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Author Archives: Miriam Geronimus

New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Stuart Rabner spoke about the effects of the Great Recession on New Jersey’s judicial system in a public talk on March 3. Rabner said that the justice system can help alleviate the suffering of residents, though he added that layoffs make this task trickier.

Rabner, a 1982 graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School, gave the School’s annual John Marshall Harlan ’20 Lecture in Robertson Hall.

Rabner explained that a statewide mandatory mediation program was implemented in response to the staggering increase in the number of contested foreclosure cases. In the past year, the number of foreclosure cases has tripled with nearly five thousand cases being filed per month, he said. Now, judges require a mediation session before a foreclosure case can come to court.

“The goal is to get borrowers and lenders to sit together at a table to try to work through the problem that exists in their contractual relationship and see if we can stave off foreclosures,” Rabner said. “The role of the court system is to ensure that there is a neutral forum where individual rights of both sides are respected and protected.”

Read the entire story here.

Mar 10, 2010

IN PRINT: NJ Supreme Court Justice on The Great Recession

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in In Print Tagged Great Recession, NJ Supreme Court, Stuart Rabner, Woodrow Wilson School Leave a comment

http://susty.com

Hello Princeton student. Did you think you went to the apathetic, relatively conservative Ivy? Well, shhhhhh. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Princeton’s actually commie.

What am I referring to? Why, this comment, among many others, from the Prince’s comment sections on the recent and controversial appointment of Van Jones to be a visiting fellow next year:

Oh Princeton, you commie, you…

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in Goings On, In the news, Politics Tagged comments, Communism, Daily Princetonian, Derek Gideon, environmental justice, Glenn Beck, Princeton Climate Dispatch, Princeton University, Van Jones, visiting faculty Leave a comment

http://www.ivy-style.com/100th-post-ivy-magazine-1957.html#more-607

The High School argument. Over the years here, there’s been too many of these dustups to even begin to count. You know what I’m talking about: Public schools have bad teachers, Private schools are elitist, Prep schools are SUPER-elitist, and on and on and PUMP MY GAS on and onnnn… It’s garbage, all of it.

What were we talking about? Oh yes — the eternal, exhausting Public versus Private debate. Well, we’d say that each side’s talking points have been the same since time immerorial — but turns out that’s not the case.

In December 1957, Ivy Magazine ran point-counterpoint articles in favor of and against public schools — specifically, about how well prep-school and public school graduates fit in at Ivy League colleges. Interestingly, differently, both sides centered their cases around sex. As in, “how much” and “what kind” the opposing side is having. It gets vicious.

“Almost all the public high school graduates have had the benefit of adolescent contact with the opposite sex,” wrote Bryce E. Nelson in “Toddlers in Tweed,” the pro-public school piece. ”[The public school graduate's] classmate has had a far different adolescence.”

On sex and elitism in the Ivy League

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in Nostalgia Tagged Ivy League, prep schools, Public Schools, sex Leave a comment

http://legacy.lclark.edu/~piolog/05-09-09/forum

Ever wonder how the frisbee got its start? Right here at Princeton!

That’s right, the hippie sport(?) began as the privileged past time of Ivy League elites, especially Princetonians, in the spring of 1957. An article about the fad even appeared in the New York Times on August 11, 1957, written by Gay Talese. Called “the friz” by Princeton students, it only cost 79¢.

Here are two of our favorite quotes from Talese’s article:

“One Princeton crew cut said that the gadget kept students so busy that they had no time for rioting.”

“Neither stamina nor brains are needed to make it work.”

Ahhh… so that’s why it was so popular here.

Feb 20, 2010

Frisbee days of Princeton yore

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in Musings, Nostalgia Tagged Frisbee, Gay Talese, history, Ivy League, New York Times, Princeton Leave a comment

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawken

Remember when American universities started hurting from the recession? At Harvard, students were forced to go without hot breakfasts. Soup kitchens sprang up to help students through the whole thing (we heard).

When they learned of the travesty that had befallen Harvard, Princeton’s very own Tiger Magazine set out to remedy the situation by bringing hot oatmeal to the huddled crimson masses.

“Our humanitarian action was motivated by our deep-seated empathy for Harvard students,” head writer Jim Valcourt ‘12 told us in an email. “After all, they go to Harvard. Sure, our schools are rivals, but that’s no excuse for standing by idly while your fellow man is deprived of morning sustenance. Someone had to act.”

The mission’s mastermind Stephen Stolzenberg ‘13 carried out the Ivy League Marshall Plan with Valcourt, Myra Gupta ‘12, Rodrigo Menezes ‘13, Brian Edwards ‘11 and Steven Liss ‘10.

Ed Kelley ‘13 captured and edited their efforts and posted the video yesterday on Tiger Magazine’s website:

Of course, the attempt to nourish Harvard students’ stomachs and souls devolved into a heated rivalrous confrontation … or at least a couple of email exchanges between Harvard students attempting to plan such a confrontation.

Read our favorite emails after the jump.

Tiger Mag brings oats to Harvard hobos

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in Goings On Tagged budget cuts, Harvard, hobos, hot breakfast, pranks, recession, School rivalry, The Princeton Tiger 2 Comments

Holder Hall

It snowed! Or rather, it’s snowing… a lot. According to our ruler, we’ve received about six inches of snow so far. Which means … snow day!!! Oh, wait, it’s Saturday. And Princeton doesn’t do snow days for a measly six inches. Cass Cliatt, Princeton’s spokesperson, tells us that campus has only closed three times due to weather conditions in the past 15 years. So let’s not all cross our fingers too soon.

(Although we would recommend calling if you’re going anywhere on Nassau. We know Labyrinth’s closed today, and Panera’s got weird hours, so save yourself a snow-trudge and call ahead.)

Still, it’s an impressive amount of snow. The historic blizzard is sweeping from Virginia to southern Pennsylvania and central Jersey, leaving as much as two feet of snow in some locations. We can’t expect that much, but we’ll get a few more inches before the day is over.

Between this blizzard and the epic storm that hit in December, we concede that winter does exist in New Jersey. We may get more snow and have far chillier temperatures in my native state of Michigan — but New Jersey can still hold its own.

And did anyone notice that all the walks and stairways were magically plowed and shoveled by 10:30 a.m.? The easier for you to slip and fall, guys!

Feb 6, 2010

Princeton’s Winter Wonderland

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in Goings On Tagged blizzard, Michigan, New Jersey, snow, Winter Leave a comment

While Princeton students have been burying their heads in their laptops and textbooks, oblivious to the outside world — well, except for the occasional Facebook “study break” or “Whitman wail” — the state of New Jersey has been making headlines. The New Jersey Legislature passed a measure to legalize medical marijuana. And the bill was co-sponsored by Princeton’s very own Assemblyman, Reed Gusciora. Now Governor Jon Corzine just needs to sign the bill before he leaves office next week.

But lest any students think that New Jersey will become the next California…

Medical Bud for the Garden State

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in Goings On, In the news, Politics Tagged marijuana, medical marijuana, New Jersey, Princeton Leave a comment

Princeton students know how to procrastinate. We’re also very familiar with the art of b.s. — especially when it’s almost break, and we just want to be done and go home.

Apparently, world leaders know how to do this too.

Today marked the end of the Copenhagen climate talks. Though some had speculated that the talks would run into Saturday morning or even Sunday, The New York Times reported at 5:00 p.m. EST that a tentative “agreement” had been reached. A laudable achievement after two weeks of bickering… until you read the fine print. The agreement is non-binding and there is no longer a deadline for setting a binding accord. According to the Times,

“The accord drops the expected goal of concluding a binding international treaty by the end of 2010, which leaves the implementation of its provisions uncertain. It is likely to undergo many months, perhaps years, of additional negotiation before it emerges in any internationally enforceable form.”

Hmmm … perhaps I cheered too early?

But it gets worse.

World leaders can B.S. too

By Miriam Geronimus

Posted in In the news, Politics Leave a comment

The most visited posts inthe past two weeks:

Author Archives: Miriam Geronimus

The most visited posts in
the past two weeks: