Town Topics Newspaper, September 18, 2024. by Witherspoon Media Group

Search for Schools Superintendent Continues

district and have the experience to lead the search for our next superintendent,” said BOE Vice President Betsy Baglio, who is head of the district’s search

In a press release the PPS noted that Brooks’ familiarity with the district was evident throughout his interview and “he is well-known and well respected both within the district and throughout the region.”

At last week’s BOE meeting Baglio stated that she was especially pleased that

The program “addresses the biggest real-world problems with GLP-1s: poor persistence and lean muscle mass loss,” said Chief Executive Officer Geoff Cook in a press release. “Evidence demonstrates the vast majority of people, six out of seven, are not on these medications forever. They lose lean muscle mass and regain the weight, risking conditions like sarcopenic obesity, leaving them

share what they learned at (Photo

by Sarah Teo)

Best of Fall Town Topics

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the watershed fest october fifth 2024 reflecting on the past nurturing our future

10/6: John McDermott Band Sixties Rock & Roll Revue 10/13: Jerzy Merzy Beat Beatles Tribute 10/20: Epic Soul Motown 10/27: Cosmic Jerry Band Grateful Dead Tribute

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Note from the Publisher: Town by Town, Neighbor to Neighbor : The loss of local news coverage nationwide has plagued citizens who are curious and interested in events, news, and helping their neighbors. In the last year, 5,000 local newspapers stopped publishing.

We at Town Topics are devoted to zeroing in on local issues and bringing them to our readers. In that spirit, Town Topics has begun to offer expanded coverage of local news in neighboring communities. Look for upcoming coverage of Hightstown, Ewing, Pennington, Hopewell, Flemington, and surrounding communities. Each town will have its own section of news and advertisers.

We hope this expanded coverage results in your visiting our neighboring towns, and developing a better appreciation for our Central New Jersey neighbors, town by town, neighbor to neighbor.

Leighton Listens: Councilman Leighton Newlin holds one-on-one conversations about issues impacting Princeton on September 18 from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Deliziosos Bakery, 205 Witherspoon Street; and on September 25 from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Art@Bainbridge/Garden Theater, 158 Nassau Street. All are welcome. Food Pantry : Arm in Arm’s mobile food pantry is at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of Mercer County Library System, 2751 Brunswick Pike, on Monday afternoons through September, from 2-4 p.m. Fresh produce, eggs, milk, frozen proteins, and quality baked goods as well as canned and boxed items and personal care items are available for those in need.

Sustainable Princeton “Lending Library”: Sustainable Princeton offers residents and nonprofits in Princeton the opportunity to borrow sustainable home items such as electric landscape equipment, induction cooktops, and repair tools, for free, for up to two weeks. Visit sustainableprinceton.org for more information.

Literacy Tutoring Program : To help adults improve their English literacy skills, volunteers are needed to work one-on-one or in small groups. Online training is available in September and October. For specific dates and more information, email mercer@literacynj.org or call (609) 587-6027.

Volunteer for FOPOS : Friends of Princeton Open Space is looking for volunteer land stewards on September 25 and 28 to help restore riparian and forest areas, remove invasive plants, and plant native trees and shrubs at Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve. Sessions are 9-11 a.m. or 12-2 p.m. Visit fopos.org.

Millhill Holiday Giving Drive : Millhill Child and Family Development is collecting gifts and warm coats through November 29. In-person donations will be accepted through December 6. Contact Angie at AMcManimon@millhillcenter.org for details.

Raise Money for ALS Research and Children’s Health : On Saturday, September 28 from 9-10:30 a.m., Life Time hosts its inaugural GO90 workout fundraiser for Angie’s Quest to Cure ALS and the Life Time Foundation. At 7

CELEBRATING FALL: Princeton Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros, left, and Arts Council of Princeton Executive Director Adam Welch were among those welcoming fall at the Arts Council’s Beer and Wine Garden on Saturday afternoon. Princeton hosted numerous outdoor events over the past weekend, including the Festival Cultural Latino at Hinds Plaza and Palmer Square, and the eCommuter Fest at Princeton Shopping Center.

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Amateurs Celebrates 90th Anniversary This Season

At its founding in 1935, the Princeton Society of Musical Amateurs (PSMA) was a small club, hosted by Princeton University’s Music Department. At informal Sunday afternoon meetings, about 20 people gathered to sing selections of choral literature. Accompaniment was by a single pianist.

Information: 609.924.5400 ext. 30 or subscriptions@ witherspoonmediagroup.com princetonmagazine.com

These days, the PSMA boasts 266 members. An invited orchestra accompanies most works, which span the choral repertoire to include requiem masses by Brahms,

Mozart, and Faure; Handel’s Messiah ; and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio , to name a few. Guest conductors from local choruses and choirs lead each gathering. A programming committee plans each season.

room of Mrs. MacKenty Bryan’s house, but after World War II moved to the old Miss Fine’s School building (present site of Monument Hall) with Mrs. Bryan as manager.

www.princetonmagazinestore.com

The goal of the PSMA, which holds its first session of the season on October 20, has always remained the same: To celebrate the joy of singing. Anyone can join — either to sing or just to listen — at its monthly meetings at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. There are no rehearsals or auditions.

“Singing is a joy,” said Marilee Thompson, president of the organization and a member since 1970. “I can be having a totally rotten day, and then I go to this and come home invigorated. Singing just makes you feel good. It’s for the joy of singing. It’s joyful.”

TOPICS Of the Town

The positive effects of singing with others are well known.

“The satisfaction of performing together, even without an audience, is likely to be associated with activation of the brain’s reward system, including the dopamine pathway, which keeps people coming back for more,” reads a research report from the University of Oxford. Another report, led by psychologist Nick Stewart of Bath University, “indicates that people who participate in a choir enjoy a greater feeling of togetherness and being part of a collective endeavor than others involved in different social activities.”

Karen Jenkins, a cellist with the PSMA’s orchestra and a member of the board, said in a press release, “Sometimes, we’re just sight-reading. But it also feels like a jam session, because we’re all just playing and singing. It’s very lowstress and lots of fun. I love that. There’s nothing like being immersed in Handel’s Messiah with a full chorus and orchestra all around you. I feel very connected to the experience, and everyone is just there to play, sing, and have a good time. It’s magical.”

According to the PSMA’s website, the organization was modeled after Henry Drinker’s Sunday night singing parties in Philadelphia. Members met in the living One-Year Subscription: $20 Two-Year Subscription: $25

“She served a magnificent supper at intermission time,” reads the website.

“The popularity and subsequent growth of the organization led to the use of the “new” gymnasium of the school, built around 1955, where there was enough room to house the current membership of that time — 175 or so — and experiment with having orchestral accompaniment. Certain traditions evolved, such as singing either Handel’s Messiah or the Bach Christmas Oratorio in December – and the Bach Mass in B-minor in May. The sessions were generally conducted by J. Merrill Knapp or Elliot Forbes, who were both members of the University’s

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September 23, 2024 5:00 to 6:15 p.m., McCosh 50

art by Sean Carney

Copies of Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame and the Rise of the American Right will be handed out to the first 350 in-person attendees.

SPENCER TRASK LECTURE

University of California at Berkeley, Professor Emerita

Arlie Hochschild

Musical Amateurs

Continued from Preceding Page Music Department, with an occasional guest conductor being introduced. Eventually Mrs. Bryan’s glorious suppers had to be reduced to “refreshments” because of rising food costs and the tremendous labor involved.”

On October 20, Nicole Aldrich will conduct Faure’s Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria . Works by Bach, Gilbert and Sullivan, Carl Orff, Verdi, Mendelssohn, and as always, Handel’s Messiah , are on the schedule for this season.

“We had been talking about doing something special for our 90th year,” said Thompson. “We polled our people, asking them to name their favorite pieces and favorite conductors. So that guided us in coming up with the list. We weren’t able to get all of our favorites, but we got most.”

While anyone is welcome to attend the monthly sessions, and there is a special section set aside for those who only want to listen, many of the members have had some experience. “The ones who come to sing are, in general, people who sing in a church choir or chorus,” said Thompson. “Or maybe they sang in college. You either have to have learned a piece before, or know how to read music, to be able to participate.”

What makes the PSMA unique is its orchestra. All volunteers, players come from the Westminster Community Orchestra and elsewhere. The organization has also earned a reputation with area conductors.

“Some of them say this is the only thing they would volunteer for,” said Thompson. “We’re really very fortunate that they are willing to do this. But it does work for some of them, because it might serve as an extra rehearsal for something they are working on with their own groups.”

In addition to the standard choral pieces, the PSMA tries to include some that are less familiar each season. The most popular works draw up to 60 singers at a session. The lesser-known pieces bring in 30 to 40 participants. The January session is always a semi-staged Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, complete with costumed soloists from a local Gilbert and Sullivan society. This season’s selection is Iolanthe

The October 20 gathering is at 4 p.m. For more information, visit musical amateurs.org.

—Anne Levin

Question of the Week:

“What did you learn here today?”

(Asked Sunday at Young Patriots Day at Princeton Battleﬁeld State Park) (Photos by Sarah Teo)

Andrew: “We learned about spinning wool, and about old medicine remedies.”

Jasmine: “I liked learning about the different sizes of cannon balls.”

Andrew and Jasmine Mallette, North Brunswick

Helen: “I learned how they ﬁred their muskets and the cannon.”

Ava: “There are actually 46 states and the rest of the so-called states are ofﬁcially commonwealths. So you’ll never see a certiﬁcate saying, “the state of Pennsylvania.”

— Helen Kurpiewski, Ava Salinas, and Khairah El, Princeton

Elizabeth: “We were reading up about the leader who died here [Hugh Mercer], and realized that the county was named after him.”

Jake: “We learned about the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route and what states it went through, including New

Leah: “Ben Franklin always has some great quizzes; he said the Boston Tea Party wasn’t called that — it was called ‘the Destruction of the Tea.’” Violet: “I learned about the key and electricity.”

Everett: “That there are four commonwealths: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky.”

— Leah, Keith, Violet, and Everett Goldrick, Mount Laurel

Jersey.”

— Patrick and Elizabeth Kinney, Pittsford, N.Y., with Jake Kinney and Macy Davis, New Bedford, Mass.

continued from page one

Brooks and Beder would soon be spending two days in Princeton conducting focus groups with stakeholders.

A web page dedicated to the superintendent search will launch soon on the PPS website, and the district will be sharing information about how students, staff, parents, and community members can participate in the focus groups.

An update on the entire process will be provided at the next BOE meeting on September 24, if not before.

The search process is expected to continue into the winter with a new superintendent chosen, along with required approval of the contract from the executive county superintendent, in time for the March 2025 BOE meeting.

The current Board will not take action on approval of the next superintendent. The appointment must be made by the 2025 Board.

Two members of the current 10-member BOE, Baglio and Brian McDonald, will be stepping down at the end of this year, and a third member, Mara Franceschi, is running for reelection in November along with five new candidates on the ballot for three available positions.

Interim Superintendent Kathie Foster will continue to lead the district through June 2025, with the new superintendent succeeding her on July 1.

—Donald Gilpin

Get the scoop from

Breast Cancer Prevention Rally Coming to Hinds Plaza

Lifestyle medicine coach

Susan Schneider will lead a Let’s Beat Breast Cancer rally at 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 21 at Hinds Plaza.

Student and faculty musicians from Stibol Music will play a variety of drums, Dr. Gia Merlo will speak about breast cancer prevention strategies, and a breast cancer survivor will talk about how a plant-based diet helped in her recovery. Members of Princeton’s Healthy Communities group will also be in attendance.

In acknowledgement of the rallies, Mayor Mark Freda will declare Sept. 21, 2024, “Let’s Beat Breast Cancer Day.” In the proclamation, Freda will call upon Princeton residents to join the campaign. The event’s message is simple: Eating a plantbased diet and incorporating other lifestyle changes can be powerful preventive medicine for breast cancer.

The Princeton rally is one of dozens around the country and world. In all, thousands of survivors, organizers, and community members will rally this Breast Cancer Awareness season so women everywhere can learn the lifesaving message of prevention. Led by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a health advocacy nonprofit of 17,000 doctors, the free events will raise awareness of strategies that can help thwart breast cancer. The events feature performances by local marching bands, testimonials from those impacted by breast cancer, plant-based food samples, and more.

Statistics show one in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in 2022, the latest year for which mortality data are available, 42,211 women died of breast cancer. And the disease disproportionately affects Black women, who have a higher rate of death from breast cancer than white women.

The Physicians Committee encourages people to reduce breast cancer risk by following the research-backed four-pronged approach: Eat a whole food, plant-based diet. Exercise regularly. Limit alcohol. Maintain a healthy weight. A recent Physicians Committee/Morning Consult survey showed just 28 percent of U.S. women are aware of the link between diet and breast cancer. The survey highlights a significant lack of awareness of the link between diet and breast cancer. By bringing education to dozens of communities, the Let’s Beat Breast Cancer campaign aims to address this knowledge gap.

Dr. Kristi Funk, a breast cancer surgeon and leading prevention expert from Los Angeles, said, “It’s clear that millions of women have yet to hear the lifesaving message that what they eat and drink strongly influences their chances of developing breast cancer. Science shows nearly 50% of cases are preventable through diet and lifestyle, at least in theory, and in my opinion, 80 to 90 percent of cases could be avoided.”

Visit LetsBeatBreastCancer.org for more information.

Stony Brook Garden Club Funds New Play Area

The Stony Brook Garden Club, celebrating its 85th year, recently presented The Watershed Institute with a $15,000 check toward the design and building of The Stony Brook Garden Club House, an outdoor interactive play structure that will help educate young learners in a hands-on play-based way about the environment.

The Watershed Institute protects clean water and the environment through conservation, advocacy, science and education.

“We are thrilled and honored to continue to contribute to the Children’s Nature Playground with this grant

we received from The New Jersey Committee of Garden Club of America. This new children’s play area nestled within the Watershed Reserve, right next to the Kate Gorrie Butterfly House and Hickory Loop Boardwalk will add to the mission of educating our young community about conservation and preservation,” said Carolyn Healey, Stony Brook Garden Club president. ”Nature play is so essential for our children, and we are very happy to partner with The Watershed Institute’s because their long term commitment to community education and outreach aligns with our garden club mission and values.”

Waltman said, “We are deeply grateful for this generous donation from the Stony Brook Garden Club. The Stony Brook Garden Club House is a fantastic addition to our Tree Frog Trail, which is rapidly becoming a popular attraction on the Watershed Reserve. This interactive playhouse will inspire curiosity and a love for nature in the children who visit, reinforcing our mission to protect and restore our natural environment.”

Think Global Buy Local

HELPING HANDS-ON LEARNING: Members of the Stony Brook Garden Club presented Jim Waltman, executive director of The Watershed Institute, with a $15,000 to help build an outdoor interactive playhouse.

New Advocacy Group

continued from page one are all items that might appear on the CRP agenda, but he noted, “This is not an organization where the chair really runs the show. I’m not sure what the group is going to take up. The chair is the coordinator more than anything else.”

He continued, “It’s not as if we look around Princeton and see all these horrible injustices that need to be corrected, but we’re looking around and saying there are important questions to be asked. These questions shouldn’t be swept under the rug.”

Bliss, an attorney, described his motivation to join the new organization. “I’ve raised a family here and been involved with the schools over the years. As was the case then is the case now. I want a community that our youth are proud to grow up in. I think a community that embraces civil rights in a public way is that kind of community.”

He went on to urge others to join CRP. “The ultimate goal is not unpleasantness,” he said. “We don’t have grievances. We just have questions. The ultimate goal is the happy goal of e pluribus unum. We’re one community.”

Bliss suggested that the “first order of business” for CRP should be to talk with the municipal consolidated Committee on Affordable Housing, Racial, Economic, Social Equity, and Services (CARES) “and figure out how we can best work in collaboration or at least in a complementary fashion.”

Another founding member of CRP, Rhinold Ponder, described the organization as ”an excellent opportunity to establish strong coalitions among organizations and individuals who have been working on issues of equity and justice for quite some time.”

Ponder, an artist, writer/ activist, and lawyer, expressed his disappointment at the abrupt dissolution of the municipal CRC and declined to comment on the work of CARES, but he expressed hope for greater involvement in civil rights issues in Princeton going forward, particularly among young people.

“I hope that CRP inspires more people to be active in the variety of issues that CRP addresses, from immigration to racial justice to LGBTQ rights,” he said. “People who favor the rights of others need to become more active. I hope this causes them to do that.”

As CRP has been getting launched over the past eight months, the 11-member CARES committee has also been busy, meeting the third Thursday of every month and pursuing its agenda in areas of affordable housing, human services, racial equity, social equity, and economic equity, according to its page on the municipal website.

Depending on the needs of the Princeton Council, the website states, CARES responsibilities may include periodic community needs assessments, public engagement, policy recommendations, public events, and subject matter expertise.

Councilwoman Leticia

Fraga, who is Council co-liaison to CARES, pointed out the extraordinary progress already made by CARES, and she emphasized the positive effects of consolidation. She also expressed a willingness to collaborate with the new CRP.

“I welcome anyone who’s organizing or working together to help our residents,” she said.

She praised the members of the new municipal committee. “CARES is not just an acronym,” she said. “In a short time this group has demonstrated that they are a very caring group. They understand. From the start it was very clear that the goals that they wanted set are not only realistic, they are measurable and obtainable. And they will have the most direct impact on our residents who are in need.”

Among the committee’s accomplishments so far, she noted workshops on immigrants’ rights immediately following the ICE raids in July; upcoming workshops on tenant-landlord rights and responsibilities in conjunction with support from Human Services to avoid evictions; enforcement of wage theft laws to protect all workers; outreach; and community building.

“It’s very positive as far as the energy is concerned in terms of ‘This is what we’re going to do and this is when we’re going to do it, and this is how we’re going to measure our success,’” she said. She went on to point out that the committee has no enforcement or subpoena power and is limited in its ability to take action, but added, “If there’s anything

that can be resolved through communication or reaching out in someone’s behalf, that’s always an option.”

She continued, “I know in our community of Princeton as a whole the level of care is uplifting. It’s uplifting that we care about one another and we are willing to speak up for our neighbors who may not feel that they have a strong voice. It’s uplifting to know that there are individuals and groups that care enough to speak up on their behalf.”

Councilman Leighton Newlin, Fraga’s co-liaison to CARES, concurred. “I’m very happy with the leadership and membership of the new committee,” he said. “These people feel strongly about what they are doing. There’s a lot of synergy among the three different areas.”

For more information on CARES, visit the municipal website at princetonnj.gov.

Dell’Omo to

As Rider President Rider University President Gregory G. Dell’Omo, who has served the u niversity since August 2015, has announced that he will retire from the presidency at the conclusion of his current contract on July 31. This will mark his 20th year as a university president, having served as president of Robert Morris University for 10 years prior to his appointment at Rider.

—Donald Gilpin

WET PAPER IN THE DRIVEWAY?

Sorry. It Happens, even with a plastic bag. We can’t control the weather, but we can offer you a free, fresh and dry replacement paper if you stop by our office at 4428 Route 27 in Kingston.

“Since my arrival back home to New Jersey nearly a decade ago, I have had the extraordinary privilege of working alongside the impressive Rider University community of scholars, educators, staff, and students,” Dell’Omo said. “My decision to retire did not come easily, as this has been one of the most fulfilling chapters of my career, but I look forward to spending more time with my family as a new leader assumes the great honor of serving Rider into its future.”

Dell’Omo is the eighth president in Rider’s nearly 160-year history. The board of trustees will con-

duct a search for a new president. Trustee Joseph F. McDougall will chair the search. McDougall is a 1993 graduate of Rider University and has served on the board of trustees since 2022. Dell’Omo remains fully committed to serving Rider University throughout the remainder of his tenure. “We have much work to do, and my dedication to our university, our students, and our mission is as strong as ever,” he said. “I will continue to work diligently to ensure a smooth transition and to advance the goals we have set together. With the support of our talented leadership team, faculty and staff, I am confident that we will continue to make significant strides. There is much to accomplish, and I am eager to see those efforts through.”

One of Dell’Omo’s top priorities is the successful completion of Rider’s current $100 million comprehensive fundraising campaign, Transforming Students — Transforming Lives . Launched in 2017, the campaign seeks to increase scholarship support, build Rider’s endowment, update campus facilities and fuel student success by strengthening the Annual Fund. To date, the campaign has raised $92 million, including the largest gifts the university has ever received. These include a $10 million gift from Norm ’64 and Elaine Brodsky, which led to the naming of Rider’s Norm Brodsky College of Business, a $4 million gift from Mike Hennessy ’82 to support the sciences, and a $5.5 million unrestricted gift from Tom Lynch ’75.

Gregory Dell’Omo

Four New Signs on Lawrence Hopewell Trail Add to the “Outdoor History Museum”

Whenever the members of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation’s (LHTC) Saturday Morning Walking Club come upon one of the informational markers placed in key spots along the way, the walk halts for a moment as participants stop to take in the history of the area they are passing.

“The signs are important. People love them,” said David Sandahl, chair of the LHTC’s board of trustees. “They always want to stop and read them, and find out what happened there in the past.”

With four more signs, created by Trenton-based Hunter Research, recently added to the 20-mile trail, the tally is up to 17. More are anticipated for next year.

“The nonprofit Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation, which works with landowners to build and maintain the trail, began the project of installing historical markers along the trail in 2021,” reads a release from the organization. “The signs, funded largely through a generous donor and developed with Hunter Research, describe everything from notable events to historic structures to geological formations. As a result, the trail, already popular with walkers, runners, cyclists, and birdwatchers, has also become an outdoor history museum.”

Two of the new signs in the “History Along the LHT” project have been installed along Pennington Rocky Hill Road, and discuss the history of farming in Hopewell

Township. Another, along Province Line Road, focuses on the history of the King’s Highway, known today as Route 206. The fourth, on the trail at Educational Testing Service (ETS), explains the history of ETS and the development of its corporate campus.

Coming in 2025 are six more signs, including several on the planned Maidenhead Meadows boardwalk in Lawrence Township. The trail is nearing completion, as progress is being made on the five unbuilt segments.

The goal is to have the loop finished in 2026.

Sandahl credits Hunter Research for coming up with the imaginative historical markers. “They are content experts, and they know the history very well,” he said.

“The signs are inviting and easy to read. It’s very interesting to read about what happened right where you are standing.”

First conceived in 2001, the trail passes through preserved open space and farmland, fields, and the corporate headquarters of Bristol Myers Squibb and ETS. Sites of additional historical markers include Mercer Meadows, Mount Rose Ridge, Province Line, the Johnson Trolley Line, Brearley Oak, the Stony Brook Mill and the Pole Farm, which was the site of a large shortwave radio station used for AT&T’s international telephone communications that connected with cities in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.

“Most people don’t know that all trans-Atlantic phone conversations used to go through the Pole Farm, right here in Mercer County,” said Sandahl. “When they walk or ride along the trail, they learn things like that.”

More than 500 people took part in the LHTC’s Full Moon Bike Ride last weekend, up from just under 400 the year before.

“Our trail is full of the history of Mercer County,” said Sandahl. “We’ve been busy.”

—Anne Levin

Vegan Chef Challenge Returns to Princeton

The second annual Vegan Chef Challenge returns to Princeton October 1-31. Local chefs will be competing for the dining public’s votes with creative plant-based menu options.

Among the restaurants participating are Lady and the Shallot, Mediterra, Pastiamo, The Mint, Tipple + Rose Tea Parlor, and Whole Earth Center. More are expected to sign up in coming weeks. Winning dishes will be announced in early November.

Diners can vote for their favorites either at the restaurants or on veganchefchallenge.org/Princeton by October 31.

Diners can also sign up for the free 10 Weeks to Vegan program, a guided challenge that provides everything needed to start with eating vegan. Each

week, participants learn to replace one animal product with a vegan version, while receiving nutritional tips, product recommendations, and recipes. Visit 10weeks. org for information.

The Challenge is hosted by Vegan Outreach, NJveg, and Vegan in NJ.

Taste Trenton Continues Through September 23

Taste Trenton has returned for 2024 in an expanded format featuring 36 different restaurants throughout the capital city, and lasting 10 days. The self-guided restaurant crawl gives patrons the chance to try out any and all participating restaurants at reduced menu prices.

This year’s event includes eight restaurants that have opened in the past year as well as six established restaurants that had never been part of Taste Trenton in the past. Reduced priced meals are available for breakfast,

lunch, and dinners, as well as in-between and later.

Wristbands ($10) can be ordered at TasteTrenton.com and are valid for all 10 days of the event.

Wristbands and a map of participating restaurants can be retrieved at the Taste Trenton Welcome Table inside the Trent House Visitor Center, 15 Market Street. Wristbands can be purchased throughout the 10-day event. Guests wear their wristbands to each restaurant to be eligible for the reduced price menus.

Menus and details about each restaurant can be found at TasteTrenton.com.

TOWN TOPICS is printed entirely on recycled paper.

HISTORY AT ITS HEART: The 17 informational markers along the 20-mile Lawrence Hopewell Trail help tell the story of Mercer County. Four new markers — two in Lawrence, two in Hopewell — were recently added.

IS ON

Princeton University Summer Programs

Offer Rich Rewards for Range of Students

“Access” and “opportunity” are the goals for five different Princeton University summer programs, which this year served about 400 high school, public college, first-generation, lower-income, and transfer students.

Targeting Princeton University students as well as non-Princeton students, the University’s aptly-named Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity (EBCAO) this past summer sponsored the following programs: Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP), Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), Princeton Summer Journalism Program (PSJP), Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP), and Transfer Scholars Initiative (TSI).

The programs present opportunities for undergraduates from New Jersey colleges and universities, students at New Jersey community colleges, incoming Princeton University students, local high school students preparing for college, and low-income high school juniors interested in journalism. All the programs provide ongoing support during the school year, including college counseling, and academic and/or professional mentoring in different ways.

Bloomberg Center Director and Associate College Dean Khristina Gonzalez commented on the mission of the Center and its programs. “The summer months provide a dedicated opportunity to engage students in enrichment

activities that help prepare them for the year ahead, including important milestones like applying and transitioning to college, selecting a major, and preparing for graduate school and professional life,” she said in a University press release.

“EBCAO’s vision is that every student has the chance to imagine and fulfill expansive possibilities for their lives,” she continued, noting that the programs help students to define and achieve personal, academic, and cocurricular goals.

The eight-week ASAP program this year hosted 19 undergraduates from New Jersey community colleges and public higher education institutions who participated in research and internships with Princeton faculty and staff mentors. Most of those students will be continuing their paid internships parttime during the current school year.

Some students in ASAP chose to live on campus and others commuted, as they participated each week on their internships, workshops on professional development and research methods, mentor meetings, and conversations on career journeys with Princeton faculty and staff.

College of New Jersey junior Jackie Anderson, who interned at Princeton’s Office of Human Resources and hopes to pursue a career in psychology, public policy, or human resources, said she had turned down three other jobs in order to

participate in ASAP, and she called that “the best decision I ever made.”

This summer Princeton’s TSI, in partnership with Mercer County Community College and seven other New Jersey community colleges, welcomed 70 students for a program that included writing seminars, science and engineering classes, college counseling and transfer success programs, and mentorship from Princeton University faculty, staff, and undergraduate course fellows.

Participants completed two credit-bearing courses which they can transfer to their community college and eventual four-year transfer college. Discussions with current Princeton transfer students and in-person and virtual visits with admission officers from a variety of universities were among the summer’s activities in addition to the course work.

“Students appreciate that we’re attentive to their mental and emotional well-being,” said Bloomberg Center Deputy Director Keith Shaw. “We put a great deal of energy into building a welcoming community. Taking two Ivy League courses at double speed in the summer term is no joke, but the students are also having fun, both through our larger gatherings like the Grounds For Sculpture trip and through the friendships and smaller communities they’ve built for themselves.”

Emily Smith, a TSI student from Camden County College, added, “In less than two months, TSI broadened my horizons more than ever before. It helped me determine what college would be

a good fit for me, and also showed me the wide variety of options that many universities have to offer.”

FSI, an opportunity offered both on campus and online this year, gave almost 200 incoming Princeton students the chance to experience Princeton University life before the start of the fall semester. Students participating in both the in-person and the virtual experience can earn one or two Princeton credits, learn from Princeton faculty and “become familiar with the University’s many academic and well-being resources, and build community and friendships,” the press release states.

Founded in 2001, the tuitionfree PUPP program this summer hosted 72 local lowerincome high school students from Ewing, Hamilton, Lawrence Township, Princeton, and Trenton.

The students attended college preparation courses, toured campuses, met with admission representatives,

Rider Furniture

and enjoyed cultural and arts enrichment and wellness and personal development activities. They are continuing their work with PUPP this school year and in future summers.

PUPP alumni often return as PUPP faculty and counselors. Barbara Gruszka, a 2020 Princeton University graduate who is now pursuing a graduate degree in neuroscience at Rutgers University, co-taught this summer’s neuroscience and psychology course at PUPP. “Without PUPP’s support, I don’t think I would have gone on to college to be quite honest,” she said.

The 35 high school juniors from low-income backgrounds who participated in this year’s PSJP program came from 12 different states and Washington, D.C. PSJP was founded in 2002, but this was only the second time it has been offered in a hybrid format with students spending four weeks in a virtual program before coming to Princeton in late July for the annual 10-day journalism boot camp.

Online and in person, the students participated in lectures and workshops with professional journalists, were mentored by summer and college counselors, and reported on a broad range of topics related to current events.

YWCA Princeton Hosts First Cultural Festival

On Saturday, September 28 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., YWCA Princeton hosts its first Crafts & Cultures Festival on the YM/ YW fields. The rain date is September 29.

Sponsored by Bank of Princeton and My Orthodontist, the event celebrates diversity, creativity, and community spirit. There will be performances, artisan crafts, and family-friendly activities. The event is an opportunity to bring the community together to support the YWCA’s mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

YWCA Princeton CEO Rose Wong said, “YWCA Princeton’s Crafts & Cultures Festival will be a joyful celebration of our diverse community and shared values. We’re excited to unite through creativity and connection while supporting our mission to eliminate racism and empower women. Join us for a day of fun and meaningful engagement.”

“Where quality still matters.” 4621 Route 27 Kingston, NJ 609-924-0147

riderfurniture.com

Mon-Fri 10-6; Sat 10-5; Sun 12-5

At the end of the program the students published their reporting in the Princeton Summer Journal, covering topics ranging from climate change to book banning.

—Donald Gilpin

Tell them you saw their ad in

This event is free to the public, and will have more than 40 different vendors offering handmade crafts, a bounce house, and carnival games. In addition, School of Rock will run musical performances from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by an interactive flamenco demonstration. A storyteller and fitness demonstrations are also scheduled. Proceeds from this event will benefit all programs at the YWCA Princeton in support of our mission is to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all people.

Visit ywcaprinceton.org/craftsandculturesfestival for a full schedule of events and donors.

ON STAGE NOW!

mccarter.org @McCarterTheatre

Based on the New Regency Productions Motion Picture Empire

Records written by Carol Heikkinen

Music & Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak

Book by Carol Heikkinen

Directed by Trip Cullman

Choreography by Ellenore Scott

Pictured: Liam Pearce and Lorna Courtney.

Photo by Daniel Rader.

This Fall at McCarter!

Michael Feinstein in Because of You

My Tribute to Tony Bennet

Featuring the Carnegie Hall Ensemble

Fri, Sep 20, 7:30PM

Joined by the dynamic Carnegie Hall Ensemble, Michael Feinstein celebrates the unparalleled legacy of his late friend Tony Bennett with heartfelt renditions of Bennett’s greatest hits.

Ballet Hispánico

Sat, Sep 28, 7:30PM

Experience the vibrancy and passion of Ballet Hispánico, a leader in Latinx culture and dance for over 50 years.

An Evening with David Sedaris

Thu, Oct 3, 7:30PM

Humorist, and Princeton favorite, David Sedaris returns to McCarter following the release of his newest books, A Carnival of Snackery and Pretty Ugly

Encanto: The Sing–Along Film Concert

Fri, Oct 4, 7:00PM

Create magical memories with the whole family. This interactive performance and screening features live music by Banda de la Casita, bringing Disney’s beloved lm to life.

" A terri c cast and some incredible original rock and roll tunes played by a killer band." - New Jersey Stage

Now through October 6 Only!

An Evening with Natalia Lafourcade

Sun, Oct 6, 6:00PM

The most awarded female artist in Latin GRAMMY history, Natalia’s work re ects both her deep cultural heritage and innovative spirit. In this performance, Natalia will play solo guitar on stage and share stories.

Duel Reality

By The 7 Fingers

Orginially produced and created with Virgin Voyages

Comminssioning Partner ArtsEmerson Oct 9 - 13, 2024

All’s fair in love and war. An epic, cirque-infused performance that dazzles the senses and stirs the heart.

Welcomes

An Evening with Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal

Fri, Oct 18, 7:30PM

Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal will revisit the music and stories behind The Wheel, celebrating the album's 30th anniversary.

Welcomes Makaya McCraven & SHABAKA

Sat, Oct 19, 7:30PM

Experience an extraordinary evening of musical innovation with two trailblazing artists pushing the boundaries of contemporary jazz music.

Don’t miss out! Buy your tickets today!

potentially worse off than before they started the medication. People need affordable access to these important medications, and then they need an offramp off of them. We designed Noom to be that offramp. Our goal is not to sell more medications; it’s to achieve sustainable, lasting weight loss for our members.”

A Princeton resident, Cook has been CEO of Noom since July 2023. In his light-ﬁ lled office overlooking a large slice of the Princeton University campus, he talked about the trajectory of the company and its move to Palmer Square. Before the pandemic, Noom had 100,000 square feet of ofﬁ ce space in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards.

“Noom had gone through a growth period and hired many dozens of people all over the world,” Cook said. “It never made sense to return to that ofﬁce with all that space. So we moved to Penn Plaza, and now we’re here.”

Cook began his career while a student at Harvard, starting an admissions and resume consulting company in 1997. He sold it to Thompson Peterson’s in Lawrenceville, and moved to Pennington around 2003. When his daughter enrolled at Princeton Day School, “it was too much driving,” he said. “So we moved next door to the school.”

A company called My Yearbook, renamed The Meet Group, was Cook’s next endeavor. He was CEO of the NASDAQ-listed social dating and live-streaming company, based in New Hope, Pa., from 2013 to 2023, taking it public in 2020.

Cook moved to Noom “to do something meaningful,” he said. “My role is to usher it into the age of weight loss medications and GLP-1s. I brought in more than 100 people.”

The company’s services are geared to a wide range of people, “from those struggling with obesity to

those who need to lose 10 pounds,” he said. “Noom helps people change their mindset. We provide accountability through coaching and AI tools.”

Employees working in the Palmer Square ofﬁce are on a hybrid model, with 20 to 30 on site at a time. Several of those hired live in or near the area, making the relocation to Princeton convenient not only for Cook, but also for others in the company.

Cook is clearly energized by the move. “Nothing could beat the walkability of Princeton,” he said. “I’m working on fully utilizing the beautiful grounds of the campus. And I’m looking to connect with the University, starting a dialogue.”

Cook will speak at a Princeton Tech Meetup at Princeton Public Library on Thursday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m. The topic is “GLP1s, Psychology, and the Future of Weight Health.” Visit princetonlibrary.org for more information.

—Anne Levin

Police Blotter

On September 6, at 12:10 p.m., a caller reported that his employer’s towable air compressor was stolen from a lot on State Road. The compressor was valued at $13,000. The Detective Bureau is investigating.

On September 5, at 3:01 p.m., a caller reported that unknown suspects forced entry into a residence on Terhune Road. Nothing was reported stolen from the interior of the residence. The Detective Bureau is investigating.

PUMPKINS AND MORE: Terhune Orchards’ Fall Family Fun Weekends celebrate the season at the farm on Cold Soil Road Saturdays and Sundays through November 3. More than 30 activities and attractions for all ages are planned, including barnyard animals, corn mazes, pony rides, pumpkin picking, food, wine tasting, and a sunﬂower pollinator trail among them. For tickets, visit terhuneorchards.com/fall-2024.

RIDE OR DIE

SPECIAL MENU SICILY

Sicily is the largest island in Italy and the Mediterranean. Its rich history includes influences from the Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, and Austrian. 6 Sicilian sites have become part of the "Unesco World Heritage“ list, like “La Valle dei Templi” in Agrigento, archaeological area of 1,300 hectares. Sicilian cuisine reflects these diverse influences, such as Greek-influenced dishes in Ragusa and Syracuse, Arabinfluenced flavors in Western Sicilian cuisine, and culinary contributions from the Normans, Spanish, and French.

ANTIPASTI

ARANCINI

20 Arancini are delicious, crispy, deep-fried Sicilian rice balls with a ragu sauce, peas and mozzarella cheese filling

ANTIPASTI ARANCINI

$ 20

Arancini are delicious, crispy, deep-fried Sicilian rice balls with a ragu sauce, peas and mozzarella cheese filling

Arancini are delicious, crispy, deep-fried Sicilian rice balls with a ragu sauce, peas and mozzarella cheese filling.

CAPONATA

Fried eggplant and other vegetables, seasoned with olive oil, tomato sauce, celery, olives, pinenuts and capers, in an agrodolce sauce

$ 18

SALAD

Fried eggplant and other vegetables, seasoned with olive oil, tomato sauce, celery, olives, pinenuts and capers, in an agrodolce sauce

ORANGE SALAD

Fried eggplant and other vegetables, seasoned with olive oil, tomato sauce, celery, olives, pinenuts and capers, in an agrodolce sauce

SALAD

Oranges, fennel, olives, red onions and vinaigrette

SALAD

ORANGE SALAD

Oranges, fennel, olives, red onions and vinaigrette

MAIN

BUCATINI CAVOLFIORE

CAVOLFIORE

Raisins, pine nuts, and breadcrumbs are three ingredients with cauliflower and saffron makes this amazing dish

PARMIGIANA DI MELANZANE

The classic vegetarian dish rich in flavor with fried eggplants, tomato sauce mozzarella and basil

The classic vegetarian dish rich in flavor with fried eggplants, tomato sauce

The classic vegetarian dish rich in flavor with fried eggplants, tomato sauce mozzarella and basil

and basil

GENOVESI DI ERICE

Shortbread cookie filled with lemon pastry cream finished with Pistachio cream

DESSERT GENOVESI DI ERICE

DI ERICE

Shortbread cookie filled with lemon pastry cream finished with Pistachio cream

cookie filled with lemon pastry cream finished with Pistachio cream

Discover A New Alternative In SENIOR CARE

Noting that Town Acquisition of Former Westminster Campus is Wise Move

To the Editor:

Besides the ability to address future school needs, and potentially some of the soon-to-be-announced state requirement for additional affordable housing, the Westminster campus offers great opportunities for other important municipal and community uses, including turning the broad lawn fronting Hamilton Avenue into much needed in-town public open space.

The acquisition will also enable the town to designate the core of the historic campus as a local historic district, as recommended in the Princeton Master Plan adopted last November. A priority to repurpose the historic core buildings and other buildings on the campus will exemplify Princeton’s sustainability goals, as the most sustainable buildings are ones that exist, with all their embodied carbon.

With Westminster’s nationally significant musical legacy, continuing musical education and public performances on the property should also be a priority for town and school officials and for all the residents here keenly interested in music and its many contributions to our quality of life.

Town officials deserve much credit for their visionary initiative to acquire the Westminster campus. Going forward, the more they meaningfully engage the community in its repurposing, the greater will be its success.

CLIFFORD ZINK Aiken Avenue

Yes We CAN! Food Drives Collects Locally During Hunger Action Month

To the Editor: September is Hunger Action Month, a time when Yes We CAN! Food Drives pledges to renew its efforts to help our neighbors in Mercer County who don’t have enough food to feed their families or themselves. Thus it is that we need your help so we can help our neighbors

We are grassroots volunteers who collect money twice a month at both the Princeton Farmers Market and the West Windsor Farmers Market. The funds collected then allow us to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables from the farmers, which in turn are donated to Arm In Arm to restock its food pantries.

The pantries provide free food for families, the elderly, the disabled, and veterans for an average of 3,500 visits a month for residents of Trenton, Hamilton, and Princeton (yes, Princeton).

These visits represent a lot of needed food for a lot of people in need, and, in fact, the need increases each month by 200 new visitors to the pantries. Therefore, we are asking you to make a cash donation when you see us at the farmers markets with a can labeled “Yes We CAN!”

Our volunteers will be collecting money September 19 at the Princeton Farmers Market at Hinds Plaza, in front of the Princeton Library, and every two weeks thereafter. The same goes for our group’s presence on September 21 and then every two weeks at the West Windsor Farmers Market, located behind the Princeton Junction Train Station, off Alexander Road.

Every dollar counts and makes an impact. Be the person who makes that impact.

ALISON POLITZINER

Littlebrook Road

SUSAN GREENE

Claridge Court

KIM KYTE

Princeton. He also brings a parent’s perspective to the BOE as a father of five children, four of whom attend Princeton Public Schools.

Ari is the most efficient person I know. He has made a successful career out of helping entrepreneurs and companies optimize their businesses. In his personal life, he is a rare breed of human who has endless energy for his family, his community, his career, and his friends. Simply put: He gets stuff done.

In the coming months and years the BOE will choose a new superintendent and will make important decisions about referendum projects. Ari knows our community and cares deeply about it. He knows our schools. He knows how to streamline projects and priorities. He is the ideal candidate for the BOE.

Vote Ari Meisel for Board of Education!

KAREN BERGMAN Dorann Avenue

Purchase of Westminster Choir College Property is In Best Interest of Community

To the Editor:

Planning for the future is very difficult to do. I would like to thank our mayor and Council for looking out for the entire community in initiating the purchase of the Westminster Choir College property from Rider University. As someone that served as an elected Township Committeeman/Princeton Councilman for 15 years and 10 years prior on Boards and Commissions, I am supportive when our elected officials look out for the interest of our residents.

The Westminster location is one of the most important developable land mass sites left in Princeton. With all the building of houses, apartments, condos, and townhouses, we are going to need more public facilities. I am sure we are going to need an additional school in the near future. P lanning, planning, planning is everything.

Fountayne Court

Yes We CAN! Food Drives

BOE Candidate Ari Meisel Knows Community and Cares Deeply About it

To the Editor:

Ari Meisel is a pillar of the community who will serve on the Board of Education with his trademark blend of efficiency and boundless energy.

Ari loves Princeton. Years ago, I asked him to name his favorite place he has ever lived. He quickly replied, “Princeton! You can’t beat the sense of community here.” He has embraced this town and he has become an integral part of it. As an EMT, as a PTO board member, and as a CARES committee member, he helps the most vulnerable, the most underserved, and the most sick and injured in

I am asking that we all open our minds and try to understand this purchase of the Westminster Choir College site. Making difficult decisions in the beginning can save each of us a lot of additional taxes in the end. My plea is that the mayor and Council continue to do due diligence to make sure the residents have a super win. Let’s get behind this project and continue to watch Princeton become the best town to live in. We are so fortunate to live in Princeton.

LANCE LIVERMAN

Former Council President Witherspoon Street

Lisa Potter and Shenwei Zhao Will

Bring Fresh Perspectives to BOE

To the Editor:

Trust takes years to build, but it can be broken in a single moment. For many of us in the Princeton community, that trust was shattered last year when the Board of Education mishandled both the firing of Princeton High School Principal Frank Chmiel and the drama surrounding Superintendent Dr. Carol Kelley. These events exposed a lack of decisive leadership and a failure to address the concerns of the community.

The turning point for many of us came during Frank Chmiel’s “Donaldson” hearing. This was the Board’s chance to acknowledge that the situation could have been handled better, without explicitly apologizing. However, when only two out of 10 board members voted to reinstate Chmiel, it became clear that our voices weren’t being heard. Our concerns as residents and parents were ignored, and any remaining trust in the Board evaporated.

Now, as the Board proposes another referendum after just passing a $13 million one last year, we must ask: How can we trust the same leaders who mishandled these situations to make responsible decisions about our schools’ finances?

We all want to support our children, but we also need to support our families. With inflation rising and indicators of a recession on the horizon, we need to be careful with every dollar spent.

This is why we believe it’s time for new leadership on the Board — leaders who will prioritize transparency, responsibility, and accountability. Lisa Potter and Shenwei Zhao bring the fresh perspectives we need.

Lisa Potter has spent years leading large teams and managing complex budgets and systems, bringing her expertise in human resources and strategic planning to the table. She’s proven she can stabilize organizations and create environments where students and staff thrive.

Shenwei Zhao, as an entrepreneur, has the practical skills to manage resources efficiently. He understands the importance of making thoughtful, cost-effective decisions. Zhao will ensure that every dollar is spent with purpose and that the community is kept informed and involved.

Voting for Potter and Zhao isn’t just about addressing past mistakes — it’s about moving forward with leadership we can trust to make prudent, transparent decisions for our schools and our community. This November, let’s choose leaders who will restore trust and ensure a brighter future for our children and families.

MICHAEL BROWN

Laurel Circle WEI FANG

William Livingston Court

GORKA RAMIREZ Lytle Street

Meisel is Highly Invested in PPS, Doesn’t Back Away from Complicated Discussions

To the Editor:

There are three precious spots open on the Princeton Board of Education. This year is extremely important. We need to find BOE candidates committed to hiring a superintendent who is invested in our district, not their own agenda, and also not temporary (we are grateful to the lovely temporary superintendents we’ve had in the past five years, but we deserve long-term investment). With so much change and turnover in this district (on all levels) we are missing the opportunity to form our own identity. The identity of our district should not come from how it wants to be perceived but should come from the needs of the kids. It’s not an agenda put upon them, but a collaborative development toward the future together.

Ari Meisel encompasses skills to help bring this district its identity. Ari should fill one of the three open positions.

The year ahead will hopefully be foundational for our school district. We need a superintendent that will discover and represent the Princeton Public Schools values. It’s also time to answer short-term issues efficiently and creatively, not just long-term plans.

Ari Meisel has vested interest, commitment to community, keen insights, openness, and the profession that make him the perfect addition to assist in the development of the future of our district.

Mostly I want to tell Princeton (aside from voting for Ari Meisel this November) that he is available. He will make the time to speak with you, see you, and discuss with you. He’s highly invested in PPS. He does not back away from complicated discussions. He still has five kids going through the school system. Don’t take my word for it and don’t be shy to challenge him! Reach out to him now with any of your thoughts or questions at ari@lessdoing.com. It will be exciting to see what Ari can bring to the table. With his background and open mind, looking to reinvigorate and find PPS’ identity and future.

Thank you, Ari. You have come into our community and enhanced it. We are lucky you are here. Thank you for being on the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad and being there to keep us safer, and always offering your services and training to our community. Thank you for participating in and caring for Princeton. And now, thank you for offering your time and expertise to be a part of our School Board.

KATI DUNN

Princeton Kingston Road

Submitted as a personal opinion and private citizen and not related to or affiliated with any organization of which I am a part.

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.

To Discuss LaBrie’s

Writer Aimee LaBrie will be at Labyrinth Books with author Joyce Carol Oates on Wednesday, September 25, at 6 p.m. This event is cosponsored by Labyrinth, Princeton University Humanities Council, The Lewis Center for the Arts, Rutgers University’s Department of English, and the Writers House at Rutgers. Labyrinth is at 122 Nassau Street.

In her award-winning collection of short stories, Rage and Other Cages : A Selection of Short Stories, the characters range from a former child actress turned real estate agent who yearns for her past, to a nurse who must convince a murderer to donate his girlfriend’s organs, to a bartender at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar who is kidnapped by a customer searching for a mysterious key. Bad dates, bad jobs, and bad situations force these characters to use their wits and wiles to survive. In the stories, LaBrie offers lessons on grief, loneliness, and relationships that examine what it means to be female in today’s America.

Oates calls LaBrie’s writing “mordantly funny, eerily discomforting, and unexpectedly wise — an audacious gathering of stories mirroring our contemporary world.”

LaBrie’s short stories have appeared in the Minnesota Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, StoryQuarterly, Cimarron Review, Pleiades, Beloit Fiction Journal, Permafrost Magazine , and other reviews and journals. In 2020, her short story “Rage” won first place in Solstice Literary Magazine’s Annual Literary Contest and her novel in progress won the Key West Literary Seminar Emerging Writer Award. Her short fiction has been nominated four times for Pushcart prizes. In 2012 she won first place in the Zoetrope: All-Story’s Short Fiction Competition. LaBrie teaches creative writing

sweeping historical research and incisive on-the-ground reporting, chronicling how a wide range of antidemocratic tactics interact with profound structural inequalities in institutions like the Electoral College, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to threaten the survival of representative government in America.”

Berman is the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones and a reporting fellow at Type Media Center. He’s the author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America (finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction) and Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post and Rolling Stone, and he is a frequent commentator on MSNBC and NPR.

University, who retired in 2020, has devoted her career to the study of inequalities, work, gender, work/ family dynamics, and addiction. Her published works, including Gender and Work: A Comparative Analysis of Industrial Societies, and the co-authored book with Barbara Reskin, Job Queues, Gender Queues: Explaining Women’s Inroads Into Male Occupations, have been important contributions to the ongoing conversation about gender dynamics in the workforce. Roos has taught courses in inequalities, social research, sociological writing, and addiction.

as The Hill, Cognoscenti, and Education Week.

Wang is professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton University. His laboratory research focuses on learning from birth to adulthood, at levels ranging from single synapses to the whole brain. He is the author of two books about the brain, Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your

Car Keys But Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life, and Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College

The program is presented in partnership with Princeton University Press and Labyrinth Books and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Short

Stories at Rutgers and works as the senior program administrator for Writers House.

Oates is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award, the National Book Award, the Jerusalem Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the Prix Femina, and the Cino Del Duca World Prize. She has been nominated several times for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written enduring fiction including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, and the New York Times bestseller The Falls She is the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Distinguished Professor of the Humanities Emerita at Princeton University.

Ari Berman, Kevin Kruse

Discuss “Minority Rule”

Voting rights writer Ari Berman will speak about his book, Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People — and the Right to Resist (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30), on Tuesday, September 24 at 6 p.m. at Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street. He will be joined by Princeton Professor of History Kevin Kruse.

According to the publisher, the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 represented an extreme form of the central danger facing American democracy today: a blatant disregard for the will of the majority.

“But this crisis didn’t begin or end with Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election,” continues the publisher’s notes.

“Through voter suppression, election subversion, gerrymandering, dark money, the takeover of the courts, and the whitewashing of history, reactionary white conservatives have strategically entrenched power in the face of a massive demographic and political shift. Berman charts these efforts with

Kruse specializes in the political, social, and urban/ suburban history of 20thcentury America, with a particular interest in conflicts over race, rights, and religion and the making of modern conservatism. He is the author of Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 , One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America , and Fog of War: The Second World War and the Civil Rights Movement This event is cosponsored by Labyrinth Books, Princeton University’s Humanities Council, the School of International & Public Affairs in NJ, and Princeton University’s Department of History, Department of African American Studies, and Electoral Innovation Lab.

Former Rutgers Professor To Discuss New Book

Author Patricia Roos, a former professor of sociology at Rutgers University, will talk about her new book, Surviving Alex: A Mother’s Story of Love, Loss, and Addiction (Rutgers University Press, $26.95), on Thursday, September 26 from 4-6 p.m. The event will be held at the Kathleen W. Ludwig Global Village Living Learning Center, Suydam Street, Douglass Campus, Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Roos will be in conversation with Rocky Schwartz of Sharing the Hope Family Support Center, a division of Prevention Resources in Flemington.

Sheilah Powell of the NJ Harm Reduction Coalition will talk about harm reduction and moderate a panel with other activists involved in harm reduction on the ground. A Q&A session will follow, with a reception and light refreshments. Free Naloxone will be provided to all participants.

In 2015, the author’s 25-year-old son Alex died of a heroin overdose. Turning her grief into action, Roos began to research the social factors and institutional failures that contributed to his death. Surviving Alex tells her moving story —and outlines the possibilities of a more compassionate and effective approach to addiction treatment.

Roos, professor emerita of sociology at Rutgers

She served as chair of the Sociology Department and dean for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, and contributed to the college’s Gender Equity Report and the NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant. From fall 2018 to spring 2019, she was a fellow at the Institute for Research on Women’s seminar, working on “Public Catastrophe, Private Loss: Grief and Resilience in the Midst of the Opioid Epidemic.”

More information can be found at addiction.rutgers. edu/events.

New Book

Democracy Featured At Princeton Public Library Talk

Author Ismar Voli ć presents his new book in conversation with Princeton University’s Sam Wang at the Princeton Public Library on Thursday, September 26, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Making Democracy Count explains how we can repair our democracy by rebuilding the mechanisms that power it. The event is in the Community Room at the library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Making Democracy Count (Princeton University Press, $32) is meant to give readers the concrete knowledge and the confidence to advocate for a more just, equitable, and inclusive democracy. According to the publisher, “What’s the best way to determine what most voters want when multiple candidates are running? What’s the fairest way to allocate legislative seats to different constituencies? What’s the least distorted way to draw voting districts? Not the way we do things now. Democracy is mathematical to its very foundations. Yet most of the methods in use are a historical grab bag of the shortsighted, the cynical, the innumerate, and the outright discriminatory.”

In the book, Voli ć empowers readers to use mathematical thinking as an objective, nonpartisan framework that rises above the noise and rancor of today’s divided public square and shows why the current voting system stifles political diversity, why the size of the House of Representatives contributes to its paralysis, why gerrymandering is a sinister instrument that entrenches partisanship and disenfranchisement, why the Electoral College must be rethought, and what can work better and why. He proposes a road map for repairing the mathematical structures that undergird representative government.

Voli ć is professor of mathematics and director of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy at Wellesley College. His work has appeared in publications such

Local Author Madeline Pearl to Speak at Labyrinth Books Sept. 22

Princeton teen author Madeline Pearl will be at Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street, on Sunday, September 22 at 11:30 a.m.

In Pearl’s picture book, The Peacock Tree , both the peacock tree and the castle are real. Rumors of Robin Hood’s bow stashed up the castle’s chimney still circulate in the neighboring villages of Helpston and Marholm. Here, each night, the peacocks flutter up to the high branches of the old proud oak tree, and an ancient conversation about the simpler times of a simpler place was imagined, and the children realize that we all must take care of each other.

The Peacock Tree (Nightingale Books, $9.99 paperback) is 17-year-old Pearl’s debut book. Kirkus Reviews has called it “a warm, heartfelt paean to a leafy refuge for beautiful birds and happy children.” Pearl lives in Princeton and attends Princeton Day School. Her mentor is Barbara DiLorenzo of the Princeton Arts Council. Pearl has attended various art-related programs including most recently the Tufts Studio Art summer program. She has also attended the Rhode Island School of Design Advanced Program Online and summer programs at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

Featuring gifts that are distinctly Princeton! New products from Princeton University Art Museum

Aimee LaBrie and Joyce Carol Oates

Fields of Dreams: W.E.B. Du Bois, James Earl Jones, and the Library Book Sale

So the lawyers suggested going around the globe and get someone completely opposite from J.D. Salinger. Not a novelist but a journalist, not a white guy but a Black guy, and that’s how I lucked out and got the role.

—James Earl Jones (1931-2024)

The feature attraction at this weekend’s Friends and Foundation Princeton Public Library Book Sale is a collection of rare African American literature donated by Rutgers Professor Donald Gibson, who died at 90 on January 3. During his four decades as a teacher, Gibson helped establish the study of Black literature as a legitimate university course. Among his numerous books, essays, and lectures is the introduction to The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, which is available among the titles in the library’s non-fiction book group.

The Common Factor

Gibson presents Du Bois’s book as “a very personal document” in which the soul is “a common factor, exclusive of considerations of race, class, or religious affiliation, education or social status.” Gibson suggests that the “I am a person and you are a person” principle underlying The Souls of Black Folk shares the “whatever belongs to me as well belongs to you” spirit of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass Whitman’s famous mantra also expresses the foundational spirit behind secondhand books and the sales that keep them moving from reader to reader. That said, book sale patrons will still have to pay the stated cost for each volume, as well as the admission charges at Friday’s 9 a.m.-noon Preview Sale. As a longtime Princeton resident, Gibson no doubt attended his share of these sales, presumably finding treasures like those that will be on view in the Community Room from Friday, September 20 through half-price day on Sunday, September 22.

“The Sorrow Songs” For a first-time reader, one of the most striking things about The Souls of Black Folk is the way Du Bois prefaces each of the 14 chapters with an unidentified bar of music placed under epigraphs from various primarily white 19th-century writers, including Byron, Tennyson, Swinburne, and “Mrs. Browning” (twice). Among the spirituals Du Bois mentions is “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” — “the cradle-song of death” — which he pairs with Lord Byron’s lines, “From birth till death enslaved: in word, in deed, unmanned!.... / Hereditary bondsmen! Know ye not / Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?”

Those lines are taken from Byron’s poem, “Greece Enslaved.” In the spirit of “whatever belongs to me as well belongs to you,” Du Bois includes among the “souls of Black folk” a renowned British poet writing about a country “trembling beneath the scourge of Turkish hand.”

Sorrow Songs

The epigraph for the final chapter is from “a Negro song” that ends “And my soul and thy soul shall meet that day / When I lay this body down.” The chapter begins with one of the book’s most haunting and haunted sentences: “They that walked in darkness sang songs in the olden days — Sorrow Songs — for they were weary at heart. And so before each thought that I have written in this book I have set a phrase, a haunting echo of these weird old songs in which the soul of the black slave spoke to men. Ever since I was a child these songs have stirred me strangely.”

“A Human Text”

When Du Bois came to Nashville in later years, he saw “the great temple builded of these songs towering over the pale city.... Jubilee Hall seemed ever made of the songs themselves, and its bricks were red with the blood and dust of toil. Out of them rose for me morning, noon, and night, bursts of wonderful melody, full of the voices of my brothers and sisters, full of the voices of the past.”

Obama is elected president. Sixteen years after that, Kamala Harris is running for the nation’s highest office.

Lady Kamala

If I were asked to name the most memorable moment of Obama’s presidency, I’d say it was when he sang “Amazing Grace” at the funeral for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of nine Blacks killed by a white gunman in the June 2015 Charleston Church shooting.

One of the most memorable moments of Kamala Harris’s brief presidential campaign occurred during last week’s one-sided debate. Watch her with the volume turned down and she could be a jazz diva — Lester Young would call her “Lady Kamala” — singing her variation on “Amazing Grace” to a scowling, aging, unemployed television personality. When she skewers him with “disgrace,” she hits the word like a bell. No wonder Taylor Swift endorsed her. She’d recognized a kindred spirit, a performer, and a warrior.

Du Bois wrote those words in February 1903. In Gibson’s introduction, he calls The Souls of Black Folk “a human text,” whose “chief metaphor, ‘souls,’ makes reference to basic assumptions about western culture and mythology.” According to Gibson, Du Bois believed that “black and white may interact in a humane way if whites recognize that blacks have souls.” Flash forward a century (105 years, to be exact), and a little less than 20 years after Gibson’s 1989 introduction, Barack

Jones Plays Salinger

In April 2004, at the Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the 1989 film Field of Dreams , James Earl Jones said,

“I have no favorite role, but I have a favorite kind of movie and it just so happened that Field of Dreams fits in that category.”

Jones has admitted weeping all the way through a showing of the film that was based on W.P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel Shoeless Joe , where a farmer builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield that attracts the ghosts of baseball legends like Shoeless Joe Jackson. The farmer’s at first unwilling companion in his quest is J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye. How did a Black actor best known for playing Darth Vader became so emotionally invested in a role based on a notoriously reclusive white writer? According to

Jones, Salinger “told the film company, ‘You got away with it in the novel, but you’re not going to get away with it in the film. You use my name or a likeness of me in any way and I’ll sue you.’ So the lawyers suggested going around the globe and get someone completely opposite from J.D. Salinger. Not a novelist but a journalist, not a white guy but a Black guy, and that’s how I lucked out and got the role.”

Again, in the spirit of “whatever belongs to me as well belongs to you,” Salinger, who died in January 2010, and Jones, who died September 9, 2024, share the “common factor, exclusive of considerations of race, class, or religious affiliation, education or social status” that underlies The Souls of Black Folk

TForty Years of Work

he original title for the novel that inspired Field of Dreams was The Kidnapping of J.D. Salinger, which inadvertently reflects the fate of the 40 years of unpublished writing Salinger left with instructions for publication. All this year I’ve been slowly banging my very small drum about the fact that Salinger’s work is still being inexplicably held back by his heirs, even though it’s been almost 15 years since his January 2010 death. By now, readers should at least not have to prowl the Net for pirated versions of his extraordinary novella, Hapworth 16, 1924, a tour de force still imprisoned between the covers of the June 19, 1965 New Yorker.

—Stuart Mitchner

Note: Rarities from Donald Gibson’s donation on display at the Friends and Foundation Book Sale include a signed first edition of “Maud Martha” by Gwendolyn Brooks; a first edition of Langston Hughes’s “Ask Your Mama”; a first edition of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Lyrics of the Hearthside,” and a signed first of “Libretto for the Republic of Liberia” by M. B. Tolson. Gems from other donations: “Eloise in Paris” and “Eloise in Moscow” by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight; and a signed first edition of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Other signed first editions are by Lee Child, Nora Ephron, Gunther Grass, Aleksander Hemon, Donna Tartt, and Herman Wouk. According to Book Sale Manager Claire Bertrand, while there are copies of “The Souls of Black Folk” in the Gibson donation, they are not considered rare. For detailed information, email booksale @princetonlibrary.org.

An unforgettable New York City experience awaits. Tickets to the ACP’s ART OF Hell’s Kitchen on Wednesday, October 23 include seats to the Tony Award-winning musical and exclusive dinner with co-producer and Princetonian Dana Hughes Moorhead (and other special guests!) at the Brooklyn Chophouse, co-owned by legendary hip hop producer Robert Cummins. Round trip transportation to NYC included!

Princeton Symphony Orchestra Opens Season With

Towering 19th-Century Masterpieces

Princeton Symphony Orchestra opened its 2024-25 classical series this past weekend with two performances at Richardson Auditorium. Led by Orchestra Music Director Rossen Milanov, the ensemble presented music of two 19th-century compositional giants, as well as a contemporary piece with a Princeton connection.

Saturday night’s performance (the concert was repeated Sunday afternoon) opened with an unusual work by New Zealand composer Gemma Peacocke, currently a Ph.D. fellow in composition at Princeton University. Peacocke has been commissioned by ensembles worldwide, including New Zealand’s Orchestra Wellington and Arohanui Strings. These two organizations commissioned Peacocke in 2023 to create the one-movement Manta , a musical description of the oceanic manta rays which migrate to the seas around Peacocke’s native Aotearoa region. Perceived as solitary creatures, manta rays are in reality quite active, demonstrating acrobatic movements which would translate well to musical composition.

Princeton Symphony Orchestra presented the U.S. premiere of Peacocke’s expressive piece, joined by members of a PSO performing partner, the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey. Peacocke’s work began with low brass — a murky ocean contrasting with the swirling winds of activity within the sea. Conductor Milanov built musical intensity gradually, as an undulating instrumental palette underscored jagged violin solo lines from Concertmaster Basia Danilow. The overall orchestral color was majestic, punctuated by Jeremy Levine’s crisp timpani playing.

were in the third movement “Finale,” but throughout the piece, Oliverson displayed conﬁ dence in the fast-moving lines and ﬁnesse on the repeated melodies.

The second movement “Canzonetta” was notable for its simple, songlike melody, sweetly conveyed by Oliverson, flutist Sooyun Kim, and clarinetist Nuno Antunes. Milanov launched the closing “Finale” with power as Oliverson maneuvered her way through what previous violinists had apparently characterized as “unplayable.” In Oliverson’s hands, the improvisatory and virtuosic refrains of the final movement were expertly executed, with Oliverson always finding variety within each repetition.

Princeton Symphony Orchestra closed Saturday night’s concert with Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor, a work both progressive toward the future and reverential to the past. With lush orchestration and rich melodies within an intricate structure, this four-movement symphony was a crowning musical statement of the Romantic era. Under Milanov’s leadership, the first movement emphasized sweeps of orchestral colors and a decisive sound. Complementary lyrical measures featured an elegant duet from Antunes and Kim. Milanov and the players well maintained the majesty of the movement with contrasts between a forceful texture heavily colored by bass and the delicacy of the winds.

GOf all the classic 19th-century violin concertos, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 35, Violin Concerto in D Major, is among the most popular. This past weekend’s Princeton Symphony performances featured Aubree Oliverson, a violinist who plays with innate joy, as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s challenging but masterful work. The three-movement Concerto was deemed unplayable by its original intended soloist, but Oliverson has felt a special connection to the piece since youth and had no trouble grasping the music’s seemingly impossible technical demands and emotional character.

The Orchestra began the ﬁrst movement with a very lean ﬁrst violin sectional sound, well emphasized by winds. Oliverson took her time on the opening of her solo line, drawing out the poignancy of the familiar melody and teasing the audience with cadences. The most virtuosic passages

raceful orchestration brought the second movement “Andante” to life, as clarinets joined with bassoons for refined passages against pizzicato strings. Milanov toyed with tempos in the stately third movement, as tumbling winds and agitated rhythms moved the energy along. The closing “Allegro” opened with full brass in an almost funereal atmosphere, over a bassline adapted from a J.S. Bach cantata. The repeated harmonic progression in the celli and double basses provided a strong foundation to the effervescence above. This movement featured a number of wind solos including from Kim (hauntingly paired with offbeat horns), as well as Antunes and oboist Rita Mitsel playing against the same offbeat horns. The brass sections were particularly effective in this movement, including the trio of trombonists Connor Rowe, Lars Wendt, and James Rogers. Jeremy Levine’s solid timpani playing also played a large role in bring Brahms’ Symphony, and Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s kickoff to the season, to a grand close.

—Nancy

Plum

photo by Sarah Malone

Premiere of “Empire Records: The Musical” Succeeds at McCarter; Energetic Script, Score, and Production Deliver a

Fun, Heartfelt Story

McCarter Theatre is presenting the world premiere of Empire Records: The Musical. Directed by Trip Cullman, the exuberant production begins with a high energy level that it steadily maintains, even as it breathes to allow for character development that is by turns comic and poignant.

Adapted from the 1995 coming-of-age comedy film, the show follows the exploits of the titular record store’s idiosyncratic but fiercely loyal employees, who form a tightly knit community. The employees’ determination to preserve their community leads them to take extreme, at times comically ill-conceived and dangerous, steps to prevent the store from entering into a franchise agreement with a corporation.

The lyrics and the often bouncy, pop rock-infused music are by Princeton native Zoe Sarnak, who often frequented the Princeton Record Exchange while growing up in town. Sarnak lets the score evoke the sense of sampling a variety of 1990s recordings, while establishing different sounds or styles for the varied characters.

Listeners whose musical tastes are less aligned with the score’s pop rock vocabulary may find it somewhat overpowering, but most of the audience is palpably and enthusiastically drawn in by it.

Carol Heikkinen, the film’s screenwriter, also pens the musical’s book. Heikkinen retains the main story and most of the character arcs from the movie, while taking the opportunity to develop other characters more fully, and thicken the plot while giving it heightened focus.

This is the case right from the beginning. While the film opens with a character’s frantic excursion to and from Atlantic City, the show immediately sets the store as the focal point.

Cullman and Choreographer Ellenore Scott establish a sense of the characters leaving their (often complicated) homes to unite in the store. Starting at the rear of McCarter’s Berlind Theatre, the actors move down multiple aisles to congregate on stage.

The employees open the store for a day, inviting in customers — and us — via the bouncy opening number “Welcome to the Empire” (one of Sarnak’s most memorable tunes). Scott lets the choreography suggest steps that might be seen at a school dance, establishing the characters’ youthfulness and generally relaxed attitude. In the course of the bustle, a mysterious figure in black enters but immediately makes a hasty, surreptitious exit.

David Rockwell’s scenic design helps to make the show’s world vivid. The store’s exterior, whose window is covered with colorful posters for bands such as Chicago and Radiohead, flies up to reveal an interior furnished with records, listening booths, and — by way of reinforcing the 1995 time setting — a pay phone booth.

Lighting Designer Adam Honoré punctuates the set with colorful neon signs for each musical category. This reinforces the store’s party atmosphere, and evokes several musicals that include scenes in Times

Square. Honoré lets the lights change color to support a variety of moods.

“Welcome to the Empire” does everything that an opening number should, establishing the locale, mood, and story. The score is inspired by pop records, but it promises to function as theater music. Throughout this segment we are introduced to most of the characters’ aspirations and problems.

AJ (portrayed by Liam Pearce) faces an incessant struggle to get the store’s neon sign to light properly. He is in love with Corey (Lorna Courtney), and is trying to figure out the most opportune time to tell her. Accompanied by a gentle acoustic guitar, he (later joined by Corey) sings a central ballad, “One Thirty Seven.” The song subtly recalls an obsession with time that pervades Rent and other 1990s works.

The studious Corey is focused on making the most of the scholarship that enables her to attend NYU, but she is not above having a crush on singer Rex Manning (Damon Daunno), who is scheduled to appear at the store for a signing.

Costume Designer Paloma Young outfits the loutish Rex with an artfully sloppy shirt and a rather ill-fitting vest, letting him look flamboyant without appearing particularly stylish or glamorous. For the employees, Young reinforces the show’s celebration of individuality, giving each character their own style and colors (appropriately dressing the ambitious Corey in a comparatively formal outfit).

Like Corey, the free-spirited Gina (Samantha Williams, whose vocal power is especially strong) is eager to attend college; however, a tense phone conversation with her family reveals that her tuition funds have been jeopardized, and she sings the barbed “Another Hometown Story.” Later,

academic plans threaten the close bond between Corey and Gina. The increasingly complicated friendship is encapsulated in a moving duet, “Girls Like Me.”

The suicidal Debra (Analise Scarpaci), whose acerbic personality veils inner pain, also has a confrontational relationship with her family, specifically her stepfather. Scarpaci’s sturdy but sensitive voice shines in “Scissors,” a solo somewhat musically evocative of Sarah McLachlan. The contrastingly more comical Mark (Eric Wiegand) cherishes aspirations (if not the requisite skills) to start his own band.

Joe (Michael Luwoye) is the store’s gruff and long-suffering, but kindly paternal, manager. He is fond of his employees, but is compelled to confront the store’s increasingly severe financial troubles. An exasperated question put to the employees is a cue for a flippant, uptempo ensemble number, “The Future Generation.” Here, Cullman and Scott often place the employees in a higher vertical register than Joe, indicating that he is starting to lose control of the store to his staff.

Empire Records’ financial problems lead Joe to the desperate step of pursuing a franchise agreement with a national chain, Music Town. It adds a funny layer that the individual store has “empire” in its name, while the corporate chain is a “town.”

This would mute Empire Records’ individualistic, Bohemian atmosphere, and compel the employees to adhere to far more stringent codes of dress and conduct. (The employees’ attitudes may strike older audiences as youthfully naïve against the realities of having a job, but the writing draws us into accepting the mindset.)

As such, the franchise agreement is vehemently opposed by all of the employees. However, only Lucas (Tyler McCall) takes

“EMPIRE RECORDS: THE MUSICAL”: Performances are underway for “Empire Records: The Musical.” Presented by McCarter Theatre Center, by special arrangement with Bill Weiner, and directed by Trip Cullman, the musical runs through October 6 at McCarter’s Berlind Theatre. Above: Temporarily unaware of the record store’s financial problems, the employees relish the relaxed atmosphere that their workplace offers.

“Empire Records: The Musical” runs through October 6 at McCarter’s Berlind Theatre. Content advisory: the show depicts sexual situations and other mature themes (including attempted suicide) that may not be suitable for all audiences. For tickets or additional information, visit McCarter.org.

the absurdly risky step of taking the store’s profits and entering into a scheme that exponentially worsens the situation.

Lucas is not the only thief. The employees nab a shoplifter, who identifies himself as “Warren Beatty” (Sam Poon). Fight choreography is designed by Rocio Mendez.

Despite all of these problems, everyone at the store is focused on “Rex Manning Day,” the (fading) celebrity’s visit. He is accompanied by Max (Taylor Iman Jones), a representative from his label. We learn that Max has a history with Joe; and only reluctantly works with the rather sleazy Rex (noticeably, the musical goes to greater lengths than the film to characterize him as a sexual predator). Joe, Max, and Rex are given a (for Max, uncharacteristically reflective) trio, “Who I Am and Who I Was.”

The uniformly talented cast is ably rounded out by ensemble members Hoke Fraser, Alex Lugo, Poon, Leah Read, and Maximilian Sangerman.

The attractive musical arrangements are by Sarnak, who co-orchestrates the show in collaboration with Music Supervisor Bryan Perri. The orchestrations offer a satisfying balance of acoustic and electronic instruments. (Disclosure: this reviewer’s studies at New York University coincided with Perri’s, and we briefly collaborated there.)

The vocal arrangements and blending of the actors’ voices are particularly lovely in “Words Are Right, Words Are Wrong,” a number in which AJ, Corey, Mark, Lucas, Joe, and Max pay tribute to Debra.

Music Director Daniel Green adeptly conducts, and plays keyboard for, a band consisting of keyboards, guitars, cello, bass, and percussion. The balance between band and vocals is aided by Sound Designer John Shivers.

An epilogue looks beyond the film’s plot to reveal the store’s future. Imposing more recent and contemporary times on the 1990s story feels like a bit of an intrusion, though there is some insightful commentary about cycles of changing technology.

As a film Empire Records was poorly received by critics; in a typical negative review, Variety described it as a “soundtrack in search of a movie.” Viewing the film 30 years later, its plot feels a bit thin, introducing arcs that could be developed more fully.

The musical fixes this. Characters and story arcs are more fully developed; and story time is used more effectively and efficiently. There is a much steadier rhythm, both musically and story-wise, with the songs now directly connected to the plot.

Arguably, Empire Records was a story in search of a musical, as the fun and heartfelt plot notably benefits from being conveyed via a live stage. Empire Records: The Musical starts McCarter’s season on a high note, and one looks forward to seeing how it develops from here.

—Donald H. Sanborn III

(Photo by Daniel Rader)

Spotlight Q&A with Robert Reffkin, Compass CEO

Interview by Laurie Pellichero

What is your background, and how did that lead to the founding of Compass in 2012?

I grew up in Berkeley, Calif., raised by a single mother who was a real estate agent. Her hard work and dedication inspired me from a young age as I saw the entrepreneurial spirit she embodied and how she saw every challenge as an opportunity.

In 2012, as the Broker of Record, I founded Compass with the vision of revolutionizing the real estate industry and empowering other agents like my mom with the tools and resources they need to better serve their clients and grow their businesses. My background in economics, finance, and technology, combined with my personal connection to the industry, inspired me to create a company that places the needs of real estate agents first and improves the overall experience for buyers and sellers.

What is the philosophy and scope of Compass today?

Our philosophy is centered around empowering real estate agents through innovative technology, data-driven insights, and exceptional support. Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world by making the process of buying and selling homes as seamless and efficient as possible.

with Compass. Key components of the Compass Advantage include:

Marketing and Branding: Our in-house marketing agency is supported by over 300 skilled marketing and design professionals driven to support our agents with services including professional photography, custom-designed materials, and targeted advertising campaigns.

Agent Support and Development: Not only have we invested almost $1.5 billion dollars in building out our technology platform over a 10-year period, we continue to spend millions annually on research and development to help our agents make the client experience more successful.

Robert Reffkin

Today, Compass is the No. 1 residential real estate brokerage in the United States by sales volume, with a diverse team of top agents and a world class support staff from coast-to-coast.

How does Compass differ from other real estate companies?

Compass is the only residential real estate company that has invested over $1.5 billion on a technology platform that integrates all aspects of the real estate process, from marketing and lead generation to transaction management and client communication. This technology allows our agents to work more efficiently, make better-informed decisions, and provide a higher level of service to their clients.

Additionally, we place a strong emphasis on a collaborative and inclusive culture, where agents can share ideas, learn from one another, and grow together.

What is the “Compass Advantage”?

The Compass Advantage refers to the unique benefits that our agents and their clients experience when working

National Network: With over 30,000 agents nationwide, we have access to a vast network of colleagues and resources, allowing them to serve clients across the country and expand their business opportunities.

Where do you see the real estate market going in the next few years?

In the next few years, I anticipate the following key trends shaping the real estate market:

Key Trend 1: In an increasingly disconnected world, I believe it is more important than ever to go back to the basics and build meaningful relationships. In recent years, we have seen other brokerage CEOs moving to cities away from their agents, closing offices, and discontinuing local events. This to me signaled that they were giving up on culture and connection. That is why now and into the future, I am leaning into face-to-face relationships. I believe that companies that are in-person will win.

Key Trend 2: I am confident that the most professional agents, who deliver the most value to their clients will continue to prosper. Those who embrace change, incorporate technology into their workflows, and communicate their value effectively will be the best agents. Agents that do not know how to communicate their value will leave the business.

Overall, I am optimistic about the future of the real estate industry and confident that Compass will continue to lead the way.

The Princeton office of Compass is at 100 Overlook, 2nd Floor. For more information, call (609) 710-2021 or visit compass.com.

Performing Arts

SAME DAY, DIFFERENT VERSE: The full cast of “Groundhog Day The Musical,” which comes to Kelsey Theatre at Mercer County Community College from September 20-29.

‘Groundhog Day The Musical”

Is Based on Film Comedy

It’s a case of “déjà vu all over again” — with a comedic, musical twist — when Playful Theatre Productions opens the 2024-25 Kelsey Theatre season with Groundhog Day The Musical, September 20-29, on Mercer County Community College’s (MCCC) West Windsor Campus.

Based on the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray, Groundhog Day follows a day in the life of arrogant big-city weatherman Phil Conners, who is dreading the annual trip to

Punxsutawney, Pa., to report on the town’s Groundhog Day ceremony. But his frustration with the event can’t compare to what follows, when a storm keeps him in town and he finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. Stuck in an endless loop of arrogance and cynicism amongst the quirky townsfolk, Phil must learn to take advantage of his second, third, and fourth chances to break the cycle and transform his life.

Groundhog Day The Musical features a book by original movie co-screenwriter Danny Rubin, and music and lyrics by Tony Award

nominee Tim Minchin. In 2016 the musical made its world premiere in London and opened on Broadway in 2017, capturing seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Dates and showtimes are Friday, September 20 and 27 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, September 21 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, September 28 at 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, September 22 and 29 at 2 p.m. at the Kelsey Theatre on MCCC’s West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. The production is rated PG13 due to some adult themes. Tickets are $30. Visit kelseytheatre.org.

Cécile McLorin Salvant Presents Diverse Program

After her Princeton University Concerts (PUC) debut celebrating Toni Morrison in 2023, jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant returns on Wednesday, October 9, at 7:30 p.m. to Richardson Auditorium, to premiere Book of Ayres , her latest project combining Baroque music, vaudeville, Sappho, and folkloric material of Europe and the Americas.

She will be joined by her musical collaborator Sullivan Fortner on harpsichord, keyboards, and piano, along with flutist Emi Ferguson, theorborist/lutist Dusan Balarin, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and percussionist Keita Ogawa — all renowned improvisers from genres spanning early music, jazz, folk, and electronic music.

This performance is cosponsored by the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.

Speaking about Book of Ayres , McLorin Salvant said, “I gravitate towards forgotten songs, early or

maligned instruments, and languages and performance styles on the brink of extinction. I bring this process of excavation into my own writing, blending old and new, exploring language and mythology. I have been making the unoriginal yet concerted effort to move beyond categorizing music by genre. What I am interested in is exploring, celebrating, and making fun of desire, divulging secrets, dredging up the past, looking under the rug.”

Tickets are $35-$60 ($15 students and members of the Admit All ticket access program available online at puc.princeton.edu), by phone at (609) 258-9220, or in person a half hour prior to the concert at the Richardson Auditorium box office.

Garden Theatre Marks The Spooky Season

This October, the Princeton Garden Theatre will present a series of films to mark the spookiest time of the year.

The Garden’s programmers have scheduled a new restoration of Tim Burton’s

eerie Sleepy Hollow ; the screwball comedy I Married a Witch, with Veronica Lake as an immortal sorceress; the musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors preceded by a carnivorous plant presentation; the David Bowie vampire flick The Hunger as part of the Garden’s Fashion in Film series; and a documentary on Norwegian painter Edvard Munch.

For young viewers, the October $5 Family Matinee title is the animated creature feature, Hotel Transylvania

The Garden’s Retrograde series will offer two films this October: the teen-vampire phenomenon Twilight , and the parody comic book film, The People’s Joker The end of the month will see the return of Not So Silent Cinema providing live accompaniment to F.W. Murnau’s iconic Nosferatu , and on Halloween night the theater will present Dario Argento’s Suspiria The Garden Theatre is at 160 Nassau Street. Tickets are available at the box office or online at princetongardentheatre.org/specials.

was hosted by the Princeton Active Circle and Chinese Musicians Association as part of Princeton’s Welcoming Week activities. Works by Guggenheim Fellow composers and musicians from well-known

BACK AT RICHARDSON: Jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant premieres her latest project at a performance sponsored by Princeton University Concerts on Wednesday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m.

WELCOMING WITH MUSIC: A “Mid-Autumn Moon Festival Concert” on Saturday, September 14 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Princeton

orchestras, Broadway, and the Silk Road Ensemble took part.

“SERENADE OF THE WETLANDS”: Delaware River Harmony, an event featuring music, poetry, and visual art that showcases the talent of artists inspired by the Delaware River including TingTing Hsu, whose work is shown here, is on September 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at D&R Greenway’s Johnson Education Center.

Delaware River Harmony at Johnson Education Center

Join D&R Greenway and the Artful Deposit Gallery on Thursday, September 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Johnson Education Center, 1 Preservation Place, for Delaware River Harmony, an evening where nature and art converge with the vibrant spirit of the community. It will be blend of music, poetry, and visual art as they showcase the talent of artists inspired by the Delaware River. Tickets are $35 per person with proceeds benefiting the Discovery Center at Point Breeze. RSVP by calling (609) 924.4646 or at drgreenway.org.

Guests will experience a relaxing coffeehouse atmosphere while enjoying refreshments courtesy of Under the Moon Café. “Along

the Delaware River & Crosswicks Creek” exhibiting artists Shawn Campbell, Kate Graves, Pat Proniewski, and Alan Fetterman will give presentations about how the Delaware River inspired their art. Inspirational readings from published poets Dan Aubrey, Alan Fetterman, Lois Harrod, Derrick Owens, and Maxine Sussman will reflect the beauty of the natural environment.

Local Guitarist Mick Chorba, musician/singer/ songwriter/recording artist of The Successful Failures will enhance the exhibit with original songs from his album Celebrating the Delaware River.

“This fun event is a gathering of like-minded people who care about protecting the Delaware River, the lifeblood of our communities,”

said Linda Mead, president and CEO of D&R Greenway Land Trust. “At our Discovery Center at Point Breeze, our educational exhibits and programs share how each of us can make a difference in protecting clean water while also telling stories about the history of the land through thousands of years.”

“Art speaks in many ways and in every language,” said CJ Mugavero, owner and gallerist of The Artful Deposit Gallery. “Looking forward to hearing many voices through song, poetry, and fine art; in harmony and celebration of the mighty Delaware River and its tributaries.”

For more information, visit drgreenway.org.

Princeton Makes to Host Art at Night on Sept. 21

Princeton Makes, a Princeton-based artist cooperative, will celebrate its third anniversary by hosting Art at Night, an evening art making party, on Saturday, September 21 from 6:30 to 11 p.m. The party will take place at its artist studios and art market in the Princeton Shopping Center.

Art at Night will be a fun evening of creativity and community. The event will feature live model drawing sessions (with supplies provided), a collaborative community art project, handson creative activities for all ages, live music by the Mark

Carson Trio, a raffle of Princeton Makes Artists’ work, and more. Refreshments will be served. The event is free.

Zohar Lavi-Hasson, a Princeton Makes ceramicist, said, “The artists at Princeton Makes are thrilled to provide an opportunity for everyone in the community to meet local artists, watch them at work, and explore the co-op’s vibrant space. We’ll provide the materials, music, inspiration, and light snacks, and people can get into their creative groove.”

Princeton Makes is a cooperative comprised of 37 local artists who work across a range of artistic genres, including painting, drawing, stained glass, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, and jewelry. Customers will be able to support local artists by shopping for a wide variety of art, including large paintings, prints, custom-made greeting cards, stained glass lamps and window hangings, jewelry in a variety of designs and patterns, and more.

For more information, visit princetonmakes.com.

“When They Were Here” At Trent House Museum

The Trent House Association hosts an exhibition by local artist Beverly KeeseKelley in the Museum’s Visitor Center, premiering on Art All Day, September 21, and continuing through September 29. The exhibit, “When They Were Here,” complements the mission of the William Trent House Museum to share authentic stories of U.S. history. The museum is located at 15 Market Street in Trenton, across from the Hughes Justice Complex. Free parking and the museum entrance are at the rear of the property off William Trent Place.

“When They Were Here” is an immersive exhibit presenting a snapshot of those whose stories may not have been told. Keese-Kelley preserves their forgotten tales through an installation of artifacts, providing a visual journey into the past. With flashes of historical moments of untold and abandoned stories about the African American experience during enslavement and beyond, these stories are preserved and the contributions of those who lived them are celebrated.

The exhibit travels from venue to venue collecting objects and stories from the public. Visitors to the Trent

House Visitor Center exhibit can work with the artist to incorporate their artifacts into this ongoing work of art during Art All Day on September 21, or on the last day of the exhibit on Sunday, September 29.

A Trenton native, multidisciplinary artist KeeseKelley began creating art as a youth, under the tutorials of her mother Sudie Keese who taught her sewing, art, and decorating. She compiles her artwork from a “sustainable” point of view, using what is readily available such as found, thrifted, and recyclable items, all the while using techniques and methods long known to African artisans. KeeseKelley combines her talent for art and crafting with her passion for history and the human experience, to visually articulate an emotional connection to both the past and present existence of the African American diaspora.

Keese-Kelley currently sits on the Trenton Museum Society’s Board of Trustees as chair of the Education Committee and was recently voted chair of the Ewing Arts

Commission and volunteers with the 1719 William Trent House and the Princeton University Museum of Art. She received a Proclamation of Honor for her art from the Mercer County Board of Commissioners. Examples of her work are on her website at thebeverly artstudio.com.

The William Trent House Museum is a National Historic Landmark in the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area and on the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. The Museum is dedicated to sharing the authentic history of the house, property, and people with our communities, connecting the past with today and tomorrow. For more information, visit williamtrenthouse.org.

Continued on Next Page

well loved and well read since 1946

“CELEBRATION”: Jessie Krause is among the artists at Princeton Makes, celebrating its third anniversary with an art making party on Saturday, September 21 from 6:30 to 11 p.m. in the Princeton Shop[ping Center.

“WHEN THEY WERE HERE”: An immersive exhibition featuring works by local artist Beverly Keese-Kelley is in the William Trent House Museum’s Visitor Center in Trenton September 21 through September 29.

is shown in the meadow at

Farm

by contemporary artists from the Delaware River region will be on view in the event running September 28 and 29 and October 5 and 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Art

Continued from Preceding Page

Hobart Art Show Returns

To Steinbeiser Farm

The Hobart Art Show will return for its seventh consecutive year on September 28 and 29 and October 5 and 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The event showcases works by more than 25 of the region’s leading contemporary artists from the Delaware River region.

It is held on Steinbeiser Farm, a 26-acre property owned by Paul Steinbeiser, a prominent landscape designer and stone mason who has worked in the Hunterdon and Bucks County, Pa., communities for decades.

Visitors and patrons of the arts are free to roam meadow trails to explore fields dotted with large outdoor sculptures, and delight in two historic barns brimming with the work

of painters, sculptors, and photographers.

“We are thrilled to announce this year’s artistic lineup — some are veterans from previous shows, while many are new and making their show debut,” said show organizers Lauren Johnson and Mayfield Williams. “We’re extraordinarily fortunate to have artists with such a magnitude of expressive skill and diversity reside in our immediate area — this

show was created for that very reason.”

Exhibiting artists include Cay Marie Adams, Justin Anchinsko, Jennifer Elia, Michelle Farro, Wayne Freitag, Joseph Heidecker, Lauren Johnson, Ray King, Sam Marlow, Mariah McLaughlin, David Ohlerking, Brian O’Leary, Liz Peer, Don Ross, Sherri Baker, Steven Snyder, Paul Steinbeiser, Terbo Tenev, Mayfield Williams, Ivia Yavelow, Justin Long, Deborah Tinsman, Rebecca Graham, Eric Schultz, Annelies van Dommelen, Haley Manchon, and Stacie Speer Scott.

Steinbeiser Farm is located at 718 County Road 519 in Frenchtown. The event is free. For more information, visit @HobartArt on Instagram and @HobartArtShow on Facebook.

Area

Exhibits

Art@Bainbridge, 158 Nassau Street, has “Heléne Aylon: Undercurrent” through February 2. Art museum.princeton.edu.

Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, has “Progressions” through October 6. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lambertvillearts.com.

Art on Hulfish, 11 Hulfish Street, has “Under a Southern Star: Identity and Environment in Australian Photography” through January 5. Artmuseum. princeton.edu.

Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, has “Intersecting

Identities” through September 28. Artscouncilof princeton.org.

D&R Greenway Land Trust, 1 Preservation Place, has “Along the Delaware River & Crosswicks Creek” in the Johnson Education Center through September 27. Drgreenway.org.

Ficus Bon Vivant, 235 Nassau Street, has “Capture the Rhythm” through January 12. Ficusbv.com.

Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography, 14 Mercer Street, Hopewell, has its Members’ Exhibition through September 29. Galler14.org.

Gourgaud Gallery, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, has “Visions” through September 27. Cranburyartscouncil.org.

Green Building Center, 67 Bridge Street, Lambertville, has an art show by the MUGA Group through December 31. Greenbuildingcenter.com.

Grounds For Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, has “That’s Worth Celebrating: The Life and Work of the Johnson Family” through the end of 2024, among other exhibits. Groundsforsculpture.org.

Historical Society of Princeton, Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road, has “Princeton Reflected: Stories from HSP’s Collection” and “Einstein Salon and Innovator’s Gallery.” Museum hours are Thursday through Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m. Princetonhistory.org

Michener Art Museum, 138 South Pine Street, Doylestown, Pa., has “George R. Anthonisen: Meditations on the Human

Condition” through October 13 and “Monuments and Myths: The American Sculptors Augustus SaintGaudens and Daniel Chester French” through January 5. Michenerartmuseum.org

Morpeth Contemporary, 43 West Broad Street, Hopewell, has “Robert Beck: Here and Now” through October 6. Morpethcontemporary.com.

Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, has “Morven Revealed: Untold Stories from New Jersey’s Most Historic Home,” through March 2. Morven.org.

New Hope Arts, 2 Stockton Avenue, New Hope, Pa., has “Raise the Roof: Contemporary Barnscapes” through October 6. Newhopearts.org.

Present Day Club, 72 Stockton Street, has “Pastel Perspectives: An Exploration of the Sourlands Mountain Region, open to the public on Fridays through October 4. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on September 20. Hours are 12 to 5 p.m. on Fridays thereafter. Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, has “The Rural Painter” through October 1. Works by Aiden Pesnell and Samantha Renda are at the 254 Nassau Street location through October 1. Smallworldcoffee.com.

Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Cadwalader Park, Trenton, has “Ellarslie Open 41” through October 6. Ellarslie.org.

West Windsor Arts, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor, has “Art Alliance of Monmouth County Invitational Show ” through November 2. Westwindsorarts.org.

ROBERT BECK

HOBART ART SHOW: A sculpture

Steven Snyder

Steinbeiser

in Fenchtown. Works

Downsize, Declutter, Discard, Move Forward

With Walsh Senior Solutions Services

Keep the memory, not the item.”

This suggestion by John Walsh is helpful to many of his clients as he assists them to transition from one living locale to another.

The founder and owner of Walsh Senior Solutions in Princeton, he helps families with the often challenging and stressful decision to leave a home of many years and settle in a new location.

IT’S NEW To Us

One of the most difficult aspects of this move is the dilemma of “excess possessions.” Parting with prized and meaningful items accumulated over the years is extremely hard for many people, and Walsh is cognizant of and compassionate about this major concern.

“Certainly one of the hardest things for people is to get rid of things,” he points out. “Books, memorabilia, childhood toys, all kinds of things. There can be a real emotional attachment, and we are careful to deal with that compassionately. Sometimes, I will suggest that they take a picture of something instead of keeping the item.”

Growing Need

Walsh opened his company in 2018 after a previous career in corporate insurance in New York City. Personal reasons played a part in his heading in a new direction, he explains. After he and his sister helped their parents downsize from their Princeton home of 20 years into smaller surroundings, he recognized a significant and growing need.

“I saw how overwhelming this is,” says the Princeton native. ‘Especially when physical ailments are involved, and the emotional issues are so strong about leaving a home of many years,”

After helping them move twice in a 15-month period, he decided to embark on a career change. “Through my own experience, I saw an opportunity to help local families in New jersey and the greater Philadelphia area navigate this difficult time in their lives. I began to think about offering this service about a year after helping my parents, and I quickly saw there was a real need.”

Indeed, as the Baby Boomer generation continues to age, with 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day until 2029, more and more people will be faced with these decisions — whether to downsize and move or whether to remain in their home but make it more appropriate for their changing

needs. Walsh Senior Solutions can help with both of these situations.

Walsh Senior Solutions assists families of all ages, with a focus on the 55-plus population and their families, in their transition either to a new independent home, a smaller home, or senior living community, as well as offering organizing and decluttering services for those not moving to help them live independently and remain safely in their current home and age-in-place.

and have it shipped to the next home or relocated for extended storage.”

In addition, the company can serve as professional organizers to help families that are not moving, but who want to address “problem areas” such as basements, attics, closets, garages, etc. “We can help with selling, donations, and junk removal as part of our organizing efforts to create more space in your current house,” points out Walsh.

As Walsh explains, “Our mission is to reduce the stress for the entire family and reduce their moving bill by supplying the required physical labor needed to efficiently downsize, all the while coupled with the friendly attitude, empathy, and compassion that seniors and the entire family deserve.”

Full-Service

“We are a full-service move management company, as well as an insured moving company,” says Walsh. “We help families to sort, keep, sell, donate, discard, or move their possessions. In addition, we provide home staging services to get the home ready for real estate photography, and help the family with floor planning to decide which of their current furniture and items can fit appropriately into their next home.

“Additionally, we help with selling excess possessions through various sources, such as an estate sale, consignment, online auction, or online selling. We do not take any commission for anything that is sold. For unsold items, we can physically remove them from the home, transport them to donation organizations and have them donated on your behalf, and email a copy of the donation receipt to you.”

“We also offer junk removal services, estate clean-out, house cleaning before the real estate photos are taken, and/or the closing date,” says Walsh. “As we are a traditional moving company, we handle packing and moving, as well as the unpacking services to provide the new home all set up and livein ready with all the moving boxes removed. We can also pack and bring items to storage or pack and load a POD-like moving container,

Not only did his personal experiences with his parents’ move figure in his new career, it was also his facility for organization and efficiency coming to the fore.

“I like making things easier and more efficient,” he explains, “I like to create order and calm in what can be difficult and stressful situations. It also involves problem-solving and providing clients with solutions.”

Best Way

Once he started on his new career journey, Walsh received training, certification, insurance, and bonding from the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM.org), the global organization for senior move managers that specializes in helping older adults and their families with the process of downsizing and moving.

He also quickly realized that he needed a team, and there are now 11 employees. “Our team is very professional,” he remarks, “and also very visual. They come in, look at the house, and see the best way to stage it and move forward.”

The business has grown steadily, he adds, with all sizes of projects and clients from Princeton and the area, as well as all of New Jersey and greater Philadelphia. Clients are all ages — from individuals in their 30s to those 90-plus, with the majority fifty and older.

“We are very encouraged.

SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS: “The goal of Walsh

helpful solutions during downsizing and

We are professional organizers, helping

home,” says John Walsh, founder of Walsh Senior Solutions. Shown from left are employees Jack Sander, John McCollum, and Celeste Twamley.

In the past six years, we have helped 2,400-plus families in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The business has increased beyond our expectations, and we see that we are really ﬁ lling a need. No one in the area provides all the services we offer. We have seven different components to help clients.”

“I have kept learning all the way,” he continues. “We are very focused on emotional intelligence, helping clients deal with the stress and emotional aspects. We have been called the ‘compassionate SWAT team!’”

This can involve a range of experiences both for the team and the clients. They encounter a variety of situations and challenges, notes Walsh. “One client had 2,000 dolls, which she had begun collecting in her childhood. She couldn’t bring herself to part with them, and they were not valuable enough for professional collectors, so they moved with her to the new location but were put in storage.”

Engagement Ring

“Another time in the course of our work in a client’s home, we found the grandmother’s engagement ring, which had been missing for years. It had been hidden all that time in the back of a drawer.”

Clients have the option to select any or all of Walsh Senior Solutions’ services, and payment is according to their choices. Initially, a free consultation is available, followed by an estimate. Pricing is at a per person, per hour rate.

As the business has grown, Walsh has given presentations at the Center for Modern Aging Princeton (formerly the Princeton Senior Resource Center) at their “Journey of Aging” Conference, and at the Mercer County Top Producers Realtors. He has also held classes at the Princeton Adult School on “Downsizing and Transitioning Efficiently to a New Home or to a Senior Living Community,” and been the guest of realtors, financial advisors, and elder care attorneys on radio shows.

In October, he will speak

at the Nassau Club about helping clients deal with the emotional stress involved in downsizing.

Whether you need a management overview of an upcoming move, encouragement about downsizing and discarding, help with staging the house for sale, safety suggestions in your current home, or floor plans for the new location, Walsh Senior Solutions is there for you.

John Walsh knows that his career change has benefited many people, which is a source of great satisfaction for him.

“I enjoy helping clients, and I am happy to be able to assist them during what can be such a difficult transition. It is very meaningful to me.”

For further information, call (609) 558-1830. Visit the website at WalshSeniorSolutions.com.

—Jean Stratton

Senior Solutions is to provide families with

stressful moving situations. Our team is very efﬁcient.

people clean up, move out, and move into their new

John Walsh

Town Topics | Mark Your Calendar

Wednesday, September 18

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

11 a.m.-3 p.m.: Princeton University Farmers’ Market, Firestone Library/ Chapel Plaza. Fresh, locally grown produce and other goods from area businesses using sustainable practices. Pumarket@princeton.edu

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m .: Leighton Listens. Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin is on hand to discuss current events with members of the public at Deliziosos Bakery, 205 Witherspoon Street. All are welcome.

1 p.m .: Rutgers professor Jeffrey Shandler gives a virtual talk, “Homes of the Past: A Lost Jewish Museum,” presented by the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life. Free. BildnerCenter. Rutgers.edu.

6 p.m.: Princeton Public Library’s Board of Trustees meets at the library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibrary.org.

6:30-8 p.m .: Night Knitters meet to knit at Hopewell Public Library, 13 East Broad Street, Hopewell, or via Zoom. Redlibrary.org.

8-10:30 p.m.: Princeton Country Dancers presents contra dance at Suzanne Patterson Center, 45 Stockton Street. John Krumm with PUB. Princeton countrydancers.org.

Thursday, September 19

10 a.m.-3 p.m .: Princeton Farmers Market is at Hinds Plaza. More than 30 vendors with local organic produce, pasture-raised meat and eggs, cheeses, fresh flowers, knife-sharpening, jewelry, and more. Live music. SNAP/EBT cards and matches accepted up to $10 a day. Princetonfarmersmarket.com.

10 a.m.: Meeting of the 55-Plus Club of Princeton at the Jewish Center, 435 Nassau Street and via Zoom. Gina Kolata, New York Times medical and science reporter, will speak on “Beethoven’s Hair.” Princetonol.com/groups/55plus.

4 p.m .: Neurodivergent individuals 17 and older who would like to connect with others are invited to attend a craft session to work on creative projects brought from home, in the Story Room of Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibrary.org.

4:30-6 p.m .: “Close Encounters: Facing the Bomb

in a New Nuclear Age” is the topic of the Bruce Blair Memorial Lecture, held at Princeton University’s Robertson Hall, Bowl 016 and the Bernstein Gallery. Speakers are Annie Jacobsen, Smriti Keshari, and Eric Schlosser.

6 p.m .: “Lasting Impressions,” a lecture on the New Hope art colony and Pennsylvania Impressionism, at the Visitor Center auditorium, Washington Crossing Historic Park, 1112 River Road, Washington Crossing, Pa. Register at rb.gy/ckpayt.

6 p.m .: “Cancer Compassion: A Health Champion Workshop,” at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of Mercer County Library System, 2751 Brunswick Avenue. Register at mcl.org.

6 p.m .: Author Eliza Griswold discusses her book Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church with Princeton University faculty member Judith Weisenfeld at Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street. Princetonlibrary.org.

6 p.m .: All Access Book Discussion Group: Reading and Discovery with Princeton University Library Special Collections, at Firestone Library, 1 Washington Road. Princetonlibrary.org.

6:30-8:30 p.m .: Evening of poetry, music, visual art, and more, at the D&R Greenway’s Johnson Education Center, 1 Preservation Place. $35, benefits the Discovery Center at Point Breeze. RSVP at greenway. org or (609) 924-4646.

Friday, September 20

9 a.m.-5:30 p.m .: The Friends and Foundation Annual Book Sale at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Books for all ages. Princetonlibrary.org.

6-8 p.m .: Opening reception for “The Head that Wears the Crown: Black Women’s Headwear from Slavery to Freedom,” at Mt. Zion AME Church, 189 Hollow Road, Skillman. Presented by the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum. Pay what you can. SSAAMuseum.org.

8 p.m .: Groundhog Day The Musical is at Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor. $30. Kelseytheatre.org.

Saturday, September 21

9 a.m.-1 p.m.: West Windsor Farmers Market at Vaughn lot, Princeton Junction train station. Fresh produce and much more. Wwcfm.org.

SEPTEMBER

10 a.m.-4 p.m .: Hopewell Harvest Fair is at Hopewell Elementary School, 35 Princeton Avenue, Hopewell. Activities for kids, entertainment, contests, crafters’ court, farmers’ market, town square, and food court. Rain date September 28. Hopewellharvestfair.org.

10 a.m .: Breast Cancer Prevention Rally at Hinds Plaza. Lifestyle medicine coach Susan Schneider will lead; student and faculty musicians from Stibol Music will play drums, and Dr. Gia Merlo will speak about prevention strategies. LetsBeatBreastCancer.org.

10 a.m.-5:30 p.m .: The Friends and Foundation Annual Book Sale at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Books for all ages. Princetonlibrary.org.

10 a.m.-5 p.m.: Fall Family Fun Weekend at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Pick your own apples and pumpkins, go on pony rides, play with tractors, games, mazes, barnyard, and much more. Food and live music by Magnolia String Band. $18 in advance; $22 day of the event. Terhuneorchards.com.

12-2 p.m .: Summer Music Series on the Green at Palmer Square. Palmersquare.com.

1:30 p.m .: Rockingham Historic Site offers “ Welcoming Lady Washington” in the Dutch barn. Alisa Dupuy of The Ladies of History portrays Martha Washington, who accompanied her husband George while he was at Rockingham in 1783. Free registration required at rockinghamWLW.eventbrite. com. Rockingham.net.

6 p.m .: Concordia Chamber Players present a concert, “Nature Lies Peaceful,” at The Barn at Glen Oaks Farm, Solebury, Pa. Works by Haydn, Vivaldi, Mozart, Peteris Vasks, and others. Concordiaplayers.org.

7:30 p.m .: Friends of Princeton Open Space and South Jersey Wildlife Tours sponsor a Screech Owl Walk at Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve, 50 Mountain Avenue. Limited to 20 participants; not recommended for young children. $15 (children under 10 free). Register at fopos. org/events-programs.

8 p.m .: Don McLean brings the Starry Starry Night Tour to State Theatre New Jersey, 15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. $34-$89. Stnj.org.

8 p.m .: Groundhog Day The Musical is at Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor. $30. Kelseytheatre.org.

Sunday, September 22

10 a.m.-5 p.m.: Fall Family Fun Weekend at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Pick your own apples and pumpkins, go on pony rides, play with tractors, games, mazes, barnyard, and much more. Food and live music by Tookany Creek. $18 in advance; $22 day of the event. Terhune orchards.com.

12-3 p.m .: Princeton Community Chili Cook-Off, at Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road. Professional and amateur chefs. Live music, beer, games; proceeds benefit the Historical Society of Princeton. Princetonhistory.org.

11 a.m.-8 p.m .: Fall Equinox Celebration at Herrontown Woods, Snowden Lane near Herrontown Road. Gemma’s Gratitude Yoga Class from 11 a.m.12 p.m., Grow Little Gardener from 4:30-6 p.m.; and music by the Chivalrous Crickets from 5:30-8 p.m. For more information, visit Herrontownwoods.org.

12-5:30 p.m .: The Friends and Foundation Annual Book Sale at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Books for all ages. Princetonlibrary.org.

2 p.m .: Groundhog Day The Musical is at Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor. $30. Kelsey theatre.org.

Monday, September 23 Recycling

4-6 p.m.: “Stand with the Banned Read-Out,” at Hinds Plaza. Community leaders, authors, and advocates of all ages will read from banned books in a show of support for communities and individuals dealing with censorship. Princetonlibrary.org.

7 p.m .: Art Talk: 7ove Child and Cheng-Fen Johannemann, at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. The artists discuss the inspiration and technique behind exhibits of their work in the library’s gallery spaces. Tour of artwork and reception to follow. Princetonlibrary.org.

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S ports

After PU Football Endured Series of Near Misses in 2023, Tigers Focusing on Detail in Girding for Opener at Lehigh

Reﬂecting its rich history, the Princeton University football program will be commemorating the anniversary of three of its greatest teams this fall — the legendary undefeated 1964 Ivy League champions along with the 1969 and 1989 league winners.

Princeton head coach Bob Surace, a star center on the 1989 squad who bonded with members of the 1964 team while working their 25th reunion, is hoping that his battletested 2024 crew will join the pantheon of Tiger champions.

“It is very experienced, it is the opposite of last year,” said Surace, who guided the Tigers to a 5-5 overall record and 4-3 Ivy in 2023. “We literally have starters at 19 positions plus the specialists back.”

The Tigers, who lost three games in overtime last fall and another by two points and one by three points, have shown a resolve as they have prepared for the 2024 season which starts when Princeton plays at Lehigh (2-1) this Saturday.

“They have been great, it is really good energy,” said Surace. “They have been that way in the spring and the offseason. They have been really good with that.”

Losing a really good player in two-year starting quarterback Blake Stenstrom, the Tigers have three players vying to succeed him in junior Blaine Hipa, senior Blaine McAllister, and junior Kai Colon.

“Blaine Hipa got some reps last year as the year went on, in the Yale game he threw a touchdown and had a run for one,” said Surace. “Those three all had a really good springs. They came to camp ready, they have been sharp.”

The trio of QBs showed good maturity as they led offseason work with the Tiger receivers.

“They do a great job of organizing, they are working around their work,” said Surace. “We are not involved. It puts leadership on them, it has really helped us with the new quarterbacks. It puts them in positions where they have to grab the guys, they have to organize it and they have to structure what plays they want to run.”

The Tigers boast some bigplay receivers, led by the senior one-two punch of Luke Colella (47 catches for 620 yards and six touchdowns in 2023) and AJ Barber (42 receptions for 582 yards and three TDs).

“It is a very experienced group, there is a lot of competition, which has been great,” said Surace noting that senior Tamatoa Falatea (20 catches for 244 yard and 2 TDs), sophomore Roman Laurio (1 catch for 18 yards), senior Matthew Mahoney (17 catches for 140 yards), and senior Jalen Geer are in the mix. “Luke and AJ were were both All-Ivy.”

At running back, Princeton will feature the trio of senior John Volker (447 yards rushing for 7 TDs in 2023), junior

Dareion Murphy (115 yards rushing for 2TDs), and sophomore Ethan Clark.

“Volker looks great,” said Surace. “Last year we had him, Dareion and Jiggie Carr and it was like two of them were healthy every game. Thank God, it was like one of them was out almost every week but we always had two. Ethan will bump and be the three and hopefully all three of them will be healthy.”

The offensive line will be anchored by a core of veterans, including senior Blake Feigenspan, senior Tommy Matheson, junior Scott Becker, and junior Nicholas Hilliard.

“We have seven guys with starting experience, which is a record for us,” said Surace. “There is a lot of experience and some pretty good depth there which is encouraging.”

The quartet of senior Jack DelGarbino, senior Collin Taylor, senior Ryan Ives, and sophomore London Robinson will be spearheading the defensive line.

“They are probably the top four, they all return from last year,” said Surace. “Those four will be better than they were, all of them will be second-year starters. Behind them we will see — it is a little younger.”

At linebacker, the Tigers suffered some big graduation losses with the departure of AllIvy performers Liam Johnson, Ozzie Nicholas, and Will Perez. Surace believes the Tigers have the talent on hand to ﬁll that

void in junior Marco Scarano, senior Jackson Ford, senior Carson Irons, junior Sekou Roland, junior Will Beasley, and sophomore Chase Christoper.

“Marco started the last four games when Will got hurt, he is pretty solidiﬁed at one spot,” said Surace. “Inside it is a good competition right now, Jackson and Carson are practicing really well. Sekou and Will are also practicing really well. Chase has to be more assertive in his communication but he is very talented.”

In the secondary, junior Nasir Hill, junior Tahj Owens, senior Payton Tally, and sophomore Kavon Miller will be leading the way.

“Nasir is a guy that really came on last year, he ended up being All-Ivy,” said Surace. “He got so much better. He is such a good leader, he took so much ownership. When Payton suffered an injury, Tahj stepped in. We have three guys there that can play at a really high level. Kavon was a freshman who ended up ﬁlling in at a really high level.”

As Princeton looks to improve on its 2023 season of near misses, Surace is emphasizing attention to detail and gaining separation from foes, especially in an Ivy League that is in an era of parity. In the last two seasons, 16 of the 28 league games were decided by a single possession with eight games determined by a ﬁeld goal or less last fall.

“We have to do a better job being detailed,” said Surace. “We are way more veteran this year, those things happen when you are ﬁrst time doing them. When you have seven returning

offensive linemen who started, you go into camp and you are further along with what we can do with them. I think a little bit of it is you try to avoid being in close games and getting a few games where at the very tail end you are not completely sweating.”

If this year’s team achieves those goals, they may develop

bonds similar to the storied 1964 squad.

“The ’64 team is so tight, I am on an email chat with them,” said Surace. “That group emails me before every game with some words of wisdom. It is just stay grounded with humble confidence. They are so connected.”

— Bill Alden

POSITIVE OUTLOOK: Princeton University football head coach Bob Surace is all smiles as he ﬁelds a question at the program’s media day last month. With Princeton returning starters at 19 positions, Surace is conﬁdent that the Tigers can take a leap forward after going 5-5 overall and 4-3 Ivy League last fall. Princeton starts its 2024 campaign by playing at Lehigh (2-1) this Saturday.

(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Adding to PU Football’s Tradition of Stellar Receivers, Colella Primed to Produce Big Senior Season For Tigers

After making just three receptions in the first two seasons with the Princeton University football team, Luke Colella produced a breakout season last fall in emerging as one of the top receivers in the Ivy League.

Colella hauled in 47 catches for 620 yards and six touchdowns, earning All-Ivy League Honorable Mention recognition in the process.

For Colella, coming up big last fall was a matter of following in the program’s tradition of great receivers.

“The history is unreal at wide receiver, especially with the mentorship,” said Colella, a 5’10, 190-pound native of Wexford, Pa. “Guys like Jacob Birmelin, Andrei Iosivas, and Dylan Classi are still some of my best friends to this day. When I first got here, they took me under their wing. They really showed me the ropes. They showed me what it takes to be a great football player, especially receiving in the Ivy League.”

Biding his time while riding the bench in his first two seasons allowed Colella to get up to speed.

“I think that is all part of the process, there is a learning curve at each level of football,” said Colella. “As you develop and start to make your way up to the top of that learning curve, you get more skill, you are better with your teammates,

and you work harder. Seeing guys do it day in, day out, doing the right things, it really leads you to the position that you want to be in.”

Colella has given his all on a daily basis to develop into a top receiver.

“It all starts with practice, the coaches have given me the opportunity to do what I love to do every day,” said Colella. “It is work hard in practice and to go out and execute the plays and the opportunities they give me. It puts me in a good position for Fridays and Saturdays to go out there and dominate and play to the best of my ability.”

Forming a tandem at wide out with classmate AJ Barber (42 receptions for 582 yards and three TDs in 2023) has helped Colella be at his best.

“AJ is my brother, I love him to death,” said Colella. “He is a special weapon. He is an incredible player. I love being out there next to him and having that onetwo punch, It is very threatening for defenses, we make it work really well.”

Princeton head coach Bob Surace loves seeing Colella develop into a star.

“It is one of those challenges where guys are used to being the star in high school,” said Surace. “Those guys had to sit behind the classes ahead of them with guys like Classi and Andrei. They had to get on special teams and earn their way up. To see Luke go from

JUNCTION

being that guy who has had to take every step has been really good.”

Looking ahead to the 2024 season which starts when Princeton plays at Lehigh this Saturday, Colella and the Tigers need to step up their attention to detail as they look to improve on last season which saw them go 5-5 overall and 4-3 Ivy League, losing three games in overtime and another by two points.

“It just focusing on the little details, there are a lot of things,” said Colella. “One yard determined our season last season. One more point, one more first down, those very little details that you might not think about are a large part of the game. When you really analyze the game, the little things matter so much. Being on time, taking notes in meetings, doing all of those things. Everybody doing those things leads to a championship team.”

Colella, for his part, is primed to be a driving force this fall as Princeton makes a championship push.

“As you become a senior, the coaches and the team count on you in a more vital role,” said Colella. “I am very excited to accept that role and go out on the field and play to the best of my ability along with my brothers. I try to do my job play in, play out in every practice and every game and work towards a championship.”

— Bill Alden

COOL HAND LUKE: Princeton University star receiver Luke Colella heads upﬁeld in a game last fall. Coming off a season where he made 47 catches for 620 yards and six touchdowns, earning All-Ivy League Honorable Mention recognition, Colella is primed for a big senior campaign. The Tigers kick off their 2024 season by playing at Lehigh on September 21. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

PU Women’s Soccer Edged 1-0 by Georgetown As Goalie McCamey Keeps Tigers in the Game

Tyler McCamey had a hectic day in her office in goal for the Princeton University women’s soccer team as it hosted Georgetown last Sunday evening.

Senior keeper McCamey recorded seven saves, knocked aside several crosses, and faced a penalty kick as Georgetown put the heat on all game long, outshooting Princeton 13-5 overall and 8-2 in attempts on goal on the way to a hard-earned 1-0 victory.

“It was a little busy, that is the job,” said McCamey, reflecting on her performance as the Tigers dropped to 4-2.

McCamey and her teammates knew they faced a hard job in looking to overcome the Hoyas.

“Georgetown is always a great team, you have to give a lot of credit to their program,” said McCamey. “We have played them the last three years that I have been here and it has always been a great game. We always look forward to them for sure.”

It was a rough start to the game for the Tigers as they got outshot 6-3 in the first half and found themselves trailing 1-0 at intermission after Georgetown converted a penalty kick late in the period.

“We wanted to come out with some more energy, we changed formations,” said McCamey, reflecting on the halftime message. “We wanted to get a hold of the ball and take control of the game. We needed things to start going in our favor a little more. It was how do we make adjustments to make that happen.”

In the second half, McCamey kept the Tigers in the game, making several point blank stops as the Hoyas generated four straight corner kicks in one stretch.

“Fair play to them, they are great on set pieces,”

said McCamey, a 5’9 native of Atlanta, Ga. “I thought we defended set pieces really well today. They certainly had their moments, we handled it the best we could.”

McCamey acknowledged that Princeton didn’t come through in some critical moments.

“We had some really good opportunities,” said McCamey. “Kayla Wong hit the post in the first half. Heather McNab puts a great serve in. The opportunities were few and far between but they were there and we didn’t capitalize on them.”

While the defeat stung, McCamey believes the Tigers can learn from the setback as they prepare to play at Fairfield on September 18 and then start Ivy League action by playing at Cornell on September 28.

“It is a tough loss; I think we were in it with them, we were close with it,” said McCamey. “We are going to take the positives and go back to the drawing board and see what we did well and see what we didn’t do well. We will get ready for Fairfield and then get ready for the league.”

McCamey has worked hard to get ready for a big final campaign with the Tigers.

“I think progress happens over a long period of time, it is a long run from freshman year to senior year,” said McCamey, who has posted a microscopic 0.67 goals against average this season with 31 saves in six starts.

“Experience is huge. Chris Duggan, my goalkeeper coach, has been awesome. The whole coaching staff has been super supportive. It is just getting in extra reps, doing extra stuff off the field and taking experience and doing what I can with it.”

Serving as a team co-captain along with fellow senior McNab has enhanced the experience for McCamey.

“It means everything to me, this group is just full of leaders and is full of really amazing people,” said McCamey. “Getting to represent them is a huge honor. Any way I can support them and show up for them, that is the job.”

Princeton head coach Sean Driscoll credits McCamey with doing a great job so far this season.

“Tyler is playing as well as she can, she is incredible,” said Driscoll of McCamey. “She is a pro. She has kept us in every game, that is the expectation as a top goalkeeper. We feel really secure with her. I just want to make sure that we return the favor by being more productive in the offensive half.”

Driscoll was frustrated by his squad’s lack of production against Georgetown.

“We didn’t play particularly well in the first half, we have had a real challenge in the first half throughout the season,” said Driscoll. “In most of our games, we have struggles in the first half which is uncharacteristic of us. Partially it is on us and partially it is on what they have done well.”

In the second half, Driscoll tried some mixing and matching in an effort to jump start the Tiger offense.

“We changed the formation again, I think we are trying to figure out exactly who to play where,” said Driscoll. “At this point in the season, we are still trying different things. There are so many new faces.”

Star forward McNab has kept things together for Princeton at the offensive end, leading the team in scoring with one goal and three assists.

“Heather is great, she gives everything she can the entire game,” said Driscoll. “She works extraordinarily

hard and she tries to fit into whatever we play. She can play any position on the field. She works diligently to make us better. We have two captains who lead by example in every sense of the word. They are professional in their mentality, they are professional in their quality. All you want to do is win for them.”

While the Tigers have earned some big wins so far this fall, they haven’t quite found a groove.

“It is disheartening a little bit. We take a couple of steps forward, they we take a couple of steps back,” said Driscoll. “At the end of the day, we are 4-2 overall. We have figured some things out. We have beaten an ACC team (1-0 win over Miami on August 23) and we have beaten a Big East team (3-1 win over Seton

Hall on August 29), We got a good result down in Willam & Mary (a 2-0 win on September 8) and we got a good result against Drexel (2-1 last Friday) and then we fall short in two big games by a goal. We lost 1-0 to Penn State and 1-0 today. All things considered, we are not playing great but we are still in the game.”

The matchup at Fairfield this Wednesday will be special for Driscoll as he coached the Stags from 2010-14.

“It is going to have some emotional connection for me” said Driscoll. “They are really good, they are 6-1 and are scoring a lot, four goals a game. If we don’t change the way we play, we are going to struggle in that game. It will be a really good test for us to go on the road and try to get a result. That

is what the team needs, we have to learn how to deal with that stuff.”

In McCamey’s view, the Tigers are ready for the tests ahead.

“We have Ivy League coming up, we are really excited for the league,” said McCamey. “The team is in a good spot. We have lost some games against really good opponents and we have beaten some good opponents. It is still pretty early in the season and we have the league ahead of us so we are going to keep working on it and trying to build from here. I think heads are up.”

—Bill Alden

Tell them you saw their ad in

Healthy Lunchbox

COMING UP BIG: Princeton University women’s soccer goalie Tyler McCamey dives to make a save in 2023 action. Last Sunday, senior star McCamey recorded seven saves in a losing cause as Princeton fell 1-0 to visiting Georgetown. The Tigers, now 4-2, play at Fairfield on September 18.

(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

• WHOLE GRAIN BREADS BAKED FRESH

PU Sports Roundup

Former Football Star Iosivas Scores 2 TDs for Bengals

Former Princeton University football star receiver Andrei Iosivas ’23 grabbed two touchdown catches last Sunday for the Cincinnati Bengals as they fell 26-25 to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Iosivas made a four-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter and then had a three-yard TD reception late in the third quarter as the Bengals forged ahead 22-17. The Chiefs ended up prevailing on a 51-yard walk-off field goal by Harrison Butker.

Second-year performer Iosivas has five catches for 33 yards so far this season and now has 20 catches for 179 yards and six touchdowns for his career.

Tiger Men’s Lacrosse Alums Help Archers Win PLL Title

A pair of former Princeton University men’s lacrosse standouts, Ryan Ambler ’16 and Beau Pederson ‘23, helped the Utah Archers top the Maryland Whipsnakes 12-8 last Sunday in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) championship game in Chester, Pa.

Star midfielder Ambler contributed an assist while shortstick midfielder Pederson had a caused turnover and four ground balls in the game as the Archers won their second straight PLL crown. The squad is guided by former Princeton head coach Chris Bates.

In addition, Ambler won the league’s Jimmy Regan Teammate Award. Another former Tiger standout Tom Schreiber ’14, who stars for the Archers but missed the semifinals and final with a broken collarbone, earned two PLL Awards. He won the Gait Brothers Award as the top midfielder and the Brendan Looney Leadership Award.

Princeton Men’s Soccer

Edges St. John’s

Posting its first win of the season, the Princeton University men’s soccer team edged St. John’s 2-1 on September 10.

Kevin Kelly and Danny Ittycheria scored the goals for the Tigers as they improved to 1-2.

Princeton plays at Georgetown on September 24.

Tiger Women’s Golf Wins Penn State Event

Sparked by Catherine Rao, the Princeton University women’s golf team placed first in the Nittany Lion Invitational last weekend on the Penn State Golf Course in University Park, Pa.

Junior Rao carded a 5-under 211 for the three-round competition to place first individually.

In the team standings, Princeton posted a winning score of +10, 15 strokes ahead of second-place Harvard.

The Tigers are next in action when they host their Princeton Invitational at the Springdale Golf Club from September 28-29.

PU Field Hockey

Edged by Penn State

Talia Schenck and Molly Nye scored goals but it

wasn’t enough as the Princeton University field hockey team fell 3-2 to Penn State last Sunday.

The Tigers, now 2-2, will next be in action when they play at Penn on September 20 to start their Ivy League campaign and then play at Rutgers on September 22.

Tiger Women’s Volleyball Goes 0-3 at Penn State Event

It was a rough weekend for the Princeton University women’s volleyball team as it went 0-3 in the Penn State Tournament from September 13-14 at University Park, Pa.

The Tigers lost 3-2 to Duke (21-25, 18-25, 2517, 25-17, 15-12) and 3-2 to St. John’s (14-25, 2325, 25-20, 25-22, 15-13) in action on Friday. Princeton wrapped up the event by falling 3-0 to host No. 3 Penn State (25-15, 25-16, 25-21).

Princeton, now 2-4, will be competing in the UMBC Tournament from September 20-21 in Baltimore, Md. Princeton Women’s Rugby Falls to Dartmouth

Running into a buzz-saw, the Princeton University women’s rugby team fell 93-0 to a powerhouse Dartmouth side last Saturday.

The Big Green were the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) national runner-up in 2023, and NIRA National Champions in 2022 and 2021.

The Tigers, now 0-2, host Bowdoin on September 21.

PU Women’s Cross Country Takes 3rd at Spiked Shoe Invite

Mena Scatchard set the pace as the Princeton University women’s cross country team

WORTH: Princeton University men’s water polo goalie Kristof Kovacs makes a save last Saturday against Navy as the Tigers hosted their annual Princeton Invitational. Kovacs made 12 saves in the game as the No. 5 Tigers prevailed 20-10 against the Midshipmen. Princeton went 4-1 at the event, defeating Santa Clara 15-9 on Friday, edging UC-San Diego 12-11 on Saturday then topping Bucknell 17-7 before falling 12-11 to Pacific in action on Sunday. The Tigers, now 6-1, head west to Berkeley, Calif., next weekend to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invite from September 20-22.

placed third at the Spiked Shoe Invitational last Friday in University Park, Pa.

Senior star Scatchard finished fifth individually, clocking a time of 20:25.2 over the 6,000-meter course. Freshman Meg Madison and sophomore Anna McNatt joined Scatchard in leading the Tiger pack, finishing eighth (20:40.6) and 13th (20:46.4), respectively.

In the team standings, Princeton had a score of 78 in taking third in the event won by Penn State at 42.

The Tigers will be racing in the Paul Short Run on October 5 in Bethlehem, Pa.

PU Women’s Tennis

Adds Berlin to Staff

Sydney Berlin, a four-year starter for the University of Florida’s women’s tennis team, has joined the Princeton University women’s tennis staff as an assistant coach.

During her career with the

Gators from 2018-22, Berlin was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) AllAcademic Scholar Athlete. Berlin also served as co-captain of the team.

Prior to joining the Princeton coaching staff, Berlin coached at the Fair Play Tennis Club in Malmo, Sweden. She also served as a sales district leader at PepsiCo in 2023 before getting back into tennis.

Before college, Berlin represented Team Sweden in the European Championships and was a five-time finalist in the Swedish Junior Championships (Singles and Doubles).

“I am beyond excited to join this team and I look forward to achieving great success together,” said Berlin, reflecting on her hiring.

“Growing up in both Sweden and the US has honed my ability to adapt quickly to new

environments and collaborate effectively with many diverse groups. I aim to leverage this international experience to bring a fresh perspective and enhance team dynamics.” TOWN

10am-6pm;

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(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

With Senior Matsukawa Setting Up Powerful Hitters, PHS Girls’ Volleyball Tops Southern in Clash of Champs

Lois Matsukawa and her teammates on the Princeton High girls’ volleyball team were primed for the challenge as they hosted Southern High last Thursday evening in a rare clash of defending state champions.

Coming off a New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 3 state title run in 2023 with a core of five stars returning, the Tigers have brought plenty of self-belief into this fall.

“We just came into this season really confident because we have played each other already,” said PHS senior star Matsukawa. “We have been playing club with each other too. We have established really good relationships with each other, there was no nervousness or anything like that.”

Having faced Southern, the 2023 Group 4 state champs, in the Williamstown High Tournament on September 7, splitting two sets with the Rams on the way to winning the event, PHS realized they were in for a stern test.

“We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy one to win at all,” said Matsukawa in assessing the best-of-five set showdown. “I think the biggest thing was just playing as a team. We scouted them really well from those two sets. We knew that libero [Emily Brunnati] is great. She was amazing. Our biggest thing was just to really to keep that ball away from her and make her move.”

With a packed gym featuring a raucous student section in the top corner across from the PHS bench, the Tigers got off to a great start on Thursday as they won the first two sets 25-18 and 2514.

“I think that we did a great job being together, playing together,” said Matsukawa. “The big crowd really hyped us up.”

After Southern rallied to win the third set 28-26, PHS regrouped to win the third

set 25-17 and close the deal with a 3-1 win.

“We just made the most errors and a lot of them were just our errors,” said Matsukawa. “We just knew to clean it up and just keep playing how we did in the first set, being confident and swinging away from that libero.”

Matsukawa served out the fourth set as the throng on hand roared its approval.

“We really served tough,” said Matsukawa. “We got them out of system a lot and that really helped us in the end.”

Over the years, Matsukawa has become a catalyst in the PHS system.

“I have to give most of the credit to the hitters,” said Matsukawa, who contributed 34 assists, 14 digs, and six service points in the win. “I am just scrambling around for these plays trying to get a good set for them. I think the biggest thing for a setter is communication, both during plays and after plays. It is just keeping the group together and sane, not going too crazy. It plays a really important role in the game.”

PHS head coach Patty Manhart appreciates the critical role that Matsukawa plays for the Tigers.

“You are running so much as the setter and Lois has to work so hard,” said Manhart of Matsukawa, who has verbally committed to attend Swarthmore College and continue her volleyball career there. “She was consistent all the way through. There was no point where her sets were off or dropping or errors. She was able to play at the top of her game all the way through. She has been with these girls at least three years. This is what happens when you get the privilege of returning players who have that experience together. She knows where to put the ball to score the points and does it well.”

In reflecting on the win over Southern, Manhart credited her players for

played very well against Southern, coming up with 23 digs.

stepping up collectively.

“It was a team effort, you can’t do that if only one person has a good game or if you are only relying on one aspect of your game,” said Manhart. “That just showed how well rounded and balanced that we are along with the toughness and grit. I could see the wearing and the tear of going four sets. I am really proud of the girls for hanging tough.”

The boisterous crowd on hand helped the Tigers hang tough. “It is really nice to see the student section supporting the girls,” said Manhart. “They can definitely feed off of that energy, it makes a difference.”

Heading into the fourth set, PHS was looking to play sharper to regain momentum.

“The message after the third set was this was the team that we expected, in sets one and two they didn’t look like Southern,” said Manhart. “So then it was just trying to make those adjustments. We were getting beat on things like and our block and not getting those extra little touches. No. 9 [Jessica Smart] was just lighting it up ,so it is just a matter of figuring that out and making an adjustment on our side and then pushing through it.”

Junior star Naomi Lygas helped push the Tigers to victory as she literally jumped into the stands to keep a point alive to help the Tigers go up 14-12.

“Points like that really mean a lot,” said Manhart. “It speaks to the team’s character. Winning those types of points was fun to see.”

Lygas showed character as she played through leg cramps to end up with 23 kills and 16 digs in the win.

“She is someone who will play through pain and injury,” said Manhart of Lygas. “She is not going to hold back, she is not going to take it easy. She is just going to push right through that.”

Senior libero Pearl Agel

“In the beginning we knew No. 9 was out to score points and put the ball away and Pearl said no right from the start,” said Manhart. “It helps us on our side knowing it is not going to be easy for Southern. They can’t just expect No. 9 to score every time she gets the ball because our defense really worked hard today.”

While Manhart was proud of how hard her squad worked in overcoming Southern, she views the triumph as just one step in a season-long process.

“I see it as statement win and as diagnostic,” said Manhart, whose team improved to 6-0 with a 2-0 (25-13, 2517) win over Notre Dame last Monday, hosts WW/P-South on September 18, Westfield on September 20, and Hopewell Valley on September 23. “This team is going to show us those extra little things that we can improve on. Now we see how they scored those points against us and it’s alright let’s work on that in practice and then use that for the postseason. It feels like a long way away but it is always on our minds. I really appreciate having a top tier team like Southern coming out so early on in the season.”

In Matsukawa’s view, winning the Williamstown tournament and then beating Southern shows that PHS is on track for some big things this fall.

“That was one of the biggest things, it was a breakthrough,” said Matsukawa, referring to the Williamstown competition. “We played really hard teams. It wasn’t easy, we lost sets. It just showed how resilient we are and how we are really determined to win. It is also just consistency with everyone, everyone just had a lot of confidence. This was a great game, we just need to keep watching film and working hard.”

—Bill Alden

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14 digs, and six service points as PHS defeated Southern 3-1 (25-18, 2514, 26-28, 25-17) in a clash of defending state champions. The Tigers, who improved to 6-0 with a 2-0 (25-13, 25-17) win over Notre Dame last Monday, host WW/P-South on September 18, Westfield on September 20, and Hopewell Valley on September 23. (Photo

Nelson Glass & Aluminum Co. We replace “FOGGY” Insulated Glass 741 Alexander Rd, Princeton • 924-2880

SKILL SET: Princeton High girls’ volleyball player Lois Matsukawa sets up a hit in a 2023 game. Last Wednesday, senior star Matsukawa contributed 34 assists,

by Frank Wojciechowski)

Ken Cowan in Concert

Photo by: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

• 32 Ramirez Beginning Her Senior Season with a Bang,

Providing a Spark as PHS Field Hockey Falls to 0-2

Mia Ramirez started her senior season for the Princeton High field hockey team with a bang last Friday.

With PHS hosting Notre Dame in its season opener, star forward/midfielder and co-captain Ramirez blasted in a goal three minutes into the contest.

“I really just wanted to bring the energy,” said Ramirez. “We have a lot of new faces out here. I just wanted to set the tone, stay consistent and bring out what we brought last year.”

Ramirez kept bringing the energy and offense, tallying a goal late in the second period to give PHS a 2-1 lead and then added a third score in the third quarter as the Tigers forged ahead 3-2.

But a feisty Notre Dame squad seized momentum after that, scoring three answered goals to defeat PHS 5-3.

While Ramirez was disappointed with the result, she saw defeat as a good learning experience.

“We were definitely excited, we have been practicing for so long,” said Ramirez. “They really tested us. It was great to start out with them because now we have a great game under our belt for the rest of the season.”

While Ramirez was excited to start the season with a hat trick, she would have preferred a victory.

“It feels great,” said Ramirez reflecting on her three-goal outburst. “But all I want is for the team to win. It is unfortunate but we have so many games ahead of us. I am just looking forward to the next one.”

Ramirez is looking to do whatever she can to help the Tigers get on the winning track.

“I definitely came into the program as a forward,” said Ramirez, who scored the lone goal for PHS last Monday as it fell 8-1 to Agnes Irwin (Pa.). “As the years have gone on I have come back to help with the midfield and be more of a presence for the entire team.”

In order to be a more of a presence, Ramirez has focused on her conditioning.

“For me it has really been fitness, I feel like I have been working on skills ever since I started playing,” said Ramirez, who also competes for the Princeton Field Hockey Club. “This year for me I really just wanted to get stronger and faster and build up my endurance.”

PHS head coach Heather Serverson credited Ramirez with producing a strong effort against Notre Dame.

“Mia is just awesome, both of her calves were completely cramped up, she could hardly run any more in the second half; I said let me know if you need a sub but

she didn’t,” said Serverson. “She fights to the end. She will do everything possible until the very last second of the game to make sure that she is in it to win it.”

Although the Tigers didn’t get the win, Serverson thought her squad gained a lot from the opener.

“In the beginning, we did some nice things and we also got a little bit lucky,” said Serverson. “Once Notre Dame cleaned up their defense, it was much more difficult to get in there. But overall, I think they really pointed out some of the stuff that we need to clean up which is a good thing. We wanted that.”

With PHS working in several new faces, it will take time for everyone to get on the same page.

“We still aren’t used to playing with each other just yet, we have quite a few young players out there,” said Serverson. “We got flustered, we weren’t able to maintain our composure because we are used to being so strong. We are not used to struggling and that is what we are going to have to learn to do better this year.”

The Tigers got some superb play from senior defender/midfielder and cocaptain Sophie Gono who used her speed to race all over the field.

“Sophie is our center back, center mid, center forward,” said Serverson. “She somehow has these amazing runs down the field and just goes around all of these players like they are cones. We have to remind her of that. She stays back and we tell to feel free to go all the way up the field. She is getting more confident with her offensive skills. We are just working on finishing with her so hopefully she can be more of a threat from the backfield.”

Featuring Offensive Balance, Clutch Plays on Defense,

PHS Football Defeats Ewing 20-13 to Notch First Win

With the Princeton High football team having started 0-2, Charlie Gallagher decided that it was time for some trickery as the Tigers played at Ewing last Friday night in their West Jersey Football League (WJFL) Valley Division opener.

“We started with a little bit of dazzle dazzle, and it paid off,” said PHS head coach Gallagher.

“We threw a little halfback pass to Ellington [Hinds]. We put Brady [Collier] in the backfield, he took a handoff from Travis [Petrone] and rolled around to the side and aired it out and connected with Ellington. He still had some work to do because he had to get to the end zone. He made a little cut to come back for the ball and then was off to the races for 64 yards for a touchdown. It was a good way to start.”

Setting the tone with that early gamble, PHS kept Ewing off balance for the rest of the half as it built a 14-0 lead by intermission.

“Carmine [Carusone] punched in from seven yards in the second quarter which was great,” said Gallagher. “The defense just played really, really good football.”

We put a lot of great pressure on them which was great to see. A lot of guys stepped up.”

The return of senior star linebackers Elisio Moncada and Joe George from injury helped PHS put pressure on Ewing.

“We got both interior linebackers back, Moncada, and George,” said Gallagher. “They are great, they make a difference. They had 140 tackles between them last year. They just played some really great ball. The run game for Ewing is good, they don’t really go to the air. They got some yards but nothing like we gave up in the past two weeks. Joe and Elisio and that interior line with Sean Wilton and Zyair Mackey-Wright really locked it down.”

The Tiger offense played some good ball as junior Carusone rushed for 114 yards on 23 carries for one TD while junior Hinds made five catches for 112 yards and one TD, adding a 17-yard run on a sweep. Petrone connected on 5-for8 passes for 53 yards and rushed for 30 yards on six carries for one TD.

GOAL-ORIENTED: Princeton High field hockey player Mia Ramirez dribbles the ball last Friday as PHS hosted Notre Dame in its season opener. Senior star Ramirez scored all three goals for PHS as it fell 5-3 to the Irish. The Tigers, who lost 8-1 to Agnes Irwin (Pa.) last Monday as Ramirez scored the lone goal for the Tigers, play at Princeton Day School on September 18, at Robbinsville on September 21, and at Hightstown on September 23. (Photo by Frank

Sophomore Lila Casto is emerging as a threat in the midfield for the Tigers.

“Lila did an amazing job as well, she is very feisty,” said Serverson. “She is great energy for the team too. She has improved from last year. She plays offset with Mia so they have been doing a good job trying to get used to each other.”

With PHS playing at Princeton Day School on September 18, at Robbinsville on September 21 and at Hightstown on September 23, Serverson is looking for her squad to do a better job of playing as a unit and dealing with adversity.

“We need to be moving as a team, we didn’t play team defense down the field or team offense,” said Serverson. “We kind of played in segments. It is just that composure, we are going to get scored on. It is what you do next that matters. We need to fight back consistently the entire time.”

Ramirez, for her part, is confident that the Tigers will get moving in the right direction.

“I think it is a great game to start out with, they exposed the little things that we need to work on,” said Ramirez. “I think anyone can take any mistake that they made today and use it to get better. It is mainly just focusing on the basics and really putting in all of that effort the entire way through. definitely think we will be successful.”

—Bill Alden

Ewing played some good football as it narrowed the gap to 14-6 in the third quarter. PHS responded by going up 20-6 as QB Petrone scored on a oneyard run in the fourth quarter. Unfazed, the Blue Devils drew within 20-13 on a 50yard punt return for a TD and then gained possession in the waning seconds of regulation after recovering an onside kick.

PHS, though, held the fort and hung for the win by that margin to improve to 1-2.

Gallagher acknowledged that there were some anxious moments down the stretch for the Tigers.

“We are talking dicey,” said Gallagher. “Ewing got the ball around the 50. They got one first down and I think they had three or four incompletions in a row.

“It is the first time in a long time that we had a 100-yard receiver and a 100-yard rusher in the same game,” said Gallagher. “Carmine had a great game. He is kicking, he is playing defense. If you are in the business world, he is a multitasker. If it’s in football, he is an ironman. He got off on a couple of big runs. Travis did a great job of getting him the ball. We talked to Ellington on Saturday and we said we need a few more of those and he agreed. He has a nice 17-yard run on a sweep, it got us down to the one-yard line. He had five catches with the big one from Brady. We need to do a little bit more of that. He was great, he caught passes underneath.”

The Tigers were hungry to get on the winning track after the disappointing start.

“We had two games that we would have like to have back,” said Gallagher. “We started our division play and the goal since the very beginning has been to win our division. Needless to say in the first game we want to be 1-0 in the division and we were able to get that so we are real happy. Being 0-3 would have been really tough. At the same time we were just really focused on Ewing.”

With PHS playing at Hamilton West (0-3) in another Valley Division matchup, Gallagher believes the Tigers will keep their focus.

“Hopefully we will feel real confident going into next week,” said Gallagher. “The goal is to be 2-0 in the division, that is where we are at.”

—Bill Alden

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Adding natural-based products containing Mycorrhizal fungi and beneficial bacteria as a part of a regular maintenance program will improve your soil fertility and improve your plant’s health. Biofertilization along with our organic root promoter is a must this fall to encourage new root growth and give them a head start for spring.

Call WOODWINDS (609) 924-3500 or email treecare@woodwinds.biz to schedule an assessment of your landscape.

Wojciechowski)

IN HINDSIGHT: Princeton High football player Ellington Hinds surveys the scene in a game earlier this season. Last Friday, junior star Hinds made five catches for 112 yards and one TD and a 17-yard run on a sweep as PHS topped Ewing 20-13 to notch its first win of the season. The Tigers, now 1-2, play at Hamilton West on September 21. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Waiting His Turn to be Starting QB for Hun Football,

Moran Producing Prolific Passing Stats for 3-0 Raiders

Jack Moran limped off the turf with a leg cramp in the final minutes of the Hun School football team’s opening game this season as it played at Mount Carmel (Ill.).

But nothing was keeping him on the sidelines for the ending.

The senior had waited three years for his shot at being the main quarterback for the Raiders.

Moran returned one play later and moved Hun down the field before throwing a 31-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Kania with exactly one minute to play to give Hun a 42-38 win over Mount Carmel on August 29. Moran finished the day with 517 yards passing and five touchdowns.

“He’s shown the ability to step up in big games at the biggest moments,” said Hun head coach Todd Smith. “That whole game was a real coming out party for him on the national level to throw for over 500 yards against a really good team. There’s really no question marks about how good he is anymore.”

Moran’s career high lasted just one week. In his second start, he threw for 531 yards and six touchdowns in Hun’s 56-16 win over Wyoming Seminary. Last Saturday, in Hun’s third straight road game to open the year, he threw for 372 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-7 win at Avon Old Farms (Conn.).

“I’m super happy for the team starting off the season 3-0,” said Moran, who has lived in Hillsborough and Robbinsville. “Obviously I think the team has done a really good job facing adversity at times. That was kind of a question mark for us because of previous years with a bunch of dominant wins. So week one was definitely a hard-fought win for us, and every week we’ve had a couple of drives here and there where stuff may not go our way and we’ve been able to bounce back.”

Moran has produced video game numbers through three games. He’s completed 56 of 81 passes for 1,420 yards and 15 touchdowns. He’s been picked off four times. He’s just trying to make the most of his first year as the starter after sitting behind Marco Lainez Jr., now at Iowa, his first two years and then last year getting some reps behind current Texas A&M quarterback Myles O’Neill.

“My first couple of years with Marco, it was just kind of absorbing everything that he did to see what it took to be able to play at the level that Hun plays at, especially at the quarterback position,” said Moran. “So I definitely looked up to him. And then my junior year with Myles, it was kind of a tough situation because we were both obviously very good quarterbacks splitting reps. But we made the best out of that situation. We both had great seasons. I definitely got better playing with him last year. It was very competitive. Every single rep, even in practice, it was who could do it better? So that definitely built up the skills that we went into this year with.”

Moran has already eclipsed last year’s numbers. As a junior, he had a 144.5 quarterback rating after throwing

for 1,034 yards on 57-of-84 passing. He had 10 touchdowns with just one interception.

“We wanted him to prepare last year like he was the starter and I think he did that week in and week out,” said Smith. “He is the guy now so he’s going out there and I think he takes charge of the huddle a little more, but overall there’s really not much of a difference between last year and this year, just other than the amount of attempts he has each game. And he’s responding. He’s got a great arm and he’s got a quick release. He’s not afraid to get rid of the ball and he can put it wherever he wants to throw it and we have the guys who can go catch it. So it could be a great season for him. He’s off to a great start.”

Hun has another big test this Saturday when it stays on the road and heads south to play at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School (Ga.).

“They’re kind of built similar to us,” said Smith. “They’re a prep school. They bring in a lot of a lot of different types of kids. They do a great job coaching them up. They play a really hard schedule as well. Due to the fact that Lawrenceville continues not to play us, we were forced to go out and find some games and this is one of the opportunities, so this will be our second plane trip during the season. It’s not ideal. It’s not something we want to continue to do, but that’s a challenge, right? Getting kids on a plane, going someplace, playing, getting up, sleeping, all the travel. It’s our fourth away game in a row and this one really is away.”

Moran and the Raiders handled it well in the first game of the year, putting up more points than anyone had ever done against Mount Carmel. It was a big game and big change for Moran.

“This is all I’ve wanted ever since I got to Hun was to be the starting quarterback,” said Moran. “So the excitement was unmatched. I couldn’t wait to lead the guys out the first series we had in Chicago. But there was definitely some nerves too, though. Obviously not having as many reps as most kids would get, there were still some question marks, can I do this? Can I play four quarters? I’d never done it, but as of right now, I think I’m definitely making the best out of it.”

His first game starting came down to the wire, and Moran was up to the moment. The game-winning toss came as he was getting hit, but he hung in there to complete a perfectly thrown ball to the back of the end zone.

“I felt the pressure for sure,” said Moran. “We all did. Seeing the scoreboard, under three minutes, we had to score on that drive. I was just trying to keep the huddle as cool, calm, collected as possible to be able to just keep driving the ball downfield. But at the end of the day, we made the plays we needed to make. That last play, Bryce Kania ran that route perfect, so I just put it up there. That’s what I do most of the time — just put it up there for those guys and

let them go make the play. So I’ll give all credit to him on that last one. And obviously the O’ line protected me so I could get that ball off.”

Kania finished the day with three touchdown catches. Against Wyoming in the second game, Kania was one of three players with over 100 yards receiving. Chase Enlow had 143 yards receiving and a pair of scores and Drae Tyme had 128 yards on a team-high five catches and a score. Kania scored twice while hauling in 101 yards through the air. Liam Thorpe had 202 yards receiving and a pair of scores in the win over Avon Old Farms, while Kania continued his strong play with four catches for 97 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

“We have a lot of new faces, a lot of old faces so we’ve been blending them together,” said Smith. “I don’t think we’ve played our best football yet, so there’s always room for improvement, but it seems like each game we’ve had a different guy kind of get highlighted and step up and make great plays and really come through for us.”

Hun’s defense has played better since a very challenging first game. The Raiders even picked up a defensive touchdown on Saturday with Seth Clarke tipping a pass that linebacker John Insigna returned for a touchdown.

“The last two weeks, I think our kids did a good job of taking care of business, going out against the quality of opponents they are and executing and being efficient,” said Smith. “The defense has gotten better week in and week out. I think we have seven interceptions already in three weeks and a handful of forced fumbles and recoveries. Defense scored its first touchdown yesterday. So that’s exciting too just to see how we get better week in and week out.”

The injury bug has bit Hun hard in the backfield with Enlow and Kamar Archie both getting hurt. That’s forced the Raiders into a running back by committee approach in their third game, and allowed the passing game to take more importance than ever.

“We’ve definitely been a run heavy team in the past,” said Moran. “We’ve always been pretty balanced. We’re definitely not afraid to line up in the I and run the ball if we have to, but we have so many weapons. Any kid who’s on the field at any times, I know I could trust them to make a play. So I’m not afraid to put the ball up there for them, make tough throws and just let them go get it.”

Moran is working on going through his progressions and limiting his turnovers. He is working to prepare for the next level with every practice and game. He committed to play college ball at Charlotte next year after building a strong relationship with the program’s quarterbacks coach Mike Miller and seeing a similar approach to offense that Hun has.

“Actually, when I was down there visiting I was watching film with coach Miller and most of the language for their plays was the same, which is pretty rare,” said Moran. “I took a lot of visits and the playbook, it’s a whole different world, but I

felt like I fit into that system very well and the depth of the quarterback room, they only take three scholarship kids that they expect to make an impact, so I’m honored to be chosen by them as one of them. After we finish our business this year, I’m ready to get down there and start it back up again.”

Moran is confident he can make an impact at the college level, just as he’s showing his ability at Hun. He is making the most of his first season as a starter for the Raiders. He has been able to shine through the first three games after steadily developing and patiently waiting for his moment.

“I have to give it all to our quarterback coach, coach (Anthony) Racioppi and obviously coach Smith, just developing me, having the trust in me to give me the keys to the offense and they give me a lot of freedom to make throws, make plays,” said Moran. “That development aspect, I couldn’t ask for anything more and I think going to college, it won’t be as big of a jump because of how well they’ve prepared me.”

—Justin Feil

Junior Standout Brodel Displaying Finishing Touch

But PDS Girls’ Soccer Struggling as it Starts 0-2-1

Things looked bleak for the Princeton Day School girls’ soccer team as it trailed Robbinsville 2-0 late in the second half last Thursday but Mackenzie Brodel was not throwing in the towel.

With just over five minutes left in regulation, PDS junior forward Brodel got free on a breakaway and slotted the ball into the back of the net.

“I looked at the clock and there was time for one more so we were pushing,” said Brodel. “I am just happy that we got something on the board.”

The Panthers, though, were unable to get anything else on the board as they fell 2-1 in dropping to 0-2-1.

Brodel acknowledged that it has been a rocky start for PDS as it is coming off winning the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public A state championship last fall.

“This wasn’t our best outcome, coming into the game we thought we had a little bit of an upper hand,” said Brodel. “We are off to a rough start in our season so far, we were hoping to come out a little bit stronger then we did.”

In the first half, PDS generated some chances but couldn’t cash them in as the foes were knotted in a scoreless tie at halftime. Midway through the second half, the Panthers fell behind 2-0 as Robbinsville scored a pair of goals in a seven-minute span.

“We just came off a state championship, we didn’t want to lose,” said Brodel. “They are telling us not to feel pressure but that is always going to be on my shoulders, I feel, coming off of that.”

Having risen through the ranks of the Panther program, Brodel is ready to shoulder more responsibility this fall.

“I have definitely gotten some more minutes, I feel like I have been able to get the ball up the field more now,” said Brodel, who has scored both of PDS’ goals this fall. “I have made some goals so it has been quite an improvement for me.”

Brodel has improved her mental toughness on the pitch. “I just keep going, I used to be like, ‘ow that hurt me,’” said Brodel, who also plays for the Next Level Soccer Academy (NLSA) club program. “Now I am gotta go, I gained some confidence from last year.”

With PDS playing at Lawrence High on September 19 before hosting Steinert High on September 21 and Princeton High on September 24, Brodel is confident that the Panthers can get on the winning track.

“We need to communicate more,” said Brodel. “We have a lot of girls injured so we just need to get a little more healthy. We just have to get over our rough start and have a 0-0 mentality. We have the potential, we just need to get into it.”

—Bill Alden

MAC ATTACK: Princeton Day School girls’ soccer player Mackenzie Brodel (No. 7) controls the ball last Thursday against Robbinsville. Junior forward Brodel scored a goal in the game but it was not enough as PDS fell 2-1 to the Ravens. The Panthers, who moved to 0-2-1 with the setback, play at Lawrence High on September 19 before hosting Steinert High on September 21 and Princeton High on September 24.

(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Field Hockey: Unable to get its offense going, Lawrenceville fell 2-0 to Cherokee High last Monday. The Big Red, now 1-2, play at Merion Mercy Academy (Pa.) on September 18.

at first doubles from Kavita Amin and Zarna Kalra as they dropped to 2-1. PDS plays at Hightstown on September 19 and at Hamilton West on September 24.

Field Hockey : Sparked by Sophia Clark, Hun edged Academy of New Church (Pa.) 2-1 last Monday. Clark tallied a goal and an assist as the Raiders improved to 2-1. Hun plays at Pennington on September 18, at Penn Charter (Pa.) on September 20, and at Princeton Day School on September 24.

Boys’ Soccer : Hayden Gronczewski and Sasha Mykhalchuk scored goals as Hun defeated WillistonNorthampton (Mass.) 2-1 last Sunday. The Raiders, now 3-0-1, host Pennington on September 18 before playing at Delran High on September 21 and at Episcopal Academy (Pa.) on September 24.

Girls’ Soccer : Earning its first win of the season, Hun defeated WW/P-North 3-0 last Thursday. The Raiders, now 1-1-1, play at Peddie on September 19 and at Princeton High on September 21 before hosting Westtown School (Pa.) on September 21.

Lawrenceville

Football : Producing a dominant performance, Lawrenceville defeated Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) 29-7 last Saturday. The Big Red, now 2-0, host Choate Rosemary Hall (Conn.) on September 21.

Field Hockey : Syann Priester led the offense as PDS defeated Lawrence High 3-1 last Friday. Priester contributed a goal and an assist as the Panthers improved to 2-1. PDS hosts Princeton High on September 18 and the Hun School on September 24.

Boys’ Soccer : Mark Nahas scored the lone goal for PDS as it fell 3-1 to Robbinsville last Thursday. Goalie Oren Yakoby made eight saves in the loss as the Panthers moved to 2-1. PDS hosts Lawrence High on September 19, plays at Steinert on September 21, and hosts Princeton High on September 24.

Girls’ Tennis : Coming up just short in a tight match, PDS lost 3-2 to WW/PSouth last Thursday. The Panthers got wins at first singles from Arya Kalra and

Pennington PHS PDS

Football : Excelling on both sides of the ball, Pennington defeated the Pingry School 42-0 last Friday. The Red Hawks, who improved to 1-1, host the Blair Academy on September 20

Boys’ Soccer : Gus Shapiro scored the lone goal for Pennington as it fell 3-1 the Kiski School (Pa.) last Sunday. The Red Hawks, now 1-1, play at the Hun School on September 18 before hosting the Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) on September 21.

Girls’ Soccer: Liz Holstein scored a goal but it wasn’t enough as Pennington lost 2-1 to Cherokee High last Monday. The Red Hawks, who moved to 1-2 with the defeat, host the Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) on September 21 and the Peddie School on September 24.

PHS hosts Robbinsville on September 19 and the Hun School on September 21 before playing at Princeton Day School on September 24.

20 and the Pennington School on September 24.

Girls’ Soccer : Unable to get its offense going, PHS fell 1-0 to Allentown last Thursday. Sophomore goalie Julia Zaldarriaga made six saves in the loss as the Tigers moved to 0-2.

Girls’ Tennis : Winning each match in straight sets, PHS defeated Allentown 5-0 last Friday. The Tigers, who improved to 2-0 with the victory, host WW/P-North on September 19 and then play at Notre Dame on September 24.

Stuart

Field Hockey : Suffering its first loss of the season, Stuart fell 3-1 to South Hunterdon last Friday. Sydney Anderson got the goal for the Tartans who moved to 4-1. Stuart plays at the George School (Pa.) on September 18 before hosting Bordentown on September

Local Sports

Bailey Basketball Academy Offering Fall Programs

The Bailey Basketball Academy (BBA) has set the schedule for its upcoming fall hoops programs.

Players will have an opportunity for competitive travel play, individualized instruction, skills development, and fundamentals through the offerings. The BBA is led by former Princeton Day School girls’ hoops coach and Philadelphia 76ers International Camps clinician Kamau Bailey.

The BBA fall program will include two competitive boys’ travel teams (2nd-8th grade), weekly practices, Shot King Shooting Program, and

The Protests and Free Expression website is a one-stop resource for information about Princeton University policies relating to protests and demonstrations.

Player Development Skill Sessions for elementary through high school players (boys and girls) along with two new competitive team opportunities for girls (grades 3-10) and boys (grades 9-10).

BBA programs stress fundamentals and team play with emphasis on ball handling, shooting, passing, footwork, speed, agility, movement with and without the ball, one-on one moves, defense, and other basketball skills.

The BBA Fall Skill Development Sessions for boys and girls will be held every Monday and Wednesday with grades 3-6 going from 6 to 7:15 p.m. and grades 7-10 going from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. The sessions run through November 25 and will be held at the Princeton Middle School.

The BBA Competitive boys’ and girls’ teams practices will take place on Tuesday and Thursday nights with grades 3-6 going from 6 to 7:15 p.m. and grades 7-10 going from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. The practices run through November 26 and will be held at the Princeton Middle School. BBA teams will play games on weekends in the Monroe Sports Complex Fall Leagues.

For more information, contact Bailey at (917) 626-5785 or kamau.bailey@gmail.com.

IN THE CLEAR: Princeton High boys’ soccer player Connor Hewitt, right, clears the ball in re cent action. Senior defender Hewitt helped PHS earn its third clean sheet of the season as the Tigers edged Allentown 1-0 last Thursday. Archie Smith scored the winning goal for the Tigers, now 2-0-1. PHS plays at Robbinsville on September 19 and at Hopewell Valley on September 21 before hosting Princeton Day School on September 24.

(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Maximilian Urquhart

Wright

Maximilian Urquhart Wright, a longtime resident of the Princeton area, died unexpectedly on September 12, 2024, at the age of 44.

Max was born on October 4, 1979 at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., to Richard LaFollette and Margaret Walker Wright, with whom Max shared a birthday. In the early 1980s the family moved to Princeton where Max grew up on Jefferson Road in a loving home that was a hub of activity and community.

Max attended Community Park Elementary School, John Witherspoon Middle School, and The Hun School for high school, from which he graduated in 1998. Max attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and received a BA in 2002.

In his youth Max cultivated a love for the outdoors and biked around Princeton with his friends. He was fond of furry animals of all sizes and over time developed an eclectic musical preference for Bruce Springsteen, Elvis, Guns & Roses, and Willie Nelson. Max rooted passionately for the New York Mets and San Francisco 49ers. His clear favorite local delicacy was a plate of Buffalo wings from Chuck’s Spring Street Café. He looked forward to annual family trips to Greece and the Jersey shore.

A natural “all round athlete,” Max loved the competition and camaraderie that came from participation in many different sports. Whether it was gymnastics, wrestling, soccer, ice hockey, basketball, football, baseball, or lacrosse — Max had a reputation for excelling within Princeton’s local sporting community. He set scoring records in the Dylan Youth Basketball league in middle school and was known to have hit the very first homerun at the then newly constructed Princeton Little League fields by the Shopping Center. At Hun, Max received many state and regional distinctions in both football and lacrosse, serving as a captain to each team. Max chose Denison University to play both football and lacrosse, the latter of which was consistently nationally ranked, accomplishing two NCCA Division III Final Four appearances during his college career.

After college Max worked in the commercial and residential real estate sectors in Boston and San Francisco, while traveling the world when he could. Max eventually returned to New Jersey to manage residential and farm properties. During this time Max developed a lasting love for golf while maintaining a regular presence

at the YMCA on Paul Robeson Place for early morning pick-up basketball. More than his devotion to any hobby, sport or vocation, Max was passionate about people. He truly loved a vast amount of friends and individuals from across the community. Max is survived by his parents Margaret and Richard Wright of Princeton, his older brother Walker Wright of Oakland, California, his two nephews, Cooper and Sawyer, and numerous loving cousins, aunts, and uncles.

Max’s family and close friends will host a celebration of Max’s life on Thursday September 19 at 1 p.m. at Springdale Golf Club, 1895 Clubhouse Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Extend condolences and share memories at The KimbleFuneralHome.com.

Robert John Higgins 1927–2024

Robert John Higgins was born in Princeton and remained a lifelong resident. He was an Army veteran who was stationed in Europe during WWII. Bob was also a member of Engine Co. #1 (We Lead, Let Others Follow), Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, and St. Paul’s Church. He was a graduate of Princeton High School and General Motors Institute. Bob retired from Ford Motor Co. after a career spanning four decades. Bob is predeceased by his wife, Clarice (Chris) Boice Higgins; his parents, James and Julia; his brother,

James Jr.; and his sister, Katharine.

Bob is survived by his son, Robert “Bob” Jr. (Janet); his daughter, Lynn Higgins Miller (Paul); his grandchildren, Michele and PJ Miller; and his much-loved great-grandpups, Mulligan (Westie) and Chloe (Frenchie).

A funeral mass will be held at St. Paul’s Church on Tuesday, September 24 at 10 a.m. A burial will follow at Princeton Cemetery, during which time Bob and his beloved wife, Chris, will be laid to rest together, as they desired.

Contributions in Bob’s memory may be made to Engine Co. #1 or Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad.

Ernest Samuel “Chubby” D’Andrea

Ernest Samuel “Chubby” D’Andrea, of Ewing, NJ, formerly of Princeton, NJ, passed away on Friday, September 13, 2024 at Serenity Hospice at RWJ – Hamilton, Hamilton Township, NJ, at the age of 89.

He was born in Princeton, NJ, and attended the Princeton schools. After graduation, he worked for the Princeton Township Road Department for over 40 years and Tiger Refreshments at Princeton University. After his retirement he was a crossing guard at Littlebrook School and at the Guyot Avenue/Jefferson Road crossing.

Ernest was a member of the Princeton Elks and life member of the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad.

Predeceased by his parents, Ernest P. and Josephine

Crocetti D’Andrea, he is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary Jane Duncan D’Andrea; his daughter and her partner, Sarah D’Andrea and Dusty Thayer of Port Leyden, NY; grandson Gregory Griffis and his wife Jaclyn and great-granddaughters Josephine and Guiliana all of Lawrenceville, NJ; sister and brother-in-law Loretta and Steven Derochi of Skillman; nephew Jonathan Derochi of Rocky Hill, NJ; and two nieces and their husbands,Andrea and Luke Moix of California and Elisa and Chuck Welles of Pennsylvania.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Paul Parish, 214 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ, on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at 10 a.m. Burial will follow, in the family plot, in the church cemetery.

A gathering of family and friends will be on Tuesday, September 24, 2024 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Kimble Funeral Home, 1 Hamilton Avenue, Princeton, NJ 08542.

Contributions, in his memory, to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital can be made, in various ways, at stjude.org/donate.

Extend condolences and share memories at The KimbleFuneralHome.com.

JUNCTION BARBER SHOP

33 Princeton-Hightstown Rd Ellsworth’s Center (Near Train Station) 799-8554 Tues-Fri: 10am-6pm; Sat 8:30am-3:30pm

Robert Fones Williams

Robert Fones Williams, 96, of Princeton passed away on September 3, 2024, at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center.

Bob was born in Bessemer, AL. After studying mathematics as an undergraduate with R. L. Moore at the University of Texas, he received his doctorate from the University of Virginia. He worked as a professor of mathematics at a number of universities, including Northwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin. At various times throughout his career he was a Member at the Institute for Advanced Study.

He liked to say he studied chaos, otherwise known as dynamical systems. Both modern dance and mountaineering were important activities for him. He was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton.

He was predeceased by his parents Elgin and Ann (Brown) Williams, and two brothers Elgin Williams and Joe Williams.

Robert is survived by his wife Karen K. Uhlenbeck, a daughter Ellen Lindsay Williams, nieces and nephews Brett Williams, Robert Williams, Cathy Harrison, Nancy Goodhew, Wade Williams, and Carol Kirksmith.

In memory of Bob, memorial contributions may be made in his honor to the American Civil Liberties Union ( aclu.org ) or the Bob Williams Endowment for Excellence in Undergraduate Mathematics ( give.utexas. edu/?menu=OGPNSBW ) A memorial service will be held at a later date.

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EXPERIENCED AND PROFESSIONAL CAREGIVER

Available part-time With excellent references in the greater Princeton area (609) 216-5000 tf

FOX CLEANING (609) 547-9570 eqfoxcarpetcleaning@gmail.com Licensed and insured Residential and commercial Carpet cleaning and upholestry Pressure and soft washing • Area rugs Strip and wax ﬂoors • Sanitizing Water damage • Grout cleaning 01-17-25

CARING AND EXPERIENCED

BABYSITTER

Available for part-time position

Excellent local references! (609) 216-5000 tf

Optimal Timing for Fall Seeding: How to Get Your Yard Ready for Spring

Seeding your yard in the fall can be a game changer for achieving a lush, green lawn come spring. The best time to seed varies based on your region, but generally, aim to plant seeds 6 to 8 weeks before the first expected frost. This timing allows grass seeds to germinate and establish roots before the cold weather sets in. In cooler climates, early to mid September is ideal, while in warmer regions, late September to early October works well. The cooler temperatures and increased moisture from autumn rains create optimal conditions for seed growth, helping to prevent weed competition and reduce watering needs. To ensure success, prepare the soil properly by removing debris and loosening it with a rake. With the right timing and preparation, your lawn will benefit from a head start and be ready to thrive when spring arrives.

Wednesday

HOUSECLEANING/HOUSEKEEPING: Professional cleaning service. Experienced, references, honest & responsible. Reasonable price. Basic English. Text Grace at (609) 672-0211 for a free estimate. 10-30

AWARD-WINNING ESSAYIST & former Phillips Exeter Academy English teacher available for tutoring & college essay coaching. Princeton ’84 & Bennington MFA. https:// suerepko.com. wordgardenessays@ gmail.com. (609) 436-0208. 09-18

SPORTS CARDS WANTED IMMEDIATE CASH PAID!! UNOPENED BOXES, SETS, CASES PRIVATE COLLECTOR (646) 344-0431 09-18

I BUY ALL KINDS of old or pretty things: China, glass, silver, pottery, costume jewelry, evening bags, fancy linens, paintings, small furniture, etc. Local woman buyer. (609) 9217469. 10-11-24

BUYING: Antiques, paintings, Oriental rugs, coins, clocks, furniture, old toys, military, books, cameras, silver, costume & ﬁne jewelry. Guitars & musical instruments. I buy single items to entire estates. Free appraisals. (609) 306-0613. tf

TOWN TOPICS CLASSIFIEDS GET TOP RESULTS!

Whether it’s selling furniture, ﬁnding a lost pet, or having a garage sale, TOWN TOPICS is the way to go! We deliver to ALL of Princeton as well as surrounding areas. (609) 924-2200 ext. 10; classiﬁeds@towntopics.com

ESTATE LIQUIDATION SERVICE:

I will clean out attics, basements, garages & houses. Single items to entire estates. No job too big or small. In business over 35 years, serving all of Mercer County. Call (609) 306-0613. tf WE BUY CARS

Belle Mead Garage (908) 359-8131

Ask for Chris

ADVERTISING SALES

Witherspoon Media Group is looking for an advertising Account Manager to generate sales for our luxury magazines, newspaper, and digital business.

The ideal candidate will:

• • •

Establish new and grow key accounts and maximize opportunities for each publication, all websites, and all digital products.

Collaborate with the sales and management team to develop growth opportunities.

HOME HEALTH AIDE/COMPANION AVAILABLE: NJ certiﬁed and experienced. Live-in or live-out. Driver’s license. References available. Please call Cindy, (609) 227-9873. 09-18

WHAT’S A GREAT GIFT FOR A FORMER PRINCETONIAN?

A Gift Subscription!

Call (609) 924-2200, ext 10 circulation@towntopics.com tf YARD SALE + TOWN TOPICS CLASSIFIED = GREAT WEEKEND!

Put an ad in the TOWN TOPICS to let everyone know! Call (609) 924-2200 ext. 10; classiﬁ eds@towntopics.com

DEADLINE: Tues before 12 noon tf

HOME HEALTH AIDE: 25 years of experience. Available mornings to take care of your loved one, transport to appointments, run errands. I am well known in Princeton. Top care, excellent references. The best! Call (609) 356-2951 or (609) 751-1396. tf

LOLIO’S WINDOW WASHING & POWER WASHING: Free estimate. Next day service. Fully insured. Gutter cleaning available. References available upon request. 30 years experience. (609) 271-8860. tf

Prepare strategic sales communications and presentations for both print and digital.

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

Prepare detailed sales reports for tracking current customers’ activity and maintain pipeline activity using our custom CRM system.

Positions are full- and part-time and based out of our Kingston, N.J. office. Track record of developing successful sales strategies and knowledge of print and digital media is a plus. Compensation is negotiable based on experience. Fantastic benefits and a great work environment.

Please submit cover letter and resume to: lynn.smith@princetonmagazine.com melissa.bilyeu@witherspoonmediagroup.com

Professional, Courteous and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Interior Painting, Exterior Painting, and Drywall Repair

•

•Quality Craftsmanship

•Reasonable Rates

•Licensed, Bonded & Insured

•Free Estimates

•Deck Sealing/Staining (609) 799-9211 www.fivestarpaintinginc.com License # 13VH047

At Greenwood House Hospice, our families and caregivers LOVE HOW MUCH WE CARE! AND YOU WILL, TOO. – DAVID R. BARILE, MD Medical Director, Greenwood House Hospice

At Greenwood House Hospice, our families and caregivers LOVE HOW MUCH WE CARE! AND YOU WILL, TOO.

Hospice is about living the fullest life possible according to a patient’s capabilities within a life-limiting condition. In hospice, your choices guide the care we provide. Hospice care affirms quality of life. Our goal is to prevent and relieve pain, discomfort, anxiety and fear.

“I

work alongside some of the best nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteers in the business. Our team provides intimate and comprehensive care for our terminally ill patients. We support not just those in their final months but also their families and loved ones.”

We provide emotional and spiritual support to patients and their loved ones. Hospice care is provided wherever a patient feels most comfortable or where they call home. We help families and caregivers prepare for end-of-life challenges and find creative ways to share in life review and legacy projects so that our patient’s wisdom and memories can be treasured for future generations.

Medical Director, Greenwood House Hospice

Our Hospice Team consists of:

• Hospice Medical Director, a board-certified hospice physician

• Registered Nurses (RNs) monitoring pain, managing symptoms and guiding patient’s plan of care

• Hospice Certified Home Health Aides (CHHAs) providing personal patient care and companionship

• Social Workers supporting patients and families and connecting them with community resources

• Spiritual Counselors providing emotional support and personal counseling

• Bereavement Services offering guidance and education concerning anticipatory grief to families throughout care and bereavement

Hospice Certified Home Health Aides (CHHAs) providing personal patient care and companionship

• Bereavement Services offering guidance and education concerning anticipatory grief to families throughout care and bereavement

• Hospice Volunteers assisting with a variety of patient and family personalized support activities

• Social Workers supporting patients and families and connecting them with community resources

• Hospice Volunteers assisting with a variety of patient and family personalized support activities

Or email us at info@greenwoodhouse.org greenwoodhouse.org @GreenwoodHouseNJ

Greenwood House Hospice is a nonprofit, mission-based organization rooted in cherished Jewish traditions and an industry leader in providing high-quality senior health care in the state of New Jersey. Seniors of all faiths are welcome.

–DAVID R. BARILE,