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When County Executive Maggie Brooks declared at the outset of her first-ever State of the County Address that "the state of our county has greatly improved," she said she did so "with a clear vision for our future." But what exactly that vision is was unclear: Very little of what Brooks addressed was new. There was, of course,
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Walking into the lobby of HOPE Initiatives' Anson Street offices, there's little to identify the place as home to a religious group. Faux-marble paneling frames a receptionist's window, and off to the side sit a few chairs for visitors. The room's walls are devoid of the symbols that often distinguish religious groups from their
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BUYING THE NEWS Barely a few weeks after your eye-opening article on the genesis of fascism ("Fascism in America?" December 8), we learn that this administration has misappropriated taxpayer funds to pay journalists to shill for it, and to create three (count them: 3) phony "news" videos designed to bamboozle Americans, one of which was actually
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Georgia on your kid's mind When is Georgia only 60 miles from Rochester? When her paintings are on exhibit at Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Georgia O'Keeffe and New Mexico: A Sense of Placeruns through May 8. O'Keeffe's landscapes hang next to photographs of the scenes, which makes this exhibit very accessible. Rather than copy desert views, O'Keeffe
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I find the Super Bowl to be an almost sickening celebration of corporate excess and gluttony. And I even covered the game a few months after September 11, 2001, when the festivities were supposed to be more subdued. I didn't see anybody going without. People stuffed their faces at the pre-game Super Bowl brunch, at the post-game
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A decade ago, the news trickled in, accompanied by images of unparalleled savagery, of massacres in a country few people in the West had ever heard of, on a continent few cared about, and involving class, tribal, and ethnic tensions almost nobody comprehended. In the midst of one of those messy and complicated civil
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If I pick up a thank-you note to send to Kevin Bacon, would you guys sign it? It really is the least we can do, seeing as he might be the most underappreciated actor around (now that Johnny Depp has caught Oscar's eye, anyway). His gut-wrenching turn as a prisoner in Murder in the First
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You might have to go back as far as John Coltrane's Stellar Regions (1967) to find an album with as vast a concept as Stefon Harris' TheGrand Unification Theory. Then again, Harris is not what you'd call a one-dimensional musician. Having placed second to vibes legend Bobby Hutcherson (and first in the Rising Star category) in
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I'm way above the fray up here in this SUV. I'm head and shoulders above you and your car and I like the view. You can't mess with me up here. You can't get at my children. What, kids? You felt a bump? That was probably some little car down there, or maybe a pedestrian. The
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Isabel Rosa, Duncan McElroye, and Ebonee Johnson want everyone to get tested. And they can't say it enough. "We want to get them tested," McElroye says. "We can't say what number, but any number. Just to start the ball rolling." The three work at Action Front Center, an HIV/AIDS outreach center on Chestnut Street,
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The totals: 1,423 American soldiers, 171 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 15,612 to 17,842 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to February 1. American soldiers killed from Jan 26-Feb 1: Sergeant Leonard W. Adams, 42; Mooresville, North Carolina | Staff Sergeant Jose C. Rangel, 43; Saratoga, California | Sergeant
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As you approach the entrance to the gallery, you can hear Law & Order: Crimes Scenes before you can see anything. It is only after you enter the gallery from the hallway that you immediately encounter six television screens, each continuously playing and replaying the teasers for six different episodes. A couple walks down the street,
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Jolie Holland escondida Anti Jolie Holland sings songs that sound as if they just got off the train in the big city. Whether it's rooted in Appalachia or somewhere in the Delta, Holland's music moves with an unwavering confidence, wonder, and charm. Her voice is full of honeyed tones and narcotic phrasing that exude haphazard confidence and spooky
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The woman on the line sounded liked she was in her late 50s. She seemed nice, maybe a little tired. I'd later learn why. She said she was conducting a poll about health care for New York State. I know people are
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Now that the inauguration is over, the confetti has been swept up, the temporary seating and fancy bunting has been put away for another four years, we can finally ask the forbidden question: Was this election on the level? Big media, with
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The jam session at the Rochester International Jazz Festival was just heating up one night last June when a man with a tenor saxophone stepped on stage to join the Bob Sneider Trio on "Stella by Starlight." I was skeptical. He looked
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This is an emotional time in Rochester neighborhoods. The school district, facing a continual drop in enrollment and a tight budget, is going to close several elementary schools. They'll come from a list of 16 schools whose buildings qualify because of their enrollment, physical condition, and some other criteria.
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There are phrases you almost can't use because their meanings are so particular to the receiver. "God" is like that, or "Scott Norwood." A food writer has to be careful saying "Mexican cuisine." To some, it engenders visions of giant, flour tortillas stuffed full of rice and other fillings. For those who've traveled in Mexico,
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An inscription in Mike Filippello's children's book, Miratambo Moonsong, reads, "This is just the beginning..." It's not a general statement; Filippello is a committed man. He published the 39-page Moonsong, the first in a trilogy set on the imaginary planet Twinkle Winkle,
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Super Bowl XXXIX featured no fake mooning incidents, no Desperate Housewives and, most important, no wardrobe malfunctions. I didn't see a single gratuitous cheerleader shot. Come to think of it, I barely saw any women, which has prompted me to demand the FCC launch a full-scale investigation into whether the Fox telecast was directed by
