Class Note 1998
Hello, ’98s. During this challenging time, I am grateful for the Dartmouth community, especially friends with whom I am staying in touch. I am also thankful for being your secretary, which allows me to engage with even more of our amazing class. I asked you how life has changed since Covid-19 struck. Here is what I found out.
Elizabeth (Sumida) Huaman has been working almost nonstop at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She also wrote about the pandemic for the online blog Praxis Center. The blog produces essays for teaching and social justice activism. In her essay Elizabeth thoughtfully addresses the contradiction of the breath of life causing coronavirus death. Elizabeth keeps in touch with Natalie Garza and Belinda Chiu. I keep in touch with Belinda as well, and I recently listened to her on Zoom lead an alumni workshop, “Resilience: Navigating Uncertainty and Stress.” The workshop left me inspired and more relaxed. Also writing in was Kathryn (Balink) Fernandez, who has been substituting in special needs classrooms in Denver public schools.
Eric Paley emailed that he and his wife, Shirley (Sperling) Paley, are grateful for their health and for more time together as a family. For work, Eric is with his venture capital fund, Founder Collective. And Shirley is the general counsel of Formlabs, a 3-D printing company currently producing materials in response to Covid-related market shortages. Eric and Shirley also help their two children, 9 and 14, with remote learning and staying connected with friends. Having a roughly similar experience is Kara (Josephberg) Paldino, who is working from her Florida home as an attorney for NBCUniversal. She too helps her two children, second- and fourth-graders, with their daily Zoom classes. And Kara has enjoyed spending more quality time as a family instead of the rush of nonstop kids’ activities. Also juggling work and virtual school for two kids is David Rosman. He is a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital; his wife is a pediatric emergency doctor. David has volunteered to staff a Covid-19 unit. While he waits to be called, he is contemplating a summer in quarantine and how to keep his kids entertained. David feels lucky to have a job and to be able to help.
Jeff Wadlow wrote that in mid-March, experiencing flu-like symptoms, he tested negative for Covid-19. Professionally, however, Jeff was at the peak of his achievement as a writer and director of feature films. He had two movies in theaters. But when the economy shut down, the movies were prematurely consigned to at-home streaming. If it means saving lives, Jeff is happy to have people stay home and watch. He reports that the Hollywood consensus is that the theater business will return, so Jeff is homebound writing new projects. During this time he managed to sell a pilot for a new TV show over Zoom. Also via Zoom, Jeff has connected more frequently with his ’98 friends.
Meanwhile Kate Gold is fighting for the continued existence of three Vermont state colleges: Northern Vermont University (NVU) Lyndon (where Kate and her husband work), NVU Johnson, and Vermont Technical College in Randolph. Kate shared that the closure of these campuses at this time would be a travesty that would impact her entire region, which she says is one of the poorest in the country. She should know more when this goes to print in about two months. Best of luck, Kate.
And I guess we will all know more. I hope that these next couple months are better than the last two. Once again, drop me a line. I love hearing from you.
—Gabe Galletti, 4000 Utah Ave., Nashville, TN 37209; galletti@gmail.com
