Princeton Magazine, June 2021 by Witherspoon Media Group

JUNE 2021

Nobel Prize-Winning

Economist Paul Krugman on “Arguing with Zombies”

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Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#

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Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex

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PRINCE TON COLLEC TION

117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 • Insurance Real Estate • Mortgage

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40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 Closing Services

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Real Estate • $4,700 Mortgage Insurance 243CherryHillRoad.info per• month

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Closing Services 34MayburyHillRoad.info $1,450

FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO

PRINCETON RINCETON

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the heartPrinceton, of downtown few blocks from Princeton University, stunning the home thatand combines the charm and appeal of he heart of In downtown a few Princeton, blocks froma Princeton University, sits a stunning homesits thata combines charm appeal of a century home with a spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten remodeledthis and fullyinrenovated entury old home with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled andThoft fully renovated home 2007 with this home in 2007 with spectacular detail toand both traditional and modern amenities. Thenorenovations nomaintain expensethe to character carefully of maintain the character of the home, ctacular detail to both traditional modern amenities. The renovations spare expense to spare carefully the home, updated for today’s staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, floors, and extensive built-ins dated for today’s lifestyle. Customlifestyle. staircaseCustom and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, andhardwood extensive built-ins throughout make it boththroughout make it both MORE PHOTOS ANDand FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO ntimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come9FairwayDrive.info true. dream anFOR intimate family space an entertainer’s come$1,165,000 true. 83MountLucasRoad.info $999,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info $875,0

PRINCE TON CO

PRINCE TON COLLEC TION

$1,649,000 eNCETON spacious entrance hall opens into the room tin ceiling, pocket The cabinets, The spacious entrance hallfamily opens intowith the original family room with and original tin doors. ceiling, andgourmet pocket kitchen doors. with Thecustom gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, nless-steel appliances, and enormous island theisland light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful The great&room heart of downtown Princeton,pantry a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning homeoverlooks that combines thelight-filled charm and appeal of room with stainless-steel appliances, pantry andoverlooks enormous the great built-inbar. bookcases beautiful bar. The great room tury to old a home with adining spacious modern open floor plan. a Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 with ens formal that overlooks wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch to function an indoor/ opens to room aand formal room that overlooks a wraparound porch. custom doors allowarea for dining and as porch area to function as an indoor/ acular detail to both traditional moderndining amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain theThe character of the home, door entertainment space. A separate mudroom with cubbies and tons built-ins of cubbies storage along with a powder complete the first floor. ed for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors,built-in hardwood floors, and extensive throughout it both outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in andmake tons of storageroom along with a powder room complete the first floor.

imate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true.

reat upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a

Retreat the master with endoors. suiteThe walk-in steamwith shower. Just down hallwayheated are two additional pacious entrance hall opensupstairs into the family room with originalbedroom tin ceiling, and pocket gourmet kitchen custom cabinets, place and the other a wallto ofisland floor-to-ceiling woodgreat built-in These bedrooms share agreat hall bath with the a BainUltra Jacuzzi tub. bedrooms one with a ess-steel appliances, pantrywith and enormous overlooks the light-filled room closets. with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The room fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. s to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ entertainment A separate with built-in tonstwo of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor. built-in bookcases, desks, window seat eorcrown jewelspace. of this homemudroom is the third floorcubbies whichand has additional spacious bedrooms, featuring

The crown jewel of this home isand theathird floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat datclosets. two bedrooms full bath bonus sitting area. upstairs toThe the master bedroom withshare en suitea walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a 117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 The twowood bedrooms share a bedrooms full bathshare and a bonus area. ace and the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These a hall bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. okLane.info $1,100,000 40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 243CherryHillRoad.info $4,700 per month 34MayburyHillRoad.info $1,450,000

e fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has rown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat fenced in backyard with Ipe the wood deck offers terrific outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has l. With ample off-street leave at home and stroll space aroundfor town. losets. The two The bedrooms shareparking a full bath you and acan bonus sitting area.cars

218GallupRoad.info 343JeffersonRoad.info $1,548,000 it all. With $1,329,000 ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at$1,347,500 home and stroll around154ChristopherDrive.info town.

enced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has With ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll around town.

43EttlCircle.info $1,350,000 / $7,000

FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VI FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENL If you want your home featured, contact me: PRINCETON PRINCETON If you want your home featured, contact me: $1,649,000 PRINCETON N $1,649,000 Beatrice Bloom In the combines heartPrinceton, of downtown Princeton, few from Princeton University, In the heart of downtown a few blocks froma Princeton University, sits a stunning homesits th In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that the charm and appeal of blocks Beatrice Bloom downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of with a spacious a century old home modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten T Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker

NEW LISTING in Princeton - $1,875,000 For photos and ﬂoorplan visit 68WesterlyRoad.info

FOR MORE PHOTOS ANDyour FLOOR PLAN, VISITcontact 15LINDENLANE.INFO If you want home featured, me:

Beatrice Bloom

aremodeled century old home with a spacious floorwith plan. Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and a century home a spacious modern open floor Architect Kirsten and fully home open in 2007 Sales with Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA,plan. ECO-Broker home with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled andThoft fully renovated this home inrenovated 2007 with thismodern spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare expense carefu 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com spectacular detail toand both traditional andto(cell) modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, “Splendid” is the(cell) only word describe this traditional Western Section dwelling within a short distance to Palmer Square! Its award-winning renovation personifi esnorenovations taste and to spare tail to both traditional modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, andhard exte updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both day’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both elegance, while at theOffice samemouldings, time creating an ambiance of comfort and relaxation. Timeless architecture and charming details combine to offer residents a true work-of-art. Princeton | 609-921-1900 MORE PHOTOS ANDand FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO an 83MountLucasRoad.info intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come9FairwayDrive.info true. dream anFOR intimate family space an entertainer’s come$1,165,000 true. 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com $999,000 FOR MORE PHOTOS ANDand FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO mily space and an entertainer’s dream come true. an intimate family space an entertainer’s dream come true. casRoad.info $999,000 9FairwayDrive.info $1,165,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info $875,000 The spacious, free-flowing interior is light-filled, encompassing sets of French doors and a variety of customized windows, including Palladian upstairs. The focus on light begins

Princeton Office | 609-921-1900

$1,649,00 The spacious entrance opens into the family room tinentertaining ceiling, pocket The at opens theentrance entrance. Afamily glass-paned French-style front door and broadtinentryway open toPRINCETON a full-length view ofspacious thehall outdoor Mahogany deck. Both sophisticated and relaxed The entrance hall opens intowith the original family room with and original tin doors. ceiling, and $1,649,000 ntrance hall into the room tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, The spacious hall opens intowith the original family room with PHOTOS original ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen custom cabinets, FOR MORE AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO appliances, pantry andwith enormous island overlooks theisland light-filled great to room with built-in bo Instainless-steel theroom heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sitsthe a stunning homeoverlooks that room combines thelight-filled charm and appeal stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous the grea appliances, pantry and enormous island overlooks the light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great room living opportunities abound. French doors in the formal room, family room, and dining open to the large-scale deck. Curved archways lead way from one another, town Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous island overlooks the light-filled great room withto built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The greatKirsten room aopens century old home with adining spacious modern open floor plan. Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 wit ato formal room that overlooks aArchitect wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining a with adining spacious modern open floor plan. a Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 with opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom do mal room that overlooks wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area function as an indoor/ spectacular to addition both traditional modern Thegourmet renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character the hom the beautiful decor. A charming dencarefully is alsomaintain ﬁ lled the with light, and offers captivating of aand window seat. The kitchen, appointed with state-of-the art of with opens to aenhancing formal room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors the allow fordetail dining and porch area toamenities. function as anwith indoor/ both traditional and moderndining amenities. The renovations spare no expense character the home, outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom cubbies and tons of cubbies storage along a updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors,built-in hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout inment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbiesto and tons of storage alongof with a powder room complete the first floor. outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in andmake tonsit bo of

PRINCETON

$1,649,000

festyle. Custom staircase and polished mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout it both outdoor entertainment space.black A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies andmake tons of cooler storage along with a and powder room dream complete the floor.as does the entryway. appliances, granite countertops, buffet counter, and built-in wine also features handsome Spanish terracotta tilefirst flooring, an intimate family space an entertainer’s come true. ace and an entertainer’s dream come true. Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Justshare down the hallway a main ensuite features a luxurious with whirlpool tubtwo as well as an adjoining sitting room and various closets. spacious bedrooms hall In thebedroom heart downtown Princeton, few down blocks Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of awith s to the masterThe bedroom with enof suite walk-in steam shower.abathroom Just thefrom hallway are additional bedrooms one with a Retreat to the master endoors. suite walk-in steam shower. Jusb The spacious entrance hall opensupstairs into the family room with originalbedroom tin ceiling,Two and pocket The gourmet kitchen custom cabinet Retreat the master with en suiteThe walk-in steamwith shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with awith e hall opensupstairs into the family room with originalbedroom tin ceiling, and pocket doors. gourmet kitchen custom cabinets, fireplace and the other with a wall ofisland floor-to-ceiling wood built-in These bedrooms share agreat hall stainless-steel appliances, pantryJacuzzi and enormous overlooks therenovated light-filled great room closets. with built-in bookcases &with beautiful bar. The roo he other with a wallto of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share agreat hall bath with a BainUltra heated tub. bathroom with tub shower and an ensuite bedroom has a full bathroom with aroom large soaking tub. a century old home with a spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully this home in 2007 fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These be ces, pantry and enormous island overlooks the light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms a hall with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. opens share to a formal diningbath room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoo ing room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, A finished lower cubbies level not tons onlyofincludes amplea recreation, exercise, and office space but alsojewel a kitchen two mudroom full baths, transforming a separate apartment orcomplete in-lawthe outdoor entertainment space. Aand separate with easily built-in tonstwo ofinto storage along with a powder room first floor. b The crown of this home is the third floorcubbies whichand has additional spacious bedrooms, featuring t space. A separate with built-in storage along with powder room complete the first floor. built-in el of this homemudroom is the third floor whichand has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring bookcases, desks, window seat The crown jewel of this home isand the floor which has twoit additional spacious updated fordoors today’s lifestyle. Custom and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make both and closets. two bedrooms full bath athird bonus sitting area. suite. direct access to astaircase blue-stone patio and a carport. The crown jewelSeveral of thissliding home is theprovide floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, window seat Retreat upstairs toThe the master bedroom withshare en suiteadesks, walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with two bedrooms full bath and athird bonus sitting area. ee master bedroom withshare en suitea walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a The twowood bedrooms share a bedrooms full bathshare anda hall a bonus area. fireplace and the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tu an wood intimate family space andshare an dream come true. and The bedrooms share awindows full bath andaentertainer’s a bonus area. The two views from theclosets. upstairs look out upon asitting of green; multitude r with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in These bedrooms hall bath with asea BainUltra heatedaJacuzzi tub. of trees fill the horizon, and overlook the landscaped backyard. This also includes a nostalgic foot Theand fenced in backyard with Ipehas wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family friends. This home truly The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, se above a small meandering stone-walled creek. Formal hedges are paired on either side ofample the The front entrance, accompanying the plantings surrounding the for perimeter. is home is thebridge third floor which has two additional spacious featuring built-in desks, fenced in backyard with Ipeattractive wood deck offers terrific outdoorwindow memor it all. With off-street parking leave the cars at home stroll space around town. and closets. The twowith bedrooms share a full bath you andThe acan bonus sitting area. The spacious entrance hall opens into thebookcases, family roomwindow with seat original tincreated ceiling, and pocket doors. gourmet kitchen withand custom cabinets, The fenced in backyard with Ipe the wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be family and friends. This home truly has le off-street you leave cars atbedrooms, home and stroll around town. bedrooms shareparking a full bathinspired and acan bonus sitting area. 218GallupRoad.info $1,329,000 343JeffersonRoad.info $1,347,500 This property will become a wonderful home to an equally-inspired resident! it all. room With amplebuilt-in off-street 43EttlCircle.info parking you can$1,350,000 leave the cars at home and stroll aroun 343JeffersonRoad.info $1,548,000 /with $7,000 perfriends. month itRoad.info all. With $1,329,000 ample off-street parking you can leave theand carsenormous at$1,347,500 home and stroll around154ChristopherDrive.info town. stainless-steel appliances, pantry island overlooks the light-filled great & memories beautiful bar. The great room The fenced in backyard with Ipe woodwith deck offers terrificbookcases space for outdoor to be created family and This home truly ha rd with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has it all.The With custom ample off-street parking you can leave the carsand at home and stroll around opens a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. doors allow for dining porch area to town. function as an indoor/ street parking you can leave the carsto at home and stroll around town.

outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons of storage along a powder room complete first floor. If youwith want your home featured,the contact me: If you want your home featured, contact me: If you want your home featured, contact me:

If you want your home featured, contact me:

upstairs to the If you want yourRetreat home featured, contact me:

If you want home featured, me: bedrooms one with a master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down theyour hallway are twocontact additional

Beatrice Bloom fireplace Bloom and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. Beatrice Beatrice Bloom Beatrice Bloom

Beatrice Bloom

Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker

Beatrice Bloom

Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker

The crown(cell) jewel of this home is the third| floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in desks, window seat Specialist, M 609-577-2989 (cell) info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Sales|bookcases, Representative/Princeton Residential Sales Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker and closets. TheRepresentative/Princeton two bedrooms share aResidential full bath and a bonus sitting area. Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | B Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has Princeton | 609-921-1900 FOR MOREOffice PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN | 609-921-1900 it all. With Princeton ample parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll around town. FOR off-street MOREOffice PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO

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JUNE 2021 PUBLISHER J. Robert Hillier, Lh.D., FAIA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lynn Adams Smith OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Melissa Bilyeu ART DIRECTOR Jeffrey Edward Tryon GRAPHIC DESIGNER Matthew DiFalco PHOTOGRAPHERS Weronika A. Plohn Jeffrey Edward Tryon CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Laurie Pellichero Ilene Dube Donald Gilpin Wendy Greenberg Michele Jacobson Anne Levin Stuart Mitchner Will Uhl ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Charles R. Plohn ACCOUNT MANAGERS Jennifer Covill Joann Cella ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES 609.924.5400 Media Kit available on www.princetonmagazine.com SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 609.924.5400 ext. 30 subscriptions@witherspoonmediagroup.com

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

21 Route 31 North, Pennington, NJ 08534 orionjewelrystudio.com | 609-737-7235

CONTENTS

38 14

JUNE 2021

60 46

20 Q&A WITH PAUL KRUGMAN BY LYNN ADAMS SMITH 14

SEEKING UTOPIA AMONG THE STARS BY ILENE DUBE

A new documentary explores the visions of PU physicist Gerard K. O’Neill 20

BICYCLING IS BOOMING

— with Princeton at the epicenter BY DONALD GILPIN 30

DRESS FOR SUCCESS CENTRAL NEW JERSEY BY WENDY GREENBERG

Empowering women on their journey to economic independence 46

HOT OFF THE GRILL BY MICHELE JACOBSON

Tips and techniques for getting the best results this season 52

KEEPING IT INDEPENDENT BY ANNE LEVIN

Three area markets with distinctive personalities 60

STARCROSSED

BOOK SCENE

BY WILL UHL Starlink’s satellite internet revolution and the fading sky 38

BY STUART MITCHNER

Cooling it: A serving of summer reading 68

A WELL-DESIGNED LIFE BY LYNN ADAMS SMITH 70, 72 ON THE COVER: Paul Krugman illustration by Matthew DiFalco.

PRINCETON MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: FOOD PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; SATELLITE PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; “ARGUING WITH ZOMBIES: ECONOMICS, POLITICS, AND THE FIGHT FOR A BETTER FUTURE” BOOK BY PAUL KRUGMAN; WHOLE EARTH CENTER PHOTO BY JEFFREY E. TRYON; SANDRA, A DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLIENT, PHOTO BY WERONIKA PLOHN; CYCLING PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; SEA BAGS GREAT BLUE HERON TOTE, SEABAGS.COM; STARFISH 14K GOLD EARRINGS, GOGOJEWELRY.COM; “THE HIGH FRONTIER: THE UNTOLD STORY OF GERARD K. O’NEILL” BY WILL HENRY, RYAN STUIT, AND DYLAN TAYLOR.

Welcome to Capital Health. Welcome to the first facility in the region to offer a robotic-assisted Whipple procedure to treat pancreatic cancer. Where a multi-disciplinary team of surgeons, radiologists, oncologists, and rehabilitation services collaborate to provide the best care and the care that’s best for him. And all under one roof. Because you’d go to the ends of the earth to make sure he got care like that. And so do we. Find a doctor near you at CapitalHealth.org/cancer

| FROM THE PUBLISHER We at Princeton Magazine hope that you are vaccinated and coming out of your 14-month enforced, isolated hibernation. That said, please keep wearing your mask where required, but under it we hope we can soon detect a smile of relief and perhaps liberation. In that light, it is a pleasure to bring you our June issue, which is about reconnecting and regathering, mainly around food and exercise. Then, in contrast, there are the possibilities of new connections in outer space. No, this is not about Elon Musk and his plans to inhabit Mars. This is far beyond that, as you will find in Ilene Dube’s wonderful story about Princeton filmmaker Will Henry’s documentary about the late Princeton University physics professor Gerard K. O’Neill and his amazing theories about human colonies in space — ideas that he was putting forth 50 years ago. Less futuristic and more down to earth — well, not quite — we have Will Uhl’s story about the launching of more satellites into orbit through SpaceX’s Starlink venture to provide global internet access, even to remote areas, along with higher speeds. As with any new development there are unexpected consequences, as the internet satellites orbiting our planet are now fading out the normal evening skies. In this story’s layout, you will find a dark blue sky photo with some white lines scattered across it. I asked our Art Director, Jeffrey Tryon, “Why is this here?” His response was a shocking, “Oh, those aren’t stars, they are all satellites. That’s just a few of the many that are up there!” Back down on Earth and here, in Princeton post COVID-19, everyone wants to get together around food — especially around an outdoor grill. Michele Jacobson offers tips and techniques on the art of grilling, and also gives you four amazing recipes to get you started. Enjoy! And where do you go to get the best foods? Well, the Princeton area is blessed to have three very good independent grocery stores that have all weathered the challenges of COVID-19, and each offers its own distinctive shopping experience. Anne Levin takes you on a tour and a discussion of the three, with photos by Jeffrey Tryon. Just don’t get too hungry as you are reading her piece. With all this food sampling we better work it off, and a great way to do that is by biking, which has become a truly national pastime — so much so that now there is actually a short supply of bicycles and long lead times on ordering special ones, of which there are many. As you would expect, Princeton has become an epicenter of this “boom,” as our Donald Gilpin describes it. We have great bike trails, wonderful places to bike to, and several bike stores including Kopp’s Cycle, which is possibly the oldest bike store in America, founded in 1891! Good food, good exercise, and you now are in good shape to “Dress for Success.” I know you don’t need to — already there, right? Well how about contributing those slightly used designer outfits, shoes, and accessories to those who need to dress up for a job interview and don’t have the funds to do so. That is the mission of Melissa Tenzer, the charming and very energetic CEO of Dress for Success Central New Jersey. Writer Wendy Greenberg and photographer Weronica Plohn deliver this wonderful story about empowering women on their journey to economic independence.

PRINCETON MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY E. TRYON

Dear Readers,

This issue’s cover illustration by our Graphic Designer Matthew DiFalco is a stunning portrait of one of the most brilliant and outspoken economists of our time, Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman. His new book, Arguing with Zombies, is an outgrowth of his New York Times opinion columns about the economics, the politics, and the fight for a better future for America and its people. Our Editor-In-Chief, Lynn Adams Smith, had the pleasure and the honor to do a Q&A with Dr. Krugman especially for this issue. You will find their discussion extremely interesting, and you just might want to get his book. As summer is almost upon us, please take a peek at Stuart Mitchner’s reading list for the beach, or the woods, or that long flight to a faraway place that will finally let you visit. If you are staying home and the place needs some sprucing up, please view the beautiful “Well- Designed Life” pages compiled by Lynn Adams Smith. That should raise your spirits, and perhaps your cost of living. Lynn and I wish you a wonderful summer, hopefully free of COVID and very close to back to normal — or even the “new normal.” Readingly and Respectfully Yours,

J. Robert Hillier, Lh.D., FAIA Publisher

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RELAX

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE MAY 2021

QA &

with

Paul Krugman Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and professor emeritus of Princeton University. He received his BA in economics from Yale University, where he was a National Merit Scholar, and earned a PhD in economics from MIT. Krugman is the author or editor of 27 books, including scholarly works, textbooks, and books for the general public. His most recent book, Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future, expands upon his New York Times opinion columns to highlight how some conservative lawmakers use false or misleading information to beneﬁt the wealthiest Americans. INTERVIEW BY LYNN ADAMS SMITH

n your book, you describe zombies as “ideas” that have been proven wrong by evidence but refuse to die. The ideas keep shambling along, eating away at people’s brains, and are kept alive by influential people such as billionaires and politicians. What are a few examples of zombies? The most persistent zombie in U.S. discourse — the Zombie Supreme, you might say — is the belief that cutting taxes on high-income individuals will create an economic miracle. It never works, yet the belief persists. Belief that government debt is terrible, horrible, that it means crisis any day now is another, and it persists even though the debt scaremongers have been wrong year after year. Yet another is the belief that we can’t address environmental problems without killing the economy, even though clean technologies have made huge progress. How is a cockroach idea different from a zombie, and what is an example? Cockroach ideas are ideas that can be made to go away for a while, but keep coming back. I think I introduced the term in response to people who kept saying that Keynes would never have advocated fiscal stimulus if debt had been this high in his day. When you point out that debt was actually very high in the 1930s, this claim tends to go away, but someone else who hasn’t checked the facts always shows up to make it again. Who will benefit the most from Biden’s coronavirus relief package, and does it properly target the specific needs of the current crisis? Is $1.9 trillion the appropriate size to jump-start employment recovery?

How does the relief package compare to Obama’s 2009 $831 billion stimulus plan? This is a very redistributive plan: huge benefits for lower-income families, especially with children. It’s important to understand that it’s NOT mainly about jump-starting the economy; it’s about getting us through the rest of the pandemic. And I have to admit, it’s a generous plan — it provides mostly adequate aid to those in need, and does scatter the aid widely, so many people who might not need help get money as well — which is OK. This is all a huge contrast with Obama’s stimulus, which was supposed to drive recovery, and was woefully underpowered for the task. The $15 minimum wage proposal did not make it into the relief package. What do history and data say about the correlation between increasing wages and job loss? Is it possible that increasing the current minimum from $7.25 to $15 is too big of a jump for small businesses trying to stay afloat during COVID? Minimum wages are a subject where we have unusually good evidence, because many states set minimums above the federal level and we can see what happens when they raise wages. The answer, overwhelmingly, is low to zero job loss. To some extent that might be because minimum wages are so low — surely a minimum wage of, say, $30 would cost jobs. But we can be reasonably sure that not many jobs would be lost if we went up to $15. As for small businesses, there’s a big difference between asking, “Could I afford to raise the wage I pay to $15?” and asking, “Could I afford to go to $15 if all my competitors have to do the same thing?” There really isn’t much reason to think this would be a huge problem.

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What has caused wage stagnation in the middle class and what will it take to increase wages? That’s actually a huge question. Economists used to think that it was mainly about technology reducing the demand for less-educated workers. But these days many of us place a lot of weight on loss of bargaining power, and the decline of unions in particular. If we want to raise wages, revitalizing the labor movement will be crucial. Trump’s attempt at killing Obamacare by eliminating the individual mandate failed, but it was successful in reducing enrollment and increasing premiums. A single payer system would be less expensive but Medicare for all does not have wide-reaching support. Is there a way to achieve universal health care without going to Medicare for all? Definitely. Every other advanced country has universal care, achieved in multiple ways. Direct provision of health care, as in Britain, is the cheapest, singlepayer, as in Canada, next, but decentralized systems with regulation and subsidies work in places like Switzerland and the Netherlands. A reinforced version of Obamacare would be complicated and still have some holes, but it can get us most of the way there. Why do farmers and blue-collar workers continue to support Trump despite being hurt by his policies? Race, above all. Nothing in American politics makes sense without factoring in white fear of people who look different. Cultural issues also play some role — many people don’t like the secularized, pluralistic society we’ve become. But maybe we should admit that it goes both ways: there are a lot of affluent people in New Jersey who vote for politicians who raise their taxes, because they’re appalled by the culture of the modern right. What will it take for the Republican Party to cut ties with Trump, or will that never happen? What do I know? I am not a political scientist, although I talk to people who are. But the important point, surely, is that whatever happens to Trump, Trumpism — deep illiberalism, contempt for democratic values — is what today’s GOP is all about. They’re never going back to what they were.

Are Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple monopolies? Does their economic dominance present a problem, or are they modern day examples of the American dream? Yes, they’re monopolies. And they create a lot of problems, ranging from excessive market power to outrageous tax avoidance. For now,

PRINCETON MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

Approximately how many people click onto one of your New York Times columns? Given each print copy is read by more than one person in a household, what is your best guess estimate of your total combined readership in print and online, over the course of the 20 years you’ve been writing the column? I actually don’t know how many people read a column. I do know that I have 4.6 million Twitter followers, so it’s a good bet that millions of people read each column. Certainly a lot more people than have ever read my academic papers! Such a huge readership must also generate a fair number of angry op-eds and hostile emails. How do you personally deal with the attacks? I use filters to screen out a lot of the hate mail, and quickly bypass what gets through. In general, you have to develop a thick skin to be an opinion writer. If what you write doesn’t upset many people, you probably aren’t doing the job, which isn’t about making people comfortable. Actually, what’s kind of funny is that the biggest eruptions of hate often come when I write about economics — nothing induces rage as much as a column suggesting that debt isn’t a huge threat or printing money doesn’t always cause inflation.

“I’M NOT A REAL HEALTH CARE ECONOMIST, BUT I PLAY ONE ON TV — AND, MORE IMPORTANT, ON THE TIMES OPED PAGE. AND I STUDIED TO PLAY THAT ROLE, LEARNING FROM THE BEST OF THE REAL HEALTH CARE ECONOMISTS, ESPECIALLY MY LATE PRINCETON COLLEAGUE UWE REINHARDT.”

Does New York City need to reinvent itself after COVID? What changes has the city made or should it consider making to help the economy diversify and rebound? We don’t really know yet. There will surely be a lot more working from home, which is bad for commercial real estate, but it’s not clear how many people and businesses will actually move away from New York on a sustained basis. The city remains a powerful draw; I liked the quote from one money manager who said, “The problem with moving to Florida is that you have to live in Florida.”

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however, we should focus on correcting those problems rather than making it mainly a war on particular companies.

I learned from watching your 92nd Street Y interview that you discovered indie rock in your 50s. Share with us how that came about and do you have a favorite band? When Arcade Fire won a Grammy, for some reason I decided to listen to their stuff, and was shocked at how good it was. From there I branched out to many less famous bands, especially ones I can see live in small venues. I don’t have a single favorite these days, partly because I keep discovering new music. Right now, for example, I’m listening a lot to Larkin Poe, sisters from Atlanta, and Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra, a bluegrass band from Oslo, Norway.

Looking forward, what are you most concerned about and what makes you feel optimistic? I’m terrified that democracy will collapse — we barely made it through 2020, and the threat isn’t over. Beyond that, climate change is an existential threat. I have, on the other hand, been amazed at humanity’s continuing ability to innovate — progress in green energy has been amazing, and vaccine development has been a miracle. And I’m still kind of giddy at having a U.S. government that actually pays attention to facts.

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SEEKING

UTOPIA Fifty years ago, Princeton physicist Gerard O’Neill had a plan for colonies in space. Filmmaker and Princeton native Will Henry takes us back to that future in a new documentary.

AMONG THE STARS BY ILENE DUBE

Depiction of an O’Neill cylinder’s interior by artist Rick Guidice.

the camera pans over craters of the moon, a male voice speaks: “We earthlings have always been an adventuring people. We always look to a new frontier. Today, the colonization of space offers us a new limitless frontier. It’s beautiful, it’s friendly, and it’s waiting for us.” Though spoken nearly half a century ago by Gerard K. O’Neill (1927-1992), a Princeton University physics professor until 1985, those words sound science fiction-y even today. “When I speak of space colonies I think of Earth-like habitats with grass and trees and flowers,” the voice over continues. He envisioned a kind of airy space architecture, surrounded by bodies of water, mountains, and forests that would help prevent humans from depleting Earth’s precious resources. O’Neill, who lived in Princeton with his wife, Tasha, is the subject of a new documentary, The High Frontier, also the name of the 1977 book O’Neill published with Simon & Schuster; it earned the Phi Beta Kappa Science Book Award. Among those featured in the film are Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, TESLA and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, Institute for Advanced Study physics professor Freeman Dyson, and TV personalities Johnny Carson and Dan Rather. Much of the historic footage comes from Princeton University archives, newspapers, and

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O’Neill, pictured with his wife Tasha, is the subject of the documentary “The High Frontier.”

campus-filmed TV — Princeton viewers may recognize classrooms, conference halls, and common spaces. The High Frontier, released in April, was produced by Princeton native Will Henry and financed by Dylan Taylor, a pioneer in the space exploration industry and chairman and CEO of Voyager Space Holdings, a multi-national space holding firm. O’Neill’s inventions bolstered his credentials as a physicist. In the 1960s, he invented particle storage rings — at first viewed with skepticism by other scientists — that were instrumental in the development of particle accelerators, ultimately leading to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful. “He changed the strategy of high energy physics,” Dyson says in the film. Flipping through pages from O’Neill’s papers (today housed at the National Air and Space Museum Archives), his widow Tasha says he predicted email, a computer that could speak, a device that could be worn on the wrist that would enable us to take calls, electronic readers, and computer-guided cars that would save lives. He also predicted we’d have space colonies by the 1980s, and that the moon could be a good source of building materials and space itself a source of cheap energy (for example, solar energy or materials gathered from moons and asteroids). Interviewed on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, O’Neill said the infrastructure was in place, that energy and material were waiting for us in space. In archival images, with a Mr. Spock-style ’do, O’Neill looks as if he might have just stepped off the Starship Enterprise. According to the film’s press release, O’Neill’s book (full title: The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space) “sparked a

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grassroots movement to build Earth-like habitats to solve Earth’s greatest crises.” Space colonies, he espoused, would assure the survival of the human race. O’Neill was gestating these ideas when mushroom clouds and human-made environmental disasters threatened the planet. He told his freshman physics students that the “humanization of Earth” was the only way to resolve our planet’s becoming overcrowded, dirty, and short on supplies. The film shows Arthur C. Clarke, with whom O’Neill corresponded, making the case that if, in history, we’d stayed in one place, “we’d probably have become extinct.” Isaac Asimov says the more we put into space, the less we have for arms and munitions — “and isn’t that a better way to spend money?” LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

Fine art photographer Tasha O’Neill was born in Schweinsurt, Germany, and came to the U.S. at 21 to work as an au pair for the Gallup family in Princeton. A week later she met her future husband at a meeting of the International Club at the YMCA. Blinded by love — she felt as if she’d known Gerry in a previous life — Tasha mistook him for a grad student, not realizing he was 21 years her senior. On their first date, at Odette’s in New Hope, Pennsylvania, they discussed childrearing philosophy. He had three children from a prior marriage, and Tasha’s ideas were influenced by her work with the Gallup family. The couple married in 1973. O’Neill, who also aspired to be a scientist astronaut, enjoyed soaring above it all. With Tasha he flew gliders and sail

planes, and soon the co-pilots secured licenses, acquiring a small plane to fly to meetings, conferences, and vacation destinations. Together the O’Neills founded the Space Studies Institute to fund research through citizen donations. O’Neill’s following came to be known as “Gerry’s Kids,” many of them science fiction fans — executive producer Dylan Taylor counts himself as one. Timothy Leary, the psychedelicpromoting psychologist, was another adherent. “Gerry had the dreams and I helped with the execution,” recounts Tasha. “I was with him 100 percent.” She envisioned opening a restaurant in space, going so far as to contemplate what herbs and spices to take. “Those didn’t weigh very much,” she adds. She was never skeptical about any of it because “it was founded on scientific principle and equations. I didn’t have the scientific knowledge, but it all made sense. He brought in established scientists and thinkers, from law to environmentalists. Margaret Mead was among those he met with.” “It was at a time when we were running out of resources,” she continues, “and he was thinking ‘What can we do? Where can we go? How can we harness solar power and rid the Earth of heavy industry?’” O’Neill’s charisma enhanced his powers of persuasion. “He was focused and always prepared when he spoke publicly,” says Tasha. “He had a force and people listened because he made sense, never doubting that someday it would happen. When he was convinced you couldn’t move him, he could refute you with hard science. He was pretty sure of himself.” At the 2018 conference of the National Space Society, a nonprofit dedicated to the creation of

Depiction of a pair of O’Neill cylinders by artist Rick Guidice.

By 1976 he made it to the cover of the New York Times Magazine, introducing his ideas on space colonization, followed by coverage in Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Washington Post Magazine, Penthouse, and on 60 Minutes. NASA not only listened to, but funded him. Ronald Reagan appointed O’Neill to the National Commission on Space in 1985, and he was named the Hunsaker Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. “A lot of young people today are growing up with the feeling that movement into space is inevitable,” he told Princeton’s Rich Rein for a 1977 People Magazine interview. “They’ve been born since Sputnik and they can’t understand what the argument is about. The argument is mostly because of older people, for whom going into space is an alien idea.” His entrepreneurial endeavors included forming a number of private nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses, all geared toward technology development. He invented a precursor to GPS navigation that was the basis of his company Geostar. O’Neill went on to write 2081: A Hopeful View of the Human Future and The Technology Edge: Opportunities for America in World Competition. According to his New York Times obituary, “At the time of his death, Dr. O’Neill was working on

a spacefaring civilization, Tasha delivered the Gerard K. O’Neill Award to Jeff Bezos for his accomplishments as founder of Blue Origin, an aerospace company focused on building reusable launch systems to lower the cost of access to space. Bezos read The High Frontier in high school and credits O’Neill as formative to his thinking. After the presentation, Tasha was seated next to Bezos for dinner. He inquired whether she knew Dyson, a previous recipient of the O’Neill Award. Tasha told Bezos that the Dysons babysat their son, Edward (the only child O’Neill and Tasha had together), taking him to school and helping with his homework. Edward, 40, lives in Vancouver, Washington, and works in IT. SPECULATING ON THE ORIGINS

O’Neill read Buck Rogers as a child growing up in Speculator, New York, in the Adirondacks. Later, he became a Star Trek devotee. After a stint in the Navy, where he developed an interest in science, O’Neill graduated Phi Beta Kappa in physics and mathematics from Swarthmore College, class of 1950. He earned a doctorate in physics from Cornell University in 1954, and began his Princeton career in a juniorfaculty position before being named full professor in 1959. He co-authored a graduate-level textbook on elementary particle physics. O’Neill’s first marriage, to a psychology professor with whom he had three children, ended in divorce in 1966. His earliest articles about space colonization were rejected from scientific journals.

Depiction of the interior of an O’Neill cylinder, illuminated by reflected sunlight by artist Don Davis.

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Gerard K. O’Neill, physicist and author of the popular science book “The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space.”

a form of high-speed ground-based transportation called a magnetic flight system, in which a smalldiameter car would ‘float’ on a magnetic force in a vacuum tube on land or underground, and thus be able to reach incredible land speeds that would make it possible to travel from Boston to Los Angeles in an hour.” But his ideas for humanizing space did not materialize in his lifetime. “Despite their science-fiction overtones, O’Neill’s ideas were firmly rooted in physics principles,” writes Benjamin Gross at sciencehistory.org; Gross is a past consulting curator of the Sarnoff Collection at the College of New Jersey who earned a doctorate in the history of science from Princeton. “During the mid-1970s NASA and Stanford University cosponsored workshops aimed at implementing his designs.” According to Gross, by the early 1980s “conflicts over the commercialization and militarization of space splintered the colonization movement, though nonprofits such as the National Space Society continue to promote aspects of O’Neill’s vision today.” RETURN HOME

Although filmmaker Will Henry grew up in Princeton — he attended Riverside Elementary School about a decade after O’Neill’s youngest son, Edward — he first learned about O’Neill when hired to work on the film. In between summer camp at the American Boychoir School, sports, and a part-time job at Kopp’s Cycle, Henry made hundreds of short films with friends, centered at some of his old haunts such as Lake Carnegie and Princeton Garden Theatre. These were frequently featured in the Princeton Public

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Library’s Student Film Festival. With a father who was a chemist and a mother who was an educational researcher and master gardener, “I was certainly not a science fiction, space, or physics nerd,” says Henry. “I was an athlete and film geek.” On further reflection he adds, “I was obsessed with science experiments, botany, biology, and later developed an interest in chemistry like my father, although I was a rubbish student.” “I am enormously fascinated by O’Neill’s work,” Henry continues, “because he had such an optimistic and practical view of humanity and our future. His ideas of space colonies were certainly other-worldly, but the main tenets of his vision were to solve humanity’s greatest crises of overpopulation, dwindling resources, energy, and war.” The film was three years in the making, sifting through “treasure troves of old videotape libraries, trash heaps of slides, archives at the Smithsonian.... The amazing thing is that O’Neill’s story was simply sitting out there for someone to find it.” Henry, who lives in Long Beach, California, had never met Freeman Dyson before filming and was delighted by all the coincidences he found in his hometown. “I used to fish in the pond outside Freeman Dyson’s window at the Institute for Advanced Study every summer for 15 years and never knew I’d return to interview him in that very building.” The timing of the film’s release is ideal, says Henry. “SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others are making such major accomplishments in the space industry. They know O’Neill is the person to thank for those accomplishments, but the world audience may not. So, what better time to remind

Will Henry, filmmaker and producer of “The High Frontier.”

them than while it’s happening?” “Gerry was a visionary with a robust and thorough roadmap, and proved how we could achieve a better life for humanity using the tools we already have,” says Henry. “No new science needs to be invented, nothing fantastic needs to be discovered. The only thing that stands in the way of his vision is cost, and the good news is that private space companies are breaking down that barrier.” To view the ﬁlm, go to thehighfrontiermovie.com.

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here’s a bicycling boom going on, Princeton is at the center of the action, and there are good reasons for both of these facts. The cycling industry was already thriving before COVID-19. Then lockdowns and anxiety over public transportation brought about a sharp increase in bike sales and repairs, as people of all ages, whether they’d ridden a bike in the last 20 years or not, were eager to get outdoors and exercise safely. They found old bikes in the garage to refurbish or headed to the bike stores. The waiting time to buy a new bike can be as much as a full year now, as bike stores struggle to keep up with demand. This time in the history of our planet, when concerns for the environment and a focus on personal health and wellness impact every aspect of our daily lives, seems to be particularly propitious for a sustained surge of interest in bicycling. Whether for pure fun and fresh air, for sociability, for exercise, for transport, or for commuting and working, bicycling appears to be an activity that will continue to grow. Princeton — formerly best known as a town of scholars and educators or a bastion of American history or perhaps as an enclave of genteel elegance or a mecca for sophisticated suburban shoppers — was recently designated the most “bike-friendly” town in the state and is well poised to ride the crest of this wave of popularity. Presented with a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) award by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) in December 2020, Princeton is one of only six BFCs in New Jersey and the only one in the state to attain the silver level. Since 2016 Princeton had been ranked at the bronze level along with Hoboken, Lambertville, New Brunswick, Ocean City, and West Windsor. Blessed by its geographical location and some resourceful, foresighted leaders, Princeton has been developing its Bicycle Mobility Plan for many years. Its recently upgraded Bike Boulevards provide a network of routes that connect the schools, the public library, and the downtown

Paths along canals are popular for cyclists. (Shutterstock.com)

area to other parts of the town; with a variety of different routes ranging from a 16-mile ﬁtness loop around the perimeter of town to the 4.5-mile town and gown loop near the center of town. The recently published Princeton Bicycle Map is available at Kopp’s and Jay’s bike shops and online on the municipal website at princetonnj.gov. For more ambitious riders the Bike Boulevards connect with the 22-mile Lawrence Hopewell Trail, which meanders from just west of Princeton through the environs of Lawrenceville, Pennington, and Hopewell. The 77-mile Delaware & Raritan Canal Trail goes about 15 miles north from Princeton to New Brunswick, about 13 miles south to Trenton, then from Trenton about 32 miles north along the Delaware River to Frenchtown. Formigli ONE — the ultimate road racing creation — the fastest, most aero, highest performing frame Formigli has ever designed. (formigli.com/custombicycles/one)

BIKE BOULEVARDS “Biking has completely exploded. There’s no question about that,” said Jerry Foster, recently retired as biking specialist at the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association. Foster, who has logged many thousands of miles locally and across the country, knows the trails and roads of the Princeton area as well as anyone. He recommended the Bike Boulevards for anyone in Princeton who is just getting started or getting back to biking after many years. “If you’re just talking about getting used to the bike, it’s the Bike Boulevards,” he said. “All around town on quiet roads, you can get used to handling the bike. It’s all very civilized and easy to do.” The boulevards, according to Princeton Bicycling Advisory Committee (PBAC) Chair Lisa Serieyssol, were designed to go around the whole town, connecting different neighborhoods without having to travel on main streets. “These are low stress, low speed, low volume roads for the most part, mostly going through residential areas with trails or ride paths in some places.” “We think the Princeton Bicycle Map and these trails will be very useful to a lot of people,” Serieyssol said, pointing out that many other routes are available with connections to the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, the D&R Canal Trail, West Windsor routes, and more. Princeton Councilman David Cohen cited the town’s Bike Mobility Plan and its adoption into the Princeton Master Plan in 2017 as a major boost for local biking. “Being bike friendly is all about getting people on their bicycles,” he said, emphasizing the importance of people feeling safe on the roads. “The more people on their bicycles and the more dedicated facilities for bikes, the better it is for motorists too. Every bike on the road is a car that’s not on the road.” JUNE 2021 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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The Garden State Fondo will take place Sunday, September 12, 2021 in Morristown. More than 2,500 cyclists of all levels will participate with a choice of six routes ranging from 18-125 miles. For more information, visit granfondonj.com. (Photo by Bicycle Racing Pictures)

In addition to the creation of the Bike Boulevards, Serieyssol noted several other bikefriendly measures that Princeton has initiated, including passage of a bicycle parking ordinance for private development; installation of upgraded “Safe Routes to School” trafﬁc signs; promoting and enhancing bicycle safety education in the schools; and installing much-needed seasonal public bike parking corrals in the center of town. “During one of the toughest years in recent memory, we have seen so many Americans turn to biking during the pandemic for fun and for necessary transportation options,” said LAB Executive Director Bill Nesper in announcing Princeton’s silver medal award. “It’s so important that communities like Princeton have laid the groundwork over several years to make biking a safe, accessible option for people when we all need as much health and happiness as possible.” The Burley Design Minnow single seat bike trailer provides seating for one child. (amazon.com)

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

BRANCHING OUT For those eager to venture beyond the in-town Bike Boulevards, Foster, who has ridden six times on the 500-mile Anchor House Ride for Runaways to support the Anchor House in Trenton, recommended the D&R Canal Trail. “If you want to stretch out to trails, you can’t go wrong starting with the D&R,” he said. “You can go north all the way to New Brunswick if you so desire, but basically the idea is to just keep on going until you want to turn around. Then turn around and come back.” He continued, “Most people will probably not go as far as New Brunswick, but it doesn’t matter how far you go. Whatever is good for you, you go out and back on the canal path. It’s all very low stress, very pleasant and scenic, with water on both sides.” As a part of the East Coast Greenway, which extends through 15 states from Maine to Florida, the 70-mile-long D&R Canal State Park contains more than 4,000 acres, and crosses ﬁve counties (Middlesex, Mercer, Burlington, Somerset, and Hunterdon) and 22 municipalities. It’s a wildlife corridor, with 160 different species of birds, and, with its canal system that remains intact today, it is rich in history. The D&R Trail meets the LHT just south of Province Line Road southwest of Princeton. The LHT proceeds past the 260-year-old Brearley House, home to the Lawrence Historical Society, through the Bristol Myers Squibb campus and the Lawrenceville School campus (temporarily

closed for construction), then through the town of Lawrenceville, through the Village Park, and on to Mercer Meadows, part of the Mercer County Park system. An optional side path leads into Pennington, with the LHT continuing to Mount Rose, then down Carter Road to Cleveland Road then Province Line again at Pretty Brook, a short stretch of Princeton Pike, then Maidenhead Meadows and back to the D&R Canal path.

The Public R18 Drop Bar women’s vintage framed road bike was designed for a commuter, adventurer, and everyday cyclist. (publicbikes.com)

Cyclists can download a map of the LHT at lhtrail.org, with the option of moving back and forth from some beautiful area roads to the trail and following as much or as little of the trail as they wish. “The Lawrence Hopewell Trail was built by the community for the entire community,” the LHT website states. “We encourage all to walk or ride the trail, enjoy its beautiful vistas and the glory of the outdoors. The LHT can bring calm, restore the

Lumos Kickstart smart helmets with LED brake lights, turn signals, and customized flashing patterns. (lumoshelmet.com)

soul, and help you reach your fitness goals. Get to know and enjoy the LHT — with your family, friends, and neighbors.” The more ambitious and adventurous may want to take advantage of the LHT’s affiliation with Circuit Trails, an 800-mile network of bicycle and pedestrian trails connecting to places in the greater Philadelphia region. The Circuit Trails network begins south of Philadelphia, extends northeast to the LHT, and connects to the East Coast Greenway, which passes through 15 states from Maine to Florida. “We have a lot of really very beautiful places to ride a bike,” said Foster. “Whether it’s on a road or a trail or a path, there’s a lot of nice biking in Mercer County, and if people ask their officials to make it even nicer to improve biking conditions, that would cause a huge improvement to help get to the next level of biking.”

“Get out there and ride,” Tapia urged. “Whether it’s 20 minutes or two hours, get out there and enjoy yourself. Have fun. Look up and see the scenery. Princeton is a beautiful place to be.” Jay’s Cycles on Nassau Street is full of bicycles, but they are almost all there for repairs. The current bottleneck, following bottlenecks caused by tariffs, companies leaving China, and pandemic slowdowns, is caused by two companies that make at least one part on every bike in the world unable to keep up with demand, according to store co-manager Richard Giske.

closed, and we did all of our sales and everything over the phone. We sat on these stools 12 hours a day answering phones. We sold through our entire stock of 300 bikes in a month and a half and then had nothing, but the store is ﬁlled with repairs. It’s been a whirlwind.” An avid cyclist, if and when he can ﬁnd the

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BIKE SHOPS Bike stores throughout the country and locally have not enjoyed the benefits of the bike boom as much as you might expect. The demand for bikes of all types continues unabated, but since the beginning of the pandemic more than year ago, the supplies have been scarce. “Bikes are in really short supply,” Foster said. “Bike stores were hit completely unprepared for the boom because for years bike stores have been losing to online bike sales, and the increase in demand overwhelmed them. So this is good for them, but on the other hand there isn’t any way for them to meet demand at the moment.” Jesus Tapia, store manager at Kopp’s Cycle on Spring Street, which claims to be the oldest bicycle shop in America, established in 1891, discussed the current challenges. “It’s hard to sell from an empty basket,” he said. “We haven’t been able to get new bikes and new inventory.” He pointed out that most of their supplies, bikes and parts, come from Asia and that many factories have been closed during the pandemic. “The shelves are starting to look a little empty,” he said, noting that they had started refurbishing and selling second-hand bikes in an effort to give people what they need to ride happily and safely. Tapia’s advice for riders included a strong endorsement of the Bike Boulevards and local trails. For the road bikers, he offered four observations: 1) “This is a friendly town. Drivers move over and give you more space if you’re riding a bike.” 2) “When you’re wearing a helmet and have a bright light, you’ll get a lot of space from drivers. Have your lights on in blinking mode and you’ll get more respect from drivers, as long as you’re not being that cyclist who’s in the middle of the road for no reason.” 3) “If you want to ride more flat roads go towards West Windsor. If you want to do more difficult rides with hills, you should go towards Hopewell and the Sourlands.” 4) “The best roads are anywhere where there’s not a lot of traffic. Stay away from rush hour and stay away from the main roads, Route 27, and Witherspoon Street.”

In the past, under normal circumstances, Giske said, he could order bikes and get them the next day. Recently typical lag time between ordering and delivery has been closer to a year or more. “The shortage of parts is the biggest problem,” he said. “I had to strip down my entire rental ﬂeet to get parts to ﬁx bikes. There are many parts that just aren’t available.” Giske described some surprising effects of the pandemic shutdowns on Jay’s business. “When it initially happened, we were allowed to stay open. We’re an essential business. Luckily, we decided to keep ordering. But we kept the doors

time, Giske agreed that Princeton is the ideal place for bike riding. “In a town like this where everything is close together, it doesn’t make sense to leave your house and start up your car to go looking for a parking space,” he said. “You can hop on your bike and get across town in half the time.” He emphasized the advantages of a lot of ﬂat rural roads to the east, all the way out to the shore, and also recommended, “Head out to the Sourlands — or all the way to Lambertville, or New Hope. People come in here, and see the town, and ask ‘Where can I ride?’ It’s simple: ‘Go to the end of town. Turn right on Elm Road, and go forever. It’s

Kopp’s Cycle, courtesy of the Historical Society of Princeton. JUNE 2021 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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Princeton Free Wheelers Trip to Majorca, Spain. (Courtesy of Princeton Free Wheelers)

all rural roads. You can go all day long. That’s a really great resource.”

THE BIKE EXCHANGE A different kind of bike store — one that has been able to keep up its inventory and has both thrived in the pandemic and helped to fuel the bike boom — is the Boys & Girls Club of Mercer County Bike Exchange in the Capitol Plaza Shopping Center on Olden Avenue in Ewing. The Bike Exchange collects used bikes of all types — more than 2,000 just this year, about 22,000 in total since its founding 12 years ago — to refurbish and sell at a discounted rate, with the goal of promoting health and biking. It donates all its proceeds after expenses, a total of about $1.2 million over the years, to support the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mercer County. “We have about 50 volunteers, who make it happen,” said Bike Exchange CEO Ira Saltiel, a retired corporate executive who has led the Bike Exchange for the past six years. “Some are engineers, some are accountants, some are lawyers. They like working on bikes. Some are very experienced mechanics. Many come from the Princeton Free Wheelers (PFW) bike club. Just about everybody is an experienced bicyclist.” He continued, “The volunteers do all kinds of things like pick up and deliver bikes, repair bikes, and harvest parts off of bikes that we use to ﬁx other bikes. And we have salespeople and managers in the store. We also have a coordinator of bike pick-ups and somebody who arranges bike drives. We can have as many as 10-15 bike drives a year. Organizations like churches, religious organizations, temples, mosques, and companies like J&J collect bikes for us — also several towns.” Saltiel had just received 140 bikes from the

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Trenton Police Department. “And they’re happy back on track in 2021. to do it,” he added. “The prosecutor’s office The Bike Exchange also has a program to train and approached us and said, ‘We have all these bikes employ inmates from the Department of Corrections. that we’d like to donate.’ Most of our bikes go back “We have three volunteers who work with them at into the Trenton community at affordable prices.” a facility here in Trenton,” said Saltiel. “They are The Bike Exchange has drop-off points for trained in bike repair. We also have interns from The donating bikes at Jay’s in Princeton, Halter’s in Boys & Girls Clubs who come in and learn how to fix Skillman, Sourland Cycles in Hopewell, and other bikes and how to work in the store and interact with points in Lambertville and New Hope and Yardley customers. Many things come together to make this a in Pennsylvania. Many people drop off bikes at the very rewarding place to work.” Bike Exchange store. With the surge in demand for bikes during the Saltiel continued, “A lot of people in New Egypt pandemic, Saltiel said, he has seen many adults who leave bikes at their dumpster, so they sort out the haven’t ridden since high school, better bikes and deliver them to us. We got about parents with children, and 50 bikes from them this year. The Rotary clubs of many people who just Haddonfield and Robbinsville have bike drives, want to get out of and we get maybe 150-200 bikes from them the house and in any given year. So surprisingly, we’re still Himiway Cruiser — an enjoy the fresh all terrain electric fat bike. getting bikes, and a lot of bikes that come air after being (himiwaybike.com) in are very nice.” locked down The Mercer County Park indoors for so Commission and Mercer County many months. Planning Department recently sponsored the largest ever bike drive for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mercer County Bike Exchange. They collected 400 bikes. In 2019 the Bike Exchange donated 300 bikes to children in Trenton, Saltiel said, but this past year they were only able to donate about 50 because the pandemic caused many of the bike drives to be canceled. They’re looking forward to getting

Earlier this spring a woman with an ID tag from a hospital in Elizabeth came into the Bike Exchange. “I could see she was tired, and I said, ‘Do you work in a hospital?’ Saltiel recalled. “She said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Do you work with COVID patients?’ She said, ‘Yes. It’s very demanding, and I have to get out and I need some fresh air and I need to clear my head, and I thought biking would do it.’ She hadn’t ridden in years. So, I gave her a big discount on a bike. It was rewarding for me to be able to help somebody. There’s been a lot of that kind of stuff.”

ELECTRIC BIKES In March this year, Bike Exchange founder Russ White, a retired publishing executive who also founded Firehouse Cycles in Yardley and Sourland Cycles in Hopewell, ventured out into what might be the fastest growing area of the bicycle market, electric bikes, or ebikes. He decided to use the same business model as the Bike Exchange, with all proﬁts from his new enterprise, Princeton eBikes, going to the Boys & Girls Clubs. “The bike market is one of the fastest growing markets of any consumer product in New Jersey and the United States,” White said, noting that his new store is the only store in central New Jersey dedicated to selling ebikes. Princeton eBikes, located in the Lawrence Shopping Center on Route 1, features more than 25 different models. “Three years ago, no one knew what an ebike was,” White added. “But growth has exploded in the last two years, more than 10 percent a year, and it’s going to continue. Ebikes are fun to ride. People are buying for recreation, for commuting, for errands, for taking kids to school. There are bikes we call cargo bikes for transporting kids.” He described the ebike ride. “You can still work as hard as you want, but if you’re going up a hill and you don’t want to work very hard, the bike will take you up the hill,” he said. “People do pedal, and they get exercise, but it’s not necessary. It just makes biking a lot more fun.” The market for bikes used to be mostly seniors, White noted, “but that’s changed now. We’re still getting plenty of seniors, but we’re also getting younger people who are using bikes for commuting. There’s no parking problem. It’s environmentally nice. It’s a fun way of getting to work or running errands.” With a wide selection of ebikes, ranging in price from $1,500 to about $4,000, Princeton eBikes, open on Fridays and Saturdays and by appointment, plans to continue donating 100 percent of its proﬁts to the Boys & Girls Clubs.

PRINCETON FREE WHEELERS At 10 a.m. on a cloudy, blustery Wednesday morning in late March, Ira Saltiel stood in the parking lot at the Mark Harbourt Soccer Complex on Old York Road in Allentown. Saltiel, who is the current president of the Princeton Free Wheelers

(PFW), was not on duty at the Bike Exchange that day. He was leading an “easy paced C ride with Ira.” A group of about a dozen riders listened as he reviewed the ride rules, the COVID rules, and the plan for the 22-mile trip to a deli rest stop in the town of Columbus and back. Ranging in age from about 30 to 85, mostly in the late middle-aged group, the riders were all regulars and knew the routine. They were all serious riders, suitably attired in spandex biking clothes, with road bikes, all prepared to keep up the 14-15 miles per hour pace. But they were also interested in socializing as much as they were interested in riding.

(Photo courtesy of Bike Exchange)

“It’s a wonderful organization, and a lot of fun,” said Saltiel. “You get exercise. You joke around. You talk while you’re riding, and it’s a wonderful social atmosphere.” In its 40th year of existence, the PFW has about 600 members. It added 19 new members in March and is planning to continue building. “We’re looking to attract younger members,” said Saltiel. “I want to make sure we address beginning riders and offer a lot of slower beginning rides. A lot of people are getting into cycling on the road and also a lot of people want to do off-road riding on trails and gravelly-type pathways.” The PFW organizes about 800 rides annually, all year long, from different locations in the Princeton area and throughout central New Jersey and into eastern Pennsylvania. The rides range widely in level of difﬁculty for the most serious to the most leisurely cyclists. The PFW also sponsors several social events throughout the year. Saltiel has been a serious bicyclist for more than 40 years. “About 1979 or so I saw a movie

called Breaking Away, he recalled, “and when I saw this kid riding and the wind was blowing through his hair, I said, ‘Boy, it would be nice to ride again.’ I had young children and I was working in New York and I needed the exercise. I was working for J.C. Penney at the time in their corporate ofﬁces, so I bought a bike from J.C. Penney. I didn’t know what kind of bike I was buying. I just bought a bike and started riding and I really liked it.” Remembering his early biking days, Saltiel continued, “I rode with friends, then I started riding with the PFW, and I started getting a little bit better bikes. I joined the club in 1983 or ’84 and I did a bunch of rides. In 2000 I started leading rides. I wanted to give back, so I joined the PFW board and helped work on the annual event, doing a bunch of different jobs over the years.” He went on, “I got into cycling to help clear my head for all sorts of things that were going on in my life. It’s good exercise, and I met most of my best friends there.” Saltiel organized many different club events, and about six years ago he was asked to become president. Other area bike clubs organizing events and advocating for cyclists include Trenton Cycling Revolution and the West Windsor Bike and Pedestrian Alliance. Towards the end of this summer, on August 28-29, Princeton will be showing off its importance in the world of cycling when it hosts an anticipated contingent of more than 500 riders, who will be camping out in town overnight on their way from New York City to Philadelphia, “from cheesecake to cheesesteak” on the East Coast Greenway Ride. Proceeds from the two-day, 125-mile fundraising ride will beneﬁt the East Coast Greenway Alliance, helping to accelerate the development of the Greenway bike route in New Jersey, New York City, and Pennsylvania. “Lots of biking around here the last week of August,” Serieyssol reported, noting that the East Coast Greenway riders might be meeting up in Princeton with another ride from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia, commemorating the march by George Washington and Rochambeau to end the American Revolution 240 years ago. “For me, biking is the right speed for exploring,” said Foster, as he shared his current plan for a Great Loop inner coastal waterways trip by boat and folding bike through the eastern third of the country and a future return visit to the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Banff National Park in Canada all the way through Canada and the U.S. to the border of Mexico in New Mexico. “If you just go by car, you pretty much don’t see anything along the way. You just see the road,” he continued. “If you go by walking — I’ve done the Appalachian Trail— you see it really well, but pretty slowly. Biking is just that nice in-between time. You can bike 50 miles a day and you get in shape and it’s not particularly hard to do. You see great things along the way, and you don’t miss much. You’re not going too fast or too slow. It’s a lot of fun.” JUNE 2021 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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y k S g n i d a F e h t d n a l n Uh o l i l I ut l yW o B v e R et n r te n I e t i l l e t a sS ’ k in l r a St

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A long-exposure photo from September 2020, taken over the course of 35 minutes. It shows 39 Starlink satellites, three other satellites, and one rocket body. (Photo by Martin Bernardi)

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SpaceX Starlink satellite 3d render by Aleksandr Morrisovich.

April 19, 2020, stargazers in Britain watched in awe and bewilderment as a glittering chain of light moved through the sky. Bright as any other stars in the sky, the crawling constellation held about 50 points of light. Some watchers posted to Twitter, wondering what they were seeing. Airplanes? Meteors? Aliens? Hours later, the lights were identified as satellites — part of SpaceX’s Starlink. Starlink is one of the latest ventures by SpaceX, a space technology company founded by billionaire Elon Musk. It aims to provide global internet access with a network of satellites. It operates at speeds matching or surpassing conventional internet providers, utilizing a never-before-seen scale of satellites in orbit. However, it’s not without its consequences — some of which may threaten scientific research and the way we view the sky.

A neW FROnTIeR

Internet technology has come a long way in just a few decades. In the year 2000, most American homes were using dial-up, a method of internet access via telephone line that was very slow, and struggled to process high-resolution images. A decade later, a majority of households upgraded to broadband connections, bringing modern musthaves like voice chat, Wi-Fi, and video streaming to the everyday citizen. And as more and more communities replace their old copper wiring

with fiber-optic cabling, high-definition movies can download in mere minutes. However, these amenities have been out of reach for most outside of urban and suburban areas. The cost of installing cabling over long distances is prohibitive for many remote communities; a problem Starlink’s satellite network doesn’t have. While satellite internet is nothing new, it’s only ever been a last resort. In an article about Starlink’s architecture and business model, NASA software architect Casey Handmer wrote, “Traditional satellite companies have had to serve specialty customers and charge high rates for their data. Airlines, remote outposts, ships, war zones and critical infrastructure pay around $5 per megabyte, which is 5,000 times higher than the cost for a traditional [internet] connection, despite the poor latency and relatively low bandwidth of a satellite link.” Starlink is set to blow past those limits, offering service competitive with modern service providers, thanks to two main factors: proximity and scale. Suspended in low earth orbit, the satellites are near enough to the surface that their movements across the night sky seem brisk compared to the stars behind them. That close proximity brings multiple benefits, including lower power usage (compared to high-altitude orbits) and faster response times for users. Combined with the fact that light travels through air faster than through optic tubes, Starlink’s response times surpass traditional internet providers.

However, that speed has a cost. “There is a tradeoff between low altitude, which allows smaller beam sizes and higher data rates,” wrote Handmer, “and high altitude, which allows fewer satellites to cover the whole Earth.” To compensate, SpaceX has been preparing an unprecedented number of satellites. In 2020, roughly 6,000 satellites orbited Earth, with less than half actually functional, according to the UCS Satellite Database. Starlink is set to hyperinflate that number; over a thousand Starlink satellites are already in orbit, and 40,000 are queued for production in the coming years. Because of their previous aerospace experience, SpaceX has the infrastructure to produce satellites at a much cheaper price — “around $100K per satellite, more than 1,000 times cheaper than a conventional [commercial satellite] launch,” according to Handmer’s analysis. All of this investment into high-speed infrastructure makes Starlink a premium product — which makes SpaceX’s target audience hard to see. The promise of global internet access would benefit remote and impoverished communities the most; Starlink’s own website describes it as “Ideal for rural + remote communities.” However, at a fixed $99/month price point plus an additional $499 upfront equipment cost, it seems out of reach for the people across the globe who may need it the most. (SpaceX’s president has already dismissed the idea of tiered pricing.) In analyzing Starlink’s use cases, Handmer suggests “hundreds of millions of june 2021 PRInCeTOn MAGAZIne

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suburban subscribers with a pizza box-sized antenna on their roof” as the default audience, but also includes other, more metropolitan groups, such as financial firms looking to get industry information as fast as possible. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Starlink’s biggest problem isn’t price or power; it’s about the planet. When stargazers saw Starlink satellites move across the sky, they saw light from the sun reflected off the shiny exterior of several Starlink satellites. What was at first a novelty — watching a shining train drift across the sky — may become an inescapable constant. “It’s worth reminding ourselves that what they’re talking about is affecting humankind’s view of the night sky in general,” said Dr. Michael Strauss, chair of Princeton University’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences. “A legacy that all of humankind experiences: the opportunity to look at the night sky. It’s a shared thing of beauty, of natural wonder, that will be very directly affected by these large numbers of satellites.” Starlink’s scale, set to raise the number of active satellites in orbit by over 650 percent, could introduce so much sunlight to the night sky that it fundamentally changes what humans see when they look at the stars. Lighting the night sky, for better or worse, is nothing new. “We humans have been affecting the way that we look at the sky for a century and a half with the invention of artificial lighting of all sorts,” said Strauss. “The view that we have of the night sky today is, at least in anything other than the most rural of areas, fundamentally different from how people 150 years ago saw the night sky. It means that many people who have grown up in cities have never had the experience of seeing the Milky Way directly.” As cities have grown and artificial lighting has become ubiquitous, many of the night sky’s most beautiful features have faded from sight. The problem is more than simply aesthetic. “The night vision of certain wildlife is far more sensitive than ours. Think of an owl, or geese (navigating by the stars). We don’t know the effect of these constellations on wildlife,” said Dr. Gaspar Bakos, professor at the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and youngest awardee of Popular Science’s annual Brilliant 10 Award. Among other concerns, Bakos also raised the issue of the Kessler effect: a potential future in which the density of satellites in low orbit becomes so high that satellite collisions cause a sort of domino effect, creating debris that causes additional collisions and creating more debris until placing satellites in low-earth orbit at all becomes untenable. Fortunately, the light that satellites give off is most dramatic during launch, and fades out of sight as it reaches its final elevation. “The satellites will be bright during and shortly after launch, after which they will fade to a level that is only visible from very dark sites and with a

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE juNE 2021

SpaceX debuts its Falcon 9 launch from 39A with CRS-10 Dragon mission. Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX. (Shutterstock.com)

very good night vision,” said Bakos. “However, in a pair of binoculars, often used for sweeping through the beauties of the night sky, satellites will be quite frequent, and strikingly well visible. For casual starwatchers with small telescopes, the initial annoyance will be small, but will gradually grow over time.” To raise awareness and call for action, Bakos started an online petition. The second line in its description stands alone and is unambiguous: “We are on the precipice of losing the night sky.” Astronomers have been reporting massive disturbances in their space imaging: long, bright, white streaks like window shutters trailing through photos of space. “The way an astronomical camera works — for the most part, [it] doesn’t take snapshots in which what you see is a point of light associated with these satellites,” said Strauss. “We tend to take long exposure [photos], so you leave the shutter open for a fairly long time. Something that’s moving ends up giving you a streak across the sky. If there’s a bunch of things moving, you get a

bunch of streaks.” These issues first began cropping up when the number of Starlink satellites in the sky was under 1,000. By the time all 40,000 are in the sky, the interference may be unavoidable. “When we take astronomical pictures, these streaks will appear in every picture,” said Strauss. “If you’re looking to understand the stars and the galaxies ..., having these streaks across the sky in every picture is just gonna drive us nuts.” Leaving these problems unchecked could bring deep consequences. In November of 2020, astronomer James Lowenthal told the New York Times, “If there are lots and lots of bright moving objects in the sky, it tremendously complicates our job. It potentially threatens the science of astronomy itself.” One of the most prominent examples of astronomy in jeopardy is the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, an ambitious facility in northcentral Chile, built to, among other goals, map the Milky Way and probe dark matter. One of those mapping projects is the Legacy Survey of

Space and Time (LSST), a 10-year survey of the southern sky. According to a Rubin Observatory paper, their simulations show that, when all 40,000 satellites are in orbit, “as many as 30 percent of all LSST images would contain at least one satellite trail” and “nearly every LSST image taken during twilight would be affected by at least one satellite trail.” OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND

SpaceX is aware of these issues, apparently due to notable outreach from the astronomy community. “There has been an active discussion between, in this case, Starlink people and people from the Rubin Observatory to figure out mitigating effects,” said Strauss. “The good news is that the SpaceX/Starlink people are actually listening to astronomers and going ‘oh my goodness, I didn’t realize this would be such a problem’ — they’re not saying ‘oh, we’re going to drop the whole process,’ but ‘what can we do to make these things darker?’”

Starlink’s website also notes this collaboration, highlighting their belief in the “importance of a natural night sky for all of us to enjoy.” Unfortunately, reducing satellite reflectivity — otherwise known as “albedo” — is a challenge without simple solutions. “You want to take out a can of black paint and slather [it] on them before you launch it? For all kinds of interesting technical reasons, ... it’s not that simple,” said Strauss. “From the engineer’s point of view, white is good because if the object is not reflecting sunlight — if it’s black — it’s absorbing sunlight. Then it’s heating up, and the engineer says it’s going to get too hot.” However, there are other solutions. In an article titled “Astronomy Discussion with National Academy of Sciences,” SpaceX writes, “The Vera C. Rubin Observatory was repeatedly flagged as the most difficult case to solve, so we’ve spent the last few months working very closely with a technical team there to do just that. Among other useful thoughts and

discussions, the Vera Rubin team has provided a target brightness reduction that we are using to guide our engineering efforts as we iterate on brightness solutions.” The article lists a variety of mitigation efforts, including solar visors that block the sun during sunrise and sunset, and automatic rotations to reduce the number of sun-exposed surfaces. Even so, it admits that the problem cannot be fully solved, only mitigated: “[Large telescopes] are so sensitive that it won’t be possible to build a satellite that will not produce streaks, in a typical long integration.” THE INVISIBLE HAND OF TOMORROW

While SpaceX’s work to mitigate visibility is not without merit, another, broader problem looms on the horizon: competition. “The thing that worries me is that SpaceX and Elon Musk are not the only people talking about this,” said Strauss. “There are a variety of other companies that are saying ‘well, if Elon

june 2021 PRInCeTOn MAGAZIne

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A “train” of Starlink satellites viewed from Argentina. Able to broadcast internet at competitive speeds, these satellites could revolutionize revolutionize human connectivity. The price, however, can be prohibitive; for example, despite trailing through their night sky, the $99/month pricetag is out of reach for many Argentinians, whose average monthly gross salary is $862 in USD. (Photo by BugWarp)

Musk can figure out a way to make money off of this, we want to be in the game as well.’ Whether they’re all going to listen to the astronomers and go out of their way to make their satellites particularly dark is the challenge here.” Other mega-corporations have already began to plan and launch their own Starlink competitors, including OneWeb and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. Much like SpaceX, OneWeb and Amazon have both reportedly been in talks with astronomers to mitigate their projects’ impact on astronomy. Furthermore, SpaceX has alluded to sharing their findings and improvements with other low-earth orbit initiatives. “While SpaceX is the first large constellation manufacturer and operator to address satellite brightness, we won’t be the last,” reads a SpaceX post on Starlink’s website. “As launch costs continue to drop, more constellations will emerge and they too will need to ensure that the optical properties of their satellites don’t create problems for observers on the ground. This is why we are working to make this problem easier for everyone to solve in the future.” Encouraging as the cooperation with scientists and other providers may be, there’s no guarantee that future competitors will operate with as much goodwill. “As they started saying they’re going to put up lots of these [satellites], everyone started asking ‘Are they allowed to do that? What about the rules that say they can’t do that?’ and the answer is, no such rules exist,” said Strauss. “The bottom line is, regulations don’t exist. It’s taken the worldwide community decades to build the regulatory infrastructure for radio, and we’re

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE juNE 2021

This photo from 2018 shows a safety inspection of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s telescope mount assembly. The Rubin Observatory has been working with SpaceX engineers to mitigate the impact of Starlink’s reflective satellites on astronomy. (Rubin Observatory)

not going to invent that level of regulation with international treaties and everything over the next six months, which is the timescale in which Elon Musk wants to put enormous numbers of these up.” The promise of global, high-speed internet access is a sci-fi dream soon becoming reality, and if future models focus more on affordability, it could be a massive step forward for remote and impoverished communities.

While the unintended consequences of these endeavors are broad and, in some areas, alarming, the cooperation between Starlink and astronomers gives hope as the issue reaches a pivotal moment. Though it likely isn’t enough to keep the night sky as clear as it was a decade ago, instituting proper regulation could see the best of both worlds: a bright future with a clear sky. Whether that manifests in time is up to activism, corporate restraint, and ultimately, legislators.

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Dress For Success Central New Jersey

Empowering Women on Their Journey to Economic Independence by

WENDY GREENBERG |

photography by

WERONIKA A. PLOHN

Despite its name, the Dress for Success approach to empowering She selected an outfit to wear, which made her feel “pampered and good,” women doesn’t start or end with a dress, though it does provide she said. “After being through domestic violence, we are never the same.” professional-style dresses and clothing to women on their From starting work as a receptionist, she was promoted to an office journey toward economic independence. manager, and is now a job coach. Developing the tools they will need to succeed in life and Dress for Success taught her that the way you look at yourself is important. professionally is the real benefit of the program, but the clothes are important She bought her first car, and now lives in a house she purchased that has “four too. The dresses are a confidence booster to bedrooms and a yard.” women who are going on job interviews and Miriam is still striving to achieve her goals. starting work after a life derailment, and the Dress for Success “helps you build what you clothes signify getting back on track. want to be, but tells you to always work toward The Mercer County affiliate of the Dress something,” which for her, now, is getting a for Success, located at 3131 Princeton Pike in social work degree. Lawrenceville, was founded in 2007 by local Her “lucky dresses” are reserved for special professional women, with $50,000 seed money events at work, “because they really important in provided by Bristol Myers Squibb, according my life,” she said. The outfits were selected at the to CEO Melissa Tenzer. Since then, it has Dress for Success boutique. Inside the ordinary provided services to more than 10,000 women. office park building, a suite of rooms showcases The worldwide nonprofit organization started in scarves, shoes, purses, belts, and jewelry, as well 1997 in Harlem, New York, and has expanded to as more than 800 dresses spanning sizes 2 to 14, almost 150 cities in 25 countries. larger sizes, and petites. The labels are what you Dress for Success client Miriam, who works would find in a mall, and some are donated from for a Trenton social services organization, said retail partners and still show tags. There are she still has the clothing she selected from the more than 10,000 items to choose from. organization that she wore to her job interview Also on display, on whiteboards, are and first week of work. She calls them her “lucky thoughts that Dress for Success values, including dresses.” “Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude” and Miriam, a victim of domestic violence, “Stop being scared of failing.” arrived in New Jersey five years ago with her STEADY GROWTH three children to live in a women’s protective shelter. She received training in job skills in Providing suiting is a motivation, said Dress for order to work at the shelter, but it wasn’t until a Success Board Chair Elena Cordero-Busch, “but social worker referred her to Dress for Success’ the real value is the training and the support, the “Designing Your Future” program in 2018 that skills, and the building self-esteem of women. she began to believe she could change her life. ‘You look the part,’ now we fill in the gaps, with The day she went to Dress for Success, she the capabilities and the confidence.” said she was “completely lost,” — figuratively Dress for Success has seen its own success and literally — as she called for someone to pick under Tenzer’s leadership, as the number of women her up from the wrong side of Princeton Pike. served in the Mercer County area has steadily The Dress for Success program, she said, grown. In 2015, 593 women were served, growing motivated her to “step out of the circle” of Melissa Tenzer, CEO of Dress for Success Central New Jersey. to 1,020 in 2016, and to 1,057 in 2017. During its victimhood, and rebuild her life. “They teach you that you can’t change the world, but you can change the way you react to the 10-year anniversary in 2017, the organization was renamed Dress for Success Central New Jersey as it began serving six additional counties — Burlington, world,” said Miriam. She had applied previously for another job at her place of employment, but Ocean, Monmouth, Middlesex, Hunterdon, and Somerset. Tenzer said there was this time she got an interview. “They teach you what to say, what not to say,” also a need in these counties for workforce development programming to help women secure higher-paying jobs to support themselves and their children. she said, “and offer emotional support and confidence.”

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE JUNE 2021

Dress for Success Central New Jersey CEO Melissa Tenzer has a warm greeting for client Miriam.

Dress for Success clients can browse through hundreds of donated shoes, bags, clothing items, and more.

Volunteer Sandra Griffiths assists client Sandra in putting together an outfit. june 2021 PRInCeTOn MAGAZIne

| 47

After that it took off, serving 1,496 women in 2018 and 1,622 in 2019. In 2020, the program served 1,169 women, even though the office was totally closed for three months due to state pandemic restrictions. Most Dress for Success clients live under poverty level and include women of diverse ethnic backgrounds, with the average ages 18 to 38. Eighty-five percent are single mothers with two or three children, seeking selfsufficiency. Tenzer knows the job search field. She owned a staffing agency for 15 years, and worked with Dress for Success when it sought staff. Eventually, the organization asked her to join as executive director. Tenzer was honored by NJBIZ in 2020 as one of top 50 women in business. VITAL DURING PANDEMIC

Dress for Success has been vital in the past year. “With the number of women who have lost jobs and their homes during this pandemic, our programs and services have become more important than ever,” said Tenzer. “The community knows they can turn to Dress for Success Central New Jersey in time of crisis.” According to the United Nations Economic Development News from January, employment losses for women stand at 5 percent globally, versus 3.9 percent for men. A related CNN business report noted that women will re-enter the workforce more slowly than men. Many women are involved in unpaid caregiving roles or informal jobs, or their women-led businesses Miriam, a Dress for Success client. are newer, and more fragile. The Rutgers Center for Women and Work confirms that unemployment among women has increased. By the end of 2019 women held the majority of non-farm jobs in the U.S., reported the center,

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PRINCETON MAGAZINE juNE 2021

which is within the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations. By the end of 2020 “women’s work lives have been disrupted in profound ways,” many leaving jobs to oversee their children’s remote schooling. As with the rest of the country, job losses in New Jersey started surging in April 2020 following a host of business closures and workplace lockdowns during the pandemic. According to the N.J. Bureau of Workforce and Development, for the rest of 2020 women accounted for 55 to 57 percent of unemployment claims in the state. PART OF THE FAMILY

During this challenging year, Dress for Success Central New Jersey has continued to provide services. Much training has been online, though recently women have been able to come to the office by appointment. New clients are referred all the time, said Tenzer, mostly by area social service agencies such as the Rescue Mission of Trenton and Womanspace. Referrals also come from more than 150 nonprofit organizations including the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK). “From my perspective, Melissa Tenzer has done an incredible job in building the programs Dress for Success offers, including ones that benefit men,” said Joyce Campbell, executive director of TASK. “This was particularly helpful for TASK as the majority of our patrons are men. We are very proud of our collaboration.” “We are busy,” said Tenzer, adding, “Once in the program, you are always part of the family.” Sometimes Dress for Success helps nonclients as well, as it has outfitted victims of several Trenton housefires, and partners with The Father Center in Trenton. With proms canceled in spring

2020, and some this year, it has a small prom dress collection as well. “We are known for being a comfortable boutique, not intimidating,” said Tenzer. Clients select a full outfit for their interviews, and also are coached on their resume and interview protocol. If they land a job, they may select a work week’s worth of outfits from the boutique. Clients have received training through programs such as Designing Your Future, Latina Empowerment, Financial Literacy, Professional Women’s Group, Youth Initiative, Career Center, various mobile outreach, and other virtual programs. Many of the programs were written by Tenzer. “The clothing is for the first impression and for the confidence,” Tenzer explained. “You can feel like a completely different person.” But the real value of Dress for Success Central New Jersey, she said, is found in its career development workshops, its ability to identify industry needs, assessing a client’s transferable skills, and basics like creating a resume and cover letter, practicing interview skills, and conducting employment searches. Dress for Success Central New Jersey emphasizes interview follow-ups such as thankyou notes, and life skills such as budgeting. There are weekly programs (now on Zoom) on topics such as mock interviews, stand-out resumes, virtual job searches, and more. Cordero-Busch noted that economic independence is the overarching goal. She got involved when she worked at Bristol Myers Squibb (she now works at Johnson & Johnson), and supported the organization on the clothing drives and fundraisers. She joined the board as it was seeking outreach to the Trenton Latina community, and became chair last year. The lean organization depends on its board members for professional expertise, fundraising, and guidance. Volunteers are also critical to the organization. Clothing donation can be a starting point, and volunteers from the community can also help with everything from alterations to resume writing and thank-you notes. Last fall, Good Housekeeping deemed Dress for Success (worldwide) one of the best places to donate clothes.

CRUCIAL FUNDRAISING

Dress for Success does not receive government funding, and gets less than 1 percent of its budget from the global organization. Tenzer and her team raise funds to support the organization through small grants, events, and individual giving. An annual fundraiser, the Women’s Empowerment Breakfast, took place virtually earlier this month. Cocktails For A Cause, to be held on November 11 at 6 p.m., is planned as a virtual event at this point. These events support clients like the aforementioned Miriam, and also Sandra, who had returned to college “after a series of unfortunate events,” as she put it. As she walked into her campus career services office, she saw a Dress for Success flyer. “One call led to another and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve referred others as well because of my positive experience,” she said. Sandra said she felt “empowered” when she put on a new outfit for a job interview. “It’s easy to feel discouraged when you’re unemployed or underemployed,” she said. After completing the job readiness program, which included mentorship, mock interviews, elevator speeches, and coaching, “it was surreal to see myself professionally dressed again.” For Sandra, the support and network of like-minded women in the ongoing Professional Women’s Group has helped her navigate “the often unwritten or unspoken rules of corporate culture,” she said. The group is encouraged as they share “obstacles, trials, and career milestones.” Tenzer said the organization is “working hard to empower women who are fighting to make a better life for themselves and their families. I am honored to play a significant part in changing the future for other women.” To learn more about Dress for Success of Central New Jersey, visit centralnj.dressforsuccess.org or call 609.896.4112.

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www.AlyCohenMD.com JUNE 2021 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

| 49

Photos courtesy of rsM Psychology center; shutterstock.coM

The COVID-19 Brain: New Revelations of Neuropsychological Symptoms

COVID-19 Brain Effects With over a year of pandemic behind us, medical researchers are recognizing that COVID-19 infection affects the brain and may lead to pathological changes in brain physiology. Health care clinicians are documenting that many “recovered” patients are now complaining of persistent neuropsychological symptoms or “brain fog.” These neuropsychological symptoms fall into two domains: cognitive and emotional. Cognitive symptoms can include problems with attention/concentration, memory, processing speed, and executive functions, such as decision-making, problem-solving, planning, reasoning, inhibiting impulses, and multi-tasking. Emotional symptoms may include anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and paranoia. Recent research has shown a variety of brain abnormalities due to the viral infection.1 Hypoperfusion, or reduced blood flow, has been observed in the frontal region of the brain, which regulates executive functions. Structural abnormalities have been seen in the temporal brain region, which is often referred to as “the seat of memory.” Also, demyelination, or erosion of the fatty coating that covers the nerves, may be the cause of slowed information processing speed.

Lingering Functional Symptoms for Severe and Mild to Moderate COVID-19 For persons who have experienced severe COVID-19 infection and hospitalization, the residual long-term neuropsychological symptoms may be substantial. Researchers Baker, Safavynia, and Evered have described a “wheel of factors” that can result in long-term functional decline.2 These factors include: 1) advanced age, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and COPD; 2) viral inflammation that is pulmonary, vascular, or neurologic in nature; and 3) the hospitalization course that may have included prolonged sedation, disruption of a normal, biological routine, and social isolation. What is now alarming is that persons with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 who did not require hospitalization are also experiencing lingering neuropsychological symptoms or “brain fog.” In a study by Woo and co-authors, 18 young adults who recovered were compared to 10 agematched healthy controls.3 The authors found that 78 percent of the recovered COVID-19 patients continued to experience mild cognitive deficits (shortterm memory, attention, concentration) compared to the healthy controls. The authors concluded that persistent, subclinical cognitive impairment may be a “common complication.” Likewise, in another study, Hellmuth and co-authors concluded that adults with a median age of 39 years

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reported cognitive complaints for at least a median of 98 days and detailed neurocognitive testing showed deficits in working memory and executive functions.4

Evaluation and Treatment Due to the large number of those who have recovered from COVID-19, we may expect a significant number to experience lingering symptoms that will affect their cognitive, emotional, and physical well-being; their work performance; and their overall quality of life. We will need to train our health care clinicians to work as a team in early detection, treatment, and prevention of neuropsychological problems due to COVID-19 infection. Proper neuropsychological assessment of the various factors contributing to a patient’s presentation can help identify possible treatments that can ease and improve symptoms. These treatments may include: 1) cognitive rehabilitation of memory, attention, processing, and executive functioning; 2) supportive counseling, behavior therapy, and mindfulness training to manage stress, emotional symptoms, and effects of trauma; and 3) psychopharmacologic/medication treatments to address cognitive and/or emotional symptoms. Authors: Drs. Rosemarie Moser, Sarah Friedman, and Bridget Mayer are neuropsychologists at the RSM Psychology Center and Sports Concussion Center of NJ in Princeton, NJ where they provide psychological and neuropsychological services to the school age through older adult populations. www.rsmpsychology.com

www.sccnj.com

1. Kumar, et al. (2021) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ fpsyg.2021.577529/full 2. Baker, et al. (2021) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33187638/ 3. Woo, et al. (2020) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33376990/ 4. Hellmuth, et al. (2021) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33528824/

sPONsOREd CONTENT

Dr. Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, PhD

Dr. Sarah Friedman, PsyD

Dr. Bridget Mayer, PsyD

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Newsweek has ranked Blake Recovery Center as the #1 addiction treatment center in New Jersey. Addressing substance abuse is never easy, especially during stressful times. But be assured that changing your life for the better can begin today in a supportive and safe environment, providing inpatient and intensive outpatient services. We treat every form of addiction, right here in New Jersey. You deserve this and your loved ones deserve to have you back in their lives. Visit CarrierClinic.org/BRC or call 800-933-3579.

HOT OFF THE GRILL T IP S AND TECHNI Q UES F OR G E T T ING THE BEST RESU LTS THI S SEASO N BY M ICHELE JACOB S O N

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

backyard barbecue ranks up there with baseball as a great American pastime. These days, most people use a gas grill and not the charcoal briquettesburning type, which entails a different cooking approach and yields a different product. A fancy grill with bells and whistles is nice, but the grillmaster controls the fate of the food. According to Darwin it was natural selection that fostered evolution, but in his book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham proposes it was cooking over an open flame that truly propelled us forward. This practice — beginning approximately 1.8 million years ago — increased the bioavailability of calories and nutrients, leading to brain growth and other biological adaptations, including weaker teeth and jaws. The combination of quicker digestion and reduced chewing time allowed for further innovations and milestones, not least of which was that hearth and home became a focal point. Indeed, Wrangham credits open-flame cooking with the rise of humanity, and nothing less. Open flame cooking evolved over the next few thousand millennium. Barbecuing as we know it originated in the Caribbean, with spice and sauceswathed meats cooked over an open grill or pit. The Taino tribe of Caribbean Indians had a word for grilling food on a raised wooden grate: barbacoa. Hence, the barbecue. Here in the Northeast, folks regularly use the words barbecue and grill interchangeably, and often in the same sentence, as in “Come on over for a barbecue and I will grill some burgers!” However, the words refer to

very different cooking methods. Although barbecue is frequently used to describe any type of outdoor food preparation, by definition it involves long, slow cooking over indirect heat at a relatively low temperature. Charcoal or wood impart flavor-producing smoke, which is a crucial factor for true barbecue. Grilling, on the other hand, is fast and hot. Food is cooked over direct heat, which first sears and then chars the surface, resulting in the complex flavor and aroma compounds that people crave. This is called the Maillard reaction, and its addictive taste keeps us coming back for more. (The Maillard reaction should not be confused with its counterpart, caramelization, which provides rich, though less complex flavors, and mainly occurs while barbecuing.) It’s a common misconception that searing meat traps juices, locking in the moisture. Achieving that juicy steak is the result of using meat with ample fat, grilled to the correct internal temperature, and allowing it to rest after cooking. Any grillmaster, as well as appreciative eaters, will tell you it’s an art. Mrs. G Appliances in Lawrenceville is doing a brisk grill business, and not just because summer is around the corner. Since COVID-19 made us housebound, people want to improve their outdoor cooking skills, says proprietor Debbie Schaeffer. While 70 percent of customers choose a gas grill, buyers have also been experimenting with both pellet grills and Big Green Eggs. A pellet grill is a hybrid smoker, grill, and convection cooker, which utilizes compressed wood pellets as its fuel source, instead of gas. The pellets are available in various woods, such as hickory and mesquite, that render

a smokey flavor to food, similar to true barbecue, but accessible to the backyard pitmaster. The Big Green Egg resembles the type of grill that Dr. Seuss would presumably cook on. Inspired by Japanese kamado-style cooking, organic charcoal is used for fuel and food can be grilled, baked, or smoked. The insulated ceramic vessel easily maintains even temperatures, allowing for year-round cooking. It is very fuel efficient and produces what looks to be a superior wood-fired pizza.

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A growing trend is Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-enabled equipment that connects your grill and smartphone, via the brands’ app. Features include step-by-step recipes at your fingertips and the ability to change the grill temperature remotely. Updates on cooking progress are sent to your phone so you won’t need to hover over the grill, and the digital fuel alerts will ensure that you don’t run out of propane mid-barbecue. There may be a learning curve with the new technology, says Schaeffer, but anyone can do it. When asked if great food depends more on a grill with bells and whistles or the grillmaster, she diplomatically asserts that food is just better when cooked outdoors. It looks good, tastes good, and there’s no mess or odor in the kitchen. For most strong opinions on grilling technique, there exists an opposing viewpoint. There are, however, some things experts do agree on. Never put food on a dirty grill. Clean your grill when it’s preheating, using a wire grill brush. The accumulated food has protected grill grates from rust since last its last use. Also, keep the grill lid open while preheating, as closing it allows propane to build up inside the chamber. To oil, or not to oil. Steven Raichlen, author of The Barbecue Bible recommends you oil grill grates when hot, just before placing your food on them. Conversely, Meathead Goldwyn, author of Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling, advises not to oil grates at all, because it will cause food to stick, smoke and absorb unsavory flavors. Instead, he recommends mayonnaisebased marinades for any type of food. A very thin layer will prevent sticking, encourage the Maillard reaction and hold spices to food while grilling. Celebrity chefs

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run the gamut on oiling advice, depending on the type of food being grilled. To flip, or not to flip. Harold McGee, who writes about the chemistry of cooking, advises to frequently flip grilling meat, at least once every sixty seconds, to promote fast and even cooking. The alternate advice says to only touch meat three times: to put it on, to flip it, and to take it off the grill. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay falls into this group, advising to let a seared crust develop before moving meat. All great minds do not think alike when it comes to flipping. Fork vs. tongs. Stabbing meat with a fork will tenderize it by breaking up the fibers, however, most experts advise using tongs or a spatula. Spearing with a fork while cooking allows the juices to drain, resulting in dry meat. Let it be. Experts agree that meat needs to rest for two to five minutes after cooking, and prior to eating. The only controversy surrounding this advice is why. Some say juices are driven to the meat’s center from the heat and need to disperse, while others claim the cooking process forces juices to push outward and need to settle in. Either way, if you cut in too soon, those juices will pool on your plate, instead of staying in the meat. Dry rub vs. marinade. Dry rubs are a blend of salt, spices and sugar. The salt tenderizes meat, the spices provide flavor, and the sugar encourages caramelization to occur. Salt, however, can also be drying, so a dry rub should only be on meat for a few hours prior to cooking, at most. Marinades are also used to flavor and tenderize meat. Sugary marinades should be avoided, because the sugar will burn when it hits the grill, often resulting in

a disappointing combination of burnt exterior and raw interior. Instead, use a citrus- or vinegar-based marinade, and pat the meat dry with paper towels prior to cooking. This cuts down on moisture and allows the meat to brown. If you do prefer something sugar-based, such as barbecue sauce, use it to baste the meat towards the end of cooking which will limit its exposure to the heat. The chemical reactions that make grilled food delicious can also have other effects. According to Johns Hopkins University food scientist Dr. Kantha Shelke, grilled foods are leaner and lower in calories than their stove-cooked counterparts. However, the inherent char can also contain carcinogenics, scientifically known as HCAs and PAHs. According to Dr. Shelke, these only need be of concern if frequently consumed. A lesser-known fact is that rosemary, as well as basil, mint, sage, and oregano, can suppress the formation of HCAs during cooking. These herbs contain antioxidants that mitigate the effects of charred food. In fact, research conducted at Kansas State University shows that burgers marinated with rosemary had a 70 to 80 percent reduction in HCAs than those in a plain marinade. Fresh or dried herbs can be used in both marinades and dry rubs, or simply massaged into meat before grilling. Another way to mitigate HCAs is to cook meat for less time; well-done meat contains 3.5 times more HCA than medium-rare meat. A little bit of char provides a smoky flavor, but a lot is not recommended for health purposes. Sushi notwithstanding, Americans by and large love food cooked over a flame. Over thousands of millennia, cooking over open fire has evolved from instinct to an art form. Ask your favorite grillmaster, and they will confirm the fact.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Steak with Citrus Marinade

Steak with Homemade Dry Rub

For best results, meat should marinate in a citrus-based sauce for no longer than 2 hours.

This makes enough seasoning for two large steaks. Extra dry rub can be stored in an airtight container, as long as it has not touched the meat.

Ingredients 1/4 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon oregano leaves 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon lime juice 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 tablespoons olive oil

Ingredients 2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 teaspoons brown sugar 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Step 1

Combine all ingredients in a dry container and mix well. Rub a generous amount of spice mixture onto both sides of steak, and massage well. Step 2

Preheat grill to 450 degrees. Cook steaks until the correct internal temperature (see note) and well-browned on the outside, with a slight char.

Place all ingredients in a Ziplock bag, add meat and coat completely. Place sealed bag in refrigerator for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Step 2

Remove meat and lightly pat with paper towel to remove excess moisture. Discard extra marinade. Step 3

Preheat grill to 450 degrees. Cook steaks over high heat to desired internal temperature (see note). Allow meat to rest for ﬁve minutes before eating. Note: A probe meat thermometer is the best guide to know when food is cooked to perfection. Chicken breast: 165 degrees Rare beef: 125 degrees Medium beef: 135-140 degrees Well-done beef: 155 degrees

Chicken in Mayonnaise-Masala Marinade Ingredients 4 boneless chicken breasts, flattened 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons masala spice (I used Mom’s Magic Masala, but Garam Masala or any other spice blend can be substituted) Salt and pepper, to taste Step 1

Combine marinade ingredients well and coat the chicken on both sides. Cover dish and refrigerate for 4 to 12 hours. Step 2

Grill over high heat (no oiling necessary), ﬂipping occasionally, until wellcooked and lightly charred.

Grilled Potatoes Virtually any type of potato can be grilled! Small potatoes can be cooked directly on the grill in a foil packet. Step 1

Clean and dry any type of small potato, such as Yukon Gold or Red Bliss. Place halved potatoes on a generous piece of foil, and coat with a spice mixture of garlic, rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper, to taste. Step 2

Fold foil over until it is a securely closed packet. Place directly on grill, folded side up, and cook until potatoes are fork tender, approximately 25 minutes. Larger varieties, such as Idaho or Russet, should be parboiled prior to grilling. Step 1

Cut potatoes into large wedges and cook in salted boiling water until slightly underdone. Drain well. Step 2

Combine garlic, rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper, to taste, and coat par cooked potato wedges. Drizzle potatoes well with olive oil. Step 3

Place wedges directly on the grill and cook until nicely browned.

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uring the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were noticeable changes in the way people shopped for food. Fearful of exposure to the virus, many began to avoid big chains. Smaller, independent stores felt safer. Three such stores in the Princeton area — Whole Earth Center, McCaffrey’s Food Market, and Pennington Quality Market — have each weathered what was hopefully the worst of COVID. These are distinctly different organizations. Whole Earth and Pennington Market are single stores; McCaffrey’s in Princeton Shopping Center is one of seven owned by the McCaffrey family. What the three companies do have in common is a focus on their local communities, and a dedication to their customers and staff who, in turn, have been exceedingly loyal. “Our staff has been incredibly supportive,” said Jen Murray, general manager of Whole Earth Center. “We did lose a bunch of staff when it first started, but we continued to employ everybody who wanted to work. It’s a lot of heavy lifting on the team that’s here. Resiliency has been the word. We serve our community.” “With COVID, our customers were tremendously supportive of us, and expressed appreciation for staff that continued to work despite

At left, Laura Huntsman, board president of Whole Earth Center.

the challenges,” said Mike Rothwell, who co-owns Pennington Quality Market with his two sisters. “It’s our staff, and the personal relationships with customers, that make us unique. And we have kept that going.” “Overnight, our associates became something we at McCaffrey’s always knew they were – essential workers,” said Jim McCaffrey IV of the company’s response to COVID. “They came to work, day in and day out, while others were sheltering in place, to serve our customers and communities. Most importantly, they did it with a smile — behind their masks, of course.”

Whole earth Center Whole Earth’s board of trustees, staff, and customers were all set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in April 2020 when the pandemic put a stop to those plans. The business was founded on the first Earth Day in 1970. A hopeful board has planned the 51st birthday party for October 2021. Unlike McCaffrey’s and Pennington Quality Market, which are family-run, Whole Earth is operated by a board of trustees and run by managers and staff. It is a unique business model. “We are a food store that is a nonprofit corporation, yet we pay taxes because we are a retail food store,” said Laura Huntsman, president of the board. “It allows us to take any profit we make and put it back in the store as we need to.

It also allows us to fund projects that are keeping with the original mission of the store. We’ve been doing it for decades.” Whole Earth donates thousands of dollars a year to projects such as Xerces Society Pollinators, Food and Water Watch, and Clean Ocean Action NJ. The store is a sponsor of the Princeton Environmental Film Festival, Princeton School Gardens, and more. “We have tentacles all over, both locally and nationally,” said Huntsman. “And that was part of the original mission. We take it very seriously. Some shoppers don’t realize that they are really contributing to so many things when they are shopping at the store. From supporting open space to maintaining local growers, they are making a huge local contribution to the community.” Back in 1970, five women – Hella McVay, Barbara Parmet, Florence Falk, Margot Sutherland, and Susy Waterman — provided the seed money to make Whole Earth a reality. They started in a small space on Nassau Street, where Thomas Sweet is now located. From the beginning, it was meant to be more than just a grocery store offering healthy food. “There was a lot of environmental consciousness-raising at the time,” said Murray. “I don’t think the term ‘organic’ was in yet, but disseminating issues about the environment was something that everyone was concerned about. Hence the name the Whole Earth Center, not just grocery. It was supposed to be a store and a

Jen Murray, general manager of Whole Earth Center. june 2021 PRInCeTOn MAGAZIne

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Jen Murray and Laura Huntsman at Whole Earth Center.

meeting place where ideas and concerns could be shared. It was very grass roots. The original founders wanted this.” The center quickly outgrew its original space and moved up Nassau Street to a portion of the site it occupies today. The founders contributed more money and asked the community to help. “A whole group would go door to door, getting maybe $5 or $10 from people,” said Murray. “The community started chipping in right away. They got $4,500, which back then was a lot of money and enough to get it going.” As organic food has moved into the mainstream, the store has grown. An in-house

Larry Rothwell tribute sign at Pennington Quality Market.

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bakery and deli were added. The customer base began to increase. In 2008, an addition more than tripled the space. “But it’s never enough,” said Murray. “We’ve taken over as much as we can. We like to dream big. We plan to grow and change and get better, and we’re exploring adding on at some point.” Whole Earth’s produce department is 100 percent organic and buys from local farms in spring, summer, and fall. “We get so many people who are amazed we are 100 percent organic,” said Huntsman. “Other places tend to sell both organic and non-organic, but here you don’t have to second guess.” The store also sells local meats and cheeses. While the deli remains vegetarian, the meat case was added because of a demand from customers. “Some of our hard-core vegetarian customers, who were longtime customers, were upset by it,” said Murray. “But we tried to be respectful and not push it in people’s faces. Supporting local farms also supports local farmland, which in turn helps protect land from development.” Offering meats was a big decision. “It was very important to us to maintain our policing of product – antibiotic, hormonefree, humanely raised and slaughtered, and grass fed, so that

we were providing for our customers in a way that other stores could not provide,” said Huntsman. “That’s always been a part of our mission – to police the products so that our customers don’t have to. We were dealing with bovine growth hormone before any stores knew what that was. We pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge of what is going on in the food industry. We work really hard when buying to make sure that is the case. Customers don’t have to wonder.” The store has a large customer base, from different backgrounds. “We want to meet the dietary needs of everybody,” said Murray. “There is no typical customer. We get lots of college students and moms with kids as well as older people who have been coming to us for years.”

PENNINGTON QUALITY MARKET Having been 61 years at its present location, Pennington Quality Market is a decade older than Whole Earth Center. The store started small in the borough of Pennington before moving to the Pennington Shopping Center on the edge of town. Mike Rothwell’s father, Larry Rothwell, bought the business from its longtime owners in 1981. Having worked for a major wholesaler in the food industry that distributed products to supermarkets, the elder Rothwell knew the business well. When he was approached about buying the market, he decided to take a chance. “They told him, ‘You could be very successful here. You know the business inside

Co-owner Barbara Rothwell Henderson manages The Flower Shop of Pennington Quality Market.

Creating arrangements at the Floral Design Studio in Pennington Quality Market.

Mike Rothwell, co-owner of Pennington Quality Market. june 2021 PRInCeTOn MAGAZIne

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Co-owners Barbara Rothwell Henderson and Mike Rothwell in the produce department and a selection of prepared foods at Pennington Quality Market.

out.’ That’s where the idea came from,” said Mike Rothwell. “Our family has now owned it for 40 years.” Growing up, Rothwell worked alongside his father most weekends. “He’d be visiting customers and I’d tag along. Slowly but surely, I was getting indoctrinated into the food industry. When it came time for me to think about going to college, it was simple. I went to St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia because of their food marketing program,” he said. “I started my career in 1978 with Proctor & Gamble. I was with my dad when he was negotiating to buy the store. Was I ready to come join him? The reality was, I wasn’t ready. He was great. He recognized that and said, ‘keep doing what you’re doing.’” By 1989, the time was right, and Rothwell signed on. His sister Barbara came on board as well, and runs its popular ﬂoral shop. “It became a real family business,” he said. “I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to work with my dad, who lived to be 92. He died three years ago. He gave us this great opportunity to continue to operate the store. He was not just my father, but my mentor.” The elder Rothwell had added various departments over time, including catering and the ﬂower shop. “His biggest challenge was that he was viewed as an outsider when he took over, because we lived out of town in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania,” Mike Rothwell said. “He realized, to his credit, that he’d have to overcome that, and get very involved in the community. And he did. A few years ago, the Hopewell Valley YMCA created the Larry Rothwell Social Responsibility Award in

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his honor. I learned quickly that getting involved was really important.” Pennington Quality Market has 150 employees, several of whom are related. What makes the store unique is the personal relationships with staff and customers. “When new people join our company, I personally conduct the introduction,” said Rothwell. “We are a single store that is family run and independent, competing against huge companies. We will never be able to outspend our competition. But we have to never get outperformed when it comes to the service we provide.”

MCCAFFREY’S FOOD MARKET Operating as a chain of stores that are increasingly state-of-the-the art, McCaffrey’s keeps to its mission of community involvement in each location. “We are very involved in every community we serve, and we are proud of that fact,” said Jim McCaffrey IV, executive vice president. “We believe it is our responsibility to give back to the communities that have supported us for so many years.” During the pandemic, the Princeton store stepped up to help Princeton Mobile Food Pantry feed those who are food-insecure. Every year, the stores hold a community-giving day, otherwise known as “Fight Cancer Day,” when ﬁve percent of that day’s net sales are donated to charities such as the American Cancer Society and local hospitals. The store in Princeton Shopping Center was the second in the family’s food market venture. The

first was opened by Jim McCaffrey III and his son at the Edgewood Village Shopping Center in Yardley, Pennsylvania. It was originally known as Thriftway. The family expanded to Princeton in 1992. “We thought it was important to differentiate ourselves from other Thriftway operators, so we adopted the family name as our brand,” said McCaffrey IV. His father started working in grocery stores as a college student and opened his first business, a deli in Northeast Philadelphia, in 1980. After establishing the Yardley and Princeton stores, the family opened another in West Windsor; then expanded to Newtown, Doylestown, Blue Bell, and most recently, New Hope, Pennsylvania. There have been challenges along the way. One Saturday afternoon in February 2004, a fire broke out in the Yardley store. No one was injured and the blaze was ruled accidental. But the flagship store was severely damaged. It wasn’t long before a 10,000-square-foot tent was put up in the parking lot of the shopping center, fitted out with electricity, refrigeration, and plumbing. The store continued in the tent until a much larger McCaffrey’s Food Market was rebuilt. The Princeton store is a local hub. An effort is made to employ people with special needs, some of whom have been with the store for years. “It is a policy company-wide to provide opportunity wherever possible,” McCaffrey said. “We recognize that it can be difficult for persons with a disability to find work. It is very rewarding for us and for them.”

Owners Jim McCaffrey III and Jim McCaffrey IV of McCaffrey’s Food Market.

(Images courtesy of McCaffrey’s Food Market, photos by Dawn Deppi) JUNE 2021 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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Cooling It: A Serving of Summer Reading BY STUART MITCHNER

ummer reading generally signifies something light rather than, say, a novel with literary heft, a page turner with a purpose. Even at the best of times, with the pandemic in remission, you don’t take Proust or Darwin to the beach. However, I know of a seriously literary novel that feeds your mind even as it cools and refreshes you, plus it comes passionately recommended by one of the great American critics. R.P. Blackmur (1904-1965) was 17, working in a bookshop and attending lectures at Harvard without ever enrolling as a student, when he was advised to “read something by Henry James.” So he went to the Cambridge Public Library, where he found the book that introduced him to the “ecstasy of reading”: “The day was hot and muggy, so that from the card catalogue I selected as the most cooling title The Wings of the Dove, and on the following morning, a Sunday, even hotter and muggier, I began, and by the stifling midnight had finished my first elated reading of the novel .... The beauty of the book bore me up; I was both cool and waking; excited and effortless; nothing was any longer worthwhile and everything had become necessary. A little later, there came outside the patter and the cooling of a shower of rain and I was able to go to sleep, both confident and desperate in the force of art.” READING AGAINST THE WIND

One book I actually tried to read at the beach is Lawrence Durrell’s Justine. I was in Mykonos with friends, and we were sharing various paperback reprints of the novels in The Alexandria Quartet. I say “tried to read” because the sun was hot and dry, and the wind was blowing. The Dell paperback was gritty with sand and had to be held tight or else the Aegean gusts would have blown it away. There was a bonus of sorts in knowing that the author himself would be sitting a table or two away from us at the same waterfront cafe that evening. Durrell’s rich, lush, sexy prose was the essence of Greek island summer weather, the narrator writing of “a sky of hot nude pearl in mid-day” even in winter as he muses on “the lime-laden dust” of summer afternoons in Alexandria.

CIRCE AND ACHILLES

During the year of the lockdown, thousands of vicarious travelers found the fastest route to Greece through the trade fiction paperback best-sellers by Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles (Ecco) and Circe (Back Bay). Writing of Circe in the New York Times, novelist Claire Messud concludes that in spite of “occasional infelicities and awkwardnesses,” the novel “will surely delight readers new to the witch’s stories as it will many who remember her role in the Greek myths of their childhood. Like a good children’s book, it engrosses and races along at a clip, eliciting excitement and emotion along the way.” According to NPR’s Here and Now, Miller’s novel is “so vivid, so layered, you could get lost in it .... Whether or not you think you like Greek Mythology, this is just great storytelling. It feels cinematic.” A WORLD OF FICTION

My wife recently devoured all five volumes of Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles (Pan Books). I don’t use “devoured” casually since I heard the title as Cassoulet Chronicles the first time she mentioned it; and since she used to write about food and restaurants for this magazine, I continued hearing culinary music in the title until we saw the 2004 Masterpiece Theatre series recently resurrected on cable. Evidence that Howard has produced the reading club equivalent of a binge-worthy television series is the fact that my wife and the neighbor with whom she shared the experience went through five volumes in six weeks. Clearly, they are not among the readers Hilary Mantel has in mind when she says Howard’s novels can be “resisted by those who see the surface and find it bourgeois.” In her January 30, 2016 Guardian piece, the author of Wolf Hall goes on to suggest that the experience can also “be resisted by those who do not like food, or cats, or children, or ghosts, or the pleasures of pinpoint accuracy in observation of the natural or manufactured world: by those who turn a cold shoulder to the recent past.” But the books are valued by readers “open to their charm, their intelligence and their humour, who can listen to messages from a world with different values from ours.”

“A NATURAL STORYTELLER”

Another beloved book recently revived on Masterpiece Theatre is James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small (St. Martin’s), first published in Britain in 1970 under the title If Only They Could Talk. The seven books that followed became wildly popular worldwide, selling over 60 million copies. No surprise, the new miniseries was an immediate hit when it debuted in Britain last fall, drawing over five million viewers for each of its six episodes. What I’ve been able to read of the first volume online accords with the original 1972 New York Times review by Anatole Broyard, who calls Herriot “a natural storyteller because he is tremendously interested in everything and manages to invest his stories with that interest. When he is in a drafty byre in the wee hours of a freezing night, lying stripped from the waist up on a cold stone floor with his bare arm reaching as far as it will go inside a cow whose calf is stuck in a transverse position — we are there with him. We share his satisfaction, too, as his numbed hand finally gets a purchase on the calf and pulls it right. We taste the hot tea, the eggs and bacon, the grateful farmer’s wife gives him when the calf is safely suckling.” THE NEW KING

Stephen King’s Later (Hard Case Crime) has a retro pulp cover that fits with the “old-school crime thriller” described in Booklist’s starred review. Writing in the New York Times, Charles Yu calls the new King “something of a genre hybrid: part detective tale, part thriller, with a horror story filling in the seams.” Later is “yet another example of King’s talent in building stories out of the materials of his choosing, and like so many of his creations, it’s remarkable how well the thing holds together. The pace and ease of reading, the ratio of familiar to new. A roller coaster ... is still a roller coaster, and even if I’ve been on this ride before it doesn’t make it any less fun.” NOMAD CAMARADERIE

Most people reading Jessica Bruder’s Nomadland (Norton) this summer will have seen or streamed the award-winning film with Frances McDormand. According to author Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel ( and Dimed), “Today, as Bruder brilliantly reports, we have a new class of nomadic workers who

travel in their RVs from one short-term job to another. There’s a lot to cringe at here — from low pay and physically exhausting work to constant insecurity. But surprisingly, Nomadland also offers its residents muchneeded camaraderie and adventure, which makes this book a joy to read.” COOLING OFF WITH GATSBY

My first reading of The Great Gatsby comes to mind as a shorter, more accessible literary equivalent to R.P. Blackmur’s “cool and waking” encounter with The Wings of the Dove. For a start, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby, out of all the great characters in American literature, has something cool and freshly conceived about him in contrast to the “deep summer” that engulfs the story, particularly its explosive, stiflingly hot central chapter. When Nick Carraway first sees Gatsby, there’s a touch of mystery in the moment. “The silhouette of a moving cat wavered across the moonlight, and turning my head to watch it, I saw I was not alone — fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor’s mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens.” An image typical of Fitzgerald’s elegant, crystal cool prose can be found in the longest, most momentous, and most oppressively hot chapter in the book. After referring to how in “this heat every extra gesture was an affront to the common store of life,” Fitzgerald refreshes you with a single sentence: “The room, shadowed well with awnings, was dark and cool. Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans.” BLACKMUR IN SUMMER

R.P. Blackmur’s anecdote comes from his book Studies in Henry James (New Directions 1983), which has an unusually summery and unscholarly looking photograph of the author on the cover. He’s leaning forward on his elbows on a grassy cliff in Cape St. Mary, Nova Scotia, his shirt sleeves rolled up, a cigarette in one hand. He seems to be reading the sky. If I had to describe him in one word, I would say he looks cool. Very cool. JUNE 2021 PRINCETON MAGAZINE

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