Class Notes - February 2012
1958
Linda Leith Brooks write that she is still enjoying life with her husband, Tony, in Jackson Hole. “ We love the winters for skiing (x-country, skate and downhill) and the summers with fabulous trout fishing, hiking and biking in these beautiful mountains, and we have made wonderful friends. We feel very lucky!”
Joanna Underwood writes, “My non-profit, Energy Vision, has spawned major press across the US and Canada with a new report, The City of Surrey: Setting the Pace for Sustainable Transportation. If you haven't seen it, do visit: http://www.energy-vision.org/WhatsNew/Surrey2012.html. The report is about the first municipality in either the US or Canada that has taken the reins of local leadership and designed an exciting environmental initiative. By 2014, the 75 refuse trucks serving Surrey will all be fueled with a clean gas fuel made from the City's own wastes. Surrey will cut its garbage burden in half, have healthier air, and no longer depend on one drop of foreign oil for its fleet, which will also make virtually no contribution to global climate change. And the steps Surrey is taking are all commercial...just common sense. Surrey's example seems to be inspiring great interest. It shows what can be done when municipal leaders really want to help shape a sustainable future. Hopefully, many more communities will get on board. “
1969
Anne Haralambie reports, “I am still in touch with my favorite RCDS English teacher, Joy Partridge Crisman, who now lives in Oakland, Calif. I am a Certified Family Law Specialist practicing child custody, child abuse, and child advocacy law, writing books for lawyers and multidisciplinary groups, training lawyers who seek to become Certified Child Welfare Specialists, and speaking around the country and some internationally. All those speech classes at RCDS certainly helped me never to fear public speaking.
Having finally found my birth family after 35 years of searching (and 2 years too late to find my mother alive), I am now also working on an adoption/reunion memoir, which—if all goes as planned—should read like a mystery novel. (Maybe I should have rethought giving up the final twist in the first chapter.) I spend 3 months in the summer on a lake in New Hampshire, where I handle client matters over the Internet and write the annual updates to my 3 volume legal treatise, and otherwise enjoy being out of the desert and back on the East Coast. Some of my birth family lives in New York and New Jersey, so I get to see them in the summer. I will see my maternal siblings in Ohio next month when I speak at an adoption conference on “The Use of Social Media in Post Adoption Search and Reunion.” I am not particularly connected to my paternal birth family in West Virginia, even though my father is also a family law attorney. He doesn’t want to acknowledge me to his legitimate family. I did attend one of his court motions and briefly spoke to him in his office, so I have fulfilled a life goal of looking a birth parent in the eyes, even though he didn’t care to talk to me.
I had a 130-guest “60th Birthday Dancefest” in November, which involved Greek, Irish, and Scottish dance performances and had me and my guests doing Greek, Irish, Scottish, and ballroom dancing, and at the end of the evening, the lights went out, the disco ball went on, and those few remaining of us recreated our high school dances to ‘60s music, with me reliving so many dances in the RCDS girls' gym, and glad we weren’t dancing to the Lester Lanin Trio.”
1970
Jon Salkin says that he recently founded a Public Charity called "Hydration Education Foundation, Inc," which simply teaches kids to drink water vs. drinking sugar drinks (the way plants do). “We, as a result, actually prevent childhood obesity, diabetes, dehydration and dental disease - all clinically proven. Our free lessons have been distributed throughout the US and around the world. We are seeking sponsorship, grants and donations; all tax deductible, as we are an IRS approved 501(c) 3. Visit our site at www.gulpwater.org, and review our Board of Directors, our TV first PSA spot, our blog, Facebook and Twitter presence. Any involvement would be greatly appreciated and any donations are tax deductible.”
1972 – 40th Reunion – October 20, 2012
Jeff Di Iuglio writes, “ I continue to teach English composition, English as a Second Language, literature, and Spanish courses at Curry College, Boston University, Harvard Extension School, and Lesley University. I love the variety and diversity in my teaching assignments. I am certainly very busy and feel that I am fulfilling my career goals. I have recently begun teaching a specialized Spanish literature and film course that deals with the pivotal years in Spanish history and culture, 1939 - 1975. I continue to love Boston (my home since 1978) and subscribe to concerts at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and attend theater at ART in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I am always grateful to the wonderful teachers I had at RCDS.”
1978
Ellen Alexander reports, “Hi. I am back in NYC, reviving my musical career. I am happily teaching and playing percussion and piano all over the tri-state area. I can also be seen in the background of such shows as SNL, Smash, Person of Interest, Blue Bloods, and Gossip Girl. I still knit bags and baby sweaters in my down time, and have a steady stream of regular customers. My family is well, including my Dad, Philip Greiss, who taught at RCDS for many years. My oldest son, Mickey, works at Man Made Music in Midtown, and you may recently have heard his music played during the Super Bowl. My youngest son, Joshua, is in his second year of the Honors CS program at NYU-Poly. And, (drum roll, please)... I can't believe we're coming up to yet another reunion year in 2013!”
James Astrove is retiring from a 28-year career in education this June, and will be working full-time as a cyber ethicist for his consulting company. CUSP19, LLC. is a consulting company that specializes in cyber uuse, safety and policy issues for businesses, schools, camps, and community groups. He does presentations and consultations to help his clients with Internet safety and how to utilize best practices for technology.
David Terner writes, “I have returned from 4.5 years in Singapore, a happy father of a 19-month-old baby girl (Chloe Anne Terner). She’s quite a handful at daycare while my wife, Ching Ching Lee, is a full consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital Emergency Room (busiest ER in Singapore).
I am hoping Ching will get a residency in Denver Health (foreign med grads have to do a US residency even though they are fully qualified overseas). In my “perfect world,” Ching and Chloe will come out to Denver to live with me, and we can all start a (belated) family here in Colorado.
I am in touch with Lilly Pray ’78, Stu Fischbach ’78, and Jeff Higgins ’78, and just got contacted by Rob Foley ’76 (who also jumped ship to the Anglo – American School of NY in senior year for the IBS.”
1979
Andy Gibson says, “Hello all, it is great seeing some of your info on Facebook! I am not that great a contributor, but I read yours, just the same. I am due to be a grandfather for the first time in April. My son, Daniel, and his wife, Lauren, are expecting a boy. My second son, Craig, is halfway through his first year of medical school. My daughter, Kelly, is at FIT in NYC, and is one of the "Top 25" models at Hollister. I will be promoted to Colonel on February 17, and am enjoying my full-time job with the National Guard. Hope to see you soon.”
1980
Jeffrey Greer writes, “Hard to believe it’s been 32 years since graduation. My daughter, Stephanie, is now 14, and my son, Jeremy, is 12. My wife and I keep very busy, driving them between music and voice lessons, as well as sports here in Suffield, Connecticut. My daughter has caught the acting bug (Mr. Fuller would be pleased) and most recently had a role in a musical play called Curtains. My son Jeremy plays lead guitar and recently played a rock concert in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, with his band the “Green Ninja’s.” I too caught the performing bug, and I am playing the guitar in a rock band called “5-Speed Automatic.” We do mostly benefit work, and I am the youngest member of the band (scary). Our drummer actually played at Woodstock! My wife keeps busy volunteering, and is the vice president of a local charity. Of course we both work, but who wants to talk about work. Wishing all the best to my fellow alumni."
1986
Alan Bedenko reports, “I'm an attorney with a law firm in Buffalo, New York, handling medical malpractice and environmental tort defense litigation. My wife, Maryl, and I have two girls - one in middle school, and the other in kindergarten. I write restaurant reviews for Buffalo Spree Magazine, and am a contributor to Buffalo's alternative weekly, Artvoice. I have been blogging, mostly about regional politics since late 2003, and gained some notoriety in 2010 when I broke the story about Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino's penchant for sending astonishingly inappropriate emails to his friends and associates.”
1989
Congratulations to Emily Lazar Stein '89 on winning a Grammy on Sunday night! Emily, who is president and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, was recognized for her work as master engineer on the Foo Fighters' album Wasting Light, which won Best Rock Album. Emily is the first female mastering engineer ever to be nominated in that category.
1991
Masa Masuyama says: “I am presently enrolled in the EMBA-Global program at Columbia Business School and London Business School, which has me traveling frequently between New York and London. My 74 classmates represent over 30 countries, and I am having a fantastic time. I’m planning on being in Buenos Aires in April, Dubai in May, and Moscow in June. That aside, I am working for Christie’s, where I run into Maria Los ’88 and Jennifer Wright ’92 fairly regularly. Outside of work, I see Jared Cooper ’91, Luke Enos ’93, and Andrew Farnsworth ’91 fairly often.
2000
Allison Watson Pugh married Lieutenant Commander Daniel J. Pugh on October 29th, 2011, in Hendersonville, N.C. The couple currently lives in San Diego, where Dan is stationed as a C-40 Aircraft Commander at Naval Air Station, North Island. Allison continues to enjoy her career at McKinsey & Company, where she is a Senior Expert in the Talent & Leadership practice and based out of the Washington, DC, office.
2001
David Holstein is enjoying his fifth year as a writer and producer of the Showtime series Weeds. He recently sold a new comedy to CBS television and is in the middle of writing the book to an upcoming Broadway musical. He reports that, in October, he proposed to his girlfriend, Katie Locke O'Brien, while watching the sun set on a beach in Massachusetts. They live together in Los Angeles with an adopted blonde terrier-mix they found hiding in a bush in their front yard.
2002 – 10th Reunion – October 20, 2012
Matthew Cohen finished his MBA at NYU Stern in December, and is engaged to be married in August 2012.
Natalie Wolfson will be graduating from New Jersey Dental School this May, and has been accepted to specialize in Prosthodontics at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where she will also complete a Master's of Science in Biomaterials.
2005
Matthew Eisenman asks: "What I am up to these days? I am currently living in Los Angeles, going on my third year of living out here. I work in the entertainment industry as a literary manager. I represent writers of television and film. All those years of English classes must have done something right because now my entire job is reading and working with creative writers. I am at the company Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and was promoted to manager at the beginning of the year. I was the youngest to become manager in my company's history. Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment represents some of the biggest writers in movies and TV, and I am extremely glad to be a part of it. That is the main thing going on in my life and where I put most of my focus. I also run a mentor program for young, aspiring writers and people who want to be in the entertainment industry, to give them advice about what the entertainment industry is actually like (surprisingly not 100% like the HBO show Entourage!)
Lisa Rosenfeld is wrapping up her third and final year as a research fellow at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. As part of the fellowship, she was able to spend several months working and traveling in the Philippines and Burma this past summer. After completing the fellowship, she will begin medical school, hopefully, she says, somewhere a bit closer to home!
2006
Robi Hager can be seen on stage as Mr. Davis in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Hirschfeld Theater. He is also the understudy for Nick Jonas, who is playing the lead role as J. Pierrepont Finch. http://www.howtosucceedbroadway.com/
2007 – 5th Reunion – October 20, 2012
Justin Antweil has been named the Radio Broadcaster for the Somerset Patriots, the five-time Atlantic League baseball champions. He will be broadcasting all 140 games on 1450AM WCTC in Bridgewater, N.J. See his press release at http://www.somersetpatriots.com/news/index.html?article_id=2195
Joe Brown graduated from Georgetown in June 2011 with a bachelor's in Political Science. He currently works at Mathematica Policy Research, managing multiple projects with the Department of Health and Human Services. He continues pursuing his passion for wrestling, found at Rye Country Day, through his work as an assistant coach at St. Anselm's Abbey School in Washington, DC
Chelsea Mitamura is currently in a Social Psychology PhD program at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2011
Jay Kurahashi-Sofue writes, “This year, I've been working hard at trying to bring more musical acts to my school, Indiana University. In response to this desire, along with five other RCDS alumni (Nick Lattanzio ’11, Zach Lattanzio ’10, Shayne Bingham ’11, Yawer Amin ’11, and Andrew Wong ’11), we decided to start a concert production company called IllumiNation. We are working on bringing concerts to college students everywhere. This branched off of my side project I started junior year, PumpTheBeat.com
