Talker featured in Brighton Connections

Posted by [email protected] | Nov 6, 2021 | Talker of the Town | 0 |

Brighton Connections_Nov 21 (pdf)

David Kramer next to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Highland Park [Photo: Sarah Salvilla, October 2021] See Brighton Connections_Nov 21 (pdf)

See Brighton Connections_Nov 21 (pdf)

The article included two excursions to the Brighton Memorial Library, a fitting venue for a story about a magazine, and a trip to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park. In the library, I met first with content manager and editor Allison Bondi and then with contributing photographer Sarah Salvilla.

Allison graduated with a BA in Creative Writing from Emory University and moved to Brighton about 3 ½ years ago. She joined Brighton Connections in 2018 where part of her job is writing the monthly cover stories on nominated families, individuals and businesses. She is a copywriter for GoDaddy partner brands. Allison did the interviews and write ups for 540 W Main’s Black Women ROC 2021 series and will be working with them on some upcoming projects. She was on the RASE commission for Housing in Rochester and am a member of the City Roots Landtrust. Allison is a stepmom to a 12 and 15 year old and a cat mom of 3. Allison she loves gardening and seed collecting.

Allison Bondi and David Kramer, Brighton Memorial Library (October 2021) [Photo: BML patron]

At the library, coincidentally Allison and I were both wearing BRIGHTON shirts. As mentioned in the article, after the interview a patron took a photo of us at the millstone.

Allison brilliantly captures the Talker oeuvre, far better than I could. She weaves a smoothly flowing, well detailed narrative with aptly chosen quotes. I appreciate that Allison took time to closely read the articles I referenced. In the week Allison was constructing the piece, I noticed the articles appeared in my analytics. I wondered if it was her reading them. And indeed it was. I was thrilled that Allison included the picture of me in a emu costume.

June 2021. The emu sticking his head in the sand at Durand Eastman Park on Lake Ontario [Photo: Bruce Kay] From More on Carol Kramer (1933 -2021) and Tales of the Highland Crossing in Brighton

Allison has a keen journalistic eye. As she mentioned, on our way out we talked about the library globe. By then her tape recorder was off, but she was still clearly paying attention as she effectively included our offhand banter.

Allison also showed she was game for some offbeat photo-ops. Outside the library, at the Carol Heininger Wahl Memorial Children’s Literary Garden, she stood next to a placard with lines from e.e. cummings. She offered an innocent, childlike pose that works.

Allison Bondi and David Kramer (October 2021}

Allison had me look like a peacenik approaching the Brighton Post cannon with a flower. I posed as a nervous peacenik hoping the cannon was not loaded.

Sarah Savilla is a Professional Portrait Photographer at Artistic boutique studio on East Main Street. When I arrived at the Library, she had already scouted out visually interesting angles. As she took the photos, she explained it’s all about the eyes. Our eyes, she said, reflect our intrinsic selves. Then we went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park. Sarah had never been, and was very moved by the experience. She plans to visit again with her son.

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.