Tag: 2014

Katherine Cohen is a cheesemonger and is “descending into self-parody.”

Josh Krugman has been touring the West Coast from LA to Seattle this fall with the Bread and Puppet Theater, a political puppet theater, with the show Fire. Along the way, he enjoyed the hospitality and company of Nate Dolton-Thornton ’16 and Emma Leonard ’13 in Berkeley, Calif., and saw Ethan Tischler by chance during a performance of The Comet’s Passage Over Reality Pageant in Dolores Park in San Francisco.

Sandy Lee is working at American Councils for International Education on the Flagship Program, assisting with the program administration of the Chinese Overseas Flagship. The flagship program is an initiative of NSEP, funded by DOD. “I help Flagship students process their applications for a year long ’capstone’ program in China and keep the funders updated on their adventures. It’s great to work for something you are passionate about. Attending Wesleyan gave me the opportunity to travel abroad (China, Korea, Japan), which helped me realize that I want to work in international studies or education. Also learning conversational Russian at work. This is my second season interviewing Wes applicants.”

Tom Brewer writes: “Having received less-than-polite rejection letters from all the major publishing houses, I’ve temporarily given up hope of turning my poetry to ’cold hard cash’; brilliant as my book will likely be regarded in 15 years, neglect is the sad fate of many a great artwork that comes ahead of its time. Not to be discouraged, I took life by its proverbial horns and hopped on a plane at LAX, a red-eye to the Twin Cities, inverting the au courant narrative of Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA by eschewing the glamour of the Big American City for the amity of the Small American Town. I now reside in a passably cozy halfway house in suburban Minneapolis (all I could afford!), where I’m working towards a real estate license. Initially over-confident in my abilities, I failed the exam after a woefully minimal engagement with its subject; I now atone for my Sin of Pride, thoroughly engrossing myself in the nuance of Minnesota’s realty laws. Soon I will be making a realtor’s honest living, which should keep me sated while I wait for history to catch up with my contribution to the literary avant garde—and for the delicious royalties that will inevitably follow.”

Mary diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu

The class of 2014 continues to kill it. Here’s what they’re up to:
Jessica Titlebaum is gearing up to attend Michigan State college of veterinary medicine—class of 2019.

Jeremy Judelson writes, “I am working at Mass Appeal magazine and have put on lots of weight since graduation.”

John Steel is working at a pharma startup in Westchester, N.Y., with a bunch of other Wes alums including Hannah Plon. Very exciting and thrilling company (currently focused on women’s health, as well as sports nutrition and diabetes).

Henry Cheung just finished his first year of teaching in the Bronx through Teach For America and is enjoying the summer by conducting fascinating clinical research at Bellevue Hospital. Next year, he will be leading his school’s geometry and precalculus departments, spearheading in the creation of the curricula, training new teaching assistants, and guiding new teachers joining the department. In addition, he is expanding his organization, Equal College Guidance, to aid the juniors and seniors in both SAT math and the college admissions process.

Laura Getchell and Kevin Hughes worked at a company called OPENPediatrics, which is sponsored by Boston Children’s Hospital. OPENPediatrics is an online digital learning platform that provides open-access educational resources to clinicians worldwide. The mission of the program is to build an international community of clinicians sharing best practices from all resource settings around the world through innovative collaboration and digital learning technologies. Through their website, clinicians can access academically rigorous and peer-reviewed content, including expert medical educational videos, interactive device simulators, protocols, and medical calculators. They currently have users in 125 countries. To those pursuing a career in medicine, particularly in pediatrics, this is a wonderful, free resource. Their website is openpediatrics.org and anyone who is a medical student can register for a free account to gain access to all of their content.

Joshua Krugman now lives in Glover, Vt., where he works for the Bread and Puppet Theater, a political puppet theater, and hangs out with Hailey Sowden ’15, who works at a local sheep dairy and orchard. He often sees Leah Frost ’05 at Couriers or the C&C, local grocery stores, and at the Bread and Puppet farm. His poems appear in summer issues of Osiris and Matter Monthly.

Matt Leibowitz writes, “I’ve been spending the past year building my own organization, Consent is So Frat, which works to make consent and healthy relationships part of what it means to be a fraternity brother or sorority sister. We currently have campus representatives on almost 50 campuses and are working with the White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign as an official partner to develop Greek specific programming. I’ll be speaking on the “It’s On Us” Panel in D.C. next month at the Make Progress Summit, which will also include Senator Gillibrand, Senator Cory Booker, and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. I hope to connect with other alumni doing great work in this field!”

Katherine Clifford spent this past year working at the UCSF memory and aging center as a clinical research coordinator. She is now starting medical school this fall at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

Michelle Agresti and Rachel Rosengard are roommates and have survived their first year in New York, despite their apartment’s best efforts. They are currently looking for a new apartment, and now on their list of requirements, in addition to affordable rent, is no mushrooms growing out of the kitchen ceiling (despite how scientifically stunning it was the first time). Michelle is working as an actress, attending acting school, and has a variety of jobs, including being a zombie. She just wrapped filming on a series of short films that she created with a fellow actor, and the crew was all Wesleyan! If you have any contact with her on the Internet, you’ll hear about it. Rachel assists in PET/MRI brain imaging to study schizophrenia and substance abuse. Trained in phlebotomy, the quality of your veins is one of the first things she’ll notice (and love) about you! Off the clock, Rachel volunteers at a nonprofit bookstore cafe.

Simon Riker writes: “I’ve spent my year since graduation working as a freelance musician, mostly in the theatre. I have worked on two new musicals as an assistant and orchestrator. I’ve played keyboard for New York regional theatre productions of Sweeney Todd and The Little Mermaid. I work as a music director at the Play Group Theatre in White Plains, N.Y., and as assistant music director for the Summer Theatre of New Canaan. Me Prometheus, my caveman musical, was produced at William and Mary in April and my co-writer and I are currently rewriting it and looking for its next opportunity to run.”

The class of 2014 is continuing to take the world by storm (in true Wesleyan fashion). Here’s a glimpse into what your classmates are up to:

Jason Mix started a job as a relocation accounting analyst at Cartus in Danbury, Conn.

Natalie Robichaud is “doing what all English majors do and working for a technology-based hedge fund in NYC. Of course.”

Lizzy Steiner says: “Hi, everyone! I completed the Columbia Publishing Course in July (along with Hanh Le ’12) and am now interning at a literary agency in Brooklyn. I love living in NYC (especially since many of my friends and Rho Ep sisters decided to move here) and am having fun working in publishing. If anyone is interested in the Columbia Publishing Course/wants to talk about publishing in general, please feel free to e-mail me at esteiner@wesleyan.edu.”

Lawyer in training and yogi Anya Morgan writes, “I’m in my second semester at UT Law in Austin, Texas. I teach yoga once a week, I’m on the Texas Law Fellowships board, and I’m a research assistant for my Critical Legal Studies professor. I’ll be working at the DLA Piper Austin office as a law clerk this summer.”

Julian Harris is working in the sports industry at a startup in NYC, OpenSponsorship. They were recently featured in Forbes; the future looks bright!

Alex Cantrell moved back to Boston and is busily leading a double life: By day, he works through New Sector Alliance (a nonprofit fellowship program that matches young professionals with nonprofits) at Jeff’s Place, a children’s bereavement center in Framingham. By night, he is endeavoring to launch Sealed, a social app that allows users to send time-delayed photos, videos, and gifts. He wishes that he’d had Sealed during college so he could have captured some of those gloriously youthful late nights and sent them to his friends to unlock on their 50th Reunion. Reach out to him if you want to help make it happen!

Tom Brewer: “From Tulsa, I headed westward by bus, ultimately landing softly on the couch of Casey Feldman ’12 in Santa Monica. Inspired by SoCal’s palm trees, dry heat, and pretty faces, I have been working diligently from aforementioned couch on a book of semi-erotic poems, all based on my most beloved sitcom characters: Ross, Phoebe, Rachel, Joey, Monica and, of course, Chandler. I plan to sell the rights to Friends with Benefits (working title) to a big-time LA movie studio by spring of 2016. With any luck this penniless English major will be able to cash in on his much-cherished but oft-maligned liberal arts education.”

Maurice Hill started his career in higher ed administration: he’s an admissions counselor for Kenyon College. He recruits students from the Chicagoland area, Michigan, and Toledo, and he works with the director of multicultural admissions on the recruitment, retention, and success of students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Sarah Litton Burkett: event coordinator and media relations at Henke & Pillot downtown lounge and kitchen in Houston, Texas.

Yusaku Takeda writes, “After graduation, I moved to NYC to take a position as an IT consultant. But realizing that academics is a better fit for me, I quit my job and moved back to Japan. I work as a research assistant at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy of Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo. It’s nice to be back home.”

Maureen Gorman: “I live in Brooklyn with my husband, Aurelien. I’m a junior consultant at a financial technology firm. A bit after our intimate wedding back on a gorgeous October day in my hometown of Milwaukee, Aurelien and I spent a lovely honeymoon in New Orleans, enjoying the unique architecture, delicious food, and bayous. We love taking advantage of all of the cultural offerings of NYC and our proximity to Prospect Park!”

From our nation’s capital, Maggie Feldman-Piltch writes, “Julian Purkiss and I are living in D.C. with our newly adopted and incredibly adorable pitbull, ziva bell hooks. (Pretty sure no one cares about this, but just in case, I’m finishing up a national security and international trade fellowship and he’s working at a non-public, tuition-free school for boys in South East.) We’ll be hosting the Wes GOLD party on April 2 and really look forward to seeing everyone. Leo Liu, Izzy Rode, Olivia May, and Benny Doctor are close by, and we get to play Settlers, drink boozy milkshakes, and be homesick for the crunchy people of Wesleyan on the regular. I also see Emma Daniels ’13 weekly during Congressional Chorus rehearsals.”

Leslie Lai started her PhD program in cognitive science at Brown. Her research investigates how perceptual information is transferred to conceptual understanding in human vision. Leslie is interested in how color and perceptual organization influence the way people process visualized information.

Nick Buffie is working at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, DC. He writes blog posts on economic policy, provides research assistance for various economists at the Center, and tracks CEPR’s appearances in the media. His writings to date have focused on the Affordable Care Act’s positive effects on the job market; the pace of economic recovery; hidden regressive features of the tax code; the conditions necessary for wage growth; the difficulty of prolonged unemployment; and living standards in the U.S. versus other developed countries. His writings have been cited in various newspapers and media outlets for public policy.

It’s always great hearing from you all. Never hesitate to write. Much love,

Mary diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu

Class Notes intern: Susannah Betts ’15

It is hard to believe that we are now considered alumni and are not collectively witnessing the beauty of fall in Connecticut. I know there is a lot of Wes-talgia in the air, but do not fear, for I come with updates from your peers.

Tom Brewer is quite busy living in Tulsa, with Michael “Piddy” Piderit ’12. Tom writes: “We make and sell artisan pickled goods. There is unfortunately not much of a market for the wares of amateur picklers in Tulsa, but we are making do—selling whatever we can on Craigslist and eBay when things get desperate (not what you are thinking, ha-ha). It is, if not the most thrilling life, a comfortable one; we’ve eliminated The Man from the picture almost completely—no more worrying about income taxes or angry bosses.”

Emily Weitzman is almost done with the first three months of her Thomas J. Watson Fellowship exploring spoken word and poetry communities around the world. She has spent the beginning of her journey attending poetry events, performing, writing, interviewing, and meeting some amazing people in New Zealand and Australia. In a week, she is off to Nepal, where she will be collaborating with the Word Warriors poetry group and will be an artist-in-residence at Nepal Children’s Art Museum.

Representing red and black, Sydney Lewis is the new assistant dean of admission at Wesleyan, covering Georgia (her home state), Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Connecticut.

Izzy Rode is working hard as special assistant to the president and CEO in communications and policy at Martha’s Table, an antipoverty nonprofit in D.C.

Henry Cheung writes to us from the boogie down, where he is a Teach For America Corps member, teaching math in the Bronx at Fordham HS for the Arts. “The students are great and the learning curve is becoming less and less steep!”

Luke Harrison writes: “Luke Harrison is unemployed, but he’s doing great emotionally, so no one worry about him!”

Hannah Knudsen spent the summer teaching herself how to cook from a farm-to-table style cookbook. She also built an herb and vegetable garden which was very exciting and rewarding (and also encouraged her cooking!). She was planning a  move to Telluride at the end of October to start a new journey. She’ll be working for the mountain and living in the heart of town. In her free time, she plans on expanding work on her photo thesis, which was a project on the world of horseracing. She is interested in transitioning her project into cowboy culture and the “true west.”

Leah Khambata writes in from the Big Apple: “I moved to Manhattan on June 1st, a week after graduation, and was fortunate enough to land my first post-grad job the very next week, working on the set of the independent feature film, Outliving Emily, which starred actors, Kal Penn and Alexis Bledel. I got to assistant edit and work with the digital imaging technician on a daily basis, which was a thoroughly rewarding and exciting experience.

“In August, I then worked in the art department of the feature film, Meadowland. I was primarily based in the office where I got to do creative tasks like drawing caricatures for classroom sets (heads up—if you see a caricature of Shakespeare or Mark Twain in a classroom scene, you’ll know who drew them!) and also got to do more of the financial accounting side to filmmaking—managing crew members’ petty cash accounts and so on.

“Immediately after that ended in mid-September, I started working at Laura Rosenthal Casting & Process Media, which I am enjoying immensely! I love reading scripts in pre-production, learning about the advertising world and commercial projects, and interacting with all the different people who come in here to audition!

“In the midst of all this film work, I’ve been hanging out with a lot of Weskids and my high school friends who are all here in New York. It’s a weird feeling to hang out in groups where my Wes friends and Bombay ones come together because it’s like two such different worlds colliding, but it’s the good kind of weird, the surreal one, the ‘omg I’m so happy to be in a city where I have these great people around me’ one. So even though post-grad life is still a pretty confusing time all-in-all I’m very grateful for the wonderful experiences I’ve had so far and hope to be able to explore more aspects of the entertainment industry moving forward!”

Sarah Burkett moved to Houston in late June. She is still acting and teaching yoga, in addition to being an independent beauty consultant for Mary Kay.

Alex Pack is in Hong Kong teaching English to college freshmen. He is catching up on all the things he missed out on by not studying abroad—like eating strange street food, flying around Asia on hyper-budget airlines, and remembering what “not being busy” feels like—before he returns state-side in a year-and-a-half to work in consulting in San Francisco.

Danny Blinderman hunted for jobs all summer and finally got one at the end of August. He is now working at the American Jewish Committee in Boston, and moved to Allston three weeks ago.

Leah Khambata writes in from the big apple: “I moved to Manhattan on June 1st, a week after graduation, and was fortunate enough to land my first post-grad job the very next week, working on the set of the independent feature film, “Outliving Emily,” which starred actors, Kal Penn and Alexis Bledel. I got to assistant edit and work with the digital imaging technician on a daily basis, which was a thoroughly rewarding and exciting experience, and enabled me to truly see all the different departments that work together to make a film (as compared to a much smaller scale student thesis film I had made at Wesleyan. Seriously, so different!)

In August, I then worked in the Art department of the feature film, “Meadowland,” directed by Reed Morano, and starring Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson. I was primarily based in the office where I got to do creative tasks like drawing caricatures for classroom sets (heads up – if you see a caricature of Shakespeare or Mark Twain in a classroom scene, you’ll know who drew them!) and also got to do more of the financial accounting side to filmmaking – managing crew members’ petty cash accounts and so on. (Math was actually my favourite subject in High School so I weirdly enjoyed this a lot haha)

Immediately after that ended in mid-September, I started working at “Laura Rosenthal Casting & Process Media” where I currently am at now, and am enjoying immensely! I love reading scripts in pre-production, learning about the advertising world and commercial projects, and interacting with all the different people who come in here to audition! And of course the people here in the office are super nice and friendly, which makes for a great environment!

In the midst of all this film work, I’ve been hanging out with a lot of Weskids and my high school friends who are all here in New York. It’s a weird feeling to hang out in groups where my Wes friends and Bombay ones come together because it’s like two such different worlds colliding, but it’s the good kind of weird, the surreal one, the omg I’m so happy to be in a city where I have these great people around me one. So even though post-grad life is still a pretty confusing time for me, all-in-all I’m very grateful for the wonderful experiences I’ve been able to have so far and hope to be able to explore more aspects of the entertainment industry moving forward!”

Thanks for writing in everyone, keep the notes coming, and let me know if you’re ever in the area!

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu

Congrats, class of 2014!!! I still cannot believe how fast these amazing four years flew by. Do not be afraid, though! This space will serve as a place where you will find your class notes in upcoming issues and you will thus be updated on what the class of 2014 is up to. I will be in touch when it is time to request your submissions. Until then, have a rocking summer and GO WES!

Love,

Mary diaz | mdiaz@wesleyan.edu