Brandeis Magazine

Hope everyone is doing well. Beth Schroeder Miller and I had an amazing time visiting Phil Solomon and his lovely family in Florida. They are doing extremely well and the parents have not aged a bit. I was cast in another play, Sara Ruhl’s “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” and Washington Parent magazine wrote an article about me trying to balance single motherhood and acting. Via Facebook, I was able to receive sage advice from the best veterinarian I know, Sara Joseph, my old (or rather still young) roommate, when my golden retriever decided to make a meal out of a dead rabbit. I also had the great opportunity to view the documentary feature films “The September Issue,” “The Tillman Story” and “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” on which our very own Rob Sharenow was involved as executive producer.” Please send me your updates, or even better, come visit.

Speaking of Rob Sharenow, he is now the head of programming for Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network. His second novel, “The Berlin Boxing Club,” was published by HarperCollins. He lives in New York with his wife and two daughters. Congratulations to flutist Abbe Krieger, who was invited by the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony to join the group on an orchestral tour of China. She’ll be performing in nine cities, including Beijing and Guangzhou. Elizabeth Hoffman reports that she is still living in Beijing, teaching at an international school, and her kids, Olivia, 10, and Aidan, 8, are having a blast. Despite the predicted demise of publishing as we know it, Jim Eber has managed to keep busy as a collaborator on several projects. His second book with Jeffrey Hayzlett, “Running the Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change and Grow Profits,” was published in January. He is finishing interviews for a project on the future of fine chocolate. Scott Burton is a corporate finance consultant in Austin, Texas. He married Brandi Clark in 2010, and new baby Branson just turned 1. Son Lubbock is in first grade. Scott joined the board of Solar Austin, hoping to make a difference in building more sustainable cities. Andrea Goldoff Dorlester passed the exam to become a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and subsequently was promoted to senior planner on the Tysons Corner, Va., development review team. This was a culmination of her work in developing a new comprehensive plan for Tysons Corner, which was awarded the Daniel Burnham Award. The American Planning Association grants this prestigious award to only one urban plan in the nation each year for advancing the science and art of planning. Miles Liss is a middle school teacher for the Fairfax County (Va.) Public Schools. He teaches English to students with varying disabilities. He’s also pursuing his longtime writing hobby, especially poetry. He has had a couple of poems published in Blue Moon Literary & Arts Review. He completed a book of poetry that he’s presently entering into various poetry contests. Ellen Seidman writes, “My kids, 8 and 6 years old, continue to amaze and amuse me, as does my husband. I have sprung myself from full-time work and have been happily freelance editing for magazines and websites. I’ve recently done projects for Redbook, American Baby, Allure, Disney’s BabyZone, makeup.com and huggies.com. I’m particularly proud of the blog I write, Love That Max, which ranks No. 20 in Babble’s Top 50 Mom Blogs. I also blog for parents.com and babble.com. Occasionally, I write articles for magazines. This year I was published in Real Simple Family, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping and All You. In my spare time, I like to breathe.” Robert Levy earned an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland’s University College. Melissa Hafter continues to work as a private tutor for students with learning differences and has just re-entered the wonderful world of theater. Although mostly a backstage person, she was seen onstage in December in Paul Rudnick’s “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told” with the Star Bar Players in good ol’ Colorado Springs, Colo. She blames it all on Alyssa Sanders, with whom she has most happily reconnected. This she blames on Rob Levy and Phil Solomon, but, heck, it’s all good. At the tender age of 44, she has just donated her long, curly locks to Locks of Love for a fourth time and hopes to inspire her daughter to do the same with her crazy long hair. Melissa wants to do it at least one more time before the gray really invades. Phil Solomon; his wife, Joanna; and their daughters, Daniella and Michelle, are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new addition to the family, expected in early May. Nomi Krim Edwards is director of human resources for a boutique management consulting firm, Philosophy IB, in Florham Park, N.J. Her report on her kids: “Boy started driving in January and is looking at colleges at the moment. He plays tuba and watched the Ohio State University marching band sousaphone players ‘dot the I’ twice at the Ohio State–Penn State football game. Middle girl is a freshman in high school  and enjoying BBYO, and my 12-year-old is making me crazy.” Rakesh Rajani, an expert in international development, joined the board of directors of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Rakesh is the founder and head of Twaweza, an East African-based civil-society initiative that works to promote change in the region through citizen partnerships and governmental accountability. Twaweza is a Hewlett Foundation grantee; the name means “we can make it happen” in Swahili. Rakesh co-founded and was the first executive director of two other organizations in Tanzania. He has also served as a consultant on international development for the Hewlett Foundation, google.org, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation’s Office for East Africa, and Unicef.