ERICA S LEE

Noah Johnson, a graduating senior in high school, in the Bronx.

DanaRose and Evan at Ocean Grove Beach, New Jersey, 2021.

Farida Mercedes of Fairlawn, New Jersey, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. Mercedes left her job as an assistant VP of HR at L’Oreal in August after 17 years. “When I do go back, it won’t be at the same capacity when I left,” Mercedes say of when she returns back to work. (Erica Lee for NPR)

Kathrine Narducci, who plays Charmaine Bucco in The Sopranos, sits with SopranosCon organizer Michael Mota in the infamous booth where the final episode of the show was filmed at Holsten’s in Bloomfield, New Jersey, on Wednesday, Nov 20, 2019. Cast members from the HBO television show series will be in attendance this weekend at the first SopranosCon from Nov. 23-24, 2019 at Meadowlands Expo in Secaucus, New Jersey. Devoted fans will be able to enjoy all things Sopranos and celebrate as the show turns 20 this year.

CREDIT: Erica Seryhm Lee for The Wall Street Journal

Young Ho Lee, a portrait made at NOAH Day Care Center in New Jersey.

Max Poff's parents, David and Dianna, sit in Max's untouched bedroom. 16-year-old Max committed suicide, shooting himself in the head with his father's pistol, after his parents say was bullying he received from classmates at Wiliam Byrd High Scool. David Poff says that he still opens the blinds in his room every day, where an American flag hangs on his wall. Max wanted to be a Marine.

According to a Youth Risk Behavior Survey, half of all Roanoke County school kids reported being bullied in 2012 — 12.7 percent of those surveyed said it happened to them daily. The rate for attempted suicide among the high school teens was 11.4 percent, almost double the national average.

And an astonishing one in four reported feeling sad or hopeless every day for more than two weeks at a time — the clinical definition of depressed.

And yet, both school and police officials initially asserted that bullying had nothing to do with Max Poff’s suicide.

East Montgomery High School senior receiver Ron Ford sits for a portrait during practice after school on Oct. 1, 2014.

Teddy sits with his dogs Tater and Tootsie in New Matamoras, OH on his front porch selling tomatoes.

Lawanda and Tony, neighbors, together since January in Roanoke, VA.

Mennatallah AlBarqi graduated from Hollins University with an undergraduate degree in biology. AlBarqi is from the Gaza Strip.

Dorothy Owsley stands at the front door of the transitional home that she will run on Patterson Avenue SW on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014. The home is set to open on Feb. 2 and will serve eight women being released from prison looking for a safe environment to transition back into society.

Nancy Fire, interior designer for Studio NYC Design, sips tea in the morning on her apartment balcony in the city. “How Nancy Fire, Interior Designer, Spends Her Sundays,” (Erica Lee for the New York Times)

Zoo Kue, 18, waits backstage as her mother, Mao Vang, dresses her. Zoo's sister, Maijer, 23, stands by her side prior to the Hmong New Year's Festival in Fraser, Mich. The mom and sisters are from Florida and came to support the Hmong community and visit their relatives in Roosevelt, Mich. Michigan has one of the larger Hmong populations in the U.S.

Eternal Summers is a Roanoke-based indie rock band who has received attention from Rolling Stone Magazine and The New York Times. The members are Nicole Yun, Daniel Cundiff, center, and Jonathan Woods, right.

Broadcast journalist Joan Lunden sits for a portrait in her home. For almost two decades, Lunden co-hosted Good Morning America. “Joan Lunden’s Happiness Plan,” Erica Lee for Guideposts.

Juleyka Lantigua, founder and CEO of LWC Studios, a digital media studio with programming in the social justice arena. She created and executive produces 70 Million, the first open-source solutions journalism podcast chronicling how locals are tackling jail reform around the country. (For LWC Studios)

Artist Steve Okerman, 73, sits in his living room with his cat Kiwi and several of the pieces he has created. Okerman was once a locomotive engineer for 34 years. "Art has always been in me," he said. He found many parts of his art pieces while working on the railroad and now will find parts at Goodwill stores.

Sabrina Castillo of Union City, New Jersey, used to commute into Manhattan for her full-time job as director of partnerships and outreach for the NYC Campaign Finance Board. “I took the pandemic as a time to reflect,” Castillo said. “In the end, something has to give.” Castillo said it was a collaborative exit from the job where she says she professionally grew up. During her eight years at the job, her two children Lorenzo and Camila were born. Castillo is taking the time to think about what her next professional move is. (Erica Lee for NPR)

Andrew Nash in Pomeroy, Ohio.

R. Carr Boyd, Jr., Botetourt County's first director of emergency services, stands for a portrait infront of the Fincastle Volunteer Fire Department.

From left to right: Quadruplets Meredith, Jessica, Mackenzie and Stephanie Jackson, 21, are seniors about to graduate from Hollins University. They would make a point to meet for lunch or dinner at the school's cafeteria to catch up on their daily life.

Lance Ulanoff of Long Island tests out the iPad Pro 12.9" after the October 30 event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. (Erica Lee for The New York Times)

Ginger Gunlock of Waynesville, Ohio, with her cat, Bart, or its registered name, Suavere's Dark Secret of Penobscot, during the Central Carolina Cat Fanciers and Star City Cat Fanciers CFA Allbreed Cat Show at the Holiday Inn in Roanoke on Saturday. Bart is a two year old Black Persian cat. Gunlock has competed in shows for 41 years.

Greg Martin, 45, of Roanoke County, left, and Pat Metheny, 35, of Botetourt County, right, stop for a portrait before continuing their climb up Crabtree Falls in Nelson County on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018.

Logan Honts, 11, is heading to the Pokemon World Championships in Hawaii next month. This will be his second trip. He says the key in a winning strategy is a carefully selected deck of Pokemon cards. Honts and his dad strategize and create a chart listing combinations that they like in a deck.

Shoba Panoli. Panoli works for the Treasury Department in New Jersey. She was born and raised in Malaysia and is married to an Indian man. Panoli is ethnically Sri Lankan and Indian and a third generation Malaysian. (Erica Lee for Grounds for Sculpture, Local Voices: Memories, Stories and Portraits exhibit April 23, 2023-January 7, 2024)

Garrett Szydlowski, 25, the founder of Random Ninjaz, dances with sensors on his shoes made by Electroskip during a rehearsal for Cube Fest at the Moss Arts Center in Blacksburg.

Sierra Wright, 7, stands on a skateboard to pose for a portrait as other neighborhood kids continue to skate down Campbell Avenue South East at 17th Street on August 6, 2012.

At the Greek Orthodox Festival in Columbus, OH.

Kadiri Sennefer, a native of Detroit, is a farm manager at D-Town Farms. Sennefer has been with the farm since it relocated to West Outer Drive in Detroit in 2008. Sennefer is part of the youth movement within Detroit. He teaches children who visit the farm and creates music about food justice and urban agriculture. "It's given my life purpose. Like, I didn't feel like my life had purpose prior to. It's a wonderful cause to work for. I could see the benefits within my personal life, having access to healthier foods…I try to share that with my friends and family. People respect what I'm doing. What we're doing. It's dynamic," he said. Sennefer is grateful for Malik Yakini, the founder and executive director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, crediting him for providing opportunities and being an example of self-determination in the city.

Sennefer passed away November 2, 2018 from a battle with lung cancer at 40 years of age.

Appalachian Fair, Gray, Tennessee, 2005.

Isaiah Harris and Ryan Dent look to lead the North Cross high school football team in their second year after transferring from Salem High School. Both play running back and wide receiver positions.

Kelly Kingery, 49, of Wirtz poses in his garage on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 where he fixes his race car and collects race memorabilia, including trophies he's won that line the shelves around the garage. On weekends, he saws on the steering wheel of his Late Model Stock race car at Franklin County Speedway and other area short tracks.

Jasmine models at Strouds Run State Park in Athens, OH.

When Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop assumed office in July 2013, he inherited an outdated system of fifty low-resolution police surveillance cameras that were poorly placed and slow to send useful imagery. ‘They never seemed to be pointed in the right direction,’ he said. Those cameras weren’t useful in fighting crime, but Mr. Fulop studied them closely and began a rapid expansion of the program that he credits for a dramatic increase in public safety. CREDIT: Erica Yoon for The Wall Street Journal

David Ramey holds one of his drawings in the works while standing in front of a framed piece that was purchased by the Roanoke Arts Commission, now hanging at City Hall. Hanging on the wall is a colored pencil drawing called "Henry Street" made in 2012.

Silver at home with her dog in Middletown, New Jersey.
Silver Wolf's five-year journey toward a bachelor's degree has taken her from a small private college to a community college, both in Pennsylvania, and then to the University of Massachusetts Boston. Each time she transferred, she hit the same snag: her first school would not release her transcript because of unpaid bills.

"I didn't have all of my fees paid off yet for everything, and it took me a couple of months to actually get into UMass Boston since they had everything they needed except for my actual transcripts,” Wolf said.

Joe Hedrick, owner of Hedrick Exotic Animal Farm out of Hutchinson, Kansas, shows off his camels that will appear in his petting zoo and exhibition at the Salem Fair from June 28 - July 9 at the Salem Civic Center. Hedrick arrived on Sunday and has shown his animals for more than twenty years at the fair. This will be the 30th year of the fair.

Joiki Floyd has taught her English class for Weequahic High School remotely from her home in Newark during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kate and William Schweizer borrowed roughly $200,000 in Parent Plus loan money to finance two of their daughters’ college education. The amount has since ballooned to roughly $500,000.

Robert Avery of Gadsden, Ala., was 15-years-old when he hitchhiked with two of his close friends to attend the March on Washington and witness Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream Speech" on August 28, 1963. Avery found work with his friends a week before the march, making signs and working in the D.C. field office. At one point, he met Rev. Dr. King and the three had a conversation. Rev. Dr. King asked them many questions but also had some parting words of wisdom. "...Whatever you decide to do in life, just be the best."

Mari Pack with her jalapeño plant in Queens, New York on Sunday, July 12, 2020.

Philip Wilson, Peace Corps volunteer and Rotary International member, is a polio survivor.

Robert Gray, 86, is a former POW of the Korean War.

Jennifer Chen completed the Barclays Encore! Programme in 2019 after a two year career break and is now a VP in Treasury on the Capital and Management Leverage team. She works at the Barclays New York location on 7th Avenue. (Barclays)

Katayun K. Kapadia. Kapadia retired from a pharmaceutical company; she is very active in the Zoroastrian community. She has two grown children and is from Bombay. Kapadia has been in the US since 1979, spent five years in Paris for work and has traveled the world. (For Grounds for Sculpture’s Local Voices: Memories, Stories and Portraits exhibit April 23, 2023-January 7, 2024)

Keith Hodge, offender 1020453, recently moved to Indian Creek Correctional Center in Chesapeake, Va. from Dillwyn Correctional Center. Hodge had a publishing contract halfway through his third stint in prison and came out with two books, The Left Lane and The Left Lane 2.

Larkin Stallings, owner of the Ritz Cafe in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, stand in his bar. Stallings and his wife Jackie jumped in to help volunteer when 50 migrants arrived on two planes to the island sent by Gov. Ron DeSantis in September of 2022. Stallings is a vice president on the board of the Martha's Vineyard Community Services nonprofit, which came to the aid of the migrants.

Roanoke photographer Sarah Hazlegrove's photographic essay, "Tobacco People," will be shown simultaneously in three Roanoke museums: the Taubman Museum of Art, the O. Winston Link Museum and The Harrison Museum of African American Culture.

De'Angelo Ramsey is a running back and defensive end for Salem High School and poses for a portrait on their practice field.

Dr. Ken Tuck has been a Rotary Club member for 49 years and has perfect attendance. As an ophthalmologist at Vistar Eye Center, he has brought ophthalmologists from third world countries every year to help train them and is active in campaigns to prevent blindness.

Jessica Surace Nelson, 35, and her Little Sister, Kianna Robinson, 17, sit on the stoops of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Virginia house on Wells Avenue. Nelson and Robinson have been together for eleven years and Nelson has been named Virginia Big Sister of the Year by the Big Brothers Big Sisters Virginia Alliance.

Manager Philip Brownlow for the Roanoke Feed Mill at Southern States poses inside of the warehouse on 1003 Walnut Avenue in Vinton on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. Brownlow started at the company in September of 2015.

Pam Rickard will celebrate her 54th birthday on May 16, which will also coincide the day she begins a 24-day journey across the country in the Ice Breaker Run, a 3,000 plus mile relay beginning in California to increase public awareness regarding mental health issues. Rickard and five others will average 130-140 miles a day, running 24 hours a day for 24 days until they reach Virginia. Rickard herself is celebrating ten years of sobriety after battling alcoholism and depression. "I'm hoping the conversation continues. Help one person, one family at a time. That's how anything grows," Rickard said about spreading the message.

John Shelor, a Roanoke architect, has purchased "the yellow house on the hill" in Callaway. Shelor stands in one of the first floor rooms facing the pool on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. "I thought it was a cool house I wanted to live in," Shelor said when he first saw it. "I'm seeing things that aren't there yet," he added about the potential of the historical home. Shelor purchased the home in August.

Seyward McKinney, 33, served in the Iraq war as an operating room technician. McKinney sits with her service dog, Whitney, in her home where medals that she's earned from various competitions that involve skiing, horse back riding and biking on her recumbent bike are displayed. Both Whitney and McKinney were at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at one point.

Lynsey Wyatt, 21, hangs from aerial silks in the middle of the apartment atrium at Aurora apartments on Campbell Avenue. Wyatt says the aerial fabric blend in the atrium is about 40 feet and spans the length of three floors. She has another set of aerial silks that hang in a space at the Aurora Studio Center.