June 16, 2008



Sept. 15, 2008 | |

|The Digest |

|What’s Happening at KVCC |

What’s below in this edition

⎫ ‘About Writing’ (Pages 1/2) ⎫ The Constitution (Pages 8/9)

⎫ Fitness challenge (Pages 2/3) ⎫ Spooks galore (Page 9)

⎫ Wellness screens (Pages 3/4) ⎫ Yo-yo pro (Pages 9/10)

⎫ PTK push (Page 4) ⎫ ‘Castle’ closing (Pages 10/11)

⎫ Volunteer ‘ops’ (Page 5) ⎫ A good ‘Outlaw’ (Page 11)

⎫ ‘August the First’ (Pages 5/6) ⎫ Indian quilts (Page 12)

⎫ ‘Houses Tell All’ (Page 6) ⎫ KVM concerts (Pages 12/13)

⎫ Join Kane’s team (Page 7) ⎫ ‘Sunday Series’ (Pages 13-16)

⎫ Recycle cooking oil (Pages 7/8) ⎫ And Finally (Page 16)

☻☻☻☻☻☻

MSU poet, Tempest Williams ‘About Writing’ draws

Diane Wakoski, a figure on the national poetry scene since the 1960s, will launch KVCC’s 2008-09 “About Writing” series that will be capped off by a return visit to Kalamazoo by Terry Tempest Williams, who has earned equal notoriety for her prose on the environmental scene.

Wakoski, who was born in President Richard Nixon’s hometown of Whittier, Calif., and is now on the English faculty at Michigan State University, will be on the Texas Township Campus on Monday, Oct. 6, for a 10 a.m. presentation about her poetry and a 2 p.m. reading. Both will be held in the Student Commons, and both will be free and open to the public.

Williams is booked for a two-day stay on March 23-24. On that Monday, she will talk about her writing at 10 a.m., deliver a reading at 7 that evening, and make a pair of presentations at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the following day. All four are scheduled for the Student Commons and are open to the public. Williams, who chronicles how nature, wildlife, environmental and wilderness issues impact humanity’s physical and mental health, visited the KVCC campus in early April of 2004.

In between, KVCC English instructor Rob Haight will bring in two other wordsmiths in the four-part About Writing series:

● Anne Marie Oomen on Wednesday, Nov. 12

● David James on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Born in 1937, Wakoski is associated with the "deep image" poets, and to a lesser degree, the "confessional" and Beat poets of the 1960s. She studied her craft at the University of California – Berkeley where she participated in Thom Gunn's poetry workshops and first read many of the modernist poets who would influence her writing. She earned her bachelor’s in 1960.

Wakoski received the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award in 1989 for her book of poetry titled “Emerald Ice: Selected Poets (1962-87).” Her more than 40 publications include the four volumes of her “The Archaeology of Movies and Books” sequence written over a seven-year period in the 1990s – “Argonaut Rose,” “The Emerald City of Las Vegas,” “Jason the Sailor,” , and “Medea the Sorceress.. She is also known for a series collectively known as "The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems."

Her early work was considered part of the "deep image" movement that also included Jerome Rothenberg, Robert Kelly, and Clayton Eshleman. She cites Williams and Allen Ginsberg as influences, and her later work is more personal and conversational in the Williams mode.

Married to photographer Robert Turney, Wakoski teaches creative writing at Michigan State. One of her favorite quotes is “poetry is the art of saying what you mean but disguising it."

A published essayist as well, Wakoski has received a Fulbright fellowship, a Michigan Arts Foundation award, and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Michigan Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

A poet since the age of 7, she has held poet-in-residence positions at the California Institute of Technology, the University of Virginia, Colorado College, the University of California at Irvine, Macalester College, Lake Forest College, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Wisconsin. She also taught for three years in the mid-1960s at a junior high in New York City.

“Prior to the Terry Tempest Williams visit,” Haight said, “faculty, students and staff will be reading her latest book, ‘Finding Beauty in a Broken World.’ We wish to encourage the college community and interested members of the public to read the book before her appearances to promote a dialogue. The book is scheduled to be released in October.”

Fitness challenge seeking participants

A bettering-yourself initiative that sprang from a fitness presentation offered during Faculty Seminar Days last fall will be paying dividends to students who encounter unanticipated financial and personal hardships, and KVCC’ers can continue the venture during the 2008 fall semester.

A post-presentation conversation among instructors and staff ended in a consensus to “doing something, to challenging ourselves.”

The perfect time to start would be the beginning of a semester and the end of that semester would be equally perfect for measuring the results. The 2008 fall-semester edition is about to get under way because, according to organizers, it takes about 12 weeks to really see the results of increasing one’s physical fitness.

Ten picked up the challenge during the fall semester of 2007, while six went to the post for the winter-semester “competition.” They put their money where their workout togs were, and each anteed up $100 in prize money.

The participants – faculty, staff and even students -- decided on a win-win ending. Half of the kitty would go to the winners of categories of “competition” and the other half – some $800 – was deposited in Marilyn Schlack's presidential-discretion fund that serves as a “cookie jar” for students encountering emergency needs.

“We thought that would be good for us, and good for the students as well,” said one of the challengers who all agreed that anonymity would be the code.

Instead of seeing how fast they could run 100 yards or how much weight they could put over their heads, the challengers adopted a format that allowed any of them to win.

The measuring sticks would be sit-ups, body-fat/mass index, how far one could cover in 12 minutes on a treadmill, a stretching and flexibility reading, and pushups.

“So you don’t have to be built like a linebacker to take part,” he said. “What we do is like what happens in a golf or bowling league. It’s handicapped. Age is also factored in.”

The participants were across the board, from those who were somewhat fit to those who were not so somewhat fit.

They all began at ground zero with pre-start measurements of all of the categories. Progress was periodically measured, charted and logged by Fitness Challenge Commissioner Joe Brady, who is also sworn to secrecy.

The measured success and progress earned points, again awarded by “The Commish.” A specific number of pushups or sit-ups didn’t matter, for example. The key was improvement from where the person started.

Other than Brady’s trackings, there was no paperwork, no organization, no structure – just the individual person and the individual challenge to tone the body and mind in the realm of physical exercise.

“Sure, there was some money on the line,” said one of the participants, “but what was important was the challenge you laid on yourself to improve yourself. At the end, the questions you asked yourself: Are you better for it? Did you learn anything? My answers are yes.

“It’s all about trying to be the best we can be by challenging each other,” he said, “and in the process helping some students be and do the best they can in the classroom.”

Those who would like to join in this anonymity in the 2008 fall semester can contact Brady at extension 4877 or jbrady@kvcc.edu.

The pre-test phase will be held soon and the results will be gauged just before fall-semester exams, but prospective participants are urged to contact Brady now.

Employee-wellness assessments begin this week

Linda Howard of Holtyn and Associates will be conducting free wellness screenings and counseling from Tuesday (Sept. 16) through Oct. 30 for full-time KVCC employees and their spouses who are both new to the college’s program or continuing participants.

Beginning with the 2008-09 initiative, two key changes go into effect:

● KVCC’ers and spouses will make their own appointments through their own computer instead of making a telephone call. This can be done by going to the Holtyn website: . and following the directions.

● Appointments now span 30 minutes instead of 20, meaning the available time slots are on the hour and half hour.

Howard will be at the Arcadia Commons Campus this Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (Sept. 16-19), and shift to the Texas Township Campus from Sept. 22 through the end of October.

While payoffs in the past have focused on one’s personal and individual health, it is now starting to pay off in the pay checks of employees.

The one-on-one appointments include a glucose analysis, an HDL and cholesterol evaluation, a blood-pressure check, a body-composition reading, an assessment of cardio-respiratory fitness, an overall health survey, an individual fitness assessment, and a personal consultation.

The 30-minute screenings can be done on work time. For more information, contact Blake Glass, manager of the college’s Employee Wellness Program, at extension 4177 or bglass@kvcc.edu or Howard at 998-1609 or lbhow1@.

All full-time staff, faculty and administrators – and their spouses -- are encouraged to sign up for this college-sponsored program, even if previous screenings had not identified any health risks.

Participants should wear comfortable, loosely fitting clothing. Short-sleeve tops are recommended. Fasting is not required, but it is advised not to consume caffeinated beverages two hours prior to the assessment and to refrain from smoking.

The testing is paid for by the college.

“Our employee-wellness program has been successful in helping to control health-care costs for the college and in assisting staff members achieve their personal goals,” Glass said.

PTK chapter to begin new-member push

The KVCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society will begin its new-member drive the third week of September with letters of invitation being sent to students who meet the requirements to join.

With faculty members and instructors urged to spread the message about PTK affiliation to their students, criteria include 12 credits completed at the 100 level with an academic average of 3.5 for those courses.

The chapter will be hosting four gatherings to inform students about Phi Theta Kappa, the benefits of membership, and what the chapter does at KVCC.

Here’s the schedule:

● Tuesday, Sept. 23, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

● Wednesday, Sept 24, from 4:30 to 5:30. p.m. in Room 128C in Anna Whitten Hall.

● Wednesday, Oct. 1, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

● Thursday, Oct. 2, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

“These meeting are open to anyone,” said chapter adviser Natalie Patchell. “We will be accepting applications from invitees until Wednesday, Oct. 8, and the induction ceremony will be held on Sunday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m. in the Dale Lake Auditorium. Faculty and staff are encouraged to celebrate with us at this event.”

Feeding and housing folks in need

KVCC faculty members, staff and students in a building or food-serving mood can engage in a couple of volunteering stints this coming week.

The beneficiaries will be the Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity on Saturday (Sept. 20) and the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission on Wednesday (Sept. 17).

Prospective volunteers can park in the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission lot across from the new bus depot/train station in downtown Kalamazoo and enter through the center doors to the cafeteria no later than 4:45 p.m.

The mission is located at 448 N. Burdick St. Because they will be working in a warm kitchen, dress accordingly.

KVCC’ers will also be volunteering there on Oct. 15 and Nov. 19, same time, same station.

Participants should gather at the Habitat for Humanity Restore at 1810 Lake St. by 8:30 a.m.

Volunteers should be in their construction togs. No experience is required. Similar building sessions are booked for Oct. 18 and Nov. 15.

Volunteers can sign up on the Service Learning bulletin board for the mission and Habitat efforts. It is located in the corridor near the faculty and deans offices on the Texas Township Campus.

‘August the First’ opens film series

“August the First,” which could be described as a “Guess Who’s Coming to the Graduation Party?,” will launch the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s latest movie series on Thursday (Sept. 18).

The plot involves an African-American, middle-class, suburban family preparing to celebrate a college graduation.

Films from France, Australia, Italy, Belgium and the United States, including one that has emerged as one of the staples of the holiday season, are the Thursday-night attractions at the museum through the end of 2008 and into the new year.

Each will be shown in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. and admission is $3. Financial support for the series is provided by the KVCC Foundation.

Here are the rest of the billings:

( “Grocer’s Son” (France) – Oct. 16

( “How to Make an American Quilt” (U. S.) – Oct. 23

( “Noise” (Australia) – Oct. 30

( “Days and Clouds” (Italy) – Nov. 20

( “A Christmas Story” (U. S.) – Dec. 11

( “Ben X” (Belgium) Jan. 15.

The graduate is a member of a firmly Americanized family with ties to West Africa. Acting on his own, he orchestrates the return of his long-estranged father who lives in Nigeria. As immediate family members and friends unite to celebrate Diploma Day, guess who shows up at the front door?

The long-forgotten father resurrects unsolved family anguish against the backdrop of a festive event. As the day turns to night, the fallout begins. Old wounds are re-opened and bad habits make a comeback. Layer by layer, deceptions and half-truths are re-opened as secrets are uncovered in what will be the most unforgettable day the family has ever experienced.

“Typically,” says director/producer Lanre Olabisi, “when an African-American family is portrayed in crisis, it is usually due to slavery, poverty, drugs or gangs. While these problems do exist, they have not been balanced in cinema by the other problems plaguing all families, such as divorce, depression, or the daily difficulties of raising a family.

“The characters in ‘August the First’ are African-American,” Olabisi said, “but their story is universal. They are middle-class, centered in suburbia, and with unresolved family issues. The events at the party upset the delicate balance in which they function and send them all spinning off wildly with catastrophic results, It examines how a family manages to survive its past, and how that past is inextricably entwined with their future.”

“August the First” has been honored by top awards at the Urban World Film Festival, the San Francisco Black Film Festival, and the Philadelphia Film Festival.

‘Houses Tell All’ deadline is Sept. 19

Is your house home to some intriguing stories and interesting tidbits of history?

A special Kalamazoo Valley Museum workshop designed for families with children 8 and older will explore ways of researching and probing your home’s past to learn about the way things were when its first residents walked through the door and what has happened since then.

The free workshop is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The deadline to register is Friday (Sept. 19).

“Houses Tell All” will feature age-appropriate activities that including learning how to use local and online sources of research, and reading house plans, plat maps, military records, and city directories.

Elspeth Inglis, assistant director of the museum, said participants are urged to send old and new photos of their houses so that a panel of experts can determine when the house was built, its original architectural style, and how and why its look has changed over time.

“Participants will come away with knowledge of the tools they need to do future research and exploration on a local level,” she said. “They’ll receive packets of information on Southwest Michigan’s repositories of historical records, tip sheets on how to conduct effective historical research, and links to larger organizations such as the National Historic Preservation Commission.”

Students taking part in the workshop will learn about the museum’s connection to National History Day in which they could win prizes, including scholarships to college if they advance to state and national levels of competition.

“We would like people to send us photos of their home so they can be part of the day’s activities,” Inglis said. “It will give our panel the chance and the time to identify architectural style, date of construction, alterations made to the exterior, and how to recognize these changes.”

In addition to Inglis, among the panelists will be Sharon Ferraro, historic preservation coordinator for the city of Kalamazoo.

For more information and to register, go to or call (269) 373-7990.

Kane looking for Sept. 20 trash team

Are you appreciative of those litter-filled plastic bags you see along Michigan’s highways and freeways, and of the folks who give of their time to clean up after some people’s thoughtlessness?

You can turn appreciation into action by joining the KVCC Faculty Association in its participation in the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program.

Tim Kane, who can be reached at extension 4466, is gathering a third cadre of volunteers to clean up a section of state road on Saturday, Sept. 20..

Instructors Mark Sigfrids, Steve Walman, Natalie Patchell, Lisa Winch and Jean Snow have joined Kane at the two previous efforts.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to gather by 10 a.m. at the intersection of M-43 and M-40 west of Kalamazoo in the car-pool lot, or to share a cup of joe around 9:30 in the Outpouring Coffee Shop.

He reports that volunteers only need to bring a pair of gloves. Trash bags and safety vests will be provided.

The faculty association has received a certificate of appreciation from M-DOT and Gov. Jennifer Granholm for its 2007 willingness to take part in the program whose motto is “Pitchin’ in for Pleasant Peninsulas.”

From the deep fryer into the fuel tank

If you’re ready to dispose of that well-used cooking oil from a summer full of food preparation, think of what’s cookin’ in the automotive-technology lab.

It’s bio-diesel fuel that – through the magic of chemistry – is coming from vegetable oils that had been used to cook chicken strips, perch, turkeys, mushrooms, French fries, and jalapeno peppers.

Larry Taylor, the coordinator of the automotive program, launched the initiative to convert cooking oil into bio-diesel fuel for two major reasons.

“The No. 1 reason,” he said, “is to take a re-usable source of energy that is normally thrown away and make a fuel that can power some of the college’s fleet of vehicles and machinery, which is a money-saving venture.

“The second big reason is to use what is called the ‘Freedom Fueler’ as an educational resource,” Taylor said, “and that is already become a reality for those who are enrolled in the program in chemical technology.”

The unit, with all of its bells and whistles, filtration system, fittings, nozzles, and pumps, costs $4,400.

So what’s the payback?

The used vegetable oils – from soybeans, peanuts, seeds, etc. – have been donated by KVCC staff members and by restaurants, such as Zeb’s Trading Co. at Texas Corners.

The automotive program has to buy methanol and sodium hydroxide – which is basically lye – to catalyze the concoction.

“Let’s say we have 50 gallons of vegetable oil,” said lab manager Ted Forester. “To that, we’ll add eight to nine gallons of methanol, which costs $3.60 per gallon. A bag of sodium hydroxide is about $25, and we’ll use about 100 grams of that in the mixture.”

The result is an 80-percent conversion, or about 40 gallons of bio-diesel.

The Western Michigan University bio-diesel program sells a gallon for $3.50,” Taylor said, “while the cost is about $5 at the pump. When it’s all said and done, we come out about $150 to the good with each batch.”

“The amount of lye that we use in a batch,” Forester said, “depends on what the oil was used to cook and how often it was used, because that affects the acidity. The sodium hydroxide tempers the acid content.”

KVCC chemistry instructor Rick Margelis is among those providing the knowledge to get the batches “just right.”

“If you use too much lye (sodium hydroxide), you get soap,” Forester said. “If you don’t use enough, you end up with a worthless jelly. Rick has been providing the knowhow to help us determine the oil’s acid content by titration and thus use the right amount.”

Forester explained that the lye is compounded with the methanol prior to the two substances being added to the oil in the processing vat.

The next step in the process is equally interesting.

The chemistry produces biodiesel fuel and glycerin. Those two are allowed to settle and be separated. However, the bio-diesel still needs to be “cleaned” of suspended glycerin and other “nasties,” and that cleaning is done by water out of the tap.

“You add the water and shake it up,” Forester said. “The water cleans the fuel and takes the suspended solids down to the bottom of the container. You let it set for a day or two, and the liquid is crystal-clear bio-diesel. The congealed stuff at the bottom is basically soap, and can be flushed down the drain.”

The converter is obviously a teaching tool for students in the automotive-technology program who want to become familiar with alternative fuels.

“But the bonus is coming from students in chemical technology,” Taylor said. “This is very effective cross-discipline instruction. The chemistry students are able to see how the theory is proven out in practice and reality.”

"We are very excited to work on the biodiesel project with the auto lab,” said Jessica Lerette, a coordinator in the chemistry lab, “because it allows us to apply our knowledge of chemistry to a practical application in this time where alternative fuel sources are becoming more prevalent." Lab assistants Danielle Michalek and Phillip Pearson are also involved in the bio-diesel venture.

Forester said the glycerin residue is no longer going down the drain either. While it can play a very effective role in back-yard composting, the auto-lab folks are taking steps to use it as a cleansing agent.

Two films spotlight U. S. Constitution

A pair of KVCC instructors will be showing a documentary film as part of the national observance of Constitution Day on Wednesday (Sept. 17).

While the two showings in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater at 10 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. will be part of the history and political science courses taught by Kevin Dockerty and Jay Gavan, both are open to the public and free.

“The film will broadly explore constitutional issues and the functioning of American democracy through the perspective of history and recent elections,” Gavan said. Examined will be the election in Missouri that was held to fill the congressional seat of U. S. Rep. Richard Gephardt after he retired from office.

On Sunday (Sept. 21) the Stryker Theater will be showing “Saving the National Treasures,” an account of how a team of conservators, engineers and historians worked to save the Declaration of Independence and other original documents that are being ravaged by time. This 3 p.m. presentation is also free.

Haunted-house volunteers ready for goosebump duties

A cadre of KVCC volunteers will be scaring the bejeebers out of people for a good cause.

Dean Debbie Dawson has been looking for faculty and staff members, along with their families and friends, to have some fun at the notorious haunted house in Niles on a couple of upcoming evenings.

Stepping forward so far has been Jim Taylor, Lois Brinson, Mary Kay Pobocik, Kathleen Cook, Sue Hills and work-study Korin Seals, who is active in the PeaceJam initiative on campus. Seals, a Plainwell High School graduate, is enrolled in a pre-med curriculum.

The money raised will be placed in an Ambucs account that is designated to help Cook stay up to date with her handicap-driving capabilities.

The KVCC contingent has been assigned to haunted-house ) duties on Friday (Sept. 19) from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 25, from 6:30 p.m. to closing time after midnight. Volunteers can still sign up for the second goosebump-causing gig.

Dawson can be contacted at ddawson@kvcc.edu or at extension 4219.

Yo-yo pro to entertain kids, families

If you’re a skilled yo-yo’er, what goes down must come up, and one of the best will be demonstrating his talents at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

Opening the fall-semester schedule of doubleheader performances targeted for pre-schoolers and families on Saturday, Oct. 4, will be yo-yo master Paul Kyprie whose stage name is Zeemo.

His tailored performance for pre-schoolers is set for 10 a.m. while a family audience is the target at 1 p.m. Tickets are $3 and seating in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater is limited.

The series continues on Nov. 1 with magician Thomas Plunkard and on Dec. 6 with storyteller Carrie Wilson.

Kyprie has been a yo-yo pro since 1987 and mixes his ability with that popular toy with adeptness as a juggler.

Crowned the yo-yo champ of Ann Arbor in 1961, Kyprie a decade later won the yo-yo contest that was held at the University of Michigan as part of the fall homecoming festivities. He’s now based in Whitmore Lake, a small community north of Ann Arbor.

As he performs throughout Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, as Zeemo, he brings with him a mobile museum of vintage and specialty yo-yos and tops. His memorabilia spans yo-yos over three-quarters of a century. In that capacity, he incorporates into his presentations the history of the yo-yo and the scientific principles behind spinning.

Kyprie, who has been booked into Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum more than 20 times, tailors his performances for audiences in libraries and museums, fairs and festivals, school assemblies, scouting groups and for corporations.

Kyprie said the origin of his nickname can be traced to a fraternity brother during his senior year at the University of Michigan. Because Kyprie has always been interested in magic and was trying out new tricks, he was christened “Zeemo the Magnificent” and the moniker stuff.

Unable to find a teaching job after his graduation, Kyprie fell back on his skills as a trampolinist, having won a pair of NCAA championships in that event for the university’s team.

“I got a call from a guy who offered me a job doing trampoline shows in skills,” he said. “Pun intended, I jumped at the chance and did that until 1982 when I switched to magic, juggling and yo-yos.”

Sunday ends stay of ‘The Amazing Castle’

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum stay of a fantasy medieval castle and village from days of yore, which serve as venues for defining what “community” is all about in contemporary times, will come to an end on Sunday (Sept. 14).

            “The Amazing Castle” is targeted to entertain youngsters from toddlers to pre-teens, while at the same time delivering messages about the collaborating roles people play in the success of a community.  It is free and bilingual. 

            To complement the exhibit, Sunday-afternoon documentaries in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater have focused on the Middle Ages and the way things were.  Free and scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m., the last one is set for Sept. 21 and takes a look at the remnants of medieval Great Britain.

            So, what’s in “The Amazing Castle” for adults?

            Conceived and created by the Minnesota Children’s Museum in St. Paul, the eight themes of “The Amazing Castle” and their hands-on activities allow plenty of opportunities for family and friends to be entertained by watching children use their creative energies and imaginations. 

The youngsters are actually experiencing village life through the perspectives of characters working together to throw a castle party.

            “The Amazing Castle” and its magical role-playing as lords and ladies, carpenters, cooks, gardeners, tailors and seamstresses, entertainers, blacksmiths, and builders will be welcoming visitors in downtown Kalamazoo into mid-September.

While no moat is involved, the slowly meandering Arcadia Creek flanks the exhibition’s home for those three months.

            The special duties and roles of the characters will be explored and experienced as visitors make their way through a variety of workshops in the castle village.

Instead of individual pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the activities make the points that a community consists of different kinds of people, and for that community to succeed, people must help each other solve problems and work toward achieving common goals.

            An important role in “The Amazing Castle” is that of the town crier.  But this newscaster comes in the form of “Herald the Dragon,” a creature feature that has a tendency to fall asleep on the job.

            However, the child participants and their families can get “Herald” to deliver the latest news and make castle-wide announcements by solving an electronic matching puzzle that sends the dragon a wake-up call. 

“Herald” will rise from the top of a tower and tell the world what he knows.

            “The Amazing Castle” can launch children into “a world of dramatic play and imagination” as they and their families become inhabitants “of a fanciful castle village and playfully explore ideas related to community life.”

            Donning costumes as they assume roles, they can:

● Harvest fresh ingredients from the castle’s garden and become a cook mixing a mouth-watering stew in the Great Hall’s cauldron.

● Capture the creativity of a carpenter in constructing a small chair.

● Build a small fortress out of lightweight “stone.:

● Try their “hands” as purveyors of entertainment as puppeteers and court jesters.

            The exhibit’s design creates the impression of stepping into a time machine and dialing up the Middle Ages in a playful way. 

Arches, towers, split-beam construction, hand-cut stone walls, and heraldic symbols abound.

            “The impression of a small, bustling village within castle walls,” a promotional brochure  states, “is attained by assembling a group of structures related to the basic functions of a community – working, eating, playing – and making them quickly identifiable.  Life-sized images of rather comical castle residents stationed in the doorways and at work further the perception of being in a village or community,” and that it is time for a little fun.

            Joining with the museum in St. Paul in supporting the creation of “The Amazing Castle” was the Curtis and Marjorie Nelson and The Curtis L. Carlson Family Foundation, along with the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) Foundation Inc.

KVCC’s ‘Outlaw’ hopes to steal a victory Saturday

There will be a KVCC connection when the Kalamazoo Outlaws take the field against the Ohio Knights in the second round of the Great Lakes Football League playoffs Saturday evening (Sept. 13).

One of the running backs on the first-year semi-pro squad is Calvin Edwards, an automotive technology major who is also serving as a work-study for Matt Dennis, KVCC’s recruiting specialist.

The Outlaws earned a trip to the 6 p.m. tussle in Maumee, Ohio, with a come-from-behind victory against the Lake Shore Cougars on their Kalamazoo home turf. Down 15-3, the Outlaws rallied for a 29-21 win on Sept. 9.

Edwards, in his second year at KVCC, played running back for the Loy Norrix Knights during the 1996-97 season after transferring from Kalamazoo Central. According to the Outlaws’ web site, the 5-foot-10 speedster scored four touchdowns during the regular season, toting the pigskin 60 times and gaining 557 yards in the process.

The Kalamazoo entry compiled a 7-3 mark during the season, while the maulers from Maumee were 8-2 in the eight-team loop.

According to one of the blockers for the Outlaws, Edwards has been making the offensive line “look good with his outstanding play. He's not one of those guys who’s going to run east and west. He's going to hit that hole with a purpose and just take it.''

Edwards told the interviewer he has been slowed by a sprained knee and ankle, but believes the team is learning “a lot about itself during the playoffs. I don't think we know how good we are yet, but we're clicking a lot better now then we were in the beginning of the year.''

Quilts by Great Lakes tribes go on display Sept. 20

Quiltmaking, not indigenous to the culture of Native Americans, became an acquired skill as their contacts with European colonists and adventurers expanded through the centuries.

Quilts conceived and created by members of Great Lakes tribes and the artists who made them will be featured in a first-floor exhibition at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum that opens on Saturday (Sept. 20) and runs through Jan. 25.

Organized by the Michigan State University Museum, it is the first exhibition devoted to North American Indian quilting in the Great Lakes region.

Of the various Indian art forms that resulted from contact primarily with Europeans, quiltmaking is perhaps the least well known. The skill was first learned through contact with those who possessed commercially manufactured cloth and steel needles. Traders, missionaries, government agents and settlers all played roles in introducing quilting fabrics and techniques.

The native peoples became adept at quilting and began to use quilts for purposes unique to their own cultures. They had already mastered similar craft forms, such as fabricating tapa cloth (made from pounded bark) and hide garments, and embellishing these garments and other objects by embroidering with porcupine quills and moose hair.

Quilts have been used in nearly every native community for daily purposes such as bed coverings, shelter coverings, infants’ swing cradles, weather insulation, and providing a soft place to sit on the ground. Quilts can also play important roles in tribal ceremonies, the honoring of individuals, and other activities.

This free exhibition examines the historical introduction of quilting as well as the contemporary use and meaning of quilts made by Oneida, Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Mohawk, Cree, Winnebago and Menominee quiltmakers living in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, and Ontario.

It showcases the diversity of Indian quiltmaking and pays tribute to the artists who continue to work in this expressive cultural medium.

The 16 quilts in the exhibition are primarily drawn from the Michigan State University Museum collection with additional loans from other private and public collections.

Among them are these quilts: (75-by-66 inches) made by an Odawa woman in 1912 in Ahgosatown in Michigan’s Leelanau County; (60-by-60 inches) made by Alice Olsen Williams (Anishnabe) in 1991 in Peterborough, Ontario; (87-by-74 inches) made in 1985 by Alice Fox, Rita Corbiere and Floyd Fox (Ojibwe) on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, and in Sault Ste. Marie; (86-by-76 inches) made in the 1960s and 1970s by Agnes Shawanessi (Odawa) in Harbor Springs; and (75 inches square) made around 1990 by Rita Fairbanks (White Earth Chippewa) in Sault Ste. Marie.

The exhibit also includes photographs of quilters and quilting activities, biographical sketches of contemporary quilters, explanatory text panels, and four contextual settings that visually demonstrate the uses of quilts in Great Lakes native communities, both historically and today.

Mark Duval first performer in concert series There’s a rhythm to the Rustbelt and Kalamazoo-based singer/composer Mark Duval believes he has captured it.

An audience at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum will be able to judge for itself when he kicks off the 2008-09 series of concerts in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater on Thursday, Oct. 2. Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. performance are $5 and seating is limited.

Booked through the end of this calendar year are 2008 Fretboard Festival bassist Ben Luttermoser on Nov. 6 and the Jim Cumming Band on Dec. 4.

Duval is no stranger to performing in the up-close-and- personal, 84-seat, surround-sound Stryker Theater where the artists are close enough to reach out and touch, as opposed to a Rolling Stones concert in which there is a good chance to be seated in the next time zone or area code.

A guitarist who frequently adds to his takes with a harmonica, he’s normally accompanied by guitarist/vocalist Traci Seuss, trumpeter John Foster, bassists Larry Lowis and Alec Johnston, and Scott Dill or Adam Jones on the drums. Many of them were featured on Duval’s 2008 debut CD, “Rhythm of the Rustbelt.” Johnston, Jones and Foster are graduates of the Western Michigan University School of Music.

Duval's music is described as earthy and eclectic, with haunting melodies, swinging rhythms, and compelling lyrics delivered with soulful vocal harmonies. The instrumentation and style are continually varied, taking the listener along on a scenic ride, through the dark alleys and backroads of life in the Rustbelt. One reviewer used terms such as “pretty harmonies,” “raunchy rhythms,” and “soulful beltings.”

Mixing folk, rock and blues over more than 20 years of exploring musical genres, Duval and his style evoke images of Neil Young and Bob Dylan. His lyrics tell stories that are full of symbolic imagery. His second CD was titled “Two-Track Mind” and was released in January of 2007.

He is a frequent guest on “Grassroots,” a regular feature on WMUK. Other recent bookings have included O’Duffy’s Pub, Martini’s, the New Holland Brewing Co., Webster’s in the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites, and Harvey’s. Duval is also booked for the Cooper’s Glen Music Festival next Jan. 10.

Israel’s fatal trek opens ‘Sunday Series’

The story of the 19th-century Kalamazooan whose name is on the roster of explorers who died on treks to the Arctic in the name of science is the opening installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s “Sunday Series” 2008-09 presentations about the history of Southwest Michigan.

“Edward Israel: Kalamazoo’s Arctic Pioneer” is the Sept. 14 attraction at 1:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

Free and open to the public, the presentation by Tom Dietz, the museum’s curator, will trace Israel’s interest in that little-explored portion of the planet and what happened on the ill-fated journey.

Dietz will make all of the 2008-09 presentations with the exception of the second one.

On Sept. 28, Marlene Francis, a former member of the Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees, will use her new book marking the institution’s 175th anniversary as the basis for her perspectives on “Kalamazoo College: 175 Years of Academic Excellence.”

Israel was a senior at the University of Michigan when he learned about a scientific expedition to the Arctic being organized by Lt. Adolphus Greely.

Greely was seeking somebody trained in astronomy and math to be part of a U. S. government-sponsored expedition to set up a post on Ellesmere Island in Lady Franklin Bay at the top of Canada’s territories, a few miles west of the coast of Greenland and 500 miles south of the North Pole.

It was to be the northernmost station of a ring of 12 that were to be maintained by nations taking part in the first International Polar Year. Israel was so highly thought of that the then 21-year-old Kalamazooan was awarded his diploma prior to the normal graduation time.

Israel left Kalamazoo on April 28, 1881, leaving a skeptical and worried mother behind, and was sworn into the U. S. Army Signal Corps when he arrived in Washington three days later. With a rank of sergeant, he would be earning $100 monthly.

The rest of the 25-member party, with the exception of the expedition’s surgeon, were hardened military veterans with tough frontier duty on their resumes. Only the doctor and Israel had college degrees.

By mid-June and with Israel nearing his 22nd birthday, they were steaming to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and then, via a commercial sealing ship, bound for Lady Franklin Bay and dry land where the 25 built a sturdy structure that they hoped, with ample supplies, would be a safe and warm sanctuary for the next two years.

The expedition spent the next 24 months in pursuit of scientific data. Despite the bitter cold, Greely’s group sent a party the farthest north that anyone had reached up to that time.

The first sign of trouble came when a supply ship failed to get through the ice in the summer of 1882.

When the sun disappeared that Oct. 14, it would not appear again until the end of February. Those rays of light were measured in minutes at first, then in hours, and finally, for 20 weeks, there was no night at all.

But even in the dog days of summer, the temperature never reached 40 degrees. At its coldest, the adventurers survived 40 degrees below zero.

Rations were supplemented by hunts of wild musk oxen, seals and ducks. On each man’s birthday, he was issued a quart of rum, which was passed around by each celebrant.

By August of 1883 with “summer” beginning to wane, Greely knew that his party had to retreat southerly if a calamity was to be avoided. They loaded their remaining supplies in small boats and headed for Cape Sabine where they anticipated finding a cache of supplies. Behind them was a shelter that had did its job well for two Arctic years.

They almost completed the 225-mile voyage. Within sight of the destination, their boats froze in the ice and they were trapped for days.

According to historical accounts, it was Israel’s astronomical calculations that revealed, because of the northern flow of the ice, they were actually going nowhere in their southbound trek.

The band caught a break when the current shifted and land was reached after 24 days adrift on the ice. With rations dwindling, men were sent to Cape Sabine. The relief ship there had also been crushed by the ice and sent to the bottom. Its crew was lucky enough to escape, and left about 1,000 rations - a few hundred pounds of edibles.

That food, plus any game they were fortunate to kill, would have to sustain 25 men over the next nine months. They built a 25-by-18-foot enclave out of chunks and chips of stone and rocks. With a framework of boat oars, the ceiling was a stretched canvas sail. On top of that was a whaleboat.

Borrowing the native technology of the Eskimos, they layered blocks of snow to keep out fierce gales that took the wind-chill factor to 100 degrees below zero.

The daily food ration shrunk to one-fifth the normal size. Things to burn were few and far between. Drinking water became scarce. They managed to shoot a bear and an arctic fox for food. More often than not, their “meals” were seaweed and sea lice that were each the size of a grain of wheat. The amount of nourishment in those entrees matched the temperature outside.

The first man died of starvation on Jan. 17, 1884. With survival instincts out of control, there were accounts of stealing rations from fellow crewmen, robbing the food store, and cannibalism. The fellow caught stealing food was shot by Greely.

It was May 6 when Israel wrote his last letter to his mother. Greely had listed him as being “in a very bad way” on April 18, but he clung to life while his colleagues died one by one. It was reported that Israel “died very easily” about 3 a.m. on May 27 and was buried under a few inches of gravel.

Only three weeks later, the seven survivors, thinking that the gale-force winds would collapse what was left of their shelter, heard the sound of running feet. They were rushed to the rescue ship where, embraced by warm blankets, they enjoyed real food. While one of the seven died on the way home, Greely was among those who were able to relate the terrible ordeal.

Israel’s sealed casket arrived in Kalamazoo on Aug. 11, 1884. Some 3,000 mourners gathered at the Michigan Central Railroad depot to pay their respects to a “worthy, brave and noble-hearted son of Kalamazoo.”

Stores closed, and police, firemen and city officials escorted the horse-drawn hearse from the depot to the home of Tillie Israel in the 500 block of West Michigan Avenue where the closed casket lay in state.

Israel is buried in Mountain Home Cemetery where, in 1972, a state historical marker was placed in his honor.

The October schedule for the “Sunday Series” includes “Toys and Games from Kalamazoo” on Oct. 12 and “Murders Most Foul: Notorious Murders in Kalamazoo” on Oct. 26.

The lone billing in November will be “Four Corners of Kalamazoo County” that sheds light on the crossroad settlements that dotted this part of the sate in the 19th century. It is set for Nov. 9.

The 2008 finale will be “Things of History” on Dec. 14 as Dietz tells the stories behind some of the museum’s more intriguing artifacts.

Here’s the line-up for the first half of 2009:

♦ “Charlie Hays: Home Builder” on Jan. 11.

♦ “Where the Streets Got Their Names” on Jan. 25.

♦ “The Michigan Land Survey” on Feb. 8 looks at the origins of the mapping of what had been the Michigan Territory.

♦ “The Sins of Kalamazoo Were Scarlet and Crimson” on Feb. 22 recounts the city’s red-light districts and speakeasies during Prohibition

♦ “The Velvelettes” on March 8 - the Kalamazoo connections to Motown

♦ “Famous Visitors to Kalamazoo” on March 22 - notables, celebrities and politicians who have come to this community for a variety of reasons.

♦ “Red Terror in Kalamazoo: The 1948 Shakespeare Strike” on April 26.

For more information, contact Dietz at 373-7990 or visit the museum’s website at .

And finally. . .

Under the pressure of meeting a deadline, these headlines seemed like a good idea at the time – but on second thought:

● Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter – Quite the trick

● Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says – Oh really?

● Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers – Is it hard to hit a moving target?

● Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over -- What a guy!

● Miners Refuse to Work after Death -- No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's!

● Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant – Will that work any better than a fair trial!

● War Dims Hope for Peace – No kidding!

● If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile – Another ‘no kidding!’

● Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures – Well, I’ll be!

● Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide -- They may be on to something.

● Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges -- You mean there's something stronger than duct tape.

● Man Struck By Lightning, Faces Battery Charge -- He probably IS the battery charge.

● New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group -- Weren't they fat enough?

● Kids Make Nutritious Snacks -- Do they taste like chicken?

● Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half – It’s the Texas Chainsaw Massacre all over again!

● Hospitals Are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors – Did they play on the basketball team while going to med school?

● Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead – Must have been where “Night of the Living Dead” was filmed.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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