HomeFront, the innovative organization that keeps families with children out of shelters, needs support now. It is competing for big bucks in a national contest. Click on the logo and you can vote — once a day, apparently, through June 20.
At this moment HomeFront is helping a family I know personally. Their stuff is in storage. They have no home.
Thank you for helping….
She who rescued Boehm porcelain from Chinese oblivion will speak at the Princeton Chamber on Wednesday, June 16, at 7:30 a.m., at Mt. View Golf Club. For turnarounds, this may hold the record. Sharon Lee Parker visited the company and bought the company just a couple of days before the Chinese agreement was to be signed.
We all know the place that Boehm has in a porcelain industry that has deep roots in Trenton. I took this photo of “Mute Swans of Peace” at the Vatican Museum, presented to His Holiness Pope Paul VI by the Diocese of New York.
That Sharon Lee Parker is also a cancer survivor may also be significant.
A church buddy, who is trying to develop a cell phone or IPhone app, asked me if I knew any software developers in that field. I was just beginning to thumb through my stacks of business cards when Kevin McLaughlin sent out this notice via linked in, so I’m passing it on.
It’s a June 16 meeting on building applications for wireless, mobile Internet, and broadband. Though held at Princeton University, this is an NJTC event and the standard entry fee is $50. Register by Tuesday 6-15 to avoid $20 surcharge. If you register as a LinkedIn user, you get a $15 discount. The price includes a reception.
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 3:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Bowen Hall (on Prospect Street).
Among the presenters, Susan Brazer of Lionshare Strategies and Todd Murphy, director of the developer community at Verizon Wireless. Here is the complete program.
And if you know any cell phone developers, either comment on this post or send me an email.
For a choreographer, it’s all very well to work with good amateur dancers, but it’s really special to make work for an artist, who can take your movement and make it better than you’d thought it could be.
Janell Byrne, in her 30th anniversary concert for the Mercer Dance Ensemble (Kelsey Theatre, May 29), did that for Jennifer Gladney (shown right, photo by Pete Borg). A superb dancer, Gladney sometimes seemed more “Janell” than Janell. It’s been a gradual process, exciting to watch.
In Byrne’s “Confluence,” Gladney joined Andrea Leondi, Brianne Scott, and Kaitlyn Seitz – four sun goddesses in flowing gowns, with warm sidelighting (lights were by Sean Varga).
“Jig and Reel Stew” was Gladney’s home hoe-down turf. She and the above dancers, plus guest artist Karen Leslie Mascato, wore red and black in a lively evocation of different folk traditions, like syncopated slapping on the stage floor to reference the German Landler dances, where boys slap their thighs and feet. Then Gladney surprises with an off balance slow extension into a rond de jambe, a lyrical contrast to the down-home fun, and she makes the most of it.
Byrne challenged Gladney to go Spanish-sultry in “Tangos,” (her star turn was to music by Anja Lechner, but there was an Astor Piazzolla section as well). Gladney uses her shawl as weapon, as a semaphore, as a bullfighter’s cape. She was Byrne’s altar ego. She took the stage.
Byrne has a mystical streak, and her “Sacred Space,” to music by Morton Feldman had seven dancers (Danielle Atchison, Ian Conley, Charlene Jamison, Alexandra Pollard, Michael Quesada, Brianne Scott, and Scott Walters) treading with caution into devout, pilgrims, treading one organism. Evoking a mystical mood, it was my favorite piece on the program.
Gladney and Han Koon Ooi each contributed two works. Though they were good, I think it’s fair to say that they showed the contrast between a young choreographer and a mature one. Byrne simply knows how to do the most with less material and how to move dancers around the stage in out of the ordinary ways that are true to the dance’s message. That’s what the 30 years were about.
Here’s a good opportunity for out-of-work professionals: a June 21 Life Sciences Meet-Up, that will match volunteer professionals with incubator-based and early-stage life science companies. To be held at the Labor Education Center @Rutgers University, it is not a job fair, it is an opportunity to work for free and get exposed to new business sectors and networks, and to help close a resume gap. Plus, there would be a psychological uplift of being productive.
The NJ Association for Biomedical Research and NJIT Enterprise Development Center have a $5.1 million Bio-1 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration’s Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative. You must pre-register for this event by Tuesday, June 15. Contact Lou Wagman (609-688-9252, lou.wagman@gmail.com) or Drew Harris (908-9449, dharris@njabr.org).
Here’s how it works: Young life sciences company need help in these areas: marketing, accounting, sales, advertising, financial, programming, organizational, and administrative. “The goal is not to supplant budged positions but to link willing volunteer professionals with organizations that can significantly benefit from the capabilities and experience,” says the brochure. Wagman and Harris will pre-screen your resumes and, if your skills match needs, invite you to the Meet-Up, where you will meet representatives from companies who need your skill set. You can volunteer for a few hours a week — or more. Who knows what it might lead to!
The flip side of this is, of course, that entrepreneurs can contact Lou Wagman and Drew Harris and ask for the skills they need.
Even in what is being hailed as the post civil rights era, racial divisions – particularly between blacks and whites – remain entrenched in American life. So says Thomas Sugrue, author of “Not Even Past,” an examination of the paradox of race in Barack Obama’s America.
Sugrue is the first of two who will discuss the topic this week. He will speak on Wednesday, June 9, at 7:30 p.m., at the Princeton Public Library. The event is free.
Racism in the 21st century is also the topic for Stephanie Jacobs who will speak at a Princeton United Methodist Church program on Sunday, June 13. Breakfast is served at 8 a.m. and the talk begins at 8:30 a.m. RSVP at 609-924-2613; a $5 donation for breakfast is requested. The church is located at Nassau & Vandeventer streets in downtown Princeton.
Sugrue is a leading historian of civil rights, race, and urban America, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include “Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North” and “The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit.” His talk is part of the “Thinking Allowed” series at the library.
Jacobs is a relationship coach and consultant with more than 15 years experience as an educator, counselor and trainer. She is doctoral student in Drexel University’s Program in Couple and Family Therapy and also serves as an adjunct faculty at The College of New Jersey. Rooted as she is in the Christian faith, Jacobs is particularly interested in the issues relating to navigating diversity and racism in today’s world
A practical way to confront racial and economic forces that segregate communities is to attend the closing worship and prayer walk for the Justice Revival on Sunday, June 13, at 3 p.m. It begins and ends at Trinity Cathedral, 801 West State Street.
“We will leave the closing worship service and walk together through the neighborhood, meeting neighbors and joining with them in prayer and reflection at key locations,” say the organizers. “Our goal is to show that Suburban Mercer County cares about Urban Trenton and that we are committed to being neighbors to one another.” (www.revivejustice.org)
Full disclosure: I made a similar post on the blog for Not in Our Town, where I serve on the steering committee. I am a member of Princeton United Methodist Church.
Readers of Princeton Comment are not, generally, Twitter followers. So here’s an example of what Twitter can do. I want to send a last minute reminder re my friend Wayne Cooke, a cancer survivor who is speaking at Princeton Medical Center in at 9 a.m. today (Sunday). I send out two tweets at 7:07 and 7:08 a.m.
BFFox 7:07am, Jun 06 from HootSuite
Wayne Cooke helps Princeton NJ celebrate National Cancer Survivor’s Day 2day at Medical Center of Princeton http://ow.ly/1UFqX
BFFox
7:08am, Jun 06 from HootSuite
Cancer Survivor Cooke, who wrote “On the Far Side of the Curve,” speaks at 9 am, but event is 8 to 11:45 in Princeton, http://ow.ly/1UFqX
Then my own Twitter feed, which emphasizes epatients and ehealth, turns up a reference to a favorite of mine Regina Holliday, and I attempt to drive traffic to her site (read and you’ll see why).
BFFox
7:14am, Jun 06 from HootSuite
For National Cancer Survivor Day, read a moral tale from @Regina Holliday, campaigner for open medical records. http://ow.ly/1UFt0
(All those ow.ly references are special shortening tools for a Twitter tool that shortens the website address.)
Then another Tweet leads me to a fascinating article on how to train doctors to really listen, another pet peeve of mine.
BFFox
7:16am, Jun 06 from HootSuite
Med students learn “what it’s really like to live with a serious illness”
And then I learn from another Tweet, to my chagrin, that an important Health2.0 conference is taking place in Washington D.C. tomorrow. Had I been awake, I could have rearranged my schedule to go, but it was a busy week. I can’t go, but I can salivate about the agenda. Esther Dyson, a guru in the ehealth field, spoke at the Princeton Chamber and I have long been a fan of Gilles Frydman’s ACOR.
So I Tweet about it. Will it send any blogger or Twitter readers down to DC. Probably not. But at least now more people are aware of the issue and the conference.
BFFox
7:30am, Jun 06 from HootSuite
DC conference Health2.0 has Esther Dyson, Ted Eytan, Regina Holliday, Gilles Frydman — what a lineup. http://www.health2con.com/dc-2010/
And maybe all of us will pay attention to Obama’s man for Health IT and those issues. Right here in River City (e.g. Princeton) we are hatching companies, like one of my faves Zweena, who are trying to contribute to the smartness of Health IT.
BFFox
7:32am, Jun 06 from HootSuite
Keynote is the guy w the power, David Blumenthal Obama’s coordinator for Health Information Technology, http://www.health2con.com/dc-2010/
And then a comment from speaker/rock singer, Salman Ahmed, whom I met at TEDx NJLibes rang true, so I tweeted that for good measure.
RT @sufisal: Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition.(Rumi)
And that will be my thought for Sunday, having spent 50 minutes so far, Tweeting and blogging, and it will be an hour in total by the time I send this out. Was this exercise mere “cleverness” or should I have spent the hour in “bewilderment,” i.e. prayer, getting ready for the Sunday School class I will be teaching just 90 minutes from now. For the 4th and 5th graders I have concocted a lesson on that subject, prayer.
I am sending this out now in case anybody can get to hear Wayne Cooke speak at in an hour (his gig is at 9 a.m.) I will clean it up and perhaps answer my own question later with an addition to this post today.
——
Postcript: Spouse went to hear Cooke while I taught 9 4th & 5th graders a lesson on prayer. Report: Cooke was eloquent, the audience was about 100 people. My S.S. lesson was perhaps more lively than one would expect for the subject and some shenanigans ended up in a mishap — magic market on someone’s white pants. Perhaps more preparation, more prayer, would have prevented that?
Don’t know. It’s done. Time to do dishes, which as I understand it can be a form of prayer.
This information comes from Katherine Kish, co-executive director of Einstein’s Alley: “We are very concerned that the 2011 State Budget proposal to eliminate the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and to cut the Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program (TBTCTP) from $60 million to $30 million stands to stifle growth of the technology sector.
As taxpayers and voters, we recognize the dire financial position the State is in. However, we fear that these cuts as proposed stand to cost the State more than the amount they are intended to save given the ROI these programs represent.
After what has been invested in this sector over time to build a culture of innovation, NJ will stand to lose the positive effects going forward if we don’t continue that investment. I’m concerned that any cuts will be like ‘eating our seed corn.'”
If you are concerned as well, contact your legislator.
Too many entrepreneurs try to sell their product to potential investors. Instead, they should focus on the revenue model – how much money would an investor make, when, and how?
That was one of the big take-homes from “A Gathering of Angels,” an exceedingly well-run New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network Meeting today (June 2, 2010) at the Princeton Forrestal Marriott. Lou Wagman’s no-nonsense schedule included 60 self introductions (while everyone ate dinner) and Randy Harmon’s introduction to angel investing (while some gulped dessert). Then six angels dished out good advice (more on that in a later posting) plus final tips, as below.
From left: Loren Danzis of Fox Rothschild and Delaware Crossing Investor Group: Know whether you meet the criteria before you apply. Work through your team (lawyer, accountants) for introduction to those who know the market.
Stephen Nagler, TriState Ventures: Be really ready to answer such questions as market size, multiples, proprietary advantage, and exit strategies — and be able to justify your answers. Both the CEO and the fundraising job are full time, but when someone calls, answer quickly.
Larry Chaityn, Keiretsu Forum, NY Tristate Chapter: Be able to explain the the revenue model and the assumptions behind it, such as specific use of funds, the return on that use, and metrics you will use to track the returns.
Katherine O’Neill, Jumpstart NJ Angel Network:: Don’t take friends and family money at too high a valuation, and if you do, you must be ready to take a “haircut.” And don’t put a video in your presentation; they never work.
Frank Graziano of Golden Seeds, investments in women-owned businesses: Be relentless in your search for money. If you get rejected, the door is not necessarily closed.
Lou Wagman, meeting organizer, of Technology Management Associates and Einstein’s Alley.
Randy Harmon, moderator, of Foundations Business Development Group.
Christopher Starr, Mid-Atlantic Angel Group Funds: Try to get money when you don’t need it. If you don’t actually need the funds, you are in a better position. Pick lawyers and accountants who operate in the early stage space. You are going to pay someone anyway. Find those who know the issues. Their contacts and connections will be a bonus.
More organizations should operate this way: give attendees all the bios and then don’t repeat them, and handout the contact info for all those who register in time. That’s a big inducement to preregister.
For pictures of more than half the attendees, click here. (If you don’t like your photo, I’ll take it down. If you want to put more contact info by your photo, you’re invited to do that).
The discouraging part: of every 50 companies that apply to an angel group, one or two will get funded.
The encouraging part: statistics cited by O’Neill, on the board of the national Angel Capital Association. Angels do more deals than VCs. Last year angels invested $17.6 billion to venture capitalist investments of $17.69 billion, almost an even amount. But angels did 57,000 deals while VCs helped only 3,000 companies. The money is out there for the lucky (and well-prepared) few.
The Charter School’s music director Dyan Zbikowski, says, “This pop Caribbean show takes place on an island that might be Haiti. The music has a great beat and the story is universal…forbidden love.” She goes on to say that this musical was nominated for eight Tony Awards and according to New York Times critic Frank Rich, made Broadway audiences “emerge from the theater ready to dance down the street” so it will be fun for the young actors and the audience.
In addition to Dyan Zbikowski, the production team includes assistant director, Ellen Caruso, choreographer, Theresa Twisdale, sound engineer, Jimmie Jones and set designer, Virginia Welker.
Once On This Island, only the second production at the school, was not funded in this year of very tight school budgets. The Springpoint Foundation, through its arts and culture initiative is the major sponsor of this production but other donations will be welcome.
To get tickets ($4 for adults and $2 for students) or to make a donation, please contact Dyan Zbikowski at 609-695-1001 ext. 8 or email dzbikowski@villagecharter.org.
About the Village Charter School
With the passage of the New Jersey Charter School Act of 1995, community leaders were able to establish a charter school of excellence serving the greater Trenton community. Their vision became a reality when the Village Charter School opened on a ten acre campus in Trenton to 153 kindergarten to second grade students in1999. The School graduated its first class of eighth graders in the spring of 2006 and continues serving Trenton’s young people. Its mission is to create a child-centered community of active learners where each child can and will succeed in ways that reflect his or her own unique aptitudes and interests.
About the Director
Dyan Zbikowski, who joined the Village Charter School faculty in 2007, is a graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University with graduate work at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in voice performance. She sings in operas and chorales in New Jersey and New York.
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