Class Notes

Jack Maraghy wrote, “I recently finished a master’s degree in screenwriting at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in London. Short films I wrote at the NFTS are now screening at festivals worldwide. One of my short animations won a Student Academy Award in October and is featured as an Oscar contender in the Hollywood Reporter. The film, Mum’s Spaghetti, is a stop-motion rap operetta (rap-eretta) about a girl and her beatboxing dog who aspire to become the best rap duo in North England. Currently, I’m working on a new live-action short funded and developed by BBC Film.” Congratulations, Jack!

And congratulations to Julia Black and John MacIntosh ’16! They married on June 17, 2023, in Darien, Connecticut. Julia said, “We met between Usdan and Foss Hill in the fall of 2014.

“We were surrounded by love and friends from Wesleyan: six bridesmaids were also Class of 2018 (Dana Mitchell, Elizabeth Spitz, Christina Vyzas, Tierney Behles, Brooke Hodgson, and Kayla Bigelow), and four groomsmen were also Class of 2016 (Lyle Mitchell ’16, Niall Devaney ’16, Joey Amendola ’16, and Jackson Arnold ’16).” 

And more wedding news: Carter Armendarez wrote, “Dom Pirraglia had a legendary Long Island wedding. Matt Winchester, Alina Pham, Isaiah Bellamy, Alex Horton, Joe Bongo, Maeve Vitale, Ed Pierce, James Matias ’19, Coach Black (Wesleyan wrestling coach), and I all went.” 

Ciarra “Cici” Frattasio started a business this year. Short Girl Jean (www.shortgirljean.com) provides luxury denim for shorties 5’3” and under, with two different inseam lengths, 24 inches and 26 inches. She says, they are “sustainable and comfortable.”  

Katherine Paterson said she will be very busy in early 2024, and depending on when you read this, she “will either be touring the East Coast with her debut album, Wake (February 27–March 12), or recovering aggressively at home with her partner and dog (March 13 onward). Check out her website or follow her on Instagram (@kpatmusic) to find a show near you!” www.katherinepatersonmusic.com.

A J Wilson wrote that he and his “partner, Taylor McClain ’17, both took and passed the Georgia bar exam in October 2023. We now live in Atlanta, where I work as a corporate associate at King & Spalding LLP, and Taylor will be a senior strategist focused on corporate purpose and social impact at BCG Brighthouse!”

Caroline Diemer is “currently the programming coordinator at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. I run a free speaker series that happens on the first Thursday evening of the month called Think & Drink and is available online and in-person. If anyone would like to watch or listen, visit wisconsinmaritime.org.”

Giorgia Peckman lives in San Francisco and works as a designer at a small studio. In their free time they advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israeli occupation. They signed the petition demanding that Wesleyan divest from Israel and encourages other alumni to do the same.

Hailey Broughton-Jones, Matilda Hague, Caroline Liu,  Djuna Schamus, and Rebecca “Bex” Sussman have also been advocating for a ceasefire and signed the petition for Wesleyan divestment from companies profiting off Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Erica Arensmand passed the bar exam and is now a full-blown lawyer! She started working at the Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia in November and is loving it. She interned at PDS while she was a student at Wesleyan, which is what made her decide to go to law school in the first place. In her limited free time, she has taken up running and is thinking of doing a half marathon next fall. In D.C. she has been staying with Molly Muoio, who also graduated law school and passed the bar this year! Molly is now a litigator at one of the best and most prestigious law firms in the country. The two of them got a (real) Christmas tree for the apartment, which was particularly exciting because Molly’s wonderful boyfriend, Abe, who is also in law school—can you imagine an apartment full of lawyers?—has never decorated a real tree before! He was worried about fires, but Molly and Erica assured him that they would let him escape the apartment first if things went wrong.

The big news, no pun intended, is that Mark Otdelnov got a job at an auditing firm. So, he’s in a good spot with this. Their brother he told us about last time is doing everything he can to secure him an internship at a bank in the meantime. Things are good overall. Papa is happy he’s finally cutting on spending. “It wasn’t easy I must admit.” At the moment they are focused on studying for CFA Level 2. They took Level 1 this month and is waiting for results.

Kai Blatt married Tyler Harden ’18 at NYC City Hall. They tied the knot on the 10th anniversary of the night they met by Mamoun’s falafel truck. Tyler is now working as a software engineer at Google in NYC and making videos @tyler_the_snob on Instagram and TikTok. Kai is in their third year of a dual master’s in architecture and master’s in landscape architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. 

Sara Swaminathan is finishing up their PhD at the University of Florida this year, focusing on community ecology of coral reefs. After they defend, they hope to continue conducting research with a government agency or nonprofit organization.

Carolyn Dundes finished their PhD in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at Stanford this year and  couldn’t have done it without their Wes family!

Abby Cunniff has been calling for Wesleyan to divest from companies that are complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine, as part of the long tradition of Wesleyan alumni and students advocating for divestment from South African apartheid, weapons manufacturers for the Iraq War, and fossil fuel companies. She hopes that all other interested alumni will sign on to the petition as well. 

Tess Altman has been advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, and recently signed the alumni petition demanding that Wesleyan divest from companies profiting off Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Hello all!

Please see updates from our classmates:

Clara Leonard is now a lawyer! She graduated NYU Law, started her full-time job, and passed the bar exam. Massive congratulations on such a big accomplishment!

Maria Massad graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with her MBA in December, and is moving from Chicago to Washington, D.C., where she and her husband will be starting an exciting new chapter together. Maria is looking to expand her network and make new friends in the area, so please get in touch with her if you’re interested in meeting!

Jackie Freed is taking a sabbatical from real estate to manage re_ grocery’s Mar Vista shop, and work on her podcast, Emergency Protocol! She still lives in Venice with her dog, Nala.

Regen Routman and Nick Silva ’15 got married on November 11, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. 🙂 They had lots of Wesleyan friends in attendance, mostly from 2015 but a few from our year including Mara Woods-Robinson, Willie Zabar, and Joe Edmonds.

Tahreem Wasti (née Khalied) has been advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, and recently signed the alumni petition demanding that Wesleyan divest from companies profiting off Israeli occupation and apartheid.

As for me, I’m working on my rank list for ophthalmology residency, and getting last minute wedding planning done before the big day in February. I also recently saw Sarah Mi and Chiara Wabl for a fun weekend in Cancun.

Hope you’re all doing well,

Mariam

Dana Louie and Jon Coombs had a great time in Kentucky this summer at Rachel Unger’s wedding, along with Alanah Hall, Kerry Nix, and Arielle Trager ’14, complete with a meteor shower the night of the wedding. Dana also met up with Rachel Leicher, Julian Compagni Portis, Kirby Neaton ’14, and Julian Basurto in Vermont for a Wesleyan cross-country reunion, during which they ran up an Okemo ski trail and a tab at Long Trail Brewing. Finally, Dana and Jon celebrated Friendsgiving this year with Cameron Rahbar, Zach Larabee ’16, and a 16-pound turkey. 

Caroline Catlin is working on a memoir about living with incurable brain cancer as a young adult. She has been advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, and recently signed the alumni petition demanding that Wesleyan divest from companies profiting off Israeli occupation and apartheid. Talia Baurer, Gabe Frankel, Sophie (Eugene) Massey, and JJ Mitchell have also been advocating for a ceasefire and signed the petition as well.

Leslie Lai writes, “I met up with several Wes friends recently! Xian Hui Ang ’15 and I visited Michael Leung ’15 in Philadelphia in late October. A rugby game, several happy hours, and a weekend long of nonstop chats later, my mind and body were replenished. I enjoyed grabbing ‘work’ lunches with Reese Sy ’13 in Cambridge where our offices are just a few blocks away from each other. Angela and Paul Hanakata and I got our kiddos together for the first time. Nothing beats seeing new friendships form.” 

Chelsie Green writes, “I moved to Los Angeles in the summer after working at Wes for a year, which was quite the experience! It’s been great to reconnect with so many people from Wes over here (sometimes by accident, which is always a sweet surprise). I’m working as a psychotherapist and co-writing a book about college mental health with another Wes alum, Christopher Willard ’01, coming out via Oxford University Press next year. I’m also completing a program to become an Ayurvedic practitioner to fold that into my holistic wellness business. Otherwise, I’m mostly obsessed with American Girl dolls, the Norwegian language, and skin-care products.”

Isabel Stern writes, “My Wesleyan sweetheart, Donnie Cimino ’15, and I got married! We had tons of Wes alums in attendance ranging from Class of ’74 to Class of ’21! The fight song was sung.” 

Reunion note: Chelsie and I are very much looking forward to celebrating our 10-year reunion on campus, May 23–26, 2023. It is amazing how quickly time is beginning to move. Don’t forget to book lodging soon. I am told rooms on campus will be in very short supply and therefore very expensive! If you wait for registration to come out, it will likely be too late to secure something close to campus and/or affordable. In speaking to several of our class members who have already booked on Airbnb, there are certainly great choices available, but they are going quickly, and prices are increasing!

Go Wes!!

Please send news to your class secretary.

Greetings from sunny Los Angeles! Please enjoy the following updates from your classmates:

Andrew Dominguez has moved out to Durham, North Carolina, after living in Los Angeles for a decade. And while he misses all his SoCal Wes pals, the great cinemas, and the excellent hiking, he’s thrilled to be back in school. Andrew is in the middle of a two-year program at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment where he’s run into quite a number of awesome Wesleyan alums of various vintage who have graduated from the same program, are currently classmates of his, or are teaching or studying elsewhere at Duke. (He’d include their names but he can’t be bothered to ask for their releases). Outside of the Duke bubble, he also gets to hang with Noa Borkan and little baby Aviva. If anyone is ever in the Triangle Area or is thinking about also moving to this cozy part of the country, say hey!

Ashley Garrett writes, “After serving on the SPARK Council for one year, I am a captain for the council, which helps connect young adults to leaders in local government, city services, and one another in Boston. I’ve recruited Ashley Slay ’11, Olivia Grant ’14, and Genelle Faulkner ’13.”

Noah Heau is currently a field researcher within the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment. He is also involved in tenant organizing in conjunction with Astoria Tenants Union (ATU) and other autonomous tenant-driven organizations. His band, the Arcane Insignia, released the first single of their second album in October.

Marjorie Romeyn-Sanabria writes, “After three years living and working in Washington, D.C., and another three living and working back home in New York, I’m in my final year of law school at Syracuse. Graduation day can’t come soon enough! Law school in your 30s during the COVID era has been a wild ride, but I don’t regret it for a moment. I studied abroad in London this past summer, and I’m planning another shorter study abroad trip to Switzerland in the spring. Time is going by fast, but the adventures are still plentiful. I’m still the same 21-year-old who packed two suitcases and went to Taiwan over a decade ago as a junior at Wes.”

Jake Schofield is in his seventh year of teaching high school science research in Yonkers, New York, and has been getting lots of volunteer help from New York–based Wes friends who’ve met and mentored some his students, including Jesse Humm, Christian McLaren ’13, Alek Barkats, and Katherine Mullins. “Our school is expanding our science and college-access programming to Jersey City, New Jersey, and Nashville, Tennessee, if you or anyone you know is interested!” Shoot Jake an email at Jake.Scho@gmail.com.

AhDream Smith is happy to share that she recently made her off-Broadway debut in Mint Theater’s world premiere of Partnership by Elizabeth Baker. She was offered the understudy role for all the female parts in the play (five to be specific: Kate Rollings, Maisie Glow, Miss Blagg, Miss Tracey, and Lady Smith Carr-Smith), with a guarantee to go on as Lady Smith Carr-Smith for the final week of performances. It was a privilege to be stretched in such a way and to work with director Jackson Gay again, who she had the pleasure of working with in graduate school. Since the show closed on November 12, she has had several auditions ranging from lead regional theater roles to Broadway and TV. She has also been busy utilizing her talents in the audiobook arena. Last fall she partnered with Learning Ally (a nonprofit that makes audiobooks more accessible for students that have reading challenges) as a primary narrator on their roster and this fall she recorded her first audiobook for Recorded Books. With all these new developments, she is excited to see what the new year has in store.

Rhyan Toledo writes, “This year I’m celebrating 10 years in NYC! I currently live in West Harlem with my partner and our cat, Wilbur. I’m in the fifth year of my PhD program in clinical psychology at City College where I’m working on my dissertation, which explores LGBTQ+ young adult experiences of religion and spirituality. I’ve also been advocating for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation of Palestine. I encourage other alumni to sign the divestment petition calling on Wesleyan to divest from companies profiting off Israeli occupation and apartheid.”

Jisan Zaman writes, “In 2023 my wife, Alissa, and I were lucky enough to welcome our son, Aktaris, into this world. And we all got to celebrate the wedding of our friends Emma Gorin and Zach Tausanovitch in June.”

The Warfish crew of Adam Ilowite, Noah Feingold, Peter Frank, Phil Hall-Partyka, Jeremy Koegel, Julian Silver, Kevin Walters,and David Wei were excited to get together in November for their most recent tournament in Salt Lake City. Congrats to Adam and Jeremy on the win and to those in the group with newborns or babies on the way! 

Thanks to those who contributed and feel free to pass along notes at any time.

Max Slater and his wife, Megan, welcomed boy-girl twins last year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their older son Levi started pre-kindergarten this fall. Max is working as an administrative law judge, and recently earned a black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu, as well as his CrossFit L1 coaching certification. He is constantly in awe of his wife’s badassery as a civil rights litigator.

Greetings Wesleyan community! Please enjoy the following updates from the Class of 2010:

We have three publications to report!

Rebecca Turkewitz recently published her debut book, a spooky, literary, short story collection titled Here in the Night, with Black Lawrence Press. It’s got dark New England woods, a boarding school murder mystery, queer ladies telling each other ghost stories, and lots of people still awake when they really should be sleeping! https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/here-in-the-night/

Phil Singleton adds, “I published my first novel and made it an audiobook as well! Daybreaker is the story of the titular spaceship as it ‘tows’ the earth to a new star after our sun mysteriously goes supernova.” Phil’s book can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/DAYBREAKER-Book-1-Phil-Singleton-ebook/dp/B0BX4SBBZK/

Carolyn Sinclair-McCalla recently published a children’s book entitled, We Can Walk Around with Everything. It is the Good News of Jesus Christ, penned to help parents and grandparents share their faith with their children, and beautifully illustrated by Kamar Thomas. It is available from Westbow Press, on Amazon, and wherever books are sold.

Shannon Sun-Higginson and Andrew Murphy were thrilled to welcome their daughter, Kira, in March of this year. Kira currently loves eating books, splashing around in the tub, seeing dinos at the museum, and shaking her shaky egg. Kira has loved meeting her aunts and uncles Yulhee Cho ’11, Gabriel Furtado, Samantha Sherman ’09, Tara Kahn Rooks,and Aaron Izakowitz .

Elizabeth Larner changed her last name to Leonard. She adds that she “finally got around to it after getting married more than four years ago.” And in more exciting news, she and her husband welcomed their second son, Adam, in August. 

Dan Heinrich Manuyag is currently based in Los Angeles and is fortunate to be still able to build community, travel, and create art with NYC–based Chelsea Rodriguez, Lorena Estrella, and Genesis Grullon through the Reading and Writing Rainbow Collective. This December he celebrated the adult Bar Mitzvah of Miles Tokunow in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mazel tov, Miles!

Lorena Estrella is back in the printshop dusting off old type, slinging ink, and learning the art of letterpress printing. She has also been advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza by making and distributing free posters and stickers, attending local protests, and reading Palestinian poetry. Dan Heinrich has joined Lorena in this effort by attending local rallies and sharing Lorena’s and other alumni’s protest artwork. Dan and Lorena are joined by Lex Horan, Leah Lucid, and Miles in encouraging alumni to move Wesleyan toward divestment from “companies profiting off Israeli occupation and apartheid.” Feel free to reach out to them for further details regarding a circulating alumni petition.

Thanks as always to those who contributed and, as always, feel free to pass along notes anytime to DavidALayne@gmail.com.

Please write to your class secretary.