Mantis shrimp are named for the way they kill. They are smashers and spearers; one crushes, while the other impales. If crustacean horror were a genre of film, this breed of predatory shellfish would most certainly be the villain. In 2014, Orien Mcneill, who is either 35 or 36 (he'd need to do the math), spotted a bucket full of mantis shrimp in Chinatown.

Like much of her work, Ashley Zelinskie eludes a one-dimensional definition. She is a Star Trek-obsessed nerd who studies electrical engineering, theoretical physics, and space in her spare time. The stunning 28-year-old looks like something out of an Anthropologie catalog and wears a ring blessed by the Dali Lami.

The Children’s Place on 125th Street has a ladder. A few months ago they asked Picasso to use it and paint their gate — the Picasso of Harlem, that is. The two men share a propensity for berets, beautiful women, and multiple names, but unlike the original Picasso, this one is over six feet tall, black, and an early riser.

"Why can't I?" the girl said with a mouthful of food that, technically, still belonged to the grocery store they were standing in. Erica Clark, 37, couldn't help but smile as the girl finished eating what she'd unabashedly taken off the shelf. For 10 years Clark taught children with Autism and Down syndrome, a job she fell into when assigned to be a substitute teacher in a special-education classroom.