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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Critical drinking // The longplay

By the time you are reading this, there is little doubt the chill in the air is no longer charming. And I hardly need tell you what you already know: that we’re steady on course for that wonderful collection of holidays sometimes curiously referred to as celebrations. There will be family. There will be dinner …

REVIEW // ‘Good People’ isn’t just about Southie

There’s an oft-quoted phrase in the theatrical world—credited to Oscar Wilde—which says, “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” That sentiment, perhaps, is the most succinct way …

A-haunting we will go

Next to the metallic slab in the center of the morgue, there is a suit. It hangs over a nice pair of shoes, and there’s not a wrinkle to be found on the fabric. The suit doesn’t belong to anyone in particular, says Sharon Coyle. But the ghosts sure love it. Coyle is the owner …

Constructing community

Maria José is learning to paint. Maybe she’ll be a teacher. ​ Rolandito wants to become Rolando, “the man.” Tracing an outline around his hand with a blue pencil, Joselito just wants to play. Forever. It’s a fine dream to have at age four. But in another ten years, what will he want to do? …

Lemoncello offers a taste of genuine Italian cuisine

A quaint brick eatery with a striped awning located on East Rochester’s main street has rabbit cacciatore on the menu, one of two things that immediately sets it apart. The other thing is even more rare in Rochester: a female executive chef supervising a kitchen of men. Lemoncello Italian Restaurant & Bar’s chef, Silvana Formosa, …

REVIEW // Mardi Gras! by Cirque du Fringe

While walking up to the Spiegelgarden to attend Mardi Gras! by Cirque du Fringe, I commented to my friend how lovely the city looked. We had approached from the residential bit of Gibbs Street, through a wide, tree-lined sidewalk facing the façade of the Eastman Theatre. When we rounded the corner to enter the garden, two street …

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