25 years?!?!?

“I really wanted to bring my family to Deerfield for this year’s reunion, but it is proving impossible! So writing a class note for the first time seemed the next best thing. My family (husband Olegario and I, and our kids Pablo (10) and Rafael (7)) live just outside Washington, D.C., in the most wonderful town on earth, Cheverly, Maryland, filled with amazing neighbors and friends. I am a Federal Public Defender in DC, focusing on what happens after what you hear in the news – not the arrest or the trial or the sentencing, but the years’ long aftermath. My clients have been imprisoned for many decades and during that time the laws have changed, or our understanding of what is just has changed, or their health has become perilous, and I work to reduce their sentences. I love my work. When not working or at school, you’ll find us reading (me), coaching soccer (Olegario), playing soccer (Pablo and Rafa), drumming (Pablo), Lego-ing (Rafa), and sitting around the firepit (Olegario and me) while our kids shoot on the enormous soccer goal that dominates our front yard (sorry. neighbors’ cars!). We’ll try to make the next reunion because I would love to show my kids one of the first places that deeply nurtured my love of writing, a love that later led to, in one instance, the release of a juvenile serving a life sentence who is now a good friend.” – Joanna Munson Perales