Monthly Archives: January 2016

Children’s giggles like sparrows in a tree

Dance and Dancers, Dance and the other arts, , ,

All over McCarter Theatre tonight, little children were giggling and erupting with laughter at the antics of the Mummenschanz troupe. It took me back to 1981, when I brought my middle school daughter and her friends to see these Swiss masquers/mimes, and that performance set them on a path to using fabric to create imaginative dance.

Immediately, right away, the smallest kids “got it” as abstract shapes played a giant game of peekaboo, or sparred, or nuzzled each other. That the troupe performs in silence, improvising their timing to the moment of the mood, seemed to inspire vocal contributions from adults and children alike. With the possible exception of Sweet Honey and the Rock, I have never heard a more responsive McCarter audience. Their laughter bubbled up all over the theater, like a host of sparrows in a tree.

It reminded me once again of how Jesus was quoted (Matthew 18:3) as saying that — to enter the kingdom of heaven, you have to become like a little child. These children were so privileged to have their imaginations set on fire, and it was my privilege to be in the audience to hear them.

In the moment: Jane Buttars

Dance and the other arts, , , , ,

 

jane buttars

I just discovered these You Tube renditions of Jane Buttars improvising at the keyboard. They are just too delightful not to share, and I couldn’t choose among them, so here goes:

Here she is, live and jaunty. She’ll never play this exact way again because it’s improvised, but we can all hear it here.

Here she takes us on a journey to the east.  Perhaps my favorite.

In 2014 she did a duo in a quite different mode.

Last year she and Grammy-winning cellist David Darling issued a CD, Tympanum, and here is one of the meditative pieces, Awakening. I must get that CD out and begin enjoying it again. Her latest CD, pictured here is titled “Keys to the Inside.”

Jane works with the international association Music for People. Her Princeton -based studio offers monthly improv sessions to the general public, titled “Music from the Inside.” For information, janepiano2@comcast.net

Jane — you are helping me bring the new year in the right way, “in the moment.”

 

Got buttons? this could be for you

Around Town, Dance and the other arts, , , , ,

Bennett O'Donnell Castree

The New Jersey State Button Society (NJSBS) will celebrate the start of its 75th anniversary year with a free program, “The Button Sampler,” on Saturday, January 9, at 2 p.m. at the Lawrence headquarters of the Mercer County Library System, 2751 Brunswick Pike. If you are curious about buttons you own and want to attend, call the library at  609-989-6920, email me, or email lawprogs@mcl.org — or just show up. A similar program will be Saturday, March 19.

The program honors the book “The Button Sampler,” co-written by the late Lillian Smith Albert. A Hightstown resident, she founded the NJSBS in 1941, when interest in button collecting began to surge. Through her research and study Albert helped to make button collecting the important hobby which it is today. The members of the state society share an interest in studying, collecting, and preserving clothing buttons, both old and new.

To share their enthusiasm and knowledge, my fellow NJSBS members will tell about favorite buttons and offer help to new collectors. Bring up to a dozen clothing buttons and learn about buttons made from a selection of the dozens of different materials, including black and colored glass, china, plastic, metal, shell, and wood.

There will be another button meeting during National Button Week, on Saturday, March 19, at 2 p.m., so mark your calendars. And the NJSBS will celebrate its Diamond Anniversary at its Show and Competition on Saturday, May 7,  9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Union Fire Company, 1396 River Road (Route 29), Titusville, NJ.

 

Call Christie: Tuesday deadline to save lives

Around Town, Healthcare, , ,

epipen

One of my grandsons has potentially fatal allergies. If  he accidentally eats one of the forbidden foods (soy, garlic, tree nuts, fish, many others) he must have a shot of epinephrine immediately — or …. .

If Governor Christie doesn’t sign the Epinephrine Access and Emergency Treatment Act, passed by the New Jersey legislature late last year, the bill will be considered vetoed. Noon on Tuesday, January 12 is the deadline. Please call Gov. Christie’s office at 609-292-6000 to urge him to sign this important legislation. It only takes a minute.

This act (bill numbers A 4094 and S 2884) would permit entities, such as youth camps, restaurants, daycare centers, sports leagues and scout troops, to stock undesignated epinephrine auto-injectors for use by trained individuals in the event of anaphylaxis.

New Jersey has already recognized the importance of making epinephrine and trained users available in K-12 schools and in colleges and universities. Other public settings where someone may come into contact with their allergens and experience anaphylaxis, maybe for the first time, should also be permitted to stock this life-saving medication for use by trained individuals. Autoinjectable epinephrine is a safe and easy to use medication that is the first line treatment for anaphylaxis.

You can read the text of this legislation here.

My grandson, age 11, is careful about what he eats and never goes anywhere (ANYwhere) without his epi-pen. But I worry about other children with less information or undiagnosed allergies. Why jeopardize lives that could be saved?

The information in this post came from FARE: Food Allergy Research and Education. 

 

Sly grin: Reporters as deliverers?

Business, Memoir, , , , , , ,
lisbon delivery boy
In Lisbon, Portugal, a delivery boy is featured on the monument for  newspaper magnate Eduardo Coelho

I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that Boston Globe reporters, frustrated by delivery problems, volunteered to get out and actually deliver Sunday’s paper themselves. Article here, courtesy of my Twitter feed. In 1986, for my first week at U.S. 1, everyone on the staff (plus the freelancers) loaded up with papers and headed out from Mapleton Road to their delivery routes.

As Rich Rein used to say . . . “When you deliver, you get to know your readers.” Our deliverers are also paid to be reporters — to note when companies come and go. Even when we moved “up” to Roszel Road, cheerful willingness to pitch in on delivery was a condition of employment.

I couldn’t help but be sad when I realized that the Globe fired 600 people who worked for its former delivery service. Yes they hired 600 more  but the previous workers were surely living on the margins, some struggling to learn a new language in a new country. You don’t work midnight to eight, putting miles and miles on your car or your feet, unless you really need the money.

Then I remembered how gratifying it was for those of us who wrote the paper to actually deliver a paper that is warmly welcomed by its readers.  In virtually all the buildings, I would be greeted by — “Oh good, U.S. 1 is here, thank you!”

Globe reporters got thanked too.

boston globe photo
from this Tweet https://twitter.com/HappitoBurrito/status/683497867626049536/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw