Corzine: Impressed By Camden's Improvement

Gov. Jon Corzine visited Camden yesterday (Courier Post story here) and was pleased with what he found.

Corzine said he was "impressed" by new construction at Rutgers, expansion plans at Cooper University Hospital, and other massive upgrades. The city has built a library on Ferry Avenue and is improving its water and sewer system.

Too bad he wasn't here today -- groundskeepers at Rutgers Camden have been planting spring flowers, already in bloom. Yesterday I walked along the waterfront with only a light jacket.

New Blog on the Block

A big hidy-ho to a new South Jersey blog, merchantville.blogspot.com. The blog focuses on the goings on in, you guessed it, Merchantville.

Camden Housing Prices Soar

From today's Inquirer:

The median sales price for houses in Camden increased 81 percent between 2003 and last year, according to a new Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors analysis of five central and southern New Jersey counties.

(Mulvihill, Geoff, "Camden housing values soar," Philadelphia Inquirer March 27, 2006, p. B6).

Restaurant Review: Cafe Salad Works

In Camden and in the mood for a healthy lunch? Try Cafe Salad Works, 114 N. 3rd St. These aren't skimpy "two lettuce leaves and a carrot" salads but substantial meals. You can choose from the menu or create your own. My personal favorite is the spinach salad, but there are almost unlimited choices. Each meal comes with a large roll. That and a drink will cost about $6.00 or $7.00, maybe a little more depending on what you order. There is limited table seating, but many people opt for take out and most of the times I've been there someone comes in to pick up a large order for an office or group.

George Carlin in Sewell

This Sunday, March 26th, at 7 p.m., comedian George Carlin will appear at the Commerce BAnk Arts Centre in Sewell, NJ. No word on who, if anyone, will bring the pork chops.

Nick Virgilio Haiku Conference

THe Nick Virgilio Haiku Association and the Rutgers Camden English Department are co-sponsoring a daylong conference on Saturday, March 25, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The cost is $25.00. Nick Virgilio was a resident of Camden and an internationally known haikuist. One of the two workshops scheduled is on teaching haiku and the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association is a registered New Jersey professional development provider.

Hiatus

My apologies for the hiatus in posting to the blog. We'll try to keep up in the future.

Missing Monday

Nicholas Peter Zizzamia, of Camen, NJ, was last seen on May 12, 1979. He was en route to Villanova University and has not been seen since. For more information, seen the county sheriff's missing person's website.

Ella Enchanted Screenwriter in Camden

On Friday, March 3, author and screenwriter Kirsten Smith will be on the Rutgers Camden campus. The co-writer of the films Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, Ella Enchanted, and the upcoming Dirty Little Secret will be speaking about her new book, The Geography of Girlhood, from 12 – 1 p.m. in the Center for Children and Childhood Studies. From 1 – 2 p.m. she will be signing books.

James Still Homestead Purchased!

Today's Inquirer reports:

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection bought the 8.8-acre spread yesterday from the Trollinger family for $875,000 and plans to turn it into a museum dedicated to Still's life.

James Still, the son of runaway slaves, became known as "The Black Doctor of the Pines." He practiced medicine for many years and was well-respected in the area. This will be a wonderful addition to the cultural landscape of the region.

New PhD Program at Rutgers Camden

The Rutgers Camden campus will be offering bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in Childhood Studies beginning in the fall semester of 2007. This will be the first doctoral program for the campus, although two more, in public affiars and computational science, are planned. According to the Feb. 20th Rutgers Focus:

The childhood studies program will prepare policy leaders with new persepctives in child-related social practice and scholars capable of innovative research in this interdisciplinary field. The program will provide advaned theoretical and methodoligical study of children and childhood within state, national, and global contexts.

The Center for Children and Childhood Studies, established on campus in 2000, will be the vehicle for research and outreach activities to provide a direct positive impact in the Camden community.

Restaurant Review: New England Soup Company

There is a new restaurant in the Victor Apartments, The New England Soup Company, right next to Subway. I was in a group of seven people that ate there today. We went in through the ramp right off Front and Market Sts. There were about 12 soups available, as well as a number of sandwiches and salads. Everyone in the group had something different and everyone liked what they had. I had the Italian beef stew and they had not skimped on the beef, or the onions, mushrooms and carrots. It was a very filling soup. The hamlet sandwich has about 4 slices of ham rolled in a bun, with greens, cheese, and a delicate but flavorful apricot dressing. A soup and sandwich is $7.00, a reasonable price and the portions weren't huge but certainly enough for a very good lunch. I had a cookie also (no sacrifice too great to provide a complete overview). It was a little too large but definitely passable. There is seating for about 24 and by the time we left all the seats were in use. While the food was good and the prices reasonable, I was most impressed with the manager(?) walking through the seating area asking if anyone needed or wanted anything. That is very unusual in a restaurant of this kind. It was a very pleasant place to eat and I plan to go back. Carryout is also available.

James Still Homestead Saved?

According to today's Inquirer:

The state has signed a contract with the Trollinger family to buy the former Medford homestead of James Still, the son of escaped slaves who became known for his medicinal cures.

The sale is still pending. This is a topic we will watch.

A Camden County Yarn

Crafty folk everywhere are familiar with A. C. Moore Arts & Crafts, but may not know the company is based in Berlin, Camden County. It was among the first to tap into the resurgence in knitting and stocks a wide variety of yarns, as well as other craft supplies. In 2006 the company plans to open 13 to 16 new stores.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

If the weather outside is frightful, stay inside and count birds out your window. This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all levels in counting birds and reporting their results to create a mid-winter snapshot of the numbers, kinds, and distribution of birds across the continent. Participants count birds for as little or as long as they wish during the four-day period and tally the highest number of birds of each species that they see at any one time. At the Great Backyard Bird Count web site, they fill out an online checklist to submit their counts.

It is a national census of winter birds. Volunteers take time to count how many birds of various species they see and send that information, either online or on paper, to a central collection point. Citizen science like this is particularly important in tracking migratory birding. River Tyde has also written on this topic.

Not certain of your birds? Cornell's Lab of Ornithology has an online bird guide. Or, for more localized information, check out this collection of bird photographs taken on the Rutgers Camden campus.

So, while you're keeping warm (or out taking a walk), keep an eye out for the birds. I saw a turkey vulture in one of my neighbor's yards one day and I swear there was a hawk swooping around the trees this morning. A few Mondays ago a whole flock of robins set up shop in the front yard for 30 minutes or so. It is amazing the variety of birds we have in this area.

The Women of Gettysburg

Women in battle is not a new phenomenon. Whether actual soldiers, part of the support forces, or just on the sidelines, women have been present at most of the battles fought on American soil. The Battle of Gettsyburg is no exception.

Consider 20-year-old Mary Virginia "Jennie" Wade, the only civilian killed in the battle of Gettysburg, shot by a Confederate bullet as she stood in her sister's kitchen baking bread for the Union soldiers. Or little Sadie Bushman, nine-year-old daughter of a local cabinetmaker, commandeered by a Union doctor to assist at a field hospital. Or the unidentified body of a female Confederate soldier found by a burial detail near Cemetery Ridge -- one of 12,000 brave souls who marched across a mile of open ground through a hail of deadly enemy fire during Pickett's Charge.

"The Women of Gettysburg" will be presented at the Camden County Historical Society this Saturday, Feb. 18, at 1:00 p.m., by Jane Peters Estes. ($10.00, $8.00 for CCHS members).

Details and a map here

What a Kroc!!

Joan Kroc, widow of McDonalds founder Roy Kroc, left the Salvation Army $1.6 billion in her will. Fifty-seven million has been set aside to build and operate a community center in the Cramer Hill section of Camden. An additional seventy-seven million will go to build a similar center on Wissahickon Avenue in Philadelphia.

from the Philadelphia Inquirer, full story here.

Momix

The Momix Dance Company will present their Opus Cactus at the Gordon Theater on the Rutgers Camden campus this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Momix has been in existence for 20 years and is known for the use of illusion in dance.

In Opus Cactus, dancers miraculously become tumbleweeds, lizards, birds, and other flora and fauna of the desert landscape.

Reviews of the performance at other venues (see the link above) are very descriptive. The dance is compared to Georgia O'Keefe's paintings, and other Western art.

More on Settlement Music School in Camden

Last month I wrote on the Settlement Music School's move to a building in the 500 block of Market Street in Camden. Yesterday The Inquirer ran a longer article on the move. The school will offer classes in music, ballet, jazz and chorus. Eventually as many as 700 students will attend the school.

[Thomas]Capanna [executive director of the school] said the coffeeshop next to the Camden site and nearby restaurants and businesses were likely to benefit from the new traffic. "This is a place where people will come every week," he said. "There is a commitment to the area, so I think it's going to have a pretty dramatic effect."

A spokesman for the school also said sometimes the kids practice outside; impromptu jazz concerts will definitely be a positive addition to the area.

Missing Monday

Today's featured missing person: Danielle Nottingham is described as an African-American female, approximately 5' 6" tall, weighing 165 lbs., medium build, brown hair, and brown eyes. Danielle is a repeat runaway and is likely to change her appearance to avoid being discovered.

Note: Last time she was located was at Sycamore Court Apartments in Camden City, New Jersey. Also, sited at the 600 block of Williams St. Camden City, New Jersey.

details here