How Kokoro and Kimaya Kama found an unexpected way forward in Maplewood Village By Amy Lynn-Cramer. Photography by Julia Maloof Verderosa. Susan Onuma and Kimaya Salaskar now share the same space for their shops. A young girl walked into Kokoro carrying a paper flower. She had been coming into the Maplewood store since she was little and wanted to give the handmade gift to Kiyomi Hubert, Kokoro’s longtime store manager. It was for good luck, she explained. She was happy the s

By Kristen Di Gennaro A reader sent me an email a while back sharing his language pet peeve about “the improper use of the verb ‘bite,’ ” or more specifically, when people use “bit” for the past participle as in, “I got bit by a dog.” In Standard American English, the past participle for “bite” is “bitten,” so the sentence would be “I got bitten by a dog.” The past participle is the form we use in passive sentences, where the subject of the sentence (in this case, I) is not t

Their stories inspire me By Ellen Donker This fall issue marks a milestone for Matters Magazine. It’s our 10th year running our Women in Business feature that showcases women who own and lead businesses in our community. Every year, we create a theme that allows women to tell you, our readers, about their businesses in a fresh way. We’ve featured 175 women-led businesses. This feature is a favorite of mine because I get to interview each woman and meet them, often for the fir

Find strength in sharing your whole self By Sarah Schwartz The author visits her mother's memorial stone annually when she travels to Cape Cod. Each summer, my family heads to Cape Cod for vacation. We try to relax, leave behind parts of our New Jersey selves and slip into new identities. I see it in small ways: My daughter meets new friends and claims to know how to do gymnastics, somehow pulling off a front flip in the sand. My son allows himself to try a book series he’d n

Bethany Pettigrew's return is the latest chapter in a career that continues to evolve By Adrianna Donat "Team Gattelli" on the set of Schmigadoon!, the Tony Award-winning musical: Bethany Pettigrew (Associate Director), Christopher Gattelli (Director/Choreographer) and Lou Castro (Associate Choreographer) Bethany Pettigrew’s career has taken her from the Broadway stage to the director’s chair, with a long and productive detour through Columbia High School. Now, after years of

By Ilysse Rimalovski Christa Kirby (center) says Afghan cuisine is a blend of Indian, Persian and Middle Eastern influences. Jump to recipes Christa Kirby has always had a worldly perspective. An insatiably curious child and voracious reader, she dreamed of visiting every country and mastering every language. This fascination would eventually influence her landing in Maplewood, her career and her tastebuds. Memories of 16 trips to Afghanistan, mostly in Kabul, remain scented

Local writers find community, motivation and focus at weekly meeting By Harriet Sigerman Members of the Shut Up and Write! group meet every Thursday morning at Perch Home. Walk into Perch Home on Thursdays around 10:00 a.m., and you’ll spot a group of people, including me, huddled over laptops typing away or writing the old-fashioned way with pen and paper. We’re all members of a local chapter of Shut Up and Write!, an international group that promotes dedicated writing time

With two of New Jersey’s five Inciardi mini-print vending machines, Maplewood has become an unlikely capital of pocket-sized art By Adrianna Donat This couple was visiting from Princeton and stopped at Words Bookstore specifically to buy some art from the Inciardi vending machine. There is something wonderfully suspenseful about putting a dollar into a vending machine when you have absolutely no idea what will come out. It might be a tomato. A sardine tin. A bagel. A tiny tri

Maplewood Memorial Library gets a different kind of facelift By Mason Levinson Maplewood Library staff on Robyn Whalen and Joanne Beckerich's last day. Sometimes words aren’t necessary to convey what someone means to you and your community. “I had a young kid yesterday who put his arms around me and just sobbed,” Jane Folger, head of children’s services at the Maplewood Memorial Library, said in late August, just days before retiring. “I mean, it was wordless. But boy, I’ll t

Welcome LeTip of SOMA By Ellen Donker L-R: Reese Little, Claudine Baptiste and Dennis Hepworth For as long as people have been trading goods and services, business networking has existed. Designed to foster professional relationships and generate leads, business owners have many different groups and models to choose from. Close to home, one of the newest networking groups is LeTip of SOMA, formed in May 2025. Reese Little, a financial advisor with CJE Financial, is president,

Film Society co-founder starts new magazine documenting the filmmaking boom By Ben Wasserman Angela Matusik and Lisa Cohen created the Maplewood Film Society, a nonprofit whose long-term goal is to convert the Maplewood Theater into an independent cinema. Angela Matusik has lived in Maplewood since 2011, but she still remembers the first movie she saw in town. “They were showing Star Wars in the park,” Matusik, a co-founder of the Maplewood Film Society, says over Zoom, recal

By Anu Mahadev As we roll into fall, a season of renewal and change, I invite you to reflect upon the upheavals of the past that have brought about real, tangible change in our world. I was in Munich recently, admiring the gorgeous Bavarian landscape and the intricate architecture, when two things struck me. As romantic as it looks and sounds, no woman would want to go back to living in the medieval times. And the real measure of progress in a society is correlated to the rig

Oheb Shalom Congregation welcomes Rosh Hashanah By Harriet Sigerman The first Rosh Hashanah in the Park service was held in 2023. Photo by Joy Yagid. Under a glowing sunset sky, the sound of Hebrew prayers reverberated across a broad slope near a big, shady tree in Maplewood’s Memorial Park on Sept. 15, 2023. Rabbi Abigail Treu of Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange had just launched the first Rosh Hashanah in the Park service. “The genesis of the idea was my wanting to

The Sunday reset: dining family style By Ilysse Rimalovski Sisters-in-law Bianca and Susan Froelich prepare Sunday dinner for their extended family. If it’s Sunday, the extended Froelich family is gathered around the dinner table. Sisters-in-law Susan and Bianca Froelich have been preparing an Italian feast, sipping wine and catching up with each other. The rhythm feels joyous and nurturing. “Sunday dinner is something I look forward to as a way to keep the weekend going and

Gaelic football finds its footing in Essex County By Adrianna Donat The Essex Shillelaghs GAA welcome new players of all experience levels, giving children the chance to learn Gaelic football in a fun, supportive environment. Photo by Richard Morris. If you have wondered about the lawn signs around town advertising Gaelic football, you are not alone. The signs promote a sport that looks a little like soccer – until someone picks up the ball. Then it resembles basketball – unt

By Anu Mahadev Hi Matters Magazine readers! Welcome to the new Book Matters column. I am Anu Mahadev, a Maplewood resident who has lived in the SOMA area for more than 15 years. In this new column, I share selections of books that I have recently read and enjoyed. As much as reading is an outlet, it can also be an education. As a seasoned reader, I invite you to take it slow, experience and savor each line in these books and resist rushing through to the next page or chapter.

Every day, our children walk through the doors of their elementary schools into places where they learn, grow, explore and build lasting memories. What captures their curiosity? What helps them feel welcome and safe? Matters Magazine invited the principals of our elementary schools to share a special place or feature that reflects the heart of their school. Discover what they chose and how these spaces or features help shape the experiences of the children who learn there. Se

Columbia High School’s principal prepares for a new year Written by Nathaniel Kraemer Photo by Joy Yagid. The principal’s office at Columbia High School is a small wood-paneled room where everything is open – windows, books, folders, cabinet-doors – and seemingly in a state of active use. Everything is also functional, save one personal touch, kept on the coffee table at which he seats visitors: a 3-foot-long polished stone cougar. This is Columbia’s mascot. When holding meet

Local sage Ryan O’Dell is hoping to help people of any age figure out their paths in life By Nathaniel Kraemer One day many years past, Ryan O’Dell was using his rowing machine and watching an episode of the Netflix show Vikings. This particular episode featured a blind fortune-teller who could divine one’s future by licking their palm. “It would be really cool if you had someone that you could just go up to and say, ‘What’s my destiny?’ and they’ll tell you,” he says. “In an

By Kristen Di Gennaro As we mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, we think of the Founding Fathers and their creation of a country separate from England. After two and half centuries of separation, the United States and England remain, famously, “two nations divided by a common language.” We’re English-speaking countries, but our English is noticeably different. People use language to communicate what we want to say and who we are – where we come from and the group