AS THE NEW YORK TIMES WEEKLY CULT COLUMN "MODERN LOVE" VALIDATES EVERY SUNDAY, LOVE COMES (AND GOES) IN MANY FORMS. IT BREAKS DOWN CULTURES, BIASES AND FEARS, AND SIMPLY BREAKS HEARTS. ITS SINGULAR ENDURING, IMMUTABLE TRAIT IS ITS TRANSFORMATIVE POWER: THE WAY IN WHICH ITS ADVENT — IRRESPECTIVE OF DURATION — CONCLUSIVELY CHANGES AN INDIVIDUAL'S PERSPECTIVE AND, CONSEQUENTLY, HIS OR HER LIFE TRAJECTORY, FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE.
Photographer Ro Agents and DJ Kenan Juska (of Chances with Wolves) are an in-the-flesh example of this truth, the "better" side of it, anyway. The creative couple met in a club ("sort of") and have since gotten married, had twins and evolved their respective careers to new heights — a triumvirate that substantiates just how metamorphic love can be.
WHAT WORD BEST DESCRIBES YOUR CURRENT EMOTIONAL STATE?
IF YOU COULD LIVE ONE MOMENT OF YOUR CHILDHOOD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Kenan: Not really one moment, but that time in life when I was old enough to walk and talk, but I wasn't in school yet. I remember just hanging out with my mom. In my mind, the house was filled with magic-hour sunlight all day.
Ro: My grandmother lived on a canal in Detroit. It used to freeze in the winter and we would ice skate on it. In the summer, I used to fish there with my dad.
WHAT VALUES DO YOU MOST WANT TO PASS ON TO YOUR KIDS?
Kenan and Ro: Wow, so many. We really want them to understand the importance of empathy and valuing other people, but also want them to explore and pursue their own interests passionately. And it would be cool if they skateboard and ride dirt bikes.
Kenan: So many books, so hard to choose. I feel like I have books that were favorites at different times in my life, and for very different reasons, depending on when I read them.
Ro: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
Kenan: I try to be kind to people.
Kenan: Finding weirdo beautiful records.
Ro: That I get to take photos for a living. I also get to work with Kenan, which allows us flexibility to spend a ton of time raising our kids.
WHO HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST TEACHERS IN YOUT LIFE?
Kenan: I had a professor in college named John L. Moore. I learned a lot about making art and about myself from him. We are still in touch. Oh, and Ro. She taught me how to be a good (grown-up) man.
Kenan: I think 20-year-old me might be confused, but I'd explain things to him and he'd get it.
Ro: 20-year-old Ro wouldn't believe that I all I want to do is get the hell out of New York and have a quiet place to work with a backyard.
Kenan: I think I trust myself more than I used to.
Ro: I'm not sure I think about age like that. I actually have a problem understanding what age I am.
WHAT DO YOU STILL LOVE ABOUT NEW YORK?
Kenan: I like that there are certain spaces you can go into that feel pretty much the same as they did when I was a kid. They are mostly common places — pizzerias, bodegas, delis, a handful or restaurants — that still feel like New York to me. Also I get my haircut at Astor Place, which is basically frozen in time.
Ro: Can I say my friends?
A MEAL THAT REMINDS YOU OF A VACATION?
Kenan: Al Pastor Tacos, Queso Fundido and Victoria Beer.
Kenan: I'm running the NYC Marathon for the first time in November. Kinda risky?
Ro: Moving to New York.
WHAT IS THE WORST RISK YOU'VE EVER TAKEN?
Kenan and Ro: Almost opening a bar in New York City. Nightmare.
Kenan and Ro: We met in the club (sort of).
Kenan: So pretty! Her hair and her lips and her overall good style. I thought she was way cooler than me.
Ro: He seemed a little dismissive of me.
WHAT WORD WOULD YOUR PARTNER USE TO DESCRIBE YOU?
HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR PARTNER MOST DIFFERENT?
Kenan: I think I tend to be a little casual about things that are actually really important.
Kenan and Ro: The Wire.
Ro: I'm not scared. Play.
Kenan: Aquarium Drunkard, Discogs, WNYC.