Tag: 1989

We were glad to hear from a gaggle of classmates doing life and out in the Wesleyan wild meeting up with each other too.

Phineas Baxandall shares that after 20 years together, he and his partner, Sarah Hill, decided to get married. He writes: “We didn’t tell anybody at all until we were on vacation with our kids and told them, ‘Thanks for getting dressed up for dinner. Our reservation actually isn’t until later, but in 10 minutes there will be a knock on the door, and it will be a justice of the peace.’ It was really fun.” Phineas also celebrates his long tenure at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, where he serves as policy director. After serving as interim president last year, he’s looking forward to a two-month sabbatical this spring, during which he plans to live in Berlin, read novels in cafes, and travel. Upon returning, his family will welcome a new puppy, following the loss of their loyal dog, Sadie, last fall at age 18.

David Eichler and his partner, Diane, moved to Billings, Montana, three years ago, after living in Los Angeles, Mountain View, Phoenix, and Denver. They are celebrating their 28th anniversary this year. David sold his PR agency after 18 years and is now in his second year of a master’s in clinical social work, with plans to open a therapy practice this summer. Reflecting on Wesleyan memories, David writes: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 35 years since my fellow film majors and I were huddled in that dark screening room in the arts center. We were so fortunate to be learning from Professor Jeanine Basinger.” He was also saddened, as many of us were, over the losses of Rob James ’88 and Tim McCallum ’88 in recent years. 

Ellen Ross Shields and John Shields have lived in Davis, California, for 22 years, after nine years in San Francisco. Ellen is a middle school counselor, and John is director of client relations for DWS, a real estate/finance subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. Ellen shares: “Our 26-year-old daughter is in her last year of a JD/MPH program in New York, and our 28-year-old, theme park–loving son is trying to break into film/video editing in Orlando—any Wes grads down there?” They look forward to retirement and promise to attend a reunion someday. 

Peter Badalament, with extensive experience as a school principal, was recently appointed principal of the A.R. Gould School at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, Maine. Before his administrative roles, Peter taught high school English, geography, and history at the Lab School of Washington, a therapeutic day school for students with social and emotional challenges. He has also served as a project manager at Tyler Technologies and as adjunct faculty at the University of New England, teaching courses in educational leadership and organizational theory. 

Topher Dunne is in his 30th year teaching high school history and social science at Georgetown Day School this year and has been happy to point various students toward Wesleyan over the years. Topher and spouse, Kathy, live in Arlington with their 23-year-old daughter.

Lori Lobenstine issuper excited about having her first children’s book coming out! It’s based on the true story of Lori and her goddaughter, Sophie, co-creating the first ever “by-dogs-for-dogs” newspaper, starting when Sophie was 10 years old (she’s now 20). Here’s a little bit more on it: https://www.levinequerido.com/barking-puppy.

Alex McClennen Dohan reports having been married to Dave Dohan for over 30 years, working for Mass Audubon for 20 years, and having a daughter turning 30 in the spring (and a son who is 27). Alex shares: “The best parts of our past year were two trips to Colorado—a place we’d never visited before! One was to the San Juan Mountains with both kids and their significant others for some backpacking, and the other was to Boulder, where I got to catch up with Lisa Michael, who lives in the area and also Greg Benson (who lives in New Jersey, but was on the trip with us). 

Kelem Butts shared something of a New York story: “My girlfriend, Lori, and I went to New York to see Eric Stuart who was in visiting his parents from London. While we were there, we also hung out with Andre Kikoski ’90. Then we had a pleasant surprise—it turns out Tom Policelli was in from Connecticut, so we all met up with him for lunch.”They also dined with Greg Berman and Carolyn Vellenga Berman ’90. Lori noted how lucky Kelem is “to have so many excellent friends, and it’s all thanks to Wes!” We agree! 

Karen McVey Fussell writes: “I continue to live a blessed life on our 45-acre former farmstead property in Maine. It’s hard to believe, but I am starting my 25th year as finance director for the City of Brewer. It’s a great job, but I have definitely started dreaming of retirement. Our son graduates from West Point this May, majoring in Chinese and cybersecurity. Our daughter is taking a gap year, which she kicked off with a transformational volunteer stint in Arusha, Tanzania. Working full time to earn money to travel more, she’s scheduled to go back in February and this summer, recruiting me and other family to join her. My husband just turned 80 (CRAZY!) but you would never know it. LIFE IS GOOD!” 

After seven years living in Alaska and a beautiful drive home across Canada, Jim Levine is back living just a few miles from Wesleyan—which means he’s on campus often, swimming and working out at the Freeman Athletic Center, he says. His kids have flown the coop and are doing well, and after 20-plus years as an ER doc, including at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown and in rural Alaska, he’s working on deciding what he wants to do when he grows up. He’d love to see anyone who is in the area! 

Eric Neuhaus writes that he is senior vice president of development for Glass Entertainment and that it was an exciting year for new TV shows they developed. Last year they released the worldwide hit documentary film Bitconned (Netflix), about one of the biggest cyrpto scams; Wiggin Out with Tokyo Stylez, a docuseries following a trans-celebrity hairstylist; Kill or Be Killed (Peacock), examining cases of murder or self-defense; a game show pilot for Fox based on the iconic video game Pong. He says: “There is always something new on the horizon. Stay tuned for some new documentary projects in 2025 that will entertain and inform.” 

For Brad Frank, 2024 was a crazy year. He writes: “I lost my job but found a better one. My daughter entered her senior year of high school and found a new home at Syracuse University for 2025. My 15-year-old son set aside his baseball bat and glove and found a new passion in crew. No more batting eighth and playing right field. Now it’s sitting in the stroke seat and sweeping the eight- and four-person skulls down the river. And while November of 2024 was hard on my wife, she continues to guide our family with confidence.”

Ellen Forney just started grad school at the University of Washington School of Social Work, to be a therapist specializing in bipolar. Ellen has been a visual artist, cartoonist, and comics teacher since graduating from Wes with a degree in psychology and has been gradually coming back around to psych—with a 2012 graphic memoir about, she says, “my own bipolar: Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me (Penguin); then a 2018 graphic handbook on mental health, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life (Fantagraphics). I’m finishing up a workbook for kids on how to make comics, due out summer 2025: The Adventures of You! Write, Draw, and Star in Your Own Comics (Workman). I was delighted to hang out with Rachael Timberlake ’90 (Butterfield hallmate bestie) when she visited Seattle recently for a seminar.” 

Michele Chase Kashap will be back on campus to celebrate as her first born, Alessandro Kashap ’25, graduates from Wes this year. So cool! Congrats!!! 

As for me (Michele), I narrowly “dodgeballed” a midlife crisis by first renaming it a “midlife exploration” and then kicking off an adult gap year (read: FUNemployment) with a solo trip to Europe—three countries in three weeks with a carry-on only—in which I planned nearly nothing, garden partied with complete strangers (yep), watched sunrise over Prague castle, and ate so much gelato in various parts of Italy as a meal supplement that my cholesterol shot up. Oops. I even stayed in an old, beautiful, and affordable former monastery on the Amalfi Coast—which had both a bar and a chapel. So basically, win-win y’all. 🙂

We appreciate you, each of you, and hope to see you out here in the Wesleyan wild. Stay in touch!

Classmates,

By now our 35th Reunion is behind us (although we’re writing this beforehand because of the deadline). Check our next issue for those stories. Until then, know that a couple of you asked if we could mention our dear classmate, Kate True, in our column. Kate passed away in October of last year and was mentioned in the obituary section in the previous notes. 

Dina Goldman wrote of her this way:

“Kate was a very self-contained, thoughtful, poised, lovely person who also happened to be an incredibly gifted artist. She had a quiet charisma and was magnetic to so many of us.”

Always feel free to share thoughts of any of our ’89 classmates who have transitioned. We’re happy to share good memories and stories here. 

Wishing you all well!

As we eagerly anticipate our 35th REUNION this May, let’s catch up on the latest from our classmates:

Kim Slote is pursuing an online master of social work at Florida State University. She’s still in the health-care tech field but plans a career shift in a few years. Kim, currently in Naples, Florida, is looking to move to Philadelphia postgraduation and would love to connect with fellow Wes alumni there. Betsy Henry shares her excitement and appreciation. She’s looking forward to attending the reunion, potentially her first, and extends her best wishes to everyone. Howie Chalfin reminisces about our Wesleyan days and is planning to attend the reunion, hoping to reconnect with old friends and celebrate with his interns who are graduating this year. Carrie Emmerson, our dedicated public school teacher from Maine, is trying her best to join us despite the busy Memorial Day weekend. She’s also working to spark more interest in the reunion among our classmates. David Averbach thanks everyone for keeping the Wesleyan spirit alive through these updates. 

Co-class secretary Michele Barnwell served as showrunner and executive producer on season two of the food-history documentary series High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America—which is now streaming on Netflix. She reports most definitely eating her way through production. 

Yours truly, Jonathan Fried, recently enjoyed a lively Hanukkah gathering at the home of Andrew Shear and Lynne Lazarus. It was a mini-Wesleyan reunion with Stephanie Dolgoff, David Milch, and Greg Benson. Looking forward to seeing everyone on the hill for our 35th!

Warm regards,

J & M

Before we get to all the awesomeness going on with all you awesome people, Michele and I want to remind everyone that our 35th REUNION is coming up this spring! Clear your schedules, reserve your rooms, and prepare to descend on Foss Hill en masse! Now to our updates.

Alex McClennen Dohan got into the sheep spirit, writing: “Well, I don’t baaa-lieve I have anything too quirky to report, but Dave Dohan and I just celebrated 30 years of marriage in June. Our lambs are grown—daughter is an attorney and son a grad student—and our current home flock consists of a dog (part shepherd!) and a cat. Vacations are more fun than work, but we are both still happy in our jobs—me knitting various programs together in the Education Department of Mass Audubon, and Dave spinning along as a physician.”

Amy Redfield is loving living in Lisbon. Holler if you’re in town.

Marisa Cohen still works at Hearst with Stephanie Dolgoff, even though the chatbots keep threatening to take all the magazine jobs. Her daughter, Bellamy, graduated from Williams last spring and is living at home while launching a journalism/songwriting career (another daughter, Molly, is a junior psych major at Bowdoin). She and her husband have been spending more weekends in the Berkshires. (If you’re near Richmond, Massachusetts, look them up!) She’s also been making up for lost theater time during the pandemic by seeing a lot of Broadway shows this year, often with Sarah Chumsky, and David Averbach when he’s in town.

Sam Glazer was featured in an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled “Sex, Drugs and Spreadsheets.”

Karen (McClafferty) Jarsky is living in Acton, Massachusetts, with her husband and son, who is headed off to college in the fall. She is loving teaching writing (remotely) for UCLA. Her local friends include a surprisingly large number of Wes alums ranging from Class of 1983 to Class of 2016. Clearly age doesn’t matter when you have Wesleyan in common!

David Levine convened with Stu Berman, Neil Blicher, and Alan Cohen, at Rick Kotler’s beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for their annual summer retreat. Joe Biden was a no-show and no classified documents were found in Rick’s garage. They nonetheless had a good time commiserating about how old we are. Likely more was discussed, but who can remember?

John Hlinko is still living in Georgetown in an old church that was converted about 100 years ago. It’s right next to a park that used to be a cemetery and given that property lines weren’t that well delineated a century ago, he’s been urged “don’t dig too deep” when planting stuff in the yard. Amazingly, the house doesn’t seem to be haunted.  His wife, Leigh, is an architect and has written two books—The Green Workplace and The Healthy Workplace (especially relevant in the COVID era). They also collaborated on Pandemic Pickup Lines, which has raised funds for pandemic-related relief efforts.  One daughter is a high school senior looking at colleges and the other still has a ways to go for that. He is still working with Left Action, an activist community aimed at promoting good causes and candidates, and opposing things like fascists overthrowing democracy. It is likely to be a very busy year, with 2024 elections coming up quickly. . . .

In the same vein, Chris Zurn just published a book entitled Splitsville USA: A Democratic Argument for Breaking up the United States (Routledge: 2023). He makes the argument that there is a real danger of the end of basic electoral democracy in the United States in the next few years and suggests that the only way to avoid that is to negotiate a peaceful political divorce of our single nation and reconstitute several new nation states in its place.

Jessica Glass writes: “Hard to believe it’s been two years since we lost our beautiful comrade, Dominique Jones ’91. That was a very sad thing about 2021. But getting together at Lewis Canfield’s (’90) home in NYC to celebrate Jonesy’s life and memory helped a little. Drove to Brooklyn and cried in Deirdre Simon’s (’90) car. Commiserated with members of her family, and many Wes friends from several different graduating classes. Dominique had an amazing way of transcending age, race, class, whatever divides. She had a spirit that was genuine and positive and truly interested in people. We all remembered her interest in fashion and artistry in knitting, her deep appreciation of books and libraries, magazines and reading, her love and support of her friends, her infectious laugh. Many folks who knew and loved Dominique have made donations to a fund at the Brooklyn Public Library called Shine on Me, a program that supports unhoused adults with life coaching and resource advice. Dave Raymond ’87 and I trundle on with our historic sheep farm in northern Connecticut, with 60 adult woolies and 30 lambs each year. Producing wool blankets, sheepskins, and our inimitable Hildred’s Farm Sheep Calendar keeps us busy when we’re not producing video and engineering audio. Sheep on Earth, Good Wool to all!”

Camille Kotton reports having a wonderful visit with Sandeep Wadhwa when he came to stay with his daughter when they were touring colleges. Same when David French was touring with his son. She is on the CDC advisory committee on immunization practice (ACIP) and has been making national decisions on vaccination for the past three years.

Dave Keller released his 10th (!) album, It’s Time to Shine, featuring a bunch of new original soul- and blues-inspired songs. He’s also going to be featured in a full-page story in the French edition of Rolling Stone! Away from the rockstar world, he is preparing to be an empty nester, as both daughters will soon be in college; the oldest at Bard, the youngest at New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. He has a three-week East Coast tour in November. Details at www.davekeller.com.

Stephan Kline reports on his daughter Batya ’23 just graduated from Wes, joining her brother Noah ’21 as an alum. Batya will remain in Middletown for the next two years for a Wesleyan master’s program in ethnomusicology. She is excited to continue her studies on guitar and percussion and they are excited that her tuition is waived for this world-class program and she receives a stipend.

If you’re in the Philly area, drop Josh Drew a line. He is living there with his spouse of 20-plus years who is a Philly local, three kids, ages 16, 16, and 17, two elderly cats, and a pandemic-adopted mutt. They relocated about three years ago after a four-year expat stay in Amsterdam, which coincided neatly with the period 2016–2020. He is practicing law with a Washington, D.C., firm, after spending most of his career with the government and in house. They are visiting campuses, including Wes, helping their high school senior with the daunting college application process. He is in regular contact with Greg Berman, Carolyn Vellenga, Kelem Butts, Mark Saudek, and Kevin Majewski; would love to hear news of others.

Please write to your class secretaries. 

Please write to your class secretaries.