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Y 10, NUAR

2024

609-452-7000 • PrincetonInfo.com

+ WINTER WELLNESS +

The Sounds of Healing

Princeton University’s Healing with Music series and Impromptu Challenge invite audiences to tap into the restorative power of music. Rebekah Schroeder reports, page 8. Pictured: A full house at a November Healing with Music program in Richardson Auditorium

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U.S. 1

JANUARY 10, 2024

MANAGING EDITOR Sara Hastings STAFF REPORTER Rebekah Schroeder COMMUNITY EDITOR Bill Sanservino DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL INITIATIVES Joe Emanski PRODUCTION MANAGER Stacey Micallef GRAPHIC DESIGNER & OPERATIONS MANAGER

Stephanie Jeronis SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Jennifer Steﬀen

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Gina Carillo Christine Storie CO-PUBLISHERS Jamie Griswold Tom Valeri ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Thomas Fritts

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hile this issue, U.S. 1’s annual Winter Wellness issue, is devoted to wellness in a broad sense — both physical and mental and across all ages and abilities — many area organizations are dedicated to the specific and evolving needs of aging adults. One example is the nonprofit formerly known as the Princeton Senior Resource Center, which has announced a rebranding to better reflect the modern experience of aging. Now known as the Center for Modern Aging Princeton, the organization made the following announcement in late December: TODAY MARKS A significant milestone in the journey of the Princeton Senior Resource Center. We are excited to announce that beginning in January, our beloved center will begin doing business as (DBA) Center for Modern Aging Princeton. This new name reflects our commitment to embracing the dynamic, diverse, and ever-evolving needs of our aging community. It’s not just a change of name; it’s a renewal of our promise to provide innovative, inclusive, and forwardthinking services. Reimagining Aging. For years, society has had its vision of how older adults should think, act, dress, eat, walk, talk — and live. And we’ve had ours. We know they’re looking for more than just crafts, crossword puzzles, and rocking chairs. We know they want to make new memories, not just relive old ones. We know they’re not afraid to go out of their comfort zone. They love to try new foods, learn about other cultures, and embrace technology. We know they don’t like to lose. In fact, they can be pretty competitive. Just ask our champion table

U.S. 1 Is in Print & Online

Center for Modern Aging Princeton’s Nancy S. Klath Center for Lifelong Learning on Poor Farm Road. Welcome to a new generation of tennis team! We know they like to travel to aging. And welcome to the Center new places — both physically and for Modern Aging Princeton! We are incredibly grateful for virtually. We know they value their inde- your ongoing support and enthusipendence — and want support to asm. Together, we will continue to “age-in-place,” in whatever form is build on our legacy and live out our mission to help older adults thrive. most appropriate for them. And most of all we know today’s Thank you for being a part of our journey. Here’s to new older population isn’t beginnings and continlike previous generations of “seniors.” (Oh, Between ued success at the Center for Modern Aging and we also know most The Princeton! aren’t fond of being called seniors.) Lines New Name, New How do we know so Website. The Center for much about what this Modern Aging Princeton will soon population likes? It’s pretty simple, be introducing our brand new webactually. We listen. site at www.cmaprinceton.org. We’ve been serving the older The new site will launch in Januadult community throughout the ary — and will not only include a region for five decades. As their fresh new design, but also a particineeds have evolved, our organiza- pant portal that will simplify our tion has as well. Our new name, registration process and give facility, and vision reflect the way logged-in users the ability to upwe see older adults and, more im- date their contact information, portantly, the way they see them- view their course registrations, and selves. Energized. Bold. Modern. much more.

U.S. 1 has distribution to news boxes located in downtown Princeton and Trenton, at train stations, and in other high-traffic outdoor areas. Additionally, it is now possible to browse full PDFs of recent issues on U.S. 1’s website, www.princetoninfo.com. Click on “Read This Week’s Digital U.S. 1 E-Edition Here.” A full digital edition of U.S. 1 is also distributed by e-mail every Wednesday. Subscribe at www.communitynews.org/ newsletter. The website will also feature a robust, filterable calendar of activities, the ability to make and manage your donations, and access to all our renowned community resources. You will also be able to directly share feedback or ideas with our staff, connect with our social services team, and so much more. We are excited to welcome you to our new virtual home! Be on the lookout in early January for an announcement that our new site is live! CMAP. The Center for Modern Aging Princeton, is a community nonprofit where aging adults and their families find support, guidance, education, and social programs to help them navigate life transitions and continue to be active, healthy, and engaged in the community. U.S. 1 WELCOMES letters to the editor, corrections, and criticisms. E-mail our editor: hastings@princetoninfo. com.

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U.S. 1

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U.S. 1

JANUARY 10, 2024

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Whole Earth carries a wide selection of locally grown produce from the Garden State’s best organic growers. During the summer, we get fresh deliveries of local organic produce several times a week. Stop in today and sample the bounty of New Jersey’s organic farms!

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L O C A L LY O W N E D • I N D E P E N D E N T

he Ivy League Educational Foundation, in collaboration with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, hosts the 43rd annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Scholarship Breakfast on Monday, January 15, at 8 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency, 102 Carnegie Center, West Windsor. Tickets, $65, must be reserved by Friday, January 12. Visit bit.ly/ mlkbreakfast24 to register. The Reverend Danté R. Quick, Ph.D., senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, is the keynote speaker. He was elected to serve as the fourth senior pastor of the church in Somerset in 2021. Quick previously served as pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Vallejo, California, for more than 10 years. He is a graduate of Morehouse College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Graduate Theological Union, University of California at Berkeley. All proceeds support the Ivy League Educational Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, to provide scholarships and book awards for area high school students who are pursuing higher education. The theme of the 2024 celebration is “Shine a Light on Him — Make Room and Let’s Work.” Kelli S. Wiggins, president of the Ivy League Foundation, said, “We gather on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day not only to raise scholarship funds for deserving students, but to shine a light on those whose life and work inspires student achievement and parallels our cause. We observe this day ‘as a day on, not a day off,’ as well as a day of service.” The foundation will present awards to two community organizations: the Trenton Museum Society and the Mitchell A Davis American Legion Post 182. Founded in 1973, the Trenton Museum Society oversees the only museum devoted to New Jersey’s capital city. The Museum Society is a nonprofit that supports and showcases the work of contemporary visual artists and musicians from the greater Trenton area. It uses its collections and resources to foster an understanding of Trenton history and instill a growing interest in the creative arts among Trenton’s students. The Mitchell A. Davis American Legion Post 182 is an organization for veterans of the U.S. armed forces. The association organizes events and commemorative celebrations. The organization is also lobbying for the welfare and interest of the veterans, including pensions and health programs. To promote small local businesses, the breakfast organizers also provide space near the ballroom for vendors during and after the breakfast. Eight entrepreneurs will participate, marketing goods ranging from jewelry and hats to boutique fashions, as well as items with the insignia of Greek-letter organizations. Sorority members who have businesses will also share an information table.

The Arts Council of Princeton hosts a poster making workshop on Monday, January 15, in honor of Martin Luther King Day.

A Day of Service for MLK

he James Kerney Campus of Mercer County Community College and the West Windsor Arts Council are offering a number of community service activities in honor of Martin Luther King Day on Monday, January 15. Activities at MCCC’s James Kerney Campus, located at 102 North Broad Street, Trenton, run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information visit mccc.edu/mlk_dos They include: • Sock Drive: Collecting men’s white crew or tube socks for clients of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) • Utensil Wrap Up & Bagged Lunches: Packing meals for Trenton residents • Community Clean Up: MLK Park and City Streets • Trenton Hall Garden Construction: Building raised beds for MCCC’s vegetable garden, providing fresh produce for the college’s food pantry • Kidspack 2.0: Providing snacks to the street teams for the January 16 walk home • Blessing Bags: Working with Rescue Mission and Womanspace, providing hygiene products for clients Lunch will be served for attendees, and a celebration performance concludes the day.

est Windsor Arts and the African American Parent Support Group host a day of service from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with the tagline “Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” Events take place at the Arts Center, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor. Call 609-716-1931 or visit westwindsorarts.org for more information. Volunteer in-person on Monday January 15 to package donations for distribution and participate in special projects. The total number of volunteer spots are limited. Those unable to participate in person can still take part by making donations of needed items. Donations will be made to RISE Community Service, Children’s Home Society, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), PEI Kids, Womanspace, MillHill Child Development Center, and Letters Against Isolation. Items sought include: Rise Community Services, ages 3-12: new pajamas, toothbrush, toothpaste, gently used or new books. Children’s Home Society, up to age 15: handmade hats, mittens, and scarves. Trenton Area Soup Kitchen: plastic utensils, napkins, elastic bands. PEI Kids, for young men aged 12-17, new: hoodies (black, grey, green), hats/scullies, gloves, gift cards (McDonalds, Dominos,

Dunkin, Regal Cinemas), art supplies: sketch pads/markers/colored pencils, journals, notebooks, adult coloring books & color pencils, earbuds/headphones Womanspace, for moms new, brand-name only: body wash/ splash, body lotion, nylon styling hair brushes, razors for women, women’s underwear (all sizes) Womanspace, for children and adults: coloring books, activity books, puzzle books, sketchbook, journal, markers, crayons, colored pencils, gel pens, felt pens, stickers, embellishments (ex. gems, washi tape), glue sticks or tape. MillHill Child Development Center, for babies and children: diapers, wipes, socks (infants to age 11), naptime blankets (ages 3-5), pajama sets (all genders ages 3-10), babywash, toothbrushes, toothpaste (ages 2- 11). Letters Against Isolation, for seniors in New Jersey: handwritten notes. For packaging the items (all projects): gift bags, big clear recycling bags, gallon ziploc bags.

Business Meetings Wednesday January 10

Networking, BNI Falcons, IHOP, 610 Route 33, East Windsor, 877264-0500. www.bninjpa.org. Hybrid meeting. Speaker: Marc D. Binder CPA, making taxes less taxing 7 to 8:30 a.m.

Thursday January 11

Networking, BNI Tigers Chapter, Conference Center at Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, 609-570-3237. www.bninjpa.org. 7 to 8:30 a.m. Networking, BNI Top Flight, Town Diner, 431 Route 130, East Windsor, 609-443-8222. www. bninjpa.org. 7 a.m.

Friday January 12

Networking, BNI Driven, Elks Lodge #2622, 1580 Kuser Road, Hamilton, 609-585-9610. www. bninjpa.org. Speakers: Peter Barbera, restoration; and Grant Patten, home inspections. 7 a.m. JobSeekers, Professional Service Group of Mercer County, Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. www. psgofmercercounty.org. Paul Cecala offers a four-step interview method to help you succeed in interviews. 9:45 a.m. to noon.

Tuesday January 16

Business Before Business Virtual Speed Networking, Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce, 609-924-1776. www. princetonmercerchamber.org. Network over morning coffee and re-engage with chamber friends. Register. $15; free for members. 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

Wednesday January 17

Networking, BNI Falcons, IHOP, 610 Route 33, East Windsor, 877264-0500. www.bninjpa.org. Hybrid meeting. Speaker: Brandon Grocki, financial planning. 7 to 8:30 a.m.

JANUARY 10, 2024

INSIGHTS & ARGUMENTS

U.S. 1

ESSAYS & SOLILOQUIES

INTERCHANGE A Charmed Princeton Life

by Patrick Walsh

ome years ago I was visiting my parents on Long Island over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. A PBS special remembering MLK aired on Sunday night and my mother and I sat down to watch it. About 15 minutes into the program, my mom offhandedly mentioned: “You know, I made breakfast for Martin Luther King when I worked for the Knapps.” Like generations before her, my mother, then Kathleen Rooney and just 18 years old, left Ireland in hopes of a better life in America. She emigrated in 1957. Her aunt in Hightstown, Mary Flatley, had found for her a plum of a job in Princeton working as a housekeeper and caregiver for the family of Professor J. Merrill Knapp, an eminent Handel scholar soon to become university dean. John Merrill Knapp had graduated from Yale, class of 1936. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he was hired by Princeton University in 1946 as a music instructor and glee club director. Thus began a 36-year career, though, as my mother fondly recalls, his devotion to his alma mater transcended his Princeton affiliation; even when he became dean in 1961, Merrill would sport his Yale Blue togs to root on his Bulldogs whenever they played football against the Tigers at Palmer Stadium. A distinguished musicologist,

he was an authority on the life and works of George Frideric Handel, but the deanship meant a whole new slate of duties — luncheons, dinners, and other events with visiting scholars and dignitaries. In those days, the dean often hosted guests of such stature at his home. And it would be Kathleen who met and served these luminaries. Within a few months, the shy Irish girl from County Cavan was shaking hands with the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike had been an honorary uncle of the dean’s wife, ElizabethAnn (whom Ike called “LibbyAnn”), since she was a little girl through his many years of close work in the military with her father, Thomas D. Campbell, a titan of American agriculture.

athleen had indeed landed a wonderful job. The Knapps lived at the secluded end of Rosedale Lane in a modernist, single-floor house designed by Mrs. Knapp, who had graduated from the Cambridge School of Architecture in 1941 (she would also go on to design the Princeton YMCA.) The Knapps had two daughters, Joan and Phoebe, who were slightly younger than Kathleen and affectionately regarded her as an older sister. For their part, Mr. and Mrs. Knapp treated Kathleen as if she was their

third daughter. Along with Eisenhower, Kathleen met President Kennedy, J. Robert Oppenheimer (a frequent visitor as his daughter attended Miss Fine’s School along with Joan and Phoebe), and Thurgood Marshall (whom President Kennedy had recently nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.) At Joan Knapp’s debutante party, Kathleen danced with Princeton sophomore Bill Bradley, already a national phenom of college basketball. And she made breakfast for a young Baptist minister and rising civil rights activist named Martin Luther King Jr. Born and raised in rural Ireland, Kathleen had never traveled beyond her small town of Cavan nor seen anyone whose skin color differed from hers before arriving at New York’s bustling Idlewild Airport. As my mother recounted, King was the first Black person with whom she had a conversation. It was a remarkable story. I knew my mom had met many famous people, but she never mentioned MLK. He was very gracious and pleasant, she recalled. After finishing his meal he invited her to sit down to chat, asking her how she was finding things in America. When she cleared the table, he’d left her a note wishing her luck in her new life and a $2 tip.

Joan Knapp, left, and Kathleen Rooney.

Alas, that note from Martin Luther King Jr. has long since vanished. What has remained all these years is my mother’s abiding affection for the Knapps and the four years she spent living in their home more as a member of the family than an employee. Time has only

burnished what she knew at the outset to be a charmed Princeton life. Patrick Walsh, a Princeton resident since 1993, is a senior writer at scene4 magazine, an online arts monthly, and an occasional contributor to U.S. 1.

Princeton’s First Tradition

SERIES

Worship Service Sundays at 11am

installation featuring Future Presence: An immersive and Ives. music by Mozar t, Mendelssohn,

THURSDAY–SUNDAY JANUARY 18–21, 2024

Woolworth Center, Princeton University Campus TICKETS: PUC.PRINCETON.EDU | 609.258.2800 $20 General $10 Students

Princeton University Chapel Open to all.

Preaching Sunday, January 14 is Rev. Dr. Asa J. Lee, president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA. Trineice Robinson-Martin and Phil Orr will present music from the jazz and gospel traditions.

U.S. 1

JANUARY 10, 2024

ART

FILM

LITERATURE

DANCE DRAMA MUSIC

PREV I E W DAY-BY-DAY EVENTS, JANUARY 10 TO 17

Event Listings: E-mail events@princetoninfo.com While many venues have returned to hosting in-person events, others are still taking place online. Event descriptions specify if an event is being held virtually or in a hybrid format. To include your virtual or in-person event in this section email events@princetoninfo.com.

Wednesday January 10 Film Matinee Movie Series: Best of British Cinema, Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. www.princetonlibrary.org. “Great Expectations.” This five-week series highlights films on the British Film Institute’s Top 10 list. Tea and cookies will be served. 3 p.m.

Dancing

Contra Dance, Princeton Country Dancers, Suzanne Patterson Center, 1 Monument Drive, Princeton. www.princetoncountrydancers.org. Lesson followed by dance. Caller Michael Karcher and the French Toast band. $15. 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Order in the Court

Friday January 12

The sorority sisters of Delta Nu will be center stage for Tomato Patch Workshops performance of ‘Legally Blonde Jr.,’ Friday through Sunday, Classical Music January 12 through 14, at the Kelsey Theatre on the West Windsor Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, Campus of Mercer County Community College. Wellness Wild Gentle Yoga: Yoga to Connect with Yourself and Nature, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, 1635 River Road, New Hope, PA. www.bhwp.org. Gentle yoga that builds body awareness, strength, flexibility and a better understanding of how humans connect to and reflect natural systems with Priscilla Hayes. Register. Pay what you can, $8 and up. 8 to 9 a.m.

Lectures

Black Children and the Civil Rights Movement, Mercer County Library. www.mcl.org. In the summer of 1955, fourteenyear-old Emmett Till was murdered by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam because they suspected that Till had whistled at Bryant’s wife. Unable to enjoy a carefree childhood in the United States, Black children like Till became important actors in the Black freedom struggle. Using the Brown v. Board decision (1954) and the death of Emmett Till, this talk will examine the contributions of Black children to the early years of the civil rights movement. Register online for link to program. 7 p.m. PSO Soundtracks: Meet the Composers, Princeton Public

Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. www.princetonlibrary. org. Modern composers Gregory Spears and Nina Shekhar join Princeton University’s Music Department Chair Dan Trueman in conversation about creative process, modern classical music, and more. 7 p.m.

For Seniors

Let’s Learn and Create Art, Center for Modern Aging Princeton, Suzanne Patterson Center, 45 Stockton Street, Princeton. www. princetonsenior.org. Learn about the majestic life and work of Johannes Vermeer with Lisa Bayer from Always Best Care. Using watercolors, we will draw and paint our own version of his most famous painting, “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Register. $15; $10 residents. 10:30 a.m. to noon. Underground Railroad in Central Jersey, Plainsboro Senior lub, 641 Plainsboro Road, Plainsboro. Presentation by Rick Geffken. Free. Potluck lunch; bring a dish to share. 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Thursday January 11

Lectures In a deeply divided country, what can we expect in the 2024 presidential election and beyond?, 55-Plus Club of Princeton. www.princeton.com/ groups/55plus. Presentation by William Galston, the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair and Senior Fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program. Via Zoom. Free; $5 donation requested. 10 a.m. 10 Ways to Organize Your Kitchen, Mercer County Library. www.mcl.org. During this workshop we will discuss the 10 things that organized kitchens all have in common. A little bit of decluttering, organizing and labeling can truly transform your kitchen space. Presented by Olga St. Pierre, a licensed real estate agent. Register online for link to program. 2 p.m. Talk of the Sourlands, Sourland Conservancy, First Presbyterian Church, 48 River Drive, Titusville. www.sourland.org. “On the Sourland Ridge” with poet Jane McKinley features readings from the poet and Baroque oboist’s sequence of poems inspired by walks in the Sourland Nature Preserve. 7 p.m.

New Jersey Symphony, Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. www.njsymphony.org. Conducted by Xian Zhang and feautring violinist Augustin Hadelich. Program also features Daniel Bernard Roumain’s “i am a white person who _____ Black people” and Mussorgsky/Ravel’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” $25 to $123. 8 p.m.

Live Music

Wayward Souls, Hopewell Valley Vineyards, 46 Yard Road, Pennington, 609-737-4465. www. hopewellvalleyvineyards.com. Rock. 5 to 8 p.m.

Pop Music

EagleMania, State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, 732-246-7469. www.statetheatrenj.org. Eagles tribute band. $25 to $49. 8 p.m.

Family Theater

Legally Blonde the Musical Jr., Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, 609-570-3333. www.kelseytheatre.org. Show based on the Broadway musical and hit film follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes, snobbery and scandal in pursuit of her dreams. Presented

JANUARY 10, 2024

U.S. 1

Sound Journeys: Creating Space for Soothing

ick a crisis, any crisis will do. There are many to choose from, currently. So much bad news is brewing — and our exposure to it seems ever more constant — that it seems difficult to escape and even breathe sometimes, let alone feel a sense of peace. Here is where deliberate quietude and reflection can work wonders. Sound meditation can be an especially therapeutic route if you allow yourself to absorb its curative characteristics. There are more and more sound healing modalities offered commercially, such as sound baths with crystal or brass bowls, tuning fork sessions, as well as any number of apps and downloads that offer meditative and natural sounds. However, there is something about hearing the human voice in song and chant that intuitively provides the most direct and compassionate sense of connection, a healing that goes into our very collective unconscious. What better place to bring the healing power of song and chant than a sacred space, such as the Princeton University Chapel? Each month, the office of Religious Life at Princeton University offers Sound Journey with Ruth Cunningham, a soothing hour of sound and song, held within the splendid surroundings of the university’s chapel. Cunningham, a founding member of the world-renowned vocal ensemble Anonymous 4 and a sound healing practitioner, offers composed and improvised music for meditation, contemplation, and prayer. Cunningham, who lives in Inwood (Upper Manhattan), reached out to Rev. Alison Boden, dean of the Office of Religious Life and the Chapel, and suggested she might bring her healing skills to Princeton. The two had met after an Anonymous 4 concert and had kept in touch for years. “Ruth Cunningham has been a friend of mine for 30 years and a friend of the Princeton Chapel for the last six,” Boden says. “We are so glad that we can bring her extraordinary music and presence to our community. Her voice fills our magnificent space so perfectly. The stone walls’ reverberations are beautifully suited to the timbres of Ruth’s extraordinary voice. The

by Susan Van Dongen

richness and simplicity of her tone creates the ideal conditions for participants truly to go on their own ‘sound journey.’” “I look forward to each one and the chance to meditate in a setting of such auditory beauty,” she says. “They are quieting, settling, deepening experiences for me, and others who attend tell me that the same is true for them.” Unlike “sound bath” sessions where a practitioner creates the sounds and the patient is just listening, participants in the monthly Sound Journeys can find their own special meditative place — and can actually participate. “We’ve learned to tune out sound, but this is kind of the opposite: It’s active listening to music, even listening to only one note,” Cunningham says. “Just listening to that one note helps people settle in, get a sense of who they are, and where they are.” “The Sound Journey does quiet people down, may even put you to sleep — which is OK, take from it what you need,” she says. “I don’t know what my music does for you or to you, but if it affects you, that’s great. It’s a time to receive.” She reflects that music can create a space or a kind of container, “…and this container can relax you, bring you to tears, can make you smile or whatever, if you allow yourself to settle into it.” For the November Sound Journey, Cunningham was a one-woman band, singing, humming and chanting, playing a miniature harp and wooden flute, sounding a lovely chime, and accompanying herself with a shruti box — an Indian drone box related to the harmonium. People quietly filed into the chapel, mostly seating themselves in the chancel — the area of the church that’s behind the pulpit — amid the sculpted wood. A few chose to sit in the chapel’s main space, but it really didn’t matter where you sat; the sound was magnificent everywhere. Cunningham invited us to join her in humming a single note, to center ourselves and be aware of our breathing. From there she took the participants on a multi-cultural sonic journey, singing and chanting in English, Latin, and Sanskrit. Her melodies are either written

chants from decades of learning and performing this music, or sometimes she just improvises. “Give me a drone (note) and I can make up a chant,” she says. “Or give me a text and I can create a prayer in the moment and also improvise on syllables.” She goes into each Sound Journey with an idea for a theme, sometimes related to the liturgical calendar, to a certain saint, or sometimes just related to what’s happening in the world at the moment. The November 8 Sound Journey’s theme was peace, taking a step back from the news of the ongoing wars around the world. That night Cunningham sang an especially beautiful peace prayer in Sanskrit and also included one in English created by her sister, Elizabeth, “peace in each breath, peace in my heartbeat.” As the atmosphere settled deeper into contemplation, Cunningham walked through the chancel chanting and shaking a wind chime, which gave off an enchanting sound. She then sat at the piano and accompanied herself, as her chant swelled to a kind of wail, almost keening, encapsulating a kind of collective grief. Cunningham first began offering healing song and music at Saint Paul’s Chapel in New York City, from 2001-2002, after the 9/11 attacks. She was among the musicians to offer healing services there for the families of the missing and deceased, police, fire, and emergency workers, as well as search and rescue personnel — those working on “the pile.” “I played harp and piano and sang, and it was an amazing space to be in,” she says. “Families were mourning, or people were resting, workers were eating or relaxing after a long shift. Again, it was music as a space or container. The music just really did something, it really helped at such a powerful time. I’m glad I got to participate in that.” Growing up Milbrook, New York, in a family that loved sacred music (her father was an Anglican minister, her mother sang in the choir), Cunningham has sung since age four and played instruments since childhood, as well. “I played a lot of music as a teenager and was very interested in Baroque flute and recorder,” she says. “From age 14, I knew I wanted to play professionally.” Cunningham received a bache-

255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON CO 255 NASSAU STREET • PRINCETON CC O O

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in partnership with Tomato Patch Workshops. $14 to $16. 7 p.m.

Dancing

Friday Night Folk Dance, Princeton Folk Dance, Suzanne Patterson Center, 45 Stockton Street, Princeton. www.princetonfolkdance.org. Lesson followed by open dancing. No partner necessary. $5. 8 p.m.

255 NASSAU NASSAU STREET STREET ••• PRINCETON PRINCETON 255 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON

255 NASSAU NASSAU STREET STREET PRINCETON PRINCETON 255 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON LOCATED IN THE THE HEART HEART OF WALKABLE WALKABLE PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON • PRINCETON LOCATED IN OF PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON LOCATED IN THE HEART OF WALKABLE PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON LOCATED IN THE HEART OF WALKABLE PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON ...ADJACENT TO PRINCETON PRINCETON UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS LOCATED IN THE HEART OF WALKABLE PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON LOCATED IN THE HEART OF WALKABLE PRINCETON ...ADJACENT TO UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON ...ADJACENT TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON LOCATED IN THE HEART OFUNIVERSITY’S WALKABLE PRINCETON …ADJACENT TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS LOCATED IN THE HEART OF WALKABLE PRINCETON 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON LOCATED IN THE HEART OF WALKABLE PRINCETON …ADJACENT TO PRINCETON CAMPUS LOCATED IN THE HEART WALKABLE PRINCETON …ADJACENT TO PRINCETON CAMPUS 255 NASSAU STREET UNIVERSITY’S PRINCETON …ADJACENT TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS LOCATED IN TO THE HEART OF WALKABLE 255 NASSAU STREET PRINCETON ...APRINCETON Lifestyle ...ADJACENT TOPRINCETON PRINCETON UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS …ADJACENT UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS …ADJACENT TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY’S CAMPUS ...A Lifestyle ...A Lifestyle

Wellness

Exhibit, Princeton Health Integration Center, Montgomery Township Library, 100 Community Drive, Skillman, 609-924-7337. www.princetonhic.com. Free exhibition featuring scientific literature on vaccinations, authoritarianism and globalism, climate disruption, and gun regulation. Continues Saturday, 1 to 6 p.m. 2:30 to 6 p.m.

Saturday January 13 Classical Music Anthony Roth Costanzo, Prince-

lor of music in performance of early music from the New England Conservatory of Music and taught recorder and Renaissance flute at the Amherst Early Music Workshops for 16 years. She is certified as a cross cultural music healing practitioner by the Open Ear Center, where she studied with Pat Moffitt Cook. With Anonymous 4, Cunningham performed in concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East and made 13 recordings, including David Lang’s “Love Fail” and Richard Einhorn’s “Voices of Light.” Cunningham’s own releases Ruth Cunningham are “Light and Shadow: Chants, Prayers and Improvisations,” and leads monthly Sound “Harpmodes: Journey for Voice Journeys sessions at and Harp.” the Princeton UniverShe has released two CDs of sity Chapel. The next multi-faith chants with colleague Ana Hernandez: “Blessed by takes place WednesLight” and “HARC: Inside day, January 17. Chants.” Among her other recordings are “Sacred Light” with harpist Diana Stork (At Peace Music), skills I have worked on throughout and “Ancient Beginnings,” which my life — singing, flute playing, is part of the Open Ear Center’s keyboard, harp as well as spiritual music for healing. practices that I have engaged in for She is also featured on “Invokmany years,” Cunningham says. ing the Muse,” a work with frame “When I work with people, I endrummer Layne Redmond on the courage them to use music more Sounds True label. consciously and especially to use In addition, Cunningham has their own voices as a tool for transbeen the musician for a number of formation, healing and connection summer courses for Ubiquity Unito spirit.” versity in Chartres, France. She has “Music, sound, and vibration are also performed and recorded with amazing tools,” she says. “I think the Renaissance vocal ensemble in times to come, people will realPomerium and is a regular member ize more and more what a powerful of the professional choir of the gift they are for both healing C ourChurch of Our Savior in New York selves and our planet.” O CON N CO City. n ONST NEW NE Sound Journey withOnlRuth y C1 OS RU EW OnCONS has All the while, Cunningham ly 2 UNTR NC TR NEWCunningham, Princeton UniverO y C1 N kept a busy schedule asOanlfreelancST UN W p1e2 nSiTUCETW O 2 l sity Chapel. Wednesday, January neUntRs U TI er, mostly as a church musician. Oyp1 UNSRUCET d i L n W T I 17, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Then on the C i O “There’s always a churche2n‘job’ TI NWednesday of the month: Feb- Fatls LCef eUdntiRs ULCfirst l 2e somewhere every weekend,” sheF ts efTON 0 says. “But I still have time to do theall L2ruary etf!ItON7, March 6, April 3, May 1. 0 17! and open to the public. chasound healing, I have the training, Free pel.princeton.edu. and it all worked out.” “I love the work I’m doing now Ruth Cunningham on the web: as a musician and a sound healing www.ruthcunningham.com. NASSAU practitioner because 255 it uses all the STREET • PRINCETON

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LUXURY 2 &HOMES 3HOMES BEDROOMS / 2…ABATH APARTMENT LUXURY 22 & BEDROOMS BATH GOURMET ROOFTOP PATIO HOMES Lifestyle BATHAPARTMENT APARTMENT LUXURY &3 BEDROOMS//• 2 LUXURY 2 &HOMES 3 KITCHENS BEDROOMS / 2 BATH APARTMENT HOMES LUXURY 2 & 33 BEDROOMS 22 BATH APARTMENT GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO LUXURY 2 & 3 BEDROOMS / 2 BATH APARTMENT HOMES QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO LUXURY 2 & 3 KITCHENS BEDROOMS / 2 BATH APARTMENT HOMES QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO GOURMET ROOFTOP PATIO GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE & STORAGE QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO BALCONIES ON-SITE GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITEPARKING BANK QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE BALCONIES ON-SITE PARKING & STORAGE GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE BALCONIES ON-SITE PARKING & STORAGE ON-SITE PARKING & STORAGE GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITEBALCONIES BANK BALCONIES ON-SITE PARKING & STORAGE BALCONIES ON-SITE PARKING & STORAGE GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK Metropolitan Opera star countertenor and PrinceNow Leasing BALCONIES PARKINGin & this STORAGE “WeON-SITE loveLUXURY our apartment beautiful building andHOMES ideal location!” ~Wendy O LUXURY 2 & 3 BEDROOMS / 2 BATH APARTMENT HOMES Now Leasing 2 & 3 BEDROOMS / 2 BATH APARTMENT BALCONIES ON-SITE PARKING & STORAGE • LUXURY 22 & & BEDROOMS /• 2 BATH APARTMENT BATH APARTMENTHOMES HOMES LUXURY & 33 BEDROOMS ton University graduate Anthony Roth Costanzo LUXURY BEDROOMS BATH APARTMENT HOMES Now Leasing LUXURY22 & 33BEDROOMS BEDROOMS 2 BATH APARTMENT HOMES 22BATH BATH APARTMENT HOMES LUXURY BEDROOMS Now Leasing LUXURY ///•/22 APARTMENT HOMES LUXURY & APARTMENT HOMES LUXURY &33 3BEDROOMS BEDROOMS 2BATH BATH APARTMENT HOMES “We love our apartment in this beautiful building and ideal222222&location!” ~Wendy Owen 609.477.6577 LUXURY & 33 BEDROOMS //2 22 BATH APARTMENT LUXURY & BEDROOMS BATH APARTMENT HOMES Now Leasing GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO HOMES Now Leasing GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO LUXURY 2& & 33 3BEDROOMS BEDROOMS 2BATH BATH APARTMENT HOMES NOW LEASING LUXURY 22 & BEDROOMS 22 BATH APARTMENT HOMES performs with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra LUXURY & BEDROOMS BATH APARTMENT HOMES GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO Now Leasing LUXURY 2 //•//2 APARTMENT GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE HOMES BATH APARTMENT HOMES LUXURY &3 3FINISHES BEDROOMS GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO 609.477.6577 QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE WWW.CARNEVALEPLAZA.COM GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO QUALITY OUTDOOR CAFE LUXURY 22 & 3 BEDROOMS /609.477.6577 22 BATH APARTMENT HOMES GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO Now Leasing QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO LUXURY 2 & 3 BEDROOMS / 2 BATH APARTMENT HOMES QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE NOW LEASING GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE on Saturday and Sunday, January 13 and 14. GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK GOURMET KITCHENS ROOFTOP PATIO QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE HOMES GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE GAS FIREPLACES ON-SITE BANK QUALITY FINISHES OUTDOOR CAFE LUXURY 2&3 BEDROOMS609.477.6577 / 2 BATH APARTMENT 609.477.6577

ton Symphony Orchestra, Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University, 609-497-0020. www. princetonsymphony.org. Metropolitan Opera star countertenor and Princeton University graduate

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JANUARY 10, 2024

A Path to Healing Through Music and Reflection

usic is a language of its own, one that every person feels a different connection to. Some are reborn in the chords or chorus of a triumphant melody, while others seek rhythmic clarity, release, or comfort. It is an entirely personal experience to love a piece down to its every note — an intimate diary entry of what truly listening to music can mean for its audience. But Princeton University Concerts sings a new tune this year by combining its annual “Creative Reactions” and “Audience Voices” competitions into a new creative writing project encouraging writers across the globe to express their unique bonds with music in journal responses thematically related to past and future PUC “Healing with Music” series events. The 2023–24 “Impromptu Challenge” is the result of a partnership between PUC and The Isolation Journals, described on its website as “an artist-led community and publishing platform” that shares its weekly journaling prompt newsletter with more than 100,000 participants worldwide. Since writer and Princeton University alumna Suleika Jaouad founded the Isolation Journals during the pandemic, the group has grown into “a living archive of human creativity to document an unforgettable era” under the belief that “creative expression” can “edify, heal, and unite,” according to theisolationjournals.com. The Impromptu Challenge encompasses both the 2023–24 “Creative Reactions” contest, which connects Princeton University students to the performing arts and classical music, as well as “Audience Voices,” a writing and drawing contest for patrons that began last season. The journaling-styled competition began on December 3 with the announcement of its first prompt. A second prompt was released in early January, and a third topic will be announced in February. Jaouad had just graduated from Princeton University when she was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010. Throughout her cancer treatments, she wrote the New York Times column “Life, Interrupted,” largely from her hospital room. Now, after receiving an Emmy for the video series adaptation of those times and publishing the bestselling memoir “Between Two Kingdoms,” Jaouad returns to PUC on the heels of a sold-out November 15 “Healing with Music” event with her husband, Grammy-winning musician and composer Jon Batiste, “The Beat Goes On: Healing from Cancer through Music.” The idea for the inaugural month’s “Impromptu Challenge” takes inspiration from that day, which doubled as a bone marrow donor drive on campus held in conjunction with Princeton’s Office of Community and Regional Affairs and the National Marrow Donor Program’s “Be The Match” donor registry. According to the Be the Match website, “ethnically diverse” patients diagnosed with blood cancers and disorders must navigate a longer, more challenging process to find unrelated donors for blood stem cells and marrow transplants due to lower donation rates — a barrier that is even greater for people of mixed ethnicities like Jaouad. Jaouad and Batiste’s tale of love, survival, and creativity was the subject of the biographical documentary “American Symphony,” which debuted on Netflix in late November and follows many of the

by Rebekah Schroeder ideas discussed at the couple’s November “Healing with Music” event. Director Matthew Heineman’s film captures how, just as Batiste is recognized with 11 Grammy nominations — five of which he would win—and an Oscar for co-writing the score for Pixar’s “Soul,” Jaouad’s cancer returns after being in remission for almost a decade. Batiste sits on the cusp of composing and practicing for the biggest one-night orchestral performance of his life at Carnegie Hall as Jaouad encourages him to continue, resuming her fight against leukemia while undergoing another bone marrow transplant. Despite being in contrasting circumstances, the couple’s story depicts creativity as an expression of love and a cathartic, restorative force that ultimately strengthens their bond. It is fitting, then, that Jaouad issued the following prompt in December: “Write about a time when music served as a healing force in your life or in the lives of those around you.” The January prompt is: “When was the last time you danced? What were you listening to? What thoughts or feelings emerged? What stayed with you?” To enter, participants must answer one of the three prompts by Friday, March 22, 2024, with separate categories for members of the general public and Princeton University students. All entries must be submitted in PDF or Word document format with no reference to the author’s identity in the titles for anonymous evaluation by a panel of judges, as the PUC website continued, “from across the Princeton University campus and town community.” Princeton University Concerts will feature all winners in online and print media publications, yet prize recipients who do not want to disclose their identities can be published anonymously. While there are no submission limits for most writers, anyone who has previously won the “Creative Reactions” or “Audience Voices” prizes must wait two years before registering again. According to the PUC page for the challenge, which includes the submission portal, concerts.princeton.edu/impromptu-challenge, winners will receive the following prizes: an autographed concert poster signed by both Jaouad and Batiste; an original piece by Diana Weymar, founder of the Interwoven Stories project, featuring an embroidered excerpt from the submission; a copy of the Princeton University Press’ “Ways of Hearing: Reflections on Music in 26 Pieces” 2021 anthology; and more. For additional information or inquiries, contact the Princeton University Concerts office at 609-2582800 or pucmail@princeton.edu. The January and February prompts will be directly related to topics raised in the final iterations of the 2023–24 “Healing with Music” series, such as the Sunday, March 3, “Dance for PD® (Parkinson’s Disease)” event, a Mark Morris Dance Group program that invites participants from local chapters of American Repertory Ballet’s “Dance for Parkinson’s” initiatives to perform adapted choreography together in an onstage concert collaboration and panel discussion. (For more information, see the November 2023 Six09 cover story, “Dance for Parkinson’s at ARB Leads a Choreography of Change” by Rebekah Schroeder). Winners will also be announced

at the last “Healing with Music” event of the season, “Anxiety, Depression, and Music,” featuring pianist Jonathan Biss and writer Adam Haslett on Wednesday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium’s Alexander Hall. The program is described as “an intimate concert-conversation” with live performances of piano works by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, excerpts from Haslett’s 2016 novel, “Imagine Me Gone,” and a Q&A. Tickets are $25 for the general public, $10 for students, and free for Princeton University students through the Passport to the Performing Arts program. For more information, see the PUC website at concerts.princeton. edu/events/23-24-jonathan-bissadam-haslett. This event marks Biss’ return to

This year’s Impromptu Challenge began with Suleika Jaouad’s prompt ‘Write about a time when music served as a healing force in your life or in the lives of those around you.’ the stage after appearing earlier in the month for PUC’s “Concert Classics” series alongside classical pianist and conductor Mitsuko Uchida on April 3. Biss and Uchida are the co-artistic directors of the Marlboro Music Festival, a retreat where participants of all experience levels come to classically train, collaborate, rehearse, and eventually perform chamber music works together live in concert. The duo’s debut show is already sold out, but the PUC website promises a “rare joint recital” focusing yet again on the work of Austrian composer Schubert, who was known for his “piano four hands” pieces where two musicians play one piano at the same time. According to his biography, Biss concluded a “decade-long project recording all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas” before the thirdgeneration professional musician — the son of violinist Miriam Fried and violist-violinist Paul Biss, as well as the grandson of cellist Raya Garbousova — “took the rare step of publicly confronting a subject often considered taboo within the performing arts.” In his memoir “Unquiet: My

Grammy-winning musician and composer Jon Batiste, right, with wife Suleika Jaouad, a Princeton alumna, New York Times bestselling author, and founder of The Isolation Journals.’ Life with Beethoven,” published in 2021 as part of Audible’s Words + Music series, Biss “described his struggles with crippling anxiety and the severe effects that a solitary performing career had on his mental health.” Through his poignant examination of life as a pianist and Beethoven interpreter, Biss, as the website continued, “gave voice to the ways in which Beethoven — and music, in general — helped him heal from his anxiety as much as he had contributed to it.” Haslett is a two-time Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist with three fiction books to his name, as well as prior journalism experience covering culture and politics for magazines like the New Yorker, Esquire, and more. According to his PUC bio, “Imagine Me Gone” was described by Pulitzer Prize judges as “the quiet and compassionate saga of a family whose world is shaped by mental illness and the challenges and joys of caring for each other.” “Drawing on his father’s suicide, ‘Imagine Me Gone’ is the most personal book he has written — in his words, an attempt to ‘put the reader as far into the mind of someone with anxiety and depression as I can, and let them take from that what they will,’” the website continued.

aouad recorded her own response to the first “Impromptu Challenge” prompt on the Isolation Journals’ Substack page, theisolationjournals.substack.com, on December 3. But before answering, she reflected on the experience of watching “American Symphony” with more than 150 staff from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she underwent cancer treatments, as well as two of the nurses who had supported her when she was diagnosed “with leukemia at 22 and then again at 33.” “It was such a full-circle moment to watch this film with the people who had walked through the valley with me. Illness usually has a clear beginning: the onset of symptoms, the diagnosis, the first day of treatment. But so often, the end of things is harder to pinpoint. This feels especially true for me this second time around, given the fact that I will be in treatment indefinitely. Spending the evening

with these compassionate and dedicated humans felt like a culmination — like the most acute phase, the scariest phase, had come to an end.” That same night was also when the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center announced its own partnership with Be the Match, titled “Join the Symphony,” which Jaouad explained as “a campaign to make the registry look like the orchestra in American Symphony — to reflect the beautifully diverse tapestry of these United States.” “When I decided to take part in this documentary, my hope was that it might help others who are also facing great uncertainty. But as someone who has had two bone marrow transplants, I’ve also made it part of my mission to help expand and diversify the bone marrow registry. Currently the registry is marked by huge racial disparities: whereas a white person has a 79% chance of finding a match, a Black person has only a 29% chance, and statistics for people of mixed ethnicity like me are even lower,” she continued. “My doctors did search the registry for a non-relative match this time, fearing that if my brother Adam was my donor again, I’d be more likely to relapse — but there wasn’t one. I’m fortunate that Adam was willing and able to donate again and that so far, the leukemia is at bay. But I’ve known too many people whose hope for a cure ended when they couldn’t find a match. And it’s with them in mind that I’m asking you to spread the word — to ask others to Join the Symphony.” According to Be the Match, anyone ages 18 to 40 can donate blood stem cells with just a swab of the cheek. To join, donate, or learn more about the initiative, see the website at bethematchfoundation. org/site/SPageNavigator/JointheSymphony. Jaouad then leads into her essay, which references the Princeton University Concerts program and reinforces its mission of expression: “A few weeks ago, Jon and I had the honor of taking part in the “Healing through Music” concert series at my alma mater, Princeton University. That night, we talked about the many ways art sustains us through the hardest things, and I shared a story about Jon writing lullabies for me during my second bone marrow transplant. I often

JANUARY 10, 2024

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are often

think of what Jon said in his Grammy acceptance speech a couple of years ago — about the special power of a song to reach people at a point in their lives when they need it most. That’s what I wrote about, and what I’m inviting you to consider today.

Prompt 272. Lullabies The winter of 2022, I lived a more intense version of isolation than I’d ever experienced. I was undergoing my second bone marrow transplant to treat a relapse of leukemia, and the chemo I had done to prepare for it had obliterated my immune system, leaving me with literally zero white blood cells. In such a circumstance, being sequestered in a hospital bubble is a given. However, my transplant occurred during the covid omicron surge, so hospital restrictions were higher than normal and visitors were extremely limited. Not only could I not leave the eighth floor of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, but I also couldn’t see many of my beloveds. For a period of time, this included my husband Jon. He had work obligations, and he could not avoid being exposed to all kinds of pathogens — from covid to the common cold — that could have killed me. That he continued to work was a choice we’d made together months earlier, back when we learned my leukemia returned. We had many discussions about whether he would pull out of his obligations to be with me, and I had insisted he continue. He had worked tirelessly from the time he was a teenager to get to that point, and the idea that he would miss out on this big moment because of my relapse was completely unacceptable to me. Being apart was difficult for both of us, though in some ways, I believe it was even more difficult for Jon. He had to put on his professional face and move about the world when both his head and his heart wanted to be there at my bedside. But instead of wallowing in loneliness and despair, he came up with a creative solution. He connected a small keyboard to his computer, and he began composing lullabies and sending them to me. They were improvised, raw, and beautiful. (One of them evolved to become “Butterfly,” one of my favorite songs on World Music Radio — which, no big deal, was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year.) Lullaby. It comes from the words “lull,” as in “to soothe,” and “by,” meaning “near.” Lullabies

written in triple meter, which is a swaying or rocking rhythm that mimics what a baby feels in the womb as its mother moves. Jon’s melodies provided that sort of comfort, that sense of security. There was a week where I was in the most pain I’ve ever experienced, as close to the veil as I’ve ever been, suffering from three simultaneous infections — two in my bloodstream — and the whole time I played those gentle, mellifluous songs on loop, for hours and hours. Hospitals are noisy places, with the constant beeping of monitors, the wheezing of respirators, the blaring alarms on IV poles. Jon’s songs were a welcome counterpoint to that soundtrack. But more than that, Jon found solace in the making of those lullabies, and I found so much in listening to them. I could feel his tenderness, his love, and his support. He wasn’t physically there, but he was present with me.”

he winners of the 2022–23 “Audience Voices” contest followed one of two prompts: “How has music served as a healing force in your life, or in the lives of those around you?” and “How has your relationship with music changed since the start of the pandemic?” The grand prizes in creative writing were awarded to Eugenio Monjeau and Jacqueline Burkholder, while the honorable mention went to Lorraine Goodman. According to her biography, “Burkholder is a Philadelphiabased vocalist training at Westminster Choir College. She has been a Princeton University Concerts patron for over a decade, and the Tenebrae Choir’s 2018 performance of Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles in the Princeton University Chapel continues to resonate in her memory. Jacqueline entered the Audience Voices contest in hopes of winning the opportunity to see more such events, believing that attending live performances is a vital part of her music education.” “She has passed on her passion for music to her delightful eightyear-old daughter and loves introducing her ‘to the wonders of the musical universe’ that she adores so much. Jacqueline shared: ‘It did me very much good to write out my story and try to see its potential universality. I am profoundly grateful to have been heard.’” The following piece is Burkholder’s response to the first prompt: How has music served as a healing force in your life?

Sprouting on a sprawling Mennonite farm surrounded by fields of alfalfa and vegetables had its advantages. It was like growing up in the 19th century, quaint, resourceful, almost idyllic. Our clothes were homemade, sewn by my mother and older sisters. Food was homegrown, cooked with more love and less skill from vegetables and animals that grew around us. Music was homemade. We sang as a family, eleven voices in fourpart harmony singing hymns nearly everyday in the mini-service we called family worship. My siblings and I learned to play harmonica, riding dirt roads in a Buick Century on the way to a three-room church school where students would begin the day with devotional songs in four parts. Nighttime prayers were sung by our beds, our childish voices asking God to wake us with the morning light. But endless repetitions of Amazing Grace and Great Is Thy Faithfulness eventually wore thin and I wanted more. I spent free time in school reading decades-old World Book Encyclopedia articles on Bach and Schoenberg, trying desperately to imagine how Schubert’s songs, purportedly the most beauti-

The current Impromptu Challenge prompt is: ‘When was the last time you danced? What were you listening to? What thoughts or feelings emerged? What stayed with you?’ ful in the world, must sound. Later, having found a dusty copy of Handel’s Messiah in the corner of my dad’s restricted bookshelf, I risked my dad’s wrath, secreting the score to church and into the office, locking the door so that I could photocopy a few dozen pages to pore over later. The section I happened to copy included the chorus All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray and I painstakingly applied my then minimal sightreading skills to sounding out the wandering melismas. My musical interest led me into a lot of trouble with the church during my teens and lower twenties. Often I had to stand in front of the church to make a public confession, repenting for hiding CD’s of Haydn’s concertos or Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. But no public humiliation could

The ‘Impromptu Challenge’ winners will be announced at the final ‘Healing with Music’ event of the 23-24 season, ‘Anxiety, Depression, and Music,’ features live performances by pianist Jonathan Biss, left, and excerpts from writer Adam Haslett’s 2016 novel, ‘Imagine Me Gone,’ middle and right, on Wednesday, April 24, in Richardson Auditorium. Images, from left to right, courtesy of Benjamin Ealovega, Annette Hornischer, and PUC.

possibly outweigh the utter bliss of hearing Schubert’s Die Forelle for the first time. Schubert’s florid lines of otherworldly melody were intoxicating and I still feel that there is some merit in a 1970s World Book’s claim that his was the most beautiful music of all time. I will never forget the lifechanging experience of hearing Bellini’s superb aria Casta Diva while listening to a Barnes & Noble recorded lecture series on music which I had furtively checked out from the local library. On my next trip to town I checked out a copy of Casta Diva’s opera of origin, Norma, with Joan Sutherland as Norma, Montserrat Caballé as Adalgisa, and Luciano Pavarotti as Pollione. Driving the half hour to and from work daily, safe from surveillance by my parents and siblings, I followed along with the libretto, steering the car with one hand, holding the album booklet with the other. I knew then that I would never be the same. The pathos of Norma’s plight, Bellini’s divine sense of line and melody, and the transcendence of the vocalists were beyond anything I had ever anticipated. My budding obsession with opera and classical music could only grow from there. Four years ago, I effected a sort of escape from the restrictive cult, throwing belongings into my truck and driving to Philadelphia where kindly folks let me sleep on their couch til I found a place to live. Crumbling belief along with deep questions about my gender identity and sexual orientation made the culture and faith untenable for me. In leaving I paid a cost, losing nearly everything I owned and facing rejection and censure from family and friends. As I cleaned houses and apartments in Philadelphia I sang hymns from my childhood most of whose lyrics I no longer believed. I sang arias from operas that I knew only vaguely and art songs that I learned in my spare time. I sang to survive. One day a client who was an excellent musician came to me and offered to help enroll me in a Philadelphia music school that gave

voice lessons to adult students. I loved studying there and those lessons became a springboard for my continuing education. Last summer I gave a concert to help raise funds for my enrollment at Westminster Choir College. I sang two arias from Handel’s Semele. I sang Schubert’s immortal Die Forelle and Who Is Sylvia. And I sang hymns and songs that I had sung with my family when I was a child. There was something deeply healing about singing an aria by the forbidden Handel alongside Copland’s beautiful arrangement of At the River. Ten years ago I could never have believed that I would now be enrolled in a great music school studying voice performance as a soprano. My twenty-year-old self would be confused and secretly delighted at the woman I am today. And he would have been in awe of the music that I am now surrounded with daily. A few weeks ago my Westminster classmates and I made the Princeton University Chapel echo with songs of Christmas in our annual amalgamation of service and concert called Readings and Carols. Thousands of people showed up over the two nights the concert ran to hear us perform old English standards, choral classics, and yes, hymns I remember from somber Sunday services now lush with brass and organ making the huge cathedral reverberate in gorgeously reclaiming glory. Although there is a sense of embarking on a new world full of music, I also feel that the circle was somehow completed with that experience. The voices of the audience mixed with those of the choir, the mellow brass, and the unmatched organ among the stone domes of the chapel ushering out the years of repression and welcoming what I can only hope will be years of musical abundance and celebration; and yes, healing.” For more on Princeton University Concerts’ and the Isolation Journals’ “Impromptu Challenge,” see the contest page on the PUC website, concerts.princeton.edu/ impromptu-challenge.

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JANUARY 10, 2024

January 13 Continued from page 8

reate Tracy K. Smith. Also on the program is the work Lumina by composer and current Princeton University graduate student Nina Shekhar. $30 to $112. 8 p.m.

Live Music

Weekend Music Series, Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road, Princeton, 609-924-2310. www. terhuneorchards.com. Live music from 1 to 4 p.m. by Carmen Marranco. Light fare, cheese plates, chips & salsa baskets, and wine by the glass available. Noon to 5 p.m. Christine Havrilla, Hopewell Valley Vineyards, 46 Yard Road, Pennington, 609-737-4465. www. hopewellvalleyvineyards.com. Neofunkadelicfolkpoptwangrock. 5 to 8 p.m.

Art

Puppet-Making Workshop, Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, 609924-8777. www.artscouncilofprinceton.org. Learn the art of puppet making with Ewing-based artist and ACP Artist-in-Residence Kenneth Lewis. Register. $95. 9:30 a.m. to noon. Annual Juried Photography Exhibit, Gallery 14, 14 Mercer Street, Hopewell, 609-333-8511. www.gallery14.org. Award presentations and meet the artists. On view through February 4. 1 to 3 p.m. 60th Anniversary Community Art Exhibit, Considine Gallery, Stuart County Day School, 1200 Stuart Road, Princeton. www.stuartschool.org. Opening reception for exhibit featuring artists from the Stuart community including Andres Felipe Duque, Joe Kossow, Monica Vagnozzi Vogel, Phyllis Wright, Christine D’Alessandro, Madelaine Shella-

Poetry & Preservation

her close observation of the natural world. Jane McKinley is a Baroque oboist and artistic director of the Dryden Ensemble, a professional chamber music group based in Princeton. Her life as a poet began in 2003 when, haunted by an image, she began writing after a lapse of 30 years. Her poetry collection, Vanitas, won the 2011 Walt McDonald First-Book Prize and was published by Texas Tech University Press. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Georgia Review, The Southern Review, Five Points, Poetry Daily, Able Muse, the Baltimore Review, and elsewhere. She was awarded a 2023 Poetry Fellowship by the New Jersey Council on the Arts. She lives with her husband in Hopewell Borough and frequently walks in the Sourlands. Admission to all talks is free, but registration is required. Donations are always greatly appreciated. Membership support and donations provide the resources for the Sourland Conservancy to create educational events like this. Register at: https://tinyurl.com/ SCPoetryReading

he Sourland Conservancy series, “Talk of the Sourlands,” resumes with poet Jane Mckinley as she reads from her sequence of poems inspired by walks in the Sourland Nature Preserve. The presentation takes place Thursday, January 11, at 7 p.m. at the Titusville First Presbyterian Church. Seating is limited, but a hybrid model will be implemented, allowing participants to join from the comfort of their own homes. McKinley’s poem sequence covers a single year, beginning the day before Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey. The poems are rooted in trees and boulders and depict the Sourland landscape through the seasons, including the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, heavy fog in January, tulip trees, the profusion of wildflowers in April, the summer solstice, and hickory nuts. Photographs of the Sourland Preserve will accompany the reading. McKinley is known for by, and Deborah Land. On view through March 8. 5:30 p.m.

Family Theater

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood LIVE! King for a Day, State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, 732-246-7469. www. statetheatrenj.org. Live theatrical production filled with music, dancing, and surprises based on the PBS Kids TV series. $25 to $75. 2 p.m.

Dancing

English Country Dance, Princeton Country Dancers, Suzanne Patterson Center, 1 Monument Drive, Princeton. www.princetoncountrydancers.org. Lesson followed by dance. $15. 7:30 to 11 p.m.

Poet and musician Jane McKinley.

Literati Poetry Reading Group, West Windsor Public Library, 333 North Post Road, West WiIndsor. www.poetryreadinggroup.wordpress.com. Read, share, and discuss the best in classic and contemporary poetry. Free. 2 p.m.

Schools

Screening of “Self Taught”, Princeton Learning Cooperative, , 609-851-2522. www.princetonlearningcooperative.org. Free screening of “Self-Taught: Life Stories from Self-Directed

Learners” followed by a Q&A and discussion of educational alternatives. Virtual event. Register via EventBrite. Free. 11 a.m.

Sunday January 14 Classical Music Anthony Roth Costanzo, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University, 609-497-0020. www.

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ALL LIES! (The exhibition) DEDICATED TO TRUTH, RIGHTS & LIGHTS Princeton HIC will be holding a FREE exhibition consisting of 45+ binders filled with numerous key scientific & opinion papers on various contemporary & highly controversial subjects.

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Thursday, February 1, 2024 | 7:30PM

WHERE: MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP LIBRARY - 100 Community Drive, Skillman, NJ 08558 WHEN: Friday January 12th (from 2:30 – 6:00 PM) and Saturday, January 13th from 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM WHY: To exhibit key scientific literature on the following subjects: 1) VACCINATIONS: Testing, Spike Proteins, Plastics, Covid-19 Side Effects, Violence & War, (LONG) Covid-19: Treatments & Alternatives, Metabolic science to Cancer, The New Cell Danger Response Theory, Ivermectin, Cardio-pulmonary damage, The Immorality of Mortality, Children, The Scientific “Method”, What to do & write before you are Hospitalized, Brain Damage, Genetic Manipulation and Frame Shifting.

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puc.princeton.edu | 609.258.9220

Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall $35-$60 General; $15 Students

2) AUTHORITARIANISM & GLOBALISM: Fauci & Gates, Free Speech & Censorship, The “Great Reset” & Simplification, Masks and Lockdowns, Depopulation Agenda, PPP, Food Control, Weaponization of the Three-letter Bullies, et al. 3) CLIMATE DISRUPTION: Heroes, IPPC, AMOC, Water, Air & Oceans, Apocalypse & Collapse: Ecological Overshoot, Key Wet Bulb Thresholds, Mass Formation Psychosis: Fear, Methane: the final solution, et al. 4) GUN REGULATIONS: In the USA & in New Jersey (+NJ tidbits)

JANUARY 10, 2024

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Opportunities Theater Auditions Bristol Riverside Theatre is seeking strong, local, singers and dancers, ages 10 to 18 years old for its upcoming production of “big: The Musical.” Young actors will share roles and will perform in half of the performances. Past experience is not required. Choreography and music pre rehearsals will be on Saturdays and Sundays, February 10 through 18, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Staging rehearsals run from Monday, February 19, through Sunday, March 10. Each week young actors will rehearse up to 4 weekday evenings (4 to 8 p.m.) plus Saturdays (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Sundays (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Technical rehearsals take place March 12 to 15. Young actors may need to miss parts of the school day, though we will keep this to a minimum. Rehearsals are noon to 8 p.m. with most young actors called from 3 or 4 to 8 p.m. Preview performances Entail rehearsals from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday, March 19 through 21, in which young actors may be asked to miss a portion of the school day for important last-minute rehearsals. Performances are March 19 through April 14, Wednesday through Sunday. There are Wednesday/Thursday matinees at 2 p.m., so young actors will have to leave school early for those performances. Parents of interested young actors should email casting@brtstage.org. In reply to your email, you will receive a short script, vocal track/music, and dance combo video to create an audition video. Callbacks will be in person at Bristol Riverside Theatre, by invitation. The theater is located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Somerset-based Villagers Theatre has announced auditions for its upcoming Kidsvill production of “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka.” This adventure follows Charlie Bucket on a visit to Willy Wonka’s mysterious and magical chocolate factory in a captivating adaptation of Roald Dahl’s fantastical tale. Auditions, rehearsals, and performances will take place at The Villagers Theatre at

princetonsymphony.org. Metropolitan Opera star countertenor and Princeton University graduate Anthony Roth Costanzo performs fellow Princeton University alum Gregory Spears’ Love Story, with words by the 22nd US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Also on the program is the work Lumina by composer and current Princeton University graduate student Nina Shekhar. $30 to $112. 4 p.m.

Live Music

Weekend Music Series, Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road, Princeton, 609-924-2310. www. terhuneorchards.com. Live music from 1 to 4 p.m. by Jerry Steele. Light fare, cheese plates, chips & salsa baskets, and wine by the glass available. Noon to 5 p.m. Mark Feingold Group, Hopewell Valley Vineyards, 46 Yard Road, Pennington, 609-737-4465. www. hopewellvalleyvineyards.com. Jazz. 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Open Acoustic Jam, Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. www.princetonlibrary.org. Chord charts and lyrics for songs provided at this inclusive and open jam for local musicians. Bring your acoustic guitar, uke, violin, resonator, tambourine or your voice to join the fun. 3 to 5 p.m.

Family Theater

475 DeMott Lane, Somerset. For directions and other information, visit www.villagerstheatre.org The performance schedule is as follows: Saturdays, March 9 and 16, at noon and 4 p.m., and Sundays, March 10 and 17, at noon. Auditions will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 23 and 24, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. All those auditioning will be asked to sing a brief song as well as perform a simple dance combination. For those unable to attend in-person, video auditions may be submitted as an alternative. Please prepare 32 bars of a musical theater selection and provide clearly marked sheet music in the correct key for the accompanist. Alternatively, prerecorded accompaniment may be played from Bluetooth compatible devices. A cappella auditions are not allowed. Please wear comfortable, form-fitting attire that is easy to move in. Dance-style shoes are not necessary, but encouraged. Hair should be kept neatly out of the face. Photos and/or video of auditionees may be taken for reference purposes. Callbacks will be held in-person on Saturday, January 27, from 3 to 7:30 p.m. by invitation only. Those invited to callbacks will be notified no later than Thursday, January 25. Rehearsals will begin Tuesday, January 30, and will generally be four days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, with occasional Monday rehearsals. Evening rehearsals will generally take place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; weekend rehearsals will generally take place from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. Additional rehearsals may be scheduled to accommodate conflicts or other rehearsal needs as performances draw closer. Tech week rehearsals will occur every evening beginning Sunday, March 3, and are mandatory for all cast members.

Dance Auditions Roxey Ballet will hold open auditions for dancers ages 4 and up for the annual Chlidren Classic Stories productions of “Carnival Of The Animals” and “Sleeping Beauty: Aurora’s Wedding.”Auditions will be held on Saturday, January 20, at the Mill Ballet

School, 46 North Sugan Road, New Hope, Pennsylvania. Audition times are as follows: ages 4 to 6, 3 to 3:30 p.m.; ages 7 to 10, 3:45 to 4:15 p.m.; ages 11 to 13, 4:30 to 5 p.m.; ages 14+, 5:15 to 6 p.m. All dancers must pre-register online by Friday, January 19, at noon. Please fill out the registration form at www.roxeyballet.org and pay the $39 audition fee. An additional participation fee applies for those accepted to the cast. The first day of rehearsals and parent meeting take place Saturday, January 27. Subsequent rehearsals will run Friday evenings for older cast members and soloist roles between 4 and 8 p.m. and on Saturdays for all cast members between 2 and 8 p.m. Performance dates are April 13 at Mill Ballet and April 20 and 21 at Villa Victoria Theater in Ewing.

Voice Auditions Join Voices Chorale now by setting up a brief, stress-free audition. All voice parts are welcome, especially tenors and basses. Auditions will be Mondays, January 15, 22, 29,

The Gardenstatesmen invite guests to their weekly rehearsals in Plainsboro.

and February 5 before/after rehearsals. We rehearse from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Music Together, 225 Pennington-Hopewell Road in Hopewell. The spring concert will be Saturday, May 11, at 4 p.m. and will feature Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass interspersed with contemporary pieces including Sting’s “Fragile” arranged by Mac Huff. Visit www. voiceschoralenj.org for more information.

Join the Chorus The Gardenstatesmen male a cappella chorus invites all guests to their fun and interesting rehearsals to sing or listen and stay as long as they like. Upcoming rehearsals take place Tuesdays, January 16, 23, and 30, at 7:30 p.m. at the Plainsboro Recreation Center, 641 Plainsboro Road . Call 609-4623371 for more information.

in partnership with Tomato Patch Workshops. $14 to $16. 1 and 4 p.m.

Gardens

Winter Lecture Series, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, 1635 River Road, New Hope, Pennsylvania. www.bhwp.org. Series of guest lectures via Zoom or in-person. “Growing Quality Organic Native Fruit” with Jim Kinsel. Register. $15. 2 to 3 p.m.

Lectures

Art of the Crossword Puzzle, Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, 609-924-8777. www.artscouncilofprinceton.org. Join world renowned crossword puzzle author, Mangesh Ghogre, as he guides us through the fascinating world of American crossword puzzles. Mangesh has been published in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, just to name a few. Register. $30 includes coffee and bagels. 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Monday January 15 Classical Music MLK Celebration, Capital Harmony Works, Turning Point United Methodist Church, 15 South Broad Street, Trenton. www.capitalharmony.works. Featuring Trenton Music Makers and Trenton Children’s Chorus with guest artists from Princeton Symphony Orchestra. 3 p.m.

World Music Celebrate the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., Trenton Children’s Chorus & Trenton Music Makers, Turning Point United Methodist Church, 15 South Broad Street, Trenton. Featuring special guest performers, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and a presentation to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK). Fee for entrance is a non-perishable or canned good for donation. 3 p.m.

Good Causes

43rd Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast, Ivy League Educational Foundation, Hyatt Regency Princeton, 102 Carnegie Center, West Windsor. The Reverend Danté R. Quick, Ph.D., senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens (FBCLG), gives the keynote speech. All proceeds support the nonprofit organization

EagleMania, an Eagles tribute band, performs at the State Theater in New Brunswick on Friday, January 12. providing scholarships and book awards for area high school students who are pursuing higher education. Register by January 12. $65. 8 a.m.

History

Women of the Civil Rights Movement: Eslanda Robeson, Princeton Public Library, Princeton Middle School, Walnut Lane, Princeton. www.princetonlibrary. org. Learn about the life and work of anthropologist, author, actress and civill rights advocate Eslanda Robeson who was Paul Robeson’s wife and business manager. Registration required. 9 a.m. to noon.

Lectures Monthly Meeting, Women’s College Club of Princeton, Stockton Education Center, Morven Museum, 55 Stockton Street. www.wccp.org. Bruce Jeffries-Fox tells the story of “Dorothy Eady: The most mysterious and unique Egyptologist.” Free. 1 to 3 p.m.

Schools

Tour & Info, Princeton Learning Cooperative, 16 All Saints Road, Princeton, 609-851-2522. www. princetonlearningcooperative.org. Find out how self-directed learning can help teens create the eduContinued on following page

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JANUARY 10, 2024

New Year, New Poets Reading at Princeton Makes

with corpses and identities of drowned people, no land will rinceton Makes and Ragged Sky welcome your shy steps.

Press open their new year of monthly Second Sunday Poetry Reading on January 14 at 4 p.m. The event will feature New Jersey-based poets Faleeha Hassan and Keith O’Shaughnessy. Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, writer, and playwright. Born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1967, she now lives in Washington Township in southern New Jersey. The first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq, she received her master’s degree in Arabic literature and has published 26 books that have been translated into many languages. She has been nominated for both the Pulitzer and Pushcart prizes. O’Shaughnessy’s latest book, “Petrushka” (Ragged Sky), is a collection of poems and fables set in a quasi-Russian dream scape. His first book of poems, “Incommunicado,” won the inaugural Grolier Discovery Award. His second, “Last Call for Ganymede” (Ilora Press) followed in 2014. He also authored three chapbooks (all Pudding House Press). A lifelong resident of Princeton, he teaches English at Camden County College in southern New Jersey. Here are samples of their works.

To Be a Refugee Means you walk with a mute dignity And because the touch has a memory, you can no longer make another one, No sea can reveal to you the joy of its flowing and its every wave is shackled

January 15 Continued from preceding page

cation they want now, while building a path towards college, career, entrepreneurship, vocation, travel and more. Register via EventBrite. 2 to 3 p.m.

Socials

Poster-Making Workshop, Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, 609924-8777. www.artscouncilofprinceton.org. The earliest use of protest posters dates back to the 16th century, and they continue to

To be a refugee You have to wear a stainless smile in front of their serrated gaze. You have to get rid of your ancient history, Your mother’s prayer for your safety, which no longer works The wisdom of your ancestors, which they left to you before they disappeared into their graves. To be like me, You have to peel off your skin, pull out your tongue in order to get along with the crowds that are waiting for any slight movement from you to finish you off. Above you have to be very sane in the streets that know nothing but where madness erupts, And like swimming in a river of blood, you will remain stained until the end.

dances, performs, despite the illness at her ease, out of the restlessness of her peace, these, her pieces of movement, for the salvation of their grace, to feel the feeling of being none other than the thing that something is when it is nothing but one leap up from, spin off into, a single ether.

Until, at the tap of crushed satin, with the brush of ruffled taffeta, into its pointed pirouettes, round its arched arabesques, the figure of her frame, against the violinist’s — Faleeha Hassan strained timber, setting the edge of its bend, fretting The Ballerina the gut, bowing the waist, of its curves, limns the image In the stillness of her motion, of a vision, of a mad grandmasthrough the silence ter’s ivory queen, in the shape of his air, the ballerina, as she

of one form, for the fact of all matter, silent, still. — Keith O’Shaughnessy Princeton Makes is a Princeton-based artist cooperative located in the Princeton Shopping Center. Ragged Sky Press is an independent nonprofit publishing company located in Princeton. Their co-hosted reading series began in 2021. The Sunday, January 14, 4 p.m., presentation is free and will take place at the Princeton Makes store, 301 North Harrison Street, next to Metropolis Hair Salon. A limited open mic follows. For more information, contact Princeton Makes coordinator Jim Levine at princetonmakes@gmail.com. — Dan Aubrey

An opening reception takes place Saturday, January 13, for ‘The Stuart 60th Anniversary Community Art Exhibit’ at Stuart’s Considine Gallery. The show is on view through March 8. Pictured: Madelaine Shellaby’s ‘Wingchairs.’ be a powerful tool to amplify one’s voice in a community. Materials provided to create your own poster to motivate and educate on topics of social justice, honoring Dr. Martin Luther King’s life’s work. Free and open to all ages. 1 to 3 p.m.

PRETEND THIS WAS YOUR PRETEND THIS WAS YOUR AD. AD. WHOWOULD WOULD YOU ATTRACT? WHO YOU ATTRACT? youare arereading reading is your next customer, IfIfyou this,this, so isso your next customer, volunteer or club member. volunteer or club member.

Tuesday January 16 Live Music Acappella Chorus Rehearsal, The Gardenstatesmen, Plainsboro Recreation Center, 641 Plainsboro Road, Plainsboro, 609-462-3371. Male acapella chorus invites all guests to rehearsals to sign or listen and stay as long as they wish. 7:30 p.m.

Dancing

Tuesday Night Folk Dance, Princeton Folk Dance, Christ Congregation, 50 Walnut Lane, Princeton. www.princetonfolkdance.org. No partner necessary. $5. 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Advertising in your local Advertising in your local For Seniors community works! Reach every community works! Reach every household in their mailbox. household directlydirectly in their mailbox. Composer of the Month: George Gershwin, Center for Modern

Have anorevent or special Aging Princeton. www.princeHave an event special tonsenior.org. You’ve likely heard promotion you need promotion you need to share?to share? George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Let’s advertise! Let’s advertise! Blue. But did you know there’s a Rhapsody No. 2? Gershwin also Calldirectly me directly at 201-739-0450 Call me at 201-739-0450

wrote musicals, composed an opera, created music for Hollywood scores, and regularly played CARILLO film GINAGINA CARILLO tennis with Arnold Schoenberg! “Help me, help you.” “Help me, help you.” What makes his music so groundbreaking in the classical realm? Sales Executive Sales Executive Brenda Leonard explores one 609-396-1511 x112 x112 Dr. 609-396-1511 of America’s best-known composgcarillo@communitynews.org ers as our January Composer of gcarillo@communitynews.org the Month. Expect to hear some favorites and discover some new treasures. Via Zoom. Register. $15; $10 residents. Noon to 1 p.m. Check us and princetoninfo.com Check usout outatatcommunitynews.org communitynews.org and princetoninfo.comFYI Seminar: Vaccination Education, Center for Modern Ag-

ECHO ECHO

Poets Faleeha Hassan, left, and Keith O’Shaughnessy read from the work at Princeton Makes on Sunday, January 14.

ing Princeton, 101 Poor Farm Road, Princeton. www.princetonsenior.org. Presentation reviews common vaccines older adults should receive including their purpose, who should get them, and potential side effects. Emphasis on the pneumococcal, shingles, and new RSV vaccines. Presenter Melissa Poulsen is a pharmacy resident at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center. Hybrid event. Register. Free. 3 to 4 p.m.

Wednesday January 17 World Music Sound Journey, Office of Religious Life, Princeton University Chapel. chapel.princeton.edu. Ruth Cunningham, founding member of the vocal ensemble Anonymous 4 and a sound healing practitioner, premieres a virtual performance of music for meditation and introspection. Free. 5:30 p.m.

Film Matinee Movie Series: Best of British Cinema, Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. www.princetonlibrary.org. “Kind Hearts and Coronets.” Tea and cookies will be served. 3 p.m.

Dancing

Contra Dance, Princeton Country Dancers, Suzanne Patterson Center, 1 Monument Drive, Princeton. www.princetoncountrydancers.org. Lesson followed by dance. $15. 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Wellness

Wild Gentle Yoga: Yoga to Connect with Yourself and Nature, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, 1635 River Road, New Hope, PA. www.bhwp.org. Gentle yoga that builds body awareness, strength, flexibility and a better understanding of how humans connect to and reflect natural systems with Priscilla Hayes. Register. Pay what you can, $8 and up. 8 to 9 a.m.

JANUARY 10, 2024

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Sculptors Create Home Grown Solution for Exhibiting Work

culpture can be more difficult to exhibit due to its size, weight, transportation, and the need to be shown from all angles. Established Hopewell sculptors Ayami Aoyama and Rory Mahon have created a solution to transporting and showing their work in different venues and galleries. The couple, married 21 years, converted a previous workshop to a 900-square-foot gallery space that showcases both their work. The yet-unnamed gallery is on their five-acre property in Pennington. The gallery was the couple’s idea and came about quickly, going from cluttered garage-workshop to professional-looking gallery in less than one year. “We were showing work to potential clients on folding tables. It just wasn’t a proper set up,” says Mahon. The artists and their new gallery were a stop on the Tour Des Arts of Hopewell this past September. Thirty artists open their Hopewell and Pennington studios to the public in the two-day self-guided event to show and sell their work. While many artists are clustered in downtown Hopewell and are primarily a walking tour, the Aoyama and Mahon estimate they had about 30 visitors and seemed happy with that. “It was a good turnout and gave us a chance to show the gallery space and entertain the visitors. We were happy and think everyone enjoyed the new gallery space,” Aoyama said. The gallery on their property at 1423 Trenton-Harbourton Road, Pennington, is open to the public by appointment. Arrangements can be made by contacting Mahon at 609-477-4424. Mahon shares that he is working on a quarter-mile sculpture trail on the property that will be opened in the spring. The couple and their two sons have plenty of room on the property. There is the main house, gallery space, an older studio, a new lightfilled casting studio, and Aoyama’s painting studio. All are warmed by wood stoves and are used yearround. There are also a few other outbuildings, storage of materials, and an endless army of power hand tools, hoists, drill presses, lathes, and projects in progress. “We have everything we need here,” Aoyama says. Aoyama works in stone. Her work is nature based and can suggest shapes and patterns found all around us. “I love the stone,” she says. “I tried other different materials, but I really love the stone. When I first understood the carving and polishing of the stone, it was like falling in love.” When asked what her favorite stone to work with is, Aoyama replies, “Granite. It is the best. There are so many kinds of granite to work with.” When both Aoyama and Mahon speak of their artwork, the other waits and listens respectfully. Even though they know each other’s pro-

by Thomas Kelly cesses, they take time to hear and listen to each other describe it. The mutual admiration is evident in both the process and the finished products. Mahon works in metal, mostly bronze, using the sandcasting technique. Simply described, molten metal is poured into a hollow cavity made in specialized sand. When the metal is cooled the sand forms are removed, leaving the casting. Sand casting does not offer immediate results. It is a lengthy process that requires many skills such as creating the form that will eventually be cast in sand, knowledge of metallurgy, and the experience to perform the process. After the casting comes out of the mold there is the finishing of the piece, which involves interacting in some way with the metal to achieve the desired finish. This step can be very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Mahon came to the area after growing up in Queens, New York. His mother was a homemaker. His father was head bartender at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan. Mahon graduated from Cooper Union in Manhattan. The recently graduated Mahon came to the Princeton-Trenton area after he was given a little direction by one of his professors. “I was sitting at McSorley’s Old Ale House, which was around the corner from the Cooper Union, talking with teacher Reuben Kadish, who was a well-known sculptor — he taught art history and sculpture at Cooper Union. Kadish said he heard of a sculpture

Established Hopewell sculptors Ayami Aoyama and Rory Mahon have created a solution to transporting and showing their work in different venues and galleries. center opening up in Princeton, New Jersey, and maybe I should check it out.” This was when the Johnson Atelier was on Alexander Road, before moving to its current location on Sculptor’s Way in Hamilton. “It was really the tip that changed my life. Those early years were the golden age of the Johnson Atelier. We were doing contract work for some very famous sculptors, such as George Segal, Red Grooms, Georgia O’Keefe, Kiki Smith, and Julian Schnabel,” says Mahon. At its peak the Johnson Atelier employed more than 100 people. One of the benefits of working at the atelier was that the employees could work on their own projects after hours. It was not unusual to see almost the entire staff working into the night on their own work. Aoyama traveled a longer path. The daughter of a stay-at-home

mother and police detective father, she studied art in her native Japan and earned her degree in painting at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Art and Music in Nagoya. Coming to the U.S. in 1996, she studied at the Arts Students League in New York, among other schools. Aoyama became more interested in sculpture, and in particular, stone carving. Again, an instructor pointed a student toward Johnson Atelier. That was the late, nationally known, Roosevelt, New Jerseybased sculptor Jonathan Shahn. She joined the Johnson Atelier apprentice program in the stone division. Though the casting department and the stone division were very separate, this is where she crossed paths with and eventually partnered with Mahon. Aoyama has exhibited widely in the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania area with gallery and museum shows. She currently works for Antiquity Stone as a finishing supervisor, with her team working on stone sculptures for world famous artist Jeff Koons. You can see Aoyama on a 2023 episode of “60 Minutes” talking about a recent Koons project that had 33,000 people hours of hand polishing and how challenging the finishing of stone sculptures can be. “It is stressful as at any time a slip up can damage or ruin the artwork,” she says. Talking about his other work, Mahon says he has stepped back from a recent job as an art handler at Princeton Art Museum. “I was working ‘part time’ — up to 32 hours a week. I am trying to do more of my own work and less work for others. It was great at the Princeton Museum, I mean they have such an impressive collection, that they only have room to show a fraction of, due to not enough wall space.” Mahon was also on the team that in 1980 fabricated the mammoth, 70-foot-long sculpture “The Awakening” by Seward Johnson. The sculpture shows a giant emerging or freeing himself from the earth. With an open mouth and clenching fingers, the iconic piece was origi-

Hopewell sculptors Rory Mahon and Ayami Aoyama inside the gallery space they have created from a former workshop on their property. Both artists are also part of an exhibition at the Pennington School’s Silva Gallery opening with a reception on Thursday, January 11.

nally installed in Hains Point in East Potomac Park outside of Washington, D.C. A version of “The Awakening” is temporarily located in Johnson’s adopted hometown of Hopewell and will be there for the next year. Currently, Mahon primarily does casting for one client, internationally known New York-based artist Julian Schnabel. “Working for Schnabel fills my schedule. He is a good client and a wonderful artist,” says Mahon. Aoyama and Mahon will also be showing work in a group exhibition at the Pennington School’s Silva Gallery in January. The show, “A Community of Artists,” features work by several other regional artists once part of the Johnson Atelier: le Corbeau, Gyuri Hollosy, Harry Gordon, Wendy Gordon, Eric Schultz, Dana Stewart, and Ivia Sky Yavelow. The show runs through Friday, February 2, with a reception on Thursday, January 11, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Aoyama is also revisiting her love of painting. She has a separate studio where she is pursuing largescale paintings of cityscapes with traditional Japanese leanings. The vertical cities are reminiscent of Japanese prints that show the “Floating World” of the period when Japan was largely cordoned off from the rest of the modern world. This style was very influential on European artists in the 1800s, when they were finally seen by the outside world. These larger paintings will accompany the paintings she is already exhibiting on the walls of the gallery here. Along with the free-standing sculptures by both artists surrounding their new gallery, the property is a small sculpture park that show-

cases their own work as well as the work of others that are part of the couple’s collection. Three bells cast by Mahon hang in various locations on the property supported by posts and lintels. Each bell has a different theme. One has all natural elements from the property such as certain species of tree leaves and fruits found nearby, fashioned in bronze and sounding in perfect tone. The need as artists to find exhibition space to showcase their work has been solved by these two experienced artists. They created their own space. They are showing their work by appointment and plan to start having small gatherings in the spring. When working in stone and bronze the work takes patience but the results are enduring. Pointing at some sculpture surrounding them, Mahon says, “Look at these, the pieces will be here for a thousand years. More!” Aoyama and Mahon’s gallery is located at 1423 Trenton-Harbourton Road, Pennington, and open to the public by appointment by calling 609-477-4424. A Community of Artists, Silva Gallery, Pennington School, 112 West Delaware Avenue, Pennington. Opening reception Thursday, January 11, 6 to 7:30 p.m. On view through February 2. Public exhibition hours are Thursdays, January 18, January 25, and February 1, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Scheduled appointments are available Mondays through Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 609-737-4133 or www.pennington.org/arts/silvagallery-of-art. For more information on the artists Aoyama and Mahon, visit aaoyama.com and rorymahon. com.

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JANUARY 10, 2024

Life in the Fast Lane BIO Names John Crowley as New CEO

he Biotechnology Innovation Organization, or BIO, the leading international trade association for the industry at the intersection of science, medicine, and engineering, has named John F. Crowley as its new president and CEO effective March 4. Crowley, a native of Englewood, is a biotechnology executive, advocate for rare disease research, and a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer. He currently serves as vice chair of the health section of the board at BIO, where he has been a member for more than 10 years. According to a December 5 press release, “Crowley is best known for his role as an entrepreneur in the biotechnology industry following the 1998 diagnosis of his two youngest children with Pompe disease, a rare and often fatal neuromuscular disorder.” Upon receiving the news, Crowley moved the family to Princeton and began working at Bristol Myers Squibb before leaving the biopharmaceutical company to open his own start-up, Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, in search of a cure. Novazyme was acquired by Genzyme Corporation in 2001, which eventually developed an experimental treatment for Pompe disease via enzyme replacement therapy that Crowley, then serving as its senior vice president, “credits with ultimately saving his chil-

dren’s lives.” Crowley and his family would become the subject of Wall Street Journal coverage and a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Geeta Anand, “The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million – And Bucked the Medical Establishment – In a Quest to Save His Children,” which was then adapted into a 2010 feature film, “Extraordinary Measures,” starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser. Crowley also penned a memoir, “Chasing Miracles: The Crowley Family Journey of Strength, Hope, and Joy,” in 2010. Crowley left to found Orexigen Therapeutics in 2003, then established Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. two years later, the latter described as “a global biotechnology company focusing on developing treatments for rare genetic diseases,” according to his biography on the BIO website. Amicus received approval from the FDA for its two-component therapy for adults with late-onset Pompe disease, the second treatment developed for the condition, in September 2023. While Amicus Therapeutics’ Research and Gene Therapy Center of Excellence is based in Philadelphia, its global corporate headquarters is located at 47 Hulfish Street in Princeton. Crowley stepped down from his role as CEO there in 2022 after 17 years in the position and will remain as the company’s executive chairman until his term at BIO officially begins. This change was influenced in part by his daughter, Megan — who, at 15 months old, was given

Edited by Rebekah Schroeder

just six months to live and is now 26 — experiencing a recent health scare, according to the latest Wall Street Journal article by Betsy McKay, “He Designed Drugs to Save His Children. Now He’s Working to Save Biotech, Too.” Crowley is now set to lead the industry’s largest trade group, as well as utilize its lobbying power, to ensure that BIO facilitates innovation through patient-first practices and equitable access. “When I founded our first company, the mission was to create a therapy to save our children and others from Pompe disease. Today, there are untold millions of children and adults waiting for ‘their’ cures and treatments — as well as literally billions of people who need agricultural advances and climate solutions that biotechnologies can provide. The mission of BIO is the mission of our members: cure patients, protect our climate, and nourish humanity. I am humbled and honored to lead BIO as we enter this golden age of medicine and the coming age of biotechnology. And I am eager to continue working alongside our members and dedicated BIO leadership and staff to drive this mission forward,” Crowley explains in the BIO press release. “While my life’s work has centered on creating life-changing and lifesaving medical therapies, I am excited about advancing these critical issues in agriculture and the environment for our society, as well as growing the membership base that drives our mission,” he adds. Crowley earned his bachelor’s

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in foreign service from Georgetown University, a juris doctorate from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and a master’s of business administration from Harvard Business School. He was also formerly on the board of BioNJ, a partner of the national BIO organization located in Hamilton Township. In a statement, current BioNJ president and CEO Debbie Hart embraced Crowley’s new title. “We are ecstatic that John Crowley, founder and executive chairman of New Jersey’s own Amicus Therapeutics, has been named the new president and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. John is an extraordinary human being with much to offer and a transcendental story that moves even the most hardened hearts and minds. John will bring his clear vision, passion for innovation and true leadership, as well as the ability to tell the industry’s story in new and compelling ways to this new chapter of his life,” she says in a quote. “As a past BioNJ Board Member and the 2011 recipient of the Dr. Sol J. Barer Award for Vision, Innovation and Leadership, we are so fortunate at BioNJ to have witnessed firsthand John’s inspirational spirit and remarkable talent. We look forward to supporting and learning from him in his new role. John is the right leader at the right time. We wish John all the very best as he embraces this new challenge the only way he knows how: with drive and conviction, ‘Because Patients Can’t Wait,’” Hart adds, ending with BioNJ’s trademarked “ral-

John Crowley takes over as president and CEO of BIO effective March 4. lying cry.” Crowley succeeds interim CEO Rachel King, who came out of retirement to serve as president-CEO in October 2022 after molecular immunologist Michelle McMurryHeath resigned from her leadership position following a period of leave and “disagreements with some board members,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with John for many years as a Board member, and for the past year as part of BIO’s leadership team,” says King. “There couldn’t be a better person to lead our members in 2024 and beyond, and I look forward to continuing to work together to advance this incredibly important industry in its pursuit to change people’s lives for the better.” More information: www.bio. org.

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Mail or E-Mail: That’s all it takes to order a U.S. 1 Classified. Mail your ad to 9 Princess Road, Suite M, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 or E-Mail class@ princetoninfo.com. We will confirm your insertion and the price. It won’t be much: Our classifieds are just 50 cents a word, with a $10 minimum. Repeats in succeeding issues are just 40 cents per word, and if your ad runs for 16 consecutive issues, it’s only 30 cents per word. Questions? Call us at 609-396-1511 ext. 105.

releases that grab editors’ attention and robust website content that rises above the run of the mill. Have your business history written to preserve the story behind your success. E. E. Whiting Literary Services. 609-462-5734 eewhiting@live.com

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tion has helped people like you find challenging opportunities for years now. We know this because we often hear from the people we have helped. We reserve the right to edit the ads and to limit the number of times they run. If you require confidentiality, send a check for $4 with your ad and request a U.S. 1 Response Box. Replies will be forwarded to you at no extra charge. Mail your ad to U.S. 1 Jobs Wanted, 15 Princess Road, Suite K, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. E-mail to class@princetoninfo. com. You must include your name, address, and phone number (for our records only).

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Princeton University, State Partner on AI

n December 18, Governor Phil Murphy and Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber revealed a new, unprecedented partnership between the academic institution and state government “to establish a hub for artificial intelligence” activity in New Jersey. The project will be run in collaboration with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, or NJEDA. “Leveraging state funding and private sector partnerships, the initiative will advance New Jersey’s leadership in AI and catalyze innovation in AI technologies, drive job growth and economic development across the region, promote rapid and responsible development of the field, and guide governments and public entities on AI implementation,” the press release states. “The establishment of this new initiative underscores the Murphy Administration’s commitment to supporting innovation and the technologies of the future in tandem with New Jersey’s world-renowned higher education institutions.” “Once again, New Jersey is pioneering cutting-edge technologies in lockstep with one of the world’s most prestigious universities,” Murphy says in a quote. “Indeed, there’s no better place in the nation to build a nexus for AI development than in the heart of New Jersey at Princeton University, which attracts the companies of the future with its robust innovation ecosystem and unparalleled combination of location and talent. As these industry leaders seek the next big breakthrough in AI technologies from their labs in Central Jersey, they will help generate economic activity and good-paying jobs in communities across our state.” “Princeton’s strategic framework recognizes the promise and societal implications of artificial intelligence — as well as the University’s ‘unique capacity’ to meet these challenges,” Eisgruber adds. “Working to establish this hub for AI will further our efforts in this important area, while strengthening the regional ecosystem of innovation and advancing Princeton’s teaching and research mission.” “The initiative will bring together AI researchers, industry leaders, start-up companies, and other collaborators to advance research and development, house dedicated accelerator space, advance the use of

ethical AI for positive societal impact, and promote workforce development to support new technology development, in collaboration with other New Jersey universities, community colleges, and vocational schools,” the release continues. “The initiative will also draw on New Jersey’s unique strengths in the health, sustainability, financial, and technology sectors, which have the opportunity to apply artificial intelligence technologies to advance innovative breakthroughs.” “Today’s announcement by Governor Murphy and Princeton University President Eisgruber is an historic declaration of New Jersey’s ambition to be a leader in shaping and harnessing the power of AI to drive innovation and long term job creation,” Tim Sullivan, the CEO of the NJEDA, says in a quote. “Governor Murphy has made recapturing New Jersey’s leadership position in innovation a centerpiece of his economic strategy, and with today’s great news on the heels of last week’s recommitment to New Jersey from Bell Labs, we are seeing proof positive that the Governor’s strategy is resonating with some of the most prominent institutions in the world.” On January 9, the NJEDA awarded an additional $250,000 for the AI hub through planning

funds from its Strategic Innovation Center initiative. According to the press release, Governor Murphy previously issued Executive Order No. 346 last October as part of his “commitment to make New Jersey a national leader in AI,” doing so by establishing an AI Task Force designed to study “emerging AI technologies” like “societal impacts” and make recommendations on the government’s role in ensuring ethical usage. “The Executive Order also announced a nation-leading initiative to educate New Jersey’s State workforce about the development, use, and risks of AI, and directed the Administration to evaluate tools and strategies to improve government services through artificial intelligence, as well as explore ways in which artificial intelligence can stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and be deployed by employers to enhance training and talent development, especially for low-income residents,” the document continues. Princeton University will host “a one-of-a-kind convening on AI” on Thursday, April 11, according to Eisgruber, where a group of “leaders from academia, industry, and government” will gather to engage in a productive discussion about “the most pressing AI issues of the day.”

NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan, left, Princeton Provost Jennifer Rexford, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber, Gov. Phil Murphy, and Beth Noveck, state Chief Innovation Officer. Photo by Denise Applewhite.

Deaths Harry Garrison, 82, on January 3. He worked for McGraw Hill for 38 years, retiring in 2000, and later opened and operated Colonial Valley Coins in Yardville until 2023. Alice Erdy on January 2. She retired from the State Department of Labor and Industry after 30 years of service. Gail Ruopp, 70, on January 2. She owned and operated Gail Ruopp, LLC, a consultant to law firms. Anna M. White, 84, on December 5. She retired from the Mercer County Improvement Authority. Madeleine Mansier, 83, on December 18. She began her career as a high school English teacher and later earned a law degree. She worked as a lawyer for the state of New Jersey in roles including section chief of the Federal Rights Litigation and Corrections Section, the Counsel Office of Governor Christine Todd Whitman, and chief

of staff for the Commissioner of Education. Gerry M. Zasowski Stults, 77, on December 22. She worked for the Mercer County Department of Social Services, the Mercer County Prosecutors Office, and the State of NJ Attorney General’s Office, as well as holding a part-time role with Arm & Hammer. Robert F. Gotwald, 80, on December 18. He spent 25 years as a product coordinator for RCA Aerospace in Hightstown and after retirement, opened a jewelry store, Worldwide Creations, in Hamilton, which closed in 2020. Yolanda Risoldi, 94, on December 15. With her husband, she was the co-owner and co-operator of the Villa Park Deli for 17 years. Alfred J. “Jim” Buchanan, III, 71, on December 15. He worked in the Computer Aided Drafting Design Unit of the state Department of Transportation, Division of Highway & Traffic Design, and retired after more than 43 years of service.

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