Tag: 2000

Mandy Snyder wrote: “I moved to Greenfield, Massachusetts, last year to enjoy the amazing improvisational dance community here, and it has been wonderful. I am offering groups in somatic and parts work around western Massachusetts.

“I recently visited the campus after many years. My brother, Jeffrey Snyder, a professor at Carleton College, gave a talk on free speech for the annual Hugo L. Black Lecture. That was a special moment for me, and it was so great to be back. So many great memories, especially from living at Art House and all of the dance opportunities there. 

“Reach out if you live nearby and enjoy walking or hiking. I would love to connect with other alums.” 

From Peter Wiley: “I’m so sad to report that my wife, Hilda Ives Wiley, died on March 28, 2024, from a six-month battle with colon cancer. Hilda and I met in the first few days of our freshman year and by the end of our first semester, we were in a ‘Wes marriage’ for the rest of our four years. I am so grateful for the 27 years we shared together and for Wesleyan being the place that brought us together. Hilda’s freshman roommate, Marisa Suescun, and floor mate, Jill Berlinski,were able to visit with Hilda just a few days before she died and we did a lot of reminiscing. Like the time Jill and Marisa created a dinner party for Hilda’s 20th birthday in a Nicholson dorm room, putting a wooden board atop a bed, creating a makeshift dining room table. More information about Hilda’s journey with cancer is available on the CaringBridge website and an obituary was published in the Portland Press Herald.”

Greg Amis shared two updates: “In November of 2021, my wife, Karen Ferreira Amis, died of sarcoma. Her good friend, M. J. Lanum, and her sister, Kristen Ferreira, wrote a wonderful obituary, available at http://karenferreiraamis.name. The kids and I have grown and healed a lot in the last three years. She would be proud of us.”

And “last October I was laid off after five years at Abbott Vascular. It was a blessing in disguise as I joined Insitro, an amazing tech-bio start-up focused on AI-accelerated drug discovery.”

Greg and Peter, we are sorry for your losses and offer our heartfelt condolences to you and your loved ones.

Matthew Lenard said he “earned his PhD in education from Harvard University this spring and will join the Department of Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Florida State University this fall.”

Trace Peterson has moved back to Connecticut, where she continues to teach as a visiting assistant professor of English at UConn, Storrs. This year, so far, her article “A Pre Narrative Manifesto: kari edwards’ Trans Poetics” was published in The Weird Sister Collection, edited by Marisa Crawford (The Feminist Press), and her nonfiction essay “Between Muses” was published in Gina Barreca’s new edited collection Fast Famous Women (Woodhall Press). She also had new poems published in Interim: Poetry and Poetics and The Arts Fuse and was invited to give a talk on trans poetry at The Poetry Foundation in Chicago. Currently a member of the Wallace Stevens Poetry Committee at UConn, she was a judge for this year’s Wallace Stevens Poetry Prize.

As a spring chicken of 45, Tamar Wilner is setting out on a new career. Having wrapped up her PhD at the University of Texas, she’ll be starting this fall as an assistant professor of journalism and mass communications at the University of Kansas. Tamar will be relocating to the charming and surprisingly hilly college town of Lawrence, where she looks forward to patronizing a vibrant local music scene, and possibly investing in her first e-bike.

Alua Arthur’s book, Briefly Perfectly Human, was recommended by Gayle King for Oprah’s Book Club and has been a New York Times bestseller. The book description says it is “a deeply transformative memoir that reframes how we think about death and how it can help us lead better, more fulfilling and authentic lives.” Alua has also been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in health in 2024. @alualoveslife

Dear Classmates,

Thank you for sharing your submissions. We hope that this finds you and yours well, even as world events continue to be challenging. Please enjoy hearing from our class below.

From Demian Szyld: “We are enjoying the school-age phase: Lila is in third and Riki is in kindergarten this year here in Cambridge. One of our new family traditions is apple picking at Lyman Orchards since that is halfway to New York, and I must say that I do enjoy the nostalgia that comes with driving near Middletown.”  

From Luke Davenport: “I got married and moved to Peekskill, New York, in 2020, and now have a wonderful two-year-old daughter. I’m still running a small company, analyzing data for NYC public schools.”

Josh Sohn reports that he is holding things down in Brooklyn, tutoring, writing, and playing as much ultimate as is humanly possible. He’s also proud to note he just notched 2,000 students tutored and has supported over 150 students through the college application process. Five of those students ended up at Wes. . . .  Just sayin’.

From Leora: A Mad Libs-inspired microshare:

“I have been ______________ and am listening to _______.”  

“I have been managing a persimmon tree harvest for the past month or so and am listening to a lot of PJ Harvey.”

Our best wishes,

Serena and Leora

From Chinelo Dike-Minor: “Still very much in touch with my Wes girls, Shakira Adams and Karen Alvarez ’02. Living in Birmingham, Alabama, with my husband and two boys, and teaching law. My PSA: I have recently learned that roasted broccoli is truly quite delicious. Who knew?”

Claudia Cruz visited Miami, Florida, in July for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Convention where she moderated a panel on the need for more Latino business reporters to help close the wealth gap in the U.S. A past-president of the NAHJ San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, she now teaches journalism courses at the University of Nevada, Reno. While in South Florida, Claudia met up with Anne Janet “A. J.” Hernandez Anderson (formerly De Ases). A. J.’s daughter Sienna’s 10th birthday brought the two former Hi Rise roommates together after more than a decade. A. J. is a senior supervising attorney at Southern Poverty Law Center where she helps develop and litigate individual and federal class action cases.

From Lauren Anderson: “I’m sending an update on behalf of the husband and mutual friends of a Wes friend who recently passed. . . . Yi-wen Huang  passed away on June 16, 2023. Her Wesleyan achievements included earning a Freeman Scholarship, Phi Beta Kappa, and University Honors in Chemistry. She is missed dearly by her loving husband, Bor-rong Chen, her boys, Aiden and Brandon, and the many friends she made at Wesleyan and beyond. A full obituary can be found here.”

Serena Jones is “working as a book editor at Holt and living in Rye, New York, with my three boys.” She attended a gathering of Eagle’s Nest Camp alums in Asheville, North Carolina, and had the pleasure of reuniting with former staffers AND Wes alums: Ami Student ’00, Katie Barge Paris ’01, Erin Malone ’03, and Margot Wallston ’98.

From Leora Wien, reporting from Los Angeles: “I met with Tony Ducret one dark and stormy night at a bar in North Hollywood. We both felt good about the outdoor air circulation and had a lot to catch up on. In June, happily gave Jessica Sanders ’99 a fabulous in-person hug. This August, I had long overdue quality time with Laura Plageman ’99 et famille in the Bay Area. As an educational therapist, I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with language arts and social studies teacher Sarah Chaskes ’91.

As the Class Notes were going to press, we were saddened to learn about the passing of our classmate Andrew Silverman. Please read more about him here.

Please send news to your class secretary or send news to classnotes@wesleyan.edu.

Please send news to your class secretary or to classnotes@wesleyan.edu.

After recently completing his degree from Fordham University Gabelli School of Business, Marvin Thomas has left admissions from his alma mater Xavier High School in NYC and is now the director of business development of the Corporate Work Study Program at Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York.

Matt Rahaim has been teaching Hindustani music, relational improvisation, and practices of listening at the University of Minnesota, most recently in the new Creative Studies Program. His new book, Ways of Voice: Vocal Striving and Moral Contestation in North India and Beyond, was published in the Music/Culture series at Wesleyan University Press in fall 2021. He and his wife Jenna are spending as much time as possible in and on lakes, frozen and liquid.

Bryan Rowe lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with his wife Asia and two sons, Jacob (7) and Oscar (4).  “I would love to hear from any classmates in the area!”

Eden Robins writes, “My first novel, When Franny Stands Up (Sourcebooks Landmark), is coming out November 1st! I call it ‘my funny book about trauma,’ and my editor calls it ‘a queer Marvelous Mrs. Maisel where the jokes are magic.’”

Ali Haider says, “After working in western Massachusetts for 10 years, I have taken a position at New York Presbyterian/Cornell—Queens, where I will continue working as an interventional and structural cardiologist. My wife Uruj Kamal Haider ’09 and I have a 17- month-old baby, Parisa Haider, and a second girl coming in December. We are excited to be moving back to New York and closer to our family.”

Trace Peterson completed her job as the NEH postdoctoral fellow in poetics at Emory University this past spring, and she has moved back to Connecticut, where she currently works as a visiting assistant professor of English at the UConn Storrs campus. This year Trace’s small-press publishing company, EOAGH Books, also won the National Jewish Book Award in Poetry for The Book of Anna, a title by trans writer Joy Ladin. An interview about the prize-winning book with Trace and Joy appeared in a recent article in Forbes magazine and is probably the first time poetry has ever appeared in Forbes.

Mandy Snyder writes, “I lead groups online for self-discovery and emotional intelligence using somatic approaches at mandysnyder.com. I am relocating to western Massachusetts, near Greenfield, should anyone live nearby, let me know!”

Bakley Smith says, “Hi, I moved to Atlanta, Georgia (actually Decatur), in 2021, after more than 20 years in NYC. My wife and I had our second child last year, and things are generally going quite well. Saw Josh Ostrow while in New York recently, and stay in touch with Justin Belin, Nick Kurian, and others. Missed our 20-year Reunion but looking forward to 25 in a few more years.”

Claudia Cruz writes, “During the pandemic I was co-managing editor of a team of reporters that won a national 2021 Murrow Award for our bilingual COVID-19 coverage during 2020. Also, I will finally join the ranks of published Wesleyan authors with the forthcoming academic chapter, “Race, Colorism and Policing in Latinx Communities: Getting the Story,” for a first-of-its-kind journalism textbook about covering Latinos in the U.S. and around the world. It will be published by Routledge in late April 2022.”

Our collective thoughts and prayers are with Greg Amis. His wife, Karen Ferreira Amis, died of cancer last November. Obituary is at https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/karen-amis-obituary?pid=200709776.