Encore June 2015

The Organic Gypsy

June 2015

Having Lunch at Ministry with Community

Meet Linda Kekic

Cooking Up Fun in Class

Southwest Michigan’s Magazine

Getting to Know You Why Kalamazoo’s police may be knocking on your door

Love where you live.

There are many reasons to love Kalamazoo County.

But the truth is, our community still has needs.

We believe, by working together, we can make Kalamazoo County a place where every person is cared for, educated, engaged and empowered.

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“I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life. At the age of 9 I weighed 140 pounds. By the time I was a senior in high school I weighed 290 pounds. Finally, in 2013, I found the bariatric program at Bronson and learned more about gastric bypass surgery. At the time I was 397 pounds and my BMI was 54. I had surgery on April 16, and today I have a new life.

So does my family. We walk every day. We go to the gym. All of us are more active. I’ve lost 187 pounds. My BMI is 28!

You won’t find me sitting on the sidelines anymore. I’m right there running, biking and swimming alongside my husband and kids. This surgery gave me back my family and I want others to find their new life, too.”

Cheryl Yonkers, Portage, Michigan, September 15, 2014

When one person shares their positivity, we all share in it. To share how Bronson Positivity has impacted your life, or to watch a video of Cheryl’s story, visit bronsonpositivity.com.

share

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The Organic Gypsy

Having Lunch at Ministry With Community

Meet Linda Kekic

Cooking Up Fun in class

STAYING IN THE

Game

June 2015

Southwest Michigan’s Magazine

Getting to Know You

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Why Kalamazoo’s police may be knocking on your door

Publisher

encore publications, inc.

Editor

marie lee

Designer

peter brakeman

Staff Writer

tiffany fitzgerald

Copy Editor

margaret deritter

Contributing Writers

olga bonfiglio, andrew domino, robert m. weir

Photographers

junfu han, brian powers

Poetry Editor

margaret deritter

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Encore Magazine is published 12 times yearly. Copyright 2015, Encore Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Editorial, circulation and advertising correspondence should be sent to:

www.encorekalamazoo.com 117 W. Cedar St. Suite A Kalamazoo, MI 49007 Telephone: (269) 383-4433 Fax: (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 $36, two years $70. Current single issue and newsstand $4, $10 by mail.

Back issues $6, $12 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.

June

CONTENTS 2015

FEATURES Knock, Knock

24

The Organic Gypsy

20

KDPS’ Canvassing Program has officers getting to know those they serve

This chef wants “a different conversation about food”

‘Unconditional Acceptance of All’ Ministry with Community provides help and love

30

DEPARTMENTS 6 Contributors Up Front 8 First Things — Cool and fun happenings in SW Michigan

10

Get on the Bus — Famous ski bus gets third life

12

Good Works

The More the Merrier — Spouses and kids join in with Big Brothers and Big Sisters

14 Enterprise

Lawton Ridge Winery — Success is flowing for vintners

16 Savor

Cooking Class — Restaurants, chefs serve up new culinary opportunities

46 Back Story

Meet Linda Kekic — She’s got people thinking local

ARTS

38 Writing for Fun

RAWK empowers kids to read and write what they want

40 Events of Note 43 Poetry

On the cover: Kalamazoo Public Safety Officer Chuck Mason talks to Northside neighborhood resident Ernest Keener, whom Mason met while going door-to-door to get to know the neighborhood’s residents.

Photo by Junfu Han

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CONTRIBUTORS

ENCORE

Olga Bonfiglio As one who has had little contact with the police (except for those awful speeding tickets), Olga says interviewing Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officers for her story Getting to Know You was truly enlightening. “I saw both the officers’ human side and the special effort the KDPS is making to be more responsive to citizens in order to keep us safe. We, as a community, can truly be proud of them and consider ourselves fortunate to have them as our officers, especially at this time when so many communities are at odds with their police force.” Olga has previously written for the Huffington Post, U.S. Catholic, Planning (the trade journal for urban planners), America and the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Andrew Domino Andrew says he is always learning something when writing for Encore. In researching his article Building a Big Family, Andrew discovered a child may not only get matched with an adult in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program but can also find an entire family to spend time with. It’s a great reason to get kids and adults away from TV and the Internet for the day, too.

You can find more of Andrew’s writing at www.dominowriting.com.

Tiffany Fitzgerald While some people may feel uneasy spending time among the members of Ministry with Community, a day shelter in Kalamazoo, Tiffany found it restorative. “I had never attended a lunch at Ministry with Community before, though I had heard it explained to me many times, and I felt really privileged to see the wheels in motion and how much good can be done in an hour,” she says. Her story, Unconditional Acceptance of All, appears on page 30.

Robert M. Weir

Chef and locavore Bridgett Blough’s story naturally appealed to Robert, whose family owned a farm implement business in Michigan’s Thumb. Family outings to pick blueberries, strawberries and wild mushrooms are among his cherished boyhood memories. “The bonus — or dessert — of this assignment was meeting and interviewing Bridgett, a dynamic, young entrepreneur who is keeping alive old-time values of a healthy culinary lifestyle,” he notes.

Find Robert online at RobertMWeir.com.

6 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

that’s where

I started living again Mark Ellis Borgess Bone & Joint Institute patient

Mark Ellis could barely sleep. As a man who once biked 17 miles round trip to work daily, the pain in his left hip was keeping him from the active lifestyle he loved. That’s why he chose Borgess Bone & Joint Institute – named the world’s first Center for Advanced Recovery in joint replacement by the Stryker Corporation, as a result of superior outcomes. After an Anterior Hip Replacement, Mark was pain free and back on his feet faster than he ever imagined.

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ThatsWhere.com A member of Ascension Health® w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 7

UP FRONT ENCORE

First Things Something Vintage Motorcycle madness

Don

your black leather motorcycle jackets, folks, because the Vintage Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet celebrates its 20th anniversary this month at the Gilmore Car Museum. The motorcycle show brings all varieties of chrome, leather and power together in one place for fans of machines gone by. The show features thousands of pre-1989 motorcycles and is preceded by a 70-mile scenic Vintage Motorcycle Ride for owners.

The Show and Swap Meet runs 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 14 at the museum, 6865 Hickory Road, Hickory Corners; admission is free for children 11 and under and $12 for others. The ride, which is free, begins at 10 a.m.; register at the museum between 9 and 10 a.m.

Something Delicious When in Greece, eat

Eat your fill of delicious homemade Greek cuisine during Theo and Stacy’s 37th annual Greek Festival June 4-6.

What started as a gathering in a restaurant basement has grown into a two-day cultural festival at Arcadia Creek Festival Place (145 E. Water St.) celebrating Greek dance, entertainment, history and art. The event is also the perfect opportunity to eat freshly prepared Greek treats and dishes like baklava, pastitcio and spanakopita, prepared by Stacy Skartsiaris herself in the “Old World tradition.”

The festival runs 11 a.m.–10 p.m. June 4 and 11:30 a.m– 12:30 a.m. June 5 and 6. Admission is free before 4 p.m. Check KalamazooGreekFest.com for information on admission fees, which vary by time and day.

8 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

Something Beautiful A forest of masterpieces

Using chainsaws, paintbrushes, metal rods, pottery shards and other artistic accoutrements, artists will transform an ash grove destroyed by the emerald ash borer into a forest of art during the weeklong Fantasy Forest Art Competition at the Leila Arboretum, 928 E. Michigan Ave., Battle Creek.

In addition to the carving, there will be a wine and paint evening, a Native American cultural presentation, children’s activities and food, music, beer and a bonfire for visitors to the event, themed “All Creatures Wood and Tall.”

Events are scheduled every day June 13–20. Admission is free, but there are charges for some of the events. Check the schedule and costs at the Leila Arboretum Web page, LASGarden.org.

ENCORE UP FRONT

Something Good

Raising funds, celebrating with pride Break out Bell’s Sparkleberry Ale because Kalamazoo Pride returns

with its eighth annual festival June 12 and 13 at Arcadia Creek Festival Place. Entertainment includes a local DJ, the Miss or Mister Kalamazoo Pride 2015 drag competition, performance artist DC, Nashville recording artist Brody Ray, “American Idol” ninth season runner-up Crystal Bowersox, and Bianca del Rio, winner of the sixth season of the hit series RuPaul’s Drag Race.

A Kalamazoo Pride Brunch, which includes African American transgender activist Lourdes Ashley Hunter as the featured speaker, will be held at the Union Cabaret & Grille (125 S. Kalamazoo Mall) at 10 a.m. June 13.

Proceeds from the Kalamazoo Pride events benefit the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center, a nonprofit serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and allied community of Southwest Michigan.

The festival is both the largest fundraiser for the organization and the only pride event in Michigan that operates as a fundraiser.

Events at the festival site start at 6 p.m. June 12 and 2 p.m. June 13.

A two-day pass, available only in advance, is $10; tickets at the gate are $5 for Friday and $7 for Saturday. For more information or to buy a pass, go to pride.kglrc.org.

The brunch is $40 per person, or $75 for two; reserve tickets by calling 349-4234 or sending an email to jay@kglrc.org. Tickets are $45 at the door.

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UP FRONT ENCORE

Get on the Bus!

Junfu Han

Bus gets third life as party-mobile

D

an’s Ultra Party Bus was famous in the world of skiing and snowboarding before Dan Hill bought it — it fishtailed through Timber Ridge Ski Resort’s parking lot in a memorable segment of the 2009 Warren Miller ski film Dynasty.

Miller had used the bus to transport winter athletes to various locations featured in the film and to house them as well. Hill, who owns the sports equipment company Action Sports Enterprises, had seen with the refashioned school bus in action when he worked as a medic at a ski and snowboard jump event at Timber Ridge Ski Area.

Fast forward to 2013, when Hill was coordinating the first Snow Sailing World Cup event in St. Ignace and learned the bus was for sale. He bought it to use for the festivities, but after the event, Hill wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

“The bus sat for a while after the event, but people kept asking me if they could see the bus or ride the bus, since it had been used in the

10 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

Dan Hill on the steps to Dan’s Ultra Party Bus. Opposite page, the interior of the bus features leather couches and TVs.

film,” Hill says. “I had it just parked, but the guy who works on the bus for me kept saying the worst thing I could do was let the bus just sit — you’ve got to run those diesel buses.”

Hill started renting the bus out about two years ago for ski trips, to “kill two birds with one stone.” After a while the bus gained popularity for graduations, bachelor and bachelorette parties, pub crawls and more. Now the bus is the official bus of the Kalamazoo Growlers minor-league baseball team, is used by West Michigan Beer Tours and is kept busy for special events.

Originally the bus was renovated from an old yellow school bus for the film Dynasty by the athletes who used it. The outside was painted black, with yellow flames on the hood and large snowflakes

on the back side panels. There’s also a Warren Miller insignia on the front, marking its use in the Dynasty film. Since the athletes in Dynasty traveled to and from events on the bus, it has a shower and sleeping quarters, Hill says.

The bus has been used in a couple of other films too, he says, but most people remember the bus making “doughnuts” in an icy parking lot in Dynasty.

The inside of the bus has plush, black-leather couches and chairs, a kitchenette and two flat-screen TVs. The TVs were added by Hill, as well as LED lighting. The bus can be divided into two areas and lights are strung all over for extra party effect.

“The bus has got some real character to it,” Hill says. “A lot of party buses have music and lights, but in this one you can walk around and it provides a space that other party buses don’t usually. You can have as much fun getting to the destination as at the destination itself — (you) can watch movies, sing karaoke, and I’ve got a popcorn machine.”

Although Hill has three other drivers who work events with him, he continues to drive for events too — something he doesn’t want to stop doing anytime soon.

“I like to drive because I like to meet the people coming on the bus,” he says. “I like to hear their comments, and I like to tell them the story behind the bus, too.“

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GOOD WORKS ENCORE

Building a Big Family

Spouses and kids join in with Big Brothers and Big Sisters ANDREW DOMINO

Courtesy

by

Sometimes when a Little Brother or Sister

gets matched with a Big Brother or Big Sister, he or she gets more than expected — a Big Family.

That’s what’s happening for some children who are served by the local chapter of the national Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

The local group’s primary program, which matches adults and high schoolers (the “Bigs”) with children and teens ages 6 to 17 (the “Littles”) in five counties of Southwest Michigan, has been teaming Bigs and Littles since 1958, but it always has more Littles than Bigs.

One reason for this mismatch, according to Amy Kuchta, CEO of the local group, is that many potential volunteers tell the organization they’re worried that spending time with their Little will take time away from their own partner and children.

“People don’t volunteer because there’s a perception that you can’t involve your 12 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

family,” Kuchta says. “They think only the Big can do something with the Little.”

The solution, she says, is Big Couples and Big Families.

These programs are exactly the same as the Big Brother and Big Sister programs, except, instead of pairing a Little with one Big, they match a child with a couple or with adults and their children.

Andrew Schipper of Oshtemo Township started out as a Big Brother with 7-year-old Mark in 2012. When Schipper married Jenica in 2014, they became a Big Couple. Together the Schippers and Mark head to the YMCA or have a pizza, Schipper says, and Mark often attends Schipper family gatherings, since Schipper has nieces and nephews about Mark’s age.

“My wife’s brother-in-law had done Big Brothers so she knew all about it,” Schipper says. “A lot of what we do (with Mark) incorporates what we would be doing anyway.”

Hillary Howard and Adam Kahn became a Big Family to their Little Brother, Conner.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters matchmaking process is a little like lining up a first date. Staff members interview the Big and the Little (and their families) to learn about their personalities and interests. After the initial match, it’s up to the individuals to coordinate meetings.

They typically meet every other week, or more often if there’s a special occasion. BBBS staff members check in on the partnerships monthly.

“Most of our children come from singleparent homes,” Kuchta says. “Volunteers expose them to new people, places and ideas.”

A Big Brothers Big Sisters survey released in January found that 90 percent of Littles performed better in school after being matched with a Big. Nearly 97 percent of these Littles had improved self-confidence.

For Adam Kahn and Hillary Howard of Kalamazoo, being a Big Couple with 7-year-

old Conner is a chance to introduce the values they want to pass along to the daughter they’re expecting this summer.

“Conner is a middle child so it gives him a chance to be the main focus,” Kahn says. The couple and Conner go to the movies together, and Conner visits their home. Howard says they’re trying to sneak a little learning into their time together too.

“We’re trying to do school activities and make it as fun as possible,” she says. “We just wanted to spend quality time with someone.

His mom mentioned it couldn’t hurt to work on his math and reading.”

Both Schipper and Howard say they’re interested in staying with their Littles for as long as the children’s families will let them.

Howard says she realized her and Kahn’s time with Conner was a success when he invited them to his sister’s birthday party.

“He wanted to see us more than the two hours we had set that week,” she says.

Conner and Mark are among the youngest Littles in the Big Couples/Big Families program, while 14-year-old Zion is one of the older ones. He’s been teamed with WWMT news anchor Andy Dominianni and his family since 2011. The relationship has evolved, Dominianni says, so that now Zion visits his Big Family just once a month.

“He’s transitioning into more of a friend situation,” Dominianni says. “He has his own friends, a life of his own. When my daughter gets to high school, I hope he’ll become her ‘big brother.’”

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The Need for Bigs In 2014, about 1,200 Littles were partnered with Bigs across the area served by the local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, which includes Kalamazoo, Allegan, Barry, Calhoun and Van Buren counties.

Currently there are about 300 children, mostly boys, on the waiting list to be matched up.

“Even if you just see (a Little Sister or Little Brother) a few hours a month,” CEO Amy Kuchta says, “it can have a huge impact.”

To get involved, visit thinkbigtoday.org or call 382-6800. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 13

ENTERPRISE ENCORE

Good Grapes

Success is flowing for Lawton Ridge Winery W

“We’ve been really fortunate,” Bender says. “And when people say, ‘I really enjoy the wines you do,’ and the compliment is unsolicited, that gets two gold stars in my book.”

Bender’s partner in the business is co-owner and operator Crick Haltom. The two remodeled a former gas station at 8456 Stadium Drive for the winery. While Haltom works at the winery full time, Bender still works two days a week as a chiropractor, which was his primary occupation before he took on Lawton Ridge.

The winery’s vineyard, which provides nearly 90 percent of the grapes used for its wines, is located in Lawton, hence the name, and was established in 1974 by three hobbyists and then-Western Lawton Ridge owners Dean Bender, left, and Crick Haltom in the wine-making facility. Inset, the finished product.

Junfu Han

hen you run a winery, the one thing that controls everything about the business is the one thing you can’t control: the weather.

“You have to make wine with the grapes you get, not the grapes you were hoping for, and they only come once a year,” says Lawton Ridge Winery co-owner and operator Dean Bender. While in other industries such as beer brewing if there’s a bad batch you have the chance to begin again; in the wine business a bad batch is the year’s lot. There’s no going back once it’s time to harvest, he says.

“In the wine business, there’s a certain finality,” Bender says.

Luckily for Bender, the weather hasn’t affected the overall growth of Lawton Ridge Winery, which has seen a steady increase in sales since it was started in 2007 and in gold medals in contests like the Michigan Wine Competition.

14 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

Michigan University faculty members, Lew Carlson, George Beech and Jim Dempsey.

The three men planted the vineyard, experimenting with growing a variety of grapes and using those grapes to make wine at home. (Extra grapes went to St. Julian Winery, in Paw Paw.) In the mid-1990s, Bender, who had joined the winemaking group, became a co-owner of the vineyard with partner Bill Harrison, a geology professor at WMU, after they bought out the vineyard’s other owners.

“We thought that going into business was the next logical step in an evolving art form for us,” Bender says.

The Lawton Ridge vineyard is a 10-acre spread that was once a peach orchard. The land it sits on, Bender says, is a part of the Lake Michigan Shore appellation, or wine region. This American Viticultural Area runs east to west from downtown Kalamazoo to the Lake Michigan shoreline and north to south from Fennville to the Indiana border.

“All of our fruit comes from this region,” Benders says. “Our area is considered in the

wine world to be a cool-climate viticultural area.”

The grapes that can be grown closer to Lake Michigan, where the winds off the lake affect the drop and rise of temperature, differ from the grapes that are grown closer to Kalamazoo, Bender says. “I would have difficulty growing a Merlot grape, while someone 10 miles from the shore might not.”

The grape varietals riesling, chardonnay, cabernet franc and pinot gris grow well here because of the warm days and cool nights, Bender says. But the winters of 2013–14 and 2014–15 presented challenges for even those varietals that are suited to Southwest Michigan’s climate, Bender says.

“They were particularly hard for us, and we lost crop in 2014,” he says.

The weather hasn’t been the only unforeseeable, uncontrollable challenge to the business, though.

“We didn’t expect an economic downturn that was spiraling down right after we started the business,” Bender says. “The economic

vortex impacted our growth in the first couple of years, but we learned a lot about our market that we didn’t know before.”

For example, Bender says, the most important marketing tool for a winery is to have direct contact with customers.

“That seems to trump anything else that we try,” he says. “What really has made the difference is one-on-one contact, whether it be in the wine-tasting room or at tastings off-site.”

As Bender and Haltom look to the future, they are focused on quality, not quantity, Bender says.

“There’s a limit to the size we want to get to,” he says. “Our original commitment is to grow the best grapes we can grow and make a wine that’s consistent with the grapes.

We’re going to stick to that.”

Lawton Ridge Winery is open noon–6 p.m.

Monday–Saturday and noon–5 p.m. Sundays.

For more information, visit lawtonridgewinery. com.

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SAVOR ENCORE

Cooking Up Fun

Local classes offer new culinary opportunities

Courtesy

File photo

At left, Chef John Korycki discusses techniques with participants in a class at Zazios.

Below, Bravo! head chef Shawn Hagen advises students on their preparation.

L

ooking for a new hobby, an outlet to flex your culinary prowess or something different for dates, corporate events or outings with friends? Take a cooking class.

Many culinary class options exist in Kalamazoo, from learning cooking techniques or favorite recipes of local chefs to niche cooking classes at local grocers or group courses taught by chefs in a variety of areas.

Who are cooking classes for? Anyone, says Shawn Hagen, head chef and owner of Bravo!

Restaurant and Café, 5402 Portage Road.

“We get all different demographics, from young and old,” Hagen says. “Some people want to come and learn the recipes to reproduce verbatim, some want to get creative ideas, and some just want to come for entertainment and don’t even take the copy of the recipes home with them.”

Cooking classes are a good place to have icebreaker events or get to know new friends or love interests, Hagen says.

16 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

“We’ve even had people meet at our classes, get to know each other, and come back together again but this time married,” he says.

Want to get a little culinary education yourself? Check out some of these local options:

Bravo!

Cook with Hagen in hands-on classes meant for anyone from novice to expert.

Bravo! offers five types of classes a year, and each class runs for two sessions. At the end of each class, participants receive a recipe packet so they are able to replicate the dishes at home.

Bravo!’s next available class is Cooking with Wine and Spirits on Sept. 15 and 16.

Participants will learn to pair wines with food and bring a depth of flavor to dishes.

For a detailed schedule of classes, visit BravoKalamazoo.com. Classes run from 7–9 p.m. and cost $65 per person. Register by phone at 344-7700.

Food Dance Food Dance, at 401 E. Michigan Ave., offers classes from creative cupcake making to a Fire and Sky Grilling Class. The one-evening grilling class is set for 6:30–8:30 p.m. June 9, 10 and 11 on the rooftop of the Food Dance building, although the June 11 session is sold out. During this class, items are cooked over a wood-fired grill while Food Dance chefs demonstrate charcoal- and wood-grilling techniques.

“I would say our classes target a wide range of guests,” says Michelle Miller, marketing and events coordinator at Food Dance. “A lot of our corporate customers have large groups that attend classes or have private ones, and we also have many of our regular guests that attend — people who are interested in food, in cooking and even just doing something fun with a friend for an evening out.”

Check upcoming class schedules at FoodDance.net/events-classes. The cost for a class averages about $75; online registration is available, or call 382-1888.

ns Ser ving Ka l am eratio n e G az e e oo Thr

Kurry Guru For an intimate cooking class experience, sign up to learn with Kurry Guru’s chef, Anja Patel. Kurry Guru is a gourmet foods company that provides ready-to-eat Indian vegetarian dishes and sides available for purchase at D&W, the People’s Food Coop, Sawall Foods and the cafes at Bronson Hospital and Western Michigan University.

“My most popular class is Back to Basic: Curry Making 101,” Patel says. “This class teaches how to make a curry base from scratch, and from that base I make three curries.”

Patel says her classes average about 10 people, run about two to two-and-a-half hours and have a buffet-style dinner at the end. Each student receives cooking tips, shopping guides and recipes. Because space is limited, Kurry Guru classes don’t involve hands-on cooking, but participants help Patel prepare the family-style dinner by chopping or stirring.

Kurry Guru offers two classes a month, held at the Kurry Guru kitchen, 2333 Helen Ave., Portage. For the upcoming schedule or to register for classes, visit KurryGuru.com or look for Kurry Guru Gourmet Foods, Michigan on Facebook.

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Xin Liu, co-owner of Pacific Rim Foods, offers monthly classes at the Oakwood Neighborhood Association (3320 Laird Ave.) that specialize in Liu’s area of expertise — Asian cooking. Lui’s classes so far this year have focused on dumplings, gluten-free Asian cooking and Korean BBQ. In addition to the classes offered by Pacific Rim Foods, Liu offers private classes for groups, friends and families who want to learn new skills in the kitchen.

Most classes cost $25 to $30 and are offered at the Oakwood Neighborhood Association. For a detailed schedule, find Pacific Rim Foods on Facebook.

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w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 17

SAVOR ENCORE People’s Co-op/Can-Do Kitchen Making a curry spice mixture, creating delicious paleo snacks and replicating People’s Co-op’s in-house treats have been topics of cooking classes hosted by the People’s Food Co-op in its Can-Do Kitchen, 511 Harrison St. The classes are offered every two or three months, are taught by Can-Do Kitchen or People’s Co-op experts, and focus on a variety of styles and techniques.

Most classes cost $20 a person. Register and find upcoming class information at PeoplesFoodCo-Op.org/events.

Whether you’re gluten-intolerant, have celiac disease or are just cutting down on processed wheats, certified health coach Vicky Mitchell offers gluten-free cooking classes at the Natural Health Food Center, 4610 W. Main St., to inspire new ideas and help participants hone skills.

Classes cost $5 and take place one Saturday a month at the food center, usually from 10–11:30 a.m. For more information or to view a calendar of classes, visit NaturalHealthFoodCenter.com/events

Zazios For a hands-on cooking class that offers insight into fine Italian cooking, Zazios, 100 W. Michigan Ave., offers afternoon cooking classes

Courtesy

Natural Health Food Center

Participants listen as former Food Dance Chef Robb Hammond instructs a Fire and Sky Grilling Class.

with Chef John Korycki. Each class teaches different cooking techniques and ingredients while focusing on seasonal foods that reflect the Chef’s Table menu at the restaurant.

Each class lasts four to four-and-ahalf hours, allowing for a leisurely paced educational cooking experience. Upcoming

classes are scheduled for June 20, July 18 and Aug. 15, and Zazios is looking to add a kids’ cooking class, a pasta cooking class and a grilling class this summer, too.

The cost of classes is $75 per person plus tax and gratuity. For a complete schedule, visit Zazios.com. To register, call 384-2650.

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20 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

It’s time for ‘a different conversation B about food’ story by

ROBERT M. WEIR

photography by

JUNFU HAN

ridgett Blough wanted to be a gypsy.

“When I was in culinary school, I had this great idea that, instead of owning a restaurant, I could have a food truck and drive where I wanted, like a gypsy, and provide people with healthy food,” says Blough, owner of The Organic Gypsy, a multi-faceted catering and food delivery business.

Now entering her fourth year of operating the business, this energetic, 29-year-old entrepreneur does, indeed, have a food truck, self-built with the help of her father, as well as a commercial

Bridgett Blough outside her food truck for The Organic Gypsy.

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 21

kitchen at 2103 S. Burdick St. She’s also a certified natural chef, having graduated in 2012 from San Francisco’s Bauman College, which offers a nontraditional program of holistic, nutritional culinary arts.

During the summer, her nontraditional farm-to-table food truck can be found at Bronson Park for Kalamazoo’s Lunch Time Live program, at the Kalamazoo Farmers’ Market, and at the Texas Township Farmers’ Market, where she hosts a monthly cooking demo. She also speaks at local libraries, serves customers at festivals throughout the Midwest, and caters special events.

Blough, who grew up in the St. Joseph area, lists her menu, services and accolades on her website, theorganicgypsy.com. Through social media, she informs followers of the truck’s current locations and posts daily blogs to This page: Blough and helper Maryanne Kircos work in initiate “a different conversation about food.”

The Organic Gypsy’s kitchen “It’s important that we encourage people on South Burdick Street. to think about what they’re eating and where Opposite page: Blough with it came from,” she says in a passionate voice a tray of gluten-free, black seasoned with expressive hand gestures. bean brownies.

The Organic Gypsy uses only vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy items from local producers, primarily in Berrien County, which she applauds for its “bounty of harvest.”

“I believe in the power of that triangle between the farmer selling fresh produce to me, then me making something healthy out of it and then selling it to my customers. When that happens quickly within a small radius, it’s a powerful nutritional and economic force within our community,” she says. online presence, she adds, “Social media doesn’t grow itself; it takes In that vein, Blough identifies herself as “a professional hauler.” time.”

“I drive to a farm to buy produce. I haul that produce to my kitchen.

An advocate of food storage for off-season usage, Blough stocks I prepare and package it in small containers to fit in the truck and the freezers in her commercial kitchen with hundreds of pounds of drive to an event. Afterward, I haul unconsumed food and dirty dishes vegetables, fruit and fruit sauces. Likewise, she encourages families to back to the kitchen to be washed and sanitized. Then I do it all over freeze and preserve in order to eat local year ’round. “I try to get people again for the next event — haul it in, haul it out, haul it back in.” to think big,” she says. “Never cook one cup of quinoa. Rather, cook four Running a food truck “is not for the faint of heart,” she says. During cups, use part of it that night, tap that leftover the next day, then freeze the summer, she works 80 hours a week. A big catering event means the rest and pull it out when there isn’t enough time to cook a meal.” a 16-hour day, so youthful physical stamina is a plus. Blough works Blough deplores food waste. “Forty percent of the produce grown primarily alone, occasionally contracting with helpers to wash, chop in this country is thrown away or composted,” she laments. “We need and prepare food but always under her supervision. a conversation about how we can be smarter about how to use what “It’s an efficiency game,” she says, “making as much quantity as we have and not be so concerned about what our food looks like.” possible with minimum effort.”

She cites one of her suppliers, a certified organic grower, who is Blough describes the three primary activities of her business as compelled by the commercial food industry to deliver only perfect prep, distribution and paperwork — all completed with personal specimens. “He has walk-in coolers with huge containers filled with attention. “I get a lot of catering inquiries, so I answer emails and cucumbers,” she says. “These are ‘mispicks’ because they have a slight take time to determine what my clients really want.” In regard to her bend and don’t stack uniformly. I buy them because I’m going to chop

22 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

them up anyway. But I’m only one person, and I can’t put a dent in all his ‘mispicks’ so he lets some of them rot in the field.”

Blough, an advocate of community-supported agriculture, in which local producers sell directly to the public on a subscription basis, has developed a similar subscription-funded soup program and salad program at The Organic Gypsy.

Through the program, she offers soups in the fall and winter and salads in spring as fresh greens become available. During soup season, Blough provides a quart of vegetarian, gluten-free, mostly organic soup made from local ingredients each week, delivering it to central distribution points in Kalamazoo, Portage and neighborhoods and businesses where customers organize multiple subscribers. The program is popular with working moms who want this convenience, says Blough, who made 25 gallons of soup each week this past winter.

Even with such signs of success, Blough admits that engaging people in nutrition-changing conversations can be challenging.

“People will go to a microbrewery or coffee shop and, without thinking, spend $6 on a drink or a cappuccino. But I serve two spring rolls filled with fresh veggies and herbs and an almond butter dipping

sauce for $6 and people say, ‘Is this all I get?’

That’s sometimes hard for me to take because the nutrition density of the meal I serve is way higher than the drinks.”

Recognizing that she serves a niche market, Blough concedes, “It’s easy to make food taste good with sugar, salt and fat, so not everyone is going to rave over my organic chickpeas or quinoa wrap.”

Blough says her customers tend to be either young parents who want to provide nutritional meals for their children or people in the latter half of life seeking to improve their dining habits. She also has a few special customers, such as recovering patients on restricted diets and parents of children with extreme food allergies.

When she speaks at local libraries or gives cooking demonstrations, Blough focuses the conversation on the flavor and texture of natural ingredients. “I ask people, ‘How does your food taste? How do you feel after eating? After digesting? When you go to bed at night, do you feel light or are you burping up your dinner?’”

Blough says the most interesting conversations occur with women planning their weddings. Blough views the celebratory matrimonial meal as a very important event with primal roots to our human ancestors who gathered around ceremonial cooking fires, and she chuckles about typical conversations with brides-to-be, who often don’t realize the seasonal nature of the food she offers.

“They want to know my catering menu, and I ask, ‘When are you getting married?’ Then I explain that my menu depends on the weather and what produce is in season. In any particular week, I might have purple cabbage or green cabbage, fresh lettuce or kale.”

When it comes to advocacy for healthy eating, Blough’s drive to excel was sparked by her experiences as a Kalamazoo College volleyball player from 2004 to 2008 and later as a certified instructor in yoga, Pilates and exercise boot camp for women. “Because I was trained in the physicality of sport, I became attuned to how I feel when I exercise,” she says, admitting that she used to think the most important component of good health was exercise. Now she says, “We can’t exercise off pounds of junk food, but we can control the way we feel based on our daily choices, including what we eat. That’s why we need to have a different conversation about food.

“We should have a conversation of quality and quantity, about food that’s healthy and nutritious as well as tasty and flavorful. This is why I have a food truck — so I can have these conversations about food. And I really do believe in what I’m doing.”

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 23

Getting to Know You Public safety officers are coming to a doorstep near you story by

OLGA BONFIGLIO

photography by

24 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

JUNFU HAN

KDPS Sgt. Peter Hoyt chats with resident Ronald Schoonbeck during Hoyt’s recent patrol of the Mt. Olivet neighborhood.

If you see a Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officer on your

doorstep and have not called 911 for an emergency, don’t panic. Officers are knocking on doors to introduce themselves, to meet you as fellow community members and to find out if there are any problems on your block.

The officer’s visit is part of KDPS’ Canvassing Program, an effort to improve communication between the department and the community. Officers go door-to-door with the goal of meeting every citizen on their beat over the course of a year. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 25

“All kinds of positive things are coming from it,” says the Operations Division’s Capt. Jim Mallery, who initiated the program. “Such an approach is widely praised because it has huge benefits to making the city a great place to live.”

The program was one result of a yearlong study of KDPS’ relationship with the African American community. The study — conducted by Lamberth Consulting, a Pennsylvania firm that specializes in racial profiling assessments — didn’t paint a pretty picture: In KDPS traffic stops at 12 locations in the city, black motorists were more than twice as likely to be stopped as white drivers. And even though whites were more likely to be found with contraband such as guns and drugs, a far greater percentage of blacks were searched, handcuffed and arrested.

“It was tough on the officers,” KDPS Chief Jeff Hadley says of the study. “They were angry. They felt that I had thrown them under the bus. They felt attacked and called racist. But there had been negative perceptions out there for a long time, and this was an opportunity to seek answers to how we would deal with them in a responsible way.”

The study set in motion a new communications approach to building greater trust between citizens and KDPS. One part of the approach is the Canvassing Program. The program began in March 2014 and requires officers on each of KDPS’ two shifts to devotes two hours to cover two blocks. With more than 75,500 people in Kalamazoo’s 25.11 square miles, that’s a lot of people to meet.

Officers can potentially make 12 to 25 contacts per shift and visit 50 residences on four blocks per day. Canvassing is done throughout the year in all of the city’s neighborhoods.

On one March evening this year, Sgt. Anthony Morgan visited seven homes in the Oakwood neighborhood in one hour. Highly personable

26 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

and engaging, Morgan introduced himself to residents and explained that he was visiting the neighborhood, meeting citizens, uncovering their concerns and finding out whether KDPS was doing its job. At first, the residents he talked to were hesitant.

“People don’t usually say anything unless they’re asked,” Morgan says. However, as residents warmed up to him, they made some suggestions, which he wrote down in his notebook: The city should plow the sidewalks and roads; the neighborhood liaison officer should be reinstated; bike lanes around the city run into gutters.

Morgan answered questions about what the city was doing about their concerns, and later that night he would send follow-up emails to the appropriate city departments about the residents’ concerns.

As he prepared to leave the residents, he thanked them and gave them his card, reminding them to call him if something came up. As he moved from house to house, he waved at kids riding bikes on the street and gave them KDPS sticker badges he always carries.

“I’ve learned a lot about other departments in the city that I didn’t know about as a result of canvassing residents, like the Public Services Department,” Morgan says.

Knowing the beat The Canvassing Program also informs officers of possible crime going on in a neighborhood. At one house, Morgan picked up information about a possible methamphetamine lab in the neighborhood, so KDPS will watch that house and make any necessary arrests, he says.

“People always know what’s going on way before we do,” he says.

“That’s the big advantage of this program.”

The Canvassing Program also helps officers gain a broader perspective of their beats (KDPS has seven zones, or beats, that the officers patrol) as they attempt to create an environment of trust and responsiveness with citizens. For example, one officer spent 40 minutes in an elderly homeowner’s living room listening to a historical account of the neighborhood over the past 57 years.

Residents on West Maple Street alerted KDPS about speeding cars on their street, so more frequent patrols were posted. In another neighborhood, some residents said they felt unsafe at certain bus stops in the early morning, so KDPS has provided a greater presence near those stops.

While Sgt. Danielle Guilds was canvassing in the Vine neighborhood, she met former city commissioner Lance Ferraro, who invited her into his house and introduced her to his family. He was delighted to see her and find out that KDPS was canvassing city neighborhoods. Such visits also helped her learn that the Vine neighborhood is not populated just by students.

Without building these relationships with residents, Mallery says, he doubts people would take the initiative to call KDPS to help them take care of their

concerns. At the same time, the program has helped public safety officers to see people as citizens rather than as individuals having one of the worst days of their lives.

“This job can breed a cynicism in the profession,” Mallery says. “You begin to think that everyone is like the person you arrested last night.”

A ‘believer’ now On his first Canvassing Program visit, Sgt. Scott Sanderson surprised one couple in the Northside neighborhood when he stopped by to follow up on their 3-year-old son, who had suffered a seizure requiring an EMS rescue a few days before. When he knocked on the couple’s door, the first thing they said was, “What did we do now?”

Sanderson replied that he was just checking to see that their son was doing all right. They invited him in and talked awhile, watching the toddler play on the floor with a fire truck.

“To me it was like night and day and a complete turnaround from what I knew about policing,” Sanderson says about the Canvassing Program. “Ten years ago I would not have bought into the Canvassing Program. That first experience made a believer out of me.”

Opposite page: Bob Kettemen of Taco Bob’s in downtown Kalamazoo shows his appreciation for Kevin Seckler, the KDPS officer who patrols downtown.

Above, Officer Chuck Mason walks along a street on Kalamazoo’s Northside as he goes house-to-house to meet and talk with the neighborhood’s residents.

Sanderson says he has also learned more about the Northside, including that there are many residents who have lived there for 40 to 50 years.

“I had no clue there were retired school workers there or ambulance people,” he says. “And, once inside their homes, they are actually happy to see me.”

For citizens, having a police presence in the neighborhood is a big deal. When officers get out of their patrol cars and interact with citizens, the Department of Public Safety becomes much more personal to them, Sanderson says.

Chief Hadley regularly visits an elderly African American woman on the Northside who says she likes to see “the blue pants.” In other words, she feels safer when KDPS officers are around.

“These new programs have helped to facilitate changes in the department and the ways we go about our daily business,” says Lt. Jeff VanderWiere, who works in the KDPS Command Center, at w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 27

Capt. Jim Mallery, in the firefighter hat, and Officer Robert Holdwick let Ganynn Hayward, 4, (blue shirt) and Finn Claassen, 3, check out their firefighting gear during a neighborhood patrol.

Burdick Street and Crosstown Parkway. “The programs have created a partnership with citizens where they see our interest and care for them. Citizens also get to see the human side of the officers and realize that we are part of the community, too.” officers approached them. He called the department’s new in-house newsletter the “WOW Bulletin,” and the approach caught on.

Building trust One way WOW Service occurs is that the department “never shuts One of the biggest changes in KDPS resulting from the Canvassing the door,” Mallery says. KDPS has a presence at all community forums, Program is a gradual changing of the department’s culture, Mallery has established more foot patrols and has enhanced its media says. Historically, officers were rewarded for the number of arrests relations program in an effort to engage the community. It has also they made, the amount of narcotics and number of guns they investigated the possibility of using body cameras but has found that recovered and the number of tickets they wrote (although KDPS does this tactic is complicated by a number of issues such as data storage, not have a quota system on tickets), he says. Today the department redaction and privacy, he says. has changed this approach to one that encourages quality contact Communication among the officers and leadership has also with citizens in non-enforcement situations. It’s called WOW Service, changed, VanderWiere says. For example, every day at 8 a.m. and it’s all about building trust with the public in order to reduce VanderWiere meets with his sergeants to give directions for the day crime and increase relationships with citizens, Mallery says. shift. He relays feedback from the evening shift and notes special WOW Service was derived from two sources: a book about customer events going on that day that may need closer attention. These service titled The How of Wow! and Mallery’s mother, Pat. After Mallery meetings occurred before but more informally. Now they are part of told her about what he was trying to accomplish with the new standard operating procedure, VanderWiere says. communications program, his mother advised him to follow her Golden “Communication always needs improvement,” he says. “Any time Rule — treat others the way you would want your mother treated — we do it, everyone benefits. Besides, we can’t do it with the community and create “wow!” moments where people would say “wow!” after without doing it with ourselves first.”.

28 | ENCORE MAY 2015

WOW Service also gives officers more latitude to solve problems, he says. For example, a 93-year-old man from Colon drove to Kalamazoo to see his wife at Borgess Medical Center. However, because the man had a memory loss problem, he couldn’t find his way back to Colon. Officer Ben Ulman drove him home, about 40 miles away.

Another innovation in KDPS is its Customer Service Follow-Up Program. Command officers select two people each month who were arrested and then interview them about their treatment. The program aims to gauge the performance of officers. Last year 82 people were contacted to respond to a follow-up survey. All but four or five said the officers who arrested them treated them fairly and with dignity and respect.

WOW Service also comes into play whenever there is a crime call in a neighborhood. Officers treat such calls with a more “laser-type focus” on the individuals causing the problem, Hadley says.

“We go after the offender, not the whole neighborhood,” he says. “We don’t stop all people around and pat them down. We don’t want to hold the rest of the neighborhood hostage because of a very small group of people who commit crimes.”

relationships with groups, organizations, communities and societies. In particular, Tyler examines the role of judgments about the justice or injustice of group procedures in shaping legitimacy, compliance and cooperation.

This summer KDPS officers will receive training in police legitimacy, which addresses citizens’ views of police and their deference to police authority.

“This training will help us know where we need to go as a profession,” Hadley says.

“It’s good for the officers, and it will help them determine the right thing to do. It will also keep them safer where they learn to communicate with people and be aware of their implicit and unconscious biases. In this way officers have a better chance of winning people’s compliance without a fight.”

Mixed impact on officers Hadley says most police departments in America do not have a communications program like KDPS’. In fact, KDPS’ program is so unusual that cable news channel Al Jazeera America recently featured the department and its work as a contrast to the handling of recent racially charged police situations like those in Baltimore; Ferguson, Mo.; Cleveland; New York; and South Carolina. However, the motivation behind the KDPS communications program didn’t come easily nor did officers receive it favorably at first.

“About half of the officers are proud of the communications program that grew

Creating legitimacy Mallery, who teaches criminal justice at Ferris State University, says that KDPS’ new communications approach is based on Sir Robert Peel’s Principles of Policing, which were formulated in 1829 while the former British prime minister served as home secretary. The assumption Learn more behind Peele’s principles is that Additional information about the Kalamazoo the police are citizens and citizens Department of Public Safety’s efforts to improve are the police. In other words, both communication with the Kalamazoo community groups determine how they want can be found on the Al Jazeera America website: law enforcement to operate in their • h ttp://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/ neighborhoods and cities. a m e r i c a - t o n i g h t / a r t i c l e s / 2 01 5 / 2 / 2 3 / “These programs help us to kalamazoo-police.html create legitimacy in the work we Listen to Capt. James Mallery talk about the do,” Mallery says. “Legitimacy is not creative ways KDPS go above and beyond to about a badge or a gun. Instead, it’s enhance the relationship between the police and about repetitive contact with the the community: community about how it wants to be • h ttp://vistelar.com/podcasts/creative-solutionspoliced.” kalamazoo-mi-department-of-public-safety Mallery cites research by Tom Tyler of Yale University that explores the role of justice in shaping people’s

out of the (Lamberth Consulting) study, but the other half still have some raw emotions about the study,” Morgan says.

Officer Craig Stouffer says one objection to the study was that the people pulled over for traffic stops are more generally poor than African American. They are pulled over because of such problems as an expired license plate, failure to pay warrants or defective equipment on their cars. (KDPS cars are equipped with computers that can check license plates for violations.)

“The study didn’t fully explain why people were stopped,” Stouffer says. “Then it tossed a label on us that was hard to shake. We weren’t going to win either way.”

Many officers felt the results of the study put the officers’ lives, reputations and legitimacy on the line, Stouffer says. At the same time, several of the officers interviewed for this article expressed surprise at the lack of public outcry about the study, which was released in September 2013.

Ahead of the curve Although the news was not all good, the study and the follow-up efforts of KDPS have been well received by the Kalamazoo community, Hadley says. “It appreciated our honesty to look at ourselves,” he says.

The results show that since the Canvassing Program’s inception, crime in the city is down 6.25 percent in every category, including aggravated assault and car theft. Traffic stops are down 41 percent while directed patrols (targeting “hot spots” of crime) are up 37 percent.

When the fallout of the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer hit last summer, KDPS was ready — and glad that it was ahead of the curve, Sgt. Morgan says.

“Then it all made sense because we could see on TV what happens when mistrust erupts between the public and the police. We, at least, were on the front end of changing that.”

Hadley says that there is much more work to do but that most officers have truly come around to understanding the goals and purpose of the study.

“I can’t be more proud of them,” he says. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 29

30 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

'Unconditional Acceptance of All ' Ministry with Community’s mission of love

Gretta Terrentine, development director for Ministry with Community, and member Andrew Wimes.

story by

TIFFANY FITZGERALD

photography by

JUNFU HAN

B

ehind the front desk of Ministry with Community, Development Director Gretta Terrentine stands tall and elegantly dressed in a black suit as she talks to a volunteer about today’s to-do list at the daytime shelter.

It’s late morning and Sarah Taylor, the member services associate who staffs the front desk, checks mail; signs people up for laundry, social work sessions and showers; and rifles through drawers of hygiene products.

“Sorry, we’re still out of Chapstick,” Taylor calls out to a waiting member. “But you need a toothbrush, right? We have that,” she says and hands one to the member. She then assists another member in the signup process for the Loaves & Fishes food pantry.

Taylor, who has been here since 8 a.m. and will be here until 5:30 p.m., is kind, measured and quick as she attends to the constant influx of members.

This is one five-minute span in one day in one week at Ministry with Community.

The daytime shelter, at 440 N. Church St., in downtown Kalamazoo, operates from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day, and Taylor is unflappable amid the nonstop bustle among staff, volunteers and members.

The staff chooses to call those who use the shelter’s services “members” because it is a nonjudgmental term based on one of the basic tenets of Ministry with Community: “We believe in the unconditional acceptance of all. We love, care and nurture without judgment or discrimination.”

This tenet is apparent in the way the volunteers and staff talk to and treat members — many of whom suffer from

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 31

mental illness, addiction or a combination of both. There’s no sign of condescension, frustration, flatness or anxiety in their interactions.

While Taylor keeps shuffling through the mail (members may use the Ministry address as a permanent postal address) and pulling out personal hygiene items, a member slides to the side of the front desk and waits to be noticed by Terrentine, who immediately lights up upon seeing her. The member is Terrentine’s match in height and build, and, as the two regally tall women hug, it’s easy to forget that the scene unfolding is happening in a place people come to when they’re in crisis.

“I’m just a nobody, but Gretta thinks an awful lot of me,” the member says, her arm hooked around Terrentine. “She’s one of my friends.”

Terrentine beams. “I do think a lot of you,” she says. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” the member responds.

This isn’t the first time “I love you” has been exchanged this morning between staff and members. Staff and volunteers at Ministry openly embrace the act of loving members. While the idea of loving someone who might not have a bed to sleep in come closing time, who might not recover from an addiction, or who may never be able to function without daily community support might make some people uneasy, love is one thing the Ministry staff and volunteers never seem to run out of, unlike Chapstick, so there’s no reason to hold back.

They've been there For many of the volunteers and staff, this love comes from a place of knowing. They may once have been members of Ministry with Community themselves or suffered from addiction or mental illness or been in a state of crisis. Now, with their lives back in balance, they want to give back.

The staff members take their meal breaks right before the big sitdown event of the day: lunch, during which staff and volunteers serve hundreds of members a hot meal family-style. As Taylor steps away from the desk for her break, member services associate Tim Nichols steps in. The desk and Ministry facilities are getting busier and busier as lunchtime nears, but Nichols finds a moment to pull a newsletter out of a file drawer.

“That’s my story,” he says, smiling and pointing to the front page of the bulletin. “I’m already famous.”

I was running the streets, staying out all night — smoking, drinking — anything to stay away from home and school, Nichols’ story begins.

The narrative tells of a young Nichols, who was in and out of trouble during his childhood in Kalamazoo until he was charged with 32 felonies in one day at age 14. Nichols moved from a violent home with unstable parenting to the state corrections system, where he spent 12 years. His turning point, the story says, is when he was put in solitary confinement for a year and a half.

Ministry with Community is the one company that gave me a chance when I couldn’t find a job, he says in his story. People with felonies deserve a second chance. Some don’t work, but some flourish.

It’s good to take a chance.

32 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

From top, volunteer David Pennington grabs a plate to serve to a member; staff member Tim Nichols signs up a member for services; volunteer Edith Rasmussen, right, talks with member Michelle Alexander.

Cook Denita Perry prepares lunch for members. Ministry with Community served more than 120,000 meals in 2013.

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 33

Nichols says most people are shocked to learn he was once incarcerated. He is young, stands straight, smiles easily and seems like an inspired and ambitious man. Who would think he once spent a year and a half in a tiny cell by himself?

Finding hope That’s part of the hope one finds at Ministry with Community: If you can get better, you can get better here. Gwen Lanier, the recovery support specialist, once struggled with her own addiction. Head cook Denita Perry was a member of Ministry herself, taking the very meals she now cooks. Current members help out around the building — cleaning, organizing, administering.

“We try to point members in the right direction,” Terrentine says, explaining that Ministry’s programs and services help members to set personal goals. “But we can’t make them do anything. There’s one tier of members who we’ve known for 20 years. They will always be coming in here; this is just one of the places in their life, due to substance abuse or mental illness or a combination of both. There’s another tier for which this is the place for them during a temporary crisis.”

For those who are here because they need support while out of a job or trying to make ends meet for their family, Ministry might not become home or a place they even come back to, Terrentine says.

But for others, Ministry is home, and, whether it means cleaning windows, organizing game time or taking a position at the front desk, these members give back as part of a community.

Ministry with Community provides a long list of member services and supplies (see opposite page). Among other things, it offers an invaluable chance for members to just sit in a safe space, play a game with a friend or use a computer to look for a job. However, one service many volunteers and staff consider a keystone of the shelter’s programming is lunch. (continued on page 36)

34 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

Services provided by Ministry with Community:

Member Catarino Arispe waits for a load of laundry to finish. Ministry provided facilities for members to do 10,552 loads of laundry in 2013.

Hot showers Laundry facilities Mail services Telephone services Breakfast Lunch Social work office hours Activity hours Men’s and women’s support groups Therapy Legal aid Loaves & Fishes food pantry Veteran assistance Birth certificate or ID assistance Domestic violence intervention Help getting glasses or contact lenses Tax preparation Voter registration Financial management support Lawyer referrals Notary services Health-care referrals Household goods Shoes Medical equipment Bikes

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MINISTRY (continued from page 34)

“Sometimes, if I’m having a bad day, I come in here (the cafeteria) for a minute and remind myself who it is I do this for,” Terrentine says.

Today she’ll be here the whole lunch hour.

She starts by meeting with volunteers who are on hand to help with the meal — a group from Borgess Medical Center, two women from the Sisters of St. Joseph, a student volunteer from Western Michigan University and Edith and Bob Rasmussen, who have been part of Ministry with Community since its inception and helped start Ministry on the path to where it is today.

The volunteers circle up, hold hands and stand in a moment of silence before breaking up to work in the kitchen, serve up the food or otherwise serve members. Two volunteers, Bob Rasmussen and Mark Kraai, take their place behind the piano and the double bass, respectively, to provide music for lunch.

Today chicken pot pies are on the menu.

Lanier, who staffs the front door, lets in the first 64 people, who sit down and raise their hands to indicate they have yet to be served. On the tables, there are big familystyle bowls of salad, pitchers of water and iced tea, and flowers.

Volunteers move quickly, placing plates in front of members, while in the kitchen Perry and her kitchen crew scoop out servings of the pot pie without a hitch. Within 10 minutes, the first 64 people are seated with a hot plate of food in front of them. By the end of the hour, Ministry with Community will have fed between 400 and 500 people.

When members finish, they don’t linger — they bring their plates to the waiting cart and make room for more people to have a hot meal. Lunch runs smoothly and quickly, but there’s still time for conversation, hugs, handshakes and banter.

It’s easy to see why on a hard day — when staff arrive at work to find members struggling outside the shelter on cold winter mornings; when a loved member descends into addiction again, disappears or passes away; or when the constant buzz of requests and needs seems too much to deal with as just one person, one group of people, or even one organization — this full cafeteria would be the place to build up hope. There’s energy in this lunch, in this place. And love.

36 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

Top, Recovery Support Specialist Gwen Lanier holds the door to the lunchroom for members.

Bottom, Sarah Taylor stays busy helping members at the front desk.

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ARTS ENCORE

Making Writing Fun

Junfu Han

RAWK empowers kids to read and write what they want

Writing is an endeavor many students find daunting, anxiety-

ridden, frustrating and boring. But Read and Write Kalamazoo cofounders Anne Hensley and Emily Kastner don’t want it to be that way — in fact, they believe that in the right environment, kids can find reading and writing to be empowering, enriching and, yes, fun.

Read and Write Kalamazoo, or RAWK, started in 2012 to provide a kids-only creative space for reading and writing. The mission of the nonprofit — located in the Reality Factory, at 213 Frank St., in Kalamazoo’s Northside neighborhood — is to support development in these learning areas, which RAWK does by hosting workshops for students from preschool through high school to perform, collaborate and study different forms of writing and reading they may not be exposed to in school.

RAWK is modeled in part on 826, a national network of writing and tutoring centers, the first of which was started in 2002 by author Dave Eggers and incorporated a pirate supply store as a “front” for the writers’ space, making the workshop area special and specific to the kids who came.

“We feel very strongly about how empowering it is to give students the tools they need to say what they want to say and then let them

38 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

RAWK co-founder Emily Kastner with participants Jamara Harper, far left, and Jamari Harper. Opposite page, Guthrie Harris writes by a window in the RAWK location on Frank Street in Kalamazoo.

say it in a caring and supportive environment with people who will validate their work,” Hensley says. Writing is only one part of RAWK workshops; the organization also has public readings and performances so the workshop participants have the opportunity to share their work. “They’re emboldened by the opportunity,” she says.

RAWK workshops span from day- or week-long events to workshopping series and include in-school programming, partnership programming with Communities in Schools, and performances and readings at public locations such as the bookstore Bookbug. Workshop themes and topics differ for every event. In March, participants made their own journals and learned about the art of journals and journaling. Another March event featured RAWK flash poets reading food-themed poetry at the annual meeting of the People’s Co-op.

Preschool students participated in a “Build & Write” workshop in April, in which they used craft materials to help tell their own stories, which were written down and narrated by adult partners.

“Preschoolers don’t have any problem at all thinking up stories,” Hensley says. “It’s innate.”

This summer RAWK is hosting three week-long writing workshops that will focus on voice, narrative and storytelling.

The workshops feature guest volunteers from the community, such as young adult literature author Stephanie Stamm (featured in Encore’s May issue), who was RAWK’s first volunteer for this type of workshop. The workshops result in a published anthology of work by the students that can be bought at Bookbug. The publication itself is an important validation of the students’ hard work, the cofounders say.

“I remember seeing my work published for the first time as a student,” Kastner says. “I was like, ‘I made it!’”

Hensley and Kastner volunteer their time to RAWK and put together the workshops and programming in their “offhours.” The duo relies on volunteers from the Kalamazoo area (20 to 30 volunteers donated their time and expertise to RAWK in 2014 alone) to help create and run the workshops.

“We put in enough hours to be a full-time job,” Kastner says. “I don’t know if we knew exactly what we were getting into. It was kind of just, ‘Hey, let’s all write!’”

“Yeah, let’s all write grants for days and days and days,” Hensley interjects with a laugh. Then she adds, “It’s all about balance right now, though. We could have workshops every weekend. There’s that much demand.

We’ve had such good reception and support.”

Part of that support is financial — RAWK

receives donations from community members and grants from local foundations, including grants from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation. The money helps to provide scholarships, materials and opportunities to participate for students who cannot afford the fees for workshops and classes. Community members also support RAWK by applying their skills to help the nonprofit in different capacities

such as providing tutoring, event planning and the design and photography that keeps the online presence of RAWK strong and growing, the co-founders say.

“Our volunteer base is an integral part of what we do,” Hensley says, and meaningful relationships with non-relative adults in the community are important to supporting children through school and into college. Being able to see the different applications of skills in the workforce via meeting a variety of professionals during RAWK workshops can also inspire kids to dream of career ideas and options, she says.

Kastner and Hensley both say they are eager to keep developing a kids-only safe creative space, one that students look forward to visiting. “Every workshop we get superexcited about what the students are going to come up with, and then we get super-excited when they share their work,” Kastner says.

“There’s crying — a lot of crying,” Hensley adds.

“Yeah, but we try hard not to,” Kastner responds.

For more information or to volunteer or donate to RAWK, visit readandwritekzoo.org.

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 39

PERFORMING ARTS THEATER Plays See How They Run! — A British farce by Philip King, 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., June 26–Aug. 1, New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St., 381-3328.

Vocal The Collingsworth Family ­— Southern gospel group, 7 p.m. June 25, Chenery Auditorium, 714 S. Westnedge Ave., 337-0440.

VISUAL ARTS

Musicals

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 314 S. Park St., 349-7775

Some Enchanted Musicals — A music revue of classic Broadway hits, 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., through June 13, New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St., 381-3328.

Chinese Folk Pottery: The Art of the Everyday — A rare glimpse of the diversity and rich tradition in Chinese folk pottery, through June 21.

Dogfight — A young soldier learns the power of compassion, 8 p.m. June 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20; 2 p.m. June 7, 14 & 21; 7:30 p.m. June 11 & 18, Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley, 343-2727.

West Michigan Area Show — Juried exhibition from a 14-county region, through Aug. 9.

MUSIC Bands & Solo Artists Beer Garden Opener with Greensky Bluegrass — A three-night event to open Bell’s Beer Garden for the season, 8 p.m. June 4–6, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., 3822332.

Dixon’s Violin — The world’s premier digital violinist performs, 7 p.m. June 5, Stryker Theater, Kalamazoo Valley Museum, 230 N. Rose St., 373-7990.

Shabazz Palaces — An American experimental hip-hop group, 9 p.m. June 8, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

Soul Asylum & Meat Puppets — Two rock legends, 8:30 p.m. June 11, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

Chamber, Jazz & Other Kalamazoo College International Percussion Ensemble — 7 p.m. June 2, Dalton Theatre, K-College, 337-7070.

Gun Lake Live Summer Series — Live music, food, cocktails and dancing, 6–10 p.m. June 3, 10, 17 & 24, Lakefront Pavilion, Bay Pointe Inn, 11456 Marsh Road, Shelbyville, 888-4865253.

Crescendo Academy Student Recital — 2 p.m.

June 14, First Presbyterian Church, 321 W. South St., 345-6664.

40 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

Rediscovering Nina Belle Ward — Portraiture, still life and harbor scenes from coast-tocoast collections, through Aug. 23.

ARTbreak — A weekly program about art, artists and exhibitions: Art Fair Confidential, with artist Jerry Harty, June 2; Rediscovering Nina Belle Ward, with associate curator Karla Niehus, June 9; Up Close and Personal, West Michigan Area Show artists’ talks, June 16, 23 & 30; all sessions begin at noon, KIA Auditorium.

Art Detectives: Fun at the Art Fair — A scavenger hunt among artworks on display, following the Do-Dah Parade, June 6, Bronson Park.

Adaptation: Transforming Books into Art — Contemporary artists’ transformation of books into sculptures, June 6–Sept. 6.

Sunday Public Tour — Rediscovering Nina Belle Ward, learn about the artist and teacher, June 7; Dad’s Choice, dads choose works of art to discuss, June 14; Adaptation: Transforming Books into Art, explore the world of altered book sculptures, June 21; West Michigan Area Show, explore the unusual materials used to create art, June 28; all sessions begin at 2 p.m.

Get the Picture: Larry Poons and “Goodbye Vinnie” — Explore the possibilities of Poons’ painting, noon June 18.

Gallery Talk: Adaptation: Transforming Books into Art — A walk through sculptures and installations created from altered books, 6:30 p.m. June 18.

Film and Talk: Mathias Alten: A Personal Portrait — A film on the Grand Rapids Impressionist and a talk with art historian James Straub, 6:30 p.m. June 25, KIA Auditorium.

Richmond Center for Visual Arts Western Michigan University, 387-2436 Alumni/Regional Artists — Alissa Lamarre, Lynn Batchelder, Gabriel Craig & Amy Weiks, through June 5, Netzorg and Kerr Gallery.

Prints from the University Art Collection — Through June 5, Monroe-Brown Gallery.

Other Venues Asian Wonders: Selected Chinese and Japanese Artifacts from Kalamazoo College’s Rare Book and Art Collection — 1–3 p.m. through June 4, Upjohn Library Commons, Kalamazoo College, 337-7153.

Art Hop — Local artists and musicians at various venues in downtown Kalamazoo and elsewhere, 5–8 p.m. June 5.

Art on the Mall — Outdoor juried show featuring over 75 local and regional artists, noon–9 p.m. June 5; 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 6; Kalamazoo Mall, from Michigan Avenue to Lovell Street, 342-5059.

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Art Fair — Works of nearly 200 jury-selected artists from across the country, 3–8 p.m. June 5; 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

June 6, Bronson Park, 349-7775.

Fantasy Forest Art Competition, “All Creatures Wood and Tall” — Artists transform ash tree trunks into a fantasy forest, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. June 13–20, Leila Arboretum, 928 W. Michigan Ave., Battle Creek, 269-969-0270.

Helena Smith/Andrea Allen Photography — Through June 30, Portage District Library, 300 Library Lane, 329-4544.

Farm Animals — Through June 30, Portage District Library, 329-4544.

LIBRARY & LITERARY EVENTS Portage District Library 300 Library Lane, 329-4544 Top Shelf Reads — A monthly book discussion, 7 p.m. June 8, Latitude 42 Brewing Co., 7342 Portage Road.

Farmers as Super Heroes — People’s Co-op and local farmers tell how to purchase fresh produce and meats and prepare healthy dishes, 6:30 p.m. June 10.

Homebrew 102: Brew Beer — Learn how to brew beer at home, 1 p.m. June 20.

After Hours: Gatsby Cocktail Mixer — Dress in Jazz Age fashion and learn to make Prohibition-era cocktails, 7:30 p.m. June 26; registration required.

MUSEUM

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Flash to the Past!

— Watch a classic episode of Superman and discuss the screen evolution of the superhero with Steve Salaba, 2 p.m. June 27.

DaVinci: The Exhibition — Hands-on journey through da Vinci’s life, research, innovations and art, through Oct. 4.

Kalamazoo Valley Museum 230 N. Rose St., 373-7990

Air Zoo 6151 Portage Road, 866-524-7966

Pink Floyd: The Wall — The band’s 11th studio album set to laser graphics, 8 p.m. Fri., through June 5, Planetarium.

Animotion Festival — Hands-on character design, animation workshops, art and live music, June 5 & 6.

Gilmore Car Museum 6865 Hickory Road, 671-5089

Miscellaneous Book Club — Discussion of Five Quarters of the Orange, by Joanne Harris, 7 p.m. June 1, Parchment Community Library, 401 S. Riverview Drive, 343-7747.

First Saturday @ KPL — Family-friendly activities, 2–3:30 p.m. June 6, Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 S. Rose St., 342-9827.

June Book Group — Discussion of Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, 7 p.m. June 11, Richland Community Library, 8951 Park St., 629-9085.

Classic Car Club of America 2015 Grand Experience — Restored classic cars, including Packards from 1899–1958, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. June 7.

Secret of the Cardboard Rocket — A story of two children who build a cardboard rocket to explore space, 1 p.m. Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun., through June 14, Planetarium.

Gilmore Car Museum’s Vintage Motorcycle Show — West Michigan’s largest cycle show, featuring thousands of motorcycles, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 14.

The Artists’ Sky — Experience the stars through story, song, painting and music, 2 p.m. Sat.; 3 p.m. Tues. & Thurs., through June 18, Planetarium.

All Air-Cooled Car Gathering — Featuring rare air-cooled cars, including 1900s Frayer-Miller and Franklins, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. June 20.

Wildest Weather in the Solar System — Explore atmospheres on other planets, magnetic storms on the sun and anticyclones, 3 p.m.

Mon., Wed., Fri.–Sun., through June 19, Planetarium.

Kalamazoo Valley Antique Tractor, Engine & Machinery Show — Vintage tractors and trucks, including International Harvesters and pre1990 antique trucks, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 26–28.

Poetry as a Spiritual Practice — Poetry, writing and practices to develop a deeper awareness of the Spirit, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 20, Transformations Spirituality Center, 3427 Gull Road, 381-6290; registration required.

Evidence Found: Explorations in Archaeology — Learn the real science and methodology of archaeology in this new visual and hands-on exhibit, through Aug. 31.

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EVENTS ENCORE Treasures of the Great Lakes — Learn how navigators on the Great Lakes have used the night sky and lighthouses to navigate, 2 p.m.

Sat.; 3 p.m. Tues. & Thurs. June 20–Sept. 12.

Buccaneer Bash — Live entertainment, vendors and food, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. June 6 & 7, Olde World Village, 13215 M-96, Augusta, 580-1290.

2015 Harborfest — Celebrate Southwest Michigan’s maritime history with free live music, crafts and food fair, June 18–21, downtown South Haven, 637-5252.

Lamps of Atlantis — Explore how ancient artifacts and astronomical evidence help archaeologists discover a buried city, 3 p.m.

Mon., Wed., Fri.–Sun. June 20–Sept. 18.

Downtown Kalamazoo Brewery Walking Tour — Learn about Kalamazoo’s craft beers, noon–4:30 p.m. June 6, 13, 20 & 27, starting at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 180 Portage St., 350-4598; registration required.

Steam Dream Expo — Bringing Steampunk back to Southwest Michigan, 6–10 p.m. June 19; 10 a.m.–10 p.m. June 13; noon–6 p.m.

June 21, Olde World Village, 580-1290.

NATURE Kalamazoo Nature Center 7000 N. Westnedge Ave., 381-1574 Geocaching Extravaganza 2015 — Spend the afternoon geocaching, 1–4 p.m. June 6.

Summer Celebration at DeLano Farm — Experience the 1800s farmhouse and demonstrations by blacksmiths, spinners and fiber artists, 1–4 p.m. June 28, DeLano Homestead, 555 West E Ave. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary 12685 East C Ave., 671-2510 Birds and Coffee Walk — A walk to view birds of the season, 9 a.m. June 10.

Wild Wednesday: Birds, Birds, Birds! — Learn about songbirds and how to welcome them into your backyard, 7 p.m. June 24.

Bald Eagle Birthday Bash — Celebrate the 30th birthday of the resident bald eagle, 1–4 p.m. June 28.

MISCELLANEOUS Dionysos Greek Festival — Theo & Stacy’s annual celebration of Greek culture, with food, musicians and dancers, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. June 4; 11:30 a.m.–12:30 a.m. June 5 & 6, Arcadia Creek Festival Place, 125 E. Water St., 344-0795.

Do-Dah Parade — A whimsical Kalamazoo tradition, 11 a.m. June 6, downtown Kalamazoo, 388-2830.

Zombie Prom — Join the Killamazoo Derby Darlings for an evening of the undead and dancing, 8 p.m. June 6, Lower Level, Shakespeare’s Pub, 241 E. Kalamazoo Ave., 599-1221.

Gilmore Car Museum’s Vintage Motorcycle Ride — A 70-mile ride through scenic Barry County, open to motorcycles built before 1989, 9 a.m. June 6, starting at Gilmore Car Museum, 6865 Hickory Road, Hickory Corners, 671-5089.

42 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

The Way We Worked — Smithsonian traveling exhibit, with children’s activities, movies, geocaching and tours, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. June 6–July 19, Plainwell Paper Mill, 211 N. Main St., 685-6821.

Parade of Homes — Featuring homes with the latest trends in construction and design, 4–9 p.m. June 12 & 19; 1–9 p.m. June 13 & 20; 1–5 p.m. June 14; 6–9 p.m. June 15–18; various locations, 375-4225.

Vicksburg Old Car Festival — Friday evening cruise and Saturday Old Car Show, 6–10 p.m.

June 12; 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 13, downtown Vicksburg, 649-1312.

Kalamazoo Pride 2015 — Live entertainment celebrating diversity, 6–11 p.m. June 12; 2–11 p.m. June 13, Arcadia Creek Festival Place, 344-0795.

Ultimate Air Dogs & Dog Show — UKC Premier Dog Show, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. June 12–14, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 2900 Lake St., 343-9020.

Lunchtime Live! — With live music, food trucks and vendors, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

Fridays, June 12–Sept. 11. Bronson Park, 3378191.

Kalamazoo Mud Run — A 5K course through 44 wooded acres, with 1-mile run for kids, 8 a.m. June 13, Kalamazoo Community Church, 2435 N. 26th St., 217-9187.

Full 4 in 1 Show — Street Stock 50 Lap Spectacular, June 13; Burg Stock B 35 Lap Special, June 20; Mid-Season Championships, June 27; 6:45–11 p.m., Galesburg Speedway, 573 S. 38th St., 665-7100.

Manor House Tea — Enjoy high tea, a guided tour and a tea-themed program in the historic W.K. Kellogg Manor House, 3 p.m.

June 16, W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, 3700 E. Gull Lake Drive, Hickory Corners, 671-5117.

Mixer on the Mall — An after-work party featuring up-and-coming musicians and great beverages, 5–7:30 p.m. June 17 & 24, North Kalamazoo Mall, 388-3083.

Super Summer Flea & Antique Market — Shop for new and used, handcrafted, antique and collectible items, 8 a.m.–3 p.m. June 20, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 343-9020.

Kids FunFari — Lemur Lap Fun Run for kids under 10, plus fun activities, 8:15 a.m. June 20, Binder Park Zoo, 7400 Division Drive, Battle Creek, 269-979-1351.

Kalamazoo Reptile & Exotic Animal Show — Buy, sell or trade reptiles, amphibians and exotic pets, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. June 20, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 343-9020.

Lake Michigan Shore Wine Fest — Celebrate summer solstice with award-winning wines, live entertainment and beach views, 1–10 p.m. June 20, Weko Beach, Bridgman, 269925-6301.

Hidden Kalamazoo — A tour of seven Kalamazoo hidden treasures, both “gritty and glorious,” 10 a.m.–4 p.m. June 20 & 21, downtown Kalamazoo, 337-8804.

Kalamazoo Record & CD Show — Thousands of new and used records and CDs from many time periods, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. June 21, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 343-9020.

Ice Cream Social and Family Science Night — Moxieville performs swing and torch-style music with early rock and R&B; Science Night introduces research done by the institute, 6 p.m. June 24, Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, 701 W. Cloverdale Road, Hastings, 269-7214190.

Cheetah Chase — A 5K run through the zoo, 8 a.m. June 27, Binder Park Zoo, Battle Creek, 269-979-1351; registration required.

Thornapple Paddle Trip — Learn basic canoe and kayak paddling and travel along the Thornapple River, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. June 27, Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, 269-721-4190; registration required.

Irish Fest — Featuring Irish and Celtic bands, food, fun and heritage, 4:30 p.m.–midnight June 26; 11:30 a.m.–midnight June 27, Arcadia Creek Festival Place, 344-0795.

:

For My Doppelganger

ENCORE POETRY

—after Flo Hatcher’s A Box with a Sky Window I have so much to learn of the double-life: somewhere, lost on a city street, you turn a corner and think of me: your other life. The bag of groceries in your arms splits, brown paper crumble, oranges against gray sidewalk. You think of a woman in another town, sharing your face, all the dreams.

Who you would rather be. Me, the apparition.

Me, spilled oranges and shattered milk bottle.

Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

Through you, I imagine our reflection in a city street window: winter glass. You admire yourself there, motionless. You, the ghostly-other; you, able to fly.

I envy you. You don your coat of feathers, and your skull zips closed: the hidden face, long hair pointing to another watchtower, another town.

Bird of the other. How we long for different trees.

— McKenzie Lynn Tozan Tozan is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in poetry at Western Michigan University, where she is also the layout and design editor for New Issues Poetry and Prose and an associate poetry editor for Third Coast. This is the first time her poetry has appeared in a print publication.

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The poem on this page was part of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts’ Second Sight/Insight II exhibit, which paired poems by local writers with artworks from the KIA’s permanent collection that inspired those poems. Tazan’s poem accompanied A Box with a Sky Window, a lithograph by Flo Hatcher.

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The Spaces In Between

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

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perfect time to get away from it all. The specific

The Ayres-Rice Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

destination doesn’t matter. Whether the mountains or the shore, what matters most is what the place offers:

Bell’s Brewery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

solitude and serenity or lights and action. What matters

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is what the space does for us and allows us to do.

Bravo! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

It’s the same with designing for print. Space is an

Bronson Health Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

important element that not many people notice until it’s missing. Have you ever seen a flyer so busy your eyes

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didn’t know where to go? When things get packed so

Dave’s Glass Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

tightly, nothing has the chance to stand out.

DeMent and Marquardt, PLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Space is so important to people and to printing.

DeNooyer Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Everyone needs a little room to breathe.

Derby Financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 DeVisser Landscape Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 FarmNGarden Fence Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Fetzer Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Four Roses Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

1116 W Centre Avenue 323-9333 PortagePrinting.com

Genesis Fitness & Wellness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

☎

Great Lakes Shipping Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Greenleaf Hospitality Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Horizon Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

WMUK BUSINESS NEWS FIRST !

Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Kalamazoo Christian School Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Kalamazoo Community Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Krasl Art Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Marketplace

B B C

Lawton Ridge Winery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

BUSINESS

London Grill & Lost Raven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

WMUK NEWS

Mercantile Bank of Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Millennium Restaurant Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4:00–6:00 Local news every half-hour 6:00 Marketplace 6:30 BBC Business News Sponsor Haworth College of Business

Parkway Plastic Surgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Portage Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Premier Vein Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Saffron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Svikis Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

WMUK

102.1

Varnum Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 UniQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 WMUK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Zooroona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

44 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

BACK STORY (continued from page 46)

and independent businesses and nonprofits. In the two years she’s been there, the membership of the organization has grown from 95 to 175. At the same time, Kekic continues her artistic pursuits, selling her jewelry at a few shows each year and at locations including the Kalamazoo Nature Center and UniQ. She also teaches courses at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and the West Michigan Glass Art Center.

How did you end up doing what you are doing?

I was contacted by the president of Buy Local’s board, who asked if I would help the organization. As a volunteer, I developed a strategic plan and a budget and helped get the organization on a path.

A few years later the organization was struggling and I was asked to be its part-time executive director. What I liked about the organization is that it needed direction, and I like to take organizations and revitalize them. I am a program developer and organizer, and I believe in open communication and collaborating with other organizations.

I really like that idea of getting people to help an organization to become what it has the potential to be, and we have a wonderful board of directors. It’s on the right path.

What do people say when you tell them what you do?

Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know what Buy Local of Greater Kalamazoo is, and they ask me to repeat where I work and the name of the organization. Very often people think Buy Local is only about local food and local food production, but I explain that there is a lot more to it than that. We have a huge variety of local and independent businesses and nonprofits that are key to a healthy economy and community.

Does your business life conflict with your artist’s life?

I have a good left brain-right brain balance. I’ve always done art, even as a little kid. It’s part of who I am, so I can’t imagine not doing art. And I am always trying to push myself to do something different.

I’ve worked with social workers and artists and now small business owners. Working with small and independent local businesses is more of a stretch for me. The people have been wonderful, and it’s a great experience.

What’s your ideal day like?

I exercise first. Physical fitness and health is most important to me, next to family, and I have to have to exercise and be outside every day.

I also like variety, having more than one thing to do in a day. I’m a planner and a list maker. I like to know how much time I have to exercise and then do some Buy Local work and go to the KIA … but as much as possible I like to spend an hour outside each day, even in the winter.

What keeps you up at night?

I really value good sleep, so having a deadline and thinking about it can keep me up. But I’ve found if I am lying in bed and thinking about what I need to do, I get up and go type it up on my computer or write it down, and then I can go back to sleep and I’m fine.

What’s your favorite thing to do in Southwest Michigan?

Go to Lake Michigan — swim and walk on the pier or walk along the beach and get my feet into that beautiful, wonderful Lake Michigan sand.

I grew up in Muskegon, and I could bike or walk to the lake. When I was child, I realized that whenever I felt bad, physically, emotionally or in any other form, I would go to Lake Michigan and I would feel better. That’s been consistent my whole life.

What was your most influential moment?

The birth of my son. I was 19 years old, and I grew up that day.

That was the moment I learned I can do whatever I need to do and whatever I set out to do. (There’s) no obstacle or problem in life that can’t be resolved, and attitude is everything. Being a single parent was a challenge, but it was the greatest gift I was ever given.

What word would you say describes you?

I asked my granddaughter who’s 13, and she said “awesome.”

And when I said “no,” she said, “Don’t be humble.” My husband says “creative,” my daughter says “determined,” and I say “optimistic.” But for a 13-year-old granddaughter to call you awesome, that’s worth the price of admission.

Not your traditional jewelry store Gems and Gifts of Distinction Featuring Jewelry by Linda Kekic Specializing in distinctive, one-of-a-kind and custom design jewelry 3940 W. Centre Ave. Portage 269.459.1669

www.

jewelry.com w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 45

Linda Kekic Executive Director, Buy Local of Greater Kalamazoo

L

inda Kekic is an anomaly. She is a gifted artist whose glass and jewelry creations are featured in local galleries and retail shops. At the same time she is an organizational whiz who has successfully led programs in human services and the arts.

Kekic worked for 25 years in human services for Van Buren and Kalamazoo counties, overseeing programs involving protective services for both children and adults. She left that realm and delved into the arts, becoming the force behind the West Michigan Glass Art Center’s growth from a small member organization to a regional glass-art education center.

Now she’s working her organizational magic for Buy Local of Greater Kalamazoo, as part-time executive director. The organization advocates for local small (continued on page 45)

46 | ENCORE JUNE 2015

Brian Powers

BACK STORY ENCORE

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