David Reich, Writer
Recent literary writing by Reich have appeared in the journals Brilliant Corners and Gargoyle and in the 2018 book Flash: Writing the Very Short Story (W.W. Norton). During thirty years as a feature writer, Reich has published articles on politics, business, science and technology, the arts, and law. Before working in the magazine industry, he taught writing at Northeastern, Framingham State, and the University of Arkansas. Reich’s novel The Antiracism Trainings came out in 2010; he is currently working on a book of short fiction. Of his profile in this issue of Wilmer García (page 10), he writes, “Sadly, I’ve learned that struggles like García’s are all too typical for immigrants to the US. As a grandson of four immigrants, it pained me to hear what he had to go through to get back to the place he rightly called home.”
Sonya Revell, Photographer
The Miami-based photographer creates images that emerge from her delightful daydreams of dazzling candy colors and capricious characters. She now calls Florida home, but originally hails from Kentucky. While she still fantasizes about running off to join the circus, the truth is, nothing tops image-making. She has contributed to magazines such as Forbes, Luxe Interiors + Design, Kiplinger’s, The Hollywood Reporter, and Wine Spectator. “Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of photographing several remarkable women who are leaders in their respective fields, as was the subject for this assignment, Teresa Weintraub [page 30],” Revel says. “When my assistant asked Mrs. Weintraub to what (if anything) she attributed her success in such a male-dominated field, she replied, ‘Well, I grew up with all brothers, so that definitely helped.’”
Katharine Whittemore, Writer
Whittemore is the senior writer at Amherst College. She has written for the New York Times, Atlantic, Smithsonian, Salon.com, and for many years wrote a book review column for the Boston Globe. When assigned to profile Teresa Valdes-Fauli Weintraub (page 30), she was told that Weintraub was from a highly prominent Miami family, part of the Cuban community that fled there after Fidel Castro seized power. “What I didn’t know was how much this early catastrophe—Teresa was seven when her family was exiled—imprinted her with the unpredictability of life, but also the gift of resilience,” says Whittemore. “She reminded me of that great line by a certain writer, also shaped by his time in Cuba and Florida. Meaning Ernest Hemingway: ‘The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.’”
Jay Watson, Photographer
Watson is a lifestyle, automotive, and editorial photographer based out of San Francisco. His clients include Bicycling, Hawaiian Airlines Magazine, Land Rover, LinkedIn, and Nikon USA. He was recently interviewed on PhotoFocus. Much of his personal work is inspired by California culture. Originally from Baltimore, Watson talks to himself when working behind the camera and hates mayonnaise. He photographed Brian Wong ’08 for the feature on employment law (page 34). “The best part of this assignment was visiting Brian’s Adobe office,” he says. “It’s in a building that looks like a restored factory from the set of the British drama series Peaky Blinders, and you know it’s filled with talented people. So I wanted the portrait of Brian to look good not just for the magazine, but also out of respect for where he works.”