Town Topics Newspaper, July 19, 2023

Safety Officials View Last Weekend’s Storms As the

The fast-moving downpour that left at least ve people dead in Lower Make eld Township, Pa. this past weekend was not as destructive in Princeton. But with 3.6 inches of rain falling on already saturated ground in less than an hour, the area was not without incident.

According to Michael Yeh, Princeton’s director of emergency services, the storm’s impact was centered on the north end of the town. There were two water rescue responses — one at Route 206 and Mountain Avenue; the other at Christopher Drive, just off Rosedale Road.

“They weren’t critical. The water was just fast-moving and it disabled their vehicles,” Yeh said of the rescues, which involved the Princeton Fire Department and Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad. But while the area escaped devastating impact, Yeh cautions that a life-threatening scenario could occur at any time.

“Unfortunately, there is a lot more localized, very intensive rainfall than in the past,” Yeh said. “We saw upwards of six inches in Bucks County and Hopewell on Saturday. These kinds of storms are much more frequent. They used to call them century storms, and now we’re seeing them a couple times a year.”

About six trees fell during the storm, and some electrical wires came down, causing traffic lights to go out. There was some damage to Great Road between Preserve Drive and Stuart Road. “The edge of the road on the southbound side was deteriorated because of the rainwater runoff, exposing a gas line,” said Yeh. “PSE&G made repairs and xed it the next day.”

Also impacted was Pretty Brook Road near Brooks Bend, where debris was in the roadway. The Princeton Fire Department cleared it away and reopened the street. Princeton’s Department of Public Works cleared storm drains, which Yeh urges homeowners to do as well.

“We want to ask everybody to clear storm drain inlets near their own properties,” he said. “That will keep their homes safe from ooding. If they can’t do it, contact us.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, rescue works had still not located the missing infant and toddler who were swept away in the Saturday storm on Taylorsville Road in

Joint Effort Safe Streets Begins August 4

“Re ections on Princeton’s Black Community” is the theme of this year’s Joint Effort Safe Streets program, which on August 4 will kick off ten days of celebrations, salutes, community discussions, and sports activities centered in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood.

Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin emphasized the signi cance of this annual event and praised its founder and chief organizer John Bailey. “The Safe Streets campaign is always a welcome event,” Newlin said. “Not only does it bring sports activities for the youths, it also offers opportunities for Princeton-at-large and the Witherspoon-Jackson communities to rededicate and recommit themselves to critical efforts regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Highlights of this year’s Joint Effort will include Witherspoon Jackson Community Day, Betsey Stockton and Laura Wooten Day, Howard Waxwood Day, Albert Hinds Day, Jim Floyd and Romus Broadway Day, Joint Effort Community Alumni Day, Paul Bustill Robeson Day, and Pete Young Sr. Day — all with widespread engagement of Princeton and Mercer County political. education, and other community leaders

Citing the powerful in uence of “the

ancestors” on the proceedings and on the life of the community, Bailey described Joint Effort as “a necessary investment of time, energy, money, and engagement of community because there is still so much to be done, so far to go.” He continued, “Democracy is elusive, freedom is elusive, truth and sometimes trust are elusive, and here’s a transparent way to engage folks in a positive manner.”

Bailey noted that the work of organizing and directing Joint Effort is for him

“a labor of love.” He added, “I am not smart enough to do this by myself. I’ve been moved and coordinated and managed and manipulated by the ancestors to make sure that this happens.”

The celebrations will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. August 4 at Studio Hillier on Witherspoon Street and will include welcoming remarks, as well as the presentation of the Jim Floyd Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award to Barbara Hillier (posthumously) and to Mamie Oldham,

Mosquitoes are Here Until October, But We Have Ways to Fight Back

It’s mosquito season, and the rains this summer, along with the warm weather, have increased the population of this already-prolific creature that torments New Jerseyans who like to spend time outdoors.

Mercer County sent out a warning bulletin on Facebook last week. “While our crews can help mitigate the nuisance, mosquitoes are a backyard problem, and community involvement is crucial for success in controlling them, “ said Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes. “I urge our residents to take some simple measures, such as eliminating standing

water in and around their homes, to protect themselves and their families from mosquitoes.”

What else can you do, especially if you happen to be one of those frequently-bitten individuals who is particularly tasty to mosquitoes?

The Asian tiger mosquito (aedes albopictus) seems to be the type most common in New Jersey, and though there are about 3,000 species of mosquito in the world, the good news is that only about 150 species are known to occur in North America, only 63 found in New Jersey, and only

Continued on Page 9

“New Normal”

IT’S COMING ALONG: The transformation of the former office building at 20 Nassau Street into the Graduate Hotel continues, with new construction on Chambers Street, where the entrance will be located. Rebuilding of the Nassau Street sidewalk between Bank and Chambers Street is set to begin as soon as Thursday, July 20. Part of a chain of hotels in college towns, the Graduate is targeted to open in early 2024.

(Photo by Charles R. Plohn)

TOWN TOPICS

Princeton’s Weekly Community Newspaper Since 1946

DONALD C. STUART, 1946-1981 DAN D. COYLE, 1946-1973 Founding Editors/Publishers

DONALD C. STUART III, Editor/Publisher, 1981-2001

LAURIE PELLICHERO Editor

BILL ALDEN, Sports Editor

DONALD GILPIN, WENDY GREENBERG, ANNE LEVIN,

Topics In Brief A Community Bulletin

Washington Road Closure: From July 21 until October, the road will be closed at the D&R Canal while the bridge over the canal is removed and rebuilt. A detour using Nassau Street, Harrison Street, and Route 1 will be in place. The towpath will largely be available during the closure.

Outdoor Dining: Princeton Council and staff want to hear opinions and suggestions from residents about the future of outdoor dining in town. Visit princetonnj.gov.

Call for Land Stewards: Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) holds morning or afternoon summer volunteer sessions through August under the guidance of FOPOS’ director of natural resources and stewardship to assist with various conservation projects at Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve. Weekday and weekend sessions available. Visit fopos.org/getinvolved.

Blood Drive: At MarketFair July 21 and August 18 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visit RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass to complete pre-donation screening.

Donate Backpacks and School Supplies: For Princeton children from kindergarten through sixth grade who come from low-income families and attend local public schools. Drop off donations at 1 Monument Drive through August 4. Call (609) 6882055 with questions.

Audition: Sharim V’Sharot, which sings Jewish music in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, English, French, and Italian, is looking for singers. Rehearsals are held Tuesday evenings in Lambertville. Audition by appointment August through September. Visit sharimvsharot.org for details.

A five-week series of free Dance for PD (Parkinson’s disease) classes starting Monday, July 31 at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School will teach the participants adapted movement from a work by choreographer Mark Morris, to be showcased as part of PUC’s Healing with Music event on Sunday, March 3, 2024, at a venue to be announced on the University campus. In conjunction, a screening of the documentary Capturing Grace , which gives an inside look at the Dancing for PD process, will be held at the Princeton Garden Theatre on March 4.

Two Local Arts Organizations Team Up To Offer Classes for Parkinson’s Community TOPICS Of the Town

“Healing with Music has always been about continuing the dialogue around the vital role music plays in our lives,” said PUC Outreach Manager Dasha Koltunyuk. “These partnership programs around our Dance for PD Healing with Music program allow this dialogue to extend and continue further than ever before.”

Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination.

In Dance for PD classes, participants are invited to think about movement possibilities rather than limits. Published research studies highlight how dance can improve mood, cognitive skills, and motor function, and can also slow symptom progression over the long term.

Dance for PD classes, which are for people with Parkinson’s and their caregivers, will be held both in person at the ballet school in Princeton Shopping Center, and via Zoom. Classes are open to all levels of ability. Instructor Rachel Stanislawczyk will teach the participants an excerpt from Morris’ Falling Down Stairs, set to music by Bach, to be played at the March 3 event by cellist Joshua Roman.

It was at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn that Dance for PD got started in 2001. Morris, whose Mark Morris Dance Group has appeared at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre numerous times, was approached

by Olie Westheimer, the founder of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group, with the idea of a specialized dance class for members of her support group. David Leventhal, a former dancer with Morris’ company, was involved from the beginning. He is now Dance for PD’s program director and founding teacher.

“The program grew from there and the vision remains the same: Dance for PD is founded on the idea that dancers are movement experts whose movement approach, delivered through excellent teaching and compassionate sensitivity, supports a dignified, creative, and life-affirming path for

THE MIRACLE OF MOVEMENT: Participants in a Dance for Parkinson’s class, where the focus on aesthetic movement rather than physical therapy yields remarkable results for people with Parkinson’s Disease. (Photo by Amber Star Merkins)

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Parkinson’s Community

Continued from Preceding Page

people living with Parkinson’s,” wrote Leventhal, who will appear in a panel discussion at the March 3 event, in an email. “Because Dance for PD focuses on the aesthetic movement of dance rather than acting as therapy, participants in class are encouraged to approach movement like dancers rather than as patients.”

Over the years, results have repeatedly revealed the program’s worth. “One of our Brooklyn students tells us that his doctor knows when he hasn’t been in class, because certain symptoms are worse,” Leventhal said. “One man used the tap steps he learned in the Brooklyn class to help him connect with the floor when he got out of bed in the middle of the night.”

One of Leventhal’s favorite anecdotes is about a woman whose back and shoulder pain improved considerably when she began focusing on the flow of dancing rather than exercises from physical therapy. “Every couple of weeks she tells her teacher again, with great emotion, how she credits the dancing with her improved mobility and comfort,” he said. “I love that story.”

Leventhal is particularly excited about the PUC Healing with Music event next spring. “I think it spotlights how Dance for PD can spark important conversation about the impact of the arts on health and the impact of music, in particular, on the lives of individuals with a neurological condition,” he said. “I think the event also explores the way an internationally known artist like Mark [Morris] and an arts organization like Mark Morris Dance Group can broaden engagement beyond the theater, connecting with communities in innovative and life-enhancing ways.”

The classes at Princeton Ballet School are being held from 2 to 3:15 p.m. July 31, August 7, 14, 21, and 28. At an additional, ongoing program, classes are held Mondays from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. at the Middletown Arts Center in Middletown Township.

“We are thrilled to partner with Princeton University Concerts,” said ARB Executive Director Julie Diana Hench. “Dance for PD encourages participants not only to ‘think like dancers,’ but also to think like musicians as well. Moving to music unlocks so much, especially for people living with Parkinson’s disease. This partnership with PUC presents a unique, holistic opportunity to expand on ARB’s Dance for Parkinson’s program and offer a collaborative source of exploration, education, and inspiration.”

Tickets for the March 3 event are currently available as part of a subscription package, but single tickets will go on sale online on August 1, and by phone on September 5. Visit concerts.princeton.edu for more information.

—Anne Levin

Question of the Week: “What types of climate-related events concern you?”

(Asked Monday on the Princeton University campus)

“Extreme drought or flooding, which pose systemic risks to our food supply in America. We have to change the way we grow our crops and integrate more sustainable farming practices that also can sequester carbon. We can plant more cover crops, using compost, intercropping, and also plant crops that don’t absorb as much water which suffocates and destroys the microbes in the soil that help plants grow and thrive.”

Gina Talt, West Windsor

Kiki: “The extreme heat. I have lived in New Jersey my whole life, and I can’t remember a summer with such extreme heat and also such regular thunderstorms that also seem to be more intense, and with larger amounts of rainfall in shorter periods of time.”

Gabriella: “One of my biggest concerns with the heat is the massive negative effect of UV radiation. Health-wise, that’s a huge concern for everybody.”

Kiki Wihe, Warrensville, with Gabriella Shapcott, Morristown

Nicole: “The forest fires in Canada that are getting blown across the U.S. show how a climate-related event can affect all different parts of the globe. Our daughter is just three-anda-half months old, and air quality is a huge concern for the future. As new parents, we are sort of rethinking our decisions as to what we can do to best serve the next generations.”

Matthew: “Hurricanes, wildfires, air quality, sea-level rise, heat.”

Nicole Quiterio, with Elza Quiterio Wallenstein and Matthew Wallenstein, Dallas, TX

Eli: “Recently, after the Canada fires, my township experienced a lot of smoke and the sky was orange. This causes a major risk for people with asthma and other breathing problems. Thankfully my school was very good about keeping people indoors, but I think it would have been a great idea to offer masks to people who wanted to use them.”

Carter: “The fires this summer and the flooding are horrible. My grandparents got stuck in a flooded area just yesterday, and I just hope we can get this whole thing turned around.”

Eli Opalski, Lawrence Twp., with Carter Underwood, Ewing

Msabiloah: “I am worried about the rising global temperatures. It keeps getting hotter each day. I am worried about the ice caps melting and I am worried about endangered specicies. I don’t want to see them go away.”

Aiden Samuels, with Msabiloah Jaksch Kiloima, both of Ewing, NJ

Joint Effort Safe Streets

continued from page one and the Mildred Trotman Community Service Award to Princeton Public Schools

Superintendent Carol Kelley.

“The theme of our conversations this year is reflections on Princeton’s Black community and growing up in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborood,” Bailey said. “And as long as I’ve been in the neighborhood Miss Mamie has always played a significant role. As one of my grandmother’s closest friends, Miss Mamie was one of the ladies on the block who looked out not only for her own kids but everybody else’s kids, and she would get on your case and tell your mom why she got on your case.”

she had grown up here and was one of our own.”

Bob Hillier, a Town Topics shareholder who with his wife Barbara co-founded Studio Hillier in 2011 and has supported Joint Effort for many years, pointed out that Barbara, while working on her master’s degree in architecture, put together a booklet that laid out a master plan for the entire Witherspoon-Jackson area. “And that plan will be realized over the next three years,” Hillier said. “It’s an ideal solution for Witherspoon-Jackson. What she was envisioning is going to be able to happen with very few zoning variances.”

The plan will increase di

Her family moved around in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood — Leigh Avenue, Birch Avenue, Maclean, Witherspoon, Lytle — and she now lives on Clay Street.

She worked for many years at Electro-Mechanical Research Inc. and at the New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute in Skillman, and she was a longtime volunteer at the Princeton Hospital when it was on Witherspoon Street and at the Morningstar Church of God and Christ, where her parents were among the founding members.

Oldham was married to Maurice Oldham, who died eight years ago, and they had two children, a son who died in 2007 another daughter Wendy, who now lives in

“She loved to travel,” said her daughter, “and she was always involved in civic affairs. She was so strict when we were growing up, but she never stopped me from doing different kinds of things. My mother did not play, but she has always been very loving and supportive.”

On Sunday, August 6, a Gospel Festival and Black Family Recognition will take place at the First Baptist Church of Princeton with the annual salute to 12 Black families who have lived in or are connected to Princeton. This year’s honorees include the Spruill, Boyer, Saunders, Hines, Brown, Yates, Robinson, McQueen, Burrell, Johnson, Rhodes, and Turner families.

Joint Effort events will pick up again the following week with a community discussion on Tuesday, August 8 at 6 p.m. at the Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) on the subject of diversity, equity, inclusion, and the future of Princeton and Mercer County.

live here,” he said.

Bailey highlighted the need for an infusion of arts, culture, information, politics, and business. “There’s so much information and misinformation in the world in this era of unnecessary chaos that it’s important to do this,” he said. “It’s bringing people and information

together on topics that are important to the national community, the state community, and our local Mercer County and Princeton community.”

For more information visit artscouncilofprinceton.org/ safestreets/

—Donald Gilpin

Reflecting on the contributions to the community of Barbara Hillier, who passed away last November, Bailey noted, “Barbara Hillier was a professional woman who came into the community and rolled up her sleeves and did things that were important. She endeared herself to the citizens of the community and we loved her as though

Mamie Oldham was born in Cape Charles, Virginia in 1931 and moved to Princeton with her family in 1937. She attended the segregated Witherspoon School for Colored Children for elementary school and went on to graduate from Princeton High School.

Following the August 4 kick-off, the first weekend of Joint Effort will feature a community discussion with ten panelists on the topic “Do Black Lives Still Matter?” on Saturday, August 5 at 10 a.m. in the First Baptist Church of Princeton.

Bailey noted that many events of the past three years show a declining commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement and “have suggested that our lives may not be as valuable as we thought they were — in this conversation we’ll be talking about that.”

Later in the second week Joint Effort highlights will include the Cynthia “Chip” Fisher Memorial Art Exhibit at ACP, the presentation of Joint Effort book scholarships, a community discussion panel on “I remember when…growing up in the W-J neighborhood,” a community discussion on a range of “hot topics,” a candidate forum with a number of local leaders who will be on the ballot in November, a community block festival, and an array of basketball events on Saturday and Sunday, August 12 and 13.

Stressing the values of diversity, Newlin urged Princeton residents and others to participate in this year’s Joint Effort. “It is critically important as the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood Black population has declined in numbers that we make sure that we raise our voices, that we are heard and seen and continue to build a future for the children who

Barbara Hillier

Mamie Oldham with her daughter Wendy

Senior Resource Center Announces Fall Benefit

On Thursday, September 14 at 6 p.m., the Princeton Senior Resource Center (PSRC) will be hosting its Fall Benefit at the Nancy S. Klath Center for Lifelong Learning, located at 101 Poor Farm Road.

The Board of Trustees and staff of PSRC will celebrate 2023 Leadership Award honorees Hazel Stix, Bryn Mawr Trust, and the Mayor and Council of Princeton.

Stix is a long-time leader, ambassador, pillar of the PSRC community, and advocate for a just and inclusive Princeton. Bryn Mawr Trust has been integral to the success of PSRC’s capital campaign, and is a community leader and pacesetter in philanthropy. The Mayor and Council are “PSRC partners and collaborators, community strategists, and advocates for an age-friendly Princeton,” according to a press release from PSRC.

“I have been a passionate supporter of the Princeton Senior Resource Center, long before I was a senior, because I always believed that Princeton was not complete without a center devoted to the needs, interests, and continuing education of its senior citizens,” said Stix. “I hope you will join me in celebrating this impactful organization.”

The evening includes cocktails, dinner, entertainment provided by Princeton University students, and a celebration of PSRC. The dinner, program, and entertainment will take place outside under a tent. Registration is available now at princetonsenior.org , or by calling (609) 751-9699.

For registration and event sponsorship information, visit princetonsenior.org, contact Lisa Adler, chief development officer, at ladler@ princetonsenior.org, or call (609) 751-9699, ext. 103. Proceeds from this event benefit ongoing programs and support & guidance services at the Princeton Senior Resource Center.

PSRC is a community nonprofit organization that exists to help older adults thrive. They aim to carry out this mission by offering support and guidance to older adults and their families, and by providing vital human connections, compassionate social services, dynamic lifelong learning, and meaningful volunteer opportunities that promote active, healthy, and engaged aging for adults aged fiftyfive and above.

Morven Offers Programs

Throughout the Summer

Several activities and programs are available this summer at Morven Museum and Garden, 55 Stockton Street.

On Thursday, July 20 at 6 p.m., florists from Vaseful Flowers & Gifts will lead the Build a Bouquet Workshop. Inspired by the National Historic Landmark’s signature gardens, the workshop will teach participants how to choose flowers and craft unique arrangements. Bring your own vase. Flowers and light refreshments will be provided. This in-person workshop is limited to 20 people. Pre-registration is required. Tickets are $75 for General Admission, $65 for Morven Members.

A hybrid program, “Uncovering the New Jersey

BUILDING HAPPY TRAILS: Despite the hot weather, Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) volunteers recently installed an additional 12-foot section of a natural rock path leading from the edge of the lawn behind Mountain Lakes House to the picturesque stone footbridge over the east inlet stream at the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Preserve. “We have about 35 feet left to go,” said Clark Lennon, FOPOS trail committee head. “The plan is to continue every Thursday morning until completion. Volunteers are welcome, even for just an hour or two.” To find out more, email info@fopos.org with “Trail Crew” in the subject line.

State Village for Epileptics,” is scheduled for Wednesday, July 26 at 6:30 p.m. In 1898, the state of New Jersey broke ground on the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics in Montgomery Township. It was designed to be a completely autonomous community for patients with epilepsy including educational and medical facilities, a theater, a fully functional farm, a firehouse, housing, and even a power plant. Spanning the course of Governor Walter Edge’s two nonconsecutive terms in office, the State Village suffered financial hardships and overcrowding that led to terrible conditions for residents.

Historian and archivist Emily Borowski will discuss the social and medical history that led to and maintained the State Village up until the 1950s. This talk, occurring on the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, will touch on the greater story of those living with disabilities in the community surrounding New Jersey’s first Governor’s mansion.

In-person tickets are $5$10. Virtual tickets are $5 (free for students and Morven members). Doors open for the in-person event at 6 p.m. in the Stockton Education Center at Morven. The virtual waiting room opens on Zoom at 6 p.m. Q&A for both live and virtual attendees will follow the talk. A Zoom webinar link will be shared with virtual ticket holders upon registration. A recording of the event will be provided following the program.

Also starting in July will be monthly docent tours of “ Striking Beauty: New Jersey Tall Case Clocks, 1730 - 1830 .” The exhibition features over 50 tall case clocks, representing almost as many different clockmakers.

Offered on a monthly basis, docent tours will take visitors through the history, creation, and legacy of these timepieces, exploring the stories of New Jersey clockmakers along the way. Visit morven. org for tour dates and registration information.

On Thursday, August 3 at 6 p.m., “All About Bees” is presented in person by Maurice “Moe” Cosby of Maidenhead Honey Bees. It will feature a demonstration hive where attendees can safely observe the live bees. Bees are essential to supporting our ecosystem, including the many plants that grow in Morven’s gardens. Participants will learn about these important pollinators, how they help cultivate and sustain our planet, and what it takes to maintain a hive of bees at home. Honey from Maidenhead will be available for sale during the event. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in beekeeping or just looking to learn more about these incredible insects. Tickets are $5-$10.

An evening yoga practice is led by Gemma Farrell of Gratitude Yoga on Thursday, August 10 at 6 p.m. in Morven’s historic gardens. The program is donation-based. Visit gratitudeyoga.org for more information.

Lastly, on Saturday, August 19 at 11a.m., “Sing Along with Sarah at Morven” features Sarah Johnson leading some music and movement in Morven’s gardens. Participants will be singing, dancing, playing instruments, and more, with food and crafts for the whole family. Tickes range from $5-$15 (children under age 2 admitted free). Visit singalongwithsara.com for more information.

Storms

continued from page one Bucks County, Pa. The children are from a family of six whose car got trapped by rushing waters during the torrential downpour.

The father and grandmother of the South Carolina family, who were visiting relatives in the area, managed to escape with their fouryear-old son. But the mother and two younger ones were swept away. The mother, who has been located, did not survive. Among the other people killed in the storm, which swept away some 11 vehicles, are a married couple and two other women.

Area emergency personnel and police urge the public to play it safe during weather events. “The biggest thing for us is to ask people to stay off the road during a storm,” said Captain Christopher Tash of the Princeton Police Department. “Some streets can flood very quickly. This is not only for their safety, but for the safety of first responders and utility trucks that go out there.”

In the case of the motorists on Taylorsville Road, “The flood waters overtook them. They didn’t drive into the flood — at least that is my understanding,” said Yeh. “But when there is a flooded road, it sometimes may seem that it’s not that deep. It’s hard to judge. So don’t take that chance.”

—Anne Levin

Mosquitoes

continued from page one 15 have been identified so far in Mercer County. Also good news is that even though mosquitoes can be very aggressive and those itchy red bites can seem unbearable, the transmission of diseases such as West Nile virus, malaria, and heart worm is very rare here.

Princeton mosquito expert Lindy McBride, Princeton University associate professor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience, who claims to be “constantly looking at thousands of mosquitoes” in her lab, does note that the West Nile virus can be a threat to the elderly and the immunocompromised.

Her McBride Lab at Princeton studies a species of mosquito which McBride describes as a cousin of the tiger mosquito. The lab focuses on adaptive changes in the mosquitoes’ behavior. “Our goal is to identify specific genetic changes that underlie recently evolved behaviors and then build a complete mechanistic picture of their effects, from gene to molecules to neurons to circuits and finally to behavioral output,” McBride wrote on her website. The ultimate goal is to “inform new strategies for blocking disease transmission.”

Mercer County Mosquito

Control urges residents to “spot the tiger” as a first step in eliminating the pests. “Are you attacked by small (about 1/4”) black mosquitoes with bright white stripes on the legs, back, and head? bitten mainly in the daytime? bitten mostly in shaded areas of your property? often bitten on the feet, ankles, or lower legs? seeing a ‘feeding frenzy’ around sunset? harassed by mosquitoes that won’t quit until they get a bite?” a Mosquito Control bulletin asks.

The bulletin goes on to urge individuals to enlist neighbors in the battle and to seek out containers of water located in the shade where tiger mosquitoes might lay their eggs. Larvae, or wrigglers, might be found in old tires, buckets, child pools and toys, watering cans, pet dishes, flower pots, plastic tarps, bird baths or even bottle caps, holes in the base of portable basketball nets, or plastic wrappers and bags.

To “make the kill,” Mosquito Control urges residents to discard unwanted containers, change the water at least weekly in bird baths, etc., and eliminate standing water wherever possible.

Some biological factors that attract mosquitoes, like the way you smell, you might not be able to change. As cited in a July 3 New York Times article, McBride noted that some people might at times just emit more of an odor that mosquitoes like, and she added that mosquitoes especially love forearm odor.

Christopher Bazzoli, an emergency medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic,

ITCHY BITES!: Mosquitoes might seem more aggressive than ever this summer, but there are strategies that can help you to avoid them and protect yourself against them. was quoted by the Times as suggesting that, for reasons not yet determined, mosquitoes gravitate towards people with Type O blood, and that another factors in your attractiveness to mosquitoes is the pattern of how you breathe. The more you exhale, the more carbon dioxide you emit, and the more easily mosquitoes can find you.

In addition to heavy breathing, sweat can attract mosquitoes, particularly the sweat you produce when drinking alcohol.

McBride has a number of strategies for thwarting mosquitoes. “Use a big fan,” she said. “Mosquitoes sneak up on you, usually along the ground, but one fan can cover a whole patio.” In a breeze mosquitoes are far less effective than usual and will probably not be able to hit their target.

Long, light-colored, and loose-fitting clothing can also help to protect you, but black, dark blue, bright orange, and red seem to attract the mosquitoes. Insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus can keep mosquitoes away, but McBride does not recommend chemical treatments unless “you’re in a dire situation.”

Mercer County Mosquito

BOB

609-819-1240

Control (MCMC) has been in operation for more than 80 years, seeking “to protect the residents of the county from both nuisance levels of mosquitoes and diseases that may be transmitted by them,” according to the MCMC website at mercercounty.org under Mosquito Control, which provides more information on these pests and how best to combat them.

—Donald Gilpin

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“Caminos Princeton” Heads to Ecuador; Cultural Immersion for 14 MS Students

Early last fall Alessandra Clemens-Lores, an architect, born and raised in Peru, who has worked for the past seven years as an aide in the dual language immersion (DLI) program at Community Park Elementary School (CP), received a phone call from a friend, the mother of a CP student Clemens had taught many years before.

The woman was sad that her eighth grade son missed participating in DLI and was fi nding nothing exciting to look forward to in the coming school year.

“I said, ‘Oh my god! I always told my babies that I was going to take them to Peru’,” Clemens recalled. “I like to call them my babies because they were with me for three years in early elementary. And I didn’t want to disappoint them, so that’s when I came to Queta and said ‘We need to do something.’” Queta Alban, a marketing and business professional born and raised in Ecuador who has been a DLI aide and Clemens’ colleague at CP for the past six years, agreed.

The two educators geared

up rapidly, and their efforts came to fruition last Sunday, July 16, as they embarked — not for Peru, but for Quito, Ecuador, with a group of 14 Princeton middle school students on their carefully planned 10-day Caminos Princeton cultural travel program.

“The main idea of our program is that children be immersed in the culture and experience first-hand, the customs, language, and people of the host country,” they wrote in an email. “We believe there is nothing more exciting, authentic, and fun for children than to learn a foreign culture by having the opportunity to be a part of it.”

Clemens added, “We’re very passionate about our culture and what we’re doing. We love what we are and where we come from. We want to teach that and share it with our students. This is a wish come true for both of us.” They emphasized how supportive both their own families and the students’ parents have been throughout the preparations for the trip.

“You have no idea how many phone calls we had late into the night,” Alban said. “Our husbands were like, ‘Are you still living here?’ and our kids were like, ‘Mom, are you still my mom?’”

Most of the students have been learning Spanish since early elementary school, and on this trip they are putting into practice the Spanish they’ve learned while absorbing the culture and customs of Ecuador. In addition to guided activities each day exploring the attractions of the city of Quito and its surroundings, the trip will include a fi ve-day, in-home living experience with Ecuadorian families.

“They are going to do activities as a family,” Alban explained. “They will enjoy and be a part of that family’s routine.” Working with one of the owners of a private school in Ecuador, Alban and Clemens were able to match up their students with appropriate Ecuadorian students and families.

Preliminary virtual encounters helped to pave the way.

“We managed to have the

Ecuador

country.

Ecuadorian families and the American families together for Zoom meetings,” Clemens explained. “They met each other. They met all the children, and they all talked about what they like. The American families feel more comfortable knowing where their children are going.”

She continued, “And there’s something I learned. Being a Peruvian I didn’t know how welcoming Ecuadorians are. They opened their hearts. They opened their doors. They acted as if it was an honor for them to have these children in their homes. It was really beautiful. And we’re hoping next year we can bring those children back to visit the families here.”

For the Princeton students, this week and next are packed with activities as they “discover the similarities and appreciate the differences between themselves and the Ecuadorian community to become true global citizens,” as Clemens and Alban describe it.

In addition to Ecuadorian cultural awareness, the Caminos Princeton program also includes serious environmental education and social service components. The students will learn about permaculture in a workshop focused on designing, producing, and maintaining an environmentally sustainable “huerto” or vegetable garden.

They will raft down the Napo River in the Ecuadorian rainforest, surrounded by the Andes Mountains, and observe fi rst-hand how illegal mining is affecting the environment and the whole world. Also during their tenday stay, they will make a trek through the Paramos Mountains, participate in a reforestation project with native plants, meet with a group of chagras (cowboys of the Andes), and visit a community of women who produce chocolate.

A city tour of Quito led by a group of actors role-playing as historic colonials will introduce the group to Quito and its history dating back to colonial days and the pre-Incan period. On their last full day the students will team up with the Red Cross to help assemble aid kits for the city of Esmeraldas, a coastal city in the northwest part of Ecuador that has been devastated by flooding.

The group is bringing with them donations they’ve collected, as well as essential

supplies like diapers, toothbrushes, over-the-counter medicines, gently used clothing, and some stuffed animals. Together with children from the Ecuador private school the Princeton students are going to put together aid kits for the residents of Esmereldas.

“It’s lovely to see the kids learn our language, to teach them Spanish, and this idea of Caminos started because we wanted to teach kids not only the Spanish language but also the culture,” said Alban. “There’s no way for you to learn the language if you don’t learn the culture and the traditions, That was part of how this whole idea started. All the effort that they’ve put in over these past years, now they’ll be able to actually live it, in person, in real life, to speak the language, to hear somebody else speak the language they’ve been learning.”

Clemens pointed out that the students are eager and well-prepared for this immersive experience. “They are ready,” she said. “They are looking forward to this trip, to applying everything they have been learning and being able to interact with other students over there.”

She continued, “We want them to travel not only as an American group but as an American-Ecuadorian group. We’re adding children from Ecuador to the tours so they will all be forced to speak in Spanish.”

Alban emphasized that this Caminos Princeton program is not a typical vacation trip. “Our mission is not just to take the kids like a travel agency,” she said. “It’s more like an experience that we want them to have. You can do a trip to Ecuador through a travel agency, but we want these kids to have a life experience.”

Alban explained other important ways in which Caminos Princeton and their long-term connections with the students transcends the normal travel experience. “We are very passionate about what we do, and we put a lot of love into what we do. We have close relationships with the kids, and the relationships are based on trust that we have created with the parents. If they were not able to trust us with their kids, this wouldn’t happen. We have been able to create a bonding with them.”

Free Alzheimer’s Conference For New Jersey Residents

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) will host a free Alzheimer’s and Caregiving Educational Conference for New Jersey residents on Wednesday, August 16 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the HOPE Tower — Jersey Shore University Medical Center, 19 Davis Avenue, Neptune, as part of its 2023 national Educating America Tour.

The conference is open to everyone and will allow participants to learn from experts in the field of Alzheimer’s disease, brain health, and caregiving. To register, visit alzfdn.org/ tour. Advanced registration is highly recommended as registration closes on Monday, August 14 at 12 p.m.

“Knowledge is a useful and powerful tool that can help make any situation easier to navigate, especially something as challenging as caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., AFA’s president and CEO. “Connecting families with useful, practical information and support that can help them now and be better prepared for the future is what this conference is all about. Whether Alzheimer’s is affecting your family, you are a caregiver or just want to learn more about brain health, we invite you to join us on August 16.”

Sessions are titled “Brain Health Awareness, It’s Never Too Early,” “The Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease on Language, Cognitive, and Swallowing Function,” and “How to Age in Place Safely.” Free, confidential memory screenings will be conducted throughout the day.

Those who cannot participate in the conference or have immediate questions about Alzheimer’s disease can connect with licensed social workers seven days a week through AFA’s National Toll-Free Helpline by calling (866) 232-8484, sending a text message to (646) 586-5283, or web chatting at alzfdn.org by clicking the blue and white chat icon in the right-hand corner of the page. The web chat and text message features can serve individuals in more than 90 languages.

—Donald Gilpin Get the scoop from

CAMINOS PRINCETON: Fourteen middle school students and two adult leaders, Alessandra Clemens-Lores (left) and Queta Alban, gathered in Princeton Sunday before heading off to Quito,

for a 10-day immersion experience with the language, culture and people of the

Outdoor Dining Regulations Should Have Been Developed Before Witherspoon Reconstruction

To the Editor:

I gather from last week’s Town Topics that Princeton’s Town Council is debating new rules for outdoor dining [July 12, page 1]. Matters up for discussion include the size of pedestrian passageways and the specifications for tables and chairs. Town Engineer Jim Purcell is quoted as saying, “One size does not fit all. We have wide sidewalks and narrow sidewalks. Pedestrians, motorists, and the businesses themselves all have different needs.”

I am puzzled. Princeton has just spent $X million to completely reconfigure and reconstruct Witherspoon Street. One of the expressed purposes of the work is to make “Witherspoon Dineable.” Yet now that the work has been done, the rules for outdoor dining have yet to be established. Wouldn’t it have been a wiser course of action to have developed a set of regulations before reconstructing the street? Mightn’t new regulations have helped inform the design?

I am very much in favor of creating a more festive, pedestrian-friendly atmosphere on Witherspoon Street. I hope that one day soon that vision will be realized.

HENRY VON KOHORN Library Place

New Trash Cans Make Narrow Roads More Difficult to Navigate

To the Editor:

Since many streets in Princeton are narrow, I find that I frequently need to drive defensively in order to avoid cars that are driving too fast and/or driving toward the middle of the road. This is now exacerbated with the “new and improved” trash collection system that requires the receptacles to be placed in the street awaiting collection.

Today on Henry Avenue, my car’s side view mirror was damaged by the robotic ledge on one of these trash cans. Also, these trash receptacles lined up like soldiers create a sight line issue at some intersections. Couple this with brush at the curb that will not be collected until August, and you’ve got roads in town that are increasingly difficult to navigate.

ANDREA GAYNOR Shadybrook Lane

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.

Organic Garden State Organic Garden State

Whole Earth carries a wide selection of locally grown produce from the Garden State’s finest organic growers. During the summer, we get daily deliveries of local organic produce. Stop in to sample the bounty of New Jersey’s organic farms.

Desperately Seeking Oppenheimer — A Sneak Preview

We waited until the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was extremely solemn. We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent.

—J. Robert Oppenheimer (19041967), after the first test, July 16, 1945

The cover photo of Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Knopf 2005) shows a man who knew how to create himself -- the hat, the cigarette, the challenging look -- much as a seasoned movie actor creates a persona.

The man on the cover of Ray Monk’s Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center (Doubleday 2012) seems alone in a world of thought. No more the hat, the cigarette, the aggressive stare, the attitude, the sense of a cutting-edge force of genius. This prophet is beyond sadness and you don’t want to know what sort of future he would prophesy.

Fuse the stories behind the photographs and you have material for a fascinating film. My June 1, 2005 review of American Prometheus covers some of the possibilities -- from the theoretical physicist who masterminded the Manhattan Project to the horseman who once said his two great loves were physics and New Mexico; from the reader who defined himself through literature to the language scholar who learned Sanskrit so he could read the Bhagavad-Gita in the original; from the student who left a poisoned apple for his tutor to the chain-smoking maker of lethal martinis who told President Harry Truman after the bombing of Hiroshima, “I feel I have blood on my hands.”

The Kafka Connection

After warning the world about the hydrogen bomb and nuclear proliferation, Oppenheimer was the subject of a 1954 hearing rigged by his enemies in order to smear him as a security risk. In American Prometheus , the chapter on the hearing is prefaced by a quote from Franz Kafka’s The Trial (“Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong, he was arrested one fine morning”). As it happens, the so-called “Father of the Atom Bomb” and his story have qualities in common with the personal writings and fictions of the author of The Castle . Kafka was born 140 years ago this month, July 3, 1883, and although he died in 1924, much of his most prescient work appeared posthumously, including Diaries 1910-1923 (Schocken Books) and The Aphorisms , published last year by Princeton University Press. Both Oppenheimer biographies reveal why the Prometheus of Los Alamos would be responsive to Aphorism 54 (“With the very strongest light, one can dissolve the world”); for both cover

photos there’s Aphorism 76, in which “the answer prowls around the question, peers desperately into its unapproachable face.”

Similarities between the two abound in Monk’s biography and are often reflected in Oppenheimer’s own words, as in a December 1923 letter attempting to explain his “dilettante dawdling” in fiction (he was 19): “I find these awful people in me from time to time, and their expulsion is the sole excuse for my writing....I write to get rid of an ideal and impossible system.”

In June 1913, Kafka, who was 30, refers to “the tremendous world I have in my head. But how free myself and free it without being torn to pieces. And a thousand times rather be torn to pieces than retain it in me or bury it.”

In the Neighborhood

Although neither biography notes a specifi c instance where Oppenheimer read Kafka, the author of The Metamorphoses

cause “he gets to the soul and torment of man,” Oppenheimer surprised both friends by quoting, word for word, a passage from Proust. It referred to one of the book’s central characters, Mlle. Vinteuil, “who would not have considered evil to be so rare, so extraordinary, so estranging a state ... had she been able to discern in herself, as in everyone, that indifference to the sufferings one causes, an indifference which, whatever names one may give it, is the terrible and permanent form of cruelty.”

The words about evil and cruelty and “the sufferings one causes” resonate in Oppenheimer’s admission in the aftermath of Hiroshima (“I feel I have blood on my hands”). Curious to understand why Proust and this passage in particular represent “one of the great experiences” of his life, Monk finds a clue in remarks Oppenheimer made in 1960 at the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Confessing

true.” In the same context, both biographers quote physicist Richard Feynman to the effect that quantum mechanics “describes nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense.”

It’s hard not to think of the “secret city” of Los Alamos, also known as The Hill, when you read the opening of Kafka’s The Castle : “The Castle hill was hidden, veiled in mist and darkness, nor was there even a glimmer of light to show that a castle was there. On the wooden bridge leading from the main road to the village, K. stood for a long time gazing into the illusory emptiness above him.”

What most impresses Thomas Mann in Kafka’s novel, with its “strange, uncanny, demonic illogicality, remoteness, cruelty, and yes, wickedness” is “that it is done with humor.” Think what Kafka could do with the black-comedy possibilities of the goings-on in Oppenheimer’s castle, all the intrusive security agents looking after all those genius scientists building a doomsday device they call the Gadget The bombs that will decimate the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are coded Little Boy and Fat Man. Is there a poet the house? Someone who has loved and absorbed literature from boyhood?

By March 1945, thanks to J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Hill became the “Trinity Project.” The idea came from a John Donne poem he knew and loved and associated with Jean Tatlock, an avowed Communist for whom he risked leaving the top secret enclave of the Hill to spend a night with in Berkeley (the FBI were actually watching when the lights went out). The poem that actually provided the line is Holy Sonnet 14, which begins, “Batter my heart, three-person’d God.”

Jumping

was in the literary neighborhood. Monk recounts a mid-1960s conversation between Oppenheimer and his first biographer, Nuel Pharr Davis ( Lawrence & Oppenheimer 1968), who was asking about a certain “undocumented episode” said to be “the turning point of his life.” All Oppenheimer would tell Davis was “What you need to know is that it was not a mere love affair, not a love affair at all, but love.” Davis assumed that Oppenheimer was alluding to his love “for a European girl who would not marry him.” Later Oppenheimer told a friend that the experience in question had nothing to do with a European girl but was rather his reading of Marcel Proust’s A le recherche du temps perdu

Oppenheimer read Proust by flashlight on a 10-day trek across Corsica in the spring of 1925, during which, according to Monk, he and his two companions talked about French and Russian literature. When the topic of cruelty entered the conversation after Oppenheimer argued that Dostoevsky was superior to Tolstoy be-

that he had always been “acutely aware of the worst in himself,” he spoke of his “almost infinitely prolonged adolescence,” presumably including the “poisoned apple” incident at Cambridge: “I hardly took any action, hardly did anything, or failed to do anything, whether it was a paper on physics, or a lecture, or how I read a book, how I talked to a friend, how I loved, that did not arouse in me a very great sense of revulsion and of wrong.” In order to “break out and be a reasonable man, I had to realize that my own worries about what I did ... were not the whole story, that there must be a complementary way of looking at them, because other people did not see them as I did. And I needed what they saw, needed them.”

Quantum Kafka

The very field of physics that Oppenheimer mastered is darkly, absurdly, beautifully “Kafkaesque” since it studies, as Bird and Sherwin point out, “that which doesn’t exist – but nevertheless proves

My favorite photograph of Oppenheimer can be found in Philippe Halsman’s Jump Book , a collection of leaping luminaries the photographer put together in the late fifties. The photo shows Oppenheimer performing his jump in front of a blackboard at the Institute. It is at once a spectacularly uninhibited and absolutely, gravely determined upward leap, one arm raised high above his head (his face peering straight up), the jacket of his elegant three-piece suit flying open, his well-polished black shoes well off the ground. Halsman calls the leap “metaphysically spectacular.” It’s nice to know that even after the 1954 inquisition, the director could still reach for the sky.

—Stuart Mitchner

The quotes by Thomas Mann are from his introduction to the 1940 edition of The Castle Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated film, opens with a special showing at the Garden Thursday night.

Shop the Arts Council of Princeton's yART sale for creative bargains and unique finds, all handcrafted by local artisans.

Pottery, jewelry, textiles, printmaking, and affordable art supplies await!

Peruse 30+ vendors selling beautiful work at studio clean-out prices.

Set your alarm, grab a Joe to-go, and come on over for the real deals.

Performing Arts

NUTCRACKERS AND MORE: It’s not too early to plan for the holiday entertainment season. State Theatre New Jersey is holding a “Christmas in July” ticket sale for American Repertory Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker,” shown here, and other events.

State Theatre New Jersey

Announces Holiday Shows

State Theatre New Jersey of New Brunswick has announced its lineup for the 2023-24 holiday season. The shows are part of the theater’s “Christmas in July” ticket sale.

The holiday shows that were just added include Sarah Brightman: A Christmas Symphony on November 26; A Magical Cirque Christmas o n December 1; The Illusionists: Magic of the Holidays on December 6; Vienna Boys Choir on December 8; Mannheim

Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis on December 10; The Nutcracker with American Repertory Ballet on December 15-17; The Hip Hop Nutcracker on December 29; and a New Year’s Eve tradition at State Theatre, Salute to Vienna on December 31.

The Christmas in July Sale gives ticket buyers to these holiday shows 20% off, and will expire on July 31 at 11:59 p.m. The theater is at 15 Livingston Street. Visit STNJ.org for more information.

Soˉ Percussion Institute Offers a Range of Concerts

The annual Soˉ Percussion Summer Institute, the Edward T. Cone Ensemblein-Residence at Princeton University, is taking place through July 29. The institute, a two-week intensive program for composers and musicians, offers a range of free concerts of new and

experimental music, performed both by Soˉ Percussion and students.

On Saturday, July 22 at 7:30 p.m., a Princeton Composers Concert will be held at the University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

The SoSi Composers World Premieres concert is Friday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m., also at the Lewis Center. On Saturday, July 29 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., The Soˉ Percussion Day of Sonic Exploration is held all over town, at locations including the Princeton Record Exchange, Princeton Public Library, Hinds Plaza, Arts Walk, and the Lewis Center.

Soˉ Percussion is a percussion quartet and nonprofit organization that fosters, creates, and presents adventurous new work with a unique focus on collaboration. Fueled by a belief in the unifying power of music, Soˉ Percussion brings the joy, curiosity, and inherent connectivity of percussion in all its forms to an ever-broader audience. Visit sopercussion.com for more details.

Musical “Bye Bye Birdie” Come

to Kelsey Theatre

Mercer County Community College’s Kelsey Theatre presents Bye Bye Birdie , a musical for all ages, from July 28 through August 6.

The Tony award-winning Broadway show tells the story of Conrad Birdie, a charismatic rock ‘n’ roll sensation who is drafted into the army. To commemorate his departure, Birdie’s agent

organizes a nationwide contest for one lucky fan to receive “One Last Kiss” from the iconic heartthrob on national television.

“We are thrilled to bring Bye Bye Birdie to the stage at the Kelsey Theatre,” said Kitty Getlik, artistic director and manager of Kelsey Theatre. “This musical captures the spirit and nostalgia of a bygone era while reminding us of the universal themes of love, dreams, and the power of music. Our talented cast and crew have worked tirelessly to create a show that will transport audiences back in time and leave them humming along to the unforgettable tunes.”

The show features such memorable songs such as “Put on a Happy Face,” “Kids,” and “A Lot of Livin’ to Do.”

Performances are July 28 and 29 at 8 p.m.; July 30 at 2 p.m.; August 4 at 8 p.m.; August 5 and 2 and 8 p.m.; and August 6 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20-$24. Visit Kelsey.mccc.edu.

Musical “The Crossing” Brings History to Life

On July 2, 120 area residents attended the local premiere of excerpts from the musical The Crossing at Princeton Junior School, an event sponsored by the Princeton Battlefield Society (PBS) to celebrate the Independence Day weekend. This new show brings to life the events surrounding one the key episodes of our area’s history — Washington’s

HISTORY BECOMES THEATER:

musical on July 2.

Crossing of the Delaware and the Ten Crucial Days of December 1776 to January 1777 that culminated in the Battle of Princeton and turned the tide of the American Revolution.

This new musical is the product of a collaboration of experienced theater professionals with historians of the Ten Crucial Days. Led by composer John Allen Watts, lyricist Brian Huza, and director Misti Willis, the cast told the story of men and women behind the major names in history books — Generals Washington, Mercer, Greene, and Knox.

The cast presented the stories of eight ‘ordinary’ people, characters standing in for the several thousand who stepped forward at the darkest point in the Revolution to help secure the survival of a newly independent nation founded on principles of freedom.

This one-hour performance presented the musical highlights of this new production, with songs ranging from ‘Auf Weidersehen’

The cast of “The Crossing”

describing the rout of the Hessians from Trenton, to ‘No More Retreat’, capturing the determination of Washington and his soldiers, and the somber ‘Will They Remember My Name?’, presenting the tragedy of young men dying in battle. Local historians Larry Kidder and Roger Williams were key to the project.

This debut presentation was made possible through the sponsorship of Princeton residents Mark and Rachel Herr and Peter Travers. For more information, visit TheCrossingMusical.com.

Variety of Attractions

At Fair in Freehold Music is a focus at the Monmouth County Fair, running July 26-30 at East Freehold Showgrounds, Kozloski Road in Freehold.

Performers include the Amish Outlaws, The Nerds, Back to the Eighties Show with Jessie’s Girl, Coast 2 Coast Philly, the Sensational Soul Cruisers, and Rockit Academy. Other entertainment includes the Flying Fools High Diving Show, Robinson’s Racing Pigs, Bwana Jim Wildlife Show, The Raptor Project, Hilby the Skinny German Juggle Boy, Mutts Gone Nuts, and Aaron Bonk’s Fire, Whips, and Danger Tricks.

The fair is open 4-11 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, July 2628; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, July 29; and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, July 30. Admission is $8 (children under 12, veterans, and active military will ID free). Visit MonmouthCountyFair.com for information.

(Photo by Leighton Chen)

WE LOVE YOU CONRAD: The 1950s-era musical “Bye Bye Birdie” tells the story of Elvis-style rocker Conrad Birdie, who gives “One Last Kiss” to the winner of a national contest before he reports for military duty.

presenting highlights of the new

(Photo by Matt Matrale, Princeton Battlefield Society)

VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITES!

What’s your favorite area restaurant? Do you have a landscaper that you love? Town Topics Newspaper is happy to announce that its 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards is now open for VOTING FOR THE BEST:

DINING

Al Fresco

Appetizers

Bagel

Bakery Bar

Burger

Breakfast Sandwich

Caterer

Cheese

Chocolatier

Deli

Farmers Market

Gluten-Free Option

Happy Hour

Ice Cream

Italian Restaurant

Lunch Break

Mexican Restaurant

Pizza

Plant-Based Dish

Seafood Restaurant

Soup

Sushi

Takeout Meals

Vegetarian Restaurant

Wings

FITNESS

Gym

HIIT Class

Physical Therapist

Pilates

Spin Class

Trainer

Yoga

Zumba

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Acupuncture

Barber Shop

Chiropractor

Cosmetic Dentistry

Dentist/Prosthodontist

Dermatologist

ENT

Hair Salon

Hair Color/Highlight Stylist Hospital

Massage

Med Spa/Botox

Nail Salon

Ob/Gyn

Optometrist/Opthalmologist

Orthodontist

Orthopedist

Pharmacy

Plastic Surgeon

Podiatrist

Spa

Senior Care

Speciality Medicine

HOME & REAL ESTATE

Architect

Electrician

Furniture Store

Granite & Marble Store

Home Stager

HVAC

Interior Designer

Kitchen/Bath Designer

Landscape Designer

Nursery/Garden Center

Organic Lawn Care

Outdoor Furnishing Store

Painter

Plumber

Pool Services

Realtor

Roofing

Senior Living

Tree Service

KIDS

After-School Program

Camp

Child Care/Preschool

Children’s Gym

Children’s Dance Lessons

Children’s Martial Arts

Children’s Party Place

Children’s Photographer

Children’s Swim Lessons

Kid-Friendly Restaurant

Pediatrician

Toy Store

Tutoring

RETAIL

Antique Shop

Florist

Bike Shop

Men’s Shop

Pet Supply

Shoe Store

Speciality/Gift Store

Women’s Boutique

SERVICES

Accountant

Animal Boarding/Daycare

Attorney-Lawyer

Auto Detailing

Auto Shop/Mechanic

Car Service/Limo

Cleaners

Financial Advisor/Planner

Grocery Store

Pet Groomer

Pet Sitter/Dog Walker

Pet Training

Veterinarian

MISC.

Adult Classes

Arts Festival

Group Outing

Hidden Gem

Live Music Venue

New Business

Night Out

Summer Day Trip

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS SEPTEMBER 13

The winners will be announced in the October 4 and 11 editions of Town Topics Newspaper. Don’t miss your chance to vote for your favorite businesses or services!

The Readers’ Choice Awards is open for online voting now at towntopics.com, or mail to 4438 Route 27, P.O. Box 125, Kingston, NJ 08528. NO PHOTOCOPIES ACCEPTED. Must be on original newsprint.

Do you have a suggestion for Town Topics or Princeton Magazine? Submit your response here:

Would you like to sign up for a one-time reader survey? Y/N

If yes, submit your email address here:

Life-Sized Johnson Sculptures

Now Throughout Hopewell Valley

Ten life-sized Seward Johnson sculptures have cropped up throughout Hopewell Valley, thanks to an ambitious public art project organized by the Hopewell Valley Arts Council in collaboration with the Johnson Atelier. This sixmonth exhibition, “Seward Johnson: Celebrating the

Art

Everyday,” pays homage to the renowned late artist, who proudly called Hopewell his home.

Strategically placed in prominent locations across Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough, Pennington, and Titusville, these sculptures are compelling landmarks, with one adorning each school campus within the Hopewell

Valley Regional School District.

“I drive by the sculpture at Brick Farm Market with the beautiful girl that is so happy in life, and it makes my day!” shared one Hopewell Borough resident.

In upcoming months, celebrations will include pop-up activities for each sculpture, three art exhibitions, a photo contest, two “take home”

projects, an online Explorer’s Guide, a downloadable driving map, and more.

One of the highlights of the project is an upcoming art exhibition at Gallery 14 in Hopewell Borough, aptly named “Radius 14: Celebrating Our Local Artists.” This exhibition will showcase artwork by talented artists residing within a 14-mile radius of Hopewell Valley. The show will open with a reception on Thursday, August 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and run select days and times between August 10 and August 20.

The project was made possible thanks to generous contributions from the community and supplemented with a donation from Elaine J. Wold, in honor of her brother Seward Johnson. For more information, visit hvartscouncil.org/ sewardjohnson.

West Windsor Arts Presents “Jump into Pictures” Exhibition

The “Jump into Pictures” art show at West Windsor Arts celebrates the vibrant world of children’s book illustrations and includes fun activities everyone can participate in. The exhibition is on view through August 26, with a free opening reception on Friday, July 21 from 7-8:30 p.m.

Before children learn to speak, they discover and understand the world around them through lights, colors, and sounds in graphical motion. Children’s books play an important role in shaping a child into the adult they will become. As parents patiently teach their kids their first words, they reach

for the illustrations in baby books to relate a word to a picture. With their curiosity piqued, children devour picture books and simple stories while connecting to their daily lives. As they grow, so do the illustrations, from depicting the mundane to showcasing abstract new ideas.

Artists featured in this exhibition include Ilene Dube, Lori Fol, Marzena Haupa, Mita Karnik, Eleni Litt, Deborah Pey, Kate Pollack, Georgina Ramirez, Jane Reed, and Rupa Sanbui. Jurors Rashad Malik Davis and Kelly Lan have work in the show as well.

Fol says of her dreamy painting Path to the Moon, “Oliver Bunbabbitt, or Olive B, as his friends call him, feels that the moon cannot really be so far away. All he has to do is find the right way to get there.” She reveals the inspiration for her art, saying, “I have a deep love of the moon. In fact, Moon is my family nickname, so I depict it in many of my works. It is surprising that even though this piece is focused around the moon, it does not appear in it. It is the journey, and how it is accomplished, that matters.”

Reed’s improvisatory artistic process uses color and movement to capture a child’s point of view in her painting, The Storm Arrives. Reed said that her intention for this piece was to portray “the beauty and unpredictability of nature. Especially for a child, this is a new experience. We don’t know if she “sees” or imagines the boat. I want the action/narrative to express that, as she reaches for her

hat, she knows she must act. It’s time for her to join her family and keep the memory with her.”

Exhibition juror Davis is an award-winning author, illustrator, and entrepreneur currently pursuing his dream through RaMalik Illustrations. He loves to explore themes of magic, the mystical, empathy, and diversity in a fun and humorous way. Juror Lan is a Taiwanese American designer and founder of Hello Prosper, an arts education brand empowering the youth through storytelling. Her work amplifies the rich experiences and intersections of Asian and Western culture. She said she loves diving into topics about identity and belonging, especially through the historical and cultural lens.

The West Windsor Arts Exhibition Committee members, all volunteers, have created some engaging opportunities as part of this show. Visitors are encouraged to dress up as their favorite children’s book character and bring a copy of the book with them to the opening reception or any Saturday during the show between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Guests can then add their photo to the “Favorite Book Character Frame.” There will also be an “I Spy - Jump into Pictures” game that will challenge all ages. West Windsor Arts is located at 952 Alexander Road in Princeton Junction. For more information and gallery hours, visit westwindsorarts.org, call (609) 716-1931, or email info@ westwindsorarts.org.

love of

“KEEP LIFE IN BALANCE”: This life-sized sculpture by the late Seward Johnson is installed at the Timberlane Middle School / Hopewell Valley Central High School campus as part of the sixmonth exhibition “Seward Johnson: Celebrating the Everyday.”

“THE STORM ARRIVES”: This acrylic on canvas work by Jane Reed is part of “Jump into Pictures,” on view through August 26 at West Windsor Arts. The exhibition celebrates children’s book illustrations.

“PATH TO THE MOON”: This watercolor painting by Lori Fol is featured in “Jump into Pictures,” on view through August 26 at West Windsor Arts. An opening reception is on July 21 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Classes are designed for all ages to build confidence, artistry, discipline, and foster students’

dance. Our world class faculty is dedicated to helping each student reach their full potential, with spacious studios, new state-of-the-art dance floors, and live music. The perfect environment to learn and grow!

CREATIVE BARGAINS: The Arts Council of Princeton’s August 5 yART sale on August 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. will feature more than 30 vendors selling one-of-a-kind items at studio cleanout prices.

Arts Council of Princeton

to Host Outdoor Sale

The Arts Council of Princeton’s (ACP) yART sale, to be held on Saturday, August 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., promises attendees the opportunity to shop for creative bargains and unique finds, all handcrafted by local artisans.

The flea-market style event will be held outdoors in the ACP parking lot and around their Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, located at 102 Witherspoon Street. Working in ceramics, jewelry, printmaking, painting, and more, 30-plus vendors

41 Leigh Avenue, Princeton www.tortugasmv.com

will sell seconds, misprints, discontinued designs, and one-of-a-kind items at studio clean-out prices.

“For almost 30 years, we’ve had the pleasure of coordinating art markets showing off the best of the best of our creative region,” said ACP Artistic Director Maria Evans, who’s responsible for the Sauce for the Goose Outdoor Art Market and the Princeton Art Bazaar. “We love these events, and the public has come to know us as the goto place for high-quality art and gifts around Mother’s Day and the winter holidays.

Available for Lunch & Dinner Mmm..Take-Out Events • Parties • Catering (609) 924-5143

But for the first time, we’re shaking things up a bit for the dog days of August. Set your alarm, grab a Joe to go, and come on over for the real deals.”

For a full vendor list and more information, visit artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Area Exhibits

Art@Bainbridge, 158 Nassau Street, has “Victor Ekpuk: Language and Lineage” July 22 through October 8. artmuseum.princeton.edu.

Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, has “A World Reimagined” through August 6. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. lambertvillearts.com.

Art on Hulfish, 11 Hulfish Street, has “Traces on the Landscape” through August 6. artmuseum.princeton.edu.

Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, has “Family Recollections” through July 22. artscouncilofprinceton.org.

D&R Greenway Land Trust Johnson Education Center, 1 Preservation Place, has “Migration: Movement for Survival” through September 24. drgreenway.org.

Gourgaud Gallery, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, has “Creative Collective Summer Exhibition” through July 28. cranburyartscouncil.org.

Grounds For Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, has “Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits” and “Spiral Q: The Parade” through January 7 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 “Einstein Salon and Innovator’s Gallery,” “Princeton’s Portrait,” and other exhibits. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m., Thursday to 7 p.m. princetonhistory.

org

Michener Art Museum, 138 South Pine Street, Doylestown, Pa., has “MidCentury to Manga: The Modern Japanese Print in America” through July 30,

“Alan Goldstein: Elemental” through September 4, and

“Sarah Kaizar: Rare Air” through November 5. michenerartmuseum.org

Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, has “Striking Beauty” through February 18 and the online exhibits “Slavery at Morven,” “Portrait of Place: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints of New Jersey, 1761–1898,” and others. morven.org.

Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, has “Albert Einstein: Champion of Racial Justice and Equality” through August 1. princetonlibrary.org.

Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, has “Nobody Turn Us Around: The Freedom Rides and Selma to Montgomery Marches: Selections from the John Doar Papers” through March 31. Library. princeton.edu.

Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, has photographs by Alyson LeCroy through August 1. Works by Jill Mudge are at the 254 Nassau Street location through August 1. smallworldcoffee. com.

Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Cadwalader Park, Trenton, has “Ellarslie Open 40” through September 30. ellarslie.org.

Trenton Free Public Library, 120 Academy Street, Trenton, has “First Friday Curators” through July 29. (609) 392-7188.

West Windsor Arts Center, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor, has “Jump Into Pictures” through August 26. An opening reception is on Friday, July 21 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. westwindsorarts.org.

Featuring products that are distinctly Princeton

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Artwork by Nicole Steacy

Mark Your Calendar Town Topics

Wednesday, July 19 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: Meet the Human Services Department, in the lobby of Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibrary.org.

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Leighton Listens: Councilman Leighton Newlin invites residents to voice their concerns, air their opinions, and have a one-on-one conversation about anything related to the town. At D’Angelo’s Italian Market, 35 Spring Street.

6 p.m.: Princeton Public Library Board of Trustees meeting, in the Community Room unless otherwise noted. Princetonlibrary.org.

7 p.m.: The Historical Society of Princeton presents the film Grand Illusion at the Garden Theatre, 160 Nassau Street. $7.75-$13.50. Princetonhistory.org.

7:30 p.m.: Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts presents the Poulenc Trio performing music for piano, oboe, and bassoon by Françaix, Fauré, Cuong, and Poulenc at Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street. Free. Princetonsummerchamberconcerts.org.

Thursday, July 20

7:30-10 a.m.: Princeton Mercer Chamber presents

the Trenton Economic Development Series: Arts, Entertainment, and Hospitality in the City of Trenton, at Cooper’s Riverview, 50 Riverview Executive Park, Route 29, Trenton. Panel discussion with represen tatives of arts and culture. Princetonmercer.org.

10 a.m.-3 p.m.: Farmers’ Market is at Hinds Plaza. Organic produce, pas ture-raised meat and eggs, bread, empanadas, pickles, flowers, and more. SNAP/ EBT accepted on eligible pur chases. Free parking for one hour in Spring Street Garage. Princetonfarmersmarket.com.

4-5 p.m.: Cooking with Friends, at Hopewell Train Station, 2 Railroad Place. Sara Schoonover leads kids 4-8 and their grownups making fruit pizzas. Redlibrary.org.

6 p.m.: Build a Bouquet Workshop at Morven, 55 Stockton Street. Florists from Vaseful Flowers and Gifts will help people create bouquets; bring your own vase. Flowers and refresh ments provided. $65-$75. Morven.org.

6-8 p.m.: Dueling Piano Night on the Palmer Square Green. Palmersquare.com.

6-8 p.m.: School of Rock Princeton performs at Princ eton Shopping Center as

part of the Summer Concert Series. Free, bring a blan ket or lawn chair. Princeton shoppingcenter.org.

6:30 p.m.: “Princeton, the Nation’s Capital 1783.” Barry Singer gives at talk at the Lawrence Headquarters branch of Mercer County Libraries, 2751 Brunswick Pike. Free but advance reg istration appreciated. (609) 883-8292.

6:30 p.m.: Story & Verse: A Poetry, Storytelling, and Spoken Word Open Mic, at Pettoranello Gardens ampitheater, 20 Mountain Avenue. Artscouncilofprinceton.org/events/.

7:30 p.m.: Phillips’ Mill Premiere Showcase presents Voices: A History of the VIA of Doylestown, at 2619 River Road, New Hope, Pa. $25-$75. Phillipsmill.org.

Friday, July 21

5-8 p.m.: Sunset Sips and Sounds at Terhune Orchards Vineyard and Winery, 330 Cold Soil Road. Music by Catmoondaddy. Terhuneorchards.com.

7:30 p.m.: Phillips’ Mill Premiere Showcase presents “Voices: A History of the VIA of Doylestown,” at 2619 River Road, New Hope, Pa. $25-$75. Phillipsmill.org.

Saturday, July 22

9 a.m.-1 p.m.: West Windsor Farmers Market, Vaughn lot of the Princeton Junction train station. Fresh produce, seafood, poultry, pastured eggs, cheese, baked goods, and more. Entertainment by Anker. Westwindsorfarmersmarket.org.

12-5 p.m.: Winery Weekend Music Series at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Music by Allan Wilkinson from 2-5 p.m. Light fare available, no outside food or pets. Terhuneorchards.com.

4-7 p.m.: Summer Music Series at Nassau Park Pavilion, behind Panera Bread in Nassau Park Shopping Center, West Windsor, features Dan Kassel and alternative artist Jakeya Limitless. Free art activities for children and adults. Free. Westwindsorarts.org.

5-8 p.m.: Evening Animal Chores at Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township. Howellfarm.org.

7:30 p.m.: Phillips’ Mill Premiere Showcase presents Voices: A History of the VIA of Doylestown, at 2619 River Road, New Hope, Pa. $25-$75. Phillipsmill.org.

7:30 p.m.: Princeton Composers Concert at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts. Free, held by the annual So Percussion Summer Institute. Sopercussion.com.

8 p.m.: Rufus Reid & Expedition perform at Pettoranello Gardens Amphitheater, Route 206 and Mountain Avenue. Free. In case of rain or extreme heat, the show is at Princeton High School Performing Arts Center. Email info@bluecurtain. org for information.

Sunday, July 23

8:30-9:45 p.m.: Eastern Screech Owl Walk. Friends of Princeton Open Space and South Jersey Wildlife Tours lead this tour. Register at fopos.org/events-programs.

12-5 p.m.: Winery Weekend Music Series at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Music by Michael Patrick from 2-5 p.m. Light fare available, no outside food or pets. Terhuneorchards.com.

1 p.m.: Simone Browne plays the Princeton University Carillon at the Graduate School, 88 College Road West. Listen from outside, rain or shine. Free. Arts. princeton.edu.

3 p.m.: Phillips’ Mill Premiere Showcase presents Voices: A History of the VIA of Doylestown, at 2619 River Road, New Hope, Pa. $25-$75. Phillipsmill.org.

Monday, July 24

3 p.m.: The Philadelphia Story is screened in the Community Room of Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Free. Princeton Library.org.

Tuesday, July 25

9:30 and 11 a.m.: Read & Pick: Peaches. Hands-on farm activity for kids from preschool to 8 years of age,

followed by an education program with stories highlighting the fruit or farm. $12 including a container of peaches. Terhuneorchards.com.

Wednesday, July 26

9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: Meet the Human Services Department, in the lobby of Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibrary.org.

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.:

Leighton Listens: Councilman Leighton Newlin invites residents to voice their concerns, air their opinions, and have a one-on-one conversation about anything related to the town. At the Kiosk at Palmer Square.

4-5 p.m.: Quilting Together at Hopewell Train Station, 2 Railroad Place, Hopewell. Lori Saporito helps attendees create a finished applique quilt block to bring home. No sewing skills necessary. Open to all. Redlibrary.org.

6:30 p.m.: “Uncovering the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics,” at Morven, 55 Stockton Street. Historian Emily Borowski leads this hybrid program, in person and online. Morven.org.

Thursday, July 27

10 a.m.-3 p.m.: Princeton Farmers’ Market is at Hinds Plaza. Organic produce, pasture-raised meat and eggs, bread, empanadas, pickles, flowers, and more. SNAP/EBT accepted on eligible purchases. Free parking for one hour in Spring Street Garage. Princetonfarmersmarket.com.

5:30 p.m.: Parking Lot

Pop-Up Show: Lazy Bird, at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street. Band from Burlington, Vermont. $5. Artscouncilofprinceton.org.

6-8 p.m.: Dueling Piano Night on the Palmer Square Green. Palmersquare.com.

6-8 p.m.: Danny Tobias & Friends perform at Princeton Shopping Center as part of the Summer Concert Series. Free, bring a blanket or lawn chair. Princetonshoppingcenter.org.

Friday, July 28

1-10 p.m.: New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning at Solberg Airport, 39 Thor Solberg Road, Whitehouse Station. Balloon ascensions, rides, food, entertainment, and more. Balloonfestival.com.

5-8 p.m.: Sunset Sips and Sounds at Terhune Orchards Vineyard and Winery, 330 Cold Soil Road. Music by Dark Whiskey. Terhuneorchards.com.

7 p.m.: Dancing Under the Stars at Hinds Plaza (or Princeton Public Library’s Community Room in bad weather), with members of Central Jersey Dance demonstrating basic steps. Princetonlibrary.org.

7:30 p.m.: Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts presents the Dali String Quartet performing music by Schubert,

JULY

Piazzolla, and Tchaikovsky at Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street. Free. Princetonsummerchamberconcerts.org.

7:30 p.m.: The SoSi Composers World Premieres concert at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts. Free. Sopercussion.com.

8-9:30 p.m.: Outdoor Dance Party at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street. Held in the parking lot (if it rains, moved inside to the Solley Theater) for all ages. $5 donation. Artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Saturday, July 29

6 a.m.-10 p.m.: New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning at Solberg Airport, 39 Thor Solberg Road, Whitehouse Station. Balloon ascensions, rides, food, entertainment, and more. Balloonfestival.com.

9 a.m.-1 p.m.: West Windsor Farmers Market, Vaughn lot of the Princeton Junction train station. Fresh produce, seafood, poultry, pastured eggs, cheese, baked goods, and more. Entertainment by Blue Jersey Band. Westwindsorfarmersmarket.org.

10 a.m.-8 p.m.: Mercer County 4-H Fair and Wheat Threshing, at Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township. Howellfarm.org.

11 a.m.-10 p.m.: The So Percussion Day of Sonic Exploration held at locations including Princeton Record Exchange, Princeton Public Library, Hinds Plaza, Arts Walk, and the Lewis Center for the Arts. Free, held by the So Percussion Institute. Sopercussion.com.

11 a.m.: Vintage baseball game at Ely Field, North Main Street, Lambertville. The Flemington Neshanock BBC vs. Logan BBC. The game will use the 1866 rules of baseball. Family-friendly, free event; donations to the Lambertville Historical Society are welcome. LambertvilleHistoricalSociety.org.

12-5 p.m.: Winery Weekend Music Series at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Music by audio pilot due from 2-5 p.m. Light fare available, no outside food or pets. Terhuneorchards.com.

7 p.m.: Café Improv at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street. $1-$2. Artscouncilofprinceton.org/events/.

8 p.m.: The Beach Boys perform at State Theatre New Jersey, 15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. $49-$159. STNJ.org.

Sunday, July 30

6 a.m.-10 p.m.: New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning at Solberg Airport, 39 Thor Solberg Road, Whitehouse Station. Balloon ascensions, rides, food, entertainment, and more. Balloonfestival.com.

10 a.m.-4 p.m.: Mercer County 4-H Fair and Wheat Threshing, at Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township. Howellfarm.org.

S ports

Coming Off Memorable Debut Season for PU Men’s Hoops, Guard Lee Stars as Canada Takes 7th at U19 World Cup

As Xaivian Lee got into basketball, he had two main goals.

“Playing for Canada has definitely been one of my dreams and playing in March Madness,” said Lee, who hails from Toronto, Ontario.

“Those were two of the biggest things that I thought about when I was younger.”

Earlier this year, Lee accomplished one of those goals, developing into a key reserve guard in his freshman campaign for the Princeton University men’s basketball team as it won the Ivy League postseason tournament and then advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.

In June, Lee made that other ambition a reality as he played for Team Canada at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) U19 World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary.

In making his first Canadian squad, Lee underwent a drawn out selection process that included a tryout camp in Toronto and then an exhibition tour in Croatia and Spain to pare down the roster before the World Cup.

“I put a lot of time into the tryouts and I travelled a lot,” said Lee.

“I was relieved that it all worked out. Once I got to thinking about it, I was proud that I got the opportunity and humbled to play for Canada.”

The impact of Princeton experience paid off for Lee as he fought to make the Canadian roster.

“Just having a full year of Division I college experience and the year we had here helped prepare me, particularly on the details and the defensive side of things,” said the 6’3, 167-pound Lee, who averaged 4.8 points and 1.8 rebounds a game with 28 assists in 32 games last winter for the Tigers.

“I have always been pretty good at finding ways to get to the rim and get buckets. Offense comes naturally but I would say defense is probably the thing I had to work on the most this year at Princeton and improve on. I felt like, when I got the camp at Canada, I was doing little things I would not have been doing if I hadn’t spent so much time in film, in practice and in scout, walking through things. Getting over ball screens, doing rotations out of post-ups that really helped me. It was also just being more physical. I was probably still one of the smallest guys on Canada, but I am used to playing with

guys who are a lot bigger and stronger and more mature than the guys who were there.”

Once in Debrecen, Lee enjoyed being around the guys from teams all over the world.

“The venue was set up beautifully; there were signs everywhere,” said Lee.

“We had out own people come around with us and help us with the language and stuff so that was really cool. I would say that one of the coolest parts was the hotel: all of the different teams were staying at the same hotel. There was a players’ lounge downstairs so we got to meet some of the guys.”

On court, Lee and his Canadian teammates faced challenges in competing on the international level.

“There was lot more potential and talent over there,” said Lee in comparing the level of play at the World Cup to college ball.

“Every team that we were playing had one or two potential lottery picks next year. Spain, France, and Turkey all had guys on draft boards so there is a lot of talent there. In terms of how organized the teams are, the sets they run are less than the Division I level. The European game feels different; the guards there play with such pace and a different style. It took a little getting used to.”

After a slow start, Lee got

up to speed, averaging 14.1 points per game along with 3.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds to help Canada finish seventh in the competition. Overall, Lee ranked 14th in scoring at the World Cup

“Spain was my worst game, and then I kind of picked it up after that and never looked back, so that worked out,” said Lee.

“I would say before I got to Hungary, I wasn’t playing too great. Something just clicked, getting to know my teammates better and being in the environment for enough time. I started to feel more comfortable. It was just kind of let loose and play the way I wanted to.”

Playing point guard for Canada helped Lee diversify his game.

“It was my first time playing the one. Usually, like at school here in Princeton, I play off the ball,” said Lee.

“There I had to be on the ball and bring the ball up against full-court pressure. It was definitely a big step in terms of communication. That is something coach (Mitch Henderson) has always been harping on. Running my own team was a big challenge for me. I feel like I made big leaps in that area.”

Running the show helped Lee hone his leadership skills as well.

“It helped in focus too because I always have to know

what is going on,” said Lee.

“If I am the one telling people where to be, I can’t be taking plays off and not know what is going on. I would say communication, leadership, and then also attention to detail and focus. The teams kind of runs how I am going; I have to got make sure that everyone is on the same page.”

Looking ahead to his sophomore season for Princeton, Lee believes his international experience will pay dividends this winter.

“Getting to play high level competition in the summer is something we are always trying to do, it is hard to find

something like that,” said Lee.

“That stage was perfect for me. Playing the point guard and being that guy and being more ball-dominant is going to prepare me for what my role might grow into here at Princeton. I made a lot of shots there too so I was getting to my spots. Every country has their own style so it was adjusting to that on the fly.”

Coming off a memorable debut campaign which saw Princeton become the 11th No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Round of 64 and went on to become

just the fourth 15th-seed to make the Sweet 16 in March Madness history, Lee is hoping to make some more history over the rest of his Tiger career.

“It is crazy, I just keep hearing from everyone, people here and people I don’t even know that it was the most historic season,” said Lee.

“But to me, I have only played one year and that is what we have done, so that sets the precedent for me. I want to have it always be like that; it is going to be hard to do it again.”

—Bill Alden

RISING STAR: Xaivian Lee heads to the hoop for Team Canada last month in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) U19 World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary. Princeton University men’s basketball rising sophomore Lee averaged 14.1 points-per-game along with 3.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds to help Canada finish seventh in the competition. Overall, Lee ranked 14th in scoring at the FIBA U19 World Cup. (Photo provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

Artwork by Nicole Steacy

PU Sports Roundup

Ettin Leaving PU Men’s Hoops

To Join UCSB Coaching Staff

Assistant coach Skye Ettin has left the Princeton University men’s basketball staff to take a similar position with the UC Santa Barbara men’s hoops program.

Ettin, a former hoops standout for both Princeton High and The College of New Jersey, served as an assistant coach at Princeton for six seasons. During that time, he was a part of a program that posted an overall record of 133-69 and 82-29 in Ivy League play. Ettin helped Princeton reach the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2023 after the Tigers won the Ivy postseason tournament. His scouting efforts helped lead Princeton to a 58-55 win against second-seeded

Arizona as the Tigers became the 11th No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed in the Round of 64. They then went on to become just the fourth 15thseed in NCAA March Madness history to reach the Sweet 16.

“We are really excited to add a coach like Skye to our program,” said UCSB head coach Joe Pasternack in a release on Gaucho athletics website. “He comes from an incredible program in Princeton that reached the Sweet 16 last season.”

Ettin, for his part, is looking forward to his move west. “I could not be more excited to join coach Pasternack’s staff here at UC Santa Barbara,” said Ettin.

“Coach Pasternack along with his staff have developed a winning culture here that I am excited to be a part of. UC Santa Barbara’s academic and athletic reputation is something that speaks for itself. I am excited to learn from and get to know some

of the amazing people in the campus community.”

Ettin graduated from TCNJ in 2015 where he was a three-year captain of the men’s basketball team. He started 63 of his 97 games played during career with the Lions. In his senior season, he led TCNJ to the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament for the first time since 2009 and to its most wins in a season since 2006.

Tiger Star Thrower Shea

Makes U20 Pan-Am Competition

Coming off a freshman campaign which saw her qualify for the NCAA Regionals and earn an Ivy League championship, Princeton University women’s track throwing star Shea Greene has made the U.S. squad that will be competing in the upcoming U20 Pan-American Games.

Greene, a native of Weston, Conn., earned her spot on Team USA by

finishing second in the javelin at the 2023 U20 National Championships recently held in Eugene, Ore.

Greene successfully completed all six of her throws in the event, and her fifth throw of 51.18 meters (167’ 11) was enough to not only finish second overall but to establish a new personal record.

With her runner-up finish, she secured her place on Team USA which will compete at the U20 Pan-Am Games August 4-6 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Her result at Nationals continues a successful season for Greene. A first-team All-Ivy selection in May, she placed first in the javelin in her first Heps appearance with a throw of 161’5 to claim the championship. In the process, she earned her first NCAA Regional selection where she was 17th.

Princeton Rowing Sending 5 to U-23 Worlds

The Princeton University rowing program is sending five athletes to the upcoming U-23 World Rowing Championships.

The heavyweights will have Nick Taylor ’24 and Erik Spinka ’23 competing in the United States men’s 8+. Taylor recently was on the 4- boat that reached the Visitor’s Challenge Cup at Henley and was a second team All-American after being on the first varsity 8 that earned bronze at the IRA Championships.

Emma Mirrer ’26 of the women’s lightweight rowing team will row in the women’s lightweight single scull event.

In addition, Trygve Loken ’26 will be on the Norway men’s 2- while the women’s open rower Phaedra van der Molen ’26 will row for the Netherlands women’s 2-.

The 2023 World Rowing U-23 Championships will be held from July 19-23 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

PU Hoops Alumna Littlefield, Dietrick Help Team USA Win Event

Former Princeton University women’s basketball stars Carlie Littlefield ’21 and Blake Dietrick ’15 helped Team USA win its 3x3 Women’s Series stop in Pristina, Kosovo last weekend.

The United States defeated France, 14-13, in the final. Littlefield ’21 and Dietrick ’15 were joined by Cierra Burdick and Camille Zimmerman in the event. All four Americans scored in the win over France.

The tournament win is the third-ever in the Women’s Series for the United States (2022 - Quebec City, 2021 - Klaipeda).

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WORLD CLASS: Star goalie Ashleigh Johnson ‘17 controls the ball during her career with the Princeton University

women’s water polo team. Johnson and rising Princeton junior Jovana Sekulic have been named to the United States roster for the 2023 World Aquatics World Championship roster, which is taking place July 15-29 in Fukuoka, Japan. Team USA has been drawn into Group A and defeated China 15-6 last Saturday to open the competition. Johnson made 12 saves in the win with Sekulic contributing one and two assists. The U.S. will also meet Australia and France in group play. Johnson and Sekulic helped the United States win a gold medal at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup last month. That medal added to Johnson’s impressive haul on the international stage as she helped the U.S. win gold at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics and at the World Championships in 2015, 2019, and 2022.

Featuring

The U.S. squad went undefeated in pool play, defeating Azerbaijan and Gyor before beating the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and Israel in the semifinals.

The United States will return to FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series competition this week in Bordeaux, France, for an event scheduled for July 19-20.

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(Photo provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

Excelling in Grad Season for Notre Dame Men’s Lax, Hun Alum Fake Helped Fighting Irish Win 1st NCAA Crown

In 2018, Chris Fake produced a stellar debut campaign for the Yale University men’s lacrosse team, emerging as All-American defender for the Bulldogs who went on to win the program’s first NCAA title.

This past spring, Fake, a former Hun School standout, joined the Notre Dame men’s lax program as a grad student and made the most out of his final college season, solidifying the back line and helping the Fighting Irish win their first-ever national title.

For Fake, helping a second program win its first national title was a great way to culminate his college career.

“It is such an incredible experience, I have been on cloud nine for the past three weeks; it is still hitting me,” said Fake.

“Winning the national championship never really gets old. It is just like at Yale, it didn’t hit me for a while to really understand the immensity of what happened.”

Choosing Notre Dame for his grad season turned out to be an incredible move for Fake. Fake was initially considering North Carolina, Duke and Maryland in addition to Notre Dame as he and Yale teammate Brian Tevlin looked to play one more year together.

“We both had an extra year of eligibility; near the end of our last year at Yale, we knew we wanted to go somewhere together,” said Fake.

“We wanted to have a little bit of familiarity together and just be teammates for one more year so we took that opportunity. In the end, [Notre Dame] coach [Kevin] Corrigan and coach [Ryan] Wellner visited my house and they just expressed the most interest. After they visited our house, I just knew that was the spot I wanted to be.”

When the pair from Yale started fall ball at Notre Dame, Fake quickly realized they were in the right spot.

“It was actually incredibly impressive, I wasn’t sure how how we were going to be taken,” said Fake.

“If you are calling a spade a spade, we are going there to hopefully take someone’s spot, as bad as that sounds. They are some of our best friends now; they understand that and they still took us in with open arms. There was no animosity towards us whatsoever, only love and acceptance. It was a crazy thing to experience, but I think that is what made our team so great.”

The rugged 6’1, 205-pound Fake did have to master a new defensive scheme as he looked to fit in with the squad.

“It was pretty similar to Yale in terms of time commitment, but from my perspective, the defense is pretty different just the ways we play,” said Fake. “It is different things, the slide packages as a whole are pretty different.”

The Notre Dame squad was committed to produce a big season this spring after they were snubbed in 2022 when they weren’t selected to play in the NCAA tournament.

“Last year’s bracket was on every locker, it was tangible throughout the year,” said Fake.

“Every time we went into a lift, every time we had practice, it was always reminding us obviously. I didn’t experience that but it was tangible from the guys who were on the team last year.”

As the Fighting Irish prepared for the season, Fake sensed that the squad was primed to do special things in 2023.

“Some of the plays we were making in practice and preseason, watching the offense and our defense was playing well against our offense; it was really fun but you never really know until that first real challenge,” said Fake.

“That first real challenge came in the Georgetown game (a 15-8 win on February 25). We did an extremely good job with Georgetown. After that, we were OK, we are probably legit. We just needed to be consistent with it and we were.”

Notre Dame hit a bump in the road when it lost 15-10 to Virginia on March 25 to fall to 6-1.

“The first UVa game rattled us a little. We know we didn’t play our best game and that we had the potential to beat them,” said Fake.

“We had another loss to UVa (12-8 on April 13), but after that one, we were even more confident that we could beat them.”

Beating Duke 17-12 on April 8 helped the Fighting Irish get back their game.

“The Duke game was the second one after our UVa game, so I think that the way we came out with the confidence did volumes for us,” said Fake.

“It got us back our confidence that we belonged with those two other big teams.”

Returning to the NCAA tournament with just two losses and seeded third, Notre Dame played with confidence, topping Utah 20-7 in a first round contest and then edging Johns Hopkins 12-9 in the quarterfinals to reach championship weekend at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa.

“In terms of playing, it was just keeping with the present. Just in general we had been having so much fun all year,” said Fake.

“The guys were so excited. It is weird for me because when I was at Yale, we had never not been in the tournament. It was the same situation with them last year. It was so awesome to see the guys so excited just to make the tournament. After that first round, where we rolled Utah, we had a big test with Hopkins. We didn’t play great but we got the job done. There was just a ton of excitement, loving playing the game throughout the whole tournament.”

The Fighting Irish were excited to get round three against Virginia in the NCAA semis and finally got the job done against the Cavaliers, prevailing 13-12 in overtime.

“They were one of the best, most complete teams in recent years,” said Fake of second-seeded Virginia.

“We had the confidence to beat them, we knew especially going into that locker room, we are better than this team, we are the best team in the country. We are going to beat these guys, we just knew we were and we had the confidence. Even when we were down by two with five minutes left. We knew we were somehow going to get through and get it done.”

In the national championship game, Notre Dame found itself in another round rather as it faced a topseeded Duke squad it had defeated twice in regular season action.

“The guys were just super confident. We overcame a Virginia team who we hadn’t been able to beat all year,” said Fake.

“We were like, this is your shot: it was three times a charm with Virginia. Notre Dame had lost twice to Duke in NCAA finals so it was the time. We were so thankful to have the opportunity to play on Memorial Day, we were so excited, It was loving the game of lacrosse and it all turned out well.”

Fake helped key a stifling defensive effort against the Blue Devils in the final as Notre Dame built a 6-1 halftime lead.

“I think the defense played well, the offense got their job done,” said Fake, who put the clamps on Duke superstar attacker Brennan O’Neill, holding him scoreless in the first half and limiting him to one goal on the day.

“It was probably an unseen ever before performance from Liam Entenmann. I think he has got to be considered as one of the best goalies in the world right now. He is incredible.”

In the second half, the high-powered Blue Devils rallied to knot the contest at 7-7 with 1:01 left in the third quarter, but the Irish responded by outscoring Duke 6-2 over the rest of the contest to win 13-9 and end the spring with a 14-2 record.

“They had their run and they came back to 7-7,” recalled Fake.

“As soon as they did that, I just turned to the other guys and said, ‘Alright, it is 0-0. It is a fresh ballgame now, let’s win this new game’ — so that is what we did.”

As the game ended, Fake enjoyed watching his Notre Dame teammates launch into a raucous celebration of their first national crown and ending the drought for their long-time coach Corrigan.

“When that final horn goes off, the senior teammates who had never experienced something like that before crying; they were so elated,” said Fake, who had two ground balls and one caused turnover against Duke to end the spring with 29 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers.

“It was something that was on all of our minds, even the first year transfers. Seeing what coach Corrigan has put into Notre Dame lacrosse, he has been there for 35 years. It is just seeing the alumni base and how much love they have for him; just

MAKING

IRISH HISTORY:

Chris Fake brings the ball upfield in a game this spring for the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team. Fake, a former Hun School standout, joined Notre Dame as a grad student this year and made the most out of his final college season, solidifying the back line and helping the Fighting Irish win their first-ever national title. In 2018, he helped the Yale University men’s lacrosse team win its first NCAA title in his freshman campaign. Moving up to the professional ranks, Fake is currently playing for the Waterdogs in the Premier Lacrosse League.

being able to do this for him and for Notre Dame was such a special thing.”

On and off the field, Fake enjoyed a special year in South Bend.

“I was in the masters of science and business analytics program; it is a one-year program and was an incredible experience for me,” said Fake, who made the NCAA All-Tournament team and was named a third-team AllAmerican, earning his fifth All-American honor.

“It was challenging, it had a lot of coding programming that I really love. I got super lucky with that program. I got super lucky with the guys on the team, the football experience at the school, and

the lacrosse experience. It was the perfect culmination of a career for me.”

Getting drafted by the Waterdogs of the Premier Lacrosse League in early May, Fake is getting the chance to continue his lacrosse career on the professional level. He made his PLL debut on June 16 when he had one ground ball and one caused turnover as the Waterdogs topped the Atlas 19-18.

“I was very excited to be drafted; at that time I knew

(Photo provided courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)

that I still had a bigger job to do in front of me,” said Fake, who will also be working as a quantitative analyst for a commodities trading firm in Southport, Conn. “I haven’t experienced it yet. I was thinking how cool it will be just to go to all of these different places. I am really excited to have lacrosse still in my picture and still have that goal that I could work towards everyday. That means a lot to me.”

—Bill Alden

Getting Out of Her Comfort Zone by Going to Columbia, PDS Grad Surace Became Starter for Lions Women’s Lax

Ali Surace knows Princeton University like the back of her hand, but when it came time to choose a college last year, she knew it was time to go elsewhere.

Surace, a Princeton Day School girls’ soccer and lacrosse standout, essentially grew up on the Princeton campus. Her dad, Bob, starred for the Tiger football team and had been the head coach at his alma mater since 2010 while her mother, Lisa, the Associate Head of School at PDS, is a Princeton alumna who played for the women’s soccer team.

“As I got older and grew up more, I realized that I love Princeton; but that I have already gone there almost,” said Surace.

“So for me to grow and get out of my comfort zone, I had to explore something else. When it came down to it, I felt I had to leave to really succeed in life.”

While Surace was initially focusing on Division III schools where she could potentially play both soccer and lacrosse, she ultimately decided to explore New York City and headed to Columbia University and play for its D-I women’s lax program.

“I didn’t really know at first if I wanted to be in the city; when I visited Columbia, it is basically like a closed college campus in the middle of a big city,” said Surace.

“You are standing there, you don’t even know you are in the city. The city is there

and the city is so cool. It was definitely out of my comfort zone a little bit going to the city, but that has probably been the best decision in my life. I never want to leave; I am still there this summer. It was a change but honestly, it was a really easy transition. It is a great place, I love it, it is really the perfect fit for me.”

On the the field this spring, the 5’8 Surace developed a comfort level, playing in all 15 games and starting nine as she became a stalwart on the Lion back line.

“The high school level and the college level is definitely a big transition, just in terms of the level of physicality,” said Surace.

“It is so different, the speed of play; how fast they think and how fast they play was a big transition. But when you are playing every day, you transition pretty fast to it. It was a little challenging at first but my teammates are great and it was really easy to grow in that environment.”

Surace’s transition was eased by her bond with Columbia head coach Anne Murray, a former Princeton women’s lax standout and assistant coach.

“It is funny — when she coached at Princeton, she coached me in the little kid camps,” said Surace of Murray.

“I fully remember her from then too because her energy was so great and it is still so great. She is hard to forget.”

Early on in fall ball, Surace

decided that bringing energy to the defensive end would be the way she could make the biggest impact for the Lions.

“The first week, I was going between midfield and defense and then I had a meeting with the coaches,” said Surace.

“I felt like I would do really well on defense; they felt like that was really my strong suit. From there on it was strictly defense, which has been really cool.”

Surace enjoyed a cool experience in her college debut as Columbia overcame an 11-9 deficit to edge Lafayette 15-12 in the season opener on February 18.

“Being on a field in a college game was nervewracking and exciting,” said Surace.

“That was a really exciting game too because we were down in the last couple of minutes and then we came back and won. I think for us it was ‘we can do this’ — be down and be motivated to turn the game around.”

Getting her first college start as the Lions hosted Cornell on March 11 was a breakthrough moment for Surace.

“That was really exciting,” said Surace. “I was just so happy to have that opportunity. I worked really hard for it. I was ready for sure.”

When Columbia played in Princeton at the Class of 1952 Stadium on April 8, Surace was ready for a big day.

“I was looking forward to that game since I committed,” said Surace, who picked up a ground ball and had a caused turnover in a 19-4 loss to the Tigers.

“It was fun too because so many friends and old teammates were there. It was so cute. I have practiced on that field a thousand times, so to be able to go back and play on it was great.”

Committing herself to get better, Surace made a lot of progress this spring.

“It was just becoming more confident,” said Surace. “My coaches believed in me, my other defenders believed in me. It was believing in myself that I am a starter and leader on this team and having a more vocal and physical role. I got so much stronger throughout the year. In high school, all of the things that I got called on for being physical I was able to do in college.”

Surace displayed that confidence in the season finale against Yale, scooping up two ground balls and getting a caused turnover in a 19-5 defeat to the Bulldogs.

“Our last game against Yale was my best game of the season; it was just fun that was the last game,” said Surace, who ended up with seven ground balls and six caused turnovers in the season.

“I just feel that I grew so much throughout the year and got so much better. For the last game to be the culmination of the season was great just in terms of being aggressive, stepping out on the ground balls. I think another big transition from high school to college was I went in and my 1-versus-1 defense was good. But with things like knowing when to slide, my game sense really hadn’t developed. By the end of it, that was really strong. As a defensive unit, we were moving much better together so that helps.”

Although the Lions went 3-12 overall and 0-7 Ivy League this spring, Surace believes the program is moving in the right direction.

“As a team, we talk about

it all of the time — how much potential we have and how we feel that we are so close,” said Surace.

“So many of our underclassmen were impact players on our team this year and even last year, they got so much experience. We are really optimistic about the future. We all need to continue to grow and I think the incoming class is going to be really strong.”

As Surace prepares for her sophomore campaign, she is looking to make a big impact on the back line and beyond for the Lions.

“I am definitely confident, excited and just ready to get better,” said Surace, who is doing a financial internship this summer in New York City and is living on campus and working out with the Columbia strength trainers.

“A big goal for me this next year is to be a leader to bring the incoming class with us and show them everything we have been trying to do. Now that I have the experience, it is just being a leader and bringing everyone along for the ride.”

—Bill Alden

LION-HEARTED: Ali Surace marks a foe this spring in her debut season for the Columbia University women’s lacrosse team. Surace, a former Princeton Day School soccer and lax standout, emerged as a key defender for Columbia. Playing in all 15 games for the Lions, starting nine, Surace picked up seven ground balls and had six caused turnovers. (Photo provided courtesy of Columbia Athletics)

Jones Making Triumphant Return to Summer Hoops, Starring as Princeton Supply Produces 6-1 Start

After starring for the Notre Dame High and East Stroudsburg University basketball programs, Troy Jones has taken his hoops talents thousands of miles away.

“I actually play overseas now. I came back from Syria,” said Jones, who competes for the Al Wathba Homs in the Syrian Basketball League and previously played for Cilicia in Armenian Caucasus Basketball League. “It was very different. They showed me a lot of love.”

While Jones has enjoyed his international experience, he is loving playing close to home currently, having joined the Princeton Supply team in the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League.

“I am just glad to be back in the league. I enjoyed the time playing here,” said Jones, a 6’0, 170-pound guard who last played in the league three or four years ago and joined Princeton Supply when team manager, coach Phil Vigliano, reached out to him earlier this

summer. “When I came back, there was so many memories there.”

Last Wednesday, Jones made some more good memories on rhe Community Park courts, scoring 15 points to help Princeton Supply defeat Planet Fitness 65-47.

“We started the game with five people,” said Jones. “Once the others showed up, we were just able to start pressing. It was the numbers game, they got tired. They started missing shots and we got a lot of turnovers.”

After scoring just four points on free throws in the first half as Princeton Supply led 31-27 at the break, Jones caught fire after intermission, pouring in 11 points as the squad pulled away to the win.

“I was getting a feel for the game, I am a rhythm player so I have got to just feel out the game and courts,” said Jones, who showed a lot of game at East Stroudsburg, scoring 792 points in his college career with 206 rebounds and 197

Local Sports

“I have to get used to them again because I haven’t played in like three years on that court. I just felt better.”

In making an impact with his new squad, Jones has focused on making his teammates better.

“I just try to bring leadership and make sure we play basketball the right way, that is all I bring to it,” said Jones. “I do as much as I can. I try to put my teammates in the best position to just win.”

In the view of Jones, Princeton Supply, which improved to 6-1 with an 8666 win over AEI last Friday night, has what it takes to win the league this summer.

“We have a lot of good pieces on our team; I think we definitely can make a deep title run,” said Jones.

“It is just building chemistry and playing more defense. Phil always stresses defense. Everybody is unselfish, that is what makes the team play well. We want the next person to score the easy basket.”

—Bill Alden

Joint Effort Safe Streets Program Holding Hoops Clinic, Games

The Joint Effort Princeton Safe Streets Summer Program, in conjunction with the Princeton Recreation Department, Princeton Police Department, Princeton Public Schools, Bailey Basketball Academy (BBA), and PBA No. 130, is sponsoring a free youth basketball clinic on August 12 from 10 a.m.12 p.m. at the Community Park basketball c ourts.

This program is a player development skills clinic for boys and girls age 8 and up. All clinic attendees should bring their own ball. The clinic will be led by Kamau Bailey, the director of BBA, a Philadelphia 76ers camp clinic, and former head coach of the Princeton Day School girls’ basketball team. It will be staffed by community volunteers and members of the Princeton Police Department.

In addition, on August 13, the Joint Effort Safe Streets will sponsor the Pete Young Sr. Memorial Games for Princeton and 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 nine games start at 10 a.m. and end at 7 p.m., and will include contests featuring youth players, high school boys and girls, and men.

The Joint Effort Clinic and Games are free and open to the public. There will be

bags provided for clinic participants and shirts will be provided for those playing in the games. The rain sites for both programs will be the Princeton Middle School.

For more information on Joint Effort Safe streets clinic or games, contact John Bailey at (720) 629-0964 or email johnbailey062@ gmail.com or Kamau Bailey at (917) 626-5785 or at kamau.bailey@gmail.com .

NJ Wrestling Organization Holding Golf Event July 26

The New Jersey Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is holding its 20th golf outing, a shotgun/ scramble, on July 26.

The event will take place, rain or shine, at Mercer Oaks Golf Club at 725 Village Road, West Windsor

The goal of the chapter outing is to seek and raise contributions, donations and gifts to provide wrestling camp and clinic scholarships to deserving youth who seek to improve and enhance their skills and love for the sport of amateur wrestling. As a result of those efforts, the chapter will also make contributions to selected veterans and relief organizations, as well as children’s hospitals.

The golf package includes brunch and registration (89:30 a.m.), green fees, cart, practice range, putting contest, locker, giveaways, prizes and silent auction as well as dinner.

The cost for foursomes is $620, individuals $160, dinner-only $65 and raffles $20. Players 18-and-under must be accompanied by an adult player. Singles and pairs have to contact the golf chairman for arrangements. Foursomes are not required to do so. For more information, contact golf chairman Ken Bernabe at bernabekenjb@aol.com

Tee, flag and meal sponsorships are as follows: $300 brunch; $500 dinner; $20 flag; $100 tee. Send sponsorships to Ed Glassheim, 1802 Kuser Road, Apt. 1, Hamilton, N.J. 08690.

Golf registration forms must be completed and mailed along with check made payable to NWHF-NJ Golf to Ed Glassheim at his Hamilton address. One can also contact Glassheim at 609-947-5885 or at glassheim@yahoo.com

Bailey Basketball Academy

Offering Summer Programs

The Bailey Basketball Academy (BBA) is offering a week-long basketball camp this summer along with other specialty hoops programs.

BBA is led by former Princeton Day School girls’ hoops coach and Philadelphia 76er camp director and clinician Kamau Bailey. The camp is slated for July 24-28 at the Princeton Middle School.

There are full day camps for ages 9-14 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and half day camps from 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

In addition, there will be “First Hoops” options for ages 5-8 (9-11:45 a.m.). BBA will also offer (by reservation only) Shot King shooting instruction and small group player development daily sessions 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 . There are multiple player/sibling discounts available.

University Athletics)

FINAL DELIVERY: Princeton Post 218 American Legion baseball player Travis Petrone fires a pitch in recent action. Last Wednesday, Post 218 fell 11-3 to North Hamilton in the continuation of a game suspended from July 9 due to inclement weather to wrap up its 2023 season. Princeton ended the summer with a 3-19 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

assists.

KEEPING UP WITH JONES: Troy Jones heads to the basket during his career for the East Stroudsburg University men’s basketball program. Last Wednesday, Jones tallied 15 points to help Princeton Supply defeat Planet Fitness 65-47 in the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League. Two days later, Princeton Supply topped AEI 86-66 as improved to 6-1.

provided courtesy of East Stroudsburg

Obituaries

Claire

Matz Anderson

June 3, 1924 –

July 10, 2023

Claire Matz (“Patty”) Anderson died peacefully at home in Princeton, New Jersey, on July 10, aged 99 years and 1 month. She was born in Evanston, Illinois, on June 3, 1924, daughter

of Charles Henderson and Claire Dutton (McGregor) Matz. She grew up in Brookline and Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and attended the Beaver Country Day school. She was 17 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and she soon joined the war effort, working as a photographer’s assistant at the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory. Her father worked on a machine gun trainer at Polaroid Corporation, a top-secret project, and her mother drove a Red Cross ambulance and saw off troops leaving Boston for overseas assignments. Patty recalled unusually silent family dinners in those days in which no one was allowed to discuss their secret activities in support of the war effort.

In 1944 she met Major Harry Bennett Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee, who at the time was on leave from the Marines visiting his sister in Boston. Harry and Patty met at the U.S. National Doubles

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Princeton’s First Tradition Worship Service

Sundays at 10am

Tennis Championships at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, which perhaps accounts for their lifelong interest in following tennis championships. On February 10 of the following year, they were married during a heavy snowstorm in Boston and then had a brief honeymoon in Poland Springs, Maine. Within 10 years, they were the parents of four sons and had moved to the north shore of Long Island, Harry by then securing an executive position at Merrill Lynch in New York. In 1958 they settled in the village of Sands Point, where they built and later expanded their house overlooking Manhasset Bay.

Harry became Chairman of Merrill Lynch International, a position that put him in charge of all of Merrill Lynch’s international offices. In that capacity, both Harry and Patty were expected to visit all of the international offices on a regular basis and entertain the office managers and their spouses. It was a job perfectly suited for Patty, who loved traveling and meeting interesting people, and each visit would usually result in some funny incident that she would love to retell. They visited exotic places such as Beirut, Tehran, Johannesburg, Brasília, Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Moscow, as well as all the large financial centers of Europe and Asia. Patty made lifelong bonds with many of the managers and their families, and summers in Sands Point frequently included visits from their international friends passing through New York. A visit to Sands Point always included a relaxing

environment, lots of good food cooked by Patty, and entertaining conversation.

Harry and Patty were very involved with the Family Service Association of Nassau County, an organization that helped families in need all over the county. They eventually became board members, retiring from the board only when they moved to Princeton in 1999, at which time FSA honored them at a black-tie banquet and presented them with an ornate plaque commemorating their years of service. In 1967 Patty came up with the idea of hosting a roundrobin professional tennis tournament to raise money for FSA. The idea took off quickly and Patty was able to secure the Conolly Gynasium of C. W. Post College on Long Island (converted to an indoor tennis court) and she put together, according to The New York Times, “the biggest amateur indoor tennis event to be held on the island.” Patty was the Tournament Chair and headliners at the event included Billie Jean King, the thencurrent Wimbledon champion; Chuck McKinley, former Wimbledon title holder and Davis Cup player; Arthur Ashe, who at the time was the ranking amateur player in the country; and other top players. The event was played over two nights to a standing-room only crowd and was covered by the famous tennis journalist Allison Danzig in The New York Times It was a big success for FSA, and the tournament was held again several times in subsequent years.

Patty and Harry were exceedingly devoted to their

family, and they regularly organized extravagant family vacations to exciting places around the country, the Caribbean, and Mexico. They also often invited family on trips to Europe — France being their favorite country — and for more than 20 years they spent part of the summer in Basin Harbor, Vermont, where any family member could join them for a week relaxing on the lake or playing golf.

Patty was probably born 50 years too soon, as she had the executive qualities of organization, planning, and imagination. Given the opportunity, she would have been very successful in any business endeavor she set her mind to. Whenever she undertook a project, she did it with enthusiasm and energy, whether that be organizing a tennis tournament or putting on a sumptuous banquet for guests and family. She was the self-appointed family photographer, a task no one else wanted, but one for which we are eternally grateful when we look back through her beautiful photograph albums commemorating so many happy times. And her signature raspberry pie was so good that it has been adopted by the next generations and will adorn Thanksgiving tables for years to come. She was the glue that held the family together and she was the last surviving member of her generation. Her memory will be forever cherished.

Harry died in 2006 and Patty lived her remaining years at the Windrows retirement community in Princeton. She is survived by sons Alexander M.

Anderson (Rebecca), Joseph C. Anderson (Philippa), Jeffrey M. Anderson; daughterin-law Joie A. Anderson (widow of son Harry, who died prematurely in 1990); grandchildren Claire M. M. Anderson, Elizabeth A. Ray (Neel), Alexander M. Anderson Jr. (Carmen), Christopher A. Anderson, Sara B. Anderson, Louise E. Anderson, and Stephanie M. Anderson; and great-grandchildren Harry Ray and Ella Anderson.

Princeton University Chapel

Open to all.

Preaching Sunday, July 23, 2023, at 10am is Jesse Ruch, Pastor of Marlton United Methodist Church in Marlton, NJ. Music performed by University organist, Eric Plutz.

Filomena Procaccini

Filomena (Carnevale) Procaccini, 91, of Princeton passed away on July 10, 2023, at Penn Medicine in Plainsboro surrounded by her loving family. She was born in Pettoranello del Molise, Italy. Filomena immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. She started a cleaning service business in the Princeton area. Her customers became like family to her. Filomena had a passion for cooking and baking. She loved to spend time with her family sharing her homemade recipes. She was a member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church. Filomena was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. Her two grandchildren were her world.

Wife of the late Antonino M. Procaccini, daughter of the late Sebastiano and Ermelinda (Paolino) Carnevale, sister-in-law of the late Filomena Carnevale, Luigi Antenucci, Almerindo Sferra, and Gennaro Buono.

Filomena is survived by a daughter Maria A. Procaccini; two grandsons Francesco Montano and fiancée Erin Lortz, Anthony Montano and wife Candice; two brothers and a sister-in-law Raffaele Carnevale, Nicola and Bambina Carnevale; three sisters Annunziata Antenucci, Antonietta Sferra, Vincenza Buono; and many nieces, nephews, and extended family members in Italy.

A mass of Christian burial was celebrated on Monday, July 17, 2023 at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, 216 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ. Burial followed in Princeton Cemetery, 29 Greenview Avenue, Princeton, NJ.

Arrangements are under the direction of the MatherHodge Funeral Home, Princeton.

Navigating the Maze of Closing Costs: A Seller's Guide in New Jersey

Selling a home can be a rewarding experience, but it's crucial to be aware of the various costs that come with the territory. For sellers in New Jersey, understanding closing costs is essential for a smooth transaction.

Closing costs typically range between 6% to 10% of the home's sale price. These expenses can include real estate agent commissions, attorney fees, withholding taxes, transfer taxes, and recording fees. Sellers should also prepare for potential negotiation on certain costs, such as home inspection repairs and credits to buyers.

To minimize surprise expenses, sellers should seek guidance from experienced real estate agents, attorneys and accountants familiar with New Jersey's regulations. Proper planning and budgeting will empower sellers to confidently navigate the closing process and successfully hand over the keys to their cherished property.

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Witherspoon Media Group is looking for an Advertising Account Manager, based out of our Kingston, NJ office, to generate sales for Town Topics Newspaper and Princeton Magazine

The ideal candidate will:

• Establish new sales leads and manage existing sales accounts for both publications

For additional info contact: melissa.bilyeu@ witherspoonmediagroup.com

• Develop industry-based knowledge and understanding, including circulation, audience, readership, and more.

• Collaborate with the advertising director and sales team to develop growth opportunities for both publications

Track record of developing successful sales strategies and knowledge of print and digital media is a plus.

Fantastic benefits and a great work environment.

Please submit cover letter and resume to: charles.plohn@witherspoonmediagroup.com

Sales Representative/Princeton Residential

MBA, ECO Broker

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