11-22 TD

TO THE EDITOR

Trenton Democrats call for rejection of elected school board question

The Trenton Democratic Committee unanimously adopted a resolution on October 19 to oppose a public question that the outgoing city council has placed on the November ballot that would make the Trenton school board an elected body.

Trenton had a disastrous experiment with an elected school board in the 1970s and early ‘80s,” recalled Democratic chairwoman Raissa Walker. “The elected school board arose out of racial divisiveness and it exacerbated ethnic divisions, and that’s why city voters by a large margin voted to put the elected board out of its misery little more than a dozen years later.”

“Trentonians don’t want to go back to a system that encourages polarization and paralysis,” she added.

“Trenton’s young people face many challenges in getting a quality educa-

tion, challenges that the appointed board works cooperatively to address,” Walker said. “The council people supporting an elected school board want to bring the same divisiveness and paralysis to the school board that they have brought to city council.”

Walker added that as Democratic committee members debated the referendum question, they noted the irony that the council members who had pushed to change the city’s nonpartisan local elections from May to November to “save money” on a separate election once every four years were the same ones who sponsored the referendum to have a school board election in April every year.

Pointing to the minuscule turnouts for spring school board elections throughout New Jersey, as there were in Trenton during the years it had an elected board, Walker concluded, “An elected school board in Trenton is a failed solution to a nonexistent problem. Trenton Democrats urge our fellow citizens to vote NO.”

STATE OF THE

State steps in to address Trenton Water Works issues

By BILL SanSeRVIno

Enough is finally enough with Trenton Water Works. The state Department of Environmental Protection is intervening in the daily operations of TWW, which has failed to address numerous problems in the provision of safe drinking water for many years.

The utility, which is owned and run by the city of Trenton, supplies approximately 29 million gallons of drinking water every day to more than 200,000 people — including all of Trenton and Ewing, and parts of Hamilton, Hopewell and Lawrence townships.

In 2020, the state attorney general and DEP filed a lawsuit against TWW — which was joined the municipalities served by the water utility — seeking to compel the City of Trenton and the water utility to take the necessary actions after failing to comply with Administrative Consent Orders to provide safe drinking water.

The takeover in TWW operations follows a months-long investigation by the DEP of conditions affecting the utility that

concluded that it continues to struggle to meet water safety regulations.

The DEP takeover also comes amidst reports that Legionella — the bacteria that causes the sometimes-deadly Legionnaires’ disease — has been detected in the water systems of homes throughout TWW’s service area.

In an announcement on Octobter 12, the governor’s office said that the state “will work with the city to enhance TWW’s technical and managerial capacity.” The goal is to improve the operations and maintenance of the utility.

“Under the leadership of the DEP and in coordination with the City of Trenton, we will work tirelessly to safeguard our residents and return water system quality to the level our communities deserve,” said Gov. Phil Murphy.

DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said that the state needs to invest more time, attention, and resources in struggling utilities like TWW. He added that the state will provide direct operational oversight to help TWW build the capacity necessary to better serve the public.

“Through this initiative, DEP and the city will more fully assess the system’s

See WATER WORKS, Page 4

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needs, meet its challenges, and ensure its long-term success for the benefit of the people of Trenton and the surrounding communities that this system serves,” the commissioner said.

The state said TWW is in need of sig nificant improvements to aging infrastruc ture, including its seven-acre, open-airreservoir that is in violation of a federal requirement that all outside reservoirs be covered.

The state takeover will be implemented in two-phases to be carried out concurrently.

The first phase is the immediate reten tion and deployment of a “capacity-build ing force” of managerial and technical ex perts who will focus on improving routine operations and maintenance, as well as immediate capital needs.

As part of this, TWW will allow the direct oversight and monitoring of the system by the DEP and its consultants — including a third-party adviser who will monitor and assess all system operations and maintenance. The state will also add necessary technical and managerial ca pacity to the system, and make technical, managerial and financial recommenda tions necessary to bring the system into full compliance with applicable law.

The second phase is a full-scale assess

ment and preparation of organizational and operational recommendations. This will result in a report of organizational and operational recommendations, as well as short- and long-term asset management and capital improvement recommenda tions.

“The DEP and the City will collaborate to ensure that the progress and outcomes of this initiative are open and transparent to the public,” said the state’s takeover an nouncement.

The state also said that as of Oct. 12, water quality sample results submitted to DEP by TWW reflected that the water system meets applicable water quality standards. “If TWW exceeds a regulatory standard for drinking water quality, or if DEP otherwise determines that an acute risk to public health exists, the public notification would be issued to all TWW customers.”

It seems that the catalyst for the takeover was a compliance report to Trenton on Septembers 27 that summarized the DEP’s observations and concerns after it conducted inspections of TWW facilities in late 2021 and early 2022. After that, the DEP continued to meet frequently with TWW representatives and provided sig nificant compliance assistance.

Although the 17-page report recog nized Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora’s ef

forts “to improve operating conditions and advance long-overdue capital improve ments,” DEP officials were “disturbed by the current city council’s continuing failures or refusals to authorize resolu tions necessary to advance critical capital improvements and ensure that ordinary maintenance and operations needs crucial to the protection of public health are met.”

The report states that TWW has “re peatedly failed to properly maintain criti cal treatment processes, monitor water quality as required by the U.S. Safe Water Drinking Act, employ adequately trained operating personnel, and invest in re quired maintenance and capital needs... Since 2012, the Department has identi fied at least 40 incidents, including 18 in the past 5 years, where TWW’s treatment plant was shut down for reasons including brownouts, treatment failures, and high turbidity in the Delaware River.”

The full compliance report can be found at dep.nj.gov/trentonwater along with oth er DEP documents related TWW compli ance issues.

Gusciora said he welcomes working with the DEP to resolve outstanding is sues and ensure safe drinking water. He said that he would announce a proposed plan to address the issues raised by the DEP “in the near future.”

The mayor has struggled since being elected in 2018 to right the ship at the util ity. Gusciora, as well as many state and lo

cal officials, have laid a large chunk of the blame at the feet of Trenton City Council, which has consistently failed to approve fi nancing for improvements and infrastruc ture projects.

“As we’ve dealt with City Council ob struction, we are resolute and determined in our efforts to build on the substantial progress we’ve made, fulfilling the prom ise I made to modernize the TWW system to ensure clean and safe drinking water for our customers and service-area residents for generations to come,” said Gusciora in response to the DEP’s takeover.

“If the Trenton City Council had done their job, we would not find ourselves in this position,” Gusciora recently said. “They voted down critical projects, in cluding decommissioning the reservoir, replacing water mains, lead remediation, heavy equipment, facility upgrades, chem ical purchases and debt service.”

In response to the compliance report, state, county and officials in municipalities served by TWW called for the state to step in and take over operations at TWW. It was a short time later that the DEP stepped in. Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes condemned the “irresponsibility and recklessness of the City Council for its egregious neglect of the water system, its disregard for the directives set forth by the NJDEP, and the injustices it has placed on communities of color and on all Tren ton Water Works customers.”

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Meet the Minds Behind Ongoing GFS Exhibits ‘Night Forms’ and ‘The Village Potter’

BY DAN AUBREY

Editor’s Note: Both Aubrey’s “GFS ‘Klips’ Dark Season with Bright Dreams” and “The Village Potter Opens for Business at GFS” ran in previous issues of U.S. 1, Community News Service’s Princeton metro area paper, on Jan. 5 and May 18, respectively.

The articles have been edited and updated for currency, as well as general clarity.

GFS Admission Prices: adults (ages 18+), $20; seniors (ages 65+), active military/veterans (ID required), healthcare workers (w/ ID), $15; students (ages 6-17 or w/ ID), $10; children (ages 5 and under), members, free. 609-586-0616 or groundsforsculpture.org.

Klip Collective’s Night Forms: Dream Loop and Infinite Wave

On a chilly evening last November, Klip Collective’s Ricardo Rivera came to the podium for the press unveiling of “Night Forms:dreamloop”atGroundsForSculpture. in Hamilton.

“We have just finished the installation, and I’m a bit beat up,” he said about testing the

12-station suite of dramatic lighting, video, and music commissioned by GFS.

After daylight turned to darkness, “Dreamloop,” an exhibit by Klip Collective, ran from Nov. 26, 2021, to April 3, 2022. Now, ‘Infinite Wave,’ the second, expanded iteration of the project, will take its place in the coming month.

When Rivera first introduced the project a year prior, he said that the group “used the space as a canvas.”

“The site specificality of our work drives what we do. The music and color are being driven by the sculpture. The conversation

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Ricardo Rivera is Klip Collective’s founder and creative director.

between the existing sculpture is para mount,” continued Rivera, whose other work has included a light and sound instal lation at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylva nia and Philadelphia’s City Hall.

Then, the group of reporters walked into the night—and into Rivera’s dreams.

“Klip Collective is just a production company,” Rivera said at the group’s stu dio in South Philadelphia’s Bok Building, a renovated industrial art school, a few weeks after the press event. “I’d like to call it adhocracy, which means we build our teams per project and pull the rest of the resources we can for the project.”

Rivera said while he is the creative force behind the company, it is supported by a core team comprised of his coordinat ing director and wife, Michelle, as well as a studio assistant, sound technician and producer.

“It’s like a movie studio,” he explained. “They don’t have cinematographers and directors with them every day.”

“The studio is a place for me to experi ment and develop products. It was estab lished in 2003. We’ve evolved since then,” Rivera said.

The 46-year-old father of two daughters grew up in Delaware. His Puerto Rico-born father ended a military career in Dover, worked for the state, and then the federal government. He credits his Thai mother with

in

created home

That fascination also took him to the Uni versity of Delaware. While he said it was not the place to learn to make films, he got involved with theater and worked in a stu dent-run production company where he taught himself how to use the equipment, launched a film festival and “started having my own art shows.”

Rivera said his curiosity began when he and his college roommates rented a space over a Chinese laundry that “held art par ties,” then hung out with the bands featured there.

“One of the musicians was an electronic music producer, and all these DJs were coming [to his studio]. He said he had a projector and asked if I wanted to show vid eos,” Rivera said, then added he brought out some mixes, having just finished his second film with original music.

The result was that Rivera learned that he was part of a new vanguard in the music scene—a video jockey or VJ. He was also invited to illuminate shows and events in Baltimore.

“I wanted to be a filmmaker and also wanted to make art,” he said. Rivera thought about attending New York University film school, but chose his own path when Kevin Smith, the New Jersey-raised director of

“Clerks” and “Chasing Amy,” advised him to not pay thousands of dollars to create a film no one is going to see. Instead, he suggested to use a ‘do-it-yourself’ type of approach. Rivera, gesturing to his three-room studio, said, “It all came from this weird ride—doing raves” and using video clips—the genesis of the company’s name (with a K added to steer people away from thinking of the term “clip art”).

“We honor where we came from,” he said. Rivera met his future wife at the University of Delaware and then settled in her hometown of Philadelphia. “I learned a lot all those years and developed an aesthetic and a vibe. My production soul was born,” Rivera shared. Eventually, that vibe started getting him work in advertising with credits for Nike and

‘Arch II, Set II’ by Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas returns in Night Forms’ ‘Infinite Wave.’

in

took a ceramics class.

said he was drawn initially to the practice because he could meet other stu dents and have a college experience, but without having to write too much. He also appreciated the tactility of the materials because it reminded him of something he saw in his community—physical labor.

Then, he found something more.

“When I started working in pottery, it felt so right, and it was the first time people gave me encouragement,” Lugo said in an interview earlier this year.

However, he said, there was also doubt. “I realized that there weren’t a lot of people I know who were artists, and none who were potters. It made me realize how few people could make a living from the [pot ter’s] wheel. I tried to make functional, pro duction pottery, but I kept asking why peo ple would buy these when [mass-produced

pottery works] were cheap.”

Then, Lugo came across an edition of art magazine ‘Ceramics Monthly’ that featured a graffitied pot on the cover.

“[The piece] had a shape I had never seen before and used the wheel in a dif ferent way. It made so much sense to me, and I felt [at] that moment that I could do that, that I had something to contribute,” he said, additionally with the hope of repre senting the people and artists he could not see in the studio.

With an imagination fired by the thought of a career firing ceramics, Lugo began seeking out opportunities, and he decided to go to Kansas City Arts Institute.

Lugo knew he needed a portfolio of work, and enough money, to be accepted. With his kiln, determination and a broken back, Lugo sold about “$10 or $15” pottery pieces.

Afterwards, he applied to Pennsylva

nia State University to work with Chris Daly, whom Lugo called a legendary pot ter, educator and mentor whose “whole life is art.” Also at Penn State was Shannon Goff, an “influential mentor as a teacher, and the first person who understood what I wanted to say with my work, understood the content.”

As part of a tribute, Lugo included both Daly and Goff in an exhibition section devoted to the artists who mentored him, as well as those he similarly helped guide. “I wanted to show [that] it takes a village to make an artist,” he said.

While at Penn State, where he received an MFA, he took a leap that launched him into a gallery and into the art world; estab lished California-based documentary pho tographer Richard Ross was on campus to discuss his work photographing incarcer ated youth for a book, as well as to critique student work.

Lugo said that at the time, his brother had been arrested back in Kensington, and that Ross was planning an exhibition in Philadelphia. He decided to talk to him and ask him to assess his street-inspired pottery.

“He was the first person who was actu ally interacting with people from the neigh borhood that I was from,” Lugo explained. Ross asked him to be in an exhibition, the Crane Arts Center’s 2013 “Juvenile in Jus tice” in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia. Through that experience, Lugo put his blend of traditional pottery, street design, and social commentary on the art map.

His other opportunities were as an artistin-residence at the Clay Studio in Philadel phia, an instructor at Marlboro College in Vermont and a current faculty member of

GFS, continued from Page 5

Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. He also had a series of exhibitions. The artist’s 2016 Philadelphia display, “Defacing Adver sity,” served as a glimpse into his work.

Regarding the title, Lugo said, “I grew up doing graffiti art. It was my first art form. I never took art classes before I did pottery. People often see graffiti as just vandalism and use the word ‘defacing,’ so I thought of different ways of defacing. I thought of defacing adversity; I had lots of experiences growing up with racism, so making art in spite of it was defacing over it—defacing it and negative things.”

Lugo’s 2018 piece in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American His tory and Culture, “Reckoning: Protest. Defi ance. Resilience” extended that idea further.

According to the museum materials, “Lugo reframes the traditional color, form, and repetitive imagery of ancient Greek kraters to focus on the issue of violence that dispro portionately affects people of color in eco nomically disadvantaged urban communi ties, including violence at the hands of law enforcement.”

Represented in the composition are depic tions of kneeling figures, police officers clad in riot gear and pointed guns.

When speaking about the themes and images, Lugo said that while he focuses on urban situations, his intent is broader.

“I want to clarify that my entire experience is not negative; it’s about celebrating people who contributed. A lot of my work is a cele bration and rooted in that. Even in situations where you find yourself with different people of color, they all have different experiences. Poverty and race are distinct.”

“I approach art from the place I know—hip hop culture,” he said. To make the point, Lugo explained his affinity for the Staten Island hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan.

“They took a combination of Kung Fu movies and hip hop and synthesized them together to give a unique sound. They gave the beauty of how you can fuse two cultures.”

“I’m referencing and making connections, but I’m not trying to own that culture as an identity; my work is trying to synthesize, combine,” Lugo emphasized.

When he pulls from his interest in Royal Porcelain tea cups, for example, he also pulls from his memory.

“Both of my parents are from Puerto Rico,” Lugo said. His father was a Pentecostal min ister and spray painter, and his mother was a school cafeteria worker turned registered nurse.

“Culturally, I’m from the Indigenous peo ple from Puerto Rico, [as well as] Portuguese and Spanish. It’s a huge part of what I paint and draw,” explained Lugo, who has two sons, Theodore and Otto, with artist wife Ashley.

He also draws on these experiences as both a spoken word artist and a lecturer — during his 2015 National Council on Educa tion for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) emerging culture presentation, Lugo addressed an audience of approximately 3,000 ceramic educators with the following line: “We’re a culture that can change the world.”

Lugo noted that having the opportunity to deliver that speech was “the most influential” aspect of his work thus far.

He also explained that it started him on a different career trajectory to focus on con necting with exhibiting venues where his ceramics would be seen as “visual art and design and allowed me to take on unique

projects — like working here [at GFS].”

The decision also seemed to support Lugo’s approach to creating.

“With my particular practice, most of my time is spent painting pots. I take twice as long to paint. Part of my aesthetic is to [paint] over things. It comes from my graffiti days. I just paint over [the work] until it makes sense, and all that layering gives a depth to the piece that I find appealing.”

Yet despite his success, Lugo said, “I ask myself, ‘Do I have the agency to make the work that I do?’ I ask myself, ‘Why do I have the opportunities I do?’ I think a lot of the challenges. Pottery lends itself to patience and a lot of detail—two things I’m not good at. People are looking for a refinement of craft, but I fail in a lot of those ways. My obsessions are different, [but] I’m working on it. It’s a lifetime commitment.”

Looking at the exhibition, Lugo appreci ates that he is exhibiting next to Trenton and mentioned the city’s history as a major world ceramics producer.

While he hoped that connection would stimulate interest, he also bet on something bigger.

“One of the great things about this exhi bition is the 20-foot-tall vase,” Lugo said. “Usually, I make a vignette on one. But people can walk into this vase and be the vignette in the pottery and become part of the artwork. Part of the art is having people interact with it. It becomes about people remembering the big pot, not the artist. I never had the opportunity to make a piece like this, bigger than human size.”

Lugo shared one final thought: “I really hope that this exhibition makes Black and Brown communities feel that there is art here that connects with them. I hope to be a bridge and make connections. Going into any space and gallery can be intimidat ing, but going into any space where there’s familiarity can be less so.”

Roberto Lugo: The Village Potter Wednesday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 pm.

Lugo, right, is pictured beside two of his original sculptures — a design featuring Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, left, and a 20-foot-tall interactive vase, center — on display at his Grounds for Sculpture exhibit, “The Village Potter,” which opened on May 22, 2022, and runs until January 8, 2023.

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Tips for Preventing Skin Cancer

by Darshan Vaidya, MD, FAAD

Skin cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in the United States with over 5 million new cases every year. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, about 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of 70. The majority of skin cancers are associated with ultraviolet radiation exposure (sunlight or tanning bed use), especially in those with blistering sunburns and early childhood/adolescent sun exposure. Ultraviolet radiation leads to DNA damage and mutations in skin cells, which causes them to multiply rapidly and form cancers. Most skin cancers are preventable with the daily use of sunscreen (preferably zinc oxidebased physical sunscreens) and sun protection/avoidance measures beginning in childhood.

The main types of skin cancer are 1) Basal cell carcinoma, 2) Squamous cell carcinoma, 3) Melanoma, and 4) Merkel cell carcinoma. These often occur in sun exposed areas like the scalp, face, neck, upper chest, back, arms, and hands. The back of the legs is a common site for melanoma in women who have a history of sunbathing. Skin cancers can have many different faces — they can look like pink or brown bumps, scaly patches, or nodules that are changing in size/shape/color, bleeding or nonhealing.

With regular visits to your boardcertified dermatologist, it is possible to diagnose skin cancer very early on. In-office treatments can be performed with very high cure rates. Many times, your dermatologist will provide treatment for precancerous lesions before they become malignant. Please make your appointment today for a full skin evaluation, especially if you are unsure of the last one you had!

What are some things you can do to help prevent skin cancer?

• Always use a broad spectrum sunscreen that covers UVA/UVB with an SPF of 30 or higher (zinc oxide based sunscreen is preferred). Reapply sunscreen every 1.5-2 hours when outdoors and always after water exposure (even if the sunscreen says “water resistant”). Did you know that most people don’t apply enough

basal cell carcinoma

sunscreen? Apply at least 1 ounce of sunscreen per application to attain the SPF listed on the bottle. Avoid sunscreen use in infants younger than 6 months due to increased systemic absorption in this age group. Sun protective clothing/sun avoidance measures are extremely important even if you have sunscreen on.

• Use sun protective clothing (widebrimmed hats, sunglasses, UV shirts, UV sleeves, etc), try to seek shade when possible, and avoid mid-day exposure between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Avoid getting a tan or a sunburn (naturally or with tanning beds)! Tanned skin is damaged skin and it increases your risk of skin cancer and wrinkles!

• Perform monthly self-skin exams looking for any new or changing spots (changing in size, shape, color, elevation, bleeding, non-healing). Any spots/moles/growths that are changing or concerning to you should be brought up with your boardcertified dermatologist. Remember, skin cancer does not have to be symptomatic! If you are not sure, make an appointment.

• Make an appointment with your board-certified dermatologist for regular skin screenings and to evaluate any abnormal lesions.

Aura Dermatology at Robbinsville, 17 Main Street, Suite 304, Robbinsville. 609-415-DERM (3376). www.auraderm.com. See ad, page 12

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Hamilton

Spine surgery gives Hamilton Township woman her life back

It was during an exercise class in 2017 that Lourenza Mejia of Hamilton Township noticed the first hint that something wasn’t right: a sensation she describes as a “shock” in her left leg. “It came from nowhere, would come and go, then stop,” she says. “I’d feel it for seconds, and that was it.”

Concerned, she consulted a doctor who had performed minimally invasive spine surgery on her husband, Juan Carlos Mejia, in 2009: Marc J. Levine, MD, Director of the Orthopedic Spine Surgery Program in the Orthopedic and Spine Institute at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) Hamilton and a member of RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group. An MRI revealed she had spondylolisthesis, a condition in which one bony vertebra of the spine slips forward in relation to the vertebra below it.

“The vertebrae are essentially rings stacked on top of each other with the spinal cord running down the middle,” Dr. Levine says. “When one ring moves forward, there’s less space in the middle where the nerves are.” That can pinch nerves in the spinal canal, causing a range of symptoms, including pain.

“In 2019, I started feeling tingling and numbness

in my two feet,” Mejia says. “I knew my main spinal nerve was being compressed.”

The value of surgery started to become clear. “At this point, I was more scared to become dependent than to go for surgery,” Mejia says. “Surgery offered a chance to have my life back.”

Mejia decided to proceed with surgery at RWJUH Hamilton both because the hospital was right in her own community and because her husband’s earlier spine surgery had turned out well.

“We used a relatively new minimally invasive procedure called an extreme lateral interbody fusion,” Dr. Levine says.

The procedure accesses the spine through small incisions in the side rather than through the back or front of the body. “This approach doesn’t disrupt major back muscles and avoids the often-painful long-term problems people can have with open procedures,” he says.

Dr. Levine placed a titanium implant in Mejia’s spine and blocked it in place with a plate and screws. Special imaging called fluoroscopic intraoperative imaging took continuous X-rays that provided the surgical team video-like views of the spine as they worked.

“The implant allows us to realign, fix and fuse the spine, which takes pressure off the nerve and prevents the deformity from worsening,” Dr. Levine says. “These minimally invasive procedures allow patients to recover much more quickly with less pain than they would with traditional open procedures. Many times, results can be dramatic

Marc J. Levin, MD

and truly surprise people.”

Mejia was among the amazed. “After three months, I went back to my workout classes. I’m so grateful to Dr. Levine. He’s our angel.”

For more information about state-of-theart orthopedic surgical treatments offered at RWJBarnabas Health, visit rwjbh.org/ortho.

To learn more about Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, visit rwjbh.org/ Hamilton or call 609-586-7900. See ad, page 13

AllCure Spine and Sports Medicine

Helping seniors find the right diagnosis and right treatment

AllCure Spine and Sports Medicine is a multidisciplinary family practice that has been in business for over 10 years. Over the past decade, the senior community has been a big portion of our patient demographic.

We hear many different complaints week to week, but one of the biggest complaints we see with our seniors is balance and gait dysfunction. As our bodies get older, degenerative changes take place, which can lead to a host of symptoms taking away from your quality of life. This can lead to loss of balance, decreased range of motion, decreased strength, trouble with gait mechanics, and much more.

Here at AllCure, we provide the proper imaging and testing to help us diagnose these common complaints before they become debilitating. We always say that a small problem will remain small if it’s treated early enough. We strive to get ahead of each patient’s chief complaints and provide a comprehensive plan of care.

One of the major issues seniors face is getting a proper diagnosis early enough to find effective treatments. In many cases we see that patients are given a prescription for medication that will only treat the symptoms, but not the root cause.

This will lead to worsening symptoms over time and keep patients from an active and independent lifestyle.

We pride ourselves in making tailored treatment plans to fit each patient’s individual needs and impairments. There is no one-size-fits-

all approach to healthcare and each patient should be treated with that mindset.

We strongly feel that a multidisciplinary approach is the best way to get patients the care they need and the relief they deserve in a safe, fast, and efficient manner. Our experienced team of providers consisting of chiropractors, physical therapists and acupuncturists collaborate on each case to get the patient the best plan possible to achieve their goals.

We do accept Medicare! We find that most of our Medicare patients don’t have to pay a dime out of their pocket, rather just commit the time and effort.

Please give us a call today and we would be happy to hold a free 10 minute consultation for you or a family member to make sure that you are comfortable and get the correct information to make an important decision for improving your health and quality of life. We look forward to hearing from you!

AllCure Spine & Sports Medicine, 140 Cabot Drive, Suite A, Hamilton. 609-528-4417. www. allcurespineandsports.com. See ad, back cover.

Brothers Anthony Alfieri, DC, left, and Victor Alfieri, DPT.

When joint surgery affects more than just you, closer is better. Do it right. Here.

Before you decide where to have knee surgery, you also have to think about the recovery process that comes after. The less time you spend traveling, the more time you can spend healing. At Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, you’ll find nationally recognized care from our comprehensive team of specialists close to home. Backed by leadingedge technology such as MAKO robot-assisted surgery, we’ll get you moving again, quickly and with less pain. Visit rwjbh.org/ortho to learn more.

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To book a classified ad in this section, please email your text and any other information to mdurelli@communitynews.org. Classifieds run at 75 cents per word with a $20 minimum per month. For more information, call 609-396-1511, ext. 105.

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Memoriam for an artist

Editor’s note: Trenton educator Deena Jiles Shu’aib submitted the following to commemorate the life and art of her late mother:

Nora Deene Jiles was born on March 17, 1948, in Columbus, Indiana. From a very young age, she always adored artistic expression. Her love of color and light is evident in everything she created. A self-taught artist, she endured many tragedies that would define her expression and outlook.

In 1967 Nora was diagnosed with a rare thyroid tumor and given a choice between saving the life of her child or potentially dying. She chose the life of her child, and this choice would change the trajectory of her path and reshape her future. Nora spent more than a year recover ing, lying in her hospital bed unable to speak. She was given a paint by numbers art set. That was the catalyst she needed to ignite her passion. Over the years, Nora honed and developed her skills as an artist. Crafting her work through books from the library and watching Bob Ross on PBS, she worked to find her voice. Scenes of nature reinforced the complexity of the cycle of life and death. Watching the leaves fade in the Fall only to be reborn in the Spring touched Nora and is evident in her work. The gift of life and fortune to wake up and breath day after day is something she tried not to take for granted.

The compilation of her work has been posthumously titled Seasons of Life. Her use of color and lines bring her landscapes to life in a way that is sure to inspire and uplift the viewer.

Sadly, we lost Nora on May 25, 2022, but through her art she will live forever.

Spotlight 0n Trenton poetry

Poet and playwright Todd Evans’ monthly Open Mic Readings at Classic Books in downtown Trenton pro vide area poets the opportunity to create, share, test, and refine their work.

The project is set for the first Saturday of the month and compliments the Trenton-born Evans’ other effort of love: the Freedom Friday Spoken Word and Open Mic Series set for the last Friday of the month at the Trenton City Museum.

At a recent outdoor session at Classic Books, writer and former Times of Trenton compositor Barry Gross presented the following poem based on a theme that the group has been exploring.

Trenton

I am crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day surprising those big, bad Hessians.

I am the largest un-dammed river east of the Mississippi.

I am shad and herring and stripers and sturgeon fighting the current north, through tidewater making way to Eller slie Museum in Cadwalader Park and east to Art All Night at Roebling Steel Wire Works and swimming in my parents’ and grandparents’ stories of “remember the Jews of Cooper Street,” now swallowed by government housing and I am waiting at the rehabbed train hub to Philly and New York in the shadow of tony Einstein Princeton.

I am William Trent, waiting at my house to scoop up the flotsam and jetsam from unsuccessful ventures along the Delaware. Thanks for naming the town after me.

Trenton, I shop at the Spruce Street Farmers Market

Clockwise from above, a painting by the late Nora Jiles, Barry Gross reading at Classics Books, and Jess Fields’ ‘Modern Day Madonna’ from Bold Will Hold.

and Halo Farms and the Roebling Super Market.

Trenton, I explored the abandoned Cooper Iron Works that melted metal for rifles before it was Katmandu or Rho, fished off the pier, in the shadow of the PA/NJ rail road bridge, before it was fixed and then collapsed after it was fixed, not accounting for stress abilities of 100 year old beams and pilings, catching 3, 4, 5 herrings at a time on gold hooks, filling spackle buckets, selling half and using the other half in the garden, tomatoes love bones, and Granma Salway, in last class of old, old Trenton high 1931 and great Aunt Ann’s first class of old, new Trenton high 1932, which was leveled last year to be replaced with a new, new Trenton High, walking by the State House with plywood boards over windows while Christie closes down govern ment and takes some time to work on his tan.

Trenton, I am standing at your open mic in Classics, a used book store, on Lafayette Street just a stones throw, if you have a good arm, from the barracks built during the French and Indian War because colonists were tired of housing soldiers.

Trenton, there’s no escaping your history unless we choose to not remember.

Classic Books is located at 4 West Lafayette Street. The Trenton City Museum is in Trenton’s Cadwalader Park. 609 346-4329

‘Bold Will Hold’ opens at Artworks

‘Bold Will Hold” is the tattoo-inspired exhibition on view at Artworks Trenton through November 19.

Curated through the coordinators of the Trenton Punk Rock Flea market, the exhibition features roughly two dozen artists who approach the concept from various angles and media.

As organizers note in their promotional materials, “For thousands of years, tattoos and the artists that create them have utilized their human canvases to tell tales of survival and the hunt, love lost, life at sea, and the weary road traveler, but in recent years the art form, and the massive growth of artists behind it, have become ac cepted as part of the cultural mainstream. What was once frowned upon as something relegated to sailors, bluecollar workers, and the downtrodden has now become a widely sought-after form of art.”

The Artworks exhibition uses the current interest in

tattooing as the attraction and leaves the viewer to draw the lines that connect what appears to be original designs to photographs to works of art based on tattoo images or inspired by them.

The larger and bolder in color works obviously grab the eye. That includes two intricate paintings of swirling designs by Addison Vincent (who also serves as Art works artistic director), a set of Timothy David photo graphs that mainly celebrate the outsider allure of tattoo culture, two intensely patterned images by Robbinsville artist Alia Benslimane, two glowingly colorful works — with one seemingly evocative of early 20th century de signs — by Toms River tattoo artist Ted Wallen, and the very appropriate heart image by Trenton/Hamilton tat too artist Carley Granger (who will be tattooing live dur ing the November 4 opening from 6 to 9 p.m.

Tattoo aficionados, for whom the exhibition seems to be more aimed, and those willing to linger also will find rewards in the smaller and initially less eye filling works. Among them are Jess Fields’ “Modern Day Madonna,” a watercolor portrait of a young woman sporting tat toos; and Alex Flannery’s “Capital City Flash,” wit-laced screen print survey of Trenton icons, including a wander ing pork roll tube;.

Bold Will Hold, Artworks Trenton, 18 Everett Alley, Trenton. Opens Friday, November 4, 6 to 9 p.m., and remains on view through November 19, Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free. 609-3949436 or www.artworkstrenton.org

Downtown photographer makes capital connections

By SuSan Van Dongen

Ata time when humanity is mov ing way too fast, photographer Heather Palecek’s favorite cre ative method embraces the opposite, uti lizing the slow passage of time, capturing the sun as it crosses the sky.

She creates images using hand-made pinhole cameras, a technique that goes back to the very beginnings of photogra phy. The exposures take weeks, months, sometimes even a year or more, and the results are enchanting and somewhat surreal.

“(I’m attracted to) pinhole photogra phy because it’s slow, immersive, experi mental, and doesn’t require you to carry around a bag full of heavy lenses and equipment,” Palecek says. “Once I got started I never stopped.”

“My solargraphs are out for multiple months, even years,” says Palecek, who grew up in Sussex County and currently lives in Ewing. “I use an old tin (contain er), like an Altoids box, something small and metal, and I drill a hole into it, and add a little aluminum lens to the front. I have hundreds of them out, all over the world, in all the local parks, sometimes on bridges.”

eras when traveling, which gives her the perfect excuse for returning to the locale to retrieve the devices.

“Right now, I have one in Madrid, which I accidentally forgot, so I have to travel back there. Sometimes my friends

can (collect) them and send them back to me,” she says. “Even if I’m just stay ing a weekend, I do normally leave them at the place I’m visiting. I call it ‘solar journaling,’ to capture the sun in the sky through my vacation as a memory.”

A handful of her solargraphs are on view through Monday, January 9, 2023, in the exhibit titled “Capital Connections,” at the Gallery at Mercer County Commu nity College in West Windsor. (Opening reception, Wednesday, November 9.)

In addition to her involvement with the exhibit, Palecek — and Trentonbased photographer Habiyb Shu’Aib — curate and moderate Twosday Talks, a monthly artist talk at the JKC Gallery, on the James Kerney Campus of MCCC in Trenton. Hosted by Michael Chovan-Dal ton, director of the JKC Gallery, the talks were started by Palecek and Shu’Aib as a platform for local artists to showcase their work to the Trenton and larger regional community. The event quickly reached an audience from New York to Philadelphia, other states around the U.S., and even abroad. Twosday Talks are both in-person and virtual, and the next event is Tuesday, November 8, with guests Jackie Neale and Melvin Evans.

“The first one, in February 2020, was phenomenal, 30 people came,” Palecek says. “But then, in March 2020, the pan demic cancelled everything. By Septem ber 2020, we accustomed ourselves to Zoom, and relaunched the event. This way we could get artists from all over the country and world.”

The talks have maintained their global audience, with a regular participant from Finland checking in, as well as partici pants from France and Switzerland.

As for the guests, Palecek and Shu’Aib try to present two artists who are very different from one another in style and subject matter, for example one digital and one analog, or a documentarian and a more conceptual or fine art photogra pher.

As if creating, exhibiting, and moder ating the Twosday Talks isn’t enough activity, Palecek is in business as a por trait and “small event” photographer, and she has a full time job as a photography teacher at Montgomery High School in Skillman.

“Yep, I’m busy,” she says.

Palecek cherishes working with high school-age students, and in fact, at age 16, decided she wanted to pursue this very career.

“In high school, I took my first photog raphy class and it changed my life forev er,” she writes via e-mail. “I was always very interested in science and math as well as the arts. When I started learning about SLR cameras in class and develop ing my film and prints in the darkroom, I absolutely fell in love with the subject be cause it combined my love of art, math, and science in a deep way.”

“I decided during that year of school (at age 16) that I was going to pursue photography forever and that when I ‘grew up’ I wanted to be a high school photography teacher,” Palecek writes.

In an age where every teenager has a smartphone with the ability to instantly create images digitally, Palecek carefully instructs her charges in film photogra phy and darkroom technology.

“The darkroom is something they’ve never seen before, and I really love giv ing them that experience,” she says. “They keep me inspired, and keep me enthused.”

“They’re 16 and 17-year-olds and their entire life has been digital, but for the first time, they’re making something with their hands, understanding how the cam era works,” she adds. “They have to think more to make sure the images come out right — it’s not just pressing a button.”

The experience of seeing an image arise from the chemical bath and come into focus is an “aha moment” for the stu dents — there’s just something mysteri ous about it.

“I tell my students, there isn’t a profes sional photographer who doesn’t remem ber the first time they saw their image come up in the darkroom,” Palecek says.

Perhaps because of her childhood in the mountains of Sussex County, Palecek has a strong connection to nature, and this passion is revealed in her work.

“Since I was a child, I’ve always felt a strong spiritual connection with Mother Nature, so that just naturally flows into my artwork as I create,” she says. “Most

Photographer Heather Palecek’s ‘solargraphs’ are on view as part of the ‘Capital Connections’ exhibit at the Gallery at Mercer County Community College.

of my artwork is about humans’ relation ship to Mother Nature, and I explore that theme in a variety of ways with a mul titude of mediums. I’ve made artwork about my kinship with trees and another project about my spiritual connection to Mother Nature during difficult or chaotic times.”

“I have bodies of work about human contribution to climate change, using both compost and single use plastics for the different works,” Palecek says. “I’ve experimented with ways in which I can collaborate with Mother Nature to create my artwork instead of solely making art work about Her.”

For example, this summer she was working on a pinhole photography proj ect in which she used foraged items to create her apertures, such as caterpil lar bitten leaves. “Sticky and Stained,” an image exhibited at a recent show in Vermont (titled “Squash ‘Em!”), used spotted lantern flies as subject matter, “to create lumen prints and unique silver gelatin prints that inform viewers about the destruction that they cause in our for ests and explain what we as a community can do to stop the spread of the insect,” she says.

Palecek’s father was a general contrac tor and home builder, and a skilled wood worker. Young Heather also pursued woodworking and for many years used her father’s scroll saw to make figurines, which she would later paint with the art supplies she bought at her mother’s fam ily’s Ben Franklin Five and Dime store.

“That’s where I purchased many of my craft projects and got interested in a vari ety of mediums,” she says.

She graduated from Montclair State

University in 2008, where she earned a degree in fine arts education with a concentration in photography. Palecek’s significant other is Joshua David Duke man, a talented woodworker and owner of Exile Woodworking, specializing in furniture design and building.

Aside from the images on view at MCCC, Palecek has four photographs on exhibit at the Halide Project in Philadel phia, as part of the Lux et Libera show, and you can see about a dozen of her cyanotypes on the walls at Well Design in Mendham.

She’ll also be curating an exhibit at the Trenton City Museum in December, fea turing sustainable artists who upcycled materials as their medium, tools, sub strate, or frame.

Palecek can’t really nail down any ar tistic or photographic influences, partly because she’s never seen anyone do the kind of work she’s doing.

“I draw my inspiration from personal experience,” she says. “Of course there’s a real connection with nature, inspiration from just exploring the natural world, but I’m also inspired to keep pushing forward and experimenting from a community of artists both in Trenton and online.”

“I gather new concepts from experi menting with new processes,” she contin ues. “I’m always in the darkroom, finding new ways to do things — I approach it as a science. There are so many processes I’m interested in.”

Pinhole photography is at the very heart of Palecek’s creative life, and the slow, meditative process even informs her way of being. She came to it after years of doing only digital photography, and had realized she felt like something

was missing.

“I was craving the tactile, hands-on approach to image-making that can be found in the analog photography process I grew up with,” she says. “As I contin ued to pursue the medium, I discovered that I liked photographing with my tin can cameras more than any other camera because of the aesthetic quality of the images and the fact that when I’m photo graphing with a pinhole camera, the cam era is not in front of my face as a barrier between myself and my surroundings.”

“This approach became a lifestyle choice as I began to learn to meditate and slow down in my personal life,” Pal ecek says. “I love being able to be more present during my long exposures and experience what’s happening in front of me at the same time as my camera sitting next to me.”

Heather Palecek’s works are part of the group show “Capital Connections,” at the Gallery at Mercer County Com

From left, Heather Palecek’s ‘Riverview Cemetery,’ ‘Montgomery Street,’ and ‘Sticky and Stained,’ which used spotted lanternflies as a subject matter for an insect-themed show in Vermont.

munity College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, through Monday, January 9, 2023. Opening reception, Wednesday, November 9. 609-570-3589. www.mccc. edu/community_gallery.shtml

Twosday Talks, moderated by Palecek and Habiyb Shu’Aib at the JKC Gallery, on the James Kerney Campus of MCCC, Trenton Hall, 137 North Broad Street, Trenton, continue on Tuesday Novem ber 8, 6:30 p.m., with guests Jackie Neale and Melvin Evans. Free. www.mccc. edu/community_gallery_jkc.shtml

Palecek is on the web at www.heath erpalecek.com