Class Notes

Save the date for our 60th Reunion on May 23-26, 2019! Ellen and Herb Steiner are in Del Ray January through March. They see Sibyl and Tim Martin and Diane and Joe Vander Veer. Herb is in email touch with the “three Bob’s” Bob Mann, Bob Waterhouse, and Bob Ogren. Racquetball every morning and violin practice daily. Herb plays in orchestras in New Jersey and Florida, and “though the old arm ain’t what it used to be, I love making music!”

Wayne Fillback, now 81, responded to a birthday postcard Skip had sent. After leaving Wesleyan, Wayne graduated from Colby, where he taught history and coached. Married for 53 years, with two daughters and four grandsons the happy result! Wayne still officiates at track and field events and helps with the four boys. He remembers Dick Root and Gerry Hanford ’64 especially fondly.

John Fowler sent along a note with his annual check saying he enjoyed his “Big 80” birthday postcard. Bravo John on both counts!

Ted Nagel is in great fettle, still doing some doctoring, but largely retired from his practice at this point.

Phil Pessoni has written a book about his 18 years at the helm of Lexington Photo Labs, which is not yet available for public consumption, calledDeveloping Friendships at Lexington Photo Labs New York City 1964-1981, about the amazing friendships he made: Isak Dinesin, Peter Beard, Caroline Kennedy, Jackie Onasssis, Lee Radziwill, Anne Marie Rasmussen Rockefeller, Jay Mellon, Richard DuPont Andy Warhol, Cheryl Tiegs Linda McCartney, Claude Picasso, Ginger Rogers, and Mick Jagger. Phil staged seven major exhibits at his gallery and made all the prints for 15 photo books.

Dr. Owen Tabor retired from his orthopedic surgery practice after being supplied with two new knees compliments of his oldest son, who now guides Tabor Orthopedic in Memphis. Owen is in touch with Elizabeth and Jack Lambert in London at their beautiful home in Islington, and he and Margaret enjoy time with their children and grandchildren. He writes, “A recent letter sent by Walter Burnett, with a picture of the current members of Skull and Serpent made me realize what a special time we had at Wesleyan at that most critical time in our lives.”

Marsha and Bob Gillette stopped to see Peg and Weg Thomas on their way back from watching the total eclipse in Wyoming, their second after Zambia. Apart from non-stop hospitality, and continuous Wes style bull sessions, we also got to see Weg’s passion, the 25,371 acres of the McHenry County Conservation District. He is the behind the scenes director and lives the mission of the conservancy “to preserve, restore and manage natural areas for their intrinsic value and for the benefits to present and future generations.” He writes, “Everywhere we travelled we saw the marks of Weg’s work: trail maps, photographic explanations, and magnificent photographs of the scenes we marveled at. We were thrilled to share in his passion.”

Paul Hadzima lives less than an hour from campus. He wrote, “It wasn’t until our 50th that I rediscovered what a great place Wesleyan is! I began attending lectures and concerts, then joined the Friends of the Wesleyan Library, on whose governing Board I now sit. Then a decision was made to put on display the objects housed in the old museum on top of Judd Hall. I happened to be the last student curator of the Museum.” He was featured in a blog post by students in the earth and environmental sciences department (wespeoplesfossils.blogs.wesleyan.edu). “The rock, mineral, and fossil part of that collection is now in the Exley Science Center (Joe Webb Peoples Museum). Professor Peoples chaired the geology department while we were there. As one of two geology majors in our class, along with Skip McAfee, Joe played a big part in my life at Wesleyan.”

Dick Cadigan writes of two terrific ideas: “Number one: I want to get a campaign going for a banner in the Silloway Gymnasium for the 1959 varsity basketball team. We were the first Wesleyan basketball team to play in the NCAA Tournament, were Little Three Champs after a 10-year drought, and barely lost to Harvard (four points). I am sure we could raise the money to fund the banner! Number two: And admission of what was one of the best Wesleyan basketball teams ever to the Wesleyan University Athletic Hall of Fame at our 60th Reunion.”

The Eklunds win ’59 Most Traveled Award: February, Maui and Florence, June, Nantucket and the Cape, July, Lake Tahoe, August, Nantucket for Mary’s 75th, Dave to fish in Alaska, September, visit to Cornell grandson and Brown granddaughter, Thanksgiving in California, Christmas in Jackson Hole, back to Tiburon for Dave’s big 80 and to keep the sanitation department running.

Our thoughts are with Joyce Harbinger. Wayne died on Christmas Day 2017.

At the end of the year, Tim Day is retiring as chairman of the board of directors at Bar-S after being with the company for 36 years.

Skip Silloway is still skiing Alta and promises to send us pictures. In the meantime, he and Molly have been married 53 years and are settled in Salt Lake City, about halfway between their two sons. One lives in Northern California and the other in New Mexico, each a day’s drive away. The boys have one child each; one boy, one girl.

Charlie Wrubel reports: “After 19 years of traveling to the children for Thanksgiving, the decree went out to Bill ’85and Jen ’92in Beverly Hills, Rob ’88 from Colorado Springs, Julian Scottsdale and Andrew ’85 from Brooklyn to attend the master in his lair for the celebration.” Charlie has a new valve and other certified new parts and is fine.

Shirley and Larry Keddes will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in June, just after Reunion. Larry had successful lower back surgery 18 months ago and is now back building his model railroad in his old home office. Are there any other railroaders in the class? “Every doctor I see, and there are many, make me think how young they are!”

Bill Moody missed the fall mini-reunion lunch in Washington as both he and Janet were in and out of the hospital at the time. All is well, however. Moods highly recommends Dave Potts’ History of Wesleyan 1910-1970. “It is a must read for the Class of 1959 in my opinion. It puts our time there in perspective.” Plans are afoot for a mini Eclectic reunion chez Leverich including the Moodys, Chases, and the Gillettes.

Walter Burnett wrote in, “It hardly seems possible that the 60th is so close. Assuming that all goes well, I plan to be there. The weather has been a bit out of sorts in the western North Carolina mountains so access to my mountain home has been a bit problematic with unexpected freezing and re-freezing of the mountain roads. Even Atlanta has had some winter weather problems. The 2017 eclipse was full over my North Carolina home. It gave me the opportunity to gather my children and grandchildren along with my brother and his children and grandchildren, It was quite a house full, but we all had a great time with members of the family coming from eight states.

“I retired from the Emory School of Public Health faculty in 2014 and much to my surprise I enjoy the freedom of retirement. I continue to travel a fair amount. Last summer a friend and I explored the lakes of Northern Minnesota and drove the north shore of Lake Superior. This year we plan to explore some of the Louisiana bayou country and the lake country of Texas with a drive home on the Natchez Trace. I still day hike weekly as the weather permits and spend time in Atlanta where I can enjoy the Atlanta Symphony and spend time with friends.

“As time goes on it hardly seems possible that my grandsons are fast becoming adults. The older one is finishing his freshman year at Bowdoin and the younger one will head off to his freshman year in the fall. His high school graduation will take me to the D.C. area in June for a family visit.

“I am fortunate that my health is good and that live a one of the most beautiful parts of the country. I hope all is well with you.”

Wolfram Thiemann, in Germany, who attended Wesleyan as Foreign Scholar, wrote in with an interesting update of life after Wes, including a career in nuclear and environmental research. He writes, “I was not a typical class ’59 mate. I had been invited to enjoy the privilege as a Foreign Scholar to spend an entire academic year at Wesleyan as an undergraduate, whose major subject was chemistry, fleeing literarily from a country which was still suffering from the aftermath of a terrible Nazi dominated history, meant to last 1,000 years as a Third Reich, but was fortunately finished by the Allied Forces after only 12 years by a heroic bloody fight, called World War II.

“In contrast to many of my elders—relatives as well as teachers—we, the younger generation, called the end of Nazi terror in Germany a liberation instead of a defeat of the Hitler regime. At the time when I came to study at Wesleyan, I was registered as an undergraduate student at the Ludwig-Maximilian University Mÿnchen and the Freie Universitÿt Berlin, where many of my chemistry professors had served during the Nazi time and continued to teach in the post-war era of new democratic (West) Germany. The curriculum in the 50s was terribly old-fashioned, boring, and ultra-conservative. Full professors had absolute power and dominated the faculty. They could not be removed from their “chairs,” residing like gods. So, my chance to be given a scholarship to Wesleyan (inspired by the late Professor L. Gemeinhard) was a true revelation. It was like paradise compared to my German experience.

“Wesleyan, the small elite New England experience at Wesleyan saved my career. Having returned home to Berlin after this one-year experience I recovered my love for science again, which I had almost lost before, and continued my studies at Berlin (The Freie Universitÿt Berlin was a gift from USA, sponsored by Henry Ford Foundation, sworn in for defending democratic values—quite in contrast to the communist-ruled Humboldt-Universitÿt in the East Sector of Berlin!).

“After my graduation as a Diplom-ChemikerI received my Dr. rer. nat. (PhD degree in English) from the Technische Universitÿt Berlin, having performed my experimental work in the laboratory of the Hahn-Meitner-Institut fÿr Kernforschung in nuclear research. This was the first nuclear reactor, serving as a pure research instrument in West Germany. From here I had joined the nuclear research facility in Juelich, Germany, and in 1976 I was installed as full professor of physical chemistry in the young University of Bremen. My main research areas circled around the environmental research, focused on water quality and sanitation issues and on the search for the origins of life on earth and for extraterrestrial life.

“In 1980 I returned back to U.S. for sabbatical to be spent at the University of Maryland. My curiosity for the possibility of life or at least for its precursors on extraterrestrial bodies was—at least partially—satisfied with the soft landing of the space vehicle PHILAE released from the mother ship ROSETTA on a comet Chruy in November 2014 after a 10 years’ journey travelling around 400 mio kilometers. And—alas—we detected highly complex organic materials on this comet, resembling pretty good-looking precursors of living species having rained down on the early earth some 3-4 bio years ago.

“In 2003 I retired from teaching in Bremen, but have been busy still writing papers, chapters in monographs, lecturing on various topics in environment and astrochemistry, touring through China, India, Egypt, Brazil, France, and other regions of the world, helping to establish and enforce research cooperation among academic institutions.

“If possible, I would love to attend Reunion next year at Wesleyan. I still have contact with some of my former mates from Wesleyan. My old classmate Uli Kogelschatz, also a foreign student from Germany, with whom I had crossed the entire U.S. coast-to-coast on a second-hand Vespa. 150 ccm motorscooter over 6,000 miles. Unfortunately, he passed away last year. I think you received the information from his family living in Switzerland?”

We end with some wisdom by Frank Laubach, a famous missionary and teacher. “I have good news for you. The first 80 years are the hardest. The second 80 are a succession of birthday parties.

“Once you reach 80, everyone wants to carry your baggage and help you up the steps. If you forget your name or anybody else’s name, or an appointment, or your own telephone number, or promise to be three places at the same time, or can’t remember how many grandchildren you have, you need only explain that you are 80.

“Being 80 is a lot better than being 70. At 70, people are mad at you for everything. At 80, you have a perfect excuse, no matter what you do. If you act foolishly, it’s your second childhood. Everybody is looking for symptoms of softening of the brain.

“Being 70 is no fun at all. At that age, they expect you to retire to a house in Florida and complain about your arthritis and you ask everybody to stop mumbling because you can’t understand them. (Actually, your hearing is about 50 percent gone.)

“If you survive until you are 80, everybody is surprised that you are still alive. They treat you with respect just for having lived so long. Actually, they seem surprised that you can walk and talk sensibly.

“So please, folks, try to make it to 80. It’s the best time of life. People forgive you for anything. If you ask me, life begins at 80.”

Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801/532-4311 

John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com; 212/644-4858

“When I was at Wes, I was initially opposed to bringing kids onto this crazy planet. But then, at some point, I decided that the most radical thing I could do was to raise great kids—kids who would be part of making the world a better place. It turns out, I was prescient beyond my years. Now in my ‘back 50,’ I feel particularly good that I’ve made the world a better place by bringing three extraordinary humans onto the planet—now fascinating young adults whom my radical, feminist former self would have loved!” Does anyone agree with these sentiments of Elaine Taylor-Klaus?

“I’ve had a super year fighting against this dumpster fire of an administration. Participating in the resistance movement has been a source of joy and inspiration the likes of which I haven’t experienced in over 30 years of activism. Whether joining the crowd of 750,000 at the LA Women’s march, or rallying with 75 people at the Kauai ‘Show Us Your Taxes’ protest, I’ve been overwhelmed by the camaraderie, patriotism, and creativity on display. And it’s a great way to catch up with fellow Wes alumni!” And maybe some agree with these sentiments from Lisa Rosen.

Carlie Masters Williams: “This has been an incredibly challenging year for us here in Washington, DC. We thought politics couldn’t get any worse and lo! We were wrong. But the protests have been incredibly invigorating. I am excited to see people speaking out about the things that matter to them. The Women’s March was a sea of pink hats and women speaking loud enough to be heard across the country. We hosted seven southern women I know through work and it was a beautiful thing. We will continue to shout about facts and data and science until we can drown out the voices of ignorance. As for physical feats? My office did the 100 push-up challenge this summer. As a group I am proud to say we did literally HUNDREDS of push-ups and had a good time doing it. I bought everyone a jump rope as a prize at the end. That requires a whole ‘nother level of coordination so I am not sure we are going to be doing Double Dutch anytime soon.”

Lucy Seham Malatesta was sworn in as a CASA (court appointed special advocate) on September 11 in Newark. “In this volunteer position, I advocate for children who have been removed from their families and are ‘in the system.’ With access to school and medical records and the right to contact teachers, professional providers, and visit the child at his/her residence, I present my findings to the court quarterly to help determine the best next steps. ‘To be for the child’ is my response to the current state of our country and our world.”

Jeff Liss: “My wife Susan and I love living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan since we became empty nesters (children number five and number six are now in college). I am currently between jobs, doing some independent consulting and also fulfilling one of my bucket list items as an adjunct professor, teaching digital marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I met up with Geoff Weinstein in San Diego during the summer. I also run into Dan Seltzer in the city every so often.”

Debbie Halperin: “While there is so much in the world that I don’t feel very good about, I also have a lot to be grateful for. I feel good about my family (celebrating 24 years of marriage this year to my husband Gil) and my kids who are in 11th and 12th grade. I feel good about the wonderful friendships I have formed over the years that sustain me, including those I met freshman year at Wes, Sarah Bosch, Nancy Cagan, Emily (Zaslow) Hourihan and Joanna (Feinberg) Miller. I feel good that my parents are healthy and close by. I feel good about relaunching my jewelry line, maycamehome.com after many years’ hiatus. Finally, over the summer we visited Tokyo for the first time and survived an emergency landing on the way home—so I feel good that those pilots were well trained!”

Tomas Mendez: “I’ve been in advertising for 50 years and it’s been pretty great. This year, for the first time ever, I’ve gone to the ‘client side.’ I’m at Dell EMC and really like it. It is so much less intense than the agency side. My wife Tracy (Juilliard ’96) came out of dancing retirement a couple of years ago and is so amazing—our son Daschle, 9, and I got back from seeing her perform about an hour ago (as I write this) and it was awesome. Over Labor Day we got together with Garth Battista ’85 and his wife Lilly in Maine. They sailed in on the boat Garth built himself and used my mooring near our family summer home on South Harpswell. At least 10 folks from ’86, ’87, ’88, and ’89 have been there so hopefully you guys are reading this. By you guys I mean Chris Gould ’87 (great chatting the other day!), Linnea Berg ’88, Mike Edson ’87, Bill Love, Mark Woodbury ’87, Lisa Bogan ’87, Anna Luhrman, Paul Sutherland ’85, Allegra Burton ’87, Michael Tomasson, and I’m sure a couple of others who my aging brain isn’t conjuring up. I stop at Wesleyan on the way up and back from Maine (live in New York) so I’ve been visiting Wesleyan twice a year for 30-plus years and for those who haven’t visited in a while, I highly recommend it. The place is insanely amazingly fancy and has so much more land, versus the lovely but humble physical plant and grounds we all experienced.”

Lydia Crawford learned to drive a manual as an adult (husband is British and he really wanted a manual transmission car, so she agreed to have him teach her—and they are still married!). “Our son Owen is happy as a sophomore at Lawrence University in Wisconsin (about a five-hour drive from Saint Paul where I have lived since finishing law school in Virginia) despite going through a college application and selection process that should not be emulated by anyone. Our 15-year-old daughter Vivian is willing to engage in fairly meaningful conversations with me somewhat frequently and has learned that rolling her eyes at her parents is not appreciated. I am able to keep pretty physically fit (despite back surgery last February), including going to a 6 a.m. workout class where I regularly see Beth Haney ’91. My husband and I adopted a stretch of state road in southern Minnesota (a Department of Transportation program) where we pick up trash periodically and now some friends are coming along to help. Who knew that picking up trash could be so social!”

A traveling summer for Ben Schneider: “Washington, D.C. for the National LGBT Resistance March and the Profession of Vows ceremony for the Washington D.C. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, home to Maine for the Yarmouth Clam Festival with Dan Kolbert and Greg Wildes. Then to Seattle to officiate at a wedding, my 15th time. Then Lithuania to teach meditation. And, finally the North Carolina Smokey Mountains as the keynote speaker at the annual Fall Gay Spirit Visions Conference. Bought a bike, walked away from a serious car accident, and went to a doctor for the first time in 20 years. Still see Melinda Newman and Lisa Rosen all the time, as well as Kevin Pratt ’87.”

Sam Atkinson is still umbilically attached to Boston. Peter Hammond and Mark Woodbury ’87 made their annual pilgrimage last weekend to join him for a mini-reunion.  Sam sees Tom Matlack once a year at a big card game. He’s kept in touch with Tony Antonellis and Kevin Freund (his Clark 312 freshman roommates, along with Pete) and two close friends both from Cheltenham, Pa.: Paul Levitan ’85 and Margery Bank Bates ’87 (who is moving to Nantucket), but misses Liz Turner (“love you, Blue Lady!”) and “Chucker-V” Vuono.

Emily Hourihan: “Sorry, Wes. We are a Tulane family now (Avery ’14, Zoey ’15, and third daughter, Charlie ’21). Highlights: My 35-year-long friendships with Debbie Halperin and Laura Harrington. Seven wonderful years with husband, Todd Magazine. Boston Marathon in 2016, and, most recently, my first Ironman-70.3 in Atlantic City (6:37.13). Very proud of that one!”

Ellen Santistevan says: “If I am ‘halfway’ between graduation and retirement, I think I am way behind the curve. I spent most of the first ‘half’ odd-jobbing and raising my children. In the second half, now, I am learning to take care of myself, and studying to do things that I am really good at and enjoy. Deepening my studies and practice of craniosacral therapy is probably the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I will probably always be in service to others, whether to my family or my clients or the various causes that I care about, but discovering that it’s ok to say no and to have good boundaries has been life-changing. Sounds simple, perhaps even dumb, and yet…”

Samuel Connor is also feeling good. “Feeling particularly good about my decision in 2015 to start my own business (running a consulting group focusing on innovative cause marketing). The variety of work coupled with the immeasurable value of flexibility to be with my three teenage sons has been super.” Kate McIvor also made a career change. “After working in public health in Helena, Mont., for 25 years, I now own a fabric store in Missoula, Mont. Learning how to run a very small business has been a welcome challenge for me. And, my core purpose remains the same: to uplift and empower people to be healthy. How does a fabric store help people be healthy? By providing the tools and materials necessary to slow down and create for ourselves and others; and, by reducing the need and desire to buy cheap, fast fashion.”

Steven Cohen feels great about finally getting married last year! “I met Müge on eHarmony. Our first date was an architecture lecture on the Guastavinos, a father and son from Spain who created beautiful tile ceilings and domes all around New York. Müge’s mother had worked as an architect on the design of Lincoln Center and can trace her lineage back to a Sultan and a sect that migrated from Spain to Ottoman Empire during the Inquisition. I’m also finding out how hard it is to learn to speak Turkish!”

Sue (Erikson) Bidwell took advantage of “local summer” at the Jersey Shore, otherwise known as when the vacationers go home. “I’ve spent my bonus time painting the outside of the house, and that is what I feel particularly good about. It’s my Zen time to contemplate the world while actually accomplishing something. I’m blessed that I can take my laptop with me and still work remotely as the office support for my husband’s company while enjoying these other perks at the shore.”

Zahara Heckscher:  “What I feel good about at this point in my life is having a son on the cusp of adulthood who is kind person, full of delight, and a husband who loves me despite my flaws. I had a long career doing nonprofit work but what I feel best about professionally are the books I’ve written and contributed to, including a little book of poetry I just published, and my father’s memoir about escaping the Nazis. Because of health challenges (breast cancer) my life has slowed down. I have a heart full of gratitude for the support of network around me including my sister and her family moved from Hawaii to be close to us. Life continues to be rich and meaningful. Life is good. I wish for classmates the ability to slow down and appreciate life, and focus more on what’s important—without having an illness that forces it!”

I think we can all agree to that.

Eric Howard | ehoward86@wesleyan.edu

After graduation, Maddy Johl and Anna Lu moved to Brooklyn. Anna is working at Success Academies at Ditmas Park Middle School, as a fifth grade associate science teacher. She wrote, “I’m loving the classroom, but the scholar-athletes on my cross country team are also beasts. Wishing everyone else in the class of 2017 the best and hope senior year has been going well, ’18!”

Nisha Grewal spent this past month at her high school as a physics substitute, which has been a really fun learning experience. The opportunity has allowed her to use her physics degree and teach at the high school level. She always enjoyed teaching (and TA’d many classes at Wes), and this has certainly been her favorite summer job. In October, she started her official job as a technology consultant at IBM, and in the meantime she has enjoyed the exposure to a very different field.

Nicholas “Nicky” Antonellis, a BA/MA student in physics, was one of 14 students in the U.S. selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship from the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS).

Elizabeth Farrell is working at a tech company in NYC called Icreon Tech as the executive assistant to the CEO, and living in Bed-Stuy. She also took a grad trip to Costa Rica.

Annie Cooperstone is working as a financial consultant in Seattle. She enjoys math and the rain.

Susannah Clark is enjoying a year-long artistic fellowship at the Shakespeare theatre company in D.C.

Rachel Waugh began her master’s in food studies at Chatham University. She is incredibly excited about the program.

Ali Felman is completing a year-long teaching apprenticeship at The Park School in Brookline, Mass. Her current placement is in the upper division English department, where she experiences the joy and weirdness of the middle school thought process and emotional-moral development on a daily basis. Adorableness abounds!

Cindy Horng is enjoying life as a management consultant based in New York, and is always excited to connect with other Wes alums, both virtually and in the city.

Rit Chirathivat is working in e-commerce and omnichannel retail in Thailand.

Adam Mirkine had an awesome double-whammy experience at the end of August. It started off with a 10-day WWOOF, a farm stay through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, just north of Middlebury, Vt., at Golden Well Farm and Apiaries. He was lucky with the weather and had an unbelievable experience taking care of their animals, harvesting produce for the farm stand, making fresh jam, farm meals, and kombucha (he wasn’t a fan until he tried theirs, and dang it was good), meeting new people, and exploring the area. “Enjoyed some serious beginners luck WWOOFing and I can’t wait to do it again,” he said.

He then went on to volunteer at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival (MNFF). It’s a three-day film festival that takes over the town of Middlebury at the end of August and features the amazing work of first- and second-time filmmakers from all walks of life and every corner of the world. MNFF attracts a swarm of Wes alumni, including the founder, Lloyd Komesar ’74, various attendees, and a handful of filmmakers. He got to hang out at a Wesleyan event with Sofia Taylor (whose film was screened at the festival), Maia Nelles-Sager, and Connie Des Marais. He highly recommends making the trip up next year and to submit films if you make them!

As for me, I’m living together in Denver with Sarah Lazarus, Wyatt Rees, Kate Suslovic, and Avery Kimmell. Come visit!

Keyonne Session | ksession@wesleyan.edu 

After graduation, Rhys Langston Podell returned to Los Angeles, his hometown, and has spent his time painting, writing, and performing/recording music. His album Full Frontal Incumbent, an Incongruous Mixtape, was released last November and earned him the cover story of L.A. Record’s fall issue and an in-depth feature with LA Weekly. He is performing on both coasts, promoting his new album, Aggressively Ethnically Ambiguous. He remains the poet laureate of his living room.

Scarlett Harris is attending The George Washington University for an accelerated bachelor’s degree in nursing, and is pursuing her long-time career goal of becoming a nurse-midwife. She been working multiple jobs, including attending births with a home-birth midwife in California. She reflects, “I cannot help but appreciate my time at Wes and acknowledge how much my experiences and relationships there shaped the path that I’m currently on.”

After a year working in the healthcare industry, Mike Greenwald is now teaching calculus at the Westminster School in Simsbury, Conn. Since graduating, he competed in several marathons, including the Chicago and New York marathons. He writes, “I’ve carried the lessons that I have learned at Wesleyan both into the classroom and out on the roads: community, perseverance, and hard work are second-to-none companions when aiming towards success.”

Max Winter and Max Jones (also known as “Mad Maxes”) ran the Chicago Marathon on October 8th on behalf of the American Cancer Society. All donations went towards cancer research and treatment.

Mia Kolomatsky spent a year working as an English teacher in Madrid, Spain, and is now serving as an AmeriCorps member with City Year in Boston.

Glenn Cantave started a group called Movers & Shakers that uses virtual reality, augmented reality, and the creative arts to execute direct action and advocacy campaigns for marginalized communities. Their current campaign aims to remove Columbus-related imagery from public spaces, streets, and institutions. The group’s performance art piece at Columbus Circle had a $40 budget, and recordings of the performance received more than one million views online.

For a year, Madeline Keane worked at Prehype, a venture capital development firm and incubator. With the company she helped open a problem-based learning private elementary school called The Hudson Lab School in Westchester, N.Y. At the end of July, she left for Sauðárkrókur, Iceland, to play for a soccer club called Tindastóll. At the end of that season, Madeline signed with an Italian team and now plays for ASD Catania Calcio Femminile in Sicily.

Maria Massad has been enjoying her time in Chicago and celebrated her one-year anniversary working on the digital advertising side at Tribune Publishing for their Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, and San Diego Union-Tribune properties. She has done some freelance film production work for a local documentary company and volunteered to do e-mail copywriting for a gubernatorial candidate in Illinois. She enjoyed having Jessica Seidman ’15 in town for the summer and reuniting with Hope Kabel ’14 during the spring. She notes, “I’m just loving life!”

Tabitha Gillombardo started a new job as a strategist for a female and minority-owned consulting firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. She was featured as her high school’s September/October Alumna Spotlight. The interview can be accessed on her LinkedIn page.

After graduation, Samantha Hellberg started as the program coordinator for the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorder and Complicated Grief Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. A manuscript, based on the work she conducted at Wesleyan as part of her honors thesis under the mentorship of Dr. Mike J.F. Robinson, was accepted for publication in Behavioural Brain Research. She is applying to doctoral programs in clinical psychology in hopes of building upon her education at Wesleyan and MGH to further examine the mechanisms and treatment of anxiety and stress-related conditions.

Kobi Bordoley lives in NYC with fellow classmates Noah Gup and Gabe Lipton Galbraith. He works at the Civilian Complaint Review Board, investigating allegations of police misconduct with Gabbie Carpenter and Rachel Ellman ’15. Surprising no one, he and Miranda Haymon continue to plot daily. He is seeking more endorsements for “Opening Jars” and “Augury” on LinkedIn and notes, “Don’t be a stranger and please stop by!”

Tim Israel recounts a fond memory—hitting a home run in an intramural softball game, and then going to Taco Bell to celebrate.

Ellen Paik | epaik@wesleyan.edu

Mateusz Burgunder wanted to be more adventurous, so he decided to visit Kaito Abe in Osaka, Japan, where they tasted a variety of foods and drinks throughout the day. Kaito received a Facebook message from Mateusz saying that he would visit Osaka next week, and Kaito said “Cool!” They toured around Osaka starting from Kamagasaki (socioeconomically the most challenged area in Japan) to the roof-top garden on Osaka Station building. They wrapped up their tour with sake, plum wine, takoyaki, yakitori, sanma sashimi, oden, and all kinds of great food.

Li Zhong is moving from NYC to Singapore and would love to meet up with Wes alumni there.

Miranda Orbach lives in NYC, where she is a third grade teacher at The Chapin School. She is pursuing a master’s degree in narrative medicine at Columbia University. In her spare time, she volunteers with the Parole Preparation Project doing parole advocacy work on behalf of incarcerated individuals across New York State.

Mary DePascale started a PhD program at the University of Maryland. She is studying human development and quantitative methodology with a specialization in developmental science.

Caitlin Bray joined the Rhode Island Army National Guard. She is in an aviation unit that deployed in October. Caitlin is excited for the opportunity to use all that she has learned and spend a year working with her hands.

Life definitely taught her some hard lessons, but Kimora Brock is now doing amazingly and just finished the Sacred Energy Arts 200-hour yoga teacher training program at the Malibu Healing Center. This is her second 200-hour course, and training in the healing arts and yogic sciences is her passion. Her health foods company, Malibu Trail Mix, is doing well and is in almost every tourist location in Malibu. Check out kimorabrock.com for more information.

Peter George moved to Sydney in March!

Zia Grossman-Vendrillo, Julia Chanin, and Andrew Hove maintain their relationships over MySpace, speaking only in soft accents and scruffy whispers, but always sweet nothings. Despite digitization and the ongoing fascist agenda, their relationships remain stronger than ever. They are planning a vacation to Carbonia, in which they will tour the famous butterfly farms of the South in search of the perfect chrysalis.

Lilly Holman began her graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is working towards both her master’s and PhD in film. She is excited to be back in the classroom once again both teaching and learning.

Zoe Feingold left her job at the VA hospital in Boston to start a doctoral program in clinical-forensic psychology at Fordham University in New York. She’ll be working on research related to the effects of trauma on youth in the juvenile justice system.

Virgil Taylor and Lauryn Siegel ’00 are winding their way down the intermixed, overlapping, and colliding street grids of Brooklyn. Over their shoulder they can see another forgetting, another melting, and a new past. Taylor, as of July, lives around the corner from Siegel’s gym, Absolute Power.

Jenna Starr | jstarr@wesleyan.edu

Jalen Alexander has returned to NYC to work as a data specialist with College Board’s Access to Opportunity team which focuses on creating new pathways for student academic preparedness and college readiness. Jalen chairs the Wesleyan Center for African American Studies Advisory Board, and coordinates outreach for the Invisible Men Summer Experience Grant Program, which annually grants two Wesleyan students $5,000 each to pursue professional summer opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.

Let’s take a moment to congratulate lovebirds Mary Foster and Jeffrey Legunn ’13 who recently got married at the Tradition Golf Club in Wallingford, Conn. They started dating while at Wesleyan, and have been together ever since. Leah Rosen ’13, Ross Berger, and Adam Watson were in the wedding party. Mary works at PepsiCo in their supply chain department, and Jeff works in the private equity division at LGT Capital. They live together in NYC.

Tennessee Mowrey left the Bay Area in October. “I will go east without using a plane until I get to the Bay Area again, collecting all the sounds I can find—city sounds, linguistic sounds, travel sounds, musical sounds, environmental sounds. When I return to the Bay Area I will make a soundscape that will bring the listener east around the world in 24 hours. Check it out! Follow my journey on my website at headedeast.art or on Instagram @headed.east.”

Jennelle Herrick celebrated her one-year anniversary on Maui working for the leading high-end developer in the real estate industry, Discovery Land Company, at the Makena Golf and Beach Club. She obtained her Hawaii real estate license and is a member of Realtors Association of Maui. Jennelle’s night activities include poetry, occult studies, and launching a tarot card business for those seeking spiritual development guidance. Her Instagram is @bluewolfeoracle.

After adventures in D.C. and Brussels, Andrew Gottlieb moved back to Connecticut. Getting involved in the local political scene, he met David Knapp ’49 and Matt Hoey ’78, on whose campaign Andy is volunteering to defeat Ken MacKenzie ’82 in the race for Guilford first selectman.

Jeremy Edelberg moved to Hong Kong to continue his career with Citigroup, after working for the company in New York since graduation. He’s hooked up with the Wesleyan alumni community, and enjoys the travel opportunity around Asia, having been to 10 different new countries.

I am very proud of you all. Hold each other close and become beacons of light for each other. The Wesleyan way is one of compassion and kindness. Let us share this with the world, especially in these times.

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

Hello, Class of 2013! Read on to see what some of your classmates have been up to:

Nandita Vijayaraghavan left her position at Warner Bros. and relocated to Ann Arbor, where she is an MBA student at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. She’s passionate about the entertainment industry and will be hitting up some Wes alumni in Tinsel Town as she completes her internship. Sandy A. Durosier left igher Edge in New London in March to become Wes’ new area coordinator of the Butterfields (yay, the Butts!). Genelle Faulkner is entering her second year of teaching science to middle schoolers in Boston. Emma Daniels graduated in May with her master’s in strategic public relations from USC Annenberg and accepted a position as a senior account executive, crisis and strategic communications with MWWPR in LA. While it was painful to give up her Massachusetts driver’s license, she can’t complain about the weather, or the palm trees, or the abundance of avocado toast.

She Makes Comics, directed by Marisa Stotter, and produced by her and Patrick Meaney ’07, won Best Documentary at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International Film Festival, and was released on Netflix in October. Also available on iTunes and Amazon Prime, the film tells the little-known story of the important contributions of women to the comics industry, as artists, writers, executives, and ardent fans. [See page 75.]

Anna Swartz is engaged to Netta Bob, younger sister of Amit Bob ’10, and is planning a summer wedding. They live in Brooklyn near plenty of other Wes grads.

Will Davis, Peter Horton, Croy Salinas, and Noah Masur ’15 take the chance to escape NYC every so often and enjoy a series of adventures that Mark Popinchalk has organized. These mostly consist of exploring local mountains, nearby villages, and sometimes even some spelunking. Ethan Grund and Lu Corporan have joined, too. They’ve enjoyed good and bad luck along the way, treasured the skills they’ve acquired, and never let any gloom ruin their day.

Adam Rotstein is living the dream in Los Angeles as a comedy writer. He’s written a series of Facebook ads for the gas station convenience store, ampm. Their mascot, Toomgis, is a mythical monster composed entirely of snacks. Seriously, his hair is Twizzlers, his beard is Cheetos, and his palms are cinnamon rolls!

In 2015, Evan Hazelett was the fourth full-time hire to Imperfect Foods in Emeryville, Calif., America’s first ugly produce company that is fighting food waste on. He spent a year there before returning home for four months to serve as a mentor, coach, and teammate to a family member suffering from severe, chronic depression which resulted in their graduation from General Assembly’s Web immersive program and subsequent job search. Afterwards, he returned to the Bay Area to work as a program manager for Sprouts Cooking Club, a nonprofit engaged in youth culinary education. Now he’s researching grad schools and applying to programs by December before traveling around the world for five months.

Zach Schonfeld got blocked on Twitter by the president of the U.S. for telling him that he’s not as cool as witches. He lives somewhere between Williamsburg and Bushwick and misses Pastabilities.

Tom Lee and Adam Hirschberg head up a weekend exercise group called YogHurt, which is a bootcamp style exercise class that meets every other week in Prospect Park. The workout is a combination of sprint training, calisthenics, yoga, and finishes at a frozen yogurt shop in Park Slope. They would love to share, in case any other WesGrads are interested in signing up. Thomas Cho continues to live in Chicago and works as a medical scribe. He invites you to come visit him and say hello. Go Wes

Last but not least—an update from our Reunion Committee: Arya Alizadeh, Emma Daniels, Jacob Blumenthal, Malik Adán, Melody Oliphant. McKenzii Webster, Sam Ebb: “Class of 2013, this spring marks our five-year Reunion! We’re so excited to welcome you all back home May 25-27, 2018, and are already working with the university to plan a great weekend. Over the next several months, you will be receiving some important information from us, including dates, registration and programmatic information. This year, we want to welcome as many alumni from our class back to campus as possible, and we need you to help us with the hype! Talk to your friends, your classmates, and get ready for R&C Spring 2018.

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

As the Class of 2012 rounds out another year, they are proving to make a difference in the medical field.

JoAnna Bourain was awarded the National Health Service scholarship to dental school this year. She’ll begin at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and will work for four years in an underserved community as a dentist. JoAnna says, “It was highly selective this year (3.8%); my Wesleyan experience definitely helped me to prepare for this experience.”

Lennox Byer is living in San Francisco and attending UCSF School of Medicine. Lennox was awarded funding for a clinical research fellowship. In 2018, after completing this fellowship, Lennox will return to the school of medicine to complete his final year of medical school and will be applying for residencies in neurology.

Katherine Mullins is in her last year of medical school at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and is applying to residency programs in the field of internal medicine.

Sunil Chulani graduated medical school this year and is a resident at Rutgers University hospital in New Jersey. With his busy schedule as a first-year resident, he still manages to make trips to NYC to see Wesleyan classmates.

Tasmiha Khan and Jisan Zaman are also continuing their impact. Tasmiha has returned from Bangladesh and is working as a maternal justice consultant for MomsRising. Tasmiha is looking for any lawyers who deal with religious discrimination cases in higher education. Jisan has gotten involved with grassroots progressive activism in his adopted hometown of Arlington, Va. Jisan is working at a small startup called Dynamo Technologies in the D.C. area. Despite moving jobs and apartments, Jisan has made it to all his Wes friends’ weddings.

Lila Becker is pursuing her MFA in (theater) directing at the University of Iowa. She has enjoyed meeting other Wes alumni in Iowa City and is acclimating to the earnestness of the Midwest. She is looking forward to traveling to Japan with former Wesleyan taiko professor Kaoru Watanabe in November. Her first production, a new play called bad things happen here, opened at the University of Iowa in November.

Congrats to Ernest Turner who started a new job as a senior Android engineer at Synchrony Financial in Stamford, Conn.

Hannah Berkman and Luke Erickson were married on November 11 in Alexandria, Va. They were joined at the celebration by Casey Reed, Becky Baskin, Tom Oddo, Richard Leuchter, Matt Stinson, Sky Stallbaumer, Benjie Messinger ’09, Jamie Sandra Messinger ’11, Julia Alschuler ’11, Lauren Goldstein ’11, Nick Scotto ’13, Alissa Santucci ’13, Justin Metz ’13, Ryan Sblendorio ’15, and Jane ’77 and Tim Klemmer ’77.

Finally, Abaye Steinmetz-Silber is living and working on Gould Farm in Monterey, Mass. Abaye shares, “If you’re in the Berkshires, hit me up!”

As for me, I celebrated my one-year anniversary at Bridgewater Associates and am looking forward to what the new year brings.

Wishing the entire class of 2012 continued success, health, and happiness.

Daisey Perez | deperez@wesleyan.edu