Charity Vogel
Charity Vogel: How a stone can soften the shell of grief
The stones found their way. It took a little while, but in the end, the tiny symbols of love and connection made their way to the place Robin Tolsma hoped they would. (Updated: 07/20/09 8:39 AM )
Charity Vogel: Library story provides own happy ending
So this is what determination looks like. On a warm summer morning, it’s as simple as sunlight streaming through tall 1920s windows onto shelves of hardcovers. (Updated: 07/13/09 7:55 AM )
Charity Vogel: Making sure troopers are not forgotten
The reflective sunglasses, coupled with his straight-backed posture and close-cropped hair, tell you what you need to know about Kevin Kailbourne: that he is a retired New York State trooper, and proud of it. (Updated: 07/06/09 7:49 AM )
Charity Vogel: Caffeine craze stirs thoughts about needs
Hey, have you heard? A new coffee place just opened. Maybe you have—and it’s likely we’re not even thinking of the same one. (Updated: 06/29/09 8:01 AM )
Charity Vogel: Mother’s outrage has become quest
It was only after Heather died that her mother found the bottles. More than 20 of them: small vials, tucked into purses and hidden in drawers in the bedroom where Heather Begeny’s heart stopped beating on a Sunday morning in March 2003. (Updated: 06/22/09 7:42 AM )
Charity Vogel: Chatter that would rattle Mad Hatter
Honestly now. Was everybody in on the stunt but me? Because, I swear: At times last week I was certain I had stumbled into an alternate universe. One in which people’s mouths moved, but very little of what came out made sense. (Updated: 06/15/09 7:43 AM )
Charity Vogel: A tragedy that can’t go unresolved
You look into Leslie Brill’s eyes and see the pain. You look at her face, riddled with fatigue, and see the torment. (Updated: 06/08/09 8:03 AM )
Small stones help to carry great grief
She carried them with her to Washington, wrapped carefully in tissue paper, tucked into a corner of her suitcase. You would have thought they were rubies. Two small stones, each about the size of a half dollar, gray and grainy to the touch. (Updated: 05/28/09 7:28 AM )
Charity Vogel: Dream dies, taking toll on children
The children don’t know it yet, but the dream has died. LeRon is rolling out dough at a small table. Christian is washing a plastic dinosaur in a tub of sudsy water. Jilan is chattering emphatically about something she’s learned—maybe about the pumpkin plant sprouting on a shelf, or the eggs hatching in a nearby incubator. (Updated: 05/25/09 8:01 AM )
Charity Vogel: Flight 3407 widow finds knowledge unbearable
She couldn’t do it. Jennifer West knew others would. They would travel to Washington, sit and listen with ribbons pinned to their shirts and photographs of the dead clasped to their chests. They would want to hear. (Updated: 05/15/09 7:49 AM )
Charity Vogel: The power of support: an update
A play and a potential law: A lot has happened to some of the people and places you read about first in this column. It’s time for an update. (Updated: 05/11/09 9:15 AM )
Charity Vogel: Hard times can teach life lessons
We all had one. A person in our lives who lived through the Depression and was, ever after, its living reminder. (Updated: 05/04/09 7:26 AM )
Charity Vogel: Mom worries what she’d do without WIC
Jennifer Ruth isn’t sure what’s going to happen. So she’s scared. The 30-year-old mom lives in Springville. Her life revolves around two things: taking care of her four kids, who range in age from 1 to 9, and trying to make her husband’s paycheck from the Country Fair convenience store stretch as far as possible. (Updated: 04/20/09 8:38 AM )
Charity Vogel: A runner confronts challenges
Jordy wants to run. He loves running, everything about it. Warm-ups. Practices. Hanging out with other runners. Best of all, the races: standing at the starting line, tense with excitement; lunging forward at the crack of the gun; charging down the straightaway, arms pumping, fists clenched. At the end, throwing his hands into the air in jubilation. (Updated: 04/13/09 7:49 AM )
Charity Vogel: Cops can’t go soft when dogs charge
Let me get this straight. Cops get complaints about a house in South Buffalo. They put the home under surveillance. Officers say they see drug sales go down there; they even send an informant in to make a buy. (According to the cops, he came out with prescription painkillers). Based on the evidence, a judge signs a warrant. (Updated: 04/08/09 8:29 AM )
