by Lee Gutowski Recently, a friend walked into the Uptowner after getting bad news about a job. Turns out, the friend had been fired, and stopped into the bar to blow off a little steam. The friend started relating his job woes to Bob Ellquist, the bartender working that afternoon. Bob and my friend had […]
Neighbor Spotlight
Neighbor Spotlight – CC Carmickle – July 2021
by Lee Gutowski C.C. Carmickle speaks in “rhythm and rhyme,” as he puts it (but he tried not to speak that way as a child because in the South when he grew up you could get killed for that, for acting too intelligent). His stories are riveting and full of adventure, with plenty of clear-eyed, […]
Neighbor Spotlight -Jen Cintron
Story and Photo by Lee Gutowski It’s the Vernal Equinox of 2021, and befitting the beginning of Spring, all beings are cycling into the season of renewal and beginnings – some think of it as rebirth. There is a sense of anticipation, tempered with trepidation, as all manner of living things come out of slumber, […]
Neighbor Spotlight: TW Hansen
by Lee Gutowski “I do this and I stay at at it because I solve problems for people, and I find that deeply rewarding.” – TW Hansen TW Hansen came to my rescue when my 2005 PT Cruiser, the primary distribution vehicle for the Riverwest Currents, got “accordioned” by a hit-and-run driver when it was […]
Betty Nikia & Lucky Tomaszek, Neighbor Spotlight February 2021
by Ellen C. Warren If the timing had not been impeccable, our Valentine Couple would most likely never have met. In an amusing twist of fate they were each about to delete their online dating accounts, nearly simultaneously, and then this happened…It was fall of 2015. Lucky still had kids at home, and she was […]