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CLASS NOTES
Robert Hardt
Jr. It’s not easy for your faithful correspondent when a jet falls from the sky just 35 blocks from his home office in the Rockaways. Without getting treacly, I’ll just say that I hope we all have a better year in 2002 and that everyone had a good holiday. Through the hard work of Stephen Weinstein and others, a good chunk of our class was accounted for post-September 11. If anyone has stories or knows anything about classmates relating to the World Trade Center attack, pass them on to me or the alumni office. The notes are short this installment because of the quick turnaround between issues. Luckily, there are a few, not-too-moldy leftovers from last time. They include: Joe Kim E’91and his wife, Carmen, had another boy, Alexander, in September. Joe started his own consulting company and is based in Chicago. Javier Loya bought out his partners at Choice! Energy and is now the president of the company. He and his wife, Lucinda, are building a new home in Houston. Laurel Daniels Abbruzzese and Greg Abbruzzese weren’t able to attend the 10th reunion because Laurel had just given birth to their second daughter, Emily. Big sister Lydia couldn’t be happier. Sonya Cho Hong took a break from practicing law and spent the last year studying baking and pastry making. She has now opened up her own bakery, where she makes beautiful cakes. Check out her Web site: www.butterflycakes.com. Sonya and her husband, David Hong ’92, live in San Francisco. Vijay Sud received an M.B.A. from Cincinnati last June and graduated Beta Gamma Sigma. He is now working for Deloitte Consulting in Cincinnati, where he lives with his wife, Irene. There was a great article in the September 27 Spectator about Chris Kotes, who was a dominating pitcher for the Columbia Lions and signed by the Toronto Blue Jays organization. (I even have a minor-league Kotes card.) After years of kicking around on the double-A level, Chris was finally let go by the Blue Jays (those hosers). Chris maintained his relations with Columbia’s athletics department and worked for them in the off-season. Now he’s working full-time there as the ticket and promotions director. His dream event (which sounds like a great way to pack the stands) would be to make the last football game of the season “Tuition Night.” If a student brings a parent to the game, he or she could win a year’s tuition in a raffle. Sounds like a surefire way to fill the stands for archery and fencing as well, Chris. That’s all, folks. Please keep in touch and send me some news. Peace out.
Jeremy Feinberg Hi, gang. I have a confession. For the first time since I’ve been doing this column (scarily, now nearly a decade?!?), I have almost no news to report. For a number of understandable reasons, other than the two e-mails described below, there simply were no letters, rumors, whispers or anything. What I wouldn’t give to have our old pal J. Schmoe around to pass along his gossip column from Spectator. Then again, I wouldn’t want to make stuff up. Especially in light of this fall’s chaotic and devastating events, what better time to try to reconnect with your classmates and renew acquaintances? Our reunion is merely months away, and I’ll have at least one more chance to collect information for a column before then. If there’s anything you want people to know before they see you at our 10th year extravaganza, here’s your chance. And to think, I don’t even charge for this service... Anyway, the news: After returning to politics for a few months to work on the Mark Green mayoral campaign in NYC, Peter Hatch is now in the employment litigation group at Schulte Roth & Zabel. He attended the 40th anniversary celebration for the rugby team last spring and once again joined forces with former teammates Rob Perle, Mark Eames ’90, and Lt. Christopher “Maddog” Sheridan ’90, as well as former coach Brian “Psycho” Murphy ’85. He reported, “Great fun; no broken bones.” On September 30, Scott Matasar and his wife, Sheryl, became the proud parents of Lauren Sydney Matasar. Congratulations! Sorry there’s not more to report this time. But in all seriousness — it’s been an honor and a pleasure to be your humble correspondent for this long. I look forward to continued service, sharing whatever you’d like your fellow classmates to know. That’s the fun part, after all. Cheers!
Elena Cabral On September 10, Andrew Ceresney and Rachel Levine welcomed a son, Ethan Levine Ceresney. News of his birth came at a time when most of us were looking for something to feel hopeful about. That fact was not lost on Rachel and Andrew, who are counting their blessings in Brooklyn, Andrew’s hometown. For the past three years, Andrew has been working as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Rachel works at the Department of Homeless Services for the Assistant Commissioner for Budget. Matt Henry and his wife, Andrea, were married in June 2000. Andrea is a former track athlete who now works as a physical therapist. Matt is the director of youth services for the Mexican American Community Services Agency, directing more than 15 youth programs throughout the San Jose, Calif., area and getting back into touch with his Latino roots. Matt reports that Steve Eitelgeorge plans to move to England to get a master’s degree in (what was described to me as) Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon and the cultural history of Renaissance England. And now for something totally different: Check out Melissa de la Cruz’s well-received first novel, Cat’s Meow (Scribner, 2001), a comic tale about a Manhattan fashionista. Andrea Boykowycz moved back to New York after a year in Budapest, where she finished a master’s degree in European history at Central European University. She is studying historical sociology at the New School and loving life in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Lars Nesheim got married shortly after defending his Ph.D. dissertation in economics at the University of Chicago. Lars was planning a move from San Francisco to work on a post-doctorate at University College London. In another destination wedding to end all weddings, Shira Boss, the talented writer whose work you’ve seen in these pages, was married on June 22 to Murat Bicak in a four-day celebration in Istanbul. That’s where the couple met three years ago. The wedding festivities included a belly dancing class, drum lesson, water pipe smoking, a trip to a Turkish bath and a barbecue and badminton tournament at the in-laws’ house on one of the Princes’ Islands. The ceremony overlooked the Bosporus and Asian side of the city and was officiated by the couple’s friend, Chad Finley ’94, who was ordained for the occasion. Roya Babanoury ’92 delivered a tear-jerking honorary sermon. Privately, Shira and Murat will share the name Boss-Bicak, after Shira convinced her husband that it is a perfectly acceptable practice to do so in America. Professionally, however, neither side is budging. Shira welcomes any creative solutions to the name conundrum at shiraboss@yahoo.com. Chris Wiggins returned to NYC armed with a doctorate in theoretical physics from Princeton and a research job in Paris on his resume. He taught math at NYU for three years before landing his dream job as a Columbia professor. Chris planned to spend the summer visiting Berlin but was expected back in Morningside Heights in the fall, ready to take up faculty housing and the fine art of torturing undergraduates. Chris hoped to continue performing with Andrew Vladeck ’92 and Rob Perle ’92. Perhaps you’ll catch a gig back in the hood. Kari Zirkle, a fellow early denizen of the Schapiro floors of note, married her longtime boyfriend Ryan in March 2000 and is living in Los Angeles. Kari was working for the president of Universal Studios for the past six years before leaving that job in February to take time off to travel. She visited Leyre Goitia in Spain in June. Not having been in New York City since graduation, Kari planned to return for a visit in December. After the September 11 attacks, I returned to the city for a brief visit and found it — not surprisingly — to be a much changed place, yet somehow more appealing than ever. If you go back, you’ll see what I mean. Thanks for your notes, and keep writing.
Leyla Kokmen By
now, many of you have probably looked through or even contributed
information to Columbia College’s September 11 status I received a flier announcing the November 16, 2001, “Concert of Excellence” at Lincoln Center. The event, which honored Asian American contributions to excellence in the arts, was conceived by Welly Yang and directed by Brian R. Yorkey ’93. Mason Kirby dropped me a note just before his October wedding to Amanda Kahn ’95. The couple, who met in a Butler Library reading room, have been living in San Francisco for the past several years. Mason is practicing architecture after receiving a master’s degree from Yale’s School of Architecture in 1998, and Amanda is a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at UCSF. Ali Lemer has finished her master’s in humanities at the University of Chicago and is teaching writing at Columbia College Chicago, a fine/visual/multimedia arts school. She has published several poems in Aubade, a literary magazine at the university; she continues to work on her writing and music and plans to spend another year in Chicago. And finally, I have several extremely old items that have been cut from past columns due to space constraints, but I still wanted to mention them. Sanjiv Jhaveri had a small role on Law & Order during last May’s sweeps; though his screen time as a bailiff in the arraignment court was brief, it was very nice to hear that familiar voice. Also making a TV appearance last spring was Brad Deal, who was a contestant on the game show Weakest Link in an episode that aired April 30. In his real life, Brad is doing his psychiatry residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. He graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1998 and was elected National President of the American Medical Student Association. He served a one-year, full-time term in Washington, D.C.; after that he worked on healthcare accounts as a medical consultant with Porter Novelli in Washington before starting his residency. Thanks very much to all those who wrote in. Please keep us updated on all those twists and turns as life goes on.
Janet Frankston I hope this update finds everyone doing OK. I was relieved to hear that none of our classmates died in the terrorist attacks on September 11. With so much bad news out there, I’m happy to report some happy news. Matt McGovern is a new father. Chelsea Anne McGovern was born to Matt and his wife, Kristine, on August 8; she weighed 7 lbs., 13 oz. and measured 20 inches. Matt spends most of his free time playing with his daughter (and even might be caught changing a few diapers) in Cumming, which is just north of Atlanta. As for his work life, Matt is enjoying his job with Hewlett-Packard in Atlanta. He also completed his M.B.A. from Emory last year. Matt recently spoke to David Leung, who is working on his M.D./Ph.D. at Columbia. In wedding news, Amanda Kahn married Mason Kirby ’94 on October 20 in San Francisco, where the couple has been living for the past few years. “Yes, we did meet in the old School of Library Service Reading Room at the top of Butler,” Mason writes. Amanda is a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at the University of California San Francisco and Mason is practicing architecture; he received his master’s degree from Yale’s School of Architecture in 1998. Their wedding announcement in The New York Times recounted how the two met on Columbia’s campus. It’s a short update, but with CCT now coming out six times a year, I need your help. Please send in your updates. First-timers are encouraged.
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