Class Notes

Hello fellow ’92ers!

Normally I am simply the conduit of information but this time, I have a bunch of news of my own to kick us off. In August, Princeton University Press published my new book, Political Rumors: Why We Accept Misinformation and How to Fight It. I’ve been working on this project since the early months of the first Obama administration so I’m thrilled (and relieved!) to finally see it off in the world. Also in August, I dropped my son Ben off at the University of Virginia where he is starting his first year. Just before I did, I had dinner with Matt Schortmann and Soo Lim whose daughter, Liv, is about to start her last year at UVA. It was great to see them and my fellow Itza Pizza alums Sarah Guernsey and Adam Blumer ’91, who all live in the Boston area.

I’ve got a lot of company in taking the college step, judging from my Facebook feed. Christina Scully Manning dropped her son off at Pomona College, Samantha Ball Karmel dropped her son off at Cornell, and my first-year roommate James Wilton dropped off his youngest daughter, Lola, at NC State. Lola joins her older sister Carley who is a junior education major. She just missed overlapping with her older brother Jack, who graduated from NC State this year and accepted a leadership development position in Orlando, Florida, with Colony Hardware. Now an empty nester, James remains in Waxhaw, North Carolina, and earlier this year added the title of branch manager to his duties as national account manager for Genesis10 in Charlotte, North Carolina. And he was named head coach for the Weddington (North Carolina) Middle School sixth grade football team for this coming season.

Also on the college front, Chris Chesak’s older daughter is off to Ohio State. Chris continues to live in Cincinnati and is a freelance writer and executive director of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. He was also just elected president-elect of the Society of American Travel Writers.

We also have a few classmates who are sending their kids to Wesleyan, 35(!) years after we started. Laura Hill’s daughter, Allegra, is joining the class of 2027, as is Byron King’s daughter, Merriwether. Bryon also reports that he recently attended the wedding of Julien Farland. In attendance from were Saad Khan ’93 and Anand Kini.

Cati Coe and her spouse moved from Philadelphia to Ottawa, Ontario, last year to take a position at Carleton University as a Canada research chair in migration and care.

Ken Lefkowitz is keeping busy co-developing an 80MW wind farm near the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria. Jennifer Blaine is still based out of Philadelphia and launched a new solo multi-character work, Mannequin, in May 2023. She also continues to work as a comedian and produced a new show in September in FringeArts, a festival based out of Philadelphia.

Kevin Prufer is still teaching in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston and has two books coming out soon. The Fears, a poetry collection, will be published by Copper Canyon Press in 2023, followed by Sleepaway: A Novel, from Acre Books in 2024.  Another recent author is Susannah Fox whose book, Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care is coming out this fall with MIT Press.

Jill Slater lives in Manhattan with her husband and nine-year-old daughter and leads Resiliency for the New York City Housing Authority.

And finally, Abby (Smith) Saguy will be spending the 2023–24 academic year in NYC as a Russell Sage Foundation fellow, living with her husband, Dotan. They are hoping for visits from their daughter, Claire, who will be in her senior year at UCLA, where she is majoring in labor studies and minoring in Spanish and food studies, as well as their son, Jonah, who will be in his second year at UC Riverside, where he is majoring in computer science with business application. And tying into Abby’s news is my last piece of news: I’ll be joining Abby at Russell Sage in February 2024 for five months, marking my return to Manhattan after over 30 years away. I’ll be excited to see my old friends, so give me a ring if you are in NYC!

That’s all for now. Please send me your news and notes for the next issue!

Let’s catch up with Narda Jones, who serves as the Federal Communications Commission’s chief of staff, having joined the team from the White House where she was the director of legislative affairs for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. It’s a Wesleyan affair at the FCC, as the chairwoman is Jessica Rosenworcel ’93.

In 2022, Narda was recognized as a Leadership Honoree by Crittenton Services of Greater Washington. At the presentation, Narda spoke of the importance of representation, and being in the room when decisions are made.

Mark Kiefer debuted his first feature film, Pacific Coast, at the Woods Hole Film Festival in August. This “coming-of-middle age” comedy joins two brothers on a road trip from San Francisco to LA, in order to help their somewhat estranged father move into a retirement home.

Those of you who remember Mark as an economics major at Wes or knew of his long career in management consulting, will wonder how this twist in life happened. Mark says the film is “in part inspired by my own ‘journey,’ so what it’s really about is trying to find our creative voice later in life, while we still have time.”

Please forgive me if I have missed an email with your news—putting “Class Notes” in the subject line helps me stay on top of messages.

Hi all. There were some nice updates and Wes memories this time around.

Owen Renfroe fondly remembers: “Best film class: Film Noir, J. Basinger. Taught me nuts-and-bolts lessons about visual storytelling that I use every day at work! Best other class: Arts in America, Creeger/Reed. A glorious walk through American art. A real invitation to explore many great works of art that make up [and] express the American spirit. Who knew Phillip Sousa wrote all those marches!?!.”

Carol Cleverdon Booth recalls that some “of the best music I heard at Wes was in the Foss tunnels—friends jamming in a makeshift band, listening to Straight Ahead in that large underground space. Best classes: Intellectual History of the Enlightenment with Professor Henry Abelove and all my Russian classes. Favorite quote from Professor Irina Aleshkovsky as we first-year students were trying to master writing the Cyrillic alphabet in cursive: “Do not hurry as you write. Remember, time is money only in United States.” Professor Bob Whitman and I stayed in touch, and I am grateful he met my son before he passed.”

Susan Ellman writes that she and Stu ’88 “are well and almost ‘empty nesters.’ Our son, Ben, who was born around our 10th Reunion, works at a real estate private equity firm in New York. Our daughter, Lily, just completed a gap year in Israel and starts college this fall. Stu still works at the VC firm he founded after business school and I am doing a lot of fiction and essay writing in the quiet of this empty nest. It’s not completely quiet, though: Our newest baby is a tricolor corgi named Bamba. He’s very cute, smart, and if Stu could carry him around in a Baby Bjorn, I think he might . . . . A favorite Wesleyan memory? My Low Rise ‘10-Man’ threw an ‘anti-Valentine’s Day’ party, sophomore year. Everyone was instructed to wear black and we served a frightening concoction called Liquid Lust. Stu and I met at that party and started going out shortly after. Favorite course: Woolf, Cather, and Colette taught by Phyllis Rose.”

Victor Khodadad will be performing with New Camerata Opera this fall. More information is available at www.newcamerataopera.org. Victor’s “favorite class while I was at Wesleyan was Acting with Bill Francisco. He was unbelievably talented as a director and acting teacher, and each class was always something that I eagerly looked forward to and learned from immensely.”

That’s all for now. Please write me with any news you would like to share!

Before we get to all the awesomeness going on with all you awesome people, Michele and I want to remind everyone that our 35th REUNION is coming up this spring! Clear your schedules, reserve your rooms, and prepare to descend on Foss Hill en masse! Now to our updates.

Alex McClennen Dohan got into the sheep spirit, writing: “Well, I don’t baaa-lieve I have anything too quirky to report, but Dave Dohan and I just celebrated 30 years of marriage in June. Our lambs are grown—daughter is an attorney and son a grad student—and our current home flock consists of a dog (part shepherd!) and a cat. Vacations are more fun than work, but we are both still happy in our jobs—me knitting various programs together in the Education Department of Mass Audubon, and Dave spinning along as a physician.”

Amy Redfield is loving living in Lisbon. Holler if you’re in town.

Marisa Cohen still works at Hearst with Stephanie Dolgoff, even though the chatbots keep threatening to take all the magazine jobs. Her daughter, Bellamy, graduated from Williams last spring and is living at home while launching a journalism/songwriting career (another daughter, Molly, is a junior psych major at Bowdoin). She and her husband have been spending more weekends in the Berkshires. (If you’re near Richmond, Massachusetts, look them up!) She’s also been making up for lost theater time during the pandemic by seeing a lot of Broadway shows this year, often with Sarah Chumsky, and David Averbach when he’s in town.

Sam Glazer was featured in an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled “Sex, Drugs and Spreadsheets.”

Karen (McClafferty) Jarsky is living in Acton, Massachusetts, with her husband and son, who is headed off to college in the fall. She is loving teaching writing (remotely) for UCLA. Her local friends include a surprisingly large number of Wes alums ranging from Class of 1983 to Class of 2016. Clearly age doesn’t matter when you have Wesleyan in common!

David Levine convened with Stu Berman, Neil Blicher, and Alan Cohen, at Rick Kotler’s beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for their annual summer retreat. Joe Biden was a no-show and no classified documents were found in Rick’s garage. They nonetheless had a good time commiserating about how old we are. Likely more was discussed, but who can remember?

John Hlinko is still living in Georgetown in an old church that was converted about 100 years ago. It’s right next to a park that used to be a cemetery and given that property lines weren’t that well delineated a century ago, he’s been urged “don’t dig too deep” when planting stuff in the yard. Amazingly, the house doesn’t seem to be haunted.  His wife, Leigh, is an architect and has written two books—The Green Workplace and The Healthy Workplace (especially relevant in the COVID era). They also collaborated on Pandemic Pickup Lines, which has raised funds for pandemic-related relief efforts.  One daughter is a high school senior looking at colleges and the other still has a ways to go for that. He is still working with Left Action, an activist community aimed at promoting good causes and candidates, and opposing things like fascists overthrowing democracy. It is likely to be a very busy year, with 2024 elections coming up quickly. . . .

In the same vein, Chris Zurn just published a book entitled Splitsville USA: A Democratic Argument for Breaking up the United States (Routledge: 2023). He makes the argument that there is a real danger of the end of basic electoral democracy in the United States in the next few years and suggests that the only way to avoid that is to negotiate a peaceful political divorce of our single nation and reconstitute several new nation states in its place.

Jessica Glass writes: “Hard to believe it’s been two years since we lost our beautiful comrade, Dominique Jones ’91. That was a very sad thing about 2021. But getting together at Lewis Canfield’s (’90) home in NYC to celebrate Jonesy’s life and memory helped a little. Drove to Brooklyn and cried in Deirdre Simon’s (’90) car. Commiserated with members of her family, and many Wes friends from several different graduating classes. Dominique had an amazing way of transcending age, race, class, whatever divides. She had a spirit that was genuine and positive and truly interested in people. We all remembered her interest in fashion and artistry in knitting, her deep appreciation of books and libraries, magazines and reading, her love and support of her friends, her infectious laugh. Many folks who knew and loved Dominique have made donations to a fund at the Brooklyn Public Library called Shine on Me, a program that supports unhoused adults with life coaching and resource advice. Dave Raymond ’87 and I trundle on with our historic sheep farm in northern Connecticut, with 60 adult woolies and 30 lambs each year. Producing wool blankets, sheepskins, and our inimitable Hildred’s Farm Sheep Calendar keeps us busy when we’re not producing video and engineering audio. Sheep on Earth, Good Wool to all!”

Camille Kotton reports having a wonderful visit with Sandeep Wadhwa when he came to stay with his daughter when they were touring colleges. Same when David French was touring with his son. She is on the CDC advisory committee on immunization practice (ACIP) and has been making national decisions on vaccination for the past three years.

Dave Keller released his 10th (!) album, It’s Time to Shine, featuring a bunch of new original soul- and blues-inspired songs. He’s also going to be featured in a full-page story in the French edition of Rolling Stone! Away from the rockstar world, he is preparing to be an empty nester, as both daughters will soon be in college; the oldest at Bard, the youngest at New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. He has a three-week East Coast tour in November. Details at www.davekeller.com.

Stephan Kline reports on his daughter Batya ’23 just graduated from Wes, joining her brother Noah ’21 as an alum. Batya will remain in Middletown for the next two years for a Wesleyan master’s program in ethnomusicology. She is excited to continue her studies on guitar and percussion and they are excited that her tuition is waived for this world-class program and she receives a stipend.

If you’re in the Philly area, drop Josh Drew a line. He is living there with his spouse of 20-plus years who is a Philly local, three kids, ages 16, 16, and 17, two elderly cats, and a pandemic-adopted mutt. They relocated about three years ago after a four-year expat stay in Amsterdam, which coincided neatly with the period 2016–2020. He is practicing law with a Washington, D.C., firm, after spending most of his career with the government and in house. They are visiting campuses, including Wes, helping their high school senior with the daunting college application process. He is in regular contact with Greg Berman, Carolyn Vellenga, Kelem Butts, Mark Saudek, and Kevin Majewski; would love to hear news of others.

Peter writes for this issue.

Elaine Tassy reports that following her surgeries related to a brain tumor and a detached retina back in 2017, her road to recovery culminated in 2022 with a return to her professional passion of journalism. She is now working as a senior reporter at Colorado Public Radio where she covers race, diversity, and equity and where she has won several reporting prizes. Elaine is in the process of buying a new home in the Denver area.

Steve Almond writes that he is living outside of Boston with his wife and three kids while enjoying teaching Wesleyan students. A film of his novel, Which Brings Me to You, will be out in late fall or winter. His most recent novel, All the Secrets of the World, has been optioned for TV by 20th Century Studios and his forthcoming novel, Truth is an Arrow, Mercy is a Bow, will be released in spring 2024.

Andrew Campbell shares sad news: This past July he was in Hawaii at the side of Tim McCallum when Tim finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer. The night before Tim passed, Chris Gentili ’90 had helped organize a group Zoom call involving many of Tim’s friends and Chi Psi fraternity brothers where they had a chance to speak with Tim and share with him how much impact he had on their lives.

More sad news: Two classmates passed away last April. Kellina Craig-Henderson died on April 21. The National Science Foundation, her employer for many years, said she was “a dedicated leader. . . [who] worked tirelessly to engage underrepresented groups in science.” Her obituary can be read here. And Rob James passed away on April 29 in Phoenix, Arizona. Many may remember Rob from his four years playing basketball for Wesleyan. After graduating, Rob went to medical school, eventually working as a primary care physician and later a pediatrician. His obituary can be read here.

Hello Class of ’87. August was winding down as I wrote this, and you had news to share!

John Barney had a recent intergenerational Wes moment in Albuquerque when he ran into Quinn Mendelson ’17 at an urban agricultural garden cleanup and public meeting. Quinn is a team leader for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, and John is the planning manager for Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation. They are working together with many other local stakeholders to re-create urban alleyways as green spaces and safe spaces for the unhoused in the International District—the densest and most ethnically diverse zip code in New Mexico.

Michael Morris reports that he had the great fortune to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel while reconnecting with his awesome classmate and former tennis partner, Jeremy Mindich, in NYC in May. They caught up on 35 years and had a great time laughing about their time together back at Wesleyan.

Rebecca Bratspies published a book titled Naming Gotham: The Villains, Rogues, and Heroes Behind New York Place Names. It is a fun, gossipy history that raises some serious questions about who gets to decide what counts as history.  As the founding director of the CUNY Law School Center for Urban Environmental Reform, Rebecca is the author of a comic book series, The Environmental Justice Chronicles. The EPA awarded the series, made in collaboration with artist Charlie LaGreca-Velasco, its 2023 Clean Air Excellence Award for Education/Outreach. She also reports that she has a rising senior looking at colleges, and her Allen continues to compose while recovering from an illness.

Steven Kaminsky and his family recently moved back to Charlottesville, Virginia, after 20 years in Los Angeles. Steven continues to work in the movie business. His wife, Leslie Repetto (UVA ’96), works in advertising PR. Their daughter, Juliet, is in third grade and absolutely loves living in the country as much as he does.

In June 2022, Ken Mathews retired from 35 years in public education. Ken ended his career as the math supervisor for New Haven Public Schools, one of Connecticut’s largest and most economically challenged school districts. Ken’s wife also retired and they’ve done a bit of traveling. They hiked the Canadian Rockies at Banff National Park and they are regularly enjoying time in Punta Cana. Still, Ken didn’t rest for long! In September, Ken began work as a practitioner in residence at University of New Haven, teaching calculus. Ken has made good use of technology, filling his syllabus with hyperlinks to support his students. Instead of Khan Academy, he’s thinking he is more Ken Academy. (And that’s Kenough?) On the family front, Ken’s got a full house with three 20-somethings. In November, his son Alex, who moved out five years ago, will be moving back home. His daughter moved back in April, and the middle son never left. Ken is looking for advice from anyone who has more successfully mastered the art of getting their kids to leave permanently.

For many years, in her role with AARP, Grier Mendel lived in Seattle but worked on Washington, D.C., time. She retired from her position as communications manager in June and is testing out a life where she wakes up at home without worrying what time it is on the East Coast. This cavalier awareness of the clock didn’t last long as her daughter started school at Loyola University Maryland in the fall.

In March, Grattan Baldwin and his wife, Cristina, welcomed their daughter, Maria Luce Baldwin, into the family. He will be spending this fall on paternity leave. When he’s not on leave, Grattan works at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore where he is an associate professor of education.

As for me, I was re-orged out of a job during COVID. I started my own business, RZG Editorial Solutions, in 2020. I mostly work in educational publishing and I have done research, writing, and editing work on K–12 social studies and literacy programs for various clients. I’m expanding my base to include work with start-up nonprofits and really enjoying the work. I’ve also been doing some rewarding volunteer teaching with an organization that helps first-generation college students make the move from college to career. During each semester, I facilitate a cohort of students during a course to help them learn about networking, interviewing, and creating resumes and cover letters.

Finally, I have sad news to report: We recently learned that Joy M. Lambe passed away on May 3, 2018. Joy kept a journal that has been published as the book Finding Joy on the Path of Divine Health and Wholeness, documenting her experience with a terminal illness. Sending love to all who knew Joy.

As we were going to press, I received news that Brad Vogt passed away unexpectedly on September 20, 2023. His obituary can be read here. Condolences to his wife, children, and extended family.

Hope everyone is well. Go Wes!

Several updates to share from ’86 classmates:

Hal Ginsberg reported: “I’m not sure if you heard the sad news about Sandy Goldstein. He died on June 27 after battling ALS for two years. Throughout his illness he received love and support from the many Wesleyan Delta Tau Delta brothers to whom he remained close in the 37 years since graduation. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Marla, and children, Steven and Sarah.

“Regarding me, I am focusing on my YouTube Livestream @halitics, where I critique both major political parties from a progressive perspective Monday through Friday.”

Sarah Bridges wrote: “Hi to all. After graduating from University of Minnesota with a PhD in psychology, I embarked on a career consulting to organizations and nonprofits. I started my own firm 25 years ago and love the work and our team. I currently live on a farm outside Minneapolis, near my four grown children. We have a slew of rescue animals and are transitioning the land to organic space. I see Nina Russo ’87 regularly despite the distance (she is in upstate New York) and we did our doctorates together at the U. Life is really good—a lot of writing, reading, and time outside.”

Mike Sealander said: “I’m still living in eastern Maine. Most of my free time is taken up with gardening and studying Japanese. I have a daughter in a PhD biology program, a daughter starting a master’s in electrical engineering, and a son in college. Although my town is quite rural, there happens to be a couple Wes alums, and we’ve traded notes about Zonker Harris and whatnot.”

Sally Spener transferred to the San Diego, California, office of her longtime employer in late 2022, after 23 years in Texas. Her husband of 32 years is university professor/administrator across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. Sally does water policy work along the U.S.–Mexico border.

Andy Clibanoff retired from executive coaching and is beginning his next chapter when he turns the page. His son, Leo ’23, graduated this past May and is launching his professional career. Andy is in contact with Randy MacLowry, especially when visiting Middletown. He also added that his wife, Denise, and their daughter, Callie ’19, co-hosted an alumni event, with concert by the Wes band the Overcoats (Hana Elion ’15 and JJ Mitchell ’15), in the Fishtown section of Philly.

James Dearborn expressed gratitude for “the completely unexpected emotional support I received from fellow classmates John McIntyre and John Wiseman. They arrived unexpectedly at my mom’s funeral in Castine, Maine—a remote village in Down East Maine. I will be forever grateful for the lengths they went to be there for me and my family, including my son Andrew ’22. The friends you make at Wesleyan truly do last forever.”

Eric Heinze shared: “My 2022 book with the MIT Press, The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything, went into its paperback edition in September. It was nominated in the UK for The Next Big Idea (Season 18) and was featured at the Oxford Literary Festival 2023.

Here’s a link to the paperback: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262547246/the-most-human-right/.”

Eric was also “invited as a speaker in the UK Parliament Group on accountability in Iran, July 2023, organized by Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK and Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI); [and I was] invited as keynote speaker at Danish Parliament, The Future of Free Speech, December 2022.”

Eric Howard updated: “After spending 16 months in New Hampshire running the Timber Framers Guild, I am back in Maine as the executive director of the Environmental & Energy Technology Council (E2Tech.org). When considering the shift, I polled my kids and asked if I should do more in terms of sustainability, climate action, and decarbonization, and they all said ‘yes.’  I was working on climate change in the 1980s, so it’s a return to my roots.” Eric’s other developments are earning the Certified Fundraising Executive credential and completing his doctoral dissertation on knowledge-sharing practices of entrepreneurs.

George Justice is beginning his second year as provost at The University of Tulsa and is settling into that strangely interesting city. He continues to teach, do research, and participate in his company, Dever Justice LLC, which focuses on leadership development for faculty.

Doug Polaner contributed that he “recently saw Jonathan Harber and John Bogosian plus their lovely families. Happy to report, all doing well! Bogo is living the dream in Boulder, Colorado, where we also left our youngest son for his freshman year at CU Boulder. Our oldest, Mason, is starting his final year at Wesleyan. Has loved it, of course! He is captain of the swim team and holds three school records for the 100-, 200-, and 500-yard freestyle. As for me, still hocking wine here at Polaner Selections—2024 will be our 25th year in business! Time flies. Meanwhile, happy 60th birthday to all our classmates celebrating now/soon. See you all in 2026 for the 40th Reunion.”

Jonathan Harber also had some news: Rick Segal ’75, Aysha Khan ’20, and he have embarked on a mission to revolutionize education in New York City through a visionary initiative, Runway Green at Floyd Bennett Field. Nestled within the heart of Brooklyn, Floyd Bennett Field is a national park, holding unique historical significance as New York City’s inaugural airport. Today, Runway Green is poised to transform it into an immersive, experiential learning campus. Jonathan is also the founding chairman of Launch, an expeditionary learning middle school in Brooklyn, and Aysha recently joined to help manage special projects, including the opening of a Launch high school on the Floyd Bennett Field campus.

Hello, Class of ’85!

I hope you had wonderful summers. I’m guessing you were busy because I only heard from THREE of you.

One was Dave Pontrelli who joked that rather than “exhorting” you to write in, perhaps I should extort you! He might be onto something. . . .

I also heard from Rich Stoller. Rich is on the faculty at Penn State, in the Latin American Studies Program. He wrote: “I hope to retire next year from academic administration (not as glamorous as it sounds, and it doesn’t even sound glamorous), to devote myself to gardening, travel, and indecorous social media posts. We toured the Wesleyan campus with my then-high school student two summers ago and she asked why there weren’t any flowers on campus. I told her the students wouldn’t permit it as long as there was any suffering in the world, and at least for a moment she believed me, so Wes’s reputation remains intact although I *would* like to know why there are no flowers on campus.”

Lee McIntyre ’84 reported the sad news of Jonathan Haber’s passing in 2022. Remembrances can be read here:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/jonathan-haber-obituary?id=34816401

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-05-15-remembering-jonathan-haber-who-taught-so-many-to-think-critically

I hope to hear from more of you next time!

Hello, Classmates,

Thank you for all your news updates. Please read to the end for some upcoming changes.

As I reported in my email to the class, we note the sad passing of classmate Leah Rugen, husband of Anthony (Andy) Boral, in January 2023. Leah was a high school English teacher, and found her way to education reform, creating engaging project-based curricula. She was a lay leader at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brookline, and played classical and folk guitar in her private time. Her obituary is found at this address: https://www.faggas.com/obituary/leah-rugen.

We have also just been informed of the passing of Gloria Golus Ford in early September, in Midlogian, Virginia. Gloria retired from a career as a medical relations officer for Social Security Disability, and in retirement turned her sewing hobby into a small business (Peapod Stichery). She is survived by her husband of 29 years, Martin, and their son and daughter-in-law. Her obituary can be read here.

Gail Farris reports and she and Jay have two future Cardinals with the arrival of granddaughter Caitlin in March to their daughter, Kim Farris Buckley ’14. Their two-year old grandson, Killian, loved having the Wesleyan Spirits in Atlanta in early March and enthusiastically says, “GO WES!” at the end of The Fight Song. (Can’t start early enough!)

Murrey Nelson is happy to say she has finally retired. After 20 years in the corporate world (publishing and fashion) and 17 years as a nonprofit fundraiser, she decided she was ready to have a life of freedom. While she has no big plans at the moment (other than taking the time to enjoy San Francisco and all it has to offer), she is planning to travel and expand her volunteer activities.

Scott Pearson and his wife, Diana Farrell ’87, have relocated from D.C. to Mountain Village, Colorado (a beautiful ski town right next door to Telluride), now that their children are long out of the house. He has been elected as mayor pro tem and has already started to dig into the most pressing issues: affordable housing, quality health care in a rural setting, and climate change.

Book announcements:

*Jonathan Sadowsky notes that his last book, The Empire of Depression: A New History, has been translated into Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, and Turkish. He is also co-editor for the six-volume Cultural History of Madness, forthcoming from Bloomsbury Press in 2025.

*Andy Behrman is working on a sequel to his first book, Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania, published by Random House. The sequel will be about mental health, love, marriage, and divorce and just slightly more risqué than the first book. 

*Tyler Anbinder is publishing Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York (Little Brown) in March 2024. The book uses the newly digitized and indexed census records (like the kind you see on Ancestry.com) to trace the lives of hundreds of famine immigrants and argues that the immigrants, thought to have had few opportunities to advance in America due to discrimination, poverty, and their lack of education, actually had a lot of upward mobility.

(Tyler also informs us that he regularly has lunch with Forrest Maltzman ’86, his former colleague at George Washington University, and frequently sees his neighbor, Leah Chang ’95, whose own new book, Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power, is fabulous and came out in August. Tyler’s niece, Rebecca Baron ’23, just graduated from Wes.)

Last time, we reported that Susie Sharpe had given a TED Talk, but now we can share with you (months after the fact) the URL, so you can give it a watch:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3WWnhgasvo.

Besides his book news, Andy Behrman (longtime resident of Los Angeles) is fundraising for the Democratic Party in several key congressional races across the county. His daughter, Kate, is beginning her freshman year at Trinity College, where she was named the Hillel Scholar of the Class of 2027, for demonstrating academic excellence and a commitment to Jewish community through leadership. Her sister, Emma, is 16, but still wears a Wesleyan sweatshirt.

And finally, Andy has also asked to take over secretary duties for our class. As this summer marks my 10th year at this post, it is the perfect time to turn it over. For the next notes, Andy and I will work together, and I will say my farewells then.

Until next time,

Michael

Greetings everyone,

Wow, is it me or is time whizzing by? Summer began and now it’s over. We just had our 40th Reunion and that is surely a milestone. I didn’t make it back to Wes but I heard it was great. If you have any pics, please send them for the next issue.

In response to the question, “If you had one wish, what would it be?”

If I only had one wish

Turn back the hands of time

No regrets as I veer from destiny

Ride without reason or rhyme

If I only had one wish

Change that which will be

I wouldn’t have to search

For what I now can’t see

But since I’ve only one wish

It’s simple and true

I’ll live it right now

and spend it with you

—Steve Avezzano

“I wish that we would all care about each other enough to actually help each other—especially the poor, hungry, and marginalized.”—Kenneth Schneyer

“My one wish is to move to Boston . . . oh wait, I just did that on August 1. Watch out Hub-based Wes people!”—Ben Binswanger

“Perfect tempos every time.”—George Balanchine courtesy of Jan Elliott

And now the news . . .

Bob Gordon road-tripped to the reunion with Ellen Zucker from Boston and had lots of time “to marinate in the memories.” Ellen is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, representing plaintiffs in employment discrimination and whistleblower litigation. At the reunion Bob reconnected with three of his Wasteland hallmates—Brad Galer, Willie Alago, and Dave Ackman ’84. All three are accomplished physicians. Brad (still married to his frosh-year love, Lele) is chief medical officer at a Boston-based pharma company developing pain medicine; they own and operate an award-winning winery in Pennsylvania. Dave advises a large insurance company on medical coverage policy matters; and Willie is a radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. Bob also caught up with Amy Appleton, Kivi Goldsman, and Ben Binswanger and is in close touch with Bruce Glassman and Tracy Hughes ’84 who are still in San Diego. Tracy has a clinical psychology practice, and Bruce and Matt Arkin ’82 co-founded a business manufacturing and distributing an alcoholic spirit called Batch 22, an American Aquavit, that makes an awesome cocktail. Bob recently visited Chuck Schneider ’84, an oncologist at the Hospital of U. Pennsylvania. Chuck lives just outside Philadelphia with his wife, Dessi. In the fall Bob is getting married and “couldn’t be more excited.”

Jean Weille lives in NYC with her husband, Bob, and cat, Boris. She is a licensed clinical social worker with a private psychotherapy practice. She works part time at Weill Cornell’s Geriatric Psychiatry Department in an innovative research program investigating psychotherapy modalities for older adults who are victims of crime and elder abuse. Her son just married his high school sweetheart, and her daughter lives in Brooklyn.

This fall Steve Avezzano will be returning to WESU to accompany his son, Picasso, who is a member of the class of ’27. “It took me over 40 years to get there, but despite what Thomas Wolfe once wrote, apparently you can go home again.”

Alice Jankell’s new play, The Sweet Spot, will premier off Broadway this winter. Alice just had a raucous dinner with Eileen Kelly-Aguirre and Bennet Heart.

Kenneth Schneyer sold his story called Winding Sheets to Lightspeed Magazine and it will be published in 2024. This is his third sale to Lightspeed (several more stories are currently under submission to various magazines, and several others are in various stages of drafting and revising). This fall he is teaching both the American Constitutional Law seminar and the advanced Shakespeare seminar at the same time. “Con Law is going to take quite a bit of revising, since the last time I taught it was before the bombshell Supreme Court decisions of 2022 and 2023.” His spouse, Janice Okoomian, teaches English and gender and women’s studies at Rhode Island College, and has several research and writing projects in the works. Their eldest, Phoebe, recently played Feste in a production of Twelfth Night in Brattleboro and their youngest, Arek, is finishing his Sarah Lawrence College degree.

Eric Heinz ’86 attended Wes for two and a half years in the class of 1983, then studied abroad, and graduated in 1986. He is a professor of law and humanities at the School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London, and executive director of (CLDS) Centre for Law, Democracy, and Society. He has authored several books including: The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything, Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship, and The Concept of Injustice.

And a few photos:

Stay well, be happy, and do good!