Sometimes a cup of coffee is just that, a cup of coffee. A necessity that is consumed without pleasure in mind, instead an act of survival, meant to wake you from the dead. Other times however, a cup of coffee is much more than just caffeine—it’s an entire experience. Like wine, beer, barbeque, pizza, and …

Several of Joangel Concepcion’s old colleagues deleted her from their social media accounts after the release of her television newsroom memoir, Dropping the Mic: My Break-Up with the American Media (Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd., 2017).  She wasn’t at all surprised that people from the news stations she worked at were none too pleased with her …

The language of wood can sound poetic, mysterious, and even a little dangerous. Take pommele sapele that resembles “rain drops cascading down a pane of glass” and the names—African Bubinga, Mexican Chakte Viga, and Indonesian Macassar. And then there’s wenge, an African wood whose splinters can cause infections while its dust can impact the central …

Dappled impressions from sunlight enliven a room, bringing it to life. The ever-changing effect of light shifts color on walls, furnishings, and flooring, animating everything in its sphere.  Katrina and Gregg Nicandris’s sun-filled, pastel-toned living room illustrates the impact sunlight can have when designing a room. A soft palette of buttery yellow and pastel blue …

You get along fairly well with your fiancée except for a few little things. For one, she likes to go to the casino. To keep yourself occupied on weekend trips to Niagara Falls, you bring books and a pair of walking shoes. You wonder, what is the draw? She says she likes the lights and …

When hair stylist and salon owner Jordan Betts opened the doors to Mint Salon in 2013, she knew that she wanted to give back to the Rochester community in some way. “We didn’t have the money to be philanthropists but realized we could do it by using our hands,” she says. After brainstorming ideas with …