Town Topics Newspaper, September 6, 2023

“In the Company of Good Books” at the Milberg Gallery 5

All in a Day’s Work: Jim Ferry, Princeton Animal Control Officer 8

Food Styles of 19th Century are Subject of PPL Talk 10

“Songs of Ourselves” — The Band and Walt Whitman 14

Sparked by Junior Forward Nee, PU Men’s Soccer Edges Rutgers 2-1

In Season Opener 23

Bringing an 18-Game Winning Streak into 2023, Hun Football Primed for Another Stellar Season 30

Video Footage Sought By Police, NTSB In Helicopter Crash

South Brunswick Police and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are asking residents and businesses if they have any recorded video footage related to the fatal helicopter crash last Thursday that took the life of a 44-year-old man.

Pilot Josef Yitzhak, an Israeli, had taken off from Princeton Airport in a singleengine Robinson R22 in the late afternoon when he crashed into the woods and landed in a stream off of Lakeview Avenue, on the border of Princeton and South Brunswick Township.

“We are asking for any video footage, on behalf of the NTSB investigator,” South Brunswick Police Lt. Gene Rickle wrote in an email on Monday. “We will continue to assist the NTSB, but the investigation is in their hands.”

The NTSB is also asking anyone in the Kingston, Princeton, Montgomery, and Franklin Township area who may have either seen or heard the helicopter or the crash, or have Ring doorbell video, to email investigator Aaron McCarter at witness@ntsb.gov.

At about 4:25 p.m. on August 31, multiple 911 calls came in to the South Brunswick Police Department reporting a helicopter crash near Route 27 and Lake Carnegie. A unit was dispatched to the area, along with a captain from the Kingston Fire Department. When they approached the helicopter, they were able to see that Yitzhak was partially submerged in the water, still inside.

They were able to lift the aircraft up, pull the pilot out, and bring him to the shoreline. But his injuries were so severe that life-saving efforts were not possible, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Yitzhak was alone in the helicopter, Rickle said.

Route 27 was closed for several hours after the accident.

The helicopter was removed from the stream on Saturday, September 2 by the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration. The Delaware and Raritan State Park has since been reopened in its entirety.

According to a LinkedIn pro le for Josef-Ram Yitzhak, he was a ight instructor and commercial airline pilot whose experience included working for Aerojet in Africa.

Continued on Page 11

Birge Takes Charge as New PHS Principal

Cecilia X. Birge is starting the 2023-24 school year as the new Princeton High School (PHS) principal, following her ofcial appointment on Thursday, August 31 by the Princeton Board of Education (BOE) in approving the recommendation of Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Superintendent Carol Kelley.

An assistant principal at PHS since 2020 and a teacher of mathematics and special education before that, Birge, who lives on Leigh Avenue in Princeton, brings to the job a diverse background and a wide range of experiences in nance, business, and municipal government, as well as education.

“During the selection process, Ms. Birge showcased her exceptional leadership qualities, along with her deep commitment to the success of all students, her passion for education, and her respect for the entire Princeton High School community,” said Kelley. “For these reasons I know she will be successful as the next principal of Princeton High School.”

Kelley continued, “The Board is condent that Cecilia Birge is the right person to lead Princeton High School. We are delighted to promote an internal candidate who understands the building culture, the students, and the high expectations of the community.”

Birge succeeds Frank Chmiel, who was dismissed in March of this year. Kathie Foster, who has served as PHS interim principal since April, will assist Birge at PHS during a short transition period until the end of September.

In her recommendation of Birge for the position, Kelley reported “careful consideration of community input from surveys, listening to staff, and a rigorous interview committee process.”

Twenty- ve applications were received

following the July posting for the position, and, after review and screening, ve candidates were interviewed by the search committee last week before Kelley made her recommendation to the BOE.

In a September 1 phone conversation, Birge shared some of her thoughts on education and the future of PHS as she described some of the transitions in her life that have shaped her career and views. Birge came to this country from China in 1990. Her mother had been raised in

“Transformation is a Wonderful Thing,” Eisgruber Tells PU First-Year Students

Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber addressed the members of Princeton’s Class of 2027 at the University’s Opening Exercises on Sunday, September 3, urging them to look forward to “transformation” as an important part of their education over the next four years.

In the annual ceremony that culminates a week of orientation activities and marks the start of the academic year, Eisgruber noted that “transformative” is the word he hears most often when talking to Princeton alumni about their education.

Quoting a passage from Toni Morrison, the late Nobel prize-winning author and Princeton professor, Eisgruber warned that transformation, learning, and growth, “are not easy, not for anyone.” He continued, as quoted in a Princeton University Office of Communications press release, “There will inevitably be not just triumphs but also sorrows, not just laughter but also tears, when we challenge ourselves, when we develop and change, and when we care deeply — as we should, as we must — about our academic and cocurricular endeavors and our community.”

Continued on Page 9

by Charles R. Plohn)

WE SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM: People line up for some sweet treats at The Bent Spoon in Palmer Square on Saturday evening. With summer ending soon, residents and visitors discuss what they are looking forward to this fall in this (Photo

2021 Readers’ Choice award for Best Gluten-Free and Best Vegetarian Restaurant Lady and the Shallot has joined the Vegan Chef Challenge!

Now

For children and adults, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System of fers safe, quality care to help get your healthcare needs back on track.

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

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Christ Congregation Church

Names New Settled Pastor Culminating a nearly threeyear search process, Christ Congregation in Princeton unanimously called the Rev. Dr. Kirk A. Johnson to be its new settled pastor as of August 1, 2023.

Johnson is assistant professor of justice studies and medical humanities at Montclair State University.

He received his B.A. in religious studies from Seton Hall University, Master of Divinity from Drew Theological School, and his Doctorate in Medical Humanities from Drew University. He is a member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities and The New York Academy of Medicine.

Johnson has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and written several books, including The AntiRacism Resource Guide Volume One: Supporting Black Businesses and Economics and Medical Stigmata: Race, Medicine, and the Pursuit of Theological Liberation.

He is the co-host of the “Bioethics in the Margins” podcast series. He is an ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ (UCC) where he serves as a member of the board of directors of the UCC’s Central Atlantic Conference, secretary of the UCC Central Atlantic Conference’s New Jersey Association, a member of the Summit Interfaith Council Anti-Racism Committee, and creator

THE SEARCH IS OVER: Christ Congregation Church has named the Rev. Dr. Kirk A. Johnson as its new pastor. of the “Race Talk: Origins” and “Race Talk: Systems” courses.

The church’s co-moderator, Robert Moore, said “We are thrilled and blessed to have such a talented and broadly qualified candidate accept God’s call — affirmed by the entire congregation in a unanimous vote — to be our next settled pastor. We are excited to have such an outstanding

spiritual leader to lead us in meeting the challenges and opportunities ahead. We invite anyone interested to visit our boldly progressive, open and affirming, justice-seeking community of faith located in the heart of Princeton.”

Christ Congregation is a 65-year-old church located at 50 Walnut Lane. For further information, visit ccprinceton.org.

Topics In Brief A Community Bulletin

LALDEF Event: The Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) is hosting a joint Heritage Month celebration and health fair event at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 151 Warren Street, Trenton, on Saturday, September 9 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free food, prizes, COVID-19 vaccines, breast cancer screenings, and other vaccines as well as information on various programs. Niotprinceton.org.

Call for Land Stewards: Join Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) in September, October, and November for morning or afternoon Saturday volunteer sessions under the guidance of FOPOS’ director of natural resources and stewardship to assist with various conservation projects at Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve. More at fopos.org/getinvolved.

Princeton University Farmers Market: On Wednesdays from September 6-October 4, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at Firestone Library/Chapel Plaza. Farmersmarket.princeton.edu.

Volunteer for “Chop and Stop” Invasive Species Removal : Join Friends of Princeton Open Space at the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Preserve for one or both of its next two-hour volunteer sessions on Saturday, September 9 at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to remove invasive species as the season starts to change. Find out more at fopos. org/getinvolved.

Princeton Flu Vaccine Clinics : From September through December, Princeton is hosting clinics for those age 3 and older. Upcoming dates are September 7, 4-6 p.m. at Princeton United Methodist Church, 7 Vandeventer Avenue; September 11, 1-3 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 30 Green Street; September 21, 4-6 p.m. at La Mexicana, 150 Witherspoon Street; and September 28, 3-5 p.m. at Princeton Senior Resource Center, 45 Stockton Street. There is no charge, but bring insurance information if you have coverage. Visit princetonnj.gov for more details.

Celebration of 10 Years of Consolidation : On Thursday, September 28 at 4:30 p.m., the community is invited to a gathering marking the 10th anniversary of the consolidation of the former borough and township, featuring speakers State Sen. Andrew Zwicker, Mayor Mark Freda, and Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros, at 400 Witherspoon Street. Followed by music and refreshments. Princetonnj.gov.

Celebration of English Literature Covers 400 Years of “Good Books”

Seven years after William Shakespeare died in 1616, his friends gathered the scattered texts of 36 of his plays into a folio edition. Among them: Macbeth, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, and The Winter’s Tale — classics that would have been

lost to posterity if not for the friends’ efforts.

Three copies of that “First Folio of 1623” are among the literary treasures on view at “In the Company of Good Books: From Shakespeare to Morrison,” at Princeton University Library’s Milberg Gallery through December 10. Along with the plays of Shakespeare, the exhibition includes representations of works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Sylvia Beach, Chinua Achebe, and several others, up until the time of Toni Morrison.

The breadth of the exhibition is unusual, said Eric White, Scheide Librarian and Assistant University Librarian for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. “Universities like Princeton that have been around for centuries have had donors and graduates giving either books or funds,” he said. “There is a certain collecting power that comes from generations of, let’s call it privilege.”

TOPICS Of the Town

White and colleagues Jennifer Garcon, Librarian for Modern and Contemporary Special Collections, and Gabriel Swift, Librarian for American Collections, collaborated on the exhibition. It has been planned along with complementary thematic programming at the University’s Lewis Center for the Arts. Panel discussions, gallery shows, and talks will be held in conjunction with the exhibition.

Representing the four centuries between Shakespeare and Morrison, whose handwritten manuscript drafts of her play Desdemona are on view, is a wide-ranging selection of writers’ working manuscripts, books annotated by authors and inscribed for friends, correspondence from publishers, and original cover art. The painting Celestial Eyes , used as the dust jacket design for Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is among them.

“Our visitors will not believe they are looking at page one of Fitzgerald’s handwritten manuscripts for The Great Gatsby,” said White. “Next to that is his own little scrapbook with reviews and clippings. And

on the wall, we have the painting that the cover was based on, by Francis Cugat. It survives — the only one. It is world-famous, and it’s on the wall here.”

Another aspect of the show concerns the Bronte sisters of 19th century England — Emily, Charlotte, and Anne. “The smashing, unbelievable thing for a lot of viewers is going to be the little manuscripts written by three sisters when they were young — little stories they shared in the little world they made up,” White said. “They wrote them on little paper, and they weren’t published in their lifetime. They survived, and were published long after.”

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“Good Books”

Continued from Preceding Page

Poets Walt Whitman, Frances Watkins Harper, and Emily Dickinson are additional representatives of the 19th century. Several 20th century authors, book owners, and publishers are also a focus.

“During the 1920s, two independent publishing ventures played significant roles in the shaping of modern literature: Sylvia Beach’s Paris bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, which emerged as a leading center for literary life, later establishing a publishing office; and Hogarth Press, established by Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard, in 1917, which provided creative leverage for authors pursuing experimental literary projects,” said Garcon in a press release. “Both publishing enterprises took on significant risks, gave opportunities to nonconformist authors, resisted mainstream publishing norms, and prioritized literary excellence over monetary rewards.”

White praises Garcon for making sure the exhibition “is not just some of the English literature names the older generation studied in school,” he said. “We have a great representation of people around the world, writing in English. Jennifer had the knowledge to make sure we had a broader introduction to literature, that didn’t stop with Fitzgerald. She brings us into the 20th century. There’s a little Shakespeare, a little Milton, and half an hour later you’re in with Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison.”

The exhibition is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and weekends 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit library. princeton.edu/goodbooks for more information and details on related programming.

—Anne Levin

Chamber Announces Panel For Diversity Conference

On September 29 from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the New Jersey Conference on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will be presented by Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber at Mercer County Community College’s Conference Center, 1200 Old Trenton Road in West Windsor.

Serving on the mental health panel are Dr. Michelle Drapkin, founder and director of the CBT Center; social worker Noreen Iqbal, owner and director of Olive Branch Therapy Group; and Rosalind Williford, chief financial officer at Esperanza Health Center. The moderator is Craig Harley, associate director of community wellness and engagement at Penn Medicine Princeton Health.

“Professionals with mental health issues frequently experience prejudice and access issues in the workplace,” reads a release about the conference. “This may involve a lack of workplace modifications, unfavorable attitudes and prejudices, and restricted access to mental health care. Through this panel, attendees will learn how organizations are trying to remove these obstacles and foster more inclusive settings.”

For more information, visit princetonmercer.org.

Question of the Week: “What are you looking forward to this fall?”

(Photos by Charles R. Plohn)

“I’m looking forward to getting to wear my nice purple corduroy blazer in the cool fall weather.”

—D.J. Perry, Lumberton

Tyler: “I am really looking forward to school and to playing soccer.”

Patrick: “I am also looking forward to playing soccer. I’m going into my senior year in high school, so I’m also looking forward to hopefully making a college decision this fall.”

—Patrick and Tyler Shaw, Marlboro

David: “I am looking forward to having a structured schedule where our kids are educated and have a plan from 8 to 5, which allows both my wife and I to rest, and in her case, work. We’re looking forward to the cooler weather and everything that sort of comes with fall. Hopefully, we can come to more Princeton Tigers sporting events and just enjoy being outside kicking a ball.”

—Ellis, David, and Violet Mostafavi, Princeton

Amanda: “I’m looking forward to watching my son play soccer.”

Barbara: “I am looking forward to watching my grandson play soccer.”

Noah: “I am looking forward to playing soccer and having my mom and Nana watch me play!”

—Amanda Gorrie, Barbara Suomi, and Noah Gorrie, all of Princeton

continued from page one America while her grandfather was a physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in the 1930s, but the family returned to China before eventually moving back to America.

“We were coming to the country for the hope and the opportunities that this country is able to offer all people, just like any other immigrant,” she said. “The rest of it was about getting a good education. I’ve always been curious. I’ve always wanted to do things that I don’t yet know, so the more foreign, the more interesting, the more curious I get.”

I was not doing enough. We can do more and we can learn more,” she said, and she realized that it was the special education teachers who must have “more tools and magic in their tool chests.”

She continued, “So I’ve taught the highest performing students, and I’ve also taught kids who have been victimized in many ways by our system, and I’ve enjoyed doing both. It’s really been a wonderful journey, and whether it’s bond analytics, or municipal work, or education, I’ve always had great mentors and great colleagues. I’ve been very lucky and in many ways I feel I’m indebted to our school and our community, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to pay it back and pay it forward.”

Birge described herself as “not the kind of leader who goes ‘rah-rah,’ but a leader who recognizes the talents of my teammates and invites debates. Ultimately we all come together — understanding everybody’s perspectives and building a consensus, with our agreements and disagreements and all working together as an organization.”

Community Invited to Meet

New Temple Micah Rabbi

Rabbi Eli B. Perlman became the new spiritual leader of the Temple Micah in Lawrenceville on July 1. The community will have an opportunity to meet him at the synagogue’s next Shabbat service on Friday evening, September 8, at 7:30 pm. Refreshments will be served after the service.

Perlman comes to Temple Micah after leading Congregation Beit Shalom in Monroe Township since 1995. He has a degree in special education from Rhode Island College and rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Ill. In addition to his religious work, he has many years of experience in the field of information technology.

Visit arminarm.org/volunteer-opportunities to sign up.

For more than four decades Mercer County families have turned to Arm In Arm for essential resources like food and financial support. Formerly known as The Crisis Ministry, Arm In Arm was founded in 1980 by leaders of Nassau Presbyterian Church and Trinity Church in Princeton to help community members who were struggling financially.

Dorothea’s House Scholarships Assist Students From Princeton

Dorothea’s House, the Italian American cultural center at 120 John Street, is supporting 29 college students with a total of $93,000 in scholarships in the 2023-24 academic year.

of his parents, Donato and Mary Borelli, who emigrated to the United States in 1933.

Since 1963, the Dorothea vanDyke McLane Association has awarded more than 700 scholarships.

Current scholarship recipients are pursuing higher education within New Jersey and across the country including at Cornell University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, and the Rhode Island School of Design. The most recent awardees for the future Class of 2027 will attend Raritan Valley Community College, the University of Central Florida, Loyola University (Maryland), Drew University, and the University of Hartford.

very excited to partner with Community Options,” said Bill Harte, Nike mid-Atlantic regional representative. “As a brand we are constantly looking to partner with organizations that not only impact athletes but others in a meaningful way. As Community Options expands its footprint having a positive impact on the community it’s very important Nike is part of that journey. As the number one sports brand in the world it’s critical we look to partner with first class organizations which is why we are so excited to be moving forward with them.”

Birge earned her bachelor of arts degree in history from Bryn Mawr College, and her master of arts in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is working toward a doctoral degree in educational leadership at Rutgers University.

Coming from “an economically starved China,” Birge wanted to understand how economics worked and how financial markets worked, she said, so, early in her career, she became a bond analyst on Wall Street. Then, living in Montgomery Township, she served on the township committee there and then as mayor.

At that point she began her transition into education.

“When my children got into elementary school I looked at how math was taught,” she said. “That’s when I thought that even though I had studied history in college, I figured I could bring my different perspectives on math education to the table and have an opportunity to initiate change. That’s how I got into education.”

Her first job in education was as a leave replacement for one year in the Math Department at PHS in 2012. From there she moved to a math teaching job at an “urban/suburban” school district in North Jersey, and when a Princeton job became available in 2015, she returned.

Birge discussed how working with a number of very challenging students in North Jersey “sealed her commitment to public education” and at the same time prompted her move into special education. “I knew that

She added, “I think that’s my strength. I’m the kind of leader who focuses on actions, and I’m there with my colleagues, with my team.”

Birge went on to emphasize the importance of creating “an inclusive environment where every student feels a sense of belonging,” in an instructional way and also in building social and emotional learning. One new initiative this year, she said, is a learning lab for all freshmen where, instead of a free period, they will have a time to do homework as well as an opportunity to learn executive functioning skills.

Birge, who has three children who have gone through PPS and graduated from PHS and a fourth child who is a PHS senior this year, discussed what she sees as PHS’ greatest strength: the respect for educational excellence throughout the school community.

“I feel that every single teacher carries that pride in being a PHS teacher,” she said. “It enables administrators to help motivate teachers to continue to improve their craft, and our kids also carry that pride. I’m in touch with a number of alumni, and almost universally they say how well prepared they are in college. They know how to handle a college schedule. They know how to select their courses. They know how to engage in conversation with an adult. They know how to do research. All of that is because of the work we do, because of programs designed by teachers here. It’s because of instructions that our teachers have given to our kids.”

—Donald Gilpin

Jewish music is a tradition in Perlman’s family. His father, the late Ivan E. Perlman, was a conservative cantor and served as president of the Cantor’s Assembly of the United Synagogue. One of his brothers is also a rabbi, and two other brothers are cantors. The four Perlman brothers have performed around the country, celebrating their love of Jewish culture, prayers, and music.

Temple Micah is an unaffiliated, egalitarian congregation serving the Jewish community of Central New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania since 1969. For more than 50 years, their spiritual home has been at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville at 2688 Main Street (Route 206) in the village of Lawrenceville. A weekly religious school serves students in kindergarten through grade eight. Visit temple-micah.org for more information.

Arm In Arm Seeking

Volunteers in Trenton

Arm In Arm food and mobile pantries average 3,000-4,000 pantry visits and deliveries per month, to households facing food insecurity. It takes more than 75 volunteers per week to ensure that Arm In Arm can deliver food to those who need it most. The organization needs more volunteers.

“It is our privilege to be able to provide healthy, nutritious food to our neighbors, and we can offer community members no greater gift than to see the impact we are making in the community for themselves,” said Director of Hunger Prevention Cecilia Avila. “When you volunteer you are not only giving a gift to our community, but you are giving yourself a gift by helping others. Every individual makes a difference, even if it’s just an hour.”

Arm In Arm has an urgent need for volunteers to help sign in and register clients, organize and restock inventory, and help pack and distribute food at the Mobile Pantry, 120 East State Street in Trenton, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; at the Food Pantry, 48 Hudson Street in Trenton, on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; and at the Distribution Center at Mill One, 1 North Johnston Avenue, Hamilton, on Mondays from 3-5 p.m. and Thursdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., plus the first and third Fridays of the month.

The Dorothea van Dyke McLane Association scholarship program is open to all students who are permanent residents of Princeton, and who are attending a two-year or four-year college in the United States. Awards are granted on the basis of achievement, character, motivation, and financial need and are subject to renewal throughout the recipient’s undergraduate college career.

In addition, the association gives four special awards: the Frank Clark Award, to a student committed to community service; the Robert Immordino Award, to a student with a deep interest in history; the Anthony Cifelli Award, honoring a longtime board president and one of the original recipients of a Dorothea’s House scholarship; and the Borelli Award, established by Nicholas Borelli in honor

Visit dorotheashouse.org for more information.

Nike Becomes Sponsor Of Cupid’s

Chase 5K Community Options, Inc., a Princeton-based, national nonprofit supporting people with disabilities, announced Nike as a national sponsor for the Cupid’s Chase 5K. Nike will supply all shirts and apparel for Cupid’s Chase, which raises funds and awareness for housing and employment services for people with disabilities.

“On behalf of Nike, we are

The next Cupid’s Chase will be on Saturday, February 10, and will span across 46 cities. This event is expected to attract over 15,000 runners, walkers, and volunteers. Registration for the Princeton race is open at runsignup.com/CupidsChase5KPrinceton.

“Cupid’s Chase has become the most vibrant 5K series in the country,” said Robert Stack, president and CEO of Community Options. “Nike’s influence in sports is unmatched by any organization. We look forward to collaborating with them and using Cupid’s Chase to bring awareness for housing and employment supports for persons with disabilities.”

Cecilia X. Birge

Jim Ferry, Princeton Animal Control Officer, Living in Harmony with Nature and Wildlife

Jim Ferry, Princeton animal control officer (PAC) since 2018, has been training for this job since he was a young boy growing up with his family in the Ozark Mountains in north central Arkansas, where he interacted closely with nature and wildlife almost every day.

His family lived in a wooded area at the end of a threequarter-mile-long driveway. “Growing up in the Ozarks, I believed in being one with nature,” he said. “There is no animal control out in Arkansas, so if you had an issue with an animal on your property or nearby, you had to handle it by yourself.”

He described one of his first ventures into the world of animal control at the age of about 13. “We had two dogs at the time, and one morning they were very interested in the basement door, so I wondered what was down there and I went and investigated,” he said. A cat had gotten into the basement and given birth to a litter of kittens.

“Since my dogs were not exactly cat-friendly, I had to secure them, and then I called over to the veterinary group in town,” he continued. “They said, ‘See if you can get the cat and kittens into a box.’ We couldn’t keep them. My dogs would not allow that.”

Ferry borrowed his father’s welding gloves and easily caught the kittens, but the mother cat was a challenge. “She was still in the basement, so I had to corral her and get her into the cat carrier,” he said. “She put up a bit of a fight, but I eventually got momma cat and the babies over to the vet, and they transferred them to a shelter where they were adopted out. That was a memorable and interesting experience that I handled on my own.”

That was almost 30 years ago, and now, Ferry points out, the most common domestic animal complaint he gets in the PAC office is stray cats and kittens. Late spring to about this time of year is “kitten season” with the a very high possibility of kittens in the wild.

“When I do get a kitten call I pretty much go all out to make sure they are all captured,” he said. “They

need to be weaned off their mom at about 5-7 weeks old, but the sooner you can capture them the better. They’re tricky to catch, but if you can get them all and get them into the shelter while they’re very young, they can be domesticated easily, get all their shots, get a vet checkup, and be adoptable. That’s super-important.”

Ferry went on to discuss some of the tricks of his trade. “I even have a box trick that’s worked well, and it’s straight from Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, with a string and a stick. I can lure them out from under a porch or whatever, and I can catch the entire litter of kittens in one drop. Then I don’t have to keep coming out to capture them one or two at a time.”

Sometimes, he noted, kittens will be hiding in a woodpile or in a dumpster. “And I go dumpster diving for them,” said Ferry. “I put on my knee-high boots and my gloves and go digging for them.”

Ferry has always had multiple animals around the house — dogs, cats, ferrets, hamsters, chickens, guinea hens, and more. “I’ve always understood the importance of pets and the companionship they provide,” he said. “In my opinion, a home is not a home without a dog or two.”

He has also been a hunter for many years. “Growing up in Arkansas, it’s something we did a lot,” he added.

“Fishing as well, though animal control doesn’t really do anything with fish. But while you’re fishing you notice the wildlife around you.”

As the animal control officer for Princeton, Ferry helps to coordinate deer hunting. He noted two big concerns with the large deer population in Princeton: over browsing, which causes severe reduction in the growth of young trees; and car collisions.

Ferry said that the deer population and car collisions with deer have been significantly reduced in the past few years, and he noted that every deer that is harvested is transported to a butcher, processed, then donated to an organization called Hunters Helping the Hungry, which enables deer hunters

Fruit Plant Sale

to donate their animals to food banks in New Jersey.

Last year Princeton hunters donated over 4,000 pounds of venison to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Ferry said, noting, “None of the animals that we harvest are wasted.”

After graduating from high school in Arkansas in 2011, Ferry was looking for a change of scenery from his small town, and he decided to move back to New Jersey, where he had been born — in Trenton — and still had relatives.

In 2004 he started EMT (emergency medical technicians) training and began to work in emergency services and EMT firefighting. In 2007 he was hired by the Princeton Fire and Rescue Squad and at the same time earned his 911 dispatcher and police dispatcher certification. In 2014 he was hired by the Princeton Police Department as a 911 dispatcher.

When the position opened up in 2018, Ferry decided to make a transition to animal control, which is under the oversight of the Health Department. “I went through certification training, and I’ve been here ever since,” he said. “And, I’ve got to tell you, I really do enjoy it.”

In addition to his whole life spent with domestic and wild animals, Ferry noted that his work in emergency services provided him with skills and knowledge that have served him well in his current work. “I’ve been trained to help people get out of situations, whether they have to be cut out of a car after a car crash or they fall down into a confined space,” he said. “I’ve been trained to safely and effectively remove victims from certain situations, and the skills that I’ve learned have rolled over nicely into the animal control profession, [such as] whenever an animal is stuck in a fence or stuck in a soccer goal net — we have a lot of soccer goals here in Princeton, and we get geese or owls or even deer stuck in them.”

One of his most memorable calls concerning an animal entrapment was at the driving range at Springdale Golf Course where a great

horned owl was trapped about 60 feet in the air in the huge net. “I got there and I looked, and I saw his leg was tangled, and his talon was caught in the net. The owl was alive and hanging upside down.”

Ferry called on his friends in the Fire Department, who brought over the ladder truck, and he was able to climb up, release the animal, put it in a cage, lower it down, and transport it to Mercer County Wildlife Center for rehab.

“That’s one of my favorites,” Ferry said. “Owls are amazing creatures. That was pretty neat to be able to put my hands on that animal and get it out of a terrible situation.”

One of the most important facets of Ferry’s job is monitoring the threat of rabies. “I get anywhere from three to seven rabid animals a year, mostly raccoons and an occasional groundhog or skunk or bat,” he said. He has also dealt with one rabid fox in the past five years. Typical duty hours for Ferry are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, but he is on call 24/7, 365 days of the year in case of an emergency.

If there’s any possibility of rabies exposure, like a sick raccoon in someone’s backyard where the family dog might have come into contact, a police officer would probably be sent out to observe the scene if it’s after normal work hours, and then Ferry would be called in to collect the animal for testing and to give guidance to the residents about their dog and whether or not rabies shots are needed.

At this time of year, bats in the house is one of the most frequent calls Ferry responds to. Other common calls might involve sick or injured wildlife and nuisance calls like a dispute between neighbors over a dog that gets loose. Dog bites and other animal bites are also cause for Ferry to respond, investigate, and determine a course of action.

Possible measures could include a 10-day quarantine of the dog for rabies observation and making sure the dog is up-to-date on shots. Ferry occasionally will issue a dog-at-large ticket, usually after a warning, and usually for a dog that repeatedly gets out and runs in traffic.

The new dog park in Princeton is “fantastic,” Ferry says, and provides a space for high-energy dogs

KITTY RESCUE: Saving kittens in the wild, or sometimes even pursuing them into a dumpster, is just one of many different jobs that Princeton Animal Control Officer Jim Ferry performs in a day’s work of caring for Princeton’s residents and its domestic and wild animals. (Photo courtesy of Jim Ferry) that need a place to run.

“We now have an area available for dogs to run freely,” he added. “I’m pretty excited about that. There’s no excuse now for letting your dog run loose anywhere else in town.”

Princeton does have a menacing-dog ordinance designed for dangerous dogs that have bitten multiple people, but Ferry said that he seldom has to issue a summons of that sort. With problematic dogs, he will usually take remedial action such as court-ordered muzzles or behavioral training with a reputable dog trainer with regular progress reports reported back to animal control.

Ferry pointed out that one of the best parts of the animal control job is reuniting a lost pet with its owner. He spoke about a call he received about a small dog on the loose, and when he drove out he found it wandering in the street. “I picked up this cute little white dog,” he said. “It was scared and shaking — clearly a pet.”

The dog had no collar, but before heading to the shelter, Ferry decided to drive around the neighborhood and see if he could find anyone out looking for a dog. “Usually you can tell by their body language,” he said. “They have a frantic walk, and they’re looking around constantly, not just walking for exercise. They’re looking for something.”

Ferry pulled up next to a mother and daughter who had that body language and were walking not far from where he’d picked up the dog. “The little girl must have been 10 or 11 years old,” he continued. “I opened the door to get out, and she looked at me and before I could even say any-

thing, she broke into tears. ‘Did you find my dog?’ she said. ‘Do you have a little white dog?’”

Ferry described the scene. “She was so emotional and relieved and happy,” he recalled. “I popped open my back door where the dog was sitting. It was a cool moment. That was a great feeling. A dog that small is very susceptible to wildlife and traffic. It’s super simple and part of my job, but sometimes the gratification you get from residents makes it all worthwhile for sure.”

On the other hand, Ferry noted that the hardest part of his job is “the realization that many animals don’t make it.” He related how “a lot of times when I go out for an injured animal I do everything I can to free them from the situation they’re in and safely get them over to the wildlife center, but unfortunately the success rate of survival is not great. Sometimes that’s pretty hard, especially when you put a lot of effort and time and energy into the rescue of an animal and it doesn’t make it. The animals that make it are great success stories, but there are also many that don’t.”

Ferry, who lives in Hopewell with his wife and daughter, who turns 3 next week, stressed “the power of mother nature.” He noted, “We try to live in harmony, and I try to do the best I can to be the middleman between residents and nature and wildlife.”

For all animal concerns, call animal control at (609) 924-2728 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. After hours, call the police dispatch at (609) 9212100, and they will notify Ferry.

—Donald Gilpin

Fig Trees Blueberry Plants Blackberry Plants Hardy Kiwi Vines

Eisgruber continued from page one

Eisgruber talked about transformations experienced at Princeton by Maria Ressa, a 1986 graduate and the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Ressa was sitting in the front row for the ceremonies, on campus to discuss her book, How to Stand up to a Dictator, which was assigned summer reading for the students.

Eisgruber pointed out experiences described by Ressa in her book that “were life-changing for Maria. They were transformative. But they were not easy.”

He went on to advise his audience to have the courage to ask for help when they need it and to work to create mutual respect, especially in this “time of intense social conflict.”

He added, “Engaged discussion and passionate argument are essential to a college education. So too are mutual respect and collegial support that allow us to learn and grow together.”

On the theme of transformation, Eisgruber noted, “Transformation is a wonderful thing. It’s also very demanding. It brings worry along with joy, frustration along with happiness. That’s OK; indeed, that is part of what it means to get a great education.”

After the Opening Exercises ceremony, the first-year students took part in the Pre-rade, a mini version the Princeton Reunions P-rade that takes place each spring. Classes for all undergraduates began on Tuesday, September 5.

Summer Programs at Princeton University

Pre-orientation programs at Princeton this summer hosted by the University’s Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity engaged more than 360 first-generation and lowerincome (FLi) students from across the state and around the world.

The Freshman Scholars Institute, Princeton University Preparatory Program, Princeton Summer Journalism Program, and Aspiring Scholars and Professionals program are all designed to support FLi students to, through, and beyond college. The participants include high school students, students from two- and fouryear colleges and universities in New Jersey, and incoming Princeton first-years and transfer students.

“The center’s overarching goal is in our name: access and opportunity,” said senior associate dean of the University and Bloomberg Center Director Khristina Gonzalez, as quoted in a Princeton University Office of Communications press release.

“We are always thinking about new ways to provide mentorship, guidance, and resources to help students achieve their academic, professional, and personal goals.”

—Donald Gilpin

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Center for Anxiety

Expands to Princeton Center for Anxiety will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new location at 16 Chambers Street on September 11.

Center for Anxiety provides outpatient treatment through patient-focused experience accessible to the diverse communities it serves. Established in 2011 by Dr. Ravid H. Rosmarin, a Harvard professor and director at McLean Hospital, the practice has grown from a one-room suite in New York City to seven clinics across New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

Dr. Rachel Paster is clinical site director at the new office in Princeton. She holds a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from William James College, with a certificate in Latino Mental Health. She also earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jennifer Woods, former director of patient experience at Mindful Care, will be based in the Princeton office. She has 14 years in the health tech industry as an operations director and customer experience manager.

The Princeton location, following the model of other offices, will prioritize sameweek intake appointments and provide early morning and evening appointment sessions to accommodate the need for more flexible scheduling. It will also offer concierge-level mental health services through its Echelon program.

and an outdoor semi-private patio. Visit centerforanxiety. org. for details.

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Helicopter Crash

continued from page one

The South Brunswick Police Department worked with the Israeli Consulate and Israeli police to notify Yitzhak’s family. “Chief Raymond Hayducka extends his deepest sympathy to the pilot’s family,” the police said in a statement.

—Anne Levin

Town Provides Updates On Construction Projects

The municipality of Princeton has provided updated information on continuing construction projects in and around town.

The Witherspoon Street Improvements Project continues with storm sewer and sidewalk construction. Traffic will alternate in one lane through the construction area between Leigh Avenue and Green Street.

The Spring Street Garage concrete repairs continue and up to 100 spaces will be unavailable for parking on the upper levels of the garage.

PSE&G’s contractor, Waters & Bugbee, continues to work on gas main replacements on Moore, Valley, and Jefferson. Drivers need to be aware that some roads will be closed and detours will be in place.

Terhune Road will continue to be reduced to one lane of alternating traffi c for storm sewer installation. Complete closures may occur when trenches across the road are being dug. Drivers are urged to abide by the detour signs. Similarly, Snowden Lane will see alternating traffic during the week for installation of storm sewers.

Chambers Street will be subject to periodic closures for delivery of materials to the Graduate Hotel site, and for PSE&G to install transformers in underground vaults for the hotel. Some closures may be for full days.

John Street Alley between Nassau Street and Hulfish Street will be closed the week of September 11 for the installation of a raised crosswalk at the Hulfish Street intersection. There will be no through traffic allowed during the entire week.

Hutchinson Drive’s curb ramps are being reconstructed and the road may be milled later in the week in preparation for paving the week of September 11. Farrand Road is scheduled to be milled and paved the week of September 11, and Stuart Road East during the week of September 18.

The public is encouraged to sign up for Nixle alerts to receive up-to-date information by email or text regarding road closures and detours. Visit localnixle.com/ register to set up alerts. Sign up for the Princeton Weekly Newsletter to learn about construction updates at princetonnj.gov/728/Mayor-and-Council-Newsletter.

STYLE

School Supply Donations Help 268 Princeton Kids

For the past 14 years, the Princeton Human Services Commission, municipal employees, Princeton University, local businesses, organizations, and residents have donated backpacks and school supplies that have benefited many Princeton children. This year, Princeton Human Services was able to provide over 268 students with supplies.

The items were distributed to Princeton Public Schools children entering kindergarten through sixth grade from low-income families with extra backpacks and supplies given to students in need entering higher grades.

“Our 14th Annual Backpack and School Supplies Drive was a huge success this year, thanks to the many donors who contributed,” said Department of Human Services Director Rhodalynn Jones. “This is truly a community effort and it’s great to see people come together to ensure our children have adequate supplies as they start a new school year.”

“Thank you for my backpack. I love it! It’s pink,” said incoming kindergartener Camilla Garcia.

“Human Services has been coordinating this drive for over a decade and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of all our donors and volunteers that help during supplies distribution including our staff Kimberly FigueroaMartinez, Sindy Sandoval, Lailiana Azcuidiaz, and Summer Youth Employment Program staff Kelton Gibbs, Joshua Raymond, Fredy Donis, and Brian Donis,” said Jones.

Princeton Human Services has expressed their thanks to Princeton municipal employees, the Human Services Commission, and the many Princeton residents who made individual donations, with special thanks to Mayor Mark Freda, Princeton Council, Princeton University, W.B. Mason, Acendis Pharma, and the Princeton Police Department for their contributions and ongoing support.

“We look forward to continuing the Backpack and School Supplies Drive next year and providing this service to Princeton families in need,” Jones said.

For more information about Princeton Human Services programs and drives including the Holiday Gift Drive, visit princetonnj.gove/583/ Programs-Drives.

Help Tackle Litter Along Delaware River

BACKPACKS FOR BACK TO SCHOOL: Members of the Princeton Police Department were among those supporting Princeton Human Services’ 14th Annual Backpack and School Supplies Drive. accomplished within their community. Dr. Kothari is the first person outside of the United Kingdom to receive the President’s Medal.

On Saturday, September 16 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., the 6th annual Delaware River Cleanup will take place at locations along the river in Mercer and Hunterdon counties. The Delaware River Greenway Partnership (DRGP) has joined forces with NJ Clean Communities and the New Jersey Parks Service to help tackle litter along the shorelines.

Included are 18 areas, from Holland Township in Hunterdon County to Duck Island at the Abbott Marshlands in Hamilton Township. In addition to shoreline cleanups, there will be one boat-based cleanup as well as the Giving Pond in Bucks County, Pa.

In 2022, volunteers removed more than 250 bags of trash and recycling, over 35 tires, a fiberglass boat, a few bicycles, snorkeling equipment, tubing paddles, TVs, construction debris, flotation devices, and much more.

“The pandemic helped us appreciate our outdoor resources more than ever,” said Alison Sommers-Sayre, executive director of the DRGP. “It’s wonderful to see so many in our community continue to enjoy time along the river — paddling, walking, tubing, biking, bird-watching, or traveling the Delaware River Scenic Byway. With increased use comes the need for increased stewardship, and the annual cleanup is an important way to help.”

Registration is required. Visit delawarerivergreenwaypartnership.org for more information.

Saint Peter’s Physician Earns Major Recognition

Saint Peter’s University Hospital, a member of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, has announced that Dr. Nayan K. Kothari, chief academic officer, has received the Presidential Medal for Excellence in Medical Education from The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE).

RCPE facilitates the professional development of physicians by establishing independent quality standards for health care delivery with its main goal to improve patient care. The President’s Medal is announced once a year by the college to acknowledge the excellent work one has

Kothari’s is the former chairman of the Department of Medicine and former program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Saint Peter’s University Hospital. He is a member of the board of The Society of Bedside Medicine, a global community of physician educators dedicated to bedside teaching and improving physical examination and diagnostic skills. The organization aims to foster a culture of bedside medicine and patientcentered care through deliberate practice and teaching by encouraging innovation in education and research regarding the role of the clinical encounter in 21st century medicine.

Kothari is currently governor of the New Jersey Southern Region of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists.

“During his over 50-year career at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, Dr. Kothari has had enormous impact in many ways, especially in medical education having taught future generations of physicians,” said Leslie D. Hirsch, president and CEO of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System. “As the recipient of the prestigious President’s Medal, Dr. Kothari is highly respected within the international medical community. We are very proud of his many accomplishments.”

Kothari was instrumental in establishing Saint Peter’s Simulation Center for Interprofessional Learning. The Simulation Center promotes the development of a multidisciplinary approach to patient care. Within the Center, physicians, nurses, and other health care personnel participate in supervised, hands-on training in practices and procedures, in dealing with complex and newly introduced protocols that can save lives, and maintenance of certifications.

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Recognizing All Those Who Helped After Abrupt Closure of Princeton Care Center

To the Editor:

This past Friday, September 1, Princeton Care Center on Bunn Drive, the only long-term care facility in Princeton, notified residents and their families and the facility’s staff that the Center was closing that very night, the Friday of a holiday weekend. The 72 residents and their families had a period of hours in which to make other living arrangements; the Center could not make payroll and all employees were being terminated.

Responsibility for the Center and its residents does not lie with the municipality. Despite that fact, many members of the municipal staff, particularly Municipal Administrator Bernie Hvozdovic, Health Officer/Deputy Administrator Jeff Grosser, Chief of Police Jon Bucchere, and a number of other municipal employees, emergency personnel and fire department members spent many, many hours at the Center on Friday assisting in the evacuation of the residents, many of them non-ambulatory. State Sen. Andrew Zwicker also spent many hours at the Center trying to obtain state resources and personnel to help in the evacuation. The last residents left for their new accommodations after 11 p.m. on Friday, as did the municipal staff and volunteers assisting them.

The Municipality of Princeton is so lucky to have such a dedicated and selfless staff and to be represented in the state Senate by a terrific public servant. I believe that this dedication deserves to be widely recognized and I wanted to bring it to your attention.

EVE NIEDERGANG Princeton Councilwoman Witherspoon Street

Writing in Support of Beth Behrend For Reelection to Board of Education

To the Editor:

We wholeheartedly endorse Beth Behrend for reelection to the Board of Education. For many years, we have known Beth to be an effective and tireless community servant as a leader in the Riverside PTO, the Princeton School Gardens Cooperative, the Unitarian Congregation, and the Watershed Institute. In her first two terms on the Board of Education (including three years as board chair, as well as chair of the Long-Term Planning Committee and representative to the Executive Board of the Garden State Coalition of Schools) she has continued to prove her extraordinary abilities. She sees the big picture, listens with an open mind, makes decisions objectively, and above all stays focused on serving our community’s children.

During Beth’s tenure, the Board of Education has delivered strong results for Princeton’s schools and taxpayers, even while facing the unprecedented conditions of the past three years. For example, Princeton Public Schools now boasts a districtwide free pre-K and a successful early literacy program. The district has a one-to-one technology program, which has leveled the playing field for students of all means and brought 21st-century best practices into the classroom. It has collaborative labor relations and continues to attract talented teachers and administrators. Earlier this year, it adopted a new studentcentered strategic plan with measurable goals to continue to improve academic achievement and student wellness.

Beth has focused her Board service on fiscal leadership and facilities planning. Princeton Public Schools now has a multi-year priority-based transparent budgeting process and a new, highly effective business administrator. The district’s

finances have been stabilized through finding cost-savings, building reserves, and securing financial support from community partners, such as Princeton University. The district has passed and successfully implemented two facilities referenda, resulting in new classrooms, HVAC and security upgrades, other essential repairs, and energy-efficient schools. A fiveyear Sustainability Master Plan is under execution.

Princeton Public Schools are facing many challenges, including projected population growth and post-pandemic mental health needs and attendance lags. There are important efforts underway, such as the implementation of the recommendations set forth in the 2021 Special Education Report, continued development of K-12 racial literacy curricula, and review of the K-12 math curriculum. We recommend voting for steady hands and proven leadership on November 7, and Beth fits the bill.

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.

Books

Farminary Poetry Reading

To Celebrate Soil and Light

Princeton Theological Seminary and EcoTheo Collective will celebrate poetry of the soil and light at a free event, for which registration is required, on Friday, September 15 at 7 p.m. at The Farminary, 4200 Princeton Pike.

beyond the garden. Taylor is a nationally known critic; she has spent 10 years as the poetry reviewer for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered . She is currently on the faculty of Ashland University’s low residency master of fine arts program.

Both Dungy’s and Taylor’s recent books will be available to purchase at the reading.

Also appearing will be Jason Myers, author of Maker of Heaven & (Belle Point Press) and A Place for the Genuine (Eerdmans). He serves as editor-in-chief of EcoTheo Review and a curate at Holy Family HTX Episcopal Church.

There is limited parking at the Farminary. Attendees are encouraged to park close to the Seminary campus, and take a free shuttle directly to the Farminary. Pick up will take place at the Erdman Center roundabout (20 Library Place), starting at 6:30 p.m., and running every 15 minutes.

through linked narratives rendered in different literary styles that in 2022 received the Kirkus Prize, was longlisted for the Booker Prize, was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and Time magazine, and was one of The New Yorker’s 12 Essential Reads of the Year. Translated into more than 30 languages, Trust is being developed as a limited series for HBO. Diaz’s previous novel , In the Distance , was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and it won the William Saroyan International Prize.

the position. Hart is actively involved in the British Society for the History of Mathematics and served as its president from 2021-2023. For more information, visit arts.princeton.edu

Second Sunday Poetry Reading at Princeton Makes

Princeton Makes, a Princeton-based artist cooperative, and Ragged Sky Press, a local publisher focused on poetry, will host a Second Sunday Poetry Reading on Sunday, September 10 at 4 p.m. The readings will take place at the Princeton Makes store in the Princeton Shopping Center.

The September reading will feature Anna M. Evans and Nicole Caruso Garcia. Their readings will be followed by an open mic available to up to 10 audience members who would like to read their original poetry.

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She currently teaches at West Windsor Art Center and Rowan College at Burlington County. Her collection, Under Dark Waters: Surviving the Titanic , is available from Able Muse Press, and her sonnet collection, Sisters & Courtesans , is available from White Violet Press. Her website is annamevans.com.

Garcia’s full-length debut Oxblood (Able Muse Press) recently received the International Book Award for narrative poetry. Her work appears in Best New Poets, Light, Mezzo Cammin, ONE ART, Plume, Rattle, RHINO, and elsewhere. She serves as associate poetry editor at Able Muse and as an executive board member at Poetry by the Sea, an annual poetry conference in Madison,

Conn. Visit her at nicolecarusogarcia.com.

Princeton Makes is a cooperative comprised of 35 local artists who work across a range of artistic genres, including painting, drawing, stained glass, 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.

Ragged Sky is a small, highly selective cooperative press that has historically focused on mature voices, overlooked poets, and women’s perspectives. For more information, visit princetonmakes.com.

The event features Camille T. Dungy, whose latest book, Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden , revels in the pleasures and vexations of tending the earth, while bringing to light the traumas and overlooked qualities of gardening while Black. She shows us how careful attention to what grows, and how we accompany flourishing, might yield not just delicious and delightful gardens, but good theology.

In Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens & the Hands That Tend Them , celebrated poet and avid gardener Tess Taylor, also featured, has assembled the brightest voices in contemporary poetry to sing of flowers and failures in and beyond the garden.

Dungy is the author of four collections of poetry, including Trophic Cascade (Wesleyan University Press 2017), winner of the Colorado Book Award. She is also the author of the essay Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood and History (W.W. Norton 2017), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, her honors include NEA Fellowships in poetry (2003) and prose (2018), an American Book Award, two NAACP Image Award nominations, and two Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominations. Dungy’s poems have been published in Best American Poetry, The 100 Best African American Poems, the Pushcart Anthology, Best American Travel Writing, and more than 30 anthologies. She is University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University.

Taylor’s poems have received wide national and international acclaim. The author of four collections, her most recent, Rift Zone was hailed by Stephanie Danler as “brilliant” in The Los Angeles Times , and Naomi Shihab Nye called it “stunning” in The New York Times. Rift Zone was also named one of the best books of 2020 by The Boston Globe In her new book, Leaning Toward Light, Taylor has assembled the brightest voices in contemporary poetry — including Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Ada Limon, Ross Gay, and Padraig O Tuama — to sing of flowers and failures in and

Register for free tickets at bit.ly/poetsonthefarm.

Atelier@Large Series

Opens with Diaz, Hart

This year’s Atelier@Large series at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University opens with a conversation between Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hernan Diaz and mathematician Sarah Hart, moderated by Paul Muldoon, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Princeton University professor.

Evans gained her MFA from Bennington College and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Artists’ Colony and the

Sarah Hart

A pure mathematician, Hart is the author of Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections between Mathematics and Literature (Macmillan, 2023). The Times (U.K.) calls O nce Upon a Prime as “a joyful romp through the fascinating twinned history of maths and literature.”

When promoted in 2013 to full professor of mathematics at Birkbeck College at University of London, Hart became the youngest STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) professor at Birkbeck, its first ever female mathematics professor, and one of only five female mathematics professors under the age of 40 in the United Kingdom. Educated at Oxford and Manchester, Hart currently holds the Gresham Professorship of Geometry, the oldest mathematics chair in the United Kingdom, and is the first woman ever to hold

SEPTEMBER

The event is on Tuesday, September 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium on the Princeton University campus. Admission is free and open to the public, however advance tickets are required, available through the University ticketing website, tickets.princeton. edu, or at the Frist Campus Center ticket office. This year’s series is cosponsored by Labyrinth Books.

Now in its third year, the Atelier@Large is a series of conversations on “art-making in a vexed era,” bringing guest artists and thinkers to campus to discuss the challenges they face in making art in the modern world.

“Being an artist is tough enough at the best of times,” said Muldoon, “but it’s particularly difficult just now. Artists are coming under pressure from numerous orthodoxies, to both left and right, as to what they must or must not do. Most insidious, perhaps, is the form of self-censorship that has artists second guessing themselves. In addition to honoring some of our finest minds, The Atelier@ Large series provides a rare enough forum in which some of these ideas may be aired.”

Diaz is the author of Trust, a novel that explores family, wealth and ambition

Camille T. Dungy

Hernan Diaz

(Photo by Pascal Perich)

“Songs

Now I will do nothing but listen,

To accrue what I hear into this song

—Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

It’s broad daylight, I’m driving in rush hour traffic, and my eyes are tearing up because of a song called “Sleeping” from the Band’s third album, Stage Fright (1970). In his liner notes, Rob Bowman calls it “a gorgeous ballad” that Richard Manuel co-wrote with Robbie Robertson. But “gorgeous” doesn’t do it justice, nor does PopShifter’s Paul Casey when he calls it a “desperately sad song,” Manuel’s goodbye to the Band “and Robbie’s goodbye to his friend,” who died in Florida 16 years later by his own hand. Casey finds it “hard to separate Richard’s bad end from the songs he worked on,” and this one “was the end of the line, and addresses the oncoming void openly.”

That dark reading misses the emotional and poetical magnitude of the song. My excuse for turning to Walt Whitman at this point is that while reading Leaves of Grass and listening to Stage Fright late the other night, I sensed that Walt must have had “Sleeping” in mind when writing section 26 from Song of Myself, with its reference to the violoncello as “the young man’s heart’s complaint” and to the way the “key’d cornet ... shakes mad-sweet pangs through my belly and breast” while the orchestra “wrenches such ardors from me I did not know I possessed them.”

For further evidence of Whitman’s across-the-centuries insights, listen to “Sleeping” and then read 26 from the top — “Now I will do nothing but listen, / To accrue what I hear into this song, to let sounds contribute toward it,” such as “the sound I love, the sound of the human voice ... all sounds running together, combined, fused or following, / Sounds of the city and sounds out of the city, sounds of the day and night.” And after a Whitmanesque litany of “death sentences” and “stevedores,” “alarm bells” and “steam whistles,” he delivers a stunning denouement: “I am cut by bitter and angry hail, I lose my breath” and “Steep’d amid honeyed morphine, my windpipe throttled in fakes of death, / At length let up again to feel the puzzle of puzzles, / And that we call Being.”

Surely there’s room for the story of the Band among the puzzles in Whitman’s “Being,” and in view of the drug-driven destinies of the song’s singer/composer Manuel, bassist/singer Rick Danko, and drummer/singer Levon Helm, the reference to “honeyed morphine” and “fakes of death” is chilling.

of Ourselves” — The Band and Walt Whitman

A Dangerous Album

Quoted in Bowman’s liner notes to Stage Fright, the Band’s primary writer, spokesman, and lead guitarist Robertson is talking about sudden wealth and fame when he says, “Something comes into your life that’s unfamiliar and it surprises you and you react in a way that surprises you. When this is translated into music, sometimes it can be your best work,” which is why “there is something more dangerous, more helpless, and more vulnerable in this record.... To have the nerve to write ‘The Shape I’m In,’ to have the nerve to write ‘Stage Fright,’ to have the frame of mind to write a song about selling your soul for music, to write ‘Daniel and the Sacred Harp,’ to talk about this reflection of yourself in ‘The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show,’ “and to think that “this is really the origin of this music, that this is really where you’re coming from, this combination of carnival and musicality,” and “then to look around and see people nodding out” even while you’re “writing a song with Richard called ‘Sleeping’ is incredibly confessional.”

“Untranslatable”

“Sleeping” begins as a sweetly melancholy waltz: “For the life we chose in the evening we rose just long enough to be lovers again.” You can dance to that line even if you never waltzed in your life. Same for the next line: “And for nothing more, the

world was too sore to live in.” The words are Robertson’s, the melody by Manuel, who crafted, as Bowman puts it, “an elaborately developed piano part,” moving “between 12/8 and 3/4.” Above all, it’s Manuel’s singing that takes your heart and, as Walt might say, “wrenches ardors” from you that you did not know you could feel, as when he sings, “Sad old ships, a morning eclipse, I spent my whole life guessing. Then I turned from the sun, and saw everyone searching.”

The tenderness with which Manuel sings the line “I spent my whole life guessing” — which becomes all the more moving as “I spend my whole life sleeping” in subsequent verses — creates an emotional absolute that William Wordsworth phrased for the ages in the line “thoughts that do lie too deep for tears.” But then listen to Manuel sing the upbeat chorus, “We can leave all this hate before it’s too late. Why would we want to come back at all?”

The emotion Manuel brings to that line is, as Whitman might say “untranslatable.”

And the poet who wrote “All goes upward and outward, nothing collapses” would smile and close his eyes to savor the closing chorus: “The shepherd and his sheep, will wind you to sleep / Where else on earth would you wanna go? / To a land of wonder, when you go under / Why would we want to come back at all?”

That’s the ending of the song one listener reads as addressing “the oncoming void openly.” Let Whitman say it, from

Tomato Patch 2023

section 6 of Song of Myself : “there really is no death, / And if there ever was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, / And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.” Section 6 ends: “And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” That last prosy turn is as naive as the shout of a kid on a playground. Blogging

The childlike “and luckier” evokes the generally simple, heartfelt comments accruing to the online “Song of Ourselves” that is YouTube, where everything and everyone, living or dead, is available 24/7. What follows is a hasty, shoot-from-the-hip sampling of lines from “Song of Myself” suited to inhabitants of the Band’s “land of wonder: from section 2: “You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.” Or from 3: “I and this mystery here we stand.” Or 4, which opens: “Trippers and askers surround me.” Or 8: “What living and varied speech is always vibrating here, what howls restrained by decorum.” After that cue to Allen Ginsberg, this from 15: “And these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them, / And such as it is to be of these more or less I am, / And of these one and all I weave the song of myself.”

Time to Yawp!

The prospect of lands of wonder brings to mind the upcoming 20th annual marathon reading of Song of Myself 3-6 p.m. Sunday at the Granite Prospect in Brooklyn Bridge Park. In the final, 52nd section, one of Walt’s most famous lines arrives on the wings of the spotted hawk that swoops by to complain of his “gab and loitering”: “I too am not a bit tamed — I too am untranslatable; / I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

As is the custom, readers invited to Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1, by the Walt Whitman Initiative (WWI) are called on to “yawp” one of the “52 all-embracing sections of Whitman’s epic (“Make it your own ‘Song of Myself!’).” Past participants have recited their passages in costume, in other languages, to music, in dramatic performance, by heart, with lassos, and in yoga positions. Readers are apparently still being recruited for this year’s event. For more information, contact songofmyselfmarathon@gmail.com.

According to Michael Robertson, author of Worshipping Walt , the events “are always joyous enactments of Walt Whitman’s central values: democracy, equality, diversity, and the pleasures of reading poetry in the open air (at least when weather permits).”

—Stuart Mitchner

Tomato Patch 2023

Summer Workshops

Performing Arts

IMPROVISING AND INTERACTING: That’s what Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood do in “Scared Scriptless,” coming to the State Theatre New Jersey, 15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, on Saturday, September 16 at 8 p.m. The duo team has been a success on Comedy Central and “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and they include a lot of audience participation in their show. For more information and tickets, visit stnj.org.

CELTIC AND MORE: On Friday, September 15 at 8 p.m., the Princeton Folk Music Society presents Castlebay, its first concert of the 2023-24 season. Live at Christ Congregation Church and also livestreamed, the duo of Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee weave together the music of New England and the Celtic lands on Celtic harp, guitar, fiddle, and tin whistle. The church is at 50 Walnut Lane. Tickets are $5-$25. Masks are required. Visit princetonfolk.org for more information. (Photo courtesy of Castlebay@Castlebay)

George Street Playhouse

Announces New Season

George Street Playhouse of New Brunswick has announced its schedule for the 2023-2024 season. The theater is located at 9 Livingston Avenue.

First up is The Pianist , which has been directed and adapted for the stage by Emily Mann. It is based on the book The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman and has an original score by Iris Hand. Dates are September 26-October 22.

Mann’s play Having Our Say , which is directed by Laiona Michelle, is on stage

from November 28-December 17. Next is Ibsen’s Ghost , by Charles Busch, directed by Carl Andress, January 16-February 4. The Club by Chris Bohjalian and directed by David Saint, runs February 27-March 17. The season concludes with Tick, Tick Boom!, April 23-May 19. Book, music, and lyrics are by Jonathan Larson.

For tickets and specific dates, visit georgestreetplayhouse.org.

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ACP Presents “Our Knowledge Is Power” Photography Exhibit

The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) will present “Our Knowledge is Power: The Cultures of Beauty and Survival in Isle de Jean Charles, LA and Shishmaref, AK,” an exhibition of powerful photography by Chantel Comardelle and Dennis Davis, September 9 through September 30 in the Taplin Gallery. An opening reception is on Saturday, September 9 from 3-5 p.m.

On Friday, September 22 from 4-7 p.m., the ACP and Princeton University’s High Meadows Environmental Institute will host Comardelle and Davis in person for an artist talk in the Taplin Gallery. The evening will include a film screening of Preserving our Place: Our Knowledge is Power, a 13-minute film — directed by Jeremy Lavoi and produced by Comardelle, Davis, and Elizabeth Marino — sponsored by NSF Award #1929145: Adaptations to

Repetitive Flooding: Understanding Cross Cultural and Legal Possibilities for Long Term Flooding Risks.

An ACP release notes that on Kigiqtamiut Inupiat and Jean Charles Choctaw Nation lands, the earth, the ocean, the rivers, the animals, and the people are an interconnected system that have survived since time immemorial. Elder knowledge, an intimate understanding of nature and weather cycles, and traditions of food gathering have allowed

Kigiqtamiut and Jean Charles Choctaw Nation people to live through extreme changes on the coast, changes in social life, and the attempted genocide of Indigenous people throughout North America. These two Indigenous communities now stand on the edge of a climate crisis.

However, village life in Shishmaref, in Kigiqtamiut lands, and Isle de Jean Charles is also hard. Shishmaref lacks running water and other basic health infrastructure that most people in the U.S. take for granted.

Isle de Jean Charles struggles with frequent instances of water contamination and risk of Naegleria fowleri, which render the water unusable. For both villages, economic opportunities are limited and the struggle to make ends meet is real.

Added to these challenges now are flooding and erosion, disasters brought on by relative sea level rise and climate change. Aid to relocate communities and protect lifeways has not been forthcoming and the communities face the real challenge of having homes and land washed away.

Davis and Comardelle have partnered to create a multimedia exhibit showcasing the beauty of culture and the price of the climate crisis.

“We are really excited to share our tribes’ stories with the Princeton community,” said Comardelle. “Through this exhibit, we hope that people learn and develop new perspectives on climate change and frontline communities, because now is the time to act and support us as we preserve our communities before they are swallowed into the water.”

Also on view in the ACP’s Paul Robeson Center for the Arts are

“A Place Called Flourish,” a multidisciplinary solo exhibit by artist Tasha Branham, and “Art Quest: Search for Expression,” mixed-media collage work created by the students of artist and ACP instructor Donna Payton.

The ACP is located at 102 Witherspoon Street, and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit artscouncilofprinceton.org.

“Mindscapes Unveiled” Exhibit

At Lewis Center for the Arts

Princeton’s Ida B. Wells

Just Data Lab in collaboration with the Lewis Center for the Arts will present “Mindscapes Unveiled,” an exhibition by the Lab’s 2022-23 Artist-inResidence Chanika Svetvilas. The exhibition is a culmination of Svetvilas’ year-long project, “Anonymous Was the Data,” which uplifts the individual lived experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have a mental health difference or condition through mapping their survey data about healthcare access and stigma.

The work will be on view September 8 through 28 in the Hurley Gallery at the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. A talk with the artist and opening reception will be held September 14 with a virtual panel discussion on September 21. The exhibition centers accessibility and a range of access services will be provided. All events are free and open to the public.

“Mindscapes Unveiled” features the project, “Anonymous Was the Data,” which utilizes collected survey data to determine the shape of 3D printed prescription bottle hybrid forms. The exhibition also includes drawings, video, sculpture, and mixed media works.

“This exhibition is dedicated to the Princeton student

lives that were lost to suicide in recent years,” said Svetvilas. “I also wanted to acknowledge the vast diversity of the Asian American population by affirming individual voices through a multimedia approach rather than making generalized conclusions from data.”

Svetvilas will discuss her work on September 14 beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the CoLab in the arts complex followed by a reception in the Hurley Gallery at 5:45 p.m.

A virtual panel discussion — Fusion of Minds: Art, Data, and Collaboration — about the “Anonymous Was the Data” project, will be presented via Zoom on September 21 at 7 p.m. and will include two project participants, Eileen Ramos and Grace Zhao; research associates, Julia Chou and Hannah Shin; and Svetvilas; and will be moderated by Jennifer Lee, founder and executive director of the Asian Americans with Disabilities Initiative.

Among the services to be provided to assure the exhibition is accessible and inclusive include audio descriptions of the work; sculptures that can be touched; video works that are captioned; docents available to help guide visitors through the exhibition; and some of the drawings will be interpreted as relief prints that can be touched. The Hurley Gallery is wheelchair accessible via elevator to the mezzanine level of the arts complex. A virtual exhibition will be available online for those who are unable to visit the exhibition in person at chanikasvetvilas. com/anonymous-was-thedata. The artist’s talk will be live captioned. The virtual panel discussion will feature American sign language (ASL) interpretation. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week prior to the event date.

Svetvilas is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker whose practice focuses on mental health difference. Her work uses personal narratives as a way to challenge stereotypes in contemporary society and to create safe spaces. She has presented her work at the College Art Association Conference, the Society for Disability Studies Annual Conference, and the Pacifi c International Conference on Disability and Diversity.

For more information, visit arts.princeton.edu.

WATER”: This photograph by Dennis Davis is featured in “Our Knowledge is Power: The Cultures of Beauty and Survival in Isle de Jean Charles, LA and Shishmaref, AK,” his joint exhibition with Chantel Comardelle, on view at the Arts Council of Princeton September 9 through September 30. An opening reception is on Saturday, September 9 from 3-5 p.m.

“MINDSCAPES UNVEILED”: Shown is one of the 3D printed prescription bottle hybrid forms that will be featured in Chanika Svetvilas’ exhibition at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University September 8-28.

(Courtesy of Chanika Svetvilas)

LYDIA & JOHAN PFEIFFER

LINDSEY & STEPHEN FORDEN

LYNNE & JOE KOSSOW

TINA & DANIEL MOTTO

ANDREA & CHRISTOPHER MECRAY

JESS & TED DEUTSCH

PRINCETON FLU SHOT CLINICS

Hosted by PSRC, Wegmans, and Princeton Health Department

Thursday, September 7, 4:00–6:00 p.m. at Princeton United Methodist Church, 7 Vandeventer Ave. (Walk-in only)

VACCINE NAVIGATORS

Monday, September 11, 1:00–3:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 30 Green St. (parking available at YWCA) Register with Wegmans at https://tinyurl.com/36p4wzy4

Thursday, September 21, 4:00–6:00 p.m. at La Mexicana, 150 Witherspoon St. (Walk-in only)

Thursday, September 28, 3:00–5:00 p.m. at PSRC, Suzanne Patterson Building, 45 Stockton St. Register with Wegmans at https://tinyurl.com/2p8hbxhu

Health Insurance Information:

If you have health insurance, you need to bring all your insurance cards/information to receive the influenza vaccine (prescription and health insurance, including all up-to-date Medicare Part B information.) Uninsured Princeton residents will receive the influenza vaccine at no cost.

Town Topics Young Princetonians

VOTE NOW FOR YO u R FAVORITES !

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

DINING

Al Fresco

Appetizers

Bagel

Bakery

Bar

Burger

Breakfast Sandwich

Caterer

Cheese

Chocolatier

Deli

Farmers Market

Gluten-Free Option

Happy Hour

Ice Cream

Italian Restaurant

Lunch Break

Mexican Restaurant

Pizza

Plant-Based Dish

Seafood Restaurant

Soup

Sushi

Takeout Meals

Vegetarian Restaurant

Wings

FITNESS

Gym

HIIT Class

Physical Therapist

Pilates

Spin Class

Trainer

Yoga

Zumba

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Acupuncture

Barber Shop

Chiropractor

Cosmetic Dentistry

Dentist/Prosthodontist

Dermatologist

ENT Hair Salon

Hair Color/Highlight Stylist

Hospital

Massage

Med Spa/Botox

Nail Salon

Ob/Gyn

Optometrist/Ophthalmologist

Orthodontist

Orthopedist

Pharmacy

Plastic Surgeon

Podiatrist

Spa

Senior Care

Speciality Medicine

HOME & REAL ESTATE

Architect

Electrician

Furniture Store

Granite & Marble Store

Home Stager

HVAC

Interior Designer

Kitchen/Bath Designer

Landscape Designer

Nursery/Garden Center

Organic Lawn Care

Outdoor Furnishing Store

Painter

Plumber

Pool Services

Realtor

Roofing

Senior Living

Tree Service

KIDS

After-School Program

Camp

Child Care/Preschool

Children’s Gym

Children’s Dance Lessons

Children’s Martial Arts

Children’s Party Place

Children’s Photographer

Children’s Swim Lessons

Kid-Friendly Restaurant

Pediatrician

Toy Store

Tutoring

RETAIL

Antique Shop

Florist

Bike Shop

Men’s Shop

Pet Supply

Shoe Store

Speciality/Gift Store

Women’s Boutique

SERVICES

Accountant

Animal Boarding/Daycare

Attorney-Lawyer

Auto Detailing

Auto Shop/Mechanic

Car Service/Limo

Cleaners

Financial Advisor/Planner

Grocery Store

Pet Groomer

Pet Sitter/Dog Walker

Pet Training

Veterinarian

MISC.

Adult Classes

Arts Festival

Group Outing

Hidden Gem

Live Music Venue

New Business

Night Out

Summer Day Trip

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS S E p TEM b ER 13

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

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

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

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

If yes, submit your email address here:

“A Photographic Salon,” that will feature works in all photographic styles and approaches: landscapes, animals, flora, abstracts, black and white, color, and infrared. The exhibit highlights the individual styles and photographic approaches of 14 artists. It will be laid out in salon style, so the viewer will move through an ongoing mixture of images and subjects.

The exhibit is on view from September 9 through October 1, and will be included in the Annual Hopewell Tour des Arts on September 30 and October 1. A Meet the Artists reception is on September 10 from 1-3 p.m.

“I always enjoy and look forward to a salon show because of the variety of artistic work,” said member/ curator Charles Miller. “It really gives the viewer a chance to see and understand the full range of the art form.”

About Art: Contemporary Photographers Look at Old Master Paintings” through November 5. artmuseum. princeton.edu.

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

Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography, 14 Mercer Street, Hopewell, has “A Photographic Salon” September 9 through October 1. An artists’ reception is on September 10 from 1-3 p.m. gallery14.org.

Gourgaud Gallery, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, has “Water, Woods, and Wonder” through September 28. An reception is on September 17 from 1-3 p.m. cranburyartscouncil.org.

and Work of the Johnson Family” through the end of 2024, among other exhibits. groundsforsculpture.org.

Historical Society of Princeton, Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road, has “Einstein Salon and Innovator’s Gallery,” “Princeton’s Portrait,” and other exhibits. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m., Thursday to 7 p.m. princetonhistory.org.

Michener Art Museum, 138 South Pine Street, Doylestown, Pa., has “Sarah Kaizar: Rare Air” through November 5 and “Never Broken: Visualizing Lenape Histories” September 9 through January 14. michenerartmuseum.org

Surreal Paintings About Mental Health” through October 15 in the second floor Reading Room. princetonlibrary.org.

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

Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, has “Flore Organic Botanics” through October 3. Watercolors by Mia Yashin are at the 254 Nassau Street location through October 3. smallworldcoffee.com.

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

“Water, Woods, and Wonder”

Now at Gourgaud Gallery

“FOX ON CROSSWICKS CREEK”: This painting by Margaret Simpson is part of “Water, Woods, and Wonder,” on view at the Gourgaud Gallery in Cranbury through September 28. An opening reception is on September 17 from 1-3 p.m. scenes. There are paintings of woods, with marsh and wildlife prominently displayed. Birds and sky are a reoccurring theme contributing to the wonder aspect of the exhibit. Her paintings evoke a feeling of calm and depict nature’s beauty with muted, transparent glazes, a technique that provides for subtle nuances in color.

Gourgaud Gallery, located in Cranbury Town Hall, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, presents “Water, Woods, and Wonder” by local artist Margaret Simpson through September 28. An opening reception is on Sunday, September 17 from 1-3 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Simpson is an award-winning artist who exhibits at local venues from Phillips’ Mill in New Hope, Pa., to D&R Greenway in Princeton, and south to the Jersey shore. She teaches Art of Watercolors weekly at the West Windsor Senior Center. In addition, she has led several “Art in the Marsh” sessions for Friends for the Abbott Marshlands and serves on their executive board.

“Water, Woods, and Wonder” provides a window into the artist’s sources of inspiration. While hiking the many wooded trails of the area, she takes scenic photos. The exhibit combines her love of nature with watercolor painting. Simpson’s landscape paintings portray the Delaware River and estuary, the Delaware Bay, and several ocean and beach

As part of a nonprofit Cranbury Arts Council, the Gourgaud Gallery donates 20 percent of art sales to the Cranbury Arts Council and its programs that support the arts in the community. Cash or a check made out to the artist is accepted as payment.

The Cranbury Arts Council provides arts-oriented programs, workshops, and performances aimed at enriching the cultural experiences of the community and keeping the creative spirit alive in adults and children. Their mission is to foster, support, educate, inspire, and promote artists and art appreciation in the community.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, visit cranburyartscouncil.com.

The exhibit will feature works by all of the member artists: Alina MarinBliach, West Windsor; John Clarke, Pennington; Alice Grebanier, Branchburg; Larry Parsons, Princeton; Charles Miller, Ringoes; “Dutch” Bagley, Elkins Park, Pa.; Martin Schwartz, East Windsor; Joel Blum, East Windsor; John Strintzinger, Elkins Park, Pa.; Mary Leck, Kendall Park; Barbara Warren, Yardley, Pa.; David Ackerman, Hopewell; Scott Hoerl, Yardley, Pa.; and Bennett Povlov, Elkins Park, Pa.

Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography is located at 14 Mercer Street in Hopewell. It is open on Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. or by appointment with email to galleryfourteen@yahoo. com. For more information, visit gallery14.org.

Area Exhibits

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

Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, has “Here and There” September 7 through October 1. An opening reception is on September 9 from 4-7 p.m. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. lambertvillearts.com.

Art on Hulfish, 11 Hulfish Street, has “Art

Grounds For Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, has “Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits” and “Spiral Q: The Parade” through January 7 and “That’s Worth Celebrating: The Life

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

Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, has “Everything’s Fine:

West Windsor Arts Center, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor, has “Ode to New Jersey Art Show” through October 28. An opening reception is on September 8 from 7-8:30 p.m. westwindsorarts.org.

“A Photographic Salon” At Gallery 14 in Hopewell To open its 2023-24 season, Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography presents a special members exhibit,

“I DREAM OF FREEDOM”: This work by Barbara Warren is featured in “A Photographic Salon,” a members exhibit on view at Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography in Hopewell September 9 through October 1. A Meet the Artists reception is on Sunday, September 10 from 1-3 p.m.

Mark Your Calendar TOWN TOPICS

Wednesday, September 6

11 a.m.-3 p.m.: Princeton University Farmers’ Market at Firestone Library/Chapel Plaza. Catalina Empanadas, The Granola Bar, Judith’s Desserts, Little Star Foods, Terhune Orchards, and more. Pumarket@princeton.edu.

7-8:30 p.m .: “Memories of the Hopewell Quarry: Stones to Swimming,” with Doug Dixon, at Hopewell Presbyterian Church, 80 West Broad Street, Hopewell. Talk illustrated with historical photos, videos, newspaper clippings. Redlibrary.org.

Thursday, September 7

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

10 a.m .: The 55-Plus Club meets at the Jewish Center of Princeton, 435 Nassau Street. Allen C. Guelzo, Princeton University professor, speaks on “Lincoln and the Economics of Democracy.” In person and online. Free. Visit Princetonol.com/groups/55plus.

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m .: The Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber holds its monthly membership luncheon at Princeton Marriott at Forrestal, 100 College Road East. Guest speaker is Landon Jones, author and former managing editor of People magazine. Princetonmercer.org.

5-8 p.m .: Nassau Street Sampler, at Dillon Gym, Art on Hulfish, and Art@Bainbridge, sponsored by the Princeton University Art Museum. Art-making, raffles, music, food, and more. Artmuseum.princeton.edu.

6:30 p.m .: “Princeton, The Nation’s Capital: 1783,” illustrated talk by Barry Singer at Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road. Princetonhistory.org.

7 p.m .: Food writer and historian Becky Libourel Diamond talks about her book The Gilded Age Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from America’s Golden Era Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibrary.org.

Friday, September 8

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

8 p.m .: Evening Moth Survey at Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve, Mountain Avenue. Led by Patrick Natale, assistant professor of biology at Mercer County Community College. Presented by Friends of Princeton Open Space. Fopos.org.

Saturday, September 9

7 a.m.-2 p.m .: Sourland Spectacular, at the Watershed Institute, 31 Titus Mill Road, Pennington. Bike ride to raise funds for saving the Sourlands, with pre-event coffee and breakfast, lunch, sundaes, and more. Sourlandspectacular.com.

8 a.m.-1 p.m.: Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society flea market and mum sale, at Benjamin Temple House, 27 Federal City Road. Info@etps.org.

9 a.m.-1 p.m.: West Windsor Community Farmers’ Market, Vaughn lot of the Princeton Junction train station, 877 Alexander Road. Fresh produce, seafood, poultry, pastured eggs, cheese, baked goods, and more. Entertainment by Roohaniyat Bollywood. Westwindsorfarmersmarket.org.

9 a.m.-1 p.m.: The Witherspoon-Jackson Development Corporation will update the community on the

organization’s activities and on home ownership information and opportunities at the Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood Association Meeting at the Arts Council of Princeton, Paul Robeson Place.

9 a.m.-3 p.m .: New Jersey State Button Society Fall Show and Competition, Union Fire Company and Rescue Squad fire hall, 1396 River Road, Titusville. Free. Newjerseystatebuttonsociety.com.

9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m .: “Stop and Chop” volunteer session sponsored by Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) at Billy Johnson Nature Preserve, Mountain Avenue. Volunteers work with FOPOS stewards to help remove invasive species. Fopos.org.

10 a.m.-2 p.m .: The Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) hosts a joint Heritage Month celebration and health fair at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 151 Warren Street, Trenton. Free food, prizes, vaccines, testing, screening, mental health services, and more. Niotprinceton.org.

11 a.m. and 2 p.m .: Afternoon Tea Service with The Secret Tea Room at Morven Museum, 55 Stockton Street. Tea, scones, pastries, sandwiches, and

SEPTEMBER

complementary docent-led tours of the first floor. For ages 13 and up. $85 ($75 for members). Morven.org.

12-5 p.m.: Winery Weekend Music Series at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Mark Miklos performs; wine and light fare available. Groups over 8 require reservations. Also, Barn Art Show and Sale at 12 p.m. Terhuneorchards.com.

12-2:30 p.m .: “Discover India,” on Palmer Square. Photo booths, performances, dance workshop, and more. Rain date September 16. Srmosaic.org or (609) 433-8343.

12-7 p.m.: Fiesta Latino at Mercer County Park festival grounds, West Windsor. $15 pre-sale, $20 at the event. Music, food, beer, games, and more. (609) 989-6701.

1-4 p.m .: “Art About Art: Contemporary Photographers Look at Old Master Paintings,” open house at Art on Hulfish, 11 Hulfish Street. Free. Artmuseum. princeton.edu.

Sunday, September 10

8 a.m.: Bird walk with Winnie Hughes Spar at Mountain Lakes Preserve, presented by Friends of Princeton Open Space. Fopos.org.

12-5 p.m.: Winery Weekend Music Series at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road. Audio Pilot duo performs; wine and light fare available. Groups over 8 require reservations. Terhuneorchards.com.

2 p.m.: Love Your Leaves, at Morven, 55 Stockton Street. Free interactive workshop including a talk with horticulturist Louise Senior on managing fall cleanup. Sponsored by Morven and Sustainable Princeton. Morven.org.

4 p.m .: The Professors perform classic rock at Hinds Plaza. Princetonlibrary.org.

Monday, September 11 Recycling

7 p.m.: “Meet the Future: Your Introduction to ChatGPT,” online discussion of the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot with Rutgers professor Jim Brown. Presented by Mercer County Libraries. Register at mcl.org.

Tuesday, September 12

9:30 and 11 a.m.: Read & Pick Program: Tractors, at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road, For kids from preschool to 8 years; handson activity with a story. $12. Terhuneorchards.com.

6 p.m .: Author talk and workshop with Harriet Stein, about her book Perfect Attendance: Being Present for Life , at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Princetonlibrary.org.

7:30 p.m .: Atelier@ Large: Conversations on Art-making in a Vexed Era, Hernan Diaz and Sarah Hart. Moderated by Paul Muldoon. Presented by Princeton University’s Lewis

Center for the Arts at Richardson Auditorium. Free but tickets are required. Tickets. princeton.edu.

Wednesday, September 13

11 a.m.-3 p.m .: Princeton University Farmers’ Market at Firestone Library/Chapel Plaza. Catalina Empanadas, The Granola Bar, Judith’s Desserts, Little Star Foods, Terhune Orchards, and more. Pumarket@princeton.edu

6:30-8:30 p.m .: Planned Parenthood Action Fund of NJ 2023 Endorsement Launch Party, on the role of reproductive freedom in the upcoming election. At a location in Princeton to be shared after RSVP at ppactionnj.org.

7:30-10 a.m.: Central Jersey Healthcare Symposium, sponsored by the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber, with keynote speaker Justin Guarini. At the Boathouse at Mercer Lake, Mercer County Park, 334 South Post Road, West Windsor. Princetonmercer.org.

1:15-3:30 p.m.: Foraging Forest Tour and Talk, at the Hopewell Park Gazebo, Hopewell. Led by Sourland Conservancy stewardship coordinator Eric Williams and volunteer Sari Pehnke. Redlibrary.org.

4 p.m .: Meeting of the Princeton Special Improvement District (Experience Princeton) Board of Directors, at the Nassau Inn, Palmer Square.

7-8 p.m .: Meeting of the League of Women Voters of the Greater Princeton Area, at West Windsor Library, 333 North Post Road, Princeton Junction. Lwvprinceton.org.

Thursday, September 14

8:30-9:30 a.m.: September Business Before Business Virtual Speed Networking, held by Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber. Free for members, $15 non-members. Princetonmercer.org.

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

7 p.m .: Author Gabriel Debenedetti talks about his book The Long Alliance , a profile of the long relationship between Barack Obama and Joe Biden, at Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Livestreamed on YouTube. Princetonlibrary.org.

Friday, September 15 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Trenton Area Soup Kitchen’s annual Community Meal Event, with live music. Open to the public. 72 Escher Street, Trenton. Trentonsoupkitchen.org.

S ports

Sparked by Big Performance from Junior Star Nee, Princeton Men’s Soccer Edges Rutgers 2-1 in Opener

Nico Nee went down with leg cramps in the 77th minute last Friday night as the Princeton University men’s soccer team hosted Rutgers in its season opener.

It made sense that junior forward Nee was physically spent as he had raced all over the field for Princeton, assisting on one goal and tallying the game winner on a penalty kick as the Tigers went on prevail 2-1.

Nee, who did return to the contest in the 84th minute, exemplifi ed the way the Tigers battled in a contentious Garden State rumble that saw seven cautions issued and a Rutgers player, Bryan Keating, disqualified on a red card at the 81:51 mark.

“It is just how much the team wants it and how much we can fi ght through,” said Nee, a 5’9, 165-pound native of Carrolton, Texas.

“Obviously we had guys who were tired and to an extent we weren’t ready for this. We had guys cramping — I was cramping. We just fight through. Our people off the bench are mentally locked in and that really helped contribute a lot because once we looked to the bench and the subs, the level doesn’t drop.”

Nee’s assist came on a corner kick that he curled into the box and was headed into the back of the net by Danny Ittycheria in the 11th minute of the first half.

“We have set plays and we know where people are running and so I wasn’t specifically looking for one person but I hit an area and the guys were there,” said Nee.

Nee has worked on developing a connection with sophomore Ittycheria.

“In the spring that was something that Jim (Princeton head coach Jim Barlow) really harped on me about and he probably talked to Danny about it too,” said Nee. “He knew that we would become two of our stronger players on attack and he wanted us to link up together.”

The Scarlet Knights presented the Tigers with a strong challenge as they outshot the Tigers 26-15 on the night and built a 16-5 edge in corner kicks. Rutgers found the back of the net with 6:26 left in regulation, playing with 10

men after the red card.

“One of the guys Stephen [Duncan] in the locker room said we bend but we don’t break, and this game was a perfect example of that,” said Nee.

Midway through the second half, Nee broke through with his first collegiate goal, snaking through the Scarlet Knight defense to earn a penalty kick.

“For me, my game is just all about unexpected plays and using your teammates to your advantage whether you are passing to them or using them as decoys,” said Nee, reflecting on drawing the PK. “I think when I turned the guy, I fake passed and turned him.”

Nee coolly buried the PK, slotting it past Rutgers goalie Ciaran Dalton in the bottom left corner of the net.

“Going into the game, I know where I am going to take it,” said Nee. “Once I am at the PK spot, there is stress but it is not which way am I going because I have already decided. All I have to focus on is how to get it there.”

Getting his first college goal was especially meaningful for Nee, given that he missed his freshman season in 2021 due to a knee injury and only got into nine games last fall, notching one assist.

“It is great; it is good to finally be back out here,” said Nee, whose teammates were chanting “Nico Nee, Nico Nee” in their postgame huddle. “I missed my first season due to an injury. It is a process. You have got to trust it and use the time you are given and not rush things.”

Nee used much of that time to focus on his conditioning as he worked to get back to full speed.

“The fitness part is the most important thing,” said Nee. “Even between the spring and now, even though I was doing well in the spring I was only able to play 45 minutes or something. Whereas now it is being fit and staying sharp enough to be able to do what I need to do on the ball and what I need to do off the ball defensively.”

Princeton head coach Barlow credited Nee with being the man of the match for the Tigers.

“I thought Nico was the difference today, it is great to

see,” said Barlow. “He had a torn ACL and missed the whole year as a freshman. Coming back from that injury takes some time. Last year he started to get going. This past spring, he emerged as a really special guy for us. He is a key guy for us.”

Barlow credited his players with producing a special effort against Rutgers, even if it was ragged at times.

“It was a real battle, they are a very good team; we feel great about the fact that our guys competed so hard and grinded out the win,” said Barlow. “We put some good plays together that led to some good chances but we have a ways to go, you can tell. We foul too much, we lose the ball too easily. You could see we were having such a hard time building out of the back that we had to start just playing everything long and try to battle in the air. We need to get better in a lot of areas but we learned all of that which we couldn’t have learned before tonight and still got the result.”

Junior goalie Khamari Hadaway helped Princeton get the winning result against Rutgers, making six saves.

“Khamari was great today, the one he got in the corner down low was pretty amazing,” said Barlow, referring to a stop Hadaway made midway through the first half. “I was hoping he would get the shutout. It was a little hairy at the end there. They threw caution to the wind and we didn’t make them pay for that. They get through and make it a game again.”

The Tiger defensive unit held the fort as it fought through some physical issues.

“The whole back line was cramping up but they all hung in there,” said Barlow.

“It was Giuliano Whitchurch on the left and Stephen Duncan in the middle. Francis Akomeah came in and did alright. Issa Mudashiru came in for Sam Vigilante and did OK. Everyone who played in the back hung in there and did a pretty good job.”

Hosting No. 3 Duke on Labor Day in its second outing, Princeton hung in there, holding the Blue Devils scoreless for nearly 50 minutes before succumbing 2-0. The Tigers will look to get back on the winning track when they play at Loyola on September 8.

“It will be a really good challenge, these early season games are hard,” said Barlow, looking ahead to the clash against Duke. “If we can get some points and get some wins, it is going to hopefully help our confidence and help us be in the picture for the RPI (rating

percentage index) and get us ready for the battles of the Ivy League.

Nee, for his part, saw the opening day win over Rutgers as a confidence builder heading into the game with the Blue Devils and beyond.

“It is good, not only is it a local rival but it is the fi rst

game of the season,” said Nee. “It is good to go into that Duke game with a win under our belt. It just uplifts the team and gives us confidence that we can make the season good. It is going to be a battle, but we are here for it.”

— Bill Alden

NEE HIGH: Princeton University men’s soccer player Nico Nee prepares to boot the ball last Friday night as Princeton hosted Rutgers in its season opener. Junior forward Nee tallied one goal and one assist in the contest to help the Tigers edge the Scarlet Knights 2-1. Princeton, which fell 2-0 to No. 3 Duke last Monday to move to 1-1, plays at Loyola on September 8.

(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Lineman Travis Grows Into a Force for PU Football, On NFL Radar Heading Into Senior Season for Tigers

As Jalen Travis headed into high school in 2016, it looked like his athletic future would center on basketball.

One of his older brothers, Reid, played hoops at Stanford and Kentucky and is currently playing pro ball overseas while another older brother, Jonah, starred for the Harvard men’s basketball team.

But as Travis went through DeLaSalle High in Minneapolis, Minn., he grew into a standout offensive lineman in football, earning firstteam All-State and Minnesota All-Star honors as a senior. That success had Travis turning his focus to someday playing in the NFL. Attracting attention from major college football programs, including getting an offer from local Big 10 power University of Minnesota, Travis decided that heading to Princeton and the Ivy League was his best option on and off the field.

“Part of the reason which convinced my family and me to come here was the coaching staff and the belief in coach [Bob] Surace that if I come here and play football, I can achieve all of my dreams on the field that I would at a different school,” said Travis. “The NFL is always a dream of a competitor, especially when you start playing this game. You want to play at the highest level but you also know that coming here, I would be able to get a world-class education and have the world’s best insurance policy per se.”

Developing into an All-Ivy League offensive lineman, the 6’9, 315-pound Travis is definitely on the radar on the NFL, earning 2022 second-team All-Ivy League honors as a junior and getting named to the 2024 Senior Bowl Watchlist and East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 list heading into this fall.

“I defi nitely feel like I am on track [for the NFL]; obviously I am very appreciative of the accolades and things like that, but I think the main thing is the main thing, which is the preseason camp,” said Travis, a star in the classroom as well, having earned a Truman Scholarship, which provides up to $30,000 toward graduate school along with professional development opportunities to prepare for careers in public service that he plans to use for attending law school after his football career.

“I am trying to block out all of the noise and pay attention to these 10 games that we have to build toward the championship. Personal stuff aside, that is the main mission to make sure that we can do that.”

With Travis seeing his freshman season in 2020 canceled due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, he went on a mission to build himself up physically.

“It was hard, I built a weight room in my back yard at home so that was the deal,” said Travis. “I was at home for the first semester of my freshman year … and then had the opportunity to

come on campus but classes were still online. I ended up putting on 20 pounds that year, my strength went through the roof.”

Arriving on campus later that school year, Travis benefited from getting the chance to go through spring practice.

“It was awesome, especially for the freshmen coming in, to learn the playbook and just learn the way that we do things here,” said Travis.

“It was super valuable with just getting into the rhythm of things heading into fall camp the next year.”

As a sophomore, Travis got into the rhythm of the college game, seeing action on special teams and as a reserve offensive lineman.

“Not playing football for a year which is something I had never done before,” said Travis. “Heading into that sophomore year, it was awesome to be able to contribute on three special teams units but also be a two at left tackle and play significant minutes. That was huge for me to just get my feet wet and get a taste of what college football is really like. I had the size but it was just adjusting to the speed of the game, our tempo offense and things like that. It was a huge adjustment for me.”

In his junior campaign last fall, Travis utilized his hoops experience as he became a starter as right tackle, moving from his usual left tackle spot.

“Switching to the right side was a position I hadn’t played for an entire season,”

Riding with star left tackle Henry Byrd, now a member of the Minnesota Vikings practice squad, helped Travis develop throughout his Princeton career.

“From the moment I walked into this place, Henry took me under his wing and showed me the ropes,” said Travis. “He was a mentor my whole way through here, so it was awesome to be able to play with him and learn from him throughout the entire process. I wanted to not only taste what it is like to play in the Ivy League but to excel.”

The combo of Travis and Bird anchoring the offensive line helped the Tigers fi nish fi rst in passing offense and second in rushing offense in the Ivy League last fall.

“We had weapons all over the fi eld and we knew that we had a chance to win,” said Travis. “We were favored to win, so that was the mentality we carried with us and the swagger that we still have today. It was awesome to be able to walk out with Andrei [Iosivas], Dylan [Classi], Blake [Stenstrom], and Henry and to know that we had some of the best people in the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision).”

But despite possessing all of these weapons, the Tigers lost their final two games (falling 24-20 to Yale and 20-19 to Penn) last season after rolling to an 8-0 start. Princeton ended up tying Penn for second in the

league standings with a 5-2 Ivy mark, one game behind champion Yale.

“It left a sour taste in our mouth for sure; it jump-started our offseason training and our motivation heading into spring ball, and winter workouts,” said Travis, reflecting on the disappointing fi nish. “We know that we don’t want to experience that again, knowing that we came short of our potential. That was the mindset all of the way through spring ball, all of the way through the workouts, and now into fall camp. We know what we have and what we can do and we don’t ever want to experience something like that again.”

Travis likes what he is seeing so far in Princeton’s’ preseason camp.

“A lot of guys had been chomping at the bit, given our finish last year, to get back into it and get back in the rhythm because we know we have a lot of dangerous pieces,” said Travis. “We have a lot of pieces that are going to fit together to give us a really great team this year. We want to be one of the best in Princeton history, that is what I am looking forward to. I think the team is looking forward to that as well.”

In striving for that goal, Travis has assumed a leadership role with the offensive line.

“We have got a few young guys that are plugging in this year to be starters,” said Travis, who has moved back to his customary left tackle spot. “Guys that are going to step up in huge roles that maybe didn’t have a lot of snaps last year and the years prior. It is going to be huge for us. We are working our best to make sure that we are all own the same page.”

Princeton quarterback Stenstrom likes having

Travis working in front of him.

“He has got my blind side and it feels great to have him there,” said Stenstrom of Travis. “I feel very confi dent in his abilities as well as the rest of the offensive line.”

STANDING TALL: Princeton University football star offensive lineman Jalen Travis catches his breath between plays in a game last year. The 6’9, 315-pound Travis has emerged as a force at tackle for Princeton, earning 2022 second-team All-Ivy League honors as a junior and getting named to the 2024 Senior Bowl Watchlist and East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 list heading into this fall. Travis and the Tigers kick off the 2023 campaign by playing at the University of San Diego on September 16. (Photo by Sideline Photos, provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics) said Travis. “At that point, I think my basketball background helped. I was a forward in basketball. It was almost a seamless transition. The coach was very diligent to make sure that I got my proper reps during spring ball. Heading into fall camp, I was very comfortable and was able to ride.”

For Tiger head coach Surace, seeing the development of Travis has been great.

“He used every day of COVID and he got stronger and bigger to our surprise when he came in as a sophomore,” said Surace. “Physically he was mature enough and played. Junior year he started, but he suffered an injury midway through and played through it but it caused him to miss the spring. His upside is through the roof. He has been primarily a right tackle with Henry on the left, but now he is going to play left tackle.”

Looking ahead to Princeton’s season opener at the University of San Diego (0-1) on September 16, Travis is excited to play the Toreros.

“They have a really good program, they are a great team; it is going to be a challenge for us right out of the gate, but that is what we need and that is what we are working for right now,” said Travis.

“I am excited to go against some great guys and some guys who have a shot to play at the next level as well.”

In the view of Travis, the formula for Princeton to enjoy a great season this fall is simple.

“It is just being consistent and disciplined; last year we struggled towards the end of the season,” said Travis. “We were a couple of plays away, it is something we can control. Our main mission is to make sure that we reach our potential and the goals that we set for ourselves.”

— Bill Alden

VOTING ENDS

PU Sports Roundup

Tiger Field Hockey

Falls to No. 1 UNC

Goalie Robyn Thompson starred in a losing cause as the 10th-ranked Princeton University field hockey team fell 2-1 in overtime to No. 1 North Carolina last Sunday in Philadelphia. Senior Thompson recorded a career-high 10 saves as the Tigers moved to 0-2.

Princeton plays at Delaware on September 8 and then hosts Rutgers on September 10.

Lax Great Schreiber Named PLL MVP, Top Midfielder

Former Princeton University men’s lacrosse player Tom Schreiber ’14 dominated the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) season-ending awards.

Schreiber, a star midfielder for the Archers, was named the winner of the Premier Lacrosse League’s Jim Brown Most Valuable Player Award Saturday night. His win makes him the first player ever to be a three-time MVP between the two outdoor professional leagues, the PLL and Major League Lacrosse.

In addition, Schreiber was named the winner of the Brendan Looney Leadership Award. His third award of the evening was the Gait Brothers Midfielder of the Year Award, keeping alive a streak that has seen only Princeton alums — specifically Schreiber and Zach Currier ‘17, who was a finalist this year again — win the award since the league’s inception.

Schreiber, who led the Archers to the top seed and a bye in the playoffs, finished the regular season with 37 points, which was seven more than any other league midfielder, on 16 goals (two two-pointers) and 17 assists.

Currier finished the year with five goals, nine assists, 50 ground balls, and seven caused turnovers, numbers no other player in the league could match. Currier and his Waterdogs teammate Michael Sowers ‘20 (15 goals, 15 assists, 30 points) are the third seed in the playoffs topped the sixth-seeded Whipsnakes 15-12 in the quarterfinals last Monday as

the team chases its secondstraight PLL title.

The Waterdogs will face the second-seeded Cannons in the semis on September 10 at Hofstra while the Archers will play the fourth-seeded Redwoods. The championship game will be held on September 24 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa.

In addition the Schreiber, the Archers have other Princeton connections as they are coached by former Tiger head coach Chris Bates and feature another Tiger alum, veteran midfielder Ryan Ambler. The Cannons, for the part, feature two Princeton coaches with two-point specialist Chris Aslanian and offensive coordinator Jim Mitchell, who serves as an assistant coach for the club.

PU Football’s Iosivas, Horsted Earn Spots on NFL Rosters

As NFL teams finalized their rosters last week, four former Princeton University football stars found themselves in the mix.

Star receiver Andrei Iosivas ’20 made the final 53-man roster of the Cincinnati Bengals while tight end Jesper Horsted ’19 made the final roster of the Las Vegas Raiders.

In addition, tight end Stephen Carlson’19 made the practice squad for the Chicago Bears with offensive lineman Henry Byrd ’23 signing with the Minnesota Vikings practice squad.

Tiger Women’s Volleyball Goes 2-0 at Bucknell Event

Sparked by Lucia Scalamandre, the Princeton University women’s volleyball team went 2-0 at the Bucknell Tournament last Saturday in Lewisburg, Pa.

Sophomore star Scalamandre totaled 21 kills and eight blocks on the day to help Princeton top Niagara 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-20) in its season opener and then defeat host Bucknell (25-18, 25-20, 25-11).

In upcoming action, the Tigers will be competing in the Maryland Tournament from September 8-9 in College Park, Md.

Princeton Men’s Water Polo Goes 2-0 in Opening Weekend

Getting its 2023 season started on a high note, the No. 7/8 Princeton University men’s water polo team went 2-0 at its Princeton

Mini Tournament last Saturday at DeNunzio Pool.

The Tigers defeated LIU 14-6 in their season opener and then topped George Washington 18-3 later in the day. George Caras starred for Princeton, tallying two goals against LIU and chipping in a team-high three in the victory over GW.

The Tigers will look to keep on the winning track as they host their annual Princeton Invitational from September 8-10.

PU Men’s

Cross Country Takes 1st at Jersey Jam

Anthony Monte set the pace as the Princeton University men’s cross country team placed first at the New Jersey Jam held last Friday at its new West Windsor Cross Country Course.

Senior Monte clocked a time of 16:49.8 over the 5.6 kilometer course with fellow senior Connor Nisbet coming in second at 16:49.9.

In the team standings, Princeton had a score of 16 followed by Monmouth (55), Rider (84), and Rutgers (85).

Princeton is next in action when it competes in the HYP meet on September 9 at Wilton, Conn.

PU Women’s Cross Country Excels at New Jersey Jam

Sweeping the three top spots, the Princeton University women’s cross country team finished first at the New Jersey Jam held last Friday at its new West Windsor Cross Country Course.

Senior Maggie Liebich clocked a time of 14:20.7 over the 4-kilometer course to take first with junior Mena Scatchard coming in second in the same time and senior Fiona Max finishing third in 14:21.1.

In the team standings, Princeton had a score of 16 followed by Rider (62), Monmouth (70), and Rutgers (91).

Princeton is next in action when it competes in the HYP meet on September 9 at Wilton, Conn.

Princeton Women’s Rugby Falls to Brown in Opener

Getting its second campaign off to a rough start, the Princeton University women’s rugby team fell 86-0 at Brown last Saturday in its season opener.

Princeton hosts Mount St. Mary’s in its home opener on September 9.

GOING FOUR IT: Princeton University women’s soccer player Pietra Tordin boots the ball in recent action. Last Saturday, sophomore Tordin tallied four goals to help Princeton edge Army West Point 4-3. Tordin’s career game made her the sixth Tiger woman player to score four goals in a game, matching the program single-game record and becoming the first to get four in a game since Tyler Lussi ‘17 did so in 2014. The Tigers, now 3-0-1, play at Penn State on September 7 and at Lafayette on September 10. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

PHS Football Loses 14-7 to Riverside to Move to 1-1, But Senior Granozio Provides Highlight with 1st TD

Remmick Granozio dabbled in flag football as a middle schooler, playing in the Princeton Junior Football League.

Once Granozio got to Princeton High in 2020, however, he poured his athletic efforts into basketball, developing into a threat from the perimeter as a sharp-shooting gaurd.

Heading into his senior year at PHS, Granozio decided to give tackle football a try at the urging of his friends who convinced him to join the Tiger squad.

“Running back Tyler Goldberg reached out and got me to come out here,” said Granozio. “I had focused on basketball; this is my senior year and I wanted to come out here. These guys work super hard every day.”

Impressing the PHS football coaching staff with his work ethic, Granozio has emerged as a key option at wide receiver.

In the Tigers’ seasonopening 20-0 win at Lawrence High on August 25,

Granozio sparkled in his gridiron debut, making three receptions for 18 yards.

“Obviously there were butterflies in that first game,” said Granozio. “It has just been really exciting, I love being out here; these guys are just like a brotherhood. It is a lot of fun.”

Last Saturday against visiting Riverside, Granozio had more fun, scoring his first career touchdown as he snared a 28-yard pass from Travis Petrone and lunged into the end zone as PHS drew to within 14-7 of the Rams midway through the fourth quarter.

“Travis [Petrone] and Wyatt [Arshan] had a great middle screen in the beginning of the game where they executed well even if it didn’t go for a big gain,” said Granozio. “On that play, we ran that fake, everyone bit up, and I slipped by the defense. I wasn’t thinking of anything, it was a great ball from Travis. I didn’t have to move for it. I was just trying to help the team win. It was really exciting.”

Although PHS didn’t win as it fell by that 14-7 margin, Granozio was proud of the way the Tigers battled to the final horn.

“We put up a great fight, there were moments where we could have capitalized,” said Granozio, who ended up with three receptions for 41 yards on the day. “It was just hard down in the red zone. They are a tough team, they are good down there.”

In joining the PHS football program, Granozio had to toughen up physically.

“We have been lifting since January actually; they were focused on that Lawrence game since January,” said Granozio. “Everyone has been excited for the season. We run at practice a lot, we are conditioned. You see guys cramping on the other team today and we are not because we practice really hard.”

For Granozio, one of the hardest parts of his transition has been mastering the finer points of his position.

“There are a lot of logistics you don’t really realize when you first come out, whether it be lining up on the line of scrimmage or shaking someone off or making a block,” said Granozio. “As a wide receiver, it is all of the stuff you don’t really see from the crowd.”

Granozio’s teammates have helped him develop a comfort level.

“Coming out at wide receiver, the quarterbacks are making great throws, I don’t have to move that much,” said Granozio. “I am just trying to learn every day from the guys. Wyatt and Ellington [Hinds] have helped me a lot.”

It has taken long for Granozio to get in synch with junior quarterback Petrone.

“We are starting to build that trust,” said Granozio. “He finds me which is nice.” PHS head coach Charlie Gallagher is developing trust in Granozio.

“We are happy he is out here; he made those connections and we have to get him more involved in the game,” said Gallagher. “We faked that middle screen and they bit on that. That was good, it is drawn up that way. Travis put a nice ball out there and he was covered. Remmick had to get that and stretch across the line. For a guy that has never played football before understanding that concept to be able to reach out is great. We are happy to have him.”

Gallagher, though, was not happy with how the PHS offense squandered opportunities as interceptions in the red zone ended drives in the first and third quarter.

“We moved the ball but we made some bad plays,” said Gallagher, whose QB Petrone connected on 8-of15 passes for 86 yards with Goldberg rushing for

40 yards on 10 carries. “We didn’t protect the ball. I feel like we had a lot of turnovers, we had two interceptions. We were in deep too; we were in scoring position, so that is really tough. We need to get the offense going a little faster, getting a score with six minutes left is not good enough. Now you are just playing on your heels, you are hoping to get them three and out.”

The Tigers nearly got a three and out against the Rams after the Granozio TD, but Riverside converted a third and seven on a pass play that saw its receiver pluck the ball out of the air from his back. PHS never got the ball back as the Rams ran out the clock.

“Man, that one play was tough; that kid caught that crossing route,” recalled Gallagher. “I thought it ricocheted in 14 different directions, I was convinced from my angle that it was on the ground. What a great play — good for him.”

With PHS having lost 35-0 to Riverside last year, Gallagher was proud of the good defensive effort he got from his squad in the rematch.

“Our defense only gave up 14 points, the defense played well,” said Gallagher. “They run it up the gut, the defense played 10 times better than they did last year. I am happy about their performance.”

Junior linebacker Joe George along with senior co-captains and defensive linemen Jake Angelucci and Anthony Famiglietti led the charge for the Tigers.

“They are players that we rely on; we are blessed that Joe is a junior,” said Gallagher.

“We are getting everything we expect from Angelucci and Famiglietti. They are seniors so this is it for them and they are playing great

ball. They are playing just like seniors are supposed to play, they are leaving it all on the field. They are doing a great job of communicating to the team — that is why they are captains. It is exciting to see your seniors come up through the program and finally take ownership and saying, ‘Hey, I am a senior and this is how I am supposed to play. I am going to have to put it on my shoulders,’ and that is what they are doing.”

While Gallagher viewed the loss to Riverside as one that got away, he is happy with how PHS is playing collectively.

“We are 1-1, we wanted it to be 1-0 at the end of this week, that is how we looked at it,” said Gallagher. “We have played two really good games. We have scored more points than we have given up so that is a good thing. That has not been normally the case.”

With PHS hosting Haddon Township (0-1) on September 9, Gallagher knows his squad is facing another tough battle.

“We have got to find a way, we have another home game so we are excited about that,” said Gallagher, whose team lost 34-27 to Haddon last fall. “They are coming off a 19-0 loss (to Gateway on August 31), so they are going to be hungry. They beat us last year as well, I am sure they feel a little bit of confidence from that. Again at the same time they are probably pretty upset about Thursday’s game.”

Granozio, for his part, is confident that the Tigers will be ready for that challenge.

“We have to practice really hard this week,” said Granozio. “We have a good team coming up and we are just focused on being 1-0 at the end of next week.”

— Bill Alden

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CATCHING ON: Princeton High senior receiver Remmick Granozio heads upfield in recent action. Last Saturday, Granozio made three receptions for 41 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown catch, in a losing cause as PHS lost 14-7 to Riverside to move to 1-1. The Tigers will look to get back on the winning track when they host Haddon Township on September 9. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

PHS Girls’ Soccer Faltered Down the Stretch Last Fall, But Believes That Experience Will Pay Dividends in 2023

With a number of freshmen and sophomores being pressed into service last fall, the Princeton High girls’ soccer team went through an up-and-down campaign.

PHS got off to an 8-2-2 start but faded down the stretch to end the season with an 8-8-2 record.

Looking ahead to the 2023 season, Tiger head coach Dave Kosa believes that taking those lumps will pay dividends this fall.

“The year of growth hopefully will help us because we had four or five freshmen that started last year for us,” said Kosa whose team kicks off the fall by playing at Allentown on September 7. “We are just hoping that experience will pay off for us this year. We have a lot of talent on the roster but we are still young. It is just a matter of everyone meshing together and understanding their roles.”

The Tigers boast plenty of talent at forward in senior Holly Howes (8 goals, 3 assists in 2022), junior Manuela Dante Boarato, sophomore Quinn Gallagher (2 goals), and sophomore Kacey Howes (2 goals, 4 assists).

“Holly has had a pretty good preseason,” said Kosa. “Manuela was a transfer last year. When she was cleared and eligible to play, she played for a half and then got injured. She is very talented. She looked good during the summertime and looked good in preseason. Quinn has shown some promise as well. Kacey Howes, Holly’s younger sister, has been playing everywhere from striker to outside mid to

center mid. She is versatile and she is skilled too.”

In the midfield, PHS will get an infusion of skill with the return of senior Casey Serxner, who was sidelined last year due to injury

“Casey worked really, really hard to get back, she is wearing a brace,” said Kosa of Serxner, who tallied 15 goals and 23 goals in 2021 as a sophomore, helping the Tigers reach the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 3 state final. “She is such a tough competitor. She is going to be a great playmaker for us this year. It is nice to have her back. She sees the field really well. She is able to distribute and get her own shot off.”

Along with Serxner, the midfield unit will include sophomore Clara Burton (1 goal), senior Brielle Moran (1 goal), senior Grace Defaria, and the versatile Kacey Howes.

“Clara is very talented as well, she looks good,” added Kosa. “Last year Clara and Kacey pretty much manned the two center mid positions for us all season. Brielle will be on the outside for us on the left side. Grace — who has played a little back, little outside mid, and a little striker — has played well and practiced well. It looks like she is going to start for us on the right outside mid.”

Senior star Alysse Kiesewetter (7 goals, 4 assists) will spearhead the PHS back line.

“Alysse is really great on overlaps, her and Brielle work really well together,” asserted Kosa. “Last year

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she really served up some great corner kicks. She is going to be taking the corners this year. She really is a threat from the back, it is really great to have her back.”

Joining Kiesewetter on the defense will be Ava Tabeart (1 assist), sophomore Romy Johnson (1 goal), and junior Marina Zaldarriaga (3 goals, 3 assists).

“Alysse will man the left side,” said Kosa.“We are moving Ava to the sweeper. Romy is going to move up to stopper and Marina will be the right outside back.”

Zaldarriaga’s younger sister, freshman Julia, is primed to make an immediate impact at goalie.

“Julia has great instincts, she has had a great preseason so far,” said Kosa, whose back-up goalie is sophomore Olivia DeLuca, the starter last fall. “She has a really top line IQ of the game. She is really talented, she has been amazing so far. We are looking for her to do great things this year and then in the years to come.”

Kosa believes that the Tigers can do some very good things this fall if they are sharp around goal.

“Adding Casey, Julia and Manuela gives us a stronger outlook on paper but they have to perform on the field,” said Kosa. “The big thing last year is that we started out hot and in the last six games, we scored two goals. Our key to success is to be able to get the ball in the back of the net; having Casey helps but we still need to have the other girls step up.”

—Bill Alden

2023 FALL REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

**TRAVEL TEAMS FOR BOYS (Grades 2-8)**

2 practices per week, team shirt plus games

Practices on Tuesday/Thursday (no practice Sept 14, Nov 2, 7, 23)

Practice Locations: Princeton Middle School

Grades 2-6: 5:30 to 6:45 pm

Grades 7-8: 6:45 to 8:00 pm

Games will be scheduled for weekends through the Monroe Sports Center League

Since [1950] Conte’s has become a Princeton destination; a great old-school bar that also happens to serve some of New Jersey’s best pizza, thin-crusted and bubbly. The restaurant hasn’t changed much since then; even the tables are the same. It’s a simple, no-frills space, but if you visit during peak times, be prepared to wait well over an hour for a table.

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KNOW HOW: Princeton High girls’ soccer player Holly Howes, left, kicks the ball in a game last year. Senior forward Howes figures to be a go-to finisher for PHS this season. The Tigers open their 2023 season by playing at Allentown on September 7. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Although Walsh Succeeding Legendary Sutcliffe at Helm, It Should be Business as Usual for Strong PHS Boys’ Soccer

With Wayne Sutcliffe having stepped down from coaching Princeton High boys’ soccer team this spring to end a 26-year tenure that featured two state titles, it will be the start of a new era for the program this fall.

But as longtime assistant coach Ryan Walsh succeeds his boss, he vows that things will be pretty much the same around the team.

“The big question everyone has asked me is what is different; if anybody asked somebody else in the program that, I hope their answer is not much,” said Walsh, a former Rider University men’s soccer standout who served eight seasons under Sutcliffe. “He had so much success. I try to take a lot of what he did. He is always even-keeled. I want to keep that same cool head that he has. It is a similar training style, not a whole lot is going to change hopefully.”

While Walsh, who teaches math at PHS, acknowledges that he has big shoes to fill, he is ready for the challenge.

“There is definitely a little pressure, me and Wayne always wanted to win,” said Walsh, who helped the Tigers go 8-8-1 last fall. “I am super competitive. So no matter where I got my first coaching job, I was going to feel some pressure because I want to win so bad. I am always going to feel that way.”

Walsh was exposed to a winning approach in his college career by playing for legendary coach Charlie Inverso at Rider.

“It was a great experience because when I first entered Rider it was Charlie’s first year,” said Walsh, a 2015 Rider alum. “He was taking over a program that was not so great, they had a lot of down years. We were his first class. In my four years I got to see the growth of that program exponentially. By my senior year we were so good and then right after I graduated they ended up winning three MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) championships.” That experience put Walsh on the path to coaching.

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“It helped me a lot to become a leader because we were Charlie’s guys and he was really counting on us to step up as leaders,” said Walsh, a team captain as a senior who tallied six goals and one assist in his career in 69 games as a forward/ midfielder. “Freshman year I was kind of fitting in, but by sophomore year, I was growing into more of a leadership role. That kind of led me into a coaching career.”

Getting exposed to PHS in his final year at Rider, Walsh got his first formal coaching gig with the Tiger boys’ program.

“I actually did my student teaching at Princeton High in my senior year spring,” said Walsh. “I did some volunteer coaching stuff at Rider, we used to go over to Lawrence and work with some of the kids at the elementary schools there. My first official coaching job was at PHS for Wayne.”

Working under Sutcliffe helped Walsh learn the ins and outs of coaching.

“I learned so much about

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coaching in those eight years, going from a player to a coach is such a huge leap,” said Walsh. “I didn’t realize how big of a leap it was. As a coach, there is a lot of managing players and players’ emotions. As a player, you don’t really see that side. Those were the biggest challenges, trying to deal with teenagers’ emotions. High school soccer is tough because the kids come from school all day and sometimes they are not able to leave that behind them when they get to practice.”

One of the key lessons Walsh took from Sutcliffe’s approach was the importance of developing bonds with players.

“Besides the soccer knowledge, he really taught me how to deal with people and kids,” said Walsh. “He was really good about connecting with players. He spent a lot of time before and after training getting to know guys on a more personal level.”

As Walsh has taken the helm this summer in preseason, he acknowledges that he misses having Sutcliffe by his side.

“By the end of his coaching career, he and I were working closely, it was almost like we were co-head coaches,” said Walsh. “I definitely feel ready. It is sad because I have gotten to know Wayne so well. These last few weeks without him have been strange.”

While Sutcliffe’s departure has left a void, the PHS players have responded well to Walsh.

“It has been really great; we have a pretty veteran

team, we have a lot of guys returning from last year,” said Walsh, whose team starts the 2023 season by hosting Allentown on September 7. “They are fired up. They were disappointed in how our season ended last year. We had some injuries that hurt us last year. They came in really fired up. In the spring and summer, the guys were in the weight room. There was a lot of training in the summer time.”

PHS boasts some good guys at forward in junior Brian Donis (6 goals, 2 assists in 2022), junior Azariah Breitman (3 goals), senior Pasquale Carusone, and junior Ben Gitai (2 goals).

“Brian had a nice year last season, Breitman is good,” said Walsh. “We have another forward who wasn’t on the team last year in Pasquale. He has been playing club, he hasn’t played for PHS the last three years. He came out this year to play for PHS his senior year. Those three will be our main forwards. Ben played some minutes for us last year, he had a nice sophomore season.”

In the midfield, the Tigers will feature senior Felipe Matar Grandi (3 goals, 6 assists), junior Archie Smith (1 assist), senior Brandon Urias (1 assist), senior Matt Kim, and freshman Harvey Smith.

“Felipe is playing in the middle, Archie started last year and had a great sophomore year,” said Walsh. “He has come back really fit and ready to go. Brandon and Matt will be in the middle as well. Archie has a younger brother, Harvey, who will pay

in the middle for us as well.”

Senior Nick Matese (3 goals), senior Jamie Reynolds (5 goals, 2 assists), senior Patrick Kenah (1 goals, 2 assists), and junior Connor Hewitt (1 assist) will lead the Tiger back line.

“Nick will be playing center back for us; he is phenomenal and will partner with Jamie,” said Walsh. “Jamie moved to center back this year. Patrick played on the outside last year. He had a really good second half of the season last year so we are really excited that he came back. Connor is also back there right now.”

At goalie, junior Nicolas Holmelund is primed to build on a solid debut campaign.

“Holmelund is looking strong, he trained hard all summer,” said Walsh. “It is tough to be a sophomore goalie; he is a little bit older and a little bit stronger.”

Boasting strength in numbers, PHS has the talent to maintain its winning tradition under Walsh.

“We have a lot of depth, we have a really quality roster from top to bottom,” said Walsh. “Utilizing that depth is key. The season is a grind, it is three games a week. We can bring guys off the bench and the level won’t drop because there are still quality players. I think that will help us eliminate some of those injuries that we had late in the season last year. There is no substitute for experience, minutes played is going to make you better at the varsity level. All of those guys got a lot of minutes under their belt last year.”

— Bill Alden

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE: Princeton High boys’ soccer player Nick Matese leaps over a foe to get the ball in 2022 action. Sense defender Matese will be spearheading the PHS back line this fall. The Tigers, who will be guided by new head coach Ryan Walsh after Wayne Sutcliffe stepped down after a legendary 26-year tenure, start their 2023 season by hosting Allentown on September 7.

(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

PDS Boys’ Soccer Will Be Featuring a New Look, Having Lost 12 Seniors to Graduation From Last Fall

With 12 seniors having departed from last season’s squad due to graduation, the Princeton Day School boys’ soccer team will have a radically different look this fall.

While PDS head coach Brian Thomsen will miss the program’s Class of 2023, he is looking forward to seeing the new faces seize opportunity.

“It is going to be exciting to see a lot of these guys grow because they have kind of been in the shadows the past couple of years,” said Thomsen who guided the Panthers to a 3-11-4 record in 2022 and a spot in the NJSIAA Non-Public B quarterfinals. “We had a huge class of seniors last year and the year before we had Milan Shah, John Ramos, and William Vazquez. It is going to be exciting to see these kids kind of mature, not only as soccer players but as leaders and young men.”

It will be exciting for PDS to be playing a full slate of Colonial Valley Conference games this fall as a new member of the league.

“From my perspective it is going to be a huge positive; when we play Pennington or we play Hun or we play Peddie, we are not getting any power points,” said Thomsen, whose team will start the 2023 campaign buy playing at the Lawrenceville School on September 8.

“My first year we ended up going to the state final and we had five away games on the way to that. I am excited for these guys. We have eight home games that I think are all winnable. We are going to play a lot of

the big dogs like Princeton High School, Hopewell Valley, Notre Dame, Steinert, Robbinsville, and Allentown as our away games. It will be tough. It is a good year to have all of those other teams playing at home. It will push our guys to pick up some power points. We want to have a home game in states.”

The Panthers could be tough to score on with junior Oren Yakoby stepping into the starting role at goalie.

“We have a goalkeeper, Oren, waiting in the wings that we are really excited about,” said Thomsen. “He looks great, he is making the saves he needs to make.”

Thomsen believes the trio of senior Gyan Gautam, junior Todd Devin, and junior Penn von Zelowitz can make things happen at the offensive end.

“Up top, we have Gyan who is a senior captain, he scored a couple of goals last year and scored a couple of goals the year before,” said Thomsen.

“I think we are going to move Todd up a little bit and get him closer to the goal. He scored yesterday in our scrimmage off a free kick. We are expecting Penn to have some opportunities to score.”

Along the midfield, PDS will feature junior Hart Liu Nowakoski, sophomore Aiden Luciano, and junior Charlie Ewing.

“Hart is back and we have a transfer from Hopewell; Aiden, he will help in the midfield,” said Thomsen.

up from JV, Charlie, who will help in the midfield as well.”

Senior Yaseen Mousa figures to be a big force on the Panther back line.

“Towards the end of last year we started using him as a center back and outside back,” said Thomsen.

“He came out to the TCNJ ID Camp recently and I think he going to be a really good player at the next level as an outside back or a defender.”

In addition to Mousa, junior Max Schragger, junior Henry West, freshman Brady DeCore, and freshman Keegan Fullman will help the PDS defense hold the fort.

“Max and Henry will return on the back line,” said Thomsen “Brady will be a good role player for us and we are really excited about Keegan as well.”

With PDS having lost a number of close games last year, Thomsen is confident his squad can get over the hump in tight contests this fall.

“We have got a lot of kids; it is just going to be an interesting year of just seeing how it goes and not really set expectations to the point where these kids are feeling it,” said Thomsen. “I want them to enjoy the ride. One thing that me and BG (assistant coach Bonniwell Graham) talked a lot about this year is figuring out a system of play that helps the kids have the best opportunity to be on the other end of that. We went for it in a lot of games last year and I think we need to do a little more defending and be more compact as a group.”

—Bill Alden

Working a Number of New Faces Into the Lineup, Stuart Field Hockey Looking to Get on Same Page

Boasting a wealth of experience coaching the Stuart Country Day School field hockey program, Missy Bruvik will be drawing on her body of knowledge and savvy this fall as her lineup will include a number of newcomers.

“I have lots of new faces; I graduated six seniors, they were key players for three and four years,” said Stuart head coach Bruvik, who has guided Stuart for a quarter century and has earned more than 200 wins and a slew of Mercer County and state Prep titles in her tenure.

“We have a lot of spots to fill — all of the new faces are brand new to the game. The new players to the sport are looking better every day and have been eager to learn the game and to improve their skills. The two seniors (Alex Mandzij and Elise Price) and veterans are setting the tone with their dedication and work ethic.”

Bruvik is looking for two of those veterans — junior Nyla Flamer (2 goals, 2 assists in 2022) and sophomore Sydney Anderson — to spark the offense.

“Nyla is a little taller and has been playing a lot this summer,” said Bruvik, whose forward line will also include returning players sophomore Sami Feldman, sophomore Najma Tahiry, and junior Linyah Lokesh. “She will be on the forward line; I really want to get her up on the line. Sydney has looked good the last couple of scrimmages on the forward line. She has great speed and intensity. I am looking for her to make an impact on the forward line.”

A trio of new faces — sophomore Nana Akua Ken-Kwofie, sophomore

Gloria Wang, and sophomore Eliska Bohmanova — will augment the Stuart attack.

“We are young, but they are enthusiastic on the front line,” said Bruvik, who guided the Tartans to an 8-5 record in 2022. “The newcomers that will see time on attack will be Nana, Gloria, and Eliska.”

Senior Elise Price (1 goal, two assists) will be the engine in the midfield for the Tartans.

“Elise is looking good, she is really excited to be a senior,” said Bruvik. “Elise and Alex are senior leaders looking to teach and guide the younger players throughout the season.”

Along with Price, sophomore Abby Chirik and junior Annarose St. Bourgin Maurice should giver Stuart some good work in the midfield.

“We also have Abby in the midfield; she is a good athlete, she is using her soccer background with the position,” said Bruvik. “She has picked up the stick skills very quickly which has been great. Annarose is on midfield and defense.”

The Tartan defense will be spearheaded by senior Mandzij.

“Alex has been distributing the ball beautifully; she is one of the kids who can take it when we have the opportunity for the long ball or breakaways,” said Bruvik. “She will work both ends of the field. You will see her on the offensive corners and defensive corners. Alex has no fear — she has a green light to shoot through.”

The trio of junior Maya Dev, junior Amanda Guadalupe, and sophomore Hadelyn Martinez Cambrero will join Mandzij on the back line.

“Maya has shown great versatility playing the left or the right side of the field,” added Bruvik. “Amanda and Hadelyn will also be on defense.”

At goalie, junior Emily Harlan has emerged as a star. “Emily has had a great preseason we are very fortunate to have her,” said Bruvik, noting that Harlan notched her 100th career save late in the 2022 season. “We have a goalie coach for her this year, Jess [Gaetgens], who has been working with her. Getting that whole year under her belt last season where she was my only goalie helped her. Emily doesn’t shy away from competition at all. She does a super job on defensive corners. She is resilient. Even if she goes down, she just continues to play the ball. I think having the opportunity to be coached by a specialized coach is going to help her.”

With Stuart opening its 2023 season by hosting Lawrence High on September 7, Bruvik believes that her players need to be opportunistic in the circle in order to have a big fall.

“For us to have success this season, it is going to be about finishing,” said Bruvik. “We have done a pretty good job getting offensive corners. But we are going to need to finish, whether it is on a corner or in open field play and just pick up the intensity inside the 25. We also have to learn to work together because we are rotating in some new kids.”

—Bill Alden

HEADS UP: Princeton Day School boys’ soccer player Todd Devin heads the ball in a game last fall. Junior Devin’s skill set will be a big asset this fall for PDS. The Panthers open their 2023 season by playing at Lawrenceville School on September 8. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

LIGHTING THE FLAME: Stuart Country Day School field hockey player Nyla Flamer controls the ball in action last fall. Junior Flamer will be looking to be an offensive catalyst for Stuart this fall. The Tartans start their 2023 season by hosting Lawrence High on September 7. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

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Bringing an 18-Game Winning Streak into 2023, Hun Football Primed for Another Big Campaign

The Hun School football team will put its two-year unbeaten streak on the line when it kicks off the 2023 season at high noon on September 9 by hosting Mastery High School of Camden.

The Raiders will take to the field after graduating three-year starting quarterback Marco Lainez III, now a freshman at Iowa, as well as most of their offensive line — Zach Aamland (Illinois), Logan Howland (Oklahoma), Brian Ingram (Williams), and Cole Morgan (Michigan). Hun, though, remains optimistic that its depth and some new additions are enough to continue its winning ways. Hun looked good in a preseason scrimmage on Friday against Brunswick School.

“The good thing was the kids were playing together as a unit,” said Hun head coach Todd Smith, whose squad went 9-0 in 2022 to give the program 18 straight victories. “We saw some good things, and some things we still need to work on. We had some tired legs, some tired kids, which is to be expected because we just broke camp. All in all, it was a good showing and we’re headed in the right direction.”

The biggest question mark is how to rebuild the offensive line around returning starter Kole Briehler, a junior captain and all-everything lineman with offers from the likes of Michigan, Oklahoma, and USC, and James Muller, who played heavy minutes last year in a rotation and has drawn interest from the Ivy League and above at the next level. The offensive line has been a focal point of Hun’s preseason.

“I feel really good about it,” said Smith. “The kids are talented, they’re strong, they want to be great, they want to come off the ball. And we have the luxury of having some really good skill guys at wide receiver,

tight end and running back where if we do make a mistake those guys can make up for it on the other end.”

Hun has the luxury of boasting two outstanding quarterbacks to fill Lainez’s shoes. Miles O’Neill is a senior newcomer to Hun and is committed to Texas A&M. Jack Moran is in his third year with the program, and the junior already has offers from Maryland and UConn.

O’Neill has an edge in athleticism and experience, but both pro-style quarterbacks fit Hun’s offense well and are expected to play.

“I think everyone is going to see time for sure,” said Smith. “At the end of the day, everyone deserves to play and we’ll do our best to make that happen. It’s the same thing we’ve been doing at other position groups since I’ve been here — whether it’s wide receiver, tight end, or running back. We’ve always had a lot of those good guys and found ways to get them in. They work well with each other, they work off each other very well, they push each other at practice in a healthy way.”

The quarterbacks will be getting the ball to an experienced group of skill players. Wide receivers Liam Thorpe (junior with a Rutgers offer), Bryce Kania (junior with a Syracuse offer), and Christian Soltis (junior with a Penn offer), all return and the Raiders have added postgraduate AJ Schwartz, who will also play defensive back. The tight end corps is deep with Drae Tyme converting over from quarterback to join seniors Dom DeLuca (Temple offer) and Markus Brown (Penn offer).

“Those guys are doing great,” said Smith. “Everyone is doing a great job of managing their portion of the offense and what they have to do. It’s just a matter of continuing to get better every week and really mastering our craft here.”

In the backfield, Hun is led by junior Kamar Archie. Archie, who is also an outstanding linebacker, has offers from the top programs in the country, including Alabama, Georgia, and Clemson. Chase Enlow, a new sophomore in the program, will also carry the ball a lot for the Raiders as well as another new sophomore, Luke Wafle, the younger brother of Michigan defensive lineman commit Owen Wafle. There will be increased opportunities for the skill players after the graduation loss of Dante Barone (Penn).

“We replaced Dante with a bunch of people,” said Smith. “He was one of the most versatile people we’ve ever coached. We can’t just go pluck a kid and say we’re going to make him Dante, but we do have kids that can do all the different things Dante did. It’s a matter of putting them in the right formations.”

While the offense was elite last fall, averaging more than 45 points per game, the defense was perhaps even more dominant. They allowed barely eight points per game a year ago, and return mostly intact with just defensive ends Howland and Barone graduating.

“Owen Wafle and Kole Briehler return at defensive tackle — two of the premier defensive tackles in the country,” said Smith. “That’s the core of what we do and they have Kamar standing right behind them which is awesome. To have those three in the middle of your defense really sets the tone every game.”

Wafle will head to Michigan next year while Briehler and Archie still have another scholastic season after this year. Outside of Wafle and Briehler, Hun will insert Luke Wafle and Billy O’Byrne, a postgrad from Shawnee to fill the defensive end voids. Griffin Galletta, the younger brother of a Hun starter last year, Logan Galletta (Boston College), is capable of playing any spot on the defensive line. Luke Sutphen (Army commit) joins Archie in the linebacker crew. In the secondary, Thorpe, Kania, and Dillon Bucchere return, as well as Soltis. All four of Hun’s team captains this year will be on the first defensive unit with Archie, Briehler, Bucchere, and Owen Wafle.

More School (Conn.) in back-to-back weekends and then travel to Malvern Prep (Pa.). The Raiders have struggled to find teams to play them because of their talent, and they aren’t in the New England league that they played in for the last couple of years.

“That’s a really tough three in a row,” said Smith. “Each brings a different element of things we have to deal with. Avon Old Farm is good. St. Thomas More has a lot more postgrads than we’re used to playing and they don’t really play a high school schedule. We’ll deal with that when it comes. Malvern is a perennial really strong program out there in the Inter-Ac. We’re excited about that and the challenges in front of us.”

Those challenges ahead as well as the unified goal of playing the highest level of football possible have brought this year’s group of Raider players together. Smith has been pleased with the team’s quick camaraderie.

“They have each other’s backs and they’ve made some really great strong bonds and friendships in a very short period of time,” said Smith. “A lot of the new guys have been coming down all summer. They stayed locally with some of our local guys and they just got great work in all summer. So it’s not like they met each other for the first day of preseason. They really forged relationships and bonds throughout the summer. We’ve really just kept getting better and better as camp has progressed.”

That attitude is important on a team with a roster loaded with talent. Not everyone can play at once, and keeping all that talent happy could be a chore.

Local Sports

Local sports stuff (no pics) 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 PDS 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 player development skill sessions for elementary through high school players (boys and girls) along with a new addition, the High School Power Hour.

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.

(917) 626-5785 or kamau. bailey@gmail.com.

Helene Cody 5K Race Set for September 9

The 15th annual Helene Cody 5-kilometer race and 1-mile fun run is taking place on September 9 with the start and finish line at Heritage Park in Cranbury.

The fun run begins at 8:15 a.m. and the 5K starts at 9 a.m. The 5K is chip-timed and USATF-certified with water stations throughout the course.

Trophies will be awarded to the top three male and female finishers overall and in each age group for the 5K. Every fun run finisher will receive a medal and trophies will be awarded to the top three boys and girls. The Cranbury Day celebration will begin immediately after the race on Main Street.

Additional race information and on-line registration are available at helenecody. com/5k-and-1-mile-runwalk. html.

After Noon Concert Series

“It’s great. Kamar has stepped up and become a real vocal leader this year,” said Smith. “Last year, he took a back seat to some of our older kids and that’s great. We’re feeding off his energy. Kole is just a warrior on both sides of the ball. Owen is our classic big play maker on defense. He’s almost impossible to block and I think a lot of people look up to him for how he carries himself on both sides of the ball. And then Dillon has been our guy. He stepped on the field I think the third play of his sophomore year and hasn’t come off. He shows everybody how it’s supposed to be done. They’ve had the luxury of seeing how kids did it before them and they’ve picked up right where they left off.”

Hun will be tested in the first half of its schedule.

After Mastery, Hun will host Avon Old Farm School (Conn.) and St. Thomas

“The program has earned a reputation of doing it the right way and putting out great kids,” said Smith. “We have kids that are willing to wait their turn. I think a great example of that would be Luke Sutphen, who will be a two-year starter at linebacker for us. He’s one of the leaders on our team and one of the best players on our team, and he didn’t start until last year as a junior. And he would have started at any other program in the area, but he waited his turn and he worked really hard and he earned a bunch of scholarship offers. He’s going to head off to Army next year and play football for them.”

When players adopt that thinking at Hun it allows them to focus on the football. The Raiders have sky-high goals again. They haven’t lost a game since October 31, 2020, when Malvern Prep edged them 10-8. After making some key replacements, Hun is aiming for a third straight unbeaten season.

“The O-line has to come together and play really physical football just like we’ve been known to do for the past four or five years,” said Smith. “And step two, we have to protect the football and not turn it over. And step three is know alignment and assignment on defense and really set our playmakers loose and play good, sound fundamental football.”

— Justin Feil

The BBA fall season registration for skill development sessions for boys and girls begins on September 6 with elementary school players from 5:30-6:45 p.m. and middle school players from 6:45-8 p.m. The High School Power Hour sessions for boys and girls also begin on September 6 from 8-9 p.m. BBA boys’ team practices for interested players start on September 7 with grades 2-6 to take the court from 5:30-6:45 p.m. and for grades 7-8 from 6:45-8 p.m. All BBA activities will be held in the Princeton Middle School gym.

For more information, contact Coach Bailey at

This event is the main fundraiser for the Helene Cody Foundation, whose mission is to inspire youth to volunteer, to better their communities and themselves. Prior to her death in 2008, Helene Cody, a Princeton High student, planned to revive the Cranbury Day 5K, a community event that had been discontinued in 2006, as a way to combine her love of distance running and community service for her Girl Scout gold award project.

When she passed away, a classmate organized the first Helene Cody Cranbury 5K in memory of Helene for his Eagle Scout project. Every year since, the Helene Cody Foundation has used the event to bring the community together and use the proceeds to sponsor youth service projects and provide scholarships. All proceeds go directly to the Helene Cody Foundation, a 501(c) (3) charity.

Employment

TERHUNE ORCHARDS, FAMILY FARM, PRINCETON, NJ

Seeking office administrator to assist in the day-to-day operations for our retail business. Qualifications: detailoriented, strong communication and organizational skills, customer

Back to School Road Safety

As the school bells ring once again, it's crucial to shift our focus back to road safety. With the start of the academic year, roads become busier with children and young pedestrians. Remember, a few extra minutes can make a world of difference. Slow down in school zones, stay vigilant for crossing guards, and adhere to speed limits. Avoid distractions like phones, ensuring your full attention is on the road. Let's create a safe environment for our kids to thrive by driving responsibly. A little caution goes a long way in safeguarding the future of our communities as we embark on this back to school journey.

insured. Gutter cleaning available. References available upon request. 30 years experience. (609) 271-8860.

JOES LANDSCAPING INC. OF PRINCETON

Property Maintenance and Specialty Jobs

Commercial/Residential

Over 45 Years of Experience

• Fully Insured • Free Consultations

Email: joeslandscapingprinceton@ gmail.com

Text (only): (609) 356-9201

Office: (609) 216-7936

Princeton References

• Green Company

HIC #13VH07549500

HOME REPAIR SPECIALIST:

Interior/exterior repairs, carpentry, trim, rotted wood, power washing, painting, deck work, sheet rock/ spackle, gutter & roofing repairs. Punch list is my specialty. 40 years experience. Licensed & insured. Call Creative Woodcraft (609) 586-2130

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Town Topics is the most comprehensive and preferred weekly Real Estate resource in the greater Central New Jersey and Bucks County areas.

Every Wednesday, Town Topics reaches every home in Princeton and all high traffic business areas in town, as well as the communities of Lawrenceville, Pennington, Hopewell, Skilllman, Rocky Hill, and Montgomery. We ARE the area’s only community newspaper and most trusted resource since 1946!

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Defying Expectations in an Exceptional Location

Standing on just over an acre immediately adjacent to the glorious meadow that introduces the world famous Institute for Advanced Study, this gracious 1930’s home deftly blends traditional polish and contemporary edge. Not only was the house strategically enlarged, an incredible studio was built behind the garage. With a 16-foot peaked ceiling, a commanding stone fireplace and inspiring garden views, it is an enviable place to dive into a project, harness your creativity or host lively discussions. The main house is filled with rooms large enough for festive entertaining, yet completely comfortable for a quiet evening alone. The boldly hued study is especially cozy and unconventionally sophisticated. The central kitchen is thoughtfully laid out with both butler’s and walk-in pantries and an open flow into the window-lined breakfast room. French doors here and in the family room encourage enjoyment of the stone patio and delightfully private backyard. Each of four bedrooms displays individual character and desirable features, like walk-in closets, built-ins and soaring windows. While it already offers a walk-in closet, the main suite with adjoining office poses several options to elevate it to the next level. Stroll the Institute woods, explore IAS’s renowned wine list, perfect your swing at Springdale Golf Club - these diversions and more are right at the edge of this storied Princeton neighborhood.

Barbara Blackwell, Broker Associate

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