This week (September 8 - 15, 2007) is the Lansing Area Localvore's Eat Local Challenge. Based on the 100 Mile Diet, more than 200 Lansing area residents signed up to spend this week eating foods grown and raised within (approximately) 100 miles.
Why eat local? For me, it's about supporting local businesses and trying to eat a more healthful diet. Our food travels, on average, 1,500 miles to get to our plates. Why not try and eat as local as possible, save a few trees and maybe discover some local producers of food that you love here in town.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Food & Farming Systems is sponsoring a "Buy Fresh, Select Local" Farmer's Market today (September 13, 2007) on the East Lawn of the State Capitol. I'll be heading down in a few minutes to join up with at least one other local blogger to check it out. If you are in the area, join us or if not, make sure you check out your local farmer's market this weekend and try eating local. To find out where, check out the Michigan Farmers' Market Association site.
Not sure eating local is a good choice for you or the community? Check out this article from Lansing's City Pulse where buying locally grown foods is highlighted as being economical, nutritional and a key part of community building.
Now that you're convinced eating local is a great idea, why don't you clean out your cupboards and make a donation to the local food bank? Nearly 1 million Michigan residents accessed a food bank in 2006 - that's almost 10% of Michigan residents who needed help filling stomachs last year. Here in the Lansing area, check out the Greater Lansing Food Bank or even start up your own food drive.
Readers of the Michigan progressive blogosphere are probably familiar with FarLeftField, a small blog that focuses on the issue of labor and the economy here in Michigan. It's written by a good friend of mine, and one of the strongest advocates of organized labor and the auto industry that I've had the pleasure of knowing over the last couple of years, Mike Huerta.
If you watched CNN on the tv or checked out CNN.com, chances are you've read about Mike and local Saturn dealership owner, Sherrill Freeborough and how their lives, and the lives of so many of us in the Lansing area and across Michigan have been affected by the economic collapse of the Auto Industry.
CNN's John King was in town last week, and had the opportunity to speak with both Mike and Freeborough about what life is like for them, and how it's been for most of the rest of us. Check out the story and video here, and be sure to catch the choice words that Mike has for those Southern Republicans who'd like nothing more than to see us all fail.
If you're like me, you've been meaning to get down to your local Obama office and do something useful in this here election cycle. But things just keep getting in the way: kids, work, home repair projects, [insert excuse here] or maybe you're just too tired.
Well, here's the plain truth: if we're going to do something besides write checks or type stuff into a computer, the time to act is now. In less than two weeks this thing is going to be over.
Yeah, things do seem to be going pretty well for our side...especially here in Michigan. But don't let that make you complacent. You never know what last-minute evil tricks the Republicans have their sleeves.
And anyway, this isn't just about winning. It's about delivering a massive body blow - the most emphatic rejection possible - to the drown-government-in-a-bathtub, trickle-down philosophy that's paralyzed this country for years (virtually my entire life). We desperately need to throw them to ground - and we may never get a chance like this again.
So here's what I'm going to do. For four hours on the Saturday and Sunday before the election - and for eight hours on both Monday and Election Day - I'll be at Lansing Obama HQ making phone calls and going door-to-door. I'd like to do more, but at least it's something.
If you're in the Lansing area, the campaign is especially looking for folks those last four days before the election. If you can help, Chris Lewless is your man (a Michlibber from w-a-y back). Contact him here:
Chris Lewless
christopher_lewless@yahoo.com
517-974-6072
BTW, the Lansing office is located conveniently in the old Michigan Catholic Conference building, right in front of Saul Anuzis and Republican state headquarters (seriously!):
505 N. Capitol Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 485-4124
And if you're located outside of Lansing, your local Obama office can be found right here.
After we're done and accomplished our task, you shall find me running joyously through the streets of the 'hood, waving my American flag and yelping with pure delight. We've waited eight years for this. Eight. Long. years.
The Sunsets with Shakespeare production of Romeo and Juliet closes with its last show on Sunday, August 17, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. at Hunter Park on Lansing's east side off of Kalamazoo Street. I finally had a chance to catch the performance yesterday and highly recommend it. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. The suggested donation is a bargain at $2. (This last show is a make-up performance because of rain cancellations last week.)
I give Romeo and Juliet a double thumbs up for an excellent cast and performance, and high marks for a relaxing, comfortable outdoor setting at Hunter Park. This was my first experience with Shakespeare at sunset, and in a park. It was thoroughly entertaining -- a great way to spend a cool summer evening. I can't wait to do it again in the future.
Director Todd A. Heywood should be commended for a fine production and the cast of performers should be proud of its strong performance.
Many of us who live in our near Lansing have been tuned in to the controversial proposed deal to give developer Pat Gillespie millions of dollars in tax abatements to tear down the historic Lansing City Market along the Grand River and replace it with high-end condos and a newer, smaller City Market.
This issue has raised quite a bit of a stir, as the deal is opposed by many labor groups and historic preservationists. The giveaway is supported by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and developers.
In many ways, the City Market deal represents a larger issue, both in Michigan and throughout the nation. Should cities and the state give away huge chunks of money to private developers and firms with very few strings attached, particularly when it comes to labor issues? Shouldn't tax abatements have more strings attached to ensure economic investments stay within the community?
I wrote a column in today's (Lansing) City Pulse addressing the City Market issue, which is scheduled to be voted on by the Lansing City Council on Monday.
Barack Obama made a stop at the Lansing Center on Monday, August 4, 2008. WILS's Jack Ebling was there and talked to many Michigan Democratic Party members in attendance, including U.S. Congressman John Dingell, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Lansing Mayor Verg Bernero and Teamsters President James Hoffa Jr.
Will focus on agenda to help hard-working Michigan families
Detroit, MI –Senator Barack Obama will return to Michigan on Monday, August 4th for an event in Lansing. Obama will focus on his agenda to stand up for hard-working Michigan families who are being squeezed -- from lost jobs to rising gas prices – and who want to see a new direction for our country.
Earlier today, Senator Obama called for an Emergency Economic Stimulus Plan which calls for a $1,000 energy rebate check for working families to help immediately ease the pain from skyrocketing gas prices. The plan is available HERE.
Monday, August 4, 2008
SPEECH ON ENERGY AND THE ECONOMY
Lansing Center
333 E. Michigan Ave
Lansing, MI 48933
The event is free and open to the public. However, tickets are required. Members of the public may pick up free tickets on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 9:00 AM on Saturday, August 2 at Gone Wired Café, 2021 E. Michigan Avenue, Lansing, MI. Seating is first-come, first-served for ticket-holders.
***For security reasons, do not brings bags. Please limit personal items. No signs or banners allowed.***
Michigan and Lansing are moving to embrace Hollywood to take advantage of the recently enacted taxbreaks to lure moviemakers to the Great Lakes. Jack talked this week with two players in that effort:
Jack talked Friday afternoon, with T.C. Wallace Jr., superintendent of the Lansing School District, for his first live radio interview after Friday's mass layoffs.
Earlier this week I was contacted by a woman who introduced herself by saying she had never done anything "activist" before, but after hearing about a protest of the DNC in Florida, had decided to organize one here in Michigan. I'm pasting the flyer for the event below:
On January 15, 2008, nearly 600,000 Michigan Democrats went to the polls to make their voices heard in the Democratic Presidential primary. The popular vote in Florida and Michigan has been counted, certified by election officials in each state, and officially tallied by the secretary of state in each state.
Our votes cannot be ignored. We will not be disenfranchised. The DNC’s refusal to count our votes and seat our delegates according to the ballots cast on January 15 compromises our civil liberties and our voting rights. This decision affects the rights of ALL Michigan residents regardless of political affiliation.
Michigan, let your voice be heard.
Join together in a grassroots effort to ensure voting privileges and protect the right to vote for future generations.
Demand that our votes be counted and delegates seated based on the Jan. 15 poll results or that a new Michigan primary take place.
Demand that the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee take the necessary steps to ensure the voices of the people of Michigan are heard and its delegates are seated at the Democratic convention this summer.
Where: Michigan State Capitol Building, Lansing, Mi.
Thursday, April 10, 2008 was another full day on Ebling and You.
Jack talked with MSU Hockey coach Rick Comley about Rick's favorite team, the Detroit Tigers as well as his own team.
Jack also talked with Lansing City Council President Brian Jefferies to get the latest from City Hall.
Finally, Jack visited with Jamie Schriner-Hooper, executive director of the Old Town Commercial Association, about the recent spree of hate graffiti in Lansing's Old Town.
On the night of April 8, 2008, two men spray painted threatening, anti-gay graffiti messages on buildings throughout Lansing's Old Town district. Business owners, residents and Old Town supporters are deeply troubled by this act of hate and have rallied around the LGBT community and Michigan Equality.
Spray-painted throughout an alley and parking area were the words "Kills Gays"; "KG," presumably meaning "Kill Gays"; and "Mushroom Militia Kill Gays." It was all spray-painted in fluorescent orange paint. The graffiti appeared on doors and walls.
There's a place for everything in Old Town. We have restaurants, bars, art galleries, loft apartments, law offices, private homes, great festivals, the Grand River. The only thing that doesn't belong in Old Town (or Michigan) is hate.
How can you show your support for Old Town? Go below the fold...
WILS talk host Jack Ebling and Lansing City Pulse owner and editor Berl Schwartz TALKED Wednesday about the continued friction between the Lansing City Council and Mayor Verg Bernero as well as the rest of the latest news in and around the Capital City.
