Author: Randi Alexandra Plake

Hi, all! Happy New Year! We start with Al Viegas, whose eldest daughter, Alessandra ’20, will be graduating this May with a double major in American studies and English. Alessandra is an aspiring playwright. Al’s youngest applied to Wes and a few other NESCACs and “we will know her outcome by April, and of course I am hoping she can continue the legacy as a member of the Class of ’24 . . . crossing our fingers.”

Lawrence Jackson launched the Billie Holiday Project for Liberation Arts at Johns Hopkins, where he is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of English and History. The BHPLA is conceived to share the resources of the university with Baltimore’s neighborhoods, steward African American archives, and to open up authentic pathways of mutual creativity that help to alleviate the historic socio-economic inequity of the city. Lawrence would love to have Wes classmates from around the region participate; they can also tag donations for BHPLA to JHU, where Elena Weathers ’91 is an officer. On Sept. 12, “we will have our second annual free concert in homage to Billie Holiday in Lafayette Square in Sandtown (always the first Saturday after Labor Day). I won a Guggenheim award in 2019 and am working this year on a book about returning to Baltimore, where I live with my oldest son Nathaniel who is now 15. I am also writing and making digital map presentations about Holiday, Frederick Douglass, and race and American western films.”

Edward Ungvarsky’s wife Olivia Smith ’92 founded Bridges PCS, a public charter school in Washington, D.C., whose mission is inclusive education for children with and without special needs. Bridges is a go-to elementary school for parents whose children have high-level special needs and for parents whose children speak English as a second language. Bridges’ charter was just renewed for another 15 years. “I shared a meal with fellow RA and now frequent marathoner Mark Hsieh when he was in town from Taiwan, our first time together in too many years. Our daughters, Nola and Lena, are teenagers, with the triumphs and trials of teenagers. We were all campaigning for friend Michael Bennet ’87, Hon.’12 in New Hampshire in February.”

Becky Lloyd DesRoches ’90, MA’90, lives in Lexington, Mass., with her husband and two boys, though her eldest is a freshman studying music technology at Carnegie Melon University. Becky loves her job as an assistant professor of psychology at Regis College and works with Heidi Webster. Becky sings in a number of groups. She’s a frequent soloist with the Lexington Pops choir and will tour NYC this spring with the Regis glee club. As at Wes, Becky fills her days with academics, sports, and music. Becky is hoping to release a CD of original music this spring.

After many years of practicing technology law and consulting at big firms, Adam Cohen has launched his own firm, Digital Discipline LLC, providing integrated legal and technical services in cybersecurity, data privacy, information governance, and electronic discovery. He “hopes it will be successful enough to pay tuition for his two kids currently at expensive private universities (not Wesleyan).”

Sarah Townsend, psychotherapist, teacher, and author of Setting the Wire: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis, was recently featured in an interview with NPR. Sarah shares her visceral experience of psychosis after the birth of a child. Listen to it at kpfa.org.

Jessica Mann Gutteridge has been appointed artistic managing director of the Chutzpah! Festival and the Norman Rothstein Theatre, which are operated by the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Jessica is looking forward to bringing exciting performing arts programming to the festival and hopefully seeing old friends as she travels on her search. She is serving on the board of the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, “which is as glittery and fun as it sounds. Last year I participated in the Cultural Leadership Program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, working with arts leaders from across North America, in what I like to think of as Hogwarts for artists.” Jessica would love for Wes folk passing through Vancouver to say hi.

Finally, congratulations to Nora Wade (now Wade-Schultz) who wrote in with news that she got married on Aug. 22!

Vanessa Montag Brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

Kevin Heffernan lives in Boston, where he practices landlord/tenant and family law as a solo practitioner. He is looking forward to judging a high school moot court competition, which is probably as close to wearing the black robes as he expects to get. His two wonderful boys (8 and 11) make him laugh almost every day. He hopes to get back into geezer jock baseball after a five-year layoff due to coaching and old age.

In August 2018, Mark Mullen welcomed into the world his son, Archie, who has just started walking and talking, in addition to his normal hobbies of shaking lamps and putting shoes on his forearms and waving them around. Mark and his wife, Julie, are in San Francisco, where she is doing an MBA at Hult. He is also working hard on a national voter turnout effort. In addition, Luka Mullen ’23 is at Wesleyan and loving it.

Pam Greenspon is a general pediatrician in Las Vegas, where she has lived for nearly 16 years, growing to love the beauty in the desert, particularly the amazing winters. She married Jeff Ng, a family doctor, and has a son at the University of Arizona and a daughter who will graduate from high school this spring. In her free time, she is active in the Nevada chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, where she is the president and involved with advocacy, education, and community events for children and pediatricians. She also finds time for an improvisation ensemble called Judg(e)ment City. She hasn’t been back for Reunion in some time, but if anyone is visiting Las Vegas, she would be happy to provide insider tips.

Marc Brotman and Sabrina Zook are married with two sons. Their younger son Alex ’23 just finished his first semester at Wesleyan. He is living in the same dorm as Sabrina did freshman year and is happy there. Their family just came back from the Galapagos and highly recommends it for anyone looking to see unique wildlife.

Holly Adams does arts-in-ed projects, narrating audiobooks, and performing circus/stage combat. Also, spending time with her wonderful family.

After being a “seriously amateur” photographer for 40 years, Dave Eichler finally gave in to the encouragement of everyone in his life and took the plunge in 2019 to share his work with the world. He culled through 160,000 images in his database, built an e-commerce site (eichlerphotos.com), and has been invited to exhibit by galleries in nine states. He’s also been accepted as an artist-in-residence at the Burren College of Art in Ireland later this year. This doesn’t replace his work running his PR agency, Decibel Blue, that turns 15 years old this year, but it sure is a fulfilling activity.

Seth Kaplan has shifted from doing policy work for a renewable energy company to working on the development of one big offshore wind farm off Massachusetts. He and his (“law professor and smarter than me”) wife Liz and have achieved one particular type of parenting success, as their eldest Juliana graduated from college (Barnard at Columbia) and is now employed as an associate editor (taking freelance pitches) at Business Insider and living in NYC. Their middle child, Daniella, is enjoying Dean College in Franklin, Mass., and the youngest (Ben) is attending and complaining about Brookline High School. During the rare moments when he is not working or with the family, he can usually be found walking the dog or listening to the Promised Podcast featuring his sister, Allison ’86, or biking to and from work.

Peter Badalament is doing swell, as he is now living in Portland, Maine, and serving as the proud principal of Falmouth High School. He sees some ol’ Wes friends on occasion, but since he’d need permission to mention them here, and that’s a hassle, they will go nameless . . .

Phineas Baxandall’s daughter is starting University of Vermont next year and his son is at UC Berkeley, where he especially enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee. Phineas is playing in an over-40 league that he once would have snickered at. He still works at a think tank on Massachusetts policies to improve the lives of low- and moderate-income people, spending a lot of time geeking out on transportation and tax policy. He and his partner spent a lot of time in Cape Cod over the summer and recently put a kiln in their basement for ceramics.

Nancy Curran moved out to Portland, Ore., after vet school and lives there with her wife. She feels somewhat bi-coastal because she returns to Long Island frequently to visit friends and family and to manage her mom’s care. She’s also close to finishing a master’s in mental health counseling, which she undertook to be a resource to helping professionals and caregivers struggling with grief, compassion fatigue, and burnout. She’s still a practicing veterinarian so it’s been a busy time, but she is loving Portlandia with its amazing restaurants and the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest.

Stephanie Dolgoff is planning to spend her next 52 years unlearning everything she thought she knew in her last 52. Turns out she was wrong about some stuff. In all seriousness, she is enjoying the hell out of her kids (who are starting the college application craziness themselves), also good books, and people who get it. Fortunately, she has many, many who do.

Melissa Herman and her family are going to spend a sabbatical year in Berlin, Germany, for the 2020-2021 school year. Anyone passing through should give her a ring and she will show you around Berlin, which is full of great cultural and historical sites, plus fun restaurants and bars.

Co-class secretary Michele Barnwell gave a TEDx talk on “Scripting Your Own Reality”—that shares the crazy outrageous personal story of exactly HOW she ended up at Wesleyan as our classmate. It’s a troubling story that she revealed the secrets of on the TEDxUStreetWomen stage. Search for it on YouTube!

Lastly, shout out to our Dallas, Texas, based classmate, Kelem Butts, who answered our crazy question about how you all might splurge with $25K that you could only spend on travel! He says he’d snag two business class airline tickets and: “Lori and I would go to Buenos Aires in July.” He notes that “it has everything that we love about travel; great walkability, fantastic shopping for both of us, excellent food, good friends to visit, and probably the best wine you’ll find in the world.” He’s thinking six or seven days and might even sneak over to Montevideo, Uruguay; since it’s just a short ferry ride away!

Hoping this is a year full of a lot of goodness for each of you. Write soon

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

Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Peter writes for this issue. My wife, Zahra, our 11-month-old daughter, Nadia, and I spent the month of December with our family in Connecticut. Just before Christmas, Stu Ellman dropped by on his way through from Rhode Island with his son, Ben, who had just finished his semester.

Steve Morrison advises: “I’m in Sofia, Bulgaria, serving as the dean of students at The American School of Sofia. I was in Paris for the holidays and met up with Paul Gosselin ’88 at Shakespeare & Co. Paul’s a senior director at Infovista, an IT and telecom software firm.”

Tim McCallum writes in from Hawaii: “I’m still living on Maui and amicably co-parenting my 3-year-old son, Logan. I took up outrigger canoe paddling; hike, swim, surf, and snorkel quite avidly; and just joined the board of directors of the noncommercial community radio station (KMNO, 91.7 FM) on which I have a Friday show (5-8 p.m. Maui time—stream at manaoradio.com). I won’t be able to retire until I’m 80 (when Logan graduates from high school, I’ll be 70. I can’t wait for the first PTA meeting: “Oh, it’s so sweet his grandpa came!”), but I’m focusing on making 80 the new 50.”

Christie Trott lets us know: “Since graduation, I’ve moved back to Northern California, changed careers (lawyer to teacher), married, and had two daughters. I teach middle school humanities at a K-8 school for gifted children. Academics follow the Expeditionary Learning model, based on the educational ideas of German educator Kurt Hahn, the founder of Outward Bound. Life is crazy busy, but good. It was great to connect with some old friends at the Reunion (and to make some new ones) and I look forward to heading back for another Reunion in the near future. Happy 2020!”

Dan Albert shares: “I’m pleased to announce that W.W. Norton published my book, Are We There Yet?: The American Automobile, Past, Present and Driverless. It all began with my Wesleyan senior essay, The Crisis of the American Automobile, a Cultural History. Check out my monthly column at Kelley Blue Book’s RIDE.tech and my articles on cars and culture at n +1.”

Tom Kealy lets us know: “I am still working at Colby-Sawyer College (20 years!), where I am a professor of literature. This year I transitioned into administration as the dean of the School of Business and Social Sciences.”

Finally, Laura Wiessen was “a first-time candidate for local political office in 2019 and on Nov. 5 I was elected to be a member of the Gloucester School Committee. So, as of Jan 1, 2020, I am now one of a seven-member board determining policy and budget for the Gloucester Public Schools. This is an underfunded school system, facing a rash of challenges. I’d love to hear from any Wes folks who have worked on education and can lead me to some innovative solutions!”

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

Hi, Class of ’87. Rebecca here with news from you!

John Snyder is living in Amherst, Mass., with his 12-year-old daughter. He’s a partner at Amherst Pediatrics and excited to be teaching Science vs. Pseudoscience, a new undergrad course in the School of Public Health at UMass.

Debbie Hamilton moved from Colorado to Santa Barbara, Calif., more than two years ago. She became an empty nester, decided she was tired of the cold, and was burnt out from her integrative medical practice, so she took the initiative to pursue a major midlife change. Debbie is now the medical director for a nutritional supplement company, enjoying a more normal job with benefits and travel. She does some clinical consulting and spends some time in Colorado with her college-age kids. She’d love to connect with Southern California Wesleyan alumni.

James Flynn was named national managing director of a 14-office law firm and had an exciting first year, including an alliance with Deloitte Legal that an industry publication listed as part of the five biggest things to rock the legal world this year. James hopes 2019 wasn’t just beginner’s luck! James is the proud father of Justyna, a school psychologist; Michael, at Morgan Stanley; and Anthony, a freshman at Villanova who manages the men’s basketball team. His wife, Monica, is an educational administrator and curriculum director.

James celebrates career successes of Wesleyan basketball teammates: Chris Roellke, starting as president of Stetson University in July; and Mike Arcieri ’86, working as director of basketball strategy for the Knicks. Finally, James says it’s been too long since he’s seen Matt Glaser and Brock Ganeles ’88.

Eileen Deignan’s son, Evan Hsu, will join Wesleyan’s Class of 2024. She thanks her own alumni network—Trish Lindemann and Ira Skolnik—Wesleyan parents with children who reached out to Evan. Eileen attended a mini-reunion at the New York home of Sumana Rangashar where she saw Lucille Renwick, Michell Ahern, Suzy Walrath Mehrotra, and Ruth Bodian ’88. She saw Holly Campbell Ambler and Doug Koplow at a reception for President Michael Roth ’78 last fall. Closer to home, she sees Doug Neuman and catches up with Simon Heart and Johanna Van Hise Heart when they come through New England.

Tim Sullivan ’87, MALS ’98 and Mike Cooper attended a Wesleyan football game with a smoker full of ribs. He caught up with Wayne Stearns, Andy Campbell ’88, Pete Crivelli ’86, Ken Johnson ’86, Anthony Rella ’86, Charlie Galland ’86, Jim McGonagle ’84, and Joel Armijo ’84!

Nicholas Birns released a book called The Hyperlocal in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Literary Space.

Holly Campbell Ambler and her husband are adjusting to an empty nest, with two daughters now away from home. Her 19-year old is in her first year at Vassar and her 23-year-old is a dancer living in Providence. Holly works in Boston as a school-based social worker. Holly sees Wes friends frequently, including Trish and John Dorsey, Doug Koplow, and Dennis Mahoney.

Mark Pinto and his partner Jeff live in Tacoma, Wash., where they work in residential real estate. They’ve been together for 15 years. Mark serves as board president for Tacoma’s performing arts center, Tacoma Arts Live. He doesn’t see his old Wes friends as often as he’d like, but he saw Lael Loewenstein in LA recently, which was great.

Naomi Mezey had research leave in 2019 in Barcelona, studying the Catalan independence movement. She was a visiting professor at the Universitat de Pompeu Fabra but also watched the trial against the former Catalan politicians who led the 2017 independence referendum. Google “It’s not just Catalan separatists” to see her Washington Post op-ed piece.

Naomi was lucky to spend time exploring Catalonia with her then-13-year-old daughter, Lucy, who went to school, made friends, learned some Spanish and Catalan. They had a visit from the rest of the family, Matt Paul and son, Jake, a Yale junior. Jeremy Mindich ’87, MALS ’89 took Naomi to the Barcelona Open. She loved the research and the opportunity to exit her normal life for a few months.

Our classmate, Andy Grimaldi was diagnosed with ALS in 2017. Mike Pruzan, Dave Glatz, John Fitzpatrick, Chris Olinger, Jeff McCarthy, and Matt Nestor are fundraising to help Andy’s family with expenses. Please visit gofundme.com/f/andrew-grimaldi to learn more.

Michael Bennet suspended his presidential campaign after the New Hampshire primary. Several 87 classmates had been active in his campaign.

After 26 years in immigration law in Texas, Paul Zoltan won a lifetime achievement award from the Immigration Law Section of the Dallas Bar Association. His 2-year-old daughter, Natalia, will attend her parents’ wedding in May 2020.

Paul and I were among the last four to receive diplomas at commencement. Only those whose names start with Z understand the magic of the loud cheer when we started to cross the stage.

Keep those emails coming!

Rebecca Zimbler Graziano | rebecca.graziano@hotmail.com

Mike Sealander wrote me, saying, “Recently, I have decided to make another go at learning Japanese. I studied at Wesleyan, went to Japan, made progress, and then left it alone. I’m intent on getting my groove back. If there are fellow alumni who would like to chat in Japanese, I’m game.”

Ben Schneider says, “I’m in my sixth year of training LGBTQ activists across North America for The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. May go to France in June for the SPI World Conclave. Still spending time with Melinda Newman, Cobina Gillitt ’87, Lisa Rosenblatt ’85, Julia Barclay-Morton, Dan Kolbert ’85, and others. Was thrilled to dine with Brad O’Neill in the fall. Miss Conor McTeague powerfully. Still occasionally guest lecturing at universities on gender activism and performance.” You can find Ben’s video storytelling on YouTube under Sister Unity.

Ellen Santistevan has joined the hybrid vehicle-owner’s club. “I feel somewhat pretentious, but I do hope that collective individual action will do a little bit to help things along. I don’t know for sure that it will, though, without reining in the big polluters. I also worry terribly about the poisonous battery materials and the fact that it feels like the entire vehicle is made of plastic. I hope it’s recycled plastic, at least! What’s making me happy these days are still being outdoors, being with my family, and playing with my pets. Sometimes I feel tired of work and taking care of people, but having worked for myself for so many years, I doubt whether I could fit into the 9-5 anymore. My two sons also have a really hard time fitting into that rut, and I kind of worry about their futures. My daughters seem to have found their ways to get through the world, at least. I feel like I have no real advice that I can give anymore, as the economy is so different now than it was for us. School is not the guarantee of a living wage. Life seems to hinge on luck and heritage more than anything else.”

Speaking of jobs, Cathy Cotins has changed jobs: “After more than a decade helping lead executive education and enterprise learning at Harvard Business School, I left last spring to join the executive team of a boutique leadership development firm. I love the work we do to transform organizations by helping their top leaders engage in deep personal transformation bringing empathy, compassion, and vulnerability forward and integrating head and heart intelligence. I’m grateful and so happy I found a community of teachers, leaders, and an expanding number of top global companies who value this work. I haven’t been this happy at work for a very long time. Our CEO and founder is a Wes graduate (’85), which was a fun topic of discussion the first time we met before either of us was considering I might join to help lead their growth. Go, Wes!”

And Rick Koffman is partner at Cohen Milstein in DC and co-chair of their antitrust practice group, where he litigates antitrust cases on behalf of the victims of corporations engaged in price-fixing, market monopolization, and other unlawful conduct. (According to the firm’s website, he was co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the largest price-fixing verdict in U.S. history and the largest jury verdict of 2013.) He says, “More interestingly, my son Dustin, who is 21, just published his first book of poetry, Eating Broccoli on the Moon (available at unrestrictedinterest.com).

Andy Layden celebrated 21 years of teaching astronomy at Bowling Green State University (in Ohio, near Toledo) by becoming chair of his Physics & Astronomy Department. In 10 years, he hopes to be retired, living in Puerto Rico (winter) and Canada (summer) and sharing his love of the night sky with anyone who will listen.

Dana Walcott and Stephen Porter ’87 are organizing a fundraiser to digitize audio cassettes of Wesleyan student music so people can listen to it online. The audio tapes are in a special collections at the Olin Library right now. If you’re interested in learning more or donating to the cause, go to facebook.com/groups/wesleyanclassof86.

Lastly, George Justice has started a higher education consulting firm with Carolyn Dever of Dartmouth College. Dever Justice, LLC leads workshops for faculty development focused on faculty leadership in research, teaching, and service. George and Carolyn write a monthly column for Inside Higher Ed and are working on a book together, Beyond the Dark Side.

Eric Howard | ehoward86@wesleyan.edu

In December, KT Korngold received the Wisdom of the Elders Award from the Montessori Accreditation Council of Teacher Education, for her work, writing, and innovation in education. MACTE is the accrediting organization for Montessori teacher education in the U.S. and abroad. In June, she was inducted into the Early Childhood Hall of Heroes, by the Child Care Council of Westchester and received a certificate of recognition from the New York State Legislature. In November, KT opened a new floor at her school, the Montessori Children’s Center in West Harrison, N.Y. KT adds: “I just returned from Hanoi, Vietnam, where I led of team of six teachers to kick-off our Montessori course in infant and toddler education for 35 future toddler teachers in Vietnam. A highlight of the course was hearing the adult learners compare Dr. Montessori to Skinner, Maslow, and Vygotsky in Vietnamese! Plus, I was able to squeeze in a visit to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO world heritage site.”

Randy Accetta writes from Tucson: “Life is rolling along down here, but my knees hurt, my hair is beyond thinning, and my 11- and 12-year-olds call me “Boomer.” After getting a PhD in American Lit (thanks to Richard Slotkin for all his great Wesleyan courses), I’ve ended up teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona. My wife and I own a family company, Run Tucson, that coaches runners nationally and produces running events in Arizona, including a half marathon at the Grand Canyon.” Randy also heads up a national coaching program and travels to about 25 cities a year, teaching run-coaching seminars. “Last year I had a great visit with Scott Rosenzweig while teaching in Bozeman!” Randy said, “If any Wesleyan folk are ever in Tucson, track me down and we’ll get together.”

Rob Menard is a practicing surgeon in Northern California. He “was in Paris at the International Society of Craniofacial Surgery meeting in September and got to hang out with Wesleyan best friend, Ethan Beardsley ’86. Rob also traveled to Myanmar in January to do cleft lip and palate surgery in NayPyiDaw.

Despite having been a government major, Dave Given has spent his career as a consulting actuary working on private pension plans. His wife, Irene, and he were married in 1990 and have lived in west of Boston since 1991. Dave writes: “No kids, but we have motorcycles, Golden Retrievers, and horses (Irene’s passion). We love the outdoors and along the way, fell in love with the Northern Rockies. Two years ago, we bought our eventual retirement home in Missoula, Mont. We plan to spend lots of time exploring and getting lost by any means possible.”

Marybeth Pytlik Ellison reports: “It was great to see Danny Weinstein, who took a break from sunny San Diego to come to Connecticut last summer and stay with us. He is using his considerable brain power for things outside the medical field these days. I am still in medicine, specifically developmental pediatrics.” Marybeth teaches at Yale School of Medicine. Her son is getting his PhD and her daughter also teaches. Marybeth’s husband retired from pediatric cardiac surgery and now sculpts full-time “which has much better hours.” She says they “travel internationally often, ski, dance, run, and truly enjoy life.”

Perhaps an excellent prescription for us all.

CAROLINE WILKINS | cwilkins85@yahoo.com

Hello, classmates! I apologize for my lapse last time around. We do have some news this month. It’s lovely to hear from you all. It warms me in my (imminent) dotage.

Maureen Sweeney directs the Immigration Clinic at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law in Baltimore, where she lives with her husband. Her three adult children joined them on a 16-day trip rafting at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. She would like to give a shout-out for Malu Rydfors to drop a line sometime.

Karen Rothblatt Zilberstein’s book, Parents Under Pressure: Struggling to Raise Children in an Unequal America, has won two 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards since it was published last year (in the categories of Parenting/Family and Current Events/Social Change). In more personal news, after 26 years of working while parenting three children, she is now an empty nester. Despite the creaky joints (and because of the extra time) she has run two half-marathons since the summer; though that is about as much as she is prepared to do.

Steven Barg has left Goldman Sachs after nearly 10 years and is joining Elliott Management as global head of corporate engagement (one of the leading alternative asset managers). After nearly 35 years as an investment banker, he is looking forward to his move to the buy-side. He is now an empty nester and is wondering why he is still putting up with the Northeast winter.

Scott Pearson will be stepping down as executive director of the District of Columbia Public Charter Board at the end of May 2020, after 8.5 years. He has been focused on how public charter schools can play a constructive role in improving public education. With both children in college, he is setting a new course.

Nina Mullen is proud to have been selected as landscape designer of the year by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Her design, Panoramic Haven, in the Oakland Hills of California, converted a vast lawn to a stunningly vibrant, water-wise space with sweeping views for relaxing and entertaining. Her design for her client developed the surrounding natural landscape of verdant green winter and tawny summer. You can see more of her work at mullendesign.net.

Murrey Nelson has been in San Francisco for 20 years, despite her long-abandoned vow to leave and return to NYC after only two. She has concentrated on fundraising for the arts for 14 years and is in her third year as development director of two-time Grammy-winning choral ensemble, Chanticleer. She is active in the theatre community, serving on the board of a Middle Eastern theatre company, Golden Thread. Recently, she was in NYC and caught up with Lea Barth (who is getting ready to send her last child off to college next year). She has also been in contact with Paul Oh and Philip Anker ’86.

I am sorry to not be in closer touch with our Philadelphia classmates. Simone Zelitch’s fifth novel Judenstaat is now available from PM Press (an alternative history of Germany had it been established as a Jewish state). And Julia Lopez has a book of poetry scheduled to be released in the spring and is working at Mural Arts Philadelphia as program manager in the department of art education. (Julia’s blog is juliascarnaval.blogspot.com).

Also, you should see what Vashti Dubois ’83 has accomplished at The Colored Girls Museum in Germantown (thecoloredgirlsmuseum.com). I have been to her space several times and it is extraordinary.

Michael Steven Schultz | mschultz84@wesleyan.edu

Greetings from seasonally warm New Jersey! Not sure whether to celebrate or be concerned about the beautiful 60° January weekend we had here in the Garden State. I suppose it depends on which side of the aisle you are on. But I’m told to keep these notes nonpolitical, so all I will say is, “Yikes!” Wishing you light and love in the coming decade. Here is the news:

With both kids in college, Lisa Kennedy sold the house and downsized to condo life and is loving it! She is in the residential real estate biz for 18 years and going strong. Now, Lisa is with Coldwell Banker. Daughter Julia will receive her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and son Adam is a film and TV production major at Valencia College in Orlando. Last summer, Lisa and Adam visited Ken Fuch, who took them on a personal tour of his new L.A. soundstage of Family Feud.

Karen Miller’s five kids are out of college and have started their own journeys. She and her spouse traveled to Africa, France, Spain, and a few other fun spots. When not traveling, she continues to play squash competitively. In June, her daughter is getting married in Lake Placid.

Richard Cho was selected as a 2017 Distinguished Career Fellow (DCI) at Stanford University. Richard has close to 25 years of experience in the energy industry, having served as the CEO and president and/or board member for several companies. For most of his career, he developed alternative energy projects around the world. He is the founder of Ridge Energy Services, a company that is making investments in the energy sector.

Greg LoPiccolo writes, “After 19 years at Harmonix, where I worked on Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and numerous other music games, I struck out on my own last year and founded ToneStone, focused on music creativity for nonmusicians, driven by gameplay. Chris Foster ’92 is collaborating on the design. Look for it in 2021!”

In December, Sue Peabody returned to Réunion Island for the opening of her museum exhibit, L’étrange histoire de Furcy Madeleine, which explores the struggle of one man to become free in French and English legal systems. While in London, Sue caught up with Jenny Boylan ’80 and Deirdre Finney Boylan, when Jenny delivered a lecture on plot, self-acceptance, and love to students, parents, and staff of the American School. Sue began work on her next book, The Failure of the Succès: Anatomy of a Slave Smuggling Voyage.

Mitch Plave sends greetings from Washington, D.C. He serves as special counsel at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is an agency that charters and supervises national banks. His focus is administrative law, which involves the rulemaking process, public input to adoption of rules, and judicial review of rulemakings. Son Aaron Plave ’15, is a software engineer at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Los Angeles. Daughter Leah is a cellist and recently completed a master’s at McGill. Her first CD will be issued this spring. Mitch had dinner with Beth Tractenberg, who is thriving as a wills, trust, and estates lawyer in New York at Steptoe & Johnson.

Charlie Brenner, now an empty nester with a University of Iowa graduate son, and his fiancée bought a beautiful 30-acre farm outside of Iowa City, where they are building a new house and starting a lavender business. They will stock the ponds and plant the first field this spring. As head of biochemistry at UI and chief scientific adviser for ChromaDex, Charlie tweets about metabolism @charlesmbrenner.

Vashti Dubois is at The Colored Girls Museum, which is partnering with the Center for Digital Humanities at the University of Arizona to establish a model for collaboratively producing VR/AR museum experiences to expand and engage audiences. The institutions will create an augmented reality enhanced virtual museum experience that connects a dynamic group of artists, educators, and technologists with everyday women of the African diaspora.

Sheila Spencer kicked off the New Year 2020 in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles with her husband and two kids who are home from college. Her daughter is a sophomore at Sarah Lawrence College studying studio art, and her son is an English major at Reed College in Portland, Ore. She had a lovely dinner with Heidi Mastrogiovanni ’79.

Pam Dolin sends new year’s greetings and writes, “I am a newly minted grandmother to baby girl, Violet Evie! A new chapter in life!”

Tricia Reilly attended Family Weekend to visit her son, Peter ’21, a junior, and ran into her friend and former partner from Tyler Cooper, Bob Allen ’70, who was being honored at midfield during halftime as a member of the last undefeated Cardinal football team—Little Three Champions—on their 50th anniversary. Tricia is the chair of the Labor and Employment Practice at Murtha Cullina, LLP in New Haven.

Nancy Rommelman’s works appear in the LA Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Reason, and other publications. Her most recent book, To the Bridge, A True Story of Motherhood and Murder, was published in 2018. After years on the West Coast, she is delighted to back home in NYC (Chinatown).

Laurie Hills | lauriec@rci.rutgers.edu

So many wrote and (with apologies) I (Michael) will abbreviate your notes to fit you all within our word limit. Starting with what’s most on the communal mind right now:

David Hessekiel imagines that, like many of you, when he thinks about turning 60 next year his emotions ping-pong between a state of contentment (“It’s been a pretty decent life”) and horror (“Where the $#@! did all those years go and how did I ever get so gray?”). To deal with this: going to Oaxaca to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Bob Russo and Carol Frueh Russo ’84 and Tom Davis wrote about meeting a crowd—Anthony Pahigian, John Brautigam, Mike Levine, Mark Sirota, Steve Davies, Laurie McFarlane ’83, and Mike and Nettie Greenstein ’84, with families—in Chicago for Joe Barrett’s 60th birthday, “touring museums, eating deep dish pizza, and wondering how we could all be on the verge turning 60 already.” Sue the T. Rex is there, so feel young.

Some big life numbers and events to mark time:

Terri Seligman celebrated 33 years of marriage in December and, in a return to her Wesleyan roots, she joined a women’s Afro-Brazilian samba reggae percussion group. Not “gig ready” yet but hoping to get there. “I see Peter Blauner, Sabrina Allan, Ellen Bender, and Kathy Moss.”

My high school and Wesleyan classmate, Michael Scharf, is now a grandpa. Michael is at Sidney Kimmel School of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, directing the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program. He and wife Sandy enjoy biking around the Schuylkill.

Susan Cole ’82, MALS ’97 is twice retired and 79 (as of her writing), working for the past 15 years as a volunteer with author Wally Lamb at a women’s prison facilitating a writers’ class/workshop. Turning 60 was just fine, right Susan?

Diana Moller-Marino has been associate professor of theatre at the Hartt School, University of Hartford “for nigh on 20-plus years” and for over 10 years guiding the presentation of In the Company of Others, autobiographical monologues on issues of identity for Wesleyan’s incoming student orientation. In Middletown. “Yeah, I married the mayor’s son!”

Larry Selzer reconnected with Ned Goss and Pat Maguire ’83 in Boston, and Paul Barry in Arlington, Va. “I am still at The Conservation Fund, where I have been since 1990. The Conservation Fund issued the nation’s first ever green bond for conservation and it was fascinating and exciting to work with Moody’s and Goldman Sachs to get it done.” And all three children graduated from college.

More news: Emilie Attwell is again Emilie Attwell. Or Bunny, if that’s how you remember her. “All things happened at the same time—I got divorced, I became retirement eligible, and I dyed my hair purple.”

Matthew Capece and wife Alexis vacationed in Ireland for the first time in September, lodging with local celeb DJ Bubbles in Dublin. “Had a grand time. Came back to the states with 10 pounds of packaged mushy peas. Love the stuff.” Me, too.

Robert Smythe become a company member at Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley, Pa., America’s oldest continuously operating repertory theater. Susan Smythe continues to work at Swarthmore College “building buildings” and recently saw John Giammatteo ’81, when he came to document murals being removed from a building prior to demolition.

Richard LeComte moved to Lexington from Alabama, writing and editing at the University of Kentucky. His short play, Redstone, based on his father’s memories of the guided missile school at Huntsville in the 1950s, was produced at a festival on Alabama history by Theatre Tuscaloosa.

Greg Murphy lives in Weston, Conn., and is a financial advisor. “I am active in local politics opposing Hartford and the governor in hopes of resolving Connecticut’s scary finances.”

Richard Klein became a partner at the real estate law firm of Romer Debbas LLP to head up their cooperative/condominium department. He also moved to Port Chester, N.Y., “which I love, great vibe and restaurants.”

Paul Meltzer is “fighting the good fight serving as an at-large council member on Denton City Council in Denton, Texas.”

Greg Lewis is still in Berkeley, still inventing/designing/building air sampling/monitoring instruments (one scheduled to fly on the International Space Station) and still rowing, winning his sixth rowing full marathon. “They are actually the easiest rowing race to win because almost everyone just tries to survive.” Sure, Greg.

David Loucky and his wife, Nancy, have been keeping bees (“tending” bees if you’re from California) since 2013.

Nancy Danielle Kornfeld lives in Nyack, N.Y., and Palo Alto, Calif., running the Helen Hayes Youth Theatre and managing the solo career of her husband Jordan Rudess, keyboardist in the progressive metal band, Dream Theater. It was great to meet up with Nancy again at Peter Eckart ’86 and Laura Fraser’s now Antepenultimate Party, “the evening before the evening before New Year’s Eve.” Soon, Laura, it will conflict with Thanksgiving!

Laura Fraser | laura@laurafraser.com

Michael Ostacher | mostacher@gmail.com

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest where I (Joanne) am visiting my oldest son and dodging the drizzle that is Seattle’s winter trademark. I’ve learned that you can temper the damp with some of Washington State’s red wine—cheers!

On behalf of the Class of ’81, I would like to extend warm thanks to retiring Wesleyan magazine editor Cynthia Rockwell MALS ’19. Cynthia has steered and edited the class notes for more years than I can count in addition to contributing interesting and thought-provoking pieces of journalism to the magazine. She will be sorely missed for her dedication, patience, literary exactitude, and sense of humor. All the best in your retirement, Cynthia! Thank you for all your guidance over the years.

Classmates, in anticipation of our (gulp!) 40th class Reunion, you are cordially invited by Belinda Buck Kielland,Livia Wong McCarthy, and Nancy Parker Wilson to a first-ever Class of ’81 Pre-Reunion on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020. An old-fashioned New England clambake will take place at Greenvale Vineyards (Nancy’s family winery) on the banks of the picturesque Sakonnet River in bucolic Portsmouth, R.I. (neighboring town to Newport). Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway): with these co-hosts, you know it will be an amazing party—don’t miss it! If you haven’t already, you should be receiving an invitation in your email soon.  Please contact Liv at Livia2@me.com with any questions.

Dr. Kerry Bernstein wrote in after a long hiatus. She and her husband Wayne Balkan moved to Miami in 1991 to take faculty positions at the University of Miami (now Miller) School of Medicine, a sort of “coming home” for Kerry, who grew up in South Florida. She also convinced Wayne McGill ’78 (from Montreal) to relocate with the assurance that the “hurricanes never hit and the temperature doesn’t go above 90 degrees”. Well, shortly after moving, Hurricane Andrew, one of the worst hurricanes in history, hit the area . . . so much for Kerry’s credibility—in the meteorological domain at least!

Kerry became chair of her department (molecular and cellular pharmacology) in late 2018 and has been associate director of education and training for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center since 2015.  “It’s particularly exciting and gratifying to be part of the leadership team that worked to make Sylvester the 71st cancer center in the nation to be designated by the National Cancer Institute.” Kerry and Wayne have two children, Kyla and Liam. Kyla graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 2016 and works in management consulting in NYC; Liam will graduate from American University in May 2020. Kerry adds, “We love getting together with Wesleyan alumni, including locally with Greg Andrisand Ed Gross ’87 and their wonderful wives. Our kids were in school with Greg’s and Ed’s, beginning in pre-K. Brian Hennesey ’04, Wesleyan alumni coordinator, South Florida) deserves a special shout-out for the great happy hours he organizes.

Ariel Rubissow Okamoto is trying to turn over a new leaf at 60—the family had to sell the California vineyard generations had owned for 40 years, and she’s still grieving. Ariel writes: “’It’s the land, Katie Scarlett, the land . ..’ Time to really write that memoir, novel, creative opus—so stand by! Suddenly, missing the Wesleyan orchestra (1/4 of my entire degree as last second violin). Funny the things that pop up with—dare I say it?– ‘age.’” You can now reach her at aro@bayariel.com.

In addition to his many other professional accolades, Dr. Sam Selesnick has recently assumed the position of editor-in-chief of The Laryngoscope, an official journal of the Triological Society, the oldest in the field and the primary voice for otolaryngologic clinical and translation research. For the past 28 years, Sam has been on the faculty at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he is currently professor and vice-chair of the department of otolaryngology, with appointments also in the departments of neurosurgery and neurology. He is also in the department of neurosurgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Congrats, Sam!

As we get older, it seems like we are getting busier and more adventurous—and that’s a good thing. My Wes housemate and fellow intrepid traveler Kathy Prager Conrad sent pix from her most recent adventure: cross-country skiing in Yellowstone National Park. “If you like (it) in the summer, you should see it in winter—love the steam and ice!” She did not encounter wolves that day but “got stuck in a bison traffic jam—beats the (D.C.) Beltway any day!” Check out her gorgeous photos on her Facebook page.

I recently returned from a “trip of a lifetime” partial-family safari to Tanzania.  Unfortunately, Son #1 had to stay behind due to a thing called “work.” Son #2 was smitten with Tanzania after living/learning/researching in Olduvai Gorge a few years back and decided to organize this trip before he finishes grad school in the spring. My husband, two sons, and I landed in Arusha and hit several national parks and the Ngorngoro Conservation Area, ending at the Ngorongoro Crater. Experiencing the scope of the wildebeest migration (they travel with zebras and gazelles) is awe-inspiring. Looking a lioness in the eye from eight feet away is spiritual. Observing a mother cheetah and her feeding cubs (spoiler: it was a baby zebra) is experiencing the great circle of life up-close. And the elephants cavorting in the river is like watching a group of young boys at a water hole. Don’t wait . . . do it! Africa changes your life!

David I. Block shared this story: “At a meeting of the Emergency Committee on Rojava in NYC, I mentioned how we brought Murray Bookchin, whose ideas inform their politics, to our conference on social ecology our senior year.

“Wait. What school did you say you went to?” I was asked, by a woman about my age.

“Wesleyan.”

“I thought so,” she replied. “I thought I recognized you.”

“What year were you?” I asked.

“1981.”

“I co-write your class notes,” I reminded Erica Goldman, who gave me permission to note that we met doing what we can to save—not betray—Rojava, the Kurds, and the SDF that defeated ISiS, from the invading Turks.

I had a serendipitous and utterly delightful e-chat with Mark Molina this fall. Mark, still in Connecticut, left the field of law in 2014 and invested early in OrangeTheory. He is now the (obviously fit!) owner of four locations. He told me he had attended Homecoming 2019 with his youngest son Ted ’20.  When I asked if Ted played as well (Mark is a former Wes football player), Mark replied, “No! He’s too smart for that—but he’s kind enough to indulge me and sits with me at home games. He’s a great kid!” Indeed, he would have to be with a dad like Mark. 

And that concludes this issue’s reporting. Hoping that some of you will be able to make the Pre-Reunion in Rhode Island in August.

Keep the news coming!

David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com

Joanne Godin Audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com