Tag: 2013

Peter Horton, having never really left Middletown, welcomed his friends back for Reunion. Alex Pogosky, Amanda Morrow, and Ashley Swan removed items from the bucket list, with Simoneil Sarbh getting them up in the morning and making the most of each day. Croy Salinas, Will Davis, Allie Carey, and Laura Ligon recounted updates over discounted plates. Ethan Grund and Evan Carmi were fryed to see each other again. Chelsea Lassiter PhD’16 talked house music with Louise Brown (class dean of 2013) and her band, especially the importance of being on time to the rhythm section. Leah Temes and Jenna Bluestein were excited to meet Susanna Banks’ fresh-faced friend in their freshman-year dorm. Lu Corporan was sorely missed at Reunion, his attention needed on the West Coast with a Sinatra event.

Caitlin Aylward and Corey Guilmette celebrated their marriage in August at a crabbing “resort” on Guemes Island, Wash. Syed Ali, Bill Beluch, Chris Ceccolini ’11, Saumya Chatrath, Jaewon Chung, Gabriela De Golia, Marjorie Dodson, Will Durney ’14, Ryu Hirahata, Jessica Jordan, Melanie Koren, Laura Machlin, Anthony Mascolo ’12, Missy McCabe, Kateryn Nunez, Zack Sulsky, Estee Rubien-Thomas, and Lizzie Williams attended.

After earning their master’s degrees at Boston University, Max Kaplan and Kara Wernick ’14 are headed west, as Max pursues his PhD in linguistics at UC Santa Cruz. They are getting married next year.

Sarah Cassel lives in NYC and works at the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, where she focuses on diversion, reentry, and bail reform initiatives. Sarah congratulates the incarcerated students who graduated with associate degrees through Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education.

Zach Schonfeld returned to Wesleyan for Reunion. He visited the Clark room where he published his first Wesleying post in 2009 and was startled to find it occupied by Bobby Burvant and Jake Blumenthal. After five years in Brooklyn, he moved to Morningside Heights with Rebecca Vaadia. In lieu of a housewarming party, they had a Kate Bush 60th birthday party.

Bryce Hollingsworth is a stone worker in Northampton, Mass. He’s been certified by the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain and is starting his own business. He will be apprenticing with a certified master craftsman in Australia. Check out his Instagram @stonebearmason and website stonebearhardscapes.com.

Taryn Murray graduated from medical school and is doing a preliminary medicine year at Cleveland Clinic Akron General followed by a dermatology residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Marjorie Dodson traveled through Kazakhstan last October with Erin Newport. Marjorie worked remotely while scuba diving around the Pacific, primarily in Bali where she participated in a divemaster training and marine conservation volunteer program. She was lucky enough to make it back stateside in time for Reunion. Marjorie moved to D.C. to pursue a master’s in international affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Emma Daniels joined the LA office of Abernathy MacGregor Group, a leading strategic communications firm. Emma will specialize in crisis management and corporate reputation building.

Anna Swartz got married in August in the Berkshires. There were a few of her classmates in attendance. She and her now wife, Netta Bob, are still enjoying the post-wedding glow.

Evan Hazelett traveled with his partner to New Zealand, Japan, Berlin, Amsterdam, Spain, and Iceland. They ate, hiked, hosteled, trained, and drove across these countries, WWOOFing with five different families. They became good friends with an old Japanese couple and middle-aged Catalonian

man who is rehabilitating a 1,000-year-old farm house and making goat cheese. Now Evan is studying urban planning at Harvard.

Janet Cushey rejoined Argot Partners as the firm’s event manager and app development project lead. She moved to Queens and oversees Patch English, a review service for Korean corporations she founded in 2017.

Kevin Curtin rejoined J.P. Morgan this year as an advisor in the private bank. He provides J.P. Morgan’s banking, credit, and investment advice to wealthy families, institutions, endowments and foundations. He’s been encouraging Wesleyan grads in Boston to meet each other—you should reach out to him and join!

Catherine Doren finished her PhD in sociology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison and is doing a postdoc with the Office of Population Research and Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at Princeton.

Barbaralynn Moseman resides in East Harlem with her partner and graduated with her master’s in social work from Hunter College. She is a home-based family therapist at New York Foundling.

Prince Emenalo earned his master of public health degree with a concentration in public health management and policy. He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity of the Kappa Alpha Sigma Chapter in Stone Mountain, Ga., and also an assistant coach for his little sister’s softball team.

After liquidating all assets associated with his entrepreneurial endeavors, Bennett Kirschner has transitioned into naturalist writing. His new book of essays will be published next February by a small New Orleans press.

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

Our five-year Reunion is almost upon us and we can’t wait to catch up with our classmates on Foss Hill! Read on to hear what some of us have been up to:

Nicholas Orvis and Andrea Ruiz-Lopez met during their first few weeks at Wesleyan and have been together—romantically and usually geographically—ever since. This past fall, they finally got married in in the Catskills. They live in NYC now, where Andrea is a fourth-grade teacher and Nick commutes into New Jersey, where he’s the resident dramaturg at a small theater company. They will forever be grateful to the mandatory sexual harassment presentation at which they met. Go Wes!

When Marina Reza is not working at The Jed Foundation, a suicide prevention nonprofit geared towards college students, she’s practicing Angel Olsen covers and scouting spicy food with Anthony Portillo ’12. She has a few poems in the newest issue of Bone Bouquet. Zach Schonfeld met 30 goats in one day when he visited a goat farm in Vermont. He is a senior writer at Newsweek and has been getting super into Steely Dan lately for some reason. Syed Ali is attending the Master in Urban Planning program at Harvard University. He’s hoping to learn how to grow cities in a way in which everyone can access better health and wealth outcomes.

Brooklyn is busy. Croy Salinas can’t believe it’s been over two years since he brought home Maisey. Watching her grow into her skin is a joy and he is always amazed when she eats with her big bites. Will Davis is approaching the end of his quest to order a coffee from every coffee shop in the borough, and is reaching out to authorities to see if it can be counted as a world record. Sue Banks and Natalie Roubichaud ’14 have been taking pottery lessons, and while Natalie is enjoying superb bowls, Sue has moved on to other designs. Mark Popinchalk and Noah Masur ’15 have helped renovate a small local theater and were able to host a private viewing of Moana for their friends. James Walkup ’12, Chloe Reinhart ’14, and Sora Akiyoshi ’14 were seen with custom light bulbs. While dim, some were refreshing. Peter Horton is translating El Niño lyrics to Japanese.

Ashleigh Corvi and Tori Redding are getting married this August in Newport, R.I.! Kelsey Muller will be joining them as a bridesmaid. Kristen Salustro is publishing her third novel and the closer to her sci-fi trilogy. She was promoted to senior writer on the creative team at her company. She writes all kinds of copy for their main enrollment tool along with entertaining, educational video scripts, and now knows way more about Medicare as a 27-year-old than she ever thought she would as a 65-year-old. Spoiler alert: Medicare is not fun. But she loves her job.

As always, thanks to my classmates for writing in. Can’t wait to see you all at R&C!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

Hello, Class of 2013! Read on to see what some of your classmates have been up to:

Nandita Vijayaraghavan left her position at Warner Bros. and relocated to Ann Arbor, where she is an MBA student at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. She’s passionate about the entertainment industry and will be hitting up some Wes alumni in Tinsel Town as she completes her internship. Sandy A. Durosier left igher Edge in New London in March to become Wes’ new area coordinator of the Butterfields (yay, the Butts!). Genelle Faulkner is entering her second year of teaching science to middle schoolers in Boston. Emma Daniels graduated in May with her master’s in strategic public relations from USC Annenberg and accepted a position as a senior account executive, crisis and strategic communications with MWWPR in LA. While it was painful to give up her Massachusetts driver’s license, she can’t complain about the weather, or the palm trees, or the abundance of avocado toast.

She Makes Comics, directed by Marisa Stotter, and produced by her and Patrick Meaney ’07, won Best Documentary at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International Film Festival, and was released on Netflix in October. Also available on iTunes and Amazon Prime, the film tells the little-known story of the important contributions of women to the comics industry, as artists, writers, executives, and ardent fans. [See page 75.]

Anna Swartz is engaged to Netta Bob, younger sister of Amit Bob ’10, and is planning a summer wedding. They live in Brooklyn near plenty of other Wes grads.

Will Davis, Peter Horton, Croy Salinas, and Noah Masur ’15 take the chance to escape NYC every so often and enjoy a series of adventures that Mark Popinchalk has organized. These mostly consist of exploring local mountains, nearby villages, and sometimes even some spelunking. Ethan Grund and Lu Corporan have joined, too. They’ve enjoyed good and bad luck along the way, treasured the skills they’ve acquired, and never let any gloom ruin their day.

Adam Rotstein is living the dream in Los Angeles as a comedy writer. He’s written a series of Facebook ads for the gas station convenience store, ampm. Their mascot, Toomgis, is a mythical monster composed entirely of snacks. Seriously, his hair is Twizzlers, his beard is Cheetos, and his palms are cinnamon rolls!

In 2015, Evan Hazelett was the fourth full-time hire to Imperfect Foods in Emeryville, Calif., America’s first ugly produce company that is fighting food waste on. He spent a year there before returning home for four months to serve as a mentor, coach, and teammate to a family member suffering from severe, chronic depression which resulted in their graduation from General Assembly’s Web immersive program and subsequent job search. Afterwards, he returned to the Bay Area to work as a program manager for Sprouts Cooking Club, a nonprofit engaged in youth culinary education. Now he’s researching grad schools and applying to programs by December before traveling around the world for five months.

Zach Schonfeld got blocked on Twitter by the president of the U.S. for telling him that he’s not as cool as witches. He lives somewhere between Williamsburg and Bushwick and misses Pastabilities.

Tom Lee and Adam Hirschberg head up a weekend exercise group called YogHurt, which is a bootcamp style exercise class that meets every other week in Prospect Park. The workout is a combination of sprint training, calisthenics, yoga, and finishes at a frozen yogurt shop in Park Slope. They would love to share, in case any other WesGrads are interested in signing up. Thomas Cho continues to live in Chicago and works as a medical scribe. He invites you to come visit him and say hello. Go Wes

Last but not least—an update from our Reunion Committee: Arya Alizadeh, Emma Daniels, Jacob Blumenthal, Malik Adán, Melody Oliphant. McKenzii Webster, Sam Ebb: “Class of 2013, this spring marks our five-year Reunion! We’re so excited to welcome you all back home May 25-27, 2018, and are already working with the university to plan a great weekend. Over the next several months, you will be receiving some important information from us, including dates, registration and programmatic information. This year, we want to welcome as many alumni from our class back to campus as possible, and we need you to help us with the hype! Talk to your friends, your classmates, and get ready for R&C Spring 2018.

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

The Class of 2013 is one year away from our Fifth Reunion and we’re feeling the feels. Read on to see what we’ve been up to in 2017!

In March, Evan Weber was recognized by Grist as one of 50 emerging green leaders to watch for his work with U.S. Climate Plan, the organization he and Matt Lichtash started at Wesleyan. In April, U.S. Climate Plan re-branded as Sunrise, and is building a movement of young people to make climate action an urgent political priority, with an eye on a major intervention in the 2018 midterm elections.

Janet Cushey launched a private English review service for Korean corporations called Patch English in January and works as an event manager for Shoptalk.

Ben Smith is script supervising on film and commercial sets and has finished his third original screenplay. He’s now looking to get his sci-fi comedy podcast off the ground floor once he finds some good improv actors. Any Wes composers, sound designers, or funny people should hit this dude up at basmith@wesleyan.edu.

Bennett Kirschner has assumed the role of kennel manager at Pan-American Life Insurance firm in New Orleans. Whether he’s providing dogs for the hunt, or simply intimidating debtors, Bennett takes pride in the quality of his service.

Zach Schonfeld lives in Brooklyn with Ella Dawson ’14 and a 1956 grundig tube radio he inherited from his 99-year old great-grandma. He had a brief cameo in a Real Housewives of New York City episode about a dog wedding.

After meeting on their first day of freshman orientation, JD Dieterich and Danielle Springer were married on May 27. They celebrated the occasion with many Wesleyan friends including Jeff Giocondi, Emma Caccamo, Lex Johnson, and Elizabeth Rudy, who were in the wedding party. JD is now an MD, having graduated from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and Danielle is an assistant editor at Penguin Random House. Congrats to both of them!

Aditi Kini just premiered a music video titled “Park Slope” for OHYUNG ’10 with co-director Hanna Edizel ’14, cinematographer Neo Sora ’14, and actor Stephen Acerra ’12. This is on the heels of Inherited Trauma, the exhibit Aditi curated at Local Project for the Long Island City Arts Open Festival featuring Wesleyan artists Hanna Edizel ’14, Hira Jafri, Zain Alam, and Vikrant Sunderlal Chandel ’15. Performers included Rob Rusli ’10, Matt Chilton ’16, Deren Ertas ’16, and Cameron Couch. Get in touch with her if you want to collaborate!

Bryce Hollingsworth quit the oil business. In Europe now!

David Shimomura started a new job with the University of Chicago in alumni relations and development. At the end of May, he put on their largest alumni event, Alumni Weekend, along with the rest of their amazing planning team.

Prince Emenalo earned his MPH from Georgia State University School of Public Health, where he with a concentration in health management and policy.

Melody Oliphant is finishing up a fellowship at Yale School of Medicine in the Child Study Center, and eagerly counting down the days until the Class of 2013 is reunited in Middletown for Reunion.

Gabriel Urbina created a radio drama podcast called Wolf 359 in 2014, which was one of the finalists for this year’s Webby Awards, an award for excellence on the Internet. Their show is nominated in the Digital Audio Drama category. What really makes this a Wes triumph is that the show is a 100 percent Wes production. Wolf 359 is co-produced by Zach Valenti ’12, who is also the lead actor and is co-written by Sarah Shachat ’12. The cast is rounded out by Emma Sherr-Ziarko ’11, Michaela Swee ’12, Cecilia Lynn-Jacobs ’11, Zach Libresco, Noah Masur ’15, and Michelle Agresti ’14. On the technical side, their original music is composed by Alan Rodi ’12, and their audio recording is done by Jared Paul ’11 and James Schoen ’05. They even did an apprenticeship with current student Claire Shaffer ’18!

Danielle Craig says, “Hey, what’s up? Hello,” to all her fellow 2013ers. She saw some of them to celebrate JD and Danielle’s nuptials over Memorial Day weekend. Danielle just returned from two months of solo backpacking through Southeast Asia and will start law school at UC, Berkeley, in August. So long to the NYC-Wesleyan crew, it has been a stellar four years. If you live in the Bay, let her know!

Michael Robinson and Lia Monti were married in Pittsburgh, Pa., on June 3, surrounded by countless members of their Wes family. This marks the second generation of Robinson men finding true love at Wes—Mike’s parents Dennis Robinson ’79 and Anne Robinson ’81 met in 1978. Yes, the Beta sweetheart and Wesleyan fight songs were sung, and yes, Buddy wore a bowtie.

Thank you to all my classmates who wrote in, and best wishes to everyone!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

This year has been unfortunately uneventful for Bennett Kirschner. Some avoidable health complications have sidetracked his 10-year plan. Regrettably, he accepted a friend’s challenge to see who could eat more bottles of Flintstones Gummy Vites. While he won the challenge, his body was profoundly disoriented by this mineral glut. It has been eight months and he is still functioning at only 80 percent of his former capacity. Let this be a lesson to us all: be careful with vitamins.

James Gardner writes in from Germany, where one of his stepsons just had a baby, so he is now technically a grandfather (believe it or not!). He writes that there is a Facebook group for Wes alumni living in Germany or any German-speaking countries: facebook.com/groups/wesgermany. Everyone living in or frequently traveling to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland should feel free to join.

Benjamin and Vivianne Swerdlow recently bought a home in Richmond, Calif., with their black golden, Shadow, and their degu, Henry. Benjamin is in his second year of a PhD. program in clinical psychology at UC, Berkeley. Vivianne runs a free salesforce administrator training program for job seekers who have been out of work for six months or more, helping mid-level professionals with technology backgrounds gain new skills and find sustainable employment.

Chelsea Goldsmith is still living in Baltimore, still working in non-profit, and still really enjoying both of those things! Highlights of 2016 include learning to use the overcasting foot on her sewing machine, winning gold at Pirate Olympics, and getting engaged.

Marjorie Dodson is going on her fourth year in Beijing. She noshed on spicy rabbit heads with Dan Nass. If anyone is ever in China, give her a shout!

Kevin Curtin shipped up to Boston from NYC. After spending the last year doing private equity, he jumped ship to Jobcase, a startup based in-town. The company is a social media site for empowering America’s workforce.

Evan Okun coordinates nationwide tours for Circles & Ciphers, a Chicago-based restorative justice organization led by young people who are court-, gang-, prison-, and DCFS- involved. Circles & Ciphers opens each event with a spoken word performance, then hosts participants in a restorative justice peace circle to discuss police, and prison abolition. In 2016, they hosted events at Yale University, Hunter College, University of Notre Dame, University of Virginia, and a myriad of other cities across the country. It’s time to dismantle the prison industrial complex, so please contact him directly at: Circles.Ciphers@gmail.com 

The end of 2016 saw Nicole Bonneau graduate from Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Florida Campus as a doctor of chiropractic. She is very excited to be back in her home state of Vermont to practice, as well as to be closer to friends, family, and her fiancé.

In October, Kristen Raddatz became the executive editor for the Chicago Review of Books. Feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in reviewing books, interviewing authors, or writing a lit-related piece for the CHIRB. She’s also still working her real (paying) job as a publicist at the University of Chicago Press, and she’d love to connect with any Wes alumni living in or traveling through the city!

After two years as the deputy media editor at Huffington Post, Catherine Taibi left to join Bloomberg as social media editor, overseeing social strategy on various platforms across Bloomberg.com’s many verticals, including markets, politics, technology, and luxury. Catherine had the privilege of traveling to all three presidential debates and covering each event live, interviewing top political/media figures and celebrities. Post-election, she will continue to cover politics both nationally and internationally.

Ian Waldron writes that Rory O’Neill returned to the United States after three years wandering in Brazil, and was duly roasted by his friends for three hours upon returning. He is acclimating well to American culture and norms.

As for myself, I spent the holidays down under and ushered in 2017 in Melbourne. Tried to smuggle a baby wallaby back to San Francisco, but sadly I couldn’t pull it off. Thanks to all my classmates for writing in and best wishes to everyone in 2017!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

With the arrival of fall comes the realization that it’s already been three years since the Class of 2013 graduated from Wesleyan. During this time, we’ve traveled the world, earned an additional degree (or two), and settled into an exciting new chapter of our lives. Keep reading for a snippet of our adventures!

Jim Curley is the director of state relations at Boston University. He is also working towards an MBA at BU. He sees his fellow classmates Derek Lukin and Carmen Boscia in Boston. Amanda Simmons relocated to Philadelphia from NYC to study at Penn Law. She is joined by her partner, Adam Jaskol, who works as a management consultant and engages in casual sax(ophone). Amanda and Adam are hoping to reconnect with Wes friends, so reach out if you’re in Philly. Sarah Cassel finished her master’s in criminology at the University of Cambridge this summer. She wrote her dissertation on higher education in prison, and is working at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. Anna Swartz is still living in Brooklyn and is a staff writer at Mic, where a few coworkers are also Wes grads. From her office in One World Trade she can almost see all the way to Connecticut! Happy to say that she still sees Wesleyan friends at least once a week, if not more.

Kristen Salustro missed LA by a couple of thousand miles and wound up in Chicago, which is just fine by her. She is a writer for bswift, an Aetna company, and is working on her third novel. Her first two books, published under the name K.N. Salustro, were nominated for the Chanticleer Book Reviews Cygnus Awards for science fiction and speculative fiction. Sydney Lowe is also living in LA. After working as an associate producer at HBO in New York for three years, she joins the staff of HBO’s upcoming fall comedy, Insecure, as producer’s assistant to show creator, Issa Rae. Sydney continues to work as a photographer and creative producer on several video projects, documentaries, and branded content campaigns.

Despite tenacious efforts to avoid gainful employment in 2016, Evan Carmi ended up with a new job, joining Airbnb’s Portland engineering team. After failing to muster the courage to take Drawing 1 at Wes, he signed up for a local drawing class this fall. Zach Schonfeld delivered a Drunk Ted Talk on the subject of Nicolas Cage appreciation. He still works for Newsweek, and he hasn’t gotten stuck in an elevator since 2014. Julian Azaret moved to Melbourne, Australia, where he’s run into a few Wes alumni. He has been racing bikes, climbing mountains, and consulting in the SaaS industry all over Asia-Pacific. Things haven’t changed much in the last three years. Anyone passing through that part of the world should give him a holler!

After finishing her master’s in sustainable engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, Alissa Santucci has been working at Xerox Corporation in the environmental, health, safety, and sustainability department. Alissa was promoted to environmental technology program manager and is excited for all of her new responsibilities which can help shape the environmental sustainability future of the company. Katie Havlovic writes in from D.C., where she transitioned from working for Congressman Beto O’Rourke to the Opportunity Finance Network, where she advocates for the interests of community development financial institutions throughout the United States. While she continues to explore the D.C. food truck scene, nothing can beat the falafel and grilled cheese trucks back at Wes.

Brooklyn is full of entrepreneurs! Noah Masur ’15 has started a humane pesticide business (very popular in Williamsburg), and William T. Davis has taken his experience in the coffee industry and now runs an online exotic coffee bean store on the deep net. Sora Akiyoshi ’14 and Chloe Rinehart ’14 began a volunteer outreach program that offers ultimate Frisbee classes for those in senior housing, and Peter Horton and Croy Salinas are still making sweet music together as they enjoy the start of their fourth year of happily living together. Mark Popinchalk enjoys keeping tabs on his friends, both in Brooklyn and afar, including Ethan Grund, who is starting his second year working on his comprehensive lake survey of Minnesota.

Matt Lichtash, much like Andrew Perlmutter is wont to do, is also working away, doing all things BKE. Aside from pursuing all forms of football except for the actual thing (fantasy, flag), Matt has also embarked on a new creative venture: a website dedicated to presenting information about climate change in concise posts containing three bullet points or fewer. The site, thecarboncapital.org, is easily digestible, shareable, and nonpartisan, and posts info to motivate anyone to take climate action.

Evan Okun (aka E. Oks) performed a solo show at the NYC’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe alongside Sam Friedman and other members of his Chicago collective. The show celebrated the release of his new single (soundcloud.com/eoks). The next morning, he flew back to Chicago to continue his work with Circles & Ciphers, a hip-hop infused restorative justice organization led by young people who are court-, gang-, and DCFS- involved.

As for myself, I wrapped up three years at Apple and transitioned to Fitbit to work in advanced product development. When I’m not searching for the latest and greatest technologies to apply to future Fitbit products, you’ll find me traveling, watercolor painting, and (still) eating my way through the wonderful city of San Francisco. Would love to reconnect with any Wes alums living in or traveling through this area!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

Having returned to California after graduation, Thomas Cho is living it up as a fifth- and sixth-grade science teacher, all the while discerning whether he wants to stay in education or not. Considering the rent prices in the Bay Area, he seriously is missing the days when rent was “free” at the senior houses, and all this talk of the drought in California makes him nostalgic for the winters in Connecticut (but not really). Anna Swartz is still living in Brooklyn but has started a new position as a staff writer at Mic along with several other Wesleyan alums. In October, she had the pleasure of spending the night with a theater full of Wes alums seeing Hamilton on Broadway. It was great. #Ham4Wes.

Martin Kafina is a lab manager and researcher at Harvard Medical School. His lab operates within the Hematology & Oncology Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and his research team focuses on hemoglobin synthesis in the mitochondria. Martin is working on a project that examines iron transporters and enzymes residing in the mitochondria that support healthy hemoglobin production. Defective activities of these proteins lead to blood disorders characterized by anemia and mitochondriopathy. He has learned important techniques to study molecular biological processes including flow cytometry, DNA electrophoresis, Western Blot, PCR, cloning, and microinjection. Aside from the research, he is responsible for managing grants and ordering lab equipment. He is very impressed with the performances of Wesleyan swimming and diving, at the 2016 NESCAC Championship, led by head coach Peter Solomon.

Melody Oliphant can’t seem to stray too far from Middletown, as she now finds herself living in New Haven, after two years in Brooklyn. Melody is halfway through her first year in a two-year postgraduate fellowship at Yale’s Child Study Center working in a genetics research lab. Michael Robinson and Lia Monti are celebrating their recent engagement, while Buddy ’13 continues to mourn the loss of his childhood home, Beta Theta Pi.

William Tyner is working on an independent research project, where he is creating an oral history of working life in the digital economy. The purpose of his research is to investigate the meaning of work for technologists and non-technologists in the field. Why do you build what you build? What does it feel like every day to do what you do? What do you feel you are or aren’t contributing? How does your career shape your identity? How does race and social class influence your career? What frustrates you? What gives you joy? Throughout the next few months, he will be speaking with technologists of all types to answer these questions. If you’re interested in participating, please e-mail him at williamttyner@gmail.com.

As always, thanks to my classmates for writing in!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu

Thanks to all my fellow classmates for their submissions. Here we go!

Ben Smith writes in from Chicago, where he is developing a science fiction radio comedy and looking for brilliant Wesleyan voices to audition. Contact him if you’d like to participate! Bennett Kirschner is engaged in a round-the-clock method acting exercise to play the role of Rick Freehold in “i dreamed i was decent,” a semi-autobiographical tale by John Locke Schmidt. If anyone visits New Orleans, watch for him on Canal Street—he is easily spotted in his distinctive sleeping mask. Chris McNabbwas the editor for an interactive documentary (theand.us), and the project won an Emmy award in the category of New Approaches: Documentaries. The documentary has received a lot of success since launching last June; it was awarded Best Interactive Documentary by World Press Photo earlier this year, and a short film cut from it went to Sundance in January. But the Emmy has kind of taken the cake!

Since her last update, Kristen Salustro has written and started up a Kickstarter for her second novel, and the book will be officially released on Nov. 18. It’s titled Unbroken Light and is the sequel to her first novel, Chasing Shadows. She’s slowly but surely building up an audience for both her science fiction series and her Etsy shop. While she’s still living and working in New Jersey, there’s a strong chance that she’ll be moving to L.A. next spring and is looking forward to that interesting turn.

Shemuel Garber just moved to Vienna to start an MA in philosophy at the University of Vienna and works as a genital autonomy activist in collaboration with the German organization intactive.V. Adam Burt graduated from UConn this spring with a bachelor of science in nursing and is now employed at Backus Hospital in Norwich, Conn., as an emergency department RN. Melody Oliphant just moved to New Haven to begin a two-year fellowship in a genetics research lab at Yale’s Child Study Center. Robert Vance is in his second year of law school at Berkeley. He is also being published in the upcoming role-playing game Exalted, Third Edition. Sandy Durosier started working full time at Yale School of Medicine in the Department of OB/GYN and Reproductive Services as a post-graduate associate. She studies the association of an inflammatory chemokine and preterm labor. Kevin Curtin recently moved up to Boston and would love to reconnect with other Wes folks there. He’s working for Summit Partners, a global growth equity firm that invests in rapidly growing companies in technology. Randy Linder is entering his second year of the associate’s program at Capital Group, an investment management firm based in LA. He’s heading over to San Antonio for a short rotation with their service analytics team. Randy is also still playing chess and doing Brazilian jiu jitsu during his free time. If any Wes alums are in the area, contact him to re-connect over coffee/drinks!

Nick Devane is taking his company, Homemade, through the Techstars NYC program. He’s living with Augustin Vita and Nate Howell ’14 in the Big Apple. He spent a lot of last year finding himself, briefly stopping to begin work on a quasi-biographical creative short fiction piece, and truly believes that he’s most of the way there. Nick is looking forward to mentoring Matt Gross ’15, as he moves in with the crew and begins his pursuit of a musical odyssey across NYC. As always, Nick is taking care of Zulu and making sure to spend lots of time with techies and former Wes celebs.

Kelsey Muller, on track to graduate with her master’s in biomedical engineering from USC in December, is working at SynTouch, LLC, a prosthetics and robotics company that specializes in bio­mimetic sensors. In her non-existent free time, she has taken up rock climbing and trains city squirrels to help the LA recreational department clean up local parks. After working at AquaJust and serving as a New Sector RISE Fellow, AmeriCorps affiliate, and content designer for the National Corporate Engagement team at Year Up, Evan Hazelett started work in the Bay Area this September at social enterprise Imperfect Produce, America’s first ugly produce brand that seeks to turn food waste into food access while “redefining beauty in produce.” About 20 percent of produce grown on American farms ends up in landfills because it doesn’t meet the strict cosmetic standards of our supermarkets. Imperfect buys this ugly produce directly from California farmers, boxes it up, and provides a delivery service and pick-up locations for consumers at up to 50 percent off grocery store prices.

Kevin Brisco wrote that he and his housemates contemplated adopting kittens at their home in NOLA. However, they decided three kittens were unbecoming of young professionals. So they settled for a cactus and several succulents instead.

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu

Hello, All! It has been two years since the Class of 2013 left Wesleyan. We’ve embarked on journeys near and far, collected master’s degrees or are enroute to becoming PhDs, changed jobs/lives/cities a few times, and we’ve stuck by each other through it all.

Chantal Ferguson, Suzanne Gallo, and Emily Wolcott are just about to move out of the Jolly Rogers house they have shared for the last two years. Emily and Suzanne are getting their master’s in social work and Chantal is starting her MD/PhD at UMass. They are frequently visited by local classmates including Thomas Kassel and Andrew Perlmutter. Current pastimes include competitive knitting, basket weaving, and soup-making competitions. Weekends are often concluded with team bowling and all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. If anyone is visiting Boston, the Jolly Rogers crew would love to have you at their new digs close by.

Trevor Michelson will be representing the United States in the lightweight single sculls at the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea in July. Randy Linder is working at Capital Group in Los Angeles. Bennett Kirschner started a small theatre ensemble/Vietnamese pop-up in New Orleans called the Cobbleslop Group. Their first production, titled Feast & Crime, went up this past March and was a resounding success. Their next production, titled John Locke Schmidt: The Unforgiven Betrayal of a Close Friend will be in mid-August at a small art gallery, and he would love it if any and all Wesleyan grads could make it!

Joseph O’Donnell is over half way done with a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, which spans 2,189 miles from Georgia to Maine. He is fundraising along the way for Hike for Mental Health, an organization devoted to promoting mental health research and hiking as a therapeutic activity. To follow or donate for mental health, visit psychhikes.com. Chloe Lalonde and Ceili Brennan are hiking the Pacific Crest Trail the summer. As of this message, they are on top of Mount Whitney! 766 miles out of 2660 down. They are also wearing their Wesleyan Cross Country T-shirts and repping our alma mater.

Ross Gormley is starting an MFA program this fall in creative nonfiction at UNC Wilmington. Before he enrolls, he is traveling out West on a trip made entirely possible by Wesleyan friends—many thanks to them. Sarah Cassel will be beginning a master’s degree in criminology at the University of Cambridge, U.K., in Oct. Ever since participating as a writing tutor in Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education, she has become passionate about working in the intersecting field of prison reform, rehabilitation, and racial justice.
Last year, Lia Monti moved into a historic home in Brooklyn Heights built in 1834 by Walt Whitman’s father (with help from young Walt). She graduated this May from Columbia University with a master’s in postwar Japanese art history. Janet Cushey moved from Seoul to NYC in August of 2014 to begin a position as an investor relations associate with a small firm that works with oncology and drug development companies. Anna Swartz is living in Bed-Stuy, writing for The Dodo and looking forward to some scenic drives through good ol’ Connecticut this summer. Walter Rodriguez started a new role this year in global procurement at Pfizer, where he’s been since graduating from Wesleyan. His daughter, Adriana, just graduated from kindergarten this June. He is looking forward to many summer weekends in NYC with her at parks, zoos, aquariums, and gardens. She loves taking the train from New Jersey.

Taran Catania has spent the last year in Washington D.C., working for an international bird conservation organization. Previously, she spent a few seasons in the field catching migratory shorebirds in Delaware Bay. She loves D.C., but does not love the Red Line metro. Evan Okun is now a central leader of Circles & Ciphers, a restorative justice organization or young people of color who are court and gang involved. This coming August, the organization will hire Cherkira Lashley ’15 to start a branch of the program for young women. This past May, Cherkira and Evan brought Circles & Ciphers to Wesleyan to facilitate conflict resolution circles with various groups on campus. One such circle focused on rebuilding community between residents of fraternities, Women of Color House, and Open House. Evan Okun has also brought with colleagues and Wesleyan alumni together to release an album, Well Lit LP. The debut music video can be found on YouTube: E. Oks—Beez (ft. Ash Frost). More music, articles, and poetry can be found at E-Oks.com

Chelsea Goldsmith has an update from the 410: “Cassie Liu came and visited me. The rest of you are still in trouble.”

As for myself, I’m continuing to enjoy the spoils of the Bay Area and am about to hit my two-year mark at Apple. Still making my way through SF gastronomy and exploring the world whenever time permits. Thanks to everyone for writing in and best wishes to all my classmates!