Class Notes | 2000s

Hi ’09er’s! Below are a few updated on your classmates.

Chris Mixon was married in Dallas, Texas, in October and had Steve Rebh, Pearce Talbot, Alex Segal, and Carl Maloni keeping him in check.

Max Krafft married his long-time partner, Thomas Zemp (Brown University ’05), in October. Their wedding was officiated by their good friend, Bess Thaler ’04, and several other Wesleyan friends joined in their summer camp-themed ceremony, including Sam Fentress ’04, Dan Stillman ’04, Christopher McDonald ’06, Allison Hughes ’06, Tristan Chirico ’06, Jeffrey Rovinelli ’10, Ben Morse ’04, Ben Abrams ’03, Abraham Lateiner ’04, and Ethan Butler ’04. They currently live in Guadalajara, Mexico, where Max is on a diplomatic assignment with the Foreign Service. His next assignment—to the U.S. Embassy in Oslo—begins this fall.

Emily Reisner is the new program director for school-based programs at Aspiranet, a nonprofit providing family and child services in the Bay Area. She oversees Mouse California, a Web-based technology platform that encourages students from underserved areas to access technology careers, and Experience Corps Bay Area, a literacy program in partnership with AARP, that recruits retired adults to volunteer as reading tutors.

Andrew Dermont married Elizabeth Wolff ’06 on Sept. 10. Many Wesleyan alumni were in attendance, including Rachel Seebacher ’06, Liberty Thomas McAteer ’06, Alexis Krisel ’10, Mufaro Dube ’08, Saul Carlin ’09, Emily Frost ’06, Nick Bullard ’06, Derek Silverman ’09, Catherine Kast ’09, Reid Jewett ’11, Merrill Frew ’07, Gianna Sobol ’06, and Shaine Truscott ’06. For a picture of the festivities, visit classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu.

Jodie Rubenstein reports that she got engaged this past year and will be getting married in September. She and her fiancé, Alex Whitaker, are moving to Denver, Colo., in May, where Jodie will continue her job as regional director at J Street.

Finally, Ally (Heaney) Lamson had a baby, Harriet, on July 3, and is working as a divorce attorney in New Jersey. Ally is going to be the maid of honor in Jodie Rubenstein’s wedding!

Thanks for the updates and please keep them coming!

Alejandro Alvarado | ale.alvarado12@gmail.com

Many nuptials to report this issue! Graham Douds is still living and breathing in San Francisco. He is in his third year working as an attorney at a small litigation firm in the Bay Area. He recently married a wonderful woman over Labor Day weekend. At the ceremony and reception, they were surrounded by friends and family, including some Wes grads.

Katie Fabac writes, “A big year for me! I settled down with a sweet man and two dogs in Lawrence, Kan. We bought a three-bedroom house and got engaged. I work for the CMHC, and next year, am thinking about taking out a 403(b).”

In August, Sage Norman married Reinhardt Schuhmann ’06 in Reinhardt’s hometown of Brookhaven, N.Y. The couple met five ago on the Wesleyan campus at the class of 2006’s 5th Reunion. (Special shout-out to Sara Green who was with Sage in the Fountain Ave. backyard the moment the two met.) The wedding was brilliantly officiated by Jordyn Lexton and was attended by a quality crew of Wesleyan friends, with Rosina Belcourt, Stephanie Roer, and Matt Mulqueen ’06 included in the wedding party. Kinky Spigot & the Welders (band includes Yoni Rabino ’07, Marlon Bishop ’07, Jon Hutchinson ’07, and Lillian Ruiz) played the reception and kept everyone on the dance floor. Sage, Reinhardt, and their dog, Franklin, live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

Twelve years and two months after meeting as frosh at the Eclectic Sex Party, Adam Tinkle and Jess Sullivan finally got around to tying the knot, at Old Sturbridge Village on Nov. 26, with their daughter Alice, as flower person, and son Milo as ring bearer. They were surrounded by Wesleyan friends, who made toasts and music that were central to the ecstatic celebration. When not planning weddings (i.e., from now on), they both teach at Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a school which they are slowly trying to make more like Wes.

Lynn Favin is on her first national theater tour, playing Ophelia in Hamlet for the last four months all over America. She also has a recurring role on Baz Luhrmann’s,The Get Down, as a back-up singer (you can see her perform in the final number of episode one and the introductory credits of episode six). For reviews and other projects, visit www.lynnfavin.com.

Grace Kessler Overbeke is working on her dissertation at Northwestern University’s Interdisciplinary PhD., in theater and drama. Phil Zegelbone got his M.D., and is now a resident at Johns Hopkins. Elissa Kozlov writes, “I made my triumphant return to NYC in August after six long years away spent getting a PhD. in clinical psychology. I am now working at Weill Cornell Medical College in the division of geriatrics and palliative care. I moved to Brooklyn with my husband and my dog, and we were graciously welcomed by a warm community of Wes alumni who made me feel like I never left. I am so grateful for my Wesleyan family in NYC.”

Marianna Foos founded the Boston chapter of R-Ladies in September, part of a world-wide organization to promote gender diversity in the R, statistical programming language, community. She is also almost done training to become an instructor for Data Carpentry, a non-profit that teaches computer skills to researchers.

Lyz Nardo notes, “Greetings from Harlem! As chief operating officer at Tipsy Scoop, an ice cream company, I have been keeping myself busy creating seasonal, liquor-infused flavors (like Frose All Day made with grapefruit, rose wine and elderflower liqueur) and improving operations for our growing business. We proudly ship hundreds of orders nationwide each week and, due to growing demand, hope to open a storefront in NYC soon! “

Finally, Amanda Krentzman started working at Netflix as a creative TV executive in international originals. She and her team are making shows all around the world in other countries and in other languages that live on Netflix in 190 countries at once. They find and get to help create TV series about people and their stories from all over the world.

Alicia Collen Zeidan | acollen@wesleyan.edu

I am very excited to catch up on all the exciting news of my fellow ’07ers this May at our 10th Reunion! In the meantime, here’s a snapshot of the happenings of our class.

After traveling the last two years throughout Latin America, Laura Catana has spent the last year in Cuba, working with the island’s first independent music label, Guampara Music, alongside the talented musician DJ Jigüe. Based out of Havana, she has been involved in a variety of music events and productions, including music festivals, performances, and documentaries. Laura is not the only musician in the ’07 clan; Himanshu Suri is still a rapper. This year he’ll be performing at the Kaufman Music Center with pianist Vijay Iyer, and at Coachella with his new project, Swet Shop Boys. Rapping is pretty fun.

Meanwhile, Dante Furioso wrapped up three years at the Yale School of Architecture with an M. Arch I degree in May. He works for Selldorf Architects in New York. Scout James (née Michael) is in his third year of actor training at Juilliard’s drama division and has founded the only student-run newspaper there.

Amy Rosen is a recovering attorney who is writing corporate governance articles for CQ Roll Call, a D.C.-based company run by The Economist Group. Her stories are posted on Westlaw’s “Practitioner Insights” section. As she contemplates a move to the West Coast, she is running, lifting, and cooking, all while not trying not to forget the Chinese she learned from 2005 through 2007. She (sadly) just recently figured out Twitter and seeks interesting bird friends @amyleerosen.

Shawn Thomas Diefenbach recently relocated from Los Angeles to Brooklyn. He and his new pup, Champ, are living the dream.

And of course, we haven’t forgotten to ensure that there are students for future Wesleyan classes. Nasim Khoshkhou had a baby boy named Cameron (“CJ”) in October with husband Howard. They live in Bedford, N.Y., and would love to catch up with any Wes folks in the nearby area. Mary Campion Wolf and Patrick Wolf welcomed Eamon Peter Wolf (‘38?) to this bonkers world on Sept. 15. He is a great guy. The Wolf den is in Millburn, N.J. Mary is a pediatric hospitalist at Morristown Medical Center and Pat plucks strings in various locations with his band Goodnight, Texas. Nishita Roy-Pope (“Nya”) is loving life in Rhode Island. She and her husband, David, can’t believe six months have passed since the birth of their first child, Zamir! She is a consultant marketing manager at Dell and is infusing the Wes community service spirit into her work, including the establishment of a corporate high school internship program to promote STEM careers for girls.

Megan Harrington | wesleyan007@gmail.com

Victoria Belyavsky Pinsky | victoriapinsky@gmail.com

Sara and Justin Schmidt have moved from NYC to Seattle. They welcomed their second son, Simon, last March and big brother, Jonah, is happy to have a new addition. Sara is a clinical psychologist at the University of Washington, where she works on research in dialectical behavior therapy and post-traumatic stress disorder. Justin is working as a music publicist.

Adam Bernier married Virginia Aloi-Deheza in Buenos Aires on Dec. 21. Their immediate families, including Sarah Bernier ’08, were in attendance. The couple hopes to celebrate with their friends and extended family this summer. They live in Somers, N.Y., where Adam works as a producer, audio engineer, and sound designer for musicians, theaters, and events in NYC and Westchester County. He was also featured on the back cover of Wesleyan in the middle of tackling the cardinal mascot at a recent Reunion!

Daniel Dykes is a third-year associate at the New York office of international law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle. He does cross-border work involving Latin American clients, which is a welcome opportunity to use his Spanish.

Kate Longley-Wood is an ocean mapping coordinator for The Nature Conservancy’s Global Oceans Team. As a huge fan of the ocean and the unexplored depths, I say congratulations to you, Kate!

Joseph McElligott is the director of business development for Guggenheim Investment Advisors, LLC. He was elected to be the vice-chair of the Wesleyan University Alumni Association and is a part of the Binswanger Prize Committee.

Teddy O’Connor spent 2016 in Portland, Ore., where he worked on the first season of Comedy Central’s Jeff and Some Aliens. In need of a break, Teddy booked passage on a small boat to sail around the world and find himself on the sea.

Shaine Truscott celebrated a new marriage, and a decade of living in Seattle, and working as a professional rabble-rouser for the long-term care workers’ union of Washington and Montana (SEIU775). She works alongside political genius Adam Glickman ’94. They are working to defend the Affordable Care Act and protect federal funding for Medicaid.

Tal Beery is busy in NYC and completing his M.F.A. He is part of Occupy Museums, an artist collective that holds open assemblies on the steps of museums and works to reclaim public spaces to display meaningful culture created by and for the 99 percent. Tal and Occupy Museums will be exhibiting a work called Debtfair at the Whitney Biennial in March.

Ali Osborn is completing her final semester at Rutgers University, where she will receive an MFA degree. Her thesis exhibit went up in January at the Mason Gross Galleries in New Brunswick, N.J.

Zach Strassburger is now the law clerk for the Honorable Carmine Sturino in Houston County, Minn. Zach is the sole clerk in a rural one-judge county. You can read Zach’s law journal article, “Medical Decision Making for Youth in the Foster Care System” in the John Marshall Law Review.

Technologies of Religion: Spheres of the Sacred in a Post-Secular Modernity, by Sam Han ’06, is out now from Routledge Press.

Congratulations to Liz Khoo and her husband, who welcomed their son into the world last September. His name is Hubble Zhiwen Green, named after the astronomer and telescope! They moved to San Francisco where Liz works as a digital product designer and her husband is a stay-at-home-father/woodworker.

In October, Stephen and Jemma Braun Siperstein ’05 welcomed their first child, Nathaniel Elliot, who has brought much light and laughter to their lives. Stephen received his PhD. from the University of Oregon and is teaching English and environmental humanities at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn. They’re excited to be close enough to Middletown to enjoy the occasional breakfast at O’Rourke’s.

Congrats to Hanako Moondance and her husband, Alex Salazar, who welcomed their son, Atlas Alexander Kai Guandique-Moondance, on Oct. 2. He is a healthy and happy chunk of cuteness!

Daniel Sweren-Becker ’06 creates a vision of a not-so-distant future world in which a random group of babies is chosen each year to be the smartest, best looking, most athletic members of society in his literary debut, The Ones (imprint/Macmillan Children’s Publishing).

And last, but certainly not least, congratulations to Sophie Karp and Evan Katin-Borland who welcomed their daughter, Lucy, on Aug. 7. They are tired and happy, but only five percent tired and 105 percent happy.

As for me, Calvin Cato (I never get to put my own name in bold), I’m currently contributing video game reviews to Tom’s Guide. If you want to know about hot virtual reality games, check out the articles. I am also hosting and producing a stand-up comedy showcase on Monday nights at Freddy’s Bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn. For every person who attends, we donate $1 to organizations that help underrepresented communities and causes. Past charities include the Native American Rights Fund, Planned Parenthood, The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you know of any charities or causes I should donate to, please feel free to e-mail me.

Calvin Cato | catocals@gmail.com

Matt Lewis is working happily as a lawyer in San Francisco, though at a new firm (Payne & Fears—yes that’s the real name). His family—wife Jessica, 3-year-old, Jack, and 8-month-old, Charlie—are living in Marin County, settling into a new house in Novato, with plenty of space for old friends to visit!

Adam Smiley Poswolsky ’05 proves himself an able guide for millennials trying to find their way in their professional life in The Quarter-Life Breakthrough: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work, and Build a Life That Matters (Tarcher Perigee/Penguin Random House).

Andrew Stuerzel is happy to report that he and his wife, Adriana Rojas ’07, are enjoying life in Middletown with their two children, Reese (4) and Marco (1). Adriana is working at the Weitzman Institute in the Community Health Center, and Andrew is helping expand Wesleyan’s global footprint as a development officer in the Office of University Relations. He was in Asia for Wes this past fall and is making another trip to Southeast Asia in April. Reese will begin kindergarten at McDonough School this fall, and they look forward to hearing about her interactions with the Wes students who take time out of their schedules to help out there. Marco will continue to attend Neighborhood Preschool behind Butterfield B. They are grateful for the wonderful access and exposure they have had to the Wes community during their time there.

Isaac Fleisher recently fled NYC with his wife and two daughters. They moved to his hometown of Northampton, Mass., without jobs! They have jobs and now they’re living the dream, or some approximation of it.

Sivan Cotel was thrilled after the release of Stonecutter Spirits Heritage Cask Whiskey, which grabbed gold medals in the 2016 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition and the 2017 World Spirits Competition.

Emily Pfeiffer-Russell is taking care of her 1-year-old son, Henry, while teaching part-time in Virginia. Her husband is finishing up a PhD. in ecophysiology and ecoclimatology at Virginia Tech. She was so grateful and happy to see many Wesleyan friends at two different alumni weddings this past year: Andreas Mendez-Penate is in Massachusetts and Kelly McFarling is in California.

Jay Kabel started a new job as technical director of software development at SingleStone Consulting and is having a good time in the Charlottesville, Va., area.

Jesse S. Sommer is allegedly in London, where both his wallet and passport have been stolen. He urgently needs just a few hundred dollars…  In other news, CPT Jesse S. Sommer is the senior prosecutor at Fort Polk, La. He has reason to believe that his e-mail account was recently hacked.

Maria I. Nankova survived a hard year in Brussels, having worked very near the airport at the time of the attack. Still living in Belgium with her kids and partner, they welcomed a Wes alum, Andy Gottlieb ’14, who came to Brussels to work at the European Parliament. While Andy was there, they visited Dinant and Namur where they did a little hike, celebrated Thanksgiving together, and went to Indian and African restaurants. All in all, they had a lot of fun and shared fond memories of Wesleyan. Andy was able to give a few history lessons to their older child who learned about U.S. elections at the time of the real elections. If anyone is passing through Brussels, please stop by to visit.

Sara Bremen Rabstenek and her husband, Tom Rabstenek ’03, welcomed their second daughter, Abigail Ruth Rabstenek, on Dec. 30. Along with their 3-year old, Dorothy, they’re happily living on the Upper West Side in Manhattan.

Kevin Egolf, with his wife, Amy Egolf (Nebenhaus) ’07, and daughter Aurora moved to Providence, R.I. They are enjoying the small city lifestyle after many years in NYC.

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

NEWSMAKERS | 2000s NEWSMAKER GREGORY HELLER ’04 Gregory Heller ’04 was named one of Urban Land’s 40 Under 40. This award highlights the best young land-use professionals from around the globe, as selected by members of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). ULI is a member-supported nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to providing leadership in the responsible use of land. Heller is the executive director of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. He recently published Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia and spoke at a TEDx conference. While at Wesleyan, Heller was an American studies major with a concentration in German studies.

The Class of 2004 continues to share some great updates on work, family and travels!

Sohana Punithakumar is living in Seattle and working for Microsoft. She recently joined the HoloLens Product Marketing team and is excited to be focusing on the world of mixed reality!

Kendra Rosa and Zachary Nusbaum welcomed their daughter, Isadora Jane Nusbaum, to the world in May. She is ferocious.

Chris Kaminstein and Laura Stein ’03 got married last April in New Orleans. They run arts organizations and have a beautiful community of people down here in the Crescent City.

Aja Gabel writes, “My debut novel, In Common Time, will publish in early 2018 on Riverhead Penguin Random House. It’s a love story about a professional string quartet, and follows each member during the course of their entire career. I also sold the film option to my apocalyptic short story to the producers who made the films Midnight Special, Loving, and La La Land. Other than that, I am still working as a copywriter at Huge in Portland, Ore.”

Brian Hennessey writes, “I’ve just wrapped up two years of living in Paraguay working in telecom. My Spanish is better than ever and am a true believer that Paraguayan asado beats Brazilian, Uruguayan, and Argentinian hands down. My company has rotated me back to the Miami office, so if anyone comes down, they should drop me a line.”

Adam Faris writes, “After 10 years in the Atlantic City casino industry, I pursued my passion to become a certified personal trainer. I rented a building, outfitted it with equipment and officially opened P.O.H. (Pursuit of Happiness) Personal Training and Fitness LLC in Turnersville, N.J. in 2014. Specializing in functional training, strength training, weight loss, and making human beings move like they are supposed to, P.O.H. has already built a strong fitness-based community in the South Jersey area and is rapidly growing. I go to work at 4:45 a.m. on a Monday morning and am genuinely excited about getting the day started!”

David Bloom married Ritza Emmanuelle Calixte at the Wayfarer’s Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Wes and fellow Quasimodal alumni James Schoen ’05 and Jed Rosenbaum ’02 were in attendance. After a lovely celebration, he returned to his craft, teaching theater at the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif.

Adam Hodge left the U.S. Department of Treasury, Public Affairs and returned to the DNC as communications director for the general election. His son, Owen, is 15-months old and loves hanging with uncles Rich Renzi, Zach Lampell, and Dan Moger ’03.

Zil Jaeger and her wife, Violeta, had their first baby. They are excited to move to Portland, Ore., next summer where they’ve bought a home close to Logan Wright and his partner, Maggie.

Jenna Flateman was recently the youngest Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame inductee this year.

Josh Pelletier and his wife report back from the trenches of new parenthood on the wonderful Presley. “Every day is magical with her, watching her grow, smile, seeing her discover new things about the world, and develop skills that seem to bring her joy. It’s inspiring to live with someone who really only knows how to live in the moment; It has allowed us to slow down and live in these moments with her. Having a child is really a wonderful teacher and we are so grateful to have her in our lives.”

Meanwhile, Jenina Nuñez continues to enjoy living in the Windy City working for McDonald’s Corporation at their global headquarters. She’s also discovered a love of running, having completed her first half-marathon in the fall of 2016 and curling up with her Chihuahua mix, Marley, in her downtime when she gets a moment.

Jenina Nuñez | jenina.nunez@outlook.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward | meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

Alison Criscitiello, back from the Indian Himalaya, is now director of Canada’s national ice core lab, based at University of Alberta.

After completing his M.F.A. in filmmaking from Columbia University, Jesse Soursourian will travel to Nagorno-Karabakh this spring to direct a documentary about an all-women team of land-mine-removal specialists.

Katie Nordine has taken on new challenges working in communications for Baker Demonstration School in Wilmette, Ill. She also runs her own small event planning business, Nordine Events, and dabbles in teaching yoga, having received her 200-Hour Yoga Alliance Teaching Certificate last year. She enjoys binge-watching and binge-reading (which with her two children, Nils Heltibrand and Vallely Nordine, around really means reading a page or two of a book and, at most, one whole episode of a show). She and her husband, Dave Heltibrand, live in Evanston and look forward to longer stretches of uninterrupted silence.

Matt Sienkiewic ’03 explores America’s efforts to employ “soft-psy” media to generate pro-American sentiment in the Middle East in The Other Air Force: U.S. Efforts to Reshape Middle Eastern Media since 9/11 (Rutgers University Press).

Jeremy Cluchey was elected to the Select Board in his town of Bowdoinham, Maine, where he lives with his wife, Sally, and kids, Rose and Fred. He works as communications director at Maine Audubon, a wildlife conservation group.

Rikkia Ben Yehudah, a long time resident of New Haven, Conn., is the founder of Xpressive Arts Creative Solutions for Everyday Living. She is an expressive arts therapist and consultant, as well as a wife and mommy. She keeps in contact with longtime Wesleyan friend Sherry-Ann Brown, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, and Chaya Braxton ’02, a branding and marketing consultant who helps her with the business. Connect with Rikkia if you are in New Haven.

Alison Plenge, Colin Aitken, and their daughter, Nora, were excited to welcome Lucas into their family on June 2. Nora is a great big sister, and Alison and Colin are happy to be the parents of two wonderful little kids, despite being completely exhausted. In July, the family will pack up and move from D.C. to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where Colin is joining the faculty of the biology department at Vassar. Needless to say, the timing of getting out of D.C. couldn’t be better, and everyone is looking forward to being closer to friends in the NYC region!

George Obulutsa is still going strong and growing grey knee hairs working for Reuters News in Nairobi. He had the pleasure of meeting with Sunho Hwang ’05 when he visited Kenya in July.

Jesse P. Karlsberg and his wife, Lauren Bock, are living in Atlanta and expecting their first child in February. After a year as a postdoctoral fellow, Jesse accepted a new job as senior digital scholarship strategist at the Emory University Center for Digital Scholarship where he oversees the center’s project process and edits Sounding Spirit (soundingspirit.org), a series of digital critical editions of the American southern sacred music diaspora using a new platform developed at the center. Jesse also manages Atlanta Studies (atlantastudies.org), a multi-modal scholarly magazine on the Atlanta metropolitan region.

Pete Harvey is taking a sabbatical in 2017 to travel and would love to meet any Wes grads living in Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Norway, Sweden, or Iceland. Say hi at peteharvey@gmail.com. Advice and tips very welcome.

Arcelie Reyes and Evan Newell ’02 recently moved to Evan’s hometown in Vermont. Sledding and snowboarding down the driveway with the kids (Kingston, 7, Phoenix, 5, and Cassius, 1) is their current favorite pastime.

Roberta Pereira is currently the producing director of The Playwrights Realm, an off-Broadway theater company dedicated to early-career playwrights. Their production of Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves recently completed two sold-out runs and was lauded by Forbes as “a milestone for women in entertainment.” and made it on The New York Times list of the Best Theater of 2016.

Amra Turalic and her husband, Jimmy Maynard, had a little girl in July. Her name is Marilyn Zada, and she is a happy little baby who likes to explore NYC, listen to songs and stories, communicate, and smile. She brings her family so much joy.

Meredith Barrett and Aaron Stoertz have an 18-month-old daughter, Winslow Elizabeth Stoertz (Wes ’37). She enjoys chalking with offspring from Wes alums in the Bay Area.

Amy Tannenbaum | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

I can’t believe that our 15th Reunion is upon us! For the next issue, we will publish various updates from our super fun weekend. Now onto the updates.

Allyson Miller Coppola and husband Michael Coppola ’03 welcomed their second child, a daughter, Sloan Maren Coppola, on Nov. 21. She joined big brother Zachary in the next generation of potential Wes students.

Sebastian Kaplan lives in Kensington, a small town near Berkeley, Calif., and works as an intellectual property litigator in San Francisco. He and his wife, Annie, have three daughters Zoe, Juliet, and Naomi.

Tracy Manaster ’01 exposes the messiness of life in her new book, The Done Thing (Tyrus Books). Publishers Weekly says, “In this engrossing story about the effects that vengeance can have on love, Manaster refuses to take the happy, easy way out, instead leaving her strikingly relatable characters with just enough room to breathe.”

Steve Scribner lives in Cambridge, Mass., these days. He’s an architect at Ann Beha Architects, a firm in Boston that focuses on schools and cultural buildings. Steve and his wife moved from Brooklyn, by way of a three-month stint in Berkeley, Calif., along with his 1-year-old son, Reid, and two cats. They relocated for his wife to pursue a master’s in landscape architecture at Harvard. He saw Austin Zinsser in Cambridge, who was visiting his fiancée’s family over the holiday before flying back to Boise, Idaho, where he is a hard rock geologist for a mining company. Steve also saw John Gordon, along with John’s wife, and his son, Joe. They are on a one-year world tour after leaving their home in Bejing last year. Steve is plotting a trip to visit Bajir Cannon in Kyoto, Japan, where he moved in 2015 with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. Lastly, Steve reconnected with Conor Gately and his wife, Tricie Gately ’03, who live in South Boston with their new puppy Ollie.

Cristina Moracho lives in Brooklyn with her dog. Her second novel, A Good Idea, was published by Viking Press on February 28. Viking also published her debut novel, Althea & Oliver, which was translated into half a dozen languages and is now available in paperback.

Lastly, Nathan Rich founded the architecture and design office P.R.O. The firm has projects throughout the U.S., and has won awards from Architizer and the American Institute of Architects. Nathan’s wife and partner, Miriam Peterson, has taught in the architecture studio at Wesleyan. P.R.O. recently hired Pik-tone Fung ‘14 and is always looking for talented Wes grads!

Thanks everyone! Please keep the updates coming throughout the year.

Justin Lacob | justinlacob@gmail.com

Class of 2001 Wesleyan Scholarship

Daniel Chung ’20, Bellevue, WA

Hey there, 2001-ers. Shout out to the small handful of classmates who contributed to Class Notes this time around.

Amy Prisco Quinn shares that she is an attorney at Bloomberg LP in NYC. She resides in Jersey City with her husband and two children.

Laginne Walker is proud to announce the birth of her first child, Garvey Walker Parker. Weighing in at seven pounds, seven ounces, he is pure baby perfection. Laginne writes that with a firefighter and teacher as parents, she is excited to see how her son will continue to serve the community. In the meantime, Garvey looks forward to regular visits from mom’s co-worker and good friend, Jenny Navasky ’96, as well as Camille Young ’04.

Matt Auerbach is enjoying his second year as principal of an elementary school in Wilmington, Del., that serves low-income/high-needs families. Matt’s daughter, Ayla, attends second grade at his school, and you can bet he’s holding onto these fleeting moments when Ayla still thinks this is as cool as her dad does. Son Noah will join the family next year when he enters Kindergarten.

As for me? Up here in Calgary, Alberta, I’m currently fielding a sudden influx of Canadian visa applications from friends and family since November 8.

Happy Spring everyone. Your Class of 2001 scribes:

Mara Voukydis | maravee@gmail.com

Aryn Sperando | arynsperandio@yahoo.com

NEWSMAKERS | 2000s NEWSMAKER EDUARDO MEDINA ’00 Eduardo Medina ’00, MD, MPH, co-authored “Structural Racism and Supporting Black Lives—The Role of Health Professionals,” published last December in the New England Journal of Medicine. Working with colleagues at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, the article addresses the link between premature deaths, both in the criminal justice system and in the healthcare system in America. Medina’s integration of social justice and medicine, he notes, actually echoes a history of political activism among Latin American physicians, like Che Guevara and Salvador Allende, something he studied as a Latin American Studies major, even while on the pre-med track at Wesleyan. After Wesleyan, Medina earned advanced degrees at the University of Minnesota.

Scott Cunningham and his wife, Christina Frigo, recently celebrated the birth of their daughter, Ada. Scott lives in Miami where he serves as the director of the O, Miami Poetry Festival. Melissa Stevens and Robert Debbane welcomed their second son, Sami Alexander Debbane, born July 8. Shawn Green is attempting a career change, from education to engineering. He’s working on a degree and working at Covestro, a polymer company.

Caroline Cho writes, “I’m enjoying my new job as communications manager for WW Sales at F5 Networks based in Seattle. Juggling a career and managing the role of mom to three keeps me pretty busy and leaves little time for myself. When I do have some free time, you can find me training for Ragnar or aspiring to be a CrossFit athlete. Would love to sync with other Wes grads in the area!”

Eric Steffen writes, “After having great difficulty finding jeans that fit my soccer player’s thighs, I recently started my own custom denim business in Brooklyn called FITTED Underground. Find out more about us at fitted.nyc or on Instagram at FITTED.underground.”

Trace Peterson writes, “I’m a trans-woman poet, publisher, and professor. I currently teach at Yale University and Hunter College. I run a small press called EOAGH Books. A book I published and wrote the foreword to, Succubus in My Pocket, by Kari Edwards, won the first-ever Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Poetry this past year. It’s a new award that was just created, and a significant milestone in LGBT literature.”

If anyone is interested in joining the Class of 2000 secretaries, please let us know. We would love to have you on the team!

Avery Esdaile | wesleyan2000@gmail.com