From art to theater to yoga, there’s plenty to do
Over the summer there is plenty to do and see at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti. Between the Theater, Gallery, Russian Ballet Studio and Yes Yoga there should be plenty of drama, moving, stretching and dancing through the summer. The Explorers Youth Drama Club will be performing the classic, “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Three other plays also will be performed over the summer. Through May 26, the Art Gallery will be exhibiting “Through Women’s Eyes.” The collected art works of the University of Michigan’s Faculty Women’s Club, covering a large variety of styles and media. If dance is something that moves you, then Kathy Scharp’s Russian Ballet class will keep you on your toes. Scharp has been teaching ballet for more than 30 years. She teaches children as young as 4 years old to adults in their 60s, beginner to advanced. No knowledge of ballet is required. Students will learn group participation, ballet terms, musical counts, body positions, stretching and simple steps to music. “Ballet incorporates all the elements, requires your focus, memorization, paying attention, and physical,” Scharp said. “The more you open up to it the more it engages you with all the elements, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.” For more details on upcoming classes, visit http://riversidearts.org.
Gallery
• Through Women’s Eyes, May 3-26 • Works of Karen Gallup, May 31 – June 30, June 9, 5-7 p.m. • Ann Arbor Women’s Artists Summer Juried Exhibit, July 5 – 28, July 7, 5-7 p.m. • Chelsea Painters, September 6 – 29
Theater
• Arsenic and Old Lace, May 24-26, $8 in advance, $10 at door • Proof, May 31- June 3, $18 for adults, $15 for students • Red, White and Tuna, June 14-17 & 21-23, Call: (734) 663-7167 • Yankee Tavern, June 28 – July 1, Call: (734) 663-7167
Saying Yes to Yoga
Yes Yoga can help you relax, learn to breathe better and become more mindful of your body, mind and spirit connection. The first few minutes of Yes Yoga is about practicing to breathe better. “We don’t breathe enough, after the first 5 to 10 minutes, students are feeling high,” said Tatiana Knight, 44, yoga instructor. Everybody is different, and if they have injuries, the students will be asked to assess how they feel in the middle of the class and adapt. “I was happy when the New York Times ran the story, ‘How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,’” Knight said. “I don’t believe in pretzel yoga, and it is not a religion. No deities in my class,” Knight said. Her students seemed to enjoy the experience. “It is a nice break from the outside world. Good for the mind, you have to focus,” said Alex, 36, of Ypsilanti. “Yoga made me happier,” said Michelle, 37, of Belleville. “It helped me overcome anxiety and depression.” For more information on Yes Yoga, phone (734) 985-0543, or visit: y2yesyoga.com.
Anyone driving along Packard Street west of Carpenter Road might have seen a young man waving a large sign that read: “WE BUY GOLD.” These modern-day gold miners aren’t digging or panning for gold, but they’re still prospecting. Despite the economy taking a dive in recent years, the workers are staying busy in their Ann Arbor storefront. “This business thrives when the economy is down and it suffers when the economy is up,” said Roger Rynd, 22, manager of the Ann Arbor Coin and Jewelry Exchange on Packard. The economic and housing downturn has driven the raw cost of gold up, which drove consumers away from buying gold jewelry. The shift also impacted artisans who make custom gold jewelry by hand. “At $1,631 a Troy ounce, very few are buying gold jewelry,” Rynd said. “We purchase gold coins and jewelry from our clients and send the items to our refiner to be processed. For Rhynd and his crew it’s just another day at the office. “This is not like discovering a gold mine and getting rich,” he said. “We are purchasing old gold items at competitive market prices and making enough money on the deal to stay in business, but buyer beware is the practice here.” When Rynd buys gold, he tests it to see what karat it is by use of a chemical acid test. Before he hands over any cash, sellers are fingerprinted and all details of the transaction are entered online at leadsonline.com. The report is then sent to multiple local government authorities for review. “A key part of the job is judging the clients that walk in the door,” Rynd said. “If their name pops up on leadsonline as a risk, we won’t buy.” If Rhynd suspects theft, he turns clients away. He said he has given about $50,000 worth of gold back to law enforcement without recovering a dime. One client came in asking for help to remove his gold tooth and was told no. He came back two hours later with the gold, minus the tooth.” But most customers have better reasons for stopping by. “I sold some coins because I needed the money to pay some bills,” said Brad A, 30, a computer consultant who asked that his last name not be used. “I usually get $170 per hour, but no one is willing to pay due to inflation. When I was at the grocery store I paid $3.99 for five pounds of Clementines six months ago, now they’re $6.99 for three pounds.” “People are selling because they are desperate,” said Joeseph James, 30, a regular at the store. By Michigan law the store must wait nine business days before any profit is made on the deal, and the items are sent to the refiner for processing. It can take up to 11 days before the store gets paid. In that time, the gold market can change dramatically. “If the price of gold drops $100 in a week, we lose money,” Rynd said. If the store violates the rules and sends the items in early, the State of Michigan can revoke the store’s Precious Metals and Gems Dealers licenses. Meantime, Rynd says his store will continue its prospecting as long as the lousy economy continues. “I think we have about three years before the economy shifts and prices fall,” Rynd said.
Despite a sea of parking lots sprawled across Washtenaw Community College’s campus and a four-level structure erected this year to house vehicles, WCC’s 131 handicap parking spots have been breached. Alvaro Medina, a 56-year-old business major from Ann Arbor has been frustrated with able-bodied motorists parking in the more conveniently located handicap spots. “Everybody should have a special sticker to prove it is you because some people are cheating,” Medina said. The most common threat to the sanctity of handicap parking, according to Director of Campus Safety and Security Jacques Desrosiers, is the use of legitimate handicap-registered vehicles by drivers without any physical health complications. “Our biggest problem with handicap parking is young people who borrow cars from possibly a grandparent for the convenience of using the spots,” Desrosiers said. “That’s a little selfish.” Despite implications of morality, or lack thereof, when parking in handicap spots to save time, many students brazenly insist on taking these liberties anyway. A female student in clear violation of the rule was confrontational when speaking with Voice reporters. Unfriendly and annoyed, she would provide no personal information as she sat defiantly studying in her Suzuki atop and between the blue lines painted in the asphalt. “I don’t have time to find a spot,” said the violator. “Please go so I can do my homework.” Desrosiers asserts that CSS routinely patrols the lots, searching for any of the multitude of violations to policies in place. Although handicap parking violations aren’t the most common of infractions, Desrosiers says his team does not take them lightly. “If we see it, we will enforce it and write a ticket,” Desrosiers said. “We’ll generally look around the dash board to see if they have any tags or stickers.” When issuing a ticket, CSS officers file it to the local court system immediately for processing. In Ann Arbor, the fine for parking in a handicap parking spot is $125, according a2.gov. The fine also increases depending on the time after the ticket is issued. Leaving tracking and punishment to the judicial institutions depending on what county the car is registered to. “We take it right to the court,” Desrosiers said. But the problem still remains, according to some students. “There clearly is a need for more – and closer – handicapped parking,” handicapped student Kate Conat wrote in an email to a Voice reporter. “I love being a student at WCC and enjoy most of my classes immensely, but just getting to and from them can be a real test of endurance.” Conat said she feels there isn’t enough handicapped parking close enough to some of the buildings. “The three that seem to me to be hardest to get to are the Student Center, the Gunder Myran building and the Crane Liberal Arts and Science building,” she added. “Generally speaking, I’ve been able to find handicapped parking at both the Business Education and Technology and Industrial buildings. As SC, GM and LA are three of the busiest areas of campus, however, the lack of close handicapped parking for these buildings creates a true hardship.” Eastern Michigan University takes care of handicap parking misuse a little differently. Sporting a larger campus and more lots, campus police at EMU require that handicap drivers register with the university to make tracking of improper tag-use less difficult. There are 117 students registered for free handicap parking of the more than 20,000 enrolled at EMU this year. “I have written hundreds of tickets for misuse or fraudulent use of H-tags,” said an EMU campus police officer, Donna Carcone “I don’t think the students know how serious it is. It makes my job easier when EMU issues handicap tags, because the student has been validated.” According to Carcone, violators can be fined up to $500 and be sentenced to 30 days in jail. Although WCC’s security officers are on the case as well and out in full force to stop the abuse of handicap parking spaces, students whose conditions beg the use of such spots continue to find themselves trolling the lots in search of adequately close parking. “I feel I got lucky today,” said a registered handicap driver and nursing major Doug Etcher, 32, of Ann Arbor, as he exited his vehicle in one of the specially marked spaces. “Usually I have to drive around to find a (handicap) spot.” But school administrators are certain they have done everything possible for handicap drivers. Director of Facilities Management Damon Flowers told Voice reporters that the campus is actually lush with the sectioned-off spots, but admits that their placement is not always ideal. “The school has plenty of handicapped parking spaces,” Flowers said. “They might not be where everyone would like them, but we have more than enough.” Flowers points to lax guidelines from the government and the fluidity of lot layout at WCC making it difficult to assign adequate H-spots to certain buildings. The only lot specifically tailored to a building on campus sits across Huron River Drive at the Health and Fitness Center. “By law, building codes and the Americans with Disabilities Act, handicapped parking spaces are close to buildings,” Flowers said. “But there’s really nothing that talks about where they should be located by elevation.” The number of handicapped parking spots is determined by how many plots of land are in use and what they are being used for. There is no finite number of parking spaces required based on the building. According to Flowers, the college uses a formula to determine the number of regular parking spaces needed. Roughly, 278 square feet of campus building equals one parking space. “If this place was a McDonalds, the regulation would tell us exactly how many spaces were required,” Flowers said. Flowers suggested moving handicap spots from the third floor of the parking structure down to its ground-level where seven already reside. *Voice staff writer Nathan Clark contributed to this report
Most students at Washtenaw Community College are still asleep, dreaming of acing their next exam, or maybe in a great date, when Rick Westcott’s Grounds Maintenance crew starts its daily clean-up of the parking lots around campus.
It’s 4 a.m., and the deer are still on site, watching curiously as the crew begins. The deer have grown comfortable with the crew and don’t feel the need to high tail it back into the forest when the cleanup crew scatters across the parking lots. This time of year, it is important to start early to keep ahead of the trash and icy spots. The college doesn’t want students slipping on banana peels or ice. This job does have its benefits. The team has found many $20 bills over the years. “We found a hundred (dollar bill) along the wooded area too,” said maintenance worker Ron Schulv while grabbing trash at a rapid pace. It’s a necessary daily ritual. “For a time we had trash cans in the parking lots, and they would get filled with big trash bags from home and then the gulls would come in and spread the trash across the lot,” said Randy Ferry, as he beamed his mounted light on his grabber, looking for trash in the dark. The campus has long boasted of being smoke free but over time the crew has filled a 55-gallon drum with cigarette butts. “It got to be too much so we dumped it,” Westcott said. They have found even more troubling things left in the parking lots, including condoms and drug paraphernalia used to support drug addiction that should be tossed in hazardous waste hospital containers. “We have in our collection a plastic pop bottle modified with a secret compartment to carry drugs on campus,” Westcott said. In a typical week, the grounds crew picks up nearly 400 items, and that does not include cigarette butts or normal trash pickup and removal. The parking lot trash battle continues Monday through Saturday, from 4-5:30 a.m. “On average, the crew spends 15 man hours every morning picking up the trash left in the parking lots,” Westcott said. “I don’t want to imagine what it would look like around here if we stopped cleaning up the parking lots.”
The homeless, even in Washtenaw County, face great challenges against the wind
Editor’s note: Washtenaw Voice staffer Chuck Denton, no stranger to hardship and homelessness in his life, spent a long autumn day in Ann Arbor seeking shelter ahead of another harsh Michigan winter. What he found should leave everyone chilled.
Turn your card around, so I can see it,” said the bus driver on the No. 5 route working the Packard route to Ann Arbor. That’s how my day began on Friday, Oct. 14, at 8:30 a.m.
Sorry, I didn’t realize my card flipped. It was hanging from my neck and the expiration date on my AATA Fair-Deal discount pass was blocked from view. It allows tokens and 50 cents off a $1.25 fare. Some drivers seem to have attitudes about the discount card, thinking it’s a card for bums. Do you accept Detroit bus tokens? I asked while showing him that they look similar.
 Rainy morning at Blake Transit Center waiting for ‘The Ride’. “No!” he screamed. And I pulled out the change in my pocket and found an AATA bus token that covers the remaining 75 cents and dropped it into the coin box. I grabbed my gray Nike backpack and moved to the rear of the bus. Worried about my housing, I decided to check with the Center to find out about getting shelter for the winter. I am glad to be on the bus, it was cold and windy. Once seated, I pulled two books from my Nike backpack. I couldn’t decide which one to check out first. “Submersion Journalism” from Harpers, or a much smaller book, “John Dewey: The Reconstruction of the Democratic Life,” by Jerome Nathanson. I picked Dewey because it appeared to be a quick read, and my trip to downtown Ann Arbor was going to take about 45 minutes from Ypsilanti. And so I read and learn that, according to Dewey, people were misled and Darwin himself knew better, too. For the real impact of the evolution theory, the impact of incalculable influence was to be not on theology but on science and philosophy. Dewey’s intellectual labors for a half-century have been concentrated on this question to such an extent that his growth development and education philosophy can be understood only in the light of it.
9:15 a.m.
 St. Andrews Church We arrived at the Blake Transit Center, and I got off the bus and started walking to St. Andrews Church on Catherine, near Kerry Town. I was hoping I might get lucky, and catch a free breakfast – if I walked fast enough. I see Raymond waiting to get on the bus. He is waiting for the bus driver to lower the handicap ramp. In downtown Ann Arbor, everyone loves Raymond. He is one of the special ones. Despite his condition, he seems to be the happiest, most well-adjusted person around. What is special is talking to Raymond because he has a gift of making just about anyone smile. “Hi, Raymond.” He looks up at me gives me a big smile and turns to the bus driver and says, “Please wait, I need to talk to my friend.” “Raymond, what time does Delonis serve dinner?” I asked. “Five on week days and 3 on the weekends,” he said. “Can you meet me at Starbucks at noon? I will have more time to talk then.” “Sure, I will be there.” Raymond got on the bus and I walked as quickly as I could to get to St. Andrews. I had always wondered what happened to Raymond, but I never asked. He’s a large, 73-year-old black man, but when he talks he makes you feel like he is still a little boy and everything is a wonderful surprise – like it’s always someone’s birthday. 9:40 a.m.
 Breakfast at St. Andrews. St. Andrew’s is a 15-20 minute walk from the Blake Transit Center. Once I got there, I was reminded breakfast is served from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. I missed it, no breakfast! I went to Delonis to check on the process of getting shelter. I had heard there were new rules in place, and I wanted to make sure I got the latest information. I walked in and asked the receptionist for information on getting shelter. “Before you can come here, you must go to SOS on River St. in Ypsilanti. After SOS screens you, then they might give you a referral to come here to the Delonis Center. You can also call them and ask for a referral over the phone,” said the receptionist. SOS is the now the new central entry point to get homeless services in Washtenaw County. She handed me a one-page list of services at the Delonis Center, saying, “you don’t need SOS to have dinner here.” She also gave me the SOS phone number. I walked out the door headed to Ypsilanti. I could wait for the bus, but I would rather walk the four or five blocks back to the transit center than stand around waiting for the No. 9, inbound Jackson-Dexter route to the transit center. 10:40 a.m.
Now it is cold, windy and raining and I wished I was on the bus. I got on the No. 4B headed to SOS, and just as I approached the first stop, I realized I would never get back in time to meet Raymond at noon. I remembered I promised, so I jumped off the bus before it left Ann Arbor. SOS can wait. I headed to Starbucks on Main Street. I got a tea and found a nice chair in the corner. There is always a steady flow of customers, and there are times when you can’t find a seat. I pulled out Dewey from my backpack and wondered why this book draws me. To most people it would be boring, but to me real life is far from boring and Dewey seemed to have a hand in making our modern world. Noon
 Raymond Raymond. He says he has a PhD in physiology and speaks five languages, that he was educated in Quebec, Canada. He says he is French-Candian-African. He also has set on the board of directors for the homeless programs in Ann Arbor. As we talked, it seemed many would stop and greet Raymond with a big smile, including the local letter carrier. We had a wonderful talk, and it made my day – whether or not I find a roof over my head. I said my goodbyes to Raymond and walked to the Blake Transit Center, about four blocks away. I had about a 15-minute wait before the No. 6 showed up. We all boarded and headed to Ypsilanti. 1:45 p.m.
I tried to call SOS from the bus, but once again I got the machine. I thought it would be best to go into the office to get a face-to-face and see what they have posted on their walls that might be of help. After I hung up the phone, a black man, James, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I see you need shelter for the winter.” Yes, I am worried about what’s going on in Washington. It seems every other week they keep threatening to close the government and terminate the value of the dollar. So I thought I would find out about shelter options. “You need to get over to JPORT on fourth. They helped me. You can get mental services, odd jobs like emptying the trash at the court building,” James said. “There is also state money available if you qualify. They will also help you deal with Social Security, too. Make sure you ask for Dr. Nedikinpink, he can help,” James said. James is a 63-year-old man who just lost his girlfriend, 45, to substance abuse. “She was a retired hooker and had a million dollars in the bank, and if she liked you she would help anyone. But she had a problem with drugs.” The bus stopped and James pointed at the apartment complex and said, “I am in apartment 31!” “Thanks for all the information, it was really helpful,” I told him. “Take care.” “Don’t stay out in the cold,” he said, and he got off the bus.
 A sign at SOS tells visitors it no longer allows walk-ins. 2:58 p.m.
I caught the No. 11 bus to River Street at the Ypsilanti Transit Center. I walked down River Street to find SOS, located in an old Ypsilanti home that was turned into an office in the historic district of Ypsilanti. I get to the door and find a notice posted: “SOS no longer offers walk-in services for housing emergencies. To receive assistance with your housing, call 961-1999 for assistance. I called and left voice mail Friday at 3:15 p.m., and got a call back on Monday at 1 p.m. (The voice-mail message also noted to call 211 in case of emergency.) Rather than wait for the No. 11 bus, I walked back to the Ypsilanti Transit Center to catch the next bus back to Ann Arbor. While waiting for the bus, I overheard two guys talking about the 30-day Gopass. “A Gopass is golden. Once I traded four Vicodin for a Gopass, and I could ride anywhere. Boy that was sweet!” 3:35 p.m. The No. 3 was the first bus in that was headed back to Ann Arbor, it follows the Huron River and makes stops at the Veterans Administration Hospital and Washtenaw Community College. I pulled Dewey out again to keep occupied for another 45 minutes. Dewey makes an appeal to our ongoing experience – When he asks what makes us what we are, he finds the answer in the organization of society, in the culture to which we belong. Human nature is not merely the adaptation of a biological organism to the environment in which it finds itself. One of its distinguishing characteristics, on the contrary, is that it can adapt the environment in which it finds itself. In a measure, it creates its environment, and in doing so, it creates itself. Interesting. 4:15 p.m.
The No. 3 rolls into the Blake Transit center and I catch the No. 9, which will drop me off in front of the Delonis Center. I go back to the receptionist and let them know SOS no longer accepts walk-in’s, so don’t send people over there. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that,” said the receptionist. When will the Warming Center be open? “Around mid-November,” she said. “The Warming Center and rotation does not need SOS approvals. Right now, you need to wait outside until the Community Kitchen opens at 5.” Thanks. I went across the street to get away from the crowd forming in front of the building. 5 p.m.
When the kitchen opens, everyone fills in. I pick table three and sat down. I notice there is a guy sitting across from me. He is missing his right eye and part of his head. If you don’t mind me asking, what happen to your right eye? “I tried to kill myself,” said Jay, formerly from Toledo. Do you remember anything, like what was going on in your mind? “Yes, I had back surgery trying to get rid of the pain and the doctors put me on pain killers. The next thing I know, I am up to 30 pills a day and I need more just to maintain. I had three doctors writing scripts. I felt trapped and wanted out. One day, I decided to end it, and after I had two cigarettes, I pulled the trigger.” “How do you deal with the pain now?” “I walk 6-10 miles every day, and I feel good.” “You better get some shoes; it’s getting cold.” He was wearying sandles, and his feet were black. “I have shoes, but I love my sandles.” “Does the walking help the mental side?” “Yes, plus I meditate with a group and we visualize the earth and it really helps me relax. Hey, if you want to get your food early, they will be calling clean-up volunteers and if you volunteer you get to go first.” They called for volunteers and I walked up and got a green ticket and got into the food line. They served pork chops, yams, squash, carrots, salad, and corn bread. There were many choices for dessert. I picked carrot cake. Back at the table, I gave Jay my pork chop – no meat for me. The lady one seat away hears me talk about the Springwells area of Detroit and cuts in. “That is where I am from,” she said. “I was trapped on crack, and couldn’t get out of there until my son came and moved me. Now my kidneys are almost gone because of the crack, but I am happy to be out of there.” “Well I am glad you got someone to help you,” I said. I finished and took my tray to the dirty dishes windows. I was first to get up, I wanted to open my seat so someone else could set down. I went past the glass divider to wait for clean up. 6:40 p.m.
“Hey you standing there with the wash rag, come over here. See the wall? Please wipe it down,” said a supervisor in the kitchen. I finished the wall and the clean-up was done. The tables and chairs were wiped down and the chairs were placed on the tables. I headed for the 7 p.m. “Pizza in the Park” on Friday at Liberty Plaza, a block down from Federal building. There was the usual large turnout of the givers, along with 50 or so receivers. There are about 10 tables of free stuff, mostly from the local churches. I got two hot pieces of pizza and went over to two young people holding a sign: Occupy Ann Arbor. “So, what’s the deal,” I asked. “Why are you occupying Ann Arbor?” “We just got back from New York,” said Eric,19, a former Central Michigan University student planning on enrolling in WCC. “I’m going to Lansing and Detroit next.” “Listen, I think it is great that you feel you need to make a statement, just be safe,” I said. “And respect authority. They (police) are paid to do a job. There will be some who will be troublemakers.” “Yes, I know we had to lock arms in New York to block the troublemakers,” Eric said. “They tried to make us look bad in front of the cameras.” I said good-bye, and I headed toward State Street. 7:40 p.m.
I see a panhandler in front of the former Borders store. “Hey, where’s Richard? “ I ask, inquiring about another panhandler who likes to camp out in front of Borders.
 Daniel at his usual spot downtown, collecting change. “I don’t know where Richard is. I’m Daniel. Do you have a dollar?”
Sure, I have a dollar. Would it be OK if I sit with you? Any money I get I will give to you. “Sure, you can sit with me.” We talked and Daniel said he was 55. He has been on medication for schizophrenia since 1980. “They keep changing the medication. Last year, I gained 80 pounds, then they switched the meds and I lost 80 pounds. If I don’t go for my treatment, they come and get me, and sometime I shake real bad after treatment.” “I don’t think the doctors have figured out how to fix schizophrenia,” I said, “and I bet you just do whatever they tell you.” “I have to,” he said. “Well if you can manage it, start walking. Try to walk none stop for one or two hours and try to do it every day. After a couple of weeks, you should start to feel stronger, and if you do, keep walking and before you know it, you can tell the doctor to lower your medication. If you keep it up, you should continue to feel improvement. Walking generates special chemicals in the brain that should help you get better.” I noticed we were not getting any donations. I laid my hat in front of me and Daniel did the same. Soon we got some donations. I gave the U-M hat and the money to Daniel and told him it was nice talking with him. “I will try the walking,” he said as we bid our good-byes.
 Doug, at his usual spot downtown I headed to State Street, and past Doug, another panhandler. I noticed he had collected more money. He was flying all the colors – USA and sports. He figured out how to get noticed. It was dark. I decided to walk a few miles to Packard, rather than stand waiting for a bus. I got to the Packard bus stop and noticed a young lady. I ask her, “What are you doing out here in the dark. You know we have a bad guy on the loose?” “Yes, I know that is why I left the law school early.” The No. 5 bus stops, and it’s my last bus ride for the day. It’s 9:05 p.m. when I arrive “home” to spend a few more hours with Dewey. On Monday, I’ll be back at it, seeking my winter refuge. p
Who says the “Good Old Days” were simple? Well, during Holiday Nights through December at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, you can find out for yourself.
Partake in a buffet-style holiday turkey dinner at the Eagle Tavern, and after you’ve enjoyed yourself, you can walk back in time through the candle-lit paths to life as it was before the electricity – and all the technologies it gave birth to.
Along the path, you can stop at the many costumed presenters and see how life really was for your ancestors. There are expert artisans working the old shops. You can see printmaking, tin smiths, glassmaking and more.
The shops are the real thing. In 1929, Henry Ford purchased and moved many establishments for the sole purpose of giving people an idea of how life was before the modern era.
If you like chocolate, you can experience the fresh smell of the cocoa bean as it is handmade into sweets. They start with beans from the local dried goods store, a burn barrel and lots of hand labor.
“I get their attention when I add the brandy,” said artisan presenter Russ Eichold, 40, of Lincoln Park.
Santa also has a surprise for the kids, but to make it magical, you must stop in and see Santa’s helpers first. Once Santa’s helpers do their magic, expect a big surprise for the kids when they visit Santa.
Carolers sing Christmas songs. Visitors can enjoy ice skating, horse-drawn carriage rides and shopping in the village of the 1800s.
“The live reindeer and the fireworks are special nightly events just for the Holiday Nights,” Eichold said.
If you prefer something in-doors, there is the “Polar Express” playing at the IMAX Theatre, the Automotive Hall of Fame or the Henry Ford Museum. Inside the museum you will find the special Wizard of Oz exhibit for kids.
The story of technology changing through time is the main attraction at the museum. Starting with the story of time and clock making, on display are the first 1700s steam engines, planes, trains, automobiles and presidential vehicles that go all the way back to Theodore Roosevelt’s horse-drawn carriage.
The liberty and justice exhibit will walk you through the story of freedom in the nation that gave birth to the idea of progress. All of the key events that formed the nation, including the modern Civil Rights events, are featured.
Take a seat on the Montgomery, Ala., bus that sparked the Civil Rights movement after Rosa Parks was arrested for failing to move to the back .
“The bus was built in Pontiac, Mich., and sold to Montgomery City Lines. We purchased the bus in 2003, at the time it was used as storage shed. We paid $427,000 and invested another $300,000,” said Pat Zadorozny, historic presenter.
Don’t forget to check out President Kennedy’s limo or President Lincoln’s last chair he sat in before Booth arrived.
And before you head home, you can stop and pick out a real Christmas tree.
Last year, 64,000 people visited Holiday Nights over a 12-night period. This year the Village added two more nights. If you are planning on attending the dinner, it is advised you call and make reservations.
For more information, call (313) 982-6001 or visit TheHenryFord.org
“Soldier, if you do that in combat you are going to get me killed!” shouted General Maxwell D. Taylor as he stormed off after chewing out George Koskimaki for turning on his flashlight during a D-Day practice run.
General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. turned and put his arm around Koskimaki, saying, “Don’t feel bad. I got my ass chewed out more than anybody in this man’s Army.”
Koskimaki was supposed to have everything memorized, and he froze when Gen. Taylor asked him a question, so he turned on his flashlight to look at his cheat sheet and that is when the general let him have it. That was nearly 70 years ago. Taylor, Koskimaki and his diary made it through the war. Gen. Roosevelt, the son of President Theodore Roosevelt, did not. He is buried in Europe.
Chuck Denton The Washtenaw Voice
World War II veteran George Koskimaki stands in front of a shadow box full of his medals.
Koskimaki, 89, is one of what TV news anchor Tom Brokaw dubbed in his books as our nation’s Greatest Generation – those Americans who spent their formative years through the Great Depression, fought on three continents and won World War II, then returned home to work in factories, business and industry to build a middle class that flourished in the world’s lone superpower.
The native of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula who now lives in Novi was a member of the 101st Airborne Division, the first paratroopers – that band of brothers – in the history of American combat.
And that diary he kept led him to write three books: “D-Day with the Screaming Eagles,” “Hell’s Highway” and “The Battered Bastards of Bastogne.”
If his days seemed numbered when he went to battle then, they most certainly are now, he knows.
“I don’t buy green bananas anymore!” Koskimaki told his friends at a recent gathering of WWII veterans at the Finnish Multicultural Center on Eight Mile Road in Livonia. They laugh, because he’s been telling them that for 10 years.
Although health reasons forced him to turn down his annual D-Day anniversary trip to Europe this year, he did manage to make his annual pilgrimage to his birth place in the upper peninsula near L’Anse to spend his summer picking blueberries. Because of macular degeneration, he has to wait until the sun is shining before he can begin to pick the berries. He knows the good berries are the ones that reflect the most light.
This year was a transitional year for Koskimaki, with his eyesight fading. He packed up his WWII historical archive of the 101st Screaming Eagles unit, filled an entire UPS truck with 60 boxes and shipped everything to the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Penn.
In 1978, he became the national secretary of the 101st and with the help of his wife, Eva, ran the division’s membership for two years.
“We doubled the membership and balanced the books by 1980,” he says proudly.
To do that, he left his teaching job at Roseville High School, where he taught biology, and took a 60 percent pay cut. He taught for 30 years, and had become somewhat of a legend in Roseville, where he started the teacher’s union in 1949. But he’s more remembered for changing lives.
“I can thank George for helping me get a scholarship and becoming a teacher,” said Duane Soine, 78, of Negaunee. “He wasn’t like the other teachers. He took a special interest in us. And he took us Up North for Atlanta trout fishing, too.”
After serving as the national secretary for two years, Koskimaki continued as the unit’s historian, helping others find information about their loved ones after the war. He also collected personnel stories from other veterans of WWII. This spring, he completed his last column for the 101st, called K’s corner. He would get requests for information and would research his archive and publish his research in the division’s magazine.
He received lots of mail after the HBO movie series “Band of Brothers.” Veterans would send him a picture and ask him to sign it. Koskimaki provided a lot of detailed information to the screen writers of the movie. As the 101st historian, he also helped the author of “The Dirty Dozen,” a WWII drama filmed in 1967.
With some encouragement from his wife, he began collecting detailed information from other veterans and used their stories and experiences in his books about D-Day – June 6, 1944, when the American forces stormed Normandy, France. He had more than 1,500 direct quotes and listed the names of all the veterans in his books.
Koskimaki’s old commander, Gen. Taylor, once said to him: “I congratulate you most sincerely on the quality of the reporting of this dramatic-episode. To most of us there, I suspect it was the greatest day of our lives.”
Just before his wife died in 2003, she urged him to take their grandson, Matthew Attalai, with him on his annual trip to Europe in honor of D-Day. There, veterans march in a parade and visit some of their battle sites.
After the trip in 2004, Attalai announced he was going to enlist in the Army. Koskimaki drove him to the same court house in the U.P. where he signed up in 1944. Matthew held dual citizenship, Canadian and American. He had dual citizenship because Koskimaki’s only daughter, Christine Attalai, married and moved to Toronto, Canada.
Grandfather and grandson were both 20 when they enlisted, and both survived their combat tours with the Army. But after Matthew got out of the service, he went back as a contract body guard and was killed from a roadside bomb in 2010. He was 26.
Before the war, Koskimaki was trying to put himself through college. He didn’t have it easy. His grandparents were immigrants from Finland in the early 1900s. They left their homeland because Russia was recruiting Finnish young men to fight in another war. He remembers living in the logging camps in the U.P., where his whole family tried to survive by farming, logging and mining. Once he became an adult, he relocated to Detroit to make money assembling cars at the Cadillac assembly plant on Springwells Avenue. Once he had enough money saved, he would go back to college.
One weekend, Koskimaki recalls, he was feeling a little full of himself and started hitting on a couple of young ladies passing by. One of them turned and said, “I don’t date draft dodgers!” The following Monday, Koskimaki went to the court house and enlisted. He wound up on a train bound for Fort Bragg, N.C., home of the 101st Airborne Division.
That young lady rattled him so much, he did not take the time to resign from school or tell his parents of his decision.
Before the main landing of D-Day, his unit was dropped behind enemy lines. He described one event that could have been a bad turning point for the Allies. After fighting through some German guards, he and other soldiers ran across several fields. His unit commander discovered he dropped all Gen. Taylor’s invasion maps with the battle plans.
“I volunteered to go back to find the maps,” Koskimaki said. “This turned out to be hair-raising. I was afraid the enemy could hear the pounding of my heart – it was so loud. I groped around about in the dark and discovered the maps in a shallow ditch.”
Want to know the rest of the story? It’s in George Koskimaki’s diary of a war hero, “D-Day with the Screaming Eagles,” published by Ballantine Books. One great chapter in the story of our Greatest Generation.
With Halloween season upon us, “Outwitting the Devil” by Napoleon Hill is a must-read for college students interested in the roots of human potential and how to avoid the pitfalls placed before us along the way.
“I cannot control you because you have discovered your own mind and you have taken charge of it,” the Devil says, who is the main character of the book.
His new book, written on a manual typewriter in 1938, had been locked away and hidden by Hill’s family for 72 years. The family was worried because Hill took a very controversial approach in writing the book — he wrote the book as a dialogue between himself and the Devil, as a way to walk people through their evils.
The book explains the process of mental negative entanglement and the techniques used to highjack a person’s ability to think clearly. Once people start to get entangled, they end up drifting with the Devil into a hell on Earth.
Despite the long delay in its publication, this book is timeless, and very telling.
The Devil of Hill’s book admits to injecting negative thoughts into our thought process in hopes of gaining the upper hand.
“To be sure, I employ tricks and devices to control human thought. My devices are clever ones, too,” said Hill’s Devil.
Hill is very creative in explaining the thinking process that holds people back. He does a masterful job at using dialogue to help uncover a process that we do automatically without much understanding of the mechanisms that control our thinking and behavior.
And the controversy lives on. Did Hill really talk to the Devil, or is this book made up? He leaves it up to the reader to decide. If you can look past the controversy and dig into the outwitting-the-devil dialogue, you might discover a few things that you didn’t know.
When it comes to modern day tattoos, the ancient Greeks had advice that some should consider.
Know thy self, and in all things moderation. It is one thing to get a small tattoo on your arm but most Americans don’t like small and they ignore advice that is older than their friends.
I remember the day my friend became an adult. He declared he did not want to get married or deal with raising children so he walked into the local medical clinic to see the doctor about getting fixed with a vasectomy.
The old doc refused to perform the procedure but instead spent the time explaining to him most men that get a vasectomy already have a family and don’t want any more children. You on the other hand are a little young to make a decision that will impact the rest of your life.
He suggested waiting and it turned out to be good advice – later my friend met a girl got married and started a family.
So, after your first tattoo reflect, delay and wait a while before getting the next tattoo. It is good to get into the practice of reflection because you will gain more control over your life. Try to discover within yourself the thing that is driving your desire for more body art. Keep asking yourself why?
After some time your subconscious will give you the deeper meaning of the impulse you are experiencing. Once you get into the practice of reflection and control, you can apply your new power to most anything.
On a more economic level, ask yourself will this new body art on my face and neck impact the rest of my life? Will it impact my employment options or be out of fashion in five to ten years? What if you change your mind? It will cost you a couple of grand to get the tattoo removed.
My friend’s wife still has her ex-boyfriend’s name branded on her like she is his cattle. Have you ever seen a tattoo on a seventy year old body? It isn’t a pretty picture anymore.
Tattoo here, tattoo there, tattoos everywhere. Welcome to a new sign of the times where you can be defined by how much ink has been carved into your skin or how many minor stab wounds you can treat to stay open.
Back in the 1950s, the only people who had tattoos or piercings were criminals, sailors, degenerates and social exiles. Things sure have changed haven’t they? Nowadays, it seems like everybody has a tattoo or a piercing. People without tattoos or piercings have become the minority.
Some people might think of this as a bad thing showing the social decline of America, but I don’t see it that way. If anything, it shows how social we all are.
Human beings are social animals. We crave attention and acceptance, which is a very delicate balance. Having a tattoo or piercing will get you attention but it won’t necessarily give you acceptance.
There will still be people who judge others with tattoos and label them social malcontents. But these people have become a minority and are slowly fading away with time.
Acceptance or not, everywhere you go you will see someone with a tattoo or piercing.
Some people have tattoos or piercings that you would never know about. The girl you see downtown with four piercings in each ear and eyebrow could be a starving artist or a bank teller who removes her piercings before work.
Even I have a lot of tattoos from when I was in the Army, but you would never know because most of them are always covered. I’m not trying to conceal them, it’s just that walking around naked tends to be frowned upon, but that’s a different argument.
Face the facts. Everyone wants to fit in with the people around them, even if that means getting a care bear tattooed on your back. It probably wasn’t your first choice in tattoos, but your friend double-dog dared you to do it – and you’re not about to chicken out on that challenge are you?
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