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To the Editors:
We are extremely pleased to write in support of Beth Behrend’s run for a second term on Princeton’s Board of Education. In her first term, Beth demonstrated her collaborative approach to problem solving, an unwavering dedication to securing the well-being of all of our district’s children, and her commitment to planning responsibly for our future. Her experience on the Board of Education has shown both vision and a deeply professional, practical ability to get the Board’s work done in the most effective, equitable, cost-efficient manner.
During her Board presidency, Beth Behrend has led collaboratively by bringing diverse people together to tackle a series of difficult challenges. As one example, at the start of Beth’s term, the district faced a growing student population and school overcrowding, along with widespread ambivalence about a proposed referendum. Beth was instrumental in the School Board’s decision to rethink its approach, and ultimately find a successful path to advance the most urgent issues, including the recent HVAC installations and upgrades that are proving critical to the district’s ability to provide ventilation and COVID-safe environments.
Beth Behrend is that rare leader who is able to simultaneously steward public schools through present challenges, while paving the way for future success. She believed a community-driven process could ensure that solutions to overcrowding would reflect the town’s deeply-held values for excellent education and affordability. Toward those goals she led the Board to organize two citizen committees, the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (in which we have been involved) and the Future Enrollment Committee. In facing complex decisions, Beth’s leadership shaped a process whereby the community can review options, provide ideas, and help make choices based on expert analysis of trends in our town’s demographic and other data. In all these efforts, Beth has worked with town leadership — Council, mayor, planning office, and other departments — to collaborate and find creative savings. The ability to plan effectively for curriculum, facilities, and co-curricular activities is greatly enhanced by this collaboration ensuring that resources are wisely deployed for the town as a whole and Princeton’s children in particular.
Through her work on the Board, Beth Behrend has demonstrated time and again that she cares deeply about Princeton’s students now and into the future. Beth doesn’t just care for a child’s experience in kindergarten today, she is looking ahead to ensure that child is as well-served by Princeton Public Schools as possible along every step of their journey, through high school graduation.
Beth Behrend is a proven leader at a time when leadership is crucial. From helping the district obtain resources for urgent needs like HVAC, planning for increased enrollment, leading the process of hiring an experienced interim schools superintendent, to securing the needed technology and support for the district to achieve equitable, bestquality online learning, Beth has been able to get things done during challenging times. A vote for Beth is a vote for proven leadership that guides us through today’s challenges, while caring deeply for the children’s futures by planning ahead. GINNY BRYANT Western Way ROBERT FREUDENBERG Palmer Square West ALISON ISENBERG Prospect Avenue CHRIS STURM Riverside Drive
Thanking Community Members Who Participated In Recreation Department Programs This Summer
To the Editor:
As our staff begins to look ahead towards fall programming, we’d like to briefly look back to this summer 2020 and offer thanks to the thousands of community members who chose to be part of one or more Princeton Recreation programs this summer. The summer began with many more questions than answers about what activities could safely be offered, but in the end we welcomed more than 33,000 visitors to CP Pool and saw sold-out registration in almost all 19 weeks of our modified, in-person programming. In
REFINED INTERIORS
HELPING FAMILIES AT HOME SINCE 1991
person programming encompassed more than 500 total registrations.
We are proud to say that we continued our commitment to teaching kids how to swim with modified instruction, which meant an adult in the water with each child. Different? Yes! Effective? Yes! Our financial assistance program continued to assist families in need. Our commitment to removing financial barriers to entry remains strong as financial assistance was provided to 100 percent of applicants this summer.
One of the often overlooked benefits of what a healthy community recreation program offers to its community is employment opportunities. Despite the truncated summer season, our programs led to the creation of 123 seasonal jobs, most held by Princeton residents and by employees of our local school district. These jobs led to nearly $150,000 in wages being pumped back into our local economy.
We appreciate the community’s patience as we modified seemingly every aspect of our operation, we admire the community’s enthusiasm about community recreation, and we thank you for your commitment to following the plethora of new health and safety protocols that were put in place.
We have received a great deal of feedback from commu nity members this summer, and the most common theme has been a recognition of the social, physical, emotional, and mental health benefits residents gained through participation in community recreation programs, particularly following a spring season when most were stuck at home. The benefits of participating in community recreation are well-documented and have long been at the core of the Recreation Commission/Department’s stated mission. The summer of 2020 proved to be a timely opportunity for our team to highlight the truly essential services that we proudly provide for our community. BEN STENTZ Executive Director, Department of Recreation
Stressing the Importance of Supporting Equity Initiatives in Our Public Schools
To the Editor:
As the nation grapples with issues of equity and racial and economic justice, it is important to recognize gains even as we acknowledge ongoing challenges. As someone who researches and teaches education policy, I am particularly focused on how these issues play out in our public schools.
Unlike most New Jersey school districts, which are highly segregated by income and race, Princeton Public Schools are very diverse, with students from greatly varied backgrounds including wealthy and highly-educated families as well as students who are low-income, undocumented, and do not speak English. Because of this diversity, our students start school at very different levels of knowledge, as reflected in the gaps in standardized test scores between our more and less privileged students. It is a mistake to blame our schools for those gaps. They are a reflection of who attends the schools, not whether those schools are effectively educating our students. To eliminate the gaps, we would have to eliminate the diversity and mirror the homogeneity of privilege that describes most affluent communities.
If absolute test scores do not tell us anything about the quality of our schools, what does? Although there is no perfect metric, the NJ Department of Education and education researchers look at the change in students’ standardized test scores year to year to evaluate how much they are learning, a concept referred to as student growth. The NJ Department of Education’s latest school performance report (available on both the district’s and state’s websites), indicates that Princeton students are substantially outperforming their peers across the state in student growth rates.
Princeton Public Schools’ median English and math growth rates exceed those of the rest of the state for every subgroup of students, including low income students, students with disabilities, English language learners, LatinX, Black, Asian, bi/multi-racial, and white students. Even more impressive is the fact that with very few exceptions, the subgroup growth rates are comparable to or exceed those of whites, who are usually among the more privileged students.
The exceptions are both English and math growth rates
Letters to the Editor Policy
Town Topics welcomes letters to the Editor, preferably on subjects related to Princeton. Letters must have a valid street address (only the street name will be printed with the writer’s name). Priority will be given to letters that are received for publication no later than Monday noon for publication in that week’s Wednesday edition.
Letters must be no longer than 500 words and have no more than four signatures.
All letters are subject to editing and to available space.
At least a month’s time must pass before another letter from the same writer can be considered for pub lication. Letters are welcome with views about actions, policies, ordinances, events, performances, buildings, etc. However, we will not publish letters that include content that is, or may be perceived as, negative towards local figures, politicians, or political candidates as individuals. When necessary, letters with negative content may be shared with the person/group in question in order to allow them the courtesy of a response, with the understanding that the communications end there. Letters to the Editor may be submitted, preferably by email, to editor@towntopics.com, or by post to Town
Topics, PO Box 125, Kingston, N.J. 08528. Letters submitted via mail must have a valid signature. for Black students and math growth rates for low income students and students with disabilities, which exceed those of their peers across the state but lag the white students within our district. Those are critical gaps that must be addressed.
The district has acknowledged and taken steps to ad dress these gaps by conducting the 2018 equity audit and the forthcoming special education audit and by implementing the subsequent recommendations, such as hiring more teachers of color, adopting restorative discipline practices and a racial literacy curriculum, providing training in culturally responsive teaching, providing free pre-K and offering it to more families, and implementing the dual-language immersion program.
These programs require resources and continued community support. As a taxpayer, PPS parent, and education policy scholar, I cannot imagine a more worthy use of our tax dollars. JULIA SASS RUBIN Jefferson Road The writer is a professor of public policy at Rutgers University
Thanking Those Who Contributed to Success of 2020 Sourland Spectacular
To the Editor,
On behalf of the board, staff, and members of the Sourland Conservancy, I would like to thank the 325 participants of the 2020 Sourland Spectacular for riding, running, and hiking to Save the Sourlands.
The New Jersey Forest Service estimates that our 90-square-mile region is on track to lose over one million trees within the next few years due to the invasive emerald ash borer. This damage will impact the fresh air, clean water, carbon sequestration services, and critical habitat the forest provides. Funds from the Spectacular will benefit the Sourland Conservancy’s efforts to plant native trees, shrubs, and flowers on public preserves; remove invasive species; host free guided hikes and educational seminars; lead advocacy efforts; work in partnership with the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum; and more.
I would like to thank the residents of our Sourland Community for welcoming Spectacular participants, taking extra care while driving to accommodate the increased bicycle traffic, masking up on the trails, and helping to keep everyone safe.
I would especially like to thank the hardworking Spectacular committee volunteers for their creativity in adapting this year’s event to follow CDC guidelines, marking and remarking the routes, and keeping the support facilities running throughout the nine-day event. They did an excellent job promoting and conducting the Sourland Spectacular while doing their best to keep everyone safe and healthy. LAURIE CLEVELAND Executive Director, Sourland Conservancy
Books
Mendelsohn and Wood Discuss “Three Rings”
Daniel Mendelsohn and Michael Wood will be talking about Mendelsohn’s new book, Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate, in a Labyrinth and Library Livestream presentation, Tuesday, September 22 at 6 p.m.
This event is presented in partnership with the Princeton University Humanities Council.
Joyce Carol Oates writes, “Classicist, historian, memoirist, cultural critic, wit ― with consummate skill and the sharp, sympathetic eye of the poet, Daniel Mendelsohn brilliantly combines these roles. Three Rings is a masterly exegesis and demonstration of digression as a high art.”
Mendelsohn is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, where he is editorat-large. His books include the memoirs An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic and The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million as well as three collections of essays and criticism, most recently Ecstasy and Terror: From the Greeks to Game of Thrones. He teaches literature at Bard College.
A professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at Princeton, Wood has written books on Vladimir Nabokov, Luis Buñuel, Franz Kafka, and Gabriel García Márquez, as well as The Road to Delphi, a study of the ancient and continuing allure of oracles. Among his other books are America in the Movies and Children of Silence. He is a regular contributor to The London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books.
Register at crowdcast.io/ e/daniel-mendelssohn-and/ register.
English Syntax Subject Of Library, Labyrinth Event
Library and Labyrinth Livestream will present Robert Freidin discussing his book, Adventures in English Syntax on September 21 at 7 p.m. This event is presented in partnership with the Princeton Public Library, the Princeton University Humanities Council, and the Program in Linguistics.
“Deeply informed and engagingly presented,” according to Noam Chomsky, “these compelling adventures succeed admirably in achieving the author’s intention to reveal ‘something of the hidden depth and abstract nature of our knowledge of the language we speak’ and to show how ‘endlessly fascinating’ language is — its structure and how we can use it effectively.”
Freidin is a professor of linguistics, emeritus at Princeton University, where he taught from 1984 to 2016. He is also the author of Syntax: Basic Concepts and Applications.
Register at crowdcast.io/e/ syntaxadventures/register.
Celebrating Fellini’s Centenary on Capra’s Bridge
I’ve been thinking about the time I saw Frank La Strada (1954) is therefore dismissed as to the arrival of Sylvia, the Marilynesque everything that follows, with rare, brief exCapra in person. It was in the late 1970s, “a desperately portentous film laboriously American movie star played by Ekberg, there’s ceptions like the moment in a seaside cafe in a classroom at Princeton’s Center for the drawing a trite humanist message out of a not much joy and even less wonder until the where Marcello is charmed by a young girl Visual Arts on Nassau Street. The meeting got picture of a circus brute,” while Nights of 23rd scene (“a silent narrow street in the old whose face in profile reminds him of “one off to a rocky start when one of the students Cabiria (1956) is “a woefully sincere story part of Rome,” according to the screenplay) of those little angels in the churches of Umasked a question that distinguished between about a tart with a heart that seems obliviwhen Sylvia is finally by herself, having sent bria.” The same girl is there at the end, as art films and popular, commercial movies like ous to its own coarseness.” As for La Dolce her besotted escort Marcello (the Via Veneto he stumbles out of an all-night orgy in which It’s a Wonderful Life. Immediately on the de Vita, hailed by consensus as “a brilliant satire journalist played by Marcello Mastroianni) off he has thoroughly debased himself. She’s a fensive, Capra insisted that the artistic value in the new self-conscious permissiveness of in search of milk for the tiny white kitten she’s sweeter, younger more “modern” version of of any work in any medium was ultimately European high society,” Thomson faults its just discovered, the one she’s holding on the the waif in La Strada, but the dynamic is not determined by its popularity. Critics, scholars, “sluggish dismay at corruption” while grudgcover of the soundtrack album I used to play all that different from the moment the strong reviewers be damned! The people had the last ingly admitting the “scandalous success that whenever I wanted to feel the film again, the man Zampano hears Gelsomina’s music on say. “All great art is popular!” he insisted, cit made Fellini into the self-sufficient star name essence of the Nino Rota-Fellini mood, the the dark shore, groping toward the sea. The ing Michelangelo, Shakespeare, and da Vinci. he playfully grappled with ever after.” In the sad clown’s theme faintly audible, one note girl smiles, she says something he probably “Look at all the people who come to the Louend “we know nothing more about Fellini than at a time, “as if plucked on a distant harp.” needs to hear, the music is in her expression. vre to see the Mona Lisa!” that he was an obsessional, vacuous poseur,” As the screenplay notes, this is the first time But he can’t hear her. All he can do is shrug. The students were a bit rattled. Why was the old guy so touchy? Clearly, he still believed as well as “a half-baked, play-acting pessimist with no capacity for tragedy.” since her gaudy arrival in Rome that the “the hard glamour” of Sylvia’s public role” dis Fearing the Future The girl also bears an eerie resemblance to that his populist, upbeat films had been misun There’s nothing like name-calling to dissolves: she’s having a little-girl moment all to the young daughter of Steiner (Alain Cluny), derstood and devalued by elitists. I considered credit the person passing judgment, not to herself, holding the tiny kitten close to her the intellectual whose life Marcello sees as a weighing in to say how often I’d argued with mention the citing of unworthy alternatives. face, meowing gently back as it cries (milk, vision of what his might have been (a writer film-buff friends who scorned It’s a Wonder After describing Fellini’s introduction of “the milk, milk), then putting it on top of her head comfortable among poets and artists and ful Life and invariably cited Fellini’s La Dolce metaphor of the circus as a way of papering like a hat and smiling up at it (“Oh hello pomintellectuals). At a party hosted by Steiner Vita as an example of “great art.” Instead, I over the artistic cracks” pom”). Here’s wonder, that is the antithesis of “joy and wonder,” the said something about Jimmy Stewart’s per in 8½, the only superior mystery, atmosphere, little girl and her younger brother, a toddler, formance as George Bailey, aware that the examples Thomson can pathos (mewing kitten, appear and are affectionately introduced to mere mention of the other film might only come up with are the thy name is pathos) as the gathering by Steiner and his wife before make things worse. “searching demonstrathe woman in the low-cut Steiner carries them both gently, lovingly, A British Bridge My bridge from Capra’s Life to Fellini’s Vita is the British film critic David Thomson, who slammed both directors in his Biographical Dictionary of Film (1994). It’s only fair to note that Thomson may have updated his comments in later editions and that when he’s not righteously venting, he writes as well about film as anyone this side of James Agee. That’s why I quoted his thoughts on the “un easy depths” of It’s a Wonderful Life to close out last week’s column. After giving the film his mixed blessing, however, he couldn’t resist another personal dig: “I think I like Capra less than ever, even if I have become interested in his emotional muddle.” Name Calling Now, even as I’m writing a 100th birthday tribute to Federico Fellini (1920-1993), I find myself fending off condemnations of his work, not only from David Thomson but from tions” of the same subject area “by Godard and Warhol.” Joy and Wonder It’s easy to imagine Thomson’s gag reflex to Fellini’s statement in a 1966 Playboy interview: “I accept life’s infinite mysteries without knowing its finite borders, accept them with joy and wonder.” Where else but in Playboy would the director of a film publicized with images of a sex goddess in ecstasy (Anita Ekberg) hold forth on “life’s infinite mysteries”? For filmgoers who bonded with Italy, Fellini, and Giulietta Masina in La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, the experience can be read into lines like “life’s infinite mysgown steps from one al ley-narrow Roman street into the sudden spacious vista of the large open square with the Trevi fountain at its center. “Oh my goodness!” sighs the sex goddess. The rest is photo shoot heaven, the im age that launched a film “acclaimed throughout Europe, seen by 20,000,000 people.” Sylvia goes to the edge of the pool, takes off her white stole and puts it next to the kitten (“Wait just five minutes,” she tells it), takes off her shoes, and steps into the water. In the words of the screenplay: “She wades forward, lifting her evening gown as the water rises against back to bed. After kissing each sleeping child, he confesses to Marcello that sometimes “the night, this darkness, this calm” weighs on him. It is “peace” that makes him afraid: “Perhaps because I distrust it above everything. I feel that it’s only an appearance, that it hides a danger. I think of the world my children will know. They say that the world of the future will be wonderful. But what does that mean? It needs only the gesture of a madman to destroy everything.” On the Bridge Again The undercurrent of terror in that quiet scene, the soft spoken dialogue, the gravity of Steiner’s expression, his suppressed anguish, has something scarily in common with George Bailey’s agony, his suicidal moment on the bridge in It’s a Wonderful Life. You can’t see the bridge Steiner is standing on, but it’s there. In Capra’s world, Jimmy Stewart trashes the living room, terrifies his children, gets drunk, and prays for deliverance. In Fellini’s world, Pauline Kael (1919-2001) in her essay “The teries” and “joy and wonder.” her thighs. Then she drops the gown and lets Steiner takes the unthinkable future into his Sick-Soul-of-Europe Parties,” wherein she But then comes La Dolce Vita, in which it float on the water ... goes to the back of the own hands. compares watching La Dolce Vita to “poking your head into a sack of fertilizer and then becoming indignant that you’re covered with excrement.” She finds “the aim, the scale, the pretensions, the message ... too big for the subject matter: tabloid sensationalism and upper-class apathy and corruption.” (As for Capra, Kael once pondered whether he “had an honest bone in his body.”) Thomson’s heavy handed trashings of Fellini are all the more lamentable because, again, they come dressed in the authority of a bio graphical dictionary. Of the four films that preceded La Dolce Vita, he decrees, “This quartet needs to be put firmly in its place. They are slick, mechanical stories, feeding Fellini says he “wanted to put the thermometer to a sick world,” according to the quote on the back of my ancient, disintegrating paperback of the screenplay. Also on the back of the book, which boasts “over 96 pages of photos,” is a thumbnail shot of the director in his signature Fedora, a scarf around his neck, and a small white kitten on his shoulder. The pose suggests nothing like Dr. Fellini preparing to take the temperature of the world, nor does it resemble the “pessimist with no capacity for tragedy.” After the ample serving of decadence, corruption, and cinematic spectacle in the opening scenes of La Dolce Vita, from the helicopter hoisting a statue of Christ over “a fountain where the water spills off a ledge of rock, and stands in the flow, letting the falling water bathe her face and breasts.” Meanwhile, Marcello has arrived with milk for the kitten. Here he is, having whisked her away from a night club brawl and the preda tory paparazzi while doing his frantic best to make love to her, and now there she is, calling him, “Marcello, come here.” He “stares at her in wonder, a saucer of milk in his hands,” puts the milk down for the kitten, and takes off his shoes. “He would like to enter her mood, yet he feels absurd.” He takes off his shoes and steps into the water, saying, “Yes, yes, she’s perfectly right. I’ve been wrong about every thing. We’ve all been wrong about everything.” Redefining Design A nd in September 2020, five days after the 19th anniversary of 9/11, I’m thinking about the double meaning in the title of last week’s column, “George Bailey’s Bridge Is Nearer Than You Think.” Although the title refers to the location of the original Bedford Falls bridge in neighboring Hunterdon County, a short drive from Pottersville and the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, I also couldn’t help seeing it in the light of an election that may leave the whole country standing on the bridge between November 3 and January 20. At least George Bailey had an angel to keep him from taking the plunge. —Stuart Mitchner DISTINCTIVE SELECTIONS OF WOODS, FINISHES AND STYLES INSPIRING CUSTOM DESIGNS PROJECT MANAGEMENT FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION on superficial feelings.” A radiant work like vast panorama of the Roman countryside” That could serve as the caption for
Redefining Design Redefining Design
DISTINCTIVE SELECTIONS OF WOODS, FINISHES AND STYLES
INSPIRING CUSTOM DESIGNS DISTINCTIVE SELECTIONS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT WOODS, FINISHES AND STYLES FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION INSPIRING CUSTOM DESIGNS
PROJECT MANAGEMENT FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION
Fly Eyes Playwrights Presents “Summer 2020: Eons at the Same Time”;
Online Anthology of Monologues Explores Black Lives Matter, COVID-19
Fly Eyes Playwrights offered a free nye — an African American from the tive,” and admits anger toward his own segment by Lorna Haughton. Like Peter, online presentation of Summer “back woods of Alabama” — immedigovernment “because my people have Claudine is an immigrant. She reveals 2020: Eons at the Same Time on ately evinces defiance and urgency. She been persecuted for so long, I still have that she was “running away from opSeptember 10 and 12. The play is an asserts refusal to attend a Juneteenth relatives who I know are there … who pression” in Africa. She likes the United anthology of monologues, derived from celebration, “Because you know what? might end up on the wrong side of an States — “a country that adopted me interviews in which people react to the We ain’t free yet!” She recalls sneakargument, and they won’t even get juswithin a few months” — despite not havconvergence of the COVID-19 lockdown ing a drink from a “whites only” water tice.” ing spoken any English at the time of and the Black Lives Matter movement. fountain, and discovering that “it was Fulton Hodges delivered Parrillo’s her arrival.
A press release reveals the project’s the same stale water.” She adds, “I don’t monologue, featuring Chef Jesse, who However, upon reading history, Clauorigins as an “online documentary thewant all these people breathing virus describes cooking as his “anchor of dine concludes that “when they say slavatre course at McCarter Theatre, under all over me,” as she leans close to the faith” during the quarantine. He is frusery ended, when they say segregation the direction of former Artistic Director camera. trated by the effect of the pandemic on ended — nothing had ended, actually.” Emily Mann. After the four-week pro“I’m not usually an actress; I’m a writthe food industry, and that, because he The line inescapably echoes Annye. Inigram ended, the students decided to er,” Clovis remarked in the post-show is African American, it often is assumed tially Claudine declines to march in a form Fly Eyes Playwrights and continue discussion. “So to be able to listen to that he only knows how to cook “mac Black Lives Matter protest because of their work in documentary theatre, gathmy mom — to listen to her nuances, to and cheese, and fried chicken” — even COVID-19, but decides to participate so ering monologues from diverse real-life laugh when she laughs — that was really though he is trained in classical French that her children can learn about the voices of the moment.” amazing for me.” cooking. (During Thursday’s post-show issues.
Summer 2020: Eons at the Same Tri Duc Tran played a young refugee discussion, the real Chef Jesse was quotThis theme of family continues in a Time is the culmination of the playnamed Peter, in a segment by Kathered as saying that he wants to cook for second monologue by Parrillo. It feawrights’ coursework, combined with adine Clifton. Peter reveals that he comes all of the actors.) tures Ray, a 72-year-old man, portrayed ditional pieces to expand the show into from a country that is “quite conservaAixa Kendrick played Claudine, in a by davidbdale. Ray is devastated that a full-length play. The disparate monothe pandemic prevents him from visitlogues deftly have been woven together ing his 90-year-old mother in “the deinto a thematically unified larger show. mentia unit” on “the fourth floor.” He
During a post-show discussion followreminisces about the times he did visit ing Thursday’s performance, playwright her in the past four years, recalling rare and actor Donna Clovis emphasized that but pleasant memories of times that she the monologues contain the words spowould “get into activities, like whacking ken by the interviewees. “They’re not a beach ball.” our words; we just transcribe them,” Sandor interviewed a married couple: Clovis said. Samantha (played by June Ballinger)
Playwright Rosemary Parrillo added, and David (Joey Perillo). The play“You try and get to the essence of what wright wrote a speech for each person, the person said … and find the arc in but Considine edited and juxtaposed the their story within five minutes.” two monologues, so that the speakers
Callie Considine is the director, and share a scene. Alex Kostis is the stage manager. The The resulting segment continues the press release notes that “many of the theme of separation; COVID-19 prevents actors are local artists from programs Samantha from accompanying David, a such as Seniors Onstage through Mccancer patient, when he goes for treatCarter Theatre, and some are national ment. This scene is well served by the and international performers.” online format; it adds a poignant layer An animated curtain rises to reveal a Hubble image of the Milky Way. All of the actors appear to deliver a prologue. “You know, I’m relaxing into the moto see the couple next to each other, but in different physical spaces. Like Peter and Claudine, David is an immigrant; his family escaped the Nazis. ment,” muses Susan (played by Sandy Carol Simons plays Michelle, in a secKitain). “It feels so important to enter ond piece by Clovis. “I can’t breathe, the present moment, as it is changing and then I suffocate,” Michelle says, eeand evolving. Being as fully here, on rily echoing George Floyd, whose name as many levels, as I can. Not shutting is mentioned by several monologists. down, not hiding, from what’s happenMichelle relates how, following Floyd’s ing. Not projecting answers.” death, she wrote a letter to her employThe monologues were connected by dialogue delivered by Kitain. The text, which was derived from Susan’s dialogue in the prologue and epilogue, was inserted and placed by Considine. These transitions included music by Sophia ees — articulating the values of “respect and diversity” supposedly held by her health care company — that was edited by the CEO. “Floyd got erased…no more equality stuff — every word changed to just the generics.” Burnham-Lemaire, whose score predomHackett delivered her own monologue, inantly featured chimes. (A pre-existing portraying Diana. She has a wall clock composition, “Awake” by Scott Holmes, behind her, which ties into Susan’s preceded the show.) opening remarks about the “present Mimi Schwartz portrayed Mary, in a monologue by Considine. Mary laments the necessity of screens replacing inperson interactions. She reflects on the other world crises that have happened during her lifetime, including the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as the racial unrest of the 1960s. Remarking that the pandemic has made our lives “very global,” Mary muses, “Even though our corner of the world is what keeps us going, realizing that there’s a bigger picture is comfort“SUMMER 2020: EONS AT THE SAME TIME”: Fly Eyes Playwrights presented an online anthology of documentary-style monologues. Top row, from left: Sandy Kitain, Mimi Schwartz, Donna Clovis. Second row: Tri Duc Tran, Fulton C. Hodges, Aixa Kendrick. Third row: davidbdale, Joey Perillo, June Ballinger. Bottom row: Carol Simmons, Jill Hackett. (Photo montage courtesy of Fly Eyes Playwrights, and the participating actors) moment.” Diana has been isolating for three and a half months, alone. “When I was sick, I got an iWatch to keep me company” she says, echoing Mary’s comments about screens. P icking up a prescription in Hillsborough, Diana sees protestors decrying George Floyd’s murder. Unable to join them — “I’m high risk” — Diana sticks her hand through her car’s sunroof to show solidarity. “Immediately my whole body felt it: they saw me! We connected.” ing right now.” — Donald H. Sanborn III Clovis delivered her own monologue, derived from an interview with her mother, Annye. Unlike the resigned Mary, AnTo view either performance of Summer 2020: Eons at the Same Time, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/s/summer-2020eons-at-the-sameti/2974614612864708/?ti=icl.
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Christina Elvina Grant Sale Associate, REALTOR® 609-924-1600 Office 609-683-8154 Direct 609-937-1313 Cell Christina.Grant@foxroach.com
“My husband and I met Christina during an open house in Lawrenceville... she exudes a warmth, confidence and calm demeanor that makes you surprisingly comfortable putting your future in her hands.…Christina has the heart and mind of an advocate... This may explain why she is so willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to help her clients achieve their goals… Without knowing whether or not we would choose her, she agreed to tour our home and in addition to giving us professional tips for improving the look of our home… She is in it to help you win… If you want an industry professional, with an eye for staging, a talent for buying and selling, and a desire to see you achieve your goals for home ownership or selling, then without reservation, I highly recommend Christina Elvina Grant.”
— Josanne Sampson, 1 Tudor Lane Lawrence Township, NJ 08648
PRESENTING
67 E Cartwright Drive, West Windsor Twp Marketed by: Eva Petruzziello $685,000
PRESENTING NEWLY PRICED
28 Aster Court, Montgomery Twp Marketed by: Deborah “Debbie” Lang $949,000
PRESENTING
556 Ewing Street, Princeton Marketed by: Yael Zakut $980,000
PRESENTING
47 N Greenwood Avenue, Hopewell Twp Marketed by: Linda Pecsi $465,000
NEWLY PRICED
258 Hawthorne Avenue, Princeton Marketed by: Kenneth “Ken” Verbeyst $750,000
PRESENTING
From Princeton, We Reach the World.
13 S Main Street, Cranbury Twp 32 Scott Avenue, West Windsor Twp Princeton Office | 253 N Marketed by: Annabella “Ann” Santos assau Street | 609-924-1600 | foxroach.com Marketed by: Terebey Relocation Team/John Terebey, Jr. $539,000 $449,888
© BHH A liates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway a liate, and a franchisee of BHH A liates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc. ® Equal Housing Opportunity. Information not veri ed or guaranteed. If your home is currently listed with a Broker, this is not intended as a solicitation. F F r r o o m m F Pri Pri rom nceton, We nceton, We Princeton, We Reach Reach Reach t th th he e Wor e Wor World. l l d d . .
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130 Montadale Drive, Princeton Vacation at home in a serene, park-like setting! This meticulously maintained home has all the features we’ve come to expect from Princeton’s finer estates, but with an elegant, free-spirited charm all its own. Artful garden design, towering trees and natural boulders create a sense of wonder the moment you enter the property, while inside a thoughtful floor plan makes for an abundance of gracious living spaces: a two-story entry with east-facing windows, a formal dining room with gas fireplace, a cozy library with a second gas fireplace, two main floor powder rooms (one with custom onyx tiled floor), and a great room with soaring ceilings, Palladium windows and wood-burning fireplace. Hidden beyond the great room is a large family/morning/play room with French windows on three sides -- the perfect spot for exercise, meditation, or quiet reading. Overlooking the backyard next to a sunny breakfast area is the gourmet kitchen with its high-end appliances, double ovens, butcher-block island, and granite and marble countertops. Just off the kitchen is a brilliantly designed auxiliary wing with radiant-heat travertine floors, a large storage closet, abundant custom cabinets (including a hidden wine fridge and beverage drawers), a laundry area, multiple work/craft spaces, and a mudroom with side entry. Upstairs are three generously proportioned bedrooms and a hall bath on one end, with a luxurious master suite at the other, featuring two full baths, two walk-in closets, a dressing room, a large bedroom with vaulted ceiling, and a sitting room/office with gas fireplace. The third floor hosts a private guest suite with its own sitting area and en-suite bedroom. For outdoor entertaining, the circular screened-in porch with vaulted ceiling and bluestone floor is just off the main house, or there’s the large patio off the kitchen for grilling and outdoor dining. Or you can follow the stone pavers through the backyard to the fully-appointed cabana, including a custom-designed pool worthy of a luxury resort. No detail has been overlooked! Other property features include: private staircase to master suite; finished basement with custom barnwood walls, riverstone accents, and natural stone flooring; ample parking area and oversized two-car garage; custom-built treehouse; extensive landscape lighting; and a bocce court. Located on a closed-end street, the home is completely private, yet it’s just a five-minute drive to all the shopping, culture and entertainment Princeton has to offer, with easy access to all major commuting routes. Video walk-through available. $2,400,000
Frances McNinch
Sales Associate, Realtor® ABR, CNE, RSPS
The Frances McNinch Team Licensed in PA and NJ Cell 609-462-2026
PRINCETON | Traditional with a contemporary edge, this luxurious Pond View Manor home has been updated and customized with every amenity one might desire. This four bedroom home features an expansive open floor plan with light-filled rooms, high ceilings and walls of windows offering peaceful wooded views. Its spacious feeling is revealed upon entry into its two-story living room and adjoining dining room wi th custom cabinetry. The open kitchen-family room is equipped with high-end appliances, granite counters and a large island. Sunlight pours through multiple glass doors that open to a beautiful bluestone terrace and deck. The welllocated library offers a gas fireplace. Nearby is the first floor master bedroom with custom dressing room and lavish bathroom. Convenient mud room and laundry room complete the first floor. Upstairs there is a one bedroom suite and two additional bedrooms sharing a generously-sized bathroom. Enjoy the ease of maintenance-free living within easy access to walking trails and the beautiful ponds that are part of the Woodfield Reservation, yet minutes to downtown Princeton.
Offered at $1,350,000
