Many people believe they can maintain a spiritual connection with a loved one even after that person dies. Ann Arbor resident Layla Ananda says that’s true for her, too—though two of the most important people in her life were complete strangers whom she never met. Ananda started to lose her eyesight at the age of twenty-nine, but thanks to two corneal donors and a pair of contact lenses, she now enjoys 20-20 sight.
Posts filed under Local
Fair Food Network Stepped Up to Meet the Moment
As we all know, the past 18 months brought disruptions that none of us expected or could have predicted. Significantly, Covid-19 stimulated a national hunger crisis. Nearly one in four households experienced food insecurity in 2020, many for the first time in their lives, as those impacted by pandemic-related shutdowns and layoffs struggled to afford enough food for their families. This surge undercut a decade of progress in reducing food insecurity, particularly among children.
The King Family: Half a Century of Farming, Making Music, Teaching Yoga, and Building Community
The King family has been a prominent presence in the Ann Arbor and Southeastern Michigan community in a myriad of ways—as farmers, musicians, teachers, and more—for nearly fifty years. The roots of the King family and their Frog Holler Farm go back to 1971, to the founding of the Indian Summer restaurant in Ann Arbor. That’s where Indian Summer’s co-founder, co-owner, and head cook, Ken King, met Cathy Munkholm. Cathy had been hired to make salads at the restaurant and worked alongside Ken, chopping vegetables.
Friends Lake Cooperative Community: A Nature-Based and Spiritual Sanctuary
Places that hold great spiritual energy and history have a special feel to them. For decades, it has been our family practice to pause and open our windows when we turn onto the dirt road that leads into the Friends Lake Cooperative Community. This is partly to inhale the smell of the pine trees near the entrance, and partly to feel the spirit of the place, and the immediate sense of refuge and relaxation it brings us.
Crazy Wisdom Kids in the Community: Socially Conscious (And Distant) Kids’ Art & Personal Development Programs After the Toughest Parenting Year Yet
It has been a challenging year for group events, to say the least, as many kids’ programs around Ann Arbor went virtual or were suspended. The situation dragged on so long, I decided to create my own after-school program for half-grown kidlet—a mashup of virtual art programming and trying to get her out of the house and off her screen. Surprisingly, she adapted quite well to being home, so the biggest challenge was getting her moving again. I started thinking: what about all the other parents out there who are sick of researching which programs are still running or don’t have the brain space to plan enriching activities anymore? What if we came up with a plan for this year that didn’t depend on virus numbers to succeed? Here’s what I came up with. It’s pretty simple, though I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised, as I was, with some unique programs out there right now to choose from.
Local Food, Safety Precautions, and Friendly Faces: How the Ann Arbor Farmers Market Survived (and Continues to Thrive) During the Year of Covid
I first met Stefanie Stauffer, Manager for the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, while picking up food at Argus Farm Stop. I had seen her at local food events, but this was our first “hello.” I asked her if she was interested in talking about the virus and how the market has handled the challenges. Luckily, she agreed. We later had a Zoom meeting and began carving out slices of topics the public seemed curious to know. Both of us have similar backgrounds. We run small farms as well as have a vested interest in serving all people in our area with healthy, reasonably-priced food grown and produced in our own communities.
Leaps of Faith: This That, and the ODDer Things
Claire Broderick waited with the world, trying to grasp the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though she wanted so badly for 2020 to be the year she would manifest her dream of opening a retail shop filled with her collection of what she calls “uniquities,” there was reason to pause. In the meantime, she kept dreaming, researching, and collecting. Adding a taxidermy octopus here, reaching out to a bone jeweler there. She knew how important it was to persist and keep planning.
Nadim Azzam and Whip Jams: Taking a Ride with Local Musicians
In the first few seconds of the pilot episode of Whip Jams, the viewer is taken on a kaleidoscopic tour through downtown Ann Arbor that feels almost foreign in 2021: windows down, sun splashing across laughing faces, music blasting. This is not a view one might associate with the current times, but in a world where human connection feels lost, comes a Youtube video series that aims to fuel a new kind of connectedness. Nadim Azzam is many things: creator, producer, marketer, promoter, and host of Whip Jams, to name a few. But before that, or perhaps beyond that, Azzam is a musician.
Ann Arbor's Little Free Libraries: The Book Sharing Movement Goes Big-Time
When Kathleen Wright, a beloved Ann Arbor elementary school teacher and self-confessed “bookaholic,” first heard about Little Free Libraries (LFLs) in 2014, she and her husband knew immediately that they wanted to install one outside their home on the Old West Side. “I thought it was one of the most marvelous ideas I had ever heard of,” said Kathleen.
Out of My Comfort Zone, Spring 2021, Susan Westhoff and David Hall
Crazy Wisdom Journal asked a number of leaders in southeastern Michigan’s conscious living community to reflect upon times in their lives that they’ve left their comfort zones to venture out in new ways. In the distant past or much more recently, we asked, what did you do, what inspired you, did it change you, inside or outside, big or little? Did you attend a new class, take an adventurous trip, go skydiving, stretch beyond a long entrenched boundary, start a new relationship or end an old one, take a leap, retire, join the Peace Corps, go on a night trek in the wilderness, or just do something way out of your ordinary?
Crazy Wisdom Kids in the Community: Remote Programs in 2021
What programs and groups are available for kids to connect during social distancing? It’s a problem that has continued to evolve this year as conditions shift, especially for younger ones. I was concerned when after a long spring and summer in semi-quarantine, my daughter seemed a bit sedentary and missed her friends. We enjoy being home, but we’ve never been home for months on end before. So, I started looking for programs that were flexible which we could join now or through the winter.
The Whimsical World of David Zinn
If you are observant enough, careful enough, curious enough, there is an entire world underfoot waiting to be discovered. It is a world nestled in ours but unlike ours—an illusionistic wonderland etched in chalk by Ann Arbor’s neighborhood “chalk man.” It’s a reality only visible to those who are looking for it amongst the jumble of the mundane. But in this world, if you are lucky enough to stumble across it, one rule remains the same as ours: things will not, cannot, last forever. Artist David Zinn says that’s the point.
Great Tastes in Local Food, Winter 2021
Great Tastes in Local Foods. Support our local restaurants.
The Art of Sangchen Tsomo
Born in Indiana, college at University of Michigan, it was not until her mid-20s that Sangchen Tsomo encountered the Tantric Buddhist path as taught at the Tsogyelgar Dharma Center, which has been located for more than two decades on a beautiful piece of farmland a few miles west of Ann Arbor. (See the Crazy Wisdom Community Journal cover story on Tsogyelgar in Issue 64, the Fall 2016 issue, available on our Archive at: crazywisdomjournal.com.)
Preserving the Emerald Arc: The Legacy Land Conservancy Celebrates 50 Years
In 2021, the Legacy Land Conservancy will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Conservancy is a nonprofit, the first certified land trust in Michigan and one of the first in the nation, was originally named the Washtenaw Land Trust (WLT) and was founded in 1971 by a number of people in Ann Arbor to protect the Bird Hills Nature Area and other land along the Huron River. Legacy has grown from that modest beginning to holding 82 conservation easements and seven nature preserves, protecting over 9,200 acres of land in Washtenaw and Jackson Counties.
Green Living: More Than the Three R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… Rot
When thinking about ways to be more sustainable, recycling is often the first option that comes to mind. Sustainability is often presented to us in the neat and tidy rule of three: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. However, recycling should actually be viewed more as a last-ditch effort since most materials can only be recycled a few times before hitting the landfill. Instead, the focus needs to be centered around the Five R’s: Refuse unsustainable products, Reduce the amount of resources you consume, Reuse or repurpose what you can, and Recycle anything possible before jumping directly to your trash can as the easiest method of disposal.
Vestergaard Farms: Pasture-Raised Local Meats and Local Foods
This past winter I was eager to visit the newly built storefront of Vestergaard Farm, attractively situated on the farm property. Along with their farm raised meat, the store offers other goods from Matty’s Bakery in Saline, Zingerman’s coffee and treats, Calder Dairy products, The Brinery products, Aldente Pasta, Amaizin Pop Popcorn, honey, bath products, maple syrup, eggs, and many other locally sourced items.
Great Tastes in Local Food, Fall 2020
These locally-owned businesses are doing their best to accomodate pandemic restrictions and keep both customers and employees safe. While these reviews were written pre-pandemic, we’ve provided updated hours and services, but due to frequent restriction changes, please give them a call before visiting.
Hidden Gems: Green Spaces You Might Not Know About, but Need to Explore!
We’re fortunate to live in a city where nature is preserved. Over 200 parks continue to be open to the public during the pandemic in Ann Arbor, and studies have shown that being in nature makes us healthier, more creative, more empathetic, and more likely to pursue active engagement with the world around us. No wonder Gallup Park gets so crowded! If you’re looking for a quieter space to immerse yourself in nature, these three hidden gems are exceptional places to unplug.
The Grit Behind the Grange
“Join us for seasonal menus inspired by the fresh flavors of local farms and farmers’ markets.” This is the best way Grange Kitchen and Bar can describe what they provide through their inspired kitchen and bar operating in an historic building in the Old West side of town. Their style is simple and elegant, but not pretentious. There is no dress code and all are welcomed to enjoy small plates, entrees, appetizers, and desserts with unique beverages, many fueled by one of the three partners who owns Ann Arbor Distillery. From cocktails to shrimp, the Grange Kitchen and Bar’s menu is truly an homage to fresh Michigan flavors and Ann Arbor’s community custom.
