summer 2014
southwest michigan’s magazine
Just a Fling?
No, disc sports are here to stay
EFA’s Bryan Zocher Why Chris Harris wants to empower kids
Cooking Al Fresco
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summer 2014
southwest michigan’s magazine
Peace of Mind
Just a Fling?
No, disc sports are here to stay
EFA’s Bryan Zocher Why Chris Harris wants to empower kids
Cooking Al Fresco
Publisher
encore publications, inc.
Editor
marie lee
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Contributors
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Contributing Poets
margaret deritter, traci brimhall
Advertising Sales krieg lee celeste statler kurt todas
Office Manager ron dundon
Encore Magazine is published 9 times yearly, September through May. Copyright 2014, 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 number: (269) 383-9767 E-mail: Publisher@encorekalamazoo.com The staff at Encore welcomes written comment from readers, and articles and poems for submission with no obligation to print or return them. To learn more about us or to comment, you may visit www.encorekalamazoo.com. Encore subscription rates: one year $27, two years $53, three years $78. Current single issue and newsstand $4, $10by 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.
4 | Encore SUMMER 2014
Summer
CONTENTS 2014
FEATURES Disc Sports Are Catching On
24
Fostering Hope
18
Whether playing disc golf or ultimate, local flying disc enthusiasts are making their mark.
His own hard childhood motivates Chris Harris to help empower children.
EFA’s Bryan Zocher
This actor, director and playwright brings his versatility to the Education for the Arts program.
Outdoor Kitchens
Our At Home feature tells you what to consider when creating an al fresco cooking space.
32
DEPARTMENTS 6 Contributors Up Front 8 Reunion Organizers — Planning a family reunion 10
41
this summer? There’s a workshop for that. Bike Camp — Kalamazoo Bicycle Club’s annual event aims to aid novices in overcoming “The Lycra Factor.”
12 Savor Frozen Yogurt Déjà Vu — The probiotic-rich treat is making a comeback, with new twists and toppings.
16 Enterprise
Crafty Promoter — Beverly Isaac’s craft shows give artisans and crafters a local outlet for their wares.
18 Good Works
Foods Resource Bank — Local volunteers are growing solutions to help solve world hunger.
46 The Last Word
After 14 years as Encore’s own Man Friday, Ron Dundon says goodbye.
ARTS
30 Visual Arts Venue Contemporary art is the focus of WMU’s Richmond
Center for Visual Arts.
36 Poetry 37 Events of Note
On the cover: Members of Kalamazoo Ultimate Disc League, back row, from left: Jeremy Welter, Cody Winsborrow and Joe Deppe; front row, Abby Nappier, Jackie Luedtke and Lindsay Phillips.
w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 5
CONTRIBUTORS ENCORE
Kit Almy Kit’s background in the arts and nature has allowed her to explore a variety of topics for Encore over the years. This month she explores the local efforts of the Foods Resource Bank to ensure global food security and gives us a glimpse at the unique offerings of WMU’s Richmond Center for Visual Arts. Kit is a Kalamazoo College alumna who volunteers at the Kalamazoo Nature Center’s DeLano Homestead, teaching pioneer programs.
Theresa Coty O’Neil For more than 20 years, Theresa’s knowledge of and love for the local arts community has resulted in enlightening profiles of the movers and shakers in the arts. This month she introduces readers to Bryan Zocher, head of Education for the Arts, whose multifaceted background is bringing a new dimension to this countywide arts-education program. In addition to writing, Theresa stays busy keeping up with her three children’s passions of music and sports and engaging in activities at her alma maters of Kalamazoo College and WMU.
Brian Lam
Tiffany Fitzgerald
The intrepid writer of this month’s cover feature on disc sports says she was amazed to discover how prevalent the sports really are. “I was most blown away when I noticed disc golf baskets all over a local park I’ve been frequenting for almost two years. They were right in front of my face, and I was looking past them,” Tiffany says. She admits that many of the stories she wrote for this month’s edition (including stories on bike camp, family reunions and outdoor kitchens) led to other discoveries, such as her desire for a Santa Maria grill.
Erik Holladay
Brian, the author of this month’s feature on Chris Harris, was a frequent contributor to Encore in the past, and it’s great to have him writing for us again. He is a Kalamazoo native who enjoys not only writing but improvising and most other things creative. He is a member of the improv-comedy troupe Crawlspace Eviction and owns two small Kalamazoo-based businesses where he is able to put his passions to work. When not working, Brian spends his downtime with his wife and daughter or playing soccer.
Erik was really in his element shooting the photos for our feature on disc sports. For 25 years, Erik was an award-winning sports photographer for several newspapers in Michigan before he set out to pursue a freelance career. It was almost as fun watching Erik take pictures of the ultimate disc players as it was to watch them play. Apparently they liked his enthusiasm as well — a couple of the ultimate players encouraged Erik to join their league.
Correction In the article “Secondhand News,” which appeared in March 2014 issue, the address for St. Luke’s Thrift Shop was incorrect. The correct address is 432 S. Burdick St., Kalamazoo.
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up front encore
Reunion Organizers
Local seminars can help planners pull it all together by
Tiffany Fitzgerald
Ah,
the family reunion — multiple generations, interests and personalities coming together in one place for food and fun. But whether you’re a reunion-planning pro or novice, putting together a great gathering that attracts all the far-flung relations can be a daunting undertaking. Fear not. Discover Kalamazoo offers free family-reunion-planning seminars to help those planning these family fun fests by connecting potential planners with local businesses, organizations and venues. Two reunion-planning seminars are scheduled for the coming months — one on Saturday, May 17, the other on Saturday, July 19. Both workshops run from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Discover Kalamazoo office, 141 E. Michigan Ave., Suite 100. During the seminars, planners learn how to put together a reunion using the resources available in the Kalamazoo area. Local information about travel and hosting services is assembled by Discover Kalamazoo and made available to attendees. The hope is to make Kalamazoo a destination choice for family reunions by eliminating obstacles. “For folks who are trying to run a family reunion, this is a great way to come in and see all our community has to offer and what services Discover Kalamazoo can provide for them during the planning process,” explains Renee Newman, director of marketing and communications for Discover Kalamazoo, a destination marketing organization for Kalamazoo County. “We’re hoping that when people walk away from these seminars they’ve learned a little bit more about how to plan a family reunion and how our team can help them every step of the way.” Finding caterers, booking entertainment, taking advantage of community amenities, getting affordable rates for hotels and banquet facilities — these are just some of
8 | Encore SUMMER 2014
Outdoor facilities and activities are two factors that make a family reunion appeal to young and old.
the ways Discover Kalamazoo helps reunion planners during these seminars. Discover Kalamazoo can even connect planners with freebies and souvenirs to give attendees as a means of attracting a better turnout. According to recent family-reunion market research, almost 70 percent of reunions are hosted in the summer, and outdoor facilities and activities are two of the most alluring factors when considering a host city. Keeping these factors in mind, Discover Kalamazoo works as a hub, bringing together information about all the outdoor and indoor hosting spaces and community activities in the area. Helping to plan events fits right in with what Discover Kalamazoo already does. Newman says the sessions, which have been offered since 2011, have successfully
motivated prospective planners to book facilities and host their reunions in Kalamazoo, and sometimes people who’ve already hosted reunions attend to pick up more tips and tricks. Newman emphasizes that the seminar is meant for anyone planning a family reunion. “This is a free planning seminar, and any of the services from Discover Kalamazoo are free as well,” she says, “so there’s no charge to work with Discover Kalamazoo and take advantage of what we can bring to the table in helping people plan their events.” Space for the seminars is limited. To reserve a space, contact Lisa Kukulski, Discover Kalamazoo’s destination service manager, at (269) 488-0056 or lkukulski@ discoverkalamazoo.com.
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w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 9
UP FRONT ENCORE
Bicycling 101
Club’s Bike Camp helps novices take to the road Tiffany Fitzgerald
Zolton Cohen
by
Bike mechanic Doug Kirk explains how to lubricate a bicycle chain at a Bike Camp session.
H
ave you ever experienced “The Lycra Factor”? It’s how Kalamazoo Bicycle Club President Zolton Cohen describes the feeling of insecurity a beginner might experience upon approaching the sport of group cycling. “We heard that people would come out to our group rides, drive into the parking lot where we meet, and would get so intimidated they wouldn’t even get out of their cars,” he says. “They’d see 60 or 70 people standing around, and to them it looked like everyone was tall, athletic, wearing spandex and leaning up against $5,000 carbonfiber bicycles. So we started Bike Camp to lower the bar and as kind of entrée into the sport of group cycling.” The Kalamazoo Bike Camp, started seven years ago and taught by volunteer members of the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club, introduces cycling novices to group cycling — everything from bike fittings to road safety. The five-day camp meets at the Portage YMCA and is spread over four consecutive Saturdays, starting May 17. A onetime introductory meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. May 14, at the Greater 10 | Encore SUMMER 2014
Kalamazoo Association of Realtors Auditorium, 5830 Venture Park Drive. The first day of camp will ease riders into cycling, as volunteers from local bike shops help measure bikes and make sure riders’ equipment is properly fitted to them. “The No. 1 one reason people don’t ride their bikes is because their bikes hurt them — their butts, hands, knees, wrists, etc.,” Cohen says. “Generally, adjusting a bike so it fits better can help eliminate those pains.” After the informational portion of each camp meeting, new riders team up with Kalamazoo Bicycle Club volunteers to go on rides, with each group organized according to how fast or long each cyclist wants to ride. There’s no pressure to outperform your abilities, Cohen says. “Cycling is a sport anyone can do at anytime,” he says. “That’s one thing we try to emphasize from day one — that bicycling is a sport for everyone.”
The camp costs between $50 and $80, depending on when you register and whether you register as an individual or as a family. Camp registration also covers a year’s membership in the bicycle club as well as entry into KalTour, the club’s annual scenic group ride that serves as an end goal of the camp. The camp might be a good deal economically, but Cohen points out that so too is the sport of cycling. Once your bike is adjusted, it’s possible to get out and exercise easily and, with pointers given at the camp, safely. “We really try to emphasize how to ride safely on the roads,” Cohen says. “There are so many opportunities to ride on great country roads, and if you are familiar with
Kalamazoo Bike Camp When & where: Begins at 8:30 a.m. every Saturday from May 17 to June 7, Portage YMCA, 2900 West Centre Ave. Introductory meeting: 6:30 p.m. May 14, Greater Kalamazoo Association of Realtors Auditorium, 5830 Venture Park Drive (no bicycles needed that day).
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how to ride on those roads safely, it makes a difference. Even something small, like using a rearview mirror, which costs around $20 — just that little bit of vision in back of you is so important on the road.” Cohen hopes that after the camp is over attendees will feel comfortable enough to go cycling on their own. Many camp participants continue to ride with the club and experience the victory of meeting or exceeding fitness goals. The Lycra Factor starts to diminish. But, Cohen says, the Lycra itself stays. “People do wear bike shorts for a reason,” he says. “They make biking more tolerable, and as you ride more you’ll find that a pair of good bike shorts makes a difference. And don’t wear cotton underwear under your bike shorts.” That’s one of the first lessons of bike camp. And you just got it for free.
w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 11
SAVOR encore
Frozen Yogurt Is Hot Again
The ‘healthy’ alternative is back — with more options by
Tiffany Fitzgerald
T
hankfully, most of the trends that died in the 1990s stayed there — parachute pants, feathered bangs and Crystal Pepsi, for example. But frozen yogurt — the lowcalorie dessert that was once even the focus of a Seinfeld episode — has been making a resurgence, and it looks like it might be here to stay. Frozen yogurt, which made a splash in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has surged back since 2006, with a number of shops featuring the creamy concoction opening in the greater Kalamazoo area in the last few years. This time, frozen yogurt is riding the coattails of a few larger food trends, one of which is the rise of customizable, do-ityourself products. Changing the delivery mode of frozen yogurt from counter service to self-serve, with myriad ways to customize it through toppings and flavors, has not only lowered the cost of overhead but made it possible for frozen yogurt sales to take off, according to restaurant, food and franchise analysts from Food Business News, Nation’s Restaurant News, CNBC and Small Business Trends. The second larger trend that frozen yogurt is piggybacking on, and perhaps what keeps pushing it forward, is the nation’s drive toward healthful eating and probiotic-rich foods. As probiotics continue to demand more attention, so does yogurt, which is chock-full of the healthful microorganisms.
Frozen yogurt, such as this creation from Y’OPA, can be customized with a variety of toppings from fruit to candy.
12 | Encore SUMMER 2014
That also goes for its frozen counterpart, which thanks to its probiotics, calcium content and fewer calories, is being touted as the “healthy” alternative to ice cream by frozen yogurt retailers. The national chain Red Mango, which has a store at 6118 S. Westnedge Ave., plans to open 550 stores in the next five years. And as large North American franchises continue to grow, it’s likely we won’t see a thaw in the frozen yogurt market anytime soon. The Kalamazoo-Portage area has plenty of other shops where you can buy frozen yogurt, including many that offer it along with ice cream. What makes some shops successful while others close down is a combination of great location, great atmosphere and wideranging flavors and variations, says Michael Tirikos, owner
of the local frozen yogurt shop Y’OPA, at 165 W. Centre Ave. “We offer dairy-free sorbets and nonfat, low-fat and no-sugar-added yogurts,” Tirikos says. “I think that’s one of the main things that makes us so successful, and location is huge. We’re close to a school, and we’re in a busier section of Portage. We also put a lot into the look and feel, the atmosphere. We have
friendly employees, and the shop has a modern look. This is a place where people like to come and hang out.” Tirikos opened Y’OPA in October 2012. He was traveling between Indiana and Portage for business and started to notice that while the frozen yogurt trend was picking up in other areas of the country, it wasn’t reaching this area. “We definitely knew about the momentum and how big of a trend it was,” he says. “It’s something I think is here to stay, and so it’s worth the risk. Since we opened, there’s been another three shops open in the area.” Yo Go Delites, which opened in May 2012, at 6412 S. Westnedge Ave., has also experienced success in Portage. Assistant Manager Chuck Van, whose family owns the shop, recognizes the staying power of this customizable dessert option. “The best thing in my opinion about frozen yogurt is that it’s based on weight, and I control how much I want and what I want on it,” he says. “Frozen yogurt might be
a trend to a healthier lifestyle, but I believe it is a change in the restaurants and stores that is here to stay. Everything in today’s world is control and customization — you
Get Your Fix Here’s a sampling of local shops offering self-serve, customizable frozen yogurt: Red Mango 6118 S. Westnedge Ave. Sweet Duet Frozen Yogurt 3205 S. Westnedge Ave. and 3838 W. Centre Ave. Yo Go Delites 6412 S. Westnedge Ave. Y’OPA 165 W Centre Ave. can customize your car, your phone, etc., to fit your lifestyle. With frozen yogurt, you get more options and control.” As both shops plan for another busy summer, they share a common trait of
successful frozen yogurt shops: lots of flavors and toppings. “One of our really popular flavors is white chocolate mousse, and every time we switch it out we have people coming to our shop and asking where it went,” Tirikos says. “Probably our most popular flavor right now is salted caramel pretzel. It’s salty and sweet, and we’re never getting rid of it because I know our customers would be upset if we did. We have a lot of popular toppings, but one of the favorites is baklava — we have a Greek background so we like to stick to our heritage.” Over at Yo Go Delites, Van names two lighter flavors as his favorites: a strawberry and mango mix and taro. The latter flavor comes from the tara root, a vegetable native to Southeast Asia. “Taro frozen yogurt is unique and has an indescribable flavor — it’s a must-try for everyone,” Van says. “As far as toppings go, I just add fresh fruits like raspberry or strawberry on top.”
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Enterprise ENCORE
Crafty Promoter
Beverly Isaac is behind three annual craft shows by
Tiffany Fitzgerald
A
s the owner and operator of Eagle Take Flight Promotions, Beverly Isaac plans and coordinates three large craft shows each year in Kalamazoo — Spring into Wings, Art in the Park at Milham Park and Christmas at Wings. Combined, the three shows attract almost 45,000 shoppers a year and host hundreds of arts-and-crafts, food and nonprofit vendors while offering free admission and parking. It’s hard to believe such intense undertakings could have a humble start, but when Isaac began organizing the events more than 20 years ago with the help of her sister, Cindy Higley, she began with a list of contacts and little more. 16 | Encore SUMMER 2014
Beverly Isaac, seen here at April’s Spring into Wings craft show, organizes three shows annually for crafters and artisans to sell their wares.
“We had a typewriter, and I drew up little characters on an application to hand out to vendors,” Isaac says. “We went around collecting names at shows and just started scurrying, driving around Michigan picking up business cards.” Before Isaac took over organizing the shows, the Kalamazoo Art Association put together annual art-and-craft shows, which Isaac helped coordinate and at which she sold her oil paintings. When the
association disbanded in 1989, the arts and crafts community urged Isaac to take over the operation herself. “That was 1989, and the first show I put together was Art in the Park at Milham Park in spring of 1990,” Isaac says. “I had so much encouragement. People in the association just kept saying, ‘You can do this. You already know how so just do it.’” One of those who encouraged Isaac to manage her own arts and crafts show was Kalamazoo resident Judy DeBoer. DeBoer sells personalized pencils, custom-made butterfly nets and children’s building blocks that she and her husband make together as part of their company, Fun Stuff. DeBoer has known Isaac for about 27 years and has been selling at the Christmas show for more than 20. She says Isaac is perfect for the job. “She’s very nice and very accommodating,” says DeBoer. “She’s available for you if you need something and she does her utmost to solve problems.” Turns out, the hunch DeBoer had when she and others encouraged Isaac to start her own craft shows was a good one. Isaac experienced success almost right away. The money Isaac made from coordinating the 1989 Art in the Park show went to pay for the space and advertising for the following Christmas show. It took about a year or so to clear a profit, Isaac says, but since then Eagle
Take Flight has become a successful business, seamlessly shifting from one show to the next throughout the year. Good workers, like the teenagers who work at the shows or Isaac’s friends and staff who help with administrative and organizational duties, help draw vendors to the shows, Isaac and DeBoer say. But there are other simple reasons Isaac believes her craft shows are full. The first is advertising. Isaac says that when she started the business, she put a lot of the money she made right back into advertising. Establishing visibility and word-of-mouth is important when drawing visitors, she says. And drawing visitors is something Isaac does very well. “More people came before the recession hit, of course, but people still line up down the road to come in, which is why we hire parking attendants to find spots for visitors,” she says. “There are charter buses that come in from Florida and other states, bringing people to the shows too.” The size of Isaac’s shows is one reason DeBoer would recommend vendors sell there; another is that although the shows are large-scale, DeBoer says Isaac makes sure the shows run smoothly. “It’s a very, very well-organized show,” says DeBoer of the Christmas show. “From the parking to unloading, she’s very organized
and efficient. It’s a great show, too, with high-quality products. I would tell anyone who is a crafter that this is a good show to get into.” Isaac has made a concerted effort to keep the craft shows free of charge for visitors and to provide free parking. She is also conscientious about not having too many of one type of vendor so there’s plenty of variety. She offers vendors free services like unloading and loading help and “sit and serve,” where a teen worker sits at a booth so a vendor can take a short break without shutting down the entire table. Although Isaac’s business savvy, attention to detail and ability to anticipate what her vendors and shoppers need have resulted in building a successful business, Isaac’s motivation has never been to make a lot of money, she says, but, instead, to offer Kalamazoo a community arts and crafts outlet, to encourage local artisans and to bring people together. “That’s really my favorite part — I enjoy working with the people. We’re just like a little family. That’s what everyone says: ‘When’s the family reunion, in June?’” This year’s Art in the Park at Milham Park is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 28, and Christmas at Wings for Dec. 6 and 7.
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good works ENCORE
Growing Solutions to Hunger
National agricultural charity has strong roots here Kit Almy
Courtesy
by
A girl in the Shirak province of Armenia feeds poultry that she is being trained to raise through the Foods Resource Bank. She will pass off the poultry’s offspring to the program to be given to another family.
On a beautiful autumn day last October, a harvest celebration
at a Climax farm featured food, music, a petting zoo and rides on combines that were harvesting the cornfield. The people gathered were participants in a “growing project” of the Foods Resource Bank and were celebrating not just the bounty of the corn crop, but also the ability to assist hungry people around the world through the monetary proceeds from their harvest. The Foods Resource Bank is a nondenominational organization that involves U.S. churches and farmers in fighting hunger and poverty
18 | Encore SUMMER 2014
worldwide. With a slogan of “Growing Lasting Solutions to Hunger,” the FRB does not ship food overseas; instead, it raises funds to send to communities in more than 30 developing countries to help these communities become self-supporting in terms of their food supply. “Our product is successful food-security programming,” says Norm Braksick of Portage, a full-time volunteer for the FRB. This programming enables families to produce enough food to feed themselves, plus have extra to sell to earn money for necessities and to send all their children to school. “Our niche is basically to help small farmers, often women and children, because the men go to town to try to earn income, and it’s the women and children that are left to raise the family,” Braksick says. Braksick worked for 30 years in the animal-health industry as an employee of the former Upjohn Co. He was vice president of that Portage-based company’s North American Animal Health Operations and was president of Asgrow Seed. He retired in 1997 and helped form the Foods Resource Bank in 1998. He now assists in establishing new growing projects in Michigan and Indiana, working with agricultural suppliers to get donations of seed and other goods. The FRB runs food-security programs in countries across the globe, including in Africa, India, Central America and Asia, through partnerships with 15 humanitarian organizations, including Catholic Relief Services, World Renew, Church World Service and the United Methodist Committee on Relief. These partner organizations identify communities in need that have indigenous leaders who are willing to participate. Through a process of “appreciative inquiry,” FRB partners spend six to 12 months in those communities building trust and evaluating their resources and needs. “You have to get the local government convinced that you are there to help their people, not take from their people,” Braksick says. Assistance projects can involve training, improving access to clean water, providing tools or improved seeds and livestock breeds or introducing new vegetable crops that are suitable to the environment. Each project is overseen by trained people who live in the community. “We’ve done over 125 of these programs now, and we’ve only had four that we’ve had to quit along the way,” Braksick says. He attributes the remarkable success rate of FRB projects to the care with which FRB partners select communities to work with and the organization’s willingness to take its time with each project. “We like to commit for four to six years to make sure it’s sustainable, so that when we leave they’re well on their way to producing their
Courtesy
own food,” Braksick says. “That’s what it’s all about, and that basically starts with the agriculture growing projects here in the United States.” A community growing project in the U.S. typically involves a group of people getting together to farm a common plot of land, pooling in-kind and cash donations to support the production of a commodity — such as grain, soybeans or livestock — to be sold at market. Once the crop is harvested and sold, the proceeds are donated to the Foods Resource Bank for use in the food aid and development programs carried out by its members overseas. “The main thing we do is multiply everybody’s gift,” Braksick says. Whereas a dollar donated to charity typically nets only 60 to 70 cents’ worth of programming after overhead, with FRB growing projects, “if we get a dollar in contribution in cash in the spring, by and large by fall that will become $3 to $4 for overseas programming because of all the donations that are inherent in the model. “We get the annual use of land from a lot of generous people,” Braksick continues, including farmers, private landowners, companies with buffer land around manufacturing plants, and builders with properties awaiting future development.
Norm Braksick of Portage is a full-time Foods Resource Bank volunteer who establishes new growing projects in Michigan and Indiana.
Farmers donate labor and the use of equipment, and a variety of businesses donate seed, herbicides and pesticides if needed, fuel, and transportation of crops to market. Then “we challenge people at a city church to raise $200 an acre to cover the costs we don’t get donated,” Braksick says. The aim is
that when the crop is sold in the fall, “all of the money that comes out of that field can go for programming overseas.” There are more than 200 FRB growing projects around the country, and last year the FRB funded $3.3 million in overseas programming, amounting to $8 per person served in 62 overseas projects. “We have our largest project in the United States actually located right here in the Kalamazoo area,” Braksick says. “And it’s a partnership between a ‘city church,’ Portage United Church of Christ, and five rural churches: Climax United Methodist, Newton United Methodist, Pine Grove Mennonite, Scotts United Methodist and Waukeshma Community Church.” This Kalamazoo County-Calhoun County growing project farms a total of 233 acres and over the past 11 years has contributed more than $1.2 million to FRB food-security programs. Braksick, who is a member of Portage United Church of Christ, says that although the FRB’s mission is “a Christian response to world hunger,” its participants are not evangelists. “We lead unconditionally with food production, helping people to grow their own food,” he says. “And if that’s all that happens, that’s what we’re about.” For more information visit www. foodsresourcebank.org.
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FOSTERING HOPE
A hard childhood motivates Chris Harris to help others
by
Brian Lam
photography by
ERIK HOLLADAY
C
hairing the board of directors at the local Boys & Girls Clubs isn’t simply a matter of agendas, minutes and financial reports for Chris Harris. It’s a chance to touch lives through a program that saved his. “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the Boys & Girls Clubs,” says the 47-year-old Harris, who assumed his leadership role on the board in February. For Harris, empowering young people and providing them with stability and opportunity are all in a day’s work, much of it motivated by a desire to give back. In his day job at Western Michigan University, he directs a program for students aging out of foster care. Harris’ upbringing in Raleigh, N.C., was filled with instability and trauma. An alcoholic and mostly absent mother and an absent father left him without structure or guidance from a very young age. His father was out of the picture almost immediately after his birth. When Harris was a teen, though, his father reappeared in an encounter that was awkward and short-lived, Harris says. A man he barely recognized showed up and told his mother that he wanted to spend time with his son and that he would be back the following Saturday to pick him up. He never came. Harris’ mother came from a middle-class environment, Harris says. “My grandfather was in the military, and my uncle was a professor at Howard (University).” But his mother was unable to get past some traumatic experiences she had as a youth, Harris says, and she rebelled early, had him at a young age and turned to alcohol. “Until I was 6, my mom was my best friend,” says Harris, who was an only child. “Then alcohol became the most important thing in her life.” Harris and his mother moved from place to place, with his mom changing men — many of them abusive to both her and her son — just as often. Harris recalls staying in rooms without plumbing that were not much bigger than a closet. “We had two buckets: one for washing and one for a toilet. I remember the feeling of rodents crawling over me in bed. Many nights I went to sleep listening to my mom have sex with one of her boyfriends — if she was even there at all.”
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Harris found some solace with his grandfather, but his grandfather held out hope that Harris’ mom would turn her life around and dropped the boy back at his home, insisting that his mother take responsibility. Harris began attending what was then the Wake County Boys Club at 6 years old, coming to spend nearly every day there until the time
professional careers. “It’s amazing what the club has done for me and my family,” Harris says. When he was 16, Harris left home and went into an independent living situation where he learned to take care of himself, working with social workers to create a budget and learn life skills. He kept his grades up and played varsity soccer for four years in high school
“Having a positive impact on our youth is why I do the work that I do, and it’s why I love it.” — Chris Harris Chris Harris discusses ideas with Michael Moratta, a senior peer leader in WMU’s Seita Scholars program, which Harris oversees.
he was in college. “They taught me about leadership, accountability and honesty,” he says. “They gave me a sense of identity and peace. I could be myself.” A program director at the club, Ron Williams, became a father figure to Harris. “It was unconditional love,” Harris says. “If I was absent a day at the club, he’d come check on me. He’d bring me food if we had nothing at home.” Williams was inducted into the Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame in 2012. Another huge influence in Harris’ life was Ralph Capps, who was then and still is the executive director for the Wake County club. “Ron and Ralph taught me that I had a choice about the direction of my life,” Harris says. “They gave me the opportunity to see life through a different lens.” In the fourth grade, Harris came to a pivotal point. He hadn’t seen his mom in weeks and found her passed out at the bus stop before school. As he watched kids step over his mom to get on the bus, he decided he too had to step over her — both physically and metaphorically — to pursue his education. At the club, Williams and Capps kept the young Harris focused on academics, encouraging him to pursue leadership roles. Harris became involved in the Keystone Club, a leadership development program that promotes academic success, career readiness and community service. He entered the Youth of the Year competition and won. Two years later, he won again. Harris encouraged two of his cousins, who had lost their parents in an accident, to join the Boys Club as well. One went on to win the National Youth of the Year award while the other later won the Regional Youth of the Year award. Both have gone on to successful 22 | Encore SUMMER 2014
and was admitted to East Carolina University. One of the club’s board members helped him with the costs, and Harris also joined the ROTC program, which led him to a career as an Air Force officer. While in the Air Force, Harris became a foster parent. Although he hadn’t been in foster care, he knew what it was like to grow up essentially without parents. “I was working for the base commander, and a local foster-care program was looking to partner with the military. I was the first one to sign up.” Harris, who was 27 at the time, felt he could relate to the 16-yearold who became his foster son. It wasn’t long before he took in another child, this one a high school senior from his church. Harris has cared for about 20 foster children to date and says it has been a very rewarding experience. “I use the lessons I learned from the Boys & Girls Club with the kids I raise,” he says. His experiences as a foster parent also have brought him to his current position as director of WMU’s Seita Scholars program, which provides scholarships, resources and advocacy for WMU students coming from foster-care systems. The program, started by WMU faculty members Yvonne Unrau, Mark Delorey and Penny Bundy, is named for John Seita, a three-time alumnus of WMU and author of several books on growing up in the foster-care system. The program provides a campus home for more than 160 WMU students. “It’s more than just tuition assistance,” Harris says of the program. “We help with a lot of the day-to-day things that many students take for granted or don’t have to worry about, like how to budget finances to get through the semester. A lot of parents move their students in with moving vans. Many of the Seita Scholars don’t have
anything to bring, not even sheets or pillows. They can come here for items you might not even think about, like towels.” The Seita Scholars program is part of the Center for Fostering Success, an organization with a mission to improve college graduation and career achievement rates among youth and young adults aging out of the foster-care system. WMU’s Center for Fostering Success is the largest of its kind in the country and received the National Youth Thrive Award in 2013 from the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), a national organization based in Washington, D.C. It was at a holiday party two years ago at Harris’ home that John Whyte, then board president of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kalamazoo, saw Harris’ Boys & Girls Clubs Hall of Fame plaque. He asked Harris to join the board. Then, at the start of this year, Harris was asked to chair the board. Harris hopes his story will help those who may be going through the kind of experiences he did. “They may not know there are options,” he says. “If I didn’t share, I’d take away the opportunity for God to reach other people.” Religion is important to Harris and is one of the reasons he was able to reconcile with his mother. She has been sober now for almost 30 years, but her years of battling alcoholism have left her physically incapable of taking care of herself. So Harris has taken on this role. “I choose to do it because of my faith and because it’s the right thing to do,” he says simply. Harris is still active in foster parenting. In 2012, he and his husband of nine years, Dan Wimsatt, adopted two kids who had been in foster care and are now 6 and 11. Recently, a former foster child also has come back into his life, staying with Harris and Wimsatt during a transition to independent living. From his endeavors with the Seita Scholars Program and the Boys & Girls Clubs and as a parent, Harris has gained a perspective that few people have. And few would want to go through what he did to get it. But what’s important to Harris is that he shares this perspective so that young people throughout the community will benefit. “Having a positive impact on our youth is why I do the work that I do, and it’s why I love it.”
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The Frisbee has become more than just something to toss around
Madness by
Tiffany Fitzgerald
photography by
C
onsider the Frisbee: a bright plastic disc, a toy for kids, a symbol of the counterculture. Wait — a symbol of the counterculture? The popularization of flying disc sports started as a rejection of mainstream sports and has continued to grow nationally and internationally. The two main disc sports — disc golf and ultimate disc— have been expanding in Southwest Michigan for a while, in large part because Kalamazoo is a town with three colleges. In fact, Kalamazoo hosted the Disc Golf World Championship in 2008 and is set to host it again in 2015. Ultimate has had active local leagues for years, and participation is on the rise. If you didn’t know you were living in the middle of a flying-disc hot spot, look around. You’ll start seeing both games hiding in plain sight. The flying disc, like many other sporting objects, has an origin that’s difficult to pin down. People have been playing with discs for a long time — at least as long as documented history — but the first time someone tried to make money selling flying discs as sports objects was in the 1920s. After many incarnations and failed attempts to mass-market these discs, the toy company Wham-O released the first professional-grade Frisbee in 1964. (Frisbee, the most commonly used name for flying discs, is one brand among others.) Disc golf and ultimate started on opposite coasts — the former in the West, the latter in the East — around the same time that the Frisbee became popular. Because the
ERIK HOLLADAY
sports arose during the ‘60s, when the youth counterculture was at its apex, both sports were deemed by oustiders as “hippie sports” or games for young college males. It’s an image that players in both sports are looking to shake.
Is that the one with the basket? Before diving into what ultimate disc and disc golf have in common, let’s look at what they don’t. Despite a common misconception, ultimate disc does not involve baskets. “When we say we play ultimate, people always say, ‘Oh! That sport where you throw the disc into the basket?’ ‘No, that’s disc golf,’ we have to say. In fact, ‘No, that’s disc golf’ is one of the most commonly uttered phrases in ultimate,” says Jeremy Welter, captain and “brain trust” member of the Kalamazoo Ultimate Disc League (KUDL). Disc golf is almost exactly like golf as far as the rules are concerned, but instead of using a club and a ball, a player uses a set of discs made specifically for disc golf — a driver disc, a mid-range disc and a putter disc. And instead of aiming for a hole in the ground, a player aims to get a disc into a raised metal basket. Those baskets are everywhere, and once you know what they are, you’ll start noticing them. Or at least that was the case for Jennifer Sawyer, who is now administrator of Climax Club Ladies Disc Golf and an avid disc golfer. “There are over 120 courses in our state alone,” she says. “I think that within 25 miles of Kalamazoo, there are about 20 — you’re never very far from it at all. Even if you
Disc golfer Jennifer Sawyer lines up a shot.
24 | Encore SUMMER 2014
can’t see it, it’s there. Once people know about it, you hear them say, ‘Oh, that’s what those little things are for — the baskets.” Ultimate isn’t as easy to describe as disc golf, since it’s not a variation on another popular sport. Here’s how Welter explains it: “Ultimate is like football, soccer and basketball put together, but with a Frisbee. The field looks like a football field, with end zones, the play kind of looks more like soccer, the way people are running around, but the disc is advanced like basketball.” Players can’t travel while holding the disc — they have to throw it — and the idea is to get to the end zone. The discs for the two games are different too. Ultimate favors the traditional Wham-O Frisbee-style disc, while golf discs are generally smaller and made of denser plastic to fly a longer distance. Like regular golf, disc golf is an individual sport — you play against your own record and against the scores of other players. At the Climax Club, players are put into pairs, one beginner and one expert. The idea is to let the beginner learn from the expert. At the Kalamazoo Ultimate Disc League, players are divided into teams and spend the season playing through a tournament-style knockout series. Pickup games are held as well. While disc-golf and ultimate-disc players cross over and play the other sport from time to time, many find that they prefer to stick to one or the other. “Lots of people play both, but I don’t play ultimate because it messes up my game,” says local disc golf pro Wade Sullivan. “One (type of disc) flies completely different than the other. I wouldn’t throw a Wham-O before I went to throw a tournament.” The feeling is similar among ultimate players. “Many people cross over, but the form is so different. Playing one without affecting the other is hard,” says Welter.
A game for everybody Even though players from both sports are adamant about drawing a line between the sports, since both are looking toward a serious professional future, the two sports share too much in common for the comparison to be denied, including a culture that echoes its counterculture roots. Many sports, at least at the casual level, share an atmosphere of openness and community, but what makes ultimate disc and disc golf different is that you can walk up to a disc-golf course or an ultimate event with no money or experience and begin playing right away with people who are professional or play at an expert level. And they want to teach you how to play. “We’ve always done a very good job teaching the game of ultimate to our new players, and that’s the area we’re always looking to improve even more,” says
26 | Encore SUMMER 2014
local writer and college instructor Chris Tower, who moonlights as another KUDL “brain trust” member. “I think people who feel a little intimidated usually watch us play the game, see how fun it is, see how much fun we’re having and how friendly we are, joking around with each other. It’s really like a family.” The welcoming atmosphere of ultimate does counter the initial intimidation, say the players involved, and Sullivan says a welcoming atmosphere is shared by disc golf. Sullivan was drawn to the game because it’s challenging — it takes a lot of skill and practice to master. But just because it’s a challenging game does not mean it’s only for the highly skilled, he emphasizes. Local disc golf players pride themselves on inclusion as well. “There’s a disc for everyone — so no matter who you are, there’s a disc that will fly for you,” Sullivan says. “Really, if you want to play, just go to a course. That’s what I always do. I just sit on hole one and wait for people to play with me.” In fact, one counterculture component of disc golf is that it was created as a way to offer the challenge and complexity of the game of golf without the perceived elitism. The Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) takes special care to point out this distinction on their website: “Disc golf rarely requires a greens fee, you probably won’t need to rent a cart, and you never get stuck with a bad ‘tee time.’ It is designed to be enjoyed by people of all ages, male and female, regardless of economic status.” The drive for inclusivity in both sports is manifested in multiple ways — a free summer ultimate youth camp in Kalamazoo run by KUDL members Hether and Matt Frayer; $5 ultimate pickup games throughout the year, open to anyone; free disc golf bags to new members of the Climax Club who play two weeks in a row (while supplies last); and specially abled and disabled access and play for both sports.
Form is an important part of both disc golf and ultimate disc play. At left, William Cherup (blue shirt) and Chirs Borozan both jump to catch the disc; above, Jennifer Sawyer shows the unique arabesque ‘tee pose’ of a disc golfer; at right, Abby Nappier is ready to pass the disc.
Women and disc sports Disc sports usually conjure images of athletic college guys in backwards caps hanging out together, flipping a disc back and forth between classes or after work. But reality presents a different picture — there are players of all abilities and ages, and neither disc golf nor ultimate are boys’ clubs either. USA Ultimate, the national governing body for ultimate disc, emphasizes gender equality by encouraging leagues to have
coed or “open” teams that include at least four women. (There are seven players per team on the field at a time, and at least two players have to be women.) KUDL supports this guideline by using an open league structure. As the league continues to grow, figuring out how to recruit women players and keep them is a constant consideration. Abby Nappier, director of volunteer services for a local nonprofit and a KUDL “brain trust” member on the side, appreciates the effort both the local and national ultimate clubs are putting into evening up the gender ratio in open games and developing women’s ultimate on a competitive level. Nappier started out playing at Western Michigan University. “I know I felt really alone when I started playing,” she says. “I wanted to get really good at the sport, and I had a few male players I really bonded with who went out of their way to help me and carve out a space for me. But it was hard being the only woman on the team at Western. Now we have women in the community who are doing that too, and it’s a huge development.” While ultimate continues to grow at a professional and competitive level, Nappier looks forward to the day when she can play at a competitive level locally with other women. For three years, she has had to drive to Chicago to play in a competitive women’s league. Sawyer, the disc golfer who administers the women-only Climax Club, says she experienced the same type of frustration at first, but she notices how much the PDGA works to build women’s disc golf opportunities at every level. “I think sometimes, especially for women who play, they’ll pick up discs that their boyfriends throw or that someone tells them to throw or use a technique that someone shows them, and it’s just a little bit different coming from a guy,” she says. “We communicate differently and take in information differently, so to learn from a woman is instantly more beneficial for women players.”
Sounds great – sign me up! If ultimate disc or disc golf sounds right up your alley, here’s how to get involved:
Disc golf To find a local course or local players, visit: • Professional Disc Golf Association, www.PDGA.com • Climax Club Ladies Disc Golf (for women only) Cold Brook County Park, in Climax, at 1 p.m. Sundays ($3 to play a round), www.ccladiesdg.com
Upcoming events: Kalamazoo Ladies Classic, July 20 at Cold Brook Park A Michigan Women’s Series Disc Golf tournament of the PDGA. All divisions offered, from beginner/amateur to professional, plus prizes, games and food. www.pdga.com/tour/ event/16606
Ultimate disc Spring league April 7-May 19 Summer league June 2-Aug. 4 Tournament Aug. 9 at River Oaks County Park Fall league Sept. 3-Oct. 22 All outdoor games are at VerSluis/Dickinson Park, 1924 Douglas Ave. Visit www.kudl.org to register online and for weekly pickup games.
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Although women’s leagues, teams and clubs provide spaces for women to learn together or play together, there’s still a lot of mixed play. Most players participate in the sport together spontaneously too, at pickup games, in casual leagues and tournaments and by just meeting up at parks. And that’s where the culture of each sport carves out its niche.
Traditions and eccentricities One of the traits these two sports share that’s perhaps most indicative of their counterculture origins is that they are played without referees. While in golf the lack of an official isn’t a new idea, in ultimate — which derives from basketball, soccer and football — someone usually has to call fouls. But ultimate prides itself on not using referees but instead relying on players to play without fouling, admit a foul when it’s pointed out or come to a peaceful resolution of differences. This is one of Tower’s favorite things about the sport. “Ultimate has this rule called ‘The Spirit of the Game,’ which basically encourages
everyone to self-referee fairly and use the honor system to play with good sportsmanship,” he says. “That has probably been the central reason I continue to play ultimate.” Aside from ‘The Spirit of the Game,’ the culture of the KUDL takes on a playful and
Jennifer Sawyer demonstrates an approach shot in disc golf.
inviting demeanor, evidenced by everything from the winter league trophy — a Bell’s Winter Ale keg atop a stack of Frisbees that Welter fashioned himself — to the league’s bear mascot, which takes on a new
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incarnation on league shirts each year, from cowboy to ninja. Even the league’s acronym, KUDL, is meant to entice players with its cuddly sound. And then there are the nicknames. Abby Nappier is known as “Crabby,” thanks to her no-nonsense demeanor when she was the only woman on WMU’s ultimate team; Chris Tower is known as “Tower” (pretty selfexplanatory); and Jeremy Welter is known as “Peaches.” “It came from when he was on the WMU ultimate team,” Tower says, “and they were coming up with nicknames for people, and one guy said, ‘The next person who shows up late will be forever known as ‘Peaches.’” The disc golf culture has its own eccentricities — using baby strollers to carry discs in professional tournaments because, yes, some people have that many discs, dressing up for casual tournaments in costume, and taking pictures of other players in their tee pose, which looks much like a ballet dancer in a fully extended posture. And then there’s the language.
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arts encore
Form Meets Function
Contemporary art is focus of Richmond Center for Visual Arts by
Kit almy
With its angled, curved walls of concrete
and steel and multi-story glass windows, the Richmond Center for Visual Arts stands out on the campus of Western Michigan University. It looks the part of a cutting-edge contemporary art museum, which it is — at least in part. The Richmond Center’s function is chiefly educational, with its first priority being to expose students to contemporary art and working artists. “We have an obligation for our students to be able to see what’s being 30 | Encore SUMMER 2014
made now, because that’s what they’re doing,” says Director of Exhibitions Don Desmett. “We focus on things that could be seen as experimental, maybe more provocative, but the reason we can do that is we can educate our public along with our students as to what they’re seeing.” The center houses part of the Gwen Frostic School of Art, including the student graphic design center, as well as three galleries that show a wide range of art, including electronic and multimedia works.
Don Desmett, director of exhibitions for the Richmond Center, aims to bring in art exhibits that will “educate our public along with our students.”
The centerpiece of the building is the Albertine Monroe-Brown Gallery, a twostory, 4,000-square-foot space that displays seven exhibitions per academic year. The artists shown there are often nationally and internationally known. At least one show per year features local and regional artists. The gallery is highly configurable and allows exhibits to be seen from above through
windows in the building’s second-floor passageway and student lounge. “It really functions wonderfully as this space that adapts to contemporary art, which comes in all varied sizes, shapes, media,” Desmett says. The adjoining Eleanor R. and Robert A. DeVries Student Gallery has 36-foot ceilings, equal in height to those in the main gallery. “It was designed so that, at least physically, anything we could imagine doing in the Albertine Monroe-Brown Gallery, they have the opportunity to do here. That’s been really a great benefit … that (students) can take advantage of this architecture,” he says. “I can quite frankly say this is the best student gallery I have ever seen.” The university’s approximately 1,000-piece teaching collection of contemporary prints is housed in the Richmond Center, and portions of it are periodically shown in the center’s Rose Netzorg and James Wilfrid Kerr Gallery, which also exhibits faculty art. The Richmond Center, which opened in 2007, was designed by SmithGroup JJR, of Detroit, and received the 2008 American Institute of Architects Detroit Honor Award. Desmett consulted on the functional aspects of the building design and its studentcentered features, such as the professionalquality student gallery and a classroom
specifically for studying pieces in the print collection, so that it was built to meet the particular needs of an art school. After educating students, a secondary purpose of the exhibitions program is to introduce contemporary art to wider audiences. Walkways joining the building to the Miller Auditorium parking ramp, Kohrman Hall and the Dalton Center create a physical connection to the various arts programs on campus — including music, theater and dance — and help reach people outside the College of Fine Arts. The large atrium gallery, where passersby can see continuously running video works, hosts a variety of events such as post-symphony concert receptions. People are introduced to art “even when they don’t know they’re going to be,” Desmett says. Altogether, about 10,000 people visit the Richmond Center each year, including thousands of public-school students participating in the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency’s Education for the Arts program. The Monroe-Brown Gallery is currently exhibiting paintings by WMU emeritus art professor Lou Rizzolo, who invited some of his former students to show their work alongside his. “I think (it’s) a very generous
way of doing an exhibition,” Desmett says, “and (demonstrates) his understanding of the educational component of the show.” The center’s exhibitions program also is seeking to reach out beyond the region by putting together traveling exhibits and accompanying publications. In early 2013 it originated “Complex Conversations,” an exhibition of the sculptures, drawings, paintings and prints of Willie Cole that is on a two-year tour of four other galleries at educational institutions around the country. The Richmond Center galleries are free and open to the public Monday through Saturday during the academic year. Summer hours, from May 1 to June 30, are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The galleries are closed in July and August so staff can gear up for the next season. Meanwhile, the public can still view the large outdoor sculptures in the adjacent sculpture garden and at various locations around WMU’s main campus. Desmett says the “Sculpture Tour” generates a lot of attention — and questions. “But that’s a good thing,” he says. “That’s another way for us to reach beyond the walls … and dialogue with the community.”
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The Many Facets of
Bryan Zocher How his eclectic career brought him to EFA by
Theresa Coty O’Neil
photography by
ERIK HOLLADAY
B
y anyone’s account, Bryan Zocher is a man who has worn and still wears many hats. The actor, playwright, educator and Wausau, Wis., native is now at the helm of the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency’s Education for the Arts program after a career that spanned the gamut of the performing-arts world and brought him to what he describes as “the perfect place.” “No matter if I worked as a playwright, director or producer, I’ve always been interested in developing art- and community-based projects through building unique coalitions,” says Zocher who assumed the EFA post in March 2012. “When I moved to Kalamazoo (26 years ago) and saw the wealth of arts institutions, the community’s DNA of creativity and innovation, and the depth of the philanthropic resources, I called a buddy from college and said, ‘I think I’ve found the perfect place to be an entrepreneurial artist.’” Zocher began his ecletic arts career after graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s theater performance program. His post-college work took him from New York City to Pennsylvania to Seattle to the Dakotas before he was lured to Kalamazoo by a posting for a master actor-scriptwriter position with the then newly formed Mad Hatters Educational Theater. It was the beginning of a long career in Southwest Michigan’s arts community.
Abundant opportunities For Zocher, the road from actor, director and playwright to administrator has been paved with opportunities. “In the 1990s, between the great economy and a willingness for organizations to take a risk on an energetic go-getter, I was able to get my foot in the door as a teaching artist and program developer with school districts, arts councils and community colleges,” he says. “I’d walk through the door and say, ‘Here’s my vision. Here’s my experience. Here’s where we can get the money, and, by the way, I’ll even write the grant.’” That is, if the grants weren’t already in place, as they were with his first Kalamazoo job. As the master actor-scriptwriter with the Mad Hatters, an organization whose mission was to promote positive attitudes toward people with special needs and disabilities, Zocher visited schools, corporations and retreats, using short dramas in which he would assume the roles of up to 10 characters, from a 5-year-old deaf boy to a truck driver paralyzed in a car accident. Through a
32 | Encore SUMMER 2014
facilitator, he would converse with audiences, breaking down barriers and misconceptions. Zocher called it a “truly transformational experience,” both for audience members and himself. Zocher left the Mad Hatters (which later disbanded) to became a theater program coordinator at Kellogg Community College, in Battle Creek, expanding the program’s two productions a year to four and adding a children’s theater production. “It was a time and place where an artist who had energy, vision and drive, balanced with businessminded, practical, logical sense, could piece together an economic living,” he says. “Most projects weren’t full-time jobs, but everything was a learning situation.” After leaving KCC, Zocher worked with the United Arts Council of Calhoun County (now the Calhoun County Arts Council) as a carpenter and then as program director of the Discovery Theater, which had a 20week season and a week-long family festival in the streets of Battle Creek. He also spent three years as an Artist in Residence with the Van Buren Intermediate School District, thanks to a Michigan Council for the Arts grant. “I was afforded opportunities for onthe-job learning and training that were just amazing,” he says. In 1995, when KRESA’s Education for the Arts program was just getting started, Zocher says, he “got this inkling that EFA was 34 | Encore SUMMER 2014
going to be an integral aspect of education in Kalamazoo County and quickly found a way to be a voice at the table.” It wasn’t long before Zocher suggested to EFA’s first director, Jeffrey Harkins, that EFA should offer a course on playwriting. “I just happened to be a playwright, and I also knew of a great Michigan Council for the Arts grant for an Artist in Residence,” Zocher says. Toward the end of his first stint with EFA, Zocher became its associate executive, overseeing a number of programs and writing grants. “For better or worse, I started to become less and less of a playwright and artist and more of more of a grant writer and program director.” In 2004, in the midst of all these career moves, Zocher earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in performing-arts management from Western Michigan University. In 2006, he accepted a position as a program officer with the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation. “Once again, a life-changing experience,” he says, “and an opportunity to deeply learn about the community.” “It was an opportunity, in some ways, to get back to my Mad Hatters roots by getting involved with a myriad of human-service and community-development agencies,” he says. “It was inspiring and humbling to assist the people that fuel our nonprofits — their energy and dedication — and to work with the trustees and staff of the Irving S.
As the director of Education for the Arts, Zocher, pictured here in the EFA’s media lab, connects schools and students with arts organizations and opportunities.
Gilmore Foundation, who have deep roots in Kalamazoo and were implementing Mr. Gilmore’s desire to build a vibrant Kalamazoo that provided a high quality of life for everyone.” However, five years later, when Harkins announced his retirement from EFA, Zocher felt a “strong pull” to apply for the job, which he ultimately got.
A great fit Zocher says that this newest hat with EFA may fit him best of all because it combines his passion for the arts, his organizational skills and his entrepreneurial spirit. The EFA program is an award-winning and nationally recognized comprehensive arts organization that calls itself “a magnet school for the arts without walls.” As the program’s top administrator, Zocher builds coalitions between schools and arts organizations and between students and arts opportunities. The EFA program is divided into two parts: Excellence in the Arts, which provides specialized high school arts classes, and Arts for All, which provides K-8 teaching artist residencies, alternative- and specialeducation partnerships, Lincoln Center Institute-inspired aesthetic education, student scholarships and teacher grants.
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Excellence in the Arts is funded primarily by a portion of the per-pupil funding that school districts receive from the state of Michigan and endowment funds held at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. Arts for All (K-8) is funded by Irving S. Gilmore Foundation grants, endowment funds held at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, KRESA operational funds, School District program fees, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs grants, and smaller local grants. “One of the great things about EFA is that our work encompasses the whole spectrum of arts education,” Zocher says. “On the one end, EFA is there for those young people who are looking at the arts as a career, but EFA also has many entry points for Kalamazoo County students to explore, create and develop through the arts and for teachers to facilitate different ways of knowing through using the arts to develop creativity, innovation and critical-thinking skills.” Arts education has taken serious hits in the last couple of years due to drops in funding for schools and their focus on academic rigor as they try to meet both federal and state standards. In Kalamazoo, KRESA’s EFA has picked up the slack by broadening its offerings and providing more support to classroom teachers for arts education. One such offering is a blended-learning media arts course that EFA plans to launch this fall and that will include both an online component and studio time. EFA is also in the process of starting two statewide online courses — Creative Writing and Digital Storytelling — through the Michigan Virtual University. “My vision and goal is for EFA to become the brand for Michigan online arts educational programming,” Zocher says. With his years of experience and obvious drive, Zocher may well achieve that goal. “My career journey has gone from being a practicing artist with an entrepreneurial bent to being a facilitator where I can help develop the foundation for teachers and artists to have the tools and the creative space to work with students. Who knows? Someday I may get back to being an artist, but right now I find so much energy and creativity in this work that it satisfies the artist in me. I guess I’m no different than a lot of people who want to pay it forward.”
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POETRY encore
Mendon, Michigan
Somnambulant
Sunday afternoon and I’ve found the old stone church. Across the road, centuries of granite and limestone, name upon name eroded by time and rain.
A lucifer hummingbird drinks the light ripening on the prudish oleander tattooed on my shoulder. A wind-up nightingale sings to its open cage.
She used to shoot angels here. Her Mendon series. Today I shoot angels and headstones and Jesus, then drive to the old brick schoolhouse, where ivy claws and climbs the mortar she restored with a lover’s care.
Everything takes back its comfort except the waning in my blood. There’s waking to be done post-solstice. Ghosts climb trees to watch me save myself from
She thought a one-room home and small-town life would make her muse return. Instead they made her long for Kalamazoo, where she found me — substitute muse, dependable shelter, immovable star.
another fire I started. I keep surviving the night. Stillness the same as dreaming. My nightgown sudden with rhinestones. The quiet in me hears a hymn
On Sundays we would drive down Silver Street to roam the graves and sit outside the schoolhouse in her car. She needed to know her abandoned treasure was still well tended.
written on God’s tongue. North, the oldest glow. South, the gospel dark, black bells chiming Stay alive. — Traci Brimhall
On those days we’d walk the St. Joe River, watch birds fly off toward Centreville. She’d point to the house where David and Sarah lived, artist and writer, writer and gardener. She loved their studio, their gardens, their marriage — the idea of it all. Nesting was her specialty, her safety net, her terror. She flew back from California once. We sat in a car outside my house.
Brimhall has a Ph.D. in creative writing from Western Michigan University and will begin teaching at the University of Kansas this fall. Her poetry has appeared in The New Yorker and other publications, and she has won awards for her collections Our Lady of the Ruins and Rookery. This poem was previously published in the journal West Branch.
— Margaret DeRitter DeRitter is a longtime journalist and poet from Kalamazoo who does copy-editing and writing for Encore. Her poem Mendon, Michigan was part of an exhibit at the Portage District Library this spring called A Sense of Place, which paired artists with writers.
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Kalamazoo College Jazz Band — 8 p.m. May 10, Dalton Theatre, Kalamazoo College. 337-7070.
PERFORMING ARTS Plays Old Wicked Songs — A musical about a young Jewish pianist taking singing lessons from an anti-Semitic teacher, 8 p.m. May 1–3, 8–10; 2 p.m. May 4, 11, Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley. 343-2727. To Kill a Mockingbird — A drama about a young girl named Scout and her father, attorney Atticus Finch, that deals with issues of race in 1930s America, 8 p.m. May 2, 3, 8–10, 16, 17; 3 p.m. May 10, What A Do Theatre, 4071 W. Dickman Road, Springfield. (269) 282-1953.
p.m. May 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 31, June 6, 7, 13, 14, New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St. 381-3328. The Magical Adventures of Merlin — Civic Youth Theatre presents this musical about Merlin and Arthur before they become magician and king, 7:30 p.m. May 9 & 16; 1 & 4 p.m. May 10 & 17; 2 p.m. May 11; 9:30 a.m. & 12 p.m. May 14 & 15, Parish Theatre, 426 S. Park St. 343-1313. Cabaret — Nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Club in 1931 Berlin, 8 p.m. June 6, 7, 12–14, 19–21, 26–28; 2 p.m. June 8, 15, 22, 29, Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley. 343-2727.
Peer Gynt — An epic comedy/drama with trolls, witches, thieves and madmen, 7:30 p.m. May 15; 8 p.m. May 16 & 17; 2 p.m. May 18, Balch Playhouse, Kalamazoo College. 337-7333.
[title of show] — Four friends try to create the next smash hit on Broadway, 8 p.m. July 18, 19, 24–26, 31, Aug. 1, 2; 2 p.m. July 20, 27, Aug. 3, Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley. 343-2727.
Last of the Red Hot Lovers — Neil Simon’s tale of a man trying to join the sexual revolution and failing miserably, 8:30 p.m. June 27, 28, July 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26, Aug. 1, 2, New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St. 381-3328.
Orchestra
Musicals
Chamber Music — Members of the Kalamazoo Philharmonia Orchestra perform Beethoven’s Septet for Strings and Winds, Op. 20 and von Dohnanyi’s Sextet for Strings, Winds and Piano with guests Barry Ross, violin, and Barbara Hong, piano, 8 p.m. May 16. Ladies Library Association’s Richman Auditorium, 333 Park St. Free.
Vocal
Gilmore Festival Finale Concert — The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is joined by 2014 Gilmore Artist Rafel Blechacz, 8 p.m. May 10, Chenery Auditorium, 714 S. Westnedge Ave. 387-2300.
Annie Get Your Gun — Irving Berlin’s musical about a Wild West show and its star performer, 7:30 p.m. May 2, 3, 8–10, 16, 17; 2 p.m. May 11 & 18, Civic Auditorium, 329 S. Park St. 343-1313.
Echoes of Spain — The Kalamazoo Philharmonia Orchestra’s concert of music from and about Spain, 8 p.m. May 31, Dalton Theatre, Kalamazoo College. 337-7070.
Company — Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy about a single man and his married friends and their relationship problems, 8:30
Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band — 8 p.m. May 9, Dalton Theatre, Kalamazoo College. 337-7070.
Chamber, Jazz & Bands
Stulberg Competition — This annual competition features gifted stringed instrument players under the age of 20. Semifinalist performances on the half hour, 9 a.m.–noon and 1–4 p.m. May 17, free; finals, 8 p.m. May 17, ticketed; master classes, 4–6:30 p.m. May 16 for violins; 12:30–3:30 p.m. May 18 for violas and cellos, free. All events at Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU. Tickets online at www.stulberg.com or at the door. 343-2776. World of Song — The Kalamazoo Community Chorale presents songs from around the world, 3 p.m. May 4, First United Methodist Church, 212 S. Park St. Donations at the door. Visitatio Sepulchri — Early Music Michigan and the Hildegard Singers present this 10th-century liturgical drama as part of the International Congress on Medieval Studies, 10 a.m. May 10, Fetzer Center, WMU. 387-2300. Season Finale: Schubert and Fauré — The Bach Festival Chorus performs Schubert’s Mass in G Major and Fauré’s Requiem, Op. 48, 4 p.m. May 18, Stetson Chapel, Kalamazoo College. 337-7407.
Michelle Eldridge, of LVM Capital, partners with others — like Jeanne Grubb, Donor Relations Officer at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation — to sponsor philanthropic education events for women in our community.
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Dreams and Memories — The Michigan Festival of Sacred Music presents a combination of musical works remembering the Holocaust from a variety of perspectives, 7:30 p.m. May 20, First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo, 315 W. Michigan Ave. $10 donation suggested. Miscellaneous All Ears Theatre — Live radio performances for later airing on WMUK 102.1-FM: Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle in Jungle Heat, May 3; Hello Tomorrow, May 17; The Nightingale, May 31. All shows at 6 p.m. First Baptist Church, 315 W. Michigan Ave. Free. Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival — Seventeen days of concerts, recitals, jazz clubs, master classes, films and more, April 24–May 10. www.thegilmore.org/festival. Kalamazoo Bach Festival — A celebration of J.S. Bach with several free events, May 18-21. www.kalamazoobachfestival.org or 337-7407. VISUAL ARTS Richmond Center for Visual Arts, WMU
Cultural Encounters: India, Burma and Tibet — Photographs by Larry K. Snider featuring the people and their environments, through July 5. West Michigan Area Show — A juried exhibition of works by area artists in all media, May 17–Aug. 16. The show’s juror, Stephen Doherty, is an artist and writer and the editor of American Artist and PleinAir magazines. He will give a talk on the exhibit at 6:30 p.m. May 14. Tiffany Exhibitions — Three exhibits: Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light, Tiffany Jewels and Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Quest of Beauty, May 31–Aug. 23. KIA Art Fair — More than 180 artists, music, activities and refreshments, 3–8 p.m. June 6; 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 7, Bronson Park. Miscellaneous Art Hop — Local artists and musicians at various venues in downtown Kalamazoo, 5–9 p.m. May 2, June 6, July 11, Aug. 1.
Lou Rizzolo: Lo Spirito in Vola — Works by Rizzolo and students he taught at WMU’s Gwen Frostic School of Art, through June 13, Monroe-Brown Gallery.
Art on the Mall — Artists display their wares on the Kalamazoo Mall, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. June 6 & 7, downtown Kalamazoo.
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
Kalamazoo Public Library
Environmental Impact — An exhibit examining pressing environmental issues, through May 4.
Music at the Library — Great Lakes Acoustic Music Association (GLAMA) Acoustic Slow Jam Community Sing-Along, 7 p.m. May 13; Mark Stuart, guitarist/songwriter, 7 p.m. May 21, Central Library.
High School Area Show — A juried exhibition of works by high school artists from across Southwest Michigan, through May 18. Inside Steinway: Photographs by Christopher Payne — This New York photographer documented the process and artistry of Steinway, through May 25.
LIBRARY & LITERARY EVENTS
Spring Fling Celebration — Activities, food and music for kids and adults, 6–8 p.m. May 20, Powell Branch.
Portage District Library Combat Veterans Writing Group — A bimonthly writing workshop for combat veterans, 6:30 p.m. May 13 & 27, West Lake Room. Great Books Reading and Discussion Group — A discussion of the anthology Great Conversations II, 2 p.m. May 18, Long Lake Room. Movie Marathon — Back-to-back showings of the Back to the Future series, with trivia contest and contest for Best Dressed From the ’80s , 10 a.m.–5 p.m. May 17, Long Lake and Gourdneck Lake rooms. MISCELLANEOUS Osama Mandany —This professor of English literature at Egypt’s Menoufiya University lectures on ‘No Country for Old Men’: Shifting Cultural Borders in Egypt, 6 p.m. May 15, 2452 Knauss Hall, WMU. Do-Dah Parade — An unstructured, goofy parade to welcome summer, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. June 7, downtown Kalamazoo. Oshtemo Fun Day — Fun for the family, with children’s activities, vendors, crafts, fire trucks, Adopt-a Pet, music, food and more, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Aug. 16, Flesher Field, 3664 S. Ninth St. MUSEUMS Gilmore Car Museum Gilmore Car Museum Spring Speaker Series — B.S. Levy, race driver and author, The Last Open Road, 3 p.m. May 4, Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners.
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good golf, great cause JROI KRVSLFH FRP
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Kalamazoo Valley Museum
discussion, 9-10:30 a.m. May 14, June 11, Aug. 14, Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, 12685 East C Ave. 671-2510.
How People Make Things — Learn firsthand about tools and processes used to make everyday objects, through May 26. Michigan’s Heritage Barns: An Artist’s Perspective — A photography exhibit showcasing the state’s agricultural heritage and wide variety of barns, through June 15. Music at the Museum — The Moxie Strings, part of Art Hop, 6–8 p.m. May 2, free; Matt Gabriel, 7 p.m. May 9, $5; Nobody’s Darlin’, 7 p.m. May 16, $5. Kalamazoo’s Musical Heritage — A discussion of how music shaped the community and its traditions, 1:30 p.m. May 4. NATURE Kalamazoo Nature Center Butterfly Monitor Training — Volunteer training for the Michigan Butterfly Network’s population-monitoring program, 6–8 p.m. May 6 & 13; field training sessions, 6–8 p.m. May 17 & 31. To sign up, call Kyle Bibby at 381-1574 ext. 22.
Dessert with Discussion — Elena Litchman talks about her research on micro-algae in bodies of water around the world, 7:30–9 p.m. May 14, Academic Center Auditorium, 3700 E. Gull Lake Drive, Hickory Corners. 671-2015. Wild Wednesdays — For families with children under age 8: Frog Fun, June 25; Hummingbird Hike, July 9; Firefly Frolic, July 23; Swan Song, Aug. 6; Predator Prowl, Aug. 20. All events 7–8 p.m., Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, 12685 East C Ave. 671-2510. FESTIVALS Arcadia Creek Festival Place — Susan G. Komen Southwest Michigan Race for the Cure, May 12; Dionysos Greek Festival; June 5–7; Kalamazoo Pride, June 13–14; Island Fest, June 19–21; Irish Festival, June 27–28; Jesus Loves Kalamazoo “One Worship,” July 6; Blues Festival, July 10–12; Taste of Kalamazoo, July 24–26; Wright for Kids Arcadia Rock Fest, Aug. 15–16.
Summer Concert Series Sundays at 6:30pm Kindleberger Park, Parchment
“SHOUT!”-Beatles Tribute Matt King Elvis Tribute 33rd St Band Bronk Bros Voices of Freedom David Gerald Blues Old Friends-Simon & Garfunkel Michigan Hiryu Daiko -Flying Dragon Drummers
The Stage at
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An inspirational and joyous musical about parents, children, and faith. Sherwood Forest’s swashbuckling swordsmen show their silly side!
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station Birds and Coffee Walk — A short hike to search for birds, followed by coffee and
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Disc Madness (continued from page 29) “There’s a whole new lingo when it comes to disc golf, between ‘tree love’ and ‘tombstoning,’ ‘Kaiser bombs’ and ‘rowers,’” Sawyer says. “’Nicing’ is a big one. That’s when, after the person has thrown the disc, before it lands, if you say ‘nice shot,’ there’s a kind of a superstition that you’ve just ‘niced’ somebody and it’ll go hit a tree or go somewhere that you don’t want it to go.”
Looking forward In the summer of 2015, Kalamazoo will host the national championship competition of the Professional Disc Golf Association. Sullivan, who is designated a professional
in the PDGA, explains that “professional” in disc golf is more of an expertise designation than a reference to an athlete who makes money. It means that you’ve competed at a professional level so you’re not allowed to compete in serious amateur tournaments. “There’s really not going to be much money in disc golf, unless you’re on a touring level,” he says. USA Ultimate is working to start professional teams at a national level in hopes of encouraging more spectatorship and awareness of that sport. Locally, KUDL recently expanded to an allyear league, playing indoors in the winter at Kingdom Sports, 8151 Merchant Place in
Portage, and outdoors in the warmer months at VerSluis/Dickinson Park, 1924 Douglas Ave., Kalamazoo. But KUDL is also looking to promote growth, and there’s only one way to do it. “We need more lady players,” Welter says. “That’s the number we need to get up to have more teams.” As to how local disc golfers and ultimate players see the future of disc sports in their lives, two of them offer simple answers: “I’ll keep playing until I’m physically unable to – when my ankles or knees won’t let me anymore,” Nappier says. “I’ll play forever,” Sullivan says. “I’ll probably never stop.”
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Cooking Al Fresco
What to consider in creating an outdoor kitchen Now that winter has made its highly anticipated exodus, many of us are spending as much time as possible outdoors — soaking in the sun, playing sports, gardening and settling back into nature. And once we’re outside, we might feel as if we never want to leave. But we gotta eat, right? We can do that outdoors too, and more of us are. Outdoor kitchens are one of the hottest home improvement trends, as people decide that if they have to slave away in a hot kitchen, it might as well be in one that’s outside. An outdoor kitchen is essentially a food-prep area in an outdoor living space, designed for more informal dining and entertaining. Different types of outdoor kitchens fit a range of budgets. Some of these kitchens consist of a simple barbecue and counter while more elaborate ones feature a grill, sink, refrigerator, lighting, cabinetry, fireplace and stone countertops. Before you take the plunge and install an outdoor kitchen, there are important options to consider. And luckily, you can learn about them from a local expert, since one of the top manufacturers of outdoor kitchen products is located in Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet started in 1906 as the Kalamazoo Sheet Metal Co. and over the years has expanded to become the
by
Tiffany Fitzgerald
leader in grilling technology. In the last 10 years, the company has focused on outdoor kitchens, building many top-line products for this purpose.
What is an outdoor kitchen?
It’s easy to get caught up in the immaculate, expensive outdoor kitchen spaces seen in home and garden magazines. But in order to create an outdoor kitchen, all you have to do is look beyond a grill on a deck, says Russ Faulk, vice president of design for Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. “Outdoor kitchens seem to get more popular every year, although they are not new,” he says. “What an outdoor kitchen is relates to personal preference. Refrigeration, sink, grill — those are usually components in outdoor kitchens, but there are a lot of people who put in a really nice grill and some counter space and call it an outdoor kitchen, and I think that everything in between qualifies.” Outdoor kitchens can be on a deck or stone patio and can include shelter and cabinetry or stand open to the elements, but most are customized to the wants and needs of the homeowner. In fact, before deciding what should be part of your outdoor kitchen, it’s important
w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 41
to take a close look at how you cook and how you’ll use the kitchen.
Combining form and function
The first place to start? Indoors. By examining your indoor kitchen, you can determine what is needed to make an outdoor kitchen space that’s functional. A common piece of advice that home and garden experts give is to make sure to account for storage and create a space that’s easy to clean. And an outdoor kitchen should be easier to use than its indoor counterpart, Faulk says, or you won’t want to use it. “When it comes to design, we encourage people to think in terms of functional zones, and we break them down into hot, cold, wet and dry zones,” he says. “Think about those zones, allow adequate space for each and plan for everything you do in these zones. If you do that, you’re going to have a very usable outdoor kitchen.”
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372-3400
Courtesy
Outdoor kitchens should mimic their indoor counterparts in ease of use and cleaning, according to experts.
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www.devisserlandscape.com
Design & Remodel Detailed and personal construction that builds character into your home.
Solution oriented with a positive perspective. At Pennings & Sons, we guarantee high-quality building services, expertise, professionalism, comprehensive proposals with realistic allowances, and customer satisfaction. All around greater Kalamazoo you’ll meet people who live in the superbly-crafted, custom remodels we’ve designed. Our customers will tell you they’re pleasantly surprised with the design and construction process of Pennings & Sons.
Visit us at the Parade of Homes - June 20-28 42 | Encore SUMMER 2014
penningsandsons.com | 269.372.1930
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Aside from planning for each zone and the functionality of your outdoor kitchen during cooking, you need to think about cleanup, off-season storage and the components that make the outdoor kitchen usable before and after cooking, Faulk advises. “We’re also always encouraging people to make sure it’s easy to live with,” he says. “All of our refrigeration is easy to winterize. It needs to be easy to maintain because if it feels like you need two hour’s preparation to cook in it, you’ll never feel like cooking in it. You need to feel like it’s always ready to go.” One of the most important appliances to consider when planning an outdoor kitchen is the grill, since it’s the central appliance for cooking outdoors. “With grills, you want to make sure you get the best grill you can get so you don’t have to change it out in a few years,” Faulk says. “And you should think about how much space you need in the outdoor kitchen. I’m not just talking about for a grill or appliances, I’m talking about having more counter space and having more space to set things down.” Faulk says that the No.1 question he gets is how big the grill should be, but he says
it’s not the size that matters as much as how well a grill functions and the quality of its craftsmanship. These are important considerations for the other kitchen hardware chosen for the outdoor space as well. Making an outdoor space modern and using new technology that’s functional and lasts a long time will help make an outdoor kitchen a smart investment.
Hot trends
Ready to install an outdoor kitchen? Here are a few of the hot trends in outdoor kitchens: Partial shelter for appliances. A great way to protect appliances like a mini fridge or a small grill is to invest in a partial shelter. There are many options, from building the appliances into the kitchen space so counters shelter them to investing in a custom-built partial shelter to protect your kitchen from harsh elements. Many experts argue for a full shelter so your outdoor kitchen can be enjoyed in any weather. Santa Maria-style grills. One of the hottest trends in outdoor kitchens is live fire cooking, and a Santa Maria-style grill
is one of the most popular options. A Santa Maria-style grill is an open-fire grill that uses a wood fire and is meant to mimic a pit grill. Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet is one of the leading manufacturers of this type of grill, which are quite large and can have a variety of features from an adjustable cooking surface that can be raised or lowered over the coals to a rotisserie. Space for an herb garden. What could be better while cooking than to be able to reach over and hand-pick fresh ingredients for your meals? Many outdoor kitchen plans allow space for a freestanding herb garden to help make the space more functional and bring outdoor elements into the design. Soapstone countertops. One of the hottest trends in countertops is also one of Faulk’s favorite choices for outdoor kitchen counter options — soapstone. “It’s soft to the touch, durable and easy to live with,” he says. Soapstone is available in a range of colors, to complement any design scheme.
TRUSTED SPECIALISTS
SINCE 1978
Jorden and Branden DeHaan with their father, DRS founder, Robert DeHaan
•Kitchens & Baths •Room Additions
We Listen.
•Lower levels
We Deliver.
•CUSTOM BUILT-INS
Let us put
•Patios & decks
our 35 years of professional
•Exteriors & more!
remodeling expertise to work for you.
(269) 343-3757
Get ideas at DeHaanRemodeling.com w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 43
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS Bell’s Brewery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Borgess Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Bravo! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Brink, Key & Chludzinski, P.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Bronson Healthcare Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Constance Brown Hearing Centers . . . . . . . . . . . 11
• Wealth Management • Financial Planning Strategies • Retirement Rollovers • Financial Settlements
Cornerstone Office Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CTS Telecom, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Dave’s Glass Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 DeHaan Remodeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 DeMent & Marquardt, PLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Derby Financial & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 DeVisser Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Farm ‘N’ Garden—The Fence Center . . . . . . . . . . 43 Farm ‘N Garden—The Garden Center . . . . . . . . . . 4
Find a Wealth of Information, Calculators and Market Updates visit us at:
Farmers Alley Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Food Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
derbyfinancial.net
Four Roses Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Garden Gate Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Gilmore Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8145 Valleywood Lane, Portage (269) 321-5047
Sandy K. Derby
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®
*Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through ING Financial Partners, Member SIPC. Derby Financial & Associates, LLC, is not a subsidiary of nor controlled by ING Financial Partners.
Great Lakes Shipping Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Greenleaf Hospitality Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Greenleaf Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Henderson Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Horizon Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Hospice Care of SW Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 HRM Innovations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Kalamazoo/BC International Airport . . . . . . . . . . 47 Kalamazoo Community Foundation . . . . . . . . . . 23 Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency . . . . 39 Kalamazoo Valley Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Keystone Community Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Kindleberger Summer Festival of the Arts . . . . . . 39 Landscape Arborist Services LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Lawton Ridge Winery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 LVM Capital Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Malia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Marines Saving Lives in World War II . . . . . . . . . 39 Millennium Restaurant Group . . . . . . . . . . . 9 & 15 Miller Auditorium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Nature Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 NutriMost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Parkway Plastic Surgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
s you pp bring a w e n r nd Ou t news, a s e t la , ows music e NPR sh it r o v a f r you nt, all r you wa e v e n e h w ck away. just a cli
Pennings & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 PNC Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Post Community Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Jeff K. Ross Financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Saffron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Sharp Smile Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Transformations Spirituality Center . . . . . . . . . . 29 V & A Bootery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 VanderSalm’s Flower Shop & Garden Center . . . . . . 9 Varnum Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 WMUK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Woodwork Specialties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 YMCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Zooroona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
44 | Encore SUMMER 2014
2014–15
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packages starting at $152! Call the ticket office or go online to download your order form. millerauditorium.com (269) 387-2300 • (800) 228-9858
your seat is waiting w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 45
THE last word encore
His Own Encore by
Ron Dundon
After serving in the U.S. Navy during
World War II, my father returned to Kalamazoo, bought a lot on the city’s east side and built a house for his growing family. Sixty-four years later, I still live in that house. At times I think all I’ve been doing is spinning my wheels, marching in place. From time to time I hear, “You still live in the same house you grew up in?” and sometimes it’s me talking to myself. I also imagine I hear the grass laughing at me every time I mow it, mocking my 50-plus years of futile attempts to impede its growth. Each fall I rake up the millions of leaves that fall from the 50-foot maple tree that was only a sapling when, as a kid, I nearly uprooted it during a front-yard football game. But it’s not the house that has kept me in Kalamazoo all these years. It’s the town itself and all this area has to offer for a full, rich life: the good employment options, the dozens of theaters, the fine art and folk art, a literary scene ripe with outlets for poets, playwrights and novelists, nonprofit organizations that help others in many ways, a great public library and free museum, three colleges, and much more. It’s also the people: those who smile and say hello, those who help others who are not capable, the wealthiest among us who created the Kalamazoo Promise, and the public safety and healthcare professionals who keep us safe and well. This community’s compassion was made very real to me in February 2003 when I suffered a cardiac arrest while playing hockey at Lawson Ice Arena. I was clinically dead for five minutes, but three heroic bystanders performed CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED) was used to restart my heart. I survived what is usually a fatal incident. Upon recovery from quadruple coronary bypass surgery, I joined forces with Evelyn Schmidt, mother of another survivor, to form the AED Fund of Kalamazoo County. Our nonprofit group operated for five years, raising money to buy AEDs for fire 46 | Encore SUMMER 2014
departments and other first-responders who most needed them. We sold baked goods, solicited service organizations, unions and associations, and took part in former radio host Lori Moore’s cookbook sales. We received donations from a myriad of individuals and corporations as well as grants from several local foundations. We were even involved in an online campaign to secure a prize from Volvo USA, and thousands of area residents and businesses made the effort to vote for us. The staff of Bronson Methodist Hospital, where I had my bypass surgery, waged an all-out campaign to garner votes. All this awareness and support resulted in a $25,000 award. Encore magazine played a role, too. I was hired by former Encore owners Rick and Penny Briscoe in July 2000. When I began the AED Fund, Encore ran a feature article (September 2005) that provided much-needed publicity. In the end, we raised more than $150,000 and donated 59 AEDs throughout the county. Today, Kalamazoo County still ranks as one of the top counties in the U.S. in saving victims of witnessed cardiac arrest. Now, after 14 years of working at Encore, it is time for me to retire and spend my remaining years enjoying the company of my darling wife, Dixie, and our three cats. One of those cats, Earless Ernie, may be familiar to you because he was in the news a few years ago. We adopted him after he was found beside a road on New Year’s Eve 2008 with his ears cruelly cut down by an unknown assailant. Ernie’s doing great. He’s healthy and full of joy, just like me. A part of me is joyful about retirement, but another is sad to leave a fun job that introduced me to great people and their stories. I had the privilege of meeting some of the most interesting people: • I photographed the work of Ross Cousins, an automotive artist for Ford Motor Co. during the golden age of Detroit. As I shook his hand as I was leaving, he reminded me that I was only one step removed from all
the famous people he had met and shaken hands with during his career, including Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. • I never met a more energetic, enthusiastic person than Sister Ginny Jones who established wonderful hiking trails on the old Nazareth College grounds. • I skated at Wings Stadium with Amy Upjohn and Karrol McKay while shooting the cover photo for a story on women’s hockey teams in Kalamazoo. • I met Bob Medema and his store full of antiques, and Bill Shields, whose collection of Buck Barry (WOOD-TV’s resident cowboy) memorabilia made me feel like a kid again. All these wonderful people and their stories were found right here in our community. How great is that? It will be bittersweet to leave Encore. The new owners, Marie and Krieg Lee, have been in charge for two full seasons now and are carrying on the fine traditions of the magazine. They will continue to tell the stories about the wonderful people and organizations that make this a great place to live and grow. I want to thank all the Encore and Excelsior advertisers, story subjects and others I have worked with through the years. I’ll miss making those reminder calls and writing those emails. But most of all, as a survivor of a near-death experience, I want to remind you that life is both precious and precarious. It can be taken from you in the blink of an eye. So remember, life is sweet. Enjoy.
Ron Dundon has been Encore magazine’s office manager and Guy Friday for 14 years. He is a photographer, traveler, music lover and budding theatrical star.
Travel with a smile!
Neil Bremer Executive Director, Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo
Fly home. Be home. The ease of flying in and out of the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport improves your entire travel experience..
Safe. Simple. Convenient. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 47
that’s where
I got back to being me Sharon Wolverton Borgess Heart Institute patient
Sharon Wolverton could barely make it up the stairs. At first, she thought it was fatigue, until a nurse found an irregular heartbeat. That’s where listening and expertise made all the difference. The team at Borgess Heart Institute, led by electrophysiologist Ken Liu, MD, PhD, found not one, but two heart rhythm disorders. Using a minimally invasive surgery, called an ablation procedure, they were able to fix her heart problems and give Sharon her life and her energy back. Watch her incredible story and share your own at ThatsWhere.com
ThatsWhere.com A member of Ascension Health®