Hi friends! A pretty empty mailbox this time. I hope it means people are out, busy, and enjoying the return to some level of normal.
There were lots of spring 2021 graduations at various levels of education and various levels of interaction. My son Sam graduated from American University and we watched a taped broadcast from a Washington, D.C. hotel room. It was a very welcome celebration. Wesleyan’s commencement was in person and live streamed. If you watched, you may have seen Ira Skolnik’sson Jonah ’21 graduate with University Honors in both Medieval Studies and Government. This double honor is a first for Wesleyan. Jonah is going on for a higher degree at Trinity College Oxford.
I have a lot of books to report!
Rebecca Bratspies teaches environmental law at the City University of New York and lives in Queens with her husband and daughter. Her co-authored book, Environmental Justice: Law, Policy and Regulation was released in 2020. It is a textbook for undergraduate and law students but she hopes it will also be a resource for communities as well. Rebecca was appointed to the New York City Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and she blogs infrequently with the Center for Progressive Reform. Before the shutdown, she saw Trisha Lindemann and Lisa Ranghelli. In the 2020 Summer of COVID, she went on a socially distanced, graffiti-viewing walk with Janet Lieberman. She also hosted a Zoom reunion for about 30 members of the Karate Club from classes ’86–’89. Rebecca is interested in getting in touch with other Wesleyan people in the New York City area, especially those working in environmental fields.
Eric Lotke released his third book, Union Made, a romance about union organizing. This book joins his other titles, Making Manna, and 2044: The Problem Isn’t Big Brother, It’s Big Brother, Inc., and his work routinely gets good reviews.
Muzzy Rosenblatt’s new book, How Ten Global Cities Take on Homelessness, Innovations That Work was launched this June. Muzzy joins global experts to profile efforts to alleviate homelessness in 10 cities: Bogota, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Houston, Nashville, New York City, Baltimore, Edmonton, Paris, and Athens. The authors analyze how cities have used innovation and local political coordination to tackle homelessness. Muzzy is the CEO and president of BRC, the Bowery Residents’ Committee, an organization focused on people facing homelessness in New York City.
Here’s some publishing news directly from Pauline Frommer ’88: “On March 23, 2020 we stopped production on a book I’d been working on for months: a photo-rich, map-based guidebook centered around interest-based itineraries of all sorts. But I knew that the city, and world, would be changing drastically, so we put the book (Frommer’s New York City Day by Day) on ice. It’s now been several months of very hard work to replace all of the businesses that went out of business (shops, restaurants, hotels and even museums). But the city is coming back and so is this book, just released in November! Whew! Thrilled to get it out the door, and start editing many of the other Frommer’s guidebooks to places around the globe.”
Pauline reports that her older daughter is going into her last year at Tufts, and her younger daughter is starting Northwestern in the fall. She also says that the thing that kept her sane during COVID was playing trivia every Friday night with a rotating bunch of Wes friends from around the United States over Zoom. Lots of us were doing that.
C. S. “Cal” Coolidge ’91 reports that he is getting ready to send a child to college. His son, Will, is matriculating in the fall at University of California, Santa Cruz, Merrill College, or, as Cal likes to think of it, “Wesleyan West.”
If you haven’t already heard it, Wes Athletics does a podcast called Chris & Coach;Beyond the Box Score. Chris Grace, the voice of the Cardinals and Mike Whalen ’83, the athletic director, interview alums and discuss a wide range of topics including their experience with sports at Wes, their college experience in total, their thoughts on the value of a liberal arts education, and the paths they have taken since leaving Middletown. Chris Roellke and Chris Stiepock have both been guests and their interviews are entertaining and insightful. We’ve got a lot of other athletes who’d be great guests! I’m looking at you, Allegra Burton,Claire Conceison, Dave Robinson, Paul Amoruso, and Amy Mortimer!
No time like now to drop me a line and tell me what you’re up to. Hope it’s something good.
Daniel Seltzer writes: “Survived the pandemic (so far) hunkered down on the Upper West Side. The last of our kids moved out last year and my wife Hillary and I are loving the empty nest effect. In 2019 I started a digital product development company (InData.dev), which was already a remote, distributed team, and saw huge demand in health tech during the past year. We built a digital health passport (CommonPass) that’s gotten a lot of coverage and did other projects in education and finance. I stayed in touch with Daniel Sullivan, Giles Richter ’87, John Ephron, Peter Durwood, Laura Harrington, and David Hamburger.”
Suzanne Bidwell says: “My big update for the newsletter is that my son, Sam Bidwell ’21, graduated from Wes this year. Like our graduation 35 years ago, it was in the 90s without a cloud in the sky. However, remembering the weather in ’86, I knew enough to recommend a golf umbrella for him so he wouldn’t cook as I did back then. With the socially distant graduation seating, it was no problem and quite easy for me to find him in the crowd too! I look forward to attending future reunions with him sharing my reunion year.”
Steve Cadigan writes: “I just published a book on the future of work titled Workquake: Embracing the Aftershocks of COVID-19 to Create a Better Model of Working. I am definitely biased but I think it’s a great read for anyone working today or anyone contemplating working— such as our class members who still have kids in school. I can also say that I have had regular monthly Zoom calls during COVID with Gus Conroy, also of our class; he is now based in Houston and doing great.”
Editor’s note: We’re on the hunt for a new class secretary! If you have any interest, please reach out to classnotes@wesleyan.edu.
Can you believe it’s been 40 years since we moved into our dorms at Wesleyan? It’s both incredible and all too possible, isn’t it?
This summer, Hillary Hess and I observed our 40 years of friendship by enjoying a leisurely outdoor dinner with our husbands, Peter Gimlin and Michael MacDonald, respectively. Hillary and Peter’s daughter Charlotte is a third-year student at the University of Virginia, and their son Edward is starting this fall at the University of Vermont.
I had the great good fortune to reconnect with a lot of rowers earlier this year, fundraising for Wesleyan Women’s Crew, including Amy Huber, Margaret Bracken Thompson, Lea Barth’84, and Carlie Masters Williams’86, who still gets out on the water and is coaching here in the DC area.
Stacia Friedman-Hill is now a recipient of the prestigious Bloomberg Fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She’s received a full scholarship and is working toward her MPH while continuing in her position as a program director at the National Institutes of Mental Health.
That’s all for now—connect with me on Facebook or Instagram or write to me!
Gail Farris and her husband, Jay, became grandparents at the end of March, when daughter Kim Farris Buckley ’14 gave birth to baby boy Killian. Killian already has Wes swag and with luck will be rolling down Foss Hill at future reunions.
Arthur Haubenstock is moving back to Washington, D.C., with his wife Nidhi, and their nearly two-year-old daughter. He is taking a job as a vice president in Regulatory Law with Bloom Energy, which has a national and international focus, enabling deployment of alternative energy solutions and helping develop hydrogen replacements for fossil fuel–fired power generation. Their hearts go out to all those who have endured tragedies during the pandemic.
John Tauxe has retired from his part ownership in Neptune and Company, which specializes in environmental decision-making support. Now under his own shingle, Tauxian Solutions, he will continue to consult internationally in radioactive waste management and environmental risk modeling. John majored in Earth science, and seriously considered the advice of Professor Jelle de Boer, who suggested that geologists had an important role to play in social issues like nuclear power and radioactive waste. John’s liberal arts background, combined with his PhD in civil engineering from the University of Texas, gave him the added skills to communicate through writing, illustration, and generally teaching clients about the work. He lives in Los Alamos and hopes people will look him up when traveling through New Mexico.
Michael F. (“Misi”) Polgar has been promoted to Penn State professor. He is developing his second book on the Holocaust, editing a collaboration of authors who are writing about remembrance, respect, and resilience, sharing perspectives from history, the arts, and social sciences.
Ophelia Papoulas reports from Austin that her son, who has struggled with ADHD, dyslexia, and OCD, has reached a milestone. Ophelia lost her husband to cancer some years back, and has raised her son through all these challenges. Now that he has turned 18, has his driver’s license, and has graduated high school, there is jubilation at the house in Austin. Ophelia’s latest venture (besides her career at the University) is dundysisters.com. Ophelia and her sister are sewing whimsical pincushions, sachets, and small toys, raising money for various causes. Due to rising home prices in Austin, Ophelia expects to remain in Texas for some time.
Laura Fraser and I are hoping that you are enjoying the reopening and the end of the pandemic (and we hope not the end of the end of the pandemic) as you read this. A few lovely updates as time marches on.
“Small world,” writes Rich Lipman. “We were on the same Zoom call recently for the Stanford Ethics in Society undergraduate honors thesis presentations. My son was one of the presenters.” Good timing, too. I was there supporting one of my students and our class email went out soon after, so Rich thought to get in touch. Nice to be there with you, Rich.
After twenty years, six research trips to Egypt, and a lot of rough road and broken glass, Peter Blauner (after a little prodding by this classmate) is pleased to announce that his ninth novel, Picture in the Sand, will be published by St. Martin’s/Minotaur in the fall of 2022. Peter points out “this is only half as long as Moses and his followers spent wandering in the desert.”
Sharon Marable is a physician living in Sharon, Massachusetts. She is currently working at Southcoast Health in Massachusetts and was recently appointed the vice chair of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Committee on the Quality of Medical Practice. She is enjoying mentoring students on the medical and public health career pipeline. It’s nice to do good, Sharon.
Karen Mohr just ran 60k around Chrissy Field in San Francisco. “To celebrate my 60th with Emily Brower ’83 at my side. Great way to catch up with old friends.” I did not run 60k to celebrate my 60th and my feet hurt just reading her email, but that is a wonderful accomplishment.
Stephen Daniel writes: “All is generally well out here on the sandbar, though a much busier year due to the presence of COVID refugees than our community typically enjoys. Daughter India ’22 has adored her time at Wes. Funny how the family generations have lined up—my father Ron ’52, brother David ’77, me at ’82, and India at ’22. We may all have a private reunion at some point.” Stephen also stepped down as chair of the board of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy just before writing to us “after six years at the post collaboratively building this amazing not-for-profit, though will remain on the board. Also stepped down from the Board of Jazz at Lincoln Center not long ago after 12 years there. Nice to have some time free up!”
Steven Maizes (my second cousin and basketball star at Wesleyan) writes “post vaccine I had some fun interactions with our classmates from 1982. First Nina Goodwin and her husband Chris came over to demolish my wife Nicole and me in a game of doubles ping-pong. Then Michael Zeller (backed by his lovely wife Gayle) duplicated his multisport athletic ferocity by destroying all competitors in table hockey.” I hope I’m not stirring up controversy by saying this: vaccines are awesome, even if it’s for backyard table games.
Emilie Attwell writes, “News for me is that I changed jobs. I retired from the state with a pension and full health benefits. I now work for the Local Mental Health Authority in San Antonio at the Center for Health Services as their forensic psychiatrist. The new job is almost all virtual, which is a timely subject currently. She sent me a recent photo of her travel companion, “Lil Bunny.” Wish we could share that.
“I’m not a regular contributor to class notes,” writes Steve Gorman, “but your message arrived at the same time the announcement for my new exhibition was posted, so here is my news.” It’s a bit modest for Steve to just send a link to his show, Down to the Bone, at the Peabody Essex Museum, where his absolutely stunning photographs of Kaktovik, Alaska—an Inupiat village in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—are shown alongside the work of the great cartoonist, Edward Koren (“a dramatist of the Anthropocene”), where they “respond to the consequences of destabilizing our natural environment and speak to their alarm about the global climate crisis.”
Former class secretary Bob Russo is keeping up communication, and we’re so glad to end on this note. “The most exciting thing Carol ’84 and I have done is to get a puppy. She is a Small Munsterlander (a rare breed, look it up!) She’s a blast and a cure for encroaching old age.” If you have to put it that way, Bob, fine, but I’ll leave you until next time with a quote from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets (that I read in Humanities 101, Cosmic Dissolution, during freshman year, so totally appropriate here):
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Summer greetings! As I started writing this edition of the Class Notes, July 4th fireworks were exploding in the background. And now, I am gazing out upon the rolling hills, fields, and vineyards of Tuscany. It’s been a joy to travel again and spend time with our kids, despite masks, sanitizer, and thermometers. As more and more people get vaccinated world-wide, life is slowly returning to a “new normal.” Fingers crossed we tackle the new variant(s) and this quickly becomes history.
On behalf of my Reunion co-chairs, Delcy Ziac Fox and Nancy Parker Wilson, I’d like to extend a very big and heartfelt thank you to everyone who served on our 40th Reunion Committee. Many hours of meetings resulted in a series of fun, interesting, and informative Zoom events for our virtual rolling reunion. Special thanks to those who chaired sub-groups or were major speakers. Thanks also to Paul DiSanto, and to Mike Schramm and his Wes-based team. All the events were convivial and filled with memories, laughter and many reminiscences.
Delcy Ziac Fox reports that she recently had dinner with former InTown 21 housemate Jim Sullivan ’82. Delcy adds that she’s “thrilled to be retired after 35 years in marketing and communication! I am spending summer on Cape Cod. During the holidays, my family plans to visit our son Liam, who lives in the Netherlands.”
Jeremy Kenner writes from “down under” where, he says, they are “blessed with only semi-corrupt national politicians and fairly competent state leaders . . . and where the occupants of this island are a bit more community-oriented and rule-abiding than the average American.” He continues, “My five sons, all in Melbourne and ranging from 34 to 8, are all coping one way or another and I am still employed by the Australian government as an advisor (ethics) to our version of the NIH. It’s a pretty good job and I was ‘in the room’ (but not at the table) for lots of government policy discussions about COVID for most of 2020.” Jeremy remains in contact with Bob Stern’80, Suzanne Hinman, and Anji ’82 and Todd Citron ’83 as well as some occasional Facebook interactions.
Congratulations to Sandy and Barb Martin Herzlich, who welcomed their second grandchild, Joanie Jet Herzlich, in November 2020, joining her brother Boston King Herzlich as the children of their oldest son Mark. Sandy pulled the plug on his full-time working career and retired on May 31st, his 63rd birthday, and is now looking forward to spending time coaching high school football.
Lisette Cooper recently sold her company, Athena Capital Advisors, but stayed on with Fiduciary Trust International, overseeing sustainable investing; she also continues to serve on a few nonprofit boards. Congratulations to Lisette for being named to “Worth’s 2021 List of 50 Women Changing The World” for her work in shareholder engagement and impact investing. She has two sons in the Bay Area, one in financial tech and the other in the wine business, and a daughter in Massachusetts working to stop sex trafficking of children. Lisette spends summers in Massachusetts and now winters in Delray Beach. She would love to hear from you at lisette0001@gmail.com
“After 13 years at PlayStation working on the PS3, PS4 and the start of the PS5,” says Ned Lerner, “I founded my fifth startup, Hearo.Live (in 2017). Hearo makes watching Netflix, Disney+, TV or YouTube with your family and friends anywhere easy and fun. Before COVID, it seemed like co-watching might be a strange thing to do, but not anymore. If you try Hearo, let me know what you think!” He balances all that mental energy by training to run the Boston Marathon in October. Good luck, Ned!
Chuck Zabriskie writes that he and wife Nora were delighted to see Greg Andris and his wife Naomi while their daughter toured nearby Rice University. “Rice won the competition,” he added, “so we look forward to seeing them more frequently over the next four years.”
Diane Goldstein Stein has some exciting news: “We now officially have three Wesleyan alumni in our nuclear family, and we’ve been gratefully together for much of the pandemic. Daughter Lisa Stein ’21 produced and had the lead in Missy Mazzoli’s modern opera Song from the Uproar at Wes in late February 2020, before the world shut down, and that was the start of Lisa (singer, cellist, composer) being home with us for the next 15 months.” Lisa finished her final years remotely; produced her first vocal album, Sonic Salve; performed some virtual concerts; and virtually co-led the weekly Wesleyan Nigun Circle (niguncircle.com), which she started freshman year. Son Matthew Stein ’16 (violinist, composer, puzzle designer) joined the family in Allentown, Pennsylvania from San Francisco mid-summer 2020; besides working remotely on his puzzle design business, Enigmida, Matthew performed some virtual concerts with Lisa, and, together, they designed a print-and-play social justice Passover puzzle game (escapetheplagues.com). Diane continues, “Happily, my husband and I got to enjoy Matthew and Lisa jamming together while they were both home. Matthew will return to the Bay Area in August to continue his creative endeavors, Lisa already headed out to her first post-grad job, and soon, my husband and I will have to adjust to being empty nesters once again. My pandemic life has included starting to practice yoga, teaching my religious school via Zoom, and leading a volunteer effort to help the indigenous Maya weavers we met in 2018 and 2020 in Guatemala through MayaWorks. I’ve also enjoyed the rolling ’81 Virtual Reunion events and keeping regularly in touch with Leslie Sundt Stratton.
Forty-one-plus years after our Wesleyan graduation, our class is at such varied points in our lives. Ranging from enjoying our grandchildren, the graduations of our children, and retirement, to raising younger kids, starting new careers, furthering our education, and publishing books. After so much loss, isolation, and challenges during the pandemic, it’s wonderful to hear that though we still face challenges, we are a resilient, creative, and hopeful class with so much to offer each other, our families, our communities, and Wesleyan.
A sad loss: Sydney A. Francis ’78 sent in the heartbreaking news that her former husband and lifelong friend, Idris M. Diaz, passed away on, July 22, 2021, having succumbed to a rare form of leukemia. We are so sad to receive this news and grieve for her and all of our loss. For a major part of his career, Idris worked with USAID, joining in 2002 and retiring in 2019. Idris had a deep affection for the people, music, art, and religions of each of the places where he served or visited. He embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as civil and human rights and justice from his days as a journalist—before entering public service—through to his time with USAID. Idris’s work, life, and worldview were rooted in his experience as an African American growing up in Queens, New York, and his avid interest in, and study of, diverse faiths, the martial arts, yoga, and meditation. Idris was especially proud to become certified as a yoga teacher last year. A memorial was held this past fall. For more information email Sydney directly at: sydallyson@gmail.com
The challenges: Melissa Stern spent a year of “Zooming” in at various art schools and institutions as a visiting lecturer and guest critic including: The Everson Museum of Art, Pratt Institute, NYU, the Pelham Art Center, and Indiana University. She said it was loads of fun, but like many of us, she longed for true, in-person contact. She noted that after a terrible slip and fall on the ice in the spring of 2021, which required major surgery to repair and eight weeks in a brace, she emerged in June with a wonderful 20-year retrospective of her work in Kingston, New York. The show has garnered great reviews and was just what her body and soul needed after a year of quarantine and recovery from the crazy accident. Entitled Stronger Than Dirt, the show has a theme of resilience. Jim Friedlich ’79 and Melissa are back and forth to the city each week, she’s still in intensive PT, but they hope to be full-time back upstate for August 2021.
Alan Jacobs spoke of post-pandemic silver linings: finally reading Don Quixote, As I Lay Dying, Things Fall Apart, and The Tale of Genji and weekly Zooms with my three best friends from high school. “I had a lovely dinner in Tel Aviv in May with my daughter, Avia, my girlfriend Dorit, and with Jeff Green—all of whom live in Israel. It was the first night after the rockets stopped so we each had bomb-shelter stories to share.”
The milestones: Gary Gilyard and his wife are expecting grandchildren number 3 (August) and number 4 (September) and are enjoying living in the same state (Michigan) as both of their daughters. Gary hopes everyone is vaccinated! When asked how the doc (Gary is a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon in Bingham Farms, Michigan) made it through the pandemic, Gary answered “COVID was challenging. Everyone has stayed safe. We shut down for about four weeks, then started telemedicine, then after about three months, slowly started operating again. So far it’s very busy and going well.”
Amy Natterson Kroll now has two grandchildren Max, 3, and Eliana, born July 7th. Otherwise, she says all is well and life continues. She’s still practicing law at Morgan Lewis, gardening, exercising, trying to keep a positive outlook, and looking forward to vaccines allowing us all to return to a “new normal.”
Mark and Tessa with Prof. Andrew Szegedy-Maszak
Mark Zitter celebrated the 2021 Wes graduation with honors in Archaeology and Classical Civilizations of his daughter Tessa. Mark noted, “it brought back many memories of my/our graduation in 1980. Tessa’s honors thesis was on war wounds in the Classical and Archaic eras, and one of her three readers was Professor Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, who was my freshman advisor 45 years earlier! After the ceremony we recreated a photo from 1980 where a hairier me was flanked by my parents versus one with Tessa between Jessica and me, with exactly the same buildings in the background. It was a very fun dual celebration of Tessa’s graduation and homecoming for me.”
Mark added, “BTW, although everyone joked that Tessa would never get a job in her obscure liberal arts fields, she confounded the pundits and did it. She’ll move from intern to a paid position for Julie Burstein ’80 on the podcast Live From Mt. Olympus that you mentioned in the prior Class Notes. Go Wes! Stay healthy!”
Frank White’s daughter graduated (in Philosophy) this spring from McGill and one son is headed to University of Colorado at Boulder in the fall; the other son is a rising sophomore in high school. Frank is taking an MFA in screenplay writing. Frank saw Christian Herold (in person) a couple of months ago.
Jay Borden said, “I spent most of COVID times hunkered down in my machine shop, welding and brazing custom bicycle frames (www.roulezcycles.com), my semi-retirement gig. Everyone in the immediate family stayed healthy, and we’re all grateful to be vaccinated and on the other side. With summer, I’m off to Vinalhaven until late September, kayaking and carpenting, and spending time with my oldest grandchild, who just turned five, and with the rest of our family.”
Randal Barron wrote in, “After having survived COVID in February of 2019, my partner and I have now both retired. We are taking a number of trips to see the USA and finally will be getting back to Europe in October. This last year has been an amazing roller coaster. I am grateful to have survived and that our democracy survived and that we are finally starting to address racism. I have learned so many things this year. I have been taking Zoom courses on Michelangelo and Leonardo as “gay” artists, Jewish Morocco, the architecture of Basilicata and Puglia, and a host of other obscure subjects that can now be found online.”
New ventures: Dan Connors shared that “after 20 years in retail, I launched a new career as a Certified Public Accountant in 2008. Through all of that time I’ve also been a freelance writer, publishing articles and essays in magazines and my local newspaper, the St. Louis Post–Dispatch. Now I am in a new chapter of my life, publishing my first book, Skunked. This book has been a labor of love and taught me a lot about writing, publishing, and storytelling. The editing process has taken several years, but it’s been a blast. I continue to practice accounting during tax season and am amazed at the complex stories I’ve observed coming from my clients. Thanks to all of you for letting me serve you. I’ve actually been more in touch with Wes folks via Zoom than in past years. Regularly Zooming with classmates Ken Freeman, Jon Nimer, Joel Tillinghast, Rick Levine, David Engstrom and Master of Ceremonies Will Rowe. Saves a lot of money on airplane tickets! Still thankful for my health and family and blogging on my website, authordanconnors.com.
Andrew McKenna left solar, which he worked in since graduating Wes, and just before the onset of the COVID pandemic, invested in with friends and started running Journeys Aviation, a private business providing all the services to the Boulder Municipal Airport (flight training, fuel, front desk/radio, facilities). He said that Journeys thankfully survived the pandemic with assistance from the federal programs (PPP, EIDL). And he’s still searching for Amelia Earhart with TIGHAR!
Wendy Davis Beard provided the following update: “My husband John and I rebased ourselves in the British countryside in October 2020 in preparation for his two solo exhibitions locally in Tisbury, Wiltshire. I have absolutely loved being in the country and we are now planning to sell up our Wesleyan Chapel studio residence in Greenwich, London, to move around here. We have already met an interesting mix of writers and artists, some with ties like ourselves to Australia. While being in lockdown is not so different for us, as we both work in a kind of isolation wherever we are. I have found a market for my writing about disability and travel that has in turn circled back to creating a website as a vehicle to reach stroke survivors their caregivers, friends, family, and even medicos. This sharpened practical focus has diverted my attention from finishing my memoir of recovery, but then it adds to the content as well! We were both double jabbed by Easter, enabling us to see our 23-year-old daughter and her boyfriend for Easter (both had mild COVID in the first lockdown). I am leaving today for a short trip to Greece, possibly extended by quarantine upon return in the UK. We hope to return to Sydney in October for another exhibition—if Australia will let us in. . . then if the pandemic doesn’t clip our wings from flying into Boston, we hope to celebrate Christmas in Cape Cod with my 90-year-old mother, brothers, and our extended family! Until next time! Recently converted into a football fan of Euro cup and English supporter like London-based Peter EisenhardtSpace!(Who knew!?) Keep rolling!”
Contributions to the Wesleyan: Scott Price, CEO of Fort Construction in Fort Worth Texas, says, “I’ve been fortunate this summer to employ a future Wesleyan basketball star. Jared Langs(’25) is six foot ten and will be a freshman this coming season. He has worked for me as an Assistant Superintendent during the summer. It has been great fun to stay in touch with Coach Joe Reilly and provide a little support for Wesleyan basketball. My two boys both live in Colorado and are enjoying the lifestyle I hope to retire into—they outsmarted me!
And finally a blast from our past: Scott Hecker let us know that the combined personnel of Praxis and Urban Renewal joined forces and rocked the house with a two-night reunion concert July 23–24 at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Under the musical direction of Robert Levin, participants included: Matt Penn, Bill Yalowitz, Dave Samuels ’79, Doug Cuomo, Billy Hunter ’78, Paul Spiro, Joe Galeota MA ’85, and Bryant Urban ’81.
Hello everyone. Diane reporting the notes this issue. As of this writing this year is a welcome relief from the sequestering and stress of 2020 and early 2021. Hopefully this will continue into 2022.
I have followed the updates on various social media and televised interviews of fellow Wes alum, Scott Gottlieb ‘94, former FDA Commissioner, and he has been a wonderful resource for information on COVID-19. He is a learned voice who echoes the tempered, but at the same time, hopeful optimism of most of us less scientifically knowledgeable folk.
Reunions with family and friends have been joyful for so many, and many of the notes I have received from our classmates show that the pandemic was a time to assess what is really important—with accelerated retirements, investing time in new or rekindled interests and passions, and reunions with loved ones being the theme.
Kim Carrell-Smith writes: “I retired from my teaching/administrative job at Lehigh University in May, as did my husband John. Like so many other folks, the pandemic just made me decide that life is too short to battle bureaucracy, even if I will miss my grad student Community Fellows, and working with local governments and nonprofits. But I’ll continue to be active in local issues like affordable housing, historic preservation, and equitable development in my ‘other side of the tracks’ part of town. One of my kids is in Baltimore running the city’s public library system’s digital equity work, and the other child (are they children when they are over 30?) and family are about a mile from us in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, so John and I are part of the pandemic village that is happily helping to raise the next generation.”
Fred Baurer, an old friend from Foss 4 our freshman year, updates us that his original manuscript, “Psychodynamic Treatment with the Addicted Person,” has been accepted for publication in the upcoming issue of the journal Psychodynamic Psychiatry. The lineage of this work has Wesleyan roots, the intellectual influence of Henry Abelove and passionate spirit of the magnificent Cheryl Cutler. Fred is an addictions psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in Philadelphia, living in Center City with Sharon Pollak, life partner of 42 years. He writes, “Parenthood has been amazing, grandparenthood is otherworldly!”
Katharine McKenna shares the following about an exhibition of hers in Arizona through December 2022:
UNFRAMED: A PHOTO JOURNEY THROUGH NAVAJO AND HOPI NATIONS, 1977–1978 at the Arizona Heritage Center, 1300 North College Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281. On view: April 2021–December 2022. Experience a photo journey across Northern Arizona with contemporary artist Katharine L. McKenna. During a college gap year, McKenna spent the summers of 1977 and 1978 volunteering at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. While there, she assisted the museum in collecting woven rugs, pottery, baskets, and jewelry for the museum’s annual Navajo Arts and Crafts show. She documented her experience by journaling and taking photographs of the 24 trading posts she visited, and the countless miles she traveled through the Navajo and Hopi Nations in Northern Arizona.
This exhibition features McKenna’s black-and-white images and Native American artifacts from the Arizona Historical Society Collections. Visitors can travel along with McKenna and read excerpts from her journal that she kept during this time period.
The accompanying journal, Navajo Collecting Trip: A Journal into the Remote, is available on Amazon, where the description says:
“Dissatisfied with classes, lectures, papers and exams, Katharine L. McKenna quits college in upstate New York and heads west to volunteer at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff—to get an education. Intimidated at first, McKenna becomes a willing apprentice and rises to the occasion within a short time; she soon falls into her role at the Museum. McKenna is exposed to hands-on archaeological surveys and ethnology while working with scientists at the Museum’s Research Center. McKenna soon finds herself racing thunderstorms across the Navajo Reservation, to collect hand woven rugs, pottery, baskets and jewelry for the Museum’s annual Navajo and Arts and Crafts Show.
“Written with straight forward clarity in 1977, 19-year-old McKenna documents her experiences in this formative journal with both words and photography. While covering more than 600 miles of dirt road to visit 24 remote trading posts, she encounters trader characters as well as notables such as Charles Loloma, the famous Hopi jeweler, and H. Baxter Liebler, the missionary who founded St. Christopher’s in Bluff, Utah.
“McKenna returns to college at Wesleyan University with new direction and interest, fortified by the merits of a “gap” year long before the term became popular.”
Ron Cooper sent this update. “After retiring from more than 30 years in the corporate world, I rekindled my interest in photography. My first photography book, We Are Santa (Princeton Architectural Press, New York) was published in the fall of 2020 and features photographs, profiles and interviews with 50 top professional Santa Clauses. It was for a (short) time, the #1 Christmas book on Amazon. My new book, Celebrating Humanity: Faces from Five Continents, a collection of monochrome portraits, was published in fall 2021 by Studio Photiq in the United Kingdom. My photographs have been exhibited in more than 50 juried group shows and five solo exhibits in the United States and Europe, and published in consumer magazines, newspapers and photography journals.”
Bill Conley reports on a gathering on Cape Cod hosted by Gary Breitbord and his wife Colleen. On a perfect early summer afternoon at Gary and Colleen’s retirement home in Falmouth, Massachusetts, close Wesleyan friends rejoiced at being able to see each other after at least a year and a half. ’79ers Tim Fitzgerald, Jack Buckley, George DuPaul and Bill were there with their respective spouses and also included dear friend Jeff Gray ’77 and his wife. Network news satellite trucks were kept away from smothering 24/7 coverage of the event with quick thinking by Gary who disguised himself as Lin-Manuel Miranda and drew crowds away while shopping for ice in Falmouth Center. Discourse among the party goers quickly descended into the stalest of college stories, politics, bad jokes, and amazingly, all departed the festivities still good friends. We were all so thrilled to be together, vaccinated and un-masked to revel in each other’s company and deepen our bonds even further.
And, finally, Rachel Bashevkin shares the sad news of the loss of Paul Hammer. She writes: “So many of us in New Haven are grieving the loss of friend, citizen, activist, and mensch Paul Hammer. He died on Sunday, June 27th.” Rachel remembers him as a unique character who was well known and liked by many on the Wesleyan campus and later in New Haven. A moving story of his life can be accessed at the following link to the “New Haven Independent.” On behalf of our class, we send our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Marc Abrams is in his 20th year at the Oregon Department of Justice, where he heads the employment litigation team. He was asked this year to lead a team of attorneys at the Department of Justice to defend Oregon Governor Brown’s executive orders protecting against COVID, which were under legal challenge by private schools, churches, and tattoo parlors. “It’s been a particularly fascinating year . . . I did a number of oral arguments in federal court on Zoom, in tie, jacket, cargo shorts and bare feet.”
Andrea Gabor is Bloomberg Chair of Business Journalism at Baruch College of the City University of New York. Her chapter “Media Capture and the Corporate Education-Reform Philanthropies” is currently being published in the book Media Capture: How Money, Digital Platforms and Governments Control the News (Columbia University Press). Andrea has previously authored the book After the Education Wars: How Smart Schools Upend the Business of Reform, published in 2018.
John Rose and his family have been spending most of their time in northwestern Connecticut since “retreating there from NYC in March of 2020.” John is a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, and “had the unique opportunity over the last 15 months to support New York State in its response to COVID” from the standpoint of setting up industry guidelines and vaccination programs. John’s daughter is in the class of 2023 at College of William and Mary, his son in the class of 2023 at Wesleyan. His wife Elizabeth recently ended her service as deputy chancellor for operations at the NYC Department of Education, and is now chief financial officer for an educational non-profit agency.
Ralph Rotman has been recognized by the Boston office of Northwestern Mutual, where he has been for 43 years, by being inducted into the company’s elite membership, the Forum Group. Ralph’s daughter, Cassie, has joined him in the business.
Julie Scolnik reports that Koehler Books has published a memoir she had been working on for decades—Paris Blue—a “fairy-tale memoir,” which begins in Paris in the late 1970s, reflecting her musical career, “love at first sight,” and eventual heartbreak. Wesleyan has its place in this book, which has received a favorable review from author John Irving.
Carl Taylor wishes everyone good health and well-being from West Hartford, Connecticut, where he continues to live with his wife and son. He reports that the winter was spent caring for her following surgical treatment for a ruptured colon, from which she has recovered well “thanks to a great surgeon, very good care, and strong Russian genes from a couple of generations past. She is back to gardening, her prime hobby in good weather. Nurses and healthcare workers do not get paid enough (good man Carl)!” At a recent visit to Maine they celebrated her allowance for lobster rolls at Red’s Eats, and then took in the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. Carl has just completed his 38th year coaching youth lacrosse in his hometown, where “three players were children of some of my former players, the father of one serving as his assistant coach.” He continues to serve as a superior court judge in New Britain, Connecticut, “periodically dealing with children, grandchildren, and in one case, the great-grandchildren of people that I dealt with as an assistant state’s attorney in New Britain. No, I’m getting old!”
