Interviews afield: policing and racial bias
“Field interview form.” It sounds like something a reporter might pull from a back pocket. But an “FIF” is not blank or neutral. It’s a controversial tool of neighborhood policing. It’s also an indicator of what people on the street are up to, and what the police are doing about it. That’s why…
Lost highways
Motorists have reason to celebrate — at least in the short term. As part of County Executive Jack Doyle’s proposed 2003 budget cuts, the county will no longer pay towns to resurface, sweep, and otherwise maintain county roads. If approved by the Legislature this fall, the move would save the county almost $1.5 million next…
Comic chameleons
One of the most eye-opening, hilarious shows you’re likely to see for some time is playing at Shipping Dock Theatre through the end of this month (and ought to be extended past then). In The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives, Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy created a series of connected sketches exploring feminist…
All this and a sponge
Mary Lynn Vickers, The Phantom Chef, thinks personal chefs are a natural step from popular services such as personal trainers. Personal chefs seem to me to fit more with trends around saving time. Many folks hire cleaning services, and supermarkets are focusing more and more on prepared foods. It’s the convenience that appeals to…
The new crack
Of all the new releases I’m fired up over, there’s none more exciting than Peter Pan’s new Honey Roast Peanut Butter. This could be the new crack. If the church replaced communion wafers with this goo, maybe I’d go back. Buy this for a date as opposed to the obligatory Alabama slammer. Deee-licious. Usually…
Still Eastwood, after all these years
At the age of 72, when most of his peers no doubt contemplate the sunset of their lives and professions, Clint Eastwood obviously retains both his creative intelligence and, perhaps more surprisingly, his on-screen appeal. One of America’s most accomplished contemporary filmmakers, he has produced, written, directed, and starred in scores of motion pictures,…
Eating, drinking, and peaking too early
When I was in grammar school, there was this one kid (we’ll call him Butch) who was light years ahead of everyone else physically. I even remember our phys ed teacher shaking his head over Butch’s amazing abilities, which were on display no matter what goofy sport we were being forced to participate in. Needless…
Go learn your lesson
If America is the Invisible University, Rochester is surely one of the institution’s biggest colleges. Look hard enough and you can probably find a course in nearly any imaginable subject, night or day. Expand your definition of “informal education,” and the learning opportunities in this town are limitless. To find a course to suit…
Coursus interruptus
In a world where everyone is an expert at something, my lack of expertise in any one area is a problem. I’m surrounded by professionals: doctors, educators, curators, software gurus. In lieu of grad school, which seems really hard and expensive, continuing education is my only hope. When the two-color continuing-ed brochures arrive in…
Still pithy after all these years
September 11, anthrax, shoe bombs, dirty bombs — are we depressed yet? Sometimes the only defense against gloom and doom is finding the dark humor where you can. One night, while losing sleep, I tried thinking about what would make the perfect line-up of songs on a compilation album for the apocalypse. There would…
Can Rochester handle success?
The buzz had hardly died down from June’s Rochester International Jazz Festival, but festival promoter John Nugent was back in town last week attempting to garner support from business and government leaders for next year’s festival. Over the next few weeks we’ll find out if Rochester’s got what it takes to build a new…
News briefs 8.14.02
Happiness was a warm gun The arms race is not a modern phenomenon. Long before the Cold War, cave dwellers stockpiled rocks to use as weapons. And for one brief moment between the rocks and the missiles, Rochester made a contribution to the history of weaponry. In 1861, a dentist named Josephus Requa invented…
Reader feedback 8.14.02
We didn’t want this, Clearly shocked, Building downtown, Weird’s humor, God and the pledge, Confessions of a thriftaholic…
