TMS F’93

So, there I am, reading CQ and I see, “according to Sierra Club spokesman, David Willett…”  Is that our Dave Willett??

sorry been flaking on the update. i was away on cape cod. then the week before that i got engaged.
yup, that’s right. her name’s allison, she’s from los angeles. been dating for two years. we live together. we’re very excited, looking to get married in about a year.
still working as a producer. i’m interviewing wyclef jean tomorrow. not a career highlight but a good day. i’m still writing, nursing the dream.

I’ve just moved back to New York City. Which is pretty good fun, but since I was living in a log cabin in Vermont, it’s a bit of an adjustment. (My excellent dog Kathy thinks I’ve cracked, though we’ll get to spend some of the bird season in the big woods of Maine, so that’ll be fun.) I just finished grad school. It’s hard to explain, but this one was an MFA in acting from the Moscow Art Theater, though I spent much of my time at the American Repertory Theater. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that I’ll be thankful for for the rest of my life, but it was very challenging personally because I was living all over the place (including Russia) and my wife was in Vermont. (My wife’s name’s Holly - she rules.) Now we’re all together, which makes me happy.

I was in a great play called “No Man’s Land” this Spring, and I’m well set up in New York with agents and managers and the like, and I feel really good things happening. So, I’m sort of at the beginning again, but a much more advanced beginning with momentum and vibes and karma and stuff - a much more exciting beginning, plus I’m SO MUCH BETTER for the training. Anyway, career ho!

So, I’m well, and I’d love to see any and all in or around NYC.

Oh, plus, I’m running the Philadelphia Marathon in November, so if anyone wants to put in some miles, cool. I’m running medium-fast.

    the wanderlust in me has all but disappeared as new desires to settle down and grow a family have gotten stronger.  there have been no expeditions to europe or east asia, just a lot of meditating on what’s really important to me, especially as i leave my 20’s behind.  in terms of what i’ve been up to –   i’ve been in la for about 3 years now working at a  nonprofit that serves underprivileged children and their families.  i’m designing & selling jewelry at a boutique in the los feliz are and still writing short fiction on the side.   i’m getting married in december to my honey, gene. …  let’s see, what else – these days i’ve been thinking about my childhood dreams to be a mother and a novelist; i’m moving towards those visions.   sometimes there are big steps, sometimes baby ones.   i wish all of you luck as you move towards your dreams as well.. 

i’m in silver lake (close to downtown la) – if any of you find yourself out here, please email me at bethelee@hotmail.com.   i’d love to catch up in person.

please keep in touch~

beth

Thirty, wow.
No babies here, whew. Tho I do have a lovely girlfriend, and we’re packing for a trip to Yosemite next week.

Living in Malden outside Boston (no, it’s not quite the ‘burbs). Which reminds me, Sarah and her lovely dog and her boyfriend visited a while back, for a ‘conference’ they said.

We have lots of space and a huge state park with lots of trails for biking and running about a half mile away. Not that I use them.

I direct an environmental advocacy group called Environment Massachusetts. Sometimes our website shows a picture of me at a podium with some people behind me. One is our Attorney General, the other is the lawyer who argued the MA v. EPA case on global warming before the Supreme Court. I had nothing to do with it, except we work on global warming in MA and DC a lot, and our national office filed a brief in the case, so I got invited to the victory press conference. Pretty cool. So now George’s EPA is developing plans to solve global warming, which is terrifying. In short I spend more time than I ought to admit lobbying legislators, writing bills, raising money, and that kind of thing.

Glad to hear there’s a growing Boston-area contingent, look forward to getting together.

Hi guys! I have just returned from Burning Man. Holy shitcakes. The theme this year was “greening the man” (apparently one giant propane explosion at a time). Picture setting up a tent camp in 60 mile an hour dust storms, while wearing a tutu on your head, listening to pounding techno music, all while trying to avoid staring at the balls of the 70 year old man carrying a gong and wearing a hello kitty t-shirt and no pants who just brought you a hemp necklace that he made for you himself. Of course, then there are the amazing art installations and incredibly funny, gut busting moments…truly one of the weirdest and most memorable experiences I have ever had. Not for the faint of heart. Or for anyone who likes to sleep.

In other news, the short film called MOTHER that I made last year, that many of you donated to (THANK YOU!) has now played at over 25 festivals world wide, continues to travel (playing in Spain twice this month) and has been picked up for foreign distribution. The accolades the film has received now seem to have facilitated a career for me as a writer/director. Amazing. I have finally quit bartending forever. Hallelujah. If any of you want an apple martini, I am sorry to say, you will have to make it yourself.

I am in the process of casting my first feature, called “Tallulah”, and just signed a deal with a network to create my own television series. All in all, it’s been a pretty kick ass year.

I am living with my lovely boyfriend David Newsom, who proposed on my thirtieth birthday and now we are considering running off to Mexico to get married. No babies yet. Gotta make a movie first. I am so happy to read everyones news. I am so proud of you guys. You are all doing really inspiring things. I have been feeling very nostalgic for the Mountain School lately. Interesting. You would think that feeling would stop after a while.

Lots of love to you all.
Sian

Hello, all. I’m writing from Madison, where the torrential rains have led to a plague of mosquitoes–serious swarms of them. Luckily our home has an infestation of spiders, so things seem to be balancing out.  Ella has arrived! She was very timely, arriving a week after the spring semester ended, so that I had plenty of time to pack the hospital suitcase and relax after a semester that wound up being pretty hectic.  It is pretty spectacular, this parenthood thing, and Ella and I enjoyed our first music class together this morning.  The summer went quickly–watching ‘baby tv’ all day (aka sitting and staring at the baby for hours at a time) along with helping her learn to maneuver this brand new world seemed to suck the hours away, and now I’m heading back to school/work, which is hard to believe.  School starts this week with a bang–I’m ready to begin my dissertation proposal, while continuing various research projects.  It is difficult to concentrate, as you can imagine, but I’m hoping to make some progress this semester and be that much closer to finishing and getting back to the world of schools.  I’m in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and I’ll be graduating with a phd in ‘Education Leadership and Policy Analysis’, which is a fancy way of saying education administration. I’m learning all about how to run schools, starting my principal practicum this year in a Madison elementary school.  My dissertation will look at the role of school leaders in adapting to demographic change. I’ll focus on schools here in Wisconsin which have undergone drastic changes in the last several years with the immigration to this state of many recent immigrants, particularly Spanish speakers.  I’ll look at how leaders facilitate faculty learning and curricular reform to support a new group of students.  Should be fun.  That and everyday living in Madison, which has an incredible commitment to local agriculture, evidenced in the ginormous farmers market that we have each Saturday ringing the capitol building.  So, let me know if you are in Madison anytime soon. You can check out pictures of Ella at: picasaweb.google.com/babymesh.

Best, Becca

My lovely Fall 1993′ers.

After spending two years working at the Mountain School as their first Graduate Resident, hired as a graduate of color to recruit more students of color, I’m back in Hollis, Queens. I’m proud of the work I did there; this fall, there are 15 students of color!! I think it’s a record that will hopefully become a trend.

Here in NYC, I’ve set up my own practice as a holistic health counselor. I assist my clients with their diet & lifestyle choices in a program designed to totally empower them! I’ve recently begun working with an herbalist and soon will know how to make my own medicine.

In other news: check out my myspace page! www.myspace.com/red_pants . In my pics, you’ll get a sense of the photographs I take… and of how much I adore PhotoBooth on macs. oh yeah: check out my website as well! www.WhatIsRadiantLiving.org

woohoo!

rossana

I’ve spent the last year in New York City working as a freelance newspaper, magazine, radio, and TV journalist. I also helped edit a book about Iraq war reporting. As fun as the freelance life has been, I’m about to settle into a full-time (for four months) internship at This American Life, working on both the radio and TV show. I’m really excited, so excited in fact that I’ve already had my first “Ira Glass doesn’t think I’m smart enough” anxiety dream. Other than that, I’m loving the city, not getting out of it nearly enough, dating a TMSer that I met in graduate school, and looking forward to canoeing on the Gowanus with Sloaté.

hey everyone.  as fall approaches, i find myself still in nyc and still on the film editing track. i’d been contemplating an la move and a career change, but it looks like i’ll be staying east for at least the next 6 months. i’m working on a project called pretty bird which should be in theaters sometime next spring…it’s a comedy, and that’s been a welcome change.  laughing at work has made all the difference.  so have escapes to green…spent some time upstate this summer and those days in the trees really helped balance the ny weeks. maggie p. and her husband matt came up sunday and it was great to spend some un-city time with them. will try to post pictures later this week -