Monday, May 20, 2013
Strollers' latest performance was a hit with the crowds.
Last night's performance of The Music Man, at Maplewood's Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts, shone with all the brass and glitter of a school band cornet. From the moment Meridoc Burkhardt stepped onto the stage as the fast-talking raconteur Harold Hill, all thoughts of Robert Preston from the 1962 screen version (and '57 Broadway musical) receded. Yes he was that good. All slick and con artist, he could bamboozle the entire Iowa town of River City for all their musical instruments and uniforms. Hell he bamboozled the entire front row in seconds flat. And that was before you realized this guy can sing. And no I couldn't stop smiling, not that the entire audience didn't have the same grin on their faces. It was just so darn …
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Long Goodbye from trustee Michael Goldberg via blog
Note: I had intended to share the following remarks at my final Board of Trustees meeting tonight. However, two Trustees, Howard Levison and Mark Rosner, declared that "something came up", which was more important to them, leaving us without a quorum and forcing the cancellation of the budget introduction and the entire meeting. As a result, I'd like to share my final remarks as Trustee with you here, instead of from the dais: An open letter to South Orange residents, employees and business owners: When I think back on the past 6 years, I realize how much has changed. Nationally, we now have a different President and have gone through and slowly recovered from the worst economic recession in history. In South Orange, Eden Gourmet …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
An out-of-town visitor lost a jacket, found by public
A thank you note to South Orange rail riders from an out-of-town visitor: I wanted to send out a thank you to someone who found the jacket I inadvertently left at Mountain Station last Saturday when boarding the train to NYC. My husband and I live in Bucks County, PA and we often visit our daughter in New York by driving to Maplewood and taking the train to Penn Station. This was the first time we needed a place to park over night and we were ultimately directed to Mountain Station. I was distracted by conversation when boarding the train and I never noticed my jacket was missing till I was almost in NY. I assumed someone would pick it up and feel lucky! To my surprise, when we arrived back at the station the next day, upon looking around…
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
It has been a great run in my beloved hometown
Four years and two months, or 3186 bylines ago, I started writing for South Orange Patch. I wrote local history, at first, then school events. The job expanded to meeting coverage, the community garden groundbreaking, and then to pretty much everything in South Orange that I could drive or walk to quickly. Before we all knew it, 3186 South Orange bylines came and went. (In the interest of accuracy, that is the South Orange Patch figure, not an overall Patch total.) Now I am taking another role at Patch, where I will have responsibilties in several towns. My byline will continue to pop up on your newsfeed and emails, though less often than before. Carolyn Maynard-Parisi will take the helm at South Orange, as ably as she now edits Maplewood…
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
As a New Jersey principal takes flak from parents for banning strapless dresses from a school dance, we ask our Facebook friends how they feel about the attire issue.
Do you think the constitution protects your daughter’s right to expose her bare shoulders at a school dance? Some New Jersey parents are arguing it does in response to a principal’s unpopular decision to ban strapless dresses from a junior high school dance, reports the Chicago Tribune. The principal called strapless dresses "distracting" to boys. One New Jersey teenager fought the ban, stating in a letter, "Basically by saying 'it distracts the boys' you're also saying that it is our fault on how they control their own behavior." With prom season around the corner, dresses are a hot topic right now. What do you think is appropriate attire for an eighth grade dance and/or the prom? Is there a difference in your thinking We want to know …
Sunday, April 21, 2013
It's Shakespeare's week at Columbia HS, but he has wisdom for parents, too.
It’s not an obvious tear-jerker, and the play’s not even a tragedy. Still, I can’t make it though Act V of The Tempest without welling up, no matter how many times I read it, teach it, or even direct reluctant seventh graders to perform it. When Miranda, who has been raised on an island with only her father, Prospero, and Caliban for mortal company, sees a company of shipwrecked nobles in front of her, she says O, wonder How many goodly creatures are there here How beauteous mankind is!/ O brave new world,/That has such people in't! And in a world-weary voice, speaking for parents everywhere, her father says simply, “’Tis new to thee.” Once, exhausted by the efforts of directing a middle school production, and relieved that …
Monday, March 18, 2013
Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp pens Patch Letter to the Editor on Deer Control.
Anti-culling activists insist there are economical and effective non-lethal alternatives to control local deer populations. A previous letter explored the high cost ($3,000+ per deer) and low effectiveness of immuno-contraceptives like GonaCon. Surgical sterilization (either tubal ligation or ovariectomy) would be less expensive (~$1,800 per deer) and far more effective – however, given New Jersey’s current regulations, neither method is operationally feasible. Under statute N.J.S.A. 23:4-42.4, a municipality wishing to conduct any kind of deer management program must first obtain a community-based deer management program permit from the DEP. Imbedded in this statute’s language is the requirement for prior written consent from surrounding…
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Ghost ads, faded ads, call them what you will, they abound in the Oranges
Some aficionados call them ghost signs or ghost ads. Others describe them as fading ads or phantoms. By any name, faded ads are relics of past times and, often, forgotten products, recycles into street art. And there are many faded ads in and around the South Orange - Maplewood area if you look closely. Frank H. Jump maintains a collection of images on his blog, Fading Ad, and describes how gathering the photos is a singular perspective on New York and its environs. The photo here is an unusual ghost ad since it's not painted on a building, but built into the windows. Have any alert Patch readers seen this? Do you know where to find this wonderful faded ad??? Do you have a favorite faded ad? Please tell us in the comments or submit a …
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
A thrift shop expert declares NJ a shopping and saving mecca
When I found $20 on the sidewalk, I thought of Jenny DeMaio. The best-dressed girl in my high school, Jenny has moved to the area, and I ran into her recently. Even after nearly 25 years, I remembered and mentioned her sense of style. “And I did it on a dime,” she said, laughing. I was skeptical. “No, really,” she said. “I remain the queen of thrift store shopping. Give me an afternoon and twenty bucks and I’ll prove it to you.” With the newfound $20 in my hand, I called Jenny and we made a date. Over the course of the afternoon, she shared thrift-shopping tips. New Jersey is “thrift store Mecca,” says Jenny, as we set out for a thrift store. Not Manhattan, I wondered. “No,” explains Jenny. “In New Jersey, thrift stores are often large…
Sunday, February 17, 2013
A quick look back in time in the Oranges
Milk and butter on Valley Road? Sure, it's available now at a number of convenience stores, including CVS. However, in years before the modern shopping plaza was built, a tiny shop on Valley Road was a local convenience store, offering dairy products. The store was located in a small strip of shops. Most recently, an Italian deli was in that location.
Adrian
4:12 pm on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Michael, Besides thanking you for my own pet issue, I should have also thanked you for all the other hard work that you have done for our town! You have done so much great work, thank you! Cheers! more ›