Jen Anderson (Usher): Like everyone, I have been riding the corona-coaster with a strengthened orientation towards gratitude and family. In June 2020, I was laid off from a large PR firm. Since July, I have been consulting at Microsoft in their Cloud Marketing team. Since September, helping my 8th grader (and her teachers) pick up the nuances of remote learning. I see my Seattle family often - my twin sister (Katie Usher Snyder) and my Mom (Jo Usher P'94) to stay sane, process the state of the world and to do our work on racial justice. #blacklivesmatter
Julian Boxenbaum: We are still in Montclair NJ and thankful to be in a house instead of our Brooklyn apartment - we still love you BK! Our twins are now a bit over three years old and it seems they've chosen their life paths already: One is going to be a ballerina and the other a "thief" (self-professed). My father had Covid back in March and survived, after 10 days in the hospital. Like most sane people, we've not seen too many friends, but I do speak with Rosanna Jones, Temple Stites, Nick Tyner, and Jeremy Willius with some frequency. Everyone seems to share similar concerns about the state of the nation.
Josh Danson: Hunkered down and surviving a pestilential 2020 here in San Francisco. Working on a young adult novel and publishing musician interviews on a popular local music blog. Spent a week in Oregon this summer with Nick and Joie Einstein and our respective families, which provided some much-needed (physically-distanced) good times, laughter and outdoor fun in the face of fire, smoke and plague.
Martina Faulkner: In addition to launching my new publishing and multi-media company earlier this year, I just published my first children's book titled When the World Went Quiet. It was written for the kids to have something positive and hopeful to focus on during the pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Based on true stories from around the world, it highlights the various animals and wildlife that found more freedom to explore, play, and roam while we stayed home. As we went through the process of creating the book, we also realized that it is a book about conservation. As such, we are donating a portion of the proceeds to global conservation efforts. Hopefully, we can find more balance and realize that we are too apart from nature, but a part of nature.
James Feuer: Hope everyone is safe and healthy. Appreciating family and old friendships. Got my Acting MFA in LA in May. Created a new website: www.jamesfeuer.com. Drove back to NY in August, stopping at Kenyon. Security guard let me walk on the Hill and Bolton stage. Looking for an agent or a teaching gig in LA or NY.
Kathy Foley: Last year I bought a horse farm in Adams, Massachusetts! We named it Aisling Mountain Farm, LLC - look is up on Facebook!
I continue to run my private psychotherapy practice (though mainly telehealth these days) and have added equine-assisted psychotherapy to my repertoire. My 16 year old daughter loves riding and participating in farm clinics, etc. My 19 year old son prefers the barn cats and is working at a local Youth Center while taking a semester off from college in light of the global pandemic.
I love this beautiful place and feel everything coming together personally and professionally.
Colleen (Hopkins) Grazioso: 2020 will be the first year since 1999 that I have not gotten together with Stephenie Liu, Missy McClaran, Steve Rice '93, Cristin Bishara & Scott Hignett '93. But thankfully, we have discovered Zoom (see photo below) and have been getting together with our spouses "virtually", nearly every Saturday night since March! For Cristin's birthday in August - we even secretly hired Justin Roberts '92 to zoom bomb our call and surprise Cristin with a custom birthday song and serenade of Tupelo Honey. It was a pandemic highlight for sure. Hoping you are all well!
Alison Grippo: Wear a Mask.
Sheila Ortona (Pierce): We are heading into our fifth year of life in San Francisco, and it has been quite a challenging fall for California from Covid to the wildfires. I'm working on assembling a book of essays about my journeys traveling the world with my family in the Italian Foreign Service, and a highlight of it has been living in San Francisco! Claire Laverge Petitt and I love our walks together with our dogs on Ocean Beach (and my dog comes from Mount Vernon!). And, I'm hoping I might get a visit from Marcie Hall, Darnell Heywood, and Aline Thompson this fall! In July 2021, we will move back to our home base in Rome, Italy, and look forward to visitors! Please follow my blog at www.sheilapierce.com. No matter where I end up, I often say (and always believe!) that all roads lead to Ohio!
Katy Regnery (Gilliam): Having written and published over 45 fiction novels, Katy is now trying her hand at screenwriting. So far, so good. She recently placed first in her category and second overall in the Script Summit 3 competition.
Alexandra Rowley: I'm sad to have missed the celebration of 50 years of women at Kenyon, though very honored to have my work included in the art exhibition and catalogue. Still living in my hometown of NYC, and happy that I get to see my dear friend Elliott Maltby '92 on occasion.
Throughout COVID, my work as an artist and photographer has continued to anchor me and reminds me daily that simple gifts abound, kindness is everywhere. There was even a moment in April, May and June when NYC felt like Gambier. People would smile and acknowledge each other, create space, come together, show up for each other, march together. Central Park felt like Middle Path.
I was pleased that the two cookbooks I shot for WW in January and February (Done In One, which published in May and Flavor Pop, which hit in July 2020) came in handy while in quarantine. And amazed that a live in-person exhibition that included my artwork called The Altered Image, opened at my gallery, Dina Mitrani Gallery, in Miami, running Oct 1-30, 2020.
Scott Sherman: I've managed to dodge the coronavirus thus far working in the Emergency Department at Cook County Hospital. Kids are online learning and we are generally holding it together. Looking forward to a life without a mask, a meal with family/friends at a nice restaurant, and the ability to travel freely again. Sign me up for a vaccine ;)
Katie Usher: As our oldest daughter applies to colleges, nostalgia for Kenyon surfaces in the way that the circle of life plays out. Alfred Snyder and I are making the best of teaching on a distant learning platform in our Seattle Public Schools (high school and elementary respectively). We are grateful for our home of 20 years and on good days, we find the silver linings amidst our increased time spent with our daughters, Ellie (12th grade) and Turner (10th grade) We cherish our social distancing hang outs with my mom, Jo (P’94), and my sister, Jen (Usher) Anderson and her family. With increased protests and the election, we engage in many conversations about our privilege, our whiteness and the actions we must take to decolonize our minds and fight for social justice. #blacklivesmatter
Thea Vaughan: After 20 years in NYC, Thea sold her businesses and moved west to Bend, Oregon. She and her husband wanted to be closer to family and raise their 3 girls with their cousins. Thea continues her work in business and art by consulting with small businesses that want to grow further and also by helping individual artist companies with curation of work, pitches for new business and establishing better business practices. Still an avid runner, Thea is loving the new landscape of Oregon.
Patricia Vriesendorp: I started this year with a new specialized 4 year training in body psychotherapy in German. My sons are now 11 and 14 exploring the next steps in their life. My husband changed jobs to the energy sector. So we had lots of exciting changes in process. Many aspects of our lives were put on hold with the Virus. Schools shut down quickly, schooling on line or via work packets, meeting size limitations (5 people) in public and private settings, business except groceries, pharmacies and doctor offices all closed. It was helpful to have pre-teens who can be more independent, have my husband home with the kids and have neighbors and friends who could support us during the quarantine. It‘s been fascinating to experience Corona here in Switzerland - the quick and simple responses, the level of openness in how the government speaks to the public acknowledging what they know and don’t know, and also the general respect for the rules without feeling threatened by individual creative solutions is refreshing. Some business, organizations, Kanton were stricter and made their own decisions, yet followed national guidelines. We‘ve had crises and opportunities at Personal and Community levels and have learned to tease apart what is really important. Hopefully some of it will stick! The last round of voting here brought big changes from 17 to now 32 women in local government (Women are now 1/2 which is only the case in one other Kanton!), a green majority government, approval of extended father leave, among other steps. May the US also use its vote to improve the representation of minority voices and the environment.
Ravi Wijeyeratne: My dream of retiring before 50 came true, not by choice but by insane pressure of mergers and take overs in the financial sector, that made me exit the company I was a CEO since 2007. Thankfully in December 2019, before Covid-19 issues surfaced, so it was relatively a better time to sell out! So other than focusing on my Golf swing and looking out for better scuba destinations, not much to do! I continue to serve as the honorary Consul for France in my region, but with hardly any tourists and few French nationals married to locals, a very limited role. So a great time to reconnect with Kenyonites if and when they visit this region.
Keely Wilczek (Price): In the fall of 2018 I was promoted to Manager of User Services & Engagement at the Harvard Kennedy School Library. Since March I have been learning how to do a job virtually that was very much in-person (including answering student questions about research and citation while crossing the street in Harvard Square). I look forward to seeing the new Chalmers Library once it's complete though I will miss the old building where I started my library career.
