Volume LXXVIII, Number 48
Princeton High Graduate Dan Schulman Knighted By French President . . 5 A Cappella Group Brings “A Chanticleer Christmas” To PU Chapel . . . . . . 10 IAS Online Videos Offer Brief Looks Behind the Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . 12 McCarter Theatre Presents String Quartet Ensemble . . . 16 PU Women’s Volleyball Falls to Yale in Ivy Final, But Young Squad Showed Growth with Late Run . . . . . . . . . 29 Adding Inside Punch To Go With Sharp Shooting, Hun Boys’ Hoops Primed for a Stellar Campaign . . 32
Author James Agee is the Subject of This Week’s Birthday Book Review . . 15 Art . . . . . . . . . . . .24, 25 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 26 Christmas Tree Directory . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 36 Home for the Holidays. . . . . . . . . 18-23 New to Us . . . . . . . . . . 27 Obituaries . . . . . . .34, 35 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 13 Real Estate. . . . . . . . . 36 Small Business Saturday . . 3 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
James “Jimmy” Mack Honored for Impact On Local Community Princeton Council paid tribute to longtime barber James “Jimmy” Mack at its meeting Monday evening, November 25, at the municipal building. As a large crowd of Mack’s family, friends, and neighbors looked on, Councilman Leighton Newlin and Mayor Mark Freda read a special proclamation honoring Mack as a fixture in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood since the early 1950s. Newlin called Mack “a great human, a great humanitarian, a good person, a great family man, a good friend, a mentor, and one hell of a barber.” To visit Jimmy’s Barber Shop at 141 John Street was to be part of “a sanctuary of community where the air vibrated with the hum of clippers, laughter, and soulful melodies, creating a vibrant tapestry of shared experience,” he said, before launching into a brief rendition of the Martha and the Vandellas song “Jimmy Mack.” The atmosphere at the shop was “a dive into rich conversations about life, sports, politics, and culture, with Jimmy as both the stylist and the storyteller,” Newlin continued. Born in Roanoke, Va., In 1931, Mack served as a machine gun operator on the U.S.S. Midway during the Korean War. It was during that service that he saw a notice advertising for a barber on board. He trained for the job and became one of 10 on the ship, “skillfully cutting hair while fostering camaraderie among sailors,” Newlin said. Upon completing his service in 1952, Mack moved to Princeton, where he had several relatives. He worked at Nat’s Sanitary Barber on Witherspoon Street before opening his own shop in 1962, cutting hair until his retirement in 2014. “Jimmy dedicated his life to serving the Princeton community, including generations of students from Princeton University, creating a legacy that continues to inspire,” the proclamation reads. Mack has been “a pillar of grace and support, nurturing not only his own family but also the larger community as a member and role model.” The proclamation called Mack “the last African American business owner in a historically rich neighborhood once filled with family-run enterprises.” Mack and his wife, Audrey, were given Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, November 27, 2024
PPS Offers Forums, Tours as Referendum Nears Princeton residents will have a number of opportunities to learn more about the Princeton Public Schools’ (PPS) $89.1 million facilities bond referendum before they vote on a three-part question on January 28, 2025. Two upcoming forums — a virtual forum on Monday, December 9 at 7 p.m. (link to be shared shortly before the event) and an in-person forum on Saturday, January 11 at 9 a.m. in the Princeton Middle School (PMS) auditorium — will provide information and chances to ask questions. The community is also invited to tour one or all of the school buildings included in the 2025 bond referendum proposal: Community Park Elementary School on December 10 and January 8 at 3:30 p.m.; Littlebrook Elementary School on January 7 and 14 at 4 p.m.; PMS on December 5, 12, and January 16 at 3:30 p.m.; and Princeton High School (PHS) on
December 8 at 10 a.m., 13 at 6:30 p.m., January 15 at 6:15 p.m., January 24 at 5:30 p.m., and January 26 at 10 a.m. “We are really excited about the referendum, PPS Board of Education President Dafna Kendal wrote in a November 26 email. “We believe that it is a very costeffective way to add classroom spaces to our buildings to ensure that we are able to continue the high level of teaching and learning that is the hallmark of the Princeton Public Schools.” She continued, “We also understand that the tax impact of all three questions might be too big a lift for the community, so we’ve prioritized the questions in order of our most critical needs. We will have many opportunities for engagement over the next two months, and we’re excited to share our plans to address student enrollment growth in our schools with the community.” In a November 21 email to the
community, PPS Interim Superintendent Kathie Foster noted that the public schools “need immediate expansion and improvements to continue providing students with high-quality programming, maintain elementary class sizes, and honor our neighborhood schools” as they accommodate students from more than 1,000 new residential units in the next few years. Foster went on to emphasize that the referendum prioritizes “cost-effective, valuebased” improvements. “As with all that we do, students — and their families — are the driving force behind the facilities bond referendum,” she wrote. “We put extensive care and thought into creating a financially responsible plan that would continue the exceptional education and student experiences at Princeton Public Schools.” The three questions on the January 28 ballot will be: Question 1, Community Park expansion and renovations and Continued on Page 8
Panel of Experts Will Discuss 2024 Election at Princeton University Forum
STROLLING ON WITHERSPOON: Local businesses are gearing up for holiday season shoppers and Small Business Saturday on November 30. (Photo by Sarah Teo)
As the country and the world continue to ponder the results of the 2024 election, Princeton University’s School for Public and International Affairs (SPIA) Center for the Study of Democratic Politics (CSDP) has assembled a panel of experts to help shed light on “What Happened and Why?” The event will take place on Monday, December 2, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Bowl 016 at Robertson Hall on Washington Road. “This panel will bring together a blend of expertise, perspectives, and professional experiences that we hope will foster a nuanced, informed discussion of the election results,” said Princeton University Politics Professor and CSDP Co-Director Tali Mendelberg, who will moderate the discussion. “In this era of polarization and information silos, it is vital to offer accurate analysis and to represent diverse views about the state of American politics.” Panelists will include Betsy Ankney, political strategist and Nikki Haley’s campaign manager; CBS News elections analyst and Princeton University Ph.D. graduate Kabir Khanna; Dorian Warren, public affairs commentator and president of Community Change, co-chair of the Economic Security Project, and cohost of System Check; and Lauren Wright, associate research scholar and lecturer in Continued on Page 13