Class Notes

David Nesbett opened his own law firm, Nesbett & Nesbett, P.C., after many years working as a prosecutor and in another firm as an associate. He says, “We’ve been in business almost four years now, practicing small business civil law and criminal defense.”

Julian Bobb also made a career change. He says, “In February I left Jennison Associates, an investment advisory affiliate of Prudential. I decided to put my law degree on the shelf for a little bit to try my hand at real estate investing in NYC. It’s a slow go so far but I am going to stick with it. I am still pretty active with my fraternity, currently in my second term as the President of the New York Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. I am also class president and preparing for my 25th reunion at Phillips Exeter Academy this May. I hope to see Astrid Wilkie-McKellar, Coco Kikoski, Lorenzo Childress, Francois Nguyen, Jay Johnson ’89, Greg Sawyer ’95, and Jeff Wilner at Exeter for the reunion. I stay in touch with Astrid, who is living in Georgia now, Danny Santiago, who lives in Tennessee, and Nelson Rodriguez, who lives in Puerto Rico, not to mention my Kappa Brothers, Andy McGadney ’92 and Mike Harris. I regret not being able to make the Reunion this year, as it landed on the weekend of my wife Vanessa’s 40th birthday, and she did not want to spend it at Wesleyan. We also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this past May. I had the opportunity to give a talk on Wesleyan’s campus last November; it is a very different place. I can’t believe that Mocon is gone, and in fact it doesn’t look like it was ever there.”

Tonya Ward Singer says, “My book will be published in November! I wrote a book for K-12 learning leaders to facilitate dynamic collaboration among teachers to elevate the achievement of diverse learners in schools. It’s called Opening Doors to Equity: A Practical Guide to Leading Observation-Based Professional Learning (November 2014, Corwin Press and Learning Forward).”

While we’re celebrating book publications, Maggie Nelson will publish her ninth book this spring, a work of “autotheory” titled The Argonauts (May 2015, Graywolf Press). The project was supported by a Creative Capital Innovative Literature Fellowship. Maggie lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the School of Critical Studies at CalArts.

Tania Llambelis is teaching kindergarten in Oakland, Calif. She says she “continues to utilize skills she acquired as a dance major at Wesleyan when she does her morning routine with her 24 students, which includes mindful breathing techniques, yoga, and dancing.” Tania also reports that she and Darcie Luce ’93 “founded the Oakland Improv Collective in 2007, and the company continues to bring performance to the people of Northern California. The company participated in a unique event called the Art in Nature Festival at Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, Calif. In addition, we are gearing up for performances for the Day of the Dead.”

Also busy performing is Ken Barnett. He says, “I’m currently performing in a world premiere of a musical adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel, Fortress of Solitude, at the Public Theater in New York.”

Robin Shane reports on more Wesleyan theater connections. “I am now living in Philadelphia with my husband, Jonathan, and two daughters Cecily (11) and Miranda (7). I have been named as resident costume designer at EgoPo theater in Philadelphia and at the Passage Theater in Trenton, N.J., and continue to be on staff at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., where I design all six productions in the Fine Arts Department.” Robin’s daughters attend the Abington Friends School, “where their Spanish teacher is none other than Catalina Rios ’84.” Robin’s husband, Jonathan, just received tenure and promotion at Arcadia University in the theater department, where his colleague is the illustrious Mark Wade ’83, who was the director of Robinand Mark Gordon’s senior project! Small world indeed!!

Jessica Sharzer says, “I live in LA with my two kids, Sasha (4) and Dante (7). I’m a writer/producer on the cable series American Horror Story, and I wrote a teen thriller called Nerve for Lionsgate that shoots in early 2015.”

Sasha Chanoff says, “I’m living in Somerville with my wife and two children, Lailah (4) and Hayden (6). I’m going into my 10th year of running RefugePoint, an organization that finds lasting solutions for refugees in life-threatening situations. I served as a consultant for the new Warner Bros. film The Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon inspired by the true story of the refugees known as the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan. I have also worked with the producers to create The Good Lie Fund to support south Sudanese refugee children in crisis. All is wonderfully well.”

Elizabeth Rand Ehrlich says, “I am still in Hartford, Conn., busy with my four kids! My business, Kids Kippot, has taken off this fall and I am filling orders for custom kippot (yarmulkes) as fast as I can make them. I am enjoying using Etsy as a platform to showcase my wares and love the flexibility of working for myself. My website is kidskippot.com if you’d like to see what I make.”

Raeanne Roper Martinez is still in Austin along with Ken and Laura Cho ’93 and Jessica ’93 and Paul D’Arcy ’93, “but I have left the newspaper biz and now work as a legal editor for a nonpartisan state agency, the Texas Legislative Council. We are gearing up for the next session of the legislature, which always brings long hours and some strange happenings, so wish me luck. Otherwise my husband and I travel a bit, spend time with our nephews and other family, ride our bikes, and cheer on the Houston Astros, in person whenever possible.”

Please keep sending us your news.

Jiyoung Lim Gilbreth and Ilana wind newell
94notes@gmail.com

Hi, Wes ’93ers. We have some exciting news in these class notes: a wedding, a few career updates, and some mini-Wes reunions. Please keep the good news coming in!

Jacob Bricca writes: “My family and I have moved to Tucson, Ariz., where I have taken a job as assistant professor in the School of Theatre, Film and Television. I specialize in teaching editing classes and also teach documentary and narrative production. My feature documentary Tatanka has been screening around the country at film festivals and will be released on DVD and download early next year.”

Abigail Lorber Clarkson e-mails: “My family and I moved to Austin, Texas, this summer. Our daughter, Louisa, has become friends with Jessica and Paul D’Arcy’s oldest daughter, Maya, and goes to the same school as John Wallingford’s ’92 children. I am working at St. David’s Foundation as an executive assistant and database administrator in the grants department, and my husband is studying for his master’s in divinity.”

Chris Cowan provides this update: “In late 2012, I moved my research lab (integrative neurobiology laboratory) to the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital (Belmont, Mass.). We are currently studying brain mechanisms associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, like autism, and neuropsychiatric disorders, like drug addiction.”

Bobby Donaldson writes: “Recently completed nine years of service on the Wesleyan Board of Trustees. Currently I serve as a professor of history and the faculty principal of a residential college at the University of South Carolina. I thoroughly enjoy living (along with my family) in the heart of our campus in a community of 230 undergraduates. Not quite Foss Hill and Butterfield! I continue to be involved in a number of public history and documentary projects related to education, civil rights and youth activism, which have been featured in national publications and C-SPAN. My wife, Elise, and I have two children, Ruby (8) and Joseph (3)—who just began (today) school in a public Montessori program in our city.”

Clay Dreslough (née Dresser) e-mails: “My wife (Dee) and I finally bought the farm. It is 17 acres in Ashford, Conn. (about halfway between Middletown and Boston), and currently boasts one dog, two steer, eight cats, and about 30 chickens. We also successfully launched a pro football card game on Kickstarter earlier this year. It’s called Masters of the Gridiron and can be found at motg.net. I am continuing to earn a living from computer baseball simulations—a job that has required me to spend about three months in South Korea over the last two years. I still can’t speak the language, but I do hook up with the local Ultimate (Frisbee) players whenever I’m there.”

Julie Francis writes: “I treated myself and my family to a month-long sabbatical in December. My husband, Fred Evenson, daughters Bella (11) and Simone (8) and I island-hopped from Langkawi, Malaysia, through Southern Thailand. The girls wanted to spend most of their time snorkeling, which was fine with us. While they didn’t discover a deep love for green curry, they did develop a deeper understanding of world religions and culture and developed a strong desire for more travel and adventure—mission accomplished! One of the highlights was following a sea snake through the Andaman Sea (not bad for a mom with a phobia) and camping in a floating tent cabin in a lake in the jungle, surrounded by calling gibbons. I found the month off (100 percent unplugged from e-mail!) completely rejuvenating on the work front. My consulting practice (BellaVia Research, user experience research), is thriving and I’m blessed with clients I love working with. I came home from the sabbatical determined to find more work-life balance, and am doing okay with that (I’d give myself a C, or maybe a B-). As part of my quest for more work-life balance, I’ve started start cycling again. In May I did the 50-mile ‘tour d’ cure’ bike ride for the American Diabetes Association through Napa. I’ve started training for the AIDS Lifecycle ride in June 2015, 545 miles from San Francisco to LA. Erin Kelly ’91 intends to fly out from NYC to ride and camp with me! (Yes, we’re beginning to beg for money—let us know if you want to support two awesome moms who cycle!) I saw Erinand Elizabeth Meister ’92 recently in NYC, where we walked the High Line, devoured soul food, and pondered how it’s possible that we’re in our mid-40s. I also visited Kristin Connor ’94 and her adorable almost-2-year-old Robin and husband Mark; Kristin is living in Madison, Wis., with a thriving acupuncture practice.”

Camille McGadney writes: “We will be moving to Waterville, Maine. Andy ’92 has accepted a position as vice president and secretary of the college at Colby College.”

Jason Rekate provides this update: “My family and I relocated in August from Shanghai to Hong Kong for my job with Citi. My wife, Anna, is teaching at Hong Kong International School where my daughters, Emma (12) and Lizzy (10), are students. We’ve been overseas since 2006 and this is our fourth move.”

Matthew Schneider married Jean Gilmore Devine in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sept. 13, 2014. In attendance were alumni, including Jon Chesto, Sue Walker Chesto, Arthur Magni, Anne Noel Occhialino ’94, and Jessica Kirshner.

Lisa O’Donoghue-Lindy is writing a blog about inspirational women making career transitions, career2.oblog.net. Lisa would love to hear from Wes grads.

Thanks for sending this wonderful news, and please keep updating us on your careers, families, and post-Wes lives.

SUZANNA HENSHON | suzannahenshon@yahoo.com 

SARAH ESTOW | sarah_estow@hotmail.com

Elizabeth Liang has been touring her intercultural solo show, Alien Citizen: An Earth Odyssey, nationally and internationally. It had its world premiere in Hollywood, in May 2013. Elizabeth brought it to Wesleyan in April 2014 and has also performed it at Princeton, M.I.T., Williams, Augustana, S.D., and Carleton; theatre festivals Off Off Broadway and in San Francisco; conferences in Chicago and Tyson’s Corner, Va.; and in Panama and Iceland. For more info: aliencitizensoloshow.com

Darcy Dennett writes: “My entire life has been about work for the past year—and will likely be for coming months as well! Still living in NYC despite what appears to be a massive population explosion.” She’s producing and directing The Champions, her first independent documentary feature, which will be released in 2015. Here’s the summary: “All the odds were against the 22 pit-bulls rescued from star quarterback Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring. Forced to fight for their lives, they were considered so dangerous that PETA and The Humane Society wanted them euthanized. But what no one counted on was their courage—and their story inspired a nation.”

Caitlin Boger-Hawkins has worked for Connecticut’s community college system since the late ’90s, and lives with her husband Rick, 14-year-old daughter, Julia; 12-year-old son, Thomas; and dachshund, Minerva, in beautiful Litchfield County. She would love to connect with others in the Northwest Corner!

ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu 

PAUL COVIELLO | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu

Newsmaker: Robin Delman Ekiss ’91
	Robin Delman Ekiss ’91 received one of only six 2007 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards. The foundation selects women who demonstrate excellence and promise at the beginning of their writing careers. Ekiss, whose poems have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Ploughshares, and Triquarterly, is finishing her first book of poetry, The Mansion of Happiness.

Newsmaker: Daniel B. Prieto ’91

Daniel B. Prieto ’91, an adjunct senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, is the author of the newly released CFR report, War About Terror: Civil Liberties and National Security After 9/11. The report addresses a range of issues—from Guantanamo to warantless wiretapping—and how to maintain America¹s longstanding democratic traditions while protecting it from real and serious threats. To download a copy, go to www.cfr.org/war_about_terror. Prieto, who worked for over two years on the politically-charged project, earned his Wesleyan degree in the College of Social Studies and his master’s from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Newsmaker: Catherine Rob Rogers ’91

Catherine Rob Rogers ’91, a Laramie County, Wyo., Circuit Court Magistrate and a private practice attorney, was appointed to the First Judicial District Court by Gov. Dave Freudenthal last September. In a Wyoming Tribune Eagle article, Freudenthal praised her, saying, “Her reputation for honesty and ethics is of the highest order. What makes her uniquely qualified is that the Circuit Court is really the people’s court, and she has a great people sense about her.” A sociology major as an undergraduate, she earned a JD from the University of Wyoming College of Law and was admitted to the Wyoming State Bar in 1998. “I am humbled by the Governor’s confidence in me, and I will do my best to serve the judiciary and the people of Laramie County with fairness, courtesy and a commitment to equal justice,” Rogers said. She is married to Kevin Ohlson ’90.

Newsmaker: Stephen K. Friedman ’91

Stephen K. Friedman ’91 has been promoted to president of MTV. Since the fall of 2008, he has been general manager, and he will now oversee MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV.com, MTV Hits and MTV Jams. During Friedman’s tenure, MTV has had five consecutive quarters of growth, and launched such successful shows as Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, Life as Liz, and the upcoming Teen Wolf. He joined MTV in 1998 and started MTV’s strategic partnerships and public affairs department. As general manager, he launched mtvU, the channel dedicated to college students, in 2004, and helped shape the channel’s Emmy Award-winning Sudan campaign to protest genocide in Darfur. In announcing his promotion, The Los Angeles Times writes: “Over the years, [Friedman] has been instrumental in many of MTV’s social and political causes. … He was deeply involved in MTV’s award-winning ‘Fight for Your Rights’ campaign and its ‘Choose or Lose’ political drive.” Before joining MTV, Friedman was director for the PEN American Center, an international writers’ human rights organization. At Wesleyan, he majored in the College of Letters.

Beth Haney is now operations director for Free Bikes 4 Kidz, a Minnesota nonprofit that cleans,  refurbishes, and gives away gently used bikes to kids—5,000 bikes in 2013! If you live in the Twin Cities and have mad bike repair skills, or are good at cleaning and shining, Beth would love you to help out. Free Bikes 4 Kidz is also working on expanding to other cities across the US. Details are at fb4k.org.

Drew Marrochello has been appointed director of athletics at Boston University, where he has worked since 2005. According to BU Today, “Athletically, my goal is for BU to be viewed as the best non-football-playing Division I school in the nation.” 

Meanwhile, I’ve had a crazy, busy, and challenging couple of months working as a researcher for the second season of the PBS production Genealogy Road Show, uncovering family histories and mysteries in St. Louis, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Shows will air in early 2015.

And that’s it! Write me with your news.

Renée K. Carl | rcarl@wesleyan.edu

Hi, everyone. Before I start, I would like to remind you all to please mark your calendars: Our 25th Reunion is May 21–24, 2015! I hope we have a fantastic turnout.

Julia Moffett, after 12 years in London, is currently living in Nairobi, Kenya, with her 8-year-old twin daughters and family. Julia works in education innovation for Equity Bank’s Foundation and is also creating The Future of Learning Fund to support education entrepreneurs. “It’s an amazing place to be at the moment and we are thoroughly enjoying the adventure!”

Another exciting transition comes from Jessica Gutteridge who, after 20 years working in the law, made a major career move by beginning studies in theater education. This summer Jessica left her job with the legal department at Cablevision and assisted with a pre-college program in musical theater at Adelphi University. “It’s great to be back in the world of theater and working with enthusiastic and talented high school students. As of August, we are relocating to Vancouver, British Columbia, my husband’s home town. It’s a lot of change, but all very exciting.”

A couple of others have recently moved to new places as well. Gabriella Nawi got married this past January to Todd Jonasz and relocated to New Jersey, where they live with her son Sam (14) and Todd’s two daughters, Alex (13) and Liza (10). Chrissy Feuerbach Fedolfi writes that her “family relocated to West Hartford, Conn., from Maine in August 2013 so that Chuck could take the director of the Annual Fund job at good ol’ Wesleyan! He loves being back at Wesleyan and seeing how Middletown has improved since 1990. I am sure he will be in touch with all of you to solicit support for Wesleyan. I took the year off from teaching elementary school to help our children (Giancarlo, 9, and Greta, 7) settle in to our new town, but am hoping to have a new job by the time this gets published. We are excited to see folks at the 25th Reunion and if anyone needs a place to stay we are just 25 minutes to campus!”

More exciting news from Sharene Azimi who, along with her husband, welcomed second son, Nathaniel William Wulfekuhler (Nate) on April 7, 2014. “He joins big brother Maximilian (Max) in our old house outside Philadelphia. I continue to run my own consulting business, Mission Communications, providing strategic communications services to nonprofit organizations. My former roommate Thea Trachtenberg was the first Wes alum to meet the new baby. Hope to see more of you soon.”

We have big publishing news from both Ben Robertson and Rebecca Rossen. This month Ben is publishing his first novel, The Last Generation, about a girl in Greenland around the time of the disappearance of the Norse colony there in 1500. “It is young adult historical fiction set in the age of exploration and discovery. Hunger Games meets Dances with Wolves, as they say.” Rebecca recently published Dancing Jewish: Jewish Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance (Oxford University Press, 2014). Additionally, she is delighted to be returning to Wesleyan in January to give the annual Cynthia Novack lecture in dance. Rebecca, her husband, David Pavkovic, and their two daughters live in Austin, where she teaches dance and performance history at the University of Texas.

Also in Texas is Sarah Ellenzweig, who lives in Houston with her husband and three sons. Sarah is an associate professor of English at Rice University and colleagues with Ussama Makdisi, professor of Arab history. She recently reconnected with Hannah Carlson and Charlie Cannon ’89 “for a fabulous lunch on their deck in Providence, R.I.” Both are teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Charlie in architecture and Hannah in the history of art and visual culture. Sarah also had dinner with Melanie Sy, who was passing through Houston on a consulting job, and had “a fortuitous catch-up with Rachel Williams and her husband and two daughters when both were passing through Boston last summer.”

Finally, it was great to hear from Tim Hintz, who is still living in Brookline, Mass., and working as an elementary school counselor. Tim’s wife teaches and their three children are all on the same schedule. They all love traveling, which allows them to see a lot of America and many Wes people as well. In December they visited San Francisco and saw Andy Spear (“teaching high school in Berkeley”) and Julia Erwin (“now a major poobah at Stanford Law School”). In the spring they had visits from Andrew Siff and family. “Andy is a reporter for WNBC in New York and lives in Queens.” Tim also hosted Andrew Griffin, “now a radiologist in the Chicago area, and had dinner with Denise Casper, my neighbor in Brookline. Denise achieved significant press last year as the judge who presided over the Whitey Bulger trial. Not surprisingly, she was lauded for her even temperament and thoughtful words at sentencing.” In April, Tim and family stopped in on Stephen Power ’89, who is an editor living in Maplewood, N.J. Finally, this summer they did a 32-day, 7,400-mile cross-country drive, getting in some of the great sights of the northern United States. “We stopped in Albany to see New York judge David Weinstein, who noted he had run into Miriam Temin when we were passing through his fair city. At the western terminus we went camping with President-for-Life Bill Sherman and family. Bill had been teaching law but was starting a new job at the district attorney’s office in Seattle.” Tim concludes that he is already “thinking about next year’s trips, but will definitely include Reunion!” I hope all of you will do the same!

Vanessa montag brosgol
vebrosgol@optonline.net

Jonathan reports on the 25th Reunion:

We kick off the 25th Reunion report with a big thank you to Phoebe Boyer, our class representative, and our entire Reunion committee, without whom this weekend would not have been the great success it was. It was great to see her and her husband, Todd Snyder ’84, at all the events and making sure everyone was well-outfitted with their drawstring bags.

Like many others, my weekend started sitting in traffic along I-95. Poor David Milch had to spend 90 minutes in the Stamford train station waiting for me, but after I picked him up, the next 90 minutes of traffic was an opportunity to hear about his delicious daughter and his work as program coordinator for Wesleyan’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance.

Thankfully, the traffic was a distant memory by the time we made it to WesWings, with 100 or so classmates, for a gathering graciously hosted by Ed Thorndike. Thank you, Ed; I can’t wait to get my family up there to sample the tasty-looking menu.

Some observations from that event include: Dina Goldman is working in film in New York, and raising her son with her longtime boyfriend. David Williams brought the entire family along—wife and three children—all of them seemed to be enjoying themselves almost as much as David, who had a big smile on his face all weekend. Andy Nakahata and I reminisced about the importance of family and how the memory of a small event can be enduring. Norm Beaulieu shared with me the truly inspiring economic and community development work he is doing in Africa through his organization, Villagecorps. Norm also extolled the beauty of the Maine coast, a sentiment shared by Cecilia Johnson Guecia, who recently moved there. Indy Neidell had come with his lovely girlfriend from Sweden, where he has been living for many years now. He also clued me in on an upcoming album he’s releasing with his band, the Southside Stalkers. I also learned that night that Jennifer Levine continues to make LA her home base while she “traffics in storytelling.”

After things wound down, a good crowd made its way over to the ’92 Theater to enjoy a concert headlined by our very own Dave Keller. Later, back at the bucolic Rocky Hill Sheraton, Hellura Lyle and I closed the hotel bar (outlasting a raucous wedding party) by waxing nostalgic about living and growing up in New York City. I also want to thank Hellura for introducing to me to Allison Downer—how did we not meet earlier?

Saturday started with the requisite pilgrimage to O’Rourkes. Julia Randall Brock joined us after a brisk four-hour drive from her new home near her old home in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She recently relocated there from Vermont with her husband, son, and daughter, and is now providing OB/GYN services to medically underserved communities.

After we wrapped up our high-calorie meal, we turned our table over to Stephanie Dolgoff, Michele Chase, Susan Paley, and Jennifer Levine. Stephanie is navigating raising twin girls in New York City; Michele recently moved from Seattle back to the Bay Area; and Sue has been very involved in building Beats Audio to be the hot brand it is today.

Making our way over to Foss Hill, we found the 1989 contingent to be in full force.

Katy Storms regaled Kelem Butts and me with her tales of gum smuggling in Singapore, where she lived for two years with her husband (in the US Navy) and their three sons. They are now in the DC area, where Katy also teaches writing instruction in the military. Kellem is in Dallas, Texas, with his girlfriend of 19 years, and recently started a new job with a foundation that funds drop-out prevention programs nationwide. Jason Weinberg and I reminisced at length about the number of Stuyvesant HS folks who also went to Wesleyan. He’s back in the City now after many years in LA, so I’m looking forward to meeting his beau and their twin sons. Oona Metz was down from Cambridge, Mass., where she’s living with her wife and their daughters. Alex Aron was up from Brooklyn, N.Y., where she lives only blocks away with her husband and their three kids. She drove up with my old housemate Arthur Halpern, who was sharing photos of his son that he is raising with his partner in Brooklyn. Kate True and I also swapped stories about being parents of daughters who are rising seniors considering Wesleyan.

No sunny afternoon on Foss Hill is complete without tossing a Frisbee. For this, I was fortunate that former Nietzsche Factor buddies Phineas Baxandall, Rob Featherstone, and Chris Zurn were present. Rob is a cinematographer in Beacon, N.Y., where he lives with his wife and their 8-year-old daughter, who already knows she wants to be a veterinarian. Phineas Baxandall is in Cambridge, Mass., with his son and daughter, who, coincidentally, also wants to be a veterinarian. Chris is also in Cambridge, raising his son. Not sure about his future career plans.

As the shadows lengthened across Andrus Field, there were moments when it felt like the day would just last forever. But eventually, like our time at Wes, it was time to move on.

The next stop was Beckham Hall (née Fayerweather) for our class dinner. Ethan Vesley-Flad led us in a beautiful moment of silence to remember our fellow classmates who have passed away. Then David Milch and Michele Barnwell were recognized for their service to our class over the years. Extra shout out to Michele who, as senior class secretary, has been a pillar of support and a fountain of energy helping this rookie get up to secretarial speed.

Formalities having been dispensed with, our class got down to some serious chatter, drinking, and eating. Well, it would have been serious if Leeeza Robbins’ daughter had not been keeping everyone entertained working the room with her knock-knock jokes, and generally charming the crowd. Her primary instigators for this activity were Josh Sirefman and Natalie Dorset. Leeeza, with these two guiding your daughter, her fortune is assured. Garry Schumacher was fresh from a concert earlier in the day that featured, among other pieces, a woman rubbing a balloon against her arm to create sound—er, music. Ah, Wesleyan. Around this time, I finally got to thank Dar Williams in person for raising my cool level significantly in my adolescent daughter’s eyes. I also spotted Matt Coan, Jim Lukowski, Mike Charlton, and others, chatting with their old football coach, Mike Whalen ’83.

When the dinner finally ended—read: “free bar closed”—the troops made their way to the large tent for the all-campus “end of the world as we know it” party. Oh, those poor graduates, if they only knew how true that statement is….

Words fail me here—best google “Class of ’89 Dance Moves” on YouTube instead.

For me, the evening wrapped up with a visit to the falafel truck alongside Alpha Delt, where David Milch, Adam Long, Sandeep Wadhwa, and John Hlinko waxed incoherent and giddily about the weekend.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten more people and conversations than I’ve listed here. My apologies for the oversights and inaccuracies. At least, you got me on the south side of 50—by our next Reunion you’ll be lucky if I remember anything at all.

See you at the 30th, everyone. Book now.—JF

Michele adds: So glad Jonathan wrote everything down as it was happening around him. I, on the other hand, remember nothing and should be chewing on ginkgo biloba like it’s a pack of Skittles. No.Memory.What.So.Ever. It’s getting bad y’all. Good news is I do remember some things. Like feeling that everyone looked so doggone great and I had so much fun! So awesome to see sir George Cabrera! Nice to chat up Clarence Williams at WesWings. Nice to grab photo ops here and there ,too—especially with a good handful of my beautiful and accomplished frosh hallmates including Lynn Alberding. Got to see Reggie Jenkins (and his adorable offspring)—he’s still good ole Reg’! It was fun to catch up and break bread with my former fellow Intown inmate, Laura Flaxman. Laura and I were roomies for the weekend. She is doing very well back in Cali. Had great conversation with the ever-so-lovely Amy Randall. Got to see Stu Berman at Reunion and post-reunion in LA for dinner. Nice to catch up with my fellow Foss Hill-er. There were so many more faces and it was great seeing every last one. P.S. A warm loving but real side-eye to Melinda Weekes, Jacqueline Wheeler Lee, Denise Hill, and Marilyn Selena Davis, too! My girls, whom I missed seeing.

There is no perfect segue here…On a sad note, our classmate Anthony “Tony” Stephenson passed away and we received a most moving e-mail from our classmate Kevin Majewski about him: “Tony became a close friend during college. Although it became less frequent as the years passed, I always looked forward to hearing from him since graduation. Tony was a skilled writer, and it was through his writing that I was able to enjoy the sharp wit and self-deprecating humor which he was known for at Wesleyan. He was a talented athlete, competing for both the Wesleyan football and baseball teams. He could often be found shooting baskets in the gym when he was not at a formal team practice. Tony was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, and an accomplished history major. He always carried with him a unique perspective and sly grin which I will miss dearly. We can all be appreciative of the experiences we shared with Tony, and never forget our classmate who brought joy to many of us.” Well said, Kevin.

And again, there’s no perfect segue here… Sincerely hope to hear from those not mentioned here already. It would be great to send us a shout and let us know you’re doing all right. Be well, y’all—MB

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

MICHELE BARNWELL | fishtank_michele@yahoo.com

Peter writes for this issue.

Kellina (Kelli) Craig-Henderson reports: “I am currently representing the U.S. National Science Foundation in Asia, specifically Japan. I will be here for the next year or two, and I would welcome hearing from any classmates or Wesleyan alum traveling through or residing in Japan.”

Steve Almond shares: “We are now a family of five, having welcomed Rosalie Almond to the world last June. Older sis Josie (8) and brother Judah (5) are thrilled. Wife Erin ’99 is tired but heroic. We’re living in a shoe outside Boston and welcome all visitors brave enough to enter. This fall, just in time for the NFL opener, my new book, Against Football, will come out. It’s a short, sharp manifesto about the medical, economic, and moral dangers of America’s favorite sport. And it pretty much guarantees that I’ll be slaughtered by the world’s hard-core jocks, perhaps live on ESPN.”

Matthew Palmer advises: “My first novel, The American Mission, was published by Putnam/Random House at the end of June. The reviews have been pretty good, but publishing is a brutal business. I think I’ll keep my day job. Speaking of which, we will soon be moving back to DC from Belgrade after (another) three years in the Balkans. I’ll be taking over the Multilateral Affairs office in the State Department’s East Asia bureau. That includes responsibility for the South China Sea, which is pretty hot right now. Look forward to seeing all of our Wes friends in DC and New York.”

Daniel Rosenberg and Mai-Lin Cheng welcomed their second child, Beatrice, on Feb. 8, 2014. Daniel is on leave from the University of Oregon for a residential fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin in the fall.

Ben Junge continues to teach anthropology at SUNY–New Paltz, doing research on citizenship and urban life in Brazil and HIV/AIDS here in the U.S. He stays in touch with Schuyler Frautschi, who’s busy being a daddy to a sweet newborn boy and with Laura Thomas, who is basically the mayor of San Francisco as far as he can tell.

Jenifer McKim started a new job as assistant managing editor and senior reporter at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news center based out of WGBH TV/radio and Boston University. She is teaching, writing, and editing and loving the new venture into nonprofit journalism.

Carol Gray shares: “I just finished a Fulbright Scholarship at Concordia University’s Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability in Montreal, Canada. I loved living in Montreal with my husband, Jeff ,and my son, Cameron, age 9, who was in a French school for the year and came away from the experience speaking French. My Fulbright project is based on an oral history I did of an Egyptian human rights organization when I was living in Cairo in 2010-2011, having moved to Cairo with my family as Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar. While in Montreal, I ran an internship program for 50+ students. My family and I have now moved back to our home in Amherst, Mass., and I’m writing a book about the Egyptian human rights organization. The tentative title is Human Rights from the Courts to the Square: A History of Egypt’s Hisham Mubarak Law Center.”

Majora Carter has launched a new social enterprise called: StartUp Box #SouthBronx (sbsq.org). The purpose is to locate jobs and economic activity related to NYC’s tech boom within under-performing communities—starting with entry-level jobs in software testing in the Games Industry, jobs that are often off-shored. Majora is urban on-shoring, generating revenue, and expanding the talent pool for one of America’s fastest growing economic sectors. “The project is incubated under a nonprofit called Hometown Security Labs, and we welcome your contributions at sbsq.org.”

Dave Silverberg writes in from Ohio: “I’m now director of the Telego Center for Educational Improvement, which is based out of Ashland University, Ohio, and provides outreach to K–12 schools across the country and abroad. I currently have a book out, called 10 Models of Teacher Evaluation and have begun work on a follow-up book called 10 International Models of Teacher Evaluation (it’s due out 2015). Stephanie and I live in Cleveland and we have two kids, Cal (7) and Tessa (5).”

Amy Tai advises: “I have recently become an abolitionist in the stop-porn-culture movement which has everything to do with modern day slavery and a multibillion dollar porn industry that is using the Internet as the selling block for millions of women and children, and some men and boys as well. I am currently educating myself on the issues. When I am not doing this work, I am ‘raising’ my 8-year-old son (although sometimes I think I am learning far more than he!), homeschooling him and teaching Suzuki violin at the Suzuki School of Newton, and teaching and leading in the Re-evaluation Counseling Community, an international peer counseling community that is committed to reclaiming our intelligence through the healing of past hurts.”

Meanwhile, my wife, Zahra, and I (PVSB) have relocated from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Providence, R.I., where I am now developing loyalty and personalization strategies at CVS/Caremark with the Extra Care program. While walking the campus at Providence College, where my wife is working, we ran into Greg Waldron, who is the SVP of institutional advancement. Jim Maynard reached out to me during our first week in Rhode Island to suggest a mini ’88ers reunion. We are looking forward to reconnecting with our New England family and friends.

PETER v.s. BOND | 007@pvsb.org 

Hillary Ross | hrossdance@yahoo.com

Let’s begin with happy news from Ira Skolnik. “In April my wife and I attended the wedding of Steven Meyer ’86, where I was the best man.  Steve is an attorney in Boca Raton, Florida, where the wedding was held at the Polo Club.  Steve married Julia Maskivker, who is a professor of government at Rollins College in Florida.  She has both brains and beauty and has finally made an “honest man” out of our boy Steve!  Also at the wedding was Chris Pearson ’86 and his entire family, who flew in all the way from California to celebrate with Steve and Julia.  The weather was perfect, as was the celebration.”

Nancy (Dobrow) Bean has “Wes on the mind as some of my daughter’s friends and my niece (Sarah Dobrow-class of 2018) head off to Middletown this Fall!   Her dad, Marty Dobrow, was class of 83!  Crazy to watch my 19-year-old daughter Maddi going off to her sophomore year in college (Simmons), how long ago was it that I was packing up for my Sophomore year at Wes – a long time ago. We are ending a long and eventful summer on Nantucket.  I commuted to my Boston office mid-week and worked remotely as much as possible.  My husband Mike was out on weekends. Summer was filled with kayaking, biking, adventures and Jules (16) and I competed in our first triathlon. We are still alive and we FINISHED – that was the goal!  I am loving work – producing the Nantucket Wine Festival and The James Beard Foundation Taste America Tour along with some other fun food and wine events – very fulfilling, learning new things always!  I am heading to Paris and Bordeaux for work this September – someday I will live there halftime.  So family is great, work is great – and I am surrounded by a lot of people who are very passionate about what they do!

Alisa Kwitney is writing freelance for DC entertainment and starting a new job teaching part time at Kildonan, a middle and high school for students with dyslexia. I’m also going to be teaching McDaniel’s online romance writing certificate program, starting in January.

Kelly Washburn started a job in Development and Membership at Romemu, a synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “I’m back in the city after a year living in Woodstock, and would love to be in touch with local Wes alums.”

Kim Sargent-Wishart is “full-steam-ahead trying to finish my PhD by the end of the year. Then in January we’re moving a few hours west of Melbourne to Warrnambool, a smaller city on the coast (known for the annual spawning migration of the Southern Right Whales, among other things). It will be hard in many ways to leave the bright lights of the city but I think the fresh ocean air will more than make up for it, plus space for growing boys to run around – and for old friends to come and visit!”

David Abramson is “in my 13th year at the State Department, my 9th working as a Central Asia analyst (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan), keeping my Russian skills alive.  I try to keep one foot in the academic world, publishing and teaching the occasional anthropology course at Georgetown University.  I recently returned from a vacation in Maine with my family.  En route I visited Skip Lockhart and Jessica Miller in Needham, MA.  In June, John Gould ’86 and Becky Riccio ’87 and their two boys visited us in DC.  My wife, Kelly Hand published a novel, “Au Pair Report,” last year, which is available via Amazon, etc.”

After 17 years teaching in the Drama Department in the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, Cobina Gillitt has accepted a new position as Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance in the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College, SUNY starting fall 2014. Cobina is also currently the dramaturg for a chilling new original horror opera by Elizabeth Swados about a Golem created by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to protect the inhabitants of the Jewish ghetto during the “blood libel” when Jews were being accused of using the blood of Christian children to bake their Passover matzos. The opera will premiere in NYC in February 2015.

Stafford Smith received tenure as a professor of photography at Grand Valley State University this spring. He’s also writing a paper about how photographs really do steal our souls.

Ian Rosen and his wife, Sagra, continue to thrive “completing our 18th year in London, with our daughters Isabel (13) and Olivia (6).  We spent a wonderful summer holiday in Spain and are planning more travels in the coming months. I continue to work in the sustainability sector, overseeing investments in renewable energy projects. Of our classmates, I remain in closest contact with Vitaly Fiks who lives in Connecticut with his wife and daughter.

Wendy Blum wrote in to report that Debby Hamilton (a holistic pediatrician in CO) published a book, Preventing Autism and ADHD. Wendy “sees Dave Cole when he comes to Brooklyn in the spring to compete in the NYTimes Crossword Puzzle conference (6 of em in 2 days!). He now lives in Chicago.”

Scott Pryce has moved back to the US after 20 years in Europe and South America.  He and his family, living in the US for the first time, are in the DC area enjoying American culture and family.  Scott has moved back to found and head a US real estate business.

Amy Stahl met her husband, Bill Hulley, in graduate school at Naropa University in Boulder. “Finally escaping Boulder in 2010, we are thrilled to have landed in magically green Portland (OR), right across the street from Dana Buhl ’88.   I serve as the director and teacher for Dharma Ocean Portland, and was ordained this summer as a Chaplain in that Tibetan Buddhist lineage.  My Dharma Ocean siblings include Andrew Merz ’99 and Douglas Goetsch ’85 — we just spent three weeks together in Crestone, Colorado at The Blazing Mountain Retreat Center.  I provided the (almost 30) flower arrangements for the duration of the retreat, since I have studied Sogetsu Ikebana (Japanese floral arrangement) for about four years.  I had the pleasure of spending yesterday with Pierre Hecker ’88 and his wife, Julianne, who were in town from Northfield, Minnesota.  We celebrated our 30th anniversary as friends, having met at the orientation square dance on Andrus field in 1984!

Muzzy Rosenblatt “was in M’town briefly for 25th reunion of my RA hall. Dinner with Alex McClennan Dohan  and David Dohan, Jim Levine, Claire and Scott Burns; great fun. None have strayed from Wes, physically or spiritually. Sunday was chucking the disk on Foss Hill with Ethan Flad and Alan Cohen (and Alan’s N-Factor to be son), joined at brunch by Laura Flaxman. And then a truly inspiring, must-read speech by Ted Shaw on civil rights, freedom and equality, and the critical role of liberal education and Wes. My life is good and work rewarding, and it helps to have Wes well represented on my board, with Julia Hodgson the newest member, joining Andrew Goffe, Todd Snyder and Richard Swanson. And speaking of Boards, I am truly honored and thrilled that so many of you elected me to serve as alumni trustee. I’m cramming for my first meeting, and have to say it kind of feels like being a freshman all over again. Wonder if our orientation will include a lap-sit of all the trustees on Andrus Field.”

This year Robert Norden received the National Historic Preservation award from The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a citation from the Bergen County historical society for 25 years of living history, and the Rockland County Historical Society’s award for preservation and stewardship of a national landmark. “I can’t believe it has been 25 years since I restored Americas oldest tavern…. come visit!”

Clarinda Mac Low just completed a Master of Fine Arts in Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice from The City College of New York-CUNY. “Yes, after 25 years as a professional art-maker, in several fields, I finally got an advanced degree! I am also getting married, to Peter Stankiewicz, whom I met through two of my best Wes friends, Chris Lotspeich ‘88 and Dan Sharp ‘88. After a few decades of dancing around each other, Peter and I became an item in 2006, and now we’re making it official. Chris is raising two great girls with his wife, Amy Dunn, and doing excellent work on micro-grids with Celtic Energy.  Dan has a successful practice as a psychiatrist, in Manhattan and White Plains. I was lucky enough to see Evelyn Shapiro and her beautiful son recently and briefly in NYC, and I’ve been skyping every once in a while with Kim Sargent-Wishart. I also had a nice long chat with Mark Sussman ’86 recently while we trekked across Brooklyn. He lives, teaches, and performs in Montreal and Brooklyn with his wife and two rambunctious sons. My organization, Culture Push (which I started with Aki Sasamoto ‘04 and Arturo Vidich ‘03, has been doing well. Our mission of cross-sector conversation and civically engaged art practice is very Wes, I’d say, and I continue to have contact with recent Wes grads through our internship program. I also see a lot of Lydia Bell ‘07, and other Wes folk scattered across the graduating decades. The Wes mafia is alive and well in my life, thank goodness.

Liza Smith is “on sabbatical and will be road tripping from California to Maine to visit family and friends, eat lobster, see the leaves turn, and acquire a puppy. After crossing the country again, I will be moving to Portland, OR for 9 months–because I can! (My sabbatical project has to do with online teaching.)”

Eric Lotke has a new novel out, Making-Manna. Read all about it (and him) at www.making-manna.com.

Kevin Pratt is living in Corte Madera, Ca with my Brazilian wife of 10 years, our 5-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and our 3-month-old foster baby!  We live about 10 minutes away from Catherine Schram ’89. I was in New York in April and stayed with Shawn Cuddy ’86 and James Hallett ’86, saw Cobina Gillet and Maureen McSherry ’87, and my dear friends Vashti Dubois ’92, Ian Friday ’87, and Tim Raphael ’84. I work in the family real estate business by day, and write screenplays and play music at night.  My fantasy is that I’ll return to the stage as Daddy Warbucks with my daughter playing Annie…Wes folks always welcome here in Marin!

Amanda Jacobs Wolf |wolfabj@gmail.com

From the Secretary: Congratulations to all who are now 50. My end-of-summer e-mail request for class updates included a prompt: What are you doing in the arts? Here are some updates.

Arts aren’t only found in NYC. Emily Cowan is in northern New Hampshire, where she “has to work a little harder to enjoy the arts, but they are there … I’ve attended poetry classes at The Frost Place, gone to poetry readings by state and national laureates and performances of Klezmer, Scottish, Acadian and Celtic music.” Last winter was a dinner soirée focused on a book by the late Wes ethics professor Philip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, which is about a small town in France whose Protestant residents sheltered hundreds of Jews during WWII.

Hallie also influenced Dana Goldstein. Her new play, Daughters of the Sexual Revolution, is dedicated to him and will be performed this fall in NYC. Dealing with ethics and sexual politics in the 1970s, a fair amount of the play takes place at “a small, liberal arts college in Connecticut.” There’s also her musical, Liberty, which opens in October. It imagines that the Statue of Liberty herself was an unwanted immigrant who arrived at a time of recession and anti-immigrant sentiment, and was almost deported by the conservatives of the time—which is all true.

Julia Lee Barclay-Morton swerved into writing prose after many years creating theater. This summer she wrote a book about her grandmothers and the Stockholm Review of Literature published her short story “The God Thing.” She is also involved with works associated with the Indie Theater Now’s reading series, featuring Wes classmate Shawn Cuddy. Julia had updates about Spencer Reece ’85 (saw him read his amazing new book of poetry, The Road to Emmaus), Cobina Gillitt ’87 (who just got a professorship at SUNY–Purchase, hooray!), and saw Mark Sussman ’85 in Montreal (when her husband was getting his green card!), and Glenn Mitchell ’84 (a neighbor in Inwood who was her frosh hallmate). “All together, my life is forever and always enhanced by the friendships made at Wes. Grateful beyond measure for that.”

Speaking of frosh hallmates and NYC, Lucy Malatesta and Sarah Tilly and their Foss-2 hallmate Ellen Limburg Santistevan walked The High Line Park this summer when Ellen was visiting them from New Mexico. Lucy joined a community chorus, Concord Singers, in 1995; it’s a non-auditioning women’s chorus that tackles great music at a high level. Ellen’s news is that a piece of her art is in the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe through May 2015. “It is a really overwhelming experience to see one of my paintings, which I fully expected to be on the wall in someone’s living room, instead lovingly curated and installed in an international museum.”

Elaine Taylor-Klaus says her involvement in the arts has been a bit surreal. “My daughter, Bex, was just cast as a lead in MTV’s adaptation of Scream. My role is to manage the ‘team’ of experts who are representing Bex—and let’s just say this Southern mama managing Hollywood is never dull. Special thanks goes to David Kohan for talking me off the ledge the first year!”

Dan Seltzer writes, “I miss playing music and am trying to get back to it, including jamming with Peter Durwood recently and feeling a bit of the old magic… mostly I just appreciate the opportunity to wake up and seize what the day offers, orient to the love in the people around me, and try to keep my body in one piece while biking around the city.”

Dana Walcott’s creative impulses have been building: houses, custom cabinetry, recording studios, and electronic equipment for audio recording. “Everything I build involves art. Many people can build things. But can they also make it look good? Well, I can. That’s what makes it art. Science is science. But making science look good is an art. So I may not be involved in the formal arts, but everything I do involves art because I create beautiful things. You should see my new kitchen.”

Ever since Wesleyan “seduced” him into a career in the arts, John Jordan has been involved with dance. He teaches dance history, dance philosophy, and introduction to dance at Cal State Fresno, and serves on the board of directors for the Rogue Festival. “I have trouble imagining what my life would have been like without WesDance and the encouragement to ‘follow my bliss’ (except that I’d probably be making more money).”

Some Short Blurbs: Sarah Flanders: “I took art classes and studied art history at Wesleyan but dropped it for many years. In recent years I have taken some ceramics classes and started drawing and painting again.” Steven Cohen: “In terms of the arts, I do photography and just got back from my first trip to Korea where I took a bunch of photos. I’m still living in my hometown of NYC and still at the same job for over 23 years.”

Debbie Alter-Starr: “For the last several years I’ve been coordinating a bilingual community network called Somos Napa and co-coordinating the Napa Valley Latino Heritage Month.” In nearby San Francisco, Bill Greene, as part of his “midlife crisis,” accepted a board seat at the Museum of Performance and Design. Edie Cherkas Ellin says, “Kristen Hoyt and I took a class in hand quilting in the mid-1990s and I have been at it ever since. Just an enjoyable hobby with lots of baby quilts, chuppahs, and a few large bed quilts resulting over the years.” George Justice: “I have found myself working much more closely with the arts than in the past, having taken on the role of associate vice president for humanities and arts at Arizona State University… I’ve enjoyed getting to know brilliant visual arts, performing artists, and designers.” Eric Heinze: “I’ve been involved in the arts in the sense of writing (and teaching) about problems of law and justice in drama from the late 16th through to the 18th centuries (Shakespeare, Corneille, Racine, Schiller…).” Ayelet Waldman: “For the past 20 years or so I’ve earned my living as a writer, primarily of fiction. My new novel, Love & Treasure, was published this past spring.”

Scott Michaud: “I’m now managing the strategic and executive communications for the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. ECBC is the organization that has just completed the historic shipboard destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons that’s been in the news all summer, so it’s an exciting time to be here managing our story. Twenty-seven years of speechwriting and it’s still something that I love!” Andrea Wojnar-Diagne was appointed in March to be the UNFPA Resident Representative for Senegal. “I am thrilled to be working for a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, and every young person’s potential is reached —such exciting issues to be working on given the demographics of most of the world’s developing countries—rapid population growth and enormous youth bulges of under 25s. Happy 50th!”

With us turning 50, many classmates have aging parents, and this update from Helen Miller Tarleton was special: “I spent time this summer with my father who has, during the past five years, acquired Parkensonian features. He expressed that this has robbed him of his sense of creativity. So, we spent a week in a pottery studio together hand-throwing and working on the wheel. It was a new experience for me, too. In the afternoons, we played his hammer dulcimer together. He hadn’t played in years and is currently able to remember the sequencing for the first six notes of the song we played. In spite of those limitations, just playing the six notes was perfect. Thanks to my experiences in the West African drumming classes at Wesleyan, I was perfectly happy using a call and response. And, in part, thanks to my experiences in West College, I was perfectly happy repeating those notes over and over again, hypnotized by the sound of the dulcimer strings. Getting to do this with my dad was the best way I can imagine being involved in the arts this year.”

Eric Howard | ehoward86@gmail.com

Mary Beth writing this time:

With profound sadness I share the news that our brilliant and accomplished classmate Seth Teller passed away on July 1, 2014. Seth was a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and led the Robotics, Vision, and Sensor Networks group in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Seth’s PhD was earned at University of California, Berkeley, and he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Computer Science Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Princeton University’s Computer Science Department. He is survived by his wife, Rachel Zimmerman, and two daughters, Sophia and Julia. I have a wonderful memory of Seth when he greeted me on Foss Hill at our 25th Reunion; his warm, sweet smile made me feel 20 years old again. Even in the rush of the 25-year-catch-up-convo, he listened deeply, and encouraged my support of my oldest child’s music study, sharing the observation that his best students at MIT were musicians; he also warmly invited us to visit his lab. That quick little conversation on Foss Hill had a big impact, and I know there are many in our era at Wesleyan who feel profoundly effected by Seth’s friendship, and share a deep loss with his family.

Nancy Velez, who was a Better Chance Scholar via The Spence School, currently lives in the Bronx. She taught fifth-grade bilingual classes at a South Bronx public school for five years. Nancy then joined Thirteen/WNET, PBS’s flagship station, for six years, where she managed their tri-state area and national PBS technology/teacher training conferences. After Thirteen/WNET, Nancy worked at ThinkQuest/Advanced Network & Services, an internet company, where she was assistant director of national and international partnerships. She has presented at many technology conferences within the U.S. and abroad. At Prep for Prep, as director of leadership development projects, she managed their largest educational initiative called Aspects of Leadership. Nancy worked at Sarah Lawrence College in their fund-raising department. She currently is the senior director of major gifts at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Nancy began singing in high school and was a gospel soloist at Wesleyan. She is a two-time Apollo amateur night winner and has performed in two Spanish operas in New York City. Nancy has performed throughout the New York area in musical theatre productions, shows, and as a background vocalist for different composers. She has also studied and lived in Colombia and Madrid, Spain.

John B. Clutterbuck, a partner at Andrews Kurth, LLP, in Houston, writes, “Got married, had two kids, now have just finished emptying the nest: Denison Univ. and Wash. U. in St. Louis are the lucky colleges. Next updates will be kid marriages and grandkids, likely in that order but you never know.”

Mark Sussman writes “My wife, MJ Thompson, and I both teach at Concordia University (in Montréal, QC), where I’ve shifted from the department of theatre to working as associate dean, academic affairs, in the faculty of fine arts. Concordia has a very strong art school, and I’ve become interested in how we balance practice and theory in the teaching of art across the disciplines. (I’ve even started spelling theatre with -re.) Our kids, Sam (11) and Finn (8), are growing up in two countries and languages, with friends in Brooklyn and Montréal. Our newest addition to the family is Shadow, a Cairn terrier needing a new home that we found living on 24th street in Manhattan. I still work with Great Small Works, the company I co-founded 20 years ago now, based in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Lately I’ve also been working with the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, based at NYU. Most recently, I published a chapter, “Notes on New Model Theaters,” in the 2014 Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance.

CAROLINE WILKINS | mbkeds@yahoo.com

MARY BETH KILKELLY | cwilkins85@yahoo.com