Tag: 1999

Eve Fox ran into fellow classmate Claire Tranchese in July at the 50th reunion of The Abode of The Message, a Sufi community where Claire grew up and that Eve’s husband’s parents helped to start back in the late 1970s.  In other news, Eve and Megan Wolff contributed several chapters to a book that will be published in December by The New Press called The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late (https://thenewpress.org/books/the-problem-with-plastic/).

The lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center where Jeffrey Blumenthal works is wrapping up a three-year project that has been investigating ways the Port of San Francisco can adapt its planned seawall upgrade to enhance biodiversity by incorporating rocky shoreline habitat features in the design. The seawall rebuild will address sea level rise and generally aging infrastructure. He was interviewed in a local public radio story about the project, which you can listen to or read here: https://www.kqed.org/science/1997729/oysters-snails-and-a-wall-that-protects-against-climate-change-one-tile-at-a-time.

Celina Su is thrilled to announce a new book out this September: Budget Justice: on Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities, on the everyday democratic work that we can all do to resist political repression and address the affordability crisis, between protests and between elections. Due to the pandemic and parenthood, it’s her first new work in a long time. She wrote it for a general audience and hopes that it serves as a useful entry point into conversations on building new forms of solidarity. She is also focusing on activist work with local people’s budget coalitions around the United States, so that we build power together rather than fighting for crumbs of the pie. She would be eager to connect with folks doing related work!

Chaela Volpe recently published Brain-Fueled Workplace: Harnessing Neuroscience for Performance, Innovation, Transformation, and Growth, addressing urgent, interconnected challenges undermining today’s workforce—especially burnout, which affects 76% of employees from the C-suite to the front lines. Her book (available on Amazon) introduces a proprietary planning model to streamline daily operations and optimize individual, team, and business performance. Learn more at www.thepopmodel.com.

After two decades of wanting to be a father, Ari Gerzon is cherishing each moment with his almost 3-year-old daughter, Selah Dove. Living next door to her grandparents on a lake in Colorado offers tremendous support as Ari navigates the joys and challenges of single parenting. He launched a new business, Same Team Consulting, and is finding great joy coaching and leading trainings at schools around the country on how to deepen family engagement. The heart of his work is centered around teams that bring immigrant families and educators together, and these spaces have never felt more important than they do now in the current climate. (Learn more at The Families and Educators Together Project website.) Also, Ari finally had the “boys” trip with William Messer that they had discussed for years. They met up in the Midwest in early June and explored Minnesota and Wisconsin. He can’t believe they’ve been friends for nearly 30 years now! 

Kabir Sen enjoyed a family trip to Portugal and Scotland over the summer with his wife, Rebecca, and their three kids—Ev, Julia, and Ethan. Kabir just completed his 26th year teaching music at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, and he continues to release new original music regularly under his full name (www.kabirsen.com / @kabirmakesmusic / linktr.ee/kabirsen). Kabir has two music residencies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Lizard Lounge and the Plough and  Stars, and he encourages Wes classmates in the area to be in touch!

Christopher Varmus earned his second master’s degree, in fine arts (visual), from Clark, where his thesis exhibition was hosted by the Worcester Center for Crafts. He will be exhibiting at MassMOCA with the next cohort graduating in January 2026. Check out his work on Instagram: @christophervarmusart. He is available for commissions, exhibition opportunities, teaching/motivational speaking engagements, and whatever else is out there. He is also planning to offer individual and group art therapy sessions both in person and via Zoom.

Greg Brodsky recently got divorced and moved with his two boys to Brookline, Massachusetts. He misses his cat from his prior home but is considering getting a turtle. 

Allegra A. Jones is delighted to share the news of her marriage to Ince Montenegro in an intimate ceremony on the mayor’s balcony of San Francisco City Hall. The happy couple traveled to the Philippines for tropical island hopping on their honeymoon in April and have lots of recommendations if anyone plans to travel there. Allegra stays in touch with friends visiting the Bay Area like Marnie (Randall) Craycroft and Matthew Goldstein. A long-weekend getaway in Arizona also brought together Nina Kontos, Eve Andrias, Caitlin Lang, Alexandra Rose, Hannah Blitzer, and Allegra for catching up and dancing to old-school hip-hop like old times at Wes. 

Considering Wesleyan Magazine will only be printed twice a year now, there will be fewer opportunities to provide updates. So, reach out to Kevin or me with any news that you’d like us to share in the next class notes.

Marnie Craycroft shares that her boys are now 15, 14, and 10—”how time flies!” The big news is her family’s move to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, over the summer. Marnie says they’re loving the mountain life and all it has to offer.

Julenne Mounts reflects on the events of the past year, sharing her gratitude for President Roth’s poignant letter to the Wesleyan community. His statement, “We must reject the cultivated ignorance that fans the flames of hatred,” has inspired her family’s new mission statement—and bumper sticker! Julenne is rediscovering her dream of creating immersive outdoor education programs as a way to counterbalance the growing dependency on technology.  

Julenne also shares exciting news about her daughter, who, inspired by President Roth’s words, recently submitted her application to Wesleyan. “Fingers crossed for a future Wes alum!” Though the timing of reunions and homecomings is tricky with her kids still in school in Hawaii, Julenne hopes to visit campus more often if her daughter ends up on the East Coast.

This fall, Julenne enjoyed reconnecting with Alissa Farber and Arthur Baraf during a beautiful day in Boston. She sends a warm invitation to any ’99ers visiting Maui to stop by. Though the island is still recovering from the wildfires, Julenne assures us there’s no shortage of natural beauty and powerful landscapes to explore. “A hui hou!”

Kevin (writing this time) wishes he had more content to share in these notes . . . hope you all will take a moment to send in updates for the next set of notes, so we all have more to read next time around!

It has been a year of new beginnings for several classmates. Michael Estrin started a new job as senior editor at Prof G Media, working on Scott Galloway’s No Mercy / No Malice newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles and would love to connect with any Wes folks. Jeffrey Blumenthal and his spouse are now “resource parents” to a 15-year-old foster youth who moved in with them in May. It is hard but good! After 18 years in Denver, Colorado, Elizabeth Buckius and her husband made their dreams of living abroad come true. They are now living and working in Japan. They are just outside of Tokyo, so if anyone is ever in the area, please let Elizabeth know. 

Kabir Sen enjoyed catching up with folks at our 25th Reunion. He is still teaching and playing music in the Boston area. He has been a music teacher at Shady Hill School for 25 years now and really enjoys that work. He has two monthly residencies in Cambridge on the first and third Saturday of every month, and he still releases music regularly. He lives in Belmont with his wife, Rebecca, and their three kids. “Eva is 14, Julia is 12 and Ethan is almost 9. Time flies! Sending love to our classmates.”

Musa Abdul-Basser lives in Ohio with his wife, Maren, and their 14- and 15-year-old daughters. Musa works as an attorney and general counsel focusing on fintech, capital markets, private equity, and ethical investing.

Ross Stafford is still happily living in Springfield, New Jersey. He works as an AP Research teacher at Washington Park High School, which is a high-performing charter school in Newark and part of the Uncommon Schools network. His daughters, Grace and Maya, are five and eight.

Be good, be kind, and be in touch.

There’s a chance you read about our classmate Eli Newell in The New York Times—in March, they covered his story of two weddings and avoiding a funeral in the same year. An incredible story. We’re thrilled that Eli has recovered from his heart surgery and is happily married to the fast-thinking Dr. Erika Amundson!

Hannah Sharpless Graff shared that she is “in one of those life shifts right now. I feel old saying my husband, John (an engineer at Metalenz, based in Boston), and I have lived in Swampscott for almost 20 years. My 16-year-old, Theo, attends a very small boarding school in Connecticut that has absolutely changed our family dynamic, as he is finally content and getting the support and structure he needs to thrive. He is showing an extraordinary aptitude, and, more importantly, enthusiasm for chemistry. My eldest, Tex, is off to college next year and has some exciting choices to make—wherever he goes, he wants to be close to mountains. I am preparing, with a tiny knot in my stomach that is surrounded by excited butterflies, to wonder why the house is so quiet. In addition to ‘momming’ and community work, I have an art practice that is based in natural colors and nature-based exploration. I collaborate with local artists, teach occasional workshops, organize a local artisan festival, and design logos, tees, and more for my local town conservancy and other nonprofits. I am definitely most interested in the process, and my ADHD is sated by the infinite paths of learning that occur when working with and within nature. All in all, I’m a lucky human existing in a hard world and I find my peace walking my dogs in the woods and along the beaches of Swampscott. In a time where everything seems to devolve into the binary, I love that I can have rich, meaningful, and silly conversations with my Wes people online or, more rarely, in person.” 

Liz Garcia shared that our 25th was her first reunion EVER. “I’ve been back for film department occasions over the years, (such as teaching a writing workshop to the razor-sharp students this past fall) but the time has come to see as many folks as possible! Life in Brooklyn is much better now that the sun has come out and the flowers are blooming. My son and I have been loving every minute of Dan Shotz‘s Disney+ show, Percy Jackson (I highly recommend it to parents like me who have a hard time tearing their kids away from YouTube). My feature comedy, Space Cadet (which I wrote and directed), starring Emma Roberts and Gabrielle Union, comes out on Amazon Prime video this July (also family viewing material). My life is richer because I get to see Elizabeth LeSure Epstein and Jim Epstein, Carly Detterman, and Sarah Schorr on the regular. My kids and Joann Kamuf’s ’00 kids are school pals.

Congratulations to Ross Stafford who was inducted into Wesleyan football’s  1990s All-Decade Team. Ross lives in northern New Jersey, has two daughters (ages four and seven), and works as a PMP-certified project manager. He is also a business owner and launched a digital marketing agency last spring.  

Eve Fox is the digital director at Beyond Plastics, where she works with Megan Wolff trying to halt the petrochemical industry’s build-out in the U.S. and reduce the negative environmental, health, climate, and environmental justice impacts of plastic pollution. Eve is also coming up on her sixth year serving on the board of the Woodstock Day School, where she is currently the president, and trying to roll with the punches of parenting both a teenager and a tween.

Michael Hakim lives in Los Angeles and has been working with his former quarterback, Scott Hevesy ’97, on some media opportunities. Michael launched a real estate property technology company by converting an office building into a mix-use residential hotel with a rooftop lounge. He is exploring opening an art gallery in some vacant available space, and he also opened a modern synagogue for young Jewish professionals in Los Angeles. Michael also collaborated with an art director to design the largest mural in Beverly Hills on South Beverly Drive in honor of his grandmother who passed away in 2022.

Chris Varmus married Mara Jebsen, a poet and professor, in 2021, under the crabapple tree in his backyard in Brooklyn. He is getting a second master’s degree (first one was in social work) in fine arts, specializing in large-scale ink and mixed media collage works. Check out his work on Instagram @christophervarmusart (available for sales and commissions) or visit his studio in Brooklyn.

Adam Birnbaum and his wife, Alem, live in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Adam works as a commercial litigator in a Wall Street area firm. Alem is pregnant with their third child.

Robert Carrillo was the brainchild and an executive producer for the documentary Lucha: A Wrestling Tale, which had its world premiere at America’s largest documentary film festival, DOC NYC, on November 11, 2023. It won the festival’s coveted Metropolis Grand Jury Prize and was a runner-up for the Audience Award. Robert was also one of the wrestling coaches in the film.

Ari Gerzon-Kessler lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife, Sashi. They were thrilled to welcome their first baby, Selah Dove Gerzon-Rose, who turned one in October. Ari is in his seventh year leading the Family Partnerships Department for the Boulder Valley School District. A lover of books since his first job at age 11 in a bookstore, he is overjoyed to share the news of the publication of his book, On the Same Team: Bringing Educators and Underrepresented Families Together (Solution Tree, December 2023). Ari coaches the leaders of these families and educators together teams at 23 schools—a new model for school-family collaboration that is changing teachers and school leaders’ practices for partnering with diverse families and transforming the experiences of underrepresented families in our schools. 

Chris Hanssmann lives in the Bay Area, currently teaching at UC Davis. He published his first book, Care without Pathology, with University of Minnesota Press. In addition, he has been working as a member of Bay Area Jewish Voice for Peace to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza. Chris signed the alumni petition demanding Wesleyan’s divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine and hopes other alums do the same!

Leila Buck and Adam Abel ’98 continue to ride the waves of exhaustion and joy as they learn how to parent their two-year-old daughter. They’ve been devastated by the Hamas atrocities of October 7 and the ongoing atrocities of the Israeli army and settlers since then. They are doing their best to support loved ones in Palestine, Lebanon, and Israel from their time living and working in all three places, and they are calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire and continuing to work for a just peace in our time. Leila is teaching, writing, and occasionally performing while caring for their daughter and supporting her mom in the wake of her dad’s death last year. She knows many of us can relate to the sandwiching of child and eldercare, and to the navigation of personal and collective grief in these times. Sending wishes for comfort, healing energy, and support to all. 

Kevin and I hope that the year ahead is full of promise and possibilities. We look forward to connecting with many of you at our 25th Reunion in May!

#BallerAlert! Leander (Altifois) Dolphin was named to Corporate Counsel Business Journal’s inaugural list of “50 Women to Watch.” Leander was elevated by her firm to the role of co-managing partner in 2021, and then to the role of sole managing partner in 2022. She is the first African American woman in the firm’s history to lead as managing partner. As you can read in this press release on her recognition, this is only one of many accolades she’s received for her groundbreaking work. Way to go, Leander! (I can proudly say I knew you back when we were RAs in our junior year).

Chad Bartell is staying busy practicing business law in Madison, Wisconsin, by day and playing gigs by night with Panchromatic Steel—the steel band he founded in 2016. The band recently performed with steelpan luminary Andy Narell and is working on a recording that will feature a composition originally performed at Wesleyan’s CFA for the senior thesis recital of his Uncle Trouble bandmate, Kabir Sen.

Rachel Afi Quinn spent a year on sabbatical in NYC as a fellow at the Schomburg, working on a black feminist biography of mixed race pianist and journalist Philippa Duke Schuyler, seeing friends and lots of art and theater, and sharing her first book, Being La Dominicana: Race and Gender in the Visual Culture of Santo Domingo, with many interested readers in the Northeast. “Enjoyed my time in the city and you may see me back in the city some summers.” Rachel also received a 2023–24 fellowship from the National Endowment of the Humanities to continue that writing. “In this era of remote work, I will spend my fall with family in Ghana and spring with friends (who are like family) in the Dominican Republic, while finalizing the translation of my first book.”

Alison MacAdam is still living in D.C. and working in audio journalism. “Most recently, I edited a podcast called The 13th Step, about sexual misconduct in addiction treatment. In lighter news, I have a 13-year-old who has fallen in love with ultimate Frisbee (how Wes-ish!), and I’ve enjoyed reuniting on the soccer field with my Wesleyan teammate, Alison Brody ’97. I have also had some lovely visits with old Wesleyan friends, including Sahra Halpern and Dan Engler, Scott Cavanaugh and Ashley Grant ’00, Greg Brodsky, Leila Buck and Adam Abel ’98, Sean Bowditch, Ilya Marritz, and Marisa Kurtzman.”

Abbie Goldberg is still a professor of clinical psychology at Clark University but has also joined The Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School as a faculty affiliate. This has helped her to leverage her research on the effects of anti-LGBTQ legislation such as the Don’t Say Gay law in Florida. Her work on this issue has been featured in many mainstream news outlets including The New York Times. She has also published a few books over the past few years, including LGBTQ Family Building: A Guide for Prospective Parents (2022) and The (Mis)Representations of Queer Lives in True Crime (2023).

Arthur Baraf is in his 18th year as a public school high school principal at The Met, in Providence, Rhode Island. In November he’ll be a Fulbright Leaders for Global Schools scholar in Germany, where he’ll be visiting Jed Koslow in Berlin. Arthur is still married with two teen daughters, and still plays ultimate like he did for Nietzsche Factor but much slower.

Kevin’s company, Virta Health, was recently featured in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies of 2023. “While they surprisingly gave the cover of the print issue to Kim Kardashian instead of us, it’s great to see recognition for what we’re building to address the obesity and diabetes epidemic in the U.S.! Wish my mom and dad were still with us to be able to see my name in print in a publication that they would have heard of.”

Kabir Sen is living in Belmont, Massachusetts, with his wife, Rebecca, and three children—Eva (13), Julia (11), and Ethan (7). They are doing well and playing lots of basketball! He is in his 24th year teaching music at the Shady Hill School, and he plays live music residencies in Cambridge at the Lizard Lounge and the Plough and Stars (first and third Saturday of each month). He still makes beats and records lots of music, too, and has been releasing new songs each month. Give him a listen at https://linktr.ee/kabirsen!

Danielle Lazier is thrilled to announce that she is celebrating her 21st year in business as a Realtor in the San Francisco Bay Area with her own company, Vivre Real Estate. It’s always interesting, and she is grateful for all the clients, including many Wes alums who have trusted her to help them. On the home front, Danielle and her family are excited to celebrate their twins’ seventh birthday this summer. It’s hard to believe how fast time flies! They’ve been enjoying the NorCal lifestyle but are also looking forward to a trip to NYC to catch up with their Wesleyan friends and fellow alumni.

In March another Cardinal became a Bobcat. Leana Amaez ’02 joined Bates College as the vice president of equity and inclusion. Prior to Bates, Leana spent eight years at Bowdoin College as associate dean of students for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has also led diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at an international insurance company and at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Leana began her career as a public defender in the Bronx, and later directed pro bono services for Maine’s civil legal service provider, Pine Tree Legal Assistance. I look forward to working with Leana to ensure that the college’s commitment to equity and inclusion is reflected authentically in campus culture, policies, and practices. Besides Leana, Matt Coyne ’12 (head football coach) and Stephen Engel ’98 (professor of politics and associate dean of the faculty) are at Bates too. Anyone else want to join us?

In the last issue, Kevin reported that the daughter of Avi Spivack and Nataly Kogan ’98 is at Wesleyan in the Class of 2026.  For those of you who have children in high school, let me know if you have any questions about the college application process or if you are planning a visit to Bates College. Happy to help in any way I can!

Earlier this year, Kevin had the chance to grab a drink with Alister Adams ’00 while he was in NYC on business. It had been a long time, and one of the blessings of travel picking back up is the opportunity to see more long-lost Wes friends.

Kevin and I would love to hear from more of you for the next issue. So, send us any updates or stories to share. In the meantime, we hope you are enjoying the summer!—Darryl

After working and living in NYC for 22 years, Li Yu recently took a slight detour to work in D.C. for Senator Jon Ossoff as part of the majority (Democratic) staff for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations from July 2021 to October 2022. Commuting between D.C. and NYC was challenging, but living in Silver Spring, Maryland, gave Li the chance to catch up with Morgan Whitlatch ’99.  Li is now back in NYC and returning to work as an enforcement lawyer.

Jared Kaplan is helping people buck the trend of COVID weight gain. “I am excited to announce I opened a new, expanded 8K-square-foot fitness and wellness space, Arrive, in NYC (29th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues for locals!).  Arrive is changing the way wellness works, with designed spaces plus a business incubator platform, and we’re super excited to settle into our new home for fitness and wellness pros. We’re grateful to have survived the pandemic as a brick-and-mortar facility (thanks dance major for teaching me some grant-writing skills!), and are excited to continue our growth in ’23.  Also glad to see a handful of Wes alum come through our doors as clients/patients.  And . . .  random: ran into Lauryn Siegel ’00 at the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibit opening party at MoMa recently, cuz, go Wes!”

Moving to exercise for the brain: Billy Brown wrote a book about connecting with nature in Philadelphia called Exploring Philly Nature: A Guide for All Four Seasons. Erin Morris taught an undergraduate consumer behavior course at Fairfield University as an adjunct faculty member in the marketing department this semester.

Julenne Farrar Mounts checks in from Maui: “Feeling grateful that we’ve finally protected our 18-acre farm from the invasive axis deer population and our fruit trees are back to producing— we harvested over 100 pounds of organic figs last month and enjoyed giving them to friends and the community. My daughter, who I brought as a toddler to our 10-year reunion, will now be considering Wes in her college search next year. Time flies! Not too many Wes alums out here in the middle of the ocean, but we’ve shared the Steiner education journey of our children with the amazing filmmaker Stefan Schaefer ’94, ran into Jess Sanders on a hiking trail in August, and I recently did publicity for a community festival only to learn the chair was an alum too—Lin (Zhong) ter Horst ’94 who has the delicious Maui Fruit Jewels business. Look us up if you come visit—we still have a landline in the white pages!”

Lauren Kesner O’Brien started working at Empire Clean Cities (ECC), an environmental nonprofit in NYC and the Lower Hudson Valley, in early 2022. “What a year it’s been! While I was out of the paid workforce raising my children, I spent time lobbying for legislation that is now funding a lot of the decarbonization projects I’m working on, specifically in the transportation sector. It feels great to see that impact, and to support clean transportation infrastructure and the move away from burning fossil fuels. Finally. I’m also lucky to spend time with fabulous Wesleyan ladies in Brooklyn including Steffie Kinglake, Rachel Ostrow, Virginia Gray, Margo Simon, and Diana Glanternik.”

Also in the environmental space: Laura Zaks works with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, an alliance of more than 130 organizations that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. “About a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food. Farmers and food systems workers feel the impacts of economic and environmental shifts the earliest and the hardest, but they are also the best equipped to offer tangible solutions to the issues they face. We just launched our 2023 Farm Bill Platform and are gearing up for a mass mobilization, Farmers for Climate: Rally for Resilience. If any Wes climate and food activists want to join us in D.C. in March 2023, reach out!”

Avi Spivack and Nataly Kogan ’98 became legacy parents this year, as their awesome daughter, Mia Kogan-Spivack, joined the Wesleyan class of 2026! Mia is loving her Wes time so far, living in Butterfield and taking a heavy dose of science classes while also learning Spanish.

Grace Kim, Rebecca Slotnick, Chris Brody, and Ed Hong gathered in Manhattan and Boston for the bar/bat mitzvah celebrations of Ezra, son of Richard Kruger and Janice (née Gabucan) ’98, and Allegra, daughter of Jesse Feldman and Georgia. The kids offered expert recitations of the Torah and wise reflections on living a good life. Ed adds: “The parties were a rocking good time and fortunately, for this aging body, on the earlier side!”

Your class secretaries look forward to hearing more about what you all are up to in 2023!