The High-Style Hairdresser

Tomohiro Arakawa has his hands full. He’s juggling a bulky backpack and a spindly scooter as he orders his breakfast at Lot’s O Bagels on Broadway. The Saturday subways are screwed up. He’s on his way to work in Manhattan and doesn’t want to be late. Scooter aside, Tomohiro stands out in a crowd. He’s tall – 6 foot, plus a couple more inches when he’s standing on the Swagtron – and trim, and he’s dressed in 50 shades of black, which add super-chicness to his stature. Tomohiro…

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The Photojournalist

“I call this my black limousine,” says Odette Lupis as she drives her Easy Wheels shopping cart onto the sidewalk. She’s silver-haired and 77, and it’s burdensome and bulky. In the bouncy, bumpy march down the narrow stairs from her third-floor walkup, it has the advantage. Odette, a photojournalist who began shooting when the field didn’t welcome women, made a career of hauling equipment around. Typically, she carried three heavy cameras with her on assignment. She wore two around…

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The Star of The Lion King

Jelani Remy was 7 when it happened. He went to see the movie . He was so captivated by the songs and the spectacle that he couldn’t take his little-boy eyes off the big screen. As soon as he got his birthday money, he bought the cassette-tape soundtrack. “I went through one character at a time and sang each part, over and over,” he says. “I connected with the story, which pulls at the heartstrings. I kept this up for a long time, possibly for years, but I don’t want to admit how long.” Jelani,…

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The Single Mom Who Started Over

To say that Genevieve Rudolph was shocked is an understatement. A year and a half ago, when her son, Auggie, was 6 months old, Genevieve and her wife went to Blue Fin in Times Square for a long-overdue date night. By the time the dinner ended, so had her marriage. “She told me she wanted a divorce,” Genevieve says, watching as Auggie rolls out a yoga mat on the living room floor. “She moved out the next morning.” What do you do when your world falls apart? Genevieve didn’t have…

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