Princeton Summer Theater Succeeds With The Last Five Years 15
PU Summer Chamber Concerts Presents Ensemble 16
Taking Unlikely Path from Serbia to PU Women’s Water Polo, Sekulic Makes U.S. Squad for Paris 2024 Olympics 22
Making Instant Impact for Puerto Rico Men’s Hoops, PDS Grad Reed Headed to Paris 2024 Olympics 25
Bucchere to Retire As Chief of Police, Tash to Replace Him
Jonathan Bucchere, Princeton’s police chief for the past two years, will retire at the end of this month. Subject to approval by the mayor and Council — likely at the July 22 Council meeting — his replacement will be current Captain Christopher Tash, who, like Bucchere is a longtime member of the Princeton Police Department (PPD).
“I’ve worked my entire career with Chris Tash, and I absolutely know he is going to do a spectacular job as chief,” said Bucchere. “It gives me great joy that he is going to take over and continue to do special things for this town, his way.”
Bucchere, 48, has been with the PPD for nearly 25 years. He was born in Princeton and grew up here and in Hightstown. He was hired by the former Princeton Borough in 1999. His work on the police force includes patrol officer, eld training officer, the community policing unit, and the Detective Bureau, where he was promoted to sergeant. After consolidation of the former borough and township, he worked in the Safe Neighborhood Bureau.
“It was there I made a lot of my contacts in the community,” he said. “I was then promoted out of there to lieutenant, captain, and then chief. I was lucky in the sense that I made chief after 23 years. That was to my bene t. I was chief a little shy of two years, and I felt during that period that I was able to accomplish a lot.”
At the top of Bucchere’s list of achievements while serving as chief is recruitment selection. “We hired nine officers, and in my opinion they are a diverse group that represents the demographics of the town,” he said. “That’s not easy to accomplish.”
Bucchere is proud of the establishment of the Citizens’ Police Academy, which completed its second program this past spring. “I think it’s going to be a staple for the department for years to come,” he said. “I’m also excited that we reinstated the awards ceremony where we celebrate our officers and the great work they do. We hadn’t done that since consolidation.”
He is also pleased that the town no longer contracts out for privatized dispatch services. “The contract we had with IXP (Corp.) expired in December, and we hired and trained a team of new
ICE Activity in Princeton Provokes Strong Responses
The presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Princeton last Wednesday, July 10, including the arrest of one resident, has caused high levels of concern among residents and government officials at the local and state levels.
Whether it was a “targeted operation,” as designated by ICE officials, or a “raid,” as described by many locals, agents in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Newark division arrived early on the morning of July 10 in unmarked cars.
“I am horri ed to learn of the ICE raids carried out in Princeton today, by agents who did not identify themselves, drove into communities, and stopped Hispanic/ Latinx residents seemingly at random to interrogate them and demand documentation,” said U.S. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman in a July 10 statement. “This kind of conduct has absolutely no place in our community or our country.”
Watson Coleman followed up in a July 16 letter to ICE, requesting information on a number of issues concerning the July 10 Princeton operation. “In addition to the conduct of the agents themselves, I have serious questions as to the process that preceded this operation, and the transparency of the federal agencies involved,” she wrote.
The Newark ICE office stated that ERO came to Princeton “to arrest two unlawfully present noncitizens.” They detained the rst, a 29-year-old Guatemalan national who had been charged earlier this year with aggravated assault and robbery in Princeton, and he remains in ICE custody.
The second subject for arrest, a 27-year-old Guatemalan national, who had been arrested for assault by automobile and convicted of DUI in Lawrence Township in 2023, was identi ed by ERO
agents, but was able to escape because of interference by people trying to stop the arrest, according to ERO reports.
The Princeton mayor and Council responded rapidly on July 10, stating, “This morning’s ICE activities in Princeton have left our community deeply troubled. As the mayor and Council of Princeton, we believe that such federal actions, conducted without prior explanation, starkly contradict our core values of respect and dignity for all.”
PHS Junior Claire Tang Branches Out As World Literacy Youth Ambassador
As a newly appointed World Literacy Foundation youth ambassador for 2024, Princeton High School junior Claire Tang will be continuing her work to combat illiteracy and increase education and awareness about the importance of reading and writing.
“Reading has always been one of my biggest hobbies, so I’ve experienced the positive impact literacy can have on quality of life,” Tang wrote in an email. Last year she worked with the African Library Project (ALP) and the Alliance of Youth Leaders in the United States (AYLUS) to organize two book drives that supported
libraries in Malawi and Botswana, resulting in more than 2,500 books delivered and $2,000 raised.
In partnership with her classmate Emma Liu, Tang is working on another book drive this summer with AYLUS and ALP to support a secondary school library in Lesotho.
As a youth ambassador in the year ahead, she plans to continue her work with ALP and AYLUS while branching out into additional literacy challenges locally and globally.
“On a more local scale, I hope to start
AMONG THE BLUEBERRIES: Blueberry picking was one of the many activities at Terhune Orchards’ annual Blueberry Bash last weekend. Attendees share their favorite way to enjoy blueberries in this week’s Town Talk
(Photo by Sarah Teo)
To get better at shooting in basketball, you need to shoot. A lot. At Jump Shot Gym, we have eight hoops and Dr. Dish machines that continuously collect your makes and misses and pass you the ball. (Think batting cages for basketball.)
Our shooting programs are designed to help you get game-like reps and put up points. Our machines also track your stats, naturally improve your shot arc, and help you develop the proper muscle memory to build a consistent shot.
Town Topics
Since the Arts Council of Princeton launched our ART OF series, we’ve danced Bachata, made our own chocolate, dabbled in astrology, tasted fine wines, mastered crossword puzzles, toured impressive horticulture, and so much more
The fun doesn't end there - immerse yourself in the most fabulous cultural experiences, all while supporting your local arts council
ART OF Mixology with 3BR Distillery • July 31
ART OF Matcha with Ooika • Aug 1
ART OF Vintage Jewelry with H1912 • Sept 12
ART OF Hell’s Kitchen Tony Winning! • Oct 23
ART OF Thriving in a Toxic World with Melissa Klepacki • Nov 7
Tickets: artscouncilofprinceton org
Shop the Arts Council of Princeton’s yART sale for creative bargains and unique finds, all handcrafted by local artisans 30+ vendors working in ceramics, jewelry, printmaking, painting, and more will sell seconds, misprints, discontinued designs, and one-of-a-kind items at studio clean-out prices!
Saturday, August 3 | 9am-1pm View a full list of vendors
HANDHELDS
All sandwiches served with your choice of Kaiser or Brioche Bun
GIRLS SUCCEED: Young women from Princeton area high schools recently received scholarships from the Women’s College Club of Princeton at a tea held at the Stockton Education Center at Morven. Women’s College Club Awards Scholarships
On May 20 at the Stockton Education Center at Morven, the Women’s College Club of Princeton (WCCP) held a tea to award scholarships to young women graduating from Princeton area high schools. WCCP received 39 applications and awarded scholarships to 19 young women totaling $ 49,000. Since 1916, the principal mission of the WCCP has been to enable young women with fi nancial need to go to college. The scholarship awards are made possible as a result of endowments, fundraisers, and donations, including those made in honor of past or present members or to honor specific persons such as the Florence Bell Hillier Award and the Barbara Hillier Award. To date, these scholarship awards have totaled nearly $800,000.
The WCCP meets on the third Monday of the month (September to June) at the Stockton Education Center behind the Morven Museum. Meetings feature speakers and programs of multiple interests, such as art history and
current affairs. WCCP also offers a variety of activities for smaller groups including walks, a book club, and trips to museums or other places of interest. Membership is open to all women. Visit wccpnj.org for more information.
Leighton Listens: Councilman Leighton Newlin holds one-on-one conversations about issues impacting Princeton from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: On July 17 at Ficus, 235A Nassau Street; July 24 at Godfrey Fitzgerald Salon, 15 Witherspoon Street; and July 31 at Hiltons Princeton, 221 Witherspoon Street. All are welcome.
Food Pantry : Arm in Arm’s mobile food pantry is at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of Mercer County Library System, 2751 Brunswick Pike, on Monday afternoons in July and August, from 2-4 p.m. Fresh produce, eggs, milk, frozen proteins, and quality baked goods as well as canned and boxed items and personal care items are available for those in need.
Community Night Out : Tuesday, August 6 from 5-8 p.m., at 400 Witherspoon Street. Free pool admission, food, face painting, inflatables, DJ, and emergency vehicle displays. Community organizations interested in setting up a table should contact Ptl. Shahid Abdul-Karim at (609) 921-2100 ext. 255.
Photo Contest : Friends of Princeton Open Space holds the ninth annual Perspectives on Preservation Photo Contest with a submission deadline of September 8. Photos taken at the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Open Space area can be submitted by professionals and amateurs; they must have been taken during the past three years. Visit fopos.org for more information.
Donate Art Supplies : For a pop-up art supply thrift shop being held August 3 by West Windsor Arts and Propagate Studio, donate on July 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at West Windsor Arts, 952 Alexander Road. Visit westwindsorarts.org for a suggested list of items.
Backpack and School Supplies Drive : Donate for Princeton children from
and
here are the participants in a past Institute program.
Concert Culminates Weeklong Program For Participants in Composition Institute
In the first year of the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute’s one-week summer program pairing promising composers with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) at Princeton University’s Richardson
Auditorium, 30 people applied for the four available slots.
That was a decade ago. Applications for this year’s session, which is underway and will culminate in a concert on Saturday evening at 8 p.m., numbered more than 200. The reputation of the Institute, which is presented in collaboration with the University’s music department, has clearly grown.
Deciding who to include in the tuition-free program is not easy. Each applicant, said Institute Director and University Music Professor Stephen Mackey, would be perfectly qualified to attend. The selection process starts with a panel of players from the NJSO, who whittle the 200 down to about 20.
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Of the Town
“Then, the conductor [Christopher Rountree] and I have the very difficult job of going through those 20,” Mackey said. “They are all good. The orchestra would love to play all of their music.”
“On Thursday, they go to New York, which is the seat of contemporary music culture, and meet with music publishers, radio stations, and an advocacy group for new composers. We also provide a public speaking coach to meet with them early in the week, to develop their spiel, because we ask them to speak from the stage to introduce their work. It’s an important part, especially for contemporary composers.”
The Institute was named for Edward Toner Cone, an American composer, music theorist, pianist, and philanthropist who taught at Princeton University and
But only four make it to the final selection. This year’s winners come from the U.S., Brazil, the Philippines, and New Zealand. “For me, the litmus test is that these are pieces that only these composers could have written,” Mackey said. “They have to come from a personal point of view. They have very different backgrounds, different influences. They’re not trying to win a competition.”
In addition to works by the composers Leigha Amick, Santiago Beis, Paul Cosme, and Jessie Leov, a piece by Mackey, himself an accomplished composer, is also on the program. The participants are spending the week on campus, hearing their music rehearsed and performed by members of the NJSO, and getting invaluable feedback.
When it was first established, the Institute resembled existing programs held by the Minnesota Symphony and the American Composers Orchestra, Mackey said. But it has since been tweaked and refined.
“We’ve made it more of a holistic professional development thing,” he said.
lived from 1917 to 2004. The Institute for Advanced Study holds an Edward T. Cone Concert Series each year. Mackey arrived at Princeton after Cone’s time there, but Cone has been an influence on his work.
“I grew up reading his articles. He retired the year I was hired, so we never crossed as colleagues,” Mackey said. “He was an heir to a fortune, and was always very modest about his own compositions. This would have been perfect for him. He had orchestra music in his dresser drawer that was never played. He just never did it.”
When deciding which composers to attend the Institute, Mackey and Rountree also take the final concert into account. “We think about variety and shade,” Mackey said. “They are all so different. Leigha Amick, who is from Curtis [Institute of Music], takes a very strong, conceptual approach, but is a very practical musician. She plays violin and piano, music that sounds like a film score. And that means it’s so honest about human emotions.”
Beis’ Brazilian background is reflected in his piece, “combined with a kind of intellectual, egghead, abstract approach,” Mackey said. “I couldn’t have written his piece. And Jessie Leov’s piece — she is from New Zealand, and I told her that her piece is very likeable, like people from New Zealand.”
Tickets to the concert are $20, available by emailing coneinstitute@njsymphony. org. The audience is invited to a post-concert reception to meet the composers and sample a special Cone-inspired ice cream flavor crafted for the occasion by the Bent Spoon.
“None of these composers are writing pieces that I would call student pieces,” said Mackey. “Nobody is emulating famous composers. It’s all just them.”
—Anne Levin County Office on Aging Annual Needs Assessment
Mercer County Executive Dan Benson and the Mercer County Office on Aging are asking adults aged 60 years or older, as well as their caregivers, to complete the county’s 2024 Needs Assessment survey.
The assessment plays a critical role in collecting responses from seniors to determine the needs in the aging community. Responses will be incorporated into the Office on Aging’s annual Area Plan Contract. Adults, caregivers, and others who work with the older adult population can complete the survey by visiting mercercounty.org.
Residents are encouraged to submit their responses by September 30, so that they may be considered in next year’s Area Plan.
For more information, or to get a paper copy of the needs assessment, email adrc@mercercounty.org or call (609) 989-6661.
“Government works best when our residents are active partners in our decision-making process,” said Benson. “The more residents that fill out the survey, the better the information available to our Office on Aging staff as they work to meet the ever-changing needs of Mercer County’s seniors.”
A forum for the expression of opinions about local and national issues.
Question of the Week: “What is your favorite way to enjoy blueberries?”
(Asked Sunday at Terhune Orchards’ Blueberry Bash)
(Photos by Sarah Teo)
“Blueberry slushies! And blueberry pie, and blueberryavocado mini muffins.”
—Laila Sciammarella, Roselle Park
Anna: “I like them on lemon-ricotta pancakes.”
Ada: “I like to do a test to see if they’re sour or sweet. If they’re sour, I just put them back, and if they’re sweet, I eat the whole thing!”
—Anna and Ada Kimtis, Lawrence Township
Nitya: “I like to peel off the skin and eat it!”
Prisha: “I like to put them in a blender and make a smoothie.”
Shanaya: “I don’t eat blueberries.”
Nirvan: “Put it in my mouth, chew it, and gulp it down!”
— Nitya Maheshwaram, Seiya Prakash, Prisha Rana, Shanaya Chokshi, and Nirvan Maheshwaram, North Brunswick
Madyson: “A blueberry turnover that’s served with a salty honey ice cream at Clydz up in New Brunswick.”
Elizabeth: “I like just raw blueberries — I could eat the whole pint!”
Jay: “Blueberry pancakes.”
Denise: “A blueberry muffin, toasted with butter.”
—Madyson and Elizabeth Kaczorowski, Lawrence Township, with Jay and Denise Schaeffer, Allentown
PU Mathematician, Institute Physicist
Awarded Prestigious Wolf Prizes
Princeton University Professor Noga Alon has been awarded the 2024 Wolf Prize in Mathematics “for pioneering contributions to mathematical cryptography, combinatorics, and the theory of computer science.” And the 2024 Wolf Prize in Physics has been presented to Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Trustee Emeritus Martin Rees, for his “fundamental contributions to high-energy astrophysics, galaxies and structure formation, and cosmology.”
Considered one of the most prestigious international awards for scientific and artistic achievement, the Wolf Prize, granted in Israel, includes a $100,000 monetary award. More than one-third of Wolf Prize recipients have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize, according to the Wolf Foundation.
A Princeton University press release describes Alon, who shares the mathematics award with Adi Shamir of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, as “one of the most prolific mathematicians in the world,” having published more than 850 papers, including papers on biology, economics, and neuroscience. In addition to his position at Princeton University, Alon has also been “a regular fixture” at IAS as a member and visitor in the School of Mathematics since 1993, according to an IAS press release.
“I am delighted and honored to be one of the recipients of the 2024 Wolf Prize,” said Alon. “I would like to thank Princeton University, which provided ideal research conditions, and I would also like to thank my teachers, students, collaborators, and family, who all played a major role in my success. I view the prize as
a recognition of the central place of combinatorics and its applications in modern mathematics and related scientific areas, and I am happy that my work helped in the development of the subject.”
The Wolf Foundation award citation noted that Alon’s ”research and developments changed the face of the field” of mathematical cryptography, combinatorics, and computer science theory, creating “new concepts and original methods.”
Alon was born and grew up in Israel, and received his master’s and doctoral degrees at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the early 1980s. He has held visiting positions in various research institutions in the U.S. and Israel, and joined Tel Aviv University in 1985. He retired from Tel Aviv and moved to Princeton in 2018.
He continues to teach and supervise graduate students, and he serves on the editorial boards of more than a dozen international technical journals. He has given invited lectures at many conferences and has won numerous awards for his work.
Rees, a past member of IAS in the School of Natural Sciences as well as trustee emeritus, is described on the Wolf Prize website as “one of the most distinguished theoretical physicists of our time.”
The Wolf Foundation citation notes that Rees’ work has “shaped our deepest understanding of the universe,” enhancing physicists’ knowledge of the formation of the first stars and galaxies, the development and evolution of black holes at galactic centers, and the tidal disruption of stars near these black holes.
The Wolf Prize has been presented since 1978 with 382 scientists and artists selected by an international jury of experts and honored in the fields of agriculture, architecture, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, music, painting and sculpture, and physics.
—Donald Gilpin
My Meals food donor network and make the initiative sustainable.
YWCA Princeton currently provides quality early childhood education to nearly 500 families through their programming at The Burke Foundation Early Childhood Center, the Universal Pre-K Program, and the After-School Program in the Princeton Public School District.
Princeton Nursery School provides early childhood education and supportive wraparound services to ensure an equitable and enriching preschool experience for students and families in need.
Student Housing Option For Community College Students
seamless college experience for its students.
The agreement provides MCCC students with a specialized rate on room and board at TCNJ. After completion of their associate’s degree, students in good academic and conduct standing who decide to transfer to TCNJ, will be offered an extended discount on their room rate for the next two years.
Burke Foundation Grant Funds Nutritious Meals
Underserved children in the Princeton area will have better access to nutritious food, including fresh fruits and vegetables, because of a community grant from the Burke Foundation. The Princeton-based organization has awarded a $25,000 community grant to Share My Meals, a nonprofit organization that fights food insecurity and the environmental impact of food waste by recovering and delivering healthy meals in local communities.
Share My Meals, also based in Princeton, will provide seasonal fresh produce, pre-packaged food, eggs, and baked goods as well as recovered meals weekly to families involved in Princeton Nursery School and YWCA Princeton.
“We’re excited to support this new partnership with Share My Meals so more children and families can have nutritious meals to support their health and growth during a critical window of early childhood development,” said Atiya Weiss, executive director of the Burke Foundation. “We appreciate that parents can pick up the food at a place they already visit regularly.”
The Burke Foundation invests in transformative early childhood initiatives to build a cycle of opportunity across generations. The mission of Share My Meals to combat food insecurity directly aligns with the Burke Foundation’s goal of supporting pregnant women, babies, and families with young children. The Burke Foundation knows that economic stressors on households, such as struggling to afford food, can undermine a family’s well-being.
Share My Meals recovers high-quality prepared food from large cafeterias, and other food service providers, that would otherwise go to waste. The available surplus food is packed in reusable containers and transported by Share My Meals volunteers to community partners. The organization uses a technology platform that ensures a smooth and safe journey for each recovered meal from its point of preparation to the final recipient.
“This partnership with the Burke Foundation will help Share My Meals expand to reach the families who need us most in our community,” said Hélène Lanctuit, CEO of Share My Meals. “We are thankful for the generosity of the Burke Foundation.”
The Burke Foundation grant will be used to enhance Share My Meals’ infrastructure to include refrigeration units at YWCA Princeton and at Princeton Nursery School to enable the organization to store and distribute food more efficiently. The long-term goal is to grow the Share
Mercer County Community College (MCCC) announced the finalization of an agreement with The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) that provides room and board services for MCCC students at TCNJ’s campus in Ewing. While taking classes at Mercer, students can now benefit from Residential Education and Housing at TCNJ, with access to a wide range of essential student services including housing, dining, the fitness center and recreational spaces, intramural sports and student organizations, the library, and more.
The goal of the agreement was twofold: To provide housing for MCCC students and to make admission and transfer to TCNJ more feasible for these students. Both goals match MCCC’s commitment to providing the most comprehensive, supportive, accessible, and
“We are thrilled to be working hand-in-hand with TCNJ to provide students with the opportunity to pursue their MCCC education while simultaneously experiencing all of the benefits that go along with living on campus,” said MCCC President Deborah Preston. “We are excited for MCCC students to take advantage of the vibrant community that comes with residing at an excellent four-year institution like TCNJ.”
“We look forward to welcoming Mercer County Community College students to an affordable and convenient residential experience here at TCNJ,” said TCNJ President Michael Bernstein. “We know our community will welcome them with open arms as these new residents enjoy what TCNJ has to offer. We hope the students that spend time living on our campus continue their educational journey with us after completing their associates degrees.”
The program is open to current and prospective students enrolling at MCCC for the f all 2024 semester and beyond. For more information, visit mccc.edu/ housing.
Noga Alon (Photo by Sameer A. Khan)
FRESH MEALS FOR ALL: The YWCA Princeton is one of two organizations to receive fresh produce and prepared meals for local residents, courtesy of the Burke Foundation. From left are Rose Wong, CEO of YWCA Princeton, and Tara O’Shea, chief operating officer and co-director of Childcare and Programs, with some of the fresh baked goods.
Arts Council’s ART OF Series Continues With Latest Roster of Fundraisers
When the Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) was planning its annual big fundraiser two years ago, staff members came up with an idea for something more affordable and inclusive. Instead of the standard gala party, they decided to try a series of participatory gatherings covering a range of topics — from the difference between French and Spanish wines to making perfect holiday wreaths.
That first series was a success. Since then, some 30 ART OF events have been held by the ACP. The latest batch begins July 31 with part two of “Mixology with 3BR Distillery,” a cocktailcrafting session back by popular demand. Following throughout the fall are “Matcha with Ooika,” “Vintage Jewelry with H1912,” “NJ Farming and the Future,” a trip to see the Broadway show Hell’s Kitchen, “Thriving in a Toxic World with Melissa Klepacki,” “Holiday Magic with Francisco Irala,” and “Thrifting, a Journey
to the Golden Nugget Flea Market.”
“We’re in our third year now, and I feel like we’re in a place where we can really be intentional about finding interesting things,” said Liza Peck, the Arts Council’s development director. “We know what people are responding to. We can hone in on what we’re offering. And we can make sure there is a place for everybody in the community. That means a wide range of topics.”
Tickets for ART OF events range from free (“NJ Farming and the Future”) to $550 for “Hell’s Kitchen,” which includes admission to the show, transportation, and a dinner with the co-producer. Other events are $20 and $30.
“Some of these are lofty, and others are just fun,” Peck said. “We’re trying to balance low-key evenings with some that have a bit more of an agenda. I love that we have such a wide range of topics.”
Among the most popular
was a crossword puzzle event held this past January, which sold out instantly. “People wanted to be on the waiting list. For the next time we do it, we’ll try to offer something a little bit different so that people who came last time can learn something new,” Peck said.
While the offerings change, the goal of introducing participants to creativity and innovation in the Princeton community while raising funds for ongoing programs remains the same. At the August 1 “Matcha with Ooika” event, the owner of the Lawrenceville teahouse Ooika will cover the history, production methods, and cultural significance of the traditional Japanese tea. At “Jewelry with H1912” on September 12, vintage consultant Miles Franklin will talk about buying, selling, and collecting vintage jewelry and timepieces.
Peck is especially enthusiastic about the trip to see the Alicia Keys musical Hell’s Kitchen on October 23.
MIXING IT UP: Last January’s “ART OF Mixology” at the Arts Council of Princeton was such a success that a second round has been scheduled for July 31, as part of the ART OF series of fundraising events.
“Dana Hughes Moorhead, who lives in our neighborhood and is a former ACP board member and longtime supporter, is the co-producer of the show, and she’s going to have dinner with us,” she said. “She’s really excited to have us bring people in.”
“Thriving in a Toxic World” on November 7 is a one-hour talk with Melissa Hall Klepacki designed to demonstrate how to reduce exposure to harmful ingredients in daily life. “Holiday Magic with Francisco Irala is December 12, and a date for “Thrifting, a Journey to the Golden Nugget Flea Market” is to be scheduled. Plans are underway for a collaboration with the New Jersey Agricultural Society.
“We keep adding events,” Peck said. “It has been so nice to have things that are more accessible to a wider public. We always have one free event on the schedule, and try to keep costs down. We get to meet so many passionate, creative people, and highlight their voices a bit. We used to have a big fancy fundraiser, and this is just fun.”
For more information, visit artscouncilofprinceton.org.
—Anne Levin
All-Day Workshop on Jim Crow in New Jersey
The Sankofa Collaborative will hold an all-day workshop at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton on Friday, July 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., titled “Jim Crow in New Jersey — Policies, Regulations, and Practices Supporting Discrimination and Segregation in the Garden State.”
The keynote speaker is Spencer Crew, Clarence J. Robinson Professor in the Honors College at George Mason University. Crew has worked in public history institutions for more than 25 years. He served as president of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for six years and at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), Smithsonian Institution for 20, including nine years as NMAH director.
The panels will address New Jersey’s history of residential and educational segregation, disparities in the location of environmental hazards, and discrimination in access to recreational amenities. Panelists will discuss the policies, regulations, and practices supporting these realities and describe successful efforts to avert or overcome their consequences.
Presenters for the panel on residential and educational segregation include acclaimed photographer Wendell White sharing images of segregated schools in New Jersey and across America; Robert McGreevey, professor of history at The College of New Jersey, illustrating school segregation in New Jersey by focusing on policies that supported segregation in Trenton and the Hedgepeth-Williams court case that helped dismantle it; and Bernard Banks, president of Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro, discussing the founding of Whitesboro in 1901 by the last Reconstruction Era Black congressman, George H. White of North Carolina, as a response to residential segregation.
The impact of racial segregation on where environmental hazards exist today will be discussed by J. R. Capasso, Brownfields coordinator for the City of Trenton, and several Trenton residents who successfully fought against the placement of a recycling plant in their neighborhood. John S. Watson, co-executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, will join the panel to discuss efforts to remediate the effects of environment racism and ensure that New Jersey’s urban residents can live in healthy environments.
Unwritten understandings and written covenants ensured discrimination in access to New Jersey’s recreational amenities. Personal family experiences will be recounted by Joi Dickerson Peeples about working in Cape May’s Chalfonte Hotel and by Candace Wildy about separate beaches for Black and white visitors to Atlantic City. Black New Jerseyans countered by establishing their own resorts, lodging, and country clubs, as will be described by Greg Gillette. Workshop attendees will hear the music of Mari Green and will preview a trailer for a new documentary by the producer of
Emmy-nominated The Price of Silence on slavery in New Jersey.
The Sankofa Collaborative was formed in January 2017 by 1804 Consultants, Grounds For Sculpture, New Jersey Historical Society, Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum, and William Trent House Museum. These organizations share a commitment to the vision of a well-informed New Jersey citizenry that acknowledges the role of African Americans in New Jersey’s history and their continuing contribution to the vitality of the state.
The $75 registration fee includes breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and admission to the Grounds For Sculpture. Registration is required at sankofacollaobrative.org/upcomingprograms.
Princeton University Hosts Warrior-Scholar Project
Each year, approximately 115,000 veterans separate from the military and pursue college as a critical next step in transitioning to a new career, but returning to school as a nontraditional student and veteran can be challenging. That is why national nonprofi t WarriorScholar Project (WSP) has partnered with Wesleyan University, Columbia University, and Princeton University to host academic boot camps for student veterans throughout the Tri-State area.
The immersive college preparatory experience offers aspiring students a glimpse of “finals week” using a successful, time-tested approach to help veterans prepare for the rigors of academia. Princeton’s session began July 13 and continues through July 27.
WSP participants will have the opportunity to learn from university faculty, receive mentoring from fellow student veterans, work with tutors, familiarize themselves with campus resources, and begin to adjust to a formal learning environment — all concepts that may seem unfamiliar after years spent away from the classroom.
“WSP pushes you to think outside the box and become the dream student you want to be, but maybe you don’t know how to be. Once you embrace the rigor of the course and step outside your comfort zone, the belief you have in yourself will be at an all-time high because all of the work and long hours really do pay off,” said Alexandria Durrant, a U.S. Navy veteran and WSP-Columbia alumna.
WSP also helps veterans embrace their new communities and civilian identity; a study found that it is the only veterans’ program that provides targeted support for academic success and improves social connections with faculty and nonveteran students. According to information from WSP, 88 percent of alumni have completed or are on track to earn a college degree, compared to 72 percent of all student veterans and 65 percent of traditional undergraduate students.
Support from Wesleyan, Columbia, and Princeton universities, plus investments made by foundations, corporations, and private donors, cover the program’s entire cost for participants.
For more information, visit warrior-scholar.org.
Tang
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a book club or writing group for younger kids in elementary and middle schools in the Princeton area,” she said. “I would also love to organize more book drives and fundraising activities, such as bake sales, to support underserved school districts in New Jersey with a need for more books and literary resources.”
Tang is currently conducting online classes for middle schoolers and hoping to expand this initiative through partnership with other youth ambassadors across the globe, “sharing our literary knowledge through creating free online resources that teach literacy skills and organizing free writing lessons.”
The World Literacy Foundation is an international literacy nonprofit seeking to eradicate illiteracy worldwide. Their youth ambassadors are a diverse group of young people aged 15 to 25 from 40 countries.
Tang discussed the importance of reading and her commitment to confront the challenges of illiteracy in today’s society. “Being able to
read allows people to connect and communicate with the knowledge the world offers,” she wrote. “This could mean being able to read a sign on the street, communicating effectively with others, or accessing job opportunities.”
She continued, “Illiteracy essentially prevents people from reaching their full potential or even getting halfway there. The World Literacy Foundation empowers people around the world by extending access to literacy resources. The organization aims to eradicate illiteracy by 2040, which is obviously an ambitious goal. As an ambassador, I hope to play my part in hitting this goal through organizing more book drives, creating fundraising events, and setting up opportunities for literacy education.”
According to the World Literacy Foundation, 21 percent of adults In the U.S. lack basic reading skills, and many children struggle to read proficiently. Globally, 770 million people cannot read a single word, and two billion people have difficulty reading a full sentence.
Not surprisingly, Tang’s love
for literature extends to her writing endeavors. She is coeditor of the news and features section of The Tower, the PHS student newspaper, and she enjoys writing both journalistic articles and literary fiction.
“I love writing in the genre of magical realism, especially after having attended an Iowa Young Writers’ Studio course this summer,” she said. “It was amazing and life-changing. I met so many inspiring people there.”
Tang is also a genre managing editor and teaching assistant at Polyphony Lit, a student-run international literary magazine for high school writers. She is the co-editor of their Voices Blog, which is currently partnering with young Ukrainian writers in publishing their perspectives on the ongoing war in Ukraine.
When she is not reading, writing, or pursuing her work as a literacy youth ambassador, Tang can probably be found playing the trombone. She is a member of the PHS Studio Band, which released an album in June that they recorded last December at Abbey Road Studios in London.
Bucchere to Retire
continued from page one dispatchers who became municipal employees,” he said. “Bringing it back inhouse was a great thing. We were able to do it in a short amount of time, and I think the town will benefit for years to come.”
It was “a combination of things” that led to Bucchere’s decision to retire. “I went back and forth, but it was the right decision,” he said. “I arrived at it after some discussions with my family. My oldest son is in college at the University of Alabama, and my second son is going to Stevens Institute of Technology in the fall, where he’ll play soccer. My youngest plays lacrosse at Notre Dame High School. I want to be able to spend more time with them and take part in all of that.”
Stoutsburg Sourland Museum
Honors NY Black Yankees
Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM) has announced its 2nd annual partnership with the Somerset Patriots for a fundraising event honoring the legacy of the New York Black Yankees and the Negro Leagues, at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater on Friday, August 30. A special game between the Somerset Patriots (NYY) and the Reading Fightin’ Phils (PHI) will be played.
League Baseball excluded Black athletes due to racist attitudes and structures.
The Somerset Patriots will pay tribute to the Negro Leagues by donning special uniforms commemorating the New York Black Yankees and will feature the SSAAM logo. These unique player-worn jerseys will be available for live auction, with all proceeds supporting SSAAM’s mission of preserving African American history and culture.
—Donald Gilpin
While he will take some time off, Bucchere has no intention of remaining idle. “I have a lot of stamina left. But my next role, whatever it is, will be less stressful for sure,” he said. “I’m putting my family first for a while.”
Bucchere’s last day of work is July 31. He leaves with a deep appreciation of Princeton. “I love this town. I love this department,” he said. “The idea of retiring at a time when I love it as much as I do is so appealing to me. I don’t think everybody gets to do that. I’m leaving with that, and that is special.”
–Anne Levin
SSAAM is Central New Jersey’s only museum telling the local and regional stories of African Americans from the time of the transatlantic slave trade to the present day. The August 30 event honors the history and legacy of the New York Black Yankees, a Negro League baseball team of the 1930s and ’40s. The Negro League teams gave African Americans a path to play professional baseball when the Major
The Somerset Patriots are a supporter of SSAAM’s mission. American baseball was among the first highprofile spaces to integrate Black players. The event provides an opportunity to celebrate the heritage of the Negro Leagues while raising awareness about the importance of preserving African American History. Tickets are $15, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting SSAAM’s mission. Visit bit.ly/ssaam-nyblack-yankees.
BOOKS FOR BOTSWANA: Claire Tang, left, Princeton High School junior and recently appointed World Literacy Foundation youth ambassador, and her classmate Emma Liu stand with boxes of books about to be shipped to a school in Botswana for an African library book drive they helped to organize.
(Photo courtesy of Claire Tang)
Claire
IS ON
ICE Activity
The statement went on to emphasize that ICE agents operate under federal jurisdiction and that local police were not involved and by law are not allowed to interfere with ICE activities. Princeton officials, however, have since reached out to Watson Coleman, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Gov. Phil Murphy’s office, and other state officials to address the issue.
Mayor Mark Freda in a July 16 phone call discussed some of the follow-up measures that he and other local officials were pursuing in order to further investigate what actually happened in the July 10 ICE operation and what might be expected in the future.
Freda has talked with three different ICE representatives: the head of the Newark field office, his deputy, and the person in charge of the team that came to Princeton on July 10.
somebody?’ They said that 99 percent of the time if you are undocumented but you have no criminal record and don’t commit a crime, they are not interested in you. They are not coming to look for you. They don’t care. Only if you’re undocumented or if you have been deported before and come back or if you get involved in some criminal activity that’s when they come looking.”
Freda went on to highlight his message to the community that he reiterated later in the morning of July 16 at a press conference in Hinds Plaza: “We have no involvement with ICE. Our police department does not help them. None of our departments help them.”
Freda noted extensive human services and health department programs to help recent immigrants, whether they are documented or undocumented. “They can totally trust us and come to us for help,” he said. “Some services we can provide and other services we can direct them to.”
that they should be taking advantage of. There’s no basis for that.”
Freda’s comments were echoed by Councilwoman Leticia Fraga, who serves as police commissioner. She expressed outrage at what took place on July 10, but noted an attitude of “us against them” within the town, pitting local officials and organizations against residents, with people being told not to trust the police and not to rely on the Department of Human Services.
“Some of the messaging is doing a disservice to the community that we’re trying to help,” said Fraga. “I’m happy to see our community partners informing our residents about their rights and what they can do to protect themselves,“ but she went on to warn about being confrontational with members of ICE. “People might be putting themselves at risk of being arrested for impeding ICE activity even when they are not the target.”
Freda questioned some of ICE’s tactics in interrogating people and he questioned their pursuit of the second subject. “What I find concerning is that the warrant was a local municipal warrant, not a high-level warrant, not like a federal warrant,” Freda said. “I said, ‘Why is a federal agency worried about carrying out local warrants? That’s the job of the local police. We should be worried about that.’”
During the conversation with ICE Freda noted that he also asked, “‘When will you be back and what is the trigger for you to look at
Councilman Leighton Newlin, speaking to the assembled crowd of about 70 people at the July 16 press conference in Hinds Plaza, issued a plea for unity and trust within the Princeton community.
allianceprinceton.com.
check
JOINT EFFORT
NEIGHBORHOOD AUGUST 2ND - AUGUST 11TH,
“This community has built an infrastructure of human care and human concern around social services,” he said. “When have you ever had a problem of disrespect from a Princeton Police officer?”
us the enemy. We love this town. We were elected to represent you. We love you and we want to protect you. We want no harm to come to you. We are not a part of the federal government. ICE is their own entity.”
New Planning Director for Lawrence Hopewell Trail
Freda went on to note that while there was some like-mindedness in the community’s objections to ICE’s presence in town and the methods they employed, a rift has emerged between some groups and local government organizations like the police and human services. “Some groups that have involved themselves in this matter have been falsely telling the community not to trust the town,” he said. “That serves no real purpose because this deprives a community that’s already challenged of services
ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, AUGUST 2ND | WITHERSPOON JACKSON COMMUNITY DAY
Newlin urged his listeners to work together to help solve the problems highlighted by the July 10 ICE operation. “Don’t make
Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe tsStree Kick-Off Reception & WJ Community Salute to Our Ancestors | -7pm5pm
Location: Studio Hillier, 190 Witherspoon Street
SATURDAY, AUGUST 3RD | RUTH PARKER DAY
He continued, “We are going to search hard and find all the answers to your questions because we too want to know the answers. Don’t listen to anybody who tells you to work against us. We need for you to work with us so we can solve problems together.”
The Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation (LHTC) has announced that Maria Connolly has joined its board of trustees as the representative for Mercer County government.
Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe tsStree Fish Fry and Community Meet & Greet | 1:00pm-7:00pm
Location: Elks Lodge, 124 Birch Avenue
SUNDAY, AUGUST 4TH | DONALD JOHNSON DAY
Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe tsStree Gospel Music Festival | 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: First Baptist Church of Princeton, 30 Green Street
ON PAUL ROBESON AND THE WITHERSPOON JACKSON NEIGHBORHOOD” AUGUST 2ND - AUGUST 11TH, 2024
TUESDAY, AUGUST 6TH | FRANK WELLS DAY
Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe tsStree
Community Discussion on The Future of Princeton | 6:00pm - pm7:30
Location: Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 7th DORIS BURRELL DAY
As far as the possibility of future ICE activity in Princeton, Freda stated that police and government officials were likely to act differently in the future than they had in the past. “We’re probably not going to just stay away to avoid confusion and show that we’re not helping ICE,” he said. “We want to be there. We want to monitor what they‘re doing and make sure they’re not doing things they shouldn’t be doing. We have to change our mindset about how we deal with ICE.”
“Mercer County has always been a good friend of the LHT,” said David Sandahl, LHTC board chair, “and we could not be more pleased to welcome Maria Connolly to our board. She brings the breadth and depth of experience essential to our project’s success.” In addition to her service at the state level, Connolly is currently the vice chair of the Lawrence Township Planning Board and is active with Miriam’s Heart, advocating for reform of the foster care system.
Connolly holds a BA from Rutgers and a master’s degree in planning from the Bloustein School at Rutgers. The American Institute of Certified Planners licenses her; she is a licensed planner in the State of New Jersey.
The LHTC is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization that has guided the development of the 20-mile Lawrence Hopewell Trail since 2002.
Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe tsStree Jim Floyd Memorial Community Discussion on Paul Robeson, Chip isherF Memorial Art Exhibit, Scholarship 5:00pm - 8:00pm (5:00pm Reception - 6:00pm Program)
Location: Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10TH | LAURA WOOTEN DAY Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe Streets Candidate Forum, Panel Discussion on Social Equity And Community Benefits In Princeton | 10:00am-12noon
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10th | LAURA WOOTEN DAY
Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe tsStree
Candidate Forum, Panel Discussion on Social Equity And yCommunit Benefits In Princeton | 10:00am-12noon
Location: First Baptist Church of Princeton, 30 Green Street
Location: First Baptist Church of Princeton, 30 Green Street
Youth Basketball Clinic | 10:00 am -12noon
Location: Princeton Middle School
The municipality notes that the Princeton Human Services Department is available to any resident seeking information about their rights. Their office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and they can be contacted at (609) 688-2055 or by email at humanservices@ princetonnj.gov.
Connolly is the new Mercer County director of planning, succeeding longtime LHTC Trustee Leslie Floyd, who recently retired from county service. Floyd was central to the development of the LHT, particularly in Mercer Meadows Park, which spans Lawrence and Hopewell Townships as part of the 20-mile trail loop.
The LHT loop is nearly complete. Only five incomplete segments of the trail remain, and all are in some stage of development. The goal is to finish the trail by the end of 2026.
(Weather Site - Princeton Middle School, 217 Walnut Ln
Community Block Festival | 1:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: Princeton YMCA Pavilion, 59 Paul Robeson Place
Youth Basketball Clinic | 10:00 am - 12 noon Location: Princeton Middle School 217 Walnut Ln NJM Community Block Festival | 1:00pm - 7:00pm Location: Princeton YMCA Pavilion, 59 Paul Robeson Place Community Meet & Greet | 7:30pm Location: Elks Lodge, 124 Birch
SUNDAY, AUGUST 11th | JOHN YOUNG DAY
Joint Effort Witherspoon Jackson Community Princeton Safe tsStree
Pete Young Sr. Memorial Basketball Games 10:00am-6:00pm
Location: Princeton Middle School, 217 Walnut Ln
Community Meet & Greet | 6:00pm Location: Elks Lodge, 124 Birch Avenue FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT JOHN BAILEY - johnbailey062@gmail.com
Location: Elks Lodge, 124 Birch Avenue
or 720.629.0964
—Donald Gilpin
A resident of Lawrence Township, Connolly said, “I am thrilled to serve as Mercer County’s new planning director and eager to support the LHT’s mission to build and maintain the trail as a treasured community asset.”
Before being appointed to her current position, Connolly was the principal planner for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. She is a professional planner with expertise in master plans, zoning, redevelopment, economic development, GIS, sustainability, transportation, affordable housing, and clean energy.
Advancing its strategy of extending trail options to more people and communities, the LHTC is partnering with Mercer County to study the feasibility of the Johnson Trolley Trail Corridor to connect Princeton, Lawrence, Ewing, Trenton, and the LHT.
VIVE LA FRANCE!: The Alliance Française Princeton enjoyed its annual Bastille Day celebration on July 14 at the Princeton Country Club picnic grounds with a picnic, French conversation, and raffle prizes among the attractions offered. Interested francophiles and francophones are encouraged to
out the Alliance website at
(Photo courtesy of Alliance Francaise Princeton)
Maria Connolly
The views of the letters do not necessarily reflect the views of Town Topics.
Seminary Redevelopment Plan Needs to Be In Best Interests of Town, Environment
To the Editor:
Smart Growth America defines smart growth as “creating homes for families of all income levels alongside one another in locations where daily needs are close by.” We all appreciate and welcome families of all income levels, but the problem with the redevelopment plan for the seminary’s properties is that it does not recognize that this neighborhood is not walkable to any daily needs. For planning purposes, walkable is a term of art, generally accepted as a quarter of a mile. Using that criterion, this location is not walkable to schools, the grocery, the Dinky, a pharmacy, or medical attention.
The town can permit the developer to provide fewer than necessary parking spots (Rutgers researchers found that parking usage at low- and mid-rise apartment communities equates to 1.41 cars per unit whereas the TRW redevelopment requires just 1.1 spaces per unit), but that won’t reduce the need for automobiles. The alternative may be parking on side streets where it is allowed. Worse in all respects would be that residents rely on deliveries by Amazon, UPS, or Grubhub and transportation by Uber, all of which are terrible for the environment, traffic flow, and quality of life.
Walking to town for a latte is great, but it is not a daily need. Most longtime residents acknowledge that the town no longer has the types of stores that residents need for their daily existence — the shoe store, the five and dime, the hardware store — and that is OK. Things change. The truth is that while residents still enjoy going into town to the library or the restaurants, the stores increasingly are aimed at tourists who want to visit a quaint historic college town. And that is OK, too. But we need to be realistic. Any
on
DAVID DEMUTH Armour Road
TRW Should Be Redeveloped Gracefully and Appropriately Without Contributing to UHI
To the Editor:
Climate change is upon us, and New Jersey is the third most impacted state in the U.S., with Princeton among New Jersey’s most affected areas. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect raises our town’s temperatures by 6.3°F to 8°F and, until Princeton takes action, temperatures will only climb. What reduces the UHI effect? Trees. According to American Forests, because cool air settles near the ground, air temperatures directly under trees can be as much as 25°F cooler than air temperatures above a nearby blacktop. When you walk on Nassau, the difference in temperatures between the University side and the business side is palpable.
Last Monday, Princeton Council approved a Green Development Checklist. This detailed checklist is admirable and begins by focusing on the big picture: “Does the development limit disturbed areas by limiting clearing and grading to a carefully described and compact development envelope?”
The resounding answer to this as applied to the proposed TRW redevelopment on Stockton is no. The criteria of “limiting disturbed areas” reveals that this plan does the opposite in every conceivable way. Rather than limiting clearing, it instead clear-cuts the properties entirely. It regrades the property to raise it up higher than neighboring properties and proposes 60-foot buildings, including atop a garage that adds additional height.
The idea of it being a compact development envelope
FLESCH’S ROOFING
is laughable. This “compact envelope” envelopes the entirety of the properties, encroaching in every way on the residential neighborhood, stripping it of privacy and exposing it to a gigantic concrete Urban Heat Island. By definition, a compact development envelope should not detract from the visual or residential appeal of the area. The beauty of Princeton, and this historic neighborhood, is in its viewshed, one defined by old growth trees. The redevelopment plan slaughters all the trees and decimates a beautiful park-like landscape, one that Princeton Theological Seminary itself deemed environmentally sensitive.
It’s also in direct opposition to other important items on the Green Checklist, including fitting well into the existing neighborhood and streetscape. This type of hatchetjob development in an age of global warming, with its overwhelming mass and impermeable surfaces, already feels dated. It will not age well as it dominates and towers over an historic residential area and invades Princeton’s viewscape.
TRW should be redeveloped gracefully and appropriately (including affordable housing) without contributing to the rising Urban Heat Island effect that is plaguing us. It is not smart growth to take a beautiful open space and clear-cut the trees, creating 70 percent new impervious surface (a calculation that excludes the road that will run the entire length of the property).
It is shocking that an ordinance prescribing this massive redevelopment would be introduced on the same day the Green Development Checklist was unanimously passed.
Council has 100 percent control over the approval of this plan. We will learn at the July 22 meeting whether the enthusiastically adopted Green Checklist has meaning or whether residents are being gaslit as temperatures continue to rise.
KAREN
Sharing Concerns About Proposed Seminary Property Redevelopment Plan
To the Editor:
As a concerned 30-plus year Princeton resident, a design professional, a father of two, and a neighbor to the Princeton Seminary, I have reviewed the public information supporting the proposed ordinance and offer the following summary of my concerns over rushing the approval of the Seminary Property Redevelopment Ordinance:
Unique Development: The redevelopment plan includes multifamily dwellings separated by Hibben Road, presenting unique challenges compared to other developments in Princeton.
Shared Spaces: Residents will need access to shared amenities, potentially leading to the addition of a new crosswalk near the existing one at Hibben and Stockton. Traffic Impact: Hibben Road, identified as a local road, already faces excessive cut-through trafic, partly mitigated by speed pillows. New curb cuts for approximately 40 units will significantly increase traffic by over 300 percent.
Safety Concerns: Stockton Street (Route 206) is a heavily trafficked primary arterial. The existing and new crosswalks pose safety risks, particularly because of poor sight lines and heavy truck traffic.
Pedestrian Behavior: Pedestrian behavior may render the new crosswalk ineffective as people often choose the most direct route, even if unsafe, as acknowledged by the Federal Highway Administration.
Vehicular Access: The addition of nearly 200-car garage access off Stockton further increases risks due to numerous vehicular crossings and existing challenges on Hibben and Edgehill roads.
Neighborhood Safety: The development is surrounded by residential zoning, raising concerns about the fit with local context and the overall safety of streets and sidewalks.
Transparency Issues: There has been insufficient community engagement and transparent communication since the initial town meeting last fall. The lack of updates and community discussions on necessary adjustments to the project is concerning.
Density and Traffic: The high proposed unit density will likely exacerbate traffic patterns, negatively impacting neighborhood safety and worsening already ongoing delays.
These points outline significant concerns about the implications of the proposed redevelopment project, emphasizing the need for reconsideration of density, traffic, safety, and community engagement aspects.
I believe further adjustments to the project could significantly reduce the concerns I have identified above. Rushing to approve the ordinance may have profound negative impacts on the future of Princeton.
LEE HAGEN Armour Road
O’CONNELL Hibben Road
Questioning Timing of Council Meeting to Introduce Ordinance for Redevelopment Plan
To the Editor:
On Monday, July 8, the Princeton Council introduced an ordinance to adopt a redevelopment plan for the Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) property on Stockton at Hibben Road. The properties were formerly the home of Tennent-Roberts Halls and Whiteley Gymnasium, late 19th century buildings that were demolished in 2022 in anticipation of a sale to Herring Properties, the contract purchaser. To date, PTS is still the owner of record.
The last open meeting to address the potential redevelopment was held on October 17, 2023, where the group representing Herring Properties presented a plan that included the construction of 238 units on the site, 20 percent of which would be affordable. Several comments from the audience followed the presentation.
Given the considerable opposition from residents of Princeton — first to the demolition of early 19th century buildings, designed by well-known Princeton architect Rolf Bauhan, that had served as a gateway to Princeton for over 100 years, and second to the projected outsized complex envisioned to replace them in a residential neighborhood making up, in part, the Mercer Hill Historic District —one has to wonder about the timing of the Council’s announcement.
Was this controversial project introduced on a summer holiday weekend in an effort to escape the attention of vacationing residents?
0n October 22, 2021, the town’s legal counsel communicated to neighbors that the redevelopment of the TRW properties would be “a collaborative effort among all parties — the town, the neighbors, the contract purchaser, and, as appropriate, PTS .” Despite the good faith efforts of the neighbors to engage the listed parties in dialogue, only Councilman Cohen was willing to meet. The developer did gather with some neighbors in 2022, but he was unwilling to share his plans. PTS rebuffed all attempts to speak with the neighbors about the proposed project.
The timing of the announcement, coupled with the failure of the town to follow the written instructions of its own counsel, signals a breakdown in communication between the leaders of Princeton and many of its constituents on a critically important matter that has been simmering for close to six years.
Residents of Princeton deserve better.
JANE MACLENNAN Edgehill Street
Bayard Rustin Center Shares Gratitude
For Sixth Annual Princeton Pride Event
To the Editor:
During the hottest day of the year, we threw the coolest Pride. Princeton’s Sixth Annual Pride Parade and AfterParty on June 22 was everything our community needed and deserved, a true celebration of queer joy, as meaningful as it was inspirational and fabulous!
Thousands of us marched, sashayed, and rolled through the beautiful Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood on our way to an empowering and entertaining After-Party at the YMCA. We couldn’t have asked for better syncopation for our mobilization than the wonderful Empress Winter Guard! Thank you to Lt. Ben Gering and the entire Princeton Police Department for showing support and keeping us safe, along with Keshon and Mike at the YMCA for so warmly welcoming us to your gorgeous green space. Much love and respect to our Grand Marshal Walter Naegle, Sen. Andrew Zwicker, Mayors Mark Freda (Princeton) and Reed Gusciora (Trenton), Mercer County Executive Dan Benson, Princeton Council members, and trans-activist Miles Gorman for marching with us in solidarity at the Parade and sharing inspirational remarks at the After-Party.
Further kudos to Frank Mahood who organized a strong contingent of Princeton’s first gay rights organization, Gay People Princeton, celebrating their 50th anniversary. Our Queens Miss Stonewall Inn Cissy Walken and ByancaRaye Lovestorm-Prime not only represented in fabulous fashion, but also rocked the house with amazing performances at the After-Party. We were serenaded by the talented Olive Joseph who opened the show and our Pride headliner the jovial Jill Sobule who closed out the program with a fantastic set. Above all else, we want to share our gratitude, love, and respect with the thousands of community members who joined us from across the country to brave the elements and celebrate queer joy! The love and support that each person brought made the day truly incredible.
Princeton’s Pride Parade would not have been the magical day it was without the strong support of community, business, religious leaders, our own extraordinary Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice (BRCSJ) volunteers (over 50 strong!), state and local dignitaries, elected officials, and of course our fire, safety, health, and police departments, who went above and beyond to serve and protect in a truly affirming way. Although the names are too numerous to mention here in print, please know that you helped to create something monumental that will carry on for years to come. Don’t forget to stop by our dedicated LGBTQIA safe space at BRCSJ headquarters on 12 Stockton Street, so we can express our gratitude in person.
In the meanwhile, we invite our entire community to carry forth the message of love, diversity, inclusivity next year, so save the date with a big rainbow heart for Princeton Pride 2025 on Saturday, June 14!
Thanks again to everyone who showed up and glowed up at Pride, and for allowing us to be of service each and every day.
SARA WASSERMAN, PH.D.
Queer Educator and Local Community Organizer Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice Stockton Street
Letters to the Editor Policy
Town Topics welcomes letters to the Editor, preferably on subjects related to Princeton. Letters must have a valid street address (only the street name will be printed with the writer’s name). Priority will be given to letters that are received for publication no later than Monday noon for publication in that week’s Wednesday edition. Letters must be no longer than 500 words and have no more than four signatures.
All letters are subject to editing and to available space.
At least a month’s time must pass before another letter from the same writer can be considered for publication.
Letters are welcome with views about actions, policies, ordinances, events, performances, buildings, etc. However, we will not publish letters that include content that is, or may be perceived as, negative towards local figures, politicians, or political candidates as individuals.
When necessary, letters with negative content may be shared with the person/group in question in order to allow them the courtesy of a response, with the understanding that the communications end there.
Letters to the Editor may be submitted, preferably by email, to editor@towntopics.com, or by post to Town Topics, PO Box 125, Kingston, N.J. 08528. Letters submitted via mail must have a valid signature.
Spotlight on Princeton Hoops In Book on 2023-2024 Season
The Madness of Ivy Basketball (IUniverse, $16.99 softcover) by Richard Kent takes readers through the 2023-2024 basketball season, Ivy Madness, and the NCAA Tournament, with a spotlight on Princeton University.
The book focuses on “all the teams of the Ancient Eight, Xaivian Lee (Princeton’s guard), Caden Pierce (Princeton’s forward), and (Yale’s) Bez Mbeng,” said Kent. “Much is said about the internal turmoil in the Ivy League regarding topics which are impacted by the changing landscape of college athletics, which include, but are not limited to, NIL (name, image, and likeness), unionization and the House case (House vs. NCAA.)”
Hayk Yengibaryan and JP Ohl, who write for the Daily Princetonian, are credited for contributing to the three chapters on the Princeton season. Kent is a sports lawyer in Westport, Conn., who announces Yale games on the radio and has written Roger Federer: Back On Top, Big East Confidential, The Racket, Inside The US Open, Inside Women’s College Basketball, and some books on legal topics.
“It’s a fascinating time in the Ivy League, making it all the more fun and important to peek behind the curtain with these writers,” said Jesse Dougherty, Washington Post writer and author of Buzz Saw: The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series.
Playing the Name Game with Freud, Biden, and Trump
(...what interrupts our concentration as readers may be as telling as the book we are reading: Freud is always making the case for interruption). We make a Freudian slip when we thought we knew what we were saying. We dream beyond the bounds of intelligibility....
—From Becoming Freud
Why Freud and why now?”
That is the question. After a lifetime of relative indifference to most things Freudian, it’s taken the attempted assassination of a former president plus the massive media freakout inspired by the current president’s shabby debate performance and slip-ofthe-tongue doubleheader to send me to Adam Phillips’s Becoming Freud: The Making Of a Psychoanalyst (Yale University Press) and the Gutenberg text of The Psychopathology of Everyday Life translated by A.A. Brill.
Meanwhile we have this week’s “telling” interruption in the form of the All-Star game and the Republican National Convention, held in the aftermath of Saturday’s game-changing event while I’m still gamely trying to find a place in the psychopathology of everyday baseball life for Biden’s Freudian slips. Talking heads on CNN and MSNBC have already begun portraying the president as a veteran pitcher whose late-inning moment has come as the manager walks out to the mound to take the ball and bring in the closer. Except by now everybody knows Biden intends to finish the game and there’s no manager and no closer.
Freud and Baseball
Google “Freud and baseball” and you’ll come up with Randy Newman’s 1977 song “Sigmund Freud’s Impersonation of Albert Einstein in America,” although Freud doesn’t enter until the last verse, which begins with Americans dreaming of Gypsies and “African appendages” and ends with “little boys playing baseball in the rain.” Decades later Newman brings baseball and personal history together in the song “Potholes” from his 2008 LP Harps and Angels wherein he recalls his humiliating collapse during a sandlot ball game: “I used to pitch, I could get the ball over the plate, but anyway this one time ... I walked about fourteen kids in a row, cried, walked off the mound, handed the
ball to the third baseman and just left the field.” Years later the woman who was to become Newman’s second wife meets his father for the first time, Randy leaves the room for a moment, “and when I came back he’s telling her the story about how I walked fourteen kids, cried and left the mound.”
While I’m not suggesting that a boyhood “pothole” is equal to what happened to Biden during the debate, the father’s callous retelling of the anecdote reminds me of the media’s obsessive “retelling” of Biden’s catastrophic inning. If nothing else, all the post-debate flak has given him a narrative: the embattled president soldiering on, head high, in spite of the nagging chorus of “quit, step down, give up for the good of the country” trumpeted incessantly by many of his former supporters and the socalled “newspaper of record.” Although there was a chance that such a narrative might eventually gain traction with the voting public, what happened late Saturday afternoon in Butler, Pa., has provided Trump with a more compelling story of his own.
The T-word
While I carefully avoided using the T-word in reference to Trump’s narrative trumping Biden’s, there’s no getting away from the intrusion of “trumpeted” in the previous paragraph, which is yet another reminder of the July 11 news conference when the president casually referred to Trump as his vice president after saying “Putin” when he meant “Zelensky” earlier the same day.
that his rival’s name has not “the slightest sound similarity” to his own: “From this example, as well as from other cases of interchanging names in speech-blunders, we are reminded of the fact that the speech-blunder can fully forego the facility afforded to it through similar sounds, and can achieve its purpose if only supported in content by concealed relations” — as happened to this writer when “Trump” became “Freud” and to Biden when “Trump” displaced “Harris.”
Freud vs. Music
Trump knows all about such “speechblunders,” as he calls them. I meant to say Freud knows, of course, but I’ll leave my authentic half-slip in place for posterity. And what does Freud himself know?
In The Psychopathology of Everyday Life , he recalls a 1907 International Congress in Amsterdam, where his theories of hysteria were the subject of a “lively discussion.” During a diatribe against him, one of his most violent opponents repeatedly put himself in Freud’s place, saying “Breuer and I” when he meant to say “Breuer and Freud.”
Commenting on his opponent’s awkward slip of the tongue, Freud makes it clear
In the context of the “case for interruption” and going “beyond the bounds of intelligibility,” reading that sample of Freud’s labored prose is like riding a bicycle up a very steep, bumpy hill, and even given the fact that it’s a translation from the German, it accords with biographical evidence that Freud not only had no ear for music but apparently detested it and would actually hold his hands over his ears at the mere sound of it — in Vienna, the city that gave the world Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, and Brahms. Explaining in “The Moses of Michelangelo” (1914) that “with music I am almost incapable of obtaining any pleasure,” Freud says, “Some rationalistic, or perhaps analytic, turn of mind in me rebels against being moved by a thing without knowing why I am thus affected and what it is that affects me.”
Freud in “Babylon Berlin”
Imagine Freud being subjected to the storm of stimuli unleashed in a series like Babylon Berlin, which just began its fourth season on MHz via Amazon Prime. Even as I write I’m hearing “ Zu Asche, zu Staub,” the show’s rousing theme as half-sung, half-chanted in drag by the Russian spy Svetlana Sorokina at the Moka Efti cabaret. Imagine the psychic damage inflicted on Freud by all that sensual period imagery, by a cross-dressing vamp like Sorokina or by a female as girlish, bright, charming and sexually alluring as Charlotte Ritter, who came to mind when I was reading Freud’s response to Sarah Bernhardt as detailed by Adam Phillips in Becoming Freud ; in an 1885 letter from
Paris to his fiancée Martha Bernays, Freud refers to Bernhardt’s “intimate endearing voice” and how “every inch of this little figure was alive and bewitching . . . her caressing and pleading and embracing the postures she assumes, the way she wraps herself around a man.” Bernhardt’s music, of voice and gesture and posture, left the 29-year-old Freud admitting, “I had to pay for this pleasure with an attack of migraine.”
Signing a Martian Put Freud in the mix, and anything can happen, whether you’re talking about the chaos of a political convention or an AllStar game or the signing of a young Martian slugger by the St. Louis Cardinals. “Wait,” says Freud, did you say “Martian?” No, it’s not a slip of the tongue, it’s only that the Cardinals’ top draft pick, J.J. Wetherholt, hails from Mars, Pa., which plays the outer space theme for all its worth, with a flying saucer monument at the heart of town, and little green men in every other shop window. More important in the context of recent events, Mars is located in Butler County only 17 miles from the site of Saturday’s assassination attempt.
The Name Game
I’m grateful to Adam Phillips and Yale University Press for giving back-of-thebook attention to the passage about Freud “always making the case for interruption.” And dreaming “beyond the bounds of intelligibility” could be my epigraph for these weekly articles. Today’s piece might be reimagined as a cosmic quiz show, The Name Game , hosted by Dr. Freud. Will Trump continue trumping, will Biden continued abiding? In respect to the host, there will be no theme music today. As Dr. Freud declared in his introductory lecture on the psychoanalysis of dreams (1915–16): “Tunes that come into one’s head without warning turn out to be determined by and to belong to a train of thought which has a right to occupy one’s mind though without one’s being aware of its activity. It is easy to show then that the relation to the tune is based on its text or its origin. But I must be careful not to extend this assertion to really musical people, of whom, as it happens, I have had no experience.”
—Stuart Mitchner
TPrinceton Summer Theater Succeeds with
“The Last Five Years”; Musical Depicts a
he Last Five Years is an intimate, poignant musical that depicts a married couple’s gradual estrangement.
The story, songs, and script for the mostly sung-through musical are by Jason Robert Brown. The story is inspired by Brown’s first marriage. Brown carefully describes the subject matter of The Last Five Years (2001) as “personal” (rather than “autobiographical”).
A unique narrative device is employed. For the husband, a successful author, events are seen in chronological order, starting just after the couple meets. For the wife, a struggling actress, the story begins after the breakup, moving backward in time.
This concept recalls Merrily We Roll Along, a musical (adapted from a play) that portrays three friends who grow apart, telling their story in reverse chronological order. The Last Five Years takes the idea a step further; by telling the story in both directions, the characters’ timelines are allowed to intersect once, in a central scene.
Brown is the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of musicals such as Parade and The Bridges of Madison County. He is a recent atelier guest artist at the Lewis Center for the Arts.
The Last Five Years played off-Broadway in 2002, winning accolades that include several Drama Desk Awards (among them Outstanding Music and Lyrics). A 2013 OffBroadway Revival was followed by a 2014 film.
Princeton Summer Theater is continuing its season with The Last Five Years. Eliyana Abraham directs an insightful, polished production that develops multiple themes in the musical, while showcasing the considerable talents of the professional cast members, both of whom (along with Abraham) are Princeton University graduates.
As the show begins we see Cathy Hiatt (portrayed by Kate Short) playing the piano, before she moves away from it to deliver the opening number (“Still Hurting”). The piano piece, the melody of which will be important later, is a waltz that suggests antiquity — the audio equivalent of perusing an old photograph.
Unhealthy aspects of the characters’ relationship are laid bare in the first two songs. The first three lines of “Still Hurting” invoke Jamie’s name (“Jamie’s decided it’s time to move on”), establishing that his needs have consistently taken priority.
Maintaining a connection to the waltz motif, the song is in triple meter, whereas Jamie’s introductory song is in duple. The music emphasizes that right from the start, the two protagonists are not speaking the same language.
In sharp contrast to Cathy’s bitter lament, Jamie Wellerstein (Julien Alam) is introduced via “Shiksa Goddess,” a bombastic, flippant number in which Jamie revels in dating a woman who does not share his Jewish
Couple’s
Breakup Through Unique Viewpoints
heritage, incurring his family’s disapproval. It amuses him to announce, “I’m breaking my mother’s heart.”
Hayley Garcia Parnell’s lighting further contrasts the amount of attention (professional and personal) the ex-partners receive. Jamie often is bathed in a conspicuously bright set of spotlights, whereas the illumination for Cathy is comparatively dim.
A capable tenor, Alam infuses his songs with a mixture of bravado and debonair sincerity. His performance is marked by consistent eye contact with several members of the audience, as well as the flamboyant smoothness with which he moves around the stage.
Short brings multiple musical talents. In addition to a pleasing mezzo-soprano with which she punctuates key phrases with an attractive vibrato, Short also brings skill as a guitarist, which she periodically uses to accompany herself.
Most of the songs are accompanied by a well-blended three-piece band. Music Director Asher Muldoon skillfully conducts, and also serves as the keyboardist. Muldoon is joined by Natalie O’Leary on violin and Faith Wangermann on cello. (Sound Designer Alyssa Gil-Pujols contributes to the successful balance between the voices and the band.)
Wangermann also provides the graceful
choreography for a waltz — a restatement of the melody that opens the musical — that follows the central duet, “The Next Ten Minutes.” In the preceding sequence Jamie proposes, and the couple is married. This scene is the fulcrum of the show, and a rare moment in which the pair interacts.
This rare segment, in which the couple is truly together, is underscored by Costume Designer Bex Jones. Jamie with a white shirt to match Cathy’s wedding dress. The lighting is dimmed enough so that little is visible except for the couple; in this moment only, all of the focus points to them as a unit. The sequence yields an exquisite tableau.
Except for this central scene and a brief segment at the end, Cathy and Jamie rarely interact, even when they are in close physical proximity to one another. Even when Jamie has dialogue or lyrics addressed to Cathy, he often delivers them to an empty chair.
That the distance between the protagonists is physical as well as emotional — Cathy spends a lot of time in Ohio, while Jamie is in New York — is reinforced by Abraham in tandem with Set Designer Yoshi Tanokura.
The characters often are at opposite ends of the stage, with a drawing that represents their current city behind them. Center stage is a brick wall, festively adorned with
“THE LAST FIVE YEARS”: Performances are underway for Princeton Summer Theater’s production of “The Last Five Years.” Written and composed by Jason Robert Brown and directed by Eliyana Abraham, the musical runs through July 21 at Princeton University’s Hamilton Murray Theater. Above: Events leading to the estrangement between Cathy Hiatt (Kate Short) and Jamie Wellerstein (Julien Alam) are told from dual perspectives — Jamie’s story is told in chronological order, while Cathy’s tale moves backward in time. (Pho to by John Venegas Juarez)
“The Last Five Years” will play at the Hamilton Murray Theater in Murray Dodge Hall, Princeton University, through July 21. For tickets, show times, and further information visit princetonsummertheater.org/the-last-five-years.
holiday lights, suggesting the couple’s apartment. Several clocks abstractly hang in the background.
Beyond the shared concept with Merrily We Roll Along, there are shades of a few other musicals. A brief sequence in which Cathy wears a red sweater and remarks, “It makes me look like Daisy Mae” recalls Li’l Abner (1956), a musical adaptation of the comic strip.
Cathy’s later song “Climbing Uphill” is an audition sequence that evokes A Chorus Line (especially when Cathy displays her headshot). The audition song within that number is one of the score’s few overt pastiches. Short stands out in this number, letting Cathy’s determination give way to steadily rising frustration and desperation. On a deeper thematic level, The Last Five Years recalls musicals from just before and after the year 2000 (particularly Rent ): an obsession with time. Brown contemplates this elsewhere, in another married couple’s anguished duet “All the Wasted Time” from Parade, which precedes this show by three years.
In “The Schmuel Song,” a fable that Jamie sings to Cathy (providing a fine showpiece for Alam), we learn the reason for the ubiquitous clocks in the background: the fable concerns a tailor who is promised “unlimited time” by a glowing, talking clock. In “The Next Ten Minutes,” Cathy offers,” Anything other than being exactly on time I can do.” Abraham takes cues from the lyrics in guiding the actors’ movements. Alam smoothly glides around the stage in several swift, lengthy strides at a time, befiting the character’s restless determination to accomplish as much (in as little time) as possible; Jamie literally takes up most of the space. By contrast, Short lets Cathy be more stepwise and deliberate, her motions slightly sharper.
Despite this show’s inception as a personal reflection on a painful time in its writer’s life, and its development during a specific era of musical theater, seeing it allows us to contemplate the timelessness of its themes. It is a warning to treasure the finite stretches of “10 minutes” available to us.
In a program note Abraham writes that she is excited by the show’s “exploration of time, space, and proximity as it exists in a marriage, and how these things change as relationships change.” What makes this production successful is the extent to which Abraham is able to develop these concepts in the staging of the piece.
Therecent production of Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy promised that this would be one of Princeton Summer Theater’s strongest seasons. With The Last Five Years, that promise is fulfilled.
—Donald H. Sanborn
III
Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts
Presents Chamber Ensemble of Established Soloists
Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts continued its 2024 season this past week with a presentation by three instrumentalists who have put their collective talents together to create an exciting new experience for their audiences. Violinist Friedemann Eichorn, cellist Peter Hörr, and pianist Florian Uhlig each have had successful international solo careers and have joined forces in the past five years to explore chamber repertory as the Phaeton Piano Trio. Named for a mythological character but performing with solid downto-earth musicianship, the Trio came to Richardson Auditorium last Monday night for an evening of Franz Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, and Antonin Dvorák. The ensemble may be relatively new, but its playing style is rooted in centuries-old performance practice and interpretation of the classics.
Haydn’s Trio in C Major dates from a high point in the piano trio genre, in which each instrument was evolving with its own independent voice. In this Trio, Haydn combined a deliberately virtuosic keyboard part with string accompaniment composed with amateur players in mind. Pianist Uhlig was clearly a star of this piece, never missing a moment of the nonstop piano flow while violinist Eichhorn and cellist Hörr added emphasis, color, and delicacy. Uhlig successfully brought out Haydn’s complex and skillful piano writing, often overshadowed in past centuries in favor of Mozart. In particular, the Phaeton Trio created musical suspense in the second movement “Andante,” with each player taking his time with solo lines. The Trio ended movements gracefully and always with an element of elegance, even when the mood was forceful.
Mendelssohn took the trio genre a step further by scoring each instrument with his trademark Romantic melodies, while insisting on the highest proficiency from those performing his music. In the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Trio No. 1 in D minor, the Phaeton players showed a great deal of emotional range, with rich passages from the cello against Uhlig’s rolling piano accompaniment. Eichhorn played especially dramatically in the first movement, and the Trio members
effectively executed a technically demanding coda. The second movement “Andante” featured Eichhorn and Hörr in duet against a songlike piano part, with Eichhorn providing a sweet violin line. All three players demonstrated lithe technique in the third movement “Scherzo,” skipping nimbly across both keyboard and strings reminiscent of Mendelssohn’s “fairie music” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Much of Antonin Dvorák’s music is rooted in his native Bohemia, with folk dance forms and harmonic patterns appearing throughout his repertoire. Dvorák’s Trio No. 4 in E Minor incorporated the Slavic “dumka,” a form of epic pensive ballad.
The plural “dumky” came to signify a sorrowful instrumental work followed by an energetic furiant dance, and to Dvorák, the term represented a blend of melancholy and joyful elements in one piece.
The six movements of Trio No. 4 showed this folk tradition in a variety of ways.
The first three and final movements of Dvorák’s Trio alternated somber and lively characters, with the fourth and fifth movements creating a “dumka” together.
In Monday night’s performance, the opening “Lento maestoso” featured improvisatory passages from violinist Eichhorn and cellist Hörr, followed by a rollicking and cheerful close with impressionistic playing from pianist Uhlig. Hörr’s reverent cello lines brought the second “dumka” to life, against a contrasting dance section. As Dvorák’s work progressed, the Trio easily maneuvered between almost funereal and lyrical textures, accompanied by cascading piano scales. Thematic material was shared equally among the players, ranging from a single unassuming piano melody from Uhlig to Hörr’s elegant cello solos.
The overall palette was lush at times, with the most tuneful music saved for the final “dumka.” In this closing movement, the Phaeton Piano Trio uniformly toyed with tempos, drawing out a slow introduction to emphasize a fast, whirling dervish section, and concluding the concert in a swirl of high-speed and exciting playing.
—Nancy Plum
The Federation of the Art Song
EASY BREEZY AFTERNOON CONCERT Upcoming Event
Saturday August 31, 2024 at 3:30 pm
Fourth Annual Labor Day Concert and “reception in a bag”
We are thrilled to announce the FAS’ Labor Day Concert is now in its fourth year! This wonderful event brings together our dedicated Board Members and Special Guests for a delightful afternoon of song in a picturesque garden setting in Princeton. Please join us for this intimate gathering which has proven to be a most memorable event.
A portion of this year’s concert is in celebration of the memory of our colleague, mentor and friend, Paul Sperry.
Performing Arts
SUMMER OPERA: New Jersey Lyric Opera returns to Kelsey Theatre for the Summer Opera Festival July 26-28, opening with the Verdi classic “Rigoletto.”
New Jersey Lyric Opera Returns to Kelsey Theatre
New Jersey Lyric Opera (NJLO) performs at Mercer County Community College’s Kelsey Theatre for a second year with a weekend of opera favorites on MCCC’s West Windsor Campus, July 26-28, during the Summer Opera Festival. The weekend includes the presentation of three operas, plus the Gala Spectacular, a showcase of opera favorites.
The opera weekend kicks off with Rigoletto (Friday, July 26, 7:30 p.m.), the tragic story of the unprincipled Duke of Mantua, his hunchbacked court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda. It’s a cautionary tale of love and jealousy, with famous melodies La donna è mobile and Caro Nome . The performance stars Christopher Connelly, Amanda Simms, and John Villemaire.
Next is the Puccini opera Tosca (Saturday, July
27, 2 p.m.), the tale of a famous singer who tries to save her love from a corrupt government and police chief. Soprano Stacey Canterbury, tenor Nikhil Krushna, and baritone Chris Drago Fistonich star.
The Gala Spectacular (Saturday, July 27, 7:30 p.m.) features a program with live, on-stage performances including opera favorites “The Pearlfisher Duet,” “The Queen of the Night,” “Nessun Dorma,” “Pilgrim Chorus,” and the Ghost Scene from Don Giovanni, all paired with rare opera gems. Bass Timothy Kjer, mezzo Brittany Griffith, and soprano Emily Woodruff return from last year’s La Traviata .
The Summer Opera Festival concludes with Elixir of Love (Sunday, July 28, 2 p.m.), a romantic comedy set in a modern day shopping mall. Sebastian Armendariz, Izaya Perrier, Robert Flora, Natalie Pica,
and Theresa Carlomagno perform.
Tickets start at $25. Visit Kelseytheatre.org. The theatre is on the campus of Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor.
Rider University Presents Several Musical Events
Westminster Choir College of Rider University is presenting a variety of musical events this summer at locations on the Lawrence Township campus.
On Wednesday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m., CoOPERAtive presents “L’heure exquise,” showcasing a variety of vocal works spanning different composers and styles. The performers are from the 2024 CoOPERAtive Program. The presentation is in Gill Chapel. The program presents “Serenades, Seductions, Rage & Revelations” on Thursday, July 18 at 7:30 p.m., also at Gill Chapel. Opera arias will be performed.
CoOPERAtive presents “Captivating Voices Throughout Time” on Friday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Gill Chapel. Opera scenes spanning the 1700s through modern day are on the program.
Also on Friday, July 19, the Musical Theatre Institute Showcase will feature participants in the summer training program in acting and musical theater. That performance is at 6 p.m. in the Yvonne Theatre.
Admission is free to these performances. Visit Rider. edu for more information.
“Hamlet” Unabridged In Staged Reading
On Saturday, July 20 from 1-4:30 p.m., Princeton Public Library will present a staged reading of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the library’s Community Room. Actors will read the entire play aloud at this performance, which will include an introduction and two intermissions.
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark tells the story of the murder of Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, and the “over-hasty” marriage between the prince’s mother and uncle. Prince
Hamlet’s determination to seek justice for the murder and the consequences that befall him are at the heart of this most renowned of Shakespeare’s plays.
The production will run for 3.5 hours as the actors read the original play in its entirety. Audience members are invited to read along by bringing their own unabridged version or by accessing the online version at a link from the Folger Shakespeare Library. The director, Christopher Osander, will introduce the play. Osander also plays the role of Hamlet.
Visit princetonlibrary.org for more information. The library is at 65 Witherspoon Street.
Phillips’ Mill Presents Premiere Showcase “The Half of It” Drama at Phillips’ Mill presents The Half of It , a new play written by Domenick Scudera and directed by Griffin Horn, as this year’s Premiere Showcase production. An original, fully developed, never-beforeperformed play, The Half of It runs July 18-20 at 7 p.m. with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday, July 21.
The Half of It is a new biographical drama based on the life of Bert Savoy, one of Broadway’s first major drag performers. The story is retold by his partner, Jay Brennan, years after Bert’s death. As Jay explores his memories of Bert, he pulls back the curtain on the dazzling life they lived together — traveling the Vaudeville circuit, advising would-be celebrities backstage, playing the press against itself, dodging their exes, discovering new ambitions as performers and falling in love along the way.
“The play highlights the groundbreaking and inspirational work of this artist while shining a light on the origins of contemporary drag performance and the LGBTQ+ community in the early part of the 20th century,” said Scudera. “I am a proud and vocal member of the LGBTQ+ community. I am hopeful that The Half of It will allow audiences to learn more about our community’s history and to
Visit Mccarter.org or STNJ.org.
learn from the lessons of our past.”
Playwright, director, and performer Scudera has a BA from Colgate University and an MFA from Penn State. He is a professor at Ursinus College where he co-founded the Department of Theater and Dance and served as its chair. Born from Scudera’s artistic and academic passions, The Half of It revives Vaudeville routines used by Savoy throughout the play. Scudera was a winner in the 2023 Phillips’ Mill Emerging Playwright Competition.
Horn, a New Hope native, has been working with Phillips’ Mill for over a year as the Mill’s theater resident, directing the 2023 Premiere Showcase Voices! by Joy Nash, working as a master of ceremonies for the Emerging Playwright Competition and the student playwriting competition, Play With Words. In December, he staged Promises to Keep: A Yuletide Ceremony, an adaptation of Victorian ghost stories. Horn has a BA in drama from Kenyon College and an MFA in playwriting from Temple University. He was a finalist for the Terrence McNally Award and is an alumnus of PlayPenn’s The Foundry and
the Playwrights Cohort.
A bonus for playgoers is an accompanying exhibition of 12 paintings of New Hope drag queen celebrities by Bucks County artist Dot Bunn. One of the paintings is of Summer Clearance, Scudera’s drag persona.
The Half of It continues the Mill’s commitment to new work, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, when many theaters — especially theaters devoted to new work — closed. “New play development has taken a big hit since the pandemic,” commented Horn. “The fact that both Phillips’ Mill and its audiences are stepping up and making space for new plays and new playwrights is a genuine act of courage. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
Tickets are $25 for members and $30 general admission. Opening night tickets are $40 for members and $45 general admission and include a post-performance reception with wine and hors d’oeuvres. For tickets, visit phillipsmill.org.
Phillips’ Mill Community Association is located at 2619 River Road in New Hope, Pa. For more information, call (215) 862-0582.
CHRISTMAS IN JULY: “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” at the State Theatre in New Brunswick is among the productions coming to area theaters during the winter holidays. Special offers are available for discounted tickets in advance to see “The Muppet Christmas Carol with New Jersey Symphony,” “The Nutcracker,” “An Evening with Chevy Chase” following a screening of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” and “A Magical Cirque Christmas,” all at the State Theatre, as well as “A Christmas Carol” at McCarter Theatre.
Winners Announced for 2024 LHT Photo Contest
The Lawrence Hopewell Trail (LHT) Corporation has announced the winners of its 2024 photo contest. Many photos were submitted in two categories, Nature and People.
The winner in the Nature category is Samuel Vovsi of Princeton for his photo of the sun shining behind the Brearley Oak on the Princeton Pike. The winner in the
People category is Anthony Plisko of Lawrenceville for his photo of a person enjoying Rosedale Lake. All the submissions can be viewed on the LHT website at lhtrail.org/trail-pics-andvideos.
The winners will each receive free registration for the ninth annual LHT Full Moon Bike Ride on September 14, which begins in Rosedale Park at 7:30 p.m. For more information on the
Full Moon Bike Ride, visit lhtrail.org/annual-fullmoonride.
Learn more about the Lawrence Hopewell Trail at LHTrail.org.
HV Arts Council Awards Annual Student Scholarships
The Hopewell Valley Arts Council has awarded its annual scholarships to two Hopewell Valley Central High School 2024 graduating seniors: Rose Andreski and Jacob Brown.
“This year is particularly special as we celebrate our 10th anniversary,” said HV Arts Council Board President Carol Lipson. “These scholarships are a critical part of our mission in encouraging creativity in the Hopewell Valley community and fostering a lifelong participation in the arts,”
Scholarship winners were those who illustrated substantial talent and deep interest in their selected area of study, and a commitment to further their education in any aspect of the arts, including fine arts, performing arts, culinary arts, literary arts, or other forms of creative expression.
Andreski, a dancer, said, “Dance has always been an integral part of my life and a core component of who I am today. From a very young age, I saw dance as not only enjoyment but an outlet for my creativity, freedom of expression, and eagerness to explore different styles.”
Starting ballet at 6 years old at Danceworks in Pennington, Andreski expanded into various styles including jazz, hip-hop, tap, lyrical, and acrobatics. Her dedication earned her recognition
from Hopewell Valley Central High School’s faculty for outstanding achievement and service in dance. She was also accepted into the school’s Performing Arts Academy, choreographing and performing her own dances.
Beyond the stage, her love of dance extends into science and history, blending her studies in human anatomy and physiology with her dance research. Andreski plans to major in dance and psychology in college to continue her passion and knowledge expansion.
Brown, an actor, said, “This past year, I was involved in a production where I needed to dress up in a mermaid costume with a pumpkin bra and dance in front of hundreds of people.
The year prior, I had to stand atop a rolling table and sing about corporate hacks and quid pro quo. People asked me if I was nervous or embarrassed, and my answer was always ‘No.’ The confidence I acquired from those productions and others has helped me become extremely comfortable with myself and who I am as a person.”
Brown’s involvement in theater has built a concrete foundation of confi dence for him, enabling him to help others with various challenges, from acting coaching to personal advice. He plans to pursue a BFA in acting at the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts, aiming to connect deeply with others and make a positive impact, regardless of where his career in the arts takes him.
As the HV Arts Council celebrates its 10th anniversary, it continues to promote the importance of art in the everyday and encourage the creative endeavors of the community. The HV Arts Council also thanks Artworks Trenton for their contribution to this scholarship fund and for their shared mission of promoting local artists. For more information, visit hvartscouncil.org.
TOWN TOPICS
is printed entirely on recycled paper.
“PRINCETON PIKE OAK”: This photograph by Samuel Vovsi of Princeton was tops in the Nature category in this year’s Lawrence Hopewell Trail Photo Contest.
“ROSEDALE”: Anthony Plisko of Lawrenceville was the winner in the People category of the 2024 Lawrence Hopewell Trail Photo Contest.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS: Hopewell Valley Central High School 2024 graduating seniors Rose Andreski and Jacob Brown were recently awarded scholarships by the Hopewell Valley Arts Council.
(Photos courtesy of Hopewell Valley Arts Council)
“LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK”: Travel photography by Jeffrey Edward Tryon, Town Topics art director, is featured in the Red Barn at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road, through August 31. A meet the artist event is on Saturday, June 20 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The exhibit also features work by Kevin Frankenfield Photography and Joseph F. Hendrickson.
Zimmerli Chief Curator
Donna
Gustafson to Retire
The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University—New Brunswick has extended its gratitude and congratulations to Chief Curator Donna Gustafson, who will retire on September 1. During her nearly two decades of service to the museum and the university, Gustafson’s forward-thinking contributions to the Zimmerli reach far beyond the art and exhibitions that she put on display.
“I have enjoyed my work at the Zimmerli with my colleagues at the museum, the university, and especially the students at Rutgers who challenge us all to think differently and expansively,” said Gustafson, chief curator since 2022. “My departure is bittersweet, but I am looking forward to having time to work on projects that I have long put on hold.”
Gustafson embarked on her career at Rutgers University–New Brunswick in 2006, teaching an array of humanities courses. In 2011, she joined the Zimmerli as curator of American art and Mellon Director for Academic Programs. In the latter role, she led the next generation of museum workers, providing academic guidance and hands-on experience to students in the classroom and the galleries.
Gustafson curated more than 20 exhibitions that informed and inspired a broad range of audiences. She presented new perspectives of work by key artists in the Zimmerli’s collections, including “At/ around/beyond: Fluxus at Rutgers”; “Polymorphic Sculpture: Leo Amino’s Experiments in Three Dimensions”; and “ George Segal: Themes and Variations.” Gustafson also introduced artists through their first museum exhibitions, including “Jesse Krimes: Apokaluptein 16389067” and (Rutgers alumnus) “Alonzo Adams: A Griot’s Vision.” In addition, she collaborated with Rutgers colleagues to explore cross-disciplinary concepts of such subjects as “Water” (with Zimmerli curators); “Striking Resemblance: The Changing Art of Portraiture” (with Susan Sidlauskas in art history); “Subjective Objective: A Century of Social Documentary Photography” (with
Andres Zervigon in art history); and “Angela Davis: Seize the Time” (with Gerry Beegan at Mason Gross), which traveled to the Oakland Museum of California. Gustafson also served as interim director from 2020 to 2022, following the death of director Tom Sokolowski. She Gustafson holds a Ph.D. in art history from Rutgers University. Prior to joining Rutgers, she held curatorial positions at the Hunterdon Museum of Art in Clinton, the American Federation of Arts in New York City, and was an independent curator and scholar.
The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers is located at 71 Hamilton Street (at George Street) in New Brunswick. For more information, visit zimmerli.rutgers.edu.
Area Exhibits
Art@Bainbridge, 158 Nassau Street, has “Denison Baniwa: Under the Skin of History” through September 1. Artmuseum.princeton.edu.
Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, has “Captured Moments” through August 4. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lambertvillearts.com.
Art on Hulfish, 11 Hulfish Street, has “Don’t we touch each other just to prove we are still here?: Photography and Touch” through August 4. Artmuseum.princeton.edu.
Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, has “All Shapes, Colors, and Forms (Todas Las Figuras, Colores, y Formas)” created by Princeton Youth Achievers students, through July 23 and “Witherspoon-Jackson Gateway Exhibition” through September 1. Artscouncilofprinceton.org.
D&R Greenway Land Trust, 1 Preservation Place, has “Along the Delaware River & Crosswicks Creek” in the Johnson Education Center through September 27. Drgreenway.org.
David Scott Gallery, in the offices of Berkshire Hathaway, 253 Nassau Street,
AT
This egg tempera work by
a.m. to 4 p.m.
has “Harmonies,” a solo exhibition of paintings by Aida Birritteri, through August 18. For more information, email davidscottfineart@gmail.com.
Ficus Bon Vivant, 235 Nassau Street, has “Capture the Rhythm” through January 12. Ficusbv.com.
Green Building Center, 67 Bridge Street, Lambertville, has an art show by the MUGA Group through December 31. Greenbuildingcenter.com.
Gourgaud Gallery, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, has an exhibit by the Creative Collective Art Group through August 29. Cranburyartscouncil.org.
Grounds For Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, has “Philotechnic Transformation” through August 25, “Slow Motion” through September 1, and “That’s Worth Celebrating: The Life and Work of the Johnson Family” through the end of 2024, among other exhibits. Groundsforsculpture.org.
Historical Society of Princeton, Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road, has “Princeton Reflected: Stories from HSP’s Collection” and “Einstein Salon and Innovator’s Gallery.” Museum hours are Thursday through Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m. Princetonhistory.org
Michener Art Museum, 138 South Pine Street, Doylestown, Pa., has “George R. Anthonisen: Meditations on the Human Condition” through October 13 and “Monuments and Myths: The American Sculptors Augustus SaintGaudens and Daniel Chester French” through January 5. Michenerartmuseum.org.
Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, has “Morven Revealed: Untold Stories from New Jersey’s Most Historic Home,” through March 2. Morven.org.
New Hope Arts, 2 Stockton Avenue, New Hope, Pa., has “Structures and Constructions in Fiber” through August 18. Newhopearts.org.
Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, has “Whispers of Time: Exploring Select Iranian Architectural Gems” in the Reading Room through July 21. Princetonlibrary.org.
Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, has photography by Qasim Zia through August 6. Paintings by Sylvia Hemenetz are at the 254 Nassau Street location through August 6. Smallworldcoffee.com.
Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road, has travel photography by Jeffrey Edward Tryon, Town Topics art director, along with work by Kevin Frankenfield Photography and Joseph F. Hendrickson in the Red Barn through August 31. A meet the artist event is on Saturday, June 20 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Terhuneorchards.com.
Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Cadwalader Park, Trenton, has “Ellarslie
Open 41” through September 29. Ellarslie.org.
West Windsor Arts, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor, has “Throwback Summer” through September 7. An opening reception is on Friday, July 19 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Westwindsorarts.org.
Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, 71 George Street, New Brunswick, has “George Segal: Themes and Variations” through July 31 and “Michelle V. Agins: Storyteller” through December 8. Zimmerli. rutgers.edu.
summer film series
“THE DELAWARE RIVER
PRALLSVILLE”:
Jeff Gola is featured in “Along the Delaware River & Crosswicks Creek,” a group art exhibition on view at D&R Greenway’s Johnson Education Center, 1 Preservation Place, through September 27. The exhibition is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 10
Town Topics | Mark Your Calendar
Wednesday, July 17
11 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.: Summer Cream Tea service with The Secret Tea Room at Morven, 55 Stockton Street. Includes an optional tour of the museum with a docent. Morven.org.
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m : “Leighton Listens.” Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin is on hand to discuss current events with members of the public at Ficus restaurant, 235A Nassau Street.
2 p.m .: The movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople is screened at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Free. New Zealand adventure comedy-drama. Princetonlibrary.org.
6 p.m.: Princeton Public Library’s Board of Trustees meets at the library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibrary.org.
Thursday, July 18
10 a.m.-3 p.m . : Princeton Farmers Market is at Hinds Plaza. More than 30 vendors with local organic produce, pasture-raised meat and eggs, cheeses, fresh flowers, knife-sharpening, jewelry, and more. Live music. SNAP/EBT cards and matches accepted up to $10 a day. Princetonfarmersmarket.com.
11 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.: Summer Cream Tea service with The Secret Tea Room at Morven, 55 Stockton Street. Includes and optional tour of the museum with a docent. Morven.org.
5:30 p.m .: Artist conversation between photographers Jeff Mermelstein and Clifford Prince King at Art on Hulfish, 11 Hulfish Street, or streamed live. Moderated by Janna Israel; reception to follow. Artmuseum.princeton.edu.
6 p.m : Kindred Spirit performs at the Summer Concert Series on the Green at Princeton Shopping Center, North Harrison Street. Free. Princetonshoppingcenter.com.
6-8 p.m.: Dueling Piano Nights on the Green at Palmer Square. Palmersquare.com
6:30-7:30 p.m .: The trio Rhythm N’ Sound performs at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of Mercer County Library System, 2751 Brunswick Pike. Music from the ’40s-’80s. Free; advance registration appreciated at mcl.org.
7:30 p.m .: Art Talk on Zoom: Iranian Architectural Gems. Farzaneh Tahmasbi discusses the exhibit “Whispers of Time: Exploring Select Iranian Architectural Gems” currently on display at Princeton Public Library. Register at princetonlibrary. org.
8 p.m .: Princeton Summer Theater presents The Last Five Years , a musical, at Hamilton Murray Theater of the Princeton University campus. $35. Princetonsummertheater.org/tickets.
Friday, July 19
5-8 p.m.: Sunset Sips & Sounds at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Winery and Barn Door Café are open. Music by Mark Miklos. Terhuneorchards. com.
7-8:30 p.m . West Windsor Arts holds an opening reception for “Throwback Summer,” an exhibition about summers past. Food, drinks, and activities. Free. At 952 Alexander Road. Westwindsorarts.org.
8 p.m .: Princeton Summer Theater presents The Last Five Years , a musical, at Hamilton Murray Theater of the Princeton University campus. $35. Princetonsummertheater.org/tickets.
7-8 p.m .: Drum Circle hosted by the Cranbury Arts Council, at Cranbury Barn Park, 3 Cranbury Neck Road. Led by musicians from Stibo Music. Register at cranburyartscouncil.org.
SUMMER BOUNTY!
Saturday, July 20
9 a.m.-1 p.m.: West Windsor Farmers Market at Vaughn lot, Princeton Junction train station. Fresh produce and much more. Wwcfm.org.
10 a.m .: Mid-Day Toastmasters meets at the Hickory Corner Library, 138 Hickory Corner Road, East Windsor. Also available via Zoom. 4139.toastmastersclubs.org.
9-11 a.m . and 12-2 p.m .: Land stewardship volunteer event at Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve, Mountain Avenue. Help Friends of Princeton Open Space clear invasive species and tackle other projects in forest and riparian restoration sites. Fopos.org.
1 p.m .: Staged reading of Hamlet (unabridged) at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibary.org.
2-5 p.m .: Winery Weekend Music Series at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Music by Brian Bortnick. Light fare available; farm store is open. Terhuneorchards.com.
2 and 8 p.m .: Princeton Summer Theater presents The Last Five Years , a musical, at Hamilton Murray Theater of the Princeton University campus. $35. Princetonsummertheater. org/tickets.
7 p.m .: Blue Curtain presents Nanny and Dani Asiss performing Brazilian jazz, at the Princeton High School Performing Arts Center, Franklin Avenue and Walnut Lane. The Ampersand Jazz Quartet, featuring Princeton High School graduate, bassist Kai Gibson, opens the concert. Email info@bluecurtain.org for information.
8 p.m .: New Scores: The Cone Composition Institute Concert, at Richardson Auditorium. The New Jersey Symphony performs works by four emerging composers at this program hosted by Steven Mackey and conducted by Christopher Rountree. $20.
Princetonsymphony.org.
Sunday, July 21
11 a.m.-4 p.m .: Summer Market in the courtyard, Princeton Shopping Center, North Harrison Street. Unique maker’s market.
1 p.m .: Carillon concert by James Ratcliffe at the Princeton University Graduate Tower; listen from the lawn outside. Free, held rain or shine. Gradschool. princeton.edu.
1-5 p.m .: Courthouse Quilters Guild of Flemington holds an afternoon of Christmas stocking creations followed by an evening program featuring members’ skills from 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Hunterdon County Complex, building 1, Flemington. Free. Courthousequilters. org.
2 p.m .: Princeton Summer Theater presents The Last Five Years , a musical, at Hamilton Murray Theater of the Princeton University campus. $35. Princetonsummertheater.org/tickets.
2-5 p.m .: Winery Weekend Music Series at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Music by Mike and Laura. Light fare available; farm store is open. Terhuneorchards.com.
2-5 p.m.: Central Jersey Conservative Union hosts the 15th annual family picnic at Montgomery Veterans Park, 235 Harlingen Road, Belle Mead. Speakers are Douglas Frank on “What’s Wrong with Our Elections,” and Mark Demo on “Mercer County 2022 Voting Machine Crash.” Suggested $20 donation. Bring covered side dish or salad to share. Cjcu-nj.org.
4 p.m.: Gathering in solidarity with the October 7 hostages, and a call for their release. Organized by a grassroots group of Israelis in Princeton. At Hinds Plaza.
7 p.m .: Dancing Under the Stars, on Hinds Plaza, with members of Central Jersey Dance demonstrating basic steps and leading others. Princetonlibrary.org.
Monday, July 22
8:30-9:30 p.m .: Evening moth survey at Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve, presented by Friends of Princeton Open Space. Education presentation followed by a hands-on activity logging biodiversity data. Fopos.org.
Tuesday, July 23
9:30 and 11 a.m .: Read & Pick: Peaches. At Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Hands-on activity with stories; everyone picks their own peaches to take home. $12. Terhuneorchards.com.
6-8:30 p.m .: BYOB Block-Printed Tea Towels, at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street. Learn how to carve, ink, and print a linoleum block onto a set of cotton tea towels. Bring your own wine and beer. $55. Artscouncilofprinceton.org.
Wednesday, July 24 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m .: “Leighton Listens.” Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin is on hand to discuss current events with members of the public at Godfrey Fitzgerald Salon, 15 Witherspoon Street.
2 p.m.: The movie North by Northwest is screened at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Free. Princetonlibrary.org.
Thursday, July 25
10 a.m.-3 p.m .: Princeton Farmers Market is at Hinds Plaza. More than 30 vendors with local organic produce, pasture-raised meat and eggs, cheeses, fresh flowers, knife-sharpening, jewelry, and more. Live music. SNAP/EBT cards and matches accepted up to $10 a day. Princetonfarmersmarket.com.
2-6:30 p.m .: Passport Day at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of Mercer County Library System, 2751 Brunswick Pike. Representatives of government offices will be on hand to accept and process applications, renewals, and a take photos. For appointments, call (609) 9896473.
6 p.m .: Eric Mintel Quartet performs at the Summer Concert Series on the Green at Princeton Shopping Center, North Harrison Street. Free. Princetonshoppingcenter.com.
6-8 p.m.: Dueling Piano Nights on the Green at Palmer Square. Palmersquare. com.
6:30-8 p.m.: “Women’s Educational Worlds: Hidden Histories,” at Morven, 55 Stockton Street and online. Professor Lucia McMahon talks about the educational journeys of women in the late 18th century. Morven. org.
8 p.m .: The film Lady Bird is screened at Blair Joline Courtyard, Mathey College, Princeton University. Free. Bring a blanket or chair.
Friday, July 26
5-8 p.m.: Sunset Sips & Sounds at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Winery and Barn Door Café are open. Music by Bill Flemer and Friends. Terhuneorchards.com.
John Shedd Designs at The Tomato Factory Offers a
Talent, imagination, skill, and experience all come together when artisan John Shedd works on his creations.
At his Hopewell studio, which he built in 2018, he starts the process: planning, designing, carefully taking it step by step, until ultimately bringing it to fruition as it is heated in the kiln.
teacher’s assistant, worked in the ceramics shop, and mixed glazes. By my sophomore year, I thought I could become an artisan.”
He went on to earn an MFA in ceramics from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and after travels and various opportunities in New Mexico and South Caroline, he ultimately settled in Rocky Hill, opening his own studio and gallery, Clayphernalia, in 1979.
Creations
His work was also exhibited in various shows, exhibits, and galleries. This led to his products being available in such retail stores as Bloomingdale’s, Bergdorf’s, and Macy’s.
Many of the finished items are then displayed at The Tomato Factory Antiques & Design Center, 2 Somerset Street in Hopewell, where he has had a gallery since 2017. Others have been commissioned and then presented to the recipient, whether an individual or organization.
As he comments, “While a great deal of my work now is commissioned, the bulk of the work is speculative or made for the trade. There is a little more freedom in making things that aren’t ordered.”
Color Intensity, Texture
“I have been drawn to the exploration of glazes and ceramic surface decoration for 40 years,” Shedd continues.
“Within the demanding limitations of that study, I have found a reserve of directions abundant enough to last for a lifetime. Progress in this work is measured in the opulent bounty of that rare piece that withstands the challenge of fire and atmosphere, to become a surface rich in color, intensity, and texture.
“The truly successful attempt avoids the temptation of artifice of illustration. Moreover, it must be the honest embodiment of the beauty inherent in a natural material.”
John Shedd’s fascination with this area of creative endeavor began when he took a ceramics class in college. Growing up in Illinois, he attended Rockford College, receiving a BFA in ceramics. It was the right choice, he recalls, “By the second term, I was making clay, became a
He transformed the 18th century building, formerly a gristmill, into a showcase for his work. He also discovered that his father’s engineering profession was meaningful in his own life and work as well.
“Engineering is very creative,” he explains. “There is a quote that says, ‘Make the machines that make the tools. Make the tools that make the tools.’”
Durability and Beauty
He finds that to be true in his own work. He has made many of the machines in his studio, and as he points out, science underlies everything. “One of the attractions in my work is that I wear a lot of hats. I can be an engineer, a chemist. It is all-encompassing.”
“I first started out working in stoneware,” he continues. “And then, also in tiles, clay, and glassware. Anything that goes through the heat process. Now, my work is exclusively porcelain, chosen for its durability and beauty in both functional and decorative work. I find that each form has its own challenge to make successfully. Sometimes it is more an issue of a favorite glaze or finishing. I like glazing most of all and the firing.”
As his reputation grew, Shedd became known not only in the area, but nationwide for the high quality and beauty of his creations. Decorative and functional pieces, including dinnerware, serving pieces, bowls, trays, platters, pitchers, mugs, vases, candlesticks, lamps, and wall hangings were all in demand. Items range in price from $25 and $30 for smaller pieces to higher costs for the much larger creations.
CREATIVE ENDEAVOR: This 27-inch hanging platter in ash glaze is notable for its striking blend of colors and unique design. As potter John Shedd describes it, “These are new glaze attempts that were developed within the last several months. I plan to do more with this white glaze as it really is a lovely glaze.”
“Years ago, I had a regular show schedule that was pretty grueling,” explains Shedd. “My record one year was doing 12 shows. These shows were ‘for the trade.’ The preparation for the show (making and collecting samples, inspecting and refurbishing show display, and making promotional materials, fliers, and cards) could take about a week. Then the show would run for about four days and maybe three days in travel time. So, in the year of 12 shows, I was only spending six months working in the studio, and was tired for 12!
“I stopped doing that. I had a show schedule that required travel from Florida to Boston, as far inland as Chicago and points in between. Lately, however, I have realized that I can rely on returning customers, and I don’t have to do shows. I do have many local customers from this area but I also have existing clients from across the country.”
Awards and Honors
His work has received many awards and honors. Among those especially meaningful to him are a Niche award from the Rosen Agency in 1991; and a Historic Preservation Award from the State of New Jersey in 2007 for three tile fireplaces installed in the Woodrow Wilson House rehabilitation.
Also, the “Niche Award for Craft Excellence”: Niche Magazine; “Fellowship Recipient for Ceramics”: New Jersey State Council on the Arts; and “Mayor’s Selection”: The City of New Brunswick.
Numerous galleries and showrooms have exhibited his work as well. These include Contrasts of Red Bank; Cedar Creek Gallery of Creedmore, N.C.; Sheila Nussbaum Gallery of Millburn; Gallery 3 of Roanoke, Va,; Limited Editions of Surf City; Marion Ruth of Brookline, Mass.; East-West Potters Gallery of New York, N.Y.; Quintessence of Roslyn, N.Y.; Left Bank Gallery of Wellfleet, Mass.; Appalachian Spring of Washington, D.C.; and The Farrell Collection of Washington, D.C.
Shedd is a member of The American Crafts Council and the New Jersey Designers Craftsmen.
Among his many projects are a number that have been commissioned by area restaurants, including the former Tre Piani of Plainsboro, One 53 in Rocky Hill, and elements and Mistral in Princeton. He was able to create custom serving pieces in various shapes, sizes, and colors, offering a unique complement to dining opportunities. This is a special niche that brings together hand-crafted ceramics and culinary creations.
Historical Background
Seven years ago, Shedd made a major location change when he moved his gallery to the Tomato Factory in Hopewell, and a year later his studio, also to Hopewell.
“Tomato Factory’s rich
historical background, its proximity to Princeton, Bucks Country, Philadelphia, and New York was very appealing to me,” he points out. “Remember that I had spent almost 40 years in a mill that had been built before Rocky Hill existed (1710). Tomato Factory also attracts customers from across the region and even nationally on its own. I thought that it would be an ideal location for my gallery, and I was right about that.”
Adds Steven Haase of MarketAgentz, who has led the marketing for Tomato Factory for the past 10 years, “Having John Shedd and his work at Tomato Factory is an honor that benefits everyone here, including our customers and our other 17 dealers and small businesses.
“As one of the top artisans in the region, John and his work have been featured by well-known galleries, museums, and regional and national media, including the New York Times, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, Philadelphia Magazine, NJ Monthly magazine, and national trade publications. He has been a master artisan for more than 40 years, attracting customers from across the country, and we are lucky to have him here at Tomato Factory.”
Process and Rhythm Shedd has much to look forward to as he continues his life work in a new studio (“a work in progress,” he says) and in his gallery in the popular Tomato Factory.
“The look forward is about further refining those skills I have acquired through this craft,” he reflects. “Part of the enjoyment is in the process. You find a rhythm, and then there is always the happy accident! It also
involves additional relationships with interior designers and expanding access to my work through my online shop that I recently launched.
“The launch of my online store has been a long time coming. I’ve been receiving national and international inquiries over the years, and have been a bit behind regarding my online offering. However, I have recently recognized the value of expanding my reach, and just launched the online store containing a selection of my work. In fact, I’m fulfilling a nice online order from Salt Lake City, Utah, right now. I’ll be adding to the offering on my website over the next
few months, so stay tuned!” Sharing his work with others has always been and continues to be the key.
As he says, “Every individual should have access to art and culture in their daily lives. It should be accessible to all, and I continue to work to achieve that goal.”
John Shedd can be reached at jgshedd@verizon.net or by contacting Tomato Factory at (609) 4669833. Visit his website at johnshedddesigns.net.
Tomato Factory’s hours are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. —Jean Stratton
ON DISPLAY: Artisan John Shedd is shown by his featured entry at the New Jersey State Museum in 2017. The exhibit, “Fifty of Fifty,” honored 50 leading New Jersey artists who had received state grants for their work during the past 50 years.
S ports
In Unlikely Path from Serbia to PU Women’s Water Polo, Sekulic Makes U.S. Squad for Paris 2024 Olympics
Apair of Princeton University women’s water polo team products are on the United States team headed to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Superstar goalie Ashleigh Johnson ’17 is on her third Olympic team, and it’s no surprise that the three-time All-American out of Princeton is going again.
Jovana Sekulic is less of a household name. She is going to her first Olympics ahead of returning to Princeton for her junior year after being picked by head coach Adam Krikorian as one of the final 13 players on the U.S. roster.
“It is such a privilege and honor to be selected to the 13, and to represent this country at the highest athletic event in the world, it’s unbelievable,” said Sekulic. “It’s like a dream come true.”
Except for Sekulic, it’s a fairly recent dream.
She didn’t really consider the Olympics a possibility until a few years ago. She grew up in Belgrade, Serbia, and moved to the U.S. when she was 11.
“Growing up in Serbia, the woman’s water polo isn’t as high level as in other countries, so it never really crossed my mind that I would be able to,” said Sekulic, who is 21. “And then I moved here and I was on the East Coast so far away from like the water polo hub. It was never really in my mind. I always just had this this mindset of I want to get better. I want to learn more, my goal is to play the highest level of water polo that I can and to see what’s my ceiling and can I get to it?”
Sekulic is still climbing thanks to the collaborative efforts of her family, her club, high school, Olympic Development, Junior Training camp, Princeton University, and Olympic team coaches. She’s been developing into a world-class player for the better part of 15 years. She was living in Serbia still when she was introduced to the sport.
“My mom basically took me to practice with my brother at a water polo club there when I was maybe in second grade,” said Sekulic. “There was a small women’s club, which I joined a few months later and kind of developed a passion for the sport there.”
Her older brother, Matej, played for the Princeton men’s team during her first two years at Old Nassau. Her younger brother, Luka, plays at Navy. They have been an important part of her growth. When the family moved to the United States in 2014, she attended Springton Lake Middle School in Media, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, and when her brothers joined the Maverick Water Polo club that trained at nearby Haverford School, she came along. The school is all-boys and the club was almost all boys too.
that that we were together for two years at Princeton.”
During her first two seasons at Princeton, Sekulic was a third-team All-American in 2022 and secondteam All-American in 2023. Within the Collegiate Water Polo Association, she was Rookie of the Year and then Player of the Year. In her first season, the Tiger center scored 74 goals, had 31 steals and drew 70 ejections. She followed it up with 76 goals and 93 draw ejections as a sophomore.
Sekulic had a chance to play with girls when she moved to the Episcopal Academy (Pa.) in eighth grade, but didn’t give up her commitment to Maverick club. She played tournaments for Maverick in the spring and summer, swam through the winter for Episcopal to get extra conditioning in, and played water polo for Episcopal in the fall.
The same eighth grade year that she joined Episcopal, she found the Olympic Development Program (ODP). It was life-changing. Although her family was initially resistant to the ODP commitment —they weren’t doing it for her brothers — an Episcopal family took her to a zone practice in Connecticut and then she kept going.
“It was really cool because I met some girls that actually I ended up going to college with later that first camp,” said Sekulic. “But just being exposed to a higher level of water polo that I had been craving since I had moved, and then we went to California and my eyes were opened and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, people care about water polo here, and they’re watching it,’ and it was awesome. I loved it. But I was kind of sad that I didn’t get the same things. Our practices on the East Coast aren’t as hard or they don’t happen as frequently as they do in some clubs in California. We just don’t have the same resources maybe is the right word for it.”
Sekulic kept attending ODP training, and was invited to a junior national training camp that fall. The camp opened another door to the future.
“That’s actually how I met Adam, because he was at the training,” said Sekulic. “So ODP is a program that’s very, very beneficial to kids that are like myself removed from California but have a passion for the sport and want to learn more.”
Sekulic was on the radar for the U.S. from then on as she moved through high school. She committed to Princeton to follow Matej.
“That was huge for me,” said Sekulic. “Obviously he was older, so he went before me. Princeton was kind of like a dream school for me, and then I’m very close with my family, so him going there was amazing for me to be able to have him. I could say, ‘Want to go to the library together? Want to go get a coffee together?’ Just to have a little piece of home with me at college, it was amazing. And I’m so lucky
“I already had two brothers and I loved playing with them,” said Sekulic. “I always felt like they challenged me on another level because they were faster, stronger. So it was the same thing like that, but times 10. All these guys wanted to beat me and then that was even more of a motivation for me and I wanted to beat them and I think it really did make me better. I had nothing to lose, so I was always going for it. They were like my brothers. A lot of them I’ve stayed in contact with, and I’m really grateful for that club team.”
“It was cool because now I’m like on a playing field with people that understand and we’re having a conversation about things that I would never be able to have with people in my high school,” said Sekulic. “It was cool to play with those girls and become friends with them.”
Following her sophomore year, Sekulic decided to take a gap year from Princeton and accept an invitation to train with 17 others for the national team.
“It really wasn’t that tough of a choice to take the year off because water polo was always something that I loved,” said Sekulic. “And this didn’t seem like I was making a hard decision and just felt like a natural thing in my life which I accepted with open arms. And regardless of what the decision would have been, I would have been happy to have had the opportunity to even be a part of those 18 and to grow and to learn more about the sport and also to grow as a person during this process.”
Sekulic, a psychology major at Princeton, has learned much about herself over the last year. It was an intense year of training in a new environment.
“I’ve realized what my values are as I’ve matured,” said Sekulic. “The process kind of made me mature faster because I was living alone and doing all these things that my college friends were not even thinking about. And just facing loneliness and hardships but being by yourself. I have my family to call, but this process allowed me to face all these things by myself, and so I think I found strength in that. I think I’ve learned a lot from the older girls that are on the team that I’ve befriended. A bunch of them are much, much older than me. But that’s been also really, really cool.”
It’s been a steady rise for Sekulic through her playing career. Each step along her unique journey has pushed her further toward her highest level. She’s excited to be competing among the best in the world.
“I’m grateful for all the people that during my life have seen me and helped me, whether it was my first water polo coach or that coach who recruited me to Episcopal or even my swim coach at Episcopal,” said Sekulic. “You say my background is unique, but I think it’s because of all those people that have helped me along the way. And my story is probably very, very different than the rest of my
teammates, but every single one of my teammates here has a very, very unique story to their own. I think I also got lucky that coaches here when I was younger at the ODP development program saw me and wanted to invest coaching in me and tell me you’re doing this wrong so do this and that. And Adam gave me this opportunity and the ability to learn and get better.”
Sekulic joins a juggernaut. There is a high standard already in place. She is part of a U.S. women’s program that has won three straight Olympic golds. The U.S. will begin its title defense when it faces
Greece on July 27 in its first game of Group B action.
“Our coach says every time you practice how you play,” said Sekulic. “It’s not like we’re going to go to the Olympics and suddenly turn it on, like suddenly play 10 times better than we’ve played anywhere else. We train being really good in practice and so that hopefully is a habit and then once we get there, we’re ready for it and we showcase that.”
Sekulic didn’t know an Olympic gold was a possibility a decade ago, but her passion and drive to be the best she could be at water polo has
that opportunity.
“My family came to the United States in hopes for a better life, a better future specifically for my brothers and I,” said Sekulic. “I’ve been here for 10 years and I lived in Serbia for 11, so it’s basically half of my life and I have this identity of half Serbian, half American. And it actually feels very natural to me and it feels like I am playing for my country. And I think that’s really cool. It’s an honor. In a way, I do feel like I’m giving back to what this country has given me.”
—Justin Feil
MAKING IT IN AMERICA: Princeton University women’s water polo star Jovana Sekulic poses with the U.S. flag. Rising junior Sekulic was recently named to the U.S. squad that will be competing at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics. Earning a spot in the Olympics culminates an unlikely journey for Sekulic, who grew up in Belgrade, Serbia, and moved to the U.S. when she was 11. (Photo provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics) earned her
After Taking Brief Hiatus from U.S. Rowing Program,
PU Grad Mead Returns to Make Men’s 4 for Paris Games
Upon helping the U.S. men’s 8 boat take fourth place in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Nick Mead decided to take a hiatus from rowing.
“After Tokyo, they made a bunch of coaching changes, the performance director rolled over and basically the whole high performance system in the U.S. was completely different than it had been the last few years,” said Mead, a 2017 Princeton University alum and men’s heavyweight rowing star who helped the Tiger varsity 8 to a pair of bronze medals at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) national championships. “I moved back to the east coast and I didn’t know whether I was going to row again, especially not knowing who was on the coaching staff.”
Assessing the changed leadership, Mead ultimately decided to get back on the water.
“But when I started to see more of a system come into place and when Josy Verdonkschot got the high performance job, I think coming in fourth factored in my starting to train again,” said Mead. “It was just coming so close and wanting to get the opportunity to get a medal.”
Thriving in the new system, Mead helped the U.S. 4 finish second in the 2023 World Rowing Championships and was later named the USRowing’s Male Athlete of the Year for the season.
Building on that stellar campaign, Mead made the U.S. squad for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics and will be rowing in the men’s 4.
Reflecting on his progress, Mead credits his Princeton experience with playing a key role in his international success.
“When I got to Princeton, I was like a pretty raw recruit; I made pretty steady progress each year,” said Mead, a native of Strafford, Pa., who rowed for the Episcopal Academy in high school. “I came from a high school that has a pretty small team and doesn’t send a whole lot of people to D-1 schools. I had the physical capacity but I was pretty raw in terms of what kind of training I had been doing before coming to Princeton. I think Greg (Princeton men’s heavyweight head coach Greg Hughes) has one of the better training programs in the country for college rowing. A lot of that progress I made physically was because of the training.”
Some of that improvement also came from Mead being a self-starter under the direction of Hughes.
“The other thing I think that really helped was that Greg has a big culture of training on your own during winter breaks and the summer,” said Mead, noting that he made huge strides training on his own in the summer after his freshman year of college. “There is a lot of guidance in those longer breaks of how to stay fit and make improvements even when you are not in a big team environment. I think that is a huge differentiator in college if you can continue training and not take two months off and come back out of shape.”
Another aspect of the Princeton approach that helped Mead prepare for the national program was
competing in small boats.
“Another thing about the Princeton program that is really advantageous for making the jump to the national team is that there is a lot of emphasis on small boats rowing in the fall,” said Mead.
“You are incentivized as an athlete to do well in pairs. That was how you made the Head of the Charles boat or made the varsity in the fall.
A lot of national team selection is done in small boats so having that experience and needing to perform in a small boat earlier on my career helps a lot when you have to make that jump.”
After rowing for the U.S. U23 program while at Princeton, Mead made the jump to the senior team in 2017.
“It was definitely a huge jump, I think my advantage was my ERG (ergometer) time but I still needed to learn how to row a little better,” said the 6’6 Mead, now 29. “When you are on the senior team, everyone has the same sort of physical capacity. Even when I went to try out in 2017, I knew all of these guys are going to be a lot more skilled, older, and more experienced, and so I had to just absorb everything they are telling and everything the coaches are talking about. I treated it like being a freshman in college.”
Moving to the 4 from the 8 as he joined the senior program, Mead had a learning curve.
“It is a very different campaign to be in the 4 versus the 8,” said Mead. “You don’t have as much agency in the 8 because you have to subsume yourself to the larger group. You listen to the coxswain and you are doing everything that you are hearing coming through the speakers. Whereas in the 4, you don’t have a coxswain. There are fewer people in the boat, so it is much more give or take with your teammates in the 4. There is a lot more conversation between the athletes about I think we should do this or I think we should row this style.”
Mead took his lumps in the transition as the 4 took 13th at the 2018 World Rowing Championships, but it helped steel him for the challenges ahead.
“You can see my result in 2018, we didn’t do very well,” said Mead. “It was probably my worst international result
but one that I learned the most from.”
Getting back into the swing with the U.S. program after Tokyo, Mead applied those lessons in 2023 to help the 4 take second at the Worlds.
“It was the first medal on the men’s side since 2017 in any event,” said Mead. “That was a big step forward for our crew but also just a proof of concept for the new system. It was a really encouraging result. We knew we were doing fast times in practice and the boat was moving well. It is always another thing to get to the world championships and to realize that you can go toe-to-toe with the best.”
Being named USRowing’s Male Athlete of the Year in the wake of that success was a pleasant surprise for Mead.
“It was definitely humbling to receive that especially when I came back from not training for a while and I was near the bottom of the totem pole on the team and I worked my way back in,” said Mead. “Winning that award definitely was gratifying after a long process of getting back into form. It is weird to receive an individual award. Any of the other guys in my boat could have 100 percent deserved to win it. I was definitely grateful to receive it but also at the same time had the understanding that I live and die with those three other guys.”
Maintaining that form, Mead survived a pressurepacked selection process that included a small-boat regatta and seat-racing to book his spot for the Paris Games. Upon making the squad, Mead was assigned to the 4 where he will row with Justin Best, Liam Corrigan, and Michael Grady.
The boat got off to a good start in competition this spring as it placed first in the World Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland.
“I think it is the first time the U.S. men had won,” said Mead “Most of our big competition was there but you never know what stage of training cycle the other crews are in. We got to keep ahead of New Zealand who had come in third the year before and also the British who had won the year before. We made some good progress on our competition. I think that puts us in a place leading into Paris
where we do have an opportunity to win this. We are not just scraping through. We, on a good day, can legitimately win.”
The 4 trained hard in Princeton before heading over to Italy on July 5 for its final tuneups before arriving in Paris.
“We are training two to three times a day pretty much every day, except for Sunday,” said Mead. “We do some easy biking on Sunday. It is a couple of hours in the morning in the water and most afternoons we are indoors training on the rowing machine. We do weight training a couple of times a week.”
In Mead’s view, the disappointment of not making the medal stand at the previous Olympics has proved to be a motivating factor for the boat.
“We all were in Tokyo and we all came short of a medal
and our coach coached the women’s lightweight double and they were also just outside of a medal,” said Mead.
“We have had an attitude of no stone unturned. We are willing to try anything if it gives us a chance to get better whether it is the type of training we are doing or the equipment we are using.
Josy came in and instituted a new training program. We all got a lot faster abiding by it.”
When it is go-time in Paris, Mead believes that the training and that attitude will allow the boat to excel.
“The more repetitions you get, the more this becomes almost muscle memory,” explained Mead, whose boat will start heats on July 28 with the A and B finals slated for August 1. “That is part of the preparation. You do it so many times that it
doesn’t really matter where or when you do it. Once the light goes green, you are in the rhythm with all four guys and you are just executing your race plan.”
While Mead believes this will be his final Olympics, he acknowledges that it will be hard to walk away from the sport.
“I think this is going to be the end for me; we spend quite a bit of time away from home and I am getting married in the fall,” said Mead, who is based in New York City and works in the supply chain for Peloton. “There is something addictive about the lifestyle even if it is pretty hard — there is lot of satisfaction in it.”
For Mead, though, making it to Paris has been a satisfying experience no matter what the future holds.
—Bill Alden
Space
NICK OF TIME: Nick Mead rows for the U.S. men’s 4 in recent action. Mead, a 2017 Princeton University alum and Tiger men’s heavyweight rowing star, will be competing on the 4 in the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics. (Photo by Row2K, provided courtesy of USA Rowing)
PU Sports Roundup
PU Golf’s Greyserman Wins N.J. Amateur
Princeton University incoming freshman men’s golfer Reed Greyserman won the 123rd New Jersey Amateur earlier this month, going wire-to-wire to earn a three-stroke victory and secure entry into the upcoming US Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., from August 12-18.
Greyserman finished at -14 overall, carding rounds of 64-66-68-72 (270) to defeat Liam Pasternak by three shots in the event held at Forest Hill Field Club in Bloomfield.
With the victory, Greyserman joins his older brother, Max, as a winner of the New Jersey Amateur Championship, making them the first brothers to win the Amateur in New Jersey State Golf Association (NJSGA) history. Max won at Essex County Country Club in 2015 and now plays full-time on the PGA Tour after earning his Tour card after last season on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Princeton Women’s Tennis
Taps Begley as Head Coach
Elizabeth Begley has been named the 10th head coach of the Princeton University women’s tennis team, Tiger Director of Athletics John Mack ’00 said last week.
Begley succeeds Jamea Jackson who resigned following the 2023-24 season to take the head coach role at Arizona State.
Begley spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the women’s program at the University of Southern California. Before her time at USC, she was the associate head coach at Loyola Marymount from 2018-21.
This will not be Begley’s first stint coaching at
Princeton, having previously served as an assistant coach with the Tigers from 201518. During her three seasons with Princeton, Begley helped the Tigers to a pair of Ivy League championships (2016, 2018) and trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers posted an overall record of 45-23 and were 16-5 in Ivy League play with Begley on staff and were ranked as high as 22nd during her tenure.
“We are thrilled to welcome Elizabeth back to Princeton as our new head coach of women’s tennis,” said Mack. “It is rare that you get to hire a coach with Elizabeth’s passion for coaching young women, experience as a high level NCAA player, and successful track record of coaching elite student-athletes. So much of the success that our program has had over the last decade can be traced to Elizabeth’s previous work here as an assistant coach, and I truly believe that the sky is the limit as she takes over the team as our new head coach.”
During her time with the Trojans, Begley helped USC to a 58-31 overall record and three trips to the NCAA Tournament where USC won at least one match in all three appearances and reached the Round of 16 in 2024. During the 2023-24 season, Begley helped mentor a Trojan squad which was ranked as high as No. 5 during the spring and had three individuals qualify for the NCAA Tournament in addition to the team’s run to the Super Regionals.
“I am thrilled to be back at Princeton University as the head coach of the women’s tennis team,” said Begley.
“I am so thankful to John Mack and the entire search committee for this opportunity. Seeing all the incredible progress John and his staff are making for Princeton Athletics is inspiring and makes me so honored to be a part of the future of what is already one of the most
successful women’s programs across any sport inside not just the Ivy League but around the country.”
At LMU, Begley helped take the Lions from unranked to a top-45 ITA ranking in one season, reaching a program high rank of 44th in 2020 before the rest of that season was canceled due to COVID-19. She also led recruiting efforts that led to LMU signing the most decorated recruit in program history.
Before her successful stint as an assistant at Princeton, Begley spent one season as a volunteer assistant coach at Baylor, where she helped the Bears make the NCAA team quarterfinals, a berth in the NCAA singles Round of 16 and the NCAA doubles quarterfinals. While three Baylor players earned All-Big 12 honors, the program also had the Big 12 Player of the Year and the Big 12 Coach of the Year.
During her playing career at the University of Texas, Begley posted 86 career singles wins and helped the Longhorns to two Big 12 championships, finishing her senior season as the team’s No. 2 singles player and ranked 114th in the nation by the ITA. Texas played in the NCAA team tournament in each of her first three seasons, winning at least one match all three times and advancing to the Round of 16 her sophomore year.
Begley was a two-time AllBig 12 singles selection and was also a two-time Big 12 individual position champion. Begley was selected as the Most Outstanding Performer at the 2012 Big 12 Championships and won the 2014 ITA Texas Region Arthur Ashe Jr. Sportsmanship and Leadership Award. Begley earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Texas in 2014.
Think Global Buy Local
Making Instant Impact for Puerto Rico Men’s Hoops, PDS Grad Reed
Davon Reed headed to the G-League Winter Showcase last December in Orlando, Fla., looking to play his way back into the NBA.
After stints with the Phoenix Suns, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, and Los Angeles Lakers from 201723, former Princeton Day School standout Reed was primed to find a home in the league.
“I have played in a new city or new country every year in my career,” said Reed, who was chosen by the Suns in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft after scoring 1,343 points in his college career at Miami. “I have become a journeyman.
I am looking for some stability with an NBA team in the near future.”
Although Reed, 29, didn’t end up signing with an NBA team at the conclusion of the showcase, he took the first step on the hoops journey of a lifetime. Connecting with Carlos Arroyo, the general manager of the Puerto Rican national team, Reed, whose grandfather was born and raised in Puerto Rico, was offered the opportunity to join that country’s program.
Deciding to play for Puerto Rico, Reed made his debut for the squad this February and fit in immediately.
“It has been an amazing opportunity, first and foremost, I am thankful to Carlos Arroyo and the federation, the coaching staff, and players for allowing me to come in as newbie,” said Reed. “It has been a great experience. I am thankful that they welcomed me with open arms and I was able to come in to make an impact and be a leader and be the player I know I can be.”
Making an immediate impact, the 6’6, 220-pound guard Reed helped Puerto Rico defeat Lithuania 7968 earlier this month in the FIBA (International Basketball Association) Olympic Qualifying Tournament final in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to secure the final men’s hoops spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
For Reed, punching his ticket to Paris was a dream come true.
“I just gave all of the glory, first and foremost, to God; I have had this vision since it all came to fruition as far as me even being on the national team,” said Reed, who scored five points with three rebounds and two steals in the final, and averaged 4.5 points and 4.8 rebounds a game off the bench in the qualifying tournament as Puerto Rico earned its first appearance in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament since 2004. “It was a very effortless transaction. Knowing that Puerto Rico had an opportunity to make the Olympics, I had already envisioned myself being at the Olympics in that very moment.”
In bouncing around the NBA, G-League, and playing overseas, Reed has learned to make the most out of every opportunity on the court.”
“You just have to be constantly locked in,” said Reed, who has made a total of 122 NBA appearances, averaging 3.1 points and 1.7 rebounds a game. “The big
Headed
to Paris 2024 Olympics
thing for somebody in my position who doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to go start is each and every time I get out there to make an impact in whatever way I can. Some days it will be scoring, most days it will be defending. It is energy, effort, and leadership. I try to make an impact each and every time I get on the court.”
Along the way, Reed gained some valuable lessons from two NBA legends, Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets and LeBron James of the Lakers.
“I learned so much from watching Jokic and his approach to each and every day,” said Reed, who played in 35 games for Denver in 2022-23 as the Nuggets went on to win the NBA title, earning him a championship ring in the process. “He came in everyday, worked out, did his lifting and the stre ngt hening. The consistency helped him do what he did on the court, night in, night out. I learned from LeBron how he carries himself, how he focuses. While he was hurt, I got a chance to really pick his brain on the bench and talk to him throughout the game. I have got a lot of respect for him, I believe he has a lot of respect for me as well. I was definitely grateful for those opportunities.”
Inspired by those examples, Reed has raised his game in emerging as a key reserve for Puerto Rico.
“Right now I am in a sixthman position. I love that I can come in and immediately change the course of the game or just reinforce what the starting unit has already done,” said Reed. “I like to just bring my energy first and foremost, play with that passion, play with that fire and be a vocal leader as well as leading by example on the floor. I just try to go out and be impactful and do whatever my team needs from me that day. I am always going to bring that defensive presence and energy. Some nights I will need to rebound, some nights I will need to score. Every game calls for a different version of me if you will.”
To prepare for the Qualifying Tournament, Reed headed to Phoenix from his home base in Miami to fine-tune things physically and mentally.
“I took several weeks to go out to Phoenix to lock in with my trainer prior to the Olympic Qualifier,” said Reed. “I isolated myself from what was comfortable, living in Miami. I could have just stayed here to prepare, not to say I would not have been prepared as well. It was a sacrifice. My now-fiancée came with me for a time. I just isolated myself from her for this very moment for this very goal. I was there for like seven weeks.”
Coming back to San Juan where Puerto Rico was hosting the final FIBA Qualifying Tournament, Reed was primed to put on a show in front of the home fans.
“I was very excited to be
part of that and have the Federation believe in us enough to make the sacrifice of hosting a tournament in San Juan,” said Reed of the squad who topped Bahrain 99-56 in its opener and then defeated Italy 80-69 and Mexico 98-78 to make the final against Lithuania. “Having all of the fans there gave us a lot of encouragement and support and helped us rally to qualify for the Olympics. We rallied amongst ourselves when the odds had been against us. We knew that we had the talent, we knew that we had the personnel to go out there and make it happen. We just believed in ourselves. We got better every game. I feel like we are still getting better. We are not satisfied with just making the Olympics, we have bigger ambitions.”
Puerto Rico headed to Europe last weekend for some exhibition games before starting play in Group C, which features Serbia, South Sudan, and the U.S. Puerto Rico will open its Olympic campaign by playing South Sudan on July 28.
For Reed, playing in Group C will be a bit of a reunion tour as he will be facing such pro teammates as Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, and James on the U.S. team, Jokic on Serbia, and Wenyen Gabriel, Peter Joe, and Carlik Jones on South Sudan.
In order for Puerto Rico to excel in Paris, Reed believes that the squad needs to follow the blueprint that it utilized to win the Qualifying Tournament.
“We have to continue to play the style of game that we have been playing in the Olympics qualifier, being the team to set the tone each and every game,” said Reed. “I made sure that I expressed to my team that we have to continue to approach this as a one-gameat-a-time type of event. Every game matters, there is no dropping games, no looking forward to the next game. You can’t put the cart before the horse.”
Reed is hoping that applying that kind of focus will not only lead to success in the Olympics but will help him play his way back to the NBA.
“I know that playing on the biggest stage and proving myself on the biggest stage will definitely give me the momentum I need to get back to where I belong,” said Reed. “I have done my due diligence, I have been through the wringer. I have played for a number of different teams. I played on some really good teams, to my discredit I haven’t been able to get on the floor always. In God’s time, I know the stage that He has put before me. I am ready to go out there and have fun, most importantly, and let Him just play through me and be the best version of myself. That is what I have been preparing for really my whole life.”
—Bill Alden
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TICKET TO PARIS: Davon Reed celebrates after he helped Puerto Rico defeat Lithuania 79-68 in the FIBA (International Basketball Association) Olympic Qualifying Tournament final in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 10 to secure the final spot in the men’s hoops tournament in the Paris 2024 Olympics. Former Princeton Day School standout Reed scored five points with three rebounds and two steals in the final, and averaged 4.5 points and 4.8 rebounds a game off the bench in the qualifying tournament as the Puerto Rico hoops squad earned its first appearance in the Olympics since 2004.
(Photo provided by Davon Reed)
Leaving Special Legacy for Christopher Newport Lax, PDS Alum Auslander Achieved Career Assists Record
When Coby Auslander made his debut for the Christopher Newport University men’s lacrosse team in the spring of 2020, he wasn’t sure of how much of an impact he could make at the next level.
As an undersized 5’7, 150-pound midfielder, former Princeton Day School star Auslander was hoping to see the field as a freshman. Auslander achieved that goal and more, emerging as one of the team’s top playmakers, tallying 18 points on eight goals and 10 assists in a season curtailed to six games by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Building on that solid start, Auslander established himself as one of the greatest players in program history, ending his college career with with 265 points on 104 goals and a school-record 161 assists. Auslander’s production helped the Captains make the NCAA Division III semifinals twice with two other trips to the Division III quarterfinals.
Reflecting on his accomplishments, even Auslander is taken aback by how his career went.
“When I look back at it, it is just unbelievable,” said Auslander. “To just think now that it was something that happened and the career that I had, it is truly special. I need to thank CNU more than anything because they took a chance on me and really developed me as a person. All kudos to them.”
Coming back for a fifth season this spring due to
extra eligibility granted as a result of COVID-19, Auslander and classmates were looking to produce a special fi nale.
“We had a great group of fifth-years who came back; there were like 10 of us and another 10 or 12 seniors,” said Auslander. “We were a really older team this year. Going into fall ball, we had a ton of confi dence about the season we were going to have. We were all on the same page in terms of what we wanted to accomplish as a team and that was to win the whole thing.”
While the Captains fell short of the goal as they lost 19-15 to RIT in the Division III quarters, Auslander gained some valuable lessons from the topsy-turvy campaign.
“There were some disappointing things, we weren’t able to get over the hump,” said Auslander. “We felt like every year we were getting stopped in the same spot so we wanted to go a little bit further. But I think this year was one of the most satisfying as well because it taught us all a lot about character. This was the year that we dealt with the most adversity. For a lot of us, I know we are going to take a lot of life lessons out of it. By the end, we were playing our best lacrosse. It is definitely something we were proud of. We were just a couple of goals away from making it to the final four again.”
While Auslander played some good lacrosse this season as he tallied 55 points on 22 goals and 33 assists, he
acknowledged he wasn’t as productive as he had hoped.
“What comes to mind with this season individually is just how much I enjoyed playing with my teammates,” said Auslander, who was hampered by a leg injury in the middle of the season. “Individually, it was a good year. I would not say it was my best personally, but it was just so much fun getting that extra year. It was taking advantage of the tough times of COVID and what that entailed, just being able to get my master’s degree and play some more lacrosse.”
The Captains had fun in the early going, starting 5-0 as they overcame an early deficit against HampdenSydney in the season opener to pull out a 15-9 win and then got into a groove.
“Ultimately I think it was a good wakeup call for all of us,” said Auslander of the win over Hampden-Sydney.
“After we went down 5-2, it was good for us to gain some momentum. We started playing a lot better, so that was good. That kind of flowed into the next three or four games. The offense definitely started to click a lot better in those games. It felt like we got rid of the nerves of being expected to do so well.”
In early March, Christopher Newport tested their nerve as they headed to New England to play at Tufts and lost 18-10 to the eventual national champion Jumbos.
“That was an unbelievable trip, it was just a privilege to be able to play against such a highly respected program,”
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said Auslander. “The parents and coaches did an unbelievable job of getting us up to Massachusetts. It is not easy bringing 60 guys on a plane anywhere.”
Down the stretch, the Captains flew high, posting five straight wins to wrap up regular season play.
“It felt like going into the conference tournament, that was the best lacrosse we were playing,” said Auslander. “We were super happy with how we got back to our identity. It felt like earlier in the year, we didn’t really have the groove that we had in the past with all of the other teams I have been on. In the last five games, it is we have got something going.”
Christopher Newport ended up falling 14-7 to powerhouse Salisbury in the final of the Coastal Lacrosse Conference (CLC) tournament and bounce back to top Cabrini 20-6 in the second round of the NCAA tournament and Stevens 12-5 in a Round of 16 contest. With the first two NCAA games being on their home field, those wins were memorable for the Captains.
“After beating Stevens, all of us sat on the field and it felt like just yesterday, it was our first time like the first time stepping on that field,” recalled Auslander. “It was a pretty surreal moment for all of the guys that contributed to the team, especially the guys in my class who are my best friends, to have a moment to just enjoy the win and know that we took care of business on our field for the last time. It was definitely special.”
Facing RIT in the Division III quarterfi nals, Christopher Newport took care of business in the early stages, leading 10-8 at halftime. But the tide turned in the second half as
RIT outscored the Captains 11-5 to earn a 19-15 victory.
“We were up 6-1 or 5-1; it felt like our offense was clicking, we were scoring on almost every possession,” said Auslander, reflecting on the loss which left Christopher Newport with a fi nal record of 16-6. “They just had the ability at halftime to fl ip the script. They started scoring a ton of goals, that is credit to them. They have a ton of offensive skill. Unfortunately we weren’t able to keep up. It was one of those things. We played our best lacrosse that game, they were just better. There is nothing to be too upset about.”
In the wake of the season, Auslander earned honorable mention All-American and second-team All-CLC honors. For Auslander, those honors were the product of a group effort, citing his family members, his PDS coaches, Rob Tuckman, Rich D’Andrea, and Joe Moore, along with Christopher Newport coach Mikey Thompson.
“I don’t really love the individual accolades, I would trade all of them for playing on championship weekend,” said Auslander, a three-time All-American. “I am not going to lie, it is special and cool to see when you get those honors but I would say personally there are so many people that I need to thank overall. So many coaches and my family that meant so much to me and really pushed me to be the best player I can be. I think it is a lot of credit to them and my teammates as well. So it is cool to see those honors and just know that those people had such an impact on me.”
Setting the career assist record is something that means a lot to Auslander since it reflects his desire to be a playmaker.
“It is a good description of the type of player I wanted to be and how many good players were surrounding me,” said Auslander who set a school record in starts for a midfielder with 79 and whose 265 points is the fourth-most in program history.
“When you look back at all of the great shooters and players that we had it was pretty easy to throw them the ball. I definitely wanted to be one of those guys that looked to create more for others than myself.”
This fall, Auslander will be looking to help some more good shooters as he has signed a two-year deal with the National Lacrosse League’s Ottawa Black Bears, who will begin their inaugural NLL campaign in December.
“First of all thank you to Ottawa for the opportunity, it is something that is really cool,” said Auslander. “It is something I have had my mind on. The GM is Rich Lisk (a PDS parent), he has had an eye on me for sure. To sign the contract, I think about I had a career that was good enough for them to take a chance on me. It is really special. I am excited to go to camp in the fall because I am already itching to do something competitive.” Auslander is excited by the challenge of playing box lacrosse.
“Luckily for me our head coach at CNU got us a box facility for our school so every fall we have a box league,” said Auslander. “A lot of the offensive skills that we learned as a team were box skills. I will be transitioning to defense because the offensive guys in that league are so skilled players like Jeff Teat and stuff so they don’t need me on offense. To have those initial skills is going to be extremely helpful. Learning as much as possible will be great.”
As Auslander looks to make an impact for Ottawa, he will bring the same mindset that helped him produce his record-breaking career at Christopher Newport.
“To have the ability to just continue to work out and prepare myself for something at my size, I never thought I would be able to play a professional sport,” said Auslander, who started a job with Marsh McLennan in Washington, D.C. in early July. “It is continuing to try to prove people wrong and work as hard as I can. I am very excited for it.”
— Bill Alden
HISTORIC RUN: Coby Auslander heads upfield this spring for the Christopher Newport University men’s lacrosse team. Former Princeton Day School star Auslander capped his Christopher Newport career by tallying 55 points on 22 goals and 33 assists as the Captains went 16-6 and advanced to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals. Auslander graduated as the program’s all-time assists leader with 161. (Photo provided by Christopher Newport Athletics)
Local Sports
Princeton Rec Department
Offering Lifeguard Courses
The Princeton Recreation Department will be offering two American Red Cross Blended Learning Lifeguard Training Courses at Community Park Pool this summer. Participants will complete online coursework from the Red Cross and then complete the in-person portion at CP Pool. The in-person portions will run from July 31- August 2 and from August 7-9 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Participants must be 15 years of age or older, be able to swim 300 yards continuously, retrieve a diving brick from a depth of 10 feet, and tread water for two minutes using legs only.
The cost of the program is $340/person. Participants must be present for the entirety of all three days. There are no refunds for individuals that do not complete the coursework or that fail the course or required 300-yard swim.
Individuals can register online at register.communitypass.net/princeton. The course is located under the Tab “2024 Lifeguard Certification Programs.” For more information, visit princetonrecreation.com or call (609) 921-9480.
Pennington Grad Meccage Taken 57th in MLB Draft
Recently-graduated Pennington School baseball star Bryce Meccage was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the Major League Baseball Draft last Sunday as the 57th pick overall.
University of Virginia commit Meccage helped Pennington win the Prep B state
title during his junior season in 2023 and then produced a stellar senior campaign this spring which saw him not allow a hit in 22 innings pitched.
His father, Jeremy Meccage, was drafted twice by the Los Angeles Dodgers, going in the 74th round in 1994 and in the 19th round in 1998. His mother, Melisa Meccage, served as an assistant coach for the Princeton University field hockey program from 2003-15.
Princeton Supply Edges PATH, Moves to 8-0
Peter Sorber led the way as Princeton Supply edged PATH Academy 48-46 last Monday night in the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League.
Sorber tallied 21 points to help Princeton Supply improve to 8-0. Tobias Prall scored 12 to pace PATH. In other action on Monday, Novi Wealth Partners defeated SpeedPro 68-52 as Jack Daly and Phil Worland each scored 17 points while J. Majeski Foundation nipped 1911 Smokehouse 66-63 in double overtime behind a big game from Anthony Milligan who had 24 points in the win.
The league’s regular season wraps up on July 17 as Jefferson Plumbing takes on J. Majeski Foundation and YSU faces Lob City at the Community Park courts. The 2024 playoffs start on July 22 with a play-in game and two quarterfinal matchups.
Stuart Sports Camps Still Have Openings
Stuart Country Day School is holding two more sports camps on its campus at 2100 Stuart Road in Princeton in July and there are still openings for the programs.
There will be a girls’ tennis camp for players in grades
5-9 being held from July 29-August 2 with sessions running from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and a girls’ basketball camp for players in grades 3-9 being held from July 22-26 with sessions running from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Log onto the Stuart website at stuartschool.org and go the Menu section in the upper right of the home page and hit the “Sports Camps for Girls” link under the Athletics section for more information about the camps.
Joint Effort Safe Streets
Holding Hoops Clinic, Games
The Joint Effort Princeton Safe Streets Summer Program is sponsoring a youth basketball clinic on August 10 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Community Park basketball c ourts.
The clinic is being directed by former Princeton Day School girls’ hoops head coach and Philadelphia 76ers camp director and c linician Kamau Bailey, who leads the Bailey Basketball Academy (BBA). Attendees at the clinic will get individual skill development opportunities in ball handling, shooting, offense and defense, mental preparation, team play, and a souvenir sports bag.
In addition, on August 11, Joint Effort Safe Streets will sponsor the Pete Young Sr. Memorial Games for Princeton-area youth. These annual games are held each year in the memory of Pete Young Sr., a Princeton businessman, community advocate, sports enthusiast, and supporter of youth and community programs who was beloved in the Witherspoon-Jackson Community. The games run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will start with youth games and conclude with a final boys’ high school contest.
The rain sites for both programs will be the Princeton Middle School.
For more information on the Joint Effort Safe Streets hoops clinic or games, call (720) 629-0964 or (917626-5785), or send an email to johnbailey062@gmail. com or kamau.bailey@ gmail.com
Bailey Basketball Academy Offering Summer Camp
The Bailey Basketball Academy (BBA) is offering one more week-long basketball camp this summer along with other specialty hoops programs.
BBA is led by former Princeton Day School girls’ hoops head coach and Philadelphia 76ers camp director and clinician Kamau Bailey.
The camp is slated for July 22-26 at the Princeton Middle School.
There is a full day camp for ages 9-14 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and a half day camp from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
In addition, there will be “First Hoops” options for ages 5-8 (9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.). BBA will also offer “Shot King” shooting instruction and small group
Since [1950] Conte’s has become a Princeton destination; a great old-school bar that also happens to serve some of New Jersey’s best pizza, thin-crusted and bubbly. The restaurant hasn’t changed much since then; even the tables are the same. It’s a simple, no-frills space, but if you visit during peak times, be prepared to wait well over an hour for a table.
player development daily sessions from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. running through August 16 for players getting ready for middle school, high school, or club participation
All players will be required to bring their own water, snacks, and/or lunch for the applicable programs.
For more information, contact Kamau Bailey at (917) 626-5785 or at kamau.bailey@gmail.com
a Princeton tradition!
(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
SHARP PERFORMANCE: Members of the Princeton National Rowing Association (PNRA) Mercer Junior Rowing men’s 8 are all smiles as they took a break from competing at the Henley Royal Regatta earlier this month outside of London, England. The Mercer boat ended up advancing to the quarterfinals of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup where they fell to St. Paul’s by a little more than a length. Pictured, from left, are Theo Balavoine, Henry Alston, Grant Shore, Braden Hendrickson, Gabrielle Zammit (coxswain), Luke Lehmann, Owen Brown, Francis McGrath, and Charles Huckel. The boat was coached by former Princeton University rowing standout Jamie Hamp.
Obituaries
Jane Russell Dennison
Jane Dennison a longtime resident of Princeton, New Jersey, and then later Skillman and Duxbury, MA, died Sunday, June 30 at the age of 100 a week after attending her 100th birthday party with her family.
The daughter of John Burnett and Lucille Harvey Russell of Wilkes-Barre, PA, she was raised there and later in Farmington, CT. She attended the Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, CT, and upon graduation from Garland Junior College in Boston, she moved to New York and worked in advertising before moving to Bermuda to marry Sam Wharton. The marriage ended after two years and Jane became a single mother of 2-year-old son, James. She stayed in Bermuda, and with an enterprising friend founded Bermuda Cottages, a tourist accommodation competing with the hotels by renting the homes of Bermudians frequently absent on business or vacation. The venture became
and remains a very successful component of Bermuda’s tourist business today. She moved to New York for her son’s schooling and in1957 she met and married Charles P. Dennison.
In 1959 they welcomed their daughter Anne and moved to Washington, DC, so that Charles could take on an appointment to the U.S. Office of Education and later at the State Department. In 1961 their daughter Laura (Lolli) was born. Jane thrived on the fringes of government, and she took an active volunteer role in several organizations, particularly the American Field Service’s major annual Washington visit program bringing to Washington all its British commonwealth grantees attending schools in the U.S. The family returned to Princeton in 1966 as Charles commuted to New York for jobs in the U.S. Department of Education and later as Executive Director of the English-Speaking Union. Jane’s artistic and community interests joined in volunteer work for the Princeton University Art Museum and in her decisive role in saving Guernsey Hall, the now historic home of the Marquand Family. Jane formed a corporation to purchase it and turn it into a six-apartment condominium. The project survived with landmark designation and remains a landscape feature on the border of Marquand Park.
Jane was a founding member of the Friends of the YWCA, a group that raised money to support the organization, and in 2014 was given The Waxwood award, a lifetime achievement honor
for the decades of volunteer service she had given to the YWCA. A member for most of her life, Jane credited the YWCA with helping her feel settled each time her life felt unbalanced.
Jane was collector of American women artists of the late 18th and early 19th century. In 1981, Jane became a founding member of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, the only museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women artists.
Jane was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club in New York, the Coral Beach Club in Bermuda, and a member of the Present Day Club in Princeton. She and Charles were members of the Nassau Club, Pretty Brook Tennis Club, and Springdale Golf Club.
She was an avid tennis and bridge player, loved travel and her garden, and read voraciously. Jane worked hard on her relationships with friends and family and it showed as she had legions of lifelong friends who were treated to her quick wit and wicked sense of humor.
Jane is survived by her son James D. Wharton and Mary Hutchinson of Jamestown, RI; Anne Dennison Fleming and her husband Steve of Duxbury, MA; and Laura (Lolli) Dennison Leeson and her husband Robert of Marblehead, MA. She is also survived by her
five grandchildren: Robert Charles Leeson Mace and his wife Jaclyn, William Russell Fleming, Nathaniel Hazard Leeson and his wife Katey, Christopher Wright Fleming, and Annabelle Hope Leeson.
A memorial service for Jane is being planned for October in Princeton.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution in her name, please consider the Friends of the YWCA, Princeton, New Jersey.
David Erdman
David Erdman, adored and adoring husband of Eleanor (Ellie) Crosby Erdman, passed away peacefully on July 5, 2024 at the age of 94. The fourth of five sons of Lucy Kidder Bulkley and Dr. Charles R. Erdman Jr., David lived in Princeton, NJ, Edgartown, MA, and Rockland, ME. His
father, Dr. Erdman, was a prominent professor of Political Science at Princeton University, two-term mayor of Princeton Borough, and Commissioner of Economic Development for the State of New Jersey.
David was educated at Miss Fine’s, Princeton Country Day School, Phillips Exeter Academy (Class of 1949), and Princeton University (Class of 1953) where he was a member of Cottage Club and the 1953 Princeton Championship Hockey team. Upon graduation, David served abroad in the U.S. Army. He spent his career in the aluminum industry, culminating as Sales Manager for New Jersey Aluminum.
David is predeceased by his parents and brothers, Harold, Charles, and Peter. He is survived by his wife Eleanor Crosby Erdman and a broad and loving family of children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and his younger brother, Michael Erdman of Avon, PA.
In 1960, David married Eldred Eve Pearce (deceased) in England. They had three children: Charlotte Eve (Peter) Rizzo, Jon (Nathalie) Erdman, and Jane (Charlie) Abrahams, and seven
grandchildren: Meredith, Hilary, Matthew, Alexander, Hadley, Eryn, and Riley.
In 1980, David married Eleanor Crosby Sinclair of New York City, who remained his wife for 44 years. His stepchildren include Jay (Sherry) and Ian (Stephanie) Sinclair. He was also a loving grandfather to Ian and Stephanie’s children, Parker and Clay Sinclair.
A passionate and accomplished sailor, David spent many summers on Martha’s Vineyard, followed by decades living harborside in Rockland, ME, with his wife Ellie and their beloved Westies.
David’s family would like to thank his many devoted friends and tireless caregivers for all of their support during his final years.
Sunday, June 2
Sunday, June 2
Summer at the Chapel
Sunday, July 21
Sunday, July 21
David Buschman
David Buschman
Chaplain, Athletes in Action
Worship Begins at 10am
Chaplain, Athletes in Action
Sunday, June 9
Sunday, June 2
Sunday, June 9
David Buschman
Eli Henry Princeton Theological Seminary
Eli Henry Princeton Theological Seminary
Chaplain, Athletes in Action
Sunday, June 16
Sunday, June 16
Jessica Campbell
Jessica Campbell
Sunday, June 9
Associate Pastor at First
Eli Henry Princeton Theological Seminary
Methodist Church of Moorestown
Associate Pastor at First Methodist Church of Moorestown
Tiffany S. Murphy Pastor, Parkside United Methodist
Tiffany S. Murphy Pastor, Parkside United Methodist
Sunday, July 28
Sunday, July 21
Sunday, July 28
Ali DeLeo
Ali DeLeo Pastor, Swarthmore United Methodist Church in Swarthmore,
Tiffany S. Murphy
Pastor, Swarthmore United Methodist Church in Swarthmore,
Pastor, Parkside United Methodist
Sunday, August 4
Sunday, August 4
Sunday, July 28
Byron E. Brought
Byron E. Brought Pastor, Bel Air United Methodist Church in Bel Air, MD
Ali DeLeo
Pastor, Bel Air United Methodist Church in Bel Air, MD
Sunday, June 23
Sunday, June 23
Denise Carrell
Denise Carrell
PHD Coordinator at
Sunday, June 16
PHD Coordinator at
Jessica Campbell
Sunday, June 30
Sunday, June 30
Sunday, August 11
Andrew Cooney
Pastor, Swarthmore United Methodist Church in Swarthmore,
Sunday, August 11
Andrew Cooney
Sunday, August 4
Pastor, Bethany United Methodist Church in Ellicott City, MD
Pastor, Bethany United Methodist Church in Ellicott City, MD
Sunday, August 18
Byron E. Brought
Sunday, August 18
Associate Pastor at First Methodist Church of Moorestown
Sunday, June 23
Rachael McConnell Pastor, First Presbyterian Church in Duncanville, TX
Rachael McConnell Pastor, First Presbyterian Church in Duncanville, TX
Denise Carrell
Sunday, July 7
PHD Coordinator at
Sunday, July 7
Regina D. Langley
Regina D. Langley
African Methodist Episcopal Church Itinerant Elder
Sunday, June 30
African Methodist Episcopal Church Itinerant Elder
Rachael McConnell
Sunday, July 14
Sunday, July 14
Shannon Daley-Harris
Pastor, First Presbyterian Church in Duncanville, TX
Shannon Daley-Harris
Associate Dean of Auburn Theological Seminary
Associate Dean of Auburn Theological Seminary
Sunday, July 7
Regina D. Langley
African Methodist Episcopal Church Itinerant Elder
Bel Air
Melissa Rudolph
Melissa Rudolph Lead Pastor, North Carroll Cooperative Parish of the United Methodist Church
Sunday, August 11 Andrew Cooney
Lead Pastor, North Carroll Cooperative Parish of the United Methodist Church
Sunday, August 25 H. Fitzgerald Robertson, II Student, Princeton Theological
Bethany United Methodist Church in Ellicott City, MD
Sunday, August 25 H. Fitzgerald Robertson, II Student, Princeton Theological
Sunday, August 18 Melissa Rudolph
Sunday, August 25
H. Fitzgerald Robertson, II Student, Princeton Theological
Lois Young
Lois Dickason Young, a beloved mother, grandmother, and visionary leader, passed away peacefully on July 8, 2024, at the age of 88. A longtime resident of Princeton, NJ, Deer Isle, Maine, and Penney Farms, FL, she leaves a legacy of compassion, dedication, and service that touched countless lives across the globe. Born in Burma to missionary parents, Lois was an adventurer from the start. She attended the Kodaikanal International School in India from an early age. She attended The College of Wooster and Case Western University School of Nursing and earned her master’s degree from Columbia Teachers College. Lois supplemented her education by working at Camp Green Lake, in Wisconsin. While waiting tables there, she spied a tall busboy with a welcoming smile. It didn’t take long for Lois and Jack to realize they were meant to be. They married during the winter break of their senior years in college in December 1957. Jack, it turns out, had as
much (or more) of an adventurous streak. The newlyweds spent their “honeymoon” as fire lookouts in a mountaintop cabin in Glacier National Park. Thus the stage was set for a lifetime of wonder.
In the late 1950s Lois was a visiting nurse to underprivileged new mothers in Harlem. While raising her three children, Jennifer, David, and Charles, she (and Jack) attended Riverside Church and were active in civil rights protests. Later, her attention turned to Vietnam War protests. She was always standing with and speaking out for those less fortunate.
Lois’ life was so accomplished that it cannot be done justice within the boundaries of this notice. She was a nurse to the underprivileged. As a visionary, nationally recognized educator, and school leader, Lois co-founded the Newgrange School and coordinated countless professional development conferences that opened the doors for a better understanding of learning different students. Once retired (but not done working), she became involved with the Prison Literacy Project at Trenton State Prison where she taught inmates to read. Finally, Lois was reunited with her birth country, Burma (now Myanmar), where she helped to start Cetena Educational Foundation, a foundation dedicated to teaching English to local people throughout the country. As a part of this work, Lois and Jack led trips to the amazing sites in-country for more than 20 years.
Lois’ faith in God was important to her. She was particularly involved and an active member at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, NJ.
A leader. A supporter of others. Lois could talk to anyone (and often did!) and find something interesting to report. She was a connector and intensely interested in helping others to succeed. As one of her former colleagues said, “Lois Young was one of the sweetest nicest people that I’ve ever met in my life, but she was also one of the toughest and her legacy still lives.”
For all of her professional accomplishments, Lois’ true joy came from her family. Her family; Jennifer and Jim Suddath, David and Melaina Young, and Charlie and Georgann Young, her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Her “happy place” was the family home on Deer Isle, Maine, where she baked, sewed, and painted rocks with her family. Services to celebrate Lois’ life are yet to be planned. For those who feel inclined, donations may be made to Cetana Educational Foundation, online at cetena.org/ donate or by mail to: Cetana Educational Foundation 487 Jefferson Road, Princeton, NJ 08540.
We
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection. We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you.
well loved and well read since 1946
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection.
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection. We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you. ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
We pride ourselves on
We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you.
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection. We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you.
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five
ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection.
ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
MEMORIAL
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection. We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you.
ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection.
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection. We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you.
We pride ourselves on being a small, personal, and service oriented family business. With five generations of experience, we are here to help guide you through the difficult process of monument selection.
ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you
We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you
We encourage you to make an appointment, with no obligation, to discuss the many options available to you
ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
ITS EASIER THAN YOU THINK TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEMORIAL
Town Topics CLASSIFIEDS
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07-17
STORAGE UNIT FOR RENT
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I bUY ALL KINDS of old or pretty things: China, glass, silver, pottery, costume jewelry, evening bags, fancy linens, paintings, small furniture, etc. Local woman buyer. (609) 9217469.
10-11-24
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Princeton Charter School
A public school serving 424 students in grades K-8
Seeks qualified applicants for the following 2024-2025 position:
After School Program Tutor
Monday through Friday 3:00-6:00 PM
Starting September 5, 2024
Supervise students in free and organized play activities. Supervise students in accurate, neat completion of homework. Provide additional concept instruction as necessary.
Prior experience managing and supervising children of varying ages required. Teaching or camp counselor experience a plus. Competitive Salary
Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to the Head of School at pcsoffice@princetoncharter.org
SERvICE:
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Email: joeslandscapingprinceton@ gmail.com
Text (only): (609) 356-9201 Office: (609) 216-7936 Princeton References • Green Company HIC #13VH07549500 tf HOME REPAIR SPECIALIST: Interior/exterior repairs, carpentry, trim, rotted wood, power washing, painting, deck work, sheet rock/ spackle, gutter & roofing repairs. Punch list is my specialty. 40 years experience. Licensed & insured. Call Creative Woodcraft (609) 586-2130 tf
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SKILLMAN FURNITURE CO 609-924-1881
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