October 2004

I am pleased to report that Wini Welch Fuster battled and won a fight against late stage Hodgkins Lymphoma.  She had great support from Dartmouth friends: Deirdre McDonald from NYC, Bonnie Austin, Liz Fanlo, Sarah Sherwood (moved back in USA from England this summer), Elisa Rush (who was a friendly face in the hospital where Wini received treatment), Ellen Stein, and her ski team buds. Wini is settled in Miami with her husband, Alexander, and three lovely boys. Maryly Culpepper wrote: “I am a housewife.  My husband, Daniel Culpepper, and my children, Madeleine (6) and Helen (2), are my first priority in my life.  I take my children to ballet and gymnastics lessons.  Madeleine plays tennis and loves it.  I drive them everywhere.  We are soon going to buy a mommy van--I am so excited, to be able to transport a lot of kids wherever I go. Daniel is the love of my life. He helps me raise these two kids every step of the way.  Our favorite activity together is sailing.  This is what life is about.  My career is secondary.” I loved this line from Kirk LeCompte: “We are still parenting without a license.” Jeffrey Jones Morrison just started his 17th year of teaching History and Art History at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, CT, where he also coaches varsity wrestling.  He and his wife, Katherine, have a daughter, Bryn (3), and a son, Soren (9 months).  They live in Westport and see quite a bit of Damon Itin as he and family of four recently moved there. Pamela Taylor is doing a variety of interesting things – all the while managing a household with a husband and four children. She has a bunch of articles/stories coming out in the next few months-- a personal essay on raising multicultural kids in Mothering Magazine; a vampire story in a Beyond the Mundane anthology; a sci-fi story in Citizen Culture magazine; poetry in Azizah magazine and Writing the Sacred, four pieces in the Islamic Writer's Alliance anthology; Many Voices, One Faith, an essay on teaching children spirituality from the Islamic point of view in a textbook called Religious Perspectives on Spirituality in Childhood and Adolescence. She is participating in MuslimWakeUp.com's Ramadan blog that began in October. Pamela is also setting courses for the Midwest Orienteering Championships, and working part-time as the Annual Fund Coordinator for the Islamic Society of North America. Joe Toscano is an ER and Urgent Care physician and has been living with his wife of 17 years (Laurie) and sons Andy (11) and Matt (8) in San Jose, CA for the past 10 years. He spent his 40th birthday in Key West with his family and classmate, Dan Kollmorgen, and his family (wife, Karen, and kids, Kellen and Anna). They had to evacuate Key West because of Hurricane Charley! Annelie Chapman completed her Ph.D. in Slavic linguistics at UCLA in 2001. She has been working at UCLA ever since as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Humanities division, consulting with and training faculty in ways to optimize their teaching using technology. Her daughter, Hanna, will be 2 on Christmas Day. L.J. Briggs and his wife, Maria, are overjoyed at the birth of their beautiful son, Zennon Nicholas Briggs, on July 23, 2004 in Jacksonville, Florida. “Z” is already planning a big party in February when the Patriots come to town to win another Super Bowl!  Melinda Lopez’s play, “Sonia Flew,” ran in Boston from October 8 – November 28, 2004. Produced by the Huntington Theatre, the play christened the new Calderwood Pavilion, Boston’s first new theatre in 75 years. The play is set in 1961 Cuba and post 9/11 America. In October, April Stempien-Otero reported that USGS Geologist Jake Lowenstern has been on the news a lot in the Pacific Northwest as the ubiquitous commentator explaining what’s going on beneath the surface of the Mount St.  Helens’ rumblings. 

 ¾ Davida Dinerman, 12 Kings Row, Ashland, Mass. 01721; 508-231-8813;

davida@dinerman.com