ECHO
PRINCETON JULY 2020 COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
BLACK LIVES MATTER
page 6
INSIDE:
ELECTION page 4
What’s the biggest issue facing Princeton? Candidates for municipal office tell us.
RILEY SAGER page 8
The best-selling author and Princeton resident discusses his latest novel. Page 9
AROUND TOWN continue to provide breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday. Send Hunger Packing Princeton will provide children with a bag of fresh produce once a week for their families. School district bus Princeton University’s Campus drivers will deliver the meals using front Dining, Office of Community and porch drops and distribution sites. Regional Affairs and John H. Pace, Jr. ’39 Center for Civic Engagement have Police chief announces established the Summer Food and Nutrition Program in order to provide Oct. 1 retirement meals for at-risk families, children and individuals. The initiative includes colPrinceton Chief of Police Nicholas laborations with the Princeton Public K. Sutter announced June 22 that he Schools and three area nonprofits— intends to retire, as of Oct. 1. Princeton Public Schools, HomeFront, Sutter, 49, was promoted to chief in the Rescue Mission of Trenton and April 2014. He began with Princeton Meals on Wheels of Mercer County. Borough Police in 1995, and served as The Summer Food and Nutrition acting chief for a year, beginning with Program will run for six weeks, from the departure of David Dudek from July 7 through Aug. 16. The program the chief’s position in February 2013. will offer continuity of employment, Among his career highlights are headincluding health benefits, to Campus ing the department during consolidaDining employees who normally work tion efforts between the borough and for nine months a year. The team will township in 2013. prepare and package approximately He said, in a statement, that the deci9,500 meals each week to be distrib- sion to retire comes after months of uted to about 2,000 people in sur- discussions with his family. He called rounding communities. serving as chief “the culmination of a The Princeton Public School district life-long dream.” has 500 students on its free/reduced price lunch program. As part of the WHAT DID WE MISS? What are you Summer Food and Nutrition Program, noticing in your community? What Campus Dining will prepare and pack- stories do you think we should tell? Do age three meals per week for each fam- you have news to share? We want to ily, as well as breakfast and lunch on hear from you. Send your news or tips the weekend. The school district will to news@communitynews.org.
University program to provide meals to children throughout the summer
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2Princeton Echo | July 2020
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Local markets see pandemic adaptations staying for the long haul By Joe Emanski
On the morning of March 21, Whole Earth Center had no online ordering system that customers could use to purchase items from the store. What need was there? The independent natural foods grocery store had served the town of Princeton for 50 years without ever having to provide a digital shop-fromhome option for its customers. Just 10 days later—which is to say, 10 days after Gov. Phil Murphy’s ordered New Jersey’s nonessential businesses to close and residents to shelter at home because of the coronavirus pandemic—Whole Earth Center’s online store went live. Customers could order everything they needed from WEC from the comfort of their kitchen tables, then wait for word that store staff had prepared their orders for pickup. That rapid implementation is just one example of the ways the food industry came through for consumers in a turbulent, unprecedented situation. Most people know the story of how grocery stores were blitzed in the early days of the coronavirus lockdown, when panic buyers crowded into stores to empty the shelves of everything from toilet paper and disinfectants to chicken breasts and spaghetti. As essential businesses, grocery stores and farm stores stayed open, taking in revenue when other service economy businesses were forced to close. The pandemic presented stores like Whole Earth Center, as well as farms like Terhune Orchards in Lawrence, with entirely different challenges from the ones other businesses faced. Supply chains broke down as anxious shoppers depleted store shelves. Technological solutions proved inadequate. Stores had to be sanitized repeatedly and reconfigured to accommodate social distancing protocols. Many people chose to stay home, rather than risk exposure to the virus by going out. Yet they still needed food. To provide uninterrupted service for their customers, stores had to come up with all new ways of marketing, selling, and packaging their goods. They had the added responsibility of keeping both staff and their customers safe— and do it quickly, all while operating in stressful conditions every day. And they have innovated and adapted. They have found new supply chains while strengthening old ones. They have improved their online ordering systems (or in the case of Whole Earth Center, taken a whole new system from 0 to 100 in under two weeks). They have established and refined new pickup and delivery services. And, perhaps most importantly, they have pulled together, management and staff, to come through for their customers at a time when we were depending on them most. All so that now, with the economy rebounding to at least some extent, they can think about coming through this dark patch with new systems, new business relationships, new
Terhune Orchards may be best known for its festivals, but it has adapted to demand during the pandemic by offering online ordering, delivery and no-contact pickup.
customers and new and better ways to serve those customers. *** Whole Earth Center general manager Jennifer Murray says the store was extremely busy in March, when customers stocked up on nonperishable food items. As a result of the rush, WEC experienced a lot of unpredictability in their supply chain. Wholesalers struggled to keep up with the increased demand for shelfstable foods. Initially, there were difficulties procuring some packaged goods. Suppliers have informed the store that they can still expect to see long-term disruptions in the supply chain, especially on items whose ingredients continue to be difficult to source. But Murray says she and her staff work hard to find suitable substitutions wherever possible. As late as mid-May, Murray remained concerned about the shortage of available local processors, especially for meat. Farms had animals that were ready to be processed and packaged, but butcher shops were at capacity, which put tremendous strain on farmers and stores to figure out how to get their products to market. However, she says that as of June, local suppliers have been doing a great job fulfilling orders, and the backlog at meat processing plants seems to have eased for now. Even now, WEC is having some trouble procuring meat from national brands. But Murray says the local brands have been able to provide enough product to fill the gap. “Fortunately, we have always focused on local farms and smaller brands for our dairy, meat, and produce, and those relationships have been very helpful in keeping us supplied in those departments,” Murray says. “Now that we have more produce coming in from local farms, the deli and our produce department will increase their local offerings, which is one way in which we are different from large grocery stores.” *** Terhune Orchards may be known for its apple orchards and fall harvest festivals, but the Mount family sells
tem that is a little bit different than our gift box and gift basket system.” Demand was so high for the farmto-door service in the early days of the pandemic that Terhune could only promise a 48-hour turnaround on orders. Now that things have calmed down a bit, they are able to provide same-day service. She envisions farm-to-door remaining a part of Terhune operations even after the pandemic is over. “People are busy,” she says. “You know, I’m a mom with three kids. If I can get something delivered to my house, I would much rather do that so I know where my food is coming from, I know my farmer and I can support local businesses.” While Terhune’s farm store business has been strong, it hasn’t all been positive for the farm, which normally attracts thousands of visitors throughout the year with special events. They have been unable to host any all spring and summer, and for that matter, have no real idea when they will be able to host them again. “Terhune’s always been a community center,” Mount says. “Lots of things are different right now. But we have to move forward. We might not be having a big festival with lots of people here, but we are still busy in the fields, growing the vegetables and doing the things we need to do to provide the community with healthy local food.” *** Throughout the industry it quickly became clear in March that online ordering, as well as pickup and delivery services, if available, would help stores weather the coronavirus storm. Large supermarket chains had online ordering systems in place that could be scaled to accommodate a surge in demand for those services. But Whole Earth Center didn’t, a fact that had to change, and change quickly. Now that it is done, though, she says Whole Earth Center is pleased to be able to offer the option to customers. Online orders today accounted for around 15% of all business at the store through May, and while demand dropped some in June, still 1 out of every 10 customers was ordering groceries online, Murray says. Overall, Murray says she was amazed by and grateful to her staff members for the way they overcame the initial fear and confusion of the pandemic, and adapted to an ever-evolving situation. But she says the pandemic has also laid bare some uncomfortable truths about the world food supply chain. “This moment has made very clear that our food system is fragile and in need of some serious rethinking,” Murray says. “Fortunately, thanks to the work of so many over the past decades to build a local food movement, our local farms and small-scale processors have been able to step up in a big way to get food to people.”
fresh produce and dairy and meat products year round at their farm store on Cold Soil Road. They also stock other artisanal items like jams, honey, maple syrup and pickled vegetables, plus their own line of New Jersey wines. “We did have a huge surge for the first couple of months,” says Terhune’s Tannwen Mount. “We were working round the clock to fill orders and keep up with demand. We do try to work with our local food chain, and I think that helped in the crunch.” What isn’t grown or raised on the farm is usually sourced from a network of suppliers the Mount family has developed over the last 45 years—many of them operating within a 50-mile radius of the farm. Even so, Mount says the supply chain threatened to break down when all suppliers had to gear up extremely quickly. Many people continued to shop during the lockdown, but many were unwilling to go into crowded stores, particularly older people and those at high risk of complications from COVID-19. At first, Terhune set things up so that customers who did not want to shop in person could call in orders, then go to the farm for no-contact pickup. It wasn’t long before they launched their Farm to Door program to take things a step further: for a $10 fee, customers who live within a 10-mile radius of the farm could call in their orders and have them delivered directly to their homes. Terhune did have an online ordering system in place, but it had been designed to market gift boxes and baskets. “We did not have an online farm store component, so we very quickly used that same platform and added the whole farm store in four, five days,” Mount says. Now Terhune is in the process of switching to a different system that can better serve the business and its customers. “The existing system that we had is not as user-friendly as we would have liked for our hundreds of items,” Mount says. “We are delivering, people are picking up orders at four different farmers Contact JOE EMANSKI: jemanski@commumarkets where we are. So we need a sys- nitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, ext. 120.
July 2020 | Princeton Echo3
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The mayor’s office and two seats on Princeton council appear on the ballot during this year’s delayed primary election. The primary will take place mostly via mail-in ballot. All registered voters should have received either a ballot or instructions on how to declare a party in order to receive a ballot—in New Jersey, only registered Democrats and Republicans may vote in their respective party’s primary. The Mercer County Clerk’s Office began mailing ballots to voters in midJune. All completed ballots must be postmarked July 7 or sooner in order to be counted. There are no Republican candidates for municipal office in Princeton, meaning the winners of the Democratic primary most likely will have an obstacle-free path to office come November’s general election. This is especially true for Mark Freda, who is also running unopposed in the mayoral primary. Freda—barring an unforeseen circumstance— will receive a four-year term as mayor, and replace Liz Lempert once her term expires at the end of 2020. Lem-
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pert has served as mayor of consolidated Princeton since 2012; she is the first person to hold that office. Freda served on Princeton Borough council from 1986 until 1999, and was Princeton’s first director of emergency services. He is an active member of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, having served on its executive board in 2018 and 2019. A lifelong Princeton resident, Freda is a 40-year veteran of the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad and of the Princeton Fire Department. He is the current president of PFARS, and previously served as fire chief. There’s slightly more competition in the council race, where there are three candidates for two three-year terms. The candidates are David Cohen, Leticia Fraga and Dina Shaw. Both Cohen and Fraga are in their first terms on council. The Princeton Community Democratic Organization endorsed the incumbents in March. This is Shaw’s first run for political office. David Cohen currently serves as Princeton council president. Cohen received his bachelor’s in social studies from Harvard College and a master’s in architecture from the University of Virginia. Cohen worked for local firms prior to starting his own architecture practice in 2002. He has volunteered in the community, serving on the board of his synagogue and of an area non-profit, Homesharing, in Somerset County, as well as working with the Eastern Service Workers Association in Trenton. Cohen’s wife of 38 years, Liz, is a community leader. They have three grown children. Leticia Fraga is the first Latinx person ever to hold elected office in Princeton. She currently serves as police commissioner, and is council liaison to the Civil Rights Commission, the Human Services Commission, the Youth Advisory Committee, and the Board of Health. Born in Mexicali, Mexico, Fraga immigrated to the United States at age 12. She is the former chair of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund and a
former member of the board of the Princeton YWCA, Princeton Community Housing, and the Princeton ‘Send Hunger Packing’ Initiative. Dina Shaw has lived in Princeton for 17 years. Shaw ran two businesses, including one she built with her husband—a packaging technology company that was sold to a multinational company. She was president or copresident of two PTOs: Littlebrook and JW Middle School. She serves on Princeton Council’s Economic Development Committee, Friends of the Princeton Public Library, Mercer County Moms Demand Action, The Jewish Center and the Princeton Community Democratic Organization. The Princeton Echo asked the candidates, “What is the most pressing issue facing Princeton? How would you solve it?” They were allowed one week to write a response, with a limit of 300 words. Their statements follow:
David Cohen I think the most pressing issue facing Princeton in this election is managing growth. The State Court’s timetable for implementing our Affordable Housing obligation mandates rapid growth. As a member of Council’s negotiating team, I am proud of the job we did finding the sweet spot balancing taxpayer expense, creation of new affordable and middle-class housing options, and impact on our schools. Now we need to oversee the resulting growth in just five short years. Over 700 new housing units, both affordable and market-rate will be built in this time frame. All the while, Princeton University and our other major institutions in town continue to thrive and grow, and the changing nature of commercial activity shifting to online retail and telecommuting puts pressure on our tax base and will change the face of our business districts. This pace of change will challenge our planning capacity. It will impact all aspects of municipal government—our efforts to reduce and prepare for climate change, our transportation system and infrastructure,
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our ability to ensure equity for all our residents, and our budget. The uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and how life will change as we come out of this difficult period creates even greater need for experienced hands on deck managing the transition. We need representatives on the governing body who understand the complexities of all these issues, who have a handle on how we got where we are today and how to get to where we want to be. Smart Growth can help us build a thriving local economy, embrace a sustainable future, and preserve the socio-economic, racial, and generational diversity that have been a hallmark of Princeton in the past. I ask for your vote so I can continue to help guide that process.
with colleagues and community partners on strategies to ensure that both our residents and business community can recover from the pandemic’s economic devastation. The tragic events of the last few weeks have once again shined a spotlight on centuries of abuse and mistrust nationwide. As the liaison to Public Safety and designated Police Commissioner for Princeton, I have worked closely with our Chief of Police and other members of our Public Safety Committee to ensure we are continuously fostering a culture of trust and respect. If re-elected, I will continue to work on seeking community-driven solutions that uphold our shared values, with a focus on equity, affordability, prosperity and inclusion.
these new economic times will be critical. This effort should also include a commitment to establish free WiFi throughout our community as our businesses have pivoted to more online options so that they can serve their customers more easily. All students will also benefit by town-wide WiFi by being able to access online school.
more than 300 words to address individually. But again, a common underlying theme in my discussions on all these topics comes back to communication. How do we communicate, do we encourage enough diverse perspectives on most topics, are we willing to have difficult conversations in public, do our residents feel welcome to express their thoughts with elected officials, do we provide direct answers to questions, do we follow-up as promised when we need to research a question. As mayor I will welcome respectful, open and honest dialogue. We will not all agree on every issue, and that is OK. But we all need to hear each other’s perspectives. I will listen to your information or suggestions offered on our different issues. I will give direct answers to questions. I will share what I know and find out what I don’t. I will embrace public discussion; but I will also push for decisions. And I will push for implementation of those decisions in a timely manner.
Leticia Fraga When I first ran for council, I saw affordability, inclusiveness, and quality of life as issues that I wanted to focus on if elected. During my two and a half years on council, I have worked on moving forward initiatives to address those issues. Our current health and economic crisis highlights urgent needs that we must focus on in the coming years. The pandemic has also highlighted for many of us just how woefully underfunded our Health and Human Services Departments are. I want to work on strengthening and expanding the services we offer that help meet the most basic needs and improve quality of life for all who call Princeton home—this should include expanding the preventative health services now provided through our Health Department’s Well Baby Clinic to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all uninsured or underinsured members of our community. In addition to the financial hardship that many of our residents are experiencing, our business community is also being hit hard. As a member of Princeton’s Economic Development Committee, I have worked with other members on strategies, policies, and improvements for a more vibrant business district. Post-pandemic, I started working
Dina Shaw The most important issue facing Princeton will be the rebuilding the economic vitality of our town after the pandemic. Our merchants were struggling prior to the pandemic, and now, after being closed for months, our local businesses need help to survive. We can begin by creating an economic development plan that includes all businesses throughout Princeton. This would include creating an economic development office within the municipal government. Main Street USA has a base plan for this type of function and we could use their model as a roadmap. This office would highlight the great parts of our town in a coordinated effort to advocate, market and grow all small businesses while at the same time promoting Princeton to attract new businesses. This would be done with a dynamic board of community leaders, small businesses and landlords to create a long term plan for Princeton. This new entity would organize events, arrange support for website development, navigate the process of opening a business, and have a goal of having a 50/50 partnership with the municipality. Rebuilding our economic base will provide much needed jobs. Taken in conjunction with the new affordable housing coming to Princeton within the next five years, a plan of how our community will live and expand in
Mark Freda The top issue to me is communication. It is a common theme in so many of the one-on-one discussions and the group calls I have had with Princeton residents these last few months. There are many important issues. Discrimination, racism, the challenges facing many of Princeton’s immigrant residents, affordable housing, housing for working class residents/families, transportation safety and overall planning (buses/ bicycles/cars/ walking), economic development, the town’s relationships with Princeton University/Mercer County/the School Board, stainability, our climate action plan, COVID-19’s continuing impacts, our municipal budget, taxes. Each of these issues would take many
Contact editor ROB ANTHES: ranthes@ communitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, ext. 124, facebook.com/robanthes, twitter.com/ robanthes.
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Princeton government aims for change
People from across the region gather on Nassau Street in Princeton June 2, 2020 for the Coalition for Peace Action’s Kneeling for Justice protest, in honor of the life of George Floyd. (Photos by Suzette J. Lucas.) By Sam Sciarrotta
Millions watched—and participated—as protestors took to the streets last month in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, speaking out against systemic racial injustice and police brutality against Black men and women. Major cities across the globe were filled with citizens demanding change. And the streets of Princeton were packed, too. Rallies were held in town throughout the month of June. One of the first was the Coalition for Peace Action’s Kneeling for Justice event on June 2. The event was held in honor of George Floyd and in solidarity with Black lives. Floyd died May 25 after Minneapolis Police
Department officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on the neck of a subdued and handcuffed Floyd for nearly nine minutes. Participants gathered along Witherspoon and Nassau streets, where they knelt, marched and listened to speakers. The organization also provided chalk for sidewalk artwork and messages. “It was exciting and deeply gratifying (and, from the perspective of our health, scary and concerning),” said Princeton councilwoman Eve Niedergang. “It’s hard that the two crisis of the pandemic and police brutality have come to a head at the same time because they require directly opposite responses. Still, it was wonderful to see a movement led by Princeton’s young activists and to see such
a great community gathering, with people from all different demographics, on the streets in support of Black Lives Matter.” And the movement continued into the Municipality of Princeton’s government. Council unanimously approved a resolution declaring racism as a public health crisis last month. Princeton worked together with Montgomery Township to craft the resolution. The two municipalities have often worked together— most recently on their responses to COVID-19—and this was a natural next step, said councilman Dwaine Williamson. Princeton and Montgomery shared resources and language—Montgomery Mayor Sadaf Jaffer, who had recently passed a similar resolution,
was instrumental in getting Princeton started with its own. And, led by council liaison Leticia Fraga, the Princeton Civil Rights Commission met with Montgomery officials to talk about the commission, how it works and how to form one. “The times demand it; the impact of COVID-19 is just one example of the disparate impacts of negative environmental and health developments on Black and other minority communities,” Niedergang said. “It’s past time for us as a community to examine all our policies and actions through a racial equity lens.” The resolution starts with the declaration that “race is a social construct with no biological basis, but a social reality that shapes our lives.” As Niedergang said, it discusses the
The Coalition for Peace Action’s Kneeling for Justice protest, in honor of the life of George Floyd, featured prominent speakers and drew a crowd of people from across the region to gather on Nassau Street in Princeton June 2, 2020. (Photos by Suzette J. Lucas.)
6Princeton Echo | July 2020
Signs challenge Princeton—the town and the institution—to work for racial justice during the Coalition for Peace Action’s Kneeling for Justice protest on Nassau Street in Princeton June 2, 2020. (Photos by Suzette J. Lucas.)
disproportionate impact of COVID19 on Black residents of New Jersey—the APM Research Lab reports that nationwide, one in 1,500 Black coronavirus patients have died of the disease. That’s a death rate of 65.8 out of 100,000, more than double that of white Americans. Though Black citizens make up 12.4% of the American population, they account for 23.8 percent of coronavirus deaths, said APM. But the health crises facing Black Americans don’t start or end with COVID-19. Women of color account for nearly 60 percent of pregnancyrelated maternal deaths in New Jersey, the resolution reads, and Black women are four times more likely than white women to lose their lives during childbirth. People of color are also more likely to face the consequences of perceived racial or ethnic biases, which can impact the way they are treated or diagnosed in a medical setting. “Communities of color, those of low social economic status and
those that suffer from disabilities are more likely to experience poor health outcomes as a consequence of the social determinants of health—health inequities stemming from economic stability, education, physical environment, food and access to healthcare systems,” the resolution reads. “Structural racism influences many areas of life, including housing, education, employment, healthcare and criminal justice, and an emerging body of research demonstrates that racism itself is a social determinant of mental and physical health.” As part of the resolution, Princeton will assess internal policies and procedures to “ensure racial equity is a core element of all municipal departments.” This includes bias training and hiring practices. The municipality will also advocate for legislation at all levels that aims to dismantle systemic racism, as well as reviewing existing and future ordinances through a racial equity lens.
The racial and ethnic composition of the municipality’s volunteer boards and workforce, including the police department, will be assessed annually. Princeton will also establish clear benchmarks and objectives to help advance racial equity. And those actions are long overdue, said Niedergang. “It’s time to walk the walk as well as talk the talk; it’s necessar y to be sure that we look at all government actions from a variety of perspectives, including the impact policies
will have on various racial/ethnic groups,” Niedergang said. “I’m old enough to remember the protests for racial justice in the 1960’s and it is deeply disappointing to me that my generation has failed to deliver on the promise of that struggle. Still, it’s not too late for us to tr y, and I think Princeton can set an example in this area.” Contact SAM SCIARROTTA: ssciarrotta@ communitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, ext. 121, facebook.com/samsciarrotta1.
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A protestor holds a sign sporting “I can’t breathe,” the words uttered by victims in several instances of police brutality—including George Floyd before his death in Minneapolis—during the Coalition for Peace Action’s Kneeling for Justice protest on Nassau Street in Princeton June 2, 2020. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
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July 2020 | Princeton Echo7
Novelist explores what happens after the horror A Princeton resident, Riley Sager released his latest novel June 30 By Sam Sciarrotta
The horror genre’s best architects have created some pretty iconic settings and scares—Shirley Jackson’s Hill House, John Carpenter’s Michael Myers, Stephen King’s Overlook Hotel, everything Wes Craven has ever done. We’ve seen characters survive massacres and possessions, slashers and cursed objects, the supernatural and the true-to-life. But it’s what happens after the horror that intrigues Riley Sager. Our Laurie Strodes, Lutz families, Camp Crystal Lake massacre victims, Martin Brodys—how does surviving a horrific event change their lives? Our first experiences with these characters almost always ends as they’re being rescued or escaping to safety. It’s a common theme throughout Sager’s oeuvre, most recently in his latest novel, Home Before Dark, released June 30. “At the end of these movies, it’s supposed to be happy,” said Sager, who lives in Princeton. “But the police are there, she’s getting loaded into an ambulance, everyone you
know is dead. That has to mess her up. Let’s see what happens 20 years from now.” That was the inspiration behind Sager’s first novel, Final Girls, and it’s a theme he finds himself subconsciously revisiting in some of his other stories. In Final Girls, protagonist Quincy Adams deals with the aftermath of surviving a massacre that left six of her friends dead. She, along with two other women who lived through similar encounters, are dubbed “Final Girls”—a horror trope that refers to the last woman standing at the end of a slasher film. Final Girls flashes between the past and Quincy’s present-day life, 10 years after the massacre. It explores the long-term effects of surviving trauma and her adult life experiences—as well as those of her fellow Final Girls. Sager’s newest novel, Home Before Dark, has a similar structure. It follows the story of Maggie, a woman whose father writes a best-selling horror memoir about the family’s experiences living in an old, Gothic house—after a series of supernatural events spread out over the family’s first few weeks in the house, they decide to pack up and leave in the middle of the night. Maggie returns to the house as an adult to fix it up, skeptical of what
Princeton resident Riley Sager finds himself subconsciously revisiting the inspiration for his first novel “Final Girls” in his writing. His latest novel, “Home Before Dark” was released June 30.
really drove her family out. A child when it happened, her father’s book is all she has to go by, and she never really believes what he wrote. Home
Before Dark alternates between Maggie’s present-day narrative and her father’s memoir—”a book within a book,” Sager said. Sager came up with the concept for the novel while listening to a podcast about The Amityville Horror. The classic novel, written by Jay Anson, follows the Lutz family, who move into a Long Island home a year after the previous resident commits a horrific crime. Paranormal terrors ensue. The Amityville Horror is said to be based on the experiences of the reallife Lutz family, but decades of controversy have surrounded the book (and the films it spawned), including accusations that the Lutzes fabricated the entire thing. “Everybody thinks it’s a hoax,” Sager said. “I just keep thinking about the kids, what it must be like for the children who were the characters in this book. What must life be like for them now? Were they in on the hoax? I wanted to write a book about a character who was a kid in a haunted house.” The theme seems to subconsciously follow Sager. In his second book, Last Time I Lied, we follow Emma, a woman whose friends disappeared at summer camp years ago. She returns to camp as an adult after it re-opens. “I think it just happens,” he said. “From a narrative standpoint, it’s very
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Riley Sager’s latest novel, “Home Before Dark,” features a glow-in-the-dark cover. The Princeton resident’s novel was released June 30.
Stephen King tweeted about it, calling it “the first great thriller of 2017.” The book was featured in Entertainment Weekly. Whoopi Goldberg held up a copy and raved about it on The View. “I was sitting at home, thinking, ‘Is this really happening? Am I in some weird fantasy world?’” Sager said. The success continued with Last Time I Lied and Lock Every Door, both of which landed on the New York Times bestseller list. The film rights for all of Sager’s books have been optioned and are in different stages of development. Sager grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University, where he worked on the student newspaper. He moved to New Jersey in 2005 for his first journalism job. He had an extensive book tour for Home Before Dark planned before the COVID-19 pandemic. Once that was canceled, he had virtual events set up with book stores across the country throughout the month of June, but “it’s not the name as being able to go and meet people,” he said. Locally, he’s also missing going to the Princeton Garden Theater—its Hollywood Summer Nights series and annual summer screening of Jaws are some of his favorite Princeton traditions. He also likes eating at Agricola and One 53 in Rocky Hill, where he goes to celebrate on release day. Sager says he loves horror movies, citing Rosemary’s Baby, The Amityville Horror, Halloween, It Follows and the Scream series as favorites. Those films also inform some of his writing—which he’s doing right now. “Summers are always scrambling to finish the next book,” he said. “I never get to enjoy summer anymore.” For more on Riley Sager, visit rileysagerbooks.com. He can be found on Twitter at @riley_sager and on Instagram at @riley.sager.
interesting. Then, you can show readers the before and after. It’s a great way to build suspense. It’s the events of the past and things today, and toggling between them to find out the truth behind the situation. It’s not intentional, but it just so happens to appear in three of the four books.” Sager’s horror successes started only recently. Prior to Final Girls, he worked in journalism, for the Courier News and Star-Ledger. He wrote books—thrillers and mysteries— under his given name, Todd Ritter, but he says they didn’t do well. Work-wise, the minimal sales didn’t bother him too much since he did have a full-time job. When he was laid off, though, he Contact SAM SCIARROTTA: ssciarrotta@ faced a decision. communitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, ext. “It was fine, until all of a sudden it 121, facebook.com/samsciarrotta1. wasn’t,” he said. “It came to the point where I really had to make some decisions. Is writing feasible long-term? Can I make a career out of this?” Then he watched Halloween on Halloween. “During that time in my life where I was jobless, and I couldn’t get an interview to save my life, the idea came to me—‘What if this happened in real life? What if these horror movies existed?’” He pitched the idea to his agent, who immediately said yes, and Final Choose the company Girls came to fruition. many families switched “It was a combination of luck, desto last season! peration and I guess a little skill,” he said. South Jersey’s MOST EXPERIENCED The book exploded—it was an international bestseller and has been family-owned propane company since 1919! published in 25 different languages. FREE INSTALLATION in most cases Sager could only call the experience “surreal.” 427 North Main Street “I didn’t go on a book tour,” he said. Vincentown, NJ “I didn’t do any events. I was sitting at home working on my next book as 609-859-2334 all these mind-blowing, unexpected allensoilandpropane.com things happened.”
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Virtual Ride for Runaways adds new ways to join By Nicole Viviano
The Anchor House annual 500-mile bike ride fundraiser has been reimagined into a virtual experience to cater to the current restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s Anchor House Virtual Ride for Runaways will mark the 42nd year of the massive fundraising event that brings in over $500,000 for the year for the Trenton-based organization. “Everybody has their own goal,” COO of Anchor House Foundation Kathy Drulis said. “As much as they love biking and they love what we do, they so believe in Anchor House so that’s what has always made our event so successful.” This year’s change has brought many veteran participants back as well as new ones. Mark Smith has taken part in Anchor House’s traditional 500-mile trek for 30 years. To commemorate his years of commitment, Smith, a veterinarian at Hopewell Veterinary Group Inc., set a personal goal to raise $30,000, or $1,000 for every year he has participated. As of June 23, Smith raised $25,125 and pledged that if his donors help him raise within $1,000 of his goal that he will make up the difference. He has sent out 240 letters requesting donations. Looking to this year’s virtual ride, Smith, 67, knows it will be a very different experience. Riding alone or with one friend will be more difficult than when riding with a large group, as it psychologically wears the rider down. The friendships that have been built over years of participation will also be missed, he said. Regardless of this year’s switch, Smith saw the pandemic as no excuse to forget about the needs of the youth population helped by Anchor House. “I see them as the most vulnerable population,” Smith said. “They can’t do much themselves, and kids at Anchor House, they’ve been put into a really tough, tough spot as far as I’m concerned…And when I found out about Anchor House, and a chance to do more than just send a check once a year or twice a year, it was the perfect opportunity to do something to really help a lot of kids.” Participants have a profile on the official Anchor House Virtual Ride for Runaways website, where they can display the funds they have raised and what their monetary and distance goals are, as well as options for posting blog entries of their participation. The site will remain up throughout the length of the ride and the year, so donors may continue to contribute funds towards Anchor House. Involvement may be different this year but it offers new options to join for those who haven’t been able to participate in the past. Along with the decision to forego the group aspect of the ride and move everything remote, the Anchor House team created two more options for
10Princeton Echo | July 2020
participation. This year, participants can choose the regular 500-mile bike ride, the new 250-mile bike ride or a new 100-mile walk. Over the past 41 years of the event, the 500-mile ride has been done over the course of a week. This year, the event has been expanded to last six weeks—43 days—to accommodate both new and veteran participants. “We wanted to kind of keep it that same endurance goal,” said Drulis, a Ewing resident. “We like to equate it with you’re helping out kids who struggle every day and so we want to have an event that is a struggle.” The three options and six-week plan for participants allows for more flexible involvement, including a mother and daughter from Lawrence. Cheryl Curbishley has participated in six Anchor House rides over the years, along with some of her family members, and is back again this year. She is set to complete the 500-mile ride, while her daughter, Gwyn, is signed on to complete the 250-mile ride. Although Gwyn has participated in the 500-mile ride in the past with her family, the option to do the shorter ride was what fit with her schedule this year. “I feel like it’s more accessible for people to sign up for the six-week challenge because of the virtual ride… you’re not going to have to take a week off of work,” Cheryl Curbishley said. “You can do an hour ride in the evening after your job. You can do that a couple times a week and then do a long ride on Saturday and Sunday.” A middle school language arts teacher in West Windsor-Plainsboro, Cheryl has known of the Anchor House ride since 1991, when she was dating her now-husband, who was a participating cyclist then and has ridden other times over the years. Being involved with Anchor House allows people to feel connected to helping the vulnerable children that may not have advocates and are living in unimaginable situations, Curbishley said. Anchor House Inc. serves abused, runaway, homeless, aging out and atrisk youth and their families in the Mercer County and Central New Jersey areas. Emergency shelter, transitional living, homelessness housing and street outreach programs, along with opportunities to learn life skills and receive school-based counseling and parent support services are initiatives that need the funding raised by the ride. Managing the funds raised is the charity arm of Anchor House, Anchor House Foundation Inc. Working as a separate, tax-exempt non-profit, the foundation provides the Trenton organization with grant funding throughout the year for its programs. The programs have helped youth grow to aspire and achieve their goals despite the difficult situations they find themselves in. Zena Aluboudi, 20, has been a part of the Anchor House Anchorage Tran-
In addition to the traditional 500-mile bike ride, this year’s Anchor House Ride for Runaways also features a 250-mile bike ride and a 100-mile walk. The event spans 43 days this year, instead of seven.
The decision to go virtual was made jointly between the Anchor House Foundation Ride Committee, the foundation’s Board of Directors and the executive director of Anchor House. Changing the platform of the ride while keeping to the same start date as previous years was seen as the best option to keep the community of bikers engaged and safe. The ride kicks off on July 11, allowing participants to sign up until the day before. By making this year’s ride an option of different route lengths over a longer period of time, the goal was to encourage more individuals to join who may have helped out in previous years or shied away from the strenuous 500 miles traditionally completed in a week. “This is a unique situation,” President of Anchor House Foundation Board of Directors Thaddeus Mikulski said. “It appears that we are attracting some people who might not otherwise have been involved.” Although Anchor House intends to continue their ride fundraiser normally in coming years, they do intend to learn from this year’s altered event, said Mikulski, an attorney in Pennington. The six-week window is meant to create an option so that participants don’t need to take off from work and may complete their miles as they please, making aggressive training not as necessary as previous years. Although the group aspect of the ride will not be the same Anchor House is working to make sure participants still know how much they are helping. Lawn signs and painted rocks are being worked on by Anchor House and its youth to help spread the word around Mercer County of the time and efforts the riders and walkers are contributing. Whether on their own, with family members, outside or indoors, the Anchor House ride is on its way to raising its funding for the year. Every rider or walker is asked to raise a certain amount depending on their participation. Every cyclist riding 500 miles is asked to raise $750. Cyclists riding 250 miles are asked to raise $500. Walkers or runners are asked to complete 100 miles and raise $200. “I think we’re hoping that again, the awareness is raised for the issues that our young people are facing, the programs and services that Anchor House offers and how vital they are to our community,” said McNear, the Anchor House executive director. “We are really hoping in the midst of everything that’s going on, really looking for an opportunity to provide a little bit of normalcy, if you will. So for those who’ve been going on the ride 30 plus years you become used to that, one or two years you become used to it…that sense of family.”
sitional Living Program for about two years. Between working, attending community college and playing for her college’s basketball team, Aluboudi has experienced the help that the annual ride provides her and so many other youths. “I’m a student-athlete and I’ve been working and I’ve been saving up,” Aluboudi said. “I’m just trying to succeed as much as I can and to set examples and standards for other residents and other people that were once like me with no home, to see that there is hope, that you can make it out and just work hard.” Contributions from the annual ride help those youths in Anchor House programs to continue education and work towards bigger goals. Aluboudi is on track to complete her associate’s degree and moving on to Rutgers-Newark to finish a four-year degree. Along with playing basketball for Rutgers, she wants to acquire an internship at the statehouse or a law office to help her achieve her dream of becoming a defense attorney and working in congress one day. In the past, Aluboudi and many other kids involved in Anchor House have participated in the ride’s send-off event and welcoming back celebration, traditionally held at Quaker Bridge Mall. This year will be different, but the children of Anchor House still see the importance of being a part of the fundraiser. Aluboudi plans to join Anchor House executive director Kim McNear, a Lawrence resident, in the 100-mile walking event, while creating and holding signs to bring awareness to Anchor House supporters and riders. “I feel like this ride affects specifically the community because I consider myself to be one of the lucky individuals that have come through these doors,” Aluboudi said. “Because Anchorage and Anchor House, they really provide these youths with so much opportunities, with scholarships, Contact staff writer NICOLE VIVIANO: nviwith opportunities for work, just life viano@communitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, skills in general.” ext. 118, facebook.com/nicoleviviano609.
Call me by my deepest name PIA DE JONG PARTING SHOT
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks ... The #SayTheirNames movement wants all the names of victims of the hands of U.S. police to be known so we realize that systemic racism is more than a bare statistic. The fact that the whole world now knows the name of the black man from Minneapolis who died under the knee of a white policeman opens the door to his full life—the son, the brother, the father of five children, the friend. Dale Carnegie, author of the perennial bestseller How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), emphasizes the importance of pronouncing, remembering and using names correctly. “A person’s name is the sweetest and most important sound to him or her in any language,” he writes. Brain research shows that when we hear our own name, the part of our brain that is responsible for our sense of self lights up. We are our name. “Call me, confirm my existence, / let my name be like a chain. / Call me, call me, speak to me, / oh, call me by my deepest name. / For whom I love, I want to be called.” –Neeltje Maria Min I remember how difficult it was to choose names for our children. It was a great responsibility to give them their identity. How would it sound when others called them by their name? Would they still be happy with it? As the number of American victims of Covid-19
a proposal for a simple granite wall chiseled with the names of the fallen American soldiers, it initially met a lot of resistance. Many preferred to see a heroic statue of generic soldiers (which also came later). But now this “wall of names” is one of the most treasured places in Washington. Every day you will find visitors who use pencils to trace the names of their loved ones on tissue paper. That way they can make their memories tangible and take them home. The names of the victims of 9/11 are also written in the monument at Ground Zero in New York. And in the town of Montgomery, Alabama, at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, there is a memorial to the victims of lynching. Visitors walk between huge steel plates hanging from the ceiling, in which more than four thousand names are engraved. Holding the names of all these victims—even though their parents, children, and friends can no longer call them—keeps them in mind. And with it also the suffering and injustice they experienced. Their lives were taken from them, but not their Brain research shows that when we hear our own name, the part of our brain that is stories nor their names. responsible for our sense of self lights up. We are our name. When the 21-year-old designer approached 100,000, the New York Times marked this tragic milestone Maya Lin won the competition for with a front page listing only the names the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with of those who died, with an ultra-short biography—unique in the paper’s history. Not even a thousand fit on it. But that one page made a deep impression. Unlike all graphs and tables, this list of names made us realize that it concerns complete human lives.
Pia de Jong is a Dutch writer who lives in Princeton. Her bestselling memoir, “Saving Charlotte,” was published in 2017 in the U.S. She can be contacted at pdejong@ias.edu.
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