b'Matters heart of thematterThingsthat Matter Since 1990 Snowstorm Featuring Local People, Places and PUBLISHER Memories& EDITOR IN CHIEFEllen DonkerASSOCIATEEDITOR We all have a storyAnne MandellBY ELLEN DONKERSOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERRachael EntineADVERTISING CONSULTANTSRene ConlonH. Leslie GilmanAmy Power GRAPHIC DESIGN IbetterwhenareIwashoping to getsnowless streak is consistent with Ellen DonkerCOPY EDITORS alwaysfeel Charles Hammer theweatherbehavesinmymemoryofspendingthe Tia Swanson aseasonallyappropriatebulkofmychildhoodwinters way. As I write this, snowpining for a snow day.CONTRIBUTORS hasbeguntofallandweSowhileRobwasdesperately Brian Glaser a day away from the second significant coldto his Rangers game, I was hav-Kristen Haas snap in January. As much as I dread what the me- ing a sleepover at my friend Joyces house, a few towns Judie Hurtado teorologists call a polar vortex, I tell myself its a goodover from mine. The snow came down fast and furious. Amy Lynn-Cramer thing. Winter should be cold. happilystuckthereforanextraday,spending Ilysse RimalovskiJulia Maloof Verderosa Those of us who grew up in the Northeast have sto- hours making an igloo with my best friend and her three Allison Weiss ries to recount about the winters of our youth. If you tellbrothers. When the igloo was finished, we sat inside on them right, the winters are always colder and fiercer thanthe snow-packed floor with a sense of reverence, watch-what were dealing with now. As a child, I could predicting our breath form little clouds. The muffled sounds of when my father was about to launch into a story aboutother kids playing nearby seemed a world away. how much harder things were back in his day when heThere was something heroic about that day. We chil-began, Well, when I was a boy. He relished enhancingdren worked as a team to brave the elements and har-Please address all correspondence to: the details. They always included walking several milesness our brains and small hands to roll and pack enough Visual Impact Advertising, Inc. uphill, both ways. snowballs to make a proper house. No grown-ups were P.O. Box 198 My husband, Rob, remembers the blizzard of Feb. 9,involved, except to help us out of our cold and wet snow-Maplewood, NJ 07040 1969. He was just a kid, but that date is etched on hissuits at the end of the day and warm us up with steaming 973-763-4900 brain because his father had gotten tickets to the gamemugs of hot chocolate.mattersmagazine.combetween the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Fly- Many years later, I told that story to my children in info@mattersmagazine.com ers. It would be the first live NHL game Rob had everthe hopes that someday they would experience a blizzard Matters Magazine is owned and publishedseen. It was even more significant because it was to beand have a few friends with whom to build an igloo. by Visual Impact Advertising, Inc., P.O.played at the brand-new Madison Square Garden. Well,Their chance came on Dec. 18, 2009, when they were 9 Box 198 Maplewood, NJ 07040. Mattersthe snow fell and fell. There was no way Rob and hisyears old. Snowthe kind that packs wellfell all day. Magazine is free, with editions direct mailed seven times a year to the residents of Maple- father could make it into New York. It turns out the play- I remember them experimenting with ways to make a wood and South Orange and distributed toers also had a hard time getting there and didnt start thesolid roof and brimming with excitement when their ig-businesses and surrounding communities totaling 16,000. Subscriptions are availablegame until 9:15 p.m. Although Rob missed the game, heloo came together. Although I think my igloo had been to non-residents for $30 (U.S.) $40 (Foreign)kept the tickets, perhaps as a souvenir to his fathers goodbigger, they now have a memory to share with their fu-annually. No part of the publication may beintentions. ture children. Like me, Im sure theyll also think their reprinted or otherwise reproduced without writtenpermissionfromVisualImpactWhen I thought about a momentous snowfall of myigloo was bigger.Advertising, Inc. youth, I recalled that exact blizzard, although I didntIf our snowfall amounts to anything, Ill spend some CIRCULATION VERIFIED BY know it was the same one until I researched the dates oftime outside enjoying the wonder of winter. And when U.S. POSTAL RECEIPTS. big snowstorms in New Jersey. I knew it had to have beenI see kids playing in the snow, I may suggest that they READ & RECYCLE the same storm, though, because the next significant onetry building their own igloo. Ill look forward to hearing didnt occur until nine years later on Feb. 5, 1978. Thattheir story. 8/ matters magazine / winter 2025'