All posts by bfiggefox

At the UFAR African Soiree

Around Town, Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

Here is what Pat Tanner wrote when she attended the African Soiree to benefit the United  Front Against Riverblindness. Thank you, Pat for helping us spread the news.

And here is an account of how the family of the late Peter Meggitt received a very special award.  soiree presentation Hugo Liz TomFrom left: Hugo Meggitt, Liz Meggitt, and the presenter, Rev. Tom Lank.

This statuette of a child leading a blind adult was made by a third-generation sculptor from Burkina Faso. It represents the tragedy of the disease that affects more than just the infected person — and the hope that, with sustained community-based mass treatment, this common depiction of the disease will soon disappear.

The fifth annual African Soiree, held on March 1 at Princeton Theological Seminary, raised $16,000 for UFAR, the African-inspired, Lawrenceville-based nonprofit that aims, in partnership with other organizations, to eliminate and eventually eradicate riverblindness as a major public health and socio–economic problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2010 Peter traveled with a Princeton United Methodist church mission team to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and he made significant contributions to UFAR’s fundraising efforts for the past five years.

Also presented that evening: a certificate showing that a village has been sponsored in Peter’s s name. This sponsorship, which includes a picture of the village chief, keeps the entire village from going blind.

More than one-third of the 60 million people in the DRC are at risk for contracting riverblindness, according to Dr. Daniel Shungu, UFAR founder.

Photo by Robin Birkel.

psrcGoing through the stacked up mail, I glanced at the “Mature Princeton” newsletter from the Princeton Senior Resource Center and found three fab tips on facing pages.

1. The number for the do not call center. Been losing my patience on this. It is 888-382-1222 or go to the website http://www.donotcall.gov. Just did that and bingo, done.

2. A list of places that deliver food, most I knew about, one was new. Mom’s Meals solves a lot of problems; it packs its meals so they last in the fridge and they cost just $5.99 (a dollar more to get the snack). I have no idea if they are any good, but I have some friends who could use this as a temporary solution to a long term need.

3. The Document Retention chart or how long you keep paper work. I didn’t realize you are supposed to keep the opening statement of bank accounts as long as you open the account.  Here is the link to that chart.

I’m a bad example for most of this. Canceled check retention is supposedly seven years. My stash is at least 47 years old. Sometime, I promise myself, I’ll take a trip down memory lane and look at the names.

What I really need is to find the newsletter issue that talks about hoarding!

 

Caren Franzini on March 6 for the NJEDA

Caren Franzini Reappears in a role for the NJEDA

Caren Franzini, arguably one of the region’s most effective wooers-of-business-to-New Jersey, will make an appearance at a March 6 event cosponsored by the NJEDA. Franzini had been in charge of the NJEDA since 1994, through several different administrations. Somehow, for some not-well-explained reason, she left that job shortly after Governor Christie took office.

 

African Women Extraordinaire: March 6

Faith and Social Justice, , ,

Princeton Theological Seminary stages a one-day symposium on March 6: about church, health, and women’s development. The full-day workshop is $50 and is being planned by Dr. Elsie A. Mckee. Princeton Seminary’s professor of Reformation Studies and History of Worship. She is also the International Liaison and President of Women, Cradle of Abudance, a North America-based organization that promotes the work and ministry of Femme Berceau de l’Abondance. She is also on the board of United Front Against Riverblindness and co-chair of the March 1 African Soiree.
One of the keynoters is AWE 2014 Mukuna Monique Misenga Mukuna is President of Femme Berceau de l’Abondance, an ecumenical Christian group of women gathered in response to the systemic poverty and violence against women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mme. Monique is based in Kinshasa.

 
Also participating: The Rev. Muriel Burrows, pastor of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church.

Fathers of the Internet: March 12

Fathers of the Internet: March 12

Vincent Cerf and Robert Kahn speak at Princeton University on Wednesday, March 12, at 4:30 p.m. in the Friend Center. It’s free. Seating is first come.

Cerf’s most recent notable quote: Privacy may be an anomaly.

Felten: Dollars, Euros — and Bitcoin

Around Town, Business, Technology & Innovation, ,

feltenThere are 12.4 million Bitcoins in existence — but …

the Federal Reserve doesn’t know much about Bitcoin.

And one of Bitcoin’s major banks just did a face plant.

Yet  Ed Felten, former technology guru for the FTC, now returned to Princeton University to teach, says Bitcoin is one of his top predictions for what will work in the future. He was interviewed about this on C-Span, link here.

Felten speaks at the Princeton Regional Chamber lunch on Thursday, March 6, at 11:30 a.m. His topic: “Dollars, Euros — and Bitcoins: the Future of Digital Currency.”

African Adventure: March 1 UFAR Menu

Around Town, Faith and Social Justice, , , , , ,

Too many cooks won’t spoil the broth on Saturday, March 1, at the African Soiree to benefit United Front Against Riverblindness. Along with listening to folktales, shopping in an African market, and bidding on auction items,  Soiree guests will enjoy a feast prepared by two dozen cooks and chefs from two restaurants: Makeda and Palace of Asia.

From the Democratic Republic of Congo:2014 soiree buffet 2013

  • Cassava/manioc
  • Bitekuteku
  • Pondue
  • Fufu
  • Goat a’la Congolaise
  • Chicken moamba
  • Banana snack
  • Makayabo/fish & collards,
  • Sliced mangoes and pineapple

From Ethiopa: injero, shero wat  and doro wat (chicken stew)

From South Africa: oxtail casserole and chicken birnanyi

From Sierra Leone, Bean patties and fritters ‘Oleleh and Akara Balls’

From India: Samosa, meatballs, and goat

And for less adventurous appetites: chicken fingers, Chinese fried rice, green salad, tetrazzini, and barbecue wings.

2014 soiree table 2013

The African Soiree is 5 to 8 p.m. at the Mackay Center of Princeton Theological Seminary. Tickets at $60 ($30 for kids and students) are still available by contacting event chair Susan Lidstone at UFAR@PrincetonUMC.org or 609-688-9979. Offstreet parking is free.

“We welcome the community to the fifth annual Soiree,” says UFAR founder Dr. Daniel Shungu. “As we enjoy the entertainment and the delicious African meal, we will enable UFAR to keep an entire village from going blind.” He will present a special award to the family of the late Peter Meggitt, a UFAR supporter who traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with a Princeton United Methodist Church mission team.

Photos by Robin Birkel

African Soiree Auction: “Ballerinas”

This painting by Rhinold Lamar Ponder is one of the items to be auctioned at the auction for the African Soiree, held at the Princeton Theological Seminary Mackay Center on Saturday, March 1, 5 to 8 p.m. It will benefit the United Front Against Riverblindness (www.riverblindness.org). For tickets,  UFAR@princetonumc.org or call 609-688-9979.

Michele Tuck-Ponder, a member of the mission team from Princeton United Methodist church, will call the live auction of items. In the auction are also a framed needlepoint picture yby Susan Lidstone, specially designed copper bracelet from Randi Forman of Nassau Street-based Forest Jewelers, a needlepoint picture, a quilt that Tuck-Ponder made from African fabric. Aruna Arya, owner of the Palmer Square-based fashion store Zastra , will donate one of her designs. Elsie McKee will contribute items made by a Congo-based charity, Woman, Cradle of Abundance. A professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and a member of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, McKee is in charge of local arrangements and the African market.  

More than one-third of the 60 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk for getting riverblindness. Caused by a parasite and transmitted by the black flies that live near the river, the disease takes two lives – the life of the adult who goes blind, and of the sighted child who must leave school to be the caretaker. The medicine is provided free by Merck & Co., but the distribution is a challenge. Using a community-directed approach that involves villagers who are appointed by their village chief, UFAR is able to treat more than two million persons each year. Annual treatment for each person in required for ten years to eliminate the disease.

UFAR is an African-inspired, Lawrenceville-based nonprofit charitable organization that aims, in partnership with other organizations, to eradicate onchocerciasis, a major public health problem in the Kasongo region of the DRC (riverblindness.org).

Explaining the Economy: Economic Summit

Business, , ,

Christopher A Sims

Nobel Prize winner in economics Christopher Sims will speak at Princeton Regional Chamber’s Economic Summit on Thursday, February 27, at 1 p.m. He shared the 2011 prize with Thomas J. Sargent for “empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy.”   Chamber members can register for $75 for the afternoon, which also includes economic updates and panel discussions, plus munchies and music — all at MCCC’s  Conference Center.

Sims (and I am quoting from Wikipedia) confirmed the theories of monetarists like Milton Friedman that shifts in the money supply affect inflation. However, he also showed that causality went both ways. Variables like interest rates and inflation also led to changes in the money supply.[10

Each Moment New: Jane Buttars

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

tympanumMost musicians bring life to a page of musical notes and try to make it sound fresh and in the moment. Pianist Jane Buttars and cellist David Darling improvise their music — moment by moment. In their first album together, Tympanum, the listener gets to sit in on their exciting moments of creation. Each piece is a journey, imagined and created step by exciting step. Do not expect to listen to their improvisations while you are doing something else. Their focus is so intense that it snatches you and demands your full attention.

Each of the 14 selections takes a different mood journey. Sometimes persistent but unexpected rhythms bubble up to the surface and fairly bid the listener to get out of a chair and MOVE for heaven’s sake. Or gentle swaying lifts your spirits, like a high swing, and then subsides into still calm.

They are not limited to major, minor or modal; they can play for two minutes in the key of silence.

How to compare it? Maybe to say, think of combining the energy of jazz improv plus the adventuresomeness of Poulenc, plus the whimsy of e.e. cummings, But keep in mind that this is a duo of classical musicians.

Grammy Award-winner David Darling formerly played with the Paul Winter Consort and co-founded Music for People, which aims to encourage trained musicians to find joy in improvisation and ordinary people to find music in themselves. (This is my translation of MfPs mission statement.)

JB on CD better Buttars is a classically trained performer and teacher,  a Fulbright Scholar, and a dance and Dalcroze student, with a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano and harpsichord performance.  (Full disclosure: she is my workout partner at the Rabara Pilates studio.) Based in Princeton, she directs Music From the Inside, a program of group improvisation classes and workshops for all levels, beginners to professionals, and she leads Music for People sessions.

I can envision several important uses for Tympanum, beyond listening for delight. These improvisations fairly beg to be danced to — by those who do “contact improv” or those who choreograph. They could work wonderfully as part of a worship service, to introduce or follow a psalm or meditation that fits the particular mood. Creative dance teachers and nursery school teachers– here is a gold mine.  Listen at CDBaby.

Mostly, though, I just want to sit in my rocking chair, look out the window and be taken on one journey of imagination after another, each moment new.