CLASS OF 1985 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Caroline writing this time: My semester is over, and I’m getting ready to travel to San Francisco, where I’ll be visiting Jolynn Jones. The two of us will be taking part in The Overnight Walk to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Walking 18 miles throughout the city ought to give us time to catch up!

Rob Menard wrote that he was promoted to clinical professor of plastic surgery (affiliated) at Stanford, and traveled to Hanoi in March to perform craniofacial surgery. He reports that in April he traveled “with my two high school aged daughters to India to perform craniofacial surgery and to watch them do site visits for the charity they founded, the Girls International Fund for Tomorrow girlsinternationalfundfortomorrow.com).”

I received a nice note from Randy Accetta: “I head up a national coaching program for runners, I teach Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona, and I produce running events in Tucson and Phoenix. Every so often, I’m quoted in Runner’s World and other such places. I live in Tucson with my wife and two young children, a 9-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, both of whom play hockey. Living in the desert, I don’t keep up with Wesleyan folks as much as I should, but I do play in a fantasy baseball league with Chris Gould ’87. Last week, I taught my running coaching course at the New York Road Runners offices, where I saw many copies of books published by Breakaway Books and Garth Battista. I went to a Portland Seadog baseball game last summer with John Brautigam ’82 and Ed Suslovic ’81, both of whom ran cross country at Wes. If anyone wants to come to Tucson, let me know!”

Andy Norman is still alive and well. He enjoys teaching philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University, and explaining the humanist point of view at public forums on science and religion, reason and faith, and the origins of morality. He sold his youth Ultimate camp—Camp Spirit of the Game—and is now helping Pittsburgh’s professional Ultimate franchise—the Thunderbirds—grow its fan base. His son, Reece, is studying physics at Juniata College, and his younger son, Kai, experiments with homemade rocket fuel.

And we have a first-time caller (long-time listener!), Barbara Schwartz: “I have never written in but have followed things from afar. For the past 26 years I have had a pleasure of working at Housing Families, a family homeless shelter in Malden, Mass. I currently run a therapeutic after-school program at Housing Families for homeless, formerly homeless, and at-risk kids. I also have a private practice counseling kids and adults and just got my own office. Otherwise, I go hiking in a different national park every summer with my husband. This year we are off to Hawaii. I’d love to hear from anyone who remembers me from Wesleyan days. I still recall those days fondly. barbaras@housingfamilies.org.”

I also heard from K.T. Korngold who said that she and Ellen Korbonski had a great time meeting up at her daughter’s gymnastic meet in Chelsea Piers. K.T. is also “hosting our annual ‘CME|NY Pathways to a Peaceful School Conference’ this July 21, 2016, at the Radisson Hotel, in New Rochelle. Our keynote speaker is Linda Lantieri. I started the conference after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School to bring a day of dedication and reflection to Montessori schools in the region, and the conference has now expanded to attract Montessori teachers and administrators from far and near! Last year we had 30 educators from Shanghai among the participants. Next year, my colleague Martha Haakmat ’87 (head of Brooklyn Heights Montessori School) will be one of our speakers, presenting on diversity in Montessori schools.”

That’s all for now. Hope we all have a wonderful summer!

CAROLINE WILKINS | mbkeds@yahoo.com
MARY BETH KILKELLY | cwilkins85@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1986 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

1986 WEbIf you would like to know what happened at our 30th Reunion, please contact any of the classmates listed in our online notes at classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu —and click on “Class of 1986.” All were registered and attended, and we look forward to seeing you in about 250 weekends from now for our 35th Reunion (May 2021). Some also posted photos at facebook.com/groups/wesleyanclassof86/.

You can also go to the Class Notes online to see a partial listing of some of the websites that our classmates have. If you’d like to include yours in the list, please write and let me know. If you tell us about yourself and your work, we can include that info (and the site listing) in the printed magazine.

In news from some who didn’t come to our Reunion, Joe Cassidy retired from the U.S. State Department, having served at overseas posts in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and South America during a 26-year career. He is joining the Wilson Center this year, with a focus on international refugee law and humanitarian mega-crises.

Elaine Taylor-Klaus, a parent coach and speaker/author on ADHD, says that she “is supporting the arts by consciously empowering my incredibly talented daughter to fulfill her dreams to be an actor. Forget the glamour—this industry takes incredibly hard work! Bex is currently filming Season 2 of Scream (MTV), and is officially a cartoon character (Pidge) in the re-release of Voltron. My role is to provide emotional support when it’s hard to keep going, and cheer her on every step of the way!”

Ellen Santistevan missed our 30th Reunion, due to her youngest son’s high school graduation and her daughter’s wedding, so “I can comfortably say that my life has never been more full.” For details visit: thirdgoddess.tumblr.com.

And many thanks to those who contributed five years ago to our class gift. There were some large gifts, but also many smaller ones (under $100). We funded the granite benches and terrace/patio between the new student center and the new career center (the Gordon Career Center, named after our classmate Andy Gordon), so it’s a very prominent location for this plaque that recognizes the class gift from our 25th Reunion. Many thanks to all who contribute to the ongoing legacy of our class, our legacy at Wesleyan, or our legacy through your paid or volunteer work in your respective home communities.

Eric Howard | ehoward86@wesleyan.edu

Websites

julialeebarclay.blogspot.com
peterdurwood.com
zaharaheckscher.com
elizabethgraver.com
familyeyegroup.com/staff/dr-michael-pavlica
www.ralphsavarese.com
laphil.com/philpedia/bennett-schneider
sealanderarchitects.com
ayeletwaldman.com
If you would like us to mention your webpage in the next issue, please send it ehoward86@wesleyan.edu.

CLASS OF 1987 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Hello beloved classmates,

I crashed the first day of Reunion weekend this year, so am full of renewed affection for our alma mater. I swear that campus gets more beautiful every time I see it. Here we go:

Claire Conceison has left Duke University for a new appointment at MIT as Quanta Professor of Chinese Culture and Professor of Theater Arts.

Tim Sheridan just published a new kids ebook to support the Sanders campaign. It’s called A Birdie for Bernie and it’s free when you donate to the campaign. Info at birdie4bernie.com.

Elliot Mark wrote in: “I still live outside Boston, where I’ve been since graduating law school in 1990. My wife, Kathleen, and I have three children, and unbelievably, our oldest daughter is about to graduate from high school (Muhlenberg, class of 2020), our youngest is having her bat mitzvah, and our 15-year-old son is already taller than both his parents and shows no signs of stopping. I see Cam Mears pretty regularly and am in touch with Hal Marcus, Chuck Taylor, and Lauren Ariev Gellman ’88. Had the pleasure of hanging out with Dan Weese and Cheryl Towler and their three children when I visited Chicago to see the Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well shows last summer. Looking forward to our 30th reunion next year!”

Alisa Kwitney went to see Holly Harrison ’85 and Jim McManus ’85 at Holly’s first solo art show, The Language of Lines, at the Abigail Ogilvy gallery in Boston. Alisa also visited Prof. Kit Reed while on campus with her daughter. Alisa is writing a miniseries for DC Comics and developing Liminal Comics, an imprint with Brain Mill Press. Her 10th novel, Cadaver and Queen, is forthcoming.

From Susan Malestein-Romeo: “This year will be 25 years married to my wonderful husband, Robert Malestein. Yes … someone has put up with me that long. We live in Bridgeton, N.J., a very rural town that is about 45 minutes northeast of Atlantic City. Rob is a judge for the Superior Court of New Jersey and currently sits in the criminal division. I have been a family law attorney since 1990, running my own office. It is hard to believe I have been practicing law that long!! I feel like I should be really good by now 🙂 My husband and I are blessed with two daughters, Samantha, who is a sophomore at The College of New Jersey and plays rugby for her school (just like her mom), and Carly, who is a junior in high school.”

“All’s well for the Paseltiners,” writes Linda Paseltiner. “Phil and I won the Commencement jackpot this spring with each of our boys graduating—elementary school, high school and college. In August we will celebrate our 25th anniversary. So, a big year all around for us.”

Jonathan “JB” Davis writes that “While the post-layoff stay-at-home dad/soccer coach/serious home cook things continue to be awesome, the kids no longer require as many hours a day (Joe is almost 15, Eli is 11, and Abby is 9), so I looked for ‘what’s next’ and am now a startup co-founder.” Here’s our site: month16.com.

Erika Ranee had her first solo art show this spring at LMAK gallery in NYC. It was titled Gasoline Rainbows and featured a new series of paintings and her recent foray into works on paper. Erika was a 2009 artist-in-residence at the Abrons Arts Center, and was awarded a studio grant from the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in 2011. Her work has been shown in several exhibitions including The Bronx Museum, The Last Brucennial/2014, The Parlour Bushwick and recently at BravinLee programs.

This winter Eileen Deignan caught up with Johanna and Simon Heart in Boulder, Colo. “Sumana Chandrasekhar Rangashar’s family hosted us this spring in New Jersey. I catch up with Doug Neuman periodically here in Boston. Ira Skolnik and I practice right down the street from each other. Had a happy reunion with Shiyoung Roh at a hospital function; she is an ophthalmologist at Lahey Clinic. On a professional note, I was voted a member of my hospital’s board of directors.”

Stephen Warner and Martha Haakmat “are beyond thrilled that our daughter, Georgia Warner-Haakmat ’20, will be attending Wes! As for the two of us, we both continue to be deeply and happily involved in education, Martha as Head of School at Brooklyn Heights Montessori School and me as Head of Lower School at Allen-Stevenson in NYC.”

Hannah Doress ’88 writes in about Alane Freund: “It is an exciting time for Alane Freund—she put her MS, LMFT and Equine Assisted Growth and Learning (EAGALA) training to work to found Heart and Mind Equine, where she offers weekend retreats, psychotherapy and leadership development programs for the 20 percent of the population that is highly sensitive. Heart and Mind Equine is developing a national reputation, drawing attendees from around the county and collaborating closely with high sensitivity field pioneer Dr. Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person. Media coverage of Alane has sometimes called her ‘the horse whisperer’ because of her skill in rescuing, gentling and incorporating wild horses into her work. Doress ’88 and her son Abe have taken part in her youth leadership development programs with these horses [which explains our enthusiasm!]. Alane lives and works with her partner, Monica Zimmerman, an equine specialist and midwife. Her son, Asher Padua-Freund, is a high school student with an interest in neurology.”

Scott Pryce is spending his time between Miami and Washington these days, and would love to catch up with classmates in both cities. “I am in touch with Dan Sharp ’88, Chris Lotspeich, and Rob Campbell from our class. We had a fun reunion with a few other classmates like Alex Scott, and also Colin Campbell at Rob’s wedding last year.”

That’s all the room we have.

Best always,

Amanda Jacobs Wolf | wolfabj@gmail.com

CLASS OF 1988 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Hillary writes for this issue.

Lisa Renery reports that she recently left Ancestry.com for a design research role at UBER’s San Francisco headquarters. She is one of two other Wes alums on her team (Jenny Lo ’10 and Hilary Hoeber ’96). Lisa’s been having fun commemorating/commiserating with classmates Rick Stein, Paulette Taylor and Brad Kramer about their (our!?) milestone birthdays.

Laura Wiessen writes in for the first time(!), sharing that after years of being a news and documentary producer in New York and Chicago (with a stint in Jerusalem), she married in 2008 and is living in Gloucester, Mass., with her husband and two girls. Laura says this move is quite a change from her urban lifestyle, and wants you to let her know if you’re in Gloucester.

Majora Carter’s company, StartupBox, and Birch Coffee will open a new café in the South Bronx. StartupBox also acquired a historic rail station and plans to transform it into a restaurant incubator. Majora says “both of these projects are part of my theory about self-gentrification, i.e., the creation of great economic development projects, by and for the people currently living in low-status communities, before they get traditionally gentrified, builds resistance to brain drain because the smart, hardworking people born and raised in those communities (the ones like me, who were taught to measure success by how far they get away from their hometowns) will want to re-invest in their own communities instead of fleeing as soon as they can.”

Andrea Gural has been busy “managing life and general chaos with four boys.” She recently switched jobs and is now working as director of Budget and Analysis at NYU Global Programs, which is NYU’s study-away program. She had been looking for a move to nonprofits and education, and says this is a good fit with her global work experience.

Rob Wilder’s first novel, Nickel, will be published by Leaf Storm Press in September. Author Augusten Burroughs states that “no one has ever written about the pains of being a teenager—physically and psychologically, inside and out—quite like Robert Wilder in his startling debut novel. He has created indelible characters in Monroe and Coy—funny and sad and strong and broken—and Nickel is about as real as it gets.”

Christina Pugh received a 2015–16 Guggenheim fellowship in poetry, and has two poetry books in the works: Perception and Stardust. She will share more info with us when the books are available.

PETER v.s. BOND | 007@pvsb.org

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1989 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Damn. When Michele shakes the tree, she shakes it hard. We even got a few first timers, so we’ll lead with those.

Amy Berk has reinvested in her home in San Francisco, where her two kids attend Creative Arts Charter School. She is starting a new venture to help recenter and reset creativity: reapprojects.com. She sometimes sees Michelle Matz and recently reconnected with David Auerbach.

In Portland, Ore., Michael Aiello is finishing a visiting artist show at the Blackfish Gallery. He presented six pieces from work sponsored by a grant from his Regional Arts & Culture Council called “Our Fates Are Connected.” Michael is now creatively transitioning back to songwriting. In June, he will be in Northern New Mexico, humbly listening for the words that are hidden in the tunes, and is grateful to his daughter and love for the opportunity….

Dina Goldman has been a production designer for film and television (primarily) in NYC for almost 20 years. Her current project is an independent feature based on the life of J.D. Salinger, turning the city streets back to the way they looked in the ’40s and ’50s. When not working, she’s enjoying life with her husband and 9-year-old son in the West Village.

Allison Downer is now the associate executive director of the Department of Psychiatry at Rikers Island, where she provides psychiatric services for the country’s first specialized jail for 18–21 year olds. She was encouraged to reach out because of all the “cool people” who are sharing their good deeds.

Hope Ring is still a family doctor, still happily married, with daughters now 11 and 17, who are far more passionate about social justice than Hope was at their age. With the prodding of Jeanne Kramer-Smythe ’90, Hope is now an associative member of SFWA, writing under Hope Erica Schultz.

Congratulations to James Eli Shiffer who just had his first book, The King of Skid Row, published by The University of Minnesota Press. He completed this account of the seamy history of his adopted hometown of Minneapolis while keeping his day job as an editor and columnist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He is a co-historian with his wife, Kirsten Delegard ’90, the creator of the Historyapolis community history project. Last year, he joined Paul Rooney, David Williams, and many other Argus alumni advocating for free speech at Wesleyan and against efforts to defund the Argus.

After 10 years at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Phineas Baxandall moved on to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a think-tank that focuses on helping people with low and moderate incomes. Phineas will be working with campaigns to pass a ballot initiative that would raise taxes on incomes over a million dollars to fund education and transportation. He recently visited Cuba with his long-time partner, Sarah Hill, and his children. Son, Julian (16), just started an ultimate frisbee team at his high school in Cambridge, Mass. In January, several Wesleyan alumni attended a memorial service for Phineas’s mother, including Stephanie Dolgoff, Elizabeth Schmidt, Robert Featherstone, John Stamm, and Eric Lotke ’87.

The paperback edition of Alex Chee’s new novel, The Queen of the Night (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is coming out this January, along with a new edition of his first novel Edinburgh. He also will have an essay in this fall’s Best American Essays 2016, and has two upcoming visiting writer gigs: at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the fall, and then at the University of Massachusetts Amherst MFA in the spring. He recently saw Janine Mileaf, who runs the Chicago Arts Club.

In April, Adam Rohdie, Andrew Lacey and Mike Charlton, and their spouses all attended JazzFest in NOLA. While the music and food were outstanding, part of Saturday’s show was rained out. Somehow they persevered, finding their way to the French Quarter and enjoying themselves despite the weather.

John Hlinko is living in Washington, D.C., doing his best to save America from Trump (and itself) by running Left Action, a two-million-strong national progressive activist community. His wife, Leigh Stringer, is about to release her second book, The Healthy Workplace, which he will shamelessly plug on Facebook, via e-mail, and in Wesleyan class notes. John is about to move to a house that was built in the 1850s as a church, which might be the first time he’s been in one in decades.

Laura Safran Shepard and her husband, Drew Shepard, are on the move after relocating back to Connecticut from Thailand in 2014. Colgate-Palmolive has tapped Drew to manage Western Europe, starting next month, and they will be moving to Paris. Despite not knowing a single word of French, they are very excited. They will miss their daughter who is headed off to college, but they know she’ll be super happy at school.

If anyone has plans to visit Toronto, they should look up Marisa Cohen, who is tagging along as her 13-year-old daughter, Molly, plays Alice in the Canadian premiere of Matilda the Musical. You can most likely find Marisa in a coffee shop trying to keep up her freelance magazine/web writing career while sampling Canadian delicacies like Labatt’s, Smarties, and ketchup crisps. Her husband, Jeremy, and daughter, Bellam, are staying in New York, but will make lots of border crossings to visit. Depending on how the election goes, they may just stay up north. (Kidding—sort of.)

After 18 years as an academic librarian at Bryn Mawr College and the University of Michigan, Susan Turkel is going freelance! She’s researching, editing, and doing a little Web design for faculty and others. Check her out at susanturkel.com. When not working, she’s usually found at a contra dance.

Finally, congratulations to Ed Thorndike, whose restaurant, WesWings, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a big party at Beckham Hall with about 400 guests, including the senior class.

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

Michele Barnwell | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1990 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Hi all. Here’s what we have:

Jeanie Tung reconnected with Marisa Cohen ’89, “first on Facebook of course, then we found out our daughters attended the same school and that both had a love for music/violin!”

Jennifer Teitelbaum Palmer has been made a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, due in part to her work for the Maryland Psychiatric Society as the chair of the legislative committee and as a member of the council and executive committee. Jennifer, the MPS president-elect, will be president in April 2017.

Alexis Neaman Roberts and her husband, Chris Roberts ’89, are living in Austin, Texas, with their three daughters, Beatrix, Willa, and India. Chris is working as the director of communications at the University of Texas School of Law and Alexis spends her time driving her kids around Austin and “working on secret plans to turn Texas blue for the next election.”

Ben Robertson is “working as an independent consultant with recent engagements in nonprofit, Internet of things, cybersecurity, and enterprise search.” People who want to learn more about him (for example, his work as an actor and a writer) can do so at menadena.com and benrobertson.net. Ben noted how great it was to see classmates at our last Reunion. He writes that Ethan Garber and his brother recently visited him at his home in Keene, N.H. “They stayed the night and Ethan slept on the floor (I only have one guest bed), and I made buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, while we watched a documentary about cartels in Mexico, a place where Ethan’s company is doing business. Ethan bought an environmental company called Idle Air. of which he is now CEO. Ethan and I were also partners in crime at the Reunion, and ended up sleeping in his car behind a Walmart, unable to find a hotel. So the college adventures continue, even as we approach 50. I never would have expected any of this and look forward to seeing what happens next.”

Stephanie Donohue Pilla lives in Harlem, NYC, with her husband and 8-year-old daughter. She is the development manager at Maysles Documentary Center where Hellura Lyle ’89 has been a guest curator and Bobbito Garcia ’88 has presented his films. In April, Stephanie saw Kati Koerner at the Face to Face Arts in Education Conference that she was co-chairing. Stephanie’s daughter attends Manhattan Country School, “which not only feels like a mini-Wesleyan (super diverse, social justice curriculum), but also has a number of Wes parents and teachers. She also keeps fit with Linda Turnbull ’90 every week at a barre class!”

Jeffrey Needelman writes with the show-stopping news that he has become a grandparent. I’m not sure if he’s the first in our class to do so, but he’s certainly the first one of which I have heard. He is grateful to be able to share with the Wesleyan community the happy news that on April 3, 2016, his daughter, Ona Sofia, “gave birth to my first grandson, Shilo Nana Kwasi Ansuh.”

Andy Siff’s daughter, who was just two months when she joined him and the rest of his family at our 25th Reunion, is now 14 months. “She and big brother Zeke (5) are big Wesleyan fans. I’m still at WNBC-TV (after 12 years!) and my wife, Dawn, is working in marketing at Google.”

Eric Berg ’93 is teaching English as a Second Language and living in Boston. “I got my B.A. from Northeastern in English Lit in 1994, and my M.A. in English Lit from the University of Virginia in 2009. I have been studying languages at the Harvard extension school for the past nine years, and am trying to get in shape to start rowing on the water again (which I did at Wesleyan and Harvard). I also taught sculling at the Weld Boathouse at Harvard for two summers from 1990–1991.”

Finally, Lisa Shactman Grissom wrote and produced the short film Tattoo You (tattooyouthefilm.com) based upon her award-winning one act play. Shot entirely in a high school bathroom, the film centers on an encounter between two women that reveals the indelible marks left by their shared past. Tattoo You explores the impact of bullying on adulthood and is resonating with film festival audiences, winning awards at The Berkshire International Film Festival and Dances With Films. Lisa would love to see some of you on the festival circuit! She can be reached at grissom.lisa@gmail.com.

That’s all for now. I hope you have all been enjoying the summer. You will be hearing from me again at year’s end.

Vanessa Montag Brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1991 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

What a fabulous 25th Reunion! Congratulations to the co-chairs, Jeremy Sacks and Christine Pina, as well as all the members of the committee. And hats off to the phenomenal, spontaneous memory explosion on Facebook. The photos and the videos…whew. I’m serious when I say we need a class archivist to collect, collate and preserve!

I also want to pick up on Sam Schneider’s lovely thoughts from the Class Memorial, and Sam, forgive me if I butcher the words, but the sentiment is to start new memories, new conversations, with people you might not have known on campus, but might want to know now. Our classmates are doing amazing things, from teaching GED courses to pushing the Senate to action, to writing the book you want to read this summer. So take a gander at what we’re up to, and reach out to that person!

Debby Popkin’s midwifery group, Birth & Beyond, won first place for Best Midwives in Hartford County in the CTNow readers’ poll this year.

Joshua Samuels is a pediatric nephrologist and hypertension specialist at University of Texas McGovern Medical School at Houston. In 2015, he was promoted to professor of pediatrics and medicine, elected to the Academy of Master Educators, and received the Dean’s Teaching Award.

Jenny Tucker is the second in command at the National Organic Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, overseeing the use of the USDA organic seal on food across the U.S. and around the world: “it is a wonderfully complex job that I love.” On the side, Jenny volunteers as the executive director of the nonprofit FOSS Institute, which Jenny’s father, Allen Brown Tucker ’63, and she founded in 2013. FOSS, or Free and Open Source Software, seeks to bring together computer science students, nonprofits, and software professionals to build sustainable software tools that support the nonprofit’s mission, while also giving the students real-world software development experience.

Todd Denmark, who has lived in Kansas for eight years, just bought a house with his partner in Shawnee. Todd worked for the Department of Homeland Security for six years and then switched to the National Benefit Center in June 2014. He moved to the Records Division in March 2016.

Suki Hawley announces her production company’s new film, Who Took Johnny, a documentary about the first missing child pictured on a milk carton, Johnny Gosch, and his mother’s relentless search for what happened to him. Catch it on Amazon, iTunes, and Netflix. John Waters called it “an amazing, lunatic documentary that will leave you creeped out, excited, and surprised.”

Brett Hardin lives in Atlanta with his family, (kids ages 8, 10, and 15) and will be the new Head of High School at Paideia, a progressive pre-K through 12th-grade school. “We tend to send at least one student a year to Wesleyan.”

Kristin Sandvik Lush reports from The Land of the Long White Cloud, where her couch awaits visits from Wesleyan friends. Last year she had lunch with Bobbito aka Cool Bob Love aka Bobby Nice aka Robert Garcia ’88, who was performing in Auckland. Kristin teaches ESOL, and stays busy with projects and family responsibilities (husband’s elderly parents and home-educated kids ages 9 and 11). She’s looking forward to a visit to the Pacific NW at the end of 2016 and a PDX Wes mini-union.

In January 2016, Tara Magner was named the director of the Chicago program at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago. Since 1978, MacArthur has invested nearly $1.1 billion in Chicago. Grants have supported more than 1,300 organizations and individuals in the region, including awards to arts and culture groups, and programs in housing, community economic development, immigration, anti-violence, and education, among others. Prior to this new role, she was a senior program officer at MacArthur, making grants related to immigration and refugee policy. Tara joined MacArthur in 2012 after many years with the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in D.C. She lives in the Chicago with her husband, Scott Hibbard, a political science professor.

Michael and Sarah Lewis Chaskes are in Los Angeles, where they continue to edit reality TV and teach sixth grade, respectively. They and their two teenage daughters try not to miss any opportunities to visit with the family of Ben and Liz Beckenbach Leavy in Sacramento.

George Irvine is the relatively new director of corporate programs and partnerships at the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics. He builds knowledge partnerships with companies, organizations, and the state to help them meet hiring, employee development and business research needs. He’s also working toward a PhD in urban affairs and public policy with a research focus on the past, present, and future publicness of American research universities.

Wendy Bellion, associate professor of American art history at the University of Delaware, is finishing her second art history book, exploring iconoclasm in New York City before and during the American Revolution. George and Wendy have two sons: Luke, 12 is approaching a Tang Soo Do black belt, and Griffin, 7, excels at baseball.

Lizandra Vega lives in Westchester and is an executive recruiter in Manhattan, placing VP-C-Suite executives in the beauty, fashion, luxury sectors. She was “thrilled to see friends on campus and share her experience with son, Christian (7), daughter Julianna (15), and husband Steve Brown.“

Michael Reinke serves as the executive director of the Inter-Faith Council and works towards ending hunger in Orange County. On the side, he’s trying to master the banjo. He lives in Durham, N.C.,

Rory Kerber Bernstein is a project manager at the Simons Foundation, a nonprofit providing funding for basic math and science research. Rory oversees the process of redesigning two websites.

After many years as a classroom teacher, Cameron Gearen has become an essay coach, working for Partners for Achievement in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., helping kids get into the colleges of their dreams. She also posts a twice-yearly reading list of favorite books, just in time for summer.

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

CLASS OF 1992 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Greetings and salutations from D.C. Michele and I are enjoying the beginning of summer and continue to plan for a two-week vacation in Yellowstone. You’ll have to come to our 25th Reunion to learn more! It’s only a year away… and it’s a biggie. I know some of you pooh-poohed the 15th and 20th anniversary, but no excuses. You’re expected to attend, so brush up on the info below in case you are quizzed.

Heather Nash continues to lead a double life—clinical psychologist by day and poet by night. She recently published her second book of poetry, Parts per Trillion (Aldrich Press, 2016) under her middle name Claudine Nash.

Darcy Dennett’s documentary about the pit bulls rescued from Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring, The Champions, is still screening around the country and is now available on Bluray/DVD, iTunes, Amazon, and Netflix. The film was invited to Michael Moore’s film festival, The Traverse City Film Festival, and was recently screened at 20th Century Fox.

Joan Matelli is off to Europe and North Africa for three months starting in August. Give her a ring if you have a major itch to do some traveling.

Shura Pollatsek has big new that her first book, Unbuttoned: The Art and Artists of Theatrical Costume Design from Routledge/Focal Press, is being released in August 2016. She writes, “The book is written for a genåeral audience and also for costume students and professionals. It features the photography of Mitchell D. Wilson, winner of many awards including National Press Photographer of the Year, Peabody and National Primetime Emmy. Unbuttoned explores the creative collaboration between costume designers and costume makers in all aspects of the process from sketch to stage, and features interviews with leading professionals in New York, Paris and Santa Fe.”

Susan Hunt Stevens is living in Newton, Mass/, where she guides WeSpire, the technology company she founded five years ago. WeSpire was honored recently to be named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year for New England.

Grant Brenner, assistant clinical professor, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, was recently honored as the first recipient of the Ivan Goldberg Outstanding Service Award presented by the New York District County Branch of the American Psychiatric Association.

Since 2003, Maurice Harris has been a congregational rabbi and a writer in Eugene, Ore. He and his wife, Melissa Crabbe, and their two kids are now getting ready to move to Philadelphia, where he’ll begin working at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He is working on his third book, following Moses: A Stranger Among Us (Cascade 2012) and Leviticus: You Have No Idea (Cascade 2013).

Speaking of Philly, Sam Robinson continues to live in Philly with his wife, Shari Hersh, and their 12-year-old daughter, Bella. Shari plans innovative, community engaged, public art projects and Bella keeps them both busy with all her sports, friends, violin lessons, etc! Sam started his own architecture firm five years ago. He does mostly residential renovations in and around the city.

Jonathan Bell co-founded DUAL, a new architecture office in Providence. DUAL’s focus has been on small, complex projects and creative reuse of underused buildings. The firm’s current work includes the adaptive reuse of a 19th-century brewery into a theater and artist-focused community; and a new 3-screen art cinema, which is in the planning stages.

Sarah Leavitt continues to stalk me around DC. House parties, book signings, dropping our kids off for summer camp—you name it. She seems to be everywhere I go now. I missed her at the Paul Simon concert but it looks like she had fun and I’m jealous.

Jody Sperling, artistic director of Time Lapse Dance, launched an Indiegogo campaign for her project “Bringing the Arctic Home.” Last spring, Jody got to dance on Arctic sea ice while serving as choreographer-in-residence aboard the icebreaker USCGC Healy. The experience was the inspiration for Ice Cycle (Phase I), a dance expressing the dynamism and fragility of the Arctic icescape performed at JCC Manhattan, June 20–21.

Check out Tim Ellis’s music/comedy video Casual Pimpin’, a smooth jam about men’s summer fashion! (With hot new remix!) Shot mostly in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. You can find it on youtu.be/PyGaeMp5_F4.

Have a great summer and fall and we’ll see you next year for Reunion.

ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu

PAUL COVIELLO | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

CLASS OF 1993 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Sue writes: Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well. As you have probably heard, this has been an exciting summer for Wesleyan alumni everywhere with Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02 clinching a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for his newest hit, Hamilton. While I haven’t yet been able to get a ticket (which is a testimony to the success of this show), it is indeed exciting for Wes alumni and particularly for the class of 2002.

Sarah and I have some exciting updates—trips around the world, new jobs, mini-Wes reunions, and a few marathons. If you haven’t sent an update lately, please write soon. It’s always fun hearing from a fellow Cardinal. And now, without further ado, here is the news from our neck of the woods.

Aaron Barr writes: “My wife and I are now back in Seattle after finishing out a 15-month, 18-country trip around the world, where we met and worked with indigenous artists in as many countries as we could. We documented the whole experience at NoMapRequired.com and continue to add to the site as a local blog. Slowly getting used to being back in the US again and staying in one place for more than a month. The job hunt has now begun!”

Christopher Cowan recently accepted an endowed chair faculty position at the Medical University of South Carolina, and will be moving his family and research lab from Boston to Charleston, S.C. in early June 2016.

Arik Greenberg led an interfaith march on Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Los Angeles as a show of solidarity from all faiths for our Muslim brothers and sisters living amid a world rife with Islamophobia. He still teaches at Loyola Marymount University, and is serving as dean of academics at the fledgling Ezra University, rapidly moving toward initial accreditation. He is also preparing for his first powerlifting meet on June 19.

Arthur Magni e-mails: “I still don my (pilfered) Cardinal-red team singlet with pride during races and did so at this year’s marathon, as I have for many other marathons. But before I continue, I should clarify that unlike past years when I officially qualified and lined up at the start, I only jumped in (bandited) at mile 7 this year to join a fellow alum, Jon Chesto, who started properly with a number and ran a quite impressive sub-3 for a 40-something on a warm day. I’m happy to report that while Jon was the more impressive runner, I got more call-outs from the crowd for ‘Go Wes’ or ‘Wesleyan!’ As a bonus, the supporters knew the difference in pronunciation between our alma mater and Wellesley.”

Emmanuelle Slossberg writes: “Just a quick note to let you know that my husband, Matt, and our daughters, Eva (8) and Mae (4), went to Amy Barrett’s ’94 house for a weekend in Claremont, Calif. Amy and Jonathan have two lovely boys, Everett and Desmond, and of course, let’s not forget Daisy, the Jack Russell queen of the house!

“With all of this parenting, I have realized the little that I know, notwithstanding books and books and ‘how to’s’ so I am organizing a small experimental workshop in New York City led by a wonderful Greek woman named Haroula Ntalla (child, couple and family therapist and professor) on parenting as a way to see how we can all benefit from a little ‘live’ guidance. I will keep you posted. At this point, everyone I speak to is quite receptive to the idea that we can always learn some basics vs. learning on the job. If you think about it, you can learn astrophysics and even playwriting, but one of the most important things we do is a little overlooked. Madeleine Lansky, who is a superstar child psychiatrist in San Francisco, was a great source of support—and humor, too! I also had a quick chat with Dina Kaplan who has since started her own incredible effort to get New Yorkers to meditate.”

Gavin Whitelaw also shared an update: “After eight years of working in Tokyo as associate professor of anthropology at International Christian University (ICU), my family and I will be moving back to the Boston area where I will take up the position of executive director of the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University.”

Suzanna Henshon | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com

Sarah Estow | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

CLASS OF 1994 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

Kate Gordon writes: “About a year ago I joined the team at the Paulson Institute, a think tank founded by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, to lead their work on climate and sustainable urbanization in the U.S. and China. In this role I’m still heavily involved in the Risky Business Project on climate risk that I helped to start in 2014; I’m also working with a team on the ground in Beijing to figure out how to translate high-level government goals on air quality and climate into real, concrete action on the ground. Unfortunately, all this work in China means I’m traveling a lot, which isn’t great for my kids (Julia is 9, Jacob is 5). Let’s hope Sheryl Sandberg is right and they respect me at the end of the day for working hard at something important!”

Dan Schwartz writes: “Just returned from Ecuador, where I had the honor to be the team physician with Team Rubicon as a part of a rapid-deployment disaster medical assistance team after a magnitude 7.8 Earthquake hit the area. Team Rubicon provided rescue, medical and reconnaissance aid to remote villages that could not be reached by the local government or NGOs. One of our mottos is “we go where the others can’t or won’t.” (See Classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu and click on “Class of 1994” to see the photos.)

John Pollock writes: “I’m pleased to announce the birth of Merritt Winton Pollock on July 21, 2015. Although he didn’t really take to the strange ritual we call ‘sleeping’ until he was about 7 months old, we absolutely adore the little guy. Merritt is an Alabama baby: I just marked my 10th year of residency in the state after initially coming in 2006 for a temporary nine-month job (I didn’t anticipate either the job continuing or meeting my amazing wife, Katie). While on recent work trips, I got to hang out with Anjali Waikar ’99 (Chicago) and Richard Silverman ’88 (New York); I loved these visits both for the reconnect as well as the chance to spend time in a state that isn’t … Alabama. Finally, my fantasy baseball league started at Wesleyan 26 years ago(!) is still going strong, with other team owners including Rob Harper-Mangels ’92, Steve Karon ’92, Rich Dansky ’92, and Aaron Siskind ’93.

Ed. note: We thank Ilana Newell and Jiyoung Gilbreth for their exceptional work as co-secretaries for the Class of 1994. We are delighted to announce that Samera Syeda Ludwig and Caissa Powell have agreed to take on the role as co-secretaries and we welcome them warmly. You’ll hear from them soon, when they request updates for the issue of Wesleyan that you’ll see in early December. Please welcome them and write to them at:

Samera Syeda Ludwig | ssludwig@nixonpeabody.com

Caissa Powell | cdp2000@hotmail.com