QUALITY CARE: “I have a broad area of practice. I do it all, and I love the diversity. With dermatology, we do a lot of procedures in the office. I can see the problem and then treat it properly. We see all kinds of patients — all ages, men, women, children, even babies.” David Nieves, MD, makes sure that all his patients receive quality care and attention.
By Jean Stratton
Too much sun is definitely not your friend, says dermatologist Dr. David Nieves.
“I want people to know there is no such thing as a healthy tan. It damages the skin. The best skin maintenance is to stay out of the sun. If not, take protective measures: wear sunscreen — at least 30 SPF or greater. Wear a hat, sit under an umbrella. Avoid unnecessary exposure.”
So, this is a wake-up call for all those who love to lie on the beach for long periods of time.
“Millions of Americans develop skin cancer every year,” continues Dr. Nieves. “Most cases are classified as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, and are curable with brief in-office procedures. The most worrisome form, melanoma, typically looks like a brown spot with uneven pigmentation and an irregular border. If not detected early, melanoma can be fatal.”
West Windsor Native
Dr. Nieves has been a partner at Windsor Dermatology at 59 One Mile Road Ext. in East Windsor since 2006. The office has a 32-year history in East Windsor, and now includes three partners and three associate physicians, all board certified. Dr. Nieves is on staff at the University Medical Center at Princeton, where he is chief of the dermatology section of the department of medicine.
A West Windsor native, he graduated from West Windsor Plainsboro High School, Duke University, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He then went on to the University of Rochester for his internship and dermatology residency.
“I wanted to help people,” he explains. “With dermatology, I see many different conditions, ranging from common to rare. It’s challenging.”
His practice includes patients with everything from acne and skin allergies to psoriasis, eczema, and skin cancer. He also performs cosmetic procedures, including Botox, fillers, CoolSculpting, laser rejuvenation, and laser hair removal.
Skin allergies can result in a rash, itching, redness, etc., and can be due to exposure to fragrances, preservatives, and other chemicals found in personal care products, points out Dr. Nieves. To identify the cause, he performs patch testing, a needle-free procedure to identify sensitivity to common allergens.
“Sometimes people can be allergic to make-up. One person I treated was allergic to chemicals in the rubber in her make-up sponge. A male patient presented with a rash on his hands, and when the causative allergen was identified, it wasn’t in any of his products. I learned that he was a new father and asked to see his child’s baby wipes. That turned out to be the source of his exposure. Finding the cause can be detective work!”
Once the cause has been identified, he uses specialized databases to recommend replacement products.
Positive Results
Seeing positive results is very satisfying, both to the patient and to Dr. Nieves. “This past summer, one patient with psoriasis said to me after successful treatment, ‘It’s the first time I’ve gone swimming in 10 years. I feel so much better.’
“Teenagers with severe acne may appear withdrawn at the beginning of treatment. As the problem clears up, a new self-confidence develops.”
Self-confidence can also be enhanced by cosmetic procedures. Procedures which markedly reduce wrinkles, erase blemishes, or remove unwanted hair help many patients feel better about their appearance.
One of the popular procedures today is CoolSculpting for the body, he adds. “It is an alternative to liposuction, and is a shaping procedure, not for weight loss. It is for the abdomen, love handles, thighs, and the neck. It works very well and is very popular. And the nice thing about CoolSculpting is that you can resume normal activity immediately after the procedure. There’s no down time.”
Clinical Trials
Another important part of Windsor Dermatology’s practice is the focus on clinical trials. “This is a unique aspect of our practice,” explains Dr. Nieves. “We have the ability to offer our patients early access to investigational treatments not yet commercially available. Patients who enroll in trials receive study medication and treatment at no charge. Pharmaceutical companies choose to work with our site because of our expertise and their confidence that we will do it properly and follow FDA guidelines.”
Currently, Windsor Dermatology is conducting trials for new treatments for psoriasis, eczema, warts, and actinic keratoses.
Whether Dr. Nieves’ patient is a child with a fungal infection, an adult suffering from psoriasis or eczema, or a person with skin cancer, he looks forward to helping them and finding the best treatment for a positive result.
“I enjoy seeing people get better. We see individuals with common and uncommon conditions. Every day, I look forward to coming to work. I love seeing my patient get better, and I love my staff, and the talented and caring physicians I work with. I’m very fortunate. Dermatology has very high career satisfaction. I’m able to do clinical trials and be in the forefront of medical research. It’s intellectually challenging. Every day, when I leave the office, I’m able to leave feeling that I did something positive for others.”
Windsor Dermatology is open Monday through Saturday. (609) 443-4500.
Written by: Jean Stratton
Library Live at Labyrinth will present Paul Halpern discussing his book The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality at Labyrinth Books on Thursday, December 14 at 6 p.m.
According to a starred review in Booklist, “Readers soon see that Feynman achieved his breakthroughs in physics by collaborating with his mentor, John Wheeler …. With the same clarity that has attracted readers to Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat and his other books of popular science, Halpern retraces the way this unlikely pair smashed traditional understandings of time …. A compelling reminder that even the most triumphant science comes from vulnerable humans.”
Nature comments, “Feynman was a doer, Wheeler a dreamer. So Paul Halpern aptly describes them in The Quantum Labyrinth, his book about their lives, work and friendship, and the virtues of their complementary styles …. Feynman was one of the greatest intuitive problem-solvers in 20th-century physics, a world-class doer. But I suspect that many readers will take most pleasure from the account of Wheeler’s inspired dreaming.”
Paul Halpern is a professor of physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and the author of 15 popular science books, most recently Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat.
Written by: Town Topics Newspaper
In the unlikely event that the New York Times Book Review or anyone else ever asks me what books are on my night stand, the tome that’s been there for years waiting for me to write about it is Carl Van Vechten’s The Tiger in the House: A Cultural History of the Cat (Knopf 1920), which has been called “the best single treatise on the cat” and “a treasure house of literary gossip.” Like so many of my books, this one, the 1936 edition, has passed through the secondhand bookstores of Manhattan and therefore embodies three of my favorite things — cats, used bookstores, and New York City.
Driving to the city last week with Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony on the stereo (speaking of favorite things), I was planning some Christmas shopping for my son around a visit to Keetah, the cat on the back cover of Shop Cats of New York (Harper Design 2016). According to cat blogger Tamar Arslanian’s commentary, customers at Bleecker Street Records (“one of the last old-school record stores in New York City”) make a point of paying their respects to the gray female cat with the white heart-shaped patch on her chest. Another of Andrew Marttila’s photographs shows Keetah lounging atop bins of blues LPs in “the relative solitude of her basement lair where she retreats for peace and quiet among the vintage vinyl.”
One of the photographs shows Keetah sitting on the shoulder of the shop’s owner, who inherited her along with “her now deceased brother” from another store, because, “for whatever undisclosed reasons,” they “could no longer stay where they were.”
That’s a roundabout way of saying the other store closed. It’s the eternal New York story, the city’s a work in progress, and always will be.
Composed in a Hen House
I had to turn off Shostakovich going through the Holland Tunnel, no way to keep to the 35 mph limit with the third movement charging full-tilt toward glory. What the composer himself termed “a very forceful, dynamic march” has been my most reliable energy source for weeks. Whenever the pace of life seems to drag, whenever the weight of 24-7 Trump news pulls me down, I hop aboard the third movement and imagine Charlie Mingus hearing it in the late 1940s and thinking, “This is what it’s all about.” In a 1943 interview quoted in Laurel Fay’s biography, Shostakovich says the symphony’s “philosophical conception” is that “life is beautiful” and “everything that is dark and gloomy will rot away, vanish, and the beautiful will triumph.” It’s an extraordinary statement for a Russian to make in 1943, given the wages of war, millions dead, mass starvation, the cities uninhabitable, thus Shostakovich’s retreat to the country, where he composed the second and third movements in a converted hen house on a poultry farm.
As someone who rates cats near the top among the things that make life beautiful, I figured Shostakovich had one close at hand in the hen house, and in fact there’s a photograph from 1925 online showing him with a tabby in his lap. He was only 19 when the picture was taken, already working on his first symphony and paying the rent by playing piano accompaniment for silent films in St. Petersburg cinemas like the Picadilly and the Splendid Palace.
Drifting Off to Dreamland
Like any large city with lots of nooks and crannies and hidden secrets, The Tiger in the House is there to be explored, all 367 pages, which is what makes it an ideal bedside book. There are chapters on cat haters, the cat and the occult, the cat in the theatre, in music, in art, in fiction. Say you’re yawning, ready to nod off, and you have time only for some drowsy musing on Henry James’s remark that “he rubbed himself against the Seine-front in Paris ‘for endearment and consecration, as a cat invokes the friction of a protective piece of furniture.’” There’s a thought to dream on, the Master in his 20s marking his spot and purring, drugged on Parisian catnip. In the very next sentence George Eliot is wondering “Who can tell what just criticisms the cat may be passing on us beings of wider speculation?” She could be writing about our ample tuxedo Nora, who is sleeping on the same bed with my wife and me and her tuxedo brother Nick. When Nora looks at me and mews her silent mew, no criticisms are involved, just or otherwise, only feline anticipation of my talent for stroking her belly and reading to her about Kitty, a black and white beauty from Shop Cats of New York who hangs out at Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon in Union Square.
One nightmare passage from Van Vechten’s book not recommended for bedtime reading claims that Johannes Brahms was “an avowed enemy of the feline tribe” who silenced cats “infesting the backyards of Vienna” with a special bow and arrow “used in Bohemia to slay sparrows.” After “spearing the poor brutes” and reeling them into his room like “a trout fisher,” he allegedly “listened to the expiring groans of his victims” and transcribed their “piteous utterances” into chamber music.
The source of this gruesome tale, however, is Brahms’s arch rival Richard Wagner, who has been called out for perpetuating the myth by the various music scholars who have debunked it.
Some Cats I’ve Known
In my researches into the legend of Brahms as a serial killer of Viennese felines I ran across Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who Played Brahms. While I haven’t read any of the best-selling Cat Who series, the fact that the one playing Brahms is a Siamese got my attention because the first cats I ever lived with were Kiloo and Zuma, the two Siamese my father bought from Madame Manski, who sang the role of Isolde in the Vienna State Opera production of Tristan.
I still have the pencil portrait of our Siamese that I made when I was six, complete with claw marks from the stray who attacked it some 30 years later. I also have near at hand a small framed photograph of my father with Kiloo in his lap. Kiloo and Zuma spent most of their time out of our laps tearing up the furniture and keening like banshees whenever anyone came near the front door of the apartment. When the landlady who lived below us had had enough of the howling, we had to move, which meant giving up the cats because pets were not permitted in graduate student housing. Rules or no rules, I became attached to a female stray, took her in, named her Horntense, and cried when she died.
After we moved to “a real house” a sociable marmalade named Sam came along, soon to be joined by a calico we automatically called Penrod, thanks to fond memories of the characters created by Princeton grad Booth Tarkington.
The Best Cat Ever
The best cat ever was born in my study within arm’s reach of my desk. I was the first to see him poking his nose over the makeshift bed where his mother Tess had already produced four kittens. We thought that was it. Like her Thomas Hardy namesake, Tess had seen a novel’s worth of adversity by the time she showed up at our back door, pregnant, and not much more than a kitten herself. Her fifth born, the tuxedo runt of the litter, was the first to walk, to prance, to dance. We named him Dizzy out of affection for a lovable mutt who had been named for Dizzy Gillespie. It made sense because our Dizzy had a lot of canine in him, a Scots terrier’s jaunty posture, and a way of cocking his head that made you laugh with love, as did the way he’d herd you into bed and curl up beside you, soon snoring and snurfling in his dreams like an old hound. By day, he loved the outdoors, moving through his life with the cool ambiance that made “cat” the word of choice for jazz musicians.
Born when Saddam invaded Kuwait, he died a month after Bush invaded Iraq. He was almost 13 when he picked up an infection. I was with him all through the last night, he in his fast-panting agony, shaken by the force flaying him inside, hurling him forward, his whole body heaving with it hour after hour while I whispered pointless words of encouragement, saying everything twice, aware that this was something we did with all our cats: as if saying it once wasn’t enough to get the point across, as if they could understand. I do the same thing with Nora, who has mellowed beautifully after a wild youth as a feline Nijinsky performing fantastic leaps and sliding down banisters, no time for lap sitting. While her brother Nick is vocal, her silent mew is described in The Tiger in the House, where it’s observed that “to signify their intentions” some cats “open their mouths but do not speak.”
“Mkgnao!”
I never got to meet Keetah, the gray female residing at Bleecker Street Records. As happens in New York, the store was gone when I got to the corner of Sixth and Bleecker; no surprise, a Starbucks had taken its place. New York below 14th Street is no longer the Mecca of secondhand record stores it was in the 1990s. I can still remember when 4th Avenue south of 14th was lined on both sides with secondhand book stores, a number of which had cats in residence.
Right now, I’m thinking of the Old York up the road in New Brunswick, my favorite used bookstore, the one I wrote a novel around. If you want to know what made the Old York special, think about Shostakovich composing great music in a converted henhouse. John Socia, the owner, possibly the nicest, most generous and unaffected person I ever met, had no room for cats because he had two dogs who could usually be found gnawing bones somewhere between, as I remember, the Philosophy and Science sections. This most unbookish of book dealer’s favorite book was James Joyce’s Ulysses, which he loved the way I love the St. Louis Cardinals. Among the most visible cats in literature is the one Leopold Bloom begins his day feeding:
“Mr. Bloom watched curiously, kindly, the lithe black form. Clean to see: the gloss of her sleek hide, the white button under the butt of her tail, the green flashing eyes. He bent down to her, his hands on his knees.
“—Milk for the pussens, he said.
“— Mkgnao! the cat cried.
———
The Friends of the Princeton Public Library, who are holding a one-day book sale this Sunday, December 17 from 1-6 p.m., need donations, as do the the people planning next spring’s Bryn Mawr Wellesley book sale. To find out more, visit princetonlibrary.org/booksales and bmandwbooks.com/donations
Written by: Stuart Mitchner
Eric Swartzentruber, a Princeton native who recently moved back to the area after nine years as director of admissions at the Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Massachusetts, will be joining the Princeton Montessori School (PMS) leadership team as director of enrollment. In addition to directing enrollment and admissions operations at PMS, he will act as liaison with the greater Princeton community.
“We are pleased to welcome Eric to our administrative team,” said Michelle Morrison, PMS head, citing Swatzentruber’s experience with both Montessori education and the International Baccalaureate program.
“My daughters attended a Montessori School, and I have always admired the Montessori philosophy,” said Swartzentruber. “I helped bring International Baccalaureate to my last school, where both of my daughters greatly benefitted from the program. The notion of having Montessori and IB working together in one school was perfect for me. Then, I met the extraordinary school community, and I knew I had made the right choice.”
Prior to his time in New England, Swartzentruber directed admissions and development offices at American Boychoir School (1990-2000) and Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart (2000-2008).
Trixie Sabundayo, English teacher, department chair, and a senior administrator at Marin Academy (MA) in San Rafael, Calif., for the past 13 years, will be taking charge as upper school head at Princeton Day School (PDS), effective July 1.
“I believe that good leadership is about building trusting partnerships and being a clear, transparent communicator,” she said. “Both of these have been the backbone of my philosophy as an educator, and have served me well as a teacher and leader.”
At MA, a 9-12, coeducational day school of 410 students, Sabundayo, according to last week’s PDS announcement, is “an accomplished classroom teacher,” who “has designed and implemented a host of interdisciplinary course initiatives in English and history” in addition to taking on a wide variety of roles in the larger school community.
She has served as diversity council chair, dean of equity and inclusion, sophomore class dean, and as faculty representative on the MA board of trustees. She co-directs MA’s annual literary festival and has led or worked with a number of school affinity groups, including Women in Support and Empowerment (WISE), Folks, and Mixed Ethnicity.
Her courses have included Sophomore English, Junior English, Creative Non-Fiction, Power and Resistance, The 20th Century Novel, Reading and Writing the Short Story, and American Dreams and Realities.
Sabundayo said of her upcoming transition to the upper school leadership position at PDS, “Over my years at MA, I have been fortunate enough to take on many different leadership roles and effect change across different programs and constituencies. To understand and grow all aspects of school life are what I love to do, so it felt only natural to want to be a division head.”
Emphasizing the values and visions that she shares with PDS, she noted, “There are many exemplary schools and exceptional leaders out there, but finding the right match between a school and leader is what makes schools flourish and thrive.”
When asked about the appeal of the Princeton area, Sabundayo described her introduction to PDS. “My new job is, in all honesty, the most exciting thing. I fell in love with PDS the moment I met the search committee, before even stepping foot on campus. And once I did walk the halls, I knew I wanted to join the PDS community.”
Referring to her 7-year-old and 20-month-old children, she added, “And the thought of having Teaghan and Quinnie go to school with me is beyond thrilling.”
A Baltimore native, Sabundayo attended Bryn Mawr School, then matriculated at Johns Hopkins, originally preparing for a career in medicine before eventually graduating with degrees in English and women’s studies. At Johns Hopkins she played varsity field hockey, captaining the team in her junior year, and varsity lacrosse, also serving as team captain. She was elected to the All-Centennial Conference First Team, and named a First Team All-American by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association.
Sabundayo received her master’s degree in English from the Bread Loaf School at Middlebury College in 2002, then taught at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans and Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles
before her tenure at MA.
In her hypothetical free time, which she experiences seldom these days and is anticipating less of next year, Sabundayo envisions gardening, hiking, painting, and yoga. “If I were to have lots of free time, I would certainly be outside, either gardening or hiking. If I had loads of time, I would start painting regularly again. Oil painting is my medium. And if I had loads and loads of time, I would continue my yoga teacher training in anatomy.” She earned her Sivananda yoga teaching certificate in Kerala, India and was trained as an Anusara teacher in Berkeley.
More realistically, she said, she loves spending time with her young children and her husband, Josh Frechette.
PDS Head of School Paul Stellato expressed his enthusiasm for the new upper school head. “Through her work both inside and outside of the classroom, she has proven herself to be an exceptional educator and leader,” he said. “She will no doubt bring a wealth of experience and energy with her when she arrives. I look forward to beginning our work together this summer when she arrives in Princeton with her family.”
In making his announcement of the new upper school head, Stellato also reflected on the tenure of Jason Robinson, assistant head of school for academic life and current upper school head, who will leave PDS in June to take over as head of school at St. Alban’s School in Washington, D.C.
“There is no area of life in the upper school that has not been enhanced and strengthened through his vision and vigor,” said Stellato, “nor is there a student or faculty member who has not benefitted from his wisdom and counsel.”
Written by: Donald Gilpin
By Anne Levin
Last Saturday’s snowstorm turned Princeton into a picture-perfect winter scene. But it was no gift to area retailers. The expected holiday shopping crowds were scared away by the weather, which turned out to be less of a threat than anticipated.
Despite the slowdown, shopkeepers are hoping to recoup in the two weekends left before December 25. “The snow was beautiful, but it actually kept people away,” said Rob Menapace, owner of Homestead Princeton on Palmer Square’s Hulfish Street. “Year after year, Princeton is ranked as one of the top 10 Christmas towns in the state. It’s a magical kind of place. So it was strange. But there were five weekends this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so perhaps people just have more time. I think we’ll see a rush in the coming weeks. I hope so.”
Mimi Omiecinski of Princeton Tour Company, which runs holiday trolley tours around town, said her Saturday tours suffered. “I was really surprised, because most of our trolley tours book up about two days before,” she said. “When news came about the storm on Friday, there was an onslaught of calls. Everyone was canceling. Normally it’s completely sold out, but we were at 50 percent. The snow was pretty, though.”
Jazams toy store on Palmer Square is normally packed with shoppers this time of year, but Saturday was a washout. “It’s a toy store retailer’s nightmare to have snow on a Saturday before Christmas,” co-owner Joanne Farrugia said on Monday. “You never make it back. You can’t make it up. Sunday was okay. But I think in general, in Princeton, we need more people to think about where they are making their purchases — not just for us, but for all retailers. It’s so important to shop local. Still, we have 14 more days and I’m anticipating it to be good. We’re optimistic by nature.”
With the addition of several seasonal pop-up stores, Palmer Square is full, according to Jamie Volkert of Palmer Square Management. “We have one or two stores being used for storage by other tenants, but we are full,” she said last week. “The Black Friday crowd was larger than I’ve ever seen it, and a lot of events are going on so there are many reasons to come to the Square and a lot of things to keep people shopping.”
The one store to open on Palmer Square in recent months is Nic and Zoe, on Hulfish Street. Holiday pop-ups include a photo studio where the Zoe shop was located before moving to Nassau Street, where pictures with Santa are taken on weekends and all proceeds go to HomeFront; the gift and pottery store Objects of Our Lives; the Japanese tableware and gift store Miya, Inc.; and Ana Caro
Leather Goods.
There are vacancies at Princeton Shopping Center on Harrison Street, but Eden’s, the company that has owned the center since 2012, recently added 4 Elements Wellness. Itr offers “cryotherapy, floatation therapy, infrared sauna, low-level light therapy, and halotherapy, otherwise known as Himalayan Salt room,” according to the shopping center website.
Surf Taco was targeted for a December 6 opening, but it has been delayed and is awaiting a final date.
Terhune Orchards on Cold Soil Road will hold seasonal events at the farm in January. “Read and Explore: Gingerbread Man” is Tuesday, January 16 at 10 a.m. and Saturday, January 20 at 10 a.m. “Wassailing the Apple Trees” is Sunday, January 28, 1-4 p.m.
The Gingerbread Man event is part of Terhune’s winter education series, following the Read and Pick Program. At the first program, participants will read The Gingerbread Man and then each child will decorate a big gingerbread man cookie to take home. Registration is requested. The fee is $7 per child.
At the Wassailing day, Terhune honors the ancient British tradition of wassailing the apple trees to protect them from harm. Activities include singing, dancing, playing primitive instruments, toasts of hot cider, and placing gifts of cider-soaked bread in the tree branches while chanting words of praise and wishes for a prosperous New Year.
A bonfire where marshmallows will be roasted, farm wagon rides (weather permitting), and live music are also planned. The festivities are free and open to the public. Call (609) 924-2310 or visit www.terhuneorchards.com for more information.
