Tag: 1984

Hello, classmates! By the time this issue comes out, Reunion will have come and gone, so next time I hope to share some stories from our 40th.

Arthur Haubenstock recalls the major earthquake that he experienced the day after he arrived in San Francisco. That did not dislodge him from the West Coast, but his new position in D.C. as chief strategy advisor for the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains Office did. Art is helping to “fix the foundation for today’s energy system and ensure it is strong enough to support the clean, equitable energy transition we all want for our future.” His newest daughter was born in D.C., and he has enjoyed mini-reunions with Andy Tauber and Lisa Rein.

Last year Susie Sharpe shared the news about her TEDx talk and many opportunities opened up for her. She has retired from internal medicine and moved across the country to Sarasota. Susie met Michael Murphy in Sarasota and was thrilled to find out he was a fellow classmate. Susie was recently featured on the cover of Ranch Magazine.

Gail Farris and husband, Jay Farris, met up with Marmie Bowman and her husband, David Hunter, in Maryland last fall. And her three-year-old grandchild, Killian (daughter of Kim ’14), loves to sing the Wesleyan fight song.

Joe Pieropan does not have news but sent in a picture of his red-and-black Mazda Miata with vanity plate WESU84.

Hello, Classmates,

A short update:

Tyler Anbinder, who you will remember from last issue, is publishing a book in March about the Irish emigration to New York and reports he hears regularly from Jeddy Lieber and Leah Chang ’95.

Ophelia Papoulas had the pleasure of attending her first Burning Man this year. She had a wonderful time, despite the difficult circumstances of the final couple of days. She’d like to know if there are any Wes folk who have gone or are planning to go.

Parul Kapur Hinzen’s debut novel, Inside the Mirror, about twin sisters who struggle against family and society to become artists in 1950s India in the aftermath of Empire, will be published by the University of Nebraska Press in March 2024. The novel won the AWP Prize for the Novel, judged by Brandon Hobson, who called it “a beautiful and ambitious work of fiction.” Parul fondly remembers her first creative writing course with Professor Phyllis Rose and abides by George Eliot’s adage: “It is never too late to be what who you might have been.”

Susan Howard, along with Jessica Posner ’09, created a role-playing video game called Go Nisha Go, based on her Indian mother’s decision to delay marriage and choose education.     It won the Best Learning Game at the 2023 Games for Change Festival in New York City, out of 340 entries. The game was developed by Howard Delafield International, cocreated with adolescent girls in India, with the input of several partners in many fields. The contributing organizations include Girl Effect, headed by Jessica. Susan is developing a companion game for boys.

Michael Lewyn continues his career as a law professor at Touro Law Center, and blogs on urban planning issues at planetizen.com. He is pleased to announce that he is now married, making him a stepfather.

Finally, Stephanie Fleischman caught us up with her latest project. She wrote the libretto for the new opera, Tevye’s Daughters, with composer Alex Weiser, based on the Isaac Bashevis Singer short stories that inspired Fiddler on the Roof. It had a first workshop in November 2023 in New York City.

Reunion approaches!

Hello, Classmates,

Thank you for all your news updates. Please read to the end for some upcoming changes.

As I reported in my email to the class, we note the sad passing of classmate Leah Rugen, husband of Anthony (Andy) Boral, in January 2023. Leah was a high school English teacher, and found her way to education reform, creating engaging project-based curricula. She was a lay leader at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brookline, and played classical and folk guitar in her private time. Her obituary is found at this address: https://www.faggas.com/obituary/leah-rugen.

We have also just been informed of the passing of Gloria Golus Ford in early September, in Midlogian, Virginia. Gloria retired from a career as a medical relations officer for Social Security Disability, and in retirement turned her sewing hobby into a small business (Peapod Stichery). She is survived by her husband of 29 years, Martin, and their son and daughter-in-law. Her obituary can be read here.

Gail Farris reports and she and Jay have two future Cardinals with the arrival of granddaughter Caitlin in March to their daughter, Kim Farris Buckley ’14. Their two-year old grandson, Killian, loved having the Wesleyan Spirits in Atlanta in early March and enthusiastically says, “GO WES!” at the end of The Fight Song. (Can’t start early enough!)

Murrey Nelson is happy to say she has finally retired. After 20 years in the corporate world (publishing and fashion) and 17 years as a nonprofit fundraiser, she decided she was ready to have a life of freedom. While she has no big plans at the moment (other than taking the time to enjoy San Francisco and all it has to offer), she is planning to travel and expand her volunteer activities.

Scott Pearson and his wife, Diana Farrell ’87, have relocated from D.C. to Mountain Village, Colorado (a beautiful ski town right next door to Telluride), now that their children are long out of the house. He has been elected as mayor pro tem and has already started to dig into the most pressing issues: affordable housing, quality health care in a rural setting, and climate change.

Book announcements:

*Jonathan Sadowsky notes that his last book, The Empire of Depression: A New History, has been translated into Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, and Turkish. He is also co-editor for the six-volume Cultural History of Madness, forthcoming from Bloomsbury Press in 2025.

*Andy Behrman is working on a sequel to his first book, Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania, published by Random House. The sequel will be about mental health, love, marriage, and divorce and just slightly more risqué than the first book. 

*Tyler Anbinder is publishing Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York (Little Brown) in March 2024. The book uses the newly digitized and indexed census records (like the kind you see on Ancestry.com) to trace the lives of hundreds of famine immigrants and argues that the immigrants, thought to have had few opportunities to advance in America due to discrimination, poverty, and their lack of education, actually had a lot of upward mobility.

(Tyler also informs us that he regularly has lunch with Forrest Maltzman ’86, his former colleague at George Washington University, and frequently sees his neighbor, Leah Chang ’95, whose own new book, Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power, is fabulous and came out in August. Tyler’s niece, Rebecca Baron ’23, just graduated from Wes.)

Last time, we reported that Susie Sharpe had given a TED Talk, but now we can share with you (months after the fact) the URL, so you can give it a watch:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3WWnhgasvo.

Besides his book news, Andy Behrman (longtime resident of Los Angeles) is fundraising for the Democratic Party in several key congressional races across the county. His daughter, Kate, is beginning her freshman year at Trinity College, where she was named the Hillel Scholar of the Class of 2027, for demonstrating academic excellence and a commitment to Jewish community through leadership. Her sister, Emma, is 16, but still wears a Wesleyan sweatshirt.

And finally, Andy has also asked to take over secretary duties for our class. As this summer marks my 10th year at this post, it is the perfect time to turn it over. For the next notes, Andy and I will work together, and I will say my farewells then.

Until next time,

Michael

Hello again, Classmates. Let me share some updates from our far-flung WesFriends.

Dana Sachs has a new book coming out this year (All Else Failed: The Unlikely Volunteers at the Heart of the Migrant Aid Crisis, published by Bellevue Literary Press).    Much of her research was done while working with Humanity Now, visiting relief teams in Greece. (Her editor Erika Goldman ’81 also went to Wesleyan). Her travels have allowed her to cross paths with a number of friends, and she hopes to make it to reunion next year.

In other book news, Parul Kapur Hinzen will publish her novel Inside the Mirror, about twin sisters who aspire to become artists in 1950s India, to be published by University of Nebraska Press in early 2024. She won the 2022 AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Prize, judged by Brandon Hobson. The novel touches on the art of Bharata Natyam, whom Parul studied at Wesleyan. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and son, after having spent a few years in Wallingford, Connecticut, among horses and old apple orchards.

Susie Kang Sharpe follows up on her November notes with an update that she has recently been accepted as a TEDx speaker and will deliver her speech at the University of Washington (Seattle) in April 2023 (which will already have occurred by the time you receive this).

Sally Bromage Suhr had a lot of news for us last time and wrote in again to report on her minireunion luncheon with Tammy Kahn and Liz Engelberg on a recent NYC trip.    She did not provide a picture, assuring us that the three of them are unchanged from their Wesleyan days.

Michael (Misi) Polgar provides more detail on his Open Educational Resource (OER) on the Holocaust, which we first heard about last August. It is associated with the Sh’ma Project and is free online at https://psu.pb.unizin.org/holocaust3rs/.

It is my sad duty to report the death of our classmate, Christopher Romeo, who passed on March 8. We learned of this from his sister, Susan Romeo Malestein ’87. His obituary at dignitymemorial.com speaks of his time at Wesleyan and the New England School of Law; of his love of fishing, trivia, and the Red Sox; and of his distinguished community service career on the Board of Selectmen and Board of Tax Assessors in Westford, Massachusetts.

I have some personal news of some import. My son Garrick having waited, with great frustration, through the pandemic for a chance to get his life started, has finally spread his wings. I am thrilled that he is now in Taiwan (Taoyuan City) teaching English. Mostly we get pictures of what he is eating.

Finally, I will say again how much I have enjoyed being class secretary for the last 10 years but will welcome a volunteer for the passing of the baton. If interested in details, email me at the usual place.

Until next time,

Michael

Hello, Classmates!  Here is news from our far-flung alumni.

From Dana Safran, I got a lengthy, multicharacter report. Dana, Deb Kacanek, Andrea Roman, and Carol Einhorn met on the beautiful North Fork of Long Island this summer to celebrate four decades of friendship and were feeling pretty damn sensational at 60.

Debhas been enjoying 60th celebrations with Wesleyan friends while obnoxiously reminding them that she has yet to reach that milestone (at least when this update was sent to me some months back).  When she is not sluggishly watching a Marvel movie with her husband Roger, 11-year-old daughter Sasha, and dog Luna in Jamaica Plain, she is a social epidemiologist at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health where she leads research on violence and the health of women who are living with (or who are at risk for) HIV in the U.S. and southern Africa.

Andrea lives with her husband Tom in Newton, Massachusetts, still living in the same house where they brought up their three kids, who are now in their 20s and off and about. For work, Andrea chairs the board of her family’s media company, the Taunton Press, Inc.

Danareports that she and her husband Alan are now living it up as empty nesters with part-time residence in Dupont Circle (D.C.) and part time in Newton, Massachusetts, because of Dana’s D.C.–based job as CEO of the National Quality Forum.  Their three adult kids are living in LA, D.C., and Brooklyn. Their adopted labrador, Colbie (age eight) happily transitions with Dana and Alan between life in D.C. and Massachusetts.

After stints as a performing singer-songwriter, music journalist, and fundraiser for music education, Carol now serves as director of Institutional Advancement at Library of America, a nonprofit dedicated to publishing and celebrating the canon of great American writing. She and her teenage son live in Brooklyn, delightfully close to Prospect Park, the Botanic Gardens, farmers’ markets, and food trucks.

Sally Bromage Suhr and her husband Scott both retired in August and took a lovely two-week trip to France. While in Paris they attended an evening concert at Sainte-Chapelle, and as they were seated in this fairly intimate setting, the two groups around them were in a buzz discovering they were both Wesleyan grads! They enjoyed the concert and visiting with Owen Bennion ’09 and Richard (Dick) Emerson ’68.  Not only was Dick a fellow Wes grad, but he grew up in Florham Park, New Jersey, as did Sally, and that his roommate at Wesleyan was her father’s cousin, Bill Bromage ’68! Petit monde!

Sadly, her father, Edward Bromage ’59, passed away in September. They always enjoyed sharing an alma mater, 25 years apart. While planning his memorial service, she got to catch up with some of his Delta Tau fraternity brothers and their families. Some of her father’s best tales were about his fraternity life, and Sally is glad he got to share his stories of being a bit of a rascal with his grandchildren!

Jim McGonagle sends congratulations to Bob Barringer and Pat Costello on their election to the Wesleyan Football 1980s All-Decade Team. The All-Decade Team was honored with a dinner and induction ceremony on November 3rd, then recognized again at halftime of the Wesleyan-Williams Homecoming football game the next day. Caught up with other class of 1984 members including Joel Armijo, Scott Spague, and Jackie Gilson Marraffa, who was there with her son Nick ’18 to accept the All-Decade Award for her late husband, Bob Marraffa ’82.

Susie Kang Sharpe had an exhibit in Madrid and another successful show in Paris in October. She also won two top awards at international art competitions this fall, while maintaining a busy medical practice. Her story as a physician-artist has been featured in 20-plus magazines, TV, and podcasts. You can check out her artwork at https://www.susiesharpe.net. She ships worldwide, and her proceeds go to her philanthropic work.

Michael Lewyn has had a pretty unexciting year, but continues to teach at Touro Law Center, lives in Manhattan, and contributes the occasional scholarly article, and blogs at marketurbanism.com.

Finally, let me take a personal note and observe that I will be coming up on my 10th anniversary of becoming class secretary. It is getting to be time to pass the baton to another classmate and let someone else have the pleasure of hearing from everyone. If you are interested in chatting about the post, please contact me at the email below.

Until next time,

Michael

Hello, Classmates!

Jim McGonagle submitted news just a little too late for the last outing. Bob Barringer was inducted into the Wesleyan Baseball Wall of Fame along with four others during a ceremony on Andrus Field on Saturday, April 30, 2022. He was recognized for his baseball achievements during his four years as an “offensive force” for the Cardinals.  Joining Bob and his family were 1984 classmates Steve Peck, Joel Armijo, Scott Sprague, as well as Jim; along with Todd Mogren ’83, Ken Janik ’85, Tony Rella ’86, Charlie Galland ’86, Ken Johnson ’86, Tim Sullivan ’87, and Michael Cooper ’87.

Stephanie Fleischmann also wrote just past the wire to give news of her opera collaboration with composer Christopher Cerrone, In a Grove. The opera is adapted from Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s story and created in collaboration with director Mary Birnbaum.   Originally commissioned by LA Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera production is available for streaming on YouTube.

Laura Simon thinks it is crazy how old we are all getting. She is (currently and still) the president of the Connecticut Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and does consulting work helping suburban/urban communities resolve wildlife issues and learn to coexist.   The current hot topic is black bears, as they are popping up in backyards throughout the state.

Michael (Misi) Polgar is coediting an open educational resource (OER) on the Holocaust. I am happy to pass along any messages to Misi if you want to know more about this project.

David Knudsen has recently launched Everything Set Inc., a start-up in the East Bay (with help from other Wes alums). His company, which is deep into beta testing, uses advanced AI on crowd-sourced real-time data to keep smart devices safe and secure.     His company website is everythingset.com, where you can get information about their Early Access program.

Mark Randles recently attended the wedding of Andy Peretz in Delray Beach, Florida, where he saw Jay and Gail Farris. Mark says it was the best wedding band he had ever seen, and Andy sat in with them on the drums (with wife Stephanie on cowbell). Mark also went to Kansas City and met up with James Glickman, Michael Bailit, David Booker, Hans Schweiger, and Bill Barry to enjoy a weekend of baseball games and museums. This Wes group has been meeting for 21 years at this point—they are headed to Toronto next year.

Paul Landau has a new book, Spear: Mandela and the Revolutionaries, which he has been working on for 12 years. His BA thesis (with Jeff Butler) was on U.S. policy in South Africa, so this book is a culmination of his study; Paul is a full professor at the University of Maryland, teaching the history of Africa, masked. His wife Emily teaches high school at Georgetown Day School (where Ketanji Brown Jackson is on the board).  Daughter Zoe is taking a year off from Oberlin, and Penelope is a junior counselor at Brown Ledge Camp this summer.

Paul lives a few blocks from the Capitol and had a front-row seat for the events of January 6. He lives on a pleasant and tree-lined street, but is in close proximity to homelessness, addiction, shootings, and other systemic municipal problems stemming from structural disinterest and federal neglect of the District. It is not lost on him that he is “getting ready again to teach about shantytowns, race, the role of self-told narratives in mobilizing, strong drink, the contest for public space, and White nationalism in apartheid South Africa.”

Susie Kang Sharpe is thrilled to have another exhibit of her artwork in Europe. This time it’s in Madrid, Spain. She ships her art to her fans to worldwide. Her work can be viewed: https://www.susiesharpe.net. She still enjoys being a physician and recently switched from traditional internal medicine practice to telemedicine. She loves the flexibility it provides. She is a frequent guest of many podcasts.

Maria Mead has been living in Santa Cruz, California, for the past 21 years. She is married and has two adult kids, who also live in California. She is a semiretired family practice physician—now busy with public health, trying to save our democracy, and reading and traveling as much as she can. Recently she got together with Jonathan Schwartz ’87 and Sophie Ziegler ’85, Heidi Wasch and Bob Leversee, and Veronica Masterson ’85. She is eager to hear from people visiting the Bay Area and can be reached at mariamead@gmail.com (and I have permission to forward her phone to other alums).

Kristin Kellom Damon continues to live in the beautiful Connecticut River Valley within the tri-state area of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. She has officially retired from Northfield Mount Hermon where she worked for nearly three decades serving in a variety of roles, most recently as director of alumni and donor relations within the Advancement Office. She is relishing the extra time with family, especially being with her two sons as they launch their lives in college and beyond. In this particularly unsettled world, she increasingly appreciates the little things (that aren’t so little).

Finally, Molly (Willey) Tierney announces that she is a “grandma,” and welcomes baby boy Asher born to her daughter in May 2022.

Until next time.