CLASS OF 1989 | 2018 | ISSUE 2
Laura Hamilton Hardin writes: “Lots of milestones for me! I turned 50 on December 31 and decided to get a tattoo to memorialize the occasion! I had my 10th wedding anniversary (second marriage) in April. My son just graduated from high school and will be attending University of Texas in the fall, so I am officially about to be an empty-nester. My daughter is at Texas A&M and got her Aggie ring in May. She is going to graduate next May . . . exactly 30 years after I did and working on her applications for veterinary school. Work is very busy . . . traveling heavily around the world this year . . . have already clocked 140,000 miles on United.”
David Eichler and his wife, Diane, just celebrated 25 years since they first met and will be going whale watching in the San Juan Islands with Craig Morgan, Tara Lennon ’90, and their daughters this summer.
Silvia Menendez was named associate dean for experiential learning at University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. While she’s still a lecturer, she will also be overseeing externship placements and clinical positions for students. If any Wes attorneys working for nonprofit or public service organizations are looking for externs, let her know. Husband Jeff Harman ’90 is a full professor in the department of behavioral sciences and social medicine at FSU’s College of Medicine. Their youngest daughter just graduated from high school and the oldest is going to be a senior in college.
Jeffrey Naness is doing well on Long Island, keeping in touch with some Wesleyan friends through Facebook and some in real life. (Shout out to Steve Ward!). He is practicing law, representing businesses in employment and labor relations matters. His oldest son just finished his first year at Muhlenberg College and his youngest son is going into 11th grade.
Alexander Chee is in Florence, Italy, teaching in the NYU summer creative writing program. During the rest of the year, he and his husband, Dustin Schell, divide their time between NYC and Hanover, N.H., where Alex is an associate professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth College. His most recent book, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, a collection of essays, came out in 2018.
Carrie Holden Emmerson and her family moved a bit farther south in Maine to the Midcoast Region (Woolwich, Maine, near Bath), and is teaching social studies at Morse High School where she tries to combat the plague of fake news on a daily basis. She lives a mile from a restaurant that sports a giant inflatable lobster on its roof (The Taste of Maine). So, if you’re driving along Route 1 and see the lobster, stop by and say hello!
Phineas Baxandall reports on the continuing tradition (from at least the ’80s) of Wesleyan’s alumni from the Nietzsch Factor ULTIMATE FRISBEE team playing the current team. In addition to Phineas, other alumni who played this year were Ben Usadi ’92, Matt Higbee ’93, Ezra (Brownstein) Shales ’91, Dan Haar ’81, and Robert Featherstone. Unfortunately, while most years the alumni prevailed, this year the youngsters were too fast, and the alumni hadn’t been playing regularly. Nevertheless, everyone had a great time, with the whole crowd of alumni and current students joining to recount their favorite Wesleyan ULTIMATE FRISBEE memories before adjourning for a BBQ in the backyard of one of the current team’s houses.
Emma Gardner is happily living in Petaluma, Calif. with her husband, Patrick McDarrah ’88, and two kids. They have a lot of different projects going on, but the main one is their rug company, emma gardner design. She is very excited to be working on a big tile and mosaic project with a company in Nicaragua and LA.
Mark Seasholes is splitting his time between Phoenix (ASU professor) and Santa Cruz (enjoying life). He would love to catch up with classmates. Visitors to either place should feel free to drop him a line.
Finally, Jonathan and Michele want to make sure everyone has the 30th Reunion in their calendar (May 23-26, 2019). The Reunion Committee is in need of volunteers to get involved with planning for Reunion. Please contact Megan Lenzzo, assistant director of annual giving at mlenzzo@wesleyan.edu if interested. Go Wes!
Jonathan Fried | jonathan.l.fried@gmail.com
Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com