Tag: 1988

Happy fall, classmates. Steve writes for this column.

Josephine Colon wrote in to catch up with life events and smiled at my reference to ’88ers “gittin’ old!” You see, she was originally in the Class of ’76, took a personal leave, and returned—with two small boys—to graduate with us in the Class of ’88. To her Wesleyan bachelor’s degree in government, she added a master’s in education and a postgraduate certificate in teaching middle school math from Quinnipiac University. After a career in human resources in Manhattan, she returned to Connecticut, changed careers to certified school teaching, and retired in 2015. She now enjoys giving back through volunteering, mostly as a literacy tutor, and does her own art. “Much peace to all of you!—Josephine.”

Robert Garcia joins the list of ’88ers who are published authors. His memoir Bobbito’s Book of B-ball Bong Bong hit the shelves in July and was published by fellow Wesleyan alum Johnny Temple at Akashic Books. It’s an intimate view into his life as a ballplayer, announcer, and performer and dives into the folklore and history of the game. 

Jenifer McKim is working in public media and was recently promoted to editor of investigations and podcasts at GBH News in Boston. She’s bumped into several Wesleyan alums in recent travels—people doing mission-driven work—and remains always proud of the connection.

Cynthia Hall has been living outside Worcester, Massachusetts, for 10 years with her twin boys, Allo and Ozzy, who just turned 18. She moved to Massachusetts from Venice, California, and says that the opportunity to work at University of Massachusetts Medical School is worth enduring the cold New England winters. Spring may have been “crazy with graduation and applying to colleges,” but brought great results: Allo is starting at University of Massachusetts at Amherst in civil engineering; Ozzy will join the pre-pharmacy program part time at Quinsigamond Community College. Cynthia likes to take the opportunity to warm up by visiting Los Angeles annually and plans to meet up with Adam Sigel ’91, Janet O’Shea ’90, and Jason Matzner ’92. She recently caught up with Lisa Bender and Andy Ruskin ’87 in Washington, D.C., and says everyone is well . . . and sandwiched between aging parents and raising teenagers!

A good number of us are overseas.  In the “travel abroad” division:

Benjamin Junge is enjoying a “glorious” writing fellowship in São Paulo, Brazil, for the rest of 2025. When he’s on this side of the equator, he teaches anthropology at SUNY New Paltz and conducts research on citizenship and democracy in Brazil.

Andrew Goldman, a professor of history at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, is very honored to have been selected as the professor-in-charge of the Intercollegiate Center of Classical Studies (ICCS, or The Centro) in Rome and will lead a faculty team in 2025–26 to instruct undergraduates on the archaeology and history of ancient Rome and Italy. This is his third time at the program, first as an undergraduate in spring 1987, and then as a junior instructor in 1999–2000. Now he hopes to give his students the same amazing experience that he had almost 40 years ago. Andrew also joins the published list; his book, Ancient Cities, co-authored with friend and colleague Charles Gates, was issued by Routledge last year. This new third edition showcases his expertise on Roman archaeology and will be translated into Turkish later this year. Life in Spokane and at Gonzaga has been quiet and largely fulfilling. Andrew and his wife, Amy, had a wonderful time in early June visiting Boston and catching up with old friends, staying with Holly Campbell Ambler ’87 and her husband, David, as well as a long, tasty vegan lunch with Hillary Ross ’88.

An update from Stephen Morison Jr., who you may remember moved to Marrakesh, Morocco, last summer. First, on the day he wrote, it was 100 degrees and climbing (whoo!). He’s had a terrific first year as head of the American School of Marrakesh, a K–12 school with a rich history in the region. His partner, Emily Allen, also works for the school, and their daughter is earning a master’s in architecture at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Stephen and Emily get to see Paul Gosselin in Paris frequently, and they keep in contact with Wendy Blum ’87, Steve Kullback ’89, and Nancy Nachbar ’89. “I feel lucky to have been able to maintain these great friendships. In fact, Paul and I log onto the internet every Sunday and do a calisthenics workout together, continuing a tradition that began in college, then was revitalized during the COVID years.”  [Editor’s note: anyone our age who can still do calisthenics in 100-degree weather should publish the secret.]

If I may take the liberty to add my own contribution: I lost my father in April 2025. He was 104, a veteran of World War II, and thank heavens, lucid and able to the very end. In his lifetime he traveled to 164 countries on every continent. His granddaughter, my daughter Aubrey, starts college this fall at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, studying fashion design. She will be just three and a half miles from where her grandfather was born, in 1921, in Brownsville, Brooklyn, one week into the Harding administration. Full circle.

Thanks for sharing your news and please keep it coming. 

Please write to your class secretaries.

Joy Anderson is thrilled to share that she won the Joan Bavaria Award for groundbreaking contributions to social investing, particularly in gender lens investing. The award was especially meaningful as she received it alongside two remarkable collaborators, reflecting their collective effort in the field. Joy, president and founder of Criterion Institute and a member of Heading for Change’s Global Advisory Circle, has observed significant progress in gender lens investing.  Despite the ongoing challenges in addressing systemic biases, Joy takes pride in the strides made so far.

Debra Steppel is thrilled to announce the launch of her new venture, Essays Plus More. This company focuses on coaching job seekers and high school students applying to college. She has been involved in career coaching and resume editing as a side gig since 1987, thanks to her initial training as a CPC career assistant with Barbara-Jan Wilson. She welcomes inquiries from classmates and their families with career or college application needs.

Joel Jacobs is still residing in Berkeley and working with the California attorney general’s office, mainly representing the California Coastal Commission. He’s considering retirement in a few years. His children are pursuing exciting paths: one is at a start-up in Baltimore developing prosthetic robot arms, and the other is working on a PhD in environmental justice in Los Angeles. Joel has also been coaching a high school debate team, which recently won both state and national championships. 

Colleen McKiernan shares some exciting (and scary news): “August 1 was my last day at work, and I am presently at a five-week cookery course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School near Cork, Ireland. The school is on a large organic farm, and I am living in a group house for the first time since Wes . . . I have no interest in working in the food industry. This is purely for me, and the first time that I have taken more than two weeks off since the summer after graduating. I will be going to Lisbon for a few weeks and will see some friends from Wesleyan and have about 10 days of unstructured time until I get home. I hope by the time that this publishes, I will be gainfully employed again.” 

Phineas Baxandall and his partner of 20 years, Sarah Hill, celebrated their marriage during a family vacation. Their children, ages 22 and 24, were the best man and bridesmaid. The kids were surprised when informed that their fancy dinner reservation would be postponed for a justice of the peace to arrive. Over the past year, Phineas served as interim president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center and has now returned to his role as policy director at this progressive economic think tank. 

Jill (Wolser) Fruchter provides a long overdue update: “This summer marked the second anniversary of creating my own business, Field Notes Consulting, a research services agency. My work is focused on using design thinking to center people in product development, experience design, and customer experience strategy. Previously, I did similar work at Blue Apron, Etsy, and The New York Times. Personally, I now live in upstate New York in a tiny river town on the banks of the upper Delaware River after selling my home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where I raised my two daughters, Zoe and Ella. It’s an ongoing journey to balance the competing pulls of city and country. Recent travels include the North Cascades Scenic Park (Washington), and future travel includes Iceland to (try to) see the northern lights. 

Amy Redfield is in Lisbon, Portugal, where she is currently blogging and writing. She is eagerly anticipating a visit from Colleen McKiernan. She’d love to connect with any other ’89ers who find themselves in Lisbon or are considering making the move here. The city has so much to offer, and she’s excited to share its charm with friends. 

After retiring in April, Alissa Berman had a wonderful time at the 35th Reunion, reconnecting with Carrie Holden and Kelly Morgan. It was bittersweet learning about Suzanne Delbanco, a rugby team member. She is preparing for a September wedding and continues to enjoy all the unique experiences Rhode Island has to offer.

In other sad news, Doug MacKenzie passed away peacefully on July 19, 2024. Doug was a valued friend to many Wesleyan students and supported his professor, T. Ranganathan, during his illness.

Happy fall, classmates. Steve writes for this column.

Two quick personal notes. First, a round of applause and gratitude to our classmate, Hillary Ross, who served the Class of 1988 for so many years as co-secretary. Hillary, on behalf of all ’88ers, THANK YOU for keeping us in connection with each other. Second, it’s my honor to pick up the torch and work with Peter Bond going forward. Thanks to all who have written so far and please stay in touch and keep it coming. 

With that said, on to the notes!

Christina Pugh, a professor in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois in Chicago, was awarded Distinguished Scholar of the Year in Humanities, Arts, Architecture, and Design and has two new books published in 2024. A book of essays called Ghosts and the Overplus: Reading Poetry in the Twenty-First Century (University of Michigan Press, 2024), and a book of poems titled The Right Hand (Tupelo Press, 2024).

Lucas Platt’s daughter, Amelia, follows in dad’s proud footsteps as a rising senior at Wesleyan, Class of 2025. Congratulations to both!

Stephen Morison Jr. and his partner, Emily Allen, have checked the international adventure box for this season’s column. This summer they moved to Marrakesh, Morocco, where Stephen is the headmaster for the American Schools of Marrakesh, and Emily is the director of counseling for ASM and two sister schools, The American Schools of Tangier and Ban Guerir. 

Julie Schwarzwald, after 34 years in New Jersey, has moved to Minnesota.  She will be the Fiterman B’nai Mitzvah program and ritual director (rabbi-educator) at Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis. So far, she reports, the transition is amazingly smooth—the big adjustment is no longer being able to just drive anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard. Julie asked me to say that all visitors are welcome.

Nathan Ainspan continues his more than 10 years as senior research psychologist with DOD’s Military-Civilian Transition Office (MCTO). Nathan’s 20 years of research on the subject guides curriculum designers and policymakers to help service members and their families transition to civilian life and find meaningful post-service employment. His most recent of four books on the subject is Military Veteran Employment: A Guide for the Data Driven Leaders (Oxford University Press, 2021).  Nathan says his son, Isaac, a rising 10th grader, inherited his grandfather’s musical abilities and they’re looking ahead to college visits, including Berklee College of Music in Boston and, yes, Wesleyan! Nathan’s pursued his own love of musical theater (your humble author can verify this, we were both hosts of the Broadway show on WESU) as a contributor to Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, and a research contributor to the Helen Hayes Awards.

Finally, we had previously shared the sad news of the passing of our classmate Tim McCallum. Roger Scholl and Tim’s mother, Lenita Witherspoon, penned an obituary that reminds us all of the joy and meaning of Tim’s life. I encourage you to read it and celebrate a life richly lived. Thank you, Roger and Lenita.

A happy fall and winter to all.

Peter writes for this issue.

Rich Silverman advises, “Three years back in NYC and two years at Corcoran. Love being in the city and try to take advantage of all that it has to offer—member hours at the MOMA, book talks at Hunter and the Apollo, hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Chinatown, and walks in Central Park. Tonight, I’m going to see Phil Rosenthal at the Beacon.”

Rob Wrubel writes in, “My daughter, Annie, will attend Wes starting this fall, and she’s excited to be heading to Middletown. We live in Colorado Springs, far from Middletown, and I look forward to visiting the campus this fall.”

Reid Cramer shares, “I’ve co-produced a record of music with Smithsonian Folkways featuring the singing of Sonya Cohen Cramer, who started Wesleyan in the Class of 1987 but marched with the Class of 1988. The record is called You’ve Been a Friend to Me and is a collection of beautifully sung folk songs, traditional ballads, and original music that reflect the full arc of Sonya’s musical life. Sonya was an amazing woman, who passed away in 2015, and it was exhilarating to be her partner. She had a beautiful voice and remarkable spirit. Growing up in a musical family, she was exposed to many kinds of folk and traditional music, but her time at Wesleyan, and especially her study of Carnatic singing with T. Viswanathan, sparked a lifelong engagement with singing as a craft and a practice. Along with a stellar group of people, she helped form the Wesleyan Women’s Singer/Songwriter Collective, which produced a captivating cassette of music, songs, and poems called SPIN.”

Stephen Morison updates, “I’m very excited to be joining The American School of Marrakesh community next year. I will be the new head of school. This is a homecoming of sorts. Emily and I began our international teaching careers in Tangier in 1997. Since then, we have taught all over the world but have returned frequently to Morocco to visit family and friends.”

Steven Zubkoff writes, “Jana Craston ’87 and I went to Canada to watch the eclipse at the lake cottage and we spent the rest of our time in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Norwich, Vermont. Hoping to go visit Stu and Susan (’90) Ellman in a few weeks.”

Bob Garcia reports, “Happy to share my first kids’ book, Aim High, Little Giant, Aim High!, was picked up for distribution by Haymarket. The first title I ever authored, Where’d You Get Those? New York City’s Sneaker Culture: 1960–1987 (Testify, 2003), is celebrating its 20th anniversary of publication with a special edition; and my next project is a memoir tentatively titled Bobbito’s Book of B-ball Bong Bong, which Akashic, founded by Johnny Temple, will release in 2025! I’ve also opened an online bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/koolboblove. Very pleased to make strides in literature considering how horribly I did in that subject while on campus, ba haaa!”

Hillary writes for this issue.

Hello classmates,

Steve Pike, who teaches public diplomacy and public relations at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor. He retired from the U.S. Department of State in 2016, after a quarter century as a diplomat, in order to take up research and teaching at Syracuse. In 2023 he published the paper What Diplomats Do: U.S. Citizen Perspectives on the Work of Public Diplomacy in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, as well as a chapter on the management of public diplomacy in A Research Agenda for Public Diplomacy, (Eytan Gilboa, ed.).

Andy Goldman lives in Spokane, Washington, and says, “I teach at Gonzaga University, where I’m a professor in the history department (and surrounded by basketball fanatics). I’m currently on sabbatical and have just returned from several weeks in western Sicily, where I’ve been working as part of an international archaeological survey project studying an ancient marine battle site off the Egadi Islands. I do love my job sometimes: handling 2,250-year-old objects from off the seabed (90 meters down!) makes for a pretty phenomenal field trip (as does Sicilian cooking). I’m very pleased to announce that I have a book in press right now, the third edition of Ancient Cities (Routledge), written with my close friend Charles Gates and available in February 2024. Life in the Pacific Northwest continues to be lovely; we bought a new house two years ago and—with lots of room and several large pets—welcome anyone passing through. Last spring I had a wonderful visit with old Argus-mates James Shiffer ’89 and Kirsten Delegard ’90, who both gave lectures at Gonzaga.”

Alisa Newman shares that she enjoys visiting Wes where her daughter is a first year living in Clark (with a groundhog outside the window!). “The new buildings look great without taking away from the character of the campus I remember. Main Street has so many more options now! I think there used to be exactly ONE restaurant we would ever go to.”

More info from Middletown comes from Jen Alexander, who lives “a few blocks from campus with my husband Mark Masselli (Hon. ’09); our four kids have grown and (mostly) left the nest. The Kidcity Children’s Museum just celebrated our 25th anniversary, and in addition to the magical experience of making exhibits with our classmate, Scott Kessel, I have gotten to work with Wes students in every generation, since we are a work-study site. I’m grateful for Doug Mackenzie ’89 who, between his music and body work, is kind of a one-man analog Facebook, as he travels the country and brings me news of the Wes alums he visits.”

Another empty nester is C. C. (Crichlow) Clark, who has a college grad and a college junior, and reports from Arlington, Virginia: “I went back to Wes for the first time in 15 years for a Black alumni weekend. It was phenomenal to spend time with so many Black alumni and students. Many from the Class of ’88 were there, including Ingrid Gordon, Majora Carter, Maurice Willoughby, Marc McKayle, Al Young, and Fred Montas. I’m still basking in the glow of the weekend and looking forward to the next one.”

Christie Trott had a busy year in Northern California: “My daughter has been applying to colleges, and my son is hot on her heels, prepping for college applications. My sister, Shelley ’91, went to the recent Homecoming and had a blast seeing some other Wes alum. I transitioned to being an admin at the school I helped start during COVID, and I’m completely out of the classroom for the first time in many years. Sadly, I also broke my foot and had to have surgery, so I’ve been hobbling around on a scooter, crutches, my butt, and even crawling like a baby when necessary. All in all, life is good, and I try hard to be in gratitude despite the absurdity of the world we live in.”

Finally, we have sad news from Ellen (Shandling) Burgess: “It is with a heavy heart that I share that Katy Shander-Reynolds passed away October 20, 2023, after a long battle with lung cancer. She is survived by her loving husband and four children.” Katy’s obituary is located at https://katyshander.com/obituary/.

Best wishes,

Hillary

Peter writes for this issue.

Elaine Tassy reports that following her surgeries related to a brain tumor and a detached retina back in 2017, her road to recovery culminated in 2022 with a return to her professional passion of journalism. She is now working as a senior reporter at Colorado Public Radio where she covers race, diversity, and equity and where she has won several reporting prizes. Elaine is in the process of buying a new home in the Denver area.

Steve Almond writes that he is living outside of Boston with his wife and three kids while enjoying teaching Wesleyan students. A film of his novel, Which Brings Me to You, will be out in late fall or winter. His most recent novel, All the Secrets of the World, has been optioned for TV by 20th Century Studios and his forthcoming novel, Truth is an Arrow, Mercy is a Bow, will be released in spring 2024.

Andrew Campbell shares sad news: This past July he was in Hawaii at the side of Tim McCallum when Tim finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer. The night before Tim passed, Chris Gentili ’90 had helped organize a group Zoom call involving many of Tim’s friends and Chi Psi fraternity brothers where they had a chance to speak with Tim and share with him how much impact he had on their lives.

More sad news: Two classmates passed away last April. Kellina Craig-Henderson died on April 21. The National Science Foundation, her employer for many years, said she was “a dedicated leader. . . [who] worked tirelessly to engage underrepresented groups in science.” Her obituary can be read here. And Rob James passed away on April 29 in Phoenix, Arizona. Many may remember Rob from his four years playing basketball for Wesleyan. After graduating, Rob went to medical school, eventually working as a primary care physician and later a pediatrician. His obituary can be read here.