The educational profession dramatically changed last March as our students left physical schools and became virtual learners. Our teachers became virtual educators responsible for not only their children’s academic needs, but their social emotional and all of their other needs as well in the middle of a pandemic.
Now that we have had a moment to reflect, we are still puzzling over that experience as it sits in our very near rear view mirror. Conversations have begun in terms of the academic loss and how our children sit so far back in their curriculum and comparative scores on whatever measures exist out there compared to previous years.
Many schools in New Jersey came into this pandemic unprepared. Technologically in terms of one to one computers for students, infrastructure behind the scenes, LMS learning platforms, staff development, and even students as digital natives were not ready to take the drastic step to a fully virtual education.
The end of the school year is usually a euphoric and celebratory time for students. However, for the Class of 2020, the school year came to an abrupt halt earlier this month.
Area residents are using this challenging moment in time to start that garden they’ve long dreamed of planting, paint that wall that’s been gradually chipping away, or even minor things like changing the light bulb that’s become less bright.
Yogi Berra once said “it gets late early out there.” I have that same sense when it comes to the coronavirus or Covid-19 and what it means. A few years ago, my money would have been on the H7N9 flu for the next global pandemic, but a couple of mutations here and some CDC budget cuts there and we get Covid-19.
Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels major league baseball team will be playing the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, July 17, at 7:05 p.m. in Citizens Bank Park. The summer of 2014 was the last time Trout and the Angels played in Philadelphia and a crowd of 4,000 Millville and area fans showed up to cheer him on. Now’s your chance to cheer for the best ballplayer in the majors!
In the winter frogs, unlike turtles, do not bury themselves partially in the mud of ponds, streams, and rivers. Instead they lie exposed on the bottom, reliant on the levels of dissolved oxygen in high-quality water because they breathe through their skin.
Here’s my good news for the week: I was feeling a little low, and I took a rest, but my mind wouldn’t calm itself. It made a little windstorm of a thousand things I could do, but I could not settle on one so I got up and said, "Get up, you procrastinator! Do something. Pick one of the many chores you’ve been thinking of.”
By “norms,” we’re not talking about parts of any law or rule that have been passed or adopted in any official way. What we’re talking about are customs — the practices and traditions that have always been observed and that we’ve taken for granted because “it’s always been done that way.”
Although kingfishers can be migrants in southern New Jersey, we have them year-round unless we get a hard freeze. Since their diet consists primarily of fish, open water is critical to their sustenance.
Throughout the history of the United States, many brilliant men and women of African descent have left a profound and enduring mark on this country, and the world, by using their ingenuity to create inventions that have helped further the progress of mankind.
We now reach the last leg of our journey along The Ave — the block between West Avenue and Delsea Drive. It’s the westernmost block of Landis Avenue covered within our Vineland Downtown Improvement Zone. It’s a long block and includes two shopping plazas, other multi-business complexes, and the former Landis Middle School (now the headquarters of the Vineland Board of Education).
For years I have been delivering presentations on Vulture Culture all over the state. It’s proved to be interesting and a great deal of fun. Vultures exist worldwide and they’re deeply ingrained in many societies. The service that they provide to the environment and to humans is indisputable. They are one of nature’s cleanup crews.
I have some news about our campaign for public financial support for the Military Mural downtown. It was such a success that it netted more than was necessary to cover the expenses.
As the winter months linger, days are getting longer and new events in the area are being presented. Wheaton Arts & Cultural Center will host free family art workshops on February 8, 22 and March 7, 21. “A Garden of Quilts” exhibit will be held in the Wheaton Event Center on March 14. The PushCart Players will present a children’s play The Velveteen Rabbit on Saturday, March 21.
We’re always looking for new volunteers — or volunteers to rejoin us. By getting involved now, you can be part of the planning and implementation stages.
While the form of Code Blue varies from community to community, in Bridgeton it is always staffed by volunteers, it is hosted in churches, and we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to provide bedding, meals, and wrap-around services.
Each year there is a marvelous opportunity to gain greater insight into the New Jersey Delaware Bayshore and its avian denizens, especially our eagles and their compatriot raptors and waterfowl. This year’s Eagle Festival is happening this weekend, and it’s a super way to spend your Saturday on February 1.
As a junior at Atlantic City High School waiting for the elevator to reach the ninth floor of the Amsterdam Hilton where she would interview John Lennon and Yoko Ono in March 1969, Alisa Cooper was, in her own words, “a nervous wreck.”
We’re proud to announce that we will be presenting a free concert by the esteemed United States Air Force Heritage Brass of the USAF Heritage of America Band on Saturday, March 14, at 3 p.m., at the Landis Theater, 830 E. Landis Ave.
Determined to remedy the soul food drought in Cumberland County, Taste Buds has fought their way to become one of the best soul food spots in South Jersey. With dishes ranging from sultry shrimp and grits to luxurious mac and cheese bowls, Taste Buds packs in flavor as bold as their blazing red building.
But if we’ve got to accept “affluenza” as a defense or even a justification, then the same has to apply to the opposite of “affluenza” — namely crushing poverty and hopeless despair.
Rich, full-bodied, and bursting with flavor -- though this imagery screams Megan Thee Stallion, it likewise illustrates the mouth-watering soul food served at Little Momma’s Cooking in Vineland. This nascent spot owned by chef Aiysha Imani and her children is hidden along the Vineland-Millville border, and although their location is modest in diameter, their flavors are of considerable magnitude.
An explosion of flavor, the layered aromas seeping from the doors of Indian Villa Curry-N-Cakes blankets their corner of Landis Avenue with the warm embrace of Northern Indian comfort food.
Since my last round of “thank yous,” we have our remaining events for the year and, like my earlier column in which I gave thanks, I want to give a general shout-out to all those who made those events possible and a success. The Christmas Parade was one of our largest and was absolutely spectacular. Everyone came together to make it run smoothly and I want to thank all of those — staff, volunteers, sponsors, the media, the City departments and others — who made it all come together flawlessly.
At this time of year, we are thinking about the holidays and will soon be celebrating with family and friends. It’s also a time for reflection on 2019. In the Glasstown Arts District, we are wrapping up the year while planning for 2020.
Richard W. Conner was known most notably as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, but his affiliation with the Christmas season might be how Cumberland County remembers him best.
We now come, on our “walking tour” of The Ave, to the south side of the 500 block. After this, we’ll be at the Boulevard and the mini-parks. We’ll take a rest there for a week or so and do some year-end reflections.
As an elected official at the municipal level of government, I find it difficult to think about issues in a purely political way. At the local level it’s more about practicality than politics. A prime example of the practical taking precedence over the political involves undocumented immigrants.
Tucked away along the bustling streets of center city Vineland is Milly’s Restaurant, a staple of authentic Latin American food in Cumberland County. The self-proclaimed home of “The World’s Best Guacamole,” this cozy, family-owned spot offers a unique combination of Mexican, Dominican, El Salvadorian, and Puerto Rican cuisine.
For a good part of the 1970s, my father, brother and I would traipse into the woods to harvest our Christmas tree: The a rarely spotted, not-too-popular cedar Christmas tree. And I loved it not because it was Christmastime, but because it was a cedar.
After a couple of weeks off, we’re back on track, continuing our “walking tour” of the Ave. We’ll spend this week and next week on the 500 block and then take another short break for year-end reflections.
An early 1860s brochure published by A. Cole & Co. to promote the settlement of Manumuskin shares many of the same ingredients found in Vineland founder Charles K. Landis’s newspaper ads of the same period, but each marketer offers a unique style of salesmanship in advertising his respective town.
The Glasstown Arts District has partnered with the City Recreation Volunteer Committee to bring Christmas cheer to the town and area on Friday, December 13, from 6 to 9 p.m.
As we made our way through 2019, the year was dotted with all manner of retrospectives on NASA, Apollo 11, and the moon landing. Part of this look over our collective shoulder included looking back at the early 1960s and the start of the space race during the Kennedy administration.
We drove home on one of the last warm days of autumn, no traffic delays. The very next day, Therese called to say that she’d had a car accident. No one was hurt and it was clearly not her fault, but the car is probably totaled.
If the stats are right, one out of every four young people between age 15 and 24 have been targeted in some way because of their race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, religion, or immigration status. This isn’t a new thing.
New Jersey has 20 confirmed cases of vaping-related illness and one death and officials are investigating several dozen suspected cases. The sick range from kids in middle school to adults in middle age.
The other morning while I was out taking a run, I caught a strong scent of smoke – oaky sweet with hints of hickory. The smell of the smoke from a nearby chimney along with the aroma wet fallen autumn leaves took me back to when my father and I would go out into the woods to cut wood to burn to heat the house next winter.
At a crossroad between late middle age and early old age, that’s where I am. You know, the age where each ache and pain ceases to be just nothing now morphs into the thing that keeps me awake at night, imagining that it’s a looming calamity that might change my life for the worse.
Although it seems unimaginable, it was only 52 years ago that Vineland instituted a uniform system for numbering houses in the town. And according to reports at the time, it was long overdue.
According to Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, implicit bias refers to “the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.”
This block really marks the beginning of the business sector of The Ave, with the number of businesses per block increasing as we venture further into the center of town.
Autumn in the Millville area is filled with special events of all types for adults and kids. Start out by attending an Evening of Music, Desserts and Coffee at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts (22 N. High Street) on Thursday, October 3, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
The Arts & Innovation Center and the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts are sponsoring the First Annual Fine Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday, September 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the college, 321 N. High Street.
Alas, the days are getting shorter, the heat waves of summer are, hopefully, over, the kids are back in school, and the leaves are turning their attractive fall colors. We, in Main Street, are setting our sights on our colorful array of autumn events. Here is a preliminary sneak peek.
The entertainment world has always drawn from a variety of sources, adapting and refashioning them to appeal to new audiences. This is true of the cinema’s early use of comic strips and comic books as inspiration.
The main driver of this global-to-local upheaval, I believe, is technology—specifically connective technology, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and the huge amount of data coming from our connectedness
The Glasstown Arts District (Main Street Millville) is in the midst of public project including a mural creation for its Creative Placemaking grant that was awarded recently. Artist Kenneth Lazan Faulk, Jr. of Atlantic City, has just completed the first painted piece at 19 N. High Street.
If you haven’t been by the mini-park at the southwest corner of Landis Avenue and the Boulevard, go and check out the progress that’s been made by artist George Perez and his assistants on the military mural.
If we celebrate, it’s not because we’re glib in our attitudes toward addiction and related issues, but because we are painfully aware of several things—how few resources are genuinely available, what is involved with accessing such resources, the challenges of coordinating among various stakeholders, and actually getting a working program up and running and out to those who need it.
I’ve given you some teasers and reminders in previous columns, but this is it—the whole story about the Third Annual Food Truck Festival on the Ave. So, get your tastebuds primed, come early and hungry, stay late, and have a super time!
One thing that the delivery of legal services in this country has in common with healthcare is the fact that too many individuals and families simply can’t afford it.
You’ll be able to choose from over 20 food trucks. There’ll also be a stupendous beer and wine tent, and a packed line-up of continuous entertainment and activities to keep you there, highlighted again this year by popular request by singing sensation Dawson Coyle of “The Voice.”
Many people, when speaking of Vineland’s downtown, speak or write of the “good old days” on The Avenue. They wax nostalgic on Facebook, in letters to the editor, and in casual conversation.
In his final years, Walt Whitman enjoyed his fame as he delivered lectures and revised and added to the collection of poems for which he is best known.
It’s been a hot time on The Ave for kids this past month, and I don’t mean just the temperature. The second year of Play Streets in Vineland is a wrap and it continues to build momentum.
The focus with integration has been mainly on accessing opportunity. This effort needs to continue, but for deeper, more lasting generational change, maybe it’s time to consider the combination of parts and if they’re working together well enough.
July marks the 20th anniversary of the Art Creates Excellence summer camp for youth. It is a remarkable program that we began at the debut of the Glasstown Arts District in July of 2000. The program has had many variations over the years, but the primary goal has been to enrich the lives of community members, especially the children.
I’ve got some great news for The Ave from which businesses and the public will benefit. Several years ago, we had a program called “Operation Facelift,” which enabled business owners to make façade improvements to their storefronts. Several businesses took advantage of that program and it resulted in contributing to a new look for The Ave.
This July, our country will observe the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. If you’re old enough, you remember when the race to the moon began in 1961 when President Kennedy committed us to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth before the end of the decade of the 1960s.
The formation of Alliance Colony in Cumberland County in 1882 established what would become a successful Jewish farming community, but there was much more that the settlement accomplished by the end of the 19th century.
It’s hard to believe that the summer season—which officially began on the Memorial Day weekend, as opposed to the technical beginning on June 21—is half over. So little time, but so much to enjoy!
I’ve said for years that Vineland—it's downtown and the entire city—can benefit from an educated workforce that has the incentives necessary to stay here and live here.
I’m grateful for the USDA’s summer meals program that exists to provide food for low-income children in urban and rural areas during the summer months when schools are not in session, since many children rely on their schools from September through June for nutritious meals, sometimes two a day.
Where do I begin in describing my feelings for our first Running The Ave 5K last week? The weather was made to order, and the 145-running field exceeded our expectations, especially for a first-time run.
This week I will be highlighting some of the food businesses in the Glasstown Arts District. Shopping and dining locally have a great impact on the lives of the owners, employees, community members and visitors to our area.
Driving through practically any commercial zoned area in South Jersey, you are bound to pass a strip mall where you once regularly shopped that is now practically deserted or a former WaWa that was your go-to spot for that first cup of coffee of the day that is now empty and waiting to be repurposed.
Anytime we, in Main Street Vineland, embark on a project, it entails more than just us. It’s often the result of many people and organizations who are brought to the table and contribute greatly to the success of the venture. In other words, “it takes a village…”
These “urban canvases” reflect the community’s history, culture, and social make-up in a permanent way, as well as giving opportunities to talented artists and to community involvement.
