Author Archives: Arielle Stambler

I’m weaving through a tattooed crowd outside of Toad’s on York Street one November night, trying to reach the York-Elm intersection before the 20-second crossing period ends. But before I can cross, I’m approached by a stranger — a middle-aged man of average height with a red windbreaker on. His forehead wrinkles like a topographical »

When they swear me to secrecy, I imagine it’s because I’m about to hear highly sensitive information — talk of illicit deals or citywide conspiracies. I’m sitting on the floor of Laura Snow’s third-floor apartment off Whitney Avenue in East Rock, waiting with bated breath to become complicit in this secret. I should have expected »

My first reaction was that it looked much bigger on TV. Through slightly dimmed house lights, 200 audience members were filing into tightly-packed blue and yellow plastic bleachers that were better suited to a baseball stadium than a studio. I found my seat in the balcony, about four rows back, and watched as swarms of »