Class Notes

Dacque writes for this issue: Candace Nelson writes that her confectionery chain, Sprinkles Cupcakes, has found a spot in the new Disney Springs. Sprinkles began with its first location in 2005 and has since grown to a total of 14 locations across the U.S. In 2012, Sprinkles debuted its one-of-a-kind “Cupcake ATM” that dispenses several varieties of freshly baked frosted cupcakes with 24-hour convenience.

The 1994 Wesleyan women’s soccer team was inducted into the Hall of Fame. As the most successful in program history, that Cardinal team finished 12-4-1 that season, while claiming the ECAC New England Division III Championship. Flo Stueck led the team with 15 goals and five assists for a total of 35 points. Other class of ’96 members include: Amy Costa, Esme Finlay, and Kate Treveloni.

Jayme Peta writes about the completion of a PhD in clinical psychology as of August and the start of post-doctoral fellow with Marin County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. She is co-author of a new book: The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity, published by New Harbinger this past spring.

Mary Pagones is proud to announce that she has published a third novel, Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion, now available on Amazon.

Joel Levin decided to buy himself out of EdTech startup life and return to the classroom. He just started a new job at an independent school in Manhattan teaching technology classes to kids with learning disabilities.

Elena Pavloff had a mini-Wesleyan and Alpha Delta Phi reunion at Lynn Cartwright-Punnett ’07’s in Philadelphia. She got to hang out with Amanda Bennett and other alumni—a fun time was had by all.

Lastly, Sam, Topher, and Koyalee were thrilled to see so many of you this spring at Reunion, when 160 alumni came to Middletown and partied hard. This number is huge—blowing the previous attendance record by nearly 40 alumni. And, for those of you who couldn’t make it, there was a virtual reunion of literally hundreds of photos posted on our Facebook page (Wesleyan University – Class of 1996 for those of you who haven’t joined).

The spirit of the Class of 1996 is undeniable. Set your calendars for an even bigger Reunion in 2021! We will all travel there in our self-driving cars.

Dara Federman | darasf@yahoo.com 

Dacque Tirado | dacquetirado@yahoo.com

Hi from your new class co-secretaries: Bo Bell and Katy McNeill! We’re delighted to take the baton from former secretary, Dwayne Busby. Thanks again, Dwayne, for your many years of service! This is a fun way for us to help everyone in our class to keep in touch with each other from all our various locations, with Bo from his home in New York and Katy from her (new) home in the U.K. Here’s the news this round and we look forward to keeping in touch with you into the future!

Bo writes, “I’m living in the town of Cold Spring in the lower Hudson Valley of New York and working in New York City, leading the digital team for an advertising agency. My wife and I are raising two fun kids, a hound dog, and a small flock of chickens. I semi-regularly meet up with Mike Kleinsteuber over burgers and beers at the Old Town Bar near Union Square, and caught up with Kiersten Miller on her annual summer visit back to NYC from her home in Rome, and with Ben Harbert ’97 and Alison Brody ’97 on a work jaunt to D.C. Finally, huge shout out to Michelle Duff, Liz Fernandez, Rachel Hunt, and the rest of the 1994 ECAC Champion Wes Womens’ Soccer team, 2016 inductees to the Wesleyan Sports Hall of Fame!”

Rob Armstrong writes, “I’ve been living in London for close to three years now, where I write editorials for the Financial Times. When you write anonymously, no one knows you’re American. My twins are 7 and have no accents. I am, despite their efforts, in touch with my former housemates, Russell Agle and Jen Quest-Stern, who have turned out better than anyone expected. If any of you are in town, let’s have a pint.”

David Biello writes, “I’m publishing my first book in November. It’s called The Unnatural World. It’s about the idea that humans have started to make changes on a planetary scale, like the glaciers of an Ice Age or an asteroid crashing into Earth, and what we might do with this new knowledge of our world-changing impacts.” A link to purchase can be found here. “I’m still married and have a daughter and son who are growing like weeds. I got a new job as the science curator for TED Talks, hoping to help spread some good ideas.”

Matt Duffy writes, “I am still out in Oakland. I just started a new job as the superintendent of schools for the West Contra Costa Unified School District, a public school district of 30,000 students in the East Bay, centered around Richmond, Calif. Crazy and amazing! My boys are now 5 and 8, and life is very full.”

Alexis Greeves writes, “I’m living in Minneapolis, working as a mental health therapist for deaf and hard of hearing children. I have a small private practice (hopenandhealingmn.com). David and I have two daughters and are trying to figure out what it means to be raising Midwestern children.”

Ana Maria Kleymeyer writes, “A couple of years ago, I moved back to the D.C. area, where I finished producing a music documentary and continued my work on international climate change negotiations. I’m enjoying the schizophrenic life of a musician/lawyer who refuses to give up the groove.”

Anne Bellows Lee writes, “I am in Santa Monica with my husband, Greg Lee, my two little girls (3 and 5), and three big cats. Working at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs as a research projects director in substance abuse treatment, also working on getting my LCSW license.”

Michelle Sachs Limaj writes, “All is well in Massachusetts. I took a great job in-house for one of my clients, Agenus, an immuno-oncology company. My kids see a lot more of me, which is extra good because Idriz (whom you’ll recall I brought home with me after the 1999 war in Kosovo, without a college degree or even good English) is now COO for a system of four hospitals in Baltimore. So he commutes home for the weekends, and the rest of us chill M–F on Mommy Time.”

Brandon Patton writes, “My wife had a baby this year, Sylvia Pearl Patton Schroeder. Emily Essley also had a baby earlier this year, Lily Rose Essley.”

Lisa Hastings Rosenman writes, “Burt Rosenman and I celebrated our 17th anniversary this year. We live in western Massachusetts with our two daughters, Hannah, 11, and Leah, 14. Burt is a biology professor at Western New England University, and I’m a school librarian in Hartford.”

Christianne Meneses Jacobs writes, “My only news is that I traveled to the East Coast this summer. I visited with Lauren Sitzer Avery and her family in Boston. Hung out with Ryan Knox in New Haven and we watched Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention while drinking wine. I also stayed with Jeff Levinson and his wife in New York. It was also awesome to see Mark Quinones and his wife, Rachel, when they were visiting Arizona.”

Ethan de Seife writes, “My wife, Laura, and I welcomed a son, Levon Ray, in August 2015. He is cute and round-headed, and he loves to watch birds. When he was about 9 months old, we packed up everything—dog, cats, nursery, a million books and records—and moved from Burlington, Vt., to Santa Rosa, Calif., where Laura got a great job in a local hospital. It’s beautiful here and we hope not to move again for a long time.”

Eric Meyerson writes, “I was in Chicago over the summer with the family, where we got to visit the incredible Temperance Brewing Co. started by Josh Gilbert. Josh and I also got to spend a wacky weekend in New Orleans last fall with Adam Borut, Jason Walta, and Greg Walter ’96. I just started a new job in July. I’m running marketing for media and video at Facebook.”

After a decade teaching at the Department of Performance Studies at New York University, Tavia Nyong’o is now a full professor in American studies and theater studies at Yale. He is dividing his time between Connecticut and NYC.

Bo Bell | bobell.forreal@gmail.com 

Katy McNeill | mcneill40@gmail.com

Hello from Chicago! I (Samera) am very excited to be our co-class secretary and am looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone.

Kate Gordon writes that after some years in Wisconsin and some more years in D.C., she is now based out in the Bay Area with her husband, Gino, and kids, Julia (fourth grade) and Jacob (kindergarten). She spent several years at a San Francisco-based think tank, doing climate and clean energy work, and is now working remotely for the Paulson Institute, where she runs the climate and sustainable urbanization team. She writes, “In general, I’m on planes too much and with my kids too seldom, but I’m doing interesting work and trying to make some kind of a difference in the world.”

Tomer Rothschild writes that he has been living in Beijing for the past nine years with his wife, Stacy Palestrant (Wellesley ’94), and they have three children, Shiraz (10), Meital (7), and Erez (4)—the latter two are proud to be Made in China. He and his wife work together as co-heads of Elite Scholars of China, helping China’s top Chinese high school students go to America’s top universities. Their work has been profiled by The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and others. Tomer’s work brings him to Wesleyan twice a year (at least). Tomer also writes, “This summer, I loved seeing classmates/housemates Josh Protas and John Lewis in Boston, which was, as always, lots of fun. I am active in Wes events in Beijing, and would love to see any classmates coming through Beijing!”

Chuck Berger is giving up his job as CEO of Outdoors Victoria in Melbourne to move with his partner, Christy, and their boys (Leo, 4 and Tom, 7) to the outback. By October they’ll be living in Kununurra, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. He writes, “Fun fact: The Kimberley is the size of California, with the population of Middletown, Conn. Also, there are crocodiles. Come visit! charles_d_berger@hotmail.com.”

Tanya Bowers writes, “To this urban studies major’s surprise, I love living in Eastern Washington’s Tri-Cities area, where the population is just over 250,000. Surprise, surprise, I’m on our city’s planning commission.” Tanya met up with Jiyoung Lim-Gilbreth and her daughter when she visited D.C. in August and back in May, she went to the bar mitzvah of Emily Rosen Levine’s son in Larchmont.

Ken Barnett continues in his role as Christophe on Amazon’s award-winning series Mozart in the Jungle. He performed opposite Rachel Weisz in David Hare’s Plenty at the Public Theatre. In the spring, he will be appearing at Playwrights’ Horizons in a new play, The Light Years, created by the Debate Society.

Marc Waxman just moved “back home” to Massachusetts with his wife and two boys after eight years in Denver. After 22 years in public education, Marc is now working as executive director of the Society for Organizational Learning North America. He also has become a Certified ChiRunning Instructor.

Olivia Morgan and her family moved to San Francisco from D.C. Her kids, Everett and Vivian, are in the sixth and second grades, and very focused on making their parents follow through on the promise of a new puppy once they’ve “settled in” to their new hometown. Olivia runs communications and strategic programs, including a gender initiative, at Common Sense Media. Earlier this month, a national youth poetry program she’s been working on with the First Lady, celebrated its fifth class of National Student Poets.

Adam Handler moved back to Atlanta from London. Adam was, and is, with InterContinental Hotels Group and spent two years at the group’s global headquarters. Sid Espinosa and David Niles each dropped in on Adam, wife Jen Weiss Handler (Swarthmore ’98), and 4-year-old daughter, Josie (now trying to hold onto her British accent).

Raeanne Roper Martine writes, “My husband, Gilbert, and I spent two weeks in Japan in August. We visited his late mother’s family on the island of Okinawa, which is an extraordinary place, and spent another week on the main islands of Japan, visiting Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. It was beautiful and fascinating, and we wished we could have stayed longer! If anyone needs tips, let me know (first tip: avoid Japan in August, when it’s blisteringly hot and most of the nation is traveling for the summer holidays). All is well in Austin. I have been employed as a legal editor by the State of Texas for four years this year and am preparing for the mayhem that the state’s biennial legislative session brings every odd-numbered January. Wish me luck!”

Maggie Nelson was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2016. She is the author of nine books. Melissa Levy is teaching ESL at an elementary school in the South Bronx. Aaron Yeater was promoted to the role of managing principal at Analysis Group.

I caught up with Aaron in Chicago at a dinner he and his firm hosted in Chicago. I also met up with the Chicago Wesleyan Club for a summer picnic with Johanna Russ ’03, Rebecca Cohen ’03, Hayley Ess, and others. Last year, I met Sarah Burke for lunch in San Francisco. Adam Glickman came for a visit to Chicago last March and attended my girls’ 7th birthday party! Adam, John Pollock, Jude Tulli, Eric Grasinger, and I stay in touch and are planning a Commons Club reunion in December. I continue to practice law at Nixon Peabody and have two amazing daughters—twin girls, Sarah and Norah, who just started second grade.

Please write me your news and of course if you are in Chicago, call me!

Samera Syeda Ludwig | ssludwig@nixonpeabody.com

Caissa Powell | cdp2000@hotmail.com 

NEWSMAKERS | 1990s NEWSMAKER JONATHAN BUSH ’93 Jonathan Bush ’93, chairman and CEO of athenahealth, was honored by Tufts Medical Center with the Ellen M. Zane Award for Visionary Leadership. Michael Wagner, MD, CEO and president of Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children, noted that he was proud that Tufts Medical Center “share[s] Jonathan’s enthusiasm to drive change in health care for the greater good.” Bush, who co-founded athenahealth, Inc., in 1997, took it public in 2007 in the most successful initial public offering that year. In his best-selling book, Where Does it Hurt? An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Fixing Health Care, Bush draws on his early experiences on health care’s frontlines. Previously, Bush served as an emergency medical technician for the City of New Orleans, was trained as a medic in the U.S. Army, and worked as a management consultant in the health care practice of Booz Allen Hamilton. He majored in the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows.

Sue writes for this issue. Hi, everyone! We hope you are doing well. We have some exciting updates—new books, documentaries, albums, and mini-Wes reunions. It’s always fun hearing from you, so please stay in touch.

Jacob Bricca is working on a book about documentary editing to be published next year by Focal Press. He edited the 2016 Sundance award-winning documentary, The Bad Kids, which premieres in theaters around the country on Oct. 21.

Lisa Brown writes, “May was the release of a new picture book I wrote and illustrated, The Airport Book. It’s about, well, the airport. Next May will see Goldfish Ghost, a picture book by my husband (Daniel Handler ’92, better known in children’s literature circles as “Lemony Snicket”) and illustrated by yours truly. It’s about a dead goldfish. Besides drawing up a storm, I’ve been teaching undergraduates in the illustration department of California College of the Arts.”

Dan Crane has a new album coming out with his band, Ray & Remora, of which Consequence of Sound said, “It could be where pop’s headed next.” It’s his 10th album. Also, he’s hosting a monthly-ish, Jewish-ish podcast called, The Kibitz, which features interviews with guests like David Wain (Role Models, Wet Hot American Summer), Jonathan Weisman (New York Times), author Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn), Jeff Goldblum, and Joel Stein (Time Magazine). kibitzpod.com.

Paul and Jessica D’Arcy are still in Austin, Texas. Jess keeps busy running an education-focused nonprofit and Paul leads marketing for Indeed, the large online job site. Their brood of three (Maya is 14, Ellis is 12, and Liam is 8) are still mostly sweet. Paul is trying to spend as much time as possible outdoors (running, kayaking, swimming, paddle boarding), but Jess insists it’s just a phase.

Sylvia Sironi Rowe writes, “Ian and I took a family road trip to visit Camille Aird McGadney and Andy McGadney ’92 in Maine this summer along with our kids (ages 4 and 6). It was a great visit catching up with old friends over lobsters and blueberry pie! I’m still working (now part-time) with the Clinton Health Access Initiative on HIV and malaria-focused projects, and Ian runs Public Prep, a network of single-sex charter schools in NYC. We live in Pelham Manor, N.Y., and are loving the suburban life!”

SuZanna Henshon | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com 

Sarah Estow | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of the class notes. I’m looking forward to seeing you all at our 25th Reunion this spring. In the meantime, here is a taste of what your fellow classmates have been up to.

Ruthbea Yesner is still living in Brookline and is enjoying her job as the founder and practice lead for her company’s worldwide smart cities strategies practice. She’s doing research and consulting for cities on how to use emerging technologies to solve urban problems from traffic to clean water to crime, some of which will be published in a chapter in the book, Managing for Social Impact: Innovations in Responsible Enterprise, published by Springer.

 Maria Rosa Truglio remains on the faculty at Penn State. Her co-edited volume, Modernism and the Avant-Garde Body in Spain and Italy (Routledge), has been published, and her monograph on Italian children’s literature is forthcoming (also with Routledge). Both her sons, Anthony, 25, and Thomas, 24, graduated from Penn State and are out making their way in the world. Also, in the world of academia, Abby Smith Saguy is a professor of sociology at UCLA and lives with her husband, Dotan, and their daughter, Claire, who just started high school and their son, Jonah, who is in seventh grade. She recently gave a faculty lecture at UCLA family camp in June, where two other Wesleyan alumni, Ben Lee ’95 and Sheila Spencer ’83, were also vacationing.

 Kevin Prufer is a professor in the creative writing program at the University of Houston. His newest book, Churches, made The New York Times list of the 10 best poetry books of the year. His next book, How He Loved Them, will be out “sooner or later.”

 Carolyn Parkhurst Rosser’s fourth novel, Harmony, was published in August by Pamela Dorman ’79 Books, an imprint of Viking Penguin. She is still living in D.C., with her husband, Evan Rosser, and their two children, Henry and Ellie. Also in D.C., Robert Allbritton keeps busy (especially this election year) with Politico. He reports that Politico is doing well and is considering opening in Sacramento to cover California politics. His wife, Elena, is back practicing dermatology while simultaneously being super mom to Alex (9), Katie (5), and Tory (3).

Anne Jennings Paris just returned to the Portland, Ore., area after two years in London with her husband, Marc. She is returning to teaching art and writing at a public charter school part-time, and their son, Duncan, is starting middle school in the fall.

 Aaron Vieira and his wife, Renya Larson, had their second child, Gavin Rayne Vieira, in July. It was a busy summer for Aaron, as he also finished a master’s in organizational psychology at Columbia University, and started a new job at Columbia University Medical Center.

Jody Sperling continues to choreograph, perform, and direct her company, Time Lapse Dance. She served as choreographer, creative consultant, and dance coach for the French feature film, La Danseuse, which was screened at Cannes and premiered in Paris in September. She’s also excited to be guest teaching at Wesleyan in the fall. She lives in New York City with Doug Fox and their daughter, Evie, 5.

That’s all for now. Looking forward to hearing more from you all. Send Paul and me your news, notes, and updates—we’d love to hear from you!

Adam Berinsky | berinsky@mit.edu 

Paul Coviello | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

NEWSMAKERS | 1990s NEWSMAKER CHRISTINE PINA ’91 Christine Pina ’91 was appointed chief advancement officer at Miss Porter’s School, a college preparatory boarding and day school in Farmington, Conn. She comes to Miss Porter’s School from the University of Hartford, where she served as vice president of institutional advancement since 2011. During her time there, the university’s total annual philanthropy nearly doubled. Previously, she served as Wesleyan’s director of major gifts. Pina is a commissioner for the National Council on Philanthropy of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and is also the representative-elect from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to the Harvard Alumni Association. An African American studies major at Wesleyan, she earned a master’s in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

NEWSMAKERS | 1990s NEWSMAKER TANYA GREENE ’91 Tanya Greene ’91 was elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Greene has practiced criminal defense law since 1995 when she was awarded the Harry Blackmun Fellowship to work at the Southern Center for Human Rights, representing indigent capital defendants. Greene now serves as the director of training and resource counsel for the Federal Capital Resource Counsel Project, where she assists federal capital trial teams and leads federal capital training nationally. Awarded the Reebok International Human Rights Award in 1999 for her advocacy for death penalty abolition, she also received the Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellowship for Death Penalty Abolition Leaders in 2012. Greene notes, “As a black lawyer from a family that includes both crime victims and criminal defendants, criminal justice concerns have been a part of my life since childhood.” An African American studies major at Wesleyan, she earned her JD from Harvard Law School.

It’s the quiet, post-Reunion class notes, but there are a couple of people to mention, and their activities are worthy of the spotlight.

Tanya Greene lamented to me about missing Reunion, as she had taken a new position and a work conflict kept her from attending. Tanya now serves as director of training and resource counsel for the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel. She works for the defense on federal capital cases across the country and also trains capital trial lawyers. “I continue to hope to put myself out of business when we regain our senses as a nation and repeal the death penalty once and for all, as we did in New York a few years ago.”

Tanya’s twin daughters are 17, entering senior year of high school, and facing the college admissions process.

Jan Hasselman, a staff attorney with Earthjustice, is representing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the efforts to stop the progress of the Dakota Access Pipeline. At the magazine’s press time, the case had been denied by a federal judge, but the U.S. Army and the departments of Justice and the Interior said, construction “bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time.”

From the court room to the art studio, the Class of ’91 is celebrating the announcement that Vincent Fecteau was named a 2016 MacArthur Fellow, winning the Genius Grant for his “deceptively intricate, abstract pieces” of sculpture. A video about his work and process may be viewed at macfound.org.

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

Hi, everyone. Here’s the latest news from some classmates:

In June 2016, Victor Khodadad sang the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Music Festival in Chestertown, Md., and Philadelphia, Pa. He is a recent co-founder of New Camerata Opera, a professional opera company in New York City that is in the process of becoming a nonprofit organization. NCO will be commissioning new operas specifically for YouTube, developing children’s operas, and using media in innovative ways to promote the art form of opera. Their inaugural main stage production is The Count of Luxembourg and Other Tales: A Viennese Pastiche, which was performed in New York City in October. Please visit newcamerataopera.org for more information.

Laurie Baum has taken on the exciting challenge of being the middle school director of the Greene Hill School in Brooklyn. Greene Hill is a small independent PreK–eighth grade school with a sliding-scale tuition and a progressive approach to education. “For the past several years, it’s been my job to plan and launch the middle school division, and this year we will have our first graduating class! I know lots of folks from Wesleyan are in education and I would be happy to show our growing school to anyone interested.”

Kate Hardin is still in Cambridge, Mass., working on energy, climate, and Arctic issues. “We welcomed friends from Spain this summer and enjoyed showing them the United States and answering their questions about Trump and Clinton(!). I took the family to my 25th Reunion last year and it was great to see old Gingerbread House compatriots! Most recently, I ran into Debbie Gahr on the Upper East Side and also caught up with Mateo Cummings in Washington.”

Elizabeth Friedman Haybron writes with news about her husband, Daniel M. Haybron, PhD, professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, who has received a $5.1 million grant to study happiness and well-being. The award consists of a $4.6 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, along with $453,000 in funding from the University. The three-year project began July 1, 2015. This is believed to be the largest grant ever awarded to a researcher in the College of Arts and Sciences at SLU. Titled Happiness and Well-Being: Integrating Research Across the Disciplines, the project will promote dialogue and collaboration among well-being researchers across a wide range of disciplines, including the sciences, philosophy, and theology and religious studies. Advising Daniel on the project will be a board of 14 leading well-being researchers, including some of the best-known figures in the field such as Ed Diener and Martin Seligman.

Bonnie Cohen, formerly my Foss 7 next-door neighbor, and now a first-time contributor to our class notes, went back to school in medicine seven years after graduating from Wes and became a family physician, focusing on urban underserved and immigrant communities. She worked for nine years at Cambridge Health Alliance, a safety-net system of hospitals and health centers north of Boston. In 2011, she married Brad Braufman (MIT ’85) and in 2014 they adopted newborn Shay Daniel Braufman. They are all living in Somerville. Bonnie is “currently not practicing medicine, but instead practicing full-time parenting, which is even more rewarding, though the pay’s not great. In May, we paid a delightful visit to Liza “Maiz” Connolly, her husband Joe, and three wonderful boys in LA. Warm hello to all Wes buds.”

Jon Lipitz is still living in Baltimore with his wife and two sons, hanging out on a regular basis with Jennifer Teitelbaum Palmer and Brian Klaas ’91. He was named director of events at the Maryland Institute College of Art, managing annually more than 1,300 events at the college, “including Commencement, from which he has liberally stolen a few ideas from our 1990 Graduation. (However, not the ugly pink gowns.)”

Thanks for sharing your news. That’s all for now!

Vanessa montag brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

← 1988 | 1990 →

NEWSMAKERS | 1980s NEWSMAKER DAVID MILCH ’89 David Milch ’89 was named the program director of the Leadership in the Arts and Entertainment Industries program at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). This graduate program is a collaboration between NYIT and Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment in Manhattan. “I’m very excited to take the helm of this relatively new program with its focus on training the next generation of leaders within the arts and entertainment industries,” said Milch. “This program allows me to further my long-term work in empowering arts professionals and helping them understand their own value while providing them a greater ability to communicate that to wide ranging sectors of our society.” Previously, Milch was the associate director for student engagement at Columbia University. He was a program coordinator at Wesleyan, where he assisted in the creation of the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) and is a member of the Association of Theater in Higher Education. A theater major as an undergraduate, he earned an MFA in theater directing from UCLA.

Jonathan writes for this issue: We start with some props for our class secretaries. Your erstwhile ’89 scribe, David Milch, moved on after nine years working with Columbia University performing arts students, and started a new position at New York Institute of Technology as the director of the MA program in Leadership in the Arts and Entertainment Industries.

Meanwhile, the Bonnie to my Clyde of these class notes, Michele Barnwell, completed principal production of her documentary Party Girls: Exploring Politics in America, which follows a small group of millennial women of color (all first-time voters) who travel together around the country engaging in the political process. It’s a learning journey Michele describes as a summer-long slumber party…with a brain. Part of the doc airs online election week as a 6-part series via ITVS/PBS, and soon-ish as an indie feature doc.

Thomas Policelli’s eldest daughter, Katherine ’20, started at Wes, where she lives in what is now called “Butts C.” Tom is impressed by the amazing classes Wesleyan still offers, but also is struck by the available sushi and free-range tofu. He is rather disoriented to be the theoretically responsible adult against whom this generation is supposed to rebel, even if today’s rebellion is via app. For those of you beginning the college application process, he offers a plug (which your class secretary echoes) for Wesleyan’s annual alumni Sons and Daughters weekend in November. It’s a really good overview of the college application process with separate sessions for students and parents. Tom expects to participate again with his other children, ages 16, 14, and 10.

Marshall Brozost changed law firms, moving from Schulte Roth & Zabel to head the New York real estate practice group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Alissa Berman is living in East Greenwich, R.I., with her boys, a high school senior and an eighth grader. She and her husband are divorcing amicably after 24 years of marriage. She is a stylist for the Cabi clothing company, where she does home shows and enjoys helping women feel great about themselves.

Indy Neidell, in Sweden, writes on the success of his YouTube channel, The Great War. It is nearing 400,000 subscribers, with more than 40 million views. He hears from teachers across the world who use the show in their classes and he consulted on the computer game, Battlefield, providing all manner of descriptive text, from the Hejaz Railway, to Lawrence of Arabia, to zeppelin warfare. He is also still touring with a few different bands and doing voiceovers for games and commercials.

John DiPaolo and his wife relocated in D.C., moving to Cleveland Park, where their daughter is starting kindergarten. His bike-commute to work is now twice as long, but because he rides along Rock Creek Park and the Potomac River, the natural beauty more than compensates. John has been at the U.S. Department of Education since 2011 and is now the deputy general counsel. As a political appointee, however, he’ll likely leave in January when President Obama’s term ends.

Elaine Perlman keeps busy as the director of the Peace Corps Fellows Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she prepares returning Peace Corps volunteers to teach in high-need public schools. This year, she painted school murals in the South Bronx and Harlem, taught middle school classes at the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, mentored a high school student through iMentor, and was an advisor for the Parents League. She attended a book presentation by Mike Rubens ’90, who just published The Bad Decisions Playlist, which was so compelling that Elaine read it in one day!

David Jonas lives happily in Westport, Conn., with his wife of 24 years. Their eldest daughter started her freshman year at NYU, and they have one more at home. Over the past year, he has been raising capital for a fund that invests in independent film productions.

Mike Olinger has been living in Brussels, Belgium, for the past two years with his wife and two teenage sons. Any classmates who make it over that way should look him up for moules frites and cold beer.

Howard Diamond is enjoying the Colorado lifestyle and serving as general counsel of Frontier Airlines. He celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary and attended his son’s college graduation and commissioning as a naval flight officer. He is also very proud of both daughters, one attending college and one in high school.

Adina Hoffman published Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City, a biolographical triptych about three architects who helped shape the city in which she’s lived for the last 25 years. She now divides her time between Jerusalem and New Haven, and she is working on a short biography of Ben Hecht.

David Williams’ oldest son, Harry, is off to Boston University, where he will be studying mechanical engineering. Although Dafna (16), Seth (13), and Eli (11) are still at home, the family dynamic is shifting. His wife, Nyna Urovitch, is back at work after 15 years, teaching middle school math in a public school. David is still a healthcare consultant, but he also spends considerable time as president of Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, where he is leading a strategic transformation of the synagogue into a multi-organizational Jewish campus.

After 21 years, Lisa Nash gave up her chiropractor’s license and is starting a new chapter of life offering multi-disciplinary trauma transformation training as a Feldenkrais teacher, and as an ordained priestess in the ancient West African religion of Ifa. She continues to expand her residential healing and teaching center in Vermont, the Rainbow Serpent Mystery School, where four full-time residents share a kitchen, a bathroom, a ceremony and classroom space, and 21 acres, including veggie and herb gardens, fruit and nut trees, and chickens! The center offers retreats, workshops, and sanctuary for individuals, couples, and families in spiritual emergence/y.

David Eichler writes, “This will come as little surprise for those who remember the old days on Foss, but my digital marketing agency just spun off a sister firm called Decibel Green, specializing in, wait for it, cannabis and sustainability. Diane and I love living in Denver and would love to hear from Wes visitors.”

Finally, Broadway in Chicago’s annual free summer concert featured a performance from Hedwig and the Angry Inch by the show’s composer and lyricist, Stephen Trask.

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

MICHELE BARNWELL | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Peter writes for this issue. Justine Gubar reports: “I’ve moved to Miami to work at Fusion, Univision’s English-language cable network and digital platform, as the supervising producer of investigations.”

Pat McDarrah connected with some classmates in San Francisco, notably Jono Marcus, Andy Weissman, Robert Wilder, and Michael Shaffer. Pat writes, “Rob’s new novel, Nickel, is now available in stores and online. Jono just became a father for the second time. Andy came out to Bay Area to see a Phish show with Wilder, and they also had a mini-Wesleyan reunion at Toronado. Shaffer just started at Dropbox after a long stint at EA (Electronic Arts). He has a new son named Dylan. I’m good. All settled into NorCal life and will celebrate six years here this December with my wife, Emma Gardner ’89. We are up in Petaluma, Sonoma County. Look us up if you’re visiting wine country! I still keep in touch with other classmates. Perry Klebahn is a professor at Stanford and makes occasional appearances out. Dylan MacDonald comes out for beers. I saw my freshman roommate Chris Strobel ’89. His family moved to Dallas.”

Steve Pike writes, “I have retired from the Foreign Service in July 2016 and am now assistant professor of public relations at Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. My wife, Jenny, my kids, Aubrey and Zach, and I are getting used to a whole new life in Central New York, and looking forward to staying in one place for a while instead of moving every two to three years!”

Harry Berger sends an update: “I have taken a position as the tier one Canada research chair in ethnomusicology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where I will serve as director of the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place, and professor of music and folklore. It’s a great gig at an excellent university in a wonderful town, St. John’s. My family and I are very happy to have made the move.”

Rob Wrubel shares, “David Mendels and Leila Yassa put together a weekend for their birthdays and invited a bunch of Wes friends and their families to celebrate at Squam Lake in New Hampshire. We spent the last weekend of June with Rob Krulak, Judy Haas, Laura Flynn, Karin Stack, Ryan Alexander, Carrie Corrigan, and other friends. There were close to 50 people paddle boarding, swimming in the lake, and catching up.”

John “Sparky” Ferrara writes, “In July, a Chi Psi reunion party was held at my Massachusetts home. The celebration was a weekend-long party that included the 1980s campus favorite Tommy O’Carroll, Irish folk singer. Attendees (60-plus) represented 13 Wesleyan classes spanning over 35 years, traveling from 10 states. Wes ’88 alumni included Jim Van Hoven, Stephen Worth, Andy Campbell, and Roger Scholl, among others.”

Tim McCallum reports some major changes in his life: “In 2014, I sold my business. In 2015, I moved to Hawaii. In 2016, my first kid arrives. In 2017, I can’t even imagine…”

Linda Brinen-Stout writes, “We are living in Mill Valley, Calif., and I’m still at UCSF, as an associate professor of pharmacology. In July and August, my husband, 11-year-old son, and I took an amazing trip to Alaska to celebrate the combination of my 50th birthday and seven years of survival post-brain cancer. We took a small plane into McCarthy, Alaska and explored from there. Unbelievable sights and experiences on land, glacier, in the air, and on the water throughout the trip.”

Jennifer Taylor writes, “I’m three weeks into my new position as director of design and construction at OHSU in Portland, Ore. This is an exciting career shift for me from practicing architecture to working on the owner side overseeing the department that runs all the construction projects for the hospital and university. It also means a return to Portland from the Bay Area. My whole family is enjoying being back in our house and neighborhood! I also had the pleasure of seeing Dina Goldman and meeting her son when they passed through Portland.”

Peter V.S. Bond | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

Hi everyone! Please mark your calendars for our 30th Reunion, May 25 to 28. Don’t think about it, just do it!

The day I sent out my query for notes, I immediately received a few (understandably) excited responses: Brad Lubin moved his daughter into Clark today. “Looking forward to her getting her Wes on.” Then from Trisha Lindemann: “I’m at Wesleyan right now dropping off my son, Jordan ’19, who is entering as a junior transfer student. So I guess that is news!” And from Steve Warner and Martha Haakmat: “We just dropped our middle daughter, Georgia ’20, off to join the Wes class of 2020. Being on campus brought back such great memories. We were tempted to stow away in Georgia’s room and live our Wes years all over again. It felt so good to know that although Wesleyan has changed and grown with new buildings and air-conditioned dorms and amazing new facilities, the heart and soul of the school feels exactly the same. We are so excited for Georgia and her 780 classmates!”

And in other news: Just over a year ago, Gabrielle Sellei celebrated 20 years of practice by finally launching her own law firm. “It’s going very well and I am thrilled. My practice is about half business/transactional work and half entertainment law, particularly television, film and literary/writers. I get to work with some of the smartest, cleverest, and coolest people around, and I do my little part to make their thing happen; I feel extremely lucky. Dave Sinkway and I have a 15-year-old daughter, Lily, and a 13-year-old son, Adam, who get their athleticism from their dad and their snarky humor from their mom. Life is good here in Philadelphia!”

Robert Norden writes,“This year marks the 30th year of my owning and operating America’s oldest tavern, The 76 House, just outside of Manhattan in Tappan, N.Y. It was recently the centerpiece of the AMC miniseries, Turn, but is best known for our farm-to-table cuisine and craft brews and ciders all served with a large slice of history!”

Sumana Chandrasekhar Rangachar and her hubby, Raghu Rangachar, just celebrated their 25th anniversary out in Boulder, Colo., and were fortunate to spend two fabulous days with Johanna Van Hise Heart and Simon Heart, who are living there. Other Wes friends she has seen include Pauline Frommer ’88, Eileen Deignan, Ruth Bodian ’88, Lucille Renwick Archibold, and Michele Ahern. She is looking forward to our 30th (eek!) Reunion next year with as many of you as possible!

Amy Baltzell has big news this year: “In addition to having a child in elementary school (Zoey), middle school (Luke), and high school (Shayna), I wrote a new book, Mindfulness & Performance, with Cambridge University Press (2016). I also was just elected president-elect for the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.”

Sue Roginski: “I’ve been teaching, choreographing, and gearing up for Trolley Dances Riverside. In July, I was humbled with an award called Arts Honoree of the Month by the City of Riverside and the Riverside Arts Council. This recognition took notice of various projects that I facilitate within the nonprofit called P.L.A.C.E. Performance. Down time was definitely needed so I headed East to see family and made a quick stop in NYC to have dinner with Molly Rabinowitz and George Kirjanov. Hoping to catch up with more Wes friends in May!”

Ian Rosen writes from London. “Family is doing well. Five years in and my firm, Temporis Capital, is thriving. We are focused on investment management in sustainability and renewable energy.”

David Goldberg writes, “Simon Connor, Susan (Toothaker) Skovron, John Skovron, and I caught up and got back on the bus for a night with Dead and Co., at the Gorge in Washington. Thirty years after graduation, we’re still able to let our hair down and share some laughs and experiences raising our kids. (The Skovrons’ daughter, Rosie ’20, is headed to Wes this fall.) I’m just starting work on a City of Seattle environmental justice and equitable development initiative for Seattle’s industrial center in the Duwamish Valley. I’d love to hear from classmates working on these issues elsewhere.”

Kim Sargent-Wishart has big news. “I finished my PhD this year in performance studies at Victoria University in Melbourne. Titled Making Nothing Out of Something: Emptiness, Embodiment, and Creative Activity, it was an adventure in somatic research into human anatomy and embryology, creative practices of dance/filmmaking, contemplative photography, and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. It brought me right back to my Wesleyan days of studying John Cage and doing pedestrian dance, except now we have the Internet. Last year, my family moved down to Warrnambool, where we get to enjoy the beach on the rare days when the wind dies down. I’ve been involved in a local arts organization here, helping run a volunteer art gallery and shop and a new artist-in-residence program. I’ve also been consulting on an embodied leadership program, leading some photography and Body-Mind Centering workshops, teaching Pilates, and starting up a professional development program in Melbourne based in somatics and contemplative arts. My son, Jarrah, is a teenager now and rocking the violin, guitar, and trombone in several bands while questioning the value of a standard education. Luckily we like the same music. My son, Rico, is 9 and loves telling jokes. My partner, Llewellyn, is a full-time academic and also trying to finish his doctorate by next year. We’re hoping there’s a sanity light at the end of this tunnel!”

Josh Bellin’s next novel, the young adult science fiction adventure/romance, Freefall, has been accepted for publication, with an anticipated fall 2017 release date.

And finally, it breaks my heart to report that we lost a classmate recently, Anna Luhrmann Dewdney. I wish I had known her.

As for me, I think this stage in life is challenging, but interesting. And I’m hoping to find myself any day now. See you in May.

With love,

Amanda Jacobs Wolf | wolfabj@gmail.com