Guest Post: Louis Baszile on Princeton Art Walk

Thanks go to Louis Baszile for this account of the Princeton Art Walk on Thursday, March 1, 2012

The historic town of Princeton came alive last night with the Princeton Art Walk.  My night began at the Arts Council of Princeton.  I used to drop my daughter off there for classes but never stepped inside.  The art was very thought provoking.  They were nice enough to offer food upstairs.  Then I proceeded to the Princeton Library where I saw art on various floors.  I was knocked over with the tile art in one conference room and a sculpture of a goose.  

At this point I was became part of a group of 8 people that proceeded to Small World Coffee shop where we gazed at art while hearing a band.  I saw a sculpture of a flying woman, which appeared to be made of saran wrap.  

We walked to the Firestone Library and we hear music from a bookstore that was part of the Art Walk.  At the Library, we saw incredible art on 1^st floor and the most amazing children's play area, part of the Cotsen Children's Library.  It was a combination of FAO Schwartz and Disney toontown.  Just when I was ready to depart, I was given a tour of the coin and rare books area on the 2^nd floor (editor's note, probably the Milberg Gallery).   This exhibit is due to open March 3 but I was given a preview.  Amazing coins from colonial and even Roman times. I starred in a glass case to read parts of a letter written and signed by George Washington.  I found it very relaxing but the best was yet to come.

  I proceeded to the Art Museum.  The historic artwork brought back memories of my trip to France.  Many pieces were over 500 years old.  Food and wine was provided as I ended the night with good friends I had met there watching a live musical performance.  I felt I had stepped back in time and experienced 100s of years of Princeton History.  

Drupal: Open Source for the Web

Ben Bakelaar is scheduled to make a presentation for Drupal users on Thursday, March 1, from 7 to 9 p.m. in room 112 at Princeton University’s Friend Center on Olden Avenue. He is overseeing the Princeton Public Library transition to Drupal. “Drupal is good,” he says. “The community of developers and users are all very supportive and interactive. If you have any questions, you can always find an answer.”  For the article in U.S. 1 Newspaper, published February 29,
http://princetoninfo.com/index.php?option=com_us1more&Itemid=6&key=2-29-12drupal

Finance to Farming: McConaughy

Many of us are aware of the issues surrounding where our food comes from — how safe and wholesome it is, the devastating effects the industrialized food system has on the environment, the brutal treatment of livestock, and the demise of family farming.


But few among us who have read “Fast Food Nation” or “Omnivore’s Dilemma” or viewed the movie “Food Inc.” have so completely altered the direction of our lives as Robin and Jon McConaughy of Hopewell. The McConaughys have shaken off their high-powered, high-income careers to launch a pioneering 10-year project, now in its eighth year, to bring the movement to eat local, natural, sustainable, farm-to-table, and humanely-grown food to a new level.


So wrote Pat Tanner in the July 11, 2011 issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper (photo from that issue). 

Now meet Jon and Robin McConaughy "live" when Jon McConaughy speaks at the Princeton Regional Chamber lunch on Thursday, March 1. Reservations are recommended and save money as well. His topic: Finance to Farming: Using Corporate Tactics to Build a Successful Agricultural Business 

And here is the latest of Pat Tanner's work for U.S. 1, on the website at princetoninfo.com. 

Religion Can Change Brains -- and Bank Accounts

Faith helps, but you can improve yourself without it.  That’s one message of Andrew Newberg MD, a pioneer in what he calls “neurotheology,” and author of "How God Changes Your Brain," a book that has been a favorite at our house for several months. Just announced by the Center for the Study of Religion (CSR) – Newberg will lecture on Wednesday, March 7 at 4:30 pm in Princeton University’s Guyot Hall (just below Frist), Room 10.

The CSR lecture series fascinates me. Yesterday I went to the annual Doll Lecture on Religion and Money, given by Lisa Keister, professor of sociology and the Director of the Markets and Management Program at Duke University.  An enthusiastic and lively speaker, she discussed some of her book, “Faith and Money: How Religious Belief Contributes to Wealth and Poverty.”  And though generalizations on academic subject are odious, here I go.

 

Speaking of the median (not the average person), and speaking of Wealth, not Income,  Keister finds that, as a group, White Catholics are accumulating Wealth at the most rapid pace because they are changing their lifestyles in crucial ways – family size, age at first birth, two parents working, etc  White Catholics have just topped Mainline Protestants in total Wealth.

Meanwhile Conservative Protestants have half the Wealth of their Mainline brethren. Here is an excerpt from page 99 of her book, courtesy of a blog.

For example, Conservative Protestants tend to have relatively low educations, large families, and traditional family structures (women stay home, men work). Conservative Protestants also tend to believe (and report in my survey data) that money belongs to God, and people are managers of the money. It follows that asking for God’s guidance in making financial decision makes sense. It also follows that accumulating large amounts of personal savings may not be the best use of the money.

Consistent with these patterns, Conservative Protestants are more likely than other groups to accumulate few assets during their lives. For those who do accumulate wealth, Conservative Protestants tend to follow a somewhat traditional wealth accumulation trajectory involving early ownership of cash accounts followed by eventual homeownership. They are unlikely to follow a path that involves early ownership of high-risk financial assets. 

What jolted yesterday's audience: On Keister's bar graph of wealth, organized according to the median wealth of each religion, Jews are more than twice as wealthy as both Protestants and Catholics. One of the many possible lifestyle and family reasons: Shares of stock are an acceptable bar mitzvah gift, and one of the most efficient ways to accumulate Wealth is to hold fast-growing assets for a long time.


Interestingly, both obedient Jews and Conservative Protestants are expected to be generous to needy causes. The Jewish tzedakah  requirement is 10 percent of income, comparable to the Christian tithe of 10 percent. Keister did not cite giving averages for the general population, but some studies show that the average American family that makes donations will donate from  two to three percent of its income. 

As for Newberg's book, it is billed as "Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring."

. Full disclosure -  I haven't read it yet myself -- but here is what the promo promises: 

* Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process.
• Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love.
• Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain.

• Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. 

My spouse is a big fan of this book and says it has helped him with his spiritual life. We have ordered copies for friends. It's on his desk. Perhaps I need to get my own copy -- in time to get it autographed next week. 

Leadership's Trump Card

Immediate credibility -- that's the goal of every speaker, and it's hard to achieve. 


Eileen Sinett promises to teach this, and a host of other skills, in a half-day seminar at Raritan Valley Community College on Tuesday, March 6, starting at 8:30 a.m. 


Sinett calls it the Leadership Trump Card, and its part of her presentation training brand "Speaking that Connects." (She has an excellent book by the same name). This workshop is for everyone from would-be keynote speakers to the person whose knees shake when they get up to talk. Among the other skills she teaches: how to organize a succinct and persuasive message, how to manage distracting body language, and how to present genuinely, yet project strong leadership. 


You're the dealer here. Deal yourself a trump card!

Redefining Virtuosity

The dancers were gorgeous on Friday, when I had the delightful task of discussing excerpts from the program for American Repertory Ballet’s Saturday, March 17 concert at Raritan Valley Community College. More than 75, including a handful of Princeton Comment readers, came to Princeton Ballet School for its On Pointe series, “Watching and Talking About Dance.” I joined ARB’s director Douglas Martin and former dance critic colleague Michael Robertson. 

Michael proposed his heuristic: that all dance can be boiled down to a combo of structure (musical form, floor pattern, development of movement themes etc.) and virtuosity. He showed a videotape of a marching band (structure, no virtuosity) and a sequence from Flash Dance (virtuosity, no structure), and then we watched the opening minutes of new works by  Mary Barton and  Trinette Singleton.

The dancers were gorgeous. Did I say that already? I say it again. 

Back to the discussion. Ever the contrarian, I wanted to also consider “meaning” or at least “message.”

I should disclose my prejudices. I came from the sturm und drang (Martha Graham and Jose Limon ) school of modern dance. Back ‘in the day’ in the ‘50s, we pronounced classical ballet as mostly fluff. Among the ‘abstract’ modern choreographers, we deemed Merce Cunningham (who made dances using the method of chance) as simply beyond the pale, and Alwin Nikolais – well, if you tried to figure out what he meant, you did it at your own risk. My views on ballet were out of synch with critics who doted on Balanchine and loathed European expressionism.

Though I now love Balanchine, my favorite choreographers are Paul Taylor and Mark Morris because they give me something to chew on, something to try to figure out. Yet even Merce – as Michael pointed out – did not necessarily disdain meaning. His dances might look different each performance, but he said he hoped each viewer would find his or her own meaning for each  evening.

As for the “message” that I require, it does not have to be dramatic or narrative. It can be simply “Look at me! Aren’t I fabulous” (though that is my least favorite). The very same steps that communicate a “look at me” message can be performed less egotistically to say “I’m here in this space and I welcome you, the audience, to my world.”

Virtuosity is surely necessary. Barrel turns are thrilling and fouettes are fun to count. Petit allegro (small jumps and beats to a fast tempo) and double turns belong in a professional male dancer’s resume.

For instance, Barton’s piece begins with petit allegro for five men and it’s like – whew – they can do it -- and now I don’t have to worry about being embarrassed for them. (Competent male dancers can be a scarce commodity and -- over the past 30 years – this company has not always been able to field a complete team. I’m glad to report that this troop passes that test.) 

But real virtuosity, in my mind, can’t be measured by high leaps or multiple turns. For me, it's in the carriage – shoulders that float on the air and arms that stretch out to forever. And ARB’s dancers have that enviable quality, especially in the new Singleton piece, and also in Arpino’s “Confetti,” with its nod to Bournonville.

Dancers with this ease can deliver a message. Their outstretched arms can say “I welcome you” or “Here I am for you” or any of a dozen emotions. They can invest a simple tendu with a meaning. (The message need not be specific. It can be abstract. In  Baryshnikov’s last appearance at McCarter, his tendu was the Essence of Tendu; I can still see it in my mind.)

Afterwards I talked with dancer Stephen Campanella (who has his own hometown-boy-makes-good story) about the meaning versus abstract dichotomy. He related what Sarah Stackhouse, the Limon dancer, said when he told her that -- the first thing he asked himself when watching a performance was -- did it move him. "She replied that if I were moved, first I would probably not have needed to ask myself the question, and second that being moved was all that was necessary." 


I translate that to  “If you don’t feel anything, it’s not worth doing.” 

To get to Raritan Valley Community College (it’s not as far as you might think) take 206 North to the Somerville Circle and go four miles on Route 28. After your first visit, you are likely to return, because you’ll be surprised by the varied offerings with modest ticket prices. For instance, the ARB tickets are $25 and $35. In addition to Confetti (to a Rossini score), Singleton’s Capriccios (to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto # 2), and Barton’s new piece for male dancers,  Martin will present the balcony scene from his new Romeo and Juliet. 

Photo of Monica Giragosian in Confetti by Peter Cook. 
I added Campanella's anecdote on 2-29-12. and changed Stackhouse's name from Sally to Sarah. She was known as Sally in the '50s.