Poets are known for their skillful economy of words, so it’s not surprising
that Olena Jennings culls hers
carefully even in casual conversation.
Olena is the founder of Poets of Queens.
She is forthcoming about the basic facts of her life, but there’s a sense that there’s far more meaning behind her words than she conveys.
Olena, a tall woman with big, beautiful blue eyes, is sitting on a large,
overstuffed sofa in her living room.
There’s a significantly sized flat-screen…
Kristin Westbrook is sipping a cup of coffee and smiling, letting the morning light run its warm fingers through her long, blond hair.
Kristin is the founder of Calm City.
Pinky, her pit bull, has just returned from a romp in Astoria Park and, exhausted, is lounging in a pillow-piled bed by her side.
All is calm and peaceful, as if Kristin and Pinky have not a care in the
world.
Kristin’s career is in graphic design.
Kristin, who is being treated for metastatic breast cancer,…
Porky McDonald has told the story of the disposing of Roy Riegel’s ashes dozens of times.
Porky is a lifelong baseball fan.
They were die-hard Mets fans, you see, and when Roy died – on, of all days,
the season opener on April 8, 2008 – Porky wanted to do something special to
honor their friendship, which had commenced when they were boys going to battle
with ball and bat.
“His death hit me hard,” he says.
So, he added, did the fact that the Mets lost to the Phillies that…
Greg Kritikos is pedaling his bicycle on 30th Avenue near 42nd Street.
This is the place he grew up in, and everything – the
good and the bad, the things he can’t forget and the things he doesn’t want to
remember – happened to him in this neighborhood, which he’s called home for
most of the past half century.
Greg behind the wheel.
Greg, a producer, stand-up comic and actor who has
been compared to Jackie Gleason, is a larger-than-life lovable tough guy with
slicked-back black…
The bright blue school bus lumbers down Ditmars
Boulevard like an old elephant, treading slow and steady.
Annalisa is the founder of The Blue Bus Project.
When it reaches Astoria Park, it eases itself into an
ample parking place by the water.
The doors open, and the unconventional driver of this
unconventional vehicle steps into the sunlight, smiling.
Annalisa Iadicicco is an artist, and the bus is what she calls her “living and breathing mobile art gallery.”
The blue bus is…