Class Notes | 1980s

Jeff Hush, together with Dar Williams ’89, Banning Eyre ’79, Professor Chris Chenier, and George Perez ’20, has launched the Middletown Green Community Center in Middletown, Conn., with the intention of taking over the building at 51 Green Street, a building that Wesleyan previously operated. MGCC is in negotiations with the City of Middletown over this building. Dar held a benefit concert for MGCC on Mother’s Day at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

MGCC is a collaboration between Wesleyan alumni and Middletown community leaders. Its mission is to improve the lives of underserved people and families in Middletown and the surrounding towns by developing high-tech skills, instilling healthier lifestyles through training in food and movement, and instruction in the musical, visual, and performing arts. To find out more, visit middletowngreencc.org.

Effective April 5, Jeff Neuman was named senior vice president, corporate secretary, and general counsel of Tronox Limited, a global mining and inorganic chemicals company. Jeff previously served as vice president, corporate secretary, and deputy general counsel of Honeywell International Inc.

In May, Arthur Haubenstock started as executive director of the California Efficiency and Demand Management Council. The Council is the trade association for energy efficiency and energy demand-side management in California, which has one of the most advanced markets for the demand side of the energy equation but, according to Arthur, still has far to go as one of the last major sectors of the economy to be disrupted.

Vicky Fish and her husband, Hugh Huizenga (Williams ’84), are excited that their twins, Andrew ’18 and Noah (Hamilton’18) graduated from college. Their youngest, Peter, is in Chile for a semester abroad. They live in Vermont, and Vicky completed her MSW and is a therapist at a community mental health clinic, working with the seriously mentally ill, which she finds very challenging and worthwhile.

Lee McIntyre has a new book out called Post-Truth (MIT Press, 2018), which is about the problem of “fake news” and “alternative facts” in today’s political arena. CNN named it a Book of the Week in April and it is an Amazon best seller.

Paul Gross is living in Seattle but has moved from software and not-for-profit board management to full-time work in clinical research for cerebral palsy (one of his son’s two neurological conditions). Paul is running a 21-center clinical research network with sites and multiple medical disciplines across the country. With this work came an adjunct appointment as an associate professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine. As a self-described “old dad,” Paul is trying his best to keep up with his first kid, who enters high school next year.

Jeddy Lieber spent a great year with his family in New York, where his daughters did a sophomore high school year at Saint Ann’s. He saw his son graduate from Penn. The family will be moving back to Paris in the fall.

Since 1999, Randy Frisch has run LoveCat Music, a music publishing company specializing in placing songs in films and TV shows. He’s had success with the music of Wesleyan alumni, including Caroline Horn, Gary Mezzi ’83, Bill Anschell ’83, Chris Erikson ’87, Dimitri Ehrlich ’87, and Brian McKenna ’04.

We are sad to report that our classmate, the Rev. Virginia H. Wilcox, died on Dec. 28 at Saint Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn. After receiving her undergraduate degree in religion, Ginny received her MDiv degree from Yale Divinity School. She was ordained in the New York Conference and served the following United Methodist churches in Connecticut: First UMC in Stamford, Summerfield UMC in Bridgeport, Middletown, Winsted, and Derby. She retired in 2016. According to her friends, she was a gifted preacher, an eloquent writer, and a talented artist. She was proud to receive the Reneen Steinberg Humanitarian Award for excellence in human services.

Heidi Ravis reports that efforts remain underway to collect donations to have a tree dedicated to our dear friend, Nancy Crown who died, on the Wesleyan campus. The plan is to have a ceremony at our 35th Reunion in 2019. Funding for this is being handled by way of donations to Wesleyan. Heidi advises that if you would like to contribute, you can do so through Wesleyan’s website, or by mail or phone. Just be sure to indicate that your donation is in memory of Nancy Crown, Class of 1984. A contact in the alumni office will track the donations. If you know of anyone else who might want to contribute, please share this information with them. Feel free to contact Heidi with any questions at hbravis@gmail.com.

Roger Pincus | rpincus84@wesleyan.edu

Michael Steven Schultz | mschultz84@wesleyan.edu

We have fewer submissions than usual for this issue, so as class secretary, I am using the extra space to mention our cohort of class agents. John Gannon, David Hill, Michael Levin, and John McIntyre were in touch asking if I might put the word out that they’d welcome some help connecting with and contacting fellow members of our class. Perhaps some female members of our class might wish to help diversify the volunteer leadership! Please e-mail me if you’d like more information.

Here are some notes from several classmates: Down in D.C., Scott Michaud is the senior speechwriter for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He has a 5-year-old daughter (Class of 2032!) and another little girl due in July. He is still playing ultimate, still seeing other members of Nietzsch Factor at ultimate tournaments, and still playing summer league ultimate on the D.C. Wesleyan alumni team. He says, “Best wishes to all my Class of 1986 classmates and to the Class of 2018!”

Lisa Porter is living in Berkeley, Calif., where she is the head of voice and dialects at the American Conservatory Theatre and a lecturer at UC Berkeley. “I act professionally and just finished productions of two very successful new plays—Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector at the Aurora Theatre and The Eva Trilogy by Barbara Hammond at the Magic Theatre. My daughter, Maggie, will start at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in the fall. I also am the lead artist in a participatory Shakespeare theme camp at Burning Man. I keep in close touch with Melinda Newman and Shawn Cuddy.”

Monica Jahan Bose is busy with art and advocacy work around gender issues and climate change. She is working on a long-term feminist project called Storytelling with Saris and had a solo show, Weather the Storm. She is collaborating with homeless women in D.C., One Billion Rising in Miami, and women from her ancestral island village in Bangladesh, making saris about climate change and doing elaborate outdoor performance art actions. On a trip to Athens, she hopes to reconnect with Nada Bahu Pentaris. She wrote, “I’m so happy that my spouse (Michael S. Bennett ’87) will join me in Athens for a week so that we can relive our visit there in our 20s! Our older daughter, Tuli (“paintbrush” in Bangla), attends UC Berkeley and loves it. She is active with the Cal Dems and has started the Bangali Student Association. Our younger daughter, Koli (“flower bud”), is finishing eighth grade at a Spanish-English bilingual public school.”

Peter Crivelli is on the board of the Serviam Girls Academy. Based in Delaware, where he lives, Serviam is tuition-free, independent Catholic middle school in the Ursuline tradition for young women of all faiths from low-income families. The school has been very helpful in preparing the young girls for success in high school and beyond.

The film made by Ralph Savarese’s son won a Peabody Award. According to the jurors, the film is “a bold step forward in inclusive filmmaking that allows David James Savarese, a nonspeaking young man with autism, to tell his own story, focusing on accomplishment and possibility, not limits and barriers.” One of nine winners in the category of documentary films, Deej is the story of his journey. Last year he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College.

Belinda Hanson, founding partner of Hanson Crawford Crum Family Law Group based in Silicon Valley, has opened a second office in San Francisco. Her firm is celebrating their 20th year in business.

Eric Howard | ehoward86@wesleyan.edu

Hi, everyone. I recently had dinner with Bill Shapiro and his girlfriend, Naomi Wax, in NYC. Bill and Naomi just finished writing a book called What We Keep, a collection of interviews with people around the country about the single object in their life that holds the most emotional significance. The book includes interviews with people like Hasan Minhaj, Cheryl Strayed, and Melinda Gates, and alumni Joss Whedon, Amanda Palmer ’98, and Anthony Weintraub; it comes out in September.

Speaking of Joss, he had this to say: “I’m writing, which means I’m okay. The last few years had less writing and more crippling sleep apnea, but a hilariously painful throat surgery in May made it possible to breathe, and therefore sleep, and therefore write/live/do that show-tune at karaoke that I thought everyone else knew too. This oxygen shit is dope, I highly recommend. My son is 15, my daughter is 13, and both of them still like me so something went right there. They are delightful, hardworking and kind, the lights of my life, and I’m counting the hours till they go to college, so I can move out of Santa Monica, where the last remaining bookstore just closed, and the sun is still trying to kill me in the face. I, on occasion, see or e-mail Lael Loewenstein, Tommy Plotkin ’86, John Penney, and Lisa Rosen ’86, all way too seldom. I am co-running One Vote at a Time, making free ads for anti-gun, pro-women candidates for midterms. I despair at the world but hope we may yet keep it spinning. I drink too much, but LESS too much, so I’m basically a True American Hero. Bye-ee!”

From Andy Grimaldi: “I’d like to share with our class the wonderful vacation that we recently took in Barcelona. My family and I visited with David Glatz and his daughters. We were joined by Chris Olinger, and his brother, Michael ’89, visited from Brussels. Dave was a fantastic guide, from a festival in Barceloneta to an amazing tour of Costa Brava. My wife, Lynne, and I are grateful to him, the Olinger brothers and our sons, John and Nick, for assisting me around the city. They went above and beyond by helping me into the Mediterranean for a rather brisk dip. I was diagnosed with ALS in 2017 and this was a tremendous getaway with good friends. Rumor has it that the Dilated Pupils will be reconvening this fall in western Massachusetts. Cheers everyone!”

Florence Dore has a new book, Novel Sounds: Southern Fiction in the Age of Rock and Roll (2018) out on Columbia University Press. Greil Marcus has said of Novel Sounds, “This is an original and subtle book, with punk rock ricochets.”

Stephen Porter donated his collection of 75 tapes of live student music to Olin Library Special Collections. “The tapes still sounded good after 30 years, and these are mostly the original master recordings. This includes stuff like all the mid-1980s Duke and Zonker Day music. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, I do not remember much beyond what was written on the tapes themselves. There will be an inventory of these tapes available online under Olin Library Special Collections, if anyone can fill in names of musicians.”

Liz Kromelow writes: “My second son, James Dietz ’18, just graduated from Wes with honors in general scholarship. It was the Class of 1988’s Reunion so I got to see many familiar faces, including Justine Gubar ’88, Kwong Lee, Geoff Howell ’88, David Davenport ’88, and Deirdre Davis ’88. I met quite a few people I didn’t know from my time at Wes including Bobbito Garcia ’88, who has a new documentary coming out in June. I also ran into Muzzy Rosenblatt.”

Speaking of Muzzy, as of July 1, he is the chair of a new four-person Alumni Association Executive Committee.

Trisha Lindemann was just at Wes for her the graduation of her son, Jordan Witzel ’18. “Fitting bookend. From Bill Cosby to Anita Hill. From blistering sun to chilly rain. Go Wes.”

From Lori Benson: “Neil Benson ’88 and I just attended Neil’s 30th Reunion. The attendance was a bit small, but we had a great time catching up with folks like Steve Morrison ’88 and Christie Trott ’88. They were able to catch me up on Paul Gosselin—to whom I send a big ‘hello’! My oldest son, Oliver, and Nelly Taveras’s and Brian Shelly’s youngest daughter, Sophia, will be matriculating in the fall, which means their graduation will be our 35th Reunion. Wesleyan looked great—investment in the campus and facility really shows. I had a great dinner with Claire Conceison, who is the Quanta Professor of Chinese Culture and Professor of Theater Arts at MIT and splits her time between New York and Boston. She is as vibrant and gorgeous as ever and it was great to reconnect. I’m excited to have her up to my husband’s new restaurant—The Red Zebra—in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.”

Amanda Jacobs Wolf | wolfabj@gmail.com

Hillary writes for this issue. Greg Wolfe started working with a client a couple years ago, The Forward, and had a chance to meet the editor, Jane Eisner ’77, over the holidays this past year, and reminisce with her about Wesleyan. He ran into his neighbor, Lincoln Bjorkman ’87, at a high school graduation party. Greg’s hoping to get together with Meg Harris and Raph Worrick soon for their (almost) annual visit.

Laura Bennett wrote in for the first time in over 30 years. Laura and her partner have a podcast called American Diplomat, which goes behind the scenes to hear personal stories from diplomats who lived newsworthy events overseas.

Jenifer McKim went to Reunion for the first time ever in May, and had a fantastic time catching up with old friends and making new ones. She’s already looking forward to our 35th. [See p. 22  for more on Jenifer]

John Ferrara celebrated our 30th Reunion on campus with his wife and three kids while watching one son graduate (A.J. ’18) and picking up his daughter after her freshman year (Claudia ’21). “A pretty cool experience.”

David Silverberg had two books come out this year on the topic of transformation in higher education. The books feature case studies and interviews from colleges and universities around the country and are titled Empowerment at the Tower: Leadership & Identity in Higher Education and Institutional Change from Within: Teaching & Learning in Higher Education.

Timothy McCallum is settling into his fourth year on Maui and is busy teaching pilates, raising his son (who is not quite 2), and doing a radio show every Friday on Manao Radio 91.7 FM.

Nathan Ainspan received a Spirit of Service Award from the Department of Defense for his work helping service members transitioning to civilian status. Nathan is a research psychologist with the Transition to Veterans Program Office. He was selected for the award for his work using psychological research to improve the military-to-civilian transition process. He founded and organized the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s (Division 14) Veterans Initiative, a national volunteer outreach project that provides information and guidance to employers interested in hiring military veterans and connecting veterans with industrial psychologists for pro bono assistance on résumés, interviews, and job networking.

Laura Hall Jonas launched her own consulting business, LivingHealthyMatters, combining all of her interests in education, health care, and helping others. She is delivering evidence-based interventions for multiple causes (e.g. diabetes prevention, falls prevention, stress relief for caregivers) and is providing development assistance for the Village Movement in her local region.

Rich Silverman writes, “I’m still living in Los Angeles and working in the entertainment industry. I just got back from a fun trip to Tokyo and we’re trying to figure out the next travel adventure.”

We love hearing from you—keep sending us your news!

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

Laura Hamilton Hardin writes: “Lots of milestones for me! I turned 50 on December 31 and decided to get a tattoo to memorialize the occasion! I had my 10th wedding anniversary (second marriage) in April. My son just graduated from high school and will be attending University of Texas in the fall, so I am officially about to be an empty-nester. My daughter is at Texas A&M and got her Aggie ring in May. She is going to graduate next May . . . exactly 30 years after I did and working on her applications for veterinary school. Work is very busy . . . traveling heavily around the world this year . . . have already clocked 140,000 miles on United.”

David Eichler and his wife, Diane, just celebrated 25 years since they first met and will be going whale watching in the San Juan Islands with Craig Morgan, Tara Lennon ’90, and their daughters this summer.

Silvia Menendez was named associate dean for experiential learning at University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. While she’s still a lecturer, she will also be overseeing externship placements and clinical positions for students. If any Wes attorneys working for nonprofit or public service organizations are looking for externs, let her know. Husband Jeff Harman ’90 is a full professor in the department of behavioral sciences and social medicine at FSU’s College of Medicine. Their youngest daughter just graduated from high school and the oldest is going to be a senior in college.

Jeffrey Naness is doing well on Long Island, keeping in touch with some Wesleyan friends through Facebook and some in real life. (Shout out to Steve Ward!). He is practicing law, representing businesses in employment and labor relations matters. His oldest son just finished his first year at Muhlenberg College and his youngest son is going into 11th grade.

Alexander Chee is in Florence, Italy, teaching in the NYU summer creative writing program. During the rest of the year, he and his husband, Dustin Schell, divide their time between NYC and Hanover, N.H., where Alex is an associate professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth College. His most recent book, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, a collection of essays, came out in 2018.

Carrie Holden Emmerson and her family moved a bit farther south in Maine to the Midcoast Region (Woolwich, Maine, near Bath), and is teaching social studies at Morse High School where she tries to combat the plague of fake news on a daily basis. She lives a mile from a restaurant that sports a giant inflatable lobster on its roof (The Taste of Maine). So, if you’re driving along Route 1 and see the lobster, stop by and say hello!

Phineas Baxandall reports on the continuing tradition (from at least the ’80s) of Wesleyan’s alumni from the Nietzsch Factor ULTIMATE FRISBEE team playing the current team. In addition to Phineas, other alumni who played this year were Ben Usadi ’92, Matt Higbee ’93, Ezra (Brownstein) Shales ’91, Dan Haar ’81, and Robert Featherstone. Unfortunately, while most years the alumni prevailed, this year the youngsters were too fast, and the alumni hadn’t been playing regularly. Nevertheless, everyone had a great time, with the whole crowd of alumni and current students joining to recount their favorite Wesleyan ULTIMATE FRISBEE memories before adjourning for a BBQ in the backyard of one of the current team’s houses.

Emma Gardner is happily living in Petaluma, Calif. with her husband, Patrick McDarrah ’88, and two kids. They have a lot of different projects going on, but the main one is their rug company, emma gardner design. She is very excited to be working on a big tile and mosaic project with a company in Nicaragua and LA.

Mark Seasholes is splitting his time between Phoenix (ASU professor) and Santa Cruz (enjoying life). He would love to catch up with classmates. Visitors to either place should feel free to drop him a line.

Finally, Jonathan and Michele want to make sure everyone has the 30th Reunion in their calendar (May 23-26, 2019). The Reunion Committee is in need of volunteers to get involved with planning for Reunion. Please contact Megan Lenzzo, assistant director of annual giving at mlenzzo@wesleyan.edu if interested. Go Wes!

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

Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Laura Hamilton Hardin writes: “Lots of milestones for me! I turned 50 on December 31 and decided to get a tattoo to memorialize the occasion! I had my 10th wedding anniversary (second marriage) in April. My son just graduated from high school and will be attending University of Texas in the fall, so I am officially about to be an empty-nester. My daughter is at Texas A&M and got her Aggie ring in May. She is going to graduate next May . . . exactly 30 years after I did and working on her applications for veterinary school. Work is very busy . . . traveling heavily around the world this year . . . have already clocked 140,000 miles on United.”

David Eichler and his wife, Diane, just celebrated 25 years since they first met and will be going whale watching in the San Juan Islands with Craig Morgan, Tara Lennon ’90, and their daughters this summer.

Silvia Menendez was named associate dean for experiential learning at University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. While she’s still a lecturer, she will also be overseeing externship placements and clinical positions for students. If any Wes attorneys working for nonprofit or public service organizations are looking for externs, let her know. Husband Jeff Harman ’90 is a full professor in the department of behavioral sciences and social medicine at FSU’s College of Medicine. Their youngest daughter just graduated from high school and the oldest is going to be a senior in college.

Jeffrey Naness is doing well on Long Island, keeping in touch with some Wesleyan friends through Facebook and some in real life. (Shout out to Steve Ward!). He is practicing law, representing businesses in employment and labor relations matters. His oldest son just finished his first year at Muhlenberg College and his youngest son is going into 11th grade.

Alexander Chee is in Florence, Italy, teaching in the NYU summer creative writing program. During the rest of the year, he and his husband, Dustin Schell, divide their time between NYC and Hanover, N.H., where Alex is an associate professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth College. His most recent book, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, a collection of essays, came out in 2018.

Carrie Holden Emmerson and her family moved a bit farther south in Maine to the Midcoast Region (Woolwich, Maine, near Bath), and is teaching social studies at Morse High School where she tries to combat the plague of fake news on a daily basis. She lives a mile from a restaurant that sports a giant inflatable lobster on its roof (The Taste of Maine). So, if you’re driving along Route 1 and see the lobster, stop by and say hello!

Phineas Baxandall reports on the continuing tradition (from at least the ’80s) of Wesleyan’s alumni from the Nietzsch Factor ULTIMATE FRISBEE team playing the current team. In addition to Phineas, other alumni who played this year were Ben Usadi ’92, Matt Higbee ’93, Ezra (Brownstein) Shales ’91, Dan Haar ’81, and Robert Featherstone. Unfortunately, while most years the alumni prevailed, this year the youngsters were too fast, and the alumni hadn’t been playing regularly. Nevertheless, everyone had a great time, with the whole crowd of alumni and current students joining to recount their favorite Wesleyan ULTIMATE FRISBEE memories before adjourning for a BBQ in the backyard of one of the current team’s houses.

Emma Gardner is happily living in Petaluma, Calif. with her husband, Patrick McDarrah ’88, and two kids. They have a lot of different projects going on, but the main one is their rug company, emma gardner design. She is very excited to be working on a big tile and mosaic project with a company in Nicaragua and LA.

Mark Seasholes is splitting his time between Phoenix (ASU professor) and Santa Cruz (enjoying life). He would love to catch up with classmates. Visitors to either place should feel free to drop him a line.

Finally, Jonathan and Michele want to make sure everyone has the 30th Reunion in their calendar (May 23-26, 2019). The Reunion Committee is in need of volunteers to get involved with planning for Reunion. Please contact Megan Lenzzo, assistant director of annual giving at mlenzzo@wesleyan.edu if interested. Go Wes!

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

Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Class of 1989 Scholarship

Joanna Korpanty ’21, Chemistry

Newlywed Anjulika Chawla writes that after 15 years and four kids together (ages 6, 10, 12, and 17), she and her now-husband Ron decided to “take the plunge and get married”—which they did on Sept. 2 at the Rhythm and Roots Festival. “The ceremony was 20 minutes, and the party about 11 hours.” Anjulika is a pediatric hematologist oncologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, and an associate professor at Brown University. She stepped down as the interim chair of the division after four years, and has cut her time to about 10 percent. She is joining a biotech firm in Cambridge to work on a project using gene therapy to treat sickle cell disease.

In Boston, Abby Smuckler ran into Russ Cobe at Shabbat services at the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial! Quite a feat considering there were about 5,000 people in the convention hall, and they hadn’t seen each other since graduation. Russ lives near Charlotte, N.C., and Abby is outside Boston in Needham.

Marisa Cohen spent 13 months on the road with her daughter, Molly—who was in the national tour of Matilda the Musical. They returned to New York last summer and got right back into the swing of things. Now Marisa is freelancing at Real Simple. In November she had “an amazing visit to Wes” for Alumni Sons & Daughters Weekend with her older daughter, Bellamy—who got to sit in on a class with Marisa’s old music professor, Neely Bruce, and is excited to apply for the class of 2023. (Sidebar: 2023? I give up. We’re speaking in Blade Runner-esque graduation class years at this point. Can we pace ourselves please?! Geez!) Marisa says she genuinely “loved catching up with so many classmates who are also going through the nerve-racking college admissions game with their kids while I was there.” Solidarity, sis!

Robin Alexander has been living with her husband in Brooklyn for the past 10 years after having lived in Jerusalem for five. She works as a therapist and clinical social worker, and, most recently, as a mental health consultant for child protective services and the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.

Peter Knight has assumed volunteer leadership in his appointment to the board of directors for Connecticut Legal Services. The agency is dedicated to helping low-income families and individuals meet their basic needs and be assured equal access to opportunities and justice. This new role is in addition to Peter’s role as the chair of the Pro Bono Committee of the law firm Robinson+Cole—where he’s a member of their Environmental, Energy and Telecommunications Group.

Jim Levine marked his 50th birthday by moving to Alaska. You guys, ALASKA…from Middletown, Conn., where he had been living. I love everyone’s updates. And this one too…so much! In his own words: “After 15 years back in Connecticut, working around the corner from WesU, the younger of my two kids graduated from high school and flew the coop. So…I sold my empty nest and moved solo to a rural area in southcentral Alaska, three hours from Anchorage, where I’m working in the emergency department of a small hospital, in a town called Soldotna. It’s beautiful here, and life is definitely slower and quieter. I’ve been here almost a year now.”

Susan Turkel is working part-time as a social sciences librarian at Villanova University. “It’s a very different environment from Bryn Mawr College and the University of Michigan, my beloved previous institutions, but I like it! My other major preoccupations are square, English, and contra dancing, and weekly visits with my parents (they’re 87 and almost 83, still living independently despite health challenges). Is anyone else going through the elderly parent struggle? It goes from frustrating to rewarding and then back again…but I’m grateful that they’re still around, that we’re close, and that I can be helpful to them.”

Topiary Landberg is in her fifth year of a PhD at UC, Santa Cruz in Film & Digital Media, working on her dissertation about urban landscape documentary and a media project about San Francisco. She is “loving being at Santa Cruz, teaching, researching and somehow becoming a full-fledged academic. Next stop: job market.

Next year is our 30th Reunion, y’all. Why don’t we round up our fellow ’89 Wes friends and head to campus next year? We’ve got a year-ish from now to plan our long-weekend escape and Wes campus takeover. I think we should take over the dorms. Seriously. Pajama-jammy-jam anyone?! We can fire up some ’80s tunes (“It Takes Two” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock anyone?) and dance it out together!

We do really enjoy hearing from each of you and appreciate you sharing your news with all of us! Cheers, classmates! Until then, so happy to hear from you. Keep the updates coming!

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

Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Bruno Oliver has been living in LA for two decades now: “Certainly not the place I anticipated ending up back in ’88! Working as an actor on TV, voice over, and some film. I’m the current board president of The Sacred Fools Theater Company and have been kept very busy shepherding the company’s transition from our old single theater space to a new, multi-venue home in Hollywood. The company has been my passion for many years. If you live in LA or are just visiting, hit me up and I’ll give you a tour…and we can have a drink in our (just about to open) theater bar.”

Stephen Morison shares: “My family and I have returned to the U.S. after 10 years overseas in order to be within driving distance of our daughter (where she is on the same dorm as Steve Pryor’s daughter—it has been great to catch up with Steve and his lovely wife, Leslie). We are enjoying our experiences working at Cape Cod Academy in Osterville, and we are getting used to driving American roads again. I’m still writing for Poets & Writers Magazine. We occasionally catch dinner with Kim Carr Hare and Jon Hare ’87 who live in Falmouth, and of course, we look forward to seeing Paul Gosselin, Steve Kullback ’89, Wendy Blum ’87, Nancy Nachbar ’89, Drew Davis, and other Wes folk at Paul’s annual summer Cape gatherings.”

Dave Grotell writes: “I have taken a position as professor of videography at  the University of Alabama in Huntsville. I never thought I would say this, but I’ve moved to the Deep South! It’s quite interesting. I got a chance to canvas for U.S. Senator Doug Jones and enjoy the victory party on home turf. And I am working to create a program in film and video where none had existed. If you’re in Alabama, say hello!”

John Stein chimes in from Burkina Faso in western Africa. “We are in Ouagadougou. Loving it. The littles are playing in local soccer clubs and/or learning to drum.” John’s Chi Psi brother Tim McCallum updates that he is “happily running my Pilates studio and trying to keep up with my 15-month-old son. Two full time jobs, plus Tai Ji school, and the avocation of life on Maui. It’s a beautiful blur.” In his first unforced class notes submission since graduation, Stuart Ellman claims he “is looking forward to hanging out with Peter Bond at the 30th Reunion.”

Greg Wolfe reports: “I started working with a new client last year, The Forward, a Jewish news magazine and website, and it turns out their editor-in-chief, Jane Eisner ’77, also taught at Wesleyan. It was great meeting her and talking about Wesleyan.”

Hannah Doress updates us: “It has been an exciting year serving on the Steering Committee of the Resilient Communities Initiative—where I was able to bring lessons learned through Shore Up Marin (the equitable climate—especially coastal flooding & sea level rise—adaptation organization I co-founded in 2013) to San Francisco Bay Area efforts. I would love to connect with others in the Wes community who are working on climate, social equity, and voting rights issues. Emily and I celebrated two decades together not long ago and our son, a gifted mechanic and musician, is now in eighth grade. I made a whirlwind trip to New York and managed to sneak in a visit with David Milch ’89 while there.”

Kara Stern advises: “I am freshly relocated to Tel Aviv and would love to connect with anyone who might also be here! sternkara@gmail.com.” Joanna Martin shares: “I have spent the past 30 years in Berlin, Germany, and enjoy watching world history unfold from this vantage point.”

Bobbito Garcia is cohosting What’s Good With Stretch and Bobbito, a new National Public Radio podcast. Garcia is working again with his collaborator from the ’90s, DJ Stretch Armstrong. Garcia was on campus this fall to speak in the Sociology of Music in Social Movements class, taught by John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology Rob Rosenthal. Garcia spoke on the role of the music industry in presenting artists whose work has an underlying political theme.

Robert Wrubel’s Financial Freedom for Special Needs Families has been named a finalist in the 30th annual Independent Book Publisher’s Association Benjamin Franklin Award program.

Finally, Jenifer McKim lets us know she co-taught a class a writing class at Wes this spring which was “pretty fun.”

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

Kelly Washburn is “living in New York, working in fundraising in a private school. This summer I spent three weeks volunteering at Ritsona refugee camp in Greece with Echo100Plus. I’d be happy to share more about my experience with anyone who might be considering doing something similar: washburn.kelly@gmail.com.”

On Nov. 6, Paul Zoltan’s daughter, Natalia Charlotte Zoltan, was born. “With her birth through surrogacy, I’ve embarked on the adventure of single parenthood here in Dallas.”

Johanna Maaghul has “three kids in college now, two at Berkeley and one in Santa Barbara. I am continuing to enjoy my work as a literary agent with Waterside Productions and am excited to see more and more of my projects coming out in the world. I have also been doing some technical advising in the cryptocurrency and Blockchain space with a group of advisors in Germany called sicos.io, as well as helping to launch my husband, Rich’s company, odem.io in Switzerland, a beautiful country indeed. I will be spending a good part of the year there and would love to hear from any classmates also living there.”

Lisa Pavlovsky is “life-coaching and president of the board of my synagogue which is a full-time job, as is parenting two teen boys. Menopause and adolescence is not the best combo! Had a wonderful visit with Vivian Trakinski when she was in San Francisco for business lately. Feeling very much of the sandwich generation taking care of children and aging parents (my dad passed away a year ago), but feeling fortunate I live close to them.”

Mark Ungar published a book, The 21^stCentury Fight for the Amazon(Palgrave Macmillan), based on his work for the United Nations to develop environmental enforcement agencies in the nine countries of the Amazon Basin.

Holly Campbell Ambler and her husband live in Cambridge, Mass. One daughter lives at home and is in the midst of the crazy college search process. Their eldest daughter is an aspiring ballet dancer who is training with a company in New Jersey. Holly works as a clinical social worker with a focus on children and families, “a career I came to in mid-life which I am enjoying,” she writes. “I frequently see Trish and John Dorsey, Karen and Dennis Mahoney, and Michele Houdek and Doug Koplow, and enjoyed catching up with others at our Reunion last spring.

Claudia Center is still at the ACLU doing disability rights. “Our damages trial in the Kenton County, Kentucky child-handcuffing case starts this March. I also collaborate with MIUSA—in the past year I’ve traveled to Guatemala, Pakistan, and Mexico working on disability rights trainings partnering with local organizations. I’ve spent time IRL with Jennifer Bush, Jack Levinson, and Becca Gallagher, connected via FB to many more.

Hemanshu Nigam launched the Center for Online Justice (centerforonlinejustice.com) to help people who are being attacked, harassed, stalked, or victimized online. They help identify and bring justice in an area where anonymity and misconduct can rule.

Debby Hamilton moved from Colorado to Santa Barbara, CA a year ago to join a supplement company called Researched Nutritionals to help with product development, research and physician education. “I do that three weeks a month and then see patients in my integrative practice in Colorado one week a month. I am in Colorado long enough to bother my kids in college and make them spend time with me! Love missing winter and being able to go to the beach year-round after being land locked in Colorado for 18 years. Wendy Blum‘s mom is nearby so had a great visit with her family last summer. I welcome any visitors or alumni who are in the area to contact me.”

Ian Friday, associate director of The Colored Girls Museum, said the museum was created in September 2015 alongside Vashti Dubois ’83, executive director, and Michael Clemmons, curator. This memoir house museum is located in historic Germantown, Philadelphia, and celebrates the ordinary/extraordinary colored girl. This museum has been granted a 20k sponsorship by the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, which is led by Shawn Dove ’84, and reopens for weekly Sunday tours during Women’s History Month. The exhibition is Urgent Care, A Social Care Experience Part 2.

Sheila Rhatigan Arcelona writes, “Not much new, still busy and happy, living and working in the rapidly changing city of San Francisco. I still love my job as an administrator in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, which is always challenging and always interesting. Very proud of my old boss, Senator Kamala Harris, who was the district attorney who hired me 12 years ago. Which seems like last week—I can’t believe how time has flown by. My little daughter Angel is now 17 and all about finding the right college. I expect an East Coast college tour is on our horizon. Finally, just want to give a shout out to the Wesleyanmagazine for the excellent articles and especially the book reviews. I love reading about what our alumni are writing and I especially can’t wait to read Carolyn Tesh O’Doherty‘s upcoming book Rewind.”

Becca Wharton is “happy to report that my stepdaughter, Julia Jurist, was accepted early decision to Wesleyan and will begin in the fall as a freshman.”

Eileen Deignan writes, “It had been way too long since I had caught up with Elizabeth Saveri and Renee Fogleberg. I saw them in Pasadena and San Francisco respectively last summer. Johanna Van Hise and Simon Heartmake it to the East Coast most summers and we had a great mini-reunion with Suzy Walrath and her family in July. Sumana (Chandrasekhar) Rangashar checks in whenever she is in Massachusetts and we meet up in the Berkshires. Ira Skolnik keeps me up the date on Wesleyan as he has a son who is a freshman there now. We serve together on the state dermatology board. Ira is doing Wes proud as the current president.”

Alisa Kwitney has a young adult novel, Cadaver & Queen, coming out from HarlequinTeen at the end of February, and a prestige format comic book miniseries, Mystik U, coming out from DC Comics. is teaching graphic novel writing in the fall for Manhattanville College’s MFA program.

Ian Rosen has “joined forces with Arnab Bhattasali ’03, Souleymane Ba ’03, and Sisi Miteva ’15 as regional representatives for the Wes London/UK community. This is part of a push by Wesleyan to relaunch the international regional community groups. We’re planning some events and hope to entice the London, and broader UK, and maybe even European, Wes communities to attend.”

David Josephs has relocated to London.

Kevin Pratt writes that “it was a good year! Highlights included a family trip to Guatemala to visit an orphanage we’ve supported over the years. The trip included one-on-one Spanish lessons (yes—even for our 3-year-old). The kids also spent six weeks in Brazil with my wife, while I built out my music studio at home. I now have a great space to play, write, and compose. I’m in frequent contact with Roger Russell ’85, Vashti Dubois ’93, Ian Friday and had a lovely visit with Bennett Schneider ’86 in LA this past October. I’m already looking forward to the next Reunion.”

David Abramso nwrites, “I’m in my 17th year living in Washington, D.C., and working at the state department as a senior analyst on Russian foreign relations (no requests for written comment on life in the U.S. government please!). My family and I will be visiting Wesleyan on a college tour in New England during spring break in March for my elder daughter, Hazel, a high school junior. More than 30 years after graduating from the Russian department, it’s touching to know that four out of five of the same faculty members are still there. Between campuses, I plan to spend time in the Boston area with Becky Riccio, Skip Lockhart, and Jessica Miller, and hopefully will see Janet Ginzberg in Philadelphia on the way home.

Karen Sallick writes, “As of the new year I have switched from working mostly in my marketing consulting company of 20 years to working on my newly launched app. The change of focus is invigorating. I also realized that as I sent my kids back to college, I have likely spent the last big chunk of time with everyone home together. Over the past few years I have become more and more involved in donating my time to my local NPR station (WSHU) as I feel more strongly now than ever that more balanced and comprehensive news coverage is critical.”

Melissa Marks writes, “My exhibition Volitia Returnsat Planthouse Gallery in New York continues through the spring. In conjunction with the exhibition, the gallery will present Double Self Split, a film about my 2016 installation and exhibition inside the Castle of Vélez Blanco, Andalucia, Spain.While the installation in New York City draws energy from the dissonant confluence of bricks, fences, walls, and looping wires in a make-shift canyon on the back-side of a Tin Pan Alley row house in New York City, Double Self Split draws itself through a different set of material parameters, found conditions and cultural histories in the open courtyard of a Renaissance castle in Spain!

“I still live in Chelsea with my husband, Vicente Caride ’85 and our 16-year-old son Archie.”

John Fitzpatrick writes, “Last November, Chris Olinger organized a get-together on the Oregon Coast. Attendees in addition to Chris and I, were Andrew Grimaldi, Dave Cole, Jeff McCarthy ’89, and Michael Pruzan. Football on the beach, hiking, kayaking, eating, drinking, and reminiscing with the backdrop of the Pacific and sunshine made for a great long weekend.”

And finally, Amy Baltzell, has anew book coming out, The Power of Mindfulness: Mindful Meditation Training for Sport. “I also am now the president of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology. I have been spending some time with Susan Anthony, now an artist living on Cape Cod. Her work is beautiful.”

Take care!

Amanda Jacobs Wolf | wolfabj@gmail.com

Many thanks to the classmates who respond to my requests for updates for inclusion in the magazine (and online). Last year, 81 classmates were mentioned in our column, and this issue includes six reports from classmates who didn’t write last year. If you haven’t seen recent news from your friends, please ask them to submit something for the next issue or to post it on our Facebook group.

Marsha Cohen recently celebrated her 20th year in her dream job as executive director of The Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) in Philadelphia. HAP is a legal services agency annually assisting over 3,000 homeless individuals and families, youth aging out of foster care, and homeless veterans with their civil legal needs. On the personal front, she’s celebrating 21 years with husband Peter; and raising two boys, Max (17) and Will (15). “I continue to enjoy regular visits with my dearest friends from Wesleyan: Vicki Strauss Kennedy ’87, Margaret Hagar, and Rebecca McLeod-Barnett.”

For Mike Sealander, his work life has been the same for the last 17 years. “My wife Robyn and I have a small architecture firm in Ellsworth, Maine. Our work is largely in the education sector for area colleges and public schools. We do a fair share of science-related work, including a marine research and flowing seawater facility in Beals that is now under construction.”

Hunter Silides has moved toGreensboro, N.C., where she has been called to be chaplain for the Canterbury School. Canterbury is an Episcopal PreK-8 school on 37 wooded acres. “It’s my dream job. I took a risk this year and switched coasts to return to my first love, being an Episcopal school chaplain (I should say my first love as a priest!). Moving cross country with a husband and four kids is *hard* but worth it. Our daughters, Gracie and Hope, are both freshmen at historic Grimsley High School. Our eldest son, Stephen, is a freshman in the Flagship Chinese Program at San Francisco State and heads off to Taiwan in a few months. Our second son, David, will graduate from Claremont High in Claremont, Calif., in June and plans to go home to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks next fall. My husband of 20 years, George, can finally move here to Greensboro! Thanks be to God! This long-distance thing is not for me. I’m so grateful to be doing work I love, and to be supported by my wonderful family after all those years on the mommy track! I’ve enjoyed seeing Arthur Haubenstock ’84 and Judith Hill-Weld. I will miss visiting Bennett Schneider in LA. My kids absolutely adore him and I haven’t found anyone quite as colorful here in the ‘shallow south.’ Y’all come visit us, now!”

Alex de Gramont: “As an international arbitration lawyer, I travel constantly. In every region of the world I visit, even the most conservative people I meet are stunned by what is happening in the United States. I don’t know which is more difficult: trying to explain it while abroad, or having to face it when I return. The best (and only) escape, I suppose, is family. Our 17-year-old, Nicolas, is going to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., to study marine biology. Our 10-year old, Gabriel, is in fourth grade and wants to be an ‘animal scientist.’”

Margret Hagar:“I love my job as general counsel for Nobel Learning Communities, not least because I never know which challenge each day will bring. Erik and I are now empty nesters which is partly liberating but mostly strange. (We have two daughters; younger is a frosh now. Could not persuade either of them to apply to Wes, sadly.) Also experiencing déja vubecause our 21-year-old daughter is now spending junior year spring semester in Paris as I did. Revives vivid memories not just of the amazing time I spent there but the bonds formed in the Wes Paris program with two of the dearest friends anyone could ever have.”

Ethan Knowlden had the opportunity in July of last year to take his wife to see Wesleyan for the first time. “As we stood at the top of Foss Hill she commented on how small Wes looked. Of course, she’s a University of California, Davis grad where there are 35,000 students! I had a change of jobs in 2017, twice in fact. I started and ended the year at Medicines360, a San Francisco-based nonprofit pharmaceutical company whose mission is to expand access to medicines for women regardless of their socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, or geographic location. I head the legal and compliance functions there. But for five months I served as general counsel for Accela, Inc., a cloud-based software solutions provider, leading them through their acquisition by a private equity fund. I have to admit I prefer working for a mission-driven organization! Finally, we had the pleasure of having Kevin Freund visit us here California. And we enjoyed seeing Kevin’s parents while vacationing in Scottsdale, Az.”

Sam Connor: “During a spate of creative activity in the fall I finally launched some personal music projects that I have been writing and recording with friends and professional musicians over the years. Albums:Togo Songbook, Made in Burma, and several singles are finally up and available for free on Spotify and elsewhere. I credit Wes with promoting enduring creativity and meeting superb musicians who crushed it in the studio: Banning Eyre ’79, Ralph Gasparello ’84, Eric Rosenthal ’87, Simon Connor ’87, Dirck Westervelt ’82, and master drummer Kwaku Obeng Akoi ’14, and others all represented on the Togos Songbook, as well as singles “Allez Au Marche” and “Lost Man.“

Emily Cowan reports on her singing: “I’ve been enjoying writing songs for friends. Highlights: my sister’s wedding toast (did you know that the Yiddish word nachissrhymes with office?) followed by fifth and 10th anniversary songs to the tune of “Hello Muddah Hello Faddah,” a Haman song for a Billy Joel Purim spiel (“Only the Jews Get Hung”), a Bernie Sanders song to “Charlie Darwin” by The Low Anthem, and, while not a song, “Hillary R. Clinton Will You Please Win Now,” inspired by Dr. Seuss’s book “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now.” So nice to have a place to brag about my oeuvre!”

Best wishes for the summer,

Eric Howard | ehoward86@wesleyan.edu