Class Notes
Class Notes from Class Secretary
Written by Mehul Patel, BK’98
Got updates? Email Mehul with class notes info.
July/August 2008
I am sending in this dispatch just days after returning from an incredible 10th reunion weekend in New Haven where we had over 750 classmates and guests in attendance!
Rudi Seitz (JE) gets the prize as the first ‘98er to check-in at our Reunion Headquarters on Thursday afternoon. Shortly thereafter, Fiona (Goodwillie) Blank (MC) and Justin Brown (MC) were on hand to greet fellow classmates with a cool sip of brown bubbly from a keg they generously donated.
Later that evening, we officially kicked off the weekend at Mory’s where Yale College Dean Peter Salovey and former Calhoun College Dean Stephen Lassonde joined us for dinner. After finishing gold and red cups, the group headed to the Owl Shop for further libations which inevitably led to additional stops at Anchor, Richter’s, and other familiar favorites.
On Friday, hundreds of classmates arrived throughout the day and moved into rooms across Old Campus. It wasn’t long before the OC (as the “kids” call it nowadays) was filled with the familiar sight of old friends’ catching up in entryways and along the fence just like it was freshman year all over again.
After a splendid wine tasting reception on Beinecke Plaza, everyone gathered under the tent for a huge class cookout and barbeque dinner. Fellow ‘98ers traveled from across the country and around the world to join in the festivities and reminisce about those “happy, golden, bygone days.” Special thanks to Nic King (BK) and Becky Lightman (DC) for lending their iPods to provide the tunes throughout the evening.
While many of us slept in on Saturday morning, Daryl Jones (PC) and Nick Madden (PC) led a group of classmates on a morning run, and Virginia Davis (ES) led a morning yoga session on Old Campus. There were also ‘98ers to be found in Payne Whitney, some going to work out and others going to drop off toddlers at “Camp Bulldog” (over 60 classmates brought children to the reunion)!
After enjoying a delicious lunch provided by the Yale Sustainable Food Project, we were fortunate to have numerous classmates participate in panel discussions on a range of topics: Jeremy Garelick (MC), Jessica Ogilvie (JE), and Rudi Seitz (JE) shared their entrepreneurial pursuits; Tyson Belanger (ES), Marc Lindemann (SY), and Jonathan Griswold (ES) discussed their service in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones; Derek Webb (DC), Jaime Harrison (PC), and Daniel Adamson (DC) spoke about their political work; Charles Best (CC), Zeke Vanderhoek (MC), Ty Reynaga (BR), and Patrick Gavin (ES) talked about their careers in education; and Jay Dixit (ES), Zibby Right (DC), and Zoe Rice (CC) elaborated about their work as writers. Thanks again to all of these classmates who shared their fascinating experiences with everyone at the reunion.
Later that afternoon in Woolsey Hall, President Levin made the historic announcement that the Corporation had just approved the creation of two new residential colleges which should open by the time of our 15th reunion! Much singing followed, courtesy of Glee Club, Whiffenpoofs, and Whim n’ Rhythm alumni. The celebration then continued under the tent for our Class Dinner where we were extremely fortunate to have cameos by President Levin, Dean Salovey and Roland Betts, the Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation. We were also thrilled to have Duke University President Richard Brodhead stop by and say a few words to the class.
After dinner, the party continued over drinks and dancing to 80’s and 90’s hits until the wee hours. The next morning, everyone said their goodbyes and returned home after a superb reunion not to be forgotten! Of course, none of it would have been possible without the tremendous efforts of our fantastic reunion co-chairs, Daryl Jones (PC), Ty Reynaga (BR), and Reggie Solomon (ES) and the wonderful reunion committee including attendance co-chairs, Becky Lightman (DC) and Isabelle Sajous (DC), and pre-reunion event co-chairs, Anita Gibson (TC) and Genea Tafesse (TD). Thanks!!!
March/April 2008
With our 10th reunion just months away, final preparations are underway for a landmark event in New Haven.
Online registration is now available at www.aya.yale.edu/reunions and more details about various reunion activities can also be found at our class website (www.yale98.com). Be sure to check it out.
In other class news, here are some quick updates that were recently sent my way:
Jennifer Dennis (MC) is “still living in San Diego and working as a software engineer at a small, but growing start-up company.”
Isaiah Wilson II (DC) joined the Litigation Practice at Baird Holm LLC in Omaha, Nebraska after graduating from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2007.
Ryan Smith (CC) is happy to announce that his son, Jude, was born last September. “He is now 14 months old, walking around and playing with his older sister, Ella, who is now three. We moved to Denver about two years ago from the Bay Area and are enjoying the blue skies and the mountains.”
Reena Barnett Tasgal (TD) is “having the time of her life staying home and playing with her daughter Sarit, who was born on March 27, 2007 in Beer Sheva, Israel.”
Casey Jarrin (DC) joined the English Department at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota as an assistant professor after receiving her Ph.D. from Duke University. She will be teaching “20th-Century British and Irish Modernisms,” “Representing Violence: Anglophone Fiction and Film,” “Postwar British Novel” and “Contemporary Irish Film.” Casey is also working on a book about “how Irish writers and filmmakers have made use of confessional forms — legal, religious, sexual, and textual — in 20th-Century Irish writing and culture.”
Justin Bergner (SY) lives in Stamford, CT and recently got engaged to his girlfriend of two years, Lisa Racanello. “We will be getting married next August in Connecticut and I look forward to Yale classmates meeting her at our 10th reunion.”
Stay tuned for more reunion info in the months ahead and be sure to register today!
January/February 2008
Happy New Year!
During this time of making resolutions, please be sure to add one more to your list…Attend the 10th Reunion in June! Our reunion committee has been working hard to make sure attending the reunion is a resolution you can keep. Be sure to check out everything we have been working on at our class website/blog (www.yale98.com) and reunion planning wiki (www.wikiyale98.com). Also be sure to keep an eye out for more info on various class events leading up to the reunion such as the terrific Y98 events which took place during Yale-Harvard weekend.
And while the outcome of the football game may have been disappointing, there was much to celebrate at the class tailgate. Amy Terry Sheehan (JE) and her committee of reunion volunteers put on a tremendous tailgate party for our classmates. Many thanks go to the entire tailgate team of Eunice Park (PC), Colin Sheehan (SM ’97), Brian Park (BK), Mia Park, Jessica Jewell Ogilvie (JE) and Tim Ogilvie (JE ’97). Not only did these enthusiastic volunteers prepare everything for the tailgate, they arrived at the Yale Bowl at 8:00 a.m. to be sure the Class of ’98 had prime tailgate real estate. Our caps go off to you.
And speaking of caps, the limited edition Y98 Skull Caps that were available for sale at The Game are almost sold out. If you would like to purchase one for $10 (plus $2 for shipping), please contact Reggie Solomon. The hats are blue on the outside with warm black lining and are really comfortable. Photos of the hat and so many more from the tailgate can be found via the class website as well as on the Yale ’98 Facebook page. Be sure to check it out.
While you are making your resolutions, you also might want to consider adding some recent books written by our fellow classmates to your reading list. The Blue Way: How to Profit by Investing in a Better World (Simon & Schuster), by Daniel Adamson (DC) and Joe Andrew, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, “shows why socially progressive companies that make political contributions to ‘blue’ politicians and causes, outperforms ‘red’ companies.”
Last summer was a whirlwind for Joshua Clark (TC), who was finishing up promoting a book he edited called Louisiana In Words (Pelican), “an anthology of 120 Louisiana writers depicting a day in the life of our state, and then going on the road for my Katrina memoir, Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life in its Disaster Zone (Simon & Schuster), some proceeds of which go to the KARES relief fund I started. Before Katrina, I founded Light of New Orleans Publishing and edited French Quarter Fiction, Southern Fried Divorce, and other books. The storm (technically the levee failures brought on by wetlands erosion) put a temporary stop to all that. I stayed in the city and reported for Salon.com and National Public Radio and lived like a mad caveman. With its intermittently vanished neighborhoods, New Orleans now feels like an amputee, but our heart is still beating strong. And while we have far to go and much to heal, the truth of the matter is that if you got on a plane right now and came down here you’d still have the time of your life.”
Lyons Press has just released Joel Hafvenstein’s (DC) first book, Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier, “an account from 2004-2005 when I was working on a counter-narcotics project in the warlord-ridden southern province of Helmand. My wife Fiona and I have just returned to Afghanistan, where we are both working on an agricultural development project in the mountains of Badakhshan.
Joel’s adventures in Afghanistan remind me that international travel is another common New Year’s resolution. And while exploring another country is always exciting, traveling abroad with a bunch of classmates for a wedding can take it to a whole other level.
Just ask Janine Clemow (TD) who traveled to Jodphur, India in February 2007 for the wedding of Marianne Koh (BR) and Ashish Kalra. “They had a fairy tale wedding at the Umaid Bhawan Palace and the Jodhpur Fort. Ariel Levy (BR) and I both made the 11 hour journey in a jeep through the desert to attend the wedding. A more conventional ceremony was held at Battell Chapel in June 1998. Marianne and Ashish now split their time between New York City, Westport, Delhi and London.”
Cortona, Italy was the magical setting where Carolyn Balfour (JE) married Lieutenant Commander Patrick McCormick, US Navy, on May 4, 2007. “Yale alumni in attendance included her brother David (SM ‘96), his wife Elizabeth Sitnick Balfour (TC ‘96), and Carolyn’s father Donald C. Balfour (ES ‘66). Also in attendance were Sonia Martin (JE), her husband Chris Wild and their daughter Ines.”
November/December 2007
The countdown to our 10th reunion continues and our next big event is back in New Haven on November 17th at The Game. Plans are in the works for a class tailgate and you can find all the details on our class blog (www.yale98.com).
And if you haven’t checked out the blog yet, stop what you’re doing (’cause I’m about to ruin the image and the style that you’re used to) and go to the website right this second. Don’t wait. Go there NOW.
The reunion committee set up the blog to get your ideas and comments on pre-reunion and reunion activities. We’ll also publish class notes there, and take the opportunity to profile what’s happening in the lives of 98ers. You’ll also find links to the reunion teaser videos, including the terrific parody of the Sopranos final scene featuring our reunion co-chairs, Daryl Jones (PC), Ty Reynaga (BR) and Reggie Solomon (ES) along with a great cameo from Betty Trachtenberg!
According to Reggie, Ty, and Daryl, “This year’s reunion committee is excited to help make the months leading up to our reunion a period for reconnection. Yes, we have ideas for pre-reunion events, activities, and the like, but what we really need is you - your ideas, your participation, your connection with us and with other members of the Class. For us, the reunion weekend isn’t the goal; creating opportunities for reconnecting with each other and with our Yale experiences is the most important thing we can do during this reunion year.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. And in that spirit, please continue to send in your updates. My inbox is empty and your classmates want to know what you have been up to.
See you at The Game!
