CLASS OF 2000 | 2023 | FALL ISSUE

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.

Anne Janet Hernandez Anderson and former Hi-Rise roommate Claudia Cruz (right) at A. J.’s daughter’s birthday July 2023 in Miami, Florida.

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 ’00Katie Barge Paris ’01Erin Malone ’03, and Margot Wallston ’98.

From left to right: Katie Barge Paris ’01, Ami Student, Serena Jones, and Erin Malone ’03

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.

Laura Plageman ’99 (on left) and Leora Wien

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.

Yi-wen Huang ’00

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our brave, kind, loving, and generous wife and mother Yi-wen Huang on Friday, June 16, 2023. She was surrounded by those who loved her most. Mother. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Fighter. Artist. Author. Coach. Red Sox Fan . . . . Yi-wen was many things to many people. Yi-wen’s bright smile, exuberant laugh, and supportive nature will be remembered and missed by everyone who was fortunate to have known her.

Yi-wen was born in Taiwan, went to Taipei First Girls High School, and came to the United States to attend Wesleyan University where she obtained her BA in chemistry. She then went on to obtain her PhD in physical chemistry from Harvard University. Yi-wen worked as a scientist and engineer by day but her true calling was being the best mother possible to her boys. Whether it was volunteering to coach their baseball team or selling cookie dough to support their school band, Yi-wen was there. She never missed a game or a band performance—even when she was fiercely fighting breast cancer, she was there. With Yi-wen every step of the way was her husband, Bor-rong. Yi-wen and Bor-rong’s love, which began in high school, withstood long distances, military service, grad school, and cancer and thrived for over 20 years. Yi-wen is survived by her devoted husband Bor-rong, her beloved children, Aiden (Yu-kuan) and Brandon (Yu-fang), her parents Kuan-chung and Chin-hsiang, her brother Yi-ting, extended family, and countless friends.

CLASS OF 2000 | 2022 | FALL ISSUE

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.

CLASS OF 2000 | 2022 | SPRING ISSUE

Trace Peterson is currently the 2021–2022 NEH postdoctoral fellow in poetics at the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Emory University. A trans woman scholar and poet, this year she also co-organized, with two other trans scholars, the first-ever Working Group in Trans Studies at the MLA Conference, which featured nine participants. Her new publications this year include a chapter for the SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies, a chapter in the forthcoming Wiley Blackwell Companion to American Poetry, and new poems in Michigan Quarterly Review.