CLASS OF 1989 | 2016 | ISSUE 3
NEWSMAKERS | 1980sNEWSMAKERDAVID MILCH ’89
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Jonathan writes for this issue: We start with some props for our class secretaries. Your erstwhile ’89 scribe, David Milch, moved on after nine years working with Columbia University performing arts students, and started a new position at New York Institute of Technology as the director of the MA program in Leadership in the Arts and Entertainment Industries.
Meanwhile, the Bonnie to my Clyde of these class notes, Michele Barnwell, completed principal production of her documentary Party Girls: Exploring Politics in America, which follows a small group of millennial women of color (all first-time voters) who travel together around the country engaging in the political process. It’s a learning journey Michele describes as a summer-long slumber party…with a brain. Part of the doc airs online election week as a 6-part series via ITVS/PBS, and soon-ish as an indie feature doc.
Thomas Policelli’s eldest daughter, Katherine ’20, started at Wes, where she lives in what is now called “Butts C.” Tom is impressed by the amazing classes Wesleyan still offers, but also is struck by the available sushi and free-range tofu. He is rather disoriented to be the theoretically responsible adult against whom this generation is supposed to rebel, even if today’s rebellion is via app. For those of you beginning the college application process, he offers a plug (which your class secretary echoes) for Wesleyan’s annual alumni Sons and Daughters weekend in November. It’s a really good overview of the college application process with separate sessions for students and parents. Tom expects to participate again with his other children, ages 16, 14, and 10.
Marshall Brozost changed law firms, moving from Schulte Roth & Zabel to head the New York real estate practice group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Alissa Berman is living in East Greenwich, R.I., with her boys, a high school senior and an eighth grader. She and her husband are divorcing amicably after 24 years of marriage. She is a stylist for the Cabi clothing company, where she does home shows and enjoys helping women feel great about themselves.
Indy Neidell, in Sweden, writes on the success of his YouTube channel, The Great War. It is nearing 400,000 subscribers, with more than 40 million views. He hears from teachers across the world who use the show in their classes and he consulted on the computer game, Battlefield, providing all manner of descriptive text, from the Hejaz Railway, to Lawrence of Arabia, to zeppelin warfare. He is also still touring with a few different bands and doing voiceovers for games and commercials.
John DiPaolo and his wife relocated in D.C., moving to Cleveland Park, where their daughter is starting kindergarten. His bike-commute to work is now twice as long, but because he rides along Rock Creek Park and the Potomac River, the natural beauty more than compensates. John has been at the U.S. Department of Education since 2011 and is now the deputy general counsel. As a political appointee, however, he’ll likely leave in January when President Obama’s term ends.
Elaine Perlman keeps busy as the director of the Peace Corps Fellows Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she prepares returning Peace Corps volunteers to teach in high-need public schools. This year, she painted school murals in the South Bronx and Harlem, taught middle school classes at the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, mentored a high school student through iMentor, and was an advisor for the Parents League. She attended a book presentation by Mike Rubens ’90, who just published The Bad Decisions Playlist, which was so compelling that Elaine read it in one day!
David Jonas lives happily in Westport, Conn., with his wife of 24 years. Their eldest daughter started her freshman year at NYU, and they have one more at home. Over the past year, he has been raising capital for a fund that invests in independent film productions.
Mike Olinger has been living in Brussels, Belgium, for the past two years with his wife and two teenage sons. Any classmates who make it over that way should look him up for moules frites and cold beer.
Howard Diamond is enjoying the Colorado lifestyle and serving as general counsel of Frontier Airlines. He celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary and attended his son’s college graduation and commissioning as a naval flight officer. He is also very proud of both daughters, one attending college and one in high school.
Adina Hoffman published Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City, a biolographical triptych about three architects who helped shape the city in which she’s lived for the last 25 years. She now divides her time between Jerusalem and New Haven, and she is working on a short biography of Ben Hecht.
David Williams’ oldest son, Harry, is off to Boston University, where he will be studying mechanical engineering. Although Dafna (16), Seth (13), and Eli (11) are still at home, the family dynamic is shifting. His wife, Nyna Urovitch, is back at work after 15 years, teaching middle school math in a public school. David is still a healthcare consultant, but he also spends considerable time as president of Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, where he is leading a strategic transformation of the synagogue into a multi-organizational Jewish campus.
After 21 years, Lisa Nash gave up her chiropractor’s license and is starting a new chapter of life offering multi-disciplinary trauma transformation training as a Feldenkrais teacher, and as an ordained priestess in the ancient West African religion of Ifa. She continues to expand her residential healing and teaching center in Vermont, the Rainbow Serpent Mystery School, where four full-time residents share a kitchen, a bathroom, a ceremony and classroom space, and 21 acres, including veggie and herb gardens, fruit and nut trees, and chickens! The center offers retreats, workshops, and sanctuary for individuals, couples, and families in spiritual emergence/y.
David Eichler writes, “This will come as little surprise for those who remember the old days on Foss, but my digital marketing agency just spun off a sister firm called Decibel Green, specializing in, wait for it, cannabis and sustainability. Diane and I love living in Denver and would love to hear from Wes visitors.”
Finally, Broadway in Chicago’s annual free summer concert featured a performance from Hedwig and the Angry Inch by the show’s composer and lyricist, Stephen Trask.
Jonathan Fried | jonathan.l.fried@gmail.com
MICHELE BARNWELL | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com