Like a femme fatale in a “dime novel” Jersey City has had its share of bumpy roads, raw deals and men that done her wrong. But the past is the past and take a look at her now, bustling with new construction and waterfront with a skyline of skyscrapers that have given the old girl a much-needed facelift and a shot at the brass ring.  

At the 4^th annual Book Fair hosted by Jersey City’s Free Public Library on Sat, Sept. 10^th in Jersey City’s beautiful Van Vorst Park, twenty local and no-so-local writers will exhibit their newly published books – all with some connection to Jersey City.  Many of these writers have taken their experiences and/or fascination with Jersey City’s past and placed them on the pages of their new books, not just as a backdrop to the action, but as one of the characters that grabs your attention like a cold-blooded blonde with a pearl-handled Derringer.

The event is free and run by Jersey City’s hard-working library staff hip to fostering new and established writers.

When you stroll over to the park that day, you’ll meet Eunie Guyre, author of  “Happy Victory: Celebrating a Jersey City Childhood,” (publisher: Xlibris, 2011) the story of a little girl who revisits the Polish household she shared with her father, grandmother and aunt in Jersey City when her mother was hospitalized in a sanitarium. And although it seems like a sad story, Guyre emphasizes that hers was a happy childhood nurtured by a loving Jersey City family.

“The book is a tribute to my father,” Guyre says from her New Hampshire home. “I was 14 months-old when my mother went into a sanitarium for tuberculosis and she died there when I was 7. The book is a collection of short stories from birth to eighth grade. We lived on 3^rd Street in Jersey City, that was our first house, and then we moved to Greenville. I attended Sacred Heart and the book has a lot of funny Catholic and Polish stories. My Polish grandmother would read the obits. If the dead person had a Polish name, off we went to the funeral parlor.”

Fascinated by Heavyweight Champion Jack Demsey, a colorful boxing figure and World Heavyweight Champ from 1919-1926, writer Jim Waltzer’s book “The Battle of the Century: Dempsey, Carpentier, and the Birth of the Modern Promotion” (Praeger Publishing) tells the story of the infamous bout that took place in Jersey City on Montgomery and Cornelison Streets and promoter Tex Rickard, described as one of the best fight promoters of the 20^th century. Rickard erected a special stadium for the heavyweight champ and his opponent, Georges Carpentier, and 90,000 spectators came to Jersey City to see them fight.  

“The focus of the book is how the promotion came to be in the first place,” Waltzer says. “It was promotion that went beyond sports and entertainment. This was the one that set the standard for those that followed in the 20^th century. This was the first event in a big way to bring together celebrities, prominent people from all different fields – bankers, Hollywood stars, roughnecks, you name it. They were at ringside. This took the whole promotional arts to another level for a single event.”

Waltzer, a Philadelphia resident, has written more than 600+ features, mostly for regional magazines. In 2001, Rutgers University Press published his nonfiction book “Tales of South Jersey,” and in 2007, Five Star Mysteries published his first novel, “Sound of Mind.” He’s now working on a new book, a crime novel based in Atlantic City.

Maureen K. Wlodarczyk, who lived in Jersey City until she was five and whose family has been a part of Jersey City’s fabric since the 1840s will be at the fair promoting her second book, “Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl (Publisher: Ultra Media Publications, 2011) The story is about the doomed relationship between two petty criminals, William Flannelly and Polly Sexton. They were criminals in love, who lived in the fast lane of the 1890s in Lower Manhattan.

 Wlodarczyk was researching her Irish ancestors when she came upon her distant relative, Flannelly, and accounts of his relationship with Sexton who lived like “Bonnie and Clyde” outlaws.

“A few months later, down in the Bowery, they had a falling out and she wound up dead by his hands,” Wlodarczyk says. “He goes to trial on the Lower East Side for murder. He’s sitting in the Tombs and crosses paths with people who are famous and infamous of the 1890s, the Tammany Hall people like William Devery who was to become New York City’s Chief of Police. I wondered how a little punk from Jersey City jailed in the Tombs could cross paths with Devery and top Tammany Hall commissioners.”

Also at the Book Fair, photographer and writer Alina Oswald of Jersey City will present her three books: “Vampire Fantasies”  a collection of vampire-inspired photographs; Journeys Through Darkness (a biography of  a blind photographer), and “Infinite Lights: A Decade of 9/11 Tribute Lights,” which is a collection of 9/11-related photography.

“Although I wasn’t in New York on 9/11, I made it a point when I moved here in 2003 to photograph all the ceremonies, the lights in the night,” Oswald says. “I made it a point to take pictures.”

The Book Fair will also feature Thomas Belton and his book, “Protecting New Jersey’s Environment: From Cancer Alley to the New Garden State,” Cherese Bracey and her mystery “The Case of the Withering Books,” Elijah M. Brown and his book, “Missing Pages, Out of My Life,” “Taco” by John E. DeJesus, “Those Sweet Nothings” by Cynthia Fabian, Jacqueline Hallenbeck’s “Poem-atic,” Sandra Guzmán’s “The New Latina’s Bible: The Modern Latina’s Guide to Love, Spirituality, Family, and La Vida,” Judith Natelli McLaughlin’s “Poems on Fruits & Odes to Veggies,” Clarence Matthews’ “Jacob’s Rite of Passage & Teen Jacob,” Valerie A. Mitchell’s “Emotional Rollercoaster: A Depicted Mind,” Peter O’Reilly’s “Oh Really, O’Reilly,” Jane Pedler’s “Wisteria Rose,” Alyssa Pierce’s “Caroline & Rebecca’s Day at the Beach,”  Keith Smith’s “Men in My Town,” JoAnne Williams “Escaping from the Victim or Volunteer Role in Your Relationship,” and Edna C. Zalenski’s “Los Cuentos de mi Abuelito,” (“Stories of My Grandfather”.)

Many of the fair’s featured writers praise the Jersey City Library, especially the New Jersey Room and the help they received during their research. “They allowed me to use images from their collection,” Wlodarczyk says. “They’re wonderful people and a valuable resource.”

The annual book fair is co-sponsored by the City of Jersey City’s Cultural Affairs Division, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and the Municipal Council. Chairwoman of the Book Fair is Assistant Library Director Sonia Araujo.

“We are so happy it’s the fourth annual,” Araujo says. “When we see all the people who come to the book festivals, we know we’re on the right path.” 

 A Tale of Our City

Jersey City Free Public Library’s

4^th annual Book Festival

Sat, Sept. 10, 2011, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Van Vorst Park

Opposite Main Library

472 Jersey Avenue

(Corner of Montgomery Street)

Jersey City

For more info: (201) 547-4500

 

 

 

 

 

The post TALES OF OUR CITY: Jersey City becomes the Main Character at Upcoming Book Fair first appeared on River View Observer.

 in  Cablevision Service Area

 MSG Varsity is kicking off a new contest open to all high schools in the Cablevision service area, MSG Varsity’s Mascot Dash to the Desk. Mascot Dash to the Desk offers schools the opportunity to submit a photo of their school mascot online at msgvarsity.com from April 14^–21 to be eligible for the grand prize – a brand new mascot costume for their high school (worth up to $6,000) and a guest appearance by the school’s mascot on MSG Varsity’s signature daily sports show, High School SportsDesk, on Cablevision’s iO TV (Channel 14).

 From the submissions, a maximum of 80 schools will be selected to compete in the contest. Over five weeks, the mascots will compete in “heats” for weekly prizes. Online voting will determine the 20 finalists that will go on to compete in the final sprint to win the grand prize. Online voting will also determine the Mascot Dash to the Desk Champion. The grand prize, 2^nd & 3^rd place winners will be announced on June 6^th.

 “Based on the success of our first contest School Spirit Mania, we wanted to find another interactive way for high school students to showcase their school spirit,” said Philip Summers, VP Marketing for MSG Varsity. “And a mascot race was the answer. We’re looking forward to getting the Dash to the Desk started to find out which school mascot will be voted champion and be receiving a make-over.”

 For more information on Dash to the Desk and to see the weekly prize packages please go to www.msgvarsity.com.

 

MSG Varsity includes a multi-platform suite of services, made up of a 24/7 television network that airs on Cablevision’s iO TV service, channel 14; a comprehensive online destination, msgvarsity.com; and a groundbreaking interactive service, channel 614 – all spotlighting extracurricular activities and events at local high schools. 

 

About MSG Varsity

MSG Varsity is a multi-platform suite of services comprised of: a 24/7 television network, a comprehensive online destination, and a groundbreaking interactive service, all dedicated to high school sports, academics and activities happening throughout the tri-state area.  Content for these services includes MSG Varsity’s professionally produced programming as well as content created by the high schools themselves.  Working in partnership with MSG Varsity, students and faculty are given extraordinary access to curriculum and training in multimedia creation and distribution, empowering them to become active participants in telling their school’s stories.  MSG Varsity is a Cablevision exclusive service not available to satellite or phone company TV subscribers and reaches three million households throughout the New York market.  For more information, please visit www.msgvarsity.com.

 

 

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The post DOES YOUR HIGH SCHOOL MASCOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?ENTER MSG VARSITY’S MASCOT DASH TO THE DESK NOW first appeared on River View Observer.

Actress Tammy Blanchard best known for her Emmy Award wining role as a young Judy Garland in CBS’s 2001 mega docu-drama Life with Judy Garland:Me and My Shadows, will appear in “Amish Grace,” a Lifetime LMN drama Sunday, March 28, at 8pm.

Based on a True Story and Book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver- Zercher.

When a gunman killed five Amish children and injured five others in a Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania schoolhouse shooting in October of 2006, the world media attention rapidly turned from the tragic events to the extraordinary forgiveness demonstrated by the Amish community.

Ms. Blanchard stars as Amy Roberts the wife of Charles Carl Roberts the shooter at Nickle Back. Also appearing with Ms. Blanchard in Amish Grace; Kimberly Williams Paisley, and Matt Letscher.

Read more about Ms. Blanchard’s acting career next month in our River View Observer Celebrity Cover Interview with this talented New Jersey actress.

The post ACTRESS TAMMY BLANCHARD STARS IN LIFETIME NETWORKS “AMISH GRACE” MARCH 28 AT 8PM first appeared on River View Observer.

  The holidays should be a time of joy, good cheer and high hopes for the upcoming new year. However, after the gift shopping, holiday decorating, and family get-togethers are done, many people are often left with elevated levels of stress or depression this time of the year.

The holidays are also a time when people feel the loss of a loved one more sharply. Even the memory of a traumatic event, such as a serious illness, can dampen one’s holiday spirits. Older adults, for example, may feel isolated or forgotten, as the season reminds them of happier times.

Whatever the reason, there are strategies that we can use to fight holiday depression.

 The health care professionals at Christ Hospital offer the following suggestions to help ease the stress in the midst of this holiday season:

 Make a list and prioritize the activities that are important to you.

•  Limit your alcohol consumption. Drinking too much can lead to uninhibited behavior, hangovers, and remorse, all of which can lead to depression.
•  Make an active effort not to worry too much or get bogged down with details.
•  Avoid overeating and get enough rest. Though it may be hard to do, the benefits of both are obvious.
• Play games to keep your brain sharp. There are many different kinds of games — such as trivia, memory and math — and skill levels to suit all kinds of people. Games can also be a fun way to spend time with others.
•  Increase your physical activity. Go for walks at safe and warm locations, such as the mall, which will help improve lower body strength, maintain mobility and help prevent cognitive decline. Being active increases your endorphins, which decreases stress levels.
•  Spend time with supportive and caring people. These kinds of social connections are good for your emotional well-being.
•  Laugh a lot. Laughing increases circulation, immune system defenses and mental function. As the saying goes, laughter often is the best medicine.
•  Remember to take some time for yourself. Do the things that you enjoy, such as reading a book or listening to music.

 For more information about depression, anxiety, and substance dependence, please call Christ Hospital’s Department of Behavioral Health Services at (201) 795-8375.

 

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The post Holiday Health Stress Tips first appeared on River View Observer.

The style is everywhere from Hollywood to Bollywood and all over the world women are opting for the one-shoulder dress.  A throwback to an 80s style dress which has become popular today, especially on the party scene.

Photo by Inf

From Maxi-to Mini, Preen to Versace these dresses are easy to wear, and are very adaptable, they can be worn as dresses or tops teamed with denims or even as gowns.

And perhaps what makes them so popular with designers and celebrities alike is that the cut of the dress allows some skin to show and are asymmetrical. The exposed shoulder and back can be very sexy and at the same time the cut can have a slimming effect. And no matter your body type or personal style, this angled look works for everyone. 

 According to fashion industry experts one -shoulder dresses are flying off the racks for the approaching Holiday party scene.

Would you wear this dress?

To find one- shoulder dresses and more visit: babiesnewpinkandblue.com

Photo Source: from Extra

The post Fashion – The One Shoulder Dress -Falls Hottest Trend first appeared on River View Observer.

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, along with the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency Executive Director Marge Della Vecchia announce that the City’s participation in the state’s Live Where You Work program has resulted in over $1,000,000 in mortgage loans secured for those wishing to own homes in Jersey City.

New Jersey’s Live Where You Work program is a special home mortgage incentive program that provides a low-interest 30 or 40-year fixed-rate first mortgage for people who will live and work in Jersey City. The program also provides Smart Start down payment assistance in an amount equal to 5 percent of the first mortgage loan for qualified purchasers.

HMFA started the Live Where You Work program in order to increase homeownership and enhance housing affordability opportunities in participating municipalities.

The program, which the City joined in April 2008, has thus far secured over $1,000,000 in mortgage loans. The funding is designed to encourage the revitalization of communities through increased homeownership.

“Jersey City’s proximity to New York’s high-priced real estate market drives up the price of homes here,” Mayor Healy said. “We are pleased that the state has recognized how valuable a program this will be to make the American Dream of homeownership possible for many Jersey City families.”

In consideration of the anticipated cost savings of minimized commuting costs, the borrowers’ housing and overall debt ratios will be expanded by 3 percent over the usual underwriting limits giving borrowers more buying power.

“This is a program that really makes sense for Jersey City,” said HMFA Executive Director Marge Della Vecchia. “When workers and families live in the towns in which they work, their commitment to the community grows. We are pleased to partner with Mayor Healy in this program.”

The Live Where You Work program offers incentives for residents to purchase homes closer to where they work and encourages the use of public mass transit to further smart growth planning principles.

If you are interested in learning more about the Live Where You Work mortgage program, please call 1-800-NJHOUSE or visit http://livewhereyouwork.jerseycitynj.gov.

The post Mayor Healy & State Officials Announce Success of ‘Live Where You Work’ Program in Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.

TLC Monday Nights …10pm

By Sally Deering   Photos by David Bayne

No disrespect to Frank Sinatra, but Hoboken’s bouncing a new favorite son on its knee, a charismatic cake baker who followed in the floured footsteps of his father to become the star of his own reality TV show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the premiere of “Cake Boss,” tourists have turned the busy little bake shop into a must-see on their vacation itinerary. Out-of-town customers mingle with locals as they crowd into the red-bricked storefront bistro, nestling into café tables and “oohing” and “ahhing” the cannoli, cream puffs, brownies, layer cakes and other sensational home-made pastries on display. Digital cameras in hand, they pose for pictures with Valastro’s vivacious mom and personality-plus sisters while trying to decide what will satisfy their sweet tooth. And once they choose, they snap pictures of each other giddily diving into their desserts — and, rightly so. I mean, have you ever tasted a Carlo’s “lobster claw?”

 

“Anybody else, come on down,” Valastro’s mom calls out to the crowd after posing for a snapshot with Valastro’s sibs and Cristin Wright, 15, of Rhode Island who came to taste the desserts she sees every week on the show.

 

“I’m a fan,” Wright says, beaming after her photo opp. “I watch it every Monday night. I like to watch them make the cakes. I hope to be a pastry chef when I grow up.”

Throughout the day, crowds pour through the door leaving little doubt that the Cake Boss’s star is on the rise.

As sweet as the cream in his tiramisu, Valastro, 32, is warm, funny and passionate about his family and the tradition of baking.  And beneath the celebrity stardust and the boisterous persona that hoots and hollers, cajoles and kibitzes is a humble baker who wears his heart on his chef’s coat sleeve for the man who taught him everything he knows — his dad, Buddy Sr., who passed away long before the cameras came.

“When I was 5, my dad would take me to the bakery on weekends and sit me up on the bench and roll out Pasta Frola,” Valastro says in his tiny upstairs office during a break from taping. “He would give me a cookie cutter and I would cut out cookies and decorate them. It was a fun time with my dad. Then when I was 11, I started making a difference helping out in the store. The more I was there, the more I was intrigued. I looked up to my dad. I wanted to mimic him.”

Valastro comes from a long-line of bakers. His grandfather baked bread in Sicily and Valastro’s father Buddy, Sr., learned the trade. At 13, he went to work for Carlo’s on 4^th and Adams Sts. in Hoboken, a popular bake shop that had been around since 1910.  When he married Mary several years later, the couple bought the bakery and kept the name. Inside the current shop, if you stand near the pie case, you’ll see a photograph of Mary and Buddy, Sr., in their Adams Street store holding a smiling baby Buddy “Cake Boss” Jr.

 

Having a dad as a baker, meant that birthday cakes were something special at home and Valastro recalls the time his father made him a Batman Cave cake.

“My dad was a great cake decorator,” Valastro remembers.

 Buddy Sr., passed away when Valastro was 17 and although he never attended culinary school, he dedicated himself to continuing the family business and “putting it on the map.” Back then, Valastro says, birthday and wedding cakes were very traditional, usually made with whipped cream icing and buttercream rosettes. So, Valastro began working with fondants and other new culinary techniques. When he opened Carlo’s Bake Shop in its present location, he was still in his 20s and the business and his career started taking off. He entered several Food Network bake-offs – winning a $10,000 wedding cake challenge — and pitched his own show. The TLC network liked the idea and even christened him “Cake Boss.” After the first season aired, the TLC aired a “Cake Boss” marathon and that’s when Valastro, his Hoboken bakery and family became reality show stars.

On a recent visit to the Bake Shop, TLC cameras were filming an episode with Valastro and his kitchen crew creating a cake for the Camden Aquarium. Valastro was experimenting with liquid sugar to make coral, pouring the hot mixture into pitchers of ice cubes. When the blue, orange and yellow sugars chilled, he gently shook them loose and they looked just like aquarium coral. The challenges of creating novelty cakes inspires Valastro and he just keeps topping himself like in the episode where he had to create a mechanical robot cake and then deliver his niece’s roller-skate-themed birthday cake – on roller-skates.

 And now that the show is a huge hit, customer requests are getting more elaborate, Valastro says, “They don’t want a cake they want a cake that will spin, talk and move.”

 And then there are all those lobster tails to make. The big demand for this scrumptious delight makes it the most popular pastry in the shop, Shaped like, well, lobster tails, they have a crunchy exterior, like a light, sweetened Shredded Wheat biscuit filled with a sweet cream that sends taste buds into orbit.  Valastro says they’re difficult and time-consuming to make, but even he admits it’s his favorite pastry when a craving calls for something sweet.

Valastro’s craving for the sweet smell of success hasn’t gone to his head although it can be a bit daunting, he says, like when he visits New York City and sees himself on a huge billboard in Times Square. He’s both surprised at the show’s popularity and grateful for all that “Cake Boss” has brought to his family business. There’s just one special ingredient missing in his piece of the pie – the dad who inspired him with just one little cookie cutter.

CAKE BOSS can be seen on The Learning Channel (TLC) Monday nights at 10pm   CAKE BOSS show schedule and times

Carlo’s Bake Shop

95 Washington Street,

 Hoboken, NJ 0730

201-659-3671 

visit them on the web @ www.carlosbakery.com

The post Cover Story -CAKE BOSS- Buddy Valastro -Our River View Interview first appeared on River View Observer.