Tag: 2005

Misa Dayson received her doctorate last year in anthropology from UCLA after submitting her dissertation. A chapter from her work was edited into an essay and published in The Black Diaspora and Germany: Deutschland und die Schwarze Diaspora. She is working for screenwriter Michael Arndt. She got married to Jules Hollander in Troyes, France, with Wes friends Ada Pinkston; Andrea Cortes-Juarbe; Xiomara Lorenzo and her wife, Cara Herbitter ’03; Julie Ren; and Tacuma Bradley ’04, his wife Leah Cohen, and their son, Kai, and Tavi Fields ’02 and Lisa Hoff.

Ada Pinkston received a $30,000 grant from Light City Baltimore to create a light-based public art work. Ada was also awarded $10,000 from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance Rubys Artist Project Grant in support of her performative intervention and arts installation, LandMarked. This fall, supported by a fellowship, Ada will temporarily move to D.C. to create the second iteration of LandMarked.

Andrea Cortes-Juarbe is completing training in body work and healing at the movement-based creative art therapy program, Tamalpa Institute. This summer she will be in Big Sur at Esalen Institute assisting at the Tamalpa Institute Expressive Body, Life/Art workshop.

Xiomara Lorenzo is the associate vice-president and director of Society of Grownups, a digital financial wellness initiative developed by MassMutual. She leads the organization in its efforts to position financial wellness as a way to empower clients as they articulate and take action towards their personal and professional goals.

Julie Ren received her doctorate in geography in 2015 from Humboldt University Berlin, graduating summa cum laude. She received two post-doctoral fellowships (City University of Hong Kong and the London School of Economics). Julie published her co-edited anthology, Art and the City: Worlding the Discussion through a Critical Artscape (Routledge). Julie is now research faculty in urban studies at the Humboldt University Berlin.

Niv Elis is covering Congress as a reporter for The Hill in D.C.

Tony Alleyne was honored with the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Recent Alumni of Merit Award.

Becky Goldstein Albertalli writes young adult books, one of which was adapted into the film, Love, Simon (Katie Walsh actually wrote one of her all-time favorite Love, Simon reviews). Her next book, What If It’s Us, includes a scene that takes place at Wesleyan. She lives in Atlanta with her husband Brian and their two young sons.

Capt. Jesse Sommer has been selected to serve in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) as the 3d Battalion Judge Advocate. He returned from a 10-month deployment to Iraq as part of the mission to defeat ISIS. He received the Bronze Star for his service. He donates twice per year to the WESU-FM semi-annual pledge drive.

Doro Globus is managing director of David Zwirner Books, working with artists such as William Eggleston, Yayoi Kusama, Kerry James-Marshall, and the estates of artists such as Anni Albers, Donald Judd, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Still based in London, her job brings her to New York three or four times a year.

Max Goldblatt, in Los Angeles, will marry Vanessa Riegel next year. He completed work on In A Relationship, starring Emma Roberts, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival—Kellen Quinn and Dan Janvey ’06 joined him at the premiere. The film was picked up for distribution, so you can catch it later this year and enjoy a delightful Goldblatt cameo to boot. Max also cut the music video for MGMT’s  Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden recent song “When You Die” (co-directed by Hallie Cooper-Novack ’07, produced and visual effects supervised by Jamie Dutcher, produced by Lucia Pier ’08). Learn more at maxgoldblatt.com.

Kate Mitchell is teaching ninth grade world history at The School for Creative Studies in Durham, N.C., and organizing with others to rebuild public schools in the South (#red4ed). Her beloved cat is 11.

David Delcourt lives in Boulder, Colo., with his wife and two boys. He started Seed Ranch Flavor Co., a natural food company focused on making sophisticated hot sauces that focus on flavor over heat. On the weekends he hits up mountain biking trails with Tom Facelle.

Leland Smith lives with his wife on a horse farm in Maryland, managing IT for international development projects. He spends weekends raising sheep and chickens, growing vegetables, and tending to endless farm work. His son, Augustus, turns 1 this summer.

David Rood-Ojalvo is director of field operations at Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens. He completed his first short film, Flight School, with the actors Ari Brand ’06, Diego Ortiz ’06, and Jon Leland. He lives in Rockaway Beach.

Kristin Juarez ’08 and Rafael Tapias, MD, moved from Atlanta to NYC. Kris is finishing her PhD, Raf is doing a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry, and both are nesting with their newborn, Rafael PJ Tapias.

Sarah Weigle is living in Seattle and had two kids—Maya and Joy. She will be teaching science at Garfield High School this fall.

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Robyn Schroeder is now the director of the Humanities for the Public Good initiative at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is excited to get plugged into the art, culture, and activism circles of the Research Triangle.

Amy Crawford got married in Santa Barbara, Calif., on August 20. Amy and her husband, Jared Schonig, are living and making music in NYC and she is enjoying her work as vice president, supervising producer at Man Made Music. They moved into a beautiful new studio last year and she is always excited to connect with Wes folks working in the field.

Capt. Jesse Sommer is deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, serving as the deputy brigade judge advocate for the U.S. Army’s 3d Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. (And yes, in the military, “3rd” is spelled “3d” and we don’t believe in superscript. I know.)

Heather Olins is on the teaching faculty in the biology department at Boston College, creating and teaching courses in ecology and evolution.

Anay Shah finished his MBA at Stanford University in 2013 and joined an early stage fintech startup in Seattle. After four years building the company, Anay and his wife are moving to Nairobi, Kenya! They arrive in January and hope to live and work there for a couple years.

Bob Coppola and Vanessa Jones Coppola and their 2-year-old son, Callan, moved to beautiful New Hampshire as Bob took a job at Dartmouth as the assistant director of athletic development. Vanessa is working remotely for the Handel Group out of NYC as director of operations.

Elizabeth Ody Leary lives in Massachusetts, where she and her two daughters chase frogs through the creek in their backyard.

Dr. Tony Alleyne, the founder and executive director of the Delaware College Scholars Program (DCS), has been named a 2017 “40 Under 40” winner by the Delaware Business Times. Tony accepted this honor at the publication’s cocktail reception in October.  The “40 Under 40” list recognizes “the region’s best and brightest young professionals…who are making a difference with their intelligence, initiative, and innovation.”

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

After a half-decade in the Holy Land, Niv Elis has moved back to D.C., reuniting with his senior housemates Jess Firshein and Nancy Wassner. He is a staff writer at The Hill reporting on budget and appropriations.

Richard Wenk and Ying Xiong ’04 welcomed their second son, Henry Wenk, on January 30. His big bro, Alexander, has been helping by putting on his own shoes (if someone tells him which one is right and which is left).

Fabrice Coles is living in Silver Spring, Md., with his wife and three sons. He works in Congress as the executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. He encourages other Wes alumni working in politics, civil rights, business, and media to reach out in case they would like to work together.

Clara Moskowitz and Sarah Woodbury had a baby. Their daughter, Esther Jane, was born in January and they are over the moon. They live in NYC, where Sarah teaches eighth grade humanities at a public school in Manhattan and Clara is an astronomy and physics editor at Scientific American.

Justin Rogers moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, with his family, 12 years after an Earth and Environmental Sciences-inspired study abroad term.

Ian Smith is moving to Chicago and starting a new job as a partner at Hillcrest Holdings, a private family investment company. If anyone knows any companies for sale, let him know.

Sara Levin just got a new job as an assistant conservator in the Objects Conservation department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art starting in July.

Lastly, Kate Mitchell of Durham, N.C., was awarded the James Madison Fellowship by the James Madison Memorial Foundation of Alexandria, Va. These fellowships support college graduates who aspire to become teachers of American history, American government, and social studies at the secondary school level. The fellowship will fund up to $24,000 of Kate’s study towards a master’s degree. Congrats!

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Matt Lewis is working happily as a lawyer in San Francisco, though at a new firm (Payne & Fears—yes that’s the real name). His family—wife Jessica, 3-year-old, Jack, and 8-month-old, Charlie—are living in Marin County, settling into a new house in Novato, with plenty of space for old friends to visit!

Adam Smiley Poswolsky ’05 proves himself an able guide for millennials trying to find their way in their professional life in The Quarter-Life Breakthrough: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work, and Build a Life That Matters (Tarcher Perigee/Penguin Random House).

Andrew Stuerzel is happy to report that he and his wife, Adriana Rojas ’07, are enjoying life in Middletown with their two children, Reese (4) and Marco (1). Adriana is working at the Weitzman Institute in the Community Health Center, and Andrew is helping expand Wesleyan’s global footprint as a development officer in the Office of University Relations. He was in Asia for Wes this past fall and is making another trip to Southeast Asia in April. Reese will begin kindergarten at McDonough School this fall, and they look forward to hearing about her interactions with the Wes students who take time out of their schedules to help out there. Marco will continue to attend Neighborhood Preschool behind Butterfield B. They are grateful for the wonderful access and exposure they have had to the Wes community during their time there.

Isaac Fleisher recently fled NYC with his wife and two daughters. They moved to his hometown of Northampton, Mass., without jobs! They have jobs and now they’re living the dream, or some approximation of it.

Sivan Cotel was thrilled after the release of Stonecutter Spirits Heritage Cask Whiskey, which grabbed gold medals in the 2016 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition and the 2017 World Spirits Competition.

Emily Pfeiffer-Russell is taking care of her 1-year-old son, Henry, while teaching part-time in Virginia. Her husband is finishing up a PhD. in ecophysiology and ecoclimatology at Virginia Tech. She was so grateful and happy to see many Wesleyan friends at two different alumni weddings this past year: Andreas Mendez-Penate is in Massachusetts and Kelly McFarling is in California.

Jay Kabel started a new job as technical director of software development at SingleStone Consulting and is having a good time in the Charlottesville, Va., area.

Jesse S. Sommer is allegedly in London, where both his wallet and passport have been stolen. He urgently needs just a few hundred dollars…  In other news, CPT Jesse S. Sommer is the senior prosecutor at Fort Polk, La. He has reason to believe that his e-mail account was recently hacked.

Maria I. Nankova survived a hard year in Brussels, having worked very near the airport at the time of the attack. Still living in Belgium with her kids and partner, they welcomed a Wes alum, Andy Gottlieb ’14, who came to Brussels to work at the European Parliament. While Andy was there, they visited Dinant and Namur where they did a little hike, celebrated Thanksgiving together, and went to Indian and African restaurants. All in all, they had a lot of fun and shared fond memories of Wesleyan. Andy was able to give a few history lessons to their older child who learned about U.S. elections at the time of the real elections. If anyone is passing through Brussels, please stop by to visit.

Sara Bremen Rabstenek and her husband, Tom Rabstenek ’03, welcomed their second daughter, Abigail Ruth Rabstenek, on Dec. 30. Along with their 3-year old, Dorothy, they’re happily living on the Upper West Side in Manhattan.

Kevin Egolf, with his wife, Amy Egolf (Nebenhaus) ’07, and daughter Aurora moved to Providence, R.I. They are enjoying the small city lifestyle after many years in NYC.

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Katie Walsh is living in LA, where she is a film critic for the Tribune News Service, LA Times, and The Playlist.

After five long, glorious years at The Jerusalem Post, Niv Elis has taken a position as the opinion editor for the Asia Times (he’s still based in Tel Aviv, though). He’s hoping to recruit some of the very best Wesleyan opinions, so if you have something to say get in touch!

Elizabeth Langston Isaacs and Noah Isaacs ’06 celebrated their four-year wedding anniversary on Sept. 8. The most exciting thing to happen to them so far in their decade-plus relationship has been the birth of their daughter, Vivienne Langston Isaacs, on March 5. Vivi is breaking hearts all over Brooklyn, where she is regularly doted upon by a large contingent of Wesleyan alumni. Elizabeth is an appellate public defender at the Legal Aid Society and Noah is an innovations project manager at ICL, an NYC mental health/social services nonprofit.

Jennifer Mariaschin-Rudin is living and working in NYC as a behavioral health integration LCSW and supervisor for a community health organization. She loves her work serving adults and youth in a community health setting. Jenny is always happy to meet and hear from other Wesleyan alumni interested in social work and mental health!

Doro Globus has just started as managing director of David Zwirner Books. Whilst she is based in London, the position will include more regular travel to David Zwirner’s two gallery spaces in New York, as well as to Hong Kong, as the gallery is opening a space there soon. She and her husband, Gavin, have been enjoying time with their 1.5-year-old son, Tristan—yes, he has red hair!

After spending a year as a visiting assisting professor in anthropology at Wes, Melissa Rosario is moving to Puerto Rico to launch a living-learning project, CEPA, which fosters cooperative economies and eco-social futures amidst the current fiscal crisis. The beta space—charco hogar—will feature short-term rentals and residencies to fund free and sliding-scale workshops to a broad public. Learn more at decolonizepr.com.

Kate Mitchell left her nonprofit job of six years to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, make quilts with her mother, and become a public school teacher in North Carolina.

After launching her novel, From Now On Everything Will Be Different, at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Asia-Pacific Writers and Translators Summit, Eliza Vitri Handayani toured Australia from August to September, appearing at the Melbourne Writers Festival as well as in Sydney and Adelaide. The launch of her novel at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival last October was canceled due to police warnings, and she protested by wearing t-shirts printed with excerpts from the novel to the festival. Copies of her novel were sold out at many events.

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Stonecutter Spirits has taken some big steps forward for Sivan Cotel, with their Single Barrel Gin winning double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition last spring, and the release of their Heritage Cask Whiskey this summer!

Anna Talman Rapp is thrilled to announce the May 14 arrival of Adam Christopher Talman Rapp.

Chris Gateman and his wife, Kim, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, John Colton Gateman, born Feb. 27, 2016.

Heather Olins finished her dissertation on microbes at deep sea hydrothermal vents, and finally earned her PhD in May from Harvard. She also recently had a baby—Mattea Olins Albro! She will be starting a job in the fall teaching science at The Fessenden School in Newton, Mass.

Lindsay Clarke and her husband, Shea Gunther, welcomed daughter Sagan Brandes Gunther, on May 4. While home on maternity leave, Lindsay continues to run Breaking Ground, a nonprofit started through her grant from the Christopher Brodigan fund in 2005. Also on the board of Breaking Ground are Alex Moore and Alden Blair.

Maria Nankova and family are still in Brussels. Her oldest daughter turned 9 and her little one started at a Flemish kindergarten. They are translating papers from school in French and Dutch, trying to learn more of these languages. Maria’s career has been on backstage for the past couple of years but this past winter she started a new job at Deloitte on the healthcare economics team. They haven’t had much time to explore Europe, due to full-time parenting and working but would love to host anyone passing through Belgium.

On the fun side, her daughter auditioned for the Brussels Light Opera Company’s production of Wizard of Oz. and was chosen for the show. She was the youngest performer in the cast and they were delighted to watch her. They are also choreographing a modern dance this summer for her company’s party. So, the Wesleyan spirit has been passed on to the next generation!

Maria was also very saddened to have lost a dear friend, Amelia Geggel ’06.

Marcella Martinez Winearls is still in London and excited to welcome her second son, Lucas, on May 3. Respect to all of the parents out there!

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Jeremy May is living in New Haven and doing an oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital (PGY-3). He and his wife, Anna, welcomed their first baby, Magnus, in August. They will likely move back to California when Jeremy is done with his residency in 2017. He keeps in close touch with other Wesleyan grads Josh Holland, David Wyant, and Blake Maybeck.

Obhi Hazarika is in his first year at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Burlington is an interesting change from San Francisco. A creature of habit—and while the weather holds—he still commutes exclusively by bicycle and motorcycle, and manages to play the drums almost every day. He and some classmates are thinking about starting a band called Foramen Magnum P.I.

Mary Hui has been living in Cambodia for the last six years, has constructed its first rock climbing gym, and hopes to use climbing as a tool to build up confidence and trust in young people. You can support her crowdfunding campaign here at tinyurl.com/phnomclimb.

Robyn Schroeder married Andrew Tobolowsky (whom she met at grad school at Brown) on June 13th in Dallas. She also finished her Ph.D. this summer, and she’s staying in Providence for a post-doctoral fellowship at Brown’s Center for the Public Humanities. She has had the chance to see lots of very dear Wes friends in Dallas: Jeremy Abrams, Jess Weidmann, Evan Losow, Lynn Levy, Dave Ruder, and Michael Andolina and Marissa Brostoff ’07 flew in from New York, where they all live and work; Leon Hilton ’07 was there, and had just about finished his Ph.D. in performance studies from NYU. Emily Polak brought her Texan husband, John, down from Boston. Annika Brink and Jon Psotka came from D.C., where they work in environmental justice and labor rights law respectively. The Portland contingent was Dylan Meconis, Lisa Eisenberg ’06, and Ben Birdsall ’06.

In September, Anay Shah went to Tanzania for vacation, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and came down engaged to his girlfriend, Sheeba Jacob!

On Aug. 2, Jemma Braun and Stephen Siperstein ’06 were married in a small ceremony surrounded by family and friends in the courtyard of the Davison Art Center. They felt blessed to be back on campus to share such a wonderful life event and want to thank Rabbi Leipziger Teva, Kathleen Roberts, and John Kehoe for making the ceremony and celebration unforgettable.

Ez Cukor is enjoying life in New York City and a (not so new anymore) job at the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

Danielle Dixon, Dan Fox, and Hillary Rubesin spent a week in California in August attending the weddings of two of their 64 Fountain housemates. First up, Jana Luft married Jason Barbose on Aug. 2nd in Sonoma (and celebrated with Naomi Ekperigin, Mel McCrea ’06, Susanna Nadler ’06, too!). The following weekend Ali Gomer married Andrew Martinez in Pasadena on Aug. 8th. And in between the two weddings, everyone celebrated Dan Fox’s birthday in San Francisco! It was a wonderful week of celebrating new beginnings and old friendships.

MARCELLA Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Todd Stone serves as “guest secretary” this time:

Matt Lewis changed jobs and is now working at a law firm in San Francisco. Outside of work, he spends as much time as possible with his beautiful wife, Jessica, and their son, Jack, almost 2.

Sivan Cotel is patiently waiting while the first barrels of aged gin get their beauty rest at Stonecutter Spirits, which he and his wife founded last year. The first bottles will hit New York and Boston shelves in summer/fall of 2015!

Lodro Rinzler is teaching meditation in NYC and celebrating the launch of his fifth book on the topic this fall, How to Love Yourself (and Sometimes Other People). He visited Dave Delcourt in Boston for a raucous weekend in honor of Dave’s wife being pregnant with their second son.

Andrew Stuerzel and Adriana Rojas ’07 are eagerly awaiting the birth of their second child in mid-May, right before Reunion and Commencement Weekend! Andrew has been working at Wesleyan since 2010, first in the Office of Admission for two years before moving over to University Relations. He and Adriana love living in Middletown and enjoy their close proximity to campus and Main Street. Their daughter, Reese (Class of 2034?), enjoys playing on the Labyrinth behind The Tomb, watching the West African dance class perform in the CFA, and sledding down Foss Hill.

After six years based in Kabul, Aimee Rose moved back to D.C., and is now the monitoring and evaluation practice manager for Checchi Consulting. She’s adjusting to the freedom of walking the streets sans headscarf and wondering why there is suddenly so much kale in America.

Amy Nebenhaus Egolf ’07 and Kevin Egolf are having fun learning how to take care of their newborn daughter, Aurora Lux Egolf, born Jan. 23, 2015. Kevin is also keeping busy running and managing Local Farms Fund, a socially responsible farmland investment fund focusing on early stage farmers that he co-founded in late 2014.

Chris Lake moved from Brooklyn to Northern California and is expecting a baby in early March. Also on the West Coast, living in Los Angeles, is Katie Walsh. She is pursuing her PhD at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She’s also a film critic for The Playlist on Indiewire and the LA Times.

Sarah Weingarten, a staff physical therapist at Rye Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, lives in White Plains, N.Y. She also works part-time at New York Medical College as an adjunct professor teaching cardiopulmonary and orthopedic physical therapy to first-year grad students. Her doctorate work, “Development of Home Educational Materials for Families of Preterm Infants,” is to be published in the next edition of the journal, Neonatal Network. And she’s looking forward to seeing everyone at the 10th Reunion in May!

Corey Gittus, still loving life out in Teton Valley, Idaho, has been enjoying her winter, spending time with her new daughter, Kenna, born on Halloween 2014. Corey has returned to work part-time at the Teton County fire department and is continuing to work on her paramedic license.

Meanwhile, actress Che Landon was named “30 Under 30 Women To Watch” alongside Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood by AfterEllen. She received an Ovation Nomination for her work in The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, as well as critical acclaim for her performance in the feature film Good Mourning Lucille. She was also interviewed and featured in Backstage Magazine for being the CEO and co-founder of The Creative Artists Lab, an organization and production company which bridges the socio-economic gap between artists and career building resources. She starred opposite Rance Howard and Ivan Sergei in the upcoming feature film, Broken Memories, and is slated to start shooting another feature film, Cosmos, starring opposite comedian Drake Bell.

Adam Stone (whom I, Todd Stone, incidentally knew before Wes) is working in TV in NYC. He and his wife, Rachel, Grandpa Andrew Stone ’68, Grandma Merrill Stone P’05-times-two and I enjoy their very smiley 11-month-old son, Ezra.

Adam and I are still performing “Stone and Stone” (the standup comedy duo we created at Wes!) mostly in the NYC area, and sometimes in LA. Recently, we’ve been really excited about a Web series we hosted for truTV, Grown up, grown down.

As for me personally, some exciting news…I live with my parents! We also live in New York City and I really enjoy spending time with them. But my therapist says I should move out, and I think I will soon. What do you think? Tweet your thoughts to @stoneandstone with #ShouldToddMoveOut? Otherwise, in addition to journalism, I’m expanding to advertising, which I’m excited about, and I’m really looking forward to our 10th Reunion!

Also, I’m filling in temporarily for our trusty class notes editor, Marcella Martinez, who just had her first child. Congratulations, Marcella!

Members of the class of 2005 near and far: Come back to campus for our 10th Reunion. It’s going to be a lot of fun!—Todd Stone, writing for:

MARCELLA MARTINEZ | momartinez@wesleyan.edu