Interview by Emily Hessney Lynch. 

Published June 14, 2018.

Where are you originally from? What brought you to Rochester?

I’m originally from Lake Charles, Louisiana. I went to college in Baton Rouge at LSU, where I studied Print Journalism. Afterwards, I got a job as the Entertainment Editor at an alt weekly called Dig. The wheels fell off that place, so I quit and started job searching. City Newspaper here in Rochester is part of an alt weekly association, so I applied to the Arts/Entertainment Editor position at City and the rest is history. I’ve been living in Rochester for four years now.

What is your favorite part of living in Rochester?

There are so many great things about living here; it’s hard to pick one. Ultimately, I love the people I’ve met. A close second, though, is how connected Rochester is in different ways. There’s this internal connection, where lots of people know each other, but there are also tons of external connections to other places. My cousin’s wife is from Rochester. Every time I turn around, I see Rochester is connected somewhere else. A former colleague of mine in Louisiana told me recently about a military history book published in Rochester. You just keep finding cool things about this city. Our history runs deep.

What are some of your favorite/secret Rochester spots? 

I’ve come to love Mt. Hope Cemetery and Highland Park, especially in fall and spring. There’s also a really quiet, big lawn behind the Memorial Art Gallery, and I like to go back there to read in the sun.

City Newspaper is located in the front of the Anderson Building, which was once a boot factory. It has this great old school newsroom vibe.

What's the most unique or interesting event you've ever attended in Rochester? 

Fringe Fest is probably my favorite thing that happens in Rochester. It shows how connected Rochester can be. There are 500+ shows and they’re all incredibly unique performances. It just takes over downtown--it’s this great coming together of the arts scene. It also has a wider impact on the Rochester arts community. People get to test shows and make connections. The impact is wider and longer-lasting than the 9 or 10 days of the festival itself.

What are some of your favorite local nonprofits to support? 

We partnered with Open Mic this year for Frederick Douglass bicentennial coverage. They’re currently running a GoFundMe to raise funds for their newsroom, and I like to support them. Lollypop Farm is another great one. Causewave has been doing excellent work too. Flower City Pickers is amazing--they go to the market on Saturdays and gather unwanted food and redistribute it around town to various shelters. There are a lot of organizations doing good work in this city--St. Joseph’s, Food Not Bombs, and the Citywide Tenant Union, to name a few.

If you had $100 and two hours to kill in Rochester, how would you spend the money/time? 

I’d go have a nice dinner at Cure with a great cocktail. Then I’d get a ticket to some concert--whatever the great show for the night is. It could be something at the Bug Jar with a $3 Genny, or it could be the RPO at Eastman Theatre. There are so many great shows all the time.

What's the best place to get a garbage plate?

The compost plate at Red Fern is one of my favorites. Its uniqueness makes it extra-fantastic!

What's your personal coping mechanism for cold/gray weather?

I really enjoy winter for the most part. It’s still new to me as a southerner. I like walking around. In February and March when it just won’t end, it becomes frustrating. I tend to like a lot of light, so I’ll try to sit in a nicely lit living room with a hot drink and just relax and read. Sometimes I’ll walk to Glen Edith or Hart’s in the snow.

What is your favorite Rochester memory?

Lots of awesome things stick out in my mind. Getting beer when I first moved here on the roof of Genesee Brew House. That’s still one of my favorite views. My second year here, walking through the Lilac Fest for the first time. So many trivia nights at Scotland Yard Pub. Driving to the beach with snow on the ground during my first winter here. Even just a couple weekends ago, it was one of the first beautiful days, and I walked from my apartment to Glen Edith to Parkleigh to the Nitrate Film Festival. It was so beautiful and there were so many people out and everything was in bloom. I had this feeling that I would always remember that day, as simple and normal as it was.

For me, my year is dominated by Jazz Fest in June and Fringe Fest in September. Another standout memory is walking from the City Newspaper office to MLK Park to see Circus Orange perform at Fringe Fest. That same night, I walked to a bunch of other venues and saw 3 or 4 shows, and was running into all these people I knew. Then I went back to City, read blogs by our staff and edited them until about 2am. That’s a very Jake Clapp thing to do. But I felt like, this is something really cool happening in this cool city.

What makes Rochester unique?

I really think that Rochester has lots of things that will make it unique. Our place in the world and the history of our city, for starters. Great Americans have lived here--Douglass and Anthony, of course; we have a as a boomtown with the Erie Canal and the underground railroad. Then the industry giants of Kodak, Bausch + Lomb, and Xerox. We don’t take advantage enough of our connection to the world; we don’t fully take pride in it. We need to celebrate the past to know where we should go. Rochester needs to look towards those progressive elements in our past and capitalize on them.

What do you think could be improved?

In a lot of ways, Rochester gets in the way of itself. I feel like there isn’t an overarching vision that pushes us forward. Transparency and input could be better--and Parcel 5 is an example of that. It doesn’t seem like the City is hearing the voices of its citizens. As things like this continue to happen, resentment grows, and new development keeps causing tensions that spread into so many aspects of our city.

If Rochester was an animal, what would it be?

It would be a red panda. I associate Rochester with the color red, because there’s lots of passion and boldness here. And red pandas are interesting, cute, and slightly quirky.

What advice would you give to someone who is new to Rochester and looking to get to know the area?

Take that first step. It’s so easy to pause your plans until you get a group of people together. If you want to do something, just go do it. Be open minded--try to see if you like it. If you don’t, you don't have to do it again. Take ownership of your day.