Silvio’s Organic Handmade Italian Food is one part homemade-funky and one part down-to-earth passion for eating right. The motto on his website says it best: “You can eat food, good food, bad food, fast food or you can have a genuine food experience.” Silvio beckons those who pursue the food experience and shares his joy of food by embracing the different eating needs we currently see in ourselves and around us.
Posts filed under Issue 70
Eight Simple Movements toward Better Health: An Introduction to Pal Dan Gum Qigong
Back in the 70’s one of the songs in the top 40 was “Kung Fu Fighting.” As a matter of fact, at the same time there was a weekly television series that revolved around a Kung Fu fighting Buddhist monk. Like many young men in their 20’s I was smitten. The grace! The agility! The power of martial arts! I had to learn this ancient practice. And learn it I did. The kicks, the punches, the simulated combat with an invisible opponent. Fast forward to the 80’s, the 90’s, the “new millennium,” and the rigors of martial arts fighting made way to a gentler, kinder tai chi practice.
The Autumn of our Lives
One of the many reasons people enjoy living in Michigan is our four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. The seasons can also be described as birth, growth, maturity, and death, or child, teen, adult, and elder. Four seasons gives a year rhythm, and yet we are better at some beats then others. Culturally, we praise awakening and increasing—spring and summer, childhood and teen—far more than we appreciate maturity and death, fall and winter, adulthood and elderhood.
Webster Farmers Market: Preserving a Historic Neighborhood through Farming, Food, Craft, and Community
When my friends told me about a Sunday Winter Farmers Market, my husband and I jumped in the van and headed to Webster Township. It was a particularly cold day. Thankfully, aromatic hot coffee greeted us at the door. Violet Raterman, one of the market managers, helped us navigate the market for our first visit. The entire experience was moving for some reason, but I could not put my finger on it. I had to find out more about the people behind this market and the space in which it thrived.
Great Tastes in Local Food
Downtown Ypsilanti is becoming a vibrant place full of new life and new businesses. There are enough shops, cafes, parks, and restaurants to spend a pleasant day tooling around. One of the newest places to finish your day and enjoy a delicious meal and, if you choose, a beer or well-made cocktail is Dolores, a Mexican restaurant located on Washington Street at Michigan Avenue in the former Elbow Room building.
End of Life Doulas Aren't Afraid to Talk About Death
I am so blessed to be able to talk to people who are grappling with death. Mostly, I speak with the caregivers. They reach out to me because they feel like there is no one else to talk to. I am there. I listen. I understand. I hear them out and empathize and honor them. It is difficult being a caregiver; it can feel so lonely, especially when you just want to talk. I recently heard a quote from Cheryl Richardson, “People start to heal the moment they feel heard”. Perhaps that is the biggest role of the end-of-life doula – to hear. In a world that prefers to deny death, when death IS happening, we want to be heard.
Namaste, Katie: Your Yoga Questions Answered
Whether you’re a seasoned yogi or getting ready to roll out your mat for the first time, here you’ll find a variety of useful tips from local yoga instructor, Katie Hoener.
Bowling, Documentaries but not (yet) bowling documentaries
Donald Harrison’s office has a bowling lane in it, at least part of a lane. The gleaming slab is from the leading edge of an old, decommissioned bowling alley and forms the top of Harrison’s elevated desk at 7 Cylinders Studio. It is the first thing he points out as I enter his bright, airy workspace in a renovated building across from the AATA bus depot in Ypsilanti.
Weekend Getaways: Canterbury Chateau
As a frequent traveler and transplant from the East Coast, I’m often drawn to major metropolitan areas. Although renowned for impressive attractions and activities for any interest, the bustling crowds and traffic snarls in urban centers means serenity can be in short supply. Fortunately for Michiganders, a tranquil getaway doesn’t require a boarding pass, or transcontinental travel, but just a few miles drive west on US-23 to Livingston County. Brighton’s Canterbury Chateau weaves together cozy interiors and relaxing amenities, with a touch of the tropics, into an accessible escape from the daily grind. By smartly balancing Victorian charm with modern touches, this bed and breakfast provides a welcome respite. Combined with many local recreational activities available in the Brighton area, visitors can enjoy a restful weekend while exploring nearby attractions.
Essential Oils? Why Now?
Plant-based remedies have been used for centuries. Chemical constituents found in plants are now synthetically created in sterile, replicable laboratory environments. Those medical advances have done wonders to further research and understanding of the intricacies of the human body. So, why has a sudden resurgence in using essential oils saturated newsfeeds, yoga studios, moms’ clubs, and more?
Leaps of Faith: Tales of Local Businesses, Ypscity
When Damien Lamberti, more commonly known as D, first decided to open YPSCITY, it was to be a custom sneaker shop (there’s a major market for upcycled, custom designed tennis shoes in the Sneaker Culture, and they’re fetching incredible prices) and graphic design business, but it quickly grew into a broader concept which included providing a space for artists, home crafters, and creators to display and sell their work. As D put it, “I wanted to create a space in which artists are taken seriously and can be fairly compensated for their creations, rather than accepting the minimal amounts often offered for the piece they spent weeks or months creating.”
Understanding Detoxification
What comes to mind when you hear the word “detox”? You might think drug or alcohol detox. Perhaps fasting or eating and drinking things like wheatgrass juice is what comes to mind. It may surprise you to learn that detoxing is none of those things. In fact, my interpretation will change your entire outlook on what a detox is.
Miso Packs a Punch for Health and Taste
When I turned nineteen, a whole new world of food was opened up to me through the People’s Food Co-Op. Although my aunt and father had been members since the 1970s, and I was somewhat knowledgeable about natural food diets, I certainly did not know what the heck to do with a salty paste made of fermented soy beans, rice, or barley. I had enjoyed miso soup in Japanese restaurants, but that was not the best introduction, as it was thin and lacked vegetables and other ingredients we now use more abundantly, such as shiitake mushrooms, soba noodles, seaweed, lotus root, dried fish, and fermented vegetables. As western society’s knowledge of the world of natural foods has matured, thanks in part to the growing “foodie culture,” we have widened our awareness of whole food cooking and ingredients.
Be Brilliant! How Hospice Saved and Enhanced My Life
The word “hospice” is one of those terms to which each individual has a unique and palpable reaction. For some it brings a sense of fear or uneasiness. In others it arouses tender memories of a past experience as it relates to a family member. For a lucky handful, their faces light up when engaged in a conversation regarding end of life care in the capable and compassionate hands of hospice staff. These blessed few seem filled with peace and joy in the face of this word. As with all of life, we perceive it through our own lenses, which shape how we feel about any given situation. My personal experience and perception of hospice is filtered through many different experiences with friends, family, and from volunteering for a children’s grief program I helped create with Hospice of Asheville, North Carolina, in the early eighties. I’ve had several close friends cared for by their loving hands during end stages of life, and three of my grandparents and my mother-in-law were in hospice care before they passed out of this earthly plane with loved ones by their side. I know what it takes to be a volunteer and how impactful it was to receive comfort and care, both in facilities and in-home
The Art of Flexibility
In our culture the trajectory of life seems to be geared toward getting us to a place of expertise, certainty, and all knowing. It may seem unfortunate that certainty is inversely proportional to knowledge (Jung), and that knowing prevents seeing (Huber).
I love learning, crave certainty, and like others have to make peace with the fact that there are few truths I can depend on despite years of study and self-improvement. I know for sure that things change all the time, unpredictably at that, and that everyone eventually dies, who knows when. I know that the mind prefers simplicity to complexity, new life to death, clarity to ambivalence, and siding with a polarity rather than coming to terms with multiple realities.
Conversation with ShuNahSii Rose About Changing How We Relate to the World Around Us
ShuNahSii Rose is the creator of In Sacred Balance. Now in its 27th year, In Sacred Balance offers a model of a “sustained inter-generational feminist spiritual community” with deep Ann Arbor roots. The magic ShuNahSii creates is palpable and necessary, a healing balm for the soul of the world. I met her for coffee and to chat about her passion for restoring relations between humanity and other inhabitants of our world.
Leaps of Faith: Tales of Local Businesses, The Cheese Shop of Saline
John and Ruth Loomis opened the doors of their new venture, The Cheese Shop of Saline in the fall of 2017.
Crafting: Celebrate the Coming Winter with A Julbok
As the warm breezes shift to cool caresses on our cheeks and we pull out the warm handmade quilts from grandma and sweaters from mom, many of us turn our thoughts to gift giving. The Julbok is a pre-Christian Swedish tradition that lives on today. Some say he pulled the Tomten’s cart full of presents during the winter solstice. Some say he was the one giving out the presents. Still others claim
that he is a prankster that makes sure whomever is receiving the present is worthy of it! Traditionally, the Julbok was made of the last harvest of straw and thought to be good luck. However you celebrate as we move into winter, this sweet little Julbok is sure to be a great addition to your seasonal decorations, a Yule tree, or even as a gift topper.
Finding Spirituality in the Wilderness
In my daily life, I have a rhythm that goes something like this: Wake up. Eat. Do some yoga. Work. Eat again. Work a bit more. Sleep. Repeat. There are some weeks where I am on autopilot, and miss the daily miracles and surprises. If my life becomes a rhythm of hour after hour, day after day, week after week of busyness like this, with no play and no time outdoors, I begin to lose perspective.
How to Smooth Out a Bumpy Back to School Experience
Oh, boy, it’s that time of year again. Many of us parents and guardians have been working through our checklists, buying new shoes for our kids (who’ve been barefoot or in sandals all summer), and picking out fall clothes for kids who’ve sprouted since June. We’re smoothing the path as much as we’re able, sometimes stopping by the school beforehand for trial runs, figuring out the bus schedule and aftercare, or maybe counting down the days until school starts again.
