CLASS OF 1984 | 2022 | FALL ISSUE

Hello, Classmates!

Jim McGonagle submitted news just a little too late for the last outing. Bob Barringer was inducted into the Wesleyan Baseball Wall of Fame along with four others during a ceremony on Andrus Field on Saturday, April 30, 2022. He was recognized for his baseball achievements during his four years as an “offensive force” for the Cardinals.  Joining Bob and his family were 1984 classmates Steve Peck, Joel Armijo, Scott Sprague, as well as Jim; along with Todd Mogren ’83, Ken Janik ’85, Tony Rella ’86, Charlie Galland ’86, Ken Johnson ’86, Tim Sullivan ’87, and Michael Cooper ’87.

Stephanie Fleischmann also wrote just past the wire to give news of her opera collaboration with composer Christopher Cerrone, In a Grove. The opera is adapted from Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s story and created in collaboration with director Mary Birnbaum.   Originally commissioned by LA Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera production is available for streaming on YouTube.

Laura Simon thinks it is crazy how old we are all getting. She is (currently and still) the president of the Connecticut Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and does consulting work helping suburban/urban communities resolve wildlife issues and learn to coexist.   The current hot topic is black bears, as they are popping up in backyards throughout the state.

Michael (Misi) Polgar is coediting an open educational resource (OER) on the Holocaust. I am happy to pass along any messages to Misi if you want to know more about this project.

David Knudsen has recently launched Everything Set Inc., a start-up in the East Bay (with help from other Wes alums). His company, which is deep into beta testing, uses advanced AI on crowd-sourced real-time data to keep smart devices safe and secure.     His company website is everythingset.com, where you can get information about their Early Access program.

Mark Randles recently attended the wedding of Andy Peretz in Delray Beach, Florida, where he saw Jay and Gail Farris. Mark says it was the best wedding band he had ever seen, and Andy sat in with them on the drums (with wife Stephanie on cowbell). Mark also went to Kansas City and met up with James Glickman, Michael Bailit, David Booker, Hans Schweiger, and Bill Barry to enjoy a weekend of baseball games and museums. This Wes group has been meeting for 21 years at this point—they are headed to Toronto next year.

Paul Landau has a new book, Spear: Mandela and the Revolutionaries, which he has been working on for 12 years. His BA thesis (with Jeff Butler) was on U.S. policy in South Africa, so this book is a culmination of his study; Paul is a full professor at the University of Maryland, teaching the history of Africa, masked. His wife Emily teaches high school at Georgetown Day School (where Ketanji Brown Jackson is on the board).  Daughter Zoe is taking a year off from Oberlin, and Penelope is a junior counselor at Brown Ledge Camp this summer.

Paul lives a few blocks from the Capitol and had a front-row seat for the events of January 6. He lives on a pleasant and tree-lined street, but is in close proximity to homelessness, addiction, shootings, and other systemic municipal problems stemming from structural disinterest and federal neglect of the District. It is not lost on him that he is “getting ready again to teach about shantytowns, race, the role of self-told narratives in mobilizing, strong drink, the contest for public space, and White nationalism in apartheid South Africa.”

Susie Kang Sharpe is thrilled to have another exhibit of her artwork in Europe. This time it’s in Madrid, Spain. She ships her art to her fans to worldwide. Her work can be viewed: https://www.susiesharpe.net. She still enjoys being a physician and recently switched from traditional internal medicine practice to telemedicine. She loves the flexibility it provides. She is a frequent guest of many podcasts.

Maria Mead has been living in Santa Cruz, California, for the past 21 years. She is married and has two adult kids, who also live in California. She is a semiretired family practice physician—now busy with public health, trying to save our democracy, and reading and traveling as much as she can. Recently she got together with Jonathan Schwartz ’87 and Sophie Ziegler ’85, Heidi Wasch and Bob Leversee, and Veronica Masterson ’85. She is eager to hear from people visiting the Bay Area and can be reached at mariamead@gmail.com (and I have permission to forward her phone to other alums).

Kristin Kellom Damon continues to live in the beautiful Connecticut River Valley within the tri-state area of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. She has officially retired from Northfield Mount Hermon where she worked for nearly three decades serving in a variety of roles, most recently as director of alumni and donor relations within the Advancement Office. She is relishing the extra time with family, especially being with her two sons as they launch their lives in college and beyond. In this particularly unsettled world, she increasingly appreciates the little things (that aren’t so little).

Finally, Molly (Willey) Tierney announces that she is a “grandma,” and welcomes baby boy Asher born to her daughter in May 2022.

Until next time.