Class Notes

Happy Holidays! After three years serving as your class secretary, I’ve figured out the most effective mechanism to hear from you…miss a cycle in the magazine. With our section left blank ’97ers, you have so much more to say the next go around (smile)!

Lucria Ortiz, Esq., joined the West Side Y in August as their senior director managing their development and communications team. It is a great career move for my friend who loves a good cause and reason to serve others. From the looks of Facebook, she, husband Chris Ebanks ’96, and their two kids are living life to the fullest and having fun along the way.

Brion Winston writes that he and wife Melanie Schoen are doing well. He is an interventional cardiologist and Melanie is a nurse in Albany. Together they raise organic grass-fed beef at their family farm with their two kids. You can learn more at greatfunfarm.com.

Charlotte E. Scott, Esq., checks in from Ukiah, Calif., where she is enjoying her law practice in Mendocino County and raising her children on a beautiful piece of property in the mountains about 45 minutes from town. Her daughter Violet just began kindergarten and Zara Rose is a feisty toddler. She sees Adriana Dakin ’96 on a daily basis, as their daughters are best friends at the same Waldorf elementary school.

In June, Trevor Griffey and Allison Perlman married during a civil ceremony and will host a formal ceremony in Seattle in 2016. Allison is an assistant professor of U.S. History at UC Irvine, and Trevor is a lecturer in U.S. History at CSU Long Beach. They reside in Long Beach, Calif.

Leah Ayanna Brown Johnson is proud to announce that after 12 years of building an organization in Harlem and then establishing and expanding it in Newark, N.Y., she has set her sights on her entrepreneurial endeavors. Be Equipped LLC is her for-profit entity focusing on coaching, training, and development. Ayanna is also working on her third book and you can check out her site: beequippedllc.com.

Dr. Josh Arthurs, associate professor of History at West Virginia University has been awarded the 2015–16 Mellon Foundation Rome Prize in Modern Italian Studies. He, Malayna Bernstein, and their two boys are spending the year at the American Academy in Rome. He says, “It’s a big change from our regular lives as professors at West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va.!”

Sadia Shepard shared, “I’m happy to be back at Wesleyan as a visiting assistant professor in film studies. My husband, Andreas Burgess ’01, and I continue to live between New York City and South Dartmouth, Mass., with our 3-year-old daughter, Noor Jehan.”

It was great to hear from Nikki Greene, who continues to enjoy her position as an assistant professor of art history at Wellesley, in what she describes as “passionately (read: ’frantically’) finishing my book manuscript.” Summer 2015 she ran into fellow Wesleyan alum Leigh Raiford ’94 while both presented at the Black Portraitures II Conference in Florence, Italy.

The managing director at the Long Wharf Theatre, Joshua Borenstein did notice that we didn’t have anything in the last issue! He’s married to Kate Hagmann ’98, and they have two beautiful girls who are 9 and 2. Settling in Connecticut, this past summer they visited Martha’s Vineyard, where they caught up with Sacha Shapiro Emerson, who has become an “islander.”

Excited to hear about other ’97ers, Andrew Frishman provided a quick update. He, wife Leigh Needleman ’96, 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter are living in Cambridge, Mass., often seeing Christian Housh and Laura Warren ’98. Laura’s son is in the same school with his daughter and they are neighbors, just a few blocks away from each other. Professionally, Andrew is the co-executive director of Big Picture Learning (bigpicture.org), traveling to spread the word about “the need for a fundamental re-design/re-imagination of school, the education system and the importance of adopting more student-centered approaches.”

Ben Helphand is proud to announce that after 13 years of working for the conversion of an unused freight rail viaduct in Chicago, this summer they opened The 606 (the606.org), a multi-use trail and its centerpiece, the Bloomingdale Trail. The nearly $100M project features a three-mile-long elevated trail linking six access parks and weaving together four neighborhoods. The late Wesleyan trustee emeritus John Baird ’38 was one of the early leaders on the Bloomingdale Trail/606. Ben also dedicated Chicago’s first community-created and -managed nature play garden, The Jardincito, highlighting features borrowed from the natural world—boulders, play huts, a pebble pool and balancing logs. He, wife Dawn, and daughter, Selah spent the summer in Berlin, meeting up with Ben Rubloff ’98, his partner, Jennie, and new daughter, Juno, “eating kebabs in the city’s endless playgrounds.”

Semeka Smith-Williams wrote in to share that she is the lower-school diversity coordinator and kindergarten teacher at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn where she received the excellence in teaching award in the spring. The award acknowledges and celebrates the professional achievements of a master teacher who demonstrates consistent excellence through his or her ability to inspire and educate Packer students. “It was wonderful sharing this special moment with my family”—husband Sharif Williams ’95 and two daughters. Semeka also connected with Wes alums Nicole Rodriguez, Rachel Rodriguez, and Jeneen Garcia at a Border Crossers event supporting Benny Vasquez in his efforts to bring social justice and equity work into schools and other institutions around NYC.

Aileen Nagle McDonough continues to run a communications company, 3am Writers. She and Michelle Driscoll went to Wes for the 2014 Shasha Conference on The Novel. This fall, Aileen also spoke at WordCamp Rhode Island and was chosen to be a “Speed Mentor” at the 2015 CWE Women Business Leaders Conference. Two of Aileen’s essays were published in Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England.

Jessica Shea Lehmann headed to New York to see Hamilton and hang out with Sasha Lewis Reisen. She teaches nutrition communications at Arizona State University, manages menu consulting with clients, and does some writing related to nutrition and food. She and husband Greg celebrated their 12th anniversary in November, and their boys—Oliver, Felix, and Adrian—are 9, 6, and 3 respectively. Jess writes that she missed the “reunion of Kappa Alpha Theta in August in Boston because Amy Gorin, Saskia Herz Mower, Joanne Maxwell, Julie Philips, Kalyna Procyk, and Lauren Porosoff were there.” But she is already making plans to come to our 20th Reunion in May 2017.

Matthew Way wants us to know his first feature film, The Genital Warriors, will be released in more than 100 countries and 19 languages “on the 35th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, December 8th.” The movie will be available in the US on iTunes, Amazon, Google and Sony, as well as on BluRay and DVD. The ensemble film pieces together the three main characters’ fragmentary pasts, allowing their different perspectives and memories to meet and overlap.

The protagonists’ hero, John Lennon, comes back to life. Matthew says, “I wrote, directed and produced this film alone, an indie/underground/arthouse production, costing approximately $200K. It’d be great if you would take a moment to watch our trailer (genital-warriors.com/trailer).” Matthew majored in molecular biology and biochemistry while also taking film and fiction/screenplay writing courses. After a year in Venezuela, he received a Fulbright Scholarship and moved to Hamburg, Germany, where he lived for 12 years while shooting the movie. Matthew is now mainly based in Berlin, Germany.

Cheers to 2016!

Kimberly King | kimberly.king715@gmail.com

Michael Roberts and Leslie Feldt Roberts ’97 celebrated the birth of their third son, Adrien Justis Roberts, last April. To accommodate their growing clan, they purchased an old VW van, which they use for beach adventures near their home in Marin County, Calif. They enjoy occasional multi-family hikes with Andrew Levine ’97, and his wife and two daughters.

Colby Evans and Sara Kirchhoff ’96 have expanded their practice, Evans Dermatology Partners, the largest, locally-owned and family-operated practice (evans-dermatology.com) in Austin, serving three locations with eight medical providers. Their children are well and happy and keep them busy, Quinn is 7, Malcolm is 6, and Ruby is 4. They are hoping to attend the big upcoming Reunion!

In addition, they shared the great news that Colby Evans MD has been named chair of the board of directors for the National Psoriasis Foundation.

Official Wes old-head Shereem Herndon-Brown will present at the Education and Career “Next Steps” for Entrepreneurs dinner/talk on campus this December. He will bring his expertise as founder and director of strategic admissions advice as he covers options for educational or career next steps for entrepreneurs and change makers, and also shares tips and tricks to prepare students for what the future holds.

Tracie Broom writes from flood-stricken Columbia, S.C., that she and her loved ones faced no direct hardships, but she has good friends with kids, pets, etc., who lost their homes, cars—everything. She mentioned that one PR clients, the nonprofit Central Carolina Community Foundation, has established a Flood Relief Fund to address the pressing needs of flood victims—both short and long term, with zero overhead. One hundred percent of monies donated will go directly to local grassroots organizations aiding those in need. If you’d like to donate, go to yourfoundation.org and click on ’Help SC Flood Relief.’

Shelby Hyvonen writes that after more than 15 terrific years on the West Coast, she has finally made true to her promise to move back East near family and friends in the western Massachusetts Pioneer Valley. She is now working as a clinical child psychologist at Baystate Health in Springfield, while her husband, Seth Koen, is situating his art practice out here and looking forward to having more opportunity to visit the NYC art scene, now that it’s just “down the road.” Her children, Fern (7) and Otto (5), are happily settled into their new school, and weekends have been spent picking apples, enjoying the autumn foliage, and catching up with East Coast pals.

Jullia Chowdhury-Quazi recently joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a managing director and is leading their corporate finance healthcare practice. I guess 15 years on Wall Street was enough!

Sarah Huard-Leffert writes that she is back in San Francisco leading advancement efforts for Convent & Stuart Hall, the school where her daughters, Piper and Arden, are in second grade and kindergarten. She mentioned that one daughter’s teacher is the proud parent of Wes sophomore Tess Holland ’18. Sarah was in an extremely short-lived running club with Sophie Middlebrook Hayward this spring. She hopes to see all at the Reunion in 2016!

Rallie Nepveux Snowden is living in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Lexington, Va., with her wife and their nearly 5-year-old daughter. She says she is lucky to live in the same town as her father, stepmother, and older sister. She has her dream job at Washington & Lee University, where she gets to divide her time between counseling graduate and undergraduate students as one of the university counselors, and as the LGBTQ coordinator.

Lastly, shoutout to my big brother Robert “Bobbito” Garcia ’88, who just released his documentary called Stretch and Bobbito: Radio that Changed Lives, which takes a look at his historic radio show in the 1990s introducing the “world to unsigned artists like Nas, Bigge, Wu-Tang as well as an unknown artists like Jay Z, Eminem and the Fugees.” Check out the film in your town at stretchandbobbito.com/screenings.

DARA FEDERMAN | darasf@yahoo.com

DACQUE TIRADO | dacquetirado@yahoo.com

Please write to your class secretary:

DWAYNE BUSBY | dwaynedbusby@gmail.com

We mourn the loss of our classmate, Sachiko Suzanne Isobe Mallach. Sachi’s husband, Daniel, wrote that she passed away peacefully surrounded by friends and family on July 1, 2015, after a courageous five-year battle with cancer. Sachi was a resident of West Goshen Township, Pa., and served as a fundraiser and development officer for several nonprofit organizations. Dan wrote that Sachi loved listening to all types of music, playing the piano and violin, hiking and camping, gardening, laughing, and being with her family. She is also survived by her daughter, Katy, her brother and parents. Please find her obituary: articles.philly.com/2015-07-29/news/64962258_1_new-york-city-fundraising-development. If you would like to send Sachi’s family a note of condolence, Marcy Herlihy, our stewardship person in University Relations (mherlihy@wesleyan.edu), has offered to pass along the messages.

Andrew Oppenheimer has returned from the Netherlands, where he spent three years as a lecturer in European studies at Maastricht University. He has since left academia to pursue an MBA. He and his wife, Jamie, are expecting their first child.

Jessica Sharzer writes, “My first studio movie, Nerve, wrapped production in June and will be in theaters in early 2016. I’m under contract at 20th Century Fox on a TV show based on Urban Cowboy, and adapting a YA novel called The Young Elites for the big screen. I have two great kids—Dante, 8, and Sasha, 5—and I’m about to get remarried to a guy with two kids—mini Brady Bunch.”

Oneka LaBennett is entering her third year as associate professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University. She was recently invited to deliver the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Public Affairs Lecture for Syracuse University’s African American Studies Department. She also routinely writes op-eds for the Ms. Magazine Blog and for The Huffington Post. Oneka makes regular visits to New York City to see friends from Wes, and for research and teaching projects. With her husband, Shawn McDaniel, and their dog, Bagel, Oneka is enjoying her new home in Ithaca. She also loved attending the special Wes alumni performance of Hamilton.

Jesse Hendrich writes, “I am still in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with a psychotherapy practice and a happy family that includes my beautiful wife, Elizabeth Solomon, and our two kids. Our kids attend school with the son of Mark Ladov, whom I see regularly. We recently had dinner with Aaron Passell, who lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two kids and commutes to New York to teach urban studies at Barnard. I am also in touch with Scott Rosenberg, who is putting out a new album this fall, and Nicole Davis, who is also a psychotherapist here in New York City, living in Brooklyn with her partner and three kids. Lastly, I am also in touch with Jonah Ross, who still lives in Portland but we talk on a monthly basis via Skype.”

Kika Stump writes, “I recently earned my PhD in public policy and am still working in Maine as an education policy researcher. While thrilled to be back in the classroom again, teaching at Bowdoin College, I promise I am not cheering for their field hockey team! I had a recent visit at Wesleyan to give a talk on education reform at the Patricelli Center and see the great work being done there by Makaela Kingsley ’98. Topped off by a fantastic dinner at Wes Wings with Ed Thorndike ’89.”

Ken Barnett is happy to be back in NYC full-time after several years in Los Angeles. He recently filmed recurring roles on Steven Soderbergh’s The Knick and Amazon’s Mozart In The Jungle, and he is currently working at Fun Home on Broadway.

Aram Sinnreich recently relocated to Silver Spring, Md., with his family, to begin a new position as associate professor at American University’s School of Communication.

Raya Salter writes, “Pleased to report that I have just been elected VP of the Wesleyan Lawyers Alumni Association and I look forward to serving this Wes community. I also left my gig working for others (I’m an energy and environmental lawyer) to strike out on my own—Imagine Power LLC, where I focus on climate and energy justice issues and clean and renewable power development (including advisory services in New York, Hawaii, and the South Pacific). So I am transitioning from being New York-based to being Hawaii-based.”

John Pollock writes, “I’m pleased to share the birth announcement for my first child, Merritt Winton Pollock. He arrived a month early but still managed to clock in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and 20 inches long, and he figured out how to sleep more than the occasional nap just in time to help us retain our sanity. Although an Alabama baby, Merritt got to meet Katrina Buchau and Leah Bartell ’95 via Skype, and has enjoyed presents from numerous Wes folks that range from clothes to books to personalized blocks and towels. I’ve told him many times how lucky he is to be joining the Wesleyan family.”

Matt Solomon lives in D.C., with his wife and two kids, and he is the chief litigation counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Matt reports that he regrettably missed his 20th Reunion last year (and got dinged by Sid Espinosa for doing so), but did make it to campus last summer on his way back from a Maine vacation. He remarked that while there have been numerous campus improvements, the Foss dorms are as shabby as ever!

Charlotte Castillo continues to travel the world for Viacom International Media Networks—including stops in Milan, Mexico City, London, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and other places this year. In addition, she was recently promoted to SVP of international brand management and creative at Viacom International Media Networks. She was also among 34 participants chosen to participate in Viacom’s Inspirational Leaders Program, along with Nadja Webb ’90.

Kate Gordon writes: “After stints working at the Center for American Progress and at Next Generation (Tom Steyer’s SF-based think tank), I’m now working on climate and energy issues in the U.S. and China at the Paulson Institute, a think tank founded by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. It’s based in Chicago and most of our work is in Beijing, but I’m able to do my job from my home in Berkeley, which is good for my two kids (Julia, 8, and Jacob, 4)—at least when I’m not traveling!”

David Niles writes: “My wife and I just had the pleasure of attending a traditional Chinese banquet in Flushing, Queens, to celebrate Joe Pirret’s recent marriage. In attendance were Eliza Comer, Adji Gadson, François Nguyen, and Sondy Youdelman. The robust, 10-course feast was followed by midnight karaoke in New York’s Koreatown where the varied playlist ran the gamut from the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” to Extreme’s “More than Words” to Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind.” Unfortunately, “Closer to Fine” was not in the system, so Eliza and Sondy didn’t have a chance to reprise their classic duet. Maybe at the next wedding?! See the photo at: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/class-of-1994

Jiyoung Lim Gilbreth writes, “My family and I moved to the DC area. For those living or working in and around DC, please reach out and so that we can all get together for a ’94 lunch or drinks.”

Thank you to all who wrote in with updates. Please send us your class notes for the next issue. We look forward to hearing from you.

Jiyoung Lim Gilbreth and Ilana wind newell

94notes@gmail.com

Hi, classmates. We hope you are doing well. It’s always wonderful hearing from Wes friends. There are a few exciting updates, and we hope you keep sharing your news with us.

Aaron Barr writes, “My wife and I are on a 15ish-month trip around the world! Currently in the UK, after doing a 17-day horse trek in Mongolia and exploring Bali for awhile, we’re about to start month 12. If anyone would like to follow our adventures, we’re blogging at nomaprequired.com and facebook.com/nomaprequired.

Sue Henshon received a fellowship in June 2015 to attend a faculty seminar at Oxford University, sponsored by the Oxford Study Abroad Program.

Jodi Samuels shares this update: “I was promoted to deputy director of development and training at the California Primary Care Association (CPCA) in July, taking on a greater leadership role in the organization and continuing to oversee grants development, stewardship, and management, along with supervising our statewide Web-based and in-person training program. My annual fitness goal this year was to run a race every month, and I’ll be finishing up with the Urban Cow 1/2 Marathon on Oct. 4th (I’ve participated in this race annually for the past 11 years, ever since we moved to Sacramento). I’m also in my third year as a fundraising and special events volunteer for WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment), a local nonprofit that provides support to victims of domestic violence.”

Maura Solomon Woosley and her husband, Greg, are happy to report the birth of their daughter, Skylar Mackenzie Woosley, on Aug. 3, 2015. Maura lives in Arlington, Va., and still works at Citi as a managing director for their government affairs team in Washington, D.C.

Thanks so much,

SuZanna Henshon | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com

SARAH ESTOW | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

Paul writes this time.

Greetings and salutations from Washington, D.C. I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Michele Greenstein and I have been busy with our two kids, Peter and Julia, and enjoyed a week up in Boston and Cape Cod, where we ate great Italian food and lobsters and got chased out of the water by a Great White Shark.

So anyway… the news (I’ll start in New England):

I heard from Susan Hunt Stevens, who is living in Newton, Mass., where she is busy with her two kids, now in third and fifth grade, and WeSpire, the technology company she founded five years ago. Susan was honored recently as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year for New England and travels to San Francisco a lot, where she gets to see Andrea Seebaum and her husband, who recently published Drink Your Carbs. Susan also sends word of recent visits with Kara Fisher Bohnsack, whom she sees for annual girls weekends; Michelle Connolly Specht, her weekly Soulcycle partner; Kathryn Walker Hall, who is back stateside from Switzerland; and Melissa Frankel, my former high school and Wes classmate, who is building a house on the Cape. Hi Melissa!

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. DUAL’s current work includes the adaptive reuse of a 19th-century brewery into a theater and artist-focused community and a new three-screen art cinema.

In addition to raising four small kids, Jen Humphreys Rohde was recently elected the Future Council Director for Girls on the Run, Maine Chapter, a self-esteem building, running program for “tween” girls. Jen is excited to use her lawyer/running coach background to lead this newly forming nonprofit, which will help young girls positively navigate negative social messages through growing physically strong.

Chris Chesak may not be in New England anymore… but he is pining to return. He’s taken a new position as executive director of the Family Travel Association and living in Cincy.

Lisa Turner Laing, her three boys, husband, and dog are living in Wisconsin. She is expecting her second novel to be released just before Thanksgiving under the pen name Lisa McLuckie.

Chadwick Canedy and his wife, Bona Yoon, welcomed their first child, Declan Solchan Canedy, on April 20th, 2015. Chadwick is living in D.C., where he is a research physicist and his wife does medical research for the VA hospital system.

Darcy Dennett’s independent documentary about the pit-bulls rescued from Michael Vick’s dog-fighting ring was recently premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival. You can read more about the project at championsdocumentary.com. The documentary was awarded the Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless award and Cherry (one of the dogs featured in the film) got to walk the red carpet!

Andrew Draper is still living in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, where he does database migration for hedge funds and freelance copyeditor/writer work. He spends a fair portion of the year near Burlington, Vt., where his kids, now 9 and 12, live, and Cape Cod, where his parents live. He’d be happy to connect with alums in any of those regions.

Kevin Prufer’s new book called Churches was recently named one of the “10 favorite poetry books of the year” in the New York Times Book Review. And last but not least, Ken Lefkowitz has joined the board of NetIX Communications, a European startup that operates a global Internet exchange.

ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu

PAUL COVIELLO | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

Please write to your class secretary:

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

Hi, all. Our class notes are particularly light this time around so I’m hoping a few more of you can send me e-mails for our next issue. Here’s what we have for now:

Tim Freundlich reports that he has set up camp for the last 15 years in San Francisco, living in the Mission District with spouse Julie and their two boys, Gus (6) and Milo (9). Tim runs across Wes alums left and right in his impact investing and social enterprise work (companies he co-founded: ImpactAssets, Good Capital, ImpactHUBs in a few cities, and the SOCAP Conference). He writes of his plans to journey back to Wes for the Social Impact Summit in mid-November with Mark Mullen ’89 (an ImpactHUB member in SF), so I’m hoping that he’s looking back on a great visit by the time all of you are reading this.

Ben Klau and Joan Gundersen Klau had a good reason to miss our 25th Reunion, as Joan was seven months pregnant with their first child. Avery Josephine Klau was born on July 16 and is “already bringing great joy to both parents (although they’d like it if she could find some time other than 3 a.m. to do so).” Ben is the general manager and co-owner of Mortar, an advertising agency in San Francisco, and Joan is a writer/producer, running the media department for Shaklee Corporation.

Kate Hardin writes that she is still in Boston working in energy consulting, focusing on Russia and the Arctic these days. Kate “would be happy to connect with others working on energy and climate change issues. I was thrilled to see so many friends in Middletown at our Reunion and resolved to do a better job staying in touch.”

Finally, Lara Small Laurence lets us know that she “missed Reunion because my youngest chid, Eyal, became a bar mitzvah that week. It was a great weekend, celebrated with family and friends, including some Wes grads, Jenny Simon Tabak ’93, Jen Hammer ’91 and Tzvi Mackson-Landsberg ’89. A week later, my eldest, Revital, graduated from high school. She is currently a very happy freshman at Bryn Mawr College. My middle child, Tsivi, is a junior in high school, so college touring will start up again in the spring. Earlier in 2015, Jen Hammer, Jenny Simon Tabak and I traveled from New York City to Louisville, Ky., to attend the bat mitzvah of Michelle Elisburg’s ’92 older daughter. While in Louisville, we met up with Sarah Leavitt ’92, and had a great weekend exploring the city and celebrating with Michelle. I’m still happily working as a learning specialist in Manhattan, and living on Long Island with my husband, my kids, and our dog.”

That’s all for now. I’m assuming this magazine will be arriving toward the end of December, so I wish all of you a happy and healthy new year. I look forward to hearing from you in 2016!

Vanessa montag brosgol | vanessa.brosgol@yahoo.com

Newsmaker: Melinda Weekes-Laidlow ’89

Melinda Weekes-Laidlow ’89, president of Weekes In Advance Enterprises, is the first social entrepreneur in residence at Echoing Green, with a focus on racial equity. Echoing Green is a global nonprofit organization that provides fellowships, seed-stage funding, and strategic support to social entrepreneurs around the world. In an interview with Echoing Green president Cheryl Dorsey, Weekes-Laidlow called the post, “a wonderful way to leverage my nearly 25 years of experience as a social change agent, attorney, nonprofit manager, systems thinker, professional facilitator, capacity builder, and leadership coach.” Dorsey noted that she looked forward to Weekes-Laidlow offering the foundation “the opportunity to expand and deepen our community through the capacities you bring to the Social Entrepreneur in Residence role.” Weekes-Laidlow is a member of the advisory Board of the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Wesleyan. This fall she served as a panelist for Wesleyan’s Social Impact Summit, organized by Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, and Office of Alumni & Parent Relations. A member of the ordained clergy, Weekes-Laidlow serves on the ministerial staff of the Greater Allen Cathedral of New York. A College of Social Studies major at Wesleyan University, she earned her doctorate in divinity at Harvard University and her juris doctorate from New York University School of Law.

Jonathan writes: I returned from visiting my daughter, who is a frosh living in Clark Hall, to a burst of e-mail updates from our classmates. Thanks for reaching out, everyone; let’s get to it!

Seth Kaplan let us know that he has a new gig after 16 years as an environmental advocate at the Conservation Law Foundation. He’s done interesting stuff around transportation and urban development, focusing on clean energy and climate change. He also served as vice president for climate advocacy. He is now with a wind energy company, EDP Renewables, where he manages the government affairs for the Eastern Region of the U.S. EDPR is developing in Maine the largest wind farm in the Northeast, which requires frequent trips to Connecticut, where the power will be sold. This project brings him back to designing the lighting for Dar Williams’s senior project and her questions about the origin of electricity at Wesleyan. Seth’s eldest is now in her first year at Barnard College, and his other two kids are in ninth and fifth grades in the Brookline, Mass., public schools.

Melissa Herman begins by noting that merely typing “1989” makes her feel very old. (We all feel your pain, Melissa!) But even with her (self-described) “creaky body,” Melissa has been doing some small triathlons and running races, a family activity with her kids and husband. She’s looking forward to racing in Germany when she goes on sabbatical in Berlin next academic year to teach at Humboldt or FU, depending on the outcome of her Fulbright application. Her three kids will attend German schools, as they did last time they went—further improving their language skills with another dose of immersion. Her oldest is a high school senior applying to universities here and in Germany. Anyone who will be in Berlin in the 2016–17 academic year should give her shout and she will be happy to show you the sights.

Ed Thorndike is still at Wesleyan and getting ready to celebrate WesWings’ 25th anniversary. There will be a series of events leading up to a big party next spring. Sounds delicious, Ed!

John Hlinko is living in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Leigh, an author and architect, and daughters Kate and Ali (not named after the TV show). He is the leader of Left Action, a progressive grassroots activist organization, and he occasionally appears as a pundit on TV news programs, to yell and be yelled at. He recently enjoyed a long weekend in Vegas with Adam Long and Sandeep Wadhwa, where he miraculously didn’t lose money. John often spends his time shamelessly hawking his book, Share, Retweet, Repeat, including in these very class notes.

Jane O’Brien reports that she’s a failed writer—but a successful mother! (At least you have your priorities straight!)

Joel Jacobs is now the parent of a college student: older daughter, Aviva, is a freshman at Pitzer. He’s happy that she’s happy. Joel is still practicing environmental law, doing bodywork with his feet, and acting in community theater. Younger daughter, Talia, is a high school sophomore, and active on the debate team, which he’s been helping to coach, providing a great chance for them to spend time together.

David Levine writes: “On July 25th, 18 members from the class of ’89 and their families gathered together in Roxbury, Conn. Family members included other Wes alumns Todd Snyder ’84 and Gabrielle Mason ’87. Hosted by Stu Berman, Neil Blicher,Alan Cohen, Ricky Kotler, and David Levine. People traveled from Boston, D.C., and San Francisco to be there. We had beautiful weather for a fun-filled day of reconnecting that included swimming, ’80s music, plenty of food, and maybe a little alcohol as well. Notable changes since college included more girth and less hair. Great to see everyone after all this time.” (See the photo and caption in the online notes at classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/class-of-1989)

Sherry Lehr Föhr writes: “I’m still living in Germany, where I run the writing center for the University of Heidelberg. My older daughter just completed her Abitur this past summer and even though she is still living at home for her gap year, I find that having only one kid in school really changes daily life. My younger daughter is in ninth grade and applying to spend next year as an exchange student in the U.S. She’s never lived there, so it is like going to a foreign country to her, but not to me, which is a bit strange. Plus I met my husband when I was an exchange student on Wes’s program in Heidelberg, and look where I ended up… In any event, I am sure my husband and I will find lots of fun things to do when the nest is finally empty, even if it will be just temporary.”

Mark Mullen writes, “My big news is that for the first time in a long time I live in the U.S. In San Francisco. So there’s that.”

Eric Schreiber has moved back to his Mountain View condo in the SF Bay Area after having lived overseas for the last nine years. He is teaching English literature at Pinewood School in Los Altos Hills and is “amused by all the Google Bikes and Teslas I see zipping around this area.”

Another published author in our class, Algernon Austin, has a new book out: America Is Not Post-Racial: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Racism and the 44th President. This title analyzes the 25 million Obama haters in America and concludes with a discussion about how to address the “future of hate” in our country.

Melinda Weekes-Laidlow is excited to be the first social entrepreneur in residence with Echoing Green. She will be focusing on racial equity.

From Camarillo, Calif., Paul Gallo reports he is still coaching baseball at Harvard-Westlake and all is well on the family front, with wife Katie and daughters Madison (4) and Kelsey (2).

Indy Neidell gave us a lovely and thorough update: “Funnily enough, I’ve become a YouTube star the past year. I write and host a channel called ’The Great War’ that follows World War I, week by week, exactly 100 years later in real time, using original film footage from the British Pathé archives. The idea being to construct the ultimate documentary of the war, and also, since it’s YouTube, the first massive interactive documentary of its kind.” Indy already has had 150,000 subscribers and about eight million views. Check it out: youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar. He’s also doing commercial voiceovers and performing with six live bands, but is looking forward to a well-deserved rest in Rio de Janeiro.

Kelem Butts is still suffering through Dallas summers, but is really enjoying working for the AT&T Foundation. He gets to give money away to nonprofits focused on helping kids get through high school ready for college and career. He’s thrilled to finally have a cool “Wesleyan” job after all these years.

Lara Fortune Balter and Steve Balter ’90 just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and are surprised to find themselves this old. They enjoy visiting their eldest daughter (who graduated from Bates in 2014) in Colorado, where she lives and works, and their son, who plays golf at Wake Forest as a junior. They also still have two girls at home: a senior and a freshman in high school. Lara regrets that they are rarely together as a family anymore, but very much looks forward to those times. Husband Steve still works with Chris Galizio ’90, a union that she is not surprised has lasted 25 years. She concludes: “Life is good, all the ups and downs you’d expect, but the years have treated us well.” Amen to that, Lara. Amen.

We really did get a great number of updates this go ’round and we loved every minute of it!!! Thanks so much. See you all again soon… in your inboxes…when we’re clamoring for more news. Be well!

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

MICHELE BARNWELL | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Hillary writes for this issue.

Greetings classmates. You will see that our notes this time around are pretty slim; we hope you’ll update us on your news so that we’ll have more to share next time.

Ilya Vinkovetsky writes, “This year I am a visiting scholar at the University of Helsinki. My work here is about how Russia and Britain, two countries far away from any tea plantations, became cultures heavily associated with tea. Being in Finland is a great adventure for me and the whole family.”

And Pauline Frommer reports, “It’s been a crazily busy couple of years, as my father and I, through a long process, regained ownership of the Frommer guidebooks and Frommers.com. And suddenly I went from a person who had done editorial work for most of her career to being a publisher, and dealing with everything from the cost of paper to the fact that if a book is returned to the publisher the publisher has to issue a refund (making each book a calculated gamble—who knew?). Part of me wished I’d taken more math—okay, any math—at Wes, but a bigger part was grateful for all of the philosophy classes I took so I could remain sanguine when our books sat on the California docks for an extra two months due to a slowdown there by the dockworkers. (And being a Wes grad, of course I was on the dockworkers’ side). Long story short, we’re a small family business once again, which is exciting and exhausting in equal measure. (Oh, and I get to write the Frommer’s EasyGuide to New York City, which means I have an excuse to spend lots and lots of time in museums and at historic sites, and pretend I’m not a middle-aged mom when I go out bar- and club-hopping to get the necessary reviews.)

“I was lucky enough to go to the Wesleyan Mad Men event at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, N.Y., which was superb, thanks to the awe-inspiring curatorial gifts of Carl Goodman, who’s the president of the museum, and his staff. I caught up there with Cobina Gillitt ’87 and Claire Conceison ’87. I was also so happy to get to spend some time with the always delightful Kara Flannery, who is becoming a real maven of marketing, and also a force in the local politics of the Connecticut town she lives in. I look forward to seeing more Wes folks this fall when I head to the Sons and Daughters event at the school with my 16-year-old daughter, Veronica.”

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

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com