Content about MIX

It’s official: Princeton Regional Schools is no more. Don’t get too panicked - only the name was traded in.

The Board of Education, at their meeting on February 7,  traded in PRS for the much more stylish PPS, which stands for Princeton Public Schools.

The Studio Art 2D III and Studio Art 2D IV classes at Princeton High School hosted the opening of their Skull Show on Friday, the 13^th. The show took place in one of the high school’s art rooms, and featured seven pieces. The students were given an animal skull at the beginning of the year and told to “use it as a catalyst”.  Finding its meaning can lead to some rather interesting works, especially when in groups. Of the seven pieces, six were created by groups of two or three.

Eva Mantell loves teaching art.  “When students aren’t expecting to come up with anything good, and they are engaged and surprised by what they’ve created, it feels great. I find it very energizing.”

Jon Hauge, owner of the Savory Spice Shop, recently tasted the world’s hottest pepper, the bhut jolokia, also known as the ghost pepper, which is for sale in his shop.  “The best word to describe it is HOT,” says Hauge. “Sweat was definitely beading up on my forehead. I tried it with one of my employees, and we took pictures.”

Kennedy-Grant will discuss the book he edited and co-authored with fellow architects Mark Alan Hewitt and Michael Mills featuring 150 color photographs that capture the beauty of New Jersey’s architectural heritage. From stately Victorian inns to distinctive “Doo Wop” style motels, the book reveals the state’s rich architectural legacy and eclectic mix of periods and styles. Princeton Public Library’s Sands Library Building is among the buildings photographed by Alexander M. Noble for the book.

“It didn’t come across as ‘neighborhood,’ ” said one resident. “It came across as ‘Courtyard Marriott hotel.’ ”

This was the sentiment Saturday morning among some of those attending Princeton Future’s meeting on plans to build a mid-rise residential community at the site of the old University Medical Center at Princeton on Witherspoon Street.

Downtown Princeton retailers, with minor exceptions, have come back to life, leaving behind a recession that shook a few longtime businesses to their foundations.

“I think we saw a low about a year and a half ago, “ says Marco Cucchi, owner of Thomas Sweet Ice Cream and Chocolates.  “Things since have been recovering slowly, but steadily.”

There are many traditions in the close-knit town of Princeton, and the annual Princeton Student Film and Video Festival is one of them.
 
Hosted by the Princeton Public Library, and sponsored by Johnson and Johnson and The Bent Spoon, the eighth year of this festival lived up to expectations. Jenna Ho said, “The film festival this year was better than the previous years. The films were a lot more interesting and they were all really well done.”
 

A new report on local commercial real estate activity provides a mostly upbeat assessment for the first half of 2011, with many commercial realty professionals--in submarkets as diverse as office, warehouse, and boutique space -- agreeing with the report’s conclusion:  the economy has put the worst behind. 

Princeton Borough residents are one step closer to walking down a rejuvenated Alexander Road in twenty years, after the Borough Council agreed to formally introduce for public discussion the zoning for the Arts, Education and Transit Neighborhood at a meeting on Tuesday night.  

Two years ago, shortly after the Dodge Poetry Foundation announced the cancelation, for financial reasons, of its popular Dodge Poetry Festival, Paul Muldoon launched the first Princeton Poetry Festival.  Poets and poetry lovers across the state sounded a collective cheer! 

Max, 14, did not like middle school.  But he still wants to go to college.

Instead of continuing with 9th grade, Max goes to the Princeton Learning Cooperative (PLC), located in a sun-lit room on the third floor of the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts on Witherspoon Street.  A snapshot of his activities includes Python programming, building robots, and reading English novels.  Once a week, he helps out with organizational work at Snipes Farm and Educational Center.

Beautiful weather graced the opening of the Princeton Farmers’ Market in its new central location  this morning, as more than a dozen agricultural vendors displayed their produce around Hinds Plaza, in front of the Public Library.