class notes
Sam Brumbaugh, Class of 1988 Writing Fiction: A different kind of life Since graduating from Trinity College Sam Brumbaugh '88 has amassed a resume that is nothing if not eclectic. He has co produced a documentary on the songwriter Townes Van Zandt, worked in a juice bar and several restaurants, published his first novel , fin ish ed a second novel, managed several bands, and even gone on an archeological dig in Crete. However, he considers himself a writer, first and fo remost. " I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was young, but I knew you had to do other things," says Brumbaugh. "You had to live a different kind of life, particularly in your 20s." !=or Brumbaugh, that "different kind of life" meant high-tailing it to New York City soon after completing his degree at Trinity. "I just wan t ed to move to New York and I didn't care what I did," he reca lls. He was lucky enough to land a job at the Village Voice, editing for a magazine produced by the Voice titled Seven Days. A short time later, he went to work for the fashion magazine Mirabella. "I was the only guy there, and I was very green and na'lve," Brumbaugh says. Within si x to eight months, Brumbaugh was assign ed to w rite capsule book reviews for the magazine. " I would read something like Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, which is over 600 pages long , and the editor would say 'Give me 30 words on that,"' he says. "It certainly spurred me to write economically." After a year at fv1irabella , Brumbaugh had had enough of the fashion world, so he quit his job to do other things, which included traveling to Crete for the archeological dig. After another year he returned to New York City. Upon his return he began to use his connections within
play golf at the G reater H artfo rd O pen in June. The putts would not fall that day, but Jay foll owed it up with a terrific second-place fini sh and a trip to the British Open (he made the cut) ! Becky l-lolt was once again wonderful in her supply of news. She reports that Michelle Monti just moved to a "fabul ous" new house in Mansfi eld, MA. Michelle works at Health Dialog where she "produces a members-only Web site th at describes 68
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the New York music scene (several friends were members of various bands) to his benefit, first, as a music director for t he Threadwaxing Space gallery, and later, as a founding partner and music director of Sonic Net, the online music site that eventually became VHl Online. That experience led Brumbaugh to sign on as a co-producer and talent coordinator for "On Tour," a 16-part PBS series that was broadcast in 1997, featuring artists such as Beck, Lauren Hill , Bob Weir, Son Volt, Cibo Matto, Taj Mahal, Sting, and Lou Reed among others. He had moved to Los Angeles for "On Tour" and as soon as the series was completed returned to New York. "It seems to me that if you don't have something to do L.A. is a difficult place to live; it's a hard place to get into the motion of things," says Brumbaugh. His first major project after returning to New York was Be /-/ere to Love fv1e, the documentary on the late Townes Van Zandt, whom Brumbaugh had long felt was a "very underrated songwriter and musician ." While the 2004 documentary was well received , Brumbaugh considers much of the time immed iately after his return from Los Angeles as "lost years." He was strugg ling to make ends meet, working odd jobs, including grant writing. But he also kept writing for himself, publishing works in The Southwest Review, Vice, Esquire.com, and others. He met and married the novelist Galaxy Craze, and the coup le had the first of their two children in 2002. Brumbaugh also kept his hand in music as well, eventual ly becoming the music cura tor at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. "It's not as fancy as it sounds," he says. "I book the bands." Brumbaugh believes the variety and depth of his Trinity education prepared him well for his career. He was particularly influenced by Samuel D. Kossow '66,
treatment options fo r heal th co nditio ns." Becky fur ther reports that Barbara Scudder has joi ned the healthcare group in the Mo rgan Stanley publi c finan ce team as a VP in NYC, Laura Thomas Standard is a school counselor in VT, and Allison Brown is on her way to teach English in Santiago, C hile. Becky herself is go ing to visit Al lison in Chil e this summer and then "head back to Salvado r, Bah ia (Braz il) for a mo nth
Charles H. Northam Professor of History. "He would make these wonderful digressions that said so much about Jewish life in Russia and in eastern Europe [before] World War II," says Brumbaugh. " Every time he was lecturing you could tell that he truly enjoyed what he was doing. He taught history in a way that had flesh and bone to it." Within the creative writing program , Brumbaugh says he had teachers who were both patient and demanding. The late Hugh Ogden, professor of English and poet, was especially important to him. "[Hugh] had great friends, li ke Wende ll Berry, who would come and talk," Brumbaugh recalls. "[Hugh) would sit and talk with some great writer like Berry .. . they would talk in very interesting, very funny, and very intellectual ways about someth ing like a cab ride . .. just talking off the cuff." Brumbaugh,
whose
second
novel ,
Restoration Rain, will be published in late 2008, continues to work outside of writing for pragmatic reasons. " It's just very difficult to make a living writing literary fiction," he says. But it's a life that allows Brumbaugh and his family to split time between homes in Northampton, Massachusetts, and New York City. Asked what he hopes to be doing five years hence, he doesn't hesitate a bit. ''I'll be happy just writing and spending t ime with my kids," he says.
by Gary !=ran k
to teach Brain Gym (a moveme nt-based learn ing preparedness program) to unsuspecting Brazil ian pupils!" Bill Brooks took a mo ment to commise rate wi th me in the fin ancial market woes as he is a first vice president at Smith Barney in H ingham, MA. Jack Tonnar has landed a new job wit h Dream H ouse Mo rtgage in Warwick, Rl , as di rector of compliance and ethics/ in- house coun sel. Although