Hi! So much news, so little space. So here goes. Please see online notes for many more details—I had to edit mercilessly.

Bill Shapiro wrote: “As many of you know, Chris Molnar died—tragically and unexpectedly—in January of 2013. It was an extremely difficult year. Chris and I were no longer married but lived a couple of blocks apart and had been raising our two kids together. I’m happy to report that the kids, despite missing their mom tremendously, are doing really well. Couldn’t have done it without my girlfriend, Naomi, and support from Chris’ Wes friends. Workwise, I’m now leading strategic ventures and partnerships at Fast Company magazine. And then there’s this: I helped Keith Richards write a children’s book called Gus & Me, which is out in September.”

After 20 years in education and five years as a life coach, Lisa Pavlovsky is now manager of scholarship programs for the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

Claudia Center writes, “In March, I will leave my longtime (19 years!) position as a disability rights attorney at the Legal Aid Society—Employment Law Center. In April, I will join the ACLU Foundation’s Equality Center as a disability rights attorney. I will be working out of the ACLU’s San Francisco office.

Beth Mix is working for the Manchester Youth Service Bureau coordinating positive youth development programs and advocating to keep kids out of the juvenile justice system. She is married and is raising two young sons.

Amy Baltzell is working on a new book entitled, The Cambridge Companion to Mindfulness and Performance. “I have 23 authors from around the world contributing chapters…We are learning that when we help performers accept unwanted thoughts and feelings—instead of trying to change them—that this helps tremendously with high-pressure performance and learning new skills. Other than that, our 8-year-old girl, Zoey, is playing boys’ lacrosse and is an avid Irish step dancer; our 10-year-old boy, Luke, is unicycle–crazed, and Shayna, our 5’7″ 12-year-old, is a ballet dancer.”

Elizabeth Kromelow Dietz got her coach’s level- one certification with USA Hockey last fall and instructed group and private skating lessons at Lasker Rink in Central Park this season. Krom’s younger son, James Dietz ’18, will attend Wes, joining his brother, Max Dietz ’16. Fun!

Last July, John Snyder left his position as director of the teaching clinic at Baystate Children’s Hospital and joined Amherst Pediatrics, a small private practice in Amherst, “I also remain actively involved in promoting science-based medicine, including writing for sciencebasedmedicine.org.

Andrew Hall has been playing jazz bass with a few different groups here in the New York City area. “When I’m not working, I’m either cooking, fooling about with our pair of Bengals, getting dirty in the garden, playing tennis, or just lolling around our lovely Jersey City townhouse with my wife, Lauren. Anyone heard from Andy Liss ’88?”

Sue Roginski has really planted seeds and rooted herself in Riverside, Calif. She is committed to making the city a “hub” for dance. She’s hopeful a few new events will encourage dancers to stay: Trolley Dances Riverside and dance­STORM. Check out info on placeperformance.org and visit Sue if you are in L.A….please?

Eileen Deignan has “had a good year for catching up with Wesleyan friends while in Colorado. Johanna Van Hise Heart and Simon Heart are in Boulder with their three beautiful children. Eric Peterson is back in Denver after a few decades away in Zaire and Arizona. He and his wife, Anne, also have three beautiful children. Eric is a family medicine physician. Eric and I had a great time looking through pictures and recalling adventures in his orange VW bug. I live in Newton, Mass., with my husband Victor and two sons.”

Simon Connor is married to Melissa Hadfield and lives in Seattle. He works as a psychotherapist in private practice, and plays in a rock band.

From Andrew Gaines: “I expect others of you have, or are about to have, the similar experience of crossing the big 50. I think it’s a moment for which one can make any meaning, complete any yearning, or simply allow to pass with a wee bit of recognition. That said, I recognize that as I near this supposed threshold life is fuller, busier and more engaged than ever. And my work as executive director of Ashby Village (ashbyvillage.org) continues to deepen and grow.”

Linda Malias Passaro headed back to Wesleyan for the career weekend in February. “Reconnected with old classmates and helped students on interviewing skills and developing ‘personal brands.’ Working now on getting summer interns and some graduates into permanent job placements. Amazing how the campus has grown but the spirit of the school remains so consistent after all these years! The visit was good for my soul.”

From Tim Sheridan: “After 10 years with Razorfish, I’m now digital creative director at Burrell Communications in Chicago and I’ve also been teaching at the Chicago Portfolio School.”

AJ Salerno “got a visit from Ted Galo ’85 and new girlfriend this weekend—dinner and laughs. Ted is JV hockey coach at Hingham High School. Ran into Tony Antonellis ’86 and his wife at the Wellfleet Oyster Festival in October. He gave me a hard time for wearing an Amherst football hat that my cousin gave me! From the looks of things, you can actually wear a Wesleyan football hat with pride for the first time in a while.”

Hope Salzer became president of her local League of Women Voters. “Even more exciting, I was voted to the board of a California-wide, grassroots, public education advocacy organization. The organization, Educate Our State, educateourstate.org, has taken the courageous step of filing a public ballot initiative in California that would prevent the state from siphoning off 25 percent of the local property taxes that are allocated to K through 14 education (schools and community colleges) and using it for other things.”

Lastly, I (Amanda) just want to report that Rob Campbell became a father this past February (a baby boy), and had a Broadway show open a month later. He was amazing in the play about LBJ and is overjoyed albeit exhausted. Such good news. Another highlight of the season was seeing Matt Paul and Naomi Mezey—love them always.

Until next time,

Amanda Jacobs Wolf | wolfabj@gmail.com

1988

Muzzy Rosenblatt may even be more ubiquitous in NYC than he was at Wesleyan. In the span of a couple of weeks this past fall, I ran into him at a fundraising breakfast for our favorite US Senator (Michael Bennet), I saw him moderate a fascinating panel of some of Wesleyan’s most illustrious New York public policy minds (John Rhea, Shola Olatoye ’96, Sharon Greenberger ’88, John Alschuler ’70) at a “Future of the City” discussion regarding the challenges our new mayor will face, and then I opened up my New Yorker magazine on Nov. 11 to find a letter Muzzy wrote on the work he’s done with the BRC! And he did it all wearing his big red cardinal costume!

In addition to Muzzy, I was lucky enough to lay eyes on a number of classmates recently. I saw Rob Campbell give an amazing performance at Playwrights Horizons last November. I ran into Michael Pruzan at a book party for his sister-in-law Tracey Winn Pruzan ’85, and I got to have a long overdue lunch with my old roomie Lisa Abroms Herz. I also saw Molly Renfroe and her husband, Dan Katz ’85, at a party this fall.

Mark Pinto wrote in: “Little change here. Still living in Tacoma, Wash., with my partner, Jeff Williams, and working as a residential real estate broker. Just got back from a great trip to Barcelona. Looking forward to seeing classmates Jennifer Bush and Grier Mendel in Seattle in a few weeks.”

Imagine my delight to receive this e-mail from Joss Whedon: “For reasons too complex even for me to understand, I have not been killed. I have however had my consciousness transferred into the body of a very old (and rather bald) man, and I’m planning a strongly worded letter on the subject. I am splitting my time between LA (which is a desert) and England (which is like Eden except you can eat an apple and nobody gets huffy about it), where I’m working on a startlingly original idea I call a ‘superhero franchise.’ My progeny, in fifth and third grades respectively, are thoughtful, funny, and considerate, so I am demanding a paternity test. In my spare time I enjoy not having any spare time. I keep in touch with almost no one from our days of salad except Thomas Plotkin ’86, whom I seldom actually see but who lives forever in my heart and should really get a place of his own.”

Also in West Coast news, Richter Hartig was promoted by Starz to senior vice president for original programming production finance.

Joshua Bellin writes “The big news in my life is that my debut novel, a young adult science fiction novel titled Survival Colony Nine, has been accepted for publication (it’s due out next year).”

Stephen Porter reports that he is “happily living the midwestern whitebread life in St. Paul, Minn. I work as a research scientist at the local VA hospital studying antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Melissa and I have now been married for 21 years. Our son, Daniel ’16, is a sophomore at Wes. This was entirely his idea. He is living in WesCo, is in CSS, and claims to be working really hard. Wesleyan has truly proven to be a great fit for him. There is nothing like watching your child thrive at your alma mater to prove what a great school Wesleyan truly is!”

“Thanks to the support of many Wes alums and other good people,” writes Tim Sheridan, “we hit our Kickstarter goal in July. The book, Thunder & Lightning: a Story for a Stormy Night, is now available at thunderlightning.bigcartel.com.

Leslie Cannold wrote, “I do have news! My third book, The Book of Rachael, which went into a second printing here in Australia is being published in the US this December! It will be the feature title for my publisher, and continue to be prominent in their advertising through January as it is seen as a great holiday gift for anyone (Christian, Jew, Atheist, Feminist, etc.) who likes a ripping historical yarn with great sex. You can find out more about the book here: cannold.com/articles/article/the-book-of-rachael.”

Nancy Dobrow Bean “lives in the Pioneer Valley, Western Mass., with my husband, Mike, and our three daughters, Grace (9), Julia (15) and Maddi (18). Maddi just started her freshman year at Emory in Atlanta this September. Big change in the household! The girls are all singing and dancing, playing soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, skiing, hiking… we don’t sit around much! Mike sells organic coffee and our house generally smells like roasted coffee and wine. We are surrounded by farms, the Mt. Tom and Skinner Mountain Range, Mt. Holyoke Mountains, and the Connecticut River. We are also adjacent to our rivals at Amherst College! My event marketing and production company, Wise Up Events, is based in Boston. We just wrapped up production for the Taste of WGBH Food & Wine Festival in September, and the James Beard Foundation Taste America Tour in October. Now we gear up for full pre-production for the Nantucket Wine Festival. I am co-owner and director of the NWF. It takes about 11 months to produce, includes 50 different events over five days, and takes place every May. This May will be our 18th annual festival. I stay in touch regularly with my BFF Sibyll Carnochan Catalan, and would love to connect with other Wes alums! Best to reach me at: nancy@wiseupevents.com or cell: 617/755-5523.”

Joe Crivelli wrote in to tell me he regularly posts information on WesConnect, but that it feels like his own personal blog since he can never find other classmates posting. Feel free to join Joe and post your news on WesConnect, too—maybe it will catch on.

Have a happy and healthy 2014!

Amanda Jacobs Wolf
wolfabj@gmail.com