opportunity to reset and remember that the truest source of joy is always within me, no matter what’s going on around me. I call it ‘joy anyhow.’ As we’re approaching our 40th Reunion, I hope you are all safe, well, cherished, enriched, engaged, and tapping into the joy within that will carry you through each day.” When asked directly one final time for their contributions to the Class Notes, Diana Lawson Goldman responded, “No thanks” while Lesli Greenberg wrote, “Lesli loves Andrew!” Although Seth Stier is still not a banker in Boston, he writes, “Looking forward to seeing everyone at the 40th. Still living in Newton, Massachusetts. My son graduated from college and is living in St. Louis, Missouri. My daughter is a senior and planning to go on to med school.” I look forward to connecting or reconnecting to all our classmates over the next few months as we prepare to have the greatest reunion ever! 40… just a number and unfortunately not our age! 1984 Kathleen Hager Tasonis Oogg66@yahoo.com Mike Prichard is developing a new medical device for Bodyport in San Francisco, California, that has just received FDA approval. He’ll be singing with the Boston Pops this holiday season and then appearing as Count Almaviva from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in December 2022 and Scarpia from Puccini’s Tosca in June 2023 with Opera51 in Concord, Massachusetts. If you have not connected with your classmates on Facebook yet, please like the “Hopkins Class of 1984” page at https://www. facebook.com/hopkins1984. 1985 Cristina Benedetto lucysmom1@optonline.net Hi all! Exciting news from Nick Phoenix , who wrote to share that he played 13 sold-out concerts in Europe this past summer with his band, Two Steps from Hell. He writes, “I used a Ukrainian orchestra, who managed to get out of the country before the war began. It was an incredible experience. Some of the
cities—like Brussels, Amsterdam, and Krakow—I had never visited before. I am also starting to get some success with my rock band, and the song ‘Wide World’ was number 42 on Billboard for a few weeks this past summer. There are videos and pictures on my website, www.nickphoenix. com.” Bethany Schowalter Appleby writes, “My former law partner and I have joined the Franchise Practice Group at DLA Piper, a large, global law firm. I am officially part of the Boston office, although I remain in Connecticut. It’s fun when I do go into the ‘real’ office though, as I love the excuse to spend time in Boston. Nick is also officially retiring after 20-plus years at Yale. He has been part of a voluntary ‘phased retirement’ program for the past two years, working four days a week for full pay (not a bad gig!). He will be doing consulting as well as freelance web work through his new consulting business, Puffin Circus, LLC. He also now has his FAA drone pilot’s license… Maybe we’ll get some good footage at our next reunion! We now have two children married, and our youngest and his wife just bought a house in Wallingford, Connecticut. We love that they are settling nearby. I think of all my Hopkins friends often, and look forward to seeing everyone soon.” And from Paul Schiffer : “My wife, Isabel, and I are doing well in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Our daughter, Amelia, is preparing to apply to art school in a big city. This summer, we all traveled to northern Portugal, where my wife’s family has a small farm. For the last 20-plus years, my work has centered on building map products used in commercial real estate transactions. It reminds me of a relief map of Greece I made for Charlie Wells’ 8th grade class in 1980–81, when we were all reading The Odyssey . Many thanks to Mr. Wells for the opportunity!” Always good to hear from you. Keep the notes coming. 1986 Jennifer Hulford Odell jhodell2@yahoo.com Hello and Happy Fall from Tucson, Arizona, where we are visiting my mom and family for Thanksgiving. Our son, Will, is settling into married life and he and his wife just got tickets to Japan for their honeymoon; Maisie is a senior and in the
ABOVE: Paul Haydu ’86 (left) and Dean Engle ’86.
throes of college applications; and Fia is now a freshman in high school. I had a fun Hopkins moment while at our girls’ National Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Blaine, Minnesota, this past summer. One of the team parents was Kristen Demir ’s childhood neighbor! It was fun to hear her reminisce about memories growing up next to the Demirs. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Beth Ann Semeraro, Hopkins Associate Director of Leadership Giving, during her visit to Portland, Oregon. We met at a classic Portland food cart pod, where we sat by a firepit and had a great chat about the school. Lastly, Mike McCleery reached out to the class to join him for a comedy club event, which sounded like fun. While gathering these notes, Alex Lewin started a class conversation about doing a Bay Area Turkey Trot 5K. He and I then expanded the idea to run, no matter where classmates were, and as a Hopkins fundraiser. Alex then offered this update: “Zombies. You heard me right. Brain-eating zombies. The Zombie Apocalypse has become a popular topic for movies and TV shows. Why is that? The Zombie Apocalypse represents the unthinkable—assumptions about our orderly society going out the window. I
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