Every Wednesday night during the summer, Cazenovia Lake is teeming with colorful sunfish. It’s been this way since 1991 and it’s somewhat of a phenomenon, in that the sunfish are boats navigated by phenomenal women with penchants for sailing, self-reliance, and community. They are the WOWs (Women of Willowbank), the largest fleet at Willow Bank Yacht Club.

Temperatures are rising, and the time has come to embrace outdoor living. Whether you’re a homeowner looking to add some pizzaz or a seller hoping to attract that perfect buyer, elevating your outdoor spaces is a great place to start! I have done this in my own house, and as a realtor I have seen countless clients add pops of excitement to their homes before they hit the market.

Cella V. Boutique’s owner, Heather Vitale, will celebrate her brick-and-mortar store’s one year anniversary in July. Today, Heather is happily married with a two-year-old and a baby on the way and is proud to see how far her boutique in Baldwinsville has come. But creating her business and developing the store was, quite literally, a journey working from the basement up.

Liz Schmid, VP of properties and programs for Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways and member of Camp Beyond Binary’s planning team, wants to make sure that all kids – no matter their gender or orientation – are able to have a special summer camp experience. “So, our...

Are you interested in beginning a journey toward a healthier lifestyle through outdoor adventure, but don’t know where to start? The Onondaga Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club may be the answer. The nonprofit organization, also known as the ADK, offers year-round recreational opportunities for Central New Yorkers to...

“One of the reasons I absolutely love working with this organization is creating opportunities for people, especially children, to engage in a process that makes them feel better about themselves. It’s pretty special,” said Marguerite Mitchell, director of education at the Redhouse Theatre. Redhouse Arts Center is a non for profit multicultural organization whose mission is to use arts for community impact. Redhouse has always ensured that everybody, no matter what population, whether from an underserved population or a marginalized community, has access to art, and Marguerite, is an integral contributor to that mission.

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”. Love changes life. This is a theme Johanna Keller has explored in her many artistic performances–singing songs and reciting poetry as a child, acting, studying music at University of Colorado and the American Conservatory in France, working in public relations and writing award-winning art criticism for the New York Times, teaching, and building Syracuse University’s prestigious Goldring Arts Journalism Program from the ground up. Keller’s love for the arts is the reason for all the twists and turns she’s made professionally, and lately she’s a novice making films, plays, and cabarets.

When Museum of Intrigue was founded in 2017, the team knew they wanted to have a family-oriented feel to the establishment, but had no idea it would become such a destination spot for families in the Central New York area. “As we’ve grown, we’ve discovered that our main audience is...

The Syracuse Housing Authority will dedicate a youth center this month to honor Brexialee “Brexi” Torres-Ortiz, an 11-year-old girl whose life was tragically lost earlier this year. The agency has also started accepting donations for a $5,000 scholarship that will be awarded in her memory to a public...

Lindsay Agness developed her love for fishing from spending time with her grandfather at Honeoye Lake. She thought it was odd that her young friends didn’t share the same enthusiasm growing up. “I never thought that girls didn’t want to fish,” she said. Lindsay’s passion for...

Laura Zaferakis, vice president of Liberty Resource’s Early Childhood division (Liberty POST), wasn’t expecting not to teach after finishing her early childhood education degree in southern Virginia. “I was planning on working as an early childhood education teacher. Both my parents were teachers. It was what I knew,” she said.

Thirty miles from Syracuse in Cleveland, NY, deep inside hundreds of acres of preserved forests, Vanderkamp welcomes solo adventurers, retreat seekers, and family vacationers. A historic camp built by a wealthy philanthropist in the late 1800’s and a former church camp, the site now has a variety of luxury lodges and unique experiences.

“I have a lot of energy. My mom will tell you that,” says Angela Flynn. “She describes me as the child who walked through the door, but I didn’t even make it in the door. I threw my backpack inside and I was back outside.” As an entrepreneur, wife, and mother of four young children, she needs all the energy she can get. In fact, it’s this vitality, and her ability to navigate her days, that has helped her to thrive.

A full calendar year has passed since she assumed the role of CEO for Operation Northern Comfort, and Cicero resident Laurel Flanagan is still seeing more and more how the charitable organization has helped and can assist those in need. At the very start of 2022, Flanagan took over at...

Situated in Skaneateles not far from Otisco Lake, Willowdale Bend Farm Sanctuary will be the place to be this summer for a host of events and a good helping of fun with animals. In 2019, the 40-plus-acre farm owned by Rick and Joyce Frost was turned into a healing home...

The winter in London, 1962, was the coldest it had been in a century, and the poet Sylvia Plath felt it like the depression in her bones. It had returned, caused by the pains of motherhood, the role she played as a wife. It was caused by feelings of guilt, unworthiness, and the trauma of her “suffering the atrocity of sunsets,” she said. At night, she was an insomniac, “inhabited by a cry.” During the day, she wrote poetry with a “a dark thing that sleeps in [her].” This, following multiple suicide attempts and rounds of electroconvulsive shock therapy. This, as she wrote a collection of poems that would win the Pulitzer Prize after her suicide.

When Renee Hagar-Smith became a mindfulness-based wellness coach, her mission became to help people stress less and thrive more through mindful self-care, self-love, and self-compassion practices. It was a mission that Renee first learned to teach herself. Renee’s Husband had been living with an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness for...

I decided to write you a letter. It seems strange to sit down and write a letter to something that can take on many different forms, however, I’m going to try. You and I have had a relatively short relationship, only spanning the course of three years. Cancer, I never really understood you. I lived in a pretty naive and blissful world. Don’t get me wrong, I always heard about you and what you were capable of, but I never had any direct contact with you. I saw you in commercials, movies, and Instagram posts. I saw ribbons and complete months plastered in pink in awareness of you. I just figured if I don’t pay attention to you, you wouldn’t pay any attention to me, and I was perfectly fine with that.

“No one, no heart, is immune to the adversities of life.”. If you’re living with depression, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common mental health conditions in the United States. Over 8 percent of all U.S. adults have experienced at least one major depressive episode. If you’re seeking treatment such as psychotherapy and prescriptions, there’s a chance that you’re one of many people who don’t respond to treatment. While many therapists point out that prescriptions can be a wonderful tool, some therapists are adding to their toolbox with alternative therapies.

Wait times for diagnostic evaluations for autism have grown at an alarming rate, according to the National Institutes of Health. The reason is because the number of children who need to be evaluated for autism is much higher than the number of clinicians available, a need that Kayla Wagner, CEO of As You Are, noticed got worse during the pandemic. “Approximately 10 to 15 percent of children will screen at risk for autism. We need a fair number of clinicians to meet this need,” said Kayla.