If you attended kindergarten after 1989, there is a strong chance that you learned your colors from three mischievous white mice who stumbled upon tiny pots of paint. Fairport resident Ellen Stoll Walsh is the beloved creator of the bestselling modern classic Mouse Paint along with more than a dozen other picture books that have been read by children around the world.

In the village of Fairport, statues of three mice stand in Kennelley Park, forever memorialized in history. Created by local sculptor Dexter Benedict, Walsh’s most famous main characters sit in a garden just outside the children’s section of the library.

“I had been trying for weeks to figure out how to write a story about mixing primary colors together to make secondary colors when the idea of three white mice jumping in and out of jars of paint and dancing in the puddles came to me in a dream,” says Walsh. 

Mouse Paint has been published in fourteen languages, has sold well over a million copies, and can be found in preschool classrooms everywhere. Teaching and storytelling go hand-in-hand in Walsh’s books, including her award-winning Dot and Jabber series, which combines science with a great mystery.

In addition to skills like colors and counting, Walsh’s books show readers how to overcome fears and be yourself. Her unique medium of cut paper collage illustration sets her books apart.

While she illustrated her first two books, Brunus and the New Bear and Theodore All Grown Up in pen and ink, she loved collage so much that once she mastered it, she never went back. “It’s so clean, and I can manipulate everything—move things around until I’m sure where I want them to be; that’s really major.”

Her studio is a modest room on the second level of her 1894 Fairport home. The work space holds a treasure trove of drawers and files filled with cut paper in the shape of legs, arms, tails, and wings in every color. Along with the birds, snakes, frogs, and hamsters, she has masses of cut landscape pieces and says it’s comforting to sit and cut out rocks, dirt, and grass.

“Even though most of my stories are short, it can take me months to write one. I begin by writing in a notebook or on the backs of envelopes and refining on my laptop. This is a back and forth process, and I often find bits of writing all over my house.”

Walsh can tell you exactly how long she’s been creating books for children because she began on her son’s third birthday in 1975. “I was reading Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni to Ben when I realized that I, too, had to write and illustrate children’s books. It was a powerful revelation.” Walsh remembers many long walks with her son, talking about nature and feelings and everything else. And of course, reading lots of books.

One of ten children, Walsh grew up in Baltimore, and many of her siblings went on to pursue careers in the arts, including her sister Mink Stole, a cult film icon. Walsh has warm memories of her mother making up songs and drawing but says, “We never thought of her as an artist. She was just Mom.” The siblings still meet up in Baltimore annually. “We love each other very much.”

After her father died when Walsh was thirteen, a school counselor found her a scholarship to take classes on Saturdays, which led to more scholarships for college. She graduated from the Maryland Institute of Art in 1964 with a BFA in painting. 

In 1969, she spent the summer with her art historian husband at an archeological dig at the Diocletian’s Palace in Croatia. That led to a trip to England in 1971 to work on an Anglo-Saxon church in Somerset with celebrated archeologist Philip Rahtz. “Once we started, we kept going,” Walsh recalls. “For thirteen summers, we worked on a twelfth-century Cisterian Abbey in Worcestershire.”

That ended when Walsh’s husband abruptly left her and their young son right around the same time she sent the idea for Mouse Paint to her editor. “It devastated us. But I realized that if I could do this it would give me and my son hope, which we both needed very much.” She barely remembers working on the book, saying, “I managed a couple of hours a day, but spent most of my time hiding under blankets and worrying about my son.”

The success of Mouse Paint took her to China, touring Shanghai and Shekou on a book tour, and has kept her going all these years, allowing her the freedom to continue to share ideas with children. “I wanted to have a career doing something that mattered.”

Over the years, Walsh continued her travels, exploring the world with her unending curiosity. Some of her favorite trips were to India, Bhutan, and Russia. She recently visited Japan with her son, Ben, and his family. 

Walsh stumbled upon the Neptune Inn while in Ogunquit, Maine, and a one-night stay led to a longtime friendship with the owners and return visits for the next thirty years. “They put a desk in my room and were incredibly kind to me.” She would take long walks on the beach, collecting shells, rocks, and ideas.

At eighty-three years old, Walsh stays young at heart by maintaining her childlike curiosity and spending time in Vancouver with her eleven-year-old grandson, Theo, whom Walsh describes as incredibly bright and loving. They enjoy exploring the coast of British Columbia, and he is the reason she walks the streets of Fairport every day. “When Theo was born, I decided I was going to stay young for him. I’m not going to give this up.”

Walsh was one of the original members of Rochester Area Children’s Writers & Illustrators when it formed back in 1989 and remains active in the group today supporting local writers and artists. She was also part of a close-knit group of local authors including Bruce Coville, Cynthia DeFelice, Tedd Arnold, Mary Jane Auch, Robin Pulver, and Vivian Vande Velde, who would meet to share and critique each other’s manuscripts.

“Ellen is a genius,” says Vande Velde. “She can distill a story into just a few words and absolutely brilliant pictures. She is very fastidious about the papers she uses and will readily tell you that she has whole batches of mouse eyes, mouse tails, mouse ears—not to mention body parts of other animals—that she has cut out to be able to nuance her characters’ reactions.”

As for her next project, Walsh started drawing elephants years ago and is patiently waiting for the story to come. “One of the most difficult things about elephants is that they don’t stand up and don’t have hands with fingers. That is why, after all these years, I think that maybe they will have to be more like philosophers, helping others to solve their problems.” While she waits for that elephant dream to come, she encourages us all to create our own stories.

“If you think you have an idea that is worth sharing, don’t give up. I was very lucky to have people who believed in me. Listen to the people who believe in you. But never forget that you are the author, and the story you write is your own.”

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of (585).

“I was born in 1931, in a small community north of Chicago,” Pat Ward-Baker begins. “I grew up in the ’30s and ’40s. By the time I was ten or eleven, the Second World War was on, and everything around me felt rigid. Wives stayed home. They hosted tea parties, talked, shopped. Somehow my little self hated that. I wanted to escape.”

Even as a child, Ward-Baker’s curiosity extended to numbers. Her father introduced her to securities analysis early, opening a small investment account when she was five. “I thought I would be a musician and travel,” she says. She carried that ambition to the Eastman School of Music at the University Rochester where students were encouraged to be music teachers. “I realized I didn’t want to teach. So I transferred into the university [for finance].” By that time, her father had taught her another crucial lesson: understanding investments. “He opened the door for me, and I learned how to think about money, systems, and risk from a very young age.”

Her family reinforced independence in other ways. “My mother found ways to move out of that comfort zone by volunteering,” Ward-Baker recalls. “She would read to the blind at the university, work with students, travel. She had help, so she didn’t have to do all the chores. She really wanted to be a city planner. She found outlets to serve and to work.”

Other relatives offered quiet lessons in ambition and resilience. One grandmother led American women across Asia to study flower arrangements. Another was a competitive swimmer and pianist. Her grandfather, an French immigrant, walked into Thomas Edison’s office asking how to improve himself, worked harder than anyone, returned, and became a partner. Taken together, these lives formed Ward-Baker’s inheritance: proof that deviation was survivable, that independence was a path worth taking.

“My father gave me a little account to practice with,” she says. “The firm I had my little account with liked how I thought. They called me and said they wanted to hire me. This was 1970. I became the first female investor there, as an institutional broker. At the time, there were just twelve women in the business nationwide.”

She laughs softly at the memory of her interview. “One of the guys said, ‘Well, you have the background, the education, and the experience, but Pat—you are a woman.’ He even called the institutions I would serve to ask if they would have a woman as their broker. They said they didn’t mind, as long as “it” had ideas.” She still laughs at that today.

Pat Ward-Baker doesn’t have time to fuss over the little things; she is too busy keeping up with the stock market, supporting her clients’ investments, and embracing the wonderfully colorful life she has made for herself. At ninety-four, Baker is full of lessons, stories, and laughter. Her bold red office is her canvas—it’s full of fascinating pieces that she has collected over the years, and each piece continues to inspire her. When she answers the door, the first thing we notice is her stunning red leather jacket. It is a beautiful vintage piece with sharp lapels and an elegant, fitted silhouette, and is soft to the touch. Custom matching red buttons adorn the front and extend up the sleeves, creating a look reminiscent of a gigot sleeve (also referred to as “leg o’ lamb” sleeve) from the late 1800s. When asked about the jacket’s origin, she explains she’s had it for more than forty years. It was given to her by a stylist whom she still works with today. All the subtle elements of this jacket come together to create a piece that truly represents Baker’s energy: feminine but with a bite.—Caitlin Kenyon (C.K.)

“It didn’t even bother me,” Ward-Baker says. “That was the whole atmosphere at the time. My husband did not finish his degree. He was from England, and he went into the war. He could belong to the clubs, and I couldn’t ... Feminism,” Ward-Baker reflects, “was a movement. Women gathered together to prove they were equal to men in their capacity to work. That was an active movement that happened. I did not get into that. I was just trying to do it. I was trying to succeed. The competitive atmosphere was so strong. Every night I went home to think, to work, to stay ahead. I was always in the top ten at Morgan Stanley, sometimes at the very top.”

Philosophically, feminism was about breaking free from limitation. “Someone was sitting on women’s shoulders, holding them down. Women could not escape the notion that they were household help. They took care of children and the home, but most did not have any career outside the house. My mom paid the bills, but she didn’t even know where the money was coming from. I think what began to happen for me was, look, I have some ideas of my own. How can I get out from under the way things are? Feminism, the non-marching feminist, is about developing your own interests.”

Ward-Baker structures her days deliberately. She wakes around 5:30 a.m. “Once I’m up, I’m up,” she says. Breakfast often doubles as a meeting space. “I have most of my meetings during breakfast. I go to the country club or Jines. That is when we talk.” From there, she walks across the street to her modest office. “I have a nice little office, right across from my house. It has an interviewing room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. It’s not very big, but it has a lot of room.”

She checks the stock market every morning. “I just want to see what it looks like. The market affects everything. I have been in this market since 1960. I do not remember anything quite like this. The ’70s were kind of weird, but this feels hesitant. There is no real trend that I can see. I would like to see more stability from the U. S.” She notices mood as much as numbers. “I have a feeling a lot of investors are hesitant right now. The market has been going up, but there is a funny feeling to it. Most years, you feel the year- end intensity—ebullient, a lot of volume, a lot of excitement,” she notes. “Right now, there is not a lot of volume.”

“So much of our culture treats aging as a slow narrowing—less energy, less relevance, fewer possibilities,” Ward-Baker says. She first became aware of this while at Morgan Stanley. “I noticed my clients were more worried about getting old than running out of money. It was almost universal. I was nearly seventy when I decided to go back to school. I studied the biology of aging, the spirituality of aging, an interdisciplinary degree. I finished my dissertation, and now I’m working with Dr. Matthew Schiralli, executive medical director of surgical services at Rochester Regional Health. We give talks around town at different places. There are things we need to do to maintain a healthy life.”

Ward-Baker’s doctoral research focused on people aged eighty-five and older—a group often treated as invisible. “The oldest old. The remarkable old,” she says. “Going in, I expected to find decline. I was trying to prove something I already believed—that the narratives about irrelevance were nonsense. I wanted to show they were wrong.”

Her dissertation took her into very different worlds. She studied a farmer at eighty-five, still bailing hay and lifting animals; an actress reinventing herself late in life; and a teacher at RIT pushing the boundaries of her craft. “These lives were physically demanding, emotionally demanding, and yet all of them were starting new projects, moving in new directions.”

While Ward-Baker may not be too concerned with having designer pieces, she admits she is a sucker for a bold piece of jewelry. Her motto for wearing an accessory is “go big or go home.” As we study her vintage bird brooch from her grandmother and the colorful necklaces she purchased in South Africa, our eyes couldn’t help but notice two eye-catching pieces she wears every day.

On her right hand she wears a gold band with three beautiful diamonds. While this piece has become a staple in her everyday wardrobe, Baker shared that she did not always find this particular ring to be of much importance. It was her grandfather’s, and she believed it was only costume jewelry; she jokingly called it her dust collecting ring that she kept tucked in her jewelry drawer. Finally, out of curiosity, she brought the ring to a jeweler who revealed that all three stones are genuine diamonds. Realizing that this piece was more special than she had imagined, Baker commissioned a custom band and now has a token from her grandfather with her every day.—C.K.

A striking sapphire and diamond ring (originally it belonged to Ward-Baker’s great-grandmother then grandmother) adorns her left hand. This ring is a meaningful family jewel but used to have a terrible habit of twisting and slipping uncomfortably between her knuckles. She enlisted a jeweler to add custom bands to the outer edges of the ring that make it more formidable, thus keeping it from twisting as often. These gold additions help to make a family heirloom her own and allow the sapphire stones to shine even bolder than before.—C.K.

“One woman in New England even created a whole village,” Ward-Baker recalls. “She reimagined the world she wanted to live in, a literal village square of her own making. It was astonishing. These people were not slowing down, they were still creating, still building, still shaping life.”

“We tell people to ‘prepare’ for retirement, but far less about preparing for old age itself,” Ward- Baker says. “If you are broke, living in an awful place, and don’t have enough to eat, you cannot support the life you want after you retire. Start saving! Add a little bit every month—the longer you do it, the more it adds up. I have a seventeen-year-old I’m helping. He’s learning to save for later life. You can start with a tin can. The earlier you start, the better your foundation.”

“To me, it’s a tragedy when people just give up, thinking they have to go downhill, that they have to get weaker. A lot of people don’t know what to do after they retire. They have nothing to contribute. My idea is that you have so much more to contribute because you have lived so long. I also think you become a little nicer, you soften more as you get older. Aging doesn’t have to be a slow exit from life—it can be a new chapter of engagement, insight, and contribution.”

Ward-Baker emphasizes that energy comes from movement. “If you walk, climb stairs, or just move to your car, you have to keep moving a bit. It’s not rocket science. You have to keep yourself energetic and full of life. You can be better than ever.”

Being at home with yourself is equally important. “This depends on the mindset a person grows

up with and evolves into. Yoga, meditation, even fifteen minutes a day isn’t a big burden. Reading along those lines helps too. Walk in your neighborhood or in the mall. Go swimming. Join older people’s groups. Stay active, stay engaged, keep yourself full of life.”

Ward-Baker expands the focus from physical movement to the mind. “Focus on what works. Focus on what is healthy, interesting, and what you are naturally attracted to. Notice what’s happening in the world. Read philosophy, anything that feeds your mind, nourishes it, inspires you. Look beyond yourself. See what science is doing with AI, ask yourself where that might lead. Talk to people who are knowledgeable. There’s a lot to think about.”

She emphasizes mindset as much as information. “Keep a basically positive outlook. Negative stuff—most of it—is not true. We’re all just people, just humans. Life was never promised as a rose garden. The key question for someone living well in older age is: What do I do about this? Whatever comes along, ask yourself, what can I do? There is always some answer.” 

For seniors, or future seniors, who don’t want to disappear quietly into old age, Ward-Baker offers one guiding principle: “Unlearn the belief that aging inevitably causes decline. This is scientifically proven. Aging does not inevitably lead to loss of energy, curiosity, or purpose. You can keep growing, learning, contributing—if you decide to.”

Ward-Baker’s appeal is not that she defies aging, but that she refuses to simplify it. She reframes later life as bonus time; not guaranteed, not owed, but capable of depth, insight, and growth. Her work argues for dignity, showing human development does not stop simply because culture loses interest.

The work of becoming does not end. Even now, the question remains open: Who are we still becoming?

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of (585).

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.: Don’t miss the annual (585) Kids Summer Camp & Activity Fair! Sunday March 8, kids and their families are invited to visit the fair and chat with representatives from several programs including day camps, overnight camps, STEM camps, sports camps, outdoor summer activities, performing arts camps, and more!

4-H Camp Bristol Hills

Bach to Rock

Brooklyn Robot Foundry Rochester

Camp Cherith of WNY

Camp Stella Maris

Camp Whitman

Central Rock Gym

Corning Museum of Glass

Eastman Community Music School

Genesee Country Village and Museum

Girl Scouts of WNY

Goldfish Swim School

Kanack School of Musical Artistry

KidStrong East Rochester

Main Street Players

McQuaid Jesuit

OFC Creations

Rochester Childfirst Network

School of Rochester City Ballet

Spotlight Studios for the Performing Arts, Inc.

The Hochstein School

YMCA Camp Weona & Kenan

YMCA of Greater Rochester

For more information on attendance or if you run a program or camp and would like to know about booth pricing please email cg****@58****.com .

A fresh scoop

Michael and Marie Carducci had no plans to start a business.

Michael, a Rochester native, works full time in IT, and his wife, Marie, who grew up in Zambia, is a senior accountant. The couple shares four kids.

But when the two saw a sign in the window at 1245 Park Avenue at the corner of Colby Street in Rochester around the corner from Montgomery court, Marie says something “just clicked.”

“We happened to have a great space available and thought an ice cream shop would be a perfect fit for the neighborhood,” she says. “It felt like something lighthearted and positive that would bring people together.”

Frost & Foundry was born, and the shop opened in September. The menu includes hand-scooped Perry’s ice cream (including dairy-free options), shakes, floats, and novelties like ice cream nachos and ice cream plates. Soup from Nathan’s Soup & Salad is also on the menu and so is fresh-squeezed lemonade and more.

The shop will be open seven days a week from noon to 9 p.m. As a seasonal business, the doors will open sometime in late April (exact date will be weather dependent) and stay open until late October.

“Opening Frost & Foundry has been a spontaneous but rewarding adventure,” says Marie. “We’d love to establish [it] as a lasting part of the Rochester dessert scene—known for quality, creativity, and great service. In the future, we could see expanding into catering or seasonal events but always keeping that small, family-run feel.”

FLX West Food Fest

After the hospitality industry was hit hard during the pandemic, the Livingston County Area Chamber of Commerce became strategic about helping with its recovery.

As a result, the FLX West Food Fest was born four years ago, and the inaugural event drew a crowd of 300 attendees. Since then, it has grown exponentially, with 700 in attendance last year.

The festival has hosted Food Network stars like Anne Burrell and Marc Murphy, chefs like Tim Minefee and Lorenzo Boni from Barilla, and local talent like Chef RJ Younger, culinary instructor at New York Kitchen.

This year’s FLX West Food Fest will be held at Genesee Country Village & Museum on April 19. General admission tickets will include master chef and sommelier demonstrations, hands-on educational workshops, and an opportunity to meet chefs and brewers, listen to live music, an shop for specialty food items. Tasting packages can be purchased to enjoy samples at each of the participating food and beverage vendors.

All tasting proceeds go back to the participating restaurants and brewers. Melissa Savino of the Livingston County Chamber of Commerce says the most rewarding aspect of organizing the event “is that ‘lightbulb moment’ when a visitor tries a sample from an out-of-the-way restaurant they’ve never heard of and immediately asks for the address to book a full dinner reservation.

“Seeing our local business owners leave the event with a stack of proceeds and a long list of new fans makes every hour of planning worth it.”

Preserving the past

The residents of Livingston County contact the historian’s office for a variety of reasons: to research family history, to look at old maps, or even to remember long-lost loves.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words,” says Madeline Friedler, Livingston County deputy historian. “One time, we had a call from an elderly woman who was interested in any information the office had about a young man she was once engaged to who had been killed in action during military service. Because of our searchable catalog, we were able to send her a photo of him.”

Last year, the historian’s office worked hard to make their online catalog available to the public. Holly Watson, county historian, says the monthslong process of standardizing data to make terms searchable included overhauling spreadsheet headings, categorizing record types, creating lists of subject terms, and much more.

In September, the new online catalog, featuring 50,000 items from the 1700s to now, became available (bit.ly/historiancatalog). Previously, interested individuals could search the original platform for names to find records of individuals. Now, users can search titles and keywords for resources on a particular topic (for example, entering “Civil War” to see what the archives include on that topic).

Originally text-only, the catalog should include digital items—like directories, naturalization records, maps, photographs, and postcards—by the end of April.

“The study of history, especially working with primary-source documents, helps build critical thinking skills for people of all ages, and it promotes transparency and justice,” says Watson.

“Engaging with images and stories of our communities helps teach us the parallels, patterns, wins, and hardships that make us who we are, building local pride as well as a personal sense of belonging and identity.”

Brewing clean, organic teas

People found themselves with a lot of time on their hands in 2020 once the pandemic hit. There was suddenly time to learn new skills, brainstorm about the future, and even start businesses. 

Liam Jones used that time (with the help of his mother, Heather Jones) to experiment with different tea blends, which eventually became his own brand of artisanal teas.

“Botany Bilt is a passion project, to share peace, love, and positivity through thoughtfully grounded products, connecting us with the earth around us,” says Jones during a recent interview.

Jones, an entrepreneur and “drink enthusiast,” runs the company, focusing on tasks like brand and product development. His mother assists with recipe development as the brand’s herbalist.

The most important aspect for the pair when developing their products is a focus on sourcing non-GMO and certified-organic ingredients and ensuring the tea is sugar-free (it’s sweetened with stevia leaf) and contains no chemical flavors or fillers.

Botany Bilt’s current line of hot and cold chakra teas are developed with the whole body in mind. “Chakras are the major energy centers within the body, as defined by Eastern medicine and healing practices,” says Jones. “The chakra line of teas includes functional herbs that focus on supporting specific energy points within the body.”

While the entrepreneur says it’s been a challenge to gain momentum while operating out of a small town, the brand did recently receive assistance from Grow LivCo’s Small Business — ▸ Big Boost program.

Botany Bilt was one of about a dozen selected applicants for the program, which provided entrepreneurial training and came with $5,000 in grant funding for the tea company.

With the funds from Small Business — ▸ Big Boost, Jones plans to purchase a freeze dryer to introduce superfood powders for beverages and healthy fruit and vegetable freeze-dried snacks. The funds will also allow him to purchase a particle packer, which will weigh and pack twelve to fifteen tea bags per minute. Currently, each bag is hand weighed and tied.

As of this writing, new equipment will be in place by the first quarter of this year. Acquiring this additional machinery to improve efficiencies will leave time for product development, opening different revenue streams while providing more variety for customers. The goal is to have new products available by the second quarter two of 2026. botanybilt.com

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of (585).

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of (585).

Picture books are for little kids. Chapter books are for elementary students. Young adult novels are for teens. Everything else is for adults, right? Well, kind of. While most books written for adults aren’t intended for children, the opposite is certainly not true. Picture book creators’ work must appeal to the grown-ups who read to kids. Middle grade novels make great read-a-louds for all ages. And the audience lines between teen and adult fiction have been blurring for years. All of this to say, no matter your age, read what you love. It may just be one of these locally written tales.

Books for the Ages

Field Guide for Accidents: Poems

By Albert Abonado

Beacon Press, 2024, paperback, $18.00

Through first-person narratives, the author takes readers on an emotional and sensory journey anchored by his parents’ emigration from the Philippines. The poems relate to family, identity, and feeding minds and bodies through sweet and spicy flavors. One lengthier poem shares the book’s title and delves into sleep, memories, and the perils of exhaustion.

Field Guide for Accidents contains five sections, and the poems are written in various styles, none of them overwrought or overwritten. Like in his first book (JAW, Sundress, 2020), Abonado heavily references food (he likes to eat) and teeth (he finds them fascinating). It is a slim volume to savor. 

Abonado has received poetry fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches English courses at SUNY Geneseo and Finger Lakes Community College, where he is the Bare Hill Review managing editor. You can find him around Rochester co-hosting poetry open mics, dining at Angelina’s (angelinasonsouth.com), or writing at Winter Swan (winterswancoffee.com). He recommends Knives Out #3, Becoming Ghost by Cathy Linh Che, and he prefers dogs over cats “because they are pure.” Find more wisdom here: albertabonado.com.

The Fourth Consort

By Edward Ashton

St. Martin’s Griffin, 2026, paperback, $18.00

After a diplomatic mission goes wrong, human Dalton Greaves finds himself stranded on a newly discovered planet with a stickman-shaped alien and the insect-like residents. It is not long before he is taken as their leader’s “fourth consort” with no option to refuse. Through some sketchy translations, Dalton does his best keep the channels open for a united future, but his own human partner may have other plans in mind.

Ashton once again raises questions about the morality of interplanetary settlements and destructions. This time he does it with a wry main character; a serious, creepy alien; straightlaced Second and Third Consorts; and an irreverent AI ear implant. It is a thought-provoking sci-fi with a story progression that works and surprises, and there are laughs aplenty.

Ashton is a cancer researcher, teacher, and the author of several novels, including Mickey7, which was adapted into the film Mickey17 (2025). His latest book, After the Fall, released in February 2026 (St. Martin’s Press), but The Fourth Consort is still one of his favorites. Read them all and you be the judge. edwardashton.com

A History of Transgender Medicine in the United States: From Margins to Mainstream

By Carolyn Wolf-Gould, Dallas Denny, Jamison Green & Kyan Lynch

SUNY Press, 2025, paperback, $44.95

France’s soldier Chevalier d’Eon (1728–1810), Denmark’s painter Lili Elbe (1882–1931), and England’s race car driver Roberta Cowell (1918–2011) are just three of the transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people profiled in this book. There are also research-based essays and footnoted articles written by more than forty contributors with personal connections to the topic, making each chapter info-packed and meaningful.

This 750-page volume of history, medicine, sociology, gender roles, and identity doesn’t have to be read in its entirety or in order. It can be used as a reference guide or text book for serious study or general knowledge—and readers will certainly learn a lot.

Lynch is an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Rochester Medical Center. His expertise is HIV prevention and LGBTQIA+ health and affirming care, and his hobbies include playing music and taking photos. Lynch and his wife have a three-legged chihuahua/pit bull mix (Lulu) and a four-legged Australian cattle dog/pit bull mix (Rafa) who act as his writing assistants. kyanlynch.com

A Jacket Off the Gorge: True Story of the Biggest Liar

By Susan Ashline

Post Hill Press, 2023, paperback, $21.99

When the author met Jon Fontaine in 2011, she didn’t know that seven years earlier he had faked his own death at Letchworth State Park. The pair had an on again/off again relationship through truths and traumas. In the end, an act of violence and a questionably handled police encounter threw away any possibility of a future together—or at all. 

Ashline’s honesty about being hooked into an abusive relationship can serve as a mirror and window to others. She also shines a light on the calculating, manipulating mind of a criminal. The narrative becomes more intense and personal as it progresses, revealing failures in the police, justice, and mental health systems. Ashline’s page-turning story proves once again how truth is stranger than fiction. 

Ungrateful Bastard, Ashline’s latest true crime account, released in February 2026 (Bloomsbury). Her first book, Without a Prayer (Pegasus, 2019), led to her appearances on Hulu’s Cult Justice (2022) and How I Escaped My Cult (2025). Besides writing award-winning pieces of journalism and hanging with her rabbit, cats, kids, and first grandbaby, she can be found playing outdoors: hiking, kayaking, skiing, and garage sailing. And if your kid is selling lemonade or friendship bracelets, she’s buying every time. She hopes you do the same. IG: @SusanAshline

Open at Rock Bottom

By L. M. Reed

MaLaRe Books, 2023, paperback, $14.95

EJ is in juvie after being convicted of rape in eleventh grade, a crime he admits he committed. Nevertheless, new evidence emerges, and he is freed. Because of the high-profile nature of his case, EJ and his siblings move to a new town with pseudonyms. His resentful sister and own personal guilt may leak his true identity after all.

This novel is told with a nonlinear timeline, switching from before EJ’s conviction to after his release. The fallout with friends and family members includes confusion, embarrassment, and resentment from younger siblings. Authentic teen dialog adds to the book’s credibility. The author’s endnote explains that processing the rape through the assailant’s point of view shows that not just stereotypically “dangerous”people commit this crime. It is a powerful story that is all too real.

Reed, a school librarian, gets to push books for a living. She also has the travel bug and recommends visiting her top five destinations: Thailand, Japan, Portugal, England, and the Pacific Northwest. At home, she lives with Nina, the therapy Shih Tzu, who spreads joy at schools, libraries, and nursing homes. Reed believes she is destined to master “Great British Baking Show levels of confectionary wizardry.” Find out when she accomplishes this—and when her companion novel comes out—at lmreed.com.

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of (585).

New job jitters only multiply if the day goes sideways, an unfortunate lesson Kelly Metras learned on her first day in the food industry. She started as a waitress at seventeen and found herself grossly underprepared. “Thrown to the wolves,” is how she remembers it. Being a server means managing a thousand different tasks all at once, and that first shift was a disaster. “I forgot items, I didn’t know the menu, I dropped things.” The night culminated with a visit from her parents, where her dad scolded another customer for criticizing his daughter’s performance. When it was over, her parents tried to put a positive spin on it, telling her “At least you know what you WON’T be doing for the rest of your life.”

Seeing Metras today is to witness how far she’s come. Kelly and her husband, Aaron, are the owners of Salena’s Mexican Restaurant, which they purchased in 2011. Metras started there as a waitress in 1999, moving past her traumatic start to see the benefits of the industry—notably, the flexibility that allowed her to pursue other goals: a master’s degree, travel, and accommodating her growing family. She and Aaron tossed around the idea of someday owning a business together, though they weren’t sure what kind. Enter Salena’s previous owner, who approached them about purchasing the restaurant. Kelly and Aaron certainly had the experience: Between the two of them, they performed every job on-site, from dishwashing to managing. They also knew the place so well that they had a clear vision of what the business could be. After much thought, they agreed to take it on.

There were challenges, as the duo learned right away that despite their experience, being an owner was one job they’d never done; the thousands of tasks they once managed as servers grew exponentially. There were now administrative concerns: payroll, accounts payable, taxes, health code compliance. There was the food itself—implementing recipes and ordering food and supplies. They also had to think about public relations, advertising, and the guests’ overall experience. Human resources was a big one: not only hiring and firing employees but switching gears with the staff, “who were coworkers and friends the day before,” but whose well-being was now their responsibility. There is a whole list of behind-the-scenes tasks that fall on the shoulders of the owner, and, according to Metras, figuring it all out is nonnegotiable: “[Owners] don’t get to quit when they’re overwhelmed.”

In a serendipitous twist, Metras found that her background in special education was applicable in the restaurant industry. Before the couple purchased the restaurant, Kelly was a special education teacher at Hillside, and Aaron worked in the developmental disability field. Once she switched industries, Metras quickly noticed the similarities, as both are “all about people and getting them what they want and need.” This realization shaped how she moved forward. Once they settled in at Salena’s, Metras and her husband expanded their reach, opening and managing Nox from 2014 to 2023; RYCE, a nonprofit restaurant with high school students from 2015 to 2017; and Salena’s Taqueria from 2021 to 2022.

As she moved through the restaurant world, Metras noticed a need for community and camaraderie among other women in business. She and friend Kelly Bush would get together to swap stories and talk through the challenges of owning a restaurant; one of the topics they covered was discrimination against women in business, something they both encountered. Metras also found for herself that once she became an owner, people treated her differently. Most people wanted her to do what was best for them, without acknowledging all the decisions and stresses she faced. While it did strain or even sever certain relationships, it also revealed to Metras who in her life was truly supportive. No matter what the issues were, both found that the venting sessions left them refreshed and empowered to handle their daily challenges, and they wanted to share this. A happy hour started things off, and with the successful turnout of many local business owners, they knew they were onto something. BOSSY officially started in 2014, with more structured meet-ups to support local business women. There are monthly meetings, workshops, and seminars, and Getting real with BOSSY, the podcast, is now in its third season. Described by Metras as “real, honest, and raw,” the podcast was started in hopes of growing its audience to all business women who need help.

Metras’s newest undertaking is in the theater world. She recently began to work part time as the marketing and fundraising director at A Magical Journey Through Stages, a non-profit youth performing arts theater in Rochester. Metras was introduced through her children; she has four daughters, ages 8-16, who are heavily involved in the theater. Metras took to the theater world easily, finding it has much in common with restaurant ownership.

In all these different ventures, Metras maintains focus on her marriage and children, whose support is essential. While her goal is always to make a difference in the community, “My ideas are often outrageous,” she admits. But her husband is “ridiculously supportive.” Even so, she only takes on a project if the schedule accommodates the needs of her family.

The consideration of everyone’s needs is what has shaped Metras’s impressive rise in Rochester business. Whether it’s in the community at large or working person to person, when she sees a need, she uses her strengths and talents to get it met. She’s established herself as someone who rises to whatever challenge lay ahead.

Metras is far removed from that first day on the job, where she made her debut as “Friendly’s worst waitress.” In fact, when she thinks about the longevity she’s had despite such a dreadful start, she says, “I look back and chuckle.” On that day, neither she nor her parents had any idea she’d become one of Rochester’s entrepreneurial stalwarts. For Metras, she stays grounded with the same formula: Keep people at the center and remember, “we all need something.”

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of (585).

A dinner plate soars into a steel wall and breaks four ways. A computer keyboard falls on concrete, fracturing each key. A drinking glass shatters on impact with a bat. At first glance, these descriptions may not evoke images of low-key, guileless fun. But free-wheeling entertainment is exactly what Rochester’s first-ever smash room, iSmash, aims to represent.

The sprawling facility on Jefferson Road in Rochester was founded in 2018 by Spencerport native Steven Shortino. While most area retailers lost business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, iSmash was the exception to the rule; the company’s breakout year was 2021. Five years later, the brand is now represented by 100 franchises nationwide from California to Florida. 

“You’ve probably never been able to go inside a room and just break everything in it. You’re always told, ‘don’t do that,’ where- as the purpose [of the smash room] is to go in and break stuff. It’s unique because it’s so contrarian,” says Shortino. 

At twenty-one years old, Shortino, who had worked odd jobs for several years, decided to start a business. That’s when a friend showed him a video of the smash room concept. 

“It was just one of those things where it kind of clicked in my head,” says Shortino. “It was unique—the closest comparable place was in Toronto; it seemed like a simple business model, and the idea resonated with me personally. I had a good sense of how to build something people would want to come and do.”

The flagship iSmash facility (Rochester) features an eclectic mix of graffiti-style wall art (painted by local artists) and quirky, modern touches, including a Mini Melt (ice cream treats) vending machine and a two-story Christmas tree adorned with silver garlands.

The colorful, brightly lit space houses four smash rooms, two blacklight paint rooms, and several axe-throwing stations alongside a well-appointed meeting and event area. Each smash room contains two tree stumps, which serve as tables, in addition to a range of “smashing tools”: crowbars, sledgehammers, and baseball bats. A reinforced steel wall at the back of the room is the smashing target. Customers can even create their own playlist and hook it up to the room’s speaker system via their cell phone.

The smashable products are brought in from a combination of recycling vendors and customer donations. “It’s all household items. We have a whole menu of options for customers to choose from, as far as what they want to smash. We have different add-ons and packages,” says Shortino. There’s even an option for customers to break their own items, like an object that reminds them of an ex-partner, for instance. 

“All customers are covered from head-to-toe in safety gear that is designed specifically to prevent injuries from [high-impact] activities,” Shortino says. “We also play a safety video, so people know exactly what they can and can’t do in [the smash room]. And, we have an in-room camera system, which is monitored by a staff member.” Another benefit of the camera system is that parents or friends can safely observe the activity from the lobby without ever entering the room themselves.

Now it’s time for me to try the smash room. In a small preparation area, I put on goggles, a face shield, two sets of gloves (one plastic, the other more durable), and an outer layer of protective clothing. Then, after a short safety briefing, I am left to my own devices in a large, rectangular space. The room features two computer keyboards, a collection of miscellaneous dishware, and a retired air conditioning unit.

At first, I’m uncertain. But then I pull a pale blue plate from the cardboard box on the floor and fling it at the wall. The dish ricochets off a bright red target. Immediately, it splinters. I pick up a computer keyboard next. I throw it on the ground and then take a heavy crowbar to the plastic keys. Three or four come loose. I try again. Several wriggle free this time.

Twenty minutes later, my session ends. I am surrounded by the remnants of my destruction and thoroughly soaked in sweat. I feel revitalized … and relieved I’m not responsible for cleaning up the mess.

In addition to the smash rooms, iSmash has also become a leader in several other areas of entertainment. Customers can participate in splatter paint sessions—some of which feature glitter boosters and paint guns—as well as lumberjack competitions and multiactivity parties involving a charcuterie board of customizable offerings.

Being an industry leader has its challenges, though. “It’s hard, because in most industries, there are people with decades of experience and you can do research based on their history,” Shortino says. “With this industry, there was nothing to look at. This was a lot of trailblazing, a lot of, ‘okay, let’s try this … okay, that didn’t work out, let’s adjust.’”

But, Shortino notes, the Rochester community has supported him through it all. “It’s been cool to build a lot of this [with] help from the people of Rochester.” He adds, “Because we’re new and don’t require a massive clientele, we have the flexibility to go into areas other brands can’t. When people think of an entertainment franchise, we want them to think of iSmash.”

For Shortino, the payoff is personal. “Growing up, I loved the types of places where kids would run up to the door because they were so excited to go inside. I was a kid who did that. And seeing kids act like that at iSmash is an amazing feeling.”

Learn more: ismashusa.com.

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2026 issue of (585).