Encore-2012-002

t FEBRUARY 2012 www.encorekala www.encorekalamazoo.com

Julie Stanley

Keeps It Fresh

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

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The next 20 years may be your best years, so enjoy them. With that bit of heartfelt advice, the couple in their early 50’s reconsidered what they’d previously assumed to be out of reach: the purchase of a small cottage on the big lake. The prompting came not from their children, but from an astute financial advisor who was looking at the couple’s financial position relative to their “life” position. He envisioned the coming years during which the family’s generations would spend summers and getaways in a special place that would grow to have special meaning. They took the leap, relying on the team at Greenleaf Trust to manage their assets ever so wisely—which we did. Good advice grew inseparable from good service, and thereafter formed a trusted bond. Even as life brought terrible hardships through the passing of the patriarch and the loss of an offspring, the bond not only endured, it strengthened. To the point at which, today, we assist with matters ranging from mortgages and cars to taxes and trusts. Where good advice is sought, good counsel is given. We’re the first to say not every insight is worth its weight in gold. But with satisfaction rates approaching 100%, and our unwavering focus on integrity and trust, it’s safe to say that Greenleaf Trust clients appear to benefit from our approach to wealth management. If you’d like to learn how we might improve your financial security from generation to generation, call us; we’ll give you our best thinking.

g r e e n l e a f t r u s t. c o m

2211 1 s o u t h rro o s e s t r e e t k a l a m a z o o , m i 4 9 0 0 7 2 6 9. 3 8 8 . 9 8 0 0 8 0 0 . 4 1 6 . 4 5 5555

I WASN’T GOING TO SIT AROUND

WAITING FOR MY

BACK TO HEAL. SITTING WAS JUST TOO PAINFUL. The act of lifting a bale of hay was merely the trigger. My doctor said the disc was already herniated. Time would determine if rest and physical therapy would take care of it. Six painful weeks went by. Then twelve. Finally, I’d had enough. I went to Bronson to talk about the one thing that pained me more than the pain itself: surgery. My fears went away when I learned minimally invasive back surgery is not like traditional back surgery. The incision was less than an inch. Amazingly I went from flat on my back to back on my feet in less than three hours. For that I’m thankful to my surgeon — and to Bronson, where Positivity is always part of the healing process.

bronsonhealth.com/spine

Whole Lotta Love REALLY, THIS BIG POOL of water is a symbol of love. My husband, Krieg, is a Southerner — I don’t mean like Indiana, but the other “iana,” Louisiana. As a boy, Krieg spent his winters playing baseball in his yard, riding his bike and doing everything he usually did outside the rest of year. Essentially winter down there was just like spring and fall but not green. I’m a Northern girl whose idea of winter is snowy and cold because I Iove ice skating. My childhood winters were spent skating on a rink erected on a vacant lot across the street from my house. The years we lived in the rink-starved South, I truly missed skating. Our move to Kalamazoo, with its plethora of indoor ice rinks, brought pure delight. But after my first winter, I realized indoor skating is just not the same. Inside an arena, there is no skating at night with large snow clusters falling gently around you, softening the noise of the world. Last winter, while our house was being renovated, we lived temporarily on Pine Lake in Barry County. We all got skates for Christmas and spent hours cavorting on the frozen lake, skating its length and feeling a bit like Hans Brinker. The Saturday before this past Christmas, Krieg came home with a truck full of lumber. Our backyard was ideal for an ice rink, he said, and his gift was to make one so we could skate anytime we desired. He constructed a frame, laid out a large plastic liner and filled it with water. And we eagerly waited. And waited. The temperatures hovered around 40, day after day. No Canadian Clipper came to call. No Arctic blast blew in from Banff. By mid-January, we had an impressive, rectangular pool of water in the middle of our yard. One morning I spotted a doe taking a drink there. When it hit 50 degrees on Jan. 6, Krieg remarked sardonically that we should invite some friends over, grill some burgers and sit on the deck to admire our new reflecting pool. I don’t mind the pool so much. Sure, I’d rather have an ice rink, but when I look at it, it’s a reminder of a pure, genuine sentiment. Krieg would argue that the sentiment is frustration, but I know better. It’s love. Maybe I feel that way because love is just in the air. You know – February, Valentine’s Day, heart-shaped boxes of candy taking over grocery store

shelves. So in honor of the best of all human emotions, this issue looks at love. Not so much romantic love, but the love that comes from people who are passionate about what they do and believe. For more than 17 years, Julie Stanley has shared her love for creating amazing meals with fresh, local food through Food Dance Café. It’s hard not to admire her loving touch when one dines among the asparagus spears at this favorite Kalamazoo eatery. Carrie Bennett, on the other hand, has successfully turned her love of being in the gym into helping others be healthier and fitter. The young men of Funktion, a group of talented, fun-loving musicians, are also following their passion: to play funk. In turn, audiences across the country are loving them. James Brown would be so proud. Writer Robert Weir gives us two stories on love of a higher order. The first tells how the members of St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church are helping children in India achieve education and overcome poverty. In a more personal tale, Robert describes the work of Rosalie Giffoniello of Empower The Children with whom he has been in Calcutta for the past six months working on a book manuscript. Finally, we take a look at several artists who see the potential in what you and I discard, repurposing items such as glassware, tin boxes and old furniture into works of art. You’ll love what they’ve done.

— Marie Lee, Editor

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Publisher Encore Publications, Inc. Editor Marie Lee Consulting Editor Penny Briscoe Advertising Sales/ Business Manager Krieg Lee Office Manager Ronald Dundon

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MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

6 JULIE STANLEY: The artist behind Food Dance Café.

Copy Editor Cherri Glowe Poetry Editor Theresa Coty O’Neil

Photo: Kit Almy

Feature Photographers Fran Dwight Erik Holladay

12 The members of have found a good groove.

Contributing Poets Ron Dundon Conrad Hilberry

SPECIALS

16

ARTISTS

4 FROM THE EDITOR

make magic from

Designer Brakeman

DISCARDED ITEMS.

9

TRIVIA PURZOOT

22 SPIRIT OF KALAMAZOO

30

We Bowl Together

CARRIE BENNETT Photo: Robert M. Weir

creates the ideal spot for others to get fit.

33

23 CREATIVE KIDS

Heart for Glass 24 Foto STOP

Love Is in The Air 26 MASSIE’S MICHIGAN

Members of

1811: The Summer Mackinac Island Lay Silent

ST. MARTIN OF TOURS reach out

Photo: Robert M. Weir

40 EVENTS OF NOTE

to children in India.

35 Overcoming poverty is impetus for founder to EMPOWER THE CHILDREN.

POETRY Photo: Robert M. Weir

Encore magazine is published nine times yearly, September through May. Copyright 2012, Encore Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Editorial, circulation and advertising correspondence should be sent to 350 S. Burdick, Suite 214, Kalamazoo, MI 49007. Telephone: (269) 383-4433. Fax number: (269) 383-9767. Email: Publisher@Encorekalamazoo.com. The staff at Encore welcomes written comment from readers, and articles and poems for submission with no obligation to print or return them. To learn more about us or to comment, you may visit www. encorekalamazoo.com. Encore subscription rates: one year $27.00, two years $53.00, three years $78.00. Current single issue and newsstand $4.00, $10.00 by mail. Back issues $6.00, $12.00 by mail. Advertising rates on request. Closing date for space is 28 days prior to publication date. Final date for print-ready copy is 21 days prior to publication date.

Photo: George Kobreek

FUNKTION

Contributing Writers Kit Almy Kaye Bennett Theresa Coty O’Neil Larry Massie Maureen Massie Robert M. Weir

21 February 21 Warren Woods

Cover photo: Erik Holladay W W W . E N C O R E K A L A M A Z O O . C O M

5

Culinary Artist J

ULIE STANLEY was all about being a locavore before the term was ever invented. When she opened Food Dance Café more than 17 years ago, one of her restaurant’s proud claims was that it used ingredients from local sources, including produce from Rose Scobey, Kirklin Farms, Deleo Farms, and Gary Otto’s chicken. “We didn’t do it because it’s cool,” Julie says. “We did it because it tastes better.” By Kit Almy

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Julie Stanley’s Food Dance Cafe a feast for the senses.

R

Photo: Erik Holladay

An artistic atmosphere Julie and business partner, John Schmitt, opened Food Dance Cafe in 1994 in the rear of the Haymarket Building in downtown Kalamazoo, initially serving only lunch and breakfast. Despite the lack of a storefront, a poor downtown business climate and predictions that “nobody will come,” Julie says, “The first time they wrote about us in the paper we doubled our business overnight.” After a couple of years Food Dance added dinner service and the business has thrived ever since. In 2007, the restaurant moved from its original location two blocks east to 401 East Michigan Avenue. Soon after, a market adjacent to the restaurant opened selling local and regional specialty foods, wines and gifts,

Adjacent to the restaurant, Food Dance’s market sells a variety of gourmet specialty foods, foodrelated gifts, local and regional foods, and Food Dance’s delicious desserts. Photos: Kit Almy

ECENTLY, Stanley was named Fair Food Matters’ “Locavore of the Year,” an award recognizing her efforts to support local food in Southwest Michigan. By shopping at farmers markets, she supports local suppliers and reaps the additional benefit of developing relationships with these vendors. “I personally know them, (executive chef) Robb (Hammond) knows them personally. We’ve been to their farms, we know their practices,” she says. The result is the restaurant gets the freshest, best quality ingredients. The produce also has unique flavor because of what the French call terroir, most familiar in the context of wine, which means that a certain food’s flavor depends on the climate and geography of where it’s grown. “All the environment around it is what makes the food what it is,” Julie says. For example, poblano peppers grown in a dry region of Michigan will taste much hotter than those from an area that gets a lot of rain. One of Julie’s challenges, however, is “the ups and downs of local produce” in which the ingredients available locally vary from season to season. Consequently, Food Dance’s menu changes dramatically every three months.

as well as Food Dance’s baked goods, salads and other prepared items. The restaurant also offers catering delivery, private party space and special events such as themed dinners, tastings and cooking classes. Food Dance is known as much for its food as for its giant vegetables — the ones painted on the walls, that is. A hallmark of the restaurant has always been the large-scale images of food that dominate the décor and are the work of several local artists, including Margy Hunter, whose towering asparagus spears graced the elevator in the first location, and muralist Conrad Kaufman. Julie herself is a self-taught amateur artist who enjoys drawing, painting and making collages in her spare time.

W W W . E N C O R E K A L A M A Z O O . C O M

7

Photo: Courtesy Julie Stanley

Stanley

When she opened Food Dance, she asked her artist friends for advice on what it should look like. “I knew it should be food-themed as a tribute to the growers, but I didn’t want it to be too corny,” she says. “I just worked with them and their visions and collaborated.” When Julie decided to move, she knew she wanted to bring some of these original artistic elements to the new space. “We knew moving a restaurant was very difficult. You could lose your entire customer base if they loved you there and they hate you here,” she says. In the new location, Margy Hunter recreated her oversized asparagus, this time with three-dimensional spears projecting from the wall. She also painted asparagus on the glass of the Michigan Avenue entryway to minimize the fishbowl effect for nearby tables. Conrad Kaufman, whose mural of cornfields filled the hallway to the restrooms in the old location, created threedimensional cornstalks in the new place. Whimsical and fun, the stalks serve a practical purpose by providing a visual screen between the window into the kitchen and the rest of the restaurant. But look closely at the corn stalks

Julie shows off the result while teaching a class on making paella.

and you’ll find they have yet another function: They provide a haven for a dozen or so resting fairies also created by Conrad. These three-dimensional sprites

sit among the stalks and gaze upon diners. One painted fairy even provides direction to the restrooms. “Conrad painted fairies on our back wall in the old location, just playfulness I think, he has some in his own paintings. It was Conrad’s idea to create the papier mache ones when we moved here. I believe there are 13, although they might multiply,” she says with a playful smile. Julie loved working with her friends to achieve Food Dance’s special look, which also included family collaboration. All of the interior carpentry in both locations was done by Julie’s husband, Ed Brezinsky, a carpenter and builder, and his crew.

Food Dance’s New England Clam Chowder INGREDIENTS: 3 strips salt pork or bacon 2 cloves garlic 3-4 stalks of celery (small dice) 1 medium onion (small dice) 1 leek (small dice) 2 lbs. potatoes (medium dice) 2 cups clam juice 1 cup clams in juice ¼ cup flour (more may be necessary depending on rendered fat from salt pork) Salt to taste Pepper to taste 1 teaspoon thyme Cream as needed 1 teaspoon fresh dill

8

PREPARATION: 1. In a small pot, add potatoes and cover with clam juice. Bring to boil and reduce to a simmer, cook potatoes until just cooked (should not fall apart when tested with a knife. They should be about 95% done as they will cook a little more in finished soup.) 2. In large, heavy-bottomed stock pot, render the salt pork or bacon down. Add the vegetables to fat and sweat them until soft. 3. Add flour and create the roux. Be sure to cook the roux for 5-10 minutes in order to cook out some of the starch in the flour. 4. Season with salt, pepper and thyme. 5. When potatoes are fork tender, place fine mesh strainer over the stock pot and drain potatoes into it, letting stock fall through into roux mixture.

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6. Remove strainer with potatoes and set to side. Return stock pot to heat and stir to dissolve roux into clam juice. Stir continuously to dissolve the roux-clam juice mixture (very important to be attentive in this stage as it will thicken very quickly and burn even quicker). 7. You may need to add more clam juice depending on how thick you like your chowder (New Englanders like it thick enough to coat a spoon at this stage). 8. Allow thickened stock to cook for approximately 5 minutes in order to cook out raw flour flavor. 9. Add cream until desired thickness; add the chopped clams. (I always add clams at very end; adding them too soon will cause them to become very tough and rubbery.) Garnish with oyster crackers and fresh dill.

Photo: Courtesy Julie Stanley

Julie and her husband, Ed Brezinsky, enjoy traveling. They visited Ireland a few years ago.

Such attention to interior detail and ingredients has paid off. The restaurant was a winner in the Kalamazoo Gazette’s most recent Reader’s Choice Awards in the categories of best American restaurant, best vegetarian fare and best desserts, and it was runnerup or received honorable mention in several other categories, including best wait staff. Julie is as proud of her staff as she is of the food they prepare and serve. Although currently the sole owner — she bought out her business partner seven years ago — Julie says “we� whenever referring to the restaurant and how it operates. “All of our staff are involved in what we do,� she says. “We’ve always run open-book, from the day we opened the

doors.� This business practice involves sharing the running of the business with the entire team. Employees participate in decision-making and are empowered to take initiative to make improvements in business operations. “I teach them in the beginning, and continually, that you run this company, it’s not just me,� Julie says. “We try to give people the latitude to let them do the right thing to take care of the guests.� Staff members are trained to listen to guests, ask questions and know

the menu inside and out. Food Dance staff use “systemsâ€? to make the restaurant run smoothly. “We work really hard on systems,â€? Julie says. “(They) allow the staff to work within an agreed-upon process towards reaching our mission of giving guests a great Food Dance experience.â€? This mission means paying close attention to customer feedback. Julie considers it a gift when customers complain to her or her staff, instead of to their friends or through anonymous online reviews. “Tell us ďŹ rst so we can take care of you and make it right,â€? she says. A young start Julie learned to cook — and perhaps to be an independent businesswoman — from her mother. In the 1950s when few mothers worked

Q: What important demonstration occurred at the Academy of Music?

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9

Stanley

outside the home, Julie’s mother traveled to New York one week a month as a fashion buyer. She left detailed menus for her family when she was away, and Julie took on the responsibility of preparing their meals. She continued cooking for herself when she moved from Livonia to Kalamazoo to attend Western Michigan University, working her way through school by waiting tables and cooking in various restaurants. She pored over cooking magazines and cookbooks and checked out the restaurant scene in New York when she traveled there with her mother during high school and college.

Julie graduated in 1976 with an education degree, specializing in alternative education. She worked in her ďŹ eld for a couple years in Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor, but the job market wasn’t great, so she started looking for something else to do. She says, “I just really happened to be good at cooking at the same time. I was at a crossroads, so I decided to go into food.â€? Julie admits she’s a bit of a rebel, which includes her nontraditional career path. She took intensive classes from a French chef in Wisconsin but didn’t want to attend culinary school, in part because, “I don’t do well with authority, which is a trait of a single

businessperson,� she laughs. She initially worked “in the underground world of food,� as she calls it, renting out the kitchen of a nonoperational school in Comstock, where she taught classes and presented special dinners in the gymnasium. “You had to know someone to know that I was doing that,� she explains. Julie and Ed were married in 1980, and two years later she opened “A Slice of Heaven,� a gourmet catering and carryout business. When she lost her lease a few years later, she moved back to Ann Arbor, taking the business with her. (continued on page 38)

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ReadingTogether Meet Author

Luis Alberto Urrea P Pulitzer Prize nonfiction finalist in 2005 and LLatino Literature Hall of Fame member, Urrea hhas published extensively in all major genres.

Tues, March 6, 7 pm KCHS Auditorium 2432 N Drake Rd, Kalamazoo Open seating, no ticket required. Books for sale and signing.

Our grateful thanks to the following for their sponsorship of Luis Alberto Urrea’s visit to Kalamazoo: Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; the Friends of Kalamazoo Public Library; and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation.

Photo: Dean Schreuder e Kobreek

Photo: George Kobreek

Photo: Georg

UNK can be defined in just two words, agree Andrew Schrock and Jeremy Reisig: “James Brown.” In the 1970s, the Godfather of Soul came up with this musical style that emphasizes rhythm, syncopation and groove; downplays melody and complex harmonies; and reverberates with drums and bass. In short, Brown gave birth to funk, the sound that won’t let its listeners sit still. Now, 40 years later, Kalamazoobased band Funktion uses funk as its starting place, fuses it with rock or soul or just about any other style, and makes music that is gaining fans throughout the nation. The seven young men who comprise Funktion have impressive qualifications. Several came out of the jazz studies program at Western Michigan University’s School of Music, while two were part of WMU’s famed Gold Company vocal jazz program. All the members have years of experience with bands, and several have classical music training. Last decade, two local groups, Deep Blue Underground and the Weatherly Band, both composed largely of musicians from WMU, were making the rounds locally. It was from these groups that Funktion sprang. When Andrew Schrock and other former Deep Blue Underground and Weatherly Band members started Funktion in late 2007, it was primarily 12

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O When you travel with seven men in a 1997 15-person Chevy van pulling a 12-foot trailer, you want to make it worth the trip. The band schedules road trips in areas where the music scene is dense, like Colorado. They have found it is necessary to revisit an area four to six months after they first perform there while fans are still excited about them. They have also observed that it’s not a good idea to play clubs in southern Michigan (such as Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Holland) in the same weekend. Even though all those cities have great clubs, Michigan Funktion fans are willing to drive from one city to another for a concert, so they risk overexposure. O Touring is a humbling experience. “Young musicians,” observes Jeremy, “have to get used to playing in clubs where people aren’t paying attention to you.” Unlike concertgoers, patrons at bars and restaurants are bound to be distracted by food and drink, no matter how good the music. O Funktion deals with a broad range of stages, personalities and sound technicians and technology. With seven people performing on the stage, these issues can be daunting, especially in small clubs or bars. O Creature comforts can be challenging, or nonexistent, for the

IS JUST THE BEGINNING BY KAYE BENNETT

a cover band and, at first, had just five members. Soon others joined, including Terrence Massey and Jeremy Reisig, and not long after that, the band moved beyond covers to writing original material. These days, 95 percent of the music Funktion performs is original, and when they do covers, they’re likely to choose obscure songs. According to Andrew, “We play music we like, whether it’s original or rare. . . . When we do a cover song, we make it our own.” According to Andrew and Jeremy, the band’s biggest fans appear to be those 25 to 45 years of age. What these fans are responding to, Funktion members believe, is not only the groove, but the fun. “People get down with us,” says Andrew. “We do high energy sets.” As Jeremy puts it, “Our groove elicits movement and makes you want to have fun.” As their popularity grows, Funktion’s members are learning firsthand about the lives of touring musicians. One of the biggest lessons is how much of that life is devoted to the business side of the music business. For example:

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FUNKTION TAKES ITS KALAMAZOO GROOVE ON THE ROAD.

Photo: Dean Schreuder

FUNKTION will perform at the Bell’s Oberon Release Party, March 25 & 26, Gllobe Theatre beloow Shakespeare’s Pub.

traveling band. But, says Jeremy, “On the road. . . the generosity of people we don’t know is amazing.” O Having a demanding day job or a spouse is next to impossible. Funktion performs three nights every week, most often out of town. Several times a year, they leave for a month or more. While some of the band members do have other jobs (Andrew paints houses, for example, and Jeremy sells Cutco knives), their jobs are, by necessity, extremely flexible. And none of the Funktion members, all between the ages of 26 and 30, are married. O Like any business, in order to succeed, a touring band, no matter how lighthearted and fun loving, needs to be disciplined. Jeremy says, “We need to be reliable, to make enough money to survive, and to get people to come to the shows.” To help the band with scheduling and marketing, Funktion recently began working with agent Brad Raffenaud of In the Pocket Artists.

Funktion had gigs in 18 states in 2011; they’ll hit even more places this year. They’ve recorded two CDs, Funk Prelude (2009) and Step Into It (2011). Both were recorded at the Kalamazoo Recording Company. Once Funktion began experiencing success, its members decided it was time to start giving back. “We have the advantage of being born in this country. … We have all our basic needs met. And then we get to do what we love,” says Andrew. One evening, when Funktion was playing at Charlie Foster’s in Kalamazoo, Tara Stubbs, executive director of 4 Oneworld, was in the audience. There was an instant connection, and Funktion has been a supporter of the Kalamazoobased nonprofit and the African school children it helps since that evening (see related story). Funktion’s vision is to continue to grow musically, while expanding its audience geographically. By 2013 they want to include international gigs.

m left, Andrew nk tion are, fro Members of Fu an Reisig, drums; Terrence Se drew Briggs, guitar; t and vocals; An Massey, trumpe ls; Hugh Lit tle, keyboards ca vo ad Schrock, le rcussion and remy Reisig, pe and vocals; Je . ss ba , ay nw al Co vocals; and Ne

On this continent, however, Jeremy will go to Austin, Texas, in March to represent the band at the South by Southwest Music Festival. In April, the band will head out on a 31-day, 15-state tour which will include stops in Colorado, California and Oregon. “We’re all excited to be on the road, every tour brings new experiences and many new connections,” says Jeremy. “Being in California will be such a highlight and Colorado is always good to us; the people there are like those in Michigan, always seeking out new live music.” Wherever they end up this year and in the world in 2013, Funktion has its priorities in place. “We work hard and we’re serious about improving our art,” says Andrew. “But we’re lighthearted. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.” After all, three-quarters of “funk” is “fun.” To learn more about Funktion and to hear a sample of their music, visit www. funktionmusic.com.

W W W . E N C O R E K A L A M A Z O O . C O M

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Funktion

WHEN THE MEMBERS of Funktion agreed that the band should show its support of 4 Oneworld, Tara Stubbs, the organization’s executive director, rejoiced. “I met Jeremy [Reisig] and Andrew [Schrock] in 2009, and right way they wanted to get on board and help,” says Stubbs. “They started by donating one dollar from the sale of each CD, and they have played at our annual fundraiser for the last two years. They are loyal supporters.” The mission of 4 Oneworld is to provide educational resources to schools in the developing world. The idea started in 2005 when Tara Stubbs, a professional photographer who grew up in Vicksburg, got lost in Kampala, Uganda, where she was doing a photo shoot. Wandering through the streets of the city, Stubbs was befriended by a 12-yearold orphan named Norman who took her to her destination. After she returned to the United States, Stubbs and Norman kept up a correspondence by mail. When Stubbs offered to help the boy in some way, he asked if she could help pay for the cost of his education. Many of the students at the St. Kizito Secondary School, which Norman attended, were former child soldiers or AIDS orphans

and most were impoverished. Stubbs began communicating with the school’s headmistress and learned that computers topped the school’s wish list. “I didn’t have much money, but I had time and energy,” says Stubbs, “so I started a not-for-profit.” By the end of 2005, Tara and her brother, Adam Stubbs, 35, owner of Advantage Communications Enterprises in Kalamazoo, had turned the idea into a 501(c)(3), and developed some ambitious plans. The first five-year plan called for computers to serve the students at St. Kizito. With the help of many individual supporters, some businesses and, of course, Funktion, by 2010, 4 Oneworld had met its goal, providing more than 40 computers, Internet service and a computer teacher. The St. Kizito program is now selfsufficient and the school, now with more than 1,000 students, was recently cited by UNESCO for having one of the best computer literacy programs in Uganda. So 4 Oneworld has moved on to its next project, in the tiny rural village of Kibooba. The 110 students at Kibooba Village Primary School are extremely impoverished, says Tara Stubbs, and the

Photo: Courtesy 4 OneWorld

da an Ug n i n o i at uc Ed d Ai To d rl o w e n O 4 rm Fo gs Siblin

Band members and board members of 4 OneWorld join together a good cause: bottom row, from left, Hugh Little, Adam Stubbs, Tara Stubbs, Melissa Montague and Andrew Briggs. Top Row, from left, Bob Lakey, Andrew Schrock, Neal Conway Jeremy Reisig, Liz Semaan, Andrew Bruex, Sean Reisig and Terrence Massey.

school “needed everything — operating expenses, textbooks, furniture.” Again, 4 Oneworld’s goal is sustainability, so they introduced incomegenerating projects, including cows (whose milk will help pay for teachers) and a garden (to provide school lunches). The organization has also bought desks, chairs and books, as well as doing construction for the school. Like Funktion, Tara and Adam Stubbs and the rest of the board members of 4 Oneworld see their opportunities to make a difference in the world beyond Michigan. “The developing world has the greatest need,” says Adam Stubbs, “and the developed world, where many live prosperously, has the resources. We must share these resources and advantages, as well as help educate those who need it most.”

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Discards Become Art

The fabric of the patchwork quilt at right inspired Gretchen Leguizamon to paint this former music cabinet and create a stool (upon which she sits) to match.

By Marie Lee

Green, repurposed, upcycled, found objects. Whatever the phrase, art that takes items that others discard or no longer use and gives them new life is a growing trend. It takes a special eye to see the potential in what might ordinarily end up in a landfill. Southwest Michigan is fertile ground to find such artists; in the last year, a number of exhibits have showcased creations by artists who recycle, repurpose and reuse. Whether it be reviving a worn-out table by making it into a painted treasure, using broken glass to create lightloving windows or making jewelry out of things we all take for granted, the artisans featured here lovingly craft beauty from the ordinary.

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Secondhand furniture is painter’s canvas Where many folks see grandma’s beat-up gateleg table, Gretchen Leguizamon finds a canvas. For 13 years, Gretchen has taken furniture she’s found at garage and estate sales or thrift stores and, with several strokes of a brush, painted them a new existence. She started painting furniture at first for herself, but found her brightly colored, imaginative creations were generating interest from friends and friends of friends. She had collected a garage full of secondhand furniture that her husband, Enrique, urged her to do something with so he could reclaim a spot to park his car. ar. So she painted away and sold her creations at small sales in her home. Herr talents caught the attention of the Kirk Newman Art School at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, which signed her on to teach classes. The popularity of those classes, coupled with the demand for her work, prompted her to open a studio and retail shop in the Park Tradess Center in downtown Kalamazoo. 2 0 1 2

Gretchen estimates that by now, “thousands of pieces” have passed through her doors. She photographs each work and keeps the images in rapidly multiplying books. Every piece is unique, there are never two of the same design and color. Before she took to painting furniture, she was a full-time mom of four children, two girls and two boys. Gretchen laughs when she recalls her daughter Carmen, Birdhouses and a garden motif transform an old table into something whimsical.

describing her earliest childhood memory as “going into a junk store with mom and having to ride home in the back sitting on top of furniture.â€? Repurposed pieces such as beds that have been turned into benches and a sheet-music cabinet transformed into an intricately painted jewelry armoire are (SFUDIFO interspersed -FHVJ[BNPO among a variety Art on a of other Whim painted items including chess sets, salt and pepper mills, frames and clocks that adorn her shop. Gretchen gets a little help in her repurposing efforts from her father, Ross GrifďŹ th. Ross, a custom furnituremaker, owned The Cabinetry in Richland for years and is Gretchen’s go-to guy when her secondhand ďŹ nds need repair. Gretchen is often commissioned by interior decorators and individuals to create custom items but ďŹ nds she is happiest “when I am free totally to do something of my own, when I don’t have to worry about what it needs to match,â€? she says. “My creative outlet is when I don’t have to play it safe and can make the decisions about design and color.â€? She also enjoys passing on what she knows through classes on painting furniture that she teaches at her studio. Her 10-week classes are always full. “Maybe it’s just that people are just more frugal, but they are embracing the idea that it is better to reuse something for a better pu purpose than buy new. Especial l with older furniture, Especially becau because it’s real wood,â€? she say says. “A lot of times people have great ideas but don’t h know how to bring it to life. I help them with the colors, and get them to ttrust that when they put th h paint on the item it’s the goin n to be okay.â€? going

#SPLFO HMBTT XJOEPXT NBLF B CFBVUJGVM WJFX #SPLFO HMBTT TQFBLT UP (BJM )FJN An etched sugar bowl at a garage sale cries out to be cut in half and reborn as a vase in a still life of owers. Green, gold and blue wine bottles promise to yield bottoms and tops for mosaics, offering up their leftover midsections to be shattered into the shapes of leaves or ower petals. And this broken glass speaks to other people, too — Gail has produced more than 400 of her broken-glass window creations, most of which have been sold to buyers through art galleries and shops in Traverse City, Suttons Bay, Rochester and Kalamazoo. Gail began her foray making art with glass shards about ďŹ ve years ago when she used broken glass to create a mosaic window for a bathroom at her cottage on Crystal Lake in Beulah. She liked the design, but thought (BJM )FJN the grout used to G3+R2=0 adhere the pieces to the window’s glass panes was unattractive and distracting. She experimented with a special glass adhesive and found clarity — literally. The invisibility of the glue let her afďŹ x beautiful patterns of broken glass onto the panes of an old window. The light that was allowed through unhindered accentuated the glass’s intricate patterns and colors and created three-dimensional beauty. Soon Gail was haunting garage and estate sales and thrift stores, collecting glassware of all shapes from bowls and plates to ashtrays and light ďŹ xtures. Friends and family passed on pieces from the backs of their cupboards. Her husband, Jim, inevitably became

Gail Heim creates beauty from broken glass.

her treasure-hunting sidekick, rescuing old windows people had put out on the curb as trash or retrieving long-forgotten windows from the dusty recesses of others’ attics and basements. “Jim is a wonder with old windows,â€? Gail says, admiringly. “He ďŹ nds windows that are not in the best condition and rehabs and paints them so I can use them. He uses his skills as a cabinet maker, carpenter and reglazer. The glass patterns glued to the windows can make them very heavy, but he shores them up and makes them strong enough to support the weight.â€? Gail and Jim, who live on the outskirts of Kalamazoo, keep their workspaces separate. Gail does her glasswork in a portion of their garage that’s heated by a wood burner, while Jim rehabs windows in his “man caveâ€? — a barn across from the house on their 1.3-acre property on Bonnie Castle Lake. This is not the only work that Gail and Jim, who are native Ohioans, do. She has run an embroidery business, Design Express, Inc., out of their home since 1990, while Jim is president and co-owner of a

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Upcycled Art contract manufacturing company headquartered in Auburn Hills. They came to Kalamazoo originally in 1977 for one of Jim’s jobs; moved to Rochester Hills in 1980, and then six years later, Jim bought into a local company to facilitate a move back to Southwest Michigan. The windows, however, are their labor of love, so much so that Gail names each and every window before it heads out the door. “There’s a little bit of Gail in every piece and no two pieces are alike,” says Jim. “That’s why she has to name them.” “Really,” Gail interjects insistently, “they have to have a name. They can’t be out there without a name.” Names are important to the Heim family: Their granddaughter, Kelly Clare, currently a senior at Interlochen Arts Academy, developed the moniker for Gail’s art enterprise: G3 +R2 = Zero. “Our granddaughter, who was 12 at

the time, was learning quadratic equations and came up with the name,” Gail explains. “G3 stands for my nickname from the grandkids, ‘GG’, so it’s ‘GG’s Glass.’ The R2 is for ‘recycle and reuse,’ which equals zero space in the landfill.” Gail says she doesn’t know what a finished window will look like until she starts putting it together. Each creation has its own identity. Depending on how it evolves, glass pieces are used “as is,” cut, nipped or broken. There are times, however, when the intrinsic beauty of a glass item will prevent her from breaking it. “I’ve been given crystal pieces that are just beautiful. I once got a lavender crystal pitcher that was the most wonderful color. It had no chips or flaws and I just couldn’t bring myself to break it,” she remembers. Gail’s windows are currently available locally at the Nature Connection in downtown Kalamazoo.

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4IF LFFQT XIBU TIF mOET Amy Culp finds things. A forgotten Lego in the back of her college-age son’s closet. A cookie tin from a thrift store. A rusty chunk of metal laying in a gutter. And then, like a fairy with a wand, she transforms them into jewelry. These objects can be anything: “I’ll see something in the street — an old key ring, a chunk of a car or an interesting piece of Styrofoam — and I’ll pick it up and say ‘I think I can do something with this,’” explains Amy. “I believe it’s just a lucky, happy coincidence that I ran into it.” Amy, the head of the jewelry department at the Kirk Newman Art School at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, works with “found objects,” taking items meant for another purpose

and turning them into wearable art. “I have always been drawn to using nontraditional materials,” Amy explains. “Anyone can take a gemstone and set it and make jewelry. It requires a different skill set to see the potential in something like a dollar bill. I wanted people to look at what I create and say ‘What is she using and why?’” Amy’s foray into found objects began, innocently enough, with a cardboard Kleenex box. “It had these cute little kittens on it and I just kept using the box over and over, filling it with "NZ $VMQ Multiplicity new tissues. It started to get Jewelry kind of yucky, so I cut out all the little kitties that were still good,” she remembers. “Shortly after, I started taking a jewelry class at the KIA. I figured out I could use my little kitties by encasing them in resin, setting them into bezels and making pins out of them.” Using such eclectic materials means each piece Amy produces is dramatically

different. One day she could be making a locket from tin; the next, intricately weaving tiny strips of shredded foreign currency for a pendant. “I’m always thinking about the next thing,” she admits. She’s got the space to do that, now. After years of working in a small room at home with her hundreds of containers organized and tucked away from sight, she moved into a new studio last May. In typical Amy Culp-fashion, her choice of studio space was about repurposing as well. In discussing her dream studio with husband Ben, she had an epiphany, realizing “What I really need is the science room at the old Lawton Middle School,” which sat empty after a new school was built elsewhere. Because of its historic value, there weren’t any plans to tear down the old school. Amy seized the opportunity, developed a proposal for her studio space and presented it to the Lawton School Board. She said she was “shocked” when they accepted it. Since then other entities,

This is a just a small sampling of the found objects Amy incorporates into her pieces. Clockwise from top left, bottlecaps, pottery shards, marbles, laminate sample cards, coconut shell and porcupine quills.

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Upcycled Art

The background of this pendant is made of squares cut from old cookie tins. Other items include an annodized aluminum “cage” containing Swarovsky crystals.

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including a day care, have moved into the former school building. “It was the best move ever,” Amy says of the space that has large, bright windows and ample room. “I can put all my stuff out so I can see everything I have to work with. It’s quiet and there’s no phone. It is just glorious solitude. It really helps give me a creative push.” Her new space also gives her more time to contemplate how to use the many items she finds. “I love the engineering of taking something and trying to figure out how to put it together. It’s not about what it looks like, it’s about how it’s made,” she says. “I don’t make things people could buy at a department store, I make things with character.” As a result, the stories behind her found objects are just as intriguing as the pieces they become. “Every piece has a story, what it is, where I found the object, what I did with it,” she says. “I try to remember that because I take for granted that people will just understand. So I am working on getting better at explaining my pieces.” When not in the studio, Amy can be found teaching jewelry-making classes at the KIA, a job she relishes. She specializes in cold connections — riveting and other methods of fastening items together — and design. “I love teaching and watching students experience discovery,” she says. “I would love to teach more and hope to do workshops for artists in the future.” For the time being, though, Amy is reveling amid her collections of objects, pondering their possibilities. Amy’s pieces are featured at the Midtown Gallery in downtown Kalamazoo and at City Art Gallery in Grand Rapids.

February I walk Asylum Lake, north edge where the path climbs a quick slope

the frozen water. Out on the ice, a fisherman, wrapped in black, looks down his square hole into the cold. Three swans stand, necks high, beaks into the wind, one foot raised. By Conrad Hilberry Conrad Hilberry is professor emeritus of English at Kalamazoo College and a beloved local poet and former winner of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry. He has published several books of poetry. His most recent collections include The Fingernail of Luck and This Awkward Art: Poems by a Father and Daughter, written with his daughter, Jane Hilberry.

Photo: Ron Dundon

and disappears. It’s winter. Snow blows in waves of its own above

Warren Woods Sanctified stand, Old growth cathedral, A breeze coursing through it Composing a song of sighs. Consider muddy whispers left Reminding me of other callers. I walk among the droppings from the trees Musing this remnant, untouched, fluid and wild. By Ron Dundon A lifelong resident of Kalamazoo, Ron Dundon is an alumnus of Kalamazoo Central and Western Michigan University. He has been a staff assistant at Encore since 2000. Ron’s interests include photography, ice hockey, music and theater. This work is part of a larger project in which he is writing poems to accompany photos he has taken, including the one featured here.

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Spirit of Kalamazoo

If someone were to ask you to describe the essence of the spirit of Kalamazoo, how would you respond? Following is the answer from Hannah McKinney, Kalamazoo City Commissioner and professor of economics at Kalamazoo College. I HAVE BEEN on Kalamazoo’s City Commission for 14 years. During that time I have been invited to visit lots of different groups for various reasons and usually learn a lot about the group and its accomplishments. I have also met and spoken with many individuals during those years who often tell me what it is about Kalamazoo that they love the most. As I try to tease out the spirit of Kalamazoo from these memories of people and groups, I do see one common thread emerge; a thread I can characterize as “bowling together.” I think that Robert Putnam’s book on social capitalism, Bowling Alone, describes the antithesis of the spirit of Kalamazoo. People in Kalamazoo do not bowl alone. Instead, we are a community of joiners and creators, of people with great passions and interests who are able to find and nurture others with like passions and interests. The spirit of Kalamazoo is a “can do” one, where someone has an idea and then has the force of character and vision to make that idea a reality. I have always said that no matter what a person is interested in, that person can find a group, an association or a community within which he or she can thrive and pursue that interest. For instance, if you like astronomy, you can join the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society, currently celebrating its 75th anniversary. The society was formed by Kalamazoo College students who wanted to learn more about astronomy after a seminar ended. This society, according to its website, is “the oldest organization of its kind in Michigan and one of the

We Bowl Together By Hannah McKinney

largest. Its purpose is to promote the exchange of information among those with a common interest in all areas of astronomy, to educate the public about astronomical discoveries and events and to cooperate with other amateur Hannah McKinney, Kalamazoo Vice Mayor, and professional says Kalamazooans are the “antithesis” to astronomical those who “bowl alone.” organizations.” Or consider the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club. Its website informs us that it started in 1971. “Recognizing that Southwestern Michigan offers a rare combination of good bicycling roads and great scenery, several cycling enthusiasts got together to form the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club,” the site states. “They wanted to support and encourage other riders in the area, to promote the sport of bicycling, and to have fun.” I just spent part of my New Year’s Day volunteering at the John Daley Memorial One One Run, which has been put on by Gazelle Sports for 28 years (my daughter and I were at the A through C station in pre-registration: What size T-shirt did you order?). We have been doing the run/walk for more than 10 years. There is always something really grand about (continued on page 42)

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Photo: Theresa Coty O’Neil

By Theresa Coty O’Neil

WHEN YOU’VE STUCK a long pole draped with molten glass into a 2,200-degree furnace, taking a hot dish out of the oven seems like a piece of cake (forgive the pun). At least it is according to Anna Jursinic, a sophomore at Portage Central High School and a budding glass artist at the West Michigan Glass Art Center, which is located in the Park Trades Building. Inspired by a fifth-grade Girl Scout Troop field trip to watch a glassblowing demonstration, Anna looked around the center’s large studio and was amazed by all the varieties of artwork made from glass. Excited, she talked her parents into enrolling her in a summer camp, which she’s participated in every summer since, learning a variety of glass arts skills. “Working with glass is very unique,” says Anna, 15, who, in the past five years, has created several beautiful glass pieces including a blown and sandblasted vase, tiles, sun catchers and jewelry. “Glass is so pretty. I love the way I can layer colors. Also, there is a little danger involved with it.” That aspect of danger is why they like A close up of Anna’s sandblasted vase. to say at the Glass Art

Creative Kids

Photo: Theresa Coty O’Neil

Heart for Glass

Anna Jursinic, 15, has been enrolled in Glass Camp every summer since she was 10. Here, she sits at a mixed fuel torch in the Flame Shop at the West Michigan Glass Art Center.

Center, “We let you play with glass and fire, two things your parents told you not to touch.” As students gain knowledge and experience, they are allowed to proceed from the Fusing Studio (also known as the Cold Shop) where glass and frit can be layered to produce tiles and slumped dishes, to the Flame Shop where students use mixed-fuel torches for small-scale sculptures and sandblasters (continued on page 43)

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See page 46 to learn more about this photo and the photographer.

1811 THE SUMMER Mackinac Island Lay Silent

By Larry Massie

Fur trader’s letters detail embargo’s effect on “the fairy island.”

H

ENRY BREVOORT dipped his quill in the ink well, the black liquid glistening as he scrawled across the top of the sheet: Mackinac, June 28th, 1811. Within the body of the letter he wrote to his friend Washington Irving, the “father of American literature,” Brevoort described the beauty of Mackinac Island: “Would to Heaven you were with me in this second Eden (without an Eve). Within an hour’s walk, I would scramble with you to the summit of a venerable old rock, from whose lofty head you would behold nature’s savage face, expanded to endless Larry B. Massie, recipient of the first-ever dimensions, commanding Lifetime Achievement Award from the a partial view of the Lakes Historical Society of Michigan, is a Michigan Michigan and Huron, studded product and proud of it. Born in Grand Rapids, he grew up in Allegan and has three degrees with innumerable islands and in history from Western Michigan University. bounded by the most romantic The author of 20 books about Michigan history, he shares his enthusiasm for and bays, inlets, promontories and knowledge of Michigan’s heritage statewide rivers, the seats of future cities at conferences, school assemblies, libraries, community groups and festivals. and future empires.”

Massie’s Michigan

Larry lives with his wife and workmate Priscilla, daughters Maureen and Autumn, and a 35,000-volume reference library in an 1880 schoolhouse in the Allegan State Forest.

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Brevoort would not be the first nor the last to lavish praise on Mackinac, “the fairy island,” with its celebrated views, Arch Rock, Sugar Loaf, the Devils’ Kitchen, Skull Cave, etc., but the letters he wrote to Irving during that strangely silent Mackinac summer of 1811 offer a unique view of the island’s history. Brevoort had been dispatched by his uncle, John Jacob Astor, to Montreal, St. Joseph Island, and ultimately Mackinac, then the hub of a gigantic Great Lakes fur-trading empire, to check on the situation of the South West Fur company, a partnership Astor had

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Mackinac Island as it looked in 1812.

formed between his own American Fur Company and the British-owned North West Fur Company. The success enjoyed by the British company’s trading network on American soil had long been a bone of contention. Astor had created the South West Fur Company in an effort to restrict the British traders to Canada while his operations could monopolize the American territory. Born near Heidelberg, Germany, in 1763, Astor followed his father in the butcher’s trade as a youth. At the age of 16, he joined an older brother in London to work in his uncle’s piano and flute factory. He saved practically every penny he made and in 1783 sailed for Baltimore with a small stock of musical instruments he planned to sell on commission. On the voyage over he met a furrier who regaled him with the hefty profits to be made in trading furs with the Indians and selling them to the large dealers in New York. Astor went to work for a Quaker furrier in New York to learn the intricacies of the trade, and he soon opened his own shop where, except when absent on purchasing trips into the

across Lake Nipissing, frontier, he worked “early down the French River and late.” He married and along the shore Sarah Todd who matched of Lake Huron. At his own frugality and St. Joseph Island, the business acumen. By the depot for the Mackinac turn of the century, they trade on the Canadian had amassed a fortune side of the border, he of $250,000 (more than found large quantities 30 times that amount of trade goods piled up in modern buying at the docks. Brevoort power). then traveled to In 1808, Astor Mackinac Island where formed his American a serious shortage of Fur Company, Brevoot, at left, provided rich detail describing Mackinac Island’s primitive beauty in letters to his friend, Washington Irving, at right, America’s first writer of international fame. goods threatened the which soon offered entire operation. competition at He notified Astor of the calamitous the importation of British and French Mackinac Island to the British situation and also wrote a series of goods into America. Since Astor’s South traders. Astor’s shrewd negotiations letters to Irving who had been a close West Company depended on trade goods that resulted in the South West friend since youth, despite the fact transported from Montreal and Quebec Company seemed to quell the that they both unsuccessfully vied for to Mackinac Island, the entire scheme bitter rivalry between the Indian the hand of a beautiful widow, Jean he had so cleverly conceived was in traders. But international politics posed Renwick, who had earlier inspired jeopardy. Astor quickly sent Brevoort to additional problems. The resumption of sonnets by Robert Burns. In his first the North Country to consult with South the Napoleonic wars in 1803 had brought letter to Irving, Brevoort described West Company officials. continued interference by Britain and his 900-mile voyage from Montreal to Born in September 1782, a France against America’s proclaimed Mackinac. He had departed on May descendent of a wealthy and powerful neutrality on the high seas. Beginning 16 in a great birch bark cargo canoe old Dutch New York dynasty, Brevoort in 1807, Congress passed a series of paddled by 14 voyageurs and piled with had been working as an agent for Astor’s Embargo Acts to rely upon economic 4,000 pounds of supplies and trade fur-trading enterprises for a decade. pressure to bring the belligerent powers goods. En route they encountered more He traveled to Montreal then followed to term. They proved largely ineffective. than 40 fierce rapids and waterfalls the traditional voyageur’s supply route Another attempt, the Nonnecessitating portages of as much as up the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, intercourse Act of March 2, 1811, forbade

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Massie two miles. The hardy French Canadian voyageurs carried the canoe and packs weighing 300 pounds or more over “steep precipices of craggy rocks, which an inexperienced traveler would find difficult even to crawl over without the risk of fracturing his limbs.” Each night they camped at 9 p.m. and were back on the water at 3 a.m. Eleven days of such arduous travel brought Brevoort to his destination. On the island he enjoyed mouthwatering repasts of fresh whitefish and lake trout “some of which weighed 45 pounds and are as fat as pork.” As he initially rambled the island, each day brought a variety of new sights. Once he discovered an “Indian catacomb in the side of a rock filled with bones that have lain there centuries since.” This was the famous Skull Cave so named from the episode described by Alexander Henry, a British fur trader who escaped the Indian massacre at Fort Michilimackinac (at present day Mackinaw City) in 1763 and was secreted in the cave by his Chippewa friend Wawatam. Henry awoke in the morning to find to his horror that he had laid on human bones all night. Normally Mackinac Island in the summer was a scene of intense activity with hundreds of voyageurs and Great Lakes tribesmen encamped along the beaches. The island rang with athletic games, feasting and revelry from dawn to dusk as barrels of raw liquor flowed freely. Brevoort found himself surrounded by a coterie of traders unable to obtain their normal supply of goods and “completely adrift upon the wide world, as desperate as so many famished wolves.” Previous embargoes had exempted importation of Indian trade goods, but the 1811 Act did not. Astor traveled to Washington and met with former President Thomas Jefferson to seek relief. Jefferson coldly replied that he had no 28

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Hardy voyageurs braved the perils of navigating the Great Lakes in birch bark canoes.

authority to make exceptions to the law. Beyond the monetary losses suffered by the fur traders, the Indians themselves, who by then had grown dependent on the white man’s goods of clothing, blankets, copper kettles, steel knives and hatchets, guns and ammunition — were the real victims of the Act. Brevoort railed at the injustice of the

John Jacob Astor’s fur warehouse in Montreal. Astor, at right, made a fortune from the fur trade.

American government. He wrote Irving: “They have wantonly deprived an independent people of their usual supplies, without providing substitutes. The traders must return to their winterizing places; and when they are asked why they bring no goods, the whole blame will be thrown upon the

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American government whose measures and policy were before, but too obnoxious, toward the natives. The consequences are therefore inevitable; hundreds of the children of these unprovided savages must starve, and their furious parents will assuredly revenge their deaths upon the unoffending whites who inhabit the frontiers.” Brevoort had become a firm advocate of the Indian cause, and he filled his letters to Irving with examples of heart-wrenching Indian rhetoric. When accused of stealing a horse, a chief replied that he was astonished at the white man’s demand that it be returned. The chief continued: “Do you ask our liberty to come into our forests and kill our deer, to bait your hooks and spread your nets on our rivers and lakes, to take our fish? You first set us the example of stealing and when we follow it, you have the effrontery to reprimand us and ask satisfaction.” When an American agent convened a council of elders and offered to purchase a small parcel of land, a chief arose and answered: “If we give you a spot of the bigness of one of our feet, you will take up a handful of sand and scattering it a far as the winds will blow, swear that the whole extent on which it has fallen is yours, therefore you shall not have it. We caution you not to do as other of your nation have done — to purchase our lands for a trifle of some drunken worthless individuals of our tribe, and make us all responsible for their acts.”

After nearly two months on the island, the cultivated Easterner found no one compatible among the roughhewn fur traders. With little to do because of the absence of trade goods, at the prospect of being trapped there for another two months of idleness Brevoort complained to Irving that: “All the curiosities which nature has lavished upon this romantic little island have been again and again explored, and I begin to wish devoutly for my departure, for it is recorded that even Paradise became a desert wild, without a companion.” When Brevoort finally returned to New York, his parents offered him a boon to help him forget the boredom of his summer on Mackinac Island. They would send him on a European tour. His next extant letter to Irving is headed Paris, April 14, 1812. Two months later, the United States and Great Britain were again at war. And during the War of 1812, the Indian retaliations that Brevoort had predicted came all too true. The fort on Mackinac Island surrendered to the British on July 17, 1812, and the Great Lakes Indians under Tecumseh’s leadership aligned themselves with the British. Frontier settlements fell before their fury, Gen. William Hull surrendered Detroit without firing a shot out of fear of Indian massacre and soon the River Raisin ran red with American blood. When the war ended in 1815, the Michigan Indians were again defeated nations, and Astor was back in business ruthlessly eliminating all competition and eventually accruing a fortune that made him one of the richest men in American. Brevoort remained a steadfast friend of Irving’s until that first American writer to enjoy an international following died in 1859. Throughout his literary career the man who gave the world Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow also staunchly championed the North American Indian cause, a position kindled by his friend’s letters from Mackinac Island in 1811.

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By Robert M. Weir

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’VE BEEN A GYM RAT for essentially my whole life,” claims Carrie Bennett. “That’s why I wake up every morning and smile because I’m in my space, my sanctuary.” Carrie’s sanctuary is The Fitness Spot, an a la carte fitness studio she opened in downtown Kalamazoo in summer 2010. “I always knew I wanted a ‘safe’ space, where people can work out without someone judging them for the way they look,” she states. “I always have this in the forefront of my mind when I’m training someone.” Carrie’s path to becoming a personal trainer and entrepreneur started upon graduation from Kalamazoo College in 2004, where she majored in biology and French. “Not because

‘Thank you so much for this wonderful degree, but using it is just not what I want to do right now.’” Her parents’ reply? “They’re amazing, wonderful people. They said, ‘We trust you. We support you. Figure out a way to pay for it and your rent and food.’ They just wanted to make sure I had a vision. I didn’t exactly know what that vision would be, but I knew, deep down, that I was on the right track. And they trusted me in that.” In December 2006, Carrie received massage certification at Kalamazoo Center for the Healing Arts where she added knowledge about the body’s energy and myofascial systems to her foundation of anatomy and physiology gleaned from her biology classes. To earn income, she took an assignment with Kalamazoo College to work alongside Laura Steurer, an independently contracted physical education instructor.

Carrie Bennett

Studio fulfills trainer’s passion to provide “safe place” to get fit.

they’re related but because with a liberal arts education you can study what you love, and those are the two things I love,” she says. While a student, she set her eyes on medical school or graduate school. “I thought about being a high school biology teacher and doing something different in the classroom to make the students love me for the way I teach,” she relates. But while doing her student teaching, Carrie realized she liked educating but not the traditional educational arena. Caught in a dilemma of having a bachelor’s degree from a prestigious college and uncertainty about a profession, Carrie told Jeanne Hess, her volleyball coach at Kalamazoo College, “All I want to do is spend my life in a gym.” Carrie delivered that message to her parents after graduation. “I pulled my parents aside and told them, ‘I just don’t want to be a teacher. I want to go to massage therapy school.’ This was after four years at K. I had tears. I hugged them. I said, 30

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Photo: Robert M. Weir

While shadowing Laura for an academic year, Carrie observed the students in her classes and saw a big difference between the scholastic environment and the post-graduate world. “I realized that, ever since starting to play sports in elementary school, I always had a coach telling me, ‘This is your workout. This is your practice schedule. This is how you exercise your body.’ But, having graduated, I didn’t have a coach anymore.” She saw both former high school athletes who didn’t make collegiate teams and her now-graduated friends who had played collegiate sports, looking for a disciplined exercise program and asking, “What do I do to keep in shape?” Helping Laura with classes in Pilates, kick boxing, boot camp and plyometrics, Carrie saw the way to combine education

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Center Building with easy access from Farmer’s Alley. Two nearby municipal parking structures and 90-minute free parking on downtown streets allow enough time for an A determined ample workout. Heather Kakabeeke leads a spinning class. With Carrie, the pace is quick. “In my opinion, it’s way more effective to do a hard 30-minute workout than do a moderate, easy-going, 60-minute workout.” She likes to keep heart rates up and the bodies challenged, moving from one exercise to another through circuit training, interval training or metabolic training. “This releases hormones that affect the changes in the body we want to see, whether improving heart health or getting stronger,” she says. The equipment at The Fitness Spot is ample and functional. “We train people to work their bodies not only when they’re here but when they’re elsewhere as well. We use exercise balls, medicine balls, resistance bands, TRX straps, and free weights … things that people can have at home or take on vacation with them.” W W W . E N C O R E K A L A M A Z O O . C O M

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more than just doing pushups or lunges.” Photo: Penny Briscoe Carrie and husband Leon, Taking an and infant son Luke. individualized, holistic approach to exercise, Carrie starts with posture. “If you don’t have proper posture, then exercise isn’t going to work. I also learn how they move. What’s their flexibility? What’s their energy level? If their energy is there, we can do a really hard workout. Some days, the energy isn’t there, so it’s pointless to push the body. And that way of teaching makes exercise fun.” Near the end of Carrie’s year with Laura, her mentor announced that she was leaving Kalamazoo College and it became apparent that she had been tutoring Carrie to continue in her place, a position that Carrie accepted with glee. Today, in addition to owning and managing The Fitness Spot, Carrie teaches student physical education classes and wellness programs for faculty and staff at the college. “I see so much of myself in the students,” she says. “So many of them want help. They want to be fit. They want to exercise, to push their bodies. They just didn’t know how.” In 2007, Carrie found herself blessed with too many referrals

Photo: Pe

: Penn

A pregnant Carrie shows fine form and excellent arm strength working with an exercise ball in her studio.

and in-home clients to continue as a traveling trainer, so she started looking for a place where people could come to her. “I never wanted a big gym,” she says with emphasis. “I wanted a place where people wouldn’t be judged while working out, where it wouldn’t matter what clothes they wore or how they looked doing the exercises.” That “safe place” emerged as Carrie’s Fitness Studio on the third floor of the Mall Plaza in downtown Kalamazoo. The cozy, 1,200-square-foot studio allowed just enough space for her to work one-on-one or in small groups with minimal equipment. But the demand for her time and her space grew. Other personal trainers and fitness instructors asked if they could bring their clients and classes to work out there. “Once I felt confident that my clientele was big enough, that I had enough people who I teach or have enough trainers working with their clients, I said, ‘Okay. Let’s go for it. Let’s do the vision I see in my head.’” That vision brought about the current The Fitness Spot’s downtown location in Suite 107 of the City

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with being a gym rat. “I said, ‘This is it. This is what I’m going to do. This is how I’m going to take care of myself both physically and financially.’” Thus inspired, Carrie obtained certifications as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor through the American Council on Exercise. She became a personal trainer, working in people’s homes with clients who ranged from a high school soccer player to a woman in her late 70s. This experience was the foundation for Carrie’s motivation to provide a safe place for people to exercise. From Laura, Carrie learned how to teach and work with students, but for her in-home clients, Carrie studied popular individual exercise techniques to develop her own methodology. “I drew upon my biology classes and massage training,” she says. “I found I could look at a person on a different level than just how they want to change their body. You know, most times, people want to lose weight or get stronger or tone up, but there’s

Bennett The larger equipment — stationary bikes, treadmills, ellipticals and step mills — are also functional in that they train the body to more easily perform common daily tasks like walking and climbing stairs. The environment, even in this larger 3,500-square-foot facility, is still safe from judgmental eyes with private areas and recessed alcoves for classes, special training and individual workouts. The business of physical fitness has a definite mental component as well. “I read all the basic magazines — Fitness, Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Shape — because my clients ask me about articles in them all the time. I read strength and conditioning journals. I go to the PubMed website and other search engines for journal articles. I keep up on nutrition and all aspects of fitness,” Carrie states. The time that Carrie’s clients see her is like seeing the tip of the iceberg that is her work day. “I wake up at 4:50 every morning, and I’m here to open the doors at 6 a.m.,” she says. Each day, she administers eight to 12 personal training sessions or small-group classes, lasting 30 to 60 minutes each, as well as those physical education and wellness classes at Kalamazoo College. Her total daily time investment in a gym is 12 to 14 hours. “But I give myself a half day off on Fridays, working

only 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and I don’t work on Saturdays and Sundays,” she adds, smiling at the way she has shaped her life activities as well as her well-toned body. Carrie sets a good example for others with her own personal exercise regimen. Expecting the birth of her first child when this article was written, Carrie’s workout shirt that day proclaimed “Sweating for Two.” When exercising, she follows her own advice, paying attention to her body’s vitality — as well as that of the prenatal child growing inside of her. Her pregnancy inspired Carrie to think of ways to offer more services. “I run a weekly personal training session for two moms who are postpartum. They bring their babies in carriers. We put music on and the moms spin (ride stationary bikes) for 45 minutes.” She permits parents with older children to bring their youngsters to play games or bounce on exercise balls. Carrie’s husband, Leon, who works at Stryker Corporation, “is extremely supportive,” she says with apparent appreciation. “He sees every month that the business is growing, and he believes in it.” But even with understanding parents and a supportive husband, Carrie admits that there are obstacles to being a young entrepreneur, now responsible for four employees on payroll

and four independently contracted instructors. “The biggest challenge is self-doubt,” she admits. “Am I doing the right thing? Can I support myself and my workers? Are people going to trust me to provide a place that’s safe enough to come here and exercise?” Then, she says, the voice of confidence rings into her consciousness. “I feel like I’m being guided in this direction and that …” Quiet for a moment, Carrie reflects on her athletic career. “I played basketball, volleyball, and softball in grade school and high school. Then, at K, I had to choose. Something told me to take volleyball. It wasn’t my best sport or my favorite sport, but it was an amazing choice because I met (K women’s volleyball coach) Jeanne Hess. She helped me go from being a volleyball player to being my own person, to knowing that my passion will help people. She coached us to ‘trust the process,’ and that changed my life.” With that attitude, Carrie has added a larger, more holistic dimension to the name “The Fitness Spot.” It’s not only a place to become physically fit but to “fit in” with oneself, with others seeking a safe place to exercise and — whether gym rats or not — to trust the process of attaining and maintaining a healthy life.

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From Poverty to Opportunity By Robert M. Weir

ROBERT WEIR is happiest when he is writing while

traveling for extended periods of time, much to Encore readers’ benefit. Robert has been in India for the past six months and as a result, brings us two stories of efforts — including work by a local congregation — to help children there achieve education and overcome poverty. Robert’s road to Calcutta started, ironically, in Los Angeles. Seeking to write an article on Empower The Children and Rosalie Giffoniello, he contacted her through her cousin in California. An extensive telephone interview in August 2010 led to Rosalie asking Robert’s assistance with in crafting some copy for a small project. That project led to their collaboration on a book manuscript she had begun titled Reclaiming Lives. Knowing the best way to write about a place is to go there, Robert traveled to India in September to work with Rosalie on the book. They visited the schools and institutions where she is involved and he became enmeshed in the culture of the bastis. Before leaving the U.S., Robert learned of the work being done in India by St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church of Kalamazoo and that the St. Martin delegation was going to be relatively close to Calcutta during his stay there. He traveled three hours by train to join them for two days, observing their work with the hostel children in Purulia and Durgapur. Robert returns to Southwest Michigan this month. On the way home, he will spend time on a remote Philippine island and plans to share those adventures with readers in Encore’s April issue. You can keep tabs on his travels, including the publication status of Reclaiming Lives, on his website www. robertmweir.com.

St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church members pose at the airport before traveling to India. From right, the Rev. Mary Perrin, Ken Morgan, Chris Morgan, David Senecal, Pat Vinge, Mike Wood and Tom Perrin. Photo: Jennifer Dantes

Have Laptop, Will Travel

EDUCATION is the answer to poverty. This is the lesson being experienced firsthand by members of St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church of Kalamazoo as they help children craft a better future in the Indian region of West Bengal. In the rural bastis (slums) of Purulia and Durgapur, poverty looks like tiny one-room homes — maybe 12 feet by 12 feet — made of clay bricks or mud with either slate or tarpaulin roofs, that house multi-generational families of at least six. St. Martin of For too many young people here, poverty Tours Episcopal manifests as entrapment in drugs, indentured members change slavery, childhood sex trafficking or begging. lives of children Even though education is available, it is rarely in Indian slums. attained by children of the bastis. “Everyone in India is guaranteed to go to school,” says the Rev. Mary Perrin, priest and rector of St. Martin Episcopal, “but to go to school, the children have to have a uniform, shoes, books, transportation. In reality, the poorest can’t afford these so they don’t go to school.” To make education for these children possible, the post-denominational Diocese of Durgapur, Church of North India, which has a volunteer affiliation with Kalamazoo’s St. Martin Episcopal, has instituted afterschool enrichment programs. These enrichment programs, lasting nearly four hours and currently attended by 225 young people in five communities, provide children with everything they need to fit into the mainstream of Indian education. These items are paid for by the diocese and by benefactors in the international community who agree to sponsor a child through the diocese’s Godparent child sponsorship program. For $250 per year, students in the program receive two uniforms, including underwear, socks and shoes, books, school supplies and a backpack plus an afternoon meal and medical care for themselves and their families. These enrichment programs also include tutoring so that students comprehend foundational concepts — and excel — in government schools where rote learning is the norm. The children receive instruction in computers, music, arts and crafts and tae kwon do for self-defense.

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They enjoy professional entertainers for special holiday programs and are given traditional clothing for cultural dances that their impoverished parents couldn’t possibly afford. The diocese also constructed and operates a hostel in Durgapur in which 26 young people live with peers in a clean, cooperative atmosphere while attending school. The children who live in one of the hostels receive three full meals daily, 24-hour supervision and dormitory lodging in a well-maintained facility. It is the construction of a second hostel — in Purulia in 2011 — for which the congregation of St. Martin Episcopal can take credit. “Less than the cost of one week at camp in the U.S. will cover an entire year of necessities for a child in West Bengal,” Mary says. Beyond the monetary benefits, the children in the hostels bond with each other in ways that, for a few of the most unfortunate children, don’t happen within their families. Mother Mary, as her congregants call her, relates the story of Manju, who, by age 13, had already experienced the deaths of her father and her father’s second wife, and the extreme alcoholism of her birth mother who is in Manju’s care. The mother, desperate for alcohol, arranged for Manju to “go with a For more information man” who the mother about the Godparent said “would marry” child after-school her. Manju’s friends at enrichment programs, the hostel in Durgapur contact St. Martin learned of this and gave of Tours Episcopal up participation in a Church at (269) popular holiday festival 381-3188 or by e-mail to be with Manju at the to stmartinkzo@ time she was supposed sbcglobal.net to “be given to” the man for, what Mary says, “was the price of a bottle of liquor.” She adds, “That type of friendship is what you see in these hostels.” Of the 225 young people who participate in the Diocese of Durgapur’s five youth programs, approximately 110 are sponsored — 16 of these by mem-

Photo: Robert M. Weir

St. Martin of Tours

Happy faces from India: Left photo, Student Manju, rescued from “being given to a man” by her alcoholic mother, holds a blouse she is making. Kalamazoo jazz musician Ken Morgan, center photo, teaches Indian children to play the recorder. Right photo, the Rev. Mary Perrin hugs Gita, at left, the first student at the Durgapur hostel to take her Level 10 Board Exams.

bers of St. Martin Episcopal. It’s the goal of diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Probal Kanto Dutta, the Indian visionary behind these programs and hostels, that all the children will become sponsored. His hope is that each will pass the Indian government’s Board Exams for education at Level 10 (equivalent to being a high school sophomore in the U.S.), which allows them to take Level 11 and Level 12 classes and go on to a university, a good job and a more productive life. “We cannot go on feeding people. We cannot go on giving clothes to people. But we can empower them,” Dutta says. “That is what we do through education, the answer to poverty.” For the congregants of St. Martin, their journey to India began when Mary Perrin, who came to St. Martin in 2004, went on a sabbatical there in spring 2010. Her contract with the church stipulates that, after six years of service, she take a sabbatical for work related to her ministry, learning and/or relaxation. Of the possible places where she could use English to be of service, she chose India. “The need was the greatest there. The poverty was most extreme, the programs were helping the poorest of the poor, and the response (number of active volunteers) was the least,” she explains. When Mary asked congregant Pat Vinge, chair of St. Martin’s Outreach/ Social Justice Committee, to join her, Pat immediately said yes. “It took me about that long to decide,” she says, snapping her fingers. “I had just retired within the past year, so I had the time to go. I went home and told my hus-

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band, ‘Guess what?’ And that’s how I got involved.” Mary and Pat were in India for ten weeks, returning at the end of April 2010. The following July, Bishop Dutta came to Kalamazoo, and asked the congregation to donate $20,000 for complete construction of what would become the diocese’s second hostel, this one in the leper community of Purulia. The congregation jumped at the opportunity. More quickly than expected, they raised money to build the 40-foot-by-100foot, single-story hostel, which is large enough for 40 children and staff. With a flat roof, a second story can easily be added in the future. But the congregation wasn’t done. They obtained a grant and held fundraisers, generating a total of $32,000, which was enough to outfit the hostel’s kitchen and computer lab and to buy beds and bedding. They also used the funds for a children’s library at the Durgapur hostel and to buy gifts and supplies for children in both communities. From February to July of last year, the St. Martin’s members watched the hostel being built through pictures sent to them, which they then posted online. But for some, that wasn’t enough, and seven members of the church traveled to Purulia and Durgapur in November. Mary Perrin and her husband, Tom; Pat Vinge and her husband, Mike Wood; Chris and Ken Morgan; and David Senecal were on hand for the dedication of St. Martin’s Hostel in Purulia on Nov. 11, the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. Ken, Chris, Mike and David utilized their musical expertise to teach some of the children to play the recorder, learn

Photo: Ken Morgan

Empowering Calcutta’s Children songs in both English and their native language of Bengali, and stage a performance. Mary, Tom, Pat and Chris helped other children create origami figures and flags with religious symbols to decorate the performance area. After volunteering in Purulia for one week, the group visited St. Michael’s Church Compound in Durgapur and worked at the diocesan hostel there, staging another child-featured performance that was well attended by parents. The education, music, dancing and bonding that occurs within the hostel and enrichment programs are evidence of the benefits of the investment made by the people of St. Martin Episcopal. Through success stories both small and profound, they have seen children soar, and, in at least one case, have the opportunity to remain alive. Mary relates the story of Anita, who, at age 9, was deemed by the basti crone to be possessed of “an evil spirit” and to have caused the deaths of her birth mother and first stepmother. When Anita became ill, her father left her outside their home to die. When discovered by Rita Dutta, Bishop Dutta’s wife and a trained nurse, Anita had an extremely high temperature and was near starvation. Rita took Anita to a hospital where she recovered. Now 14, she has grown into what Mary describes as “a delightful young woman, the most intuitive natural dancer I’ve ever seen, and a kind and loving gift to the world.” These closing words also describe what the people of St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church are doing — through their generosity of money and time, they are presenting kind and loving gifts to the world, the gifts of educated children, free from poverty.

Photo: Robert M. Weir

By Robert M. Weir

IN CALCUTTA, India, the population density is nearly 25,000 people per square kilometer. To visualize that, imagine everyone in Portage (45,000 people) residing and working in the square mile bounded by the streets of Westnedge, Milham, Oakland and Romence. In a single Calcutta classroom, student populations One woman of 60 or 70 are common. Want another visual? Imagine conquers that many young people, ages 3 to 19, sitting on the floor fear to help of a two-car garage, trying to learn from two or three children rise teachers presenting different subjects, perhaps in differabove poverty. ent languages, at the same time. This is the environment into which Rosalie Giffoniello, a retired special educator from New Jersey, co-founded the organization Empower The Children. It is through Rosalie that I, from September into January, came to witness the unimaginable in education — and to observe what she and others like her are doing to raise learning standards there. In 1999, recently divorced and striving to overcome her fear of traveling alone, Rosalie, then 53, volunteered for a summer at Daya Dan, Mother Teresa’s orphanage for disabled children in Calcutta. She worked with more-abled boys, ages ranging from preschool to early teens, who had some potential for independent living. In January 2000, she took an early retirement from teaching in the U.S. and returned to Daya Dan for most of the next two years. She taught the sisters of the Rosalie Giffoniello holds a young boy at Missionaries of Charity and other Preyrona 2 School who has just received a new holiday shirt and shorts, courtesy of donations volunteers to implement interactive from Empower The Children. language programs she had honed during her more than 28 years of teaching in New Jersey, plus programs to help the children feed, dress and bathe themselves. Rosalie, who has no biological children of her own, became hooked on doing this work — and more. One day at a Missionaries of Charity function, the Dalai Lama clasped Rosalie’s hands and thanked her for “devoting your life to these children.” In truth, Rosalie recalls, she felt a sense of panic over His Holiness’ words. She wanted to blurt, “My whole life? Or just the rest of my 10-year visa? My whole life is an awfully long time!” Yet, it appears that Rosalie, now 65 and into the first year of her second 10year visa, is on a lifetime path of service to Calcutta’s poor. She works under the auspices of Empower The Children, a nonprofit organization that she and Janet Grosshandler, also of New Jersey, co-founded in W W W . E N C O R E K A L A M A Z O O . C O M

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Empower The Children

Photo: Robert M. Weir

2001. ETC’s original purpose was to raise funds for Daya Dan, but its focus soon grew to also work with and fund teachers at “non-formal schools” that offer classes and give exams but are not recognized as official “formal schools” by the Indian government. The quality of education in the ETC-sponsored schools is such that, when a student transfers into a government school, he or she is generally at the head of the class. Rosalie’s first educational experience outside Daya Day was in conjunction with one woman, Reena Das, and a group of students who met for one hour

The school in the slum at Atmaraksha is a single-room, pink-toned building, partially hidden behind a public well and laundry area. Adjacent homes share a wall with the school.

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each day, during Reena’s lunch hour. The children were homeless street urchins. Classes included a healthy snack and introduction to the Bengali and English alphabets. The “classroom” was the steps of the office building where Reena worked as an office manager for an architectural firm. They later moved to the roof where the children ran about — dangerously close to the edge, in Rosalie’s opinion — joyously viewing their world in a way they never could from the streets. By July 2003, all of Rosalie’s educational efforts and ETC’s money became channeled toward an orphanage for boys, a nonformal school for the disadvantaged, a home for mentally disabled young adults, a hospital that performs free orthopedic corrective surgery for children and infants, and a tutorial center for teenage girls. In January 2006, Rosalie and Reena opened the first school totally under the auspices of ETC. Reena named it Preyrona, which means “inspiration.” Within five months came Preyrona 2 School; Preyrona 3 School came about in 2009. This latter school originated as a clean three-story structure with adequate teaching space purchased with

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funds from Reena’s uncle. But its predecessors, Preyrona 1 and Preyrona 2, are stories of the rising phoenix. Preyrona 1 was originally located inside a single-room slum building that a men’s group used at night as a chaupal, a community clubhouse, to gossip and smoke. After four years, Rosalie and Reena moved the school to a more modern, two-story building dedicated solely to vocational education, including sewing instruction for teenage girls and neighborhood women. Preyrona 2 is in a deplorable oneroom building, 24 feet by 24 feet with no windows, chafed walls, a leaky roof and unsafe electrical wiring. Yet, for the 90 students who attend there, it’s better than no school at all. Preyrona 2 is now being demolished, soon to be replaced by a very modern, three-story building that will allow for expanded educational and vocational programs, funded by ETC and organizations in The Netherlands and Japan. Today, in Calcutta, Rosalie teaches lessons at the Preyrona schools, the orthopedic hospital and the home for mentally challenged adults. Rosalie’s teaching methodology is self-empowering and love giving.

With Rosalie’s attitude, vibrant enthusiasm and ever-present smile and generous donations from people in many nations, she and ETC will continue to help children and women rise out of poverty, take advantage of India’s booming economy and employment opportunities and gain greater respect within their families and community.

Photo: Robert M. Weir

responsibility to give them the right kind of attention.’” She is also writing a book manuscript, and I’m helping her — thus, my extended presence in Calcutta. Titled Reclaiming Lives, the manuscript chronicles the accomplishments of Empower The Children. More importantly it demonstrates what a woman at midlife can do when she replaces fear with love and dares to adventure into the larger world of helping others. Rosalie is now in her 12th year in Calcutta. When not in India, which is usually six months of the year, she gives speeches and Some of the 90 children who attend Preyrona 2 School raises funds in New Jersey, New sit on the floor in new holiday clothes. York, Pennsylvania, California and Scotland. Last March she spoke to St. “Happy children become smart chilMichael Lutheran Women’s Fellowship dren. That’s why we give the children in Portage. only love,” she says. Empower The Children, in its 10th In a nation where educators still disyear of operation, continues to donate cipline with a switch, this is a challenge funds for some combination of teachfor some teachers. “When I interview a ers’ salaries, clothing and hot meals for teacher, I explain that any form of viochildren, supplies, and sponsorship of lence is strictly prohibited and will lead cultural drama, dance, and art programs to immediate dismissal,” Rosalie says. in 11 different institutions. “I tell them, ‘If you love the children, then they’ll work for you. They’ll want to Rosalie is surrounded by a group of neighborhood please you and make you proud. It’s our school children in the small lane near Preyrona 2 School.

Photo: Robert M. Weir

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Photo: Courtesy Julie Stanley

Julie, right, shows off some of her culinary works of art at A Slice of Heaven in Kalamazoo in the early 1980s.

foundation so that other people could grow with it. I want them to have the opportunity. It’s much easier to start a business within a business. There’s more security,” she says. In addition to nurturing her employees’ careers — not to mention her customers’ bodies — Julie wants Food Dance to nurture the minds of children. She has returned to her teaching roots to set Food Dance’s community-giving vision, which, in large part, focuses on better educating children about food. “If we could teach kids to eat well, make better choices, we could affect obesity, we could affect their brains,” she says. For several years, the restaurant has teamed up with Fair Food Matters on its Future Chefs and Growing Matters Garden programs. It has also worked with the Edison Environmental Science Academy, purchasing produce its students grew in the school’s greenhouse. In the future, Julie would like to be able to reach more children in some way, possibly by introducing the Edible Schoolyard program, pioneered by Alice Waters in Berkeley, Calif., into the public schools. This kind of community outreach is just one more way in which owning Food Dance is about more than just running a restaurant for Julie. “Really running a great business is as important to me as serving great food,” she explains, “because that is what will have the greatest impact on this community and the people who contribute to its success.”

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Performing Arts Plays Never the Sinner — A riveting courtroom drama that tells the story of the famous Leopold and Loeb trial of the 1920s. Feb. 2, 3, 4, 8 p.m.; Feb. 5, 2 p.m. York Arena Theatre, WMU. 387-6222. The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 — This laugh-filled farce spoofs the great murder mystery movies of the 1940s. Feb. 3, 4, 10, 11, 8 p.m.; Feb. 2, 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 5, 2 p.m. Civic Auditorium, 329 S. Park St. 343-1313. Superior Donuts — A deliciously funny and thought-provoking play exploring the redemptive power of friendship. Feb. 10, 11, 16–18, 23–25, 8 p.m.; Feb. 12, 19 & 26, 2 p.m. Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley, 343-2727. Cloud Nine — Kalamazoo College presents a farce by Caryl Churchill that is a sharp, politicized and funny play. Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 24 & 25, 8 p.m.; Feb. 26, 2 p.m. “Walking with a Balch Playhouse, Kfriend in the dark is College. 337-7333. better than walking alone in the light.”

Musicals & Opera

Helen Keller

The Tender Land — This collaboration between WMU’s Theatre Department and School of Music is a story of young love in America’s heartland. Feb. 16–18, 8 p.m.; Feb. 19, 2 p.m. Shaw Theatre, WMU. 387-6222. In the Heights — This Tony Award-winning musical is about home, family and finding where you belong. Feb. 24, 8 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 387-2300.

Dance Winter Gala Dance Concert — The WMU Department of Dance presents their annual event featuring Great Works dances by Antony Tudor and Loie Fuller. Feb. 2–4, 10 & 11, 8 p.m.; Feb. 4 & 12, 2 p.m. Williams Theatre, WMU. 387-6222.

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Symphony Wicked Divas — The KSO Pops series presents Nicole Parker and Alli Mauzey, stars of Wicked on Broadway, singing songs from many of the great musicals. Feb. 3, 8 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 349-7759. University Symphony Orchestra — WMU School of Music presents this free concert with guest soloist Sam Ramey. Feb. 5, 3 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 387-4667. Symphonie Fantastique — The KSO is joined by pianist Marc-André Hamelin for a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Feb. 17, 8 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 349-7759. A Northern Wind — The Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra presents a concert featuring Stulberg Bronze Medalist Christine Lim, violin. Feb. 19, 4 p.m. Chenery Auditorium, 714 S. Westnedge Ave. 349-7557.

Chamber, Jazz, Orchestra & Bands Dalton Wed@7:30 — A series of WMU School of Music concerts. Western Wind Quintet, Feb. 8; Fisk Jubilee Singers, Feb. 15; Igor Fedotov, viola and Gary Hammond, piano, Feb. 22. Concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU. 387-2300. University Symphonic Band — A free concert with Robert Spradling conducting. Feb. 19, 3 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 387-4667. University Concert Band — This WMU group presents a free concert led by David Montgomery. Feb. 21, 8:15 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 387-4667. Jazz Alumni Recital — WMU School of Music presents the Quincy Davis Project. Feb. 21, 8:15 p.m. Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU. 387-2300. Hagen Quartet — Fontana Chamber Arts proudly presents one of the greatest string quartets in the world in its first Kalamazoo performance. Feb. 24, 8 p.m. Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU. 382-7774.

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In the Center Ring — The Kalamazoo Concert Band presents a free concert under the direction of Dr. Tom Evans. Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. Information at www.kalamazooconcertband.org.

Vocal Gold Company Salutes the Oscars — The renowned WMU vocal jazz group and their sister group, GC II, put their unique and fun spin on Oscar-winning songs. Feb. 11, 2 & 8 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 387-2300. Choral Showcase — WMU vocal groups University Chorale, Cantus Femina and Collegiate Singers will perform. Feb. 26, 3 p.m. Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU. 387-4667.

Miscellaneous Cooper’s Glen Music Festival — Billed as the Great Lakes Acoustic Music Festival, this annual event features multiple music acts performing during a two-day festival with workshops and a sing-along. Feb. 10 & 11, Radisson Plaza Hotel, 100 W. Michigan Ave. Visit www.greatlakesacoustic.org for ticket and schedule information. Blast! — Brass, percussion and visual performers come together in a unique explosion of music and theatre. Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m. Miller Auditorium, WMU. 387-2300.

Visual Arts WMU Richmond Center for Visual Arts (RCVA) 387-2455 I’m Over Here Now — This exhibition focuses on six New York City-based artists and one collaborative team in varying stages of their careers whose ideas dictate their media. Through Feb. 17. Albertine Monroe-Brown Gallery.

Visual Noise — An exhibition of prints from the Richmond Center for the Visual Arts permanent collection curated by Nichole Maury. Through Feb. 17. Netzorg/ Kerr Gallery. Peter Campus: Existentialism and a Halflife in Video — The artist is a seminal ďŹ gure in the history of electronic media art. See new works from this pioneer of video installations. Feb. 23–March 23. Albertine Monroe-Brown Gallery. Gems of the University Art Collection — An exhibition featuring outstanding pieces from the collections of WMU. Feb. 23–June 29. Netzorg/Kerr Gallery.

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 349-7775 The Strange Life of Objects: The Art of Annette Lemieux — The artist works in multiple media and covers many themes with her work. Through March 4. Infrared Photography — Prints by Christopher Light, Kalamazoo resident, are featured. Through March 18. Hefner Collection of East Asian Art — An exhibition of Chinese, Japanese and Korean ceramics, metal objects, prints and paintings on loan from the Hefner family. Through April 7. Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Quest of Beauty — This exhibition marks the premiere of a special installation of the KIA’s collection of works by the master artist. Ongoing exhibition. ARTbreak — Informal free presentations on art-related topics. Paul Ponchillia: Art and Adventure in the Arctic, Feb. 7; Jana Hanka: Easter Island, Feb. 14. Bring a lunch to these 12 p.m. sessions.

Miscellaneous Midtown Gallery — Featuring a group show called The City with artists Joe Vanderbos, Stan Socha, Justin Bernhardt and John Hoffman. Metropolis will feature works by Elizabeth Sauer. 356 S. Kalamazoo Mall. 372-0134. Art Hop — View the works of local artists. Local venues/galleries in downtown Kalamazoo. Feb. 3, 5–9 p.m. 342-5059.

STEPPING BACK WITH THE ARTS America loves a free spirit and it has never produced a spirit more free than that of Isadora Duncan. Born in 1877 and raised in the San Francisco area, she endured a childhood of poverty, learning music and movement from her mother. Many consider her the creator of modern dance. She called traditional ballet “ugly and against nature,� choosing to dance barefoot. She drew attention for more than her dancing. She was openly bisexual and a Communist. She had two children out of wedlock. Her life was marked by tragedies: her father died when his passenger ship sank, and both her children died in a later drowning accident. She then became a Russian citizen and

Teen Filmmaker Festival — The Kalamazoo Public Library and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts presents a screening of the ďŹ nalists. Feb. 26, 2:30 p.m. Rave Motion Pictures, 180 Portage St.

Literary Events Kalamazoo Public Library 553-7809 D.E. Johnson — The author won acclaim for his ďŹ rst novel titled, The Detroit Electric Scheme and will be on hand to read and sign copies. Feb. 7, 6:30 p.m. Washington Square branch. Chinese Lion Dancers — Celebrate the Year of the Dragon with a show by the Lion Dance Troupe. Feb. 11, 1 p.m. Central Library. Free ticket required for entry. Tickets available beginning at 12 p.m. Storyteller La’Ron Williams — Original and traditional tales will be told spiced with music and audience participation. Feb. 21, 6:30 p.m. Powell branch. Movie and Popcorn — Enjoy the ďŹ lm, Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos. Feb. 24, 2 p.m. Central Library.

married a Russian poet 18 years her junior. Both drank excessively, and he committed suicide following mental illness. Her demise came in 1927 when one of the trademark owing scarves she wore became entangled in the wheel of a car and strangled her.

Portage District Library 329-4544 Combat Veterans’ Writing Group — A series of writing workshops led by Margaret von Steinen of WMU’s Haenicke Institute for Global Education. Feb. 7 & 21, 6:30 p.m. Solo Gallery — This new art exhibit features watercolor, acrylic and oil paintings from V.J. Kline and Frances BallayWagner. Through Feb. 24. Meet the Chef: Traditional Breads for St. Patrick’s Day— Learn from Maria Brennan, chef and owner of Victorian Bakery. Feb. 9, 2 & 5 p.m. Register by calling 269-329-4542 ext 600. There is a $5 fee at the door. The event is held at Victorian Bakery, 116 W. Crosstown Parkway.

(Continued on page 45)

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Spirit of Kalamazoo (continued from page 22) starting out the new year running around Spring Valley Park. This year, 1,400 people registered for the event. Gazelle Sports has just been named one of the Top 50 running stores in the country. It has great staff and great merchandise, but Chris Crowell is the heart and soul of Gazelle. He darted around Spring Valley that morning in a tutu and top hat hugging everyone in sight and extolling a vision where Kalamazoo becomes the most active city in the country by 2016. What makes Kalamazoo unique is not just that people pursue their passions, it is that people want to share their excitement and learning with others, to enable others to create similar passions. So we do not bowl alone. We create leagues. We do not hoard our wealth. We create symphonies, art institutes, research institutes, local foundations and the Kalamazoo Promise. When our largest corporation shuts down its research arm and forces a few thousand people to think about leaving this community, our nonproďŹ t business group, Southwest Michigan First, creates a “stick aroundâ€? campaign replete with the physical and monetary tools to enable people to stay in Kalamazoo doing the kind of research they did before. Think for a moment about the Kalamazoo Promise. A group of anonymous donors came together to think about ways to revitalize Kalamazoo. They did not have to feel allegiance to a place, let alone to think about donating so much money to try to stem the kind of urban decline that is sadly typical for core cities like ours throughout the country. But they were passionate and committed to helping this community. They could have built buildings or created new investment funds or done countless things. Instead, they created a unique scholarship that allows the children of Kalamazoo to go to college, to become the same type of passionate, caring people that this city both attracts and breeds. What a gift that is. The spirit of Kalamazoo is one of passionate generosity.

Creative Kids

for finer and more detailed effects. Finally, it’s on to the Hot Shop, where students learn traditional glassblowing skills. “It’s like a snowball effect,” Anna says. “I made a sun catcher and then I made a paperweight. Finally I got to blow glass. I’m doing all these amazing things.” This summer, Anna plans to enroll in the center’s most advanced glass camp known as Teen Inferno. “I’m moving up the chain,” she says. In the summer of eighth grade, Anna graduated from Glass Explorer to Teen Glassblowing, an experience that kindled her growing interest. “The first time I blew glass I was so scared. They told us to stick a hot rod into the glass and make something. I didn’t yet know what the limits were. I didn’t know how to maneuver or how to put the glass back in the fire to warm it because you can’t work with it once it gets cold.” The experience and results, though, eased her trepidations. “It was so fun. It was so hot. When you stand in front of the kiln, it’s like a hot wave blowing over you and the glass is heavy, heavier than you think it’s going to be. It’s hard to see down the long pipe to see how big your piece is going to be.” At the West Michigan Glass Art Center, no one is let loose at the furnace (or in other studios) without plenty of preparation and supervision. First of all, students don safety glasses to protect their eyes from burning UV rays, as well as gloves when needed. All wear cotton clothing. The center’s motto is “safety first.” In many ways, glassblowing is a team sport, one that requires a leader, known as a gaffer, and at least one helper. Anna’s long-term goal is to get to the point where she can be in the Hot Shop alone, without an instructor. “I want to make something solely by myself,” she says. While learning and creating were

Photo: Theresa Coty O’Neil

(continued from page 23) because you are all working together.” So far, Anna has not broken a piece, a record she hopes to maintain. “It’s exciting and stimulating to have a giant studio shared with so many groups and artists,” she says. “You can look around the entire shop and see what is possible. It’s just amazing what you can do with glass.” While Anna isn’t sure how glass Anna’s varied glass art creations include, clockwise art will fit into her future career, she from top left, a blown and sandblasted vase, a does know that she will continue paperweight and a hanging showcasing her fused working with glass as a hobby, no glass pieces. matter what she chooses as a job. Any degree she seeks, she says, will have what drew Anna to glass, she has found to involve art and be “hands-on.” the experience has helped her grow “A lot of my friends can’t imagine in terms of confidence and leadership working with glass, but it’s addicting skills. once you start. Right now I’m trying to “When you are in the Hot Shop, you talk my parents into trying it. have to be confident. There’s no time to “It’s so beautiful. How could you not waste or something may get burned or want to?” break. There’s also a lot of teambuilding

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Answer!

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In 1897, the Academy of Music was the ďŹ rst local site for a demonstration of Thomas Edison’s vitascope, one of the earliest forms of motion pictures. The Academy of Music, formerly located on South Rose Street, was built by the famous architect Louis Sullivan and his partner Dankmar Alder. The building took 10 months to complete and at $65,000, was twice the original estimated cost. The Academy of Music was ďŹ nished on May 8, 1882, and opened with a performance of Virginius the Roman featuring John McCullough. Although the theater featured classic and contemporary plays, it also showcased choirs, orchestral performances and even the occasional boxing match. This all ended in 1930 when a ďŹ re ravaged the building, destroying everything excluding the building’s front. Trivia Column by Maureen Massie 44

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7E D LOVE TO SHARE YOUR POETRY WITH +ALAMAZOO AREA READERS 0LEASE SUBMIT A SHORT PERSONAL PROlLE TO ACCOMPANY IT Encore Magazine c/o Poetry Editor 350 S. Burdick St., Suite 316 Kalamazoo, MI 49007 editor@encorekalamazoo.com

(continued from page 40) Introduction to Amateur Astronomy — Discover the joys of astronomy. “Binocular Basics,” Feb. 11, 1 p.m.; “Telescope Tutorial,” Feb. 25, 1 p.m. Registration is required by calling 329-4542.

Miscellaneous Reach: The Printmaking Works of Bill Hosterman — As a Fulbright Scholar to South Africa, the artist studied printmaking and is currently an associate professor of art at Grand Valley State University. Feb. 3–24, 6–9 p.m. Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, Park Trades Center.

Remember Me: Civil War Portraits — Learn about how tintype photography was done through portraits of Civil War soldiers. Feb. 4–June 17. Music at the Museum — Neil Jacobs, master of the 12-string guitar, Feb. 17, 7 p.m.; Treading Bleu, a Kalamazoo group of seasoned musicians, Feb. 24, 7 p.m. There is a $5 fee for these events. Planetarium Programs — The DigiStar planetarium presents various programs. Invaders of Mars, Mon., Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. at 3 p.m.; Sky Legends of the Three Fires, weekdays, 11 a.m.; Sat., 1 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; Orion Nights, Tues. & Thur., 3 p.m.; Sat., 2 p.m.

Nature

Museums

Kalamazoo Nature Center 381-1574

Kalamazoo Valley Museum 373-7990

Winter Sports Demo Day — Lee’s Adventure Sports will be on hand with snowshoes, camping gear and skis for you to try. Feb. 5, 1–3 p.m.

Disease Detectives — Disease-fighting detectives explore and teach about infectious diseases. Through May 28.

Discover the Trout Run Trail — Explore seasonal changes in habitat and observe nature on a different trail each month. Feb. 12, 2 p.m. Owl Prowl — This is the season for owls to set up territory and select a mate and the ideal time for this night hike. Feb. 24, 7 p.m. Boomers and Beyond — A program geared for adults over 50 who will learn about snow science in this interactive program. Bring a lunch. Feb. 28, 11 a.m.

Kellogg Biological Station 671-2510 Birds & Coffee — Join a bird walk followed by coffee and discussion. Feb. 8, 8:30–10 a.m. 12685 E. C Ave. near Gull Lake. Get Ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count — The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event (Feb. 17–20) that engages bird watchers in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Learn and get ready to help at this workshop. Feb. 11, 1–2:30 p.m. 12685 E. C Ave. near Gull Lake.

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“No amount of planning ahead can take the place of dumb luck!” So says photographer FRAN DWIGHT on her amazing shot catching Sean and Amy Smith, owners of the Old Dog Tavern, enjoying a one-of-a-kind moment on the tavern’s roof. According to Fran, she and some friends were enjoying music and drinks at the tavern on a Saturday evening last July when it began to rain outside. It was a typical Michigan summer cloudburst, with the sun slicing through the bottom of the clouds. “We began flocking to windows and outside to see the developing rainbow. Sean said, ‘Hey, wanna go up on the roof?’ So up we went, two floors and a ladder to the roof. Sometimes, you’re just in the right place at the right time and happen to have your camera with you,” she says. Fran, whose amazing view of Milham Park was Encore’s FotoStop feature in November, is employed at the accounting firm BDO USA in downtown Kalamazoo. She also works as a partner in Kalamazoo Photo Works shooting engagements, weddings,

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senior portraits and other events. Fran snapped this shot with a Nikon D90. Her shutter speed was 1/320th with an aperture of F-22 and ISO of 200. Amy Smith then snagged Fran’s camera and caught the above shot of her. To see more of Fran’s work visit www.KalamazooPhotoworks.com.

Photographers! Please submit your favorite photograph to Encore for consideration in the photo centerfold feature. Be it the wonders of the natural world in our area, a local cityscape that causes fond memories, or an individual or group activity that seems to speak of Kalamazoo-area living, we’d like to see it. We invite photographers of all ages and abilities to submit photos for publication. Please e-mail editor@ encorekalamazoo.com or contact Midtown Gallery’s Terry Nihart (midtownkalamazoo@ yahoo.com), who is assisting with this photography feature. Please provide a short rationale detailing why your photo is representative of living here, along with personal profile information and the specifics of taking the image you submit.

HIGH ON KALAMAZOO More and more people are enjoying the benefit of “starting their vacation at home” by flying out of the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport. The airport’s new terminal has more space. With shorter lines and more comfort, AZO offers a new level of service to make your travel even easier. An expanded food court. And free wifi for your email and internet. As you make your winter travel plans, consider AZO.

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KNI will continue to introduce area physicians to new developments in breast imaging, cardiac imaging, neuroimaging, orthopedic imaging and functional imaging. So, when medical imaging is important to you or your family, learn more about your options at www.kniimaging. com.

KNI partners with Borgess to provide the most powerful and versatile medical imaging equipment available in Southwest Michigan. Working with Premier Radiology, KNI has the medical expertise to provide your physician with the test results you need.

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