Town Topics — Princeton's Weekly Community Newspaper Since 1946.
Vol. LXIII, No. 49
 
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
(Photo by Emily Reeves)
INSIDE A CAMPUS TREASURE: Chancellor Green, one of Princeton University’s architectural landmarks, provided a special backdrop for the treasures on display at Sunday’s International Development Fair and Artisan Craft celebration. It was the craft show’s third year, according to Paula K. Chow, co-founder and director of Princeton’s International Center, which has initiated numerous intercultural programs on and off the campus.

Front Page

Dudeck Named New Borough Police Chief

Dilshanie Perera

David Dudeck has been appointed the new Chief of Police for Princeton Borough. He was scheduled to be sworn in yesterday after Town Topics press time.

Township, Borough Review Revaluation And Its Aftermath

Ellen Gilbert

Borough residents can expect a letter during the coming week telling them the assessed value of their homes, as of October 1, 2009. Township residents will receive similar notices in about two weeks’ time.

New Westerly Road Church Designs Get Planning Board, Neighbors’ Input

Dilshanie Perera

New designs for the future of the current 5-acre Westerly Road Church site were shared with the Planning Board last Thursday. Neighborhood residents expressed concern that the development has the potential to increase flooding in the area, while board members generally agreed that they liked the new concept plan, but would have preferred that more affordable housing be incorporated at the site.


Other News

“The Most Important Book I’ve Ever Written”: Ralph Nader Talks With Chris Hedges at Labyrinth

Dilshanie Perera

Anyone expecting Ralph Nader to be asked about the outcome of the 2000 Presidential election during his appearance last weekend at Labyrinth Books was in for a disappointment.

Entrepreneur and Olympic Hopeful LaCava Dreams Big With Rowing and Chocolate

Dilshanie Perera

A shot at the 2012 Olympics brought Nick LaCava to Princeton, where he’s wasted no time training with the U.S. National Rowing Team and simultaneously launching his own chocolate business.

Classic Used and Rare Books Is Hub in Downtown Trenton Renaissance

Ellen Gilbert

There’s a real, old-fashioned shoemaker’s emporium (“we sharpen knives”) next door to Classic Used and Rare Books on South Warren Street in Trenton, and a traditional barber shop just down the block.

Topics in Brief
A Community Bulletin


Sports

After Absorbing Rout to USC in NCAA Semis, PU Men’s Water Polo Rebounds to Place 3rd

Bill Alden

Eric Vreeland and his fellow seniors on the Princeton University men’s water polo team had worked four years for last weekend.

With Allgood Continuing to Grow in Post, PU Women’s Basketball Produces 5-2 Start

Bill Alden

Devona Allgood got a rude awakening when the Princeton University women’s basketball team played at perennial power Rutgers early last season.

Boasting Battle-Tested Core of Young Talent, PHS Boys’ Swimming Has the Depth to Excel

Bill Alden

As the Princeton High boys’ swimming team produced a stirring state tournament run last winter that culminated in a trip to the state Public B semifinals, PHS head coach Greg Hand saw his corps of freshman swimmers come of age.


More Sports…


Book Review

Victor Fleming: Working Wonders on the Other Side of Oz

Stuart Mitchner

“In the morning [he] could direct the action of two thousand extras, and in the afternoon decide on the colors of Clark Gable’s coat and the shadows on Vivien Leigh’s neck.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald on Victor Fleming

The quote comes by way of Sheilah Graham in Michael Sragow’s lively and illuminating biography Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master (Pantheon $40), which has overturned some long-held misconceptions of mine about this underrated and misunderstood filmmaker, who died suddenly in 1949. Born in 1889, he made his first picture in 1919, his first talkie in 1929, and in 1939 he spearheaded the filming of two movie legends, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind.


Music/Theater

A Detective Story, Psycho-Drama, Morality Tale for Three Actors, Intime Features 90-Minute Adaptation of “Crime and Punishment:”

Donald Gilpin

“Good god! Can it be, can it be, that I shall really take an axe, that I shall strike her on the head, split her skull open … that I shall tread in the sticky warm blood … with the axe … Good god, can it be?”

Neither Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1866 classic novel Crime and Punishment nor the scaled down, 90-minute dramatic adaptation by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus currently playing at Princeton University’s Theatre Intime is for the faint of heart. The story of the destitute student Raskolnikov, who—considering himself one of the “extraordinary” people who can ignore everyday laws in pursuit of what he considers a higher good, murders two women with an axe then suffers the psychological consequences, is dark and troubling. Both novel and play challenge the intellect, the emotions, and the ethics of their readers and audience.