Bike the Pike with 99ers

via Dana Brown

BIKE THE MASS PIKE WITH CLASS O' 1999

We are less than a year way from our 10 year reunion and if you are like me you are probably thinking of a cool story to tell all the folks you have not seen in ten years. Well here's an opportunity to add to a chapter in your reunion book or if you are like me a great way to jump start your weight loss program before May '09.

It's the MassPike Bike Tour. Check out the website and read the details. You don't have to be a Lance Armstrong type to attend. It will be lots of fun, the tour begins in Concord, MA and ends in NORTHAMPTON, MA. If you are interested, please join Katrina Gamble and I August 14-17 for three days of fun and excitement as we bike through MA.

Please email Dana Brown. Out goal is that have a Smithie team with as many 99ers as we can get. See you on the PIKE!

Class Notes Submissions Time

It's that time again, the class notes deadline. Notes submitted now will appear in the Winter 2007 Quarterly. Please send your updates to the class email address on or before Tuesday, August 14th or post your news to the comments section here and I will make sure Ingrid "Ms. Class Secretary Fantastico" Howard gets the info. If sending email please be sure to put "Class Notes Update" in the subject line.

Also, let us know in your email or comment if it is ok to post your news to the blog or add your photo to our flickr account. Please include the names of all people in the photo, along with class year (if different) and date/event the photo is from.

Cheers and have a great weekend all!
Tiffany

Simon Aronoff profiled in MetroWeekly

Our own Simon Aronoff is on the cover of the July 26th MetroWeekly for his work as the deputy director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Read Simon Says: Simon Aronoff just wants equality -- for everyone.

The interview with Simon is great, as is his commitment to social justice and equality.

Congratulations Simon on all your work!

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Highlights Carolyn Kuan

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer had a great article on our own Carolyn Kuan and her post at the Seattle Symphony Orchestra last week. I have included the first few paragraphs below with a link to the full article.

If you are in the Seattle area show your support of Carolyn and check out one of the shows she is conducting. See her bio at the Seattle Symphony site.

Congrats Carolyn on all your success!

******

New Seattle Symphony associate conductor is aiming for the top
By R.M. CAMPBELL - P-I MUSIC CRITIC

It was only last year when Marin Alsop was named music director of the Baltimore Symphony that she became the first woman to lead a major American orchestra.

However, for Carolyn Kuan, women on the podium is a non-issue.

"It's not a subject I bring up," said Kuan, who recently was promoted, a year ahead of schedule, to associate conductor of the Seattle Symphony. "There are so many other things to discuss." But, she added, "I think I have been very fortunate."

Two decades ago, no major management firm represented a female conductor, top-flight orchestras rarely had women musicians and female music directors were, almost without exception, found only in regional orchestras. The pioneers were few, among them Antonia Brica, Sarah Caldwell and Eve Queler. Today, there are 30 or so scattered across the country, from nations as diverse as China and Finland, and leading the parade into more important jobs.

Kuan, whose biggest conducting assignment of her first season in Seattle comes this week, is with an orchestra that had one of the first women music directors. Mary Davenport-Enberg took the baton in 1921 and led the symphony for a couple of years.

It's no surprise that Alsop is a major role model for the 30-year-old Kuan, who not only admired her from afar but up close.
Read the Rest of the Article

Summertime and some thoughts

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for the silence. Jessie and I have been on an extended roadtrip visiting family. I hope summer is treating everyone well! I just wanted to post a few thoughts and I would love to get feedback either in the comments or at the class officers email.

1. 10th Reunion is now less than 2 years away and we have to start organizing and planning. I think it would be wonderful if we could have a few people be reunion leads responsible for recruiting volunteers, taking opinon polls, and encouraging people to come. Because I know we are all extemely busy, it would be great to get a handful of people who would be the contact for all 99ers from a small group of houses. My hope is that having everything broken down will make the work of contacting everyone more manageable and not overwhelm a single person. Ideally it would be great to get one reunion lead from each house, this would make the work load very small and make me die of excitment. Is this something anyone would be interested in helping with? Would this work for you?

2. Blogger has become a bit of a pain and we are looking into moving the blog to wordpress. If we move it over we will be able to offer more functionality and integrate the blog into a domain I purchased for the class. The change would not happen for a while, but I'm just trying to plan ahead. Anyone have any objections or ideas as to why the switch would be a bad idea? Of course, there will be a link from here to there so that everyone can get to the right place.

3. I have updated the classmates link section. Please let us know if your name is still missing or something is incorrect.

4. If you are in the Providence, Rhode Island area keep your eyes open for an email announcing a Smithie pub gathering hosted by the class of 1999. Not sure when it will happen, but it will be sometime in the next month.

Take care all and keep in touch with us!
Tiffany

Congrats to Chris Gajilan

Chris Gajilan ('99) won an emmy last September at the 27th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast" for her work as producer on Anderson Cooper 360. The feature story was Charity Hospital.

Congrats Chris!!!!!

Conducting her destiny

Another wonderful article about our own Carolyn Kuan appeard in the Seattle Times over the weekend. Congratulations Carolyn!

Conducting her destiny
Smith alumna Carolyn Kuan '99, the new assistant conductor of the Seattle Symphony, said that although she considered a career in computer science, musical conducting drew her because "it was the thing I understood the least. In the process of sharing what you learn with people, you see how music moves people and makes life more beautiful."

Read the entire article about Carolyn