Dispatches from Canada
I missed parts one and two of Peter Hinton’s The Swanne and just now caught the finale of this ambitious new Canadian trilogy, The Swanne: Queen Victoria (The Seduction of Nemesis). The title may suggest some of its problems. The play is a too-elaborate historical fantasy in which the young Queen Victoria writes a work…
Calendar Girl
Astral Travel Workshop, Saturday, August 21 Pastor Robin Higgins of Plymouth Spiritualist Church explains bilocation: “Your spirit can travel when you sleep. It goes where your soul has to go in order to be with whoever needs you. You look different to [the person you’re visiting], but you can be in two places at once.”…
At the market with… the Max chefs
When Max owner and chef Tony Gullace met me and his other chefs, Dan Eaton and Mark Cupolo, he’d already been at the Public Market an hour. Tony agreed to 7 a.m., but a creature of habit, he’d been up and about well before 6. He’s loved the market for years, but it’s all business…
Where is the love?
During a training camp session on a sauna-like day, running back Travis Henry spots a photographer shooting pictures of him from about 40 feet away. He smiles, points, then flashes the thumbs-up sign. The 25-year-old is cheerful and relaxed, exhibiting little concern that former University of Miami superstar Willis McGahee is starting for him while…
Serial killer of serial killers
The important connection between the detective and his quarry, a staple of the mystery story since Poe, undergoes a peculiar metamorphosis in our time. Based on the evidence of both history and headlines, the serial killer is the culprit of choice these days, supplanting such quaint figures of the past as the safecracker, the jewel…
The devil is on his way
The devil just ain’t evil anymore. In fact, evil ain’t what it used to be. Satan has been co-opted by Disney and being bad has just been plain played out. As soon as artists figured bad was a good career move, good music by bad people became a thing of the past… until now. Texan…
Reader feedback 9.1.04
The truth of George Bush, more casino protests
The XX files
Shit, I have to stop swearing. I’ve been trying to quit since I had my first child a decade ago. But it’s so hard. Even before George Carlin got in trouble for his shtick about the seven words you can’t say on the air, I started swearing. When I first heard curses on the bus…
Hurtling to November
“Are you worried?” a friend asked the other day. You bet I am. We’re nine weeks away from the presidential election, and Kerry and Bush are still in a virtual tie in the polls. Bush continues to swat away the bad news as if it’s no more concern than a mosquito. And Kerry can’t seem…
Body count
To honor the war dead and fill an information gap in US mass media, City Newspaper will run weekly lists of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed during the occupation of Iraq. The totals: 978 American soldiers, 131 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 11,717 to 13,724 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning…
No such thing as a free ride
People For A Better Bus System and the RGRTA have different definitions of “citizen input.” “I think their idea of citizen input is like, ‘OK, we’ll help you pick out the flower boxes when this thing’s all done,'” says PFABBS member Luke Lorenzo. PFABBS started in November 2003, when a group of concerned citizens met…
Family valued 9.1.04
Job Information Center My parents were champions of the “unfortunate,” which meant that my 11 siblings and I were also involved. Fundraisers, suppers, bake sales, Christmas morning package deliveries. You name it. Our little army was out in force to serve the many people in our small Southern Tier community who suddenly found themselves without…
Donkey clash
It’s the battle that almost wasn’t. After failing to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for a school-board seat last year (he finished fifth in a race for four seats), Domingo Garcia intended to shelve his political ambitions for good. There’s little doubt now that some in his party wish he’d stuck to that plan. This…
Domingo Garcia
For Domingo Garcia, his presence in the upcoming Democratic primary for school board is something of a surprise. At 64, he’s become an elder statesman for Rochester’s Hispanic community and boasts an impeccable activist resume — involvement with organizations like the Ibero American Action League (which he helped found), the National Puerto Rican Coalition, and…
Cynthia Elliott
Cynthia Elliott’s fed up. And she’s not the only one, she says. A look at the Rochester City School district’s graduation rates frustrates most parents and community leaders, she says. For Elliott, it was enough to get her into the race for a seat on the school board. “I’m disappointed in the graduation rate of…
