Dramatis Personae

In order to perhaps make a little sense out of the bewildering array of names I'm likely to drop, this is a list of the people mentioned in my travel journals, alphabetized by last name, with a short blurb about each and links where available. I'm trying to give a vague set of identifiers without impinging too much on privacy; I hope I'm striking a reasonable balance between those opposing factors. If anyone objects to anything I've written here, please let me know. Btw, "current" whereabouts and occupations are mostly as of the time I added the entry (mostly between 8/96 and 8/97); some people's situations have changed since then (and a couple of the listed people are no longer with us), but I haven't updated anything.

 

Vadim Akselrod
Pomona alum, gamer, rollerblader, computer guy, currently running his own company in the Bay Area. (page)
Ruth Alfasso
Swarthmore alum, SWAPAn, living and working in the Boston area.
Fran Altvater
Swarthmore alum, currently a grad student in art history in Boston, affianced to Ed.
Debby Bacharach
Swarthmore alum, poet, and teacher, in Seattle for the summer and headed for a new place in Indiana in the fall.
Deb Barolsky
Swarthmore alum, teaching and studenting in the Boston area, married to Charles.
Ed Bernstein
Swarthmore alum, currently living in Boston, affianced to Fran. No relation to Michael.
Michael Bernstein
My roommate for much of my time at Swarthmore; currently running a publishing company in Somerville. Linguist, juggler. No relation to Ed.
Chris Berry
High-school friend of Beth, currently residing in Long Beach; fabulous musician, movie fan.
Ranjit Bhatnagar
A nexus. Also an artist. CTY alum; I met him via BBS when I was at Paly and he was at Berkeley. I met him again via email when I was at Swarthmore and he was at U Penn. The web of synchronicity surrounding him is far too elaborate to attempt to untangle here.
Melissa Binde
Current Swarthmore student; SWIL co-president; SWAPAn; juggler, game-player, a cappella fan; summer intern in Silicon Valley.
Barbara Bradford
Stephanie's mother; a romance writer. Let me house- and cat-sit for her in VA.
Gerry Cargile
Gunn alum, marvelous photographer, sysadmin; he moved into the Betlo house when I moved out. Met via Sarah.
Ellen & Robyn Carrillo-Heian
Mudd alums; Ellen is in grad school in Davis, Robyn does wine chemistry.
Sally Carter
Swarthmore alum, currently in law school in Boston.
Thida Cornes
Bryn Mawr alum, Bay Area sysadmin, holder of story readings, owner of many bumper stickers. Met via Dominus.
Charles Deily
Teacher, gamer, SCAdian; husband of Deb.
Dobe Doinat & Kathleen McKenty
Dobe is one of my uncles (Peter's brothers), currently living and working not far from Seattle, and maintainer of the gargantuan list of punny names. Kathleen is his wife, a garden/plant expert and marvelous cook.
Mark-Jason Dominus
Sysadmin, Web guy, mathematician, philologist. Met via Ranjit while Dominus was working at U Penn and I was at Swarthmore. (page)
Todd & Sam Downing
Paly alums, gamers, parents of Tyler; living in Seattle. Todd is an artist and designer.
Diana & David Eppstein
Paly alums. David is a professor at Irvine; Diana programs computers there.
Kendra Eshleman
Swarthmore alum, classicist, logophile, SWAPA co-OE, engaging and witty correspondent.
Arthur Evans
Paly and UCSC alum; writer; my housemate in Mountain View from 9/91 through 8/96.
Stewart & Jessica Evans
Arthur's brother and sister-in-law, currently living in Colorado.
KaeSa Footracer
Mudd/Scripps alum; met via Kristen. Currently living in Long Beach, working for an arts center.
Jeremy Frank
Pomona alum; met via Sarah. Computer scientist, potter, gamer, cook, currently living in Mountain View.
Beth Fryer
Former SGI tech writer, mother of Emma. Not to be confused with Beth O.
Samuel Goldstein
Pomona alum; met via Sarah. Web guy, VR artist, avant-gardener. (page)
Sarah Green
Friend of Michael's from Long Island.
GREX
My name for the household consisting of Geoffrey, Robert, Ethan, Kathleen, and Sonya. They prefer SKERG.
PJ Groeneveldt
Clarion West '91 alum, currently living and working in Edmonton.
Luke Hankins
Swarthmore alum, now working at the company formerly known as Netmarket.
Mykle Hansen
Paly alum, writer, artist, musician, 'ziner, sometime sysadmin, Portlander.
Amy Hanson
Clarion West '91 alum and science writer, currently living and working in Tacoma.
Joaquin ("Jay") Hartman
My brother, currently in the UCLA MBA program after a stint at Sanwa Bank. Athlete, community volunteer. Goes by "Jay" but I still call him Joaquin. Went to Gunn and UC Davis.
Peter Hartman
My father, currently substitute-teaching in Tacoma.
Clive Henrick
Paly alum, doing freelance multimedia work after having finished three MA degrees from Cal Arts.
Connie Hirsch
Clarion West '91 alum, currently living and working in the Boston area. One of three members of our Clarion class who's actually sold any fiction. Told me about the anthology I made my one sale to.
Geoff Hopcraft
Swarthmore alum, now a grad student in Amherst.
David Huddleston
Paly alum, now a student in Northampton.
Kathleen Jones
Mawrtyr, roleplayer, currently living in Redwood City as part of GREX.
David Kanig
A member of the late lamented radio writing workshop that Fran & Ed and I were in in San Francisco a couple years back; now living in Rhode Island.
Steve Karpf
Swarthmore alum, former aptmate, occasional journalist and writer, currently a nanny in Somerville. Father of Jazz and Wolf.
Lisa Karst
Paly and Reed alum, artist, gardener, currently living and working in Portland.
Karen K
Paly alum.
James Kushner & Nova Myhill
Met via Dominus; James works at Borders in Santa Monica and Nova is a grad student at UCLA. Logophiles at large.
Sherry Levi
Swarthmore alum, gardener, SCAdian, SWAPAn.
Kris & Scott Lewallen
Scott went to Mudd; I met them via Kristen. They do gaming, dance-related stuff, waterskiing, and engineering stuff, mostly in the East Bay.
Sarah Liberman
Gunn and Pomona alum whom I've known on and off since middle school. Currently living in Mountain View and working in San Francisco. Has introduced me, directly or indirectly, to most of my non-Swarthmore and non-Paly friends.
Allison Light & David Powers
San Franciscans, friends of mine via Fran & Ed (who knew them in connection with radio drama production), poker players.
Mark Light-Orr
Co-worker of Beth's in Cambridge; singer, actor.
Bhadrika Love
Swarthmore alum, SWAPAn, writer, former nanny; in nursing school, living in Somerville. Mother of Jazz and Wolf.
Joshua Mackay-Smith
Swarthmore alum, SWAPAn, motorcyclist, living in Virginia.
Marté Matthews & Paul Means
Paly alums, currently living in Mountain View.
Steph & Harlan McCanne
Harlan went to Mudd; Steph is a writer. I met them via Kristen in California; they subsequently moved to the Boston area.
Kristen McCowan
A Nexus. Palo Altan, Mudd alum, working now at OMSI. Met via Sarah, amidst a web of synchronicities.
Carey McIntosh
Paly and Pomona alum, currently living in Europe.
Cathy Coley McIntyre
Friend of Bhadrika & Steve's; logophile; married to Ryk, mother of Kenny; lives in Somerville.
Carrie McLaughlin
Berkeley alum, ex-Californian, now a nursing student; former housemate of Bhadrika and Steve's.
Mary Anne Mohanraj
MFA student in the East Bay, writer, purveyor of fine erotica, friend of Thida's, Clarion West '97 student. (page)
Elliott Moreton
Swarthmore alum, linguist, logophile, historical hobbyist, and folkdancer.
Jim Moskowitz
Swarthmore alum, SWAPA co-OE, Scientist, game-player, singer, puzzle-solver, living and working in the Philadelphia area.
Geoffrey Noer
Swarthmore alum, musician, programmer; currently living in Redwood City as part of GREX.
Beth Ochsner
From the Long Beach crowd. An ex-sweetie of mine. Currently living in Boston. Introduced to me via CJ Sewell. Not to be confused with Beth F.
John Palmieri
Swarthmore alum, mathematician.
Nao Parkhurst & Stephen Sample
Swarthmore alums, linguists, logophiles, singers, Morris dancers, former SWAPAns; currently living in North Carolina.
Ananda Patterson & Sam Meier
Ananda (a Pomonan) is one of my two favorite GMs; Sam is also a serious gamer. I met Ananda through Sarah.
Catherine P
Swarthmore alum.
David Randall
Swarthmore alum, writer, inveterate New Yorker.
Robert Reimann
Writer, story-reader, artist, designer, talk.bizarrite, John Dee impersonator, and aficionado of arcane technology; also the founder and CEO of X Industries.
Mya Rorer
Friend of Kristen's, currently living in Santa Cruz.
Lola Ross
Mawrtyr; teacher; Jessica's sister.
Susan Ruff
Swarthmore alum. An ex-sweetie of mine. Currently living and working in the Boston area.
Melissa Running
Swarthmore alum, seamstress, singer, current SWAPA co-OE.
Amy Schmieder
Pomona alum, gamer, physicist, grad student, currently in SoCal.
Gavin Schnitzler
Swarthmore alum, sometime SWAPAn, artist, living and working in the Boston area.
Jay Scott
Swarthmore alum, SWAPAn, futurist, programmer.
CJ Sewell
Mudd alum who grew up in Long Beach; juggler, actress. Introduced to me by Kristen. Not to be confused with CJ Silverio.
CJ Silverio
Former housemate and co-worker of Arthur's and mine; writer; Clarion West '97 student; talk.bizarrite; currently living and working in Palo Alto. Not to be confused with CJ Sewell.
Rob Smith
Swarthmore alum, one of my two favorite GMs; lives and works in Japan.
Ethan Solomita
Friend of David R's, whom I met via Sarah; currently living in Redwood City (as part of GREX) and working at SGI.
Diana Stiefbold
Swarthmore alum, currently teaching sixth grade science in the Boston area.
Kir Talmage
Swarthmore alum, naturalist, artist, writer, ecologist, teacher, traveler, and sometime SWAPAn, currently living in Vermont.
Marguerite & Brian Taylor
Swarthmore alums, currently in math grad school in the Boston area.
Chris Thacker
Paly alum and ichthyologist.
Jere7my Tho?rpe
Swarthmore alum, former SWAPAn, gamer, writer, guitarist, and Babylon 5 fan extraordinaire.
Jessica Turner
Swarthmore alum; now living with her husband Matt in Irvine, where both are graduate students.
David Van Stone
Paly and Swarthmore alum, currently residing in the Boston area.
Paul Weidler
Mudd alum, introduced to me via Kristen. Currently living in the Santa Cruz area.
Ellie Weiss
Swarthmore alum, currently living and working in Seattle.
Josie Wernecke
My co-writer on the VRML 2.0 Handbook.
Barbara West
Swarthmore alum, currently living in Davis.
Tad W & Deb Beale
Arthur's brother and sister-in-law; both are writers. (page)
Mikala Woodward
Swarthmore alum, currently living in Seattle with her husband and their newborn daughter.

People whose last names I don't know:

Ben
Friend of Luke's from New Jersey, currently living in Somerville.

Dramatis Locatae

These are the places referred to on my pages, particularly in the cast list.

Berkeley: see UC Berkeley
Bryn Mawr
Small all-female liberal-arts college near Philadelphia; part of a tri-college community with Haverford and Swarthmore.
CTY
The Center for the Advancement of Academically Talented Youth, an intensive summer program for brilliant high-school students. I never attended, but I know half a dozen folx who did.
Henry M. Gunn High School
The "other" high school in Palo Alto, the one most people from my middle school went to.
Harvey Mudd
Small intensive science-oriented college in Southern California. One of the Claremont colleges.
Irvine
Long Beach
Manhattan Beach
Monterey
Coastal city south of Santa Cruz (an hour and a half south of Mountain View). Home of Cannery Row, launching point of whale-watching expeditions, location of Monterey Aquarium. A good place to go sea kayaking.
Mountain View
The next city south from Palo Alto; location of Silicon Graphics, and where I lived (with Arthur) from 1991 through 1996.
Palo Alto High School ("Paly")
Where I went to high school.
Pomona
Small liberal-arts college in the LA area, much like Swarthmore in many ways. One of the Claremont colleges.
San Bernardino
Santa Cruz
Coastal city south of San Jose (45 minutes south of Mountain View). Location of Santa Cruz Boardwalk and U.C.S.C. Lovely place, often sunny, occasionally too PC for some tastes.
Santa Monica
Silicon Graphics
Cool computer company, best 3D graphics on the planet. I started as a contract technical writer around 11/92, became a "regular employee" around 7/93, and went on leave in 8/96. (page)
Somerville
One of the numerous small cities clustered around Boston like grapes. Has possibly the greatest concentration of Swarthmore alums in the known world.
Swarthmore College ("Swat")
Small liberal-arts college near Philadelphia, founded by Quakers. I attended from 9/86 through 6/90, and worked there from 6/90 to 6/91. (page)
UC Berkeley
Big university in Berkeley, CA, across the bay from San Francisco.
UCLA
University of Pennsylvania

(Last updated: 4/1/98)