Category: Feature Stories
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It’s around lunchtime at Ocean State Job Lot in Bloomfield and Bill Haley & His Comets are rockin’ around the Christmas tree as holiday shoppers push their carts up and down the aisles. Most of them appear grimly determined to accomplish whatever it is they’ve come for. But a few others seem to be in…
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As chilly November days give way to snowy ones, it signals the start of ski season. For a lot of folks, that means rummaging through closets and basements to break out gear that hasn’t seen the light of day in months, sometimes years. If you’re one of them and you’ve owned your equipment since VHS…
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Like riding a bike, skiing just seems to be one of those things you either learn as a kid or you never learn at all. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Plenty of people successfully learn to ski later in life, including Ginny Ludwig, who picked up the sport for the first time…
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In August of 2014, Roy Cross gave his wife a kiss goodbye before leaving for a motorcycle ride with a friend. Several hours later she got a call that there had been an accident. “I was just expecting maybe a broken arm,” said Susan Berck-Cross of Niantic, “or maybe he just needed a new pair…
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Like snowflakes, no two people are alike and that’s no more apparent than in our shopping habits. For some shopping is a chore and for others it’s therapeutic. There are frugal shoppers, extreme shoppers and just about every other kind in between. From sale seekers to surgical strikers, we’ve compiled the most common shopping personalities…
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For more than two decades, Beth and Fred Knapp spent the majority of their time raising their two sons, Andy and Ryan, in Hebron. They drove the boys to endless activities, volunteered at school, coached them in sports and did all the other things that typically go along with being involved parents. “The last 21…
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There’s something special about fall in New England. As hot summer days give way to crisp, cooler ones, the smell of dried leaves fills the air and sleepy towns are transformed into picture postcards as pumpkins and mums appear in doorways and the faint sounds of local fairs can be heard in the breeze. But…
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Though it still feels like summer, shorts and swimsuits are already disappearing from store shelves and being replaced with jeans, sweaters and everything Back to School. And while it isn’t time to swap out your beach towel for a pencil bag just yet, it’s never too early for a little tutoring on what’s going to…
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It’s a Wednesday night in Hartford and roughly 20 women are gathered in the back room at Dish Bar & Grill. Holding glasses of wine, they mingle with one another while helping themselves to an appetizing buffet spread. Ranging in age from twentysomethings to women in their early 40s, they’re laughing, chatting, and if you…
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“I can’t deny the fact that you like me … right now, you like me,” said an earnest Sally Field after accepting her best actress Oscar in 1985. Thirty years later, Field has yet to live down the speech, which has been both criticized and parodied for its awkward appeal for peer recognition. But in…
Sarah Lemire 