1994

In my last column, I ended with Marcelino Garcia's updates on some '94s in Chicago. Now I continue with his non-Chicago news: Marcelino brought Mary Hayes and Rebecca Obstler to Puerto Rico with him during the summer of '98, where they all parried at night and went for midnight swims—I guess you're the man to vacation with, Marcelino! He also writes that Steve Villanueva graduated from Pepperdine Law School and is now working for the music industry in L.A. and Miami. In fact, he produced part of Ricky Martin's Grammy-winning album, Vuelve. Steve attended the Grammy Awards, and even received a plaque for his work on the album. He's now promoting some of his own shows around the United States. (If you want a free plug in the magazine, Steve, just write!) Randy Quinones is working in Hawaii with a development agency. He visited with Marcelino in Chicago when he was there for a conference in the spring. KJ Ward also came to visit during that time. KJ is working in Boston doing education and school reform consulting. Carnell Chosa is in Santa Fe, N.M., working for the New Mexico government dealing with Native affairs. DeniseVargas lives in Honduras and works as a general manager for a foreign corporation. Roxana Pechero was living in N.Y., but is now attending Wharton, much to the dismay of "her loving boyfriend, Freddie," writes Marcelino. Thanks for a great update, Marcelino, and I hope all is well!

Jerrny Kim wrote in the spring to announce her engagement to Marty Voelker. She and Marty were classmates at U.Penn Law. By the time you read this, they will certainly be married, as they had planned a September wedding at Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. Jenny got nostalgic when she heard from George Kim that he was attending EliseWellford's wedding (which also may have happened by now). Jenny and Elise were on the same freshman trip back in the fall of 1990—"We used to talk about boys and other good teenie-bopper stuff," writes Jenny. "How funny it is that we are both planning weddings at the same time. If you speak to her, tell her congratulations from me." Hmmm.. .1 kind of feel like Kasey KasEm right now—like I should be saying, "Elise, here's your long distance dedication." So Elise, I hope you're listening. Maybe you can hum a few bars of the Alma Mater or something until the nostalgia seeps in—seriously though, congratulations to both of you! OK—now I hate to end on a sour note, and I'll try not to, but I must let you know that I recently received an e-mail from a classmate who is "sick of hearing over and over again about the same people in our class." I need to address this issue, because if you happen to share this sentiment, I have a rather selfempowering tip for you (which, coincidentally, has also been the mantra of this column for five years): Write to me. If you want to hear about more people, more of you need to write! I will continue to print any and all news, whether you've written to me 12 times before, or are writing for the first time—I don't care. I just want to hear from any and all of you! So come one, come all—Class Notes virgins and veterans alike. You can count on me to keep the columns coming every month, and to keep them as fresh and fun to read as possible, but in terms of the names and the news itself, I'm afraid I'm, the one counting on you. So please write. I'll be here...

Nihad M.Farooq,3 Whittier Road, Milford, MA 01757-1229; nfarooq@holycross.edu

Rescuer Katie Fesus '94, p. 55

Jason Stern '94 tracks Ledyard, p. 46