Expert Advice
Counseling
Kim Powers,
Owner, Licensed Professional Counselor
Foot Health
Financial Services
Q: What should I do to lift the weight of my hidden addiction?
A: It is a brave choice to admit you have developed behavior that has become a stronghold.
The next step is to choose a safe space, person, or professional to learn skills to overcome and manage the behaviors and hold yourself accountable to your goals. You can find the victory, strength, and encouragement to overcome! There is freedom in the light.
Heart Soul Mind Strength LLC
Faith. Acceptance. Empowerment. Purpose. Www.HeartSoulMindStrengthLLC.com 510-827-1305
Transitions
Q: How much time should I allow for an appointment with a senior living community Sales Counselor?
A: Allowing up to 90 minutes for a personized appointment will give you a great start in understanding what options work best for your health age and finances as well as timing your move.
Friendship Village “Where Connections Matter” 1400 North Drake, Kalamazoo 269-381-0560 www.friendshipvillagemi.com
Julie
Q: Would You Recognize a Stroke?
A: Stroke symptoms aren’t always obvious. A stumble, slurred speech or blurred vision could be mistaken for fatigue or signs of aging.
Don’t wait—call 911 right away. Fast action can save your life and reduce lasting effects on your brain.
Think you know stroke symptoms?
Test your knowledge at bronsonhealth. us/stroke-quiz.
Bronson Methodist Hospital is ranked #1 in Michigan for Stroke Care and named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Stroke Care by Healthgrades in 2025.
Bronson Neuroscience Center bronsonhealth.com/stroke • (269) 341-7500
Roofing
Justin Reynolds Manager
Q: With all the recent stormy weather, should I have my roof repaired?
A: We recommend that roofs be inspected about once every five years if the roof is under 15 years old and then once every other year for roofs older than 15 years. These inspections can and should be done after the kind of stormy spring weather we have had this year. We have seen a little of everything since the first of the year including wind related damages and even hail damage on roofs that have been inspected so far this year. Inspecting a roof in this manner can often lead to minor repairs that can prolong the normal life expectancy of your existing shingles that are still in relatively good condition as this is confirmed more times than not during our inspections. For a free roof inspection, please give us a call at (269) 342-0153 or visit us at worryfreeroof.com
Sherriff-Goslin Roofing Co. Since 1906 342-0153 800-950-1906
Member Home Builders Association of Greater Kalamazoo
Chuck Henrich
President & Owner
Q: When should you sign up for Medicare if you are no longer working?
A: In general, if you are signing up for Medicare for the first time and you are fully retired, you should sign up for Medicare during your Initial Enrollment Period (IEP), which starts three months before the month you turn 65, and ends three months after. This should give you more than enough time to navigate the enrollment process to avoid any penalties and ensure timely coverage.
There are always certain situations that can change this answer, so please reach out to us to review your particular situation.
Southwest Michigan Financial, LLC
The Atriums • 4341 S. Westnedge #1201 Kalamazoo, MI 269-323-7964
Health Food
Q: What can I find at Sawall’s deli?
A: You can find a wide selection of salads, risottos, prepared meats, Panini, Tamales, Quesadillas, Lasagne, Hummus and much more at our DELI! All our food is prepared in-house with all natural ingredients. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options.
We also offer authentic Artisanal Italian Gelato & certified vegan Sorbets, Frappe’s and Sorbet Drinks.
Enjoy our Coffee Bar! Indulge in a variety of aromatic and finest quality coffee beverages from authentic Espressos to Lattes, Cappuccinos, Hot Teas, and Ice Teas. All organic freshly brewed coffees!
Deli Hours:
Mon-Sat: 10:30 am - 9:00 pm Sun: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Sawall Health Foods
Oakwood Plaza • 2965 Oakland Dr. at Whites Rd. • 343-3619 • www.sawallhf.com
Mark Sawall Owner
Diana Duncan Director of Sales and Marketing
Harning, PA-C
The Classics are... well... Classic!
Many moons ago, while in high school and college, I read many of what were considered the “Classic” novels of the 20th century. Books like: Tom Sawyer, On the Road, The Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Piece, Animal Farm, Lord Of the Flies, the Great Gatsby, The Hobbit, Demian and many others.
I held onto some of the books, hoping to read them again someday, but many have long since disappeared. In the last year or so, I have been replenishing my book shelves with many of these “Classics.”
The books can inexpensively be found up at the Friends of the Kalamazoo Public Library Book Store, estate sales, free book boxes etc.
Early paperback books were printed cheaply and were not meant to last through many readings without pages falling out, etc. However, there is something about reading these early editions of great old books that makes you feel a little closer to the author.
I am still checking out new books at the library but have started to go back and read many of my favorites from long ago.
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, flew off the shelves when it was first published in 1955. It still sells thousands of copies a year. The book started a whole wave of wandering travelers, exploring the backroads of the U.S. I count myself as one of his disciples.
Carson McCuller’s’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter caused quite the sensation when she wrote it at the young age of 23 in 1940. I just reread it and am glad I did.
Herman Hesse’s Demian is one of those strange, mystical books, dealing with good and evil, which can be read and understood at many levels and has been a popular book on campus for some time. The same holds true for many of his other books.
The Catcher in the Rye, first published in 1951, is still one of the most popular books. J.D Salinger’s reclusive existence in New Hampshire added to the book’s mystic He passed away in 2010.
George Orwells’ 1984 and Animal Farm are seeing a large resurgence with all that is happening in our world today.
I recently read Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. The book chronicles his years, working at low paying menial jobs and living in cheap “flop houses,” to understand the tough living conditions of the common man. He describes sleeping in large rooms with a hundred or more people or, in wooden boxes known as 4 penny coffins.
I see and hear of much talk of the latest Netflix or Hulu series, but would be hard pressed to believe that very many stack up against the creativity and complexity of these great novels.
The next time you walk by a free book box or library book
sale, stop in and see what you can find!! You wont be disappointed!
or a
Terry Hutchins and his merry band of bike riders!
Photo by Steve Ellis
Nudging toward normal with a new knee
Lee A. Dean
screendoor @sbcglobal.net
When I was five years old and visiting the family farm in Bloomingdale, I noticed my great-grandfather’s cane resting against a wall near the back door. I picked the cane up and started to mimic his unsteady walk.
Grandma Dean quickly closed the curtain on my play-acting.
“You put that cane back where it belongs. That’s where he always finds it when he needs it,” she barked. She may have had an additional thought: “Boy, the time will come when you’ll get plenty of practice with a cane.”
The time has come, courtesy of a total replacement of my right knee. The past few weeks have been a period of physical and mental readjustment to new realities. The mental modification came early. Two weeks before the surgery, I looked around the house and noticed a cane, two walkers, and a raised toilet seat with monkey bars.
“When did Grandpa move in here?” I wondered. “Oh wait … I AM Grandpa!” I was well-prepared for the surgery and recovery, or so I thought. Friends who had already experienced the procedure
offered plenty of wise counsel. As I settled in back home after the surgery, a high school classmate said,” Feeling good the day of, right? Wait until tomorrow when the nerve block wears off.” He was 100 percent correct. The worst was yet to come.
The predominant thought on Day Three was, “What have I done? Was the boneon-bone arthritis really that bad?” For the first two weeks, the most common words in my vocabulary were “Ooof” and “Aaaaargh!”
The original plan was to sleep on the couch. That lasted exactly one night, and ended when I could rise only with the greatest degree of difficulty. This was a job for my wife, the ever-resourceful Viking Goddess. In 90 minutes, a simple metal frame bed and mattress was ready to go with enough room for one gimpy old man and a crew of nurse cats.
My first attempt at using the bed provided another reality check. Getting into bed is easy, right? Apply rear end to mattress, swing left leg over and then do the same with the right leg. Except that right leg was the one that contained the new knee, and it wasn’t going anywhere under its own strength for a while.
My friends said the process would get easier each day, and so far, this has been
true. I need goals, so my objective is to pick one area of life each day and return it to before-surgery status, in a process called “nudging toward normal.”
First shower without a chair. Nudge. First day without narcotic painkillers. Nudge.
First day driving by myself. Nudge Much of this progress is due to another piece of great advice: do not skip physical therapy. I have a great role model here: my mother. She did the work without complains and even with enthusiasm.
These were two qualities I wanted to channel. PT requires patience. As another friend advised, “You are going to live the story of the tortoise and the hare. You are not the hare.”
The physical blessings of the new knee are more apparent each day. I have also been thinking much about two other blessings.
This recovery is the first episode of real physical suffering I have experienced. I now have much more empathy for those who live with serious pain. And I know that the next time I suffer, which likely will be when the other knee is replaced, that the pain is temporary. We can’t wish the pain away, and that’s
reality, no matter what the “name it and claim it” TV preachers say. But God does not abandon us in our suffering. Far from it – I have found God’s presence to be palpable and powerful.
The second lesson is that my list of things taken for granted has largely disappeared. A major objective in recovery is a negative: don’t fall! This requires focus about every step and every move. The simple act of being able to rise from a chair and walk into the next room used to be a reflex. Now it’s a revelation.
A few weeks ago, I was enjoying a lunch with some high school classmates when the subject came to my upcoming knee replacement. Some of my friends shared their experiences. Then another classmate talked about recovery from a terrible auto accident. A third classmate shared about the ordeal of a month in the hospital. Finally, one of us blurted out, “Listen to us! This is the conversation I never wanted to have!”
We all laughed but knew exactly what he meant. Our group has walked the same road together since the 1960s. I look forward to the day when both knees are replaced and I can keep walking with them – this time without a limp.
During Prohibition, the 18th Amendment banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. But there was a loophole in the law that allowed individuals to make moderate amounts of wine or beer for personal consumption. If you were making small quantities and not selling or transporting the stuff, you were maybe technically within the law. Most would-be home brewers played it safe and made just enough for themselves, while others had bigger ideas. But large-scale beer brewing on the sly was risky; it required the right equipment, large quantities of ingredients, suitable transportation, and a place to work, not to mention ways to overcome the telltale smell of brewer’s yeast. Not surprisingly, illicit brewing operations known as “wildcat” breweries became prime targets for law enforcement. So, did anyone in Kalamazoo ever attempt large-scale commercial brewing during Prohibition? Yes, of course they did. Did anyone get caught? You betcha.
Numerous raids were conducted on bootlegging operations and speakeasies in and around Kalamazoo during the Prohibition era (19151933), but most paled in comparison to a large illicit brewing outfit that was uncovered in June 1931.
Responding to a tip, officers from the sheriff’s office and police department conducted a Saturday morning raid at the home of Harold Curry on the corner of Barnard Street and Springmont
“Wildcat” Brewing
by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library
Upon entering the home, patrolmen found a full-fledged brewing operation hidden in the basement. A secret entrance under the front
porch steps led to what the Kalamazoo Gazette called, “a high grade brewing outfit… one of the most complete and elaborate outfits ever confiscated here.”
The officers discovered some 2,000 gallons of beer during the raid, along with an ice-filled cooler, six 500-gallon wood and copper vats, 71 ten-gallon pressurized containers, 31 five-gallon cans of liquid malt, ten gallons of alcohol, and various and sundry other items, altogether valued at $6,000 (roughly $130,000 today).
It seems Harold Curry was no amateur. According to the sheriff, Curry had “been doing a big business.” He sometimes disguised his trucks as gasoline tankers and even dug a tunnel under the street to a neighboring house to further conceal his operation.
According to the Gazette, “the ax was applied to the beer vats and beer gushed in streams over the basement floor.” A passerby later recalled seeing beer “flowing like a river” down the street during the raid.
The two men were turned over to federal officials in Grand Rapids. Butler was questioned and released, but Curry was sentenced to 15 months in a federal penitentiary in Chillicothe, Ohio. Urban legend tied their operation to Al Capone’s syndicate, but that of course was never proven.
More at kpl.gov
Photo: Library of Congress
Avenue in Kalamazoo’s Oakwood neighborhood. Police nabbed Curry and his partner Paul Butler as they were leaving the house with a truckload of ten-gallon pressurized containers full of beer.
Book Reviews
Book Reviews by the Portage District Library staff
Life’s Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom
Prue Leith
Many cookbooks promise quick and easy recipes, but often deliver quite the opposite. However, this one is an exception. Leith’s book, Life’s Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom, is full of truly quick recipes, shortcuts to help you save time, and little cooking hacks you might not know. She doesn’t shy away from advising that it is perfectly fine to use ready-made versions of food and goes on to tell you when to do so and how to make those dishes sing. The book is riddled throughout with shortcuts and hacks, many accompanied by a QR code that you can scan to find a video demonstration of what is being described. Intended for those who are time-strapped, beginners, or those who have lost their love of cooking, this book delivers recipes for very good food without being overly complicated or timeconsuming.
I Cheerfully Refuse
Leif Enger
Set in a not-so-distant future, this dystopian novel presents a world ravaged by climate change, a corrupt wealthy elite, pandemics, and pollution. Rainy, a musician, is the main character, as
readers are taken along to fall in love with his wife, Lark (only to lose her), and then join him on a sailboat, venturing out onto the harrowing Lake Superior, which is a character all its own. Lyrical and dreamlike, this book will wrap readers with a slight, but enjoyable, confusion as they try to sort out the world it is set in. It is vastly worth it; the book is a love letter to the Great Lakes region and a cautionary warning about the darker aspects of humankind. It is both heartbreak and hope wrapped in a poetic package.
How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty
Bonny Reichert
Reichert grew up as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Her father had survived being in Auschwitz-Birkenau; she often tried to keep it out of mind as she struggled to face what he had experienced. But a trip to Poland and a perfect bowl of borscht sets her on a journey to trace and link the defining moments of her life with the foods of her heritage and the trials her father survived. Through food, she explores her voice and heritage, comparing the dramas of her life to those of her father. A poignant memoir, this book is salty and sweet, bitter and sour, as Reichert explores the connections between food, family, and everything else we experience along the way.
Ruby’s Sandwich Shoppe
By Richard Martinovich
When in 1762 the Earl of Sandwich asked a slab of corned beef be placed between two slices of bread so he could grab a quick bite without interrupting his marathon gambling session, a culinary revolution was launched. Our lives, and certainly our stomachs, would be unfulfilled without the “sandwich!”
Ruby’s Sandwich Shoppe in Paw Paw offers some of the best sandwiches around, like the 2 Cow with corned beef, roast beef, turkey, creamy jalapeno cheese, veggies and Ruby sauce (Italian mayonnaise seasoning) on a sub bun, or the 2 Pig – ham, bacon, provolone and sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and Ruby sauce. Turkey Dip features turkey, Muenster cheese, toasted onions on Ciabatta bread, with au jus dip.
French Dip with roast beef ribeye on a sub bun, toasted onion,
and provolone with au jus dip is a favorite.
Located on the west end of Michigan Avenue in downtown Paw Paw, Ruby’s Sandwich Shoppe has the feel of an old-fashioned neighborhood deli. Premium cuts of meat, like Ada roast beef from Ada Valley Farms, are sliced daily.
You can also build your own sandwich and choose from slow roasted turkey, and slow roasted corned beef to marbled spicy Capicola. Add Great Lakes Red Rind Muenster cheese or sharp cheddar. Choice of breads include Italian marbled rye, multi-grain oatmeal, gluten-free multi-grain, jalapeno cheddar wrap.
The Signature Sandwiches at Ruby’s are unique combinations, and so are the selection of sides: Compliment your 2 Cow sandwich with Traverse City Cherry BBQ Kettle Chips, or the Housemade Thick Cut Potato Chips with Ruby Sauce to dip.
Now that the weather is getting warmer, ice cream will be on our minds and Ruby’s has over a half-dozen hand-dipped flavors...Blue Moon (popular with kids), Raspberry Rendezvous, Superman, Milky Way, and Smores.
Drinks include Faygo soda, and Arizona teas.
Ruby’s is open Monday through Friday 11am-8pm, Saturday noon –8pm. Summer hours start on Memorial Day (see below).
110 E. Michigan • Paw Paw • Note: Summer hours start Memorial Day. Sun. noon-6pm, Thur/Fri/Sat till 9pm
TERRY HUTCHINS IS ON THE MOVE AND HE CAN’T STOP!
By Dave Person david.r.person@gmail.com
Running and bicycling are second nature to Terry Hutchins, who is on the move in one of those capacities more often than not.
A run of several miles? Bring it on!
A bicycle race? He’s game!
A duathlon? All the better!
A triathlon? Nothing like adding a refreshing swim!
“I enjoy the challenge,” says the 77-year-old Kalamazooan. “It’s as much mental as it is physical.”
What about concessions to age?
“I cut back on my running,” he says. “I’m doing a lot more cycling than I used to.”
At one time he was running 1,300 to 1,400 miles and bicycling 2,000 miles a year. Last year, mostly to appease the arthritis and bone spurs that have been creeping into his knees for the last 10 years, he ran 500 miles, biked 4,000 miles and swam 40 miles.
Still, that’s an average of over a mile a day pounding the ground and more than 10 miles a day of pedaling.
Even more, actually, considering that Hutchins, who
retired eight years ago as vice president of information technologies at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, reserves Fridays for a day of rest.
Bicycling offers a lot of terrain challenges these days, including off-roading and the more recently popular largely gravel races, such as the April 12 Barry Roubaix in which he participated on back roads in the Barry County area.
“I’m enjoying the gravel,” he says.
“I had a decent ride, but not great,” he says. He finished
18th in the 70-plus age group despite biking six minutes faster than in 2024 when he finished 12th.
Hutchins has been participating in triathlons — swim, bike, run — since 1982, and in more recent years enjoying duathlons — run, bike, run.
Although he generally does well in his age group, one of Hutchins’ proudest moments occurred 15 years ago when, at the age of 62, he was the overall winner of a duathlon.
Hutchins has been running and biking all over the world, representing Team USA in his age group, primarily in duathlons and triathlons.
This year, for example, he will be at the XTERRA 2025 North American Championship in Pelham, Ala., on May 17. XTERRA is a triathlon that includes mountain biking and trail running, rather than road biking and road running.
At the end of June, Hutchins will jet to Pontevedra, Spain— the second time in that country in two years — for the World Triathlon Multisport Championships, representing Team USA in the road duathlon and the cross triathlon. Hutchins is one of four athletes from Kalamazoo who have qualified for those championships.
Among his previous competitions have been three at the XTERRA World Championship in Maui (two fifth
places, one fourth place), twice in Australia — including last August (second- and third-place finishes) before the trip to Spain — and Switzerland and Canada. At the 2023 XTERRA World Championship in Trentino, Italy, Hutchins followed a very tough 20-mile mountain-bike course with “one of the toughest 10k races I’ve ever run.” The race involved steep climbs in the Dolomite Mountains.
But in the end he was able to claim victory.
“I won by default,” he says. “I was the only one over 75 that completed the run.”
“I’ve always enjoyed competition,” says Hutchins, who is married to wife Kathy, with three stepchildren, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. But “I didn’t ever try to qualify for Team USA until I was in my 50s and the kids were gone.”
Since then, he has competed for Team USA in about a dozen world championships.
He also enjoys riding locally, both for the social aspect as well as the competition. The former race director of the Kal-Haven Trail Run, he still organizes Tuesday and Thursday morning bike rides on the trail, keeping up with friends at a leisurely pace, until he breaks from the pack for an individual training session if he has to get ready for an upcoming race.
Those rides are typically 27 to 36 miles. “I try to get a run in afterward,” he says, making a “muscle transition” to prepare for when he participates in duathlons and triathlons.
Saturdays he does interval training, both running and biking; Sundays are devoted to longer rides, plus weight-lifting.
Hutchins, from Orlando, Fla., ran track while in the Air Force, then developed an interest in tennis.
In 1972, he moved to Kalamazoo and was introduced by a friend to 10k road races.
“I discovered I kind of enjoyed it,” he says, “but I was
not very competitive.”
He started running longer distances — he ran the 15.5-mile Grand Rapids River Bank Run for 30 years in a row — and then added bicycling. In November, he plans to participate in his 34th straight Bell’s Iceman Cometh Challenge mountain-bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City.
During his years in Kalamazoo, Hutchins has been a member of the local track club, bike club and triathlon club and is a former Kalamazoo Marathon Community Advisory Council member representing KVCC.
Hutchins says a big reason for his running and bicycling is to maintain his health. Heart disease runs in his family, claiming his grandfather at 48, father at 61 and brother at 57. Hutchins also has had heart scares, but says they have been counteracted by his physical conditioning.
“So I tell people I can’t stop,” he says.
Ah-sparagus!
By Laura Kurella
Michigan Asparagus season is short, running only from May to June, but it’s one of the first of our state’s finest to pierce through winter’s veil, so it makes it extraspecial for those who adore this gem fresh-picked.
I was fortunate that Mom adored Michigan asparagus. So much so that she would make her sister be sure to pick her up about ten pounds of it when she traveled there every May.
It was in childhood that Mom explained to me the dynamics of asparagus, too. Taking the time to attempt to grow it from seed in our northwestern Indiana yard, which did not have the sandy, well-draining soil (or nutrients) that asparagus needs to thrive. While she did manage to get it to fern out for the first few years, I think the most she ever got to harvest was a measly few spears, so she gave up on it, especially after realizing that the few spears she did manage to grow lacked the amazing flavor that the Michigan asparagus is known for.
My Mom taught me many things, such as flexing the spear between both thumbs and index fingers to give you a sense of where the woody part was. She’d use this technique, bending the spear gently, so that it would use Nature’s forces to cause the spear to naturally
snap exactly where the woody part met the tender.
Mom also taught me to cut the bottom third of the spear vertically in half so that it would help the bottom end cook more and become almost as tender as the top third. Mom also advised that peeling the lower third of the spear would render a more tender bottom end of the spear more tender too, but it took far more time and dexterity. Always beginning by filling her white porcelain sink with clean lukewarm water, Mom would heavily salt the water then toss her prepped spears right in. She’d enlist me to give them a good swishing and then allow them to soak for a bit because she said doing so would ensure any errant sand would fall away and any unknowing hijackers would
abort their mission thanks to being irritated by the salt.
Another interesting thing Mom taught me about asparagus, something that many do not know, is that you shouldn’t shy away from thick asparagus because thicker spears have great texture and more flavor, too.
In fact, Mom always said, “The thicker the better!”
Her reasoning is based on science and our own experimentation with attempting to grow asparagus in our front yard. It was through gardening that I learned the lifespan of asparagus and that it starts out as a thin, woody shoot topped by a fern. The second and third years, the fern-doffed shoot becomes a little less narrow, then finally, in its fourth year, it expands to almost the width of a pencil, which makes its fibers less concentrated, and thus less woody, enabling it to be eaten. Every year spears mature they gain a little more flavor and a little more girth, which continues to lessen fiber density, making them more tender. That is why now that it’s May in Michigan, you’ll find me on the hunt for the fattest asparagus that I can find! Here now is a special selection from the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. For more, check out michiganasparagus.org.
Laura Kurella is an award-winning home cook who loves to share recipes from her Michigan kitchen. She welcomes comments at laurakurella@yahoo.com.
Toast with Asparagus, Scrambled Eggs and Prosciutto courtesy of Michiganasparagus.org
4 slices of bread, toasted
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
6 slices of prosciutto
12 asparagus spears
½ tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon zest, basil, and grated Parmesan for serving
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the prosciutto on the baking sheet in single layer. Bake for 15 minutes or until crispy. After removing the prosciutto from the oven, line a plate with a paper towel and transfer it to the paper towel to cool. Once it cools completely it will be crispy. Once the prosciutto is cooked, increase the oven temperature to 400F. Trim the woody ends on the asparagus. Line the asparagus spears on the same baking sheet (remove the parchment paper). Drizzle with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper and cook for 12-15 minutes or until tender. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until broken up. Season lightly with a little salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Then pour the eggs into the pan. Use a spatula to pull the eggs from the outer edge of the pan to the center of the pan while they cook. Repeat this process until the eggs are light and fluffy. Layer your toast with prosciutto, scrambled eggs, and asparagus. Then top with lemon zest, basil, and Parmesan if desired. Serve immediately.
HEALTHY LIVING
National Senior Health and Fitness Day
Get your highlighter out and mark Wednesday, May 28th on your calendar, because it’s National Senior Health and Fitness Day! It’s the largest annual health and wellness event for seniors across the entire U.S., with over 100,000 folks participating at over 1,000 locations. And yes, the YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo is hosting a FREE special afternoon event dedicated to celebrating an important message: that health & fitness is important for seniors! (See our ad in this Spark issue for details.)
Truth is… it’s never too late to dust off those aspirations for feeling better, moving with greater ease, and connecting with others. Maybe it’s a restart – maybe it can be an opportunity to finetune your well-being.
Imagine this: a chance to try a lively group exercise class that gets your body moving and your spirits lifting. Perhaps you’ve been curious about the calming benefits of Tai Chi or the strengthening power of a senior-friendly fitness class. The Y at Maple will be offering opportunities to sample different activities in a relaxed and welcoming
environment – no pressure, just pure exploration, learning, and pushing yourself to something new. But the day isn’t just about getting active. The Y will also be hosting various health-centric vendors and service providers. Think of it as a convenient hub to discover local resources, ask questions in a comfortable setting, and gather valuable insights to support your well-being journey.
And perhaps the most heartwarming aspect of all? You’ll be surrounded by a community of individuals who are on similar paths. Whether someone is a seasoned wellness enthusiast or just taking their first steps towards a healthier lifestyle, the collective energy is truly uplifting. Being amongst like-minded people, sharing encouragement, and celebrating every achievement, big or small, is incredibly inspiring.
The beauty of embracing a healthier lifestyle is that it doesn’t demand a sudden, drastic change. It’s about making small, sustainable choices, one step at a time. It’s about recognizing that you deserve to feel vibrant and engaged, no matter where you are on your personal
journey. And remember, you don’t have to navigate this alone.
Are you ready to explore the possibilities of feeling even better, stronger, and more? Come join us, bring a friend, and let’s celebrate the fact that every day is a great day to embrace a healthier, happier you.
P.S.: Bring your sneakers. And bathing suit. A towel will be good, too.
Submitted by Vicky Kettner, Association Director of Marketing, Community Relations, and Member Engagement at YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo. As with any new exercise or diet, please consult with your doctor or dietician to determine the right regimen for your personal health situation.
*See the YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo’s ad for programming details.
LOCAL ARTIST CREATES SIGN FOR WILD ONES
By Quyen Edwards
Kalamazoo Area Wild Ones was thrilled to be the beneficiary of a 2024 Kalamazoo Artistic Development Initiative Grant! The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo accepted a proposal by local artist and illustrator Olivia Mendoza to create a custom insect/host plant illustration in celebration of our chapter’s 25th anniversary. Olivia collaborated with KAWO Vice President Quyen Edwards to select the subject of the illustration - a Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) with Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago).
This illustration is featured on new KAWO garden signs which will be available for purchase in 2025 through our Spring Plant Sale. This summer, KAWO will raffle off the original artwork to raise funds for our chapter activities. Stay tuned for more details on our website and Facebook page.
Olivia Mendoza is an illustrator raised and residing in Michigan with an enthusiasm for natural subject illustration including plants, insects, animals and anatomy. Her degree in Medical Illustration lends itself to a meticulous manner of drawing. The mo-
tivation she has throughout each piece is accuracy of each subject’s composition and alluring liveliness. The intent of her work is to elicit curiosity and appreciation of the natural world through vibrant depictions of natural subjects, so the viewer will in turn seek a further understanding of nature. You can see more of her work on her website and on Instagram. https://www.oliviamendozaillustration.com/ https://www.instagram.com/oliviathatdraws/ https://www.instagram.com/ reel/DHGyvycsJvp/?utm_ source=ig_web_copy_ link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Or check out this video “Lines of Life - Olivia Mendoza” which was produced through WGVU Public Media, Kalamazoo Lively Arts is a showcase of unique local talent in the arts and entertainment field! https://youtu.be/CefNsgJBIaA?si=qIP_ GgeuJBAjNVbW
Written, directed by, and starring Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain is the story of two cousins who have drifted apart reconnecting on a trip to Poland to pay homage to the legacy of their recently deceased grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland) is David, a well-grounded family man with a fairly normal career. Benji, played with Oscar-winning chops by Kieren Culkin (Succession, Igby Goes Down) is chaotic, spirited, and emotionally capricious. Their agenda consists of two primary items: participation in a guided tour detailing the impact of the Holocaust and a trip on their own to visit the childhood home of their grandmother. As their sensibilities entwine and clash, each begins to reconcile the human tendency to admire a loved one for the very reasons they are bothersome. Culkin and Eisenberg feel exceptionally authentic in their respective roles, delivering awkwardness and humor in equal measure. Spectacularly cast and filmed in Poland with a deep respect for the landscape of generational trauma, A Real Pain never misses a beat – every scene feels essential and nothing feels left out. – Submitted by Patrick J.
A Complete Unknown (2024)
Director and co-writer James Mangold’s 2024 film A Complete Unknown gets the beats of Bob Dylan’s early ascent to music stardom just right. Timothée Chalamet is perfectly cast as Dylan, acing the musician’s Minnesota accent, unassuming yet commanding stage presence (vocals and guitar performances are all the actor’s), and candid viewpoints. Arriving in early 1960’s New York City to pay his respects to a hospitalized Woody Guthrie, Dylan also encounters Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), who champions the artist as he navigates Greenwich Village’s folk music scene. Seeger’s paternal pride grows as
Movie Reviews
audience, often in renditions by others, including eventual companion (and rival) Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). Dylan’s increasing interest in performing with an electric band puts him at odds with Seeger and fellow folk purists, culminating in his infamous appearance at 1965’s Newport Folk Festival. Though some factual events occur in different settings and contexts, and a name or two may be changed, only hardcore Dylanologists may notice, and even they’d acknowledge how precisely most songs and moments are placed in the movie’s timeline. For the uninitiated, A Complete Unknown illustrates why Dylan is anything but. – Submitted by Karl K.
Between the Temples (2024)
A zany, tender comedy about the messy intersection of grief, healing, friendship, and religious tradition. Echoing the kinds of tones, themes and tense absurdities of early 1970s Hal Ashby films (Harold and Maude e.g.), Between the Temples is a work focused on its primary character’s capricious evolution toward restoring some kind of order to their life. Jason Schwartzman plays an awkward cantor (Ben) whose life is in chaos after the sudden death of his wife. Ben haphazardly runs into his former elementary school music teacher Carla (Carol Kane), a now retired widow intent on having a bat mitzvah performed, despite her age. Dubious at first, Ben decides to undertake Carla’s preparation for her long-delayed rite of passage. As the two reconnect as adults, each provides the other with something that is lacking. For Ben, it is companionship, and a reason to keep going beyond the grip of his existential pain. For Carla, it is a means to resolve a longing to connect to a religious heritage denied in her youth. As the onetime teacher-pupil relationship careens toward a turbulent climax, played out during a dinner party attended by Ben’s mother and overbearing stepmother, Ben’s Rabbi and Gabby, the rabbi’s daughter, Between the Temples successfully ratchets up the tension, the hilarity and the grounded pathos with excellent results. – Submitted by Ryan G.
Reviews submitted by Ryan Gage. These great titles and others are available at the Kalamazoo Public Library.
I grew up in Waterford, north of Detroit and took many day trips to the “D” over the years to sporting events, Greenfield Village, The Detroit Institute of Arts and other attractions.
Since I moved to Kalamazoo, I have continued to take day jaunts to Detroit, taking in a game, a concert, etc.
I have always wanted to have a full day to just drive around and explore and check out some landmarks that I have never visited.
Well this past March, I spent about ten hours exploring all over Detroit- the new and polished and the old and gritty.
I started the day enjoying a great breakfast at the Hygrade Deli that opened in 1955. It is known for its piled-high, corned beef sandwiches. The deli is located Michigan Avenue, about 1.5 miles west of Michigan and Trumball, where the former Tiger Stadium stood.
Michigan Avenue was once a major shopping mecca and is the final stretch of the U.S.12 Highway that stretches 2500 miles across the country, beginning in Aberdeen, Washington. Sadly, Michigan Avenue has seen better days, but is experiencing a great transformation around the Corktown area. The large omelette and pancakes I ordered were very good and reasonably priced. The waitress told me that she has worked at the Hydride Deli for 36 years. I noticed a few Batman pictures on the wall, but didn’t think much of it until I found out later that the Deli was a cameo in the 2014, “Superman vs Batman, Dawn of Justice” movie.
After breakfast, I spent a few hours in the area south of Michigan Ave known as Central Southwest and Mexicantown, along Vernor St. This area is on the upswing, with many interesting stores and restaurants. I stopped into the Flamingo Vintage, one of the best vintage clothing stores I have seen. I peaked into Duly’s Place , the circa 1921, coney island restaurant, with one long counter and about 15 stools. I was greeted warmly and vowed to come back on my next visit. This ended up
Tales road FROM THE detroit
By Steve Ellis
being only a few weeks later for breakfast, when I returned for the Detroit Tiger’s Opener. I brought a friend with me for the experience. As we ate breakfast, we watched in amazement as the waitress waited on customers, filled coffee cups, made toast and didn’t miss a beat while chatting with a packed house of hungry customers.
Back to the original visit…I headed north for a few miles on W. Grand Blvd. This famous boulevard was once lined with hundreds of turn-of-the-century mansions. Many are gone, but some of the grand ones are being restored. At the corner of W. Grand Blvd and Grand River Avenue, the Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum really caught my eye with its several large buildings and old vacant lots, adorned with beads, glass and all types of colorful “ found objects.” Unfortunately, the museum
and store were closed, but I hope too find them open on my next trip.
My next stop was Hitsvlle USA- the Motown Museum. Motown once owned nine neighboring houses on W. Grand Blvd. The original house (now the museum) was once the studio and the adjacent houses were used for publishing, artist development, etc. A new multi-million dollar museum is being built behind the current museum.
Our tour group was led by a very energetic young man with a great voice, singing many of the legendary Motown hits as he took us through the hallowed halls. The Velvelettes, an early Motown girl group from Kalamazoo, were prominently featured in the museum. The highlight of my day was singing “My Girl” in the original
studio with our small tour group. This brought chills down my spine, and a few tears to my eyes.
Next up was the Detroit Institute of the Arts, a classic building on Woodward Ave.,which was completed in 1927. Diego Rivera painted his famous industrial murals which adorn the walls, in 1932-33, with his wife Frida at his side. The museum is one of the top six, art museums in the U.S., packed with paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Degas, Cezanne, Munch, Monet and so many others. It is well worth a drive over.
Jack White’s Third Man Records, Shinola Detroit and the historic West Canfield Street are just a few of the highlights of the Cass Corridor. The block-long, West Canfield Street is like stepping back in time with its wide brick street and twenty or so restored early 1900’s era mansions
My final stop was a few miles east, to the area known as The Heidelberg Project, an outdoor art project in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, just north of the city’s historically AfricanAmerican Black Bottom area. It was created in 1986 by the artist Tyree Guyton, as a political protest after the decline of the neighborhood beginning with the 1967 riots.
The Project began with Guyton painting a series of houses on Detroit’s Heidelberg Street with bright dots of many colors and attaching salvaged items to the houses. It is a constantly evolving work that has transformed an innercity neighborhood where people were afraid to walk, even in daytime, into one in which neighbors take pride and where visitors feel welcome.
I met Tyree Guyton about 25 years ago in one of his houses. I popped my head in the door and he said, “Grab a brush and start painting.” I helped him paint a few car hoods, to be displayed along the street out front.
I had a great day in Detroit and can’t wait to get back to visit the Detroit Historical Museum, Eastern Market, King Books and many other places on my list.
