April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

Classmates Kam Shahid ’04 (right) and Charlie Davidson took a photo
with Shahid’s son and Davidson’s godson, Kam Jr., before running the
Manchester Marathon in New Hampshire in November.
and Heather had an unbelievably
awesome time co-teaching
their first group of students
alongside ’04’s Claire Samuel and
Tim Patterson and scheming with
Mike Henry, Maggie McDonald,
Adam Grogg, Dani Lerro ’05,
Brian Burke ’02, Emily Simons,
Elliot Morrison, Sarah Godbehere,
Emily Issacson, Shilpa Duvoor,
Elaine Denny and various others
around the country.
Ally Matteodo has been
enjoying her time back on the
East Coast. She attended the
Williams/Amherst homecoming
game telecast at J.A. Stats
in the Financial District of
Boston and caught up with Emily
Bloomenthal ’05 and Amanda
Stout. Ally also attended the
annual Williams holiday party
at the Black Rose in Boston,
where she caught up with Mark
Orlowski and enjoyed the music
of Darlingside. Since returning
to Boston Ally has several projects
in the works. She currently
stars in the horror series Camp
Halloway as bad girl Torrie and
in the Rhode Island web series
Red Circles as ADA Alexandria
Jacobson. However, Ally is
most excited about garnering
a spot in Fireball Improv, an
improv troupe headed by Daniel
Phoenix that will begin performing
in the Boston area some time
in the early spring.
Charlie Davidson writes: “This
fall, Dave Rackovan hung out for
a few days as he came through
NYC on his way to grad school
in Bologna. The occasional
email and Skype conversation
lets me know he’s surviving in
Italy. I was out in LA for an
art fair at the end of September
and got to catch up with Scott
Goldberg ’02 and Michele Kovacs
’01 as well as my old Willy D
entrymate and former Slippery B
co-denizen Brendan Docherty. I
can’t remember if Doc and I had
burgers this time around, but
it seems like something we do
every time we get together.
“In November, Kam Shahid
and I ran the Manchester (N.H.,
not U.K.) Marathon. We got to
stop by Wellesley on the way
home to see Danny Follansbee,
Rob Follansbee’s brand-new
baby boy. He was about the size
of a football, but judging by his
parents, I imagine he’ll be taller
than most of us in a week or
two. After Thanksgiving I was
down in Miami for Art Basel
again and saw Walker Waugh
’02, who was also working at
the Pulse fair. We ran into each
other again in December at an
awesome Wassaic Project event
in Brooklyn put together by, of
course, Eve Biddle and Bowie
Zunino and attended by Ephs
including Eve’s husband Josh
Frankel ’02 and Lucy Teitler ’05.
I also got to check out Matt
Watson’s most recent work at
the Columbia MFA open studios
and met up with Matt and
Omri Bloch at a Nuru Project
fundraiser. My classmates are
amazing in their ability to make
me feel like I don’t do enough
with my time.
“That said, Jabe Bergeron,
Rob and my brother Will
Davidson ’02 were all once
again a part of the this year’s
annual installment of the Bar
Game Olympiad—an event that
I organize (take that, Eve and
Bowie)—and which saw record
n 2003–04
attendance this year. Bee and
I got paired up again, but the
teams are picked at random, so
don’t listen to what anyone says
about conspiracies. Anyway, we
claimed the silver this time after
strong finishes at the Boot Race
(won by Jabe’s dad), Big Buck
Hunter and Darts. Matt Rade
was missed, but we’ll be seeing
him for Pro Bull Riding at MSG
this year (only a few days away,
as of the writing of this email),
and I’m sure I’ll be ready to see
him back to Buffalo by the time
the weekend is over. Jabe also
filled in as a ringer on my ice
hockey team for one game. We
lost, but it wasn’t his fault.”
Kate (Neal) Fellens moved
away from London this year,
though she hopes to return in
the future. She has relocated,
with her husband and their
daughter Mathilde to Nairobi,
Kenya. It’s a wonderful adventure.
She would love to meet
up with any other Ephs living
out there!
Melanie Beeck had a really
nice time with Amy Dieckmann
’05, and Elizabeth Van Heuvelen
’05 who visited her in Australia
from the U.S. They toured the
city and at night went to watch
Christmas carols at the park
near Melanie’s house. Melanie
writes, “They were expecting
a small group and some candle
lights. It was great to see the
look on their faces when they
saw the thousands of people
and huge stage set up for a
great night!” Melanie finished
her second year teaching 5th
grade in Melbourne and as
of writing in was about to fly
home to Brazil to get married.
2011 has been very kind
to Alex Grashkina’s creative
spirits, making her think more
than ever about abandoning
tax law as a career field and
doing theater and writing
instead. She directed a Chekhov
comedy that premiered in
Boston and received invitations
for performing in New York.
Kamen Kozarev ’05 played a shy
bachelor in the comedy. She is
worried that Kamen will soon
finish his PhD and move away
from Boston leaving her with
no one to boss around on stage.
Alex also did a poetry reading
of her book Migrant Words
at the Manhattan Movement
& Arts Center and traveled in
Asia with her husband around
Thanksgiving. In Hong Kong,
she ran into Robin Hwang
’04 and had dinner with Asti
Khachatryan, who was an
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