Class Note 1993
The typeface looks the same. The number to the left is correct: you are reading the ’93 column. It’s all familiar, and yet something seems…unusual. And yet somehow familiar?
As it happens, this is not your regularly scheduled class secretary here. She is, of course, dancing the samba with her fellow futbol aficionados in Brazil at the World Cup! Actually, that’s not entirely true. Or even remotely true. Beth Krakower is currently recuperating from wrist surgery and thought it best to take a short break from the keyboard. This time, it’s back to an old voice as I, Jeff Middents, make a guest re-appearance with this month’s happenings!
I have been as delinquent as everyone else in getting information in, so I will start with my own update: I still live just outside of Washington, D.C., teaching literature and film at American University and writing about transnational cinema both in and out of Latin America. I see quite a bit of Angela Dadak ’92 (which might be because we’re married, heh), but also spend some time with another Dartmouth grad since, as it happens, my son Xan became best friends in kindergarten with the son of Brian Slocum ’92. Now about to start fourth grade, the kids have stayed friends—and Brian and I now trade off carpooling kids to soccer practice.
It turns out that our stalwart secretary isn’t the only person in recovery at the moment. Marianne Ruhl Nikas wrote from Malvern, Pennsylvania, that she is currently recuperating from shoulder surgery for a torn rotator cuff in her left arm. She writes: “Despite being in a sling almost 24/7 for six weeks, I’m hoping to travel to both Cape Cod and Bermuda with my family later this season. My husband, Alexander Nikas ’95, helps to ferry our children Cole (13) and Sophia (9) to various music lessons, camps and sports. I’m working part-time with Colonial Family Practice-Gateway Medical Associates in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and Alex is working fulltime as an attorney for Teva Pharmaceuticals in Frazer, Pennsylvania. As he likes to say, ‘I’m the guy who writes the warnings at the end of all the drug advertisements!’ ” Recover quickly, Marianne!
Anna Jaeger wrote in from San Francisco, where she lives with her partner Lynne and their two kids, Colby (6) and Jordan (3). She is the chief technical officer for the nonprofit, Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup Global. She is building apps for the social good. Check out these two in particular: SafeNight, an app to help survivors of domestic violence and trafficking find emergency shelter, and Range, an app to locate free summer meals for youth.
As for the far-flung among us, J. Christopher Bell is currently traveling around Bali and other islands in Indonesia for a month, meeting Balinese locals and fellow travelers from around the world. When not traveling, he does consulting for application programming interface technical communication and programming through his company JX Consulting Inc. in San Francisco. For fun, JX makes music with friends and practices photography. (You can see some of his work, both portraiture and abstracts, at jxphotography.com.) Feel free to drop him a note at jx@doitall.com to say hello!
Beth will be back with the next column, ready with her sharp wit and all the ’93 news that’s fit to print. Reach out to her—and the rest of us—via Facebook, Twitter (@dartmouth93), email or even pen-and-paper to the address below. In fact, since it’s summertime and folks are a-traveling, send a postcard from wherever you’re at and really relive the days of yore.
—Beth Krakower, c/o CineMedia Promotions, 11500 Olympic Blvd., Suite 400, Los Angeles, CA 90064; dartmouth93@gmail.com
