Alumni in the News: November 8, 2021

On November 2 Julie Jacobs Menin ’89 and Shaun Abreu ’14 were elected to New York City Council seats. Menin will serve District 5, which includes the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, and Abreu District 7, which includes Upper Manhattan and Morningside Heights.

The new book by Paul Auster ’69, GSAS’70, Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane, was reviewed in The New York Times on October 29. The Times writes: “Auster loves Crane and cares so much about his reputation that in this enormous, impassioned book he has taken it upon himself to restore him to his rightful place in the American canon.”

On October 25, MSNBC announced that Associated Press White House reporter Jonathan Lemire ’01 will host its politics and news show, Way Too Early. “We’re going to have some fun with the news, but we’re also going to have important lawmakers throughout Washington talk about what’s driving the day,” Lemire said.

Daniel Immerwahr ’02 wrote the October 23 The New York Times guest essay “How is Dune So Prescient About Climate Change? Thank This Native American Tribe.” Immerwahr, a professor of history at Northwestern, writes: “Denis Villeneuve’s star-studded film adaptation is receiving not just critical acclaim but also appreciation for the ‘clear contemporary relevance’ of its ecological themes. Mr. Herbert’s tale of climate change no longer seems odd. It is in many ways the story of our time.”

Princess Francois ’11’s September 5 wedding to Andy Estevez was featured in the New York Times “Vows” column on October 22. Francois is an assistant principal at MESA Charter H.S. in Bushwick.

On October 12, chef Ann Kim ’95’s newest Minneapolis restaurant, Sooki & Mimi, was included on “The Restaurant List 2021,” the New York Times digest of 50 American eateries to be excited about this year. The Times calls Kim’s menu “genre-defying,” and writes: “Sooki & Mimi has brought sense of renewal to a neighborhood still scarred from the unrest following the killing of George Floyd.”

Krys Molina ’19, a senior associate in information and data science at Pfizer, was recognized on September 24 as an honoree of the NextGen Collective 30 Under 30 class. During Pfizer’s vaccine creation, Molina was chosen to help build the engine that powered the dashboards the executive leadership team used to make decisions throughout the pandemic.

Alana Sivin ’10 is running for New York State Senate in District 26, which includes Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn waterfront. She elaborates: “As a former public defender, I would be the only public defender in the New York State Senate and ran to bring real criminal legal reform to Albany.” The election is November 8, 2022.