Hope 2019 has been good to you and your loved ones . . . we appreciate the updates! The class of ’97 has at least two books coming out, so be on the lookout for them.
Lauren Porosoff and her co-author husband have a new book coming out in August called Two-for-One Teaching: Connecting Instruction to Student Values. Their book is an approach to instructional design to incorporate social-emotional learning into every stage of an academic unit. Looking forward to reading it. Congratulations, Lauren!
Larisa Ortiz has been on a speaking tour promoting her book Ecology of Place. She shared the stage with Colorado governor, and now presidential candidate, John Hickenlooper ’74! They chatted backstage about their Wes connection, which is always fun. Larisa always tries to connect with Dara Katz in D.C. and really enjoys keeping up with everyone’s lives on Facebook. “Keep the good news flowing everyone! In this day and age, we all need it.” Larisa lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, with her 9-year-old son, Xavier. After 11 years as a small business owner, she just sold her consulting practice to a D.C. firm called Streetsense and will now co-lead their Research and Analytics Studio, as well as their New York office. Great news, Larisa!
Wendy Paget Henderson is the child welfare director for the State of Wisconsin. She lives in Madison with her husband and spunky daughter and spends all her free time outside and traveling. Keep up the good work—wow!
Aileen Nagle McDonough is busy running her company, 3am Writers, in Rhode Island, and often travels to NYC for business if any Wes friends would like to connect. She was excited to watch Wesleyan win the DIII national lacrosse championship at Gillette Stadium and visited Wes campus to take her son, Shane, to a lacrosse prospect day. (Now, if that doesn’t make us feel old!)We all got super teary-eyed at the idea of taking our kids to see Wesleyan as an amazing prospective college. Keep the updates coming! We love to hear from you.
Happy June to all the ’96ers out there. I am writing these notes from Buenos Aires, Argentina—it’s my fourth time—magical city. Salute to Jason Rosado for giving me the skinny on the city of Buenos Aires a few years ago as I traveled to Argentina for the first time. Gracias, maestro.
Tom Constabile moved to New Rochelle and is vice president of business development, North American, for DAZN, a sports streaming service. He joined the BRC Leadership council with Miguel Guadalupe ’98. He still plays hoops and his 1-year-old son Tommy Jr. just graduated from preschool. Que cute!
Stacey Samuel is NPR’s supervising editor. She was nominated to participate in the U.S. Army War College’s National Security Seminar as one of the few civilians to attend, where she met with leading foreign policy thinkers, military commanders, and former U.S. top intelligence director James R. Clapper. Stacey is a longtime member of the National Association of the Black Journalists and she is the D.C. chapter leader for the German journalist exchange, Radio in the American Sector.
Christianne Renke, after completing culinary school, is opening a restaurant in Miami where she and her husband are developing a commercial waterfront property for boat enthusiasts and foodies.
Lauren Elmore earned a doctorate from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is now the director of academic administration of the MFA theater program at Columbia University. She is resident of Inwood, a great neighborhood in Uptown Manhattan.
Angela Tucker is a filmmaker in New Orleans. Her latest short documentary, All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk, got a lot of buzz.
Kristen Greenidge is a successful playwright living in Boston and teaching at Boston University.
Freddy Rolon is a vice president and general manager of ESPN Deportes overseeing all aspects of the ESPN Deportes business.
Shereem Brown will celebrate 20 years of marriage to his wife, Keri, in December. His son attends Georgetown Prep, where Dacque Tirado is a teacher and administrator.
Javaid Khan, whom I saw in December in Nashville at the NAIS/POCC conference is leaving his alma mater—the Bank Street School—and going to Horace Mann, where he will head the middle division. He is tapping into Wes talent base for his assembly speakers—Jose DeJesus ’97, the new head of Lake Forest Academy in Chicago, Stacey Samuel at NPR, and filmmaker Ben Selkow. He saw Shola Olatoye and Donaldine Temple ’95 at Alvin Ailey in New York and saw Kali Harrison ’97 out in California.
Daniela Bell ’96, MA’98 spent the last year living in Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico. She said it was an unbelievably amazing year. Her daughter, 10, has spent the school year at a local school, so now naturally she speaks Spanish better than her mother. They will head back to St. Paul, Minn., in July and will begin the work that goes into opening her husband Eric’s new restaurant.
Alissa Deitz sends greetings from Austin. She has been there for 10 years now. Although she does not know any Wes folks there, she still stays in touch with her roommates from frosh year: Jake Ward, Koyalee Chanda, Kate Baker, and Mara Kailin. They are hoping to rendezvous at the 25th Reunion. She is a tutor for children diagnosed with dyslexia. She read Ben Foss’s [’95] book, The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan, on the subject and it was immensely helpful.
Leigh Needleman and Andrew Frishman ’97 along with their two kids met up with Daniela Bell’s family in Oaxaca for a wonderful week of exploration and discovery. Steve Uydess and Leigh got to hang out for a few stinky days running a Ragnar relay in Oregon. Steve is a secondary school teacher at Highline School in Seattle where he lives with his wife, Gaby, and three kiddos. Leigh works at Harvard as a building designer. is now the sole scientist on the design team for a new building in Harvard’s new frontier in Allston.
Sara Kirchhoff Evans and Colby Evans are living in Edinburgh with their three children. They are having a great time exploring Scotland together and will return to Austin later this year.
Rallie Snowden adopted a baby boy last summer. Miguel will turn 1 in July and he is very loved by big sister Porter.
Big ups to Pritha Mittal’s election to Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees—so our class knows we have a voice. She is so excited to hear from anyone and everyone!
Michael Brotchner, Seattle resident, was hired by YouthBuild USA as its chief strategy officer, where he will be responsible for implementing the organization’s new five-year strategic plan and overseeing the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts.
Kem Poston ’97 is celebrating a productive second year as a LA transplant. He is enjoying his work producing unscripted docuseries and documentaries.
Hello again, fellow ’95ers! Bo writing this time. Next year is our 25th Reunion, so we’ll expect a lot more notes in the run-up to that milestone! Brief set this issue, so let’s get to it.
My old music-mate Giles Miller writes, “I don’t think I have ever submitted, but I always enjoy reading class notes. Here goes: Living in Los Angeles with my partner and two kids, ages 4 and 8, running a private investigations firm called Lynx Insights that I sort of inherited from Ed Morris ’94, working as a founding member of the nonprofit arts space Human Resources Los Angeles, and still playing the saxophone with friends around town.”
Amy Hundley and her partner, Kristabelle, adopted a baby! His name is Royal Harrison Keo Munson, born July 5, 2018. So far he enjoys apple sauce, attempting to stand, and the music of the Pet Shop Boys and Henry Mancini, especially “Baby Elephant Walk.”
Some news from Joshua Emmott: “I am in my 15th year as a history teacher and house head of a boys’ dormitory at Milton Academy just south of Boston. I have been incorporating travel to Jordan as part of my Middle East history courses, which has been a lot of fun. My two daughters are finishing sixth and second grade, and my wife travels a lot to Africa for public health work. About six years ago we finished restoring a small cottage on an island in Narragansett Bay, R.I., and now spend the summers gardening and fishing. My newest completed project was to restore an MGB, which I now aimlessly drive around on sunny days.”
Anne Bellows Lee is in Santa Monica with two daughters (6 and 8) and one husband and some cats, working at UCLA. She says she’s hoping to come to the next Reunion. Make it happen, Anne!
From Randy Lesnak: “I’ve been living in Mexico City for 10 years now, and yet my Spanish language skills remain shockingly low because I’ve been teaching English to businesspeople for almost eight years. But good news! My daughter Annika will be starting first grade, so there’s a good chance I’ll be learning something from her homework. My wife is an editor with Bloomberg here. In fact, will try to pepper the president with questions when he visits. We did enjoy time with Elena Pavloff ’96 last year during her visit, a culinary tour. She ate better than I do here!”
Andrew Hindman has worked in biopharma since graduating, and has accepted the position as CFO at Theravance Biopharma in San Francisco. This marks an exciting new chapter in his 20-plus year career in making medicines that make a difference! Personally, he’s been happily married (and legally married!) since 8/8/08 to Damien Wood, who runs their hospitality venture, Blue Door Group, in Mendocino, Calif. Together, they are raising an 11-year-old Yorkie Oscar who is the center of their family universe!
Finally, I heard from my long-lost pal, Masha Raskolnikov: “I am kept busy these days by my two 7-year-old daughters, who are absolutely the most fun I’ve ever had. I’m raising them with my ex, and while I wish I didn’t have to be a cliched divorcée, having them all to myself a lot of the time is really fun. I’m still teaching English literature and gender and theory and stuff at Cornell, and making a life in Ithaca, N.Y., with occasional visits to NYC.”
Greetings from Chicago! I (Samera) had a wonderful time attending our 25th Reunion over Memorial Day weekend. It was great to see and catch up with Steve Henn, Emily Henn, John Lewis, Jiyoung Lim, Charlotte Castillo, Tomer Rothschild, Aaron Yeater, Shalini Shankar, and many others.
Steve and Emily announced that their daughter will be attending Wesleyan in the fall!
Our class president, Charlotte Castillo, SVP, Global franchise planning at Viacom Nickelodeon Consumer Products, spoke at Reunion on a panel presented by the Wesleyan Alumni of Color Council, The Coloring of Corporate. Also, Tomer Rothschild and I received Wesleyan University Service Awards at our class dinner.
Shalini is a professor of anthropology and Asian American Studies at Northwestern University. She splits her time between Evanston, Ill., and Brooklyn.
In other news, David Nesbett was appointed by the Governor of Alaska as a trial judge in state court in Anchorage.
Ken Barnett starred in the acclaimed short film Lavender, which premiered this year at Sundance and was acquired by FOX Searchlight. Ken also will appear in a beautiful, new off-Broadway play, Novenas for a Lost Hospital, about NYC’s recently departed St. Vincent’s Hospital. It will be premiering at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in the West Village this fall.
Aram Sinnreich is an associate professor and chair of communication studies at American University’s School of Communication. His new book, The Essential Guide to Intellectual Property, was released by Yale University Press in May.
Adrienne Truscott finished a performance at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art theater. THIS was a one-woman show written, directed, and starring Adrienne. She is slated to perform another show at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in New York in September.
Kate Gordon has joined Governor Gavin Newsom’s staff as the director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research—a think tank within the governor’s office—as well as senior advisor to the governor on climate policy. Her job requires her to commute to Sacramento from Berkeley, where she lives with husband Gino Segre, kids Julia, 12, and Jacob, 8, and dog Mochi, 2.
Jesse Hendrich serves on the School Leadership Team of his local public school, PS 9, in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and is on the committee of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council. Last February, at the swearing in ceremony and “state of the district” address of New York State Assembly Member Walter Mosley, Jesse was given the Community Service Outstanding Achievement award for his work with both organizations (especially in the areas of public education and affordable housing).
Finally, for those who are not aware, our classmate Andrew Berends, Oscar-winning filmmaker died in March. His documentary Free Solo won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar earlier this year. Andrew’s first documentary Urk, about Dutch fisherman on the North Sea, was nominated for the International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Award and was awarded the International Documentary Association Courage Under Fire award for his film, The Blood of My Brother, about an Iraqi family whose son was killed by an American patrol. Andrew risked his life to tell stories that needed to be told. I urge you all to read the obituary that detailed his life’s work at independent.co.uk.
Hi, classmates. This month we have some exciting news. Thanks to the people who wrote in last minute with updates!
Jason Fischer is living in San Antonio with his wife, Sunny, and sons, Xavier and Kingston. He is a licensed professional counselor while finishing his doctorate in counselor education at St. Mary’s University.
Hadley Gustafson is enjoying a healthy summer in the forest of Upcountry Maui and enjoying documentary, corporate, academic, and magazine photo work on Maui, Oahu, and Big Island.
Michael Hanna has been working for many years as an independent medical writer and scientific consultant in the U.S., Germany, and other countries. He has published a book about medical scientific writing called How to Write Better Medical Papers.
Keith Hay joined the Polis administration in Colorado as the director of utility policy at the Colorado Energy Office. He writes: “I have enjoyed working on climate and energy legislation and serving as an expert witness at the state Public Utilities Commission.”
Sue Henshon’s newest book, Teaching Empathy: Strategies for Building Emotional Intelligence in Today’s Student, will be published by Prufrock Press in October.
Janice Jones is a clinical psychologist and faculty member at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. “I just married the man of my dreams, Zack Medway, whom I met in a yoga class (so very LA!). He came to Reunion with me last year and got a chance to meet some of our classmates before our big day, some of whom came out to celebrate with us, including Jaclyn Friedman, Geetanjali Chander, Jenny Simon Tabak, Larry Yang ’94, and Elizabeth Gilbert ’92. It was the most magical night of our lives!”
Tim Olevsky teaches band and coaches his middle school’s Knowledge Bowl team. “I’m excited to help train the next generation of nerds (or, rather, intellectually curious teens who are excited about learning and knowledge—you know, Wesleyan types)!”
Maren Roush has attended several workshops recently
Maren Roush, a business unit manager for NSF International’s Biosafety Cabinet (BSC) program, and husband Nick celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary. Their older son will attend University of Michigan and their younger son is entering seventh grade. “This past year has had me offering test sessions for BSC field certifiers—the individuals who perform field testing and maintenance on these important containment devices for microbiological and biomedical laboratories in Thailand, Singapore, England (on behalf of Mongolia and Kazakhstan), and India, with many future international workshops in the planning stages.”
Jodi Samuels is now a director of education at CalSAE (calsae.org) and is looking forward to coming back full circle to her education roots.
Matt Schneider and wife Jean welcomed their second daughter Harriet Saul McCombe Schneider on Jan. 13. “Hattie is is all smiles for her big sister Louise, now 3. Since expecting our second child wasn’t enough change in our lives, we decided that we should also buy our first home and move in, only weeks before Hattie’s birth. And since that wasn’t enough, I thought I would change jobs. And work from home. With a newborn. We live in Brooklyn.”
Emmanuelle Slossberg, husband Matt, and daughters Eva and Mae have moved from NYC to Westport, Conn. “Getting the best of both worlds—city and quiet. Madeleine Lansky hung out with us in January and it was great seeing everyone at the 25-year bash. I’m still the director of strategy for CetraRuddy and we are working on affordable housing projects with HPD.”
John Weathers is a senior researcher at the 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education (21pstem.org), where he led a study of teacher shortages in the Mississippi Delta, funded by the Walton Family Foundation and is part of a USAID-funded project developing innovative STEM public high schools and related university degree programs for educators in Egypt to teach students to solve the grand challenges of Egypt (e.g., lack of clean water, etc.), which has led to many students winning top awards at ISEF and beyond.
Anne Castaneda created CircleTales, a creative tabletop storytelling game, made of bamboo and printed with soy inks. It’s being marketing as an alternative to mainstream entertainment and it’s a great storytelling game for kids aged 9-plus and for adults of all ages. She launched a Kickstarter for it, too.
Michelle Gagnon’s next middle grade novel, The Echo Park Castaways (Harper Collins), will be released under the pen name M.G. Hennessey on July 7.
Lastly, there is sad news to share. Nicole Zell recently passed away. She was the devoted mother of three young boys and lived in Oregon. We will pass along more details when we hear them.
David K. Thomson was appointed to the New Mexico Supreme Court and took the oath of office in February. A Santa Fe native, David invites Wes alumni to apply for law clerk positions.
The year 2019 has brought a big change for Kim Buxenbaum, as she takes on the role of director of special education for the New Jersey Department of Education.
Due to the closure of his Boston Regional Office, Bill Kirsner transferred to his Federal agency’s D.C. Regional Office where he will continue to serve as a regional attorney. Bill has reconnected with some D.C. alumni and looks forward to seeing others in the area.
Monica Edwards Moody is a learning and development specialist for a local agency in the Atlanta area, while growing her business as a certified career coach and trainer at Owning Change. She’s served a number of Wesleyan grads (including me) through her business, from offering coaching and writing résumés to facilitating a group session last year for amazing alumnae in Turks and Caicos. Monica says, “Life in the ATL is pretty sweet, as I enjoy the fruits of a 22-year marriage and watch my girls morph into amazing young women.” The eldest completed her bachelor’s in 2018 from Barnard College and Columbia University and heads to Harvard to complete a degree in arts education. And the “little one,” a high school sophomore and soccer star, has her sights set on Stanford.
Sarah Hughes and husband Jeff Hughes ’93 live in Santa Monica, Calif., with their daughters, Maddie, 15, and Willa, 11. Last year, Sarah left the chief of staff position at KIPP Los Angeles Schools, and now works as a consultant to public school systems. Most recently, she assisted a local school district through a reconfiguration from K-8 schools to traditional elementary and middle schools. Sarah and Jeff spend lots of time on soccer fields, watching their daughters play and watching LA’s professional team, LAFC.
When Opium Moon’s eponymous debut won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album this year, “Thank you, Julie Yannatta” were the first words uttered by the band from the stage. Julie is founder and owner of the record label Be Why Music and this was the second time in three years that she heard her name from the Grammy stage. In 2017, the artist White Sun won Best New Age Album for the Be Why Music release, White Sun II.
Jonathan Moss is transitioning through a divorce by rowing, biking, whitewater kayaking, and working in health care finance in western Massachusetts. Friends and family help balance the new life, and the Wesleyan network plays a key role, as he rowed a double recently with Emma Koramshahi ’16.
Adam Wilbrecht is now a principal at Cuningham Group Architecture, where he focuses on tech innovations for buildings through the Internet of things and wellness monitoring.
Scott Moore joined Wynn Resorts as their chief marketing officer and splits his time between Las Vegas and Boston. Beth Haney wraps up her current role leading operations for The Works!, a children’s museum based in the Twin Cities and she’s looking forward to the next chapter as an empty nester. Daughter Lea ’21 will start junior year at Wesleyan where she studies theater and is actively involved across the arts community. Son Ryan begins his first year at Colby through the global entry program, spending his first semester in Salamanca, Spain. After more than 20 years in Minnesota, this autumn marks the first time when there will be more Haney-Moores outside the state than in it.
Michael Nachmanoff and Kiki Price Nachmanoff’s [’90] daughter Clara ’21 is also at Wesleyan. Their daughter Anna begins Tufts and plans to play volleyball, giving the family two NESCAC college students. Youngest daughter Charlotte starts eighth grade in the fall.
Dan Matz’s daughter is, you guessed it, starting her junior year at Wes, and his son will be in the class of 2023. After 20 years teaching at the same high school in San Francisco, Dan is taking leave to devote himself to woodworking and a bit of travel—a respite that’s been years in the making.
Maria Floyd Cohen reports from Oregon that her son Miles ’23 will be attending Wesleyan. Maria’s architecture business in Portland is doing well.
Michelle Wien teaches biology to postbaccalaureate premedical students at Bryn Mawr College, and has had the pleasure of teaching several alumni over the years. Michelle’s daughter, Julia ’23, is beginning Wesleyan in August.
Please, will someone start a Wes alumni kids spreadsheet for me? I’m losing track!
Joining the NESCAC drop-off parade, Lizandra Vega reports that daughter Julianna will attend Trinity in the fall on the 1823 Scholarship. She and husband Steve Brown live in Westchester, with son Christian, 10. Lizandra is as an executive search recruiter across the beauty, luxury, and lifestyle sectors, 22 years and counting!
Hi, all. Hoping by the time this arrives that everyone will have been enjoying the summer. Here’s what we have:
Becky Lloyd DesRoches is pursuing academics, music, and sports. Becky is a psychology professor at Regis College and lives in Lexington, Mass. Becky stays involved in several music groups and sports teams. In January, she performed Beethoven’s Mass in C Major as a soloist for the Lexington Pops chorus. Married to David, with two kids, she says she’s “still overextended but we try to get up to the White Mountains as often as possible for skiing, hiking, and other fun activities.”
Persis Howe, after living in London for 20 years and “finally dragging my family to the U.S. last year,” has been enjoying Berkeley and meeting up with Wes folks in the Bay Area.
Catharina Schuetz is an associate professor in pediatric immunology at Dresden University, taking care of children with rare diseases (immunodeficiencies and immune dysregulation syndromes). Catharina, who was an international student, plans to send her eldest son, Florian, to Wes for a year in 2022, as “I only have excellent memories from my two years there.” Catharina misses her friend April Cotte ’91, who passed away in 2018.
Sarah C. Townsend’s debut book Setting the Wire: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis was published in April by the Lettered Streets Press. The book weaves together personal anecdote, film, music, visual art, and psychology in its exploration of postpartum psychosis. Sarah writes, teaches, and practices psychotherapy in Seattle: sarahtownsendwriter.com.
Paul Nikitopoulos wrote in for the first time to share that, after years working in corporate law, mostly in New York, he went to business school and has been involved in plastics manufacturing and, more importantly, recycling (of PET bottles) in Southeast Asia. Paul plans to open a new facility within the next few months.
So long for now. Keep me posted. I always love hearing from you!
Sarah Sikowitz lives with her husband, Aaron, in her hometown, Cambridge, Mass., and works at Harvard Business School running the MBA career coaching program. Their son, Emmett, just started kindergarten at their neighborhood school and is loving it. Their daughter, Rose, just turned 3 and is having fun terrorizing the entire family! Also, in higher ed—Gabe Paquette and his family moved to Eugene, Ore., where Gabe is dean of the honors college at the University of Oregon. Gabe, Johanna Richlin ’08, and their daughter, Antonia, welcomed baby Reuben into their family in June. In related but unconnected news, Josh Goldshlagand his wife, Josiane, had a baby girl, Elin Santos Goldshlag, on July 8.
Kate Whitman Annis lives in Morristown, N.J., with husband, Craig, and their four boys: Clayton ,13, John, 13, Walker, 9, and Chase, 7. They all attend The Pingry School where Kate works as the associate director of advancement and the girls’ varsity ice hockey coach. This year, she joined the National Women’s Hockey League as the assistant coach for the Metropolitan Riveters. “For female players, being able to continue your hockey career after college is an incredible opportunity and the NHWL something I am really proud to be a part of.”
Despite January’s government shutdown, our Wes classmates move on. From Zack Becker: “Amy Martin won her election for district judge of the 263rd District Court here in Harris County and was sworn in on Jan. 1. Many thanks to the Wes’ers who helped with the campaign.” (#thisiswhy). Kenny Rios has accepted a new position at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Kenny is their new training program manager. Kenny is continuing a Wesleyan tradition—NCTC’s last director, Nicholas Rasmussen ’87, was also a Wesleyan graduate.
After 15 years at NPR, Alison MacAdam left the “mothership” to take on freelance work as an editor for audio documentaries (“which inevitably means podcasts, but still—radio is alive and well, too!”). Her first job was the podcast, Believed, about Larry Nassar and the women who took him down. “If you want to understand how abusers are able to act with impunity for decades, Believedwill give you a lot of powerful and poignant answers. Hit me up if you want to talk podcasting, narrative, audio journalism, etc.!”
Liz Garcia moved to Brooklyn with her family. She has two young boys and sees neighborhood Wes folk and their kids frequently. This includes but is not limited to Lauren Kesner, Amy (Abazzia) Rowland ’98, Elizabeth LeSure Epstein and Jim Epstein, and Chris O’Falt and his wife Maggie. “Two years ago, I made a movie staffed with young Wes people and shot by Andreas Burgess ’01 (cameo by his wife Sadia Shepard ’97!). I’m trying to figure out how to balance my love of my native East Coast and my West Coast career as a screenwriter/filmmaker. I’ll be at Reunion in the spring (my first!) and am really eager to see old friends.”
Great news! Alejandra St. Guillen is running for Boston City Council at-large. This is the seat formerly held by Ayanna Pressley who was just elected to Congress to represent Boston.
Ari Gerzon’s new book, Money Fit: Six Steps to Financial Well-Being, was just published on Amazon. He wrote, “The seeds of my book emerged 20 years ago, when I decided that I didn’t want to be a broke teacher and was not willing to sacrifice following my passion in order to make more money. I knew that I did not want money to become central to my existence, yet at the same time I wanted to use it to support my growth and well-being. Unfortunately, I had no idea where to start. My hunger to learn about the pathway to financial freedom started as a hobby and grew into an area of expertise.
“I wrote this book for three main reasons:
1) Most of the books about money are too complicated, long, or confusing. Our youth (and people of all ages) deserve information that is concise and clear.
2) I am saddened and motivated by how economic inequality is perpetuated due in great part to a knowledge gap. Young people of all backgrounds can pursue their dreams with greater intentionality if they have access to the key kernels of financial wisdom.
3) Most books about money are just about money. I wanted to write about the important link between financial literacy and overall well-being and growth.”
We hope many of you are planning to come to Reunion! Many of our classmates have been working for several months to plan special events and gatherings. It promises to be a great time to not only reconnect with old friends but to meet classmates that you never knew. Registration and more information about the weekend can be found at wesleyan.edu/rc.
As for your class secretaries, we just keep getting older. Darryl is awaiting another summer in Maine (the payoff for surviving winter in Maine). After six years building out an enterprise business at Zocdoc in NYC, Kevin has moved into an advisory role there and started his next chapter in health care. He recently caught up with Dave Katz ’97 and Chris Gaither ’97 in San Francisco while out there for a conference.
Hi, all. This time around I have a few updates to share as well. My husband and I opened our second café (Petite MarieBette) this winter. Hopefully by the time this is published, my stress levels and social life will be back to normal. I have also been elected board president of Meals on Wheels Charlottesville/Albemarle—an organization that I have been deeply involved with for the past three years.
Adam Borden was elected to the board of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, an Inner Harbor icon and leading aquatic conservation organization. After almost three years marketing McCormick spices, he is now looking for his next adventure. His family finally got the chance to go on their long-dreamed safari in December, seeing leopards and lions, as well as Nelson Mandela’s former Soweto home and Robben Island prison cell.
Anthony Veneziale got to speak at the Kennedy Center around his work on neuroscience and improv’s effects on the brain, plus do a freestyle rap. And Freestyle Love Supreme (with Thomas Kail ’99, Bill Sherman ’02, and Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02) has a sold-out run off-Broadway.
Rob Finn married Dan Shaver, in D.C. last year, and they celebrated with Allison Radecki, Neal Wilkinson, Steve Engel, and Becca Gerner. Sarah Maine ’99, was Rob’s “Best Maine.” Since moving to D.C. in 2014, Rob has worked in housing policy with the National Community Stabilization Trust and is leading the Legislative Affairs division of D.C.’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.
Lia Salza has been running Little Loft, the children’s art studio she founded in DC for the last six years, and raising three intense children. She sees Laura Polania and Rebecca Preiser, and stays in touch with Sarah Margon, Eliza Hersh, and Shai Rao. She met up with Justin Moyer and Harrison Owen last summer. She’s leaving behind her beloved Takoma Park neighborhood for a family move to Dallas in June. If you have any contacts there, she’d appreciate it because she currently knows zero people there, but she’s excited to be part of the blue wave in Texas.
Juniper Hill and husband Jesse started new jobs at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg in Germany. He teaches in the Mathematics Institute and she heads the ethnomusicology program. “I am introducing several curricular innovations (which are more in line with Wesleyan pedagogy then with conventional German musicological approaches).” They are busy learning German and adjusting to Franconian/Bavarian culture and enjoy having two academic positions in the same place. She is active in the Sacred Harp shaped note community and started a shape note singing class in Würzburg. Her new book, Becoming Creative: Insights from Musicians in a Diverse World, was published by Oxford University press. If there are any other Wes folk in the Franconian region, they would love to hear from you.
Adam Hinds was sworn in to his second term as a state senator in Massachusetts.
Matt Stromberg has been living in Los Angeles for the past seven years with his wife, Jessica, and their two dogs. Since receiving his master’s from USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism in 2014, he has been working as a freelance arts and culture writer, contributing to a wide range of publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Hyperallergic, the Art Newspaper, and several others.
Bishara Wilson completed his doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese medicine. He owns the Brooklyn-based New York Sports Acupuncture where he’s celebrating 16 years in private practice.
Dr. Nadine Forrester Mills earned her doctorate in education (curriculum, instruction, and assessment) from Walden University and would like to thank her loving husband, Gregory Mills; children Jevon Smith, A’ngelique Mills, Ashley Mills, and Anisha Johnson; parents Heroline and Arthur Standberry, grandmother Alberta Blake, and close friends for all their love and support throughout this accomplishment.
Abby Elbow is living her dream life in Anchorage, Alaska, after 15 years of talking about it. She spends four days a week working as a nurse, seeing moms and babies in their homes, and the other three romping in the greatest of great outdoors: hiking, camping, cross-country skiing, playing Ultimate, and just recently, curling! And with her brother and a whole host of family via his marriage here, she gets tons of niece time and chaotic dinner gatherings. She says you’re all invited to come visit. Abby has also agreed to help me with our class notes, for which I am very grateful.
Greetings, Class of 1997! Monica White wrote that in November, she was “delighted to host Matvei Yankelevich ’95 in Nottingham, U.K., where he gave several well-received talks at the University of Nottingham and a local independent bookshop about translation, small press publishing, and his own poetry.
She reconnected with former German House housemate, Nathan Eddy ’98, in London for dinner with his lovely family followed by a Wes-hosted reception with Professor William Pinch. She is looking forward to a year-long sabbatical starting to work on her next book. Monica is a lecturer in Slavonic studies at the University of Nottingham, where she focuses her research on medieval Russian and Byzantine history.
Josh and Maggie Suniewick are settling into life in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., after moving from Philadelphia two years ago. Josh shared that at our 20-year Reunion, he reconnected with fellow classmates and bandmates from The Solids (founded in 1996 at Wesleyan), Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. They decided to get the band back together, along with Pat Butler ’98. “If you are into hooky, melody-laced rock sprinkled with How I Met Your Mother references (courtesy of Carter and Craig) you can find out about upcoming shows in the NYC area at our website, thesolids.com. Remember, you are never too old to rock and roll . . . just remember to bend at the knees.”
Ben Helphand said he was honored to be part of the Next City Vanguard, Class of 2018, which is “a gathering of the top young urban innovators working to make change in cities.” As executive director of NeighborSpace, Chicago’s land trust for community gardens, Ben has helped create a network of community-managed nature play areas across Chicago. Instead of the traditional slides and swings, he writes that they borrow elements from the natural world—boulders and hollow logs—to allow children to work with loose parts and create their own worlds.
Go, Wes ’97!
Please e-mail us your updates and thoughts, books, movies, and TV recommendations. Sasha recently read and absolutely loved Katya Apekina’s The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, told from multiple narrators in one strange, artistic, amazing, and terrifying family, as they move between New York and New Orleans. Absolute page-turner, well told. What’s on your nightstand? (Or phone reader app?)
