Inside

8/29/10 Dearborn inches closer to having an arts district

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:34:37 -0500

East side, west side or both sides? The question, right now it seems, isn't whether Dearborn will have an arts district, but rather where will Dearborn's art district be?

Earlier this summer, Artspace-- a Minneapolis-based real estate developer for the arts-- did a survey of Dearborn to see whether establishing affordable housing and workspace for artists could be sustained here. Representatives from Artspace met with city leaders, community leaders, business leaders and local artists. They also toured the area and looked at potential sites for artists lofts and studios (they typically refurbish already-abandoned properties).

Several weeks after their initial visit to Dearborn, Artspace issued a preliminary feasibility report, and right now it looks like things are going to move forward with this redevelopment project. What remains to be seen is where it will be, how big it will be, and how it will be funded. But the bottom line: This is huge for Dearborn. We could go from being known primarily as "Ford land" to being the go-to place for Bohemian-types in southeast Michigan.

And with Bohemian-types comes a new energy.

8/18/10 Navigating your way through a traditional Asian meal

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:56:42 -0500

A while back, I took an introductory Thai cooking class with a friend who wanted to immerse herself in the Asian kitchen. The instructor served sticky rice with the dishes each of us had prepared. I instinctively grabbed a dollop of rice (with my right hand), rolled it into a compact ball, and dipped it into a plate of green papaya salad. My classmates eyed me with curiosity. What in the world was I doing?

This got me thinking about the etiquette of Asian eating. Through the years, I’ve fielded many questions from first-time travelers about propriety at the Asian table. There’s a lot to remember—so many mores that vary from region to region, dish to dish. Many Asians are quite forgiving when it comes to culinary faux pas among foreign eaters. Still, it’s good to know the ground rules when traveling (or when you want to wow the proprietor of that great new Thai restaurant up the road). Here’s a primer that should get you started:

8/8/10 Rediscovering the movie rental

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:54:22 -0500

I had thought my movie renting days were behind me. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had set foot in a Blockbuster, and Netflix was fun for a while but the problem with having movies sent to you from a queue is that you don’t necessarily get the movie you want to watch right now. I’m very much a person that has to be in the mood for a movie to want to watch it.

So for the past couple years I’ve pretty much just gotten my DVDs from the library. They’re free, and going there to pick out your movie is very reminiscent of being a kid and going to the video store to pick something out on a Friday night.

But recently, I discovered the magic that is RedBox. Like I said before, I rely on my mood to dictate my movie selections, and if I want to watch “Up in the Air” right now, then by golly, I’m going to watch it right now! Unfortunately the libraries aren’t a 24-hour a day operation, so if that mood strikes at 10 at night, there’s not much I could do to get it.

Enter the RedBox.

I’d seen them around for a couple years, but never really gave them much attention until a day last week when I was leaving Kroger at Michigan and Outer Drive. As I walked past the RedBox located there, I thought “Hmm, I wonder how this thing works….and I wonder if it has anything good.”

So I stepped up to the little screen and started scrolling through the selections. I was amazed at the number of movies they offered. I decided I’d give it a whirl and I tapped on “The Blind Side.” The confirmation page popped up, it said it would cost $1.06 ($1 + tax) for one night, and prompted me to slide my debit card. I did, and the movie came sliding out! Wham, bam, thank you RedBox!

7/28/10 Why I'm using Facebook less and less

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:50:57 -0500

I have been thinking a lot about my declining use of Facebook recently, and what might be driving it. The answer lies in two core issues that just did not cross my mind when I signed up four years ago. Social networks are about sharing and about connections.

Friends can be broken into two parts - close and distant. Close friends are the people you have known for years, that you grew up with, went to school with, or that you have become close to through work. Distant friends are acquaintances that you have connected with at some point in life, and make some effort to stay in contact with. For most people, there is some migration between the groups over time, but broadly they stay the consistent.

The explosion of Facebook and online social media has presented each of us with a wealth of options for staying connected to both of these groups. The challenge is that the type of information I want to share with one group, is not information I necessarily want to share with the other. My list of Facebook friends incorporates members of both groups, which is why I find it hard to figure out what to post there. In part because of this, I have resorted to posting pretty much nothing over the last year.

For a good number of my Facebook “friends,” I see communications that I imagine were really designed for members of the close group, but that end up being broadcast to both. The result is that I just don’t care about 80% of what appears in my friend feed. And when you consider that Facebook is essentially a public forum, the issue is exacerbated further.

7/21/10 Brown-baggin' it: Americans still cutting back on little things to save money

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:24:11 -0500

There are many big changes people can make to save money – cut back on all entertainment, for example. But there are also a number of smaller things people can do to save money, and with the economy not yet turning around, it seems many Americans have opted for this approach. Almost two-thirds of U.S. (65%) adults say they are purchasing more generic brands to save money, slightly up from February when 63% said they were doing this.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,227 adults surveyed online between June 14 and 21, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Almost half of Americans (48%) say they are brown bagging lunch instead of purchasing it to save money, also slightly up from February when 45% said they were doing this. Two in five U.S. adults each say they have switched to refillable water bottles instead of purchasing bottles of water (39%) and are going to the hairdresser less often (38%). In February, one-third of Americans (34%) had switched to refillable water bottles to save money. Also, one-quarter (24%) have cut down on dry cleaning.

Looking at media habits, three in ten U.S. adults (31%) have cancelled one or more magazine subscriptions and just under one in five (17%) have cancelled a newspaper subscription. It’s not just reading habits that are changing in these economic times, though. One in five Americans (22%) have cancelled or cut back cable television service while an additional 22% say they have considered doing so.

In addition to brown-bagging it, other work habits have also changed. One in five Americans (22%) have stopped purchasing coffee in the morning, while 12% have begun carpooling or using mass transit (but this is not applicable to 48% of Americans who may not be working or may not have the ability to carpool or use mass transit).

Phone service has also changed as 15% have cancelled their landline service and are only using cell phones, with an additional 22% saying they have considered this to save money. Cell phone usage is also changing as 15% say they have changed or cancelled cell service to save money, with an additional 17% of Americans saying they have considered doing so.

7/14/10 Managing the cost of college

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:43:29 -0500

Paying for college can be a daunting task for many students and their families. In addition to the typical confusion over all the available options for paying for college, there is the aftermath of the financial market meltdown, tightened credit and recent federal government changes to student loan structures. At the same time, two primary sources of education funding have diminished over the last few years -- savings and home equity. Altogether, these factors have had a profound effect on families' ability to pay for college.

"The stress of how to pay for a college education leaves many students and families feeling overwhelmed and frustrated," said Kevin Walker, co-founder and CEO of SimpleTuition.com. "It can be a challenge figuring out all the options that are available."

SimpleTuition offers seven steps that students and families should take in paying for college:

7/14/10 'Real World New Orleans' offers up high drama, Dearborn cast member remains below the fray

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:29:48 -0500

It's been a big summer for Muslim women from Dearborn-- first we had Rima Fakih named Miss USA-- awesome, by the way!

And then it was announced that 21-year-old Dearborn resident Sahar "Hollywood" Dika would appear on the new season of MTV's 'The Real World' (Wednesdays at 10p on MTV).

Her cast bio from MTV reads, "Sahar grew up in a conservative Arab community in Dearborn, MI. It would be easy to assume that because of that she's a submissive, conservative girl. But that would not be the case. She's a strong-willed, liberal Muslim who is not easily intimidated. Expect her to speak her mind. Sahar was fortunate to have parents who allowed her a bit more space to be herself; however, there are still things that she was forced to hide from her community, like her virginity... or lack thereof. Although in a vague long-distance relationship, Sahar is used to turning heads and is constantly crushing on boys-- but just wait until she meets roommate Eric! A budding singer/songwriter, Sahar looks to explore more of this career in New Orleans, no matter what anyone in her conservative community thinks."

Additional info I've found out about her includes: she gradutated from Fordson in '06, where she was a member of the International Thespian Society, and she appeared in a horror short called 'Secluded.'

But anyway... so far this season of 'The Real World' has been a blast-- high emotions, fights, feuds, hotties, drinking, sluttiness-- but our homegirl has been a real bore. A real non-factor. Jay Sutel from The Faster Times summarized the players and the drama thus far this season, and Dearborn's own Sahar merited no more than a passing sentence. Read on for his take on the things.

7/7/10 Anonymity and animosity: A webmaster's nightmare

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:38:03 -0500

Ever since the first spark launched the World Wide Web decades ago, the Internet has been a breeding ground for angry, hate-filled, and anonymous comments.

We’ve been lucky at The Counter Project: Our readers have (so far) proven themselves to be mature, thoughtful, respectful, witty and bright.

Other interactive media sites haven’t always been so lucky. Anonymity often allows people to get ugly—to say things they normally wouldn’t—with no personal accountability. Blogs and message boards are often peppered with hateful and nasty comments from anonymous readers. So in an effort to curb the nastiness, many sites now filter words or require members to provide their real names before allowing comments to appear.

When I wrote for the Press & Guide, I would often get nasty calls and letters from readers telling me what an idiot I was, with a variety of accusations. But those angry comments all had one thing in common: the callers/letter-writers would always refuse to give their name.

I once wrote a story about a protest organized by a local Arab-American organization, in which the group was calling for the U.S. to divest itself from Israel. After it ran, the calls I got from the anti-Arab crowd were unbelievably hostile and hateful—from women identifying themselves as “angry and concerned mothers,” to men identifying themselves as “lifelong Dearborn residents”—but none of them would identify themselves by name. In a column I wrote in response to the angry calls, I described these people as “hiding under a sheet”—cowards no different than members of the KKK. After that, the anonymous and hateful calls slowed for a while; the anger was toned down, and people started actually giving their names.

6/26/10 U.S. Social Forum offers inspiration in Detroit

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:16:24 -0500

I spent a couple days at the US Social Forum this week, poking around, attending some workshops, working the registration table and hanging out at a labor rally. It was quite the experience, and it all took place in Detroit—from Cobo Hall to Wayne State Univeristy, from Hart Plaza to local union halls.

For those unsure, the US Social Forum is “a movement building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and changes history.

“We must declare what we want our world to look like and we must start planning the path to get there. The USSF provides spaces to learn from each other’s experiences and struggles, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, build relationships, and align with our international brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world.” (From the official website.)

Basically, it was 20,000 activists getting together in Detroit to talk about ways to change the world. Over the course of the four-day event, there were over 1,000 workshops dealing with issues such as gender identity, unions in the 21^st century, student activism, immigration reform, Arab-American issues, human rights violations, media relations, effective blogging, political campaigning, the U.S. economy, and universal healthcare. There were labor rallies, movie screenings, press conferences, civil rights marches, and war protests. There were Vietnam Vets for Peace, neighborhood stabilization groups from southside Chicago, women’s organizations, labor unions, organic farmers, Amnesty International representatives and dozens of other organizations present.

6/23/10 Westborn wine specialist takes a bite out of the Big Apple

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:24:03 -0500

Rene Parks, wine specialist for Westborn Market, 21755 Michigan Avenue, was recently invited as one of only two people from Michigan and 200 from throughout the U.S. to attend the Wine Dialogues seminar in New York City, hosted by the Gallo Winery.

The event was moderated by wine veteran and Master Sommelier Joseph Spellman, chairman of the Court of Master Sommeliers.

"To be in the company of such outstanding wine artisans, dine at some of nation's top restaurants, and participate in an interactive, educational seminar was indescribable," said Parks. "I understand now why they call New York City 'the big Apple', because I took a delicious bite. It was a wonderful experience."

Gina and Matt Gallo, grandchildren of Ernest and Julio Gallo who founded the Gallo Winery in the late 1930s, welcomed the buyers, vineyard owners, suppliers, distributors, wine makers and wine specialists.