CLASS OF 2001 | 2022 | FALL ISSUE
Oliver Platts-Mills and Natasha Sienitsky ’02, joined by their daughters Ursula (6) and Ona (4), have taken over an Appalachian Mountain lodging and campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Central Virginia. Oliver says, “Come visit us at www.loveridgeva.com!”
Andrew Drane writes, “I got married in December 2020 and we became foster parents in September 2021. We are currently caring for an adorable 2-year-old foster daughter!”
Grace Anderson-Smith now lives in Georgia, and has a “beautiful, smart, 4-year-old daughter and future Wesleyan field hockey player. I am proud to have successfully accomplished working in corporate for Time magazine, then graduated from NYU with a master’s in education. I worked and coached at Rye Country Day School, taught math, and had a math tutoring company for over 20 years. Grateful for all I have accomplished with multiple sclerosis. I have MS, but MS it does not have me.”
From Emily Barth Isler: “My debut middle-grade novel, AfterMath, came out in September from Lerner/Carolrhoda, and was called ‘a gift to the culture’ by Amy Schumer and ‘pretty close to perfect’ by Judith Viorst. AfterMath also won the 2022 Mathical Book Prize, was A Mighty Girl’s Books of the Year list winner 2021, and was chosen as Nate Berkus’s Nate’s Reads book club pick for the month of April 2022! I was delighted to be on a panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in April with John Cho, Kelly Yang, and Lexie Bean, speaking about the importance of books that address difficult topics for middle-grade readers. AfterMath deals with the lasting impact of gun violence in communities, as well as themes of grief, resilience, friendship, and family, and sadly it’s getting more relevant every day in light of recent mass shootings. I’m quite involved in several gun violence prevention organizations and donate a portion of my proceeds from the book to said orgs. I love doing school visits via Zoom or in person, so if you teach middle school or know a teacher who wants to bring authors into classrooms, please be in touch! Learn more at emilybarthisler.com/aftermath.”
Ben Clark was hired by the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of New York, to serve as an AUSA in the Criminal Division.
Jennifer Tuft’s entertainment technology company, Kaleidoco, has opened an immersive mixed-reality experience called Particle Ink: Speed of Dark in the arts district of Las Vegas. Particle Ink: Speed of Dark is a narrative experience, one that seamlessly weaves live performance with mixed-reality technology. If you find yourself in Las Vegas and want to step into a living graphic novel, go see Particle Ink! More at particleink.com.
Joanna Weaver (formerly Richman) moved her family of four to Boston this year for her faculty position at Northeastern University. She has enjoyed re-connecting with fellow class of ’01 alumni Will Tsoules and Mara Voukydis [aka me, and the feeling is mutual!] and alum Demian Szyld ’00. She is hoping to discover more Wesleyan friends in the area!
Always great to hear from you all.
Best,
Mara