Tag: 2001

Class of 2001, you never disappoint. The rest of the many notes I received are available on Wesconnect and will appear in the next issue, too.Nora Friedman writes the following: “I’ve been teaching violin in Brooklyn for the last 12 years (hard to believe). I’m now the assistant Suzuki violin department head at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and at the Thurnauer School of Music (in Tenafly, N.J.) and teach at the Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, N.J. I’ve been really, really lucky because I love what I do and find it so exciting to be part of shaping so many children’s futures. My dog and I also have a private studio at home and a few slots are opening up for the summer into fall. It would be so fun to work with the children of Wes alum! I start teaching Suzuki method violin at age 3-1/2.”Brenna Cothran lives in New York with wife Jasmine Ma, who is on the faculty of NYU. Brenna writes, “I work as a registrar for an art advisory firm that helps individuals and corporations care for their collections. Our first child, Sammy, is four and just started pre-K, and our baby son Max was born in April.”Aryn Kalson-Sperandio and her husband and kids spent the best August ever visiting family and friends on the East Coast. Now they’re back in western Canada, and back to work and school, which isn’t so bad either.Louisa Michaels is now the finance manager of Carnegie Robotics in Pittsburgh. Son Leon is 4 and thriving.Tracy Manaster writes: “I am thrilled to announce that my debut novel, You Could Be Home By Now, will be published this December by Tyrus Books. It’s set in a luxury retirement community whose regulations prohibit full-time residents under the age of 55. When a struggling resident, underwater on her mortgage and unable to relocate due to the nation’s ongoing housing crisis, is discovered to be raising her grandson in secret, the story—with the help of a teenage beauty blogger, a pair of young professionals dealing (badly) with a recent loss, and a retiree with reasons of his own to seek the spotlight—goes viral. The book takes on the fallout for all involved. My (presumably insufferable) 17-year-old self told my admissions interviewer at Wes that I wanted a book out by 35—looks like I made it just under the wire. Delivering on a 2001-vintage promise, my housemates at 40 Fountain (Ben Paradise, Emily Archibald, and Nicky Pessaroff ) all have characters named after them, and my husband, Marc Alifanz ’99, scored the dedication.”Jeffrey Lane finished his PhD this summer and just started a professorship at Rutgers University, in the School of Communication and Information on the New Brunswick campus. He is still living in Harlem with his wife, Emily, and now a pooch named Peanut as well.Dispatch from Kavi Reddy: “I left Boies Schiller in 2012 after about seven great years to go in-house at NBC Universal, where I worked as a lawyer, mostly on reality television for Bravo, Style, and Oxygen, and then on acquisitions for Syfy, Chiller, and Cloo. This past spring, I left NBC and am now on the tiny but mighty, two-lawyer legal team at Gawker Media LLC in New York. I love Gawker and love walking to work in Soho from my place on the Lower East Side.”Joanna Weaver writes, “I moved to Louisville, Ky., in the summer of 2013 and have just begun a PhD in experimental psychology at the University of Louisville. I study the cognitive and situational factors that affect learning and performance and conduct experimental research in schools. We welcome all visitors for Derby or at any other time of year!”Alex Gordon’s son turned 1 at the end of August, and Alex has started a new job handling internal investigations at Swiss Reinsurance Company in Zurich.Adam Goss writes, “My wife, Janice, and 2-year-old son, Joaquin, welcomed Amelia Paz Cruz Goss in June to our growing Texas family. She is happy and healthy! Also, I joined BHPBilliton in January as an exploration geologist working on our new Mexico team and preparing for bid rounds following Mexico’s historic recent denationalization of its energy industry. Looking forward to a somewhat cooler Houston fall and winter. If anyone’s in Houston we got a spare room and a pool!”Yvette Luxenberg and Jeff Rose bought their first house this June and their 2-year-old son Jasper still asks, “Are we going home to the new house?” when they pick him up from school!Amos Hausman-Rogers has left his life and job in the Bay Are and is traveling—and still checks his Wesleyan e-mail, by the way. His report: “This summer I visited the town in Poland where part of my dad’s family/ancestors lived untll WWII. I didn’t realize until I got there that I was the first person back there from the family since they left under quite unfortunate circumstances. Powerful and quite healing for me.”Jonathan Osler and Rose Cahn have this report: “March 28, 2013, we welcomed our second daughter, Aya Simone Osler-Cahn, into our family. Jonathan and I have both started new jobs in the past year. Jonathan is now director of the San Francisco Teacher Residency Program which trains new teachers who commit to work in San Francisco’s high needs schools. I received a Soros Justice Fellowship to start an immigrant post-conviction relief project, helping people vacate criminal convictions that would otherwise cause their deportation.”Ben Spatz recently moved to the UK to become lecturer in drama, theatre and performance at the University of Huddersfield. He also finished a book on embodied knowledge that will be published by Routledge in 2015. He and his partner have a baby, Caleb Reza, born March 1, 2014.

Best wishes to all of you.

MARA VOUKYDIS | maravee@gmail.com

First, some contributions from people who wrote in last time, but had to be bumped to this edition because you were all so fantastic at sending me notes. So while it may be a little out of date, here’s a dispatch from Tara Colton: “On Feb. 26, 2013, my husband Jed and I welcomed our son, Benjamin, into the world. He is the most wonderful, curious, beautiful, sweet, silly little boy. I apparently thought having a baby wasn’t enough change in one year, as I returned from maternity leave to a new job, leaving Mayor Bloomberg’s office to oversee program development and planning at FEGS, one of the largest health and human services agencies in the country. We live in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, which has one of the best views (and the best tacos) in NYC.”

Chris and Wendy Jeffries are still enjoying life in Baltimore, though they are taking as many trips as they can in their spare time. During their recent travels, they have seen Brian Fair and Luke Cash in Boston and Liz Collins Bliss during a trip to Wesleyan where Wendy and Liz gave a presentation to students on using data and measuring outcomes for schools and non-profits. They also regularly see Adriana Jones Laser, who lives nearby. When they are not traveling, Chris is keeping busy working as a business ligation lawyer and Wendy manages training and evidence-based practice on international child protection issues for the U.S. branch of an international federation.

Steve Gray officiated at the wedding of Erica Gersowitz and Kagiso Bond at the end of November. They were thrilled that so many Wes alums were able to join them for the celebration in Anguilla, including Tanya Ellman, Rachel Chasan, Courtney Orange, Ben Leff, Saj Rahman ’03, Mariela Rosario ’02, Julio Pabon ’02, Dave Bowers, Martha King, and Chuck Duffney ’02.

Rachel Feinstein Stevens moved to Northampton, Mass., and welcomes all friends and passing alums for a visit in the Happy Valley, just an hour from campus. She now works with her husband at their firm, Maple Street Architects, and just completed a deep energy retrofit of their two-family home.

Andee Marksamer, a geologist for Chevron, writes, “My husband, Ken Downey, and I, and our 2-year-old son, Harrison, have been living in Bangkok, Thailand, since Feb. 2013. We are all thoroughly enjoying Thailand…eating yummy spicy food, meeting lots of new people, learning to speak Thai, and traveling throughout Asia.”

Jamie Chin sent in this happy news: “On March 29, 2014, my fiancé, Cory McArthur, proposed to me on Foss Hill at Wes.”

Anthony Clark and Megan Joiner write, “We welcomed our daughter, Arden Lucia Joiner-Clark, into the world on 11/12/13 in New Haven. Anthony finishes in the joint MBA and master of environmental science program at Yale in May. The family will be in Connecticut through the summer. Miller’s Pond, here we come!”

I had the sweetest, most fun visit when Jess Firestone blew into town to tour colleges with her completely awesome friend/former student Julizza in mid-March. After a number of years teaching elementary school in Oregon, Jess has an awesome adventure planned for next year: “I’m taking a much needed break from the testing culture of American public education to teach at Las Terrenas International School in the Dominican Republic. Whale season is January to March and I welcome all visitors to the beach town where I’ll be teaching.”

Have you noticed a new magazine called Modern Farmer on newsstands, basically everywhere? Did you know it is the outfit of our very own Reyhan Harmanci, chief editor? In its first year, the publication garnered two National Magazine Award (Aka ESME or Ellie) nominations. Unfortunately there is no ESME category for Excellence in Baby Animal Coverage, because then they’d be a triple threat.

Please keep the notes coming!

MARA VOUKYDIS | MaraVee@gmail.com

Sam Globus graduated from his PhD program in molecular biology at Cornell in March and started a job as a biotech/pharma consultant in NYC shortly thereafter. He writes, “My wife and I had our first child, Madeline Ensign Globus, on Aug. 15, 2013; she is looking forward to taking her place in the Wesleyan class of 2034 in a few years! I also was a groomsman in Ezra Steinberg’s wedding that just took place in the beginning of June.”

“As for me, I’m still kicking it in public radio,” reports Maureen McMurray. “I’m the producer/editor of NPR’s debate series, Intelligence Squared US, and most recently spent five months reporting for WWNO, New Orleans Public Radio. After 12 wonderful years in NYC, my husband and I are heading to the wilds of Concord, N.H., where I will be working for New Hampshire Public Radio. I’ll be sure to keep everyone apprised of the presidential hopefuls passing through town.”

Yvette Luxenberg and Jeff Rose welcomed son Jasper Atticus Rose into the world July 22, 2012.

Kannan Vasudevan writes: “I got engaged to a Ms. Katie Zaffrann! Our fusion wedding is slated for next fall in upstate New York.”

Sarah Tew’s wedding and portrait photography business is buzzing along in NYC, where she lives with her husband, Keith, and their two sweet cats. Check out her recent work at the recently updated sarahtewphotography.com.

From Emily Archibald: “My husband, Ben Paradise, and I had a baby boy in February. We named our Groundhog Day baby Henry Archibald Paradise. He is growing well and enjoying life in Needham, Mass. Ben is still working in asset management and I am staying home with Henry while I complete my master’s in higher education administration at Boston University.”

Kathryn Van Nimwegen Lachenmaier is living in Seattle, Wash., with her husband, Tom, and busy, almost 20-month-old, Nora. She has frequent play dates with her brother’s, Michael Van Nimwegen ’98, and sister-in-law’s, Nikki Forlenza Van Nimwegen ’98, daughters, Margo and Kate. Kathryn continues to work in early intervention, serving children, birth to 3, with special needs. She will be a manager of therapy staff at a new early intervention site set to open in January located just north of Seattle, in Bothell, Wash.

Elizabeth Savage and her husband, Michael Schopf, welcomed their first child to the world on March 20, 2013. After teaching English and composition in Cameroon, Mississippi, and Louisiana, Elizabeth returned to her hometown of Portland, Oregon. She graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School this January, and will join her husband as a member of the Oregon State Bar this spring.

Lizzie Salzfass writes that she was able to legally marry her wife, Lena McQuade, this past summer in California. They bought a house in El Cerrito—which, she reports, is “surprisingly full of gays who can’t afford to live in SF or Berkeley”—and recently welcomed their first child, Tavi Sabine, to the family.

Alex Gordon writes, “My wife, Lucy, and I celebrated the arrival of our first child, Timothy Jan, on Aug. 23, 2013.”

In 2013, Ben Spatz performed his solo work Rite of the Butcher at the Lincoln Center Rubenstein Atrium and received his PhD from the CUNY graduate center. He is moving to England in 2014 to take a position as lecturer in drama, theatre, and performance at the University of Huddersfield.

Elizabeth Owen is now working as the legal director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center.

Sarah K. Levin writes, “I’m a clinical psychologist working with children and adults in my San Francisco private practice. It was a loooong road, but I’m loving that I’m finally back in the real world now. And it feels like an added perk that I really enjoy what I do every day. I’m happily partnered and also a proud new owner of Aloha Louie, my shelter rescue dog. He’s the best. And finally, I’ve started ‘Zero to Wonder,’ a program for babies and parents focused on developing social emotional health.”

While I wish I could take credit for the following fabulous sentence, it was supplied courtesy of Ben Hurwitz: “Dave Bihldorff (married to Carolyn Clark Bihldorff ’02), who runs the family farm in Mass., with his now two strapping sons, Caden and Logan Dai, and Maneesh Sharma who now lives in D.C. and still considers himself a ‘good’ person, plan to join Ben Hurwitz, who still lives in L.A. and has sired his own son, Milo, for Dave’s farm, for the wedding of Josh Koch next fall in Colorado, despite Josh residing in Alaska, which would make for a cooler wedding… Regardless, this wedding will hopefully produce more children for Dave’s workforce. These grads speak often, and fleetingly, of Baja.”

Here in Boston I have been hanging out with a host of awesome Wesleyanites. Sam Wechsler ’95 is my Tuesday morning coffee date, Anthony Zannino ’06 and Jon Zorn ’02 just came over for brunch, and I really miss neighborhood walks with Yael Tarshish ’09 since she moved to Virginia to go to medical school. To make up for it, we text each other occasional pictures of beautiful foliage/flowers/plants. By the time of this publication, Dana Hale ’00 will have moved to a small antique house in the woods, away from the city, but we will continue to find ways to wreak havoc together (which may or may not mean sitting around and chatting for hours).

Lastly, I just have to tell you all that recently Mary Robertson both ran the New York Marathon and was nominated for an Emmy. Mary, when will you get off the couch and start actually getting things done?!

Please be well and keep in touch.

MARA VOUKYDIS

MVOUKYDIS@WESLEYAN.EDU