Class Notes

Hi, all. This time around I have a few updates to share as well. My husband and I opened our second café (Petite MarieBette) this winter. Hopefully by the time this is published, my stress levels and social life will be back to normal. I have also been elected board president of Meals on Wheels Charlottesville/Albemarle—an organization that I have been deeply involved with for the past three years.

Adam Borden was elected to the board of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, an Inner Harbor icon and leading aquatic conservation organization. After almost three years marketing McCormick spices, he is now looking for his next adventure. His family finally got the chance to go on their long-dreamed safari in December, seeing leopards and lions, as well as Nelson Mandela’s former Soweto home and Robben Island prison cell.

Anthony Veneziale got to speak at the Kennedy Center around his work on neuroscience and improv’s effects on the brain, plus do a freestyle rap. And Freestyle Love Supreme (with Thomas Kail ’99, Bill Sherman ’02, and Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02) has a sold-out run off-Broadway.

Rob Finn married Dan Shaver, in D.C. last year, and they celebrated with Allison Radecki, Neal Wilkinson, Steve Engel, and Becca Gerner. Sarah Maine ’99, was Rob’s “Best Maine.” Since moving to D.C. in 2014, Rob has worked in housing policy with the National Community Stabilization Trust and is leading the Legislative Affairs division of D.C.’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

Lia Salza has been running Little Loft, the children’s art studio she founded in DC for the last six years, and raising three intense children. She sees Laura Polania and Rebecca Preiser, and stays in touch with Sarah Margon, Eliza Hersh, and Shai Rao. She met up with Justin Moyer and Harrison Owen last summer. She’s leaving behind her beloved Takoma Park neighborhood for a family move to Dallas in June. If you have any contacts there, she’d appreciate it because she currently knows zero people there, but she’s excited to be part of the blue wave in Texas.

Juniper Hill and husband Jesse started new jobs at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg in Germany. He teaches in the Mathematics Institute and she heads the ethnomusicology program. “I am introducing several curricular innovations (which are more in line with Wesleyan pedagogy then with conventional German musicological approaches).” They are busy learning German and adjusting to Franconian/Bavarian culture and enjoy having two academic positions in the same place. She is active in the Sacred Harp shaped note community and started a shape note singing class in Würzburg. Her new book, Becoming Creative: Insights from Musicians in a Diverse World, was published by Oxford University press. If there are any other Wes folk in the Franconian region, they would love to hear from you.

Adam Hinds was sworn in to his second term as a state senator in Massachusetts.

Matt Stromberg has been living in Los Angeles for the past seven years with his wife, Jessica, and their two dogs. Since receiving his master’s from USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism in 2014, he has been working as a freelance arts and culture writer, contributing to a wide range of publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Hyperallergic, the Art Newspaper, and several others.

Bishara Wilson completed his doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese medicine. He owns the Brooklyn-based New York Sports Acupuncture where he’s celebrating 16 years in private practice.

Dr. Nadine Forrester Mills earned her doctorate in education (curriculum, instruction, and assessment) from Walden University and would like to thank her loving husband, Gregory Mills; children Jevon Smith, A’ngelique Mills, Ashley Mills, and Anisha Johnson; parents Heroline and Arthur Standberry, grandmother Alberta Blake, and close friends for all their love and support throughout this accomplishment.

Abby Elbow is living her dream life in Anchorage, Alaska, after 15 years of talking about it. She spends four days a week working as a nurse, seeing moms and babies in their homes, and the other three romping in the greatest of great outdoors: hiking, camping, cross-country skiing, playing Ultimate, and just recently, curling! And with her brother and a whole host of family via his marriage here, she gets tons of niece time and chaotic dinner gatherings. She says you’re all invited to come visit. Abby has also agreed to help me with our class notes, for which I am very grateful.

Jason Becton | jason@mariebette.com

Greetings, Class of 1997! Monica White wrote that in November, she was “delighted to host Matvei Yankelevich ’95 in Nottingham, U.K., where he gave several well-received talks at the University of Nottingham and a local independent bookshop about translation, small press publishing, and his own poetry.

She reconnected with former German House housemate, Nathan Eddy ’98, in London for dinner with his lovely family followed by a Wes-hosted reception with Professor William Pinch. She is looking forward to a year-long sabbatical starting to work on her next book. Monica is a lecturer in Slavonic studies at the University of Nottingham, where she focuses her research on medieval Russian and Byzantine history.

Josh and Maggie Suniewick are settling into life in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., after moving from Philadelphia two years ago. Josh shared that at our 20-year Reunion, he reconnected with fellow classmates and bandmates from The Solids (founded in 1996 at Wesleyan), Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. They decided to get the band back together, along with Pat Butler ’98. “If you are into hooky, melody-laced rock sprinkled with How I Met Your Mother references (courtesy of Carter and Craig) you can find out about upcoming shows in the NYC area at our website, thesolids.com. Remember, you are never too old to rock and roll . . . just remember to bend at the knees.”

Ben Helphand said he was honored to be part of the Next City Vanguard, Class of 2018, which is “a gathering of the top young urban innovators working to make change in cities.” As executive director of NeighborSpace, Chicago’s land trust for community gardens, Ben has helped create a network of community-managed nature play areas across Chicago. Instead of the traditional slides and swings, he writes that they borrow elements from the natural world—boulders and hollow logs—to allow children to work with loose parts and create their own worlds.

Go, Wes ’97!

Please e-mail us your updates and thoughts, books, movies, and TV recommendations. Sasha recently read and absolutely loved Katya Apekina’s The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, told from multiple narrators in one strange, artistic, amazing, and terrifying family, as they move between New York and New Orleans. Absolute page-turner, well told. What’s on your nightstand? (Or phone reader app?)

Jessica Shea Lehmann | jessica.lehmann@gmail.com

Sasha Lewis Reisen | alewisreisen@gmail.com

Hi, fellow ’96ers! Hope everyone is well! The notes are short but sweet this round. Let’s get to them.

Billy Kheel writes, “I just installed a 17-foot window display of felt quilts at Amoeba Music in Hollywood, inspired by Parliament Funkadelic’s 1994 Wesleyan Spring Fling performance. That Spring Fling was so legendary I thought it only appropriate to immortalize it in felt in the largest record store in the world. Amoeba let me do it because I was just on Making It with Nick Offerman and Amy Poehler (which you can still check out on NBC.com).”

Rallie Snowden’s son, Miguel, was born over the summer.

Anne Genereux is living in a rural mountain town in Montana, working as a therapist, and finishing her dissertation on healthy relationship education. 

Sara and Colby Evans are moving temporarily this spring and summer to Edinburgh, Scotland, along with their three children (Quinn, 10, Malcolm, 9, and Ruby, 7). They are excited to try someplace new for a while and will be returning to Austin in August.

Thanks for the updates! Keep them coming. 

Dara Federman | darasf@yahoo.com 

Dacque Tirado | dacquetirado@yahoo.com

Katy writes for this issue: As I compose this at the beginning of January, I am wanting to wish you all a Happy New Year; yet by the time you get this newsletter, we can all be saying happy spring (except for any of you in the southern hemisphere). We hope that 2019 has started well for all of you. I’m happy to share the news from your classmates; including, for the first-time—yay!—Josh Stevens; we are especially glad to hear from those of you who haven’t been in touch for a while.

Rob Armstrong writes: “Wylie and I and our 9-year-old twins moved back from London to New York. Now living in Greenwood, Brooklyn. I am still scribbling away for the Financial Times. Keen to hear from all ’95 and ’94 types who come through the city.” Welcome back to the States, Rob!

Chelsea Farley writes: “I live in the Hudson Valley of New York with my family (daughter Noah, partner Isaac, and our Alaskan Malamute, Lulu). I am the communications director at NYU Steinhardt’s Research Alliance for NYC Schools, where we are working to produce evidence that contributes to better, more equitable public schools in NYC and around the country.”

Ken Kwiatkowski writes: “I would like to announce the birth of our third son, Sebastian, on Dec. 23, with wife Anna.” Many congratulations, Ken! We hope your whole family is in good health and enjoying such a special time.

Michelle Limaj writes: “My son, Axel, and I visited Jeanne Bonner and Michael Cocca in their new home in Connecticut this fall and got to meet their gorgeous little boy. So proud of Jeanne, her beautiful family, and her award-winning work translating literature by visionary Italian authors. I’d heard her reporting on NPR and CNN, but creative writing and literature are where she clearly lives. So grateful for this lifelong friendship.”

Beth Price writes: “Greetings from Charleston, S.C.! I’m still working as a family medicine doctor at the joint Navy/Air Force base outside of Charleston. Kevin and my kids (David, 14, Madeline, 12, and Lily, 9) are growing up so fast . . . hard to believe that in a couple of years, we’ll be making the college tour rounds! This fall I completed my second competitive trail ride with my quarter horse, Chilli. We rode 35 miles over two days, and were judged on his fitness, our ability to maneuver trail obstacles, and my horsemanship skills. Exhausting, but great fun! Can’t wait to see everyone at Reunion next year!” We are all impressed, Beth!

Michele Gershberg, U.S. health editor at Reuters, wrote a touching and personal special report about her son Natan’s diagnosis with a slow-growing brain tumour. Read it here: https://reut.rs/2UkHAeO.

Josh Stevens writes: “Enjoying life in the Bay Area, going on 15 years in 2019 . . . working in health care tech and happy to connect and network any Wes alumni who come to Silicon Valley.”

Lastly, I, your humble secretary, can share news of my own next adventure—I have just begun an MBA program—part-time, largely distance education—based at the University of Warwick.

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

Bo Bell | bobell.forreal@gmail.com 

Katy McNeill | mcneill40@gmail.com

Hello, Class of 1994. Welcome to the latest edition of the class notes. Kristen Woronoff, our class liaison in University Relations at Wesleyan, wanted me to mention the upcoming Reunion. It promises to be a great time to not only reconnect with old friends but to meet classmates that you never knew.

Chris Bartley directs the music program at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, teaching music history and conducting two choirs, including one that is partnering with his local symphony for a production of Carmina Burana at the end of April. Chris teaches indoor spin classes, plays poker, and is trying to get his new dog, Olive, to sit. He hosted Eric Hung ’96 and Leah Bartell ’95, who gave a violin-piano duo concert on his campus. They reminisced about learning to conduct from the late Melvin Strauss. Chris got together with Ben Mahnke at a Celtics-Bucks game in Boston.

Elizabeth Rand Ehrlich’s handmade kippot (yarmulke) business, Kids Kippot, has been growing tremendously. One of her creations was featured in the show, Items: Is Fashion Modern?, at the Museum of Modern Art.

Elizabeth attributes her success to the skills she learned at Wesleyan. Elizabeth had dinner with Elizabeth Toohey and Sam Schneider ’91 and enjoys talking with John Pollock when they can both carve out some time from their busy schedules.

Adam Handler welcomed a second daughter, Danielle Max, to join big sister Josephine Flora. He reconnected with David Niles, Joe Pirret, Steve Frail, Jonathan Bernstein Sidhu, and Sean Mazer. Adam is looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends at Reunion.

Steve Henn and Emily Johnson Henn live in Menlo Park, Calif., and are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. Their oldest daughter, a senior in high school, will attend Wesleyan. Steve left public radio to start a company, later acquired by Google, where he is eating more than his share of free food. Emily practices law at Covington & Burling. They hiked near Sausalito with Brooke Singer this summer. They are close with Andrea Seebaum ’92, who Emily says “models so well what life without kids could have looked like.” They enjoyed seeing Annelise Wunderlich and Jeff Kwan, and Sid Espinosa, whom Emily first met on the WOW trip. They visited with Scott Laton and family during an East Coast trip and are excited about Reunion.

John Lewis lives in Newton, Mass., with his wife, Suzanne, and three kids. He sees Jon Bender, Josh Protas, Tomer Rothschild, and Gabe Meil pretty regularly, as well as Sean Mazer and Aaron Yeater. John visited Julia Lazarus ’95 in Rhode Island and met her new baby daughter, Eleanor. John took a new job at Sound Physicians after 17 years at Athena Health, which has been a big change but good.

Julie Nersesian has retired after 20-plus years of teaching, primarily social studies middle school. She is leaving soon for Oaxaca, Mexico, to be a sunbird for the rest of January. She toasts all those engaged in education and action for social justice. “It is exhausting work but so important!”

Martin Reames and his family were relocated by his company, to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a year. He writes that “living in Mexico is quite different than visiting a week at a time” as “driving in Mexico is adventurous, and riding in a taxi is calm compared with negotiating other drivers’ unexpected maneuvers.” Martin’s 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, has attended a Spanish-English school since kindergarten, and speaks Spanish quite well, while he and wife Nicole are far from fluent. Nicole took a one-year sabbatical from work to focus on Spanish classes, yoga, and spending time with Elizabeth. They enjoy living in Mexico, especially the fantastic restaurants in Guadalajara; hiking in Copper Canyon in Chihuahua; and visiting the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán where they saw “countless millions of butterflies—it was truly magical.” They are sad that it’s been six months already and they’ll be headed back to Minneapolis in just half a year.

Aram Sinnreich’s third book, The Essential Guide to Intellectual Property, will be published by Yale Press this May.

Sondra Youdelman, in Brooklyn, joined the staff team of People’s Action (peoplesaction.org) as their national campaign director working on housing, health care, and climate issues.

Shalini Shankar’s book, Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal about Generation Z’s New Path to Success, will be published in April with Basic Books. It is based on research she conducted over six years at the National Spelling Bee, with spellers and families.

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

Samera Syeda Ludwig | samera.ludwig@gmail.com

Caissa Powell | cdp2000@hotmail.com 

Hi, everyone! I hope you are doing well. Today I’m remembering some of the amazing classes I had at Wesleyan. But I’m also thinking about the students who added such a special dynamic in and out of the classroom—that’s all of you. Since 1989, you’ve inspired me with your passion, intellectual curiosity, and generosity. Here are some updates.

Christopher Cowan writes: “My wife (Jessica) and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in December. I hosted two current Wesleyan students (Jack Wolf ’20 and Nathan Ehrlich ’19) in my lab at Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, S.C.) for a summer research internship in 2018.”

Morgan Harting e-mails: “As I reflect on 2018, one the highlights was seeing so many classmates at our 25th Reunion. I was reminded of what a special connection we share, having spent such formative years together, and the fondness I will always feel even though so many years have now passed since our graduation.”

Nadya Karyo writes in, “I’ve worked the last 20 years at the bespoke creative recruitment firm, Wert&Co., have lived in three apartments in NYC over the last 25 years, and am married to the same person for 13! Guess I’m not big on change. I had a great time at our Reunion last summer with my husband, Jay Cheshes (Michigan ’93), who had a surprise mini-reunion of his own with his Columbia J-school classmate, Jon Chesto. Was sincerely missing Carlyn Henry Mandelbaum, whom I’d love to hear from! I’m also looking forward to another reunion this year as I plan my high school 30th with my dear friend, Jennifer White Karp.”

Paul Martin is a senior vice president and chief diversity officer at Sony Pictures, where he creates initiatives to “help create a culture that embraces and elevates the differences within our corporation and creative families.” Paul resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Laury, and his son, Aaron.

Stacy Olitsky emails: “I am living in the Philadelphia area. I am an associate professor at Saint Joseph’s University, where I research school-university partnerships and equity issues in STEM education and teach courses on social foundations and science methods for elementary school teachers. I love being back in a university environment with great students and colleagues, and I am glad I was influenced by the intellectual and social environment at Wesleyan. In my free time, I play banjo and record with several local bands, mostly accompanying singer-songwriters (Sarah and the Arrows, Kicking Down Doors, Meghan Cary with Analog Gypsies, The Cornerstones, and The Spiritual Window Shoppers). My daughters, ages 10 and 13, also love music and science, and the older one writes songs.”

Jodi Samuels writes about a vacation she took with spouse Evan, who completed four years at Intel, making him eligible for a four-week sabbatical. “We spent Christmas with my family in Austin and then left Sacramento on Dec. 27 with a destination of Sydney, Australia, where we celebrated New Year’s Eve at the famous Opera House with dinner, the opera gala, and two sets of fireworks. We left Sydney on Jan. 3 and spent three nights in Wellington, one of our favorite international cities. From there, we headed to Christchurch and began an eight-day independent tour of the South Island, starting with the TranzAlpine train journey from Christchurch to Greymouth and then lots of coach travel to get us to Franz Joseph (heli hike on the glacier), Queenstown (zip line and sheep station farm tour), Te Anau (Milford Sound cruise in the fjord), and Dunedin (Otago Peninsula wildlife cruise and tour). We’ll finish the tour in Christchurch and spend two nights there on our own before returning to the U.S. on Jan. 16. Then we’re home for a few days before the second part of the sabbatical adventure, which will take us back to Hawai’i for nine days, splitting time between the Big Island and Oahu.”

SuZanna Henshon | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com 

Sarah Estow | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

Greetings and salutations from D.C. It’s day 28 of the shut down. Hopefully the counter will have stopped counting by the time you read this, we’re still part of NATO, Adam Berinsky has recreated political discourse on Facebook, and the Phillies signed Bryce Harper. There’s my short wish list and here’s what I know about our class.

Grant Brenner coauthored Relationship Sanity: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships, released in October. The book is a sequel to his earlier book IRRELATIONSHIP: How We Use Dysfunctional Relationships to Hide from Intimacy that came out in 2015.

Jonathan Soros supports diversity at Wesleyan: Col. Bob Cassidy (U.S. Army) has been shaking things up on campus with the Retiring Military Office Teaching Fellowship that Jonathan created.

Carola McGiffert joined Whittle School & Studios as vice president for government stakeholder engagement, joining Sidra Smith, Nick Dirks ’72, Betsey Schmidt ’89, Alan Smith ’90, and Nila Ravi ’18. Whittle is creating the first global modern school serving pre-K through 12th graders and will ultimately have 30 campuses around the world. The first two campuses in D.C. and Shenzhen open in September with New York, London, Shanghai, Paris, and Mumbai not far behind.

James Wilton made a long-overdue return to Wesleyan in November during a business trip. James lives in Waxhaw, N.C., with Tracy, his wife of 20 years, and their three children, Jack, 18, Carley, 15, and Lola, 13. He is closing in on his four-year anniversary as a national account manager with Collabera.

Laura Ruderman was named CEO of the Technology Alliance, a statewide, nonprofit organization of leaders from Washington state’s technology-based businesses and research institutions. Technology Alliance is focused on the creation of high-wage jobs and economic prosperity. She writes, “Going into an office every day is a huge change after being a consultant of various types for the last 14 years, but I am loving it.”

Darcy Dennett finished a fun and quirky episode of This is Life with Lisa Ling on identical twins that will air in the fall. She worked with David Shadrack Smith’s company Part2Pictures on the project. She is trying to get her second independent feature called WILD: Of Wolves and Wildness off the ground.

Tembi Locke has a book being published by Simon and Schuster in May entitled From Scratch, A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home.

Susan Kleinman lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her two awesome kids, ages 14 and 9. In January, she celebrated the eighth anniversary as CEO of her consulting firm, Wallis Consulting LLC (skwallis.com). Her company provides fundraising guidance, coaching, and grant writing services to a wide array of nonprofits.

Last but not least, Simon Fulford was named executive director of Parrott Creek Child and Family Services, a nonprofit with 50 years of serving youth and families involved in the justice and welfare systems.

Adam Berinsky | berinsky@mit.edu 

Paul Coviello | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

Class of 1990 Scholarship
Bryden Auer ’21, Lake Oswego, OR

Edward Ungvarsky received the Bill Geimer Award from the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse of Washington and Lee School of Law for his almost 10 years of service and successful outcomes as a dedicated capital defender. Ed’s string of successes was capped by the October 2018 unanimous life sentence verdict for his client in a county whose prosecutor had never before failed to obtain a death sentence in 50 years in office. Ed has mentored Melanie Berman ’17, Patricia Merlino ’18, Anna Oakes ’17, Maria Rodriguez-Castro ’19, and William Dempsey ’19. It was a class at Wesleyan that led Ed to this line of work, so he feels indebted to Wesleyan both professionally and for his wife, Olivia Smith ’91.

Jennifer Palmer and her husband attended the fabulous 50th birthday party of Jennifer’s Gingerbread housemate, Schuyler Allen-Kalb in New York. “It was amazing to reconnect with friends including—but not limited to—Liz Pelcyger, Letitia Pinero, and Majora Carter. The party, of course, was a blast, complete with a photo/gif booth & John Hughes movies projected in the bar/dance area of the venue.”

Page Fortna, the Harold Brown Professor in the department of political science at Columbia University, is spending a sabbatical year with her family in Sri Lanka. She is living in Colombo, conducting research on the recent civil war, and “exploring this fascinating, chaotic, and beautiful country.”

Carole Trone is warding off middle-age by throwing “herself into new worlds: a new virtual college-access nonprofit started by college students called Fair Opportunity Project, and working out of a new co-working space for entrepreneurs in Madison, Wis.”

John Collins is teaching in the global studies department at St. Lawrence University, directing Weave News, an independent media platform focusing on underreported stories and making 80s-influenced indie rock with Bee Children.

Elizabeth Friedman Haybron wrote to update that her husband, Dan Haybron, with the completion of his Templeton Happiness project, has been selected as the inaugural Theodore R. Vitali C.P. Chair of Philosophy at Saint Louis University. “This is quite an honor for Dan and is even that much more special since Ted, the former chair of the SLU Philosophy department for 28 years, pledged his own savings to make the chair possible. We continue to live in St. Louis, with our 3 kids, all of whom have graduations this year—Sarah from high school and William and Michael from middle school.”

Sharene Azimi and her husband moved last fall from the Philadelphia area to the small town of Bernardsville, N.J., so that he could take a job at Verizon’s HQ. Sharene continues to do communications consulting for nonprofit organizations around the country, in between taking care of their 7 and 4 year old boys. “We are on a very slow train line to Manhattan, but it’s basically country here. Wes folk driving by on Route 78 or I-287 are welcome to stop in for a visit!”

James Rosenblatt writes in with big changes in his household.  “We are officially empty nesters with our youngest heading off to SMU last fall. Our oldest is engaged to be married, & we are clearly moving to a new phase in our lives.  The practice of law continues to be a full-time occupation with our office moving into a new building last June and the hiring of our eighth attorney.”

Bill Sherman has been in Seattle since 1999, where he heads up an environmental protection division of the state attorney general’s office, prosecuting big polluters and, lately, suing the Federal government to stop rollbacks of environmental laws. He gets outside to bike and hike a lot and last summer led a group of 26 conservationists, including his boss, the attorney general, on a 20-mile backpack trip on the Washington coast. Bill’s wife, Holly, teaches anthropology at the University of Washington. Their older son is a first year at Whitman College & younger son is a 10th grader. “I run into Wesleyan people all over Seattle, including Julie Shapiro ’77, Roger and Sarah Townsend ’90, and Tara Urs ’98. Last summer, we got to host Carolyn Clark and David Patterson’s daughter Bridget while she was interning at the UW, which came with a bonus visit by Carolyn!”

Rose Duhan is living in Delmar, N.Y., near Albany, also home of Wes alumni Brion Winston ’97 and Melanie Schoen ’97 and just got to see an amazing production of The Count: A Musical written, composed and performed by Brion with David Hollander, and also starring their daughter, Willa. Rose is running a small non-profit that advocates for community health centers: championing primary care for underserved in New York State. Rose “has the honor and privilege to work closely with Harold Iselin ’77, in my work.”

Victor Khodadad recently directed Kamala Shankaram’s opera Enchantress, based on the life of Ada Lovelace, for New Camerata Opera. The performance took place at The Flea Theater in New York City in December. Coming up, Victor will be singing the role of The Male Chorus in Benjamin Britten’s powerful opera The Rape of Lucretia which will take place in May at The Flea Theater. Camerata Piccola, the branch of New Camerata Opera that produces children’s opera, has been very active having debuted their newest offering, Rumpelstiltskin, as well as performing Peter Rabbit with the Montclair Orchestra which was conducted by it’s music director David Chan, concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. More information about the upcoming season is available at www.newcamerataopera.org.

JR Rhodes: “My highlights for 2018 were getting commissioned to create songs for Alice Walker and Nikki Giovanni and performing for them both at two separate events at Benaroya Hall here in Seattle, Washington. The song I wrote for Alice Walker was based on a piece from her new book, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart. The song is titled “Ancestors Never Sleep” after one of her pieces in the new book. The song I wrote for Nikki Giovanni was based on a piece from her new book, A Good Cry. The song is titled “The Fly on the Wall” after one of her pieces in the new book.

“Both performances were life changing events. I got to meet two of my heroines and they both really enjoyed the songs I created inspired by their works. Nikki smiled and said she really enjoyed the song. Alice smiled waiting for me with open arms backstage after my performance to thank me. It was an incredible gift share the music and to thank my heroes and heroines face to face, eye to eye.”

Vanessa Montag Brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

Class of 1989 Scholarship
Emily Boddewyn ’22, New York, NY

We are ALL turning 30 years-young, this year. We are. Thirty years of post-college adulting, so why don’t we meet up on campus this year for our 30th Reunion? Anyone?! Bueller?

In an effort to get us all in the mood, here are some of the suggestions from our O.G. (original gangsta) class secretary, Stephanie Dolgoff—who first penned and posted her list of Reunion rules on our 1989 class Facebook group prior to our 25th Reunion. She has now updated said-original list with some added wisdom for our 30th Reunion.

NOTE: These are only “rules” in the Wesleyan sense of a rule/non-rule/do-what-you-please-anyway idea because . . . Wesleyan. Here are Stephanie’s witty words. Enjoy!

I think we need some new, 30th Reunion (!) rules, or, since it’s Wes, “guidelines for inclusive and inoffensive communal comportment.”

1. No one is allowed to say, “Geez, can you believe how !@#$ old we are.” Suggest: “I don’t know about you, but my years of accrued wisdom have served me astonishingly well!”

2. No one should say “I’m so sorry” when you tell them you’re divorced. Rather: “I never met him/her, but I’m sure he/she was totally unworthy of your obvious wonderfulness. I hope he or she is a good co-parent.” Update: When you introduce your new partner to your old friends, the appropriate reply is, “You know you scored, right? He/she/they looks even better now that he/she/they has put on some much-needed abdominal fat and lost all that pesky excess head hair.”

3. No one is to ask any creative person if he or she is working on a second book/screenplay/multimedia installation/rock opera/[fill in the blank]. Especially not a book. The answer is yes, sort of, in my mind, or not, please shut up. Update: You are especially not allowed to ask Stephanie this.

4. The only appropriate greeting is, “I am so happy to see you. You look fantastic.” You can leave off “But I can’t remember your name.” Update: Now this last part is permissible, because really, who remembers anything anymore?

5. Everyone is to offer his or her name, even if they think the person surely must remember that time they made out after some party sometime, you think, or maybe it was her roommate. Update: Or maybe it was at the 25th Reunion.

6. No one is to be put in the position to justify his or her [update: or their] life choices, and no one should feel compelled to do so. For example, “You’re married? But weren’t you militantly polyamorous in college?” Let it be hereby stated for the record that being a stay-at-home parent officially counts as work and you don’t also have to have a blog about it to be considered worthwhile. Update: F— yeah.

7. Everyone gets to complain about how the current gym is so much better than what we had back in the day, and the student center and the housing, too. Update: And the students. The students are better now than they were then, too. Especially the children of alumni.

8. Agree to dispense with any discussions of cosmetic injectables, hair coloring, or intestinally restrictive undergarments as valid feminist choices. Update: Everyone shares his/her/their dermatologist/colorist/bra-fitter’s personal cell number. And most effective pharmaceutical antidepressant regimen and probiotic supplement. And which foods we are intolerant of. And your ideal CBD/THC ratio. Everyone shares everything, basically, because who remembers anything anymore?

Entirely new adds to the list:

9. Propose we assume we all agree about the state of the government and the state of political discourse and refrain from having any. Even if that’s not true, what the hell is the point?

10. People without children, people with grandchildren, people with children living in their basements and cooking meth . . . No judgments.

11. Everyone should ask about one another’s kid, child, offspring, or loin fruit, as opposed to son or daughter. Odds are good that at least one of everyone’s family is no longer the gender they were assigned at birth.

12. No recording the sounds any of us makes when we try to stand up from our Foss Hill blankets and posting them on social. And no competitive step taking . . . leave your FitBits at home.

Let’s keep this list growing on our Class of 1989 Facebook page; but if you’re not on Facebook, ping a classmate who is and have them add your wisdom for you.

While we might like to include the updates we merely witness from Reunion in the next issue, that’s not how this works. We are not investigative reporters and we’re not on duty the whole time either. We will ask for updates, but we won’t be aiming to surprise you by printing unapproved ones.

Bottom line: Come to campus. Party, connect, eat, have deep conversations, or keep it totally shallow. Your pick. Just show up. It’ll be a better memory with you in it. Registration and more information can be found here: wesleyan.edu/rc. We sincerely hope to see you on campus!

Jonathan Fried | jonathan.l.fried@gmail.com 

Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Hillary writes for this issue. Drs. Kellina Craig-Henderson and Yanique LeCadre connected and attended the Wesleyan Black Alumni annual Kwanzaa event hosted by David Davenport and his wife. The event, which also honored Wesleyan’s retiring, long-serving and dedicated admissions director Cliff Thornton, was filled to capacity and included Majora Carter and other alumni.

In 2018, Alex Bergstein ran for office, challenging a five-term Republican incumbent in a district that had been solid red for nearly 90 years. “With a campaign focused entirely on real facts and solutions and fueled by unprecedented volunteer energy, I won!” Alex is now the State Senator representing Greenwich, New Canaan, and Stamford, Conn., and loves this new role as a public servant. Her campaign manager is Nichola Samponaro ’11 and Alex writes that they are “on a mission to redefine our Democracy with civic engagement and Truth!”

Emily Gerber and her husband have moved from Oakland to Woodacre, Calif., in West Marin County. “While it’s only 30 miles from San Francisco, it might as well be one thousand. We live on top of a glorious ridge surrounded by trees and hiking trails.” Emily also started in a new position as behavioral health director for Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael and Petaluma, Calif.

Bobbito Garcia has been doing a film tour since June of his autobiography, Rock Rubber 45s, with large scale screenings at the Kennedy Center and Central Park SummerStage, among others. The New York Times gave the film a Critics’ Pick review, and the Smithsonian selected it for its African American Film Festival 2018. Lisa Hone went to the Kennedy Center to see the film. She writes, “I strongly recommend the movie. It covers his childhood, high school, time at Wesleyan, and beyond. Some of it is painful, but there is also joy and just plain fun. And a few other Wesleyan grads make appearances in the film.”

Julie Schwarzwald writes, “2018 was a busy year for me, to say the least. After attending our 30th Reunion and loving renewing and making deeper connections, I underwent treatment for breast cancer, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Then I changed jobs in July to become the director of congregational learning at a different synagogue. Along the way, I completed my rabbinical studies and was ordained as a rabbi in early January. I am grateful to have been more or less healthy throughout—and to turn the page on the calendar!”

Mark Miller’s Hex & Company, Manhattan’s largest board game cafe, is growing and prospering. He and his partners plan to open a new location on the East Side. Beth Kaufman ’86 is in full swing teaching ESL both in the classroom and in private tutoring settings. Mark and Beth moved from Yonkers to Sugar Hill in Harlem and look forward to getting back to playing and presenting music when things calm down just a bit.

After 19 years at the Bronx Defenders, Karen Smolar has begun a new chapter at The Committee for Public Counsel Services in Massachusetts as the legal training director in the criminal defense training unit. She is living in Rhode Island, just outside of Providence, after relocating from New York, where she had lived her whole life. Last year, Karen was appointed the dean of the National Criminal Defense College.

Harry Miller’s first novel has been published by Earnshaw Books. Southern Rain is a romance set in 17th-century China. It’s partly inspired by Harry’s semester abroad in Beijing and Nanjing while a Wes student.

Thanks for keeping us updating with your news.

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com