Dave Halloran loves food."It's just a fact, " he said with a grin. "It's the first thing I think about when I wake up. I'm all, 'What's for breakfast today? Do I whip me up some pancakes and fruit? Bacon? I do love those pork products.'"This attitude follows him throughout his day."It's the same with lunch and dinner, " he said, always joking. "I'm hovering over that stove frying up some chicken, making real mashed potatoes, figuring out how to make some elaborate beef dish. You name it, I've tried it."Halloran's penchant for food extends to desserts, especially chocolate."I made a 7-layer …

Four-year old Valentina Silva is not just a shy child. "I swear to you, she did not say one word until she was almost three-years old, " said her mother, Karanina Silva. "Her father and I were very worried that there was something wrong with her she was so quiet." Still, in spite of her elective mutism, it was clear Valentina was observing her surroundings with an unusually watchful eye. "It was pretty unsettling," explained Karanina. "Here was this cute little button just staring at everything and everyone." When Karanina took her little girl to local playgrounds, she noticed other toddlers …

As a small child Emily Callaghan knew something was wrong. "By the time we were in kindergarten, everyone could at least, I don't know, recognize the alphabet, " she said. "But, to me those letters looked the same as any other kind of squiggles. They just all sort of blended together into something unreadable, and as vague as a sketch." Callaghan was quickly whisked out of mainstream classes. "I think it was third grade, though it may have been second," she said. She became comfortable in a more self-contained environment with teachers who took the time to help her with what was later …

While we at Woonsocket Patch focus primarily on the local news the affects you most, we also understand there is a world outside Woonsocket. Take a look at what's going on in some of the communities around Rhode Island and join the conversations going on around the state. See what's happening in: Cranston at cranston.patch.com Johnston at johnston.patch.com East Providence at eastprovidence.patch.com Coventry at coventry.patch.com Attleboro at attleboro.patch.com Looking for news in other communities not listed above? Visit patch.com to view all of the towns we're covering across …

Adam Bulger has been a shy and unassuming person from early childhood. "I was always that kid who was just timid around people. I had older siblings and they were all so loud and outgoing, I just sort of hid behind their noise, I guess," Bulger explained. Never interested in athletics or group activites of any kind, "Boy Scouts was my worst-nightmare..., " Bulger developed an early interest in music. "I used to listen to old Coltrane albums with my Dad, " said Bulger. "My brother had no interest in that stuff, but I was just riveted. It was a way for me and my otherwise rough-around-the-edges…

Every parent is both excited and nervous for the birth of their first child, and Daniella Ganesh's young mother and father were no exception. "We had to grow up maybe more quickly than we would have liked," explained Laurie Ganesh, who found herself unexpectedly pregnant at age nineteen. "We wanted to do the right thing, both for her and ourselves." Laurie and her then-fiance, Jason, decided to speed up the wedding process once they realized they were going to have a child. "We never thought about not having her, it was more just that our timeline got all messed up," said Laurie. Still, the …

Jimmy Thompson hasn't always been a very good person. "I was in and out of juvie and rehabs as a kid," explained Thompson, now 24 years old. Thompson grew up running around the streets of Woonsocket, getting involved in petty crimes and mischief from a very early age. "You know, my mom was a single mother with four kids working as many as four jobs at a time, " said Thompson, as an explaination as to why he may have gone so awry as a youth. From the time he was 8 years old, Thompson was up to no good, stealing street signs, bullying fellow kids for money, out on the streets as late as 1 a.m…

When Alice Auth went into labor on Christmas Eve, her first thought was of her four-year-old daughter, Ella. "I wasn't nervous or scared about the actual labor like I was with Ella. " she said. "It was more like, 'No, no, baby, hold your horses here kid, I need to be around for Christmas with my daughter." While she was worried her daughter's Christmas would be negatively altered by her absence and by the big change of a new child entering the family, Auth was reassured by Ella herself. "She was so funny, " recalled Auth. "She said to me, 'Mommy, I know I have responsibilities now. I'm a big …

Karen Go's family has always teased her that her last name fits her personality. She is an individual who is, literally, always on the "go." "I was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) when I was in the 7th grade, " explained Go. "This was way before it was, I guess you'd say trendy, to have a learning disability. I was the only kid I knew who had any sort of problem like it." Go knew she was different from a very young age. "I can recall being in kindergarden and the teacher calling on me, " she said. "I would snap out of some sort of internal reverie and realize …

Paul Burger has considered himself a performer since childhood, whether he had an audience or not. "I mean, with a last name like Burger, I think you're doomed to being a clown, " he said jokingly. Burger used to steal his father's clothing from his closet and attempt to take on an adult persona when he was in elementary school. "I'm sure you can picture it, " he says, "me swimming in my Dad's work pants and with a tie hanging down to my knees. I'd walk around the corner to the convenience store and try to convince them to sell me smokes when I was like 7 years old. Of course, it didn't work…

"Oh no, I don't want everyone thinking I'm some sort of 'Negative Nancy' who's just opposed to good cheer and good will, " said Kari Denison, when she tried to explain why she has a distaste for Thanksgiving. "I'm not opposed to the holiday at all, as an idea or concept or whatever, but I think it's completely absurd to devote a day a year to giving thanks, " she explained. Denison volunteers her time at two soup kitchens and a women's shelter in Providence, and she feels this is the best way to express gratitude for her life. "I just think it's kind of a waste of time and self-congratulatory…

Emma Bordeau is a single mother. Her mother was a single mother. Her sister, Lucy, is a single mother and many of her friends are also single mothers. "I seems as though if you come in contact with me, boom, you're bound to be a mom who's flying solo, " she said happily. Bordeau doesn't see raising her daughter, Janie, as any more challenging on her own as it would be with a husband or boyfriend. "I think my mom just set an example for us," she explained. "I never knew my dad, and so I didn't really miss him, or even miss having a father figure in my life. It just wasn't something that was …

Jim Detterbeck hates the New England "way of life." "I just don't get it," he said. "The go, go, go attitude. It's exhausting and it's counterproductive." Detterbeck grew up in Barbados, which explains his relaxed mind-set. Going to a elementary school with an entire class of less than forty students, and being able to spend every afternoon on the beach sunning or surfing will do that to a person. "I have never experienced culture shock like the shock I felt coming here, " said Detterbeck. "I was eighteen years old and I wanted to try something new, and I had heard all these great things …

"We only have five rooms total," says George Photopoulous with a smile. "Basically, that averages out to about a half a room per person." Photopoulous lives on the West End in a small ranch-style home with his wife and three children, as well as his brother and his three children. "I was always taught to do what ever you can for family, " said Photopoulous, "and so when my brother needed a place to go, of course I took him in." The Photopoulous clan makes do with what they have, and that means getting creative with limited space. "Let's just say I am a master at assembling bunk beds," joked …

Brendan Christiansen was always a poor student with low motivation. "I hated school," he said. " I found no purpose in it, you know? And too, I just wasn't any good at it. It's hard to try at something when you have no aptitude for it." Christiansen was not brought up in a household where academics or structure were reinforced in any way. "You know how it is for a lot of families in Woonsocket, " he explained. "We just did what we could to get by. My brothers and I were working by the time we were fourteen and that took over. School was totally put on the back burner by the time we were in …

Born in Nigeria, Felicia Abujade knows something about culture shock. "I moved to Woonsocket fourteen years ago, but in some ways it feels like yesterday, " she said. After having lived with their paternal grandmother for three years, Abujade and her younger sister followed their parents to Rhode Island. "We missed them so much when they moved to this country we were so excited to just see them again, " she explained. "It was a terribly exciting to see them and live with them like we used to, but it was also terribly scary to be in such a different environment." Abujade was most surprised by …

Monique Degati was not always a religious woman. She grew up in a nondenominational household, and only "became acquainted with God" when she was in her late twenties. "It's something that is very inexplicable," states Degati. "It really just happened to me, kind of out of the blue." Many times individuals develop religious beliefs after some sort of crisis or upheaval in their lives forces them to re-evaluate their belief systems and to change their way of thinking in order to find a different, and often easier way to be at peace in the world. This is not the case with Degati. "I've noticed …

"I swear I figured it out from the time I was fourteen, right around the eighth-grade, when all of my friends suddenly turned crazy, and all because of boys," laughed Jennie Dakin. Dakin, 36, has never been in a relationship. Unlike many single individuals, she does not lament this fact in the slightest. "It baffles everyone, but I am sincere when I say I am single by choice, " said Jennie affirmatively. "I have never wanted to be in a relationship. Maybe it makes me eccentric, but I have seen being part of a couple make too many people go nuts!" Perhaps the fact Dakin grew up in Woonsocket …

Randall doesn't like to keep a low profile. "I feel like many people with handicaps, particularly visible physical handicaps, like to stay as far out of the public eye as possible," said Randall. Randall was paralyzed from the waist down at age eighteen in a car accident just off exit 9B when he was heading home after a soccer game with friends. He suddenly found his life changed, from superstar high-school athlete, to what he felt was "a burden on my family and society." "Those first two years were absolute torture," Randall explained. "I had gone to Catholic Schools all my life and was …

Harold DeBlois used to worry about each new generation of kids, and was stuck in the mindset that many older individuals fall victim to, believing that each new generation "wasn't as good as the previous one." "I was one of those guys who would grab a coffee with my buddies and lament the way kids are 'these days', you know?" he explained. DeBlois has played a part in raising four children in Woonsocket, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. "My oldest daughter, now 63, was a wild one, " he said. "I grew up thinking if you worked hard and kept your nose clean, you could do …