CLASS OF 1995 | 2018 | ISSUE 3
Hi, Wes fam! Many new and long-lost names highlight this season’s edition of ’95 Notes. I personally have seen a number of you recently—highlighted by a June cookout at the Croton-on-Hudson home of Leila Goldmark. We were blessed by the presence of M.C. Campbell, who recently moved to Reston, Va., where she is neighbors with Bill Burton ’74. Also got a note from old friend Julia Lazarus; she and her husband, Steve, were delighted to share the birth of their daughter, Eleanor Lazarus Aurora Parman, in September.
Fall brings the paperback edition of Vanessa Grigoriadis’s nonfiction book, Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus, which describes what she learned talking to students, administrators, and profs at Wesleyan (among other schools) about sexual assault and its aftermath. Vanessa answers many of the questions of sexual consent in national debate, and grapples with the future of the #MeToo movement.
Matt Duffy sends a quick update: “I am just starting my third year as superintendent of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, an urban school district of 30,000 students in the Bay Area. It’s been crazy but really good. We also welcomed a new baby, Luna, into the family last year, which has been an amazing experience for our whole family. I am still in touch with a number of Wes folks, including Malcolm Edwards, Randy and Brooke Jackson, and others. Shout out to the Wes family.”
Rachel Posner and Jody Kuh met up as new members of the Kings County (aka Brooklyn) Democratic Committee, as part of a campaign called #RepYourBlock launched by the New Kings Democrats to transform the Democratic Party from the grassroots up. They’ll be representing their neighbors in shaping the party, ensuring it is increasingly inclusive, transparent, and democratic.
Rafhia Foster writes from her hometown of Philadelphia: “I’m working at Girard College as the director of cultural competencies and admissions. I get to have a mini-reunion and see lots of Wes folks at the NAIS People of Color Conference each year. DJ VanVader ’96 was the DJ for the conference party last year. I felt like I was back at a ’90s-era Wes party. I have two sweet and energetic boys, 9 and 2, who keep me very, very busy. And the biggest update is that I reconnected with a lost love this spring and eloped in August. Lots of good changes! I would love to connect with anyone stopping through Philly!”
Daniel Greene curated a new exhibition, Americans and the Holocaust, which opened in April at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. to mark its 25th anniversary. He’s also teaching history at Northwestern University and living in Evanston.
Rob Armstrong writes: “My wife, Wylie, and I moved back to Brooklyn this September after five years in London. Still writing about money for the Financial Times. Our twins are 9 and going to Brooklyn New School, which is some kind of hippie commune and a big change from British state schools, uniforms, and so on. Still hang out with Russell Agle all the time. Keen to hear from any other ’95ers in the big city.”
Up in Boston, Jason Wiser made comics for the Boston Globe and Franciscan Children’s Hospital and School to help four kids in longterm care envision themselves as superheroes. The comics and stories about these extraordinary kids can be found at bostonglobe.com.
This year, Jason celebrated the bat and bar mitzvahs of Rebecca Fried Weisberg’s [’97] daughter and Nicole Goldstein’s [’96] son.
Boston was also the site of a recent retirement party for Wes Dean of Admissions, Barbara-Jan Wilson, who specifically remarked upon the class of ’95 (her first class admitted at Wes). Katy McNeill, Jen Levine-Fried, Brendan Coughlin, Karsten Cash, and Amy Casher were some of the ’95ers at the event. Amy writes: “We represented our class and reminisced about our singing group connections (in Onomatopoeia and Ebony Singers) and work memories (Brendan and I were both hired by a small consulting start-up called Mainspring, after finishing our MBAs at Yale one year apart, and were acquired into IBM as part of their Strategy & Change group way back in 2001). What a treat to have the opportunity to catch up after all these years.”
Personally, Amy has been designing and making jewelry out of her studio in the SoWa Art + Design District for the past 10 years, living in Concord with her husband and two kids (ages 6 and 4), and recently traveled to San Francisco to link up with Foss 9 hallmates Davina Baum and Alissa Van Nort.
Thanks all of you for writing—keep on keepin’ us up to date!
Bo Bell | bobell.forreal@gmail.com
Katy McNeill | mcneill40@gmail.com