metromode - Blog

Post 1 - The birth of hackerspaces: Community works

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Co-working and community spaces are not a new concept (remember taking swimming lessons at the community center?), but there is a recent spate of interest in the idea around the Detroit area. There are a couple of different versions based on the idea that humans, being social creatures, like to talk. The web has been great for this and has expanded our horizons to threads and conversations that take a multi-cultural and global twist in seconds. However, people are losing personal face time (iPhone 4 doesn't count). With networking becoming more important than ever, in-person social interaction is key to relationships and business building. This will be a trend that will only continue to grow as people become more and more attached to their digital avatar. The great thing about community spaces is they allow people to gather, work together and collaborate on projects, or just be in a fun and exciting environment with like-minded individuals.

As the rebirth of Detroit continues, there are a number of both community-focused and business-focused spaces out there, with more on the horizon. These fall into a few categories, but the one that excites me the most is the hackerspace category. In just over a year, two have popped up in the metro Detroit area: i3 Detroit and Omnicorp Detroit. If you're not familiar with a hackerspace, it's basically a community of individuals that like to learn about technology and art. Don't be afraid of the word "hacker" � the mass media has demonized it to mean malicious software crackers and coders. These individuals are not welcome in hackerspaces. The traditional definition of a hacker is from the '50s and really referred to anyone fixing, disassembling, or improving a piece of hardware or software. Hackerspaces happen to be my passion; I've visited a number of them around the country.

i3 Detroit, started in Royal Oak, was the first hackerspace in metro Detroit. (I'm a founding board member.) The group has since out-grown that location and moved into an 8,000-square-foot facility in Ferndale. i3 Detroit offers equipment and space for any number of do-it-yourself and creative projects, such as welding, machining, electronics, chemistry, computers, crafting, and more. i3 grows by the day and has over 50 active memberships. Guests are always welcome, too.

Omnicorp Detroit is the newest hackerspace and is gaining momentum with its Eastern Market location in downtown Detroit and gathering of local entrepreneurs. The 7,000-square-foot facility is a work in progress and, as with i3 Detroit, offers classes open to the public on a host of different topics.

Outside of Detroit, Maker Works is set to open its 10,000-square-foot space in Ann Arbor next year, and the Michigan hackerspace roster is growing. Beyond community-based spaces, there are also more professional organizations such as TechShop, which announced it would be coming to Detroit at Maker Faire this summer.

Outside of hackerspaces, co-working spaces in Ann Arbor, such as Tech Brewery and Workantile Exchange (which focus on collaborative office environments), beat any cube I've ever worked in. Starting last year, Urbane Space in Birmingham, Mich. has been the Twitter darling of the local social media crowd. Its open layout and meeting rooms are a great example of a co-working space done well. In addition to Urbane Space, Cowork Detroit looks like it's ramping up, too.

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to community working spaces in our area. To save you from an epically long post, feel free to e-mail me with any questions you might have or learn more about getting involved. And be sure to check back this week for my posts on the Maker Movement and the State of DIY.

Post 3: The Honey Do-List for Downtown

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Comparing Detroit to Chicago is not comparing apples to apples, and it never will be. We are who we are and we like who we are.

Of course we all want a more bustling city center, a prosperous economy, and a strong job market, but I will argue with anyone who says that we don't have the resources, activities and culture to make up a great lifestyle.

I live downtown�So the number one question is: Where do you shop for groceries?

Do you know that within a mile of my condo, I grocery shop where the suburban grocery stores shop? Every Saturday morning I take my coffee and my oversized reusable bag to Eastern Market and join the nearly 40,000 visitors to get the best local product and prices. To some, grocery shopping is a tedious task, but Eastern Market makes it more of an experience � especially when you tack on brunch at Russell Street Deli or karaoke at Bert's after your shopping.

Second question: Who else lives downtown?

Meet your neighbor, Sean Mann. This past spring he started the Detroit City Futbol League in an effort to bring together the Detroit community, showcase the distinct neighborhoods within the city, and connect the people who live there. With over 150 people participating on 11 teams every Monday night at Belle Isle, it's a pretty good start to meeting your city-wide neighbors.

Meet your other neighbor, Antonio "Shades" Agee. If you have not already read about him, you soon will, as he continuously leaves his mark on this city�literally. Graffiti artist is his profession and he's certainly making a name for himself, having just wrapped up 22 pieces within Quicken Loans' new downtown office. He is currently working on a mural on the side of Ann Arbor's Grizzly Peak Brewing Company.

Meet Liz Blondy, owner of the doggy day care, Canine to Five. And Claire Nelson, owner of the chic home goods store in Midtown, Bureau of Urban Living. And Andy and Emily Linn, the brother � sister duo that started and run the Midtown shop, City Bird. And Julie Kouloumberis, who lives in New Center and oversees the new New Center Park that now houses weekly bands, performances, and activities. And David Fike, the president of Detroit's own Marygrove College. And Austin Black, who just started his own downtown real estate brokerage. They're all here and they're all your neighbors!

And just food for thought � with newly developed condos and townhouses ranging as low as $20k � $80k, why would you not consider living downtown?

Third question: What is there to do?

Ok, first off � go to After 5 Detroit.com for a current list of events! This is a major market for concerts and festivals and events. We have the Tigers, the Lions, the Red Wings. We have bars and restaurants and museums and music and parks and there is always something going on. Did you know that there is a driving range on Belle Isle? And free concerts at Campus Martius on the Fourth Fridays of the month? Have you ever been to a movie at the Detroit Film Theatre inside the DIA? Have you ever taken a class at CCS? Hung out at the Elwood Grill before a Tigers game? Run in the Free Press Marathon? Kayaked the Detroit River? Had brunch at Le Petit Zinc? Feather bowled at Cadieux Café?

But also keep your ear to the ground, because the most grassroots of events can provide some of the best experiences. It wasn't until last month that I finally got the details for the Critical Mass Bike Ride before the event happened, and in time to actually participate. It was by far one of my top 10 favorite experiences in Detroit. Every major city does this ride on the last Friday of the month and with over 200 people taking over the streets of Detroit at last month's ride, the movement is certainly building steam here as well.

So, we may not have blocks full of bars and restaurants lined up one after the other as they do in Chicago, but if you're willing to look and sometimes be a little adventurous, Detroit will provide you with some amazing experiences that you'd never expect.

Post 2: Detroit Tonight

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Most people can be categorized under one of two mindsets when it comes to Detroit: It's a city without hope, or it's the land of opportunity.

When I moved back from Chicago, the very first question everyone would ask was, �Why�? When I decided to start my business in Detroit, everyone asked, "Why?" When I decided to move downtown, all of my suburban friends and family asked, "Why?"

And they all received the same response: "Why not?"

At the age of 23, I had the crazy idea to invest my life savings and start After 5 Detroit, a new website and concept for the area that focused on what to do and where to go throughout Metro Detroit. Ironically, at the time, the only place I really knew where to go was Dick O'Dows in Birmingham, because it was the only place I had gone during my short weekend trips home from Chicago.

So I explored. I went downtown. I drove through the streets. I walked around. And I fell in love.

To know this city is to love this city. We're a small big city with a tight-knit community of believers. We have traits that you won't find in most major cities, but we have not yet learned to fully appreciate and cultivate these assets.

Without knowing it at the time, the smartest decision I ever made was to start my business in Detroit.

I'm in a major city where the barriers to entry are low and the accessibility to people is incredibly high. It's a forgiving city and a helpful community. If you're doing positive things here, you'll get the recognition and the support needed to move your ideas forward. These all equate to a golden opportunity in the business world. So then you have to ask, how can you not see this as the land of opportunity?

I've heard people compare Detroit to the "Wild West" and I'm absolutely OK with that. I actually think we should advertise that to the world. I think we should target the artists, the creatives, the entrepreneurs, the business people, and the community activists and tell them � if you want to truly leave your mark on a major city, come to Detroit!

One such group plans to do just that � and that's all they had to say to get me involved.
The Collaborative Group is currently in the process of launching Challenge Detroit, a bold new initiative aimed at attracting and retaining young people to the region in a very exciting and interactive way. The goal is to develop a program where current and future residents live and work throughout Detroit and contribute their time and talent to community-based and philanthropic initiatives in efforts to showcase the positive qualities of the region and show young people that southeast Michigan is a great place to live and work.

We have the resources, we have the intelligence, we have the passion � now we just need to cultivate our assets.

John Hantz wants to do something about the continually growing vacant land and abandoned buildings, and his solution is Hantz Farms. Tom Nardone, founder of the Mower Gang, discovered the abandoned Dorais Velodrome in northeast Detroit and brought out his buddies and their weed wackers out to clear it up and ride it. Not too long ago the Dequindre Cut was merely a one mile stretch of an overgrown railroad line that served as the public gallery for graffiti artists. Upon discovering its potential, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy transformed it into an urban recreational path for biking, walking, and admiring the art that still graces the walls.

So if you can think up the idea, you can probably make it happen in Detroit � you just may have to cut down a few weeds to see the full potential in this land of opportunity.

Kerry Doman - Post 1: Changing Perceptions

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The three most common misperceptions that I hear about Detroit are that there are no jobs, there is no one here and there is nothing to do.

But in the past four years, since starting my ventures in Detroit, it has become my personal and professional mission to prove otherwise. If you ask me today what I want to accomplish with my companies and life, it is quite simple to sum up: I want to dispel those three misperceptions.

I won�t lie, at one point, upon my return to the Metro Detroit area 5 years ago, I feared those three things to be true. I myself was faced with the reality that in the five years I had been away -- four years of college in Ohio (don�t worry, I didn�t go to OSU) and one year of exploring the city life of Chicago � the seeming �rite of passage� for all young Michiganders � the familiar faces and childhood friends had disappeared.

We scattered for college and scattered even further when deciding on our new post-graduation city of residence. The world was our oyster and Detroit certainly did not seem like a pearl. So off to the big cities and bright lights we went.

But I only needed one year to realize that Chicago was simply not my home.

And while I had figured out that Chicago was not for me, I had yet to realize that Detroit would forever be my home. So with few friends still left in the area and no clue where to go out and what to do, I decided to take matters into my own hands. If I wanted to meet new people, find out what new restaurants were opening up and where the hot-spots were around town, then I couldn�t have been the only one looking for that same information - and therein lies the story of how After 5 Detroit began!

It was through many conversations and connections with top companies and executives that our next venture took life.

Marketing Associates was making their move from Bloomfield Hills to Detroit, and with 150 skeptical employees expressing their doubts, their fearless leader and CEO, Mark Petroff, was determined to make the transition as smooth and exciting as possible. And we were pleased and thrilled to be involved in that process.

We had �Welcome to Detroit� gift bags on everyone�s desk for their first day downtown. We planned happy hours and events for their staff to learn more about their new neighborhood. We provided coupons and certificates to local shops, bars and restaurants to encourage exploration. And through it all, we had created the foundation of our second business, Connect After 5.

Ask any HR Department. Detroit is a hard place to recruit to.

Couple that with the ever growing desire to be known as a �cool place to work�, companies are continuously trying to find new and innovative ways to showcase the things they do with and for their employees. So we created a turn-key program that develops fun and unique after-work events aimed at assisting local companies in attracting and retaining their employees. With events like Broomball in Campus Martius, Softball at Belle Isle and Floor Hockey at the Boll Family YMCA, our program helps companies build camaraderie, engage their employees in the community and connect them with colleagues at other companies in and around Detroit.

And then the �aha� moment�

After two successful years of working with some of the region�s top companies through our Connect After 5 Program, our third venture came about when one of our company clients asked what we could do with their 200 incoming summer interns and co-ops.

The light bulb then went off. We know that our region struggles to attract and retain recent college graduates. We also know that an essential ingredient in positioning Michigan for future success in a knowledge-driven economy is creating places where talent - particularly young mobile talent - wants to live. Lastly, we know that college graduates will decide where to live based on job opportunities and lifestyle.

The pieces of the puzzle were there - companies around town were preparing to welcome thousands of new interns to their offices this summer and we knew that they would showcase their staff, work-life and job opportunities. The only piece missing was a very big piece for any 21 year old deciding where to live - the lifestyle component: are there others here my age, what is there to do and can I see myself living here post-graduation.

To finish the puzzle, our solution involved alignment with the Hudson Webber Foundation and the Downtown Detroit Partnership to create the Summer Intern Program.

The program created opportunities that allowed the 450 participating interns and new hires to explore Detroit gems like Eastern Market, experience the downtown lifestyle in the form of a Loft Party, enjoy Detroit gift bags and t-shirts, network and meet others at happy hours and concert meet-ups.

It was a success. It was fun for the interns and beneficial for the companies. And based on the positive feedback and overwhelming interest, we are pleased to announce the continuation of the program for new hires, co-ops and/or interns joining Detroit companies this September through winter.

All in all, I�m a visual and experiential learner. So if it is my goal to showcase the job opportunities, people and great things to do here, then the best way I know how to do it is to go straight to the target demographic and to the companies throughout the region and say, �Come out to play Kickball at Belle Isle�.

Because after you�ve spent an evening under the lights with hundreds of other young professionals reliving their glory days of grade school games, you won�t ask me if Belle Isle is safe after dark, you won�t ask me if there is anyone here your age, you won�t ask me who actually has a job and works downtown. You�ll just walk away with another positive and fun experience in Detroit!

And that is what will start to change perceptions.

Post 3: Why Are We Handicapped?

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

There is a cultural aspect to Michigan and in particular, the metropolitan Detroit community, which I feel works greatly to the disadvantage of the residents. People in this area do not seem inclined to want to travel any distance for services. Once people finish their work day and return to their homes, that is where they wish to stay. There are a few municipal areas where people congregate for entertainment and shopping. As a result, you see a gas station on every corner, a CVS at every intersection, and a population widely dispersed over a huge geographic area.

How this affects our Institute is we cannot establish a central school. Our instructors have to travel out into the community in order to reach the people. This is a tremendous handicap. Not only to our Institute, but also to any small business that tries to open their doors in Michigan. Unwittingly, Michigan residents leave themselves open to be at the mercy of the big box corporations. Only big box corporations can set up shop on every street corner. A small business that opens can only hope that there are sufficient numbers of the population within a small geographic area of where they open that are interested in utilizing their services. There may be a small Indian restaurant in Madison Heights, that persons in Royal Oak might be interested in visiting if it were not for the geographical separation. This is a very serious problem.

For Michigan to recover economically and socially, businesses must diversify. We can no longer count on the Big Three to keep us all going. Smaller engineering firms and manufacturing firms that are highly specialized and connected to the international manufacturing community will fare better in times to come. Michigan needs to become small business friendly.

If people do not interrelate and communicate, problems that need to be addressed are slow to surface and solutions are slow in coming. There is a vast amount of talent available in this state. People in Michigan are tremendously capable of working together to solve problems. We cannot rely solely on the government to take care of every issue we face. It is neither workable nor possible. We also can no longer rely on large corporations to solve all of our problems. We are a community. We need to act as a community.

The situation in the city of Detroit is heartbreaking. We have done many programs in the inner city, working with children and families in need. Just as we get these programs up and running and start to see the results in the minds and hearts of the participants, funding gets cut, people get fired, and the programs close.

This has happened over and over during the past three years. If you have a challenged community and take away the resources that that community needs to have in place to encourage the residents to grow and to participate, you set up a situation where things may never improve.

Teachers are the most vital part of any society. Without proper instruction, people are crippled in life. The phrase 'those who can, do; those who can not, teach' is ridiculous. Not only do teachers have to know how to do what they teach, they have to be able to transfer that information to others who may have a completely different frame of reference. This requires tremendous skill and patience. The United States is far behind other nations in the support of their teachers. In fact, teachers are often ridiculed in this country and seen as second-class citizens. What better way is there to ensure that the next generation will not be properly prepared for the challenges of life?

A change of consciousness is necessary. We are all talking about how handicapped Michigan is. But why is Michigan handicapped? We have remarkable people. We have remarkable resources. We have remarkable personal energies available. We have experience. Why can we not set all of this into motion to create a new day?

Perhaps part of the reason is the amount of debris Michigan has left behind during its years of growth. So many abandoned buildings, both private and commercial, exist that the landscape seems impossibly tainted and polluted. We need to go back and clean up our garbage. If your kitchen is dirty, you do not feel too inclined to cook. You do not plant new crops until you have plowed and tilled the soil. You cannot bring new business into a land of devastation and decay.

I'll be the first one to admit that I do not wish to lift a finger personally to clean up anything. It is extremely unattractive work. There is, though, a profitable market that can be tapped in the cleanup process. As the work of demolition continues, many recyclable materials become available. Redistribution of these materials helps to offset the costs of demolition. This process is seen in other countries such as India, which imports old ships, barges and so on, to tear them down and then sell the scrap. People speak of how India can do this successfully, because of the size of its potential workforce. How many people do we have unemployed in Michigan? How many new technologies and techniques can be developed in Michigan as new ways of restoring old demolished industrial areas?

I feel it is time for Michigan to streamline. The problems that we are experiencing are our problems. It has taken many years for the situation in Michigan to develop and no doubt it will take many years to reverse the situation. What is certain is that the work needs to be done. If not, I do not see how things can improve.

I love this state. I love the people that reside in the state. They have become my family and my friends. We have everything we need to move forward. We even have the will to move forward. What we need is direction, and direction comes from communication.

Post 2: Tai Chi Chuan: A Cure?

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Western medical practitioners in Michigan have been remarkably receptive to adding elements of the Tai Chi Chuan curriculum to their rehabilitative care modalities. Alternative medicine has become an important part of what Western medical professionals offer to their patients. While medical care can assist those facing challenges, preventative care is essential and somewhat lacking in the consciousness of the population. Good dietary and exercise practices go a tremendous distance in eliminating the need for medical care down the road. Unfortunately, it takes discipline and effort to take proper care of oneself. Doctors do not have the time to teach people how to exercise.

As a result, local area hospitals set up various classes in different forms of exercise for the general public to help the public in two different ways. Firstly, where a person's personal physician may suggest exercise, the hospitals can have a direct hand in making such programs available to their population. Secondly, by bringing people to participate in such exercise programs, the door is kept open for the population to build a better relationship with medical professionals, and in this ongoing relationship, to establish better lifestyle activities, leading to better preventative care.

What attracts medical practitioners to Tai Chi Chuan is the ability to adjust the workload involved in the training to suit any person's level of physical conditioning. The training can be adapted to suit any age group or any level of physical limitation.

I am very impressed with how the Western medical professionals we deal with assess new alternative medicine programs prior to implementation. In many cases, we teach the doctors and nurses first, so they can see for themselves what the art does for the student and how it does it. In this way, they can develop the confidence to recommend the program to their patients.

We have developed programs in the areas of oncology, cardiology, pulmonary care, and occupational therapy. Each patient population has a different set of needs and separate curriculums have had to be developed to suit those needs. This has been a fascinating challenge, as any work with Western medicine and Tai Chi Chuan is in effect groundbreaking as it has never been done before.

It is my hope that before long, formal research will be established in Michigan to properly assess the form's efficacy. We have also developed programs for people with specific health challenges working with support groups in areas such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and autism. With the receptivity of the Western medical professionals in Michigan, research into Tai Chi Chuan could easily lead to the development of programs that could be implemented on a national basis. I see no reason why Michigan should not be the place to spearhead these types of programs.

Post 1: "Sifu" means "Teacher"

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The title 'Sifu' means 'teacher' in Chinese. Discipleship in Tai Chi Chuan refers to an agreement of commitment to the study and promotion of the art that exists between the teacher and the student. It should not be confused with a religious form of discipleship. Through discipleship agreements, the martial arts of China have been handed down through many generations.

The syllabus of Tai Chi Chuan is vast and can take as many as 20 years to complete. As a result, teachers have to make very careful decisions as to where they will place themselves to begin the task of handing on the knowledge given to them by their teachers. The teacher must seek out an environment where there are students with the potential to learn, the desire to learn and change, the cultural maturity to be able to learn, and the capacity for honest self-appraisal, which marks students as being capable of developing and growing beyond the current state of their egos.

Upon meeting those interested in Tai Chi Chuan in Michigan, my first impression was that I was speaking with people who were looking for something real. In all honesty, the people that I met with seemed somewhat jaded when it came to their opinion of teachers and what those teachers teach. To the Michigan resident's mind, the art form of Tai Chi Chuan was seen as being a method of training closely associated with the holistic community and new age therapies. In the development of the holistic community in Detroit they had seen hundreds of methods propounded since the 1960s. Each person espousing a method spoke of his or hers as being the correct way. Often their own knowledge of what they were trying to bring forward was inadequate.

The end result of this is a kind of 'show me' attitude. The potential students were ready, willing, and able to challenge the potential teacher, requiring proof every step of the way. While this may sound like a bad thing, to a teacher it's actually an excellent thing. The cultural and environmental circumstances set up a situation where the students were willing to work hard and probe and question deeply, provided the information given to them was consistent, logical, and sensible.

As a result, the students have progressed very rapidly in acquiring skill in the art form. Several times over the past few years, the Michigan area students have traveled with me to Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan to demonstrate the art to the international Wu style Tai Chi Chuan community in Asia. Their performance and demonstrations earned great acclaim in the international community. Needless to say, I am inordinately proud of the local students and their achievements.

With their efforts and acquired skill, it has become possible to expand classes to over 30 locations across the metropolitan Detroit area. These classes fall into three basic categories: classes for senior citizens, for the general public, and for those facing specific health challenges through local area hospitals.

There have been many challenges along the way. It is amazing to me how people in Michigan can assess a problem, develop a plan of action, and bring together the necessary resources to solve the problem. I find a tremendous will to succeed in the Michigan population. Without this, my job would have simply been impossible. I must take this opportunity to thank all of those who have helped me over the years in so many ways.

Post 6: The 1967 Rebellion

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

My father, brothers, and I have been operating the Garden Bowl on Woodward since 1946. My sons, Dave and Chef Joe, now operate the same place along with other parts of the Majestic Theatre Center.

I was at Tiger Stadium on that Sunday, in July 1967, when the riot broke out. I could see smoke in various directions from my seat in the upper deck. At the end of the game the announcer told us to leave the stadium in an orderly fashion and to avoid certain streets, like Grand River, etc.

I returned to the Garden Bowl after the game as our group was made up of our customers. We had just recently renovated the Garden Recreation (later named the Garden Bowl) in 1966, hoping to hold onto our customers which were running to the suburbs. It didn't help, they ran anyway. Our new clientele at that point was made up of Asian Americans, from the Cass Corridor, and African Americans. Our manager was Chinese American. When I returned to the Garden after the game, the place was packed with many Chinese, as they all closed their restaurants for the day because of the riots. There were some African Americans too. The next day, I was driving to work with my father, and saw quite a view from the rise of the I-94 freeway over 1-75. There were burning buildings in every direction, mostly toward the northwest. It was scary and awesome and sits vividly in my memory. My brother George arrived and we tried to figure out what to do. The few leagues we had cancelled for the mean time. The mayor announced a curfew of all business after 8 p.m., later in the same day he announced a 24-hour curfew.

My brother and I decided to call the Salvation Army to see if they would be interested in using our bowling center as a place to give a break to the Police, Firemen, and National Guard. The 101 st and 82nd Airborne soldiers were called in a few days later. I told the Salvation Army they didn't have to pay us anything for bowling, and that we were doing this as a favor to those groups. They called me back and said that that was a great idea. I had an "A" shaped sign made that read "Welcome all Police, Firemen and Soldiers This is your recreation center?Free bowling" and placed it on the roof of my car parked in front of our business. The Salvation Army told me to serve food and keep track of the bill and that they would reimburse us later, after everything settled down.

The place was packed again and again with police, judges, prosecutors, firemen, and later soldiers. They sat in the restaurant/bar area and talked and played cards. They purchased all sorts of unique sandwiches, like E&B Hot Dogs, Altas Sausages, Budburgers, CC stew, and many other named eats. Of course, these were not necessarily sandwiches, but they ordered it anyway. Remember, there was a curfew on all alcoholic beverages and of course we wouldn't serve drinks (like Hell). If a judge ordered an E&B Hot Dog, who was I to disagree with him. We ran out of beer and liquor and my brother George rented a truck and droved to Toledo accompanied by one of Detroit's Finest to buy more beverages. After being restocked, we continued serving twenty four hours a day to this group. Needless to say, our buildings were well protected.

I also remember, when the 101 st and 82nd airborne bowled in our center, our parking lot across the street had a tank protecting the tripod rifles of the soldiers. I have a picture of my then six-year-old son, David, sitting on the lap of a soldier holding his rifle. We have it hanging in our Majestic Café.

By the way, in about two months I got a huge check from the Salvation Army for all "those" sandwiches we sold. Another good point was that all of our help was able to work right through the riot.

I remember looking out the front door of our bowling center and watching thugs break the windows of a men's clothing store and clear out every item in it and then it was set on fire. Owners of neighboring businesses called us from their suburban homes to find out how things were going. They should have come down and protected their businesses too. What trying times they were.

But, a year later, in 1968, the Tigers won the World Series and all of metro Detroit celebrated together as if nothing had happened the year before. Woodward was packed with white and blacks cheering on the Tigers and Detroit; wondrous years, indeed.

I like to refer to the situation as a rebellion, rather than a riot. Blacks were not treated well in the forties, fifties, and early sixties, and even to this day. They rebelled. Granted the riots did more damage to their own properties than suburbanites but it did awaken all of society to the need to improve their station in life. Today, much of that racism has been replaced with elitism. I equate the both of them equally wrong. Whenever a person, regardless of his or her race, feels he or she is better than another, for whatever reason, that person is indeed just as guilty as if they discriminated based on race. Where you live, the size of your house, the brand of car you drive, the education level you have achieved, or any other rationale a person uses to think of him self as better than someone else, is merely showing inadequacy. A person's real worth is measured by the content of his intellect, heart and soul, and his relationship with others.

Post 5: 80/20 and Other Musings

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Everything in life seems to be centered around the 80/20 percentage split. 80% of the population in the US � I'm sorry to say � don't meet the standards in their thinking that other countries, in their majority, do. 20% of Americans have the capacity to analyze and reason for themselves effectively.

If you just apply this to the city of Detroit, or Metro Detroit let's say. Metro Detroit has four and a half million people. Twenty percent of that is 900,000 people. So there are 900,000 people who are amenable to the city of Detroit. They understand that it's important to put their money in the city, to invest in it, to save it. But in the city of Detroit, where you also have a population of 900,000, only 20% of the people want to be in the city. Which means we have over 700,000 people in the city of Detroit who would much rather be living somewhere else.

As a matter of fact, a neighbor of mine told me he would rather be living in Grosse Pointe. And I asked him why. I said, "You have a beautiful home, you raised your family here, you've been here thirty years." He's one of the first African-American neighbors that I had. And he's telling me how beautiful Grosse Pointe is. And I said, "It's no different. All we have to do is paint our houses, cut our grass, accept what we have."

What is a house but a roof to protect us, like a car that lets us go from place to place? If you always wanna measure something in the matter of appreciation, then don't ever buy a car, because it never maintains its value. Why should a house have to increase its value? Unless you enhance it of course. But the value of a house is the home. That's my point. The home is where you live, where your family lives, where you congregate. A house is a building, and it can come and it can go, but it's the home that makes it important. And people put the wrong emphasis on that.

If you just look at the 80/20 rule in terms of the electorate, I'm sorry to say that 80% of the people are downright unaware of the facts and what's really at stake in life. And it is really a tragedy. I'm on an email list of about 60 people, and we were discussing the financial reforms and the new regulations and reforms for Wall Street in the bill that was before Congress, which was just signed.

They were all opposed to it. And I wrote that one of the greatest Republican presidents that we had in our history was from a wealthy set. His pals and friends were the likes of Carnegie, Mellon, Morgan, Rockefeller. And he went directly against their wishes, by creating laws that were for the common good. And they "de-friended" him. He was one of the greatest presidents because he took us in a new direction. Previous to him, it was the old boys' club that ran the country. And he did some other remarkable things � some not so good. But one of the most remarkable things he did was create the National Park system.

My question to the people on the list was, "Who was this president?" Now of all my friends that I know, only one knew who I was speaking of. You know who he is, don't you? One person knew who I was talking about. Isn't that a tragedy? People are so much ingrained with what comes out of Fox News, and they don't go beyond that to get to proper thinking.

I've traveled a lot. And I'm thinking, "Why do people in other countries know more than we know?" I mean, I was in Egypt, and I was talking to a pre-teen kid, and he was telling me the capitals of all the countries of the world. How many of our 12 year olds can tell us the capital of Canada? What is wrong with our thinking?

My pastor was giving a sermon on mysticism. And he ran into an 8th grader who had 370 Facebook friends. He said that he told him, "Those are 370 acquaintances." You have to distinguish what it means between being involved with a person and just knowing them.

Corporations in America now are what the oligarchy was in the Russia before the Bolshevik revolution. They're the aristocracy that brought the French people to revolt against their kings. It goes back to England five hundred years ago, when Cromwell told the king, "You can stay as king but in a titular roll, and you have to let the people govern themselves through a parliamentary system."

How come Americans now don't see that corporations today are in the same position as those dukes and lords and barons, or the counts and countesses of France, or like Rasputin in Russia? The corporations, they're the Rasputins.

Is a corporation a person? They don't have flesh and blood. But the Supreme Court says they are.

I'm a capitalist. I run a business. But I'm a capitalist who understands that people are different than me, but they all need to be served. I always like to use the idea of a big tent: I want everybody to come into my tent.

Congoleum

When I was a young boy we lived on Lakewood � which I referred to as "Damascus Road," because so many of my cousins lived on that street on the east side of Detroit. My mother had a very small kitchen that had a wood floor. Every Friday she would get down on her hands and knees and scrub that floor with Fels Naptha soap, and bleach the floor afterward. Then after it dried she would go over the floor with steel wool, to smooth out the high points. She hated that floor with a passion. She told my father, "Why don't you get me Linoleum like my sister has?" Her sister lived a block away.

Well, my father acquiesced: a new floor, and he bought her Linoleum. And when I was about to get married I took a step up. I bought a house on Audubon that had Linoleum, and I tore it out. And I bought Congoleum. I loved my Congoleum. It always shined. You never had to wax it. You never had to polish it. It shined all the time. It looked beautiful.

Then my best buddy bought a home in Grosse Pointe. And he put ceramic tile down. And every time I would go to his house I would look at his ceramic tile and say to myself, "Boy, do I like that ceramic tile. I got this Congoleum. But I love my Congoleum. It's much prettier than ceramic tile." But I figured I had to take a step up.

So I installed a wood floor.

And this just teaches you the folly of people when they put values on the wrong things in life. Does it make a difference whether it's Linoleum or Congoleum or a wood floor? The answer to that is no. It's how you appreciate it, and what you love. And that's my story of Congoleum.

Post 4: Woodward Avenue Memoirs

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

My motto in life is "Forget arrogance, try humor."

And I have to get into something light-hearted in nature. I like to remember what Woodward Avenue was like in the 40s and early 50s � it was packed with people. They were living in the SROs (single resident occupancy hotels) in the neighborhood, like the Strathmore across the street at 70 West Alexandrine, now abandoned but soon to be renovated. And these people would take the train in from the outlying towns and cities, perhaps as close in as Royal Oak and as far away as Fenton. They'd get off at the train station on East Grand Boulevard and Beaubien, and they would either ride their bikes or get a cab to their jobs at Burroughs or in Hudson's or at one of the banks, and they would stay as the SROs Monday throughThursday nights, and after work on Friday they could take their ride back on the train to their suburban homes.

But during those weeknights they had to be entertained, they had to eat, and it caused this area around here to be a beehive of activity. In every restaurant you had to wait for a seat. There was no such thing as empty seats in restaurants. The bowling alley was very busy with people entertaining themselves that way.

We had a string of "taxi dance" halls, where the guys would go and pay a small amount of money to get into the place, and buy a string of tickets at ten cents a piece and go up � usually they were above a bar or restaurant � and they would be in what we used to call a "dime a dance" hall. And there would be a spinning glass bowl hung from the ceiling, the girls would be all around the periphery, and you'd take the ticket out.

And if the girl was just, you know, mediocre, you'd say "How many tickets?" and she'd put her finger up meaning "one ticket," and you�d give her the ticket and you'd dance with her. Or if she was a little better she'd put up two fingers. And if she was a hottie she'd put her hands up meaning "ten tickets," and she was willing to give you a whole lot more than just a dance! She was looking to be entertained for the rest of the night, or to entertain.

That's what this whole neighborhood was full of at that time, from the river all the way up to the New Center area. We did not even have a parking lot. You didn't need it. The streetcars were jammed. On a Saturday night, when Windsor had their "blue laws," where everything had to close down at 11:30pm, the Canadians would all get on the streetcar at the foot of Woodward and come up to the "north end," which was what this area used to be referred to as. And they'd go to the Greystone Ballroom which was across the street, or to Convention Hall if there was an auto show; that's where the old Vernor's Building is. Now it's a Wayne State apartment building.

And they'd come in the bowling alley, or one of the bars � we had six bars within this block. Every corner had 2-3 bars. And restaurants. And it was just jammed. And it was a beehive of activity. Our population in Detroit at that time was around two million people. But the concentration of people in the downtown and the Midtown area, as we refer to them today, might be as high, and I'm saying might be, as high as half a million or three-quarters of a million. It was jammed with people in those days.

What the SROs were, they were single rooms, no baths, no commode, and you had to go down the hall. And what the men would do, they would team up, and put a day bed in a room, you know, one regular bed and a day bed. Then they would buddy up with someone who was working the next shift, and one would use the room while the other was working, to split the cost of the room.

If you wanted to take a shower you'd go to the concierge at the desk, you gave him some coin, and they gave you a towel, a bar of soap and a slug, a token, to enter the shower. And the trick was you'd never close the door until your buddy took over!

They had plenty of places for women then too, with the same set-up. And one of them was down by the old Kresge Building, right near the Masonic Temple. It was called the Angelus House, and it was all women. And when some of these guys wanted to have a date they would go there and introduce themselves; they would have mixers, you know, social mixers. One was run by the Baptists, and you had to be extremely careful about that one, because they were very very strict and prudish. Another one was run by the League of Catholic Women, the Tracy Center. These were all in that area down there, near Times Square.

How many theaters did we have? How many bowling alleys did we have? I would say between the river and where the three freeways are now that we must have had 30 bowling alleys. And they were all busy. Now we have one. Our place. Isn't that amazing?

It was a different day and age. I remember on a Saturday night the streetcars would have three cars in tandem. It was a great method of transportation, and people didn't stop riding them � the lines were bought up by General Motors so they could enhance their bus business. So on those streetcars all the doors would open up and the people, some of them these Canadians skirting the blue laws, they would rush out, and we had to be ready for 'em.

And they would get a little drunk, and they might shack up with a woman. And they'd go back to Amherstburg the next day, to their Anglican church, and they'd pray to God that they'd never go back to that sin city. Sure as heck they'd be here the next week!

We had a counter man, an African-American man named Henry, he was like a "gentleman's gentleman." He was a concessionaire; my dad did not believe in having employees. If you worked here you concessioned out something, you had your own business. And Henry was the perfect gentleman's gentleman. He wore a smock and a small leather tie. He reserved your bowling ball for you. He used to collect the bowling balls, because they all had numbers on them behind the counter. When you arrived to bowl he checked your coat, and he had ready for you your special cigar. He had a long cigar counter. He had maybe a hundred different brands of cigars rolling in a machine like a hot dog roller, and he had a paper cutter, and he cut the tip of the cigar off and he handed you your cigar.

And out of the floor came a gas jet, and you puffed on your cigar to light it with the gas jet. He had stacks of paper, and he stapled them and made cuffs. Everyone used to bowl in long sleeves, so he made paper cuffs. He didn't charge you for that. He'd take your coat, he'd brush it and hang it up, and he'd have your bowling ball for you, and then he'd ask if you wanted your hat cleaned while you were bowling, or if you wanted it just blocked.

He had one of these machines behind the counter, I remember from when I was a boy; you'd put the hat on, you'd step on a pedal, and steam would come, and you'd turn the hat, and he'd have a brush and he'd clean the hat, and he'd put it up on the shelf and it'd be ready when you were finished. Then he would take your shoes and shine them while you were bowling, for the two or three hours that you're bowling. He rented you his bowling shoes. And he'd charge a dime, and when you'd come back to the counter you gave him your "horse numbers" he took your bets. At the end of the day he'd probably make one dollar off you. And he sent all four of his kids to college. They were a little older than me.

The kitchen was a concession. It was called "Connie�s Polish Kitchen." And my father had a spiral notebook in his shirt pocket, and that was his accounting system. And we'd open the bar at exactly seven o'clock in the morning, because the people living in the SROs wanted to go out for breakfast. And breakfast would include pickled pigs' feet, a raw egg inside a small glass of beer, with a shot of Kessler's whiskey next to it � Kessler's "Smooth as Silk" whiskey; it was cheap-cheap-cheap whiskey!

And if they went over to get a breakfast from Connie she would call out to my father, "Al, Stosh- seventy-five cents." And he'd mark it inside this little spiral notebook, and you left. And you'd be back after work, and you'd bowl and you'd drink, and he'd mark it in this little spiral notebook. And come Friday when you got your paycheck you came in, my dad had a pocket full of money, he'd cash your check. He'd put some money aside because some of them didn't speak fluent English. They were eastern European immigrants, and he'd put it in a money envelope and he'd say, "Here, give this to the concierge at the hotel to pay the rent for the week." And he was like a social worker! And at the same time he made money off them. It was pretty cool!

We opened at seven in the morning every day. And they'd be lined up outside. These were the ones that worked at the hospitals. They were called, it was a bad word, they were called "DPs". That's not a nice word, "displaced people." They did the worst jobs, way down below the level of any orderly, the worst jobs. They were from eastern Europe. It was not nice, not a nice thing to call someone a "DP".

Post 3: Scrip Money: New Economy?

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

My father started a creamery in 1916, and by the 1930s it was a very large creamery in Detroit called Family Creamery. They supplied Detroit public schools and many other schools with half-pint bottles of milk. As you know, cows continue to make milk whether there's a depression or not, and they had to sell it. The city of Detroit was only able to pay them with scrip money. So here they're accumulating this large amount of scrip money. There were three-year, five-year and seven-year payouts; some of them didn't meet they payout, so the creamery had to extend them. And the city paid interest paid on the scrip.

So they had a lot of this scrip money around. And it was used in the Syrian community in a bartering system. What they did with the scrip money was, let's say you had a job; you were paid an amount in cash, probably very little, and the rest you were paid in scrip. And my father would say to the workers, "I'm gonna pay you half in scrip money, half in cash, so I can survive in business. Use this scrip money over at Simon Grocery, or Johnson Depot, or in this hardware store", businesses that were all owned by the same ethnic people, the Syrian community.

And in a sense by using this scrip money internally they prospered while the majority of the country was suffering, because a lot of businesses in the city didn't want to take it.

My father and some partners took some of the scrip money and bought properties from Detroit Bank. There were three houses on Lakewood that were under construction, and the contractor went belly-up. This bank, which is the predecessor to Comerica Bank, was willing to accept scrip money for the properties they were stuck with. And this was one of the few banks that didn't fold during the Depression.

Then my father hired carpenters, plumbers, bricklayers, and he paid them half cash and half scrip, and he told them, "Take the cash and pay for the things that you absolutely have to have, like your mortgages." Then he told them to use the scrip money wherever it was possible in the Syrian community.

And it worked. The bank was able to get rid of this property that was on their books, my father and his partners were able to hold on to their cash, and they were even able to exchange scrip money for stock in the Detroit Bank. So everyone ended up pretty well off by using this scrip money within the community.

Now it's the 90s and I went to National City Bank to ask for a loan. And they said the loan was too large for the manager in the branch to handle. So they called in another officer and he too said that the amount was too large, and that I would be given a "personal banker."

So a lady called me and she introduced herself on the phone as "my personal banker." And I was explaining to her about our business on Woodward Avenue, and I told her, "Come down and visit us, have lunch in one of our restaurants." And she said, "That would be difficult � I'm in Indianapolis." I said, "You're my personal banker and you're in Indianapolis? What is this? I wanna meet you." Well, that's the way the banks have grown and grown and grown to the point where there's hardly any personal contact.

And there was another day, this was in 1999, and I was very frustrated; business was very difficult. This was the end of the Reagan "trickle down" era, and our affluent customer base of African-Americans had left for suburbia, and we were left with a difficult clientele, and I was facing tough times. So I went to the bank and I was very frustrated. And I went to the window that said "Commercial Accounts Only � Not Available From 11:30 to 1:30." And it was the first of the month, and the line was serpentine out the door, because everyone had just gotten their welfare payments.

When it was my turn at the window the teller put up a sign that said "Closed." But I got the manager to have her open it up again for me. And all this time next to me there was this guy at the next window and he was eating peanuts, and he was drunk, and the peanuts were dribbling down his chin. And he was cussing out the teller; he wanted his money, and she wasn't able to give it to him because he had already expended it.

I finished my business, and he continued to abuse the teller, and I turned to him and I said, "Sir, this is a place of business. You cannot speak like that. It is not appropriate." And he turned to me and he said, "I'm sorry, sir." And I said, "No, you don't mean sir, you mean 'Reverend' ." I made myself out to be one! And oh, he started to tell me how much he loved his Jesus. Then he went back to the teller and he continued to cuss her out, because he wanted his money.

And that day I picked as the day when I said "I'm leaving." And I went to my credit union in the suburbs. It's too bad. I wonder if they ever learned their lesson. Like when you go to the post office � not the main office on Fort, where they've done a good job of educating the staff � but at the other post offices in the city there's a city amount of bitterness on the part of the clerks. And it's because they're putting up with lots of aggravation all day. But along comes another person who's not part of that scene, and they get treated the same way. And it's very frustrating.

So often times I pick up my stuff and I go to the post office either in downtown Detroit or in Grosse Pointe. Where you're treated differently. It should not be like that. Everyone should be treated the same. And the people themselves have to learn respect too.

Post 2: The Making of the Majestic

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Garden Bowl, aka The Garden Bowling Alley, and, later, Garden Recreation, opened on August 1, 1913. It was built by Ive Giese and John Bauer. Mr Giese was an executive with GM and Mr. Bauer was an old bowling alley man. It had 10 lanes on the first floor and a billiard parlor on the 2nd. It went only to where the first poles are located. The rest was the roof over the 1st floor lane. The billiard parlor was fantastic. It was grand stands to watch tournament play.

It lost its luster when the Detroit Recreation was build on Lafayette St in downtown Detroit. It had 88 lanes on four floors and pool tables on another four floors. One floor of the billiards was made for tournament play. The first floor had facilities for men, such as a hat shop, a barber shop, men's fashion stores, shoe store and a cleaners. It was a working man's country club. The Garden Bowl was a smaller version of the same.

In 1926 they built over the lanes of the 1st floor from where the first poles are located (near DJ Booth) to the back wall adding 12 lanes. It was the hottest bowling spot in the nation. Groups of hot shots from other major cities would challenge the Detroit bowlers and they would use the Garden because it was a neutral alley. Detroit's hot shots played at the Casino Recreation on Woodward and Temple.

The Garden Recreation went into receivership during the depression of the early thirties and the bank holding the paper hired the manager named Roy Fleming to run the place until Mr Bill Nagy bought it in 1939. Mr. Nagy had a heart attack in 1945 and died and Mrs. Nagy put up the place for sale.

Albert Zainea, my father, owned several businesses at the time and one of them was a slaughter house on the Eastern Market. The owners and workers of the produce houses and slaughter houses used to play poker on the 2nd floor of the Gratiot Central Market, which was bowling alley called Alcona Bowl. The owner told my dad about the Garden being for sale and he began to run the place under a management contract until he bought it in August 1946. It had ten lanes on the first floor and twelve lanes on the second.

The place was packed with business since WW2 ended and Detroit had a herd of people living in what is now Midtown Detroit, perhaps as many as 700,000 people. They lived in SRO (single resident occupancy) hotels. The men would live in the far-out burbs and take a train into the E. Grand Blvd/Beaubien station and cab it to their jobs on Monday mornings. They would share the room with others who worked a different shift. They stayed in Detroit from Monday morning until after work on Friday and departed for the burbs again. They caused a hell of lot of business for bars taxi dance halls, and theaters. We had seven bars within a block of the Majestic. We never closed. It operated 24 hours a day. Jackpot bowling would go on all night until it was time to go to work the next day. We had leagues upon leagues bowling all hours of the day and night. The people were prosperous because of the shift from war time production back to autos. We were jammed.

In 1947 my dad modernized the place with a suspended ceiling and drapes on the side walls and carpeting, things never heard of before. We had installed new florescent lighting. The cat's meow at the time. It's the same ceiling today.

In the 1960s the war veterans began to marry and buy new houses with no down payment in the close-in suburbs, like Roseville, Dearborn and Oak Park. We called them Levittowns. Every house looked the same. They would build a house a day, selling for $8000 with no money down on the GI bill of rights. Well, you could see what that did to the city centers. They we devastated. Bowling alleys were built on every other corner along with movie houses. " Wow, I live in the Grand Oaks subdivision, where do you live?" It was the measurement of success. Such foolhardiness.

The Garden Bowl had about 1,500 league bowlers in the early 1960s and had only 300 after the 1967 riots in Detroit. We rebuilt the business with hard work and an appeal to the African Americans. We started a "Learn to Bowl+" program, where we taught the new customers how to bowl at no charge at all. We organized leagues from them and we developed 2,000 new bowlers by 1970. The seventies were prosperous again for the Garden.

In the late eighties the African American crowd also started to leave for the suburbs and we went into tough times again. We had to file reorganization under Chapter 11. In four years we came out of the bankruptcy and began to prosper again. We encouraged the young urban minded kids, some the grandchildren of former customers, with Rock-n-Bowl and other hip events. It worked. Also in the seventies and eighties we started to manufacture trophies, plaques and awards and silk screened shirts in what was the old Majestic Theatre. Later, we moved that operation to another building.

The Majestic Theatre was built in 1913 and opened on March 1, 1915 with a Broadway play called Molly Codell with Douglas Fairbanks. It was a classic theater at the time, with stadium style seating. It had two organs, one in the pit and another on stage with the pipes on the side walls. It sat 2100 people. It featured silent movies and Vaudeville. Later it became a second-run movie house and then a third run and still later went to cheap movies, open all night. It became a church for a rouge name Prophet Jones and still later a photography center for auto commercial for the new television industry. Later we leased it to make the trophies, etc.

We added the Majestic Café from what was the Gnome Restaurant in the eighties. We made a hip menu that appealed to everyone from the young to the old, from the college kids to the symphony goers. It worked again. We added the Majestic Club in 1984 and it took off. Starting with an underground club and later to national touring rock bands.

In 1992, we removed eight of the bowling lanes on the 2nd floor and added pool tables and a dance floor and stage. It went over very well with bands. A year later we removed the other four lanes to expand the dance area. We called it the Magic Stick, a takeoff of Majes stic.

In 2002 we added Sgt Pepperoni's Pizza on the ground floor of the Garden Bowl and in 2008 we added the Alley Deck, an outside deck serving food and drink.

That is what makes up the Majestic Theatre Center today.

Christian Bielski: The Mackinac Policy Conference - "Spring Break", Or Not?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Being an intern who has never attended the Mackinac Policy Conference before, I understand that my impressions about the conference may be naïve, but ultimately are a topic worth discussing. Before attending the conference, I thought it would be a good idea to read about it. Many of the articles I read described it as a fluffy conference that never truly accomplished anything, and often described it as the "spring break" for Michigan policymakers. I took note of these viewpoints to see if these were true, and to my surprise I found that not to be the case.

The event is like a college seminar conference mixed with fancy meals. All day there were speakers, group discussions, and meetings. This setup makes it easy for newspapers and TV news show to analyze and criticize the main events at the conference, but what often isn't mentioned is the networking and problem solving that occurs behind the scene. Yes, there are receptions, speakers, seminars, and more casual events that take place at the conference, but does that translate into the conference being simply just a party?

My answer is no, but a better question is, have you ever been in an organization where leadership and members conceal their true feelings, but are waiting for the right time to confront those concerns? Well, the Mackinac Policy Conference provides that neutral territory and time that is essential to addressing looming issues that the state faces together. The conference allows the policy leaders of Michigan to reconnect with lost connections, bring partisans towards bipartisanship, and enables people to form new connections where sometimes staying local limits that necessary type of regional communication to solve the state's solution. We often complain that Detroit and the suburbs are in a constant battle, but in Mackinac they are on equal footing and have the opportunity to change that image. The conference allows many different parts of the state to ban together as a region to solve Michigan's biggest problems.

Though no legislation is written in Mackinac or grand commitments made, it is a conference that allows mobilization to take place. Once you have mobilization you can attract media attention and from there you can make money which leads to implementations towards change or a new goal. That is the ultimate value of the conference, but again for that mobilization effort to bear fruit we must carry the momentum created from the conference.

Now we need to make sure that momentum is carried and support the DRIC. From the young entrepreneurs in Fusion to the older policy makers of Detroit, we can do it. Just remember, the dialogue is continued when all return back to their local homes � or then the conference truly is a spring break.

Post 1: My Smokestack Mentality

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Back in the '80s I was having great difficulty in my business, mainly because of the Reagan "trickle down" economic system. My friends and I were going to Amherstburg, Ontario, driving along Highway 18A along the Detroit River, going south. And I looked across the river and I saw the shuttered steel mills on Zug Island and Downriver, and I said to my friends, "Look � there should be smoke coming out of those chimneys. That's the backbone of the American economy. We have to manufacture things."

And my friend told me I was in the wrong era, that I thought in a 19th century way, or a 20th century way, rather than the new 21st century thinking. And he said that I had to get into the frame of mind where money is working for money, where you're making more by taking money and switching it from one asset to another asset, and in the process you make money.

Now, he was in the leasing business and very successful. He bought a beautiful home just off Lakeshore Drive in Grosse Pointe Shores. He told me I was doing the wrong thing. And I told him that this was just the opposite of the way it should be. You need to work at the foundation of things. And I used the metaphor of horse manure to a farmer: it doesn't do any good sitting in a great big pile. You have to spread it around on the ground, and you fertilize, and it grows upward, and it grows upward to a point where even people at the top rung prosper � rather than the other system which says that from the top it trickles down. It never trickles down.

It always goes from the bottom upward.

And another fella that was in the car with me, he and his wife, he's a lawyer. And he agreed with my friend. And the discussion went on, that I was in the wrong frame of mind, and that leasing and these kinds of business were the way to go. And this lawyer friend said, "You're stuck down there in the ghetto; you should move on with the trend, so you can continue to grow."

But I struggled through the 80s. And the irony is that today it's reversed. Today the prosperity is more in the Midtown area than it is in the "Reagan territory," which is what I call north of 696. All Reagan did during his administration was to create ways to embellish areas north of 696, and he couldn't have cared less about Detroit.

Of course it might have been that our mayor at the time, Coleman Young, called Reagan "Pruneface." It wasn't a wise thing to do.

Christian Bielski: The Mackinac Policy Conference and Tom Cruise - More Similar Than You Might Think

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I admit that I am just a naive and impressionable intern that attended the Mackinac Policy Conference for the first time this past June, but I could not ignore mood or the experience I witnessed. While driving up to the conference all excited to meet the movers and shakers of Michigan, I realized at the conference that most of them felt like me, a Michigander that feels cornered by big business and government. Does this shared feeling of conflict sound familiar? A man feeling torn between serving a firm that corrupts his personal integrity or helping the government in exchange for a life he never wanted? Yes, you guessed it. I am saying that most Michiganders feel like Tom Cruise in the movie The Firm and desperately want leaders that can create a way to bridge two sectors, business and government.

I entered the conference with an open mind hoping to meet and pick the brains of current policymakers and see if any of the main events could help alleviate the dilemmas of Detroit and Michigan. The conference did start off with a bang. Newt Gingrich, the keynote speaker, provided Detroit and Michigan with fresh perspectives and brutal honesty. He began his address by speaking about the Polish Solidarity movement and how it was able to bring down Communism using the equation 2+2=4.

His message was that no matter how complex a problem was, 2+2 always equaled 4. This symbol worked well as he talked about Detroit needing to face the challenges head on and not to create solutions that look like 2+2=4.5. He talked about how the low high school graduation rates can only be fixed when schools hold their students accountable. The student, if impoverished, shouldn't be taught to give up, but provided with incentives to succeed. This is where he suggested implementing for-profit schools and community colleges, meaning that a student could get paid for doing well in school, essentially funding a way for him to attend that school. He also suggested creating a tax free zone for Detroit, which would attract businesses and boost private sector growth. Clearly, Gingrich provided a feeling that the cornered Michigander could find solutions that made the state neither a slave to government or big business. We have to be our own Tom Cruise, by finding a unique way to solve the state's problems.

The next day was not the great debate, but what I refer to as the great debacle. It was exciting to see all seven candidates make their debut and see who might be the new leader of Michigan. Unfortunately, the end of the debate left the same taste in your mouth as did entering it, no clear leader and no Tom Cruise. They covered an array of topics from jobs, unions, healthcare, and the DRIC (Detroit River International Crossing). Virg Bernero was a passionate candidate, but unfortunately wasn't able to hone in and show great substance on the issues. Attorney General Cox was his usual relentless prosecuting self, making Rick Snyder his main target. Unfortunately, those attacks made Snyder sling back, making him look like a sleazy politician rather than the business owner who offers something different for Michigan. Some say that I may be over-exaggerating, but look at the recent Republican debates. Snyder wasn't present. Bouchard and Hoekstra seemed calm and could pinpoint the issues, but offered no real substantive solutions to the hypothetical scenarios created by moderator Tim Scubick, while Andy Dillon played the middle much like Obama did in his debates. Tom George continually hammered the deficit problem and that is all he addressed, with a few funny quips about Asian carp. Though many of the questions were hypotheticals, it offered the candidate the opportunity to define themselves and it seemed no candidate truly made a solid case that they could bring business and government together to solve the problems of our state.

I wanted to hear them provide job creation ideas, I wanted them to talk about the education problems, and I wanted them to admit that both poor business practices (the failure of the auto industry) and poor government decisions have created issues for the state. But most of all, I wanted them to provide solutions. I wanted them to stick to their guns. I will be blunt; if the candidates blamed Scubik for relying too much on hypothetical scenarios, they aren't ready to be governor. Additionally, to the media and others that accepted the hypothetical scenario excuse, you are letting the candidates off for poor performance. If we want a governor who is a true executive and one who can turn the state around, then we need to hold him or her to high standards and not let the moderator take the blame. Michigan is done with the blame game. We need a governor who can roll with the punches and provide substantive solutions to hypothetical or real scenarios, one who can say we need to cut the deficit by cutting this department or this program. We need a governor who can be a creative innovator. We want a governor that wants to save Detroit by consolidating land and creating an environment that supports the new entrepreneurs in Detroit.

The conference continued with more conversations about the DRIC and issues hurting our state. It was great to see that many people talk and support the DRIC, but more importantly it was great to see FUSION and the young business owners talk to one another and mobilize efforts to solve Michigan's problems.

Though the conference provided a neutral territory for discussions among all of the leaders in the state of Michigan, it is up to all of us, all the startups, to become the leaders that can solve our problems. We must come up with the solutions to keep big business and government in check and that is why I hope all the attendees follow up and complete the Mackinac Policy Conference "To Do" list. Support the DRIC. Even when Brooks Paterson admits that Manny Moroun has a monopoly, it is time to open the marketplace and build the bridge. Let's hone in on Tom Cruise's skills and find the unique solutions to our problems.

In the end, we Michiganders aren't alone in finding the middle between big business and the government. Just look at the Gulf oil spill.

Chris Ando: Influence on the Island

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Coming to work at the Detroit Regional Chamber was very exciting for me. I thought it would be a great opportunity where I would be able to experience much of what the Chamber has to offer. However, I had no idea that I would have the opportunity to attend the Mackinac Policy Conference (MPC). Having known about the MPC for many years and followed it in the news, I saw its reach and influence. When asked if I would represent Intern in Michigan.com, along with three other interns at the MPC, I was very honored and eager to experience the conference.

From the moment we boarded the ferry for Mackinac Island, we got to see what the conference is all about. It was non-stop activity of people meeting each other for the first time, along with old acquaintances seeing each other again. This to me is the greatest benefit of the MPC � the most influential people in the state, many whom would have never come together, all congregating in the same location. It made the state seem much smaller than it is. The inside of the Grand Hotel appeared to me as a neutral playing field, where people of different political persuasions can speak openly with one another and anyone can have a conversation with the most powerful people in the state. Never did I think I would ever be surrounded by so many movers and shakers. It provided me with many firsts, such as my first television interview � and my first blogging experience.

As I am pursuing a career in economic development, this year's conference was particularly enticing. Besides the upcoming elections, all of the focus was on Michigan's economy and getting people back to work. More than anything, I was glad that people from the Allegheny Conference on Community Development came to speak on the success of the Pittsburgh region. If we are to take anything away from the people of Pittsburgh, I hope those coming back to the Detroit area come back with the same positive attitude about their region and what it has to offer as they do in Pittsburgh.

Working at the Detroit Regional Chamber for a few months prior to the MPC allowed me to learn a great deal about what the chamber has to offer, which prepared me well for the conference. Over the past six months, I have been exposed to more than I ever thought I would see at this stage of my career. The chamber made sure that these experiences were things I had an interest in and that would benefit my career. The number of networking events I have attended has been uncanny. I have been able to hone in on my networking skills, while establishing a network to move my career forward. As I continue to work at the chamber on exciting projects aimed at helping the region and state move forward, I will make sure to carry on the enthusiasm and optimism I was able to capture while at the MPC.

Jennifer Guracech: Networking Live

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I was very excited when I was asked to be one of the Intern in Michigan representatives at the Mackinac Policy Conference. Honestly though, who in my position wouldn't be? I had just graduated and did not yet have a job lined up. I had heard of the conference before but really did not know what all it entailed. I did know enough to understand that it would be a great opportunity to "get my name out there," meet some amazing people, and to truly start networking. At school, I had had a pretty good network of friends and student leaders but it was about time I really built my professional network and honed my networking skills. Plus, it was a few days on Mackinac Island.

As the event grew closer, I began to obsess more on the one aspect I needed and feared most � networking. A skill and an art form. Having never been in the world of politics or spent time in corporate America, I was a bit panicked to be spending three days at a conference designed specifically for that purpose. I had been taught how to network and I had made my few attempts during a previous internship, however never on this scale. I would be with people who did this for a living.

What do I talk about? Will they really want to know anything about me? Do I just go up to ANYONE?

After checking into the hotel, making the trek to the Grand Hotel, and giving myself a little "You can network" pep talk I was ready to go. During the conference I was assigned to the check-in table � perfect. I was able to see all of the conference-goers as they were checking in and was able to put names with faces, see the different types of people there, and best of all have a short interaction with each of them as I handed them their conference bag (a hot commodity as they contained some magical Mackinac Island fudge and the ever-important umbrella).

While working registration, I was able to see the lighter side of the conference. I was not in many of the actual sessions and did not get to see the gubernatorial debate; however, what I was able to witness was just as interesting. I was able to see people from all across the political spectrum shaking hands and conversing.

I had heard criticisms of the conference. People thought that not enough got done, that policy was not being made right then and there.

However, what I saw showed me why the conference was important. Here, (sometimes right in front of the check-in table) people at many different levels and from many different perspectives were talking. Some of the conversation started with casual greetings and people catching up and every once in a while I was able to hear people speak frankly with one another about issues or situations that had happened. It was interesting to me to see people with such strong and polarizing political ideals getting along. It was obvious that people did not agree on situations but they were not making show, they were asking and questioning. No decisions were being made here but even after a semi-intense conversation, there would be a hand-shake or a hug and they would go on with their days. I guess this is what networking is all about. These people may not vote the same way on issues or there may have been competition between agendas but I was able to see them as people.

When I was able to get out and network myself, I was still nervous but found that once I was able to talk to one person, the entire process seemed easier. People genuinely wanted to know what I had done in college and what I was planning on doing in the future. Each person was passionate about the state of Michigan and many seemed to be selling the state to me. Before the conference, I had been nervous that it would be a bunch of individuals much older than me who would not have time or find what I had to say interesting.

As a recent graduate, I was among the youngest, yet there was an entire group of young professionals. Speaking to them was just as fascinating. Getting to hear advice about job searching and the professional world from people who had just gone through the experience I was embarking on was helpful. We spoke about the fact that graduate school was in the future, or had just happened, for many of us. We talked about the difficulties young professionals face especially in this economic climate. We chatted about college majors and the fact that not everyone was working in his or her direct field of study.

A few things I found very interesting from these conversations: One, there are many people who would like to work in Michigan and who are committed to staying here but have a difficult time finding jobs (making networking that much more important). Two, the younger the person, the more positive the attitude about not working directly within one's college major. Three, many of the people I was talking to had already had a multitude of jobs and/or were working for small companies, and most of them were under the age of 30.

I gained networking confidence by talking to people closer to my own age and stopped worrying as much about saying something stupid. As the weekend went on, I felt more comfortable striking up a conversation with someone walking near me or on the taxi (read: horse-drawn carriage). I discovered that the individuals in attendance were interested in the youth of the state and were passionate about keeping people in Michigan.

All in all, the conference was quite the experience. I was able to be a fly on the wall and observe while also challenging myself on the one skill I know will help me move forward � networking.

Post 4: Putting It All Together

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I have often struggled with the question: How do you define success in entrepreneurship?

After all, not all financially successful entrepreneurs are happy. And, I know some happy entrepreneurs that aren't exactly wildly successful financially. Sure, they make enough to pay the bills, but aren't really raking it in. They do however, enjoy what they do and have been able to support their lifestyles and passions.

So which one is successful? A rich, unhappy entrepreneur, or a happy one with modest means? I don't know the answer, but I have recently thought of one metric that works for me: Staying in the game.

To me, staying in the game is a function of having enough financial success and enough happiness (a catch-all for personal, professional, and emotional satisfaction, contentment, drive, etc.) to support you and keep you going. It's that definition of success in entrepreneurship that brings me to my personal roadmap using the ideas in this blog.

Step 1: Manage your personal portfolio

In my first entry I talked about taking small option-like risks. That requires having a strong foundation on which to take these risks. The risks that you then take don't take you out of the game. The downside is a little lost time and/or money. The upside should be limitless. This is also the reason why I don't believe it's a good idea to "bet the farm" on any single venture. Sure there are people who have mortgaged their homes and gone through hell to come out very successful on the other side. But from a portfolio management standpoint, that's probably the last thing you should do.

The better approach would be to continue to risk small amounts of time and money. Look for the 1-ft bars. Some refer to this process as fail fast, fail often, and fail cheaply. But learn from every failure, and redefine failure to be a successful learning experience. Edison never gave up looking for the ideal incandescent light bulb filament material because each failure was notched as successfully proving one more material as inappropriate for that use. That's what kept him going.

Step 2: Build your personal ecosystem

Whether it makes us dumber or smarter, the Internet gives us ways to connect with people that we never had before. If used wisely these days it is easier than ever to build a personal ecosystem of resources and providers that can provide the critical nourishment a young company needs. ??We have so many opportunities and forums in which to do this today, online and in person. All it takes is showing up and participating. For example, the GLEQ (Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest) a Michigan-based business plan competition for which yours truly volunteers as a coach is an awesome forum in which to connect with other entrepreneurs, coaches, and judges.

It's these kinds of connections and collaboration that really ramp-up the wealth creation, as I mentioned in my second and third posts.

Step 3: Execute

Create the foundation, take the risk, make the connection, and finally, take action. That completes the circle. To me, action is the process of transferring the value of your creation to someone else � in other words selling. There's nothing like validating an idea as having someone pay for it. If you can then continue to do it repeatedly and sustainably, you have a business.

Continue the process and redefine success and failure. Don't lose your shirt and eventually there will be enough financial success with which to create a larger foundation and take bigger option-like risks to do it all over again � if you want to.

Post 3: Human Triumph and the Cross-Pollination of Ideas

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Think about this: There is no single person in the entire world that knows all the steps to make a pencil. There are people that know how to process the wood, others that know how to process the graphite, and yet others who know what goes into the paint and glue. Finally there are the few that know how to put this all together into the final product.

This is the premise of a recent thought-provoking essay in the Wall Street Journal written by Matt Ridley, the noted science writer and journalist. Mr. Ridley says that human technological progress was trudging along for the last two million years. But all of a sudden, about 45,000 years ago there was an inflection point and sudden acceleration in technical development.

Simple evolution cannot explain this because basic human intelligence as measured by brain size and other indicators such as use of speech did not undergo any substantial changes during that period. What changed, he says, is collective intelligence, a result of increased interaction and collaboration between individuals within a cultural unit that led to an explosion of new ideas, technologies, processes, and abilities that he refers to as the "big bang of human consciousness". Mr. Ridley refers to this as ideas having sex with each other to create other new ideas.

The benefit of collaboration is not a new concept. In fact it is taught in economics 101 as the law of comparative advantage. If I can make a fishing net better than you, and you are better at fishing than I am; we both benefit if I make the nets and you do the fishing. Of course this can only happen if we trade: I give you nets for some of the fish you catch. But Mr. Ridley takes this one step further. He says that the both of us working together can bring our respective knowledge of fishing and net making that can lead to newer ways of doing things that perhaps neither one of us could have individually conceived.

What makes things really interesting is that sharing ideas on the Internet with nobody in particular enables all of us to collaborate with people we don't even know!

Next: Putting it all together�

Post 2: Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal there was a spirited debate about the impact of the Internet on human learning, education, and smarts. On the one hand, Nicholas Carr, the author of The Shallows, says that the constant distraction, emailing, tweeting, facebooking, googling, and browsing in general is taking away depth of thought from our activities. We are becoming superficial reactive entities incapable of insightful, comprehensive, and comprehending thought, he claims.

Clay Shirky, the author of Cognitive Surplus:� on the other hand says all this thought is rubbish. The access, he says, to all this information can only make us smarter. Sure, the ability to belt out a blog quickly and post it on the Internet leads to increasing amounts of mediocrity, but that doesn't mean that there aren't also more works of higher quality and more insight simply because of the access to ever-increasing information.

I tend to agree� with both of them.

Not long ago I found myself becoming a point and click junkie without paying deep attention to any one particular thing. The constant emails coming in and my relentless pursuit of keeping a clean inbox meant that I kept going back to it, switching between tasks and not really getting anything done. Then one day I stumbled upon a change that has made my life a lot easier.

During a switchover to a new laptop, I also decided to change email programs. It so happened that because of some network configuration quirk, every time this program checked for new mail every five minutes or so, the way I had initially set it up, my computer would lock up and I wouldn't be able to do anything. This drove me nuts enough to set up the program to stop automatically downloading email. What happened next was interesting.

Not only did the lock-ups stop because I was controlling when email was being downloaded, but I noticed that I was focusing more on work that I was doing and getting things done more and generally feeling less distracted. I figured out what the problem was with the lock-ups, but I left the mail download setting the same way. Now I check my email when I am ready and not when the computer wants to give it to me!

But on the other hand I find myself a lot smarter because of the immediate access to information that the 'Net gives me. The other day, I was talking to a student who had an idea for a product that he was thinking of. It was an add-on accessory for the iPhone. He had obviously given it some thought and it seemed like a useful product.

A quick Google search revealed that not only was this product available for purchase, but there were a couple of manufacturers making it. We were not only able to validate that he had a good idea, but at what price point it could be sold. Of course it probably didn't make sense to try to make it 'til he had the checked out the competition. A little bit of a disappointment, but also what a confidence booster! More importantly, we found this out in a matter of seconds. A few years ago, this could have been an expensive marketing study.

Next: Human triumph and the cross pollination of ideas�

Post 1: Don't Lose Money

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I am not much of a blogger. In fact, I barely tweet. So putting together paragraphs of cogent prose for the consumption of nobody in particular is out of character for me. When Metromode asked me to blog again after a few years, I wasn't sure of what to say. The good thing is that after reviewing my earlier blog, I still believe in everything I said then, if not more so. As a sidebar, "SueASpammer.com" would probably not make it today. Spam filters are so effective, I barely get any.

Anyway, you're reading this, so I feel obligated that it be worth your time. I thought I would present some ideas and thinking that I have found compelling and have shaped some of my thoughts and actions particularly as they relate to entrepreneurship.

The last time I blogged I said entrepreneurship is a mindset. I am not the only one who thinks so. In fact, my position as the Entrepreneur in Residence at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield is all about fostering this mindset among students, faculty, and pretty much anyone I come across.

Lawrence Tech (LTU) is one of the most entrepreneurial universities that I have encountered. It makes perfect sense then that the forward thinking Kern Family Foundation decided to support LTU in promoting entrepreneurship via a very generous grant that also made my position possible.

Two specific initiatives supporting the entrepreneurial mindset are particularly pertinent to the topic of my post today:

Entrepreneurial Internships: Eligible companies can hire talented students to work as interns for half the price.

Industry Sponsored Projects Lab: Companies can hire students guided by faculty to work on a specific project or product for a very low administrative fee.

But first some background�

A couple of years ago as I was wrapping up the final level of the CFA exam, I read a book by Nassim Taleb called The Black Swan. I found it particularly interesting within the context of my then academic pursuits of asset valuation and portfolio management. There are many elements of this book that are so fascinating that you could write a book about them. Wait... it is a book.

Well, the term "Black Swan", refers to an unexpected event. The name was inspired by the restating of years of conventional knowledge � that all swans were white � until a black swan was discovered in Australia. The take-away is that unpredictable events result in unforeseeable consequences in unpredictable places. The current BP oil spill, for example, has resulted in somewhat of a boom in kitty litter scooper sales.

The practical element that stuck with me is his notion of taking option-like risks in investment decisions. Options are derivative instruments that give you the right but not the obligation to purchase or sell an underlying security at a certain price. The characteristics of options are that you can usually buy them for a small price, they are only valid for a specific period of time, and either they expire worthless or you break even or make a profit.

The cool thing about options is that the profit may be modest, but in some cases can give the investor a return that is several times their original investment. Yeah, these belong to the same class of derivative assets that it is fashionable to bash these days. But saying options are dangerous is like saying guns are dangerous. Sure they are. That's why you have to be careful when you use them.

Be that as it may, the investment philosophy has resulted in much success for Taleb, mostly making money for his investors, but almost never losing it.

Warren Buffet also has several rules for investment. The following have a similar philosophy:

Never lose money

I don't try to jump over 7-ft bars, I look for a 1-ft bar that I can step over

The way I look at it, you will succeed in entrepreneurship if you always stay in the game. Taking option-like risks often allows you to get enough exposure to the upside without risking the foundations, both financial and emotional, that keep you in the game.

The two LTU programs that I mentioned specifically make this possible for Michigan companies. Hire an intern for a low cost and investigate a new business initiative. If it works, great! If not, it's a learning experience.

Better yet, hire a bunch of students and give them a project that you have had in mind, but may not have the bandwidth to pursue.

Both are relatively modest investments � option like risks - that won't put your company out of business. But either one could potentially give it the upside that could change it forever!

* As an entrepreneur, Pavan is always looking for a sale. If you want any more info on the LTU programs he has mentioned here, please feel free to contact him at: pmuzumdar AT ltu.edu (replace AT with @)

Tomorrow: Does the Internet make you smarter or dumber?

Post 4 - Detroit, the Opera: Act IV

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Speaking up, signing up, standing up

"Art is the signature of civilization." � Beverly Sills

This quote from Beverly Sills, the legendary opera star and impresario, is a moving statement about the impact of arts and culture on a community. The economy may fluctuate, but arts and culture outlast our generation and leave a mark on civilization. As a member of the Millennial generation, I know that Michigan's leaders' eyes are on me. They want to know whether I will stay in the state or contribute to Michigan's "brain drain" and move to another city with a lot more perceived economic potential. I was born and raised in metro Detroit so most of my family and close friends live here. But many of my graduating class members went to Chicago, New York, Washington D. C., or California, desperate to go anywhere but Michigan. Don't get me wrong, I love to visit those places. But Michigan is the land of opportunity!

Detroit has given me opportunities in the arts and cultural community that I would never have had anywhere else. Arts and culture in Detroit is a small world. Most people know each other and they work together, even more so now that resources are so limited. Arts and culture are an important part of a community � they are the lifeblood, the fibers of connectivity. And I would go so far as to say that without them, there is little reason for Millennials to stay in Detroit.

Detroit's arts and cultural organizations are some of the best in the country, if not in the world. However, when we talk about the city, we have trouble saying anything positive about it. We hang our heads when we talk about our city and change the subject around our friends from Dallas or Denver. As Detroiters, we have a major inferiority complex about our own city, and we even perpetuate this negativity with outsiders. But Detroit's arts and culture measures up to those of any other major city and boasts some of the highest-quality performances and works. It's time we stop trash-talking our own city and start to have some pride in what we have here � and it�s really pretty amazing stuff!

There is no pretense when you talk to Detroiters. They are passionate people, deeply rooted in what they believe in. And when young professionals, my peers, decide to transform our city, we can leave our own mark on civilization, as Beverly Sills describes so eloquently.

So, you may be wondering how these last few posts apply to you, and what you can do to make a difference. Young professionals can make a significant impact in a number of ways. Here's what we can do to help keep the arts alive in Detroit:

Attend a Performance or visit a Museum. Then, blog and Twitter about it. Tell others what you thought about it. Become a fan of that organization on Facebook. Let the organization know what you thought. Many arts organizations offer special rates and opportunities for students and young professionals to attend performances or exhibits, similar to Michigan Opera Theatre's Access program.

Become involved as a volunteer. Many arts organizations need volunteers now more than ever � everything from mailings and marketing help to fundraisers and simple office work. The possibilities are just about endless.

Consider becoming a member or giving on a small level. Sure, you may still have student loans or just bought that new house. We're all feeling the pinch of the economy right now. Many organizations offer smaller memberships or a giving level of small amounts that is not only tax deductible, but that can also make a big difference.

There are many other ways to get involved as well, so don't let this short list hold you back! Ultimately, how much we get involved in preserving Detroit's arts and cultural community determines our generation's signature on civilization. Let's make it one that is strong and thriving.

Post 3 - Detroit, the Opera: Act III

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Helping young people get past the fat ladies and horns

"I don't know about opera...isn't that for snobby old rich people?" is a comment I often hear when talking to young professionals about the art form.

There are many misconceptions about opera: that you won't be able to understand it; that only old people go to opera; that opera won't be relevant to you; that it's too expensive. The truth is that opera is understandable with supertitle translation in English above the stage, just like a foreign film. Young people go to the opera in Detroit all the time. Opera plots are just as timeless now as they were two hundred years ago. And it doesn't have to be expensive.

When I began working at Michigan Opera Theatre three and a half years ago, I knew there was a need to break down these barriers in young people's minds about opera. We knew our audience was aging but there was no existing strategy to introduce and demystify opera to young adults. Engaging younger people as new classical music lovers is notoriously difficult to do and there is no proven method to succeed in reaching these new audiences. But something needed to be done. So in February 2008 I called a meeting with some of the employees at the opera house who expressed an interest in the project and we brainstormed ideas to get younger people into the opera, especially those who may never have attended before.

Over several months we developed a program called Access, a discounted ticket program for young professionals and students for opera, held on the Wednesday night performance of each production. Each Access ticket would include a drink ticket and hors d'oeuvres after the performance with the opportunity to mingle with the artists and other young professionals.

Our first official Access.Opera event took place in October 2008 for Margaret Garner. While our goal was only to meet and maintain a small group of 30 young professionals and students, over 75 people attended the first performance and over 120 purchased tickets to the second Access.Opera event for Madame Butterfly. Due to the success of our opera program during that fall, we were soon able to open up our dance season to young professionals and students in the same way. Our first Access.Dance event for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater sold out completely, selling over 200 tickets (200 is an Access sellout due to space capacity). Our first year of the program sold over 800 tickets to young professionals and students, most of whom had never been to an opera or ballet before.

Our second season of Access in the fall of 2009 was met with greater anticipation. News about the success of the program soon reached Jan Stevenson, a good friend of MOT and publisher of Between the Lines. Shortly after, Between the Lines signed on as a media sponsor and brought along Comerica Bank as a reception sponsor. In spring 2010, MOT also received a two-year commitment from The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. The second season, which just recently completed, met our goals once again, selling over 800 tickets during the 2009-10 season.

The receptions after Access performances became fun gatherings where our young artists could connect with students from local universities, and where Broadway stars like Leslie Uggams can pull up to the bar for a drink with someone completely new to opera. Even Russian dancers, although hindered by a language barrier, can communicate with young professionals curious about how exhausting their performance was.

Out of all the people that I've met at the receptions following an Access performance, about 98 percent of them are surprised at how much they enjoyed the opera or ballet. I often hear "it's not what I thought it would be. I really enjoyed it." Access has become a wonderful avenue to change someone's perceptions about what an opera singer looks and sounds like. First-time opera goers begin to realize, "Maybe I have more in common with an opera singer than I realize. We're the same age. And they're fun and interesting people."

The success of the program has been overwhelming at times, but extremely hopeful - that out of Detroit's difficult situation, young professionals and students are rising up to get involved and try something new. It's a wonderful thing to see! In truth, we still have lots of work to do to change perceptions about opera among young people in this city. Access may be a small victory, but I love to see change, even one person at a time.

Post 2 - Detroit, the Opera: Act II

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Hope Rising

The economy in Michigan is bleak. Housing values are tanking. Young people are leaving our state in droves.

There are plenty of reasons to feel negatively about Detroit. After all, our city has plenty of challenges to overcome, and the situation feels more dire than ever. With all of the media attention that the city is getting right now, few reports have focused on the positive things going on the city and the people that are making it happen. When I want to feel positively about Detroit, when I want to catch a glimpse of the hope rising from young people in the city, I remember one of my favorite events of the year: BravoBravo!

The event, a fundraiser for Michigan Opera Theatre and the Detroit Opera House, is a diverse group of people who love a great party, but more importantly, they care about preserving one of the city's artistic gems. I've had the privilege of being involved in the past four BravoBravo! events, coordinating media plans with volunteers, and have caught some of the enthusiasm that Detroit young professionals have for our city.

The Detroit Opera House is an important part of the city's past - as a historic 1922 movie theater - and its future - as a beautifully restored home of world-class opera on the state's largest stage. BravoBravo! has increasingly become an important part of the opera house's future, helping generate its future patrons and philanthropists.

This year's theme, chosen by co-chairs Jennifer Knapp, Richard Rice, and Jerrid Mooney, was all about Haute Couture with a Detroit twist. Each room reflected a different fashion capital with entertainment, food and décor to match.

Sure, it's a great party (with over 40 local bars and restaurants participating) but the event has grown so much each year that it has become one of MOT's largest fundraisers, raising over $1 million in its eleven years. Sold out for the past three years, the event has exposed thousands of young professionals to the Detroit Opera House. Although the event itself has little to do with opera, the point is to expose new people to the building in the hopes that when we contact them to come to the opera or ballet, that they'll give us a second thought.

BravoBravo! is an important part of that first step. It gives me hope that my generation believes in the arts as a catalyst for revitalization and change in Detroit. Developing new audiences of opera-goers is a challenging feat. There is no "magic bullet" to make young people interested in the art form � but we're doing what we can to start that conversation. In the next blog post I'll explain a bit about the Access program at the Detroit Opera House and how it is working to develop new audiences for the opera and ballet in Detroit.

Post 1 - Detroit, the Opera: Act I

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Sustainable Business and Art as vital parts of a living community organism

The curtain went up on the opening opera of the spring season. The house lights went down, and smoke, red lights, and hundreds of people filled the stage. The set, a giant dragon, commanded attention. The singers were mesmerizing. It was my very first opera, Turandot at Michigan Opera Theatre � and I was hooked. Since then, I have seen every opera presented at the Detroit Opera House and am constantly reminded why I love working there.

As both a musician and a music fan, my musical experiences taught me that I want to support the talented, creative people who provide cultural life to our region and make it a more enjoyable place to live. More than performing itself, I love being a part of "the big picture" and recognizing how integral the arts are to Detroit. Working at Michigan Opera Theatre has taught me a lot about opera, and if you'll indulge me, I'd like to make some comparisons between the city and the art form.

Detroit's story contains many operatic elements, including lots of divas and drama. Usually operas end tragically, but fortunately, I don't believe Detroit's story will end this way. In fact, with a creative community and creative class, it can grow, thrive, and flourish in time. Let me convey, most importantly, that I understand the dire nature of our economic situation in this state. Those of us with jobs are lucky to have them. However, the point I want to make is that healthy regions that attract business have arts organizations that give them life and vibrancy.

Arts institutions have a larger economic impact than most people realize. They support musicians, stagehands, curators, marketers, advertisers, local newspapers, artists, restaurants, printers � the list is endless. According to Americans for the Arts, America's nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity every year?$63.1 billion in spending by the organizations alone and an additional $103.1 billion in event-related spending by audiences. The national impact of this activity is significant, supporting 5.7 million jobs and generating $29.6 billion in government revenue.

Over 15% of the $11 billion spent on leisure travel in Michigan is spent on history, arts, and culture travel. Even without the economic implications, imagining life in Detroit without its proud arts institutions � well, it paints a pretty bleak picture. What person would want to start a business or move their business to a city with no cultural life?

Opera companies, like so many arts institutions, are facing a national crisis. Detroit is certainly no exception, and the very existence of our arts institutions is a downright miracle when other cities like Baltimore and Orlando have lost large, seemingly solid organizations. But we need them. And they need us. It's a symbiotic relationship that keeps us all alive and gives Detroit an international artistic trademark for world-class art and music.

This isn't to say that these organizations can't learn new ways of cutting costs and adapting to change � this is something we're all working on. We're all doing more with less � and in some cases, a lot less. We're all in this together, and Detroit can't afford to lose its artistic identity.

In these next few posts, I will convey the reasons why young people should get involved and get behind these organizations.

Post 3: Techno Toots

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Movement 2010, which hosted about 100,000 paying ravers, techno-hippies and assorted other party people, will go down as one of the best of the 11-year series. Having Carl Craig back as artistic director paid immediate dividends. All the headliners were perfectly chosen for maximum sundown shake appeal. Juan Atkins' Model 500 (whose Star Trek Next Generation outfits produced almost instantaneous and steady chatter on Twitter), Kevin Saunderson's Inner City, and Richie Hawtin's Plastikman were all as good as it gets in the electronic music universe.

But as important was the return of Berliners Scion and Mark Ernestus, who played unmixed (as is his custom) dub tracks. Ernestus performed arguably the festival's hottest, most emotive set while remaining largely expressionless wearing a T-Shirt that said "Playing it Cool." The Moritz von Oswald Trio, part of the same Kreuzberg from crew, was equally stellar.

A host of others -- Theo Parrish, Anthony "Shake" Shakir, Recloose, Larry Heard, and Martyn -- also proved going deep, deeper, deepest was the direction most preferred.

Other highlights: Istanbul's Onur Ozer, Cassy and Claude Von Stroke rocked the Beatport Stage, as did Hawtin, who filled in for the visa-deprived Ricardo Villalobos, who was rumored to be at the festival anyway according to tweets I was following. That was never confirmed, and later exposed as a hoax.

Another highlight was the Beehive Project, a human-scale installation that declares the hive as a model for future Detroit community and resourcefulness. It was clean, green, and integrated neatly into one of only a few patches of trees and grass at over-cemented Hart Plaza. Wunderbar.

For me, highlights of the festival extend beyond the grounds. The winner is Detroit's early- to late-20th century urbanism, the impressive vertical granite canyons of downtown and its blend of 1920s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s high design architecture. There was a "wow" in every walk we took, from the riverfront to Grand Circus, up to Park Avenue for dinner at Cliff Bell's; over to Brush St. between Congress and E. Fort for more food at Jacoby's; up Broadway to Angelina's to meet friends from Amsterdam, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and Detroit before going to the Music Hall and a program of films and a performance by Mike Banks and his band Timeline. Thanks to Planet E, and the Carl Craig and Detroit Techno Foundations for that beautiful idea.

This sustained buzz about the familiar is ultimately what it's all about for us who welcome the overflowing flock of techno tourists drawn to our powerful, groovy vibrations. We once again see a city as dynamic as the music it produces, something we can't experience often enough.

Post 2: Party! Party!

Fri, 28 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The actual Movement festival contains plenty of dance party fun for the average human. But this being Detroit, average simply goes out the window. It's a part of the electronic music cultural DNA to link party after party after party together to create new experiences you probably have never had before, nor will likely repeat in exactly the same way. Make some good picks, seek out new friends, drink plenty of water and you should have an appropriately weird but grand time wherever you end up. Especially if you take at least some of the following suggestions from this humble blogger, who has rocked and raved through all 10 festivals since 2000.

Something quite different and highly recommended is 2010: A Detroit Odyssey, which comes courtesy of Planet E, the Carl Craig Foundation and the newly-minted Detroit Techno Foundation. On the bill is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (with pre-recorded soundtrack by Jeff Mills); Timeless Suite for Ma Dukes, featuring the music of the late Detroit hip hop innovator James "J Dilla" Yancey; and The Drive Home: the Story of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, produced by Detroit's Pilot Pictures and Hogpath. There is also a live performance by Timeline, featuring Mike Banks of Underground Resistance. Good stuff. Best of all, it's free. It starts at 7 p.m. and goes to midnight. Friday, May 28, at the Music Hall, 350 Madison Street, Detroit.

Another party worth your time (and for a reasonable amount of money: $10.) is Yel3, the official Movement pre-party also on Friday featuring high-flying dutchman Speedy J, Windsor-Berlin's Matthew Hawtin's and Ann Arbor-based Spectral Sound's 10-year anniversary bash with Matthew Dear, Ryan Elliott, Seth Troxler, Lee Curtiss (live) and Birds & Souls. It's at St. Andrew's Hall, where they used to call this three floors of fun. That would be a gross understatement this time around. 431 E. Congress Street, Detroit. It kicks off around 10 p.m.

Last year's cruise on the Detroit Princess was one of the highlights of the 2009 after-party scene. Unless you couldn't get a ticket, that is. This year's riverboat hullabaloo could be even better with Chilean-German superstar Ricardo Villalobos on board. Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, and Berlin's Cassy are also on deck. Boat leaves the dock just south of Hart Plaza at 1 a.m. Sunday, and gets back around 6 a.m. Get details here.

Later the same night on the other side of town is Moodymann's Soul Skate at the Northland Roller Skating Center (22311 W. 8 Mile Road, Detroit). Free soul food with $15 admission. It's a winner, guaranteed. It goes from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Also at Detroit Threads in Hamtramck (10238 Jos. Campau), special in-store DJ guests expected include Pirahnahead, Aaron-Carl and Andy Garcia; plus Jennifer Paull and yours truly of the ambient-disco-dub project nospectacle. We play records Monday, 3-6 p.m., but talent is spread out over five days, beginning Thursday, May 27. It's all free and clothes and record shopping (owner Mikel Smith has sweet stuff, some real gems) are encouraged.

Expect me to be back in a week or two with a roundup of this extraordinary festival weekend in Detroit. I trust you'll go out there and experience some of it for yourselves. It's regional danceable art in the form of a gift to us all, not to be missed, if at all possible. That goes for all you people heading up north or visiting hipster friends in Williamsburg or Wicker Park. We're staying home, getting physical with ears and eyes wide open, enjoying the best years of our lives in our own backyard. Beat that.

Post 1: Get Ready to Techno!

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I'm up to my neck in techno these days, getting ready for the impressively massive Movement Festival weekend that beckons. And when I say massive, I mean it. On top of three full days and nights (up to midnightish) filling up downtown Detroit's Hart Plaza with electronically-produced rhythms and sounds, there are enough pre-, after- and other off-site events to keep us dancing all summer if they were to be stretched out over the next three months.

Detroit has long enjoyed a reputation for maximizing the fun of its partygoers. If you add them all up, starting this Friday and ending at some point next Tuesday, it's all jam-packed into around 100 hours, give or take. Do I hear a "wow?" Parties featuring Detroit Techno artists blur into parties featuring Chicago House music legends blur into parties offering up international talent from Germany, France and the UK. Excessive use of the word "blur," you say? Nope. Underline and repeat often. It's perfectly descriptive of the wonderfully wild weekend ahead.

But quality matters, right, not quantity? Agreed. This year's festival lineup is quality-rich, featuring headliners Model 500 -- fronted by Juan Atkins, the eldest of the famed Belleville Three who first began attaching the word "techno" to his productions in the first half of the 1980s; Inner City, the Kevin Saunderson-led group that broke the music wide open with the international club smash "Big Fun" in the late-1980s; and Plastikman, the minimal-acid alter ego of Windsor's Richie Hawtin (now based in Berlin), the prime mover of the Midwest rave scene of the 1990s.

Other artists from Detroit or with Detroit roots performing at Movement 2010 include Derrick May (who, along with Saunderson, completes the Belleville Three), former Underground Resistance member Robert Hood, Anthony "Shake" Shakir, Jennifer Xerri, Kenny Larkin Jr., K-Hand, John Johr, Kyle Hall (an 18-year-old recent grad of the High School of Performing Arts with sudden huge global buzz), Magda, Monty Luke, Niko Marks, Punisher and, well, more, more, more.

A coup for festival promoters and producers Paxahau is the snagging of trippy tech-house producer/DJ Ricardo Villalobos, who has not played in Detroit (or the U.S. since 2002), largely seen as a protest against this country's military presence in the Middle East. We're still at war, but we're glad he's back. The full Movement schedule is here.

Villalobos also performs at one of the mostly highly anticipated after-parties, a floating cruise of the Detroit River that sets sail early Sunday morning. More on that, plus the best of the rest of the off-site party scene, in my next blog entry.

Post 2: Fusion Fits Into the Mackinac Policy Conference

Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The state�s most prominent policy conference kicks off in less than two weeks. The Mackinac Policy Conference has been taking place for over thirty years and draws over 1,300 of the top business, civic, and political leaders to Mackinac Island. For the third year in a row, Fusion will have a presence at the annual event. Fifty members will participate in a unique "track" that will match them with Leadership Detroit alumni for an enhanced relationship building experience.

In 2008, when Fusion and its contingent of Gen Now attendees collectively attended the conference, it was a two-day event that began on the last day of the conference and included a special session on Saturday. Being that it was the first year and a special track for Gen Now to participate through a discounted, all inclusive package, we knew that we would need to take a gradual integration so not to offend experienced conference attendees. For 2009, the track expanded by one day. It began on Thursday and also included a Saturday morning session.

This year, Fusion is fully integrated into the conference. Attendees will participate Wednesday through Friday, just like the rest of the participants. We went from baby steps to experienced walkers in a matter of a few years.

Fusion's presence has been energizing at this traditional gathering. Just as technology has been changing the production and reach of this island excursion, Fusion has brought a new level of accountability to the words and promises made in sessions and on the Grand Hotel porch. Because we have no personal history, good or bad, with many of the challenges or relationships other attendees have gone through, we are not afraid to ask the tough questions. This is appreciated by panelists and the audience alike.

This year, we look to continue to build up the progress we have made and expand our relationships with key decision makers. This is the one event that all the "movers and shakers" attend. They're available for a quick conversation over a cocktail or between sessions.

There are only a few spots (and I mean few) left for members to participate in this year�s Fusion experience. Find more information about the Mackinac Policy Conference here.

Post 1: Clichés Don't Begin to Describe Us

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Young talent. Young professionals. Emerging leaders. Next generation. Is it OK that I say that I really dislike all of these monikers? I am "young" but I'm not a teenager and I have been in the workforce longer than most would think. I�m a "professional" but I know I'm more productive if I wear sweats to work (only after hours or on the weekends. ) I'm a leader but I'm not emerging. Leaders are constantly developing themselves, not metamorphosing in some cocoon waiting for the moment to become The Boss. And by me being here in present day, I�m part of a Now Generation, not the next one. The next generation would be my future kid.

As the director of a "young professionals" organization, Fusion, how then do I describe the group of people that I�m trying to connect? As I mentioned before, the Now Generation is one way. I like Generation F, the Fusion generation (a tad bit self-serving) which is the Gen X, Y, and Millennials.

So what is Fusion? Fusion is an economic development initiative of the Detroit Regional Chamber. Most think of economic development as physical buildings and development. The other side of economic development is the human capital side. Without people to work in those buildings and consumers to buy goods and services, why even have the infrastructure if there is no one there to support it? Fusion's role is to attract, retain and connect the talent that will support the other side of the ED equation. As the first regional membership organization dedicated to engaging Southeast Michigan's talent mix and showcasing the region, Fusion has grown 400% in the first three years.

The membership is diverse and represent all areas of the region. There is no age limit to Fusion but it is "younger" thinking and all "professionals" can participate, even professional students. Members drive the organization and without their dedication to transforming the region and Fusion, it would not be where it is today. But it�s just getting started. Fusion will continue to connect talent, businesses, and the community together to build relationships between all industries and generations of leaders.

Just this year we have placed members on the Oakland County Business Roundtable and the Chamber's PAC Advisory Board. Seven of Crains Detroit Business "20 in their 20s" 2010 Class are Fusion members. And for the third consecutive year, Fusion is part of the Mackinac Policy Conference.

We welcome all to work with us in making Detroit, the region, a better place to live, work, play (I had to throw the cliché LWP in at least once.)

Tomorrow: Fusion's Place at the Mackinac Policy Conference