Author: Anne Marcotty

Adam writes: Hi, all: It’s time for the next round of updates from the class of 1992!
First up is my frosh year roommate, James Wilton, who lives in Charlotte, N.C. He was recently named head football coach for sixth grade at Sun Valley Middle School. He is working for Collabera as an account manager, interfacing with Bank of America. James’s wife, Tracy, is enjoying being at home with their three children—Jack (soon a high schooler), Carley, and Lola.

Also on the former roommate front (the now gone A-1 LoRise 10-person unit), Darcy Dennett got married and just returned from a mini-honeymoon, which involved a few days of challenging hiking in Canyonlands, Utah.

In another blast from the A-1 past, Sarah Guernsey reports that she had a “college day” at her middle school. Teachers made signs completing the sentence, “when you go to college…” and shared pictures of themselves from college (she reports that it was really hard to find ones that could be shared with middle schoolers!). The whole experience got her excited for the fall when she will take her son Jake to Wes for “Sons and Daughters of Alumni” weekend for high school juniors.

Juan Luque and his wife, Marie, welcomed Eva Maria Luque, who was born on April 2, weighing 7 lbs., 11 oz. Juan is also leaving his tenured position at Georgia Southern University and starting a new position as an associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, beginning in August 2015.

Also welcoming a new addition, Stephanie Ivy Sanford and her husband, Junius Sanford, were expecting a baby in July.

Michele Eisenberg was host to a mini Wesleyan reunion at her daughter Elana’s bat mitzvah in April. Lara Small Laurence ’90, Jennifer Hammer ’91, Sarah Leavitt, and Jenny Simon Tabak ’93 were all there to sing “Havdalah” and dance the hora.

In February 2015, Shelly Gray was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Texas 2015. During her tenure she will make dozens of appearances and speeches, and compete for Ms. Wheelchair America in Des Moines in July. She is still practicing employment law with a State agency, and living with her 8-year-old son in Austin, Texas.

Vida Towne lives in Seattle with her husband, Andrew Chiodi, and their 9-year-old son, Dominic. Her days of Ultimate ended when her son was born in 2005, but she played high level Club Ultimate for many years, winning the World Championship with teammate Cory Pike ’89 in 1997 and 2002, and the National Championship in 2004. From time to time she runs into former Rugby teammate Corinne Drumheller, who has two young children and also lives in Seattle.

Shura Pollatsek is associate professor of costume design and technology at Western Kentucky University. She just had a sabbatical, during which time she began writing her first book, with the working title of Behind the Costume: The Art and Artists of Costume Design. The book is a collaboration with her husband, award-winning photographer (and DGA director and cinematographer) Mitch Wilson. She also did additional research and interviews in Paris (putting that French BA from Wesleyan to good use!). Shura also still does professional costume design, most recently for Christopher K. Morgan & Artists in the D.C. area.

Tamara O’Neil met up with Laurel Korholz and Greg Vinton in Princeton, N.J. for a terrific afternoon. Tamara is finishing her next-to-last tour in the Navy JAG Corps this September as senior counsel at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and then she’ll be moving to the field of disability policy and law through the Secretary of the Navy’s Council of Review Boards at the Washington Navy Yard. Her husband, Cameron, is retiring from the Army in the next year, so they are both getting excited to join the civilian workforce.

Andrew Draper’s job in database implementation has a new home after his company was bought out. He still lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Chris Foster works at Harmonix, and is having fun working on Rock Band 4 with Greg LoPiccolo ’83 and Nicole Lewis ’96. In his spare time, he is also working on a videogame at home with his 6-year-old son.

Kevin Prufer’s new book, Churches, was cited in The New York Times Book Review as one of their “Ten Favorite Poetry Books of 2014.”

Abigail Smith Saguy was promoted to full professor of sociology at UCLA, effective July 1, 2015.

Finally, even given our advanced age, we have some adventurous folks making big changes in their life. Alfred Culliford went back to school and earned an MBA last year from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Currently he is director of plastic, reconstructive, and hand surgery at Staten Island University Hospital and site-director for the North Shore/Long Island Jewish Plastic Surgery Residency Program. Turning to the Northwest, Linda Perlstein is leaving the world of education and will be working for Amazon.

That’s all the news for now. But please send Paul and me your updates. We’d love to hear from you!

Dear Classmates, this summer issue of class notes laments the news of the passing of another star in our small constellation. Dr. Katharine Kellond Roth, known as Katy, died on Dec. 15, 2014, after a long struggle with seizure disorder and Behçet’s Syndrome (an auto-immune disease). A resident of Washington, D.C., since 1997, Katy was a determined and devoted hospice and palliative care physician.

Originally from Delaware, Katy was the daughter of the late Senator William V. Roth, Jr. (R-DE) and Jane Richards Roth, a federal judge. She is survived by her husband of 16 years, Chris Weston ’92, and her sons, Nicholas and William.

My apologies to family and friends for the delay in this posting. Please send memories and stories for posting in a later issue, or other news of note.

Hi, all. We start with a Reunion mini-summary from committee co-chair Nick Meyer, who writes: “Our 25th Reunion was held on a glorious May weekend in Middletown and it was great to see so many faces make it to campus. There were more than 155 of us there and it really helped our Reunion co-chairs Jen Wasserstein Daniels and Tom Tullio that our friend and classmate Chuck Fedolfi works at Wes! Thanks, Chuck, for all the work that made the weekend such a success. Some highlights included: a Friday night cocktail party in Olin, Saturday afternoon picnic and hanging out on Foss Hill—awesome!, and hearing my freshman hallmate professor Larry Jackson of Emory, give a lecture in Fisk, the Saturday evening shindig in Beckham Hall of Fayerweather (formerly known as the small gym). There was a really special vibe of people reconnecting and catching up on the quarter century that has passed since we left the cocoon of our collegiate experience. And being there graduation weekend was just a reminder of how special that place and time was for so many of us. For me, another really great highlight was seeing so many of us who spent the fall of ’88 in Madrid! Many more people we were all happy to see and hang with…but don’t think I would stay in the dorms again…nice idea in theory…and nothing makes you more convinced that you are resoundingly middle-aged than to run into an old friend like Sam Paik hanging out with his daughter, who is in the class of ’17. Wow. Thanks, again, to everyone who made it and those who didn’t or couldn’t spend Memorial Day Weekend on campus but were there in spirit. Was really fun.”

Also sharing what a great time he had at Reunion is Andy Siff, who attended with baby Pauline (two months), son Zeke (4), and his wife Dawn. “We enjoyed catching up with Nikki Boyle and her husband, Tim Boyle ’89, and their son Mitch, (16), who did a great job watching Zeke during family swim at Freeman. Also had a terrific brunch at O’Rourkes, where we caught up with Brad Whitford ’81. Enjoyed the Zak Penn/Owen Renfroe/Matt Greenfield panel on cinema and TV. Also spent time swapping stories with Gerry Grosz, Eric Greene, Brian Gottesman, Bill Sherman and of course, Reunion guru Tom Tullio.” Andy is still working in news (at WNBC) as a general assignment reporter with focus on mass transit issues.

Ruben (“Bengy”) Ballesteros, Ben Robertson and Zak Penn also each wrote to describe great Reunion weekends at Wes. Bengy remains a staff attorney at Legal Aid near Baltimore, specializing in juvenile law. Ben noted that “our classmates are doing amazing things” and that he “was surprised to learn that Denise J. Casper was the presiding judge in the recent case of Whitey Bulger in Boston.” Zak’s notes were (once again) unprintable but I can say that he and his wife, Michele Weiss, were happy to be at Wes with Jana Brainard Augsberger and Annie Shapiro Tirschwell.

Bummed to have had to miss Reunion (as I was as well) was Jonah Pesner, who, as many of you know, has moved with his family to D.C. for his big, new job as the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the Washington, D.C., advocacy and social justice arm of North America’s largest Jewish movement. As described on the Union for Reform Judaism’s website, Jonah is an “accomplished advocate with broad experience leading social justice campaigns” who “comes to the RAC with a mandate to deepen its advocacy work while mobilizing the Reform Jewish community and its allies.” Jonah noted how moved he was by all of the Reunion pictures on Facebook (which really were wonderful to see) and hopes that “2020 is a big year we all commit to!”

In other news, received before Reunion weekend, it was great to hear from Peter Brastow, who after “successfully giving birth to his nonprofit, Nature in the City,” took a job with the City of San Francisco’s Department of Environment as the senior biodiversity coordinator, “a job for which we have yet to find an equivalent in the U.S. Peter is responsible for convening agency, nonprofit, and community partners to pursue a vision of comprehensive ecological restoration and stewardship of San Francisco’s natural heritage. Carolyn Gencarella (AKA Peter’s better half), continues to teach elementary science at Alvarado School in San Francisco. Peter and Carolyn live in San Anselmo in Marin County, where they are raising two teenage rugrats who will be joining them for the 25th! Peter’s Foss 6 next door neighbor, Arieh Rosenbaum, is a hotshot doctor in San Francisco, who doesn’t actually practice. Instead he presides over the digitalization of medical records and other information for the entire Sutter Health Medical Corporation in northern California, and just keeps climbing the ladder of success. His wife, Barbara, is a terrific architect who designed their home set among some oak trees a hop, skip, and a jump from Peter and Carolyn. Andy Eig from NYC and his wife Dawn recently visited “the Brastows” in the Bay Area. Andy continues to be an accomplished Ph.D. adolescent psychologist. Peter and Carolyn get together sometimes with Maria Poveromo and Julia Erwin-Weiner—especially when Sue Rodrigue is in town—who live a bit south of San Francisco. The San Francisco crowd, Peter, Carolyn, Arieh, and Gerald Richards (CEO of 826 National), among others, continue to cherish the memory of Betsy Burton, fellow post-WES San Franciscan, whose passing was in December 2006.”

I hope you all have been enjoying the summer. That’s all for now.

Jonathan writes: Hey, all. Things seem to have been a little quiet for ‘89ers these past few months. Michele and I can’t believe that’s true, so please take a few minutes to drop one of us a line for the next issue. Please. Thanks, peeps!

Susan Turkel leads us off with her reflections on last year’s Reunion: “So much fun to see people and dance under the big tent!” She’s been working as a social sciences librarian for the last 17-plus years—14 years at Bryn Mawr College, and then three-plus years at the University of Michigan. Last summer she returned to the East Coast to be closer to family and help out her aging parents. She left Ann Arbor (although continuing to work remotely on a part-time basis) and now lives with her partner, Mark, in the Philly suburbs, where she’s taking art and writing classes, doing lots of contra dancing, spending time with friends and family, getting ready to start some volunteer pursuits, planning her parents’ 50th anniversary party, and thinking about what she’d like to do with the next chapter of her life.

Stephanie Dolgoff reports that she is “half dead and bald from the stress of a renovation, but with two tween girls, one bathroom wasn’t cutting it. Grateful to have such good friends and healthy kids. Love to all.”

Dan White is hard at work on his second nonfiction book, Under The Stars, which is going to be published by Henry Holt and Co. in the summer of 2016. It’s an embodied history of American camping, which means everything from survivalist camping (camping without any gear—or clothes—in mountain lion territory in the Santa Cruz Mountains for 24 frightening hours), to exploring the Everglades and “glamping” on an ersatz safari in Wine Country. Several of Dan’s Wesleyan friends, including James Shiffer, Sara Oh Neville and Bill Sherman ’90, have been giving encouragement, stories, and help along the way.
From Joel Jacobs, we learn that he has been continuing his “recent pursuit of acting, and has now been in four plays, most recently as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird.” He’s also been coaching his younger daughter’s high school debate team. His older daughter, Aviva, will start at Pitzer College in the fall.

Mark Mullen’s big news is that he moved from Tbilisi to San Francisco.

Kate True digs out from the Boston winter to say she and her three daughters (Ona, Flora and Tess) made it to the promised land of spring. Ona ’19 will be a first-year student at Wesleyan in the fall! Kate recently completed a creative entrepreneur fellowship through the arts and business council and Discover Roxbury, and is busy with her art, portrait painting, and independent curating, as well as teaching part time at the Sudbury Valley School. Visitors are always welcome at her old Victorian home in Roxbury, which she is continually upgrading.

Finally, Betsey Schmidt and her husband hosted a lovely alumni event in March to honor Wesleyan President Michael Roth ’78 at their new(ish) apartment in Brooklyn.

Peter writes for this edition.

Sarah Rickless Baker reports that she has been studying and teaching at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., for the past 10 years. “I am now on the slow track to a PhD in writing and rhetoric. In addition to lots of teaching, last year I became director of the Northern Virginia Writing Project (nvwp.org), which runs and hosts programs for K–12 teachers and young writers. I live in Arlington, Va., have a 13-year-old daughter (we celebrated a bat mitzvah this May), and make good use as a teen-sitter of the older daughter of our one-block-down Wes neighbors Eric Lotke ’87 and Amy Mortimer ’87.

Kara Stern shares: “After a lifetime in NYC, my family and I are moving up to Woodstock, N.Y., where I will be head of school at Woodstock Day School (thanks to a tip from Adam Rohdie ’89). Would love to connect with Wes folks in the area!”

Justine Gubar’s new book, Fanaticus: Mischief and Madness in the Modern Sports Fan, hit bookstores June 16th. I pre-ordered it!

Rich Pham contributes: “I managed to catch up with Rob James in Las Vegas back in April. We had some great meals and spent most of the evening talking about Wes. As you may know, I have been living abroad for the past 20 years (Tokyo, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Singapore) and loving it. I now live in Ho Chi Minh and anyone stopping by should give me a shout. I managed to get on the cover of Esquire Vietnam. They did a cover story on me as a businessman with a unique hobby of racing. I have been racing formula and touring cars for the past nine years in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.”

Kellina Craig-Henderson updates: “I continue to enjoy my post heading the National Science Foundation’s regional office in Tokyo, located in the U.S. Embassy.”

Daniel Rosenberg writes from the Northwest: “Mai-Lin and I are finally back home in Eugene, Ore., after two years of academic adventures in Berlin, Germany, and in the SF Bay Area. Along the way, our 2-year-old, Milo, became 4 and fluent in German, and acquired a younger sister, Beatrice, now a year-and-a-half old. We’ve stayed in touch with old Wesleyan friends, including beloved mentors, Richard Ohmann, Henry Abelove, and Laurie Nussdorfer.”

Jacqueline Freedman Bershad lets us know that “Since graduation I lived in S.F., went to architecture school in N.C., and spent 20 years in Philly. There I grew up, married a nice guy named Joe, designed museums and zoos, and had a kid. Last year we moved to Baltimore. I was lucky to land a job at the National Aquarium as VP for capital planning and facilities.”

My fellow R.I. resident Gail Agronick advises: “My husband, daughters, and I are still in Smithfield, celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, and Zoe is graduating from high school this week. Addie will be a sophomore in high school next year. She is curious about Wes, so I have hope yet.”

After 20-plus years in various marketing roles, Chris Pearson embarked on a career change, trading a desk job for building tiny homes. He and his wife, Susan, are somewhat dumbfounded that they are so old their eldest daughter, Paige, is now embarking for college. They also have an eighth-grader daughter and live happily in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Steve Morison lets us know that “after four lovely years in Jordan at King’s Academy, my wife and I have found a new home at St. Stephen’s School in Rome. We spend our summers in our cottage on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Next year, our daughter, Talia, will be a junior at St. Stephen’s. If you’re in the Eternal City for vacation, friend me on Facebook, and I’m happy to meet you for a drink.”

Majora Carter has launched a new 501(c)(3) incubator called Hometown Security Labs (www.hometownsecuritylabs.org).

John “Sparky” Ferrara happily reports, “All is moving forward here and life is good. The highlight of my year last year was watching Wesleyan baseball as an alumnus father of a Cardinal rookie, my son AJ ’18 (he is now also a XY brother). My daughter, Claudia, just finished her sophomore year in high school. My maniacal son Jack is just a banger—into football, lacrosse and wrestling. We just did a trip to the Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, which, if you have never been, we would highly recommend as a bucket list box to check.”

David Silverberg is now the director of the Telego Center for Educational Improvement at Ashland University in Ohio, which provides university outreach to school districts across the country. He is president of the university’s chapter of Phi Delta Kappa International, the editor of the Ohio Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Journal, and a faculty member of ASCD International’s professional development team.

Vivian Johnson is doing well. She resides in Oakwood, Ohio, with her 11-year-old adopted niece, Regina. For the summer, Vivian will be doing research at her alma mater, Harvard University, where she earned her Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

The YMCA of Greater New York announced Sharon Greenberger as its new president and chief executive.

Dear Classmates, I was lucky enough to see a lot of my favorite Wes people this spring. In May, Jeremy Mindich and I co-hosted a campaign fundraiser at my place for our beloved Senator from Colorado, Michael Bennet. Among those who came to support him were Brad Lubin, Lisa Abroms Herz, Dave Davenport ’88, Bill Shapiro, Michael Pruzan, Lucy Lehrer ‘85, Sarah Williams ’88 and Sharon Greenberger ‘88, as well as my sister Hilary Jacobs Hendel ’85. I also had a lovely long dinner and sleepover in NYC with Martha Sutro. I had at least two meals with Lisa Abroms Herz, and I got a great night out with Matt Paul and his (and Naomi Mezey’s) ever-fabulous kids. An embarrassment of riches!

Speaking of Naomi Mezey, starting this summer she will be the associate dean for the JD program at Georgetown Law. “The up side of taking on an administrative job like this is that I’ll get a chance to learn new skills (like being a decider) and think hard about legal education at a time when it is in flux. The downside of this job is that I won’t have much time for teaching or writing a book and that I’ll have to go into the office every single day of the week. I may also have to shower and wear nice clothes. I should note that the Wesleyan graduates who go on to become my students are uniformly awesome people.”

John Fitzpatrick was kind enough to write in about a Wes wedding that he had just been to. “Jeff McCarthy ’89 was married this past June in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Park City, Utah. It was attended by Chris Olinger, Mike Pruzan, Mike Olinger ’89 and me. Jeff and Whitney organized a weekend of mountain biking, hiking, dancing the night away and general frivolity. A good time was had by all.”

After five years of living in Mexico City, Lucille Renwick moved back stateside (“for a little while,” she says) to N.Y. this summer, where her husband will work as a deputy sports editor for The New York Times and Lucille will look for work in communications/PR. She’s excited about reconnecting with Wes friends Sumana Chandrasekhar Rangachar, Amy Baltzell, Yvonne Ilton ’88, Sarah Williams ’88, Ruth Bodian ’88 and many more. Lucille is planning on running the 2015 NYC marathon to mark her return to New York and her upcoming 50th. She welcomes any Wes runners to help her keep pace.

Since graduating, Evelyn Shapiro “has been working in design and marketing, both in publishing and higher ed. At the same time, I’ve been teaching Alexander Technique privately to dancers, English teachers, and lawyers. This spring those two worlds came together when I wrapped up the design and development of my 75th title, a scholarly book called Alexander’s Way. Last fall I was honored to attend Clarinda Mac Low and Peter Stankiewicz’s beautiful wedding celebration in Brooklyn, where many a guest had Wes connections. Happily, my daughter made fast friends with the other kids there, including Chris Lotspeich’s girls. At home in Illinois, we are full on with a busy life including my partner, clarinetist Solomon Baer’s chamber music concerts, our son Mario’s (10) near-obsessive passion for soccer, and Hannah’s (7) intricate inner world of stories. We are looking forward to our second trip back to Guatemala, Mario’s birth country. I wish Kim Sargent-Wishart didn’t live so far away, but I relish her wit and wisdom and family pix from afar. I’ve also stayed in touch with our classmate Anna Luhrmann Dewdney, who is living her dream of painting kids’ books in Vermont.

Charles Grattan Baldwin is happy to report that he earned his PhD in literacy from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education and graduated this May. “I am now getting used to being called “Dr. Baldwin.”

Frank Barrett said it was “uplifting to catch up with Brad Vogt in NYC last month before we listened to Steve Genyk speak positively of his childhood friend and Wesleyan hockey teammate Ken Cain, during a 50th birthday party hosted by wife Susan Cain. Not long afterwards in Boston, Genyk and I had a ball connecting with old teammates Don Gillis ’84, Dave Blauer ’84, and Ed Colbert ’89. An uplifting night of reminiscing and laughter started on the back deck of the The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, courtesy of host Ted Galo ’85, who is the museum’s site manager. Oddly, all former Cardinals mentioned here are “Little Three Champions” without a shared title, a feat that has been accomplished just twice in 44 years of Wesleyan men’s ice hockey. Steve Genyk also wrote in about the same party, saying how great it was to see everyone, but wondered where A.J. Salerno and John Brais ’86 were.

Steve Kaminsky writes that his daughter, Juliet Margot Kaminsky, arrived Friday, Feb. 27th. “We are over the moon! Oh yeah, and I turned 50 yesterday. Woah!”

Scott Pryce and his family are enjoying quality of life in suburban Washington, D.C., after a short stint (a second one) in São Paulo. He shuttles every week to Miami for work, and would love to connect with Florida-based classmates.

Oy, the spring after next will bring our 30th Wesleyan Reunion. So don’t make any plans for Memorial Day Weekend 2017! Or better yet, put it in your iPhones now!

Elaine Taylor-Klaus, writes, “When I was at Wes, I understood the value of “learning to think” in theory, but I never could have imagined how it would serve me in my life—as a parent and as an entrepreneur. No day goes by that I do not actively continue the extraordinary personal growth that started for me in the early ’80s—the ability to see a need in the world, the confidence to address that need, and the wisdom to call on the intelligence (of myself and others) to figure out how do it effectively.”

Lonnie Shumsky: “I live in the West and have now for half my life, but I love visiting my Wes friends back East. As a physician and parent, I spend a lot of my time taking care of other people. When I travel to NYC to see friends, I turn back into the former and less encumbered me, at least for a few days. Having friends, great friends, for over 30 years is pretty powerful stuff.”

Daniel Seltzer is still living in NYC with a wonderful woman and a lot of kids (who are now heading off to colleges). He is currently CTO at a FinTech startup, playing music as much as possible, and biking/running/boarding within the bounds of aging tendons.

Jaclyn Brilliant and Anthony Jenks ’85 have been in Brooklyn together for more than 25 years. One kid is one year out of college, and the other just wrapped up her first year at Wes! She is loving it, and her experience takes me back to the joy of my own Wesleyan friendships. I’m still in touch with Nina Mehta and Sarah Porter, and looking to reconnect with Ann O’Hanlon, Jinny Kim, and many others (hoping we might all be at our 30th Reunion).

Samuel Connor wrote, “My Wesleyan experience led me straight into the Peace Corps, where I served in West Africa for a few years. I got hooked on adventure, diversity, challenges, and to contributing meaningfully to improve our world, and have stayed on that social justice course ever since. World music remains a passion.”

Steve Price has become a mild mannered commercial appraiser in Seattle, still doing lots in the mountains and now learning how to race surfskis. His latest pro-bono work is PR and fundraising for a state-wide ballot initiative that would impose a carbon tax and then use those proceeds to directly reduce other state taxes in a manner to make the state tax system more progressive and transfer about $200M a year back into the wallets of the bottom 40 percent.

In terms of progressives, Hal Ginsberg is blogging for the group Progressive Maryland. He owned and operated liberal talker KRXA 540 AM in Monterey, Calif., but sold it last May, and returned east. “Currently, I am focused on building audience for my politics-based website where I webcast a three-hour live call-in show Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to noon, East Coast.”

In terms of performers, Lisa Porter comments on the irony: “In 1985, I played Maria in Twelfth Night at Wesleyan. Today I play Viola/Sebastian in Twelfth Night at the California Shakespeare Theatre. Thirty year span … don’t really feel that different.”

Sarah Nazimova-Baum works nights as a crisis counselor on the overnight shift for LifeNet, a mental health crisis hotline. “Of course, now that our son Raphael is 14 and heading to high school, our home life is abundant in crisis as well.”

Ellen Limburg Santistevan was fortunate to receive so many extraordinary blessings over the last year, and has also “come to rely on two friends I made my freshman year at Wes, Karen Escovitz and Bennett Schneider, for their sensitivity and generosity of spirit as my family goes through some profound changes; I am so incredibly grateful to Wesleyan for putting us all in the same vicinity so our lives could weave these complex patterns.”

Complex networks! Judith Hill-Weld has her private psychotherapy practice, specializing in developmental disabilities, and added “debate coach” to a roster of responsibilities. “My husband and I took our son to visit East Coast colleges this spring, and traveled for a few days with Arthur Haubenstock ’84 and Amy Whiteside ’84 and their son. We said hello to Rob Lancefield ’82 at the Davison, and enjoyed seeing Laura Radin ’83 and Charlie Barber ’85 and their son. In Philadelphia, we shared a fabulous seder with Andy Clibanoff. Tyche Hendricks and her daughter joined us to walk the West Village and the Highline in Manhattan.”

Zahara Heckscher writes, “Highlight of Wes Friendship: Driving to Middletown for 25th Reunion with Dana Martin and her daughter and my son—discovering a friend of the heart for life. Look forward to the drive for 30th Reunion with Dana, and discovering more new and ‘golden’ friendships. In that spirit, in the meantime, I invite any Wes-folk in D.C. to contact me for an informal SUP lesson on the Potomac, or just a walk or jog in Rock Creek.”

Not much is changing for Kathryn Lotspeich Villano: “My son, Wes, will be Wes ’19 and fourth generation on my side. (I swear I didn’t name him after the family’s alma mater!) Love to all and hope to see you for our 30th. I know most of you won’t be using it as an excuse to visit your child and it’s not as big as the 25th but the 25th was so fun, so come!!! Brian Pass and his wife, Pascale (French TA ’86), have a son who just graduated from Wes; he is lawyering away at Sheppard Mullin in Los Angeles, focusing on technology transactions in the Internet space.

Karen Escovitz wrote, “For all of its foibles, I’m grateful for Facebook and the opportunity it provides to maintain contact with lots of friends from Wesleyan. It’s gratifying to see our lives evolve, to share ideas and inspirations, and to see your beautiful aging faces from time to time. Old fondness sometimes sparks new and vital connections. Hope to see some of you in May!”

From the class secretary: Lucy Seham Malatesta wrote me to say that she missed our 25th and now will also miss the 30th—this time it’s to be her son’s commissioning at the United States Naval Academy. If you don’t come next May, I hope you have an equally good and valid excuse!

Roger Pincus is your reporter this issue. Here is the latest news from our classmates:
Linda Johnson Dougherty has let us know that her husband, Patrick Dougherty, was featured on CBS Sunday Morning on March 15. Linda made a brief appearance, too. The link is cbsnews.com/news/a-north-carolina-sculptor-branches-out/. Linda and Patrick live in Chapel Hill, and Linda recently celebrated 10 years at the North Carolina Museum of Art, where she is chief curator and curator of contemporary art.

Bruce McKenna was back on campus for Commencement, where he had the pleasure of watching his daughter, Madeleine ’15, graduate. Stephanie Oppenheim and David Weinstein were there, too, and were thrilled to watch their son, Matthew ’15, graduate.
Randy Frisch is a music publisher in New York City, working with music from around the world. The songwriters he works with include Gary Mezzi ’83 and Bill Anschell ’82.

Simone Zelitch’s fourth novel, Waveland, was published in May 2015; it focuses on Beth Fine, a Freedom Summer volunteer, and her experiences in Mississippi in 1964 and the years that follow. Another novel, Judenstaat, is forthcoming in June 2016 from Tor Books, a science fiction press. Judenstaat is an alternative history about a Jewish state established in Germany in 1948. Simone hopes to spread the word about these books and would love to reconnect with old classmates at szelitch@ccp.edu.

Michael Massen began work in January as a software developer for Continuum Analytics, doing front-end work on big data applications. The firm is based in Austin, but Michael is able to work for them remotely from New York City, where he lives. Michael also recently completed work on his second book on figure drawing, Figure Drawing in Proportion. It will be published by North Light Publications at the end of the year. Michael also enjoys leading workshops in figure drawing throughout the year as well, mostly at the Art Students League.

Laura Simon continues to live in Bethany, Conn., and works at her outpost as wildlife ecologist for the Humane Society of the United States. She is challenged to keep up with her son, Jack, who at age 12 is an avid citizen lobbyist and spends many of his waking hours lobbying for various animal protection and environmental bills at the State Capitol. Laura recently ran into Ted Kennedy Jr. ’83, who is now a Connecticut State Senator.

aura would love to hear from any old Eco House roommates: kealeylaura999@gmail.com.
Michael Lewyn is moving to Pittsburgh for a visiting professor position at the University of Pittsburgh’s law school, where he will be teaching property, wills, environmental law, and a land use law seminar.

Tyler Anbinder had a great time at Daphne Kwok’s Wesleyan Chinese New Year’s event back in March in Arlington, Va. The class of ’84 was well-represented, including by Rhonda Lees, whom Tyler met on his first day at Wesleyan in 1980. Tyler also enjoyed meeting Daphne’s parents at the event. In addition, as an American historian, Tyler is excited to be going to see Hamilton on the special Wesleyan performance night this coming October.

Cathy Reich had a busy spring surviving the hectic end-of-year events and crises of a combined junior/senior high school in rural Montana—proofreading the yearbook, folding graduation programs, pushing kids to graduate, dealing with emotional outbursts and teenage love gone awry, etc. In her spare time, Cathy has been attending monthly book club gatherings, participating in chair yoga and stability ball classes, eating weekly dinners with local seniors at the Senior Center, and keeping her geriatric pets in reasonable shape. Cathy is also active at her Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (Missoula), including by helping lead a service (Blessing of the Animals) and hosting the occasional vegan potluck. In her other spare time, Cathy has been participating in Energy Balancing Funshops and meetings (energybalancing.com). She is working on a Virtual Teacher certification on Coursera and teaches American English to students in Malaysia online and via e-mails.

Susie Kang Sharpe is still enjoying internal medicine practice in Springfield, Mo. She also has been doing a lot of art, music, and traveling. Through May, Susie had six exhibits of her watercolor and acrylic paintings displayed during 2015. She has a son in college (Washington University, St. Louis) and a daughter in high school, and reports that her post-divorce life has been wonderful.

Shakir Farsakh reports that as a recently minted diplomat, he is serving as the commercial attaché at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, Canada. Shakir’s wife, Hasna, works in global banking for HSBC, and his daughter, Jenna, will be starting her second year at the Lycée Francais de Toronto in kindergarten.

Blake Nelson’s novel, Recovery Road, is being adapted into a television series for ABC Family—for more see: m.etonline.com/tv/164564_nashville_actress_lands_troubled_role_on_abc_family_drama/
Paul Baker’s current found-object sculpture series is about the connection between smell and memory: pbakerart.com. Paul recently had a near-brush with fame and just possibly, fortune, when one of his sculptures was accepted for an exhibit to be sponsored by Christopher Brosius, whom Brooklyn-based Wesleyanites may recognize as the self-appointed bad boy of perfumers. Brosius was relocating his store and was open to aroma-themed art to display in the new area. Paul had hoped to come out from San Francisco to see his sculpture installed.

Unfortunately the lease fell through and Brosius had to make do with a much smaller space—and no art. But if anyone else is interested in creating a show about the intersection of chemistry, art, and memory, Paul is open to it!

Lee McIntyre’s book, Respecting Truth: Willful Ignorance in the Internet Age, was scheduled for publication on June 28 by Routledge Publishers, with a book launch party set for July 19 at Newtonville Books in Newton, Mass. Lee states that the book fights back against “science denialism” on such topics as climate change, evolution, and vaccines.

Apologies for no class notes this issue. Life is a bit too busy: work, family, school, elderly parents, and summer converged (more like collided!) and as soon as I come up for air I will continue with the class notes. In the mean time, please continue sending your updates and I will compile them all for next time.

My inbox was fairly bursting (as it has been, come to think of it, since I took over this gig a couple of years ago). Lots of news about the exploits of our classmates and their talented offspring.

“I will brag on my daughter Maggie Smythe, off to med school at Tulane University in August,” writes Susan Smythe, in a brief note.

Jeannie Gagne has a new book, released in June, Belting: A Guide to Healthy, Big Singing. You can find out more about it at http://thevocalgenie.com.

Cheryl Stevens played host in late April to back-to-back weekend visits from Kweku Forstall and Paul Spivey ’83. “Both were in the Bay Area for conferences for heads of nonprofits,” writes Cheryl, an attorney in the Bay Area. Kweku and his wife, Adrienne, kicked off their West Coast trip and his birthday week with a trip to the East Bay wine country, a dinner that included Hazlyn Fortune ’86, basketball playoffs, and a delicious birthday dinner at one of Cheryl’s favorite Oakland restaurants. “We had a great time.” She said that Paul was in the Bay Area to receive an award from the board of an association of nonprofit executives, accompanied by two of his three sons. What better opportunity for bit of tourism? “I was happy to take the Spivey men on a tour of the Golden Gate, Sausalito, lunch in Tiburon, Ocean Beach, pictures in front of the famous Painted Ladies across from Alamo Square, and ice cream cones at the corner of Haight and Ashbury,” Cheryl writes. Cheryl adds that she had “a great e-mail exchange with my former roommate, professor Kaja McGowan. Kaja is an associate professor in the department of history of art and visual studies at Cornell with a focus on Indonesia.”

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Walter Massefski, he freely admits. “There have been 33 Wesleyan graduating classes since ours, so I suppose it is time for me to contribute something to the written record,” he writes. Walt and his wife Heidi Mintz Massefski ’85—who now goes by Chaya Massefski—live in the Boston suburb of Sharon, Mass., a town he says has a distinct Red and Black vibe. “It’s not uncommon for Wesleyan couples to live in Sharon—we have new neighbors several houses down with young children who graduated from Wesleyan,” he says. “Gerry Podlisny ’83 and Marcia Berman Podlisny ’83 live a mile-and-a-half away,’’ Walter writes, adding that he and his wife see them at occasional town meetings. Walt says they have three kids: a son who just graduated from George Washington University with a degree in political communication, and who just landed a job with CLS Strategies in Washington. He says a daughter is enrolled at Brandeis, and another daughter is still in high school.

As for Walt and Chaya themselves: “Chaya got her MSW from Simmons College a couple of years ago and works at a skilled nursing facility as a social worker. I’ve recently joined the cancer biology department at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,” he said, with a nod of appreciation to Professor Phil Bolton who became his master’s thesis adviser in chemistry. “I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to impact research in neuroscience, metabolic disease, infectious disease, immunology, and now cancer, sharing it all with an amazing partner for almost 28 years,” Walt says.

Jim Dray is living in Guilford, Conn., and working as the chief information officer for a AECOM, a giant construction firm. And congratulations are in order: He celebrates his 20th wedding anniversary this year—“not quite sure how that happened,” he said. “Tried to get my eldest son to go to Wesleyan but he’s off to MIddlebury in the fall,” he writes. “My youngest son (14) is a mad scientist in the basement, bringing up memories of Science in Society and lots of vegan lunches when we didn’t even really know what the term ‘vegan’ meant.”

News from another Guilford resident: “Catharine Arnold here. I am still trying to hang on in rheumatology and internal medicine private practice in Guilford, Conn. It is becoming increasingly difficult because of reimbursement issues, EMR, etc.,” she says. “My husband, John Bozzi ’79, continues to work for Statewide Legal Services in their pro bono department. Our older son, Aaron, is engaged and will marry his Amherst College sweetheart, Sarah, on top of Mt. Greylock near Williamstown next summer. I guess it will be a true Little Three event! Our younger son, Michael, is starting medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in August. They do grow up quickly!”

Margaret Morton writes: “All is well, still in Middletown, still working at Eversource Energy (formerly Northeast Utilities). Daughters are wonderful and my six granddaughters are the best—Chelsea, Erica, Emma, Saylor, Mazie, and Isabella.”

Virginia Pye is moving back to New England after living in the South for 17 years. “After graduating our daughter, Eva ’15, from Wesleyan in late May, and our son, Daniel, from high school in early June, John Ravenal ’81, and I are moving from our home of 17 years in Richmond, Va., to Cambridge, Mass., where John is now executive director of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum,” she writes. “I have a second novel, Dreams of the Red Phoenix, coming out in October, and look forward to taking advantage of the thriving Boston book scene. We’re excited to be back in New England and hope to see Wesleyan friends more often.”

Rosemary Stutz has been married to Jim Stutz (Yale ’80) since 1982. They have two children, Eric, who graduated from Pomona College in 2010 and who works for SAP America; and Victoria, a Georgetown grad, class of 2012, who works for Price Waterhouse). Rosemary mentions that she went diving in the Galápagos this past winter with schooling hammerhead sharks and aquatic iguanas. “Water was bracingly cold.”
Laura Fraser writes that the anthology she edited as editorial director of Shebooks.net—Whatever Doesn’t Kill You: Six Memoirs of a Resilience, Strength, and Forgiveness—won a silver medal in the National Independent Publishing Awards (the IPPYs).

Richard Klein says: “I’m pleased to report that my daughter, Nicole ’15, graduated from Wesleyan. How great is it to watch your daughter graduate from your alma mater?”

Recent wedding bells for Michael Lucey: “Snuck off to NYC about a year ago with my partner of about 16 years and got married at City Hall with Hannah Marcus ’83 as our witness,” he writes. “Have been teaching at Berkeley for nearly 27 years, although 2014–2015 was a sabbatical year, including a stint at All Souls College, Oxford, in spring 2015,” Michael said. “I studied at Oxford for two years after Wesleyan, and it’s been fun being back. After the term ends, Gerry and I are going to do some touring about and hiking in Devon, in the Lake District, and on the Isle of Skye.”

Thanks much everyone. Looking forward to more updates in a couple of months.