CLASS OF 1982 | 2026 | SPRING ISSUE

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Greetings, classmates.

Jonathan Weber’s first book, City on the Edge: Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco (Simon & Schuster) comes out June 9. The book chronicles the city starting in the ’90s—in its post-hippie phase, still reeling from a recent earthquake, the AIDS epidemic, and the assassinations of its two foremost politicians—to the rise of the internet and becoming the global capital of technology. As a longtime San Franciscan who read the manuscript, I’m excited about the launch of his exhaustively reported and lively book. After turning in the manuscript, Jonathan and his wife Karen spent time traveling in Europe and Southeast Asia; ask him about his encounter with a baby elephant.

After 13 years as host of public radio’s Marketplace Morning Report, David Brancaccio will become Marketplace’s “Secretary of the Future,” a senior correspondent focused on policy and personal financial decisions with long-term consequences. The beat is inspired by Kurt Vonnegut, who spoke out on the dangers of short-term thinking in a TV interview with David. “No country has ever had a Secretary of the Future,” Vonnegut said. “There are no plans for our children and grandchildren.” Prior to his transition, David produced a series about rebuilding after the California wildfires, centered on neighbors along one street in Altadena where David and his wife Mary also lost their home. Sorry for your loss, David, but eager to hear what you’re doing in the future.

David Hessekiel sold the two brands that made up his social impact conference and digital information business, Engage for Good and the Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum, to a pair of social entrepreneurs. Now he’s having fun returning to his roots in journalism (he wrote not just for The Argus, but The New Haven Register, where he met his wife, Andi, when they were cub reporters), writing for The Rye Record, where Andi is the deputy editor.

Over the past several decades, jazz musician Bill Anschell has been writing short pieces poking fun at the gigs that non-marquee jazz artists, including himself, play to make a living. At first, he just sent them to friends, then some got attention on online jazz sites and The Wall Street Journal, which wrote that one story “is being passed among economist-bloggers as a comic case study in market dysfunction.” Bill has updated, expanded, and collected all the pieces in Benched, which is self-published and available through most online booksellers.

Gabriel Cohen has a nonfiction book coming out in March titled The Frankenstein Fix: Why Big Tech Goes Astray and What We Can Do About It. He also has a crime novel, Where You’ll Find Me, coming out in August, inspired by the true story of a guy who stole a bucket of gold from the momentarily open and unguarded armored truck in Manhattan.

Michael Lucey has spent his time since January at All Souls College, Oxford—the last sabbatical of his UC Berkeley career. He’ll retire on January 1, 2027, which he views as an extended sabbatical for writing, playing music, and doing yoga. While in Oxford, he’s been working on a couple of projects, including a new translation of André Gide’s novel The Counterfeiters.

Courtney Briggs Melton has practiced law at Derrick & Briggs, LLP, for 32 years and currently serves as president of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation. She is based in Oklahoma City with her husband, Tim Melton, and their three girls, and has enjoyed reconnecting with Wesleyan friends while traveling, including Susan and Nick Webb ’84, Susannah Gray, George Russell ’83, Janice Okoomian ’83, Belinda Davis ’81, and Peter Appelbaum ’81.

Seeking adventure, Bob Russo, John Brautigam, Michael Greenstein, Anthony Pahigian, Tom Davis, Mike Levine (and brave spouse Liz Allison), along with Steve Davies ’83, ventured to northern Minnesota for a five-day canoe trip. They experienced a downpour, some questionable and questioned navigation, political commiseration, and three varieties of biting insects. That was balanced by Bob and Steve’s successful fishing and cooking, beautiful campsites, challenging portages, and the awesome silence of the Northwoods.

I’m sad to report that Philip Helfer, the son of longtime Wes professor James H. Stone and a Middletown friend to many in our class, died recently in Santa Barbara after a brief illness.

On a personal note, thanks to those of you who read my (Laura’s) Guardian article about assisted living and answered with such thoughtful notes about your own experiences with aging relatives, your plans for aging well, and some smart ideas about what we can do as a society to improve the situation.

Liz Feigelson wrote that she continues to be inspired by so many of her Wesleyan friends: “Denise Joseph to draw, Mary Purpura ’84 to plant, Pearl Raz ’81 to learn, Renée Green ’81 to experience art, and Heather Baker-Sullivan to hold onto old friends.” May we all continue to be inspiring and hold on to those old friends!

Finally, a few book suggestions from our classmates:

Catharine Arnold: This Is Happiness by Niall Williams

Liz Feigelson: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride; The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows); and My Friends by Fredrick Backman

Emilie “Bunny” Attwell: Careless People by Sarah Wynn Williams; and She Kills by Skip Hollandsworth. Emilie also sent in this photo:

And one final photo: Some of our classmates gathered last summer at Bruce Crain’s lake house in Morris, Connecticut, to celebrate Class of ’82 Medicare Day.

Warmly,

Laura and Michael