The Class of 1986 returned to Hopkins to celebrate their 30th Reunion in June. Front row (L–R): Zach Silverstein, Chris Lynch, Lorrice Burke Grant, Julie Polka Zellner, Kristen Demir Wilson, Jenny Lawson Ziegler, Michelle Gottlieb Orenstein, Kim Wilson Nieto, Joanne Hoffer, Laura Marks, Sharon Silverman Shepard; middle row: Mike McCleery, Hans Berglund, Ted Touloukian, Sonja Dudley, Jason Lichtenstein, Annie Boyer Bourne, George Wolff, Jeff Lippincott, Bill Fearon, Matt Greene, Catherine Rees; back row: Rocco DeMaio, Craig Cogguillo, John Carangelo, Andy Chepaitis, Alex Lewin, Murat Armbruster, George Sachs, James Yun, Chris Cook, Michael Thomas
cofounder of a really exciting new business (skimcast.com). Every time I have described it to high school or college students, their eyes have bugged out in astonishment. In short: it’s an automatic Spark Notes for anything. (Cue the eyes bugging out.) My partner, Bill Hollingsworth, grew up in Commerce, Georgia, with a congenital illness that has left him severely sight impaired his whole life. Amazingly, and as a testament to his brilliance and grit, he is now a professor of computer science at University of Georgia and has developed and patented an artificial intelligence software that creates automatic summaries with annotated themes, for anything it reads. Bill graduated and earned a master’s degree from University of Georgia in mathematics. As a Gates Scholar, he attended Cambridge University, where he earned an MPhil in Linguistics and a PhD in Computer Science. Because he is sight impaired, Bill struggled in his studies at Cambridge. He invented Skimcast, his artificial intelligence software, out of personal necessity. Skimcast is like an automatic Spark Notes or Cliffs Notes (for those of us who are older…). for anything. All of our kids use these sites now to help manage their workloads. Skimcast cuts down the amount of time needed to comprehend a document and focuses your attention on 46
the key themes. Lawyers can think of it as returning a Westlaw-like summary, with tailor-made headnotes, for literally any document. Our slogan is “Read less. ____ more.” You fill in the blank. Read less. Review more. Read less. Laugh more. Read less. Nap more. Read less of what you don’t want to read. Read more of what you do want to read. The choice is yours. I hope people check it out. Tell your kids! They’ll thank you.” Marcella Hourihane is working hard as a volunteer at Hopkins. One of her endeavors is a job shadow program for rising seniors with Hopkins alumni/ae. If any of you are interested in allowing a Hopkins senior to spend a few hours or an entire day with you at your place of work, wherever that might be, please email Donna Vinci at donnavinci@ hopkins.edu. I know she would be thrilled to hear from you!
1987
30th Reunion
Hopkins—June 9 and 10, 2017 Susanne Mei susannemei@yahoo.com
Not a lot of news from our class this time around. I’m going to chalk it up to the fact that everyone was away in August when I emailed the request for news. Keith Lender writes, “My three-year New York City plan
(L–R) Dan Van Der Aue ’91 , Kevin Piscitelli ’81 and Bill Jaffee ’87 played in the alumni lacrosse game at Reunion in June.
has now ended 19 years later. My wife, three kids and I are moving up to Weston, Connecticut, this summer. We will be right near David Friedman, whom I got to the chance to see with his family at a Bob Dylan concert in the Berkshires. Unfortunately, I missed Nick Scriabine’s latest trip to the northeast, as we were busy with our move. Also, great seeing Sue, Mary and Betsy at one of the coolest Bar Mitzvah celebrations I’ve been to.” Betsy Floman Fishbone and Scott Fishbone ’86 celebrated the triple B’Nai Mitzvah of their 13-year-old twins Alex and Lucas, and their 12-year-old daughter, Kate, on June 4. The party was at Yankee Stadium, where many fellow Hopkins alums were in attendance, including Lisa Fishbone Wallack ’83, Mary Clark Vines, Keith Lender and myself, Susanne Mei, in attendance to help the Fishbones celebrate! Also, in attendance was Drew Levy ’83, who brought along Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage to help celebrate the big day. Paul Elconin writes, “It is so great to be working in Connecticut after many years in New York. I have just had my second Hopkins senior ‘shadow’ me for a day of land conservation in Litchfield County. These kids are impressive—way better than I ever was!” Just saw Matt Black and his daughter, Sabrina. They are in the middle of their 20-day cross-
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