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Cover Story

Change Agent: Natasha Soto

by Sarah Bishop

Natasha Soto is a community organizer with the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York, where she works on campaigns that address public health concerns, specifically in low-income communities and communities of color. She has been acknowledged both locally and nationally for bringing greater transparency and equity around the Peace Bridge expansion project and for helping to facilitate Western New York’s first participatory budgeting process.

News Feature

One Step Closer to a More Open Buffalo

by Geoff Kelly

Last December, an extraordinary opportunity was presented to four Western New York nonprofits engaged in social justice work: The Open Society Foundations, funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, invited them to create a collaborative proposal that could lead to $1 million in funding per year for at least three to five years, maybe as many as nine or 10 years.

The News, Briefly

Brown Sticks Around

by George Sax

If nothing else, last week’s Buffalo Board of Education meeting demonstrated board member Carl Paladino’s large and growing box-office value. It’s difficult to imagine any other member or school district staffer who could inspire such unusual numbers of the mostly general public—120-130 of them—to turn out and sit through a couple hours of primarily routine-sounding board business for an opportunity to express their displeasure.

Getting a Grip

"A Reprieve From Climate Doom"

by Michael I. Niman

When I first saw the September 17 Wall Street Journal headline, “A Reprieve from Climate Doom: A forthcoming report dials back the alarm on global warming,” I hoped against all odds this was a credible, evidence-based story and not just another piece of well-placed oil industry PR.

News Analysis

Collins Versus His District

by Bruce Fisher

The Small Business Administration, which helps local enterprises in Batavia, Hamburg, Clarence, Mount Morris, and other towns in the largely rural district represented by Christopher Collins, ended its operations this week when Collins and his Republican comrades in Congress voted to shut down the federal government.

Special Report

Gallagher Beach: Swimming in Troubled Waters?

by Dan Telvock, InvestigativePost.org

Opening Gallagher Beach for swimming is “probably impractical from a public health standpoint” because of stormwater pollution, sediment contamination, and neighboring toxic sites, a consultant for the Erie County Health Department has concluded.

Art Scene

Dana Hatchett at the C. G. Jung Center

by Kevin Kegler

Examining the Life of Mabel Dodge Luhan at the C. G. Jung Center

by Patricia Pendleton

Multiple Artists Examine the Games We Play at CEPA Gallery

by Jack Foran

Music Interview

Still Weird

by Andrew Esposito

What one thing do all great puppeteers have in common? Talented puppets? Perhaps they use special strings that don’t snap under the glare of a disdainful crowd.

Classical Music Notes

Dancing With a Piano

by Jan Jezioro

It is not all that often that you can attend a classical music performance and enjoy a completely different musical experience, but if you purchase a ticket to the season opening event of A Musical Feast in the Tower Auditorium at the Burchfield Penney Art Center on the Buffalo State College Campus on Friday, October 11 at 8pm, you will be in just that enviable position.

Film Feature

Buffalo International Film Festival

by M. Faust

Now in its seventh year, the Buffalo International Film Festival has settled into a four-day format that seems best suited to what it can accomplish. The bulk of the presentations fit into three categories: locally made (or linked) movies, animated films (and documentaries about them), and foreign films that have not otherwise been released in the US.

Film Reviews

Ballin' at the Graveyard

by Geoff Kelly

Parkland

by George Sax

Gravity

by M. Faust

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Times (Friday, October 4 - Thursday, October 10)

Film Now Playing

Featured Events

See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: Lee Ranaldo and the Dust performing at the Tralf on Wednesday, October 9th.

Puck Stop

Sabres Youth Movement

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

Despite all the hand-wringing, despair, and consternation that has hung over Sabres Country and the First Niagara Center throughout the offseason, there is hope in the air as the Buffalo Sabres begin the 2013-14 season of NHL hockey.

Letters to Artvoice

No Assholes

by Joe Gerken

One Plan to Rule Them All

by Kevin F. Yost

No So Fast, McDonalds

by Joe Bialek

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

Which is more characteristically American—that a Texas company could invent an ordinary rifle that mimics a machine gun or that America’s incomparable legal minds could find a loophole in existing anti-machine-gun laws to permit it to be manufactured and sold?

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I periodically hike alone into the serene hills north of San Francisco and perform a set of my songs for the birds, insects, squirrels, and trees. Recently I discovered that British comedian Milton Jones tried a similar experiment.

The Back Page

Photos: Buffalo Fashion Week

by Nicole Cooke

Thursday, September 26: Main Runway Event at Statler City. Photos by Nicole Cooke.