For most people, Halloween is less than six months away, but for graphic designer Kayla Ek, the time is now. This Saturday, Ek will deliver new, intriguing, and — to some pedestrians — odd arts and exhibits to her second Nightmare on Jay Street.

Ek provided the first early evening exhibit in the marketplace last October, and its success created howls for another marketplace event in May.

Kalya stopped by The Daily Gazette podcast studio to talk about the Nightmare Marketplace, her start as an artist, her vision for the marketplace, and how early she likes to put up her own Halloween decorations.

For the past 22 years, Maggie Fronk has been front and center at Wellspring, the domestic violence and sexual assault services resource for Saratoga and Washington County in New York.

April is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and April 30th is Denim Day.

On a beautiful spring day, I sat down with Maggie Fronk, who shed light on Wellspring's mission, the history of Denim Day, and what everyone can do to help others who are in need of their services.

• (00:02:30) - Introduction to Wellspring and Denim Day
• (00:05:00) - 22 years at Wellspring
• (00:09:00) - What makes you happy
• (00:11:00) - What was COVID-19 like for your services
• (00:15:30) - "You helped me... a story"
• (00:19:00) - Explaining the job of Wellspring
• (00:21:30) - What can we do to help?

Paula Fidalgo is a familiar face in New York's Capital Region - one of the first staffers hired in 2002 at Time Warner Cable's Cable News 9 channel.

She spent years on screens, delivering the news, using her creative talents behind the scenes, and more before venturing out on her own.

The stories she helped deliver and the people she met helped her as she decided to craft her first book of fiction "They Even Took My Shoes: How a journalist overcame betrayal, an abusive court system and kept her promise."

I sat down with Paula to learn about her life; her world travels, and and her struggles. I learned how amazingly upbeat she was during her early life and how her energy continued as she told me her story.