CLASS OF 1983 | 2019 | ISSUE 2
Greetings, everyone. Looks like you all must be busy this time of year with graduations and summer fun. I didn’t hear from many people, so if you have not reached out lately, please send your updates when you read this one. Also, if you have any ideas on how to spruce up our notes, please shoot me an e-mail. Enjoy your summer.
Alice Jankell and her husband, Jess Shatkin, are facing impending empty nest syndrome, (daughter Parker is at Oberlin and son Julian is off to drama school). But happily, Alice remains busy writing and directing. She helms the new musical An Enchanted April off-Broadway this fall. Alice, I loved the movie and read the book. I even visited Castle Brown in Portofino last summer where the movie was filmed. I can’t wait to see your show when it opens. Congrats! Maybe you can do a Wesleyan night?
Sheila Spencer is adjusting to her new status as “open nest” since her daughter started Sarah Lawrence College and her son is at Reed College. She writes, “Dropping them off at college brought back many memories of the excitement that I felt as a freshman at Wesleyan. Enjoyed catching up with Janice Okoomianand Kenneth Schneyer at SLC drop-off.”
Keeping with the empty nest theme, two-thirds of my trio have returned home for their final year of graduate school. I’m thrilled to have them back and super excited for our last hurrah together before they fly solo. My third decided to stay in San Francisco after graduation and I miss her terribly, though I do enjoy visiting her throughout the year.
Lisa Hamilton has about a year until she joins us empty-nesters and “assuming no returns of any of the four!” She enjoys working at Butler University, celebrating one of her kid’s wedding, and seeing her young adults find their paths. She hopes to make it back to campus for our 40th.
Eileen Kelly-Aguirre’s latest news is she and her partner (now living in Connecticut) run a “Brownhouse studio through Airbnb in New Preston, Conn., should any Wesfolk be looking for an affordable, cozy, cool place to stay in this beautiful corner of the planet.”
Deirdre Black and husband are in Accra, Ghana, where she has been advising organizations in a diversity of sectors from higher education to cocoa entrepreneurship—all with a goal of capacity building. She has enjoyed explorations of Ghana and adventures in Nigeria, Senegal, and other parts of West Africa.
David Steinhardt moved to Seattle. A book he edited for several years is now out: Hammer and Anvil by Dartmouth professor P.K. Crossley, published by Rowman & Littlefield.
Kirsten Wasson works as a college counselor and internship coordinator at a private school in Calabasas, Calif. She is a storyteller (adult-style) in dozens of venues around L.A. and is finishing a memoir about changing her life at 51 from academic to paddle-boarding free agent. She has published poetry, photographs, and nonfiction in literary journals.
Lynn Ogden is excited to attend daughter Emilie Ogden-Fung’s [’19] graduation from Wesleyan and looks forward to seeing classmates from ’84 and ’83.
Until next time, namaste.
Laurie Hills | lauriec@rci.rutgers.edu