WANTED Broadway Cast Revealed Ahead of New York Premiere

NY Weekly Staff 2 on September 4, 2026

The WANTED Broadway cast is complete ahead of the musical’s October 15 start at the James Earl Jones Theatre, with Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine leading as Mary and Martha Clarke. The company combines performers from earlier versions of the musical with new Broadway additions as the production moves toward its November 8 opening.

Key Takeaways

  • The complete WANTED Broadway cast and creative team were announced September 4.
  • Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine will play twin sisters Mary and Martha Clarke.
  • Ledisi, Luke James, Bradley Jaden, Aurelia Williams and Awa Sal Secka are among the principal cast.
  • Previews begin October 15 at the James Earl Jones Theatre, followed by an official opening November 8.
  • The musical previously appeared as Gun & Powder, including productions at Signature Theatre in 2020 and Paper Mill Playhouse in 2024.

The WANTED Broadway cast has been finalized less than six weeks before the new musical begins performances in Manhattan. Producers completed the company on September 4, adding the ensemble, swings and standby to a principal cast that had been announced in stages throughout 2026.

Pfeiffer and LaFontaine will anchor the production as Mary and Martha Clarke, Black twin sisters whose family story inspired the musical. In an earlier Broadway announcement, the two performers said, “We know the importance of seeing yourself onstage,” as they discussed bringing the Clarke sisters’ story to Broadway.

The production arrives during an active New York theater season that has also included a 2026 musical revival at Studio 54.

WANTED Broadway Cast Locks In Its Full Company

Pfeiffer will appear as Mary Clarke, while LaFontaine plays Martha Clarke. Ledisi takes the role of their mother, Tallulah Clarke, and Luke James will play Elijah. Bradley Jaden joins the production as Jesse, with Aurelia Williams as Sissy and Awa Sal Secka as Flo.

Ximone Rose will serve as standby for both Mary and Martha. Melody A. Betts, Aaron Arnell Harrington, Jennie Harney-Fleming, Rayshun LaMarr, Hailey Thomas and Harris Matthew Turner make up the Kinfolk, described by the production as a chorus of ancestors who accompany the Clarke sisters through the story.

The wider company includes Wesley J. Barnes, Kailey Boyle, Meghan Olivia Corbett, Timothy Hughes, Crystal Joy, Mary Claire King, Brad Sharp, Danielle J. Summons, Nathan Quay Thomas, Katie Thompson and Brent Thiessen. The official production site identifies several of those performers as townspeople or swings.

Some members of the Broadway company have already been connected with WANTED during earlier stages of its development.

Pfeiffer originated the role of Mary when the musical, then called Gun & Powder, received its world premiere at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, in 2020. Emmy Raver-Lampman played Martha in that production.

LaFontaine later played Martha opposite Ciara Renée as Mary at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2024. That staging also featured Jeannette Bayardelle as Tallulah, Aaron James McKenzie as Elijah and Hunter Parrish as Jesse Whitewater. Aurelia Williams was also part of the Paper Mill company before returning for the Broadway production as Sissy.

The combination gives the Broadway lineup connections to multiple stages of the musical’s development without simply reproducing either earlier cast.

Gun & Powder Development Shapes the Broadway Version

WANTED reaches Broadway after a development process spanning several years and multiple versions of the production.

WANTED Broadway Cast Revealed Ahead of New York Premiere

Photo Credit: Unsplash.com

Angelica Chéri wrote the book and lyrics, with Ross Baum composing the music. The project draws from the story of Mary and Martha Clarke, Chéri’s great-great aunts. Columbia University records describe the sisters as African American twins who passed as white in post-Emancipation Texas and became known through family history as outlaws.

The musical received a Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater in 2018 while it was still known as Gun & Powder. It had previously been developed through Signature Theatre’s SigWorks Musical Theater Lab and later received its world-premiere production there from January 28 through February 23, 2020.

Paper Mill Playhouse staged the next major production in 2024. Previews began April 4, the production officially opened April 14, and the run continued through May 5. Stevie Walker-Webb directed that staging, with Tiffany Rea-Fisher as choreographer.

By June 2025, the project was operating under the WANTED title. Pfeiffer and LaFontaine led an industry workshop at New 42 Studios in Manhattan that also included Luke James, Aurelia Williams and several performers who would later join the Broadway company.

Its route from regional productions into Manhattan places WANTED among new stage works arriving in New York through development outside Broadway. The city’s 2026 theater calendar has also featured another New York musical debut following an earlier New Jersey production.

The Broadway transfer was formally announced March 17, 2026. At that point, producers confirmed Pfeiffer and LaFontaine as the Clarke sisters, the James Earl Jones Theatre as the venue, and the October 15 and November 8 dates.

Creative Team Carries the Musical Into New York

Stevie Walker-Webb remains director for the Broadway production after directing the 2024 Paper Mill staging. Chelsey Arce is choreographing the Broadway version, marking a change from the earlier Paper Mill creative team.

John Clancy is handling orchestrations, while Ross Baum and Austin Cook are credited with arrangements. Nadia DiGiallonardo serves as music supervisor and Paul Byssainthe Jr. as music director.

The design team includes Beowulf Boritt for scenic design, Emilio Sosa for costumes, Adam Honoré for lighting and Gareth Owen for sound. Stefania Bulbarella is responsible for video and projection design, while J. Jared Janas and Tony Lauro handle hair, wig and makeup design. Claire Warden oversees fight and intimacy direction, and Kaja Dunn serves as cultural consultant.

The story remains set in Texas in 1893 and centers on Mary and Martha as they attempt to protect their mother and family property. Official descriptions characterize WANTED as a “mostly true” treatment of the Clarke family story rather than a documentary account of the sisters’ lives.

The WANTED Broadway cast will begin previews October 15 at the James Earl Jones Theatre, located at 138 West 48th Street. Opening night is scheduled for November 8. The production’s official site currently lists an estimated running time of two hours and 15 minutes, including intermission, while noting that the duration may change during development.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is leading the WANTED Broadway cast?

Solea Pfeiffer stars as Mary Clarke and Liisi LaFontaine as Martha Clarke. The WANTED Broadway cast also features Ledisi as Tallulah Clarke, Luke James as Elijah, Bradley Jaden as Jesse, Aurelia Williams as Sissy and Awa Sal Secka as Flo.

When does WANTED begin performances on Broadway?

Previews are scheduled to begin October 15, 2026, at the James Earl Jones Theatre. The production is set to officially open on November 8, 2026.

Was WANTED previously called Gun & Powder?

Yes. The musical was developed and staged under the title Gun & Powder, including its 2020 Signature Theatre premiere and its 2024 Paper Mill Playhouse production, before adopting the WANTED title.

Who wrote WANTED?

Angelica Chéri wrote the book and lyrics, and Ross Baum composed the music. Chéri is a descendant of Mary and Martha Clarke, whose family story provided the basis for the musical.

Where is WANTED playing in New York?

WANTED will play the James Earl Jones Theatre at 138 West 48th Street in Manhattan. The official production information recommends the musical for audiences ages 10 and older because of thematic material involving violence and Western life.

Getting to Know Ashera Through ‘Right Where I Am’

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

There are plenty of ways to introduce yourself as an artist, but sometimes an album does the job better than any biography could. For Ashera, Right Where I Am feels like exactly that.

Across the project, the 24-year-old Houston artist doesn’t present a perfectly polished version of life. Instead, she lets overthinking, infatuation, love, uncertainty and self-acceptance exist alongside each other, capturing the strange mixture of emotions that comes with figuring things out as you go.

That makes the title Right Where I Am feel particularly fitting. There isn’t necessarily a grand destination waiting at the end of the record. Much of its charm comes from accepting where you are now, even when that place is a little confusing.

It also reveals a lot about Ashera’s personality as a songwriter. Difficult feelings don’t automatically need a sad soundtrack. Her indie-pop sound keeps things colorful and approachable, with catchy melodies and layered vocals allowing heavier thoughts to sit alongside moments that simply feel good.

Songs like “After Dark” and “Read My Mind” have already helped introduce listeners to Ashera’s upbeat side, while “I’ll Be Fine” captures one of the bigger ideas running through this chapter. Life doesn’t have to follow the exact plan you imagined for everything to eventually work itself out.

That openness gives Right Where I Am a sense of personality from beginning to end. Rather than separating emotions into simple categories, Ashera allows them to overlap in the way they often do in real life. Excitement can sit beside uncertainty, while infatuation can exist alongside overthinking and self-acceptance.

The album feels less like a carefully arranged statement and more like an honest snapshot of a particular stage of life. The songs reflect the process of figuring things out without pretending that every question needs an immediate answer.

That message feels especially natural within an album titled Right Where I Am. The title itself suggests a willingness to acknowledge the present rather than constantly looking toward some imagined finish line. Ashera doesn’t need to pretend she has everything figured out. Instead, the record finds value in the process of becoming more comfortable with uncertainty.

The personal nature of the project also makes it an effective introduction to Ashera as an artist. A biography can explain where someone comes from, but songs can reveal how they think, feel, and process the world around them. Right Where I Am offers that kind of introduction through a collection of experiences that feel immediate and recognizable.

There is no single emotion defining the record. Crushes, doubts, good days, infatuation, uncertainty, and moments of self-acceptance all have space to exist. That variety reflects the reality of growing up, where progress is rarely a straight line and where one day can feel completely different from the next.

Maybe that’s what Right Where I Am ultimately does best. It doesn’t try to turn growing up into one neat lesson. Instead, Ashera gives listeners all the crushes, doubts, good days, and overthinking that happen somewhere in between.

And by the end, you get the feeling she’s becoming pretty comfortable with exactly where she is.

Listeners can stream Right Where I Am on Spotify.

The Power Lunch Is Back in New York. This Author Has a Few House Rules for the Occasion.

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

By Gene Salerno

The long lunch is back in New York’s dining rooms. Before you sit down, a few conditions from the city’s most opinionated diner.

The New York power lunch is having a moment again. From FiDi to NoMad to Midtown, the midday tables at the Grill, Le Bernardin, Torrisi, and Raf’s are once more filling with the city’s dealmakers, and Delmonico’s, the country’s first fine-dining restaurant when it opened in 1837, is back in business after a pandemic closure.

So New Yorkers are heading back to their tables. Bill Goldstein just wants a few things understood before everyone sits down. In his new book, “Not That You Asked: Stories. Observations. Pet Peeves.,” he turns an entire essay into a genial but exacting code of conduct for restaurants, and the standard is not simply the food. “Assuming the food is north of acceptable,” he writes, “the most important consideration for me is comfort.”

It starts with the seating. The first places to be eliminated, he says, are the ones with long, wall-hugging banquettes and two-person tables lined up opposite. “Sliver tables,” he calls them, where “you eat cheek by jowl with strangers” and overhear every word at the next elbow. Considerate restaurateurs, in his book, leave space between tables, offer chairs with arms, and put backs on their bar stools “so you want to pull up and stay a while.”

Then he comes for the pricing games. This is where the essay lands hardest in a summer when a single glass of wine, with a typically skimpy pour, can run twenty dollars or more. His biggest peeve is the daily “special” recited “in lyric detail” with one element often conspicuously missing: the price. “Imagine if the regular menu had no prices on it,” he writes. Ask a server what the special costs and, too often, “I’ll have to check.” His verdict is vintage Goldstein: “What a crock!”

He is quick to say the issue is not that specials cost more. Of course they do, “they’re supposed to be special, right.” The issue is the “shameful hustle” of hiding the number. “Restaurateurs with class are proud of their specials and transparent about the price,” he writes. “No games. No shameful hustle.” He also cautions the servers, who must learn “the difference between being attentive and disruptive.” And, in a closing flourish that will make anyone who has wrestled a slab of steel through a salad laugh out loud, he cries out for smaller cutlery: “Am I the only one who doesn’t like to eat with a fork big enough to hoist a bale of hay?”

There is one revival Goldstein would welcome without reservation, and it happens to be the very thing driving the power-lunch comeback. In a postscript, he mourns the disappearance of the midday cocktail. Lunch, he recalls, once meant “a martini, or two, followed by wine with the food, and maybe a Remy with dessert,” compared to “today’s uptight milquetoasts for whom ordering a single glass of wine at lunch is considered reckless.” The old drinking lunch, he insists, was euphemistically called a “working lunch” for good reason: a libation or two “loosened people up, improved the atmospherics and increased the possibility that something positive might actually get done.” As the dealmakers reclaim their tables, they may find Goldstein was right all along.

Restaurants are only one of his ninety subjects. The book roams from pockets and punctuality to gift certificates and the quiet tragedy of Penn Station, each essay a small, sharp argument from a man who notices everything and lets nothing slide. Read it in a sitting or keep it by the bed for a page at a time. Preferably, in this case, alongside a proper lunch, a proper pour, and a right-sized fork.

Where to find it: “Not That You Asked: Stories. Observations. Pet Peeves.” is on Amazon now in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, and at billgoldstein.com.

Carried by the Wind, CattSue Finds Grace in the Memories That Remain

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

By: Travis McCall

Every now and then, a record comes across the desk that doesn’t need fireworks, gimmicks or a truckload of production tricks to make its point. It simply tells the truth.

CattSue’s “A Whisper on the Wind” is one of those.

The Jacksonville-based singer-songwriter reaches deep into her own history for this tender country/Americana ballad, drawing inspiration from losing her mother when she was just four and a half years old. That backstory could easily have resulted in something oppressively sentimental. Instead, CattSue and company exercise admirable restraint. The result is a beautifully crafted remembrance that lets emotion emerge naturally rather than ordering the listener to cry on cue.

That’s smart record-making.

The first thing to notice is CattSue’s vocals. There is warmth in her delivery, but there is also vulnerability. She isn’t trying to turn grief into a vocal showcase. There are no unnecessary melismas, no dramatic flourishes designed to demonstrate how much she can sing. She approaches the lyric conversationally, as though these thoughts have been waiting years to be spoken aloud.

That makes all the difference.

The song deals not merely with remembering a deceased parent, but with the peculiar heartbreak of losing someone before you were old enough to accumulate enough memories. CattSue has spoken about being unable to clearly remember her mother’s voice. That detail gives “A Whisper on the Wind” an emotional dimension that separates it from the countless memorial songs that have traveled through country music.

How do you miss something you can barely remember?

That is the question hovering beneath the performance.

One of the song’s most effective ideas is imagining the encouragement her mother might offer today: “My girl, I’m proud of you—go chase your dreams.” It is a simple sentiment, but simplicity is precisely why it works. CattSue isn’t reaching for poetry when plainspoken affection will do.

That’s country songwriting 101, folks.

There’s another wonderful piece of storytelling behind the record: Mrs. Beasley, the doll that became a source of comfort to CattSue following her mother’s death. It is exactly the kind of specific, seemingly insignificant detail that gives a personal story universality. Everybody who has experienced loss understands the strange power objects can acquire, whether it is the photograph, piece of clothing, handwritten note or childhood toy that somehow carries the presence of someone who is gone.

Musically, the track occupies a pleasant territory between contemporary country, Americana and adult singer-songwriter fare. That suits CattSue well. Trying to push this into some louder, more fashionable country-radio production would have damaged it. The melody needs room to breathe, and it gets it.

The production understands its assignment: frame the singer, serve the lyric and stay out of the way.

Bless you for that.

There is polish without sterility and sentiment without syrup. Those are increasingly difficult balances to strike.

The title is another winner. “A Whisper on the Wind” is instantly understandable without being painfully literal. Wind becomes the carrier of memory, the fleeting sensation that someone we loved might somehow still be near. It could have become cliché in less capable hands, but the personal foundation underneath the imagery gives it credibility.

CattSue previously attracted attention with “Come Home to Me,” establishing that her music could travel beyond her immediate Florida surroundings. But this record feels like a more important artistic statement because it tells us something about who CattSue is as a songwriter.

She is willing to be vulnerable.

More importantly, she understands that vulnerability and oversharing aren’t the same thing.

“A Whisper on the Wind” gives us enough of the story to understand its emotional stakes while leaving enough open space for listeners to insert their own experiences. By the final passage, you might begin thinking less about CattSue’s mother and more about somebody you’ve lost yourself.

That is when the song has done its job.

The independent country marketplace is crowded beyond belief these days. Everybody has a single. Everybody has a social-media campaign. Everybody has a streaming link. What considerably fewer artists have is a reason for somebody to listen twice.

CattSue has one.

There is nothing revolutionary about “A Whisper on the Wind.” It isn’t attempting to reinvent the country ballad. Instead, it reminds us why the form survives: three or four minutes, one voice, one story and an emotion almost anybody can recognize.

The record also demonstrates something Nashville occasionally forgets while chasing the next sonic trend. Listeners don’t always need to be dazzled. Sometimes they need to be understood.

CattSue understands.

And when she reaches backward toward that four-and-a-half-year-old girl who lost her mother far too soon, the performance never sounds like exploitation of tragedy. It sounds like reconciliation between the child who couldn’t understand what happened and the adult who finally possesses the words to describe it.

That is powerful stuff.

THE VERDICT: Tenderly sung, thoughtfully written and tastefully produced. CattSue turns an intensely personal childhood loss into a universally relatable country ballad without drowning it in sentimentality. The vocal is sincere, the storytelling is specific, and the emotional payoff is earned.

SPIN IT.

The Postpartum Book Written for the Women Who Were Told to Rest

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

By: Toni Curtis

Most American mothers see a clinician once after giving birth, at roughly six weeks, and then the chart closes. The body that walks out of that appointment has spent nine months building another person and, for many, is still doing it through breastfeeding. Toni Curtis has spent nearly thirty years watching what happens in the months after that visit, and her first book argues that the gap is not a mystery anyone needs to solve. It is a design choice, and it can be designed differently.

Beyond Depletion: A Nutritional Therapist’s Guide to Postpartum Healing was published on 13 July 2026 and runs to 121 pages, available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook, with the opening chapters offered free through Amazon. Curtis is the founder of BirthWise Doula Services in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the developer of The Lifespan Birth Method, a framework that treats birth as a physiological event across a woman’s whole life rather than a forty-eight-hour clinical episode.

The Premise Is Narrower Than the Category, and Stronger for It

Postpartum books tend to be either medical or gentle. This one is neither. Its subject is nutrient depletion, the cost of pregnancy and lactation on a woman’s reserves, and what a structured recovery looks like when someone plans for it rather than improvises after the fact.

The book lays out a step-by-step postpartum healing framework, nervous system recovery practices, traditional restorative approaches drawn from Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, and plain explanations of why fatigue and hormonal disruption show up when they do. There are recipes and journaling prompts, which is where some readers will file it as a cookbook. Curtis is direct that this is the wrong shelf. Food is the vehicle. The argument is about physiology.

She has been making a version of this case in interviews for years. “Women deserve education about how their nervous system works, how stress impacts their body, how nutrition affects healing,” she told Beverly Hills Magazine in May. “Chronic stress impacts cortisol levels, sleep, digestion, emotional regulation, and even labor progression.”

The Fear She Says Nobody Names

The most useful line in Curtis’s public thinking is not about birth at all.

“Most women think they fear birth itself, but often they fear what happens after,” she said in that same interview. “They wonder how their life will change, whether they’ll lose themselves.”

That is the readership Beyond Depletion was written for, and it explains why a nutrition book spends so much of its length on the nervous system. Curtis’s position is that a woman navigating those months is not weak, disorganized or insufficiently grateful. She is depleted, in a specific and addressable sense, and depletion has causes.

“Just because the body is designed to give birth does not mean women automatically know how to navigate the emotional and physical experience,” she has said.

Written for Two Readers at Once

The stated audience is unusually wide, and deliberately so. On one side are practitioners: nutritionists, naturopaths, health coaches, midwives, doulas, functional medicine practitioners and students of women’s health, who want a structured way to support clients through the fourth trimester. On the other are mothers who are months or years past a birth and still not recovered, and women still pregnant who would rather protect the recovery in advance than repair it afterward.

The book is framed for the woman who was “told to rest and relax when what she really needed was answers.” It is a quiet line with a sharp edge under it, and it explains the title.

The book is a practitioner and consumer education resource. It does not diagnose, and it is not written as a substitute for medical care.

Thirty Years of Birth Work Behind It

Curtis, CD(DONA), LCCE, CLC, CVD(TVL), CHW, SpBCPE, SpBAP, began in maternal support in 1996 as a high school peer educator, teaching classes and supporting teen mothers through prenatal care, labor, and postpartum. Two experiences made the work personal.

The first was a death in her own family. “One of the biggest was losing my brother when I was a teenager,” she said of what drove her into the field. “He passed away from a medical mistake when he was only six months old.”

The second was her own body. Seventeen years of infertility preceded the birth of her two children, and her first birth nearly ended badly after she asked for help and was refused. She was not supported to breastfeed her own newborn.

She founded BirthWise in 2020. The practice supports physiological birth, including vaginal birth after cesarean, and pairs labor support with lactation counseling that begins in the first hours after delivery. The national picture explains why that emphasis matters. The US cesarean delivery rate was 32.4 percent in 2024, and 86.1 percent of infants born in 2023 were ever breastfed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Her methodology also carries a payer’s signature. A two-year doula partnership between BirthWise and AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina served roughly 200 families across Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus, and Gaston counties. The program is expanding statewide.

Why the Book Exists Now

The fourth trimester became a phrase before it became a standard of care. Curtis’s position is that the language moved first and the schedule never followed, and that a recovery plan written before the birth is worth more than a referral written afterward.

“A good doula knows how to help you ask the questions you didn’t even know to ask,” she has said of her practice. The book is that instinct in print, aimed at the stretch of time when most women no longer have anyone to ask.

Where to Find It

Beyond Depletion: A Nutritional Therapist’s Guide to Postpartum Healing is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook, with a free sample of the opening chapters available. Curtis speaks on the determinants of health, physiological birth, and postpartum recovery for clinical, policy, and general audiences, and speaking inquiries go to birthwisedoulas.com.

About Auther

Toni Curtis, CD(DONA), LCCE, CLC, CVD(TVL), CHW, SpBCPE, SpBAP, is the founder of BirthWise Doula Services in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the developer of The Lifespan Birth Method™, which treats birth as a physiological process across a woman’s lifespan rather than an isolated medical event. She has worked in maternal health since 1996 and serves as Director of Advocacy at DONA International and as a UN Representative through the Africana Women Working Group, a consultative body to the UN Economic and Social Council. Her methodology underpinned a two-year AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina doula partnership across four counties, now expanding statewide. birthwisedoulas.com

Disclaimer: This article is intended for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered medical, nutritional, mental health, or other professional healthcare advice. The information presented about postpartum recovery, nutrition, breastfeeding, hormonal health, nervous system regulation, traditional practices, and related topics is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition or replace individualized care from a qualified healthcare professional. Readers who are pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding, experiencing persistent symptoms, or considering changes to their diet, supplements, or healthcare routine should consult an appropriately licensed medical professional. Statements, quotations, professional perspectives, and descriptions of the book or its methods reflect the views of the individuals and sources referenced and do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of results.

Before She Built the Clinics, She Wrote the Books

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

By: Dr. Deena Moustafa

Key Takeaways

  • Dr. Deena Moustafa published four books through Bellissima Publishing between 2009 and 2011, and founded her behavioral health company seven years after the last one.
  • Two of the four are written for families navigating autism: The Mystery Puzzle: Autism and You Are Not Alone: A Message to Parents of Children With Autism.
  • The books were written for parents rather than practitioners, a choice that put her in a small category of clinical authors writing outside the professional literature.
  • Go Behavioral, the company she founded in 2018, now delivers services across California and Florida, in homes, schools, clinics and community settings.
  • Her second business, Cozyino, applies the same audience instinct to apparel, designing clothing with sensory sensitivities in mind.
  • The through line across all of it is a reader she has never stopped writing for: the parent who has just been handed a diagnosis and does not know what happens next.

Most clinicians who write a book write it after the practice is built. Dr. Deena Moustafa, who founded the behavioral health provider Go Behavioral in 2018, did it the other way round.

Her four titles came out between 2009 and 2011, all through Bellissima Publishing. Two of them appeared in 2009: You Are Not Alone: A Message to Parents of Children With Autism and Depression: The Silent Screaming. The Mystery Puzzle: Autism followed in January 2010. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: The Marriage Manual arrived in January 2011.

Go Behavioral, the company she still leads, was incorporated in 2018. Seven years separate the last book from the first clinic.

That order matters more than it might look. It means the books were not a marketing asset produced by an established practice. They were written by someone who had decided, well before she had an organisation behind her, that the audience she wanted to reach was the family rather than the field.

The Reader She Chose

There is a large and growing professional literature on autism. Peer-reviewed journals, textbooks, certification curricula, continuing education. Almost all of it is written by clinicians for other clinicians, and almost none of it is written at the moment a parent most needs something to read.

That moment usually arrives in a car park, or a kitchen, in the hours after an assessment. A family has a diagnosis, a stack of paperwork, a waiting list, and a set of terms nobody has explained. What they generally do not have is a book written for them.

You Are Not Alone is addressed to exactly that reader, and the title does most of the work. It is not a promise about outcomes. It is a statement about isolation, which is the thing families describe most consistently and which the clinical literature is least equipped to address.

Moustafa has been explicit about where that concern comes from. “Mental health is a deeply personal and professional passion of mine, especially when it comes to supporting parents of children with autism and women on the autism spectrum,” she has said. “I’ve seen firsthand how much pressure and emotional strain caregivers face, often silently, and how many autistic women struggle with late diagnoses, masking, and mental health challenges that are misunderstood or overlooked.”

The second half of that sentence points at the other underwritten subject in her catalogue. Late diagnosis in women is now a well-documented pattern, and it was considerably less so when she was writing.

Four Books, One Preoccupation

Read together, the titles look less scattered than they first appear.

Depression: The Silent Screaming is about a condition people carry without announcing it. The Mystery Puzzle: Autism takes on a subject the general reader is assumed to find opaque and treats the opacity as the problem to solve rather than a reason to write for specialists. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: The Marriage Manual addresses the relationship that most often absorbs the strain when a family is under pressure, and which almost never gets its own chapter in a book about a child’s diagnosis.

You Are Not Alone is the one that names the through line outright.

None of the four is a memoir, and none of them trades on a personal disclosure. They are practical books, which is a harder register to write in than the confessional one and a considerably less fashionable one.

What Happened Next

The company that followed reads like the same instinct applied to service design rather than prose.

Go Behavioral was founded in 2018 as a single clinic and now operates across multiple California locations and a cluster of Florida ones, delivering therapy in homes, schools, clinics, community settings and virtually. Its services include early intervention, school-age support, social skills groups, parent training and collaboration on individualised education programmes, alongside consulting work with schools and employers on neurodiverse workplace culture. A training arm runs certification courses for practitioners, delivered in more than one language by a multilingual team.

The company’s own account of its growth is unglamorous and specific. A single clinic became a multi-state provider, in its words, because families know they are at the centre of everything the organisation does.

Her second business extends the pattern into a different category entirely. Cozyino makes sensory-friendly and adaptive apparel, built around design decisions that sound minor and are not: no tags, flat seams, soft breathable fabric, adaptive openings that let a garment go on and come off without a fight. It is clothing designed with sensory sensitivities in mind rather than a therapeutic product, and the brand is careful about the difference.

Moustafa has described the connection directly. “My background as a BCBA, professor, and founder of Go Behavioral played a significant role in the creation of Cozyino,” she has said. “The brand was inspired by years of working directly with autistic and sensory-sensitive individuals and recognizing the need for clothing that combines comfort, function, inclusion, and style.”

A clinician who writes for parents, then builds services for families, then makes clothes for the same households, is not diversifying. She is refusing to leave the room.

Why The Books Still Matter

Books published in 2009 to 2011 are, by the standards of a fast-moving field, old. The diagnostic criteria have changed since. So has the prevalence data, the funding landscape, and much of the vocabulary the community uses about itself.

What has not changed is the shape of the problem the books were written for. A family still receives a diagnosis with very little scaffolding around it. The waiting lists are longer now, not shorter. The professional literature has grown and is still not addressed to the person sitting in the car park.

That is the durable part of the work, and it is the part a practitioner-author is unusually placed to do. Writing for parents is not a simplification of writing for clinicians. It is a different job, with a different failure mode, and most people qualified to do it never try.

Moustafa’s four titles are listed in the Bellissima Publishing catalogue and distributed through Ingram.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Books Has Dr. Deena Moustafa Written?

Four, published between 2009 and 2011 through Bellissima Publishing: Depression: The Silent Screaming, The Mystery Puzzle: Autism, Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: The Marriage Manual, and You Are Not Alone: A Message to Parents of Children With Autism.

Which Of Her Books Are About Autism?

Two. The Mystery Puzzle: Autism is a general introduction to the subject, and the other is written specifically for parents of children with autism.

Are The Books Written For Parents Or For Professionals?

For parents and families. They sit outside the professional and peer-reviewed literature, which is written primarily for practitioners.

What Does Go Behavioral Do?

Go Behavioral is a behavioral health provider founded in 2018, delivering services for children and young people with autism and ADHD across California and Florida, in homes, schools, clinics, community settings, and virtually. Services include early intervention, school-age support, social skills groups, parent training, and IEP collaboration.

What Is Cozyino?

Cozyino is a direct-to-consumer apparel brand making sensory-friendly and adaptive clothing, designed with features including no tags, flat seams, and adaptive openings. It is a comfort and fit product rather than a therapeutic one.

Where Can The Books Be Found?

All four are listed in the Bellissima Publishing catalogue and distributed through Ingram, and are available through major online retailers.

Dr. Deena Moustafa, Ph.D., BCBA, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, associate professor, and the founder and CEO of Go Behavioral, an ABA provider she launched in 2018 to serve children with autism and developmental needs across California and Florida. She is also the founder of Cozyino, a sensory-friendly and adaptive apparel brand, and the author of four books, including You Are Not Alone: A Message to Parents of Children With Autism.

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. It should not be used as a substitute for evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment from a qualified healthcare professional. Readers should consult an appropriate professional regarding individual health or behavioral concerns. References to services, books, and products do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of results.

The Healing Oil: The Product That Started a Wellness Movement

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

By: Nikki Johnson, PR Representative, BBMgmt PR Agency

What began as a handcrafted herbal oil created in Tia Shelton’s home became the foundation of The Healing Oil Co., a wellness brand centered on intentional self-care, herbal traditions, education, and community.

In 2020, Tia Shelton began The Healing Oil Co. from her home with a vision to create products that would encourage people to be more intentional about their personal wellness routines.

That vision started with The Healing Oil.

The signature product became the foundation of Shelton’s growing company and introduced customers to a brand built around self-care, holistic wellness, and education.

While the name reflects the company’s philosophy, The Healing Oil is not marketed as a medical treatment or as a product that guarantees a particular health outcome. Instead, it represents the brand’s belief that creating intentional moments for personal care can be an important part of an individual’s overall wellness journey.

More Than an Oil

The name The Healing Oil speaks to the company’s larger philosophy of wellness and self-care.

For Shelton, wellness is about more than a single product. It can include creating time for yourself, developing healthy routines, learning about traditional wellness practices, and becoming more mindful about the products you incorporate into your daily life.

The Healing Oil was created to complement those moments of intentional self-care.

Whether incorporated into a personal body-care routine or used as part of a relaxing self-care ritual, the product allows customers to make wellness a more intentional part of their everyday lives.

Rooted in Herbal Tradition

Herbal wellness is an important part of The Healing Oil Co.’s identity.

Shelton’s interest in herbal products and holistic wellness helped shape the company’s approach from the beginning. Through her brand, she encourages customers to learn more about traditional wellness practices and become informed about the products they choose to use.

The Healing Oil reflects that philosophy.

Rather than presenting wellness as a one-size-fits-all solution, The Healing Oil Co. focuses on creating products and educational experiences that encourage individuals to develop routines that work for them.

The brand’s approach is centered on education, intentionality, and personal wellness.

Photo Courtesy: BBMgmt PR Agency

A Product With a Purpose

One of the most meaningful aspects of The Healing Oil is the story behind its creation.

The product was developed during the early stages of Shelton’s entrepreneurial journey, when she was building her business from home. What started as one product eventually became the foundation for an expanding wellness company.

As The Healing Oil Co. grew, Shelton’s vision grew with it.

The brand became about more than products. It became a platform for wellness education, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and community service.

That origin story remains an important part of the product’s identity.

Wellness Beyond the Bottle

Shelton believes wellness encompasses many areas of life.

It can include self-care, emotional well-being, healthy relationships, financial stability, community, and taking intentional time to care for yourself.

The Healing Oil fits within that broader philosophy as a personal-care and wellness product, rather than a promise of a specific health result.

For customers, using The Healing Oil can become part of a personal ritual, a moment to pause, practice self-care, and be intentional about their wellness routine.

From One Product to a Growing Brand

Since launching in 2020, The Healing Oil Co. has continued to grow beyond its original product.

Today, the company represents a broader collection of wellness, body-care, educational, and community-focused initiatives.

Yet The Healing Oil remains connected to the company’s beginnings.

It represents the product that helped Shelton turn an idea created in her home into a purpose-driven business.

For Tia Shelton, the goal has never been to promise a miracle in a bottle.

It has been to create products that people can incorporate into their own self-care practices while building a brand rooted in education, intention, and community.

The Healing Oil is where that journey began.

Not a promise of healing, but an invitation to make self-care intentional.

Disclaimer: The products and information discussed are intended for general wellness, educational, and informational purposes only. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any specific disease or medical condition, including herpes/HSV or Type II diabetes. No statement made about these products should be interpreted as a medical claim.

Under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act, sellers cannot make claims that a product treats, prevents, or cures a disease unless they have competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate those claims at the time the claims are made. Consumers should consult with a qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical condition, diagnosis, treatment, or changes to prescribed care.

Individual experiences and testimonials are not a guarantee of results and should not be interpreted as evidence that a product can treat, cure, or prevent a disease.

Booking & Media Call to Action

Ready to feature Tia Shelton at your next event, podcast, television segment, conference, panel discussion, brand partnership, or media interview?

Whether you’re looking to discuss entrepreneurship, holistic wellness, herbal education, women’s empowerment, community impact, or overcoming adversity, Tia brings an authentic story, valuable insight, and an inspiring message that resonates with diverse audiences.

For all media inquiries, interviews, speaking engagements, brand collaborations, and booking requests, please contact:

BBMgmt PR Agency

📞 Phone: (346) 291-3025

📧 Email: bbmgmtbookings@gmail.com

Subject Line: Healing Oil Co.

📱 Instagram: @healingoilco

How New York City’s 311 System Works and When to Use It Instead of 911

NY Weekly Staff 2 on September 4, 2026

New York City’s 311 system processed a record 3.66 million service requests in 2025, covering everything from noise complaints and pothole reports to heating failures and illegal parking. The non-emergency line, which consolidates access to more than 500 complaint types across dozens of city agencies, operates 24 hours a day in over 175 languages. For residents who have never used it, or who default to 911 for issues that do not involve an active emergency, understanding how 311 works can mean the difference between a same-day agency response and a complaint that goes nowhere.

Key Takeaways

  • NYC311 handled 3.66 million service requests in 2025, the highest annual total since the system launched in 2003, up from 3.4 million in 2024.
  • Noise complaints were the single largest category in 2024, exceeding 610,000 requests, a 19% increase over the prior year, according to a New York State Comptroller report released in May 2025.
  • Illegal parking complaints surpassed half a million in 2024, a 155% increase since 2019, with Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City recording triple-digit growth.
  • The system routes complaints in real time to the responsible agency, with response windows ranging from near-immediate NYPD dispatch for active noise disturbances to an average of just over two days for pothole repairs.
  • Residents can file service requests by phone (311 or 212-NEW-YORK from outside the city), the NYC311 mobile app, the online portal at portal.311.nyc.gov, or by texting 311-692.

NYC311 Replaced More Than 40 City Hotlines When It Launched in 2003

Before NYC311 existed, reaching the right city agency meant navigating more than 4,000 phone listings spread across 14 pages of the city phone book. Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched 311 in March 2003 as a single point of entry for all non-emergency government services, consolidating more than 40 separate agency call centers and hotlines into one operation run by the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

The system was designed with a specific mission: divert non-emergency call volume away from 911 dispatchers. Before 311, a significant share of 911 calls involved requests that did not require police, fire, or EMS response, such as questions about alternate side parking rules, reports of broken streetlights, or complaints about a neighbor’s music. Those calls consumed dispatch capacity that was meant for genuine emergencies. NYC311 gave the city an infrastructure to separate the two streams, routing quality-of-life issues to the agencies equipped to handle them while preserving 911 for situations where lives or safety are at immediate risk.

Two decades later, the system has processed more than 525 million customer contacts. The online portal launched in 2009, and the mobile app followed shortly after, adding the ability to attach photos and videos directly to service requests. The United Nations recognized NYC311 with a Public Service Award in 2012 for its approach to municipal service delivery.

What 311 Handles and What Still Requires 911

The dividing line between 311 and 911 is straightforward in principle: if someone’s life, health, or physical safety is in immediate danger, or a crime is actively in progress, the call goes to 911. Everything else, from a noise complaint to a question about the school calendar, routes through 311.

NYC311 accepts service requests across more than 500 categories. The most common include residential noise disturbances, illegal parking, lack of heat or hot water, blocked driveways, unsanitary conditions, street defects, abandoned vehicles, plumbing failures, and rodent sightings. The system also handles informational inquiries, such as trash and recycling schedules, alternate side parking suspension status, and city program eligibility.

Situations that require 911 include fires, medical emergencies, car accidents with injuries, crimes in progress, and any scenario where an immediate threat exists. A situation that falls into a gray area, such as a loud disturbance that could involve a physical altercation, should default to 911. The city’s own guidance is clear on this point: when in doubt about whether a situation qualifies as an emergency, calling 911 is always the safer choice.

Mental health crises have their own dedicated line. NYC 988, which launched as the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, connects callers to trained counselors for support with suicidal thoughts, substance use emergencies, and emotional distress. NYC311 is not equipped to handle mental health emergencies and will redirect those calls.

How a Service Request Moves Through the System

When a resident files a service request, NYC311 assigns it a tracking number and routes it in real time to the responsible city agency. The NYPD fields the largest share of 311 requests, followed by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Sanitation, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Environmental Protection.

Response timelines depend on the complaint type and the agency handling it. A noise complaint routed to the local NYPD precinct typically triggers a same-shift dispatch, with the desk sergeant validating the request and assigning a field officer. Pothole reports go to the Department of Transportation, which sends an inspector to assess whether the defect meets the actionable threshold of at least one foot in diameter and three inches deep. NYC DOT’s average response time for pothole repairs runs just over two days. Heating complaints filed with HPD during the October-through-May heat season trigger inspections that can result in violations and fines against landlords who fail to maintain minimum temperature requirements of 68 degrees during the day and 62 degrees overnight.

Each service request moves through a cycle: filed, sent to the agency, acted upon, and closed with a resolution note. NYC311 sends the filer a satisfaction survey after the request closes. Residents can track their open requests at portal.311.nyc.gov or through the mobile app using the service request number issued at the time of filing.

Complaint Volume Has Surged Since the Pandemic

NYC311 request volume has climbed sharply in recent years. The system processed 3.4 million requests in 2024, a 7% increase over 2023, and then hit 3.66 million in 2025. New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli flagged the trend in a May 2025 report that accompanied the launch of an interactive NYC311 Monitoring Tool, a public dashboard that maps complaint data by neighborhood and category.

The Comptroller’s analysis found that illegal parking complaints have driven some of the steepest growth, rising 155% since 2019 as residents report vehicles blocking fire hydrants, crosswalks, bike lanes, and disability parking. Noise complaints, which topped 610,000 in 2024, remain the largest single category and affect certain neighborhoods disproportionately. The Bronx recorded the highest per-capita rate of noise complaints citywide, and the Wakefield section of the Bronx generated more noise requests than any other neighborhood in 2025, followed by Flatbush in Brooklyn.

The volume increase does not necessarily mean conditions across the city have worsened at the same rate. NYC Open Data notes that 311 volume measures reporting behavior, not underlying conditions. A more accessible app, a viral complaint category, or a particularly harsh winter can all move the numbers independently of whether the city itself has changed. One problem can also generate multiple requests when several neighbors report the same issue simultaneously, and chronic problems in neighborhoods with lower reporting rates may be undercounted.

How to Get Results From a 311 Request

Filing a service request is straightforward, but the specificity of the complaint affects how quickly and effectively agencies respond. The more detail a filer includes, including exact addresses, unit numbers, timestamps, and descriptions of the problem, the more actionable the request becomes for inspectors and field officers.

For noise complaints, filing while the disturbance is actively happening gives responding officers or inspectors the opportunity to observe the violation in real time. For building-related complaints like heat failures or plumbing issues, including the apartment number and the duration of the problem helps HPD prioritize inspections. For street conditions, noting the size of a pothole or the location of a damaged sign relative to an intersection helps DOT crews locate the defect.

If a service request is closed without resolution and the problem persists, residents can refile. Persistent clusters of complaints on the same block are flagged internally by agencies for larger-scale interventions, such as full-street resurfacing instead of individual pothole patches. Residents can also look up all open and recently closed service requests in their area through the NYC311 portal’s status lookup page, which displays requests by location, date, and topic.

FAQs

Can 311 Be Reached From Outside New York City?

Dialing 311 only connects to NYC’s system from phones within the five boroughs. From outside the city, residents and visitors can reach NYC311 by calling 212-NEW-YORK (212-639-9675). The online portal at portal.311.nyc.gov and the NYC311 mobile app are accessible from any location.

What Languages Does NYC311 Support?

NYC311 provides service in over 175 languages. Callers who need interpretation can request it when they connect with an operator, and the system will bring in a live interpreter. The online portal and app also support multiple languages.

How Long Does It Take for a City Agency to Respond to a 311 Request?

Response times vary by complaint type and the agency responsible. Active noise disturbances routed to the NYPD typically receive same-shift attention. Pothole repairs average just over two days from the time a request is filed. Heat and hot water complaints during the heating season trigger HPD inspections that can happen within 24 hours in urgent cases. Residents can track the status of any request using their service request number at portal.311.nyc.gov.

Does Filing a 311 Complaint Create a Public Record?

NYC311 service request data is published as a public dataset on NYC Open Data and updated daily. The records include the complaint type, agency, location, and resolution status. Individual filer identities are not included in the public dataset.

What Happens if a 311 Request Is Closed but the Problem Is Not Fixed?

Residents can refile the complaint through any of the same channels: phone, app, web portal, or text. Repeated complaints at the same address or block can trigger escalation within the responding agency, including more comprehensive repairs or targeted enforcement actions rather than one-off responses.

Allure Dental Designs: Dr. Priya Ravi’s Approach to Modern Dentistry

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

With more than two decades in dentistry, Dr. Priya Ravi has developed an approach at Allure Dental Designs that connects preventive care, communication, restorative treatment and smile aesthetics around the individual patient.

For many people, going to the dentist is prompted by something immediate. A tooth begins to hurt, an existing restoration breaks, sensitivity becomes difficult to ignore, or a long-standing concern about the appearance of a smile finally leads someone to explore treatment. These moments naturally demand attention, but they represent only one part of dental care. At Allure Dental Designs, Dr. Priya Ravi takes a longer view, placing value on what can happen before a problem becomes urgent: understanding a patient’s oral health, following relevant changes over time and creating the context for more informed conversations when treatment decisions eventually need to be made.

Dr. Ravi has practiced dentistry since 2002, following her dental education at New York University College of Dentistry and residency at Lutheran Medical in Brooklyn. Today, she practices through Allure Dental Designs’ locations in Huntington and Hauppauge, serving patients on Long Island with an approach centered on personalized and comprehensive care. Her philosophy emphasizes listening to patients and clearly explaining the options being considered, recognizing that dentistry is rarely about an isolated tooth or procedure. Oral health, function, comfort, existing dental work and a patient’s individual priorities can intersect, making the broader clinical picture an important part of determining what care may be appropriate.

Building a Better Picture Over Time

One of the less visible advantages of routine dental care is the opportunity to establish context. A single appointment can provide useful information about a patient’s oral health at that moment, while continuity can create a history against which future changes can be considered. Previous findings, diagnostic images when clinically appropriate, symptoms, treatment decisions and conversations about a patient’s priorities can collectively provide a more complete picture. When a new concern eventually emerges, the discussion can therefore begin not only with what is happening today, but with an understanding of what came before it and how the situation may have changed.

This does not mean routine appointments can prevent every future dental problem or guarantee that every condition will be identified at its earliest possible stage. Instead, their value can lie in having more information available when decisions need to be made. If a patient develops sensitivity, notices tooth wear, experiences a problem with an existing restoration or begins considering an aesthetic change, earlier information may provide useful context for evaluating the current situation. Prevention, viewed from this perspective, becomes less about promising that treatment will never be necessary and more about creating a framework for observing, discussing and responding to oral health over time.

Where Prevention Meets the Modern Smile

That foundation becomes particularly relevant as patients increasingly approach dentistry with aesthetic goals alongside health concerns. Allure Dental Designs represents cosmetic options including whitening, porcelain veneers, composite bonding and clear-aligner treatment, but these procedures are not interchangeable routes toward a generic idea of a better smile. Whitening is intended to address tooth shade, while bonding may be considered for selected concerns involving shape, contour or smaller imperfections. Veneers involve a different treatment-planning conversation, while clear aligners are designed to move teeth over time and introduce considerations involving alignment and bite. Each option therefore has different purposes, limitations and candidacy requirements.

For Dr. Ravi’s approach, the appearance of a smile cannot be considered entirely separately from the health and function behind it. Before cosmetic treatment is considered, factors such as the condition of the teeth and supporting tissues, existing restorations, anatomy, function and the patient’s expectations can influence the discussion. Someone may arrive knowing what they would like to change visually, but determining which possibilities make clinical sense requires individual evaluation. It is an approach that places the patient’s underlying oral health alongside their aesthetic priorities rather than treating cosmetic dentistry as an entirely separate conversation.

Looking Beyond a Single Procedure

The same individualized thinking applies when dental needs become restorative. Allure Dental Designs represents restorative care including fillings, crowns, bridges, root-canal treatment, dentures and dental implants, with different treatments intended for different clinical circumstances. A damaged tooth, failed restoration or missing tooth may affect comfort and function as well as confidence, but choosing how to respond depends on more than identifying the problem. Remaining tooth structure, supporting tissues, location, health history, personal priorities and other clinical considerations can all influence planning, meaning patients with apparently similar concerns may ultimately have very different treatment conversations.

An established dental history can add another layer of information to those discussions. When a dentist has followed a patient’s oral health over time, there may be greater context surrounding how a condition developed, what was previously monitored and which priorities influenced earlier treatment decisions. That history does not replace a current examination, but it can contribute to a more complete understanding of the situation. Dental implants, for example, may be an option for replacing missing teeth in appropriate candidates, but they are not automatically the right choice for every individual simply because a tooth is absent.

Dentistry Through Different Stages of Life

Continuity also matters because dental priorities rarely remain static throughout a person’s life. Earlier conversations may involve home-care habits, cavity risk or bite development, while later appointments can increasingly involve gum health, existing restorations, tooth wear, missing teeth or changes in the appearance of a smile. A relationship-centered approach does not assume every patient wants the same type of treatment. Some people may prioritize maintaining what they have with the least intervention reasonably necessary, while others may want to understand the restorative or cosmetic possibilities available to them.

This perspective also places emergency dentistry within the same longer timeline rather than treating it as an entirely separate category of care. When pain, a broken tooth or another urgent dental concern occurs, evaluating the immediate problem and determining an appropriate next step naturally becomes the priority. Once that concern has been addressed, however, the broader conversation can continue: what contributed to the problem, whether additional treatment should be considered, what may need monitoring and what can reasonably be done to manage future risk. Preventive and emergency dentistry serve different immediate purposes, but both can exist within an ongoing relationship between patient and dentist.

Dr. Priya Ravi’s Approach at Allure Dental Designs

Allure Dental Designs operates from two Suffolk County locations in Huntington and Hauppauge, bringing preventive, family, cosmetic, restorative, implant, clear-aligner and emergency dentistry together within the same practice. A patient who initially arrives for preventive care may later have a cosmetic question, require restorative treatment or unexpectedly need an urgent evaluation. Across those different circumstances, the underlying principle remains consistent: understand the individual clinical picture, communicate the available options and consider treatment in the context of the patient’s health and priorities.

After more than two decades in practice, Dr. Ravi’s philosophy offers a broader interpretation of what modern dentistry can look like. New materials, procedures and technologies may attract much of the attention surrounding the profession, but the conversation behind treatment remains equally relevant. Understanding what a dentist sees, why a recommendation is being considered and how different possibilities relate to individual circumstances can help patients participate more meaningfully in their care. At Allure Dental Designs, that conversation can begin during the routine appointments as much as during the transformative or urgent ones—connecting prevention, function and aesthetics as different parts of a patient’s evolving dental needs.

Photo Courtesy: Allure Dental Designs

Learn More About Allure Dental Designs

Readers interested in learning more about Dr. Priya Ravi and Allure Dental Designs can explore the practice’s approach, treatments and appointment information through its official website. Allure Dental Designs serves Long Island patients through locations at 7 High Street, Suite 203, Huntington, NY 11743, and 111 Smithtown Bypass, Suite 210, Hauppauge, NY 11788. For additional information or appointment inquiries, readers can visit AllureDentalDesigns.com, call (631) 350-1876, or contact the practice at contact@alluredentaldesigns.com.

⁠Visit Allure Dental Designs

Everything You Should Know About Modern Golf Cart Battery Options

NY Weekly Staff on September 4, 2026

Golf carts have quietly become one of the most versatile electric vehicles on the planet. They shuttle members around communities, haul equipment on farms and job sites, tour resorts, patrol campuses, and increasingly serve as neighborhood transportation where road speeds allow. What every one of these applications shares is dependence on the pack of batteries under the seat. When that pack is healthy, the cart just works. When it is worn out or poorly matched to the job, everything about the vehicle feels tired.

This article covers what today’s cart owner needs to know about their power source, from spotting the early signs of a fading pack to weighing the pros and cons of upgrading from traditional flooded cells to lithium iron phosphate. Whether you own a single cart at home or manage a fleet at a course, understanding the decisions that shape battery life will save you money, downtime, and frustration over the years you plan to keep the vehicles running.

Reading the Symptoms of a Tired Pack

A cart with a healthy battery pack accelerates crisply, holds speed on hills, and travels its expected daily range without a noticeable drop in performance from the first hole to the last. When any of those characteristics slips, the pack is telling you something. Reduced range is the classic warning: the cart that used to make eighteen holes now needs a mid-round charge. Slower acceleration and drooping headlights point in the same direction.

Choosing the right replacement golf cart battery depends heavily on how the vehicle is used, how often, and by whom. A resort cart running twelve hours a day faces very different demands than a homeowner’s cart that ferries groceries a few times a week. Matching the chemistry, voltage configuration, and amp-hour capacity to the actual duty cycle is the single most consequential decision an owner or fleet manager can make.

Testing Rather Than Guessing

Before writing off a suspect pack, put a voltmeter on it. Each fully-charged 6V flooded battery should sit near 6.3V at rest; each 8V cell should read near 8.4V. A load test at a battery specialist confirms what remains of the capacity under real current. Skipping this step often leads to replacing packs that had life left, or worse, leaving one weak battery in an otherwise good string to slowly drag down the healthy cells.

Traditional Lead-Acid Versus Modern Lithium

For decades, flooded lead-acid was the only realistic option for golf carts, and huge numbers of vehicles still run happily on strings of 6V or 8V deep-cycle units. The chemistry is proven, the cost per pack is relatively low, and any battery dealer can service or replace them. The trade-offs are weight, watering maintenance, ventilation requirements, and a lifespan that typically caps around five years even with attentive care.

Lithium iron phosphate has been steadily displacing lead-acid in the cart world for the past several years. A LiFePO4 pack weighs roughly one third as much as an equivalent flooded string, delivers noticeably better acceleration because voltage stays high throughout the discharge, and typically lasts three or four times longer measured in cycles. There is no watering, no equalizing, no acid corrosion around terminals, and no ventilation to engineer. Vipboss and other established manufacturers now offer drop-in replacements that fit standard 36V and 48V cart configurations.

Return on Investment Over the Years

The higher purchase price of lithium can be jarring at first, but the math tends to work out in its favor for anyone who plans to keep the cart more than a few years. Longer life, lighter weight that translates to more range from the same motor, and near-zero maintenance labor combine to lower total cost of ownership. Fleet operators in particular see the difference clearly on their maintenance budgets after the first full year of operation.

Charging Habits That Determine Longevity

Charge every night whether the cart was used heavily or barely at all. Deep-cycle batteries suffer when left partly discharged for extended periods, and lithium chemistry, while more forgiving, still ages more gracefully when it spends its life topped off. Use a smart charger designed for your specific chemistry, because a flooded charger applied to lithium will chronically undercharge the cells and a lithium charger applied to flooded batteries can miss the equalizing phase that keeps them balanced.

Water flooded batteries with distilled water only, and check levels monthly during the active season. Fill after charging, not before, because the electrolyte level rises as the cells reach full state. For lithium packs, the equivalent maintenance ritual is simply verifying that the battery management system reports no cell imbalance or fault codes. Modern packs communicate through Bluetooth apps that put this data at your fingertips.

Storage Between Seasons

Carts that hibernate for the winter deserve special attention. Flooded batteries should be fully charged, disconnected from the cart to eliminate parasitic drain, and topped up every few weeks with a maintainer. Lithium packs can usually be stored at about half state of charge in a cool location and left alone until spring. Getting winter storage right adds a full year or more to expected life.

Keeping Every Ride Smooth and Ready

The battery pack under your seat determines what your cart can and cannot do. A tired pack turns a capable vehicle into a chore, while a healthy one lets you forget the electrical side entirely and focus on the trip. Take the time to test what you already have before replacing anything, and when the day comes to swap the pack, weigh the long-term case for lithium against the familiar economics of flooded lead-acid honestly.

Whether you stay with proven flooded chemistry or move to a modern lithium replacement, the fundamentals stay the same: charge consistently, respect the chemistry-specific charger requirements, store properly during off-seasons, and pay attention to the early symptoms of a fading pack. A cart that gets this level of attention rewards you with years of quiet, dependable performance across every use case the vehicle is asked to handle.

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