Category Archives: Around Town

Personal posts — some social justice (Not in Our Town), some faith-related (Princeton United Methodist Church), some I-can’t-keep-from-writing-this

Everyone is a racist at heart, says Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Time Magazine (5-14-2014).

Says Kareem: Maybe the worst racism of all is denying that racism exists, because that keeps us from repairing the damage. This country needs a social colonoscopy to look for the hidden racist polyps. And we aren’t doing ourselves any good by saying, “I feel fine. Everything’s fine. Nothing to see here.”

“The truth is, everyone has racism in his or her heart. We feel more comfortable around people of similar appearance, backgrounds and experiences. But, as intelligent, educated and civilized humans, we fight our knee-jerk reactions because we recognize that those reactions are often wrong and ultimately harmful.”

Robert Taub, a pianist, used to be artist in residence (1994-2001) at the Institute for Advanced Study. Now, as told in U.S. 1, he is helping to launch Hook’d, a music app that aims to be the musical equivalent of the photo sharing app Instagram. This new company, MuseAmi, is at 20 Nassau Street.

Taub decries “private music,” listening to tunes on your headphones. “What Hook’d does is make you sound good with pitch correction, reverb, and echo, and allow you to interact with a song that you know and love in less than 30 seconds,” he says.

The current artist in residence is Sebastian Currier.

Every middle school student knows not to get caught citing Wikipedia as his/her main source. But where to start, when you don’t know anything about a topic.

In this essay printed in the current issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper, Ed Tenner weighs in on the information revolution:

Even a mediocre Wikipedia article — and they range from superb to misleading — may link to valuable additional resources. But what happens when a user is exploring a new topic? To judge a source we need to have the knowledge we are trying to get from it!

Tenner welcomes “information abundance” and recommends “knowlege bootstrapping” and/or “ratcheting.” With practice everybody learns techniques for refinement of their results and more sophisticated searches

Since I’m just a little older then Tenner, I liked going down memory lane with him, back in the days before Xerox copiers revolutionized scholarly research. You will too, if you were born before 1950. And if you are younger — read it and thank your lucky stars!

Richard K. Rein, who I believe was in Tenner’s Class of 1969 at Princeton, had his own take on this subject.

PS to Tenner: Consider making your own Wikepedia page about yourself. A search on your name yields these incomplete results.

This blogpost captured my imagination: an anonumous person is leaving seashells on random shelves in the Princeton Public Library.

Is this my chance to downsize my own seashell collection?

Moravian Roots

Faith and Social Justice, Memoir, ,

prague hus

Statue of Jan Hus in Prague

On this Sunday, Moravians observe the martyrdom of John Hus, burned at the stake on July 6, 1415.

In 1965 my husband and I were founding members of Redeemer Moravian Church,  and it is dear to our hearts. I still use the Moravian Daily Text as a spiritual guide.

I knew Hus was a hero — and he was among the first rebel in the Reformation, predating Martin Luther by a century. He promoted the teachings of Wycliffe, objected to indulgences, and thought of the Lord’s Supper as consubstantiation rether than transubstantiation.

I just learned, reading Fox’s Book of Martyrs that Hus was a popular hero — acclaimed by commoners, nobles, and the clergy of Bohemia, now Czechoslovakia. And a colorful one. When stripped by the church court, forced to wear a paper dunce cap with devils on it, he reportedly said “My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, did wear a crown of thorns; why should not I then, for His sake, again wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly.”

When the chain was put about him at the stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?”
When the fagots were piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was so officious as to desire him to abjure. “No, (said Huss;) I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.” He then said to the executioner, “You are now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language:) but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.” If he were prophetic, he must have meant Martin Luther, who shone about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.

The flames were now applied to the fagots, when our martyr sung a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude.

Read the Wikipedia version of his life for a more historical account, complete with political intrigues involving King Wenceslaus, of Christmas carol renown.

In 1457 the followers of John Hus founded Unitas Fratrum, now known as the Moravian Church. Moravians are known for colorful spiritual practices, including their “Daily Text” selections, their early efforts in missionary work, their Easter celebrations (they are the ‘Easter people’), their Love Feasts — and their four-part harmonies. Moravians really known how to sing.

 

A tribute: Ann’s garden

Memoir

collage Ann.kneeling - welcome

Laura and Maggie created thisfor the memorial service to Ann Yasuhara, set for Saturday, July 5, at 2 p.m. at Princeton Friends Meeting. Here is a glimpse of this spirit-filled tribute.

collage best full so far

If you are going to attend the memorial service, and you are not familiar with the Meeting House, it’s on Princeton Pike at the intersection of Quaker Road.

Here are some zoom-in images.

collage clouds and window collage House Front collage left side collage butterfly - music college leafcollage Bartram Quote <a

Princeton Friends Meeting will hold a memorial service to celebrate the life of Ann Yasuhara on Saturday, July 5, 2014, at 2 p.m.

A memorial service in the unprogrammed Quaker tradition is a Meeting for Worship to remember the life of a loved one who has died. Personal connections and the experiences of shared grief and celebration are at the heart of the service.

Friends and family gather in silence, in the presence of the Spirit.. Everyone is invited to follow Friends’ practice of speaking out of the silence to share a memory or other significant message about Ann. A period of silent reflection is urged after each message to allow all to absorb what has been said. Though participants in the meeting may cry, the Quaker memorial is not a somber affair, but rather a celebration of the life that was lived.

Joe Taylor will lead us in welcome and an invitation to friends Meeting for Worship. He will close the service with a handshake.

After the service, all are invited to the First Day School building. Friends have prepared refreshments and a table of visual memories entitled “The Gardens of Ann Yasuhara — plantings of friendship, art, music, wisdom teachings, and pathways of peace.” There is a guest book for sharing written memories and an opportunity to take home a book from Ann’s collection. The books will be on a table in the Library.

pnc arms out

Memorial Donations

Ann Yasuhara cared deeply for the causes of a number of organizations. If you would like to make a donation, please see the list of institutions below whose mission Ann wholeheartedly supported. 

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, INC. 125 Broad Street, New York, New York. https://www.aclu.org/

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE to support its IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT 89 Market Street, Newark, New Jersey. http://www.afsc.org/office/newark-nj

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 322 8th Avenue, New York, New York. http://www.amnestyusa.org/

CENTER ON CONSCIENCE AND WAR 1830 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.http://www.centeronconscience.org/

CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS 666 Broadway, New York, New York.http://ccrjustice.org/

DELAWARE & RARITAN GREENWAY ASSOCIATION One Johnson Place, Princeton, New Jersey. http://drgreenway.org/giving.html

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

GREENPEACE FUND, INC. 702 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. http://www.greenpeacefund.org/

FRIENDS COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL LEGISLATION EDUCATION FUND 245 Second Street NE, Washington, D.C.http://fcnl.org/

THE FRENCH HOUSE, INC.  633 North Frances Street, Madison, Wisconsin.http://uwfrenchhouse.org/

LATIN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND, INC.669 Chambers Street, Trenton, New Jersey.http://www.laldef.org/

MADISON MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART. 227 State St, Madison, WI 53703. http://www.mmoca.org/

MERCER STREET FRIENDS 151 Mercer Street, Trenton, New Jersey .http://www.mercerstreetfriends.org/

NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNSEL40 West 20th Street, New York, New York.http://www.nrdc.org/

PENDLE HILL 338 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, Pennsylvania. http://www.pendlehill.org/

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.http://www.pym.org/  

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING BEQUESTS COMMITTEE 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

PRINCETON MONTHLY MEETING OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 470 Quaker Road, Princeton, New Jersey. http://www.princetonfriendsmeeting.org/

PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY Princeton, New Jersey. http://princetonlibrary.org/

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.  http//www.swarthmore.edu/

TRAINING FOR CHANGE PO Box 30914, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. https://www.trainingforchange.org/

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS 2 Battle Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts .http://www.ucsusa.org/

A.J. MUSTE INSTITUTE 339 Lafayette Street, New York, New York, to benefit the work of the WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE .     http://www.ajmuste.org/

Gandhian Foundation 4510 Kinsessing Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to benefit the EARTH QUAKER ACTION TEAM.http://eqat.org/about-eqat

DONATION PLEDGE FORM

Donor Information

 

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Billing Address
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State
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Please check here if you wish your gift to remain anonymous.

Donation or Pledge Information

 

 

 

 

I would like to support the __________________________________ mission in the following way(s):

 

Gift of $ ______________

 

Through my enclosed check payable to the ____________________________________________

 

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lost childOne of the last films to be screened at the Trenton Film Festival, today (Sunday) at 4 p.m., is Lost Child, Sayen’s Journey, pictured above, the work of Rocky Hill resident Janet Gardner.

For an overall view and schedule of the festival, which returns after a hiatus, here is the article at http://www.princetoninfo.com (U.S. 1 Newspaper).  Here is the detailed schedule.

As Kate Newell points out, the “special sauce” of this festival is that it welcomes both new and experienced filmmakers, and they get to mingle with a select audience.

Ann Yasuhara

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

 

Yasuhara June 1 2014

Ann Harris Yasuhara, 82, died at her home in Princeton, New Jersey, on Wednesday, June 11. A logician and computer scientist, she was known for combining her Quaker faith with action focused on peace, social justice, racial equality, and the environment. Her life balanced her love for the sacredness of all life, the compassionate concerns of a Quaker activist for the world and the local community, her delight in music, gardening, and art, and her generosity to friends and family.

Born on March 8, 1932 in Madison, Wisconsin, her parents were Julian Earle Harris (a French language educator at the University of Wisconsin who received the Legion of Honor) and Elizabeth Marshall Harris, a sculptor. She studied cooking and fashion design in Paris, attended Swarthmore College. and earned bachelors, masters, and PhD degrees in mathematics from the University of Illinois.

In 1970 she and her husband, Mitsuru, settled in a cozy little house and garden in Princeton and pursued their vibrant interests in mathematics, music, and art. Ever adventurous, they traveled widely, including regular trips to visit his family in Japan. Perhaps her favorite place was her garden.

In 1972 she joined the new department of computer science at Rutgers University, where she was an associate professor; she supervised the PhD theses of Frank Hawrusik, Venkataraman Natarajan, and Elaine Weyuker. Ileana Streinu, now the Charles N. Clark Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Smith College, remembers Ann’s classes on Recursive Function Theory and Logic and her textbook. “It was an exquisite topic, beautiful mathematics that Ann was conveying to generations of graduate students. In a department with only a few women on the faculty, she was a model to look up to. With grace and generosity, she touched my life and the lives of many students like me.”

Ann Yasuhara belonged to the living tradition of Quaker spirit-led peace and justice activists. Unflagging in her resistance to war and violence, she studied the philosophy and  methods of non-violent resolution of conflict with George Lakey, the noted Quaker peace activist. In turn, she led many training groups and action activities.

Within the Society of Friends (Quakers) she served terms at Princeton Friends Meeting as Clerk of the Meeting and clerk of the committee on peace and social concerns. She also served on committees in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, an association of 103 Quaker meetings.

Most recently she enthusiastically supported — and went on protests with — the nonviolent direct action group, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), which works to end mountaintop removal coal mining.  On her 79th birthday she protested on a strenuous mountain climb in West Virginia mining country. In January, just before she was diagnosed with cancer, the Philadelphia-based group honored her as one of its outstanding “wise elders.”

“Ann was a leader in the Quaker faith and an inspiration to all of us. She set the bar very high and gave us confidence to fight for a better world,” says Janet Gardner, a documentary film maker with the Gardner Group and a member of Princeton Friends Meeting .

Within the Princeton community, she helped found Silent Prayers for Peace, which keeps silent vigil every Wednesday in Palmer Square. She was a founding member of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) . As a founding member of Princeton’s Not in Our Town (NIOT), an interracial, interfaith social action group committed to racial justice, she was instrumental in creating programs that honor and support youth of diverse backgrounds. She also teamed with the Princeton Public Library to develop, through NIOT, thought-provoking community discussions on race, white privilege, bullying, and the environment. Her work withstudents was notable. She was a volunteer tutor, supported Committed Princetonians (a mentoring group), and served on the Minority Education Board of Princeton Regional Schools.

In 2010 Ann was featured in a U.S. 1 article about retirees who are making a difference.

She is survived by Mitsuru Yasuhara, her husband of 49 years; her godchildren Josue Rivera-Olds, Grecia N. Rivera, and Julio R. Rivera; cousins including ​Sarah Rogers Pyle Sener (Pikesville, Maryland), Jan Marshall Fox, J. Laird Marshall, Nancy Marshall  Bauer (Madison, Wisconsin), Jane Marshall (Birmingham, Alabama), Richard H. Marshall (Toronto, Canada), James R. Marshall (Gardnerville, Nevada), and Barbara Figge Fox (Princeton, New Jersey) and their families.

Interment was at Forest Hills cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 5, at 2 p.m. at Princeton Friends Meeting. Donations in her memory may be made to any of the many charities she supported and/or to Princeton Friends Meeting, 470 Quaker Road, Princeton NJ 08540. For a list of the charities she supported, click here.

(This post is based on the obituary that appears at Kimble Funeral Home. Also it is on the Town Topics website. Photo by John Kelly was taken on June 1, 2014).