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.
’51
CHARLES STAPLES is “keeping very busy and active at 81 with various volunteer pursuits, travel and cultural events. I hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park in June, and in the Berkshire and White Mountains during the summer. Got to Vermont on Columbus Day weekend and enjoyed Marlboro’s Family Day and The Putney School’s 75th anniversary. In November we flew to Zagreb for a Croatia visit and cruise on the Dalmatian coast.”
’59
Barbara and Bruce Cole are “now enjoying working on the Marlboro Town Hogback property recently conserved with the help of the Vermont Land Trust and the efforts of the Hogback Mountain Conservation Association and many others. It was fun clearing the old grown-up ‘Meadow’ ski trail for cross-country skiing, hiking and snowshoeing. Both well, and kids fine.” The Coles were featured in a Brattleboro Reformer article, “Labors of Love,” in March.
’60
“I retired from fulltime professoring at the adult degree program of Norwich University (and other addresses) last January,” writes Sarah Lorenz MitchelL. “Having acquired an Ed. M. from Harvard University in 1976 and a Ph.D. from Union Institute and University in 1986, I was given a B.A. as a goodbye. Lots of fun but not a degree from Marlboro.”
’61
BOB GLEASON is “still working three or four days per week—enjoying lakeside living in summer and Siesta Key in winter. Life is good on the green side of the grass.”
’62
HILLY VAN LOON sent in a wonderfully newsy note, in true Hilly style: “I’m writing this in March on a gray day of mixed precipitation, dashing all hope for an early spring. We should know better by now. We are all fine and have had a good year. PIET ’63 and I went to Ireland last October with my brothers and their wives for a week. Rented an old cottage in County Clare, near Doolin. Gale force winds prevented a trip to the Aran Islands, but we wandered the Burren, the shores of Galway Bay, and the little byways near our cottage, and we stayed up ’til all hours at our favorite pub listening to wonderful Irish music. Piet’s still puttering around our place in South Newfane, trying to hoe out the barn after 38 years of accumulating stuff. DAVE ROSS ’88, who has been doing all renovations to our place over the last 20-plus years, spent the fall propping up our barn that was listing dangerously to the south. There is no way it would have survived this winter otherwise. Piet is also volunteering at the hospital and is into his third decade as a representative for Newfane on the Windham Regional Planning Commission. Our kids are all in Vermont: Deborah, clinical nurse educator in the Intensive Care Nursery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, lives with her 6-year-old daughter, Lily, in St. Johnsbury; PIETER ’88 and wife RACHEL BOYDEN ’79 are empty nesters living in Marlboro. Pieter is a forester for the Vermont Land Trust, and Rachel teaches junior high kids at the Marlboro Elementary School. Their daughter, Amy, is a freshman at Hobart-William Smith, and their son Roney is production manager at BCTV in Brattleboro, which means he practically runs the station. Our youngest, Hannah, who put in her time on the summer work crew and on the switchboard at Marlboro when she was in college, is a paraeducator in the Brattleboro school system and also works at the Brattleboro Food Co-op. Pieter and Hannah are our life support in winter when the roofs need to be shoveled and the paths cleared. I’ve been a freelance copyeditor since I retired (officially) from Marlboro in 2000, doing most of my work for a publisher in Boston. I also host a writing group that has been meeting weekly in my studio for 15-plus years, a group started by Susan Keese, who used to work at Marlboro. I still sing in the Brattleboro Music Center’s chorus (now called the Brattleboro Concert Choir). Except for about 10 years after Piet and I got married, I’ve been singing with some version of that group since 1959, when I entered Marlboro. I volunteer at Experienced Goods in Brattleboro, a wonderful secondhand shop that benefits Hospice, everyone’s favorite place to shop in this grim economy, and I spend as much time in the garden as I can. We see BRUCE and BARBARA COLE ’59 and SUMNER ’61 and BRIDGET BENNETT ’59 once a year at Munson Hicks’s Christmas party. We always love hearing news of the legions of Marlboro alumni we both know that span the decades. Ran into ALEX GREENFIELD ’97 and PENNY LARSON ’97 back in January—a wonderful surprise.”
’67
“Macmillan has confirmed a publishing date for my new book, The Devil’s Prophet, in December 2011,” ARTHUR MAGIDA writes. “Already, worldwide Portuguese and Spanish language rights have sold.”
’69
RICHARD COUTANT has been a partner at Salmon & Nostrand in Bellows Falls for almost 25 years. “My work involves boundaries, roads, basements, representing towns, commercial businesses, divorces. Beats plucking chickens.”
LISA INGELFINGER HARRIS recently moved to Rhode Island to be closer to the ocean and her grandchildren. She continues to work as a ceramic artist.
Memorabilia: Hoop Dreams
by Shelly Klapper ’69
We were sitting in the clubhouse of Satan’s Grazers, Marlboro’s vegetarian motorcycle gang, when Tom Ragle came in and told us that the college association’s accreditation committee was visiting campus that afternoon. Marlboro was in the final stages of getting its first accreditation, and at first we thought he was going to ask us to leave campus for a few hours. But instead he told us that a college had to have an athletic facility to be accredited, and although so many of us skied, or at least regularly tobogganed in the middle of the night, these activities would not count.
He wanted us to go down to Persons, the Music Festival concert hall with the asphalt floor, and be there playing basketball at two that afternoon, when he would show the accreditation committee in to view what would be, so obvious to anybody, Marlboro’s completely wonderful, required athletic facility. He had gotten Don Woodard, the maintenance and more guy, to build a backboard. So we went down, Sandy Williams, the Stafford brothers (not a country band), Eugene Zuckoff, Rich Ross and a couple of others, some of whom actually knew what they were doing. We turned all the lights on and played, extremely frenetically, as there was no heat in the building and it was about eight degrees out (and in), and we couldn’t exactly play with coats and gloves on, because that wouldn’t look good at all. We played for at least 50 minutes (it felt like a week), periodically looking back at the door, until they finally showed up. They stood at the entrance talking for maybe 60 seconds or so, nodded and smiled to each other, and left. We immediately collapsed—completely exhausted. Apparently they were able to check off the last box on the list, and Marlboro was accredited.
’71
FRED GRAY has retired, as of June 2010. “Working on the house here in Marlboro, travelling and catching up on all the stuff I didn’t have time for during 15 years of teaching and administrating at The Putney School. Had a fantastic time with TOM TUCKER and family in Oregon in August 2009.”
’72
DENA DAVIS has accepted the Presidential Endowed Chair in Health/Humanities at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “I will teach bioethics courses to undergrads and act as a catalyst for interdisciplinary health-related activities on campus. Quite a change, after 21 years in a law school. I am looking forward to alumni activities in Philadelphia and New York City.” Dena joined the board of trustees in May 2011.
QUITA DAVIS is “still working at Dartmouth College as the coordinator for the student activities center. In February, I became a grandmother. Life is grand.”
“RUTH MOSKOWITZ ’75 is one of my dear old Marlboro friends and original fellow New Yorker,” ELLIOT GERTEL writes. “She has always had one of the biggest, brightest and most cheerful smiles of anyone I know, with big, bright eyes and a personality to match. It was great to see her, ALICE GROSSMAN ’73, ELLEN SCHÖN ’75 and other Boston-area Marlboro friends at a mini-reunion at her lovely place at the beginning of last year. She made us a wonderful dinner. I’m still loving living and working in Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan and still would love to hear from old friends, who are always welcome guests. Got together with ROD LEON ’73, who lives outside Detroit, a couple of years back and hope to see him again before too many more years pass.”
’73
MARC SILBER has been making videos of top photographers (from Annie Leibovitz to Ansel Adams) at work. Check them out on the Advancing Your Photography with Marc Silber website at www.silberstudios.tv/episodes. “We just won two Telly awards,” says Marc.
’75
“This past year has been an exciting one for me, with artist residencies in Finland, Hungary and Turkey,” ELLEN SCHÖN reports. “Since then, I have been energetically making new clay pieces, inspired in part by my travels.” Her work was exhibited at the Thayer Gallery in Braintree, Massachusetts, in January.
’76
As a field naturalist, educator and photographer, CHERRIE COREY helps to inspire others to seek their sense of place in the Concord, New Hampshire, landscape. She is a long-time Concord resident with a special affection for the area’s bogs and wetlands. Cherrie served as the New England Wildflower Society’s first education director, executive director of the Harvard Museums of Cultural and Natural History, and now delights in sharing her experience and following her muse as a consultant. Since her teens, photography has been a passion. Through the lens, she shares many wondrous wild moments for which there are no words.
’77
KEVIN McCAMANT writes, “Two kids at Marlboro (EMMA starting and IAN soon to finish up) brought me back to the Hill and surrounds. They make me wish I could go back and do it all again. Empty nesting is not too bad, though, although it does seem real quiet after school breaks, when the kids and all their friends leave. Saw some folks at LINDY WHITON’s photography show back in March: Annie Quest ’80, Matt Skeele ’79, Richard Witty, Diane Kazar WORTH ’80. Very cool. What a bunch we were/are. Sad to hear about TOM DURGIN ’79. All three of my original cottage-mates (Barb Brassor ’79, Nanda Fleming ’76 and Tom) are now gone. Still doing the forensic psychology thing both privately and for the state of Maryland. Also continue studying jazz guitar and resumed Zen Buddhist practice after a 20-year hiatus.”
LINDY WHITON had a “successful gallery showing of photographs from my 365-day Project of 2010 entitled ‘Edges’ in March. In 2010, knowing that my mother, Jean, would soon die, I decided to intentionally document the year by taking pictures every day. I took over 10,000 photos. Many of them were posted on Flickr and my blog, woanl.blogspot.com. The show was made up of 50 of these images. A clear message reflected in the pictures was that life weaves together from all of its parts, and for me Marlboro is one of the strands on the loom. The opening party was wonderful, with many Marlboro alumni in attendance. Now I’m working on a couple of new Projects—this photography thing makes me happy.
’78
In mid-March, Reggie Blaszczyk became a visiting fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., where she is working on a new history of Madison Avenue and its transnational connections in the Mad Men era. She spent early March as a visiting professor in the Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University and late February as a visiting scholar at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas Austin, where she was conducting research for an upcoming exhibit on the industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes.
Kimberly Cloutier Green writes, “I was saddened to hear about TOM DURGIN’s sudden death. I had not seen him in years, but my husband, Douglas, and our close friend PETE STEWART ’77 ran into him on a hiking trip in the Pemigewasset Wilderness a few years ago. They spent the evening together around a campfire. I remember Tom with great affection—his sweet sense of humor, deep care for authentic human connection, appreciation for the woods and easy, natural friendship. Tom seemed somehow beyond all the usual 20-something posturing during those long-ago Marlboro days. I keep close my sense of gratitude for having known this good man, and my sympathy goes out to all of his loved ones.”
’79
College bookstore manager BECKY BARTLETT says, “I can’t believe I’ve worked at the college for 10 years now. Time flies. My daughter Helga was 9 when I came (back) and she turned 20 today, hoping to transfer in the fall from Greenfield Community College to an art school. Meanwhile, my mom has moved to Brattleboro to relive the snows of her New England youth. My husband, Paul, is still painting houses—some for the second or third time—and Frisky the cat is still crazy after all these years.”
JAY DAVIS was married on his birthday, May 9, 2010, to Helen Leah Krasnow, who one week later received her master’s degree in nursing from University of Southern Maine. Jay and Helen are residing in Portland, Maine.
“Shortly after Marlboro, I moved down to Maryland and now live with my husband and teenage son outside of Annapolis,” LARISA PASTUCHIV-MARTIN writes. “I work at the Library of Congress, in the visual arts department of the U.S. Copyright Office, registering artwork and speaking at art conventions about copyright registration and protection. So, all you artists/photographers out there, I hope you put that copyright notice on your materials when you sell or publish. (If you have questions about copyright, you can email inquiries to copyinfo@loc.gov, and put my name in the subject if you wanted to ask me directly.) I’ve been doing wall murals in homes as a whimsical hobby, 3-D effects and trompe l’oeil architectural features. As a sideline I have continued playing bandura professionally and perform at fundraisers, showcase events for the Ukrainian Embassy and at the Smithsonian. I recently released a CD of my music entitled Dreaming (some of the pieces were written at Marlboro as composition assignments for Blanche), available for purchase or download at www.cdbaby.com.”
CHRIS NOTH appeared in the play That Championship Season, by Jason Miller, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in New York this spring.
“I’m writing this from our barn in Putney, Vermont,” says NORM PARADIS, “but still live in California and spend most of my time shuttling around on airplanes trying to do biotech. Mostly working on hypothermia as a treatment for heart attacks, but have also gotten funded to investigate optical biosensors for shock. Occasional days as an actual doctor at USC in East Los Angeles. Our biomedical accelerator, Adoneh LLC, is doing well. It’s based in Boston, so one way or another we’ll get back to New England soon.”
DAN TOOMEY reflected on Marlboro’s profound impact on his father, William Toomey ’53, who passed away in April: “Just as he had tremendous respect for the faculty’s intelligence and commitment to teaching, he had tremendous admiration for his fellow students’ resourceful ingenuity, be it parking a Model A car over a trench filled with fresh manure to keep its engine warm overnight, or loosening the earth of what was to become the Fire Pond with dynamite charges. His memory for things Marlboro was seemingly infinite; well into old age, he could recount the jokes Roland told during his senior oral exams, who lived in which rooms in Mather, and what he learned about plant life and geology on Olive MacArthur’s field trips.”
RICHARD WITTY has opened an accounting practice with office hours in Brattleboro and Greenfield, where he works on “tax returns, tax planning, financial statement preparation, review and audits, personal financial planning facilitation and sustainability auditing from a couple methodologies. My oldest son is studying to be an ultra-orthodox rabbi, currently at a yeshiva in Paris. My younger son plays keyboards for the band Mountain Interval and released his first CD in March.”
’80
“Twenty years into binational marriage and the expat life in Spain,” CARY BARNEY writes, “I continue to teach theater and writing, and direct half the plays at Saint Louis University’s smaller-than-Marlboro (but much more crowded) Madrid campus. I recently taught a graduate-level playwriting class, and am currently directing a student-written, full-length play, all of which has me thinking I should take another whack at it myself sometime. Our son Sam is going on 14 and is doing a lot of writing himself. In early January, FEDERICO MUCHNIK ’81 was in town, and we got together for coffee and conversation. It was great seeing him again. Do drop in if you’re in the nabe.”
SOPHIE BLACK’s poem “Given Pornography” was published in an April edition of The New Yorker. She was also published in the March-April edition of American Poetry Review.
“I continue to make inroads to acting—talk about your late bloomers,” LORI KIRSTEIN said. “I was invited to audition for America’s Got Talent, which I did, shaking all the way. And I made my NBC debut last year on Trauma, for the first time qualifying for residuals as the result of an afternoon throwing a man out of a wheelchair; you have to love acting, don’t you? I am also a professional speaker and living out louder and louder the further over 50 I get. Who knew?”
LUCY LOOMIS writes, “In addition to the mini-Marlboro reunion that was held at my house last fall (see Potash Hill, Winter 2011), I’ve been excited to connect with fellow Marlboro grads around photography. I was the featured photographer of the week on Boston.com’s RAW photo site in July and I currently write a weekly photo blog: littlelightreading.blogspot.com. LINDY WHITON ’77 and I both completed 365-day photo Projects in 2010 (hers is at woanl.blogspot.com and mine is at eleganceofwords.blogspot.com). I’ve loved seeing MARK MANLEY’s amazing documentary and fine art photography, and enjoying the Zen-like beauty of DIANNA NOYES’ photos on Facebook. And TONY SAVOIE ’81, HIRO WATANABE ’82, LORI KIRSTEIN and RICHARD COUTANT ’69 had us all having Marlboro flashbacks with the incredible photographs of Marlboro in the 1970s and early ’80s that they posted on Facebook.”
“Still in New York City, trying to survive as a photographer,” MARK MANLEY writes. “HOLLY WATERBURY MANLEY ’82 is living and working in Provincetown on the Cape and I’m holding it down here in the city (some people have ‘bi-coastal’ relationships; we are ‘uni-coastal’). This winter I was part of a collaborative Project with close friend and playwright Amy Hartman, a social service agency and the Luna Stage Company in West Orange, New Jersey, to build a program addressing gang violence among at-risk youth. I shot and wrote a photo essay, and Amy wrote a play that was followed by audience ‘talk backs’ and a playwriting workshop for high school students. You can learn more about it at my website: www.markmanleyphotography.com. In June, my work will be shown at the Zimmerli Museum of Art in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as part of an exhibition of current and former Johnson & Johnson/International Center of Photography Fellows, of which I was one back in 2007. Have been reconnecting with a lot of Marlboro folks through the miracle/curse that is Facebook—the reconnecting part has been great. Best to all.”
CAROLE CROMPTON MOODY writes, “Willow is now living in Costa Rica with her partner, Morgan, and their 1.5-year-old son, Roclin. She just turned 41. MAUREEN TADLOCK and I are having the most fun being Grandma and Grammy to Lila, who will turn 4 in May.”
DIANNA NOYES “had a nice phone conversation with LEE J. HOWARD in late March. He’s in Roswell, Georgia, where the mayor recently appointed him chairman of the Cultural Arts Board and where he recently ran his first half-marathon (he’s planning for a full one in the future). He’s still enjoying his business providing music for events. Lee J. and his ‘totally amazing’ wife of 24 years, Valorie, have a daughter, Marissa, who’s a senior at Georgia State studying dance therapy and working with autistic children. As for me, I’m still loving being at the college—the students never cease to inspire and amaze me. Max and I traveled to the Florida panhandle for the requisite ‘get out of Vermont in March’ trip, and I pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone by kayaking in an alligator-inhabited cypress swamp and eating okra.”
CARTER SIO says, “OK, so we will start with the youngest, Emma, 14, who will be coming to George School next fall. She continues to tear up the dance floor in Irish dance competitions up and down the east coast. She also loves horseback riding, singing, acting and working in soup kitchens. Dylan, 20, is at home this year, going to the community college, studying business and working two part-time jobs: making subs at the local sub shop and washing hair at a high-end beauty parlor. Yep, he loves that second one. He continues to have the ‘no fear’ gene and is an avid long-boarder, bombing hills and videotaping the ride just to terrorize his parents later. He hopes to transfer to Drexel or Temple next spring. Erin is adjusting to a new job, that of ‘the’ science teacher at Greene Street Friends in Philadelphia. She and Emma will be spending three weeks in China this summer doing service. This is my 28th year of teaching at George School, and I still love it. My students just exhibited their work at the Philadelphia Furniture Show and received all kinds of accolades for being so young and showing work at a national show. I was very proud of them. I’m currently working on a podium that is a commission piece. I will also be heading to Asia this summer, to Vietnam for two weeks to do service alongside students from my school. Then, of course, to the coast of Maine for the remainder of the summer. Spent the Super Bowl with MARK MANLEY, and all I can say is, that man still knows how to party.”
“Good news,” STEVE SMITH reports. “I am scheduled to be married on May 15 to Debra Yarrington, here in Delaware. Otherwise, the same old. I write for a number of media trade magazines, consult with companies on the digital transition and each year I program/host about a dozen conferences and executive summits around the U.S. on digital media, mobile platforms and advertising. Looking forward to resuming married life and spending less time on planes and trains. I love New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles (well, not really L.A.), but enough is enough.”
DIANE KAZAR WORTH has been teaching adult immigrants in Greenfield, Massachusetts, for the past 10 years. “Prior to that I was teaching English in Kyoto at various universities for nine years. Very rewarding work. I’ve been a printmaker for over 20 years and am a member of Zea Mays Printmaking, where we practice with low/non-toxic materials. I’m married with two kids: Tucker is 22 and an excellent classical guitarist, Emma is 10 and is an avid reader and artist. We also have a Lab, a cat, a parrot, three chickens and a duck. The days are very busy. Looking to sell our house in Northfield—nice creek in the backyard, anyone interested?”
Mark Genszler Moves On to Another Flock
Marlboro’s alumni director since 2007, Mark Genszler ’95 left at the end of June to pursue a wonderful new opportunity. He is off to New York City in the fall to study at General Theological Seminary, an Episcopal divinity school in Chelsea. The program is for a Master of Divinity (M.Div.), the degree most people pursue before becoming a priest in the Episcopal Church.
“I’ll be back to southern Vermont—so close, really—as often as time and schedule allow, and welcome visitors in New York,” said Mark. “I think August will find me on a long bicycle trip. These past four and a half years have been a wonderful time, and I am grateful for my various colleagues—staff, faculty, alumni volunteers and students.”
Mark has accomplished many things during his time here, most notably supporting the establishment of a new alumni council and a revitalized alumni association, helping to create more formal alumni networks for the new career development office and recruiting alumni volunteers for the admissions office.
’81
“I am working in the trenches with patients with post-acute traumatic brain injuries while rescuing and fostering animals on the side,” NERINGA PERMINAS ATKISON writes.
ERSZI DEÁK is “still in Paris, where I’ve lived for the last 25 years. In November I launched Hen & Ink (henandink.com), a literary studio, with the sale of Dear Dylan and Finding Cherokee Brown, by Siobhan Curham. The agency continues to grow, and I look forward to exploring transmedia possibilities as well as traditional publishing for my clients. It’s all happened incredibly fast, and my submissions list makes me feel sufficiently guilty when I take a break along the Seine with our dog, Bingley. Our three girls are on their own journeys: Elisabeth, 21, hopes to return to London for school in the fall; Nelly, 19, is deep in philosophy at McGill in Montreal; Esmee, 15, is now studying for her American high school diploma via a correspondence program out of the University of Nebraska, and thriving. My husband, Charles, is exploring wood carving and relocating those of us left in Paris to the South of France. And I’m still writing in between all of the above.”
“Marlboro was one of the fondest times for me and still feeds me with idealism, creativity and joy,” writes CHRIS HOLDHUSEN. “Never did become a good writer, musician or artist despite all the effort. Have been through interesting times recently, helping form and direct a community health center here in the Flathead Valley of Montana—I am a
physician. Mainly a family guy, married 18 years to Kathy, with three kids (all outdo me), and have a condition I call ski rabies. Hope to survive unscathed.
“After three years with Chicago Public Radio, dumped because either they lost the stomach for my R&D or I lacked the talent and skill to pull it off,” LLOYD KING writes. “I took a day gig as career counselor in the arts with the University of Chicago. Love the gig, and get to keep the Chicago moniker. Still playing sax and flute with Funkadesi. More in love with BETH TYLER ’83 than ever. Marlboro people rule.”
TRICIA LOWREY LIPPERT is “still living in Pennsylvania. I’ve been working at the animal hospital almost 10 years now. I also bake all the desserts and vegan specials for the Ship Inn, an English brewpub in Milford, New Jersey, where my husband is the chef. I paint and show my work in the area and am part of a plein-air group called ‘Come Paint with Me.’ I’m also pretty active with my local arts council. Last spring I drove out to Ohio and saw JOHN GILLIOM ’82 and AMY KING ’82 on their farm. It’s a beautiful place, and they both looked great!”
’82
“I’m starting my own business as a kitchen and bath designer,” LESLIE REESE BROWN writes. “Met Ellen, Marlboro’s wonderful president, in Boulder with some parents of current students. Their kids went to my son’s high school. My son, Alexander, is looking at Marlboro as a college choice. How weird and wonderful is that? Love to all.”
KATHARINE JUDD is “somewhere in the middle of my studies to become a Chazzanit (female cantor) at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. Hebrew College resembles Marlboro in its smallness, shoestring budget, great teacher-student ratio and deep commitment to a high-quality learning experience. Thank God such places persist.”
This spring, DANIEL PICKER had his poems published in Rune, the MIT journal of arts and letters, for the fifth straight year.
Pieter van Loon ’88: Conserving Vermont forests
“Few enough people know what a forester does; if you tell them you are a stewardship forester working for a land trust, their eyes just glaze over,” said Pieter van Loon, who works for the Vermont Land Trust all across the southern half of the state. “I most enjoy meeting with landowners and helping them come to realize all the wonderful things that exist on their properties beyond the obvious, the trees. If you are going to manage a forest, you have to know about all its parts: the shrubs, the herbs, the animals, the natural communities, the wildlife habitat.”
Pieter is called in whenever there is a forestry-related issue on any VLT-conserved property, from the rich northern hardwood and warm oak communities of the Taconics to the high-elevation spruce and birch on the spine of the Green Mountains. He loves getting to traverse Vermont: “There are still new and wonderful places to see and discover, there are just fewer of them now that I have been traveling the state for 11 years.” After studying forestry at Marlboro and working in the field ever since, he thinks one of the most important things Marlboro did for him was instill a curiosity for learning and a comfort in addressing subjects outside of his formal training. “Those are the skills I use every day.”
’83
Ben Sargent ’83 and Mary Lin ’87 (nee Iacobucci) are writing their second opera together, which is also their second commission, and working to get the first opera produced.
“I’m very happy that Vermont has elected another governor from Putney, Peter Shumlin,” Xenia S. Williams writes. “George Aiken was from Putney; Peter has large shoes to fill. Retired now by poor health (arthritis), I continue to advocate at the Vermont legislature for disability rights.”
’85
Nevada “Nikki” Bromley is “directing students in a production of Broth at Landmark College, in Putney. Broth is a comedic drama I’ve written about a mishmosh of characters who inhabit a boarding house in a New England coastal town in the late 1960s. After testing it out in production, and fixing it up, I’ll seek out a publisher. I’m fortunate to have a great editor, my son Arden, who is living and working in New York City. Thanks go out to my Marlboro theater professor, Geoffry Brown.”
“Still loving working in New York City as a wound care nurse, after a year as a hospice nurse,” Monika MacLean Lyman writes. “I love reconnecting with old friends, so feel free to drop me a line at Monika.Lyman@gmail.com.”
JEFF POWELL is “still working at ‘Aunt Lucy’ (Alcatel-Lucent, Ma Bell’s little half sister), which is a triumph unto itself. Our son Ko is 15 and a freshman at ConVal High in Peterborough. He is truly a remarkable guy—playing upright bass in the concert band, guitar with the jazz band, electric bass, rock guitar and STILL studying classical guitar. Between him and me, we have four basses and I have no idea how many guitars.”
’86
“With myself, PETER ‘Chanman’ CHANDLER ’85, GREG MEYERS ’08 and SAM LOWENTHAL ’09 living here, Jackson Hole probably has the highest density of Marlboro graduates any place west of Brattleboro,” writes MARKUS BRAKHAN. “On Saturdays, I see Chan singing in his Tram Jam ensemble at the base of the gondola, Greg loading the gondy and Sam bumping chairs on Thunder. As I frequently remind kids, it’s good to get college out of the way so you can be a ski bum for the rest of your life. It’s been a great winter—over 500 inches of snow with a week to go.”
Chris Blackwell ’90: Digitizing ancient texts
As a classics student at Marlboro, Chris Blackwell focused on the possibilities for interpreting history using primary sources of ancient literature. Now a classics professor at Furman University, Chris and his students are examining meticulously hand-written manuscripts that are about as “primary” as it gets. He recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to analyze some of the oldest written documents in the Western world.
The $100,000 grant will give Chris an opportunity to use new digital technology to identify and transcribe the handwriting of scribes from ancient Greece. “This work is intensely collaborative, and it lends itself ideally to collaboration between middle-aged professor types like me and undergraduates like the brilliant young people I get to teach at Furman,” said Chris. He and his students will focus on two texts purported by scholars to be written by the same scribe: the sole surviving copy of Aristotle’s treatise on the history and function of the Athenian democracy and the only surviving fragment of a song by the poet Alcman, one of the few pieces of literature in existence from ancient Sparta. “If my collaborators and I never leave our offices again, we have a century of discoveries to be made with our students based merely on the images I now carry around on my iPad.”
’91
“Hello to all,” writes AMY KOCH. “After over 10 and a half years in Japan, I am currently in Wisconsin. That may change (might have by press time, actually) due to the labor situation. I am a bilingual (Spanish) teacher with the public school system, and since Wisconsin’s governor thinks we are expendable, I might have to pack my bags again. Attending protest rallies in Madison has been uplifting, however. A highlight one cold, snowy Saturday in late February was singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ with Peter Yarrow and the rest of the 100,000 people there. I would love to hear from old friends. Email me at a.koch@care2.com. Consider yourselves hugged.”
’92
PETER BLANCHETTE was a co-winner in the Outstanding Individual category of WFCR’s 2011 Arts and Humanities Award this spring. Peter, inventor of the 11-string arch guitar and founder of the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra, was recognized for his commitment to the arts in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. He shared the honor with Stephen Hays, executive director of the Drama Studio and founder of Stage West.
“The solar power world continues to grow more rapidly than nearly any other industry in the nation, doubling every two years or so. It is keeping us very busy,” JEFF BOWER writes. “Our company installed the world’s largest solar array last year (72 megawatts on the ground in Italy), and in the U.S. we continue to narrow the gap between the installed solar cost and the subsidized grid cost; it’s been a long battle, but we gain ground each day. I very much enjoyed the 2011 EPA Energy Star awards this year, cheering on several of our customers who won. Life in Marlboro is good; the garden has begun, we’re dusting off the bikes and the kayaks, and I am exhibiting another painting at the Southern Vermont Art Center’s annual members’ show. Don’t forget to join us September 10 for the town fair, celebrating Marlboro town’s 250th anniversary.”
JAKE DALTON and ALICE ROBINSON ’98 are married and living in Berkeley, California, with their 6-year-old twin girls, Isla and Naima. Jake is a professor of Tibetan Buddhism at U.C. Berkeley and Alice does training and education in the field of social work. Jake just received a Ryzcamp Fellowship and will be doing research next year in London and at home.
“After 17 years in Tucson, Arizona, the family and I have moved to Boston,” Cristina Wigert Feeley writes. “We’re not enjoying the weather much, but it is good to be closer to Marlboro. Maybe now we’ll have some people come visit;
the door’s always open.”
Michael Crane ’92: Building ecotourism in Iraq
Until recently, urban planner and environmental economist Michael Crane was doing reconstruction work for the U.S. State Department in Tikrit, Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s home town. Now in Kurdistan, northern Iraq, Michael is trying to promote a positive image for environmental tourism in this region full of natural beauty.
“Kurdistan is friendly; Kurdistan is welcoming; Kurdistan is ready for you,” said Michael. “We have hundreds of millions of acres of untouched wilderness, and it’s safe.” Though not a single American has been killed in Kurdistan since the beginning of the war in 2003, no part of Iraq has the level of political and economic stability to harbor real ecotourism in the near future. “They need a political environment to ensure that decisions about the commons are made communally. They need a governance structure that implements plans, and a public administration that can manage efficiently.” Michael’s work in ecotourism is thus fully integrated with other kinds of development planning and capacity-building for the government.
Nearly 20 years after graduation, Michael says Plan sponsors Jim Tober and Jenny Ramstetter are always somewhere in the back of his mind. His Plan was an investigation of how to sustainably manage natural resources to benefit both long-term protection and present needs for community development. “I am still working on finding that balance every day.”
’93
RANDY GEORGE says, “Come visit me at Red Hen Bakery and Café in Middlesex, Vermont, just off exit 9. It’s been great seeing Joe Mazur, MARK GENSZLER ’95, Carol Hendrickson and her class, DIANNA NOYES ’80, Jerry Levy, TIM LITTLE ’65 and others lately.”
’94
GINA DEANGELIS and ALEX GREENFIELD ’97 were among six finalists (out of 2,700 entrants) in the Amazon Studios “Best Script” contest in January. Alex is currently a writer and producer working on a reality TV pilot. Gina, an editor/writer at Colonial Williamsburg and a regional Emmy winner, wrote, “how incredibly odd this is—two people from the same tiny, tiny school in Vermont, both finalists in this contest something like 18 years later. Moreover, Marlboro had no film or screenwriting classes or professors at all when we were both there.”
’95
“Hello,” say CAROLYN STEPANEK ROSS and Edward Ross ’96. “It has been a little while since we last sent news. All is well. We are still living near Boston. The girls are now 13, 11 and 9 years old. Carolyn is still working on the registry of deeds and doing fiber arts, like spinning, in her free time. Edward is homeschooling the girls and reads a great deal in his free time.”
’96
RICH BOULET sends this: “I have some Marlborian news for Potash Hill: CULLEN SCHNEIDER ’04, who owns Fairwinds Florist, right around the corner from Blue Hill Public Library [where Rich is the director, ed.], is now the president of the Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. You heard it here first. Also, her younger sister, Thea, is a soon-to-be Marlboro graduate, and her even younger sister, Zoë, will attend in the fall. That’s a high concentration of Marlboro news from Blue Hill, Maine.”
ERIN PETERS is “on my first scripted show, Eastbound and Down, as night assistant editor. It will be on HBO this fall. It stars Danny McBride and is directed by David Gordon Green.”
’97
ALEX GREENFIELD and PENNY LARSON have moved back to Marlboro, from California. Alex is working as a screenwriter and shared the Best Table Read award from Amazon Studios this spring with director Christian Davis for his script Memory.
“Hello to my Marlboro friends,” WENDY LEVY says. “Email me if you’re coming to the New York City area: cheesesnobwendy@gmail.com. Let’s have tea and catch up.”
KELLY SNOWDON STOCKWELL is “doing well, busy with (almost) two jobs,
a day gig at Chroma and my side-line job as a bluegrass bassist. Our band, Hot Mustard, is getting busier and having a good time playing around New England—www.hotmustardbluegrass.com. Chroma is really busy right now—I travelled to Japan, Korea and Singapore visiting customers last year, and am headed to Munich this spring for a trade show. I really liked Japan; next trip there, we’re going to Kyoto.”
TINO FIERRO is “working at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. Previously, worked three years as a cross-country adventure tour leader, and then four years as a corporate supervisor. Quit my job, took a couple of months off, doing contract work now, and leaving for Peace Corps service next year. I will send updates. Still have close friends from the Marlboro days, and still struggle when people ask me what I got a degree in. Theater? Philosophy? Psychology? I |just say ‘Aesthetics,’ and the subject changes.… Has there been a Camaro on campus since mine?”
’00
JASON BUENING has this to say: “Squiggle.”
’01
In April, REBECCA SCHEIN interviewed Noam Chomsky on stage at Carleton University, on the subject of “democracy and the public university.” You can see the video at wwwl.carlton.ca/iis/news/noam-chomsky.
’02
Lauren Beigel MacArthur writes, “Jason MacArthur and I were married in July 2010, and we’re joyfully expecting our first child in January!” [ed. note: Lauren and Jason, and the rest of the MacArthur clan, welcomed Milo a bit early, on the full moon winter solstice in December.]
“Just wanted to share the news that I got a book deal with Penguin this week,” reports CLAIRE BIDWELL SMITH. “My memoir, The Rules of Inheritance, will come out in hardcover, spring of 2012. I really couldn’t be more thrilled.”
’03
EMILY AMANNA and DAVID HASSAN ’04 run Wild Shepherd Farm near Athens, Vermont. They raise vegetables, herbs and garlic—30,000 heads this year, according to the Brattleboro Reformer, who ran a story on the couple in April. Emily can often be found at the Brattleboro Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings behind an array of gorgeous produce. They also raise sheep and cows for cheese and meat, and are planning to expand their herds. After leasing the farm for a number of years, the couple was able to purchase it this spring with help from Vermont Land Trust’s Farmland Access Program, “securing the land as a working farm for generations to come,” according to Emily.
ALLISON GAMMONS is “currently an M.Div. student at Bangor Theological Seminary (on the part-time, seven-year plan!), and continuing to enjoy my work as the director of religious education at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, right in downtown Portland, Maine. If any Marlboro alumni in the area ever want to come share their talents with the kids I’d welcome the volunteers.”
ULLA VÄLK visited campus in March, after travelling from her home in Amsterdam to New York for work. She is looking forward to the imminent publication of her new book, Pancakes for Breakfast (see Potash Hill, Winter 2011), which was delayed from its
original publication date.
’04
“After four years as an advocate for domestic violence survivors, I now train community members on issues of racism and oppression,” Choya Adkison-Stevens writes. “Portland, Oregon, feels more and more like home. Life is good.”
JOE FLOYD started a Ph.D. in history at Georgia State University in January.
ALAINA HAMMOND writes, “A play I wrote entitled Lips Upon Cheeks was included in the 2011 InGenius Festival this past January. Performed at Manhattan Theatre Source (off-off Broadway), the evening of plays received a positive review on nytheatre.com and was revived in February.”
MARC PILARO and Anita Britton became the proud parents of Hunter Griffin Pilaro on September 10, 2010.
‘05
SUE McCLINTOCK began a new position as the library director at the Vose Library in Union, Maine, in February. “I’m enjoying my job, and I’m so happy to be back in Maine. I’m looking forward to dancing, Habitat house-building, gearing up for National Novel Writing Month, making new friends and reconnecting with old ones. If you’re in the area, drop me a line or stop by and visit the library.”
SARAH MUTRUX is in Craftsbury Common, Vermont, where she works in Sterling College’s admissions office and co-manages The Common Place, a nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to “cultivate the creative and literary interests of youth and adults in the Northeast Kingdom while supporting the local economy.” Sarah is also a recent graduate of the Marlboro College Graduate School’s nonprofit management program.
ANTHONY SCHEIN writes, “I very much enjoyed having my sister REBECCA SCHEIN ’01 living in Toronto for much of the year. She has since moved to Ottawa, where she is assistant professor of human rights studies at Carleton University. In the fall, I managed my first political campaign in a local election here. The candidate was my oldest brother, and he finished a close second, with nearly 5,000 votes. We had great fun, and it was an incredible learning experience. 2010 also involved a career change: In December, I joined AMAPCEO (the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario), the second-largest union representing Ontario public servants, as executive assistant to the president. I am enjoying working in politics at a different level of government and learning the labor relations field. My knowledge of governance and procedure from my Marlboro days comes in very handy. I think of life on the hill often, and look forward to a visit very soon.”
’07
LILLIAN SCHRANK was married to Forbes Graham, “a trumpet player (whom I met playing at Marlboro), on August 30, 2009. Please check out my art at www.LillianHelenGraham.com.”
MOSES SANDROF is working as a research assistant in a pathobiology lab at Brown University, studying the effects of commercial and industrial toxicants on the male reproductive system. He’s also applying to grad schools to further his studies in biology, “or moving to a farm. Or both.”
’08
“2010 was a busy year for me,” writes RAYNA MAYO. “I finished a master’s degree in environmental studies from the State University of New York, I got married in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and I moved to Portland, Oregon. Currently I’m doing environmental lobbying in the state capitol for Oregon Environmental Council to ban BPA in children’s products. Portland is a really great city, but this has been my first winter without snow and I miss the impromptu sledding of Vermont.”
Katherine Partington ’09: See you in the movies
“It was cool and weird,” said Katherine Partington, who won both the L.A. Movie Award and the Maverick Movie Award for Best Actress based on her role in the made-for-T.V. movie Overload last year. As her first major role in a feature film, this recognition reflected a great success for her as a new actress. “I worked very hard to give a solid performance, but winning an award for best actress went above and beyond,” she said.
Since graduating with a Plan in political science and dance, Katherine has been busy working in New York City at several jobs simultaneously, but primarily as a freelance performance artist for a variety of choreographers, directors and filmmakers. “In one week I will work as an intern, hostess, choreographer, dance teacher and performer,” she said.
Katherine is working with Robert Fritz, director of Overload, again this summer on another feature-length film. A Matter of Fact is the story of a recent journalism graduate—played by Katherine—on her first newspaper job in a rural Vermont town, and will be filmed in the Brattleboro area. Thrilled about the encouragement from her two awards, Katherine says, “I’m really excited to continue acting in films.”
’10
ALEC KOUMJIAN is the online business manager for ReCycle Away in Brattleboro, a company that sells recycling containers for public spaces.
SUSANNAH MOHAN and GENAM YESHI are living in Dharamsala, India, working at the Norbulingka Foundation for Tibetan refugees.
LISA ORENSTEIN is in the Peace Corps in Ukraine, teaching English as a Foreign Language. Besides the everyday challenges of a classroom of kids with “a lot of energy,” Lisa reports that she has felt very welcome in Kodyma. “Everyone says ‘hi’ on the street, and I am invited to lunch, dinner or tea almost every day.” See a profile of Lisa’s work in Ukraine in the new career development enewsletter, After Marlboro.