Weather

Rochester Weather:

Some Relieved, Others Disappointed

By Juliet E Janiszewski

The storm was anticipated, broadcast, and seemingly inevitable…until Rochester residents realized that February 2nd was, in essence, just like February 1st. Comparable snow iced the roads with no disheveling hindrances. Workers looking forward to the extra sleep scrambled to find a place for their children with a snow day, and college students grumbled at the prospect of classes without the hope of a snow day.

Several schools prematurely cancelled school, expecting the worst. Rochester Institute of Technology, notorious for staying open through inhuman conditions, even sent out an informative email to RIT students and faculty entitled “Storm preparation: How will you know if RIT is open or closed?” If the weather had gotten severe enough, RIT would have been accountable for the injuries of those commuting to school.

One RIT photo student, Kirsten Thorson, anticipated the worst; “I completely fed into the hype, believing that RIT would, for once, be cancelled due to the weather. I even had a dream that I checked the RIT web site and we were closed, unfortunately that was just a dream. I still had to wake up at 8 and commute to school.”

Conversely, Beckett Hall Seminary student, Justin Miller, was relieved that the storm missed Rochester, “I'm glad that we could avoid the storm that hit Chicago, and that the roads are, for the most part, safe to travel on. It is unfortunate for parents, however, who still have to go to work, while also trying to make arrangements for their children who get the day off.”

As Dave, Yates, spokesman for the East Irondequiot school system said Tuesday night, "Last night going to bed, I just thought I would wake up to the Snowpocalypse.”

Anticipating the worst, he chose to close school on Wednesday; "It turned out to be just another day in Rochester. Just like weather forecasting, it's not a perfect science."

Others still believed that the decision to give students the day off in Rochester City Schools was a well-informed move.

Tom Petronio, spokesman for the Rochester School District, supports that decision, saying on Wednesday, “It was the icy conditions early this morning that was the deciding factor. Conditions were unsafe for walkers and buses.”

While the weather did not meet quite meet the forecast, the wind-directed snow still managed to raise safety and health concerns. Therefore, the forecast, although it did not live up to the hype, illustrates the protective measures which are an inherently good aspect of our infrastructure.

Be careful what you wish for folks, winter isn't over yet!

In this classic Minor White image of a Rochester winter in 1960, the snow is depicted in a positive light.

Further News Coverage!

The Democrat and Chronicle agrees with us!

WHEC comments on the ensuing airport confusion, a direct result of the weather forecast.

Top

Data Visualization

To Mix Things Up, Let's Hear the Story to Paint the Picture, Part 2

Theodore Janiszewski reminisces on one cold, damp night in 2008, when driving home from bible study, he got more than he had bargained for.

To Mix Things Up, Let's Hear a Story to Paint a Picture, Part 1

Luke Auburn reminisces on his first cello performance in fourth grade, with his brother Zeke Auburn playing his viola alongside Luke at a local Rochester retirement community.

Gas Station Life on East Main; Adil Cheema, Between Two Worlds

Gas Station Life on East Main

Adil Cheema, Between Two Worlds

Adil Cheema works at the Vacero typically from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. every day except Sunday. As his father's only son of five children, he is expected to follow his father's lead and take care of the store and his sisters.

While Mohamed Cheema came to the United States just over ten years now, his son Adil Cheema has only had his green card for 6 months. Although father and son believe in the same Islamic principles, Adil admits to his overwhelming shock at seeing American women, while Mohamed married an American woman.

Mohamed’s wife of five years is also Muslim, however, she is very different from Mohamed’s other wife in Pakistan, mother of Adil.

Adil explains his expectations of his sisters and mother in Pakistan, “I need my clothes pressed, I need food from my sister. Like when I came here I never pressed my clothes before, I never polished my shoes before.”

Reminiscing on life in Pakistan, Adil recalls, “When I come from school, I take my uniform off, and make a mess in my room, and women take care of that.”

Conversely, Adil is expected to take his sisters to the grocery store and must fly with them when they come to and from Pakistan and the United States. Adil is also expected to pursue his education to make money for his family and help his father at the gas station.

“I do nothing in Pakistan, but here, I do a lot… I don’t like that,” Adil confides, expressing his perceivable differences between two worlds.

To sum it up he says, “It’s a fast life here, men have no time to enjoy.”

Gas Station Life on West Main, From Trusting to Cautious

Gas Station Life on West Main,

From Trusting to Cautious

Mohamed Cheema's son Adil Cheema, sits at the counter, with Wayne's old lighter, found in the bathroom with burned spoons, used to fuel his drug addiction which cost the store over $15,000 through stolen lottery tickets. Adil used to lighter to burn his name into the counter.

Working at the Vacero gas station on West Main, Mohamed counts his blessings with an optimistic air, yet something has changed in this man since coming to Rochester ten years ago. From trusting his customer’s almost unconditionally, working in the high-crime neighborhood on West Main Street has changed his disposition deeply.

While not obvious to the outside observer, Mohamed has had more than his fair share of trialing circumstances.

As mentioned in “Religious Conflictions in Everyday Life,” Mohamed hired one employee four years ago, by the name of Wayne Johnson. Not only did he scratch the lottery tickets, but he also harbored a dangerous background and dangerous drug addiction.

“He had a bad habit to scratch the tickets, for what? He has no children, no family, no friends,” Mohamed recalls, clearly upset.

At the end of the four years, of having Wayne as a employee, Mohamed admits that there were signs along the way showing Wayne as an untrustworthy employee. Mohamed remembers that Wayne did not sleep, which was part of the reason he loved being at the store so much.

“Now, I know he couldn’t sleep because of his drug addictions,” Mohamed says, “I found some weird things in the bathroom, burned spoons, weird lighters.”

Last year, Wayne was stabbed while working at the Vacero one night, Mohamed took him into his home, paid for his medical expenses and trusted him with his family. Soon after Wayne recovered, Mohamed found Wayne scratching the lottery tickets without paying for them.

Soon after Mohamed fired Wayne in September of 2010, he discovered that Wayne was also a registered sex offender.

“I learned one thing, very important, I have to change my habit to trust people quick,” Mohamed says of his learning experience with Wayne.

"If somebody rob or steal from you, he’s going to pay," Mohamed sums up his conception of ultimate justice.

Gas Station Life on West Main, Religious Conflictions with Everyday Life

Gas Station Life on West Main,

Religious Conflictions in Everyday Life

Mohamed Cheema stands on a stool to reach the lottery tickets for a customer.

As a traditional Muslim man, Mohamed Cheema and his son Adil Cheema face conflicts every day, working at their family-run Vacero gas station on West Main. Of the prohibitions in Islam, gambling and alcohol consumption are not allowed. Within the Vacero gas station, lottery tickets are sold copiously among the poverty stricken residents of the neighborhood.

While coffee is not even explicitly allowed in Islam, both Mohamed and Adil partake in coffee consumption while working at the gas station over ten hours each day. While making concessions to sell lottery tickets, they have not started to sell alcohol. Mohammed believes that taking care of his family overweighs the prohibition of facilitating gambling.

“We really need the money from the lottery tickets,” Mohammed explains, “while we do not scratch the tickets, we do sell them, I wish we didn’t have to.”

Although he doesn’t sell alcohol, one of his hardest challenges consists of dealing with the inebriated customers that frequent the store, typically later at night. Safety becomes a pertinent issue when customers become violent, or when burglary is attempted.

“All I can do, is be friendly, be honest, be fair,” he says, sharing his personal ideology, ”a lot of customers come here and leave change, I put it aside.”

And yet, although his attitude towards humanity consists of fair treatment and the benefit of the doubt oftentimes, it has lead to further complications at the Vacero. Of his ten years owning the Vacero, he has only had one employee other than his son Adil. Wayne Johnson, an employee of four years, was fired this past year for stealing lottery tickets.

“I didn’t check his record when I hired him, that’s big trust, but it was my fault too” he recollects, “I find out when I fire him, that the four years he worked with me, he’s sneaky and manipulative and has a criminal record.”

Unfortunately, scratching lottery tickets was just the tip of the iceberg with Wayne.

Gas Station Life on West Main

Gas Station Life on West Main

Adil Cheema, left, with his father Mohamed Cheema, work together at the Vacero on West Main Street in Rochester, NY.

Ten years ago, Mohamed Cheema moved to the United States from Pakistan for a better life for his family. After working as a limousine driver in New York City, he moved to Rochester where he said, “there’s more business opportunities here and it’s less crowded here.”

After moving to Rochester in 2001, he has achieved a considerable amount, owning the Vacero and Sunoco on East Main. He says, “I have a house, I have a store, all my children are here, what person can do more than that?” While his disposition is optimistic, he has faced several challenges financially and otherwise. With two wives, one in Pakistan and one in Rochester, and four daughters and just one son, he faces an upward struggle to take care of them.

Mohamed, a traditional Muslim, believes it is his duty as a Muslim man, to take care of the women in his life. As such, he and his son, Adil Cheema, must travel back and forth between Pakistan and the United States with the Cheema women.

He explains, “Adil has been here eight weeks this time, before he was here for four months, but had to go back with older sister before, now he will need to go back with her in a few weeks, our women cannot travel alone.”

“I have daughters there, and they need one man in the house it’s not very safe there,” he says of his daughters in Pakistan.

Yet, although safety is a concern for his daughters, he also worries about his son Adil, saying, “Right now he’s helping me, but I don’t want him to get stuck in the store.” And yet, Adil confesses that he shares concern for his father’s health, as he has suffered serious back problems that have hindered his work at the Vacero.

While Mohamed openly talks of his blessings, there is no denying the challenges he faces day in and day out.

The Caribbean Saga

Spud, From PIMP to Student

Spud, From PIMP to Student

Linda Price, left, daughter Rashida Price, and Carey Gainey, right relax at home.

Linda Price, Carey Gainey’s sister, denied his existence just 3 years ago, before

he became clean from drug abuse and criminal activity.

Carey Gainey, known as “Spud” to his family and friends, became intrigued by the financial possibilities of street life at the tender age of 12. Growing up a boy scout with good grades at school, he first noticed the allure of the street lifestyle while working one of his many odd jobs shining shoes. Watching the pimps and hustlers come with huge bank rolls to get their shoes shined, he said, he would “start seeing that if they can do this then I can probably do it better.”

For a young, black man in the 80s, he felt that there were limited options for him to make money due to his race and socioeconomic background. His desire for material things lead him, “to find other outlets, I always had the hustle in me.”

While today, he holds no regrets for his career as a “person in a management position”, he does, however, regret his decision to use cocaine and heroin, which were socially acceptable at that time.

He turned his life around just three years ago. With 8 criminal charges against him, he went to jail on September 3^rd, 2007 for three months. He was an ideal candidate for alternatives for incarceration due to his lengthy addictions to narcotics, and went to the Freedom House to recover for an additional 6 monthes.

“Freedom House was about getting back in touch with yourself, and that’s what I had done lost myself into the streets, but into drugs really,” Spud recollects from his time recovering.

Today, he is still being, “paid to be good” as he sees it, and is pursuing a degree at Monroe Community College. However, he still shows that the “hustle” of the game is still inherent to his being by recruiting family members to write his college papers. As Spud says, “once a pimp always a pimp.”