Feature Stories December 2006
Arts & Entertainment | Northern Living | Our Town
Education | Generation Why | Food | Well-Being | Faith
Arts & Entertainment
Local Arts & Entertainment is updated every Friday and occasionally during the week. We post only a few Arts & Entertainment stories. For complete coverage of the area entertainment scene, pick up a copy of the Record-Eagle's print edition every Friday.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Heartland headlines the Governor's Hall New Year's Eve party at Grand Traverse Resort and Spa. Kung Fu Diesel is also playing.
HEAVY METAL TO JITTERBUG JAZZ
NYE parties a' plenty
TRAVERSE CITY — Where will you be when the ball drops? If the answer is out and about in northern Michigan, then choices abound for food, music and entertainment at resorts, clubs and bars across the region.
- In today's print edition: A look back at food in 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Special to the Record-Eagle
Seth Bernard performs with Daisy May at Crooked Tree arts Center in Petoskey tonight for the first day of the winter solstice.
SOLSTICE CELEBRATION
Crooked Tree hosts music, film, workshops
PETOSKEY — On the first day of solstice, my true love gave to me: a folk concert at a Crooked Tree. Petoskey's Crooked Tree Arts Center will host the first annual Solstice Celebration for Life and Peace today and Saturday.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Tim Smith — also known as Buck Wilder — has released three more of his children’s outdoor books.
COULD IT GET ANY WILDER?
Buck Wilder book series explores new media
TRAVERSE CITY — Life couldn't get much wilder, or more enjoyable, for Tim Smith and his alter-ego Buck Wilder of his popular children's outdoor book series. Smith, who was surprised by the success of his first book 10 years ago, has had his three latest books released in the last two months.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
The female thorny stick will be in an exhibit titled “A Terrible Beauty” debuting Sunday at the Dennos Museum Center.
GOING BUGGY AT DENNOS
Exhibit of insects in patterns enough to create wonder — or repulsion
TRAVERSE CITY — From a distance, it looks like patterned wallpaper. Get closer, and you just may want to call an exterminator.
Friday, December 1, 2006
Traverse Symphony Orchestra presents an annual favorite, "Home for the Holidays," in Traverse City's Lars Hockstad Auditorium Dec. 8-10.
ORCHESTRA
TSO brings holidays home
TRAVERSE CITY — Green Bay Symphony Orchestra music director Bridget-Michaele Reischl will call another bay home for a weekend as she conducts the Traverse Symphony Orchestra's annual "Home for the Holidays” concert. Maestra Reischl will lead the orchestra, as well as several guest performers and groups.
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Northern Living
The Northern Living section runs every Sunday in the Record-Eagle.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Carol, left, is overcome with emotion after describing missing future moments with her family and enduring a day of pain caused by a tumor. She is comforted by registered nurse Nancy Patterson. Carol was re-diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last January and was given six to 12 months to live.
THE 12th MONTH
Prognosis runs out,
but time doesn't
Carol never thought she'd see Christmas. She was sure that once cold weather hit, she would be gone. Last January, she got the news that the lung cancer she had fought during the previous two years was back. She wasn't about to go through chemo and radiation or anymore tests. Given that, her doctor told her she had six to 12 months left. She went home to die, but kept on living, as best as she could. First in a two-part series.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Record-Eagle/
Douglas Tesner
The Ford family enjoys many simple traditions that they feel brings their family together at the holidays.
KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Taking time for small moments at the holidays
TRAVERSE CITY — Like a jackhammer, the constant beat of shopping, baking and partying can make Christmas a real headache for some. The key to infusing meaning back into December, said one local psychologist, is to step away from the madness and make time for reflection, prayer and family.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Record-Eagle readers share the personalized holiday greetings they are sharing this year. Maudie and Chuck Anderson's card could be a Record-Eagle greeting as well.
SAY IT WITH PICTURES
Holiday greetings get personal in digital age
More and more, people are taking their Christmas cards into their own hands. Sending cards featuring a personal picture as opposed to the traditional store-bought variety has become commonplace. The Record-Eagle asked readers to send in the pictures they have used or will send as Christmas cards. Here is a sampling.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Record-Eagle/
Kevin Johnston
Temple manager Tom Johnson with his children, Jeremiah and Anne, at Temple B'Nai Isreal in Petoskey.
KEEPING THE FAITH
Area jews try hard to preserve traditions
hen she moved to northern Michigan, Wendy Weckstein traded a large synagogue with daily services and activities for a tiny one with about 50 families and a part-time rabbi. But instead of weakening her Jewish identity, it strengthened it, she said.
-
In today's print edition: Couple creates Christmas in the living room
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Doug Coone will be participating in his office Secret Santa gift exchange for the second year. Other co-workers at the AAA Traverse City Office on U.S. 31 are, from left, Erin Blankenship, Jean Cummings, Mitzi Gibbard and Doreen Olszewski.
IT'S A SECRET ...
Office gift exchanges offer fun at the holidays
A Christmas ritual, Secret Santa games help bring employees closer together and heighten the fun of the season in office settings. At AAA, where the touring, travel, sales and claims departments often work independently, it's a way to cross lines — both real and figurative.
-
In today's print edition: Author perpetuates pioneer spirit
To browse older Northern Living stories,
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Our Town
The Our Town section runs every Thursday in the Record-Eagle.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Brothers Austin, 14, and Grayson Lowe, 10, refinished a dresser someone had thrown out three years ago. Since then, the two have turned discarded items into crafts that they sell to family and friends.
LITTLE RASCALS
Brothers take recycling to entrepreneurial level
TRAVERSE CITY — Three years ago, 7-year-old Grayson and 11-year-old Austin Lowe hit the jackpot. Figuring they could create items for sale as nice as some of the things they saw at the antique shows their parents took them to, they got a small loan, bought a small vintage vanity and mirror set at a garage sale for $35 and cleaned it up. Three weeks later, it sold for $175.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Record-Eagle/
Jan-Michael Stump
It takes Dale and Sandy Herman several weekends to put up all the lights on and around their Bingham Township home.
ALIGHT WITH LOVE FOR CHRISTMAS
How one family's holiday ligth display has grown
For Suttons Bay resident Dale Herman, the hunt for outdoor Christmas decorations is a year-round hobby. He incorporates his finds into a holiday lawn display that has been causing jaws to drop for the last two decades. "We started out about 20 years ago with a big star that we built and put on the peak of our house that you could see from M-22,” said Herman.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Record-Eagle/
Jan-Michael Stump
Rolling stock cars on display at the Northern Michigan Railroad Club's fourth annual swap meet and sale.
MEN, WOMEN AND THEIR TOYS
Model railroading a passion for many
TRAVERSE CITY — Maybe it's the miniature engines that belch lifelike "steam,” or the miniature towns and villages they chug past on their way to nowhere. Whatever the appeal of model railroading, Paul DeLange has been a slave to it all his life. Now his collection of large-scale trains and accessories is so extensive that he uses a trailer to haul it in.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Michael Harries, 10, left, and Chris Bell help a student cross 13th and Oak near Glenn Loomis Elementary earlier this fall. Fourth through sixth grade students at Glenn Loomis participate in the Blue Crew Service Squad, which has them rotate through various service jobs at the school, including safety patrol.
SERVICE WITH A SMILE
Students learn value of volunteerism early on
An innovative program at Glenn Loomis Elementary has kids pitching in to help their school, no bribery required.
To browse older Our Town stories,
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Education
The Education section runs every Tuesday in the Record-Eagle.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Allison Hock arrives home from the University of Michigan, where she is a freshman. Her boyfriend, Lance Dillon, and a friend, Dominic Merica, drove her home.
HOME SWEET HOME?
College students have mixed feelings at break
TRAVERSE CITY — When Jack Pettyjohn came home after being away for his first semester at Loyola University in Chicago, something didn't feel right. "I hadn't been home for three months, and I walked in and it was just weird,” Jack said.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Sam Hauxwell prepares a shrimp dish in a culinary arts class at Northwestern Michigan College's Great Lakes Culinary Institute.
COMMITMENT TO THE FUTURE
Program helps get students on college track
TRAVERSE CITY — Rebecca Walton is an actress, an Old Town Playhouse volunteer and a top theater student at Northwestern Michigan College. She's also the first generation in her family to go to college — a fact that helped the Bellaire High School graduate earn a free ride as an NMC commitment scholar.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Special to the Record-Eagle/Garret Ellison
Northwestern Michigan College English instructors Dr. Mark Howell graded a five-page, custom-written essay purchased from TermPaperRelief.com. He said the paper would receive a failing grade, and that there would be additional consequences for any student discovered to have bought one.
TERM PAPERS TO GO
Online essay grade:
‘D’ for don’t buy them
They're known as "essay mills” — hundreds of Web companies that promise papers penned by "Ph.D-holding ex-professors,” written in a format dictated by students with sources they specify. The Record-Eagle sat down with Northwestern Michigan College English instructors Dr. Mark Howell and Dr. John Mauk and had them grade a five-page essay purchased from TermPaperRelief to see if the text would pass muster.
To browse older Education stories,
see our Features Archive
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Generation Why
In our monthly Generation Why feature, area teens write about their takes on life. Published the first Tuesday of every month, October through June. [SUBMISSION INFORMATION]
December 4, 2006
Editor's note: Today's Generation Why is devoted to a collection of articles written by eighth-graders in Norm Schichtel's class at Buckley School. They were all written with the idea of entering an "America and Me” essay contest sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance, with the theme "My American Hero.”
Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Marie Mariani, right, with her foster mother Nancy Middaugh. Mariani describes Middaugh as "always being there for me."
GENERATION WHY
Foster Mom is Super Hero
My American Hero is not a superstar or known to everyone, but she is someone that I can call my American hero. That person is my foster mom, Nancy Middaugh. She is the most kind-hearted person I know. She has taught me many things, especially to feel good about myself.
To browse older Generation Why sections,
see our Features Archive
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Food
The Food section runs every Monday in the Record-Eagle.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Dan Kelly of Catering by Kelly’s and the Williamsburg Showcase Dinner Theater prepares fondue using emmentaler and gruyere cheese.
NEW YEAR'S EVE
Celebrate New Year's with an appetizer buffet
TRAVERSE CITY — Celebrating the First Night at home with friends and family is hardly a 50-yard dash to the midnight hour. Keeping the mood up and the eyes open means one thing: food, and lots of it.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Nancy Billingsley's buffet table is decorated with a Christmas tree, miniature angels, reindeer and many other items as she prepares for her Christmas party.
BEAUTY OF A BUFFET
Dress up holiday spread with special dishes, decorations
Dec. 21 may be the boys' night out downtown, but for Nancie Billingsley and friends, it's all about the girls having fun. In its second year, Billingsley's "Girls Night In” party is a bona fide Christmas buffet, replete with gourmet hors d'oeuvres, over-the-top holiday décor, and — naturally — lots of laughs.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Stathis Stamatakis, left, and Melpo (Melpomeni) Kavadella are native to the Mediterranean country Greece. The two share the traditional holiday treat Christ bread.
IN TODAY'S PRINT EDITION
Greek holiday customs
are all about family, food
One of Stathis Stamatakis's strongest Christmas memories while growing up on Crete is of his family preparing a pig in December — a pig they had begun fattening in September.
Monday, December 4, 2006
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
IN TODAY'S PRINT EDITION
Looks good — and tastes good, too
If there is anything that can make the holidays brighter and more festive, it's a colorful jumble of homemade cookies. You probably think that a chef would have some fancy recipes up her sleeve, but my contribution to Christmas cookie exchanges was always gingerbread cutouts.
To browse older Food articles,
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Well-Being
The Well-Being section runs every Wednesday in the Record-Eagle.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
The Washington Post
Lasik is the most common corrective eye surgery.
MATURITY BECOMES LASIK
New approaches create larger pool of candidates
WASHINGTON — Linette Hwu had been warned by doctors that she was not a candidate for laser eye surgery: Her corneas were too thin, her pupils too large, and she was extremely nearsighted. The 33-year-old lawyer for Discovery Communications said she had resigned herself to being permanently tethered to the glasses she had worn since third grade.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Gail Koenig assists Steph Sutherland with her monthly planner. Koenig is the program director for Community Links, a company that provides support services to adult patients recovering from brain and spinal injuries.
FILLING IN THE BLANKS
Company helps adults regain independence
TRAVERSE CITY — As an experienced rehabilitation nurse, Julie Smith recognized a decade ago that there were gaps in the process of returning patients to independence following a traumatic injury, such as an auto accident.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Special to the Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Nichole Warner opened Unity Fair Trade Marketplace and Gathering Space using inspiration from her daughter, Sierra, who died in a tragic accident.
THE RESILIENCE FACTOR
How some people overcome adversity
TRAVERSE CITY — Walk into Nichole Warner's downtown store — there is life and joy here. The lime green and mandarin walls, tribal music, and exotic aromas infuse Unity Fair Trade Marketplace, a fair trade gift store, with happiness. But just two years ago, the single mother's life was plunged into a nightmare.
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Rob Frears analyzes computer data for Estelle Slater's Medicare Part D at the Traverse City Senior Center. "It's stressful," Slater, a resident of Traverse City, said. "I want him (Frears) to make the decision." Frears smiled and replied "And I'm not going to do it."
THE TIME IS NOW
Seniors must make decision on Medicare
TRAVERSE CITY — Agencies serving senior citizens here say they are concerned that the area's 55,000 older adults aren't getting the message. About Medicare Part D, that is.
To browse older Well-Being stories,
see our Features Archive
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Faith
The Faith section runs every Saturday in the Record-Eagle.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
The Associated Press
Rebecca Sachs Norris is a Merrimack College professor who co-authored a paper on religious games and toys.
GAMES FOR THE FAITHFUL
Religious-themed toys
gain market share
The "crazy, crazy Jewish fun” of Kosherland looks a lot like the board game Candy Land, except gefilte fishing substitutes for visits to the Ice Cream Sea. The market for religious board games and toys like these is tiny, and a bit quirky. But sales numbers indicate demand is growing.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Special to the Record-Eagle
GRETCHEN MURRAY
The Year I Got
Wise To Christmas
As a religion writer, I am a fraud when it comes to Christmas. For all the stories I have told over the years about people reaching out to share its real meaning, I'm the one who has been pushing endless carts of must-have, materialistic stuff through the checkouts since early October.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Mazie Hirono
Keith Ellison
RELIGIOUS FIRSTS IN CONGRESS
Newly elected lawmakers break ground in D.C.
The new Congress will, for the first time, include a Muslim, two Buddhists, more Jews than Episcopalians, and the highest-ranking Mormon in congressional history.
Saturday, December 9, 2006
Special to the Record-Eagle/Ben Ramsberger
NMC Beginning Arabic Professor David Van Hammen at the doors of the Mother of God Chaldean Church in Southfield.
ROAD TRIP FOR RELIGION
NMC class heads to closest thing it can find to the Holy Land — Dearborn
Jim Valovick has taught Humanities at Northwestern Michigan College for 19 years, but he's discovered that book learning only goes so far when it comes to discussing the great religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Greg Hagan, a volunteer, sets up a computer system at the Jubilee House. Grace Episcopal Church is opening Jubilee House as an outreach for area homeless to shower, wash clothes, write resumes, check e-mail and tend to other basics.
HOMELESS HAVEN
Jubilee House opens in downtown Traverse City
Like the family album, houses hold the stories of the people that live in them, but sometimes a house has a story all its own. It's that way with the little white house at 325 S. Washington in Traverse City. Recently freshened by the hands of many volunteers, the pretty Victorian now enters a new phase of its life as it becomes Jubilee House, a community outreach to the homeless.
To browse older Faith stories,
see our Features Archive
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