Tag: 2010

Greetings Class of 2010, I hope you enjoy the following updates from our classmates around the country:

Niki Holtzman is thrilled to report that she and Nick Hayes ’09 were married July 26 in Chatham, Mass. They were happy to have been joined on Cape Cod by a strong contingency of Wesleyan friends from our class and beyond. Niki and Nick started dating at Wesleyan in the spring of 2008.

Micah Weiss reports that he will begin rabbinical school at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia this fall.

Also continuing his education in Philly is Jeff Katzin, who is starting a PhD program in art history at the University of Pennsylvania. Jeff completed his MA in art history at the University of Texas at Austin back in 2013.

I’m excited to report that my Wesleyan hockey teammate Sam Decock and his wife Tracy have welcomed their second child, Annie, into the world. Annie joins Sam and Tracy’s energetic 2-year-old son Tyler. The Decocks are enjoying life and working at the Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Conn.

Kait Halibozek started her new job as the campaign coordinator in Picture Motion’s L.A. office back in March. Picture Motion is the leading marketing and advocacy firm for issue-driven films, and has offices in NYC, L.A., and D.C. She loves working with nonprofits and other progressive organizations to change the world through film. In her spare time, she continues to co-write and produce the web series Zach and Anton Save the World with her boyfriend. It’s a sci-fi comedy about two guys who move into a house where the downstairs bathroom happens to be a portal to other universes. Alex Finkel ’08, Dara Jaffe ’09, Ben Kuller ’11, Brian Velsor ’11, Amanda Sonnenschein ’14, and Christian Schneider ’14 have all helped out on one episode or another. Kait loved seeing everyone at Reunion and can’t wait for the next one!

Katherine Kitfield Bascom has a new job with CrossFit Solace, a dynamic athletic training facility in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan. She is performing with aerial hoop and pole dance, and helping run a circus school in Brooklyn. She also tutors with the IRC and works as a freelance editor, and is still in love with the NYC hustle.

Leah Lucid, who has been doing research for the past three years, is now working towards a PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Washington. Leah is also singing in a choir and enjoying Seattle life with her puppy, Moose.

Finally, while we are several months removed from Reunion at this point, I’d like to say thank you once more to everyone who made it to Middletown for an incredible weekend. “Officially,” 373 of our classmates gathered on campus—a Wesleyan five-year Reunion record! I trust everyone had a blast, reliving the glory days on Foss Hill, waxing nostalgic at dinner in the Russell House gardens, or in some cases, enjoying a cold one once more in Clark Hall. It truly was a pleasure to see everyone and I hope our 10-year even a fraction as good. Thanks also for everyone’s contributions to this edition!

Greetings, Class of 2010: I hope you enjoy the following updates from our classmates:

Alice Goldsmith has started a floral design studio, Wild Vase, in LA. Check it out at wildvase.com.

Jessie Schiewe is in LA, a freelance journalist and photographer for a slew of publications like The San Francisco Chronicle, LAist, Miami New Times, The Oakland Tribune, Flaunt Magazine.

Caitlin McHugh earned an M.Ed. at Western Washington University in 2014, and moved to Moscow, Idaho, where she is the education coordinator for the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute. Caitlin manages grants that pay the institute to educate children on the diminishing aquifers from which their community draws its water: “Additionally, we have spearheaded a new winter family education series for the community that seeks to connect folks with the natural world and each other even when it’s cold outside. It’s been a lot of fun and really successful this far!”

Alice Maggio checks in from the beautiful Berkshires: “Over the past year my life has intertwined with many Wesleyan graduates, mostly in the realm of music. In March, Eli Hetko ’11 and his 5 Mile String band came to play at the Sheffield Contra Dance that I help to organize. This March, my friend Emily Troll—the girl most responsible for my love of contra—is coming from Somerville to play our dance. I’m excited to tell my fellow organizers that Emily wrote her thesis on contra dance fiddling at Wesleyan. At the beginning of this January I had the pleasure of hosting musicologist and singer Tim Eriksen M.A. ’93 and his Trio de Pumpkintown, who played a concert in my living room to an audience of 50 people. In June, Anna Roberts-Gevalt ’09 stopped by to play her second house concert here, and she will be back on March 17th with Elizabeth LaPrelle to put on a “crankies” show at our local little community hall in Sheffield. I remember Anna’s senior project well—it was the genesis of her current “crankies” project! I have now worked almost three years at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics as the local currency program director, where I’m in charge of BerkShares, a currency for the Berkshires that celebrates our region, supports our locally owned businesses, and serves as a tool for community-driven economic development. My path crossed with Jean Willoughby ’08 in California last January, and then she came to visit us in the Berkshires for a few days. She is doing really cool work at Rural Advancement Foundation International in North Carolina, managing their grants program for farmers. We wish she would come work for us! The two most surprising things that happened to me this year were a visit to Cuba and being interviewed by punk rocker Henry Rollins. Henry came to the Berkshires to learn about local currency for an episode of his show called 10 Things You Don’t Know About Money. I went to Cuba as part of a ‘new economy’ delegation organized by the Schumacher Center and Christopher Reynolds Foundation, to learn about Cuban organic agriculture and social enterprise.”

From Dan Heinrich Manuyag: “I wrapped up four years with the Admissions Office at Wes and landed 5,000 miles away at the Iolani School in Honolulu, as an associate director of college counseling. I had the good fortune of being welcomed by island locals Lindsay Kosasa ’13 and Lindsay Kukona ’07. The transition has been smooth and life couldn’t be better (especially in the winter). I certainly miss all my WesFriends and family dearly back on the mainland but am ready to host with awesome hikes, surf, mai tais, and sunsets to those who venture out here. Until then, I’m looking forward to our 5th Reunion this May!”

Dylan Marron wrote and directed The Human Symphony, a show that is currently running in NYC, entirely performed by randomly selected audience members via individual MP3 tracks that Dylan has recorded for them. Dylan is also going on a two-month tour of every state in the continental U.S. with Welcome to Night Vale, a podcast that he’s been working for since 2013. Finally, he got engaged to his boyfriend, Todd. Congrats from the Class of 2010!

Jess Brownfeld works on communications and event planning in the Psychiatry Department at Mount Sinai, and she teaches yoga in NYC. She is excited to be chair of the Reunion committee and hopes you will all return to campus in May!

Tara Kelton is lead editor at Brave New Films, making social justice short documentaries. “I am also getting married in March on Pi day (because this year is 3.14.15, and we are signing our marriage license at 9:26 a.m.)” Congratulations, Tara!

Tony Zosherafatain found his way back to NYC after moving back home to Boston for a bit. While in Boston, he got to hang with Elise Herrig and Franni Paley and also got to see Kait Halibozek and Paul Edwards ’09 the week before he departed. Tony is attending NYU to become a nurse practitioner, with a focus on trans-inclusive endocrinology. He’s also aiming to take more film classes and is directing and producing (with the help of Kait Halibozek)  I Am the T: an FTM documentary, which chronicles the stories of trans men around the world. He wrapped up production of an I Am the T segment in Norway this November, which will be released for viewing this spring. Check out iamthetfilm.com.

Michael Keoni DeFranco “Things have been going well at Lua: We now have 30 employees and representatives in Boston, Chicago, and London We’re working with healthcare providers such as Kaiser Permanente, professional teams such as the Seattle Seahawks, and branches of the Department of Defense. We’ve also been donating our software to nonprofits such as the Special Olympics and Team Rubicon (a unit of first responders) and are launching with our first hotel chains, retail stores, and airlines, as well as expanding into Europe and Asia. I was featured on BloombergTV’s In the Loop, alongside Strauss Zelnick ’79, where we discussed Lua, the enterprise market and Wesleyan.

“Personally, I’ve been working with a taro root farm on Kauai to ship 60 lbs of poi, a staple food of Hawai’i, to NYC once a month to distribute to the Polynesian community out here. Over time, I am working to powder the root and help ship it into disaster zones as a simple and easily transportable form of nutrition, just add water!

“I am also on the greeting committee for the Hokule’a voyage, landing in NYC in July 2016. The Hokule’a is a four-year worldwide voyage in a Hawaiian outrigger, stopping in 60 ports around the world with a mission of “Malama Honua” or caring for the earth. The Hokule’a is sailing with no navigation equipment, traveling only by the stars.”

From a business trip in Mumbai, Johanne Lin shares that she has been happily working for a tech company going on three years now. Johanne’s territory includes India, Israel, and South African markets. She enjoys her job for the places it has taken her and may be headed to Israel in March. She hopes to connect with any alums living in Tel Aviv!

And Gina Yeomans anticipates graduating from Columbia Law in May, taking the bar in July, and starting a clerkship in New Haven, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in August. “Also in August, I’m getting married to Nate Green ’09 with a little help from my bridesmaid, Cate Haring.” Congrats, Gina and Nate!

Finally, don’t forget that our 5th Reunion is around the corner! For more information, visit wesleyan.edu/rc. We hope to see everyone in May.

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu

Newsmaker: Chia Wei (Wade) Hsu ’10

Chia Wei (Wade) Hsu ’10, a doctoral student working with MIT Professor of Physics Marin Soljacic, has found a new way to confine light. “Typically, in free space, light will go everywhere,” he explained in an article for AZoNano.com. “If you want to confine light, you usually need some special mechanism.” Last summer he demonstrated the confinement of light on the surface of a photonic crystal: held at a certain angle, the crystal would keep light bound to the surface and oscillating continually. At Wesleyan, Hsu was a Freeman Scholar and winner of the Bertman Prize. A math and physics major, he was also the first Wesleyan winner of the American Physical Society’s LeRoy Apker Award. He is using his current research to explore potential applications in crystal lasers. His doctoral thesis will be split between research on nano­particle displays and his work on the confinement of light.

“Ben Seretan has just released a new album. It’s self-titled, self-released, and is the most thrilling and wonderful music you’ll hear all year.” Find his music at benseretan.bandcamp.com.

Dylan Marron writes: “The web series I was in, Whatever this is., was hosted on panel at the Paley Center for Media last year and just a few weeks ago my work on the show was highlighted in a Boston Globe feature on Web series that deserve to win Emmys. Kinda nuts! Also I was cast as a major role on the popular podcast, Welcome to Night Vale, a cult-hit fictional sci-fi podcast that I’ve been touring around with since January.

“What’s kind of singular about these projects is that they are very much indie creations that have made it in the mainstream. I’ve been lucky to find a place for myself in this movement of de-commercializing art and finding new ways to sustain it. Feel very proud of this work.

“Not to pile it all on at once but I’m also in the current TD Bank ad campaign and a play I performed in and helped develop back in the spring was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Production. Forgive the long list I’m just excited to share it with my alma mater where I got to hone these skills! And it’s all part of the same theme; independent art and entertainment can be accessed more readily because of the amazing platforms we have at our disposal. I only got the opportunity to film that TD bank campaign—the literal definition of commercial and corporate entertainment —because I was scouted out from my work with the New York Neo Futurists, a downtown theater company.

“And finally, I’m writing a full-length play for my theater company, the New York Neo Futurists. It’s called The Human Symphony and it’s entirely performed by randomly selected audience members. The quick and dirty tagline is ‘stories of strangers meeting each other online, performed by strangers meeting each other in a theater.’ It’s currently in development and will open on Jan. 22, 2015, in New York.”

Elizabeth Larner writes: “I am in my second year at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Va. In addition to taking classes, I’m serving as a Writing Fellow for the 1L class, as a member of the William & Mary Law Review, as secretary of the Children’s Advocacy Law Society, and as a general board member for the Public Service Fund. Needless to say, I’m super busy, but I’m really enjoying myself. Following graduation in less than two short years, I will be making the move to Charlotte, N.C., to start my career.

Kristen May: “I am currently living in Denver and just started a master’s program at the University of Colorado, Denver. I am working towards a master’s in public administration with a focus on education and nonprofit management. I spent the summer working for Big City Mountaineers leading backcountry trips with urban high school girls in Minnesota and the Rocky Mountains.”

Adrienne Russman: “I’m still a policy adviser in Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s ’74 office, and am also serving as the policy and research director on his reelection campaign through November.”

Matthew Lamothe, production executive at Jeff Rice Films (Academy Award-Winning Lone Survivor, 2 Guns), based in Beverly Hills, Calif., is executive producing the thriller Shut In with Steven Schneider, the creator of the Paranormal Activity and Insidious franchise. Hollywood Reporter article link: hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/beth-riesgraf-starring-indie-horror-729021.

Sandie Weisberger: “I just graduated from Boston College Law School in May and started a job at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in September as an assistant district attorney in the Framingham District Court.”

Hallie Coffin-Gould: “I’m living in Boston and working at a private wealth management firm. I just adopted a dog, Paxton (see photo on the web class notes classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu) and am excited for Reunion this spring!”

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu

Dear friends: Doug Larson said “spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.” I’m not sure I agree, but spring is definitely prime time for some awesome updates from the Class of 2010:

Tess Parker manages an organic vegetable farm in Hudson, N.Y.: “We have a growing CSA locally and in Brooklyn of over 150 members. Eric Sherman, our field manager, has been with us for three years now, and we have employed other Wesleyan alums as longer term seasonal employees as well as shorter term work-trade volunteers.”

Dan Bloom shares that he is about to complete the Venture for America fellowship program. He’s working at a new startup in Cincinnati—Dónde. Of course, Dan also co-founded a separate company since graduation, TernPro. He adds, “We [TernPro] were accepted into a startup accelerator in Detroit called Bizdom. If anyone wants to use GoPros to remember a trip, or create video content for their company, we should talk.”

Some fresh news from Pennan Chinnasamy, Ph.D: “I joined as a hydrology and remote sensing researcher at the International Water Management Institute, and will be working on climate change impacts on water resources in the Himalayan regions. I will also be working on the Ganges Basin to identify physical processes to better aid farmer livelihoods.” More information on Pennan and his work with IWMI can be found here: iwmi.cgiar.org/about/staff-list/pennan-chinnasamy/.

Dave Wolovsky adds that he has quit his most recent job at an orthodox yeshiva, and is now focusing on “tutoring and working on a new math curriculum that integrates principles of neuroscience and cognitive psychology, as well as mind-body coordination.” Dave has begun sharing videos of his curriculum on youtube, and encourages any who are interested to have a look! youtube.com/watch?v=nBoL5v_XeJw.

A frigid winter in North Bennington, Vt., gave Angus McCullough plenty of time to make art. Angus shares: “I’ve got two solo shows on the horizon, at the Bennington Museum in May–July and then at the Buoy Gallery (Kittery, Maine) in September. They’re going to be fun. The architecture project I’ve been leading has won two state grants and there’s really a lot of momentum growing. If you’d like to see what my latest ‘work’ is ‘like’ you can ‘check out’ my site at angusm.cc.”

Stephen Schwarz will be attending graduate school at Colorado School of Mines this fall as a research assistant in the Chevron Center of Research Excellence (CoRE).

Mark Fajans is happy to report that he, too, will be pursuing a graduate degree this fall. Mark will be attending the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University to get an MPH in Global Epidemiology.

David Layne will graduate this spring from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. Assuming he manages to pass the bar exam, he’ll be an active duty officer in the U.S. Navy, globe­trotting with the JAG Corps come August! Dave hopes to connect with fellow Cardinals along the way.

Finally, I am thrilled to conclude with news that Dominic Gibson and Lauren Feld ’11 are engaged and are planning their wedding for the end of May 2015. Dom and Lauren met at Wes while doing research in Prof. Anna Shusterman’s psychology lab in 2008. Congratulations to you both from the Class of 2010!

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions, and as always if you have an update to share, feel free to post anytime on WesConnect, or send me a blurb directly at dlayne@wesleyan.edu.

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu

Although most cardinalis cardinalis in fact do not migrate south for the winter, several of our classmates are making big moves and here is what they report:

Alice Maggio reports the following: “After making pie in Brooklyn, teaching English in the Alps, and cooking Basque food in Manhattan, Alice Maggio (Sociology and French, 2010) has found herself back at home in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, working on the region’s local currency, BerkShares. Much to her surprise, her role at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics has had her traveling around the world (and even back to Wesleyan) to speak about the potential of local currency to create more democratic and sustainable local economies.” Alice even had time to make an appearance on PBS News Hour to discuss the benefits of local currency!

Jory Kahan has moved to Boston to start medical school at Tufts University. Jory is happily living in downtown Boston and is excited to hang out with any Wes Alums in the area.

Jeffrey Rovinelli wrote in with perhaps the coolest note of the year: “Razor (formerly Ray) Edwards ’10 and myself just got married in a quiet ceremony in Bushwick, only partially for tax reasons. Jeff is a recently accredited non-denominational minister running a small animal therapy outreach program in Williamsburg and Razor has a side project as a vegan taxidermist. (For real! This is a thing that people want!)”

On Oct. 15th, Grace Kredell welcomed her first child—a healthy baby girl named Maine—into the world with her partner Alex. For the last two years, Grace has been building up a successful tarot card reading practice in Los Angeles.

Katherine Rodriguez-Perez Colone checks in to report that she was married in 2012, has moved to Atlanta, and is now working as a technical editor contracting for an aeronautics company.

Raphaelle Brochet writes in from India, where she is teaching music in a recent school that offers jazz, contemporary world and Carnatic music; the first school of its kind in India!

Katherine Kitfield Bascom “is taking to the air. In 2014, she will be joining the dance company ‘Human Architecture’ as an aerialist, and will be featured in a major public work in NYC’s Central Park (theoneshow.com). Lately, she can’t get enough of the Sufi poet Hafiz, or cooking with goose fat from the farm project she’s running with her brother up in Vermont (Want local organic goose for the holidays? getyourgoose.com)”

Caitlin McHugh is finishing her second to last quarter at Western Washington University where she is working toward an M.Ed. in Environmental Education and a certificate in Non-profit Administration through Western Washington and the North Cascades Institute M.Ed. program. Caitlin spent a full year living, working, and taking classes in North Cascades National Park on Lake Diablo in Washington State and just moved back to Bellingham, WA in September to finish her coursework. Caitlin adds this awesome description of her work: “As part of my studies this summer, I coordinated curriculum and volunteers for a community-based environmental education, literacy, and nutrition program in Concrete, WA. It was a collaborative effort between the National Park Service, United General Hospital’s Community Health Outreach Program, and the Concrete School District. Basically, we pulled together the funds to provide a free, 6 week summer camp for Concrete Elementary school children– most of whom would not have the resources to go to camp otherwise. The camp focused on improving the literacy levels as well as nutrition; we provided breakfast and lunch every day because many of the students receive free and reduced lunches during the school year. We also focused on exploring and enjoying the local outdoors both in Concrete and the neighboring national park (North Cascades National Park). This summer was its pilot season, but our efforts were successful enough that the Concrete Summer Learning Adventure is set to go again next summer!”

A quick update from Seth Rosen: “I moved to Vancouver in September to work for Klei Entertainment as a game designer. I’m enjoying exploring the city and am loving my job: so far I’ve made a short horror game, ‘The Screecher,’ and now I’m working on a second title, ‘Don’t Starve.'”

Ian Pylvainen had the thrill of attending the recent wedding of Kacey Wochna and Samuel Kachuck in Ithaca, N.Y., along with good friends and fellow Class of 2010 classmates Justin Bohn, Ted Nichols, Liza Litvina, Jason Bitterman, Alex Holachek, Greg Storch, Jake Litke, and Anna Mageras, and Ethan Hoffman ’14. It was a beautiful wedding, quaint, lively and full of laughs!

The boys at Lua continue to do big things. If you haven’t heard of Lua either here or elsewhere before, Lua is the company started and run by Michael Keoni DeFranco, Eli Bronner, and Jason Krigsfeld. Lua provides mobile workforce technology to customers with mostly out-of-office employees. Their product makes communication and connection between distant employees simple and efficient. Two years after launching their product, Lua recently announced plans to offer self-service public availability by 2014 (finally opening the product to the public). This is a major step for the company and more can be read by searching for Lua on TechCrunch.com. The guys are also excited to announce that their software will be powering the Superbowl this coming year, and they currently work with such clients as eBayNow, various international airports, hotels, and the Department of Defense. Congratulations to the whole Lua team and keep it up!

Jesse Bordwin recently passed his comps, receiving an M.A. on the way to a Ph.D. in English literature, here at the University of Virginia. Jesse also reported that he “donated to Wesleyan for the first time…the nostalgia is only just kicking in.” Indeed, Jesse.

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions, and, if you have an update to share, feel free to post anytime on WesConnect, or send me a blurb directly at my Wes address. Happy 2014 everyone!

David Layne
DLAYNE@WESLEYAN.EDU