MOLLY BARTELS PHOTOGRAPHY

Editorial: Singles

Angelica Fulchini, 13, back, gets in a nap, while fellow ballet dancer, Shanna Ward, 13, gives a hand massage to dancer Allegra Coryell, 15, before their end of the year classical ballet demonstration at the Grand Harbor Clubhouse in Vero Beach on Tuesday night. The girls were selected by audition to become members of Ballet Vero, a classical ballet school started just over a year ago. Lewis Grove, Director of Ballet Vero, realizes the potential of these top dancers. "They have the potential to go wherever their dreams take them," said Grove.
   
Gloria Emrani, 13, right, and Aida Emamghorashi, 8, left, leap over four consecutive fires during a celebration of the Persian New Year, or Norooz, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jumping over the fire is supposed to cleanse the jumper so that they can start the New Year with a purified mind, body, and soul.
   
Do you want to feel more comfortable walking in high heels? Do you want toned legs? High Heels 101 is a new dvd that helps women strengthen leg muscles, and learn correct posture and alignment so that they will feel more comfortable in their stiletto heels.
     
  
Lessie Overstreet calms her son, Christopher Russell, 3, during the 11-hour bus ride from a Red Cross shelter in Crestview, Florida, to their new home in Vero Beach, Florida. Displaced from their home in Mississippi by Hurrincane Katrina, Overstreet and her family relocated to Florida with the help of Vero Beach businessman, David Kravitz, who raised over $40,000 to help families who were left homeless after the hurricane.
   
Local citizens waiting in an over flow area are reflected in a door window at the entrance to the Indian River County Commission chambers at the County Administration Building in Vero Beach on Tuesday, December 14, 2004. The commission held a public hearing on a proposed moratorium that would delay rezonings and site plan approval for new residential areas. Indian River County Sheriff's deputy, Christian Mathisen, top right, monitored the chamber, which was at capacity.
   
Winifred Phillips, who is renting the home at 4901 Shady Pine Drive in Greensboro, is comforted by friends and neighbors after the home caught fire on Wednesday, December 13, 2006. Phillips sustained minor burns to her hand but was otherwise unharmed.
     
  
Not fully understanding her family's grave situation, Natalie Strickland, 2, plays in the raindrops that fall from a leak in the ceiling of her family's manufactured home in Micco, Florida. That room and several others were destroyed in Hurricane Jeanne. Strickland's family and many others who live on Fleming-Grant Road have received eviction notices from their landlord, Glenn Houston, after the hurricanes.
   
Dana Mace, center, and her husband, Ron, right, lead the Lion of Judah Praise Warriors in a dance during a fish fry fundraiser in Riverside Park in Vero Beach. The event, which was organized by New Hope Ministries, is a fundraiser for youth pastor, Jerry West, who was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer several months ago. West does not have health insurance and needs to have a bone marrow transplant.
   
Evelia Solis waits nervously in the hallway at the Miguel Angel studio in Monterrey, Mexico, where she is having her portrait taken. The five-hour long process was exhausting but for families who can afford them, portraits are an important part of the quinceanera.
     
  
Wabasso resident, Ardile Black, works in her prized garden behind her house recently. Black, 85, lives with her husband Charles, 91, in a house she inherited from relatives over two decades ago. The aged couple is no longer able to take care of the necessary maintenance on such an old house.
   
"I think it's an outstanding exhibit," said Ed Seeley, Security Supervisor for the Vero Beach Museum of Art. "It's unfortunate that many of our winter friends, who have left to go north for the summer, will not see it." The exhibit, 'Studio Glass Then and Now,' includes pieces by Dale Chihuly and Harvey K. Littleton.
   
"This is not how I wanted things to be," said Martin Anderson, who is homeless and prepares himself to leave his motel room to panhandle on Wendover Ave. near 1-95 in Greensboro on Wednesday, June 6, 2007. Anderson uses his disability check to buy a motel room near the interstate. However, the check does not cover the entire month so Anderson wheels himself to an abandoned home nearby where he stays the rest of the month.
     
  
Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival. Fellsmere, Florida. 2006.
   
I couldn't publish their names but I did get their story. He has Alzheimer's and is still married to a woman outside the nursing facility where he lives. He doesn't remember his wife but he does know the woman sitting next to him on the couch. She lives in the same nursing facility and also has difficulties with her memory. He sees her everyday and everyday they spend time together on the couch holding hands. Because he is still married, some of the other residents look down on their relationship.
   
Daily pill regimen.
     
  
West Palm Beach resident, Dylan Figueroa, waits for traffic to clear from Port St. John's Nicol Park after the space shuttle Discovery launch. The shuttle trail can be seen at right. "I was expecting to hear the rumble right when the shuttle took off," he said. "But, it came two seconds later."