Author: Randi Alexandra Plake

Jessica Sanders was interviewed by Girl Talk HQ to discuss her 2010 documentary, March of the Living, which tells the tale of the last generation of Holocaust survivors who traveled to Poland to retrace the death march from Auschwitz to Birkenau.

Chad Bartell lives in Madison, Wis., working as an in-house counsel with Springs Window Fashions, LLC, a national manufacturer and seller of window covering products. He and his wife, Julie, have two boys: Nolan (8) and Sawyer (7). He finds time to make music, playing drums, and steelpan in several projects. Chad visited Paul Stewart in Portland, Ore., and talked wistfully of their old Wes band, Uncle Trouble, and about possibly reuniting for our 20th Reunion!

Ursula Ogno Sfraga lives in Fairfield, Conn., with her two sons and works in New York City as a senior account director for a digital marketing agency. She attended the Wesleyan Writers Conference this summer on a scholarship for a nonfiction manuscript she submitted. In April 2015, she was a doula to Meredith Tobias Powers ’00, and her husband, John Powers, for the birth of their daughter, Clementine Catherine.

Julenne Farrar Mounts lives in Maui with her husband, Dwight, and two kids, Zoë (9) and Luke (6). They see Stefan Schaefer ’94 and family often as their daughters are in the same class at Haleakala Waldorf School. Julenne’s family spent the summer outrigger paddling, playing with their new puppy, Comet, camping, and building a school store named The Pepper Tree on the Waldorf campus. They will return to the East Coast for the winter holidays and spend time with Julenne’s housemates from 27 Brainerd: Rachel Ostrow, Hannah Gladstein, and Alissa Farber.

Michael Hakim and his wife, Aram, have two daughters, Skyler and Lexington. He is a real estate investor and travel documentarian.

Lindsay Grajewski Beros lives in Rochester, Mich., with her husband and three kids. In addition to her obstetrician-gynecologist practice, Lindsay began studying photography after the birth of her second child. In July, her portfolio was accepted to Click Pro, a network of professional photographers and independent artists. She is now a frequent contributor to the photography blog, Click Pro Daily Project.

Sean Huse and his wife, Ali, have three boys (ages 7, 5, and 2). Sean is in his 18th year at Public Consulting Group in Boston. They see their Wes friends in and around Boston: Geoff Dailey, Tim Higgins, Madhu Kannapiran, Avery Esdaile ’00, Sean O’Brien ’00, Matt Hochstein ’00, Josh Meyer ’00, Joe Griffin ’00, Josh Janelli ’01, Bryan McBeth ’02, and Brandon McBeth ’02. Sean ran into Pete Czerepak in August and they made plans for a beer with Geoff Dailey and Tim Syrett. They all work on the same street within 100 yards of each other.

Divya Kumar and Dan Koulomzin live in Jamaica Plain with their two kids (Anand, 9, and Josie, 7). Divya provides perinatal support at Southern JP Health Center as part of a state-funded postpartum depression pilot program she helped create. She continues to help improve perinatal mental healthcare as a member of the Massachusetts Legislature’s Commission on Postpartum Depression. Last summer, she presented at the Minority Mental Health Summit in Birmingham and had an article on racism and microaggressions in new moms’ groups published on The Huffington Post.

After 11 years as a case manager for kids with developmental disabilities, Jen Massie went back to school to get her second master’s (first was social work) in behavioral health. She spent a year studying perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and how to integrate treatment in a culturally sensitive fashion into a primary healthcare setting. Jen is expecting her first baby this fall.

And more new additions: Danielle Lazier gave birth to twins, Ari and Phoenix, on Aug. 12. She lives in San Francisco selling residential real estate as a broker-owner with Keller Williams San Francisco. Diana Glanternik and her husband, Jonah Cohen, welcomed their first daughter, Ila Lucia Cohen, on Sept. 2. Farrah Darbouze, her wife, Jessica Heard, and their dog, Idgy, welcomed their son, Jordan Thomas Heard, in March. On July 1, Valerie Leon gave birth to her first child, William Mateo Cuadrado, Jr. She works for the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

On Aug. 21, Mia Lipman married Chris Irwin in Seattle, where she’s been living since 2011. It was a perfect day with family and friends, including Kate Holbein Rademacher, Josh Dubansky ’01, and Shanna Handel.

Erik Rueter is director of marketing and communications for Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. Erik enjoys working at W&J because it evokes many memories of Wesleyan.

Arthur Baraf lives in Pawtucket, R.I., with his wife and two daughters. This is his 11th year as a principal at the Met High School. He was named a Students at the Center Distinguished Fellow.

Shoshanna Cole lives in Ithaca, N.Y. She completed her PhD in planetary geology at Cornell last year and now teaches physics, astronomy, planetary science, and sustainable energy at Ithaca College. She’s involved in the Ithaca College Contingent Faculty Union and volunteers as a master gardener with the Cornell Cooperative Extension. This summer she organized a gathering of Ithaca-area alumni, ranging from the 1970s through the 2010s! They had an indoor picnic and then watched a local production of In the Heights.

Kenny Rios completed his master’s in human resource management with a concentration in organization development. He works as a senior technical recruiter for the Pentagon.

Jason Wong and Pao-Lin Tien moved to the D.C. area this summer. Jason works for a biotech firm and Pao-Lin works for the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Their two girls (Zoe, 6, and Emma, 1) are happy to have daddy home all the time now.

Alex Rose and her husband, Dan, live in Boulder, Colo., where Alex works as a bird biologist and education and outreach specialist at the University of Colorado. They have a 2-year-old son and another on the way. They annually trek to the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska for fun and research. In Boulder, Alex is neighbors and friends with Sarah Elmendorf and her family, and had a fun visit with her freshman year roommate, Eve Andrias.

Laura Zaks spent Labor Day visiting Louisville, Ky., to celebrate the 40th birthday of her freshman roommate Virginia Gray. They celebrated with Rachel Ostrow, Jesse Ashlock, Jason Daniel Schwartz ’00, Wiley Bowen ’00, Harrison Owen ’98, and Juliet Gray ’92.

Ed. note: Our apologies to Russell Isaacson. We spelled his last name incorrectly in the previous issue and regret our error.

C. Darryl Uy | darryl.uy@gmail.com

Kevin Kumler | kevinkumler@gmail.com

Jason writes for this issue: Most of us are celebrating our 40th birthdays this year. Who would have believed time would go by so fast? At Ian Tamayo’s 40th birthday party in New York City, I got to see my great friend, Maier Negugogor, who is living in Connecticut and has started a private practice in immigration law. I also got to see Chotsani Sackey who is living in New York City and working for a technology company.

Here’s what’s going on with some other fellow classmates:

Amy Barnes writes, “I’ve been happily living in the great Pacific Northwest (Redmond, Wash.) for the last couple of years with my fiancé, Noel Anderson, and our beautiful baby girl, Sarah (born last year). I’m enjoying my new role at AKT Wealth Advisors while nourishing my liberal arts spirit with writing workshops and volunteer work. Our Seattle Wes community lost a great friend and leader with the passing of Nick Waltner ’86.”

Dorothy Warner writes, “I live in Belmont, Mass., with my son, Alexander, who regularly and excitedly declares that he loves kindergarten (and Minecraft). We love biking to his school. I work with kids and adults as a clinical psychologist in Newton. I often see Becca Gerner and Hans Schroder ’99. In addition to world peace and an end to poverty, my hopes for the future include another Clinton presidency with Sanders in the Cabinet and getting to see Hamilton.”

Sarah Miller Lipton is living in LA with her husband, Glenn, and their two boys, Emmett (3 years old) and Ezra (22 months). Sarah works part-time as a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor, aka “physiatrist,” in Santa Monica, focusing primarily in electrodiagnostic medicine.

Nancy Shane writes, “I just completed my PhD in aerospace sciences at the University of North Dakota. My research focused on the background, experience, and qualifications of pilots entering the regional airline industry. I also made a big move to the Midwest, where I am now the director of pilot sourcing and industry outreach at Endeavor Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. So far Minneapolis has been fantastic, although winter hasn’t hit yet. I know I have a fantastic new parka in my future.”

Patrick Butler writes, “I got married in April (featured in The New York Times), and Michael Van Nimwegen got ordained to officiate the wedding. He broke his arm at my bachelor party in Alaska in February, and still managed to look good in a tux just six weeks later.”

Brodie Welch celebrated the 13th anniversary of her Chinese medicine and acupuncture clinic in Corvallis, Ore. Her new podcast, A Healthy Curiosity, which explores what it takes to be well in a busy world, will help your commute fly by. (You can find it on iTunes.) She’s also enjoying helping her full-time step-kids navigate eighth and 12th grade. Marrying a widower four years ago, she managed to skip over the sticky toddler years.

Justin Pidot spends most of his time in Denver, where he received tenure at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. This fall, he is on a leave of absence from academia and has joined the Obama administration, where he serves as the deputy solicitor for land resources at the Department of the Interior. It’s quite a change in pace, and he’s having a great time in D.C.

Abe Forman-Greenwald traveled to Liberia to film a short documentary focused on First Lady Michelle Obama’s visit to promote her Let Girls Learn initiative. Letgirlslearn.gov is dedicated to improving education opportunities for the 62 million girls around the world who are not in school.

Margaret Salazar has exciting news: “I am honored that Oregon Governor Kate Brown has asked me to serve as director of Oregon Housing and Community Services, our state housing agency. I look forward to leading the agency to expand housing opportunities for Oregonians in need.”

In March, Rebecca Alson-Milkman and Craig Thomas ’97 welcomed their second baby, nine years after her brother, Elliot. Celia Genevieve Thomas is named in memory of Rebecca’s mother, Sheila, and for the patron saint of Paris.

Marcus Chung | marcusbchung@gmail.com 

Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com

It’s hard to believe that almost 20 years have passed since that rainy day in May of 1997 when we bid our farewells and moved on and out to the wide, wacky, post-Wes world. And it’s not too early to start making plans to join us for Reunion & Commencement Weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, May 25 to 28. We’d love to see you there!

Thank you to everyone who shared their latest news or just e-mailed to say hi.

Michelle Conceison writes in from Nashville where she’s moved her music marketing and management company, Market Monkeys. They manage Canadian songwriter Rose Cousins and pop/folk duo Fortunate Ones. Michelle is the president of the board of directors of Folk Alliance International and teaches at Northeastern. “I am part of a dream team launching a new online arts administration graduate program. This fall I will be teaching Strategic Planning in Arts & Cultural Organizations.” She’d love to connect with any Wes alums in the area.

Melissa Feldberg Whipps writes to us from Syracuse, where she is the director of foundation relations at Syracuse University. “We have been enjoying a beautiful Central New York summer and I am pursuing my master’s in public administration at the Maxwell School at Syracuse.” She’s also a mom to two daughters, Evelyn (5) and Amelia (7). Her husband, Chris, is an associate professor of biology at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse.

Sasha Harris-Cronin is living in San Francisco with her partner, Nathan Taylor, and their 4-year-old, Shannon Harris-Taylor. Sasha has spent the last 14 years making interactive museum exhibits and leading edge installations for museums and corporations around the country. She just finished one of her favorite projects to date, which allowed her to work with the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind. As she explains, “Together, we created a tactile control interface that allows folks with any range of sight to control audio and video equipment in complex conference rooms.” Sasha also teaches interaction design in the MFA program at California College of the Arts.

Matt Mulvey and his wife, Katie Sacksteder, became parents to Liam James Mulvey. Matt and Katie are also leading their immuno-oncology company, BeneVir Biopharm, Inc., into the first-in-human testing of their lead cancer killing virus T-Stealth.

Aileen Nagle McDonough runs a communications business in the Providence area, 3am Writers. This year, she spoke at WordCamp RI, a WordPress conference for developers, designers, and business owners all over New England. She also stopped by Wesleyan, when she was in Middletown to trace her ancestry in the Connecticut-based Schaghticoke Native American tribe. She and her husband, Kirk, traveled to Toronto for the final tour of the Tragically Hip.

From LA, Madeleine Perez writes, “After many years as a journalist at ABC News in New York, I switched careers and coasts and became a real estate agent. I’ve been in LA now for more than four years with my husband and almost 5-year-old son. If any Wesleyan people are looking for some real estate help in SoCal they can reach me at madeleine@kw.com.”

As for your class secretaries, we are happy to report that we got to hang out in NYC when Jess came to visit from Phoenix. Also, Jess is thrilled to have a book recommendation to share: “I read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and couldn’t put it down!” Sasha is obsessed with the Moth podcast, which consists of “people telling short true stories—Some are dark, some are funny, many are both.”

We can’t wait to see all of you in May! We wish you a peaceful start to 2017 and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Jessica Shea Lehmann | jessica.lehmann@gmail.com

Sasha Lewis Reisen | alewisreisen@gmail.com

Dacque writes for this issue: Candace Nelson writes that her confectionery chain, Sprinkles Cupcakes, has found a spot in the new Disney Springs. Sprinkles began with its first location in 2005 and has since grown to a total of 14 locations across the U.S. In 2012, Sprinkles debuted its one-of-a-kind “Cupcake ATM” that dispenses several varieties of freshly baked frosted cupcakes with 24-hour convenience.

The 1994 Wesleyan women’s soccer team was inducted into the Hall of Fame. As the most successful in program history, that Cardinal team finished 12-4-1 that season, while claiming the ECAC New England Division III Championship. Flo Stueck led the team with 15 goals and five assists for a total of 35 points. Other class of ’96 members include: Amy Costa, Esme Finlay, and Kate Treveloni.

Jayme Peta writes about the completion of a PhD in clinical psychology as of August and the start of post-doctoral fellow with Marin County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. She is co-author of a new book: The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity, published by New Harbinger this past spring.

Mary Pagones is proud to announce that she has published a third novel, Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion, now available on Amazon.

Joel Levin decided to buy himself out of EdTech startup life and return to the classroom. He just started a new job at an independent school in Manhattan teaching technology classes to kids with learning disabilities.

Elena Pavloff had a mini-Wesleyan and Alpha Delta Phi reunion at Lynn Cartwright-Punnett ’07’s in Philadelphia. She got to hang out with Amanda Bennett and other alumni—a fun time was had by all.

Lastly, Sam, Topher, and Koyalee were thrilled to see so many of you this spring at Reunion, when 160 alumni came to Middletown and partied hard. This number is huge—blowing the previous attendance record by nearly 40 alumni. And, for those of you who couldn’t make it, there was a virtual reunion of literally hundreds of photos posted on our Facebook page (Wesleyan University – Class of 1996 for those of you who haven’t joined).

The spirit of the Class of 1996 is undeniable. Set your calendars for an even bigger Reunion in 2021! We will all travel there in our self-driving cars.

Dara Federman | darasf@yahoo.com 

Dacque Tirado | dacquetirado@yahoo.com

Hi from your new class co-secretaries: Bo Bell and Katy McNeill! We’re delighted to take the baton from former secretary, Dwayne Busby. Thanks again, Dwayne, for your many years of service! This is a fun way for us to help everyone in our class to keep in touch with each other from all our various locations, with Bo from his home in New York and Katy from her (new) home in the U.K. Here’s the news this round and we look forward to keeping in touch with you into the future!

Bo writes, “I’m living in the town of Cold Spring in the lower Hudson Valley of New York and working in New York City, leading the digital team for an advertising agency. My wife and I are raising two fun kids, a hound dog, and a small flock of chickens. I semi-regularly meet up with Mike Kleinsteuber over burgers and beers at the Old Town Bar near Union Square, and caught up with Kiersten Miller on her annual summer visit back to NYC from her home in Rome, and with Ben Harbert ’97 and Alison Brody ’97 on a work jaunt to D.C. Finally, huge shout out to Michelle Duff, Liz Fernandez, Rachel Hunt, and the rest of the 1994 ECAC Champion Wes Womens’ Soccer team, 2016 inductees to the Wesleyan Sports Hall of Fame!”

Rob Armstrong writes, “I’ve been living in London for close to three years now, where I write editorials for the Financial Times. When you write anonymously, no one knows you’re American. My twins are 7 and have no accents. I am, despite their efforts, in touch with my former housemates, Russell Agle and Jen Quest-Stern, who have turned out better than anyone expected. If any of you are in town, let’s have a pint.”

David Biello writes, “I’m publishing my first book in November. It’s called The Unnatural World. It’s about the idea that humans have started to make changes on a planetary scale, like the glaciers of an Ice Age or an asteroid crashing into Earth, and what we might do with this new knowledge of our world-changing impacts.” A link to purchase can be found here. “I’m still married and have a daughter and son who are growing like weeds. I got a new job as the science curator for TED Talks, hoping to help spread some good ideas.”

Matt Duffy writes, “I am still out in Oakland. I just started a new job as the superintendent of schools for the West Contra Costa Unified School District, a public school district of 30,000 students in the East Bay, centered around Richmond, Calif. Crazy and amazing! My boys are now 5 and 8, and life is very full.”

Alexis Greeves writes, “I’m living in Minneapolis, working as a mental health therapist for deaf and hard of hearing children. I have a small private practice (hopenandhealingmn.com). David and I have two daughters and are trying to figure out what it means to be raising Midwestern children.”

Ana Maria Kleymeyer writes, “A couple of years ago, I moved back to the D.C. area, where I finished producing a music documentary and continued my work on international climate change negotiations. I’m enjoying the schizophrenic life of a musician/lawyer who refuses to give up the groove.”

Anne Bellows Lee writes, “I am in Santa Monica with my husband, Greg Lee, my two little girls (3 and 5), and three big cats. Working at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs as a research projects director in substance abuse treatment, also working on getting my LCSW license.”

Michelle Sachs Limaj writes, “All is well in Massachusetts. I took a great job in-house for one of my clients, Agenus, an immuno-oncology company. My kids see a lot more of me, which is extra good because Idriz (whom you’ll recall I brought home with me after the 1999 war in Kosovo, without a college degree or even good English) is now COO for a system of four hospitals in Baltimore. So he commutes home for the weekends, and the rest of us chill M–F on Mommy Time.”

Brandon Patton writes, “My wife had a baby this year, Sylvia Pearl Patton Schroeder. Emily Essley also had a baby earlier this year, Lily Rose Essley.”

Lisa Hastings Rosenman writes, “Burt Rosenman and I celebrated our 17th anniversary this year. We live in western Massachusetts with our two daughters, Hannah, 11, and Leah, 14. Burt is a biology professor at Western New England University, and I’m a school librarian in Hartford.”

Christianne Meneses Jacobs writes, “My only news is that I traveled to the East Coast this summer. I visited with Lauren Sitzer Avery and her family in Boston. Hung out with Ryan Knox in New Haven and we watched Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention while drinking wine. I also stayed with Jeff Levinson and his wife in New York. It was also awesome to see Mark Quinones and his wife, Rachel, when they were visiting Arizona.”

Ethan de Seife writes, “My wife, Laura, and I welcomed a son, Levon Ray, in August 2015. He is cute and round-headed, and he loves to watch birds. When he was about 9 months old, we packed up everything—dog, cats, nursery, a million books and records—and moved from Burlington, Vt., to Santa Rosa, Calif., where Laura got a great job in a local hospital. It’s beautiful here and we hope not to move again for a long time.”

Eric Meyerson writes, “I was in Chicago over the summer with the family, where we got to visit the incredible Temperance Brewing Co. started by Josh Gilbert. Josh and I also got to spend a wacky weekend in New Orleans last fall with Adam Borut, Jason Walta, and Greg Walter ’96. I just started a new job in July. I’m running marketing for media and video at Facebook.”

After a decade teaching at the Department of Performance Studies at New York University, Tavia Nyong’o is now a full professor in American studies and theater studies at Yale. He is dividing his time between Connecticut and NYC.

Bo Bell | bobell.forreal@gmail.com 

Katy McNeill | mcneill40@gmail.com

Hello from Chicago! I (Samera) am very excited to be our co-class secretary and am looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone.

Kate Gordon writes that after some years in Wisconsin and some more years in D.C., she is now based out in the Bay Area with her husband, Gino, and kids, Julia (fourth grade) and Jacob (kindergarten). She spent several years at a San Francisco-based think tank, doing climate and clean energy work, and is now working remotely for the Paulson Institute, where she runs the climate and sustainable urbanization team. She writes, “In general, I’m on planes too much and with my kids too seldom, but I’m doing interesting work and trying to make some kind of a difference in the world.”

Tomer Rothschild writes that he has been living in Beijing for the past nine years with his wife, Stacy Palestrant (Wellesley ’94), and they have three children, Shiraz (10), Meital (7), and Erez (4)—the latter two are proud to be Made in China. He and his wife work together as co-heads of Elite Scholars of China, helping China’s top Chinese high school students go to America’s top universities. Their work has been profiled by The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and others. Tomer’s work brings him to Wesleyan twice a year (at least). Tomer also writes, “This summer, I loved seeing classmates/housemates Josh Protas and John Lewis in Boston, which was, as always, lots of fun. I am active in Wes events in Beijing, and would love to see any classmates coming through Beijing!”

Chuck Berger is giving up his job as CEO of Outdoors Victoria in Melbourne to move with his partner, Christy, and their boys (Leo, 4 and Tom, 7) to the outback. By October they’ll be living in Kununurra, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. He writes, “Fun fact: The Kimberley is the size of California, with the population of Middletown, Conn. Also, there are crocodiles. Come visit! charles_d_berger@hotmail.com.”

Tanya Bowers writes, “To this urban studies major’s surprise, I love living in Eastern Washington’s Tri-Cities area, where the population is just over 250,000. Surprise, surprise, I’m on our city’s planning commission.” Tanya met up with Jiyoung Lim-Gilbreth and her daughter when she visited D.C. in August and back in May, she went to the bar mitzvah of Emily Rosen Levine’s son in Larchmont.

Ken Barnett continues in his role as Christophe on Amazon’s award-winning series Mozart in the Jungle. He performed opposite Rachel Weisz in David Hare’s Plenty at the Public Theatre. In the spring, he will be appearing at Playwrights’ Horizons in a new play, The Light Years, created by the Debate Society.

Marc Waxman just moved “back home” to Massachusetts with his wife and two boys after eight years in Denver. After 22 years in public education, Marc is now working as executive director of the Society for Organizational Learning North America. He also has become a Certified ChiRunning Instructor.

Olivia Morgan and her family moved to San Francisco from D.C. Her kids, Everett and Vivian, are in the sixth and second grades, and very focused on making their parents follow through on the promise of a new puppy once they’ve “settled in” to their new hometown. Olivia runs communications and strategic programs, including a gender initiative, at Common Sense Media. Earlier this month, a national youth poetry program she’s been working on with the First Lady, celebrated its fifth class of National Student Poets.

Adam Handler moved back to Atlanta from London. Adam was, and is, with InterContinental Hotels Group and spent two years at the group’s global headquarters. Sid Espinosa and David Niles each dropped in on Adam, wife Jen Weiss Handler (Swarthmore ’98), and 4-year-old daughter, Josie (now trying to hold onto her British accent).

Raeanne Roper Martine writes, “My husband, Gilbert, and I spent two weeks in Japan in August. We visited his late mother’s family on the island of Okinawa, which is an extraordinary place, and spent another week on the main islands of Japan, visiting Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. It was beautiful and fascinating, and we wished we could have stayed longer! If anyone needs tips, let me know (first tip: avoid Japan in August, when it’s blisteringly hot and most of the nation is traveling for the summer holidays). All is well in Austin. I have been employed as a legal editor by the State of Texas for four years this year and am preparing for the mayhem that the state’s biennial legislative session brings every odd-numbered January. Wish me luck!”

Maggie Nelson was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2016. She is the author of nine books. Melissa Levy is teaching ESL at an elementary school in the South Bronx. Aaron Yeater was promoted to the role of managing principal at Analysis Group.

I caught up with Aaron in Chicago at a dinner he and his firm hosted in Chicago. I also met up with the Chicago Wesleyan Club for a summer picnic with Johanna Russ ’03, Rebecca Cohen ’03, Hayley Ess, and others. Last year, I met Sarah Burke for lunch in San Francisco. Adam Glickman came for a visit to Chicago last March and attended my girls’ 7th birthday party! Adam, John Pollock, Jude Tulli, Eric Grasinger, and I stay in touch and are planning a Commons Club reunion in December. I continue to practice law at Nixon Peabody and have two amazing daughters—twin girls, Sarah and Norah, who just started second grade.

Please write me your news and of course if you are in Chicago, call me!

Samera Syeda Ludwig | ssludwig@nixonpeabody.com

Caissa Powell | cdp2000@hotmail.com 

NEWSMAKERS | 1990s NEWSMAKER JONATHAN BUSH ’93 Jonathan Bush ’93, chairman and CEO of athenahealth, was honored by Tufts Medical Center with the Ellen M. Zane Award for Visionary Leadership. Michael Wagner, MD, CEO and president of Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children, noted that he was proud that Tufts Medical Center “share[s] Jonathan’s enthusiasm to drive change in health care for the greater good.” Bush, who co-founded athenahealth, Inc., in 1997, took it public in 2007 in the most successful initial public offering that year. In his best-selling book, Where Does it Hurt? An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Fixing Health Care, Bush draws on his early experiences on health care’s frontlines. Previously, Bush served as an emergency medical technician for the City of New Orleans, was trained as a medic in the U.S. Army, and worked as a management consultant in the health care practice of Booz Allen Hamilton. He majored in the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows.

Sue writes for this issue. Hi, everyone! We hope you are doing well. We have some exciting updates—new books, documentaries, albums, and mini-Wes reunions. It’s always fun hearing from you, so please stay in touch.

Jacob Bricca is working on a book about documentary editing to be published next year by Focal Press. He edited the 2016 Sundance award-winning documentary, The Bad Kids, which premieres in theaters around the country on Oct. 21.

Lisa Brown writes, “May was the release of a new picture book I wrote and illustrated, The Airport Book. It’s about, well, the airport. Next May will see Goldfish Ghost, a picture book by my husband (Daniel Handler ’92, better known in children’s literature circles as “Lemony Snicket”) and illustrated by yours truly. It’s about a dead goldfish. Besides drawing up a storm, I’ve been teaching undergraduates in the illustration department of California College of the Arts.”

Dan Crane has a new album coming out with his band, Ray & Remora, of which Consequence of Sound said, “It could be where pop’s headed next.” It’s his 10th album. Also, he’s hosting a monthly-ish, Jewish-ish podcast called, The Kibitz, which features interviews with guests like David Wain (Role Models, Wet Hot American Summer), Jonathan Weisman (New York Times), author Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn), Jeff Goldblum, and Joel Stein (Time Magazine). kibitzpod.com.

Paul and Jessica D’Arcy are still in Austin, Texas. Jess keeps busy running an education-focused nonprofit and Paul leads marketing for Indeed, the large online job site. Their brood of three (Maya is 14, Ellis is 12, and Liam is 8) are still mostly sweet. Paul is trying to spend as much time as possible outdoors (running, kayaking, swimming, paddle boarding), but Jess insists it’s just a phase.

Sylvia Sironi Rowe writes, “Ian and I took a family road trip to visit Camille Aird McGadney and Andy McGadney ’92 in Maine this summer along with our kids (ages 4 and 6). It was a great visit catching up with old friends over lobsters and blueberry pie! I’m still working (now part-time) with the Clinton Health Access Initiative on HIV and malaria-focused projects, and Ian runs Public Prep, a network of single-sex charter schools in NYC. We live in Pelham Manor, N.Y., and are loving the suburban life!”

SuZanna Henshon | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com 

Sarah Estow | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of the class notes. I’m looking forward to seeing you all at our 25th Reunion this spring. In the meantime, here is a taste of what your fellow classmates have been up to.

Ruthbea Yesner is still living in Brookline and is enjoying her job as the founder and practice lead for her company’s worldwide smart cities strategies practice. She’s doing research and consulting for cities on how to use emerging technologies to solve urban problems from traffic to clean water to crime, some of which will be published in a chapter in the book, Managing for Social Impact: Innovations in Responsible Enterprise, published by Springer.

 Maria Rosa Truglio remains on the faculty at Penn State. Her co-edited volume, Modernism and the Avant-Garde Body in Spain and Italy (Routledge), has been published, and her monograph on Italian children’s literature is forthcoming (also with Routledge). Both her sons, Anthony, 25, and Thomas, 24, graduated from Penn State and are out making their way in the world. Also, in the world of academia, Abby Smith Saguy is a professor of sociology at UCLA and lives with her husband, Dotan, and their daughter, Claire, who just started high school and their son, Jonah, who is in seventh grade. She recently gave a faculty lecture at UCLA family camp in June, where two other Wesleyan alumni, Ben Lee ’95 and Sheila Spencer ’83, were also vacationing.

 Kevin Prufer is a professor in the creative writing program at the University of Houston. His newest book, Churches, made The New York Times list of the 10 best poetry books of the year. His next book, How He Loved Them, will be out “sooner or later.”

 Carolyn Parkhurst Rosser’s fourth novel, Harmony, was published in August by Pamela Dorman ’79 Books, an imprint of Viking Penguin. She is still living in D.C., with her husband, Evan Rosser, and their two children, Henry and Ellie. Also in D.C., Robert Allbritton keeps busy (especially this election year) with Politico. He reports that Politico is doing well and is considering opening in Sacramento to cover California politics. His wife, Elena, is back practicing dermatology while simultaneously being super mom to Alex (9), Katie (5), and Tory (3).

Anne Jennings Paris just returned to the Portland, Ore., area after two years in London with her husband, Marc. She is returning to teaching art and writing at a public charter school part-time, and their son, Duncan, is starting middle school in the fall.

 Aaron Vieira and his wife, Renya Larson, had their second child, Gavin Rayne Vieira, in July. It was a busy summer for Aaron, as he also finished a master’s in organizational psychology at Columbia University, and started a new job at Columbia University Medical Center.

Jody Sperling continues to choreograph, perform, and direct her company, Time Lapse Dance. She served as choreographer, creative consultant, and dance coach for the French feature film, La Danseuse, which was screened at Cannes and premiered in Paris in September. She’s also excited to be guest teaching at Wesleyan in the fall. She lives in New York City with Doug Fox and their daughter, Evie, 5.

That’s all for now. Looking forward to hearing more from you all. Send Paul and me your news, notes, and updates—we’d love to hear from you!

Adam Berinsky | berinsky@mit.edu 

Paul Coviello | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

NEWSMAKERS | 1990s NEWSMAKER CHRISTINE PINA ’91 Christine Pina ’91 was appointed chief advancement officer at Miss Porter’s School, a college preparatory boarding and day school in Farmington, Conn. She comes to Miss Porter’s School from the University of Hartford, where she served as vice president of institutional advancement since 2011. During her time there, the university’s total annual philanthropy nearly doubled. Previously, she served as Wesleyan’s director of major gifts. Pina is a commissioner for the National Council on Philanthropy of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and is also the representative-elect from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to the Harvard Alumni Association. An African American studies major at Wesleyan, she earned a master’s in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

NEWSMAKERS | 1990s NEWSMAKER TANYA GREENE ’91 Tanya Greene ’91 was elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Greene has practiced criminal defense law since 1995 when she was awarded the Harry Blackmun Fellowship to work at the Southern Center for Human Rights, representing indigent capital defendants. Greene now serves as the director of training and resource counsel for the Federal Capital Resource Counsel Project, where she assists federal capital trial teams and leads federal capital training nationally. Awarded the Reebok International Human Rights Award in 1999 for her advocacy for death penalty abolition, she also received the Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellowship for Death Penalty Abolition Leaders in 2012. Greene notes, “As a black lawyer from a family that includes both crime victims and criminal defendants, criminal justice concerns have been a part of my life since childhood.” An African American studies major at Wesleyan, she earned her JD from Harvard Law School.

It’s the quiet, post-Reunion class notes, but there are a couple of people to mention, and their activities are worthy of the spotlight.

Tanya Greene lamented to me about missing Reunion, as she had taken a new position and a work conflict kept her from attending. Tanya now serves as director of training and resource counsel for the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel. She works for the defense on federal capital cases across the country and also trains capital trial lawyers. “I continue to hope to put myself out of business when we regain our senses as a nation and repeal the death penalty once and for all, as we did in New York a few years ago.”

Tanya’s twin daughters are 17, entering senior year of high school, and facing the college admissions process.

Jan Hasselman, a staff attorney with Earthjustice, is representing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the efforts to stop the progress of the Dakota Access Pipeline. At the magazine’s press time, the case had been denied by a federal judge, but the U.S. Army and the departments of Justice and the Interior said, construction “bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time.”

From the court room to the art studio, the Class of ’91 is celebrating the announcement that Vincent Fecteau was named a 2016 MacArthur Fellow, winning the Genius Grant for his “deceptively intricate, abstract pieces” of sculpture. A video about his work and process may be viewed at macfound.org.

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

Hi, everyone. Here’s the latest news from some classmates:

In June 2016, Victor Khodadad sang the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Music Festival in Chestertown, Md., and Philadelphia, Pa. He is a recent co-founder of New Camerata Opera, a professional opera company in New York City that is in the process of becoming a nonprofit organization. NCO will be commissioning new operas specifically for YouTube, developing children’s operas, and using media in innovative ways to promote the art form of opera. Their inaugural main stage production is The Count of Luxembourg and Other Tales: A Viennese Pastiche, which was performed in New York City in October. Please visit newcamerataopera.org for more information.

Laurie Baum has taken on the exciting challenge of being the middle school director of the Greene Hill School in Brooklyn. Greene Hill is a small independent PreK–eighth grade school with a sliding-scale tuition and a progressive approach to education. “For the past several years, it’s been my job to plan and launch the middle school division, and this year we will have our first graduating class! I know lots of folks from Wesleyan are in education and I would be happy to show our growing school to anyone interested.”

Kate Hardin is still in Cambridge, Mass., working on energy, climate, and Arctic issues. “We welcomed friends from Spain this summer and enjoyed showing them the United States and answering their questions about Trump and Clinton(!). I took the family to my 25th Reunion last year and it was great to see old Gingerbread House compatriots! Most recently, I ran into Debbie Gahr on the Upper East Side and also caught up with Mateo Cummings in Washington.”

Elizabeth Friedman Haybron writes with news about her husband, Daniel M. Haybron, PhD, professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, who has received a $5.1 million grant to study happiness and well-being. The award consists of a $4.6 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, along with $453,000 in funding from the University. The three-year project began July 1, 2015. This is believed to be the largest grant ever awarded to a researcher in the College of Arts and Sciences at SLU. Titled Happiness and Well-Being: Integrating Research Across the Disciplines, the project will promote dialogue and collaboration among well-being researchers across a wide range of disciplines, including the sciences, philosophy, and theology and religious studies. Advising Daniel on the project will be a board of 14 leading well-being researchers, including some of the best-known figures in the field such as Ed Diener and Martin Seligman.

Bonnie Cohen, formerly my Foss 7 next-door neighbor, and now a first-time contributor to our class notes, went back to school in medicine seven years after graduating from Wes and became a family physician, focusing on urban underserved and immigrant communities. She worked for nine years at Cambridge Health Alliance, a safety-net system of hospitals and health centers north of Boston. In 2011, she married Brad Braufman (MIT ’85) and in 2014 they adopted newborn Shay Daniel Braufman. They are all living in Somerville. Bonnie is “currently not practicing medicine, but instead practicing full-time parenting, which is even more rewarding, though the pay’s not great. In May, we paid a delightful visit to Liza “Maiz” Connolly, her husband Joe, and three wonderful boys in LA. Warm hello to all Wes buds.”

Jon Lipitz is still living in Baltimore with his wife and two sons, hanging out on a regular basis with Jennifer Teitelbaum Palmer and Brian Klaas ’91. He was named director of events at the Maryland Institute College of Art, managing annually more than 1,300 events at the college, “including Commencement, from which he has liberally stolen a few ideas from our 1990 Graduation. (However, not the ugly pink gowns.)”

Thanks for sharing your news. That’s all for now!

Vanessa montag brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com