Alumni News
Class notes are listed by year and include both graduates and nongraduates; the latter are listed under the class with which they are associated.
’59
“The college has joined with Marlboro Cares,” BARBARA and BRUCE COLE write, “a local volunteer organization that provides various types of assistance to Marlboro residents, to jointly host a monthly luncheon for senior citizens in the campus center while college is in session. Many gather to reminisce, renew old friendships, see neighbors and get to be on campus. Irene’s flooding took its toll, especially on roads and our town of Wilmington. Slow recoveries, but Vermont is making it. Still enjoying Vermont’s seven seasons: winter, spring, mud, black fly, summer, fall and twig.”
’63
JONATHAN POTTER writes that he recently published a couple of new plays: “Check Amazon.”
’69
JOHN DEVANEY exhibited his paintings at Robert Foster Fine Art on Nantucket in August.
’70
DAN DALY still has his real estate license in order to help his wife, who is a fulltime broker. “Most of the time I paint landscapes and studies of everyday objects. I’m also very active in conservation work and just finished a tenure as state chairman of the Maine Council of Trout Unlimited. Stop by if you’re in mid-coast Maine.”
’71
ROBERT HULLOT-KENTOR is now the chair of a new master’s program, Critical Theory and the Arts, at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.
“Both PAUL and I are retired, but working part time,” writes CATHIE WILLIS. “Paul is working at the local post office two days a week, and I am doing some consulting work and working as a substitute school nurse. We are traveling off to the Amazon and Machu Picchu in August, and then Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan in November.”
Elliot Gertel ’73: Twisted T-shirt of fate
In October, I had a brunch date with friends at the Jefferson Market and Cakery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For some reason, as I was getting dressed that morning, I decided for the first time in months to wear one of my Marlboro T-shirts under my long-sleeved shirt. After brunch, the five of us went outside and asked some people who were waiting for their food if one of them would take our picture. After the photos were taken, we had a nice chat with the young man who had kindly snapped our picture and his other dining companions.
When our photographer mentioned that he and a friend who was visiting from Baltimore had both attended college in Vermont, I just knew right away which school it was. We realized we were all graduates of one of America’s smallest colleges while standing in the town with one of its far larger ones, the University of Michigan. After exchanging hugs, we posed for a photo to commemorate this historic moment and amazing coincidence. I had momentarily forgotten that I had on my Marlboro t-shirt, so we took another shot when I recalled what I was wearing: yet another incredible and perhaps psychic twist of fate.
My fellow Marlboro alumni were Carlus “Max” Henderson ’09, who took our picture and who is now a graduate student instructor in the creative writing program here at the University of Michigan, and Kareshma Mohanty ’09, who currently resides in Baltimore. Who could have ever imagined this unbelievable, unplanned alumni meeting?
’75
Zulu Fits, a play by ALONZO LAMONT, opened at Load of Fun Theater in Baltimore as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival in August. Produced by Heralds of Hope Theater Company and directed by Lonnie, the play tells the story of two teenage sisters, NeeCee and Giselle, who intend to rescue a very popular black political prisoner—Jersey Jack Black—from prison. Fancying themselves as teenage terrorists, they raise money through their website, where they pose in provocative attire, take in donations and acquire a large cyber following. Running along parallel lines is the history of NeeCee and Giselle’s new family home, formerly the property of Patty Cannon, a white woman who captured free black men, women and children and resold them to southern slave owners. Ultimately, the play asks why society falls for “the sexy pick” as opposed to the legitimate, very real history that is often ignored.
’76
“We’re half empty nesters now,” MELISSA METTLER ABRAMS writes. “Our daughter Haley went off to college in the fall. Our other daughter, Clare, is a sophomore in high school, so we still have a few years with her. We bought a new house last year and are finally getting settled in.”
’77
SUNNY TAPPAN continues to love her job as the Marlboro College receptionist. “I can’t imagine working anywhere else. I am proud of my education here, of my Planwork and all that I’ve learned here since graduating. The learning never stops.”
LAURA LAWSON TUCKER writes, “It was such fun to return to campus last fall to teach a class for Ken Schneck on community performance. Two of his students interned with me at the New England Youth Theater.” (See Potash Hill, Winter 2011.)
’78
“Re-starting the art career after raising two kids,” writes NAT SIMKINS. “Will be in two shows on the North Shore this fall, at Art in the Barn and the Crane Estate show and sale.”
’80
“Just a quick note to say that I finally went to the Grand Canyon,” writes DIANNA NOYES. “Wow.”
MAUREEN TADLOCK’s memoir, The Weakness of Gravity, was published by AuthorHouse last spring.
’81
CHARLIE CHIARA writes from Pasadena, California, “For the past six years I have been a partner at Clear Stream Media Group, where I have been making films and media clips for a variety of businesses, community service organizations and charities. We have clients throughout the U.S., so I get to travel a bit and have journeyed to India twice for our client Organic India and to Italy once with Study Abroad Italy. You can learn more about what we are doing and watch a few films by going to our website at www.clearstreammg. com. If you need a film to promote your business or charity, give me a call. I would love to talk about your project. And of course, I have a special price for Marlboro people. Prior to forming Clear Stream Media, I spent 20-plus years in the entertainment business, including working with Image G, a motion control (computerized cameras) house filming models for Star Trek: The Next Generation. That was a hoot. I also worked at Dinamo Entertainment, where I was on a team developing feature films including The Substitute, Suicide Kings, The Arrival and Lost & Found. From 2000 to 2003 I tried my hand at being an independent producer, producing a pilot for an animated kids show, Speed-Quest. I thought it was great and so did my kids, but I was ultimately unable to secure a decent deal for the series so it went on the shelf. (Hmm, maybe I should send it out, with a new title, of course.) In 2004 I got back to work and joined my friend producer Jim Hart as the postproduction supervisor for the short-lived FOX comedy Cracking Up, starring Molly Shannon and Jason Schwartzman. I created Clear Stream Films as a media supplier to Cracking Up, and it turns out to have had staying power. Go figure. For my community service, I work with Teamwork Foundation/New York Gauchos and was named president of the board in 2007. Teamwork/Gauchos runs an after-school basketball programs for over 400 boys and girls in the Bronx. In the program’s 44-year history, our players have received over 500 years of college scholarships for free, while 24 of our kids have become NBA or WNBA players, including the star of last year’s men’s Final Four, UConn’s Kemba Walker. My wife Rene and I have been married for almost 19 years, and we have three children: Julian (16), Lucas (14) and Sophie (11). I will tell you about them the next time.”
“Still living the good life on the coast just south of San Francisco,” NOBBY RIEDY writes. “My wife, 6-year-old daughter and I are enjoying the wonders of elementary school, gardening, wilderness and a beautiful rural life. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by for a visit.”
LLOYD KING writes, “After seven years in the burbs, BETH (TYLER ’83) and I bought an 1888 cottage on Chicago’s South Side. It’s right on the lake and about a mile north of the Obama mansion. Beth resigned her job as dean of students at Lake Forest College while she was at the top of her game. She wanted to find something less stressful. She recently accepted the position of executive director of retention initiatives at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, shifting her workplace from one of the richest towns in the country to one of the poorest. She loves the change. After three years with public radio, I took a gig as career adviser in the arts for the University of Chicago. Get to ride my bike to work. Still playing in Funkadesi and a few other bands. Still broadcasting, only shorter and sweeter—@lloydbking. Still hanging out with Marlboro peeps. CAROL MURPHY ’85 and PETER NIEWIAROWSKI ’84 just visited with their 13-year-old, Remik. A few weeks ago JOHN POPLETT ’80 and I occupied Chicago. In December we’ll be visiting JOHN GRAY ’78 in New York City. Old friends are the best.”
’82
PETER KLANK is serving on the board of directors of Friends of Writers, Inc., the nonprofit partner to the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. “I will also be running the Friends of Writers 2012 Annual Post-MFA Writing Conference, which will be held this year at Mt. Holyoke College.”
DAN PICKER writes, “This past spring I published two prose works. My memoir of studying with Seamus Heaney at Harvard appears in The Oxonian Review of Oxford University, where I also studied. In addition, another book review of mine has been published in Rain Taxi Review of Books. My poems are forthcoming in Shampoopoetry.com of San Francisco, which has published at least one other Marlboro College alumni poet, and in Vermont Literary Review. I enjoyed lunch with JIM WADE in Princeton.”
’83
BEN SARGENT and MARY LIN ’87 (nee Iacobucci) debuted scenes from their second opera, a commissioned Steampunkian farce a la Mozart by way of Gilbert and Sullivan, at the Great New England Steampunk Exposition in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, this past September. MOLLY CONOLE ’84 and BARBARA HILLIARD ’87 helped with sets, props and videography. Photos and video are posted—you’ll find links at inventingearth.org, the nonprofit arts organization that Ben and Mary founded last year.
’86
“Life in the sunny Pacific Northwest continues to be full of fun and adventure,” writes TOM GOOD. “Most of it happens on the living room floor, where Beth and I are entertained by son Porter (3.5 years) and daughter Hadley (0.8 year). I passed the 10-year mark at NOAA Fisheries this year, and I continue my work on a variety of projects focusing on marine ecology and seabird-fisheries interactions at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. Some of my research takes me into the field and onto uninhabited islands, where I find myself catching my breath, staring out on the Pacific Ocean and marveling at my good fortune. I recently had coffee with Jessica Nelson from the admissions office, who had an afternoon free while visiting schools from Seattle to Portland. It was fun to chat about the college, and I found it comforting that while some things at Marlboro are ever-changing, other core things never change. It gives me faith in the future of the college as well as my ability to represent the school when talking to my interns and other students I meet about life at Marlboro. I’ll never forget my visit in January 1981: TOM DURKIN ’79 was admissions counselor and gave me a tour that included showing off the view from the library porch, popping in on VINCE RIBAS ’82 and SAUL GRESSER ’85 shooting pool in the Happy Valley common room, and ending with experiencing lunch in the dining hall on one of those days where the windows are steamy and the conversations are energized. I was hooked. We get back to northern New England for annual family visits and hope to swing by Marlboro one of these years.”
’87
TETA HILSDON writes, “Since I never send news to Potash Hill, I thought maybe I’d say hello to all my old classmates with a quick snapshot of life. I’ve lived in the Brattleboro area ever since leaving Marlboro, but even 34 years doesn’t make one a native. My son, however, is indeed a native. He’s 27, and after traveling the world and living in many other places, he circled back and is living and working in Brattleboro, doing solar installations with Soveren. That’s particularly apt since his father and I met when we each worked for solar companies in 1983. These days I do administrative work at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, and I have my pottery business on the side. I own a little house in Brattleboro and live with my partner, Steve Procter. Call me, old classmates, if you’re passing through Brattleboro and need a good couch: (802) 246-7034.”
Sarah Edwards ’88: Taking budget priorities to Washington
In September, Brattleboro lawmaker Sarah Edwards was honored with an award for her contributions to sound progressive policies at a Washington, D.C., conference titled “Women at the Table of Power.” A state representative on the Progressive/Democrat ticket, Sarah was presented with the 2011 Pacesetter Award from the Women Legislators’ Lobby (WiLL), a Washington-based network of women state legislators.
“It is wonderful to be recognized for one’s work. It gives you encouragement to continue,” said Sarah. The “Women at the Table of Power” conference provided women lawmakers the opportunity to network with policy activists and to find common ground on education and economic issues. Sarah, who has been a member of WiLL for eight years, was recognized for her efforts to change national priorities, and especially for her focus on the defense budget.
“Pentagon spending all too often funnels billions of dollars toward outmoded weapons that were originally intended to fight the Cold War,” said Sarah. “We can pinpoint extremes in wasteful expenditures that do nothing to make us safer. Redirecting those dollars into education, health, transportation and infrastructure can provide the jobs and services that are desperately needed in communities across Vermont and America. We cannot afford to stand on the sidelines for this debate.”
’94
“Hello from Nantucket,” writes TIMALYNE FRAZIER. “Recently, I was accepted into the Artists Association of Nantucket (www.nantucketarts.org) for photography. I will have my photography available on SmugMug soon. I intend to apply for oil painting as well, this October. It was a treat to discover that a fellow AAN member, whose work I have admired for some time, is also a fellow Marlboro alumnus, JOHN DEVANEY ’69 (http://johndevaney.com/home.html). We spent some time remembering many of the same Marlboro professors, even though our stints at Marlboro were a bit apart. I received my master’s in liberal studies from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, in 2009. For my senior thesis project, I wrote a body of poetry and a complementary critical paper. Phoebe started middle school this year, and Chloe is in the third grade. Paul is working toward his wastewater license as a Town of Nantucket employee, and I’m a legal assistant at Reade, Gullicksen, Hanley & Gifford, LLP. My friend Rob lives with us as the nanny and helps us manage the kids and the house. We have a dog, Pogo, and only three cats. I can see the ocean from my bedroom. My heart goes out to Vermont with all the flooding and challenges lately, specifically to Marlboro and Brattleboro, two places I have counted as home for seven years of my life.”
Jodi Clark ’95: Putting life into residential life
Members of the Marlboro community were pleased to return in the fall to find our own Jodi Clark in the position of director of housing and residential life. Before returning to campus, Jodi was the program coordinator for ActingOut, an improvisational theater-training program for adolescents in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. She also worked on a number of community-based initiatives that strive to increase wellness through substance abuse prevention, nutrition and other health support.
“Being part of wider community problem-solving initiatives gave me more experience addressing various angles of larger issues in a committee or coalition setting,” said Jodi. “I enjoy being able to serve Marlboro with what I have learned working in the Monadnock region, in addition to simply being part of a community that is near and dear to me.”
Jodi, who was employed as a student life advisor from 2001 to 2006, finds that Marlboro now has many more systems in place to serve the community. “I see a lot more programming in many arenas because there are more people able to help facilitate them. My previous work at Marlboro taught me to think on my feet, flow with a situation and know that because I have a great team, we will work through even the most complex, strange or challenging situations together.”
’98
SHAW IZIKSON is “currently a reporter and photographer at The Winsted Journal— www.tricornernews.com/winstedjournal—still fighting the good fight for college loan reform. And I am the group moderator of the M.C. Alumni Facebook group at and the LinkedIn group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=85402&trk=hb_side_g.”
“I’m FINALLY studying in the professional training program at the Lecoq School in Paris,” writes AARON KAHN. “It was in 1996 at Marlboro that Eric Bass suggested I look into the school, and I have been looking for a way to make it happen ever since. Been living in Paris since 2007, learning French and getting established. Et voila! Merci Marlboro, et merci mille fois Eric…”
’01
KATE OSBORN has moved from New York City to Washington, D.C., where she is continuing to work for the same catering and events company, this time at the U.S. Senate. From their father, we learn that CARRIE STERR was married in her hometown of Vancouver, Washington, in July and then moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and that her brother, AMBROSE ’07, is working in internet marketing at Marchex in Seattle.
’02
HEIDI PETERS is working at Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, Vermont.
’04
ELIOT and ALLISON (LENNOX) GOODWIN joyfully welcomed a daughter, Stella, on May 19, 2011, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
HEATHER BRYCE LABOR is working as an admissions counselor at Goddard College and started their master’s program in education this fall. She was the event coordinator and producer of Rising Above the Water, a benefit held at Goddard in early December that brought together 13 dance companies and choreographers from across the state to perform and raise money for Vermont Disaster Relief in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. She was also married in May. “It’s certainly been an exciting year,” she writes.
’05
“I look back at my years at Marlboro all the time,” writes IVY ROBERTS. “It was a formative experience. I’m doing well, moving about, hopping from school to school, teaching and learning. I launched a website and am going for a Ph.D.”
’06
JOSIE DELMAN MOSSER writes, “Hey everyone. Five years ago in May, I graduated from Marlboro. Five years ago in September, Greg and I got married. Six days later, we hightailed it out of Vermont down to western North Carolina. Here are the last five years in a nutshell: I spent four and a half years as business and marketing director of a mental health organization offering equine assisted therapy. It was quite educational, learning how to run someone else’s company, earning the unofficial title ‘administrative octopus.’ This past July, in the course of a 30-minute meeting, I quit my job and hired my old boss as my first client. I am now self-employed, kind of flailing in the transition, and so happy with my decision. Greg and I have been playing sludge metal with JAMIE PAUL ’08 for almost two years down here—and that is awesome, to say the least. I was recently certified as a yoga instructor and will begin teaching classes this winter. My sister and I just finished a collaborative art project called ‘2012: The Last Calendar You’ll Ever Need.’ She inked the drawings, I painted them, then we created the calendar and self-published. You can find the calendars and me on my website, josiemosser.com. We’ve kept up our gardening and permaculture ways as best as we can without owning land. We are hooked on perennial tubers and are hoping to find a few favorites to cultivate and select from. We grafted 45 fruit trees last April, and at least half of them are thriving. (Grafting, in case you were wondering is like a combination of marriage and surgery.) Greg and I recently spent our fifth wedding anniversary becoming Viking- Hobbit warrior-explorers, canoeing up ancient tributaries of drowned mountains, and hunting wild American persimmons in the vast and mysterious Lake Fontana. In short: life is good, and we miss you guys.”
’08
TOM DEVITO is currently teaching English in Panama, according to his mom.
ERIC GUSHEE received a B.F.A. from the Art Institute of Chicago and is working as a sculptor in Chicago.
’10
WILL JENKINS worked at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center for over a year before heading out to California to attend U.C. Berkeley’s doctoral program in history. “I’d love to meet up with other Marlboroites in the Bay Area,” he writes.
’11
ZACH PEARSON is living in Boston and playing guitar with the Gypsy jazz band Ameranouche and the chamber group Ensemble San Genevieve.
“I have a job,” exclaims KELLY PIERCE-BULGER. “It is as the development coordinator (fundraiser, basically, through AmeriCorps) with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. I am very excited to actually be working in my field of study. I will be working through AmeriC orps for the next year, but then hopefully I will have raised enough money to make my position permanent with CAIR.”
Former faculty news
In May, former computer science professor ADRIAN SEGAR was named one of the 68 Most Innovative People in Events by BizBash Media, a leading events-trade magazine. The author of Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love, Adrian was recognized for creating and championing participant-driven conferences for the last 30 years. “Bizarrely, I’m listed with the glamorous folks who organized Chelsea Clinton’s wedding and brands like IBM and Coca-Cola,” said Adrian. “I’m the only Vermonter in the list and the only New Englander outside Boston. Quite a transition from an ancient Ph.D. in elementary particle physics.”
For those of you who missed the retrospective show by artist and retired art professor FRANK STOUT a couple years ago (Potash Hill, Winter 2009), he has a new website that illustrates his talents at www.frankstout.com. “Over the decades, Frank Stout has produced a unique and timeless body of work,” said Mara Williams, chief curator at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center. “With tender detail and monumental scope, his restless narrative images create a sweeping, eloquent album of life in the 20th century and beyond.”