Author: jgibson

Here is the belated 40th Reunion report for the 53 or so who “we know made it to Middletown and the rest of you who we had hoped would come.” Few classes break 50 attendees for the 40th, so we did well. If we can do it again in five years, we’ll beat the record. I’ll try to convey some of the flavor of the weekend.

First, thanks again to fellow Reunion Committee members who all showed up: Karen Freedman, class agent Steve Levin, Roger Weisberg, Charlie Stolper, Mark Schonberger, Dave Rosenblum, J.D. Moore, and Gary Steinel. Roger and Karen kicked off Friday night with a showing of Roger’s new documentary, Dream On, a funny and moving film about what the American dream means to people, and how it contrasts with their lives. Look for it on PBS. Gary reprised his beer tasting before the class dinner with an array of delicious samples. Over some brew, I caught up with Rook Van Nest and Jeff Dunn, both of whom are thriving in Weston, Mass.

Two shout-outs to classmates who led phenomenal WesSeminars: Mark Nickerson discussed his work with veterans and families dealing with PTSD. The room was packed, and it prompted a lively discussion of psychological and public policy issues. Cliff Chanin also riveted us with his heartfelt presentation about the September 11 Memorial site at ground zero and his role in it. His insights into the museum’s origins and design, how artifacts were selected and displayed, and the process and complexities of working with stakeholders were very moving.

There was also a terrific panel on co-education at Wesleyan that featured faculty and students from 1968­–1975. It was connected with an academic study of the second era of coeducation at Wes. What was most fascinating was hearing the faculty perspective on the impact of “co-educating” faculty, administration, and the student body all at once. While we experienced coeducation as students, the culture shifts were at least as challenging within the faculty and administration. We definitely lived through a transformative era at Wesleyan and in society.

Some things don’t change, however: Saturday afternoon I spied George Cole from Boston and Mark Schonberger from New York in their spandex biking gear lounging on the Arts Center lawn after a ride through the Connecticut countryside. They looked like they bike together every weekend. Later, a bunch of us (Steve Miller, Brad Kosiba, Martha Meade ’76, Pam Swing, Charlie Stolper, Debbie Kosich, Risa Korn, Janet Brodie, me and others) found a spot in the Arts Center with a great echo and sang all the rounds we could remember from undergrad days. It’s amazing the old stuff that sticks in your brain and can be retrieved in the right circumstances. Passers-by wondered.

Pat McQuillan made a connection at Reunion with Pam Swing and her husband, Marty Plotkin ’76. Pam lives in Concord, Mass., and is an anthropologist. Pat wants her to come present in his education classes at Boston College.

It was great to see Jim Daley, Bill Devereaux, Dave Rosenthal, and Dave Harrison at dinner, as well as Steve McCarthy and Jeff McChristian. Cutty Wilbur was there, and I got a brief chance to check in with John Tabachnick, Ken Busman, Arthur Paterson, and Paul Gionfriddo. Cathy Gorlin came from Minnesota with her husband, Marshall Tanick.

Graduation day, unlike in 1975, was splendidly sunny—in fact the entire weekend was an advertisement for spring in New England. It was inspiring to watch Beverly Daniel Tatum receive her honorary degree on the terrace below Olin Library. The commencement speaker, Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, gave a moving and entertaining speech that combined trademark rap/hip-hop libretto from his Broadway show, Hamilton, with words of wisdom about his experience balancing a drive to seize the moment with patience to wait for the right time to act. It was a message that resonates at any age.

It was also a lovely morning to sit on the Usdan Campus Center balcony overlooking the ceremony, say goodbye to friends as they scattered, and catch up with a last conversation or two. I enjoyed talking with Dan Cantor and his wife, Laurel Masten Cantor ’76, who had come up from New Jersey.

Among those who hadn’t come to Middletown were Jeff Morgan and his wife, Jodie. We’d had our own personal reunion earlier, however, including Jodie and my husband, Bob. Jeff and Jodie gave us a tour of their Covenant Winery in Berkeley, which makes fabulous kosher reds, whites, and rosés. Jeff regaled us with the tale of his Wesleyan career (only a brief part of which he spent on campus), his years as a jazz musician in the U.S. and France, and his transition to wine writer and, finally, winemaker.

Reunion was full of moments that reminded me how formative the college experience is for each generation. My nephew was at Wes for his 5th Reunion, single, staying on campus, and ready to party until the wee hours—unlike most of us who headed for hotels or home. I noted that we are no longer the alumni pushing strollers or wrangling children around the campus. And it is amazing how young the 50th Reunion class looks now, compared to how ancient they seemed when we were graduating. However many years go by, there are several hundred people who shared that time and place at Wes in the early ’70s. We are moving along life’s path, dealing with the sometimes messy work of trying to live well and perhaps make some difference in a complicated world.

I know there are those of you whom I have not had space to mention in these notes, and details of the news you shared with me on campus that I did not write down and now can’t recall accurately enough to feel comfortable publishing it. So please help embellish this account by sending me reminders of your news, e-mailing your impressions, or chiming in if you weren’t at Reunion.

Cynthia M. Ulman | cmu.home@cmugroup.com

860 Marin Drive. Mill Valley, CA 94941-3955

Lloyd Komesar reports that the inaugural Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival was a great success. “Among the 1,000-plus people in attendance, we had an abundance of wonderful Wes folks [and spouses] with us, including Bill Pearson and Jane Pearson P’12, Claudia Catania and John Cady ’71, Wayne Forrest, Wendy Starr, Naaz Hosseini, Lyn Lauffer, Sam Miller ’75, P’09 and Anne Miller P’09, Tracy Killam ’75, Mike McKenna ’73, David Laub ’03, Rose Komesar ’07, Katie Reid Shevlin ’07, Kara Zedlovich Rzzuto ’07, Todd Jick ’71, P’11 and Wendy Jick P’11, Steve Goldschmidt ’72, Mark Masselli HON’09, Joan Gamble ’80, Ann Deane ’79, Bob Kesner ’67, Bill Holder ’75 and Mark Davis ’96. Promising Wes filmmakers were part of the festivities as well: Tyler Byrne ’09 and Conor Byrne ’11 (Foureyes), Aaron Kalischer-Coggins ’15 (All Systems Go) and, in absentia, Casey Feldman ’12 (Posthumanismaniarama!) and Raphael Linden ’15 (Wald). Of course, I am indebted to our great artistic director, Jay Craven P’04. And my sincere thanks to Jeanine Basinger for all her guidance and support.

For the curious among you, I am mighty pleased to announce the dates for the 2nd Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival: August 25-28, 2016. You can find a list of all the award winning films and view the trailers from our first fest plus great photos and our highlight reel at middfilmfest.org. Hope to see many more of my classmates here in Middlebury next August for summer’s sweet finale. The films are notable, yes, but the friendships renewed and the conversations sparked, well, those are just glorious.”

Follow this link to an article from the local newspaper:

middfilmfest.org/addison-independent-film-festival-draws-raves-in-its-debut/

In it, Lloyd was quoted: “I was delighted with the audiences,” said Komesar, who this week will finally get a chance to catch his breath after his deft performance as top producer of MNFF, which boasted 93 short- and feature-length films submitted by newly minted filmmakers from throughout the world. Komesar gave ample thanks to his supporting cast, which included a small paid staff flanked by a group of dedicated sponsors and volunteers — including renowned Vermont filmmaker Jay Craven.“I feel this first festival was a resounding success,” Komesar said.

More information on MNFF, including how to donate to defray expenses for the event, can be found at middfilmfest.org.

Bill Pearson shares, “As with many from and near our class, I joined with Lloyd Komesar for the first Middlebury Film Festival (I’m also on Lloyd’s board). Lloyd did an amazing job and it was a big success, particularly for a first year event.

We’ve gotten to know Middlebury because our youngest son, Henry, is a junior there, having a good time. Squash team, math major, Chinese minor, playing in several bands. Howe, our middle and Wesleyan 2012 son, lives in New Orleans where he’s a musician and teacher. Nate, our eldest, lives in San Francisco and works for Tesla. All doing fine and providing us with good excuses to visit them. I’m still working as a consultant, combining my McKinsey and operating background with more recent management psychology work. Jane and I are traveling more and recently renovated our old place in eastern Connecticut and spending more time there. Cheers to all!”

Lee Coplan shares, “I had hoped to be at the reunion last year, and now a year has flown by. A couple of things prevented me from getting there last year.

My son, Ariel (who came our reunion 16 years ago), is a chef and (with my help) was in the process arranging renovations on his own restaurant in downtown Toronto. Thoroughbred Food and Drink opened last September. It was featured in the Village Voice travel column on Toronto last November, and then was included in December by the Voice as one of the top 10 destination restaurants of 2014. Earlier in his career, Ariel cooked at Michelin-starred Café Grey (Manhattan) and Number One Restaurant in the Balmoral Hotel (Edinburgh), before serving as a chef in Australia and back in Toronto. I hope Wesleyan connections will give Thoroughbred a try when they’re next in Toronto. It’s located close to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) center and King Street theaters and not far from the downtown business district and sporting venues.

I’ve also resumed my violin playing – something I largely put on hold while at Wesleyan. I’ve been playing in several klezmer groups for the past four years. We had a couple of gigs on reunion weekend last year – although truth be told, I would have passed them up if not for restaurant renovations keeping me in Toronto. Our most frequent performances are at old age homes, but we also play at community events (such as the Ashkenaz Festival and Jewish Music Week), weddings, bar mitzvahs, parties. My main group, Klez Konnection, is coming out with its initial CD shortly. I’ve recently started playing in a community string orchestra, as well.

My other son, Isaac, will be getting married next weekend (June). Isaac has been working on research and education on housing and homelessness issues, continuing on a path set in his MA in environmental studies (York University in Toronto).

My daughter, Eliana (who joined me at our reunion 6 years ago), has about a year to go on her BA in Sociology and Diaspora & Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. She just completed a semester exchange in Utrecht. I benefitted, as I managed to travel with her before and after her term – Rome and Amsterdam in January, and Copenhagen and Berlin in May, although Eliana travelled far more when I wasn’t around.

I’d also like to mention that I had a lovely visit with Chris Moeller and his wife Sara about 18 months ago when I was in Minneapolis to be present when my advisor, Chris Sims, was feted by the University of Minnesota for his Nobel prize in economics.

I’m still working for the Ontario provincial government as part of the office of the Treasury Board. Our efforts are aimed at supporting the government in keeping on track to achieve a balanced budget by 2017-18. (Unlike most states governments, most provinces are not mandated to have a balanced budget each year.) And I’ve added our next reunion to my calendar.”

Jan Eliasberg writes, “Since I moved back to New York City last June, I’ve reconnected with many wonderful Wesleyan friends. I went to the theatre with John Shapiro & Shonni Silverberg to see The Erlkings, a moving play about Columbine written by their son, Nathaniel. Bill Pearson and I have had several wonderful lunches together in the West Village while Steven Goldschmidt helped me find the extraordinary loft in the Financial District where I’m lucky enough to live.

I am a Visiting Arts Professor at NYU Film School (teaching The Director’s Process and Advanced Television Writing) and love being colleagues with Janet Grillo.

This year my directing career has gone into overdrive. I just finished directing the second of two episodes of the fabulous Nashville, created by Thelma and Louise’s Callie Khouri, starring Connie Britton, Hayden Panettiere, and a group of insanely-talented actor/singers and Nashville-based musicians. I’m off to Vancouver to direct a new premium cable show called The Magicians, adapted from the best-selling trilogy by Lev Grossman. And I recently completed writing my long-gestating screenplay — Before I Sleep — which I hope to shoot as an indie film in 2016.

My daughter, Sariel, is entering her sophomore year at Barnard; she spent the summer as the graphic design intern at Nylon Magazine and had her work published numerous times on the Nylon website. She was also the Art Director for The Columbia Spectator.

While everyone is raving (for great reasons) about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s magnificent Hamilton, I’d like to recommend the work of another Wesleyan Alum — Kim Wayans — who lights up the stage at The Public Theatre in Robert O’Hara’s Barbeque.

Nathaniel Winship bought a farm in Tamworth, NH (dba as Tanna Farm) last year where my second wife (Hope Requardt) and I are actively raising chickens and ducks and growing vegetables.

Ellen Robinson is still living in Hartford practicing OB/GYN. Planning on retiring 1/1/2017. So far two grandsons Xavier 6 and Theo 2. Her family is all good, healthy and thriving.

Monique Witt updates us on her music news. “OneTrickDog* dropped Ben Sutin’s new klezmer/jazz album Tangibility with his sextet Klazz-Ma-Tazz, and the reviews have been spectacular thus far. We are up on global radio, and live throughout the northeast. That was in August. We will drop Tom Larsen’s second blues album, Loving Losing (largely original material from People vs. Larsen), this week. But the single of the same name dropped in June on KCRW (LA), then was picked up world wide on radio. Starbuck’s has picked it up for their rotation, as blues is enjoying a revival right now.

On the boys’ front, my older son designed the twelve-foot column, multi-driver speakers for the Louis Vuitton Palm Springs fashion show. They’re clear and also mirrored, and can be seen on line. My younger son was involved in the jazz festivals: he performed at Mazden (with Curtis Lundy, Warren Wolf, and Wayne Escofry), at Richmond Jazz Festival (with T.S. Monk, Thelonius’ son, and the sextet), at Lincoln Center Out of Doors (with Ray Lugo), and at MusicFest in Philadelphia. He is currently finishing his last year at Columbia and Juilliard. Both boys continue to write and record their own music and continue to perform together.

On the theatre front, Split/Screen was performed at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June (Best of the Fringe Award, Most Interesting, and a Showcase Award). We were pleased with the reception, because it was one of only a small handful of serious plays out of 275. The Fringe attracts comedy and farce. We hope to reprise it at the New York Fringe Festival next year. And we continue to work on the TV series. So everyone is working hard.”

SHARON PURDIE | spurdie@wesleyan.edu

We have news of retirements and special journeys and ongoing work as we move on in our lives.

Gary Jacobson writes that he and Sharon have left New Jersey and have relocated to retire and are very much enjoying the lifestyle. He says his most recent news is the birth to son Lee ’05 and wife Michelle of their grandson, Wesley Martin. “Mike McKenna is already recruiting him for rugby duty!” says Gary. He says he keeps track of what my family and I are doing through Facebook.

Dr. Jim Powers writes from Nashville that he participated as a delegate with the Gerontological Society of America in a transculturual presentation on geriatric care at Shanghai University in June.

From Middletown, Bill Corvo, of William Corvo Consultants, says he is currently working on developing the world’s largest fuel cell project here in Connecticut. He says O&G Industries, Inc. is the senior partner and they will be using Fuel Cell energy technology from fuel cells in Danbury, Conn., manufactured in Torrington.

Steve Young sends his regards from New Hampshire, where he is enjoying quasi-retirement. He says he is teaching a seminar this fall at Wesleyan, jointly listed in history and government, on “Modern China and the World since 1945.” He says, “It is fun to engage with current Wes students in an area where I spent considerable time during my foreign service career.”

Daoud Haroon has recently returned from a three-month visit to Thailand, during which time he said he had some special dentistry to ensure his trombone embouchure will provide plenty of support in the coming months, which will include further research and travel in the area of ethnomusicology. He says he kept an ongoing photo-journal of his three months in Thailand on Facebook, which can be accessed via facebook.com/hajj.haroon. And he says there is an ongoing compilation of his activities on: mancebomosaic.com.

He recently celebrated his 81st birthday, and as a recipient of the UnitedStatesArtists-2014fellows.org, award, he says “It has enabled me to undergo a continued spiritual and cultural rebirth. I do hope that my current activities will act as an inspiration to all of my friends, family and classmates.”

From Wisconsin, Tom Pfeiffer writes, “Life is fairly good with me. My youngest is a senior in college and the two older kids are out in the real world. I am trying to take more time to enjoy life while still working at a bit slower pace.” He says he visited Argentina early this past summer to spend some time with his daughter, who was on a junior year abroad program in Buenos Aires. He said this adventure included a several day side trip to Iguazu Falls on the Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay border. “That was a bucket list type of experience!” he says. Tom says he has been to his family home at the Jersey shore three times this year to perform needed maintenance and to “enjoy life along the Atlantic.” On the last trip there in September, he took friends on a whale watching tour and got to see up close a pair of humpback whales feeding and then breaching 10 miles off of Cape May. He called that “another bucket list item.” He also experienced South Carolina during a trip in the spring, especially enjoying Charleston. He said he hoped that charming city would be able to recover from this past fall’s devastating floods.

My thanks for your response to our e-mail outreach. As always, I look forward to hearing your news.

PETER D’OENCH | Pgdo10@aol.com

Rick Berg and his wife are back from Bhutan, where he was writing software for the Royal Thimphu College. “That,” he says, “was a wonderful and enlightening experience, but after two years at Himalayan wages there is no question of retirement. Besides, I need something to do, since I’ve given up climbing after several bad falls. So it’s back to New Mexico, where I’m writing software for DataWizards, a small company I share with three partners, and hiking on the weekends. Occasionally I do get back East, where I get to see Bernie Crawford, who is a surgeon in NYC.”

The following major news bulletin is submitted verbatim and without further comment: “Much to the surprise of all concerned, Steve Roper finally married his long-time amiable consort, Nancy J. Stack ’74, in April of 2015. This shocking turn of events was aided and abetted by Steve’s ’72 classmates, J. Bryan Flynn and John R. Rivers, along with honorary classmate, Carol (Beardsley) Rivers. The happy couple will continue to reside in Melrose, Mass., where Steve has retired after 31 years of attempting to keep the Mass. Dept. of Transportation from violating all known federal and state historic preservation laws. Nancy J., although entertained by Steve’s adventures in the trackless morass of Medicare/Social Security, continues to labor as a hired gun planner/project manager in Boston.”

John Manchester and his wife, Judy, have moved to Oakland, close to sons Shawn and Chris, who are both enjoying high-tech success, and grandson Jackson, who is a nuclear-powered age 3. John is in his 11th year of pursuing a second career as a writer after the Internet destroyed his old one as a composer. He is still holding out for traditional, over self-, publishing. His latest is a thriller with a backstory based on the Wesleyan ’60s.

Jerry Ryan, after buying or financing nursing homes for various companies over nearly 35 years, is retiring to Greenville, S.C., next spring. Presumably, Jerry left nothing but satisfied customers in Greenville. Jerry has four grandchildren between his wife’s two and his own two.

After over 30 years of designing and producing computer games, and before that, paper-and-pencil games, Arnold Hendrick and his wife, Georgeann, have retired to “sagebrush steppe” country of Meridian, Idaho, just outside of Boise. Except he hasn’t really retired at all: he’s still employed making computer games for a virtual company.

After almost 40 years in New Jersey, Doug Stivison and wife Heather moved to the beautiful southeast coast of Massachusetts, where Doug took up the position of pastor of the Congregational Church of South Dartmouth. The iconic 200-year-old church is just two blocks up from the waterfront of Padanaram Harbor….well known to sailors as the site of the Buzzards Bay Regatta. Doug had the pleasure this summer of walking his daughter, Megan, down the aisle, then turning around and officiating at the wedding. Singing at her sister’s wedding was Beth Stivison ’09.

After completing a long-dreamed-of circumnavigation aboard his 43-foot South-African-built cutter, Nat Warren-White has returned to his home state of Maine, where he is writing about his adventures. To date, Ocean Navigator, has published 14 pieces written about all legs of the journey and Nat is busy looking for a publisher to help edit and create a book stitching these “chapters” together. Nat and Betsy, together since ’75, have just been blessed with their first grandchild, Diego Antonio, born June 15 to son Josh and his partner, Maria, in Berkeley, Calif. “What a thrill —and great to join the club and be able to share grandparent stories with Peter Stern and others, plus have an excuse to spend more time on the Left Coast.” Nat continues to act and coach executives through the Ariel Group in Boston (arielgroup.com) while practicing as a drama therapist. The theater company he helped start in 2004, AndStillWeRise (andstillwerise.org), comprised of ex-prisoners and their loved ones, continues to thrive in Boston and will be appearing at the North American Drama Therapy conference in White Plains, N.Y., on Oct. 15. Any and all WEStech friends are welcome to visit in South Freeport, Maine. Nat enjoys being in regular touch with Joel Bernstein, Jim Pickering, Stephen Policoff, Peter Stern, Peter Love, Inara de Leon, Paula Harrington and others from our sweet bygone WESU days, but still misses Oscar Look dearly. A book of Oscar’s letters and poetry, published by his daughter, Erin, is available on Amazon…just search Oscar Look and it’ll pop up!

Andy Feinstein continues to work, expanding his law firm, which specializes in representing students with special needs and their parents. “I see Rich Easton on alternate Friday mornings at the Stonington Men’s Group and just missed Paul Vidich’s 65th birthday party last Sunday evening.”

Mark Frost’s weekly newspaper, The Chronicle, celebrated its 35th anniversary on Sept. 2, still “locally owned, locally committed” and having its best year ever. Mark is following with interest the Wesleyan Argus controversy—and hoping the Argus and Wesleyan will stand their ground in defense of a free press and free speech.

Bruce Hearey’s son, Leif Dormsjo ’97, got married this past April to Kristin Barcak, in a lovely weekend celebration in Charleston, S.C. Having worked in Maryland state and city government for well over a decade, Leif is now the director of transportation for the District of Columbia. Son Owen will be graduating with a PhD in economics from UCLA next June, and hopefully will be more than gainfully employed when this gets printed. Bruce finished a year as president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, and is now back to practicing law. He and wife Stephanie are downsizing, as they are a short year away from empty nest status. They are leaving leafy Shaker Heights and migrating a few miles west to a condo townhouse in Cleveland’s increasingly cool Uptown area. The three flights of steep stairs do not intimidate them, whether Bruce gets that long delayed hip replacement surgery or not.

“Despite the pessimism of all these Republican loudmouths, life to me at 65 seems pretty good,” writes Bruce. “I am bemused by the stuff on campus: Deke suing the University, the University shutting down Psi U, students wanting to shut down the Argus…I guess [expletive deleted] keeps happening on campus no matter the generation.”

Finally, this has been an eventful year for me. My son Mark was married on April 18 to Jenny Bonacore Adolfson. I may be a latecomer to the marriages-of-children scene among this crowd, but I must confess it was one of the happiest days of my life. And, as you can see from my new address, Elisa and I have happily relocated to a wonderful new townhouse near Danbury. (Thanks in part to Fran Pennarola ’73, who handled the closing). No, this is not retirement, but it is the end of 60 years of Davis family presence in the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, and that was not devoid of emotional pangs. It’s great to be back in Connecticut after 43 years, and it makes for a shorter drive to our 45th Reunion, which will be here soon.

Thanks, folks! More in four months!

SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu

213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

Greetings, Thank you for responding to the request for info and whether you plan to attend Reunion 2106 (Yes, some of you caught that), but I hope you will all attend Reunion 2016!

John Cuddy intends to come to the Reunion.

Ian Hunter wrote: “Both my daughters have quit gainful employment and returned to school this fall. My older daughter is pursuing a PhD in quantitative marketing at Stanford Business. My younger daughter’s PhD will be in statistics at Harvard. Meanwhile retirement is not in sight.”

John Rothman wrote, “I think this might be my first class note. I am at present rehearsing Pinter’s The Homecoming at Berkshire Theater Festival and have just returned from New Orleans, where I was shooting a pilot for Amazon Studio called One Mississippi with Tig Notaro. Hoping it will be picked up and go to series. My wife of 32 years, Susan Bolotin, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Workman Publishing. My daughter, Lily, is history editor of Time.com and my son, Noah, is a manager and producer at Underground Films. I am in close touch with Philip Casnoff, Graeme Bush and Gene Borgida. I will consider the Reunion if I am not shooting the series!”

Joe Keller will attend and is still living in Cape Cod, with a condo in Florida, and playing golf only on days that end in a ’y.’

Dave Lindorff says, “Unless there’s an unanticipated conflict, I plan to be at the (OMG!) 45th Reunion. I will be armed with info on maximizing Social Security benefits. I’m working on a book about how people in our age cohort avoided the draft—working title: What Didn’t You Do in the War, Gramps…and Why? If anyone has an interesting experience to relate please get in touch with me at dlindorff@gmail.com.”

Jim Rizza wrote, “New granddaughter—Lilyana. This makes four granddaughters for us. Would love to attend the Reunion next year but it takes a team of wild horses to drag me onto a commercial airline flight these days. If they let me fly the plane . . . , that would be different!! So, will not be attending.”

Katy Butler says, “I am fortunate enough to be granted a month of uninterrupted writing at Yaddo, the famous writers’ colony in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. I will be working on a new book for Scribner/Simon and Schuster, a practical manual about how to negotiate the ’grey zone’ between active living and active dying and how to shape a good end of life, to the degree it can be controlled. If anyone has stories of good deaths send, please send them to me at katybutlewriter@gmail.com.

“’Slow Medicine’ now has over 2000 members on Facebook, thanks, in part, to the fact that in the spring of 2015, the New York Times Sunday Review published my essay exploring my ambivalence with ’death with dignity’ legislation. I don’t think it should be illegal to shorten one’s life or hasten death in the face of a horrible fatal illness, but we need so much more than that—mainly, better funding for palliative care, hospice, and caregiver support.”

Stephen Ferruolo wrote, “I am in my fifth year as dean. Legal education continues to confront challenges, as does higher education. Our daughter, Cristina, is starting her second year at Colgate. Our son, Stephen, in now steeped in the college application process. It is certainly likely that he will end up at a liberal arts college. I feel good about that legacy. They have seen how valuable the Wesleyan experience has been for my life. I am very glad that they will have that liberal arts education foundation for their own lives.”

Bob Leroy writes, “I’m founder and coordinator of an annual national nonprofit public health conference. Next one is May 19–22, 2016, same dates as you-know-what.”

Ed Swanson writes: “I seem to recall that the rock group The Zombies played at Wesleyan during my sophomore, junior, or senior year, but am not certain.” He wonders if anyone recalls this and can clarify the time frame. We’ll post your answers in the next set of class notes.

John Holden: “I retired in June 2014 from being assistant head of school at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Potomac, Md., for 28 years, ending my 42 years in independent school education. Joan, my wife, and I have four wonderful children—three daughters and a son—and our first granddaughter. My passion is biking. I bought a recumbent bike in May 2014 and rode it 3,000 miles across the southern tier of the U.S., from San Diego, Calif., to St. Augustine, Fla., in March and April of this year with a group of 43 people, average age 63. In all, I have ridden over 10,000 miles in the last 15 months. Joan and I are living in Cataumet, Mass., on Cape Cod. I have been getting together with Pam and Bob Kyrka who live in Holliston, Mass. Bob is a retired veterinarian and Pam continues to teach high school English.”

Sorry if I butchered some of your notes to fit the column. See many of you at Reunion 2016!

NEIL J. CLENDENINN | Cybermad@msn.com

PO Box 1005, Hanalei, HI 96714

Aloha, all. I haven’t had a lot of response to the call for news for this column, but here we go, anyway.

Had this from Colin Kitchens: “Somehow I find myself still alive after all this time. Yet I am still almost as devoid of sense about why as I was when we were roommates. I did see Peter Pfeiffer ’69 on his farm in Maine. He is living off the grid, pretty much like Thoreau, and he has done this since we graduated. I have seen Jamie Kirkpatrick at Landon School, from which he is now retired. He’s traveling. He and his wife have posted incredible pictures of their trips, especially to Scotland. Stephen Talbot is working in San Francisco and making documentaries, and always has a word about something extremely worth seeing. I am working on my house and writing some.”

And this shortie from Gordon Fain: “Had a nice phone ’mini reunion’ with Mark Lerner ’71, who is now a ranking attorney in OSHA federal appeals in D.C.”

And then there was a rather odd e-mail discussion about columns. I don’t recall how it began, but it involved Stephen Voorhies ’71, John Yurechko, Jeffrey Nye, Jeffrey Sarles, Mark Mintz, George Ward, Michael Robinson ’73, and Ted Reed. The subject was “Kidnapped by the Ancients In the Desert?”, I think. I believe John Y. is to blame for this. Something to do with some photos that I think he posted on WesConnect involving Roman columns. In any case, it will get all their names into print. It’s all pretty dated now, as there was a reference by Ted to going to the basement to watch the resurging Mets on a small television, pre-playoffs. A pretty good series, especially the first game (14 innings, if you missed it) and that double in the last game that scored all three runners on base at the time. I was very impressed with a score all the way from first base on a double. Wish I still could run without my back acting up, much less that fast!

Well, that has to be about the weirdest paragraph I’ve written in this column in the 30 years (total) I’ve written it. So I have to follow it up with something even weirder: After six years of trying to get construction on our little house in the valley started, we finally signed the construction loan. The first supplies are on order (the solar energy system, including a stand-alone rack) and we anticipate breaking ground within the month, depending on shipping times and the condition of the valley road. Cannot believe we’ll be taking out a huge mortgage at this time in life. If interested, check out my FB photos or e-mail me.

Last thing I have for you is that Rob Baker was sighted on Kaua’i recently, visiting with friends and doing a little construction on a property not far, as the crow flies, from our lot in Kalihiwai Valley or from Neil Clendeninn’s ’71 place. Hope to visit with him when he next comes and hope to see many of you here in the coming years.

Meanwhile, all of you take care of yourselves and each other.

Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com

P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754