THESE were desperate times. People were out of work. Artists, who have a tough time earning income under the best of circumstances, were especially hard hit. “When the economy is down, the last thing people think about buying is art,” says David Leopold, curator of Charles W. Ward: Paintings for People, on view at the James A. Michener Art Museum through Feb. 14, 2010.

THESE were desperate times. People were out of work. Artists, who have a tough time earning income under the best of circumstances, were especially hard hit. “When the economy is down, the last thing people think about buying is art,” says David Leopold, curator of Charles W. Ward: Paintings for People, on view at the James A. Michener Art Museum through Feb. 14, 2010.

MUSICIANS and singers as varied as Tori Amos, Shawn Colvin, Robert Plant, Diana Krall, Janet Jackson and even Prince have hailed Joni Mitchell as an influence, for a variety of reasons. It would be interesting to know which album by the Canadian singer-songwriter-artist would be their favorite. Perhaps it would be the 1971 release Blue, with its magical songs “River,” “California” and “A Case of You,” or it could be Hejira, from 1976, with its mysterious, passionate jazz-infused songs and stellar personnel.

   ARTIST Jay McPhillips has a coffee problem. Even though he quit the addictive brew five years ago and switched to tea, Mr. McPhillips’ hasn’t fully recovered. In his portfolio of impressionist-style works, one will find many lovingly rendered paintings of coffee shops: Coffee & Cream and the former Bucks County Coffee Company, both in Doylestown, Pa., Lambertville Trading Company and Small World Coffee, a Princeton staple.

Hank Kalet

   THE artist and psychologist Ed Adams began his private psychology practice in New Jersey more than 20 years ago. “What I realized was there was a dearth of resources for men,” he says. “Men tended to be isolated and not really often connected to other men, at least in a meaningful way.”

FLUTTERY swirls enchant and captivate, such as the sprays of golden leaves outside the window.

THE lesson of the one-act play Suicide Gal, Won’t You Come Out Tonight, Come Out Tonight is for children to resolve issues with parents before they die.

   GIVEN Hollywood’s current vampire obsession, thanks to the Twilight franchise and television’s True Blood, the title Blood: A Comedy might conjure up visions of the living dead. On the contrary, David Lee White’s play has absolutely nothing to do with vampires or gore and everything to do with family.

BEFORE you take the kids trick-or-treating, why not treat yourself to some grown-up Halloween fun — complete with dancing zombies, scary stories, costumes and music — and help support the arts while you’re at it?

ONE of the greatest jewels of architecture and planning is in our backyards, in the nearby borough of Roosevelt. The flat-roofed Bauhaus homes, designed by Alfred Kastner and Louis Kahn, in the town once known as Jersey Homesteads, were part of an experiment to move immigrants from inner cities to the countryside.

ALASKA is our largest state and the least densely populated. A traveler wishing to visit Juneau, the capital, must take a car ferry because it isn’t accessible by road. The state has 22 indigenous languages. Its main exports are extracted from the ground (oil, gas) and the sea (salmon, cod). State government imposes neither a sales tax nor an income tax. Climates include oceanic, arctic and subarctic, and climatic extremes, in Fairbanks, include 80-degree summer days and 50-below-zero winter days.

COUNT Dracula is changing residence.

   WHILE playing “Murderer #2” for a “Shakespeare in the Park” production of Macbeth in 1994, a young Canadian actor had a lot of time on his hands.

Anthony Stoeckert

THOUGH WHYY’s active presence on the Web includes podcasts, videos and Twitter feeds related to their radio and television programs, the public broadcasting station has only recently launched their first major Web-only initiative.

THE emerging green economy promises to create clean energy, cut carbon emissions and provide well-paid jobs.

THE principle songwriter and singer for the indie-folk quintet Winterpills has a bit of stage fright.

   WHEN Emily Mann accepted the job as the artistic director at McCarter Theatre, she thought her stay in Princeton would last three years, maybe five at the most.

AS a child, Kristine Nielsen enjoyed when her father was in pain.

   JUST the sound of their names makes a literature lover go weak in the knees: Chang-rae Lee, Paul Muldoon, Toni Morrison, C.K. Williams... it’s one of the reasons Princeton is the intellectual capital of the universe.

MUSIC always has been at the center of Rita Dove’s poetry and her life. And not just because poetry, as the French philosopher Voltaire wrote, is “the music of the soul.” She played cello as a child, was in the orchestra and served as a drum majorette in school.

The Sweetback Sisters were waiting. This modern day honky-tonk band had sent Prairie Home Companion their self-released debut EP, Bang!, to enter the live radio variety show’s “People in their Twenties” talent contest. “We didn’t hear anything for forever,” says Sweetback singer and guitarist Emily Miller.

   MORE than 30 years later, Kansas’ hit singles have endured as classic rock staples. The ballad “Dust in the Wind” recently obtained gold status as a digital download and throngs of children and adults alike rock out to “Carry On Wayward Son” on the games Guitar Hero II and Rock Band II.

THE Sweetback Sisters were waiting.