Tag: 2012

Greetings from your Class of 2012 class notes secretary, Amanda Schwartz, in sunny Los Angeles.

Please enjoy the following updates from your classmates:

Raghu Appasani writes, “I’ve been living in San Francisco and running my own integrative/addiction concierge mental health practice while building a new start-up focused on the digital wellness movement. Excited to attend Rishi Shah and Ari Fishman’s ’13 wedding at the end of May!”

Kenny Feder writes, “I live in Baltimore with my wife and three-year-old son, who loves to read, make up songs, and go bird-watching. I’m an assistant research professor at Johns Hopkins. My research focuses on public health approaches to drug overdose prevention and I teach a graduate statistics course.”

Kirsten “Kiri” White writes, “I moved to sunny Santa Barbara, California, in November of 2022, and am still adjusting to the pace of life on the West Coast. In this season of my life, I both wholeheartedly welcome and obstinately resist slowing down, mindfully taking my time, and (literally) smelling the flowers (lush jasmine and orange blossoms).

            “I have been working as a wardrobe stylist for the past 10 years, and more recently, as an embodiment coach. In my coaching work I support curious and heart-centered people to reclaim their inner wholeness by connecting to their bodies, accessing radical self-love, and developing a shameless devotion to their pleasure so that they can thrive and lead vibrant and fulfilling lives.

            “For the past 18 months, I have been immersed in a somatic love, sex, and relationship coaching certification with the VITA™ method. The program has been personally and professionally life-changing, challenging, liberating and a lot of fun.

            “Dancing around in the sun, doing yoga, drinking copious amounts of carbonated beverages with friends, and belly laughing are still four of my favorite activities.

            “If you’d like to connect, drop me a line! Kiri@stillemergingcoaching.com.”

Joyce Chung is the curator at Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. Her curatorial projects focus on Asian diaspora art, new media art, performance, and intersections between feminism and visual arts. Joyce is interested in exploring the complexity of identity and representation through the lens of the politics of place. Her most recent curatorial works include Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself vol.III and The Body You Want, a group of six Asian and Asian American artists exploring their queer identity. Her upcoming exhibition, Dream House: Inside Music + Video, will highlight the shifting roles of music video as a creative form of art. The show will be on view from April 26 through August 3.

She has worked at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju, Kukje Gallery in Seoul, Hyundai Card in Seoul, and Performa in New York. Joyce studied art history at Wesleyan and the University of Chicago.

Greetings from sunny Los Angeles! Please enjoy the following updates from your classmates:

Andrew Dominguez has moved out to Durham, North Carolina, after living in Los Angeles for a decade. And while he misses all his SoCal Wes pals, the great cinemas, and the excellent hiking, he’s thrilled to be back in school. Andrew is in the middle of a two-year program at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment where he’s run into quite a number of awesome Wesleyan alums of various vintage who have graduated from the same program, are currently classmates of his, or are teaching or studying elsewhere at Duke. (He’d include their names but he can’t be bothered to ask for their releases). Outside of the Duke bubble, he also gets to hang with Noa Borkan and little baby Aviva. If anyone is ever in the Triangle Area or is thinking about also moving to this cozy part of the country, say hey!

Ashley Garrett writes, “After serving on the SPARK Council for one year, I am a captain for the council, which helps connect young adults to leaders in local government, city services, and one another in Boston. I’ve recruited Ashley Slay ’11, Olivia Grant ’14, and Genelle Faulkner ’13.”

Noah Heau is currently a field researcher within the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment. He is also involved in tenant organizing in conjunction with Astoria Tenants Union (ATU) and other autonomous tenant-driven organizations. His band, the Arcane Insignia, released the first single of their second album in October.

Marjorie Romeyn-Sanabria writes, “After three years living and working in Washington, D.C., and another three living and working back home in New York, I’m in my final year of law school at Syracuse. Graduation day can’t come soon enough! Law school in your 30s during the COVID era has been a wild ride, but I don’t regret it for a moment. I studied abroad in London this past summer, and I’m planning another shorter study abroad trip to Switzerland in the spring. Time is going by fast, but the adventures are still plentiful. I’m still the same 21-year-old who packed two suitcases and went to Taiwan over a decade ago as a junior at Wes.”

Jake Schofield is in his seventh year of teaching high school science research in Yonkers, New York, and has been getting lots of volunteer help from New York–based Wes friends who’ve met and mentored some his students, including Jesse Humm, Christian McLaren ’13, Alek Barkats, and Katherine Mullins. “Our school is expanding our science and college-access programming to Jersey City, New Jersey, and Nashville, Tennessee, if you or anyone you know is interested!” Shoot Jake an email at Jake.Scho@gmail.com.

AhDream Smith is happy to share that she recently made her off-Broadway debut in Mint Theater’s world premiere of Partnership by Elizabeth Baker. She was offered the understudy role for all the female parts in the play (five to be specific: Kate Rollings, Maisie Glow, Miss Blagg, Miss Tracey, and Lady Smith Carr-Smith), with a guarantee to go on as Lady Smith Carr-Smith for the final week of performances. It was a privilege to be stretched in such a way and to work with director Jackson Gay again, who she had the pleasure of working with in graduate school. Since the show closed on November 12, she has had several auditions ranging from lead regional theater roles to Broadway and TV. She has also been busy utilizing her talents in the audiobook arena. Last fall she partnered with Learning Ally (a nonprofit that makes audiobooks more accessible for students that have reading challenges) as a primary narrator on their roster and this fall she recorded her first audiobook for Recorded Books. With all these new developments, she is excited to see what the new year has in store.

Rhyan Toledo writes, “This year I’m celebrating 10 years in NYC! I currently live in West Harlem with my partner and our cat, Wilbur. I’m in the fifth year of my PhD program in clinical psychology at City College where I’m working on my dissertation, which explores LGBTQ+ young adult experiences of religion and spirituality. I’ve also been advocating for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation of Palestine. I encourage other alumni to sign the divestment petition calling on Wesleyan to divest from companies profiting off Israeli occupation and apartheid.”

Jisan Zaman writes, “In 2023 my wife, Alissa, and I were lucky enough to welcome our son, Aktaris, into this world. And we all got to celebrate the wedding of our friends Emma Gorin and Zach Tausanovitch in June.”

The Warfish crew of Adam Ilowite, Noah Feingold, Peter Frank, Phil Hall-Partyka, Jeremy Koegel, Julian Silver, Kevin Walters,and David Wei were excited to get together in November for their most recent tournament in Salt Lake City. Congrats to Adam and Jeremy on the win and to those in the group with newborns or babies on the way! 

Thanks to those who contributed and feel free to pass along notes at any time.

Greetings from your new Class of 2012 secretary, Amanda Schwartz. A proud Angeleno as always, I’m currently getting my MBA at the USC Marshall School of Business, working at construction software company, Bluebeam, and continually perfecting my In-N-Out order.

Please enjoy the following updates from your classmates:

This year Miriam Berger, a reporter with The Washington Post, got the most adorable terrier, Charlene. She was also part of the team of female journalists at The Post awarded The International Women’s Media Foundation 2023 Courage in Journalism Award for coverage of the Ukraine war.

Noa Borkan and her wife, Danya, have recently expanded their family! They got three  new houseplants, another cat, and their daughter, Aviva, was born on April Fools’ Day! She recently got her first cold from her second day at day care.

After five years of living and working in the DMV area, Ashley Garrett moved home to Boston. Additionally, Ashley was selected by Boston’s mayor Michelle Wu to sit on the SPARK council to help boost civic engagement in the city of Boston among millennials and Gen Z. The SPARK Boston Council advises the mayor on city policies and programs affecting 20- to 35-year-olds. Leadership staff from the mayor’s team come to monthly meetings. The council has increased voting registration in the city and representation of Bostonians in city government. It also has served as a pathway into careers with the City of Boston. Ashley is looking forward to increasing the outreach and community building even more this year.

Tasmiha Khan writes, “I want to share that Rajeeta Iyer and I had a blast at Niagara Falls recently. I’m also working on some criminal justice projects.”

Chelsea Reutcke writes, “I have just begun a postdoctoral fellowship in British Studies at the University of Utah, where I will be teaching on early modern Britain and serving as the assistant editor for the Journal of British Studies. I completed my PhD at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) in late 2020, focusing on Catholic print networks in late 17th-century England and will shortly be publishing my third academic article.”

Trevor Rhodes writes: “A couple of updates on my end: despite all odds, someone has agreed to marry me. The wedding will be in late August and we’ll for sure be celebrating in person with fellow [Cardinals], Dave Brunelli, Ana Alvarado, and J. R. Mannetta ’13. Also in August, I finished a master’s in global business administration from the Fletcher School at Tufts. I may be part Jumbo now but ya boi will fly as a Cardinal for life. I also visited Cameron Davila in February where I got to meet his new daughter, Lucy, and catch up with him over beers while lounging on the beach. Some things never change!”

Lizzie Simon is sad about her break ups and happy about her friends’ babies. She is entering year 12 in Seattle, year 16 of playing ultimate (thanks Throw Culture!), and year three as a nurse practitioner in community health, and plans on sticking with all three. Several of her best friends are still from Wes.

Thanks to those who contributed and feel free to pass along notes at any time.

Marjorie Romeyn-Sanabria shared: “I’m finishing up my second year of law school at Syracuse College of Law. I’m mostly enjoying it, and I kind of wish I had done it sooner, but better late than never.”

Michaela B. Swee finished her predoctoral training and postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at McLean Hospital last year. She now works as a staff psychologist in the Trauma Continuum of McLean Hospital and is an instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Michaela was the recent recipient of two prestigious awards, the 2022–2023 Adam Corneel Fellowship and the 2023–2024 McLean Presidential Award, for her research and clinical work in compassion-focused therapy. She cohosts the Compassion Collective podcast, a freely available podcast developed to help laypeople and professionals in the field of mental health alike learn more about self-compassion and cultivate greater compassion in their lives.

Tasmiha Khan wrote: “I’m wrapping up a fellowship at Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri to create a Muslim media tool kit.”

Raghu Appasani contributed: “I’ve been living in San Francisco. I have a concierge private psychiatric practice, engaged in psychedelic research, and working with a number of mental health start-ups! Still running The MINDS Foundation, which I founded while at Wesleyan! Looking forward to attending the weddings of fellow Wesleyan 2012s—Blake Dubois’s in San Luis Obisbo, and Geoff Mucha’s in the Outer Banks.”

Kamar Thomas said he “had a book come out called the Artist’s Creative Vision.” Published in January 2023, the “book aims to eliminate the phrase ‘starving artist’ by helping people create more interesting art, more sustainably, regardless of location.”

Katherine Mullins married Omar Hunter Craighill ’09 in Brooklyn, New York, in September. Many Wesleyan friends were by their sides, including Amani Sampson ’12, Marie Scarles ’12, and Jesse (Greenblatt) Walker ’12 in the bridal party; and Will Runge ’09, Yale Yng-Wong ’09, Derek Silverman ’09, Louis Langlois ’08, and Zach Fried ’08 as groomsmen. The after-party featured live music from additional alumni, including Keenan Mitchell ’09, Lucas Carrico ’09, Jake Aron ’08, and Sam Ubl ’08.

Just a couple of post-reunion notes to share:

Ian Hoffman writes, “I’d like to offer a huge belated thanks to all my 2012 friends I got to see at our reunion in May! In September I got to help welcome the Wesleyan Wind Ensemble back out of our pandemic hiatus and we’ve been having some fantastic rehearsals leading up to our fall concert. It’s great to be on stage at Crowell again after being kept off for two and a half years

And Abaye Steinmetz-Silber reports, “I’ve been living in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I work at a local community development nonprofit called Fifth Avenue Committee, building new affordable housing here in Brooklyn. It was great to see old friends at our 10-year reunion this year! If anyone’s swinging through Brooklyn, drop me a line!”

Different types of good news to share this round. On the wedding front, Katherine Mullins let us know that she is marrying Omar Hunter Craighill ’09 in September 2022 in Brooklyn, New York, and looks forward to celebrating with many friends from Wesleyan at the wedding.

New babies have arrived too! Luke Erickson and Hannah Berkman welcomed their first child, Oscar “Ozzy” Lawrence Erickson, in Washington, D.C., in February. Everyone is doing well, and Ozzy is lucky to count several Wes babies among his friends. Also, Matt Hurwit and Angela Allan ’11 had a baby this last May in Berkeley, California. Her name is Margot Allan and she’s just started sleeping through the night (thank goodness!).

In the realm of books and education, Dr. Alex Ketchum (FGSS) published Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication with Concordia University Press this June! Her second book, Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses, will be coming out later this fall, also from Concordia. She started her research on this subject when she was a student at Wesleyan University as part of her senior thesis. Both books are available for order in paperback and will be made available in open access later this year. Kamar Thomas wrote in to say he is a “professor of art at Centennial College in Toronto, Canada.Tula Telfair taught me. I will have a book coming out next January tentatively titled The Artists’ Creative Vision.” And AhDream Smith reported that on May 8, 2022, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a master’s in fine arts for acting and completed a three-year acting residency with PlayMakers Repertory Company. Upon graduation, she attained an agent and management and is excited to be relocating back to New York City this fall.

Others wrote in to share about life in general. Sandy Leung said, “In 2020, I was preparing to take the GRE to apply for business school when an opportunity came to make a career shift into investment management, but then the pandemic hit a month after. Two years and two layoffs later, I’ve finally landed at a growing private equity firm where I hope I’ll be able to grow for a few years, and hopefully find the time to take the GRE and apply to business schools to attend part time. In the meantime, I’ve been hanging out with my cat Koji, a gray-and-white rescue that I adopted last year and eating my way through some of NYC’s best local food.” Sandy also said, “Wes alum sightings this year include catching up with David Barach and Will Miller over dinner and visiting Daisy Chen and Neil Ni’s (’14) store, Yoseka Stationery, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, for delightful goods and refills.”

And Abaye Steinmetz-Silber is living in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “I work at a nonprofit called Fifth Avenue Committee, building new affordable housing in NYC, and play music on the side. Was great to see so many people at our 10-year reunion in May!”

Tasmiha Khan has been named a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Tasmiha is an independent journalist who covers a wide range of topics related to health, race, politics, culture, and religion.

Han Hsien Liew writes that he has “started a tenure-track position as assistant professor of Islamic Studies at Arizona State University in fall 2021.”

Alexandra Ketchum has two books coming out this year! The first is Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication. The second book is Ingredients for Revolution: American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses. Alex started her research for this book back when she was writing her honors thesis for Wesleyan’s FGSS program. Concordia University Press is releasing the books in open access (so freely available online) and in paperback.

Geri Rosenberg says: “I’ve hiked more than 3,000 miles since the summer of 2020. I followed up my Colorado Trail thru-hike with a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. I even got to take Adrian Rothschild on his first backpacking trip as an adult!”

Jake Schofield reports: “I’ve returned to my roots in Yonkers, New York—living in my great-grandma’s dusty old house—and am currently in my fifth year of teaching high school science research in the Yonkers public schools. Always looking to connect with Wesleyan people in the area, especially those who might be interested in mentoring exceptional high school students.”

Sean Curtice lives in Basel, Switzerland, where he is completing a PhD in music theory. His research concerns Filippo Trajetta, an Italian composer who immigrated to the United States in 1800, establishing the first conservatory in the country and promoting Neapolitan music-pedagogical methods. A recent research trip took Sean back to the Wesleyan campus for the first time since 2012.

Allegra Heath-Stout writes: “Laura Heath-Stout ’11 and I are proud new homeowners in Arlington, Massachusetts. More importantly, in November we welcomed our first child, River Benjamin! River is a wonderful baby and loves ceiling fans and long naps. Also, last year I had a great time creating the Access to Power Fellowship, a leadership development program focusing on disability justice, community organizing, and Judaism, as part of my work at JOIN for Justice. Kyle Rocco East was one of the fellows!”

 

 

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