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Vol. LXII, No. 2
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Wednesday, January 9, 2008
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Vol. LXII, No. 2
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Wednesday, January 9, 2008
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 (Photo by Matthew Hersh)
MORE FARMERS MARKETS? NO PROBLEM: As farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture farms, and buy-local campaigns continue to make their way into the consciousness of the local marketplace, experts are still considering strategies for a local food system. A panel of local farmers and retailers hashed out some details last week at the Princeton Public Library in a talk on organic farming. Farmers Markets, like the one that took place on the Princeton University campus last fall, can help create a viable marketplace for local farmers and retailers. Pictured above at that farmers market are Fran McManus and Bill Moran of the Whole Earth Center. |
At last week’s Princeton Environmental Film Festival a handful of local farmers and retailers offered some insights into an industry that has slowly taken viable form in recent years. At the same time, they suggested that while “local” and “organic” or positives from a goodwill standpoint, business savvy still needs to be factored in.
What’s the most frustrating thing in the world? According to teacher/librarian/children’s author Lisa Mullarkey, it’s having a child who is a “reluctant reader.” Speaking Monday evening at the Princeton Public Library to a small, thoughtful group of parents, Ms. Mullarkey insisted that all children “have a secret desire to read; they want to know what the buzz is about but they don’t think it’s worth the effort.” For most of them, she suggested, it’s just a matter of making reading seem less like a chore.
The recent National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) “We the People” grant awarded to the Princeton Public Library ($500,000, contingent on the Library’s ability to raise $1.5 million in matching funds) is one of 62 prizes given to scholars, teachers, filmmakers, museums, and other libraries and institutions for proposed projects that, according to the NEH, “encourage new scholarly research, support high-quality programs in under-funded educational institutions, preserve collections in America’s cultural heritage, help institutions support their long-term humanities projects, and enhance citizens’ understanding of history and culture through exhibitions, films, and other public programming.”
Nodding more than once to the “shared shorthand” between them, playwright Edward Albee and McCarter Theatre director Emily Mann discussed theater past, present, and future in a special edition of the “McCarter Live at the Library” series last Thursday evening.