Class Notes | 1990s

After four amazing years, Kimberly King has so kindly agreed to pass the torch on to us, Jessica (Jess) Shea Lehmann and Alexandra (Sasha) Lewis-Reisen. Thank you, Kimberly, for all your hard work and great news! We are super excited to carry on the project of assembling the Class Notes—it’s always been our favorite part of the magazine.

We were also thinking that these notes can be both updates and a conversation, so please send us recommendations for books, podcasts, shows, or movies. And feel free to send your thoughts/good wishes to the class.

Jess lives in Phoenix, Ariz., with her husband and three sons (ages 10, 6, and 4). “I teach nutrition at Arizona State University. I serve as the faculty advisor for the Slow Food club. Last fall, I got to see Hamilton, which was sublime. If you’re interested in sustainable agriculture and/or if you’re into food, I recommend Dan Barber’s book The Third Plate. I’m always behind on Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, and Girls, but those are some of my top faves.”

Sasha is living in NYC, working at a nonprofit, New York Legal Assistance Group. “Last year, Ez Cukor ’05 and I helped to set up a WEServe volunteer event in NYC, helping low-income transgender New Yorkers to legally change their names to names they prefer or reflect their gender identity. Let me know if you’d be interested in joining us next time. In the meantime, I am trying to learn how to not bring work home (ha!). Last good book I read: Alice Munro’s Dear Life stories collection. Guilty TV pleasure (can’t believe I’m admitting to the first one in print): Grey’s Anatomy and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”

We were thrilled to hear from several of our classmates in the spring…

Brent Spodek is the rabbi of Beacon Hebrew Alliance, a creative and rapidly growing Jewish community in the Hudson Valley, N.Y. Alison Keimowitz Spodek is the Rockefeller Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Vassar, where she focuses on toxins in the environment. They have two children, Noa (8) and Abe (5). They can be reached at brent.spodek@gmail.com and alison.spodek@gmail.com

Rob MacDonald recently published a poetry collection, Resuscitation Party (available from Racing Form Press). He’s still living in Jamaica Plain, Mass., and still balancing teaching and writing.

Andrew Frishman wrote to let us know that “Leigh Needleman ’96 and I have been hanging out with Laura Warren ’98, as we’re now practically neighbors—we live just a few blocks from each other near Central Square in CambridgePort in Cambridge, Mass. It doesn’t feel like 20 years ago that I was the Head Resident (HR) in Butterfield A, and Laura was one of the Resident Advisers (RAs)… suddenly it is our children who are in kindergarten together! (and our younger children, each aged 3, are taking Spanish classes together two afternoons a week to prepare for the bilingual immersion school that they’ll attend in a couple of years. Leigh and I also had the incomparable privilege of attending the inimitable Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02’s Hamilton in NYC (Hurrah! and Go, Wes!—We felt some serious Wesleyan pride!!!) Just so happened to be the night that the company did a tribute to Prince—touching in so many ways.”

Larisa Ortiz published a book, Improving Tenant Mix: A Guide for Commercial District Practitioners, and was appointed by NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio to the NYC City Planning Commission. “It’s quite an honor and learning experience! On a personal note, my son, Xavier, is 6 and gets better at solving his Rubik’s Cube every day! Makes his mama proud!”

Malayna Bernstein and Josh Arthurs spent 2015–16 in Italy, where Josh was a Rome Prize fellow at the American Academy in Rome. Their boys, Eli (11) and Carlo (7), spent the year playing soccer and learning Italian. Malayna and Josh continue to teach at West Virginia University. Malayna writes, “If Wes friends are ever in Morgantown, drop us a line!” They can be reached at malaynabernstein@gmail.com and jwarthurs@gmail.com

Bryan Sheckman teaches social studies at Lowell (Mass.) High School and was named a 2016 James Madison Fellow.

Cheryl Goldman Governale writes, “After nearly two years in California, we’ve just moved back to London (my third time!), where the kids are enjoying their new schools. I’m still blogging but looking to set up a photography business soon.”

Mei Woo Chin wrote to us on her way back to Dublin, Ireland, where she has been living for the past five years. She had just finished three months in San Francisco visiting family. Mei writes about food, including for Saveur and Lucky Peach. “Last year in Dublin, my partner Tommy Bergin and I founded Skillet, which paired at-risk youth with members of the Dublin restaurant industry, and trained them in the basics of food prep and service.” Mei keeps in touch with us, Sarah Kollman, and Morgan Fahey ’95, and she adds that “the last Wes person I saw was Michael (Mo) Ouyang ’96, who swung by Dublin for a couple of days. Mo is living in Shanghai, married to the contemporary art curator Zoe Zhang Bing. Mo is the creative director for EndemolShine China (he and Morgan Fahey just worked on a version of Superhuman together, an award-winning megahit show in China), owner of two alarmingly cute dogs, and still playing music.”

We really love hearing from you, so please get in touch! You can e-mail your updates, musings, and recommendations to us at our addresses below. Until next time!

Jessica Shea Lehmann | jessica.lehmann@gmail.com

Sasha Lewis Reisen | alewisreisen@gmail.com

Marcus writes: We begin this edition of Class Notes with a heartfelt apology. Alan Schlechter sent in a note in December 2015, but we forgot to include it in the last column, so huge apologies and thanks for writing in! Alan met up with Tim Whyte, deputy director of Save the Children in Bangladesh, and the two went camping in Kempton, Pa. The pair “freezed their tuchis off, hiked and cooked veggie dogs over an open fire and drank horrible beer.” It made for a memorable experience and a “wonderful time.”

Those following March Madness this year might have noticed Matt Kingsley, associate head coach of Yale’s men’s basketball, helping to lead the Bulldogs to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 54 years. The team also celebrated their first tournament win (vs. Baylor) in history.

Anya Fernald continues to build her Belcampo empire with the release of her beautiful cookbook featuring a wide range of recipes (including some for cocktails!). Home Cooked: Essential Recipes for a New Way to Cook is available through amazon.com and in major bookstores.

Welcoming America founder and executive director David Lubell gave a TEDxBerlin Talk called “Migration: Why We Need to Talk to Strangers.” He argues that we need to rethink the lessons from our childhood about “stranger danger” if we want to have a better, more welcoming world.

Director of Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship Makaela Kingsley recently connected with Tali Shmulovich, who left her position as vice president of operations for Global Health Corps and is now HR consultant and executive coach for Partners In Health.

I found myself in Copenhagen participating in a variety of meetings focused on sustainability in the apparel industry. Sustainability Director for Mountain Hard Wear Laura Schaffer ’00 and I took the opportunity to catch up over several large beers. In addition to talking apparel supply chains, we reminisced about the Wesleyan swimming and diving team and commiserated over the increasingly high cost of living in the Bay Area.

Sophie Middlebrook Hayward celebrated her 40th birthday in San Francisco in May. It was fun catching up with Danielle Woodrow and Mary Lisio, who drove up from Los Angeles and took a break from the world of film and entertainment to celebrate. Sarah Margon, the head of Human Rights Watch’s Washington, D.C., office, also made the trip to San Francisco. Rounding out the Wes crew was Mark Karvosky ’97, who recently relocated to San Francisco from New York.

We know our talented classmates are up to incredible things, so please do send in your notes! We promise to be better custodians of news (apologies again to Alan Schlechter!).

Marcus Chung | marcuschung98@gmail.com

Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com

Kevin writes: Was glad to see several folks send in updates, including quite a few first-timers. Amelia Borofsky kicks us off with an offer that I hope someone takes her up on: “Wes folks are always welcome to come visit me in Hawai’i or Rarotonga! Mi casa es tu casa.” Amelia lives in Hawaii and the Cook Islands doing research, writing, and education projects. She has been working on a documentary called Homecoming: A Film About Pukapuka—check it out! “Am still in touch with many Wesleyan folks whom I love dearly and don’t get to see as often as I’d like.”

Massachusetts continues to have a strong pull on our class. Abbie Goldberg lives in beautiful Western Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and gaggle of animals, and is an associate professor of psychology at Clark University, where she also directs the graduate program in clinical psychology. She is the editor of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, published by Sage—which contains a whopping 450 chapters on topics ranging from asexuality to Stonewall to sexual fluidity to leather culture. She is also a proud founding member of the Western Massachusetts chapter of Girls on the Run, a youth running and empowerment program, which kickstarted its first season in fall 2015. Sarah Sikowitz and her husband, Aaron, moved from Brooklyn to her hometown of Cambridge, Mass., in 2014. They’ve since grown to a family of four, welcoming Rose Elise in Feb. 2016. She joins her big brother, Emmett, who turned 3 in May. Peter Czerepak just moved to the ’burbs of Beantown (Winchester, specifically). He’s still cranking away at BCG, and is the rare consultant who does not travel much.

Russell Isaacson is living in NYC and advising brands on digital media investments for sovrn Holdings. He lives and works in SoHo.

Several first-timers shared big news: Hong Qu and his wife, Sharon, have been blessed with a baby boy, Tristan Qu, in May of 2015. They are expecting another boy in October this year. Hong is working in media and journalism as the CTO for Fusion.

Janel Davis, ordained into the ministry in Oct. 2014, now holds the office of “missionary,” and is “very excited about what lies in store for me!”

Sara Jaffe’s first novel, Dryland, was published by Tin House Books in 2015. She has been teaching creative writing at various institutions in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest—next year at the University of Oregon. Sara lives in Portland, Ore., with her partner and her 1-year-old son.

“The College of the Holy Cross recently promoted five faculty members, including Wesleyan University alumnus Joshua Congdon–Martin,” read the e-mail. Joshua is in the economics and accounting department and specializes in labor, public, and health economics, as well as applied econometrics. After Wes, he earned his MA and PhD from the University of Michigan. A recipient of the Bachelor (Ford) Summer Faculty Fellowship, his work has been featured in the Journal of Urban Economics, European Sports Management, and the Journal of Sports Economics. He has also refereed numerous articles, including “Love, Toil and Health Insurance: Why American Husbands Retire When They Do.” He has five works in progress, one of which is titled “Do Sporting Events Displace Crime? The Case of the Bulls and Chicago.” He has been a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2009.

Our other Class Secretary, Darryl, has been busy! In May, he reconnected with Jason Fitzgerald, who lives in Astoria, Queens, with his wife Rachel Zack and their daughter, Lily. Given his extensive light and sound design experience that started at Wes, Jason founded Kelson Productions, which provides audiovisual and production management services for live events. During Memorial Day weekend, after eight years at Kenyon College in Ohio, Darryl moved back to New England to be director of admission at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He joins Stephen Engel ’98, who is the chair of the politics department at Bates. As if moving and starting a new job weren’t enough for one summer, Darryl and his partner of 14 years, Bob Brown, finally married. The July 30th celebration was held in a 200-year-old barn at the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Columbus, Ohio. Wes folks in attendance included Kevin, John Raby, Josh and Liz Scarlett ’98, and Maurice Hill ’14.

Jeffrey Blumenthal was saddened to hear about the passing of Professor Emeritus Jon Barlow. He was one of the best teachers Jeff had at Wes. This spring we also lost Prince, who penned an anthem for our class…he can rest in peace knowing that we’ll always know how to party like it’s 1999 (even if we’re no long capable of doing that).

C. DARRYL UY | darryl.uy@gmail.com

KEVIN KUMLER | kevinkumler@gmail.com

Class of 1990 Scholarship 

Dara Mysliwiec ’16, Biology, Earth and Environmental Science

Hi, all. I am writing these notes on Valentine’s Day, during what is being reported as record-breaking cold for many cities on the East Coast. Here in New York, it is freezing and windy and I can only hope that by the time you are reading this, an early spring has arrived. Here’s what we have.

It was great to hear from David Buchbinder with an update about what he has been up to since leaving Wes. David moved to New York after graduation and enrolled at Columbia for his MFA in creative writing. From there he went to Mozambique, covering the end of the war and the peace process as a cub reporter. “I gigged around as a journalist for about 10 years, mostly for the wires, with long-term assignments in Afghanistan and Venezuela—and a brief detour into social work at a transitional facility for the homeless in downtown Los Angeles. Since then it’s been about human rights in Africa, first as a researcher (Chad/Sudan conflict for Human Rights Watch; use and recruitment of child soldiers for Child Soldiers International), more recently as a teacher/trainer (fact-finding and advocacy at African Human Rights Consortium, a pan-African training institute based in Botswana; and LGBT rights in Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi for Benetech, a technology company based in the Silicon Valley).” Currently, David is working with a group of southern African LGBT rights organizations on a research project looking at barriers to HIV/AIDS care and treatment for lesbians and transgender individuals. David lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Sally, and their two boys, Ziggy (8) and Hugo (3).

We have baby news from Alex Navarro-McKay, whose daughter, Eliora, was born last April and joins big brother Avi and mom Kate, and travel news from Jennifer Palmer, who went to London in August and “saw Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet, Chiwetel Ejiofor in Everyman and Mark Gatiss in Three Days in the Country.” Also checking in was Zak Penn, who is still living happily in Los Angeles with his wife, Michele Weiss, and their three children.

My former Foss 7 hallmate, Jessica Mann Gutteridge, writes with “lots of change over the last year-and-a-bit. After leaving my life as a lawyer and the New York area, my husband and our three sons and I moved to his hometown of Vancouver, B.C. I spent a wonderful year home with the kids getting us all resettled into our new surroundings, and then my dream job suddenly appeared before me. I’ve returned to my first love, the theatre, as the education manager of Carousel Theatre for Young People on Granville Island in Vancouver. So far, I’ve survived my first two productions of school matinees and the end of a drama school term and start of another!”

News of another relocation comes from Jennifer Heppel, who accepted the job as commissioner of the Patriot League, a Division I collegiate athletics conference, last summer and subsequently moved to Bethlehem, Pa. Jen is loving the job and slowly settling into her new home and city. “Great to be back on the East Coast.”

Edward Ungvarsky runs an office in Virginia that represents persons charged with capital murder who are facing the possibility of receiving the death penalty. He “credits a Wesleyan class on ethics of life taught by Rev. Arnold Thomas for inspiration.” Ed’s wife, Olivia Smith ’91, founded Bridges Public Charter School in DC for teaching together children with and without special needs. Olivia’s school opens a new building this fall. “Our girls, Nola and Lena, wear their Wes shirts with pride—because the auteur of Hamilton went to Wes.” (As an aside, I will add that my husband David and I saw Hamilton two weeks ago and thought it was absolutely fantastic.) Ed had pizza and beer in NYC in November with Yau-Mu Huang ’93, who works at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Phil Yanos, who teaches and practices psychology at John Jay.

More baby news comes from Victor Khodadad and his wife, Kristina Dunatov, who just welcomed their first child into the world. Roko Antonio Khodadad was born on Columbus Day, Oct. 12, 2015. “He was 5 lbs., 15 oz., and is doing great!” On the performing front, Victor maintains an active career as an actor and classical singer. Upcoming engagements include the comic role of Captain Dietrich in the opera Evangeline in Portland, Maine, in April 2016, and the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Music Festival, on June 10th–12th in Chestertown, Md., and Philadelphia, Pa. More info is available on his website: victorkhodadad.com.

Julia Moffett has been based with her family in Nairobi, Kenya, since 2013. Julia leads innovation for a large African bank’s foundation and is also launching a venture fund to back education entrepreneurs. It’s an “amazingly exciting place to be, as it is a place brimming with ideas, creativity, and energy around solutions to problems at the base of the pyramid. And it is one of the most beautiful countries for my 10-year-old twin daughters to grow up in!”

Finally, Alfredo Viegas writes with the exciting news that he is about to become a Wesleyan parent! Al’s oldest daughter, Alessandra ’20, just got accepted to Wesleyan ED2. “Not sure what she wants to study…maybe film, or creative writing. We are all totally pumped!! Apparently this was the most competitive class ever, with over 12,000 applications! Yikes!!”

That’s all for now. Please write with news, big or small. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Vanessa Montag Brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

Bayard and Betsy Klimasmith live in Belmont, Mass. Bayard is a middle-school assistant principal in Lexington, and Betsy is an English professor at UMass Boston. Their son, David, is in kindergarten, and daughter Sophie ’20 is a member of Wesleyan’s class of 2020.

Eric Glatt earned a JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015 and serves as an attorney at the ACLU of Alaska. Eric continues work on the ongoing lawsuit he and Alexander Footman ’09 brought against Fox Searchlight Pictures over the issue of unpaid intern labor and minimum wage laws, and on the lack of federal non-discrimination protections for unpaid interns and volunteers.

Lauren Simon Irwin won a big employment trial representing a pharmacist against Wal-Mart in the US District Court in New Hampshire. She’s enjoying the victory while waiting for the inevitable appeal.

Michael Reinke is executive director with the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Julia Arlinghaus Charles writes, “I’m enjoying life in the SF Bay Area with my 15-year-old daughter. I work for Touro University California, writing grants and crunching data; in my spare time I paint and try to design a foolproof automatic chicken coop door.”

Maria Snyder received tenure at Central College in Pella, Iowa, and is now an associate professor of French and German. Stephanie Hirschman Wade, lives in Maine with her 13-year-old daughter and works at Unity College as director and associate professor of writing. Brian Howell, professor of anthropology at Wheaton College, is on sabbatical this semester, teaching in Tanzania, presenting a paper at the University of Edinburgh and a conference in Cambridge, and joining a “faculty development” trip along the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

The American Academy of Religion awarded Jerome Copulsky the AAR-Luce Fellowship in Religion and International Affairs. The award funds Jerome’s Franklin Fellowship at the Office of Religion and Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Jim Ghiloni serves as a fellow in the president’s inaugural White House Leadership Development Program, designed to foster the next generation of senior executives in the Federal government.

In January 2015, Deborah Mayer took over as chief counsel and staff director for the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and reconnected with Narda Jones, who works for Senator Maria Cantwell. She’s also celebrating 17 years with the Navy, serving as a military judge, trying court-martial cases throughout the Navy and Marine Corps.

Laurie Woods returned to her hometown of D.C. in June 2015, after more than two decades away. She’s happy to be closer to her parents and reconnect with Maud Casey.

Katherine Wingfield Barry writes that Will Barry now serves as chairman of the Olney Boys and Girls Club as well as part of the executive committee of the law firm, Richards Kibbe and Orbe. Will coaches one of their sons in football and lacrosse. Their 8-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, is the only girl playing tackle football in the whole program.

Tasos Theodorou lives in Dallas and works in healthcare consulting. His son, Apostoli Stone Theodorou, was born Sept. 22, 2015. Eva Pendleton and her husband, Patrick Barnhart, are adopting a baby boy, who was placed with them at birth on Dec. 8, 2015. “His name is August James Barnhart and we are enjoying life in the new parent vortex!”

Ian and Zanne Gerrard ’94 visited Sarah Sutter, who is celebrating five years in Tokyo. They watched basketball, explored shrines in Kamakura, and ate lots of excellent Japanese food.

Phil Faroudja assisted with the passage of “Laura’s Law” in San Francisco County. Laura’s Law moves people with mental illness out of the court system and into healthcare facilities and provides funding for mental care professionals.

Tim McBride and his family live in Hingham Mass.,where he heads the New England region and Boston office for Bessemer Trust. Tim’s stayed connected to the Wes basketball program and took the players and coaches out to dinner after they played in a tournament in the Boston area.

Kevin Greiner marks 10 years as president and CEO of Atlanta-based Gas South and serves on the boards of the United Way of Greater Atlanta, YMCA of Metro Atlanta, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, and the Atlanta Opera. Also in Atlanta is Pierrette Maillet, director of alumni relations at Kennesaw State University. She recently completed a master’s degree in higher education administration.

Josh Horwitz added Clear Mind Tutoring, which blends meditation with subject tutoring, as a second business alongside Craniosacral-East, which he’s run for 14 years. He’s also completing an MA in creative writing at Wilkes University. His 2-year-old daughter, Lucia, learned drumming from John Lee ’92, of the band The Laytcomers.

Sharon Panitch of Burlington, Vt., tallies her household as: one spouse, three kids, two cats, and five chickens. She’s producing for Theatre Kavanah, a company “dedicated to staging the Jewish experience.”

A February New York Times Well column featured comments from Brookline, Mass., psychologist Ann Goebel-Fabbri, who specializes in treating people with diabetes who have eating disorders.

Nikki Harmon announced she has written and self-published her first novel, When I Was Your Girlfriend. Dorian Hart published The Ventifact Colossus, the first in a planned series of five books. Dorian also serves as the stay-at-home dad for daughters Elanor (11) and Kira (8). Also in the author corner, Cameron Gearen presents Some Perfect Year, a book of poems published by Shearsman Press.

Alex Kudera reports that his second adjunct novel, Auggie’s Revenge, was launched at the AWP conference in Los Angeles, and that a classroom edition of Fight for Your Long Day, with additional interviews and articles on adjunct labor and student debt, is being prepared for publication by Hard Ball Press in Brooklyn.

Jeremy Arnold’s book, The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter, serves as a companion to Turner Classic Movies’ weekly Essentials program, highlighting the most significant and influential films ever made. Make a date to look for him on-air May 15, as he introduces the James Cagney double-header of White Heat and Footlight Parade.

Two nights later, on May 17, check your local PBS station for Genealogy Roadshow. This is the second season I’ve worked as a senior researcher for the show. It’s great fun, and I love researching the stories of everyday Americans. Looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion!

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

Adam writes: Greeting to all. Hope that all is well with you and yours. Things are chugging along for me in Cambridge: still at MIT and still serving as a housemaster at a graduate dorm on campus. My call for notes generated a lot of news, so here goes…

Michelle Elisberg just celebrated her 10-year anniversary as a pediatrician at Family Health Centers, a federally qualified health center in Louisville. The bat mitzvah of her oldest daughter, Elena, occasioned a reunion of the Havurah, with Lara Small Laurence ’90, Jen Hammer ’91, Sarah Leavitt and Jenny Simon Tabak ’93 in attendance. Michelle returned the favor by attending Sarah’s son’s bar mitzvah in Maryland, where she caught up with Sue Beals-Simon and Jessica Feierman.

Recently (though I use the term loosely) on the move was Hal Skinner, who de-camped with his family to Chapel Hill, N.C. He is director of epidemiology for Truven Health Analytics, where he has been working primarily on developing measures of healthcare quality for a federal government client. Also in the health industry in North Carolina is Morgan Bain, who works as medical director for outpatient palliative care at Duke University Medical Center, where he has been since 2013. He enjoys caring for patients and teaching young medical students/doctors/nurses. Since Morgan hadn’t written in since the 1990s, he had a big update, including news about his marriage (since 2005) to his husband Jonathan Brady, a theater director who has started his own theater company, Bartlett Theater, in Durham, N.C., this past year. Recently Morgan bumped into Bill Kim at a Barnes and Noble store in Durham. Bill is an oncologist conducting research at UNC.

I had another update from a classmate who hadn’t written in for a while. Kevin Heckman left his last theater job in 2010 to get his MBA at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. After graduating in 2014 he joined Bain & Company as a management consultant, where he has been working since. He recently moved to Geneva, Ill., with his wife, Christine, and their 6-year-old twin daughters, Arianna and Noelle .

Lots of news this month from the world of academia. Bradley Herling became chair of the division of humanities and social sciences last year, and just published the second edition of his textbook, A Beginner’s Guide to the Study of Religion (Bloomsbury, 2016).

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd published two books in 2015: Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion (Princeton University Press) and Politics of Religious Freedom, co-edited with Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Saba Mahmood, and Peter G. Danchin (University of Chicago Press). wesconnect.wesleyan.edu/s/1318/L3parent_social.aspx?sid=1318&gid=1&pgid=3211

Kathryn Edgerton-Tarpley is an associate professor of history at San Diego State University. Her research area is modern Chinese history, and she travels to China or Taiwan most summers to hit the archives there. She is married to Van Tarpley, who pastors an American Baptist church in the San Diego area. They have two little boys, Peter (9) and Isaac (6). Kate got to return to Wesleyan last spring to take part in an event marking the retirement of Professor Vera Schwarcz, who sparked Kate’s passion for Chinese history.

Sidra Smith moved to suburban San Diego last summer to become the assistant head of school for Pacific Ridge School, a 7–12 independent school founded in 2007. While most of her work is with adults, she also teaches 7th grade English and participates in a service learning program.

Josh Sitzer accepted a position as chief marketing officer of Unanimous A.I., a Silicon Valley-based startup that uses artificial swarm intelligence to pool the intelligence of individuals to make better decisions and predictions. He works remotely from Kansas City, where he lives with wife Amy and kids Eli (9) and Zoe (5).

Mark Hunter just moved to Vermont and bought a home near Lake Champlain. He just published his first book and is expanding his company, Pinnacle Coaching (Pinnacle-Coaching.net) to include more keynote speaking in addition to corporate leadership coaching.

Dina Amsterdam is spending the year in Cambridge as a visiting scholar in the Social Computing group at the MIT Media Lab. Her company, Leadership Within, is the business end of this project. She’s also part of an innovative network of K–3 schools, Wildflower, which is growing globally.

Grant Brenner published a book, Irrelationship: How We Use Dysfunctional Relationships to Hide from Intimacy, and, with partners, started a business, Neighborhood Psychiatry.

Also with a new book is Shura Pollatsek. Unbuttoned: The Art and Artists of Theatrical Costume Design will be available summer of 2016. It explores creative collaboration during the costume design process, between the designer’s sketch and the final costume on stage, and features the photography of her husband, Mitchell D. Wilson.

Chris Chesak is the executive director of the Family Travel Association. Linda Perlstein remains in Seattle and works on the team developing Amazon’s bricks-and-mortar bookstore. She oversees the nonfiction buying and is involved in strategic planning, too. Ken Lefkowitz just started as the CEO of NetIX, a telecommunication start-up

My frosh hallmate Anne Jennings Paris reports that, along with husband Marc and son Duncan, she moved to London in May of 2014. This past fall, she completed a book of paintings and descriptions of the places they’ve encountered (A Long Walk to a Good Pub: Post Cards from an Expat Year). Duncan, 11, attends the local state school and Marc works in software consulting. They plan to return to the Portland, Ore., area later this year.

And speaking of Clark 3, I close with very sad news: Lori Robbins passed away in January. I will never forget her warmth and infectious good humor. She will be missed. On behalf of her friends, I’ve been working with University Relations to erect a memorial in her honor for our 25th Reunion next year. If you would like to contribute, please let me know and I can pass along the details.

ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu

PAUL COVIELLO | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

Dara writes: Lots of news this time, so let’s get right to it: Ben Meyer recently traveled to Santa Cruz for Stuart Norton ’97 and Jeanne Hardebeck’s wedding. Also in attendance were Lauren Olsho and John Blake. Ben tells us that the feature film he wrote and directed, Fools, has been doing the festival circuit. It won the Audience Award for Best Competition Feature at Dances With Films, in Los Angeles. The film was also screened at the Petaluma International Film Festival, the Southampton International Film Festival, the Tulsa American Film Festival, the ReadingFilmFEST, and the Big Apple Film Festival in NYC.

Mike Stabile’s film is also in festival release right now. It’s a documentary, Seed Money, about ’70s pornographer (and gay rights activist) Chuck Holmes. It will be in distribution later this year: out.com/popnography/2015/12/24/watch-10-best-lgbt-documentaries-2015

From the theater world, playwright Ginger Lazarus writes in about two of her productions. The Housekeeper was at the Boston Playwrights’ Theater in January, and Burning was at the Theater at St. Clement’s in NYC in February. The production of Burning featured Catherine Curtin, also known as Officer Wanda Bell on Orange Is the New Black.

Lauren Elmore tells us that Kirsten Greenidge had a busy February, with two of her plays produced at the same time. Milk Like Sugar was at the Huntington Theatre Company, and Baltimore was at New Rep Theatre, both in Boston. She also wrote that Angela Tucker is living in New Orleans, currently in pre-production for her Kickstarter-funded feature, Paper Chase. And lastly, Lauren is sorry to miss Reunion this year, but she has a good excuse: “I’ll be attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education ceremonies to celebrate earning my doctorate of education, with a focus on technology, arts, and higher education.”

From San Francisco, Sarah Huard writes: “I’m leading advancement efforts for Convent & Stuart Hall, the school where my daughters, Piper and Arden, are in second grade and kindergarten. Piper’s teacher is the proud parent of Wes sophomore Tess Holland ’18. I was in an extremely short-lived running club with Sophie Middlebrook Hayward ’98 last spring—I dropped out so now she’s the only member.”

Michael Roberts and his wife, Leslie Roberts ’97, welcomed their third son, Adrien Justis Roberts, into the world last April. Their older sons regularly play mischievous games with the daughter of fellow Marin County resident and shoulda-been-a-’96er, Andrew Levine ’97.

Also on the West Coast is Nina Erlich-Williams: “I have been living in Corvallis, Ore., for about six years now with my husband and two sons, Jude (7) and Ezra (10). For my day job, I continue to run a public relations firm that specializes in environmental policy (publicgoodpr.com) with my husband. When the garden is in season I do a lot of cooking and canning and have somehow turned into a PTA mom who does things like bake gluten-free cupcakes from scratch. We had some wonderful visitors this past year: Dara Federman came all the way out from Brooklyn to check out our little town on Memorial Day, and Hilary Hoeber and her hubby paid us a visit in the fall. I also got to see Cora Stubbs-Dame Jeyadame as part of a trip to New England last summer. It was wonderful to see so many of my closest Wes buddies in one year. Looking forward to catching up with even more people at Reunion!”

Alissa Pines lives in Austin. She and her husband bought a house and both of their children, Owen (6) and Miles (4), are in public schools. She teaches Spanish at the local public school.

Colby Evans and Sara Kirchhoff Evans have expanded their dermatology practice (evans-dermatology.com) in Austin to three locations and eight medical providers. Their children are well and happy and keep them busy. Quinn is 7, Malcolm is 6, and Ruby is 4.

Dacque Tirado writes from Maryland, where he was digging out from 30 plus inches of snow. He is traveling to Argentina for two weeks in June and is looking to link up with any Wes folks down there or traveling through Buenos Aires.

Meanwhile, Kristin Mercer was in Mexico “on a research trip where I work with traditional varieties of maize and chile pepper. My family and I are in Vancouver, B.C., on sabbatical this year and loving the ocean and forests.”

And on the East Coast, Elura Nanos Kish continues to work as a TV lawyer, appearing often on news and talk shows. She has also launched Man Class—a speaking tour that brings Elura to fraternity houses and locker rooms to talk with young men about how they can avoid becoming part of the next campus scandal, while actively influencing peers to create safe environments for young adults.

Jesse Wegman lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with his wife, Kyra Himmelbaum, and their 2-year-old daughter, Samara. Since 2013 he’s been a member of the editorial board of the New York Times, where he writes the Supreme Court editorials, as well as those on national legal issues.

After 19 years of hipster living, Koyalee Chanda and Neal Brandenburg packed up the family (two girls, ages 7 and 2) and left Brooklyn for Wesleyan, N.J.—otherwise known as Montclair. They get to see a lot of Sarah Chamberlin and Kate Washburn. Neal works as a supervising attorney at the Department of Education for the City of New York, while Koyalee is at Nickelodeon, producing the preschool series Wallykazam!, created by Adam Peltzman. During the production, Adam and Koyalee were able to keep it in the family, with Adrian Rothschild ’12 as their executive assistant for the second season.

Sam Effron also reports a move: “The transition to life in the ’burbs (Hastings-on-Hudson, aka Montclair North) has been great, and we’ve reunited with fellow locals Yaron Ben-Zvi ’97 and Emma Ditrinco Sollars ’97 and their families. Looking forward to Reunion!”

Great to hear from so many of you! Hope to catch up even more at reunion!

DARA FEDERMAN | darasf@yahoo.com

DACQUE TIRADO | dacquetirado@yahoo.com

What a full 2016 and it is only February. Thank you to everyone that contributed. Let’s get to it!

Steven Tejada paid me a personal visit on a recent trip to NYC. My high school classmate, In-town roommate, and brother-for-life will relocate from Boston to Washington, D.C.—he was appointed the new Head of Upper School at The Maret School beginning July 1st. He continues to speak and perform throughout the country with his one-man show. In addition, his family welcomed another member—a baby boy. Super excited for mi hermano.

Matthew Fogelman wrote in to share that Wesleyan support was in full effect for the wonderful honor bestowed upon Seth Spector, as he was inducted into the Middletown Hall of Fame on a warm night in January. Matt, along with Raphael Crawford, Jack Eighmy, Armando Petruzziello ’98, and Gabe Wieder ’98 were fortunate enough to join Seth and his mom, Kate (and many others) for the induction ceremony. Longtime Wes track coach J. Elmer Swanson was also inducted.

Meanwhile, Matt’s wife, Amy Goorin Fogelman, reports: “After 10 years at Mass General Hospital, I have decided to cut down on my commute and I am continuing to practice internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Chestnut Hill. I miss my old patients, though the good news is that I am finally accepting new ones, so if anyone needs a PCP, give me a holler!”

Abe Velez reconnected to update us with the happenings in his world: “I continue to do audio business development for ABC News and enjoy the Langone MBA program at NYU Stern, with the support of my wife, Sarah, and our fabulous second-grader, Frida. I was lucky enough to get briefly stuck in San Francisco during January’s storm and stay with Adam Rodnitzky—an evening filled with trading of puns that left us very amused, and his girlfriend, not so much. Recently saw Katharine Bailey and Ben Selkow ’96 at the home of my onetime neighbor Ned Gusick ’90. And then there’s the mystery of how most of us have turned 40…”

Andrew Frishman has been super consistent with keeping us informed on his world: “As I’ve mentioned in previous notes, I am the co-executive director of Big Picture Learning. Just last week I was visiting The Met High School in Providence, (which is the “mother ship” of the Big Picture Learning Network) and I had the particular privilege of enjoying a ‘philosophy literacy group’ that Arthur Baraf ’99 was leading. Arthur has the group of high school students enrolled and each week the students watch a lecture, do supplementary readings, and then engage in discussion and debate (Arthur serves as the TA). Took me back to my days at Wesleyan! In other news, it was fun to take my kids out to see the Wesleyan squash teams play in an invitational tournament in the fall up here in Cambridge. Go, Wes!”

I received a first-time submission from Bettina Berg Segal who shared, “After nearly 10 years of living abroad, across four continents and three babies later, I’m happy to say that my family and I have finally moved back to New York. It’s been great to be close to old friends… Jessica D’Amore, Mia Lobel, Anita Crabtree Mitra, Laura Roberts and Kerry Biancamano Coppola. And yes, I am an awesome packer.”

David Vine wrote: “I’ll be unabashedly self-promotional in saying that my book Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (Henry Holt, 2015) just came out. The book shows how our country is encircling the globe with some 800 bases in foreign lands—and how these oft-forgotten installations cause an array of ills for everyone from U.S. military personnel and their families to locals living next to our bases to U.S. taxpayers who pay the $150 billion per year bill to maintain bases and troops overseas. Although many assume that these bases make the U.S. and the world safer, our military installations abroad are, in a range of ways, actually undermining national and global security. All the proceeds from Base Nation are going to organizations supporting veterans and other victims of war. People can read more about the book, check out its 16 maps, and learn more about bases overseas at basenation.us.”

Kimberly Gilbert shared, “After living in Canada for six years, my husband, Jared Carbone, and I have returned to live in his hometown of Boulder, Colo., with our two girls, Louisa (7) and Beatrice (1.5). I’m a writer and Jared is a professor of economics at the School of Mines. We’re thrilled that being back in the U.S. has given us the chance to visit and catch up with several Wes friends, including Naomi Pressman, Rachel Ruane, Matthew Rattigan, Lucas Edwards, and Emily Weinstein.”

“I am enjoying a year-long sabbatical from my job at the University of Nottingham to start a new book on relations between medieval Russia and the Byzantine empire. Turns out, it’s all about the Crimea. Thanks to what’s left of the British welfare state, I was lucky enough to have over seven months of maternity leave following the birth of Morris Whitehill in November 2014,” writes Monica White.

In January, Noah Garrison and his wife, Michelle, welcomed the birth of their son, Bryce Cameron Garrison, in Santa Monica. Everyone is doing well, and they’re looking forward to Bryce joining his older (canine) brother, Dexter, for lots of Calvin and Hobbes-style exploring. Noah left his job as a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council last year to run an environmental science and policy capstone program at UCLA, and has gone back to his Wes E&ES roots to teach an intro geology class as well.

Jessica McInroy Thompson and Mike Thompson ’96 met up with fellow Californians Maria Magaña, her husband Aaron Miller, and newlyweds Allison Perlman and Trevor Griffey for pre-Grammy dinner and drinks. Jessica was nominated for the Best Historical Album Grammy for remastering Erroll Garner’s The Complete Concert By the Sea. After a dozen years in NYC, Jessica and Mike recently relocated to Berkeley with their two kids, Clyde and Margot. Jessica now works out of Coast Mastering in Berkeley, and Mike is in his eighth year of running the music licensing library, The Diner.

As of May 2016, I, Kimberly Cooper King will have completed my master of science degree in integrated marketing from New York University, with a concentration in brand management. Working full time and going to school part time through fall, spring, and summer semesters, with a growing 4-year-old hasn’t been an easy balancing act, but happy to have made magic happen in just 2-½ years. I’m also proud to announce that I’ve been elected as a trustee with The Oliver Scholars Program (oliverscholars.org). As an alum of the 30-year-old program that prepares high-achieving African-American and Latino students for success at top independent high schools and prestigious colleges, I’m looking forward to supporting an organization that has made a difference in my life and the lives of so many other Wesleyan alums.

And my final update… After almost four years as your class secretary, I must announce this is my last official column. It has been great hearing from you, and I am now placing you in two pairs of great hands—BFF’s no less, Jessica Shea Lehmann and Sasha Lewis Reisen. They are super excited to share the duty of reporting the #ThisIsWhy happenings of our year so be sure to submit your updates to them moving forward.

Do note, Wesleyan is in my blood so I will still continue with my own #ThisIsWhy mission working with The Wesleyan Fund alongside Justin Clark, David Levin and Marisa Uchin as well as the Wesleyan Alumni of Color Council with super chair Ray Sanchez ’00 and Associate Director of Alumni & Parent Relations Greg Bernard. Service is a lifestyle. Be sure to have a fabulous spring.

Kimberly King | kimberly.king715@gmail.com

Jason writes: Greetings fellow ’98ers. As I write, I am just coming off a much needed vacation from Puerto Rico with my husband, Patrick, and our two daughters Marian and Betty. We are settled for the long, long haul here in Charlottesville, Va., keeping our restaurant, MarieBette Cafe & Bakery, going steady and strong. If you are in the area, please come visit us.

But enough about me. Here’s what’s going on with some other folks from our class.

John Speck: “I’m writing from our new place in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Still ‘living the dream’, playing trombone and traveling (toured to Sydney Australia last October). I’m also spending a lot of quality time with our 1-year-old daughter, C.C. I saw Jason Gonzalez and his adorable son, Samson, at C.C’s first birthday party last month.”

Amy Davenport had twin boys in November—Avery River and Elias Birch. Their big brother, Lucas, is thrilled. She and her husband still live in Carrboro N.C. Amy graduated from Frontier Nursing University in July and will be starting as a midwife at UNC Chapel Hill in March.

Brad Hoffman writes: “After more than a decade as an institutional equity salesperson at Lazard Capital Markets and Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., I decided to try my hand at a startup and joined Claravant Analytics as the head of business development. Claravant analyzes medical products to determine their likelihood of obtaining regulatory approval, commercial success, and strength of their IP protection. We base our reports on confidential reviews of all available research information, regulatory correspondence, and intellectual property provided by the sponsor company. That said, we take things a step further than any of our consulting competitors insofar as we allow our clients to use our findings, if they so choose, to engage investors and potential partners. I’d welcome the opportunity to speak with alumni who are in the drug or medical device research, commercialization, or investment fields (bhoffman@claravant.com)”

Stacey Garfield Fox is a pediatrician, living in Rehoboth Beach, Del., with her husband and 5-year-old daughter. She left academic medicine in Philadelphia for small-town private practice at the beach. She’s on the board of the Delaware AAP and a member of the Delaware Breastfeeding Coalition.

Lauren Berliner and her partner, Minda Martin, welcomed their child, Lucien, last April 3rd. The family lives in Seattle, where Lauren and Minda both work as professors at the University of Washington Bothell. Lauren recently co-organized a symposium with Nora Kenworthy at the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington called “Crowdsourcing Care: Health, Debility, and Dying in a Digital Age” that included speakers Kalindi Vora and Christoph Hanssmann ’99, and participants Chris Wade ’00 and Johanna Crane ’93. When they realized how many of them went to Wesleyan, they had to take a moment to revisit the fight song. Go, Wes!

Amy Barnes welcomed a baby girl, Sarah, into the world last May and is enjoying life in the beautiful Pacific Northwest outside Seattle.

Sara Brenneis writes: “My husband, Eric Danton, and I are enjoying the radical life shifts our 1-year-old son, Charlie, brings to the mix. We’re still in Northampton, Mass., and I’m now an associate professor in the Spanish department at Amherst College. Would love to catch up with any Wesleyan ’98ers who are in the Pioneer Valley!”

Lena Maun DeSantis started the first annual Out Run Rett 5K Run which took place in New Suffolk, N.Y., on May 7. A beautiful run along the water on Long Island’s North Fork, it will raise money for the Rett Syndrome Research Trust.

David Lubell was named to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s first-ever 40 Under 40. If you’re not familiar with the Chronicle, it’s a 25-year-old independent news organization covering the nonprofit world. The 40 Under 40 is a list of extraordinary young nonprofit leaders, fundraisers, foundation officials, donors, and social entrepreneurs from across the country.

Guillermo Brown writes: “Greetings, everyone from sunny Los Angeles! I’m currently playing drums on CBS on the Late Late Show with James Corden, releasing new music from my band Pegasus Warning, and just won grants from Creative Capital and MIT for my new theater work Bee Boy. Had breakfast with Ian Edelman the other day, dope things coming…”

After several years leading affordable housing policy inside the beltway for HUD, Margaret Solle Salazar moved from Washington, D.C., to her hometown of Portland, Ore., in late 2014 and welcomed twins Gabriel and Veronica into the world. Margaret is now serving as field office director for the HUD Oregon State Office where she is tackling homelessness, distressed housing and gentrification in Portland’s overheated housing market and attempting to remove peanut butter daily from two feisty toddlers.

Tarmla Small writes: “I recently (July 2015) joined the Oliver Scholars Program and serve as the recruitment manager (and Kimberly King ’97 is on the board.) I absolutely love my job!”

Keep those updates coming!

Marcus Chung | marcuschung98@gmail.com

Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com