations, with a great group of guys who, like me, started playing music young and never stopped. I have gone from solo performing in the basement of Wesleyan frats, to playing with the Original Wealth of Nations (with James MarcusKathy Bergeron and Vic Tredwell) at Wesleyan to the new full, seven-piece rock band, playing my originals, lots of Dead covers and other great music from our era. Playing with these guys is more fun than I could put into words. My son, Noah, also a singer/guitar player, is settled in Seattle. So, no complaints here, at least not now; I’m enjoying the moment.”

Wendy Buskop writes: “Daughter Jacqueline ’19 is now in her freshman year. She needs internships in earth and environmental science, if anyone can help out. Contact her at jbuskop@wesleyan.edu. Celebrating 25 years this year of Buskop Law Group—a private practice law firm providing patent drafting, filing, and issuance of patents and trademarks, with five patent attorneys and clients in 23 states and 15 foreign countries.”

Your own Jenny Boylan has left the faculty of Colby College after 25 years, and taken on the new role of Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University. “This has me in the classroom in New York in the spring semesters; each May I return to Maine, where my wife, Deirdre Finney Boylan ’82, and I live on Long Pond, in Belgrade Lakes. It’s been a super busy and crazy time, and I beg for you to forgive me for the inevitable alumna boast-o-rama. Ready? I continue as the national co-chair of GLAAD, the media advocacy nonprofit for LGBTQ people, and also serve as a trustee for the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. On the writing front, I’m a contributing opinion writer for the op/ed page of the New York Times, with an essay appearing about every six weeks or so, or whenever I can think up something to say. My new novel, Long Black Veil, comes out in spring of 2017 from Penguin Random House; let’s call it a literary thriller with a twist. And I’m introducing my new line of fragrances, called KABOOM. No, wait, I’m only kidding about the fragrance. But I am not kidding about this: I’m a consultant and a cast member on I Am Cait, the E! Network reality show about Caitlyn Jenner, on which my primary role seems to be explaining to Cait that Everything She Knows is Wrong. It’s a weird position for me to be in, since playing yourself on TV turns out to be harder than pretending to be someone else. But I continue to believe that visibility brings acceptance, so on I go.

“I loved seeing so many old friends at Wesleyan at our Reunion, and receiving the Distinguished Alumna award from the University was one of the great honors of my life. It is weird to think that I am being feted for being an out trans person; the very thought of coming out when I was a Wesleyan student seemed like the most unlikely turn of events I could imagine. But the world has changed, I reckon. Just like a lot of people I know. And my beloved Wesleyan classmates not least.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com