Montclair Magazine Fall 2019 | Page 12

BUZZWORTHY To be considered for Buzzworthy, contact Cindy Schweich Handler at [email protected] West Orange COMPOSTERS WHO COME TO YOU Montclair DEBUT NOVEL TRIAL BY FAMILY ARRIVES ON BOOKSHELVES Montclair QUILTS AREN’T JUST FOR KEEPING WARM In “INSPIRED BY QUILTS,” an exhibit that the artists collective Studio Montclair presents in partnership with the MONTCLAIR HISTORY CENTER as part of the group’s Virginia S. Block Community Partnership Exhibition Program, quilts are a source of creativity. Inspired by the antique quilt collection at MHC, it includes sculptures, photogra- phy, collages, works on paper and canvas, computer-generated works and ceramic reliefs. • Studio Montclair Gallery, 127 Bloomfield Ave., [phone], studiomontclair.org 10 FALL 2019 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE It’s not uncommon to feel that your family is judging you, but it’s another thing to be caught up in a trial to claim your inheritance while grappling with a grasping stepmother, dueling lawyers and a large cast of colorful schemers. Such is the situation of the characters in Trial by Family, the debut novel of former long- time Montclair resident ROSELEE BLOOSTON that was published in early October. Blooston’s 2016 memoir, Dying in Dubai, was a Foreward INDIES Book of the Year Winner and an Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist. • Available through Watchung Booksellers, 54 Fairfield St., Montclair, [phone], watchungbooksellers.com; and Montclair Book Center, 221 Glenridge Ave., [phone], montclairbookcenter.com. Little Falls and Montclair FROM BATBOY TO BIOGRAPHER During the six years that Passaic Valley High School senior BILLY PINCKNEY was a bat boy for the New Jersey Jackals, he did a lot more than carry baseball bats and handle equipment. “I got to know the players, and decided that interviewing them would be cool,” he says. Pinckney talked to Floyd Hall, who oversaw the construc- tion of Yogi Berra Stadium and the ice arena that bears his name. Hall also owned the New Jersey Jackals, and sold them in 2017 to Al Dorso, whom Pinckney also interviewed. Pinckney included these interviews as well as ones with coaches and players such as Craig Breslo, the first former Jackal to make it to a major league team (the Red Sox), in a documentary called The Past, Present, and Future of the New Jersey Jackals Baseball. Pinckney plans to pursue a career in sports media and business; his film can currently be seen on billythebatboyscorner.com. PINCKNEY: COURTESY MICHELLE and JAVA BRADLEY are making an offer that is too good for people who care about the envi- ronment to refuse. Their business, Java’s Compost, provides odorless, animal-proof buckets for your food waste; they’ll also teach you how to compost. The company recently added a food waste pickup service for apartment-dwellers and businesses who can’t compost themselves, but want to keep their food scraps out of the waste stream. Many customers have already signed up for weekly or bi-monthly pickups from their Montclair and West Orange homes. Java first became interested in composting while working as a teacher at Philip’s Academy Charter School in Newark, one of Michelle Obama’s “Garden Schools,” where students grow food in their rooftop garden, cook it, and compost the waste. Restaurants that have their food scraps picked up by Java’s Compost include Joyist, a café on Valley Road. The company has been in talks with other eateries, including Bluestone Coffee. • [email protected], [phone], javascompost.com