PAW Recommends: Tips for the Stay-at-Home Life

May 26, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Join in the Virtual P-rade at 2 p.m. May 30. Alumni can watch on the Reunions Online website, Facebook, Twitter, the University’s YouTube channel, or Media Central Live. 

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

Listen to a Spotify playlist of “Optimistic Songs” assembled by Henry Von Kohorn ’66. “Unsurprisingly,” he writes, “many are from the 1930s, and none are contemporary.” More alumni picks for pandemic music are online here.

SOMETHING TO SEE

Get in the Reunions spirit by viewing pictures of jackets, beer steins, and more in the Princetoniana Virtual Museum. Some items date back more than 100 years.  

May 19, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Learn about pandemics through history in a new Zoom series from the Program in Medieval Studies. Next up is a talk by Phil Slavin of the University of Stirling titled “Plague: From the Late Neolitic to the Black Death” at 1:30 p.m. on May 21.

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

Limiting our interactions with nature has consequences, according to professor and author Paul Wapner *91. Listen to PAW’s conversation with Wapner about his new book, Is Wilderness Over?, in the latest PAWcast. 

SOMETHING TO SEE

Short films from the 39th annual Black Maria Virtual Film Festival, in partnership with the Lewis Center, are available to watch online. Genres include animation, experimental, documentary, and narrative.  

May 12, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Join a virtual conversation between theater director Jane Cox and Tony Award-winning Broadway director John Doyle, part of an ongoing series of informal conversations about theater-making and the creative process.  

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

MIT philosophy professor Kieran Setiya *02 has a new podcast where he asks fellow philosophers five questions about themselves. His first interview was David Velleman of New York and Johns Hopkins universities.

SOMETHING TO SEE

Join the curators of Life Magazine and the Power of Photography for an online discussion, through the Princeton Art Museum, of their most notable archival discoveries. The event begins at 6 p.m. May 13. Read PAW's story about the exhibit.

May 5, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Learn what University scholars are contributing to their respective fields during the three webinars of Princeton Research Day. Each will showcase research projects around a theme: Reinterpretation on May 5, Environment on May 6, and Wellbeing on May 7. Find more information and register here.

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

Bill Lockwood with McCarter Theatre’s Special Programs has curated a web page with videos of four artists, including a break dancer and an innovative Icelandic classical pianist. The Lockwood List is part of the theater's McCarter @Home program.

SOMETHING TO SEE

View online exhibits at the Cotsen Children’s Library, including Beatrix Potter and Leo Politi, and collections of tigers, kites, and “creepy crawlies.” 

April 28, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Take an online drawing class through the Princeton University Art Museum and Arts Council of Princeton. Taught by artist-instructor Barbara DiLorenzo, this week’s lesson on interior spaces is inspired by a conversation between Sir David Adjaye, the architect designing a new home for the museum, and director James Steward. Register here for the lesson at 8 p.m. April 30.

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

Listen to Princeton graduate students explain their cutting-edge work in the Research on the Road series. Next, chemistry doctoral student Tianxia Xiao will give a talk, “Highway to Fuel: Evidence for Metabolic Channeling to Drive Bio-Energy Production,” at noon April 30. Learn more here.  

SOMETHING TO SEE

Watch author Jennifer Weiner ’91 make challah bread and matzoh on Facebook. News outlets have picked up on her videos connecting with readers ahead of her upcoming book release; her page is here. 

April 21, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Up your sewing game with the students of Mend, now on Instagram @Tigers_Who_Mend. The group seeks to reduce clothing and fashion waste, and the new posts show how to make socks last longer and sew patches and face masks.  

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

The alumni known as “The Three Bobs” teamed up with pediatrician Dr. Jeff Bourne ’68 to offer a webinar titled “Princeton Old Guard Share Their Expertise During Covid-19 Crisis.” The four members of the Class of 1968 offered their expertise on seeking solace, helping children, financial-crisis management and more ways to protect your family during the coronavirus pandemic. The archived webinar is online here.

SOMETHING TO SEE

Take a virtual nature walk through Princeton’s campus, starting with guided sensory awareness. Led by psychiatric nurse practitioner Alexandra Crowley, the next one will be from 3:30-5 p.m. April 24. Register here.

April 14, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Read War and Peace with the virtual Tolstoy Together book group created by creative writing professor Yiyun Li. “I have found that the more uncertain life is, the more solidity and structure Tolstoy’s novels provide,” Li says on the book group's site.

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

Listen to Adrienne Raphel ’10 talk about the history and intricacies of crossword puzzles, and the surprising gender disparity among their creators, in the latest PAWcast.

SOMETHING TO SEE

Princeton Journeys is offering a series of live lectures online. Jason Rudy '97 will examine the British colonization of Australia through contemporary artwork on April 16 at 6 p.m. Register here.  

April 7, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

Labyrinth Books on Nassau Street is posting its Reading Around the World series on Tuesdays and Fridays, featuring African American Studies professor Ruha Benjamin and Shawn Benjamin reading children’s stories.  

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

Jazz composer Charu Suri ’97 is tweeting short daily videos of her piano playing, so far including “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin, the “Sesame Street” theme song, and her own works. Her tweets are at @charusurimusic.

SOMETHING TO SEE

Wrestling coach Chris Ayres is tweeting instructional videos on various moves from his basement, with his obliging children as co-demonstrators. His series, “Home-schooling With the Ayres Family,” can be found at @tigercoachayres.

March 30, 2020

SOMETHING TO DO

In 2014, artist and author Danny Gregory ’82 and Koosje Koene co-founded Sketchbook Skool, an online art school that recently launched its Coronavirus Creativity Guide, a hub of free resources that include live “drawing parties” on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

SOMETHING TO HEAR 

Being stuck at home doesn’t mean you have to miss hearing great classical music. Violist Crista Kende Bergendahl ’07 and her husband created Quarantine Concerts, a platform for performances livestreamed from the homes of musicians worldwide. The site featured 12 concerts in its first week.

SOMETHING TO SEE

April 2 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern, the Princeton University Art Museum is hosting a digital panel discussion of Paul Cézanne’s interest in rock formations, in conjunction with the museum’s recent exhibit, “Cézanne: The Rock and Quarry Paintings.”