Mother-daughter relationships are as complex as they come. At least, they’re supposed to be.

Following in the footsteps of a parent can be a perilous journey. Expectations are high, comparisons are many, and the challenge to measure up to that legacy can result in an enduring personal struggle. Not so for Dr. Michelle Cholankeril, whose choice to follow her mother, Mary, into oncology not only proved to be the simple one, but the right one, too.

“All of my life, I have watched my family do charitable work,” she explains. “My grandfather was a physician, my mother was a physician, and through them doing their jobs, I felt like this was a career I wanted to pursue—where I could actually go out into the community to help people and gain personal satisfaction from contributing to medical society.”

Dr. Cholankeril practices hematology and medical oncology at the Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is the one beaming as she walks through the doors of her hospital each day, ready to take on any and all challenges. And those conversations with her mother—as both a colleague and a daughter gathering insight?That’s a wonderful bonus.

Trinitas Regional Medical Center is something of a second home to Dr. Cholankeril. She has been working at the hospital since high school. She started as a volunteer behind the entrance desk in the main lobby, worked in the ICU as a medical student, and continued to maintain a family connection to Trinitas in the years that followed. In 2013, her career came full circle, as it were, when she joined the Trinitas staff as an M.D.

Working in hematology and oncology has a particular appeal to Dr. Cholankeril. “These are the most grateful patients, in a sense, because not only do they value their life, but they also understand the value of the diagnoses they have,” she says. “It’s really great to be involved in a field where you can witness a cure in some of your own patients. It’s quite fulfilling to be a part of something so extraordinary.”

Needless to say, Dr. Cholankeril is a student of her specialty as well as a practitioner. She helps submit abstracts to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). She is currently a part of clinical trials run by Trinitas, and also does work with the Jefferson Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia to further expand clinical trials. The progress she has witnessed firsthand in her field convinces her that cancer will ultimately be defeated through advancements that have been made in just the last few years.

“A lot of what we know about cancer today is based on the research we obtained from yesterday,” she says. “If you are involved in research today, then you are able to be a part of the future of oncology. So far it has been a great learning experience.”

Dr. Cholankeril’s career path might have been paved by doctors in the generations before her, but at the end of the day she leaves footprints of her own, building on the wisdom of her mother and grandfather. As she treks through the daily challenges and triumphs, however, she is keenly aware that the apple hasn’t fallen all that far from the tree. And she’s okay with that.

“My mother always said to pursue what my calling is, whatever that may be,” she points out. “She never suggested one thing or another. I suppose she thought I was responsible enough to make my own decisions, so she told me to follow a career path that makes me happy. And that’s what I ended up doing.”   EDGE

Editor’s Note: You can contact Dr. Cholankeril in her Trinitas office at (908) 994-8771.

When it comes to serious yard work, it’s what’s out front that counts.

In Chinese, the word “crisis” consists of two characters. One represents danger, the other opportunity. This sums up rather neatly the state of suburban lawns in post-Sandy New Jersey. Hopefully, by now you have taken care of the downed wires and looming limbs and are focusing on the opportunity to re-imagine your front lawn.

Every plot of land presents its own challenges, of course, but there are some cosmetic rules-of-thumb that can make your property more appealing.  We checked in with four Garden State landscaping experts, gave them a suburban home with a sidewalk in front, and asked them for their tips and tricks to undo what Sandy did and punch up the curb appeal.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Dave Williams

Williams Nursery • Westfield

If you’ve lost trees during Sandy, there is a silver lining: you have gained more sun. So now you can plant shrubs with more summer blooms that would have suffered in the trees’ shade. Over the past few years, shrubs with multiple blooming times have come on the market.

Take hydrangeas—they used to have a shorter blooming time and if there was a cold winter, you might not get a good bloom that year. A few years ago, we were thrilled when “Endless Summer” hydrangeas arrived. Now we have additional varieties that continually bloom, such as “Forever & Ever” hydrangeas.  Along with the traditional blues, “Forever & Ever” offers wonderful color choices, ranging from “Pistachio’s” pink with green edge and “White-out” to “Peppermint’s” white with pink brushstroke and “Fantasia’s” lime green and pink flowers that fade to blush pink with apricot/mauve hues. An added benefit to “Endless Summer” and “Forever & Ever” is that they are less daunting: hearty, easier and not as affected by weather.  You don’t even have to worry about when to prune. If you plant these hydrangeas, you can cut the blooms for your home and have wonderful color inside and out.

Repeat-blooming plants are also an option. Lilac “Bloomerang” has spring and fall flowers and azalea “Encore” and “Bloom-a-thon” bloom in April/May and again in September/October.

If you miss impatiens—not on the market due to Downy Mildew—a great substitute with a similar color palette is caladium. While not a flowering plant, caladium has heart-shaped leaves in a variety of colors—white, red and pink. Caladium can tolerate the growing challenges of summer months. You can plant it in a dry site in the shade and forget about it.

Bob Sickles

Sickles Market • Little Silver

For myself, in general, I like evergreens, such as hollies and boxwoods for year-round color and structure, and they are easy to maintain. I plant one or two specimen plants, such as fancy-leaved Japanese maples. While it can be finicky like a thoroughbred, this red-leaf plant is a pretty, elegant plant worth the trouble. It looks great all season, whether in leaf or budding or exhibiting fall color.

In the spring, scented plants such as Korean lilacs (May to June), Viburnum carlesii (Korean spice viburnum; early May) and Daphne (mid-April) have beautiful, fragrant blooms. I have planted them near the entrance to our home and particularly like to entertain friends when they’re in bloom.

Perennial shrubs and flowers can give you attractive splashes of color. If you’re looking for hardy, easy-to-care-for plants with nice blooms throughout the summer months, you can’t go wrong with “Endless Summer” hydrangeas and red “Knock-Out” roses. I also love Nikko Blue and Annabelle hydrangeas. For a softer texture, I like Liriope, a broad-leaf grass that you mow once in March and then watch, as it transforms through the seasons from a soft mound of grass to blue flowers to black berries. Liriope is a no-care plant that can take sun or shade. For ground cover, instead of invasive ivy, try Epimedium, which can grow with little sun and water under a tree and has orange and yellow fairy-like flowers.

Kevin Bullard

Kale’s Nursery • Princeton

My home in Lawrenceville has a small front yard that I have landscaped with classic, simple lines. I have boxwoods as a backdrop hedge planted in front of my house, with two feet of mulched bed in front of them that I plant with annuals in the spring. My much larger backyard has a less formal cottage-y feel with more colorful, flowering trees and shrubs. a vegetable garden and perennials of all types. On one side of the front yard, I planted a viburnum, which flowers three to four weeks in the spring. For winter interest, I also have different colored hellebore that flower from February to May or June. A Japanese maple balances the other side of the house.

You also can improve curb appeal by installing a Walpole mailbox or lantern post. These  are high-end products—around $1,000 installed—with high impact. If you’re going for more of a cottage feel, you could install a decorative post with a birdhouse with a shingled or copper roof within sight of a front window.  Large planters—clay, aged terra cotta, cast-iron, concrete—can be planted at your nursery with a burst of colored flowers and delivered to the front step.

Beyond landscaping, my family enhances our home. My three-year-old son helps me mulch, plant annuals and small perennials and keeps me company as I work on our landscape. What could be better!

Todd Thompson

Guaranteed Plants • Middletown

For many of my clients, my landscaping approach is “less work, more reward.” To this end, hearty, deer-resistant plants work best. For next spring’s blooming season, start this fall with planting pockets of daffodils about 4 to 6 inches deep. Daffodils are great. They’re deer-resistant, have lots of varieties and colors and, unlike tulips that only seem to last a couple of years, they multiply until needing to be divided in five years or so. I call this the “First Act.”

For the “Second Act” later in the spring (mid- to late-May), you can plant over the daffodils with annuals that will bloom for the rest of the summer and into the fall. Here I try to create “continuous show” with some variety taking place during the growing season. Along with continuous show, shrub roses also make for “less work, more reward.” The compact “Drift Rose” comes in peach, apricot, white and pink and grows 3 feet wide and between 1 ½ to 2 feet high. For larger impact, “Knock-Out” roses get to be 5 to 6 feet if you let them go. I like to pair the shrub roses with hydrangea macrophylla, either the snowball type or lace-cape. “City-line” from Proven Winners offers compact hydrangeas named for different cities and are re-blooming varieties that flower late into the fall. They need to be deadheaded to encourage more flowers—if they aren’t they won’t bloom prolifically.

If you want to decorate your mailbox or trellis, try Lonicera, a long-blooming ornamental honeysuckle vine that is non-invasive and comes in white, yellow, pink and orangey-pink. For continuous color and curb appeal, in early spring, I like to use large pots with frost-tolerant annuals near the front door. These can be filled with sunscape daisies, verbena, mini-petunias, pansies, nemesia, bacopa, lobularia or diascia (aka twinspur). You can make these pots convertible and stick a 6-inch pot with tulips or daffodils in them. When they are finished blooming, pull them out and pop in a salvia or geraniums and angelonia.

Again, less work, more reward.

New Jersey boasts a surprising number of romantic restaurants. These rank among the very best. 

Any dinner accompanied by the voice of jazz vocalist Steve Tyrell is romantic to me. How simple is that? I don’t need chandeliers, banquettes fitted with tapestries and puffed with pillows, views of water or mountains. I don’t particularly want service by a crew that bows, china and silver with pedigrees, or trend-of-the-second food. I’d likely spend the evening making snide comments if a wine list was all about trophy bottles, if an entrée required a scalpel and tweezers to assemble, and if the person I was with could not refrain from snapping photos of every course.

Frenchtown Inn

Okay, so perhaps I do have my preferences. We all do. After almost 25 years of reviewing restaurants in New Jersey, I could list in a nanosecond the restaurants I’d avoid if asked for my personal choices for a romantic dinner. I don’t like pomp, I don’t like pretense and I really, really don’t like anything that smacks of imitation. Sincerity is the surest shot to lassoing my heart. I love restaurants helmed by chefs who cook with passion and skill, who offer a strong voice in food. Kind of the way Steve Tyrell plays the piano and sings.

If you do a little research, ask a few questions, I suspect you’ll find that the person to whom you want to give an evening of romance has preferences of his or her own. Maybe even a private list of restaurants that sing “Isn’t It Romantic?” So ask. Just ask.

But if your partner in romantic dining isn’t much of a planner, a researcher or doesn’t have an inquisitive mind, I’d like to pass on a handful of restaurant recommendations to keep in mind should the object of your affections ask where you’d like to spend a romantic evening. These are classics, to be sure. Restaurants, in most cases, that have served the Garden State for years. They are reflective of place, have stood fast to their missions in the face of changing times, even changes of chefs. Some make bold culinary statements, some have stolen my heart in subtle ways.

Whether they strike a chord with you, or simply start you thinking about your own preferences, I hope you snag an evening (or three) this season devoted to a romantic dinner….

• On the Delaware River is the Frenchtown Inn, where the food and the setting duke it out for top honors. Let’s call it a perennial draw. Nothing there has ever been over the top, chi-chi or trendy. Today, with chef-owner Andrew Tomko in the kitchen, the last stop in Frenchtown before crossing the bridge to Pennsylvania is one of my first recommendations when folks inquire about a special restaurant for a special night out. Drive around the western Hunterdon County countryside, stop at some antiques shops, art galleries and studios, then end up at this inn. Confession? A few decades ago, I lived across the street, in the old Gem Theater building. (Yes, I remember when the serene Frenchtown Inn was a rowdy townie bar called the Warford House.) So the Frenchtown Inn is a sentimental favorite. Romance often comes with a dash of sentimentality.

• I remember so many top-drawer dinners at The Bernards Inn, in Bernardsville. I remember sitting out on the porch, talking with the wine importer Bobby Kacher about his excursions around the south of France; a tete-a-tete with a soul mate as we talked politics in scary times and scary places; a spirited dinner with a food-centric pal who’d taken the train from New York City because he wanted an evening in the kind of place they just don’t grow where he lives. The Bernards Inn long has been a commanding presence in New Jersey dining, but never more than since chef Corey W. Heyer took charge of the kitchen. His technical precision serves his creativity well, and the elegant setting is about old-school understatement, not flamboyance.

• Well, there is a certain flamboyance about Rat’s, the upscale restaurant set amid the world-class Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton. Art, art is everywhere, in the various dining spaces that are all about bounty, in the rooms that welcome, in the restrooms that don’t give the senses a break. That’s all deliberate, the brainchild of Seward Johnson, who, the year it opened, gave me a personal tour of Rat’s and the atelier he installed in the compound when I was on assignment for Town & Country magazine. Johnson was forward-thinking, connecting Rat’s (named after a loyal and hospitable character in the book The Wind in the Willows) to a farm at its birth, urging diners to tour the sculpture grounds before or after their meal, determined to make dinner an all-inclusive creative experience. The mission and the restaurant, reinforced today by the wide-ranging talents of chef Shane Cash in the kitch and the management of Philadelphia-based restaurateur Stephan Starr, never fail to warm my heart.

Small, intimate, reminiscent of a locally loved French bistro, A Toute Heure in Cranford is my idea of a restaurant expertly and exquisitely conceived and realized. Many have tried similar concepts, but few have hit the mark as well as the ownership team of Andrea and Jim Carbine and executive chef Kara Decker, the prime forces behind the sweet little spot that has earned its statewide reputation for purely delicious food. Sure, A Toute Heure can be seen as a tad cramped. (I see it as comfortably cozy.) There’s no liquor license, so it’s BYOB.(That’s happiness for a wine geek like me, who always has bottles at the ready for the seasonally satisfying plates this conscientious kitchen serves forth.) Spontaneous dining simply can’t be expected on weekends—or, I so often hear—even on weeknights since the place books out. (I like looking forward to a special night out, so reserving a month ahead is fine for me.) This bistro is beloved.

The first time I ate at Makeda, the Ethiopian restaurant in New Brunswick, was back in its early days, when it was located in a smaller space and the dining was joyfully cheek-to-jowl. It’s long settled in its larger digs in the college town and its imprint on the community is profound: A dear pal who teaches at Rutgers tells me that it’s not only where she takes all out-of-town guests and celebrates birthdays and anniversaries, but the cuisine has influenced her home-cooking. “Makeda transports me every time I eat here,” this professor says. “It’s a vacation in a couple of hours.” I agree, and that’s why this downtown destination owned by Peter Meme and Stuart Smith, with peerless chef Aster Kassa, is always on my go-to list. Sometimes romance is less about where you are, physically, and more about where a restaurant’s food and attitude can take you, spiritually. When at Makeda, I get away in the best possible way.

All this said, I can take a walk on the beach at Barneget Light, swipe the sand off my arms and legs, then canter over to Mustache Bill’s Diner for a plate of chef/owner Bill Smith’s fried flounder (extra tartar sauce, please) and feel like hugging the world. Pop Steve Tyrell in the CD player on the ride home, and the recipe for romance is complete.

Reservations Recommended…

Frenchtown Inn

7 Bridge St., Frenchtown • 908.996.3300

The Bernards Inn

27 Mine Brook Road, Bernardsville • 908.766.0002

Rat’s

16 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton • 609.584.7800

A Toute Heure

232 Centennial Ave., Cranford • 908.276.6600

Makeda

338 George St., New Brunswick • 732.545.5115

It is possible to have a great first date.

Photocredit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

There are scores of articles, blogs, and web sites about horrendous first dates. Yet not that much has been written about the fantastic ones. Is it a case of not wanting to jinx a budding relationship? Perhaps one needs a little distance from that initial link-up to gain some perspective. Or maybe the train wrecks are just more interesting to read and write about. The fact of the matter is that, whether you’re 16 or 60 or somewhere in between, it is possible to have a great first date…if you follow a few simple rules and embrace the experience.

For most people, “the goal of a first date is to get to a second date,” says Julianne Cantarella, dating coach and owner of New Jersey’s Matchmaker. “For many people, however, obstacles such as anxiety and high expectations can get in the way.”

Cantarella’s advice is to keep it simple and have fun. When she matches people up through her company, for instance, she usually arranges a lunch as a first date. Dinner, she explains, can be uncomfortable for people just getting to know each other—and expectations are usually higher. “Plus, if you’re not hitting it off, you are stuck with each other for a couple of hours. It’s always a good idea to at least have an enjoyable activity to help pass the time, just in case.”

She does not recommend movies or concerts for a first date, however: “The first date is an opportunity to get to know someone…to do that, you need to converse with one another, and you can’t do that at a movie or concert. Save those for subsequent dates.”

GREAT OUTDOORS

If the weather cooperates, a great idea for a first date is exploring one of the many gorgeous state parks in New Jersey, such as Island Beach State Park (great for bike riding), Hacklebarney (for hiking), or Liberty State Park (hop on a ferry and visit the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island.)  A complete listing can be found on the state web site. There are also hundreds of wonderful community and county parks where you can bring a picnic lunch, such as Grover Cleveland Park in Caldwell, Brookdale Park, which lies within the municipalities of Montclair and Bloomfield, or Verona Park, which offers seasonal paddleboat rides and light fare in its quaint stone Boathouse restaurant.

Participating in a sporting event you both enjoy is also an excellent idea. My first date with my husband, Tom, was the Giralda Farms 10K race in Madison. We had lunch at a diner afterward and that was the beginning of our romantic relationship. Both of us are runners. We met through the Essex Running Club and had been friends for about a year before he asked me out on a “formal” date. I figured if he could fall in love with me all sweaty in running clothes after a race, he was the one.

Photocredit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

POINTS OF INTEREST

If your interests run more toward history or art, there are many places in the Garden State that are ideal for a first date. Mark Luzzi, 55, massage therapist and former resident of Caldwell, suggests Grover Cleveland’s Birthplace in Caldwell. It is the only house museum dedicated to the 22nd and 24th U.S. President, Grover Cleveland.  A bachelor when he entered the White House, Cleveland got married at the age of 49 to Frances Folsom, 21, the youngest First Lady in history. Visitors can partake of parlor games and try on period costumes—but call first for site hours. It’s a short tour, so you can follow it up with coffee and pastries at Calandra’s Italian Village, which is nearby.

Luzzi also recommends the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms in Morristown, Gustav Stickley’s early 20th century country estate, a National Historic Landmark that will transport you back to 1911. “I love Stickley’s furniture but cannot afford it, so this is the next best thing,” he says.

If you both are fond of nature and photography, investigate Hackensack Riverkeeper Eco-Tours. They run from May 4 through October 13. The Eco-Cruises are educational tours of the Hackensack River and the NJ Meadowlands aboard the Hackensack Riverkeeper’s specially rigged pontoon boats. Captain Bill Sheehan started the Eco-Cruise program in 1994 to increase awareness of the lower Hackensack River watershed as a vital natural and recreational resource. The tours generally take between two and two-and-a half hours and are fully narrated by a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captain.

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

For first dates with someone you’ve known for a while—and whom you want to impress—then cocktails and dinner are a good bet. Pat Amato, 23, a certified personal trainer in Roseland, recommends Halcyon Brasserie, a popular spot in Montclair for special dates (first and otherwise).  “The décor is beautiful, and before dinner you can relax at the main bar or lounge,” he says. The menu is eclectic, with selections ranging from Organic Scotch Eggs to Kimchi Fried Chicken to Orange Ginger Glazed New Zealand King Salmon.

Jenn Schiffer, 28, a web site developer from Montclair, recommends Pig & Prince as a “nice, fancy place with great cocktails and appetizers.” She also counts Uncle Moustache—which serves French-Lebanese fare—and Tuptim, a Thai restaurant, among her favorite not-too-noisy places to enjoy good first-date conversations.

Another way to make a great impression is to take your date to High Societea House in Wayne—described on its web site as a “tea room where one can go back in time and enjoy the lost art of conversation, while enjoying the perfect pot of tea!”  Catherine Close, a graphic designer in her 50s from Little Falls, had her first date there with her now-husband, Mick. “It’s a lovely ambience,” she says, “with the floral tea cup settings, serving pieces and lace tablecloths.  A relaxed and romantic atmosphere.”

Photocredit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

To complement your tea, there are scrumptious caramel and assorted fruit scones with freshly made lemon curd and clotted cream, homemade soups, salads, finger sandwiches, tea breads, muffins, and assorted desserts. Reservations are encouraged since there are a limited number of tables.

The bottom line is that first dates don’t have to reduce you to a bundle of raw nerves. A little planning, the right attitude, and being open to having fun and living in the moment can go a long way.

Larkspur and Hawk is revisiting designs and techniques of the past…and reinterpreting them for a modern audience.

For most of us, childhood memories of the Jersey Shore involve a cardboard box of old postcards, the odd seashell, and assorted snapshots of family vacations. For Emily Satloff, those memories are expressed in the artistry and design that has made her jewelry brand, Larkspur and Hawk, one of the hottest on the market. Satloff, a lifelong summer-and-weekend resident of a gracious Victorian home in Monmouth County, creates pieces that evoke memories of a warm, elegant way of life—of multi-generational gatherings of friends and families that moved easily between New York and New Jersey…and of countless hours spent browsing shore antique stores with her mother.

I first noticed Larkspur and Hawk during a party at a friend’s home. My eye was drawn to her stunning rose quartz and gold earrings. Having just been to Bergdorf’s, I thought I recognized the expensive designer who made them. Later, when I called my host to thank her—and complimented her on her jewelry—she informed me that I had actually met the designer that night at her house.

I quickly went on-line and discovered that the earrings, while they look important and are real, were much more within my budget. Better yet, I could purchase them during my next trip into the city—at Barney’s and also at Blue Tree, a lifestyle store owned and curated by Phoebe Cates Kline. Similar, more colorful Larkspur and Hawk earrings, were available on the web at Net-a-Porter. I read that Emily Satloff is both a dealer of antique jewelry and a designer of antique-inspired contemporary rings, earrings and necklaces. Intrigued, I contacted her to hear her story.

“My interest in Victorian jewelry and antiques,” explains Satloff, a former Curator of Decorative Arts at the New York Historical Society and Curatorial Consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “is a by-product of the stately homes that have lined the streets of Deal and Elberon over the last century or so. I love the history of objects. At the Historical Society, it was like working in a grandmother’s attic. I enjoy researching the history of an item, be it esoteric or pedestrian—like George Washington’s toothbrush. Everything is a miniature piece of history and has a story to tell.”

Out of this love and exposure to antiques, she first collected affordable antique jewelry for herself. “I would research each piece—how the lapidarian techniques make a stone more vibrant and how industrial material like cut steel can appear like rose-cut diamonds,” she recalls, “and then educate my clients. About five years ago, I was admiring the effect of foil-backed gemstones and thought: I should take a stab at creating antique-inspired jewelry.”

And so Larkspur and Hawk was born.

“Now I take old ideas and put my own spin on it,” she says. “All the pieces are handmade and I design, pick the stones and hand-paint the foils.”

In the last year, her business has taken off. But Satloff is determined to “grow smart” as she puts it, and not mass-produce. In the meantime, her jewelry is showing up on fashion plates (Tory Burch), the red carpet (Mariska Hartigay) and the silver screen (Friends with Kids). Something good and beautiful, inspired by New Jersey, is finally getting the right sort of attention.

WIN, PLACE OR SHOW

The Trinitas Health Foundation hosted its Night at the Races at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford. More than 175 guests enjoyed an evening of dining at Pegasus Restaurant and the thrill of harness racing while raising $38,000 for the Foundation.

STRENGTHENING THE  ENVIRONMENT OF CARE

Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery, located in Linden, proudly continues its philanthropic activities which generously assist Trinitas. By partnering with Trinitas, Phillips 66 has helped the medical center address pressing equipment needs throughout the facility. Grant writers in the Trinitas Health Foundation have successfully presented grant proposals to the company, and it has responded generously to those requests for funding to enhance the medical center’s capabilities to continue to respond to the health care needs of the community.

With its proximity to the Trinitas Regional Medical Center it seemed like a natural fit for Phillips 66.  In the past several years, Phillips 66 has provided funding toward the creation of an electronic medical records system. The new data system not only eliminates costly and redundant paper, but more importantly provides a consistent means of sharing recorded documentation among health care professionals who are involved in patient care and treatment.

The latest grant that Phillips 66 made to Trinitas will be directed towards the purchase of state-of-the-art cardiac monitors that will be used throughout the medical center. Such monitors are specialized for the departments in which they are used and are critical to the appropriate care and treatment that patients receive.

Nadine Brechner and Gary S. Horan of Trinitas showed their appre-ciation to Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery’s Carol Ziegler, Public Affairs Manager (2nd from right) and Mary Phillips, Community Relations Coordinator, (far right) for the company’s most recent grant.

In the game of life, everyone has to play…so what if your teen feels like a benchwarmer?

By J.M. Stewart

The term Life Coach means different things to different people. You can hire one to help you with anything from cleaning out your closet to overcoming an addiction. For some people, a life coach is like an iPad—they didn’t know they needed one until they had one.

For teenagers struggling to find their way, however, a good life coach can mean the world.

Life coaches help navigate difficult changes and transitions. For young people, that can include moving from an old neighborhood to a new one, from a divorce to a remarriage, from high school to college—or out of a feeling of isolation. A life coach functions as a personal cheering squad and support group rolled into one, offering guidance toward a more balanced and happy life.

A generation ago, the idea of hiring a life coach sounded self-indulgent and a waste of money—something a bored, aimless yuppie would do. Life coaches made convenient fodder for sitcom writers. Today, there’s nothing to laugh about. Not only have life coaches gained in popularity and acceptance, there are numerous certification and training courses available (think amped-up Psych 101 courses) lasting from a few weeks to six months.

That being said, some of the most experienced, competent and successful life coaches are not certified. Their view is that most courses don’t offer the tools that a background in psychology—combined with years of working as a coach—has taught them. But, for the newbies, having a certification doesn’t hurt.

Why then, one might reasonably ask, wouldn’t you just go to a psychologist or other licensed professional instead of hiring a life coach?

“Sometimes,” explains Dove Rose, a highly regarded life coach based in California, “a regular psychologist, psychiatrist is problem-solving with medication or analyzing the past…you’re just in the hamster wheel, regurgitating the same story over and over, instead of trying to live a different story now.”

Indeed, the client–coach relationship is more casual than the psychotherapist–patient relationship. Psychologists rely mostly on scheduled office visits, whereas a life coach is accessible day or night by phone, through emails and texts, or on Skype. A life coach will also come to your home; psychologists don’t. Naturally, a good life coach is always aware that there is a very fine line between knowing when a client just needs someone to talk to, and when there are danger signs of a more serious rooted problem. That is when a life coach recommends the client seek help from a licensed professional.

What types of issues prompt a call to a life coach? Just about any complex lifestyle issue is fair game. In the case of teenagers, the trigger might be remoteness and slipping grades. As a parent, everything you read and hear screams Oh, no—my kid’s on drugs! A life coach who comes in and builds trust with that teen is likely to discover an alternative scenario. For instance, the parents might be raging alcoholics and the teenager doesn’t have the tools to cope with it. Sometimes, the kid just needs a friend who will listen.

Rick Singer began his career as a coach and director of college-level athletics. For more than 25 years he has made a living as a life coach. He’s done life coaching in the corporate environment, as well on the student level. He has helped countless high-school student-athletes follow their dreams and play college sports, and worked with sports celebrities in planning their goals once their playing careers were over. Singer has been most successful working with teens and young adults in finding a college that is an appropriate fit. He cannot emphasize enough the importance of that “fit”—which is why he named his company The Key.

Teenagers, Singer freely admits, can be notoriously exasperating. It will come as no surprise to parents that he has worked with a number of kids who’ve simply had no interest in growing or taking chances where college is concerned. A lot of the time, Singer points out, it’s the result of overzealous parents who are relentless in the desire for their child to get into a big-name four-year college. In these cases, he sometimes finds the parents are unyieldingly negative to the child and negative to the life coach. In extreme circumstances, if the parents are totally out of control, Rick will actually “fire” them; in any given year he will do so with two to four families. It’s unfortunate because, in his experience, the kid will eventually come around.

Many parents of middle-school children hire life coaches. Their goal is to help their young teen deal with issues ranging from time management and personal grooming to weight loss and inferiority complexes. If your 8th grader hands in her homework on time but it’s a crumpled mess, and the teacher deducts points, a life coach might recommend using a folder. You’ve been telling your daughter that for a month—but does she listen? No, of course not. You are a meddling, know-nothing parent. When that same nugget of wisdom comes from a trusted, outside voice, that is the voice your 8th grader will choose to hear.

Before you jump into hiring a life coach—for your child or yourself—it’s important to understand that this can be an ongoing relationship. It can start out as once-a-week meetings or phone calls, evolve into every-day communication during panic situations, and then wane to once every two weeks, once a month, or just once in awhile. The cost of all of this support varies. Some coaches charge $60 an hour, some $200 per hour, some$5,000 for a whole year of coaching. So, it’s important to understand the coach’s billing system. Make sure to ask if they charge extra for phone calls, texts and emails.

Life coaches aren’t for everybody, but they do offer people a sense of calm and community, knowing that there is always someone they can talk to. People today often feel isolated as a result of problems at work, at school or at home. And although we are more connected than ever thanks to our myriad devices and social media outlets, it doesn’t mean we feel less isolated, sitting in a room by ourselves. For all of these technological advances, we seem to be losing the human exchanges that keep us whole.

“It takes a village,” Dove Rose likes to remind clients, “to stay sane in this world.”

And yes, you can say that a life coach is really just a paid friend. But you get what you pay for: everything that a really good friend should be.

Life Coaches & College:

5 Minutes with Rick Singer

Q: When is the best time for a life coach to enter into a teenager’s life?

A: A third of our families are in 9th grade, a third are in 10th grade, and the last third are the “panic” families.

Q: What is the difference between what you do as a life coach and a college advisor?

A: A lot of people who do what I do are just college advisors. They don’t engage in the kids’ lives, helping them figure out what they want to be and how to do it in terms of schooling. Life coaches are the people who engage in our clients’ lives and do different things to help them grow, in addition to getting into college. Because I’m in the home, I see everything else that goes on in the house. Whereas most advisors just focus in on the technical aspects of helping a kid get into college—like helping with the application—I do both. I want to help them get into college and I want to help them grow as people. The key is coaching them in everything about their life. There aren’t a lot of people who do it like we do it.

Q: What are some issues that you help with outside of the college process?

A: It can be a lack of motivation, especially with boys. There are kids who have learning “differences” and the parents feel that nobody cares about them; meanwhile they’re smart kids! The high-school advisor has no clue or doesn’t want to take the time to help. I also help to find the right school for the student, now that there are so many schools that the kids are looking at and comparing.

Q: How do parents of girls differ from parents of boys in terms of their goals for college?

A: The typical parents will send their daughter to a private school more so than they would a boy, because the parents of a girl want their kid at a “safe” school, a small, safe college. Boys? The mindset is just throw ’em into any public college—they’ll survive. That is not always the case, however. Sometimes a junior college, or even a trade school, is a more appropriate choice.

News, views and insights on maintaining a healthy edge.

California Cool

Revenge is a dish best served cold. But if scientists at the University of Southern California are right, soon the target of that revenge might not feel it. That’s because neurobiology professor David McKemy and his team have isolated the sensory network of neurons in the skin that relays the sensation of cold to the brain. The USC researchers reported in the February Journal of Neuroscience that they have managed to control TRPM8 (pronounced tripemate)—the sensor of cold temperatures, and also menthol—to “turn off” cold receptors in the skin, without turning off the heat receptors. Their discovery has promising implications in the treatment of pain. “One of our goals,” says Dr. McKemy, “is to pave the way for medications that address the pain directly, in a way that does not leave patients completely numb.”

Drop-Dead Good, Y’all

Earlier this year, at the American Stroke Association’s international conference, research was presented confirming what everyone knows but we’re all too willing to ignore: A diet of Southern-style foods is directly linked to a higher risk of stroke. That diet—characterized by researchers as including fried chicken, fried fish, fried potatoes, bacon, ham, liver, gizzards and sugary drinks—explains why, statistically speaking, Southerners are 20 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than the rest of Americans. “We’ve got three major factors working together in the Southern-style diet to raise risks of cardiovascular disease,” explains lead researcher Dr. Suzanne Judd, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. “Fatty foods are high in cholesterol, sugary drinks are linked to diabetes and salty foods lead to high blood pressure.” This was the first large-scale study on the relationship between down-home cooking and stroke events.

Link Between Folic Acid and Autism

Obstetricians have been recommending folic acid for their patients for decades. Results of a Norwegian study published in the Journal of The American Medical Association provides expecting moms with one more good reason to listen to their baby doctors. Women who took folic acid supplements from four weeks before conception to eight weeks after had a 40 percent lower chance of having an autistic child. Researchers looked for correlations between other supplements and diets—and also explored the affect of folic acid on Asberger Syndrome—but did not find anything of statistical significance. Interestingly, pregnant women who took folic acid beyond the eighth week of pregnancy showed no marked improvement over those who took it for only the first eight weeks. “This vitamin is also known to decrease the risk of neural tube defects to the developing baby,” adds Dr. Orli Langermost, Director of Obstetrics and Perinatal Services at Trinitas. “The Norwegian study reports a lower risk of autism amongst mothers who took folic acid supplements before and during early pregnancy. Although more research is needed to investigate whether this association is causal, it is another great reason for obstetricians to promote prenatal folic acid supplementation to their pregnant patients.” The article was careful to point out that this study does not prove that folic acid supplements can prevent childhood autism. However, the findings are so apparent that they constitute a good argument for further exploration.

The Slim Jim Diet

No, you can’t lose weight eating Slim Jims. But the nitrite-packed meatsticks (that is meat, right?) aren’t as bad for you as you think. You might be surprised to know that fruits, vegetables and your own saliva also contain nitrites. So what gives? The idea that nitrites cause cancer stems from two reports (one in Nature and another in Science) issued in the 1970s, which created a media sensation and triggered a cascade of food-additive legislation. In 2012, Dr. Andrew Milkowski of the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, authored a study that attempted to put the threat of nitrites into better context. The Science article, he says, “was later found to be flawed—but that was not nearly as well-publicized.” Dr. Milkowski also points out that the human body makes 70 to 100 milligrams of nitrite per day. By contrast, a cooked hotdog, a side order of bacon or a Slim Jim has only a few milligrams of nitrite left in it (if that). In other words, you’d have to eat 30 or 40 Slim Jims to take in the same amount of nitrites you get swallowing your own spit every day. Bon appétit!

Oils Well that Ends Well?

Not all polyunsaturated vegetable oils are created equal. According to the results of the Sydney Diet Heart Study, which monitored 458 Australian men—aged 30 to 59—with a history of cardiovascular problems, oils containing Omega-6 fatty acid did not live up to their long-touted health benefits. On the contrary, the study found that participants who consumed vegetable oils rich in Omega-6 (in the form of safflower oil and safflower oil polyunsaturated margarine), actually had an elevated risk of death from all causes—including death due to coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease. Some scientists are now saying that the American Heart Association’s recommendation that people get more Omega-6 fatty acid may need to be revisited. “People just ran with s the ball that polyunsaturates are good for you, so therefore each individual one must be good for you,” says Richard Bazinet, a nutrition professor at the University of Toronto. “That turns out not to be true.” Omega-6 oils include safflower and corn oil. Omega-3 oils, which lived up to their billing as “heart-healthy” in the Australian study, include canola oil, and oil from flaxseed, walnuts and fish such as salmon and trout. Soybean oil contains both Omega-3 and Omega-6. Michelle Ali, RD, Director of Food & Nutrition Services at Trinitas, points out that while this study finds that polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) or specifically, safflower oil, was not as beneficial—and may be detrimental to those with heart disease—she doesn’t believe that the message presented by the American Heart Association (AHA) is completely wrong. “Since October 2000, the AHA has placed more emphasis on foods rather than on percentage of food components, such as fat, cholesterol, etc.,” she explains. “However, as the science evolves we will find that changes will have to be made and the public educated.”

Hidden from the Nazis as a boy, TRMC’s Neurology Chief honors the women who helped him survive

By Erik Slagle

When a neurology patient recovers from injury or trauma, there’s a bit of mystery to how the brain responds—even a bit of a miracle. Dr. Bernard Schanzer has been working those miracles for more than 40 years, first as a neurology resident at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, and later as chair of the Trinitas Neurology Department, the position he holds today. His personal story, though, might be the most miraculous one of all.

Bernard and his twin brother, Henry, grew up in Belgium during the 1930s, unaware of the horrors that awaited Jewish families. In the spring of 1940, as the German Army rolled through their country, they fled with their parents and sister, Anna, to neighboring France. The children eventually found sanctuary with the Bonhomme family on a farm in Saint-Etienne, near Lyon.

Dr. Bernard Schanzer (l) of Trinitas and his brother Henry pose for a family picture with Camille Panchaut, great-great-granddaughter and great-grandniece of the women who sheltered the Schanzer brothers from Nazis in France during World War II.

Dr. Schanzer recounts his story without a drop of melodrama. However, one can hear the exuberance pouring out in every word when he talks about the Bonhomme women. “Adolphine Dorel and her daughter, Jeanne Bonhomme, were unbelievable individuals,” he says. “For someone in France, at that time, to have this grandeur of spirit was incredible. And in many ways, Adolphine Dorel was my grandmother. My Meme.”

Hidden from the occupying Nazis, the boys fashioned yarmulkes out of cloth and recited the only Jewish prayer they knew. One night, Adolphine overheard them and asked what the prayer meant. She asked to learn it, and prayed with them to help them feel safe. The Bonhomme family was sheltering the Schanzer children—the boys with Adolphine, Anna with Jeanne—at great risk to themselves, and yet they never felt unwelcome.

“If they had been caught, they could have been deported for what they were doing, yet we never felt anything but safe and secure when we were with them,” recalls Dr. Schanzer. He talks about them through a contagious smile—testament to the light, the courage and the love that surrounded him and his siblings during that horrific epoch.

Bernard and Henry survived the war, made their way to the United States, started families of their own and became the proud grandfathers of 39 grandchildren between them. Last year, members of the Schanzer clan had the opportunity to meet Camille Ponchaut, the teenage great-great-granddaughter of Adolphine Dorel (and great-grandniece of Jeanne Bonhomme), when she came to America for a three-month study abroad program. During her stay, a delegation led by Senator Raymond Lesniak held a ceremony at the Statehouse in Trenton honoring Adolphine and Jeanne in a Resolution for their bravery.

“I knew about the role my family had played in their lives,” says Camille, “but I had never heard a detailed story before I met them. I was indeed very proud to discover more about my ancestors—how they were able to hide children during the Holocaust.”

For Senator Lesniak, the presentation of the resolution to the Schanzers and to Camille was part of a very personal storyline: Dr. Schanzer had treated the Senator following his stroke last summer. “Dr. Schanzer’s approach is very understated, and as a patient, that really builds your confidence,” Lesniak says; then he laughs. “This is how understated he is—it was during a follow-up exam that Dr. Schanzer asked me if I would do him a favor and arrange a tour of the statehouse for Camille. I said, ‘You want me to do you a favor?’ I was absolutely honored. He is a giant in the field of neurology in New Jersey.”

Dr. Schanzer says his greatest professional joys are still teaching and working with his residents. He’s seen the medical center—and the city of Elizabeth—undergo far-reaching changes since he joined the staff in 1970. “I was in residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine,” he recalls. “A friend there referred me to what was then Elizabeth General Hospital. At that time, there were no fully trained neurologists in the area.”

These days, he oversees a department full of them.

In a profession where positive outcomes are everything, one wonders how the course of countless lives and careers might have been altered had Dr. Schanzer’s path not crossed that of Camille Ponchaut’s ancestors. “When all the lights were out in Europe,” he says, “Jeanne and Adolphine were stars. They are true examples of how we should behave and respect other people. How many people today can say they would have the courage to do what they did?”

How has the Human Genome Project changed the way we look at life?

By Christine Gibbs

The human body consists of more than 100 million million cells. Each contains a complete set of blueprints that determines who and what we are. Reading those blueprints was the goal of the Human Genome Project. By analyzing the sequence of the cellular gene pairs that make up that incredible macromolecule—our DNA—scientists hoped to unlock secrets that would lead to the prediction and prevention of future health issues, as well as designing treatments for all manner of diseases. The first significant results of the Human Genome Project were released to the public in 2003. Since then, an international army of biotech researchers has been using this information to explore the genetic differences that increase the risk for certain common diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, in order to develop effective cures and treatments.

When the Human Genome Project began, it laid out a set of ground rules for its participants:

• Identify all the genes in human DNA
• Sequence the chemical base pairs that make up human DNA
• Store this information in databases
• Improve the tools used to analyze this data
• Address the ethical, legal and social issues that are likely to arise and
• Transfer technologies to the private sector

Wait. What? That last item caught a lot of people off guard. Why would government-funded research centers in the US, UK, Japan, France, Germany and Spain simply hand over their breakthroughs to pharmaceutical companies and biotech firms? The directive to share technology with the private sector was originally intended to encourage friendly cooperation for the good of humankind. Needless to say, it actually generated some not-so-friendly competition—and, at times, near open warfare. Ironically, it was this rivalry that spurred some of the most productive research, and resulted in impressive scientific advances.

THE GREAT RACE

A case in point is J. Craig Venter, recognized as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the genomics arena (he was included in 2008 on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world). Venter launched his career in bioscience with the Human Genome Project as a colleague of Dr. Francis Collins, who headed the National Human Genome Research Institute, which was formed under the National Institutes of Health. In his autobiography, A Life Decoded, Venter said he became frustrated with the slow pace of progress with the project, prompting him to fund his own company. To do so, he turned to Wallace Steinberg, a lifelong New Jersey resident and entrepreneurial visionary in the private sector. Steinberg was famously quoted in a 1992 New York Times article as saying, “I have this theory that death is a genetic disease.”

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Together, Venter and Steinberg formed a non-profit research center, The Institute for Genomic Research (affectionately called TIGRE). The collaboration was nothing short of remarkable.

Venter’s corporate goal was to sequence the human genome and release it into the public domain faster and cheaper than the Human Genome Project itself. The pressure TIGRE put on the public program led to a redoubling of its efforts. In 2001, the Human Genome Project managed to publish its initial findings for the scientific community one day before Venter’s publication—three years before the project’s original target date. Yet the greater victory may belong to Venter. His “shotgun” approach to sequencing has become the de facto standard still used today. In truth, we are all the winners in this great race. Since then, the scientific advances from both the project and the private sector in deciphering the human genetic code have led to a wide range of improvements.

Topping the list of advances that have come from genetic research are those made in personalizing medical diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Human genome mapping will soon become more available and popular as the cost (currently about $8,000) is reduced to a more affordable $1,000. That’s less than an MRI, which is mind-boggling when you consider that it cost the Human Genome Project about $400 million to sequence the first genome of a cancer cell. Already we are learning why certain cancer treatments are more effective than others—and that some patients may not be getting the best treatment at all.

Indeed, on a recent CBS This Morning segment, Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported that as much as one-third of current cancer patients are getting the “wrong” treatment for their particular type of cancer. Dr. Gupta explained that genomic mapping research should help reduce this percentage by pinpointing the best possible treatment regimens according to personal genetic markers.

A deeper understanding of the inner workings of DNA has led to breakthroughs that extend far beyond our own bodies. For instance, analyzing the genome structure of non-human species has resulted in raising hardier, healthier, and safer crops and animals. Through that pesky government requirement to share genome technology with the private sector there have been major improvements in the “greening” of many industries, resulting in cleaner and more efficient processing of chemicals, textiles, food products, fuels, and more. In the area of environmental biotechnology, genome technology has led to producing biodegradable products, finding new energy resources, and initiating hazardous site cleanup. And recently we learned that five major mental illnesses share a common genetic root—the result of the largest-ever genetic study of psychiatric disorders.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION

If you’re like most Americans, the greatest impact the Human Genome Project has had on your daily life is the TV crime show. You can’t turn the channel without finding an episode that hinges on the breathlessly awaited results

from the “DNA lab.” A whole new vocabulary has crept into our daily lives, as well as a whole new set of expectations. We are all experts, it would seem, in solving cases with technology developed during the Human Genome Project. In fact, cagey lawyers have made this awareness a part of criminal defense cases, elevating the burden of proof to the molecular level. “Where’s the DNA evidence?” they ask…and juries nod in agreement. Like most things on TV, it really doesn’t work that way. Most crime scenes produce no usable or relevant DNA.

That being said, criminology has benefited. Suspects in certain crimes can be ruled out, leaving police more time to focus on their investigations. And the guilty can be brought to justice where traditional evidence might prove inconclusive. Perhaps most important, the wrongfully imprisoned have been exonerated in significant numbers thanks to analysis of DNA evidence. In addition, anthropology has benefited. Paternity claims have been resolved through simple DNA smears. DNA can be used to match organ donors. And even national security has been impacted by improvements in detecting and resisting harmful biological warfare agents.

At what point, however, do we cross the line into the realm of too much information? How much about ourselves do we really want to know? The classic question is: “If your genome mapping raises the possibility of a serious disease lurking somewhere in your future—especially one for which there is currently no known treatment or cure, such as Alzheimer’s—would you want to know?” Regardless of the answer, the next question is: “Who else might find out?”

This raises the serious issue of privacy. The possible consequences are real. Insurance premiums might rise after the insurer is notified of a predisposition to a life-threatening illness. An employer might be less motivated to hire someone with a less than perfect genome profile. Colleges may reject students on the same basis. Once your genetic information has been published, the genie is out of the bottle, so to speak. The possibility exists that you could become a victim of genetic discrimination through unauthorized access to personal health records.

The primary weapon against such violations of privacy is HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which spells out your rights regarding personal health information, and limiting who may access and use that information. Yet medical identity theft can and does occur. According to a report released from the Ponemon Institute, a privacy and security research firm, it is a $30 billion a year crime in the United States.

While other American industries have been constricted by the recent recession, the genomics business has been fairly booming. Building off the Human Genome Project, researchers are breaking new ground every day. Even with recent budget cutbacks, as a nascent industry, genomics is building an impressive track record. Ernst & Young in 2011 reported that there were 1,870 public and private biotech companies in the U.S. alone, with annual revenues totaling $58.8 billion. A striking success story is Human Genome Sciences (HGS) which, with the backing of Goldman Sachs in 2009, raised more than $800 million through stock offerings. Competition is fierce. R&D is expensive. But potential profit can be irresistible.

Despite serious concerns such as medical identity theft and genetic engineering, the value added by the Human Genome Project to the quality of our lives is undeniable. Among its proponents is none other than Dr. Mehmet Oz, who encourages everyone to become familiar with their own genetic architecture. As he noted in a recent issue of O Magazine, “Our one-size-fits-all approach to medicine will soon be a thing of the past.” Of course, Dr. Oz tempers his enthusiasm with a not-unexpected caveat: Always work closely with your doctor.

Genomics 101

Let’s flex our left brain with some basic scientific vocabulary. Besides being a mouthful, the term Deoxyribonucleic Acid (or the more familiar short form DNA) is the chemical name for a macromolecule that encodes essential genetic instructions. These instructions determine the development of not only every single known organism, but many hazardous viruses, too.

Moving up the vocabulary ladder, a gene is the basic unit of inheritance passed on to us from each parent. Genes determine diverse personal traits, ranging from how we look to how we metabolize, how we fight infection and even how we behave. Individual genes (approximately 20,000 of them) reside on “packages” of DNA called chromosomes within a cell’s nucleus. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, contributed by both parents, one of which determines sex—the X and Y chromosome.

The operative word in the Human Genome Project—a genome—is an aggregate of all of the aforementioned genetic information. The human genome is made up of the macromolecule DNA, which is the main component of our genes and chromosomes. The genome is simply “everything.”

Products with an Edge

By Christine Gibb

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In her upcoming book, Martha Stewart offers a new design for living.

By Sarah Rossbach

There’s no way to avoid the fact that life is finite. And so it’s wise, at some juncture, to ponder how to live life well. My parents and in-laws were wonderful prototypes: engaged, nurturing grandparents. Sadly this isn’t always the case. In my twenties, I discovered a frightening breed of wizened elderly who emerged from their apartments on Senior Tuesdays to terrorize the local supermarket—crabby crones elbowing and shoving over produce, grumpy old geezers maneuvering walkers and canes that accidentally, on purpose, tripped up fellow shoppers. It was a veritable gerontological demolition derby. What happened to make these people forget their humanity and behave so badly in their old age? If only those crusty, complaining, miserable folks had been able to read Martha Stewart’s new book on aging gracefully, Living the Good Long Life.

The name, the brand, the media empire. Martha Stewart, like her or not, brings to mind weddings, entertaining, do-it-yourself craft projects, seasonal recipes—all aspects of living graciously. Now in her eighth decade (Martha’s 72 years old), she has departed from her signature material approach to life and penned a 400-plus-page instructional, a practical guide to aging gracefully.

Martha draws on the collective insight of assorted experts, including her mother and herself, to provide lucid advice, step-by-step exercises and helpful medical information that every aging person will find useful. It reads like a trusted older friend dispensing wisdom. Encouraging us to be the “CEO” of our own wellness, Martha covers nutrition, exercise, cosmetic health and caring for a loved one. No subject is too embarrassing or off-limits. From incontinence, hormone replacement and prostate, to plastic surgery (she hasn’t had it, yet), fillers like Restylane, and Botox—and everything in-between, including sex—Martha tackles it all in a simple, clear, straightforward way.

Given how the Baby Boom generation is advancing toward the rocking chair, this is a very timely and useful book. Many a qualified gerontologist is probably kicking him/herself for not coming up with this idea.  But I doubt they could have written such an approachable book. Martha and her team have sifted through mountains of medical studies, heaps of lore and practical information and organized the relevant data in this easy-to-use and digest resource. While I’m sure some will quibble that she’s left out this or that, I imagine Living the Good Long Life will serve nicely as a sort of What to Expect When You’re Elderly, as well as a valuable resource for children caring for an elderly parent.

That being said, this is hardly textbook Martha Stewart. On the contrary, in many respects it is a departure from the Martha stereotype. Of all the areas she covers, her focus on mind, attitude and spirit strikes me as being most different. She approaches life and its challenges on a far deeper level than in her previous books. She provides the information and approach that are critical in determining whether you age positively or miserably.  Over and over, she stresses a positive outlook and offers suggestions on how to enjoy your later years with grace, love and a sense of adventure.

While diet, eating healthy fresh produce, sensible exercise and good habits enhance our bodies, how do we feed and enrich our soul? To this end, the love of pets, offspring and friends, volunteerism and openness to the new play a large role. Martha draws much of her inspiration not only from reflecting on her own life, but also from her positive relationship and experience with her mother as she aged. Her love and admiration is palpable in these pages.

I’ll be curious how this wonderful book is received by the broader public. While Living the Good Long Life was written with the best intentions, a more jaded reader might wonder if a whole new Martha brand for marketing to the aging will emerge: Martha vitamins, Martha hearing aids, Martha walkers, Martha diapers, even Martha dentures (for the record, she prefers dental implants). If so, bring it on!

Over the years, Martha Stewart has given us meticulous, easy-to-follow instructions for a range of delicious dishes from coq au vin to boeuf bourguignon to valentine cookies to the perfect piecrust. Now, more importantly, in this new book, she gives us her most treasured recipe of all—the one for growing old in happiness, good health and grace.

Editor’s Note: Living the Good Long Life ($35.00, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.) will be available on May 7th. For the latest news, photos, and recipes from Martha— delivered daily—log onto marthastewart.com.

Photo credit: Reprinted from the book Living the Good Long Life. Copyright © 2013 by Martha Stew-art Living Omnimedia, Inc. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.

Far from the familiar—and a million miles away from life in the Garden State—intrepid travelers are discovering there’s a whole new meaning to ‘Living on a Prayer’

By Douglas MacPherson

We instinctively seek a paradisiacal and special place on earth…because we know in our inmost hearts that the earth was given to us in order that we might find meaning, order, truth and salvation in it.” So wrote Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who was a lifelong seeker of just such paradisiacal and special places. There are times when we deliberately journey to a “special place” in search of spiritual fulfillment. Humankind has been making such journeys since the dawn of time. We call them pilgrimages.

But then there are times when we come across places that have been invested with spiritual significance by people whose beliefs seem worlds apart from our own. Such times are rare and much to be valued, for none of us can know in what place and at what time in our lives we may be touched by a presence well beyond our understanding.

MACHU PICHU • PERU

In the ancient Andean language of Quechua (spoken by the Incan people long before their subversion by Spanish conquistadores), Machu Pichu means Place of Peace and Power. Today, the rocky remains of what once was a thriving holy city draw scholars from all over the world. They come intent on broadening their archaeological knowledge of pre-Columbian life in the New World. The hillside ruins, located at an altitude of 9,000 feet in the Vilabamba range of the Andes, overlook the Urubamba River. This dramatic site comprises Peru’s most visited tourist attraction. But to the descendants of the Incan peoples, whose forefathers constructed Machu Pichu, the gray granite rows speak with a powerful eloquence of a long-ago grandeur and puissance, when the Incan Kingdom embraced an area larger than the Roman Empire. So ingeniously was Machu Pichu constructed that even though some of the stones weigh more than 50 tons, it is not possible to insert the very thinnest of knife blades between one stone and another.

The ancients among the local Indian people repeat the legend as it was told to them: The sacred Intihuatana Stone, focal point of Machu Pichu, is recognized as the hitching post of the Sun. Twice a year, at the summer and winter equinoxes, it is poised on the tip of that sacred stone. It’s a moment that bespeaks the dependency of the people on the life-sustaining power of the sun. In the thin clear air of Machu Pichu, even the most indifferent of visitors is aware of a force that is as vital a presence as the ancient granite stones themselves.

ISE SHRINE • JAPAN

In southern Honshu, in Japan’s Mie prefecture near the city of Ose can be found what many Japanese consider the most sacred place on earth. It is called the Ise Shrine. Its spiritual powers date back as far as 680 A.D., to the time of Emperor Temmu. This Shinto place of worship, meditation and healing stands amidst an ancient forest of Japanese cedar. Even the surrounding trees themselves are thought to be invested with a life-affirming force. The mystic powers, so reverently sought by visitors—be they Shinto or Christian, Buddhist or Confucian—are evenly divided between the Inner Shrine and the Outer Shrine. The Ise Shrine, beloved by millions of the faithful, embraces a belief rooted in wabi-sabi which holds that all things tangible must inevitably be impermanent. This conviction is dramatically reaffirmed every 20 years by the total dismantling of one of the sacred structures. Once dismantled it is ceremoniously rebuilt on an adjacent sacred piece of land in strict adherence to techniques and designs laid down many centuries ago. It is a powerful reminder of human mortality and the necessarily transient nature of life.

BLUE LAKE • NEW MEXICO

High in the snow-capped peaks of the Sangre de Christo mountains, above Taos, is the Blue Lake, a natural wonder of inestimable beauty. It’s a sanctuary sacred to the Pueblo Indians. In 1906, Teddy Roosevelt decreed that the Blue Lake and its surrounding woodlands should be incorporated into the nation’s national park system. But the local Pueblo Indians took exception to TR’s ruling. The lake, they declared, was sacred—and had been recognized as such since long before white men ever set foot in the region. Furthermore, it was the dwelling place of Great Spirits. To open the area to park visitors would be a sacrilege. Theirs was a long and often seemingly hopeless battle.

On December 15, 1970, Richard Nixon, with the approval of Congress, restored Blue Lake and 48,000 surrounding acres to be henceforth and forever private Pueblo Indian property. Today, it can be visited only with permission of Pueblo authorities. On rare occasions outsiders may be invited to attend sacred rituals performed at Blue Lake. Those fortunate enough to have attended these rituals attest to the mystical powers of the lake.

SHEMBE SHRINE • SOUTH AFRICA

Because the diminutive town of Ekuphakameni in the Natal province of South Africa is the burial place of Isaiah Shembe, it is venerated as a shrine by members of the Shembe faith. Shembe was a Zulu. In the Zulu language, Ekuphakameni means Place of Spiritual Uplift. It was in 1916 that Isaiah experienced divine revelation, which inspired him to found the Shembe Church. Today, Shembe is regarded as the largest independent, indigenous church in all of Africa and counts more than three million members, most of them Zulu. Shembe teaches peace, healing and a deep reverence for all living things, both plant and animal. At the beginning of every new year, 20,000 barefoot pilgrims, dressed in white robes, make a three-day pilgrimage along an 80-miles route to Ekuphakameni. Religious observances last a minimum of three days and consist largely of hymn singing and the performing of age-old dances. Unlike many African religious rites, the Shembe worshippers invite visitors to participate or, if they prefer, simply to observe. Everyone without exception is welcome and is accorded the high level of hospitality which is such a scrupulous principle of the Zulu people.

BAHA’I HANGING GARDENS • ISRAEL

The Baha’i Hanging Gardens in Haifa constitute one of Israel’s most visited tourist attractions. They have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Gardens are dedicated to the 19th century founders of the Baha’I Faith and, as such, are revered as the spiritual center of that Faith. Yet people of any faith (or of no faith whatsoever) are welcome to visit all year round. Built in a series of terraces on the slopes of Mt. Carmel, they are generally conceded to be among the most spectacular gardens in the world. They attract garden-lovers, botanists, landscape designers and students of many disciplines.

The Baha’i, who are independent of both Christian and Judaic teachings, believe in a God who seeks to enlighten all people through his prophets or messengers, among them Moses, Abraham, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, Christ and Mohammed. They view all prophets to be of equal significance, though divinity is ascribed to none. The Baha’i hold that life is synonymous with the obligation to seek truth through the study of religion, science, the arts and public service. Baha’i Faith teaches the oneness of all people, undivided by race, language, or gender. The religion was born in 19th century Persia as monotheistic, eternal, without beginning or end. Its leaders have long suffered persecution at the hands of Islamic leaders, who hold the Baha’i to be apostates. Although the Baha’i Faith is well established in 247countries around the world, and its teachings have been translated into hundreds of languages, its primary center is in Haifa.

ULURU • AUSTRALIA

In Australia, the area best known to tourists as Ayers Rock has been considered sacred by the Aboriginal peoples of that country since the dawn of time. The rock is honeycombed with caves that are covered with Aboriginal paintings. Located in the center of Australia, southwest of Alice Springs, it was given the name of Ayers Rock by the first European explorers who knew nothing of its sacred connotations. Ayers Rock stands in the center of the Uluru-Kata Tjuata National Park, which covers 512 square miles. The rock itself is 1,141 feet high. A steep one-mile trail enables visitors to climb to the rock’s summit.

To those who hold Ayers Rock sacred it is known as Uluru. The beliefs that are ascribed to Uluru are integral to what is called The Dreaming—which holds that the spirits of human ancestors came to earth to create the land and all its features. Once their work was completed, those same spirits remained and changed from human form into stars, sunsets, rocks, rivers, shrubs, trees, stones and animals. As such they are ever-present. For Aboriginal believers, The Dreaming is never-ending, linking the past and the present, the people and the land; all that is sacred is in the land.

Knowledge of sacred sites is learned through initiation and the teaching of Aboriginal law. It is, by definition, not public knowledge. This is why the existence of many sites might not be shared with the wider world, lest they be violated. The Aboriginal owners of Uluru call themselves Anangu and ask visitors to do so, too.

NEWGRANGE • IRELAND

One kilometer north of the River Boyne, in County Meath, one of Ireland’s most sacred sites can be found. Newgrange, historians theorize, was built about 3200 BC, during the Neolithic period. It predates Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. Visitors today view a large circular mound faced by a stone retaining wall. A stone passageway penetrates into the interior of the mound, with numerous chambers opening off the main passageway. Its exact origins are shrouded in mystery. There is no consensus about the type of rites enacted within and around the mound, although all agree that they were of religious significance. The mound is aligned with the rising sun and its light floods the interior chamber on the winter solstice.

For reasons unknown, the entry into the mound was closed and sealed for many centuries and was only re-discovered in the 17th century. Allusions to the mound are found in Irish mythology and ancient folk tales. Despite the obscurity that surrounds the origins of Newgrange, it bears a striking resemblance to Neolithic sites found in Scotland, Wales and other part of western Europe. In the 1970’s, controversial reconstruction was undertaken that redefined the entryway into the interior. The authenticity of that reconstruction remains, to this day, a source of endless debate among historians. Yet archaeologist Colin Renfrew writes that Newgrange “is long unhesitatingly regarded by the prehistorian as the great national monument of Ireland.”

ALLAHABAD, INDIA

Once every 12 years, Hindus from all over India congregate in Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. They come to celebrate the Kumbh Mela Festival, which coincides with the alignment of Jupiter and the Moon. Hindu scripture teaches that, at this time, anyone bathing in the river waters will receive a blessing that can be passed down from one generation to another. Kumbh Mela translates roughly as fair pitcher; it is said that Allahabad (which is also known as Prayag) is one of four places in the country where drops of nectar once fell from the pitcher carried by Hindu gods.

During the 55 days that the festival lasts, countless millions journey to and from Allahabad to partake in the festivities. And countless is exactly the right word here; no one has a clue even how to tally the mass of humanity involved. One thing can be said with absolute certainty, however: Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of religious pilgrims on the face of the earth.

“We cut into the half-bird, dipped the meat and crispy skin into the sunset-color butter, and wondered why we weren’t doing this at home.”

by Andrea Clurfeld

Hamilton’s Grill Room

8 Coryell St., Lambertville • 609.397.4343

Hours: Open for lunch Thursday through Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; reserva-tions not necessary. Open for dinner Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m.; reservations recommended. BYOB, though should you forget to bring along wine, it can be purchased at The Boat-house just across the courtyard in The Porkyard complex.

Prices: Appetizers: $9 to $17. Soups and salads: $3.50 to $14.50. Entrees: $22 to $39. Sides: $6.50. All major credit cards accepted.

It’s the late 1970s, and Jim Hamilton is zipping around an alleyway off Coryell Street in Lambertville. He’s in the process of converting a semi-crumbling former sausage factory back here into… well, I’ll recreate the gist of it much as he spoke:

“An antiques shop, galleries, maybe an art studio,” Hamilton says with a sweep of his arm. “A cluster of spaces.” He speaks of the need for creative souls to have room to work by the canal and the river (that’d be the Delaware), as well as a supportive community. “A restaurant, we’ll put the restaurant back here. There has to be a restaurant, a place for people to come together. Simple food, fresh food.”

At this point, Hamilton stops moving and looks at the novice reporter (me) whose scribbling cannot keep pace with his free-flowing storm of ideas. We’ll freeze this frame, a la Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life on the face of Jim Hamilton, award-winning Broadway set designer. His eyes bright and focused, his mouth offering a half-moon smile, his body now in a half-lean against some half-beam, he is convinced that Lambertville—his old hometown, the place he has come back to for its good bones and endless potential—is going to someday be one of the most desirable destinations in all of New Jersey; visually arresting, creatively energetic, spiritually satisfying. He convinces 20-something me.

I move there.

Every time I return, I start at The Porkyard, the name Hamilton gave to the old sausage factory that did, indeed, become exactly what he dreamed, and then some. The Porkyard jump-started Lambertville’s renaissance as the city (it’s New Jersey’s smallest) with the most to look at per square inch. Around every corner is a design gem, be it a detail or a top-to-toe restoration.

Today, The Porkyard, a must-stop in the diverse, design-centric downtown commercial district, is flourishing. There are antiques, art and a tiny and inviting two-story Mecca for drinks called The Boathouse, all of which are anchored by Hamilton’s Grill Room, the restaurant Jim opened more than 20 years ago. With his daughter Melissa then at the open-kitchen grill, it set the pace for a new style of restaurant dining: food and setting that are all about elegant simplicity and casual sophistication.

Chef Mark Miller fell into step with the distinctive Hamilton style several years ago when he took charge of the kitchen. The seamless transition means the romantic rusticity of the dining rooms can be appreciated without reservation. There’s the high-ceilinged, banqueted Gallery Room, along the canal; the twinkling-lights Garden Room; the private-for-a-party, mural-filled, post-and-beamed Delaware Room, warmed in winter by a Franklin fireplace; the airy and open Grill Room; and the intimate Bishops Room, with a framed mirror on the ceiling and angels painted on bead-board walls. In milder months, outdoor seating along the canal is the prime place to perch at Hamilton’s Grill Room, sipping wines you tote along and reveling in Jim Hamilton’s dreams come true…and food true to Hamilton’s roots as a home cook who believes in the integrity of basic Mediterranean food and using ingredients locally sourced.

You’d be wise to start with an appetizer called “Jim’s Cannelloni,” for this thin sheet of pasta cosseting moist ground pork, a film of tomato and something that’s akin to a breeze of mild, melting cheese is all about casual done right in the kitchen. It’s the gentlest of segues from the slam-bam world of in-your-face flavors to what Hamilton’s cooking is about.

But don’t assume anyone here is afraid of feisty flavors. Take the grilled shrimp, super-sized and moist as served in their shells, which are plied with potent anchovy butter. Long a signature dish, they show how vigorous ingredients such as anchovies can work in accenting roles when properly applied. Speaking of proper, few can do a textbook-correct, pastry-crusted country pate, a sturdy, subtle mélange of meats plated generously with cornichons and spicy mustard. It’s a salute to the kitchen’s core sensibilities.

A toss of romaine hearts, slices of avocado and chunks of ruby grapefruit are a salute to off-season salads. An extra-cost add-on of jumbo-lump bluefin crab is a luxe touch.

To experience Hamilton’s at its best, snag entrees from the grill. A whole bronzino is a thing of beauty here—seared-skin fish you can fillet yourself, or have the kitchen whisk away the bones. If full-service is your wish, just ask to see the whole fish first so you can appreciate its beauty. On the night of our visit, the firm-fleshed fish was very Med in style, served with a compote of olive tapenade that provided just the right punch of salinity to the mild finfish.

Grilled cowboy steak, cooked a little past the requested medium-rare, also was given an equally appropriate schmear to add interest: Creamy blue cheese, piquant and portioned just right, is a classic for the best beef, for sure, but seems to strike some chefs as just not enough. Too bad.

It will be too bad for you if you miss the downright terrific rotisserie chicken here, especially if when you visit it’s given a wash of tomato butter. We cut into the half-bird, dipped the meat and crispy skin into the sunset-color butter, and wondered why we weren’t doing this at home. Again, another oh-so-right moment at Hamilton’s Grill Room.

Then, there are those details, which must be in the Hamilton genes. Each entrée came with roasted cauliflower dusted with sharp, nutty grated Parmigano-Reggiano. We could not get enough of the stuff. We also wished we’d double-ordered the separate sides, particularly the creamy, charred leeks braised with a marinara that resonated San Marzano tomatoes, and the just-for-fun skinny pommes frites.

I remember much about previous suppers here at Hamilton’s Grill Room (sturgeon, mighty sturgeon; my first encounter with the vivacious shrimp-in-anchovy butter; a primo pork chop, flush with warm chutney; a cassoulet, plumped with duck confit), but I don’t recall too many sweets that have left the kind of impression as the savory dishes. On this night we love the perfect-pitch pecan pie, for its crust is light and flaky and it’s happily not too sweet.

I’m having the sweetest memories as we amble out of Hamilton’s Grill Room, knowing the restaurant’s defining chef Melissa Hamilton (she worked as food editor at Saveur, Cook’s Illustrated and Martha Stewart Living magazines) is nearby in Lambertville, now shepherding Canal House Books with her equally talented and food savvy co-conspirator, the writer-photographer Christopher Hirsheimer. I’m remembering going to a minuscule East Village restaurant called Prune shortly after it opened a decade or so ago, loving its food and meeting its chef-owner, who turned out to be Gabrielle Hamilton, also Jim’s daughter. (Gabrielle has won a James Beard Best Chef Award and written the also-award-winning memoir Blood, Bones & Butter.)

Mostly I’m remembering trying to keep up with Jim Hamilton (who, now well into his 80s, still lives in this countrified city) as he told me on that day 35 years ago of all that Lambertville could be. He was right, he tends to be, and it’s fine with me to continue to gasp at the heels of a man who understands the art of living beautifully.

Editor’s Note: Andy Clurfeld is a former editor of Zagat New Jersey. The longtime food critic for the Asbury Park Press also has been published in Gourmet, Saveur and Town & Country, and on epicurious.com. Her post-Sandy stories for NBCNewYork.com rank among the finest media reporting on the superstorm’s aftermath and recovery.

Cooking…By Design

Canal House Cooking is the series of cookery books that brings home the “Essential Hamilton Eating and Cooking Experience.” They’re the brainchild of two like-minded women, Melissa Hamilton, former chef at Hamilton’s Grill Room, and her cooking partner Christopher Hirsheimer.

“Every day we cook,” they write. “‘Canal House Cooking’ is home cooking by home cooks for home cooks.”

The books, published periodically in decidedly un-coffee-table size, are available at Hamilton’s Grill Room. They’re designed by “a group of artists who collaborate on design projects.” The photography is ethereally elegant, yet the food in the photos looks down-home real.

Volume No. 6, for example, is subtitled “The Grocery Store,” and its recipes are inspired by grocery stores grand and esoteric, and also ubiquitous suburban supermarkets that can be at once meh and marvelous. Mostly, though, it’s about cooking from common ingredients, lots of pantry staples, with seasonal stuff as the kick-starter, and includes cocktail bites such as “Cheddar with Mango Chutney,” as well as “Any Night Linguine with Clam Sauce” and “Winter Summer Pudding.”

The cooks’ decision to rent a house for a spell in Tuscany and shop and cook there gave shape to Volume No. 7, “La Dolce Vita.” Living amid Italians, cooking like Italians prompted the women to divine “Meatballs with Mint & Parsley,” “Stuffed Onions Piedmontese” and “Christmas Soup,” with chicken and escarole.

Dinner, anyone?

Surf’s Up! What’s your Beach IQ?

Countless thousands of Garden Staters will head to the Jersey Shore this summer to enjoy a day at the beach. For an unlucky few, that will translate into a night in the ER. Or worse. Truth be told, luck has very little to do with beach-related emergencies. Playing it smart while you play in the water not only keeps you and your family safe, it can help prevent long-term medical issues, too.

How much sun is too much sun?

Emergency Department physicians deal with the pain experienced by patients who have gotten too much sun exposure. I’ve heard some dermatologists say, “A good tan could be the first sign of skin cancer.” That is an extreme statement, but the sun’s ultraviolet rays can damage unprotected skin in as little as 15 minutes. Wear sunscreen with UVA and UVB protection with a Sun Protective Factor (SPF) of 15 or higher, and reapply it often.

How often is often?

Every 2 to 4 hours, especially after swimming or sweating. That’s also true far from the beach, particularly at higher elevations.

What other precautions should I take?

Seek shade, especially during the midday hours [10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) when the sun is strongest. Wear a hat to protect your head and clothing to protect exposed skin. Also, wear sunglasses with UV ray protection to protect your eyes.

How about kids?

Keep babies less than 6 months of age out of the sun, and do not put sunblock on them. The chemicals in sunblock could potentially harm babies. Otherwise, the same basic sunscreen and sun-exposure rules for adults apply to children. It’s really important, by the way, to teach them the importance of protecting their skin, because you won’t always be supervising them when they are outdoors.

How dangerous is the water along the Atlantic Coast?

I worked in Florida for the first 6 years of my career and had the unfortunate experience of witnessing the unthinkable, so trust me when I say never, ever turn your back on the ocean, or underestimate its power—even on the most placid beach days. Drowning is the fifth-leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. It is the leading cause of death among boys 5 to 14 years of age worldwide and the second-leading cause of injury-related death among children 1 to 4 years of age in the United States.

What are some precautions I can take when my kids are in the water?

Supervise young children at all times, even when they are only near the water. And by water I am including creeks, canals, rivers, lakes, hot tubs, pools and bathtubs. It can take only a matter of seconds for a child to accidentally drown. At the beach, make sure each child is swimming with a “buddy”—not another child, but an adult who is designated to enter the water with them. Obviously, you want to teach children to swim and make sure they understand basic water safety. For example, they should know that if they are swept up by a rip current to swim parallel to the shore instead of fighting against it. Adults should know this, too. Many don’t.

In a potential drowning emergency, what do I do?

Identify your surroundings and call for help—make sure a lifeguard or someone with a phone calls 911 to initiate an emergency response medical team. If an unconscious victim is in shallow water (where you can stand) administer five short rescue breaths while still in the water and then proceed to land. Once on land, the victim should be placed on his or her back, airway open. Check to see if the victim is breathing. If not, give another 5 rescue breaths and check for a pulse. If there is no pulse, begin CPR: 30 chest compressions followed by 2 rescue breaths, then repeat the cycle. If vomiting occurs, turn victim onto his side to clear the airway.

Wait, I have to learn CPR?

Yes. Not only for your children’s sake, but for the safety of everyone at the beach. You don’t have to become an expert in ocean rescues—remember, you need to be a strong swimmer before attempting to rescue a swimmer in distress or you could become a victim yourself—but you should be able to administer CPR to a near drowning victim.

Isn’t that the lifeguard’s job?

Yes, again. Which is why you want to swim near areas that have lifeguards on duty whenever possible. But there could come a time when you are the person standing between life and death, and it might be a friend or family member in need of attention.

What are some common water safety mistakes boaters make?

Alcohol consumption is a big one. Consuming alcohol impairs cognitive function which can lead to poor judgment. Another is not having a sufficient number of Coast Guard approved life jackets for the passengers aboard. Make sure there are age-appropriate life jackets for children, and do not accept foam toys or air-filled toys as substitutes for life jackets. A classic mistake boaters make is not checking the weather conditions before heading to the water.

RED MENACE

When it comes to protecting the skin from the sun, some people need to be more cautious than others. You are likely to be at highest risk for melanoma—the third most common skin cancer—if you have…

• a history of multiple sunburns
• lighter skin color*
• red or blond color hair
• multiple moles on your skin
• a suppressed immune system
• a personal history of skin cancer
• a family history of skin cancer

* The risk of melanoma is 10 percent greater for light-skinned people than for dark-skinned people, but everyone should protect their skin— and schedule routine skin exams by a physician or dermatologist.

Did You Know?

Your eyes are covered with ‘skin’ called the cornea. It too, can burn and suffer irreparable sun damage. A good pair of sunglasses in summer should be as important as carrying your cell phone.

Editor’s Note: John D’Angelo, DO, is the Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Trinitas Regional Medical Center. He has been instrumental in introducing key emergency medical protocols at Trinitas, including the life-saving Code STemi, which significantly reduces the amount of time it takes for cardiac patients to move from the emergency setting to the cardiac catheterization lab for treatment.

EDGE takes you inside the area’s most creative kitchens.

The Office Beer Bar & Grill • Asian Burger 

728 Thompson Ave. • BRIDGEWATER

(732) 469-0066 • office-beerbar.com/locations/bridgewater

Our Signature Sirloin burger, topped with an Asian vegetable slaw, sesame ginger aioli, lettuce, and tomato. 

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Paragon Tap & Table • Lobster Ravioli with Chipotle Shrimp Sauce 

77 Central Ave. • CLARK

(732) 931-1776 • paragonnj.com

This house made lobster ravioli is made with semolina flour and filled with a combination of fresh lobster and mascarpone cheese, it’s then topped with a light but flavorful sauce made with shallots, chipotle pepper, broken shrimp and a touch of light cream. This light but flavored dish exemplifies the seasonal menu at Paragon Tap and Table.  

— Eric B. LeVine, Chef/Partner

A Toute Heure/100 Steps Supper Club & Raw Bar

232 Centennial Avenue / 215 Centennial Avenue • CRANFORD

(908) 276-6600 • localrootscranford.com

Spring is finally here!  We are featuring the best “spring” ingredients like local ramps, asparagus, and spring berries!  At 100 Steps, you might find local ramps in the mignonette paired with great NJ oysters!  Or, at A Toute Heure, you might sample ramps on our daily flatbread pizza or crostini!    

— A Toute Heure – Robyn Reiss, Executive Chef / 100 Steps – Kara Decker, Executive Chef

The Office Beer Bar & Grill • Tex-Mex Crunch Burger 

1–7 South Ave. • CRANFORD

(908) 272-3888 • office-beerbar.com/locations/cranford

Sirloin Burger topped with guacamole, crispy tortilla strips, pepper jack cheese, lettuce and tomato. 

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

The Black Horse Tavern & Pub • Summer Smoked Pork Chop 

1 West Main Street • MENDHAM

(963) 543–7300 • blackhorsenj.com

A succulent house-smoked chop served with micro spring herbs and Jersey blueberry gastrique.

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Piattino Neighborhood Bistro • Amalfi Seafood Pasta 

88 East Main Street • MENDHAM

(973) 543-0025 • piattinonj.com

Sautéed shrimp and clams, tomato, roasted garlic, spinach and white wine lobster broth over linguine.

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

The Office Beer Bar & Grill • Jersey “ Wake Up” Call 

619 Bloomfield Ave. • MONTCLAIR

(973) 783-2929 • office-beerbar.com/locations/montclair

Sirloin Burger topped with pork roll, American cheese and a fried egg. Lettuce, tomato and onion! 

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

George and Martha’s American Grille • Sliced Hanger Steak 

67 Morris Street • MORRISTOWN

(973) 267-4700 • georgeandmarthas.com

Served atop a sweet potato purée, with a wild mushroom demi-glaze and pan-roasted asparagus.

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

The Office Tavern Grill • Slow Roasted Chicken Tacos

3 South Street • MORRISTOWN

(973) 285-0220 • officetaverngrill.com

Grilled flour tortilla, achiote spice, guacamole, queso fresco, cilantro and lime. 

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse • Pan Seared Scallops 

1230 Route 22 West • MOUNTAINSIDE

(908) 518-9733 • partyonthegrill.com

Most guests think to visit us for an amazing hibachi meal, but we offer amazing traditional Japanese style dishes such as the Pan Seared Scallops, served with a edamame purée, truffle scented greens, miso lime dressing and bok choy. We also offer the freshest sushi in the area.

Daimatsu • Wild Caught Sushi

860 Mountain Ave. • MOUNTAINSIDE

(908) 233-7888 • daimatsusushibar.com

We are excited to introduce seasonal wild-caught fish from Japan, including (from left) Isaki from SW Japan served with ginger & scallions, Kamasu from Shikoku seared on the skin with sweet yuzu pepper and cured with kombu seaweed,  and Ni-Anago eel braised tender in soy and sweet sake broth.  

— Momo, Chef

Publick House • Grilled Swordfish 

899 Mountain Ave. • MOUNTAINSIDE

(908) 233-2355 • publickhousenj.com

The grilled swordfish is a perfect addition to our menu this Spring. Served over a fresh cut watermelon salad of red onion, pan-roasted brussel sprouts, feta cheese and tossed in a red wine vinaigrette. The swordfish is topped with lemon zest. The balance of flavors and diversity in textures makes this dish a true star. 

— Danilo Ayala, Executive Chef 

Morris Tap & Grill • Smoked Scallops with Corn Risotto

500 Route 10 West • RANDOLPH

(973) 891-1776 • morristapandgrill.com

The house smoked scallop dish balances the delicate flavored of smoked scallops served on a fresh corn risotto. The scallops are then topped with crispy celery root chips and finished with charcoal salt adding the perfect balance to this light dish.

— Eric B LeVine, Chef/Partner

Thai Amarin • Gang Phed Ped Yang

201 Morris Ave. • SPRINGFIELD

(973) 376-6300, (973) 376-6301 • thaiamarinnj.net

A customer favorite, our Gang Phed Ped Yang perfectly blends a spicy and savory red curry base with delicious coconut milk and fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and pineapples. All of these fantastic flavors are served over our exceptionally crispy duck.  

— Amy Thana, Owner

Café Z • Cappellini Arugula del Gamberoni 

2333 Morris Avenue • UNION

(908) 686-4321 • CafeZNJ.com

Angel hair pasta tossed with rock shrimp, arugula, diced tomatoes, garlic and marinara with a touch of cream. The combination of authentic flavors in each of our fresh, homemade entrées is nothing less than culinary perfection!

— Patricia Inghilleri, Owner

Chestnut Chateau • Gifts from the Sea

649 Chestnut Street • UNION

(908) 964-8696 • chestnutchateaunj.com

Not only does the summer bring beautiful blue skies, warm weather and longer days it also brings great seafood in our area. The fresh scallops, shrimp and fish are abundant and delicious. The Chestnut Chateau is the only area restaurant that offers fresh, local and wild seafood. 

— George Niotis, Chef 

Mario’s Tutto Bene • Vinegar Pork Chops 

495 Chestnut Street • UNION

(908) 687-3250 • mariostuttobene.com

Our vinegar pork chops feature three thin-cut Frenched chops that are coated with Italian breadcrumbs and sautéed with sweet vinegar peppers, prosciutto and garlic. They arrive with house-made roasted or mashed potatoes. Our regulars love this entrée.   

— John Garofalo, Owner

Rio Rodizio • Brazilian Meats

2185 Rte. 22 West • UNION

(908) 206-0060 • riorodiziounion.com

We offer an “All-You-Can-Eat” dining experience transported straight from the streets of Rio de Janeiro to your tableside. Each customer gets to witness a never-ending parade of freshly roasted meat and poultry. Our authentic Gaucho chefs carve these melt-in-your-mouth meats to your liking.

— Paul Seabra, Owner

The Manor • Seared Atlantic Salmon

111 Prospect Avenue • WEST ORANGE

(973) 731-2360 • themanorrestaurant.com

Among the varied entrées served in The Manor’s Terrace Lounge dining room is this perfectly-seared fresh Atlantic salmon. The crispy skin and delicate texture are accented with a flavorful almond and pumpkin couscous. Along with asparagus tips, a roasted tomato beurre blanc offers a rich, buttery compliment to this layered and refined dish.

— Mario Russo, Chef de Cuisine

The Office Beer Bar & Grill • Pacific Island Ahi Tuna Burger 

411 North Ave. West • WESTFIELD

(908) 232-1207 • office-beerbar.com/locations/westfield

Our pan-seared ahi tuna burger is finished with spring vegetables, Asian mayo, lettuce and tomato.  

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

When Jane Kelly is angry with people, she kills them.

That is just one of the many perks of being a mystery writer. “There was a person in my life who I disliked very much,” Jane Kelly says of her first book, authored in the mid-1990s. “So I killed him in a story. I found it to be a much safer, more legal way to vent my frustrations, and most importantly, I discovered that I really enjoyed writing.”

The author of the popular New Jersey Shore-based fiction series featuring sleuth and heroine Meg Daniels, Kelly will release the fourth installment of a series that includes Killing Time in Ocean City, Cape Mayhem, and Wrong Beach Island later this fall. That first book, for the record, never found a publisher. Nevertheless, Kelly (then in her 40s) didn’t give up. After a conversation with Tom Hogan, Sr., president of Medford-based Plexus Publishing, she was encouraged to try writing about something she knew a lot about. That’s when the focus of her next mystery became the Jersey Shore; Kelly had been vacationing at the beach from the age of five months, and has returned every year since.

“I was most familiar with Ocean City, so that’s where I started…and Killing Time in Ocean City was actually published,” she recalls. “But since bodies don’t wash up at the Jersey Shore every day, I thought it would be best to come up with mysteries for Meg to solve in other towns I knew and loved, like Cape May and Long Beach Island…and now Atlantic City.”

Kelly’s most recent novel isn’t entirely focused on casinos or gambling. She’s more inclined to sink $20 in video poker and go home than she is to drop hundreds of dollars at the tables. Instead, she infuses her work with other sources of personal inspiration. “I’m not a big gambler, but there is a part of me that always wanted to be a singer—even though I have no talent whatsoever,” she smiles. “So that’s why I made one of the main characters a frustrated lounge singer.”

In Missing You in Atlantic City, Meg is vacationing in Atlantic City while her boyfriend (recurring character Andy Beck) is busy working at his job in hotel casino security. She finds herself spending a lot less time with her toes in the sand than she had hoped when she decides to dig into a disappearance that occurred in the 1960s. The 50-year-old mystery revolves around a chance encounter with Johnny Boyle, a lounge singer and Frank Sinatra impersonator known as Johnny Angelini, and his long-lost mother, Betty Boyle, who went missing when he was an infant.

Like Kelly, Meg has always written from the perspective of a tourist at the Jersey Shore. As she listens to Johnny’s tragic tale, she vows to help him find out what happened to his mother once and for all. “My first thought was that, as someone who comes to visit the beach, you never expect anything bad to happen.” Kelly says. “Yet, somehow, Meg always knows how to find trouble. After three books, you’d think she would have figured that out by now.”

As Meg attempts to interview a tangled web of surviving witnesses in the mysterious disappearance of Betty Boyle—and ultimately reveals a twisted cover-up in the process—the story delves into the sordid world of politics in 1964, when the Democratic National Convention rolled into town and was held at Boardwalk Hall. “The reason Meg is so successful at what she does,” says Kelly, “ is that she really cares. She genuinely wants to help people, and she finds herself completely caught up in this story of the son who was left behind. My books are supposed to be light, fun beach reads. But they also have that additional emotion and depth regarding the crime itself.”

Prior to becoming an author, Kelly’s life didn’t have quite as much drama as her heroine’s. She graduated from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, earned a Master’s of Science degree in information studies from Drexel University, and added a Master’s of Philosophy in Popular Literature from Trinity College at the University of Dublin. She went on to work in online information (“Before people even knew what the Internet was,” she says), consulting, and facilities management—in which she still has a day job, traveling to New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Boston and other cities as part of her work.

Actually, it was when writing her graduate thesis on political fiction when Kelly first began researching the historical events that ultimately would set the stage for the plot of Missing You in Atlantic City. “I became completely fascinated with history, and started reading exclusively non-fiction about the early Cold War period,” she recalls. “That’s when I had the idea of having a crime that was committed in the past, and combining it with my memories of all my visits to Atlantic City growing up.”

Kelly did some sleuthing herself. Not only did she spend time wandering the boardwalk and casinos of Atlantic City, she took her research a step further and tracked down an assortment of people who had lived during that time. “I had a friend who actually went to hear Bobby Kennedy speak at the convention. Times were different back then, and I know Betty Boyle would have been able to do the same thing.”

Looking ahead, Kelly hopes to continue to be able to explore the past when it comes time to dream up her next mystery. “I like to learn about the history of the years that I’ve been alive,” she says. “You don’t have to live in Atlantic City or have grown up in the 1960s to know what was going on back then, and I think people will enjoy reading about something that was so important to our history and that happened right here in our backyard.”

Meg Daniels will continue solving crimes, Kelly expects. However, there are plans in the works for new characters. Devising the complex plots in her novels almost comes naturally to Kelly now, but it’s her characters that make each book special. “If I were only concerned with plot, I’d be publishing books a lot more quickly,” she says. “The characters always end up taking on a life of their own…and if I can’t ‘hear’ them in m

The 25 books all New Jerseyans should have in their homes

Am I missing something? How did being “book-smart” become a bad thing? More to the point, when did TV and the Internet become more reliable sources of ideas and information than a well-written, proofed and edited book? Honestly, sometimes I wonder if we’ve all become a little book-stupid. As a transplanted Manhattanite who put down roots in the Garden State more than three decades ago, I made it my mission to learn as much as I could about New Jersey as quickly as possible. Thirty-one years later, I am still turning pages (and keeping my local Barnes & Noble afloat) with no end in sight.

Where all of that reading has gotten me is to the realization that New Jersey is a land of multiple personalities and myriad identities. The deeper one drills down into the history or the culture or the literary heritage of the state, the more utterly new and fascinating stories begin to reveal themselves. I was probably in my 40s when it finally dawned on me that I would never be able to synthesize all of the information trapped in the 200 or so books (now 300 or so) I owned that are relevant to New Jersey.

Not long ago, I was discussing this very point with a visitor to my home—a relatively recent transplant in the Garden State. How, he asked, would I characterize exactly what it means to be a New Jerseyan? Well, I replied, you won’t find your answer online. It’s somewhere on these bookshelves. Then he asked the better question: Which 25 would you pull off the shelves to get me started?

I was amazed how quickly I was able to narrow down my collection. What I ended up with was a mix of works covering history, culture and fiction—most of them recently published, some very well known, a few not. You may find my Top 25 light on dirty politics, organized crime, pollution, gambling and diners—five themes that certainly have generated their fair share of books—but hey, this is my list. Go make your own!

No, really. Pick your own Top 25. In fact, I hope you get to the end of this story and disagree with at least half of my choices. Because, truth be told, that’s what being book-smart is all about. Happy hunting!

1609: A Country That Was Never Lost

History • Kevin Wright • 2009

Forget everything you learned in school about the Lenni-Lenape. Kevin Wright unearthed original documents from the 1600s and 1700s for 1609, which repaints the picture of colonial New Jersey in some eye-opening ways.

American Pastoral

Fiction • Philip Roth • 1997

Roth’s novels are very New Jersey-centric, so any of his award-winning books technically could make this list. American Pastoral focuses on the tumultuous life of a former athletic star modeled on Newark’s legendary Swede Masin.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

Young Adult Fiction • Judy Blume • 1970

Margaret is a sixth grader who moves from New York City to the New Jersey suburbs, where she begins an unforgettable search for spiritual answers. Is there a girl under the age of 50 who hasn’t read this book?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Fiction • Junot Diaz • 2007

Much of this Pulitzer-winning novel is set in the Dominican Republic, but the central character, Oscar, is a Paterson teenager trying to balance love, life and a sci-fi obsession with his family heritage.

Bruce

Biography • Peter Ames Carlin • 2012

EDGE interviewed Peter right after his Springsteen bio came out, and it has since been heralded as the “Best on Bruce” by his legion of fans.

Eddie and the Cruisers

Fiction • P.F. Kluge • 1980

This novel, set in South Jersey during the early 1960s, has been called the Citizen Kane of rock & roll. No argument here. The movie was very good; the book is even better.

Encyclopedia of New Jersey

Reference • Marc Mappen • 2004

Keep this 900-plus-page book within reach at all times. Though a decade out of date, it still provides a superb starting point for virtually anything you need to know about the Garden State. Mappen’s books and newspaper pieces on Jersey culture and history are legendary.

Freedom Not Far Distant

History • Clement Price • 1980

A scholarly work on the African-American experience in New Jersey by the Rutgers U. professor who was recently named City Historian of Newark.

Howl and Other Poems

Poetry • Allen Ginsburg • 1956

This collection includes Ginsburg’s two best-known poems, Howl and A Supermarket in California. Though not specifically tied to New Jersey—and more famous for its influence on the Beat Generation—this book presents the Newark-born poet at the height of his literary powers…and was just too hard to put back on the bookshelf once I pulled it off.

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

Non-Fiction • John Gertner • 2013

I have come to know many now-retired scientists who worked at Bell Labs. What they accomplished—and how they attacked the problem-solving process—is truly humbling. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book.

Independence Day

Fiction • Richard Ford • 1995

No, it’s not a book about an alien invasion. Independence Day is one of Ford’s three novels staring New Jersey real estate agent Frank Bascombe. Each is a Faulkner-esque masterpiece in its own right, but this book won a Pulitzer, so it’s the one I’m going with.

Jernigan

Fiction • David Gates • 1991

As first novels go, this one by David Gates is nearly un-improvable. Central character Peter Jernigan sounds like an adult version of Holden Caulfield, with suburban New Jersey as a backdrop.

The Jersey Game: The History of Modern Baseball from Its Birth to the Big Leagues in the Garden State

Sports • James Di Clercio • 1993

Truth be told, I have yet to discover a great, scholarly book covering the history of New Jersey sports. This one makes the list for its sharp focus on baseball in the 19th century.

Leaves of Grass

Poetry • Walt Whitman • 1891

Whitman actually published the first collection of his writing under this title in 1855. He constantly reworked the poems and kept adding more until the final version, published prior to his passing in Camden in 1892. He had moved to the Garden State in the 1870s. Leaves of Grass praises the wonders of nature and the human spirit.

New Jersey: A History of the Garden State

History • Maxine Lurie & Richard Veit, Editors • 2012

As essay collections go, this is the one I now reach for when I need to bone up on my regional history. It is structured chronologically and features an introduction by Marc Mappen.

The North Side: African Americans and the Creation of Atlantic City

History • Nelson Johnson • 2010

We all know what happened to Johnson’s earlier book, Boardwalk Empire. I pick this one, however, because it presents a side of the same story that was underexplored in the HBO series.

Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women

History • Joan Burstyn • 1997

This work of collective biography does an excellent job of highlighting the achievements and contributions of New Jersey women from colonial times up through the late 20th century. I’d love to see a second, updated edition.

Paterson

Poetry • William Carlos Williams • 1963

Williams began publishing his poems about Paterson in the years after World War II. They were finally collected in a 1963 volume. Williams approached his subject as a reporter might, and then transformed his research into a sometimes-eccentric new form of American poetry.

The Pine Barrens

Non-Fiction • John McPhee • 1968

This book was originally published as nine articles in The New Yorker. It is an incredible snapshot of an untouched wilderness in the shadow of two major urban centers. If you are trying to decide which book on this list you should read first, strongly consider McPhee’s.

Rebellion In Newark

Non-Fiction • Tom Hayden • 1967

Were the infamous Newark Riots riots at all? Hayden’s detailed account of the events leading up to and during the six days of murder and mayhem still stands up after all these years—and raises a number of troubling questions about New Jersey’s darkest hour.

This Is New Jersey

History • John Cunningham • 2012

Some version of this book was probably your textbook in 4th or 5th Grade. Cunningham was the state’s unofficial popular historian for nearly seven decades from the 1940s until his passing in 2012.

This Side of Paradise

Fiction • F. Scott Fitzgerald • 1920

The heck with The Great Gatsby. This was the novel that catapulted Fitzgerald into the post-WWI literary scene. The story of Amory Blaine (a thinly disguised F. Scott) explores love, greed and social climbing among the Princeton elite. The initial printing sold out in three days.

Toy Bulldog: The Fighting Life and Times of Mickey Walker

Biography • John Jarrett • 2013

The story of boxing in New Jersey intersects with so many other themes that I had to include one book on the sport. Mickey Walker wins a split decision over the better-known Jimmy Braddock story, Cinderella Man. Though both stories are compelling, Walker’s takes place during the Prohibition Era and is far more colorful.

Weird N.J.

Non-Fiction • Mark Moran & Mark Sceurman • 2003

You’ve probably come across the magazine created by these two guys a million times. Their first book hit the stores a little over a decade ago. If you ever have a hankering to root around abandoned psychiatric hospitals and the like, consider this your travel guide.

A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle

for the Ballot

Biography • Mary Walton • 2010

After more than a half-century of steady-but-slow progress by the women’s suffrage movement, New Jersey’s Alice Paul rolled up her sleeves and finished the job by employing an out-of-the-box brand of civil disobedience that forever changed the way Americans stand up to their own government.

Editor’s Note: Mark Stewart has authored six books on his adopted home state, all published by The Heinemann Library, as well as a history of the New Jersey Devils. None made the cut. Which book just missed squeezing into the list? “Number 26” was the 2001 suspense novel set in Spring Lake, On the Street Where You Live, by Mary Higgins Clark. Anyone who’s thinking of digging a backyard swimming pool might first want to check out this supernatural cautionary tale!

The Cover Story
(76) Houghton Mifflin; (77) Riverhead Books; Touchstone Publishing; (78) Penguin Books; Alfred A. Knopf; (79) Upper Case; Rutgers University Press; Plexus Publishing; (80) New Directions; Scribner Publishing; (81) McFarland & Company.

According to leading New Jersey educators, the case for a challenging literature curriculum is open-and-shut.

A couple of months ago, I convened five of my old school girlfriends during our annual reunion to discuss our all-time favorite middle-school (we called it “junior high” back then) Summer Reading List titles. There was an immediate consensus about Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. These novels represented our first foray into more serious, more adult fiction, offering themes of rebellious angst, social injustice, and seemingly insurmountable challenges. We also agreed that, as parents (and now grandparents), we were all too familiar with the moaning and groaning of subsequent generations when presented with the dreaded list. Perhaps it’s overscheduling or shorter vacations or digital distractions, but it seems as if the “I can’t wait to read it” treasures of our early teens have become the “Do I have to read it?” chores for a lot of kids today.

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For generations the great literary safety net has been supplied by our schools. Whether reading comes naturally to a student or is a bit of a forced march, every child is exposed to the enlightening qualities of a great book sometime in the vicinity of 6th Grade, and in most systems the rubber meets the road in 7th. By high school, kids have been introduced to literature in a meaningful way; they get why reading matters. For some it sticks, for others it doesn’t.

The responsibility of educators is to inspire their students to read. (It’s up to authors to keep readers reading.) Some school systems in New Jersey do a magnificent job. Others have become less demanding of their students, and even of their teachers. In assessing the relative merits of a child’s educational options, parents would be wise to ask questions about how great literature fits into a school’s overall philosophy. We put this question to a number of top schools in the Garden State.

“The job of a teacher is not just to find the right book, but to start a student on a lifetime of reading pleasure.”

—Dr. Peter Lewis • Head of School The Winston School • Short Hills

Dr. Lewis defines the basic literacy goal for all students as “getting pleasure out of print,” adding that “with literature, we need to find a theme that will spark interest—but first we need to provide the techniques and strategy to decode the words, starting in the lower grades.” At Winston, non-fiction is typically factored in during the Middle School grades. Often the hero is a very ordinary human being who rises to meet and overcome challenges. For example, Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder, is a book about Dr. Paul Farmer and his inspiring quest to cure infectious diseases around the world.

Be it fiction or non-fiction, Dr. Lewis believes that, from an academic perspective, all literature is still fundamentally “text,” and the challenge is to keep students enraptured by the written word rather than put off by the hurdles of decoding them. That effort includes booking author visits to add a living component to the books students are reading. On a school trip to see Orlando Bloom in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway, Bloom met with Winston students and explained that although he had been dyslexic as a child, he had managed to overcome his early challenges to pursue and achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a modern-day Shakespearean actor. Dr. Lewis used the opportunity to emphasize to his students that “Just because it’s hard to do, doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”

“Avid readers make awesome writers.”

—Mary Schoendorf • Middle School Literature Coordinator St. Bartholomew Academy • Scotch Plains

The kids at St. Bartholomew are in a “trilogy mode,” particularly by authors Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games) and Veronica Roth (Divergent). Schoendorf has noticed that this popular reading genre has been influencing her students’ writing, which is immensely gratifying. Middle schoolers she notes, tend to be a bit unfocused in their writing. Often her role is to help fine-tune their efforts and come more quickly to the point they want to make.

To inspire her students’ interest in literature, Schoendorf regularly offers video clips about the authors to help bring them to life. She also insists on “web quests,” where students are required to research the author’s life and time—all before they even open the book. “This way,” she points out, “the book itself becomes the reward…and one that they can’t wait to start reading.”

Schoendorf also tries to nudge them out of their literary comfort zone into other genres (e.g., the classics). In doing so, she assesses class profiles in order to determine the most appropriate literature for the grade level, beginning with what she believes a class can emotionally handle. For example, she would ordinarily avoid Edgar Allan Poe, at least until the 7th Grade. For her 6th Graders, she might substitute The Hatchet, a young-adult wilderness survival novel by Gary Paulsen—an adventure story that is not as dark as Poe’s work, but offers all the same basic literary suspense elements. Recently, Schoendorf successfully introduced the 7th Graders to The Wednesday Wars, by Gary Schmidt—a coming-of-age story about a 7th grader. Her students were so impressed by the protagonist’s interest in Shakespeare that they asked for a Shakespeare unit in their own classroom, which is now known as Shakespeare Wednesdays. In fact, they even volunteered to give up half their recess for more class time with the Bard…which only proves her favorite point: “Get them interested, and they’ll bite.”

“Many of the most popular books fall into the category of dystopian literature, where the person who saves the world is a young adult.”

—Barbara Dellanno • Dean of Academic and Faith Formation Union Catholic High School • Scotch Plains

Dellanno, who doubles as Union Catholic’s Humanities Curriculum Specialist, sees the goal of both parents and teachers when it comes to young adult literature as “getting them hooked on reading for pleasure.” Her opinion about much of the YAL being written today is that it does just that. In fact, she admits to getting hooked herself on such contemporary classics as the Harry Potter series. Dellanno also believes it’s a positive for young readers to form their own tastes and reading habits. “I think that it is important that teachers and parents allow them to choose what they want to read,” she says, adding that there’s no harm in an occasional comic book or sports magazine.

The point is to get them reading and, once they develop the habit, they are more easily encouraged to branch out into serious literature, even the classics. Not surprisingly, Dellanno gives a thumbs-up to trending series literature, such as The Hunger Games, Twilight, Maze Runner, Divergent, Gone, and Park Service. As for singular novels, she favors The Book Thief and Wonder, as well as novels like Fahrenheit 451 and Persepolis. As for popular authors, continued on page 68 she lists Jerry Spinelli, Walter Dean Myers (a recently deceased resident of Jersey City), Sarah Dressen (for girls), and Elizabeth Wein (for historical fiction). “Dystopian-themed novels,” Dellanno notes, “are empowering and reflect a way for the younger generation to cope in a healthy way with our post-9/11 world.”

When asked why To Kill a Mockingbird seems to top everyone’s list of Middle School classics, Dellanno explains that it is a great tool to teach the important elements of fiction (setting, point of view, foreshadowing and symbolism), and that the 1962 film starring Gregory Peck enables students to compare and contrast great writing and great filmmaking techniques. “Also, the essential questions raised by the novel grip students and make them think and want to discuss what they have read with one another,” she says. The 1960 novel by Harper Lee happens to be Dellanno’s all-time favorite.

“The classics speak to the human condition and teach lessons about life to which all people can relate.”

—Dr. Martine Gubernat • Chair of English Department St. Joseph High School • Metuchen

The freshmen boys at St. Joe’s dive right into great literature in English I, including short stories, nonfiction, drama, novels, mythology and poetry. During a typical year, they’ll digest Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Inherit the Wind and The Call of the Wild. This sets the stage for English II, which focuses on American literature; English III, which transports young readers across the ocean for a year of British lit.; and finally to English IV and AP classes that feature challenging selections of world literature.

According to Dr. Gubernat, classic literature is at the heart of the English curriculum all four years. “The classics,” she says, “help readers to consider the impact of events—both large and small, positive and negative—on ordinary people.” The “noble language” of the classics, she adds, serves as the basis for student analysis and evaluation of the written word.

“The written language is still king.”

—Whitney Slade • Head of School

The Rumson Country Day School • Rumson

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The 2014–15 school year will be Slade’s first at RCDS, an independent K–8 school in Monmouth County with a strong historical commitment to fostering an appreciation of literature. The nature of how great writing is delivered, he notes, is changing…and with change comes trepidation on the part of parents and educators. “With the advent of the Internet and social media there is fear—real or imagined—that students will be distracted from reading and the joys of literature,” he says.

Slade believes that it is incumbent upon teachers, parents and caregivers to foster reading whenever possible. However, it needs to be on the young person’s terms. Whether reading an online version of a novel or a well-written publication, engaging in a worthy blog, or simply making a monthly visit to the bookstore, exposure is key. The form it comes in, he insists, should be irrelevant. “Good writing is as important as ever in binding us together, sharing a common history, fostering creativity, and developing skills for an unpredictable workplace,” Slade says.

“Books can evolve with you and your understanding of them can evolve, too…that’s just one wonderful thing about my job.”

—Lou Scerra • English Department Chair Newark Academy • Livingston

At first glance, the literary spread between 6th and 12th Grades at Newark Academy seems extremely ambitious. The 6th Graders are reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Nothing But the Truth, a novel about a boy suspended for humming the national anthem. The seniors are tackling

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Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir, Fun Home, Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer-winning 2008 novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Virginia Woolf’s 1925 Mrs. Dalloway, and the playwright Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. In between, students are introduced to Harper Lee, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Walt Whitman, Toni Morrison and John Green.

Serra, who heads the school’s literature-based English Department, points out that much of the literature he assigns is driven by story and character. He meticulously selects texts that are developmentally appropriate in terms of form and content, saying, “I’d like to think we have a nice blend of traditional classics and contemporary literature that all speak to the concerns of the 21st century world. We’re always eager to add new texts into the curriculum and we also try to listen to student input.”

Serra’s personal favorite is The Great Gatsby—the subject, as it happens, of his undergraduate thesis. Interestingly, he credits his sophomores with having helped him to “see the characters, the story, and the novel itself in a new way.”

Inside the Numbers

The U.S. publishing world generated $27.01 billion in net revenue in 2013, selling 2.59 billion units according to a recent report from the Association of American Publishers and BISG (Book Industry Study Group). A large chunk of that business is attributable to YAL. In December of last year, a report on CBS News indicated YAL sales were up 24 percent since 2010, making it the fastest-growing publishing market sector. Long overlooked by the big publishers, these books have actually become popular with adults, too; the report estimated that about 80 percent of YAL buyers are over 18…and not all of them are buying for kids.

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In terms of embracing non-paper delivery methods, the news is also positive. An article in New York Magazine last year entitled “YAL by the Numbers” showed that, in 2002, fewer than 5,000 YA titles were published—of which only 143 were ebooks. By 2012, the number of titles had more than doubled over 10,000, of which 40 percent were of the ebook variety.

Good literature comes in many shapes and sizes—from traditionally leather-bound library tomes to dog-eared and page-worn paperbacks to the latest palm-held backlit digital readers. There are some among us who would never trade that special feeling that comes from physically opening a “real” book and thumbing through it page-by-page. On the other hand, the popularity of audio and ebooks, whether delivered to a Kindle, a Nook, or some other experience-enhancing device, has expanded exponentially, especially among the younger generation. Whatever or however a person prefers to read, it is the actual commitment to read that really matters. And for that we count on our educators—more heavily now than ever.

SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A YOUNG ADULT BEST-SELLER…

In a recent article in Atlantic Magazine by Nolan Feeney, “The 8 Habits of Highly Successful Young-Adult Fiction Authors,” several recognized authors shared their secrets to success. To be a winner, a YA book of fiction must be:

• Attention-grabbing…from the minute the book is opened until the last page is read.
• Age-appropriate…with someone in the book being a peer of the targeted reader.
• Relatable…to teenage experiences, even some that may be dark, but familiar.
• Meaningful…inspirational but in a realistic way.
• Believable…from an author who can think like a young teen and sound like one, too.
• Respectful…with no patronizing or “dumbing down” of information.

DIRTY DOZEN

John F. Kennedy once said that libraries should be open to everyone—“except the censors.” At one time or another, some of the great works of American Literature were included on official lists of Banned Books for public schools and libraries, including the 12 below. All, by the way, made it onto another list: the Library of Congress Books That Shaped America…

The Scarlet Letter • Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)

Moby Dick • Herman Melville (1851)

Leaves of Grass • Walt Whitman (1855)

The Red Badge of Courage • Stephen Crane (1895)

The Call of the Wild • Jack London (1903)

The Great Gatsby • F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

Gone with the Wind • Margaret Mitchell (1936)

The Grapes of Wrath • John Steinbeck (1939)

For Whom the Bell Tolls • Ernest Hemingway (1940)

The Catcher in the Rye • J. D. Salinger (1951)

To Kill a Mockingbird • Harper Lee (1960)

Where the Wild Things Are • Maurice Sendak (1963)

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS

Benedictine Academy, an all-female, private, Catholic college-preparatory school for grades 9-12 in Elizabeth, celebrates its Centennial this September through April 2015. A Mass and reception on September 21 kick off a year-long calendar of celebrations, including renowned speakers and a grand finale gala. Check the Academy website (benedictineacad.org) for more information or call 908-352-0670 x 105/106. A four-time Jefferson Award-winning, 21st Century learning environment, the Academy emphasizes rigorous academics, including honors and AP courses, and offers five varsity sports—plus service outreach, clubs and extracurricular activities for every interest. Technology includes personal laptops (provided), campus-wide wi-fi, interactive SMARTBoards, and a state-of-the-art science lab. Scholarships and tuition assistance are available.