Author: Randi Alexandra Plake

Katy writes for this issue: As the end of 2019 grows near, we can anticipate the coming of 2020 and our 25th Reunion! As we look forward to getting together face-to-face, I am glad to share news from our classmates to catch us all up.

Wes couples Thy Pham ’97 and Tyler Moriguchi and Min Lee ’97 and Alejandro Santandrea ’97 loaded up their kids into an RV for an eight-day trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Evenings were spent reminiscing about classes, dorms, MoCon, and the student art gallery. Plans are already in the works for an Alaskan adventure. (BTW, Tyler contributed to class notes for the first time—heartily welcomed!)

Julie Zaidler ’95, MA’96 shares: “After completing my Wesleyan education and subsequently receiving an MBA from NYU, I landed in pharmaceutical industry doing market research in immuno-oncology. I lived in NYC for 10 years, and four years ago made a move to the Philadelphia area with my husband and two boys. Still adjusting to suburban life (and travel soccer schedules) but enjoying a somewhat slower pace. I am actually on my way back from vacation in North Carolina as we speak, and we stopped in Virginia to visit Miriam Liss. So good to see good old friends, have the kids meet each other for the first time and reminisce!”

And, speaking of whom, Miriam Liss also wrote: “I am married to Julian Kilmartin ’94. We live in Fredericksburg, Va., with our two kids Daniel (13) and Emily (11). I am a professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington, a public liberal arts college in Fredericksburg. Julian is a school counselor at our local high school. My most recent news is that I published a textbook (with two co-authors) called Psychology of Women and Gender.”

Ken Kwiatkowski now has three boys, Roman, Adam, and Sebastian, and is enjoying life in Jersey City with his lovely wife, Anna.

Eric Meyerson writes “I’m still living in San Francisco with my family, with both of my kids enjoying the chaotic public school system here. Hard to believe I’ve been here 19 years. What happened? I’ve had some wonderful personal Wesleyan reunions this year, including a night out in D.C. with Jason Walta, Seth Kaufman, and Julie Knauer, pho and coffee with Ned Lazarus in Virginia, margaritas with Bill Goldberg ’94 in Maryland, a recent dinner here in San F with Ben Foss, and a night out with Mark Ladov ’94 and his kids in Brooklyn. Career-wise, I made a deliberate move to cleantech this year, given the dire state of the environment and need for rapid modernization. I’m now VP of marketing for Software Motor Company, which makes ultra-efficient electric motors that slash energy demands from heating and ventilating buildings and farms. I’ve been traveling to Wisconsin a lot to support a strategic partner that makes ventilation systems for agriculture. Ask me anything about cows. Moo.”

Lara Tupper shares, “I spent a beautiful summer afternoon in the Berkshires with Mireille Abelin ’96, Chelsea Farley, and families. I’m thrilled to say that I have two books coming out in 2020: Off Island, a novel based on the life of Paul Gauguin, and Amphibians, a linked short story collection. Hope to see all of Clark 4 at the Reunion in May!”

Beth Price writes “I had a great visit with Dawn Peters Weinstein and Dave Weinstein ’94 and their two kids on their way to vacation in Edisto, S.C. They’re living in Cambridge, Mass., where Dawn is a pediatrician and Dave works for Brandeis University.”

Bo Bell | bobell.forreal@gmail.com 

Katy McNeill | mcneill40@gmail.com

Jason Blalock writes to inform of the passing of one of our classmates, Andrew Berends, who was an accomplished filmmaker.

James Longley’s new feature documentary, Angels Are Made of Light, opened in theaters in July, premiering at Film Forum in NYC and moving on to other cities. The documentary that follows students and teachers in a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, was filmed over a three-year period and was distributed by Grasshopper Film. Read the reviews in the New York Times and Chicago Tribune.

Tonya Singer has co-written a new book, entitled Breaking Down the Wall. The book is aimed at educators to disrupt inequalities for multilingual students.

Samera Syeda Ludwig | samera.ludwig@gmail.com

Caissa Powell | cdp2000@hotmail.com 

Greetings from North Carolina! Here’s some of what our classmates are up to:

Chris Osmond became associate director of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at the Reich College of Education of Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., where he is beginning his 10th year on faculty. Visit him!

Chris Cowan writes, “My fun news is that I just became the chair of the department of neuroscience at Medical University of South Carolina.”

Antonia Townshend got married to John Marshall in Washington D.C., 1.5 years post-baby Jack. In attendance were Seth Cousins ’91, Grady Clouse ’90, Todd McNiff, Lucius “Buster” Outlaw, Erica Terry Derryck ’95, and Amy Mayhew. David Derryck was home with their kids, but was represented by Erica.

Ericka Shulman Tullis moved with her husband, Paul, and their daughters, Vivian and Sabine, to Amsterdam. Paul will continue his work as a freelance journalist, Sabine will attend the Dutch National Ballet Academy, and Vivian will attend the Amsterdam International Community School. For her part, Ericka—who recently left UCLA after 14 years as a child health policy analyst and research project manager—plans to focus on learning Dutch and pursuing a new career in equine-assisted psychotherapy.

Karen Powell joined the nonprofit board of Sport Climbing Victoria, as her daughter, Grace Crowley, is a member of the Australian National Sport Climbing Team. She’s looking to connect with any Wes alumni involved in competitive sport climbing organizations, regardless of location. In 2019, they’ve traveled to China, Switzerland, France, and Japan for IFSC competitions including the World Championships in Tokyo (the site of the 2020 Olympics, where sport climbing will debut as an Olympic sport). Karen teaches law and was appointed the JD director at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

Many thanks to everyone who sent in their news. Please keep the information coming!

Suzanna Henshon | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com 

Sarah Estow | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

Hi, all, and welcome back to the Wesleyan 1992 class notes. You may have noticed that we skipped an issue of notes. I completely missed it, so no blame to Paul, but we are back on track!

Joan Matelli started law school at Northeastern this fall and quickly learned that Elizabeth Bloom ’95 was one of her professors.

Rick Barot’s fourth book of poems, The Galleons, will be published in early 2020.

Jean DiMaria lives in Berkeley, Calif. After 20 years in the hotel industry, she joined RCD Housing, an affordable housing owner and developer, where she works with Alicia Klein ’88. Jean’s son formed a band with his middle school classmates, one of whom is the son of Henry Rawitscher ’91. Also in the Bay Area, Sasha M. Cummings was honored with the 2019 Hon. Ira A. Brown, Jr. Distinguished Adjunct Professor Award by USF School of Law.

Maria Rosa Truglio was promoted to full professor on the faculty in Italian at Penn State. Her son, Tom (27), is in his third year at medical school in Philadelphia, and her other son, Anthony (28), is exploring career options in linguistics and coding. Maria also got engaged to her partner Greg. In other promotion news, Andrew Springman was promoted to web application development manager at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Lucy Hutner just launched a startup that she co-founded. The site, Phoebe, provides a personalized road map for pregnancy and postpartum—check it out at phoebe.nyc.

Teresa Van Hoy ’92, MA’91 premiered a documentary film at the Arizona International Film. The film followed her students’ quixotic quest to repatriate the leg of Santa Anna seized by Illinois soldiers 175 years ago during the Mexican-American War. The students’ 2,000-mile weekend road trip made the front page of the Wall Street Journal two days before Donald Trump was elected. You can learn more at newday.com/film/25-texans-land-lincoln.

Dan Fortmann is the export manager for SCX design, an importer of promotional merchandise across Europe, Russia, Lebanon, Dubai, and Pakistan. He is in his second year singing with the volunteer Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris, and spent the summer on tour.

Nancy McLoughlin is associate professor of medieval European history at UCI, is still rowing, and reports that she “has the best dog in the world.”

And in closing, Laura Hill and Marc Kunney ’91 dropped their daughter off at Wesleyan in August to start her first year in Clark Hall.

That’s the new for now. Hope to hear from you all soon!

Adam Berinsky | berinsky@mit.edu 

Paul Coviello | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

Hi, all! Very quiet this time around, but we do have big news from Ben Klau and Joan Gundersen Klau. So great to hear from them that “at a time when notes from our class are typically filled with news of our classmates’ children heading off to high school and college,” Ben and Joan “are proud to announce the birth of their second daughter, Hannah Rose Klau, born on May 29. The whole family, including Hannah’s big sister, Avery, 4, went on an extended East Coast summer tour in August, which included visits with Meg Steele Barker in Bath, Maine, and Amy Robins, who lives in Joan’s hometown of Milton, Mass.”

Since we have extra space, I thought I would throw out the fact that our 30th Reunion is next spring. I so clearly remember moving into Foss 7 in 1986 that I find it hard to believe that so many years have passed. More information will be coming and I’m hoping to hear from lots of you as we move toward this next milestone.

Right before printing, we were saddened to learn that our classmate David Bucci passed away on Oct. 15. David’s obituary can be found here. We send our condolences to his friends and family, including his wife Catherine “Katie” Hancur and his three children, Joshua, Ava, and Lila, and welcome any memories that people would like to share in an upcoming edition of the notes.

Vanessa Montag Brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

It’s a quiet quarter for Michele and Jonathan’s report, Maybe because everyone is still recovering from our 30th Reunion . . . or just *life*. We get it. We blew it, by not telling you in our previous notes that our very own Alexander Chee and Jenno Topping received alumni awards at our last Reunion which is cooler than cool.

Okay, onto the present. We heard from a few folks and this is what they had to say:

Allison Downer wrote in sharing a (funny) summer beach mishap—which involved repeatedly falling out of a new beach chair she never set up before, triggering “an existential crisis” . . . From what we gather, she’s used to the chair attendant setting up her sunbathing spot on vacations so when she attempted to do it on her own it was a big DON’T. Oopsie. We’re glad you got some chillaxing time in this summer, Allison.

Stephan Kline writes: “My younger son (Benjy Kline ’23) is a proud and enthusiastic member of Wes 2023. He joins his brother Noah ’21 on campus. Oh, Oregon is an awesome place to visit, all of it!”

Dave Keller spent a good chunk of the summer on tour with his band in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, performing songs from his Blues Music Award-nominated album, Every Soul’s a Star. He is busy planning his first European tour, writing songs for his next album, and raising his two teenage daughters.

Ethan Vesley-Flad moved to Accra with his family to spend a year (or more!) in Ghana. He was grateful to see so many classmates at the 30th shortly before leaving the U.S. He just missed seeing former roommate Paul Klehm in Ghana, but hopes to host one (or more!) Wes friends in the coming months.

Meanwhile, we’ll be trolling your inboxes in the next quarter looking for your updates. Happy winter!

Jonathan Fried | jonathan.l.fried@gmail.com 

Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Hillary writes for this issue: Evan Yassky connected with Chris Hall over the summer at his home in Maine where he and his wife have been teachers and part-time goat farmers for years. Since spring 2017, Evan has been living in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he is university architect at UNC. He is proud to say that his son graduated from Wes in 2018.

Mark Miller is about to open his second location for Hex & Company; the new spot is a total rebuild of an old Greek diner. He and Beth Kaufman ’86 moved to Sugar Hill in Harlem, where they will launch a four-room Airbnb and start hosting house concerts.

Peter V.S. Bond has displaced his Chi Psi brother Timothy McCallum as the ’88er with the youngest immediate offspring. In February, Peter and his wife celebrated the birth of their daughter.

A major exhibition that Mia Fineman organized is opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Mia is a curator in the department of photographs. The exhibition’s title is Apollo’s Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography, but it will no longer be on view by the time you are reading these notes.

Jennifer Fink recently published Bhopal Dance, which won the Doctorow Prize in Innovative Fiction and is now a finalist for a Lambda literary award. Jennifer is a professor of English at Georgetown.

Vivian Johnson has a new addition this year. She and her daughter are hosting an exchange student from South Korea; they report this has been a great experience so far.

Stephen Morison Jr. has moved to Sofia, Bulgaria (the hidden treasure of Europe), where he is dean of students for The American School of Sofia. He and his wife live in a fab apartment in a Communist-era building and are enjoying getting to know their new colleagues.

Rob Wrubel ’88, MA’89 just got back from taking his oldest son to Kenya and Tanzania—an incredible trip that he highly recommends. If any Wes folks are around Arusha, Tanzania, please reach out, as his son could use some more contacts.

And finally, I had the great pleasure of dining with Rob Daniels, Laura Sherman, and Renee White in Boston in late August.

Thanks for keeping us updated!

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

Hello, class of ’87! I’m writing this in the early days of September, when many of us are dropping kids off at school. Lots of news this time about our kids and transitions in our own careers.

Nancy Rapoport reflected on how much her mind returned to her own college application process and experience while she was watching her first kid go through it. Her daughter, Orlee, is in her first year at Harvard. Her twins, Esme and Tess, are sophomores in high school, active in cross country, lacrosse, field hockey, and ultimate Frisbee. Aside from running her own editing business, Nancy spends a lot of time playing taxi and cheering for sports whose rules she admits she doesn’t fully understand.

Pauline Frommer hosted a summer rooftop party for lots of Wesleyan folks in New York. It was great to see so many we hadn’t seen since Foss Hill.

Ian Rosen ’88 writes from London where he lives with his wife, Sagra, and works in sustainable investments and renewable energy. Their youngest daughter, Olivia, attends the American School and their eldest daughter, Isabel ’23, started Wesleyan in the fall. He said, “Scary thought that she will be class of 2023, so follows me by 36 years. Yet visiting campus, it is still so familiar.”

Lynda Ryden is a peace teacher in a Washington, D.C., public elementary school. She has written a curriculum that integrates mindfulness, social emotional learning, conflict resolution, and neuroscience. Lynda runs a nonprofit called Peace of Mind dedicated to promoting social emotional learning in schools nationwide. Lynda’s daughter, Rosie, is at Bryn Mawr and her son, Henry, is at Dickinson. Lynda’s sister, Tricia Ryden ’88, works as a public librarian in a rural community where libraries serve many crucial community functions.

Hope Salzer is pleased to have successfully transitioned back into active participation in the economy after 14 years of active work at home. While raising her husband, Larry (Yale ’88), and her two children, Henry and Clio, Hope was volunteering on behalf of public education and civic engagement. Hope now works with Catalogit, a collections management app used by museums, private collectors, professional conservators, and organizations to keep track of their collections. Technology is pushing a disruptive change in this field, and Hope is enjoying her role in the transition. Hope recently enjoyed time with Lisanne Misrok ’88 and Lisa Hone. She reports that she and her family recently used the health care system like never before—broken arm, emergency appendectomy, ankle sprains. They are all looking forward to a healthy 2020!

Sanford Livingston is still in Oakland, Calif. He is the CEO of NorCal FDC, a nonprofit that helps small businesses in California find capital for growth. He is lucky to work with Lydia Esdaile ’85, who is the director of marketing and communications, and he says the Wes energy is amazing!

Amy Baltzell spent 20 years as a professor of sports psychology and made a change toward a more eclectic approach to her career. She is now a Reiki Master Teacher, sport psychologist, and performance psychology consultant to businesses. She helps others awake and thrive. Amy is recently and peacefully single with a house bursting with teenagers. She is co-authoring a new book with a shaman healer and she is feeling grateful.

In 2007, Erika Cosby was invited by Lyle Ashton Harris ’88 to teach art at NYU and she is still there, going strong. As an artist, she has been using the name Erika Ranee since receiving her MFA in painting from UC Berkeley in 1993. Her next solo exhibition was scheduled to open in NYC in November. Erika enjoyed reconnecting with Lisa Heilbrunn Rattray and Amanda Jacobs Wolf at two recent art openings.

If you were at Wesleyan’s Shasha seminar, Understanding Russia, you heard David Abramson’s presentation on the Russia-China partnership. Most speakers are alumni who work on Russia issues in government, NGOs, industry, and academia. David was looking forward to seeing Anthony Richter ’84, Ilya Vinkovetsky ’88, Andy Meier ’85, and Kate Hardin ’90. David’s daughter, Hazel, started her first year at Mt. Holyoke. And, surprisingly, his genealogy research revealed a third cousin named June Price ’83, whom he has yet to meet.

How many people can say they knew a presidential candidate when they were undergraduates? Michael Bennet is running, and Muzzy Rosenblatt writes that a whole bunch of ’87s are working hard on his behalf, including Amanda Jacobs Wolf, Evan Glassman, Bradley Lubin, Sibyll Carnochan Catalan, Jeremy Mindich ’87, MALS’89, and more!

Late breaking news: Congratulations to Christopher Roellke, who was recently appointed the next president of Stetson University. Chris will leave his post at Vassar to start this position this summer.

What’s happening with you? Check in with us soon!

Rebecca Zimbler Graziano | rebecca.graziano@hotmail.com

I am sorry to not have an update this month.  Wesleyan converted their mail system and I did not get the notification that it was time to collect news. It’s too late to catch up this time around, but by the time you read this I will be sending out the next call for notes. (After all, we just had a slew of new for the Reunion, so a month off to center ourselves will do us all good.)

Hope all is well, and talk to you next time.

Michael Steven Schultz | mschultz84@wesleyan.edu

Hello, everyone. Another season has come and gone. Wow, it sure goes fast these days. I hope your summers were filled with family, friends, health, and fun. Wishing you a happy fall.

Judy Korin produced the Netflix original documentary The Great Hack, which premiered worldwide on July 24. The film explores personal data and its exploitation and impact on democracy through the journeys of several characters surrounding the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. It’s being hailed by critics and audiences alike as eye-opening and terrifying. She writes, “The film will make you think twice about every interaction you have with technology. And, I’m happy to report that one of our lead editors, Carlos Rojas ’02, is a Wesleyan alumnus (although a LOT younger than me)!”

After 22 years as legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Michael Steinberg joined the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School full-time in the fall, where he will teach civil rights litigation and start a clinic called the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative. Michael was also invited to tell a story about one of his cases at a Moth Mainstage event.

Ellen Zucker is a partner at Burns & Levinson and was named 2019 Women Worth Watching by Profiles in Diversity Journal for her impressive career success and sterling reputations. She works in the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group and is a powerhouse trial lawyer who has litigated or resolved a wide range of employment matters, including landmark discrimination and retaliation cases resulting in significant verdicts or settlements. Ellen also represents corporate and individual clients in business litigation, counseling and negotiations, as well as governmental investigations and criminal proceedings.

Tim Brockett ’83, MALS’87 was given a certificate of recognition by President Donald Trump and Vice President Michael Pence for assistance with the Trump/Pence campaign. He also did a volunteer stint as an investigative journalist/commentator for the online Glastonbury Community Forum, where he helped to uncover violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The case has yet to go to court but a violations letter has been sent. He writes, “Life is good in Montana and just gets better with every passing year.”

Philip Roth just finished a two-year master’s of public health at Columbia University. He enjoyed the rare opportunity to view medicine from 20,000 feet after being in the trenches as a surgeon for 25 years. And, the new perspective has catalyzed a career change—details to follow as it becomes clearer.

Alice Jankell is facing impending Empty-Nest Syndrome (daughter Parker is at Oberlin and son Julian is off to drama school) by continuing to write and direct. She helms the new musical, An Enchanted April, off-Broadway this fall.

David Steinhardt made his professional legitimate stage acting debut in the West Coast’s first production of The Antipodes by Annie Baker, in August in Seattle. New to town, he has relied greatly on Steven Sterne’s advice, kindness, and assistance. David’s editorial brand, Massive Publishing Enterprise (fb.me/editorMPE), is credited in Dartmouth professor P.K. Crossley’s new Eurasian history, Hammer & Anvil (Rowman & Littlefield).

Jan Elliott has been busy teaching, coaching, and performing with various music and dance groups on Cape Cod; one of the newest groups is Courante, a professional-level baroque music quartet that performed at this year’s Boston Early Music Festival.

Tim Backer finished a third string quartet last month, titled “Fourfold Folium,” a collection of electric guitar extempore compositions, titled “The Musing Genie (Purgatorio),” and is finishing recording an audiobook of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. All he says is “a blending of Blakeanism, Chinese philosophy, and Harold Bloom’s theory of influence.”

Lynn Ogden had the joy of attending her daughter’s Wesleyan graduation in a special ceremony for the women’s lacrosse team a few days before Sunday Commencement so that the team could play at the NCAA lacrosse finals in Virginia that weekend. They placed within the top four schools in Division III and broke records all season. She writes, “It has been an honor to see Wesleyan through my daughter’s eyes and the sports program. Only wish they’d ask for less out-of-pocket financial support from parents for a school of our league and caliber. So, to my classmates—support Wesleyan!”

Until the next time,

Laurie Hills | lauriec@rci.rutgers.edu