CLASS OF 1992 | 2026 | SPRING ISSUE

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Hello, Class of 1992! It’s a new year and there’s plenty of news to share.

I start with sad news. Mary Newton Lima passed away on October 5 from cancer. She is survived by her husband, Ivan, daughters, Julia and Cecilia, her parents, Jim and Ann, and brother, Steven. A celebration of life was held in Falmouth, Massachusetts, in November, attended by Samantha (Ball) Karmel, Marit Alanen, Laura Fedolphi Marshall, among other classmates. Our condolences go out to Mary’s family and friends.

Since it is admissions season when I write this, we have a lot of Wesleyan legacy kids to celebrate. The Class of 2030 will include children of ’92 alums, including two from Seattle. Linda Perlstein’s son, Milo, was admitted ED and will be studying film. Corinne Drumheller’s daughter will also be joining the incoming class. And perhaps more to come once regular decisions are announced. In any event, they will have company: Jennifer Mittelstadt’s daughter just started at Wes this fall, joining her son who is currently a junior. Jennifer and her husband, Aaron Matthews ’93, are keeping the Wesleyan tradition going.

Speaking of Seattle, Scott Shapiro has been busy. He visited campus for the Admission 101 boot camp, then stayed in Boston to visit his son, Steele, a freshman at Northeastern. From there he took the train to Providence, staying with Jonathan Bell and Sarah Zurier, where they had dinner with Joe Hoefferle and his wife, Sabrina Witherby ’93. Then it was on to New York for brunch with Greg Vinton and his wife, Sunita Subramanian. And speaking of Boston-area connections, Christine Padian Bolzan’s daughter, AnnaSophia, is also a freshman at Northeastern with Scott’s son. Christine has a new job as vice chancellor of Experiential Education at Northeastern.

At a Wesleyan event in December, I ran into Susan (Hunt) Stevens, who is doing well and is on start-up number three with Tessi, using AI to help rebuild after natural disasters. In other professional news, Beth Shakman Hurd has a new book out—Heaven Has a Wall: Religion, Borders, and the Global United States from the University of Chicago Press. Oliver Lu received an MA in critical psychology from Prescott College and is now the assistant squash coach at Franklin & Marshall College.

David “Shadrack” Smith has big news: his documentary, Public Access, was accepted by Sundance! The film explores New York’s first public access channels. His partner, Charlotte Mangin, started a new job as director of development at DCTV in New York. And also in the world of arts, Elizabeth “Lisa” Liang premiered her new solo show Home at the Jaxx Theatre in East Hollywood—an intensely personal piece about her relationship with Guatemala. And Darcy Dennett is finishing two years at JPMorganChase, doing videos on art installations by Maya Lin, Leo Villareal, and Gerhard Richter.

My old housemate Simon Fulford opened a new $30M residential treatment campus for Parrott Creek Child & Family Services in Portland, Oregon, providing 40 residential beds to youth. Simon recently caught up with Anne Paris at her art studio in Portland.

Chris Chesak continues as executive director of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and is wrapping up his term as president of the Society of American Travel Writers. Jeremy Hornik is still designing slot machines in Chicago and now has a co-worker who was born after he started there. He and his wife, Sheila Quirke, have two children and recently hosted Jean (Gibbons) DiMaria. Karl Mergenthaler checks in from Westport, Connecticut—advisor at Morgan Stanley, married 20 years with two great daughters.

Joan Charlotte Matelli went back to Italy for the first time since the pandemic and also visited Kate Hellenga ’88 in San Francisco and met up with Matthew Wein in Berkeley. In more personal reunion news, I went to San Diego for a conference last summer and met up with Katheryn Berla, Hal Skinner, Diana (Strauss) Casey ’91, Liz Martin ’91, and Dan Grant ’91 for an Alpha Delta Phi meetup. It was great to see everyone!

Meredith Tarr writes from New Haven, where she’s worked at indie label MPress Records for over 20 years, tour managing artist Rachael Sage.

Welcome to several first-time contributors! Andrea Seebaum is living in Healdsburg, California, growing olives for olive oil. She frequently sees Emily (Johnson) Henn ’94 and Stephen Henn ’94. Ben Parrillo has taken time away from acting to build custom off-grid homes with his company Bunkrhome, currently finishing his own home in Joshua Tree with his wife, Sepi, and daughter Leon Soleil. And Marit Alanen shared that she just retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after 20 years.

That’s all for now. Please send me your news!

Adam

ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu