ASIJ '93 Alumni Newsletter 2006

Dear ASIJ Class of '93ers,

Welcome to another year in the life of Class of '93! Class agent Tom Reid here expressing heartfelt thanks, on behalf of our entire class, to those of you who took the time to write in this year -- it means a lot to people to keep up with what their old classmates are doing, and by taking the time to drop us a line you play the crucial role in keepin' it real. In this context, and before going a step further, let's once again deliver big special shout-outs to Chantal Balogh and Chris McMunn for their critical roles in getting this newsletter started in its fledgling years, and to Katie Sakuma for her continued service as webmaster of our class website.

If our entire class is grateful for the emails you all sent in, your class agent is particularly grateful for the way you have all chosen --- perhaps in some sort of telepathically-coordinated worldwide collective conspiracy --- to simplify the task of chronicling your lives this year, by organizing your pursuits in such a way that a clear, unmistakable theme emerges. What, you ask, is our class theme in 2006? Read on, dear reader, read on! But before you do, read this

Important Note: Due to technical difficulties, we lost all emails that arrived over a four-day period in July. If you sent in an news update and did not receive a response from me, please resend your message. In general, we always acknowledge all messages received, and if you ever fail to get an acknowledgement please resend your message.

And with that out of the way, it's on to the newsletter...

The unmistakable theme of ASIJ '93 Alumni Newsletter 2006 is breakin' the chains. Breaking free of the corporate world, breaking free of twentieth-century information media, breaking free of whatever fetters may have bound you, and launching forth in new, bold, liberated and independent directions. Be it the high-profile corporate scandals that have been much in the news of late, be it the groundswell of rumours foretelling the impending demise of the "mainstream media," be it the inexorable advance of globalization and the early ear-to-the-ground for it that we global-minded ASIJers are supposed to wield, or be it merely the crazed hallucinations of a class agent entirely too desperate to discern order from chaos, something seems to be leading our class in eerie lockstep towards a mass exodus from bondage.

Leading this exodus is -- who else? -- none other than Bond Masuda. After college, Bond studied high-energy physics at UCSD before moving into the field of information security, working at a consulting firm and a software company. However, Bond writes, After six years of working for someone else, I realized that my personality conflicted with the culture of corporate America. So, on July 4th, 2004, I resigned and celebrated my own independence with the rest of America. I started my own consulting practice later that summer and have been working on that since. When not busy running JL Bond Consulting, Bond is an organizer for a club of BMW enthusiasts in San Diego, where he lives with his wife Julie (see right)-- who, finding Bond's enthusiasm contagious, now drives a BMW too! For computer security tips or biased advice on your next car purchase, write to Bond.

Also recently escaped from the corporate world is Mike Riedy. After working at GE for six years, Mike realized that

Corporate America was taking part of my soul, so I thought it was time to remove myself from that.

		Jen Woodard, who attended ASIJ from sixth to ninth grade, studied Japanese language and linguistics at the University of Hawaii on Oahu before moving to Santa Cruz, CA. It was here, evidently, that Jen caught the official class brainwave: I have worked for Fox Racing, Inc., a motorcross apparel company for the last 8 months and have resigned from the corporate world HAPPILY!!!! I am now working with Community Options, a non-profit that supports special needs adults. Jen notes that she is "stoked to be oceanside," and, by way of photographic proof, submits exhibits A and B at left! "I enjoy cruisin' around on my Schwinn," Jen continues, "playin' ball at the beach, live music shows, art gatherings, having fun outdoors as much as I can handle! If any ASIJers are close by, don't hesitate to email." Jen also poses a history question for the ASIJ lifers out there: Does anybody remember the name of a school for the blind, near the ASIJ campus, at which ASIJ elementary-school students did volunteer work when our class was in 5th or 6th grade? If you know the answer, Jen will be very grateful! (To jog your memory, and for comparison with the aforementioned exhibits, Jen looked something like this when she was involved in said volunteer work.)

Putting out a shingle for himself in Livingston, Montana is Daniel Fish, who reports: I have officially opened my own graphic design company where I am my own boss and do not have to work for the "man" (AKA Nathan Barrett). The name of my company is no other than Fishstix design and business is good!! I have manage to hook up clients in NY, Costa Rica, and Montana which all vary in project which keeps me on my toes. Still working on a website that should be up this winter if I can manage some time between quality time with my wife (Dana Nelson), the children (Amora (7yr) and Jordan (2yr)), and my father's plays which he forces me to attend, and my mother's track meets where she has found a new love for breaking records in shot put and discus, as well as creaming people younger than she in racing events and marathons. On top of these distractions, Daniel plays in a year-long indoor/outdoor soccer league, and has gotten back into skateboarding, "traveling to Seattle and through Montana as well to skate huge concrete bowls." Daniel spends what little free time he has left devising strategies for protecting his family, particularly his daughter Amora, who is in second grade, but is reading at a fifth grade level and is ridiculously bright. She has embraced the word "whatever" and I speculate that she is developing some attraction towards boys. I have decided that I will purchase a hatchet and cause some serious mental trauma to any punk that even considers give her half of his peanut butter sandwich at the playground. I know what that will lead to ...... kissing games and that is not going to happen on my clock brotha!!!! For top-notch graphic design work or a playground vigilante-for-hire, contact Fishstix Design.

Breakin' the chains of the traditional media is Radhika Dani. When last spotted at our tenth class reunion, Radhika was just finishing up her MBA at NYU's Stern School of Business and had just started dating a new suitor. After that, Radhika worked for a while at InStyle magazine in New York City, but has now moved out to LA to work in marketing for MySpace, and is now engaged to be married...and yes, to that same suitor! (Something about those ASIJ reunions...) We eagerly await wedding photos and honeymoon stories. Also happily esconced in the California media world is Rachel Ito, who is Art Director for an online character animation school called Animation Mentor. The school is in Berkeley, CA, was started by animators from Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic, and has Rachel to thank for the designs of its public and internal websites, its corporate identity, and all of its 3D graphics! Rachel writes,

I love this school, it reminds of ASIJ, you can learn animation from anywhere in the world, currently we have 500 students from 52 different countries. All the mentors are professional working animators who have animated the most awesome characters from Yoda, Spiderman to Gollum and Pixar characters.

Breakin' the records-- really just totally shattering them--for Most ASIJers In Attendance At Wedding is Melissa Shimizu, who married Mike Abell on July 29th in a ceremony in Brooklyn.

Before closing the "breakin' the chains" files we must catch up with our official class guru of self-employment, Jill Fink, who was among the earliest of our classmates to break free of the corporate world when she founded Mugshots Coffeehouse and Cafe in 2004. Mugshots is going strong, having recently opened its second store in Philadelphia's Manayunk neighborhood -- preparations for which left Jill "up to my elbows (quite literally at times) in paint and cleaning products!" Jill also has news to report on the home front:

Yes, I've taken the plunge (well, maybe it's more like dipping my toes in the water) - not marriage, but co-habitation. Re-learning all sorts of lessons that I was taught oh-so-many years ago - sharing, compromise, etc. The can-we-get-a-dog conversation over and over. It's the best. Wouldn't have it any other way. (Oh, and about Dan, he's a 4th year resident in Emergency Medicine. We enjoy candlelight dinners and long walks on the beach.) We did just recently get back from St. Maarten where we probably enjoyed more rum and sun than long walks on the beach, but we threw in some sailing for good measure as well.

And thus we see that the mantra of breakin' the chains has infused itself deeply into the collective soul of the Class of '93. Meanwhile, other members of our class have been pursuing their own versions of the same ideal, albeit in some cases with their consonants all mixed up...

Brian Conaghan, for instance, has been busily bakin' the grains of sand into silicon for Pentium processors. Brian works for Intel in Portland, Oregon, where he has taken a leave from the manufacturing side of the business to work on the next big microprocessor family due in 2008. On the home front, Brian recently bought a house together with his boyfriend Shawn, "which," Brian notes, "I guess is the highest form of legal commitment two men can do in Oregon." Brian also spent three months volunteering mornings at his church's drop-in center for the homeless, and continues to take his godson to regular volunteer shifts at a local soup kitchen. On the hobby front, Brian is proud to say that

I've also been tinkering with digital photography - my highlight was someone saying they couldn't print my photos because they weren't allowed to print stuff for professionals. Ok, so it was a Walgreen's clerk out in the suburbs, but someone thinks I could get paid for it. I'll take it.

Jeff Staloch has been takin' the planes around the world to such exotic destinations as Qatar, Costa Rica, and Alaska; this is sometimes to visit field installations in his capacity as an R&D engineer for CCI Valve, and sometimes to go surfing and scuba diving! When not airborne, Jeff lives in Hermosa Beach, California, and reports that

I attended/crashed a wedding in Hawaii with a friend a few years back, who was good friends with the bride. It turns out that the bride's good friends in college were Rachel Ito and Christine Lee, who were very surprised to see me at the wedding.

Also taking planes to exotic destinations is Katie Sakuma, who gushes enthusiastically about the travel opportunities afforded by her new employment:

This new job has taken me to glamorous cities like Detroit Lakes, MN and Earth City, MO.

Well, at least I can say that my travels allow me to accrue a ridiculous number of frequent flyer miles which will surely come in handy when visiting my parents in Hawaii!

Hisako Dewanto (Watanabe) has no need of planes to get to exotic destinations -- she lives in one! In Indonesia, to be exact, a destination not only exotic, but also marked by extreme weather events, including the earth quakin' and heavy rains. Hisako and her husband are in the middle of construction on their third processing facility, which will add another 10,000 square meters of process space and double the production capacity -- and workforce! -- of their shrimp processing plant. A major milestone was the attainment of ISO 9001:2000 certification a few months back, although there's no time to rest on those laurels, what with the higher certifications to be pursued pending the completion of the new factory. "That's my professional life." writes Hisako. "Sometimes I just want to bum around!!" Away from the plant, Hisako's daugters Michelle (8) and Jessica (4) are growing up fast, and, notwithstanding the dual time crunch of factory and family, Hisako somehow manages to find time to teach her church's 5th grade Sunday school class! Write to Hisako.

Wakin' to the strains of an infant's cries (and probably several times a night, at that) is Karen Hale. Karen's daughter Jenna Marie was born on April 21, and, in characterizing the effect this has had on her life, Karen is succinct:

It's great!

I guess we're the typical suburban family now...though I don't drive a minivan or an SUV. :)

Several of us, perhaps having taken too seriously the ASIJ motto about "preparing passionate, inquisitive learners," are enjoying life as students. Jesper Edman is in the Ph.D. program at the Stockholm School of Economics and "enjoying it immensely. Lots of thinking, reading, and writing -- suits me perfectly." (We should point out that Jesper, having studied twentieth-century economic theory as well as high-school biology at ASIJ, can claim proudly to be a student of both Chaiken and Keynes.) The idyll won't last forever, though -- Jesper's wife Christine, who works in strategy for H&M, will be transferring to H&M Hong Kong next spring, and if the thrill of rejoining the expat lifestyle weren't enough, the two are expecting their first child in November! In the meantime, Jesper and Christine have been doing some extreme tourism:

Before leaving for Asia, we've been trying to see as much as possible of Europe. The past year has included trips to Barcelona, the Canary Islands, Mallorca, Hungary, Norway, St. Petersburg and Italy - in February we also spent a weekend in northern Sweden at the Ice Hotel. As the name indicates, it's a hotel made completely of ice - you sleep on beds made of reindeer skins, go dog-sledding, ice-fishing, snowmobiling and watch the northern lights - an absolutely awesome experience I would recommend to anyone who wants to try something different!

Finally, I, Tom Reid, am also still a student, in Boston, where, having long since realized that I lack the intellect of a true physicist, I am trying to see how far I can get by simply fakin' the brains. Write to Jesper, Grant, or me.

On the opposite end of the classroom are a contingent of '93ers in whom our class can take particular pride -- those carefully takin' the pains to ensure that today's students get the same great education that we all got at ASIJ. Marie Baba lives in Irvine, CA and teaches 4th--6th graders with moderate to severe autism at an elementary school in Newport Beach. Marie writes that she is "having a totally awesome year...I wrote my first grant this year, and got funded, which allowed me to buy reading and math curriculum materials for three classrooms." Never one to stop at just one triumph, Marie was also named Teacher of the Year at her school, and, as if all that weren't enough, got engaged and is planning to get married next year! Stay tuned for wedding photos from Marie and Steve!

After five years of teaching 5th grade in a public school, Beth Wilson recently graduated to 6th grade, which she starts this year. But she'll be taking time off in April for a trip to Paris to celebrate her tenth wedding anniversary with her husband Erik, a potter and art teacher. Beth's son Ethan "is now 16 months old," Beth writes, "and making us laugh daily with his toddler antics," although he is clearly serious about his good taste in headwear (see left). In the meantime, Beth and her gang have been having fun hiking the Adirondacks and visiting Burlington, Vermont, where Beth highly recommends the sushi place.

Haruna Tada recently took on a new job as Director of Middle School Initiatives at TechBoston, part of the Boston Public Schools. "My job," Haruna explains, "is to support and advance engineering/technology education in the Boston Public Schools. I will be doing curriculum development, teacher training, classroom support, etc..." Haruna is also running a workshop for about 30 teachers from Boston and nearby, giving them training to begin teaching robotics in their classes. On top of all that, Haruna is finishing her PhD in mechanical engineering at Tufts, and recently got engaged! "My fiance, Yusuke," she writes, "is St. Mary's '93, so there are probably some of you who know him. We recently moved to East Boston and are living right next to the airport (within walking distance!), so free free to stop by if you're flying through Boston."

Working with children in a non-classroom setting is Naoko Ostermann (Matsunaga), who has been with a social services agency near her home in Chicago for almost four years now, specializing in project management, fundraising, and marketing. "It's a rewarding job," writes Naoko, "to know that our programs and services benefit adults and kids with disabilities." On the home front, Naoko and her husband Mark recently moved "out of the suburbs into the big city of Chicago...We are having fun exploring our new neighborhood, which is filled with independent restaurants and shops. Lake Michigan is also just a short walk away, so we take advantage of the great bike and running paths along the water." Over the summer, Naoko and Mark did some exploring on the other side of the world:

We attended a wedding in Bangalore. It was a Hindu wedding...it was one of the most festive, colorful weddings I've ever seen. It was quite interesting to see all of the rituals (like throwing flowers into fire, the bride and the groom washing the parents' feet, etc). We were clueless most of the time (okay, I admit, maybe ALL the time), but our friends' family members did a great job of explaining what was going on! We also traveled to Agra, Delhi and Chennai. India was very eye-opening; we saw a big gap between the haves and the have-nots. After India, we traveled on to Istanbul and Bodrum, Turkey.

Ever the contrarian, Leila Siman (Bryner) decided that if everyone else would be breakin' their chains, she would just have to go work for one -- for a hotel chain, to be exact, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, boasting the Westin, Sheraton, W, and St. Regis brands. Leila works in marketing communications for Starwood and writes, "I can honestly say that I love my job, but wish there was a little less traveling some days. But, you can't beat the deals on hotel rooms!" Leila keeps in touch with Rami Ramirez, Jenn Phillips (Yates), and Marisa Yamano, has been happily married for four years, and is hoping to make a pilgrimage to Tokyo with her husband sometime next year -- "and, yes, we'll probably stay at the Westin!"

Also in the hotel biz is Lisa Collyer (Floyd), who is Director of Catering at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC, and had quite a busy summer:

Patti Labelle sang at one of my weddings. I think that was the highlight of June. My low point was my son getting bitten by a dog, but he's okay.

Plying the hotel trade in Hawaii is Shandy Ota. Shandy is Senior Sales Manager at The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua and writes:

I am still living in Maui, Hawaii working for The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua. Enjoying life, working hard and playing hard (surf, golf and martial arts). Still look the same, probably a few more pounds and maybe a little less hair. Live with my girl and dog "Koa". I am planning on staying here for the next couple of years and then will make the next step somewhere.

Finally, our class -- nothing if not diverse -- sports a robust contingent of folks whose job descriptions stubbornly defy all attempts at categorization using words rhyming with "breaking" or "chains." Ann Barnett-Dahl works in Customs & Trade Facilitation at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC. Ann recently got engaged to LT Craig W. Heilman, who is leaving active duty after a successful career in the U.S. Navy, during which he was decorated for valor for flying combat missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We extend our congratulations to the happy couple and look forward to wedding photos! Write to Ann.

Jason Holland, who was with our class from third through fifth grades, is Manager of Education Programs at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, near his home in Huntington Beach, CA. Jason is still loving his job, and keeps up his stage chops on the side by performing in -- and directing! -- musical theatre productions around Southern California. Outside of the theatre world, Jason loves being at 'dog beach' with his two dogs and playing with his niece and two nephews. Write to Jason.

Amy Boston (Beverley), who was with our class from fourth through seventh grades, lives just north of Atlanta. After working for a few years, Amy is now a stay-at-home mom again so that her husband Chris, who has been with BellSouth for 11 years now (on the ISP side), can go back to school for a Masters degree. Amy (left) and her kids Emilie (10, right, center) and Alex (8, right, rear) were in Michigan for a family reunion this summer, and all are excited that Amy's brother Justin Beverley ASIJ '94 and his family now live nearby in Charlotte, NC. In neighboring-class news, Amy reports that Chip Robinson ASIJ '94 is currently on the MTV show "Wild 'n Out." Write to Amy, and check out her family's website.

Finally, in July, Dave Rothwell left his job at Accenture for a new job. (Dave: I guess this means no more free smokes?) We hope to have a full report for an upcoming newsletter, and, in the meantime, write to Dave.

And that's a spin 'round the world of the Great ASIJ Class of '93! Thanks to all who wrote in -- and thanks in advance to all who will write in next year! Send news and address updates anytime directly to me, or post them on our class website at http://www11.brinkster.com/asij1993/Update.asp, and in the meantime keep in touch with your classmates through our online class directory.