Published: 12/31/2008
Types: Arts, Visual arts
For its inaugural Eminent Artist Award, Kresge Arts in Detroit chose Charles McGee. The selection shouldn't be met with much criticism — after all, McGee is a much-loved, well-regarded local artist whose prodigious output has left a deep imprint on his adopted hometown. Born in South Car...[MORE]
Published: 12/31/2008
Types: Arts, Visual arts
In a city where buying groceries is often a struggle and the general populace cares more about the Lions than Lascaux, a skilled artist with some ambition can't be faulted for dreaming of greener pastures. Who could blame them? And while many artists over the years have found their muse in Det...[MORE]
Published: 7/9/2008
It's hard to believe that it's been almost 10 years since the last game was played at Tiger Stadium. It's even harder to believe that its fate is not yet set in stone. While selective dismantling has begun on the building's northeast corner, the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy (OTSC) is still wor...[MORE]
Published: 1/23/2008
Surfing, that sexy sport of washboard abs and bleach-blond hair, sunny blue skies and palm trees, has gotten the proverbial makeunder. Picture instead a head-to-toe Neoprene wetsuit and cloudy gray skies, and you've got the picture of Great Lakes surfing. Michigan, ...[MORE]
Published: 10/3/2007
We were a motley crew, four cyclists on back roads in Ontario farm country. Two of us were experienced riders, the other two on borrowed bikes. Did I mention we were tipsy? Ontario farm country is perfect for grapes. Apparently, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario provide a microclimate that keeps summe...[MORE]
Published: 4/11/2007
Types: Culture, House & garden
For most middle-class Americans, including myself, gardening is a relaxing hobby, not a necessity. There's nothing like cultivating a head of cabbage or a bucket full of ripe tomatoes from delicate seedlings in my back yard. The pastime calms me and keeps me sane. But it's certainly not the one ...[MORE]
Published: 1/31/2007
Types: Arts, Architecture
Artists have gallery openings, poets have in-store readings and musicians have concerts. Be it in the back of a bar or inside an arena with stadium seating, most creative people have some way of interacting with their audience. But architects, who are working in arguably the most people-oriented...[MORE]
Published: 12/6/2006
Types: Arts, Literature, Books
To change the world is an audacious goal, but a small group of environmentally minded journalists in Seattle have bravely claimed that very objective as their own. Their Web site, WorldChanging.com, was started three years ago, motivated by writers just plain tired of reporting global gloom and ...[MORE]
Published: 11/22/2006
Types: Arts
Thailand's overrun with Brits and Costa Rica with eco-travelers. As travel becomes accessible to more and more people, the road less traveled can begin to look like a highway. As a result, book series, such as Lonely Planet, tout unusual experiences loosely grouped under the heading of anti-tour...[MORE]
Published: 8/16/2006
Types: Arts, Architecture
St. Albertus Fest isn't your usual music festival. How often do you head to church to drink a few High Lifes, grub on some golabki and listen to hip hop, punk and bluegrass? The event manages to mix the old with the new, supporting and celebrating religion, ethnic pluralism and youthful exuberan...[MORE]
Published: 5/21/2003
Unions are a ubiquitous component of metropolitan Detroit’s fabric. And while Detroit is indisputably a union town, unions, for the most part, have become such a part of the status quo that it may be hard to fathom today the depths of radicalism into which unionism once plunged its advocates. I...[MORE]
Published: 3/5/2003
Types: Culture
Did Shakespeare actually author the work attributed to his name? Did Marco Polo ever reach China? Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? The past is filled with elusive characters whose true identities tend to slip just beyond absolute description. That’s not to say that anyone so amorphous is not ca...[MORE]
Published: 1/15/2003
Types: Culture
In Ecorse, where smokestacks rise above your head and the Detroit River runs just past your outstretched fingers, there floats an unusual sight. It appears suddenly, at the foot of a street named after a steel plant, as if a ghost barge has arisen from the murky depths of an industrial canal. B...[MORE]
Published: 12/11/2002
Types: Culture
Maybe it’s simplistic, but it seems that people can generally be divided into two categories: introverted or extroverted, romantic or pragmatic, Type A or Type B. Furthermore, in the Midwest, most of us can be characterized in two ways when it comes to our winter adaptability: as a hibernator or a...[MORE]
Published: 11/20/2002
Types: Culture, Spirituality
Yuletide, more than any other time of year, draws lapsed Catholics back to the flock. The motivations behind these furtive church visits vary: tradition, guilt, obligation, celebration. Last Christmas Eve, I joined the parade of prodigal sons and daughters darkening the doors of churches. My mo...[MORE]
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