Author: ruhlwrite

First things first. The chickens need to be fed. Rob McGrath heads past his crops to the chain-link coop he just built in his back yard. When he scatters the feed on the ground, the six clucking hens — four Red Stars, two Leghorns — huddle around him like football players. “I just love being with the chickens,” he says, gathering one of the Red Stars in his arms and cradling it like a newborn. “I can watch them for hours.” Rob’s new at this farming stuff,…

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There are lots of empty seats on the N train, but Coach Lloyd doesn’t take one. Instead, he walks down the center of the car. In a big, round voice that bounces around like a basketball looking to hook a hoop, he peddles the down-pat pitch that has been his subway-series mantra for nearly three decades: “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’m all about coaching basketball and keeping kids out of trouble. I’m not sponsored, and I thank God for people who help me out. I…

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Raffie Gordon slides on his shades, the ones that make him look cooler than a Fourth of July Popsicle. It’s a short walk from his shop, Belief, to Astoria Park. But it’s torture for him. He’d rather be riding the skateboard he has tucked under his arm. Skateboarding has been Raffie’s main mode of transportation since he was 11. That’s when he hopped on his first board. “I haven’t gotten off since,” the soon-to-be 26-year-old says. Raffie is a co-owner…

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It’s a sunny Saturday, and David Jakubovic is itching to get out bright and early. He’s going to shoot a fashion film, and he wants to scout a bunch of locations in the neighborhood. He’s all pumped up because his first feature film, , took top honors at the European Independent Film Festival and won two awards at Italy’s Tolentino International Film Festival. Relaxing in his living room is torture; the freelance film editor is a “complete and utter workaholic,”…

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When the door is open, the music of the bouzouki drifts out into 29th Street like a dream. That’s how you know when Nikos and Tasoula Zigouris are between customers. At their barbershop, Nikos & Tasoula Hair Style for Men & Women, haircuts start at $10, and a shave and a snip sometimes come with a song. Nikos, you see, is a magician of a musician, and he can’t keep his fingers idle when he’s sans scissors. So he takes his bouzouki or his baglama or his violin or his guitar…

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