Class Notes | 1990s

Greetings, all! It was so great so see so many of our class at our 25th Reunion in May. Drinks were flowing pretty freely so my recall of what everyone was up to may not quite be up to snuff, but I will do what I can. And if I didn’t get your news in this column, please write to Paul or me—especially if we haven’t heard from you for a while. It’s always great to hear from long-lost classmates!

With that in mind, I start off with Mary Newton Lima, who has written in for the first time ever (Go, Mary!). After living in Madison Wisc.; Miami, Fla. (where she got a master’s and met her husband); Boulder, Colo.; and Seattle, Wash.; Mary has been living on Cape Cod since 2003. She and her husband have two daughters. Mary works at a nonprofit organization focused on reducing the environmental impact of fishing industries.

After a long absence from the notes, Tony Brita caught me up on his life. He started a new job in March as an executive director at The NPD Group, which is a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. His eldest son, Teddy, is finishing up his first year at Regis High School in New York City.

More news from the longtime MIA! Chris Arndt and his wife, Patty Jen Arndt, have two boys, Alden (7) and Graham (6). Chris spent most of his time in New York, helping to grow an investment management firm, but left in 2010 to work on clean energy. In 2015, Chris and Patty moved to Telluride, Colo. Chris continues to work on clean energy issues, and also wrote a book, The Right’s Road to Serfdom, The Danger of Conservatism Unbound: From Hayek to Trump.

Matt Glotzer is the CFO and head of Strategy of Intertrust, a tech company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., although he lives in Scarsdale, N.Y., with his wife, son and daughter. Also in the New York area, Sasha Wilson, the co-director of the Bronx Community Charter School, lives in the Bronx with his wife and two daughters.

My Clark 3 roommate, James Wilton, is Collabera’s national account manager. He handles IT staffing and professional services placement. He has a large team across the U.S. and travels to a variety of destinations including San Fran, Dallas, NYC, and Chicago. James’s son, Jack, 16, is just about ready to drive. His middle daughter, Carley, is 13 and his youngest, Lola, is 11. In other Clark 3 news, Karen Salvini and her husband live in California and just celebrated their 18th anniversary.

Simon Fulford moved to Portland, Ore., last July with his wife, Clare, and two of his three sons. Simon is working on criminal justice reform efforts and is loving being back in the U.S. after 12 years in the U.K.

Alison Miller got tenure at The University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her daughter, Ella, just graduated from eighth grade. Her son, Wesley, finished third grade and is a massive basketball fan—taking after his dad, Scott (a fact I can attest to on both counts).

In further news on the academic promotion front, Shura Pollatsek just got promoted to full professor of costume design at WKU, and is working on a second book.

Tamara O’Neil is retiring from the military in 2017, after 20 years as a Navy JAG and excited about taking the next step in her career, which is TBD. In January, Kate Edwards started as a research scientist at Datacolor, where she makes instruments to measure the color of paints and textiles. She still lives in Pennington, N.J., with her family. Also on the East Coast, this fall Diego von Vacano ’93 will be a visiting associate professor of political science at Yale.

Wendy Moore Hershey reports a plethora of life changes. In 2016, she remarried and she joined Asset Consulting Group. She is a consultant to nonprofit foundations and endowments, but will also work with family offices and private clients.

Dan Fortmann moved to Paris last year and has been front office manager at Hapimag since January. Anyone who is planning a trip there should look him up!

In other globetrotting news, Elizabeth Liang has continued to tour her intercultural solo show, Alien Citizen: An Earth Odyssey, which has been all over the U.S., Panama, Iceland, Spain, South Africa, and Singapore. It was made into a movie that will be available on DVD this summer.

I close with news of additions to the Wesleyan family. Sarah Tunik teaches high school English and lives in the Bay Area with her husband, Dan Oppenheimer ’89. Their eldest son, Simon ’21, is headed to Wesleyan this fall!  Also joining the campus is David Meek’s son Daniel ’21. David’s wife is Lisa Brown ’90, so that’s two multi-generational Wesleyan couples in one class!

That’s all for now. Be sure to keep Paul and me updated with your news!

Adam Berinsky | berinsky@mit.edu 

Paul Coviello | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

Michael and Kiki Price Nachmanoff ’90 announce that their oldest daughter, Clara ’21, will attend Wesleyan as a member of the Class of 2021. By my count, there are now three kids of 1991 class members who will graduate at our 30th Reunion!

Michael also reports that after serving as the federal public defender for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) from 2007 to 2015, he became a U.S. magistrate judge in the Alexandria Division of the EDVA in March of 2015.

Halle Stanford, with the Jim Henson Company, is executive producing a new series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, for Netflix. Son Max just finished his freshman year at Skidmore College and son Theo just finished kindergarten.

After a period of wandering, which involved three moves in 18 months, Scott Timberg and his family have settled back in LA, in a house near USC with a garage big enough for his books and guitars. Scott, who is working as a freelance writer, will be speaking on his book, Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class, at a conference in Ireland. The Timberg clan saw Jim Miller during a visit to Joshua Tree.

Yvonne Brathwaite is the new director of programs for Global Kids, a nonprofit educational organization that helps young people in NYC and D.C. build knowledge and skills needed for lifelong success, and to participate effectively in the democratic process. Yvonne interacts with two Wes alumni, principals at schools with Global Kids programs: Luis Genao at Manhattan East and Dave Vazquez at the Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists.

Todd Denmark vacationed in Florida, visiting his parents, bowling in the International Gay Bowling Organization tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, and topping it off with a five-day cruise.

Brian Howell writes that Marissa Sabio ’89 is now a program director with Outreach Community Ministries, a new position within an organization she’s been with for 10 years. Their daughter, Hannah, will be a senior at Whitworth University, looking at law schools, positions in the Washington state legislature, and running for Spokane city council in 2020. Sam, 17, is planning to launch his music career, and Ben, 14, starts high school, and hopes to join the state champion bass fishing team.

George Irvine writes that Wendy Bellion was promoted to full professor and a named professorship at the University of Delaware. Their son, Luke, is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, and has vast knowledge of the history of Korean martial arts.  Their son, Griffin, is a star Little League pitcher. Meanwhile, George is halfway through his dissertation on the changing public roles of American research universities and chairs his city’s conservation advisory committee, promoting sustainable energy and land use in their corner of Delaware.

Rebeca Rumayor completed the CLEO pre-law program at NYU Law School to better prepare for law school, while her son, James, attended YMCA sleepaway camp, judo day camp, and Writopialabs Day camp.

Gregory Mandel is now dean of Temple Law School.

Will Barry is now a member at Miller & Chevalier, advising clients on issues involving white collar and securities enforcement, transactional due diligence and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, money laundering, economic sanctions, and insider trading requirements.

Lizandra Vega has joined DHR International as an associate partner in the consumer and fetail practice groups.

Dan Levine and family returned to Bethesda, Md., after a year-long assignment in Chennai, India, where Dan managed leadership development and operations for a technology office The Advisory Board Company has there. Dan has been at ABC 22 years.

Cryptic Michael Reinke writes that he is “enjoying life in the second largest city in northern New England, has seen countless concerts of obscure artists, and has biked 4.3 earth units since 2010.”

Now for the “leaving government” section: Jim Ghiloni is now director of strategy and management consulting for Wolf Den Associates in Virginia. His oldest just completed freshman year at Lafayette College, and he will be visiting Wesleyan with his youngest, “where I look forward to getting a formal campus tour, something I’ve never actually done.“

Dan Prieto is now an external senior adviser to McKinsey & Company, and serves as an advisory board member and consultant for several early stage Silicon Valley tech companies, with a focus on artificial intelligence and security. Dan is an adjunct senior research scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Dan and his wife, Adele, had their second child, a daughter, in May.

Spencer “Kip” Boyer took a more extreme approach, and fled across the northern border with his Canadian spouse, who wanted to use this moment in history to give the family a Canadian experience. Spencer’s splitting his time between Montreal and D.C., doing transatlantic relations and security work with the Brookings Institution, Georgetown University, and consulting firms.

Bruce Peabody and Stephanie Lodish celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in August. Over the summer, they will visit Alexander Parsons, Aimee Blanchard Parsons, and their children, all future Wesleyan artists-in-residence.

Bruce, along with Jeremy Sacks, Bobbi Adams, and Jerome Copulsky attended Professor Finn’s retirement party in New York. Jeremy writes, “Finn’s comments—and the fact of the gathering itself—reminded everyone of why we went to a small, liberal arts college.” After the event, Jeremy and Jerome caught up with Sam Schneider.

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

NEWSMAKERS | 1990s NEWSMAKER NICOLE CURVIN ’90 Nicole Curvin ’90 was promoted to director of undergraduate admissions at Middlebury College in Vermont. Since 2014, she has been associate director of admissions and coordinator of multicultural recruitment. Previously, Curvin worked for many years with a variety of student populations, from high school students and adults returning to school to artists and designers at the New School (Parsons and Eugene Lang College), Marlboro College, New York University, and the University of Vermont. At Wesleyan, Curvin majored in English, and she holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.

Hi, all! I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer. Here’s the latest.

Meg Steele and her husband are relocating to Bath, Maine, after a two-year cross-country trip in a restored Airstream. The trip included a stint as a national park ranger in Vermont and time volunteering at an Oregon lighthouse and tide pools. Meg still works in education and is “hoping to do some rowing up here, along with lots of sailing.”

Jim Desmond is teaching at the Parker Charter Essential School in Devens, Mass. He’s been there for six years teaching arts and humanities. “My inaugural session of a ukulele elective was mad popular, and I had a blast helping kids play and write songs when not teaching The Odyssey and the end of U.S. slavery. Who knew I would love teaching teenagers so much?”

Page Fortna continues to split time between NYC, where she’s a professor of international relations in the political science department at Columbia, and Portland, Ore. She and her husband, Pete Beeman, migrate between NYC for most academic years and Portland for summers and the occasional sabbatical year. She was touched by the representation of Wesfolk, including from far afield, at her father’s memorial service this spring—Sarah Travis Buck, Carolyn Clark and Dave Patterson, Amy Robins, Jeff Lewis, Ethan Flad ’89, and June Lee ’88. And a quarter century later, Page still gets together one weekend a year with Sarah Travis Buck, Carolyn Clark, Amy Robins, and Amy Scanlan.

After living in Zurich, Switzerland, for almost two years, Stacey Rouse Kruckel will be changing countries again. Stacey has accepted an offer as the chief marketing officer at a consulting firm in London, and “will relocate to that fine city with her husband, two sons and dog. Wes folks who will be passing through London are welcome to visit us.”

Tim Corkran reports (via his father John Corkran ’58), that a team of eighth- graders from the school he heads, Capital Day (PK-8) in Frankfort, Ky., earned a $20,000 prize from Verizon for developing an app, Waste Free America. The app alerts homeless shelters and soup kitchens when restaurants within a 10-mile radius have leftover food available for pickup. The idea developed during an eighth-grade trip to Chicago, where the students were struck by the plight of the homeless. The students will work with engineers from MIT in perfecting the app and make a presentation to a national audience in Orlando, Fla., in June. Tim, who has been head at Capital Day for two years told local media, “We focus on teaching kids how to think and be independent learners…It produces things like this.”

James D. Rosenblatt says, “Hard to believe our oldest graduated college over Mother’s Day from Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. Her two younger siblings survived freshman year at Sarah Lawrence and junior year at a local high school.” The law firm that James started 12 years ago now employs eight attorneys and is a full-service business-oriented law firm in San Antonio.

Cari Medd wrote about a new documentary featuring Jill Sung and her family. “Jill was one of my roommates at Wes and I always admired her toughness and devotion to family.” The documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, chronicles the five-year prosecution of the Sung family’s bank, Abacus Federal Savings Bank, following the 2008 financial crisis. Abacus Bank is a small community bank founded by Jill’s father over 30 years ago to serve the Asian-American community in NYC, and remains the only bank prosecuted in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The family’s ordeal culminated in 2015 with a five-month jury trial where Abacus and the Sung family finally prevailed on all counts. The documentary, which was filmed during the trial, is directed by Steve James (Hoop Dreams and Life Itself), and has just been released (abacusmovie.com). Watch it Sept. 12, on PBS’s Frontline.

That’s all for now. I hope everyone enjoys the remaining days of summer. I will be back with more news at the end of the year. Please feel free to write anytime.

Vanessa Montag Brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

Greetings ’99ers! We’re either so busy surviving the throes of the “sandwich” years between caring for younger children and aging parents, or everyone in our class is starting a company in stealth mode and doesn’t want to talk about it. Only a handful of submissions this time. If you enjoy reading this column, please take a few minutes to send us your update for the next column. Most of us recently turned 40 or are about to. Why not share what you’re doing for your 40th? It’s only through your submissions that we have anything to write! On to the news:

Eli Beckerman was excited to share the news that he got married this fall in the Berkshires, to the lovely Lauren Greenberg. The couple was thrilled to celebrate with Greg Brodsky, Matt Thomas, Adrienne Woike, Amy Schneider, Justin Lee, Roger Yang, and Ben Welch ’98. Eli also shared that Zi Mei, who got married last fall, “is the beaming new father of Hunter.”

Jennifer Massie finished her second master’s in August (first one was social work, second one in behavioral health). And on Oct. 6, her first child, Eli Joseph Massie-Sage, was born.

Darryl Uy and Bob are enjoying newlywed life during their first winter in Lewiston, Maine, where Darryl is the new director of admission at Bates College. I (Kevin) still enjoying the madness of balancing life in a growth company (Zocdoc, best way to find a new health care provider!) and a growth family (three kids between ages of 4 and 5).

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

Kevin Kumler | kevinkumler@gmail.com

As I (Marcus) write this edition of our class notes, I await a visit by Michael Roth ’78 to San Francisco where he will discuss Wesleyan’s “Beyond 2020” vision and plan. Wesleyan has built generations of leaders who are able to work across disciplines and sectors, apply critical thought to the world around us, and compel others to action through articulation of a clear, inspiring vision. It’s clear to me that now, more than ever, these qualities are important to build a more just world—and it’s heartening to see our classmates work so hard to make a positive difference in a variety of ways.

In November, Brooks Berndt and Romarico “Chief” Nieto were part of a delegation that met with leaders from both the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the demonstrators opposing the Dakota access pipeline. Based in Cleveland, Brooks is the minister for environmental justice for the United Church of Christ. Together with Chief, owner and operator of Apache Stoneworks in Denver, he sought to spread a message of peace, prayer, and justice.

Jack & Louisa: Act 3, by Andrew Keenan-Bolger and Kate Wetherhead ’98, is the third in the popular middle school series about two musical theater nerd best friends from Penguin Young Readers.

I enjoyed a fancy breakfast with Kate Haviland, her husband, Edo, and their new son, Elan, while Kate visited San Francisco for a conference. Based in Boston, Kate is chief business officer for Blueprint Medicines, a biotechnology company focused on an innovative approach to treating diseases driven by the abnormal activation of kinases, like cancer.

Over the past few months I’ve had the chance to see Lindsey Fitzgibbons and her family. Lindsey and her husband, Mike, are raising two beautiful boys while she continues to work in the health and wellness field in San Francisco. She is a practicing depth hypnotherapist who helps her clients heal traumas, work through current and past relationship issues, and recognize and address destructive patterns.

Thanks to my work with Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, I am lucky to be in near-constant contact with Makaela Kingsley, whose leadership and mentorship continue to amaze me. If you haven’t had the chance to meet some of the Wesleyan students and recent alumni who have learned from Makaela and her network of social entrepreneurs, I highly encourage you to do so. You’ll undoubtedly feel the same sense of hope and optimism I feel after my meetings and conversations with these inspiring students.

It’s a short and sweet edition of class notes this round. Please send your news to me and Jason!

Marcus Chung | marcusbchung@gmail.com 

Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com

Happy spring, everyone! We’re looking forward to seeing you in Middletown at Reunion, May 25-28. We’re already planning to be in line at O’Rourke’s early on Saturday morning.

Kenneth Andersen writes in: “I’m going on 15 years in Mexico City, which is hard to believe as I write this. My wife and I have two beautiful children that keep us busy, ages 5 and 3. I started an organizational development consulting and executive training business a few years ago, Conversari Communication, following my passion in building bridges between Mexico and the global marketplace. It’s starting to thrive, and despite what election results would have you believe, we expect good things to happen in Mexico in the coming years. If you’re passing through town, I’d love to hear from you!”

Cary Kleinman and his family are living in Cheviot Hills, Calif., “around the block from Ben Lee ’95.” Cary and his wife have two children, Ethan, 2, and Sloane, 4 months. He works as a managing director at Oaktree Capital Management.

Hope to see you in May!

Jessica Shea Lehmann | jessica.lehmann@gmail.com

Sasha Lewis Reisen | alewisreisen@gmail.com

Greetings! Here’s the latest from our classmates:

Kate Baker is living on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, where she runs a small B&B in the town of Punta Mita. In November, she gave birth to her first child, a girl. She’s enjoyed visits from Wes friends Koyalee Chanda, Alissa Pines, Jody Kuh ’95, and Jason Blalock ’94.

Kristin Mercer just spent a sabbatical last year in Vancouver. While there, she and her family had a West Coast reunion with Miriam Colvin ’98, Dan Helfet-Hilliker, Mike Cantor, and their families.

Pam Alt writes: “I have been living in Seattle for almost 18 years. Fourteen of those years have been spent as an acupuncturist in private practice, a challenging and rewarding field. I do a lot of work with pregnant women and have been blessed to attend and assist in many births. I have an adorable 77-pound rescue dog, Archie, who keeps me active, and a niece and two nephews living in Boise whom I don’t see often enough. Same is true for all you lovely Wes folks. I think of you often and wish you love, laughter, peace, and health in these challenging times.”

From Bill Macomber: “I’m heading up to Sundance next week, to premiere a film that I am co-producing, directed by Miguel Arteta ’89, and written by Mike White ’92. It’s called Beatriz at Dinner, and it stars Selma Hayek as a massage healer who gets trapped at a conservative dinner party with John Lithgow, who plays a real estate developer in the mold of Donald Trump. The film should be in theaters later this year.”

The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens & Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity, a comprehensive workbook for transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) teens, by Rylan Jay Testa PhD, Deborah Coolhart PhD, and Jayme Peta ’96 MA, is out now from Instant Help Books/New Harbinger Publications.

Margaret Wright and her husband, Jon, welcomed their second child, Lily Katherine, in July 2015. Lily joins big sister Olivia, age 5, and canine sister, Kaylee. Margaret works as a senior research associate at the American Academy of Pediatrics and is always looking to connect with Wes folks in the Chicago area.

Jimmy Liao is happy to announce that he received tenure in the department of biology at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He works at the Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience, which is on the beach in St. Augustine.

And last but not least, news from the NYC area:

Benjamin Meyer reports: “My wife, Beth, and I have spent the last year-and-a-half having a NYC adventure. We came here from Los Angeles, with our 4-year-old son, Bash, so that Beth could write for the ABC show, Quantico. Maybe we will be back in LA in a few months. Maybe we will stay forever. My feature, Fools, did the festival circuit last year, is now available on Amazon Prime, and will be on iTunes in March.”

Ben Selkow and Katharine Bailey ’97 and their two children moved from Brooklyn to Montclair, N.J., in December 2015. Ben writes, “Kat is at The Wall Street Journal. I came off of 2016 having directed one feature documentary on PTSD, Buried Above Ground, and produced another on Dominican and Haitian deforestation, Death by a Thousand Cuts, which I made with director Jake Kheel ’99 and won the Audience Award at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival. Looking toward 2017, I directed all six episodes of a forthcoming docu-series on religion, faith, and spirituality for CNN called Believer with Reza Aslan that premieres in March. I worked with really brilliant minds in executive producer and showrunner, Liz Bronstein ’89.” See the trailer: cnn.com/shows/believer.

Shola Olatoye tells us that she, Matthew Strozier, and their three kids were happy to host Phil Choi ’95, his wife, Sue, and their two children over the holidays for a BBQ dinner.  They were joined by Tracey Gardner, along with Randy Slaughter, her husband, and their daughter.

Barrett Feldman married Glenn Halpern in September. In attendance from the class of 1996 were Sabrina McCormick, Sheilaja Rao, and Carrie Adler. Professor David Schorr signed the ketubah as one of two witnesses. Barrett has moved her office, PSF Projects, from Brooklyn to the Soho/Chinatown/Noho area. Her architecture firm recently hired their first Wesleyan graduate, Evan Ortiz ’16.

Thanks to everyone who sent in updates! Keep them coming!

Dara Federman | darasf@yahoo.com 

Dacque Tirado | dacquetirado@yahoo.com

Katy writes for this issue: I’m excited to be sharing your news. Lots to report in 2017!

Leigh (Copperman) Burchell writes: “Life remains groovy down here in North Carolina. Chris ’96 and I are kept busy by our three kids and spend a lot of time at lacrosse tournaments.  Our oldest started high school this year and has her eye on Wes for the film program. The election process was a doozy, both because we are passionate opponents of HB2, the so-called ‘bathroom bill’ here in N.C., but also because of my role running government relations for one of the world’s largest health IT companies. The positive is that my job is never boring!”

Rebecca Fulop writes: “I teach science at Mission High School in San Francisco where I’ve taught for the last 13 years. Recently a book was published about the teachers and remarkable students there (Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph, by Kristina Rizga). I have a 3-year-old daughter and live in Oakland with my husband. I’ve bumped into other Wes grads in our neighborhood.  We bought a fixer-upper a couple of years ago so our free time is completely spoken for!”

Sarah Yuhas Kirn writes: “I am currently serving as the acting assistant commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and enjoying life in Concord with my husband, Josh Kirn ’94, and two daughters.”

Ken Kwiatkowski writes: “Announcing the birth of our second child, Adam, born on Jan. 4.  My wife, Anna, and our first son, Roman, and I, are living in Jersey City, N.J.”  Congratulations, Ken!

Julia Lazarus writes: “I kicked off the new year by spending a lovely long weekend with Tammy (Tracy) Sufi ’94 and our mutual friend Sasha O’Connell (Barnard ’94) in Austin, Texas. Much has changed since we lived there in the 1990s, but still full of music, food, and dancing. In December in San Francisco, I got together with Christine O’Brien, Sarah Zaner ’94, and Zeke Volkert ’96; always a treat. And back in Providence, where I am assistant director of online learning and innovation at Brown University, I’m happy to have terrific Alison Perry ’94 in town, and Claire Reardon ’94 not too far away in New London. Appreciating the ongoing pleasures of the extended Wesleyan crew.”

Ben Lee writes: “Life is good in Los Angeles.  About a decade ago, I traded being a lawyer for brokering residential real estate. The market is booming and I have been busy with a development side business. I have a wife and three great sons. I stay active with Wes by hosting its Annual Admissions Reception for LA applicants every year, so look for it in October because alumni are always included.”

Jason Segal writes: “All good on this front, with fun time with family (Julia is now 3 and tri-lingual—English, Hebrew, and Spanish), and Ari is 11/2 and the smartest/sweetest kid ever. After eight years doing environmental finance, I co-founded a merchant bank called Swift Current focused on the same sectors—starting to really go well. Not seeing enough Wes folks, so please reach out!”

Stacy Theberge writes: “I’m still living outside of Portland, Maine, running after a busy 2-year-old and working with my husband at his animation company, Little Zoo Studio. We worked on the film Rock Dog, which came out in February. If you haven’t seen it yet, track it down! It’s good!”

Lara Tupper writes: “I just got engaged to (singer-songwriter and lovely human being) Bobby Sweet! We live in the Berkshires and often perform together as a guitar-vocals duo. I teach writing workshops at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and I’m at work on a new book, a memoir/ghost story. I loved reading (former Clark 4 resident) Dave Biello’s The Unnatural World. Kudos!”

Matvei Yankelevich writes: “I’m in New York these last 20 years. I am a founding member of the editorial collective of the non-profit Ugly Duckling Press, soon to celebrate 25 years since its inception as a zine at Russian House at Wesleyan. We publish poetry, translation, essays, performance texts, and books by artists. I teach translation at Columbia University and I’m on the writing faculty at Bard College. My novella-in-fragments, Boris by the Sea, was just re-published in a new edition. I recently had dinner with Simone White ’93, now program director for the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church.”

Keep sending us your news and updates—we’d love to hear from you!

Bo Bell | bobell.forreal@gmail.com 

Katy McNeill | mcneill40@gmail.com

Welcome to the latest edition of the class notes. As I (Caissa) write to you (in mid-January), the weather in NYC area continues to vacillate between imitating spring and then suddenly dropping to Arctic temps.

Ethan Hollander is teaching political science at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. He says, “I loved learning at a liberal arts college, and figured there’d be nothing better than actually teaching at one.” His book just came out, Hegemony and the Holocaust: State Power and Jewish Survival in Occupied Europe, and he explained that “there aren’t many political scientists who approach historical topics like the Holocaust, but with my CSS background, the interdisciplinary approach came naturally.” He and his wife, an economist, who also works at Wabash, live in a beautiful house that is walking distance from work, along with their pet snake named George Michael.

Lin (Zhong) ter Horst is still on Maui, working on her fruit confections. Lin and her husband started Maui Fruit Jewels when they moved from China to Maui. It was a finalist for Best Product and Startup of the Year awards in 2016 from the Hawaii Food Manufacturers Association.

Jesse Hendrich is the PTO co-president for his kids’ public school in Brooklyn (PS 9) and is excited to be doing race and racism awareness workshops for staff, parents, and kids this coming month. The school has become a regular setting for affordable housing workshops on a monthly basis in an effort to preserve diversity and equity in the school and neighborhood. Jesse has been in touch with a few ’94 alums: Jonah Ross, Mark Ladov (who lives down the street), Scott Rosenberg (check out his podcast, the History Channeler), Aaron Passell, Nicole Davis, and many more here in Brooklyn. “Also, I am friends with many younger Wesleyanites like Scott Dvorin ’00 and Carolyn Cryer ’01, who are active parents in the PTO.”

Kristy Scanlan serves as co-president of the non-profit organization, Women in Animation (womeninanimation.org) in her spare time. In the past three years, membership has grown to 1,500 members. Her day job is VP of business development for the animation and games group at Technicolor in Hollywood.

Michelle Harris Silbert enjoyed returning to work after a 10-year break raising her daughters. She has made a career shift from social work into career and life coaching. She especially enjoys coaching women in transition, and college students with ADD/ADHD, and find this work both creative and rewarding. Her company is called Ignite Your Sparks! Holistic Career Coaching. Michelle is based in Acton, Mass., but also works by phone and virtually.

Larry Sidney shared big news that he and his wife Kerstin are pregnant with their first baby, due in March. He writes, “Can’t wait to be a dad!” He is competing for the Israeli National Skeleton Team, spending the winter traveling to bobsled tracks around the world, typically training for three days, and then racing for two. Larry is hoping to crack the top 100 in the world this year, with a shot at the Olympics next year. He reconnected with his best friend from Wesleyan, Kristin Gross. “It turns out that she is on the West Coast like me, and doing quite well. After 20-plus years, it’s great to have my Wes friend back!”

Matthew C. Solomon left government service after 15 years at the Department of Justice and the SEC to join the law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton’s D.C. office as a partner.  While he is sad to leave the government, he is excited for the opportunity to practice law at a terrific firm.

Ken Barnett is proud to be performing off-Broadway this spring in The Light Years, a sharp, original, and moving new play by The Debate Society, at Playwrights’ Horizons.

So long for now. Looking forward to hearing more from you all. Send Samera and me your news, notes and updates—we’d love to hear from you.

Samera Syeda Ludwig | ssludwig@nixonpeabody.com

Caissa Powell | cdp2000@hotmail.com 

Hi, all! Here are the latest updates from some of your classmates:

Karen Powell is serving as the inaugural Forge Innovation Clinic Fellow at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, working with fellow law faculty to build a new entrepreneurial law clinic. As of March, she’ll be moving with her family to Melbourne, Australia, to teach tax law at Deakin University’s law school. Any Wes alums in Melbourne? Find her at kp@renthelena.com. Don’t worry, the distillery she founded in Montana is in good hands with new owners.

And speaking of Australia, Jodi Samuels writes, “My spouse, Evan, and I spent the holidays this year in Australia, starting in Melbourne and then heading to Sydney to celebrate New Year’s Eve. I’m about to mark my five-year anniversary at the California Primary Care Association (CPCA), where I’m the deputy director of development and training. I’m responsible for all of our grants management and stewardship, and I also supervise our statewide training and education program, which provides Web-based and in-person learning opportunities for staff and leadership at more than 1,100 health center sites across the state.

“Outside of CPCA, I’m a volunteer at WEAVE, a local non-profit that provides services to women, children, and families who are survivors of domestic violence or abuse. I’m taking Spanish classes at a local community school and trying to work on my pronunciation so that I don’t speak Spanish with a French accent! French is my “first” second language, as I earned my PhD. in French Literature. I continue to enjoy life here in Sacramento with Evan and our two adorable feline fur babies, Calypso and Captain Jack.”

Noah Rosen became the chair of the Academic Headache Center Consortium of the American Headache Society and an associate editor for the journal, Headache.

Brett Sokol wrote, “I’m thrilled to report that Letter16 Press, the publishing house I co-founded to release limited edition hardcover books of vintage photography—yes, old fashioned ink and paper—received its official nonprofit 501(c)(3) status from the federal government. Definitely the first time I’ve ever been happy to get a letter from the IRS! Our first book, an intimate look at Provincetown’s early 1960s bohemian scene, drew raves from both Art in America magazine and the filmmaker John Waters, and is already sold out. Our second book, out now, captures Miami in all its early 1980s falling-apart-at-the-seams glory (letter16press.com).

“A tip of the proofreading hat to my wife, Lisa Dombrowski ’92, who, when she’s not patiently explaining to me the proper use of ‘which’ vs. ‘that’ for the thousandth time, continues her own work as an associate professor in Wesleyan’s film studies department. (Yes, we watch a lot of movies!) Otherwise, I’m still commuting between Miami and New York (and racking up those frequent flier miles), and still writing for Ocean Drive, where I’m the arts editor, and for The New York Times, where I regularly contribute stories about the art world (including a profile of the new Pérez Art Museum Miami director, Franklin Sirmans ’91).”

Jason Moss has been doing a fair bit of traveling. He is expanding his data science training business, Metis, from New York and San Francisco to Chicago and Seattle.

Arik Greenberg and the nonprofit he founded in 2011, the Institute for Religious Tolerance, Peace and Justice, is gearing up for its second annual interfaith march in Los Angeles (#InterfaithMarchLA), to promote interfaith collaboration and unity, especially between the Abrahamic faiths. Arik also won the USPA Masters 45-49 Classic Raw 242 pound class in his first powerlifting meet in June (he was the only competitor in that class!). Nevertheless, he is aiming for two state records in that class very soon.

Kim Frederick wrote, “I want to share that I’m excited to go to D.C. to march in the Women’s March with Susan Chun ’93!”

Thanks to all who wrote in! Please keep the news coming. As I say to my students, “Let’s hear from some of you quieter folks!”

Warm regards,

SuZanna Henshon | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com 

Sarah Estow | sarah_estow@hotmail.com