Class Notes | 2010s

Please send news and updates to your class secretary.

Emily Hilton, Isaac Yassky, and Najwa Anasse enjoyed their third-annual wellness week this summer with an appearance from Clemence Kim ’14.

Annie Cooperstone teaches English at Stuyvesant High School in New York City.

Alex Kamisher says he celebrated his one-year wedding anniversary with Kate Gilpin ’15. They live on Long Island with their two cats and new puppy and spend weekends with Wes friends in the New York City area.

Michael Ortiz reports, “I completed my PhD in American studies at Harvard University this past May and joined the faculty in the Department of History at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts!” Congratulations, Michael! 

I hope you are all well!

Please see updates from our classmates:

Melissa Leung has been contemplating the meaning of life while embracing the SoCal life by bird-watching and beach bumming. She visits her parents (aka Sarah Mi and Taran Carr) and fur siblings in San Diego often, to perpetually hunt for five-star Asian food and to begin her mildly unhealthy and obsessive relationship with pickleball given her ACL tear and current recovery (RIP). She dreams of Mariam Torres’s tropical elegance wedding, where Mariam gathered the girlies (Sarah Mi, Kellyn Maves, Chiara Wabl, Taran Carr‚ Giselle Torres, Martin Malabanan, Dacheng Zhao ’18, and Deborah Mi ’14) to shake our butts and dance on beat hopefully 🙏🏻 not bringing shame to the Torres Soto family.

I’m happy to report that ophthalmology residency in Albuquerque has been going well so far, and I have been loving the beauty of the Southwest. Feel free to reach out if you’re ever in the area!

Stay well,

Mariam

Andrew Postman has become an Equinox gay after a failed stint as a yoga influencer.

Jaime de Venecia,formerly a professional musician working in hospitality, transitioned into software engineering and web development in 2023. He’s still living in Los Angeles and is now a software engineer and engineering instructor at Codesmith.

Sam Wheeler married Adrie Lofters ’16 on September 7, after eight years together. They met behind the Usdan desk, where they worked for two years before dating. The couple lives in Brooklyn.

Gabe Gordon and Virgil Taylor recently met for a burger in Strawberry. 

Jalen Alexander is living in Brooklyn, New York, and celebrated five years at MDRC, a leading policy- research think tank, in May. Jalen also serves as the president of Social Policy Workers United (SPWU), the staff union at MDRC. The nearly 200-person unit represents researchers, IT staff, and administrative staff across the organization. On August 15, SPWU voted to ratify their first contract after over two years of bargaining. Jalen’s excited to have a bit of extra time to reconnect now that the contract fight is over. “Please reach out if you’re in NYC!”

InMayof this year, Julia “Jay” Benedith earned her Doctor of Education in Educational Sustainability from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. In August, she got engaged to her longtime partner, Representative Benjamin Williams (D.C. State Board of Education). What a wonderful summer!

Julius Bjornson writes, “I recently released some live videos with my group, Earl & Thor. One is an adaptation of the classic Jean Ritchie song, Jubilee, and the other is a contemporary Appalachian tune. They can both be seen on our website: www.earlandthor.com.”

Ella Dawson celebrated the publication of her first novel in June. But How Are You, Really is a coming-of-age story about an anxious millennial who attends her five-year college reunion. All similarities to Wesleyan are purely coincidental! Her favorite moment from the book tour was doing a sold-out event at Kansas City’s romance bookstore with Gabe Rosenberg ’16, who lovingly roasted her as only a college best friend can. She’s grateful to all of the Wes alums who have supported the book and helped spread the word!

Adam Freed gives a quick update: “I got married on June 1 in Santa Cruz, California! My wife is not a Wes alum (we met in graduate school at the University of Michigan), so I don’t know if this is still newsworthy, but figured I’d pass this along.”

Jana Heaton will be officiating Frank Fineis ’13 and Alyssa Bonneau’swedding in October. Jana askes that you “let her know in advance if you have any objections. Thank you.” She also adds that “the wife and I recently had a baby. She’s very cute but incredibly short. I guess a normal size for a baby. But babies are super short and nobody’s talking about it.”

Two new chapbooks by Joshua Krugman,Unexpected Breakfast and If Something Good Happens, I’ll Be There Soon, are now out from Paradise Copies, and an essay about Bread & Puppet Theater’s play, The Hope Principle: Citizens’ Shame and Hope in the Time of Genocide (2024), is forthcoming in the fall 2024 issue of The Drama Review. 

Haley Weaver has left NYC, where she spent eight years working as a book editor for “Big Five” publishers Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group, and has started her own editorial business, Woven Word Editorial, in beautifully rainy Seattle. When not busy helping prospective authors land literary agents or finessing manuscripts to be self-published, she has been enjoying getting more into Seattle’s coffee culture and exploring the city with fellow Wes alum and seasoned Seattleite, Anya Morgan.

Please write to your class secretary.

Greetings from the Class of 2012!

Please enjoy the following updates from your classmates:

Laura Bliss writes, “In May, I was part of a team of journalists at Bloomberg News named finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for a series of stories about global water profiteering by private interests. https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/staff-bloomberg”

Lennox Byer writes, “I just finished medical training at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where, over the past 10 years, I completed medical school, residency, and a neurohospitalist fellowship. I am going to continue to live in San Francisco with my partner (also of nearly 10 years), Raul, and our 2.5-year-old corgi, named Tiramisu. I will continue at UCSF where my appointment is assistant professor of neurology. I primarily take care of patients admitted to the hospital with neurologic problems but also pursue some clinical research and health services research related to the care of underserved and LGBTQAI+ peoples.”

Han Hsien Liew writes, “I got a fellowship to be at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for fall 2024 to finish writing my book on medieval Islamic political thought.”

BJ Lillis writes, “I finished my PhD in Colonial American history this summer and am moving to Worcester, Massachusetts, in September to start a postdoc at the American Antiquarian Society. Looking forward to being back in New England!”

Casey Reed is living in LA with her tiny dog, Frankie, working in sports and entertainment marketing with an emphasis on representing historically underserved audiences. You can check out the highlights from some of her favorite culture-driven efforts here: bit.ly/caseyreed.

Last winter, Casey was selected to represent Team USA Dodgeball and the Mixed (co-ed) Cloth Team at the first-ever North American and Caribbean Dodgeball Championships, where she won her first gold medal with the national team. In August, recovering from an ACL surgery, she joined the coaching staff with Team USA at the World Dodgeball Federation Championships in Graz, Austria, bringing home four medals across six divisions.  

Say “hello!”: caseyreed.hi@gmail.com 

Lucas Turner-Owens writes, “At the start of the year I moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to join the venture capital firm Building Ventures, where I’m investing in start-ups addressing climate change and the built environment. If you’re in Massachusetts/New England give me a shout!”

Thanks to those who contributed and feel free to pass along notes at any time!

Hi Class of 2011,

Lots of exciting news!

Sara Quinn writes, “I had a baby in April, Angelo Rain Kylstra-Quinn. He is the best. My wife, Marijke, and I are loving being parents. I just returned to work as a reading specialist at a middle school in Atlanta. Sending love to everybody!”

Jeffrey Breau completed his MDiv degree at Harvard Divinity School in May and is now program lead for psychedelics and spirituality at Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions. 

Sam Backer just moved from Brooklyn/Baltimore to Bangor, where he is starting as an assistant professor of history at the University of Maine.

Donovan Arthen reports, “This year my wife and I welcomed our new son into our family— Avenn was born last January. I have also become the interim executive director of Orion Magazine.”

Darien Combs contributes, “I am a licensed bilingual psychologist in Denver, Colorado, and I have a private practice providing therapy, consultations, and immigration evaluations. I welcomed my daughter to the world in March of 2024. :)”

Laura Heath-Stout writes, “My book, Identity, Oppression, and Diversity in Archaeology: Career Arcs, is coming out from Routledge this October 31.”

This past May, Bulaong (Ramiz) completed her educational leadership and policy studies doctorate from the University of Kansas. Since then, she has been working as a consultant and organizing with the Connecticut Palestine Solidarity Coalition to push for divestment and redirect state funds into more social service programs for our local communities here in Connecticut. 

Max Slater and his wife, Megan, are raising three fun and wild kids in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Raising three kids under the age of six has given Max much joy and many gray hairs. When he is not spending time with his own family, Max practices family law. In the words of the great legal scholar Vin Diesel, “You never turn your back on family.”

Kara Perez recently moved back to Massachusetts after 12 years below the Mason-Dixon Line. Her first book, Green Money: How to Reduce Waste, Build Wealth, and Create a Better Future for All, will be published on November 27, 2024.

Thanks for all the great updates!

Allie

Greetings Wesleyan community! Please enjoy the following updates from the Class of 2010:

Hallie (Coffin-Gould) Morris is working in clinical trials services for Thermo Fisher and marveling at how quickly her little boys are growing up. 

In July Kiran Sheffrin DeVore was recognized as part of Law360’s 2024 “Rising Stars” series as one of the top tax attorneys in the nation under the age of 40.

Big congrats to Peter Hull, who welcomed son, Silas, in July. Peter is living in Providence, Rhode Island, with his two partners and dog, teaching economics at Brown University.

Maya Odim is working as a poet in Chicago, writing, choreographing, and performing poetry. Maya adds: “Since graduation I’ve self-published two books, Planets, Gourds, and Traveling Staffs and Places Where We Can Imagine, and I’m working on a third (while also looking for a publisher). Along with my work as a poet, I also work as an educator, as a poet in residence with the Chicago Poetry Center (hosting bilingual Spanish-English workshops), and a lecturer in the Theater and Performance Studies Department at the University of Chicago, teaching a class called, Thinking and Moving / Moving and Thinking.”

Dan Bloom and wife, Laura, welcomed their second child in February—Jory Bloom. Dan, Laura, Halle, and Jory still live in Seattle and can’t wait to see everyone at our 15th Reunion next spring!

Jennifer Michtavy contributes that “I have recently become a creative AI technologist and am working with a tech start-up that has created the world’s first live AI experience that will be hitting a major USA museum in the next few months.” You can find more here: 
https://www.nbr.co.nz/tech/kiwi-creatives-supply-gen-ai-hallucinations-to-major-us-museum/