Sunday, March 30, 2008

Re-written by Yours Truly, Fastest Word-Stitch this side of the Hackensack River

Study: Angioplasty risk may be exaggerated
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Last Updated Sunday March 30, 2008, EDT 10:17 AM

[Image courtesy of know-heart-diseases.com]

Elective angioplasties at hospitals without emergency heart surgery resources may not be as risky as previously feared, according to a study released Saturday.

The study by the American College of Cardiology used a 300,000-patient database to determine that the success and complication rates are similar whether or not there is a backup surgery team.

If confirmed by other ongoing studies, the findings could influence policies in many states, including New Jersey.

The state is participating in a Johns Hopkins University study in which Teaneck's Holy Name Hospital and eight other hospitals without heart surgery capabilities are being allowed to perform elective angioplasty on an experimental basis.

Deaths and complications related to elective angioplasties are controversial in North Jersey.

The family of a North Bergen woman sued Holy Name Hospital and two cardiologists in February, arguing that her 2006 death was the result of a botched angioplasty.

Pearl Sullivan died after a heart artery ruptured during the procedure.

"What we don't want is a huge proliferation of hospitals" doing this without strict quality safeguards, or in places that already have many heart centers, said Dr. Ralph Brindis, a heart specialist at the California-based Kaiser Permanente health plan. Brindis supervised data collection for the study released Saturday.

Many states ban cardiac angioplasties at hospitals without heart-surgery units except in emergencies like heart attacks. Small hospitals, which can earn $15,000 or more on each angioplasty, have pressed for a reexamination of the rules. They say stents that have come on the market in recent years have made angioplasty safer by limiting how many times the balloon is inflated and the risk of puncturing an artery.

The procedure earns hospitals statewide $300 million to $400 million and could mean a significant amount of money for community hospitals without cardiac surgery ability.

Most elective angioplasties are for chest pain and non-urgent situations. The procedure helps relieve clogging in arteries, lowering risk of heart attack or other related problems. In an angioplasty, doctors push a tiny balloon into an artery, inflate it to flatten the clog and often place a stent to prop the vessel open.

The patient registry is not definitive science, but suggests that safety is pretty good at small hospitals doing angioplasties, as long as strict quality controls are in place.

Researchers compared results from January 2004 through March 2006 on 9,029 patients who had angioplasty at 61 centers without on-site cardiac surgery to 299,132 patients at 404 centers with heart surgeons. Only about half of the hospitals without surgical backup did more than three dozen angioplasties a year.

Yet complications and success rates were similar, said study leader Dr. Michael Kutcher of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Roughly four of every 1,000 patients needed emergency bypass surgery — far fewer than in the past. Nearly 2 percent died at hospitals without backup surgery versus just over 1 percent at larger hospitals. But there was no significant difference once researchers factored in age, severity of illness and other differences among patients.

Results did not differ for urgent or non-urgent angioplasties, though a greater portion of those at small hospitals were emergencies.

The issue has been most contentious in New Jersey. The nation's most densely populated state has 18 hospitals with heart surgery programs — one within a half-hour of virtually every resident — and they don't want more competition.

New Jersey's participation in a nine-state study comparing how patients fare at hospitals with and without heart surgeons has led to a lawsuit against the state. Some big hospitals have said patient safety was jeopardized, but a court allowed the state to remain in the study. The results aren't expected for at least two years.

Doctors will wait for more definitive studies to say the practice is safe, said Brindis, the Kaiser Permanente doctor.

Staff Writer Evelyn Shih contributed to this article, which also contains material from The Associated Press.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Focus on Focus Groups

Area focus groups play critical role
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Last Updated Tuesday March 25, 2008, EDT 5:20 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH

The man wouldn't speak. Despite everyone in the six-person group being a diabetic, he wasn't comfortable publicly discussing his illness. In fact, he'd meticulously hid that information from co-workers. About halfway through the 90-minute session, though, he finally broke his silence: He didn't think inhaling insulin three times a day at mealtimes was a good idea.

[Illustration by Staff Artist Billy Beccera.]

"It would be a dead giveaway," he said.

Others jumped in. "I would rather stick myself in the morning" with a needle, one man said.

"You're lucky you can stick yourself," another added. "My wife has to do it for me."

This wasn't a support group for diabetics. Donald Mazzella of Palisades Park was recalling an exchange from a 2006 focus group in which he took part.

A diabetic who uses pills to regulate his blood sugar, Mazzella believes the inhaled insulin product the group discussed was under development by a major drug company — and subsequently scrapped as a result of his and other focus groups held nationwide.

"Where else do you get paid for spouting off?" said Mazzella, who received $200 for his contributions.

Nearly every consumer product and commercial unleashed on our consumer nation is tested on focus groups, mostly in the major markets of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. For geographic purposes, Bergen County is grouped with the New York metropolitan area, but the North Jersey region may be a better cross section of the nation than Manhattan in terms of consumer habits, according to experts.

"We can get participants that range from high income to low income; people in apartments to those who own very expensive homes," said Richard Miller, president of CPR Research, a focus group company with an office in the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus. "We find all races, all creeds."

And consumer research firms need them. Focus groups happen at different stages of a product's life, from conception — the idea of inhaling insulin, for example — to evaluating the qualities of a finished product to screening new television commercials that tout products' "new" or "improved" qualities, so North Jersey residents like Mazzella are in high demand.

Pocket money

In the past five years, Mazzella has been tapped to opine on Chevrolet cars, the layout of merged Fed-Ex/Kinkos stores and homeowner's insurance. Another focus group respondent, Bianca Muccia of Maywood, has voiced her thoughts on cellphones and acne cream.

"I am very outspoken," said Muccia. "I don't tell them anything they want to hear. ... With the acne cream, I told them flat out, 'This is burning my skin.' "

In the cellphone study, she was asked to give her opinion about all facets of cellphones, including a mobile phone's form factor (or shape and feel). She and other participants were given an unmarked model cellphone to look at and touch. Participants tried putting the models in their pockets or bags, and told the moderator what they thought of the size or the weight.

"It's more exciting than jury duty," she said. "With jury duty, it's the outcome of someone's life. Here, it's not life or death — I'm not putting someone in jail. It's a lot cleaner, and the food's better."

Plus, it's an opportunity to get paid. Most focus groups will pay anywhere from $50 to a few hundred dollars, depending on the product, length of the focus group (on average an hour or two), and what's asked of the participants. Mazzella and Muccia agree that it can be a good way to earn some extra pocket money, although marketing companies tend to discourage participation in more than one focus group a quarter.

So how and why does the process work?

Marketing research companies regularly compile enormous lists of potential focus group participants that fit different categories of age, sex and consumer habits. (Individuals can sign up for these lists.) Those on the list only receive calls when they fit the profile for a specific product.

Warming the room

Muccia was a teenager when she tested acne cream, and Mazzella was chosen for a car group because he owned a Buick.

Typical focus groups involve six to 10 participants. A moderator like Miller — who has helped run focus groups since 1969 — oversees the proceedings and tries to elicit honest opinions and reactions to products, their packaging and how they're advertised. It's easier said than done, as he'll often have to warm the chill out of a room filled with complete strangers.

Sometimes it's necessary to use indirect means such as eye contact to get less vocal participants talking — and avoid having one respondent dominate the discussion.

"Focus groups are designed to get people's deep emotional reactions," he said.

That candor is imperative because the clients behind the focus group want to find out what consumers really think about a potential or existing product.

"Many times, [running a focus group] helps you shape your message," said Alan C. Marcus, president of public relations firm Marcus Group. A Saddle River resident, Marcus once represented the National Basketball Association and regularly polls focus groups for opinions on commercials that his company produces.

"We found out that people in New Jersey don't like New York garbage, even though it's the same kind of garbage," he said of one local case.

"We also found that people hate trucks. So our commercial [against shipping in New York garbage] demonized trucks: 'They're coming,' was the slogan."

For everyday consumers, the focus group provides a keyhole into and a small role in the shaping of products they use or buy. It doesn't hurt that food and a paycheck are part of the equation.

Muccia, 27, has another good idea about why someone might want to sign up for a focus group.

"If you're single and you don't want to meet people any other way, it's kind of a good way to meet people," said Muccia, who has suggested the social technique to her friends. "You're in a room with different people, and you all have common ground.

"Especially when I went to the acne one, some of the guys were pretty good looking," she said, "... and they were from New Jersey."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Monday, March 24, 2008

Suburbia...the book.

Novelist captures North Jersey angst
Monday, March 24, 2008
Last Updated Monday March 24, 2008, EDT 8:31 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH

She drives a Prius. She buys her stationery from Third World countries. She hates her own Jewishness, bemoaning what she calls her "zaftig" figure.

[Photo by Record Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi.]

This woman isn't Debra Galant, North Jersey author of the new novel "Fear and Yoga in New Jersey." But she could be you — or someone you know.

She's Nina Gettleman-Summer, the protagonist of the novel, a yoga instructor whose perfect double-income Jersey life is coming apart at the seams.

Say what you want, but Galant knows her subject matter. A former New York Times reporter and columnist, she co-owns a blog of hyper-local Jersey news called Baristanet, which reports on interesting slices of modern suburban life in and around our parts.

"I wasn't specifically blogging about anything specifically to do with yoga," said Galant. "But certainly when I talk about her drinking bottled water and recycling religiously, that very much is the demographic — or one of them — that is reading my Web site."

Garden State details

Though she grew up in northern Virginia, Galant is "an adopted Jerseyan, and proud of it." She packs her novel with details about living the middle-class suburban life in the Garden State. Most of the novel was actually written at an artists colony in Virginia — "You get a year of work done in three weeks," Galant claims — but based on almost clinical observations of the quotidian North Jersey scene.

Take Nina's religion: The Jewish-born character is married to a Protestant and joined a Unitarian church — partly to get away from her background.

"I know a lot of mixed marriage couples are Unitarian," said Galant. "... I actually have never attended a Unitarian service, although I've spent time at concerts and things at churches. But I know that it's very touchy-feely, and it's very liberal. That's what I wanted her to be."

Meanwhile, Nina's son, Adam, is on the cusp of reclaiming his Jewish heritage: He wants to cash in on the bar mitzvah money handouts. Galant remembers first conceiving this idea when her son, Noah, was 13, and a Jewish friend complained about her child not having enough Jewish classmates in school.

"I mentioned this to a woman across the street from me, who is Roman Catholic," said Galant. "She said, 'My goodness' — or something stronger — 'Rob wishes he was Jewish! All he gets is invitations to people's bar mitzvahs. Every kid in town who's not Jewish wants to be Jewish.' "

True to life

Galant's own family, Jewish on both sides, sent Noah to Hebrew school from a young age. He never had the crisis of identity that Adam does in the book, Galant said. But he was helpful in keeping his mom's words true to life.

"I would test different dialogue on him. He was helpful for both Adam and Philip — the pompous and know-it-all friend."

Galant tapped her journalist husband Warren Levinson's experiences for inspiration, too. At his poker circle, he remembers, one time when "they went around the room, and half the people were laid off," said Galant. Many had lost jobs to outsourcing.

Enter Michael Gettleman-Summer, Nina's meteorologist husband whose job at Newark airport was "offshored" (or outsourced) to the Philippines. A similar poker scene takes place after he gets his pink slip. That particular plot point puts many of the novel's tensions into motion.

"It's not always the case, but very often, at least around here, the wife's income is the second income," said Galant. "... Most women I know work part time, or do freelancing, or have their own businesses. But the husband's income usually provides the health insurance and a lot of the money."

Losing the primary income is particularly frightening when the cost of living is high, as it is in North Jersey, she added.

Easy to recognize

Friend and Baristanet co-owner Liz George of Montclair — a self-professed Prius driver — found some of Galant's social commentary a bit too sharp, but takes it in stride.

"I was at a party, and somebody came up to me and said, 'She really skewered Montclair!' " George said. "I said, 'Well you know those Glen Ridge wannabes.' " (Galant lives in Glen Ridge with her family.)

"It certainly adds pleasure for people who are local, because you can recognize things, even if I've disguised the names," said Galant.

But Galant also wanted to take apart that New Jersey suburban life, exposing her characters for who they are. "The essence of the character is somebody who is very self-satisfied, and politically correct, and better than most people," she said of Nina. "... I wanted to paint her in terms of her own hypocrisy."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Do you know how to pronounce "Quinoa"?

A new leaf: Quinoa, eggplant and chickpea salad
Monday, March 24, 2008
Last Updated Monday March 24, 2008, EDT 8:20 AM

Vegetarian recipes from recently released cookbooks:

"Gluten Free and Easy," by Robyn Russell (Sellers, 2008)

To those with celiac disease, a condition that causes human bodies to react to gluten like poison, vegetarians say welcome to the club of limited food options. The gluten-free diet doesn't overlap entirely with veggie restrictions, but it often shares the territory of health-conscious cuisine. Other grains, like quinoa, used in the recipe below, often pack a strong nutritional punch. This collection doesn't take special care to address vegetarians — even the minestrone contains prosciutto — but in the veggie-friendly recipes, the methods are designed to make vegetable flavors shine. Every ingredient counts, as any vegetarian will avow. Freshness counts.

— Evelyn Shih

Quinoa, eggplant and chickpea salad

  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 large eggplant, chopped
  • 14 ounces canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons chopped mint
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Place the quinoa in a sieve and wash well under running water, then drain. Toast the quinoa in a hot, dry frying pan until fragrant.

Pour 1 cup water into a saucepan, bring to a boil, and stir in the quinoa. Simmer, covered, for about 12 minutes, until soft. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork and leave covered in the pan for 10 minutes more.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and sauté the onion gently until very soft, then add the garlic and spices and cook 3 minutes.

Add eggplant and cook, stirring until golden, adding extra oil if needed. Add chickpeas and stir until heated through. Remove pan from heat and stir in the cilantro, parsley and quinoa. Season with salt.

To make the dressing, combine the yogurt, mint and cumin in a bowl.

Serve salad warm or at room temperature, drizzled with dressing.

Servings: 4.

Per serving: 336 calories, 11 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 4 milligrams cholesterol, 51 grams carbohydrates, 12 grams protein, 472 milligrams sodium, 12 grams fiber.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Gift of Music

A gift of music to needy schools
Sunday, March 23, 2008
BY EVELYN SHIH

[All images courtesy of algierscharterschools.org.]

Cresskill High School senior Liza Sobel thought of New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz, so she was stunned to find that most students her age there had little access to music education — especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"It's so sad that they can't play the music that New Orleans started," Sobel said.

A dedicated musician herself, Sobel couldn't imagine life without music. She started an instrument drive in her junior year to boost her own school's music program. This year, she decided to do the same for New Orleans.

In February, Sobel sent 50 instruments to the Algiers Technology School, a new charter school in New Orleans. She made her shipment part of a larger shipment organized by the student council at Northern Valley Regional High School, which included books, sports equipment and school supplies. She plans to send a second shipment of instruments in May and is looking for more donations.

"A lot of people just have instruments lying around the house," Sobel said. "They're happy to have someone to donate to. Especially to New Orleans. The second they find out it's going there, they're thrilled."

Sobel picks up the instruments at donors' homes or nearby public drop points. She also provides receipts for tax deductions.

Richie Bertran of Fair Lawn donated a clarinet, a flute and many volumes of piano music, all of which had belonged to his grown daughters.

"I was trying to decide whether to sell them," he said. "It's a good cause and a great idea on Liza's part."

Bertran's daughters, Nicole and Danielle, are 30 and 26, respectively. Their instruments had sat unused in the basement since their high school years.

Sobel put Bertran's instruments in storage for a few months before she was able to ship them, along with guitars, accordions, violins and other instruments. One drum set dominated her family's foyer until last month. She hopes to fill the house again by May and help other schools in New Orleans.

Algiers Technology School would not have been able to even think about starting a music program without Sobel's help, said Adam Brumer, who teaches social studies there.

"There's just not a lot of money for that," Brumer said.

[Left: A New Orlean school after the hurricane.]

The school opened in August to replace schools lost in the hurricane, but with no music program. It is now looking into hiring a music instructor, with the intention of creating a band to perform in next year's Mardi Gras parade.

Brumer is in his first year with Teach for America, a federal program that places recent college graduates as teachers in low-income communities. He said he was shocked by the lack of music education when he arrived. A piano student from the age of 5, he started studying the trumpet when he learned about his teaching assignment during his last year at Cornell College in Iowa.

"It didn't occur to me that my students didn't have the same musical opportunities that I had," said Brumer, who grew up in California.

When the first shipment arrived with two trumpets donated by the Sam Ash music store, one of Brumer's eager student aides startled the entire school by blowing into an instrument and making a loud noise. At 14, he had never touched a trumpet before, but is now planning to learn.

"At a time when students are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and a lot of negative things like violence and drug abuse, music is another way we can keep them off the streets," Brumer said.

In comparison, Sobel said she was fortunate to study piano, voice and composition as a child. But she credits her school music program for providing her with creative opportunity. She picked up the baritone horn, or euphonium, in seventh-grade band class.

"If I hadn't had that class, I would not be able to try such an unusual instrument," she said.

Contact Liza Sobel at 201-567-7549 or e-mail her at giveinstruments @optonline.net to arrange pickups or drop-offs.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

V for...Vegetarian?

A new leaf: Tempeh mushroom stroganoff
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Last Updated Tuesday March 18, 2008, EDT 6:34 AM

Vegetarian recipes from recently released cookbooks:

"V Cuisine: The Art of New Vegan Cooking," by Angeline Linardis (Whitecap, 2007)

Vegan food educator Angeline Linardis lost weight and beat a hormone problem by going vegan in her late 20s and early 30s. But that was only half the battle: She also had to make the food fresh, new and cool so that non-vegans could begin to love the taste — not just the health benefits. Her hope is to quash the public image of vegan food as the "plain bean sprouts, the watery tofu and the mashed yeast" of the hippie '60s. In a cleverly designed collection, she zips across international and familiar cuisines with offerings like the Japanese rice cakes called mochi, burritos and even stroganoff, as shown below.

— Evelyn Shih

Sumptuous tempeh mushroom stroganoff

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for pasta
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
  • 1 cup dry sherry, divided
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms, any variety
  • 8 ounces tempeh, cut into small cubes or strips
  • 1 1/2 cans navy beans, rinsed, drained and puréed
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce or mushroom soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1 teaspoon tarragon
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 cups egg noodles

Heat the olive oil and onion in a pot on high heat, stirring constantly. When the onions are translucent, add the garlic, parsley and a splash of sherry. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the mushrooms and the remainder of the sherry. Cover and cook over low heat for about five minutes.

Add the tempeh and cook for another 5 minutes. Uncover, add navy beans, soy sauce, red wine and tarragon, and cook until the sauce reaches a thick, saucy consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the noodles in a separate pot and drain well. Drizzle with olive oil and toss lightly.

Serve with the sauce and garnish with parsley.

Servings: 4.

Per serving: 589 calories, 16 grams fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 35 milligrams cholesterol, 67 grams carbohydrates, 27 grams protein, 699 milligrams sodium, 8 grams fiber.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Backstage Voice, Center Stage

This fair lady has a comic bent

Marni Nixon in a key role in NJPAC staging

WHAT: “My Fair Lady.”
WHERE:
Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark. 888-466-5722 or njpac.org for more information.
WHEN:
7:30 tonight through Thursday, with an additional 1:30 p.m. performance Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
HOW MUCH:
$23 to $79.

By EVELYN SHIH

Staff Writer

As spring creeps ever closer, do you have a hankering for “The Rain in Spain”? When you’re out on the town, do you ever think to yourself, “I Could’ve Danced All Night”?

You’re in luck: British director Cameron Mackintosh’s updated production of the stage musical “My Fair Lady” is coming to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Central characters Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle are played by leads from the award-winning West End production in London, Christopher Cazenove and Lisa O’Hare.

As Mrs. Higgins, Henry’s mother, American actress and vocalist Marni Nixon isn’t just another Yank. She was the voice behind Audrey Hepburn’s Eliza in the movie version of “My Fair Lady”— and has played Eliza onstage. (She also dubbed Natalie Wood’s singing parts in “West Side Story.”)

An opera and stage veteran, she’s finding herself right at home in the story she’s known and loved over the years. We spoke to her about the experience before her arrival in Newark.

Q. Tell us about your character, Mrs. Higgins.

Well, you really get to see where Higgins gets his perfectionist tendencies. Even though I don’t sing, it’s an important part, and it’s quite integral to the show.

… I just recently did Mrs. Higgins in New York City with Kelsey Grammer. It was four performances. It wasn’t a full production, but it was with the New York Philharmonic. That was the first time I had done the role of Mrs. Higgins. When they asked me to be in this stage production, I just knew I wanted to do it.

Q. How did you prepare yourself for the part?

To make it real, you have to duplicate the relationship that you evidently have had with your son. Then you can say the lines and it makes them real. Whatever you make up in your mind that causes you to say that. As if you’ve been that person. As if those things were real. Then you don’t have to think so much about saying the lines.

Q. The role of Mrs. Higgins is a comic part, and you’ve played many comedic roles in the past. Do you have an affinity for comedy?

It’s like hitting a ball back on the court. You need to hit it at the right time, and it takes off if the line is good. That’s one of the great joys of live theater. To be able to play it like live music.

Q. What was most important to you when you were playing the lead character, Eliza?

She has to have a full dimension of knowing what it means to be a guttersnipe, and also what it means to be an extreme lady. You have to pull upon more experiences.

Q. What is it like to work on a production that was first done in the U.K.?

They keep it very current. They keep coming over from England to make sure the production is staying intact. It’s a wonderful thing to have those people be on you all the time.

… This is the most opulent production of “My Fair Lady” that I’ve been in. It’s got a large cast, and it’s wonderful. The lighting is gorgeous; the costumes are gorgeous.

Q. What do you think of the lead players?

They were a part of the original direction for the show. So they went through the process of investigating who the characters are, with the director.

I think that Lisa O’Hare is quite astounding, and she keeps growing in the role. So does Christopher. They keep coming from an original source. It’s not just done by rote. They’re very steady and sturdy, and their professionalism is wonderful.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Monday, March 17, 2008

Are you Scrappy?

Scrapbooking retreats are sweet escapes
Monday, March 17, 2008
Last Updated Monday March 17, 2008, EDT 5:10 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH

[Image below: Scrapbook page, courtesy of Maryellen Hoffman.]
The first rule of scrapping: You do not talk about retreats.

The second rule of scrapping: You DO NOT talk about retreats.

Oh, and the third rule: You can go crazy with the layout, but always label each page with time and place.

Scrapbooking retreats in North Jersey may not be as secretive as author Chuck Palahniuk's fictional underground organization in "Fight Club," but they are a release from the pressures of the world.

Taking over hotel conference rooms and ballrooms from the Homewood Suites Hilton in Mahwah to the Seaview Marriott just outside of Atlantic City, the retreats can involve hundreds of avid scrapbookers — mostly women — organizing their memories on 3 feet of table space with stickers, stencils and designer paper.

These weekend retreats can turn into serious business for some attendees, who work feverishly through the night and go to sleep at 10 or 11 in the morning, said veteran scrapper Beth Sparozic of Wyckoff.

"One time, one of my girlfriends worked for nine hours straight without talking to anyone," said Sparozic. "When it was almost time to leave, she looked up and said, 'What? It's over? I thought I still had time to go over and talk to you!' "

Rule 4: No open beverage containers. Spills are a disaster.

Rule 5: Nothing is over the top. Custom glazed cardboard letters? Of course. Flattened snow globes? No problem. Sports medals and ribbons? You better believe it. Everything is fair game in a scrapbook, and serious scrappers revel in the details.

Avoiding overload

Because participants throw themselves headlong into their hobby, event organizers make sure to schedule non-scrapping activities — such as mini-contests, technique classes and surprise singalongs (reenacting the "Tell Me More" scene from "Grease") to break up the time.

"It's like a mini-wedding every month," said Stephanie Mandato, owner of Ramsey-based business Scrap-a-Doodle-Doo. Mandato has been running themed retreats out of Homewood Suites since late last year.

The accoutrements, including souvenir gifts, add to the value of the retreat, which can cost scrappers a few hundred dollars for the hotel room, the food and the use of facilities.

But it's all worth it to hobbyists, many of whom find it difficult to keep up with their craft on a regular basis. Even if you're scrapbooking for the sake of preserving family memories, that same family can distract you from working.

Rule 6: Concentrate.

"When you're at home, if your child comes over and says, 'Mommy, I need you for a minute,' you're going to stop," said Sparozic. "You're constantly stopping."

Added Maryellen Hoffman of Oakland, another longtime scrapper: "If you're able to go away on a scrapbook weekend, you have no other commitment."

Scrapbooking is, at its core, the creation of a decorated photo album, but it has developed into a consuming hobby. Serious scrappers spend hours creating layered or three-dimensional pages, stocking up on various supplies and poring over scrapbook magazines for the newest trends and patterns.

Trade organization Craft and Hobby Association, based in Elmwood Park, estimates that scrapbooking was a $2.6 billion industry in 2007. But it wasn't always a trend in North Jersey.

"When I started 12 years ago ... there was just nothing," said Sparozic.

Sparozic and Hoffman, who has been scrapping for eight years, both got into the activity when they attended Creative Memories parties held by their friends. Like Tupperware or Pampered Chef cookware parties, Creative Memories gatherings involve a presentation of products — scrapbooking supplies, in this case — and direct catalog sales.

"It's really evolved," said Hoffman. "There's been a lot of stores that have opened and closed. But now, there are many, many stores online that sell tools. There are scrapbook magazines," she said. "It's really starting to come over to the East Coast."

Business is booming

Chain craft stores like Michaels and A.C. Moore are flourishing, and scrapbooking businesses like Scrap-a-Doodle-Doo are finding footing. Mandato also got her start at a Creative Memories event and became so involved in the scrapbook world that she began selling materials. She left her original job and put all her time in her new business, traveling up and down the East Coast as a vendor at scrapbooking retreats. Eventually, she realized that the best place for a retreat was Bergen County.

"Scrapbookers in our area are more affluent," said Mandato. "They want that whole experience — not just schlepping down the stairs to work in a church basement."

The social aspect is certainly important to Sparozic, who goes to retreats with friends.

"We plan months in advance what to bring to these events!" she said. At recent retreats, Sparozic has brought five to six rolling tote cases of her own materials, plus her own shelving to maximize her work space.

It's important for the retreat to feel like a getaway — but it's nice not to have to go too far, said Hoffman, who has two daughters, 11 and 15.

"It's good being around the corner if anybody needs you," she explained. At one Scrap-a-Doodle-Doo retreat, she even received her husband and daughters as guests.

"They have a sense of what it's all about now," she said.

Getting on the same page

Not everyone understands the scrapbooking impulse. "There are a lot of closet scrapbookers," said Mandato.

"At first it was like, 'Is there an end to this?' " said Sparozic of her husband's reaction to her scrapping fanaticism. "We were putting aside money for me to go to retreats."

Since then, Sparozic has turned her hobby into a moneymaking proposition by scrapbooking for other people. As a stay-at-home mom, she can make time to scrap. Plus, she earns a pretty penny: At $500 per book, she's able to cover the retreat fees. It was only a matter of time before her husband came around.

"And what father doesn't like pictures of his children?" she said.

Which brings us to the seventh and final rule of scrapping: When you're done, share.

Scrappers like Hoffman and Sparozic regularly make books as gifts for friends and family, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and bat mitzvahs. Sparozic gets misty thinking about a small volume that her younger daughter Macie, now 8, called "the book of me."

"I want to leave them something when I'm gone," she said.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Sunday, March 16, 2008

My First Travel Piece: Taiwan Photo Essay



View my photos


The holiday at Taiwan's heart
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Last Updated Sunday March 16, 2008, EDT 12:05 PM
PHOTOS AND STORY BY EVELYN SHIH

Chinese New Year is more than a parade in Taiwan, where the holiday also marks a political changeover. (This year is the 97th year of the post-Qing dynasty Republic of China.)

It's never too early to start planning a trip there for the new year — in fact, it might be wise to book plane tickets well in advance to avoid a pricing spike close to the date. Next year, the Year of the Ox, begins Jan. 26.

I visited my parents in Taiwan this year for a traditional New Year's. Whenever I go, there's always a lot of culinary ground to cover. Chinese New Year takes eating to a different level and adds a level of spiritual meaning: It's like Thanksgiving and Christmas come at the same time. Not only is it a holiday of Daoist traditions and ceremonies, it's also a time for big department store sales and big meals.

You can feel the general excitement on the streets, in the markets and in communities. The temples have the highest traffic of any time of year. It's a genuine event of emotional significance — something that goes above and beyond the flashy lion dances in New York's Chinatown.

That's what I went home for and what I hoped to capture with these photographs.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Textile Art in the Garden State

Demarest gallery features stitched works of six women
Friday, March 14, 2008Last Updated Friday March 14, 2008, EDT 5:46 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH

This weekend at the Mikhail Zakin Art Gallery in Demarest, six artists show that art isn't a competition -- it's a sisterhood.


Joanie San Chirico, Rachel Cochran, Rayna Gillman, Judy Langille, Joan Dreyer and Diane Savona are textile artists who work together and do mutual critiques twice a month. They call themselves the Studio Six, and their art ranges from quilt-based textile to historical representation to the stitching of X-rays and newspaper clippings.


We spoke to Savona about the magic of fabric art.

Q. Where did you learn to sew?
My grandmother was born in a thatched hut in Poland. She was illiterate. She came to this country as a young woman. She taught my mother to sew; my mother taught me to sew.

Q. How did you come to textile art?
It's funny, because my art when I started out in art college, I did stone carving and I did woodcarving. When my son was born, it was like, you know, you really can't do stone carving around a baby. But you can sew. And I started doing it, and I loved it. I never thought to do sewing as art. But it's just wonderful. There are things you can do with cloth that you can't do with paint. There are layers, there are reflections. It's a marvelous art form, and I'm addicted to it.

Q. What happens at Studio Six working sessions?
When we get together at Newark Museum, we have one person in charge of thickening the dyes, which you need if you're printing on cloth. Somebody else will be bringing the wax, and someone else will be bringing the silk screens. ... You get this wonderful sharing. Yet when you see the work in the show, there's no question everyone has their own individual voice.

Q. What is something you've personally taken from the group critique sessions?
If you look at the work in "Domestic Archaeology" [series to be shown at Mikhail Zakin Gallery], you might notice that there's not a lot of bright colors. I tend to be, not monochromatic, but certainly subdued. One thing the group has helped me with is to say, "You need more contrast. You need more depth of color."

Q. One of your newest works, "Fossil Garment #2" from the upcoming "Fossil Garments" series, shows a shockingly white garment against a deep red. [See www.di anesavona.com for images.]
I'm really happy with that, and the group was like, "Yeah, Diane! Now you have some contrast."

Q. Do you think of textile art as a woman's art?
It used to be that I'd be kind of bothered by men in this field. It's like, "Wait a minute: sculpture, painting -- you've dominated those fields for a long time. This is our field!" But I've gotten over that. Whoever wants to work in this field, more power to you.

Q. Do you feel that it is a feminist art?
There is some element of feminism in doing textile art. But it's kind of gotten past that. If you look at my work, there is certainly an element of women's history in it. If you look at other members' works, there might be none of that at all. There are those very interested in technique and style and how you can put 20 different colors on one piece of cloth.


It's a complex issue.


E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Rocking the Kilts

See my video!
First time as both videographer and video editor.
(I took the photos for this blog, but not the print photos.)

Bergen County bagpipers like you've never heard before
Thursday, March 13, 2008Last Updated Thursday March 13, 2008, EDT 6:35 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH
It's snowing on a Friday night, one of the rare times this winter that snow has stuck to the ground. But at Il Villaggio restaurant in Carlstadt, pantless men with bare knees are arriving in ones and twos. Underneath winter coats and sweat shirts, they sport uniforms of black polo shirts, custom boots and blood-red kilts.

Nobody seems to be feeling the freeze -- or, at least, no one admits it. After a raucous tuneup in an isolated upstairs suite, the Bergen County Firefighters Pipe Band (BCFPB) is ready to take the stage. The Shots, a local rock band whose lead singer, Lenny Reinhardt, also wears the plaid, plays the intro music. Twelve kilted pipers and drummers file in and line up in front of the raised band platform like the first foot soldiers in an Irish invasion.

First song on the set list: New Orleans tune "Iko Iko."

This isn't your typical St. Patrick's Day parade band. Although the BCFPB books plenty of gigs during March, from Hoboken to Bergenfield to Savannah, Ga., it doesn't stick to the traditional Irish and Scottish Highland melodies.

"It's all about entertaining the crowd," said band manager Rich Bathmann of the West Milford Fire Department. The band tackles tunes such as the 1950s ditty "Tequila," the popular 1960s hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones.

It makes them stand out a little bit in a parade.

The BCFPB started out like any other firefighter band in 1996, when Teaneck firefighter Paul Kearns and bagpipe instructor Pat Martens sent a letter to all the firehouses in Bergen County. The idea was to form a countywide pipe band in the tradition of firehouse and police force groups across the nation.

"You couldn't go to a firefighter's funeral and play violins walking down the street," said pipe major Jim Schmitt of the Ridgefield Park and Bogota firehouses. "There's no other instrument ... the tradition and history is that that's how firemen are sent off."

Schmitt said he ascribes the bagpipe tradition to the historical prominence of ethnic Irish and Scottish immigrants in emergency services. But many members of the BCFPB are neither Irish nor Scottish. They're simply people who find the instrument -- and the music -- fascinating.

"As an Italian boy, I didn't know where to go to learn it," said band member Mike "Slash" Sorrentino, 54, of Rutherford. His quest to learn the bagpipes began in the '70s and reached fruition in 1992, when he found an instructor in Kearny.

Luckily for North Jersey bagpipe enthusiasts, the BCFPB gives free lessons -- and you don't have to be a firefighter. Although the core of the band has always been volunteer firefighters, family members such as Schmitt's daughter Keri Schmitt-Sanabria and enthusiasts such as Sorrentino join in the fun. Even former competitive pipers, like BCFPB drummer Kathryn Tracey of Teaneck, are attracted to the camaraderie of the band.

"You make friends that you wouldn't normally make," said Schmitt. "There are people that come from different towns that you would never meet."

The BCFPB is able to be generous, he explained, because it forms a broad network of countywide firemen -- plus firemen from distant towns like Pompton Lakes and West Milford. The far-flung members bring in regular performance invitations at events such as wet downs (initiations for new fire trucks), weddings or even banquets such as the emergency aid worker installation dinner that was taking place at Il Villaggio.

The banquet crowd is a little too passive for the liking of the pipers, who are used to playing the bar scene with the Shots. Reinhardt tries unsuccessfully to pull audience members onto the dance floor. But the band does get some hearty fist pumps for sports game staple "Rock and Roll Part 2."

"That song always plays well," said Reinhart later with a chuckle. A member of both the pipe band and the Shots, Clifton resident Reinhardt helps bridge the gap between Celtic drone and rock sensibility. He and pipe instructor Doug Parody of Midland Park do most of the arrangements for the musical collaboration pieces. Reinhardt did the first arrangement of a non-traditional BCFPB favorite, "Yellow Submarine."

That was the first pop song that the band played in a parade, one fateful day in Bergenfield.
"They recognized it right away," said Parody.

"They poured champagne on our heads and held up their babies for us to kiss," joked Schmitt.

Since then, the BCFPB has been slowly growing its repertoire of tunes, and the gambit seems to be paying off. Although "competitive pipe bands turn their noses up at us," said Bathmann, the band has become a fixture at local St. Patrick's Day parades. The resulting earnings have allowed the band to do away with member fees and dress all performers. (A uniform may cost as much as $1,200 per person. The pipes may cost several thousand dollars, but individual members purchase their own instruments.)

They've even recorded two CDs, "Dirty Hose" and "Ho Ho Hose," and played original music by Reinhardt. One tune, "The Rasta Piper," was on the Billboard Top 10 in 2006 for the World Music category.

"If you think about it, bagpipes and rock music, that is world music," said Reinhardt. "It's all about doing something different. ... I'm glad they recognized what we're doing."

The music also gives the band members -- who have day jobs that range from real estate agent to funeral home director -- the chance to play an unconventional role.
"By day, I'm a mild-mannered computer programmer," said Parody. "By night, I put on a skirt and play a silly instrument."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Popcorn Opera


The Met Opera's production of Peter Grimes goes local.

Opera on the local silver screen
Edgewater, Clifton theaters 'host' Met

BY EVELYN SHIH

STAFF WRITER

WHAT: The Metropolitan Opera's "Peter Grimes: Live in HD."
WHERE: Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas, 339 River Road, Edgewater. 201-840-0699. AMC Clifton Commons, 405 Route 3 east, Clifton. 973-614-0644. Tickets for both locations available from movie tickets.com.
WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Encore showing 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas.
HOW MUCH: $22, children $15.

**

Chris Diamond is a most unusual opera fan.

For one, he's 13 years old and listens to Linkin Park. For another, he fell in love with the Metropolitan Opera by watching a production in a movie theater. And his dad was one of the people responsible for putting it there.

Dan Diamond, the proud father, is VP of Fathom Entertainment, a company that puts "alternative programming" into 350 movie theaters across the country, including Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas and AMC at Clifton Commons — and even across the globe. Before the Met Opera, Fathom transmitted music performances from the likes of Celine Dion, the Rolling Stones and Coldplay into affiliated theaters.

This by itself may not be enough to excite you. But consider this: The Fathom network has the technology to play performances live. That means that if anything goes wrong at the Met, it's a blunder of international proportions.

"There's an athletic spectacle aspect to opera," says Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb. "You never know what might happen ... you're always waiting to see if your favorite tenor will hit his high C."

The next live high-definition broadcast from the Met will be the opera "Peter Grimes," set to hit movie theaters in Edgewater and Clifton on Saturday. Gelb says the Benjamin Britten opera is "considered by many to be the greatest 20th-century opera."

Since the Met transmits only eight performances a season, Gelb and his staff try to pick ones that are packed with star power. Saturday's performance of "Peter Grimes" feature Anthony Dean Griffey, who sang the title role at both the Met and the Paris Opera, and leading lady Patricia Racette, winner of the Richard Tucker Award, given to opera performers poised for a national and international career.

"[Live in HD] actually helps us in our casting," Gelb says. "It's much more exciting for the opera stars, knowing that their performance is seen by so many people at the same time — there's much more adrenaline."

The live theater high-definition series began in the 2006-2007 Met season with six performances and was one of the first triumphs in Gelb's career as general manager.

"It's important to present opera as an art form that is vibrant and youthful," says Gelb, adding that the live transmissions have helped the box office at the Met by building a larger fan base. "We are working to keep opera in the cultural mainstream and not become an elitist art form."

Says Diamond: "If I told my young son, 'Hey, we're going to sit for 3½ hours at the Metropolitan Opera,' I don't know if his barriers would have been as easily brought down. ... The theater brings down those preconceived notions that everyone has about certain types of performances and opens their eyes to a whole new world."

But in the beginning the experiment wasn't without glitches. In the first transmission, the subtitles read "English" instead of the actual subtitles.

"I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, because clearly something hadn't been switched on," says Gelb, who acts as executive producer of the taping. It took the staff almost 60 seconds to get the right text onscreen. Luckily, nothing worse has happened so far.

Since then, the opera house stage has been fitted with horizontal and vertical camera tracks that run along the frame of the stage, no more intrusive than the already existing microphones. "With time we have learned how to ideally position them," Gelb says.

Backstage interviews with the cast, crew and other behind-the-scenes staff during intermissions have also become more creative and varied. Shots of performers waiting in the wings before they get onstage are becoming more common.

The advantage of the movie theater screening is that the audience gets the extra content without the solemn atmosphere of the opera house. "People can go out and grab a popcorn and a soda without feeling like they've walked in front of a whole group of people and thrown the actors off timing onstage," Diamond says.

***

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Do I Procrastinate? Ask Me Tomorrow.

Making the most of your minutes
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Last Updated Sunday March 9, 2008, EDT 10:17 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH

Normally, on the morning after the spring daylight saving time switch, I wake up late and blame my post-brunch indigestion on the hour I lost. I continue to grumble throughout the day to my friends and family, and then to my co-workers the next day.

[Image courtesy of jimenapulse.wordpress.com]

This year, I was determined to get that hour back.

My secret weapon: advice from Cresskill native Kerul Kassel, author of "Productive Procrastination" and "Stop Procrastinating Now -- Five Radical Procrastination Strategies to Set You Free."

Not only would I save that lost hour, but I might end up using some actual time management in my everyday life.

Don't get me wrong: I usually get my errands done around my work schedule. I even have time for a hobby, digital photography. But after I get home from work and eat dinner, I spend an embarrassing amount of time watching TV and DVD rentals -- often instead of exercising. Weekly tasks such as laundry and cleaning languish while I waste time in front of the tube.

Even in the morning, when I wake up, I spend time watching videos on the Internet. I roll over, slap the alarm clock and flop onto my stomach to use my laptop, which rests on the bedside table. And if I get started checking my e-mail, forget about it -- it can be an hour before I get up to face the day.

As they say with many forms of recovery: The first step is to recognize that you have a problem.

In "Productive Procrastination," Kassel offers a worksheet for figuring how time is distributed during your daily and weekly routine. This is followed by a second chart, filled in with the ideal distribution.

"A lot of this is about awareness," she explained. In fact, the key to better time management is to become hyper aware of time: Kassel suggested using timers -- egg timers, cellphone alarms, even friends who don't mind calling -- whenever you are involved in a task that leads easily to distraction.

Time black holes

For me, socializing on the Internet may be the biggest time black hole. One Internet sitting can branch off and self-perpetuate infinitely. E-mails lead to links, Facebook applications, online videos or even errands. Never mind that most of the time I'm also often monitoring my instant messages.

That's a no-no, according to Kassel. "They've done research on people who are multitasking," she said. "And what they've found is that there's a lot lost, because their focus is too distracted. ... So they're bouncing back and forth between things, and they don't have the kind of concentration and focus that leads to good results."

On the other hand, there's serial tasking: doing tasks in bite-sized pieces and alternating between them. For example, explained Kassel, you might take a break from an e-mail to find a pertinent piece of information, then remember a phone call you needed to make. You might stop reading a blog online to make dinner, or exercise during the commercial breaks of your TV program.

As long as you come back to your original tasks and finish them, serial tasking can be productive, said Kassel.

What isn't productive is watching TV. According to a 2006 Television Bureau of Advertising survey, the average woman spent five hours and 17 minutes in front of the TV daily, and the average man spent four hours and 35 minutes.

"If you can halve your TV watching, you save so much time a week!" Kassel said.

Skip TV commercials

But if you're not ready for dramatic cuts, the easiest way to save a few minutes every night would be to get a DVR (digital video recorder). Skipping commercials could make leisure time more efficient. For those without the technology, Kassel suggests little must-do tasks, such as laundry, exercise, cleaning or even phone calls.

"Have this stuff right next to the TV, so that as soon as the commercials come on, boom! You're doing it," she said.

Instead of sitting limp on the couch for a full hour of prime time, surfing other channels during commercials, I recorded my show. I set my laundry to finish by the time I could start watching the show, and folded whenever things got boring.

I realized afterward that I was multitasking. The folding took the full 45 minutes of the commercial-free show, as opposed to the 20 or 30 minutes it might usually take me. But I had effectively saved the commercial time -- and the extra time that I would have needed for laundry, had I done nothing during the show. The next day, I tried doing exercises during TV time, knocking out 20 minutes of arm lifts and lunges.

I also tried to become more aware of my computer time using Nakedalarmclock.com. I set the Web site, an unadorned online alarm clock, to prod me at 20-minute increments. The 20-minute limit nipped the branching of my Web activity, so that if I got a link to Facebook in my e-mail, I'd ignore it until later.

If the e-mail involved errands like paying bills or writing a longer letter, I would concentrate the 20 minutes on that one task.

Did I get my hour back? Between cutting commercials and double-tasking during my TV time, I think I may have earned most of those 60 minutes. The time saved from more conscious Internet usage is harder to quantify; but over time, I'm hoping it adds up.

I may not have followed Kassel's advice to a tee, and I'll admit to being a work in progress. But when autumn standard time comes around, don't wake me. By then, I think I'll have earned the right and time to sleep in.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Friday, March 7, 2008

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma at NJPAC
Friday, March 7, 2008
Last Updated Friday March 7, 2008, EST 7:14 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH

Globe-trotting classical musician Yo-Yo Ma will be making a stop at NJPAC this week with a trio of Bach's unaccompanied cello suites. Fresh off the plane from India, he explained how he experiences the musical universe of the Baroque master -- and his vision for the Silk Road Project during its 10th anniversary year.

[Image courtesy of alexrossmusic.typepad.com]

Q. How did you choose your NJPAC program?

It's like getting three very different friends together in one evening, and you're getting portraits of each one. They're friends -- they go to school together and everything. But Suite No. 3 is joyful and kind of proud, earthy. The Suite 2's general character is kind of like Eeyore: It's in the minor key. It's more inward, more meditative and reflective. And No. 6 is totally exuberant. You might say that 3 and 6 are similar, but 6 is almost cosmically exuberant.

Q. You've done some soundtracks for movies such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Memoirs of a Geisha." Do you feel a natural affinity for cinematic storytelling?

It's about transporting yourself into another reality, which is just what music tries to do, also. Or if you're reading a fabulous novel and you can't put it down, because you're so much in that world, and you hate to be interrupted and come back to your normal world. You don't want to put it down, and you don't want it to end. It's like your Harry Potter, that you read in one sitting, because you're so into it. That's what all these forms of expression try to do.

... A lot of times, with [composer and conductor] John Williams, we're recording [while] actually watching the films at the same time.

Q. Why did you found the Silk Road Project, which tries to record musical traditions along the former Silk Road?

One of the ways that we can try to understand our planet is to try and understand how different people in different parts of the world use sound or narrative or images to express their deepest feelings and beliefs. If you can get to that point, it actually makes talking to somebody from a different place with different sets of values and belief systems much easier. Because you know something that is so deeply embedded in their identity. That's one way to create an understanding between people.

Q. Being so rooted in the Western classical music tradition, do you ever find it difficult to understand certain musical traditions?

Everything's hard, until you make it easy. Everything at the very beginning feels foreign, and the whole point of doing this work is that you make what is somebody else's thing yours, and you make what is yours also belong to somebody else. This is why I perform and do what I do. The ultimate understanding is being in synch, because you are totally empathetic to what somebody else is thinking and feeling. You're looking at the world from their point of view, but you also know what your point of view is. You're inside both worlds.

Hopefully that's when the lights go on.

Q. What's your vision for this 10th anniversary year of the project?

I think we're going to try and celebrate the year by making sure that at the very top of our agenda is education. Education, not in terms of "You must know these thousand facts and pass the test," but more in terms of how we can inspire passion-driven learning.

In other words, how can you make something so exciting that people will be curious enough to want of their own volition to go out and find out more?

Q. So you're trying to inspire learning in general, not necessarily the learning of music itself?

It's all about understanding. Music is obviously what I do. But music is always trying to express something that is more than music. Otherwise, all we're doing is giving you notes. To be really absorbed, it means it remains active in somebody. A tune that you can't get out of your head, you know.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Safari Photographer

Mahwah photographer captures rare moments
Friday, March 7, 2008
Last Updated Friday March 7, 2008, EST 7:23 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH

It was already late, 10 a.m. on the Kenyan wild preserve Masai Mara. But John Reiter, a Mahwah photographer, had been stalking a lone zebra for three hours -- and he wasn't ready to give up his prey.

"I was hoping that three lionesses half an hour away would eventually go after it, because it was injured," he said.

The odds were against Reiter, who had hoped for a rare photographing experience. Lionesses usually hunt in the wee hours of the morning. "Typically when you go out on safari in the morning, you don't see the hunt," Reiter said. "You see the aftermath. You see lionesses feeding."

The zebra had stood still for three hours, apparently trying not to move its injured shoulder. Then it suddenly began trotting -- away from Reiter.

"My driver said, 'It's over,' " Reiter recalled. "I asked him to go a little bit farther. By luck, the zebra turned toward us."

Reiter captured the kill in a series of photographs, three of which are part of his exhibit at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center. He clicked away from the open top of a Land Rover at eight frames a second.

His success as a photographer has everything to do with patience, Reiter said.

"Most people are not patient enough to wait around for whatever it is that should happen," he said. "They leave, and 10, 15 minutes afterward is when it happens."

Reiter, 59, certainly knows how to be patient. Despite a love affair with photography that began more than 35 years ago, he waited until he was 53 to retire from his day job and become a full-time photographer.

"It was part of my retirement plan," said Reiter, who graduated with a degree in marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. "My dad died pretty young, when he was 48, of a massive heart attack. I didn't have any indication that would happen to me, but I wanted to leave in time so that I could do what I enjoy."

Nowadays, Reiter spends his time teaching photography, selling prints and plotting his next excursions. He's already photographed the silverback gorillas of Rwanda, famous for being the subject of Dian Fossey's study. There, he almost had his tripod and camera stolen by a frisky young gorilla, and he played submissive when a dominant male beat his chest.

"It's nothing like going to the zoo," he said. "There's nothing between you and the wildlife."

Japan's snow monkeys and China's giant pandas may be next on the list.

"I want to get to do the polar bears before the ice melts," Reiter said.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Monday, March 3, 2008

Your Polenta is Cooked, Homeskillet!

A new leaf: Seitan and polenta skillet
Monday, March 3, 2008
Last Updated Monday March 3, 2008, EST 7:01 AM

Vegetarian recipes from recently released cookbooks:

"Vegan Express" by Nava Atlas (Broadway Books, 2008)

Veteran vegetarian cookbook writer Nava Atlas is back with a collection for busy home cooks. Contrary to popular opinion, Atlas posits, preparing good vegan food isn't always time-consuming. She should know, since she feeds the whole family every day -- including her two young sons, who inspired her to switch from vegetarianism to veganism. Keeping a well-stocked pantry and refrigerator is essential. Staples like potatoes, canned beans and bouillon cubes can go a long way when making hearty dinners. Tofurkey lovers will be glad to know she doesn't rule out mock meats. But by the time you finish cooking your way through "Vegan Express," you'll also be fast friends with tofu, tempeh and seitan, as in the recipe below.

-- Evelyn Shih


Seitan and polenta skillet with fresh greens

  • 1 tube polenta, 18 ounces
  • Non-stick cooking spray
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 pound seitan (wheat gluten), cut into bite-size pieces or strips
  • 4 large or 6 medium stalks of bok choy, sliced crosswise
  • 5 to 6 ounces of baby spinach
  • 4 scallions, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup oil-packed sliced sun-dried tomatoes, optional
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cut the ends off the polenta, then slice 1/2-inch thick. Cut each slice into 4 wedges.

Heat a wide non-stick skillet. Spray with non-stick cooking spray and add the polenta wedges. Cook in a single layer over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes on each side.

Transfer the polenta to a plate. Heat the oil and soy sauce slowly in the same skillet. Before they get too hot, add the seitan and stir well. Raise the heat to medium-high and sauté, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Stir in the bok choy, spinach and scallions, then cover and cook until just wilted.

Sprinkle in vinegar to taste. Gently fold in the polenta wedges and sun-dried tomatoes, if using. Season with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Servings: 4 to 6.

Per serving: 600 calories, 8 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 41 grams carbohydrates, 91 grams protein, 850 milligrams sodium, 4 grams fiber.