Peru resident Robert Rokos met the love of his life in a bathhouse in New York City. It was 1973, not long after the birth of the city’s gay liberation movement. Rokos was 25 and white, Donald Townsel was 18 and Black, but their differences didn’t keep them apart. What started as ...

SARANAC LAKE — Some people buy flowers for their sweethearts on Valentine’s Day. Others send greeting cards. Liam Ward uses a Makita die grinder with an 8-inch rotary knife spinning at 8,000 RPM to carve his and his wife Emily’s initials in the Ice Palace every year — a secret, ...

SARANAC LAKE — Bonnie Kerfoot delivered Bitters and Bones’ new brewing setup on a covered flatbed trailer Wednesday morning, after making the 3,000-mile drive from Portland, Oregon. Kerfoot’s home is in California, but she lives on the road, driving supplies, gas and antennas all over ...

SARANAC LAKE — As Lauren Peters, 49, and Richard Auer, 54, sit across from each other at a picnic table at Berkeley Green park, they interrupt each other, filling in the blanks of each other’s sentences and questioning small details like the siblings they are. This despite the fact that ...

SARANAC LAKE — Sean Ryan, 27, pulls out a chair at the Hotel Saranac upstairs lobby, takes off his Buffalo Bills mask and sits down. He’s taking a break to talk about his first semester at North Country Community College, where he’s a freshman in the Radiologic Technology ...

BLOOMINGDALE — For years, Judith Coopy chronicled her adventures in journals. She spoke to strangers freely, just like her father had. And when she held her golden fly swatter, an award for winning a story slam at Bitters & Bones, she knew her tale was worth telling and that she had ...