Class Note 1998
I heard over the summer from Mark Zanatta, who reports that he and his wife, Robyn, got married in May 2008 in Canada. A lot of alums attended, including Stu Davidson, George Pasvankas, Justin and Christine Carrino, Chad Woodman, Matt Tarver-Wahlquist, Nevin Patton ’97, Bill Tovell ’96, Eric Schwartz ’96, Carrington Bradley ’96, Kelley Kohout ’00 and Frank Thorn ’00. Mark and Robin then moved to London, where they welcomed a daughter Olivia Rose Zanatta on January 21. Congratulations, you guys!
I also heard from Mariam Alsikafi, who writes, “I am still in Chicago with not as many ’98s as I would like. Erica (Ryu) Wong is here with me and I love that our sons are great friends. Zuhair is almost 4 and Kiyan is turning 2 this fall, which has given me plenty of breathing room and I’m now in the process of launching a higher education consulting firm (Higher Education Advisors LLC) as well as blogging as often as I can (www.ivymama.com). Given the steady stream of ’98 babies I know there are plenty of you with thoughts and insights that I’d love to hear, so definitely reach out!” The site looks awesome and interesting—you guys should check it out!
Heading to the West Coast, Tim Bruckner checked in: “After living in San Francisco for 10 years Melissa [Lodoen], 7-month-old daughter Arianne and I will move to Orange County, where Melissa and I will start assistant professorships at UC Irvine. Melissa landed a position in molecular biology and biochemistry, while I will join the faculty in public health and urban planning. When not conducting experiments or singing lullabies to our daughter, Melissa plans to moonlight on The Real Wives of the OC. I am excited to start Arianne’s volleyball training early at Laguna or Manhattan beach. We look forward to reconnecting with SoCal alums.” Tim also reported that fellow ’98 Mathieu Pung lives in Amsterdam, where he is working in graphic design!
Lani Sipe Curtis and her family have just made a similar move from San Francisco to SoCal. Lani says they “relocated back to my hometown of Del Mar at the beginning of June. I’m going to try my hand at being a stay-at-home mom for a while. I’m three weeks in and so far so good. My son Cole is now 3 (4 in September) and James is 2. We are very excited to have our boys grow up around their extended family.” Congrats on the move, Lani!
And, finally, news from some East Coasters. Lea DeFrancisci reports that she is a child psychiatrist working out in the Hamptons. Lea is married and sometimes makes appearances on the news as a healthcare correspondent for mental health issues. She’s our Sanjay Gupta.
And Danielle Guthrie Johnson wrote in that a crew recently got together in New York City to see Kara Paldino and her husband, Chris, who were in town from Miami. Susanna McFadden attended as well as Jen and Jared Abbey, who brought their kids Ryan and Sage. Kirby and Mark Grabowski brought their son Linus and Ali Jacoby Abrahms and her husband, Aaron, brought their youngest daughter Lulu! Danielle also sees Dune Thorne and Neville McCaghren and their two kids Anne and Lachlan quite a bit. And, finally, Danielle reports that Jesse Sweet just kicked off his latest documentary project with a fundraising event in N.Y.C. to raise awareness of borderline personality disorder. Danielle attended the event, as did Jesse’s wife, Julia Morrill, Jen Abbey and Susanna McFadden. Thanks for the news, Danielle!
Have a good fall, everyone!
—Jo Weingarten Golub, 93 Arlington Ave., Kensington, CA 94707; jgolub@kvn.com
