When Kathy Kepler was offered a job forty years ago to help sell sweet corn from a roadside farmstand, she took the job because she thought the guy managing it, Steve, was cute. She has good instincts: She’s now been both his business partner and his wife for decades. Steve had long been helping his older brother, Frank, with his…
2.05.2026
For decades, Julietta Fiscella built her career as a pathologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, guided by scientific precision and a lifelong fascination with the human body. Born and raised in St. Lucia, an island nation in the Caribbean, her youth was shaped by village customs, time-honored remedies, and a deep respect for holistic care—experiences that quietly stayed…
2.05.2026
Photo by Michael Hanlon Founded in 1969, the Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) is one of the longest-running nonprofit media art spaces in the country. It began with a vision for a graduate program for artists, historians, and curators that would help build the field of photography. To support this vision, VSW developed its core programs of exhibitions, publications, and residencies,…
2.05.2026
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Radio riffs

Over the past fifteen years, Rochesterians have become accustomed to hearing great jazz for ten days in June as the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival brings to town some of the genre’s biggest names and rising stars. But when the temporary venues have been dismantled and the last of the artists have headed for their …

Gear up to make the most of your jazz festival visit

David Byrne and St. Vincent Roger Hodgson Peter Frampton From June 21–29, The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival will a typically quiet downtown into a thriving ecosystem of jazz.  It can also transform a casual fan into a hard core explorer of the jazz universe. Attending a concert or two is like looking at the festival …

A horse-whisperer and a midwife

The radio transmitter had already signaled that the pregnant mare was lying down. Closed circuit video cameras in the stall at Carlland Stables in Avon displayed the activity in the house just a few yards away but Sue Carlson was already with her mare.  With a sweaty flank and lots of heavy breathing, the mare …

Fitness takes flight at Aerial Arts of Rochester

I’m hanging upside down, suspended from a fifteen-foot ceiling by shining, silky fabric. My head is two feet above the ground, and I can see a bobby pin springing from my piled hair. There’s a large wall of mirrors in front of me, allowing me to watch my slowly-reddening face. Chilling out jungle-style isn’t a …

Zeppa Bistro is a South Wedge delight

A parade of new shops and eateries is lining up along the South Wedge and Zeppa Bistro leads the way—despite being nearly hidden in the back corner of the historic German House on Gregory Street. The restaurant is reminiscent of cozy Italian eateries in cramped New York City basements or Old-World taverns hiding down Venetian …

A pint-sized brewery with big dreams

A barroom crowd of maybe forty gathers around tables and chairs discussing Rochester’s potential to nurse startup businesses into existence. Students and professors from RIT and Syracuse University, freelance journalists, successful entrepreneurs and others who don’t know what to try, as long as it’s something.  The discussion takes a pessimistic turn. Investors are tough to …

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