Saturday, July 10, 2010

"Three things" (you can do to make Michigan Great)

A local intern for National Public Radio saw the article in Hour Detroit about me and heritage co. 2's involvement in supplying props to to the film industry. I'm invited to participate in their project

"Three things" Michiganders can do to make Michigan a better place to live.
I come up with:

  1. take shopping local to the next level-community networking
  2. exercise thrift and
  3. cook at home.

I own www.heritageco2.com in Royal Oak and I live there, so maybe your saying "of course she's pushing shop local." But maybe you need a job, maybe you're lonely, maybe you're just stuck in a rut. It wouldn't hurt to start getting out a little and no, not with your bff or sister doing the same ole same place routine. My friend Roland says, "feeling down? Do something for someone else!" You'll relieve your self-consciousness, promise. Rick and I signed our kid up to go to peace camp (Childrens International Summer Village www.cisv.org) in Italy and now we have a whole new community of people right here with a shared agenda. We jumped at the chance last night to see a local camp in action and what Wyatt might be doing in Italy, plus maybe we can help out. 60 11 year-olds from around the world singing John Lennon's "Imagine" in the auditorium at River Rouge High School is a powerful motivator. We talk about hosting a kid next time and meet some people from Cranbrook, the Detroit Free Press and the Marshall Fredericks museum. Wait, these look like good prospects. Hey! we've got small businesses, you might need a job, remember?Whatever. You gotta think like that! No, we didn't shove biz cards in their hands. It's about relationship-building, community-building. We move on down the river. I might as well be in a foreign country, this is a town I've never been to. I call my antiques dealer-pal Peggy Madden who just so happens to live and work here. We meet in Wyandotte. What a town! There's a street fair going on. It's rockin'. All that historic architecture, a beautiful preserved town right on the sparkling Detroit River. Sorry I'm gonna have to testify: you can't beat the soul of a thriving downtown and you can't make a new one by tearing all those old structures down! This is how you build community. I'm smitten. We catch up at the Dotte Pub. We're hungry. It's fish fry night at the Speedboat bar in Ecorse. I love perch. (Yeah, Bennigan's ain't here and I doubt they got local perch, ok 'nuf said). The Tigers are up on the Twins, it's karaoke night, oh man, it's a home run! Guys with beer belly in t-shirts are lined up to sing. This is a cake walk, I'm fired up. We get the song book...Yeah no, it's American Idol here at the Speedboat. Like regular Joe is belting out some love song. They got singers in the Ecorse, we're eatin' crow. Rick orders more beer, he's gonna find us "the sure thing." That's "Quando Quando Quando," some 60-70's tune. Peggy and I say we can't drink enough to make this look good. She's getting the eye from Frank Sinatra over there in the curly toupe. We've gotta prepare. I'll be back, with a posse. What a great place! What a state! Get your ass out there!

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