believe that we have started to sense the fragility of our globalized late industrial revolution infrastructure. The pandemic drove it home for many of us—our food supply chain was fraying around the edges in obvious ways. Infrastructure collapse has been a reality in many parts of the world at many moments, whether due to wars, or due to natural disaster and/or poor planning: most recently Ukraine, but also close to home in Texas, Puerto Rico, and New Orleans, not to mention many other places around the world. To prepare for the zombies, one thing we can do is learn to prepare and preserve our own food without relying on the electric grid. Fermentation provides a great mechanism for this. I did not intend this update as a shameless plug for the second edition of my first book, Real Food Fermentation , but fermentation is a key zombie-era survival skill. This updated edition contains new recipes for sourdough and natto. (I also recommend keeping a few machetes around the house.)” Nushin Ghofrany Sayfie , Mark Volpe , and Andy Chepaitis all responded with appreciation of his humor. Dean Engle replied to Alex with, “In news, Jen (my wife), Paul Haydu , and I met up on Halloween trick or treating (see attached photo). Unfortunately, Alex’s prediction is prophetic. We have documented sightings of an estimated 100 zombies on Oct. 31, and one house on our block has already fallen to the invasion. Alex, please bring natto and a spare machete to the run.” Sharon Silverman Shepard writes, “I have been enjoying my job at Butler Hospital, working as a child and adolescent psychiatrist. My patients have been having a hard time with the pandemic and its after-effects, so work has been very busy. I can’t believe I have been at Butler for 20 years… how time flies! My son, Ben, will be 14 on January 1. He enjoys playing tuba and baritone horn, and participating in Scouts. He looks forward to the Scout Jamboree this summer in West Virginia. My husband has been busy as scoutmaster, making sure Ben and his friends have a great experience. Hope everyone is doing well!” Julie Polka Zellner writes, “Our 35+2 reunion was a great way to spend a weekend in June 2022. I am always excited to see my classmates from high school and catch up on their lives. The weekend started at Rocco DeMaio ’s house
on Friday with good food, good times, and maybe some good drinks. Saturday night under the big tent was also a blast. We only have three more years until our 40th and would love to see everyone come out. The Class of ’86 does not disappoint. I am living in Wallingford, Connecticut, with one high school junior girl and my husband. My boys, RJ and Joey, are respectively at Alfred University (senior) and Loyola University- Maryland (sophomore). They both swim for their college programs, which provides a level of pride at how dedicated they are in both athletics and schoolwork. I am now working in Middletown Public Schools as a Speech-Language Pathologist at Beman Middle School. Not that I am counting or anything, but five years until I retire. I hope you are all healthy and happy. Looking forward to seeing my classmates soon.”
ABOVE: Dan Tamarkin, Class of ’87.
1987 Megan W. Holbrook meganwh@gmail.com
1988 35th Reunion, June 2–3, 2023 Jordan Schwartz jordan@hive-mind.com
Dan Tamarkin is having a ball in Chicago, Illinois, the Paris of the Midwest, and still championing New Haven as the world’s best pizza. Martin Asis writes, “Betty and I are enjoying a bit more freedom now that our youngest is off to college.” Dan Appelquist was interviewed by Jordan Mangi (intern at Marketplace, senior at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, and daughter of Rick Mangi ) for her article about the rise of Mastodon: bit.ly/mangi-mastodon. Dan also reports that he recently joined cyber-security company Snyk as their Open Source and Open Standards Strategy Director. Rick Mangi reports his middle daughter, Quincy, is enjoying her freshman year at Carnegie Mellon studying civil engineering. His youngest, Tula, 11, is a student at the School of American Ballet and is dancing in The Nutcracker this year at Lincoln Center. She has 25 shows and mom and dad are both excited and exhausted.
Apparently, some classes (cough) have been overly verbose in their notes, so the class secretaries have been asked to stay under 500 words. I just wasted 23 words telling you that. Oops, eight more. Anyway, to conserve space, the Class of ’88 is submitting updates in “telegram style.” Andrew Shure : “Wife Debbie and I send greetings from Brookline STOP son Ben studying at Tulane in Madrid, daughter Ali sophomore at Rivers School STOP Commercial real estate lawyer at Seyfarth Shaw Boston’s Seaport District STOP Bump into Laurie Sachs and Nil Shah and Rachel Cohen Goldstein STOP If in Boston please contact.” Adam Ruben : “Children: aging STOP Work: world-changing STOP Back: aching STOP Marriage: unraveled STOP World: well-traveled STOP With my partner: unified STOP My Hopkins-era storytelling: Mortified.” Amy Baer : “Wrote #Xmas which premiered during Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas 2022 STOP Also streaming on Peacock.” Lars Merk : “22-year-old daughter Mallory growing musical career (ask me about my
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2023 • ISSUE 1 | VIEWS FROM THE HILL
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