>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made today with crocuses pushing through the ground, still dusted by snow.

And now maybe a time to reflect on what it takes to grow.

This month's edition of City Magazine is all about growth in its various forms, not just the physical sense from growing a cultural and social scene to personal growth, to, yes, the physical blooming of plants were joined by the city team to explore all of it.

And let me welcome our guests in studio.

We've got a packed house with Leah Stacy, editor in chief of City magazine.

Hello, hello.

Hi.

Uh, hello.

Next to her Patrick Hosken arts reporter for city.

Hello, hello.

Across the table.

Roberto Lagares, multimedia reporter for city.

Hello, Ola.

And this beautiful cover, of course, is Jake Walsh, baby.

Nice to see you.

>> Oh, thanks.

Evan.

Hi.

>> We're going to talk about all of this and more.

I love the fact that Leah Stacy takes us back to Dead Poets Society and her her.

Editor's note because I like this quote here.

I didn't remember this here.

Robin Williams character preaches, as you say, the gospel of poetry and Dead Poets Society says, we don't read and write poetry because it's cute.

We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion and medicine, law, business, engineering.

These are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.

But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

That's good stuff.

And then you mentioned Mary Oliver.

Why?

>> Well, she's one of my favorite poets, but I was thinking a lot about the concept of joy.

And I think she has a some wonderful things to say about that topic.

And just when I was writing this, which was, I guess a couple weeks ago, at this point, it was like after a particularly heavy news day every day.

And, um, I was just like, how can I keep this, you know, a little bit lighter, a little bit hopeful, like go along that path of growth and like, you know, lead with the positive.

And, um, Pat wrote this really great story that he'll talk about around the poet Lucille Clifton, but, um, poetry is a very important part of my life and the art that I intake.

And so I wanted to talk about those things.

And I mentioned to my friend of my friend Devin Kelly, who is an excellent poet and has some ties to Rochester and get his newsletter every week.

And it was just, it just felt like the right way to start this issue.

>> It made me think of the poetry that I can remember from my childhood memorized for various reasons.

Ogden Nash's Zoo.

I can do most of.

I can tell you that the cow is of the bovine ilk.

One end is Moo, the other milk.

Thanks to Ogden Nash, I can tell you that God, in his wisdom, created the fly and then forgot to tell us why.

And I can still do the road Not Taken.

Although Robert Frost's poem gets quoted by so many people and it's misunderstood, that's.

>> Like, oh, it's wildly out of context.

>> It's like the born in the USA of poetry.

It's like people like people don't understand, like, no, that's not what he meant.

>> And many do say that Robert Frost is the Bruce Springsteen.

>> I heard that you've heard that too.

Yeah, I've heard that, yeah.

>> People love going to Robert Frost concerts.

Still.

>> Um.

>> No, I, I really appreciated this note here.

And Growth of course, means a lot of different things here that we're going to be talking about.

If you look at the cover here, Jake was telling me before the program began that you can tell us a little bit about how this beautiful.

If you're watching on YouTube, you can see the cover.

If you're out and about Jake and you're going to pick up city.

Jake, what are people going to find on the cover this month?

>> On the cover this month?

Thank you.

Evan, you're going to see a linocut print that I was given the runway to do.

I had a couple days to work on it, and there was a lot of, um, trial and error involved, but, um, long story very, very short.

I've wanted to do this for a long time.

Uh, Lino cutting is a process where you take a block, wooden block, um, covered in linoleum.

I'm trying to find my camera.

It's there ish.

For those of you watching.

And you carve your design into it with a wood knife, you roll ink onto it.

So you kind of, you know, put the ink on, roll it, and then you're basically making a stamp.

Um, and I want to say I did like 75 prints of this thing.

And look at that.

I picked the best.

So cool, by the way, comes out backwards.

Then you put it in the computer, you flip it, and then, uh, you know, I did the same thing with the, uh, with the title, you know, Growth.

This was hard to do.

Um, lots of detail work.

And then the city logo as well.

So everything on here was linocut and it's something that I haven't done for like ten years.

It was like an old hobby of mine.

And I studied printmaking in college.

I barely get to do that, except for the part where I work for a print magazine.

Um, and yeah, this was just really fun.

It was something that it feels very organic.

It feels like an organic, um, topic.

Um, and I'm really happy with it.

I've heard some nice things about it.

And if I could do this for every cover, I would.

>> It looks like an arduous process.

Absolutely worth it.

>> I love arduous processes.

You get lost in them.

>> I also have a passion for linocut, except for what my passion is asking AI to do approximations of.

Oh yeah, it's amazing.

>> You're the future.

Evan.

>> Yeah.

>> Look, I can I can joke, Jake, but like you did the hard way here.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> And I appreciate anyone in the modern age who's doing it the hard way.

It looks really good.

>> Well thank you.

I had a lot of fun doing it and being able to work with my hands in a in an increasingly technological, uh, creative environment is, is great.

And it was, it's honestly, it's, it's fun to get away from the computer and, and, and, you know, just do, do something as a human felt good.

>> Like going up to the fifth floor where the city offices like, and seeing Jake over the course of a few days, just kind of having his tools spread out and then seeing the prints and seeing all the different things.

And then kind of like the, the roads, you, the roads you take, the roads you took and then the roads you got back on because you ones that you didn't take and then you switched to was very cool to see.

Thank you.

>> Very, thank you.

I, I had a, I freehanded one that looked so, so, so bad, uh, because I don't know how to draw.

I so I found a stencil.

>> Does not know how to draw.

>> He sure doesn't.

>> It's very, very true.

>> Um, so we gotta go quick.

We got a packed hour here with city magazine and I want to turn.

This is so timely for me.

Roberto got to go out to Norbert Farms is what it's called.

Where is Norbert Farms, by the way?

Berto?

>> Uh, Parma.

>> In Parma.

And, um, this is, uh, I love the title flocking to the sun.

It's a story of kind of mixing solar and farming and agrivoltaics is a term.

Well, not long ago, we were talking to Kevin Schulte from Green Spark Solar, and he talked about the fact that, you know, there are politicians right now saying we should we should not be having farmland become solar and people don't want it.

And Kevin makes this really, this really important point.

He said, nobody who is a farmer who's profiting off this are the people who are complaining.

It's it's the people who think this is bad.

But like, if you're criticizing this, you're not criticizing politicians, you're criticizing farms that are trying to survive.

But then he points out some of these are are doing multi-use.

So they've got a solar installation and they may have crops underneath.

They may have a ten foot high solar canopy for animals to walk underneath.

And I'm going, we got to get out there.

And then you went out there, which is so cool.

Yeah.

So tell us what you found here and maybe we can share some of these pictures here.

What did you find?

>> So it all starts with sheep and it's all about solar grazing.

So it all.

Uh, when, when you have these big solar panels, you have.

And this is all knowledge I've absorbed from a lot of research.

And also you can just spend like 20 minutes with Michael Moore from Norbit farms.

And he will, he'll just flood you with just so much knowledge and you'll, you'll leave feeling a lot smarter than you probably are.

At least that's how I felt.

And yeah, so he's from Kentucky.

He, um, essentially pioneered this, uh, process there and then brought his knowledge up here, um, with the solar farms, as you can imagine, getting between the solar panels is rather difficult.

Well, sheep are really good at taking care of that.

Um, and that's kind of like the groundwork, no pun intended.

And then you expand out from that and, uh, you can, you're essentially creating, uh, a cycle, a regenerative cycle where you're actually making the soil better than it was when it was on there.

Um, because often if a land is used for monocropping by now, the soil has kind of run its course and it's, you know, you yield really like poor crop.

Um, so putting the solar panels there usually is actually, uh, it's a useful tool.

And they know they, they do mentioned, um, that they're fortunate to be kind of like a, an entirely in-house system.

By that, I mean, uh, Norbit is, uh, the farm is also owned by Norbit solar, where in some cases that's the solar is leased to the farmer.

Um, but the model is still there.

Um, you know, any farmer at any scale could essentially adopt this model.

Um, and yeah, they have, uh, greenhouses there with the big one that will catch a lot of people's eye is the tropical greenhouse, which you'll see in the photo essay.

Um, we're talking agave plants and pineapple.

Uh, we're talking fresh peppercorn next to bananas and Greek olives and yuzu trees.

It's wild.

It's like walking into like Willy Wonka's factory.

So, um, it's so it's incredible.

And they are kind of, they want to bring some community aspect to it and, you know, host like greenhouse yoga and all that good stuff.

So it's, it's pretty impressive.

And now they're expanding with more livestock, like cattle and um, chickens and hogs.

It's great.

>> And I suspect you're going to start to see more of this, um, as a, you know, as the, as an industry grows here and there's probably a lot of interest, I'm sure they're answering a lot of questions from possible colleagues in this too.

I would not be surprised.

>> Oh, absolutely.

And that's their whole tagline is Farm of tomorrow.

And at first, you know, when I first heard it, I was like, oh, that's catchy.

And and as you learn more, you're like this.

This is the farm of tomorrow.

Like that's they nailed it.

That's a great name.

Um, because it is so versatile and so local.

Um, I mean, they're partnering with some local restaurants and providing, you know, exotic, you know, unique, uh, ingredients, um, and also able to, because they're smaller scale, at least right now, they're able to tailor some of that.

So, you know, maybe they want to pickle some, uh, peppercorn at, uh, Lucky's.

They can do that.

Um, and they want them, you know, picked prematurely.

Um, so there's like a lot of different, uh, aspects to it.

And I mean, I was very impressed that this, this really just scratches the surface.

This photo essay, there's so much more to it.

There's so many different avenues you can go down.

Um, but I tried to kind of give a breadth of like, what is going on in this farm and they really are.

I mean, they're putting farm into solar farm for real.

>> Yeah, it's really good.

It's, it's a really smart piece.

Um, because too often we have this idea that it's one or the other.

You can either see a solar array on a piece of land or you see a farm.

Yep.

And now you're starting to see where the future may go.

One other question for you, by the way, Berta, and there's a by the way, you got a lot of your photos.

This looks awesome.

I mean, like, I was glad to see.

It gave you some space here, I.

>> Like it.

Yeah.

>> They gave you some space.

Um, I my own bias is that I think the arrays when I'm driving through the countryside, I see solar arrays.

I think they look cool.

I like them esthetically.

I understand some people don't.

Where are you on that?

I think they look great.

>> I don't think they're as much of an eyesore as some people make it out to be.

I get it.

Maybe if you're like, you know, you grew up in the area and you don't like seeing it.

Sure.

>> Yeah.

>> I guess if it wasn't on the land when you're growing up and you're of.

>> The land.

Yeah, sure.

>> But I, I don't think they're as much of an eyesore.

And I actually think it's the, you know, covering it with trees on the edges.

I mean, that's just like, I don't know, it's a poor effort.

I will say, uh, I actually asked them about this, uh, because as you're driving up to Norbit, you'll see solar farms, uh, pulling up, which actually they are starting to partner with and graze for them as well.

And I asked them, I said, so is that all you guys?

And they're like, no, no, no, we try to be as deep into the property as possible because that is a, that is a sore subject for some people.

Um, so they try to make it so they're as low key as they possibly can.

Um, but ultimately the thing that people don't realize is they're like, oh, why don't you put solar panels in the middle of nowhere where no one cares?

Well, the big, uh, answer to that, that Michael brought to my attention was you need transportation, which is you need access to those power lines.

So if you put it somewhere remote where there is no power lines and there's no place to bring that power, now you are kind of essentially canceling out any good you do with these solar panels, because there's no transportation for them.

So the cost to bring that stuff in is, you know, cancels it all out.

>> So it's.

>> Great work.

I'm really glad it was super timely just in my world, given that we just talked about this.

And the idea to me is very new, really, really good stuff.

Um, thanks, Berto.

So that's just an example of what's in city magazine and their Growth issue.

Um, later we're going to talk to some of our guests in studio here, uh, the city team talking about the pieces they wrote, but I've got Tom and Sam on the phone and we're going to bring in the team from Flora.

John Heath has a piece in this issue called Flora Grows the Scene.

And before I bring in Tom and Sam, what's the scene?

>> Leah Stacy oh, I think we're talking about nightlife there and specifically the LGBTQ nightlife.

>> Which has.

>> Seen some change recently in Rochester.

>> Some major changes.

Bachelor forum is undergoing a rebrand.

We'll see what happens there.

Um, but I don't think anyone can speak to this better than Tom and Sam can.

>> Well, Tom DeBlase is, uh, owner of Flora and Sam Genovese is the operations manager, and they're both with us.

Hello, Tom.

Hello, Sam.

>> Hi.

How's it going?

>> Uh, going great.

Thanks for taking the time, guys.

So, by the way, tell people where Flora is.

>> Flora is over at 190 Monroe Avenue in the Wadsworth Square neighborhood.

>> And, uh, reading John's piece.

First of all, before we kind of dig into your, your background and the goals here, simply, simply put, he writes, Flora is a new queer gathering space opened in December.

How's it going?

And, um, do you feel like the community is embracing what you want to do here?

>> Um, it's going really well.

We actually opened up in mid-November, but kind of quietly.

Um, but yeah, we've been very well embraced and supported by the community.

It's been very nice.

>> Okay.

And so this is a space where obviously people are going to be able to connect.

There's, um, he writes about the, the mix of energy and all the things that are kind of happening there.

People call it the gay cheers.

I mean, do you have a norm to somebody walk in, do they yell Norm?

I mean, like, is that what's happening there?

>> No, we haven't established a norm yet.

But everybody knows you're gay.

>> So it's close this.

>> Year.

>> Right?

Um, but yeah, it's.

>> A really, really beautiful space.

It's nice to see how people react to it.

Um, I think it's well curated and a good balance of, um, you know, it's an old car dealership.

So we've kind of embraced the infrastructure that's there, but also elevated it with sort of, uh, a fancier, uh, William Morris style wallpaper and tufted leather sofas.

So it's an interesting kind of shabby chic, uh, feel in there.

>> Can you both talk a little bit about what you think the scene really is right now, especially, I mean, Liam mentioned a little bit about, um, the forum and, you know, Avenue pub.

There's been a lot of talk about that recently.

How do you think you fit in and what do you think you mean to this particular scene at this moment?

>> Um, I think there's a need for a specifically queer space.

Um, I think gay bars in the past have traditionally been kind of overrun with, um, a primarily male presence.

And I think what the needs are right now of the community are a queer space that everybody under the umbrella of queerness feels welcome.

Um, so I see this as it is a bar, but also a gathering space.

Um, like the article mentions, when we open up in the afternoon evening, it's a lot slower and you'll see folks, um, you know, come in with books or sketchpads and just kind of use it as a kind of creative or relaxed, um, relaxed space that tends to the energy sort of amps up, um, as the, as the evenings get going, as it turns into more of a dance space.

>> Sam.

You want to add to that >>?

>> Yeah, I think it's just been, um, very quickly well embraced by the community.

Um, even though Rochester is a smaller city, our queer community is vibrant and there's a lot of people, um, that are newer on the scene and like the last ten years who want to do things and they're looking for a place to, you know, start their own projects and, um, work with other people in the community to be artistic and bring people together.

And so, um, you know, we have people coming to us to host science nights and we have people coming to us to DJ and, um.

Socials and yeah, so it's already been a platform for all these different opportunities that we haven't seen as much of in our history.

>> Yeah.

You told John, um, you guys told John that people come in bringing books or notebooks.

You got a bar that people can bring books to.

How cool is that?

I mean, they should, we should be able to there should be a movement to bring books back to bars or just to read more books in general.

I would support that movement, but I love that idea.

I love that idea.

Guys, you're seeing people feel that relaxed, that this is a place for them to sort of hang and do that.

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> There's also an intention of not having any televisions in the bar.

>> Oh.

>> So that people will socialize.

We do have a projector and we will screen things.

If people like to gather around like RuPaul's Drag Race, uh, and, but for the most part, um, I think people are really embracing, you know, we'll say the analog things of talking to each other and reading a book, uh, or just sketching with a drink.

It's really nice.

>> So producer Megan Mack fact check me if I'm wrong about this, but I love the idea that people not only might bring a book to a bar, but people are going to come back to bars in bigger numbers just because I think we need.

We talked about it a lot, especially with the city team.

Third spaces are really good for society.

They're good for people, they're good for communities.

And I the fact check part is, I think I read recently that malls are doing a little better than they were five years ago because of like Gen Z. I think Gen Z is like, wait, we're online too much.

I think we want to get back to just sort of hanging out.

That could be just me projecting and being hopeful.

No, USA today says so.

Is that right?

All right.

There you go.

So Gen Z, more than any generation recently, is going back to malls.

And I think that that is a, a pretty helpful thing.

So, um, again, I'm not here to hawk for the malls or for any one part of society.

I just think it's interesting because six years ago when we were not, quote, unquote, allowed to be together in person, we got used to some habits that kept us away from each other.

And you guys are pretty confident that there is not only a market for what you do, but you, you told John that you think the LGBTQ community could see more bars, that you could that there's an underserved population locally.

You still feel that way?

>> Yeah, definitely.

>> I mean, from a social situation, I think we need the more spaces we need for the more spaces we have for queer persons, the better.

Um, Rochester has a very large queer community.

So the closing of the Avenue pub and the forum was really upsetting.

And, um, and not, uh, I just think our community is underserved.

So the more spaces we can have that are, um, specifically for us definitely helps and helps.

Um, just bringing people together and making our community stronger.

>> Bob writes in to say Flora also has a lot of killer DJ's on the weekends, so killer.

DJs on the weekends.

>> Yes it does.

Yeah.

We have a lot of really creative folks and, you know, electronic music, dance music is rooted in queerness and marginalized communities.

So to be able to showcase that, um, really means a lot and to give folks, especially these younger folks a platform, um, to showcase their talents and what they're interested in.

And, um, use that as a way to bring people together and have, uh, create queer joy.

It really, it's quite an honor to be in that position.

>> All right, guys, before we let you go, what's the future look like for you there?

I mean, obviously you're opening with the intention of staying and being around a long time.

What does growth look like for you guys?

>> Um, well, if you look at our calendar, it's booking up, uh, pretty nicely.

The summer looks pretty exciting.

And, um, I think for me leaving, um, leaving a lasting impression on Rochesterians and just like I just mentioned, you know, creating joy and queer joy is really important at this time where, um, certain communities, I think feel particularly marginalized and compromised.

So, uh, just, just really, you know, sticking to that and making us stronger and better for it.

>> Congratulations to both of you.

Oh, no.

Go.

Go ahead.

Sam, take us home.

>> I was just going to say more, more joy and more queer joy.

And, uh, it's been really nice to see the trajectory so far.

So really looking forward to warmer weather.

Opening that old garage door.

Uh, and just seeing lots of new faces coming in.

>> The peace in city magazine is called Flora grows the scene.

John Heath wrote that piece.

Sam Genovese Tom DeBlase from Flora.

We'll see you out there, guys.

Congratulations on all this and we'll see you soon.

Thanks.

>> Thank you, thank you.

>> It's a cool story, and I think emblematic of what city wanted to do with the Growth issue.

Um, but you know, overall, when they're talking about the scene Leah Stacy, it is a time of growth in one way, but also contraction or change.

And, you know, so an interesting time on the LGBTQ nightclub scene, but timely to see Flora come in right here.

>> Yeah, I think it's great.

And I, I hear buzz about Flora all the time.

I still haven't gotten there.

The last time I was about to go, I was so tired.

I got a rally.

>> Why would you be tired?

>> I don't.

>> Know, you.

>> Got nothing.

No.

>> No right to be tired.

>> Um, let's do this here.

I'm gonna.

We're talking to the team from city, and the April issue is theme is Growth, and they're in studio with us here talking about a number of different things here.

Let's talk a little bit about what Patrick and Leah wrote in this piece here.

Patrick's piece is called The Door to Tomorrow.

It's on Lucille Clifton.

Who's Lucille Clifton?

>> Lucille Clifton is really one of the major poets, American poets of the 20th century, who had a very, um, up until her death in 2010, had a very, very fruitful and important relationship with her work coming out with Boa editions of poetry publisher based here in Rochester.

She was from Buffalo and, um, excuse me, spent time in Buffalo as well as in Baltimore, but she really cultivated her earliest kind of poetic identity in Buffalo.

Um, and yeah, with boa going back to the late 80s, publishing a lot of her work in her collections, um, and so, you know, there's, there's definitely like a great back backlog and a great treasure trove of stuff to dig into.

Um, it's kind of exciting when you have a poet who, um, has passed, you know, many years ago and you find work that hasn't been published yet.

So that's what happened in the case of Lucille Clifton.

Um, there's a poet named Kazim Ali who sort of put together like a poetic, um, kind of guide to her work.

It's a little bit of like a history of her work.

Um, but basically in writing that book, um, and putting that together for boa, he came across all these, uh, uncollected poems.

Some of them were drafts of earlier poems that never made it into her work.

Um, and, and he put them together for this new collection, which is called At the Gate, and it features poems from, um, 1987 up until the end of her life in 2010.

And, um, yeah, there, there, you know, it sort of her style is characterized by very simple direct language.

Um, not, you know, not particularly long poems, not particularly long lines, very simple language.

Um, and kind of one of the, um, one of the things that Peter Connors, who is the publisher at Boa notes is that, uh, the entry, the barrier to entry is very low for her work.

Um, and often people mistake that for simplicity or maybe simplistic ideas, but the ideas are very big, you know, it's love and death and religion and a lot of these kind of mystic, um, works that, that sort of come in, these mystic themes that come in through the work.

Um, but it's very fascinating to read this new collection, um, and kind of get the sense of like how some of the poems were edited from when she initially wrote them, why she maybe didn't publish them or didn't, you know, take that version all the way to, to being published.

Um, and as Kazim notes in the piece, you know, it's cool to like have a new relationship with, um, an author who has passed many years ago and kind of be able to engage in a new conversation with that person through their work.

>> Yeah.

I don't know how Peter would feel about me characterizing poetry this way, but recently my older son was doing a unit on poetry and was learning how to try to suss out themes.

It's interesting to me that Peter would describe a low barrier for entry, but also that is not an indication of simplistic ideas, because poetry is sometimes viewed as having this high barrier for either entry or understanding, right?

And so it becomes like a muscle that you've got to kind of stay flexing a little bit to feel like you can access it.

I watched my 14 year old and he's he struggled with stuff that I thought would have been more straightforward, but he's never really read poetry.

And by the end of the unit, I think he was rolling a little bit more with it.

But it just it made me think.

I don't think any of us probably read enough poetry, but yeah, you have to be kind of intentional about it.

It's something you have to choose.

>> I think so, and I think also people are afraid of like getting it wrong or whatever.

>> For sure, 100%.

>> It's the same with any like you can, you can take out of the text or the film or whatever kind of art you're engaging with, whatever you find.

And like, you know, from an academic point of view, that may be wrong or that may not be the author's intent.

But I also think like, it's fun to, you know, just kind of go through and find what you find.

>> Yeah.

Unless it's the road not taken, of course, in which.

Case that's going to be a bee in my bonnet forever.

Um, so that piece is the door to tomorrow from Patrick, and I want to talk to Leah Stacy about her piece called Such Great Heights.

It's on microdosing.

Tell me about this one.

>> Leah.

>> This came from a conversation on the fifth floor where we were talking about, um, you know, historically, April has sometimes been our cannabis issue and we were like, you know, we could use.

Another 20.

Yeah, we could use another cannabis piece.

Um, and there are some who maybe imbibe more than I do is imbibe the right word with weed.

I don't know.

>> I think probably.

>> I think.

>> I think blaze.

>> It.

Blaze it.

>> I'm pretty.

>> Sure they're outing themselves.

>> I'm curious.

Blaze it up or something.

>> Something along those.

>> Lines.

>> Oh.

Anyway.

>> Okay, so there were some liquid involved in this story.

>> Yeah.

>> But I decided to microdose for 52 hours.

You know, a traditional weekend length of time.

Um, and only edibles and drinkables and replace, you know, any like sort of traditional, you know, martini or whatever else I would do when I'm socializing.

And it was interesting to varying degrees.

Um, I will say I did not do anything before a baby shower because it just felt so wrong.

Um, and it was early in the morning, but it was an interesting weekend.

Um, I have learned that my tolerance is not very high and I have also learned that it really depends on what you're doing while you're microdosed and, and from there, you're varying degrees of enjoyment.

But I wrote this timestamped piece throughout the weekend where I kind of like chronicled my experience.

And, you know, one of the ways I went into it was thinking about we, we keep talking about the loneliness epidemic and whether that's with third places or whether it's male specific or female specific or Gen Z or millennials, whatever we are seeing people go out less.

That is just true.

And that could be because every streaming service is available at home.

You don't even really have to go to the movies, right?

Like the little theater will talk about this.

And it could be because people are doing more weed and less alcohol, and you hear the bar industry talk about that.

So everybody has their sort of like take on this.

And, you know, I produce a cocktail festival.

And I was like, well, let me just see how I feel.

I don't think there were strong enough evidence from this to say like, yes, weed is responsible for the loneliness epidemic.

Does.

It makes me personally tired and want to snack a lot.

So I will say the fast food industry is getting a lot of business from me if I keep doing this.

>> But but you did right.

The different strains make you feel a little less sluggish or more sluggish.

>> Yeah, I would say like sativa is that if I'm doing that strain, that gummy, like I want to write, I want to be like creative.

That's really how it makes me feel.

The indica only strain that I did, or I think it was a hybrid with a little bit more indica.

Um, that one was like very sleep, like I'm melting into my couch kind of feeling.

Um, and again, like these were very low milligrams.

This is like five and under five at the very highest.

>> Can I just note, by the way, that at 8:21 p.m.

On a Saturday, you were at Taco Bell and at 9:40 p.m.

On a Sunday you were at McDonald's.

>> We contain multitudes.

>> You really did.

>> Yeah.

>> You really did.

You're not kidding when you say the fast food industry is being.

>> Uh, well, yeah.

>> Boosted by this.

>> Can mess up a crunchwrap right now.

>> Yeah.

>> Right now.

>> Oh.

Right now.

>> Yeah.

You know, some of us don't have to be high for that.

>> No.

>> Just do it right into the mic.

You crunch.

>> It was an interesting experiment.

You know, I love doing these pieces where I get to throw myself into something for a short amount of time.

Um, and just like try something new.

Uh, and I think that I'm the minority when it comes to edibles drinkables even smoking weed.

I, a lot of my friends do this regularly.

Um, and it's just something that for me personally, it's like for my friends who don't really drink, like it doesn't do anything much for them.

This doesn't do much for me at the end of the day.

But it is interesting and I will say it is a great sleep aid for me.

So I think it I mean, it's body chemistry, right?

Like it's, it really depends on what you take when you take it.

What foundation you've laid, how your, I would say like, even like my headspace affected how it was hitting me.

>> Your conclusion though makes me think, correct me if I'm wrong that you are in a position where you say no judgment if you're into this.

>> Yeah.

>> But for you, you would have to be cognizant of the fact that this is going to make you more likely to stay in the couch and you like to experience the world out and about a little more.

>> Is that fair?

>> Yeah, I was I was sleepy, like the whole weekend.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah.

Very interesting.

And I know it doesn't hit other people that way.

I also think that when you mix it with other things, that has an effect.

So there's a lot of variables that I didn't test out.

Um, I think that I was telling Berto the tequila shot I did at the very end of the weekend when I like broke the, the fast.

I was at a birthday party and I that chased like a piece of weed, chocolate.

And then I went to Compline at Christ Church and I was like sitting there listening to them sing.

And I was like, this is awesome.

So that was like my favorite.

>> Part.

>> Just art is like a real it gets heightened, everything gets heightened.

>> Okay.

>> And before we take our only break here, when people hear microdose, what does Microdose actually mean?

>> So it's a, it's a smaller for, for me.

>> Like how small?

>> For me, it was hovering around three milligrams.

Whether that.

>> Was compared to.

>> I mean, it's different for everyone.

I would say some people go up to like ten milligrams.

Um, that, that scares me.

I would probably be on like another planet.

But, um, it really, it, it's really up to you like how much and I think a lot of people sort of like train up to those dosages.

>> I just feel like microdosing is a little bit of a misnomer because.

>> Yeah.

>> It just, it's just a smaller dose.

It's a micro makes it sound like it's, you're barely touching it.

It's like a whisper.

>> I mean, it, it did feel like a whisper for some of it, especially the tincture, I don't know.

>> Interesting.

>> Yeah.

We still have tincture if you want to.

You want to imbibe.

>> We gotta take a break.

Um, come right back here on Connections with the team from city.

The April issue.

The theme is Growth.

And they are here talking about the various themes here.

We'll come right back on Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson Wednesday on the next Connections.

Valerie Perry from the Democratization Policy Council in Eastern Europe joins us.

She's joining us in studio to talk about the latest events in Iran.

Our alliances and democratization efforts around the world.

Then in our second hour, a conversation about the child care crisis and a film that tells the story that a lot of people are going through.

Talk with you on Wednesday.

>> Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Bob Johnson Auto Group.

Believing an informed public makes for a stronger community.

Proud supporter of Connections with Evan Dawson focused on the news, issues and trends that shape the lives of listeners in the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions.

Bobjohnsonautogroup.com.

>> This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson Charles writes in to say, uh, if city is really starting to do sports, I have some other emails to send their way.

We're going to talk about a big change in Rochester with Don Stevens in just a moment.

But city is not becoming a sports magazine, just happens.

>> We're not.

>> One piece in this.

>> Don is a cultural icon.

He is.

Yeah, that's that's why we decided to do this piece.

I would say also the Amerks are a big part of our culture.

So we as an arts and culture magazine in sports, being part of culture, occasionally you will find a sports story in our pages.

>> And I interviewed Ryan Miller a year ago online.

Not in print though, but if anyone wants to read that with the goat.

>> That's former Amerks goalie goalie, not, uh, Guster frontman.

>> Correct.

>> Who has been interviewed on this program?

>> That's correct.

Yeah.

>> Different.

I had Ryan Miller in studio here.

>> And who is coming?

Hootenanny.

What's that?

And who is coming to Hootenanny?

They just announced this.

>> Morning breaking news.

>> Yeah.

>> Are you so excited.

>> You and I front row.

Are you a Guster head?

>> Oh, my.

>> Yeah, I was I was a.

>> Guster rep.

>> We just derailed this.

>> Can you guys keep it together.

>> Right.

>> Uh, we're singing a new song.

>> For the record.

Yeah.

>> Keep it together.

>> For the record.

Nice.

>> We're all in.

Everything starts today and everything starts today.

>> Yeah.

>> You just challenged me, Patrick Hosken.

I can do Guster lyrics all day, but I'm not going to do that.

The point being, once in a while city does sports and whether or not you are a hockey fan, you probably appreciate that as a as a city that has the Amerks, as a city that has the Red wings, those are institutions and Don Stevens is someone who my old colleague Mike Catalano said on 13 WAM the other night.

He was a major league talent who could have probably done a lot of different things.

And he has been here 40 years for a career with the Amerks.

He is amazing and we've got Jim Mandelaro on the line with us.

Who wrote the piece?

He shoots, he scores!

Hello, Jim Mandelaro.

>> Hello.

How are you?

>> Good.

Great to have you, sir.

And great to have Don Stevens the long time.

Don Stevens is the long time Amerks broadcaster.

Hello, Don.

>> Hey, how's it going?

>> Well, it's good to have you, sir.

And, uh, Jim Mandelaro I listen to Don for like, five seconds, and he sounds to me like I feel like I'm, uh.

I'm.

I'm back watching 80s movies with Rick Moranis and Canadian.

I mean, like that thick Canadian brogue there.

Um, it's a great voice.

And for you as a fan, Jim, how, how sort of, um, emblematic is Don's voice, not only to Rochester, but to hockey itself.

>> It's almost all I've ever known.

I mean, I started at the Democrat and Chronicle as a sports writer in 83, and Don came along three years later.

So really, we had a couple people before him and he's been he's been there, like throughout my career.

And yeah, that voice doesn't change.

That is that is the Amerks right there.

>> So, Jim, you realized there was an interesting connection that that you and Don share.

You didn't know each other before this interview.

Tell us about that.

>> Well, it's kind of amazing.

So we set up a Zoom and, uh, I said, Don, it's, it's kind of amazing that I was on the landscape for close to 40 years of covering media.

I started in college and Don was here as long and but I was a baseball guy and Don was a hockey guy, obviously.

And our paths just never seemed to cross.

I might have seen him once or twice.

And then we're talking and I'm like, so where do you live?

And he says, I live about a mile north of Eastview Mall.

And I said, I live about a mile north of Eastview Mall.

And he goes where?

And I anyway, we live about a mile from each other.

Um, I'm looking for him at Wegman's now every time I go in.

But what an honor.

Like at this stage of my career to write about someone at, at the end of this stage of their career, it really was an honor.

Um, because I'm not I'm not a hockey guy.

I'm more of a baseball guy.

Um, but just Don has meant so much to Rochester.

I mean, like when you're talking about broadcasters, like he's on the, he's on the shrine, you know?

Um, yeah.

>> He truly is.

So, so, Don, let me just tell you, I grew up in Cleveland, and the reason I got into broadcasting was I used to record Cleveland Cavaliers basketball off the radio, on cassette tapes and then memorized with Joe Tait was doing thinking that I would just be the next him.

You know, for a while I thought I was going to join journey, the band, and I thought I was going to be Joe Tait.

Yeah, I didn't I did grow into realizing you had to be your own thing, but I developed such a love for great play by play as a kid because you are doing a service for the listeners who can't see what you're seeing and the great ones, you felt like you're watching it and that was you.

Even though I'm not a huge hockey fan, there have been times where I just turn you on to listen to great play by play.

And I want to tell you, man, like you are in the pantheon.

I mean, that is about as good as it gets.

How do you how do you find out you can do that?

When did you know Don?

>> I'm still waiting for that determination.

>> Oh come.

>> On, I've got I've.

>> Got three things for you.

First of all, I got home from Cleveland at 430.

>> This morning.

>> Second, that Wegmans store I own, I think about half of it.

I'm in there every day.

>> So you haven't.

>> Seen me.

You're one of the very few.

>> That hasn't.

>> Seen me.

And the.

>> Third thing is you guys are talking like I'm old or something.

>> No way.

It's just 40 years.

That's a it's a good body of work, sir.

So you grew up in in, uh, north?

Well, to us, I was going to say northwest Canada.

That's like Tuktoyaktuk, like Arctic Circle.

No, to you it's Southwest Canada.

It's northwest of here.

>> It's the south.

Yeah.

>> It's.

>> The south actually came from from the Midwest.

Uh, in Alberta originally.

And then Vancouver.

And that's the, that's the south, that's the south.

And, uh, we, we used to call that Canada's San Diego, uh, and, uh, now it seems like the weather patterns have shift a little bit.

So they do actually get snow and cold there now.

>> Well, and Don, you've said in the, in the last few weeks what it has meant to you to just get to know the guys that you cover, being on the road with them, you know, seeing the work that they do.

I know you appreciate that.

And that for you has been a big reward.

What do you feel this community, you know, do you understand what this community thinks about you and appreciates about you?

Because when you leave the work, I don't know that there's another Don Stevens coming.

I don't know what the medium will do next.

I worry about that a little bit.

I mean, you're going to set the standard that may never be reached again.

And I wonder if you feel that from the community.

>> Well, there's always another one down the line somewhere, like I was maybe, maybe I passed somebody who they said would never be passed, I don't know.

But yeah, this community, as it turns out, has just been unbelievable.

And I don't know that I even knew that until just, just recently with with what I've seen, I've been saying what I'm receiving right now as far as accolades and tributes and that no one person deserves this.

I didn't do that much, you know, deserve all this.

It's just it's just incredible to the point of being embarrassing that that, and I appreciate it so much from not only the people here in Rochester, but around the American Hockey League and, and guys like Jim.

Uh, writing, uh, stories and telling lies about me that I'm a good person and things like that.

You know.

>> I never said that.

>> I appreciate.

>> All that.

I appreciate all that, Jim.

>> You know, Don, as a Canadian is kind of breaking the mold.

Canada is known for its brashness, its ego.

And, you know, Don is just not that way.

Uh, not really.

I mean, like he is so, so classically Canadian.

He's so good at what he does.

Do you think, Jim, that I mean, I take Don's point, there will be other voices, but I don't know that there will be another 40 year run.

I don't know where we go with different sort of consumption of media.

Do you think Don is the peak of Rochester broadcasting in this way?

>> I I'd like to say, you know, he's the peak.

And then, you know, we go to the Red wings and we've got Josh Wetzel.

>> Yeah.

>> He's great.

He's been here 23 years already.

And Josh is probably I don't want to give his age away because I don't even know it.

But he can't be 50.

I mean, he's so you could see that happening unfortunately, because like Don Josh is big league material.

And you know, Don doesn't like to say this too much.

I think he actually might have hinted at it in the story, but sometimes it's who you know and how you get into a big league job.

And a lot of times it's the friend of a friend of a friend and it's a, you know, it's or it's a former athlete.

Don should have been in the NHL.

He turned down an offer a long time ago with the LA Kings.

Josh should be in the major leagues and he does some work for the nationals, so it'll be a hard thing.

I mean, it's kind of like Cal Ripken's consecutive streak.

It's it's going to be hard to hit 40.

But Josh is already at 23.

So if we're just talking Rochester I, I for his sake, I hope he doesn't reach it.

I hope he's in the major leagues.

But 40 is an amazing achievement.

>> Yeah.

Well said.

Well.

>> You know, on top of that, I'll just mention that, uh, everybody talks about 40, but I talk about 58.

So this is the end of my 58th year of broadcasting.

So yeah.

So, and then, uh, and then, uh, I'm so old, I just forgot about what I was going to say.

So go ahead.

>> Well.

>> Before we let you go, Don, do you I mean, you've got so many memories.

Do you have one that pops to you when you look back at 40 years and you think that is about the most fun I could have had?

It's what.?

>> That you know what, just a couple of nights ago at the Blue Cross Arena, I don't think there could have ever been anything bigger than that.

Starting out with the announcement that my bobblehead is going into the National Hockey League, Hockey Hall of Fame, uh, is that's just that's just incredible.

And then a couple of years ago, the announcement that, uh, they've named the press box Don Stevens press box and things like that, I don't top that.

And, and if I was to get to anything, I guess would have to go back to my first year when we won the Calder Cup championship.

Also, it never gets mentioned, but, but I did 13 years for the Rhinos soccer team and we won the US Open Cup.

>> Yeah.

>> The only non MLS team to do that.

And that was incredible.

So there's just been so many highlights and to name just one wouldn't be fair.

And I can't think of just one off the top.

>> Don.

People forget that when the Rhinos were at, you know, the um what is it innovation, frontier field, Silverstein, whatever.

Uh, what's the name of the field at.

>> The.

>> Frontier at the time, ESL, ESL, yeah.

Thank you.

Jim Mandelaro.

But it was frontier at the time when the rhinos were there.

I mean, it would not it was not uncommon for them to have 10,000 fans a night, just sort of rocking in the place.

Um.

>> Well, we averaged we averaged over 14,000.

>> Over 14.

Okay.

So exactly.

So this was a, a hot ticket.

It can be again.

But regardless, I just want to thank you for the time.

Don Stevens.

And as someone who appreciates the craft of what you do, it is hard to think of anyone who's ever done it better.

Um, so you deserve a retirement, but you've set a very, very high bar.

Congratulations, Don Stevens.

>> Well, thank you for all the kind words.

It's so nice.

I'm honored and and overwhelmed.

I guess you might say.. >> That's Don Stevens Jim Mandelaro.

Great work for City magazine.

Thanks for bringing that piece to life, sir.

>> Thank you very much, Evan.

I appreciate it.

>> And Jim is just like so many people, Leah Stacy knows how to find the stable of Rochester writer.

Sometimes it's retired or former DC writers.

>> That was a Dave Andreatta hook up.

Good idea.

He introduced us and Jim did a fabulous job with that story.

>> I do wonder in the future, guys, what sort of minor league sports, what Growth looks like in minor league sports around here?

I get a little nervous about that.

We talked about that earlier this week with the stadium across the way, you know, naming Naomi Silva's a little worried that down in Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, they're trying to build multi-million dollar new minor league stadiums, maybe lure this AAA team away.

But for now, here we are.

Yeah.

I mean, you never know.

>> That would hurt.

As a Yankee fan, I got to see some Yankee all stars.

Yeah.

Uh, last Friday that would hurt.

>> And as a hot dog fan, where am I gonna go?

Where are you gonna go?

Where are you?

>> That's a great point.

>> What about a hot dog race fan?

I mean, like, there's so many great things happening.

And as a Bruce the Bat Dog fan.

>> Oh, yeah, that is true.

The king.

>> That's big.

>> A golden.

>> That's the big that's.

>> Perhaps the.

>> Biggest loss that is.

Yeah.

>> That.

>> Would be no.

But appreciate Don.

Thank you Jim.

Uh, we've covered a lot of territory in the April issue on Growth and City magazine.

What have we not covered?

Leah Stacy.

>> Oh, there are many more stories.

I don't have an issue in front of me, but can I plug something for the May issue real quick?

Um, our May issue is our annual festival guide, and we did put a call out on social.

If you are producing a festival in Rochester, the Finger Lakes region, from May through October, we would love to list you in our festival guide.

You can email those details to me.

Leah, at city gmail.com.

Um, there is a post on our website that gives more details about what to send us.

Um, and you know, I always say we know what we know.

So if you weren't listed last year, you didn't make it in because we didn't know about it.

So get at us by April 16th and we will get you into our festival guide.

>> Are you telling me some people complain to you that they don't get coverage?

>> Can you believe that?

People complain?

Yes.

No.

It really is like a we don't know what we don't know.

Pat and I talked about this with the guide last year.

Um, we have folders, separate folders in our email where we collect things throughout the year because we take it very seriously.

>> We do.

>> Um, so I'm going to take the opportunity here in the Growth issue just to hit one more piece with Patrick.

You, you wrote about Muktuk.

Yes.

Growth there.

Uh, for people who don't know.

Muktuk.

>> So Muktuk studio is an art studio and it's sort of a multi-use space.

Um, but really rooted in art and, um, it is in the blossom Business center and the folks over at Muktuk primarily Casey Arthur, um, have grown their footprint in the local art scene by opening a new event space or about to open.

They've sort of finalized it, but Jake and I went over there.

The new event space that Muktuk has is on College Avenue, sort of a stone's throw from Auditorium Theater and School of the Arts, and, um, the Memorial Art Gallery, really good location.

They really want to be holding events there, you know, open mics, concerts, um, a lot of different programing there.

Um, and a big thing that came up, uh, by the way, Jake took some in addition to doing linocuts, Jake took some really great photos of the space as it was in development, which as a side note, we thought we lost.

Oh, and then shout out Max Schulte!

We got him back!

>> Oh, you took the words right out of my mouth.

It turns out if you erase stuff, it doesn't go away.

Unbelievable.

>> We found.

>> That out.

Saved the story.

Thank you.

Max, hold on a second.

>> That's kind of disturbing.

>> Isn't it?

>> I mean, like, very helpful for you.

>> Great for me.

Yeah.

New piece of knowledge.

Maybe a bit perturbing.

Yes.

>> Like when our brains grew to know that.

>> Yes.

>> Upsetting.

But, >> Um, like, what is society storing on all of us that are never going to be erased?

>> Who's to say anyway?

>> But muktuk, uh, their event space is, uh, should be opening sometime this spring.

I think the best way to figure that out, uh, in terms of the exact date, I think it was, uh, moving a little bit.

Um, you can check them out on Instagram, but, um, specifically this week, I think there's due to be an update on that.

But yeah, there's an interesting, um, plan there towards creative care, which is a term that I had not really come across before, but the KC sort of broke down for me is really about, you know, um, putting on, you know, a focus on creativity, on arts programing and also creation, um, for folks, um, for anybody really, but specifically also for vulnerable populations, folks in the community.

Um, so yeah, interesting to see what happens at 100 College Ave as you go down the stairs.

That's where their new event space is.

And I'm looking forward to seeing what that new art space in our community looks like.

>> Okay, so that's on Muktuk.

By the way, there's a great pun in the story on doulas.

We love what we doula, says Abdullah.

>> But it was a cute quote.

>> It's a very cute quote, and.

>> We would only allow that if it was a direct quote.

>> By the way.

Exactly right.

Wasn't a headline.

It was a direct quote.

Yep.

Um, but of course, uh, the story of doulas, uh, and the growth in the use of doulas is really interesting.

And there's a good story in city magazine about that perfectly.

>> Relates to Helena.

Helena Shumway great.

Yeah.

I, one of the things I learned when editing that story was how doulas are not just for birth.

You know?

>> Exactly right.

>> Yeah, there's it starts from inception to postpartum.

And that was, I think the resources that they're offering through those services are just incredible.

>> Yeah.

Shout out to doulas who went in the chaos of birth.

Just chaos.

It's amazing how grounded they can keep things.

But to Leah's point, yeah, it's not always just about the 2 to 72 hours of birth labor.

Um, but you just grimaced over there.

>> Well.

>> That's a whole other.

>> Story that felt like you had some background.

>> Yeah, that's a whole other story.

Thanks, guys.

Um, city team, anything people should know about what you're doing in the community or anything else you want them to hear before we wrap.

>> I think we're very focused on festival guide right now.

And just looking toward festival season.

>> And we deserve it, especially after today.

>> Yeah.

>> It was so cold this morning.

>> Can we have some sun please?

>> I know we deserve.

I think we're like near 70 on Thursday.

>> All right.

It's coming.

>> It's coming.

Thank you guys from the whole team at city here.

It's the city Growth issue.

Great work Jake.

Again on the cover.

>> It's beautiful.

>> And you can find it wherever city is sold.

>> It never gets old.

>> Thank you for always laughing.

>> It's so bad.

>> That's the.

>> City taking us to laugh at that.

>> That's, by the way, online.

Leah Stacy.

Where can you find City Online if you're.

>> In grok.com and also at Rock City Mag, Instagram, Facebook, occasionally TikTok.

We're working on it.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, very busy though.

>> We're there.

You can find.

>> Us a lot.

>> Of places.

You can talk to us.

>> Great work everybody.

Thank you for being here from all of us at Connections.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for watching.

We're back with you tomorrow on member supported public media.

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