AndoverMagSpring2015

www.andover.edu/intouchFor the past 16 years, Ai-Jen Poo has beenorganizing housekeepers, nannies, and homehealth aides to expand workplace protections forthe estimated 1 to 2 million domestic workerswho are excluded from most federal and statelabor laws. These workers, who care for the mostvulnerable in our society, are themselves amongthe most vulnerable members of our labor force,lacking the most basic protections the rest of ustake for granted. Ai-Jen and others supportingthe cause scored a major victory in 2010, whenNew York enacted the Domestic Workers’ Billof Rights, which entitles domestic workers toovertime pay, one day of rest per week, protectionfrom discrimination, and three days paid leave peryear. Other states have passed or are consideringsimilar legislation, and caregivers for theelderly and disabled are now included in federalminimum wage and overtime protections. As ourpopulation ages, the ranks of domestic workerswill only grow, and Ai-Jen’s work will become evenmore important. For her vision, the MacArthurFoundation recognized Ai-Jen with a MacArthurFellowship in 2014, commonly known as theMacArthur “genius” grant, which will provide herwith a five-year, $625,000 stipend, paid out inequal installments. To learn more about Ai-Jen’swork, see the website of the organization she leads,the National Domestic Workers Alliance, at www.domesticworkers.org.1993Susannah Smoot Campbell301-257-9728Susannah.s.campbell@gmail.comJen Charat619-857-6525jcharat@yahoo.comTed Gesing917-282-4210tedgesing@gmail.comHilary Koob-Sassen+44 7973775369hksassen@hotmail.comClass, it is the new year, and so I am reflective.Today has been a day of milestones. I placed myyoungest, Henry Arthur Campbell (4 months),into daycare this morning. And opened a bankaccount for my 5-year-old, George, much to hisdelight (and request for “hundreds of coins andbucks”). In two weeks, I turn 40, but in my head,I recently graduated from college. (This couldexplain my laissez-faire parenting style.) If youhad told me 20 years ago that I’d be working withstartups in Atlanta, I would have asked Williswhat he was talking about, and I never thought I’dmarry a scientist, though he is the yin to my yang.But then, life is full of surprises. To each of you,happy early/belated 40th birthday. May the next40 years bring you a bevy of pleasant surprises andnew adventures.Continuing the milestone theme, fellowclass secretary Ted Gesing reported thatElizabeth Miller and her husband, Zack,welcomed their daughter, Nicole, into the worldthis past July. She’s a bundle of joy, and theycouldn’t be happier. Also in the baby realm, Icaught up with T.K. Baltimore ’92 while on myown maternity leave. T.K. welcomed a daughter,Tesla Kay, this past fall.Mark Jaklovsky wrote to share the expansion ofhis coffee empire. Café Jose is going into its secondsupermarket chain shortly, having been approvedfor three Hannaford stores. The coffee is alsoavailable at Market Basket.Amy Carr wrote from Doha, Qatar, whereshe was designing lights for the FIA (FédérationInternationale de l’Automobile) annual awardsgala. She said, “We are broadcasting live worldwidefor the first time this year, and the royal family willbe attending. ... After this, I’m taking holiday fora month in SE Asia, specifically Thailand, Laos,Cambodia, and Vietnam.” You may recall that shejust finished seeing all 50 U.S. states this past fall.Amy resides in Nashville, Tenn., when not feedingher travel bug.Dan O’Keefe may have issued the mostawesome PA ’93 Facebook post of 2014 with thefollowing note from December: “I love everyinvestment we make, and I don’t use Facebookfor lengthy descriptions of our investments, buttoday is a particularly special day. I’ve knownSteven Kokinos since we were 14 years old andhave watched him found three very successfulcompanies. In college, when most of us werewondering where we’d find our next party (OK,maybe that was just me), Steve and another friend,Stephen Bronstein, founded an early Web hostingfirm called WebYes, which they successfully soldto Breakaway Solutions. Next, Steve helped foundBladeLogic, which went public and then was lateracquired for $800 million. Now Steve and Steveare back together again at ThinkingPhones, theleader in bringing unified communications to themobile-centric enterprise, and today [my fund]led a $56.7 million investment into the company.... Our cofounder, Rick Kimball ’74, co-led thedeal. Cannot tell you how pumped I am to finallybe formally partnered with this team. Go, Blue!”Congratulations to Dan, Steve, Steve, and Rick ontheir venture together.Nan Vermylen Thornton wrote fellowsecretary Jen Charat to share news of her newgig. After 12 years working as a lawyer, mostrecently spending eight years in-house at PearsonEducation, Nan has returned to her roots intrade publishing. She is excited to bring her loveof books and book people together with morethan a decade’s experience in copyright law tothe Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Agency, basedin their New York office. In her new position as aliterary agent, Nan will counsel authors (publishedand aspiring), negotiate book deals and licensingopportunities, and look for new talent. Nan isparticularly interested in narrative nonfiction,biography, memoir, general nonfiction in thesubjects of history and popular science, and literaryfiction. As the mother of boys “whose to-read pilesrival those of their parents,” she also is interestedin children’s literature, especially adventure stories,nonfiction for middle-grade readers, picturebooks, and young adult titles. Folks can find her atnthornton@zshliterary.com.Jeremy Robins is looking to connect withother PA alums who work in the film, youth media,or prison reform fields. He runs a project thatprovides training in filmmaking and advocacy skillsto youth with incarcerated parents and works tocreate films about the impact of incarceration onchildren. Check out his partnership Sesame StreetPresents: Echoes of Incarceration on YouTube. Asof press time, Jeremy’s Echoes of IncarcerationKickstarter campaign was about $500 shy of its$45,000 goal, so let’s hope our congratulationsaren’t premature.I checked out Will Darling’s art recently.He has expanded into abstract art. Follow himon Facebook at www.facebook.com/williamdarlingartist.Finally, I had the pleasure of seeing Jen Charatin San Diego this past December when out therefor a wedding. Like Jen herself, her home is warmand inviting. Picture a gigantic twinkling Christmastree, a raspberry-colored kitchen, books and boys’toys lying about, and a wagging puppy dog. She andher husband now both work from home as editorsand are raising three extraordinarily well-spokenand well-behaved boys. Jen is very involved withtheir local school, serving on the PTA and schoolboards. The youngest, Sebastian, favors Jen—theyshare a similar smile. It was a delight to reconnect.Share news of your own reconnections and 40thbirthday celebrations. Your class secretaries wouldlove to hear from you. —Susannah Campbell1994Moacir P. de Sá Pereira+1 774 473 9856 Google Voice+370 641 27 369+1 774 473 9856moacir@gmail.comAnother edition of the class notes, another leadfretting over a shortage of news from classmateswho are convinced they’re not up to anythinginteresting, and another description of the weatherthat will seem anachronistic when you receive thisupdate in your mailbox. About the weather, theearly January snow here in Lithuania is brilliant, butI hope it doesn’t threaten my flight tomorrow toVancouver, where I will be presiding (courtesy of aEuropean Union grant awarded by the Lithuaniangovernment, as mentioned in the last installment)over a panel at the Modern Language Association’sannual convention. Hillary Chute will also beAndover | Spring 2015111