SILVIA CASABIANCA

You immediately sense that you’re in front of a new generation of world citizens when you find yourself amidst this multicultural, earth-friendly, hands-on crew working on an organic vegetable garden at East Naples Middle School.

Earth Day celebrations around Collier County are quite in tune with what inspired John McConnell when at the 1969 National UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, CA, he proposed the observance of a day for “reflection and actions that encourage a ...

Ryszarda Lida Pelc found in this country her gusto for writing poetry. She was a high school teacher in Poland before coming to the United States for the first time in 1985. Pelc’s husband Karol had been invited by the ...

What are your current favorite TV shows? Which new season premieres do you look forward to? I watch the old ones; I don’t watch new series.

In 1994, Warren Heltsley was the continuing education coordinator at the Florida Keys Community College in Key West, Fla. when he learned about an opening for a similar position at Edison Community College, which had opened the new Collier County ...

What is your favorite restaurant? Nektar, actually is. Food is not overly complicated, very healthy. The chef uses no butter, except for one plate. It’s great food.

Who is your favorite musical artist? My favorite music is alternative rock. I like Incubus, Fall Out Boy and Sublime. And maybe Johnny Cash. I don’t like old country music, but his music I like.

It’s difficult to believe that a compassionate and sweet man such as Professor Andrew Kavchak lived through the horrors of the German invasion of his native country, Poland, and then through the inhumane Soviet conquest of their territory.

Which one do you enjoy better: eating at home or eating out? I like both. My husband is a great chef and cooks healthy and with love! However, I also enjoy eating outside, especially as a family. There are not ...

Joan Colosimo has been the office manager of The Enclave at Naples for six months now. She was born in Pennsylvania and has been a Collier County resident for almost 20 years. Before taking the job at the Enclave she ...

Janice Elliott works as a program leader for Collier County Parks and Recreation, at the Golden Gate Community Center. She plans to retire this month and is considering starting her own business, maybe one that involves cooking, she said. She ...

What is the TV series that must not disappear? “The Daily Show.”

When you go out in Collier, where do you go then? I go to Thai Basil and for the same reason. I like how they cook their vegetables. But I go only on special occasions and with my daughter Anna. ...

What kind of music do you like? I like spiritual music, music that has messages, music that speaks to the heart. But also I enjoy classic music, opera, and Blue grass.

Lately, filmmaker Oliver Stone’s online message board has been clogged with thumbs-down messages. An all times master of controversial issues, Stone accepted an invitation by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to join a hostage rescue team in the Colombian jungle on ...

What has been the most inspiring book that you have read? When I was very young, “Wuthering Heights,” by Emily Bronte was a book I would read over and over. I started with the abridged version at an early age, ...

Visitors are lured to Marco Island by its pristine waters of the gulf, the opportunities for recreational fishing, and the promise of enjoyment offered by its almost four miles of white sands. Regrettably, the seductive quality of Marco as a ...

Entering Angela Sanders’ house in Marco Island you are first taken by the view of a canal through the living room wall-to-wall window and then, when you look around, you become intrigued by the number of interesting pieces of furniture, ...

At least two thirds of American adults are consistently using some form of complementary or alternative medicine, acupuncture being one of the best researched and most accepted among the general public.

Vegetable oil: From the kitchen to the tank of your vehicle. Capt. John Puig of Naples Biodiesel knows that harvesting oil at local restaurants might involve people asking permission to smell of or take a ride in his 1983 Mercedes ...

A “what-if” idea pitched by Lisa Bufton to a group of body workers, energy healers and life coaches from Southwest Florida crystallized in The Empowerment Institute a few months ago at the Happahatchee Center in Bonita Springs.