Author: Caroline Liu '18

The last several months have brought weddings, exciting career changes, and cross-country and global relocations for the class of 2007. Tory Molnar was married this past summer (Sept. 1). In attendance were Julia Perciasepe, Danny Silva, Eric Altneu, and Mariel Pina! It took place in Ipswich, Mass. In spite of the 100-year floods that washed out the roads to her wedding site a week beforehand, Abby Bader still managed to marry Jonathan Bullock in Denver on Sept. 21st. Antonietta Kies ’06 was Abby’s maid of honor, Cassye Dunkhase ’06 played the cello, and Annie Park, Gian Ishino, Patrick Meaney, and Brendan Dolan-Gavitt ’06 attended! Good times were had by all. Abby also changed jobs in the past year, and is now the manager of software engineering at Spectraseis, Inc.

From moving to the Dominican Republic and teaching, to now-married-for-six-years and living in Inwood, NYC, with her husband and 4-year-old son, every year brings wonderful transitions to Yokasta Tineo. Yokasta recently graduated from the Swedish Institute and is now a licensed massage therapist and Reiki practitioner, who will also soon be a certified personal trainer and certified doula. She has also joined the board of the Brotherhood-Sistersol, a nonprofit which she has been part of since 2002 and is her second family. 2014 has been a year of accomplishments and new beginnings, and she looks forward to sharing all of this with her Wesleyan community.

The class of 2007 also has several new attorneys to welcome to the mix. In May Nicholaus Norvell graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law and will be starting in September as a public law associate at the Sacramento office of Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson. Simon Au is a fresh-faced yet cynical attorney at Mayer Brown.

Other ’07ers have been working on starting their own companies and projects. Andrea Silenzi ’07 has started her own radio show on WFMU in Jersey City, N.J., called Why Oh Why. The show recently featured an interview between Holly Wood ’08 and Avery Trufelman ’13 discussing why dudes never want to be our boyfriends and adulthood is a social construct. It’s only a matter of time before they are asked to join the writing cast of HBO’s Girls. Judith Klausner co-founded the smallest art museum in the world, The Mµseum (check it out online at themicromuseum.com!).

Chris Krovatin continues pouring time and money into the ever-widening gyre of his adult life. By day, he works at Random House; by night, he writes children’s horror novels. His band, Flaming Tusk, is wrapping up the recording of their second full-length album. He can be heard hosting the show Invisible Oranges on Tuesday nights at 10 p.m., on East Village Radio, where he broadcasts under his journalistic pen name Scab Casserole. After 10 years in the US, which started with coming to Wesleyan, Kerem Alper moved back to Istanbul to start a design and innovation hub. You can find out more at atolyeistanbul.co. Kerem is excited to be back home. Himanshu Suri has also traveled a long way and is on self-imposed exile in India.

Others have only traveled cross-country. Vlad Gutkovich is living in the San Francisco Bay Area with his now fiancée, Nicole Tirado Strayer. He’s working with a B-Corp education technology startup in Oakland. Ian MacLeod is also enjoying his new home in beautiful California. He has been mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and plans to move to Sacramento for a new job! Visitors encouraged.

Victoria Belyavsky and Jesse Bardo
wesleyan2007@gmail.com

Calvin Cato | catocals@gmail.com

Anna Zayaruzny moved to New Haven in August to join the faculty of the Department of Music at Yale as an assistant professor. Her husband, Yarrow Dunham, is joining the Yale psychology department. They are delighted to be within a stone’s throw of Wesleyan and of Anna’s family in Cheshire. They’re also thrilled to be seeing a lot of Michelle Atwood, in nearby NYC.

Last February, Eliza Vitri Handayani published her novel Mulai Saat Ini Segalanya Akan Berubah (“From Now on Everything Will Be Different”) about two best friends coming of age in a newly democratic Indonesia, pursuing artistic ambitions, exploring their sexuality, and trying to break free from a pattern of repeated disappointments. The novel was published by Obor Publishing in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sandy Yudhistira ’12 and Melina Natalie ’10 came to the launching.

Many Wes alums continue to populate NYC in varied capacities. Jon Leland moved to Brooklyn and is the director of community engagement at Kickstarter. Chris Lake joined VHX, a USV-backed startup in Dumbo, as a developer. He now lives and works within a one-mile span and hasn’t left Brooklyn in two months. Ez Cukor is living in NYC and working as a staff attorney at New York Legal Assistance Group’s LGBT Law Project. This past winter she crossed cross-country skiing in the city off her bucket list (a few times). But hopefully there will be better weather fit for biking and beaches by the time these notes come out.

Amy Crawford spent a good portion of 2013 on tour with Os Mutantes as their keyboardist/vocalist and then joined Man Made Music as a producer in December. She then went on to produce Anthony Braxton’s opera, Trillium J (The Non-Unconfessionables), in April in New York. Now that she is off the road, she would love to reconnect with other NYC-based ’05-ers, especially those in music, media, and the arts. Dave Ruder continues to be a jack of all musical trades in Brooklyn. Dave was a featured performer in the premiere of Robert Ashley’s final composition, Crash, at the Whitney Biennial in April. As part of the group thingNY he’s taking a new evening length multimedia opera he co-wrote around the U.S. and Canada this year. His pop duo with Aliza Simons ’09, Why Lie?, released their second album this June on Gold Bolus Recordings, a label Dave started last year. Gold Bolus Recordings also features music from Woody Leslie ’08 and many of Brooklyn’s finest.

Che Landon finished 2013 strong with a critically acclaimed performance in the Lily Tomlin Center’s 16-week run of The Laramie Project: 10 years later, in Los Angeles. She plays the lead, Madeline, in the feature film Good Mourning Lucille, due out this summer. She and her business partner have opened a lauded artists’ collaborative in L.A., “The Creative Artists Lab, whose mission is to bridge the socio-economic gap between working class artists and career building resources, specifically providing education, crafting materials, film equipment and community.”

Sivan Cotel left WhistlePig Whiskey to found Stonecutter Spirits with his wife, in Middlebury, Vt.

Julia Silbergeld is attending UC Berkeley’s, Haas School of Business (with Will Leuchter-Mindel ’07!), focusing on sustainable and healthy food.

Niv Elis is living in sunny Tel Aviv, where he is covering business and economic news as a reporter for The Jerusalem Post.

Anna Talman Rapp recently joined the Gates Foundation, where she works on global vaccine delivery. She’s thrilled to be back in Seattle after two years in Idaho. She married Ryan Rapp in September. Ruth Chaffee, Brielle Madej Rey, Sam Schwartz White, Henry White, Andrew Breck, and Kim Nelson ’02 came to Boise to celebrate.

In April, Ali Gomer took a weekend break from her job as attorney in L.A. to visit Hillary Rubesin, an expressive arts therapist, in Durham, N.C. While driving up to Philadelphia to celebrate Passover, they had a failed attempt at a rendezvous with fellow former housemate, Dan Fox, who could not change his MegaBus reservation to New York so close to his scheduled departure time. Thank goodness they had a chance to catch up the previous summer, when they rented a cabin in Vermont with Danielle Dixon and Jana Luft!

Capt. Jesse Sommer is a paratrooper and judge advocate with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. He serves as the Division’s first special victim counsel, providing legal representation to victims of sexual assault in military courts-martial. He will attend jumpmaster school in July and, if successful, will head to air assault school in August. Capt. Sommer is ecstatic to undergo life-changing corrective laser eye surgery in May, and thus extends his deepest thanks to the American taxpayer for footing the bill.

Dave Ahl writes: “I am delighted to share that I married Molly Catchen on Sept. 21st, 2013. We are happily living in Washington D.C.: She is a lawyer clerking for judges in the district and I’m graduating in May with my MBA from Georgetown University. In June, I start a position with The Washington Post as a manager in digital advertising.” (See a gorgeous photo of the couple on their wedding day in the online notes: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/.)

Sam Fleischner ’06 writes: “My new film, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, (distributed by Oscilloscope) comes out May 23rd. The film won prizes at festivals around the world including Tribeca last year.”

MARCELLA MARTINEZ
momartinez@wesleyan.edu

Class of 2004: While there are many great updates to share, we’d like to start this set of class notes by remembering one of our classmates—Jocelyn Sweet Moore—who passed away in April after a long battle with cancer. We want to pay our most sincere respects to Jocelyn’s family. And if there are any favorite memories you’d like to share, please send them along and we’ll be sure to fold it into the next set of notes.

In additional updates, it seems that members of our class are still doing well! In great couple news, it looks like Michelle Paul and Dael Norwood got engaged! To each other! Hallmates and then housemates at Wes, and partners since, it can’t be said that anyone was at all surprised by this turn of events. For the moment, they are continuing to enjoy Brooklyn but they’ll soon be moving to scenic Binghamton, N.Y., where Dael will be starting as an assistant professor of history at Binghamton University. Michelle will continue on as director of product development at Patron Technology, where she’s worked since 2005.

Meanwhile, Sita Singhal attended medical school from 2006–2010 and finished a residency at UConn in 2013. Now, she is working as a hospitalist at Manchester and Rockville general hospitals. However, she also managed to travel the world, too. In Oct.–Nov. 2013, she took a trip to Australia and New Zealand, and earlier this year was in India, Dubai, and South Africa.

Meanwhile, back East, Ari Pliskin tells us: “I’ve been building a pay-what-you-can community café in Western Mass., teaching meditation and yoga and promoting dignity-based methods of reducing hunger around the world.”

Also nearby is Nick Blondin: “I joined Associated Neurologists of Southern Connecticut, located in Fairfield, last July. I’m the practice neuro-oncologist, and one of only four neuro-oncologists in the state of Conn. I’m still married to Rebecca Gordon ’06, and our baby Alice is turning 2 in August!”

Out on the west side of the country is Sohana Punithakumar, who is loving Seattle even more now that Marc Berger and Jess Richman Berger have moved here. They’re gearing up for their first local WEServe event in May.

And former New York native, Jenina Nuñez, continues to call Chicago home, where she lives with her little Chihuahua mix, age 4, and looks forward to summer weather that makes the city a blast after the rough winters!

Lena Eson Roe and Matthew Roe ’05 are living in Mexico City this year with their toddler, Gabriel. Matthew is lending a hand with pedestrian and traffic safety planning. Lena is taking Spanish-language intensive classes at UNAM while Gabriel learns Spanish at his amazing escuelita. And they’re all exploring lots of Mexico together. It’s mango season!

Jenina NuÑez meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward
jenina.nunez@gmail.com

Julie Stankiewicz and Ben Teaford live together in their Manchester, Conn., home with their two cats, Vespurr and Lovebug. Julie has enjoyed working with Our Companions Animal Rescue as a cat adoption specialist and recently became a member of their magazine editorial staff. Ben has been working at ESPN for the past eight years in their digital media department. Julie and Ben are happy to announce that they are engaged and are planning to get married at the Wesleyan Chapel this coming fall.

Gabriela Herman is engaged to Tyson Evans, an editor at the New York Times, and will be getting married this June on Martha’s Vineyard. She continues to work as a freelance photographer in NYC shooting for publications such as Travel & Leisure, Martha Stewart Living, and Cosmopolitan.

Alison Plenge and Colin Aitken are the proud parents of Nora Brian Aitken, who unexpectedly made her arrival 10 weeks early on Feb. 23, 2014. After almost six weeks in the NICU, Nora is doing beautifully and came home in early April. They can’t wait to put her in her first Wes onesie!

M. Bob Kao is a visiting professor at Henan University Law School in Kaifeng, China, where he teaches American law. He is starting his PhD research on marine insurance law at Queen Mary, University of London in the fall.

Sandy Batista and Gabby Carson are married and live in NYC where Gabby works as a clinical psychologist at Bellevue Hospital and Sandy as deputy chief investigator at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. They are the proud parents of Ayla and Callen.

Tom Rabstenek and Sara Bremen Rabstenek ’05 welcomed their daughter, Dorothy, on Nov. 29. The whole family is doing great in sunny L.A.

Mayuran Tiruchelvam’s documentary film, To Be Takei, made its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. A portrait of Star Trek actor and civil rights activist George Takei’s journey from WWII Japanese American internment camps to the daily Facebook feeds of over six million fans, To Be Takei will be released theatrically by Starz in August. Over the course of a busy year, Mayuran co-produced The Mend, co-starring twins Todd Stone ’05 and Adam Stone ’05, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March. The Village Voice recently called Girl is in Trouble, a film Mayuran co-wrote with director Julius Onah ’04 a “a standout” of BAM’s New Voices in Black Cinema series.

At the end of 2013, Matt Meyersohn left the Celtics after eight years of running the community relations department. Starting in the new year, Matt joined the U.S. Fund for UNICEF as senior director of sports partnerships. He’s in charge of working with American sports leagues, teams and athletes to raise awareness and funds for UNICEF’s international work. Matt is married to Nina, who is a radiology resident at Mass General Hospital. He’s addicted to golf and lives in Cambridge.

Matt Lerner and his wife, Chelsea, are thrilled to announce the birth of their son, Everett Finn-Lerner, on Dec. 22nd. Everett has already met (and charmed) many of his parents’ Wesleyan friends and is excited to meet many more!

Alison Criscitiello has finished her PhD at MIT, and moved to Canmore, Canada, for epic backyard skiing and climbing—and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary.

Johanna Russ and Rebecca Cohen moved with their daughter, Iris, from Detroit to Chicago. Jo is working for the Chicago Public Library’s Special Collections Division, and Rebecca is working for a consumer protection law firm.

George Obulutsa is still in Nairobi, working as a correspondent for Reuters News.

Divya Gupta has moved back to Southern California with her expanded family. She welcomed her second daughter, Niyati, in November, who joins big sister, Jahnavi, who will be starting kindergarten in the fall.

AMY TANNENBAUM |atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

JUSTIN LACOB | justinlacob@gmail.com

First, some contributions from people who wrote in last time, but had to be bumped to this edition because you were all so fantastic at sending me notes. So while it may be a little out of date, here’s a dispatch from Tara Colton: “On Feb. 26, 2013, my husband Jed and I welcomed our son, Benjamin, into the world. He is the most wonderful, curious, beautiful, sweet, silly little boy. I apparently thought having a baby wasn’t enough change in one year, as I returned from maternity leave to a new job, leaving Mayor Bloomberg’s office to oversee program development and planning at FEGS, one of the largest health and human services agencies in the country. We live in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, which has one of the best views (and the best tacos) in NYC.”

Chris and Wendy Jeffries are still enjoying life in Baltimore, though they are taking as many trips as they can in their spare time. During their recent travels, they have seen Brian Fair and Luke Cash in Boston and Liz Collins Bliss during a trip to Wesleyan where Wendy and Liz gave a presentation to students on using data and measuring outcomes for schools and non-profits. They also regularly see Adriana Jones Laser, who lives nearby. When they are not traveling, Chris is keeping busy working as a business ligation lawyer and Wendy manages training and evidence-based practice on international child protection issues for the U.S. branch of an international federation.

Steve Gray officiated at the wedding of Erica Gersowitz and Kagiso Bond at the end of November. They were thrilled that so many Wes alums were able to join them for the celebration in Anguilla, including Tanya Ellman, Rachel Chasan, Courtney Orange, Ben Leff, Saj Rahman ’03, Mariela Rosario ’02, Julio Pabon ’02, Dave Bowers, Martha King, and Chuck Duffney ’02.

Rachel Feinstein Stevens moved to Northampton, Mass., and welcomes all friends and passing alums for a visit in the Happy Valley, just an hour from campus. She now works with her husband at their firm, Maple Street Architects, and just completed a deep energy retrofit of their two-family home.

Andee Marksamer, a geologist for Chevron, writes, “My husband, Ken Downey, and I, and our 2-year-old son, Harrison, have been living in Bangkok, Thailand, since Feb. 2013. We are all thoroughly enjoying Thailand…eating yummy spicy food, meeting lots of new people, learning to speak Thai, and traveling throughout Asia.”

Jamie Chin sent in this happy news: “On March 29, 2014, my fiancé, Cory McArthur, proposed to me on Foss Hill at Wes.”

Anthony Clark and Megan Joiner write, “We welcomed our daughter, Arden Lucia Joiner-Clark, into the world on 11/12/13 in New Haven. Anthony finishes in the joint MBA and master of environmental science program at Yale in May. The family will be in Connecticut through the summer. Miller’s Pond, here we come!”

I had the sweetest, most fun visit when Jess Firestone blew into town to tour colleges with her completely awesome friend/former student Julizza in mid-March. After a number of years teaching elementary school in Oregon, Jess has an awesome adventure planned for next year: “I’m taking a much needed break from the testing culture of American public education to teach at Las Terrenas International School in the Dominican Republic. Whale season is January to March and I welcome all visitors to the beach town where I’ll be teaching.”

Have you noticed a new magazine called Modern Farmer on newsstands, basically everywhere? Did you know it is the outfit of our very own Reyhan Harmanci, chief editor? In its first year, the publication garnered two National Magazine Award (Aka ESME or Ellie) nominations. Unfortunately there is no ESME category for Excellence in Baby Animal Coverage, because then they’d be a triple threat.

Please keep the notes coming!

MARA VOUKYDIS | MaraVee@gmail.com

We’ve got some more babies joining our class! Karen Ferreira Amis and Greg Amis welcomed their future Wesleyan alumnus, Leonard “Leo” Amis, into the world on Jan. 3rd of this year.

Melissa Stevens and Rob Debbane had a son, Max Alexander Debbane, born Feb. 16th.

Elisabeth Watson (Schreiber) wrote: “My husband, Simon, and I welcomed our daughter, Maeve, into the world on the 18th of March, born at home and under water in Falmouth, England! Big brother Aidan loves his new little sister. I’ll be back teaching fitness classes on the beach to mums and little ones in a few weeks, once the dust settles.”

Anne Obelnicki and her husband, Chris, had a baby boy, named Alden, on November 14th.

Rhiannon Luyster writes, “My husband and I have been settled in Cambridge, Mass., for seven years now and love our quiet neighborhood near Harvard Square. I am teaching at Emerson College in the communications sciences and disorders department (with fellow Wes alum Joanne Lasker ’84) and continue to do autism research at Boston Children’s Hospital. This past September we welcomed our son, Hugh Luyster Polley. We can’t imagine a more charming little person to have in our family!”

Michelle Wimberly-Speach gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Isabel in October 2013. Michelle and her husband, Kheimon Speach, have two other children, Sanaa (age 10) and Kheimon Junior (age 7). Michelle is also in the process of obtaining her master’s degree in human resources and professional studies at Pennsylvania State University.

Ali Haider is working as an interventional cardiologist for a private practice in Western Massachusetts in the greater Springfield area.

Shawn Green now works as a physics tutor at the Berkshire School and has adopted a puppy.

In 2005 John Mailer co-wrote the book The Big Empty with his father, Norman Mailer. This book is the source of material for Two Mailers, a new play that brings this father-son dialogue to life on the stage. Actor Paul Sorvino of Goodfellas fame plays Norman, and Jordan Belfi of Entourage plays John Mailer. For more information, see: argonautnews.com/the-big-empty-comes-full-circle-in-two-mailers/.

Jordan Lloyd Bookey started her career as a teacher, then pursued an MBA at Wharton, and remained in education, leading Google’s K-12 team for several years. About a year ago, she left to start her current company, Zoobean, with her husband, Felix. At Zoobean, they curate apps and books, and then personalize them for each child (like Pandora for children’s apps and books). They were featured on Shark Tank on April 18.

Hilda Ives Wiley andAvery Esdaile
wesleyan2000@gmail.com

1999 ARCHIVES | HOME
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Class Notes has entered the social media age! Several submissions for this issue were first posted on WesConnect. The new magazine site (magazine.wesleyan.edu) also has a Class Notes section where we can post overflow information and photos, so please start submitting them!

Farrah Darbouze married Jessica Heard in December. The wedding was in Bethesda, and our classmate Nichole Morris was also in attendance.

Imani “Grace” Duncan-Price dropped us a note to let us know she is now based in Kingston, Jamaica. “I was honoured to be appointed a senator for the Government of Jamaica in 2012, so a significant part of life now focuses on reviewing laws for my country. But I still have my day job as chief strategy officer for JMMB Group (regional financial services company) and of course enjoying my young family as we all grow. So link me if you come this way. One love.”

You may have seen BatKid on the news this year? One of our classmates was involved! From Allegra Jones: “I’m happy to report that San Francisco’s BatKid saved Gotham City on Nov. 15! I’ve volunteered as a member of the Young Professional Advisory Council (YPAC) of the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation for seven years, and this was by far the most exciting, inspiring, community-building event in which I have participated. Seeing the city come together to help grant 5-year-old Miles’ wish to become BatKid was a true joy. #SFBatKid”

Mark Zubko and family are now living in Brooklyn. They recently moved back to the US from London. Mark’s wife, Alexandra, recently co-founded a travel-review company (Triptease).

As for your class secretaries, Darryl is continuing to take over Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, one admissions class at a time. Kevin and his wife survived their first year with twins (Owen and Norah), with their older daughter, Claire, pitching in to help. When not chasing toddlers, Kevin is helping ZocDoc expand its business across the U.S., providing real-time access to healthcare for all!

After the last Class Notes, Kevin heard from Beth Rauen Sciaino, who lives in nearby Morris County. Beth is the associate rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, N.J. She and her husband have a daughter, 6, and son, 1.

We hope our class has a solid turnout for the 15-year Reunion in May…in the meantime, please send in your updates so we can share!

C. DARRYL UY | darryl.uy@gmail.com

KEVIN KUMLER | kevinkumler@gmail.com

Happy spring, fellow classmates! I hope this issue finds you nice and warm after a terrible winter. Here’s what’s going on…

Laura Kirk’s baby, Theo Kirk, arrived Aug. 19, 2013, and he is a total love.

For the last two years Ysette Guevara has been working to transition youth from NYC’s foster care system into fulfilling adult lives. She works most closely with a group of aspiring social entrepreneurs, ages 21 and up. You can read about their work at minds-on-fire.org.

Marcus Chung married his partner, Ryan Black, on April 4 in a small ceremony in San Francisco with a big party on April 5 to celebrate. It was a bit of a swim team reunion with Neil Seth, Jill Kantrowitz, Abby Posner, Emelie Gunnison, Penny Linge, Meaghan Reilly ’00, Alison Hirsch ’00, Leah Rosenblum ’99, and Lena Sadowitz ’99. Several other Wes friends arrived including Kate Haviland, Rebecca Knight, Meredith Hoffa, Sarah Margon, Sophie Middlebrook, Lisa Winegar and Doug Sabo ’95, and Becky Wildman-Trobriner ’03. Ryan and Marcus are grateful for the opportunity to be legally married in the state of California after nearly six years together.

Please make sure to keep us updated so we can share your news with our classmates. Take care.

MARCUS CHUNG | marcuschung98@gmail.com

Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com