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Vol. LXI, No. 17
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Wednesday, April 25, 2007
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Vol. LXI, No. 17
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Wednesday, April 25, 2007
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 (Photo by E.J. Greenblat)
"APRIL'S FIRST-BORN FLOWERS": Shakespeare's Sonnet 21 provides the caption as Princeton comes into its springtime glory on Palmer Square, also the setting for Sunday's birthday tribute to the April-born Bard. |
Princeton Regional Schools Board of Education held its monthly public meeting last night in the cafeteria of the John Witherspoon Middle School (after Town Topics press time). On most minds was the defeat of the schools budget in last week's election and the question "what happens now?"
The Princeton Borough and Township voters who prevailed last week in voting down the proposed $56 million budget for Princeton Regional Schools will likely be disappointed at any new revision as municipal officials indicated this week that there is little to cut.
Mildred Trotman is not averse to doing a political dance every now and then to show why, and how, she has been an integral part of Princeton Borough government for more than 20 years.
Just don't call her a politician.
Since the nor'easter struck Princeton last week, Alex Magoun has had his hands full, and wet besides.
Sustainable Princeton, the initiative first introduced by the Princeton Environmental Commission in 2005, acknowledged community members Saturday for their contributions in sustainability, as well as their regard for Princeton's environmental future.
John Witherspoon Middle School students have been collecting gallon milk jugs since last September as part of a "Jugs for Jersey Schools" campaign.
Wearing a sharp black suit with an orange tie, Sydney Johnson looked the part in being introduced as the new head coach of the Princeton University men's basketball team last Monday."
The chances of any post-season play were on the verge of slipping away for the Princeton University softball team last Saturday as it hosted surging Penn for the first of two doubleheaders over the weekend between the rivals."
For about 10 minutes in its game against WW/P-N last week, the Princeton High School girls' lacrosse team gave a glimpse of how potent it can be."
The bunting-draped makeshift stage on Palmer Square evoked a world of associations: Punch and Judy shows, political rallies, carnival midways and the like, all the way back to the South Bank of the Thames and the original Globe, which was only to be expected since the subject of Sunday’s birthday celebration was Shakespeare. The generally accepted birth date of April 23, 1564, was celebrated a day early with one tribute after another to the scope and power of the Bard’s words and works. As his songs were sung, and his words were read, I was imagining how it would be if he were there, mounting the altar of the stage to read us a sonnet or two or maybe a soliloquy from Hamlet.
Wycherley’s indecency,” opined Thomas Babington Macaulay in reference to The Country Wife (1675) and its playwright, “is protected against the critics as a skunk is protected against the hunters. It is safe because it is too filthy to handle, and too noisome even to approach.” One hundred fifty years after the British historian’s disparag- ing comments and three hundred thirty-two years after the creation of William Wycherley’s satiric masterpiece itself, The Country Wife remains problematic for both play producers and critics.
The world of Georg Friedrich Handel came to Princeton this past weekend as the University hosted the American Handel Festival, a two-day national conference featuring sessions on performance practice and interpretation, and culminating in a performance by the University Glee Club of Handel’s “musical drama” Hercules. This is not one of Handel’s better-known works; historically it comes not long after Handel abandoned the Italian opera form in which he had been so successful and began to excel in the genre of oratorio, a form he essentially invented and then owned for several decades. Hercules draws from both genres, with less of the vocal fireworks which characterize 18th century opera and plenty of the long, melodic solo lines for which Handel is known.
After a two-year hiatus, the Dryden Ensemble returns to the concert hall with two performances this weekend, in Princeton and Doylestown. The group plays Baroque music on period instruments and was founded by Hopewell resident Jane McKinley in 1994, after she received an M.F.A. in historical musicology from Princeton University and studied Baroque oboe in Vienna with Jürg Schaeftlein, a pioneer of period oboe performance. Before taking a leave of absence, the Dryden Ensemble had developed a steadfast following in the Princeton area. Here, Ms. McKinley, talks about music, poetry, and working as a musician from the home she shares with her husband Gooitzen van der Wal, a native of The Netherlands and an electrical engineer at Sarnoff. Besides their children Simon (19) in his second year at Lehigh University, and Elsa (13) an eighth grader at Timberlane Middle School, the couple shares space with their pug Puck and cats Diablo, Skiggle, and Buddha.
In the 50 years since Toyotas first arrived in the U.S., they not only boast the best-selling car in the country — the Camry — but they are on the brink of becoming the number one auto company here as well.
Named for a village in the Lake District of England, Ambleside Gardens & Nursery was opened in 1965 by Townsend and Mary Scudder. Located on Route 206 North in Belle Mead, it was a smaller version of what it is today: a thriving family-owned nursery and landscape center.