Sensi Michigan Magazine - December 2020 - Michigan

LET IT GROW

Hardy houseplants for winter

IT’S A WRAP!

Our exclusive 2020 gift guide

MICHIGAN DECEMBER 2020

TASTE THE SEASON Candy cane sugar cookies just taste like Christmas

THE WILD AZZIE

Foraging in the mushroom mecca

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MICHIGAN SENSI MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2020

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FEATURES

31

It’s a Wrap!

48

Foraging for Magic

Stumped this season? Crack open our exclusive gift guide and break off some holiday cheer for you and yours.

Stalking the wild Azzie in the mushroom-hunting capital of the Pacific Northwest

DEPARTMENTS

11 EDITOR’S NOTE 18 THE LIFE Contributing to your health and happiness 12 THE BUZZ WINTER BE GONE Hardy News, tips, and tidbits

houseplants give your to keep you in the loop home an island vibe.

SOLAR GROWER The powRECIPES Something sweet, er of Skymint Farms something smoked FREE TURKEYS Cannabis HOROSCOPE What the companies aid local stars hold for you families on the holidays.

CANNA-COOKBOOK Showcasing The Cannabis THE SCENE Apothecary Hot happenings and hip HEMP WRAP Eco-friendly hangouts around town ribbons and paper SAFE SPACE Jess Jackson welcomes you to her FRIENDLY FURS Vegan new bud and breakfast. fur coats offer comfort and compassion.

CALENDAR Live and virtual events to make the season bright

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ON THE COVER

Roll out the holiday season with delicious cannabis-infused sugar cookies.

PHOTO BY EYEGELB, ADOBE STOCK PHOTO EDITS BY JOSH CLARK

68 THE END Skiing will go on in Michigan this winter.

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ADVISORY BOARD

1 Unit Executive Protection LLC. (DeShawn Robinson) Personal Security Aronoff Law (Craig Aronoff) Licensing Law Firm Cannabis Counsel Cannabis Law Firm Etz Chaim Attestations Great Lakes Hemp Supplements Hemp Supplements Great Lakes Natural Remedies Lakeshore: Provisioning Center GreenHouse Payment Solutions Payment Processing Kush Design Studio Cannabis Facility Design & Build LC Solutions Michigan PLLC Accounting/CPA Services LEGC, LLC Concentrate Vaporizer Michigan Creative Branding MRB Solutions Human Resources Northern Specialty Health Upper Peninsula: Provisioning Center Oh, Hello Branding Promotional Marketing Pain Blocking Oil Cannabis Topical Perry & Drummy Inc. Commercial Insurance Pure West Compassion Club Caregiver Connection & Network Rair Medical Flower Seed Cellar Cannabis Genetics Solutions by Dr. Dave West Michigan: Hemp CBD Helping Friendly Hemp Company Hemp Topicals MEDIA PARTNERS

Marijuana Business Daily Minority Cannabis Business Association National Cannabis Industry Association Students for Sensible Drug Policy

EXECUTIVE

Ron Kolb Founder, CEO ron@sensimag.com

Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder, Editor in Chief stephanie@sensimag.com

Mike Mansbridge President

mike@sensimag.com Fran Heitkamp Chief Operating Officer fran@sensimag.com Lou Ferris VP of Global Revenue lou@sensimag.com Chris Foltz Director of Global Reach chris@sensimag.com Jade Kolb Director of Project Management jade.kolb@sensimag.com Kristan Toth Head of People kristan.toth@sensimag.com EDITORIAL

Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor doug.schnitzspahn@sensimag.com Tracy Ross Managing Editor tracy.ross@sensimag.com Leland Rucker Senior Editor leland.rucker@sensimag.com Robyn Griggs Lawrence Editor at Large robyn.lawrence@sensimag.com Helen Olsson Copy Chief Diane Blackford, Mona Van Joseph Contributing Writers

DESIGN/PRODUCTION

Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com

Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak, Josh Clark Designers

Neil Willis Production Director neil.willis@sensimag.com PUBLISHING

Jamie Cooper Market Director jamie.cooper@sensimag.com Chelsea Carter Media Sales Executive chelsea.carter@sensimag.com Kyle Miller Media Sales Executive kyle.miller@sensimag.com Leah Stephens Media Sales Executive leah.stephens@sensimag.com Constance Taylor Media Sales Executive constance.taylor@sensimag.com

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly

by Sensi Media Group LLC.

© 2020 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.

Because I am late to all things cultural, I missed

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seeing the movie JoJo Rabbit until just recently. When I saw it, though, I fell in love with it. Yes, some parts made me uncomfortable, but the overarching theme floored me: a pure heart can resist the indoctrination of hate and, oftentimes, no matter how much struggle we are trapped in, the beauty of the world seeps through.

I’m thinking of JoJo Rabbit as 2020 nears its end. This past year has brought a litany of unforgettably terrible firsts for most of us. First worldwide pandemic, first global lockdown, first of thousands of pandemic-related deaths, and then, just last month, a first that was predicted but I couldn’t bring myself to believe: a virus that should have been better controlled has caused 250,000 deaths.

In 2020, I personally faced the death of my older brother. Organ failure resulting from ethanol abuse was the cause. Over the course of his becoming an alcoholic and then dying of the disease, his world became smaller and smaller. Then, toward the end, he had closed himself off to countless experiences. He missed both the good and the terrible. Which brings me back to JoJo Rabbit.

The film follows two children—a German and a Jew—who end up living in the same place. It takes them two months to finally release their prejudices, let down their guards, and begin to love each other as sister and brother. The last scene of the movie, in which they enter a post-war Germany and cautiously begin to dance, makes you want to both laugh and cry. But what I loved most was the final epigraph, from the poet Rilke: “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. / Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

In a year when everything feels like a terror, I remind myself over and over of that quote. I also kick myself because I’d heard it before my brother died, and I never shared it with him. I think the simple reminder could have soothed him. As a new year begins, I now offer it to you. May you keep your eyes, senses, and heart open to experience, and may you remember that everything, every beauty and terror, is just a moment.

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

In a year when everything feels like terror, I remind myself over and over of that quote.

Seek the light,

I N S TAG R A M @sensimagazine is home to exclusive photos and content.

Tracy Ross @writertracyross

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Sunshine Daydream In a 2015 TED Talk, SpaceX founder Elon Musk told his audience, “We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky called the sun.

You don’t have to do anything. It just works.” That message stuck for James Barr, the head of operations of Skymint Farms, Michigan’s leading vertically integrated cannabis company and the state’s largest medical and recreational license holder, which aspires to become Michigan’s largest purveyor of regeneratively and sustainably cultivated sun-grown cannabis. “Even the best indoor grow lighting can’t compare to the natural light spectrum,” he says.

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“Cannabis loves the sun and expresses itself very differently when farmed outdoors. Cannabinoid and terpene production is greater, and the plant is more resilient.”

Skymint cannabis is grown using the sun as the primary source of power and rainwater as the primary source of irrigation.

Crop rotation, intercropping, and cover crops create a nutrient-rich living soil. Within the next two years, Skymint will incorporate grazing animals to make the farm truly biodynamic. Not only does it aspire to do right by the land and the environment but it also aspires to do right by Michigan-

ders by cultivating community. Its cultivation site is in Lake County, one of the poorest counties in Michigan, and it provides nearly 30 year-round farm jobs on its rural acreage.

“Community is at the core of our company ethos,” says CEO and co-founder Jeff Radway.

“We wholeheartedly believe that cannabis has a meaningful role to play in bettering people’s lives.” Skymint is going a step further by partnering with Forgotten Harvest, a Detroit food rescue organization, to provide meal boxes to 2,000 Michigan families during the holiday season.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SKYMINT FARMS

Skymint Farms is using the power of the sun to grow cannabis and build a better community.

CONTRIBUTORS

Emilie-Noelle Provost, Tracy Ross, Jenny Willden

BY THE NUMBERS

3

Free Turkeys

PHOTOS (FROM LEFT) COURTESY OF GREENHOUSE / LAURIE + MARYJANE

Cannabis companies offer aid to Michigan families.

Greenhouse of Walled Lake, a dispensary and provisioning center in Oakland County, is taking its “essential business” status seriously this holiday season by giving 10 Michigan families $10,000 each in gifts and food through its own contributions and by partnering with owner Jerry Millen’s five favorite cannabis brands, Kushy Punch, Ubaked, Chill Medicated, Green Doctor CBD, and Platinum Vape.

The goal is to help families struggling from COVID-19, but it’s also “to show the masses that cannabis and the people involved are good people,” Millen says. “We need to normalize cannabis, and the more we engage with the cities that allow us to operate and the families that live in them, the quicker we can squash the stigma of marijuana. We have been steady and even doing a little better during COVID-19, so we’re able to give back,” he adds. greenhousemi.com

Number of states that allow digital license plates.

Michigan will join California and Arizona in 2021.

10,031 The total number of COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Michigan (as of Dec. 4). There have been at least 165,269 recoveries from the disease in that time.

1

Number of Blackowned breweries in Michigan. Grand Rapids’ Black Calder launched a Black IPA on Black Friday last month.

COOK & STAY WELL WITH CANNABIS Learn to prep CBD & THC in The Cannabis Apothecary.

In her new book, The Cannabis Apothecary, SENSI FANS: celebrated cannabis cookbook author Laurie SHOW US YOUR ART! We’re launching a new Wolf shares her recipes and preparation series spotlighting work tips for everything from body balms and made by the talented peomassage oils to cannabutter and brownies. ple in our creative commuThis essential cannabis guide covers buying nity. Because we know that you, like us, are not merely and preparing both CBD and THC to improve sheltering in place. We’re your health and wellness. Learn the differArtists in Residence. Share your creative projects ences between strains and the benefits of and tag us on Instagram, using cannabis from Wolf, a lauded edibles @sensimagazine, for a expert with her own cannabis food-focused chance to be spotlighted in an upcoming edition or on business called Laurie + MaryJane.

The Cannabis Apothecary / laurieandmaryjane.com

sensimag.com.

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

—Anne Bradstreet, 17th century poet

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THE BUZZ

BILITIES THAT’S A WRAP

BY STEPHANIE WILSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF

1 THE MORE THE MERRIER One in three Americans now lives in a state where recreational cannabis is legal, thanks to voters in New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota supporting measures to legalize the plant for adult use.

Wrap festive packages with eco-friendly holiday ribbons and paper made from hemp and other renewable materials.

2 MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS Supporters of marijuana legalization in Arizona outraised and outspent opponents 10 to one leading up to Election Day. In New Jersey, that number was 99 to one.

3 THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION According to a new Gallup Poll released in November, 68 percent of Americans support cannabis legalization. That’s 5.5 times more support than five decades ago in 1969. If you’re a young adult American male with a college degree earning more than $100k, there’s at least a 74 percent chance you support legalization, according to the poll. If you’re Republican or attend religious services weekly, there’s a 52 percent chance you don’t.

4 MAGIC MONEY David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps wrote checks totaling more than $6.4 million toward drug-war reform campaigns this year, thanks in part to COVID-19, which has the soap business booming.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WRAPPILY

5 TRIPPING OVER NOTHING Psychedelic mushrooms send the fewest people to the emergency room of any drug on the market, according to a massive report by the Global Drug Survey. Related: there are more than 100 varieties of psilocybin-producing mushrooms, aka “magic mushrooms,” aka the kind Oregon voters legalized in November’s election.

HOW ABOUT THE PARTY TO WHICH I BELONG, AND ITS LEADERSHIP, STOP UNDERMINING THE ELECTION AND PUTTING FORTH MISLEADING INFORMATION. MAYBE IT MAKES SOME PEOPLE FEEL BETTER ABOUT LOSING—

SAD. BUT IT DAMAGES OUR COUNTRY.” —US Representative Paul Mitchell, R-Dryden on Twitter

According to the Clean Air Council, approximately 30 million trees are used to manufacture the more than four million tons of holiday gift wrap Americans use each year. Fortunately, sustainable alternatives to traditional holiday paper, which usually can’t be recycled because it contains artificial dyes and additives, are becoming easier to find. Online retailer Wrappily specializes in making sustainable gift wrap from recycled newsprint with cheerful designs printed using soy-based ink. The company also makes eco-friendly cotton curling ribbon and biodegradable hemp twine in several jolly colors and patterns. wrappily.com

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THE BUZZ

VOX POPULI

Question: What are you thankful for this year?

JESSICA FINCH

PAUL ROWE

AMY BROWN

THADDEUS SETLA

ANTHONY SABATELLA

Goat and Mushroom Marketing Clinton Township

Account Manager Holland

CEO/Co-Founder, ABKO Labs Warren

CEO, Wicked Root Hemp Co. Northville

President, THC123 Sterling Heights

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

Cannabis and my incredibly awesome quarantine partner!

Who knew our first year of marriage was going to be spent in quarantine?

Man, I’m thankful for all the extra time with the kids—we will truly look back on this time and appreciate seeing them more than ever.

I am thankful for technology to keep us connected to others.

The Sensi events, Zoom happy hours, FaceTime, etc. It’s helped things feel somewhat normal.

I am thankful that my kids are healthy and my wife is working.

Most importantly I’m extremely appreciative of the school system for trying to navigate this entire thing and keep our kids safe.

I’m happy for my growing family’s health and development, and happy that I’m still able to work at a job that I love every day and help get great medicine in the hands of wonderful people.

Friendly Furs

PHOTOS (FROM LEFT) COURTESY OF GREENHOUSE / LAURIE + MARYJANE

PETA advocates won’t be tossing paint on these vegan coats.

Hemp fur is an innovative new material created by DevoHome, a hemp textile producer founded in 2008. A replacement for both real and synthetic fur, this sustainable plant-based material is made with a mix of hemp fiber and viscose— naturally hypoallergenic and purely organic. It’s also potentially super stylish, as the new range of coats show.

The line includes a winter coat that’s double-breasted with a comfortable hood, as well as double-sided: one side is a water-repellent cotton fabric; the other is faux fur made of hemp fiber. The coats are available in a range of colors and lengths, and though they generally come in one size, they can be produced to specific measurements. devohome.com

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PHOTO BY TONTECTONIX, ADOBE STOCK

Containing the Tropics Baby it’s cold outside, but these easybreezy houseplants can add an instant island vibe to your home no matter what’s happening out there.

TEXT DIANE BLACKFORD

Your dreams for a ity in your place—and Caribbean getaway this trust me, your hair, skin, year get dashed by the sinuses, and more will pandemic and travel thank you for adding restrictions? more moisture to the air.

While it’s not quite My apartment’s large the same as frolicking southern-facing winon sugary soft beaches dows deserve a lot of flanked by palm trees credit for helping to and lapped by shimmer- transform an empty ing turquoise waters, apartment into a lush I’ve done my best to turn landscape, no doubt. But my apartment into a even if your place rarely tropical oasis with palm sees any direct sunlight trees and verdant foliat all, you too can grow age growing out of every some palm trees. available space. You can Everyone can be a do the same, and I high- tropical gardener, and ly encourage it. Plants thanks to the houseprovide oxygen, clean plant-crazed millennials the air, and are shown to demanding more—and elevate happiness. Not more exotic—greenery to mention if you get to grow in their homes, enough of them growing, it’s easier than ever to you’ll raise the humidcultivate a true island D EC E M B E R 2020

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DISCOVER WHAT’S HAPPENING IN WEST MICHIGAN’S CANNABIS INDUSTRY

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THE LIFE

IMAGES VIA ADOBE STOCK

vibe indoors—even in the coldest of climates.

“It may be a little tricky at times, but adding that special warmth and color to your home definitely can be done,” confirms Andrea Haywood, a certified master gardener from South Florida.

While Jack Frost is not a friend to most greenery native to climates where temperatures hover above 75°F, we’ve rounded up some of the easiest tropical plants that you can grow indoors all year long. You can find these varieties and others like them at your local garden center, where the staff can help you pick out the right

type for your home’s light and offer tips to help you care for the tropical transplant. So

flowers makes the plant a superb conversation starter that adds a welcome burst of color to any household where it Bird of Paradise (above) blooms, which doesn’t happen without a ton This colorful plant species got its moniker from of natural sunlight. But its uncanny resemblance even without the nameto the feathered creature sake flower, the large plant adds a ton of tropwith the same name.

The unusual shape of its ical flair to any room, thanks to its glossy leaves fanning out. take your green thumbs out of your gloves and get growing on your own tropical paradise.

Bromeliad (left) There are over 3,000 species within this standout family of tropical plants. Most have bold leaves that are often colorful, but the most distinguishing characteristic of many bromeliads is an exotic flower spike. Given the long-lasting blooms and ornamental foliage, you may assume these are high-maintenance D EC E M B E R 2020

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THE LIFE

Dracaena Marginata (below) Often called the dragon tree, this spiky houseplant is native to Africa.

The tricolor cultivar, also known as the rainbow plant, adds an instant island vibe to any household with its pink, cream, and yellow stripes on narrow, green leaves.

houseplants, but you’d be mistaken. They tend to be among the easiest to grow, and you

can fi nd varieties in all shapes and sizes with different preferences for light and heat.

and well-drained soil to survive, and it needs lots of sunlight to bloom, which it can do from late spring through fall in the right conditions. You can find versions with flowers in a dizzying array of colors, making it easy to match your home’s color palette. If you don’t have bright, direct sunlight, don’t let that stop you Hibiscus (left) from adding this stunner Huge, dramatic blooms to your collection. Keep up to eight inches in it indoors during the windiameter add terrific ter then move it to the splashes of color (albeit balcony or porch when it short-lived) to this shrub. warms up outside to enIt needs plenty of water joy its seasonal blooms.

IMAGES VIA ADOBE STOCK

EDITOR’S CHOICE: PONYTAIL PALM The cascading curls flowing from the top of this plant just make it seem like all sorts of bubbly fun. It’s technically a succulent, not a palm tree, but we won’t tell if you don’t. A native of the dry desert states of eastern Mexico, it does well in low humidity, and its bulbous base stores water like a camel’s hump, making it a good choice for people who tend to neglect their plants.

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THE LIFE RECIPE

Candy Cane Sugar Cookies Recipe from Alyssa Price at Noble Road / nobleroadco.com / Makes 24 cookies

Ho, Ho, Hmmm Satiate Santa with these cannabis-infused treats.

TEXT TRACY ROSS

So, Santa has to cover thousands of miles, landing on millions of rooftop apexes in the course of 24 hours. To keep his magical sled flying high, he could use a little cannabis buzz. Keep the big guy (and his countless elves) grinning and nutritionally fortified with these cannabis-infused recipes from Detroit-area chefs specializing in elevated cooking.

together remaining butter ½ cup butter, divided and sugar on medium 1⁄3 cup sugar speed, about 3–5 minutes.

1 egg Add butter-distillate 1 teaspoon vanilla mixture and continue ½ teaspoon baking powder mixing for 1–2 minutes.

1⁄3 teaspoon cream of tartar Add egg and vanilla until 1⁄8 teaspoon kosher salt well mixed.

1½ cups all-purpose flour • Combine all dry ingre¼ cup candy cane pieces dients except candy 1⁄8 cup 90% THC distillate cane pieces and slowly incorporate into wet INSTRUCTIONS ingredients, being careful • Preheat the oven to 350°F not to overmix. Add candy • In a microwave-proof bowl, cane pieces and mix until gently heat 1 tablespoon incorporated. of butter until melted. Add • Drop 2⁄3 tablespoon scoops distillate to melted butter of dough onto a parchmentand stir to dissolve. lined sheet pan. Bake for • In a mixing bowl, cream approximately 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

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THE LIFE RECIPE

Smoked Brussels Sprouts Recipe from High Times top cannabis chef Ginalisa Diaz of Cannabis Connections cannabisconceptsmi.wixsite.com/cannabisconcepts / Servings: 6-8

INGREDIENTS

1 bag of brussels sprouts, cut in halves ¼ cup infused olive oil, divided 1 tablespoon butter 3 strips of bacon, diced 1 shallot, finely diced 1 clove of garlic, minced 1 tablespoon of pepper blend or fresh cracked black pepper 1 tablespoon of garlic powder 2 teaspoons sea salt, divided

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, divided ¼ cup chicken stock 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan 2 tablespoons sliced almonds (optional) INSTRUCTIONS

• Wash brussels sprouts, chop in halves, and set aside. Coat a large pan with infused olive oil and butter.

Allow the oil and butter to melt together, then add diced bacon. Cook bacon

for 3 minutes, then add the movement. Add the chicken brussels sprouts. stock and incorporate the • Cook the bacon and flavors and bits from the brussels sprouts together, pan. Once the brussels folding them vigorously sprouts are done, allow after three minutes or once them to lay in the pan, face they begin to caramelize. down on the flat side of the • Add in shallots, garlic, sprout as you turn off the pepper blend, garlic powder. stove and grab your platter.

Add 1 teaspoon sea salt and • Plate the brussels sprouts 1 tablespoon of parsley. when they’re full of color • When the brussels sprouts and al dente. Sprinkle with have cooked for another the remaining sea salt 3 minutes, fold in all the and parsley, and top with ingredients while keeping freshly grated parmesan a rapid toss and fold and almonds.

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THE LIFE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mona Van Joseph has been an intuitive since 2002. She is an author, columnist, and host of Psychic View Radio. She created dicewisdom.com, which also has a smartphone app. mona.vegas

HOROSCOPE

DECEMBER HOROSCOPE What do the stars hold for you?

TEXT MONA VAN JOSEPH

and see the bigger picture.

SAGITTARIUS People are turning to you for Each month, your cards the light and discipline of present a new adventure, your goals, which will ultiand this one will be connect- mately also benefit them. You ed with how you earn mon- are the beacon of your circle. ey. Someone is about to invite you in a new direction. FEB. 19–MAR. 20 It is totally worth exploring. PISCES Something planned will be deDEC. 22–JAN. 19 layed this month; don’t fight it.

CAPRICORN The delay will ultimately work You’ve been working hard, in your favor. Pay attention to spiritually and emotionalthe things you can resolve and ly. You are doing your best to find a creative distraction. keep your balance, while the influences around you seem MAR. 21–APR. 19 oblivious to kindness, ethics, ARIES and morality. Remember, you Do you live so well in your can only manage yourself— spiritual understanding that and you are being tested. you could explain your perspective to another? This is JAN. 20–FEB. 18 the month to fill your heart AQUARIUS with light and blessings.

Your biggest gift right now is Your example of living may your ability to stay focused heal or help someone.

NOV. 22–DEC. 21

APR. 20–MAY 20

TAURUS

Though it may not feel this way, the power of all things is available to you right now.

You have a network of enlightened people and spirits around you who are willing to help you get what you want. It’s okay to ask.

MAY 21–JUNE 20

GEMINI

Things will happen very quickly this month, and you will react quickly. Karma will address someone who has wronged you. Opportunity and/or focus are about to cross your radar.

JUNE 21–JULY 22

CANCER

Pay a little extra attention to the people you interact with.

You will find common ground

SAGITTARIUS, SOMEONE IS ABOUT TO INVITE YOU IN A NEW DIRECTION. IT IS TOTALLY WORTH EXPLORING.

and coincidental connections. It will also allow you a bonding opportunity for creating your network.

barrel. Now that your mojo is back, it’s time to sing their praises and maybe do your own version of Secret Santa.

JULY 23–AUG. 22

SEPT. 23–OCT. 22

It’s time to acknowledge and further develop your natural intuitive ability. It’s time to learn a simple way to focus on those who have doubted this ability. Clear your mind, imagine that all the flow of the universe is within you, and see what presents itself.

Recent events have placed you in a position of emotional conflict and imbalance. It’s the perfect foundation to determine what’s most important. You’ve found out where your heart is, so stay there.

LEO

LIBRA

OCT. 23–NOV. 21

SCORPIO

You are finally released from VIRGO what was working against Think of the people you you—and those “habits” would slay dragons for and around how you’ve regardeveryone who covered your ed situations or people. You butt when you were emoare still in the same position, tionally at the bottom of your but you have a clearer view.

AUG. 23–SEPT. 22

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Tetra Sunrise to Dusk Ashtray Handmade by Robbie Frankel of Balefire Glass $96 / shop-tetra.com Spark up any room with this art piece of an ashtray.

Jonathan Adler Druggist Weed Canister

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Neenineen Grenadine Bubbler

GRAV Clear Menorah $400 / grav.com

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Fringe Studio Ru Vive le FĂŠminisme Ceramic Mug $17 / fringestudio.com

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Primark Kimball Bar (Bong) Cart

FLYKR LYTR Fidget Spinner Case

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My Bud Vase Stardust Water Pipe $200 / mybudvase.com The bong is long gone, replaced by beautifully crafted art pieces that combine fashion (it looks lovely in the most elegant of living rooms) and function (it’s still one effective cannabis delivery device). And, of course, when you are not using it, the pipe pulls double duty as a vase.

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Fear of God x Ermenegildo Zegna Joggers $620 / zenga.com

Grrrl Clothing Activewear $19 and up / grrrl.com

Vintage Redeux Mary Jane Smoking Robe $120 / vintageredeux.com

Patagonia Furry Friends Fleece Hoodie $55 / patagonia.com

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The perfect body is every body. Grrl Clothing celebrates all bodies with styles and fits for all shapes and definitions of beautiful.

This high-performance activewear will not only enhance your workout, but also make you proud of that body.

Prada Mini Bag Combat Boot $1,350 / prada.com Upgrade your strut and be prepared for anything with this combo hautecouture stomper and mini-purse that can handle serious urban use and ensure you won’t have to worry about checking or losing a bag with your valuables.

Nike Killshot 2 Leather Hunter Boots Original Golden Goose Men’s Shoe High Gloss Waterproof Superstar Sneaker

Ugg Scuffette Cosmos Slipper

Treasure & Bond Kids’ Faux Fur Slipper

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Click & Grow The Smart Garden 3

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Cult Furniture Hanging Lamp with Plant Pot $95 / cultfurniture.com

Gromeo Living Wall System $265 and up / habitathorticulture.com Simplify your living space and bring more lush green to those dull walls with these ingenious planters.

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A Pot for Pot Marijuana Growing Kit $40 and up / apotforpot.com The ultimate DIY kit makes it simple to grow everyone’s favorite plant anywhere in your home.

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Larq Movement Self-Cleaning Water Bottle $78 / livelarq.com

Lexon Oblio Wireless Charger and UV Sanitizer $80 / lexon-design.com

Haute Diggity Dog Woof Clicquot RosĂŠ Dog Toy $16 / hautediggitydog.com

Medipop Portable UV LED Light Sterilizer $60 / medipop.us

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W&P Design The Margarita Virtual Happy Hour Cocktail Kit $24 / wandpdesign.com Bartender skills a bit iffy? Even the biggest bumbler can shake out a stiff drink like a pro with these nifty premade kits. Includes everything but the booze.

Art of Burning Man

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Food and Beverage Magazine’s Guide to Restaurant Success

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PuffCo Peak Pro $400 / puffco.com Welcome to sophisticated inhalation. This high-tech vaporizer elevated the art of dabbing, providing pure concentrate with each inhalation. It heats up in just 20 seconds and four heat modes help you dial in the right intensity for your mood.

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Saucey Tectonic9 Auto Dispensing Grinder $60 / sauceyextracts.com Simplify the all-to-often messy grinding process with this collab between Tectonic9 and Saucey Farms & Extracts that delivers perfect grinds in style.

Theragun Elite Percussive Therapy Device

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Sonos Move Wireless Dyson Airwrap and Bluetooth Speaker Styler Complete $399 / sonos.com

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Impala Quad Skate Rollerskates

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Lomo’Instant Automat Glass Assemble Configure Edition $189 / lomography.com Featuring work by UK artist Laura Slater, this instant camera has a 35mm f/4.5 wide-angle lens for shots that take in the whole scene.

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MyJane SheSurvival Box Hedger Humor Special Edition $59 / myjane.com

Bloom Farms CBD Sport Stick $55 / getbloomfarms.com

Because 2020 sucked so bad, girl, you need to laugh your way into the new year—and feel good too. Plus, each box contains a bracelet handcrafted by a survivor of human trafficking and proceeds support the cause of International Sanctuary in empowering women survivors in recovery.

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Dr. Barbara Sturm Repair Food Dietary Supplement

Beboe Therapies High-Potency CBD Sheet Masks

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The Comic Chest $60 / facebook.com/thecomicchest The nerd in all of us will rejoice to find this carefully curated (by nerds, of course) comic book swag mystery box under the tree.

Kaneh Co. Peanut Fluresh Good Vibes Butter Fudge Brownies Drink Enhancer $20 / kanehedibles.com

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Shinola Detroit Edition Monopoly $395 / shinola.com

Land of Milk and Honey Cranberry and Orange Goat Milk Soap $6 / milkandhoneygoats.com Scrub away seasonal stress with this luscious bar.

Detroit Bikes e-Sparrow $899 / detroitbikes.com

The “For Mama� Bundle from Skymint

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Happy Holidays

TERRAPINCARESTATION.COM/MICHIGAN

Stalking the wild Azzie in the mushroomhunting capital of the Pacific Northwest TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE PHOTOS LEAH D’AMBROSIO

FORAGING FOR

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he wind was blowing about 20 knots, pelting us with needles of mist, as we trudged through the dune grass with our eyes peeled. We weren’t focused, as you would expect, on the stunning shoreline and churning gray waves of Willapa Bay in our vista, but on the ground. We were looking for mushrooms—Psilocybe azurescens, to be exact.

I couldn’t believe my luck when Chef Sebastian Carosi, one of the first and finest farmto-fork pioneers and a virtuoso cannabis chef, offered to teach me how to stalk the wild Azzie.

“There really is no better experience with anything psilocybin-related than picking your own,” he told me when we met at the Everything Edibles virtual conference in October. “You can actually go find your own psilocybin in the wild, beyond a government-sanctioned organic label, and that in itself is part of the therapeutic effect.”

Carosi describes himself this way: “Imagine James Beard and Salvador Dali have a ’70s baby … raised by Alice Waters and Jack Kerouac … babysat by Jack Herer and Julia Child,” a chef who makes “organic, plant-heavy American truck-stop cuisine served on white tablecloths.” He’s a master forager and a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with, and the opportunity to learn the art of the hunt from him in the mushroom capital of the Pacific North-

west was far too good to pass up.

He didn’t have to ask twice.

On Election Day 2020, I wrapped myself in layers of North Face, laced up my Sorels, and joined Carosi; his wife, Carla Asquith; and my friend Leah D’Ambrosio (who organized the Everything Edibles conference)—along with dozens of other hunters who descend on Long Beach, Washington, every fall in cold, wet pursuit of the shroom. (In Long Beach, they say, first come the rains, then the Azzies, then the Winnebagos).

Long Beach is a 28-mile-long peninsula along the southwest coast of Washington where the

Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. Warm and wet, it’s a forager’s paradise. The shores are rich with clams, oysters, and crab; wild berry bushes and dense mycelial mats cling to the sandy soil. James Beard made a home and restaurant here, and mycology guru Paul Stamets lives just up the road.

Fungi is plentiful, from beefy King Boletes, otherwise known as porcini—which you’ll pay a fortune for at the market, if you can find them—to crunchy, tasty Lactarius deliciosus. Amanita muscaria, or Fly Agaric, with its iconic red cap and white spots, makes for great pics but shouldn’t be eaten.

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But, let’s be honest, it’s the Azzies that draw the crowds. Long Beach is legendary for its bounty of the little shrooms, also known as flying saucers, beloved for being the most psilocybin-dense mushrooms on the planet. “Discovered” in 1979 by Boy Scouts camping near the mouth of the Columbia River, just over the bridge in Oregon, Azzies were formally named Psilocybe azurescens by none other than Stamets, whose son is named Azureus for the color of bruised psilocybin.

“Simply blowing on the fibrils of the stem of this purple-brown spored mushroom causes the fibrils to turn bluish with an azure color, hence its name,” Stamets writes on Instagram. “Psilocybin dephosphorylates into psilocin, then further degrades into an associated blue compound. The more bluish bruising, the more potent this mushroom once was.”

These are the mushrooms Stamets took Michael Pollan to find—likely in the very same spots we covered with Carosi—the ones Pollan wrote about tripping on in his best-selling book How to Change Your Mind. When you eat them, according to Psilopedia, a nonprofit educational center and encyclopedia, Azzies “produce intense visual hallucination, profound journeys into alternate realms of consciousness, and more rarely induce temporary paralysis.”

For Carosi, Azzies are good medicine. When he was 17, he was sentenced to seven years for a cannabis charge, and the mushrooms cut through his prison PTSD like nothing else. That he could return to prison for gath-

“PSYCHEDELICS ARE ILLEGAL NOT BECAUSE A LOVING GOVERNMENT IS CONCERNED THAT YOU MAY JUMP OUT OF A THIRD-STORY WINDOW [BUT] BECAUSE THEY DISSOLVE OPINION STRUCTURES AND CULTURALLY LAIDDOWN MODELS OF BEHAVIOR…. THEY OPEN YOU UP TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG.” —Terence McKenna, ethnobotanist

ering his medicine was not lost on any of us as we searched for it during an Election Day he could not participate in. Picking Azzies is a Class A felony in the United States and the state of Washington. Under the 1971 US Controlled Substances Act, psilocybin and psilocin are listed alongside heroin as Schedule I drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

It’s hard to get my mind around this. In Denver, we voted to decriminalize psilocybin in 2019, and it seems like everyone’s casually doing mushrooms, in micro and macro doses. On the very day we went picking, voters in Oregon—a stone’s throw from Long Beach—opted to legalize therapeutic access to mushrooms and decriminalize all drugs. Mushrooms show extraordinary promise for many of the mental health issues that have intensified during the pandemic—particularly depression—and they’re losing their stigma under the gaze of celebrities like Pollan and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who donated $500,000 to Oregon’s decriminalization effort.

Still, we had to be aware. Rangers looking to harass dune-pickers patrol the state parks ringing Long Beach, and I couldn’t stop checking the horizon for them when I should have been scouring the thick wet grass for little caramel-colored, nippled caps with purple spores. That might be why we weren’t all that successful. Again and again, D’Ambrosio and I called out that we’d found a patch of Azzies, only to be told they were galerinas, poisonous mushrooms that look like Azzies

MUSHROOM MAGIC When you eat magic mushrooms, your body turns the psilocybin in them into psilocin, which binds with serotonin receptors in the brain that regulate cognition, memory, mood, and perception. Psilocin stimulates the visual cortex while muting the region of the brain responsible for our sense of self, or ego.

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but have rust brown spores and appear to be far more prevalent.

I’m not sure I ever got my “mushroom eyes,” and fear of arrest didn’t help my flow.

We—or really, Asquith—found a mere handful of Azzies. Late in the day, as the rain started coming down in relentless sheets, I was kneeling under a clump of shore pines when Asquith told me to look to my left. Two little brown mushrooms and a couple of pins (babies) were nestled together in a cluster in the grass. When I picked them—gently, so I wouldn’t damage the mycelium below—the white stems immediately turned blue in the palm of my hand.

It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough. We had an Instagram moment with the mushrooms. If we could have seen the sun, it would have been low in the sky. The rain had penetrated all our layers, even the waterproof ones.

We called it a day, a successful one, and headed back to town for much-needed cups of hot tea and bowls of clam chowder. Carosi surmised we may have been about five days too early for the best pickings, and that was fine. We experienced the thrill of finding our own medicine—just enough of a taste to make me want to try again next year.

The good news is, I might not have to deal with the nagging fear of breaking a law (even one I believe is unjust and stupid) that haunted my first hunt. On November 4, the day after Oregon voters decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs, activists launched the Treatment and Recovery Act to do the same thing in Washington in 2021.

TIPS FOR HAPPY HUNTING • WEAR SEVERAL LAYERS of warm, waterproof clothes. Good gear makes for good days.

• BRING A POCKET KNIFE to get a clean cut of the mushrooms at the base (though it’s possible to pick them by hand) and a mesh bag or basket that allows the mushroom spores to fall to the ground and repopulate as you walk the dunes.

• DON’T DISTURB THE UNDERGROUND ROOT SYSTEM anymore than you need to when you’re harvesting.

• ALWAYS LEAVE SOME BEHIND to grow and multiply. Even if you get lucky and find a whole colony, don’t pick them all.

• TAKE FIELD NOTES about the habitat, how the mushrooms are growing, and where you find mushrooms. Make sure to visit the site again because mushrooms often return to the same spots year after year.

• DRY YOUR MUSHROOMS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Fresh mushrooms are 90 to 95 percent water and should be dried immediately to retain their potency. They can be air-dried for two or three days, or you can pop them in a dehydrator to speed up the process.

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Activist and entrepreneur Jess Jackson is destigmatizing cannabis and building a community where everyone is welcome at her Copper House Bud and Breakfast.

TEXT TRACY ROSS

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PHOTOS BY OLIVE J. MEDIA

Safe Space

LEFT: Women entrepreneurs gather in the Copper House backyard.

RIGHT: In the rooms, comfort is key.

caters to cannabis fans who love a good brunch in the morning. But Jackson does so much more to make Detroit a more inclusive place. Read on to see how she juggles advocacy work, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training, education around fat bias in cannabis-focused marketing— all while following her purpose and dreams.

Jess Jackson wants the world to know her as a “community architect.”

“That means I build, develop, sustain, and enhance communities,” says the 33-year-old entrepreneur. “It’s not a known career, but

the name conveys that there’s a science behind building meaningful community. It takes intention and ties to the core of who I am.” Take Jackson’s ownership of Copper House Detroit, a “bud and breakfast” that

each other and community. I also experienced poverty around me and all the things that go along with it. I grew up in a single-parent household; my father battled addiction for most of his life. I did my undergrad at University of Michigan and eventually finished my MBA at the University of Delaware.

My wife and I came back just before the Michigan Tell us about your Regulation and Taxabackground. tion of Marihuana Act I grew up on Detroit’s (MRTMA) was passed, southwest side, comlegalizing adult-use monly known as Mexican marijuana. I’ve co-foundTown. It was mostly Lat- ed two businesses since inx and full of multilinthen—Copper House gual families that valued Detroit and LOUD. D EC E M B E R 2020

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THE SCENE

Jess (at left) and Cara Jackson have created a welcoming vibe for all at Copper House.

You’ve called cannabis an equity issue. Why? On the legal side, it’s because of injustices that communities have faced due to criminalization.

How long have you used The other problem is cannabis? that cannabis is a plant First time I tried it, I was that’s been used by 18. But ironically, the communities of color for first time I bought a joint, thousands of years, yet I was 16 and I didn’t even these same communities smoke it. I hadn’t come are disproportionately out yet and was looking affected by criminalizafor a way to connect with tion and prohibition. I am a friend who was bisexu- a proponent of automatal. I ended up giving the ic expungement—the joint away and never had erasure of crime records. the desire to try again Let’s clear these Black until I was in college. and brown communities Then a combination of a who’ve been disproportaxing campus climate tionately targeted and and privileged normalcriminalized, and have ization made me think it lost access to jobs, educacould be a viable way for tion, housing—a full life. me to treat my anxiety.

Then, as we think about

PHOTO BY OLIVE J. MEDIA

Social, a content marketing agency specializing in community engagement, social media strategy, and visual design.

the industry, there’s so much regulation that businesses have to follow in order to be viable and legal. Just to apply for a micro-business license in Michigan costs $6,000.

Then there are so many other expenses to get up and running. My aim is to navigate this process in a way that’s equitable.

First, I’m going to go through the process of starting a small business and then I’m going to create a pathway for others to do it. It’s about honoring communities that are often overlooked.

Tell us a little more about Copper House.

It’s an intimate and cozy community-activated space. We host over-

night bookings, lifestyle photography shoots, intimate dinners, and parties with the cannabis community at heart.

How successful is it and how long did it take to get going?

We’ve been listed on Bud and Breakfast (budandbreakfast.com) since December of 2018, and we had our first guests on January 11, 2019. How did it go? At first, we were only doing a few things here and there but weren’t putting a lot of energy behind it. But in October, we started hosting CuriosiTea parties with Anqunette Sarfoh. She helped us build our market, and we were booked and sold D EC E M B E R 2020

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THE SCENE

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THE SCENE

PHOTO BY OLIVE J. MEDIA

out for months. I’d call us successful, because so far, we’ve been able to meet all our revenue goals, build community, and are currently working on a basement studio expansion. But this is just a prototype. One day, I want a larger bud and breakfast, in a historic building that represents Detroit culture.

COVID-19 hit us like everyone else, but we’ve learned [things]—like how to run a hospitality business in a pandemic.

We stopped business completely from March to June, but while we were empty, we built up our backyard, upscaling it into a garden oasis.

Our goal has been to break even and reinvest all profit into the house.

We’re not super lucrative yet, but I’ve been able to meet the people I need to meet in my dining room, and that is powerful.

Have you had significant pushback from anyone?

The most significant moment for me was when I faced professional loss because of my involvement with cannabis. I come from an educational background, and I’ve done a lot of work with nonprofits. I’ve also been affected by addiction, so I understand the concern with making a product that

you’ve learned to be a drug more accessible. There’s some hurt to restore, and I feel educated enough to challenge people’s beliefs.

There’s so much good cannabis can do. For someone addicted to opioids, it can help them heal. Our communities have been using it to heal for centuries. So, I think resistance can be alleviated by having very real conversations and developing collaborative solutions.

You do a million different things—how do you juggle them all and does it involve cannabis?

I started this journey as a means of community care—I said, ‘Our community needs a space that’s safe and welcoming, so let’s open our home.’

But what I’m learning is that I also need my own self-care and time. It’s a balancing act. I make sure I incur something for me every day, because when I don’t, I notice my reactions are very high. I pay attention to my moods, and then I do what I need to do to balance myself.

I love sleep; it’s the best gift for me. So, it might mean that on a Saturday, I sleep all day. And I don’t shame myself for being unproductive. I also like a smaller amount of selfcare practice daily. I try to do moments of breath work. I like to dance in

LEFT: Copper House hosts Curvy Cannabis, which, according to Jess, “challenges anti-fat bias in cannabisfocused aesthetics and marketing.”

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Jess Jackson, posing here for #CurvyCannabis, has learned to lead from her core values, creating a space that empowers others to find inner contentment.

front of my mirror. I’m a dreamer, so ideating is a form of self-care for me. And I journal. My @ jesshuman [Instagram] platform is a lot of my own venting—I publish publicly because I’m community-centered, and I want to model that we

are all human—our emotions exist. I’m vulnerable publicly to help others not feel alone.

of times people take external influences on who they are and don’t really know who they are. I use a lot of astrology, but I’m How can we all tap into also in talent developthe meaningful thing ment. I understand how that fuels us?

I work, what my assets The best way is to know are, and what I’m not yourself. I think that a lot great at. I also know my

values and where I will draw the line. So, know yourself, be honest about what you value, and then look for opportunities to feed those values in your work. When you lead from your core values, you’ll feel purpose in everything you do.

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THE SCENE CALENDAR

TOP: WILD LIGHTS AT THE DETROIT ZOO BELOW: MAGIC OF LIGHTS

Blunts and Blondes Dec. 4–5 The Grasshopper Underground, Ferndale grasshopperunderground.com

The Cannabis Classroom Dec. 7 Theta Living, Riverview thetaliving.com

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF DETROIT ZOO / MAGIC OF LIGHTS

Cultural Calendar

Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo Now–Jan. 3 Detroit Zoo, Detroit wildlights.detroitzoo.org

The lights are on at the zoo, and you can visit—nightly The holiday season may be a little different this year, capacity will be limited to 2,100 guests but there’s still plenty to do and magic to be found with no more than out there, as long as you take some precautions.

1,050 in the park at TEXT TRACY ROSS one time during the event. Dining locaYes, Virginia, COVID-19 can’t stop the holidays—in some form. tions will be open, The lights will be bright and glowing across the state at places though seating like the Detroit Zoo and bands are primed to play at some ven- will be limited to ues. You will just have to take precautions to see them. outdoor areas only, and the 4D Theater experience and Winter Rink will be closed.

Magic of Lights featuring favorite from the comfort Now–Jan. 2 holiday scenes and and safety of your DTE Energy Music Theatre, characters of the own car as you Clarkston season brought to wind through the magicoflights.com life with the latest sparkling path of Magic of Lights is LED technology Clarkston’s favorite a dazzling, driveand digital animaholiday tradition. through holiday tions. Experience One carload, lights experience Magic of Lights one price.

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Tacos, Turntables & Tequila Tuesdays Dec. 8, 15, & 22 The Majestic, Detroit majesticdetroit.com

Billy Strings Dec. 30 The Fillmore, Detroit thefillmoredetroit.com

ABK Dec. 31 The Token Lounge, Westland tokenlounge.com

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Starting Smart

scrutiny and minimize tax headaches down the road. When it comes to onboarding new employees, the company can help with recruitment by taking care of all pre-screening, interviews, and paperwork.

To ensure retention, Malace will design effective training programs, provide any support services needed, and even set up multitiered health benefits s Michigan continues Cannabis Industry Association, Malace as well as retirement account options. to roll out adult-use HR knows and understands the indus“Getting a business up and running cannabis sales across try. Its professional relationship with requires a tremendous amount of capthe state, many new the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory ital, both financial and human. Don’t business owners are working on Agency will ensure no hidden issues risk it all by cutting corners,” says setting up new ventures to ensure that crop up down the road.

Malace III. “Let us help you succeed.” they have long-term success and high “The key to long-term success for return on their investments. But, while any business is to construct a strong high-quality products and professional and solid foundation, something you storefronts are crucial to growth, many can build upon,” says Larry Malace III, neglect the one component that could vice president of MRB. “You need to set seriously hamper their burgeoning up a business to be able to scale from businesses—setting up a professional day one so that you don’t risk running office and human resource apparatus. into regulatory or legal issues.”

That’s where Malace HR and its reBringing more than two decades of cently launched MRB Office Solutions experience to the cannabis market, can help with turnkey solutions to Malace can set up safe and reliMRB Office Solutions particularly tricky parts of any busiable cash management and payroll Human Resources ness. As a member of the Michigan services that will pass government mrboffice.com

Successful businesses begin with a solid foundation, from payroll to HR to recruitment.

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Flip Your Perspective COVID-19 has kept us sheltered inside, but winter may be the time we can get out and get a little wild.

The pandemic has shut down most of the state, but Michigan’s ski areas are going to be able to open with precautions in place and limited services— making things feel at least a little bit more normal this season. And skiing and snowboarding are the perfect avenues to express all that pent-up angst of quarantine. Michigan-based photographer Lauren Loria (laurenloriaphotography.com) loves to find images of people in motion at Cannonsburg ski area (cannonsburg.com) in Belmont, where she captured 68

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this image. “There was a rail jam at my local ski hill, which is known for its great terrain park,” she says.

“I knew I had to go witness some great skiing and capture the action. Most people were sliding around on the boxes, but this guy was rocking it with flips and other next-level moves.” Cannonsburg hopes to open this month (snow gods permitting) for skiing, snowboarding, tubing, and fat biking, with COVID-19 precautions in place. It’ll be a good respite from a long year.

PHOTO BY LAUREN LORIA

TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN

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