Category Archives: Scripture Tour of Princeton

Gossip’s Guide: What to see in 20 minutes?

Dance and the other arts, Faith and Social Justice, Memoir, Scripture Tour of Princeton, , , , ,
Antonio Salemme's Paul Robeson
Antonio Salemme;s Paul Robeson

 

Conversing with a reference librarian at the Princeton Public Library, I learned that visitors sometimes ask: “What can I do in an hour before I leave for the airport?”

With my Gossip’s Guide hat on – I suggest: 

In 20 minutes, more or less

The Quick Paul Robeson Tour: Check out the Robeson bust by Antonio Salemme in the Princeton Room on the second floor of the library. Walk past the Arts Council of Princeton’s Robeson bust (this site formerly belonged to the Colored YMCA) to the Paul Robeson house and Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, where his father preached. (Both visible only from the outside).

the Norman Rockwell “Yankee Doodle” painting at the Nassau Inn Tap Room (reminding the patron that it is NOT a colonial era building!). Check out the alumni headshots. If you have time, a free place to sit is the upstairs lounge, by the fireplace.

Princeton Cemetery. Available at the entrance is a new brochure. 

Tiger Walk:  Stroll from the tiger in Palmer Square and the tigers at the entrance to Nassau Hall. Keep going and you will find more.

The Comparative Architecture Tour: Enjoy the interior of the Princeton Public Library, a Taj Mahal of libraries, designed by the Hillier firm. Diagonally across, the work of postmodern architect Michael Graves. Contemplate the differences. Then check out the interior of the Arts Council and the current exhibit.

Dohm Alley: a startling array of thoughts and objects in a small narrow space. Plus, there’s a water feature good for contemplating, and it’s right down the street from the town’s college bookstore (never miss a chance to enjoy a college bookstore.)

In 30-40 minutes

A quick Einstein tour — the Einstein museum in the back of Landau’s plus the Einstein bust at the corner of 206 and Nassau Street, great photo op. (The house is too far to walk in a hurry, but I tell people to drive and park on Edgehill.) 

Morven, now made relevant by truthful and inclusive exhibits that tell the stories of female occupants and slaves.

Prospect Gardens, always attractive in any season.

Cotsen Children’s Library inside Firestone Library

Princeton University Chapel, always open and it has a brochure about the windows

Tiffany Window Tour at Princeton United Methodist Church on Fridays and Sundays noon-2.

Quick sculpture tour 1: Circle of Animals by Ai Weiwei and Picassso’s Head of a Woman, down by the former Dinky Station.

Quick sculpture tour 2: The Plaza in front of the chapel: statue of John Witherspoon, Song of the Vowels by Lipschitz, and (just inside the University Library, and open to the public) Noguchi’s White Sun. Throw in Oval with Points if you are walking that way.

This tour works if a Princeton native can direct the visitor. Later I may have time to add the links. What would YOU recommend?

 

John Springrose: “Prototype your imagination”

Ann Yasuhara, Business, Healthcare, Technology & Innovation, , , , , , , ,

Sometimes a better chamberspeaker says what they said to a U.S. 1 reporter as published in the previous issue. Not so this time. Diccon Hyatt’s interview with John Springrose was way different from his talk at the Princeton Regional Chamber breakfast this morning. Springrose’s company (formerly inDimension3, now Philadelphia-based Koine) pioneers in 3D printers, more aptly named “rapid prototyping machines.”

An IBM-er turned investment banker, Springrose  began with a “then and now” show of how innovation increases productivity, even though jobs are lost along the way. For instance, IBM’s first middle market computer, System 32, cost $40,000 and had only 5k of memory but in 1975 it could replace accounting functions. Checkers were replaced by self checkout and scans, tellers by ATMs, German auto workers by robots, and so on. “Innovation does lead to productivity,” he tells students, “and it forces us to think.” Be an innovator or run the risk of losing your job.

Examples of how a rapid prototyping machine can work: High school student gets an idea for jazzing up the wine drinking experience. Prints a prototype of a new wine holder, gets it manufactured in China, sells several hundred units on ebay for $40 each, total cost of each unit $1.89, accomplished this in less than a month. Product: a wine bottle holder that is lit from underneath, sending colors through a bottle of white wine. Cool. True story.

A plant “goes down” for lack of a part? A 3-D printer could make that part in a snap. A corporation could have a rapid prototype machine in the lobby and greet clients is greeted with a logo or miniature product from their company. Now that’s hospitality.

Three-D printers like toys can cost as little as $700 but, to be reliable, one should cost at least $5,000 for business use. Customers are mostly overseas. Springrose worries that the U.S. is getting left behind.

In addition to plastic, products can be in wood, metal — “anything that will melt.’ His industry today is where IBM’s System 32 computer was in 1975. “You give me the industry, I give you the use,” he offered.  “Prototype your imagination,” he challenges. “If you think about it, you can do it.”

As for the difference between the interview and the talk — the reporter dug into the not-so-successful early stage of Springrose’s company, when it was making cheap printers that were not reliable and got scathing online reviews. That’s why Springrose moved to the high end. More than 700 startups make 3 D printers but just three– including Koine — are working on business-quality tools.

Springrose has a very personal interest in the medical applications for his devices. He looks forward to the day when a rapid prototyping machine can print out a liver or a kidney. That’s because he has lived through a liver transplant. But printable organs won’t happen any time soon. Springrose came without a demo machine because — the day before, he demoed to doctors at Jefferson — and they broke the machine.

Photo: L to R, Grant Somerville (chamber program committee), John Springrose, Peter Crowley (chamber CEO).  

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

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

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Scripture Tour: No Andrew Carnegie Library Here

Scripture Tour of Princeton, , , , , ,

bainbridge-houseBainbridge House, home of the Historical Society of Princeton, is the former home of Princeton’s municipal library. Princeton was not one of the 1689 cities to which Andrew Carnegie donated a library building. As the story goes, the university asked Carnegie to donate, not a library building, but a lake for its rowing team. Result: Carnegie Lake, hand dug.

A just-aired NPR story by Susan Stamberg reveals that Carnegie (some compare him with Bill Gates) was a self-made steel magnate. Fresh from Scotland, as a 17-year-old worker, he petitioned the Pittsburgh library to let him borrow books and was at first refused, but prevailed until the policy was changed. An indefatigable worker, he sold U.S. Steel for half a billion dollars to JP Morgan and then, as Stamberg said, “gave it all away,” or at least $350 million of it.

Carnegie money paid for impressive buildings in the style of the time. What would Princeton have looked like with one of those? Perhaps it would have been built on campus? In any case, the eager readers of Princeton had to find their books stuffed into an 18th century home, getting a purpose built building only in 1966. Now Princeton has its Taj Mahal building, adored perhaps even worshipped, called “Princeton’s living room.”

Perhaps it is a double blessing that we don’t have a Carnegie building. We might not have had the gumption to tear it down to build our three-story Taj Mahal.

(This post is part of the Scripture Tour of Princeton series, inspired by a tour I gave to Ohio’s Peddling Parsons when they visited us at Princeton United Methodist Church. But I haven’t decided on the Bible verse. Suggestions?)

We can’t hear this story without two codas. Carnegie famously built his empire on the backs of the steel workers, provoking the bitterest union fight in the history of this nation. And, supposedly Ellen Wilson, wife of the university president Woodrow Wilson, entertained Carnegie in her home (now Prospect House) and importuned Carnegie to give Princeton a library. Carnegie’s answer: “Madam, I gave you a lake.”

Scripture Tour: Princeton University Chapel

Around Town, Faith and Social Justice, Scripture Tour of Princeton

earlymorning_MG_5524_575

When the Pedaling Parsons — ministers riding bikes to raise money for missions — toured Princeton, their favorite spot was  the beautiful Princeton University Chapel. Here is the virtual tour with details on the choir loft carved from wood found in Sherwood Forest, and pews made from gun carriages. 

What is the scripture for this? My pick is Isaiah 2:4 and what’s yours?

It was built in 1928 for $2 million after the Marquand Chapel was destroyed in a fire.  The intent was, according to the University history, “to permit the University to maintain its religious heritage, but in a manner that recognized its public mission in an increasingly multicultural society.” I told them about the community -wide services at Thanksgiving and we commiserated on the sad fact that the University Chapel services are held, invariably, at the same time as the PUMC services. Tour it online here.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Steve McDonald.

The Peddling Parsons’ mission target this year is “Stopping Random Violence Before it Happens: investing in children and youth programming at local community centers.” office@northcantongrace.org