Class Notes
May’s photographs embrace our anxiety over new technology and love for beautifully designed, obsolete machines. Her still-life photos reference 17th century Dutch vanitas paintings and their air of craft guilds, international trade, and personal wealth. At the same time, the carefully disheveled compo-
B
A
sitions of sleek objects allude to product photography and advertising imagery. The sheer quantity of gadgets collected suggests mass production, waste, recycling, and the passing of time. Finally, these photos reflect our nostalgia for old technology and yearning for the latest, must-have, enchanted objects. A
William McGuigan ’85 writes, “I’m teaching a class at Stockton University called Technology & Science in Communication. Was hoping to work with Michael Scroggins ’75, MFA ’87 to save a piece of video history, the Wobbulator! Always thinking of how important CalArts is and what is possible! Thanks.” Amy Vuckovich ’85 “Back at set design for season 3 of The Fix!” Melissa Berger Brennan ’86 is celebrating 17 years this May as a talent agent at CESD. She holds two positions: Talent Agent for Film/TV/Theatre and Vice President of Youth Voiceover. Married to William Martin Brennan ’86. Michael McDonough ’86 “During last issue’s Class Notes, my writing partner David Nathan Schwartz and I had just completed our screenplay, O’Malley’s Critter Control. I am happy to report that the script has been doing well in screenplay competitions such as the Fade In Awards, Emerging Writers Awards, and Screencraft’s Family Screenplay Competition. We have also acquired a literary agent, Liz Raci, at Bicoastal Talent Agency. We just finished a new script titled A Girl Like That, about the misadventures of a young man who confuses beauty for love and his quest for the ‘perfect woman.’ Currently, we’re working on a script called The Detail Guys, about two broke adventurers who are mistakenly hired for assassins, but instead of killing, they improve the health/lives of two old guys until the real assassins show up. Wish us luck.”
86
CalArts Alumni Magazine
Lynn Norton (Hammill) ’86 says, “I have been working for the past four years at the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund. We’re a nonprofit organization that distributes royalties from internet, digital, and satellite radio to nonfeatured musicians. I love being able to use my knowledge of musicians and music to find musicians who are owed money.” B Douglas Rushkoff ’86 writes, “My new book, Team Human, launched in January 2019. I’ve never written to everyone in my address book before, but this is by far the most important publication of my career: a manifesto arguing for human dignity and prosperity in a digital age. Autonomous technologies, runaway markets, and weaponized media seem to have overturned civil society, paralyzing our ability to think constructively, connect meaningfully, or act purposefully. Yet the root causes for our collective disempowerment are based on some very old, false ideas about competition, individuality, scarcity, and progress. We needn’t embed these values in the digital landscape of tomorrow. They are obsolete. We must stop optimizing human beings for technology, and start optimizing technology for us. It’s time we reassert the human agenda. And we must do so together, not as individual players, but as the team we actually are. Team Human. I would be grateful if you purchase this book, which also supports the Team Human podcast.” C
Morgan Rusler ’86 “I—and fellow CalArts alum Beth Kennedy ’91—held a staged reading of A Julius Weezer Teaser with the Troubadour Theater Company in March, at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood. The full production of Julius Weezer will go up at the El Portal in May.” Two Troubies do mash-ups of Shakespeare and pop music (Fleetwood Macbeth, All’s Kool That Ends Kool, The Comedy of Aerosmith, Much a Doobie Brothers About Nothing, As U2 Like It, Romeo Hall and Juliet Oates, 12th Dog Night, etc.) as well as mash-up Christmas shows (A Christmas Carole King, It’s a Stevie Wonderful Life, The First Jo-el, etc.). C Cynthia Blackstone ’87 reminds us, “‘Be who you are and say what you feel, those that matter don’t mind and those that mind don’t matter.’ —Dr. Seuss” Nancy Floyd ’87 In 2018, Nancy Floyd received an Aaron Siskind Photography Fellowship and was a finalist for The Print Center’s 93rd Annual International Competition and the Hopper Prize. In July, her 37-year self-portrait series, Weathering Time, will open at the Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, OR. D Rich Goodhart ’87 For more than 20 years, Rich has been on the seasonal Core Faculty at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, serving as Qigong & Taiji teacher and musician, as well as shamanic sound healing practitioner, in residence. This past spring, he led his second Sound Medicine Expansive retreat weekend there. His seventh and most recent album of multicultural world music and shamanic sound medicine meditations is titled Forest River Pathway, and is his second double-CD album in a row. (“You know, extended classic-style ‘concept album’ now that very few people are buying albums anymore!”) Patti Preiss-Harris ’87 writes, “2018 was a rough year for me. In August, I was diagnosed with breast cancer that metastasized to the liver. After months of difficulty, pain, and a week-long hospitalization, I am E coming back to life. Using a combination of chemotherapy and alternative plants, teas, and flowers, I’ve reduced my tumor by 80 percent. Although my cancer is considered incurable, I am now able to live a normal life teaching, performing, walking the dogs, and being with friends. I am grateful—and thanks, CalArts, for all your inspiration!” E Julian David Stone ’87 released a new coffee table book, No Cameras Allowed: My Career as an Outlaw Rock and Roll photographer, which tells the story, in words and photos, of how Stone amassed an incredible archive of more than 10,000 rock and roll photos
