Gangs of New York
Dan Slater ʼ96 takes a bite out of crime
Happy Campers
Adventures in outdoor education
Into the Groove Yolanda Pauly ʼ21 finds meaning in movement Cyrus a magazine for alumni and friends of The Blake School
Cyrus
a magazine for alumni and friends of The Blake School
Editor Kristin Stouffer
Managing Editor
Tracy Grimm
Graphic Designer
Lora Aadalen Joshi
Thanks to the many Blake community members who have contributed to this publication.
Mission
Blake engages students with a dynamic, academically challenging education in a diverse and supportive community committed to pluralism and a common set of values. Students pursue an integrated program of academic, artistic and athletic activities, preparing for college, lifelong learning and purposeful lives as community and global citizens.
Core Values
Curiosity
Kindness
Inclusivity
Resilience
Commitment to Pluralism
A vibrant learning environment springs from a diverse school community. For this reason, Blake seeks and values students, families and employees with a wide range of backgrounds, identities and life experiences. Individually and collectively, we strive for understanding across differences in an inclusive environment where everyone can belong, contribute and thrive.
Why Cyrus?
Cyrus Northrop played a formative role in one of Blake’s founding institutions. In 1915, Northrop Collegiate School was named in his honor to recognize Dr. Northrop’s achievements as a nationally regarded educator and as president of the University of Minnesota. His legacy of educational excellence continues at Blake today.
cyrus@blakeschool.org
Meaningful Moments and Places
This issue of Cyrus highlights several hallmark Blake experiences. Pages 12-16 capture the excitement that fuels our annual fourth grade trek to Camp Widjiwagan. Photos of the northern night sky, snowy forests and cozy cabin life may stir up memories of your own Widji experience—or make you want to visit there someday.
On page 29 you can read about another signature student experience: the seventh graders’ work with a poet-in-residence. Students learn how to see through the eyes of a poet and to use language in fresh and inspired ways.
From the experience of Camp Widji to the learning in Blake classrooms, stages and studios—our young people discover who they are meant to be and their unique place in the world. In our Q&A (pages 18-19) and cover story (pages 6-11), Blake alumni talk about how two very different places—St. Paul’s Ordway Theater and a New York City neighborhood—foster their artistry and vision.
If you’d like to support signature Blake experiences and the students who benefit from them, please consider making a gift to the Blake Fund at blakeschool.org/give. Gifts made before June 30 will contribute to the current fiscal year.
Anne E. Stavney, Ph.D. Head of School
The Blake School
Photo: Tamika Garscia
Spring/Summer 2025
AND MEN
In his latest book, author Dan Slater ʼ96 explores how Jewish immigrants ran, ruled and even tried to reform New York’s turn-of-the-century underworld.
PAGE 6
PHOTOS
Northern Exposure
At Camp Widjiwagan in Ely, Minnesota, Blake’s fourth graders explore the great outdoors.
PAGE 12 Q&A Dancing for Life
Through movement, Yolanda Pauly ʼ21 unlocks the expression of her full identity.
PAGE 18
IN BRIEF
CONSIDERING ART TO THE MOON AND BACK
Upper School Advanced Painting students had the opportunity to see art through the eyes of a 5-year-old when they teamed up with pre-kindergartners to explore the Walker Art Center’s Stanley Whitney exhibition How High the Moon. Older and younger student buddies could talk with each other about anything but were guided by the question: “Which piece of Mr. Stanley’s work would you like to have in your home and why?”
ELECTION DAY SPEAKER EMPOWERS STUDENTS TO ‘CAST BALLOTS OF MANY KINDS’
Only a fraction of Blake students are eligible to vote, but every one of them has power to influence change. This is the message Eric Liu delivered during his Upper School assembly speech on Election Day as Blake’s Steiner Speaker. Liu is co-founder and CEO of Citizen University, a nonprofit
that works to build a culture of citizenship across the U.S., and founding director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American Identity Program.
“Every one of you is able to cast ballots of many kinds,” he told students. “Cast your ballot of your voice, your ability to move your peers and friends, to change minds with your capacity as a team leader, as a mentor, as a tutor, as somebody who’s an athlete, an artist, a musician or a scientist. You get
to cast your whole ballot every day.” Tenth graders read Liu’s book You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen prior to his visit, and he spoke with one class while on campus. Liu also met with several members of the Upper School Election Squad. “Eric Liu’s visit to Blake encouraged students not only to think about the election that day but also the elections to come and how students could realize their own civic power to make positive changes in their communities,” reflected Election Squad member Liam Coley ʼ25. “He taught us to realize that power is not evil and that it can and should be wielded by the people for the good of all. He purposely challenged our assumptions about power in the United States and stood as a role model of who we can become.”
COMMUNITY
BEARS BRAKE FOR CYRUS
Everyone’s favorite mascot warmed hearts on an especially cold Valentine’s Day when Cyrus the Bear came out of hibernation to welcome families to school. Friendly honks and waves were exchanged, and some students even braved the cold to give Cyrus a hug or high five.
ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHT ARTS HIGHLIGHT COMMUNITY FACES ON CAMPUS SERVICE COMMITMENT TO PLURALISM
FACES ON CAMPUS
ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHT CIRCLES AND TRIANGLES AND BEARS, OH MY!
First graders wrote and illustrated books about shapes, which they read aloud to their pre-kindergarten friends. After sharing their masterpieces, the students worked together to build big shapes out of smaller ones—and the shape of smiles could be found everywhere!
COMMITMENT TO PLURALISM
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY OFFERS EXPLORATION OF CULTURES AND IDENTITIES
The annual Intercultural Competence Professional
Development Day gives all Blake employees an opportunity to explore other cultures and identities through engaging activities held both on and off campus. A few of this year’s offerings included Activating Social Justice Through the Arts at Pangea Theater, Community Cooking and Breaking Bread with Appetite for Change, Public History in Minnesota at Historic Fort Snelling and Mindfulness and Yoga: Culturally Responsive Strategies for Classroom Management. The day began with a keynote performance by Pillsbury House Theater that explored how systemic inequities, implicit bias and common misperceptions inhibit innovation, motivation and productivity in the workplace.
COMMUNITY
LEAF A MESSAGE
Blake community members are thankful for many things: teachers, students, friends, teammates, bus drivers, art supplies, playgrounds, and they really appreciate lunch. An ode to all of these and more can be found in Gratitude Grove, located in the hallway connecting the Upper
Elementary and Middle School buildings on the Hopkins campus. All students and staff wrote messages of gratitude on decorative leaves during this year’s Convocation activities. The Lower School art classes painted tree trunks, then parent volunteers and several Upper Elementary and Middle School students installed the heartwarming community project.
MUSICAL ENSEMBLES TAKE GREECE
This spring break, 81 Upper School band, orchestra and choir students traveled to Greece for an eight-day adventure. The musicians performed at Fougaro Art Center in Nafplio, at Angali Plaza in Itea, a small seaside town in the Peloponnese and at the Roumeli Cultural Center in Athens. Between concerts, they explored the sites, visiting Ancient Mycenae and the historic Epidaurus Amphitheater, Ancient Corinth and Delphi. The group rounded out their tour with a visit to the Acropolis, a Greek dinner and show experience in Athens and a cruise around the Saronic Gulf Islands of Poros, Hydra and Aegina.
ARTS HIGHLIGHT
BREAKTHROUGH MINNEAPOLIS AND BLAKE FAMILIES SERVE TOGETHER
A joint service experience brought Breakthrough Minneapolis students, staff and volunteers together with Blake students and families at Every Meal, where they packed food for local students experiencing food insecurity. Celebrating its 25th year, Breakthrough Minneapolis (formerly LearningWorks) is a partnership between Minneapolis Public Schools and Blake that prepares students to thrive in college and offers real-world teaching experiences to high school and college students.
ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHT
HANDS-ON HEALTH CARE
While student interest in health care-related fields has always been high, Upper School health teacher Cris Larson says she’s noticed an increase in Blake students looking to explore these options in hands-on ways. This year, Larson served as advisor to Blake’s chapter of HOSA-Future Health Professionals, led by Krisha Pillai ’26 and Shucayb Harir ’26. HOSA is a global, student-led organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services that provides health-related competitive events, volunteer activities and leadership roles. In its first year, Blake sent 11 students to compete at HOSA’s midwinter regional conference, and several of them ranked in the top five for their events.
“With over 70 different competitive events to choose from, HOSA is a great low-stakes way to explore many different areas of health care and see what
opportunities and jobs exist in this field,” Larson says. “HOSA has over 260,000 members worldwide, so building skills and networking are also benefits of the program.”
ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHT
SCIENCE MEETS HISTORY AT THE FORD DAM
A field trip to a local hydroelectric power station brought science to life for fifth graders, who had been studying energy—its different forms and how it’s transferred and harnessed in everyday objects. The hydroelectric dam, located in St. Paul along the lower banks of the Mississippi River, also offered students an engaging lesson in history. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed it in 1917, and in 1924, the Ford Motor Company built a plant to take advantage of the cost-efficient power the dam provides. Blake had the privilege of being the first school group to tour the facility, now owned and operated by Brookfield Renewable Power.
ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHT
MARINE BIOLOGY STUDENTS SEA OPPORTUNITIES ON CATALINA ISLAND
Upper School marine biology students stepped out of the classroom and into snorkeling suits to explore the coast of Catalina Island, where they spent three days conducting a field study. In addition to day and night time snorkeling adventures in kelp forests, students visited labs to study invertebrates, fish, sharks, plankton, algae and oceanography. They observed marine mammals and hiked and kayaked to explore the coastal ecology.
Alaena Bohrnsen ʼ25 says she was excited to learn about the importance of ecosystems and ocean life. “My favorite activity was snorkeling,” she says. “As a group we would dance while putting on the wetsuits, and the excitement everyone had when we found sea creatures was unforgettable. This was the highlight of my senior year, and I came out of the experience with priceless memories and knowledge.” Tia Gnanapragasam ʼ25, who went on both this year’s and last year’s trip, agrees, “So much is packed into the few days we are on the island. We learn so much from the activities we do. I made so many unforgettable memories.”
BLAKE TANK: BUDDING DESIGN THINKERS PITCH GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY IDEAS
Small teams of sixth graders presented their ideas on how to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in the school’s inaugural Blake Tank competition. Social studies students chose a UN goal—such as climate change, water quality, poverty, education, gender equity—to address through design thinking, an iterative process that centers the needs of those affected by a complex problem. Design experts and social entrepreneurs visited classrooms to share insights from their work locally and globally. Modeled loosely on the television series Shark Tank, a panel of judges assessed the groups’ ideas for innovation and potential real-world impact.
DESIGN THINKING PROCESS
IDENTIFY
Define
Official Blake Tank Illustration by Solvei Akbar ’31
In his latest book, The Incorruptibles, author Dan Slater ʼ96 explores how Jewish immigrants ran, ruled and even tried to reform New York’s turn-of-the-century underworld.
OF VICE AND MEN
By Joel Hoekstra
Illustrated by Owen Davey—Folio Art
It’s a chilly morning in December, and Dan Slater is visiting the Tenement Museum in New York. The museum is located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which a century ago was the most crowded neighborhood in the world, largely comprised of Jewish immigrants who had fled persecution in Eastern Europe. Poor, uneducated and often unable to speak much English, most new arrivals found lodging in cramped tenements where up to a dozen people might sleep in the same tiny apartment, dreaming of brighter days ahead in America.
A museum docent leads Slater and others down a dark hall and up a rickety staircase to a second-story apartment with few windows and no plumbing. The space, with rough-hewn floors and cockeyed door frames, is furnished like a typical tenement of the early 20th century. Laundry dangles from a line over a castiron stove. A bassinet is wedged between a table lined with crocks and an ironing board
piled high with fabric swatches. Many Jewish immigrants, the guide explains, spent long days stitching collars, cuffs and other pieces onto shirts, dresses and suit jackets—an extension of the city’s garment industry.
As the tour drifts down the hall, Slater lingers for a moment, takes out his phone and snaps a picture of a heavy metal tool. “A cutting shears,” he explains, then adds darkly, “or a weapon.”
As the author of a recently published book set on the Lower East Side, Slater sees the neighborhood through a unique if grisly lens. The Incorruptibles, released by Little, Brown and Company last summer, references the tenements, the garment industry, the religious views and immigrant cultures that shaped the area in the early 20th century, but the book’s primary focus is the Jewish underworld of the same era—a place where stabbing a stranger with scissors wasn’t unthinkable.
A work of nonfiction, The Incorruptibles is built from facts but written to evoke the drama of fiction. The narrative chron-
icles the rise of two young men as they navigate the world of gamblers, thieves, prostitutes, gangsters, horse poisoners and racketeers. Slater spent seven years working on the book, often uncovering secrets locked away in archives for decades. His research unearthed surprising connections, unpublished writings and covert communications. But one of the biggest twists in the tale was unexpectedly personal.
“It took me a minute to connect the dots,” he recalls. “But when I did, it was amazing.”
WRITING 9 TO 5
Slater, along with his wife and their two young boys, lives in the Connecticut countryside, about an hour-and-a-half drive north of New York. Their house, built in 1740, occupies five forested acres, and Slater often spends at least an hour each day outdoors, chopping wood, clearing paths, planting trees or making play structures for his kids. A few years ago, he transformed the attic above the garage into a studio where he writes, reads, paints and
practices yoga. “Creativity can take a lot of forms, but I write every day,” he says. “I try to treat writing like a job—working nine to five. It’s just an expectation for myself.”
But Slater didn't always imagine himself as a writer. His parents, both doctors, married in the late 1960s and in 1975 moved to the shores of Lake Minnetonka, where Slater was born. Shortly thereafter, his parents split and spent the next decade deadlocked in an acrimonious divorce. In 1985 a Minnesota family-court judge issued an opinion in the case of Slater v. Slater, describing the family as “extremely dysfunctional.”
"As a kid, it was hard to imagine myself as anything at all,” Slater says. “I didn't really cultivate long-term ambitions because, being from a dysfunctional family, you don't see a bright future. You don't have much on which to build a vision of your adulthood.”
Differences aside, however, his parents did agree on at least one thing: the value of books. “I read the Beverly Cleary books and the Choose Your Own
Adventure series,” Slater recalls. “A big book for me was John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, which I read at 16. The first nonfiction topic I fell in love with, though, was baseball history. I would read biographies of Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. I loved those stories—and they often took place in New York.”
The Big Apple became a source of fascination. Slater recalls visiting the city for the first time as a second grader, seeing the Statue of Liberty with his maternal grandfather and shopping at FAO Schwarz with an uncle. Movies like Big and Wall Street, Ghostbusters and Working Girl, set against the backdrop of the city, were among his favorites.
In 1996, Slater enrolled at Colgate University in upstate New York. The school’s proximity to New York City made it an attractive choice, but in hindsight, Slater says the true benefit of his time at college sprang from the hours he spent in a class called Living Writers. “It was actually the only English class I took,” he recalls. “We met twice a week. The class would
“CREATIVITY CAN TAKE A LOT OF FORMS, BUT I WRITE EVERY DAY. I TRY TO TREAT WRITING LIKE A JOB— WORKING NINE TO FIVE. IT’S JUST AN EXPECTATION FOR MYSELF.”
discuss a book on Tuesday, and then on Thursday you’d get to interview the author, agent or editor. It had a profound effect on me.
“I loved to read, and this was a class all about reading. I
Law school led to a wellpaying job at a prestigious firm in Manhattan. But Slater’s curiosity about the writing life lured him into a job at the Wall Street Journal, where he blogged about legal affairs and wrote
thought, these are the people I want to be around.”
Still, in the end, he majored in international relations and, after brief stints interning at National Geographic, hiking the Appalachian Trail and working as a cook in Idaho, decided to go to law school. It seemed like a safe bet. “I still wasn’t brave enough to say, ‘I’m going to be a writer,’” he says.
columns and stories for the paper. He recalls the incredible training he got there, but also the stress. When he was eventually let go in a wave of layoffs, he embarked on a freelance career and grew more comfortable admitting, if only to himself, what he truly wanted to do: write books. After publishing an article about the history of online dating for GQ, he landed
a book contract on the same topic. (Oddly enough, Slater’s parents had been matched up by a computer dating service at Harvard University in the 1960s—an anecdote that gave him a personal take on the topic.)
“I enjoyed doing that book,” Slater recalls. “It got a lot of buzz, but the media chatter didn’t really translate into book sales. So I kind of stepped back and said, ‘Ok, if I continue doing this, what do I really want to write about?’”
UNCOVERING THE UNDERWORLD
The lunch menu at Russ & Daughters Cafe is full of traditional Jewish foods: bagels, smoked fish, bialys, pickled herring, matzo balls and noodle kugel—but they’ve been fancied up to attract the well-heeled crowd that now lives and works in the Lower East Side. “How do you feel about chopped liver?” Slater asks.
The cafe is an offshoot of a nearby deli that’s been in operation since 1914. Its location, between Orchard and Allen
Photo: Robert Cavaleri
Dan Slater ʼ96
“I STILL WASN’T BRAVE ENOUGH TO SAY, ‘I’M GOING TO BE A WRITER.’”
streets just north of Delancey, was the epicenter of Jewish life in New York before the community moved uptown. Farley Chase, Slater’s agent, has lived on the Lower East Side for a decade but says The Incorruptibles made him see the century-old remnants in his neighborhood. Russ & Daughters is a prime remnant: a century ago, bageland-lox joints like it, known as “appetizing stores,” were ubiquitous. “The neighborhood’s
legacy is still apparent,” Chase says. “There are fossils of the old life.”
Asya Muchnick, the editor at Little, Brown who worked with Slater on The Incorruptibles, agrees: “I recently walked down Allen Street with a friend and said, ‘Did you know this street used to be wall-to-wall brothels?’”
Fossils and ghosts come alive in The Incorruptibles. The book conjures a world where
corruption was rampant and murders were commonplace. Slater focuses on two young men, Arnold Rothstein, a gambler, and Abe Shoenfeld, a reformer, as they respectively fuel and fight the spread of vice throughout the city. “Dan is just a fantastic storyteller,” Muchnick says. “I don’t think most people appreciate how much effort goes into narrative nonfiction. The research and the facts are important, but you
have to tell the story in a way that keeps the plot moving.”
The Incorruptibles is Slater’s third book. (Wolf Boys, about a pair of American teens who became assassins for a Mexican drug cartel, was published in 2016.) The idea behind the book has roots in a magazine piece he wrote in 2019 about a modern-day gang of Orthodox rabbis. In search of context, he read up on the history of Jewish crime and
returned often to New York City in the early 1900s. References to Rothstein appeared frequently (he was alleged to have fixed the 1919 World Series), but Shoenfeld was referenced only obliquely as “a private detective” and a “knowledgeable vigilante.”
Intrigued, Slater dug deeper and discovered that, at the age of 21, Shoenfeld had been retained by wealthy uptown Jewish reformers to infiltrate and eradicate crime and vice downtown in the poor Lower East Side ghetto. He also discovered Shoenfeld’s papers had recently been donated to the American Jewish Historical Society. “When Dan discovered Abe had an unpublished biography…well, that was the Ark of the Covenant,” Chase says.
Slater learned to expect the unexpected as he mined archives in New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Berkeley and even Jerusalem and Austin, Texas. (When a collection of glass negatives and photos depicting life on the Lower East Side went up for auction in early 2020, he purchased about 600 items, 69 of which were
“YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR HISTORY AND WHERE YOU COME FROM. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO BE BLIND TO THE PAST?”
printed in The Incorruptibles.)
But he didn’t anticipate that the book’s narrative would intersect with his own family’s history.
Slater’s maternal grandmother had once traced her German-Jewish lineage and self-published a book on the topic. From her account, Slater knew his first American ancestor was Jacob Klee, who emigrated from Germany to Pittsburgh in 1846.
Midway through his research on The Incorruptibles, Slater came across a story about a men’s suit manufacturer in New York who had sparred with the local Jewish labor union regarding hiring practices. When Shoenfeld’s father, who empathized with the manufacturer, learned that union thugs were planning to bomb the company, he asked his son to intervene and arrange for police protection of the factory. But Shoenfeld refused, and days later the company, Klee & Co., went up in flames. The owner was Jacob Klee’s son, Slater’s great-great-grandfather.
MAKING HISTORY PERSONAL
The tour of the Tenement Museum is finished, so Slater stops at the museum shop to see if The Incorruptibles is in stock. He chats up the manager and signs a few copies of the book. National sales of the hardcover have been solid, and Slater has been traveling around the country to promote the book. Among the constituencies that have taken an interest in the tale are bookstores and book clubs, museums and law schools, synagogues and Jewish community centers.
A few readers have questioned his focus on the Jewish underworld. Given the rise in antisemitic incidents across the U.S. and Europe and the October 7 attack on Israel, why cast light on the seamy side of Jewish history?
“You have to know your history and where you come from,” Slater responds. “Why would anyone want to be blind to the past? If you’re going around saying you’re Jewish yet there are whole swaths of your history you don’t know, then what does that mean?”
Hiding history doesn’t make it go away. And we can learn from it, even if it makes us flinch. To that end, Slater’s next book, a memoir of healing from childhood trauma, won’t center on gangs or cartels, but it will draw on firsthand accounts, court transcripts, archives and interviews—his usual path to uncovering a narrative thread.
“It’s funny,” Slater says. “I’ve spent a long time writing about other people. I do feel like, ‘Hey, maybe it’s time for me to step up.’ If I’m going to be writing about and judging other people, maybe I should put myself out there.”
Joel Hoekstra is a writer and editor based in Minneapolis.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
AT CAMP WIDJIWAGAN IN ELY, MINNESOTA, BLAKE’S FOURTH GRADERS EXPLORE THE GREAT OUTDOORS TO LEARN ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT, THEIR CLASSMATES AND THEMSELVES.
Photos by Rebecca Slater
(Photo 1) After a 4.5-hour bus ride, students arrive at Camp Widji with energy to burn. (Photos 2, 3 and 4) Students are assigned to cabins where they sleep at night and spend downtime playing games, making crafts and enjoying the company of their fellow cabin mates.
(Photo 5) Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served family-style in the dining hall with students taking turns bringing food to the tables and cleaning up after each meal. (Photo 6) After each meal, students collect and weigh their uneaten food. The trip’s focus on environmental education extends to every aspect of their experience at camp. (Photos 7 and 8) Students spend much of their time in study groups of eight to 10 classmates, which are led by a Camp Widji staff member. Team-building activities and hikes help group members get comfortable with one another and prepare for the more rigorous adventures to come.
(Photo 1) Camp staff members introduce students to the rules of Predator and Prey, a game in which students experience what it’s like to be carnivores, herbivores and omnivores in the wild. (Photos 2 and 3) Students hide from potential predators behind a rock while another student runs through the woods—either running from a predator or looking for prey. (Photo 4) Before heading out for the game, students attach a strip of cloth to themselves; the various colors indicate their rank in the food chain.
(Photo 5) A study group reviews a map before heading outside to work on their compass skills. (Photo 6) One student cheers on another lugging a tree branch that they’ll use to create a shelter. The activity is part of the group’s wilderness survival training. (Photos 7 and 8) The first night of camp ends with a night hike, a fire and roasted marshmallows. (Photo 9) A frozen waterfall captures the attention of some adventure-seeking students.
DANCING FOR LIFE
THROUGH MOVEMENT, YOLANDA PAULY ’21 UNLOCKS THE EXPRESSION OF HER FULL IDENTITY.
Pauly, a St. Olaf College senior double majoring in dance and in race and ethnic studies, participated in the 2023 season of the Ordway’s GreenRoom, a paid, intensive training fellowship created by BIPOC artists to center underrepresented communities within musical theater. The life-changing experience deepened her connection to the arts and reaffirmed her passion for dance.
Question: Where did your love of dance begin?
Answer: I started taking ballet at the Edina Community Center when I was 4 or 5. I took some breaks and tried team sports, which was not for me. I went back to dance and found a love for movement. Then I saw a modern dance performance with Alanna Morris and was in awe. She’s a Black dancer, and I could see myself in her. My mom said, “That could be you one day.” So that was kind of an awakening-my-passion moment.
Q: Can you talk about your experience as an Ordway GreenRoom fellow?
A: I was reluctant to apply at first because I connected it more to musical theater than to dance. I went a lot of my life
thinking less about race and how I am affected by it or how it impacts me, and how I impact the world. While GreenRoom is focused on art and artistry, I think I learned a lot more about myself as a woman of color. The first weeks were so hard because I was in a mind space of, “Okay I’m a POC [person of color], yes, but I’m not a musical theater person; I’m a dancer.’ I come from a very privileged world. I went to Blake. I was given opportunities to be in spaces a lot of people in the program weren’t. I struggled emotionally wondering, “Should I be here [in the GreenRoom program]?” But I was really affirmed in who I am and what that means for me as a dancer, specifically, and also hearing other people’s perspectives and where they’ve found comfort and connection. I was uplifted by five Oles [alumni of St. Olaf College] who were the faculty members, including [Blake Upper School choral director] Natalia Romero Arbeláez. It was cool to make those connections and learn what their experience was like at St. Olaf in the arts
“I’M CREATIVE AND OPEN MINDED WHEN IT COMES TO MY FUTURE. DANCE IS MY LIFE. IT WILL BE THERE FOREVER AND EVER.”
as a person of color, and what it’s like to move beyond St. Olaf. I felt more motivated and empowered to be confidently, loudly and proudly Yolanda, an Afro-Latina and queer—and just me.
Q: What effect has your GreenRoom experience had on you back at St. Olaf?
A: I felt so warm in the [GreenRoom] space because it was all PoC. When I went back to St. Olaf, I went into a bit of culture shock. But I channeled what I gained in GreenRoom into the classes I ended up taking the next year. I took Latinx literature where we talked a lot about what it looks like to be biracial, with part of that identity being Latino. I was invigorated, and I was living every day curious. If there was something I felt was opposing my existence, I pushed back and made sure I was consciously rewiring my brain to undo the internalized racism I have in my body. I pushed back and stood more firmly on my own ground. I also channeled what I think about
when I move: I think about race and its challenges and my own hardships. The end product was my senior capstone project.
Q: Can you share more about your project?
A: My senior capstone was a solo performance piece I choreographed with the help of Toni Pierce-Sands, artistic director of TU Dance in St. Paul. The piece focused on my journey in the last five years, beginning with my awakening moment, when George Floyd was murdered. That was my first moment of being like, “I am Black. How does this impact how I exist in the world?” The piece moves into the realization of a world where I didn’t even really understand my own positionality. And then it transitions into acceptance of this intersectionality of sexuality, race, religion and all of these things that come together in my identity. I paired the dance with spoken word, and it ends in Spanish with some proclamations. I’m in a space where I want to proclaim all that I am.
So many things make up me, the individual. It was a hard but very beautiful process. It pays homage to all the places I’ve been and also what is to come. I recognize and am grateful that there’s something else coming.
Q: You’ll be graduating soon. What is next for you?
A: My first post-grad plans are in Becket, Massachusetts, where I’ll be a Barbara and Amos Hostetter and Philanthropy intern at Jacob’s Pillow, a dance center, school and performing arts space. Ultimately, I want to create more. I want to do a rendition of my solo as a group piece. And I want to continue to educate myself and advocate for PoC, for multiracial and biracial individuals, for queer folk and for movement. I think the arts are so important in this world. I’m creative and open-minded when it comes to my future. Dance is my life. It will be there forever and ever.
Do you know Blake alumni doing interesting work? Let us know at cyrus@blakeschool.org.
IN PRINT
ALAN PAGE AND KAMIE PAGE, FIFTH GRADE TEACHER
Baking Up Love
(Page Education Foundation)
In their fourth children’s book, father-and-daughter co-authors Alan and Kamie Page tell the story of Esther, who is supposed to bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s Literacy Feast. But when Esther arrives home, her mom is still at work, and she finds Grandpa snoozing in his favorite chair. Grandpa reassures a doubtful Esther that he does in fact know how to bake, a skill he learned from Esther’s late grandmother. Grandpa and Esther bake, dance and sing, filling the kitchen, and their hearts, with Grandma’s special ingredient—love.
PAM FORMAN REITMAN ’65
Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life
(Sibylline Press)
As a young student at the Berlin Art Academy during Hitler’s rise to power, Charlotte Salomon’s first place prize and enrollment are denied because she is a Jew. After Kristallnacht, she is sent into exile with her grandparents. When Charlotte’s grandmother leaps to her death, her grandfather shocks her with the family secret, a legacy of female suicides. She struggles against her grandfather’s insistence that suicide is her destiny too. Haunted by the encroaching terror of the Third Reich and the threat of psychological disintegration, Charlotte is determined to complete a monumental work of art and get it into safekeeping before capture by the Nazis.
& PRODUCTION
KATHARINE WOODMAN-MAYNARD ’04
Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel
From Newbery Honoree and E. B. White Award winner Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting is a masterpiece that has been a staple on home bookshelves and in classrooms and libraries for half a century. Drawing closely from the original text, Katharine WoodmanMaynard brings the story to life through gorgeous watercolor artwork. Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel is sure to be a favorite for new readers and long-devoted fans for generations to come.
ASHLEY
ALLEN
’17 Magik Vol. 1: Unleashed
(Marvel Universe)
The mystical power-wielding mutant Ilyanna Rasputin, aka Magik, long-time fan favorite X-Man, goes demon hunting in this first installment of an ongoing series. Something ancient has awakened beneath the Alaskan ice. Unfortunately for it, that’s Magik’s territory now. Meanwhile, demons have been hunting mutants abroad—and as Ilyanna begins a search for answers, she and her ally Cal must dive deep into the Tokyo underground. Has Cal teamed up with Earth’s best chance against the demon invasion or its prophesized leader? Magik will finally meet the leader of the demons. But when this confrontation plays out, will Ilyanna be able to suppress her darker impulses?
Alumni are encouraged to inform Blake of their publications, recordings, films, etc., and, when possible, to send copies of books and articles. Contact us at cyrus@blakeschool.org.
Susan Bradford ’60 View From the Crow’s Nest (Liliquoi Press)
Adrift and haunted by the questions “who am I” and “what am I to do with my life,” Susan Bradford thrusts herself into a worldwide quest in search of her future and ultimately herself.
Kirsten Harrison ’84
I, Sean/a: The Story of a Homeless, Intersex Woman Who Inspired a Community (Soul Wise Solutions)
Sean/a’s eccentric outfits and cheerful demeanor made her a prominent fixture in the tight-knit seaside community of La Jolla. When Kirsten Harrison dug a little deeper, she discovered Sean/a had been homeless for years and vowed to find shelter for this intriguing, uniquely gifted individual.
Freya Manfred (author) Rowan ’99 and Bly ’99 Pope (illustrators)
Fumious Rex: The Outcast Cat (Nodin Press)
Poor Fumious. He’s different. He’s a Rex cat, with ears too big, a tail too long, and curly hair so short he looks almost hairless. His mother, who has given birth to a dozen litters, doesn’t know how to raise such a strange-looking kitten. When Fumious gets into a spat with his sisters, his mother decides it’s time for him to leave home and seek his fortune.
Joanne Esser, former pre-kindergarten teacher
All We Can Do is Name Them (Fernwood Press)
The world is full of mysteries: things that appear on our path momentarily and then disappear. This collection of poems pays close attention to both the surprising and the ordinary mysteries of life, responding with praise, longing, grief and gratitude.
CLASS NOTES
Class notes and photos received after April 2025 will appear in the next issue of Cyrus. Notes are provided by alumni or their friends and family, and some have been edited for length and style.
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Susan Bradford has published a memoir about her journey as a young woman trying to find her place in the world and, ultimately, herself. She shares, “I spent a year studying and exploring Europe where, in spite of my more common 18-year-old concerns, I came to experience myself as part of a much larger, older family—my Western heritage, which expanded into a global human family. I attended college at UC Berkeley just as it was exploding with ideas of civil rights, equal rights, independence and freedom for all, free speech and stop the war—not to mention sex, drugs and rock and roll. After college graduation, I decided to start hitchhiking on sailboats. My first sail took me to the Solomon Islands, and later, on another sailboat, to Papua New Guinea, where I worked for the Australian government as the local people were striving for freedom and independence from colonization. Eventually I worked in India in [the areas of] birth control and family planning and then lived and worked in Nepal. So many incredible experiences deeply influenced me and my future life. After nearly 10 years living and working abroad, I returned to graduate school in
psychology, became a psychotherapist and environmentalist and co-founded the Hawaii Land Trust in 2001. I would love for my story to inspire young people on the cusp of making major decisions in their lives to be encouraged by a larger vision of what might be possible for them—and to explore how best to live a relevant life.” (Also see In Print and Production)
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Page Faegre writes, “I’ve made many home moves in the San Francisco Bay Area, and my next one just might be joining a community of wise elders who still amble and forage on beaches and in parks. I’m doing fine with five first-time joint replacements over the years—still working out, walking, weathering!”
Pam Forman Reitman (In Print and Production)
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Lifelong friends Marylee Hardenbergh, Julia Morrison Palmer and Ames Sheldon were part of an eightmember group that sponsored an Afghan refugee family in the Twin Cities. Blake student Elise Matney ʼ30 also volunteered with
the group, which spent over nine months preparing to welcome the family. Together they raised over $17,000 to help cover expenses such as housing, food and transportation and collected essential supplies for the family as they transitioned to their new home.
Dougie Padilla was part of an exhibition featuring Minnesota Latinx and Mexican artists that demonstrated a variety of traditional and contemporary print techniques. The exhibit, produced by Serpentina Arts, was on display in March at Squirrel Haus Arts in St. Paul.
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The comedy writing duo Al Franken and Tom Davis ʼ70, who died in 2012, are portrayed in the movie Saturday Night, which depicts the chaotic 90 minutes before Saturday Night Live’s premiere in October 1975. The two were on the original SNL writing staff and frequently appeared on the show. This year, SNL celebrated its 50th anniversary, and Al shared his reflections on the show with a number of local and national media outlets.
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After a four year pause during the pandemic, John Kuechle has resumed his track career (during which, he notes, is the 70th anniversary of the late coach Chub Bettels’s first Blake track team). In July, he competed in the long jump at the National Masters Track and Field Championships in Sacramento. John writes, “I was pleased to win my age group but was unhappy to realize I had not jumped as far as I did in eighth grade. During the meet I kept thinking of Chub’s expression, ‘The sun always shines on the Blake track team.’ In the past, it helped many of us ignore inclement weather, but it seemed less inspirational under cloudless skies with 104-degree heat.”
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Buddy Ide, David McCary, Ted Snelgrove and Steve Weiner flew to the United Kingdom to visit Ned Hartfiel, who relocated to Wales in 1991 and earned his Ph.D. in health economics. Ned is a professor at Bangor University and works with the National Health Service (NHS) on economic modeling of various health-related programs. He also created a yoga-based
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program adopted by the NHS and private organizations to proactively address back pain in the workplace. The five friends had not been in contact much over the last several years, but report that the trip rekindled their friendship. They share, “Highlights of the adventure included biking, hiking up Mount Snowdon, swimming in the Irish Sea, 18 holes of golf on a links course, a fabulous yoga class, visiting the Beatles Museum and attending a Premier League football match in Liverpool. The people were lovely, the food was great, the weather was delightful and the camaraderie was incomparable!
We are planning our next trip to coincide with our 50th high school reunion in 2026.”
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Pam Hensel Johns writes, “We’ve become Airstreamers and love our 1965 vintage Globetrotter, which won gold for original renovations (that we designed) at the International Airstream Rally in Sedalia, Missouri, in September 2024. Now we’re working on #2, a 1973 International, and it will be ready to hit the road and serve as my ‘office’ for a new branch of my coaching business, Double Diamond Couples Coaching. I
like to think of it as polishing two diamonds in the rough to bring out the shine within. I am certified in Relational Life Therapy, a progressive, skills-based coaching framework, which dovetails nicely with the leadership teamwork I’ve been doing for the last 25 years.”
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In July 2024, Henrik Jones married Gillian Tett, the provost of King’s College, Cambridge and a columnist and member of the editorial board of the Financial Times. Henrik is the founder and managing partner of Buckhill Capital, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco. The wedding was held in a 500-year-old English Gothic chapel at King’s College. The couple divide their time among San Francisco, Cambridge and New York City.
John Wall, who owns the Market at Malcolm Yards in Minneapolis with his wife, Patty, has a new project in the works: a 30,000-square-foot food hall in downtown Minneapolis’ LaSalle Plaza. The project is expected to include 16 restaurant spaces, two bars, a self-serve beer wall, event space, kid's play area, pickleball court and shuffleboards and open in summer 2026.
Nada Abuzzahab writes, “Alive and very well in Eagan living with my partner of seven years, Dr. Peter J. Dorsen, M.D., LADC (retired). Daughter Samantha with autism is now sharing an apartment with a lovely young woman also with special needs off Seventh Street in St. Paul and thriving. She continues to work twice a week at an Eagan hotel. I have been a licensed alcohol and drug assessor at Abbott, [where I was] made aware of the effect of homelessness, poverty and mental illness on addiction. I worked through the George Floyd riots and Covid—got pretty sick and could smell the smoke and see the destruction daily on my commute from Eagan. Peter and I enjoy wilderness camping in the Superior National Forest both in the summer and later outside of Hovland, Minnesota, with the ‘leafers.’ We enjoy frequent hikes in nearby Lebanon Hills with our (sub) standard 2+-year-old poodle, Willow, who still is very active and frequently tests our patience. But we love her to death. I read voraciously, mainly fiction. Live, love, laugh.”
Archie Black received the Career Achievement Award in this year’s Tekne Awards, which celebrates individuals who have made sustained and significant contributions to Minnesota’s technology industry. Archie retired as CEO of SPS Commerce in 2023.
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Liz Truesdell Smith, senior vice president and general counsel at Allina Health, was recognized as a 2024 Notable Honoree by Twin Cities Business (TCB), noting that in her 15 years at Allina Health “she’s guided three CEOs through a myriad of complex legal issues. [She] played a key role in the development and governance of the Allina Health Integrated Medical Network, a network of physicians working to improve quality of care. In 2020, she integrated clinical risk, insurance, and workers’ compensation under the legal services umbrella. In 2024, she is further integrating compliance services, including enterprise risk management, privacy, and audit under her leadership oversight.”
Deirdre Bell retired from the U.S. Navy in 2020 and is a semi-retired anesthesiologist.
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(PICTURED, L TO R) ELISE MATNEY '30 AND NORTHROP 1966 CLASSMATES JULIA MORRISON PALMER, MARYLEE HARDENbERGH AND AMES SHELDON WERE PART OF A GROUP THAT HELPED AN AFGHAN REFUGEE FAMILY RESETTLE IN MINNESOTA.
PAGE FAEGRE ’65
FRIENDS AND 1976 CLASSMATES (L TO R) STEVE WEINER, DAVID MCCARY, NED HARTFIEL, TED SNELGROVE, AND bUDDY IDE SUMMITED MOUNT SNOWDON, ONE OF MANY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THEIR TRIP TO WALES, WHERE NED HAS LIVED SINCE 1991.
SALLY ANKENY REILEY ’77 (LEFT) AND SUSAN WEISS SPENCER ’77 CELEbRATE THEIR COMPLETION OF THE AbbOTT WORLD MARATHON MAJORS AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS HELD IN OCTObER 2023 AS PART OF THE CHICAGO MARATHON. THE CLASSMATES bOTH LIVE IN MASSACHUSETTS AND OCCASIONALLY RUN AND RACE TOGETHER.
Steve Eastman retired as president of parts, garments and accessories and aftermarket for Polaris Inc. at the end of 2024.
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Jeff Goldenberg and his dad, Bill, recently discovered that both had visited 49 of the 50 United States and that each was missing only the Pine Tree State. In October, they took corrective action by visiting Maine, along with brother/son Chad Goldenberg ’86. Jeff reports the three visited Portland and Acadia National Park, peeped some spectacular fall colors and exceeded all reasonable standards of lobster and lobster roll consumption. Their trip was made all the better by local guides and relocated Blake alumni Justin Whitlock and Peter Silverson ’82
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Tara Gallagher is expecting her first grandchild in May.
Kirsten Harrison (See In Print and Production)
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Kelly Morrison won her bid for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District. She
PAM HENSEL JOHNS ’78 DESIGNED RENOVATIONS FOR HER 1965 VINTAGE GLObETROTTER, WHICH WON GOLD AT THE INTERNATIONAL AIRSTREAM RALLY IN SEDALIA, MISSOURI, IN SEPTEMbER.
JENNY HAGEN MAINE WELCOMED HER FELLOW 1981 CLASSMATE KIM COHAN DYER AND RObIN ANDREWS COHAN ’58, KIM’S MOM, TO NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, LAST FALL FOR A DAY OF SIGHTSEEING.
ANDY KOPSTEIN ’86 (CENTER), A SURGEON WITH K2 VISION IN SEATTLE, SET THE RECORD FOR IMPLANTING 2500 LIGHT ADJUSTAbLE LENS FROM RXSIGHT WHERE FELLOW bLAKE bEAR STEVE EVERLY ’83 (FAR RIGHT) IS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES.
is a founding member of the Congressional Doctors Caucus, made up of six Democratic doctors in the House of Representatives.
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Libby Gray, a principal partner with Gray Ice Higdon, was named to the 2025 Kentucky Super Lawyers Top 50 List.
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Annie Fisher ‘90, an attorney in the capital habeas unit of the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania based in Philadelphia, argued a case before the United States Supreme Court in February. In Gutierrez v. Saenz, Annie argued for the petitioner, Ruben Gutierrez, a Texas death row inmate seeking DNA testing to provide evidence, that he should not have been sentenced to death for his role in a homicide out of Brownsville, Texas. Annie faced questions from all nine justices, who questioned her about whether her client has the right to bring this federal challenge to the Texas post-conviction DNA statute. An opinion is expected by the end of June. Annie joined the capital habeas unit of the Federal Defender in 2018. Her
office handles death row appeals across the country. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University in 1994 and graduated cum laude from University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2004. Before joining the Federal Defender, Annie was an attorney at the Defender Association of Philadelphia for 14 years where she did jury trials and taught the criminal defense clinic at University of Pennsylvania Law School.
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John Neerland, a group creative director at Colle McVoy, was named to this year’s TCB100 list of business leaders, trailblazers and innovators by Twin Cities Business Magazine. John has helped build campaigns for a range of local, national and international brands including Frank’s RedHot, Craftsman and the Minnesota Star Tribune. He and his wife, Carrie, live in Minneapolis with their three daughters, Genevieve, Ida and Beatrice, and their friendly (but also rather surly) cat, Penny.
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Vivi Alyeshmerni, a pediatrician and founder of Concierge Pediatrics in Newport Beach, California, was named to the
Top Doctors of Orange County 2025 list published by Orange Coast Magazine
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Matt Mithun spoke at the March Breakfast at Blake about his career, which encompasses real estate, sports and entertainment. He is part owner of the Minnesota United Football Club and serves on the board of governors of Major League Soccer. His other projects include production of WE Fest, the Stone Arch Bridge Festival, Loring Park Art Festival and Art in Bayfront Park, as well as the restoration and development of the Somerset Amphitheater. He is also an owner of La Doña Cervecería Brewery. Matt’s presentation is available at blake.mn/mithun
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Andy Brehm is a contributing columnist with the Minnesota Star Tribune, where he provides twice monthly commentary on political and cultural issues impacting the state. He continues to serve as an attorney with Burwell Enterprises.
Eric Dayton has launched a new climate tech startup, Cold, a
software company that helps environmentally minded business owners comply with the sustainability requirements of their suppliers, retail partners and regulators.
Brothers Bly and Rowan Pope illustrated Fumious Rex: The Outcast Cat, a chapter book for children and cat lovers of all ages written by their mom, Freya Manfred. (Also see In Print and Production)
Mark Taylor, an F. Scott Fitzgerald scholar, is helping the Friends of the Saint Paul Library celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby this summer by offering 90-minute walking tours through locations that played a significant role in Fitzgerald’s life and novels.
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Mirza Tabakovic works in London, where he lives with his spouse and two daughters.
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Ace Rice has reopened his PLOT Gallery in Minneapolis’ George Floyd Square, where his family has lived for generations. For the gallery’s opening exhibition, Gandy Dancer, Ace transitioned from curator to first-time featured artist, sharing his paintings with
the community. Ace shares, “I am really focused on revitalizing the community in this neighborhood, which I grew up in. We just launched a land trust as a vehicle for redevelopment, and Charity Clay is on my board for the nonprofit.” Learn more about Ace’s gallery at plotgallery.com and the land trust at komboaclt.org
Stephanie Rich has been promoted to partner at the venture capital firm Bread & Butter, where she previously served as the head of platforms.
Mark Webster Jr. lives and works in West Los Angeles, just a few miles from the devastating Palisades Fire. Mark owns and operates a Fatburger Food Truck. His corporate partner, Fat Brands, donated 10,000 meals to the first responders and those displaced by the fires and used Mark’s food truck as the vehicle to serve the community. He writes, “I hope all the other LA Blake alums are safe and well.”
Cassidy Blackwell was honored as the 2024 Blake Young Alum during the October Breakfast at Blake. Cassidy spoke about her work as director of global community programs at Airbnb and the
company’s sponsorship of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Her presentation is available at blake. mn/blackwell24
A.J. Jackson’s band, Saint Motel, is on tour in the U.S. and Canada promoting their new album, Symphony in the Sky. The group performed their song Get It At Home on Jimmy Kimmel Live in March.
Michael Polansky made his debut on the Billboard 200 chart. He is credited as a co-writer on seven songs from his fiancée Lady Gaga’s new album, Mayhem, four of which landed on Billboard’s Hot Dance/ Pop Songs chart.
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Maggie Schneider Huston is a senior digital experience manager for UPS in Atlanta. Maggie’s mom died peacefully in September 2023; her dad died 72 days later, angry at the doctors for ignoring wishes he had laid out in an advanced directive. In a Newsweek article, Maggie provides a first-person account of the final hours of her dad’s life and her family’s fight to convince her dad’s care team to honor his right to a peaceful death. She writes, “At 39, I’m the first one of my friends to lose both of my parents, but I won’t
be the last. The American population is rapidly aging; by 2034, there will be more retirees than children in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Younger Americans must be prepared to care for our elders, navigate the healthcare system, and fight to ensure our loved ones receive the desired care.” 04
Andrew Schremp has been appointed to the board of directors for Anne Carlsen Center, a nonprofit that provides support and services in North Dakota for individuals with developmental disabilities or delays.
Katharine Woodman-Maynard, who published a graphic novel adaptation of The Great Gatsby in 2021, took part in the Friends of the Saint Paul Library’s 100th anniversary celebration of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book. She talked about adapting the novel during a book discussion in April. And Minnesota Public Radio News visited her home studio to talk about her creative process and what the Gatsby legacy means to her. (Also see In Print and Production)
JEFF ’83, bILL AND CHAD ’86 GOLDENbERG (L TO R) FIND ENLIGHTENMENT ALONG THE SHORES OF MAINE DURING A FALL TRIP TO THE STATE. THE THREE ARE JOINED ON THE CASCO bAY MAILbOAT TOUR bY LOCAL GUIDE PETER SILVERSON ’82.
TIFFANY OSSANNA TITUS ’89 AND DONN-ALLAN TITUS AT THEIR JUNE 2024 WEDDING AT THE EAGLE MOUNTAIN GOLF CLUb IN FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA.
ANNIE FISHER ’90 ARGUED A CASE bEFORE THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IN FEbRUARY.
SPOKE AbOUT HIS CAREER IN REAL ESTATE, SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT WITH MANY OF HIS bLAKE CLASSMATES IN ATTENDANCE INCLUDING (L TO R) AL SULLIVAN, ERIK HEGSTROM, MATT, ANDREW HUSEbY. TOM RACCIATTI AND JACOb WERT.
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Charley Daitch is the new CEO at Rowan Digital Infrastructure. He joined the organization as Chief Commercial Officer in 2023. Rowan is a specialist infrastructure solutions provider with offices in Denver and Seattle.
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Peter Ankeny lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with his partner, Maddy, their two samoyeds, Tiki and Goose, and their cat, Stella. Peter recently left a multi-family office to start his own wealth management firm, Wolf Pine Capital. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing, cycling and jiu jitsu.
Jennings Grant was added to the executive team at Fox News Channel as vice president of strategy and talent development. Currently the number one cable network, Fox News Channel has also been the most watched television news channel for 22 years.
Marshall Kelner passed the Minnesota bar exam and was sworn in as an attorney on October 25, 2024, after both of his parents (Barry Kelner and Nancy Bender-Kelner) moved for his admission. He is currently
at Stinson LLP in Minneapolis, formerly Leonard, Street and Deinard, working in energy, environmental and sports law.
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Jeremiah Ellison, who was first elected to the Minneapolis City Council in 2017, has announced he will not seek re-election next year to represent Ward 5.
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In January, Michael Ankeny and Maria Brunette ʼ11 eloped in Wanaka, New Zealand. The trip was advertised as a pre-wedding honeymoon, but the two Blake Bears had something else in mind: a planned mountaintop ceremony accessible only by helicopter. During their 10-day stay in New Zealand, they played seven world class golf courses. The couple will hold a wedding celebration in June for family and friends.
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Javier Reyes is on tour with Djo and Post Animal. The tour began with a performance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, followed by travel to New Zealand and Australia. Javi’s mom, JJ Kahle, Upper School Spanish teacher, saw
Javi live with Post Animal and Djo at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul in April and is excited to see them this summer in Amsterdam. The tour may be coming to a city near you; check djomusic.com. Javi also plays with the band Slow Pulp and creates music solo as Javier Reyes.
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Amelia Williams is a communications and media relations manager at Pivotal Ventures, an organization founded by philanthropist Melinda French Gates to advance social progress and expand women’s power and influence. In April, Melinda released her new book, The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward, in which she reflects, for the first time in print, on some of the most significant transitions in her own life—including becoming a parent, the death of a dear friend, her life after divorce, and her departure from the Gates Foundation. As the book tour’s event strategy lead, Amelia led the team that planned six events around the book’s publication: New York City (with moderator Abby Phillip), Nashville (with Ann Patchett), Washington, D.C. (with Michele Norris), Austin (with Brené Brown), Chicago (with Hoda Kotb), and Seattle (with
Reese Witherspoon). “It’s been an incredible experience getting to connect with audiences around the country about this book and Melinda’s work," Amelia says. In March, Melinda also spoke with Poppy Harlow ʼ01 for a live Q&A with those who pre-ordered The Next Day
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Will Kaback is an editor and communications lead at Tangle, a non-partisan newsletter that covers major U.S. political issues by summarizing arguments from the right, left and center and then presenting Tangle’s editorial team’s take on each one. Will writes, “The days are full, the hours unusual, and there aren’t many breaks. But it’s thrilling, rewarding and
Family Additions
Molly Mahoney Thurmes ’15 a son, Joseph James February 14, 2025
Marriages
Henrik Jones ’79 and Gillian Tett July 8, 2024
Michael Ankeny ’09 and Maria Brunette ’11 January 2, 2025
Sam Michel ’10 and Michele Carpenter April 13, 2024
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MARK PAREKH ’93 (LEFT) AND MAGNUS GILLE ’93 MET UP IN STOCKHOLM WHERE THEY ENJOYED AN AFTERNOON CATCHING UP.
MATT MITHUN ’95
ANDY bREHM ’99
ACE RICE REOPENED HIS PLOT GALLERY IN MINNEAPOLIS’ GEORGE FLOYD SQUARE, WHERE HIS FAMILY HAS LIVED FOR GENERATIONS.
MANY OF CASSIDY bLACKWELL’S 2002 CLASSMATES WERE ON HAND AS SHE WAS HONORED AS THE 2024 bLAKE YOUNG ALUM. PICTURED, L TO R, ANDREA RAVICH, SARAH RILEY, ASHLEY bAKKEN-MARTIN, CASSIDY, MATT MARTIN, NEDDA NOORI SALEHI AND CONWAY YUNG.
Cameron Downey had a show, Super Deluxe, at Midway Contemporary Art in Northeast Minneapolis, which opened in November and ran through January. Super Deluxe was named a 2024 top 10 art event in the Twin Cities by the Star Tribune.
wonderfully challenging, and I get to do it alongside coworkers (friends) whose skill and intellect are inspiring.” Tangle was featured on an episode of This American Life, and Will was a guest on MPR News with Angela Davis discussing how news media contributes to political polarization.
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Marvel has announced Ashley Allen will be writing the first ongoing solo series for its X-Men character Magik (aka Illyanna Rasputina). Ashley, a rising star in the Marvel Universe, wrote the mutant icon earlier this year in X-Men: Blood Hunt — Magik. “I’m beyond excited to be returning
to write Illyana!” Ashley says. “Supernatural stories featuring characters with hearts of gold are my favorite, so this series has been a dream to write. I can’t wait for readers to experience the adventure we take Magik on to slay some demons … and maybe accept some of her own.” The series will be drawn by acclaimed artist Germán Peralta, who says, “I really enjoy drawing action scenes, as well as emotionally driven scenes, and Ashley Allen writes a super intriguing script, where she balances both of these types of situations, making my job even more fun than it already is.” (Also see In Print and Production)
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Sadie Abernathy graduated from Vassar College in 2023 with a bachelor of arts in film. She will release her first short film as a producer this year. Within independent film, her most notable work has been as an associate producer and assistant editor for the newest feature-length documentary directed by Emmy-winner Judd Ehrlish to premiere in 2025. She was an associate producer on Found Magazine’s upcoming docuseries, executive produced by the Duplass Brothers and directed by Emmy-winner Davy Rothbart. Her short film, We Liked Your Vibe, explores the fetishization and hypersexualization of womenloving-women relationships that affect the everyday experience of queer women. This film coincides with the launch of Girl Films Collective, which Sadie co-founded to uplift the community of female filmmakers. Follow both projects on Instagram: @welikedyourvibe and @girlfilmscollective.
Cambodian-American artist and educator Sara Gregor made her curatorial debut this April at XIA Gallery & Cafe in St. Paul. The exhibition, "My Soul of Gold," featured artwork by Sara and fellow Cambodian-American artists Hao Taing (photojournalist) and Gabriella Sour (Robam classical dancer) centered on Cambodian heritage, memory and embodiment. Sara's interdisciplinary practice explores memory, ritual and cultural identity. Grounded in Buddhist philosophy and Southeast Asian visual traditions, her work engages themes of healing and the sacred through painting, writing and community storytelling. In recent years, Sara has begun volunteering more actively at Watt Munisotaram, the Cambodian Buddhist temple in Minnesota, as part of her effort to reconnect with her heritage. Subscribe to Sara’s lifestyle blog and magazine at www. theapsaracreative.com
Adrian Lapadat ’19, who graduated in 2023 with a master of arts in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to research emigration from Bacău county in Romania. In its award
ON JANUARY 2, MICHAEL ANKENY ’09 AND MARIA bRUNETTE ’11 ELOPED IN A MOUNTAINTOP CEREMONY IN WANAKA, NEW ZEALAND.
JENNINGS GRANT ’07
MARK WEbSTER ’01 PROVIDES MEALS FROM HIS FAT bURGER FOOD TRUCK TO THE FIRST RESPONDERS AND THOSE DISPLACED bY THE LA FIRES.
SAM MICHEL ’10 MARRIED MICHELE CARPENTER IN LEESbURG, VIRGINIA. KOLTEN FISCHER ’10 AND CARLY MICHEL ’15, THE GROOM’S SISTER, WERE IN THE WEDDING PARTY. THE COUPLE LIVES IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
JAVIER REYES ’10 (LEFT) PERFORMS WITH DJO DURING ONE OF THE STOPS OF THEIR WORLD TOUR. (PHOTO CREDIT: POONEH GHANA)
FORMER bLAKE DEbATER SARAH CARTHEN WATSON ’11 (THIRD FROM LEFT) MET UP WITH CURRENT TEAM MEMbERS WHO WERE COMPETING AT EMORY UNIVERSITY IN ATLANTA. SARAH LIVES IN GEORGIA AND IS A LAWYER WITH THE SHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW.
In Memoriam
Anthony “Tony” Ambrose ’97
March 28, 2025
Chandler Archibald ’89 April 30, 2025
Edward Atcas ’54 December 8, 2024
Sheila McCarthy Boies ’52 former parent March 21, 2025
John Boufford former faculty August 24, 2024
Elizabeth “Wizzie” Velie Bovey ’50 January 28, 2025
Ronald Brill ’72 January 25, 2025
Donna Brown ’63 December 15, 2024
Marilyn Tickle Bryant ’45 former parent former grandparent September 10, 2024
Joseph Chisler former parent former bus driver March 23, 2025
James Cullen Jr. ’64 April 25, 2025
Neil Davidson ’49 October 15, 2024
Ernest Dorn III ’52 November 2, 2024
John Ederer ’75
October 3, 2024
Ronald Erickson ’54 former parent former grandparent December 7, 2024
Mary Gibbons ’58 December 6, 2024
Barbara “Joan” Moore Goott ’52 December 9, 2024
David Grundy ’54 April 22, 2025
John Hawkinson ’50 February 27, 2025
Joel Heathcote ’57 September 9, 2024
Burton Hersh ’51 April 25, 2025
Ruth Bennett Hoff ’53
July 2, 2024
Charles Hoffman ’61 December 4, 2024
Jack Hollander ’09 April 21, 2025
Pamela Hughes-Bosch ’71
July 7, 2024
Karl “Kip” Humphrey ’70
January 24, 2024
Thomas Ingalls ’67
April 10, 2024
Miguel “Rico” Irizarry ’88
June 25, 2024
Douglas Johnson ’47 former parent
March 20, 2025
Sandra Phillipi Katter ’54
January 7, 2025
Virginia “Ginny” Kimmer former faculty February 2, 2025
John Lampe ’53
September 6, 2024
Charles “Chuck” Lane ’59
January 19, 2025
Christine Larsen ’59
December 8, 2024
Miriam “Mimi” Bennett Leslie ’48
October 21, 2024
DeWayne Lukkasson current great-grandparent former bus driver
November 5, 2024
Florence “Doodle” Eggleston Maddix ’47
February 1, 2024
William “Bill” Marton former parent former administrator
April 4, 2025
Marcia Swanson Massee ’57 former parent former grandparent
April 25, 2025
William “Bill” McCarthy ’51 former parent April 1, 2025
Mary Pesek McRoberts ’60
September 10, 2024
Charles Meech ’61 April 12, 2025
Eugene Messenger former faculty December 26, 2024
Anne Middlebrook Moedritzer ’50 December 29, 2024
James Nelson ’60 former parent former grandparent April 5, 2025
Anne Newhart ’50 October 18, 2024
Sheila Murphy Nichols ’50 July 2, 2024
Steven Omark former staff August 11, 2024
Tracy Kuller Pesso ’82 January 29, 2025
Nancy Woodard Power ’51 former parent January 14, 2025
Thomas Ritchie ’69 March 2, 2025
Diane Robinson ’51 former parent October 3, 2024
Barbara Long Savage ’46 former parent former grandparent former trustee November 12, 2024
James Schmidt former bus driver September 7, 2024
Michael “Peter” Thomas ’59 January 29, 2025
Bibiana “Viviana” Sanabria Toro former faculty December 1, 2024
Joanne Watson former faculty January 29, 2025
Jan Whitman ’71 September 14, 2024
Janet Williams current faculty May 23, 2025
Harold “Hal” Wylie Jr. ’47 April 7, 2025
Jennifer White Young ’73 December 4, 2024
Please inform the Institutional Advancement Office of Blake community member deaths by calling (952) 988-3440 or by sending an email to cyrus@blakeschool.org.
THE MAHONEY FAMILY WELCOMED A NEW bEAR INTO THE WORLD ON VALENTINE’S DAY. JOSEPH JAMES (AKA JJ) CAPTURED THE HEARTS OF MOM, MOLLY MAHONEY THURMES ’15, GRANDFATHER AND UPPER SCHOOL TEACHER JIM MAHONEY AND UNCLE TOM MAHONEY ’14.
WILL KAbACK ’16 (LEFT) ENJOYS TIME AWAY FROM HIS bUSY WORK LIFE WITH HIS DAD, FORMER UPPER SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER STEVE KAbACK.
FRIENDS AND 2022 CLASSMATES (L TO R) MAX HANKINS, LILY LIU, JAY GULATI, GRAHAM HEATHCOTE AND TObIN SPILLER MET UP IN LONDON IN JANUARY. TObIN, LILY AND JAY ARE STUDYING FOR THE YEAR AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS. GRAHAM STUDIES AT ST. ANDREWS IN SCOTLAND AND MAX STUDIES IN SPAIN.
announcement, Carnegie Mellon shared that Adrian, whose parents are from Romania and left to work in the U.S., plans to conduct a series of interviews to shed light on the material and psychological impact of emigration on those who stay in the home country. “I’m interested in applying my writing and research skills to something I care about,” Adrian says. “Mass emigration doesn’t just affect countries like Romania … it has large consequences for countries like Bulgaria, Serbia—really, the entire Balkan region.”
REUNION
20Audrey Wethington, a fifth-year forward on the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team, was one of 14 nominees for the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award, which recognizes a studentathlete who makes significant contributions to their team and the community-at-large through volunteer leadership. She is also one of 20 student-athletes across collegiate winter sports selected to the inaugural Good Works
Winter Team, which recognizes the far-reaching impact of student-athletes in their communities. In its announcement of her selection, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics wrote that “Audrey is a powerhouse on and off the ice. From dedicating over 1,000 hours to groundbreaking heart research at the Visible Heart Laboratories to brightening patients’ days at Masonic Children's Hospital, her community impact is undeniable. A passionate leader, she’s mentored aspiring healthcare professionals, driven mental advocacy and helped register over 3,000 potential stem cell donors,
showing true greatness that extends far beyond the game.”
21
Robert Grace is working as a full-time videographer for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves as he finishes his senior year at Macalester College—and continues to play for the school’s basketball team.
Keegan James was awarded the Sam Koch Team First Award for outstanding contributions to the University of St. Thomas men’s soccer team. Keegan writes, “Being part of this fantastic team has taught me invaluable lessons
about leadership, resilience and the power of working toward a common goal. I’m deeply grateful for my coaches, teammates and everyone who has supported me along the way. Roll Toms!”
22
Molly Liston, a junior on Gustavus Adolphus College’s cross country team, won the Coach Finanger Invitational in September, finishing the 5K line at 19:03.9, nearly a minute faster than the next competitor.
Former Faculty
Joanne Esser (See In Print and Production)
Stacy Swearingen, former Middle School English teacher, was back on campus as this year’s poet-in-residence. She worked with seventh grade students in Bob Zelle's and Kayla Nussbaum's classes, sharing some of her own writing and helping students create poems of their own. Some students shared their poems at Poetry Night, an annual highlight of the seventh grade school year. (See Voices to read one student’s poem.) Stacy is currently working on a suspense novel.
VOICES
One Day
One day the sun will rise softer
One day the weight will lift like mist
One day laughter won’t feel stolen
One day pain will loosen its fist
One day the echoes will be gone
One day the past won’t call us back
One day our hands won’t shake with worry
One day our souls won’t feel so cracked
One day the road won’t seem so endless
One day the clouds will break apart
One day we’ll see the difference
One day the healing starts
One day we’ll feel the warmth
One day happiness won’t feel so far
One day the haze will leave
One day we’ll know who we are
One day the mirror will show us
One day the glass will break
One day we’ll look back and see
One day it won’t be a big mistake
Mila Lowin ʼ30 loves musical theater, dance and playing various musical instruments. Their favorite things also include frogs, French fries, horror movies and songwriting. Mila wrote this poem as a part of the annual seventh grade poet-in-residence unit. This year, students had the pleasure of working with former Blake English teacher Stacy Swearingen.
