Expression Spring 2006

Expression SPRING 2006

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

Radio’s New Frequencies Traditional radio is buffeted by new audio technologies

Where the Readers Are Nonfiction books outsell all other genres

College graduates 1,000 in spirited ceremonies

Expression SPRING 2006

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C o l l e g e ,

T a i w a n - S t y l e

Emerson students have been spending

2

Memory Lane

Honorary degree recipients of the past

3

Campus Digest

Developer Goldman named trustee, expanded bookstore to open in fall

4

Where the Readers Are

Nonfiction books outsell all other genres, and numerous alumni authors are part of the scene

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Commencement

Rain does not dampen spirits of graduates, friends, families

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The Beat Goes On

Traditional radio is buffeted by new audio technologies – but endures

22

Notable Expressions

A compendium of accomplishments by alumni

24

Alumni Digest

Gatherings in Boston, New York, Denver, and other locales

28

Class Notes

Read the news about your classmates

36

My Turn

A young graduate journalist reports on his first year out of college

Expression is published three times a year (fall, winter and spring) for alumni and friends of Emerson College by the Office of Public Affairs (David Rosen, Vice President) in conjunction with the Department of Institutional Advancement and the Office of Alumni Relations (Barbara Rutberg ’68, Director).

Office Of Public Affairs public_affairs@emerson.edu 617-824-8540 fax 617-824-8916

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semesters abroad at ‘sister’ college Shih Hsin University in Taipei, Taiwan, for the past several

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

10

years. (The photos on this page were provided

by Emerson students who attended Shih Hsin this spring.) One of the students abroad this term was Anna Yu ’08, a double major in marketing communication and writing, literature and publishing. She said of her experience, “The thought of going to a small country that very few people know about, and learning about the people and culture was too good to pass up.”

Expression Executive Editor David Rosen Editor Rhea Becker Writer Christopher Hennessy Editorial Assistant Catherine Sheffield

Office Of Alumni Relations alumni@emerson.edu 800-255-4259 617-824-8535 fax 617-824-7807

Copyright © 2006 Emerson College 120 Boylston St. Boston, Massachusetts 02116-4624

Memory Lane

Campus Digest

In This Issue

New, expanded campus bookstore to open

Developer Goldman named College Trustee

Commencement guests past Its demise has been frequently

1993

predicted, but somehow it just keeps going. It’s radio. In our cover

Marlee Matlin with Irma Mann Stearns ‘67

story, alumni leaders in the industry — from insiders at major radio networks like CBS and Air America,

Acclaimed real estate developer and preservationist Tony Goldman ’65, who is credited with transforming blighted urban areas like SoHo in New York City and

to talk show hosts and hip-hop DJs — ponder this venerable medium and predict its future.

From literary nonfiction to selfhelp to biography, Americans are reading more nonfiction titles than any other genre. Read our story and learn about just a few of the College’s alumni nonfiction authors.

Of course don’t forget to take a look at our coverage of the 126th annual Commencement ceremonies, including details on this year’s undergraduate Commencement

1993

speaker, U.S. Senator and former

Tony Goldman ’65

South Beach in Miami into vibrant neighborhoods, has been elected to the board of trustees of Emerson College.

He is a 1965 graduate of the school.

Goldman is chairman and CEO of The Goldman Properties Company, which has been restoring historic buildings in architecturally significant neighborhoods in New York City, Philadelphia and Miami since 1968. The firm also operates several hotels and restaurants, including the restored Park Central Hotel and The Hotel, and its restaurant, Wish, in Miami Beach’s Art Deco District. In December 2005, Goldman Properties became active in efforts to convert wharf properties on Boston Harbor for residential use.

Goldman’s election to the Emerson Board was announced by College President Jacqueline Liebergott who said, “Tony Goldman is a true visionary, a publicspirited entrepreneur who has rightly been called ‘an urban pioneer’ by The New York Times and others. We are thrilled that he is returning to his alma mater, where he will share his knowledge, experience and insights.”

presidential candidate John Kerry.

Jerry Lewis

–Rhea Becker, editor

1990 Kathleen Turner

1966 Carol Burnettt

Expression Spring 2006

Expression welcomes short letters to the editor on topics covered in the magazine. The editor will select a representative sample of letters to publish and reserves the right to edit copy for style and length. Send letters to: Editor, Expression, Office of Public Affairs, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116-4624; public_affairs@emerson.edu.

New name, focus for Continuing Education program The name and focus of the office that administers the College’s continuing education and professional development programs has been changed. The former Division of Continuing Education (CE) will be known as the Department of Professional Studies and Special

Programs. A major thrust of the reorganization is the phasing out of CE’s undergraduate degree program for nontraditional students and the expansion of professional certificate and summer programs. Linda Moore, vice president for academic affairs, noted that enrollment in the degree program has declined in recent years.

Moore described the changes as a “reshaping of the pro-

Barnes & Noble College Booksellers Inc. assumed operation of the campus bookstore on May 1. At the start of the fall semester, Barnes & Noble opened a storefront location at 114 Boylston St. The new bookstore will be open to the public as well as to Emerson students, faculty and staff.

Andrew Mahoney, the College’s director of auxiliary services, said the store will have more than twice the floor space of the current facility and will offer a much wider selection of books, supplies and insignia products than was possible previously. He said the store will have a special area for faculty-written books and space for author readings.

Founded in 1873, Barnes & Noble is one of the nation’s largest booksellers. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers Inc. is a privately held sister company to Barnes & Noble Inc. It operates bookstores on more than 475 college and university campuses, including 21 in Massachusetts.

gram that will be phased in over the next five years.” The newly named department will continue to manage the College’s summer academic programming offered for credit to all degree-seeking students, Moore said.

Expression Spring 2006

WHERE THE READERS ARE

Nonfiction books outsell all other genres

by Christopher Hennessy

A

n explorer’s dangerous solo travels through Africa; two baseball fans’ homage to every stadium in the country; an exposé from a ‘former fat kid’ on the subject of obesity – what do all these stories have in common?

Expression Spring 2006

They are all true. They reside within the capacious genre of nonfiction.

And they are all books written by Emerson alumni.

Whether it’s humor, how-to, lifestyle, or the wildly popular memoir, nonfiction is the reigning best-selling genre. With so many diverse stories to tell, so many categories of interest and such a wide array of possibilities, readers have a lot to choose from.

All of this is good news for the dozens of Emersonians who are nonfiction authors and the Emerson faculty who teach the genre. Expression examines nonfiction’s reach and takes a look at a host of alumniauthored books.

Expression Spring 2006

Best sellers According to Nielsen BookScan, nonfiction outsells fiction by about 100 million books a year. Recent controversies, including the accusation that James Frey’s memoir A Million Little Pieces was fabricated, seem to have had little effect on the genre’s popularity. A recent U.S. News and World Report cover story – published after the Frey debacle – proclaims, “In our informationhungry time, nonfiction is king.”

Last year’s million-copy sellers included Thomas L. Friedman’s The World is Flat, David McCullough’s historical 1776 and, of course, Frey’s book, which sold 4 million copies and continued to sell well even after Oprah Winfrey blasted the author on her talk show. Other popular nonfiction titles that have become big sellers include The Purpose-Driven Life (Rick Warren), Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner), The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion) and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Malcolm Gladwell).

Emerson faculty who teach nonfiction say the genre can include all of the following: history, science and nature writing (Thoreau’s Walden, for instance); and cultural history and/or anthropological explorations. Assistant Professor Mako Yoshikawa points out

Expression Spring 2006

that the genre “is so vast it encompasses Holocaust memoirs as well as ‘selfhelp’ and celebrity books.” Assistant Professor Douglas Whynott, who teaches nonfiction, points out even more kinds of nonfiction writing and styles, from historical narrative to sports biography (e.g., Seabiscuit) to coming of age stories to recovery, illness, coping or redemption narratives, to nature or environmental writing.

Although fiction and poetry readership has declined, according to a National Endowment for the Arts 2004 report called “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America,” Nielsen BookScan recorded an increase in overall book sales: 709.8 million sales, a 9.3 percent increase from 2004.

This means readers are now flipping the pages of nonfiction books instead.

At the Association of American Publishers (AAP) conference in March, AAP President Patricia Schroeder told U.S. News and World Report just that.

“It’s a serious time,” she explains, “in which people want more info about what’s going on in the world around them.”

Amazing memoir Memoirs are especially hot commodities. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Memoirs have been strong sellers throughout this decade. But this year, publishers plan to put out twice as many as last year – there are likely to be as many as 40,” according to Simba Information, a book-tracking company.

“The ‘memoir craze’ erupted in the early ’90s with such popular titles as Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr, and Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face,” says Emerson Writer-in-Residence Maria Flook. Flook wrote the nonfiction Invisible Eden: A Story of Love and Murder on Cape Cod.

The Truth Is… Emerson authors add numerous titles to the nonfiction market Emerson alumni have published memoirs that exemplify how diverse the genre can be. Burnt Bread and Chutney: Growing Up Between Cultures – A Memoir of an Indian Jewish Childhood,

by Carmit Delman, MFA ’99, is an “elegant memoir [that] provides readers with glimpses of an unusual crosscultural childhood,” writes Publishers Weekly. Delman is the daughter of a Jewish-American man of Eastern European descent and a mother descended from India’s ancient Bene Israel community. “Writing in a lively style with rich details, Delman’s debut brims with intelligence and insight and should appeal not only to Jews and Indians but to anyone compelled by the mingling of cultural identities,” says the review.

The title of Lee Harrington’s (MFA ’94) first book, Rex and the City: A Woman, a Man, and a Dysfunctional Dog, sets up the story for this memoir, based on a column Harrington wrote for The Bark

magazine. Harrington writes about her life in New York City during the heady late 1990s, when she and her boyfriend bring Rex, a needy shelter dog, into their cramped studio on the Lower East Side. “Harrington has crafted a sweet story – with cute asides detailing Rex’s Halloween costume contest, his firsttime squirrel hunting off-leash and zany neighborhood dog people and their advice – that should appeal to urban dog lovers and New Yorkers,” wrote Publishers Weekly.

As the country faces a youth obesity epidemic, Abby Ellin’s (MFA ’95) book couldn’t be a more timely and poignant memoir. In Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs In on Living Large, Losing Weight, and How Parents Can (and Can’t) Help, Ellin draws on her own experiences as a youngster who attended a ‘fat camp’. The Boston Globe describes the book as “one part

investigative journalism, one part selfhelp, and one part personal narrative,” and calls Waistland “intriguing...both eloquent and moving.” Ellin provides advice on how to help kids and offers opinions on how various approaches to weight loss (fat camps, behavior modification programs, gastric bypass surgery, drugs, etc.) work – or don’t.

Publishers Weekly writes, “The author’s compassion and her willingness to share her personal life, along with the book’s appendix listing helpful resources, may bring comfort to many distraught parents.”

In her second book, The Cruelest Journey: Six Hundred Miles To Timbuktu, Kira Salak ’93 recounts her 600-mile trip down West Africa’s Niger River. She was the first documented person to kayak that river solo. “Salak’s trip is deeply personal, and she shares her fears, her triumphs, and her thoughts along the way with the reader, making it an accessible, involving journey for her

audience,” proclaimed Booklist. Salak’s first book was Four Corners : A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea.

Of course, nonfiction spans much more than autobiographical tales. Readers are always eager to learn, be entertained and inspired. Emerson alumni have produced volumes in a wide range of styles and topics – from pop culture to sports to inspirational, how-to, and scholarly texts.

Chris Epting ’83 has written several books on pop culture. Most recently, he published The Ruby Slippers, Madonna’s Bra, and Einstein’s Brain: The Locations of America’s Pop Culture Artifacts. The book tells readers where to find everything from Abe Lincoln’s top hat to the Batmobile, and even the location of the original Howdy Doody puppet.

Continued on next page

Expression Spring 2006

c 2004 National Geographic

Continued from previous page Sometimes nonfiction books can tell readers about something they never knew existed or teach them skills they never knew they could master. For example, three Emerson alums have published books in popular how-to series. Furby inventor and renowned entrepreneur Richard C. Levy ’68 wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions as well as The Toy and Game Inventor’s Handbook.

Jonathan Kranz, MFA ’95 penned Writing Copy for Dummies and Christopher Kimball Bigelow ’91 is coauthor of Mormonism for Dummies.

Susan Nusser’s (MFA ’00) book, In Service to the Horse: Chronicles of a Labor of Love, introduces readers to a world they never knew existed, that of a “horse groom.” A groom to a horse is “what the combined services of physical therapist, manager, counselor, assistant, and chaperone would be to an NBA star,” Nusser writes.

Expression Spring 2006

Nonfiction can not only broaden For those who want to get out of the horizons but also teach about other house, the alum duo of Josh Pahigian, cultures. Anna Kasabian ’72 and her MFA ’01, and Kevin O’Connell, MFA ’00, husband, chef David Kasabian ’72, in wrote The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip: their book The Fifth Taste: Cooking with A Fan’s Guide to Major League Umami, explore for Western audiences Stadiums. The book is described as umami (a savoriness found in foods “part travel manual, part ballpark atlas, likes parmesan and soy sauce). Recipes part baseball history book, part epic from renowned chefs are included. narrative and part restaurant and city (Anna Kasabian has also published guide, all rolled into one handy volume,” other books, including New England according to an Associated Press book Style, which contains more than 200 review. The pair also wrote Why I Hate color photographs of New England’s the Yankees, and Pahigian penned a most picturesque homes and getaways.) Spring Training Handbook. (Pop culture author Epting ’83 has also penned a The home, hearth and leisure, of course, baseball book, Roadside Baseball: A are all popular topics for nonfiction Guide to Baseball Shrines Across books. 125 Best Vegan Recipes, by America.) Cecilia Tan, MA ’94, has also Maxine Effenson Chuck, MA ’85, and a published 50 Greatest Yankee Games co-author, contains easy-to-prepare and 50 Greatest Red Sox Games. recipes for those who eat no meat or animal byproducts.

And for academic readers, there’s Dying for a Laugh: Disaster Movies and the Camp Imagination, by Kenneth Feil ’89, MA ’91; Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema, by Scott Von Doviak

’89; The Deaths of the Popes, by Wendy Reardon ’93; and Outside the Lines: Talking with Contemporary Gay Poets,

by Christopher Hennessy, MFA ’00 (disclosure: the author of this article).

Of course, readers can turn to nonfiction for inspiration as well as education.

Beth Leibson-Hawkins, MFA ’00, shares the inspirational stories of several young women with breast cancer in her book I’m Too Young to Have Breast Cancer!: Regain Control of Your Life, Career, Family, Sexuality and Faith.

Faculty member Whynott believes that Karr’s influential Liars’ Club, in particular, “gave momentum to the whole creative nonfiction movement.” He and Associate Professor Jeffrey Seglin agree that two other, earlier memoirs, Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life and Frank Conroy’s StopTime, were precursors.

The popularity of memoirs doesn’t stop at the bookstore. “A sea change is taking place across the board,” says Kathleen Rooney, MFA ’00, author of Reading With Oprah: The Book Club That Changed America.

“Memoir is creeping into all areas of literature, and even journalism is becoming more ‘I’ driven, for better or for worse. There’s almost no pretense at objectivity anymore.”

Whynott says most of his students are interested in memoir.

“Memoir is a great genre to do in grad school, because it’s publishable, it’s about your life, you don’t have to do a lot of research, and it can be a vehicle into fiction or other kinds of nonfiction.”

Memoirs have become “the new door opening for first-time writers, young and old,” said Lee Gutkind, founder of the literary journal Creative Nonfiction, in an interview in The Wall Street Journal. Gutkind receives 300 to 400 unsolicited memoir submissions each month for his publication, which reflects a change in the publishing climate, he says. “The novel’s not hot anymore, and the autobiographical novel has been replaced by the memoir.”

One of Whynott’s graduate students is completing “an incredible story about the late effects of childhood cancer treatments.” Another is writing a book on the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a former high school English teacher. And last year one of Whynott’s former students, Darcy Wakefield, MFA ’03, published I Remember Running: The Year I Got Everything I Ever Wanted – and ALS. (Wakefield died in December at the age of 35.)

Emerson Writer-in-Residence Richard Hoffman tells his students that a “real memoir is about trying to see how you became who you are, why you see things the way you do, what influences have shaped your understanding of self and world. If you’re honest and humble, that is a very complex and long process.” He sums up, “Great nonfiction writing has humility, complexity and is driven by an inquiry.” E

Susan Strong ’80 uses little-known personal anecdotes (from such noted women as Eleanor Roosevelt, Golda Meir, Queen Latifah, Frida Kahlo, Maya Angelou and Judy Blume) to inspire young women in her book The Greatness of Girls. She is also the author of The Boldness of Boys: Famous Men Talking About Growing Up. Expression Spring 2006

College awards

mersonians were in high spirits for the College’s 126th Commencement exercises in May, despite a gloomy day of rain preceded by many days of torrential storms throughout New England. Family and friends braved the conditions to watch the roughly 1,000 graduating seniors receive their Emerson College baccalaureate and graduate degrees during back-to-back ceremonies on May 15 at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in Boston.

1000 degrees i n

s p i r i t e d

c e r e m o n i e s

By Christopher Hennessy

10 Expression Spring 2006

U.S. Senator John Kerry, who has also spoke about the importance of served in the Senate since 1984 and dissent and what he experienced when was the Democratic nominee for presimarching against the war in Vietnam. dent in 2004, presented the under“When we protested the war in Vietnam graduate address. Gwen Ifill, moderator some would weigh in against us sayand managing editor of Washington ing, ‘My country right or wrong’. Our Week and senior correspondent for The response was simple: ‘Yes, my country NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, gave the right or wrong. When right, keep it graduate remarks. right and when wrong, make it right’. I Kerry and Ifill received honorary expect you to go out there, get off your doctoral degrees along with retiring rear ends and make it right.”

Boston School Superintendent Thomas Later in the day, Gwen Ifill adPayzant and Robert Steele, leader of the dressed the graduate students in their Ethics Group at the Poynter Institute in afternoon ceremony. The theme of St. Petersburg, Fla. The undergraduate ceremony began with an invocation delivered

by Rabbi Albert Axelrad, chair of the College’s Center for Spiritual Life, in which he remembered Victoria ‘Torie’ Snelgrove ’06 (an Emerson student who was killed in a shooting accident outside Fenway Park in 2004) as well as the three men who were killed after the recent scaffolding collapse at the Campus Center construction site.

At the ceremony, assembled students thanked friends and family with vigorous applause and gave Emerson faculty a standing ovation. Graduate students cheered each other on as they received their degrees in the afternoon ceremony. The event was also broadcast live for an overflow crowd in the Cutler Majestic Theatre and streamed live on the Web. President Jacqueline Liebergott her speech was living your life “out began her remarks to the graduates by of order” in order to “cast wide open making the special announcement that the doors of possibility.” She noted alumnus and Trustee Max Mutchnick that the civil rights, suffrage and other ’87, co-creator of the television sitcom movements of change were marked by Will & Grace, had made a generous gift disorder (marches, protests), and then to support the completion and operacited writer A.A. Milne who said, “One tion of the new campus center at 150 of the advantages of being disorderly is Boylston St. In recognition of his gift, that one is constantly making exciting Liebergott said, the building would be discoveries.” named the Max Mutchnick Campus The graduate student address Center. was delivered by Sarah Allison, a stuCommencement Speaker Kerry dent in communication sciences and began his speech by offering up a disorders. She discussed “the power of series of jokes about Boston, Emerson, communication and the importance of pop culture and, of course, politics, to persistence” and offered up examples which the audience responded with through history and pop culture of laughter and often loud applause. Kerry communication failures. She encouraged her peers to “learn from our mistakes” and “prove our critics wrong.”

Photos by Frank Monkiewicz

E

E

U.S. Sen. John Kerry addresses the Commencement gathering.

Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott at the podium during the celebration.

11 Expression Spring 2006

Above: Left: Robert Steele of the Poynter Institute received an honorary degree.

Near right: Journalist Gwen Ifill of TV’s Washington Week speaks at the Graduate Commencement ceremonies. Far right: The family of the late Victoria ‘Torie’ Snelgrove received a posthumous diploma for her.

12 Expression Spring 2006

Top row: Sarah Allison was the student speaker at the graduate student ceremonies.

Second row: U.S. Sen. John Kerry; jubilant graduates; undergraduate valedictorian Rachel Birdsall. Bottom row: Emerson library director Mickey Zemon; retiring Boston School Superintendent Thomas Payzant; a graduate phones home.

13 Expression Spring 2006

R

Tra dit ion is bu al ffe rad i te db o y te n e ch au w no log dio ies – en bu du t re s

TheB e

atGo e

sOn

adio is a survivor.

It has outlasted television, home video and the web, and portable music devices like tape players and CD players.

It is a medium that has proved its ability to adapt to and maintain a strong foothold in the American marketplace since commercial radio became widely available in the 1930s.

But enormous changes are on the horizon – technologies that translate into new ways audiences can receive audio content, including high-definition broadcasts, satellite radio, Internet radio, popular MP3 players like the iPod, web downloads, podcasting (audio files on the web and downloadable any time) personal digital assistants (PDA), and cellphones.

It’s not even called radio any more, says Jack Casey ’69, general manager of Emerson College radio station WERS 88.9 FM. “It’s the ‘audio delivery’ world.”

Can radio survive this new onslaught?

by Christopher Hennessy

Radio lives!

“For the past 25 years I have been hearing from experts and colleagues about the imminent demise of radio and, in particular, radio news,” says Dick Uliano ’73, reporter for the CNNRadio Network. “The truth of the matter is, despite the Internet, despite podcasts, many Americans still listen to radio and they also listen to news on the radio.” Uliano’s more than two decades in radio include the past seven years at CNN, where he reports on news from the White House, Pentagon and State Department. (Alumnus Bob Witkin ’74 is also at the CNNRadio Network, as an anchor since 1987.)

Statistics support Uliano’s belief.

Arbitron’s most recent annual “Radio Today” report found that 94% of Americans (age 12 and older) listen to traditional radio every week – down by just one percentage point in six years.

“Compared to some media, such as newspapers or network news, that is not only a remarkable percentage of the population but a remarkably consistent performance,” say the writers of the “State of the News Media” report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Radio news, too, remains a vital force, believes Uliano, who points to the Pew study conducted in December 2005 that found 44% of all respondents said they turn to radio for news.

Emerson alumni who are now leaders in the industry (most of whom got their start at college station WERSFM), say radio is healthy and thriving.

The challenge, they say, is using the new technologies to reach more listeners, to adapt to a world in which radio is “more and more in the content business, and less about a single way of delivering your programming,” as Dean Cappello ’83 puts it. Cappello is chief creative officer and senior vice president of programming for the Peabody Award-winning WNYC Public Radio. “People are using media dramatically differently,” Cappello adds.

“It’s something we can harness, but it’s not something we can control.”

Donna Francavilla ’85, a freelance reporter for CBS Radio News with 25 years of experience, adds, “What we do has not changed, only how we do it.

Technology is revolutionizing our industry.”

Companies like CBS Radio News (where Emerson alumna Constance Lloyd ’79 is general manager) are taking advantage of new methods of content delivery, says Francavilla. She explains that the network is currently providing podcasts, for example. In fact, CBS Radio now streams more than 70 percent of its music, talk, sports and news radio stations live online.

15 Expression Spring 2006

From music to talk The radio stations facing the greatest changes, say those in the industry, are the music-driven ones. “The truth is that for music-driven radio, as far as I can tell, no one is very optimistic about people getting their music from radio down the road,” says Emerson undergraduate Blake Nebel, who is an on-air personality at Boston’s popular MIX 98.5 FM. For the Emerson junior and his generation of listeners, music stations mean “DJ’s I might not like, music that I don’t get to choose, commercials that I don’t want to hear, and not knowing what’s going to come next,” he says.

WERS general manager Casey, who has worked in radio management for three decades, admits the “lost youth market” has the industry concerned. “We know that younger listeners don’t spend nearly as much

time listening to radio as their parents.

So how do we get younger people to be interested in radio?”

For younger listeners, portable technology like the MP3 player and ondemand options like podcasts are big draws. Arbitron and Edison Media Research find that the 12-to-17-year-old age group is most likely to consider an iPod or MP3 player “a staple” of their daily lives. “If a music-driven station is not doing anything that differentiates its programming from a jukebox, then it makes it really difficult to compete with an iPod,” WNYC’s Cappello argues, “because an iPod will deliver to you whatever you want, whenever you want it. A radio station can’t do that.”

According to 2006 findings from the radio market research firm Bridge Ratings, 27% of young people (aged 1224) listened to less radio because of MP3 use; 22% because of “tired radio programming”; and 3% because of podcasts. “By 2010, today’s 94% penetration for terrestrial radio will have sunk to 85%,” said Bridge Ratings President Dave Van Dyke.

Radio is history for these academics

Two Emerson professors are noted authors on the history of radio

When Professor Robert Hilliard and Adjunct Professor Donna Halper listen to the radio, they don’t hear what most others do. They hear stories that underpin America’s social fabric. Both of these faculty members have published books that add to our understanding of radio’s place in American culture and history.

Hilliard, who has been a professor of media arts at Emerson for more than 20 years, has written The Quieted Voice: The Rise and Demise of Localism in American Radio (co-authored with Michael C. Keith).

Hilliard, a former chief of public broadcasting at the FCC and former chair of the Federal Interagency Media Committee, has 30 previous books to his name, including Writing for Television, Radio and New Media, and (with Michael Keith) The Broadcast Century and Beyond; Waves of Rancor; and Dirty Discourse: Sex and Decency in American Radio.

16 Expression Spring 2006

In his latest book on the topic of radio, Hilliard takes an in-depth look at radio, once a grassroots, community-based medium, and how consolidation – brought about by government deregulation – is homogenizing radio programming.

To compete, the radio industry is trying a different format, known by simple names like Bob, Jack or Mike, which boasts a “deep” play list of more than 1,000 songs. (The Boston market, for example, has 93.7 Mike FM.) Nebel, for one, isn’t optimistic about the format. “It’s a play list of 1,500 songs thrown into a jukebox. The songs come out randomly and there are no DJ’s,” he explains. “If you’re going to listen to the radio instead of listening to an iPod or a CD, I think it’s because you want a personal connection with someone.”

For music-format stations, Cherry Martinez ’97, on-air personality for the popular hip-hop and R&B station Power 105.1 in New York City, stresses the importance of communities and local personalities. A radio format connected to “a lifestyle” can make for a successful music radio station, says

In the book’s preface, Robert McChesney, renowned media scholar and author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communications Politics in Dubious Times, says, “If we want radio programming to serve local communities, if we want more localism in our media – and it is clear that most Americans of all political persuasions desperately want this – it can be done….

This [book] is an important tool to assist citizen understanding and involvement.”

Donna Halper, a longtime adjunct faculty member in journalism and a broadcast historian, is the author of Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting.

Martinez. She adds that the best stations are those that “touch upon the community, where you know what your listeners want.” For her, a successful radio personality is “someone with style, someone who is in tune with the community, who has passion for music, and who cares about the audience.”

‘If a music-driven station is not doing anything that differentiates it from a jukebox...’

Alumnus Rob Hunter ’00 compares listening to radio hosts to “feeling like someone is speaking directly to you.”

Hunter is morning talk show host and program director of KENN-AM in Farmington, N.M. “Personalities are still going to rule local radio.”

Halper’s book documents the contributions made by women in the field of radio, using social history to uncover the impact women had on the medium, including people like Bertha Brainard, one of the first women on the air in New York and the first woman executive at NBC; Dorothy Thompson, the first woman on radio to make the cover of Time; and influential talk show hostess Mary Margaret McBride.

A review in the journal Technology and Culture says Halper’s book “attempts to right a historical wrong: the marginalization of women in broadcasting histories.”

17 Expression Spring 2006

Nebel hears talk that “the next big thing” in radio programming might be coming from CBS Radio. CBS Free FM is “a way to combat satellite [subscription-based] radio,” Nebel says, thus the “free” moniker. “Essentially, it’s a talk format, very loose, personality driven,” he explains. Comedian-magician Penn Gillette, TV personality Adam Carolla, and the famous radio duo Opie and Anthony all have syndicated shows on CBS Free stations.

Nebel says listeners may not turn to radio for music, but they will for talk.

“A unique and entertaining personality is something you can’t download, can’t stream, and as far as CBS Radio is concerned that’s going to keep radio’s head above water.”

Air America

When Gary Krantz ’81 started out in the radio industry, fresh from Emerson and WERS-FM, there was no satellite radio, no Internet radio, no MP3s or iPods.

“There was just AM and FM and only a few radio networks that were specialized or branded.”

About 25 years later, Krantz is president of Air America, the progressive talk radio network that has surprised an industry long dominated by conservative content.

Krantz oversees all operations of the network’s 90 stations, including WLIB in New York (an XM station) and a fullservice website, AirAmericaRadio.com.

He handles sales, programming, marketing and affiliate relations. Soon, the network aims to make content available via mobile telephones.

18 Expression Spring 2006

Alternative audio Even with all the new listening options Americans have at their fingertips, 82% of Americans said that despite all the new audio technologies, they planned to listen to traditional radio as much in the future as they do now, according to Arbitron and Edison Media Research.

A closer look at the numbers, however, points to an audience that is unsure of radio’s future. While 62% said radio would always survive, fully 30% of listeners in a survey by the same research firms believed some day in the future there would be no traditional, commercial radio stations, with listeners getting all audio content online or via satellite radio.

WERS general manager Casey, who attended the Radio and Records Convention in Cleveland last year, reports that “everyone is trying to read the entrails to figure out where the industry is headed.”

While podcasting has some worried, a report from Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company, noted that just 1% of households in North America regularly download and listen to podcasts, and most strongly favor podcasts that play content from broadcast or Internet radio rather than new content. Forrester predicts that by 2010 about 12.3 million households will use podcasting.

Of course, there’s also Internet radio – stations of all stripes that are hosted on the web and listened to via streaming audio. Arbitron ratings found that, as of September 2005, the five largest online radio networks together attracted an average weekly audience of just 3.7 million. Emerson

alumna Diane McAveeney ’83 and a partner have founded Riffin.com, for example, a music site where ‘webjockeys’ offer up playlists for users.

Even the relatively new realm of satellite radio, which can cost under $15 per month, is getting mixed signals from consumers. Bridge Ratings found

Blake Nebel ’07, an on-air personality at Boston’s MIX 98.5 FM, says listeners may not turn to radio for music, but they will for talk. that listeners who have been subscribers for more than six months are spending less time listening, down from 16 hours per week to 12.6 hours.

On the other hand, XM Satellite Radio projects an added 3 million listeners by the end of 2006 and Sirius

An alumnus makes his mark as president of the new progressive talk radio station AirAmericaRadio.com is “a huge part of our business,” says Krantz. “We stream all of the shows as well as provide premium, subscription-based content [through the site]. Many of our listeners hear us through the web, specifically in markets we’re currently not broadcasting in, in the United States and all over the world.”

Krantz describes the Air America audience as “very passionate” and says he is thrilled to be leading the network.

“In such a short time Air America has become such an identifiable brand. It’s what I imagine working at MTV or Rolling Stone might have felt like in their early days,” he says. Krantz adds that he is buoyed by the fact that so many people want to work for, advertise with and be affiliated with the network “because of the message we deliver.”

Taking the reins of a new talk radio start-

up that is unlike any other might seem daring to some. Not Krantz. “What drew me to working with Air America was that it was a phenomenon from the day it started. I really saw it as a unique business opportunity.” Krantz saw three elements converging: political divisions in the country, the willingness of radio station owners to experiment (with underperfoming stations, for example), and the availability of talent like Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo. “It was what I call the ‘perfect storm of opportunity’.”

Krantz’s career is marked by savvy decisions and seizing rich opportunities.

Right out of Emerson he worked for MJI Broadcasting, an independent syndication company. He was one of the first employees at MJI and helped

grow the company over 15 years to be one of the largest privately held syndication companies. MJI developed partnerships with the Grammys and Country Music Awards and was a leader in developing original programming for radio stations, according to Krantz.

He then joined AMFM in 1997, which at the time was the largest radio group in the country, with 400 stations, and through that company he helped launch the first major radio network owned by a broadcast group in 20 years. He later worked for Clear Channel, where he was “a part of the biggest broadcast company in the world.”

Twenty-five years ago Krantz could always be found at the WERS studio, where he was weekend program director and founder of the Bluesology show. “WERS gave me the first taste of

a real live audience with feedback.”

He recalls working alongside Brad Paul, who had his own folk music show (and is now vice president of national promotions at Rounder Records); Doug Herzog, who had a reggae show (and is now president of Comedy Central); and Tami Heide, who had an alternative music show (she was an on-air personality at KROQ in Los Angeles).

How does Krantz see the future of radio? “Talk radio is going to grow because it is content that cannot be duplicated. And I think you’ll see more niche formats emerging, too, like urban talk,” he says.

Krantz is excited about the changes the radio industry is facing. “Anyone interested in audio entertainment is probably experiencing one of the most interesting times ever.”

19 Expression Spring 2006

Satellite Radio expects an added 6 million by the end of the year.

But how much of an impact will competition from Sirius and XM have on the larger traditional radio industry?

After all, the two networks’ combined subscribers may exceed 9 million, but terrestrial radio boasts more than five times as many listeners, coming in at 47 million, according to a Pew report.

Radio’s lifesaver?

‘Local, local, local. People will always have this craving to be local,’ says Rob Hunter ’00, of KENN-AM in New Mexico.

20 Expression Spring 2006

One technology, HD Radio, has begun to be embraced by the leaders of the radio industry and has some Emersonians saying it could very well be ‘the next big thing’.

HD Radio transmits a digital stream broadcast while also providing a second digital channel, which can be used for alternate radio programming.

So, beyond a much improved sound quality (akin to a CD), HD Radio also offers scrolling text on receiver display screens (e.g., artist names and song titles, weather forecasts, school closings); delivery of real-time traffic updates; and multicasting, which allows an FM station to broadcast up to eight digital streams of programming over a single frequency, providing audiences with more audio options.

Emerson station WERS plans to install an HD transmitter by Aug. 1 of this year, reports Casey. “This will enable us to launch a ‘second’ radio

station with separate and distinct programming,” he explains. “We’re joining with the cutting edge of the industry.”

HD Radio, “with its clear signal and its promise of more stations, is the sound of the future,” said Denver Post columnist Dick Kreck. That is “if you can afford a receiver” and “more stations jump on the bandwagon,” he adds. Car models start at $300 and tabletop models at $2,000. Thus far, only 700 of the 12,000 commercial stations in the country have converted to HD. KIIS-FM in Los Angeles carries a Spanish-language version of programming for its Hispanic listeners via its HD frequency. Another example is 88.5 WAMU, a National Public Radio station licensed to American University in Washington, D.C., which used its HD station, WAMU-2, to broadcast “gavel-to-gavel coverage of the hearings on the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts” in September of last year.

Strong signals During breakfast, the morning commute, or at the office, “radio is there every single day,” talk show host Hunter says. “Instead of CD’s or your iPod, people will put on their favorite morning personality, because they’re entertaining and they make you laugh in the morning. Local, local, local – people will always have this craving to be local.” And that is not something you can get from satellite radio, Hunter argues.

It’s that local connection, alumni say, that keeps radio alive and often gives the medium its power.

Spanish-language radio DJ’s were credited with putting 500,000 marchers “in motion” for a pro-immigrant rally in downtown Los Angeles in late March, according to The Los Angeles Times. In crises ranging from the Sept.

11 attacks to Hurricane Katrina, people often turn to radio for information and to feel connected.

As people streamed out of New Orleans in an evacuation necessitated

by Hurricane Katrina, car radios delivered up-to-the-minute news. “In the case of Katrina, radio was the most immediate outlet available,” says Hunter, who previously worked at WTIX in New Orleans. “For about six hours, our station was the only thing on the airwaves.” During crises, radio is often the only thing people have, he believes. CBS freelancer Francavilla agrees. She covered the hurricane from Mobile, Ala. “Computers were down.

Without power, televisions became empty, silent boxes. Newspapers didn’t go to press.” But battery-operated AM radios became “a hot commodity,” she says.

Radio can create a “community of listeners,” adds WNYC Radio’s Cappello. “You really feel it around [times like] 9/11, when WNYC was this

cutting-edge WERS is and how much huge presence in the city, because people needed something to hang on to, of a leadership position we hold among to listen to.” In times of crisis, Cappello colleges and universities.” says, “People really connect to radio in The industry needs to move a way that they don’t connect to TV or beyond the current moment of anxiety, newspapers. It’s the reason people call says Cappello. “We have to get over this you up and scream when you change idea that we have only one way of the program schedule. It’s the reason delivering content.” Francavilla argues, why people send us money when they “As with any new technology, innovation could hear the radio station for free.” is key to survival.”

Keeping radio local “will keep Cappello’s prediction for the radio alive,” Nebel believes. “Mix 98.5 future? “I think we’re going to see is all about the Boston area – whether more niche-type programming, more it’s the Red Sox, the Boston Marathon, of a cable-like environment in radio.” the Patriots, the Charles River, the In the music-format he sees personaliEsplanade in the summer, the fireties dominating. “That’s what’s going works, the Pops Concert.” And that’s to entertain people, rather than music. part of the station’s success, he says. In I think we’ll see an even bigger market fact, “a lot of the on-air personalities share listening to talk-type formats.” are from the area and some even have He envisions formats ranging from the accent to prove it.” women’s issues to the urban scene to teenagers. “Radio is going to become The new radio much more talk-heavy than it’s ever The shifts in radio’s landscape, however, been.”

Martinez says, “There are going to may open up new opportunities for be a lot of outlets, but the cream that Emersonians entering the field. will rise to the top will be the personalWERS’s Casey says radio professionals ity that has the [best] content.” are telling him they “really need people “While skepticism is a healthy part with vision, people who are really of my job as a news reporter,” says creative, who don’t want to do radio the CNNRadio’s Uliano, “put me down as way it’s always been done.” Casey skeptical when it comes to the regular believes Emerson is in a unique rants about the demise of radio news.” position to help shape radio’s future.

The single prediction everyone “Colleges are great places to look for agrees with is that radio will always be fresh talent, for people who can apply around. E some radical thinking to a world that’s been around since 1920.” At the College Media Conference in New York earlier this year, Casey discovered “how

21 Expression Spring 2006

Notable Expressions “Independent television is now on the verge of blowing Steve Basilone ’03 is director up the way independent film did in the early ’90s. The of programming for the first only thing that’s been missannual Independent Televiing, until now, was a viable sion Festival to be held this July in Los Angeles. Two oth- platform to showcase such work.” The event will be er alumni are also involved: held at the Museum of Radio Jill Bream ’03 and Dan Prussman ’04. Basilone says, & Television in Beverly Hills

ABOVE: A scene from the WB’s Pepper Dennis, which Adele Lim ’96 produces.

RIGHT: My Name is Earl, an NBC series for which Kari Kurto ’02 is a casting associate.

and is seeking independently produced television pilots in the categories of comedy, drama, reality, family and game show.

Paul McGuire ’80 has been named senior vice president of communications for the CW, the new broadcast television network that was announced recently as a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. scheduled to launch in the fall. McGuire, a veteran corporate communications strategist, will lead publicity, media relations and talent relations for the CW. Adele Lim ’96 is producer for the new WB one-hour comedy Pepper Dennis, starring feature film star Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, Man About Town) in the title role.

The show is about a beautiful and ambitious reporter whose career goal is anchoring Chicago’s top-rated evening news broadcast.

Lim has previously written for the NBC show Las Vegas, among other programs.

Dawn Lambertson Kelly ’93 penned an episode of the hit ABC drama Lost. Her episode was entitled “Maternity Leave.” She has been a member of the Lost team since the show’s beginning.

Kari Kurto ’02 is a casting associate for the show My Name is Earl, an NBC series which won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite

Lee Harrington

Amanda Jones

TELEVISION

Patrick Zeller

New TV Comedy and was nominated for two Golden Globes this year. She began her own casting agency while still at Emerson.

Kurto’s Emerson organization found actors for roles in independent films shot in the Boston area. She has also worked on Yes, Dear and Regular Joe. David Podemski ’01 and Clay Lapari ’01 recently wrote an episode for the UPN sitcom Eve, starring hip-hop star Eve. Ian Goldberg ’04 has been hired as staff writer on the WB hour-long show Related, a drama from producer Marta Kauffman (co-creator of Friends). Goldberg’s first episode, entitled Driving Miss Crazy, aired last fall.

Amy French ’97 had a role in an episode of the ABC show Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis. French also appeared in the 2003 film Chasing Papi.

WEB Josh Fisher ’92 has launched a fantasy website that features an interactive universe (www.urbaniacs.com). The site, which recently received 3 million visitors in a single month, was written up in the Los Angeles Times business section.

FILM The documentaries of two teams of Emerson filmmakers were featured recently on the PBS Frontline/World series Rough Cut. Deborah Correa ’05 and Brittney Borjeson ’05 traveled to Colombia for This Little Old Town; and independent filmmakers Ole Tangen Jr., MA ’03, and Chetin Chabuk, MA ’04, traveled to Norway for Reindeer Men. Rough Cut is a new weekly series of web-exclusive videos from around the world aimed at providing more of the “stories from a small planet” broadcast on Frontline/World, but with an even greater desire to experiment in style.

David Alan Basche ’90 plays Todd Beamer in the film United 93, about the flight that was hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001. The film is a real-time account of the events on the flight before it crashed.

Beamer was known after the tragic events for saying “Let’s Roll” as the passengers fought the hijackers.

Patrick Zeller ’99 has a role in the recently released award-winning film End of the Spear, which stars Chad Allen and is based on a true story of five young missionaries who are speared to death by the Waorani tribesman from the jungles of Ecuador. Zeller portrays a former paratrooper in World War II who becomes a missionary and joins with the four other young men.

PUBLISHING Rachel Dowd, MA ’04, has been promoted to deputy editor of Variety Weekend.

LITERATURE Two of the four award winners in PEN New England’s Children’s Book Caucus Discovery Awards are Emerson alumni: Phoebe Sinclair, MFA ’00, for her young adult novel The Truth About LIAA, and Erin Dionne, MFA ’99, for her young adult novel Beauty Binge.

The Children’s Book Caucus received a record 150 entries for the award.

Lee Harrington, MFA ’94, has written a memoir, Rex and the City: A Woman, A Man, and a Dysfunctional Dog (Villard). Harrington is also the author of an awardwinning column for The Bark magazine.

Gary Grossman ’70 has written a new novel, Executive Treason, about a secret terrorist organization that plots to bring down the U.S. government. The Boston Globe wrote, “…a painstakingly researched thriller…a disturbingly plausible story line that examines the potentially dangerous power of radio.” Sandi Goldfarb ’78 is handling marketing and public relations for the book.

RADIO Peter Casey ’70 is WBZ Radio’s director of news and programming. WBZ (1030 AM) in Boston is the most listened-to radio station in New England, and has been consistently since 1989, with about 1 million listeners tuning in each week.

Terri Trespicio, MFA ’02, is the host of The Body + Soul Hour, a weekly radio program on Martha Stewart Living Radio, channel 112 on Sirius Satellite Radio.

DESIGN Joe Celli ’92 was assistant art director for the Academy Awards. The theme of the 2006 Oscars set was “a tribute to moviemaking over the years.” Celli helped build the Art Deco-inspired stage which included two 18-foot, clear acrylic Oscars as well as swirling silver conches, pillars, an old-fashioned movie theater box office and a 65-foot-wide marquee.

Alumni Digest Boston

Message from Sherri Givens Mylott, vice president for Institutional Advancement When I became vice president for Institutional Advancement in December 2005, I had the benefit of already having met many of you during the time I served as major gifts consultant to the College. That experience solidified my belief that Emerson is blessed with extraordinary alumni, students and

‘

long-awaited campus center and residence hall will welcome approximately 560 students. The completion of this construction will cap the relocation from the Back Bay to Emerson’s Campus on the Common. Soon, we will purchase the Colonial Building and convert it to a residence hall, moving us

I learned firsthand how proud you are of what Emerson College has accomplished and how excited you are about our future.

’

Sherri Givens Mylott, vice president for Institutional Advancement

faculty. I learned firsthand how proud you are of what Emerson College has accomplished and how excited you are about our future.

In many ways, that future has already begun.

Within three short years, we have completed a stunning restoration of the Cutler Majestic Theatre, opened our first newly constructed building – the Tufte Performance and Production Center – and, in September of this year, Piano Row, our

closer to our goal of a truly residential campus. The opening of the Paramount Center in 2009 will provide more student housing and additional production development and performance space. Emerson’s future is truly a bright one.

These new facilities are designed with one goal in mind: to provide the best education available for our students. These superb facilities will attract top-notch faculty and make our admission process more competitive. To support all these efforts, we will move forward with programs that involve

more alumni, increase support for scholarships and faculty development, and strengthen our annual fund and endowment.

I’m pleased to announce two appointments that will be key to achieving our goals: Cheryl Crounse, the new director of annual giving, who comes to us from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; and Cathy Black, director of major gifts, who was formerly at Lasell College in Newton, Mass. We will all benefit from their knowledge and professional experience.

Individually and collectively, your achievements are the envy of many of our peer institutions, and I hope that you will join us in making Emerson College the leading institution of higher education in communication and the arts.

The Graduates of the Last Decade hosted the 2nd Annual Boston Billiards Bash in January at Boston Billiards. More than 40 young alumni attended and enjoyed free food, free pool and a chance to meet fellow Emersonians from the Boston area.

Alumni mentors, Student Alumni Association members and E3 (Emerson Experience in Entrepreneurship) Program students came to campus to attend the “Miss Mannersmith” networking program in March.

Members of the Student Alumni Association and Graduates of the Last Decade gathered on a brisk March day to clean up an area near the Charles River Esplanade and Beacon Street.

Alumni from the classes of ’76, ’78 and ’79 visited The Big Apple Circus, where they met famed circus clown “Grandma” (Emerson alumnus Barry Lubin ’74). Emerson Assistant Professor Melia Bensussen is behind Lubin.

David Ellison ’79 returned to the College’s Student Union during the all-day farewell party that was held at 96 Beacon St. on April 6 to ‘say goodbye’ to the building, which will be sold in June along with the College’s three Back Bay residence halls. Displays of historic memorabilia were on view on several floors, memory books were available for signing, and candies representing various decades were distributed. Alumni were invited to visit in the evening. A new student center will open in the fall in the newly constructed Piano Row building at 150 Boylston St. The new facility will also house a residence hall and the College’s first gymnasium.

Brothers from Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) reunited in Boston in April to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Emerson College chapter. The Phi Alpha Emerson College SAE Alumni Association grants The Greg Christian ’89 Memorial Scholarship Award each year to a deserving Emerson/SAE student.

Stewart ‘77 named president of chapter Mark Stewart ’77 will serve Emerson as president of the Alumni Association of Southern California.

A love of theater brought Stewart to Emerson as a transfer student. After graduating with honors in 1977, Stewart spent the next three years at St. Louis University School of Law. He found that the skills he learned in the theater program at Emerson were readily transferable to litigation.

He has devoted his practice to medical malpractice litigation.

While in law school, Stewart met and married Lynn Ann Leveridge, an actress. They have two daughters, Colleen, who recently graduated from Occidental College, and Molly, a student at University of California/ Santa Cruz. The family lives in Valley Glen, Calif.

Washington The Emerson College Washington, D.C., Alumni Chapter in association with Ford’s Theatre and producing director Paul Tetreault ’84 hosted a reception and performance at Ford’s Theatre in February. More than 60 alumni and parents attended a performance of Trying, starring James Whitmore.

Denver

Los Angeles

ABOVE, LEFT: Rosalie Sheffield ’81, Ron Bostwick ’81 and Sandra Hullum ’80 gathered at Dave & Buster’s in Westminster, Colo., in March to swap Emerson stories and to make plans to return to Boston for their 25th reunion. ABOVE, RIGHT: From left (top row): Pat Cantwell ’81, Tod Smith ’90, Ballard Boyd ’04, Megan Hanceford ’01, Sandra Hullum ’80, Jonathon Hanst ’93 and Ron Bostwick ’81. Bottom Row: Associate Director of Alumni Relations Mary Ann Cicala ’99, Alan Kania ’71, Kevin Smith ’90, Joe Amon ’05 and Rosalie Sheffield ’81.

Emerson’s sixth annual festival of student films and videos took place in March at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles. This year’s host was Kate Boutilier ’81, a screenwriter and TV writer whose work has earned three Emmy Award nominations. Six films from alumni and one from a current student were screened. The films in this year’s festival were: Opus, directed by Mary Helena Clark ’05; Viewmas-

Connecticut In March the Connecticut Alumni chapter hosted a gathering at Chili’s Bar & Grill in Southington. Those in attendance were Kosta Karipidis ’02, Lisa James ’84, Cheryl Eckhardt ’68, Sharon Lefkin-Jacobson ’74, Chuck Simmons ’90, Keith Ciociola ’93, Al Jaffe ’68 and Camilla Ross ’89.

London Ray Shell ’74, Oliver Taprogge ’99, and Brian Hoadley, MFA ’98, swap and compare their Emerson stories at an alumni pub gathering in London in March. Emerson parents, Alyse and Philip Holstein, along with their son, Greg Holstein, a junior film major, hosted the event for alumni, current students and prospective students.

ter, directed by Lance Drake ’06; Two, directed

by Nick Hartanto ’05 and Sam Roden ’05; Stone Mountain, directed by Kevin McGowan ’05; Unicorn Pride, directed by Linnea Toney ’05; and The Fabulous Felix McCabe, directed by Landon Zakheim ’05.

Students, parents and President’s Society members attended a reception hosted by producer Vin Di Bona ’66, College trustee, on the set of America’s Funniest Home Videos. From left, are Peter Loge ’87, president of the College’s Alumni Association; President Jacqueline Liebergott, Erica Gerard and Vin Di Bona.

Young filmmakers are joined by (from left) screenwriter Kate Boutilier ’81, Emerson Dean Grafton Nunes and Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott. On the far right is Jim Lane, executive director of the College’s Los Angeles Program.

New York Connection The Office of Alumni Relations coordinated and transported more than 80 students to Manhattan for the 2006 New York Connection for a day of site visits in the students’ preferred careers.

Kristy Evans, MA ’05 (front center), poses with a group of global marketing and integrated marketing graduate students at the New York headquarters of Ogilvy & Mather. Evans is an account executive in the Brand Integration Group (BIG) at Ogilvy & Mather.

William Anderson (top left), executive-in-residence for Emerson’s marketing program, accompanied the group of 20 students.

Class Notes SEND YOUR NEWS TO US! New job? Received an award?

Recently engaged or married?

New baby? Moving? Write to barbara_rutberg@emerson.edu or mail the form on page 35.

1935 Esther Doyle was a professor of English at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., for 30 years. This spring, the college dedicated a new building, the Halbritter Performing Arts Center, in which the lobby is named for Doyle.

1950 Howard Atlee was one of four actors selected for the cover story, “Phoenix Rising: When actors take a break from acting they can return better than ever,” in the March issue of Back Stage East. Atlee has appeared on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Sopranos and will also appear in the upcoming film The Devil and Daniel Webster with Anthony Hopkins.

1955

Agnes G. Doody ’52, professor emerita of the University of Rhode Island, was recently honored by the Women’s Center of Rhode Island as a Woman of Excellence.

Joan Stanios Prescott recently had an exhibition of her monotypes, etchings and paintings at the Marion Art Center in Marion, Mass. She sends her fondest regards to her classmates.

1962 Hal Platzkere has successfully operated PR Connection, a marketing and communications firm, for more than 20 years. Hal has also worked as the senior VP and director of public relations for GMAC Commercial Real Estate and director of media relations and corporate communications for W.R. Grace & Co.

1963 Brenda Burman and Jerry Burman of Macomb, Mich., say that Brenda has completed 20 years as a speech therapist and 20 years as a gymnastics judge. Jerry still

1970

heads the family consulting firm working with school districts in the area of special education.

Thomas Turner is a public safety dispatcher for Wayland, Mass. He also volunteers for the town’s local access cable TV station as an on-air personality and in various production and technical capacities.

1964 Warren Rhodes won second prize in a national competition sponsored by Kodak for his photography. Warren retired from Gorton’s of Gloucester after 25 years.

1966

Elizabeth Kidney Sanner ’59 (second from right) married David James Craig of Manchester, N.H., last summer. Liz is semi-retired from teaching. On the left are Emerson Professor Emeritus Henry Stonie and Mary Jo Stonie ’60.

L. Clinton Brown writes: “I am the grandparent of five, have retired early from teaching, moved back to L.A., where I began my broadcasting career, dabbled in real estate, made enough to pay cash for a 10-acre ranch, raising quarter horses, also active in the local Shrine.”

Ed and Margaret (Tassinari) McSharry spent a week on Tybee Island, Ga., with Mike and Judy (Raphael) Kletter.

They toured Savannah together and have kept in close contact since graduating from Emerson.

1968 Barbara Beck’s daughter, Rachel, gave birth to Emerson Grey Honinstock, on Dec. 1, 2005.

Lance Kyed has become a member of the board of directors of the Boston Neighborhood Network.

Philip Ramuno has been working with Sony Pictures International in Moscow since November and has returned to L.A. He was a directorial consultant for the all-Russian version of Married with Children.

1969 Glenn Alterman was honored by the National Arts Club for his new book, Creating Your Own Monologue (second edition). Many of the top monologists in the country did readings from the book.

Mark Hall Amitin served as jury president for the 17th Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre in Egypt. This fall he will create and direct a new production for the Shanghai Drama Arts Centre in China.

Ellie Werner is thrilled to announce the birth of her first grandchild, Sophie Mary, born Dec. 24, 2005, in New York City. Ellie says ‘hi’ to her Kappa sisters Joanne, Marsha and Debbie.

1971 Joyce (Miller) McKenney was recently promoted to New England coordinator of ASSE International Student Exchange Programs. She would love to hear from anyone interested in hosting a foreign exchange student or becoming an area representative on her team.

1973 Bari (Sedar) Biern is the lyricist of The Marriage of Figaro: Las Vegas Version, produced at the Tivoli Theater in Washing-

ton, D.C. Bari also performs and writes as a member of The Capitol Steps, a political satire troupe.

Mike Potenza ’87 “finally won a hockey championship,” playing in the 30+ age division of Hockey Long Island. “It’s tough playing against guys a lot younger than me, but after 34 years of organized hockey, I still love getting out there.”

Mike is a producer at CBS News in New York City.

Toby Bloomberg says “my life is a blog” and was quoted in Inc. magazine talking about blogging.

Cathy (Charness) Borenstein is married with two children and principal of an early childhood program in a private school.

1974 Patricia Masterson of O’Malley Masterson Communications is the new vp of volunteer outreach for the Yankee Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Ayries Ray Shell is appearing in the Motown musical Dancing in the Streets under the stage name of Ray Shell. He has appeared in several West End shows such as The Lion King and Ms. Saigon.

1975 Rhonda Lynn Briscoe is a School Finance Committee member for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Her children are in college.

Douglas Ehrlich reports that his close friend, Emersonian John Ouwerkerk, died last year and will be “greatly missed.”

Rudy Nadilo is CEO of geoVUE in Woburn, Mass., a global provider of location intelligence solutions.

1976 Robert Collins is senior editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio, based in St. Paul.

He has been married for 24 years (almost) with two sons “who now appear to be grown.

I am a private pilot and am building an airplane in my garage.” Would love to hear from old friends at bcollinsrv7a@ comcast.net.

1977 Mark Cohen is vice president of financial services at 5W Public Relations in New York.

Prior to this post, he founded The Pinnacle Group on Long Island.

1980 David Beris has just finished serving as assistant stage manager for the Broadway production of Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life. He has spent 26 years living in New York City, the first 20 as an actor and the last five as a stage manager. He has been a proud member of Actors’ Equity for the past 20 years.

Arnold E. Fallon Jr. ’78 has been married to “my wonderful wife” Becky for nearly 24 years. They have three children. Arnold is finishing a historical biography, Long Island to Vermont: The Life and Times of John Tuthill. He is an officer of the Vermont Society, Sons of the American Revolution.

1981 Pat Cantwell was recently promoted to general manager of five radio stations for Cumulus Radio.

Rosalie Sheffield is director of event marketing for Boulder County Business Report.

In Memoriam 1922 Eileen M. (O’Brien) O’Leary of Natick, Mass.

1926 Mildred Ostberg Engs of Hyannis, Mass.

1933 Helen Palmer Parson of Dexter, Maine 1936 Anne MacDougall of Lexington, Mass.

1937 Phyllis (Baron) Mayer of New Bedford, Mass.

1940 Margaret Roberts of Provincetown, Mass.

1941 Helen Palupis Foster of Falmouth, Mass.

1945 Anne Backman of Glen Cove, N.Y. 1946 Wayne Van Vorhees of Machiasport, Maine 1951 George Duchin of Los Angeles, Calif.

1954 Theodore Anderson Taylor of Lincoln Park, N.J. 1956 Frank Fixaris of Falmouth, Maine 1970 Gary P. Clancy of Sherborn, Mass.

1971 Susan Grillon of Washington, Mass.

1972 Janice M. Costa of Elmwood Park, N.J. 1972 Jeffrey Glasserow of Port Washington, N.Y. 1974 Carolyn Cosgrove of Ipswich, Mass.

1981 Colly Dowart Leech of Warwick, N.Y. 1981 John J. Horvath Jr. of Wallingford, Conn.

2003 Darcy G. Wakefield of Cape Elizabeth, Maine Rod Whitaker, former chair of the Mass Communication Department

1982 Since leaving Emerson, Henry Crowley has worked in the pharmaceutical, research and clinical laboratory field.

He earned an M.B.A. from Boston University in 1995 and is living in New York, where he is president and CEO of Eppendorf North America. He married Kathleen Cote, whom he met at Emerson, and they have two sons in college.

“How time flies!”

Jim Siler ’87 owns Green Flash Production Sound in Florida. His clients include CBS, CNN, Fox News, TLC, Lifetime, ESPN and others.

Sheryl Kaller directed Christopher Durang’s Adrift in Macao at the Philadelphia Theatre Company.

Joanne Leitner has begun teaching Actor’s English at the Michael Chekhov Studio in Berlin, which offers a three-year professional actortraining program based on the methods of Michael Chekhov.

Josh Knauer married on Sept.

17 in Montpelier, Vt. Michael Coyle’87 ’90, directorTracy of sales training and development Josh is the on-air personality at in Barre with Watson Pharmaceuticals in WORK-FM New Jersey(101.7) and former personal and can to bePaul reached at knauernvr@charter.net. attaché Bremer in Iraq, with (from left) Abigail, Emily and From left are: Kathi Schaeffer ’87, Jen Cattin ’85, Ellen Bosch Tammy.

(Dolgins) ’86, Tracy, Jo

Eric Kutner won a national daytime Emmy Award for contributions and outstanding achievement in lighting direction for a drama series (Guiding Light on CBS). Eric is on the executive board of IATSE Local 353 New York State.

He has worked as a gaffer on The Sopranos and Law & Order.

Friends can write to Erickutner@aol.com.

Catherine (Kundrath) Weber recently won first prize in Worcester magazine’s annual poetry contest. She is completing a book of poems and collage. She married Paul in 1988 and has a son, Benjamin, 5. Catherine is president of CW Consulting Group, a strategic marketing and web consulting firm in Southborough, Mass.

1987

1988

Laura Douglas owns RedEye Professional Post, a film editing company, in the Washington, D.C., area.

Thomas Deslaurier-Tate and wife Carolyn welcomed their first child in October.

1983

1984

Roberta Devlin, MA ’83, retired from teaching high school English after 38 years in both public and private venues. Dozens of her students have won state, regional and national writing contests.

Hundreds of her students have had their writing published locally and nationally, “most after I earned the master’s degree in 1983.

Thanks to Emerson!”

Richard Bischoff ’84 appears in The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith. Richard also worked on 9 Months, The Rock, Flubber, The Rainmaker, America’s Most Wanted, and local and national commercials. He is the founder and communications director of Creative Coverage, a website and marketing communications agency in San Francisco.

Jill Kovalich, MA ’87, is general manager of Atticus Bookstore Café in New Haven, Conn. She is also an entrepreneur, personal chef and owner of Savor the Moment.

1985

Ken Rogers and Gina Yarbrough ’88 were recently finalists in the This Old House search for its next home renovation.

Frank Gorrell has accepted a position at L-3 Communications Titan Group located in Billerica, Mass., as Division Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Manager. “This is a great opportunity for a CPA who likes an audience! Best of all, I still have time to serve my town as a call firefighter and member of the Board of Assessors.”

Laurie Stone has taken a senior position at WLTM-FM in Atlanta.

Anna Ward retired from a 12year dancing career in Dallas and moved to Galveston to direct the Galveston Ballet.

Matt Kirkwood is directing the West Coast premiere of 2 Parents, 2 Weddings, 2 Years, written by Michelle Kholos and produced by Mel Brooks at the Hollywood Court Theater in L.A.

Joe and Joanne Roche traveled to Hunan, China, in June 2005 and adopted a child. Her brothers, Brendan, Conor and Ryan Roche, welcomed her home.

1990 Bernadette Pauley is a standup comic living in New York City with several TV credits under her belt. She is hosting a pilot for Bravo Television.

Joel Schwartzberg is the father of twin girls who are 3 and a son who is 6. They live in Maplewood, N.J. Joel is senior producer for new media for the television program Now on PBS. He is also a weekly humor columnist for the Maplewood News-Record and a contributing writer for New Jersey Monthly Magazine.

Scott Leif has taken a sales position with Argent Mortgage, the nation’s number-one mortgage wholesaler.

1986 Melanie Gideon has written her second book for young adults, Pucker (Penguin). Her first book, for teens, is called The Map That Breathed.

Marc Dube ’91, his wife Eileen and 3-year-old Juliette recently welcomed a new member of the family, Evelyn, born March 20. Marc is a writer/producer on the CBS series CSI: Miami.

The family lives in Glendale, Calif.

Cheryl (Bigelow) Magadieu ’88, her husband John and her daughter Holly Rose welcomed Emily Isabelle to the world on April 30, 2005.

Currently living in Franklin, Mass., Cheryl is working as a senior technical writer at Sybase, Inc. in Concord, Mass.

1991 Christine Cavalieri says “after 15 years working freelance in TV, I landed a staff job overseeing all TV production for AOL Productions and I run the L.A. office.”

Alcira Montes is a busy stay-athome mom to Ana Mercedes, Jose Jorge and Lucia, ages 4, 2 and 1. She and husband Jorge have been married for six years. She says “hola” to her Zeta siblings and all her friends. She can be reached at alciramontes@hotmail.com.

1992 Dan Bigman, managing editor of Forbes.com, was recently named to Folio magazine’s Folio 40 list for 2006.

David Cabral recently changed careers. He studied at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont and will be working as a chef for a high-end catering company based in northern Vermont.

He married Amanda Mason in 2002 and has two beautiful daughters, Olivia and Katherine.

Karen Fox Heindl and Brent Heindl ’90 are happy to announce the birth of daughter Bridget Katherine on Sept.

23, 2005. Bridget was born exactly 17 years to the day that Karen and Brent met and shared nachos at Crossroads.

Former classmates can contact them at bkheindl@ comcast.net.

On the Low, a short film by Luther Mace, made its Boston premiere at the Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in May. The film has won several awards, including Best Short Film in the Male category at the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Belinda Slocumb will complete her master’s degree in English with a concentration in writing in the summer of 2006 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is the proud mom of a 4-yearold son. She says “hello” to former 6 Arlington residents from ’88 to ’92.

1993 Jon Chaisson writes, “It’s been a little over four months since I’ve moved to San Francisco with my wife, and I love it here! I’m currently working for Bank of America, but lately I’ve been at work on a humorous vampire novel set in Boston that I hope to finish sometime this summer.”

Kate Stapleford and Scott Crawford were married June 3, 2006, in Chadds Ford, Pa. They live in Newark, Del., and honeymooned in Mexico. “I hope everyone is well and would love to hear from any other Sigma sisters!”

1994 After returning from covering Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Jeremy Desel picked up his 11th regional Emmy in October.

He is the National Trustee from Texas for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Board of Trustees. He recently married in Jamaica.

Marc Nathanson, MA ’96, has made a documentary about Lake Placid and its Olympic history. One of the main subjects of the documentary is Godfrey Dewey, who served as president of Emerson College at one time.

Jeff Perino and Ashley (Yeomans) Perino have had twins, Julia Rose and William Robert, who joins brother Michael.

Jeff is creative director in pharmaceutical advertising for Sudler and Hennessey/Young & Rubicam. The family lives in Madison, N.J. Michelle (Bruce) Williams and husband Sam welcomed their first child, Jackson Oscar Williams, in July 2005 in Los Angeles.

1995 Christina Fitzpatrick won a 2006 grant in prose from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Nicholas Levis, of Ovie Entertainment, reports that his company’s feature film Darkon won the Audience Award for

won the Summer Literary Seminars/Fence Magazine Fiction Contest.

Brandi Hale ’94 (third from right) is executive director of the Fundacion Infantil Ronald McDonald in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The organization provides housing and emotional support for parents with ill children.

Best Documentary at the South

by Southwest Film Festival. He is in pre-production on a new feature, The Funeral Party.

Eric Hauser, who is based in New York City, has launched a website that features his photography.

Paul Morra, of Swift River Productions in Los Angeles, reports that season two of the Henry Rollins Show recently kicked off on the Independent Film Channel with a special produced by Swift River.

Elina Kotlyar, MA ’98, attended a fundraising mission to Odessa, Ukraine, hosted

by Tikva Children’s Home.

Tikva’s mission is to rescue homeless, orphaned and neglected Jewish children in the Ukraine.

Brandon Pelissero is “very happily married for 10 years to my wife, Amy. One daughter, Madelyn Claire, almost three.

Expecting one more child soon. Looking for adventure.”

1996 Stefan Beittel is entering his tenth year as president (and founder) of Digital Media Kitchen.

Cidalia (Nunes) DeSantis and husband Michael had their first child, Alessandro, in December. Cidalia and Michael were married in 2003 and live in Seekonk, Mass.

Nicola Christian ’99 married Conliffe Clark in Antigua on Dec. 16, 2005. Emersonians included Christine Skeete ’01, Maria Schloerb Burns ’99, Nicola Christian, Rebecca Dornin ’00, Tara Sapienza ’99 and Mary Ann Cicala ’99.

Carl Schell and Sara Olson, partners for more than six years, welcomed their first child into the world in August 2005. The family lives in Ringwood, N.J. Carl is working as managing editor of a local sports newspaper, Northern Jersey Sports. Friends can write to jasperhamilton@yahoo. com.

1997 Kenneth Calhoun, MFA ’97, has won the Calvino Prize for his short story, Voice on a Spool. He read from the story at the University of Louisville, Ky., at the 20th Century Literature and Culture Conference in February. In 2004 Kenneth

Ted Campbell was on the crew of the film Quinceañera, a feature film that won not only the Grand Jury Prize, but also the Audience Award at Sundance this year. The film had several Emerson alums on its crew: producer Anne Clements, line producer Shaun Young, first AD Ted Campbell and gaffer Eric Forand. This is the first film in the 22-year history of Sundance to win both awards, writes Campbell.

Jeff Caruso and Bekka (Mortelliti) Caruso have moved to Cape Coral, Fla. They were married in 2000 and welcomed son Alex in 2003. They would love to hear from old friends at lawnninja@lawnninja.com.

Genevieve Ellison is working on several ongoing photography projects, including a book due in 2007 on true-life heroes.

Marisa Arange de Fabrega and Rafael Fabrega are happily living in Panama. Marisa coowns and manages a Styrofoam processing facility.

Lee Miller just finished directing his first film, Tween, which is now in post-production. His feature screenplay, The Book of Samuel, was selected for the final round of the Sundance Filmmakers Lab and was accepted to the 2005 IFP New York Market.

1998 Seth Bodie received an IRNE nomination for his work as costume designer on Kiss of the Spider Woman at SpeakEasy Stage in Boston.

Amy Darsey just bought a house in Atlanta. She is excited about exploring opportunities in her hometown.

Chris Lamothe has worked 10 years in Internet consulting and educational technology.

He has been accepted into Carnegie Mellon’s master of entertainment technology program and will attend school at the college’s campus in Australia.

Kelly King ’00 married Nick Boganwright in 2004. Classmates Sonya Cosentini and Rebecca Sagall were in the wedding party. The couple live in Seattle, where actor Kelly is quickly becoming part of the film community.

Attending the wedding of Jesse Soff ’01 and Katie Bruner ’01 in October 2005 in Lawrence, Kans., were classmates Dave Bekerman, Levi Fishman, Pat Dunn, Meg Swift, Lisa DeMatteo, Andy Korner, Jill Dibles, Emilie Ruddell, Jennifer Keppel, Terrence McCabe, Cory Krowne and Evan Mann.

Danielle A. Ledesma was recently commissioned by Natural History New Zealand, owned by Fox Television Studios in conjunction with Discovery Networks, to develop and create a documentary multi-part series on people who have been close to getting murdered and have lived to tell their story.

Terri Long, MFA ’98, has been teaching college writing and creative nonfiction for the past nine years at Boston College. Her first novel, Leah’s Wake, will be published this fall by LBF Books.

Katherine (Gill) Sandoz recently joined MobileRobots, a robotics corporation in Amherst, N.H., taking the lead on the company’s marketing and customer service efforts.

Katherine lives with husband Charles in Manchester.

1999 Aneka Hylton-Donelson, MA ’99, is married, has two boys and is the post-production supervisor for Discovery Channel networks – Science, TLC and HD Theater. She lives in Maryland.

Jenny Laden started her own public relations consulting business called Two Roads Communications. She lives in Waltham, Mass., and is married to Efrain Viscarolasaga.

Melissa (Eaton) Lynch and Ryan Lynch ’98 are the proud parents of a baby girl. Sally was born Feb. 11, 2006, in Burbank, Calif. The family says they are all very happy and healthy.

Kirill Nersesyan accepted a position at Beta Film TV Productions in Moscow, Russia, as a cameraman/visuals supervisor. Prior to this position, Kirill was employed

Jason Grossman ’02 is coordinating producer for a show called Laughing Liberally: Saving Democracy One Laugh at a Time in New York City. Two other alums are involved: comic Julie Goldman ’94 and producer’s assistant Rob Morrison ’05.

at TK Ostankino as videographer. He and wife Svetlana are proud to announce the birth of daughter Anna on August 5, 2005.

Patrick Zeller has a supporting role in the movie End of the Spear. He is also artistic director for the Present Tense Theatre Project in New York City.

Danielle Sadler, MFA ’03, is currently teaching full time at Lawrence Academy, a co-ed day and boarding school serving about 400 students.

Mary Ann Bagnoli (pictured), MA ’02, and Tricia McCorkle ’04 have been hired by the Delaware North Company-Boston as events marketing coordinator and publicity coordinator.

the skills necessary for me to complete my last project.”

Laurie McKenna, MA ’00, is an editor with Brown Publishing Network in Waltham, Mass. She lives in Brookline.

Jenn Russo, MA ’00, launched an online commercial printing and print technology company.

2000

2001

Stephanie Higgins, MFA ’00, has made her debut documentary, The Gay Marriage Thing, which was recently picked up for distribution by The Cinema Guild of New York City.

She writes: “Emerson was a fantastic choice for me…Without it, I wouldn’t have had all

Colin Bohrer, MA ‘01, works at Pixar Animation Studios with credits including Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Cars.

Allison Dressler ’01 is production manager with the Cartoon Network in Atlanta, Ga.

Meredith Crandall ’03 has been named vice president of The Ashy Agency in Los Angeles. Previously, Meredith worked on two seasons of the Fine Living cable TV program Around the World in 80 Homes.

2002 Evelyn Carrigan ’02 and Bill Miller Film recently finished shooting a pilot for a children’s show The Berries. Other Emersonians involved are two of the “Berries,” musical theater graduates Erin Leddy ’03 and Michele DeLuca ’03, and Nadia Tabbara ’05, who wrangled more than 100 props for the show and was second assistant director.

Emersonians can reach Evelyn at ev@evcarrigan.com.

Alysha Crouse joined 5W’s technology practice as a senior account executive. Prior to 5W, Alysha worked for Miller Consulting in Boston.

Giuseppe Graziano wrote an episode for the hit CBS sitcom, The King of Queens, which aired this spring. The episode is called “Hartford Wailer” and co-stars rock and roll icon Huey Lewis.

Jennifer Heller married Joe Moser ’00 on Nov. 5, 2005.

They live in Austin, where Jen works in educational publishing and Joe is earning his Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas.

Jessica Lowrey recently became a member of the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. She was inducted as a second assistant director.

2003 Randi Farmelant has fulfilled one of his dreams by opening up a radical book and zine shop, Feed Your Head Books, in Salem, Mass. He is also interested in carrying small press titles and self-published work. Emersonians may write to: randie@feedyourheadbooks.com.

Stephen Moreau writes, “After completing work on the films Spiderman 2 and The Fantastic Four in Los Angeles and Vancouver, Canada, I recently moved to New York City. I now do publicity and marketing for Buena Vista and Touchstone Pictures.”

Tom O’Conner has been the box office coordinator of the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts since the fall of 2004.

The Pavilion houses two entirely new theaters as well as rehearsal and function space for use by local artists and companies.

Roman Sturgis finished his teaching contract for a small D.C. charter high school.

Since then he has been focusing on writing a portfolio in anticipation of graduate school in the fall of 2007. He has also been traveling and would love classmates to visit his blog at RomanSturgis. blogspot.com.

Ole Tangen Jr., MA ’03, and Chetin Chabuk, MA ’04, are independent filmmakers who made a short film Reindeer Men for PBS’s online site Frontline/World Rough Cut. Chabuk lives in Boston, where he works as assistant editor for PBS’s Frontline.

John R. Wall, MA ’03, is producer/director for The PPS Group in Cincinnati and recently launched abouteating.com, featuring thousands of recipes from author Rita Heikenfeld.

2004 Lisa Barone is engaged. She met her fiancé when she was on her L.A. internship at Emerson. She also has begun a new job as a technical writer for a leading search engine optimization company.

Roberto Bentivegna is now an M.F.A. student in film at Columbia University concentrating in directing. His short film The Mirakle has screened at Cannes and the Miami International and Tartan Road film festivals. He is also working on other short films.

Nikki Lau ’04 is a production assistant at Jack Morton Worldwide’s Hong Kong branch. She has taken up BMX riding and went to Taiwan last summer for a one-week BMX training camp. The trip was filmed as part of a BMX documentary for Channel V Asia and was broadcast nationwide.

Jana-Lynne Mroz (now Gauthier) is married and is technical project manager for the New England Patriots.

Tambra Stevenson received the Leadership Award from Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), for managing the Combined Federal Campaign for Headquarters and Field Offices of the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, which is a newly developed office within HHS.

2005 Abigail Beckel, MA ’05, and Grub Street instructor Kathleen Rooney, MFA ’05, have founded the newly established Rose Metal Press, an independent organization dedicated to the publication of works in hybrid and often-overlooked genres. They are assembling an anthology of previously published short short stories by Emerson alums.

Where Are You And What are You Doing New job? Received an award? Recently engaged or married? New baby? Moving? Recently ran into a long-lost classmate?

Let us know. Use this form to submit your news or send it to Barbara_Rutberg@emerson.edu; 1-800-255-4259; fax: 1-617-824-7807.

You can also submit Class Notes online at www.emerson.edu/alumni.

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My Turn Other People’s Lives Young alumnus and journalist Jack Encarnacao ’05 on his first job out of college It was at Emerson that I first heard this stinging question: Why do you want to spend your life telling other people’s stories?

I had no response to the question at the time. It was my first hint that journalism tests one’s ego. But after a year on the job, I have found it refresh-

ing to discover that other people’s stories are much more interesting.

A commuter train mangles an errant car and an entire town hears the smash. A young couple is trying to make sense out of their 2-year-old girl dying of a rare lung cancer. Tax bills are going up, water isn’t clean, and schools are falling apart.

These are all topics I’ve written about in one form or another at The Patriot Ledger, a Quincy-based daily newspaper that covers the South Shore region of the state. Breaking news and human interest has been a rush. Taxes?

Not so much. It’s not particularly easy being a 22-year-old whose job it is to

write about what a 45-year-old with two kids cares about. Especially when most folks just want to be left alone. Even those paid to serve the public.

Emerson professors try to warn students about this, the mundane. Unless you land a miracle job, what you find interesting in college is not what you’ll be focused on professionally, at first. In journalism, you’ll be focused on what everyone else finds interesting.

And it’s good for you.

Well, it hasn’t all been good. Imagine finding out these two things on the same day: one, your union contract mandates that newest employees go

first if layoffs happen. Two, layoffs are happening. Yep, I got laid off after six months on the job because revenues weren’t up to snuff. Fortunately, the company later decided to offer retirement buyouts, and my job was funded again. I think everyone was happy to see me back.

It’s tough to reconcile my justhappy-to-be-here persona with getting laid off for no other reason than economics. I’m not sure I learned anything from the experience. But I’m pretty sure you cannot erect a buffer between yourself and economic realities, no matter how careful you are or how hard you think.

I wonder a lot these days about my Emerson classmates. Everyone seemed so sure about what they were doing, what their calling was. I was so sure of myself. I knew all about postmodernism. I picked up a lot of big words and lots of insight about sociology, religion, language, art. The finer points of comedy and acting. What was good art, what was camp. What was meaningful, what was not.

I came out of college “knowing what it was all about.” I was an interesting person, I told myself.

Now here I am, in a town hall somewhere, listening to middle-aged men in suits talking about the upcoming Little League parade and why the budget is so out of balance. What to do about road kill, how the Red Sox are doing, and why there are so many potholes in the road.

I’ve still got a lot to learn, I tell myself.

Jack Encarnacao, a native of New Bedford, Mass., graduated from Emerson in 2005 with a degree in print and multimedia journalism.

The 25th Annual Evvy Awards A

S t a r - S t u d d e d

E v e n t

The 25th anniversary of the EVVYs, the largest student-produced televised production in the country, was marked in style on May 13 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. Actor Sean Hayes (far left, at podium), star of NBC’s Will & Grace, surprised the audience with a special appearance. Hayes was on hand to present an Award of Distinction to Max Mutchnick ’87, creator and co-executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning sitcom. (Mutchnick is pictured, bottom right, with Hayes and President Jacqueline Liebergott.) Students also honored Vice President of Administration and Finance Robert Silverman and his wife Fran (left) with the Award of Appreciation.

The awards show recognizes student achievement in more than a dozen disciplines, including film, journalism, television, photography, acting, advertising, poetry, comedy and set design.

DANCE FEVER: Emerson student dancers provided highenergy entertainment for the 2006 EVVY Awards, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The awards show, held in the Cutler Majestic Theatre, is not only an opportunity for communicators and artists throughtout the College to be honored for their achievements but for students to gain valuable experience in the production of a professional, live oncamera show.

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