Sean Kirst: For three more months, at St. Lucy’s, cherishing ‘Father Jim’s Way’
A community surprise was unveiled last Thursday for a legendary priest, renowned for his outreach, who is set to retire on Jan. 1.
SEAN KIRST’S UPSTATE JOURNAL
Sean Kirst: Jim Gifford’s life equaled faith in Elmwood. Saturday’s cleanup, in his memory, nurtures that spark.
An annual gathering in honor of a guy, lost to violence, whose everyday world represented full neighborhood commitment.
Sean Kirst: Until its last gasp, a second-hand lawn mower honored work of Syracuse small-engine wizard ‘Dr. Mark’
Fond memories of a throwback repair shop — and its memorable regulars — on Grand Avenue.
Sean Kirst: Saturday’s literacy parade ‘lights a candle’ for new dream for Hayden home
Light A Candle For Literacy organizers envision a community literacy center in revered Midland Avenue house.
FEATURED STORIES
Central Current presents: Laurie Woolever
Best-selling author Laurie Woolever will be interviewed live on Wednesday, September 30th about her work with Anthony Bourdain and how Syracuse sparked her journalism career.
Sean Kirst: At 95, Oren Lyons trusts SU and its skilled archivists with his treasury of papers
A lifetime of letters, documents and photos from a global Haudenosaunee diplomat will be made available to scholars, at SU.
Sean Kirst: At a sacred place, ‘mindblowing’ tale of the nesting eagles of Onondaga Lake
An historic nest of bald eagles near Onondaga Lake attracts a loyal group of skilled photographers, who waited months to see the young eagles take flight.
More Culture
Sean Kirst: At birth, the doctors said Dave Murray might not live to be 5. A double lung transplant later, he just turned 70.
Born with cystic fibrosis, time and struggle taught Murray one especially vital key to daily life: Listening.
Sean Kirst: At newly-named Haudenosaunee Village, state fair goodbyes softened by all that’s coming next
Organizers say the excitement and pride intertwined with the new name only opens the door to the potential of a 2028 village centennial.
Sean Kirst: To Indigenous elder, what you feel at Lake Ontario is in the name itself
A Mohawk linguist says the essence of the lake — a female entity within his ancient language — is intertwined with the origins of the word “Ontario.”
The night mogging, maxxing and the manosphere came to Syracuse
Syracuse’s young men flocked to Clavicular, messiah of the manosphere, seeking ascension.
Ryan Shostack gravitated toward birding at a young age. Now he wants to build an inclusive birding community
Ryan Shostack recently created the Facebook group Birders for Inclusiveness in hopes of breaking down barriers to birding.
Zelikha Zohra Shoja’s ‘In Search of Bluer Tongues’ weaves Syracuse into the global strands of diaspora
Shoja, a U.S.-based Afghan artist living in Syracuse, will have her experimental film screened at Light Work on Friday.
How Andy Mager and the Syracuse Cultural Workers found another way to celebrate July Fourth
Andy Mager and his colleagues designed a poster that celebrates resistance movements in the United States as an alternative way to celebrate July Fourth.
Sean Kirst: The passing of Tom Coulter, ‘king’ of boxing, who taught so many youths the great lessons of the ring
A funeral Mass will be held Aug. 10 for Coulter, a national boxing legend, beloved co-owner of the old Remedy tavern and a guy who knew being rich had nothing to do with money.
Sean Kirst: At Clinton Square roller rink, for a city and its children, the shared goal of ‘staying up’
Envisioned as a bright and brief chance for community, roller skating takes on deeper meaning in a hard week in Syracuse.
Sean Kirst: On Father’s Day, John Kucko’s daughters see even deeper beauty and meaning in the landscape
Family messages of love and gratitude to their dad, beloved digital storyteller in recovery from brain surgery.
Sean Kirst: Syracuse teens find 21st century meaning in new marker for abolitionist giant
Just before Juneteenth, a straight bridge of remembrance and gratitude to Jermain Loguen, ‘underrated’ human rights champion.
Sean Kirst: At Brighton Academy, Alfonzo Whitehurst’s gutsiest coaching move was sharing his own story
An emotional team meeting offered lessons that will resonate far beyond one flag football season.
Watch Sean Kirst’s TEDx talk at Syracuse University
The speaker series featured Syracuse University alumni, students, and faculty along with community residents who explored the theme “What matters next?”
Sean Kirst: For John Kucko, envoy of woodlands and waterfalls, hard new journey for guy whose work unveils the nature of a region
Shortly after witnessing a moment at Letchworth that Kucko describes as intensely beautiful, a seizure and the great challenge of his life.
Sean Kirst: Early on Memorial Day, old friends, a rain-soaked monument and a solemn downtown task
Kevin Kane, who designed the Onondaga County Korea-Vietnam Veterans Memorial, lost a brother in Vietnam — and infused every inch of that monument with meaning.
Sean Kirst: Eileen Gannon’s product was ice cream. Her brilliant legacy is a place of true community, in Syracuse.
Whatever brought you to Gannon’s for the first time, she understood how quality, warmth and humor were the means to bring you back.
‘You must live’: Syracuse musicians, poet laureate to tell slain Gazan scholar Refaat Alareer’s story at benefit concert
Alareer, renowned for his depiction of life in Gaza under Israeli occupation, died in an Israeli airstrike. “Music for Palestine” is meant to spread the message of Alareer’s writings, organizers said.
Sean Kirst: Shot clock monument, in new spot, resumes its great eternal message for Syracuse
A few true believers, scribbling on napkins in an Eastwood bowling alley, transformed basketball and taught a lesson about possibility.
Sean Kirst: Fall leaves. Winter longs. On bridges, downtown messages rust away.
Contemplating the uncertain future of railroad bridge murals created 16 years ago in Syracuse by famed artist Steve Powers.
Sean Kirst: To celebrate rebirth of Lincoln Aud, STEAM school teens embrace the ghosts
An open invitation to an upcoming student-led performance on a stage once walked by George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.
Pulitzer-winning poet and Gazan refugee Mosab Abu Toha criticizes Le Moyne president for letter about his speech
An email issued by President Linda LeMura to the college’s community avoids mentioning Abu Toha by name but called attention to his use of the word ‘genocide’ in a speech at Le Moyne.
110 years after Ireland’s Easter Rising, Syracusans still gather to ‘read the names’
Since 2019, the city of Syracuse has commemorated the 1916 Irish rebellion with a flag-raising ceremony and reading of the proclamation of the Irish Republic.
Sean Kirst: There’s ‘no green like it’ as ‘Leaf Day’ arrives in many Syracuse neighborhoods
That astounding and beautiful moment, after a long winter, when the Norway maples seem to go to leaf at once.
Sean Kirst: On Jackie Robinson Day at NBT stadium, perfect choice for the first pitch
For Al Gunn, a Syracuse youth baseball coach who endured the same conditions Robinson took on and shattered, a moment that meant everything.
‘What I needed was here’: How Ruthnie Angrand became Onondaga County’s poet laureate
Angrand brings together a complex range of influences – from her Haitian-American identity to her background as a classically trained singer – in her spoken word poetry.
Sean Kirst: At 1:56 p.m. today, with this moon flight, a reason to see the sky
Four astronauts, as of this afternoon, will have traveled farther than any human beings in global history.
Sean Kirst: ‘Birthright citizenship’ was family ignition that helped create a Le Moyne College president
Linda LeMura, first female layperson to serve as president of a Jesuit college, says her mother’s American ideals meant everything.
Sean Kirst: To ‘stone thrower’ descendants, Tipp Hill’s green-on-top marker celebrates true story
With even the children of the boys who threw the stones now late in life, a marker will guarantee civic memory.
Sean Kirst: For Saturday’s Tolkien Reading Day, celebrating Samwise Gamgee at the Betts Branch Library
In Syracuse, birthplace of the global event, the humble and selfless Sam seems exactly the hobbit for the moment.
Sean Kirst: Natasha Alford comes home with gratitude, and a collective message for all of us
As part of the Friends of the Central Library’s celebrated authors series, Alford talked about a literary journey ignited by a Syracuse childhood.
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