Class Notes

The year 2014 ended on a sad note when I learned that John Maynard, David Williams, and Stewart Hancock died during the year. Each was a man of distinguished and humane contributions to our world. You can read more of their lives elsewhere in this magazine and online.

Early in this new 2015 I was thinking as I walked (carefully) about our 70th Reunion, wondering who may be blessed with the health and mobility to attend. I sneezed and immediately heard, “God bless you,” from a passing stranger. That old sentiment sent my memory back beyond Wesleyan to my childhood, and to Ireland. “Rushing the growler” is an adventure for a boy: there’s the law to get around. Literally; there’s the rush down the alley to the back door of the friendly pub; there’s the rush to deliver the growler (two liters of stout); then there’s the reward, rarely money, most often a blessing. I recall my first such reward from a retired policeman whose Sunday thirst I’d slaked. He looked at me straight in the eye, searched his mind’s store for a minute, then said: “That your shadow might never grow less, and that every hair of your head might become a candle to light your way to Heaven.” Reward enough.

Another blessing I recall with pleasure came from a Kerry woman to whom I gave a lift, squeezing her impressive girth into my little rented Opel. I took her a mile or so to the cottage where she maneuvered herself out of the car, put her hands on mine, and said, “That Holy Saint Christopher might always be a passenger with you, and that the Divine Infant might light your way both day and night.” As I shifted the gear back into drive gear, she smiled and added, “and that ye might have a bigger machine the next time we meet.”

The two-pronged blessing is just that, but it’s better than no blessing at all. An example: “That your enemies might be drinking bog-water while you’ll be drinking tea.” When Tomasin O’Scannlain died, I was honored to be a pall bearer at his burial. A lovely blessing came from a mourner who wished “that he might have a silver bowl in Heaven” and “that Moses and his men might be at the gate to meet him,” echoed by another. The old Irish were great at bestowing blessings, but the art has not died. Just take a stroll through any Kerry or Mayo or Clare byway and drop no more than a simple comment on the weather to any countryman or woman you meet, and I guarantee you’ll get a blessing in return if no more than “God spare you the health.” Still, that’s better than going through the world without a good word for anyone.

Looking ahead to our 70th Reunion, but not knowing at this January writing whether you’ll read this before or after, I’ll end with my own blessing to all of you ’45s out there. That a doctor might never earn a dollar from you, that the heart of you might never give out, and that the 10 toes of you might always steer you clear of all misfortune. And, too, that at Reunion’s fine meeting you might receive a blessing better than this one. Slán go fóill.

FRANCIS W. LOVETT | francis.lovett1@comcast.net
805 Compassion Drive, Apt. 208, Windsor, CO 80550
907/460-9338

Please send updates to the editors.

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and I’m wondering what more the media can cook up against Bill Belichick ’75, Tom Brady and the New England football team—Go Patriots! I hope you enjoyed the holiday season and were not adversely affected by the extreme weather experienced in various parts of the country, including New England. We’ve been fortunate here in Virginia—have yet to see our “Big Snow” of the year!

Dick Ferguson writes: “We’re glad that you had a great recovery. Can’t keep a good man down. Marge still seems not quite fully recovered. Some days it seems she is sleeping 23 hours a day. We were so glad to see your write-up. We are lucky to have the children and grandchildren able to drop in to see us on their way to visit their children or grandchildren. Wish that I’d see more of Wesleyan men.”

From Gene Loveland: “The news from the Deep South is: Where did the warm weather go? I’m fine and still doing my monthly column for the House Organ plus write-ups of our four putting tournaments that I manage. In the fall events, I won the Sadie Hawkins Tournament with the lady champion but lost the Hallmark Cup I’d won in the spring to a challenger. Lots of football and politics, plus I enjoy a new book every two months or so. Have a good year!”

I received a letter from Jack Ritchie, in which he states: “Keep up the good work; sorry to hear of your bout with cancer. I grasp for news. Mostly we seem to be aimed at making sure we have no news. I spoke with Muzz Molina last spring and we were planning to get together in some restaurant between Salisbury and New Milford, Conn., where he lives, when he returns from his summer in Vermont. And now he is dead. Who will be the last classmate left standing? News? We are glad that we are where we are. We live in a cottage at a senior continuing care place, Noble Horizons, now 35 years old. It is part of Church Homes, Inc., a senior community in Hartford. We pretty much take care of ourselves, but have the option for bring-in meals, falling back into more care at a nursing home and other. There are many outings, cocktail parties, concerts, etc., where we may choose. News? Come to beautiful and freezing Salisbury, Conn., for a week, starting February 6.”

Frederick P. Appleton
100 O’Brien Court, Suffolk, VA 23434

The editors are deeply saddened to report the death of longtime class secretary George Morrill on Jan. 3, 2015. Please see further information in the obituary section and online.

Please send updates to the editors.

TED NELSON
BrightView Commons,
57 Grandeville Crt., apt. 307, Wakefield, RI 02879

It is hard to believe that we are now considered alumni and are not collectively witnessing the beauty of fall in Connecticut. I know there is a lot of Wes-talgia in the air, but do not fear, for I come with updates from your peers.

Tom Brewer is quite busy living in Tulsa, with Michael “Piddy” Piderit ’12. Tom writes: “We make and sell artisan pickled goods. There is unfortunately not much of a market for the wares of amateur picklers in Tulsa, but we are making do—selling whatever we can on Craigslist and eBay when things get desperate (not what you are thinking, ha-ha). It is, if not the most thrilling life, a comfortable one; we’ve eliminated The Man from the picture almost completely—no more worrying about income taxes or angry bosses.”

Emily Weitzman is almost done with the first three months of her Thomas J. Watson Fellowship exploring spoken word and poetry communities around the world. She has spent the beginning of her journey attending poetry events, performing, writing, interviewing, and meeting some amazing people in New Zealand and Australia. In a week, she is off to Nepal, where she will be collaborating with the Word Warriors poetry group and will be an artist-in-residence at Nepal Children’s Art Museum.

Representing red and black, Sydney Lewis is the new assistant dean of admission at Wesleyan, covering Georgia (her home state), Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Connecticut.

Izzy Rode is working hard as special assistant to the president and CEO in communications and policy at Martha’s Table, an antipoverty nonprofit in D.C.

Henry Cheung writes to us from the boogie down, where he is a Teach For America Corps member, teaching math in the Bronx at Fordham HS for the Arts. “The students are great and the learning curve is becoming less and less steep!”

Luke Harrison writes: “Luke Harrison is unemployed, but he’s doing great emotionally, so no one worry about him!”

Hannah Knudsen spent the summer teaching herself how to cook from a farm-to-table style cookbook. She also built an herb and vegetable garden which was very exciting and rewarding (and also encouraged her cooking!). She was planning a  move to Telluride at the end of October to start a new journey. She’ll be working for the mountain and living in the heart of town. In her free time, she plans on expanding work on her photo thesis, which was a project on the world of horseracing. She is interested in transitioning her project into cowboy culture and the “true west.”

Leah Khambata writes in from the Big Apple: “I moved to Manhattan on June 1st, a week after graduation, and was fortunate enough to land my first post-grad job the very next week, working on the set of the independent feature film, Outliving Emily, which starred actors, Kal Penn and Alexis Bledel. I got to assistant edit and work with the digital imaging technician on a daily basis, which was a thoroughly rewarding and exciting experience.

“In August, I then worked in the art department of the feature film, Meadowland. I was primarily based in the office where I got to do creative tasks like drawing caricatures for classroom sets (heads up—if you see a caricature of Shakespeare or Mark Twain in a classroom scene, you’ll know who drew them!) and also got to do more of the financial accounting side to filmmaking—managing crew members’ petty cash accounts and so on.

“Immediately after that ended in mid-September, I started working at Laura Rosenthal Casting & Process Media, which I am enjoying immensely! I love reading scripts in pre-production, learning about the advertising world and commercial projects, and interacting with all the different people who come in here to audition!

“In the midst of all this film work, I’ve been hanging out with a lot of Weskids and my high school friends who are all here in New York. It’s a weird feeling to hang out in groups where my Wes friends and Bombay ones come together because it’s like two such different worlds colliding, but it’s the good kind of weird, the surreal one, the ‘omg I’m so happy to be in a city where I have these great people around me’ one. So even though post-grad life is still a pretty confusing time all-in-all I’m very grateful for the wonderful experiences I’ve had so far and hope to be able to explore more aspects of the entertainment industry moving forward!”

Sarah Burkett moved to Houston in late June. She is still acting and teaching yoga, in addition to being an independent beauty consultant for Mary Kay.

Alex Pack is in Hong Kong teaching English to college freshmen. He is catching up on all the things he missed out on by not studying abroad—like eating strange street food, flying around Asia on hyper-budget airlines, and remembering what “not being busy” feels like—before he returns state-side in a year-and-a-half to work in consulting in San Francisco.

Danny Blinderman hunted for jobs all summer and finally got one at the end of August. He is now working at the American Jewish Committee in Boston, and moved to Allston three weeks ago.

Leah Khambata writes in from the big apple: “I moved to Manhattan on June 1st, a week after graduation, and was fortunate enough to land my first post-grad job the very next week, working on the set of the independent feature film, “Outliving Emily,” which starred actors, Kal Penn and Alexis Bledel. I got to assistant edit and work with the digital imaging technician on a daily basis, which was a thoroughly rewarding and exciting experience, and enabled me to truly see all the different departments that work together to make a film (as compared to a much smaller scale student thesis film I had made at Wesleyan. Seriously, so different!)

In August, I then worked in the Art department of the feature film, “Meadowland,” directed by Reed Morano, and starring Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson. I was primarily based in the office where I got to do creative tasks like drawing caricatures for classroom sets (heads up – if you see a caricature of Shakespeare or Mark Twain in a classroom scene, you’ll know who drew them!) and also got to do more of the financial accounting side to filmmaking – managing crew members’ petty cash accounts and so on. (Math was actually my favourite subject in High School so I weirdly enjoyed this a lot haha)

Immediately after that ended in mid-September, I started working at “Laura Rosenthal Casting & Process Media” where I currently am at now, and am enjoying immensely! I love reading scripts in pre-production, learning about the advertising world and commercial projects, and interacting with all the different people who come in here to audition! And of course the people here in the office are super nice and friendly, which makes for a great environment!

In the midst of all this film work, I’ve been hanging out with a lot of Weskids and my high school friends who are all here in New York. It’s a weird feeling to hang out in groups where my Wes friends and Bombay ones come together because it’s like two such different worlds colliding, but it’s the good kind of weird, the surreal one, the omg I’m so happy to be in a city where I have these great people around me one. So even though post-grad life is still a pretty confusing time for me, all-in-all I’m very grateful for the wonderful experiences I’ve been able to have so far and hope to be able to explore more aspects of the entertainment industry moving forward!”

Thanks for writing in everyone, keep the notes coming, and let me know if you’re ever in the area!

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu

It’s been a year since the Class of 2013 bid Wesleyan adieu. A year full of spontaneous adventures, not-so-spontaneous work/school schedules, old and new friends, and the promise of constant transition.

Kristen Raddatz moved to Chicago last September for an assistant position in the publicity department at the University of Chicago Press, and was promoted in August. Now a promotions manager at UCP, she handles their Asian studies, anthropology, cartography, and literary criticism titles, as well as publicity for their clients, Unicorn Press and Zed Books. Ally Bernstein and Audrey Kiely also write in from Chicago, where they are questioning their life decisions. They’re finding solace in comedic television programs and bubble tea, but unfortunately the restaurant forgot to add the bubbles. Way to go, Chicago.

Andrew Perlmutter is a management and technology consultant for McGladrey. He has been traveling around the country, helping businesses select software and refine processes to support their cloud computing strategies. He lives in Sherborn, Mass., where he walks his neighbors’ dogs and also works in his garden with his parents. He is training his dog to compete in the 2015 National Dog Show. Andrew Lieberman has been coaching football at Rutgers University as a player development/offensive assistant since January. Julia Bond lives in Boston with Jessica Jordan and Matt Adelman, and works in academic journals publishing at John Wiley & Sons. Julian Applebaum is a software engineer on Squarespace’s e-commerce team. He plays bass in Sirs&Madams, and stays actively involved with WesHack. William T. Davis has successfully started his own gardening business based out of his Brooklyn apartment. Peter Horton and Croy Salinas have officially signed a domestic partnership agreement, which Mark Popinchalk was extremely proud and happy to serve as the primary witness. Ethan Grund left Wesleyan without a specific career path in mind, but has finally decided to follow up his general academic accomplishments by applying for an equally broad second degree as a MD/PHD in neuroscience. All five of them are based in Brooklyn, N.Y.

On the West Coast, Claire Dougherty is living life big out in Californ-i-a! When she isn’t working as a professional off-leash dog walker and trainer in the beautiful Oakland hills, she dedicates herself to producing content for the East Bay Car Project, a digital homage to rectangles and rims. Claire moved in with her best friend, John Schmidt, and enjoys spending her time watching MTV and searching for NY pizza in all the wrong places. Find her on LinkedIn!

Max Ward just finished up a one-year masters program in TV, radio, and film at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in Syracuse, N.Y. He has since moved to Los Angeles and started an unpaid internship at a production company called Pantheon Entertainment. His goal is to become a screenwriter; he has a feature written and submitted to several film festivals. Lindsay Kosasa writes in from the Aloha state, where she is currently a TFA corps member teaching special education, world history, and creative dance at Waipahu High School in Oahu. She established the dance program at Waipahu, turning the dance club into a for-credit class. Lindsay plans on teaching past her two-year TFA commitment.

Jess Seward is in her second year as a college counselor in China. She spent three months in Southeast Asia this spring and is planning to return next spring to SE Asia for six to nine months to volunteer/work following China. Peter Myers has spent much of the past year in Valparaíso, Chile, as an English teacher. Highlights include: having lots of barbecues, navigating the labyrinthine, slang-filled universe of Chilean Spanish, feeling several 6.0+ earthquakes, and being bitten by a stray dog.He also had some poetry published in the Berkeley Poetry Review. James Gardner has been meeting up with many Wes travelers in the Berlin region since his last post. He is in the process of assuming the chief operations officer (COO) position at his company, and plans to put his career aside in a year or so to study for his master’s in Berlin. After spending a year teaching high-school English in the Austrian Alps, Adam Rashkoff has returned to Austria for a second and final year in the same fellowship program. He will be working at a school in the capital city of Vienna and also studying towards an MA in comparative literature at the University of Vienna. Any Wes classmates who find themselves in the area are more than welcome to give him a shout if they are looking for a place to crash or simply for suggestions of which cafés and bars to hit!

Prince Emenalo writes in about starting a graduate program at Georgia State University. He is pursuing a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in management and policy. Amanda Morrow just started physical therapy school in Denver at Regis University. After spending a year working at the Pancreas Center at Columbia University Medical Center in NYC, Taryn Murray has moved back to Ohio to attend medical school at Northeast Ohio Medical University. Matt Motta is beginning his second year of PhD work at the University of Minnesota, studying American politics and political psychology. This past spring, Matt won a three-year graduate research fellowship (GRFP) from the National Science Foundation. While on fellowship, he will conduct research focused on better understanding how Americans’ implicit racial attitudes shape public opinion, and work on developing empirical tests designed to improve the quality of data collected from online survey research.

Vivianne and Benjamin (Abravanel) Swerdlow graduated. “Married. Moved. Worked. Quit. Got degus: Fred V and George V. Watched Buffy. Spent time with family. Worked. Quit. Spent time with family. Repeat last three as necessary for the next 40 years, then expect a reevaluation.”

As for me, I’ve finished up my first year at Apple as an engineering program manager. I spend my free time perusing farmers markets, eating my way through the Bay Area, and traveling whenever possible. Thanks to my classmates for all the contributions, and best wishes to everyone!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu

Moon Herrick just finished her work with the Harlem Children’s Zone in June and is now working in New York City for the Allied Services Center. Her responsibilities include connecting HIV-positive people to medical insurance and care. She has also gotten involved in the WAPPS LinkedIn group and was meeting regularly with alums to plan the October 9th event!

Elizabeth Hunter Gauvey-Kern just released an E.P. You can find it on iTunes, Amazon or Spotify. Search Elizabeth Hunter.

Devon Hopkins reports “I’m excited to be joining NGP VAN as the new director of inbound marketing. NGP VAN powers the digital campaign tools for every Democratic committee and most Senate, House, and down ballot races.” Devon is still living in DC and loving it. He recently enjoyed a trip to Chicago to visit Christian Hoyos ’11 and Lauren Goldstein ’11.

Margot Boyer-Dry has been in Brooklyn for the last year-and-a-half and has recently started as head of marketing at Poncho, a betaworks company. She reports, “Every day is a blast.”

Jourdan Hussein, Rudisang Motshubi, and Sandy Yudhistira ’12 just had a mini-reunion in one of the biggest malls in Southeast Asia, Grand Indonesia, in Jakarta. Rudi, who originally hails from Botswana, sailed all the way from Thailand to come down south. They had a fun catch-up and delicious Indonesian meals.

Jen Liebschutz states, “After three years of working for nonprofits in Cambodia, I am excited to live in Cambridge and start my master’s in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. I’d love to connect with other Wes alumni in the Boston area!”

Jamie Thabault is heading to nursing school at the University of New England in Portland, Maine. She also plans to run the Philadelphia marathon with Corinne Duffy and Amanda Baker!

Joe Giaimo took a new job at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., as the executive director of the Maroon Club for Athletic Development. He includes, “Wesleyan was very good to me as an undergrad and employee. I was able to finish my master’s, be a part of a NESCAC/Little 3 Championship football team, and am looking forward to this next challenge. I’ll miss Middletown!”

Thanks for the updates!

Allie Southam | asoutham@wesleyan.edu