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Whispers in the Crowd
Ilse Blansert rearranges her stick-straight brown hair so that it’s out of her face and puts on a couple of dabs of makeup to even her pale complexion out. Satisfied after checking her appearance in her webcam’s display, she gingerly attaches her binaural microphones to her blouse lapels, careful not...
Beat Bullying
Tyler McKeever, 16, meanders his way through a sea of students to get to his first class on a misty Monday morning at East Ridge High School, in suburban Woodbury, Minnesota. As he walks, his outward demeanor looks calm and collected, but, on the inside, painful memories cloud his thoughts.
The Business of Curves
There were curves everywhere. Hoards of plus-size women sipped cocktails while complimenting each other’s outfits, taking turns in the retro photo booth and grabbing “America’s Next Top Model’s” beloved Jay Manuel for brief meet and greets. If it was any other night, Jay and his perfectly gelled, bleached white locks...
Beauty Pageants: More Than A Tiara
Joanne Nosuchinksy, the reigning Miss New York USA, walked into a Hells Kitchen Starbucks on a March Saturday evening wearing blue skinny jeans, Converse sneakers, a gray leather jacket and a navy polka-dot scarf. She was done up with full make-up and perfectly coiffed waves that topped off the sparkly...
A Reluctant Model, Twice Bitten
Allison Harvard leans back on her overstuffed, beat-up, and altogether comfy-looking gray sofa. Her lithe, pale arms are behind her head, awkwardly, as if she is intensely aware of the fact that she is being scrutinized and trying to be more casual. She looks and sounds equally tired and cheerful....
Truehart’s Thorns on “The Bachelor”
Before a studio audience, “The Bachelor Pad” broadcast its season finale live last August. Camera crews swarmed as all the season’s contestants stared at Rachel Truehart, who sat next to Nick Peterson, eager to hear the pair’s final decision. If Truehart and Peterson stuck with their previously agreed to decision,
A “Sweet Genius” on Roosevelt Island
Chef Alyssa Gangeri is used to offbeat requests from customers through her specialty business, “Ally Cakes.” She has made custom confections in the shapes of guitars, basketballs, and even boxing gloves. While there’s an occasional special request for a unique filling or icing, most are the usual chocolate and...
A Lawyer Cooks Up Fame
Standing against the bright coral wall of her Manhattan kitchen, Serena Palumbo welcomes viewers to her latest cooking video, demonstrating the easiest way to transform potatoes into the Italian classic, gnocchi. The set up is simple; the petite brunette speaks with her light Italian accent into the video camera aimed...
From Brooklyn to “The Bachelor” and Back
Sitting in a corner of The Rabbit Hole, one of the many hipster-esque, vintage-inspired restaurants of Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Marshana D. Ritchie doesn’t look that out of place. The only thing setting her apart is her makeup, which is way more glamorous than the usual natural, hippie-want-to-be tones...
The Reel Life of Citizen Welles
On October 30, 1938, a twenty-three-year-old actor convinced thousands of otherwise-rational Americans that the end of the world as they knew it was approaching. An apparent news report, narrated with convincing gravitas by a young man with a booming baritone voice, said that aliens from Mars were annihilating United States...
