The Brown and White took a stroll around the neighborhood and spoke to both couples and young community members about their experiences with love and relationships.
Brooke Mayer
Brooke Mayer is 15 years old and loves to read about love. Here’s her current stance on relationships.
Q: What do you love about being single?
BM: I get to just worry about myself.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do and why?
BM: I read a lot about love. I feel like, oftentimes, with books you get this picture perfect idea of love. I think it’s so different in reality because there’s so many more flaws when loving someone. It doesn’t only come in a romantic form. It can be in friendships and those around you can feel like the most loved as well because love isn’t always a person, it’s a feeling.
Q: How do you feel about love in 2026?
BM: It’s not what it used to be, but it’s still there. I think sometimes when you’re looking a little too hard, that’s when you pass by the things that are already there.
Q: Do you have advice for anyone who’s single right now but really doesn’t want to be?
BM: Don’t be so passive about opportunities because love might be just standing right in front of you and you don’t even realize it.
Laura and Roberto Espinal
Laura and Roberto have been together for 34 years after meeting in high school. They now have six kids and were visiting Bethlehem from New York.
Q: What advice would you give to young people who are in relationships or looking for love?
LE: I would say that the most important thing to find in someone else is that they have the same values and morals that you do.
Q: What are some of your favorite things to do together?
LE: We like to go out to restaurants (and) travel.
Q: Where’s your next dream place you want to go?
RE: We’re probably going to go to Chile next month.
Q: What was your first date?
RE: We were getting out of school. We were 14. I remember (we) stopped in a gallery or something, and that was our first kiss.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about each other?
LE: I would say that he’s spontaneous and adventurous.
RE: She’s very down to earth, very — I would say — straightforward about things, so I need a little bit of that.
Zoey Praedin
Zoey Praedin is a local Bethlehem high schooler and suggests that relationships should be more private. Here’s what she had to say about love.
Q: Tell us about your perspective on love.
ZP: It’s kind of a difficult question to answer. I don’t know — love, it’s wanting the ultimate well-being of someone you care about whether they are with you or not.
Q: On younger people and love, what advice would you give a friend who’s struggling in a relationship?
ZP: I would say just keep your relationship private and focus on the both of you, as opposed to what other people think.
Q: What do you like about being single?
ZP: You’re not tied down to anyone, and I feel like I get to know myself better being single.
Rachel Krause-Braker and Brett Braker
Rachel and Brett have been together for 14 years. They first met at Starters Pub on the South Side.
Q: What kind of advice would you give to younger people in relationships?
BB: Be honest and upfront with your significant other.
RKB: Find someone that you can be yourself around and have no shame around.
Q: What was your first date?
BB: I remember we went to (see) Frankenweenie.
RKB: Yeah, and we got fried avocados.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do together?
RKB: We like to go to conventions, like video game and anime conventions.
Q: What are your favorite video games?
RKB: Our favorite video games are Mass Effect and The Witcher; we like different kinds of comic books, so we look into those things together.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about each other?
RKB: I can be myself around him. He doesn’t care if I’m weird.
BB: Mine’s going to sound the same, it’s how weird she is.
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