Class Notes | 1990s

Hello, Class of ’98! We have just a few updates this round, so please send me or Jason your news if you’d like to be included in the next installment.

In February 2015, Kate Wetherhead will be releasing a book she co-wrote with her collaborator Andrew Keenan-Bolger. The book is titled Jack & Louisa: Act 1 and is the first in a three-book series for Penguin Young Readers Group.

In June, Meredith Hoffa and husband Nick ’97 expanded their family with the addition of Bo Hoffa. Meredith writes, “I am really, really into him.”

I had the chance to catch up with Sarah Margon while in Washington, D.C., for a meeting with the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. While Sarah caught me up on her great work with Human Rights Watch, we ran into Amanda Bowker, who was a few tables away! Amanda had just moved into a new home and was enjoying the summer with her husband, Dave, and two daughters.

That’s it for this round … short and sweet!

MARCUS CHUNG | marcuschung98@gmail.com 

Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com

Cannot believe we are preparing to close out 2014. I am completing my first year of grad school. I am in pursuit of my master of science in integrated marketing at NYU. It’s been quite a nuanced balancing act with full-time employment and a curious 3-year-old toddler. Very thankful to my husband for helping to keep our routines consistent.

Leah Brown (@AyannaSpeaks) wrote in to spread good news and cheer with her fellow Wes alums: “I’m excited to share that I am the founding executive director of the only urban squash educational program in New Jersey. Just completing our second year and expanding in the fall, StreetSquash Newark is changing lives in Newark, N.J. I was married in August and in a few months I am releasing my second spoken word CD to music. My website with upcoming details is speakitco.com.”

Frances Northcutt Green writes, “Next year I’m starting a children’s literature reading group in NYC for adults who love children’s literature and would love to include Wesleyan folks next. Anyone who is interested can reach me at northcuttgreen@gmail.com.”

Patrik Nylund (@PatrikNylund2) shared a few laughs. “Though I enjoy reading others’ updates, I have been terribly bad sharing my own for the last…well, maybe 10 years…Well, here are some. I returned to San Francisco two years ago after a four-year stay in my native Sweden. For the last four years, I have worked as a freelance research analyst and security adviser in the private security sector. I’d love to meet other Wesleyan alums doing similar work; please feel free to contact me via LinkedIn or patrik.m.nylund@gmail.com.”

Lauren Porosoff (@LaurenPorosoff): “Just writing to report the news that my book, Curriculum at Your Core: Meaningful Teaching in the Age of Standards, is coming out this fall. The book is a guide to designing curriculum, using values as a starting place because deciding what’s most important for students to learn is always a values-based process.”

Alexandra (Sasha) Lewis-Reisen was full of good news: “Working at the New York Legal Assistance Group, representing domestic violence survivors at trial and appellate levels. NYLAG, which represents needy New Yorkers for free, is a hotbed of Wes alums—awesome to see all the Wes mugs and posters around the office. The rest of the time, my husband Alex and I hang out with fellow NYers who have similar-aged kids as Anya (5) and Wes (almost 4). Earlier this year, my daughter Anya and I got to see Jessica (Shea) Lehmann (@JessicatheRD) in Arizona. Jess is teaching nutrition at ASU, appearing on local TV as a nutritionist, and raising three amazing boys with husband Greg Lehmann.” Sasha also added, “Visited Sarah Kollman and she is practicing charter school law and reveling in her adorable baby son, Peter, with husband Justin Regnier. Next trip: seeing Cheryl (Goldman) Governale, who is in California, finally stateside after years in Italy and England with her family. Wish we were all living closer to each other. And to O’Rourke’s!”

Andrew Frishman (@AndrewFrishman) wrote: “On the professional side, this past May I completed an EdLD (Doctorate in Education Leadership) at Harvard Graduate School of Education. My work focused on a year of residency with Big Picture Learning (bigpicture.org) and was titled ‘The Future of Big Picture Learning: A Strategy to Spread Student-Centered Personalized Education.’ My committee members included my incomparable and inspiring adviser Mark Moore, and Clayton Christensen. I have now fully transitioned onto the BPL leadership team—if there are any folks out there in the Wesleyan alumni world interested in talking about how to innovate and transform the public education system, I’m eager to connect! On the personal side, my family loves living in Cambridge where my wife, Leigh Anne Needleman ’96 (a neuroscientist at Harvard), can walk a few blocks to work; our children, Jordan (almost 5) and Lundy (2), continue to thrive. We’re thrilled that Jordan is attending Amigos bilingual public school in Cambridge as a junior kindergartener this fall.”

A couple of short and sweet notes: Susanne Sreedhar recently received tenure and is now an associate professor of philosophy at Boston University. And Charlotte E. Scott, Esq., has been an attorney for the past 11 years in northern California with her own law practice in Mendocino County, right across the street from the courthouse. She recently had her second baby, Zara Rose and her first, Violet, is 4-1/2.

Semeka Smith-Williams wrote in to say hello and to provide a couple of general updates. “My daughters and I just made it back from our weekend at Wesleyan, where we saw Gillian Todd ’98 and Javaid Khan ’96 at the screening of Bobbito Garcia’88’s Doin’ It in the Park. What an incredible film! We had the pleasure of walking around the campus and soaking up the sun while exploring many the new spaces Wesleyan has to offer. Aside from that, things are going well for me and the family. I am working at Packer as a kindergarten teacher and LS diversity coordinator. My daughters are there, too, and feel like valid members of the community. It’s an extra exciting year at Packer, because Jose DeJesus is the new head of the upper school, and there are other Wesleyan grads in the building, but nothing compares to the class of ’97!”

And to close, Wesleyan’s Precision founder, Abdul Lateef Rasheed (Abdul Latif), following his inaugural artist-in-residence position at Lincoln Center, was the first Rockefeller Foundation Fellow to have a grant proposal that was his brainchild brought forth into a residency program, which he conceived, founded, and recently completed: The Artist Mentoring Lab.

Thank you ’97s for showing up strong with your notes for the end of the year. Until we meet again, please e-mail or tweet me @BGunlimited. 

Kimberly King
kimberly.king715@gmail.com

Check out Sarah Wildman’s new book, Paper Love: sarahwildman.com/books/. It’s the story of Sarah’s search for the woman her grandfather left behind when he fled Vienna during the Holocaust. Her interest was first kindled when she found pictures of an unknown woman with her grandfather. Her search took her to Vienna, the Czech Republic, Berlin, and Israel. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a poignant and humane memoir.”

In news from Connecticut: Mark Davis works at Wesleyan and lives in Middletown with his wife, Megan (a Middletown native), and their children Minerva (“Minnie”), 4, and Oliver (“Ollie”), 2. He is always happy to see fellow ’96ers on campus!

Across the country, Cathy Thomas is working on a PhD in literature, with a focus on comics and contemporary Caribbean writing, at UC, Santa Cruz.

Pamela Stumpo published an article about Egyptian politics. You can read it here: layalina.tv/new_at_layalina/pamela-jean-stumpo/.

Elura Nanos Kish writes, “I’m enjoying life being a TV and radio lawyer, and I regularly do appearances on Fox News, HLN, Sirius Radio, HuffPost Live, and others. I’m also being featured in a new show on Reelz called Celebrity Damage Control, and I’m working hard toward landing a new show where I can tell it like it is with no holds barred. Marysol Castro and I had lunch to discuss life as a Wes ’96 New York Big Mouth TV personality (which was so fun), and in the middle of our lunch, we ran into none other than Matthew Strozier. Total Wes moment! I’m also starting my seventh season playing flute and piccolo with the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, and have joined its board as well. Still living in Cherry Hill, N.J., with my husband, son, and daughter.”

Mara Kailin and Daniel Cohen are celebrating 11 years in Denver. Dan is training for the NYC Marathon in November, and Mara recently got a great promotion at work. Dan reports, “Our kids are in first and third grades, and as they get older we like Colorado more and more because of all the things the family can do. We just celebrated our joint 40th birthday party by renting a house in the mountains with a group of friends, including Sean O’Connor and his wife, Lisa. Turning 40 is not so bad….”

Anand Nayak lives in Florence, Mass., with Polly Fiveash ’98 and their two sons. He is a Grammy-nominated guitarist, singer, and producer. You can find him on tour (along with Scott Kessel ’88) with folk band Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem.

That’s all for now. If we haven’t heard from you in a while, send in your updates!

DARA FEDERMAN | darasf@yahoo.com 

DACQUE TIRADO | dacquetirado@yahoo.com

Calling all ’95ers, calling all ’95ers! ’tis the year of our 20th, yes 20th Reunion. Save the dates of May 21–24, 2015. It is sure to be a fantastic weekend but only if you come. Join and/or check out our Facebook page, groups/30073947769/. We also need your time and, of course, your treasure/s. There are many ways to volunteer and give back; go to wesconnect.wesleyan.edu. Many thanks to those who have already done so. I can’t wait to see you all!—DDB, your dedicated class secretary.

Jacqui P. Rubin and Matthew Healey welcomed a daughter, Isobel Sadie Healey, on May 21. She joins older brother Nathaniel Charles Healey, born on Nov. 22, 2012.

Tamekca Faria married Troy Frisby in September 2014.

Stacy Theberge (now Taylor) traveled around the world for six months, then married her love and partner-in-crime, Jason Taylor, at her parents’ house in Maine. This fall, they bought an old farmhouse near Portland, Maine, and run their animation company, Little Zoo Studio, from it.

Cheryl Mejia says, “I am in my final year of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) residency! I will therefore finally be back in the job market after eight years of training. We physiatrists are good at non-surgical orthopedics, including injections, manual medicine, and rehabilitation of stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and cardiopulmonary diseases. A spine and sports (interventional pain management) fellowship wouldn’t be bad either! My gal, Clare, and I are still loving Miami. Drop a line if you are in town! Oh, and my e-mail signature also says that I am VP of Women in Medicine. If you are an LBT physician, you should check us out! Super fun as well as educational. WomenInMedicine.org.”

Amy Casher states, “My husband, daughter, and I are so happy to welcome our newest family addition, Lucas Casher Seibel, born August 25. We recently moved to Concord, Mass., from downtown Boston, and are enjoying life on the Sudbury River.”

Jason Wiser (married name of Jason Wiener) is launching his iPad kids game “DinoTrucks”—about digging up and building dinosaur skeletons—on Oct. 15, 2014, just in time for National Fossil Day! Press release, screenshots, and ridiculously cute trailer video narrated by his daughter available here: YayaPlay.com/DinoTrucks.

Jen Levine-Fried completed her master’s of science in accounting in December 2013, and got her CPA just last week. She is an accountant for a nonprofit in Boston, where she has been living since 2001. Jen is bringing the whole family to Middletown in May for our 20th (husband Matt and kids, who will be 6 and 8). She is looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Jeanne Bonner shares: “Happy to contribute to the class news. I’ve just started a master of fine arts in creative writing program at Bennington College. I continue to work as an NPR station reporter and am the proud mamma of my 2-year-old son, Leo, who can now triumphantly say, “I got ya!” and “I found it!” I am really enjoying immersing myself in reading and writing again, and am re-reading some texts I haven’t read in quite a few years! Hope everyone is doing well.”

Alexis Greeves is living in Minneapolis these days and has a private practice in which she does play therapy with deaf and hard-of-hearing children. David, her husband, and Alexis have two daughters (Ruby, 5, and Eliza, 2). Alexis left the East Coast (she was in D.C. for 12 years) kicking and screaming but is really loving life in the Midwest! Here’s her website: hopeandhealingmn.com.

Ryan Knox spent the summer teaching legal philosophy to pre-frosh at Brown University. He rather liked that Brown waitlisted him and now he was lecturing there! He is spending the fall writing poetry at Westlake, in Hangzhou, China, before returning to Hong Kong and New Haven where he splits his time and his life to achieve balance.

Jessica Peterson lives in Grand Junction, Colo., with her husband, Dave, and their daughters Elena (11) and Claire (6). She is the editor of The Maverick—the magazine for Colorado Mesa University. She also teaches in the mass communication program at CMU. (This is a recent development, after years of working as a reporter, and then as the communications/PR director for Mesa County, Colo.) When not chasing the kids on skis and mountain bikes, Jessica satisfies her inner drama geek by performing in community theater and dance productions, and also does some professional voice-over work. She serves on the board of directors at the Museum of Western Colorado.

(Jennifer) Parker Dockray is celebrating her first year as the executive director of Backline, a national nonprofit promoting support for experiences with pregnancy, parenting, abortion, and adoption. Their campaign to open the country’s first All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center was just profiled in Cosmopolitan.com and is slated to open in Indiana next spring. Parker is loving life in Oakland with her second grader, and although she’s grateful to Facebook for keeping her connected to so many Wes classmates, she looks forward to seeing folks in person at our 20th Reunion.

Ana Maria Kleymeyer’s biggest news is that she co-produced a documentary called La Ruta de las Almas (The Road of the Souls) this year. It’s in its final stage of production. Other than that, Ana started her own consulting business—a small project she calls Instruments for Change. She consults on international environmental law as well as art projects with social and environmental impact. And she has moved back to the USA after five years in Europe.

DWAYNE BUSBY | dwaynedbusby@yahoo.com 

David Nesbett opened his own law firm, Nesbett & Nesbett, P.C., after many years working as a prosecutor and in another firm as an associate. He says, “We’ve been in business almost four years now, practicing small business civil law and criminal defense.”

Julian Bobb also made a career change. He says, “In February I left Jennison Associates, an investment advisory affiliate of Prudential. I decided to put my law degree on the shelf for a little bit to try my hand at real estate investing in NYC. It’s a slow go so far but I am going to stick with it. I am still pretty active with my fraternity, currently in my second term as the President of the New York Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. I am also class president and preparing for my 25th reunion at Phillips Exeter Academy this May. I hope to see Astrid Wilkie-McKellar, Coco Kikoski, Lorenzo Childress, Francois Nguyen, Jay Johnson ’89, Greg Sawyer ’95, and Jeff Wilner at Exeter for the reunion. I stay in touch with Astrid, who is living in Georgia now, Danny Santiago, who lives in Tennessee, and Nelson Rodriguez, who lives in Puerto Rico, not to mention my Kappa Brothers, Andy McGadney ’92 and Mike Harris. I regret not being able to make the Reunion this year, as it landed on the weekend of my wife Vanessa’s 40th birthday, and she did not want to spend it at Wesleyan. We also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this past May. I had the opportunity to give a talk on Wesleyan’s campus last November; it is a very different place. I can’t believe that Mocon is gone, and in fact it doesn’t look like it was ever there.”

Tonya Ward Singer says, “My book will be published in November! I wrote a book for K-12 learning leaders to facilitate dynamic collaboration among teachers to elevate the achievement of diverse learners in schools. It’s called Opening Doors to Equity: A Practical Guide to Leading Observation-Based Professional Learning (November 2014, Corwin Press and Learning Forward).”

While we’re celebrating book publications, Maggie Nelson will publish her ninth book this spring, a work of “autotheory” titled The Argonauts (May 2015, Graywolf Press). The project was supported by a Creative Capital Innovative Literature Fellowship. Maggie lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the School of Critical Studies at CalArts.

Tania Llambelis is teaching kindergarten in Oakland, Calif. She says she “continues to utilize skills she acquired as a dance major at Wesleyan when she does her morning routine with her 24 students, which includes mindful breathing techniques, yoga, and dancing.” Tania also reports that she and Darcie Luce ’93 “founded the Oakland Improv Collective in 2007, and the company continues to bring performance to the people of Northern California. The company participated in a unique event called the Art in Nature Festival at Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, Calif. In addition, we are gearing up for performances for the Day of the Dead.”

Also busy performing is Ken Barnett. He says, “I’m currently performing in a world premiere of a musical adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel, Fortress of Solitude, at the Public Theater in New York.”

Robin Shane reports on more Wesleyan theater connections. “I am now living in Philadelphia with my husband, Jonathan, and two daughters Cecily (11) and Miranda (7). I have been named as resident costume designer at EgoPo theater in Philadelphia and at the Passage Theater in Trenton, N.J., and continue to be on staff at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., where I design all six productions in the Fine Arts Department.” Robin’s daughters attend the Abington Friends School, “where their Spanish teacher is none other than Catalina Rios ’84.” Robin’s husband, Jonathan, just received tenure and promotion at Arcadia University in the theater department, where his colleague is the illustrious Mark Wade ’83, who was the director of Robinand Mark Gordon’s senior project! Small world indeed!!

Jessica Sharzer says, “I live in LA with my two kids, Sasha (4) and Dante (7). I’m a writer/producer on the cable series American Horror Story, and I wrote a teen thriller called Nerve for Lionsgate that shoots in early 2015.”

Sasha Chanoff says, “I’m living in Somerville with my wife and two children, Lailah (4) and Hayden (6). I’m going into my 10th year of running RefugePoint, an organization that finds lasting solutions for refugees in life-threatening situations. I served as a consultant for the new Warner Bros. film The Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon inspired by the true story of the refugees known as the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan. I have also worked with the producers to create The Good Lie Fund to support south Sudanese refugee children in crisis. All is wonderfully well.”

Elizabeth Rand Ehrlich says, “I am still in Hartford, Conn., busy with my four kids! My business, Kids Kippot, has taken off this fall and I am filling orders for custom kippot (yarmulkes) as fast as I can make them. I am enjoying using Etsy as a platform to showcase my wares and love the flexibility of working for myself. My website is kidskippot.com if you’d like to see what I make.”

Raeanne Roper Martinez is still in Austin along with Ken and Laura Cho ’93 and Jessica ’93 and Paul D’Arcy ’93, “but I have left the newspaper biz and now work as a legal editor for a nonpartisan state agency, the Texas Legislative Council. We are gearing up for the next session of the legislature, which always brings long hours and some strange happenings, so wish me luck. Otherwise my husband and I travel a bit, spend time with our nephews and other family, ride our bikes, and cheer on the Houston Astros, in person whenever possible.”

Please keep sending us your news.

Jiyoung Lim Gilbreth and Ilana wind newell
94notes@gmail.com

Hi, Wes ’93ers. We have some exciting news in these class notes: a wedding, a few career updates, and some mini-Wes reunions. Please keep the good news coming in!

Jacob Bricca writes: “My family and I have moved to Tucson, Ariz., where I have taken a job as assistant professor in the School of Theatre, Film and Television. I specialize in teaching editing classes and also teach documentary and narrative production. My feature documentary Tatanka has been screening around the country at film festivals and will be released on DVD and download early next year.”

Abigail Lorber Clarkson e-mails: “My family and I moved to Austin, Texas, this summer. Our daughter, Louisa, has become friends with Jessica and Paul D’Arcy’s oldest daughter, Maya, and goes to the same school as John Wallingford’s ’92 children. I am working at St. David’s Foundation as an executive assistant and database administrator in the grants department, and my husband is studying for his master’s in divinity.”

Chris Cowan provides this update: “In late 2012, I moved my research lab (integrative neurobiology laboratory) to the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital (Belmont, Mass.). We are currently studying brain mechanisms associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, like autism, and neuropsychiatric disorders, like drug addiction.”

Bobby Donaldson writes: “Recently completed nine years of service on the Wesleyan Board of Trustees. Currently I serve as a professor of history and the faculty principal of a residential college at the University of South Carolina. I thoroughly enjoy living (along with my family) in the heart of our campus in a community of 230 undergraduates. Not quite Foss Hill and Butterfield! I continue to be involved in a number of public history and documentary projects related to education, civil rights and youth activism, which have been featured in national publications and C-SPAN. My wife, Elise, and I have two children, Ruby (8) and Joseph (3)—who just began (today) school in a public Montessori program in our city.”

Clay Dreslough (née Dresser) e-mails: “My wife (Dee) and I finally bought the farm. It is 17 acres in Ashford, Conn. (about halfway between Middletown and Boston), and currently boasts one dog, two steer, eight cats, and about 30 chickens. We also successfully launched a pro football card game on Kickstarter earlier this year. It’s called Masters of the Gridiron and can be found at motg.net. I am continuing to earn a living from computer baseball simulations—a job that has required me to spend about three months in South Korea over the last two years. I still can’t speak the language, but I do hook up with the local Ultimate (Frisbee) players whenever I’m there.”

Julie Francis writes: “I treated myself and my family to a month-long sabbatical in December. My husband, Fred Evenson, daughters Bella (11) and Simone (8) and I island-hopped from Langkawi, Malaysia, through Southern Thailand. The girls wanted to spend most of their time snorkeling, which was fine with us. While they didn’t discover a deep love for green curry, they did develop a deeper understanding of world religions and culture and developed a strong desire for more travel and adventure—mission accomplished! One of the highlights was following a sea snake through the Andaman Sea (not bad for a mom with a phobia) and camping in a floating tent cabin in a lake in the jungle, surrounded by calling gibbons. I found the month off (100 percent unplugged from e-mail!) completely rejuvenating on the work front. My consulting practice (BellaVia Research, user experience research), is thriving and I’m blessed with clients I love working with. I came home from the sabbatical determined to find more work-life balance, and am doing okay with that (I’d give myself a C, or maybe a B-). As part of my quest for more work-life balance, I’ve started start cycling again. In May I did the 50-mile ‘tour d’ cure’ bike ride for the American Diabetes Association through Napa. I’ve started training for the AIDS Lifecycle ride in June 2015, 545 miles from San Francisco to LA. Erin Kelly ’91 intends to fly out from NYC to ride and camp with me! (Yes, we’re beginning to beg for money—let us know if you want to support two awesome moms who cycle!) I saw Erinand Elizabeth Meister ’92 recently in NYC, where we walked the High Line, devoured soul food, and pondered how it’s possible that we’re in our mid-40s. I also visited Kristin Connor ’94 and her adorable almost-2-year-old Robin and husband Mark; Kristin is living in Madison, Wis., with a thriving acupuncture practice.”

Camille McGadney writes: “We will be moving to Waterville, Maine. Andy ’92 has accepted a position as vice president and secretary of the college at Colby College.”

Jason Rekate provides this update: “My family and I relocated in August from Shanghai to Hong Kong for my job with Citi. My wife, Anna, is teaching at Hong Kong International School where my daughters, Emma (12) and Lizzy (10), are students. We’ve been overseas since 2006 and this is our fourth move.”

Matthew Schneider married Jean Gilmore Devine in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sept. 13, 2014. In attendance were alumni, including Jon Chesto, Sue Walker Chesto, Arthur Magni, Anne Noel Occhialino ’94, and Jessica Kirshner.

Lisa O’Donoghue-Lindy is writing a blog about inspirational women making career transitions, career2.oblog.net. Lisa would love to hear from Wes grads.

Thanks for sending this wonderful news, and please keep updating us on your careers, families, and post-Wes lives.

SUZANNA HENSHON | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com 

SARAH ESTOW | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

Elizabeth Liang has been touring her intercultural solo show, Alien Citizen: An Earth Odyssey, nationally and internationally. It had its world premiere in Hollywood, in May 2013. Elizabeth brought it to Wesleyan in April 2014 and has also performed it at Princeton, M.I.T., Williams, Augustana, S.D., and Carleton; theatre festivals Off Off Broadway and in San Francisco; conferences in Chicago and Tyson’s Corner, Va.; and in Panama and Iceland. For more info: aliencitizensoloshow.com

Darcy Dennett writes: “My entire life has been about work for the past year—and will likely be for coming months as well! Still living in NYC despite what appears to be a massive population explosion.” She’s producing and directing The Champions, her first independent documentary feature, which will be released in 2015. Here’s the summary: “All the odds were against the 22 pit-bulls rescued from star quarterback Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring. Forced to fight for their lives, they were considered so dangerous that PETA and The Humane Society wanted them euthanized. But what no one counted on was their courage—and their story inspired a nation.”

Caitlin Boger-Hawkins has worked for Connecticut’s community college system since the late ’90s, and lives with her husband Rick, 14-year-old daughter, Julia; 12-year-old son, Thomas; and dachshund, Minerva, in beautiful Litchfield County. She would love to connect with others in the Northwest Corner!

ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu 

PAUL COVIELLO | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

Newsmaker: Robin Delman Ekiss ’91
	Robin Delman Ekiss ’91 received one of only six 2007 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards. The foundation selects women who demonstrate excellence and promise at the beginning of their writing careers. Ekiss, whose poems have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Ploughshares, and Triquarterly, is finishing her first book of poetry, The Mansion of Happiness.

Newsmaker: Daniel B. Prieto ’91

Daniel B. Prieto ’91, an adjunct senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, is the author of the newly released CFR report, War About Terror: Civil Liberties and National Security After 9/11. The report addresses a range of issues—from Guantanamo to warantless wiretapping—and how to maintain America¹s longstanding democratic traditions while protecting it from real and serious threats. To download a copy, go to www.cfr.org/war_about_terror. Prieto, who worked for over two years on the politically-charged project, earned his Wesleyan degree in the College of Social Studies and his master’s from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Newsmaker: Catherine Rob Rogers ’91

Catherine Rob Rogers ’91, a Laramie County, Wyo., Circuit Court Magistrate and a private practice attorney, was appointed to the First Judicial District Court by Gov. Dave Freudenthal last September. In a Wyoming Tribune Eagle article, Freudenthal praised her, saying, “Her reputation for honesty and ethics is of the highest order. What makes her uniquely qualified is that the Circuit Court is really the people’s court, and she has a great people sense about her.” A sociology major as an undergraduate, she earned a JD from the University of Wyoming College of Law and was admitted to the Wyoming State Bar in 1998. “I am humbled by the Governor’s confidence in me, and I will do my best to serve the judiciary and the people of Laramie County with fairness, courtesy and a commitment to equal justice,” Rogers said. She is married to Kevin Ohlson ’90.

Newsmaker: Stephen K. Friedman ’91

Stephen K. Friedman ’91 has been promoted to president of MTV. Since the fall of 2008, he has been general manager, and he will now oversee MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV.com, MTV Hits and MTV Jams. During Friedman’s tenure, MTV has had five consecutive quarters of growth, and launched such successful shows as Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, Life as Liz, and the upcoming Teen Wolf. He joined MTV in 1998 and started MTV’s strategic partnerships and public affairs department. As general manager, he launched mtvU, the channel dedicated to college students, in 2004, and helped shape the channel’s Emmy Award-winning Sudan campaign to protest genocide in Darfur. In announcing his promotion, The Los Angeles Times writes: “Over the years, [Friedman] has been instrumental in many of MTV’s social and political causes. … He was deeply involved in MTV’s award-winning ‘Fight for Your Rights’ campaign and its ‘Choose or Lose’ political drive.” Before joining MTV, Friedman was director for the PEN American Center, an international writers’ human rights organization. At Wesleyan, he majored in the College of Letters.

Beth Haney is now operations director for Free Bikes 4 Kidz, a Minnesota nonprofit that cleans,  refurbishes, and gives away gently used bikes to kids—5,000 bikes in 2013! If you live in the Twin Cities and have mad bike repair skills, or are good at cleaning and shining, Beth would love you to help out. Free Bikes 4 Kidz is also working on expanding to other cities across the US. Details are at fb4k.org.

Drew Marrochello has been appointed director of athletics at Boston University, where he has worked since 2005. According to BU Today, “Athletically, my goal is for BU to be viewed as the best non-football-playing Division I school in the nation.” 

Meanwhile, I’ve had a crazy, busy, and challenging couple of months working as a researcher for the second season of the PBS production Genealogy Road Show, uncovering family histories and mysteries in St. Louis, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Shows will air in early 2015.

And that’s it! Write me with your news.

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

Hi, everyone. Before I start, I would like to remind you all to please mark your calendars: Our 25th Reunion is May 21–24, 2015! I hope we have a fantastic turnout.

Julia Moffett, after 12 years in London, is currently living in Nairobi, Kenya, with her 8-year-old twin daughters and family. Julia works in education innovation for Equity Bank’s Foundation and is also creating The Future of Learning Fund to support education entrepreneurs. “It’s an amazing place to be at the moment and we are thoroughly enjoying the adventure!”

Another exciting transition comes from Jessica Gutteridge who, after 20 years working in the law, made a major career move by beginning studies in theater education. This summer Jessica left her job with the legal department at Cablevision and assisted with a pre-college program in musical theater at Adelphi University. “It’s great to be back in the world of theater and working with enthusiastic and talented high school students. As of August, we are relocating to Vancouver, British Columbia, my husband’s home town. It’s a lot of change, but all very exciting.”

A couple of others have recently moved to new places as well. Gabriella Nawi got married this past January to Todd Jonasz and relocated to New Jersey, where they live with her son Sam (14) and Todd’s two daughters, Alex (13) and Liza (10). Chrissy Feuerbach Fedolfi writes that her “family relocated to West Hartford, Conn., from Maine in August 2013 so that Chuck could take the director of the Annual Fund job at good ol’ Wesleyan! He loves being back at Wesleyan and seeing how Middletown has improved since 1990. I am sure he will be in touch with all of you to solicit support for Wesleyan. I took the year off from teaching elementary school to help our children (Giancarlo, 9, and Greta, 7) settle in to our new town, but am hoping to have a new job by the time this gets published. We are excited to see folks at the 25th Reunion and if anyone needs a place to stay we are just 25 minutes to campus!”

More exciting news from Sharene Azimi who, along with her husband, welcomed second son, Nathaniel William Wulfekuhler (Nate) on April 7, 2014. “He joins big brother Maximilian (Max) in our old house outside Philadelphia. I continue to run my own consulting business, Mission Communications, providing strategic communications services to nonprofit organizations. My former roommate Thea Trachtenberg was the first Wes alum to meet the new baby. Hope to see more of you soon.”

We have big publishing news from both Ben Robertson and Rebecca Rossen. This month Ben is publishing his first novel, The Last Generation, about a girl in Greenland around the time of the disappearance of the Norse colony there in 1500. “It is young adult historical fiction set in the age of exploration and discovery. Hunger Games meets Dances with Wolves, as they say.” Rebecca recently published Dancing Jewish: Jewish Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance (Oxford University Press, 2014). Additionally, she is delighted to be returning to Wesleyan in January to give the annual Cynthia Novack lecture in dance. Rebecca, her husband, David Pavkovic, and their two daughters live in Austin, where she teaches dance and performance history at the University of Texas.

Also in Texas is Sarah Ellenzweig, who lives in Houston with her husband and three sons. Sarah is an associate professor of English at Rice University and colleagues with Ussama Makdisi, professor of Arab history. She recently reconnected with Hannah Carlson and Charlie Cannon ’89 “for a fabulous lunch on their deck in Providence, R.I.” Both are teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Charlie in architecture and Hannah in the history of art and visual culture. Sarah also had dinner with Melanie Sy, who was passing through Houston on a consulting job, and had “a fortuitous catch-up with Rachel Williams and her husband and two daughters when both were passing through Boston last summer.”

Finally, it was great to hear from Tim Hintz, who is still living in Brookline, Mass., and working as an elementary school counselor. Tim’s wife teaches and their three children are all on the same schedule. They all love traveling, which allows them to see a lot of America and many Wes people as well. In December they visited San Francisco and saw Andy Spear (“teaching high school in Berkeley”) and Julia Erwin (“now a major poobah at Stanford Law School”). In the spring they had visits from Andrew Siff and family. “Andy is a reporter for WNBC in New York and lives in Queens.” Tim also hosted Andrew Griffin, “now a radiologist in the Chicago area, and had dinner with Denise Casper, my neighbor in Brookline. Denise achieved significant press last year as the judge who presided over the Whitey Bulger trial. Not surprisingly, she was lauded for her even temperament and thoughtful words at sentencing.” In April, Tim and family stopped in on Stephen Power ’89, who is an editor living in Maplewood, N.J. Finally, this summer they did a 32-day, 7,400-mile cross-country drive, getting in some of the great sights of the northern United States. “We stopped in Albany to see New York judge David Weinstein, who noted he had run into Miriam Temin when we were passing through his fair city. At the western terminus we went camping with President-for-Life Bill Sherman and family. Bill had been teaching law but was starting a new job at the district attorney’s office in Seattle.” Tim concludes that he is already “thinking about next year’s trips, but will definitely include Reunion!” I hope all of you will do the same!

Vanessa montag brosgol
vebrosgol@optonline.net

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Class Notes has entered the social media age! Several submissions for this issue were first posted on WesConnect. The new magazine site (magazine.wesleyan.edu) also has a Class Notes section where we can post overflow information and photos, so please start submitting them!

Farrah Darbouze married Jessica Heard in December. The wedding was in Bethesda, and our classmate Nichole Morris was also in attendance.

Imani “Grace” Duncan-Price dropped us a note to let us know she is now based in Kingston, Jamaica. “I was honoured to be appointed a senator for the Government of Jamaica in 2012, so a significant part of life now focuses on reviewing laws for my country. But I still have my day job as chief strategy officer for JMMB Group (regional financial services company) and of course enjoying my young family as we all grow. So link me if you come this way. One love.”

You may have seen BatKid on the news this year? One of our classmates was involved! From Allegra Jones: “I’m happy to report that San Francisco’s BatKid saved Gotham City on Nov. 15! I’ve volunteered as a member of the Young Professional Advisory Council (YPAC) of the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation for seven years, and this was by far the most exciting, inspiring, community-building event in which I have participated. Seeing the city come together to help grant 5-year-old Miles’ wish to become BatKid was a true joy. #SFBatKid”

Mark Zubko and family are now living in Brooklyn. They recently moved back to the US from London. Mark’s wife, Alexandra, recently co-founded a travel-review company (Triptease).

As for your class secretaries, Darryl is continuing to take over Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, one admissions class at a time. Kevin and his wife survived their first year with twins (Owen and Norah), with their older daughter, Claire, pitching in to help. When not chasing toddlers, Kevin is helping ZocDoc expand its business across the U.S., providing real-time access to healthcare for all!

After the last Class Notes, Kevin heard from Beth Rauen Sciaino, who lives in nearby Morris County. Beth is the associate rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, N.J. She and her husband have a daughter, 6, and son, 1.

We hope our class has a solid turnout for the 15-year Reunion in May…in the meantime, please send in your updates so we can share!

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

KEVIN KUMLER | kevinkumler@gmail.com