Nancy Ruhling's Astoria Characters

What do a statue of Ganesha, an electric-red Kramer guitar, a 20-year-old ZZ plant, ticket stubs from Bad Brains and OFF! concerts, a Malta stamp and a black Trek road bike have in common? I’m guessing you’ll never guess. OK, here’s the answer: Mike Dijan. I told you you’d never guess. Mike, obviously, is interested in a lot of different things. Besides the aforementioned, he’s into carpentry, yoga, long-distance running, veganism, triathlons and nutrition. And probably a couple…

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Sitting in her bright white-walled design studio, Sarah Merenda flips through her book of wallpaper samples. The owner of Merenda Wallpaper, she’s not looking for any particular pattern, which is a good thing because her designs are diverse and if you don’t know Sarah, you might mistakenly think they are random. She stops when she gets to , a vibrant floral. She named it after her grandmother and is particularly pleased with the purple colorway. A little later, she pulls out , whose smiling…

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When Kazuki Kozuru-Salifoska opens the blinds to bring in the morning sun, her daughter, Kharin, protests. Kharin is wearing a new T-shirt that glows in the dark and wants to see it – not the sun – shine. She’s 8, and she forgets all about making a sartorial statement when her father, Seido Kozuru-Salifoski, distracts her with the drumbeat of the darbuka. Before long, Kharin’s sneaking up, making bunny ears behind his head. She thinks he’s lost in his music; he knows what she’s…

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It’s been a month since Joshua Morgan has set eyes on Barnaby. That’s why the maroon fan-tailed Betta is swimming in circles in a tiny round plastic container on the dining room table. Joshua just got home last night and fetched him from a friend’s house, so he hasn’t had time to transfer him to his big glass bowl, and for this he is feeling guilty. While Barnaby the Betta was being boarded, Joshua was reigning as King Herod in the North Carolina Theatre’s production of . It’s hard…

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White canvas ball bag in hand, Danny Berrios heads toward the bocce court in Astoria Park. It’s along the waterfront next to the children’s playground. Even if you’re a regular park-goer, you might not know of its existence. The long, narrow rectangular space, encased in a low, white wall, has not had a brightly colored ball roll on its surface in years. Danny thinks that’s a shame. When Danny, a friendly fellow with short-cropped pepper and salt hair, sought it out in June 2016, it was…

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