Wells College welcomed the incoming class of new and returning students for the fall 2023 semester on Aug. 25. 

Patrick Griffin of Fayetteville sat in front of Seneca Street Brew Pub in Manlius holding an aggressive but honest sign in his hands. It read “Bigotry Has No Place Here” with the word bigotry written in rainbow lettering. He had heard that a small group of protesters had shown up to harass people attending the second annual Manlius Pride Festival on June 17. Griffin felt he had to do something.

Heidi Menikheim knew what it was like to be recognized for her beer. She and her brewery, Seneca Street Brew Pub in Manlius, have won five medals from the New York State Brewers Association since the business opened in 2016. But it wasn’t until this year, after winning the organization’s Women In Beer Scholarship, that she could actually attend the statewide craft beer competition. Winning a sixth medal  — this time in-person — was much more exciting than getting another one in the mail.

Lisa Saunders prayed to God that she could love Elizabeth just the way she was — to see her as a little girl and not some hopeless prognosis. Doctors in 1989 told Saunders her daughter would likely never walk, talk or feed herself. Saunders spent the first two months of Elizabeth’s life in a depression. She eventually decided she’d need to focus not on Elizabeth’s disabilities but her will to survive them. Her daughter loved to be held, rocked, and snuggled contentedly on her mother’s lap for hours. She studied her mother’s face with large blue eyes framed by long dark eyelashes. She grinned ear-to-ear when her mother smiled back at her. Saunders decided to take Elizabeth’s care one day at a time, for however long it would last.

Fifteen years ago, Georgia Popoff discovered the Goethe-Schiller monument in Schiller Park in Syracuse and studied its history. The statue of the two famous German poets, dedicated to the park in 1911 and built on an ancient burial ground, honors the German-American population in Syracuse during that time. Popoff, a life-long community poet and writer herself, saw the monument as inspiration. She became excited about uniting the Syracuse writing community through literary arts. It was something a poet laureate should take on. So when legislation was created to apply for Onondaga County’s poet laureate last year, she saw an opportunity.