Tag: 1987

Hello Class of ’87. August was winding down as I wrote this, and you had news to share!

John Barney had a recent intergenerational Wes moment in Albuquerque when he ran into Quinn Mendelson ’17 at an urban agricultural garden cleanup and public meeting. Quinn is a team leader for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, and John is the planning manager for Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation. They are working together with many other local stakeholders to re-create urban alleyways as green spaces and safe spaces for the unhoused in the International District—the densest and most ethnically diverse zip code in New Mexico.

Michael Morris reports that he had the great fortune to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel while reconnecting with his awesome classmate and former tennis partner, Jeremy Mindich, in NYC in May. They caught up on 35 years and had a great time laughing about their time together back at Wesleyan.

Rebecca Bratspies published a book titled Naming Gotham: The Villains, Rogues, and Heroes Behind New York Place Names. It is a fun, gossipy history that raises some serious questions about who gets to decide what counts as history.  As the founding director of the CUNY Law School Center for Urban Environmental Reform, Rebecca is the author of a comic book series, The Environmental Justice Chronicles. The EPA awarded the series, made in collaboration with artist Charlie LaGreca-Velasco, its 2023 Clean Air Excellence Award for Education/Outreach. She also reports that she has a rising senior looking at colleges, and her Allen continues to compose while recovering from an illness.

Steven Kaminsky and his family recently moved back to Charlottesville, Virginia, after 20 years in Los Angeles. Steven continues to work in the movie business. His wife, Leslie Repetto (UVA ’96), works in advertising PR. Their daughter, Juliet, is in third grade and absolutely loves living in the country as much as he does.

In June 2022, Ken Mathews retired from 35 years in public education. Ken ended his career as the math supervisor for New Haven Public Schools, one of Connecticut’s largest and most economically challenged school districts. Ken’s wife also retired and they’ve done a bit of traveling. They hiked the Canadian Rockies at Banff National Park and they are regularly enjoying time in Punta Cana. Still, Ken didn’t rest for long! In September, Ken began work as a practitioner in residence at University of New Haven, teaching calculus. Ken has made good use of technology, filling his syllabus with hyperlinks to support his students. Instead of Khan Academy, he’s thinking he is more Ken Academy. (And that’s Kenough?) On the family front, Ken’s got a full house with three 20-somethings. In November, his son Alex, who moved out five years ago, will be moving back home. His daughter moved back in April, and the middle son never left. Ken is looking for advice from anyone who has more successfully mastered the art of getting their kids to leave permanently.

For many years, in her role with AARP, Grier Mendel lived in Seattle but worked on Washington, D.C., time. She retired from her position as communications manager in June and is testing out a life where she wakes up at home without worrying what time it is on the East Coast. This cavalier awareness of the clock didn’t last long as her daughter started school at Loyola University Maryland in the fall.

In March, Grattan Baldwin and his wife, Cristina, welcomed their daughter, Maria Luce Baldwin, into the family. He will be spending this fall on paternity leave. When he’s not on leave, Grattan works at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore where he is an associate professor of education.

As for me, I was re-orged out of a job during COVID. I started my own business, RZG Editorial Solutions, in 2020. I mostly work in educational publishing and I have done research, writing, and editing work on K–12 social studies and literacy programs for various clients. I’m expanding my base to include work with start-up nonprofits and really enjoying the work. I’ve also been doing some rewarding volunteer teaching with an organization that helps first-generation college students make the move from college to career. During each semester, I facilitate a cohort of students during a course to help them learn about networking, interviewing, and creating resumes and cover letters.

Finally, I have sad news to report: We recently learned that Joy M. Lambe passed away on May 3, 2018. Joy kept a journal that has been published as the book Finding Joy on the Path of Divine Health and Wholeness, documenting her experience with a terminal illness. Sending love to all who knew Joy.

As we were going to press, I received news that Brad Vogt passed away unexpectedly on September 20, 2023. His obituary can be read here. Condolences to his wife, children, and extended family.

Hope everyone is well. Go Wes!

Hello classmates! When I sent out an urgent request for notes because I lost the deadline in my inbox, you over delivered! Maybe this is a new strategy.

Gennifer Weisenfeld’s new book is Gas Mask Nation: Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan. She is the Walter H. Annenberg Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History at Duke. Her husband, Derek Jones, a principal at the architecture firm Perkins+Will, won an North Carolina AIA award for his library design.

Grattan Baldwin and his wife Cristina welcomed a baby girl, Maria Luce Frederica Baldwin, in March. Luce is strong and healthy, and her parents need sleep.

Hemanshu Nigam runs a new group at Venable LLP, an American Lawyer Global 100 firm in D.C. Venable Blue is a legal and consulting service that helps clients protect their reputation and manage risk online.

Did you see Daniel Rauch quoted in places like CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal? Dan advocates for pediatric inpatient care nationally, bringing attention to the decades-long reduction in pediatric hospital beds, especially in rural and underserved communities.

Sebastian Bennett’s novel Seasons of Yen, based on his experiences in Japanese advertising, was published in 2021, and his story collection, A Taste of Heaven, hit shelves in 2022. Sebastian gave ChatGPt the same 1983 challenge West College gave us: Why is a mouse when it’s spinning? Sebastian suggested it was a trick question that required a creative answer, and the AI engine returned, “The answer to this classic riddle is: The mouse is spinning because it wants to turn into a rat-tat-tat!”

Simon Connor runs a psychotherapy group practice in Seattle, hangs out with his eight-year-old daughter Gemma, and plays in a rock band with David Goldberg, Louie Hallie (son of late philosophy professor Philip Hallie), and Josh Cohen (nephew of late psychology professor Jeremy Zwelling).

Dr. Leslie Cannold lives in Melbourne, Australia, writing a column in Crikey often focused on learnings from the U.S.’s fragile democracy. She joined the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership as Head of Programs, working with Australia’s most senior public and private sector leaders.

Kim Wishart teaches anatomy and somatics to university dance students in Victoria, Australia. This brings her back to 1983, when she took Susan Lourie’s class at Pine Street studio. That class set her on a path of exploring and teaching movement through experiential learning, along with the general Wesleyan encouragement to experiment, create, and improvise. Skills for life!

Josh Bellin’s 2023 novel, Myriad, is a sci-fi thriller about a time-traveling law enforcement agent who goes back in time to stop crimes that have already been committed. This is his “adult” debut since he has published mostly young adult novels, but Josh says it is only for an older audience and not too salacious

John Dorsey’s younger child’s current housing lottery experiences remind him of the 1986 housing lottery. The group negotiations based on the size of the space; the thrill of getting a high number and perusing the offerings! John wound up in 2 and 4 Knowles Avenue, a house that no longer exists, on a street that has disappeared, with people who would continue to be part of his life—David Igler ’88, David Josephs, Holly Campbell Ambler, Sue Romeo Malestein, and Doug Koplow.

Lisa Pavlovsky works for a nonprofit called 10,000 Degrees, placing volunteer tutors in our country’s schools with the most need. She reports that Ron Fortgang continues to work in the field of negotiation; Elissa Wolf-Tinsman teaches at Colorado Academy; and Vivian Trakinski works at NYC’s Museum of Natural History, developing digital experiences. The museum’s newest wing includes a large-scale immersive venue called Invisible Worlds that Vivian’s been working on since Trump was elected president!

From London, Liz Rabineau says tourists are definitely back. She is a busy yet unofficial concierge service, greeting traveling family and friends. Liz enjoys the visits from President Roth ’78, who was hosted by 1987’s own Ian Rosen (also P’23) and his wife Sagra Maceria de Rosen in their Westminster home.

Shortly after the underwater volcano that sent a tsunami toward the island Kingdom of Tonga, Joe Crivelli linked up with friends Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga  and Jon Hare, Zooming between Suva, Fiji, where Giulio was serving at the University of the South Pacific, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to catch Jon who is the Science and Research Director, Northeastern Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, and Vicenza, Italy, where Joe lives. They also connected Giulio to Jim Flynn (not the same Jim from our class of ’87) at Woods Hole where their researchers are doing important work in that region of the Pacific Ocean.

Josh Calder was featured in a Romper article called “What Our Kids Lives Might Look Like According to Futurists.” He told Molly Langmuir ’03, a fellow Wesleyan alum, that there are many positive paths forward, all enabled by not despairing. Google the article!

Thanks for the fast turnaround! Till next time.

Hello, friends. This edition’s column seems representative of our Wesleyan experience. Judge for yourselves!

Jolie Parcher sent a note from Amagansett, New York, where she owns Mandala Yoga Center for Healing Arts. She launched Mandala Gives, a nonprofit branch of the studio, allowing her to provide yoga classes to those who have less access to it. She’s been offering yoga for Parkinson’s, chair yoga for seniors, yoga for first responders, and yoga at a local women’s shelter.

Nicholas Birns reports that his co-edited Companion to the Australian Novel launches in spring 2023 from Cambridge University Press. He is also very happy to be back teaching in person again!

Anne Undeland is busy playwriting, with the goal of developing great roles for women over 45. Her most recent play, Between the Sheets, just finished its run at Boston’s Gloucester Stage after an award-winning 2021 run in the Berkshires. Anne has had enjoyed seeing Elena Pappalardo-Day ’86, Emily Cowan ’86, Alex Fisher ’86, and Dan Bellow.

I got a report from Trish McGovern Dorsey and John Dorsey as they are getting into the swing of post-COVID life. They enjoyed a lovely in-house(!) dinner with Sue Romeo Malestein and her husband Rob (on their way home from Nova Scotia), along with Holly Campbell Ambler and Doug Koplow and their spouses. They are also getting back on the in-person theater and symphony cadence with Holly Campbell Ambler, Dennis Mahoney, and spouses. They met Eric Apgar to see the band Melt (whose lead singer is Veronica Frommer, daughter of Pauline Frommer ’88). Trish says, “Who would have thought we could stay up late enough for the main stage event starting at 10 p.m.? And how lucky that it helped improve our cool parents rating with our 20-somethings who adore the band.”

David Abramson writes, “I couldn’t attend the 35th, which was one week after picking up my daughter Hazel from her junior year at Wes. D.C. is just too far for two back-to-back trips. She’s run into her fellow classmate, Arlo Weiner, son of my former fellow Foss 5 hallmate and East European House housemate, Matt Weiner, once or twice.” David is working in the field of his major as a Russia analyst at the State Department. He’s going to London on detail at the U.K.’s State equivalent, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, for a few months in 2023. He is in touch with Skip Lockhart, Jessica Miller, Becky Riccio, Rich Monastersky ’86, and Janet Ginzberg. He writes that he tries to attend Tierney Sutton’s (’86) performances whenever she’s near D.C. She’s a jazz singer and stand-up comedian, and he says it’s like getting two shows for the price of one. David writes, “It’s been fun to reconnect with Wesleyan as an institution in new ways over the past decade, through my daughter’s eyes, in terms of speaking engagements, and renewing ties with my former professors—Duffy White, Priscilla Meyer, Susanne Fusso, and Irina Aleshkovsky—and those who arrived after I graduated—Peter Rutland and Victoria Smolkina.”

On to the relocation section!

After 24 years with Charles Schwab in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tom Pixley moved with his family to Shanghai in September to set up a representative office for Schwab in mainland China.

David E. Perryman and his family have relocated from Boerne, Texas, to Boone, North Carolina. He says it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump off the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail. David now manages communications for the provost/Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Appalachian State University. He’s teaching a class in leadership communications. An update on his kids: Braden (23) is in graduate school at Virginia Tech; Ethan (22) is a senior at Rice University; and Calvin (18) is a freshman at Connecticut College.

After nearly 30 years in Brooklyn, Bill Shapiro has moved to Taos, New Mexico, with his wife Naomi, where he continues to write (mostly about photography) and edit (mostly photo books). Brian Shelley and Nelly Taveras live in Albuquerque and he sees them often for skiing, mountain biking, and other adventures. Bill loves his new surroundings. We exchanged neighborhood pictures: He sent me a photographer’s shot of the gorgeous light in his yard and I returned a cell phone photo of the Northeastern fall foliage. My front-yard tree was bursting in  deep Cardinal red. (Am I a true Wesleyan alum, or what?)

Michael Bennet won re-election to his congressional seat for a third term, making Colorado the only state with two Wesleyan senators!

I have a fun Wes connection to report. My husband teaches digital art at Tenafly (New Jersey) High School where he has Steve Baldini’s daughter Ali in class. What a great way for me to connect with Steve who played such a key part of my Butterfield B frosh experience!

I got late news that Natasha Kraus died in December. Please send your memories of her so we can honor her in the next issue of this magazine.

Sending love till next time!

Several months after our 35th Reunion, I’m still smiling as I think of the wonderful conversations I had with so many of our classmates. Here’s an update:

Michael Bennet headlined a panel discussion about the state of American democracy, along with Robert Allbritton ’92, the founder and publisher of POLITICO. Many of the ’87 crew were in the audience at Crowell Concert Hall to hear the analysis. Take away for me: stay involved. Jeremy Mindich was on a panel about angel investors and how they decide how to invest capital.

Always looking for news to share here, I set up a table at the dinner to collect memories, and I shamelessly begged for participation. I got some notes. Naomi Mezey remembered having Michael Bennet as a TA for Modern American Novel, getting to be in Kim Sargent’s dances, and having a “spring fling” with Matt Paul during senior week that would change her life. In a separate note, Matt corroborated the story, adding that it was Bruno Weintraub’s senior week party where they met. They are now married and living in D.C.

Ken Mathews called out to me from his car near SciLi on Friday morning, but we missed seeing each other the rest of the weekend! Ken retired from his position as the supervisor of math at the New Haven Public Schools in June.

All over campus, we reconnected as if no time had passed. At our class dinner, I heard many conversations about the stage of life we’re in. Some are parenting kids who are navigating high school, touring colleges, or just out of school and working out the beginnings of their careers. Some are thinking about whether to retire or go the other way and amp up our careers. Some are hoping to travel. Some are downsizing; some are helping our parents. We stayed in the ’92 Theatre long after plates were cleared, pondering the questions, sharing the experiences, enjoying the company.

Those who couldn’t join us sent us some reflections too.

Giles Richter writes, “I was sorry to miss reunion this year, but I am still glowing from the great experience I had at the 25th, lingering in the shade by Butterfield C and the old Asia House at 200 College Street to reminisce about lifelong friends. Among them, I just got to see John and Susan (Toothaker) Skovron who visited with me this spring, and Debbie Krisher who I saw on my first trip back to Tokyo since the pandemic started. I am still working at Stanford managing the IUC Japanese overseas intensive program I attended 30 years ago.”

Alisa Kwitney remembered meeting her RA, Holly Harrison ’85—the start of a lifetime friendship. Now Holly and fellow alum Jim McManus’ (’85) daughter is starting as a freshling! Alisa also reports that her graphic novel GILT will be out soon, and you can tune in to Endless: A Sandman podcast to hear her memories of working on the comic and how the ’90s series was adapted into the Netflix show.

Michael Morris sent in these memories:

• Meeting my wife Djenne-amal Nubia at a MoCon dance party in ’83 while she visited her cousin Lyle Ashton Harris ’88
• Sitting in Downey House for hours after dinner with Zahara Deardre Duncan ’88, Joan Morgan, and Marilyn Anne McDonald Hendricks, dreaming about how we would change the world!
• Sitting in the sun on Foss Hill, listening to the smooth sounds of the Neville Brothers performing live.
• Seeing Jesse Jackson’s speech at Crowell Concert Hall. Who knew it was a prelude to his ’88 run for POTUS?

Michael Morris sent in his ID card. When we were students, we used our Social Security numbers for everything!

Despite the heat and humidity, the reunion on campus generated smiles and hugs, hundreds of group photos and selfies, a thousand small conversations, a million reconnections. The joyful weekend brought us back to our days as Wesleyan students. All too soon, we scattered back to our home bases, aging 35 years in the process.

Florence Dore has two new releases—a CD, Highways and Rocketships, and a new book, Ink in the Grooves: Conversations on Literature and Rock ‘n’ Roll. She says, “At Wes, I was a dB’s fan and an English major, studying Keats and rehearsing with my own band in an underground tunnel. After classes, in the glare of lamps stolen from dorm rooms, I sang, careful not to put my mouth too close to the microphone, experiencing a tiny, potent shock when I lost myself in the distortion and forgot. I married Will Rigby and got my PhD.

We have a Facebook group, a Spotify playlist, and a drive photo album of pictures from Reunion. Send me an email and I will share the information!

Till next time, friends!

Greetings, classmates! As I write, we are looking forward to our 35th Reunion and slogging through the dark days of winter in the U.S. Northeast. In anticipation of May’s Middletown events, the reunion committee hosted a Zoom social hour in the cold days of February. We split into first-year dorm breakouts and enjoyed reminiscing about when we were 18. And we brought some wonderful memories to life.

The Clark breakout talked about the noise of Olin construction and how it really upended morning sleep for many in the dorm—except for Michael Pruzan who is from New York City. To him, noise was noise. They laughed about the 8:30 a.m. weekly calls on the hall phone for Sue Romeo from her mom, who apparently hung on the line waiting for her, and Sue almost never arrived to pick up the phone. Then they remembered the amazing tip that Dave Perryman’s Clark roommates left him on his first lunch shift at Downey House. Amazing, that is, until he realized that Eric Apgar had rubber cemented all the coins and bills to the table. The group also discussed the great bathroom stall mystery of 1983–84, when some mischievous dorm mate stuffed a pair of blue jeans and shoes and propped it up in one of the stalls in the second-floor unisex bathroom. There, the solitary figure sat resolutely, maybe stolidly for several days. Like Rodin’s The Thinker, it was contemplating lofty principles, no doubt, until an intrepid group of students knocked on the stall door to see if everything was “okay in there.”

In the Butterfield group, Daria Papalia and I recalled Meteor Farm, a choral piece written by Professor Neely Bruce, that some of us performed in NYC’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This was a piece where each person in the choir sang an independent verse simultaneously, until the group joined together to sing METEOR FARM all at once. I demonstrated and people were surprised that I remembered my unique words and tune.

Sue Roginski told the Butterfield group that she had a bit of time on campus last fall with Molly Rabinowitz and Paul Blanchard. They walked around campus and through downtown Middletown together during a very rainy Homecoming weekend at Wes. During the pandemic, Sue has been working online, thanks to Zoom. The dance nonprofit she is a part of first paused during 2020, and then moved their dance events to the virtual platform in 2021. What has evolved because of that work is now the first-ever dance film festival in the Inland Empire. Hope you all can check that out on June 25th (www.placeperformance.org)!

The Butterfield group was entertained when Dave Robinson showed us all Chris Roellke’s commemorative bobblehead. I’ll let Dave take it from here. He writes: “For those that missed it (i.e., anyone who hasn’t come across one of Chris’s many social media sites), Chris Roellke became the 10th president of Stetson University on July 1, 2020.  That’s right, “Rolks” is now a university president.  To be honest, much like the grade he got in Constitutional Law at Wesleyan, he owes his presidency largely to me and my backroom maneuvering on his behalf. All kidding aside, due to the pandemic, the celebration of his presidency was postponed for more than a year, but on November 6, 2021, Chris was appropriately honored with an official inauguration. I had the privilege of contributing a short video testimonial that was played alongside other testimonials, including one from Wesleyan’s own president, during the ceremony on the Stetson campus in DeLand, Florida. In recognition of my contribution, I received a limited-edition Chris Roellke bobblehead. I’m sure Chris tried to convince the school to put him in a baseball or basketball uniform; alas, the bobblehead is decked in the traditional cap and gown.  Nevertheless, go Rolks, go Hatters!”

The reunion committee had one more of these calls in the spring. It was a great build up to our 35th! I hope you were able to make more memories of our time on campus if you were able to go back in May.

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’s son 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.