Tag: 1998

Hello classmates,

There is still snow on the ground as I write this (with a bit more falling), though I know we’re well into spring for most of you and it will be summer by the time you read this. Time certainly goes by differently these days, and I don’t know about you all, but for me, my time at Wesleyan feels like both yesterday and a million years ago. Though I finally just watched the first episode of How I Met Your Father last night and sure enjoyed hearing the Wes reference! A(n extremely) belated congrats to Carter Bays ’97 and Craig Thomas ’97 for the empire you have built. I still remember you from our earliest freshman year and it makes me smile.

Devin Robel wrote in to say that she is living her best bicoastal life, traveling from her home in Oregon to spend winters in Florida. She and her little horse, Gillou, are competing at the intermediate and international three-star level in three-day eventing, a triathlon combining dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. With a successful start to the season, Gillou is currently ranked first in the nation at the intermediate level.

Adam Borden (an art history major himself—thanks yearbook!) says that although he and his wife never expected his children to follow in their footsteps, he is pleasantly surprised their daughter has fallen in love with Williams. She and his wife visited a few weeks, and the aspiring art history major loved the offerings. Yay for more chances to visit beautiful New England!

Finally, I am very sorry to say that we lost Shani Tahir Mott this year, far too soon, on March 12, 2024. She was a Black studies scholar and lecturer in the Center for Africana Studies and Department of History at Johns Hopkins University. Her work on race and power focused not only on the academic—how institutions such as universities and publishing houses shape (and limit) our conversations and understanding of race and racial experiences through their choices around publication, funding, etc.—but also daily reality and lived experience. She sued the mortgage and appraisal companies that allegedly used racial bias in their appraisal and loan offering for Mott’s own house, and she received a settlement that included policy changes to hopefully improve the process for others. At Johns Hopkins she was the co-principal investigator of the Housing Our Story Project that worked to include Black voices from Hopkins workers who had been left out of previous archiving projects at the university, and she helped launch the university’s first social justice and equity collective. I can’t think of better ways to exemplify the Wesleyan spirit I remember than Dr. Mott’s career bringing awareness to the race and power injustices all around us and putting that work into meaningful action. You can read more about her and her work here and here.

I do love hearing from all of you, so please send in any sightings, thoughts, experiences, or anything else you want to share.

Hi fellow classmates,

Benjamin Rubloff wrote in to report he has been living in Berlin since 2004, working as an artist and art teacher. He received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant for painting, which has him on sabbatical from teaching, and he has a book forthcoming. He describes his art as: “Making  paintings of tiny fragments of graffiti. I photograph the places where the graffiti was found and am writing about time, memory, and history in relationship to place.” He says that living overseas, he has lost track of the Wes community and it would be a lot of fun to reconnect!

No other updates to report this time, so I’ll just say how thankful I am for my time at Wes with you all. Please send in your updates and sightings any time!

Anthony Veneziale wrote in to say he saw a LOT of our classmates as he went to the 25th Reunion at Wes and it was awesome. He saw soooo many amazing humans—too many to name! Since last he wrote, his show Freestyle Love Supreme (which he created along with Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Hon. ’15 and Thomas Kail ’99) won a special Tony Award and then did a national tour, which reopened many of the national regional theaters after COVID. The tour included nine major cities and fellow Wes alum Andrew Bancroft ’00. Sadia Shepard ’97 (now professor of film at Wes), Ashley Knaysi, and Anthony organized a Gag Reflex reunion show for the 25th Reunion along with current Gag Reflex members in the World Music Hall. They had an absolute blast performing and doing a talk back afterward about improv in our lives.

Sachita Shah is enjoying the Seattle summer, working as an ER doctor in both Seattle and Anchorage, and loving taking care of her two daughters and pup Cookie. She’s been in contact with Caleb Langsam ’99, who has an awesome dog named Max and lives in Portland, Oregon; and Matt Downes, who, with wife Kim, just had a second kiddo, and lives in Geneva, Switzerland!

Rev. Dr. Yolanda Denson-Byers has been called as the senior pastor of Shepherd of the Hills (SOTH) Lutheran Church in Edina, Minnesota (sothchurch.com).  She will be formally installed in September 2023.

And Dana M. Peterson was so very honored to receive the prestigious Wesleyan Distinguished Alumna Award in Recognition of Outstanding Achievements and Service at the May 2023 Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association.

Hi fellow classmates,

Hopefully by the time you’re reading this, everyone who went to our 25th (what?!?) Reunion will have had a fabulous time reliving the glory days on Foss Hill and kvetching about what’s changed since our time. . . .

In individual news, your previous Class Notes collector, Jason Becton, and his family (husband Patrick, daughters Marian and Betty) recently moved about 20 minutes south of Charlottesville to North Garden, Virginia, for an even quieter life in the country. Jason and Patrick still own MarieBette Café & Bakery, and their second location Petite MarieBette, in the “city” of Charlottesville. Jason is looking forward to catching up with everyone at Reunion this year!

Nicole Macotsis lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York, with her two kids and pandemic dog.  She was happy to get paid a trick-or-treat visit by Laura Polonia and her son, who also live in the hood, last Halloween. She sees Annie Ackley as much as she can and aspires to see long-lost Luiselle Rivera by the time this is in print. Nicole got a second MA at Goucher in cultural sustainability but has been transitioning out of public folk arts work (due to her full-time single parenting gig) and is now a movement teacher, offering sessions to women for pelvic floor and core health at macotsismovement.com.

Last summer Georgia Silvera Seamans met up with Nadia Wynter and her family—yay! She is excited to be seeing more of Carrie Seabury. She is happy to be teaching a course about the environmental and cultural history of urban parks and using two public parks in NYC as her muse, and is the creator and host of the Your Bird Story podcast, now in its third season. If you’ve got a bird story based in a city, she wants to know about it!

In April Lynn Chen screened her directorial debut I Will Make You Mine (that her husband Abe Forman-Greenwald edited) on the Wesleyan campus with a Q&A. The movie also features John Newman and is currently streaming on Paramount+ and VOD.

Cassie Mecsery wrote in with a bit of heartache. After a two-year battle with glioblastoma (the most deadly form of brain cancer), her husband Sean passed away in May 2022, leaving her to run his family business started in 1945, Cos Cob TV & Audio in Greenwich, Connecticut. Cassie has children from her marriage to Sean: Calista (7) and Westley Stephen (4). The GoFundMe which was used for Sean’s medical treatments and caregiving, has transitioned to help pay for future expenses for their children in the coming years. Cassie writes, “Sean’s diagnosis in 2019 with stage 4 brain cancer, glioblastoma, rocked our world. One day I was at home with our two kids, and the next I was being told my husband had months and, if lucky, a couple years to live. We got two years, but not without a lot of grit and challenge. We are still struggling to come to terms with his death, but are learning to live life with gratitude for the time we had. I see life a bit differently now, and am working on how best to live out his legacy.”

That’s it for now. Be well all and be kind to yourselves and others.

Best,

Abby

Hello fellow ’98ers,

I don’t know if you all are like me, but I have a feeling some burnout is going around . . . or maybe everyone is just out living life!  No updates to report this time, so let’s all send out some warm thoughts to each other and the world.

And you can email me anytime with your updates, Wes sightings, ideas for changing the world, or anything else you want to share!

Hello, fellow ’98ers,

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the world; about Wes and the broad-reaching education we got there; about my fellow classmates (you!) who encourage(d) each other to think and grow and “fight the patriarchy” and make the world better. And I’m grateful for that experience, and for all of you out there who are bringing all that skill and caring and thoughtfulness and brilliant braininess out in the world around you. Keep it up and keep getting support from the world around you (in whatever form) as much as you do your part supporting outwards.

Just a few notes to share this time, all very smile worthy:

Pastor Yolanda Denson-Byers and her wife Tasha welcomed a new child in July 2021. Baby Kalan is a bright and cheerful child—Wesleyan Class of 2039.

Juniper Hill is still living in Würzburg, Germany, where she works as professor of ethnomusicology and lives with her mathematician-cyclist husband Jesse and two daughters. This year she is immensely enjoying a long maternity leave after the birth of a beautiful strapping baby girl in February. She delights in long walks in the local beech forests and in the Alps and in bike rides along the Main River and local Weinberg (literally ‘wine mountains,’ or hilly vineyards). Occasionally she bumps into other Wesleyan folk at Sacred Harp sings. When she returns to work next year, she’s looking forward to bringing in some international postdoctoral fellows to research the music of immigrant communities in Germany and Central Europe.

After scrolling through all the joyous Reunion & Commencement photos on Wesleyan’s Instagram, Marcus Chung is getting very excited to see everyone at our 25th (what, 25th?!) Reunion next May. He hasn’t seen many Wes friends recently thanks to a certain global pandemic, but he did start a new role as chief operating officer at Coyuchi, a bedding and bath brand that’s focused on premium product that’s also good for the planet. It’s a role that marries his experience in supply chain along with corporate sustainability. He’s enjoying learning about regenerative agriculture, carbon capture, and also pillow shams!

Okay these brought me smiles except for maybe that 25-year thing—“what?!” indeed! But what an occasion to celebrate! Twenty-five years of making the world better in our always-unique Wes way . . . . Here’s to 25 more.

Best,

Abby

Amy Davenport is still in Carrboro, North Carolina, where she lives with her spouse and their three children (6, 6, and 8). She’s entering her seventh year as a nurse-midwife at UNC Chapel Hill. She recently stepped down from her role as postpartum medical director, because, well, “pandemic and that whole work-life balance thing.” She plans to spend that extra time reading, knitting, baking, and riding her Peloton.

Kate Wetherhead still lives in New York, splitting her time between NYC and Putnam Valley with her husband Jeff Croiter (who, coincidentally, was the lighting designer of Broadway’s Freestyle Love Supreme, co-conceived by and starring Wes alum Anthony Veneziale!) This summer, Kate will be in Chicago, Illinois, premiering the Broadway-bound musical The Devil Wears Prada as part of the writing team, along with Sir Elton John and Shaina Taub. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, Prada begins performances at the Nederlander Theater July 21, 2022. If you’re in Chicago this summer, come check it out!

Peter Isbister lives in Decatur, Georgia, with his wife Robyn Painter and their three kids, Mira (12), Eliot (8), and Ezra (8). He is an attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center in the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative, representing immigrants detained in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He is still in touch with his good friend David Lubell, who now lives with his family in Berlin, Germany, after spending a few years also in Decatur, Georgia, and with Rachel Wellborn who has long lived in Atlanta.

Sara Brenneis and her family were in Madrid in the spring of 2020, just hitting their stride during a year-long sabbatical when . . .  well, we all know how that worked out. After Spain’s strict six-week lockdown when their two young boys were not allowed outside, they were grateful to return to the wide-open expanses of Northampton, Massachusetts. Sara has her hands full as professor and chair of the Spanish Department at Amherst College and full-time childcare juggler. She caught up with a very bearded Nick Coleman on a recent trip to Wisconsin and has enjoyed some Zoom happy hours with Margaret (Solle) Salazar and Rebecca Alson-Milkman. Sara wants to know: Anyone else up for a swing through Middletown for our 25th?

Speaking of Margaret Salazar, she was just appointed to a post in the Biden Administration.  She will be serving as HUD regional administrator, advancing the administration’s efforts in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska), starting this past February.

Marianne Benet lives in Rye, New York, with her three sons. After her divorce, she started rowing crew again, and competed at the Head of the Charles last October, for glory and to raise money for the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, an organization that is close to her heart because her middle son was born with this rare genetic disorder. This May, she and Heather Marciniec celebrated their combined 90th birthday (45 + 45) in Key Biscayne, Florida, with Erin (Fieler) Collins, and Miki Kawashima, whose daughter, Elia Matrician (’26) will be attending Wes next fall! While there, they partied and reminisced with Ken Anderson, who lives in Key Biscayne and works in finance. Finally, she has a new love (and Wesleyan connection), Mario Manna ’00, also divorced, and a wonderful father to three extraordinary children. This year, they traveled with their six kiddos to Disney, Key Biscayne, and skiing in Vermont. Of note, she sent her notes in from Cartagena, Colombia, where she had just spent a day visiting the historic walled city with her dear friend, Isabel Vega, who is now living in Colombia and working on her independent film projects. Isabel is happy, healthy, and always involved in creative endeavors: She produced and directed a documentary called La Corona (The Crown) that was nominated for an Oscar and now, many years later, is at Sundance for the second time. The film is about a beauty pageant at a Colombian prison for women.

Abe Forman-Greenwald was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award last year as a producer on the Netflix series Big Mouth and was looking forward to the debut of their spinoff series Human Resources, which came out on March 18 of this year. Also, now that live music is back, he’s been enjoying going to concerts with fellow ’98er Sascha Paladino here in Los Angeles.

John Speck is excited to be in the midst of his third year as a software engineer, and still finding time to make music with exceptional New Yorkers. He has two daughters, ages 3 and 7, who are thriving in the quality public schools of South Brooklyn. They explore nature as much as possible these days: Prospect Park, Jersey, and Miami(!). He had the good fortune of seeing Harrison Owen and his son, Russell, recently, and recommends Harrison’s book Niji Umi (“for children ages 0–100”).  He also had a fun hiking adventure on the Appalachian Trail with Jason Gonzalez and Dave Montgomery ’97 last summer. Jason has recently completed an MBA and continues his impressive tenure as an attorney at the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, and has four adorable children with his lovely wife Ayisha.

In harder news, Cassie Colletti Mecsery shared that her husband Sean Mecsery has been fighting glioblastoma for the past two years while she manages their family and their family business in Cos Cob, Connecticut. Unfortunately, there are no approved treatments and she asked people to look for their GoFundMe to help as they work to pay for his experimental treatments and support their two children, ages six and two.

Finally, we sadly lost Angie (Montgomery) Arnold in December 2021.  At Wes, she was a triple major in English, film study, and African American history, and afterward got an MFA at Columbia, and an MBA at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She published her first book, Rivers Under Water, in 2018, a story of a woman who searches for love and spiritual liberation over the course of three generations in the Deep South; and she wrote and produced an off-Broadway play, The Standard Upgrade. She also won the Miss Black Connecticut Pageant.  She leaves behind her beloved husband, Artis Arnold III, and many family and friends.

We also sadly lost Christopher Lawrence Rosaschi in February.  He will be missed by his children, his family, and so many who knew him.