Author: Anne Marcotty

Hey, Class of 2002! Happy 2014! The other morning I woke up with the Fight Song stuck in my head… and I realized that instead of trekking over Foss Hill in the snow to go to Mocon (RIP), 12 years have passed since our graduation from Wesleyan. It’s simply amazing how time flies by. We’ve fully entrenched in our 30s now. Engagements, weddings, babies, new houses and new jobs are the new norm. Never forget the great memories of the past as we make new memories for the future. Exciting times await!

Congratulations to the new parents of our class! Sarabeth Broder-Fingert and her wife Heidi Alexander welcomed daughter Zoey Alexander into the world in June! Thus far, she has enjoyed the company of many Wes grads! Allyson Miller and her husband, Michael Coppola ’03, welcomed their first child, Zachary, on July 5, 2013. He’s been to Wesleyan several times already and is looking forward to becoming a member of the Class of 2035! Dana Sirota, her husband Josh, and big sister Emma are happy to welcome Gabriel to their family, born Nov. 12th. And Sara Shandler Banks and husband Peter Banks ’01 are enjoying life with their 18-month-old daughter, Hazel, in Brooklyn.

Onto other news for the class:

Anna Johnson and her husband Jesse Brand are finally, after 16 years of graduate and post-graduate training between them, settled in Washington, D.C. Anna is an assistant professor at Georgetown University, and Jesse is a neuropsychologist in a group neurology practice. Their daughter Willa, who turned 2 in October, is considering a career in music. Anna and Jesse were thrilled to celebrate Ximena Sarango’s wedding to James Lensen-Callas in August in Portland, Ore., with lots of other Wes ’02-ers.”

Peter Mongillo left his job in Austin, Texas., as the music critic for the Austin American-Statesman and returned to New York, where he is working as a booking coordinator at MSG Entertainment. He and his wife, Rebecca D’Orsogna, welcomed their second child, Evan Reed, in June.

Angie Schiavoni is launching a new website in January 2014 that’s currently in private beta. It’s called Mamajamas, and it is a site to help expecting and new parents figure out what baby gear they really need by sharing lists with each other. Check it out at mamajamas.com.

Sallomé Hralima is chief dream director for The Future Project, with her work focused on hiring and training superheroes to work in America’s public high schools.

Ryan Akers is enjoying the first year of married life. He is still working at Anchor Brewing and happy to sneak any Wes Class of ’02 alums on the difficult-to-book brewery tour; just send him an e-mail! He’s looking forward to his annual ski trip with Daniel Winokur, Paul Kim, and Chris Lynch; this year makes it 10 in a row!

That’s it for this issue! Feel free to send notes throughout the year to me at my e-mail below:

JUSTIN LACOB
justinlacob@gmail.com

In January, Samantha Gillombardo Larson left the public defender’s office after 6.5 years and now works as a clerk magistrate for the Massachusetts Trial Courts. She frequently and happily returns to campus to visit her sister, Tabitha ’16. Among the guests at her son’s birthday party was Elias McCoy, son of Andrea Wilson McCoy, who lives close by.

Tejas Desai published his second book, Good Americans. This short story collection paints an uncompromising, panoramic portrait of contemporary America and is the first in a series of collections called The Human Tragedy. It is available on Amazon. Tejas is alternating The Human Tragedy with his novel series The Brotherhood Trilogy.

Neville Galloway-Williams is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as she applies for internships to complete her degree in clinical psychology. If this nerve-wracking process goes well, this will be her last year at Virginia Tech, and next year she could end up anywhere, from Maine to California. Wherever she goes, she hopes to find a few Wes grads who will hang out with her, husband Joshua, and 2-year-old Alice.

Tim Harrington, Jessica, and son Lius (2 years) moved to sunny Mountain View, Calif., in May and decided to stay after Tim received a permanent offer of employment from Google in its green-energy investments legal group. Daughter Josephine was born Oct. 8, in Mountain View. Mom and Josie are not sleeping much but otherwise doing great.

Along with his wife, Sally, and daughter Rose, Jeremy Cluchey moved from D.C. to the great state of Maine, where he’s working in communications at Bates College.

Kirsten Yamaguchi presented a talk about the formal and behavioral construction of gender in animation at the UC Berkeley Center for New Media during The Queerness and Games Conference. Kirsten’s talk was titled “The Medium’s Flexible Potential: Practical Tactics from Animation for Designing Queer Video Game Characters.”

A new English teacher has arrived in Salzburg. Vida Long is teaching ELL and Literature at a boarding school and loving being so close to the Austrian Alps for skiing.

Ben Rhatigan finished his MBA in and started working out of the Barcelona office of a management consultancy that specializes in companies in emerging economies, with some recent projects in Ghana, Kuwait, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia.

Catherine Roden Faulk and Brian Faulk welcomed their first child, baby boy Jack Lincoln Faulk, on May 7, 2013. Jack has been welcomed to the Wes family by many Wes friends and recently met Zoey, daughter of Sarabeth Broder-Fingert ’02 and Heidi Alexander. The two were fast friends with birthdays just one month apart.

Arturo Vidich had an eventful year in NYC with two performance commissions, a Creative Capital grant, a NYFA grant, plus he got married; their son was born Jan. 31, 2014.

Andrew and Betsy Fippinger moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Andrew is a high school English teacher at Horace Mann. Betsy is a freelance casting assistant working in film and television. Their almost 2-year-old son James is an applesauce lover and Elmo aficionado.

Anna Seastrand finished her PhD in art history at Columbia and now works as a collegiate assistant professor at the University of Chicago.

Nezia Azmi married Paul Rausch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Dec. 29, 2012, after he took her on the longest first date ever—a train trip from London to Tehran over 25 days. She is currently in KL working on some arts management/education projects and spending time with family while waiting to join Paul in Honolulu, Hawai’i, hopefully sometime in mid-2014.

Julia Beizer and husband Tom Ratliff ’01 live in Takoma Park, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C. Their second child, Miles James Ratliff, was born Dec. 21. Julia oversees mobile product development for The Washington Post.

In August, Joey Wender was joined by Tony Saudek in Jackson Hole to celebrate his marriage to Lauren Paige. Joey continues to work on Capitol Hill, having moved with his boss, Ed Markey, from the House to the Senate.

AMY TANNENBAUM

atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

It’s a Reunion year, ’04, so please give early and often to those Wesleyan fundraisers who call you in the evenings (not an easy job!), and also mark the weekend of May 23–25 on your calendars for our 10 Year Reunion! Live socializing to come; in the meantime here’s what our classmates are up to:

Jhanelle C. Allen is now living in southern Florida and very thankful for snowless winters, as she begins her new work as a fully independent emergency physician.

Eliza Wentworth is a digital producer for Weber Shandwick in Boston.

Jenna Flateman Posner and her wife, Saburah, just celebrated the arrival of their twin boys! Jenna is currently the VP of brand strategy for Curalate, a visual marketing company in Philly.

KJ Iribe is living and working in Old Town Alexandria and engaged to marry Jim Woodsome ‘06 on July 5th.

Lelah Baker-Rabe had her first romance novel, Love Unlocked, published under the name Libby Waterford, by Decadent Publishing in December 2013. Check out this romantic suspense story set in the world of art theft.

Shanta Cortez-Greig finished her master’s in social work, is a professional musician, and has an advice column radio show called ‘Help Me, Shanta!’. Soon she will get a “real” job…

Dave Stone has spent the last two years training to qualify for the Boston Marathon and accomplished that goal last year at the LA Marathon. This April, he will be running in honor of his friend, Jamen Amato, who passed away from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2009 at the age of 24. They grew up together, and although he was his younger brother Evan’s best friend, and three years Dave’s junior, Dave learned more from Jamen than he realized. Jamen was talented, determined and one of the fiercest competitor’s Dave’s ever known. A star on Dave’s hometown soccer team, Jamen eventually captained the Boston College team. He was bright, energetic, and passionate about life. Dave says that playing with Jamen and knowing him was an honor, and so his inaugural Boston Marathon will be to return the favor to this great friend, brother and person. Online donations to support Dave as he runs in Jamen’s memory for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society can be made at pages.teamintraining.org/ma/boston14/dstonel4l8.

Mark Hatch-Miller finished his clerkship for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and started working as an associate at the New York office of Susman Godfrey LLP, a Houston-based law firm that specializes in commercial litigation. In October, he got married to Emily Ross in Beacon, N.Y. Lots of alums from various years were present, including ’04 classmates Aaron Schoonhoven, Andrea Garcia, Carl Cervone, Emma Alpert, Kathryn Schoendorf, Krishna Andavolu, Noah Nattell, Peter Thilly, and Steve Gravatt.

Michael Aylward just moved to San Francisco to work on renewable energy strategy and policy for PG&E (Northern California’s electric utility). He is loving California life, enjoying the beautiful scenery and decadent food and drink. He got to see his buddy Tim Harrington ’03, with his fabulous wife and awesome little son. Before moving to the west coast Michael spent a weekend backpacking the Appalachian Trail with Justin Freiberg. Any Wes alums in the Bay Area up for an adventure can reach him at maylward@umich.edu.!

Greg Heller recently got engaged to Diana Lind, with a wedding planned for next May. He also recently began a new job as interim president and CEO of American Communities Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on social-impact real-estate to revitalize low-income communities across the U.S. His book Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia, released in the spring, and has been getting good reviews. [Ed. note: See p. 16]

Carl Cervone recently returned to the United States with his wife, Kidist Zebene, after spending the last 10 years in East Africa. Carl worked with the international development organization TechnoServe and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to design a strategy, and then execute an eight-year initiative to help more than 200,000 coffee farming families double their income. Carl spent most of his time in Ethiopia, opening the program’s office there in 2008 and building a team of more than 200 local coffee professionals. He continues to work with TechnoServe, but now on a more global scale and based out of New York. If you are a coffee aficionado (and particularly if you seek out boutique, single origin Ethiopian coffees), you’ve probably tasted beans produced by farmers that Carl has worked with.

Alonzo Davis is no longer a private wealth advisor at Goldman Sachs after ending his 7+ year stint in finance to focus on entrepreneurship. He has created the first social network focused on sexual health, Just Been Tested (JBT)—think of it like sexual health meets Facebook. JBT encourages people, mainly those in the 18–24 year old demographic, to know their status through the use of rewards and incentives. It’s a new, creative approach to reducing the stigma associated with getting tested and preventing the spread of infection. STIs are on the rise, and he thought many of the ways to get people tested were depressing or just out dated. JBT aims to change that. They organize free HIV testing that includes a social event and creative incentive for people to know their status. JBT also verifies when someone was tested for an STI, and then this verified date is then added to the profile page of the JBT member. They have recently launched the nonprofit JBT Foundation, Inc. and will be busy next quarter raising funds to become self-sufficient.

After four years as an associate at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb, Rebecca Weinstein changed jobs and is now an in-house corporate counsel at Colgate-Palmolive in NYC.

Josh Garrett lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Robyn, and dog, Dylan. He earned an M.P.A. in environmental science and policy from Columbia University in 2012, and currently works at The Nature Conservancy as the marketing manager for its North America Energy Program.

Philippe Gosselin has been enjoying life in San Francisco, having rekindled his love of acting recently with roles this past year on stage, film and TV. He has a new website highlighting some of his work, at phillipegosselin.com. Philippe is very proud of his fellow Wes film majors, and their extraordinary work and achievements this past year! At the time this is published, he will be in the middle of a three-month trek through South America.

Mairead Ahern Salsich married Bob Viégas in November. The wedding was in Wayland, Mass., near where she grew up in Natick. From our class, Cora Peterson, Alyssa Kagel, Laurel KemperKennedy, Liza Harrison Ashbrook, Mary Livingston, and Sarah Pradka attended. Nina Romá-Agvanian ’06 and Deirdre Salsich ’07, her sister, also attended.

As I (Meeghan Ward) write these Class Notes, I’m enjoying some wine in our London flat while my husband, Daniel Creeden, works on a project for his MBA program at London School of Business and Finance, and dogs, Reggie and Mr. Sox, lounge adorably at our side. In August, we married under two old-growth willow trees facing the Boston skyline from Thompson Island in the harbor. TI is a nonprofit organization with an Outward Bound Education Center, and they also throw a mean clambake with proceeds going back to their wonderful programs for kids from the local community (thompsonisland.org) Linda Caparyan, Amy Posocco, Ashley Elia Weller, and Liz Walsh MacMillan were beautiful bridesmaids! Several other members of the Wes family were in attendance, staying at the camp for the weekend and bringing the festivities to a new level. This included: Nora Bowman ’05, Patrick Carroll ’03, Allyson Miller Coppola ’02, Whitney Ebbeson ’02, Kamica Lewis ’03 Joshua Pelletier ’04, Marielle Lesnevich Silk ’04, Shay Bernius Squeglia ’02, Shaleen Bowman Thody ’03, Jeremiah Tracy ’03, and Basketball Coach Kate Mullen. Our little family moved to London in the fall, as I began my new role as senior HR business partner for Advent Software Europe and Middle East. Feeling grateful; life is good!

Jenina NuÑez and Meeghan Whooley Ward
meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com
jenina.nunez@gmail.com

Heather Olins is still in grad school, studying microbes that live in underwater volcanoes. Recently she met up with Emily Kachergis, Kathryn Flynn ’03, and a bunch of other Wes E&ES alumni, current students, and faculty at the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver, Colo., and had a great time catching up, nerding out over geology, and remembering how awesome Wesleyan was!

A year ago, Adam Poswolsky left Washington, D.C., to follow his dream since Wes graduation to move to San Francisco. He recently ran The Bold Academy, an entrepreneurial leadership development program for 20-somethings in career transition. He is currently writing his first book, The Quarter-Life Breakthrough, a guide for millennials looking for meaningful work. After a successful Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the book, it is due to be released in March 2014.

About a year ago, Dan Bobkoff moved back to New York after spending five years in public radio in Ohio. He is now reporting on business for NPR and living in Brooklyn.

Since leaving Wesleyan, Wil Renderos has continued to pursue his passion for music. He studied audio production in a program at Boston University, and has recorded and produced records for artists and bands throughout the Boston area. In early 2013, Wil opened a music studio in a renovated warehouse located in Everett, Mass., where he continues to engineer and mix records, produce audiobooks, and direct audio post-production efforts for video projects. In addition, he has established the Audio Chemists Institute, a music technology and audio production training program that aims at making music more accessible to everyone, and promoting long-term engagement in the arts.

Best-selling author and visiting professor at Wesleyan Sam Wasson ’03 has written Fosse, a biography about the entertainment icon. This book is ushered into the world with a riveting book trailer, directed by Max Goldblatt, and shot by Dan Adlerstein ’03, on how Sam becomes Fosse.

Artist Evan Bissell collaborated with Erik Loyer on the creation of Freedom’s Ring, a multimedia experience of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Evan was invited to create the animation by Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.

Postdoctoral Associate Intan Suci Nurhati ’05 and others from the Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) are the first team to drill for coral samples in Singapore waters. Nurhati is a climate scientist but she works alongside a marine biologist and a professor of ocean geochemistry, creating “an interesting synergy where [they] work on different topics” but use the same material—corals.

MARCELLA MARTINEZ
momartinez@wesleyan.edu

This is a column full of congratulations (and variations on the word) so I hope you won’t get tired of seeing it!

Congratulations to Stan Parish, whose first novel, Down the Shore, will be published by Viking in June 2014. The novel is about a promising high school student at a boarding school in New Jersey whose path to an Ivy League School and success is preempted when he gets caught selling drugs. Stan guarantees that it is a vastly different version of his Wesleyan honors thesis. The novel has received a great review by former Wesleyan teacher and acclaimed author Alexander Chee.

Speaking of creative congratulations, Anna Moench was awarded a fellowship in playwriting/screenwriting by the New York Foundation of the Arts. Anna’s plays have received rave reviews and have appeared at the Old Vic, 59E59, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Dance Theater Workshop. She’ll probably buy an island or two with the cash; I’d say go for Turks and Caicos.

In the same writing vein, congratulations are in order to Katey Rich who is now the Hollywood editor at Vanity Fair’s website, working out of New York City. Katey was previously editor-in-chief of the website CinemaBlend for six years. She promises not to give off any Miranda Priestly vibes!

Ronald Lim works in Singapore as an architect and regularly sees Sam Han, who now teaches sociology at Nanyang Technological University. He also goes on regular urban culinary excursions with jetsetting alums who fly in like Tokyo-based Takahiro Haneda, as well as U.S.-based alums Kingston Wong, Elizabeth Khoo, and Wilson Co.

Juan Sebastian Moreno graduated with a M.A. in TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) from the New School University in January 2013. He is engaged to Enie Rosales Ramos; the wedding will take place in the Philippines in 2014. Ben Magarik is still D.C.-based, although he has been traveling a lot for his job at MSCI (ISS) to help companies improve governance practices and sustainability reporting. He had the rare of treat of dinner with Louis Caditz-Peck and Jesse Watson in Berkeley in November.

Daniel Dykes plans to finish his law degree at Harvard in May 2014, after which he’ll be working in corporate law in NYC. This spring, he will direct the Harvard Law School Parody, a musical comedy making fun of law school and life in general.

Congratulations to Becca Seely who got married to the delightful Abby Ferjak at Yale Divinity School in New Haven. Alix Sleight Warner, Sara Covey Ortiz, Aurora Maoz, and Molly Greenberg ’05 were bridesmaids. An amazing Wes crew was in attendance, including Diego Ortiz ’05, Phil Amidon ’05, Bettina Schlegel, Nona Willis Aronowitz, Sarah Gunther, Lizzy Cohen, Matt Ferrisi ’03, Kate Mitchell ’05, Daniel Rubin, and Maggie Starr. Currently, Becca and Abby are living the dream in Venice Beach. Becca is completing the final step in her ordination process to become a Lutheran pastor by serving one year as vicar of a church in Santa Monica.

Belated and huge congrats to Vanessa Meer who married Marc Schreiber at Beach Point Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., on Oct. 6, 2012. Wesleyan was well-represented by Andrew Beckler ’91, Leslie Shasha ’82, Amelia Geggel, Beck Straley ’07, Jaimie Dougherty, Michelle Atwood ’05, Zach Strassburger, Anna Pinkert, Astrid Hesse ’08, Rachel Schreiber ’05, Alan Witt, Stephen Hartley, Maya Wolf Hartley, Samuel Duncan ’05, Kate Thorpe, Kim Landry, Sharisse Kanet, Leah Stern, and Teague Hopkins, as well as their associated significant others. Vanessa and Mark are living in Jersey City, where she is an environmental consultant at a multidisciplinary engineering firm and Marc is on an interest-rate-products trading desk at Goldman Sachs.

Jessica Pearce married Adam C. Jonas ’04 on July 19, 2013, at a lovely outdoor ceremony at Bryant Park Grill in NYC. Wesleyan alum attendees include Emily Titterton, Kaylea Moore, Jenna Bonczewsk, Douglas Collins ’07, Molly Adams ’07, Jaime Wendel ’07, and Megan Willey ’07. Congrats and best wishes in 2014!

Congratulations to Rachel Berger, who gave birth to a son, Colin Ezra Jankelowitz, on Aug. 14 2012. Rachel lives in Brooklyn with her husband Ari Jankelowitz. Ilana Davis Sharpe and her husband Dan Sharpe welcomed their first child Lorelei Olivia Sharpe born on September 18, 2013. The new family of 3 greatly enjoyed their first holiday season together. Needless to say, congrats! And last but certainly not least, congrats to Tal Beery and his wife, Eugenia, who gave birth to a bouncing baby boy Abraham Manwelyan Berry on August 8, 2013.

I wish you all the best in 2014 and hope to run into you in New York City soon!

Calvin Cato
catocals@gmail.com

This time around we tried to do something a little different for the class of 2007. As the call for class notes came out around Thanksgiving, I asked my fellow ’07ers what they were thankful for over the last year. We got great responses, but far too few of them! Next time around I look forward to knocking it out of the park.

To start, I am thankful for my beautiful wife and family. I am thankful that my friend Thomas Bendon is getting married this summer and was fortunate to see Hooter Glidden, Jared Ashe, Julian Canzoneri, and several others during travels the last few weeks.

Deirdre Salsich has had a great year and is thankful for a number of things “1) I passed the New York Bar Exam; 2) I have a fabulous job with New York State United Teachers, the public school teachers’ union as a labor and employment attorney; and 3) I love my neighborhood in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and that so many Wesleyan people are nearby! Last but not least, I am so thankful that my sister, Mairead Salsich Viegas ’04, married a wonderful guy, Bob Viegas, on Nov. 23.”

Grace Nowakoski is thankful for America’s interstate highways which allowed her and her fiance, Jeff Diteman, to switch coasts this October, trading Portland, Ore., for her hometown of Putney, Vermont; for four good years in Portland, the wonderful community of people they left behind, and the friends they’ll always keep; for snow, and stacked firewood and a woodstove to burn it in; for Thanksgiving with her family.

Tess Amodeo-Vickery is thankful for finding her true passion in song writing and the Wesleyan music mafia (she plans on giving you all a call when the time is right).

Doug Rubenstein sent this my way “I’m thankful for my lovely wife, my family, my cool kick ass dog, my health, my amazing friends and my new pilot that I shot.” Best of luck with the pilot, Doug!

Lauren Smith scored an invitation to the White House Harry Truman bowling alley—and was kind enough to invite her pals Jesse Young ’06, Seth Samuels ’06, Molly Gaebe, and Margaret Dickson. The final score of the game remains unknown…but they are all winners.

Thanks again to all who wrote. I can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store for Wes 07!

Victoria Belyavsky and Jesse Bardo
wesleyan2007@gmail.com

Lauren Goldman writes: “I just finished working my third campaign cycle as a field organizer. The last campaign I worked on was called Garden State Forward—a campaign to elect progressive politicians to New Jersey’s highest offices. Although Christie won the governor’s seat, the state senate and assembly were carried by Democrats. I got to work alongside Michael Berger and we shared many laughs and good times. Looking forward to seeing the whole of Wesdom/NYC in the coming weeks.”

Emily Hauck writes: “I’m working for the city of Beauvais (about an hour outside Paris) in charge of various sustainable development action plans. Being a French public servant has its perks, notably nearly seven weeks of paid vacation. Julien and I took full advantage and came back to the U.S. for a month this summer. While home, we stayed with Izaak Orlansky in his Brooklyn apartment, ate burgers in Harlem with a bar-exam-wearied Emma Rosenberg, visited Becca Feiden ’09 on Martha’s Vineyard, and hung out with Maura Scully and Emily Malkin in D.C. Stephanie Schwartz used her frequent flier miles to come visit us in Paris last spring and we’re looking forward to hosting Mark Purser for Thanksgiving!”

Chaz Ganster writes: “I’m in Tokyo, visiting family and Wes friends. I’m the first person in my family to go to Japan after my grandmother left in 1956. But I live in L.A., animating and character designing for an all-Wesleyan educational software company called Pup’s Quest for Phonics. The software is being used in many elementary schools in L.A. (pupsquest.com)

Liat Olenick is recovering from liverfest.

Nick Benacerraf writes: “The Assembly, my performance collective (with Edward Bauer, Jess Chayes ’07, Stephen Aubrey ’06, and Ariela Rotenberg ’10), has been invited to perform at the CFA Theater in January! It’s really exciting for us to come home to where it all began. We will be presenting HOME/SICK, our collectively-written show about the Weather Underground, which recently ran for three sold-out runs in New York and was a critics’ pick in the NY Times. We make smart, visceral theater and if you live in New York, you should hang out with us. I am also one of the leaders of an initiative called The Brooklyn Commune Project (brooklyncommune.org) that is writing a position paper about the economics of the performing arts, which will be published online in January. I’m making lots of theater and visual art, while still managing to eat food. (Yes!) People at LA Weekly gave me an award for set design. And… I went to India for six weeks this summer! All thanks to Wes.”

Steph Calvert writes: “Some recent news of mine is that I was the youngest alumni artist to show work in the Alumni Show II that was recently up in Zilkha Gallery. I went for Homecoming & Family Weekend for gallery talks, and interview, and to participate in a panel discussion on art and science, along with two other artists from the show and a couple of scientists from Wesleyan. I stood out there as well, as the youngest and only female on the panel.”

Grace Overbeke is in her first year of the interdisciplinary PhD in theatre and drama at Northwestern University.

Anthony Albrecht writes: “Although I have lived in Middletown my whole life, I just bought a house in town (as opposed to living with parents and then in an apartment) with my wife, Kelly. After my first teaching job last year at New Britain High School, I currently teach (and happily am doing so) at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, also in Middletown, as a language arts teacher.”

Maggie Siddiqi began studying at Hartford Seminary, pursuing a master’s in Islam and Christian-Muslim relations, as well as a graduate certificate in Islamic chaplaincy.

Zachary Davis and Travis Fitzgerald ’09 are closing Appendix Project Space, their art residency and gallery space in Portland, Ore., after a successful five-year run. They are moving to NYC, where they plan to collaborate with Joshua Pavlacky on another curatorial project, American Medium.

Alpay Koralturk writes: “After four years in the investment banking and startup scenes in New York, I moved back to Istanbul to start a mobile gaming company. We have raised venture capital funds from Europe and the US and will be expanding our team over the next year. You can check out Gram Games on the iOS AppStore.”

Devon Golaszewski began a PhD program in history at Columbia, focusing on African history this fall, after several years in Mali.

Phoebe Jones is in the second year of her master’s degree in public health at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she has been falling hard for the City of Brotherly Love. She is concentrating in health management and policy and her work focuses on autism, aging, and ethics. She traveled to Israel this past summer to do research with her professors and she is excited to get back to the workforce after graduation this year. She is also loving being an aunt to two adorable nephews (sons of Serena Jones ’00!) and living with her boyfriend, a seasoned Philly native.

Sam Grover has moved to Madison, Wis., to start a career as a staff attorney for the nonprofit organization Freedom from Religion Foundation. He will work to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church while learning to eat cheese curds and enjoy ice fishing. Go Badgers!

Before starting grad school in May, Leslie Prado did a road trip in March and saw the Grand Canyon. Now she is in D.C., doing a dual master’s degree in physician assistant and public health at George Washington University where she will be for the next three years.

Ruby Ross writes: “My only big news is that I released my first CD, an EP called Solid Ground, back in October. I recorded it in Jess Myhre’s ’09 basement when she lived in Baltimore last year and she and her friends laid down a bunch of tracks on it so it turned into much more than I’d originally envisioned. I’m excited to finally have the finished product. I also have a track on a new compilation CD of New Orleans songwriters, recorded and released by Buffa’s Back Room Bar. Other than that, life’s still pretty much the same: waitressing at JIMS cafe, teaching adult ESL, and making music as Ruby Ross & The Precious Gems and as Pyeya with other NOLA Wesfolk.”

Caitlin O’Shaughnessy
caitlin.oshaughnessy@gmail.com

Winter is near and what better way to enjoy a warm fire and a big mug of hot chocolate than with some class notes, right?! Here’s what some of your fellow classmates are up to:

Seth Halpern is working in Washington, D.C. as a strategic consultant for hospital executives at The Advisory Board Company, and is also in his second year of the evening MBA program at Georgetown University. Seth is overworked and underpaid, and looks forward to seeing everyone at the five (5!!!) year Reunion in the spring.

Laura Masulis is working as the senior partnerships manager at Interise, a social enterprise that trains local business owners to help take their businesses to the next level. On the side, she is helping found a community bike and board shop, The Lawrence BiciCocina, to improve the quality of life in Lawrence, Mass., encourage more physical activity, and provide job and leadership training for youth. Laura also just had a wonderful woodsy get-a-way weekend with Tressa Eaton, Sara Hirsch, and Ellie Wiener.

Lilly Fink Shapiro shares that she is studying public health and sustainable food systems at the University of Michigan.

Dominic Ireland left Bridgewater Associates back in February, spent March wandering solo around Turkey (awesome), and now he’s in Connecticut, working IT at Stamford Hospital.

Elana Baurer is a first-year associate at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia, PA, working in the Employment, Labor, Benefits, and Immigration group. She splits her time between employment and immigration matters. Elana passed the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bars and was to be admitted formally before the New Year.

Ray Ward, Sawyer Greene, and Jeremy Finch are now living in Cambridge, Mass., where their apartment features nearly one pull-up bar per capita.

Ari King has launched a website and podcast titled Off Campus, which is based on his book Now What?! Conversations about College, Graduation, and the Next Step and has a Kickstarter to raise money to produce the show. To find out more, see: thisisoffcampus.org

Only five months until our 5-year Reunion. Get excited! And keep the notes coming!

Alejandro Alvarado
ale.alvarado12@gmail.com

Although most cardinalis cardinalis in fact do not migrate south for the winter, several of our classmates are making big moves and here is what they report:

Alice Maggio reports the following: “After making pie in Brooklyn, teaching English in the Alps, and cooking Basque food in Manhattan, Alice Maggio (Sociology and French, 2010) has found herself back at home in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, working on the region’s local currency, BerkShares. Much to her surprise, her role at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics has had her traveling around the world (and even back to Wesleyan) to speak about the potential of local currency to create more democratic and sustainable local economies.” Alice even had time to make an appearance on PBS News Hour to discuss the benefits of local currency!

Jory Kahan has moved to Boston to start medical school at Tufts University. Jory is happily living in downtown Boston and is excited to hang out with any Wes Alums in the area.

Jeffrey Rovinelli wrote in with perhaps the coolest note of the year: “Razor (formerly Ray) Edwards ’10 and myself just got married in a quiet ceremony in Bushwick, only partially for tax reasons. Jeff is a recently accredited non-denominational minister running a small animal therapy outreach program in Williamsburg and Razor has a side project as a vegan taxidermist. (For real! This is a thing that people want!)”

On Oct. 15th, Grace Kredell welcomed her first child—a healthy baby girl named Maine—into the world with her partner Alex. For the last two years, Grace has been building up a successful tarot card reading practice in Los Angeles.

Katherine Rodriguez-Perez Colone checks in to report that she was married in 2012, has moved to Atlanta, and is now working as a technical editor contracting for an aeronautics company.

Raphaelle Brochet writes in from India, where she is teaching music in a recent school that offers jazz, contemporary world and Carnatic music; the first school of its kind in India!

Katherine Kitfield Bascom “is taking to the air. In 2014, she will be joining the dance company ‘Human Architecture’ as an aerialist, and will be featured in a major public work in NYC’s Central Park (theoneshow.com). Lately, she can’t get enough of the Sufi poet Hafiz, or cooking with goose fat from the farm project she’s running with her brother up in Vermont (Want local organic goose for the holidays? getyourgoose.com)”

Caitlin McHugh is finishing her second to last quarter at Western Washington University where she is working toward an M.Ed. in Environmental Education and a certificate in Non-profit Administration through Western Washington and the North Cascades Institute M.Ed. program. Caitlin spent a full year living, working, and taking classes in North Cascades National Park on Lake Diablo in Washington State and just moved back to Bellingham, WA in September to finish her coursework. Caitlin adds this awesome description of her work: “As part of my studies this summer, I coordinated curriculum and volunteers for a community-based environmental education, literacy, and nutrition program in Concrete, WA. It was a collaborative effort between the National Park Service, United General Hospital’s Community Health Outreach Program, and the Concrete School District. Basically, we pulled together the funds to provide a free, 6 week summer camp for Concrete Elementary school children– most of whom would not have the resources to go to camp otherwise. The camp focused on improving the literacy levels as well as nutrition; we provided breakfast and lunch every day because many of the students receive free and reduced lunches during the school year. We also focused on exploring and enjoying the local outdoors both in Concrete and the neighboring national park (North Cascades National Park). This summer was its pilot season, but our efforts were successful enough that the Concrete Summer Learning Adventure is set to go again next summer!”

A quick update from Seth Rosen: “I moved to Vancouver in September to work for Klei Entertainment as a game designer. I’m enjoying exploring the city and am loving my job: so far I’ve made a short horror game, ‘The Screecher,’ and now I’m working on a second title, ‘Don’t Starve.'”

Ian Pylvainen had the thrill of attending the recent wedding of Kacey Wochna and Samuel Kachuck in Ithaca, N.Y., along with good friends and fellow Class of 2010 classmates Justin Bohn, Ted Nichols, Liza Litvina, Jason Bitterman, Alex Holachek, Greg Storch, Jake Litke, and Anna Mageras, and Ethan Hoffman ’14. It was a beautiful wedding, quaint, lively and full of laughs!

The boys at Lua continue to do big things. If you haven’t heard of Lua either here or elsewhere before, Lua is the company started and run by Michael Keoni DeFranco, Eli Bronner, and Jason Krigsfeld. Lua provides mobile workforce technology to customers with mostly out-of-office employees. Their product makes communication and connection between distant employees simple and efficient. Two years after launching their product, Lua recently announced plans to offer self-service public availability by 2014 (finally opening the product to the public). This is a major step for the company and more can be read by searching for Lua on TechCrunch.com. The guys are also excited to announce that their software will be powering the Superbowl this coming year, and they currently work with such clients as eBayNow, various international airports, hotels, and the Department of Defense. Congratulations to the whole Lua team and keep it up!

Jesse Bordwin recently passed his comps, receiving an M.A. on the way to a Ph.D. in English literature, here at the University of Virginia. Jesse also reported that he “donated to Wesleyan for the first time…the nostalgia is only just kicking in.” Indeed, Jesse.

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions, and, if you have an update to share, feel free to post anytime on WesConnect, or send me a blurb directly at my Wes address. Happy 2014 everyone!

David Layne
DLAYNE@WESLEYAN.EDU

Hope as many of you who could returned to Wes for Homecoming to watch our Wesleyan Football team capture the Little Three Football Title with its win over Williams! Go Wes! As for the Class of 2011, many exciting updates to report!

In California, Bradley Spahn and Maryann Platt have both started PhD programs. Maryann reports, “I moved to sunny Irvine, Calif., to start my PhD in neuroscience!” Bradley is at Stanford, pursuing his PhD in political science.

Terrence Agbi, Jasmin Rahman, and Margaret Aldredge are also pursuing graduate educations. Keep up the good work, class of 2011! Terrance says, “I’m at NYU School of Engineering getting a master’s in management, with a focus on e-commerce and technology management. I’m also working at Dumbo Incubator part time.” Jasmin Rehman writes, “I’m wrapping up my second year of a master’s in social work program at The University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. I’m most likely sticking around Chicago post graduation.” Margaret is working at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, as a curatorial assistant and just started a master’s program at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU.

Samantha Pearlman reports, “I’ve been living in Philadelphia since graduation and working as a professional actress. My thesis show, Devotedly, Sincerely Yours, had its post-graduation premiere in the 2012 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. From that production, I was invited to bring the show to the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts at UPenn as part of their By-Local Series this past October. In the next year, I will be performing in assorted plays and musicals in the Philadelphia area, as I relocate to NYC in 2014.”

Mike Rosen has moved from Less Williamsburg to Mostly Williamsburg, where he lives with Myles Potters ’12 and practices such alternative lifestyles as veganism, “dating,” and “work.” He sends hair-related updates: Josh Smith had (for a short time) shaved his goatee whereas Louis Russo has maintained his luxurious locks. Mike performs poetry still sometimes and has, believe it or not, been informed that he looks like Macklemore.

Olivia Parkes says, “After graduation, I worked in London as an archivist for Film Finances, dealing principally with material from post-war British cinema. In November of last year I moved to Berlin, where I applied to the Universität der Künste to study Bildende Kunst (Fine Art). I started the first year of the degree this fall.”

Jared Gimbel finished the one-year fellowship at the Paideia Institute in Stockholm and is now in the master’s program in Jewish civilizations at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg. In 2013, he founded “Present Presence,” a media initiative focused on showcasing contemporary Jewry throughout the world, and his upcoming master’s thesis focuses on perspectives and portrayals of Jewish life in Finland and in Greece.

Elana Scudder writes, “Mike Gaines and I have recently moved to New Orleans and we adopted a very cute and lovable dog! Mike is in his first year of law school at Tulane and I am busy saving the world, one cake at a time!”

Seth Alter has been self-employed in Boston for a year as a video game developer. After a year of development, much showcasing at festivals such as PAX East, and a successful Kickstarter campaign, Seth released his first game, Neocolonialism, in November (subalterngames.com). Neocolonialism is a Marxist strategy game in which players attempt to extract as much wealth from the world as possible. Seth now spends his days catching up on sleep and planning the next game.

Jon Sheehan reports, “I’m in Virginia working on the McAuliffe campaign.”

Lots of great updates! Keep it coming!

Allie Southam
asoutham@wesleyan.edu